THE LAST SPEECHES OF THE FIVE NOTORIOUS Traitors and Jesuits: VIZ. 

Thomas White alias Whitebread, Provincial of the Jesuits in England.  
William Harcourt alias Harrison, pretended Rector of London.  
John Gavan alias Gawen.  
Anthony Turner. And  
John Fenwick, Procurator for the Jesuits in England.    
Who were justly Executed at Tyburn, June 20. 1679. for Conspiring the Death of His Sacred Majesty, and the Subversion of the Government and Protestant Religion.  
IF the most ignorant of Criminals, when Condemned to die, and just ready to undergo the deserved punishment of their Offences, are always ambitious to extenuate the Enormity of their Crimes, wonder not then, that they who have assumed to themselves the dignifyed Orders of Religion and Sanctity, together with the perfections of noble Learning; and under that Notion and Coverture, to establish themselves in the absolute Dominion of the Souls, and consequently the Bodies of Men; break all the Fences and impalements of Divinity and Morality, and being brought to suffer for their so doing, make it their business to impose upon the Spectators of their last Behaviour. Those people know that the last words of dying Men bear a great sway amongst the Living, and that the swan-like sentences of those that sing at their departure, being cunningly insinuated and politicly made use of, penetrate more deeply than can be imagined into the hearts of the credulous and unstable. Upon these grounds, and with these aims, those Persons so lately condemned by National Justice, and warranted to execution, like Men infected with the Pestilence, who through the particular malice of that distemper labour to infect all Persons that they come near, thought to have imposed their delusions upon the people, and by their ultimate Farewells to the World, to have diffused the venom of their Heresy through the Veins of the whole Nation. For could they but have purged away their Crimes with the sweet Hyssop of a fine speech, or blotted out the stains of their Offences with an inveigling Metaphor, than they thought they had done a great work: well knowing, that an Opinion of Martyrdom begets Belief, and that Belief is the Mother of Conversion. Thereby they had improved their Happiness in conceit, and had short'ned their journey to Heaven by leaving Purgatory on the left hand, as being such who had given a more deadly stroke, like Samson, to their Enemies, at their fall, than all the years of their former lives e'er gave them opportunity to do. But to prevent their intended mischief, and to advance an Antidote against the spreading venom of clandestine Transcripts conveyed from Person to Person, and consequently subject to those alterations, additions, and diminutions, as may be most advantageous to the interpreter, it may be presumed an Act of prudence to divulge in season the most exact Copies of these speeches which were intended for no good. An act the rather to be justified, in regard the best Physicians always first describe the distemper at large, and then set down the prescription of the Cure. Nor can it be unacceptable to good Government, by lawful means to prevent the people from being deceived, where their deception may entice them to Change and Disobedience.  

The last Speech of Thomas White, alias Whitebread.  
I Suppose it is expected I should speak something to the matter I am condemned for, and brought hither to suffer, it is no less than the contriving and plotting His Majesty's Death, and the alteration of the Government of the Church and State; you all either know, or aught to know, I am to make my appearance before the Face of Almighty God, and with all imaginable certainty and evidence to receive a final Judgement, for all the thoughts, words, and actions of my whole life: So that I am not now upon terms to speak other than truth, and therefore in his most Holy Presence, and as I hope for Mercy from his Divine Majesty, I do declare to you here present, and to the whole World, that I go out of the World as innocent, and as free from any guilt of these things laid to my charge in this matter, as I came into the World from my Mother's Womb; and that I do renounce from my heart all manner of Pardons, Absolutions, Dispensations for Swearing, as occasions or Interest may seem to require, which some have been pleased to lay to our charge as matter of our Practice and Doctrine, but is a thing so unjustifiable and unlawful, that I believe, and ever did, that no power on Earth can authorise me, or any body so to do; and for those who have so falsely accused me (as time, either in this World, or in the next, will make appear) I do hearty forgive them, and beg of God to grant them his holy Grace, that they may repent their unjust proceed against me, otherwise they will in conclusion find they have done themselves more wrong than I have suffered from them, though that has been a great deal. I pray God bless His Majesty both Temporal and Eternal, which has been my daily Prayers for him, and is all the harm that I ever intended or imagined against him. And I do with this my last breath in the sight of God declare, that I never did learn, teach, or believe, that it is lawful upon any occasion or pretence whatsoever, to design or contrive the Death of His Majesty, or any hurt to his Person; but on the contrary, all are bound to obey, defend, and preserve his Sacred Person, to the utmost of their power. And I do moreover declare, that this is the true and plain sense of my Soul in the sight of him who knows the Secrets of my Heart, and as I hope to see his blessed Face without any Equivocation, or mental Reservation. This is all I have to say concerning the matter of my Condemnation, that which remains for me now to do, is to recommend my Soul into the hands of my blessed Redeemer, by whose only Merits and Passion I hope for Salvation.   

The last Speech of William Harcourt, alias Harrison.  
THE words of dying persons have been always esteemed as of greatest Authority, because uttered then, when shortly after they were to be cited before the high Tribunal of Almighty God, this gives me hopes that mine may be looked upon as such, therefore I do here declare in the presence of Almighty God, and the whole Court of Heaven, and this numerous Assembly, that as I ever hope (by the Merits and Passion of my sweet Saviour Jesus Christ) for Eternal Bliss, I am as innocent as the Child unborn of any thing laid to my charge, and for which I am here to die, and I do utterly abhor and detest that abominable false Doctrine laid to our charge, that we can have Licenses to commit perjury, or any Sin to advantage our cause, being expressly against the Doctrine of St. Paul, saying, Non sunt facienda mala, ut eveniant bona; Evil is not to be done that good may come thereof. And therefore we hold it in all cases unlawful to kill or murder any person whatsoever, much more our lawful King now Reigning, whose personal and temporal Dominions we are ready to defend against any Opponent whatsoever, none excepted. I forgive all that have contrived my Death, and humbly beg pardon of Almighty God. I also pardon all the World. I pray God bless His Majesty, and grant him a prosperous Reign. The like I wish to his Royal Consort the best of Queens. I humbly beg the Prayers of all those of the Roman Church, if any such be present.   

The last Speech of John Gavan, alias Gawen.  
DEarly beloved Countrymen, I am come now to the last Scene of Mortality, to the hour of my Death, an hour which is the Horizon between Time and Eternity, an hour which must either make me a Star to shine for ever in the Empyreum above, or a Firebrand to burn everlastingly amongst the damned Souls in Hell below; an hour in which if I deal sincerely, and with a hearty sorrow acknowledge my crimes, I may hope for mercy; but if I falsely deny them, I must expect nothing but Eternal Damnation; and therefore what I shall say in this great hour, I hope you will believe. And now in this hour I do solemnly swear, protest, and vow, by all that is Sacred in Heaven and on Earth, and as I hope to see the Face of God in Glory, that I am as innocent as the Child unborn of those treasonable Crimes, which Mr. Oats and Mr. Dugdale have Sworn against me in my Trial, and for which, sentence of Death was pronounced against me the day after my Trial; and that you may be assured that what I say is true, I do in the like manner protest, vow, and swear, as I hope to see the Face of God in Glory, that I do not in what I say unto you, make use of any Equivocation, mental Reservation, and material Prolocution, or any such ways to palliate Truth. Neither do I make use of any dispensations from the Pope, or any body else; or of any Oath of secrecy, or any absolution in Confession or out of Confession to deny the truth, but I speak in the plain sense which the words bear; and if I do not speak in the plain sense which the words bear, or if I do speak in any other terms to palliate, hid, or deny the truth, I wish with all my Soul that God may exclude me from his Heavenly Glory, and condemn me to the lowest place of Hell Fire: and so much to that point.  
And now, dear Countrymen, in the second place, I do confess and own to the whole World that I am a Roman Catholic, and a Priest, and one of that sort of Priests which you call Jesuits; and now because they are so falsely charged for holding King-killing Doctrine, I think it my duty to protest to you with my last dying words, that neither I in particular, nor the Jesuits in general, hold any such opinion, but utterly abhor and detest it; and I assure you, that among the multitude of Authors, which among the Jesuits have printed Philosophy, Divinity, Cases or Sermons, there is not one to the best of my knowledge that allows of King-killing Doctrine, or holds this position, That it is lawful for a private person to kill a King, although an Heretic, although a Pagan, although a Tyrant, there is, I say, not one Jesuit that holds this, except Mariana, the Spanish Jesuit, and he defends it not absolutely, but only problematically, for which his Book was called in again, and the opinions expugned and sentenced. And is it not a sad thing, that for the rashness of one single Man, whilst the rest cry out against him, and hold the contrary, that a whole Religious Order should be sentenced? But I have not time to discuss this point at large, and therefore I refer you all to a Royal Author, I mean the wife and victorious King Henry the Fourth of France, the Royal Grandfather of our present gracious King, in a public Oration which he pronounced himself in defence of the Jesuits, said, that he was very well satisfied with the Jesuits Doctrine concerning Kings, as believing conformable to what the best Doctors of the Church have taught. But why do I relate the testimony of one particular Prince, when the whole Catholic World is the Jesuits Advocate? for to them chief Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Flanders, trust the Education of their Youth, and to them in a great proportion, they trust their own Souls to be governed in the Sacraments. And can you imagine so many great Kings and Princes, and so many wise States should do or permit this to be done in their Kingdoms, if the Jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England?  
In the third place, dear Countrymen, I do attest, that as I never in my life did machine, or contrive either the deposition or death of the King, so now I do hearty desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy Reign upon Earth, and an Everlasting Crown in Heaven. For the Judges also, and the Jury, and all those that were any ways concerned, either in my Trial, Accusation, or Condemnation, I do humbly ask of God, both Temporal and Eternal happiness. And as for Mr. Oats and Mr. Dugdale, whom I call God to witness, by false Oaths have brought me to this untimely end, I hearty forgive them, because God commands me so to do; and I beg of God for his infinite Mercy to grant them true Sorrow and Repentance in this World, that they be capable of Eternal happiness in the next. And so having discharged my Duty towards myself, and my own Innocence towards my Order, and its Doctrine to my Neighbour and the World, I have nothing else to do now, my great God, but to cast myself into the Arms of your Mercy, as firmly as I judge that I myself am, as certainly as I believe you are One Divine Essence and Three Divine Persons, and in the Second Person of your Trinity you became Man to redeem me; I also believe you are an Eternal Rewarder of Good, and Chastiser of Bad. In fine, I believe all you have revealed for your own infinite Veracity; I hope in you above all things, for your infinite Fidelity; and I love you above all things, for your infinite Beauty and Goodness; and I am hearty sorry that ever I offended so great a God with my whole heart: I am contented to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of you, my dear Jesus, seeing you have been pleased to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of me.   

The last Speech of Anthony Turner.  
BEing now, good People, very near my End, and summoned by a violent Death to appear before God's Tribunal, there to render an account of all my thoughts, words, and actions, before a just Judge, I am bound in Conscience to declare upon Oath my Innocence from the horrid Crime of Treason, with which I am falsely accused: And I esteem it a Duty I own to Christian Charity, to publish to the World before my death all that I know in this point, concerning those Catholics I have conversed with since the first noise of the Plot, desiring from the very bottom of my heart, that the whole Truth may appear, that Innocence may be cleared, to the great Glory of God, and the Peace and Welfare of the King and Country. As for myself, I call God to witness, that I was never in my whole life at any Consult or Meeting of the Jesuits, where any Oath of Secrecy was taken, or the Sacrament, as a Bond of Secrecy, either by me or any one of them, to conceal any Plot against His Sacred Majesty; nor was I ever present at any Meeting or Consult of theirs, where any Proposal was made, or Resolve taken or signed, either by me or any of them, for taking away the Life of our Dread Sovereign; an Impiety of such a nature, that had I been present at any such Meeting, I should have been bound by the Laws of God, and by the Principles of my Religion, (and by God's Grace would have acted accordingly) to have discovered such a devilish Treason to the Civil Magistrate, to the end they might have been brought to condign punishment. I was so far, good People, from being in September last at a Consult of the Jesuits at tixal, in Mr. Ewer's Chamber, that I vow to God, as I hope for Salvation, I never was so much as once that year at tixal, my Lord Aston's House. 'Tis true, I was at the Congregation of the Jesuits held on the 24th of April was twelvemonth, but in that Meeting, as I hope to be saved, we meddled not with State-Affairs, but only treated about the Governors of the Province, which is usually done by us, without offence to temporal Princes, every third Year all the World over. I am, good People, as free from the Treason I am accused of, as the Child that is unborn, and being innocent I never accused myself in Confession of any thing that I am charged with. Which certainly, if I had been conscious to myself of any Gild in this kind, I should not so frankly and freely, as I did, of my own accord, presented myself before the King's Most Honourable Privy Council. As for those Catholics, which I have conversed with since the noise of the Plot, I protest before God, in the words of a dying Man, that I never heard any one of them, neither Priest nor Layman, express to me the least knowledge of any Plot, that was then on foot amongst the Catholics, against the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for the advancing the Catholic Religion. I die a Roman Catholic, and humbly beg the Prayers of such for my happy passage into a better Life: I have been of that Religion above Thirty Years, and now give God Almighty infinite thanks for calling me by his holy Grace to the knowledge of this Truth, notwithstanding the prejudice of my former Education. God of his infinite Goodness bless the King, and all the Royal Family, and grant His Majesty a prosperous Reign here, and a Crown of Glory hereafter. God in his mercy forgive all those which have falsely accused me, or have had any hand in my Death; I forgive them from the bottom of my heart, as I hope myself for forgiveness at the Hands of God.  
O GOD who hast created me to a supernatural end, to serve thee in this life by grace and enjoy thee in the next by glory, be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter death and passion, that after this wretched life shall be ended, I may not fail of a full enjoyment of thee my last end and sovereign good. I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy Divine Majesty, since the first Instance I came to the use of reason to this very time; I am hearty sorry from the very bottom of my heart for having offending thee so good, so powerful, so wise, and so just a God, and purpose by the help of thy grace, never more to offend thee my good God, whom I love above all things.  
O sweet Jesus, who hath suffered a most painful and ignominious Death upon the Cross for our Salvation, apply, I beseech thee, unto me the merits of thy sacred Passion, and sanctify unto me these sufferings of mine, which I humbly accept of for thy sake in union of the sufferings of thy sacred Majesty, and in punishment and satisfaction of my sins.  
O my dear Saviour and Redeemer, I return thee immortal thanks for all thou hast pleased to do for me in the whole course of my life, and now in the hour of my death, with a firm belief of all things thou hast revealed, and a steadfast hope of obtaining everlasting bliss. I cheerfully cast myself into the Arms of thy Mercy, whose Arms were stretched on the Cross for my Redemption. Sweet Jesus receive my Spirit.   

The last Speech of John Fenwick.  
GOod People, I suppose you expect I should say something as to the Crime I am Condemned for, and either acknowledge my Gild, or assert my Innocency; I do therefore declare before God and the whole World, and call God to witness that what I say is true, that I am innocent of what is laid to my Charge of Plotting the King's Death, and endeavouring to subvert the Government, and bring in a foreign Power, as the Child unborn; and that I know nothing of it, but what I have learned from Mr. Oates and his Companions, and what comes originally from them. And to what is said and commonly believed of Roman Catholics, that they are not to be believed or trusted, because they can have Dispensations for Lying, Perjury, killing Kings, and other the most enormous Crimes; I do utterly renounce all such Pardons, Dispensations, and withal declare, That it is a most wicked and malicious Calumny cast on them, who do all with all their hearts and souls hate and detest all such wicked and damnable Practices, and in the words of a dying Man, and as I hope for Mercy at the hands of God, before whom I must shortly appear and give an account of all my actions, I do again declare, That what I have said is most true, and I hope Christian Charity will not let you think, that by the last act of my Life, I would cast away my Soul, by sealing up my last Breath with a damnable Lye.   

THe main Drift and Scope of these so notorious Malefactors Speeches, was to wipe away the Contamination of that Gild, which brought them all to be the public Spectacles of Condign Punishment; wherein they observe all the same method of Appealing to Heaven, denying the Doctrine and Maxims of their Order, and then praying for the King and themselves. All which Oaths and Protestations, had they been true, they might rather have been thought Apostates from their Order, and desertors of the Religion they so zealously professed upon the Ladder, than valiant Champions of the Romish Militant Church. Had they been such Weak and Pusillanimous Combatants with Death, as not strenuously to deny what they were so fairly convicted of; they would have been deprived of those glorious Crowns of Martyrdom which were assured them by Him, whom they call the only Lord of all the World, the only Vice-God, the only Emperor, the only King, the Most Holy Pope. They thought it was much better to make but one Skip from the Cart to jacob's Ladder, and so to mount directly up to Heaven, than to be condemned with an ignominious Load of Truth, and Penitent Confessions of the Facts they Committed, to the Whips and Scourges of a tedious Purgatory; else it would seem strange to the World, that in the midst of those solemn Protestations which they made to that God, to whom their Souls were taking such a speedy flight, as they pretended, should so boldly deny what so many Grand-Signiours of Jesuitism have so stiffly maintained to all the World. Nor did this Leash and Brace of their Disciples, show themselves such mild Receders from their Principles, who durst so confidently adventure to Beard the Laws and Statutes of a Sovereign Prince, within his own Dominions; ipso facto, Malefactors and Rebels to His Majesty, when they first set Foot upon His Shore.  
As for their renouncing all Equivocations and Mental Reservations, which is the Ground upon which they all tread, that will signify nothing, when we consider the Nature and Quality of a true Jesuit, which is, tenaciously to hold and adhere to the Dictates and Positions of their Superiors, as believing what they teach to be all Inspiration. Now their Heavenly Doctrine is no more than this; that it is lawful for them, not only to deny and conceal the truth, but also piously and religiously to affirm, to swear by, and invoke God and their Salvation to attest those things which they know to be assuredly untrue. Thus Toletus, both a Jesuit and Cardinal, L. 4, of his Instructions to the Priests, C. 21. If it be a secret Crime concerning which, any one is examined, he may make use of Equivocation. As for Example, if I be asked whether I did such a thing or No? I may answer No: with this reservation to myself; I did not now do it.  
Gregory de Valentia asserts the same: If the Question, saith he, be not fit to be answered, though you be upon your Oath, yet shall no Perjury be committed, though the party swear contrary to the Intent of the Judge; such a one does neither lie, nor take the Name of God in vain, when it is for his own Preservation.  
Andrea's Eudemon Johannes is another of the same Stamp.  
Martin Azpilcueta of Navarr, proves Equivocation to be lawful, from the Example of St. Francis, who being asked by certain Officers, whether such a Murderer did not run such away? Put his hands into his Sleeves, and cried, he did not pass this way: meaning, that he did not fly through his Sleeves.  
The  Cardinal Toletus also affirms, That if a Priest be asked by the Magistrate, whether he saw such a one at any time? He may answer, No, For he did not see him that he should tell the Magistrate; or he did not see him in a Beatifical Vision, or I did not see him at Venice, etc. Many more Examples might be brought out of the same, and several other Printed Authors; neither are the Equivocations of Tresham, Garnet, and others unknown to ourselves, as those of Richeome are in France, who affirmed That he never heard the last deceased Henry, called Tyrant by any of his Subjects, though he had heard Henry Valois, the last Murdered King often so reviled. So that it may be well said to be the Jesuits Motto,  

Jura, perjura, secretum prodere Noli.  
Swear and Forswear—  
But the main Secret to betray forbear.   
Thus while they pretend to renounce and detest Equivocations, Mental Reservations, and Dispensations; Reason itself must needs persuade us, that Men principled and educated by such Instructors, are guarded with a good Salvo, for those very Equivocations which they seemed to abjure.  
No less, if not more apparent is the fallacy of their disowning and disavowing that Dismal Doctrine, of kill Kings and Princes.  
To which purpose Gawen fell short in affirming, that only Mariana the Spaniard was the upholder of that dreadful Opinion; witness the Writings and Approbations of Stapleton and Garnet; and the Apology of Jacob Clements, in some part recited in the Oration to the King of France, against the Readmission of the Jesuits into that Kingdom. Comolet and Guignardus, by whom that bloody Act of Jacob Clements, who Murdered Henry the Third of France, was called the Gift of the Holy Ghost, as is averred in the forementioned Oration to Henry the Fourth. And who so wicked among us, saith the same Oration, as not to see, that if Jacob Clements had not deeply drank of the Jesuits Poison, he would ever have thought of killing his Lord and Master. The Warlike Prowess and renown of Henry the Fourth, could not defend him from the Treachery of a Bejesuited Enthusiast, who confessed that he had sucked all his King-killing malice from their Diabolical Oratory. And so far was Mariana from being the sole supporter of this Doctrine, that Francis de Verone wrote in the defence of chastel, who had stabbed Henry the Fourth, and John Gueret and John Hay were both banished out of France, for publicly teaching their Disciples the vicious Precepts of early Treason.  
Nor is there any thing more horrid among all the Butcheries of the Heathen Sacrificers, than the Ceremony, which the Jesuits use, at the Consecration of the Person and the Dagger, which they design for a Royal Massacre. For the intended Executioner is brought into a private Room, where the Dagger carefully wrapped up in a fair Linen Cloth, and sheathed in an Ivory sheathe enamelled with several strange Characters, with an Agnus Dei appendent, is set at liberty to dazzle the Murderers eyes. Then the Weapon being drawn, is sprinkled with Holy Water, adorned with a rosary of Coral Beads, and so delivered with these words. Chosen Son of God, receive the Sword of Jeptha, the Sword of Samson, the Sword of David with which he cut off Goliah's Head etc. go and be prudently courageous. Then falling on their knees, they mumble forth this dismal exorcism; Cherubims and Scraphims, ye Thrones and Powers, ye Holy Angels all descend, and fill this blessed Vessel with perpetual Glory; daily offer to him the Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Patriarches and Martyrs; For he is now your own, and no longer belongs to us. Then they bring him to the Altar, and showing him the Picture of Jacob Clements. Strengthen, O Lord they cry, this thy Arm, the Instrument of thy revenge. Let all the Saints arise and give place to Him. An invention of Men worse than Devils, enough to amaze Heaven itself; which shows that the words of dying men are not always Oracles, when they go about to palliate embodied Villainy. Nor was Mariana's Book exploded, as Gawen averrs; but it is true that care was taken by the Jesuits to suppress both Mariana and others, for he was not alone, merely out of necessity, and to divert the storm that threatened them from the Court of France. And thus the world may see the folly of that vain Compliment; That a whole Order should suffer for the rashness of one man.  
As little cause there is for Us to believe, That the whole Catholic World should be the Jesuits Advocate. At least the whole Catholic World has taken a very ill Cause in hand, to defend an Order that has so ill behaved itself, as to be expelled out of France for Murder; out of England for High-Treason; from Venice, almost in the sight of Rome itself, for their insufferable Ambition, and designs of Bloody revenge; out of Bohemia, for being common Disturbers of the Public Peace; out of Moravia and Hungaria for the same Cause; out of Transilvania, for being almost the ruin of that Country; and out of the Low Countries, for their continual Misdemeanours; and Lastly, this may be also added, That Ferdinand King of Sweden was expelled his Kingdom, for endeavouring to obtain their readmission after they had been ejected by his Subjects.  
As for Father Harcourt, let it not seem strange, for I find they were all alike in haste to reach Heaven before Sunset, that he should pretend so much ignorance of the Plot. For the reason is plain; he was resolved to Visit S. Peter in the Jesuits Livery, and to let them see he was True Blue: while his own Letter under his own Hand, written into the Country to give notice of Sir Edmund bury Godfrey's Death, three Hours after his Murder; and publicly to be seen, puts a most cruel Slur upon his late protested Hatred of Mental Reservation and Equivocation.  
Now as for their Prayers for their Judges, and the Discoverers of their Treason, in my judgement they might have spar'd'em. For why should they be so zealous to pray for them, when they would not so much as beg one tear from those that were not of their own Profession? They were no Prayers of Charity, but rather the Curses of their Malice, while they laboured to scandal the Justice of such most Eminent Judges, the Impartiality of so sound a Jury, and the Fidelity of such Witnesses, who having so highly merited of the whole Nation, have rendered the Sufferers more remarkable in their Ends, than in all the Progress of their Lives before.   
FINIS.