good example sake rather than offend God and scandalize others by deserting his Faith since others could be willing to hazard their eternal lives to reduce their Neighbors to God by Charity The like examples of love to God and his Neighbors we have in St. Paul in his manifold expressions both towards God and men first to God as Rom. 8. where he makes this Proclamation Who shall saith he separate us from the Charity of Christ Shall Rom. 8. Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword As it is written for thy sake we are kill'd all the day long we are accounted as sheep to the slaughter He adds I am certain that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And for this Charity in order to his Neighbor let what he suffered to serve them testifie as he relates 2 Cor. 11. by being in Labors and Stripes in Prison in Death in Scourgings in Shipwracks being day and night in the bottom of the Sea in Perils in 2 Cor. 11. Weariness in Painfulness in Hunger in Thirst in Fasting in Cold and Weariness besides what he suffered through his care of all Churches ver 28 29. where he saith Who is weak and I am not weak understand by compassion as Fellow-sufferer Who is scandalized and I burn not understand by zeal Let those now consider this who never more rejoyce than now when they see their passive Neighbors scandalized and were never better content in their own apprehensions than now when they behold us suffering though before God we are innocent Were St. Paul on earth again he would rather give himself for others to ease them of their sufferings according to his wonted 2 Cor. 12. 15. Coloss 2. 4. charity exprest 2 Cor. 12. 15. saying I will very gladly spend and be spent for you and he would rejoyce to suffer in charity for his Neighbor as he abundantly declares Colos 2. 4. saying I rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is wanting of the passions or afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church and this example is given for us to do the like and therefore he saith 1 Cor. 1 Cor. 4. 9. 4. 9. We are made a spectacle to the World to Angels and to men and therefore God forbid but some of us if we be Christian men should endeavor to imitate some of his examples though we cannot all For he ascended to so superlative a degree of Charity towards his Neighbor that he declares to the World that he could be a Cast-away himself to save others for thus he saith Rom. 9. 3. I could wish my self were Rom. 9. 3. accursed from Christ for my Brethren Christians do not then henceforth so easily ruine your Neighbors neither in their Lives nor Estates or Credits by Persecutions and Scandals the Scripture holds forth no such Doctrine nor gives any such examples but as you see the contrary but if our Persecutors will not imitate these examples let us that are persecuted and suffer endeavor to imitate them by choosing rather to lose all we can call our own in this World and Life also rather than to break Charity to God and our Neighbor either by denying or dissembling our Faith and scandalizing the Church or bearing false Witness against our selves or our Neighbors to save our Lives or Fortunes or enrich our selves by false Witness And if we will put in practice the Virtues of Faith Hope and Charity I have spoke of we ought to do it thus what we profess by words we must confirm by deeds and actions Our profession of Catholick Faith is this I believe all Divine Revelations delivered to the Prophets and Apostles proposed by the Catholick Church in Her General Councils or by Her Universal Practice to be believed as an Article of Catholick Faith knowing this to be our Faith the confirmation of this knowledge or the practice of this by our deeds is as St. Paul teacheth Ephes 3. 8. To esteem all worldly Eph. 3. 8. things as dirt in respect of this eminent knowledge of Christ and his Faith and therefore for my own part I now being ready to leave all in the World and my Life in testimony of my Catholick Faith which I profess I desire and hope to manifest to all I value my knowledge of Christs Faith more than I value the universal World And as for my Christian Hope I profess to have the confirmation of it or the practical 1 Pet. 3. 15. part is to be fulfilled thus being that we must as St. Peter saith 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be always ready to give an account to every one concerning the hope which is in us I have already by words expressed it and by deed I express it thus That whereas I do believe that God as the Scripture saith kills and brings to life again carrieth down to the depth and bringeth back again so now I do by this my present Execution which I am now to undergo willingly give my Body to be mortified in death for my Faith hoping in Gods infinite mercy he will restore my Body and Soul to eternal life and I do willingly resign my self to be carried down to my Grave hoping by my Saviours Cross and Passion Death and Burial he will raise me up again to a glorious Resurrection And as for the confirmation of my Charity to shew by deeds the love I owe to God and my Neighbor it hath pleased my Saviour by his own words to declare which is the best proof or practice of Charity where he saith No man hath a greater Charity than he that lays down his life for his Friend I therefore do willingly undergo this death I am to suffer now to testifie I love my Friend my Neighbor as my self whil'st I undergo this death for my self and them that seeing it is for the profession of my Faith I dye they whil'st they live may the more happily serve God in the same belief and I testifie I love God above all because I forsake the World and my self in death rather than offend him by doing any thing against my Conscience And forasmuch as for these many years I have had occasion by discoursing and reading the Holy Scriptures with others who desired to find out the true Faith I have by words declared what Faith I did believe and what Faith they ought to believe I now declare that for every Point of Faith that ever I believ'd my self or read to others or told them that they might believe as a Point of Faith for all and every such Points of Faith in confirmation of them as well to my self as others I here lay down my Life and omitting all other particular Points I
by mockings and stripes they were in chains and prisons they were stoned they were hewed they were tempted they died in the slaughter of the sword they were so persecuted and impoverished that they were fain to go about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins needy in distress afflicted wandring in desarts in mountains in dens and caves of the Earth Dear Catholicks now in your present persecution think of this and be willing to follow these examples that you as in the same place it followeth being appointed as they were by the testimony of your Faith may receive ere long those better things which God as 't is there writ provides for you Happy those that have this Faith but thrice more happy those that suffer these persecutions for Faiths sake because by this Faith as St. Paul saith Gal. 3. 11. the just man lives and those that have not this Gal. 3. 11. Heb. 11. 6. Faith are dead to God because as 't is written Heb. 11. 6. Without faith 't is impossible to please God and yet though we have this Faith except we joyn when God requires our works of sufferings to this Faith both we and our Faith are dead to God because as St. James saith chap. 2. ver 17. Faith is to be shewed by works because Faith Jam. 2. 17. Jam. 1. 25. without works is dead And he further shews us in his first chap. v. 25. 't is the works make a man happy although there can be no good work without a firm Faith in nothing doubting as he saith ver 6. Christian Faith is a firm established and an infallible Faith because it is grounded upon a Rock against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail Matth. 16. v. 18. This Faith is firmly established by such Authority of God and his Church that he that will not own the Authority is as a Heathen and a Publican God hath declared him so and what the Church binds on Earth God binds in Heaven This Church and Faith is firmly establisht because our Saviour hath promised That the Holy Ghost the Mat. 18. 17. John 14. 16. Spirit of Truth should teach the Believers all Truth remain with them for ever shew them things to come to be believed and should cause the Believers to remember all things which Christ had already taught which you read in John 14. and 16. chap. This Faith is firmly established because it was believed and published from the beginning throughout the whole world as St. Paul proclaims Romans the first where he speaks thus to all that be in Rome Beloved of God called to be Saints first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your Faith is published throughout the whole world Finally this Faith is established and infallibly confirmed that it can never decay till the worlds end because our Saviour hath promised to be with the Believers unto the worlds end Matth. 28. 19 20. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Mat. 28. 19 20. baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and behold I am with you alwaies even to the end of the world Thus much briefly concerning my Christian Faith in which I truly believe in all points infallible and in confirmation of which one only Faith and Catholick Church I will and do lay down my life and whosoever will as he ought consider the Text that proves this Faith and Church of the Living God to be the pillar and ground of Truth as 't is evident it is 1 Tim. 3. 15. I question not but who I say considers this will believe the same our Faith being assisted by our second Divine Vertue which is our Christian Hope This Hope is that Vertue which assures us that for the reward of our Faith and the profession and due practice of it as we ought there are those heavenly gifts laid up for the Christian Believers which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor the heart of man can conceive or comprehend as St. Paul declares This Hope gives such confidence that death cannot overcome it because as the Prophet saith Although he shall kill me yet I will hope in him Why then shall any fear to die for his Faith having this Hope 'T is for want of making due reflection and use of this Hope that causes so many to be fearful to suffer and makes them fly the field of persecution and forsake the banners of their Christian Faith that all ought to fight under and would still fight under would they make use of the divine hope of Gods promises which are such that as David saith Psal 125. That he that hopes or trusts in our Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but remain for ever As the Mountains saith God by the mouth of David are about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people that is such as will place their hope in him as the Prophet did and exhorts Psal 130. 5 6. us to do the same saying Psal 130. 5 6. My soul hath hoped in our Lord from the morning watch even until night let Israel hope in our Lord that is from the beginning of the day of our life till the night of death as well in the morning of prosperity as in the evening of adversity because 't is also writ God is my Hope for ever and whosoever can truly say with David Psal 31. 1. In thee O Lord have I plac'd my Hope shall be assured of what there follows Not to be confounded for ever because as St. Paul saith Hope consoundeth not There is a contrary Vice to this Virtue a worldly Fear that brings all things to confusion it makes Worldlings swear and forswear and perjure For which Perjuries and False Oaths as the Prophet saith Judgment springs up as Hemlock in the Furrows of the Field And therefore Dr. Thorndick in his Book of just Weights and Measures saith That Coaction of Oaths is the crying Sin of this Nation to call down the wrath of God upon the Kingdom What better remedy than to secure our selves against all worldly Fears and these ensuing Dangers but by relying on the hope of future blessings which God if we fight and suffer for his sake hath promised God is the God of Hosts and we fight under him and if we trust in him we are happy as David saith Psal 84. 5. O Lord of Hosts blessed is the man that trusts in thee in whom to hope is to be secured and therefore David Psal 84. 5. also saith Psal 91 He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wing shalt thou hope especially if we fight for our Faith and therefore he adds in the same verse His truth shall be thy shield and buckler if we will hope in him and his reward For if we hope for our great wages we shall easily undergo our little work As for
Oath we take is to have all these Conditions truth judgment and righteousness Jerem. 4. Therefore if I should take these Oaths which are concerning damnable Doctrines and Heresies I must call God to witness that I no more believe him to be a living God and true God a just and righteous God than I believe these things contained in the Oaths to be true just and righteous to swear to which Oaths I do not nor cannot in my Conscience believe to be so For before I or any man else can understand the Contents of these Oaths to be true as to call God to witness that I believe them to be as true just and righteous I must be able to define what is Faith or Heresie in these Contents I swear to and I must know the full extent of all cases of this nature that God has left to all Temporal Princes and their Power I must also understand the full extent of all cases of this nature of power spiritual which God hath left in his Church in or over Christian Kingdoms of Temporal Monarchs which power in these Oaths I am to swear on the one side and forswearing the other I told them I was not of capacity nor knowledge to set the Confines to each Power or to determine or define the extent given by God to all in this nature so as to swear and call God to witness I am as sure of it as I am sure he is a living God as I must do if I take these Oaths the extent of which I did not understand in my Conscience to be so as to believe them Therefore I could not nor would not swear to them I having spoken these things no body said any more to me but the Justices going out of the Hall made my Mittimus and Sentence for Worcester Prison because I would not take the Oaths they tendred me I have been since called to the Bar at the Sessions where I spake to the same effect before Judge Street and the Justices as I had spoken before to Sir John Packington having first asked their leave to speak which they gave me for a little time and then bid me return to the Prison But first they were urgent with me to answer positively Ay or No was I a Jesuitical Priest or was I not To which I answered It was an easie thing for me to say No but by saying No I might prejudice others who hereafter being asked the same question if they did not answer No it might be an Argument that they were guilty if they did not deny it as others before them had done Therefore I desired that what proof could be brought against me might be produced against me and I would answer for my self But I desired I might not be urged to answer Ay or No to any thing before some Witness or Argument came against me for I told them in such Cases neither Law of God nor Man obliged any one although he was guilty to bear witness against himself without some proof were alledged against him for that was no less than to be his own Executioner The Judge answered there were Witnesses would swear against me I answered if Witnesses could make out what they sware of me then my life was at the King's mercy But in the mean time I told them I remained guiltless though I did not answer them to their questions Ay or No because I told them that being my saying No in my own behalf would not be sufficient testimony to acquit me therefore there was no reason why any man should be urged to say Ay to accuse ones self though he was guilty Upon this the Judge sent me to Prison again at Worcester where now I am which Imprisonment in these Times especially when none can send to their Friends nor Friends come to them is the best means to teach us how to put our confidence in God alone in all things and then he will make his promise good That all things shall be added to us Luke 12. which Chapter if every one would read and make good use of a Prison would be better than a Palace and a Confinement for Religion and a good Conscience-sake more pleasant than all the liberties the World could afford As for my own part God give me his grace and all faithful Christians their prayers I am happy enough And as for others I beseech God that the evil example of those that swear against their Consciences may not be Guides for the rest to follow nor their Deeds a Rule to their Actions We all ought to follow the narrow way though there be many difficulties in it It 's an easie thing to run the blind way of liberty but God deliver us all from broad sweet ways We know what Job saith of Libertines They lead their lives in the goods of this world and in a moment they descend into Hell But as our Saviour saith What doth it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul God gave Job a goodly increase for all the riches he took from him and blest his latter end more than his beginning and gave him an Hundred and forty years of flourishing life for his short affliction in which his constancy and faith in God was tried and our Saviour promiseth an Hundred fold to all that leave Goods and every thing willingly for his sake Who well considers this will be content to leave both Friends and Fortunes and Freedom by Imprisonment for their Faith and Religion-sake till such time as it shall please God and the King in obedience to whose Command they suffer to release them And in the mean time they will have this comfort That they give a Testimony they fear God and honour the King They fear God because they choose rather to suffer Persecution than swear against their Consciences They honor the King because they are willing to suffer the Penalties He commands and yet remain faithful Subjects to Him whom God long preserve with His Parliament and People in all happiness On Tuesday April 15. 1679. I came before Judge Atkins at Worcester to have my Cause tryed at the Sessions having been Committed five Months before to Worcester-Castle by two Justices of the Peace Sir John Packinton and Mr. Townson because I refused the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and therefore was suspected to be a Jesuitical Priest The manner of my Tryal was as followeth Four Witnesses were brought in against me Three of them were forced by Warrant to come in whether they would or no from several Towns and were forc'd to speak all that they knew had heard or seen concerning me neither I nor any of my Friends knowing that any would be compelled so to do before the time of my Tryal was come The fourth Witness came of his own accord for Lucre sake who the same day that I was first brought to Worcester Prison offered himself to swear before the Mayor of the Town that I was a Priest before
indeed I never had spoken to him either about Confession or Communion to come to either neither did he know what I said to him when I gave him Bread like a Wafer but he of his own accord did desire me to hear his Confession and give him the Wafer which he took Whereupon the Judge asked how it came to pass that he never having known nor seen me before nor I spoke with him about Confession or Communion how could he now tell who I was or how could he desire such a thing of me who was a meer stranger to him neither of us knowing any thing of one anothers condition sure said the Judge we do not give the Communion on such terms To which he answered that his Father had told him that if he would he might confess to me and that I would give him the Communion So although he had sworn before that none in the house was witness or saw him confess or receive yet rather than be confounded he would bring his Father into confusion and accuse him as guilty of being the cause of what he did which might be the ruine of his Family But the Judge taking no notice of what he had accused his Father spake to me and told me by this it might appear That I had taken upon me what belonged to the Priests Office by hearing his Confession and giving him the Wafer To which I replied that with his leave I would make it appear that all which this Witness had said against me did not at all prove me to be a Priest or to have taken the office of a Priest upon me for all he said I had done I might do it lawfully though no Priest so might other men that never were nor would be Priests do the same as many thousands had done and did do through the world He asked me how I could prove that I answered as to his Confession he spoke of in the nature he declared it it was only an act of charity for me to do as I did and every Christians duty obliges every man to do the same that he said I had done for him and the same was practised by all Sects whatsoever that never knew what belonged to Priesthood For if our Neighbor have any thing that perplexed his mind there is no better way to ease it than by speaking of it to any whom he supposed might know how to take away or mitigate his Grievances by counsel or advice And therefore this Witness having understood something from his Father that might move him to confide in me came of his own accord as he said he did to impart his mind to me and therefore I should not have fulfilled Christian duty if I should have slighted his trouble and not have given him leave to ease his mind to me and in the best way I could endeavor to assist him and divert his trouble though I was a stranger being that he of his own accord as he said came to me for that intent and therefore I desired the Judge to ask him if it were otherwise than what I had told his Lordship The Judge replied that I went further for as he says I gave him the Wafer or Communion I answered that suppose I had given him the Wafer or Communion which whether I did or no I was not certain yet according to his own word this could no way prove that I gave him the Sacrament for let him speak if I told him it was so or let him declare if I said any thing to him concerning the Communion or what I said he could not say I did only I gave him something therefore I told the Judge that if he pleased to give me leave I would tell his Lordship what practice ever had been and is constantly used in the Catholick Church throughout the world in giving hollowed bread or water which is nothing belonging to the Communion or Sacrament for I told my Lord as there was holy water kept in all private houses as well as in the Chapels and places of Prayer so there was also holy bread and sometimes of the same nature as the Wafer or the Communion and of this as well as of the other sort of bread was on Sundays and other certain daies not consecrated as the Communion but only blessed as holy water by the word and prayer and so distributed to men women and little children of two or three years old and such like hallowed bread thousands of men women and children take and may carry about them and keep in their houses and eat it at any time and give it when and to whom they would to children or others and for my part I have many times in my life taken it from others at any time when I had it or was in any private house where I found it I have taken it to eat my self and given it to any man woman or child sometime they desiring it sometime of my own accord I gave it and so possibly I have given it to the man that witnesseth here against me and if he know the contrary but that it was as I said I desire that he would speak But he had nothing to say of me to the contrary I appealed to my Lord to judge whether this testimony or any other testimony this Witness brought against me were of any force or value to make me guilty in this matter which no waies could be made out against me I proceeded therefore to answer his third Accusation against me which was that I should have told him that if he did not return to the Faith from whence he had fallen he would be damned To this my Answer to my Lord was That I had all my life time been so fearful of such rash Judgment that I do 〈◊〉 it in the presence of God as I did before him that I had rather dye thâ—â—â—â—sume to pronounce the sentence of damnation against any man but I told his Lordship that if he pleased to give me leave I would relate what I had said to him and others upon the like occasion which the Judge being willing to hear I told him that I being at this man's Mother-in-law's house who was of no Religion no more than this Witness and the Mother desiring to hear what Catholicks held and the reasons for which we believe such points of Faith I told her what we held and shewed her the proofs for what we held in her own Bible and when she made any difficulty whether such texts of Scripture were to be understood as we understood them or in any other sense I shewed her out of the Protestant Practice of Piety and out of the Protestant Common Prayer-Book that not only Catholicks but all Protestants understood them in such a sense and she having those Books by her I turned those places to her to read in her own Books and so she did and yet neither the Bible nor Common Prayer-Books nor Practice of Piety could satisfie or make
her believe whereupon I told her that if she were a Christian she must believe something for as she believed so she should be saved I told her also what the Bible declared to her That without Faith it was impossible to please God and I bad her consider the text that saith Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin as also the text that saith The just man liveth by Faith and desired her to read those words of our Saviour where he saith He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned which she did read and this Witness being then present and I saying the same then before him I suppose from this text he accused me that I should say he would be damned because I repeated and shewed them our Saviour's words as they appear in that place of Scripture I having thus answered all the testimonies this Witness could bring in against me I referred my self to his Lordship and all the Bench to judge whether any thing this Witness had said against me would make me guilty The judge said but little to it but called for the next witness who was Father to this first who was so much grieved at the proceedings of his ungracious Son that he could not forbear to shed tears all the time that his Son produced such Accusations against me so that he appeared more witness against his Son's ungodliness than a Witness against me Yet the Judge asked him many questions whether he had ever heard seen or known any such or such things of or from me To all which questions he answered No he knew nothing against me so that the Judge seeing he shewed so much kindness he asked him what he was He answered a Catholick whereupon the Judge bade him go away saying He was too much my friend and therefore he would not accept of him as a witness but called the third This witness was an old man and very deaf who was forced to come against me by a warrant swore against his will The Judge asked him several questions whether he heard me say any prayers he answered yes but he could not well understand or hear what they were because he was so deaf he asked them whether they were English or Latin he answered he could not well tell he thought it was both and I think it might be neither for ought he could hear he was so very deaf Then he asked him what cloaths I had on he answered he could not well tell I had something on that was white a Surplice he thought and the Judge was willing to suppose this to be a Priests habit at Mass or when he gave the Sacrament but I told his Lordship that this could be no proof of any such matter because all over the world among Catholicks such Garments were worn by thousands in time of prayer who never were nor will be Priests as is well known to those that have been Travellers And I told his Lordship that if he pleased to call for them there may be several Travellers of several Sects and Opinions present in the Hall that would be sufficient witnesses as well of this as of the holy bread and water which the other witness as well as this old man said I had given them which they suppose to be the Sacrament but the Judge would call for none but called for the fourth witness This witness was a young woman who was also by violence forc'd to come and swear what she had heard see◠〈…〉 me about the matter in question The Judge asked her whether I had taught her any thing whether she had been at Confession or Communion what I said to her what pennance I gave her and he asked also the like questions of the old man the former witness to all which they were both very unwilling to answer for which some of the rude people curst the old man for an old doâ—â—â—g fellow and were as much vexed at the young woman because she was so â—â—â—ected that she could not speak but lookt like one that was half dead as some of the people said in anger she was so The Judge perceiving in what condition she was said aloud what men are these Priests that have such power over people that they are not able to speak against them he therefore bid them remember they were in the presence of God and were bound in conscience to speak the truth of what they had heard or seen so at last they owned that I had read in the Bible and other Books to them and that they had confest what troubled them and had received something like a Wafer from me and that they had believed what I read to them yet they both declared publickly that I did not bid them come to Confession or take the Wafer or Bread and when they took it that I did not tell them it was the Sacrament neither did they know whether it was or no By all which it appeared according to the letter of the Law and in conscience that none of these testimonies were of sufficient force to make me guilty A mans life is not to be taken away upon surmises or possibilities that this might be the Communion as well as other holy Bread For the Law requires that it must be proved that there was an Administration of the Sacrament by one that had taken Orders from a Foreign Power of taking Orders there was not the least Accusation mentioned against me by any of the witnesses much less could it be proved no not so much that I pretended to give the Sacrament any more than it might be holy water or holy bread as I desired my Lord to consider neither was it the wearing of a Surplice that could prove I said Mass for Priests never wear Surplices at Mass And if a mans wearing a Surplice at prayer prove him a Priest then all the Singing-Boys in every Protestant Cathedral Church and in all other Churches in Christendom all those Boys though but of ten or twelve years of age must be by consequence all Popish Priests and all Jews who constantly in their Synagogues put on a white Garment like a Surplice as I and all Travellers have seen them do when we have gone to see them pray At these Jews must be Romish Priests Out of all which it evidently appears that none of these testimonies the witnesses brought against me were any way concluding according to Justice to make me guilty of being a Priest As for my reading the Bible to them or in satisfying them in what they doubted or bidding them say their prayers and particularly the Lord's Prayer which the last two witnesses told the Judge I had done and the like he fearing to answer to all the questions he asked them To these I answered that I own I had done so whereupon the Judge said that out of this it appeared that I had taken upon me the Priests Office I told him that with his leave I would shew how it did
no ways follow for out of this it only followed that I had done the duty of a good Christian and every man in the like circumstances is bound as a Christian to do the like that I had done I told him that they doubting of such things and desiring me to shew them if such places were in the Bible or not and desiring to know what I did believe of those points and the reasons why I believed them I turned to such places in the Bible and read it to them and bid them read the same themselves which they did and so were satisfied And I told my Lord for what I had done I had the Scripture warrant and Scripture command also to do it and so had every Christian command to do the like for the Scripture commands all to be redy to give an answer to every man concerning the reason of the hope which is within us and this I had done to them or to any other that had asked me as they did But I told my Lord withal that I knowing the Statute of perswasion had alwaies so much regard to that when any would discourse with me concerning my Faith or theirs I told them that being there was such a Statute as the Statute of perswasion though I was bound to give them an account of my Faith and Hope if for conscience sake they asked me yet I told them I would not incur the penalty of that Statute by using any force or perswasion against their consciences for violent forcing of consciences was against the Law of God yet I told them what I did believe and shewed them the places of Scripture on which my Faith was grounded according as they desired me to do for them and then I would leave it to God and their own consciences and if they did not believe those texts I had no more to say to them and if they did believe them they best knew before God and their consciences what they had to do so that it was not my perswasion but God and their souls salvation that was to determine them in the belief of what they read in the Bible And I bade them bear witness that I told them thus if in case we should ever be called in question before any Judge and thus I have discoursed as several would bear witness for me I told his Lordship this was true and so did those witnesses for they declared publickly what I said was true whereupon I did appeal to my Lord if I was not innocent in this point and as for my bidding them say their prayers or when they desired to ease their minds by declaring what troubled them I desired to clear my self by asking my Lord with his leave what Nation or Sect in the world ought not and did not counsel and wish their Neighbours in their troubles to ease themselves by prayer to God and much more every good Christian ought when he understood that his Brother had acted the Prodigal Son offended his Heavenly Father and therefore was troubled in conscience ought I say to perswade him to return by repentance and beg mercy of our Father which is in Heaven I having done no more but this have only done a pious Christian duty to my Neighbours which any man though no Priest may and ought to do the same I having pleaded these things for my self the Judge was pleased to tell me I had a nimble tongue and wit and that by those discourses I strove to make the Jury attend more to my pleading for my self than to the witnesses Arguments against me To which I replied I spoke nothing but truth which I ought to do to defend my self against my enemies therefore I hoped his Lordship would not be offended But if I have exceeded as his Lordship said I did because I hindered him from speaking I humbly craved his pardon hoped I should obtain it being my Concerns and Reasons to plead as I did were of no less consequence than Life and Death But for all this the Judge told the Jury that they were to consider the Accusations of the Witnesses against me as having done such and such things which Priests use to do neither was it necessary that the Witnesses should prove me to have taken Orders from Foreign Power and so to prove me positively to be a Priest For that they not having seen me take Orders they could not do but it was sufficient they had seen me do such things by which it might be presumed it was so Whereupon I answered That there was never a Proof yet alledged that did or could make that appear or be sufficient to conclude me to be so and therefore I was no more guilty than many thousands of whom all these things alledged against me might be verifi'd who never were nor would be Priests as I had sufficiently shewed why therefore should they be thought sufficient to conclude against me I therefore desired the Judge before he sent out the Jury he would give me leave to speak a word or two to them He answered No he would not I then desired his Lordship would give me leave to speak again to him before them ere they went out to which he assented I therefore desired his Lordship to give me leave to ask this question of him which the Jury might hear Suppose all the Proofs which had been by all the Witnesses brought against me were to be 〈◊〉 against the Jury or some of them so that if the Arguments were judges 〈◊〉 to be of force or concluding some of those of the Jury should lose part 〈◊〉 Estates and Credit and being in some danger of their lives who of all 〈…〉 whom this peril were like to fall would judge those Arguments alledged 〈◊〉 me sufficient to condemn them to the loss of part of their Estates or part of their Credit with some danger of their Lives I therefore desired it might be 〈◊〉 that my All lay at stake all my Concerns in the World Credit and Life not only in some danger but certainly to be Condemned if these Arguments brought in by them against me should be judged to be of force Therefore I desired they would deal by me as if it were their own case according as I had proposed it to them and so I should give no further trouble in speaking being it was not judged fit I should say any more as I had desired to the Jury I had only one Favor more to beg of the Judge before they went out which was that his Lordship would read a Paper before them which I had ready whereby I could prove that the first and chiefest VVitness against me which was Rogers ought not in justice to be admitted as a competent VVitness against me as the VVriting I offered the Judge would shew which VVriting I gave to the Judge and he read it over privately to himself and seeing the hand of him that wrote it at the bottom who offered to swear for me against
well I do not intend you shall dye at least not for the present until I know the King 's further pleasure I was not I thank God for it troubled with any disturbing thoughts either against the Judge for his Sentence nor the Jury that gave in such a Verdict nor against any of the Witnesses For I was then of the same mind as by God's grace I ever shall be esteeming them all the best Friends to me in all they did or said that ever I had in my life or ever shall have except upon the like occasion And I was I thank God so present with my self whil'st the Judge pronounced the Sentence to deliver me to Death that without any concern for any thing in this world I did actually at the same time offer my self and the world to God After the Judge was gone from the Bench to the other end of the Hall I stayed with the Keeper in the Hall where several Protestant Gentlemen and others who had heard my Tryal came to me though Strangers and told me how sorry they were for me To whom with thanks I replied that I was troubled they should grieve for me or my condition who was joyful for it my self for I told them I had professed this Faith and Religion all my life-time which I was as sure to be true as I was sure of the truth of God's Word on which it was grounded and therefore in it I deposed my Soul and Eternal Life and Happiness and therefore should I fear to lose my temporal life for this Faith whereon my Eternal life depends I were worse than an Infidel and whosoever should prefer the life of their Bodies before their Faith their Religion or Conscience they were worse than Heathens For my own part I told them I was as ready by God's grace to dye to morrow as I had been to receive the Sentence of Death to day and as willingly as if I had a Grant of the greatest Dukedom So we sate talking half an hour and I returned to the Prison there to remain as long as it pleased God and the King whom God long preserve in all happiness There was another Objection which I forgot to put in until I had finished the former Writing and it was an Objection which the Judge was pleased to put against me himself and it was that I had changed my name and went in several places by several names To which I answered the reason was Because in Cromwel's time in the great Troubles our Family suffered much my Father was imprisoned and a Fellow-Prisoner with Sir Thomas Ashton both confined together which Sir Thomas is now one of His Majesties Admirals of the Fleet. And for my own part I going Beyond Sea to Travel I changed my name and then coming into England again before the King's Restauration I was glad to conceal my self and go by several names as many others of the King 's Loyal Subjects did the better to be able to do His Majesty the best service I could which according to my small ability I did endeavor both before and since the King came into England like a dutiful Subject and like the rest of our Family who all endeavored to serve His Majesty For I have two Brothers served Him the one a Voluntier at Sea in Sir William Reeve's Ship which Sir William was killed in the last Engagement with the Dutch and the other Brother had a Command under his Royal Highness the Duke of York at Land therefore I hope the changing of my name on such an occasion as I did could not be imputed as a guilt upon me nor speak me other than a dutiful Subject which I could have made further appear before the Bench but I did not judge it convenient to say any more to the Judge there in publick But before his Lordship went out of VVorcester I presented him with a Petition to acquaint his Lordship that I having had the honour to kiss His Majesties Hand before His Restauration in the Low-Countries as also I have had the honour to be one of those whom His Majesty was pleased to grace with being entertained by us His then best Subjects His Majesty was pleased to make us a Gracious Promise that when it should please God to restore Him to His Crown we should not live so in Banishment as then we did Of this in my Petition I did acquaint the Judge and beseeched him that he would be pleased by declaring this to the King to endeavor to obtain some gracious Favor from His Majesty for me my condition now being such that I could never have greater need to be Partaker of His gracious Promise and Clemency The Judge promised me he would make an Address to His Majesty for me in this behalf which whether he hath done or no I wish some body may put him in mind to do it for me I do not here mention the place where in particular nor the other persons to whom His Majesty made that Promise but if you remember you know I did tell you with several other particular circumstances which I need not here make any further mention of THE Last SPEECH OF Mr. Francis Johnson Priest of the Order of St. Francis who was Executed as a PRIEST onely at Worcester upon the 22d of August Anno Dom 1679. Which he spake for the most part upon the Ladder immediately before his Execution but being interrupted and that which he did speak being taken by an unskilful Scribe was Printed by the halves and so imperfect that it was in some places Nonsense To correct that Abuse this which he left written with his own Hand is publish'd by Friend ALmighty God out of his infinite Goodness to this World through the merits of his Son Christ Jesus ordained or made choice of three Virtues whereby we must walk which are these viz. Faith Hope and Charity First by virtue of Faith we are to believe all things that are done in this World Secondly by virtue of Hope we are to believe and hope for all things in another World And the reason why Christians do believe this Hope is to bring and conduct them to salvation in the other World And if we hope in God we cannot but believe God for with the mouth Confession is made but with the heart and through Faith we must believe unto salvation so that Faith is not to be troaden under foot or to be hid under a bushel but to be set upon a candlestick Luke 12 Whosoever doth confess me before men him will I confess before the Angels of God And therefore all are bound to believe that there is but one Faith and if but one Faith then but one Christian Faith There is but one Faith one Lord one Baptism if it be so how can this stand with so many Sectaries as there are If there be but one Faith how can this be I believe the Creed of St. Athanasius which is in your Common-Prayer Book there it
is said That whosoever will be saved 't is necessary before all things that he hold the Catholick Faith and that if he keep not that Faith whole and undefiled he shall perish everlastingly And as St. James saith Jam. 2. 10. He that keepeth the whole Law and yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all so they that believe must be all of the same Faith And that this ought to be done I appeal to all the Saints that are gone before of whom it is said That their Faith was such as by it they stopt the mouths of Lyons they turned the edge of the Sword and caused the Fire to cease that it should not burn so they were oppressed they wandered about in Sheeps-cloathing and Goats-cloathing Heb. 11. Therefore I say there must be an unity of Faith I desire all Catholiques to consider this That it is better to be reviled by man now in this World than be reviled by God in the World to come Mat. 16. it is said The Catholique Church is built upon a Rock And Mat. 18. He who will not believe the Church let him be as a Heathen and Publican This Faith must be establisht so in every one because Christ said He would send the Holy Ghost and he will shew us or them what to do This is the Rule of Faith This Faith was publisht at Rome And St. Paul writing to the Christians there rejoyceth that their Faith was renowned in the whole World Go ye therefore Baptizing all Nations in the Name of the Father And this is the Faith I confess and believe in and which I dye for I come now to speak of the second Virtue which is Hope I hope I shall have such Reward that neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive Those that have Hope shall be as Mount Sion that shall not be removed Those that have firm Hope there 's nothing can disturb them as David faith God is round about those that do hope in him as the Mountains are round about Hierusalem I come to the third Virtue and that is Charity It 's true now this Body of mine in this shipwrack is full of sin but when that shipwrack is over I shall come to inherit that Rock that shall never fail Now welcome shipwrack that makes the Body suffer but brings the Soul to that Haven which is joyful Now many there be that talk much of Charity few understand it and fewer that practise it This is the greatest Virtue 1 Cor. 13. Though ye speak with tongues of Men and Angels and have not Charity it availeth nothing So then we ought to have Love and Charity or else it prevaileth nothing 'T is expected I should say something of the Plot. As to this I shall declare two Points of my Faith First I believe that all are bound to obey the King's Laws Secondly I do declare That those that do break the Law in word or any action or that do act any thing against His Majesties Life that is a Sin unto damnation as much as it was a Sin in Judas to betray Christ An Oath is a taking God to witness and is as much as if he took his Life and Justice to stake So that he who takes a false Oath is guilty of destroying the Life of God and his Justice and of his own Damnation And if I were but guilty of this I do declare That all the Sin of Damnation would fall upon me because I denied the Truth and so struck at God by my Sin in denying the Truth that 's one Damnation A second Damnation is That if any man know of an Evil against His Majesty His Kingdom and Nation and to hide and not discover it he shall answer for those mischiefs that come thereby so that a man would have made and committed as many Sins as there be men in England that had suffered A third Damnation is to dye in this Lye and with this Perjury in his mouth whereby he loses Heaven and all its enjoyments and dies in greater Sins than the Devils themselves Fourthly I should have been guilty of my own Death For that Judge Atkins offered me my Life if I would confess what I knew of the Plot which had I known and not discovered would have made me the cause of my own Death which would have been a fourth Damnation I would have said more but that I gave my Speech to a Friend to be Printed Mr. Sheriff I pray Sir speak on what you have to say and none shall interrupt you Mr. Johnson Now I have no more to do but to make my Address to Almighty God with all the powers of my Soul that I may have his mercy and pardon of my Sins And therefore I beg that all Catholiques who join in union of this same Faith would make an address unto God for me that we may receive pardon for our Sins I have nothing now but wishes left I wish I may imitate David in his Repentance and that my eyes may run down with tears because I have not kept God's Law I wish with the Prophet Jeremiah That Rivers of waters may fall from my eyes by reason of sin Lam. 3. 48. But Tears will not be proper for me at this time I have kept my self from them lest by shedding Tears some might say I was unwilling to dye or feared Death But instead of Tears I offer all the Blood in my veins and I wish every drop were an Ocean and I would offer it up to God I wish I might become a man like David I wish I had Mary Magdalens penitential Tears I wish I had her arms to embrace the feet of mercy I wish I had all the graces of Saints and Angels I would offer them all to God for the remission of my sin This is my desire and this I wish for as much as is in me I offer first my Life and I beseech and desire of God to turn his Face from my Sins but not from me I offer up my Life in satisfaction for my Sins and for the Catholick Cause And I beg for those that be mine Enemies in this my Death and I desire to have them forgiven because I go to that world of happiness sooner than I should have gone And I humbly beg Pardon from God and the world And this I beg for the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ I beseech God to bless His Majesty to give Him a long Life and a happy Reign in this world and in the world to come I beseech God to bless all my Benefactors and all my Friends and those that have been any way under my charge I beseech God to bless all Catholicks and this Nation and His Majesties Privy Council and grant that they may Act no otherwise than what may be for the glory of God who will bring to light and to judgment all both good and evil Luke 12. So I beseech God that he will
give them grace to serve him I beseech God to bless the Parliament that is now in Election that they may determine nothing but what they themselves do hope to be judged by at the last day I beseech God to bless all that suffer under this Persecution and to turn this our Captivity into Joy that they who now sowe in tears may reap in joy I beseech God to accept the death of my Body and to receive my Soul I have no more to say Mr. Sheriff I give you no interruption but only whereas you said that you dyed for the Faith that is not so you do not dye for that but because you being His Majesties Subject received Orders from the Church of Rome Beyond the Seas and came again into England contrary to the Law Mr. Johnson That was pardoned by the Kings Act of Grace Mr. Sheriff That Act pardoned onely Crimes committed before the making of it but not those done since as your continuance in England was Mr. Johnson I am sorry if I have given offence in any thing I have said my reason for it was because when I was sent for to the Judges upon Sunday night Judge Atkins told me I dyed not for being concerned in the Plot but for being a Priest Mr. Sheriff No but for your continuance in England against the Law being a Priest Mr. Johnson God receive my Soul Mr. Sheriff Sir You may take your own time and you shall have no interruption Sir will you be pleased to have your own time Jaylor Sir pray give the Sign when you please to be turned off Mr. Johnson I will give you no Sign do it when you will And so he was Executed Mr. Johnson was of an Honourable Family in Norfolk born to an Estate of 500 l. per Annum All which he left for the sake of Religion his third Brother now enjoys the Estate FINIS Mr. Johnson's Speech Which he deliver'd to his Friend to be Printed as he mention'd at the place of Execution ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Johnsons ' s Tryal and what he spoke at his Execution being finisht there came to the Printers hands his Speech at large of which his foregoing words are only the heads as the Reader will see and as Mr. Johnson also mentions viz. I would have said more but that I gave my Speech to a Friend to be Printed therefore his Friend has now faithfully publisht it accordingly being written by Mr. Johnson himself as followeth GOD Almighty honoured Friends having been pleased of his infinite mercy through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ to bestow on all Christians the Theological vertues of Faith Hope and Charity by vertue of Faith all are to believe whatever God hath revealed to us in this world by hope all are to expect what he hath promised we shall receive in the world to come And because where God bestows such a Faith and Hope it is in order to bring all to a true charity and love of him for who can have Faith to believe an Infinite Goodness in which he hopes but he must 〈◊〉 that Infinite Goodness in whom he hopes which bestows on him such gifts therefore all ought to honour God and shew their love to him by a due profession and a due practice of this Faith this Hope and this Rom. 10. 10. Charity otherwise they cannot believed because as St. Paul saith With the heart it is believed to righteousness but with the mouth confession is made to salvation Rom. 10. 10. For those that will not shew their Faith which is a light not to be hid under a bushel but to be set in a Candlestick to give light to all such can never have neither true Hope for themselves nor true Charity towards God or their Neighbour nor God to them because our Saviour saith Luke 12. He that confesseth me before men him will Luk. 12. 8. the Son of man confess before the Angels of God but he that denieth me before men as those do that act or swear against their conscience him will the Son of Man deny before the Angels of God And as all are bound to confess him and his Faith so likewise all are obliged to own Ephes 4. 4 5. and profess that this Faith can be but one only Faith as we are taught Ephes 4. where St. Paul declares There is one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God even as you are called saith he in one hope of your calling This being most true let every rational Christian in his most retired thoughts consider how this Unity of Faith and this Hope of our Calling can stand with such multiplicity of Sects and Opinions all so divers one against the other with which the Nation now so abounds For according to the Text a man may as well say there are diversities of Gods or diversities of Christs as that there are diversities of Faiths because Faith is nothing but the truth of one God which Truth or Faith he hath revealed which none can alter We are all therefore bound to believe alike in one Faith and in one holy Catholick Church as our Creed teacheth us we are all obliged to believe in one Catholick Faith as the Creed of St. Athanasius in the Protestant Common-Prayer-Book declares saying Whosoever will be saved it is necessary before all things that he believe in the Catholick Faith which Faith unless every one keep whole and undefiled he shall without doubt perish everlastingly All and every one are to keep this Faith whole because as it is writ St. Jam. 2. v. 10. Whosoever keeps the whole Law and yet offends in one point is guilty of all Jam. 2. 10. All are to keep the whole Faith because our Saviour saith Matth. 16. 15. Go ye into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature All are to believe alike the whole Faith of the Gospel else they shall perish everlastingly because our Saviour saith in the same place v. 16. He that believes shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned We all must keep the Unity of Faith whole and undefiled because our Saviour also saith St. Matth. 5. 16. Heaven and Earth shall pass but one jot or one tittle Mat. 5. 16. of the Law shall in no wise pass till all be fulfilled as well the Law of Faith as the Law of Works In confirmation of this I appeal to the Faith and Works and Sufferings of all the Saints from the beginning who to keep their Faith whole and entire have made such profession and practice of it and confirm'd it by such works as are recorded in St. Paul Heb. 11. where first he registers the Faith and Deeds of the Believers in particular and Heb. 11. then in general of what they did and suffered by vertue of their Faith as there you read By faith they stopt the mouths of Lions extinguished the force of the fire repelled the edge of the sword they were racked they were tryed
example if we hope to drink of the torrent of pleasure as God hath promised we shall in his Kingdom who will fear to taste now of the Chalice of some small Persecution If we hope hereafter to be numbered amongst the Sons of God as he hath promised we shall and have our lot among the Saints why should we now fear to be reviled of men or be reputed ignominious as our Saviour and his Apostles were If they have so will they do you also the Scholar is not above the Master nor the Servant above his Lord. If they call'd the Master of the Family Beelzebub so will they do his Servants therefore we must with the Apostles rejoice as you read in the Acts they did because they were accounted worthy to suffer contumely and reproaches If contumely and reproach seem so hard for us to undergo now for a good Cause as is our Conscience before a few Enemies what contumely must those undergo who for now acting against their Conscience shall undergo at the great judgment before God Angels Saints Devils and all the Damn'd in Hell if for our reproach now we hope that after a short sorrow God will honour us so as to wipe away with his own hand every tear from our eyes as he promiseth in the Revelations he will and that henceforth there shall be neither grief nor labour nor pain or the like why should any now grieve either to see himself or others suffer It will not last this Tempest will soon be over and if now in this Storm the small vessel of my Body suffer shipwrack or some others the like vessels if our Souls can but carry off our goods of Faith Hope and Charity all is very well For as soon as the vessels of our Bodies sink our Souls will come to shore at the Land of Promise and we shall be secured in the Rock which is Christ and ever remain safe in the eternal Hills where neither winds nor waves of Persecution can ever reach to assault us then welcome shipwrack that sinks the vessel of the Body to bring the Passengers and their Goods so happily to the Haven the Heaven of Bliss Let us therefore weigh these things in a prudential Balance and see which Scale is the heaviest of present Fears or future Hopes of present Sufferings or future Glories Let us remember our Saviours words to his Apostles You are those that remained with me in my temptations or tryals for which said he their reward was he disposed the Kingdom of Heaven to them Partners in Sufferings Partners in Glories which if well considered we shall say with St. Paul The sufferings of this present time are not condign or of equality to the future glory which shall be revealed in us and we shall with his joyful Spirit say 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 'T is a happy weight that lifts both Sufferings and Sufferers up as high as Heaven to eternal Crowns of which we are all assured of as a reward for our Faith if we will make good use of our Christian hope which that we may the better do let us endeavor to help our selves by the third and greatest Virtue that follows our Faith and Hope which is Charity This is that greatest Virtue of which all sorts of Christians speak much understand little and practise less though without the practice of it 't is in vain for any to pretend 1 Cor. 13. to have a saving Faith or Hope For as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 13. Though he speak with the tongues of Men and Angels and have not Charity he is but as sounding brass and although he should know all Mysteries and have Faith to remove Mountains and though he should have such hope understand for reward that he should give all to the Poor and deliver his body to burn and yet not have charity it profiteth nothing Charity as he saith ver 7. suffereth all things believeth all things hopeth all things beareth all things Do all that pretend to Charity do thus If to speak with the tongues of Angels without Charity be nothing but vanity what Charity is there in those that speak with the tongues of Detraction Scandal Slander False-witness and Perjuries against their Neighbors If those that give all to the Poor may want Charity so that all which they give profits them nothing what Charity is there in those that take all from their Neighbors to force them to forsake their Faith If Alms profit nothing without Charity can such Injuries profit Persecutors that take all away against Charity If a man may give his own Body to burn and yet be cold in Charity what Charity is there to kill others Bodies take away their Lives with ignominy and violence because they will not kill their own Souls by acting against God and their Conscience If Charity consists only in those that suffer all things believe all things hope all things what Charity is there in those who will make their Neighbor suffer all things of Persecution because they believe and hope according to their Conscience and profess their Faith and Hope as they are bound before God upon their salvation so to do 'T is certain that though men may pretend persecution of others for Gods sake to reduce others to him yet 't is evident that for any Kingdom to persecute any meerly for Conscience-sake is against the Law of God and therefore whil'st they would seem so zealously to keep the first Command of loving God above all and force others to conform to their opinions they break the second Command because they do not love their Neighbor as themselves because they persecute them and so they dash one Commandment against the other and so crack both Commandments together For wheresoever the second Command is broke by not loving our Neighbor as our selves the first is broke with it because did they love God above all they would do better by their Neighbor But I do not come here to beat down others pretence to Charity but endeavour to advance Charity in my self and others and the way to do this is not to reckon what others have not done according to Charity but to call to mind what others have done to raise Charity towards God and their Neighbors We read in Holy Writ that Moses love was so to God and his Neighbor that to repurchase a Peace and Charity 'twixt God and the People after they had offended he desired that his own name should rather be blotted out of the Book of life than that the Peoples names should not be put in by obtaining Forgiveness and therefore he saith to God Either spare the People or blot me out of the Book which thou hast writ How superlative a Motive is this to move Christians to a perfect Charity towards their Neighbors well may a Christian be willing to lay down his temporal life for