Part .III. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. h83 fon of Mr. Gale's Book, and the Randal thatfalls iton the Nonconformifts is made necelfary. Mr. Gale fell lick, and I fuppreft my anfwer left it fhould grieve him. (Andhe then dyed.) § 23. A paperfromMr. Polehill, an excellent learned Gentleman occafioned the anfwer which perhaps may bepubliftéd. § 24. Continued backbitings about my Judgmentconcerning juftification, occan- oned me to write the frmmof it in two or three Ihects ; with the folution of above thirty controverfies unhappily rais'd about it. § 25. One Mr. Wilton of Lancafhire long importuned me by a friend, to write fomewhat againft needlefs Law- fuits, and for the way of voluntary reference and arbitration ; which I did ina Sermon on t Cor. 6. is there not a wife Man among you ? (which is loft by the Bookfeller). § 26. I wroteanAnfwer toMr. jobnfon Alias Tercet, his Rejoynder againft my book of the Churche's-vìfibility ; But Mr. bane theBithopof London's Chaplain re- futed toLicenfe it. But at lait when the Papifts grew odious he Licenfed it and my Methodus Theologi.a : And the former is Printed, but by the BoOkfeiler's means in a Character fcarce legible. § 27. About Olt. 1678. Fell out the murder of Sir Edmond Berry Godfrey; which made a very great change in England. One Dr. Titus Oats had difco- vered a Plot of the Papifts, of which he wrote out the particulars very large- ly ; telling how they fired the City, and contriving to bring the Kingdom to Popery, and in order thereto to kill the King He named the Lords, Jefu- its, Priefts, and others, that were the chief contrivers ; and raid that he hint- felt had delivered to feveral of the Lord's their Commifftons that the Lord Bellafts was to be General, the Lord Peters Lieutenant General, and the Lord Stafford Major General, the Lord Fowls Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Arundel of Warder (the chief) to beLord .Treafurer. He told who were to be ArchBi- fhops, Bifhops, d jc. And at what Meetings, and by whom, and when all was contrived, and who were defigned tokill the King : He find opened all this to Dr. Tongue and both of them to the King and Council : He mentioned a multi- tide of Letters which he himfelf had carried, and feén, or heard read, that contained all thefe contrivances : But becaufe his father and hehad once been Anabaptifls, and when the Bilhops prevailed turned to be ConformableMini- liters, and afterward he ( the Son) turned Papift, and confeffed, that he long had gone on with them, under many Oaths of Secrecy, ,many thought that a man of fo little Confcience was not to be believed But his Confeffions were received by fome Juftices of the Peace; and none more forward in the Search than Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, an Able, Honed, and diligent Juftice. While he was following this Work, he was fuddenly miffing, and could not be heard of : Three or Four Days after he was found kill'd near Marybone-Park : It was plainly found that he was murthered : The Parliament took the Alarm upon it, and Oates was now believed : And indeed all his large Confeffions, in every part, agreed to admiration. Hereupon the King Proclaimed Pardon and Reward to any that would confefs or difcover the Murder. One Mr. Bedlon, that hadfled to Brill-ow. began, and confefed that he knew of it, and who did it, and named fome of the Men, the Place and Time ; It was at the Queen's Houfe, called Somerfet-Houfe, by Fitz-Gerald and Kelley, Two Pa- pift Prielts, and Four others, Berry the Porter; Green, Pranfe and Hill. The Priefts fled ; Pronfe. Berry Green-and Hill were taken : Pranfe fird cooled all, and difcovered the red aftorefaid, more than Bedlam knew of, and all the Cir- comftances ; and how he was carried away, and by whom : and alfo how the Plot was laid to Kill the King. Thus Oates's Teftimony,, feconded by SirEd- mund Bury Godfrey's Murder, and Bedlom and Pranfe's Testimonies, became tobe generally believed. Ireland, a Jefuit, and Twomore, were Condemned as de- figning to Kill the King : Hill Berry and Green were Condemned for tho murder of Godfrey, and Executed: But Pranfe was, by a Papi4, finit terrifi- ed into a Denyal again of the Plot to Kill the King and took on him to be Diftrafted ; But quickly Recanted of this and had no Quiet till he told how he was fo Affrighted , and Renewed all his Teftimony and Confef- fion. Afterthis came in one Mr. Dugdale, a Papift, and contend the fame Plot, and efpecially theLord Stafford's intereft init : And after him more and more Evidence daily wasadded. Coleman,
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