The Parliament who appointed the Council must be much more unwarrantable And here he offered these points to be considered and pray'd earnestly to have Counsel assigned him to speak to them 1. Whether the collective body of the Parliament can be impeached of High Treason 2. Whether any person acting by Authority of Parliament can so long as he acteth by that Authority commit Treason 3. Whether matters acted by that Authority can be called in question in an inferiour Court 4. Whether a King de jure and out of possession can have Treason committed against him he not being King de facto and in actual possession and pray'd it might be argued by Counsel 5. Whether matters done in Southwark in another County may be given in evidence to a Middlesex Jury As to the last Exception the Court said That he was indicted for compassing and imagining the King's Death in Middlesex and any overt act to prove this Imagination may be given in evidence wheresoever it be acted To which Sir Hen. Vane prayed the benefit of a Bill of Exception upon the Statute of Westminster 2. cap. 31. and prayed that the Justices might seal it which they all refused and held it lay not in any case of the Crown The King's Counsel desired he might call his Witnesses if any he had for if they once came to reply to him he must then be silent and consented that if it would aid him they would allow his Actings to be in the Name and by the Authority of the Council of State and the Actings of the Council of State to be by Authority of what he called a Parliament Sir Hen. Vane replyed Then what I acted in the Council of State and Committee of Safety constituted by the Parliament to endure for eight dayes you will allow me Then you must prove that I ever acted in the other Council of State after the Parliament was turned out Then the King's Counsel produced a Warrant dated Novemb. 3. 1659 which was sent in pursuance of an Order of the Committee of Safety by Sir Hen. Vane as Treasurer of the Navie This Warrant was for the sending of divers Arms Northwards after Mr. Lambert who was gone down to oppose the now Duke of Albemarle Sir Hen. Vane produced Will Angel Brisco Middleton c. Officers of that Regiment which went under his name who having recourse unto him for Orders about Octob. 1659 he bad them desist and declared his dis-satisfaction in their proceedings and this after their several importunities to have Orders from him And thus he closed his Defence FYNCH Sollicitor As to pretence of the power of Parliament It is to be known that it was not the eighth part of the House of Commons such as were let in to do all that hath been complained and the acting under Authority of such an End of a Parliament under such a Violation was no Excuse but an Aggravation but that the Parliament was in Law ended by the death of the late King notwithstanding that Act of 17. Caroli primi appears thus First The King 's Writ for a Parliament is ad tractandum nobiscum which is intended as well of the natural capacity of the King as of his politick Secondly 'T is absurd to say that the Acts of Parliament of King Charles the first should be his Acts in the time of King Charles the second Thirdly A Commission of Sewers enacted to be on foot for ten years expires by the death of the King and the authority of the Commissioners is at an end Fourthly It is not possible for one King to impose a Parliament upon a successor So much for his acting by colour of authority of Parliament And as to the Question Whether an House of Parliament can commit Treason If they depart from that Allegiance which they have sworn at their first meeting they are impeachable for it As to a Co-ordination in the Parliament he denied it As to the Question Whether the King being out of actual possession can have Treason committed against him he affirmed it And said otherwise if Rebellion should be so prosperous as to depose or oppress the King in Battel the Offenders are not to be called in question because they prevailed He said it was the Plea of Watson the Jesuite who being Indicted for compassing the death of King James in Scotland after he was declared King of England and before his actual entring into this Realm made this Defence That the King was never in possession of the Crown Windam Justice As to the Act of 17. Caroli and the Preamble of that Act so much insisted upon by the Prisoner 1. He held that the Parliament had not greater Authority by it but were onely made more durable than other Parliaments have been but he held that the Parliament was absolutely dissolved by the death of the King and put this case If it should be enacted that such a Marriage should continue till it was dissolved by Act of Parliament If one dies it is a determination of it in Fact so as no man can say but it is absolutely dissolved 2. It must continue in the degree and dignity of a Parliament If the House be under a force and some kept out some let in to serve a Turn what-ever they act is a Nullity in Law For Freedom is the principal essence and honour of a Parliament yet though the House be under a Force the House is not dissolved by such Force but the proceedings are to be suspended till it require its former Liberty and this as well by the Common Law as by the Civil and Canon Laws of all other Countries 3. The Parliament is the King 's great Council The Peers are Consiliarii nati If they be forc'd away or laid aside as here they were all the rest is but Magni Nominis Umbra Twisden held the same opinion That it is not the sitting of a few Members within those Walls that will continue it a Parliament And though another Parliament a great many years after the Kings death declared it to be at an end yet that Act was but Declaration it was at an end before Whether a Parliament may commit Treason is not the Question but Whether a few of the House shutting out their Fellows and usurping the Government were not Traitors Foster held the same opinion and said The distinction between the Politick and Natural capacity of the King was the Treason of the two Spencers That Priviledge of the Parliament is no shelter for breach of the Peace much less for Treason Twisden added That to compass the Death of the King as a natural person was Treason to compass his Death in his Politick capacity as to depose him was Treason and both provided for by the Act of 25. Ed. 3. That in the same instant the late King expired in the very same his now Majesty was King de facto and affirmed the cases of Watson and Cleark 1. Jac. If an Army be raised against the King
of that Statute several Kings have been deposed by Parliaments since the Conquest and as to my compassing or designing the natural death of the King's Person with what colour can I be accused of such intentions in the circumstances the King at that time was in beyond the Seas Secondly The assembling of men together without any hostility or injury offered to any person but for a man 's own security and defence in a time of confusion and distraction is not Levying War or Treason at the Common Law or by that Statute Yea in this Case and at the season wherein such an Act as this is alledged it might be supposed to be done for the King's Restoration as well as in opposition thereunto and the most favourable and advantagious construction ought to be made and put upon the Prisoner's actings or words where there is ambiguity so that they may be taken or interpreted divers wayes For the Law alwayes presumeth actions to be innocent till the contrary be manifestly proved However in a time of vacancy or an Interregnum when the Foundations of Government are out of course by the Law of Reason Nature and Common Prudence every man may stand upon his own guard endeavouring his own security and protection from injury and violence Thirdly To be adherent to the King's Enemies within his Realm c. cannot ought not to be understood of any adhaesion to a Parliament wherein the King by Law is supposed alwayes present as a part thereof Nor can the Long Parliament be called the King's Enemies without overthrowing the Act of Indempnity which the King hath declared to be the Foundation of the Nations present Peace and Security Lastly The Treasons alledged in the Indictment are said to have been committed when the King was out of possession So the Indictments runs to keep out the King c. Now my Lord Cook in the third part of his Institutes fol. 7. saith A King de jure and not de facto is not within this Statute Against such a one no Treason can be committed For if there be a King regnant in possession though he be Rex de facto and not de jure yet is he Seignior le Roy within the purview of this Statute and the other that hath Right and is out of possession is not within this Act. Nay if Treason be committed against a King de facto non de jure and after the King de jure cometh to the Crown he shall punish the Treason done to the King de facto And after in the same place he saith That by Law there is alwayes a King in whose Name the Laws are to be maintained and executed otherwayes Justice would fail The Act also of 11. Hen. 7. was made for security of the Subject on this behalf The word King also may and ought to be taken largely for any Sovereign Power in a King or Queen as Cook in the place fore-quoted shews and why not by the same reason in a Protector though a Usurper or any other persons one or more in whom Soveraignty is lodged or that have all the badges of Soveraignty as the calling of Parliaments enacting of Laws coining of Money receiving Forreign Ambassadors c. His Majesty that now is is granted by the very Indictment to have been then out of possession If so then was there either some other King or what was equivolent some Sovereign Power in actual possession and exercise or none If the former then was there a King de facto so no Treason could be committed against him that was King de jure only If the latter then the Government was dissolved no allegiance was due to any persons and so no offence could be properly Treason within the Statute But had the late Protector had the name and stile of a King no Treason could have been committed against the King de jure only Now God forbid that you should give away my Life upon such niceties because a usurping Protector was not clothed with the Title as well as Power of a King The Protector or any Usurper's taking or not taking the Title of a King in case he have the Power cannot alter the state of my supposed crime You ought not to be byassed by popular Reports concerning me 'T is easier to be innocent than so reported The one is in our own power not the other Fifthly Concerning the Evidence 1. No allegation was directly proved by two positive lawful Witnesses as in this case it ought to be 2. One of the Witnesses for the King confessed in open Court that to his knowledge my hand had been counterfeited to my prejudice and dammage in great Sums of Money yet Orders pretended to be signed by me wherein my hand may as well be counterfeited are taken as Evidence against me 3. The Issue of the whole Cause depended on the solution of some difficult Questions of so high a nature and great importance as could not safely be determined but in the high Court of Parliament As 1. Whether the Long Parliament called in Novemb. 1640 were dissolved by the late King's Death 2. Whether the successive remaining Powers that exercised the Royal or Supream Authority from 1648 to the Restoration of his now Majesty were not within the true sense and meaning of 25. Edw. 3. and 11. Hen. 7 As to other pertinent Queries thou mayest see them Reader in other parts of this Tryal That which remains as an Appendix to this Bill of Exceptions is to lay before thee the Grounds which plainly shew that there was a downright Conspiracy in Sir Vane's Tenants and others to prosecute him for Life and Estate under colour and pretence of Justice 1. Presently after I was committed to the Tower for High Treason and made a Close-Prisoner Mr. Oneale Sir William Darcy and Dr. Cradock obtained an Order from the King to seize and take into their possession all the Estates of such persons that were already or should be forfeited to his Majesty Hereupon the said Mr. Oneale and Sir Will. Darcy appointed some under them in the Bishoprick of Durham by name Thomas Bowes Esque now deceased and Capt. William Darcy to joyn with the said Dr. Cradock to put in execution the said Warrant as their Deputies who thereupon went to Raby Castle and demanded the Rent-Books of Thomas Mowbray my Steward offering him his place under them which he refused Contrary to this proceeding Sir Edward Cook expresly declares That before Indictment the Goods or other things of any Offender cannot be searched inventoried or in any sort seized nor after Indictment seized removed or taken away before Conviction or Attainder Institut 3d part chap. 133. concerning the Seizure of Goods c. for Offences c. before Conviction 2. At the Instance and Prosecution of my Tenants and others an Order was made by the House of Commons not of the Lords requiring the Tenants of such persons as were excepted out of the General Pardon to detain their Rents in
of being prejudiced thereby against him unless they were as willing to abuse him as the Counsel But here were many things said at random against all Sense Law and Reason as if Tully had been charactering a treacherous Catilâ—ne and the innocent Prisoner must be mute and suffer the Jury to be dismissed and sent to pass their Verdict on his Life without the least possibility of Remedy Put this and all the rest together to wit that the Jury themselves were of the opposit party to him in the late Wars and whole Cause in question depending before them and it had been far better for the Prisoner to have cast lots on a Drum-head for his Life as a Prisoner of War than to be so tryed in a time of Peace unless it can be reasonably presumed that they that would have killed him any time this twenty year in the field should now be like to spare his Life at the Bar. Occasional Speeches before his Tryal HE said there was something in this Cause that could never be conquered and that he blessed the Lord it had never been betrayed by him or conquered in him And before this in a Letter from Silly to a Friend he said God's Arm is not shortned doubtless great and precious Promises are yet in store to be accomplished in and upon Believers here on Earth to the making of Christ admired in them And if we cannot live in the power and actual fruition of them yet if we die in the certain foresight and imbracing of them by Faith it will be our great blessing This dark night and black shade which God hath drawn over his work in the midst of us may be for ought we know the ground-colour to some beautiful Piece that he is now exposing to the light When he came from his Tryal he told a Friend he was as much overjoyed as a chast Virgin that had escaped a Rape for said he neither flatteries before nor threatnings now could prevail upon me and I bless God that enabled me to make a stand for this Cause for I saw the Court resolved to run it down and through the assistance of God I resolved they should run over my Life and blood first June 13. being Friday the day before his Execution On this day liberty being given to Friends to visit him in the Tower he received them with very great chearfulness and with a composed frame of spirit having wholly given up himself to the will of God He did occasionally let fall many gracious expressions to the very great refreshing and strengthning of the hearts of the hearers To wit That he had for any time these two years made Death familiar to him and being shut up from the World he said he had been shut up with God and that he did know what was the mind of God to him in this great matter but that he had not the least recoyl in his heart as to matter or manner of what was done by him And though he might have had an opportunity of escaping or by policy might have avoided his Charge yet he did not make use of it nor could decline that which was come upon him It being told him by a Friend that his Death would be a loss to the People of God He answered that God would raise up other Instruments to serve him and his People And being desired to say something to take off that charge of Jesuitism that was cast upon him He said That he thought it not worth the taking notice of for if it were so he should never have been brought to this A Friend said Sir the Lord hath said Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life The Lord enable you to be faithful He replied I bless the Lord I have not had any discomposure of spirit these two years but I do wait upon the Lord till he be pleased to put an end to these dayes of mine knowing that I shall change for the better For in Heaven there is an innumerable company of Angels the Spirits of Just men made perfect and JESUS the blessed Mediator of the New Covenant There are holy and just Laws a pure Government blessed and good Company every one doing their duty herr we want all these This is that City spoken of Psal 48. 1 2. That strong City that cannot be moved Isa 26. Why therefore should we be unwilling to leave this estate to go that And although I be taken from hence yet know assuredly God will raise up unto you Instruments out of the dust Another said to him Sir There is nothing will stand you in stead but justifying Faith in the Blood of Jesus To which he said There are some that through Faith in the Blood of Christ do escape the pollutions of the world yet afterwards are entangled therein again others there be that are carried through the greatest sufferings by a more excellent spiritual sort of Faith in the Blood of Jesus and endure them with the greatest joy He further said We were lately preaching a Funeral Sermon to our selves out of Heb. 11. 13 16. where those blessed Witnesses do declare themselves to be pilgrims and strangers on the Earth and do desire a better Country that is a heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City And if God said he be not ashamed to be called my God I hope I shall not be ashamed to endure his Cross and to bear his Reproach even whatsoever it be that man can impose upon me for his sake Yea he will enable me not to be ashamed I have not the least reluctancy or strugling in my spirit against Death I desire not to live but my will is resigned up to God in all Why are you troubled I am not You have need of Faith and Patience to follow the Lord's Call This ought chiefly to be in our eye the bringing Glory to our heavenly Father Surely God hath a glorious Design to carry on in the world even the building up of David's Throne to all Generations For he is compleating all his precious Stones making them Heaven-proof and then laying them together in the Heavenly Mansions with the Spirits of the Just till it be a compleat City When the Top-stone thereof is laid then will he come in all his Glory This day is a day wherein Christ appears in the Clouds Oh that every one of our eyes may see him and consider how we-have pierced him in his Members that we may mourn Our Lord Jesus said Father I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do and now Father glorifie me with the same Glory I had with thee before the world was Our Lord was capable of his Glory beforehand and although we be not so capable as he yet this we know he wills the same to us that where he is we may be also that we may behold his Glory And he is our Head in
Serpents to wave his assault till our hour is come and we can gain and conquer by dying It is a weakness of mind not to know how to contemn an offence An honest man is not subject to Injury He is inviolable and unmoveable Inviolable not so much that he cannot be beaten but that being beaten he doth neither receive wound nor hurt We can receive no evil but of our selves We may therefore always say with Socrates My enemies may put me to death but they shall never enforce me to do that which I ought not Evils themselves through the wise over-ruling Providence of God have good fruits and effects The World would be extinguished and perish if it were not changed shaken and discomposed by a variety and an interchangable course of things wisely ordered by God the best Physitian This ought to satisfie every honest and reasonable mind and make it joyfully submit to the worst of changes how strange and wonderful soever they may seem since they are the works of God and Nature and that which is a loss in one respect is a gain in another Let not a wise man disdain or ill resent any thing that shall happen to him Let him know those things that seem hurtful to him in particular pertain to the preservation of the whole Universe and are of the nature of those things that finish and fill up the course and office of this World Meditations on Death IT is a fruit of true Wisdom not onely Christian but Natural to be found and kept in a frame of mind ready for Death The day of Death is the Judge of all our other dayes the very tryal and touchstone of the actions of our Life 'T is the end that crowns the work and a good Death honoureth a man's whole Life This last act as it is the most difficult so but by this a man cannot well judge of the actions of anothers Life without wronging him A wise Greek being asked concerning three eminent persons which of them was to be most esteemed returned this Answer We must see them all three die before this Question can be resolved With which accords that saying of Solon the wise Athenian to Craesus when he boastingly shewed him his great Treasures No man is to be accounted happy before his Death True natural Wisdom pursueth the learning and practise of dying well as the very end of Life and indeed he hath not spent his Life ill that hath learned to die well It is the chiefest thing and duty of Life The knowledge of Dying is the knowledge of Liberty the state of true Freedom the way to Fear nothing to Live well contentedly and peaceably Without this there is no more pleasure in Life than in the fruition of that thing which a man feareth alwayes to loose In order to which we must above all endeavour that our sins may die and that we see them dead before our selves which alone can give us boldness in the day of Judgement and make us alwayes ready and prepared for Death Death is not to be feared and fled from as it is by most but sweetly and patiently to be waited for as a thing natural reasonable and inevitable It is to be looked upon as a thing indifferent carrying no harm in it This that is all the hurt enemies can do us is that which we should desire and seek after as the onely Haven of Rest from all the Torments of this Life and which as it gives us a fuller fruition of Christ is a very great gain that the sooner we are possessors of the better Death is the onely thing of all evils or privations that doth no harm hath indeed no evil in it however it be reputed The sting of it is sin and that is the sting of Life too There is no reason to fear it because no man knows certainly what it is This made Socrates refuse to plead before his Judges for his justification or Life For saith he If I should plead for my Life and desire of you that I may not die I doubt I may speak against my self to my loss and hindrance who may find more good in death than yet I know Those things I know to be evil as unrighteousness and sin I fly and avoid those that I know not to be so as Death c. I cannot fear and therefore I leave it to you to determine for me whether it is more expedient for me to Dye or to Live He can never live contentedly that fears to dye That man only is a free man who feareth not Death Life it self being but slavery if it were not made free by Death It is uncertain in what place Death attends us therefore let us expect it in all places and be alwayes ready to receive it Great virtue and great or long Life do seldom meet together Life is measured by the end if that be good all the rest will have a proportion to it The quantity is nothing as to the making it more or less happy The Spirit of a good man when he ceases to live in the Body goes into a better state of Life than that which he exercises in this World and when once in that were it possible to resume this he would refuse it Yea were a man capable to know what this Life here is before he receives it he would scarce ever have accepted it at first The self same journey men have taken from no being to being and from pre-existent being into mortal Life without fear or passion they may take again from that Life by Death into a Life that hath immortality in it Death is the inevitable Law God and Nature have put upon us Things certain should not be feared but expected Things doubtful onely are to be feared Death in stead of taking away any thing from us gives us all even the perfection of our natures sets us at liberty both from our own bodily desires others domination makes the Servant free from his Master It doth not bring us into darkness but takes darkness out of us us out of darkness and puts us into marvellous light Nothing perishes or is dissolved by Death but the Vail and Covering which is wont to be done away from all ripe fruit It brings us out of a dark dungeon through the crannies whereof our sight of Light is but weak and small and brings us into an open Liberty an estate of Light and Life unvailed and perpetual It takes us out of that mortality which began in the womb of our Mother and now endeth to bring us into that Life which shall never end This day which thou fearest as thy last is thy Birth day into Eternity Death holds a high place in the policy and great common-wealth of the World It is very profitable for the succession and continuance of the works of Nature The fading corruption and loss of this life is the passage into a better Death is no less essential to us than to live
despising God's precious Saints but in Heaven there is a good reception for them where are Mansions prepared from the beginning of the world He said You will shortly see God coming forth with Vengeance upon the whole Earth Vengeance upon the outward-man of his Saints and Vengeance upon the inward-man of his and their Enemies and that shall perform greater execution than was heretofore After his Sentence he said to some Friends God brought him upon on three stages to wit before the Court and was now leading him to the fourth his Execution-place which was far easier and pleasanter to him than any of the other three Saturday June 14. 1662 being the day of his Execution on Tower-Hill He told a Friend god bid Moses go to the top of Mount Pisgah and die so he bid him now go to the top of Tower-hill and die Some passages of his Prayer with his Lady Children and other Friends in his Chamber MOst holy and gracious Father look down from the habitation of thy Holiness visit relieve and comfort us thy poor Servants here gathered together in the Name of Christ Thou art rending this Vaile and bringing us to a Mountain that abides firm We are exceeding interrupters of our own joy peace and good by the workings and reasonings of our own hearts Thou hast promised that thou wilt be a Mouth to thy People in the hour of Tryal for thou hast required us to forbear the preparatory agitations of our own minds because it is not we that are to speak but the Spirit of our heavenly Father that speaketh in us in such seasons In what seasons more Lord than when thou callest for the Testimony of thy Servants to be writ in Characters of Blood Shew thy self in a poor weak Worm by enabling him to stand against all the power of thy Enemies There hath been a battel fought with garments rouled in blood in which upon solemn Appeals on both sides thou didst own thy Servants though through the spirit of Hypocrisie and Apostacy that hath sprung up amongst us these Nations have been thought unworthy any longer to enjoy the fruits of that Deliverance Thou hast therefore another day of decision to come which shall be wrought by fire Such a battel is to begin and be carried on by the Faith of thy People yea is in some sort begun by the Faith of thy poor Servant that is now going to seal thy Cause with his Blood Oh that this decision of thine may remarkably shew it self in thy Servant at this time by his bold Testimony and sealing it with his Blood We know not what interruptions may attend thy Servant but Lord let thy Power carry him in a holy Triumph over all difficulties Thou art the great Judge and Law-giver for the sake of thy Servants therefore O Lord return on high and cause a righteous Sentence to come forth from thy presence for the relief of thy despised People This thy Servants with Faith and Patience wait for The working of this Faith in us causeth the Enemy to give ground already If Death be not able to terrifie us from keeping a good Conscience and giving a good Testimony against them what can they do but stumble and fall backwards The day approaches in which thou wilt decide this Controversie not by Might nor by Power but by the Spirit of the living God This Spirit will make its own way and run through the whole Earth Then shall it be said Where is the fury of the Oppressor Who is he that dares or can stand before the Spirit of the Lord in the mouth of his Witnesses Arise O Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered Thy poor Servant knows not how he shall be carried forth by thee this day but blessed be thy great Name that he hath whereof to speak in this great Cause When I shall be gathered to thee this day then come thou in the Ministry of thy holy Angels that excel in strength We have seen enough of this World and thou seest we have enough of it Let these my Friends that are round about me commit me to the Lord and let them be gathered into the Family of Abraham the Father of the Faithful and become faithful Witnesses of those principles and Truths that have been discovered to them that it may be known that a poor weak Prophet hath been amongst them not by the words of his mouth onely but by the voice of his Blood and Death which will speak when he is gone Good Lord put words into his mouth that may daunt his Enemies so that they may be forced to say God is in him of a Truth and that the Son of God is in his heart and in his mouth My hour-glass is now turned up the sand runs out apace and it is my happiness that Death doth not surprize me It is Grace and Love thou dost shew thy poor Servant that thou hastenest out his time and lettest him see it runs out with Joy and Peace Little do my Enemies know as eager as they are to have me gone how soon their breaths may be drawn in But let thy Servant see Death shrink under him What a glorious sight will this be in the presence of many Witnesses to have Death shrink under him which he acknowledgeth to be only by the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ whom the bands of Death could not hold down Let that Spirit enter into us that will set us again upon our feet and let us be led into that way that the Enemies may not know how to deal with us Oh! what abjuring of Light what Treachery what meanness of spirit has appeared in this day What is the matter Oh! Death is the matter Lord strengthen the Faith and Heart of thy poor Servant to undergo this dayes work with Joy and Gladness and bear it on the Heart and Consciences of his Friends that have known and seen him that they also may say the Lord is in him of a truth Oh that thy Servant could speak any blessing to these three Nations Let thy Remnant be gathered to thee Prosper and relieve that poor handful that are in Prisons and Bonds that they may be raised up and trample Death under foot Let my poor Family that is left desolate let my dear Wife and Children be taken into thy Care be thou a Husband Father and Master to them Let the Spirits of those that love me be drawn out towards them Let a Blessing be upon these Friends that are here at this time strengthen them let them find Love and Grace in thine Eyes and be increased with the Increasings of God Shew thy self a loving Father to us all and do for us abundantly above and beyond all that we can ask or think for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Several Friends being with him in his Chamber this morning he oft encouraged them to chearfulness as wel by his example as expression In all his deportment he shewed himself marvellously fitted to
meet the King of Terrors without the least affrightment But to shew where his strength lay he said he was a poor unworthy wretch and had nothing but the Grace and Goodness of God to depend upon He said moreover Death shrunk from him rather than he from it Upon the occasion of parting with his Relations he said There is some flesh remaining yet but I must cast it behind me and press forward to my Father Then one of the Sheriffs men came in and told him There was no Sled to come but he was to walk on foot He told his Friends the Sheriffs Chaplain came to him at twelve of the clock that night with an Order for his Execution telling him he was come to bring him that fatal Message of Death I think Friends that in this Message was no dismalness at all After the receipt of which I slept four hours so soundly that the Lord hath made it sufficient for me and now I am going to sleep my last after which I shall need sleep no more Then Mr. Sheriff coming into the Room was friendly saluted by him and after a little pause communicated a Prohibition that he said he had received which was That he must not speak any thing against his Majesty or the Government His Answer to this he himself relates on the Scaffold He further told Mr. Sheriff he was ready but the Sheriff said he was not nor could be this half hour yet Then Sir it rests on you not on me said Sir Henry for I have been ready this half hour Then the Shriff at his request promised him his servants should attend him on the Scaffold and be civilly dealt with neither of which were performed for notwithstanding this promise they were beaten and kept off the Scaffold till he said What have I never a servant here After this one of the Sheriffs men came and told him there must be a Sled to which Sir Henry replied Any way how they please for I long to be at home to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all He went very chearfully and readily down the stairs from his Chamber and seated himself on the Sled Friends and Servants standing about him then he was forthwith drawn away towards the Scaffold As he went some in the Tower Prisoners as well as others spake to him praying the Lord to go with him And after he was out of the Tower from the tops of houses and out of windows the people used such means and gestures as might best discover at a distance their respects and love to him crying aloud The Lord go with you The great God of Heaven and Earth appear in you and for you whereof he took what notice he was capable in those circumstances in a chearful manner accepting their respect putting off his Hat and bowing to them Being asked several times how he did by some about him he answered Never better in all my life Another replied How should he do ill that suffers for so glorious a Cause To which a tall black man said Many suffered for a better Cause and may for a worse said Sir Henry wishing That when they come to seal their better Cause as he called it with their Blood as he was now going to seal his they might not find themselves deceived And as to this Cause said he it hath given Life in Death to all the Owners of it and Sufferers for it Being passed within the Rails on Tower-hill there were many loud acclamations of the people crying out The Lord Jesus go with your dear Soul c. One told him that was the most glorious Seat he ever sate on he answered It is so indeed and rejoyced exceedingly Being come to the Scaffold he chearfully ascends and being up after the crowd on the Scaffold was broken in two pieces to make way for him he shewed himself to the People on the front of the Scaffold with that Noble and Christian-like deportment that he rather seemed a looker-on than the person concerned in the Execution Insomuch that it was difficult to perswade many of the People that he was the Prisoner But when they knew that the Gentleman in the black Sute and Cloak with a Scarlet silk Wastcoat the victorious colour shewing it self at the breast was the Prisoner they generally admired that Noble and great Presence he appeared with How chearful he is said some he does not look like a dying-man said others with many like speeches as astonished with that strange appearance he shined forth in Then silence being commanded by the Sheriff lifting up his hands and eyes towards Heaven and then resting his hands on the Rails and taking a very serious composed and majestick view of the great multitude about him he spake as followeth His SPEECH on the SCAFFOLD Gentlemen fellow-Countrymen and Christians VVHen Mr. Sheriff came to me this morning and told me he had received a Command from the King that I should say nothing reflecting upon his Majesty or the Government I answered I should confine and order my Speech as near as I could so as to be least offensive saving my faithfulness to the Trust reposed in me which I must ever discharge with a good Conscience unto Death for I ever valued a man according to his faithfulness to the Trust reposed in him even on his Majesties behalf in the late Controversie And if you dare trust my discretion Mr. Sheriff I shall do nothing but what becomes a good Christian and an Englishman and so I hope I shall be civilly dealt with When Mr. Sheriffs Chaplain came to me last night about twelve of the clock to bring me as he called it the fatal Message of Death it pleased the Lord to bring that Scripture to my mind in the third of Zechary to intimate to me that he was now taking away my filthy garments causing mine iniquities to pass from me with intention to give me change of raiment and that my mortal should put on Immortality I suppose you may wonder when I shall tell you that I am not brought hither according to any known Law of the Land It is true I have been before a Court of Justice and am now going to appear before a greater Tribunal where I am to give an account of all my actions under their Sentence I stand here at this time When I was before them I could not have the liberty and priviledge of an Englishman the grounds reasons and causes of the Actings I was charged with duly considered I therefore desired the Judges that they would set their Seals to my Bill of Exceptions I pressed hard for it again and again as the Right of my self and every free-born English-man by the Law of the Land but was finally denied it Here Sir John Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower interrupted him saying Sir you must not go on thus and in a furious manner generally observed even to the dis-satisfaction of some of their own attendants said that he
railed against the Judges and that it was a lye and I am here sayes he to testifie that it is false Sir Henry Vane replied God will judge between me and you in this matter I speak but matter of Fact and cannot you bear that 'T is evident the Judges have refused to sign my Bill of Exceptions Then the Trumpets were ordered to sound or murre in his face with a contemptible noise to hinder his being heard At which Sir Henry lifting up his hand and then laying it on his breast said What mean you Gentlemen is this your usage of me did you use all the rest so I had even done as to that could you have been patient but seeing you cannot bear it I shall only say this That whereas the Judges have refused to seal that with their hands that they have done I am come to seal that with my Blood that I have done Therefore leaving this matter which I perceive will not be born I judge it meet to give you some account of my Life I might tell you I was born a Gentleman had the education temper and spirit of a Gentleman as well as others being in my youthfull dayes inclined to the vanities of this world and to that which they call Good-fellowship judging it to be the only means of accomplishing a Gentleman But about the fourteenth or fifteenth year of my age which is about thirty four or five years since God was pleased to lay the foundation or ground-work of Repentance in me for the bringing me home to himself by his wonderful rich and free Grace revealing his Son in me that by the knowledge of the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent I might even whilst here in the body be made partaker of Eternal Life in the first-fruits of it When my Conscience was thus awakened I found my former course to be disloyalty to God prophaneness and a way of sin and death which I did with tears and bitterness bewail as I had cause to do Since that foundation of Repentance laid in me through Grace I have been kept steadfast desiring to walk in all good Conscience towards God and towards men according to the best light and understanding God gave me For this I was willing to turn by back upon my Estate expose my self to hazards in Forreign parts yea nothing seemed difficult to me so I might preserve Faith and a good Conscience which I prefer before all things and do earnestly perswade all people rather to suffer the highest contradictions from men than disobey God by contradicting the light of their own Conscience In this it is I stand with so much comfort and boldness before you all this day and upon this occasion being assured that I shall at last sit down in Glory with Christ at his right hand I stand here this day to resign up my Spirit into the hands of that God that gave it me Death is but a little word but 't is a great work to die it is to be but once done and after this cometh the Judgment even the Judgment of the great God which it concerns us all to prepare for And by this Act I do receive a discharge once for all out of Prison even the Prison of the mortal body also which to a true Christian is a burdensom weight In all respects wherein I have been concerned and engaged as to the Publick my design hath been to accomplish Good things for these Nations Then lifting up his eyes and spreading his hands he said I do here appeal to the great God of Heaven and all this Assembly or any other persons to shew wherein I have defiled my hands with any mans Blood or Estate or that I have sought my self in any publick capacity or place I have been in The Cause was three times stated 1. In the Remonstrance of the House of Commons 2. In the Covenant the Solemn League and Covenant Upon this the Trumpets sounded the Sheriff catched at the Paper in his hand and Sir John Robinson who at first had acknowledged that he had nothing to do there wishing the Sheriff to see to it yet found himself something to do now furiously calling for the Writers-Books and saying he treats of Rebellion and you write it Hereupon six Note-Books were delivered up The Prisoner was very patient and composed under all these injuries and soundings of the Trumpets several times in his face only saying 'T was hard he might not be suffered to speak but sayes he my usage from man is no harder than was my Lord and Masters And all that will live his life this day must expect hard dealing from the worldly spirit The Trumpets sounded again to hinder his being heard Then again Robinson and two or three others endeavoured to snatch the Paper out of Sir Henry's hand but he kept it for a while now and then reading part of it afterwards tearing it in pieces he delivered it to a Friend behind him who was presently forced to deliver it to the Sheriff Then they put their hands into his pockets for Papers as was pretended which bred great confusion and dissatisfaction to the Spectators seeing a Prisoner so strangely handled in his dying words This was exceeding remarkable in the midst of all this disorder the Prisoner himself was observed to be of the most constant composed spirit and countenance which he throughout so excellently manifested that a Royallist swore he dyed like a Prince The Prisoner suspecting beforehand the disorder afore-mentioned writ the main Substance of what he intended to speak on the Scaffold in that Paper they catched at and which he tore in pieces delivering it to a Friend from whom the Sheriff had it as above-said the true Copy whereof was by the Prisoner carefully committed to a safe hand before he came to the Scaffold which take as followeth THe Work which I am at this time called unto in this place as upon a Publick Theater is to Die and receive a Discharge once for all out of Prison to do that which is but once to be done the doing or not doing of which well and as becomes a Christian does much depend upon the life we have been taught of God to lead before we come to this They that live in the Faith do also die in it Faith is so far from leaving Christians in this hour that the work of it breaks forth then into its greatest power as if till then it were not enough at freedom to do its office that is to look into the things that are unseen with most steadfastness certainty and delight which is the great Sweetner of Death and Remover of its Sting Give me leave therefore in a very few words to give you an account of my Life and of the wonderful great Grace and Mercy of God in bringing me home to himself and revealing his Son in me that by the knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent I might
or to be born In flying Death thou flyest thy self thy essence is equally parted into these two Life and Death It is the condition and Law of thy Creation Men are not sent into the World by God but with purpose to go forth again which he that is not willing to do should not come in The first day of thy birth bindeth thee and sets thee in the way as well to Death as to Life To be unwilling therefore to die is to be unwilling to be a Man since to be a Man is to be Mortal It being therefore so serviceable to Nature and the institution of it why should it be feared or shunned Besides it is necessary and inevitable we must do our best endeavour in things that are not Remediless but ought to grow resolute in things past Remedy It is most just reasonable and desirable to arive at that place towards which we are alwayes walking Why fearest thou to go whither all the World goes It is the part of a valiant and generous Mind to prefer some things before Life as things for which a man should not doubt nor fear to die In such a case however matters go a man must more account thereof than of his Life He must run his race with resolution that he may perform things profitable and exemplary The contempt of Death is that which produceth the boldest and most honourable exploits He that fears not to die fears nothing From hence have proceeded the commendable Resolutions and free Speeches of Vertue uttered by men of whom the world hath not been worthy A gallant Romane commanded by Vespasian not to come to the Senate answered He was a Senator therefore sit to be at the Senate and being there if required to give his advice he would do it as his Conscience commanded him Hereupon being threatned by the Emperor he replyed Did I ever tell you that I was immortal Do you what you will and I will do what I ought It is in your power to put me unjustly to death and in mine to die constantly What hard dealing cannot he suffer that fears not to die Other designments may be hindred by our enemies but they cannot hinder us from dying The means whereby to live free is to contemn Death It is no great thing to live slaves and beasts can do that but it is a great matter to live freely and die honestly wisely constantly Emori nolo saith one sed me esse mortuum nihil estimo I would not die but to be dead I look upon as nothing But no man can be said resolute to die that is afraid to confront it and suffer with his eyes open as Socrates did without passion or alteration In a miserable estate of a Life which a man cannot remedy Death is lawfully desirable as our best retreat and onely haven from the storms of this Life and as the Soveraign good of nature the onely stay and pillar of Liberty It is a good time to die when to live is rather a burthen than a blessing and there is more ill in Life than good There are many things in Life far worse than Death in respect whereof we should rather die than live The more voluntary our Death is the more honourable Life may be taken away from every man by every man but not Death It is no smal reproach to a Christian whose faith is in immortality and the blessedness of another Life to fear Death much which is the necessary passage thereunto He ought rather to desire and thirst after death as great gain Vitam habere in patientiâ mortem in desiderio to endure Life and desire Death But it is greater constancy well to use the chain wherewith we are bound than to break it A man is not to abandon his charge in Life without the express command of him that gave it him Sylvanus and Proximus being pardoned by Nero chose Death rather than to Live upon those terms Nerva a great Lawyer Cato of Urica and others died as not able to bear the sight of the Weal-publick in that bad and declining state into which by Gods Providence it was brought in their times but they should have considered Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis Aevi Retulit in melius A man ought to carry himself blamlesly and with a steddy courage in his place and calling against his assailants and consider that it is better to continue firme and constant to the end then fearfully to fly or dye It is not a less evil to quit the place and fly than obstinately to be taken and perish It is a great point of wisdom to know the right hour and fit season to Die Many men have survived their own Glory That is the best Death which is well recollected in it self quiet solitary and attendeth wholly to what at that time is fittest But let us more particularly and upon truly and purely Christian Principles weigh and consider Death They that live by Faith die daily The Life which Faith teaches works Death It leads up the mind to things not seen which are eternal and takes it off with its affections and desires from things seen which are temporary It acquaints the soul experimentally with that heavenly way of converse and intercourse which is not expressed by sensible signes but by the demonstration proper to spirits whether angels souls separate or souls yet in the body as they live by faith not by sense In which respect the use of voice and mouth is attributed to God to Christ to Angels who have that with them and in them whereby they outwardly manifest what they inwardly conceive although they express not the inward word of their mental conception by any outward voice hand eye or other external sign but by the way of its own self evidencing brightness and essential demonstration Such a way of living and shining forth in man's naked essential beams he then arrives unto when the thick vail and wall of his flesh is dissolved and his earthly tabernacle put off The knowledge sight and experience of such a kind of subsisting and heavenly manner of Life that man is capable of is the best preparative and most powerful motive to leave the body and surcease the use of our earthly organs This in effect is all that bodily death rightly known and understood doth impart a lawful surceasing the use and exercise of our earthly organs and our willing and chearful resorting to the use and exercise of that Life without the Body which man is capable to subsist in when made perfect in spirit an equal and associate with angels under the power and order of expressing what he inwardly conceives as they do This made Paul look upon Life in the Body and Life out of it with no indifferent eye but as accounting the being at home in the body an absence from the Lord and such a kind of absence from the body as death causes to be that which makes us most present with