â—he slaughter of the sword they were so persecuted and impoverished that they were fain to go about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins needy in distress afflicted wandring in desarts in mountains in dens and caves of the Earth Dear Catholicks now in your present persecution think of this and be willing to follow these examples that you as in the same place it followeth being appointed as they were by the testimony of your Faith may receive ere long those better things which God as 't is there writ provides for you Happy those that have this Faith but thrice more happy those that suffer these persecutions for Faiths sake because by this Faith as St. Paul saith Gal. 3. 11. the just man lives and those that have not this Faith are dead to God because as 't is written Heb. 11. 6. Without saith 't is impossible to please God and yet though we have this Faith except we joyn when God requires our works of sufferings to this Faith both we and our Faith are dead to God because as St. James saith chap. 2. ver 17. Faith is to be shewed by works because Faith without works is dead And he further shews us in his first chap. v. 25. 't is the works make a man happy although there can be no good work without a firm Faith in nothing doubting as he saith ver 6. Christian Faith is a firm established and an infallible Faith because it is grounded upon a Rock against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail Matth. 16. v. 18. This Faith is firmly established by such Authority of God and his Church that he that will not own the Authority is as a Heathen and a Publican God hath declared him so and what the Church binds on Earth God binds in Heaven This Church and Faith is firmly establisht because our Saviour hath promised That the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth should teach the Believers all Truth remain with them for ever shew them things to come to be believed and should cause the Believers to remember all things which Christ had already taught which you read in John 14. and 16. chap. This Faith is firmly established because it was believed and published from the beginning throughout the whole world as St. Paul proclaims Romans the first where he speaks thus to all that be in Rome Beloved of God called to be Saints first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your Faith is published throughout the whole world Finally this Faith is established and infallibly confirmed that it can never decay till the worlds end because our Saviour hath promised to be with the Believers unto the worlds end Matth. 28. 19 20. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and behold I am with you alwaies even to the end of the world Thus much briefly concerning my Christian Faith in which I truly believe in all points infallible and in confirmation of which one only Faith and Catholick Church I will and do lay down my life and whosoever will as he ought consider the Text that proves this Faith and Church of the Living God to be the pillar and ground of Truth as 't is evident it is 1 Tim. 3. 15. I question not but who I say considers this will believe the same our Faith being assisted by our second Divine Vertue which is our Christian Hope This Hope is that Vertue which assures us that for the reward of our Faith and the profession and due practice of it as we ought there are those heavenly gifts laid up for the Christian Believers which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor the heart of man can conceive or comprehend as St. Paul declares This Hope gives such confidence that death cannot overcome it because as the Prophet saith Although he shall kill me yet I will hope in him Why then shall any sear to die for his Faith having this Hope 'T is for want of making due reflection and use of this Hope that causes so many to be fearful to suffer and makes them fly the field of persecution and forsake the banners of their Christian Faith that all ought to fight under and would still fight under would they make use of the divine hope of Gods promises which are such that as David saith Psal 125. That he that hopes or trusts in our Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but remain for ever As the Mountains saith God by the mouth of David are about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people that is such as will place their hope in him as the Prophet did and exhorts us to do the same saying Psal 130. 5 6. My soul hath hoped in our Lord from the morning watch even until night let Israel hope in our Lord that is from the beginning of the day of our life till the night of death as well in the morning of prosperity as in the evening of adversity because 't is also writ God is my Hope for ever and whosoever can truly say with David Psal 31. 1. In thee O Lord have I plac'd my Hope shall be assured of what there follows Not to be confounded for ever because as St. Paul saith Hope consoundeth not There is a contrary Vice to this Virtue a worldly Fear that brings all things to confusion it makes Worldlings swear and forswear and perjure For which Perjuries and False Oaths as the Prophet saith Judgment springs up as Hemlock in the Furrows of the Field And therefore Dr. Thorndick in his Book of just Weights and Measures saith That Coaction of Oaths is the crying Sin of this Nation to call down the wrath of God upon the Kingdom What better remedy than to secure our selves against all worldly Fears and these ensuing Dangers but by relying on the hope of future blessings which God if we fight and suffer for his sake hath promised God is the God of Hosts and we fight under him and if we trust in him we are happy as David saith Psal 84. 5. O Lord of Hosts blessed is the man that trusts in thee in whom to hope is to be secured and therefore David also saith Psal 91. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wing shalt thou hope especially if we fight for our Faith and therefore he adds in the same verse His truth shall be thy shield and buckler if we will hope in him and his reward For if we hope for our great wages we shall easily undergo our little work As for example if we hope to drink of the torrent of pleasure as God hath promised we shall in his Kingdom who will fear to taste now of the Chalice of some small Persecution If we hope hereafter to be numbered amongst the Sons of God as he
A NARRATIVE OF THE Proceedings and Tryal of Mr. Francis Johnson a Franciscan at Worcester last Summer-Assizes Anno Dom. 1679. Written with his own Hand as followeth To which is annexed His SPEECH at his Execution August 22. 1679. I Being at London on All-Saints-day when the Proclamation came forth to command all Catholiques to depart from thence by the Friday following I obeyed and came to a Friends house in Worcestershire not intending to stay there but the King 's second Proclamation being presently published That no Catholique should walk above Five miles without being stopt and carried before a Justice to have the Oaths tendred I asked Counsel of the wisest I could both of Protestants whereof one was a Lawyer and another a Constable as also of Catholiques Whether that Proclamation did so strongly oblige that it permitted me no longer to go further They all concluded it was not secure to go so I resolved to obey and stay where I was and with good reason First Because all Catholiques are obliged to obey the King's Commands in all things that are not against our Religion and Conscience and His Commands in this nature are against neither Secondly Should I have disobeyed and have been taken in Penalty I should have suffered which would not have been so directly for my Conscience and Religion sake as for disobeying the King's Command because in case I should be taken by staying there in obedience to the Proclamation and be carried before the Justices to have the Oaths offered whatever I was to suffer for refusing them I should have this double comfort before God and the King before the King because I rather chose to go to Prison than to remove from his Law by taking the Oaths against my Conscience Therefore I was taken and put in Prison The manner of my being taken was as followeth The Sheriff's Deputy came to the House where I was with six or eight men to Arrest a Gentleman in the House for Debt The Officers coming into the House in the morning and not finding the person they came for broke down all the doors and among the rest mine before I was out of Bed and by a mistake Arrested me instead of the other Gentleman and although the Deputy coming into my Chamber looking on me told them they were deceived for I was not the man they came for yet other Soldiers coming into my Chamber one of them said he knew me It seems he had been a Servant in the House seven Years before therefore he said he would have me to the Justices and bid his Companions secure me and so they did and would not let me go out of their sight until they carried me before the Justice And this they did without either Constable or Warrant Law or Justice When I came before the Justice of Peace I told him the occasion that had brought me to him and if I would have taken the Oaths I had been presently freed But I told them that persuaded me to take the Oaths That it was against the Faith and Religion I professed and against my Conscience and I would never offend against either by so complying whatever I suffered for the contrary The Justice's Wife was compassion ate towards me and desiring to speak privately with me she used her best persuasions to me to comply with what was desired of me concerning the taking the Oaths for fear of further trouble or danger I answered her with thanks and told her That I was sorry she had no better opinion of me than to think I had prosest such a Faith and Religion all my life-time and now upon the trial could be moved with any fear or danger which God sorbid I told her it was such a Faith that in it I deposed my Soul my Confidence Heaven and Eternal Life and therefore I neve r did nor by God's grace never would fear to suffer for it what pleased God For who could fear even Death itself of the Body whose life is momentary for Profession of that Faith wherein he deposeth the Eternal life of his Soul This Answer satisfi'd both her and my self for I was resolved to make a publick Profession of my Faith and Religion upon which I return'd to the Justice who thought fit I should go to another Justice who was Sir John Packington whither also he went with me When I came to Sir John he asked me who I was I answered him I was a Gentleman sufficiently known for these 20 Years in Worcestershire to all sorts of People He asked me of what Calling I was I answered him of none He asked me what Estate I had I answered I was no Landed man Then he asked me If I would take the Oaths I answered I understood them not He replied Will you take them or will you not I told him if he pleased to let me see them I should return him my Answer Now the reason why I desired to see the Oaths was because I was resolved to make a Publick Declaration of my Faith that they were against my Conscience and therefore by declaring publickly the Reasons why I could not take them it should be publickly known that whatsoever I was to suffer for not taking them was for no other cause but for my Faith and Religion because I would not swear against my Conscience For would I have taken them I had been there also freed When the Oaths were brought to me they told me I must read them out aloud but I told them that because it was a publick place and many there present of several degrees as well of the Housholders as Strangers I feared least reading them aloud some that heard me might think I sware what I read and so might go and report they heard me take the Oaths before the Justices But they declared they would not think so l so I read them over and over which when I had done I said aloud God save the King and then declared to both the Justices and all the rest in this manner I am ready to swear as followeth That I ever all my life-time have been and now am and ever will be to my last breath as saithful a Subject to the King as any Subject whatsoever and as faithful as if I should take the Oaths now offered by them to me an hundred times over but as for taking these Oaths offered me I could not take them whatever I suffered and the reason was because I understood what an Oath was and the conditions which God has prescribed to us before any could call him to witness lawfully in taking of any such Oaths The Conditions which God has prescribed I told them were these Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth and in judgment and in righteousness so that in every Oath the life of God the truth of God the judgment of God and his righteousness are included by all which we swear and the Oath we take is to have all these Conditions truth judgment and
righteousness Jerem. 4. Therefore if I should take these Oaths which are concerning damnable Doctrines and Heresies I must call God to witness that I no more believe him to be a living God and true God a just and righteous God than I believe these things contained in the Oaths to be true just and righteous to swear to which Oaths I do not nor cannot in my Conscience believe to be so For before I or any man else can understand the Contents of these Oaths to be true as to call God to witness that I believe them to be as true just and righteous I must be able to desine what is Faith or Heresie in these Contents I swear to and I must know the full extent of all cases of this nature that God has left to all Temporal Princes and their Power I must also understand the full extent of all cases of this nature of power spiritual which God hath left in his Church in or over Christian Kingdoms of Temporal Monarchs which power in these Oaths I am to swear on the one side and forswearing the other I told them I was not of capacity nor knowledge to set the Confines to each Power or to determine or define the extent given by God to all in this nature so as to swear and call God to witness I am as sure of it as I am sure he is a living God as I must do if I take these Oaths the extent of which I did not understand in my Conscience to be so as to believe them Therefore I could not nor would not swear to them I having spoken these things no body said any more to me but the Justices going out of the Hall made my Mittimus and Sentence for Worcester Prison because I would not take the Oaths they tendred me I have been since called to the Bar at the Sessions where I spake to the same effect before Judge Street and the Justices as I had spoken before to Sir John Packington having first asked their leave to speak which they gave me for a little time and then bid me return to the Prison But first they were urgent with me to answer positively Ay or No was I a Jesuitical Priest or was I not To which I answered It was an easie thing for me to say No but by saying No I might prejudice others who hereafter being asked the same question if they did not answer No it might be an Argument that they were guilty if they did not deny it as others before them had done Therefore I desired that what proof could be brought against me might be produced against me and I would answer for my self But I desired I might not be urged to answer Ay or No to any thing before some Witness or Argument came against me for I told them in such Cases neither Law of God nor Man obliged any one although he was guilty to bear witness against himself without some proof were alledged against him for that was no less than to be his own Executioner The Judge answered there were Witnesses would swear against me I answered if Witnesses could make out what they sware of me then my life was at the King's mercy But in the mean time I told them I remained guiltless though I did not answer them to their questions Ay or No because I told them that being my saying No in my own behalf would not be sufficient testimony to acquit me therefore there was no reason why any man should be urged to say Ay to accuse ones self though he was guilty Upon this the Judge sent me to Prison again at Worcester where now I am which Imprisonment in these Times especially when none can send to their Friends nor Friends come to them is the best means to teach us how to put our confidence in God alone in all things and then he will make his promise good That all things shall be added to us Luke 12. which Chapter if every one would read and make good use of a Prison would be better than a Palace and a Confinement for Religion and a good Conscience-sake more pleasant than all the liberties the World could afford As for my own part God give me his grace and all faithful Christians their prayers I am Happy enough And as for others I beseech God that the evil example of those that swear against their Consciences may not be Guides for the rest to follow nor their Deeds a Rule to their Actions We all ought to follow the narrow way though there be many difficulties in it It 's an easie thing to run the blind way of liberty but God deliver us all from broad sweet ways We know what Job saith of Libertines They lead their lives in the goods of this world and in a moment they descend into Hell But as our Saviour saith What doth it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul God gave Job a goodly increase for all the riches he took from him and blest his latter end more than his beginning and gave him an Hundred and forty years of flourishing life for his short affliction in which his constancy and faith in God was tried and our Saviour promiseth an Hundred-fold to all that leave Goods and every thing willingly for his fake Who well considers this will be content to leave both Friends and Fortunes and Freedom by Imprisonment for their Faith and Religion-sake till such time as it shall please God and the King in obedience to whose Command they suffer to release them And in the mean time they will have this comfort That they give a Testimony they fear God and honour the King They fear God because they choose rather to suffer Persecution than swear against their Consciences They honor the King because they are willing to suffer the Penalties He commands and yet remain faithful Subjects to Him whom God long preserve with His Parliament and People in all happiness On Tuesday April 15. 1679. I came before Judge Atkins at Worcester to have my Cause tryed at the Sessions having been Committed five Months before to Worcester-Castle by two Justices of the Peace Sir John Packinton and Mr. Townson because I refused the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and therefore was suspected to be a Jesuitical Priest The manner of my Tryal was as followeth Four Witnesses were brought in against me Three of them were forced by Warrant to come in whether they would or no from several Towns and were fore'd to speak all that they knew had heard or seen concerning me neither I nor any of my Friends knowing that any would be compelled so to do before the time of my Tryal was come The fourth Witness came of his own accord for Lucre sake who the same day that I was first brought to Worcester Prison offered himself to swear before the Mayor of the Town that I was a Priest before ever he came to see who I was The Testimony which he gave