undertook any Treasonable Designs it was still when the Priests and Jesuits were at his Elbow still when they were egging him on still when they were giving him Ghostly Counsel when my Lord was amongst them or but newly come from them then it was he uttered the Treason of Killing the King These notable Circumstances must needs say they render credible the Testimony of the Witnesses against my Lord. THe Papists answer Here are Trayterous Sermons and Discourses alledged How are they proved Why by the Oaths of the Witnesses that heard them But the Credit of these Witnesses are questioned How is that made out Why by the Trayterous Sermons and Discourses which they heard Thus still the Question is begged and nothing proved but by bare swearing peremptory swearing of infamous men without any face of one single Circumstance to support their Evidence other than what dependeth on the same swearing As if those that stick not to swear a false Oath should stick at Circumstances to second their Perjury Had the Managers flourished upon the Honesty of the Witnesses the Vprightness of their Lives the Integrity of their Manners their dis-engagement from Self-interest the Circumstances inducing a probability distinct from the bare Oaths things necessary to a legal Conviction the Tryal would have had another appearence It is therefore again urged That there are such Wretches as Knights of the Post. That men may and often do break God's great Commandment Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour That wicked Persons of lost Consciences and desperate Fortunes are most propense to commit this Crime That this Propension is much augmented by an assured prospect of Indempnities from Punishment and advantage of Gain And consequently the bare and otherwise improbable Oaths of such men so circumstanced cannot especially in matters of Life and Death be credited against honest and vertuous Persons nay against whole Nations without a dreadful hazard of Injustice But there will be a further occasion to speak of these alledged Trayterous Sermons and Discourses when we come to treat of my Lord's Principles THe Managers still argued The three Witnesses were all express and positive in their Evidence against my Lord. THe Papists still answer It is not positive swearing of evil but probable swearing of good men should convict my Lord or any other of guilt especially in matters of High-Treason THe Managers likewise argued It was impossible there could be a Contrivance amongst the Witnesses themselves to depose the same Crimes against my Lord seeing there was no intercourse between Oates and Dugdale nor did they know each other till long after Oates's accusation of my Lord And it is as little credible they could concurr in the same thing unless the Evidence of both were true THe Papists answer Though there were no Contrivance arising from any acquaintance or intercourse had between Oates and Dugdale before their several Discoveries yet the latter might well take example and encouragement from the practice of the former and so indeed it was for Dugdale being involved in Debts and thrown into Gaol cast about how to retrieve his desperate Fortune and hearing that Oates and Bedlow men before sunk to the bottom of reproach and beggery had by Perjury and Impudence freed themselves from the Punishment of the Laws gained immense rewards and now lived in a degree above the port and expence of ordinary Gentlemen he at last yet not without frequent anguish and reluctance of Conscience swallowed the alluring bait and knowing my Lord Stafford whom he had seen at Tixal was already in the Tower and accused by Oates of the Plot he devised a like fabulous story of the Plot also making my Lord and other Gentlemen where he lived and served in Staffordshire the chief Actors in it By which means Dugdale became Partner with Oates and Bedlow both in the Title and Profit of the King's Evidence THe Managers argued Oates and Dugdale were so ready in their Answers when any Question was asked them and confirmed still their precedent discourses by their subsequent replies Nay the whole frame and series of the Plot though consisting of many particulars and attested by persons of no great natural capacities is yet so coherent in every part of it that it is impossible the same should be false THe Papists answer Oates and Dugdale were often so confounded when any Question was asked them out of the road and their precedent discourses were usually so inconsistent with their subsequent replies Nay the whole story though studied before-hand and the Authors all manner of ways encouraged and assisted in their invention is yet stuffed and involved with so many absurdities contradictions and impracticable chymaera's as has been already often and fully proved that it is impossible the same should be true for Falshood may but Truth cannot be inconsistent of parts LAstly the Managers having amply dilated and descanted upon each particular Evidence and Argument alledged as well against my Lord as in his defence and making even critical remarks upon whatever might be drawn either to the advantage of the one or prejudice of the other the substance of all which hath been already specified in its proper place At length they concluded with sharp and moving aggravations against the Popish Principles whereof also we shall by and by according to promise give a distinct account And insisting a while on this subject with much accuteness of Wit and seeming applause they closed up their Evidence THus when there was a period put to proof in matters of Fact there began a debate as to matter of Law concerning a doubt proposed by my Lord the other of his Queries not being admitted disputable viz. Whether two Witnesses be necessary to every Overt-act in point of Treason This Question being referred to the Judges they determined it to the Negative After this my Lord petitioned the Court as a peculiar favour That he might offer some things to their Lordships Consideration the purport of which was That he had proved direct Perjury upon all the three Witnesses against him That as well at the instance of his Wife Daughter and Friends as out of sincerity of Conscience he would in the presence of Almighty God declare to them All that he knew That he verily believed there had been in former times Plots and Designs against the Crown and Government as the Gun-powder-Treason c. owned by the Traytors themselves at their death wherein some Roman Catholicks as well as others might be concerned which Plots he from his heart as both his Duty and Religion taught him detested and abhorred That it was ever indeed his opinion That an Act of Comprehension for Dissenting Protestants and a Tolleration for Roman Catholicks yet so as not to admit them into any Offices of Profit or Dignity would much conduce to the happiness of the Nation But this not otherwise to be procured or desired then by a free consent of the King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That he never read or knew of Coleman's Letters or Consultations for Tolleration till he saw the Letters themselves in the Printed Tryal How far Coleman was Criminal he did not know but he believed he did that which was not justifiable by Law That
Assistence of another in this World Notwithstanding all which Catholicks are taught not so to Relie on the Prayers of Others as to neglect their own Duty to God in Imploring his Divine Mercy and Goodness in Mortifying the Deeds of the Flesh in Despising the World in Loving and Serving God and their Neighbours in Following the Footsteps of Christ our Lord who is the Way the Truth and the Life To whom be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen THese are the Principles These the Treasons These the Idolatryes and Superstitions which though no other then what We have Receiv'd of our Forefathers and what the greatest part of the Christian World now profess yet have drawn upon Us poor Catholicks in England such Dreadful Punishments I Beseech you Sir consider our Case without Passion or Prejudice and I am confident you will see We are not such Monsters as our Adversaries Represent Us to be nor entertain such Principles as are Inconsistent with our Duty to God and the King You seem to say This very Plot with which We are charged proves us Guilty of wicked Principles But under Favour You here commit a Vicious Circle in way of Arguing For first here are wicked Principles alledg'd to make good the Proof of a Plot And these being deny'd the Plot is introduced to make out the wicked Principles As if a Man should say a thing because he thought so and give no Reason why he thought so but only because he said so which instead of Proof is to beg the Question Certain I am Catholicks both Taught and Practisâ—d Principles of Loyalty at a Time when the King and Kingdom felt the Dire Effects of contrary Perswasions In Fine whatsoever is pretended against Us it is manifest We suffer for our Religion and for our Religion wrongfully traduced It is a farther Comfort to Us that our Sufferings God be praised are in some measure not unlike to those of Christ our Lord For it was laid to his Charge as it is to Ours that he was a Traytor to Caesar That he perverted the People and endeavovred the Destruction of Church and State Nor were there wanting then as now an OATS and BEDLOE two false Witnesses to Swear all this Thus God I hope hath Predestinated Us as the Apostle saith to be conform to the Image of his Son to the end that Suffering with Him We may through his Mercy be Glorified together with him Sweet Jesus Bless our Soveraign Pardon our Enemies Grant Us Patience and Establish Peace and Charity in our Nation THus much of my Lord's Principles in Reference to God and the King Whether they be agreeable to Reason and conformable to the Law and Ghospel of Christ I leave to the Impartial Reader to Judge SECT IV. My Lord's Declaration before the House of Lords after his Condemnation SOon after my Lords Tryal several of his Relations and Acquaintance some out of zeal against Popery and others out of kindness to my Lord were daily urgent with him to make Discoveries of all he knew as the only remaining remedy whereby to save his Life regain the Kings favour and attract the applause of the whole Nation My Lord always reply'd He was most willing and ready out of a meer sense of Duty and Conscience independent of any Temporal advantage to himself to discover with all imaginable Sincerity the utmost utmost of what he knew either to the King or House of Lords when ever they required it The Lords being informed hereof Ordered his appearance before them the next day When he came and had audience granted he made his acknowledgments to this effect That he thought it no crime in any Man to wish his Neighbour might be of the same Religion wherein he himself hoped to be saved Nay to seek and promote it by such ways and means as the Laws of God and the Nation allow That there had been at divers times and on sundry occasions endeavours used and overtures made to obtain an Abrogation or at least a Mitigation of Severities against Catholicks But this to be procured no otherwise then by Legal and Parliamentary means That he himself went to Breda whilst the King was there and propounded 100000 l. in behalf of the Catholicks to take off the penal Laws That after the King came in there was a Bill brought into the House in favovr of Catholicks but it was opposed by my Lord Chancellour Hide That there had likewise been framed by the Lord Bristol and others in order to the proposing of them in Parliament several forms of Oaths contained in such terms as might fully express all Duty and Allegiance to the King yet not entangle tender Consciences with Clauses and Provisoes disagreeable to Faith and no wise appertaining to Loyalty but neither did this succeed That afterwards he had offered some proposals as well to the Lord Chancellour at his House at Kenfington as to the Duke of York concerning some lawful expedients conducing to the good as he thought both of Catholicks and the whole Nation And also about Dissolving the long Parliament the substance of which he likewise communicated to my Lord Sbastsbury who said He doubted not but that there would come great advantages to the King by it These he avouched were the chief and only Designs he ever had or knew of amongst Catholicks for promoting their Religion Of more then these he protested before Almighty God and their Lordships he was wholly ignorant But this Declaration not being satisfactory towards the detecting any Damnable Conspiracy the Lords thought sit without any further Examination to remand him back to the Tower On this occasion there run about both Town and Countrey an universal Rumor That the Lord Stafford had now made a full and perfect Discovery of the whole Plot And that the Papists could not for the future have the Impudence to deny it after the Confession though to save his Life of so Honourable a Person But this proved a mistake And by the way it was very observable My Lords Adversaries took this false Alarm with so much eagerness and joy as sufficiently denoted they were not well assured of the truth of the former Evidence given against him SECT V. My Lord's Comportment and Exercise after Sentence THe greatest part of his time from his last Sentence to his final End he employed in serious Recollection and fervent Prayer wherein he seemed to receive a daily encrease both of Courage and Comfort as if the Divine Goodness say the Papists intended to ripen him for Martyrdom and give him a taste of Heaven before-hand Indeed he behaved himself in all things like a Man whose Innocence had banished the Fear and horrour of Death Some few days before his Execution he received a Letter which because it is fouly suspected to have come from some Colledge or Seminary beyond Seas I shall here set it down verbatim to the end every one
he I may perhaps shake for cold but I trust in God never for fear After some time spent in Spiritual discourses at length about Ten a Clock word was brought him That Mr. Lieutenant waited for him below upon which he sweetly saluted his Friends bidding them not grieve for him for this was the happiest day of all his Life then he immediately went down and walked along by the Lieutenants Chair who had the Gout through a lane of Soldiers to the Barrs without the Tower There the Lieutenant delievered him to the Sheriffs and they from thence Guarded him to the Scaffold erected on Tower-Hill All the way as he passed several thousands of People crowded to see him many civilly saluted him and few there were amongst that vast number whose hearts were not touched and mollified with Compassion for him Having mounted the Scaffold there appeared in his Countenance such an unusual vivacity such a Chearfulness such a Confidence such a Candor as if the Innocence of his Soul had shined through his Body Nothing of that Mortal paleness Nothing of those Reluctances Convulsions and Agonies incident to persons in his condition could in the least be perceived in him He looked Death in the face with so undaunted a Resolution as gave many occasion to say Grace had left in him no Resentments of Nature After a short pause viewing the People and finding them attentive to what he should say he stept to one side of the Scaffold and with a Graceful Air and intelligible Voice pronounced his last Speech as followeth My Lord's last Speech BY the permission of Almighty God I am this day brought hither to Suffer Death as if I were Guilty of High Treason I do most truly in the presence of the Eternal Omnipotent and All-knowing God protest upon my Salvation that I am as Innocent as it is possible for any Man to be so much as in a thought of the Crimes laid to my Charge I acknowledge it to be a particular Grace and Favour of the Holy Trinity to have given me this Long time to prepare my self for Eternity I have not made so good use of that Grace as I ought to have done partly by my not having so well recollected my self as I might have done and partly because not only my Friends but my Wife and Children have for several days been forbidden to see me but in the presence of one of my Warders This hath been a great trouble and distraction unto me but I hope God of his Infinite Mercy will Pardon my Defects and accept of my good Intentions Since my long Imprisonment I have considered often what could the Original Cause of my being thus Accused since I knew my self not Culpable so much as in a thought and I cannot believe it to be upon any other account then my being of the Church of Rome I have no reason to be ashamed of my Religion for it Teacheth nothing but the Right Worship of God Obedience to the King and due Subordination to the Temporal Laws of the Kingdom And I do submit to all Articles of Faith believed and taught in the Catholick Church believing them to be most consonant to the Word of God And whereas it hath so much and often been objected That the Church holds that Sovereign Princes Excommunicated by the Pope way by their Subjects be Deposed or Murthered As to the Murther of Princes I have been taught as a Matter of Faith in the Catholick Church That such Doctrine is Diabolical Horrid Detestable and contrary to the Law of God Nature and Nations And as such from my heart I Renounce and abominate it As for the Doctrine of Deposing Princes I know some Divines of the Catholick Church hold it but as able and Learned as they have Written against it But it was not pretended to be the Doctrine of the Church that is any Point of Catholick Faith Wherefore I do here in my Conscience declare that it is my true and real Judgement That the same Doctrine of Deposing Kings is contrary to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Injurious to Sovereign Power and consequently would be in me or any other of His Majesties Subjects Impious and Damnable I believe and profess That there is One God One Saviour One Holy Catholick Church of which through the Mercy Grace and Goodness of God I die a member To my great and unspeakable grief I have offended God in many things by many great Offences but I give him most humble thanks not in any of those Crimes of which I was Accused All the Members of either House having liberty to propose in the House what they think fit for the good of the Kingdom accordingly I proposed what I thought fit the House is Judge of the fitness or unfitness of it and I think I never said any thing that was unsitting there or contrary to the Law and Vse of Parliament for certainly if I had the Lords would as they might have punished me so I am not culpable before God or Man It is much reported of Indulgences Dispensations and Pardons to Murther Rebel Lie Forswear and Commit such other Crimes held and given in the Church I do here profess in the presence of God I never Learned Believed or Practised any such thing but the contrary And I speak this without any Equivocation or Reservation whatsoever And certainly were I guilty either my self or knew of any one that were Guilty whosoever that were so of any of those Crimes of which I am accused I were not only the greatest Fool imaginable but a perfect Mad-man and as wicked as any of those that so falsly have accused me If I should not discover any ill Design I knew in any kind and so upon Discovery save my Life I have so often had so fair occasions proposed unto me And so am guilty of Self-Murther which is a most grievous and hainous Sin and though I was last Impeached at the Lords Bar yet I have great grounds to believe that I was first brought to Tryal on the belief that to save my Life I would make some great Discovery And truly so I would had I known any such thing of any ill Design or Illegal Dangerous Plot either of my self or any other Person whatsoever without any Exception But had I a thousand Lives I would lose them all rather then Falsly accuse either my self or any other whatsoever And if I had known of any Treason and should thus deny it as I do now upon my Salvation at this time I should have no hope of Salvation which now I have through the Merits of Christ Jesus I do beseech God to bless His Majestly who is my Lawful King and Sovereign whom I was always by all Laws Humane and Divine bound to Obey and I am sure that no Power upon Earth either singly or all together can legally allow me or any body else to lift up a Hand against him or his Legal Authority I do hold that the
Stafford's Memoires OR A Brief and Impartial Account OF THE BIRTH and QUALITY IMPRISONMENT TRYAL PRINCIPLES DECLARATION COMPORTMENT DEVOTION Last SPEECH and Final END OF WILLIAM late Lord Viscount STAFFORD Beheaded upon Tower-hill on Wednesday the 29. of December 1681. Published for Rectifying all Mistakes upon this Subject Wisd 4. Vitam illorum estimabamus insaniam Finem illorum sine Honore c. Hereunto is also annexed a short APPENDIX concerning some Passages in STEPHEN COLLEDGES TRIAL Printed in the Year MDCLXXXI The INTRODUCTION IT is a wonder to see how Passion and Interest predominate over Reason in Mankind Nothing is done nothing said without some tincture of either or both Even common Occurrences are usually related as Men would have them to be rather then as they are Plain-dealing is almost fled And all things now a days whether Private or Publick Sacred or Prophane are according to different Inclinations without regard to Truth promiscuously made the Subject of a Satyr or Panegirick An obvious example of this we have in the several accounts given of the Tryal Declaration Demeanor and Death of the late Lord Stafford concerning whose Tragedy though acted for the most part in the face of the whole Nation yet there have flown about in a manner as many and those contradictory Stories as there are Relaters and such as know least commonly talk most to compleat the Error It is true the Printed Tryal set forth by Authority is no wise liable to these gross mistakes But it hath swelled in the Press by forms c. To so vast a volume that few can spare either money to buy it or time to read it Besides it is in a manner silent of matters chiefly designed for the Subject of this Treatise viz. My Lords Comportment Declaration Devotion Last Speech and other Occurrences which happened inclusively from the time of his Tryal to his final end Having therefore attained to a most exact and certain knowledge of these particulars I shall for the satisfaction of the curious and manifestation of Truth give together with an abstract of the whole Tryal and some occurrences concerning it a plain and sincere relation of what I know and can by unquestionable Evidence justify to be true And herein I shall also totally abstain from any the les◠moralizing upon transactions whereby to forestal the Readers Judgment But contenting my self with a plain and candid Relation of things as I find them leave every one to the freedom of his own censure and verdict upon them SECT I. My Lords Birth Education Quality c. William Howard Viscount Stafford was second Son to Thomas Earl of Arundel and Uncle to the now Duke of Norfolk In his youth he was educated with all care and industry imaginable to improve in him the endowments of Nature and Grace And to speak truth he was ever held to be of a generous Disposition very Charitable Devout addicted to Sobriety inoffensive in his words and a lover of Justice When he arrived to years of maturity he married Mary descended from the ancient Dukes of Buckingham Grandchild to Edward and Sister and sole Heiress to Henry Lord Stafford To whose Title he succeeded being created by the late King Charles of Glorious memory Baron Anno 1640. And soon after Viscount Stafford During the time of the last bloody Rebellion he suffer'd much for his Loyalty to the King Always behaving himself with that courage and constancy as became a Nobleman a good Christian and a faithful Subject After his present Majesties joyful restauration he lived in Peace Plenty and Happiness Being blessed with a most Virtuous Lady to his Wife And many pious and dutiful Children In which state he remained till the 66. year of his age when happened this Revolution of his fortune as followeth SECT II. My Lords Imprisonment Charge and Arraignment c. ABout Michaelmas Anno 1678. Mr. Titus Oates formerly a Minister of the Church of England accused upon Oath before the King and Council and not long after also before the two Houses of Parliament several Roman Catholicks some Persons of Quality and amongst the rest the Lord Viscount Stafford of High Treason for intending and designing the Death of the King the introducing of Popery and subversion of the Government My Lord though he immediately heard of this Impeachment yet relying as he said on his own Innocence never left his Family nor withdrew himself from his ordinary known Acquaintance and Affairs till the 25th of October 78. when by Virtue of a Warrant from the Lord Chief Justice he was sent Prisoner to the Kings Bench and from thence soon after to the Tower where he remained above two years before he could be admitted to Tryal During this interval the whole Nation was surprized and allarm'd with the noise of an horrid Plot contriv'd by the Pope Priests and Jesuits wherein the King was to be murthered Armies raised Protestants Massacred and the three Kingdoms destroyed by Fire and Sword the People were affrighted searches made Guards doubled and all in an uproar The King hereupon consulted the Parliament and both Houses declared it a Plot. Yet to strengthen the Evidence as yet but weak and make farther discoveries Indempnities are promised Rewards proposed and encouragements given by Proclamation to any who would make out upon Oath the particulars of what in substance was already declar'd By this and the like sedulity of the King and three succeeding Parliaments several new Witnesses came in First Captain Bedlow Next Dugdale Prance and two others Bolron and Mowbray out of the North Then Mr. Jennison Smith Seigneur Francisco Dangerfield Zeile Lewis c. Lastly one Mr. Turbervile who together with Oates and Dugdale gave Evidence against this Lord Stafford of whom we now treat After two years Imprisonment when many Roman Catholicks both Priests and others had been Executed and most of the rest Imprisoned or fled At length my Lord was brought to his Tryal on the 30 th day of Novem. 1680. at the Peers Bar in Westminster-Hall the House of Commons being present and the Lord Chancellor High-Steward of England The Impeachment was drawn in the name of the Commons of England wherein my Lord was charged together with other Papists for having imagin'd and contriv'd to murder the King to introduce Popery and subvert the good Government of Church and State established by Law To this Impeachment my Lord being thereupon arraigned pleaded Not Guilty Allegations in proof of the Plot in general ¶ 1. THen the Cause was opened and the Commons Learned Counsel who were appointed Managers of the Tryal set forth the Charge in most Copious and Eloquent Language And beginning first with the Plot in general they shew'd to the life the Wickedness the Malice the Horror of so Dreadful Bloudy and Hellish a Design They strongly insisted on the express Positive Oaths of the Witnesses upon whose Testimony the credit of this Plot chiefly depended They amply dilated upon the Letters of Coleman
Devil take the Duke of York Monmouth and all God damn me there is now no Trade good but that of a Discoverer Who shall ever want Witnesses that can find men thus qualified And whereas it is said he had the grace to refuse the proposal made to him of Killing the King It ought first to be proved otherwise then by his own assertion He had such a Proposal made before the refusal of it can be justly alledged as an argument of grace in him Finally It is very remarkable what Parson Matthews the last of the Witnesses here Deposeth viz. That though Turbervil had a mind to quit the Roman Catholick Religion being as he said convinced by the Arguments Matthews gave him of the excellency of the Principles and Practices of the Protestant Church yet he would never acknowledge to the said Matthews his new Ghostly Father That he knew one sillable of the Plot. The sum of the whole Evidence both for and against my Lord. ¶ 4. IN this sort passed and ended the Particular Evidences given as well by the Mannagers against my Lord as by my Lord in his own defence After this the Court required each Party to sum up their respective Evidence And it being by course of Law my Lord's turn to begin He performed it to this purpose First He pleaded his Age his want of Endowments his Exhausted Spirits and strength in this long Tryal In consideration of which he hoped their Lordships who were both his Judges and Councel would Pardon the many defects he must needs commit in Summing up his defence Then he Recapitulated the whole Evidence already specified as well as his weak memory and discomposed condition would permit He reminded their Lordships of the several points wherein he had proved the Witnesses Forsworn He recounted their sayings and unsayings to the same things The various Contradictions the moral Impossibilities and Absurdities as to divers though before-hand studied parts of their Evidence Inferring from hence That he who will Forswear himself in one thing is not to be credited in any He insisted upon the Infamy of the Witnesses and Wickedness of their Lives especially the more the Atheistical Sacriledge of some of them acknowledged in open Court He Inculcated their former Beggery compared to the present Encouragement Carasses and Allurements of Gain and Applause they find in their new Employment He alledged their Subornation of others to make good their Forgeries their bare Oaths without any corroborating circumstances but what depended on the same Oaths concluding that such as will Swear Lyes will never stick at Swearing of false Circumstances to hancle those Lyes together And having thus summed up his Defence as well as a weak Old Man harrassed and spent with five days pleading And as he said deprived of Sleep could do on a suddain He cast himself into their Lordships hands desiring them to remember how faithfully he had served the King in the late Wars How much himself his Wife and Family had suffered on that account How easily he might have prevented those Miseries if he would as others did have turned a Rebel And consequently how-unlikely it is he should now in his Old Age and settled contented State be guilty of so horrid a Crime proved only against him by the Incredible Stories of three Infamous Men. Then he proceeded to propose certain Points or Doubts in Law which occurred in his case concerning the manner of his Impeachment the continuance of it from Parliament to Parliament Whether the Indictment contained an Overt Act necessary to a Conviction of Treason Whether Men who Swear for Money ought to be credited or admitted for Witnesses Whether the Plot being supposed a Plot of the Papists was as yet legally proved so Lastly Whether there being but one particular Witness to any one particular point such an Evidence be sufficient in Law WHen my Lord had ended his Queries the Learned Mannagers those dexterous Masters of Law and Eloquence addressed themselves to sum up the Evidence and Illustrate the Proofs on their side That part which regards the especial matters charged by the Witnesses upon my Lord in particular I have already incerted in the body of the Tryal as the said several matters respectively occurred The other Arguments made use of to enforce a belief of my Lord's Guilt and advance the credit of the Witnesses take here together with the Papists Answers in short as followeth The Managers therefore argued They had made it plain and apparent in the beginning of the Tryal by the Testimonies of fix positive Witnesses by the Declaration of both Houses of Parliament by Coleman's Letters by the Tryal and Conviction of other Traytors that there was a general Design amongst the Papists to introduce their Religion By raising of Armies murdering the King and subverting the Government THe Papists answer It is clear and manifest from the Reasons given and Arguments answered in the Preamble to this Tryal That there never was any such general Design any such Armies raised c. amongst the Papists These being the meer groundless Suggestions of Infamous Men whom Lucre and Malice instigated to Perjury against Innocent Catholicks THe Managers farther argued It was necessary this great Design of the Papists should be managed by the greatest Persons amongst them Now my L. Stafford was a man whose Quality and Merit might well entitle him to an Office as great as Pay-master General to the Army From whence they inferred That the particular Evidence given herein against my Lord was highly credible THe Papists answer It is a wrested Inference and that also bottomed upon a false supposition For first There never was as is said before any such Design nor by consequence any Armies or Officers other then what were the Chymerical product of Perjured Men. Secondly Though there had been such a Design in general as is here pretended it is a strangely far fetched conjecture surely not allowable in a case of Life and Death that my Lord Stafford because a Nobleman must needs have a great or indeed any part in it Great Offices especially amongst Traitors are not usually committed to the best Born but to the best Qualified for such employments Now all the World that knew my Lord his Humour his Condition his Economy in Money matters will avouch so incongruous are the Witnesses in their Lyes there was not peradventure amongst all the Persons of Quality Catholicks in England one less proper then he for Pay-master General to an Army In fine If there were a Plot in general 't is no necessary consequence my Lord was Guilty But if there were none as most certainly there was not 't is absolute demonstration my Lord was Innocent THe Managers argued They had amply proved by their Witnesses That the Priests and Jesuits in their Sermons and Discourses had justified the lawfulness and incited their Votaries to the practice of Treason Rebellion and Murder of Heretick Princes Conformably hereunto whenever my Lord
Christian Mysteries and Duties respectively necessary to Salvation 8. This Church thus Spread thus Guided thus visibly Continued in One Vniform Faith and Subordination of Government is that Self-same which is termed the Roman Catholick Church The Qualifications above-mentioned viz. Vnity Indeficiency Visibility Succession and Vniversality being applicable to no other Church or Assembly whatsoever 9. From the Testimony and Authority of This Church it is that We Receive and Believe the Scriptures to be God's Word And as She can assuredly tell Us This or That Book is God's Word so can she with the like Assurance tell us also the True Sense and Meaning of it in Controverted Points of Faith The same Spirit that Writ the Scripture Enlightning Her to Understand both It and all Matters Necessary to Salvation From These Grounds it Follows 10. All and only Divine Revelations deliver'd by God unto the Church and proposed by Her to be Believ'd as such are and ought to be esteem'd Articles of Faith and the contraty Opinions Heresie And 11. As an Obstinate Separation from the Vnity of the Church in known declared Matters of Faith is formal Heresie So a wilful Separation from the Visible Vnity of the same Church in Matters of Subordination and Government is formal Schism 12. The Church proposeth unto Us Matters of Faith First and chiefly By the Holy Scripture in Points plain and Intelligible in it Secondly By Definitions of General Councils in Points not sufficiently Explained in Scripture Thirdly By Apostolical Traditions deriv'd from Christ and his Apostles to all Succeeding Ages Fourthly By her Practice Worship and Ceremonies Confirming her Doctrines PARAGRAPH II. Of Spiritual and Temporal Authority 1. GEneral Councils which are the Church of God Representative have no Commission from Christ to Frame New Matters of Faith these being sole Divine Revelations but only to explain and ascertain unto us what antiently was and is received and retained as of Faith in the Church upon arising Debates and Controversies about them The Definitions of which General Councils in matters of Faith only and proposed in such oblige under pain of Heresie all the Faithful to a Submission of Judgment But 2. It is no Article of Faith to believe That General Councils cannot Err either in matters of Fact or Discipline alterable by circumstances of time and place or in matters of Speculation or Civil Policy depending on meer humane Judgment or Testimony Neither of these being Divine Revelations deposited in the Catholick Church in regard to which alone she hath the promised Assistance of the Holy Ghost Hence it is deduced 3. If a General Council much less a Papal Consistory should undertake to depose a King and absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance no Catholick as Catholick is bound to submit to such a Decree Hence also it followeth 4. The Subjects of the King of England lawfully may without the least breach of any Catholick Principle Renounce even upon Oath the Teaching Mantaining or Practising the Doctrine of deposing Kings Excommunicated for Heresie by any Authority whatsoever as Repugnant to the fundamental Laws of the Nation Injurious to Soveraign Power Destructive to the Peace and Government and by consequence in His Majesties Subjects Impious and Damnable Yet not properly Heretical taking the Word Heretical in that connatural genuine sense it is usually understood in the Catholik Church on account of which and other Expressions no wise appertaining to Loyalty it is that Catholicks of tender Consciences refuse the Oath commonly call d the Oath of Allegience 5. Catholicks believe That the Bishop of Rome is the Successor of St Peter Vicar of Jesns Christ upon Earth and Head of the whole Catholick Church which Church is therefore sitly stiled Roman Catholick being an universal Body united under one visible Head Nevertheless 6. It is no matter of Faith to believe That the Pope is in himself Infallible seperate from a General Council even in Expounding the Faith By consequence Papal Definitions or Decrees though ex Cathedra as they term them taken exclusively from a General Council or Vniversal Acceptance of the Church oblige none under Pain of Heresie to an interior Assent 7. Nor do Catholicks as Catholicks believe that the Pope hath any direct or indirect Authority over the Temporal Power and Jurisdiction of Princes Hence if the Pope should pretend to Absolve or Dispence with His Maiesties Subjects from their Allegiance upon account of Heresie or Schism such Dispensation would be vain and null and all Cathelick Subjects notwithstanding such Dispensation or Absolution would be still bound in Conscience to defend their King and Countrey at the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes even against the Pope himself in case he should invade the Nation 8. And as for Problematical Disputes or Errors of particular Divines in this or any other matter whatsoever the Catholick Church is no wise responsible for them Nor are Catholicks as Catholicks justly punishable on their Account But 9. As for the King Killing Doctrine or Murder of Princes Excommunicated for Heresie It is an Article of Faith in the Catholick Church and expresly declared in the General Council of Constance That such Doctrine is Damnable and Heretical being contrary to the known Laws of God and Nature 10. Personal Misdemeanors of what Nature soever ought not to be Imputed to the Catholick Church when not Justifyable 〈◊〉 the Tenents of her Faith and Doctrine For which Reason though the Stories of the Paris Massacre the Irish Cruelties Or Powder-Plot had been exactly true which yet for the most part are Notoriously mis-related nevertheless Catholicks as Catholicks ought not to Suffer for such Offences any more then the Eleven Apostles ought to have Suffered for Judas's Treachery It is an Article of the Catholick Faith to believe that no Power on Earth can License Men to Lye to Forswear and Perjure themselves to Massacre their Neighbours or destroy their Native Countrey on pretence of promoting the Catholick Cause or Religion Furthermore all Pardons and Dispensations granted or pretended to be granted in order to any such ends or Designs have no other validity or Effect then to add Sacriledge and Blasphemy to the above-mentioned Crimes 12. The Doctrine of Equivocation or Mental Reservation however wrongfully Imposed on the Catholick Religion is notwithstanding neither taught nor approved by the Church as any part of her Belief On the contrary Simplicity and Godly Sincerity are constantly recommended by her as truly Christian Vertues necessary to the Conservation of Justice Truth and Common Society PARAGRAPH III. Of some Particular controverted Points of Faith 1. EVery Catholick is obliged to believe that when a Sinner Repenteth him of his Sins from the bottom of his Heart and Acknowledgeth his Transgressions to God and his Ministers the Dispensers of the Mysteries of Christ
take upon you the Ministery of the Church of England And these words do not become a Minister of the Gospel His reply was God Damn the Gospel This is truth said Oates I speak it in the presence of God and Man The whole substance of this attestation Smith absolutely forswore saying Not one word of this is true upon my Oath Then addressing himself to Oates 'T is a wonderful thing said he you should say this of me But I will sufficiently prove it against you That you have confounded the Gospel And denied the Divinity too THis is the Sum of the Evidence given as well by Dr. Oates against Dugdale Turbervil and Smith as by Dugdale Turbervil and Smith against Dr Oates From which fatal manner of self-condemning and Perjuring each other The Papists with two good consequence draw these deductions Either Oates attesting these things against the aforenamed Witnesses In the word of a Priest As he was a Minister of the Gospel Sincerly In the presence of God and Man c. Did give true Evidence or not If he did Then are Dugdale Turbervil and Smith both in their Testimony against Colledge and in their several Oaths here against Oates doubly forsworn But if Oates did not give here true Evidence as the other three positively Swear he did not then is he guilty of manifest Perjury So that from the reciprocal Testimony of each other in this matter It is an undenyable demonstration Either Oates the Pillar of the Plot or Dugdale Turbervil and Smith the joynt Supporters of it or Both and All are Perjur'd Men and can justly Challenge no right of beleif or credit to any thing they ever did or shall swear Hence the Attorney General in this very Tryal ingeniously complained It is an unhappy thing That Dr. Oates should come in against these Men that supported his Evidence before And Mr. Serjeant Jefferies rightly inculcated to the Jury If Dugdale Smith and Turbervil be not to be believed you Perjure said he three Men And in them trip up the Heels of all the Evidence and Discovery of the Plot. In like manner The Papists argue If Oates also be not to be believed the whole Fabrick of the Plot Falls What Dr. Oates the Quondam Top-Evidence The prime Discoverer The Saviour of the King and Nation from Popish Massacre He swear false He not to be believed What Account shall be given to God and the World for the Bloud-shed and the Severities used upon his Sole or chief Evidence Yet it is impossible if Dugdale Smith and Turbervil Swear not false Oates should Swear true Or if he Swear not false They should Swear true And as it is impossible both should Swear true So is it next to impossible if either Swear false the Plot should be true However most assuredly one part of the Witnesses against my Lord Stafford without which the other could never have found credit are here by their very Compartners proved Perjur'd Men. IT is objected They might all of them peradventure have sworn true before Though some of them for certain Swear false now The Papists answer So might they all of them for certain have sworn false before though some of them peradventure swear true now We are not to Judge of Men's past or future proceedings in order to Justice by what they possibly might be but by what they probably were or will be And to make a rational Judgment herein we have no other Rule to guide us in the knowledge of covert intentions then the Test of Overt actions Seing therefore these Witnesses are proved actually Perjur'd We have no rational ground to believe but that upon the same motives and in the same concurence of Circumstances they both did and will commit the same Crimes Men of lost Consciences and desperate Fortunes allured by gain and encouraged by Indempnities regard not what when nor how they Swear And my Lord Stafford had just Cause to say If it be permitted these Men daily to frame new accusations If easy Credit be given to all their Fables And whatever they shall from time to time Invent may pass for good Evidence Who can be secure At this rate they may by degrees Impeach the whole Nation both Catholicks and Protestants for Crimes which neither they nor any Man else ever yet dream't on It is also objected by Colledge's Party That Dugdale Smith and Turbervil are Papists in Masquerade and now made use on to Sham off the Popish Plot by turning it upon the Presbyterians Wherefore though credit may be given them when they Swear against Papists yet the same credit ought to be denyed when they bear Testimony against his Majesties true Protestant Subjects The Papists answer First Granted that Dugdale Smith and Turbervil be real Papists how is it proved they were imployed to Sham off the Plot Why may not Papists be good Witnesses against the Presbyterians in point of Treason without Suspition of a Sham Is Treason a thing so strange and unheard of amongst the Presbyterians Or why should credit be given to the Witnesses when they Swear against the Papists who are only charged with a Design to Kill the King And Credit be denyed to the same Witnesses when they Swear against those who actually Killed the King Secondly What the least Argument or Appearence is there that Dugdale Smith and Turbervil are Papists or Popishly affected They profess the Protestant Religion They frequent the Protestant Church They receive the Protestant Communion They take all Oaths and Tests can be required of them as was acknowledged in this very Tryal They practise neither Fasting Pennance nor other works of Supererrogation the Symptomes of Popery They pursue their former Design of Swearing against the Papists with as much obstinacy and violence as ever as was likewise proved in this Tryal And is it possible the Papists should imploy in their Shams and Intrigues if they had any the very Persons who at the same time make it their Trade and Lively-hood to cut their Throats Indeed if any of the Witnesses against my Lord Stafford be Popishly affected It is Dr. Oates Whose present Disparagement of his fellow Evidence look's said Mr. Sollicitor General as if he were again returning to St. Omers Lastly It is argued The Jury bringing in Colledge Guilty of High Treason by that very Verdict cleared Dugdale Smith and Turbervil of the Perjury charged upon them by Dr. Oates It is answered First The Jury brought in their Verdict against Colledge not upon the sole Testimony of Dugdale Smith and Turbervil but more especially upon the Evidence given by Sir William Jennings and Mr. Maisters Persons of known worth and honesty As also upon pregnant proof made and acknowledged in a manner by Colledge himself That he by Combination with others appeared in open Arms at an appointed time and place ready for and Designing publique Acts of Hostility in the very presence of the King yet without his Knowledge or Authority which by
the Law is adjudged Treason 2ly The Papists do not undertake to make good Oates's Charge of Perjury against Dugdale Smith and Turbervil Nor theirs against him But only to shew that the guilt of this Horrid Crime lyeth amongst them And consequently whether it be charged upon Oates as the Chief Swearing-Master and Original Author of the Plot Or upon Dugdale Smith and Turbervil at his Pedants and Accessaries in the Imposture Or as is most rational upon Both and All of them It follow 's That the Lord Stafford dyed by Perjury And Roman Catholicks have wrongfully suffered by their Villanies the loss of their Fortunes their Estates their Liberties their Lives Luke 19. Verse 22. Out of thine own Mouth will I Judge thee Thou Wicked Servant THus I have here Briefly and Impartially set down what occur's to me on this occasion And now for an Appology to the whole Treatise Seing the Papists as well as all other Men have a natural right when Impeached to defend their Innocence I hope it will not be Imputed a fault in me to have Rehearsed some of their Arguments as they lay within the Limits and Sphere of my Design If any Persons of Depraved Judgments shall from hence draw sinister Reflections upon the Justice of the Nation I declare they abuse both the Government themselves and Me by such their unjust Paraphrase FINIS Some Errors escaped the Press PAge 1. Line 30. for lesse read least p. 14. l. 36. for it is credible r. is it credible p. 30. 1. 10. for Deposited r. Deposed Ibid. 1. 16. for left himself to r. left to himself p. 31. l. 35. for injured r. invred p. 37. 1. 3. for Railed r. Railyed p. 39. 1. 2. for addressed r. addressed p. 49. 1. 37. for justifiable to her Tenents r. justifiable by her Tenents p. 54. 1. 36. for Creature r. Creator p. 67. 1. 12. for Implored r. I Implere Tryal p. 4. Pag. 7 c. Pag. 17 c The motives of his Perversion His Imployment in England pag. 21. c. His Contribution for Arms c. 50. l. Armies ready at an hours warning The Popes contribution 1000 l. Pag 25. c Pag. 25. c. his feigned Conversion The Provincial of Castile contribution 10000 l. Pickering receive'd a Discipline Afterwards a Promise of 30000 Masses Page 32. A Twenty pound Debt returned for a Reward to kill the King page 30 Page 17. The Papists plea against the Plot in general Pag. 70. Page 123. a Coleman's Tryal Coleman's Letters Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murder Pag. 20. Pag. 87. Pag. 136. Fire-Balls Sham-Plots c. The Votes of both Houses of Parliament declaring it a Plot. * See the Tryals of Wakeman Corker Marshal Earl of Castlemain Sir Tho. Gascoin Lady Powis Tempest c. Gunpowder-Treason French Massacre c. Ireland's Tryal Page 40. c. The first onset against My Lord. My Lords Address Page 25. c. Pag. 24. c. Dugdal 's Infamy and Beggery Pag. 94. c. Pag. 84. c. Pag. 87. c. Pag. 145 c. Pag. 163. Pag. 175 Pag. 147 Pag. 163. Pag. 168. Dugdale's Perjury Pag. 87. c. Pag. 175. Pag. 74. page 147. page 83. c page 80 c Page 132 c. Page 174. Page 177. Page 175. Page 178. Dugdales Subornation of Oaths Page 90. c. Pag. 138. c. Dugdale 's Improbable manner of Swearing Page 22. Page 46 c. Page â—28 c. Page 130 c. This Oates affirms in Langhorns Tryal Page 101. Page 179. Oates's new Porgeries Page 102. Page 25. Page 126. Oates his Apostacy and Sacriledge Page 123. Turbavil's Perjury in seven Particulars Page 120 c. Pag. 122. Pag. 152. Page 109. Page 151. Page 108. Page 113. Page 181. Page 106 Page 180. Page 112. Page 110 Page 182. Page 101. Page 116. Turbervil 's loose manner of Life Page 154. Page 163. c. The sum of my Lord's Plea as to matters of Fact Page 167. c. My Lord's Plea as to matters of Law Page 199. c. The sum of the Evidence against my Lord. Page 170. Page 171 c. Page 184. Page â—â—â— Answer to 〈◊〉 Lord's Plea in matters of Law Page 190. My Lord 's particular Address Page 198. Page 212. My Lord High Steward's Speech His Religion imputed to him as the Câ—â—se of his Guilt Page 21â— The Sentence Page 54. Page 53. Ibid. Ibid Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. An Objection Answered The intent of this Epistle 〈…〉 Christ a Eph. 2. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 22. applicable by Faith b Mark 16. 16 Heb. 11. 6. c Eph. 4. 4. c. Which is but One d Jam. 2. 10. e 1 Cor. 1. 20. Mat. 16. 17. Supernatural By the Divine Providence to be learnt f Isai 35. 8. By the Divine Providence to be learnt g Joh. 9. 41. h Mat. 11. 25. i John 15. 22. Not from private Interpretation of Scripture but from the Universal Church dilated continued and guided by the Holy Ghost for that end k 2 Pet. 3. 16. Pro. 14. 12. Mat. 22. 29. l 1 Jo. 4. 1 6. Prov. 12. 15. m Mat. 18. 17. Luke 10. 16. n Psal 2. 8 sa 2. 2 c. 49. 6. Matth. 5. 14. o Isai 59. 21. Joh. 16. 13. Ezek 37. 26. Eph. 5. 25. c. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Mat. 16. 18. p Mat. 28 20. Joh. 14 16. q Deut 17. â—8 c. Mat. 23. 2. This Church is the same with the Roman Chtholick From the Testimony of which we believe the Scripture to be Gods Word Divine Revelations only Matters of Faith r Can. 6. 8. Joh. 10. 16. Rom. 15. 5. Joh. 17. 22. Philip 2. 2. s Mat. 16. 18. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Mat. 18. 17. t Isai 59. 21. Joh. 14. 26. u 1 Cor. 11. 19. Mat. 18. 17. What Heresie what Schism How Matters of Faith are proposed by the Church x Tit. 3 10. 1 Cor. 1. 10. cap. 12. 25. y Joh. 5. 39. z Acts 15. per tot a 2 Thes 2. 15. cap. 3. 6. 2 Tim. 2. 2. b Jam. 2. 18. Gal. 1. 7 8. What is the Authority of General Councils c Deut. 17. 8. Mat. 18. 17. Acts 15. pertot Luke 10 16. Heb. 13. 7. 17. An Explanation of the same Authority d Joh. 14 16. e 1 Tim. 6. 20. A Deduction from thence concerning Allegiance A second Deduct on concerning the same Of the Oath of Allegiance The Bishop of Rome Supreme Head of the Church but not Infallible d Mat. 16. 17. Luke 22. 31. Jo 21. 17. e Eph. 4 11 c. Nor hath any Temporal Authority over Princes 1 Pet. 2. v. 17. c. The Church not responsible for the Errors of particular Divines King-Killing Doctrine Damnable Heresie Conc. Const Sess 15. Personal misdemeanours not to be imputed to the Church No Power on Earth can authorise Men to Lye Forswear Murther c. Equivocatâ—on not allowed in the Church Of Sacramental Absolution a Ex. 18. 21. 2 Cor. 7. 10. b Psa 32. 5. Pro.