BEHEADED Dr. John Hewytts Ghost Pleading, yea crying for EXEMPLARY JUSTICE AGAINST The arbitrary, Un-exampled Injustice of his late Judges and Executioners in the New High-Commission, or Court of Justice, sitting in WEST MINSTER-HALL.  
Containing his Legal Plea, Demurrer, and Exceptions to their illegal Jurisdiction, Proceed, and bloody Sentence against him; drawn up by Counsel, and left behind him ready engrossed; the Substance whereof he pleaded before them by word of mouth, and would have tendered them in writing in due form of Law, had he not discerned their peremptory Resolution to reject and overrule, before they heard them read,  Gen. 3. 10. 
The voice of thy brother's BLOOD CRYETH UNTO ME from the ground.  Exod. 21. 14. 
If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine Altar, that he may die.  Ps, 94. 20, 21, 23. 
Shall the throne of Iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a Law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood: But the Lord shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness: yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.  Prov. 28. 17. 
A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall flee to the pit, Let no man stay him.  
LONDON Printed in the Year of our Lord, 1659.   

The Plea and Demurrer of John Hewytt, Dr. of Divinity, to the Jurisdiction and Proceed of the Commissioners in pursuance of an Act, for the security of the Lord Protectors Person, etc. and to the Sentence of Death pronounced against him by them.  
THis Defendant saith, That he is by Birth a Freeman of England, and that it is the undoubted ancient inseparable Birthright, Privilege, and Inheritance of every English Freeman both by the Common Laws, Franchises, Great Charters, Statutes and Usages of this Land, ratified from Age to Age by the Votes, Resolutions, Declarations, Judgements of the High Court of Parliament, and other public Courts of Justice, the Oaths of the Kings of England and their Justices, and by many other solemn public Confirmations, Protestations, Oaths, Vows, and Covenants: 
a Cooks 2 Instit. p. 45, to 57 Magna Charta of King John, H. 3. & E. 1. c. 29. 25 E. 1. c 1. 28 E. 1. c. 1. 5 E. 3 c. 9 25 E. 3. n. 26 etc. 4. 28 E. 3. c. 3. 42 E. 3. c. 23. 2 H. 4. rot. Parl. n. 60 the Petition of Right, 3 Caroli.  That no Freeman of England may or aught to be taken or imprisoned, or disseised, or disinherited of his Freehold, Liberties, or Free Customs; or to be outlawed, exiled, or any way destroyed, passed upon, dealt with, or forejudged of life or limb, or put to death, upon any accusation whatsoever, but by the lawful Judgement of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land; and that he shall not be put to answer without Presentment before the Justices, or thing of Record, or by due process of the Law, or by writ original, according to the old Law of the Land; 
b 25 E. 3 c. 2. 26 H. 8. c. 13. 33 H 8. c. 20. 35 H. 8. c. 1. 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. 1, & 2 Phil. & Mar. c. 10, 11. 5 E 6. c. 11. 1 Eliz: c 6 5 Eliz. c. 11. 13 Eliz. c. 1. 14 Eliz. c. 1. 18 Eliz. c. 1. 27 Eliz. c. 2. 1 H. 4. c. 14.  And that all trials hereafter to be had, awarded, or made for any Tre●son, shall be had and used only according to the due order & course of the Common Laws of this Realm, and not otherwise, upon Inquest and presentment by the Oaths of 12 good and lawful men upon good and probable evidence and witness; And that 
c 5 E. 1. c. 21. 2. Cooks 2 Instit p. 526, 527 28 E. 3. rot. Parl. n. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 29 E 3. rot. Parl. n. 29, 30. E 3. co●am rege, rot. 92. Cooks 3 Instit p. 52. 42 E. 3. c. 1. 3.  if any thing be done to the contrary of the Premises, it shall be void in Law, redressed, and holden for error, and nought: And if any Statute be made to the contrary, that shall be holden for none. And moreover this Defendant saith, that in the Parliament of 2. R. 2. rot. Parl. n. 47. the Commons petitioned the King and Lords, that the Constable and Marshal of England (then encroaching upon this Privilege of the Commons, by holding Pleas of Treason and Felony before them after the course of Martial Law) might from thenceforth surcease to hold Pleas of Treason and Felony before them, done within the Realm, and that the same may be determine, only before the King's Justice's, according to the Great Charter; which was then assented to: And that upon the like petitions of the Commons in the Parliaments of 1 H ●. and 2. H. 4. rot. Parl. n. 89. it was assented to, and enacted by the King and Lords, that the King's liege people 
d Cooks 4. Instit. p. 124, 125.  should not be put to answer before the Constable or Marshal in Courts of Chivalry, for any thing done within the Realm, but that (as before in the times of his Progenitors) the same might be tried & determined only before his Justices in his Courts, as it ought to be according to the Common Law of the Realm, & in no other place or manner. Upon which Considerations many of the King's loyal Lords, Gentlemen and other subjects in the general insurrection of the Villains & other Rebels against the King, in the 5th year of Richard the 2d. having inflicted divers punishments upon the said villains and traitors without due process of the Law, and otherwise then the Laws and usages of the Realm required; though they did it out of no malice prepensed, but out of mere loyalty to the King, and to appease and cease the present mischief, and out of ignorance of the said Laws and usage, in which if they had been learned, yet at that time they ought not to have tarried the pro●…ss of the Law in those punishments of their good discretion; yet those punishments and executions of them in a summary way being contrary to, and not warranted by the Laws and usages of the Realm, they were enforced for their future indemnity against the King and his heirs, and the heirs, wives and friends of those they punished, to petition the King and Parliament, for a general pardon by act of Parliament, to secure and indemnify themselves; which was granted them, in 5. R. 2. Parl. 1. ch. 5. else they might have been impeached and punished for the same, as well as King Richard the second himself; who in the Parliament of 1 H. 4. rot. Parl. n. 44 (wherein he was enforced to resign his Crown, & then deposed for his misgovernment) was amongst other Articles impeached of this in particular by that Parliament, for that against the great Charter (ch. 19) and his Coronation Oath, be suffered many of his Li●ge people to be maliciously accused, apprehended, imprisoned, and tried before the Constable and Marshal of England in their military Court, for words secretly spoken, or acts privately done, to the scandal of his Royal Person, where they were enforced to acquit themselves by duel; whence the destruction not only of the Nobles and Great Men, but likewise of all and every the persons of the Commons of the Realm might probably have ensued. And this Defendant further saith, that one Peter Burchet of the Temple in the 13th year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign, having wilfully stabbed that famous Sea-Captain John Hawkins, for not being of his opinion in Religion, (Burchet being persuaded in Conscience, that it was lawful for him to kill every one who was not of his opinion) the Queen being much incensed against him for this horrid fact, commanded him to be forthwith tried and executed for it by Martial Law: But her Judges and Council informing her, that he could not be so tried by law, it being done not in an Army, but in time of peace, when her Courts of Law and Justice were open; thereupon she desisted from this way of Trial; After which he was tried according to Law, for this and his murdering his keeper in the Tower, as Mr. Camden records in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth, p. 242. 243. And whereas in the Parliament of the 4th. of King James holden at Westminster, there was some kind of motion made; that to extirpate and reform the inveterate evil customs, disorders, feuds, bloudsheds, thefts and spoils wherewith the worst sort of Inhabitants near the borders and limits of both Realms of England and Scotland were infected and enured; that they might be tried by a summary Proceeding, by way of Martial Law, or by the Laws of the Kingdom into which they fled to purchase their impunity: This Parliament was so fare from approving thereof, that they specially enacted, in this case (even of these worst sort of men) 
* 4 jacob. ch. 1.  That in regard of some difference and inequality in the Laws, Trials, and Proceed in cases of life, between the Justice of the Realm of England and that of the Realm of Scotland, it appearing to be most convenient for the contentment and satisfaction of all his Majesty's Subjects, to proceed with all possible severity against such offenders in their own country, ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF THE SAME, WHEREUNTO THEY ARE BORNE AND INHERITABLE; and by and before the natural borne subjects of the same Realm; by whom their Murders, Felonies, Rapes, etc. should be inquired of, heard and determined before his Majesty's Justices of Assize, or Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, or Goal delivery, by good and lawful men of the 3. Counties therein specified, and none other. And that at all such Trials the Jury then and there sworn, shall have in their power and election, according to their conscience and discretion upon their Oaths, to receive and admit only such sufficient good and lawful witnesses upon their Oaths, either for or against the party arraigned, as shall not appear to them, or the greater part of them to be unfit and unworthy to be witnesses in that cause, either in regard of their hatred and malice, or their favour and affection either to the party prosecuting or to the party arraigned, or of their former evil life and conversation. Which common, equal, indifferent Justice allowed to the worst Malefactors, as their birthright and inheritance by this Parliament and Act, this Defendant now only craves, and hopes you cannot in Law or Justice deny him; nor proceed against him by way of Martial Law. And so much the rather, because since this Statute, King Charles in the 3d. year of his Reign, by the advice of his Counsel (to suppress the Insolences of Soldiers and Mariners then billeted in sundry parts of the Realm) having issued out Commissions to sundry persons of quality, in time of peace, to execute Martial Law upon those Soldiers and Mariners, and other dissolute persons (only) joyntng with them, for Murder, Robbery, Felony, Mutiny, and other outrages committed by them, by such summary course and order as is agreeable to Martial Law, a●… is used in Armies in time of War; to proceed to the trial and condemnation of such offenders, and then to cause them to be executed and put to death, according to the Law Marshal; By pretext whereof some of the said soldiers and subjects were put to death by some of the said Commissioners, when and where, if by the Laws and Statutes of the Land they had deserved death, by the same Laws and Statutes also they might, and by no other ought to have been Judged, (before the King's justices) and executed. Upon Complaint of these Commissions, as illegal, in the Parliament of 3. Caroli, they were, after a full debate by both Houses, voted to be against Law; And in the Petition of Right itself, it was then prayed by the Lords and Commons, assented to by the late beheaded King himself, and enacted by this Law, That hereafter no Commissions of like Nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever, to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of them any of his Majesty's Subjects be destroyed or put to death, contrary to the Laws and Franchise of the Land: which the Lords and Commons then prayed, and the King granted, confirmed by Act of Parliament, as their Right and Liberty according to the Laws: which Act stands yet in its full force. Upon consideration of which late Excellent Law, the last long Parliament, in the cases of the Lord Connor Magwire and Mac-mohun, and the Court of King's Bench wherein they were tried by their special order, in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms 20 Caroli, were so just, punctual and honourable, in confining themselves to the rules of Law and Justice; that though these were principal Conspirators, and Actors in the late most horrid, barbarous, bloody Treason, Rebellion and Massacre in Ireland, and taken in its prosecution; yet they were so far from trying them by Marshal Law in a Council of War, or, High Court of Justice, even in a time of open war both in England and Ireland, that they assigned the said Maguire Council, to argue against the very Jurisdiction of the King's Bench itself; whether he, being a Peer of Ireland, could in point of Law or justice by the Statute of 35 H 8. ch. 2. 〈◊〉 any other Act, be ●uted of his Trial by his Peers, and tried by a Jury of good and lawful men of the County of Middlesex, for a Treason committed in Ireland, being sent a Prisoner from thence against his will? Which was there 
* See Mr. Prynnes Argument thereof.  publicly argued at the Bar by Counsel pro & contra; and then by the Judges, and overruled at last against him, before he was put to plead guilty or not guilty to his Indictment: after which they both were admitted to take both their peremptory and legal challenges to the Juries returned; (
* 32 H. 6. f 26. 14 H. 7. f 19 Brook Challenge, 86, 211, 217. Stamfords' Pleas l. 3. c. 7 Cooks 3 Instit. p. 27.  according to Law, admitting such challenges even in Cases of high Treason;) and all just Exceptions to the Witnesses produced; and had a most fair and free trial; being found guilty by the Jury, before any Judgement passed against them, Which Justice he humbly craves in his Case, of less heinousness and importance than theirs, being a native English freeman, and they only Irish Rebels; because this his inherent Birthright and Liberty can 
e 1 E 6. c. 12. 1 & 2 Phil. & Mar. c. 10, 11. Cooks 3 Instit. c. 1, 2.  neither be forfeited by him for any real or pretended 〈…〉 or offence whatsoever, nor yet be denied or deferred to him (after all the premised Laws, Statutes, Charters, Judgements, Resolutions, Precedents) without the highest injustice; And he further saith, that to proceed against, try, condemn, execute him in this high-Court without a legal Indictment, Presentment, and Trial by the Oaths of twelve good and lawful men according to the due order and course of the Common Laws of this Realm (and that in Westminster Hall itself, the place of Law & public Justice, in time of Peace, when and where all other Courts of Justice are open) or in any other form by way of Martial Law, or otherwise than a just Jury of his Equals, is not only illegal, erroneous, & against all Rules of Justice (the Commissioners themselves being both his grand and petty Jury, and his Judges likewise; if not parties interessed, to whom he can take no peremptory nor legal challenges, which the 
f Cook's 3 Instit. f. 27. Brook Challenge 217.  Law allows him if tried by a Jury, in cases of high Treasonat this day;) but also wilful and malicious Murder by the Laws of England, being against Magna Charta, c. 29. and done by such power and strength as he this Defendant cannot defend himself against, as is resolved in Sir Edward Cook's 3 Instit. p. 52. & 224. (printed by special Order of the House of Commons, dated 12 May, 1641.) and long before in Andrew Horn his Mirror of Justices, c. 5, p. 296, 297. who records, that our noble King Alfred, caused no less than 44. of his Justices to be hanged in one year as Murderers, for condemning and executing some of his people without a legal Indictment and Trial by a sworn Jury; and others of them for offences not capital by the known Laws of the Land, and without clear and pregnant Evidence. And this Defendant likewise saith, that the Commons themselves sitting at Westminster, after the late King's Execution, in their printed Declaration of 17 Martii, 1648. (expressing the grounds of their proceed against the said King, and for settling the present Government in way of a Free State, to which many in present power and ●●tting here were assenting and gave their Votes) did thereby faithfully promise and engage to the whole English Nation; That the good old Laws and Customs of England, The Badges of our Freedom, (the benefit whereof our Ancestors enjoyed long before the Conquest and spent much of their blood to have confirmed by the great Charters of their Liberti●●) which have continued in all former Changes, and being duly executed are the most just, free, and equal of any other Laws in the world; shall be duly continued and maintained; the Liberty, Property and peace of the Subject being so fully preserved by them; adding, that if these Laws should be taken away, all industry must cease, all misery, blood and confusion would follow; and greater calamities, if possible, than fell upon us by the late King's misgovernment would certainly involve all persons, under which they must inevitably perish. And moreover, the General Council of the Officers and Army themselves (whereunto most Officers and Soldiers in present power and some Commissioners here sitting were parties) in the Declaration of their Engagements, Remonstrances, Representations, Proposals, Desires, and Resolutions for settling the Parliament in their just Privileges, and the Subjects in their Liberties and Freedoms (printed by their own Orders and reprinted all together by Order of the Lords in Parliament, 27 September 1647) pag. 11, 36, 37, 38, 39 (especially in their Declaration and Representation tendered to the Parliament concerning the just and fundamental Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom, 14 May 1647) do profess and declare. That they were not a mere mercenary Army, hired to serve any arbitrary power of State, but called forth and conjured by several Declarations of Parliament, to the defence of their own and the people's just Rights and Liberties, and that they took up Arms in Judgement and Conscience to those Ends, and have so continued them, and are resolved, according to the Parliaments just desires in their Declarations, and such principles as they have received from their frequent informations, and their own common sense concerning those fundamental Rights and Liberties, to assert and vindicate the same against all arbitrary power, violence and oppression, and against all particular parties and interests whatsoever; that so all the freeborn people of this Nation may sit down in quiet under the glorious administration of justice and righteousness, and in full possession of those fundamental Rights and Liberties; without which we can have little hopes (as to humane considerations) to enjoy any comfort of life, or so much as life itself, but at the pleasure of some men Ruling according to will and power. That they desire the establishment of such good Laws, as may duly and readily render to every man their just Rights and Liberties. And more particularly, in their Proposals to the Commissioners of Parliament in order to the clearing and securing of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom, August 1. 1647. Sect. 10. p. 114. they proposed, That the Rights and Liberties of the Commons of England, May be cleared and vindicated from any other judgement, Sentence, or Proceeding against them other than by their Equals, or according to the Law of the Land. And this Defendant finally saith, that by the Instrument of Government itself 16 December 1653. Artic. 6. and the Oath therein prescribed to, and accordingly taken by his Highness, Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector, he is limited and sworn; not to alter, suspend, abrogate or repeal the Laws, and to govern these Nations according to the Laws, Statutes and Customs; causing Justice and Law to be equally administered: whereunto he is likewise obliged and sworn again, by his Oath prescribed in the late printed humble Petition and Advice. Neither doth that pretended Act, by which you here sit as Commissioners to try this Defendant (made by no legitimate, nor free Parliament of England, and that when near one hundred and fifty Members thereof were causelessly and forcibly secluded) authorise you (as he humbly conceiveth) to proceed against him for any Crime therein specified, to Conviction or final Sentence, but only as in Cases of high Treason, and misprision of Treason, and according to Justice; and that you cannot do but only by proceeding against him by a lawful Indictment and Trial by a Grand and Petty Jury, according to the great Charter, Laws, and Statutes of the Land, and the late Petition of Right, which this new Act cannot repeal or null. All which this Defendant is ready to aver, justify, and make good, when and where this high Commission Court, or his Highness the Lord Protector shall appoint: which being a mere matter of Law, wherein both the liberties and lives of all the Free born people of England are so universally, highly, and equally concerned, as well as the liberty and life of this Defendant, proper only to be debated before, and resolved by the Judges of the Law, or the high Court of Parliament; This Defendant thereupon humbly prayeth, That it may be referred to, openly argued by his learned Counsel, before all the Judges, or a Parliament, & by them determined: and in the mean time humbly demandeth the Judgement of this High Commission; Whether they may, can, or aught in point of Law and Justice, to proceed against, condemn, or execute this Defendant, upon any illegal accusation or Impeachment whatsoever, here exhibited or read against him, without a legal Indictment, Presentment and Trial by a Jury of his Equals? Or can take any further connusance of the Charge against him, for the premised Authorities & Reasons; which he in all humility referreth to, and imploreth you to take into your saddest considerations, and that in the Name and dreadful presence of the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Sovereign 
g Gen. 18. 25  Judge of all the Earth, 
h 2 Cor. 25. ●0.  before whose glorious Tribunal you must all ere long appear, (stripped of all Earthly Honours, Pomp, Guards, and Power,) to give a strict acount of all your Actions, whether good or evil, and of your proceed in this very Cause; when this his Plea and Demurrer will rise up in judgement against, and condemn you, in case you wilfully prejudge, mis-judge, or reject it now, without due and full examination according to Law, Justice, Conscience: And if the Consideration of this terrible day of account and just retribution before Christ's own Tribunal, shall not prevail with you to admit of this his Legal Plea and Demurrer, (as being after your deaths, perhaps many years yet to come, and no ways endangering the loss of your Lives, Lands, Honours or Estates in this present world,) He shall then humbly entreat you for your own future indemnity (he hopes, without offence) seriously to consider; That in the Parliament of 11 R. 2. c. 1. 5. 21 R. 2. c. 11, 12. Tresylian chief Justice of the King's Bench, Belknappe Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, John Care, john Holt, Roger Fulthorpe, William de Burgh Judges, and john Locton the King's Sergeant, were all impeached of high Treason, condemned, and some of them executed as Traitors and Enemies to the King & Realm, the rest perpetually banished, their Lands and Estates confiscated to the King, and all access of their wives, children or others to them during their exile, prohibited by Judgement & Act of Parliament, only for delivering their opinions (through menaces and fear of death at Nottingham Castle) under their hands and Seals, against the Law of the Land; That the Lords and Commons who procured the Commission in the Parliament of 10 R. 2. for the better Government of the Realm, and moved the King to consent thereto, deserved to be punished as Traitors, by capital pain of death: That so by colour of these their opinions, Robert de Veer Duke of Ireland, Nicholas Brambre, Knight, and others of the King's ill Counsellors, might take occasion to destroy and take away the lives of the Lords who procured and executed that Commission, and others of the King's people, by undue and illegal Indictments and proceed, without any lawful Trial by their Peers, as Traitors to the King. And the said Sir 
i Henry de Knyghton de Event. Angliae l. 5. p. 2718, 2726, 2727, 27, 28.  Nicholas Brambre for enforcing the Judges, with others of the King's ill Counsellors, to deliver their opinions against Law, and for his beheading, executing 22 Prisoners of Newgate, (impeached and indicted of felony, or suspicion of felony) at Foul-●oke in Kent by regal and tyrannical power encroached by him, without warrant, or due process of the Law, against the Great Charter and Usage of the Realm of Engl. was in the same Parl. condemned for high Treason, & beheaded at Tower-hill on the same block, with the same Axe he had prepared to cut off the heads of others he intended there to execute as his Enemies. And that in the last Parliament of King Charles, the 
k Their Impeachments are entered in the journals of the Lords and Commons House.  two chief Justices, Brampston, and Finch, the chief Baron Davenport, and all the rest of the Judges and Barons, except two, were by the whole House of Commons, and some of the Commissioners here sitting, and Counsel pleading against this Defendant, impeached of high Treason, dis-Judged, and put to fines and ransoms, for that they had traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of the Realm of England, and instead thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical Government against Law; which they had declared by traitorous words, opinions and judgements in the case of Ship-money, against Mr. John Hampden; Which judgement and opinions concerned only the property of the Subject's goods, not the hazard of their lives, inheritances and forfeiture of their estates, as your present proceed do, being of a more high and dangerous consequence; In which Parliament, by the like Impeachment and prosecution; 
* See Canterbury & strafford's printed Trials.  William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Earl of Strafford Lord Deputy of Ireland, were condemned and executed by Judgement of Parliament, and some here present, as Traitors, guilty of High Treason, for that they endeavoured traitorously to subvert the Fundamental laws, and established government of this Realm, and in stead thereof to bring in and set up an arbitrary and tyrannical power, against Law. To prove which Charge, their arbitrary proceed contrary to the Laws and great Charters of England, both at the Council Table, in the High Commission, Star Chamber, and elsewhere were given in Evidence against them; and more particularly, the Earl of Strafford's proceeding against the Lord Mount-Norris in Ireland, by a Council of War in time of Peace, and condemning him to death therein without any legal Indictment and Trial by his Peers, against the great Charter & Laws of the Land, though he did not execute him thereupon: And whether your present proceed of like nature against this Defendant, in case you reject or overrule this his Plea and Demurrer, and condemn and execute him by pretext of an illegal Act (made by no free and lawful Parliament of England,) for offences not treasonable by the known Laws and Statutes of the Land, nor legally proved against him by any one Witness produced in Court before his face, without consulting the present Judges of the Land (who refuse to join or sit with you in this new illegal way of Trial) will not much more involve you in the Crime and guilt of the very self same high Treasons, for which they were thus anciently and lately impeached, condemned, executed by Judgement of Parliament, and so expose you to the like capital censures, forfeitures, confiscations of your real and personal Estates, as they underwent, in future Parliaments, by your endevoring to subvert all the premised fundamental Laws and established legal proceed in the Land, and to introduce and set up a mere arbitrary and tyrannical power contrary to Law, to the endangering not only of the properties, but lives, liberties, and Inheritances of all the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Clergymen, and other Freemen of England by such exorbitant, martial proceed, after all these Statutes, Judgements, with the late Remonstrances, Declaratiions, Leagues, Covenants, and solemn Oaths of the Lord Protector himself and others against them, yea after the many years' Wars and heavy Taxes imposed on the Nation for the maintaining and inviolable preservation of these fundamental Laws, Liberties, and Rights against all arbitrary Commissions and proceed whatsoever; he humbly submits to your own impartial Resolutions and consciences. And thereupon this Defendant prays his Dismission from any such further proceed against him without a lawful Jury and Trial by his Peers. And that you will be pleased after deliberate consideration of the premises to reverse and recall that arbitrary, unrighteous, bloody Sentence of Death, you have newly passed against him, without any lawful Indictment, Presentment, Trial, Confession or Conviction of Treason, which strikes at the Root of the Fundamental Laws, liberties, franchises of all English Freemen, and cuts off all their necks at one stroke, transcending all the arbitrary, tyrannical proceed of Strafford, Canterbury, and the late King Charles (whom some of yourselves have impeached, censured, condemned, decapitated as the very worst, and greatest of Tyrants) lest it become a most pernicious fatal precedent to posterity, to others, or your own destruction, and render you as execrable to all succeeding generations, as any formerly guilty of the like exorbitant proceed.  

Just and Legal Exceptions to the Cause and Manner of the Illegal Judgement given against Dr john Hewytt; humbly tendered by him to the consideration of those Commissioners who denounced it.  
THat it is specially enacted by the Statute of Westminster the 1. ch. 12. and accordingly resolved in Brook Pain 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, and the Year-Books therein abridged, by Stamfords' Pleas of the Crown, l. 2. c. 60. Dyer, f. 205. a. 300. b. Cooks 2. Institutes, p. 177, 178, 179. and 3. Institutes, p. 217. That no man ought by Law to be condemned, or put to death in case of Treason or Felony, for standing mute, or refusing to plead, or put himself upon his Trial, or for challenging more than 36. of the Jury peremptorily; but only in these cases.  
1. When and where the person accused and arraigned, is a 
a West. 1. c. 12. Stamford, l. 2. c. 60. f. 149. b. Cooks 2 Instit. p. 177. 179  Notorious Traitor or Felon, and openly of evil name, and defamed thereof: But Dr. Hewytt is no such person  
2. When and where the Treason or Felony for which he stands accused, is 
b Cooks 2 Instit. p. 177. Stamford, f. 150. a.  notorious, evident, certain, or at least very probable, and already found upon Oath against him by the Presentment, or Indictment of an honest lawful Grand-Iury of his Equals, of the same County wherein he is arraigned, or confessed by himself: All which Circumstances and Evidences of Gild were wanting in Doctor Hewytts case.  
3. When and where the Judges, 
c Stamford, l. 2. c. 60. f. 150 a.  for the better satisfaction of their consciences, and discharge of their duties, do (as they ought by Law,) first openly examine the Evidence and Witnesses, which prove the person arraigned guilty of the Fact of Treason or Felony for which he stands indicted, before they proceed to give judgement against him for not pleading, or standing mute. Which was not done in this case, there being neither Witnesses nor Evidence produced in open Court to prove him guilty.  
4. When and where there is a legal Indictment found against the party arraigned, which being read openly to him in Court, the Traitor or Felon thereupon, doth either 
d Stamf. l. 2. c. 60 Cooks 2 Instit. p 177, 178.  wilfully or maliciously stand mute, refusing to answer or plead thereunto, (which the 
e Stamford f. 150. b. 43 Ass. 30. Fitz. Corone, 225. 8 H. 4. 2. Cooks 2 Instit. p. 178. 21 E. 3. 18.  jury there impanelled to try him, are by Law to inquire of, find and return upon Oath:) Or, peremptorily challengeth above 35 of his jury, without any legal cause or exceptions; Or else obstinately 
f Cooks 2 Instit. p. 178.  refuseth to put himself upon a Legal Trial by God and his Country, being a jury of honest, lawful men of the County then and there present, 
* 11 H. 4. c. 11 Cooks 3 Instit. p. 32, 33.  returned by the Sheriff alone, not justices or others, for to try him; to whom by Law he may take both his legal and peremptory Challenges) saying, That he will be tried, only by God and the Bench; or, by God and the Court, or Judge; or 
g 4 E, 4 11. 7 E. 4 29. Brook Pain 14.  by God and the Virgin Mary, or Holy Church: there being no precedent extant in Records, or Law-books, of any Traitor or Felon hitherto condemned to die, for standing mute, or not pleading, only for refusing to be tried by God and the honourable Bench, Judges, Court Alone, without any Indictment or Jury; and for earnestly importuning the Court and his Judges, that he may be tried only by God and his Country, and on an Indictment by a Jury of his Equals according to Law, casting himself wholly upon such a Trial, after a lawful Presentment and Indictment first found against him by a Jury. The only reason rendered in and by the forecited Statute and Law-books of all Judgements hitherto given against any Traitor or Felon, for standing mute, and refusing to plead, being this, 
h W. 1. c. 12. 3. Instit. p. 217. 2. Instit. p. 179. 8 E. 3. Itin. Nort. Fitz. Corone. 359. 14 H. 4. 7. Brook. Pain. 14, 15.  Because he peremptorily refuseth to stand to and be tried by the Law of the Land, and a due and lawful Trial by a Jury of his Equals, according to the course of the Common Law, and the great Charter. But Dr. John Hewytt is now condemned to be executed as a Traitor by the High Court of Justice, contrary to all former Precedents, Statutes, Law-books, and the only legal reason in former times of all Judgements rendered against any persons in such cases; even for his frequent, earnest, importunate demanding and peremptory casting of himself, upon a due legal Trial by God and his Country, and an indifferent Jury of his Equals, according to the common, Statute Laws and great Charter of Englaud, after a legal Presentment and Indictment to be first found against him: and for refusing to waive this his legal Trial (to the public prejudice of all other English Freemen) and cast himself wholly and solely upon a new kind of arbitrary Trial, contrary to Law, By God and the Bench, Court, and the Commissioners themselves, (who would be both his Grand and Petty Jury as well as Judges) without and before any legal Presentment, Indictment, or Jury impanelled or returned to try him. Therefore he humbly conceives this Judgement denounced against him upon this reason & ground alone, to be most erroneous, illegal, unjust, repugnant to all former Precedents, & to one this very Week at the Sessions in the Old Bailie by Judgement of some of his Judges at Westminster) and of very dangerous consequence. Whereupon he humbly prays the suspension & reversal thereof as unjust, and merely void in Law, by the Statutes of 25 E. 1. cap. 2. & 42 E. 3 c. 1. lest the Execution of him for a Traitor upon this Judgement and ground, should prove wilful Murder, and a shedding of innocent blood in the account both of God and man.  
What therefore the Prophet Jeremiah alleged to the Princes of Judah, in a like case, when they resolved him at first to be worthy of death, without a legal hearing or trial, Jerem 26. 11, 14, 15. As for me, bebold, I am in your hands, to do unto me what seemeth good and meet unto you: But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this City, and upon the Inhabitants thereof: Whereupon the Princes and People, upon second and better advised thoughts altered their former bloody Sentence, saying; This man is not worthy to die; for he hath spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord our God. And the hand of Ahikam was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the People to put him to death. Shall be my Allegation to those who have passed this unjust Sentence of Death against me; and if it produce not the like effect for their reversal thereof, and my preservation from its violent bloody Execution, as it did in this Prophet's case; I shall then earnestly pray to God, that it may not draw down from Heaven that heavy Sentence of wrath upon them, nor that sad Judgement upon the whole Land of England which this Prophet denounced against Jehojakim, Jer. 20. 17, 18, 19 But thine eyes and thine heart are but for thy covetousness, and for to shed Innocent Blood, and for oppression and violence to do it. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehojakim; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother, or ah sister, ah Lord, or ah his glory: But he shall be buried with the burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. And that which the Prophet Joel threatened to Egypt and Edom, Joel 3. 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate Wilderness, for their violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed Innocent Blood in the Land. And that against all Rules of Law and Justice, in that they entitle, The High Court of Justice, which will not palliate, but 
i Eccles. 3 16, 17. Psal. 94. 20, 21, 23.  aggravate the Injustice acted in it, and make it more detestable both to Man and God himself, who averrs this for an undoubted truth;  
Gen. 9 5, 6. Surely your blood of your lives, will I require; at the hand of every Beast will I require it, and at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Who so sheddeth Man's Blood, by Man shall his Blood be shed; for in the Image of God made he Man.  
FINIS.