Selected quad for the lemma: war_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
war_n	death_n	king_n	treason_n	2,761	5	9.5559	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70521	The last speech and carriage of the Lord Russel, upon the scaffold, &c. on Saturday the 21st of July, 1683	Russell, William, Lord, 1639-1683.	1683 (1683)	Wing L504C; ESTC R8683	7,370	4

though he swears he came in after and there were things said by some with much more Heat than Judgment which I did sufficiently disapprove and yet for these things I stand condemned But I thank God my part was sincere and well meant It is I know inferred from hence and was pressed to me that I was acquainted with these 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 condemn'd for and I hope nobody 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 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 sincerely told what my part was in that which cannot be more than a bare Misprision and yet I am condemned as guilty of a design of killing the King I pray God lay not this to the charge neither of the King's 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 Only I still avers that what I said of my not hearing Col. Rumsey deliver his Message from my Lord Shaftsbury was true for I always detested Lying tho never so much to my advantage And I hope none will be so unjust and uncharitable as to think I would venture on it in these my last Words for which I am so soon to give an account to the Great God the Searcher of Hearts and Judg of all Things From the Time of chasing Sheriffs I concluded the Heat in that Matter would produce something 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 may be shed for I must and do still look upon mine as such since I know I was guilty of no Treason and therefore I would not betray my Innocence by Flight of which I do not I thank God yet repent tho much pressed to it how fatal soever it may have seem'd to have proved to me for I look upon my Death in this manner I thank God with other eyes than the World does I know I said but little at the Trial and I suppose it looks more like Innocence than Guilt I was also advis'd not to confess matter of Fact plainly since that must certainly have brought me within the Guilt of Misprision And being thus restrained from dealing frankly and openly I chose rather to say little than to depart from Ingenuity that by the grace of God I had carried along with me in the former parts of my Life and so could easier be silent and leave the whole matter to the Conscience of the Jury than to make the last and solemnest part of my life so different from the course of it as the using little Tricks and Evasions must have been Nor did I ever pretend 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 easie and willing Juries to the Ruine of innocent Men For to kill by Forms and Subtilties of Law is the worst sort of Murder But I wish the Rage of hot Men and the Partialities of Juries may be stopp'd 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 a way Since my Sentence I have had few Thoughts but Preparatory ones for Death Yet the Importunity of my Friends and particularly of the best and dearest Wife in the World prevailed with me to sign Petitions and make Addresses for my Life To which I was very averse For I thank God tho in all respects I have lived one of the happiest and contented'st men in the world for now 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 But I was willing to let my Friends see what Power they had over me and that I was not obstinate nor sullen but would do any thing that an honest Man could do for their Satisfaction Which was the only Motive that sway'd or had any weight with me And now to summ up all as I never had any Design against the King's Life or the Life of any man whatsoever so I never was in any Contrivance of altering the Government What the Heats Wickednesses Passions and Vanities of other men have occasioned I ought not to be answerable for nor could I repress them tho I now suffer for them But the Will of the Lord be done into whose Hands I commend my Spirit and trust that thou O most merciful Father hast forgiven me all my Transgressions the Sins of my Youth and all the Errors of my past Life and that thou wilt not lay my secret Sins to my Charge but wilt graciously support me during that small part of my Life now before me and assist me in my last Moments and not leave me then to be disorder'd by Fear or any other Temptation but make the Light of thy Countenance to shine upon me for thou art my Sun and my Shield and as thou supportest me by thy Grace so I hope thou wilt hereafter crown me with Glory and receive me into the Fellowship of Angels and Saints in that blessed Inheritance purchased for me by my most merciful Redeemer who is I trust at thy Right Hand preparing a Place for me into whose Hands I commend my Spirit Signed Will. Russel