the Jesuits Letters containing Damnable Treason and sent for the most part by the Common Post came to his hands most of which he saw and read but could never produce one single Letter He informs us also of dreadful Oaths and Sacraments of Secrecy administred to the Conspirators before they were made privy to any dangerous Design yet with the same breath declares there were whole Armies both privy and ready to a design no less then of Cutting all the Protestants Throats throughout the Nation at an hours warning Nay he assures us there was a Free Pardon of all Sins Proclaimed every where at the Chappels to all Persons Men and Women whosoever would be active in Killing the King a notable way of concealing Secrets Is it possible this fellow should find credit in such gross such palpable Forgeries Oates likewise relates How that whilst he was Chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk the Priests attempted the utmost of their skill to perswade him out of his Religion by telling him The Church of England was upon it's last Legs Surely the Priests took him to be either a notorious Fool or Knave for otherwise they might doubtless have devised some more plausible and less dangerous Argument to convert a Protestant Minister Yet he feigned to be convinced by their reasons and was hereupon presently entertained by the Jesuits the sottish careless Jesuits who on a suddain intrusted this Neophite with all their concerns made him privy to all their most Damnable Intrigues And in short 't is most certain nothing of Treason Murder or Villany was contrived or even thought on by them without him By this means he became acquainted not only with the strange adventures of Pickerings loose Flint Whipping Thirty Thousand Masses c. But also with the manner of Firing the City Introducing Chimerical Armies French Irish Spanish c. Mustered up in the Deposition Nor is it a wonder the Jesuits should be so rash in discovering their Secrets to Oates Seeing he himself if you will believe him here also deposeth that some of them were so â—â—sperately mad as to Preach a publick Sermon before a company of â—â—dents wherein the Kings Legitimacy was vilified and abused and it was declared His Majesties Religion entituled him to nothing but sudden Death and Destruction Iâ— iâ— credible a Jesuit or any other in his wits should publickly Preach such Black Treason to a Company of Boyes But what shall we say of the Doctor 's tender Conscience and Zeal in preserving the King He tells us here he only feigned himself a Catholick on purpose to make Discoveries Alas good Man It was to save His Majesties life made him seem to the Papists what he really was not Yet O prodigious Impudence he owns at the same time he was conscious for above a year together of the daily attempts made by Groves and Pickering to Shoot the King He hourly expected for several Months the horrid effects of Sir George Wakeman's Poyson He was privy as he ad's else-where to the designed Assassination of the King at Windsor He knew the Ruffians were actually upon the Place and ready for the Villany He saw the Money sent to them for their encouragement and every moment waited to hear the fatal stroke was given Nevertheless this Man of Conscience whose watchful Eye so carefully guarded the King's Life all this while made no Discovery Though he knew for certain that the Pistols were all ready even at the King's Breast The Cup of Poyson at his Lips And the Dagger almost at his very Heart Yet he never cryed out Murder upon the Lord 's Annointed never called for immediate Succour never warned the King of his Eminent Danger never diverted the impending mischief never so much as opened his Mouth to disclose any of these horrid Treasons until such time as the King might have been killed a thousand times over Is this the Doctors Vigilancy Or rather is it not perfect Demonstration that all he hath Sworn of the Plot is damnable Perjury Jenison declares that though he often expressed to Mr. Ireland an horrid detestation of Treason and Bloodshed Yet Ireland as if he had a mind to hang himself was still urging this conscientious Man to Murder the King and when he could not prevail with him herein he would needs have him at last to nominate some Irish Ruffians whom he judged most proper for this Execrable Villany And thus far indeed Jenison acknowledgeth he condescended Now one would think a Man who had taken so deep an Impression of horrour and detestation of Bloodshed should have had some scruple in concealing so Hellish a Design and much more in nominating the very persons who were to effect it But that which seems above all most strange is the mighty reward the Jesuits proffered him in case he would joyn with the Four Ruffians in this Devilish enterprize Oates informs us Sir George Wakeman was to have fifteen thousand pounds to Poyson the King and Groves fifteen hundred for Shooting Him Dugdale also assures us he had not much less promised for the like attempt Yet when these Jesuits come to beat the Price with Jenison though a Man hard to be wrought upon they could afford him no more then twenty pounds and this only to be remitted of an Old Debt a wonderful encouragement to a Scrupulous Man for so desperate and damned an Exploit To conclude this whole matter The Papists aver if the Justice and Equity of their Cause be impartially considered the Integrity of their Principles rightly understood their formerly experienced Loyalty regarded The contrary practices of their chiefest Adversaries remembered The Infamy of the Witnesses and Inconsistancy of their Evidence duly weighed there will remain no colour of proof or even Suspicion of this fatal Plot which hath already drawn so much Innocent Blood and brought no small confusion both to Church and State The Process against my Lord in Particular ¶ 3. AFter a long and accurate discussion of the Plot in general The Court proceeded to take cognizance of what in particular affected my Lord the Prisoner at the Bar. In pursuance hereof the Managers regarding in all things a Methodical exactness first demanded before they produced their Evidence That none of my Lords Councel might stand near to prompt or advise him what he should say or answer as to matters of Fact wherewith he was charged Then they began by way of introduction to shew that they had made it out there was a Plot. That this Plot was a general design of the Popish party That it was not likely such a design could be carried on without the Concurrence of Persons of great Quality That therefore it was to be presumed my Lord at the Bar a Nobleman and a Zealous Papist had a share in it But what that share was and how far my Lord was engaged was to appear from the positive Evidence It will not be expected that my Lord one single Person of 68. years of
and others clearly demonstrating the busie Designs and Activity of the Writers They pressed home the execrable Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey charged upon the Papists as well by the Oaths of Captain Bedlow and Mr. Prance self-acknowledged Partners in the Assasination as also by a certain Letter sent from London to Tixall intimating the Murder of a Justice of Peace and communicated by Dugdale to divers Gentlemen in Stassordshire the third day after the Murder was committed They displayed to the full view the Sham-Plots and Counter-Contrivances whereby t is said the Papists would have suborned the Kings Evidence and turn'd all their Guilt upon His Majesty 's known and well-experienced Loyal Protestant Subjects They urg'd the firing the City the burning the Navy the calling in French-Armies Wild-Irish Spanish-Pilgrims c. asserted in the several Depositions and Narratives of Dr. Oats Captain Bedlow Mr. Dangerfield c. They recapitulated the several Tryals of Ireland Whitebread Langhorn c. And alledged the Votes of both Houses of Parliament declaring it a Plot. To strengthen all this they ript up the Cruelties of Queen Mary the French and Irish Massacres the Powder-Plot c. They anatomiz'd the wicked Principles from whence spring evil Practices of Murdering Lying Swearing Faith-breaking Equivocating c. imputed to the Papists as held by them lawful and matters of Faith In short nothing was omitted nothing neglected throughout the whole Process But every the least Circumstance enforced and advanced to its full proportion with such vigour of Wit and Industry as sitly corresponded to so great a Cause prosecuted by so high an Authority before so Illustrious Judges and August an Assembly When the Managers themselves had made these efforts to shew the Vniversal Conspiracy as they term'd it they produc'd six Witnesses to the same effect whereby to second and confirm what they had thus in general asserted Mr. Smith's Deposition THe first was Mr. Smith who deposed That going into France he became acquainted with Abbot Montague and one Father Bennet These persons to induce him to be a Catholick told him he should have an Imployment amongst them and that in a few years they would bring in their Religion into England right or wrong But this was not sufficiently prevalent with him to turn Papist yet he lived with them several years That at last he went into Italy where the Jesuits perswaded him to discourse with Cardinal Grimaldi the which he did That the Cardinal made much of him and he it was perverted him to the Romish Religion That upon occasion of shewing him a pair of Hangings this Cardinal told him He had great assurances the Popish Religion would prevail in England That there was but one in the way And that to accomplish their Designs they must take him out of the way That the Jesuits there also publickly preached and privately taught That the King of England being an Heretick whoever took him out of the way would do a meritorious act That after this he studied several years at Rome And that whilst he was in the Colledge he saw several of Coleman's Letters That being made a Priest he was sent into England with instructions to inform the Papists They were not obliged to obey the King but that they should endeavour to promote the Popish Religion That upon his arrival in England he was placed with one Mr. Jenison in the Bishoprick of Durham where his main Imployment was to root out the Jesuits as men ill-principled and to disswade the Papists from sending Moneys to Colledges beyond-seas That one Thomas Smith told him he received a Letter from the Lord Stafford wherein my Lord said He expected some sudden Change Dugdale's Deposition NExt to Mr. Smith was Stephen Dugdale who deposed That for about 15 or 16 years together he had been acquainted by several Letters and other means there was a Design carrying on for the bringing in of the Romish Religion That the Papists were to have Money and Arms ready against the King's Death for he said he heard nothing of killing the King till the year 78. That in October 78. my Lord Aston and others should go to dispose of certain Arms they received to the value of 30000 l. That the King of France was acquainted with all these Designs and that he would furnish the Papists with Men and afford them other Aid and Assistance if the King should die or be taken away That he saw a Letter writ to Mr. Evers for all the Jesuits Letters were returned to him wherein were these words This night Sir Edmundbury Godfrey is dispatch'd That he himself had contributed 500 l. for Arms c. to carry on the Design That about the year 78. there was an Indulgence published at all private Chappels wherein whosoever was active for killing the King should have a free Pardon of all their Sins That he was told at Meetings That the King being an Heretick it was lawful to kill him And that it was no more then to kill a Dog That he had heard That about the time the King should be killed several Parties should be provided with Arms and rise all on a sudden at an hours warning and so come in upon the Protestants and cut their Throats And if any did escape there should be an Army to cut them off in their Flight That he heard the Pope's daily In come was 24000 l. a day And that the same Pope as he thought had promised to contribute in the whole 1000 l. for the raising of Armies and carrying on the above mentioned Design Mr. Prance his Deposition THen Mr. Prance was produced who deposed That one Mr. Singleton a Priest told him He would make no more to stab forty Parliament Men then to eat his dinner which he was then at Dr. Oates his Deposition NExt Doctor Oates gave Evidence That in the year 76 he being then a Protestant and Chaplain in the Duke of Norfolk's Family One Mr. Kemish and one Mr. Singleton Priests advised him to hasten betimes to the Church of Rome for that the Protestant Religion was now upon its last leggs That hereupon having had before some suspicion of the designs of the Papists and growth of Popery to satisfie his curiosity he feigned himself a Convert was seemingly reconciled presently admitted by the Jesuits to do their business entrusted in their secrets and sent by them in April 77 with Treasonable Letters into Spain That e're he arrived at Validolid there were Letters got before him from England wherein was expressed That the King was dispatched which was a cause of great joy to the Fathers there But that this proved a mistake That during his abode in Spain he found the Ministers of that Court were very ready to advance Money which Money was returned into England And that the Provincial of the Jesuits of Castile had also advanced 10000 l. That soon after this he was present at a Sermon Preached
to some Students against the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy wherein likewise the Kings Legitimacy was villified and abused and it was declared that his Religion entitled him to nothing but Sudden death and Destruction That returning into England in November following and bringing Letters for Mr. Strange he heard Mr. Keines say in Mr. Strange's Chamber he was mighty sorry for honest Will meaning the Ruffian that was to kill the King that he had missed in his enterprise Here Mr. Oates thought good to tell their Lordships That the Papists were not so Zealous for the destruction of the King till the King had refused Coleman the Dissolving of the long Parliament Then he went on to acquaint them That in December he departed from London to St. Omers loaded with Letters from Strange and others importing the hope they had the next year to effect their Design That being at St. Omers he saw Letters out of Ireland whereby he found that there the Talbots and other persons were very zealous in raising of Forces and resolved to let in the French King That in February several of St. Omers were imployed to several places in Germany and Flanders to fetch and carry correspondences That in March Pickering attempting to kill the King the Flint of his Gun was loose and the King escaped for which Pickering received a Discipline and the other viz. William Groves a Chiding That in April he returned to London And that there was then a Consult held first at the White-horse-Tavern and then afterwards adjourned into particular Clubs where the Confederates did resolve on the Death of the King And that Groves should have 500l for his pains And Pickering being a Religious man should have 30000 Masses That in June he saw more Letters and heard new Proposals wherein a Reward of 15000 l. was offered to Sir George Wakemen for poysoning the King That in July Mr. Strange very frankly told him how London was fired and how many of those concerned were seized and afterwards discharged by the Duke's Guards and Order Mr. Jennison's Deposition AFter Oates Mr. Jennison was called in who deposed That in frequent discourses with Mr. Ireland now Executed he heard him often say That it was necessary for the introducing of Catholick Religion that the Government should be changed And that it was an easie matter to Kill or Poyson the King That he answered God forbid That hereupon Ireland told him he would remit the Twenty pounds he owed him if he would go to Windsor to assist to take off the King But he expressed a great detestation of it Then Ireland desired him to name some Stout Couragious Irish-men proper for the Assasination which he did and Ireland approved of them That he heard one Mr. Thomas Jennison a Jesuit say If C. R. would not be R. C. he should not be long C. R. And that the said Jesuit added If the King were Excontmunicated or Deposed he was no longer King and it was no great Sin to take him off That about two months after the said Jesuit told him there was a Design on foot and that the Queen Duke of York the Lords in the Tower and greatest Papists in England were in It. That there was a new Army to be raised to bring in Catholick Religion And that He the said Jesuit would procure him from the Duke a Commission in it when the King was taken off That he being surprized hereat the Jesuit told him he should receive the Sacrament of Secrecy Mr. Dennis his Deposition THe last Witness was Mr. Dennis who deposed That he saw Dr. Oates in Spain where he seemed to be a man of much business and had a Bag of Money some of which he lent him That the Archbishop of Tuam told him in the presence of Dr. Oates That Mr. Plunket Primate of Ireland was resolved to bring the French Power into Ireland And that there were several Collections of Money made in Ireland to support the Plot. This is the sum of what the six Witnesses deposed to whose Depositions were annexed and produced in Court in order to the same end the sevcral Records of Attainder of Coleman Ireland Whitebread Langhorn c. That of Coleman was read at length and the others deposited on the Clerks Table to be made use of as occasion should serve The Papists Plea to the above-specified Allegations ¶ 2. THus far hath been as I may say Indicted Arraigned and Tryed the Plot in general My Lord Stafford as the Managers declared is not hitherto proved but only supposed a Party in the Conspiracy The Plot in general is directly charged upon the Papists in general and they must answer to the general Indictment wherefore though it be not my Design to defend Popery yet I think it very pertinent and necessary before we enter upon my Lord 's special Charge and Defension to insert here some of those many things the Papists in general often did and still do constantly alledge against the Premisses in vindication of their Innocence If in this I shall be accounted a Papist or Popishly affected it will only be amongst those who love not to see Truth contrary to their Interest not to do Justice though to an Adversary To proceed then The Papists plead That it is not the Clamour of the hainousness and horror of a Crime imputed but the Guilt and clear Couviction of a Crime proved that renders a man accountable to Justice and punishable by the Law That as Treason is the worst of Crimes so is the stain of Innocent Bloud shed by Perjury hard to be washed off That the bare positive Swearing of every person in every matter or manner hand over head is no sufficient Conviction of anothers Guilt for if so it would be in the Power of any six Knights of the Post to kill whomsoever they pleased though never so Innocent and for what they pleased though never so absurd or impossible by meer dint of Affidavit That false Accusations may be so laid as that the contrary cannot possibly be demonstrated by the Party accused seeing no mortal man can distinctly prove where he was and what he did said or heard every day and every hour of his whole Life Wherefore to make justly valid an Accusation against another the Laws of God and Man require First That the Accuser be a Credible Witness that is not tainted with notorious Crimes or Villanies for he that hath lost a sense of moral Honesty hath lost his right to moral Credit and may be indifferently presumed to Swear any thing Secondly That the Accusation be strengthened with probable Circumstances Circumstances which bring along with them some appearance of Truth distinct from the bare Accusation it self for otherwise where the Ballance is equal in point of repute between the Accuser and the Accused it is as presumptive that the one should be guilty of Perjury as the other of the Crimes charged upon him And herein the weaker
the last Words of a dying Protestant who might but would not live by a false accusation of himself or others may be credited The Papists were innocent of this Murder and the forenamed Witnesses Perjured in their Evidence As for what is objected about a Letter sent from London to Tixall c. It is answered supposing such a Letter was really sent and received That a Letter intimating the Murder of a Justice of the Peace might well be Writ from London on Saturday when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was known to be missing and arrive at Tixall in Staffordshire by the common Post on Munday following And thereupon Dugdale might tell the news the self same day to divers Gentlemen at Tixall What of all this Where 's the Inference against the Papists Yet this is all some Gentlemen seemed to attest whilst others denyed and all can be necessarily deduced from the receipt of such a Letter But that this Justice of the Peace was Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that the Papists had Murdred him is proved only by the Common tract of Dugdales peremptory Swearing without any rational motive of credibility Thus much of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey As for the Narratives and from them deduced Stories of Firing the City Burning the Navy Black-Bills Fire-Balls Sham-Plots Wild-Irish Spanish-Pilgrims with other the like innumerable Popperies and known contradictions to wise men though they make a dreadful sound amongst the Mobile yet carry along with them such an excess of Gross and Ridiculous Nonsence that to sober understandings they only serve to demonstrate the Perjury of the Witnesses and need no Confutation in Equitable Courts such as ours are no wise disposed per fas nefas without appearance of Justice to oppress the Innocent And whereas it is alledged as a main Argument of Popish Guilt That the two Houses of Parliament have declared it a Plot and several Persons in several Courts of Judicature have been Tryed Condemned and Executed for it The Papists answer with all due Submission to the Government in defence of Innocence That it is not Impossible nor altogether without President That a Lawful Authority proceeding Secundum allegata Probata should be abused and consequently drawn into a Mistake by the Malice and Perjury of Wicked Men. Those who make it their study and Trade to frame Artificial Lyes and have time assistance and all imaginable encouragement and opportunity for it may easily invent plausible Stories with more coherence then any hitherto devised such as may amuse and deceive the most just and prudent Persons especially in a conjuncture when a transporting Zeal to the Protestant and as Papists say a misconceived prejudice to the Catholick Religion influenceth the Nation Nor have all been Convicted who were Impeached and Tryed upon the Plot but as some have been Condemned so others Impeached upon the same Evidence and in the same Courts of Judicature have been acquitted the wickedness and forgery of the Witnesses detected and their Depositions rejected as unworthy of Credit It is further hoped the Wisdom Justice and Integrity of the State will at length discover the whole Imposture vindicate the Innocent and Punish the Injury herein done to God to the King to the Nation and to almost all Europe To the Instances given of Popish malice and Bloodiness from former examples viz. Queen Mary's Cruelties the Powder Plot the Irish Barbarisme the French Massacre c. committed by Profest Papists It is answered that by the same reason and to as good purpose the Trayterous Seditions and Outrages in Germany France Bohemia and Holland Authorized and Fomented by Calvin Swinglins Beza and other Reformers the late Bloody Wars in England the almost yesterday's Remonstrances and Practices in Scotland The even now actual Rebellion in Hungary raised and managed by Protestants for Protestanizm But above all that never to be paralelled Hellish Murder of the Lords Annointed Our glorious Soveraign Charles the first in cold Blood by outward form of Justice on pretence of Reformation might be imputed to the Protestant Religion For all these now mentioned Horrid Villanies were committed by Protestants Protestants who gloried in being more then ordinarily refined from Popish Errors and Superstitions If it be said as most justly it may the Church of England never taught such Practices the same say and protest the Papists in behalf of their Church But because meer recrimination is no justification on either side And for that a full decision of this heavy charge dependeth much on the right understanding of Roman Catholick Principles in matter of obedience to God and the King We shall treat of this Subject apart by it self when we come to examine the Principles of My Lords Faith and Religion Reflections upon the several above-cited Depositions of Smith Dugdale Oates and Jenison LAstly The above-cited Depositions respectively made by Smith Dugdale Oates and Jenison in proof of the Plot in general are liable also to divers remarkable Exceptions And the Papists stick not here to say they wonder how so many and gross Incongruities and Falshoods attested only by Infamous Men could pass for currunt Truths amongst Persons of Justice Worth and Prudence For instance Smith in his Deposition gives us to understand That being as yet a Protestant but troubled it seems with some doubts in matters of Religion he applyed himself for satisfaction to certain Priests in France They to settle his mind told him They would shortly bring in their Religion into England Right or Wrong a notable argument to convince a well-meaning Protestant But neâ—â—er this as you may well think nor all the Jesuits could say or do â—ould prevail with him so that he lived and studied with them several years a likely story remaining still a professed Protestant At length the Jesuits desponding as well they might of their own abilities herein sent him to be converted by Cardinal Grimaldi and he it was did the Feat which none of the Priests or Jesuits could compass The Cardinal to remove all Scruples from the tender Conscience of his new Convert and further to convince his Judgment in the truth of his Religion entertained him one day with this Learned and Pious discourse viz. That he had great assurances the Popish Religion would prevail in England and that there was but one in the way and that to accomplish their designs they must take him out of the way Thus the young Man being now well confirmed in his Faith was made a Priest and sent into England with Instructions to teach his Countrey-men They were not obliged to obey their King and that to Murder him was a Meritorious Act. But the misfortune was that arriving in England he quite mistook his Errand And though he continued firm in the belief of the Popish Doctrine and Principles yet made it his whole business to root out the Jesuits the Popes chief Emissaries and disswade Roman Catholicks from sending Moneys to Colledges beyond Seas Dugdale tells us All
age long imprisoned no great Rhetorician nor much versed in the Law should take all advantages improve favourable circumstances and keep equal measures in sharpness of Wit and effluence of Speech with his Opponents who were ten or twelve of the greatest Lawyers and ablest Judgments of the Nation Nor is it any wonder if my Lord confounded with the multiplicity of arguments astonished at the horrour of the objected Crimes discountenanced by the Auditory And as he acknowledged half stupified with continual pleading day after day without intermission Did sometimes insist upon matters of less and omit matters of greater moment in his own behalf yet he seemed to manifest much of candour and sincerity in all his Comportment and Addressing himself to my Lords his Judges before he began his Plea to the particular Evidence against him He spoke to this effect That he was much afflicted to see himself accused by so high an Authority for a Crime which above all others he ever from his heart utterly abhorred he renounced and detested with much Exaggeration all Plots against the King and Government He abjured all Principles leading to such ends And disowned all Authority upon Earth which might in the least pretend to absolve him from his Allegiance He further shewed how faithful and affectionate he had been both to the late King in his Wars and to this in his Exile He declared he had timely notice of his being Impeached and thereupon might if he would have easily fled He likewise acknowledged That after he was in the Tower both the King and the House of Lords had sent him word That in case he would make a Discovery though he were never so Guilty he should have a Pardon If therefore he had been really conscious of his own Guilt and might have secured himself by either of these means and would not he ought to dye for his folly as well as his Crime He professed he had always a natural abhorrence of Blood-shed insomuch that he could not wish the death even of his Adversaries that Swore against him Lastly He desired as necessary to his defence Copies of some Depositions made by the Witnesses before several Authorities on several occasions which Copies after a long debate upon it were granted Now begin the particular Depositions of each particular Witness directly against my Lord upon which the House of Commons grounded their Impeachment To these Depositions as they severally occur I shall adjoyn my Lords immediate Answer And to his Answer the Mannagers reply That so both confusion and unnecessary Repetitions inconsistent with a Compendium may be avoided Furthermore because the Mannagers in Summing up their Evidence made divers ingenious Observations and urged many Reasons to uphold their several Charges not mentioned in the body of the Tryal And also for that the Papists afirm there was more of flourishing Rhetorick then strength of Argument in the said Observations the order of Law not premitting my Lord in the close of the Tryal to Rejoyn upon them I shall to give the best satisfaction I can to all parties annex here the plain Substance both of the said Mannagers Observations and the Papists Answers as they respectively occur to each particular Evidence Dugdale's Deposition against my Lord. THe first Witness that gave Evidence to the particular Impeachment was Stephen Dugdale who Swore That at a certain meeting held at Tixal in Stafford-shire about the latter end of August or the beginning of September 78. My Lord did together with the Lord Aston and others in the presence of Dug-dale give his deliberate full consent To take away the Kings Life and Introduce the Popish Religion That on the 20th or 21st of September 78. in the forenoon my Lord then residing at Tixal sent for him the said Dugdale to his Chamber by one of his Servants either his Gentleman or Page whilst he was dressing That when he came in my Lord sent out his Servants and being there alone together my Lord offered him 500 l. for his Charges and Encouragement to take away the Kings Life And farther told him He should have free Pardon of all his Sins and should be Sainted For the King had been Excommunicated and was likewise a Traitor and a Rebel and an enemy to Jesus Christ My Lords Exceptions TO this Deposition my Lord made several grand Exceptions The first was That Dugdale was a Person of an Infamous Life That he had Cheated the Lord Aston his Master and defrauded Work-men and Servants of their Wages That by his Extravagancies and Misdemeanours he had run himself into several hundred pounds Debt for which he was thrown into Goal and despaired of ever getting out from thence otherwise then by making the pretended Discoveries For proof of all which my Lord produced these Witnesses Mr. Sandbidge An old Man and a Protestant attested That Dugdale was a Knave and notoriously known both by him and all the Countrey to be a Wicked Man Thomas Sawyer attested Dugdale went from My Lord Astons involved in deep Debts That whilst he was Bayliff to My Lord Aston he received and placed to My Lord's Account several Work-mens Wages which he never paid to the said Work-men Whereupon great Clamours and Complaints were made of him in the Countrey That being Arrested for Debt My Lord Aston would not own him for his Servant at which Dugdale Swore He would be revenged on him The same thing as to Dugdales sinister dealing His being in Debt Imprisoned and Disowned by the Lord Aston were attested by Sir Walter Baggot Mr. Whitby a Justice of Peace and Mr. Phillips Minister of Tixal From hence my Lord drew a second Iuference viz That had the Lord Aston and the rest been Guilty as Dugdale accused them It was highly improbable the said Lord should adventure to exasperate discard and leave to Goal and Ruin a man at whose mercy they all lay and who might to retreive his desperate fortune by making Discoveries utterly destroy both their Designs and them To confront the Testimony of the foregoing Witnesses the Mannagers produced others in favour of Dugdale And as to the matters of his Debts and Beggery Mr. Noble Stephen Colledge the Protestant Joyner lately Executed for High-Treason at Oxford and Mr. Boson a Lawyer deposed That at Dugdale's intreaty they went with him to the Tower to assist him in adjusting his Accounts with the Lord Aston but could not accomplish it by reason my Lord would not till the return of a certain Councellour out of the Countrey let them see a Book wherein Dugdale said his Discharges were And that Dugdale told them my Lord Aston was Indebted to him things rightly stated two hundred pounds To this my Lord Stafford reply'd He should have something to say And desired the Lord Aston might be admitted to give an account of this matter But it was answer'd That the Lord Aston stood Indicted for the same Treason and could not be a Witness Then my Lord
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
fourth Generation of them that hate him So he blesseth unto thousands of them that love and follow him Assure your self my Lord That for this one Heroick Act of giving your life for Justice for Innocence for God and Religion you will not only secure to your self everlasting Salvation but draw upon all your Family and Posterity thousands of Benedictions The Justice of our Lord saith David upon the Childrens Children of them that keep his Covenant Again Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth in his Precepts his Seed shall be powerful on Earth the generation of the just shall be Blessed Lastly that Sentence of Ecclesiastes will fittly appertain to you His memory shall not pass away and his name shall be preserved from Generation to Generation Nations shall declare his Wisdom and the Church shew forth his Praise I shall not undertake to dictate unto your Lordship what Prayers or Elevations of heart are most proper on this occasion The Holy Ghost whose Spouse whose Son whose Temple whose Victim you are will inspire you with better thoughts then I can suggest I shall therefore here content my self with some few Citations of sacred Texts out of which you may upon occasion draw the comfort of Devotion Evil Witnesses have risen up against me and iniquity hath belyed it self I believe to see the goods of our Lord in the Land of the Living I am the Resurrection and the Life He that believeth in me shall not dye for ever Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine Do not fear for I am with thee do not decline for my right hand hath sustained thee Because he hath trusted in me I will deliver him I will protect him because he hath known my name He shall cry unto me and I will hear him I am with him in Tribulation I will deliver him and will glorisie him with length of days will I replenish him and will shew him my Salvation In perpetual charity have I loved thee therefore I have drawn thee to me taking Compassion on thee My heart and my flesh hath fainted O God of my heart my inheritance God for ever The World shall rejoyce and you shall be sorrowful But your sorrow shall be turned into Joy and your Joy none shall take from you Be confident I have overcome the World Be thou my helper do not forsake me neither despise me O God my Saviour In thee O Lord have I trusted let me not be confounded I live and you shall live You shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Certain I am that neither Death nor Life c. can seperate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whether we Live or Die we are our Lords To me to Live is Christ and to Die is gaine I desire to be Dissolved and to be with Christ Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Come ye blessed of my Father possess the Kingdom prepared for you This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The God of hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in believing that you may abound in hope and vertue of the Holy Ghost Your Lordships most devoted Servant in our Lord. N. N. THose hours he spared from Prayer or necessary repose he bestowed part in the entertainment of his Friends though indeed none were permitted to come at him but under severe Provisoes and Restrictions amongst whom he demeaned himself with exceeding Sweetness Candor and Alacrity of Spirit Connatural to him always but more especially after he had an assurance of his Death Insomuch that he could not endure to see any in grief of dejection on his account For this reason his sad and disconsolate Lady who alone touched his heart and who could no longer support the weight of her affliction was forced entirely to absent her self from him the day before his Passage out of this World Some moments likewise he allowed to give his last Adieu by Letters to his nearest Relations particularly to his aforesaid most Dear Lady whose incomparable vertue and above forty years experienced constant affection to him had taken a deep impression in his Soul But because the Letters themselves express his mind and disposition better then I can describe it Read here these few Copies which good fortune brought authentick to my hands To my most Dear and Kind Wife My Dear and most Kind Wife GOD of his Mercy and Goodness I mest humbly beseech him to reward you for your extraordinary Kindness and Love to me I am sure no Man ever had a better Wife in all kinds then you have been unto me I am most heartily sorry that I have not been able to shew how happy I have held my self in the great blessing which God was pleased to afford me in having you not only for the great Family to which you are the undoubted Heir and Estate you brought me and mine but for the great Love you have always born me I sincerely ask you Pardon with all my heart for all that I have done to give you any dislike I know you will forgive me out of your kindness and affection you have so often shewn unto me more then I deserved If I should repeat all the kindness and affection you have shewn unto me and of all which I am most sensible I should not know when to end God reward you You were present this day when Mr. Lievtenent brought me word of the day of my Death I know the trouble it brought unto you I do most willingly submit my self to Gods Holy will and since he know how Innocent I am and how Falsly I am Sworn against I am most confident that the most Blessed Trinity will through the Merits and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ grant me a place in Heaven of happiness to glorify God to all Eternity amongst his Angels and Saints the lowest place in Heaven being an happiness above all the Kingdoms of the Earth I give God most humble thanks that I am absolutely quiet within my self from being guilty even so much as in a thought of that Treason I am accused of and never had a thought of any thing against the Person or Government of his Majesty And what I did towards the introducing of the Catholick Religion was no way but that which I thought to be for the good of the Kingdom by Act of Parliament I do ask of the Eternal and Merciful God most humbe Pardon for all my great Sins hoping in the mercy of Christ Jesus through his most sacred Passion to obtain remission of my Sins and Life everlasting in Heaven God protect and keep you and ours in his holy grace My dear I beseech you by the love you always bore me afflict your self as little as you can for the
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
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 as to the damnable Doctrine of King-killing If he were of any Church whatsoever and found that to be its Principle he would leave it That he knew the disadvantage he was under in being forced alone to stand a contest with the Learned Gentlemen the Mannagers who have those great helps of Memory Parts and Understanding in the Law all which he wanted That therefore he hoped their Lordships would not conclude barely upon the manner either of his or their expressions But seriously debating the merits of the Cause in it self would please to be his Councel as well as his Judges That seeing he was to be Acquitted or Condemned by their Lordships Judgement He knew they would lay their hands upon their Heart Consult their Consciences and their Honours And then he doubted not they would do what was just and equitable That with submission to their Lordships he thought it hard measure and contrary to Law that any one should be Imprisoned above two years without being admitted to Tryal And that it was of evil consequence for any one to have Justice denyed him so long till his Opponents had found occasion to gain their ends That however those large Allowances and Rewards granted to the Witnesses for Swearing might peradventure be an effect of His Majesties Grace and Bounty yet it was not easily conceivable how the hopes and promises of so great Sums should not prove to dissolute indigent Persons strong Allurements and temptations to Perjury Finally That the defence he had made he owed it to the worth and dignity of his Family He owed it to his dear Wife and Children at which words he was observed to weep He owed it to his Innocense He owed it to God the Author of Life That he confided their Lordships would duly reflect what a dreadful thing Murder is and the Bloud of Innocents And that he verily believed none of the House of Commons desired his Death for a Crime of which he was not Guilty That he hoped their Lordships would not permit him to be run down by the shouts of the Rable the Emblem of our past Calamity It began in the late times with the Lord Stafford and so continued till it ended in the Death of the King the most execrable Murder that ever was committed And where this will end said he God knows To conclude He again declared in the presence of God of his Angels of their Lordships and all who heard him That he was intirely Innocent of what was laid to his charge That he left it to their Lordships to do Justice and with all submission resigned himself to them To this discourse of my Lords the Mannagers returned for answer That his Lordships last Address was not regular nor according to the due method of proceedings for if after his Lordship had summed up his Evidence and the Prosecutors had concluded theirs he should begin that work again and they by consequence be admitted to reply he might still rejoyn upon them and so there would be no end of proceedings They therefore desired this Indulgence granted to my Lord might not serve for a future President The Conclusion of the Tryal ¶ 5. HEre then the Lord High Steward wholly terminating all further process on either side The Court gave final Judgment And the Lord High Steward collecting the Votes my Lord Stafford was Pronounced Guilty by fifty five Votes against thirty one When the Votes were passed the Lord High Steward declared to the Prisoner He was found Guilty of High Treason whereof he was Impeached To which my Lord Stafford answered Gods holy name be praised my Lord for it Then the Lord High Steward asked him What he could say for himself why Judgment of Death should not be given upon him according to Law He reply'd My Lord I have very little to say I confess I am surprized at it for I did not expect it But Gods will be done and your Lordships I will not murmur at it God forgive those who have Falsly Sworn against me We are now come to the final Sentence of Death For a Prologue to which the Lord High Steward made a short Pathetick Speech wherein after some reflections upon the Plot in general he descended to my Lords case in particular And then advised his Lordship as now a supposed guilty Person to bething himself of the State and Condition he was in of his Religion and Guides that 't is said had seduced him Of the repentance due to so hainous Crimes And concluded with an assurance to his Lordship That a true Penitential Sorrow joyned with an humble and hearty Confession was of mighty power and efficacy both with God and Man He then pronounced Sentence upon him in these words The Judgment of the Law is and the Court doth award it That you go to the place from whence you came from thence you must be drawn upon an Hurdle to the place of Execution when you come there you must be Hanged up by the Neck but not till you are Dead for you must be cut down Alive your Privy Members must be cut off And your Bowels Ript up before your Face and thrown into the Fire Then your Head must be severed from your Body and your Body divided into four Quarters And these must be at the disposal of the King And God Almighty have mercy on your Soul My Lord received this dismal Sentence with a meek and resigned Countenance He declared in the presence of Almighty God he had no malice in his Heart to them that had Condemned him But freely forgave them all He made one and only one humble request to their Lordships viz. That for the short time he had to Live a Prisoner his Wife Children and Friends might be permitted to come at him My Lord High Steward told him their Lordships had so far a Compassion for him They would be humble suiters to the King That he will remit all the punishments but the taking off his Head Thus Sentence being passed the Lord High Steward broke his Staff and my Lord Stafford was led back from the Bar to the Tower The Ax being carryed before him as the Custom is in such cases with the Edge toward him SECT III. My Lords PRINCIPLES of FAITH and LOYALTY DOubtless the thing which most weighed to my Lord's prejudice most advanced the credit of the Evidence And most influenced both his Prosecutors and Judges against him was a pre-possessed Opinion of wicked Principles supposed to be held and practised by my Lord as the matter of his Faith and Religion It is by many taken for granted The Papists hold it an Article of Faith That to Depose and Murder Kings to Massacre
their Neighbours and destroy their Native Countrey by Fire and Sword when the interest of their Religon requires it are acts dispensable by the Pope and meritorious of Heaven Now what thing so wicked however slenderly proved will not easily be believed against Men so Principled My Lord therefore to clear himself and his Religion from this heavy and as the Papists say injurious Aspersion Protested and Declared in the presence of Almighty God and their Lordships his Judges That he hated and detested such Principles as he did Damnation to himself And that he could not be more desirous of Salvation then he was cordial in hating such Principles That he ever held Treason to be the worst of Crimes and knew no term ill enough to express it That he heard with horrour the late wicked practices in Scotland That he acknowledged the King his lawful Soveraign and knew no Person or Authority on Earth could absolve him from his Allegiance And least this might seem a meerly extorted profession of a despairing Man My Lord endeavoured to prove by several convincing Testimonies he had ever been Instructed and Educated in the same Sentiments as the Established Doctrine of the Roman Catholick Church His first Testimony was taken from places of Holy Scripture particularly That of St. Math. 22. v. 21. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars c. From the plain and clear sense of which and other Texts of Holy Writ nothing he said in this world was able to remove him His second Testimony was taken from the Authority of the General Council of Constance to which all Roman Catholicks are obliged to submit The 15 th Canon and Definition of which Council is this Quilibit Tyrannus potest debet licité meritorié occidi per quemcunque Vasallum suum vel Subditum etiam per clanculares insidias subtiles blanditias vel adulationes non obstante quocunque Praestito juramento seu confoederatione factis cum eo non expectatâ sententiâ vel mandato judicis cujuscunque Adversus hunc errorem Satagens haec Sancta Synodus exurgere ipsum funditùs tollere declarat desinit hujusmodi Doctrinam erroneam esse in fide in moribus ipsamque tanquam Haereticam Scandalosam ad â—raudes Deceptiones Mendacia Proditiones Perjuria vias dantem reprobat condemnat Declarat insuper decernii quod pertinaciter Doctrinam hanc perniciocissimam asserentes sunt Haeretici tanquam tales juxta Canonicas Sanctiones puniendi Englished thus Every Tyrant lawfully and meritoriously may and ought to be Killed by any Vassal or Subject whatsoever even by hidden Treacheries and subtle Flatteries or Adulations notwithstanding any Oath given or confederation made with him Without expecting the Sentence or Command of any Judge whatsoever which clause is added in regard of the right of Supreme Temporal Monarchs over inferior Princes Subordinate to them Against which Error this Holy Synod industrious to withstand and utterly to extirpate it doth declare and define that this Doctrine is Erroneous in Faith and Manners and the same as Heretical Scandalous and opening a way to Frauds Deceipts Lyes Treasons and Perjuries doth dissaprove and condemn It farther declares and decrees that those who obstinately maintain this most pernicious Doctrine are Hereticks and as such ought to be punished according to Canonical Sanctions My Lords third Testimony was taken from the Annotations upon the 13 th Chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans in the English Catholick Edition of the new Testament set forth by the Colledge of Divines at Rhemes The words are these upon the Text He that resisteth c. v. 2. Whosoever resisteth of obeyeth not his lawful superior in those causes wherein he is subject to him resisteth Gods appointment and sinneth deadly and is worthy to be punished both in this World by his Superior and by God in the next Life For in Temporal Government and Causes the Christians were bound in Conscience to obey even their Heathen Emperours And upon the Text Beareth not the Sword c. v. 4. There were certain Hereticks called Begardi that took away all Rule and Superiority The Wickleffists also would obey no Prince nor Prelate if he were once in deadly sin Some Protestants of our time care neither for the one nor for the other though they extol only Secular Power when it maketh for them The Catholicks only most humbly obey both according to Gods Ordinance the one in Temporal Causes and the other in Spiritual in which order both these States have blessedly flourished in all Christian Countreys ever since Christs time My Lords fourth Testimony was taken from the censure of the Doctors of the famous Faculty of Sorbon in the Vniversity of Paris against a Book of Anthony Sanctarelus treating of Heresie Schism c. Particularly against the 30 th and 31 st Chapters of the said Book The censure of the Faculty my Lord produced in Court and is as followeth Upon the first of April in the year of our Lord 1626. after Mass of the Holy Ghost the usual Assembly of Doctors being met in Solemn manner in the Hall of the Sorbon Colledge was heard the relation of the Masters of the same Faculty deputed for that end who declared that in those two above-mentioned Chapters these propositions were contained That the Pope can punish Kings and Princes with Temporal Penalties and Depose and Deprive them of their Kingdoms for the crime of Heresie and free their Subjects from their obedience And that it had been always the custom in the Church And for other causes also as for faults if it be expedient If the Princes be negligent For the insufficiency and unprofitableness of their Persons Likewise that the Pope has right and power over Spirituals and all Temporals also and that both the powers Spiritual and Temporal are in him by Divine right That it was to be believed that Power was granted to the Church and its Chief Pastors to punish with Temporal Penalties Princes the transgressors of Divine and Humane Laws especially if the Crime be Heresie They said likewise that the same Sanctarelus did affirm That the Apostles were subject to secular Princes de facto non de jure by Fact not by Right Moreover That as soon as the Pope is installed all Princes begin to be subject unto him Lastly they related that he Sanctarelus expounded the words of Christ Whatsoever ye shall bind upon Earth c. To be understood not only of the Spiritual but of the Temporal Power That he imposes upon St. Paul changing his words by withdrawing the Negation and upon many Authors cited by him They related many other things out of the said Sanctarelus which seemed to them very well to deserve the grave Animadversions and Censure of the Faculty The matter therefore being brought into debate by the Dean the mature deliberations of all and every Master being heard the Faculty hath dissapproved and condemned the