servants joyned himself with the Lord Goring Sr. Charles Lucas and others who with a considerable Army were then in Essex and after a long Siege were forced to surrender their Garrison of Colchester In the Articles of that rendition this right noble Lord was included and had quarter given him for life though it was afterwards unhansomly unsaid again by him that gave it who left him after his Parol given to a High Court of Justice upon this surrender he was committed to the Tower where whilst he remained he endeavoured to escape which he well effected but crossing the water through some discourse he let fall Jones the Waterman conceiving what he was upon his landing discovered him had him retaken and committed again in order to his Tryal In the middle of March 1648 he was brought before the said High Court of Justice where he said enough in reason and justice to have cleared himself insisting upon his Priviledge as a Peer and claiming the benefit of the Laws which owned no such arbitrary Power as this against the life of any Subject especially a Noble Man and in sum denied their Jurisdiction and pleaded his quarter given him as abovesaid but nothing would avail they proceeded to Judgment and with Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland Earl of Norwich and Sr. John Owen sentenced him to be beheaded which was executed accordingly on the ninth of March. We will now take a view of him after the tmie of his Condemnation when he was to encounter and look Death in the face He alwaies kept a very chearful and well composed temper of mind which proceeded from true Christian Principles he would often say it was the good God he served and the good cause he had served for that made him not to fear Death adding that he never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrel for he took it for his Crown and glory and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it The afternoon before his suffering he was a great while in private with a Minister where bewailing with that sense which became a true and not despairing penitent the sins of his life past the greatest he could remember was his voting my Lord of Straffords death which though as he said he did without any malice at all yet he confessed it to be a very great sin and that he had done it out of a base fear his own words of a prevailing party of which he had very often and very heartily repented and was confident of Gods pardon for it Then he desired to receive the Blessed Sacrament before he dyed After this being afraid of some danger to the Minister that attended him for that work of Love and some Conference in order to his preparation both for his provision and his voyage the Sacrament and his death he desired to go to Prayers which being performed he returned to his private devotions The next morning being the day of his death he desired the Minister who was with him before to hear and joyn with him in Prayers which he did for half an hour in an excellent method very apt Expressions and most strong hearty and passionate affections First confessing and bewailing his sins with strong cries and tears then humbly and most earnestly desiring Gods mercy through the Merits of Christ alone Secondly For his dear Lady and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and affurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life than of this Thirdly For the King Church and Kingdom And Lastly For his Enemies with almost the same ardour and affection After Prayer ended my Lord of Norwich and Sr. John Owen being sent for the Minister read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday and then after a short Homily for the occasion he received the Sacrament again in which action he behaved himself with great Humility Zeal and Devotion Being demanded after the receiving thereof how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and cheerfuller for that heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an Agony before his Passion and that was the parting with his Wife eldest Son now Earl of Essex his Son in Law two of his Uncles and Sr. T.C. especially his parting with his dearest Lady which indeed was the saddest spectacle that could be In which occasion as he could not choose but shew and confesse a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her and the rest of his friends particularly in blessing the yuong Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of David's Psalms and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy saith he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this was past with much adoe his Wife and the rest of his Friends were perswaded to begone and then being all alone with the Minister he said Doctor the hardest part of my work in this World is now past meaning the parting with his Wife Then he desired the said Minister to pray preparatively for his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods Glory for the indearing of his dead Masters memory and his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of ambition or vanity This being done he was conveyed with the other two Lords who suffered with him to Sr. Robert Cottons where the Minister staid with him till he was called to the Scaffold whither the Guard of Souldiers permitted him not to come so that my Lord took leave of him there The same day he died he wrote this following Letter to his Wife My dearest Life MY Eternal life is in Christ Jesus my wordly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech thee take care of thy health sorrow not afflict not thy self too much God will be unto thee better than an Husband and to my Children better than a Father I am sure he is able to be so I am confident he is graciously pleased to be so God be with thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many Comforts to thee and my Children which is the fervent Prayer of Thy c. He hath also left behind him an excellent Book of Meditations and some other Miscellaneous things especially an Exhertation to stir up the hearts and endeavours of
waies that I have taken every body knows what my Affections have been to many that have suffered to many that have been in troubles in this Kingdom I endeavoured to relieve them I endeavoured to oblige them I thought I was tied so by my Conscience I thought it by my Charity and truly very much by my Breeding God hath now brought me to the last instant of my time all that I can say and all that I can adhere unto is this That as I am a great sinner so I have a great Saviour that as he hath given me here a Fortune to come publickly in a shew of shame in the way of this suffering truly I underst and it not to be so I understand it to be a Glory a glory when I consider who hath gone before me and a glory when I consider I had no end in it but what I conceive to be the Service of God the King and the Kingdom and therefore my heart is not charged much with any thing in that particular since I conceive God will accept of the intention whatsoever the Action seems to be I am going to die and the Lord receive my Soul I have no Reliance but upon Christ For my self I do acknowledge that I am the unworthiest of sinners my Life hath been a vanity and a continued sin and God may justly bring me to this end for the sins I have committed against him and were there nothing else but the iniquities that I have committed in the way of my Life I look upon this as a great Justice of God to bring me to this Suffering and to bring me to this Punishment and those hands that have been most active in it if any such there hath been I pray God forgive them I pray God there may not be many such Trophies of their Victories but that this may be as I said before the last shew that this People shall see of the Bloud of persons of Condition of Persons of Honour I might say somthing of the way of our Trial which certainly hath been as extraordinary as any thing I think hath ever been seen in this Kingdom but because that I would not seem as if I made some complaint I will not so much as mention it because no body shall believe I repine at their Actions that I repine at my Fortune it is the will of God it is the hand of God under whom I fall I take it entirely from him I submit my self to him I shall desire to roul my self into the Arms of my blessed Saviour and when I come to this * Pointing to the Block place when I bow down my self there I hope God will raise me up and when I bid farewel as I must now to Hope and to Faith that Love will abide I know nothing to accompany the Soul out of this world but Love and I hope that Love will bring me to the fountain of glory in Heaven through the Arms Mediation and the Mercy of my Saviour Jesus Christ in whom I believe O Lord help my Unbelief Hodges The Lord make over unto you the Righteousness of his own Son it is that Treasury that he hath bestowed upon you and the Lord shew you the light of his countenance and fill you full with his Joy and Kindness O my dear Lord the Lord of Heaven and Earth be with you and the Lord of Heaven Earth bring you to that Safety Holland I shall make as much hast as I can to come to that Glory and the Lord of Heaven and Earth take my Soul I look upon my self entirely in him and hope to find Mercy through him I expect it and through that Fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness my soul must receive it for did I rest in any thing else I have nothing but sin and Corruption in me I have nothing but that which in stead of being carried up into the Arms of God and of Glory I have nothing but may throw me down into Hell Bolton But my Lord when you are cloathed with the Righteousness of another you will appear Glorious though now sinful in your self The Apostle saith I desire not to be found in my own Righteousness and when you are cloathed with another the Lord will own you and I shall say but thus much Doubt not that ever God will deny Salvation to sinners that come to him when the end of all his death and sufferings was the Salvation of sinners when as I say the whole end and the whole Design and the great work that God had to do in the world by the death of Christ wherein he laid out all his Counsels and infinite wisdom and goodness beyond which there was a non ultra in Gods thoughts when this was the great design and great end the salvation of poor sinners that poor souls should come over to him and live certainly when sinners come he will not reject he will not refuse And my Lord do but think of this the greatest work that ever was done in the world was the bloud of Christ that was shed never any thing like it And this Bloud of Christ that was shed was shed for them that come if not for them for none it was in vain else You see the Devils they are out of capacity of good by it the Angels they have no need of it wicked men will not come and there are but few that come over but a few that come over and should he deny them there were no end nor fruit of the Blond and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus and had your Lordship been with Christ in that bloudy Agony when he was in that bloudy sweat sweating drops of Bloud if you had asked him Lord what art thou now a doing art thou not now reconciling an angry God and me together art thou not pacifying the wrath of God art thou not interposing thy self between the Justice of God and my soul Would he not have said Yea and surely then he mill not deny it now My Lord his Passions are over his Compassions still remain and the larger and greater because he is gone up into an higher place that he may throw down more abundance of his mercy and grace upon you and my Lord think of that infinite love that abundance of riches in Christ I am lost I am empty I have nothing I am poor I am sinful be it so as bad as God will make me and as vile as I possibly can conceive my self I am willing to be but when I have said all the more I advance that Riches and honour that Grace of God And why should I doubt when by this he puts me into a capacity into a disposition for him to shew me Mercy that by this I may the better advance the riches of his Grace and say grace grace to the Lord to all Eternity that God should own such a Creature that deserves nothing and the less I deserve the more conspiâ—uous is his
providence can avail nor prevent my destruction Lay aside all humane wisdom and let us rest upon Divine Revelation if you will condemn before you forewarn the danger Oh my Lords may your Lordships be pleased to give that regard unto the Peerage of England as never to suffer our selves to be put on those nice points upon such contractive interpretations and these are where Laws are not clear or known If there must be a tryal of wits I do humbly beseech you the subject and matter may be somewhat else than the lives and honours of Peers My Lords we find that the primitive times in the progression of the plain Doctrine of the Apostles they brought the Books of curious Arts and burned them And so likewise as I do conceive it will be wisdom and providence in your Lordships for your Posterity and the whole Kingdom to cast from you into the fire these bloudy and most mysterious Volumes of Constructive and Arbitrary Treason and to betake your selves to the plain Letters of the Law and Statute that telleth us where the crime is and by telling what is and what is not shews us how to avoid it And let us not be ambitious to be more wise and learned in the killing Arts than our Forefathers were It is now full two hundred and forty years since ever any man was touched for this alledged crime to this height before my self we have lived happily to our selves at home and we have lived gloriously to the World abroad Let us rest contented with that our Fathers left us and not awaken those sleepy Lions to our own destructions by raking up a few musty Records that have lain so many Ages by the walls quite forgotten and neglected May your Lordships be nobly pleased to add this to those other mis-fortunes befallen me for my sins not for my Treasons that a president should be derived from me of that disadvantage as this will be in the consequent to the whole Kingdom I beseech you seriously to consider it and let not my particular Cause be looked upon as you do though you wound me in my interest in the Commonwealth and therefore those Gentlemen say that they speak for the Commonwealth yet in this particular I indeed speak for it and the inconveniencies and mischiefs that will heavily fall upon us for as it is in the first of Henry the Fourth no man will after know what to do or say for fear Do not put my Lords so great difficulties upon the Ministers of State that men of wisdom honour and vertue may not with chearfulnesse and safety be imployed for the Publick if you weigh and measure them by grains and scruples the publick affaires of the Kingdom will be laid wast and no man will meddle with them that hath honours issues or any fortunes to lose My Lords I have now troubled you longer than I should have done were it not for the interest of those dear pledges a Saint in Heaven left me I should be loath my Lords there he stopped What I forfeit for my self it is nothing but that my indiscretion should forfeit for my child it even woundeth me deep to the very Soul You will pardon my infirmitie something I should have said but I am not able and sighed therefore let it passe And now my Lords I have been by the blessing of Almighty God taught that the afflictions of this life present are not to be compared to the eternal weight of that glory that shall be revealed to us hereafter And so my Lords even so with tranquility of mind I do submit my self freely and clearly to your Lordships judgments and whether that Righteous judgment shall be to life or death The Earl of Straffords Speech on the Scaffold immediatly before his Execution on Tower-hill May 12 1641. My L. Primate of Ireland IT is my very great comfort that I have your Lordship by me this day in regard I have been known to you these many years and I do thank God and your Lordship for it that you are here I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few words but I doubt I shall not the noise is so great My Lords I am come hither by the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to sin which is death and by the Blessing of that God to rise again through the Merits of Jesus Christ to Righteousnesse and Life Eternal Here he was a little interrupted My Lords I am come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented mind I thank God I do freely forgive all the world a forgivenesse that is not spoken from the teeth outwards as they say but from the very heart I speak it in the presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not a displeasing thought arising in me towards any man living I thank God I can say it and truly too my Conscience bearing me witness that in all my employment since I had the honour to serve his Majesty I never had any thing in the purpose of my heart but what tended to the joynt and individual prosperity of King and People although it hath been my ill fortune to be mis-construed I am not the first that hath suffered in this kind it is the common portion of us all while we are in this life to erre righteous Judgment we must wait for in another place for here we are very subject to be mis-judged one of another There is one thing that I desire to free my self of and I am very confident speaking it now with so much chearfulnesse that I shall obtain your Christian Charity in the belief of it I was so far from being against Parliaments that I did alwaies think the Parliaments of England were the most happy Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and the best means under God to make the King and People happy For my Death I here acquit all the world and beseech the God of Heaven heartily to forgive them that contrived it though in the Intentions and Purposes of my heart I am not guilty of what I die for And my Lord Primate it is a great comfort for me that his Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as is the utmost Execution of this Sentence I do infinitely rejoyce in this Mercy of his and I beseech God return it into his own bosom that he may find mercy when he stands most in need of it I wish this Kingdom all the Prosperity and Happinesse in the world I did it living and now dying it is my wish I do most humbly recommend this to every one who hears me and desire they would say their hands upon their hearts and consider seriously whether the beginning of the happiness and Reformation of a Kingdom should be written in Letters of Blood consider this when you are at your
and let it lie Speechless still and never cry The Life and Death of that Great Prelate and Martyr the most Reverend William Laud Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England Beheaded January 10. 1644. THE Fate of this Learned and Magnificent Prelate first and signally verified that Presage of King James No Bishop no King he being the Usher to that miserable calamity which in the same manner and method the same way of death befel that most Blessed Prince for that Prophetick Saying was to be accomplished in every Point not only of Regiment but in the concerns of natural Life like Hippocrates his Twins to live and die together His Originals were from an honest and well-reputed Parentage of good esteem and credit in the Town of Reading the place of his Nativity his Father a Clothier his Mother of the Family of the Souths of a gentile extraction by which side Sir John Robinson is related to him The Estate they had was such as neither so low to cloud or obscure his promising natural Endowments or so advanced as to serene them and shew them to the world in that Pomp and Lustre to which at some distances they exerted themselves and by degrees mounted to the top 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Ecclesiastical Promotion and Dignity in this Kingdom From his Seed-place and Nursery of Reading he was transplanted to St. Johns Colledge in Oxford where he gave present signs of his Future Glory being observed by all men as the Ornament of the House and whole University He continued here having passed through all the Honourable Employments of his Colledge till his worth could be no longer concealed and much beholding was he to that his Modesty of Nature which so long hid him from publick employment and gave him time and opportunity of laying in that Stock and Provision of all kind of Learning which his unwearied diligence did so freely spend in the several Places and Provinces he so wisely discharged being Chaplain first to the Earl of Devonshire and Proctor of his University From Batchelor of Divinity he proceeded Doctor became Chaplain to Dr. Neat then Bishop of Rochester afterwards translated to York who preferred him to King James who made him Prebend of Bugden and Westminster Dean of Glocester and Archdeacon of Huntington and lastly President of his own Colledge Soon after he was made Bishop of St. Davids by the same bountiful Master but King Charles finding his great abilities took him into more especial favour giving him the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells made him Dean of his Chappel and one of his Privy Council then Bishop of London and Chancellor of Oxford and in conclusion Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Abbots his Predecessor in that See Remisseness and Indifferency concerning the ceremonies used in the Church of England was the cause that the Gangren of Non-conformity was so far spread that it was no lesse trouble then it raised Envy and Obloquy against him to strive to enjoyn and take order for the strict Observation of the said Rites being every where called Innovations By this means Episcopal Government was by many traduced many Books and Libels printed against them wherein this Prelate was sure to bear the greatest burthen the chief of those Writers were Bastwick Burton and Mr. Pryn who were afterwards sentenced in the Star-Chamber and suffered in the Pillory But that which mainly and chiefly helped forward his ruine was his recommending or enjoying the use of the English Liturgy in the Scotch Church which was received there with so much exasperation that it mightily promoted the Wars then in intention and designment by the Faction in that Kingdom Soon after Libels were thrown about full of sedition and railing and scurrilous jeers against him which were seconded with a Tumult and rabble of Londoners assaulting his House at Lambeth for which one of the chief Thomas Bensted was hanged in St. Georges Fields in Southwark He was falsly by such People reported for a Papist whereas what stronger proof can be brought for his firmnesse in the Protestant Religion than that Book of his against Fisher the Jesuit which like a Hammer hath beaten all the Romish Arguments into pieces an unanswerable Work and of which they will never clear themselves brag and vapour what they please As to his Religion this will suffice for the morality and integrity constant tenour of life let him be judged by his Diary published in part by Mr. Prin. He had little intermission of his pen or intention of mind against the Roman Faction whatsoever his Enemies have reported of him to the contrary having before his eyes as his main aim the glory and prosperity of this Church in the right and solemn Worship of God He first began the reedifying of that ruinous and decayed Cathedral of St. Pauls London towards the charge whereof he expended great sums of money out of his own purse and this was reckoned to him as Superstition though in the account of sober and wife men it was a noble zeal to Gods House The North-door of that Church he repaired wholly with his own money the Workmen not knowing whence their wages came In sum for these joynt Graces and Vertues Piety Learning magnificence prudence and humility he is hardly to be paralled by any of his Predecessors many have had one or two of them but wanted the other in him they were a bright constellation whose lustre made this Church glorious to the envy and wonder of the Nations about us But the time of Gods visitation being come for the unfruitfulnesse negligence and unthankfulnesse of the Clergy a generation of men were raised up as scourges to inflict the Divine Judgments For in the beginning of our dissentions as soon as the businesse of the Earl of Strafford was over the mad multitude fell a raving and crying no Bishops no Bishops In the beginning of the year 1641 and the latter end of 1640 this Reverend Prelate was committed from the Black Rod to the Tower whither not long after ten more of that sacred Order were sent after him He continued in the Tower four years before any charge was brought against him though he all along petitioned and desired the Parliament he might come to his trya◠which could not be obtained till the year 1644 a full account whereof 2s also of his death we have here subjoyned It would trouble Plutarch if he were alive to find out a fit Parallel with whom to match him All therefore I shall do at the present time and t is the last publique Office I shall do him is to lay down the story of his death and sufferings together with a view of those plots and practises which were set on foot to pluck a few years from a weak old man and bring him to an unnatural calamitous end For though that maxime in Philosophy is most true and certain that corruptio est in instanti that death comes to us in a moment or in the
twinckling of an eye as the Scriptures phrase is yet are there many previous dispositions which make way unto it all which are comprehended in the name of death And in that latitude of expression do we take the word in laying down the story of his death before you which being writ out of an honest zeal to truth and a sincere affection to his name and memory shall either be approved of or at least excused It was the practice and position of the antient Donatists the Predecessors and Progenitors of the modern Puritan occidere quemcunâ— qui contra eos fecerit to kill and make away whoever durst oppose their doings or was conceived to be an hindrance to their growing faction And by this Card their followers in these Kingdoms have been steered of late imprisoning and destroying all who have stood against them It is long since they entertained such desperate purposes against the life and person of the Lord Arch-Bishop threatnig his death in scattered Libels tellig him that his life was sought for that neither God nor man could endure so vile a Counsellor to live any longer This was about the end of March 1629 and was the Prologue to those libels full of threats and scandals which year by year exasperated and inflamed the People till they had made them ripe for mischief and readily prepared to execute whatever their grand Directors should suggest unto them Saint Paul did never fight more frequent and more terrible combats with the beasts of Ephesus for the promotion of the Gospel then he with these untractable and fiery spirits who most seditiously opposed his religious purposes of setling unity and uniformity in this Church of England And in this state things stood till the year 1640 in which not only many factious and seditious People in and about the City of London made an assault by night on his House at Lambeth with an intent to murther him had they found him there but the whole faction of the Scots declared in a Remonstrance to the English Nation that one of the chief causes which induced them to invade this Realm was to remove him from his Majesty and bring him to the punishment which he had deserved The manner of their coming hit her and the great entertainment given them by the faction here shewed plainly that they were not like to be sent away without their Errand and makes it evident that his ruine was resolved on in their secret Councils before the Parliament was called or that they had declared so much by their will revealed The Parliament had not long continued but he is named for an Incendiary by the Scottish Commissioners and thereupon accused of Treason by the House of Commons And although no particular Charge was brought against him but only a bare promise to prepare it in convenient time yet was he presently committed to the custody of the Gentleman Vsher and by him kept in durance till the end of February being full ten weeks about which time his Charge was brought unto the Lords but in generals only and longer time required for particular instances And yet upon this Lydsord law by which they used to hang men first and endite them afterwards was he committed to the Tower being followed almost all the way by the Râ—scal multitude who barbarously pursued him with reproaches and clamours to the very gates and there detained contrary to all Law and Justice almost four years longer This was the first great breach which was made by Parliament in the liberties of the English Subject save that their like proceedings with the Earl of Strafford was a preparative unto it and was indeed the very gap at which the slavery and oppression under which this miserable Nation hath for many years pined and languished did break in What right could meaner persons look for when as so great a Peer was doomed to so long imprisonment without being called to his Answer But yet the malice of his Enemies was not so contented For though some of the more moderate or rather the lesse violent Lords who did not pierce into the depth of the design gave out that they intended only to remove him from his Majesties eare and to deprive him of his Arch-Bishoprick which resolution notwithstanding being taken up before any charge was brought against him was as unjust though not so cruel as the others yet they shewed only by this Ovonture that they did reckon without their Hosts and might be of the Court perchance but not of the Counsel The leading and predominant party thought of nothing lesse then that he should escape with life or go off with liberty Only perhaps they might conceive some wicked hopes that either the tediousnesse of his restraint or the indignitie and affronts which day by day were offer'd to him would have broken his heart not formerly accustomed to the like oppressions And then like Pilate in the Gospel they had called for water and washed their hands before the multitude and said that they were innocent of the blood of that righteous person thinking that by such wretched figg-leaves they could not only hide their wickednesse and deceive poor men but that God also might be mocked and his All-seeing eie deluded to which all hearts lye open all desires are known and from which no secrets can be hidden To this end not content to immute him up within the walls of the Tower they robb him of his menial servants restrain him to two only of his number and those not to have conserence with any others but in the presence of his Warder and in conclusion make him a close Prisoner not suffering him to go out of his lodging to refresh himself but in the company of his Keeper And all this while they vex his Soul continually with scandalous and infamous Papers and set up factious and seditious Preachers to inveigh against him in the Pulpit to his very face so to expose him to the scorn both of boyes and women who many times stood up and turned towards him to observe his countenance to see if any alteration did appear therein And to the same ungodly end did they divest him of his Archiepiscopal and Episcopal jurisdiction conferring it on his inferiour and subordinate Officers sequester his rents under pretence of maintenance for the Kings younger Children as if his Majesties Revenues which they had invaded were not sufficient for that purpose convert his House at Lambeth into a Prison and confiscate all his coals and fewel to the use of their Gaoler deprive him of his right of Patronage and take into their own hands the disposing of all his Benefices seize upon all his goods and books which they found at Lambeth and in conclusion rifle him of his notes and papers not only such as were of ordinary use and observation but such as did concern him in the way of his just defence In which they did not any thing from the first to the last but in a proud
Death entertained by any with more Magnanimity and undaunted Resolution and Bravery of mind both the Roman and Christian confidence striving to Excellency in this harsh Encounter with an unexpected Death Sr. Charles was the first by designation to be sacrificed to their Cruelty who having retired himself a while to offer up his last Prayers to God commending his Soul into his hands presented himself to his Executioners and tearing open his Doublet exposed his naked Breast saying aloud Now Rebels do your worst and so by their murdering Bullets was dispatched in the place Sr. George Lisle was appointed to be next in this Tragedy of whom take this brief Account He was extracted from a Gentile Family in Surrey and from the beginning of the Troubles had strenuously and couragiously assisted the King The most remarkable place saving this of his Death where his great Spirit and military experience most manifested it self was at the second Newberry Battel where he made good his ground being Col. of a Regiment of Foot against several Charges both of Horse and Foot of the Enemy who did all they could to drive him from some Advantages which could they have obtained by subduing that handful of men might have facilitated their way to Victory This he sustained with an Invincible Resolution animating his Souldiers and leading them on without any Supplies or Reserves several times and for the more Encouragement took off his own Doubler and charged in his Shirt bidding them come on once more for the King then for the Prince then for the Duke till such time as night came and quitted him from his hot Service and Enemies together This noble Action was taken notice of by the K. acknowledged so at Court which rendred him deservedly famous among the Sword-men of his own Party and as dreadful to the other so that having him in their hands by this Surrender they resolved to be thus cowardly and basely rid of him It being as was said before his turn to die seeing and beholding that sad Spectacle the dead Body of his dearest Friend he fell upon it and kissed it as if he meant to breath into it another Soul and with a free and full yet true Relation of his Vertues and Endowments he did often repeat these words In how short a moment has a brave Spirit expired well this Priority was due to thee but I shall not be long behind thee my Death which is now at hand shall restore thee to me After this standing up and taking five Pieces of Gold out of his Pocket he gave one to his Executioners and the other four he sent to four Friends in London and then addressing himself to the standers by he said Oh how many do I see here about me whose Lives I have saved in hot bloud and now must mine be taken away most barbarously in cold bloud Sure the like was never heard of among the Goths and Vandals or the very Barbarians in any Age. After which words some short Ejaculations and some few Invocations upon the name of Jesus as he stood in an unconquerable Resolution of mind and in an Heroick Posture he was also dispatched by the same hands Thus these 2 stars of the first Magnitude for valourous Loyalty were put out and extinguished by the malice of their Enemies but though they shine not here in that splendor which their desired Lives would have appeared in yet they shine in a full Lustre in that Region of Glory whither the Violence of their Enemies transplanted them Most certain it is that upon the Ground where Sr. Charles Lucas fell when he was shor there hath grown no grass where the Print of his Body was it remaining still bare though it be green round about an indignation of the unreasonable unjust and cruel usage of so brave a person and if the Earth be punished that groan'd at their untimely end how much more heavy will their punishment be that contrived and rejoyced at it Since the Restitution of his Majesty the corps of these Worthies have been taken up and with all due Magnificence attended by the Gentry thereabouts and the Mayor and other principal persons of Colchester interred in the Repositories of the Right Honourable Family of the Lucas's with a Funeral Oration and other requisite Solemnities the deserved Honour to their precious memory Major Pitcher shot to death in St. Paul's Church-yard London December 29. 1648. THis Gentleman nor his Ancestry being known unto me I will not presume to trace him but as the fruitfulnesse of Nile answers for its original Springs so the Loyalty and gallantry of this person may satisfie our inquisition after his birth and descent till his relations will do him the honour and us the happiness and pleasure of a full account His Death was too lamentably publick but the cause for which he died was not generally known wherefore we will pay these justs and dues to his memory in a brief narative of the latter part of his honourable life In the year 1648 when Major General Langhorne Collonel Poyer and Powel took up Arms in Wales for the King this Gentleman out of his Sense of the Kings and Kingdoms misery the ruine and sacriledge daily committed on the Church freely engaged with the said persons for the restoration of the Laws and his Soveraign But it pleased God not to succeed that enterprise so that at St. Fagon's that Loyal Army of Welch men was defeated by the Parliament Forces under Collonel Horton from whence the remaines of that field betook themselves to Pembroke Town which being well fortified and provided held the Army now recruited with Forces under Cromwell a three-months Siege but seeing no hopes of relief after a hard defence made the Garrison render'd themselves upon Articles the main whereof and to our purpose were that the three Collonels above named should be at mercy all other Officers to depart the Kingdom for three years not to return before upon pain of death and the private Souldiers to go home engaging not to bear Arms against the Parliament In the Article of departing the Kingdom this valarous Gentleman was concernd who seeing the distracted estate of the Kingdom and how odious the Faction at Westminster were to the generality of the people concluded that there might be some occasion of further service and that it was base and ungenerous to desert his Prince at those times of exigence which called for and required every mans helping and assisting hand Being therefore in London upon the same design in defiance of those forced Articles which contrary to all Law banisht a Subject from his Country for doing his duty and would expose him to the mercy of other Climates for his affection to his own he was betrayed and apprehended and presently after condemned by a Council of War for contrarying the said Capitulation and as a preparatory Offering to that great Sacrifice of the King which followed in the next moneth he was shot to death
especially that of the King 's they made no bones of him but condemned him to the Gibbet with such fury and hast that they would scarce afford him time to recommend himself from their merciless Bar to the merciful and just Tribunal of Heaven which would ere long judge righteously in his cause between his Enemies and himself He was not long in preparation for his dissolution having as well learned as taught the necessity of Death improved to him into an easie suffering undergoing of it by the glory of his cause so that he quietly submitted to their Sentence and with Christian resolution owning his actions in order to his duty laid down his life the day and year aforesaid and will therefore deservedly among the rest of his glorious Company be had in precious and everlasting remembrance Not long afterwards followed the rendition of Pontefract-Castle surprized as aforesaid by Col. Morris they had stood it out to extremity there being no place in England for the King besides therefore were forced to accept of very hard Conditions which were that six of the garison whom they should chuse should be left at discretion The reason of this calling out this Number was a resolution to Sacrifice them to the ghost of the said Rainsborough being assured that those that performed that exploit were then in the Castle might be discovered upon view Among those or rather for those this Gentleman was taken being the Governor of the place and with Cornet Michael Blackbourn and the others brought to the City of York and committed to that Goal until the Summer-Assizes held there by Baron Thorp for that County when an Indictment of Treason was brought against them for levying War against the Parliament therupon found guilty by a pack'd Jury and after Sentence of being hanged drawn and quartered they were executed the day and year aforesaid the rigour of dismembring them being only abated At their death they spake as followeth The Speech of Col. John Morris Governour of Pontefract Castle at the place of his Execution at York August 23. 1649. WHen he was brought out of prison looking upon the Sledge that was there set for him lifting up his eyes to Heaven knocking upon his breast he said I am as willing to go to my death as to put off my doublet to go to bed I despise the shame as well as the Cross I know I am going to a joyful place with many like expressions When the Post met him about St. James Church that was sent to the Parliament to mediate for a reprieve and told him he could not prevailin it he said Sir I pray God reward you for your pains I hope and am well assured to finde a better pardon then any they can give my hope is not in man but in the living God At the place of Execution he made this profession of his faith his breeding his cause he had fought in Gentlemen First I was bred up in the true Protestant Religion having my education and breeding from that honorable House my dear Lord Master Strafford which place I dare boldly say was as well governed and ruled as ever any yet was before it I much doubt better then any will be after it unless it please God to put a period to these distracted times this Faith and Religion I say I have been bred in and I thank God I have hitherto lived in without the least wavering and now I am resolved by Gods assistance to dy in These pains are nothing if compared to those dolors and pains which Jesus Christ our Saviour hath suffered for us when in a bloody-Sweat he endured the Wrath of God the pain of Hell and the cursed and shameful death which was due to our sins therefore I praise the Lord that I am not plagued with far more grievous punishment that the like hath befallen others who undoubtedly are most glorious and blessed Saints with Christ in Heaven It is the Lords affliction and who will not take any affliction in good part when it comes from the hand of God And what shall we receive good from the hands of God and not receive evil And though I desire as I am carnal that this Cup may depart from me yet not my will but thy will be done Death brings unto the godly an end of sinning and of all miseries due unto sin so that aâ—ter death there shall be no more sorrow nor cry nor pain for God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes by Death our souls shall be delivered from thraldom and this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Therefore blessed are they that are delivered out of so vile a world and freed from such a body of bondage and corruption the soul shall enjoy immediate Communion with God in evetlasting bliss and glory it takes us from the miseries of this world and society of sinners to the City of the living God the celestial Jerusalem I bless God I am thought worthy to suffer for his Name and for so good a cause and if I had a thousand lives I would willingly lay them down for the cause of my King the Lords Anointed the Scripture commands us to fear God and honour the King to be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as supreme or to to those that are in authority under him I have been always faithful to my Trust and though I have been most basely accused for betraying Leverpool yet I take God to witness it is a most false aspersion for I was then sick in my bed and knew not of the delivering of it till the Officers and Souldiers had done it without my consent and then I was carried prisoner to Sir John Meldrum afterwards I came down into the Country and seeing I could not live quietly at home I was perswaded by Colonel Forbes Colonel Overton Lieut-Colonel Fairfax whom I took for my good friends to march in their Troops which I did but with intention still to do my King the best service when occasion was and so I did and I pray God to turn the hearts of all the Souldiers to their lawful Sovereign that this Land may enjoy Peace which till then it will never do and though thou kill me yet will I put my trust in thee wherefore I trust in God he will not fail me nor forsake me Then he took his Bible and read divers Psalms fit for his own occasion and consolation and then put up divers prayers some publiquely and some privately the publique was this whiâ—h follows His Prayer WElcome blessed hour the period of my Pilgrimage the term of my Bondage the end of my cares the close of my sins the bound of my travels the Goal of my race and the haven of my hopes I have fought a long fight in much weakness I have finished my course though in great faintness and the Crown of my joy is that through the
the title was mistaken and no answer given therefore it was that another petition was drawn up to the same effect with a new Title given as I remember presented by the Serjeant at arms and one writ it over in such hast lest they should be drawn out of the Painted-Chamber into the Court that I had not time to read it over only I subscribed my name and there was in the front of the Petition a word left out but what the word was I know not and this was taken so ill as if I had put an affront or contempt upon the Court And it was thought they would have heard me plead and then because of that mistake they sent word I should have my answer when I came into the Court and my answer was the sentence of condemnation And therefore I pray with all my sonl that God would forgive all those that occasioned the charge to be drawn against me to give such unjust things against me I pray with all my soul that God would forgive all those upon so slender and small grounds adjudg'd me to die taking advantage of such simple ignorance as I was in And I had at the very beginning of my pleading engaged their honours no advantage should be taken against me to my prejudice that in as much as I understood nothing of the Law And having heard that a man in the nicety of the Law might be lost in the severity thereof meerly for speaking a word out of simple ignorance I made it my prayer to them that no advantage might be taken against me to the prejudice of my person and there was to me a seeming consent for the President told me there should be no advantage taken against me and upon these considerations I am afraid there was too great uncharitableness But I pray God forgive them from the very bottom of my soul and I desire that even those that shed my blood may have the bowels of the God of mercy shed for them And now having given you the occasion of my coming hit her it is fit I should give you somewhat as concerning my self as I am a Christian and as I am a Clergy-man First as I am a Christian I thank God I was baptized to the holy Church so I was baptized to be a Member of the holy Catholique Church that is the Church of England which I dare say for purity of Doctrine and orderly Discipline till a sad reformation had spoiled the face of the Church and made it a query whether it were a Church or no I say it was more purely Divine and Apostolical then any other Doctrine or Church in the Christian world whether National or Classical or Congregational And I must tell you That as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of the holy Catholick Church shall give a most just confession of my Faith both negatively and affirmatively Negatively I am so a Member of the Catholick Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold Communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the world that love the same Lord JESUS in sincerity and call on his Name agreeing with those truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testament though in charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for salvation through the Merits of Christ Jesus his blood I relie on his merits I trust to for the salvation of my own soul though to this Faith good Works are necessary not meritorious in us but onely made meritorious by Christ his death by his alsufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteousness they become meritorious but in us they are no other than as defiled Rags And truly as I am a Member of the Church so I told you I was a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the World They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable design and that I had a great interest in the knowledge and practise thereof and that for the saving my life I would have discovered and betrayed I cannot tell what I hope my conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermedle in such an action and go so contrary to the practice of my profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a knowledge of that design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a design upon the City of London for the firing of it I so much tremble at the thought of the thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a design if my heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhorre the thing I should have been the first discoverer of it Nor ever had I had correspondency or meerings with such persons as would have carried on such a design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond To my remembrance I never saw the face of that honourable person in my life It is said one Lords day I did preach at Saint Gregories and the next Lords day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings hand and brought I cannot tell what Orders and Instructions from him This I shall say For these three years last past together I have not been sixty miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those places than threescore miles It is said that I kept correspondency with one Mallory and Bishop They are persons I have heard of their names but never saw their faces and to my knowledge I do not know they know me nor do I know them at all but only as I have heard of their names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highnesse was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a sheaf of Corn He meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on fire by sedition and combustions and promoting designes Here truly I do say and have it from many of those who are Judges of the High-Court that upon examination of the business they have not found me a medler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore That it was a very uncharitable act in them whoever they were that brought such accusation against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was malice it might be zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be senrenced to this place The God of mercy pardon and forgive them all And truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a member
Abr. Reynoldson Sr. John Gaire Ald. Adams Ald. Bunch and Major Gen. Brown who suffered a sharp and tedious Imprisonment The Right Honourable John now Lord Viscount Mordant Brother to the Earl of Peterborough who indefatigably laboured in the Kings Business being really engaged in the matters wherewith he was accused and came off but by one saving voyce at his Trial before the said Court when others not concerned at all were there condemned no sooner got his Liberty by the death of Oliver but he was as earnestly busie as before against the Rump and by Proclamation commanded to render himself by such a time or else be reputed a Traytor He now lives and hath seen some of them suffer the Reward of such and is Governour of Windsor Castle Mr. now Sr. Thomas Woodcocke a Confederate in the same Design with my Lord Mordant so wisely managed his Defence at the aforesaid Bar the same time that he was fairly acquitted by those bloudy Justices and soon after set at Liberty which by his Majesties Gracious Favours is improved into Honour Mr. Christopher Pits Brother to M. Pits of Hampshire who married the Lady Chandois I the rather mention his Noble Family because of the Nobleness of this subsequent Action He was apprehended with Mr. Garrent and other Citizens for the same business of the Lord Mordant and committed to New-gate after his Examination taken they would have made use of him having not enough against his Life as a witness against his Associates and in order thereunto brought him down to the High Court where he refused and resolutely denied to give any Evidence concerning or against the Prisoners whereupon after many vain Threats and Menaces he was by the Court sent back to Newgate there condemned to perpetual Imprisonment and fined 1000 l. which he willingly submitted to rather then be guilty of the Bloud of his Friends though a kind of forcible necessity would have seemed to warrant such an Action He continued a Prisoner but at large after Olivers death till the Coming of the General when he forsook that Station and recommenced his Freedom with the Kingdoms Mr. William Garrent who was tried before the same Court for the same business escaped as is generally believed through the want of that Evidence they relied upon from Mr Pits with much ado he was quitted and soon after set at Liberty Henry Friar who was one of those also was condemned at the said Court and was brought afterwards to West-Smithfield where in the Rounds a Gibbet was erected upon the Ladder and ready to die the Reprieve was produced and he carried back again to the Tower whence not long after he was dismist John Sumner and Oliver Allen the like the one drawn on a Hurdle to Bishopsgate and the other to Grace-Church street the places of their appointed Execution but were both there reprieved and afterwards freed Sr. George Booth now Lord Delameres who in 1659. rose against the Rump and was proclaimed Traytor with Major Gen. Egerton Col. Worden and Sr. Thomas Middleton being defeated near Northwich in Cheshire fled in disguise to Newport Pagnel and was there taken and sent Prisoner to the Tower of London and soon after his Estate was Ordered to be sequestred and sold and Preparations to be made for his Trial but upon the division of his and their fore-gotten Spoyles betwixt that Remnant at Westminster and their Commander Lambert which brought about through the Prudence and Loyalty of our Noble General the Re-admission of the Secluded Members he was set at Liberty and his Estate freed likewise which is now mounted to the Honourable Revenue of a Barony Sr. Thomas Middleton ingaged in the same Quarrel after this Defeat was forced to flee leaving his Sons to defend Chirke Castle which rendred soon after to Col. Zanchy but the happy Revolution aforesaid restored him and his Estate together I do here also leave out all Persons who condemned by Courts Martial with others that suffered or alone were afterward reprieved because it is an undertaking of so wide a circumference that is impossible without much Errour and Uncertainty particularly I passe by the Names of those who were kept so long in Durance at Exeter and were afterwards sent away to the Barbadoes for the Rising with Col. Penruddock because of the Prosixity of that Roll and I would not be partial Lastly It were an infinite Task to particularize the several Sequestrations Plunderings and Rapines committed on the Kings good Subjects the Product of which Spoyles amounted to a vast sum of Treasure and might be sister to the Publick Faith-Money as Violence and Fraud are seldom asunder But what is herein defective would indeed be redundant and therefore I refer every Particular of those sufferers to the General Day of Account when they shall receive full Recompence FINIS Courteous Reader THere is now Published the Reconciler of the Bible Inlarged wherein above three thousand seeming Contradictions throughout the Old and New Testament are fully and plainly Reconciled being a very useful Work for all such as desire to understand the Sacred Scriptures aright unto Salvation And sold by Simon Miller at the star in S. Pauls Church Yard Courteous Reader These Books following are Printed for Simon Miller or Sold by him at the Star in St. Pauls Church Yard Small Folio THe Reconciler of the Bible Enlarged wherein above Three Thousand seeming Contradictions throughout the Old and New Testament are fully and plainly reconciled A like work never yet extant and may serve for the Explanation of the most difficult Places of the Bible being useful for all such as desire to understand the Sacred Scriptures aright unto Salvation Humbly presented to the Censure of the Sons of the Prophets By J. T. and T. M. Ministers of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments Astrology restored or an Introduction to the Language of the Stars in four Books by William Ramsey Gent. The Civil Wars of Spain in the Reign of Charles the Fifth Emperor of Germany and King of that Nation wherein our Late unhappy Differences are paralell'd in many Particulars A General History of Scotland from the Year 767. to the death of King James c. by David Hume of Godscroft The History of this Iron Age wherein is set down the true state of Europe as it was in the Year 1500. also the Causes of all the wars and Commotions that have happened to this present time with the memorable Sieges and Battels together with the lively Effigies of the most Renowned Persons Mr. Paul Baine his Practical Commentary on the whole Epistle of S. Paul to the Ephesians The most pleasant and profitable History of Francion wherein all the Vices that usually attend youth are plainly laid open that the Misfortunes of some may teach others to abandon Vice done into English by a Person of Honour Eighteen Books of the Secrets of Art Nature being the sum and substance of Natural Philosophy first designed by Doctor John Weeker and now