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
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
Zealand where living in a great deal of Ease he fell in Love with a Woman of a Beautiful Body and a mind and manners no whit inferior He passed and repassed by her Door soon after grew bolder entered into Conference with her discovers his Flame and beseeches a Compassionate Resentment of it he makes large Promises and uses all the ways by which he hoped to gain her but all in vain Her Chastity was proof against all the Batteries he could raise against it falling therefore into Dispair he converts himself unto Villany He was as I said a Governour and Duke Charles was busied in War he causes the Husband of his Mistriss to be Accused of Treachery and forth with Commits him to Prison to the end that by Fear or Threats he might draw her to his pleasure or at least quit himself of her Husband the only Rival with him in his Loves The Woman as one that loves her Husband goes to the Goal and thence to the Governour to entreat for him and if she was able to obtain his Liberty Dost thou come O my Dear to entreat me said the Governour You are certainly ignorant of the Empire you have over me Render me only a mutual Affection and I am ready to restore you your Husband for we are both under a Restraint he is in my Prison and I am in yours Ah how easily may you give Liberty to us both Why do you refuse As a Lover I beseech you and as you tender my Life as the Governour I ask you and as you tender the Life of your Husband both are at stake and if I must perish I will not fall alone The Woman blush'd at what she heard and withal being in Fear for her Husband trembled and turned pale He perceiving she was mov'd and supposing that some Force should be used to her Modesty they were alone throws her upon the Bed and enjoys the Fruit which will shortly prove bitter to them both The Woman departed Confounded and all in Tears thinking of nothing more but Revenge which was also the more enflamed by a Barbarous Act of the Governour for he having obtained his desire and hoping hereafter freely to enjoy her took care that her Husband and his Rival should be Beheaded in the Goal and there was the Body put into a Coffin ready for Burial This done he sent for her and in an Affable manner What said he do you seek for your Husband You shall have him and pointing to the Prison you shall find him there take him along with you The Woman suspecting nothing went her way when there she sees and is astonished she falls upon the dead Corps and having long lamented over it she returns to the Governour with a fierce Countenance and Tone It is true said she you have restored me my Husband I owe you Thanks for the Favour and will pay you He endeavours to retain and appease her but in vain but hasting home she calls about her most faithful Friends recounts to them all that had passed All agree that she should make her Case known to the Duke who amongst other of his excellent Virtues was a singular Lover of Justice To whom she went and was heard but scarce believed The Duke is angry and grieved that any of his and in his Dominions should presume so far He commands her to withdraw into the next Room till he sent for the Governour who by chance was then at Court being come do you know said the Duke this Woman The Man changed colour do you know too added he the Complaints she makes of you They are sad ones and such as I would not they should be true He shakes faulters in his Speech says and unsays being urged home he confesses all frees the Woman from any fault and casting himself at the Duke's Feet said he placed all his Refuge and Comfort in the good Grace and Mercy of his Prince and that he might the better obtain it he offered to make amends for his unlawful Lust by a Lawful Marriage of the Person whom he had injured The Duke as one that had inclined to what he said and now somewhat milder You Woman said he since it is gone thus far are you willing to have this Man for your Husband She refuses but fearing the Duke's Displeasure and prompted by the Courtiers that he was Noble Rich and in Favour with his Prince was overcome at last she yields The Duke causes both to joyn Hands and the Marriage to be lawfully made which done You Mr. Bridegroom said he You must grant me this that if you die first without Children of your Body that then this Wife of yours shall be the Heir of all that you have he willingly granted it it is writ down by a Notary and witness is to it Thus done the Duke turning to the Woman Tell me said he is there enough done for your satisfaction There is said she But there is not to mine said he And sending the Woman away he commanded the Governour to be led away to that very Prison in which the Husband was slain and dead to be laid in a Coffin headless as he was This done he sent the Woman thither ignorant of what had passed who frighted with that unthought of Misfortune of two Husbands almost at once and the same time lost by one and the same Punishment fell sick speedily and in a short time died having gain'd this only by her last Marriage that she left her Children by her former Husband very rich by the Accession of this new and great Inheritance Lips Monit Lib. 2. Chap. 9. P. 240 241. 3. Sir John Fitz-James was so fearful of the very Shadow and Appearance of Corruption that it cost his chief Clerk his place but for taking a Tankard after a signal Cause of 1500 l. a Year wherein he had been serviceable tho not as a Bribe but as a Civility Caesar would have his Wife without Suspition of Lewdness and Fitz-James his Servants without the appearance of Corruption What way Law always was then a Resolution neither to deny nor defer nor sell Justice When our Judge came upon the Bench he knew no more than Melchisedeck or Levi Father or Mother neither Friend nor Interest For when his Cousin urged for a kindness Come to my House saith the Judge I will deny you nothing come to the King's Court and I must do you Justice And when the Attorney-General bespake his Favour in a publick Cause Troble not your self said he I will do the King Right The King is cast the Attorney expostulates the Judge satisfieth him That he could not do his Majesty Right if he had not done Justice Lloyd 's State Worthies p. 115. 4. Sir Matthew Hale would never receive private Addresses or Recommendations from the greatest Persons in any matter in which Justice was concern'd One of the first Peers of England went once to his Chamber and told him that having a Sute at Law to be try'd before
who had been less guilty were forced to run the Gantlet Twenty more who had no great inclination yet had been seduced to those hellish Enterprises because they were very young were condemned to be lashed with Rods upon their Hands for three Sundays together at the Church-door and the afore-said six and thirty were also doom'd to be lashed this way once a Week for a whole Year together The number of the seduced Children was about three Hundred On the 25th of August Execution was done upon the notoriously Guilty the Day being Bright and Glorious and the Sun shining and some Thousands of People being present at the Spectacle The Order and Method observed in the Examination was thus First The Commissioners and the neighbouring Justices went to Prayer this done the Witches who had most of them Children with them which they either had seduced or attempted to seduce from four Years of Age to sixteen were set before them some of the Children complained lamentably of the Misery and Mischief they were forced sometime to suffer of the Witches The Children being asked whether they were sure they were at any time carried away by the Devil they all declared they were begging of the Commissioners that they might be freed from that intollerable Slavery Hereupon the Witches themselves were asked whether the confessions of these Children were true and admonished to confess the Truth that they might turn away from the Devil unto the Living God At first most of them did very stifly and without shedding the least Tear deny it though much against their Will and Inclination After this the Children were examined every one by themselves to see whether their Confession did agree or no and the Commissioners found that all of them except some very little ones who could not tell all the Circumstances did punctually agree in the Confession of Particulars In the mean while the Commissioners that were of the Clergy examined the Witches but could not bring them to any Confession all continuing stedfast in their denials till at last some of them burst out into Tears and their Confession agreed with what the Children had said And these expressed their abhorrency of the Fact and begged Pardon adding that the Devil whom they called Loeyta had stopp'd the Mouths of some of them and stopp'd the Ears of others and being now gone from them they could no longer conceal it for they now perceived his Treachery Glanvil's Sadduc Triumph p. 579 580 c. I am unwilling to leave this Chapter 'till I have represented the Murderous Nature of Satan and displayed the Devil in his own Colours And this I will endeavour to do in a few Instances which shall be irrefragable beyond all Exceptions and Confutation as I think these before Recorded are enough to make the Atheist bite his Nails and our Witch-Advocates scratch their Heads to find out an Evasion or Scape-hole for themselves to shelter in 7. In 1618. happened a very sad Tragedy in the Family of the Right Honourable the Earl of Rutland whose Children were Bewitched and one Murthered by the Devilish Malice of Joan Flower and her two Daughters Margaret and Philip who dwelt near Belvoir-Castle in Rutland-shire the Residence of that Noble Earl and where they were not only relieved but entertained as Cheerwomen After which Margaret was admitted to live in the Castle as a Servant-maid 'till at length the Countess had Information of some Misdemeanours they were guilty of having Notice that the Mother was a very malicious Woman and much given to Swearing Cursing and Atheistical Imprecations and that of late Days her Countenance was strangely altered her Eyes fiery and hollow her Speech fierce and envious and her whole Demeanour strange and ridiculous being much alone and having divers other Symptoms of a notorious Witch and her Neighbours reported she had Familiar Spirits and terrified 'em all with her Curses and Threats of Revenge upon the least Displeasure was done her She likewise heard That her Daughter Margaret often carried such great Quantities of Provision from the Castle to her Mother as was unfit for a Servant to purloyn and at such unseasonable Hours that it was believed they could never maintain their extraordinary Riot and Expence without robbing their Lady to maintain several debauched Fellows who frequented her Mother's House for the Love of her youngest Daughter Philip who was likewise leudly transported with the Love of one Thomas Symson insomuch as he was heard to say she had Bewitched him for he had no power to leave her though he found himself much altered both in Body and Mind since he kept her Company Such Discourses passed concerning them several Years before they were Apprehended or Convicted of which the Earl and Countess took little Notice by reason of their cunning Observance and modest Carriage toward them At length my Lord had some suspition of the Mother and estranged himself from that Familiarity and Discourse which he used to have with her for one Peak having wronged her she complained to the Earl whom she found unwilling to encourage Clamours and malicious Informations And the Countess discovering some Incivilities in her Daughter's Life and her Neglect of Business discharged her for â—â—ing any more in the Castle yet gave her Forty Shillings a Bolster and a Bed commanding her 〈◊〉 â—ome Upon this the Mother being upbraided by her Neighbours and told that her Daughtâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—urned out of Doors she cursed all that were the Cause of it and studied to Revenge herself upon that Honourable Family The Devil perceiving the malicious Temper of this Wretch and that she and her Daughter were fit Instruments to enlarge his Kingdom offered them his Service and that in such a manner as should no way terrifie them nor could thâ—â— be suspected to be concerned appearing in the shape of a Dog Cat or Rat telling them That if they would make a Contract with him they should have their Will upon their Enemies and do them what Damage they pleased The Thoughts of doing Mischief to their Ill-willers easily induced them all to agree to his damnable Proposals and they consented to be his Body and Soul confirming their Agreement with abominable Kisses and an odious Sacrifice of Blood with certain Charms and Conjurations wherewith the Devil deceived them After this these Three Women became Devils Incarnate and grew proud in the Power they had got to do Mischief by several Spells and Incantations whereby they first killed what Cattel they pleased which so encouraged them that they now threaten the Earl and his Family who soon after fell sick with his Countess and were subject to strange and extraordinary Convulsions which they judging only to proceed from the Hand of God had not the least Jealousie of any evil Practice against them At last as Malice increased in them so the Earl's Family felt the smart of their Revenge for Henry Lord Ross his Eldest Son fell sick of a very unusual Disease and soon after died His
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