against the said Charls Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Charls Stuart shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England Impeach the said CHARLS STUART as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publike and Implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray That the said CHARLS STUART King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had or shall be agreeable to Justice IT is observed that the time the Charge was reading the King sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the Court sometimes up to the Galleries and having risen again and turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators sate down looking very sternly with a countenance not at all moved till these words viz. Charls Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court. The Charge being read the Lord President replyed Lord President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matter as appears in it you finde That in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer The King I would know by what power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story then I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publique faith as it 's possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honorable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Theeves and Robbers by the high-ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carryed from place to place and I know not what and when I know what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King your lawful King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me Lord President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the People of England of which you are Elected King to answer them The King No Sir I deny that Lord President If you acknowledg not the Authority of the Court they must proceed The King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for neer these thousand years therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my People then any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Lord President Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice The King Here is a Gentleman Lievt Col. Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court I wil stand as much for the priviledg of the house of Cōmons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the publike Faith of the world Let me see a legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Lord President Sir You have propounded a Question and have been answered seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed in the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. The King Sir I desire that you would give me and all the world satisfaction in this let me tell you it is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that duty I ow to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my body and therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it if you do it by a usurped Authority that will not last long There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray my Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other ways unlawful Authority and therefore satisfie God and me and all the world in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Lord President The Court expects you should give them a final Answer their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next if you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work The King Let me tell you if you will shew me what lawful Authority you have I shall be satisfied But that you have said satisfies no reasonable man Lord Presid That 's in your apprehension we think it reasonable that are your Judges The King 'T is not my apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Lord Presid The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded Two things were remarkable in this days Proceedings 1. It is to be observed That as the Charge was reading against the
and the High Court of Justice the PARLIAMENT of England that are not only the highest Expounders but the sole makers of the Law Sir for you to set your self with your single judgment and those that adhere unto you to set your self against the highest Court of Justice that is not Law Sir as the Law is your Superior so truly Sir there is something that is Superior to the Law and that is indeed the Parent or Author of the Law and that is the People of England For Sir as they are those that at the first as other Countries have done did choose to themselves this Form of Gouernment even for Justice sake that Justice might be administred that Peace might be preserved so Sir they gave Laws to their Governors according to which they should Govern and if those Laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudiciall to the Publique they had a power in them and reserved to themselves to alter as they shall see cause Sir it is very true what some of your side have said Rex non habet parem in Regno This Court will say the same while KING That you have not your Peer in some sense for you are major singulis but they will aver again that you are minor universis and the same Author tels you that in exhibitione Juris there you have no power but in _____ quasi minimus This we know to be Law Rex habet superiorem Deum Legem etiam curiam and so says the same Author and truly Sir he makes bold to go a little further Debent ei ponere frenum they ought to bridle him and Sir we know very well the stories of old Those Wars that were called the Barons Wars when the Nobility of the Land did stand out for the Liberty and Property of the Subject and would not suffer the Kings that did invade to play the Tyrants free◠but called them to account for it we know that truth That they did Frenum ponere But Sir if they do forbear to do their Duty now and are not so mindfull of their own Honor and the Kingdoms good as the Barons of England of old were certainly the Commons of England will not be unmindfull of what is for their preservation and for their safety Justitiae fruendi causâ Reges constituti sunt This we learn the end of having Kings or any other Governors it 's for the enjoying of Justice that 's the end Now Sir if so be the King will go contrary to that End or any other Governor will go contrary to the end of his Government Sir he must understand that he is but an Officer in trust and he ought to discharge that Trust and they are to take order for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governor This is not Law of yesterday Sir since the time of the division betwixt you and your People but it is Law of old And we know very well the Authors and the Authorities that do tell us what the Law was in that point upon the Election of Kings upon the Oath that they took unto their People and if they did not observe it there were those things called Parliaments The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge the very words of the Author the plaints and wrongs done of the King and the Queen or their Children such wrongs especially when the People could have no where else any remedy Sir that hath been the People of Englands case they could not have their remedy elsewhere but in Parliament Sir Parliaments were ordained for that purpose to redress the grievances of the People that was their main end and truly Sir if so be that the Kings of England had been rightly mindfull of themselves they were never more in Majesty and State then in the Parliament but how forgetful some have been Stories have told us We have a miserable a lamentable a sad experience of it Sir by the old Laws of England I speak these things the rather to you because you were pleased to let fall the other day you thought you had as much knowledg in the Law as most Gentlemen in England it is very well Sir And truly Sir it is very fit for the Gentlemen of England to understand that Law under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters will and do it not what follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliament The Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our old Author twice in the year That the subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redress for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the days of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what the intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad Consequences of it and what in the interim instead of these PARLIAMENTS hath been by you by an high and Arbitrary hand introduced upon the People that likewise hath been too well known and felt But when God by his Providence had so far brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appear what your ends were against the Ancient and your Native Kingdom of SCOTLAND The Parliament of England not serving your ends against them you were pleased to dissolve it Another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament and what your Designs and Plots and endeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all That had been a sure way to have brought about that that this Charge laies upon you Your Intention to Subvert the FVNDAMENTAL LAWES of the Land For the great Bulwark of the Liberties of the People is the PARLIAMENT of England and to Subvert and Root up that which your aim hath been to do certainly at one blow you had confounded the liberties and the property of England Truly Sir it makes me call to minde I cannot forbear to express it for Sir we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your cause so is our Commission it makes me call to mind these proceedings of yours That we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula That wisht that the People of Rome had had but one neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath been somewhat like to this for the body of the People of England hath been and where else represented but in the Parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England But God hath reserved better things for us and hath pleased for to Confound your designs and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custody that you might
do not the Court cannot forget what delatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands you were pleased to propound some Questions you have had your Resolution upon them You were told over and over again That the Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction That it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supream and highest Authority of England from which there is no Appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of obedience nor did you acknowledge any Authority in them nor the high Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court That they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus Authorized by the supream Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Justice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Justice take advantage of these delays and proceed to pronounce judgment against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you That you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Justice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and finall Answer in plain English whether you be guilty or not guilty of these Treasons laid to your Charge The KING after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the People of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not Lord President Sir You have had the Resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told That having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you and your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the JURISDICTION of the COURT and to Answer to your CHARGE Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court as their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is CHARG'D upon you The King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England for to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of my People The same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to him and to my People to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore untill that I may know that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your favour I can put in no particular Charge If you will give me time I will shew you my reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know not there 's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the publique Faith of the Kingdom that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the Lord President said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. The King By your favour Sir Lord President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into those discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the authority of the Court the Court craves it not of you but once more they command you to give your positive Answer Clark Do your Duty The King Duty Sir The Clark reads CHARLES STVART KING of England You are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto You the Court now requires you to give Your positive and final Answer by way of confession or denial of the Charge The King Sir I say again to you so that I might give satisfaction to the People of England of the clearness of my proceeding not by way of Answer not in this way but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that Trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their Priviledges to alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse me Lord President Sir this is the the third time that you have publiquely disown'd this Court and put an affront upon it how far you have preserv'd Priviledges of the People your actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens intentions ought to be known by their actions you have written your meaning in bloudy Characters throughout the whole Kingdom but Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the default and Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again The King I will only say this one word more to you if it were only my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you Lord President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a COURT of JUSTICE Then the King went forth with his Guard and Proclamation was made That all persons which had then appear'd and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted-Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster Hall by ten of the clock the next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England Wednesday January 4. 1648. THis day it was expected the High Court of Justice would have met in Westminster Hall about ten of the clock but at the time appointed one of the Ushers by direction of the Court then sitting in the Painted Chamber gave notice to the people there assembled That in regard the Court was then upon the examination of Witnesses in relation to present affairs in the Painted-Chamber they could not sit there but all persons appointed to be there were to appear upon further Summons The Proceedings of the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on Saturday the 27. of January 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Serjeant Bradshaw Lord
President in a Scarlet robe with sixty eight other Members of the Court. As the King comes in a cry made in the Hall for Execution Iustice Execution King I shall desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption Lord President You may answer in your time hear the Court first King If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is only in a word a sudden Judgment Lord President Sir you shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first King Sir I desire it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir an hasty Judgment is not so soon recall'd Lord President Sir You shall be heard before the Judgment be given and in the mean time you may forbear King Well Sir shall I be heard before the Judgment be given Lord President Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present That the Prisoner at the Bar hath been severall times convented and brought before the Court to make Answer to a Charge of Treason and other high crimes exhibited against him in the name of the People of England to which Charge being required to Answer he hath been so far from obeying the commands of the Court by submitting to their Justice as he began to take upon him to offer reasoning and debate unto the Authority of the Court and of the highest Court that constituted them to Try and judge him but being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue contumacious and to refuse to submit or Answer Hereupon the Court that they may not be wanting to themselves to the trust reposed in them nor that any mans wilfulness prevent Justice they have thought fit to take the matter into their consideration They have considered of the contumacy and of that confession which in Law doth arise upon that contumacy They have likewise considered of the notoriety of the Fact charg'd upon this Prisoner and upon the whole matter they are resolved and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced against this Prisoner but in respect he doth desire to be heard before the Sentence be read and pronounc'd the Court hath resolved that they will hear him yet Sir thus much I must tell you before-hand which you have been minded of at other Courts That if that you have to say be to offer any debate concerning Jurisdiction you are not to be heard in it you have offered it formerly and you have indeed struck at the root that is the power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England which this Court will not admit a debate of and which indeed is an irrational thing in them to do being a Court that acts upon Authority derived from them that they should presume to judge upon their Superior from whom there 's no Appeal But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter charged the Court hath given me in command to let you know they will hear you The King Since that I see that you will â—ot hear any thing of debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material for the peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it but only I must tell you That this many a day all things have been taken away from me but that that I call more dearer to me then my life which is My Conscience and my Honor and if I had respect to my Life more then the Peace of the Kingdom the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me Therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the world if that my true zeal to my Country had not over-born the care that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work then that I have done Now Sir I conceive That an hasty Sentence once past may sooner be repented then recalled and truly the self-same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject more then my own particular does make me now at last desire That having something for to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted-Chamber before the Lords and Commons this delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I say if that I say no reason those that hear me must be Judges I cannot be Judge of that that I have if it be reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on 't very well t is worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that that you pretend I hope it 's real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant me the hearing before any Sentence be past I only desire this that you will take this into your consideration it may be you have not heard of it before hand if you will I 'le retire and you may think of it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do here protest that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and not otherwise then that you will not hear your KING Lord President Sir you have now spoken King Yes Sir Lord President And this that you have said is a further declining of the Iurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you mistake me It is not a declining of it you do judge me before you hear me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court Yet Sir in this give me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject then the shame is mine Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration if you will I 'le withdraw Lord President Sir This is not altogether new that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in Person you have offered it to the Court Sir you say you do not Decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. King Not in this that I have said Lord President I understand you well Sir but nevertheless that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying of yours for the Court are ready to give a Sentence it is not as you say That they will not hear your King for they have been ready to
hear you they have patiently waâ—ted your pleasure for three Courts together to hear what you would say to the Peoples Charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any Answer at all Sir This tends to a further delay Truly Sir such delaies as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several daies to have offered in this kind what you would have pleased This Court is founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom rests the Supreme Jurisdiction That which you now tender is to have another Jurisdiction and a Co-ordinate Jurisdiction I know very well you express your self Sir That notwithstanding that you would offer to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so but Sir That you would offer there what ever it is it must needs be in delay of the Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence this that you offer they are not bound in Justice to grant but Sir according to that you seem to desire and because you shall know the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have moved the Court will withdraw for a time King Shall I withdraw Lord President Sir Yow shall know the pleasure of the Court presently the Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards Sergeant at Arms the Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again The Court withdraws for half an hour and returns Lord President Sergeant at Arms send for your prisoner Sir you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to offer a desire of yours touching the propounding of somewhat to the Lords in the Painted Chamber for the Peace of the Kingdom Sir you did in effect receive an Answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir their withdrawing and adjournment was pro forma tantum for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing they have considered of what you have moved and have considered of their own Authority which is founded as hath been often said upon the Supream Authority of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament The Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sir the return I have to you from the Court is this That they have been too much delayed by you already and this that you now offer hath occasioned some little further delay and they are JUDGES appointed by the highest JUDGES and Judges are no more to delay then they are to deny Justice they are good words in the old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferremus Justitiam There must be no delay but the truth is Sir and so every man here observes it That you have much delayed them in your contempt and default for which they might long since have proceeded to judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to Judgment and that is their unanimous resolution King Sir I know it is in vain for me to dispute I am no Sceptick for to deny the Power that you have I know that you have Power enough Sir I confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms Peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shewn the Lawfulness of your Power for this delay that I have desired I confess it is a delay but it is a delay very important for the Peace of the Kingdom for it is not my Person that I look on alone it is the Kingdoms well-fare and the Kingdoms Peace it is an old Sentence That we should think on long before we have resolved of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again That I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of an hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this week this day eight days was the day I came here first but a little delay of a day or two further may give Peace whereas an hasty Judgement may bring on that trouble and perpetual inconveniency to the Kingdom That the child that is unborn may repent it and therefore again out of the Duty I ow to God and to my Country I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber or any other Chamber that you will appoint me Lord Pres Sir you have bin already answer'd to what you even now moved being the same you moved before since the Resolution and the Judgement of the Court in it and the Court now requires to know whether you have any more to say for your self then you have said before they proceed to Sentence King I say this Sir That if you will hear me if you will give me but this delay I doubt not but I shall give some satisfaction to you all here and to my People after that and therefore I do require you as you will answer it at the dreadfull day of Judgment that you will consider it once again Lord President Sir I have received direction from the Court. King Well Sir Lord President If this must be re-enforc'd or any thing of this nature your answer must be the same and they will proceed to Sentence if you have nothing more to say King Sir I have nothing more to say but I shall desire that this may be entered what I have said Lord President The Court then Sir hath something else to say unto you which although I know it will be very unacceptable yet notwithstanding they are willing and are resolv'd to discharge their Duty Sir you spake very well of a precious thing that you call Peace and it had been much to be wished that God had put it into your heart that you had as effectually and really endeavoured and studied the Peace of the Kingdom as now in words you seem to pretend but as you were told the other day Actions must expound Intentions yet Actions have been clean contrary and truly Sir it doth appear plainly enough to them That you have gone upon very erronious principles the Kingdom hath felt it to their smart and it will be no ease to you to think of it for Sir you have held your self and let fall such Language as if you had been no ways Subject to the Law or that the Law had not been your Superiour Sir The Court is very well sensible of it and I hope so are all the understanding People of England That the Law is your Superiour That you ought to have ruled according to the Law you ought to have done so Sir I know very well your pretence hath been that you have done so but Sir the difference hath been who shall be the Expositors of this Law Sir whether you and your Party out of Courts of Justice shall take upon them to expound Law or the Courts of Justice who are the Expounders nay the Soveraign
be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much prest by what President we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not upon these occasions institute any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents almost of all Nations where the People when power hath been in their hands have been made bold to call their Kings to account and where the change of Governement hath been upon occasion of the Tyranny and Mis-Government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries volumes may be written of it But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Aragon I shall think some of us have thought upon it when they have the Justice of Aragon that is a man tanquam in medio positus betwixt the King of Spain and the people of the Country that if wrong be done by the King he that is the King of Aragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephori were to the Lacedemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seemed to lose it's Liberty when once the Emperors were yet you shall find some famous Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome that great Tyrant of his time Nero condemned and judged by the Senate But truly Sir to you I should not mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we find enough in your native Kingdom of Scotland If we look to your first King Fergusius that your stories make mention of he was an elective King he dyed and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choyce of their Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the elder brother giving small hopes to the people that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle of his that governed then justly they set the elder aside and took to the younger Sir if I should come to what your stories make mention of you know very well you are the 109. King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdom according to their power and priviledg have made bold to deal withal some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your own Authors says it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Laws upon them and as they are chosen by the suffrages of the people at the first so upon just occasion by the same suffrages they may be taken down again and we will be bold to say that no Kingdom hath yeelded more plentiful experience then that your Native Kingdom of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. It is not far to go for an example neer you our Grandmother set aside and your Father â—n Infant crowned and the State did it here â—n England here hath not been a want of â—ome examples they have made bold the Parâ—iament and the People of England to call â—heir Kings to account there are frequent â—xamples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest here want not some presidents neither King Edward the second King Richard the second were dealt with so by the Parliament as they were deposed and deprived and truly Sir who ever shall look into their stories they â—hall not finde the Articles that are charged upon them to come neer to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are layd to your charge nothing neer Sir You were pleased to say the other day wherein they discent and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks and no oâ—herwise admitted King of ENGLAND but for that you were pleased then to alledg now that almost for a thousand years these things have been stories will tell you if you go no higher then the time of the Conquest if you do come down since the Conquest you are the Twenty fourth King from William called the Conqueror you shall find one half of them to come meerly from the State and not meerly upon the point of Discent it were easie to be instanced to you the time must not be lost that way And truly Sir what a grave and learned Judge in his time and well known to you and is since printed for posterity That although there was such a thing as a discent many times yet the Kings of Enland ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath the manner of your Coronation doth shew plainly That the Kings of England although it 's true by the Law the next Person in bloud is designed yet if there were just cause to refuse him the people of England might do it For there is a Contract and Bargain made between the King and his People and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocal for as you are the liege Lord so they liege subjects and we know very well that hath been so much spoken of Ligantia est duplex This we know now the one tye the one Bond is the bond of perfection that is due from the Soveraign the other is the Bond of Subjection that is due from the Subject Sir if this Bond be once broken farewell Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed Sir I speak it the rather and I pray God it may work upon your heart that you may be sensible of your miscarriages For whether you have been as by your Office you ought to be a Protector of England or the destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath look'd upon it Sir though you have it by Inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it must not be denyed that your Office was an Office of Trust and indeed an Office of the highest Trust lodged in any single person For as you were the grand Administrator of Justice and others were as your Deligates to see it done throughout your Realms If your great Office were to do Justice and preserve your People from wrong and instead of doing that you will be the great wrong doer your self If instead of being a Conservator of the Peace you will be the Grand disturbe of the Peace surely this is contrary to your Office contrary to your Trust Now Sir if it be an Office of Inheritance as you speak of your Title by Discent let all men know that great Offices are
Image we shall thus apply it That though we should not be delivered from those bloody hands and hearts that conspire the overthrow of the Kingdom in general of us in particular for acting in this great work of Justice though we should perish in the work yet by Gods grace and by Gods strength we will go on with it And this is all our Resolutions Sir I say for your self we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sense of your sins that you would see wherein you have done amiss that you may cry unto him that God would deliver you from blood-guiltiness A good King was once guilty of that particular thing and was clear otherwise saving in the matter of Vriah Truly Sir the story tels us that he was a repentant King and it signifies enough that he had dyed for it but that God was pleased to accept of him to give him his pardon thou shalt not die but the child shal die thou hast given cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme King I would desire onely one word before you give sentence and that is That you would hear me concerning those great imputations that you have layd to my charge Lord Presid Sir You must give me now leave to go on for I am not far from your Sentence and your time is now past King But I shall desire you will hear me a few words to you for truly what ever Sentence you will put upon me in respect of those heavy imputations that I see by your speech you have put upon me Sir It is very true that Lord Pres Sir I must put you in minde Truly Sir I would not willingly at this time especially interrupt you in any thing you have to say that is proper for us to admit of but Sir you have not owned us as a Court and you look upon us as a sort of people met together and we know what language we receive from your party King I know nothing of that Lord Pres You dis-avow us as a Court and therefore for you to address your self to us not to acknowledg us as a Court to judg of what you say it is not to be permitted and the truth is all along from the first time you were pleased to dis-avow and dis-own us the Court needed not to have heard you one word For unless they be acknowledged a Court and engaged it is not proper for you to speak Sir we have given you too much liberty already and admitted of too much delay and we may not admit of any farther were it proper for us to do we should hear you freely and we should not have declined to have heard you at large what you could have said or proved on your behalf whether for totally excusing or for in part excusing those great and hainous charges that in whole or in part are layd upon you But Sir I shall trouble you no longer your sins are of so large a dimension that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you to a sad consideration of it and they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance And that the Court doth heartily wish that you may be so penitent for what you have done amiss that God may have mercy at least-wise upon your better part Truly Sir for the other it is our parts and duties to do that that the Law prescribes we are not here Jus dare but Jus dicere we cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us For to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent we may not acquit the guilty what sentence the Law affirms to a Traytor Tyrant a Murtherer and a publike Enemy to the Country that sentence you are now to hear read unto you and that is the sentence of the Court. The Lord President commands the sentence to be read Make an O yes and command silence while the sentence is read O yes made Silence commanded The Clerk read the sentence which was drawn up in parchment Where as the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trying of Charls Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England c. Here the Clerk read the Charge Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charls Stuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do and so exprest the several passages at his Tryal in refusing to answer For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudg That the said Charls Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publique Enemy shall be put to Death by the severing his Head from his Body After the sentence read the Lord President said This sentence now read and published it is the act sentence judgment and resolution of the whole Court Here the Court stood up as assenting to what the President said King Will you hear me a word Sir Lord Pres Sir you are not to be heard after the sentence King No Sir Lord Presid No Sir by your favor Sir Guard withdraw your Prisoner King I may speak after the sentence By your favor Sir I may speak after the sentence ever By your favor hold the sentence Sir I say Sir I do I am not suffered for to speak expect what Justice other people will have O Yes All maner of persons that have any thing else to do are to depart at this time and to give their attendance in the painted Chamber to which place this Court doth forthwith adjourn it self Then the Court rose and the King went with his Guard to Sir Robert Cottons and from thence to Whitehall King Charls HIS SPEECH Made upon the SCAFFOLD at Whitehall-Gate immediately before his Execution Tuesday January 30. ABout ten in the Morning the King was brought from St. James's walking on foot through the Park with a Regiment of Foot part before and part behinde him with Colours flying Drums beating his private guard of Partizans with some of his Gentlemen before and some behinde bare-headed Dr Juxon next behinde him and Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of him talking with the King bare-headed from the Park up the stairs into the Gallery and so into the Cabinet-Chamber where he used to lie where he continued at his Devotion refusing to dine having before taken the Sacrament onely about an hour before he came forth he drank a glass of Claret wine and eat a piece of bread about twelve at noon From thence he was accompanyed by Dr. Juxon Colonel Thomlinson and other Officers formerly appointed to attend him and the private guard of Partizans with Musketiers on each side through the Banqueting-house adjoyning to which the Scaffold was erected between Whitehall-Gate and the G 〈…〉 ding into the Gallery from S. James's
taken I would have digested it into some better method then now I can and shall desire these Gentlemen that does write it that they will not wrong me in it and that it may not in this manner be published to my disadvantage for truly I did not intend to have spoken thus when I came here There is Sirs terrible Aspersions has been laid upon my self truly such as I thank God I am very free from as if my actions and intentions had not been such as they were pretended for but that notwithstanding what I pretended it was for the King there was nothing less intended then to serve him in it I was bred with him for many years I was his Domestique servant and there was nothing declar'd by the Parliament that was not really intended by me and truly in it I ventured my Life one way and now I loose it another way and that was one of the ends as to the King I speak only of that because the rest has many particulars and to clear my self from so horrid an Aspersion as is laid upon me neither was there any other design known to me by the incoming of that Army then what is really in the Declaration published His Person I do profess I had reason to love as he was my King and as he had been my Master it has pleased God now to dispose of him so as it cannot be thought flattery to have said this or any end in me for the saying of it but to free my self from that Calumny which lay upon me I cannot gain by it yet truth is that which we shall gain by for ever There hath been much spoken Sir of an invitation into this Kingdom it 's mentioned in that Declaration and truly to that I did and do remit my self and I have been very much laboured for discoveries of these Inviters 'T is no time to dissemble How willing I was to have served this Nation in any thing that was in my power is known to very many honest Pious and Religious men and how ready I would have been to have done what I could to have served them if it had pleased them to have preserved my Life in whose hands there was a power They have not thought it fit and so I am become unuseful in that which willingly I would have done As I said at first Sir so I say now concerning that point I wish the Kingdoms happiness I wish its peace and truly Sir I wish that this bloud of mine may be the last that is drawn and howsoever I may perhaps have some reluctancie with my my self as to the matter of my suffering for my Fact yet I freely forgive all Sir I carry no rancor along with me to my grave His will be done that has created both heaven and earth and me a poor miserable sinful creature now speaking before him For me to speak Sir to you of State-business and the Government of the Kingdom or my opinion in that or for any thing in that nature Truly it is to no end it contributes nothing My own inclination hath been to Peace from the begining and it is known to many that I never was an ill instrument betwixt the King and his People I never acted to the prejudice of the Parliament I bore no Arms I medled not with it I was not wanting by my Prayers to God Almighty for the happiness of the King and truly I shall pray still that God may so direct him as that may be done which shall tend to his Glory and the peace and happiness of the Kingdome I have not much more to say that I remember of I think I have spoken of my Religion Dr. Sibbald Your Lordship has not so fully said it Cambridg Truly I do believe I did say something Dr. Sibbald I know you did 't is pleasing to hear it from your Lordship again Cambridg Truly Sir for the Profession of my Religion That which I said was the established Religion and that which I have practised in my own Kingdom where I was born and bred my Tenents they need not to be exprest they are known to all and I am not of a rigid opinion many Godly men there is that may have scruples which do not concern me at all at no time they may differ in opinion and more now then at any time differing in Opinion does not move me not any mans my own is clear Sir The Lord forgive me my sins and I forgive freely all those that even I might as a Wordly man have the greatest animosity against We are bidden to forgive Sir 'T is a Command laid upon us and there mentioned Forgive us our Trespasses as We forgive them that trespass against us Dr. Sibbald 'T is our Saviours Rule Love your Enemies blesse them that curse you Pray for them that Persecute you do good to them which despightfully use you Cambridg Sir it is high time for me to make an end of this and truly I remember no more that I have to say but to pray to God Almighty a few words and then I have done Then kneeling down with Doctor Sibbald He prayed thus MOST Blessed Lord I thy poor and most unworthy Servant come to thâ—â— presuming in thy infinite mercy and the merits of Jesus Christ who sits upon the Throne I come flying from that of Justice to that of mercy and tenderness for his sake which shed his bloud for sinners that he would take compassion upon me that he will look upon me as one that graciously hears me that he would look upon me as one that hath redeemed me that he would look upon me as one that hath shed his bloud for me that he would look upon me as one who now cals and hopes to be saved by his Al-sufficient merits for his sake Glorious God have compassion upon me in the freeness of thy infinite mercy that when this sinful Soul of mine shall depart out of this frail carcass of clay I may be carried into thy everlasting Glory O Lord by thy Free-Grace and out of thy infinite mercy hear me and look down and have compassion upon me and thou Lord Iesus thou my Lord and thou my God and thou my Redeemer hear me take pitty upon me take pitty upon me gracious God and so deal with my soul that by thy precious merits I may attain to thy Ioy and Bliss O Lord remember me so miserable and sinful a creature Now thou O Lord thou O Lord that dyed for me receive me and receive me into thy own bound of mercy O Lord I trust in thee suffer me not now to be confounded Satan has had too long possession of this soule O let him not now prevail against it but let me O Lord from henceforth dwell with thee for evermore Now Lord it is thy time to hear me hear me gracious Iesus even for thy own goodness mercy and truth O Glorious God O blessed Father O holy Redeemer O gracious Comforter O
faithful to the true Protestant Religion in the which I have been bred in the which I have lived and in the which by Gods grace and mercy I shall dye I have not lived according to that education I had in that Family where I was born and bred I hope God will forgive me my sins since I conceive that it is very much his pleasure to bring me to this place for the sins that I have committed The cause that hath brought me hither I beleeve by many hath been much mistaken They have conceived that I have had ill designs to the State and to the Kingdom Truly I look upon it as a Judgment and a just Judgment of God not but I have offended so much the State and the Kingdom and the Parliament as that I have had an extream vanity in serving them very extra-ordinarily For those actions that I have done I think it is known they have been ever very faithful to the Publique and very particularly to Parliaments My affections have been ever exprest truly and clearly to them The dispositions of affairs now have put things in another pasture then they were when I was engaged with the Parliament I have never gone off from those principles that ever I have professed I have lived in them and by Gods grace will dye in them There may be alterations and changes that may carry them further then I thought reasonable and truly there I left them but there hath been nothing that I have said or done or professed either by Covenant or Declaration which hath not been very constant and very clear upon the principles that I ever have gone upon which was to serve the King the Parliament Religion I should have said in the first place the Common-wealth and to seek the Peace of the Kingdom That made me think it no improper time being prest-out by accidents and circumstances to seek the Peace of the Kingdom which I thought was proper since there was something then in agitation but nothing agreed on for sending Propositions to the King that was the furthest aym that I had and truly beyond that I had no intention none at all And God be praised although my blood comes to be shed here there was I think scarcely a drop of blood shed in that action that I was engaged in For the present affairs as they are I cannot tell how to judg of them and truly they are in such a condition as I conceive no body can make a judgment of them and therefore I must make use of my Prayers rather then of my opinion which are that God would bless this Kingdom this Nation this State that he would settle it in a way agreeable to what this Kingdom hath been happily governed under by a King by the Lords by the Commons a Government that I conceive it hath flourished much under and I pray God the change of it bring not rather a prejudice a disorder and a confusion then the contrary I look upon the Posterity of the King and truly my Conscience directs me to it to desire that if God be pleased that these people may look upon them with that affection that they ow that they may be called in again they may be not through blood nor through disorder admited again into that power and to that glory that God in their birth intended to them I shall pray with all my Soul for the happiness of this State of this Nation that the blood which is here spilt may be even the last which may fall among us and truly I should lay down my life with as much cheerfulness as ever person did if I conceived that there would no more blood follow us for a State or Affairs that are built upon blood is a foundation for the most part that doth not prosper After the blessing that I give to the Nation to the Kingdom and truly to the Parliament I do wish with all my heart happiness and a blessing to all those that have been authors in this business and truly that have been authors in this very work that bringeth us hither I do not onely forgive them but I pray heartily and really for them as God will forgive my sins so I desire God may forgive them I have a particular relation as I am Chancellor of Cambridg and truly I must here since it is the last of my prayers pray to God that that Vniversity may go on in that happy way which it is in that God may make it a Nursery to plant those persons that may be distributed to the Kingdom that the Souls of the people may receive a great benefit and a great advantage by them and I hope God will reward them for their kindness and their affections that I have found from them I have said what Religion I have been bred in what Religion I have been born in what Religion I have practised I began with it and I must end with it I told you that my actions and my life have not been agreeable to my breeding I have told you likewise that the Family where I was bred hath been an exemplary Family I may say so I hope without vanity of much affection to Religion and of much faithfulness to this Kingdom and to this State I have endeavored to do those actions that have become an honest man and which became a good Englishman and which became a good Christian I have been willing to oblige those that have been in trouble those that have been in persecution and truly I finde a great reward of it for I have found their prayers and their kindness now in this distress and in this condition I am in and I think it a great reward and I pray God reward them for it I am a great sinner and I hope God will be pleased to hear my prayers to give me faith to trust in him that as he hath called me to death at this place he will make it but a passage to an eternal life through Jesus Christ which I trust to which I rely upon and which I expect by the mercy of God And so I pray God bless you all and send that you may see this to be the last execution and the last blood that is likely to be spilt among you And then turning to the side-rail he prayed for a good space of time after which Mr Bolton said My Lord now look upon him whom you have trusted My Lord I hope that here is your last prayer there will no more prayers remain but praises And I hope that after this day is over there will a day begin that shall never have end And I look upon this my Lord the morning of it the morning of that day My Lord you know where your fulness lies where your riches lie where is your onely rock to anchor on You know there is fulness in Christ If the Lord comes not in with fulness of comfort to you yet resolve to wait upon him
while you live and to trust in him when you dye and then say I will dye here I will perish at thy feet I will be found dead at the feet of Jesus Christ Certainly he that came to seek and save lost sinners will not reject lost sinners when they come to seek him He that intreateth us to come will not slight us when we come to intreat him My Lord there is enough there and fix your heart there and fix your eyes there that eye of Faith and that eye of hope exercise these graces now there wil be no exercise herafter As your Lordship said here take an end of Faith and take an end of Hope and take a farewel of Repentance and all these and welcom God and welcom Christ and welcom Glory welcom Happiness to all Eternity and so it will be a happy passage then if it be a passage here from misery to happiness And though it be but a sad way yet if it will bring you into the presence of joy although it be a vally of tears although it be a shadow of death yet if God wil please to bring you and make it a passage to that happiness welcom Lord. And I doubt not but God will give you a heart to taste some sweetness and love in this bitter potion and to see something of mercy and goodness to you and shew you some sign and token of good so that your soul may see that which we have had already experience of blessed be God for it many experiences many expressions not only in words but tears God hath not left us without much comfort nor evidence and I hope my Lord you that have given so many evidences to us I hope you want none your self but that the Lord will be pleased to uphold and support you and bear up your spirit and if there want evidence there is reliance my security lies not in my knowing that I shall come to heaven and come to glory but in my resting and relying upon him When the Anchor of Faith is thrown out there may be shakings and tossings but there is safety nothing shall interrupt safety although something may interrupt security my safety is sure although I apprehend it not And what if I go to God in the dark What if I come to him as Nicodemus did staggering in the night It is a night of trouble a night of darkness though I come trembling and staggering in this night yet I shall be sure to find comfort and fixedness in him And the Lord of heaven be the strength stay and the support of your soul and the Lord furnish you with all those graces which may carry you into the bosom of the Lord Jesus that when you expire this life you may be able to expire it into him in whom you may begin to live to all eternity and that is my humble prayer Holland Mr Bolton God hath given me long time in this world he hath carried me through many great accidents of Fortune he hath at last brought me down into a condition where I find my self brought to an end for a disaffection to this State to this Parliament that as I said before I did believe no body in the world more unlikely to have expected to suffer for that Cause I look upon it as a great Judgment of God for my sins And truly Sir since that the death is violent I am the less troubled with it because of those violent deaths that I have seen before principally my Saviour that hath shewed us the way how and in what manner he hath done it and for what cause I am the more comforted I am the more rejoyced It is not long since the King my Master passed in the same manner and truly I hope that his purposes and intentions were such as a man may not be ashamed not only to follow him in the way that was taken with him but likewise not ashamed of his purposes if God had given him life I have often disputed with him concerning many things of this kind and I conceive his sufferings and his better knowledg and better understanding if God had spared him life might have made him a Prince very happy towards himself and very happy towards this Kingdom I have seen and known that those blessed Souls in Heaven have passed thither by the gate of sorrow and many by the gate of violence and since it is Gods pleasure to dispose me this way I submit my soul to him with all comfort and with all hope that he hath made this my end and this my conclusion that though I be low in death yet nevertheless this lowness shall raise me to the highest glory for ever Truly I have not said much in publique to the People concerning the particular actions that I conceive I have done by my counsels in this Kingdom I conceive they are well known it were something of vanity methinks to take notice of them here I 'le rather dye with them with the comfort of them in my own bosom and that I never intended in this action or any action that ever I did in my life either malice or bloodshed or prejudice to any creature that lives For that which concerns my Religion I made my profession before of it how I was bred and in what manner I was bred in a Family that was looked upon to be no little notorious in opposition to some liberties that they conceived then to be taken and truly there was some mark upon me as if I had some taint of it even throughout my whole ways 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 endeavored to relieve them I endeavored 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 publiquely in a shew of shame in the way of this suffering truly I understand 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 seem to be I am going to dye and the Lord receive my Soul I have no reliance but upon Christ for my self I do acknowledg 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
of his Father For certainly I that have been a Councellor to him and have lived long with him and in a time when discovery is easily enough made for he was young he was about thirteen fourteen fifteen or sixteen years of age those years I was with him truly I never saw greater hopes of vertue in any young person then in him great Judgment great Vnderstanding great Apprehension much Honor in his Nature and truly a very perfect English man in his inclination and I pray God restore him to this Kingdom and unite the Kingdoms one unto another and send a great happiness both to you and to him that he may long live and Raign among you and that that Family may Raign till thy Kingdom come that is while all Temporal Power is consummated I beseech God of his mercy give much happiness to this your King and to you that in it shall be his Subjects by the grace of Jesus Christ. Truly I like my beginning so well that I will make my conclusion with it that is That God Almighty would confer of his infinite and inestimable grace and mercy to those that are the Causers of my coming hither I pray God give them as much mercy as their own hearts can wish and truly for my part I will not accuse any one of them of malice truly I will not nay I will not think there was any malice in them what other ends there is I know not nor I will not examine but let it be what it will from my very soul I forgive them every one And so the Lord of Heaven bless you all God Almighty be infinite in goodness and mercy to you and direct you in those ways of obedience to his commands to his Majesty that this Kingdom may be a happy and glorious Nation again and that your King may be a happy King in so good and so obedient People God Almighty keep you all God Almighty preserve this Kingdom God Almighty preserve you all Then turning about and looking for the Executioner who was gone off the Scaffold said Which is the Gentleman which is the man Answer was made He is a coming He then said Stay I must pull of my Dublet first and my Wastcoat Then the Executioner being come upon the Scaffold the Lord Capel said O friend prethee come hither Then the Executioner kneeling down the L Capel said I forgive thee from my Soul and not only forgive thee but I shall pray to God to give thee all grace for a better life There is Five pounds for thee and truly for my clothes and those things if there be any thing due to you for it you shall be very fully recompenced but I desire my body may not be stripped here and no body to take notice of my body but my own servants Look you friend this I shall desire of you that when I lie down that you would give me time for a particular short prayer Lieu. Col. Beecher Make your own sign my Lord. Cap. Stay a litle which side do you stand upon speaking to the Executioner Stay I think I should lay my hands forward that way pointing fore-right and answer being made Yes he stood still a little while and then said God Almighty bless all this People God Almighty stench this blood God Almighty stench stench stench this issue of blood this will not do the business God Almighty find out another way to do it And then turning to one of his Servants said Baldwin I cannot see any thing that belongs to my wife but I must desire thee to beseech her to rest wholly upon Jesus Christ and be contented and fully satisfied And then speaking to his Servant he said God keep you and Gentlemen let me now do a business quickly privately and pray let me have your prayers at the moment of death that God would receive my soul Lieut. Col. Beecher I wish it Capel Pray at the moment of striking joyn your prayers but make no noise turning to his servants that 's inconvenient at this time Servant My Lord put on your Cap. Capel Should I what wil that do me good Stay a little is it well as it is now And then turning to the Executioner he said Honest man I have forgiven thee therefore strike boldly from my soul I do it Then a Gentleman speaking to him he said Nay prethee be contented be quiet good Mr be quiet Then turning to the Executioner he said Well you are ready when I am ready are you not And stretching out his hands he said Then pray stand off Gentlemen Then going to the front of the Scaffold he said to the People Gentlemen though I doubt not of it yet I think it convenient to ask it of you That you would all joyn in Prayers with me That God would mercifully receive my soul and that for his alone mercies in Christ Jesus God Almighty keep you all Execut. My Lord shall I put up your hair Capel I I prethee do and then as he stood lifting up his hands and eyes he said O God I do with a perfect and a willing heart submit to thy Will O God I do most willingly humble my self And then kneeling down said I will try first how I can lie and laying his head over the Block said Am I wel now Executioner Yes And then as he lay with both his hands stretched out he said to the Executioner Here lies both my hands out when I lift up my hand thus lifting up his right hand then you may strike And then after he had said a short prayer he lifted up his right hand and the Executioner at one blow severed his Head from his Body which was taken up by his Servants and put with his body into a Coffin as the former FINIS * This is as the King express'd but I supposed he meant Ans * Here a Malignant Lady interrupted the Court saying not halfe the people but she was soon silenced * Strafford * Pointing to Dr. Juxon * Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote * Meaning if he did blunt the edg * Pointing to D. Juxon * It is thought for to give it to the Prince * Stretching them out * Observing the Writers * Looking towards M. Bolton * As he was putting up his hair