20 LIVES OF Tilt PURITANS. to God, and then to all men who have known the course of my life, and to your lordships' own consciences, whether you can find me guilty of any act, iq all my life, that savoured of any malice or malicious intent against her. majesty. And if your consciences clear me before God, I hope you will not proceed to judgment. 5. " By the laws of God, and, I trust also, by the laws of the land, the witnesses ought to have been produced in open court before me ; but they were not, nor any thing else, only certain papers and reports of depositions. This kind of evidence is not allowed in the case of lands, and, there- fore, it ought much less to be allowed in the case of life. 6. " None of the depositions directly prove me to be the author of the book in question ; and the principal witness is so grieved for what he has done, that he is ashamed to come where he is known. 7. " Supposing I were the author of the book, let it be remembered that the said book, for substance, contains nothing but what is taught and believed by the best reformed churches in Europe ; so that in condemning me, you condemn all such nations and churches as hold the same doctrine. If the punishment be for the manner of writing, this may be thought by some worthy of an admonition, or fine, or some short imprisonment; but death for an error of such a kind, cannot but be extreme cruelty, against one who has endeavoured to shew himself a dutiful subject, and a faithful minister of the gospel. " If all this prevail not," says Mr.. Udal, " yet my Redeemer liveth, to whom I commend myself, and say, as Jeremiah once said, in a case not much unlike mine, Behold, I am in your hands to do with me whatsoever seemeth good unto you ; but know you this, that if you put me to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon your own heads, and upon the land.' As the blood of Abel, so the blood of Udal, will cry to God with a loud voice, and the righteous Judge of the land will require it at thelands ofall who shall be found guilty of it."* All that he could say proved unavailable. His reasons were rejected ; and his judges remained inflexible, unless he would sign the recantation drawn up for him ; which his conscience not suffering him to do, sentence of death was passed upon him February 20th, and execution openly awarded. When he received the unjust and cruel sentence, Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 21-21
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