FOr purposes best known to the Divine Wisdom, God has been pleased to suffer amongst men, some who never had inclination to goodness, generosity, or any the least moral virtue: Such true Children of him who was a Lyer from the beginning, cannot indure any other man should be esteem'd pious, just, or true; of such our Blessed Saviour speaks Matt. 11.18. These Diabolical natures combat Religion as their most mortal Enemy, in what shape soever they meet it: If it appear in severe mortified Devotion, then it is called by them madness, as of St. John Baptist, Behold a man that has a Devil; If it comes drest in the charming shape of Love and Sociable Conversation: Then (as the Blessed Jesus) beheld a Drunkard and a Wine Bibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners; Such children of Perdition, full of Envy, Malice, and all ungodliness, are ever busie and taking more pains to serve the kingdom of darkness, and compleating their full measure of wickedness, then the best of Saints do to arrive at those blessed Mansions prepared by their loving Redeemer in the Kingdom of the God of Love: Of this sort of Spirit must he certainly be, who was Author of the Preamble and Postscript Printed with the Jesuites Speeches: For were it likely that men should be so Infatuated by the Principles of any Religion, as to die with expectation of reward from him they call the God of Truth, when they invok'd him with their last breath as witness to a Lye, could it be possible, I say, that men should arrive at such madness. Yet ought poor limitted and undiscerning men leave them to the Judgment of the Great, Wise, Just & All seeing God to punish them as they deserve: But nothing is more certain than this Truth, that the God of Truth hates falsehood above all things; and therefore when provok'd both by that, and the utmost contempt of his Divine Majesty, by being invok'd to be a witness to a Lye, he will above all Crimes punish such contempts with his utmost vengeance: And is it possible, but that all men of all Religions, who believe at all the Immortality of the Soul, should also believe this Truth as certainly as they must believe there is a Divinity, which gave their Souls that immortality. Yet dares this uncharitable Author, as if he were the great searcher of hearts, accuse five persons, pretending (as he says,) to Dignified Orders of Religion and Sanctity, together with the perfections of Noble Learning (which usually betters men) to break through all the Impalements of Di­vinity and Morality, and with a terrible Lye to take their ultimate farewells, meerly for the vanity of Imposing a belief of Martyrdom, and to insinuate their Heresie into the Credulous and unstable: Oh! most ridiculous concep­tion, unlikely indeed to bear so great sway with the living as the last words would do of the most Notorious Male­factors, much less theirs who by a continued series of Good Life and Modest Behaviour had spent their time, (as they thought,) in their service of God, living some of them to a great Age, without being Accused of any Crime against Humane Society, until this the worst of Crimes which was Sworn against them; but that single one of De­signing the Murther of Gods Vicegerent their Anointed King, if true, was enough to make black a continued life of virtue, longer then Methusalem; but they with their last breaths deny their guilt, and others upon the Bible swear it, these are but four, and they were but five, those were persons who had Dedicated themselves wholly to the Service of God in the way they [at least] believed true; three of these are men by their own Confessions guilty of many Foul and Notorious Crimes, not yet giving the least Testimony to the World of their Conversions by a good life, all of them of Indigent and Desperate Fortunes, which they have well amended by their pretended Dis­coveries; which true or false, it concerns them as to their well being here to make good; the others can have no benefit by their Attestation, (but if false) the Eternal Damnation of their Souls; a bribe no man would be found of. Now if this be seriously considered on both sides, will it not be enough to sway with the most Partial Standers by, at least to suspend his Opinion of the Truth until it shall be revealed either in this World, or the next by the Al­mighty God, to whom they have sides on both appealed, and who alone sees Truth through all Disguises.

But not to suffer all the dirt to stick, the malicious Pen of this Author has thrown on their (at worst but doubtful) Memories, we will slightly consider the strength of his Arguments, avoiding all offences to the Magistrate and the Laws we live under, by whom supposing this (scarce probable) Evidence against them true, they were most unjustly Condemned.

His Preamble & first Paragraph of his Postscript, tends only to perswade us that these 5 dying men did hope by their damnable Lyes to escape Purgatory and leave it on their Left Hand, and at once skip from the Cart to Jacobs Ladder, mount directly up to Heaven; which no man in his right Wits can believe, except their Accusers will swear they told them so, or that he would produce some Authority from Popish Doctors, that should not only allow Equivo­cation lawful, but dying in a Lye Meritorious: For as for his calling them in the close of that Paragraph Ipso functo Rebels and Malefactors when they first Arrived, that can be no proof against them, since the same Argument holds against Christianity it self propagated by the Apostles and their followers contrary to the Laws of Nations then in force: And to which all persons pretending to make Converts may readily reply in the words of the Apostle forbid by the Jews to preach any more in the name of Jesus, Whether it be better to obey God or man, judge ye.

I do not undertake to vindicate the Religion these men Died in, much less the Opinions or Extravagancies of some Doctors of it, the Laws forbidding the one, and the Romish Church it self the other; I will therefore only say it is no more just to tax the whole Society with the Heterodox Opinion of two or three men, then it would be to accuse Protestant Religion with King-killing Principles, from the practices of some called so in the Murther of K. Charles the first; and from the multitude of Sermons and other Discourses Printed in Commendation and Vindication of that detestable villanie: But because our Author refers much to the Oration made to Henry the Fourth of France, I will only by way of Reply, insert that Great Kings Answer to it, mention'd by Mr. Gaven, which was in these words.

NOw it is plain by this Discourse, that this great and wise Prince had well consider'd what he spoke of; and had he found their Doctrine to be such as is pretended, he would have been too nearly concern'd to have become their Advocate and Protector.

As for the pretended horrid Ceremony for Consecrating a Person and Dagger, design'd for a Royal Massacre. I will only speak of it in the Authors own words; that it is an Invention of Men worse than Devils, a Lie indeed of so impudent a nature, that it is enough to amaze Heaven it self, to see how Devils Incarnate can out-do in malice the Spirits of everlasting Darkness.

Let any impartial eye observe the Countries our Author sums up to banish the Jesuits; and besides that, he will find false causes assigned in most, it not all the examples; He does in his last overthrow all that he has said, for if Ferdinando King of Sweden was Expelled his Kingdom for endeavouring the Re-admission of the Jesuits, then it is as plain that he did not believe they held Tenents destructive to Kings, as it is that these did who destroyed him, as much as in them lay by Expelling him his Kingdom for defending the Jesuits. Thus malice makes men blind: But above all, who can believe him, when he says Father Harcourt's Letter about Sir Edmondberry Godfrey's Murther written three Hours after it was done is so publickly to be seen, when any man that reads the Tryal may perceive it could not be produced; and if it were found since, and so publick as he pretends, no doubt our Author would have as well recited it, as refer [...]d to it, for doing so would have been worth all he hath said.

As to their Prayers for the Judges and Accusers, in my Judgment they were more likely to proceed from Charity than Malice, let our good natur'd Author be of another Opinion if he pleases, but his reason for the contrary is none; for it is well known St. Stephen at his Stoning did the same, and yet desired neither Prayers nor Tears of those that were not of his own profession, but it's true those Prayers may become Curses to the Witnesses, if the Deposition against them be as false, as it is evident some of what they have Deposed to King and Councel hath been, as I could instance in the Case of Don John, and divers other matters, if I were minded to disparage the Kings Witnesses, as they call them: But this I cannot forbear observing, that it may be justly said of some of them, as Doctor Dun says of Witches, That they confess things impossible. But leaving them to the great Judge of all things, I will only remind them of this Truth, that if they betray innocent Blood for Gain, and make Gods Name contemptible, by invoking it to a Falsehood; no Equivocation, nor Mental Reservation, will shelter them from his dreadful vengeance which he in his due time will visit them with: And it is a thousand to one he will for Terror to others and Dispair to themselves, make them the most miserable and contemptible wretches breathing in this World; but if they have Sworn Truth, let them give a luster to it by amending their Lives, that they and the Nation they have saved by their Dis­coveries may glory in one another, to the confusion and destruction not only of these, but all other its enemies.

But to conclude, I will desire but any reasonable man to consider the absurdity of their Arguing, who pretend that not only these last five, but the eight others condemned by the same Evidence, had Dispensations to die with Lyes in their Mouths: And that by the Doctrine of Equivocation and Mental Reservation, they and all other Papists can say and Swear any thing, when it is plain to all the world, that nothing but their fearing to Swear falsely layes them lyable to the Laws against Popery; can it be believed that men who forfeit Peerage, Offices of Honour, Trust, Power and Profit, loose two thirds of their Estates, and make themselves more obnoxious to more severe Laws than ever was in force against Christianity during the first ten Persecutions, and all this because they will not Swear against Con­science, can have Dispensations so covenient to their earthly well being, and make no use of them; nothing can be more contradictory to humain reason then these Calumnies, nor can any indifferent person chuse but see through such absurd contradictions. In fine there has thirteen men, of which one a Protestant, have died already by the Ac­cusation of these four Witnesses, all have gone out of the World absolutely denying the matters they were accused of, any one of them might have secured a Pardon by confessing his Charge; they have been all of them of approved Ho­nest Coversation in their several callings during the rest of their Lives, and yet we must not believe one tittle of their last words spoke so plainly, (if false) to their destruction both here and hereafter; to their destruction, and not the least to their Interest: Yet on the contrary we are not so much as allow'd to doubt the Fidelity of their Accusers, though men Notorious for Scandalous and Wicked Lives; men who from abject qualities assume to themselves by this means Dignities, and pretend to Honours and Titles; and who from the extreamest Poverty and Necessity are advanced to Opolency and Plenty for Accusing persons of Consulting with them about Affairs of so high a nature as the Altera­tion of Kingdoms, and Murthering the best of Monarchs. Persons of such Qualities and Fortunes, as would with Job have disdained to set them with the Dogs of their Flock, who if they would have made use of such pitiful Instruments, would certainly have taken care for their support, and not have seconded their Imprudent Election of such Coun­cellors in matter of so great Trust, with a second Error of suffering them to want when they had trusted them, but would have provided for them as those we see do sufficiently, who now make use of their service; but though we may not call them perjured persons until Convicted, which their Protectors will easily prevent, by not permitting them to be Indicted, yet none can deny us the libetty of thinking that men will easily discern the difference between the Dying and the Living Testimonies, let their Pretences and Lyes be never so many; But to the God of Truth we refer both Causes, not doubting but in his good time all these secrets will be brought to Light to his everlasting Glory.