of Expressing such Horrible Treasons The Paper calls it Dying Innocent of the Crime my Lord was Condemned for and but Misprision of Treason at the most in Concealing what he was Privy to Here is the Knowledg of Treason Implyed in the Misprision of Treason Confessed And there needs not much Concurrence with Traytors to make a man Guilty of Treason It is to be wish'd My Lord would have Declared what sort of Treason it was that he was made Acquainted with whether the Imprisoning or Deposing of the King And by what Means and Instruments to be Executed Once again now and I have done As for the Sentence of Death passed upon me I cannot but think it a very Hard One for Nothing was sworn against me whether true or false I will not now Examine but some Discourses about making some Stirs And this is not Levying War against the King which is Treason by the Statute of Edward the Third and not the Consulting and Discoursing about it which was all that was Witnessed against me But by a strange Fetch the Design of Seizing the Guards was Construed a Design of Killing the King and so I was in that Cast. And now I have Truly and Syncerely told what my part was in that which cannot be more then a Bare Misprison And yet I am Condemned as Guilty of a Design of Killing the King Here 's an Insinuation of an Unjust Sentence upon False Evidence though this Paper Confesses as much on my Lords Part as was Sworn against him The Paper calls it Nothing but some Discourses about making some Stirs and those Sitrs are afterward Expounded to be Levying War against the King And my Lord was Condemned for Consulting about those Stirs These Consultations the Court Pronounces to be Treason My Lord Insists upon it that they are only a Bare Misprison And that the Design of Seizing the Guards is wrongfully Interpreted a Design of Killing the King If this be so strange a Fetch what was it in the House of Commons to make the Charge against my Lord Chief Justice Scroggs to be Treason The Law-Part has been Learnedly and Copiously clear'd already in certain Reflexions upon This Paper called the Antidote against Poyson The Ouvert Acts towards the Accomplishing this Treason were abundantly made out at the Tryal and Undoubtedly That which was Good Law in the Case of my Lord Stafford holds as Good in the Case of my Lord Russel And Sir William Jones's Opinion in this Point will weigh certainly against the Opinion of the Author of this Paper Will any man deny says Sir William Jones that the Meeting and Consulting of several men together about Killing the King and changing the Government is an Ouvert Act Lord Staffords Tryal p. 190. Here is enough said to set forth the Inconsistencies of the Speech Spoken and of the Paper Delivered to the Sheriffs And the Disagreements of that Papâ—r with it self in several Peremptory Denïals and Point-Blank Confessions of the same thing That is to say according to the Popular Acceptation of Words Delivered with Simplicity and Candour But then in the True Protestant Latitude of Savings and Reservations The Connexion seems to be perfectly all of a piece And One Line serves to Expound Another to the Readers Infinite Satisfaction that there is Nothing Intended upon the Whole but Fallacy and Illusion bating only here and there a Stricture where it Cuts upon the Government In few words It is a Reproach in the form of a Vindication the Panegyrique of a Pedant instead of the Confession of a Penitent The Last Prayer and Agonies of a Dying Christian Dissolved into a Floud of Calumnie and Bitterness against the Church and State and nothing but the Name to Entitle it to the thing it Pretends to be After so Severe and Needful a Reflection upon this Vagabond Paper for it fills All Mouths and Places I reckon it a Duty to Accompany my Zeal for the Publick in this Particular with all Possible Justice and Respect to the Memory of the Dead The Unhappy Circumstances of his Deplorable Fate duly Considered That my Lords Charge was Proved and his Sentence according to Law his Lordship hath acknowledged under his own Hand whatsoever this Ill-natured Paper may Pretend to the Contrary In one Petition to his Majesty My Lord does Solemnly Protest upon the Word of a Dying Man that he never had any Intention or Thought of doing hurt to his Majesties Sacred Person however by Interpretation of Law 't is imputed to him And if his Majesty should be pleased to Execute the Rigour of the Law upon him he hoped that God would Enable him c. In a second Petition His Lordship Humbly and sorrowfully Confesses his having been Present at those Meetings which he is Convinced are Unlawful and justly Provoking to his Majesty But being Betrayed by Ignorance and Inadvertence he did not Decline them as he ought to have done c. I have the Charity to Believe now that really according to the Purport of these Petitions His Lordships Great Misfortune was rather an Error of Principle then a Factiousness of Malice And it is no wonder if he were somewhat deeper Dyed then Ordinary that had but too frequently most desperate Seducers at his Elbow What was that Treasonous and Atheistical Libel of Julian the Apostate but the very Scheme of this Conspiracy and Calculated for the Murder of the King and the Dissolution of the State And it was the same Poysonous Position that brought this Unhappy Lord to his Ruine As to this Pernicious Paper I make no question but my Lord Signed it and that he made it his Own by so Doing But it holds so little Congruity with the State and Exigence of his Lordships Case that I am perswaded under his Anxious Circumstances he would have Signed a Blank upon the same Terms if the same Person had Presented it For there is not one Syllable in 't that Avails him to any purpose Imaginable It Pretends to Truth and Plainness and yet scarce six Lines in 't without a Riddle It pretends to Discharge my Lord of the whole Indictment And yet in several Places either Intricates or Confesses it It pretends to Deliver the whole Truth of the Matter and yet leaves out the Meetings at his Own and Mr. Hamdens House where the great Pinch of the Charge lay Nay the Faction had proceeded so far to the Captivating of this Honourable Persons Judgment that Mr. Montagues Letter to the LordTreasurer bearing date Jan. 18. 1678. St. N. that was Read in the House of Commons takes Notice how much the Court of France depended upon him for the Crossing as he calls it of the Court Measures Mr. Ruvigny's Instructions are by the Means of Will. Russel and other Discontented People to give a Great deal of Mony and cross all your Measures at Court But to come more particularly now to the miserable Principle that led him to his Destruction Upon the Munday after my Lords Condemnation
still to the Case of a Dying Man I shall proceed now From the time of Châ—sing Shâ—riffs I Concluded the Heat in That Matter would prodâ—c somthing of This kind and I am not much surprized to find it fall upon Me and I wish what is done to Me may put a Stop and satiate some Peoples Revenge and that no more innocent Blood be shed for I must and do still look upon MINE as SUCH since I know I was quilty of no Treason and therefore I would not Betray my Innocence by Flight c. It was well judg'd that the City-Ryots would probably produce somthing of this kind that is to say Conspiracies and Resolutions of Tumult and Rebellion And the Evil Genius at my Lords Elbow does well enough Observe that there was no great matter of Surprize in 't for my Lord that was Embarqu'd in the same Vessel to take his Part in the same Storm But how comes Legal Justice to be call'd some Peoples Revenge Or why may not All Criminals whatsoever that fall under the dint of the Law Arraign the Justice of the Nation upon the same Terms It does no more hold on the One side that the City-heats should make my Lord guilty than on the Other that they should make him innocent neither do Those Distempers in any sort fall within the Prospect of This Question Beside That this way of Reasoning inverts the very Nature and Tendency of them For they are here represented as a subservient Medium toward the Advancing of a Popish Interest when the Contrary is as clear as Day And that it was a Republican and a Phanatical Spirit that stir'd up and Animated All those Broils and that they did it upon such Grounds and Principles too as shook the very Monarchy it self But if my Lord drew any Ill Bodings to himself from Those Disorders it was by a Prophetical Foresight of the Fatal Miscarriages of the Sedition that was then a Brewing and of his own Unhappy share in the Misadventure We have spoken already to the point of Revenge and we shall speak further to his Lordships Innocence in the due Place as to his Averseness to the betraying of his Innocence by Flight either the Inference is not Good or else All Those that are Fled are Guilty The Paper says that he was Guilty of no Treason but the Judges were of One Opinion and my Lords Councel of Another I know says the Author of the Paper I said but little at the Tryal and I suppose it looks more like Innocence than Guilt Can it be imagin'd that my Lord did not Defend himself as well as he could And it is the First Time perhaps that ever saying little to an Accusation was made an Argument of a Man's Innocence But of this hereafter and so I shall go forward I pray God says the Paper lay not this my Condemnation to the Charge neither of the Kings Counsel nor Judges nor Sheriffs nor Jury and for the Witnesses I pity them and wish them well I shall not reckon up the Particulars wherein they did me wrong I had rather their own Consciences should do that to which and the Mercies of God I leave them Here 's a most scandalous Defamation thrown out against the Kings Councel the Judges Sheriffs Jury and Witnesses all at a Cast though the Manage was so Fair in All Respects that the Justice and Patience of the Court was Acknowledged by the very Zelotes of the Party themselves They could not but Confess that the Tryals were Candid and Clear they were heard at large the Proofs indubitable and seconded by their Own Confessions But I must Observe again that this Paper makes them Guilty only by a Figure and prays for them without charging them It Prays for the Witnesses wherein they did my Lord wrong but he is not pleas'd to reckon up the Particulars Nor is it said that they did him any Wrong at all The Penman will not charge my Lords Conscience with Averring any thing that is False but he has Colour'd it so as to make the People Believe he had wrong done him and that will do as well He leaves the Particulars however to their own Consciences and Gods Mercys so that in short This Paper is only a Scotch Mist from one End to the Other There 's a bold Insinuation of Injustice but not One Syllable in Proof or so much as to Colour it But we 'le put the Case now that my Lord had really suffer'd All the Wrong he Complains of 't is true it was the Part of a Generous Christian to close his Eyes with St. Stephens Prayer but then the printing of That Prayer stands in a Direct Opposition to the seeming Piety and Resignation of it for it lays Innocent Blood to the Charge of the Government And Exposes the Administrators of it to the uttermost Rage and Fury of the Multitude as the most Abominable Monsters upon the Face of the Earth and All this without the least Thought Hope or Possibility of any Other Benefit by it than the Tearing of All to pieces and the making of This Paper to do the work of the Conspiracy Can any body think that his Lordship would not have laid his finger upon the wrong if he had suffer'd any Or that if he could as he says have reckon'd up any Particulars that he would not have done it He says in another Place I do freely forgive All the World particularly those concern'd in taking away my Life and I desire and Conjure my Friends to think of no Revenge These Words are only the same Prayer with the Former turn'd into Sin as the Prophet David says but manag'd Another way And the short English of this Ejaculation is a Prayer to Almighty God to forgive his Murderers with an intent to cast the Guilt of shedding Innocent Blood now a Second Time upon the Ministers of Justice And what does the Artificial Hypocrite that Penn'd this Paper but in the very Act of Conjuring my Lords Friends to think of no Revenge Do all that is possible by This Printed Appeal to draw on a publick Vengeance from the Irritated and Seditious Rabble And once again now I never pretended to a Great Readiness in Speaking I wish those Gentlemen of the Law who have it would make more Conscience in the use of it and not run Men down by Strains and Fetches Impose on Easiâ— and willing Juries to the Ruine of Innocent Men for to kill by Forms and Subtleties of Law is the worst Sort of Murder But I wish the Rage of hot Men and the Partiality of Juries may be stopped with my Blood which I would offer up with so much the more JOY if I thought I should be the last were to suffer in such away This is only a Strain and a Fetch as the Paper says for the running the same Scandal over again with a little Varying the Phrase Who are those Unconscionable Gentlemen of the Law VVhom do they run down What
and Particular a Limitation to Those Two Articles if it were not to Accommodate That Popular Cover to some Hidden Meaning But the Fallacy that 's Couch'd under The Kings Life and Altering the Government is expos'd already It is said here That my Lord had no Design against the Life of any man whatsoever 'T is hard to imagine a War and no body to be Kill'd in 't But there 's a Salvo for That too That the Individual Person was not thought of Neither do I believe that my Lord ever Design'd to take away the Life of Dr. Hawkins though he said in his Passion that he hop'd to live to see him Flead and Hung up That which follows next speaks my Lord Privy to a Great many Ill Things And it is not enough to say that he could not Repress them For they were of such a Quality that his Lordship was Bound both by Oath and Duty to Discover them Or at the least In Honour and in Conscience to have avoided a Conversation that carried on such Dangerous Designs And now to speak one word to that which passes for his Lordships last Prayer We have his own Acknowledgment of a Misprision of Treason And yet not one syllable upon that Subject in his Parting Confession But he that wrote this Paper is a Profess'd Enemy I perceive to the Christianity of a Clear Confession I hope no body says the Paper will imagine that so mean a Thought could enter into me as to go about to save my self by accusing others The Part that some have Acted lately of that kind has not been such as to invite me to love Life at such a Rate A Man shall not need to Guess twice who was the Author of this Sentence for 't is written with the very Spirit of a Carguelite that makes Treason a Virtue and Repentance a Mortal Sin And my Poor Lord in the Anguish of his Thought is left here to Answer for the Lewdness of Another man who Notwithstanding the Justness of my Lords Sentence is Incomparably the Greater Criminal If he ever was or Pretended to be a Minister of the Gospel For there are Julians in Black-Coats and more Julians then One too what could be more Luciferian then to turn Penitence into a Scandal And to Preach it for a Point of Religious Honour in a Christian not to Discover his Complices in a Rebellion Surely the Author of this Paper was afraid of being Discovered himself And therefore Inculcates the Principle and Recommends it Is it such an Indignity for a man to Save himself by Accusing Others What is it then for a man rather to Damn his Soul by the Perjurious Concealment of a Traytor then by Discharging his Duty both to God and to his Prince to lay down This Life in hope of a Better through the Merits and Intercession of a most Mercyful Saviour The Pen-man's Savin of Himself by Accusing Others is only the False Gloss of a Reprobated Seducer upon the Text. And then the Instance of his Reproach upon the Kings Witnesses in this Matter is a Farther Discovery of the Venom of him that gave the Dictate This is a way chalk'd-out not only for the Encouragement but almost the Canonizing of Conspirators Here is an Acknowledgement however that my Lord Could have Accused Others if he Would We shall come now to the Matter of Fact As to the Conspiring to seize the Guards which is the Crime for which I am Condemned and which was made a Constructive Treason for taking away the Kings Life to bring it within the Statute of Edw. 3. I shall give this true and Clear Account I never was at Mr. Shepheard's with that Company but once and there was no undertaking then of Securing or seizing the Guards nor none appointed to View or Examine them Some Discourse there was of the Feasibleness of it And several times by Accident in General Discourse elsewhere I have heard it Mentioned as a thing might easily be done but never Consented to as Fit to be done And I remember particularly at my Lord Shaftsburys there being some General Discourse of this Kind I immediately flew out and Exclaimed against it And ask'd If the thing succeeded what must be done next but Massacring the Guards and killing them in Cold Blood which I look'd upon as so Detestable a thing and so like a Popish Practice that I could not but abhor it And at the same time the Duke of Monmouth took me by the Hand and told me very kindly My Lord I see you and I are of a temper Did you ever hear so horrid a thing And I must needs do him that Justice to Declare that I never observed in him but an Abhorrence to All Base Things My Lord was charg'd by the Indictment of High Treason for Conspiring Compassing and Imagining the Death and Destruction of the King And the Raising of a Rebellion within the Kingdom Now this was a Consultation in Order to that end And for that which is here call'd a Constructive Treason It was much a Plainer Act of Treason then any thing in the Articles against my Lord Chief Justice Scroggs And yet That pass'd for a very Current House-of-Commons-Treason The Paper says that my Lord was but once at Mr. Shepheards with that Company Mr. Shepheard swears it Twice with the same Company But that Slip of Memory shall go for Nothing There was No Vndertaking to seize the Guards it seems nor any Appointment to View or Examine them That 's because it was not yet come to a Resolution But here 's no Denyal at all of a Debate or Consultation toward it The Exploit was found Feisible and several Discourses about it But said only to be in General and by Accident Is it meant that they Mett by Accident and so fell upon Discourse only by Accident And that This Particular of Seizing the Guards fell in only as an Accidental Discourse This way of Disguising the Truth is as Clear to any man that has Eyes in his head as if it were a Plain Confession of it for if it were meant Good Faith the Author would have strain'd himself for another Invocation of the Great God the Searcher of Hearts and Judge of All Things to bear Witness to the Explicite Truth of the Case But it was never Consented to as Fit to be done Now That Fitness may referr to the Time the Means the Ways the Instruments They had not yet Pitcht upon a Safe and Effectual Way perhaps for the doing of it But there was More General Discourse now of the same Kind at my Lord Shaftsbury's And This was a Terrible General Discourse for it made my Lord immediately Fly out and Exclaim against it I wish the Paper had set forth what this General Discourse was And what the Other was too that fell in by Accident And whether that General Discourse and This General Discourse were not as good as all one But in short Such General Discourse it was that it wanted
but one step of Massacring the Guards Or cutting their Throats in their Beds which the Paper says My Lord Abhorr'd it for being so like a Popish Practice A Presbyterian Practice would not have done a miss neither in This Place if a body had had the Murder of the Late King Montross The Arch-bishop of St. Andrews c. in his thought But shall any man at last be so Weak as to swallow it that Did you ever hear so Horrid a Thing was only an Exclamation upon a General and Accidental Discourse All the Rest went down well enough till it came to the Cut-Throat-part of it And that was the Point that Startled them The Doing of the Bus'ness either in a Brave Generous Way Head to Head or with Cap in Hand And a Complement of Loyalty and Respect to Desire his Majesty in These Dangerous Times to sign a Demise of his Three Kingdoms to the Vse of the Councel of Six Or to a Band of Associators for the Security of his Sacred Person and the Protestant Religion I do not find by any thing I see yet that the Men of Honour if the Paper-Writer might have had his Will would have Boggl'd at such a way of Proceeding But the doing of the Thing Basely was the Business And the Scruple that was made was upon a Point of Bravery not Conscience But to Continue the Story As to my going to Mr. Shepheards I went with an Intention to taste Sherry for he had promised me to Reserve for me the next very good Piece he met with when I went out of Town and if he recollects he may remember I askt him about it and he went and fetcht a Bottle But when I tasted it I said 't was Hot in the Mouth and desired that whenever he met with a Choice Piece he would keep it for me which he Promised I Enlarge the more upon This because Sir George Jefferies Insinuated to the Jury as if I had made a Story about going thither but I never said That was the Only Reason And I will now Truly and Plainly add the rest By this Paragraph the Reader is to be held in hand that my Lords BUSINESS to Mr. Shepheards was to taste Sherry And the Paper goes about to Refresh Mr. Shepheard's Memory by such and such Tokens the Word is with an Intention to taste Sherry which in common Speech does fairly insinuate as if the Tasting of Sherry had been the chief End of his going Whereas supposing that to be in his Intention it might be nevertheless yet the least part of his Bus'ness And further the Author of this Paper has not thought fit to give us any Sort of Light what his Bus'ness was Nay Mr. Shepheard on the other hand swears that it was a Meeting by Appointment and that there was nothing of the Sherry-Story in the Case My Lord however made use of this Suggestion at his Tryal and Sir George Jefferies Reflecting upon it to the Jury this Paper undertakes the Excusing of One shift with Another The Tasting of Sherry was One Reason though not the only Reason But we are now to Expect a True and Plain Account of the rest I was the day before this Meeting come to Town for two or three days as I had done once or twice before having a very Near and Dear Relation lying in a very Languishing and Desperate Condition And the Duke of Monmouth came to me and told me he was extremely glad I was come to Town for my Lord Shaftsbury and some Hot men would undo us all How so My Lord said I Why answered he they 'l certainly do some Disorderly thing or other if Great Care be not taken and therefore for God's sake Use your Endeavours with your Friends to prevent any thing of this kind He told me there would be company at Mr. Shepheards that night and desired me to be at home in the Evening and he would call me which he did And when I came into the Room I saw Mr. Rumsey by the Chimney though he swears he came in after and there were things said by some with much more Heat than Iudgment which I did sufficiently Disapprove and yet for these Things I stand Condemned But I thank God my Part was syncere and well meant It is I know inferred from hence and was pressed to me that I was acquainted with those Heats and Ill Designs and did not Discover them but this is but Misprision of Treason at most So I dye Innocent of the Crime I stand Condemned for c. Here 's a short Account of my Lords coming twice or thrice to Town and that he had a Dear Relation lying sick here But whether he came upon a Visit or upon the Bus'ness in Question the Paper says Nothing The Duke of Monmouth Complains to him as above of my Lord Shaftsbury and Other Hot Headed Men that would spoyl all this Implyes my Lords being Antecedently privy to the matter in hand for he takes the hint immediately How to my Lord says he without needing to Enquire either What Men or what Bus'ness The Answer was no more in Effect then This. There are a Company of mad Fellows that will out-run the Constable they will be shewing themselves too soon and make some Bedlam Attempt or other before we are ready for 'em and then we are All ruin'd So that it was not the Design it self but as This Paper Represents it the rash and imprudent Manage that was taken Check at And now follows the Meeting at Mr. Shepheards which this Paper calls Company as if it were a chance Company not a Meeting But Mr Shepheard speaks of it as a Set Company And Mr. Rumsey was likewise appointed to meet there My Lords Contradicting Mr. Rumsey in a Circumstance without any Exception to him upon the main looks like a tacit Admittance of the rest of his Evidence The Paper speaks further of things that were said by some with more Heat than Iudgment but neither says who spake them nor what the things were but 't is Probable they were Treason by my Lords Disapproval of them And it would have been well if his Lordship had at least told the things though without naming the Persons It is Remarkable that the words are with much more HEAT than JUDGMENT If it had been with much more Heat then Honesty my Lords Disapproval would have Reflected upon the Cause but with much more Heat then Iudgment strikes only upon the Indiscretion The Paper thinks it hard that My Lord should be Condemn'd for the things which he Disapproved whereas my Lord was Condemn'd for Meeting Consulting Agreeing to Raise an Insurrection c. And it is the Law that Pronounces the Sentence My Lords Part it seems was Sincere and well meant 'T is a thousand pitties his Lordship was not better Enformed for People under a Mistake may do the worst things in the world with Good Meaning And then methinks Heats and Ill Designs are too soft a way
the Reverend Dean of Canterbury Dr. Tillotson gave his Lordship a pious and Friendly Visit Expressing the Extreme Affliction as well as Compassion that he had for his present Condition And not without Great Admiration at my Lords being Engaged in a Misfortune of that Quality But after a little Discourse upon that Subject the Dr. was much more troubled to find that my Lord was not only Embarqu'd in that Pernicious and wicked Design but Possess'd with the Principle of his Chaplains Julian the Apostate that Resistance was Lawful in the Case of Religion Liberties and Properties being Invaded whereupon the Dr. Applyed himself by Argument and Counsel to the setting of his Lordship right in that Particular with all the Freedom Tenderness and Respect Imaginable And not without Flattering himself at last that he had gain'd his point upon my Lords Judgment who promis'd the Dr. at parting to bethink himself seriously of what he had said The next day Dr. Burnet tells the Dean that his Discourse had wrought a very good Effect upon my Lord and that he was now Resolved to do All that might become a man under his Circumstances and to Discharge his Conscience both towards God and Man Hereupon the Dean applyed himself forthwith to a Person of Great Honour with this Account of his Success desiring that the matter might be Represented to his Majesty which was done accordingly and the best Office which in such a Case the Dr. could render to his Lordship Upon VVednesday the Dean gave my Lord another Visit when taking for granted that his Lordship continued in his Late Resolution he entertain'd him only with Preparatory Discourses toward the fitting of him for a better Life Upon Friday Morning the Dean Administred to my Lord the Holy Sacrament having previously Receiv'd such Satisfaction from him as the Occasion and the Duty Requir'd But afterwards Mr. Dean finding him wavering went his way And about five or six in the Evening brought him a Letter which was excellently well Accommodated and very pertinently Applyed to the point in Question The Dean Deliver'd the Letter to my Lord and Discours'd at large upon it Earnestly beseeching him to Bethink himself how much it concern'd him not to leave the World under so dangerous a Mistake but my Lord seemed much colder now than before the Dean however pressing him to Enter into a strict and severe Examination of himself and so he departed leaving the Letter in his Lordship's hand The next Morning being the Day of his Execution the Dean waited upon my Lord again when he found him yet cooler and utterly Declining any Occasion of farther Discourse upon the Old Matter Upon this the Dr. Desisted and Attended him afterwards and Pray'd with him on the Scaffold Discharging himself from first to last in All the Parts of a Churchman and of a Friend A True Copy both of the Letter and of the Prayer hereafter follows July 20. 1683. My Lord I Was heartily glad to see your Lordship this Morning in that calm and devout temper at Receiving the Sacrament but Peace of mind unless it be well-grounded will avail little And because transient Discourse many times hath little effect for want of time to weigh and consider it therefore in tender compassion of your Lordships Case and from all the good Will that one man can bâ—ar to another I do humbly offer to your Lordships deliberate thoughts these following Considerations concerning the Points of Resiâ—â—ance if our Religion and Rights should be invaded as your Lordship puts the Case concerning which I understood by Dr. Burnet that your Lordship had once received Satisfaction and am sorry to find a change First That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the Resistance of Authority Secondly That though our Religion be Established by Law which your Lordship urges as a difference between our Case and that of the Primitive Christians yet in the same Law which Establishes our Religion it is declared That it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. Besides That there is a particular Law declaring the Power of the Militia to be solely in the King And this ties the hands of Subjects though the Law of Nature and the General Rules of Scripture hâ—d left us at liberty which I believe they do not because the Government and Peace of Humane Society could not wâ—ll subsist upon these Terms Thirdly Your Lordships Opinion is contrary to the declared Doctrine of all Protestant Churches and though some particular Persons have taught otherwise yet they have been contradicted herein and condemned for it by the Generality of Protestants And I beg of your Lordship to consider how it will agree with an avowed asserting of the Protestant Religion to go contrary to the General Doctrine of the Protestants My End in this is to convince Your Lordship that You are in a very Great and Dangerous Mistake and being so convinced that which before was a Sin of Ignorance will appear of a much more heinous Nature as in Truth it is and call for a very particular and deep Repentance which if Your Lordship sincerely exercise upon the sight of your Error by a Penitent Acknowledgment of it to God and Men You will not only obtain Forgiveness of God but prevent a mighty Scandal to the Reformed Religion I am very loath to give Your Lordship any disquiet in the Distress You are in which I commiserate from my heart but am much more concerned that You do not leave the VVorld in a delusion and false Peace to the hindrance of Your Eternal Happiness I heartily pray for You and beseech Your Lordship to believe that I am with the greatest Syncerity and Compassion in the VVorld My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and Afflicted Servant John Tillotson Dr. Tillotson's Prayer upon the Scaffold with the Late LORD RUSSEL O Almighty and Merciful God with whom alone live the Spirits of Just Men made perfect after they are delivered from these earthly Prisons we humbly commend the Soul of this our dear Brother into thy hands as into the hands of a Faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour humbly beseeching thee that it may be pretious in thy sight wash it O Lord from all it's guilt in the blood of the immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the Sins of the World That whatsoever Defilements it may have Contracted in the midst of this wicked World by the lusts of the flesh or the wiles of Satan being purged and done away by a sincere and unfeigned Repentance through thy Infinite Mercy and Goodness in our Lord Jesus Christ it may be presented pure and holy and without spot before thee O Lord we humbly beseech thee to support thy Servant and stand by him in this last and great Contest deliver him from the pains of Eternal Death and save him O Lord for thy Mercies sake and grant that all we who survive by this and other Instances of thy Providence may learn our Duty to God and the King and that by this and other like Spectacles of our Mortality we may see how frail and uncertain our Condition is in this World that it is all but vanity and teach us so to number our days that we may seriously apply our hearts to that holy and heavenly VVisdom while we live which may bring us to Life Everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose holy Name and VVords we conclude our Prayers Our Father c. Having done this Right to the Truth by an Impartial Report of the Matter of Fact And this Further Right to the Reverend Dean to Publish the Right that he hath done to Himself in this Affair I shall Super-add this Note that he had nothing to do in the Paper that has made all this Noise but to Condemn so much as he Heard of it And in Truth it was Observed that while my Lord and the Dean were together they had Neither Pen Ink nor Paper Now though 't is True again that when my Lord and Doctror Burnet were together there was Pen Ink and Paper called for It Concludes nothing yet as to the Writing of this Paper It is said indeed that upon Captain Richardsons speaking to Dr. Burnâ—t about my Lords making a Speech he was answered by the Doctor that My Lord only intended to speak a Few Words upon the Scaffold And that what he had to say else He would leave in a Paper he intended to deliver to the Sheriffs There is more then enough said in Reflection upon this Scandalous Paper that takes so much pains to possess the World that this Unhappy Execution was a Murder There was Effectually a Murder in the Case It was in the Law an Act of Justice But it was in Him that Poysonâ—d this Unfortunate Gentleman with that Seditious Maxim that brought him to the Block and that afterwards Encouraged him to persist in 't It was in Him I say the Basest and the most Treacherous of Murders And I look upon Julian with a Respect to this Conspiracy only as the Rule to the Example the One Directs the Rebellion and the Other Proves it The End
signifie as the Reader pleases either Any Thing or just Nothing at All But however at a venture a Man may conclude that there is something More yet which he does Not think fit to set down And That for ought any Body knows may be All that is worth setting down Or which is the same thing All that the Reader will find missing in This Paper And then why Leave behind me they say unless in the Literal Sense That I do not Carry it with me for there 's no Attestation Annex'd to 't No Solemnity of Acknowledgment or Protestation to Accompany the Delivery of it no Circumstance to make it a Memorial of any thing more than the Transferring of the Paper out of One hand into Another insomuch that the matter lies at Fast or Loose whether this Paper shall be Reputed my Lords Act or no. My Answer is that this Paper was Written by my Lord Subscribed by my Lord Delivered by my Lord and that by these Visible Solemnities it became My Lords Act. It was Manifestly My Lords Intention that it should be Taken for His Act And it is but Common Justice to allow and to understand it so to be It has been likewise Published and made use of by some of my Lords nearest Relations As my Lords Act and with Infinite Zeal for his Lordships Advantage and Behoof Now after all these Authoritative and Punctual Formalities of Proceeding there is not any Man that has a Tenderness for the Memory of That Unhappy Person but would rather Entitle him to this Paper how ill contriv'd soever than charge him on the other hand with double-dealing and mental Reservations at his Last Hour As if his dying Thoughts had been only taken up with Studying how to lead People into the dark and to amuse the World with a Riddle never to be unfolded after the Closing of his Lordships Eyes till the Day of Judgment But let every Man take it which way he pleases it comes in my Opinion to the same Issue at last That is to say Take the Speech and the Paper Together or take them apart 't is much at one God knows says the Speech how far I was always from Designs against the Kings Person or of Altering the Government This Passage now according to the sincerity of Popular Usage and Construction is as much as to say God knows it I was ever against these ways but then if a Man looks at it through a pair of Reformation-Spectacles 't is a meer deceptio visus and there is nothing at all to be seen for a body may be up to the Ears in a Design and yet Cry out with a safe Conscience God knows how far I am against it But there follows another Clause that seems to come closer a great deal i. e. In the Words of a Dying Man I Profess I know of no Plot either against the Kings Life or the Government These Words in plain honest English ought to pass for Current and as good as Sterling betwixt Man and Man but he that reads them with a Kirk Comment will put them to All Touches and Tests if he be wise before he Receives them I Never knew of any Plot would have been much Fuller and much Homer to the Indictment than I know of no Plot For the neck of it is now broken and it is no longer in Being And then in the Restraining of that Disclaimer to the Kings Life or the Government There 's a Salvo left yet for the Seizing of the Guards and for the Imprisoning Deposing or doing any other Indignity to the King short of his Life And All This without any Change of Government too for the Monarchy is the Same still though the Crown perhaps may be Translated from One Head to Another Thus we see Every Line 's a Snare But I can never believe that my Lord spake These Words with the Intention of him that Penn'd them but rather that Unhappily he took the Paper by Content and without much Examining either the Stamp or the Mettle pay'd it out again as he Receiv'd it In One word Somebodyelse Prepar'd the Poyson Put it into my Lords hand for a Cordial and his Lordship Deliver'd it over to the People Not but that upon the main of my Lords Tryal Sentence and Execution as the Strictness of the Method was Absolutely Necessary so the Process was managed with all possible Respect and Justice We come now to the Paper it Self which in several Places looks liker the Character of a Primitive Christian Expos'd to the Lyons in a Roman Theatre or That of an Unfortunate Heroe in the Field than the Figure of a Person under the double Calamity of such a Cause and such a Sentence I reckon This as the Happiest Time of my Life tho Others may look upon it as the saddest Can any Man living that has Flesh and Blood about him understand This Hyperbole according to the Letter especially under the Circumstances of such Mortal Mistakes and miserable Illusions What could a Martyr at the Stake under a Guard of Angels have said Greater than This And here 's The Arrow drawn to the Head again The Importunity of my Friends and particularly of the best and dearest Wife in the World prevailed with me to sign Petitions and make an Address for my Life To which I was very Averse For I thank God though in all Respects I have lived One of the Happiest and Contentedst Men of the World for now very near Fourteen Years yet I am so willing to leave all that it was not without Difficulty that I did any Thing for the Saving of my Life that was Begging How strangely has the Author of This Paragraph mistaken his Proportions To draw the Character of a Seraphical Resigning Christian from the Copy of a Stomackful huffing Cavalier and to talk of the Last Test of a Dying Mans Religion and Profession as if there were no more in 't than a vain Punctilio upon a point of Honour in a Sword-man Is it become a Shame for a Delinquent to Acknowledg his Fault For a Condemn'd Person to Pray for a stop to the Execution of Justice For a Subject that by his own Confession has done amiss to beg Pardon of his Soveraign How long has it been a point of either Bravery or Conscience for a man to be so Averse to the Saving of his Life as to oppose the only Proper and possible nay the Lawful and Honourable means of preserving it A Petition in This Case is so far methinks from Needing either a Secondary Motive to the Inducing of it or an Excuse for the doing of it That without being wanting to Himself his Family and his Friends I cannot see how he could have Declin'd it My Lords Signing of the Whole has made him become Answerable for every Part But these High Flights were Undoubtedly the Strokes of Another Pen that took more Care to Advance and Support the Credit of a Faction than to keep within the Bounds
What 's the End of these Terrifying Alarums but to Gall and Teize the People without any hope of Remedy unless by flying to that Damned Principle of Conditional Obedience to Embrue my hands in the Bloud of my Soveraign What 's the English of this same Publick-Good here Appearing Hearty The True Interest of the Nation and the Protestant Religion What is it but the Old Cause in a New dress And the direct Encouragement of a Schism and Sedition against the Authority both of Church and State And then here 's still the never-failing Topique at hand of Impiety and Prophaneness with a Characteristical Note of the other Party As men Concerned for the publick-Publick-Good Hearty for the True Interest and the Protestant Religion under which Notion the Shammer of this Paper upon my Lord did beyond all controversy Intend the Conspirators For it does not only Answer his Ordinary Description of them but he would have told us in Plain Terms if he had meant otherwise or at least he would have cast in as much Schism and Rebellion into the other Scale as would have kept the Ballance Even Not but that the Sedition and Prophaneness are now God be thanked for it come to be both of a side And here again What ever Apprehensions I had of Popery and of my own severe and heavy share I was like to have under it when it should prevail I never had a thought of doing any thing against it Basely or Inhumanely but what could well Consist with the Christian Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom And thank God I have Examined all my Actings in that matter with so great Care that I can appeal to God Almighty who knows my Heart that I went on Syncerely without being moved either by Passion By-end or Evil-Design We are still upon the same Train of Uncertainties and Generals Why should My Lord have these Apprehensions by reason of His opposing Popery When the King the Church and the Laws of the Land are against Introducing the Religion of the Church of Rome as much as His Lordship But if the Paper means One Popery and the Law Another As 't is clear by the Context of it that the Church-Protestants and the Papists are to be blown up into the Air Together the Pretext of Religion is Degenerated into a Point-blank Sedition And every man that Suffers for Treason shall presently at this rate be made a Martyr for the Reformation And again will the Composer of this Paper have my Lords Suffering in this Case to be an Argument that Popery prevails because his Lordship foresaw the Hard Measure he was likely to have in Case it should prevail Neither will the Lawfulness of opposing Popery in any sort Excuse the Doing of it by Unlawful means There must be no Seizing of Guards in the Case The Fear of a False Religion is no Defence either before God or Man for the Violence of an Actual Rebellion How much more Forcible then is the Condition of Our present Instance where the very men that pretend to Fear Popery are so far from Fearing it Indeed that it is one Branch of the Conspiracy to say they Fear it A Second to give it out that the Papists are about to Kill the King And at the same time to Resolve to do it Themselves And the last Round of the Ladder is by Consent so soon as ever they have Executed the Villany to make Proclamation that the Papists did it But now we come to the Deplorable Nicety of my Poor Lords Case which in Appearance seems to be well nigh the Single Proposition wherein the Confessour and the Penitent agreed And this was it which cost both Himself and that Noble Family so Dear Popery was to be Opposed it seems but not Basely or Inhumanely The Guards were not to be Massacred or Killed in their Beds But if the same thing in Effect might have been done Bravely and Sword in Hand I see nothing in this Paragraph to the contrary but that in substance it might have been Justifyed for BASELY and INHUMANLY are the Two only Exceptions that I find to the doing of it And they do Tacitly Imply a kind of Approbation of the Thing Provided it might have been done in a way of Reputative Generosity and Honour for here 's no Regard either Had or so much as Intimated in That Particular to the Laws either of God or of Man There follows indeed a kind of Restriction by way of a Salvo That the Proceeding ought to hold a Consistence with the Christian Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom And where are we then If Julian the First and the Second If Apostates and the Common Bretrayers of Kings Masters and People shall be made the Judges of That Christian Religion Or Hunt and Ferguson the Arbitrators of our Common Rights Oh how I curse the First Minute that ever gave Admittance to any of these Mutinous and Sanguinary Levites any of these Popular or Seditious Boutefeus under the Roof of that Honourable House Hinâ— ille Lachrimae for That mistaken Principle was the Root of all this Evil And the Main Incentive I perswade my self to the doing of Many ill things by the Impulse of That Delusion Had not a Man better have a Cloven Foot in 's House then one of these Cloven Tongues The Devil Barefac'd puts a Man to his Prayers He Summons up his Resolutions and Implores a Powerful and a Merciful God for his Assistance with a Horrour all this while for the Character and the Company of his Seducer But in the Other Case a Man Abandons himself to the Impostor Consults no other Oracle but takes his Enemy into his Arms and Opens his Heart for the Spirit of Errour to Enter in and take Possession of him Pins his Faith upon the Sleeve of his Guide and Swallows the Ruin both of Body Soul and Estate with Greediness He takes the Broad Way for the Narrow c. God Deliver all Honest Men out of the Clutches of these Parasitical and Rapacious Hypocrites The Dictator of this Paper says that My Lord Examined all his Actings And truly so much the Worse if they were Examined by Applying them to False Rules and Measures And then he Vouches for the Syncerity of my Lords Heart which Syncerity avails little too if it be founded upon a wrong Principle And no Purgation at all neither of his Innocency in case of an Erroneous Judgment Now to Close this Remarque the whole Paragraph is Mystery and there may be Wrapt under it what Meaning soever the Reader shall find Reasonable to Impose upon it for a thing may be Contrary to the Laws both of Heaven and Earth and yet in His Sense neither Base nor Inhumane Julian and Hunt make that which the Law calls Rebellion to be Consistent with our Laws Liberties and Religion And then for the Examining of his Actings My Lords Monitor knows that Ravillac did as much and in his own Private