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
this Land look upon them O Lord withan Eye of Pity not with â—n Eye of Fury and Indignation O look not upon all those great and grievous Sins that have provoked thee most justly to Wrath and Displeasure against us Gracious God who can stand in thy Sight when thou art angry When thou with rebuke dost correct Man for Sin thou makest his Beauty to consume away like as it were a Moth fretting a Garment O Lord thy Indignation and Wrath lies heavy upon us and thou hast vexed us with thy Scourges thou hast made us a Reproach and a by Word amongst our Neighbours and the very Heathens laugh us to scorn O that thou wouldst turn us again O Lord God of Hosts that thou wouldst shew us the Light of thy Countenance that we may behold it that thou wouldst humble us for all those Sins and grievous Transgressions that are amongst us for those Atheisms for those Infidelities horrid Blasphemies and Prophaneness for those Sacriledges for those Heresies for those Schisms Errors and all those Blindnesses of Heart Pride vain Glory and Hypocrisie for that Envy Hatred and Malice and all Uncharitableness that hath set us one against another that we are so dashed one against another even to destroy each other Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah O Lord we are like those Moabites and Ammonites c. This thou hast done to us O Lord because we have rebelled against thee O how greatly and grievously have we sinned against thee yet for all this thou hast not requited us according to our ill deservings for thou mightest have brought us to Desolation and Destruction Fire might have come down from Heaven and destroyed us our Foreign Enemies and the Enemies of thee and thy Christ our Saviour might have swallowed us up What have we not deserved yet O the long Suffering and Patience and Goodness of our God! O Lord our God we pray thee that thy Patience and long Suffering might lead to Repentance that thou wouldst be pleased thou who delightest not in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should turn from his Sins and live that thou wouldst turn us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned draw us and we shall run after thee draw us with the Cords of Love and by the Bands of loving kindness by the powerful working of thy Holy Spirit in our Souls working Contrition in our Hearts and a Godly Sorrow for all our Sins even a Sorrow to Repentance and a Repentance to Salvation never to be repented of Lord break those stnoy Hearts of ours by the Hammer of thy Word mollify them by the Oil of thy Grace smite these rocky Hearts of ours by the Rod of thy most gracious Power that we may shed forth Rivers of Tears for all the Sins we have committed O that thou wouldst make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough that thou wouldst humble us more and more in the true Sight and Sense of all our Provocation against thee and that thou wouldst be pleased in the Blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all our Sins Lord let his Blood that speaks better Things than that of Abel cry louder in thine Ears for Mercy then all those Mischiefs and Wickednesses that have been done amongst us for Vengeance O besprinkle our polluted but Penitent Souls in the Blood of Jesus Christ that we may be clean in thy Sight and that the Light of thy Countenance may shine upon us Lord be pleased to Seal unto our Souls the free Pardon and Forgiveness of all our Sins say to each of our Souls and say that we may hear it that thou art well pleased with us and appeased towards us Lord do thou by the Spirit assure our Spirits that we are thy Children and that thou art reconciled to us in the Blood of Jesus Christ To this end O Lord create in us new Hearts and renew right Spirits within us Cast us not away from thy Presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from us but give us the Comfort of thy Help and establish us with thy free Spirit Help us to live as thy redeemed ones and Lord let us not any longer by our wicked Lives deny that most Holy Faith whereof our Lips have for so long Time made Profession but let us that call on the Name of the Lord Jesus depart from Iniquity and hate every evil Way Help us to cast away all our Transgressions whereby we have transgressed and make us new Hearts Carry us along through the Pilgrimage of this World supplying us with all Things needful for us thy Grace alone is sufficient for us Lord let thy Grace be assistant to us to strengthen us against all the Temptations of Satan especially against those Sins whereunto we are most prone either by Custom or Constitution or most easily provoked O Lord with what Affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spiritual Judgments and Desertions Give us not over to our own Hearts Lusts to our vile lewd and corrupt Affections give us not over to Hardness and Impenitency of Heart but make us sensible of the least Sin and give us thy Grace to think no Sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our Dives and Conversations and Lord keep us from Presumptuous Sins O let not them get the Dominion over us but keep us Innocent from the great Offence O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer And Lord sanctify unto us all thy Methods and Proceedings with us fitting us for all further Tribulations and Tryals whatsoever thou in thy divine Pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us Lord give us Patience Constancy Resolution and Fortitude to undergo them that though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death we may fear none ill knowing that thou O Lord art mercifully with us and that with thy Rod as well as with thy Staff thou wilt support and comfort us and that nothing shall be able to seperate us from thy Love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And gracious God we beseech thee be thou pleased to look mercifully and compassionately on thy Holy Catholick Church and grant that all they that do confess thy Holy Name may agree together in the Truth of thy Holy Word and live in Unity and godly Love Thou hast promised O Lord the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against thy Church perform we beseech thee thy most gracious promises both to thy whole Church and to that Part of it which thou hast planted and now afflicted in these sinful Lands and Nations wherein we live arise O Lord and have Mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have Mercy upon her yea the Time is come for thy Servants think upon her Stones and it pittieth them to see her in the Dust Lord maintain thine
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
erected for the Tryal of them and first they began with Sir Henry Slingsby the Articles charged against them will in part discover themselves in their several Speeches made just before their Deaths In short they were both condemned Dr. Hewet professing himself to be ignorant of such Law tho' amongst the most learned Divines few of them were more knowing in the Gospel being taken in three defaults upon formalities of the Court was proceeded against as mute June 8. 1658. was the Day appointed for their beheading Sir Henry Slingsby first mounting the Stage spake in effect as followeth That he stood condemned by the Court of Justice as contriving and endeavouring to withdraw divers Officers of the Garrison of Kingston upon Hull from their Duty and perswading them to a surrendring and yielding up of that Garrison and one that held correspondence with some beyond Sea to that end That it was true he had conference upon that Account with the Officers of that Garrison and that he gave Major Waterhouse a Commission signed Charles R. But that it was but an old one that had lain by him though he thought fit to make use of it to the Major Many Passages he said there were which he would not insist on that some Friends of his had made Application to his Highness for the saving of his Life but it seems it was thought fit not to be granted and therefore he submitted and was ready to dye c. Having uttered these and the like Words he took off a Ring from his Bandstrings wherein instead of a Seal engraven was the Picture of the late King exactly done and giving it to a Gentleman that stood by him he said Pray give this to Harry Then he addrest himself to Prayer wherein he continued some time taking leave of his Friends he submitted his Neck to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow by the Executioner This at one Blow by the Executioner the Reader may observe hath been very often repeated in this Volume His Tragick Scene being acted that Religious and Reverend Divine Doctor Hewet the golden tongu'd Chrysostom entered the Lists of Death In this Warfare the Doctor put on the spiritual Armour of a blessed Confidence delivering his Mind to the People in these following Words I am now become a publick Spectacle to Men and Angels and I hope God who is omniscient is now beholding me with much Pity Mercy and Compassion and the more because I am now come to that end that his own Son came into the World to to bear Witness to the Truth he himself said For this end was I born for this cause came I into the World that I should bear Witness to the Truth I was brought into the World the Christian World for to bear Witness to the Truth of the Gospel as 〈◊〉 common Christian I was brought into thâ— World the Church as a Minister of hiâ— blessed Word and Sacraments blessed be his Name for that great Honour and Dignity and I came into the World to dy more immediately for the Testimony of Jesus which God hath now called me to 〈◊〉 came into this World this Commonwealth to be a Member thereof to bear Witness to the Truths of the Customs the Laws the Liberties and Priviledges thereof foâ— am a Member of the Common-wealth And methinks it seems to me a strange thing that in as much as we all plead for Liberty and Priviledges and I pleading for the Priviledges the Laws the Statutes and thâ— Customs of this Land yet I should die by those that should stand for the Laws the Statutes and Priviledges of the Land Anâ— I am here beheld by those that plead for their Liberties and I hope I am pittied because I here give up my self willingly and steely to be a State-Martyr for the publick good and I had rather die many Deaths my â—elf then betray my fellow Freemen to so â—any Inconveniencies that they might be â—â—ke to suffer by being subject to the Wills â—f them that willed me to this Death And it is worthy Remembrance that Master Solicitor having impeached me of Treason to the Commissioners of the Court â—gainst his Highness I did often when brought before those Commissioners plead for the Liberties of the People of England â—hough I had no Knowledge of the Law â—et I had Instructions from those that were learned in the Law and had several Law-Cases and made my Appeal First for â—he Judicature that I was to be tryed by Whether it were according to Law Whether it were according to the Act And whether it were according to the Words of the said Act I did appeal to have the said Act argued by learned Lawyers on both sides and then to be resolved by his Highness own Council which was denied me This by the by I pressing the Argument made a second Appeal that those Judges if they would give singly their several Judgments that it was a just and lawful Court of Judicature I would answer to my Charge I did make another Appeal to those that were his Highnesses Council and pleaded against me That if they would deliver it to me under their 〈◊〉 to be according to Law I would then plead and answer to the Charge What was then said further my Spirits being faint I shall not say much but only this I was taken in three defaults upon formality of the Court It seems it is a custom in all Courts which I did not know before that if they answer not the third time speaking by the Clerk that then they are guilty of three defaults and proceeded against as mute I had no such Knowledge of the Law So they found me guilty of those defaults and when I would have pleaded and resolved to begin to plead I was taken from the Bar. I did the next Day make my Petition to the Court in the Painted Chamber two Petitions were presented the same in effect the former the Title was mistaken Yet because the Title was mistaken and no Answer given therefore it was that another Petition was drawn up to the same Effect with a new Title given as I remember presented by the Serjeant at Arms and one writ it over in such haste lest they should be drawn out of the Painted Chamber into the Court that I had not time to read it over only I subscribed my Name and there was in the Front of the Petition a Word left out but what the Word was I know not and this was taken so ill as if I had put an Affront and Contempt on the Court And it was thought they would have heard me plead and then because of that mistake they sent Word I should have my Answer when I came into the Court and my Answer was the Sentence of Condemnation And therefore I pray with all my Soul that God would forgive all those that occasioned the Charge to be drawn against me to give such unjust Things against me I pray with all