the Church But it so hapned that drawing out his Handkerchief in the Pulpit he let fall a Letter which the Sexton found and brought to the Dean which was as follows Brother THe Council of our Fraternity have thought fit to send you David George Theodorns Sartor and John Huts their Collections which you may distribute as you see fit for your purpose according to the peoples inclinations These mixtures with your own will not only a little puzzle the Vnderstandings of the Auditors but make your self famous We suppose your wants are not considerable at present by what we have heard how your flock do admire you every day more and more Be not over-zealous in your proceedings in the beginning but gradually win on them as you visit them and according as you find their inclinations to your design let us hear how you have proceeded for it will satisfie your Brethren much and inable them the better to instruct you for the future Hallinghan Benson and Coleman have set a Faction among the German Hereticks so that several who have turned from us have now denied their Baptism which we hope will soon turn the scale and bring them back to their old principles This we have certified to the Council and Cardinals That there is no other way to prevent people from turning Hereticks and for recalling of others back again to the Mother-Church than by the diversities of Doctrines We all wish you to prosper Sam. Malt. Madrid Oct. 26. 1568. This Letter was directed under the name of Thomas Finne and Malt was known to be an English Jesuite at Madrid in Spain and Hallingham Coleman and Benson with one Button and some others that went under the notion of zealous Preachers are noted by our Historians as active instruments of Separation among us whom the Letter calls German Hereticks i. e. Lutherans which Dr. Stillingfleet notes out of Mr. Cambden A. D. 1568. agreeing with the date of this Letter who says that while Harding Sanders and others attacked our Church on one side Coleman Button Hillingham Benson and others were busie on the other who under a pretence of purer Reformation opposed the Discipline Liturgie and Calling of our Bishops as approaching too near to the Church of Rome And these he notes to be the beginners of those Controversies which after broke out with so great violence Nec dum finitus Orestes So that while the Pope held the hot-Iron of Dissention on the Anvil the open Jesuite and the Masquerade Presbyter on each side beat with their Sledges to form the Project after his mind But upon the receipt of the Letter the Dean carried it to Edmond Gest then Bishop of Rochester who instantly caused the said Heath to be apprehended and examined and urging against him what he had said in his Sermon against the Liturgie and for Spiritual Prayers he confessed that he was not wholly of the Episcopal party of England but that he had laboured to refine the Protestants and to take off all Smacks of Ceremonies that in the least do tend to the Romish Faith He confessed also that he knew the said Sam. Malt but objected that the Letter was not directed to him but to one Thomas Finne which as the Bishop observed was usual among the Jesuites And to put the matter out of controversie the Bishop sent to Heaths Lodgings where in one of his Boots were found his Beads and a License from the Fraternity of the Jesuits and a Bull dated the first of Pius Quintus to preach what Doctrine that Society pleased for dividing of Protestants particularly naming the English as Hereticks In his Trunk were also several Books for denying Baptism to Infants and containing several blasphemies Heath being Convicted of these things in open Court the Bishop offered him that if he would discover for what causes he ran into those Schisms and reform his course of life he and the whole Court would intercede for his pardon and provide for his future maintenance To which he answered My Lord I know not what I might have done had I not been so publickly examined but seeing my vocation is so publickly known I shall not acknowledge my self to be guilty of any Misdemeanour for I have fought a good fight for Christ whose cause I have taken in hand This Experiment I tryed among my Country-men that the world may see that all those who term themselves Protestants are not of the Church of England though they speak against Rome The Bishop hearing him speak so obstinately said Behold my Brethren a Jesuits Confession how he hath declared he had set up a certain Form of Religion purposely to withdraw you from the Church of England but woe be to those deluders and to those that will be deluded by them we have a good Law and the light of the Holy Gospel now flourishing among us which hath for many years past been absconded therefore my Brethren consider the condition of your Souls if you start aside once from your Principles having the right way so plainly set before you you will not only run into Popish slavery again but be in peril of a total confusion of Soul and body And if Rome get once her foot on these dominions again not only your selves and your Children but your Princes and Nobles shall become slaves to her Idolatry Then was he remanded to prison and for three days brought to the Market-place at Rochester where he stood by the High-cross with a paper before his breast in which was written his Crimes then he was Pillored and on the last day his Ears cut off his Nose slit and his Forehead branded with the Letter R and was condemned to endure perpetual imprisonment But it lasted not long for a few Months after he dyed suddenly not without the suspition of having poysoned himself How many other Romish Emissaries did act after this manner is not known but certain it is that they had prevailed with too many to walk in their steps and to carry on the work in the same method that they had begun to make a Separation among us for the Authors of the Admonition in the 14 of Queen Elizabeth declared they would have neither Papists nor others constrained to Communicate which although as A.B. Whitgift saith they intended as a plea for their own Separation from the Church yet saith he the Papists could not have met with better Proctors and elsewhere he tells them that they did the Pope very good service and that he would not miss them for any thing for what is his desire but to have the Church of England which he hath accused utterly defaced and discredited by any means overthrown if not by Forreign Enemies yet by domestical Dissentions and what fitter and apter instruments could he have had for that purpose than you who under pretence of zeal overthrow that which other men have builded under colour of purity seeking to bring in deformity and under the cloak of equality and humility would
endeavouring to raise a Rebellion to seize and destroy the Kings Guards to deprive the King and put him to death The Attorney-General urged That the Duke of Monmouth the Lord Gray Sir Tho. Armstrong Mr. Ferguson and this Lord with the Earl of Essex then dead were of a Council for a general Rising to which end they received several Messages from the Earl of Shaftsbury who being disappointed by Mr. Trenchard who had promised to raise a thousand Foot and two or three hundred Horse he and Ferguson left the Kingdom The Witnesses were Col. Rumsey Mr. Shepherd and the Lord Howard on whose evidence he was found guilty and sentenced to die and accordingly he was beheaded in Lincolns-Inne-Fields July 21. 1683. The next was the Tryal of Mr. Rous against whom Mr. Leigh Mr. Lee Mr. Corbin Mr. Richardson gave such evidence that he was presently found guilty and received sentence to die and was executed accordingly Captain Blague being indicted for conspiring to seize the Tower of London received his Tryal but was acquitted Algernon Sidney was tryed at the Kings-Bench-Bar on the 7th 21th and 27th of November 1683. His Indictment was almost the same as the former onely there was added to it his sending of Aaron Smith into Scotland to excite and stir up the Subjects to a Rebellion there and his being the Author of a traiterous Libel containing among other seditious discourses these words viz. The power originally in the People of England is delegated unto the Parliament He the most serene Lord Charles the Second now King of England meaning is subject unto the Law of God as he is a man to the People that makes him a King inasmuch as he is a King the Law sets a measure unto that Subjection and the Parliament judges of particular cases thereupon arising He must be content to submit his interest to theirs since he is no more than any one of them in any other respect than that he is by the consent of all raised above any other If he doth not like this condition he may renounce the Crown but if he receive it upon that condition as all Magistrates do the power they receive and swear to perform it he must expect that the performance will be exacted or revenge taken by those that he hath betrayed And in other places these traiterous Sentences are contained viz. We may therefore change or take away Kings without breaking any Yoke or that is made a Yoke which is not one the injury is therefore in making and imposing and there can be none in breaking it c. In p. 23 24 25 26. many other things were read at the Tryal out of that Libel particularly p. 26. where speaking of a King he says When the matter is brought to that that he must not reign or the People over whom he would reign must perish it is easily decided As if the Question had been asked in the time of Nero or Domitian whether they should be left at liberty to destroy the best part of the world as they endeavoured to do or it should be rescued by their destruction And as for the Peoples being Judges in their own case it is plain they ought to be the onely Judges because it is their own and onely concerns themselves The Attorney-General p. 13. says The whole Book is an Argument for the People to rise in Arms and vindicate their Wrongs He i. e. Sidney lays it down That the King hath no authority to dissolve the Parliament but 't is apparent the King hath dissolved many therefore he hath broken his Trust and invaded our Rights And concludes We may therefore shake off the Yoke for 't is not a Yoke we submitted to but a Yoke by Tyranny that is the meaning of it imposed on us The Witnesses who swore to the Indictment were Mr. West Col. Rumsey Mr. Keeling the Lord Howard Sir Andrew Foster Mr. Atterbury Sir Philip Lloyd Mr. Shepherd Mr. Cary and Mr. Cooke upon whose evidence the Jury found him guilty of High-Treason and accordingly sentence was pronounced against him and he was executed on Tower-hill Decemb. 7. 1683. I shall adde onely a few Remarks on the dying Speeches and Confession of these men and first of Col. Sidney He had no other Apology for himself but that he had been engaged from his youth in that Old Cause for which he prayed in these words Defend thine own Cause and defend these that defend it stir up such as are faint direct those that are willing confirm those that waver give wisdom and integrity unto all Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy mercies and that at the last thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a Witness of thy Truth and even by the confession of my Opposers for that Old Cause in which I was from my youth engaged and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thy self Now the Old Cause wherein Col. Sidney was engaged was the destruction of the Church and the Royal Martyr to set up a Commonwealth in which he acted as a Colonel and one of the Judges of the Royal Martyr yet he calls these Treasons Gods Truth In what Religion this Gentleman died God onely knows for he made no profession at all whether Presbyterian Independent Anabaptist or Quaker but a Protestant at large as any of those Factions term themselves As to the Lord Russel he was also unhappily engaged in the same OLD CAVSE from his youth as may appear by the following Relation Mr. Johnson the Author of the Life of Julian confirmed him in his riper years in those opinions which * This Lewis was a stickling Presbyterian that had gotten the Sequestration of Totnam-high-cross from Mr. Wimpew a loyal Minister of the Church of England To this Lewis many Noblemen and Gentlemen sent their Sons for Education among whom was the late Lord Russel And to divert his Scholars he composed a Farce wherein the young Gentlemen were to be Actors The Farce had all the Formalities of a High Court of Justice President Sollicitor Witnesses c. The Criminal was an old Shock Water-Dog which he called Charles Stuart This Dog was arraigned tryed condemned and executed by cutting off his head By which action he instilled the Principles of Ring-killing into his Scholars as if the murdering of a King were no more than the cutting off a Dogs neck Mr. Lewis and Dr. Manton had educated him For Mr. Johnson having written that Traiterous Book to defend the mischievous Doctrine of Resistance this unhappy man could not be extricated from that snare to his death And it was long before his acquaintance with this Seditious Author that Dr. Manton a great Abettor of the first War and a Favourite of Cromwel had instilled the same Principles into him For in his Comment on St. James 4.1 he proposeth this Question Whether Religion may be defended by Arms To which he answers That sometime the outward exercise of Religion and
obedience to my most gracious Soveraign Charles King of Great Britain c. affirm testifie and declare by this my solemn Oath That I acknowledge my said Soveraign onely Supreme Governour of this Kingdom over all Persons and in all Causes and that no foreign Prince Power State or Person Civil or Ecclesiastick hath any Jurisdiction Power or Superiority over the same and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign Power Jurisdictions and Authorities and shall to my utmost power defend assist and maintain his Majesties Jurisdiction aforesaid against all mortals and shall never decline his Majesties Power and Jurisdiction as I shall answer to God The form of the Bond. I A. B. underscribing do faithfully bind and oblige me that I my Wife Barnes and Servants respectively shall no ways be present at any Conventicles and disorderly Meetings in time coming but shall live orderly in obedience to the Law under the penalties contained in the Acts of Parliament made there-anent As also I bind and oblige me that my whole Tenants and Cotters respectively their Wives Barnes and Servants shall likewise refrain and abstain from the said Conventicles and other illegal Meetings not authorized by Law and that they shall live orderly in obedience to the Law And further that I nor they shall receipt supply or commune with forfeited persons intercommuned Ministers or vagrant Preachers but shall do our utmost endeavour to apprehend their persons And in case my said Tenants Cotters and their foresaids shall contravene I shall take or apprehend any person or persons guilty thereof and present to the Judge Ordinars that they may be fined or imprisoned therefor as is provided in the Acts of Parliament made there-anent otherwise I shall remove them and their Families from my ground And if I shall fail herein I shall be liable to such penalties as the said Delinquents have incurred by the Laws consenting to the registration hereof in the Books of his Majesties Privy-Council or Books of any other Judges competent that Letters and Executorials may be direct hereupon in form as effairs and constitutes my Procurators The Field-preachers damned this Bond as an Arbitrary Tyrannical and Illegal proceeding and Mr. Welsh a Field-preacher having condemned the people for not coming armed to their Meetings with Swords and Pistols to defend the Gospel said That the subscribing this Bond was a renouncing their Baptism and making a Covenant with the Devil more express and worse than that of Witches And Mr. John Dickson at a Conventicle May 26. 1678. said That those who subscribed it had committed a greater sin than the sin of the Holy Ghost and were already in Hell This Mr. Welsh as Ravilliack Redivivus relates it preaching to about seven thousand people told them That the King the Nobles and Prelates were the Murtherers of Christ And sitting down in his Chair he said O People I will be silent speak O People and tell me what good thing the King hath done since his coming home yea hath he not done all the mischief a Tyrant could do And at another time he said That God would assert the Cause of Pentland-hills in spite of the Curates and their Masters the Prelates and in spite of the Prelates and their Master the King and his Master the Devil It was but a little before the Duke of York's going to Scotland that they were forming their Presbyteries after the Model of Ignatius dividing the Nation into several Provinces each of which was to have a Provincial and over all there was appointed a General who as Ignatius had been a Souldier and was thought fit to lead an Army The Provincials were to take an account of the growth or decay of their Party to mark out their Friends and their Enemies and to renew their Contributions and to give account of all to their General who was to reside at Edinburgh or London If this designe had succeeded no two Factions in the world had been more like whatever they are now than the Jesuit and Fanatick Which was the Incubus and which the Succubus that brought forth the two last hellish Plots or whether they were not Twins or as it is in the Riddle Mater me Genuit eadem mox gignitur ex me may puzzle the Reader to resolve It is certain the same plastick Principles formed them both and the Subjects were equally disposed to receive those Forms which have so affrighted the Nations and there is little difference the name excepted between a Clement and a Melvil a Ravilliack and a Mitchel a Bradshaw and a Cargil or the Jesuitical and a Fanatical Regicide both make the King accountable to the People both are for excommunicating deposing and assassinating of Kings both have been such Fire-brands as have kindled consuming fires where-ever they have fixed their cloven feet It is no great wonder that they are sometimes transformed into Angels of light seeing Satan himself may be so transformed neither of them can do their work if they should appear in their proper colours armed with Pistols and Blunderbusses in flames of fire and an horrible stench of Gunpowder and Brimstone they come clothed with Zeal as with a Cloak and in Sheeps clothing with demure looks and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the Simple but inwardly they are ravening Wolves and by their fruits you may know them It is not a pretence of acting for a Good Old Cause or the Catholick Church that can justifie unnatural Rebellions and Bloudshed they who do such things are of their Father the Devil though they own Rome or Geneva for their Mother It is said of Augustus that meeting with a young man in the Country exactly like him in growth and features he asked him merrily whether his Mother was never at Rome No saith the young man but my Father hath been there meaning it was more likely that Augustus and he had one Father than that he should be the Son of Augustus Though our Fanatick Plots were conceived by those that were never at Rome yet the Principles that begot them most certainly came from thence The Fanatick Zeal embracing Popish Principles hath brought forth many of those Plots and Conspiracies which have so often disturbed our Peace and Government And by this time I hope the vizard and pretence of these men will vanish viz. that such of them as have suffered by the hand of Justice have died as Patriots of their Country for their zeal against Popery and in defence of the Liberties of the People against Tyranny and Arbitrary Government This hath been pleaded a thousand times in behalf of a Noble Peer and persons of the same Principles but of the lowest rank have pleaded it for themselves This designe says Colledge is not onely against me but against all the Protestants in England that have had the courage to oppose the Popish Plot and dies praying that his may be the last Protestants bloud that murdering Church of Rome may shed in Christendom And in