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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A25559 An answer to Mr. Collier's Defence of his absolution of Sir William Parkins, at the place of execution which defence is printed at length, and considered paragraph by paragraph. 1696 (1696) Wing A3367; ESTC R16308 7,296 9

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the last Day And understanding I was refused Admittance on Friday Morning he sent me Word that he would gladly see me at the Place of Execution I went thither and gave him the Absolution he requested it being impracticable for me to do it elsewhere This Office I perform'd Word for Word in Form as it stands in the Visitation of the Sick And now where lies the great Crime of all this When a Man has declared his Sorrow for all the Faults and Miscarriages of his Life and qualified himself for the Priviledge of Absolution with what Justice could it be denied him Ought not Dying Persons to be Supported in their last Agonies and pass into the other World with all the Advantage the Church can give them I am surprized so regular a Proceeding as this should give so much Offence and make so much a Noise as I perceive it has done Some People I understand are displeas'd at the Office being perform'd with Imposition of Hands Now this is not only an Innocent but an Ancient Ceremony of Absolution 'T was the general Practise of the Primitive Church in such cases long before there were any Exceptions to the Roman Communion 'T is in the Opinion of several Fathers and good Modern Expositors referr'd to by the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.22 'T is likewise prescribed the Assisting Presbyters in our own Ordination-Form But I suppose I need say no more in defence of this Circumstance To proceed Others seem very much shock'd at the Thing it self and think it a strange ●resumption to admit a Person charged with so high a Crime to the benefit of Absolution With submission this is concluding a great deal too fast Are all ●eople damned that are cast in a Capital Indictment If so to what purpose are they visited by Divines why are they exhorted to Repentance and have Time allow'd them to fit them for Death But if they may be acquitted hereafter notwithstanding their Condemnation here If they may be recover'd by Recollection by Repentance and Resignation why should the Church refuse them her Pardon on Earth when she believes 't is passed in Heaven The Power of the Keys was given for this purpose that the Ministers of God might bind or loose as the Disposition of the Person required The latter I sincerely believed to be Sir William's Case I judged him to have a full Right to all the Priviledges of Communion And therefore had I denied him Absolution upon his Request I had failed in my Duty and gone against the Authority both of the Ancient and English Church I 't is said that the Nature o● this Gentleman's harge required his being Absolved in Private To this I answer so be had been had I been permitted to visit him the last Morning But this Liberty was refused me more than once And I hope I shall not be blamed for Impossibilities of other Mens making In short he seem'd very desirous of Absolution at my Hands as being the only Person acquainted with his Condition Privately 't was not in my Power to give it him So that he must either receive it Publickly from me or not at all But Sir William confess'd himself acquainted with the intended Assassination Pray did he confess it to me and have I revealed any Part of his Confession Then I had been guilty of High Misdemeanor inded I had broke the 113th Cannon and been Pronounced Irregular by the Church And he that falls under Irregularity is for ever after incapable of Executing the Office of a Priest Dr. Heylin's Introduct to Cyprian Angel p. 6. I confess there is an Exception in the Canon but that does not reach the Case in Hand even upon the largest Supposition Well! But Sir William own'd this Charge before the Committee How could I know that I neither saw Sir William after his Examination till Friday Noon nor the Votes which mentioned it till after that Time But he confess'd it in his Paper What then Which ways does the Paper concern me 'T is well known Sir William Parkins was a Man of Sense and bred to Law and Letters and needed no help to assist him in Writing a few Lines Besides I was not permitted to come near him for more than two Day 's before he suffer'd Neither was he allow'd so much as Pen and Ink till the last Morning Then it was that he penn'd his Speech as I am told by those who were present and having read it before the Keeper deliver'd a Copy of it to a Friend which was not shew'd to me till after the Execution Indeed I did believe he would leave some Paper behind him both because 't is customary upon such sad Occasions and because on Tuesday Night when he expected Death on Wednesday he desired Pen Ink and Paper for that purpose ANSWER NO body blames Mr. Collier for visiting Sir William in prison or for attending him at the place of Execution but he is justly blamable for giving publick Absolution to a man who had been guilty of publick faults both in our sense and in his own without publick Repentance which was a direct impeachment of the Justice of the Nation and a solemn declaration to all the beholders that Sir William had done nothing worthy of Death but was a Martyr and no Malefactor If the Ordinary of Newgate should precume to Absolve Notorious Fellons or Highwaymen at the place of Execution without a publick declaration of their sorrow for their Crimes all men would say that he did thereby encourage Felony and Robbery And why the Goverment should not put the like construction upon Mr. Colliers Absolution of Sir William Parkins who was condemned for endeavouring to Murder the King and procure an Invasion from France let his own reason answer and why his own Party should not look upon him as an encourager of those who deny the cause of God and true Religion seeing he absolved one who was notoriously guilty of that Crime in their sense without publick repentance let him answer it to them and his own Conscience It s true he alledges that Sir William declared his sorrow for all the faults and miscarriages of his Life and qualified himself for absolution but he does not tell us that his concern in the Assassination or his taking the Oaths to King William was among those faults and though he really had confessed them certainly Mr. Collier will not be so bold as to say that a private Confession is attonement enough for publick sins the very light of Reason will teach him that Sir William ought to have made publick satisfacton to those to whom he had given a publick offence and Mr. Collier cannot be ignorant of the Apostles Command to Timothy 1 Ep. 5.20 to rebuke them that sin openly in the presence of all and seeing he seems to think that the laying on of hands mentioned in the 22. v. refers to Absotion he ought have taken heed to the Command not to do it suddenly which he must needs have contravened