Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	common_a	england_n	king_n	8,307	5	3.8915	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63228	The tryals of VVilliam Ireland, Thomas Pickering, & John Grove, for conspiring to murder the King who upon full evidence were found guilty of high treason at the session-house in Old-Bailye, Dec. 1, 1678, and received sentence accordingly.	Ireland, William, 1636-1679.; Pickering, Thomas, d. 1679.; Grove, John, d. 1679.; England and Wales. Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery (London and Middlesex).	1678 (1678)	Wing T2269; ESTC R33696	62,044	58

false Traytors of the most Illustrious Se●●ene and most Excellent Prince Our Soverign Lord Charles the II. by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. Their supreme and natural Lord not haveing the Feare of God in their hearts nor the Duties of their Allegeance any ways weighing but being moved and Seduced by the instigation of the Devil the cordial love and true due and natural obedience which true and faithful Subjects of our said Soveraign Lord the King towards our said Soverign Lord the King should and of Right ought to bear altogether withdrawing endeavouring and with their whole strength intending the peace and common tranquillity of this Kingdom of England to disturbe and the true worship of God within this Kingdom of England used and by Law established to overthrow and to move stir up and procure Rebellion within this Kingdom of England and the cordial love and true and due obedience which true and saithful Subjects of our said Soveraign Lord the King towards our said soveraign Lord the King should and of Right ought to bear wholly to withdraw vanguish and extinquish and our said Sovereign Lord the King to death and final destruction to bring and put the 24th day of April in the year of the Reign of our said Sovereign L Charles the II by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King defender of the saith c. the 30th at the Parish of St. Gyles in the Fields aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid falsly maliciously deceitfully advisedly and Trayterously they did propose compa●●e imagine and intend to stir up move and procure sedition and Rebellion within this Kingdom of England and to procure and Cause a miserable slaughter among the Subjects of our said Sovereign L. the King and wholly to deprive depose throw down and disinher it our said Sovereign Lord the King from his Royal State Title Power and Government of this his Kingdom of England and him our said Soveraign Lord the King to put to death and utterly to destroy the Government of this Kingdom of England and the sincere Religion worship of God in the same Kingdom rightly and by the Laws of the same Kingdom established for their will and pleasure to change and alter and wholly to subvert and destroy the state of the whole Kingdom being in all parts thereof well instituted and ordered and to Levy War against our said Soveraign Lord the King within this his Realm of England And to fulfil and bring to pass these their most wicked Treasons and Trayterous designs and purposes aforesaid they the said Thomas White allas Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering John Grove and other false Tr●●ytors unknow●● the said so ●● and Tweentieth day of April in the said 30th year of the Reign of our said Lord the King with force and arms c. at the parish of St. Giles in the Fields aforesaid in the County of Midelesex aforesaid falsly maliciously deceitfully advisedly devillish●●y and traiterously did assemble unite and gather themselves together and then and there falsly maliciously deceitfully advisedly devillishly and traiterously they did consult and agree to put and bring our said Soveraign Lord the King to death final destruction and to alter and change the Religion rightly and by the Laws of the same Kingdom established to the superstition of the Church of Rome and that sooner to bring to pass and accomplish the same their most wicked Treasons and traiterous imaginations and purposes aforesaid they the said Thomas White otherwise Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering John Grove and other false Traitors of our said Sovereign Lord the King unknown afterwards to wit the said 24th day of April in the said 30th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King at the said parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the County of Midlesex aforesaid falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly and traiterously they did consult and agree that they the said Thomas Pickering and John Grove should kill and murther our said Sovereign Lord the King And that they the said Thomas White otherwise Whitebread William Ireland John Frenwick and other false Traitors unknown should therefore say celebrate and perform a certain number of Masses then and there agreed on among them for the good of the soul of the said Thomas Pickering and should therefore pay to the said John Grove a certain sum of money then and there also agreed on among them And further that the said Thomas Pickering and John Grove upon the agreement aforesaid then and there falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly traiterously did undertake and to the said Thomas White otherwise Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick and other false Traitors of our said Sovereign Lord the King unknown then and there falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly and traiterously they did then and there promise that they the said Thomas Pickering and John Grove our said Sovereign Lord the King would kill and murther And further that they the said Thomas White otherwise Whitbread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering and John Grove and other false Traitors of our said Sovereign Lord the King unknown afterwards to wit the said 24th day of April in the thirtieth year of the Reign of our said Soverign Lord the King at the said parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex aforesaid falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly and traiterously did severally plight their Faith every one to other of them and did then and their swear and promise upon the Sacrament to conceal and not to divulge their said most wicked Treasons and traiterons compassings consultations and purposes aforesaid so among them had traiterously to kill and murther our said Sovereign Lord the King and to introduce the Roman Religion to be used within this Kingdom of England and to alter change the true Reformed Religion rightly and by the Laws of this Kingdom of England in this same Kingdom of England established And further that they the said Thomas Pickering and John Grove in execution of their said Traiterous Agreement afterwards to wit the same 24th day of April in the said thirtieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King and divers other days and times afterwards at the said parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the said County of Middlesex falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly and traiterously they did prepare and obtain to themselves and had and did keep Musquets Pistols Swords Daggers and other offensive and cruel weapons and instruments to kill and murther our said Sovereign Lord the King And that they the said Thomas Pickering and John Grove afterwards to wit the said four and twentieth day of April in the said thirtieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King and divers days and times afterwards with force and arms c. at the said

parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex aforesaid and in other places within the said County of Middlesex falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously and traiterously did lie in wait and endeavour to kill and murder our said Sovereion Lord the King and further that they the said Thomas White otherwise Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick and other false Traitors unknown afterwards to wit the said 24th day of April in the said thirtieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King at the said parish of St Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex aforesaid falsly deceitfully advisedly maliciously devillishly and traiterously did prepare perswade excite abet comfort and counsel four other persons unknown and subjects of our said Soveraign Lord the King traiterously to kill and murder our said Sovereign Lord the King against the duty of their allegiance against the peace of our said Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the form of the Statute in that behalf made and provided Upon this Indictment they have been arraigned and thereunto have severally pleaded Not guilty and for their Tryal have put themselves upon God and their Country which Country you are Your Charge therefore is to enquire whether they or any of them be guilty of the High Treason whereof they stand indicted or not guilty If you find them guilty you are to enquire what Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements those you find guilty had at the time of the High Treason committed or at any time since If you find them or any of them not guilty you are to enquire whether they did flee for it if you find that they or any of them fled for it you are to enquire of their Goods and Chattels as if you had found them guilty If you find them or any of them not guilty nor that they nor any of them fled for it say so and no more and hear your Evidence Make Proclamation for silence on both sides Which was done Then Sir Creswell Levings one of the Kings learned Council in the Law opened the Indictment thus Sir Cresw Levings May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury These Prisoners at the Bar Thomas White alias Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering and John Grove do all stand indicted of High Treason for that whereas they as false Traytors meaning and designing to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom to levy War within the Kingdom to make miserable slaughter amongst the Kings Subjects to subvert the Religion established by the Law of the Land to introduce the Superstition of the Church of Rome and to bring to death and final destruction and to murder and assassinate our Soveraign Lord the King they did to effect these things the four and twentieth of April last assemble themselves together with many other false Traytors yet unknown in the parish of Saint Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex and there being so assembled the better to effect these designs did make agreements and conspire together first that Pickering and Grove should kill the King and that White and the rest of the persons that stand indicted with many other Traytors should say a great number of Masses for the soul of the said Pickering I think thirty thousand and they did further agree there that Grove should have a great sum of mony and upon this agre●●ment Grove and Pickering did undertake and promise they would do this fact and did then and there take the Sacrament and an oath to one another upon the Sacrament that they would conceal these their Treasons that they might the better effect them and that in pursuance of this Grove and Pickering did divers timesly in wait to murder the King and did provide Arms to do it and the Indictment further sets forth that White and Ireland and Fenwick and many other Traytors yet unknown did procure four other persons yet also unknown for to kill the King against the pea●●e of our Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the form of the Statute These are the heads of those facts for which they stand indicted they have all pleaded not Guilty if we prove them or any of them Guilty of these or any of these facts according to the Evidence you shall have we hope you will find it Sir Samuel Baldwin one of his Majesties Serjeants at Law opened the Charge as followeth Sir Samuel Baldwin May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury the persons here before you stand indicted for High Treason they are five in number three of them are Jesuits one is a Priest the fifth is a Layman persons fitly prepared for the work in hand Gentlemen it is not unknown to most persons nay to every one amongst us that hath the least observed the former times how that ever since the Reformation there hath been a design carried on to subvert the Government and destroy the Protestant Religion established here in England for during all the Reign of Queen Elizabeth severall attempts were made by several Priests and Jesuits that came from beyond the Seas though the Laws were then severe against them to destroy the Queen and alter the Religion established here in England and to introduce Popery and the Superstition of the Church of Rome But the Conspirators from time to time during all the Queens Reign were disappointed as Edmond Camtion and several other Jesuits who came over in that time and were executed did suffer for their Treasons according to Law at length about the lat●●erend of the Queens time a Seminary for the English Jesuits was founded at Valled●●lid in Spain and you know the emyloyment such persons have And soon after the Queens death in the beginning of the Reign of King James several persons came over into England from this very Seminary who together with one Henry Garnet Superior of the Jesuits then in England and divers other English Papists hatched that hellish Gunpowder-plot whereby what was designed you all know but as it fell out these persons as well as those in Queen Elizabeths time were likewise disappointed for their execrable Treasons in the third year of King James were executed at Tyburn and otherplaces This is evident by the very Act of Parliament in 30. Jacobi in the preamble whereof mention is made that Creswel and Tesmond Jesuits came from Validolid in Spain to execute this Gunpowder-Treason with the Poplsh party here in England And Gentlemen after this Treason so miraculously discovered was punished one would not have thought that any future age would have been guilty of the like Conspiracy but it so falls out that the Mystery of Iniquity and Jesuitism still worketh for there hath of late been a sort of cruel bloody minded persons who in hopes to have better success than they had in fo●●mer times during the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James have set on foot as horrid a Design

knew what the business was but he did advise him that he should conceal himself lest the plot by observation should be discover'd We shall likewise produce several other evidences to strengthen and confirm the Witnesses we shall first call our witnesses and enter upon the proof Mr Finch opened the Evidence thus Mr. Finch May it please your Lord ship and you Gentlemen of the Jury before we call our witnesses I would beg leave once more to remind you of what hath already been open'd unto you the Quality of the Offenders themselves and the nature of the offence they stand indicted of For the Offenders they are most of them Priests and Jesuits three of them at the least are so the other two are the accursed Instruments of this Design for the offence it self 't is high Treason And though it be High Treason by the Statute of 27 Elizabeth for men of that profession to come into England yet these men are not Indicted upon that Law nor for that Treason This I take notice of to you for the prisoners sake that they should not fancy to themselves they suffered Martyrdom for their Religion as some of them have vainly imagin'd in their case and for your sakes too that as at first it was Treason repeated Acts of Treason in these men and those proceeding from a principle of Religion too that justly occasioned the making that Law so here you might observe a pregnant instance of it in the prisoners at the Bar That when ever they had an opportunity as now they thought they had they have never failed to put those principles into practice So now Gentlemen as they are not indicted for being Priests I must desire you to lay that quite out of the Case and only consider that they stand here accused for Treason such Treason as were they Lay-men only they ought to die for it though I cannot but observe they were the sooner Traitors for being Priests The Treason therefore they stand indicted of is of the highest nature it is a Conspiracy to kill the King and that too with Circumstances so aggravating if any thing can aggravate that Offence which is the highest that nothing less than the total Subversion of the Government and utter Destruction of the Protestant Religion would serve their turns And really when you consider the Root from whence this Treason springs you will cease wondring that all this should be attempted and rather wonder that it was not done Mischiefs have often miscarried for want of wickedness enough the Horror of Conscience or else the Malice of the Aggressor not being equal to the Attempt has sometimes prevented the Execution of it Here is no room for any thing of this kind This Treason proceeds from principles of Religion from a sense that it is lawful nay that they ought to do these things and every neglect here is lookt on as a piece of Irreligion a want of zeal for which one of the Prisoners did pennance as in the course of our Evidence we shall prove unto you And when we consider too that this is carried on not by the Fury of two or three busie men over zealous in the Cause but by the deliberate and steady Councels of the whole Order and that too under the Obligations of Secresie as high as Christian Religion can lay on them you have great reason to wonder that it did not succeed And yet after all this they have not been able to prevail Not that we can brag of any human policy that did prevent it No all that the Wit of man could do these men had done but 't was the Providence of God 't was his Revelation That Providence that first enlightened his Church and has preserv'd it against all opposition heretofore has once more disappointed their Councells and preserved the King and this Nation in the profession of that true Religion these men have vainly attempted to destroy Gentlemen I will not open to you the particulars of our Evidence that I had rather should come from the Witnesses themselves I shall only in general tell you what will be the Course of it We shall prove unto you That there was a Summons for a Consultation to be held by these men the 24th of April last from the Provincial Mr. Whitebread That they had a Caution given them not to come too soon nor appear much about the Town till the Consultation were over lest oacasion should be given to suspect the Design That accordingly a Consultation was held as they say to send Cary their Procurator to Rome Though we shall prove to you it was for other purposes That they adjourned from their general Assembly into lesser Companies where several persons did attend them to carry Intelligences of their several Resolutions That at these several Consults they did resolve The King was to be killed that Pickering and Grove should do it for which the one was to have 30000 Masses said for his Soul the other 1500 l. That in prosecution of this Design they made several attempts to execute it That they lay in wait for the King several times in St. James's Park and other places And that once in particular it had been done by Pickering if it had not pleased God to have prevented it by an Accident unforeseen The Flint of his Pistol being loose he durst not then attempt it though he had an Opportunity for which neglect we shall prove unto you he underwent the pennance of 20 or 30 strokes That when these men had failed we shall prove to you they hired four Ruffians to murther the King at Windsor and after that at Newmarket Thus they way-laid him in all his privacies and retirements wherever they could think it most convenient to execute their Design And this we shall prove by two Witnesses who though they should not speak to the same Consultations nor the same times yet they are still two Witnesses in Law for several Witnesses of several Overt-Acts are so many Witnesses to the Treason because the Treason consists in the Intention of the man in the Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King The several Overt-Acts which declare that intention are but as so many Evidences of the Treason we will call our Witnesses and make out what had been open'd to you Cl. of Cr. Mr. Oates lay your hand upon the Book The Evidence you shall give for our Sovereign Lord the King against Thomas White alas Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering and John Grove the prisoners at the Bar shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth So help you God Mr. Serj. Baldwin Pray Mr. Oates will you declare to the Court and the Jury what Design there was for the killing of His Majesty and by whom Mr. Oates My Lord in the month of December last Mr. Thomas Whitebread did receive a Patent from the General of the Jesuits at Rome to be Provincial of the Order after he had received this

the prisoner How say you is he Guilty of the same High Treason or not Guilty Foreman Guilty Cl. of Cr. What Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements Foreman None to our knowledge Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the Bar. John Grove hold up thy hand Look upon the prisoner How say you is he Guilty of the same High Treason or not Guilty Foreman Guilty Cl. of Cr. What Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements Foreman None to our knowledge Cl. of Cr. Hearken to your verdict as the Court hath recorded it You say that William Ireland is Guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands indicted You say that Thomas Pickering is Guilty of the same High Treason You say that John Grove is Guilty of the same High Treason And for them you have found Guilty you say that they nor any of them had any Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements at the time of the High Treason committed or at any time since to your knowledg And so you say all Omnes Yes Lord. Ch. Just You have done Gentlemen like very good Subjects and very good Christians that is to say like very good Protestants And now much good may their Thirty Thousand Masses do them Then the Court adjourned by Proclamation till four in the Afternoon In the Afternoon the same day about 5 of the Clock Mr. Recorder and a sufficient number of the Justices returned into the Court the Judges being departed home and Proclamation was made for attendance as in the Morning Then the Clerk of the Crown called for the prisoners Convicted of High Treason and spoke to each of them thus Cl. of the Cr. Set William Ireland to the Bar William Ireland hold up thy hand thou standest Convicted of High Treason what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to dye according to Law Ireland My Lord I represented all along from the beginning that we had not time to call in our Witnesses to justifie our Innocence Mr. Recorder If you have any thing to say in stay of Judgment you have all free liberty to say it Ireland We had no time allowed us to bring in our Witnesses so that we could have none but only those that came in by chance and those things they have declared though true were not believed Mr. Recorder These things Mr. Ireland you did not object before the Jury gave their verdict now they have given their verdict and found you guilty if you have any thing to say to the Court why they should not proceed to Judgment according to that verdict you may speak it but for these things it is too late Ireland My Lord I have onely this to say I Desire more time to be heard again and to call in my Witnesses Mr. Recorder Call the Executioner to do his Office Ireland There are Testimonies my Lord that I could produce of my Loyalty and my Relations fidelity to the King Mr. Recorder I believe Mr. Ireland it will be shame to all your Relations that have been Loyal to the King that you should be privy to the murther of that good King whom your Relations so well served and therefore if that be all that you have to say it will signifie nothing The Executioner not appearing the Sheriff of Middlesex was called to come into Court and give his attendance upon pain of 40 l. But the Executioner coming in was with a reproof from the Recorder for his negligence commanded to tye him up which he did Cl. of Cr. Set Thomas Pickering to the Bar. Thomas Pikering Hold up thy hand Thou art in the same case with the Prisoner last before thee what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to dye according to Law Mr. Recorder What does he say for himself Capt. Richardson He has nothing to say Mr. Recorder Then tye him up Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the Bar. John Grove hold up thy hand thou art in the same case with the Prisoner last be●● re thee what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to die according to Law Grove I am as innocent as the Child unborn Cl. of Cr. Tye him up which was done C. of Cr. Cryers on both sides make Proclamations Gryere O Yes All manner of persons are commanded to keep silence whilst Judgment is upon pain of Imprisonment Peace about the Court. Mr. Recorder Where is the Keeper shew me the Prisoners William Ireland Th●●mas Pickering and John Grove Cap. Richardson Those are the three Mr. Record You the prisoners at the Bar you have been arraigned for a very great offence for the greatest that can be commited against any Authority upon Earth for high Treason against your King with all the aggravation that possible can attend so great a crime as that is for you did not only strike at the life of the best of Kings but you intended the subversion of the best of Religions wharever you may apprehend yet all men that will ●●ay their hopes of salvation upon any thing that is fit for a man to l●●y his hopes upon which is upon the Merits of a crucified Saviour and not upon your Masses Tricks or Trumperies ●●o abhor the thoughts of promoting their Religion by Massacring Kings and murdering their Subjects And though we whom you call Hereticks abhor to own any such Religion yet we are not afraid to tell you and all others who are ensnared into your principles we will maintain the Religion and the Government as it is Established with our lives and fortunes And it is fit that it should be known that we who live under the Government of so mild and pious a Prince and in a Country where so good so moderate a Religion is establisht by Law will not be affrighted by all your Murders Conspiracies and Designs from declaring that they who dare Kill Kings and Massacre their Subjects ●●e the highest violaters not only of the Laws of the Land but of that great Law which ●● good Christians and Protestants think themselves obliged to pay great Reverence and obedience to I mean the Law of God Almighty himself This I speak to you Gentlemen not vantingly 't is against my nature to insult upon persons in your sad condition God forgive you for what you have done and I do heartily beg it though you don 't desire I should for poor men you may belive that your interest in the world to come is secured to you by your Masses but do not well consider that vast eternity you must e're long enter into and that great Tribunal you must appear before where his Masses speaking to Pickering will not signifie so many Groats to him no not one Farthing And I must say it for the sake of these si●●ly people whom you have imposed upon with such fallacies That the Masses can no more save thee from a future damnation then they do from a present condemnation I do not speak

this to you as intending thereby to inveigh against all persons that profess the Romish Religion for there are many that are of that perswasion that do abhor those base Principles of murdering Kings and subverting Governments There are many honest Gentlemen in England I dare say of that Communion whom none ●●f the most impudent Jesuits durst undertake to tempt into such Designs these are on●●y to be imposed upon silly men not upon men of Conscience and Understanding And ●● pr●● God as was said lately by a learned Gentleman whom we all know that all Pro●●estants may be as safe from the Force of your Daggers as they are from those of your ●●rguments for I dare say that you could sooner murder any man that understands ●…e Protestant Religion than perswade him to such Villanies And among those many ●●ings which prevailed with the honest Gentlemen of the Jury to convict you of this ●…id Crime they could not but take notice that you speaking to Ireland that do ●…end to Learning did send into Forraign parts that your fellow Jesuits sho●●ld take 〈…〉 publickly to preach That the Oath of ●…giance and Supremacy by which the ●…on Justice of the Nation is preserved signified nothing which is a strong Evidence of your Design not only to murther the King but subvert the Government for surely the most probable way to do that is to asperse those Oaths by which all Protestant Subiects those whom you call Hereticks lie under an Obligation of Obedience to their Prince And ●● think it not unfit to tell yon that you had a great favour shewed to you to be tried only for the Matters contained in this Indictment for you that are Priests must know that there is a Law in the Land that would have hanged you for your very residence here for if any Subject born in England shall take Orders from the See of Rome and afterwards come into England and remain there Forty days such for that Offence alone are made Traytors by Act of Parliament But you are so far from being under any Awe of that Law or Submission to it that you dare not only come to live here in despite thereof but endeavour what you can to overthrow both it and the Government it self You dare conspire to murther the King nay not only so but you da●●e make your Consults thereof publick You dare write your Names to those Consults You dare sollicite all your Party to do the like and make all the tie of Religion and Conscience that to considering Christians are Obligations to Piety and Charity as Engagements either to act your Villanies or to conceal them We think no Power can dispence with us whom you call Hereticks to falsifie our Oaths much less to break our Covenant with God in the holy Sacrament But you instead of making that a Tie and Obligation to engage you to the Remembrance of our Saviour make it a snare and a gin to oblige your Proselites to the assassinating of Kings and murdering their Subjects I am sorry with all my Soul that men who have had their Education here and the benefit of the good Examples of others should not only be le●… into such mischievous Principles themselves but to be of that confidence in their Perswasion as to dare to debauch others also I am sorry also to hear a Lay-man shoul●● with so much malice declare That a Bullet if round and smooth was not safe enou●● for him to execute his Villanies by But he must be sure not only to set his poysono●● invention on work about it but he must add thereto his poysonous Teeth for se●● if the Bullet were smooth it might light in some part where the Wound might be ●…red But such is the height of some mens Malice that they will put all the Veno●… and Malice they can into their actions I am sure this was so horrid a Design th●● nothing but a Conclave of Devils in Hell or a Colledge of such Jesuits as yours 〈…〉 Earth could have thought upon This I remember to you for the sake of them that are to live and for the Chari●… I have for you who are to die for the sake of them that are to live for I hope when they hear that men of your Perswasion dare commit those outragious Crime and justifie them by a Principle of Religion they will not easily be seduced into yo●● Opinion And out of Charity to you that are to die to perswade you to hearty 〈…〉 pentance for otherwise I must tell you thy Fifteen hundred pound speaking Grove nor thy Thirty thousand Masses speaking to Pickering will avail but li●… And I thought fit to say this also that it may be known that you have had the full ●●nefit of the Laws established in England and those the best of Laws for such is no●● Law of other Nations for if any Protestant in any place where the Romish Religio●● profest had been but thought guilty of such Crimes he had never come to the Fo●●lity and Justice of Arraignment and to be tryed by his Peers permitted to make Defence and hear what could be said against him but he had been hang'd immediat●● or perhaps suffered a worse Death But you are not only beholding to the happy ●…stitu●… of our Laws but to the more happy Constitution of our Religion For ●●he●● are the admirable Documents of that Religion we in England profess That we dare not requite Massacre for Massacre Blood for Blood We disown and abhor all Stabbing and we are so far from reckoning that he shall be a Saint in Heaven for assassinating a Prince and be prayed to in another world that the Protestant is required to believe that such that begin with Murther must end with Damnation if our blessed Lord and Saviour do not interpose nothing that man can do Papist or Protestant can save any man in such a case We dare not say that our Religion will permit us to murder Dissenters much less to assassinate Our King And having thus said let me once more as a Christian in the name of the great God of Heaven beg of you for your own Souls sake be not satisfied or overperswaded with any Doctrine that you have preached to others or imbibed from others but believe that no one can contrive the Death of the King or the overthrow of the Government but the great God of Heaven and Earth will have an account of it and all Pardons Absolutions and the Dispensations that you who are Priests can give to your Lay-brother or that any of your Superiors may give to you will not serve the turn I know not but as I said you may think I speak this to insult I take the Great God of Heaven to witness that I speak it with Charity to your Souls and with great sorrow and grief in my own heart to see men that might have made themselves happy draw upon themselves so great a ruin But since you have been so fairly heard