That if your Father had not asked you to go you would have done it and this you did the Thursday and Saturday before the foul Fact Hundreds more you know there are as your perpetual running to Lingsted against my Mind and staying out till Ten or Twelve at Night and this you would do three or four times every Week making me wait those late Hours for you both for Supper and Bed And when I told you of the Danger of riding so late the Amends that followed was that the next Day you would do the same again or worse c. And again For Money to spend you had always equal with your Brother and as much as I thought you could any ways need or desire you never asked any Summ that ever was denied you you knew where my Spunding-Money was and went to it and took what you pleased and I never checked you for it Ten Pounds I offered you at a time and that lately and you would have none of it you had Money enough you said And so you had to your great Hurt c. Oh Freeman thou knowest thy Father loved thee but too well and that he could deny thee nothing From thy Cradle to his Day I know not that I ever struck thee saving that once when through thy unsufferable Sauciness I pulled off thy Hat and gave thee a little pat on the Head But what good did it You presently took it up and put it on again cocking it and in scorn sate in your Chair by me in a discontented posture and so continued for four or five Hours not speaking one Word c. See the Printed Narrative by it self or Mr. Clark 's Abbreviation of it 2. A certain Woman in Flanders contrary to the Will of her Husband used to supply her two Sons with Money to maintain their Riot yea to furnish them she would rob her Husband But presently after her Husband's Death God plagued her for this her foolish Indulgence for from Rioting these Youngsters fell to Robbing for the which one of them was execured by the Sword and the other by the Halter the Mother looking on as a Witness of their Destruction Lud. Vives 3. A Young Man in our own Nation as he was going to the Gallows desired to speak with his Mother in her Ear but when she came instead of whispering he bit off her Ear with his Teeth exclaiming upon her as the cause of his Death because she did not chastise him in his Youth for his faults but by her fondness so emboldened him in his Vices as brought him to this woful end Lucretius the Roman was served by his Son in the same manner who having been often redeemed from the Cross by his Father at last at the Cross bit off his Father's Nose 4. Austine upon a terrible and dreadful Accident called his People together to a Sermon wherein he relates this doleful Story Our Noble Citizen saith he Cyrillus a Man mighty amongst us both in work and word and much beloved had as you know one only Son and because but one he loved him immeasurably and above God And so being drunk with immoderate doting he neglected to Correct him and gave him Liberty to do whatsoever he lift Now this very day says he this same Fellow thus long suffered in his dissolute and riotous courses hath in his drunken Humour wickedly offered Violence to his Mother great with Child would have violated his Sister hath killed his Father and wounded two of his Sisters to Death Ad frat in Eremo Ser. 33. if he was the Author of that Treatise CHAP. CXXII Divine Judgments upon Gluttony SOlomon requires us to put a Knife to our Throat when we are at such Tables where Dainties are set before us if we be Persons given to Appetite And our Saviour hath forbid us the surfeiting of our selves And 't is certain Gluttony is a fault that not only hath a Natural tendency to the desTruction of our Health the obating of our Estates and the enfeebling of our Spirits but provokes the Indignation of Heaven As we may see in the sin of Sodom which was Pride and fulness of Bread and Idleness in the case of Job 's Sons and the Feast of Belshazzar and the Examples following 1. One Albidinus a Young Man of a most debauch'd course of Life when he had consumed all his Lands Goods and Jewels and exhausted all his Estate even to one House he with his own hands set that on fire and despairing of any future Fortune left the City and betaking himself to the Solitude of the Woods and Groves he in a short space after hanged himself Dr. Thomas Taylor C. 7. N. 100. 2. Lucullus a Noble Roman in his Praetorship governed Africk two several times he moreover overthrew and defeated the whole Forces of King Mithridates and rescued his Colleague Cotta who was besieged in Chalcedon and was very Fortunate in all his Expeditions but after his Greatness growing an Eye-sore to the Common-weal he retired himself from all Publick Offices or Employments to his own Private Fields where he builded Sumptuously sparing for no Charge to compass any variety that could be heard of and had in his House he made a very rich Library and plentifully furnished with Books of all sorts And when he had in all things accommodated his House suiting with his own wishes and desires forgetting all Martial Discipline before exercised he wholly betook himself to Riotous Comessations and Gluttonous Feasts having gotten so much Spoil and Treasure in the Wars that it was the greatest part of his study how profusely to spend it in Peace Pompey and Cicero one Night stealing upon him with a self-invitation to Supper he caused on the sudden a Feast to be made ready the cost whereof amounted to Fifty Thousand Pieces of Silver the state of the Place the plenty of Meat and change and variety of Dishes the costly Sauces the fineness and neatness of the Services driving the Guests into extraordinary Admiration Briefly having given himself wholly to a Sensual Life his high feeding and deep quaffing brought him to such a Weakness that he grew Apoplectick in all his Senses and as one insufficient to govern either himself or his Estate he was committed to the keeping of M. Lucullus his near Kinsman dying soon after Ibid. 3. Caesar the Son of Pope Alexander was one of those who much doted on his Belly and wholly devoted himelf to all kind of Intemperance who in daily Breakfasts Dinners Afternoon-sittings Suppers and new Banquets spent Five Hundred Crowns not reckoning Feasts and Extraordinary Inventions For Parasites Buffoons and Jesters he allowed Yearly Two Thousand Suits of Cloaths from his Wardrobe He maintained also a continual Army of Eight Thousand Soldiers about him and all this he exhausted from his Father's Coffers Ibid. 4. Demadas now being old and always a Glutton is like a spent Sacrifice nothing is left but his Belly and his Tongue all the Man besides is
any other Hand I was resolved to go on with it as being fully satisfied that a Work of this kind must needs be of Great Use especially to such pious Minds as delight to observe the Manifestations which God doth give of himself both in his Works of Creation and Providence the former are sufficient to render those who have no other Instructers inexcusable as we are taught by the Apostle Rom. 1.20 And the Excellency of the latter consists in this That they are the real Accomplishments of his written Word So that to Record Providences seems to be one of the best Methods that can be pursued against the abounding Atheism of this Age For by Works of Providence the Confession of a God and the Truth of his Word have been extorted from those very Persons who have boldly denied it Memorable is that Passage of Aeschyles the Persian in Traged who relating his Country-mens Discomfiture by the Greeks gives us this Observation That when the Grecians pursued them furiously over the great River Strymon which was then frozen but began to thaw he did with his own Eyes see many of those Gallants whom he had heard before maintain so boldly that there was no God every one upon their Knees with Eyes and Hands lifted up begging for Mercy and that the Ice might not break 'till they got over The Scepticks of this Age may possibly call such a Passage in Question but what can the most obdurate Atheist say to those Providences about the Jews which were so clearly foretold in the Scriptures and part of 'em are visible to their own Eyes Is not this sufficient to convince them of the Being of an Omniscient God that the Sacred Scriptures are his Revealed Will and that Christianity is the only true Religion We doubt not but those Men who are able to hold out against such a convincing Demonstration will flout at this Undertaking and expose it all they can but they may remember the Conquest which Truth made over their great Champions my Lord Rochester Sir Alan Broderick and Sir Duncomb Colchester all mentioned in the following Work Providences which merit their Thoughts and may serve to stop their Mouths To Name all my Authors would be tedious in the Front of the Book and the more unnecessary because the Reader will find most of them cited in the Work itself Which I believe will not be either unprofitable or unpleasant to any one that reads with Judgment nor unsatisfactory to any that reads without Prejudice I pray my Reader 's Candour if any particular Relation be not reduced to its proper Head or if there be any Repetition of the same Story without necessity or any other Error of the Press that is venial I crave that I may have but due Grains of Allowance made to me as are commonly made in such Cases For I am at least Forty Miles distant from the Press and cannot with any Conveniency to my other Concerns attend the Ingress of it into the World I grant the Work is not Omninibus numeris absolutum in every respect answerable to the first Proposals but so are almost all the Undertakings of finite Reason upon some Account or other short of the first Intentions To be perfectly Wise is the Property of God Almighty For my part I am very sensible of the Depths I have here taken upon me to fathom and do declare openly to the World That the Ways of God are unsearchable and his Footsteps cannot perfectly be traced He doth so tread upon the deep Waters and sometimes flies upon the Wings of the Wind and hides himself in Clouds from common view employing Spirits for his Angels and Flames of Fire at other times for his Messengers For so I think we may justly invert the Order of our common Translation that I declare freely my Comment is infinite short of my Text and my Paraphrase doth not and cannot reach my Subject And indeed who can by searching find out the Almighty to Perfection If some studious and skilful Reader would cause this Book to be Interleaved and add some New Heads of his own and make a Supply for the Defects of the Old Ones it might in process of time be made exceeding useful for Common Places In the mean time I desire my Reader only to look over all these Secondary Causes and little Instruments that are moved here below and look up to and fix his Eye upon the Spring and Original Wheel that gives Motion to all the rest And if there be any thing within the Cope of our Horizon that will give Satisfaction to the Brain on Man this will certainly do it And if it do not the next Step is a sinful Curiosity and dangerous and whatsoever is more than that comes of Evil. From which Evil the God of Heaven deliver us all Amen WILLIAM TURNER A Practical Introduction TO THE History of Divine Providence Being the Author's MEDITATIONS On On The Being of a GOD. On The Works of Creation and Providence On The Existence of a Separate Soul On The Ministry of Angels And On The Future State c. I. The Being of a GOD. NOtwithstanding the Being of a GOD is laid down as the First Principle of our Faith and Religion own'd acknowledged and believed by all yet because in this debauched Age there want not some Monsters that question this Article and are ready if not with their Tongues yet with their Hearts to deny the Lord that made them I shall by way of Introduction to the following History of Divine Providence 1. Prove That there is a God I confess I konw not any that I suspect guilty of profess'd yet since there want not Arguments to implead too many at least accessary to Pratical Atheism I go thô sadly to my ABC to lay down the First Rudiments of Christianity 1. Then I may prove it from the Book of Nature Come thy ways unbelieving Atheist and turn over this Great Volume of the Divine Creation see what a Bible Nature herself presents thee with unclasp'd and open'd the Letters for the most part capital and legible that he who runs may read a God in every Leaf in every Line in every Creature Go gaze a-while at the next little Fly or Flower or but Spire of Grass thou meetest with see the curious Workmanship Artifice Wisdom and Power there is discernable in the make of it and resolve me what Man with all his Wit and Skill is able to make the like to exceed or equallize it Job 12.7 8 9. Or if that will not do take but one of thy Fellow-Beings Man into a studious Disquisition dissect him in all his several Parts tell his Bones his Nerves Veins Ligaments with all the Branches Postures and Vses of them Trace his Nourishment from his Hands to his Teeth to his Palate to his Stomach to his Guts and Milkey Veins to his Liver to his Vena Cava to the right Ventricle of his Heart thence into the Vena Arteriosa and so
Bodys swollen with bruises This was attested by Colonel Rogers the Governour of Hereford by a Letter to Mr. Baxter Dated August 23. 1656. As likewise by Mr. Sam. Jones's of Cocdreken Mr. Maur. Bedwell's of Swansy Mr. Daniel Higs and Captain Samuel Foley's both of Clonmell 16. In the year of our Lord 1652. Mary the Daughter of Edward Ellins of the Burrough of Evesham in the County of Worcester Gardiner then about nine or ten years old went in the Fields on a Saturday with some other children to gather Cowslips and finding in a Ditch by the way side at the said Town 's End one Catherine Huxley a single Woman Aged then about Forty years as is supposed easing Nature the children called her Witch and took up Stones to throw at her the said Mary also called her Witch and took up a Stone but was so affrighted that she could not throw it at her then they all run away from her and the said Mary being hindmost this Huxley said to her Ellins you shall have Stones enough in your Whereupon Mary fell that day very ill and continued so Weak and Languishing that her Friends feared she would not recover but a Month after she began to void Stones by the urinary Passages and some little Urine came away from her also when she voided any Stone the Stone she voided was heard by those that were by her to drop into the Pot or Bason and she had most grievous Pains in her Back and Reins like the pricking of Pins the Number of the Stones she voided was about eighty some plain Pebbles some plain Flints some very small and some about an Ounce Weight this she did for some space a Month or two or thereabouts until upon some strong Suspicions of Witchcraft the forenamed Huxley was apprehended examined and searched at whose Beds-head there was found several Stones such as the said Mary voided and was sent to Worcester where at the Summer Assizes in the said Year 1652. then at hand she was upon the Prosecution of the Friends of the said Mary Condemned and Executed Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 44. 17. Mr. Samuel Clark hath published the Apparition to Mr. White of Dorchester assessor to the Westminister assembly at Lambeth that the Devil in a light Night stood by his Bed-side She looked a while whether he would say or do any thing and then said If thou hast nothing else to do I have and turned himself to sleep Many say it from Mr. White himself Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 63. 18. Conveyances through the Air c. by Invisible Powers Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubery Esq In a Letter from the Reverend Mr. Paschal Rector of Chedzay in Somersetshire to Mr. Aurbery are these words Viz. The most Remarkable of all happen'd in that Day that I passed by the Door in my return hither which was Easter-Eve when Fry returning from Work that little he can do he was caught by the Woman Spectre by the Skirts of his Doublet and carried into the Air he was quickly mist by his Master and the Workmen and great enquiry was made for Fran. Fry but no hearing of him but about half an Hour after Fry was heard Whistling and Singing in a kind of a Quagmire He was now affected as he was wont to be in his Fits so that none regarded what he said but coming to Himself an Hour after he solemnly protested That the Daemon carried him so high that he saw his Master's House underneath him no bigger than an Hay-cock that he was in perfect Sense and prayed God not to suffer the Devil to destroy him That he was suddenly set down in that Quagmire The Workmen found one Shooe on one side of the House and the other Shooe on the other side his Periwig was espied next Morning hanging on the Top of a tall Tree It was soon observ'd that Fry's part of his Body that had laid in the Mud was much benum'd and therefore the next Saturday which was the Eve of Low-Sunday they carried him to Crediton to be let Blood which being done and the Company having left him for a little while returning they found him in a Fit with his Fore-head all bruised and swoln to a great bigness none being able to guess how it came till he recover'd himself and then he told them That a Bird flew in at the Window with a great force and with a Stone in its Mouth flew directly against his Fore-head The People looked for it and found on the Ground just under where he sate not a Stone but a weight of Brass or Copper which the People were breaking and parting it among themselves He was so very ill that he could not ride but one Mile or little more that Nighr since which time I have not heard of him save that he was ill handled the next Day being Sunday Indeed Sir you may wonder that I have not Visited that House and the poor afflicted People especially since I was so near and passed by the very Door I am very well assured of the Truth of what I have Written and as more appears you shall hear from me again 19. A Copy of a Letter from a Learned Friend of mine in Scotland Dated March 25. 1695. Honoured Sir I received yours Dated May 24 1694. In which you desire me to send you some Instances and Examples of Transportation by an Invisible Power The true cause of my delaying so long to reply to that Letter was not want of Kindness but of sit Materials for such a Reply As soon as I read your Letter of May 24. I called to mind a Story which I heard long ago concerning one of the Lord Duffus in the Shire of Murray his Predecessors of whom it is reported That upon a time when he was walking abroad in the Fields near to his own House he was suddenly carried away and â—ound the next day at Paris in the French King's Cellar with a Silver Cup in his Hand that being brought into the King's Presence and Question'd by him Who he was And how he came thither He told his Name his Countrey and the place of his Residence and that on such a Day of the Month which proved to be the Day immediately preceeding being in the Fields he heard the noise of a Whirl-wind and of Voices crying Horse and Hattock this is the World which the Fairies are said to use when they remove from any place whereupon he cried Horse and Hattock also and was immediately caught up and Transported through the Air by the Fairies to that place where after he had Drunk heartily he fell asleep and before he awoke the rest of the Company were gone and had left him in the posture wherein he was found It 's said the King gave him the Cup which was found in his Hand and dismiss'd him This Story if it could be sufficiently attested would be a Neble Instance for your purpose for which cause I
Mr. Jennison of Grays-Inn Mr. Lewis Mr. Smith Edmund Everard Esq who was kept four Years close Prisoner in the Tower by the contrivance of some English Subjects whom he had five Years before discovered as plotting against us in France 4. Because several Letters were produced relating to the fame thing as that of the Lord Stafford's to the Lord Aston My Lord the Plot is discovered and we are all undone c. Coleman's Our prevailing in these things would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received since its first Birth c. Petre's Letters Found among Harcourt's Papers c. 5. The Actions that were done after the Discovery to Persons concerned in the Discovery are a strong Argument to create suspicion of the Authors and their Guilt as the Barbarous Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey who took the first Depositions Mr. Arnold and Mr. Pye V. In King James the II. Reign But this was nothing else but Plot from the beginning to the end of it For no Man of good sence could believe that ever he intended to perform that fine Promise which he made of maintaining of the Protestant Religion and the Rights of the Subjects c. without straining Courtesie with his Religious Principles and natural Temper and indeed tho' he appear'd very plausible at first and our credulous People seem'd very willing to construe him in a favourable Sense yet when they had resign'd their Charters and themselves and Estates to him in a Complement which the King took well enough and saw the Laws dispensed with in a gross manner and Arbitrary Power put up its Head at Court with much Confidence and the Visitors sent down to Oxford to purge the Vniversity and Roman Catholicks made Justices of Peace and put in other places of Trust and Masse-Houses open'd publickly and the Interceding Bishops who had done nothing in the World to merit his disfavour sent to the Tower then I say these People began to open their Eyes and were resolved not to shut them any more if they could help it till they had somewhat better to trust to than the Promise of a King whose Word was as inviolable as his Oath and who was never known to be in the least matter unfaithful in his Life for such a Mask was put upon his Face by his Friends and he wore it a while very willingly till the time that he thought he might safely take it off and appear boldly in his Features and in the Head of a standing Army who had promised as stoutly as he to stand by him till they thought it convenient to stand no longer But of this enough and perhaps too much for I do with Pity and Grief of Mind reflect upon the Errors of that unhappy Prince VI. In the Reign of King William the III. This Prince was the happy Instrument under God of our Deliverance but neither was He warm in his Throne before he was called to Battle first in Ireland where he contested with extraordinary Difficulties and escaped extream Dangers from a Cannon-Bullet afterwards in Flanders where his Labours are hardly at an end yet But the most secret and villainous Contrivance of all was the late Barbarous Plot the Scheme whereof was first laid in France but the Scene of the bloody Tragedy was to be in England Here the King was to be Assassinated in a base and cowardly manner as he went a hunting on a Saturday Feb. 22. 1695 6. in a narrow Lane between Brentford and Turnham-Green Sir George Berkley with seven or eight more to Attack the King's Coach and Assassine him whilst two other Parties to the number of 40 attacked the Guards and two more persons Chambers and Durance a Flemming were to be placed at Kensington to give speedy Notice to the Conspirators when the King went abroad At first it was agreed to be put in execution Feb. 15. But the King not going abroad then it was deferr'd till Feb. 22. The French were to make a Descent into England and had got Transport Ships ready and Soldiers 20000 who were to Embark at Callis Bulloign Dunkirk c. The French had at St. Germaines Feb. 7. caused 100000 Lewid'ores to be delivered to the late King James and desired him to hasten his Departure a considerable Body of his old Friends were to meet and joyn the French at their landing All things in appearance were in great forwardness Mortars Field-pieces and heavy Cannon for Land-Service Monsieur de Nesmond Gabaret and Dubart were to command the Men of War that were to convoy the Transport Ships the Conduct of the Land-Army was in the Marquess de Bevron Arcourt as Chief and under him Pecontal and Albergoti as Mareschals de Camp and for Brigadiers the Duke de Humieres Monsieur de Biron and Monsieur de Monray c. and Lapara the chief Engineer The Men being Embark'd the day before it was discover'd here 300 Sail or thereabouts weigh'd Anchor and stood to Sea but the Wind shifting they were oblig'd to return into the Ports and disembark some part of them These were designed to land in Kent Sussex or the Mouth of the River and the Providence is the more remarkable since had they gone forward we might have been under some surprize as not being ready at so short a Warning to oppose them At Kensington the day being come viz. Feb. 22. Keâ—es one of the Spies being sent out to see what he could learn brought word the Guards were returned from Richmond foaming The People much wonder'd the King did not go a hunting for two Saturdays together and the Bravoes began to flag their Courage It seems Capt. Pendergrass discover'd the bottom of the Design on Feb. 13. to Captain Porter and he to my Lord Portland and my Lord to the King on Feb. 14. the very day before the Design was to be put in Execution After which several of the Conspirators have been themselves Executed witness the City-Gates where now their Heads and Quarters are to be seen and this after a free and fair Tryal of their Cause So that our Church may say and our Kings may say as well as that excellent Queen Elizabeth as Psal 129.1 2. c. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up may Israel now say Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me The Plowers plowed upon my Back they made long their Furrows The Lord is righteous he hath out asunder the Cords of the wicked CHAP. XXIII The Innocent strangely cleared WHEN Joseph 's Brethren were constrained to go into Egypt and buy Food of and make Obeysance to that very Person they had thrown into a Pit before and sold into Slavery how their Conscience flew in their Faces with sharp Reflections of Guilt The three Children in the fiery Furnace and Daniel in the Lyons Den saved so miraculously and contrary to all Expectation easily extorted a Confession of their Innocence
him so well as that which hath the deepest Tincture of Malice in it and brings most Dishonour to God and most Vnhappiness to Mankind And therefore it is that tho' he plays sometimes at Push-pin and small Games the lessening of Peoples Estates blotting their Reputation and the like yet his principal aim is still to do most Mischief to the best part of Man his Soul as is too gross and evident to need any Descant or Example yet for Method's-sake observe these following Particulars 1. Dr. J. Templar gave this following Discourse in a Letter to a Friend of is concerning one Robert Churchman of Balsham near Cambridge SIR YOur desire to be acquainted with some Passages concerning the Quakers in this town obligeth me to give you the following Account At my first Settlement here I found them very busie in enticing my People to a compliance with their Perswasions in Religion This Design they did attempt to accomplish by dispersing their Papers among them Two of my Parishioners I had a particular Eye upon namely Robert Churchman and his Wife they being Persons of a very good Life and of a plentiful Estate I was under a fear that their Departure from the Church might be a means to induce others to the same Practice The first in many Discourses I had with him did manifest a very strong Inclination to the Principles of the Quakers The second was so far engaged that the Quakers did commonly report that a Principle was wrought in her As I was one Day in Conference with the said Robert Churchman I desired him that when any of their Books came to his Hand he would do me the kindness to bring them to me that we might read them over together assuring him of no unwillingness in me to hearken to 〈◊〉 soever should appear reasonable What I desired he performed not long after When I had received the Paper into my hand before I began to read I suggested to him That it would be convenient that the Person who had been the cause of his Seducement should be sent for and hear what was replied to the Contents which he willingly consented to When the Quaker was come one Branch of our Discourse was Whether the Scripture is to be owned as a Rule which the Quaker denied asserting That the Rule was within them After the Expence of two or three Hours in Discourse about this and other Matters I desired Robert Churchman to take Notice that the Quakers did not own the Scriptures for their Rule which before this Conference I and intimated to him but found him unwilling to believe It pleased God so far to bless what was spoken that the next time he met his Brother Thomas Churchman he told him of what had passed at my House and that now he was assured that the Quakers did not acknowledge the Scripture for their Rule and for his part he would not be of that Religion which doth disown the Scripture in that particular Not long after the Wife of the fore-mentioned Quaker coming to his House to visit his Wife he met her at the Door and told her she should not come in intimating that her Visit would make Division betwixt them After some Parley the Quaker's Wife spake unto him in these Words Thou wilt not believe except thou see a Sign and thou mayest see some such Within a few Nights after Robert Churchman had a violent Storm upon the Room where he lay when it was very calm in all other parts of the Town and a Voice within him as he was in Bed spake to him and bid him Sing Praises sing Praises telling him that he should see the Glory of the New Jerusalem about which time a glimmering Light appeared all about the Room Toward the Morning the Voice commanded him to go out of his Bed naked with his Wife and Children They all standing upon the Floor the Spirit making use of his Tongue bid them to lie down and put their Mouths in the Dust which they did accordingly It likewise commanded him to go and call his Brother and Sister that they might see the New Jerusalem to whom he went naked about half a Mile When he had delivered his Message that which spake within him charged them to denounce Wrath against them and declare that Fire and Brimstone would fall upon them as it did upon Sodom and Gomorrah if they did not obey and so he returned to his own House where upon the Floor of a low Room he stood naked about three or four Hours All that while he was acted in a very unusual manner sometimes the Spirit within him forced him to sing sometimes to bark like a Dog When his Brother and Sister who followed him were very importunate with him to resist it it bid him to kill them making use of these words These my Enemies which would not that I should Reign over them bring them and slay them before my Face It made him to utter with great readiness many places in Scripture which he had no knowledge of before The Drift of what was spoken was to perswade him to comply with the Quakers and it named some which live in the Neighbouring Towns About three or sour Hours being thus spent he came to himself and was able to give a perfect Account of what had befallen him Several Nights after the same Trouble returned upon him His Wife was tortured with extraordinary Pains the Children which lay in the room complained That their Mouths were stopt with Wool as they were in Bed The Disturbance was so great that he had Thoughts of leaving his House for a time and made it his Desire to be with me at mine I prevailed with him not to be so sudden in his Removal but to make some further Trial. It pleased God upon a Continuance with him in Prayer every Day in the House that he was at last perfectly free from all molestation The Quaker hearing of his Condition gave it out that the Power of God would come upon him again and that the Wound was but skinned over by the Priest Which made me the more importunate with him to keep close to the Publick Service of God and to have nothing to do with them or their Writings Which Direction he followed 'till November 1661 and then perusing one of their Books a little after upon the Tenth Day of that Month his Troubles returned A Voice within him began to speak with him after the former manner The First Sentence which it uttered was Cease thou from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted The Design which he discerned that it did aim at was to take him off from coming to the Church where he had been that Day and from hearing the Word of God It suggested several other Scriptures in order to the perswading of him to a compliance with the Quakers and told him That it would strive with him as the Angel did with Jacob until the Breaking of
take up a Pin he appeared to her and told her that Follet was the cause of all her Troubles and so left her Hitherto I have given you as exact an Account as I could get from them as to the time That which follows I set down without observing the Circumstances of Time or Order of Action because I can learn no certainty of it from them but the Matter of Fact is truth Often when they were gone to Bed the inner Doors were flung open as also the Doors of a Cupboard which stood in the Hall and this with a great deal of Violence and Noise And one Night the Chairs which when they went to Bed stood all in the Chimney-corner were all removed and placed in the middle of the Room in very good order and a Meal-sieve hung upon one cut full of Holes and a Key of an inner Door upon another And in the Day-time as they sate in the House spinning they could see the Barn-doors often flung open but not by whom Once as Alice sate spinning the Rock or Distaff leapt several times out of the Wheel into the middle of the Room upon which she said she thought Follet was in it She had no sooner said the Words but she saw Follet ride by to Sir William York's House about some business with him relating to him as a Justice with much more such ridiculous stuff as this is which would be tedious to relate See the whole Story in Mr. Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 499. 2. The Story of the Devil of Mascon is notorious who a long time disturbed the Quiet of Mr. Perrheaud and his Family by tumbling about the Chairs throwing down his Brass and Pewter drawing the Curtains of his Bed walking about the Chambers whistling singing talking familiarly to them sadling the Horse in the Stable with the Crupper towards the Horses Head sometimes disturbing them at their Devotions answering Questions put to them and telling them things far off with many ludicrous Fits and disputing with a Papist Officer of the City and whirling him oft about and at last cast him on the Ground and sending him home distracted with the Wages of his Curiosity is sufficiently attested by the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle who prefixt an Epistle to it owning it a an undoubted Truth being acquainted with the Author Mr. â—errheand as was also his Brother the Earl of Orkny and Dr. Peter Durmouling Prebend of Canterbury all which have believed it and attested the truth of it Besides could it be counterfited and never contradicted since the first Publication of it in a City where many of both Religions had leave to croud in at certain Houses where they were certain Witnesses what was spoken and acted by their sporting Devil Historian Discourse of Apparitions and Witches p. 16. 3. The Story of the haunting of Mr. Mompesson's House in Wiltshire is famons and Printed in part by Mr. Joseph Glanvil Mr. Mompesson is yet living no melancholy nor conceited Man the truth not doubted of by his Neighbours within this Month I spake with one of them an Attorney who said that the Noises heard the visible moving about of the Boards before their Faces and such like were all undoubtedly true and the thing unquestioned by Mr. Mompesson who to his great Cost and Trouble was long molested by it and his Neighbours and those that purposely went thither to see it Notwithstanding that when some unbelievers went from London to be satisfied nothing was done when they were there for as God oweth not such Remedies to Unbelievers so Satan hath no desire to cure them Ibid. p. 41. 4. In May 1679. Sir William York being from home there was a great Noise made by the lifting up of the Latch of the outmost Door which continued with great Quickness and Noise for the space of two or three Hours 'till betwixt ten and eleven it Clock in the Night his Lady then being at home with few Servants apprehended it to be Thieves and thereupon they went to the Door and spake to them and afterwards winded a Horn and raised the Town and upon the coming in of the Town the Noise ceased and they heard no more of it 'till May following And then Sir William being at London the same Noise was made at the Door as before for two or three Nights together and then they began to believe it to be occasioned by some extraordinary means This was heard alike by twenty several Persons then in the Family who looking out at the Windows over the Door heard the Noise but saw nothing About a Month after when Sir William had returned from London he being in Bed and his Lady ready to go in he heard the same Noise again which held about half a quarter of an Hour and then ceased and began again several times that Night the same Persons being then in the House also and taking the same care to discover it At the end of this knocking there was as if it were a thrusting with a Knee only more violent These Noises continued with some variation to the great disturbance of the whole Family 'till such time as they thought of removing from the House and Sir William's Attendance was required at the Parliament in October following But from that time they were never heard more Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 509. CHAP. LXXXVIII Satan Hurting by Charms Spells Amulets c. I Do not mean here that the Devil hath always his desired Success upon the Souls of Men in these things but through the Permission of Almighty God he is able and oftentimes doth strange and wonderful Actions upon the Vse or Application of Charms Amulets Spells c. on purpose to amuse the World and tempt Mankind to leave the ordinary natural lawful or scriptural Methods and address to him in a way of superstitious or foolish Devotion And I desire the Reader to consider soberly with himself in cases of this nature what Cause within the Cope of meer Nature or within the Bounds of that which is lawful just and good such Effects as I shall mention hereafter can be attributed to Lei him Read and Pause and tell me seriously whether the Effects following are to be fathered upon the Cause in sight or whether there be not something behind the Curtain latent to our Senses that is the Author and if so Whether a good or evil Spirit at least a Spirit and then let him proceed to draw Inferences accordingly which any Man of Sense and unbiassed in Judgment may easily do 1. Bodinus relates how himself and several others at Paris saw a young Man with a Charm in French move a Sieve up and down More 's Antid against Atheism p. 164. 2. And that ordinary way of Divination which they call Coskinomancy or finding who stole this or spoiled that by the Sieve and Sheers Pictorius Vigillanus professeth he made use of thrice and it was with success Ibid. 3. A Friend of mine saith Mr. H. Moor told me
ghostly Child but notwithstanding let the Superiors of the Society bury it where they list Of the Temporal Things granted me by the Apostolick See or gotten any other way I dispose in this manner I nominate and make my general Heir the House of the professed Fathers in Rome of the Society of Jesus of which Order I was but first of all I will that my Debts he paid if there be any and all Duties discharged to whom they are due then for Forty Days as is the Fashion let there be given to my Family such things as pertain to their Diet that is to say so much as is allotted them in Money for their Bread Wine and Victuals I am able to leave them nothing else because I desired this leave of making my Will to bestow all I had on pious Uses as Churches and Poor People and for that cause gave every one of them Wages or some Allowance beside their Diet. Let there be restored unto my own Brother or his Heirs an Image in a Frame of Robert Clement VIII Let there be given to my Nephew Angelo also a little Picture in a Frame of Robert Cardinal de Nobilibus and one of the two in Frames of S. Charles Borromeus and one of the little Crosses which I wear about my Neck with the Relicks that are in it Let there be restored to the Roman College Six Tomes of the Annals of Baronius which it lent me that the other Six of mine might be given to the same for on this Condition I received of the College the first Six Tomes which was given thereunto in my Name by the Author himself that after my death I should leave them all his Works entire To the sam College I leave one of my three best Vestments with the Stole and Manuple which they please also all my Writings and my whole Library unless it shall please our most Reverend F. General to bestow the Library upon some other House of the Society that is in greater Want To our Blessed Lady's Church in Via which is my Titular I leave another of my three best Vestments such as it shall please mine Heir to give I leave no more to that Church because as the Friars know I have been at great Charge in Building of the same and they requested that of me in lieu of other Ornaments which I had determined to have brought them Whatsoever else doth belong unto me or shall belong whether Immoveables Moveables living Things Duties or Debts owing to me whether Sacred belonging to the Chapel or Profane belonging to my Wardrobe or to my Cellars or other Places whether ready Money or whatsoever else I will as is said that all intirely belong to the Heir viz. to the House of the Professed Fathers in Rome And I appoint and nominate the same for Heir in all and every of these Things For the Help of my Soul I leave or prescribe nothing because very little will come unto my Heir as I suppose seeing I never took care to heap up Money or gather Wealth as also for that I trust or rather know the pious Charity of my Mother the Society of Jesus will not be wanting to help me as it is never wanting to other of her Children and as my self have never been wanting all my Life-time to offer Sacrifices and Prayers for such as were departed out of the same I nominate for Honour's sake my most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Cardinal Aldobrandino for the Executor of this my last Will. I hope there will need no labour in the Execution thereof And I leave unto the said most Illustrious Lord than which have nothing more dear a wooden Cross filled with most precious Relicks the Names of which he shall find in a little Desk covered with red Silk This Will and Testament I will have to stand in force the former two being annulled which in all things and for all I revoke make void and annul notwithstanding this Will hath not perhaps been made with wonted Solemnities as the Law requireth for the Bull of Clement VIII in which leave is given me to make my Will doth expressly grant me this Liberty and further to make it by simple Letter or any other Writing subscribed with my own Hand I Robert Bellarmine do Dispose Ordain Bequeath and Appoint by Testament as above not only in the aforesaid but in any other better form whatsoever Jan. 23. 1611. In his Sickness he used often to kiss a little Cross of Silver and therewith to bless himself and mutter over some Prayers In his last Hours after the Pater-Noster and Ave Maria repeated over and over again together with the Creed he breathed his last Sept. 17. about Six or Seven in the Morning In the Relation of his Death published by J. C. 1621. I put this Copy of Bellarmine's Will the rather in this Place to oppose it to Calvin's mentioned before because Opposites set one against another give the greater Light one to another I might have set down a Parcel of Luther's Will too Lord I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent Life upon Earth I have neither House nor Land nor Possessions nor Money to leave Thou Lord hast given me Wife and Children them Lord I give back to thee c. See the Chapt. of Good Pastors c. Luther had a Wife and Children but no Estate to leave them Calvin's Inventory according to Computation amounted not to above a Hundred Pound Bellarmine's seems to consist mostly in a Library of Books Vestments and Pictures 13. Oecolampadius in the 49th Year of his Age falling sick of an Ulcer that broke forth about the Os sacrum sent for the Ministers of the Church and bespake them to this purpose Oh my Brethren the Lord is come He is come he is now calling me away c. I desired to speak with you to encourage you to continue faithful Followers of Christ to persevere in Purity of Doctrine in Lives conformable to the Word of God Christ will take care for the Defence of his Church therefore Let your Lights so shine before Men c. Continue in Love unfeigned walk as in God's Presence adorn your Doctrine with Holiness of Life A Cloud is arising a Tempest is coming and some will fall off but it becomes you to stand fast and God will assist you c. For my self I value not the Aspersions that are cast upon me I bless God I shall with a clear Conscience stand before the Tribunal of Christ I have not seduced the Church of Christ as some affirm but leave you all Witnesses that at the last gasp I am the same that formerly I was He had nothing to give and therefore made no Will but calling for his Children he stroked them on the Head and tho the Eldest was but three Years old bid them See that they loved God and desired his Wife and Kindred to take care they might be brought up in the Feat of
of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that Therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People and truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whomsoever but I must tell you That their Liberty and Freedom consist in having 〈◊〉 Government those Laws by which their Lives and Goods may be most their own It is not for having a share in Government Sirs that is nothing pertaining to them a Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean until you do put the People in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws chang'd according to the Power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to their Charge That I am the Martyr of the People In troth Sirs I shall not trouble you much longer for I will only say this to you That in truth I could have desired some little time longer because that I would have put this that I have said in a little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you may take those Courses that are best for the Good of the Kingdom and your own Salvation The Bishop of London minding him to say something concerning his Religion he answered I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs my Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the World and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left by my Father and this honest Man I think can witness it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs Excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and a Gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take heed that they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax the King said Take heed of the Ax Pray take heed of the Ax. Then to the Executioner I shall have but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my Hand Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Doth my Hair trouble you Who desired him to put it all under his Cap which he did accordingly Then to Dr. Juxon I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side Dr. Juxon There is but one Stage more This Stage is turbulent and troublesome it is a short one but you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of Cordial Joy and Comfort King I go from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Crown where no Disturbance can be Doctor You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good Exchange Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Dr. Juxon saying Remember And so humbly submitted to the Block Jan. 30. 1648. through the Indignity and unjust Dealing of ill Men. A brief Review of the most material Parl. Transact began Nov. 3. 1640. 115. Duke Hamilton Earl of Cambridge made this his last Speech on the Scaffold in the Palace-yard march 9. 1649. I Think it is truly not very necessary for me to speak much there are many Gentlemen and Soldiers there that see me but my Voice truly is so weak so low that they cannot hear me neither truly was I ever at any time so much in love with speaking or with any thing that I had to express that I took delight in it yet this being the last time that I am to do so by a Divine Providence of Almighty God who hath brought me to this End justly for my Sins I shall to you Sir Mr. Sheriff declare thus much as to the Matter I am now to suffer for which is as being a Traytor to the Kingdom of England Truly Sir it was a Country I equally loved with my own I made no difference I never intended either the Generality of its Prejudice or any particular Man 's in it what I did was by the Command of the Parliament of the Country where I was born whose Command I could not disobey without running into the same hazard there of that condition that I am now in It pleased God so to dispose that Army under my Command as it was ruined and I as their General cloathed with a Commission stand here now ready to die I shall not trouble you with repeating of my Plea what I said in my own Defence at the Court of Justice my self being well satisfied with the Command laid upon me and they satisfied with the Justice of their proceedure according to the Laws of this Land God is Just howsoever I shall not say any thing as to the matter of the Sentence but that I do willingly submit to his Divine Providence and acknowledge that very many ways I deserve even a Worldly Punishment as well as hereafter For we are all sinners Sir I am a great one yet for my Comfort I know there is a God in Heaven that is exceeding merciful I know my Redeemer sits at his Right-hand and am confident clapping his hand on his Breast is Mediating for me at this instant I am hopeful through his Free Grace and All-sufficient Merits to be pardoned of my sins and to be received into his Mercy upon that I rely trusting to nothing but the Free Grace of God through Jesus Christ I have not been tainted in my Religion I thank God for it since my Infancy it hath been such as hath been profess'd in the Land and established and now it is not this Religion or that Religion nor this or that Fancy of Men that is to be built upon it is but one that 's right one that 's sure and that comes from God Sir and in the Free Grace of our Saviour Sir there is truly somewhat that he then observing the Writers had I thought my Speech would have been thus takeâ—â—â— would have digested it into some better Method than now I can and shall desire these Gentlemen that do write it that they will not wrong me in it and that it may not in this manner be published to my disadvantage for truly I did not intend to have spoken thus when I came here c.
ready to make a short-sighted Man exclaim with Hercules in the Tragoedian That Vertue is but an empty Name or at least could only serve to make its Owners more sensibly unhappy But altho' such Examples might a little work on a weaker Vertue that which is more confirmed and solid can more easily resist it 'T is not impatient nor uneasie but still believes that Heaven is awake that the Iron Hands of Justice will at length overtake the Offenders and by their Destruction vindicate the Honour and Innocence of those whom they have ruin'd It considers any Riddles in Providence as a curious piece of Opticks which if judged of either before 't is finished or by piece meal here an Eye and there another distorted Feature appears not only unpleasing but really dreadful which yet if viewed when 't is compleat and taking all the Features together makes a Figure sufficiently regular and lovely Who almost could have imagined without some such Reflections as these that those brave Men we have seen for some Years past pick'd out and out off one after another with as much Scandal and Obloquy as cou'd be thrown upon 'em by the ungenerous Malice of thier Enemies when the very Attempt to clear their Reputation has been made almost Capital and involved those who had Courage enough to attempt it in little less Mischief than what they themselves endured That ever these Phoenixes should rise again and flourish in their Ashes That so many great Pens should already have done some of 'em Justice and the World as much to all the rest And with how much more Joy if 't were possible would those Heroes have received their Crowns could they have foreseen their Deaths wou'd have tended so far to work up the Nation to such a just Resentment as wou'd at last have so great an Influence as we find it had on our late glorious deliverance We shall therefore here under this Chapter add the Last Words and what 's Remarkable in the Deaths of those Eminent Persons who fell in Defence of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties both in London and the West of England from the Year 1678. to this Time 1. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey declared some Days before his Death That he believed in his Conscience he should be the first Martyr Two Anagrams there were made on this brave Gentleman which for the peculiar luckiness of 'em it may not be ungrateful to the Reader to have 'em inserted Sir EDMVNDBVRY GODFREY Anagram I FIND MURDER'D BY ROGUES Another BY ROME'S RUDE FINGER DIE He was the first Martyr for our holy Protestant Religion We shall address what has been written on this Subject not only to Posterity but to all the sober unprejudic'd Men of the present Age and so dismiss it and go on to the rest for whom he only made way after we have presented you with one of the best pieces of Wit tht the Age has yielded on Sir Edmund's Death 'T is a part of that ingenious Poem call'd Bacchanalia Well Primrose my our Godfrey's Name on thee Like Hyacinth inscribed be On thee his Memory flourish still Sweet as thy Flower and lasting as thy Hill Whilst blushing Somerset to her Eternal Shame shall this Inscription wear The Devil's an Ass for Jesuits on this spot Broke both the Neck of Godfrey and the Plot. 2. Mr. COLLEDGE NO body can doubt but that 't was now very much the Interest of the Papists to get off if possible that foul Imputation of a Plot which stuck so deep upon 'em which had been confirm'd by Sir Edmund's Murther Coleman's never-to-be-forgotten Letters Arnold's Assassination and a great deal of Collateral Evidence which fell in unexpectedly many of those who gave it being utterly unacquainted with the first Discoverers After several unfortunate Attempts they had made to this purpose after the Living had perjur'd themselves and the Dying done worse to support their desperate Cause after Attempts to blast and ruine some of the Evidence and buy off others of 'em in both which publick Justice took notice of and punish'd 'em being of a Religion that sticks no Villany to serve an Interest and certainly the most indefatigable and firm People in the World when they set about any Design especially where Diana is concern'd not being yet discouraged they resolv'd to venture upon one Project more which prov'd but too successful to the Loss of the bravest and best Blood in the Kingdom and that was to Brand all those who were the steddiest Patriots and so their greatest Enemies of what Rank soever they were with the odious Character of Persons disaffected to the Government or in the old Language Enemies to Caesar They pretended to perswade the World that after all this great noise of a Popish Plot 't was only a Presbyterian one lay at the bottom Things being thus what can any Man of Modesty say to Mr. Colledge's Protestations over and over both in Prison and at his Death that he was perfectly innocent of what he dy'd for I did deny in them say he that is before the Council and do deny it upon my Death I never was in any manner of Plot in my days nor ever had any such Design as these Men have sworn against me I take God to witness as I am a dying Man and on the Terms of my Salvation I know not one Man upon the face of the Earth which would have stood by me And lower I knew not of any part of what they swore against me till I heard it sworn at the Bar. Again All the Arms we had was for our Defence in case the Papists should have made any Attempt by way of Massacre c. God is my Witness this is all I know And in his solemn Prayer and some of his almost very last Words 'T is thee O God I trust in I disown all Dispensations and will not go out of the World with a Lye in my Mouth And just after to the People From the sincerity of my Heart I declare again That these are the very Sentiments of my Soul as God shall have Mercy upon me Thus dy'd Mr. Colledge whose Blood as he himself desir'd it might sufficiently spoke the Justice of his Cause who seem'd in his Speech to have some Prophetick Intimations that his Blood would not be the last as indeed it was not but rather a Praelude to that which follow'd the Edge of the Law being now turn'd against all those who dar'd defend it He has one Daughter yet living whose Gratitude and Generosity to those who were kind to her under the Misfortunes of her Family is at present the Wonder and Entertainment of the Court of England and whose brave Soul speaks her the true Child of such a Father His CHARACTER How great and undaunted his Courage was both his Tryal and Death testifie He was very vigorous and earnest almost to a Fault in his Undertakings But certainly there are so few who err on that hand that
Innuendo's to the then King of England never considering adds he that if such Acts of State be not allowed Good no Prince in the World has any Title to his Crown and having by a short Reflection shewn the Ridiculousness of deriving Absolute Monarchy from Patriarchal Power he appeals to all the World whether it would not be more Advantageous to all Kings to own the Deerivation of their Power to the Consent of willing Nations than to have no better Title than Force c. which may be over-powered But notwithstanding the Innocence and Loyalty of that Doctrine he says He was told he must die or the Plot must die and complains that in order to the destroying the best Protestants of England the Bench was fill'd with such as had been blemishes to the Bar and Instances how against Law they had advised with the King's Council about bringing him to Death suffer'd a Jury to be pack'd by the King's Sollicitors and the Vnder-Sheriff admitted Jury men no Freeholders received Evidence not valid refus'd him a Copy of his Indictment or to suffer the Act of the 46th of Edw. 3. to be read that allows it had over-ruled the most important Points of Law without hearing and assumed to themselves a Power to make Constructions of Treason tho' against Law Sense and Reason which the Stat. of the 25th of Edw. 3. by which they pretended to Try him was reserved only to the Parliament and so praying God to forgive them and to avert the Evils that threatned the Nation to sanctifie those Sufferings to him and tho' he fell a Sacrifice to Idols not to suffer Idolatry to be established in this Land c. He concludes with a Thanksgiving that God had singled him out to be a Witness of his Truth and for that Good Old Cause in which from his Youth he had been engag'd c. His EPITAPH ALgernoon Sidney fills this Tomb An Atheist by declaiming Rome A Rebel bold by striving still To keep the Laws above the Will And hindring those would pull them down To leave no Limits to a Crown Crimes damn'd by Church and Government Oh whither must his Soul be sent Of Heaven it must needs despair If that the Pope be Turn-key there And Hell can ne'er it entertain For there is all Tyrannick Reign And Purgatory's such a Pretence As ne'er deceiv'd a Man of Sense Where goes it then where 't ought to go Where Pope and Devil have nought to do His CHARACTER There 's no need of any more than reading his Trial and Speech to know him as well as if he stood before us That he was a Person of extraordinary Sense and very close thinking which he had the Happiness of being able to express in Words as manly and apposite as the Sense included under ' em He was owner of as much Vertue and Religion as Sense and Reason tho' his Piety lay as far from Enthusiasm as any Man's He fear'd nothing but God and lov'd nothing on Earth like his Country and the just Liberties and Laws thereof whose Constitutions he had deeply and successfully inquired into To sum up all He had Piety enough for a Saint Courage enough for a General or a Martyr Sense enough for a Privy-Counsellor and Soul enough for a King and in a word if ever any he was a perfect Englishman 9. Mr. JAMES HOLLOWAY MR. Holloway declared That Mr. West proposed the Assassination but none seconded him That he could not perceive that Mr. Ferguson knew any thing of it and HOlloway said It was our Design to shed no Blood He being interrogated by Mr. Ferguson's Friend Mr. Sheriff Daniel whether he knew Ferguson he answer'd That he did know him but knew him to be against any Design of killing the King 10. Sir THOMAS ARMSTRONG HE had been all his Life a firm Servant and Friend to the Royal Family in their Exile and afterwards He had been in Prison for 'em under Cromwel and in danger both of Execution and Starving for all which they now rewarded him He had a particular Honour and Devotion for the Duke of Monmouth and push'd on his Interest on all Occasions being a Man of as undaunted English Courage as ever our Country produced In his Paper he thus expressed himself That he thanked Almighty God he found himself prepared for Death his Thoughts set upon another World and weaned from this yet he could not but give so much of his little time as to answer some Calumnies and particularly what Mr. Attorney accused him of at the Bar. That he prayed to be allowed a Tryal for his Life according to the Laws of the Land and urged the Statute of Edward 6. which was expresly for it but it signified nothing and he was with an Extraordinary Roughness condemned and made a precedent tho' Holloway had it offered him and he could not but think all the World would conclude his Case very different else why refused to him That Mr. Attorney charged him for being one of those that was to kill the King He took God to witness that he never had a Thought to take away the King's Life and that no Man ever had the Impudence to propose so barbarous and base a thing to him and that he never was in any Design to alter the Government That if he had been tried he could have proved the Lord Howard's base Reflections upon him to be notoriously false He concluded that he had lived and now died of the Reformed Religion a Protestant in the Communion of the Church of England and he heartily wished he had lived more strictly up to the Religion he believed That he had found the great Comfort of the Love and Mercy of God in and through his blessed Redeemer in whom he only trusted and verily hoped that he was going to partake of that fulness of Joy which is in his pesence the Hopes whereof infinitely pleased him He thanked God he had no repining but chearfully submitted to the Punishment of his Sins He freely forgave all the World even those concerned in taking away his Life tho' he could not but think his Sentence very hard he being denied the Laws of the Land On the Honourable Sir Thomas Armstrong Executed June 20. 1684. HAdst thou abroad found Safety in thy Flight Th' Immortal Honour had not flam'd so bright Thou hadst been still a worthy Patriot thought But now thy Glory 's to Perfection brought In Exile and in Death to England true What more could Brutus or just Cato do 11. Alderman CORNISH TO make an end of this Plot altogether 't will be necessary once more to invert the Order in which things happened and tho' Mr. Cornish suffer'd not till after the Judges returned from the West as well as Bateman after him yet we shall here treat of 'em both and so conclude this Matter Cornish on his Tryal is said to have denied his being at the Meeting and discoursing with the Duke of Monmouth Which they 'd have us believe
she Go learn of her Humility An odd Epitaph upon Thomas Saffin Here Thomas Saffin lies Interr'd ah why Born in New-England did in London die Was the third Son of eight begot upon His Mother Martha by his Father John Much favour'd by his Prince he 'gan to be But nipt by Death at the Age of 23. Fatal to him was that we Small-Pox name By which his Mother and two Brethren came Also to breathe their last nine Years before And now have left their Father to deplore The loss of all his Children with that Wife Who was the Joy and Comfort of his Life June 18. 1687. Here lie Interr'd the Bodies of Captain Thomas Chevers who departed this Life the 18th of Nov. 1675. Aged 44 Years And of Anne Chevers his Wife who departed this Life the 14th of Nov. 1675. Aged 34 Years And of John Chevers their Son who departed this Life the 13th of Nov. 1675. Aged 5 Days Reader consider well how poor a Span And how uncertain is the Life of Man Here lie the Husband Wife and Child by Death All three in five days space depriv'd of Breath The Child dies first the Mother next the Morrow Follows and then the Father dies with Sorrow A Caesar falls by many Wounds well may Two stabs at Heart the stoutest Captain slay On Another Tomb-stone is writ Here lies two loving Brothers side by side In one day buried and in one day died Here lies the Body of Mrs. Bridget Radley the most deservedly beloved Wife of Charles Radley Esq Gentleman-Usher Daily-Waiter to His Majesty which Place he parted withal not being able to do the Duty of it by reason of his great Indisposition both of Body and Mind occasioned by his just Sorrow for the loss of her She changed this Life for a better the 20th of November 1679. Sacred to the Immortal Memory of Sir Palmes Fairbone Kt. Governour of Tangier in Execution of which Command he was Mortally wounded by a Shot from the Moors then Besieging the Town in the 46th Year of his Age Octob. 24. 1680. Ye Sacred Reliques which that Marble keep Here undisturb'd by Wars in quiet sleep Discharge the Trust which when it was below Fairbone's undaunted Soul did undergo And be the Town 's Pallà dium from the Foe Alive and dead these Walls he will defend Great Actions great Examples must attend The Candian Siege his early Valour knew Where Turkish Blood did his young Hands imbrew From thence returning with deserv'd applause Against the Moors his well-flesh'd Sword he draws The same the courage and the same the cause His Youth and Age his Life and Death combine As in some great and regular Design All of a piece throughout and all Divine Still nearer Heaven his Vertue shoâ—e more bright Like rising Flames expanding in their height The Martyr's Glory crown'd the Soldier 's fight More bravely British General never fell Nor General 's Death was e'er reveng'd so well Which his pleas'd Eyes beheld before their close Follow'd by thousand Victims of his Foe * To this lamented Loss for Times to come His Pious Widow Consecrates this Tomb. Here lies expecting the Second Coming of our Saviour the Body of Edmund Spencer the Prince of Poets in his Time whose Divine Spirit needs no other Witness than the Works which he left behind him He was Born in London in the Year 1510. and died in the Year 1596. Abrahamus Couleius Anglorum Pindarus Flaccus Maro Delicìae Decus Desiderium Aevi sui Hic juxta situs est Aurea dum volitant latè tua scripta per orbem Et fama aeternùm vivis Divina Poeta Hîc placidâ jaceas requie custodiat urnam Cana fides vigilentque perenni lampade musae Sit sacer iste locus Nec quis temperarius ausit Sacrilegà turbare manu venerabile bustum Intacti maneant maneant per saecula dulcis Coulei cineres servetque immobile saxum Six vovet Votumque suum apud posteros sacratum esse voluit Qui vivo Incomparabili posuit sepulchrale marmor Georgius Dux Buckinghamiae Excessit è vita Anno Aetatis suae 49. honorifica pompa elatus ex Aedibus Buckinghamianis vitis Illustribus omnium ordinum exsequias celebrantibus sepultus est Die 3. M. Augusti Anno Domini 1667. On the Royal Tombs adjoyning to Cowley 's a Modern Poet writes thus Whole Troops of mighty Nothings lie beside Of whom 't is only said they liv'd and dy'd Here lies Henry Purcel Esq who left this Life and is gone to that Blessed Place where only his Harmony can be exceeded Obiit 21. die Novembris Anno Aetatis suae 37. Annoque Domini 1695. CHAP. CXLVIII Miracles giving Testimony to Christianity Orthodoxy Innocency c. I Can never believe that Miracles ascended up to Heaven with our Saviour so as never to be seen upon Earth more after the first Age of the Church 'T is true they have run in a narrower Stream And when the Gospel was sufficiently established and confirmed by the Testimony of them they were not quite so necessary But some Necessity still occurs and some Miracles have been in all Ages wrought Take these amongst many others and compare them with some other Chapters of this Book 1. Irenaeus in his Second Book against Heresies saith Some of the Brethren and sometimes the whole Church of some certain Place by reason of some urgent Cause by Fasting and Prayer had procured that the Spirits of the Dead had been raised again to Life and had lived with them many Years Some by the like means had expelled Devils so that they which had been delivered from Evil Spirits had embraced the Faith and were received into the Church Others had the Spirit of Prophecy to foretel things to come they see Divine Dreams and Prophetical Visions Others Cure the Sick and Diseased and by laying on of Hands restore them to Health Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. S. Augustine tells us that when the Bodies of Gervasius and Protasius the Martyrs were taken up and brought to S. Ambrose's Church at Milan several Persons that were vexed with unclean Spirits were healed and one a noted Citizen that had been blind many Years upon touching the Bier with his Handkerchief was restored to his sight Aug. Confess l. 9. c. 7. 3. In the Reign of Constantine the Great the Gospel was propagated into Iberia in the uttermost part of the Euxine Sea by the means of a Captive Christian Woman by whose Prayers a Child that was Mortally Sick recovered health and the Lady of Iberia her self was delivered from a Mortal Disease Whereupon the King her Husband sent Embassadors to Constantine entreating him to send him some Preachers into Iberia to Instruct them in the True Faith of Christ which Constantine performed with a glad heart Clark in Vit. Constantin p. 11. 4. That Luther a poor Friar saith one should be able to stand against the Pope was a great Miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater