of the holy Catholique Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the world that love the same Lord Jesus in sincerity and call on his name agreeing with those truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testaments though in Charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for salvation through the merits of Christ Jesus his blood I rely on his merits I trust to for the salvation of my own soul Though to this Faith good works are necessary not meritorious in us but onely made meritorious by Christ his death by his all sufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteouss they become meritorious but in us they are no other then as defiled rags And truly as I am a Member of the Church so I told you I was a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the world They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable design and that I had a great interest in the knowledge and practice thereof and that for the saving my life I would have discovered and betrayed I cannot tell what I hope my conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermeddle in such an action and go so contrary to the practice of my profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a knowledge of that design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a design upon the City of London for the firing of it I so much tremble at the thought of the thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a design if my heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhor the thing I should have been the first discoverer of it nor ever had I correspondency or meetings with such persons as would have carried on such a design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond to my remembrance I never saw the face of that honourable person in my life It is said One Lords day I did preach at Saint Gregory's and the next Lords day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings hand and brought I cannot tell what orders and instructions from him this I shall say For these three years last past together I have not been sixty miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those places then threescore miles It is said that I kept correspondence with one Barrow and Bishop they are persons I have heard of their names but never saw their faces and to my knowledge I do not know they know me nor do I know them at all but onely as I have heard of their names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highness was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a sheaf of Corn he meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on fire by sedition and combustions and promoting designs Here truly I do say and have it from many of those that are Judges of the High Court that upon examination of the business they have not found me a meddler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore that it was a very uncharitable act in them who ever they were that brought such accusations against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was malice it might be zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be sentenced to this place the God of mercy pardon and forgive them all and truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a Member of the Community whereon behalf I have been speaking I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them he blessed them and ascended up to heaven My trust is in the mercy of the most High I shall not miscarry and however my dayes are shortned by this unexpected doom and shall be brought untimely to the grave I cannot go without my prayers for a blessing upon all the people of this Land and cannot but bless them all in the Name of God and beseech God to bless them in all their wayes and his blessing be upon them Let us pray O most glorious Lord God thou whose dwelling is so far above the highest Heavens that thou humblest thy self but to look upon the things that are in heaven and that are in earth and thou doest whatsoever thou wilt both in heaven in earth in the sea and in all deep places in thy hands are the hearts of all men and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt O Lord look in mercy and compassion we beseech thee on this great and innumerous people of this Land look upon them O Lord with an eye of pitty not with an eye of fury and indignation O look not upon all those great and grievous sins that have provoked thee most justly to wrath and displeasure against us Gracious God who can stand in thy sight when thou art angry when thou with rebuke doest 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 lyes heavy upon us and thou hast vexed us with thy scourges thou hast made us a reproach and a by-word amongst our Neighbours and the very heathen laugh us to scorn O that thou wouldest turn us again O Lord God of Hosts that thou wouldest shew us the light of thy countenance that we may behold it that thou wouldest humble us for all those sins and grievous transgressions that are amongst us for those Atheisms for those infidelities horrid blasphemies and prophaneness for those sacriledges for those Heresies for those Schisms Errors and all those blindnesses of heart pride vain glory and hypocrisie for that envy hatred and malice and all uncharitableness that hath set us one against another that we are so dashed one against another even to destroy each other Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah O Lord we are like those Moabites and Ammonies 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 forreign enemies and the enemies of thee and thy Christ our Saviour might have swallowed us up
for fear or favour backslide or depart from the same and give them the assistance of thy Spirit that may enable them so to preach thy word that may keep the people upright in the midst of a corrupted and corrupt generation And good Lord bless thy people every where with hearing ears understanding hearts conscientious souls and obedient lives especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word truly serving thee in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of their lives And we beseech thee of thy goodness and mercy to comfort and succour all those that in this transitory life be in trouble sorrow need sickness or any other adversity Lord help the helpless and comfort the comfortless visit the sick relieve the oppressed help them to right that suffer wrong set them at liberty that are in prison restore the banished and of thy great mercy and in thy good time deliver all thy people out of their necessities Lord do thou of thy great mercy fit us all for our latter end for the hour of death and the day of judgement and do thou in the hour of death and at the day of judgement from thy wrath and everlasting damnation good Lord deliver us through the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ In the mean time O Lord teach us so to number our our dayes and me my minutes that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom that we may be wise unto salvation that we may live soberly godly and righteously in this present world denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Lord teach us so to live that we may not be afraid to dye and that we may so live that we may be alwayes prepared to dye that when death shall seize upon us it may not surprise us but that we may lift up our heads with joy knowing that our redemption draws nigh and that we shall be for ever happy being assured that we shall come to the felicity of the chosen and rejoyce with the gladness of the people and give us such a fulness of thy holy Spirit that may make us stedfast in this faith and confirme us in this hope indue us with patience under thy afflicting hand and withal a chearful resolution of our selves to thy divine disposing that so passing the pilgrimage of this world we may come to the Land of promise the heavenly Canaan that we may reign with thee in the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed name and words we further call upon thee saying Our Father c. Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arme O Lord be the defence of me and all other thy servants thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ our salvation thy true and holy word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort and consolation to the end and in the end through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen His Speech and Prayer ended with much meekness and spiritual consolation He submitted his neck to the stroak of the Axe to as great a loss of the Church of Christ and of all good men as hath happened in our times I have the more enlarged my self that my Reader might not without a kinde of a consternation or possession of strange amazement pass by the concernments of this blessed Heroe The same day of Doctor Hewets tryal was also tryed John Mordant of Clement Danes Esquire with whom he was a fellow-prisoner the charge against him was for combining with Henry Bishop of Parham in Sussex Gent. Hartgil Baron and Francis Mansil with divers others for raising War against Oliver Lord Protector in the behalf of Charles Stuart and confering with J. Stapely Esq Henry Mallory and others how to effect the same and delivering Commissions to several persons in the name of and as from the said Charles Stuart c. He stood long upon it as did the Doctor before to have Councel assigned him and that he might be tryed by a Jury but finding it would not be granted he at last pleaded not guilty many witnesses deposited against him yet he by his ingenuity so cleared himself that notwithstanding many endeavours to the contrary he was discharged July the 17. following Collonel Ashton and John Betley were executed the one in Tower-street the other in Cheapside Collonel Ashton was the first being drawn on a Sled that Worthy Divine Doctor Warmestry submitting for the good of a poor Christians soul to lye along with him upon the Sled that he might lose no time for his spiritual converse They were drawn from Newgate to Towerstreet over against Mark-lane end where a Gibbet was erected As he ascended the Ladder Doctor Warmestry said Almighty God who is a strong Tower be with thee and make thee know and feel that there is no other name under heaven whereby to attain everlasting life but by the name of Jesus The Blessing of God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost be with you henceforth and for ever Amen He being upon the Ladder exprest a great deal of confidence he had in the merits and mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not doubting but that through the red Sea of his blood he should arrive at the heavenly Canaan and in little space behold his Saviour whom his soul so much longed after Then fixing his eyes upon the multitude he spake to this effect I am brought here to a shameful death I am an English man borne and as many know a Gentleman born I was drawn into this business by several persons and am now brought here for my former sins God hath delivered me several times from several judgements he hath visited me at this time because I slighted and did not pursue that repentance that I promised Therefore I desire all good people to leave off their sins for Christ his sake and become new men for it is that that brings all men to ruine I beseech God of mercy have mercy upon my soul Lord God I come to thee Lord the Father of heaven have mercy upon me O God the Son Redeemer of the world have mercy upon me O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon me Remember not my offences but spare me good Lord God I beseech thee spare thy servant whom thou hast redeemed for thy dear Sons sake I have no more to say but desire the prayers of all good people Having ended his Speech he committed his spirit into the hands of God and having said Lord have mercy upon my soul he was turned off the Ladder and instantly cut down his belly ripped up and his bowels burnt in a fire ready prepared for that purpose he being not yet dead then was his head cut off and his body divided into four quarters put into a basket and conveyed back to Newgate Next they proceeded and fetcht John Betley for there was a great deal
another place I have spoken very largely and liberally of it I believe you will hear by other means what arguments I used in that case but truly that that is a stranger you that are English men behold here an English man now before you and acknowledged a Peer not condemned to dye 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 Laws 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 dye I take it for maintaining the Fifth Commandment enjoyned by God himself which enjoyns Reverence and Obedience to Parents All Divines on all hands though they contradict one another in many several opinions yet most Divines do 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 dye here for keeping for obeying that Fifth Commandment 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 judgement upon another himself was brought to suffer by an unjust judgement 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 do here profess to you that truly I did give my Vote to that Bill of the Earl of Strafford I doubt not but God Almighty hath washed that away with a more precious Blood that is with the Blood of his 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 the least degree of malice in the doing of it but I must confess again to Gods Glory and the accusation of my own frailty and the frailty of my nature that truly it was an unworthy cowardize not to resist so great a torrent as carried that business at that time And truly this I think I am most guilty of but malice I had none but whatsoever it was God I am sure hath pardoned it hath given me the assurance of it that Christ Jesus his Blood 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 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 Charles that dyed last God Almighty preserve our King that now is his Son God send him more fortunate and longer dayes God Almighty so assist him that he may exceed both the vertues and sufficiences of his Father for certainly I that have been a Councellour 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 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 strong apprehensions much honour in his nature and truly a very perfect English man in his inclinations I pray God restore him to this Kingdom and unite the Kingdoms one to another to the happiness both of you and him that he may long live and reign among you and that that Family may reign till thy Kingdom come that is while all temporal power is consumated I beseech God of his mercy give much happiness 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 own hearts can wish 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 are I know not nor I will not 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 wayes of obedience to his commands to his Majesty that this Kingdom may be a happy and glorious Nation again and that your King may be a happy King in so good and so obedient people God Almighty keep you all God Almighty preserve this Kingdom God Almighty preserve you all Having ended his Speech he called for the Executioner on whom he bestowed five pounds saying to him I not onely forgive thee from my soul but desire of God to give thee grace for a better employment Having stood still a while he said God Almighty stench this blood God Almighty stench stench stench this issue of blood this will not do the business God Almighty finde out another way to do it Then having taken his leave of those friends and servants that were about him he addrest himself to prayer and upon a sign given by him had his head severed from his body by the Executioner Our forementioned Poet better affected to this Honourable Lord then to the other two that dyed with him bestows this Epitaph upon him in remembrance of his Vertues Here Virtue Valour Charity and all Those rare endowments we Celestial call Included are nor wonder at the story Capel lies here Loyalties chiefest glory I shall close up all onely give you the abstract or rather the introduction to an Elegy that a deserving person bestowed on him Disturb me not my soul is mounting high To pyramide great Capels memory I le range my thoughts it is a world that shall Be rul'd by Capels Eccho hallow all Ye sacred Muses and conspire to bring Materials for this work and learn to sing For should you weep your eyes might undertake To drown the world which I intend to make Forbear your tears are useless you must now Gaze upon earth with an undaunted brow Capel hath taught us how to entertain The pallid looks of fate by him we gain The art of dying and from him we have The definition of a deathless Grave Rare soul I say
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 wouldest 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 those stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word mollifie them by the oyl of thy grace smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed O that thou wouldest 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 provocation against thee and that thou wouldest be pleased in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all our sins Lord let his blood that speaks better things then that of Abel cry louder in thine ears for mercy then all those mischiefs and wickednesses that have been done amongst us for vengeance O besprinkle our polluted but penitent souls in the blood of Jesus Christ that we may be clean in thy sight and that the light of thy countenance may shine upon us Lord be pleased to seal unto our souls the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins say to each of our souls and say that we may hear it that thou art well pleased with us and appeased towards us Lord do thou by the Spirit assure our spirits that we are thy children and that thou art reconciled to us in the blood of Jesus Christ To this end O Lord create in us new hearts and renew right spirits within us Cast us not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from us but give us the comfort of thy help and establish us with thy free spirit Help us to live as they redeemed ones and Lord let us not any longer by our wicked lives deny that most holy faith whereof our lips have for so long time made profession but let us that call on the name of the Lord Jesus depart from iniquity and hate every evil way Help us to cast away all our transgressions whereby we have transgressed and make us new hearts Carry us along through the pilgrimage of this world supplying us with all things needful for us thy grace alone is sufficient for us Lord let thy grace be assistant to us to strengthen us against all the temptations of Satan especially against those sins whereunto we are most prone either by custom or constitution or most easily provoked O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spiritual judgements and desertions Give us not over to our own hearts lusts to our vile lewd and corrupt affections give us not over to hardness and impenitency of heart but make us sensible of the least sin and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our lives and conversations and Lord keep us from presumptuous sins O let not them get the dominion over us but keep us innocent from the great offence O Lord our strength and our Redeemer And Lord sanctifie unto us all thy methods and proceedings with us fitting us for all further tribulations and tryals whatsoever thou in thy divine pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us Lord give us patience constancy resolution and fortitude to undergo them that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we may fear none ill knowing that thou O Lord art mercifully with us and that with thy rod as well as with thy staff thou wilt support and comfort us and that nothing shall be able to 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 Catholique Church and grant that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree together in the truth of thy holy Word and live in unity and godly love Thou hast promised O Lord the gates of hell shall not prevail against thy Church perform we beseech thee thy most gracious promises both to thy whole Church and to that part of it which thou hast planted and now afflicted in these sinful Lands and Nations wherein we live arise O Lord and have mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon her yea the time is come for thy servants think upon her stones and it pittieth them to see her in the dust Lord maintain thine own cause rescue the light of thy truth from all those clouds of errours and heresies which do so much obscure it and let the light thereof in a free profession break forth and shine again among us and that continually even as long as the Sun and Moon endures To this end O Lord bless us all and bless him the posterity which in Authority ought to rule over and be above us Bless him in his soul and in his body in his friends and in his servants and all his relations Guide him by thy Counsel prosper him in all undertakings granting him a long prosperous and honourable life here upon earth and that he may attain to a blessed life hereafter And gracious God look mercifully upon all our Relations and do thou bring them to the light of thy truth that are wandering and ready to fall Confirm them in thy truth that already stand show some good token for good unto them that they may rejoyce O let thy good hand of providence be over them in all their wayes And to all orders and degrees of men that be amongst us give religious hearts to them that now rule in Authority over us Loyal hearts in the subjects towards their Supream and loving hearts in all men to their Friends and charitable hearts one towards another And for the continuance of thy Gospel among us restore in thy good time to their several places and callings and give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops Pastors and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively word and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments And Lord bless thy Church still with Pastors after thine own heart with a continual succession of faithful and able men that they may both by Life and Doctrine declare thy truth and never
Secondly for his dear Wife and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and assurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life then of this Thirdly for the King Church and State And lastly for his enemies with almost the same ardour and affection After this sending for my Lord of Norwich and Sir John Owen I read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday and then after a short Homily I used for the present occasion we received the Sacrament in which action he behaved himself with great Humility Zeal and Devotion And being demanded after we had done how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and chearfuller for that Heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an Agony before his Passion and that was the parting with his Wife eldest Son Son-in-law two of his Vncles and Sir T. C. especially the parting with his most dear Lady which indeed was the saddest spectacle that ever I beheld In which occasion he could not chuse but confess a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her and the rest of his friends particularly in blessing the young Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of Davids Psalms and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy saith he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this with much ado I perswaded his Wife and the rest to be gone and then being all alone with me he said Doctor The hardest part of my work in this world is now past meaning the parting with his Wife Then he desired me to pray preparatively to his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods glory for the endearing of his dead Masters memory his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of ambition or vanity This being done they were all carried to Sir Robert Cotton's house where I was with him till he was called unto the Scaffold and would have gone up with him but the Guard of Souldiers would not suffer me The same day he suffered he writ this following Letter to his Wife My dearest life My eternal life is in Christ Jesus my worldly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech thee take care of thy health sorrow not afflict not thy self too much God will be unto thee better then an Husband and to my Children better then a Father I am sure he is able to be so I am confident he is graciously pleased to be so God be with thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many comforts to thee and my Children is the fervent prayer of Thy c. March the 9. 1648. was the day appointed for his beheading as also of Duke Hamilton and the Earl of Holland A Scaffold being erected in the new Palace-yard at Westminster over against the great Hall Gate The first that mounted the same was Duke Hamilton attended with Doctor Sibbald who after much delay and many impertinent discourses hoping as it was thought for a politick Reprieve but none coming he submitted his neck to the Ax upon whom an unlucky Wit writing his Epitaph thus descants A politition yet a fool A teacher and yet went to School A Hempen cord of silken twist A Papist yet a Calvanist A meer OGYGES yet a stranger To prudence that foresees a danger Here lies hee 's but to Scotland gone No worser Hell 't is Hamilton The next that entered the lists of death was the Earl of Holland one whose oft changing from side to side had made him less acceptable in the eyes of the people though the disposition of affairs altering their postures so often may in part plead his excuse no doubt he was real in his last undertaking He came to the Scaffold attended on by Mr. Bolton having made a long speech to the people of his honest intentions for the good of the Kingdom and desiring of God that it would please him the people might look upon the posterity of the King and that they might be called in again after many fervent prayers he had his head severed from his body upon whom our forementioned Poet thus Satyrically goes on By Venus self beneath this stone Lies Holland that spruce Earle His carcase here his head is gone To Bridget his brave Girle Who makes it her memento mori While she lies close to Captain Pory Last of all our honoured Heroe mounted the Scaffold to court grim death with an undaunted brow he came not as the two-former attended with a Minister having before prepared his way for death Coming to the front of the Scaffold he said as followeth 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 that 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 a one as truly I never knew none so good I am so far from being a Papist which some have very unworthily charged me withal 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 do in the matter of Salvation my Anchor hold is this That Christ loved me and gave himself for me that is 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 dye 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 honour of it but I will not trouble you much with this discourse because in
eminency of it but as many passages in it from his own lips give further illustrations of his Life The first Tryal of Lieutenant Collonel John Lilburne was at the Guild Hall in London the 24. of October 1649. being Wednesday The Commissioners Names of the extraordinary Commission of Oyer and Terminer for the Tryal of Lieutenant Collonel John Lilburn were these Thomas Andrews Lord Mayor Richard Keble Lord Commissioner Philip Jermyn Judge of the upper Bench Thomas Gates Baron John Pulestone Justice of the Common Pleas. Francis Thorp Barron and Member Robert Nicolas Member Richard Aske Justices of the Upper Bench. Peter Warburton Justice of the Common Pleas. Alexander Rigby Baron but absent Sir Thomas Fowler Sir Henry Holcroft Sir William Row Sir Richard Saltonstall Sir Richard Sprignall Sir John Woolistone Sir William Roberts John Green John Clarke John Parker Serjeants at Law William Steel Recorder John Fowke Thomas Foote John Kendrick Thomas Cullum Simon Edmonds Samuel Avery John Dethick Robert Tichburn John Hayes Aldermen Henry Proby Common Sergeant Thomas Brigandine Nathaniel Snape Edward Rich Owen Roe Tobias Lisle Austin Wingfield Richard Downton Daniel Taylor William Wibend Silvanus Taylor The Court was called O yes made All persons that were adjourned to the Court required to make their appearance The Lieutenant of the Tower of London Collonel Francis West was called to bring forth his Prisoner according to the precept Whereupon Collonel West Lieutenant of the Tower brought up the Prisoner out of the Irish Chamber where he had been some time before the sitting of the Court and was guarded by the said Lieutenant and a special Guard of Souldiers besides And being brought to the Bar the Sheriffs of London were directed to take the Prisoner into their custody Silence commanded the Crier said John Lilburne hold up thy hand Lieutenant Collonel Lilburne directed himself to Master Keble one of the Keepers of the great Seal as the President of the Court and said to this purpose Sir will it please you to hear me and if so by your favour thus All the priviledge for my part that I shall crave this day at your hands is no more but that which is properly and singly the Liberty of every Free-born English-man viz. the benefit of the Laws and Liberties thereof which by my Birth-right and Inheritance is due unto me the which I have fought for as well as others have done with a single and upright heart and if I cannot have and enjoy this I shall leave this Testimony behinde me that I died for the Laws and Liberties of this Nation and upon this score I stand and if I perish I perish And if the Fact that I have done cannot be justified by the Law of England let me perish I mention none of this for the gaining of mercy or by way of merit no I scorn it for mercy I crave from none but from the hands of my God alone with whom I hope and am assured one day to rest whom I have set before my eyes and so walked as believing I am alwayes in his presence in whose power my confidence is fixed whom I take and own to be my stay my staff my strength and support and in whom I rest as the life of my life and whom I hope to meet with joy when this fading and uncertain life shall have an end to live with him in glory and blessedness for evermore And because I would not willingly trouble you with many words to cause you to spend your time impertinently therefore Sir in reference to the Court I shall crave but so much liberty from you as was given to Paul when he pleaded for his life before the Heathen Roman Judges which was free liberty of speech to speak for himself the which I now humbly crave as my right not onely by the Law of God and Man but also by the law and light of Nature And I shall do it with that respect reason and judgement that doth become a man that knows what it is to plead for his life I hope Gode hath given me ability to be master of my own passion and endowed me with that reason that will dictate unto me what is for my own good and benefit I have several times been arraigned for my life already I was once arraigned before the House of Peers for sticking close to the Liberties and Priviledges of this Nation and those that stood for them being one of those two or three me that first drew their swords in Westminster Hall against Collonel Lunsford and some scores of his associates At that time it was supposed they intended to cut the throats of the chiefest men then sitting in the House of Commons I say for this and other things of the like nature I was arraigned by the Kings special Command and Order the first of May 1641. I mention it to this end that when I came before the House of Peers where was about three or fourscore Lords then sitting at the beginning of the parliament who then were supposed the most arbitrary of any power in England yet I had from them free liberty of speech to speak for my life at their Bar without check or controll in the best manner that all those abilities God had given me would enable me and when I was at Oxford I was again arraigned as a Traytor before the Lord Chief Justice Heath for levying War at the Command of the then Parliament against the person of the King and when I came before him in the Guild Hall of Oxford he told me there being present with him as his fellow Judge Master Gardiner sometimes Recorder of the City of London now Sir Thomas Gardiner and others that sate by a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer from the King the which Commission I did not so well then understand as I hope I do now And my Lord Chief Justice Heath stood up and in the face of all the Court and in the face of all the Countrey present there told me Captain Lilburne you are brought here before us for High Treason for leavying War in Oxfordshire against your Sovereign Lord and King and though you be now in a Garrison and were taken in Arms in open hostility against the King yea Sir and I must now tell you in such hostility that we were but about seven hundred men at Brandford that withstood the Kings whole Army in the field about five hours together and fought it out to the very swords point and to the butt end of the Musket and thereby hindered the King from his then possessing the Parliaments Train of Artillery and by consequence the City of London in which very act I was taken a Prisoner without Articles or Capitulation and was by the King and his Party then lookt upon as one of the activest men against them in the whole company yet said Judge Heath we will not take advantage of that to try you by the rules of Arbitrary Marshal Law or any other
being by the divine disposal from the foregoing part of his life as strange as ever I have read in History His last words were to this effect Christian People I come hither to dye I am brought hither to dye and that I may dye Christian like I humbly beseech the assistance of your Christian prayers that by the benefit of them my passage may be the more easie Yet because men in that condition which it hath pleased God to reduce me to give the more credit to Speech in the discharge of my duty towards God I shall use a few words and so conclude I pray all of you joyn with me to praise this Almighty God to whom I desire to render all hearty thanks as for all his mercies so in particular for this that he hath brought me hither that whereas I owe a debt to sin and to nature that now I can pay the debt to nature I can pay it upon the account of Grace And because it is fit to render the blessed account of that hope that is in me I shall tell you to the praise of Almighty God that I have been born and bred up in the Doctrine of the Church of England I have no negative Religion believing to be saved by the onely merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ and whatsoever else is profest in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England authorized by Law humbly beseeching Almighty God to restore unto this Church her peace prosperity and patrimony whereof I have been an obedient and a loving however an unworthy Son and now both my hope being confident and my faith perfected there remains onely Christian Charity Charity we carry into heaven Charity on earth that I leave beseeching all whomsoever I have offended to forgive me as I from the bottom of my heart do all whomsoever blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me the sooner to heaven I bless Almighty God that he hath given me this advantage as he hath been merciful to me before the foundation of the world in my Saviour so that now he hath in mercy honoured me with a suffering for his name in obedience to his Commandment On this day sevennight I was summoned before that Justice which condemned me on Friday last praised be Almighty God that by this way he hath brought me nearer to himself My charge I presume is publick as my punishment is visible if there have been any thing in the management of my part being unskilful having discontinued my own countrey many years I shall beseech the Christian Charity of all you my beloved Countrey-men to impute it rightly to the ignorance of my unskilful wayes of managing of affairs it was objected unto me there that I had a vanity of delighting in strange tongues I do acknowledge that I was best skilled in the Italian but free from that vanity I thank Almighty God and therefore I would in defence of my life if it had been the custom here or the Judges favour have used that language which was almost as natural to me as my mother tongue It was objected that I did not so freely as a thorow-paced Cavalier own my Master I was told since I came into England this skill I have in our Laws that a legal denyal in Law might be tollerable I hope I did not exceed the bounds of that in any thing for God forbid that I should be ashamed of serving so good so pious so just a Master putting off his hat for this I rejoyce and I humbly beseech Almighty God to fill my heart and my tongue and all that hear me this day with thankfulness for it As to the business that another construction had been made and believed here then what was there the righteous God knoweth it if any weakness were in the management that was mine I was sent to serve and protect not to injure any as God acquits me of the intention of matter of fact as having not done any manner of evil that way however here understood blessed be his holy name again putting off his hat so those Gentlemen of the Turky Company if they would might acknowledge for they know it very well the impossibility of my doing them any manner of harm Whereas that of the Embassy objected against me that my Master honoured me with it though I was never worthy of it I was his messenger and Internuntio for the conservation onely of his good Subjects of all the Merchants untill such time as he could confirme that Gentlemen now Resident or to send any other and they themselves know that there was an unpossibility as I bless God there was an innocency in me unto any such intention to do them harm for my Masters commands were point blank the contrary I was onely sent for their good as I never owned the title so the very letters themselves speaking no other I never did so much as think of any manner of address to the Grand Signior but gave him the letter from my Master the rest of the English Nation that were there present may when they please assert so much This I would insert that those Gentlemen as they have been losers by the miscarriages of others may now have a breach of their charity with me but if it be as it seems it is now in this Countrey a sin to be loyal I hope my God hath forgiven that when it is upon harmless employment not invading any according to my just Masters order for indeed I have been alwayes bred up in the Religion of Loyalty my Allegiance hath been incorporated into my Religion and I have thought it a great part of the service due from me to Almighty God to serve the King again putting off his hat He said I need not make any apology for any thing in relation to the present Affairs in England for were I as I spake beformy Judges were I as evil as my sentence here hath made me black it were impossible for me to have prejudiced any body in England or to England belonging in that employment but I bless God for his infinite mercy in Jesus Christ who hath taken me to himself by this manner of way it was the best Physick for the curing of my soul and those that have done it have no more Power then that of my body I leave nothing behinde me but that I am willing to part withal all that I am going to is desirable and that you may all know that Almighty God hath wrought in me a total denyal of my self and that there is that perfect reformation of me within of my own corruptions by the blessed assistance of his holy spirit I desire Almighty God in the abundance of the bowels of his mercy in Jesus Christ not onely to forgive every enemy if any such be in the world here or wheresoever but to bring him into his bosom so much good and particular comfort as he may at any time whether the cause
of business done by the Executioner that day into Cheapside where formerly the Cross stood where was likewise a Gibbet set up being come to the place with a Minister the Minister read and the people sung with him a Psalm beginning thus O Lord consider my distress c. Then he went up the Ladder and said as followeth Lord receive my soul and be merciful to me I commit my soul into Almighty Gods hands for he is my Protector and Redeemer I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye for my conversation hath been such in Christ Jesus I hope I shall finde mercy As concerning them that are my enemies I pray God forgive them their sins I freely forgive them all that have done me wrong As for the late Plot I was never but once in company with them concerned therein I did know of such a thing but deny that I acted therein Shall I damn my soul at this instant I will speak the truth One Brandon that was one of them drew me into the business and his man I carrying work to him could not refrain his house he so often enticed me thereto and would not let me alone till he had got me into a house where we drank together I have no more to say as to the Plot but desire mercy from God Having this said the Executioner turned him off and the rest of the Sentence was executed upon him as before upon Collonel Ashton and his Head and Quarters were conveyed also to Newgate Some two dayes after one Edmund Stacy also about the same Conspiracy was executed in Cornhil over against the Exchange as also a Youth in Smithfield having the rope about his neck the horror of death being worse then death it self but for his souls health was reprieved the torrent of Blood being for a while stayed Whilest these Tragedies were acting on the Land a strange accident no less prodigeous happened on the water a Whale of a monstrous bigness at least sixty foot and of a proportionable breadth was cast up on the River of Thames near London which by the common people was accounted a Prognostication of the Protectors death which ensued not long after But to return to Flanders where we formerly left the Sea whereof like a sharp humour did alwayes nourish the wounds of incurable evils nor was the French their letting of her blood sufficient she wanted an English Physician to treat her Our Armies whose valours made not a stand at Mardike but with a gallant Resolution besieged Dunkirk which being a place of great importance the Spaniard intended to relieve and with an Army of sixteen thousand came within an English mile and a half of the French Quarters whereupon the English and French uniting their Forces leaving some part of them before Dunkirk to make good the approaches and guard the trenches with fifteen thousand men and ten Peeces of Cannon set upon the Spaniard whom after a long and sharp Fight they put to a total rout and confusion with the loss of three thousand five hundred men which Victocy was in a manner wholly attributed to the valor of the English The loss of this day lost the Spaniard Dunkirk who quickly after surrendered up the Town upon these following Conditions 1. That the Town shall be yielded up with all their great Guns their stores of Victuals Magazines of Arms and Ammunition without any embezlement 2. That all Officers and Souldiers shall have liberty to march out with their Arms Drums beating Colours flying two Peeces of Ordnance and their Baggage 3. That they shall have the liberty to march with a Convoy to conduct them to Saint Omers 4. That the Inhabitants should remain indempnified in their persons and goods and enjoying their former customs and priviledges for two years and not be molested touching the exercise of their Religion The Articles signed the Spaniards marched out being about one thousand Horse and Foot and seven hundred more that were wounded the French according as it was articled before put the English in possession thereof which ever since they have maintained I have heard of an expression of the Governours of Ostend A little before the Massacre there a person of quality being sent thither about the exchange of Prisoners after he was civilly treated the glasses of wine going freely about the Governour being in a safe place began to throw forth words to this effect Sir is this the mode of your Mushrom Protector hath he no other way to pay my Master the King of Spain for his Bullion but with Bullets Soon after the taking of Dunkirk deceased the Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to the Protector a Lady whom posterity will mention with an honourable Character who often interposed and became an humble Supplicant to her Father for many persons designed to dye her last requests as it was thought for some eminent persons being denied was a means of hastening her death which much sadned her fathers spirits nor did he long survive her her death causing more wounds in his heart then all he received in the Wars But as his severity was great towards his enemies so did he excell in gratitude unto his friends amongst other examples I shall instance in the person of one Duret a Frenchman who attended him during his Generalship and served him with so much fidelity and zeal as that he entrusted him with the mannaging and conduct of the greatest part of his Domestick Affairs alwayes retaining him nigh his person bearing so great an affection towards him and reposing so entire a confidence in him that during a great sicknes which he had in Scotland whereof it was thought he would have died he would not be served by any one nor receive any nourishment or any thing else that was administred unto him save from the hands of Duret who both day and night continued to watch by his Master tending him with a special care and assiduity not giving himself a moments rest until his master had recovered his perfect health which long and continual watches of Duret and the great pains he had taken drove him into a sad fit of sickness to recover him his endeared Master in retribution of his great services spared no cost but applied all the possible means that could be procured not onely by his commands but by his personal visits so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him Duret dying he sends over into France for his Mother Sister and two Nephews to requite in them the obligations he owed to his deceased Friend and Servant and whereas by reason of the continuance of the Stotch Wars he was as it were confined to the North he wrote unto his wife That she should proportion that kindness which during his absence she should shew unto them unto the Love which she bare unto him Insomuch that Durets mother was admitted into her own Family and seated at her own Table his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a