up Your Spirit and if there want evidence there is reliance my security lies not in my knowing that I shall come to Heaven and come to Glory but in my resting and relying upon him When the Aâ—chor of Faith is thrown out there may be shakings and tossings but there is safety nothing shall interrupt safety although something may interrupt security my safety is sure although I apprehend it not and what if I goe to God in the dark What if I come to him as Nicodemus did staggering in the night It is a night of trouble a night of darkness though I come trembling and slaggering in this night yet I shall be sure to find comfort and fixedness in him And the Lord of heaven be the strength stay and support of Your soul and the Lord furnish You with all those graces which may carry You into the bosome of the Lord Jesus that when You expire this life You may be able to expire it into him in whom You may begin to live to all Eternity and that is my humble Prayer Holland M. Bolton God hath given me long time in this world he hath carried me through many great accidents of Fortune he hath at last brought me down into a condition where I find my self brought to an end for a dis-affection to this State to this Parliament that as I said before I did believe no body in the world more unlikely to have expected to suffer for that Cause I look upon it as a great judgement of God for my sins And truly Sir since that the death is violent I am the less troubled with it because of those violent death that I have seen before principally my Saviour that hath shewed us the way how and in what manner he hath done it and for what cause I am the more comforted I am the more rejoyced It is not long since the King my Master passed in the same manner and truly I hope that his purposes and intentions were such as a man may not be ashamed not onely to follow him in the way that was taken with him but likewise not ashamed of his purposes if God had given him life I have often disputed with him concerning many things of this kind and I conceive his sufferings and his better knowledge and better understanding if God had spared him life might have made him a Prince very happy towards himself and very happy towards this Kingdom I have seen and known that those blessed souls in heaven have passed thither by the gate of sorrow and many by the gate of violence and since it is Gods pleasure to dispose me this way I submit my soul to him with all comfort and with all hope that he hath made this my end and this my conclusion that though I be low in death yet neverthelesse this lownesse shall raise me to the highest glory for ever Truly I have not said much in publick to the people concerning the particular Actions that I conceive I have done by my counsels in this Kingdom I conceive they are well known it were something of vanity methinks to take notice of them here I 'le rather die with them with the comfort of them in my own bosom and that I never intended in this action or any action that ever I did in my life either malice or bloud-shed or prejudice to any creature that lives For that which concerns my Religion I made my profession before of it how I was bred and in what manner I was bred in a Family that was looked upon to be no little notorious in opposition to some liberties they have conceived then to be taken and truly there was some mark upon me as if I had some taint of it even throughout my whole ways that I have taken every body knows what my affections have been to many that have suffered to many that have been in troubles in this Kingdom I endeavourad to relieve them I endeavoured to oblige them I thought I was tyed so by my Conscience I thought it by my charity and truly very much by my Breeding God hath now brought me to the last instant of my time all that I can say and all that I can adhere unto is this That as I am a great sinner so I have a great Saviour that as he hath given me here a fortune to come publickly in a shew of shame in the way of this suffering truly I understand it not to be so I understand it to be a glory a glory when I consider who hath gone before me and a glory when I consider I had no end in it but what I conceive to be the service of God the King and the Kingdom and therefore my heart is not charged much with any thing in that particular since I conceive God will accept of the intention whatsoever the action seems to be I am going to dye and the Lord receive my Soul I have no relyance but upon Christ for my self I do acknowledge that I am the unworthyest of sinners my life hath been a vanity and a continued sin and God may justly bring me to this end for the sins I have committed against him and were there nothing else but the iniquities that I have committed in the Way of my Life I look upon this as a great Justice of God to bring me to this Suffering and to bring me to this Punishment And those Hands that have been most active in it if any such there hath been I pray God forgive them I pray God that there may not be many such Trophies of their Victories but that this may be as I said before the last Shew that this People shall see of the Blood of Persons of Condition of Persons of Honour I might say something of the Way of our Tryall which certainly hath been as extraordinary as any thing I think hath ever been seen in this Kingdom but because that I would not seem as if I made some complaint I will not so much as mention it because no body shall believe I repine at their actions that I repine at my Fortune it is the will of God it is the hand of God under whom I fall I take it entirely from him I submit my self to him I shall desire to roul my self into the Arms of my blessed Saviour and when I come to this place when I bow down my self there I hope God will raise me up and when I bid farewell as I must now to Hope and to Faith that Love will abide I know nothing to accompany the soul out of this World but Love and I hope that Love will bring me to the Fountain of Glory in Heaven through the Arms Mediation and the Mercy of my Saviour Jesus Christ in whom I Believe O Lord help my Unbelief Hodges The Lord make over unto You the righteousness of his own Son it is that Treasurie that he hath bestowed upon You and the Lord shew You the Light of his Countenance and
in the County of Berks and upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and four at Cropredy-bridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the last year mentioned at Bodmin and other places near adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the last year mentioned at Newbery aforesaid and upon or about the eight of June in the year of Lord One thousand six hundred forty and five at the Town of Leicester and also upon the fourteenth day of the same moneth in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton at which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the years afore mentioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and six He the said C. Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions parties and Insurrections within this Land by Invasions from Forraign parts endevoured and procured by Him and by many other evil wayes and means He the said Charles Stuart hath not onely maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the years before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good people of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred forty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surrey Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea and particularly He the said Charles Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by Him or His Agents Corrupted to the betraying of Their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had entertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and people as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by Him the said Charles Stuâ—rt levyed continued and renewed as aforesaid much Innocent Blood of the Free-people of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the publick Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstrusted and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoyled some of them even to desolation And for further prosecution of his said evil Designs He the said Charls Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forraigners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil practises of him the said Charles Stuart have been and are carried on for the advancing and upholding of the personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended prerogative to Himself and his family against the publick Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace of the people of this Nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that he the said Charles Stuart hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Unnatural Cruel and Bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by protestation saving on the behalf of the people of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said Charles Stuart and also of replying to the answers which the said Ch. Stuart shall make to the premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England Impeach the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publick and Implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray that the said Charles Stuart King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such proceeedings Examinations Trials Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice IT is observed that the time the Charge was reading the King sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the Court sometimes up to the Galleries and having risen again and turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators sate down looking very sternly with a countenance not at all moved till these words viz. Charles Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court Charge being read the Lord President replyed President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matters as appears in it you finde That in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer King I would know by what power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story than I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publick faith as 't is possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Theeves and Robbers by the high wayes but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what and when I know by what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the people of England of which you are Elected King to
Edw. Baineton Io. Corbet Tho. Blunt Tho. Boone Aug. Garland Aug. Skinner Io. Dickeswel Simon Meyne Io. Brown Io. Lewry Esquires c. John Bradshaw Esq Serg. at Law Lord President of the Court Councellors Assistant to the Court and to draw up the Charge against the King Dr. Dorislaus Mr. Aske Mr. Steel Attorney General Mr. Cook Sollicitor General Mr. Broughton Mr. Phelps Clerks to the Court Officers of the Court Sergeant Dandy Sergeant at Arms and Mace bearer Col. Humpreys Sword-bearer Mr. King Crier of the Court Mr. Walford Mr. Radley Mr. Pain Mr. Powel Mr. Hull Messengers and Dore-keepers with tip-staves ON Saturday being the twentieth day of January 1648. The Lord Bradshaw President of the High Cout of Justice with about seventy of the Members of the said Court having Col. Fox and sixteen Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword born by Col. Humphry and a Mace by Serj. Dandy with their and other Officers of the said Court marching before them came to the place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the West end of the Great Hall in Westminster where the Lord President in a Crimson Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimson Velvet Cushion before him The rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon the several Seats or Benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose and the Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them The Court being thus set and silence made the great Gate of the said Hall was set open to the end That all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come into it upon which the Hall was presently filled and Silence again ordered This done Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of the King as a Prisoner was commanded to bring him to the Court who within a quarter of an hours space brought him attended with about twenty Officers with Partizans marching before him there being Col. Hacker and other Gentlemen to whose care and custody he was likewise committed marching in his Rear Being thus brought up within the face of the Court The Serjeant at Arms with his Mace receives and conducts him streight to the Bar where a Crimson Velvet Chair was set for the King After a stern looking upon the Court and the people in the Galleries on each side of him he places himself not at all moving his Hat or otherwise shewing the least respect to the Court but presently rises up again and turns about looking downwards upon the Guards placed on the left side and on the multitude of Spectators on the right side of the said great Hall After Silence made among the people the Act of Parliament for the Trying of CHARLES STUART King of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of the Table covered with a rich Turkey Carpet and placed at the feet of the said Lord President upon which Table was also laid the Sword and Mace After reading the said Act the several names of the Commissioners were called over every one who was present rising up and answering to his Call The King having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the Lord President stood up and said President CHARLES STUART King of England The Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being deeply sensible of the Calamities that have been brought upon this Nation which is fixed upon you as the principal Author of it have resolved to make inquisition for Blood and according to that Debt and Duty they owe to Justice to God the Kingdome and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have resolved to bring you to Trial and Judgment and for that purpose have constituted this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said M. Cook Solicitor General for the Common-wealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the King offered to speak but the King having a staff in his hand held it up and laid it upon the said M. Cooks shoulder two or three times bidding him hold Nevertheless the Lord President ordering him to go on he said Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart King of England in the name of Commons of England with Treason and high Misdemeanors I desire the said Charge may be read The said Charge being delivered to the Clerk of the Court the Lord President ordered it should be read but the King bid him hold Nevertheless being commanded by the Lord President to read it the Clerk begun The Charge of the Commons of England against CHARLES STUART King of England of High Treason and other High Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice THat the said Charles Stuart being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a Limited Power to govern by and according to the Laws of the Land and not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the Power committed to him For the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet nevertheless out of a wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and Tyrannical Power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People Yea to take away and make void the Foundations thereof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernment which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserve on the peoples behalf in the Right and Power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said Charles Stuart for accomplishment of such his Designs and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in His and Their wicked practises to the same Ends hath Traiterously and maliciously levied War against the present Parliament and the people therein Represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and two at Beverley in the County of York And upon or about the thirtieth day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York and upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the Town of Notingham when and where he set up His Standard of War And upon or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-Hill and Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the thirtieth day of Nov. in the same year at Brainford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of Aug. in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and three at Cavesham-bridge near Reding in the County of Berks And upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or near the City of Glocester And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery
hath an immediate passage from this earthly Tabernacle to that Region of endless glory yea to the presence of God himself in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Then the E. of Cambridge turning to the Executioner said which way is it that you would have me lie Sir Execut. The Executioner pointing to the front of the Scaffold the Earl replyed What my Head this way Then the Under-Sheriffs son said my Lord the Order is that you should lay your head towards the High Court of Justice The E. of Cambridge after a little discourse in private with some of his servants kneeled down on the side of the Scaffold and prayed a while to himself When he had finisht his prayer D. Sibbald spake to him thus My Lord I humbly beseech God that you may now with a holy and Christian courage give up your soul to the hand of your faithful Creator and gracious Redeemer and not be dismayed with any sad apprehension of the terrors of this death and what a blessed and glorious exchange you shall make within a very few minutes Then with a chearfull and smiling countenance the Earl embracing the Doctor in his Arms said Camb. Truly Sir I do take you in mine Arms and truly I bless God for it I do not fear I have an assurance that is grounded here laying his hand upon his heart Now that gives me more true joy then ever I had I pass out of a miserable world to go into an eternal and glorious Kingdome and Sir though I have been a most sinful creature yet Gods mercy I know is infinite and I bless my God for it I go with so clear a Conscience that I know not the man that I have personally injured D. Sibbald My Lord it is a marvellous great satisfaction that at this last hour you can say so I beseech the Lord for his eternal mercy strengthen your Faith that in the very moment of your Dissolution you may see the Arms of the Lord Jesus stretched out ready to receive your soul Then the Earl of Cambridge embracing those his Servants which were there present said to each of them You have been very faithful to me and the Lord bless you Camb. Then turning to the Executioner said I shall say a very short Prayer to my God while I lie down there and when I stretch out my hand my right hand then Sir do your Duty and I do freely forgive you and so I do all the world D. Sibbald The Lord in great mercy go along with You and bring You to the possession of everlasting life strengthning Your Faith in Jesus Christ This is a passage My Lord a short passage unto eternal glory I hope through the free grace of Your gracious God You are now able to say O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory and to make this comfortable answer Blessed be God blessed be God who hath given me an assurance of victory through Christ Jesus Then the Earl of Cambridge said to the Executioner Must I lie all along Execut. Yes and 't please your Lordship Camb. When I stretch out my hands but I will fit my head first tell me if I be right and how you would have me lie Ex. Your shirt must be pinn'd back for it lie too high upon your shoulders which was done accordingly D. Sibbald My Lord Now now lift up Your eyes unto Jesus Christ and cast Your self now into the everlasting Arms of Your gracious Redeemer Then the Earl having laid his head over the Block said Is this right D. Sibbald Jesus the Son of David have mercy upon You. Execut. Lie a little lower Sir Camb. Well Stay then till I give you the signe And so having layn a short space devoutly praying to himself he stretched out his right hand whereupon the Executioner at one blow severed his head from his body which was received by two of his servants then kneeling by him into a Crimson Taffaty Scarf and that with the body immediately put into a Coffin brought upon the Scaffold for that purpose and from thence conveyed to the house that was Sir John Hamiltons at the Mews This execution being done the Sheriffs Guard went immediately to meet the Earl of Holland which they did in the mid-way between the Scaffold and Westminster-Hall and the Under-Sheriffs son having received him into his charge conducted him to the Scaffold he taking M. Bolton all the way in his hand passed all along to the Scaffold discoursing together upon which being come observing his voice would not reach to the people in regard the Guard compassed the Scaffold he said Henry Lord Rich Earl of Holland His Speech on the Scaffold immediately before his Death March 9. 1649. Holland IT is to no purpose I think to speak any thing here Which may must I speak And then being directed to the front of the Scaffold he leaning over the Rayls said I think it is sit to say something since God hath called me to this place The first thing which I must profess is what concerns my Religion and my Breeding which hath been in a good Family that hath ever been faithful to the true Protestant Religion in the which I have been bred in the which I have lived and in the which by Gods grace and mercy I shall dye I have not lived according to that Education I had in that Family where I was born and bred I hope God will forgive me my sins since I conceive it is very much his pleasure to bring me to this place for the sins that I have committed The cause that hath brought me hither I believe by many hath been much mistaken They have conceived that I have had ill Designs to the State and to the Kingdome Truly I look upon it as a Judgement and a just Judgement of God not but I have offended so much the State and the Kingdome and the Parliament as that I have had an extream vanity in serving them very extraordinarily For those Actions that I have done I think it is known they have been ever very faithful to the Publike and very particularly to Parliaments My Affections have been ever exprest truly and clearly to them The dispositions of Affairs now have put things in another posture then they were when I was engaged with the Parliament I have never gone off from those Principles that ever I have professed I have lived in them and by Gods grace will die in them There may be Alterations and Changes that may carry them further then I thought reasonable and truly there I left them But there hath been nothing that I have said or done or professed either by Covenant or Declaration which hath not been very constant and very clear upon the principles that I ever have gone upon which was to serve the King the Parliament Religion I should have said in the first place the Commonwealth and to seek the
their Hats off And then coming to the front of the Scaffold he said I shall hardly be understood here I think and then began his speech as followeth Capel The conclusion that I made with those that sent me hither and are the cause of this violent death of mine shall be the beginning of what I shall say to you When I made an address to them which was the last I told them with much sincerity that I would pray to the God of all mercies that they might be partakers of his inestimable and boundless mercies in Jesus Christ and truly I still pray that prayer and I beseech the God of Heaven forgive any injury they have done to me from my soul I wish it And truly this I tell you as a Christian to let you see I am a Christian But it is necessary I should tell you somewhat more that I am a Protestant And truly I am a Protestant and very much in love with the profession of it after the manner as it was established in England by the thirty nine Articles a blessed way of profession and such an one as truly I never knew none so good I am so far from being a Papist which some body have truly very unworthily at some time charged me withall that truly I profess to you that though I love good works and commend good works yet I hold they have nothing at all to doe in the matter of salvation my Anchor-hold is this That Christ loved me and gave himself for me that is that that I rest upon And truly something I shall say to you as a Citizen of the whole world and in that consideration I am here condemned to die truly contrary to the Law that governs all the world that is the Law of the Sword I had the protection of that for my life and the honor of it but truly I will not trouble you much with that because in another place I have spoken very largely and liberally about it I believe you will hear by other means what Arguments I used in that case But truly that that is stranger you that are Englishmen behold here an Englishman here before you and acknowledged a Peer not condemned to die by any Law of England not by any Law of England nay shall I tell you more which is strangest of all contrary to all the Lawes of England that I know of And truly I will tell you in the matter of the civil part of my death and the cause that I have maintained I die I take it for maintaining the fifth Commandement injoyned by God himself which injoyns reverence and obedience to Parents All Divines on all hands though they contradict one another in many severall Opinions yet all Divines on all hands doe acknowledge that here is intended Magistracy and Order and certainly I have obeyed that Magistracy and that Order under which I have lived which I was bound to obey and truly I do say very confidently that I do die here for keeping for obeying that fifth Commandement given by God himself and written with his own finger And now Gentlemen I will take this opportunity to tell you That I cannot imitate a better nor a greater ingenuity then his that said of himself For suffering an unjust judgment upon another himself was brought to suffer by an unjust judgment Truly Gentlemen that God may be glorified that all men that are concerned in it may take the occasion of it of humble repentance to God Almighty for it I doe here profess to you that I did give my Vote to that Bill against the Earl of Strafford I doubt not but God almighty hath washed that away with a more precious bloud the blood of his own Son and my dear Saviour Jesus Christ and I hope he will wash it away from all those that are guilty of it truly this I may say I had not the least part nor degree of malice in doing of it but I must confess again to Gods glory and the accusation of mine own frailty and the frailty of my Nature that truly it was unworthy Cowardize not to resist so great a torrent as carried that businesse at that time And truly this I think I am most guilty of of not courage enough it it but malice I had none but what soever it was God I am sure hath pardoned it hath given me the assurance of it that Christ Jesus his bloud hath washed it away and truly I do from my soul wish that all men that have any stain by it may seriously repent and receive a remission and pardon from God for it And now Gentlemen we have had an occasion by this intimation to remember his Majesty our King that last was and I cannot speak of him nor think of it but truly I must needs say that in my opinion that have had time to consider all the Images of all the greatest and vertuousest Princes in the world and truly in my opinion there was not a more vertuous and more sufficient Prince known in the world then our gracious King Charls that died last God almighty preserve our King that now is his Son God send him moâ—e fortunate and longer daies God Almighty so assist him that he may exceed both the vertues and sufficiencies of his Father For certainly I that have been a Counsellor to him and have lived long with him and in a time when discovery is easily enough made for he was young he was about thirteen fourteen fifteen or sixteen years of age those years I was with him truly I never saw greater hopes of vertue in any young person then in him great judgement great understanding great apprehension much honour in his nature and truly a very perfect Englishmen in his inclination and I pray God restore him to this Kingdom and unite the Kingdoms one unto another and send a great happinesse both to you and to him that he may long live and reign among you and that that Family may reign till thy Kingdome come that is while all temporall power is consummated I beseech God of his mercy give much happinesse to this your King and to you that in it shall be his Subjects by the grace of Jesus Christ Truly I like my beginning so well that I will make my conclusion with it that is That God Almighty would confer of his infinite and inestimable grace and mercy to those that are the causers of my coming hither I pray God give them as much mercy as their hearts can wish and truly for my part I will not accuse any one of them of malice truly I will not nay I will not think there was any malice in them what other ends there is I know not nor will I examine but let it be what it will from my very soul I forgive them every one And so the Lord of heaven bless you all God almighty be infinite in goodness and mercy to you and direct you in those ways of obedience to
everlasting blisse and glory it takes us from the miseries of this world and society of sinners to the city of the living God the celestial Jerusalem I blesse God I am thought worthy to suffer for his Name and for so good a cause and if I had a thousand lives I would willingly lay them down for the cause of my King the Lords Anointed the Scripture commands us to fear God and honour the King to be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as supreme or to those that are in Authority under him I have been alwayes faithfull to my Trust and though I have been most basely accused for betraying Leverpool yet I take God to witnesse it is a most false aspersion for I was then sick in my bed and knew not of the delivering of it till the Officers and Souldiers had done it without my consent and then I was carried prisoner to Sr. John Meldrum afterwards I came down into the country and seeing I could not live quietly at home I was perswaded by Collonel Forbes Colonel Overton Lieutenant Colonel Fairfax whom I took for my good friends to march in their Troops which I did but with intention still to doe my King the best service when occasion was and so I did and I pray God to turn the hearts of all the souldiers unto their lawful Soveraign that this Land may enâ—oy Peace which till then it will never doe and though thou kill me yet will I put my trust in thee wherefore I trust in God he will not fail me nor forsake me Then he took his Bible and read divers Psalmes fit for his own occasion and consolation and then put up divers prayers some publickly and some privately the publick was this which follows His Prayer WElcome blessed hour the period of my Pilgrimage the term of my Bondage the end of my cares the close of my sins the bound of my travels the goal of my race and the heaven of my hopes I have fought a long fight in much weaknesse I have finished my course though in great faintnesse and the Crown of my joy is that through the strength of thy grace I have both kept the true faith and have fought for my Kings the Lords Annointed's cause without any wavering for which and in which I die I doe willingly resign my flesh I despise the World and I defie the Devil who hath no part nor share in me and now what is my hope my hope Lord Jesu is even in thee for I know that thou my Redeemer livest and that thou wilt immediately receive my Soul and raise up my body also at the last day and I shall see thee in my flesh with these eyes and none other And now O Lord let thy Spirit of comfort help mine infirmities and make supplication for me with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed I submit my self wholly to thy will I commit my Soul to thee as my faithfull Redeemer who hast bought it with thy most precious Blood I confesse to all the world I know no name under heaven by which I may be saved but thine my Jesu my Saviour I renounce all confidence in any merits save thine I thankfully acknowledge all thy blessings I unfainedly bewail all my sins I stedfastly believe all thy promises I heartily forgive all my Enemies I willingly leave all my Friends I utterly loath all earthly comforts and I entirely long for thy coming Come Lord Jesus come quickly Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The Private were to himself his hat being before his eyes after this he put up divers short Ejaculations As I know my Redeemer liveth Father unto thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed it O God thou God of truth Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and many of the like and so he yeelded to Death The Speech of Cornet Michael Blackburn immediately before his Death August 23. 1649. It is expected I should say something and indeed it is my desire to say something and but a little I Am not a Gentleman by birth but my Parents are of an honest quality and condition I was brought up in the Protestant Religion and in that Religion I have lived and in that I now die I have some five or six years since ingaged to this War wherein I had no other end or intention but to doe my King true and faithfull service according to my duty and the dictate of my Conscience I have not done so much service as I desired but I have been always faithfull to him and wish I could have done him more and for his son the King that now is I wonder any man of this Kingdome should have the boldness or impudence to lift up his hand against him to keep him from his Crown whereof he is Heir apparent and hath as good right and title to it by his Birthright as any man living hath of his Inheritance or Possession I pray God blesse him forgive all my Enemies and Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The Speech of Colonel Eusebius Andrews immediately before his Execution on the Scaffold on Tower-hill on Thursday August 22. 1650. being attended on by D. Swadling AS soon as he came upon the Scaffold kissing the block he said I hope there is no more but this Block between me and Heaven and to the Lieutenant of the Tower he said I hope I shall neither tire in my way nor go out of it After he had been a good while upon the Scaffold turning to the rail he speaks to the people as followeth Christian Gentlemen and people Your business hither to day is to see a sad spectacle a man to be in a moment unman'd and cut off in the prime of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Commonwealth or especially to God It seldom happens but upon very good cause And though truly if my general known course of life were but inquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great Judgement is fallen upon me but know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this breast am able to give a better account of my Judgement and Execution then my Judges themselves or you are able to give It is Gods wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of many Judgements withstood and mercies slighted therefore God hath whipped me by his severe rod of correction that he might not lose me I pray joyn with me in prayer that it may not be a fruitless rod that when by this rod I have laid down my life by this staffe I may be comforted and received into glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exception made against proceedings against me then I ever made My Tryers had a Law and the value of that Law is indisputable and for me
to make a question of it I should shame my self and my discretion In the strictnesse of that Law something is done by me that is applicable to some clause therein by which I stand condemnable the means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was not in my self intended maliciously being testimony given by persons whom I pity so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to legall Justice for equity lieth in higher breasts As for my accusers or rather betrayers I pity and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime but I wish and pray for them Peters tears that by Peters repentance they may escape Judas his punishment and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk up more bloud of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been severall addresses made for mercy and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more then upon my own sin and seeing God sees it sit having not glorified him in my life I might do it in my death which I am contented to do I profess in the face 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 professe and on principles of Religion my Judgment 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 when I shall 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 doe boast I boast in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with the flesh about the blow of the Axe or one thought of the Axe more then as my passe-port to glory I take it for an honour and I owe thankfulness to those under whose power I am that they have sent me hither to a place however of punishment yet of some honour to die a death somewhat worthy of my bloud answerable to my birth and qualification and this courtesie of theirs hath much helped toward the pacification of my mind I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that fad beadrol to be tried by the H. Court of Justice that they may find that really there that is nominall in the Act an H. 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 death not till the moment of death for the hour is come already 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 my gallant Master the King of England and another Mr. whom I much honoured my Lord Capel hopeing 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 evermore D. Swadling he being upon the Scaffold spake as followeth unto the Colonel You have this morning in the presence of a few given some accompt of your Religion and under general notions or words have given an accompt of your faith charity and repentance To those on the Scaffold If you please to hear the same questions asked here you shall that it may be a generall testimony to you all that he died in the favour of God To the Colonel Now Sir I being to deal with you do you acknowledge that this stroke that you are to suffer is a just punishment laid upon you by God for your former sins Col. Andrews I dare not only not deny it but dare not but confess it I have no opportunity of glorifying God more then by taking shame to my self and I have a reason of the justice of God in my own bosome which I have put to your bosome Doctor You acknowledg that you deserve more then this stroak of the Axe and that a farre greater misery is due to you even the pains and torments of Hell that the damned there endure Col. I know it is due in righteous Judgment but I know again I have a satisfaction made by my elder Brother Christ Jesus and then I say it is not due 't is due from me but quitted by his righteousness Doct. Do you believe to be saved by that Mediator and none others Col. By that and that only renouncing all secondary causes whatsoever Doct. Are you truly and unfainedly sorry before God as you appear to us for all those sins that have brought you hither Col. I am sorry and can never be sorrowful enough and am sorry I can be no more sorry Doct. If God should by a miracle not to put you to a vain hope but if God should as he did to Ezekiah renew your daies what life doe you resolve to lead hereafter Col. It is a question of great length and requires a great time to answer Men in such straits would promise great things but I would first call some freinds to limit how far I should make a Vow that I might not make a rash one and to offer the Sacrifice of fools but a Vow I would make and by Gods help endeavour to keep it Doct. Do you wish health and happiness upon all lawfull Authorities and government Col. I do prize all obedience to lawfull government and the adventuring against them is sinfull and I do not justifie my self what ever my judgment be for my thus venturing against the present Government I leave it to God to judge whether it be righteous if it be it must stand Doct. Are you now in love and charity with all men do you freely forgive them Col. With all the world freely and the
Gospel it bloweth where it listeth So now Treason is what they please and lighteth upon whom they will Indeed no man except he will be a Traitour can avoid this Censure of Treason I know not to what end it may come but I pray God my own and my Brothers bloud that is now to die with me may be the last upon this score Now Gentlemen you may see what a condition you are in without a King you have no Law to protect you no rule to walk by when you perform your duty to God your King and Country you displease the Arbitrary power now set up I cannot call it government I shall leave you peruse my Tryal and there you shall see what a condition this poor Nation is brought into and no question will be utterly destroyed if not restored by Loyal Subjects to its old and glorious Government I pray God he lay not his Judgements upon England for their sluggishnesse in doing their duty and readinesse to put their hands in their bosoms or rather taking part with the Enemy of Truth The Lord open their eyes that they may be no longer lead or drawn into such snares else the Child unborn will curse the day of their Parents birth God Almighty preserve my Lawful King Charles the second from the hands of his Enemies and break down that wall of Pride and Rebellion which so long hath kept him from his just Rights God preserve his Royal Mother and all his Majesties Royal Brethren and incline their hearts to seek after him God incline the hearts of all true English men to stand up as one Man to bring in the King and Redeem themselves and this poor Kingdom out of its more then Egyptian slavery As I have now put off these garments of cloth so I hope I have put off my garments of sin and have put on the Robes of Christs Righteousness here which will bring me to the enjoyment of his glorious Robes anon Then he kneeled down and kissed the block and said thus I commit my soul to God my Creator and Redeemer Look on me O Lord at my last gasping Hear my prayer and the prayers of all good people I thank thee O God for all thy dispensations to wards me Then kneeling down he prayed most devoutly as followeth O Eternall Almighty and most mercifull God the Righteous Judge of all the world look down in mercy on me a miserable sinner O blessed Jesus Redeemer of Mankind which takest away the sinnes of the world let thy perfect manner of obedience be presented to thy Heavenly Father for me Let thy precious death and bloud be the ransome and satisfaction of my many and haynous transgressions Thou that sittest at the right hand of God make intercession for me O holy and blessed Spirit which are the comforter fill my heart with thy consolations O holy blessed and glorious Trinity be mercifull to me confirm my faith in the promises of the Gospel revive and quicken my hope and expectation of joyes prepared for true and faithful servants Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make my love to him stedfast sincere and constant O Lord consider my condition accept my tears asswage my grief give comfort and confidence in thee impute not unto me my former sinnes but most mercifull Father receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus Many and grievous are my sins for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledg against remorse of conscience against the motions and opportunities of grace But accept I beseech thee the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart in and for the perfect sacrifice oblation and satisfaction of thy Son Jesus Christ O Lord receive my soul after it is delivered from the burthen of the flesh into perfect-joy in the sight and fruition of thee And at the generall resurrection grant that my body may be endowed with immortality and received with my soul into glory I praise thee O God I acknowledge thee to be the Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sinnes of the world have mercy on me Thou that sittest at the right hand of God hear my prayer O Lord Jesus Christ God and Man Mediatour betwixt God and Man I have sinned as a Man be thou mercifull to me as a God O holy and blessed Spirit help my infirmities with those sighs and groans which I cannot expresse Then he desired to see the Axe and kissed it saying I am like to have a sharp passage of it but my Saviour hath sweetned it unto me Then he said if I would have been so unworthy as others have been I suppose I might by a lie have saved my life which I scorn to purchase at such a rate I defie such temptations and them that gave them me Glory be to God on high On Earth peace Good will towards Men. And the Lord have mercy upon my poor soul Amen So laying his Neck upon the block after some private Ejaculations he gave the Heads-man a sign with his hand who at one blow severed his head from his body The Speech of that piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded the 16. day of May 1655. in the Castle at Exon. Good people I Never was guilty of much Rhetorick nor ever loved long Speeches in all my life and therefore you cannot expect either of them from me now at my death All that I shall desire of you besides your hearty prayers for my soul is That you would bear me witnesse I die a true son of the Church of England as it was established by King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first of ever blessed memory That I die a Loyall subject to King Charles the second my undoubted Soveraign and a lover of the good old Laws of the Land the just priviledges of Parliaments and Rights and Liberties of the People for the re-establishing of all which I doe undertake this ingagement and for which I am ready to lay down my life God forgive the bloudy-minded Jury and those that procured them God forgive Captain Crook for denying his Articles so unworthily God forgive Mr. Dove and all other persons swearing so malitiously and falsely against me God forgive all my enemies I heartily forgive them God blesse the King and all that love him turn the hearts of all that hate him God blesse you all and be mercifull to you and to my Soul Amen And so meekly laying his neck to the block and giving a signe his head at one blow and a draw of the axe was severed from his body The manner of the Execution of Sir Henry Slingsby on Tuesday the 8. of June 1658. With the substance of his speech before his Death ABout Eleven of the clock Sir Henry Slingsby was brought from the Tower to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill whither being come he fell upon his knees and for a short space prayed
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 numerous people of this Land look upon them O Lord with an eye of pity not with an eye of fury and indignation O look not upon all those great and grievous sins that have provoked thee most juctly 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 scourges thou hast made us a reproach and a by-word amongst our Neighbours and the very Heathen laugh us to scorn Oh that thou wouldest 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 Prophanenesse 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 uncharitablenesse 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 wouldest 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 these stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word molifie them by the oyle of thy Grace smite these rockie 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 wouldest humble us more and more in the true sight and sense of all our provocations against thee and that thou wouldest be pleased in the bloud of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all our sins Lord let his bloud 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 bloud 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 thy spirit assure our spirits that we are thy children and that thou art reconciled to us in the bloud 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 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 needfull 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 wherunto we are most prone either by custom or constitution or most easily provoked O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish do not punish us with spirituall judgements and disertions 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 lives and conversations And Lord keep us from presumptious 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 sanctifie unto us all thy methods and proceedings with us sitting us for all further tribulations and tryalls whatsoever thou in thy divine pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us Lord give us patience constancy resolution and fortitude to undergoe them that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we may fear no ill knowing that thou O Lord art mercifull with us and that with thy rod as well us with thy staffe thou wilt support and comfort us and that nothing shall be able to separate 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 confesse 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 gâ—acious promises both to thy whole Church and to that part of it which thou hast planted and now afflicted in these sinfull Lands and Nations wherein we live Arise O Lord and have mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon