Merits and Mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not doubting but that through the red Sea of his Blood he should arrive at the Heavenly Canaan and in little space behold his Saviour whom his Soul so much longed after Then fixing his Eyes upon the Multitude he spake to this effect I am brought here to a shameful Death I am an English Man born and as many know a Gentleman born I was drawn into this Business by several Persons and am now brought here for my former Sins God hath delivered me several Times from several Judgments he hath visited me at this Time because I slighted and did not pursue that Repentance that I promised Therefore I desire all good People to leave off their Sins for Christ his sake and beagme new Men for it is that that brings all Men to ruin I beseech God of Mercy have Mercy upon my Soul Lord God I come to thee Lord the Father of Heaven have Mercy upon me O God the Son Redeemer of the World have Mercy upon me O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Merâ—y upon me Remember not my Offences but spare me good Lord God I beseech thee spare thy Servant whom thou hast vedeamed for thy dear Sons sake I have no more to say but desire the Prayers of all good People Having ended his Speech he committed his Spirit into the Hands of God and having said Lord have Morcy upon my Soul he was turned off the Ladder and instantly cut down his Belly ripped up and his Bowels burnt in a Fire ready prepared for that purpose he being not yet Dead then was his Head cut off and his Body divided into four Quarters put into a Basket and conveyed back to Newgate Next they proceeded and fetcht John Betley for there was a great deal of Business done by the Executioner that Day into Cheapside where formerly the Cross stood where was likewise a Gibbet set up being come to the Place with a Minister the Minister read and the People sung with him a Psalm beginning thus O Lord consider my Distress c. Then he went up the Ladder and said as followeth LOrd receive my Soul and be merciful to me I commit my Soul into Almighty Gods Hands for he is my Protector and Redeemer I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to die for my Conversation hath been such in Christ Jesus I hope I shall find Mercy As concerning them that are my Enemies I pray God forgive them their Sins I freely forgive them all that have done me wrong As for the late Plot I was never but once in Company with them concerned therein I did know of such a Thing but deny that I acted therein Shall I damn my Soul at this Instant I will speak the Truth One Brandon that was one of them drew me into the Business and his Man I carrying Work to him could not refrain his House he so often enticed me thereto and would not let me alone till he had got me into a House where we drank together I have no more to say as to the Plot but desire Mercy from God Having this said the Executioner turned him off and the rest of the Sentence was executed upon him as before upon Colonel Ashton and his Head and Quarters were conveyed also to Newgate Some two Days after one Edmund Stacy also about the same Conspiracy was executed in Cornhil over against the Exchange as also a Youth in Smithfield having the Rope about his Neck the horror of Death being worse then Death it self but for his Souls Health was Reprieved the Torrent of Blood being for a while stayed Whilst these Tradgedies were acting on the Land a strange Accident no less prodigious happened on the Water a Whale of a monstrous bigness at least sixty Foot and of a proportionable Breadth was cast up on the River of Thames near London which by the common People was accounted a Prognostication of the Protectors Death which ensued not long after But to return to Flanders where we formerly left the Sea whereof like a sharp Humour did always nourish the Wounds of incurable Evils nor was the French their letting of her Blood sufficient she wanted an English Physician to treat her Our Armies whose Valours made not a stand at Mardike but with a gallant Resolution besieged Dunkirk which being a Place of great Importance the Spaniard intended to relieve and with an Army of sixteen thousand came within an English Mile and a half of the French Quarters whereupon the Engeish and French uniting their Forces leaving some part of them before Dunkirk to make good the Approaches and guard the Trenches with fifteen thousand Men and ten Pieces of Cannon set upon the Spaniard whom after a long and sharp Fight they put to a total Rout and Confusion with the Loss of three thousand five hundred Men which Victory was in a manner wholy attributed to the Valour of the English The Loss of this Day lost the Spaniard Dunkirk who quickly after surrendered up the Town upon these following Conditions 1. That the Town shall be yielded up with all their great Guns their stores of Victuals Magazines of Arms and Ammunition without any embezlement 2. That all Officers and Soldiers shall have Liberty to marth out with their Arms Drums beating Golours flying two Pieces of Oridinance and their Baggage 3. That they shall have the Liberty to march with a Convoy so conduct them to Saint Omers 4. That the Inhabitants should remain indempnified in their Persons and Goods and enjoying their former Customs and Priviledges for two Years and not be molested touching the Exercise of their Religion The Articles signed the Spaniards marched out being about one Thousand Horse and Foot and seven hundred more that were wounded the French according as it was articled before put the English in Possession thereof which ever since they have maintained I have heard of an expression of the Governours of Ostend A little before the Massacre there a Person of Quality being sent thither about the exchange of Prisoners after he was civilly treated the Glasses of Wine going freely about the Governour being in a safe Place began to throw forth Words to this effect Sir is this the Mode of your Mushroom Protector hath he no other Way to pay my Master the King of Spain for his Bullion but with Bullets Soon after the taking of Dunkirk deceased the Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to the Protector a Lady whom Posterity will mention with an honourable Character who often interposed and became an humble Supplicant to her Father for many Persons design'd to dye her last request as it was thought for some eminent Persons being deny'd was a means of hastening her Death which much sadned her Father's Spirits nor did he long survive her her Death causing more Wounds in his Heart than all he received in the Wars But as his Severity was great to his Enemies so did he excell in
Obstruction of it upon nothing more than my own Sin and seeing God sees it fit having not glorified him in my Life I might do it in my Death which I am contented to do I profess in the fear of God particular Malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily Injury I had none For the cause in which I had long waded I must needs say my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience it was on Principles of Law the Knowledge whereof I profess and on Principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those ways which I bless God I find no blackness upon my Conscience nor have I put it into the Bed-roll of my Sins I will not presume to decide controversies I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy Peace and Plenty beyond all you possess here In my Conversation in the World I do not know where I have an Enemy with cause or that there is such a Person whom I have to regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of christian Men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them by name I freely forgive them being in free Peace with all the World as I desire God for Christs sake to be at Peace with me For the business of Death it is a sad Sentence in it self if Men consult with Flesh and Blood But truly without boasting I say it or if I do boast I boast in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with the Flesh about the blow of the Axe more then as my passport to Glory I take it for an honour and I owe thankfulness to those under whose Power I am that they sent me hither to a place however of Punishment yet of some Honour to die a death somewhat worthy of my Blood answerable to my Birth and Qualification and this courtesie of theirs much helped towards the pacification of my Mind I shall desire God that those Genâ—lemen in that sad Bed-roll to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that really there that is nominal in the Act an High Court of Justice a Court of High Justice high in its Righteousness though not in its severity Father forgive them and forgive me as I forgive them I desire you now that you would pray for me and not give over praying till the Hour of my Death not till the Moment of my Death for the Hour is come already the instant of Time approaches that as I have a great load of Sins so I may have the wings of your Prayers to help those Angels that are to convey my Soul to Heaven and I doubt not but I shall see my Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master whom I much honoured my Lord Capel hoping this Day to see my Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self there to rejoyce with all other Saints and Angels for ever more After the uttering of these and many the like Words declaring his Faith and Confidence in God with as much undaunted yet Christian Courage as possibly could be in Man he exposed his Neck to the fatal Ax commending his Soul into the Hands of a faithful and merciful Creator thro' the meritorious Passion of a gracious Redeemer and having said Lord Jesus receive me the Executioner with one Blow severed his Head from his Body For such a collateral design not long after one Master Benson was executed at Tyburn one that had some Relations to Sir John Gell who was tried for the same Conspiraccy with his Man Sir John's former Services to the Parliament being his best and most assured Intercessors for his Life and at that time were more then ordinary Advantages to him I shall in the next place give you an account of the Beheading of Sir Henry Hide He was by the Scots King commissonated as Ambassadour to the Grand Signior at Constantinople and stood in Competition with Sir Thomas Bendish then Ambassadour for the English for his Place whereupon they had a Hearing before the Vizier Bassa the result whereof was that Sir Thomas Bendish should dispose of the said Sir Henry Hide as he thought good who was to the same purpose sent to Smyrna thence into England and there condemned and executed before the Royal Exchange in London March 4. 1650. His last Words were to this Effect CHristian People I come hither to die I am brought hither to die and that I may die Christian like I humbly beseech the assistance of your Christian Prayers that by the benefit of them my passage may be the more easie Yet because Men in that condition which it hath pleased God to reduce me to give the more credit to Speech in the discharge of my Duty towards God I shall use a few Words and so conclude I pray all of you join with me to praise this Almighty God to whom I desire to render all hearty Thanks as for all his Mercies so in particular for this that he hath brought me hither that whereas I owe a Debt to Sin and and to Nature that now I can pay the Debt to Nature I can pay it upon the account of Grace And because it is fit to render the blessed account of that hope that is in me I shall tell you to the praise of Almighty God that I have been born and bred up in the Doctrine of the Church of England I have no negative Religion believing to be saved by the only merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ and whatsoever else is profest in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England authorized by Law humbly beseeching Almighay God to restore unto this Church her Peace Prosperity and Patrimony whereof I have an Obedient and a Loving however an unworthy Son and now both my Hope being consident and my Faith perfected there remains only Christian Charity Charity we carry into Heaven Charity on Earth that I leave beseeching all whomsoever I have offended to forgive me as I from the bottom of my Heart do all whomsoever blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me the sooner to Heaven I bless Almighty God that he hath given me this Advantage as he hath been Merciful to me before the Foundation of the World in my Saviour so that now he hath in Mercy honoured me with a suffering for his Name in Obedience to his Commandment On this Day sevennight I was summoned before that Justice which condemned me on Friday last praised be Almighty God that by this way he hath brought me nearer to himself My charge I presume is publick as my Punishment is visible if there have been any thing in the management of my part being unskilful having
my Soul that God would forgive all those that upon so slender and small Grounds adjudg'd me to dye taking Advantage of such simple Ignorance as I was in And I had at the very beginning of my pleading engaged their Honours no Advantage should be taken against me to my Prejudice that in as much as I understood nothing of the Law And having heard that a Man in the Nicety of the Law might be lost in the Severity thereof meerly for speaking a Word out of simple Ignorance I made it my Prayer to them that no Advantage might be taken against me to the Prejudice of my Person And there was to me a seeming Consent for the President told there should be no Advantage taken against me and upon these Considerations I am afraid there was too great Uncharitableness but I pray God forgive them from the very bottom of my Soul and I desire that even those that shed my Blood may have the Bowels of the God of Mercy shed for them And now having given you the Occasion of my coming hither it is fit I should give you somewhat as concerning my self as I am a Christian I thank God I was Baptized to the Holy Church so I was Baptized to be a Member of the Holy Catholick Church that is the Church of England which I dare say for Purity of Doctrine and orderly Discipline till a sad Reformation had spoiled the Face of the Church and made it a querry whether it were a Church or no I say it was more purely Divine and Apostolical than any other Doctrine or Church in the Christian World whether National or Classical or Congregational And I must tell you That as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of the Holy Catholick Church and shall give a most just Confession of my Faith both negatively and affirmatively negatively I am so a Member of the Holy Catholick Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold Communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the World that love the same Lord Jesus in Sincerity and call on his Name agreeing with those Truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testaments tho' in Charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for Salvation through the Merits of Christ Jesus his Blood I rely on his Merits I trust to for the Salvation of my own Soul Though to this Faith good Works are necessary not meritorious in us but only made meritorious by Christ his Death by his all sufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteousness they become meritorious And truly as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the World They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable Design and that I had a great Interest in the Knowledge and Practice thereof and that for the saving my Life I would have discover'd and betray'd I cannot tell what I hope my Conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long Time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermeddle in such an Action and go so contrary to the Practice of my Profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a Knowledge of that Design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a Design upon the City of London for the Firing of it I so much trouble at the Thought of the Thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a Design if my Heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhor the Thing I should have been the first discoverer of it Nor ever had I Correspondency or Meetings with such Persons as would have carried on such a Design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond to my Remembrance I never saw the Face of that Honourable Person in my Life It is said One Lords Day I did preach at Saint Gregory's and the next Lords Day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings Hand and brought I cannot tell what Orders and Instructions from him this I shall say For these three Years last past together I have not been sixty Miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those Places then threescore Miles It is said that I kept Correspondence with one Barrow and Bishop they are Persons I have heard of their Names but never saw their Faces and to my Knowledge I do not know they knew me nor do I know them at all but only as I have heard of their Names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highness was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a Sheaf of Corn he meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on Fire by Sedition and Combustions and promoting Dâ—signs Here truly I do say and have it from many of those that are Judges of the High Court that upon Examination of the Business they have not found me a Meddler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore that it was a very uncharitable Act in them who ever they were that brought such Accusations against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was Malice it might be Zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be sentenced to this Place the God of Mercy pardon and forgive them all and truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a Member of the Community whereon behalf I have been speaking I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them he blessed them and ascended up to Heaven My Trust is in the Mercy of the most High I shall not miscarry and however my Days are shortned by this unexpected doom and shall be brought untimely to the Grave I cannot go without my Prayers for a Blessing upon all the People of this Land and cannot but bless them all in the Name of God and beseech God to bless them in all their Ways and his Blessing be upon them Let us Pray O Most glorious Lord God thou whose Dwelling is so far above the Highest Heavens that thou humblest thy self but to look upon the Things that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and thou doest whatsoever thou wilt both in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and in all deep Places in thy Hands are the Hearts of all Men and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt O Lord look in Mercy and Compassion we beseech thee on this great and innumerous People of
own Cause rescue the Light of thy Truth from all those Clouds of Errors and Heresies which do so much obscure it and let the Light thereof in a free Proffession break forth and shine again among us and that continually even as long as the Sun and Moon endures To this end O Lord bless us all and bless him the Posterity which in Authority ought to rule over and be above us Bless him in his Soul and in his Body in his Friends and in his Servants and all his Relations Guide him by thy Council prosper him in all Undertakings granting him a long prosperous and honourable Life here upon Earth and that he may attain to a Blessed Life hereafter And gracious God look mercifully upon all our Relations and do thou bring them to the Light of thy Truth that are wandering and ready to fall Confirm them in thy Truth that already stand show some good Token for good unto them that they may rejoyce O let thy good Hand of Providence be over them in all their Ways And to all Orders and Degrees of Men that be amongst us give Religious Hearts to them that now rule in Authority over us Loyal Hearts in the Subjects towards their Supream and loving Hearts in all Men to their Friends and charitable Hearts one towards another And for the Continuance of thy Gospel among us restore in thy good Time to their several Places and Callings and give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops Pastors and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments And Lord bless thy Church still with Pastors after thine own Heart with a continual Succession of faithful and able Men that they may both by Life and Doctrine declare thy Truth and never for fear or favour backslide or depart from the same and give them the Assistance of thy Spirit that may enable them so to preach thy Word that may keep the People upright in the midst of a corrupted and corrupt Generation And good Lord bless thy People every where with hearing Ears understanding Hearts conscientious Souls and obedient Lives especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge that with meek Heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy Holy Word truly serving thee in Righteousness and Holiness all the Days of their Lives And we beseech the of thy Goodness and Mercy to comfort and succour all those that in this transitory Life be in Trouble Sorrow Need Sickness or any other Adversity Lord help the Helpless and comfort the Comfortless vifit the Sick relieve the Oppressed help them to right that suffer wrong set them at Liberty that are in Prison restore the Banished and of thy great Mercy and in thy good Time deliver all thy People out of their Necessities Lord do thou of thy great Mercy fit us all for our latter end for the Hour of Death and the Day of Judgment and do thou in the Hour of Death and at the Day of Judgment from thy Wrath and everlasting Damnation good Lord deliver us through the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ In the mean Time O Lord teach us so to number our Days and me my Minutes that we may apply our Hearts to true Wisdom that we may be Wise unto Salvation that we may live soberly Godly and Righteously in this present World denying all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts Lords teach us so to live that we may not be afraid to dye and that we may so live that we may be always prepared to dye that when Death shall seize upon us it may not surprize us but that we may lift up our Heads with Joy knowing that our Redemption draws nigh and that we shall be for ever happy being assured that we shall come to the Felicity of the Chosen and rejoice with the Gladness of the People and give us such a fullness of thy Holy Spirit that may make us stedfast in this Faith and confirm us in this Hope indue us with Patience under thy afflicting Hand and withal a chearful Resolution of our selves to thy divine disposing that so passing the Pilgrimage of this World we may come to the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan that we may reign with thee in the World to come through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed Name and Words we farther call upon thee saying Our Father c. Let thy mighty Hand and out-stretched Arm O Lord be the Defence of me and all other thy servants thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ our salvation thy true and holy word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort and consolation to the end and in the end through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen His Speech and Prayer ended with much Meekness and spiritual Consolation He submitted his Neck to the stroak of the Ax to as great a Loss of the Church of Christ and of all good Men as hath happened in our Times I have the more enlarged my self that my Reader might not without a kind of a Consternation or Possession of strange Amazement pass by the Concernments of this blessed Heroe The same Day of Doctor Hewets Tryal was also tryed John Mordant of Clement Danes Esquire with whom he was a Fellow-Prisoner the Charge against him was for combining with Henry Bishop of Parham in Sussex Gent. Hartgil Baron and Francis Mansil with divers others for raising War against Oliver Lord Protector in the behalf of Charles Stuart and confering with J. Stapely Esq Henry Mallory and others how to effect the same and delivering Commissions to several Persons in the Name of and as from the said Charles Stuart c. He stood long upon it as did â—â—e Doctor before to have Council assigneâ— him and that he might be tryed by a Jury but finding it would not be granted he at last pleaded not Guilty many Witnesses deposited against him yet he by his Ingenuity so cleared himself that notwithstanding many Endeavours to the contrary he was discharged July the 17. following Colonel Ashton and John Betley were executed the one in Tower-street the other in Cheap-side Colonel Ashton was the first being drawn on a Sledge that Worthy Divine Doctor Warmestry submitting for the good of a poor Christians Soul to lie along with him upon the Sledge that he might lose no Time for his spiritual Converse They were drawn from Newgate to Tower-street over against Mark-lane end where a Gibbet was erected As he ascended the Ladder Doctor Warmestry said Almighty God who is a strong Tower be with thee and make thee know and feel that there is no other Name under Heaven whereby to attain everlasting Life but by the Name of Jesus The Blessing of God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost be with you henceforth and for ever Amen He being upon the Ladder exprest a great deal of Confidence he had in the