’Tis observable, that Mr. Hall adds Catholick to Mr. Paul’s Epithet of the Nonjuring Church of England; so that at last the Justice and the Clergyman wou’d bring us to the Church of Rome, which is the only Church pretending to be Catholick, that the Nonjuring Church agrees with.
The SPEECH.
I heartily beg Pardon of all whom I have in any manner, and at any time injur’d or offended. I do particularly implore Forgiveness of God and my King, for having so far swerv’d from my Duty, as to comply with the Usurpation, in swearing Allegiance to it, and acting in publick Posts by the Usurper’s Commissions, which were void of all Power and Authority. God knows my Heart, I did this at first thro Ignorance and Error; but after I had recollected my self, and inform’d my Judgment better, I repented, and drew my Sword for the King, and now submit my self to this violent Death for his sake. I heartily pray God, my Penitence and my Sufferings may atone for my former Crime. And this I beg thro the Merits, Mediation, and Sufferings of my dearest Saviour, Christ Jesus.
REMARKS.
By this Paragraph we may see whether Mr. Hall was a sincere Member of the Nonjuring Church or not. He owns, that he had sworn Allegiance to what he calls the Usurpation, and acted in publick Posts by Commission from it. This is a plain Proof that he was an Abjuror instead of a Nonjuror, until the Rebellion broke out; and then to make himself a sincere Nonjuror, he became a Perjuror; and contrary to his Allegiance, which he had sworn from time to time while a Justice of Peace, he drew his Sword against the King from whom he held his Commission.
He pretends to excuse himself, by saying that his Submission to the Revolution Government proceeded at first from Ignorance and Error; but after he had recollected himself, and inform’d his Judgment better, he repented, and drew his Sword for the King, meaning the Pretender. ’Tis worth while to observe, how much time Mr. Hall took to recollect and inform himself better. It certainly was not much, for at the very time when the Rebellion began, he was sitting with other Justices in Commission, at the Quarter-Sessions in Northumberland; and he pretended at his Tryal, that he was taken Prisoner by the Rebels in his Return from the Quarter-Sessions. By this we may easily know what to think of his Recollection and better Information. I shall say no more to this Paragraph, but that Mr. Hall seems to have dy’d as bad a Protestant as a Subject, since he joins his own Repentance and Sufferings to the Merits and Sufferings of our Saviour, as the Foundation of his Hopes for Mercy: which, with what has been observ’d already in Mr. Paul’s Speech, may serve to convince the World what sort of Protestants our High-Church-Men are.
The SPEECH.
I do sincerely forgive all my Enemies, especially those who have either caus’d or increas’d the Destructions in Church or State. I pray God have mercy upon them, and spare them, because they are the Work of his own Hands, and because they are redeem’d with his Son’s most precious Blood. I do particularly forgive, from the bottom of my Heart, the Elector of Brunswick, who murders me; my unjust pretended Judges and Jury, who convicted, and condemn’d me; Mr. Patten and Mr. Carnaby, Evidences who swore against me at my Trial. And I do here declare, upon the Words of a dying Man (and all my Northumberland Fellow Prisoners can testify the same) that the Evidence they gave was so far from being the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, that in relation to my Indictment they swore not one true thing against me, but many absolute Falshoods. I pray God forgive them, for I am sure I do.
REMARKS.
His way of forgiving his Enemies is much the same with Parson Paul’s. Here his Folly and Malice are equally conspicuous; for in this Paragraph he charges the Evidence against him with swearing falsly; whereas in that immediately preceding, he owns the Truth of what is sworn in the main, by confessing that he drew his Sword for King James, which is a sufficient Vindication of the Evidence.