see and hear what they did from such Young Men. A near Relation that went into the West to see the issue of things and to perform whatever should be necessary for them gives the following account At Salisbury the 30 th of August I had the first opportunity of Converse with them I found them in a very excellent Composure of Mind declaring their experience of the Grace and Goodness of God to them in all their Sufferings in supporting and strengthning and providing for them turning the Hearts of all in whose hands they had been both at Exon and on Ship-board to shew pity and favour to them although since they came to Newgate they were hardly used and now in their Journey loaded with heavy Irons and more inhumanely dealt with They with great chearfulness profess'd That they were better in a more happy Condition than ever in their Lives from the sense they had of the pardoning Love of God in Jesus Christ to their Souls wholly referring themselves to their wise and gracious God to chuse for them Life or Death Expressing themselves thus Any thing what pleases God what he sees best so be it We know he is abâ—e to deliâ—er but if not blessed be his Name Death is not terrible now but desireable Mr. Benjamin Hewling particularly added As for thâ— World there is nothing in it to make it worth while to live except we may be serviceable to God therein And afterwards said Oh! God is a a strong Refuge I have found him so indeed The next Opportunity I had was at Dorchester where they both were carried there remaining together four days By reason of their strait Confinement our Converse was much interrupted but this appear'd that they had still the same Presence and Support from God no way discourag'd at the approach of their Tryal nor of the event of it whatever it should be The 6 th of September Mr. Benjamin Hewling was order'd to Taunton to be tryed there Taking my leave of him he said Oh! Blessed be God for Afflictions I have found such happy Effects that I would not have been with out them for all this World I remained still at Dorchester to wait the Issue of Mr. William Hewling to whom after Tryal I had free Access whose Discourse was much fill'd with Admirings of the Grace of God in Christ that had been manifested towards him in calling him out of his natural State He said God by his Holy Spirit did suddenly seize upon his Heart when he thought not of it in his retired Abode in Holland as it were secretly whispering in his Heart Seek ye my Face enabling him to answer his gracious Call and to reflect upon his own Soul shewing him the Evil of Sin and necessity of Christ from that time carrying him on to a sensible adherence to Christ for Justification and Eternal Life He said Hence he found a Spring of Joy and Sweetness beyond the Comforts of the whole Earth He further said He could not but admire the wonderful goodness of God in so preparing him for what he was bringing him to which then he thought not of giving him hope of Eternal Life before he called him to look Death in the face so that he did chearfully resign his Life to God before he came having sought his Guidance in it and that both then and now the Cause did appear to him very glorious notwithstanding all he had suffer'd in it or what he further might Although for our Sins God hath with-held these good things from us But he said God had carry'd on his blessed Work on his Soul in and by all his Sufferings and whatever the Will of God were Life or Death he knew it would be best for him After he had received his Sentence when he returned to Prison he said Methinks I find my Spiritual Comforts increasing ever since my Sentence There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus it 's God that justifies who shall condemn When I came to him the next morning when he had received News that he must die the next day and in order to it was to be carried to Lyme that day I found him in a more excellent rais'd spiritual Frame than before He said He was satisfi'd God had chosen best for him he knows what the Temptations of Life might have been I might have lived and forgotten God but now I am going where I shall sin no more Oh! it 's a blessed thing to be free from sin and to be with Christ. Oh! the Riches of the Love of God in Christ to Sinners Oh! how great were the Sufferings of Christ for me beyond all I can undergo How great is that Glory to which I am going It will soon swallow up all our Sorrow here When he was at Dinner just before his going to Lyme he dropt many abrupt Expressions of his inward Joy such as these Oh! the Grace of God the Love of Christ Oh that blessed Supper of the Lamb to be for ever with the Lord He further said when I went to Holland you knew not what Snares Sins and Miseries I might fall into or whether ever we should meet again But now you know whither I am going and that we shall certainly have a most joyful meeting He said Pray give my particular Recommendations to all my Friends with acknowledgements for all their kindness I advise them all to make sure of an Interest in Christ for he is the only Comfort when we come to die One of the Prisoners seemed to be troubled at the manner of the Death they were to die to whom he replied I bless God I am reconciled to it all Just as he was going to Lyme he writ these few Lines to a Friend being hardly suffer'd to stay so long I am going to Launch into Eternity I hope and trust into the Arm of my Blessed Redeemer to whom I commit you and all my dear Relations my Duty to my dear Mother and Love to all my Sisters and the rest of my Friends William Hewling As they passed through the Town of Dorchester to Lyme multitudes of People beheld them with great Lamentations admiring at his Deportment at his parting with his Sister As they pass'd upon the Road between Lyme and Dorchester his Discourse was exceeding Spiritual as those declar'd who were present taking occasion from every thing to speak of the Glory they were going to Looking out on the Country as he pass'd he said This is a glorious Creation but what then is the Paradice of God to which we are going 't is but a few Hours and we shall be there and for ever with the Lord. At Lyme just before they went to die reading John 14.18 He said to one of his fellow-Sufferers Here is a sweet Promise for us I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Christ will be with us to the last One taking leave of him he said Farewel till we meet in Heaven Presâ—ntly I shall be with
A New Martyrology OR THE Bloody Assizes NOW Exactly Methodized in one Volume Comprehending A Compleat History of the Lives Actions Trials Sufferings Dying Speeches Letters and Prayers of all those Eminent Protestants Who fell in the West of England and elsewhere From the Year 1678 to this present time With the Pictures of the most Eminent of them in Copper Plates To this Treatise is added the Life Death of George L. Geffreys The Fourth Edition Containing several Speeches Letters Elegies and New Discoveries sent out of the WEST never Printed before so that the whole Work is now Compleat With an Alphabetical Table annext to it Written by THOMAS PITTS Gent. LONDON Printed according to the Original Copies for John Danton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1693. To the Memory of those Worthy Protestants who Suffer'd in the West and elsewhere from the Year 1678 to 1689. SInce that free Agent who conducts the World His Wheels of Providence has backward whirl'd And by the Turn Men to their Senses brings To loath their Idol-Priests and Idol-Kings Finding a Popish Promise proves all one From an Ignatian Chair and from a Throne Since over-indulgent Heaven has been so kind To op'n our Eyes by Miracles we find All men admiring they 've so long been blind Surpriz'd they should so long their Friends oppose And with a credulous Trust caress their Foes Amidst the numerous Wonders of the time 'T is no small Wonder not to say a Crime We reverence no more their Memory Who for their Countrey 's Welfare dar'd to die Whose quarter'd Limbs imbru'd with Native Gore Still cry for Vengeance on the Western Shore Why should we with ignoble Triumph tread Vpon the silent Ashes of the dead And with insulting Feet their Dust profant Whose free-born Souls spâ—rn at a slavish Chain Souls not so sensless so supine as ours That early saw the drift of Romish Powers Early disdain'd those Yokes with generous Scorn Which our more servile Necks have tamely born That saw the hovering Storm approach from far Threatning a thousand mischiefs worse than War And boldly rush'd upon th' impetuous Waves Rather to die like Men than live like Slaves To save their Native Country bravely try'd Fail'd in th' attempt and then as bravely dy'd In vain would envious Clouds their Fame obscure Which to eternal Ages must endure â—n vain do virulent Tongues attempt to slain The Solid Glory noble Patriots gain If ill designs some to the Battle drew 'T is Iâ—pious to condemn all for a few If fawning Traytâ—rs in their Councils sate 'T is base 〈◊〉 â—ather lament their Fate Tho God or England's sins râ—fus'd to bless Their bâ—ave dâ—signs with the desâ—'d success 'T is an unequal bâ—utish Argument Always to judge the Cause by the â—vent Thus the unthinking giddy Multitude A suffering Jesus Criminâ—l conclude Well 't is enough Heav'n now crowns with applause And gives pâ—otection to that righteous Cause Nay did ordain that Spot to be the Scene Where the Cause dy'd sor't to revive again Great Nassau favour'd by the Powers above Their special câ—re anâ— their peculiar love An Atlas to our siâ—king State does prove Auspicious Stars on all his Councils smile That breath vast Blessings on our joyful Isle And now methinks their Manes who of late Fell worthy Martyrs of our bleeding State Râ—proach us with Ingratitude and say ' Is nothing due unto our murther'd Clay ' Vnto our murther'd Names is nothing due ' Who sacrific'd both Lives and Names for you ' Does no Tongue daign to move in the dâ—fence ' Of wounded Honour and wrong'd Innoâ—ence ' If th' All-wise God tho just don 't yet seâ— good ' With swift revenge t'appeasâ— our crying Blood 'Save us at least from Envy's darker Grave ' And let our Fame a Resuâ—rection have Great Souls too great for our Inferiour Praâ—se You for your selves the Noblest Trophies raise Your Dying Words your Monoments become More bright more lasting than a Maâ—ble Tomb To future Times your Fame shall freâ—hly bloom And speak aloud tâ—ll it strike Envy Dâ—m'â— THE INTRODUCTION NOthing can be plainer to any man that is but moderately vers'd in History than that upon any Turn of Affairs whoever has won or lost or whatever Party is uppermost the great Enemy of Mankind has some way or other advanced his own Interest and got some plausible Argument for Atheism or Profaneness And the reason of it is evident for those who are in the Highest Stations by a weakness incident to most we might perhaps say all of Mankind are apt immediately to conclude themselves the Beloved of Heaven and that Providence favours only them as it did the Jews to the neglect if not detriment of the rest of the World But no sooner is the Wheel turn'd and either by the inscrutable Providence of God or the Wickedness of Men or their own Male-administration of Affairs those who are uppermost thrown out of the Helm to make room for the next set of Governours when those who ascend take the same Notions with their Predecessors while such as are gotten under with all whom Interest or Guilt or Prejudice more closely united to the former Administration grow discontented and uneasie and if their Designs and Expectations are more and more frustrated morose and melancholy The more devout among 'em will be sure to call whoever Suffer in opposition to the established Government Heroes and Martyrs and be ever prophesying of some sudden turn and visible appearance of Heaven to confound their Enemies But the profane or hypocritical Party which we may without breach of Charity suppose very large on all sides very naturally run into the other extream They 'll fly out into frets and passions and because God does not think fit to govern the World according to their Minds impotently pronounce That there is no God at all That Religion 's a meer Cheat and Heaven and Hell but Priest-craft and Fable But notwithstanding the difference in opinion and all sides arrogating as much as possible to themselves there are yet hardly any Men to be found so senslesly sceptical as to deny the differences of Right and Wrong Good and Evil. That it hugely alters the Case to consider whether opposition has been made against a lawful or unlawful Power whether the means be legal or no or the Reasons sufficient to countervail all the mischiefs that may arise from such undertakings Whether such as do it have any right or concern to warrant their Actions whether for or against in defence or opposition to the Laws of Nature and Nations VVhether those that suffer meet with their misfortunes in the discharge of their Duty or opposing others in theirs Or if the Quarrel be Religion VVhether that Religion on which it is grounded be a false or a true one And 't is from the Examination of such particulars as these whence 't will appear whether they are Patriots or Rebels stubborn Enthusiasts or holy Martyrs Now as oft as the iniquity of
bring a poor sinner to himself Oh! Electing Love distinguishing Grace what great cause have I to admire and adore it He said What an amazing Consideration is the sufffering of Christ for sin to bring us to God his suffering from wicked Men was exceeding great but alas what was that to the Dolours of his Soul under the infinite Wrath of God This Mystery of Grace and Love is enough to swallow up our thoughts to all Eternity As to his own Death he would often say He saw no reason to expect any other I know God is infinitely able to deliver and I am sure will do it if it be for his Glory and my Good in which I bless God I am fully satisfied it 's all my desire that he would choose for me and then I am sure it will be best whatever it be for truly unless God have some work for me to do in the World for his Service and Glory I see nothing else to make Life desirable In the present state of Affairs there is nothing to cast our Eyes upon but Sin Sorrow and Misery And truly were things never so much according to our desires it 's but the World still which will never be a resting-place Heaven is the only state of Rest and Happiness there we shall be perfectly free from Sin and Temptation and enjoy God without interruption for ever Speaking of the Disappointment of their expectations in the work they had undertaken he said with reference to the Glory of God the Prosperity of the Gospel and the delivery of the People of God We have great Cause to lament it but for that outward Prosperity that would have accompanied it it s but of small moment in it self as it could not satisfie so neither could it be abiding for at longest Death would have put an end to it all Also adding nay perhaps we might have been so foolish as to have been taken with that part of it with the neglect of our eternal concerns and then I am sure our present circumstances are incomparably better He frequently express'd great concern for the Glory of God and affection to his People saying If my Death may advance Gods Glory and hasten the Deliverance of his People it is enough saying It was a great comfort to him to think of so great a priviledge as an interest in all their Prayers In his Converse particularly valuing and delighting in those Persons where he saw most holiness shining also great pity to the Souls of others saying That the remembrance of our former Vanity may well cause Compassion to others in that state And in his Converse prompting others to Seriousness telling them Death and Eternity are such weighty concerns that they deserve the utmost intention of our Minds for the way to receive Death chearfully is to prepare for it seriously and if God should please to spare our Lives surely we have the same reason to be serious and spend our remaining days in his Fear and Service He also took great care that the Worship of God which they were in a Capacity of maintaining there might be duly perform'd as Reading Praying and Singing of Psalms in which he evidently took great delight For those three or four days before their deaths when there was a general Report that no more should die he said I don't know what God hath done beyond our expectations if he doth prolong my Life I am sure it is all his own and by his Grace I will wholly devote it to him But the 29 th of September about ten or eleven at Night we found the deceitfulness of this Report they being then told they must die the next Morning which was very unexpected as to the suddenness of it but herein God glorified his Power Grace and Faithfulness in giving suitable Support and Comfort by his blessed Presence which appeared upon my coming to him at that time finding him greatly composed He said Tho' Men design to surprize God doth and will perform his Word to be a very present help in trouble The next Morning when I saw him again his Cheerfulness and Comfort were much increased waiting for the Sheriff with the greatest-sweetness and serenity of Mind saying Now the Will of God is determined to whom I have referr'd it and he hath chosen most certainly that which is best Afterward with a smiling Countenance he discours'd of the Glory of Heaven remarking with much delight the third fourth and fifth Verses of the 22 th of the Revelations And there shall be no more Curse But the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his Servants shall serve him and they shall see his Face and his Name shall be in their Foreheads and there shall be no Night there and they shall need no Candle nor Light of the Sun and they shall reign for ever and ever Then he said Oh what a happy State is this shall we be loth to go to enjoy this Then he desired to be read to him 2 Cor. 5. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd we have a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens to the tenth or eleventh verses In all his Comforts still increasing expressing his sweet Hopes and good Assurance of his Interest in this glorious Inheritance and being now going to the possession of it seeing so much of this happy Change that he said Death was more desireable than Life he had rather dye than live any longer here As to the manner of his Death he said When I have consider'd others under these Circumstances I have thought it very dreadful but now God hath call'd me to it I bless God I have quite other apprehensions of it I can now chearfully embrace it as an easie passage to Glory and tho' Death sâ—parates from the Enjoyments of each other here it will be but for a very short time and then we shall meet in such Enjoyments as now we cannot conceive and for ever rejoyce in each others Happiness Then reading the Scriptures and musing with himself he intimated the great Comfort God convey'd to his Soul in it saying O what an invaluable Treasure is this blessed Word of God in all Conditions here is a store of strong Consolation One desiring his Bible he said No this shall be my Companion to the last moment of my Life Thus praying together reading meditating and conversing of Heavenly things they waited for the Sheriff who when he came void of all Pity or Civility hurried them away scarce suffering them to take leave of their Friends But notwithstanding this and the doleful mourning of all about them the Joyfulness of his Countenance was encreased Thus he left his Prison and thus he appear'd in the Sledge where they sat about half an hour before the Officers could force the Horses to draw at which they were greatly enraged there being no visible obstruction from weight or way But at last
he was very much above but meerly from the true respect he had for 'em and a sense of that imminent Danger they were in which his piercing Judgment and long Experience made him more sensible of and his Courage and Vertue more concern'd at than others not only those who sat unconcern'd Spectators or shar'd in their Ruins but even then most of them who were engag'd with him in the same Common Cause of their Defence and Preservation Nothing of such an impatience or eargerness or black melancholy cou'd be discern'd in his Temper or Conversation as is always the Symptom or Cause of such Tragical-Ends as his Enemies wou'd perswade us he came to Lastly What may be said of most of the rest does in a more especial and eminent manner agree to the illustrious Essex and than which nothing greater can be said of Mortality He liv'd an Hero and dy'd a Martyr Upon the Execrable Murther of the Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Essex MOrtality wou'd be too frail to hear How ESSEX fell and not dissolve with fear Did not more generous Rage take off the blow And by his Blood the steps to Vengeance show The Tow'r was for the Tragedy design'd And to be slaughter'd he is first confin'd As fetter'd Victims to the Altar go But why must Noble ESSEX perish so Why with such fury drag'd into his Tomb Murther'd by slaves and sacrific'd to Rome By stealth they kill and with a secrect stroke Silenâ—e that Voice which charm'd when e'er it spoke The bleeding Orifice o'reflow'd the Ground More like some mighty Deluge than a Wound Through the large space his Blood and Vitals glide And his whole Body might have past beside The wreaking Crimson swell'd into a Flood And stream'd a second time in Capel's Blood He 's in his Son again to Death pursu'd An Instance oâ— the high'st Ingratitude They then malicious Stratagems Imploy With Life his dearer Honour to destroy And make his Fame extinguish with his Breath An Act beyond the Cruelties of Death Here Murther is in all its shapes compleat As Lines united in their Centre meet Form'd by the blackest Politicks of Hell Was Cain so dev'lish when his Brother fell He that contrives or his own Fate desires Wants Courage and for fear of Death expires But mighty ESSEX was in all things brave Neither to Hope nor to Despair a Slave He had a Soul too Innocent and Great To fear or to anticipate his Fate Yet their exalted Impudence and Guilt Charge on himself the precious Blood they spilt So were the Protestants some years ago Destroy'd in Ireland without a Foe By their own barbarous Hands the Mad-men dye And Massacre themselves they know not why Whilst the kind Irish howl to see the Gore And pious Catholicks their Fate deplore If you refuse to trust Erroneous Fame Royal Mac-Ninny will confirm the same We have lost more in injur'd Capel's heir Than the poor Bankrupt age can e're repair Nature indulg'd him so that there we saw All the choice strokes her steddy hand cou'd draw He the Old English Glory did revive In him we had Plantagenets alive Grandeur and Fortune and a vast Renown Fit to support the lustre of a Crown All these in him were potently conjoyn'd But all was too ignoble for his Mind Wisdom and Vertue Properties Divine Those God-like ESSEX were entirely thine In his great Name he 's still preserv'd alive And will to all succeeding times survive With just Progression as the constant Sun Doth move and through its bright Ecliptick Run For whilst his Dust does undistinguish'd lye And his blest Soul is soar'd above the Sky Fame shall below his parted Breath supply William Lord Russel THE next who fell under their Cruelty and to whose Death Essex's was but the Prologue was my Lord Russel without all Dispute the finest Gentleman one of 'em that ever England bred and whose pious Life and Virtue was as much Treason against the Court by affronting 'em with what was so much hated there as any thing else that was sworn against him His Family was ancient tho' not rais'd to the Honours it at present enjoys till King Edward's time when John Russel a Dorsetshire Gentlemen who had done many Services and receiv'd many favours from the Crown both in Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth's time being by the latter made Lord High Admiral and at his Death Lord High Steward of England for the Solemnity of the Coronation obtain'd such a Victory for his young Master against his Rebels as was rewarded with the Title of The Earl of BeÌ„dford The Occasion of it thu Idolatry and Superstition being now rooting out by the Publick Authority and Images every where pulling down the Loyal Papists mutined and one of their Priests stabb'd a Commander of the Kings who was obeying his Orders and ten thousand of the deluded Rabble rise in the Defence of that barbarous Action and their old Mass and Holy-water Against whom this fortunate Lord was sent with an Army who routed 'em all relieved Exeter which they had besieg'd and took their Gods Banners Crucifixes and all the rest of their Trumpery wherein the deluded Creatures trusted for Victory Thus the Family of the Russels were early Enemies to the Romish Superstition tho' this brave Gentleman only paid the Scores of all his Ancestors The Son and Heir of this John was Francis second Earl of Bedford who was as faithful to the Crown as his Father an Enemy and Terror to the French and a Friend to the Protestant Religion as may appear by the Learned Books of Wickliff which he collected and at his Death bequeath'd to a great Man who he knew wou'd make good use of ' em His eldest Son William Lord Russel the present Earl of Bedford is sufficiently known to every true English-man and his Person and Memory will be honoured by them as long as the World lasts But 't is necessary good men should not be immortal if they were we should almost lose their Examples it looking so like Flattery But to do 'em Justice while they are living with more safety and less censure we may discourse of that Noble Gentleman his Son and Name-sake William Lord Russel who made so great a Figure in our Courts and Parliaments before he was sacrificed to the Cruelty and Revenge of his Popish Enemies If we 'd find his first Offence which lay behind the Scene and was indeed the Cause of his Death though other Colours were necessary to amuse the Publick we must look some years backward as he himself does in his last Speech wherein he tells the World He cannot but think his Earnestness in the matter of the Exclusion had no small influence on his present Sufferings Being chosen Knight of the Shire for Bedfordshire where the evenness and sweetness of his Behaviour and his virtuous Life made him so well-beloved that he 'll never be forgotten He began sooner than most others to see into that danger we were in
Sarah â—ain and afterwards of Mr. Jennison That Ireland was in Town when others witness he was in the Country But now at his Tryal Bedlo and Pain being dead and Jennison fled into Holland he was absolutely incapacitated of making any Defence that way and so was found Guilty of both Indictments The Judgment against him was just as merciful as could be expected from Papists acting by a Jeffreys part of which was To be whipt from Algate to Newgate on Wednesday and on the Friday following from Newgate to Tyburn and stand on the Pillory five times a year and be Prisoner during Life Which he bore with a great deal of Strength and Courage tho had not Providence provided him a Body and Soul made one would think on purpose for it 't would have kill'd him if he 'd had the strength of twenty Men. He had in all above two thousand Lashes as some that were by reckon'd em up Such a thing as was never inflicted by any Jew Turk or Heathen but Jeffreys nay the merciful Jews thought one less than God Almighty had appointed sufficient and never gave but 39 at a time all St. Paul's 3 times not coming near the third part of the Doctors Had they hang'd him they had been merciful had they flead him alive 't is a question whether it had been so much torture How good and merciful those Persons who will vindicate this worse than barbarous and inhumane Action are let the World and future Ages be Judges in the mean while we 'll safely defy all History to shew one Parallel of it either on man or Dog from the Creation of the World to the year 1685. But there needs no more aggravation of it or urging what is plain enough that the thus dealing with him even supposing his Crime as great as they 'd have it was yet the highest affront and indignity even to Humanity it self 'T will besides this be an unanswerable Observation That it had been impossible for a Man to have held out the Second Whipping after the first was over while the Wounds were fresh about him and every new stroke more than a double torment either to have undergone this without Confession or dropping down Dead with extremity of pain had he not both had truth on his side and also a more than common support and assistance from him who saw his Innocency This Whipping of his being the greatest Confirmation to his Evidence that was possible to be given After his return to Prison after all this Usage yet if possible more barbarous tearing off the Plaisters from his Wounds crushing him with Irons thrusting him into Holes and Dungeons and endeavouring to render him as infamous to the Nation and all the World as Cain or Judas he bore up against aâ—l this and more with so strange and almost mirâ—culous a Patience that during his four yâ—aâ—s Imprisonment he was never once heard to sigh or maniifest any impatience under his Condition He refused all the Offers of the Jesuits who even after this had the Impudence to proâ—ose to him his recanting his Evidence He had still a strong Belief that he sâ—ould see better â—imes and get his freedom again which he had in that General Goal-delivery graâ—ted all England by the then Prince of Orange's Heroick Undertaking Since that he has presented his Case and Petition to the Parliament to the House of Commons as well as the House of Lords And tho the Honourable House of Lords were offended at what they judged a slight of their Jurisdiction in his Addressing to the House of Commons while his Cause lay before them and exprest their resentments thereof accordingly The Commons have since that taken his Case into Consideration and as well as four succeeding Parliaments before 'em own'd his Cause and censur'd the Proceedings of Jeffâ—eys against him and 't is not doubted but will appoint him Rewards suitable to his Sufferings and Merit His Character HIs Firmness and Courage even perhaps to a Fault have been visible through these mentioned and all his other Actions since he appear'd on the publick Stage His Passions are lively and warm and he 's the worst made for a Dissembler an Hypocrite or a secret Villain of any Man in the World Nor have all his Sufferings much sunk him tho he be a little alter'd in this particular He 's open and frank and speaks whatever he thinks of any Persons or things in the World and bearing himself justly enough on his Services to his Country is not careful to keep that Guard which others do on his Words and Actions He has Wit enough a pleasant Humour and sufficiently divertive to those he knows and his Learning is far from contemptible He has a good Library is no mean Critick in the Greek and well acquainted with the Schoolmen and Fathers He 's owner of as much Generosity as any Man and as much tenderness to any in Misery scorning to strike at those below him an example of which very remarkable there was in his inhumane Judges Fall he being almost the only Person who has been heard to pity him tho' one would have thought he should have been the last In a word as this present Age has now begun to do him Justice so t is not doubted will make an end on 't and those succeeding joyn with it in making honourable mention of his Name and Services to the Protestant Religion Mr. Johnson MUch about the same time the pious reverend and learned Mr. Johnson met with much the same Usage His great Crimes were Being my Lord Russel 's Chaplain Writing the famous Julian the Apostate and endeavouring to perswade the Nation not to let themselves be made Slaves and Papists when so many others were doing their parts to bring 'em to it And 't is a question whether any Man in the World besides his Friend the Reverend Dr. Burnet did more Service with his Pen or more conduc'd to our great and happy Revolution both among the Army and in other places For some of these Good Sâ—rvices he was Accused Imprisoned Tryed and Condemned to be divested of his Canonical Habit and be whipt as far as Oats was before him which was perform'd and which he underwent as he did with Courage and Constancy above a Man and like a Christian and a Martyr He remain'd ever since in the Kings Bench till the Prince's coming deliver'd him The following Paper was Published by Mr. Samuel Johnson in the year 1686. For which he was Sentenced by the Court of King's-Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice to stand three times on the Pillory and to be Whipp'd from Newgate to Tyburn which Barbarous Sentence was Executed An Humble and Hearty ADDRESS to all the English Protestants in this present Army Gentlemen NExt to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the Principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hands and often look Death in the
repent But ye who hallow with deserv'd applause A better Martyr for a better cause You who to fate and fortune scorn to yield Who still dare own you 're friends to Dangerfield And you dear partner of his Joy and Grief The worthiest him the best the tend'rest Wife Who most who best adore his memory Who only I must grant lov'd more than me Bring his dear all which at your bottom lies His fair remains which I shall ever prize Whose fathers vigorous soul plays round her eyes All all in a full ring together come And Join your Prayers and Curses round his Tomb. Curst be the wretch who did him first ensnare Too mean to let his name have here a share A double curse for them that thought it good Such a Wife shou'd sell such a Husband's Blood Still double double till I 'm out of breath On all that had a hand a finger in his Death My Curse a Friends a Wives an Orphans too For all of this side damning is their due The little plagues of Egypt to begin Ashwe'nsdays curses for each lesser sin With whate're angry heaven since could find To bait and lash impenitent mankind Gouts Feavers Frenzies Claps Consumptions Cramps Whatever may put out their stinking Lamps May kind Abortions in some lucky hour The fruit and hope of their vain lust devour Or if they 're born may the unwholesome fry Creep only like young Toads abroad and dye Heartily thus let 's curse and if vain pitty move Straight think agen on manly rage and love Swear by his Blood and better while we live This on our selves if we his blood forgive And may who e're his Murd'rers death deplore Feel all these curses and ten thousand more Dangerfield's Ghost to Jeffreys REvenge Revenge my injur'd shade begins To haunt thy guilty Soul and scourge thy sins For since to me thou ow'st the heaviest score Whose living words tormented thee before When dead I 'm come to plague thee yet once more Don't start away and think thy Brass to hide But see the dismal shape in which I dy'd My Body all deform'd with putrid Gore Bleeding my Soul away at every Pore Pusht faster on by Francis less unkind My Body swoln and bloated as thy Mind This dangling Eye-ball rolls about in vain Never to find its proper seat again The hollow Cell usurpt by Blood and Brain The trembling Jury's Verdict ought to be Murder'd at once by Francis and by Thee The Groans of Orphans and the pond'rous guilt Of all the Blood that thou hast ever spilt Thy Countreys Curse the Rabbles spite and all Those Wishes sent thee since thy long wisht Fall The Nobles just Revenge so bravely bought For all the Ills thy Insolence has wrought May these and more their utmost force combine Joyn all their wrongs and mix their Cries with mine And see if Terror has not struck thee blind See here a long a ghastly Train behind Far far from utmost WEST they crowd away And hov'ring o're fright back the sickly Day Had the poor Wretches sinn'd as much as Thee Thou shou'dst not have forgot Humanity Who ' ere in Blood can so much pleasure take Tho' an ill Judge wou'd a good Hang-man make Each hollows in thy Ears Prepare Prepare For what thou must yet what thou canst not bear Each at thy Heart a bloody Dagger aims Upward to Gibbets point downward to endless Flames Mr. NOISE AMong those who suffer'd innocently for Lea's Plot this poor young Gentleman was one tho' omitted in due place who tho' he lost not his Life immediately by it was yet put to such Extremities as both injur'd his Reason and ruin'd his Fortunes He was born of a good Family not far from Reading in Barkshire and being a younger Son was bound Apprentice to a Linnen-Draper in London In which capacity he was a great Promoter of the Apprentices Address intended to be presented to the King for redress of Grievances and further Prosecution of the Popish Plot. A Crime which those concern'd cou'd never pardon and which was now lookt on both by himself and all his Friends as the Cause of these his Troubles Lea swore against him that he was concern'd in this Plot which he absolutely denying tho' no other Witness came in against him and he was ne're brought to a Trial he underwent a long and severe Imprisonment loaded with Irons and kept from his Friends so long till his Trade was ruin'd before he was set free and he himself then rendred so unfit for business that he was forc'd entirely to leave it off and betake himself to Travel where never quite recovering himself he in a little time after fell sick and dy'd And here 't will not be improper to remind my Readers that about this time things running very high for Popery and Arbitrary Power the consideration thereof was very afflicting to Mr. Noise Yet notwithstanding all this he was silent a long while and minded onely the proper business of his Calling resolving not to concern himself with State-affairs as deeming them above his Sphere and Condition which Silence and Resolution he had still kept notwithstanding the great and ineffable Evils he saw impending over us which were much the more apparent upon the Prorogations and Dissolutions of so many Parliaments in so dangerous and so critical a Juncture but that casually reading one of the VVeekly Intelligences he happen'd therein to meet with something Entituled An Address from the Loyal Young Men Apprentices of the City of London To His Majesty The Title he thought concern'd him as being a Loyal Apprentice of the same City and therefore he deliberately read it over At first it seem'd to bear a fair aspect as it was a Tender of Thanks to His Majesty for His most Gracious Declaration but considering that this Declaration contain'd in it several severe Reflections on the Proceedings of the late Parliaments terming them Arbitrary Illegal and Unwarrantable Mr. Noise dreaded the coâ—sequence of such Reflections as believing that 〈◊〉 stood not with Modesty for Apprentices to charge the Great Senate of the Nation with Arbitrary Illegal and Unwarrantable Proceedings and resolv'd what in him lay to Vindicate himself and Fellow-Apprentices which is thought to have been the cause of all his Sufferings before-related and to satisfie the whole World that the far greater part of the Apprentices of London have too great a Veneration for Parliaments which under His Majesty are the Bulwarks of our Lives Liberties and Properties for to be concern'd in any thing tending to Reproach or Reflect upon them he advisâ—d with several sober Persons about it who did not disapprove of his Design but Advice therein they would not give Wherefore Mr. Nâ—ise thinking to Petition the Lord Mayor would be the most modest and proper way to demonstrate a dislike of and detestation to all such actions he caused the following Petition to be drawn up and Presented viz. To the Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London the humble Address
Spectacle that they behold me with high complacency and delight but to the other I am a mournful and unpleasant one and they behold me with no less pity and compassion Concerning the first I can say I freely and heartily forgive them and heartily pray that God would most mercifully and graciously prevent their mourning through Misery not only here but eternally hereafter Concerning the other I will say Weep for your own sins and for the sins of the Nation for the highest Rebellions that ever were committed against the great and eternal God lament bitterly for those sins that have been the meritorious Cause of the late terrible Judgment that which I fear will cause God to break in upon this Nation with an overflowing Deluge of Judgments which are far more tremendous and dreadful As for sympathizing with me in drinking this bitter Cup appointed for me I return you most humble and hearty thanks earnestly desiring God to come unto you and fill your Soulâ— with all Celestial Comforts and Spiritual Consolations Something I must say to purge and clear my self from a false Accusation laid to my Charge as that I was engaged with Col. Blood in rescuing Col. Mason near Boston when he was sent down with a Guard from London to York to be Tryed for High Treason and that I was the Man that killed the Barber of that City â—nd that also I was with him when he stole the Crown Now as I am a dying Man and upon the very brink of a very stupendous Eternity the â—â—uth and reality whereof I fiâ—mly believe without any reservation or the least equivocation I do declare in the Presence of the All-seeing God that impartial Judge before whom in a very little time I must appear I never saw nor conversed with Mr. Thomas Blood from 1656 till after he stole the Crown which was in 71 or 72. nor was ever engaged with him in any of his Treasonable Plots or Practices 'T is true I being involved in great trouble of another Nature of which I have given to the World a Narrative and which is notoriously known in the Country where I then lived by some that were Enemies to me for my preaching I was perswaded to apply my self to Mr. Blood to procure by his Intercession his late Majesties gracious Favour accordingly he brought me into his Royal Presence while I was there his Majesty carried it with great Clemency without expressing one word of that which I am now charged with Mr. Blood continued with his Majesty a little longer than I did then he told me that he had granted me a Pardon which I did thankfully accept of knowing it would free me from all Penalties and Troubles that I was obnoxious to and were occasioned to me by my Non-conformity Then engaging him to take out my Pardon he told me That he got it out with several others that had been engaged with him in several Treasonable Designs and Actions at which I was troubled supposing it might be imputed to me thereby yet God knows I have often since reflected upon it with great regret and dissatifaâ—tion If Mr. Blood did inform the late King to make himself the more considerable and to bring as many of his Party as he could to accept of their Pardons that hâ— might be rendered utterly incapable of Plotting any further Mischief against his Government or any other ways that I was engaged with him in any of his Treasonable Attempts I now appeal to God as a dying Man concernâ—ng it that he hath done me an irreparable wâ—ong I also in the same manner do declare That I was never ingaged with any Party in Plotting or Designing or Contriving any Treason or Rebellion agâ—inst the late King and particularly that I was altogether uncoâ—cerned in and unacquainted with that for which my Lord Russel and others suffer'd and as much a stranger to any against the present King And whereas it is reported of me That at Taunton I perswaded the late Duke of Monmouth to assume the Title of King I do once more solemnly declare That I saw not the said Duke nor had any Converse with him 'till he came to Shipton-Mallet which was thirteen days after he landed and several days after he had been at Taunton And 't is as false that I rid to and fro in the West to stir up and perswade Men to go into his Army and rebel against his present Majesty for I was iâ— the East Country when the Duke landed and from thence I went directly to him when he was at Shipton Mallâ—t not one Man accompanying me from thence But hitherto as I lived so now I die owning and professing the true Reformed Christiaâ— commonly called the Protestant Religion which is founded on the pure written Word of God only and which I acknowledge likewise to be comprehended in the Article of the Doctrine of the Church This Religion I have made a reasonable and free choice of and have heartily embraced not only as it protests against all Pagan and Mahometan Religion but against the Corruption of the Christian and I humbly and earnestly pray to God that by his Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power he will prevent not only the utter extirpation but diminution thereof by the heighth and influence of what is contrary thereto and for that end the Lord make the Professors of it to live up more to its Principles and Rules and bring their Hearts and Conversations more under the Government and Power of â—he same I die also owning my Ministry Non-conformity for which I have suffer'd so much and which doth now obstruct the King's Grace and Mercy to be manifested and extended to me For as I chose it not constrainedly so I appeal to God as a dying Man not moved from sullenness or humour or factious temper or erroneous Principles of Education or from secular interests or worldly advantages but clearly from the Dictates of my own Conscience and as I judged it to be the Cause of Goâ— and to have more of Divine Truth in it than that which is contrary thereto so now I see no Cause to repent of it nor to recede from it not questioning but God will own it at the last Judgment-day If no more had been required after the late King's Restauration to qualifie Ministers for publick Preaching than was after the first Restauration from the time of Charles the First probably I might have satisfied my self therewith and not scrupled Conformity thereto but the Terms and Conditions thereof by a particular Law made in 1662. being not only new but so strict and severe that I could never have satisfaction in my own Conscience after all Endeavours used for a Complyance therewith and a Conformity thereto To say nothing of the Covenant which I never took but the giving my Assent and Consent have been too difficult and hard for me to comply with And I very well remember that about fourteen years ago entring into a Discourse with Mr. Patrick