THE last Words of dying Men ought to be as gently Censur'd , and as Candidly Interpreted , as may be ; and if there are such hard Passages in them , as afford just matter of severe Reflections ; yet even these , fall heaviest on those Miserable Guides , who , it seems , had but too much Credit with these unfortunate Men , whose Education furnished them with no great Advantages , to Examine the Notions of Government , and whose course of Life gave no extraordinary Indications of a Scrupulous Enquiry , into the Lawfulness of all their Actions . But their Guides , it seems , resolv'd to Pawn their own Souls for them , with Relation to God , as they have done their Reputation to the World , in justifying their Actions , more particularly their last Papers . Sir William Perkins's Paper is Natively writ , and there is little Reason to doubt , but that it was his own Composition . But few who knew Sir John Friend , will think so of his ; it has the Air of a Man , that hoped to maintain a Conventicle by it , and thô the Contexture of it is very indifferent , yet there seems to be little of Sir John himself in it , besides the Hand , and the Subscription .

These Confessors , who by a New Ceremony , would needs give them Absolution so publickly , all in a Body , by an Affectation that has no Warrant , neither from the Common-Prayer Book , nor the usual Practice , and which no Popish Priest ever yet ventured on ; did no doubt intend by this great Singularity , to let all the Company see , that they believ'd these Gentlemen died in a state of compleat Repentance . They were Condemn'd for Crimes of a very high Nature . The one was not only Privy to the design of Assassinating the King , but was so great an Undertaker in it , that he was far beyond the Guilt of a single Assassinate ; He was to have procured Five , who were to have Acted in it ; he had not only his own Guilt , but all theirs likewise upon him . This he freely acknowledged to those Honourable Persons who were sent to Examine him , and he does not deny it here , thô he Extenuates it all he can . The other as well as he , was Engaged in a design of bringing over a Foreign Army of Papists , who , besides the Ancient Enmity that they bear to our Nation , are the most Violent Persecutors of that Religion , of which these Gentlemen pretended to be , of any now in the World . They have been also formed , as by a Discipline , to a Degree of Cruelty and Barbarity , even , where their own Religion is professed , that was not known to former Ages . Neither the Paying Contributions , nor the taking Protections , can save Countreys , which they think it is their Interest to Destroy , or to Execute , a new Term invented in their late Wars , to which their frequently repeated Practices , have given a very determined Signification . The bringing over such an Army to destroy or Conquer us , gave this poor misled Gentleman , no sort of trouble no● uneasiness in his Conscience . He Triumphs in it , he calls it The Cau●● of God , and of True Religion . His Ministers perswaded him , that i● was so , they gave him Absolution upon it , or rather for it ; for one of them told Sir William Perkins , to deliver his Paper , when all was over . This thô Addressed to him , was no doubt directed to both . They would have the Papers to be delivered as the last Act of their Lives , that so it might appear upon what Foundation all their Prayers run , and upon what the Absolution was given , in so Publick and so Pompous a manner .

A Man that is Condemn'd may be considered , either as being Innocent of the Fact , or if Guilty , as having truly repented of it ; or though he is Guilty , of the Fact , yet as having done well in it , so that what Sins soever besides he may have upon him , he has nothing to answer for , or to repent of , with relation to that for which he is Condemned : The first of these does not belong to this case . The Gentlemen confess the Fact in these Papers , as well as they did it to the Honourable Persons who Examined them . It cannot be said , that they Repented of these Crimes . A sincere Confession , a Hearty Sorrow , and an Amendment as far as is possible , make Repentance compleat . Here was no Confession , even the Blackest part is extenuated ; no Discovery is made of the Design they were in , or of their way of conducting it : No sort of Sorrow is expressed for any part of their Guilt ; nor is there any Reparation offered , nor any thing towards the securing that Life which one of them had Conspired against . Not so much as the slight Complement of asking Pardon , which is the lowest Degree of Reparation possible . Five Assassinates are left undiscovered ( by him at least ) to carry on the Design . Here then there is not any one Act or Branch of Repentance , much less all together . It remains therefore , that these Ministers thought that no Fault was done , no Crime was Committed , and they resolved by so publick an Absolution to declare to the Nation , that they thought the Assassinating the King ( for the Conspiring to do it is the same thing in the Sight of God ) is an Unblameable Action , for which a Man is obliged to no Repentance .

Jesuits are out-done by these Men . They may teach their Disciples the Arts of Equivocating , or of down right denying the Facts for which they may be Condemned ; but they have not yet ventured so far as to own the Blackest Crimes without so much as a Distinction to excuse them . Garnet himself could not bear the Flattery of being call'd a Martyr when he went to his Execution , for the Gunpowder-Treason , but with a heavy Countenance said to those who call'd him so , that he had never heard that a Parricide ( he spoke it in Latin ) was a Martyr . These Ministers have gone much further . They Encourage the Party to go on with the Assassination , by their Intimating in so solemn a manner , that they think it is ( at least ) no action to be repented of , and have assured them by this Action of theirs , that they will Absolve them without their Repenting of it .

Sir William Perkins says , He will not Complain of the Hardships of his Tryal , nor of other Rigours put upon him . This Insinuates , that he thought he had Cause given him to make such Complaints . The Tryals that are already published , carry in all the steps of them , a fairness that former times was not acquainted with : In these the Judges maintain a Character , that has been always pretended to , but that never shewed it self more eminently than of late years ; but when ill Characters were to be given of the Justice of the Nation , a general Expression might be better ventured on , than the Particulars themselves . This comes after a Profession that he was in full disposition to Charity , but is no great Instance of it .

The longest Article of his Paper is , with Relation to the Lut● K. James's Commission . In this he does not at all contradict the Witness , for Mr. Porter swears that he said to him that he saw and read such a Commission , he does not contradict that ; he does not say , that he said no such thing to him , therefore the Credit of the Witness is not touched by what he says .

This seeming Contradiction lies only against what he himself once said , and not against that which the Witness deposed . He does not deny that he gave it out for a Commission to make War on the Pers●n of the P. of Orange . It is very probable he said the same thing to others , more particular to the Five whom he was to furnish , that he had said to Mr. Porter ; for he had said the same to Mr. Charnock . He trys how far he can go to repair this ; he denies the Expression of making War upon the King's Person ; But he owns a General Commission to all the Late King's Subjects to Levy War . Sir William Perkins , who was of the Law , could not but know the difference between a Commission and a Proclamation . The one is indeed general to all Subjects , but the other is Special , appropriated to particular Persons , and to the Bodies in which they are to Command . This could not be a Commission of that kind ; He and Sir John Friend both had Special Commissions , so they could not but be acquainted with the Stile of them . But why was this writ all with the Late King's own Hand ? It was Sworn against him that he had said it was so , and was acknowledged by him to Dr. Williams , ( that at least ) he believed it was his hand , which he had seen so oft , that he had reason to know it . A Prince needs not give himself so much trouble for an ordinary Commission of Levying Men , or making a fair War . Therefore supposing all that he says to be true ; here was a Commission of a very extraordinary Nature , and it was given out and understood among them , as a Commission , Warranting the Attacking the Prince of Orange and his Guards : He himself put this Construction upon it , and made others understand it so . If this was a Fraud of his , it was a very black one , and ought to have been Confessed and Repented of ; but it seems , his Confessors thought the Merit of the Action it self might Excuse all such Artifices .

He owns that he was Privy to the Design , a very Extenuating expression for one that had such a share in directing the whole , and was to furnish five Persons to execute it . The Words are very soft and gentle to himself , he seems to excuse it , because he was not to have Acted in it . David , a true Penitent , prays , Deliver me from Blood-guiltiness , tho' he acted no part in the killing Uriah , but he gave those Orders that procured it ; and therefore he entitles himself principally to the Cry of that Blood . But these gentle 〈…〉 would not put a Man so hard to it , who proved 〈…〉 ●arty . He says , he was fully satisfied , that few or 〈…〉 , but those who undertook to do it . He is here as careful of his Friends as he could be ; yet the few or none imports that to his knowledge some others might be Privy to it , as well as he was .

After this , some word or other , intimating his Repentance , might have been well expected ; but instead of that an implied Justification of it follows . He thinks it for his Honour to say that he was entirely in the Interest of the King , and that he was always firmly perswaded of the Justice of his cause . If it was so , he ought at least to have repented of his taking the Oaths to the Present Government , for saving the Office he had in Chancery . Either that was down-right swearing against his Conscience , or he had a distinction in the matter , of which his Confessors approved , for his swearing to one Prince , when he was entirely in the Interest of another . This alone proves the necessity of demanding a further security , since even a dying Man , together with his 3 Absolvers , thought that these two were not Inconsistent .

The Argument with relation to the late King and the present Government , is too large to be entred upon in a Paper of this Nature . The Assassination and the bringing in of a Foreign Army , are Crimes charged on these Persons . These things are here either openly , or by insinuation , justified by the Persons themselves , and very unusually by three of their Ministers , who without any unreasonable Jealousie , may be well concluded to have acted upon this occasion , by Concert with some of the chief men of the Party in o● about the Town .

He concludes with the Profession of his Religion . No Communion , that I know , of Christians was ever yet in the World , that justified Assassinations . Even the Council of Constance condemned them ; when done without a previous Proscription . ( Non expectata sententia Judicis cujuscunque . ) It is a corruption peculiar to our Times , and to that Party , to Graft the Doctrine of Assassinations upon the Christian Religion . God preserve all Men from either Living or Dying in such a Communion . He ends asking pardon in a very limited expression , Whoever I may any way have injured , I heartily ask their Pardon . It seems he thought a design to murder the King and procuring Men to Act in it , was not an Injury , for which Pardon was to be asked in a more humble and explicite manner .