State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 1 (of 2)
History
State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 1 (of 2)
Trials -- Great Britain
But then, Sir, the weight that lies upon you in all those
respects that have been spoken, by reason of your Tyranny,
Treason, Breach of Trust, and the Murders that have been
committed; surely, Sir, it must drive you into a sad
consideration concerning your eternal condition. As I said at
first, I know it cannot be pleasing to you to hear any such
things as these are mentioned unto you from this Court, for so
we do call ourselves, and justify ourselves to be a Court, and a
high Court of Justice, authorized by the highest and solemnest
court of the kingdom, as we have often said; And although you do
not yet endeavour what you may to discourt us, yet we do take
knowledge of ourselves to be such a Court as can administer
Justice to you: and we are bound, Sir, in duty to do it. Sir,
all I shall say before the reading of your Sentence, it is but
this: The Court does heartily desire that you will seriously
think of those evils that you stand guilty of. Sir, you said
well to us the other day, you wished us to have God before our
eyes. Truly Sir, I hope all of us have so: That God, who we know
is a King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; that God with whom there
is no respect of Persons; that God, who is the Avenger of
innocent Blood; We have that God before us; that God, who does
bestow a curse upon them that with-hold their hands from
shedding of blood, which is in the case of guilty malefactors,
and that do deserve death: That God we have before our eyes. And
were it not that the conscience of our duty hath called us unto
this place, and this imployment, Sir, you should have had no
appearance of a Court here. But, Sir, we must prefer the
discharge of our duty unto God, and unto the kingdom, before any
other respect whatsoever. And although at this time many of us,
if not all of us, are severely threatened by some of your party,
what they intend to do, Sir, we do here declare, That we shall
not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the
administration of Justice, even to you, according to the merit
of your Offence although God should permit those men to effect
all that bloody design in hand against us. Sir, we will say, and
we will declare it, as those Children in the Fiery Furnace, that
would not worship the golden image, that Nebuchadnezzar had set
up, 'That their God was able to deliver them from that danger
that they were near unto'; But yet if he would not do it, yet
notwithstanding that they would not fall down and worship the
Image. We shall thus apply it; That though we should not be
delivered from those bloody hands and hearts that conspire the
overthrow of the kingdom in general, of us in particular, for
acting in this great Work of Justice, though we should perish in
the Work, yet by God's grace, and by God's strength, we will go
on with it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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