Speech on the Scaffold

IT is for all men that come into the world once to die; and after death the judgment! And since death is a debt that all of us must pay, it is but a matter of small moment what way it be done. Seeing the Lord is pleased in this manner to take me to Himself, I confess, something hard to flesh and blood, yet blessed be His name, who hath made me not only willing, but thankful for His honoring me to lay down the life He gave, for His name; in which, were every hair in this head and beard of mine a life, I should joyfully sacrifice them for it, as I do this. Providence having brought me hither, I think it most necessary to clear myself of some aspersions laid upon my name; and, first, that I should have had so horrid an intention of destroying the king and his brother.
Speech on the Scaffold

Richard Rumbold (1622–1685)

(1685)

Born about 1622, died in 1685; served under Cromwell at Dunbar and Worcester; one of the guard about the scaffold of Charles I.; member of the Rye House Conspiracy in 1682; indicted for treason but escaped; served in Scotland under the Earl of Argyle in 1685; there captured, tried, condemned, and executed.



IT is for all men that come into the world once to die; and after death the judgment! And since death is a debt that all of us must pay, it is but a matter of small moment what way it be done. Seeing the Lord is pleased in this manner to take me to Himself, I confess, something hard to flesh and blood, yet blessed be His name, who hath made me not only willing, but thankful for His honoring me to lay down the life He gave, for His name; in which, were every hair in this head and beard of mine a life, I should joyfully sacrifice them for it, as I do this. Providence having brought me hither, I think it most necessary to clear myself of some aspersions laid upon my name; and, first, that I should have had so horrid an intention of destroying the king and his brother.

It was also laid to my charge that I was antimonarchical. It was ever my thoughts that kingly government was the best of all where justly executed; I mean, such as it was by our ancient laws—that is, a king, and a legal, free-chosen Parliament—the king having, as I conceive, power enough to make him great; the people also as much property as to make them happy; they being, as it were, contracted to one another! And who will deny me that this was not the justly constituted government of our nation? How absurd is it, then, for men of sense to maintain that though the one party of his contract break all conditions, the other should be obliged to perform their part? No; this error is contrary to the law of God, the law of nations, and the law of reason.

But as pride hath been the bait the devil hath caught most by ever since the creation, so it continues to this day with us. Pride caused our first parents to fall from the blessed state wherein they were created—they aiming to be higher and wiser than God allowed, which brought an everlasting curse on them and their posterity. It was pride caused God to drown the old world. And it was Nimrod’s pride in building Babel that caused that heavy curse of division of tongues to be spread among us, as it is at this day, one of the greatest afflictions the Church of God groaneth under, that there should be so many divisions during their pilgrimage here; but this is their comfort that the day draweth near where, as there is but one shepherd, there shall be but one sheepfold. It was, therefore, in the defense of this party, in their just rights and liberties, against popery and slavery! (Note: At this point Rumbold was interrupted by drum beating. He said he would say no more on that subject, “since they were so disingenuous as to interrupt a dying man.”) I die this day in defense of the ancient laws and liberties of these nations; and though God, for reasons best known to Himself, hath not seen it fit to honor us, as to make us the instruments for the deliverance of His people, yet as I have lived, so I die in the faith that He will speedily arise for the deliverance of His Church and people. And I desire of all you to prepare for this with speed. I may say this is a deluded generation, veiled with ignorance, that though popery and slavery be riding in upon them, do not perceive it; though I am sure there was no man born marked of God above another, for none comes into the world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him. Not but that I am well satisfied that God hath wisely ordered different stations for men in the world, as I have already said; kings having as much power as to make them great and the people as much property as to make them happy. And to conclude, I shall only add my wishes for the salvation of all men who were created for that end.

Note: Delivered in Edinburgh. Rumbold was captured after having been wounded and then separated from his companions in arms. An immediate trial had been ordered that he might be condemned before he died of his wounds. He was found guilty on June 26, 1685, sentenced to be executed the same afternoon, and was drawn and quartered, the quarters being exposed on the gates of English towns. Read more!

Speech on the Scaffold

MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS; FRIENDS, COUNTRYMEN, AND STRANGERS:—It may be expected that I should now say some great matters unto you; but the rigor of the season and the infirmities of my age, increased by a close imprisonment of above five months, do not permit me. Moreover, we live in an age that maketh truth pass for treason; I dare not say anything contrary unto it, and the ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it. My trial and condemnation sufficiently evidence this.

Algernon Sidney (1622–83)

(1683)

Born in 1622, died in 1683; wounded at the Battle of Marston in 1644; elected to Parliament in 1645; Lieutenant-General of horse in Ireland in 1646; Counselor of State in 1659; lived on the Continent after the Restoration until 1677; falsely arrested and condemned to death for high treason in 1683.


MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS; FRIENDS, COUNTRYMEN, AND STRANGERS:—It may be expected that I should now say some great matters unto you; but the rigor of the season and the infirmities of my age, increased by a close imprisonment of above five months, do not permit me. Moreover, we live in an age that maketh truth pass for treason; I dare not say anything contrary unto it, and the ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it. My trial and condemnation sufficiently evidence this.

West, Rumsey, and Keyling, who were brought to prove the plot (Note: The Rye House plot of 1682–83 was a conspiracy to kill Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, afterward James II., and thus may be said to have anticipated the Revolution of 1688. It took its name from a house in Hertfordshire where the conspirators met.) said no more of me than that they knew me not; and some others equally unknown to me had used my name, and that of some others, to give a little reputation unto their designs. The Lord Howard is too infamous by his life, and the many perjuries not to be denied, or rather sworn by himself, to deserve mention; and being a single witness he would be of no value, though he had been of unblemished credit, or had not seen and confessed that the crimes committed by him would be pardoned only for committing more; and even the pardon promised could not be obtained till the drudgery of swearing was over.

This being laid aside, the whole matter is reduced to the papers said to be found in my closet by the king’s officers, without any other proof of their being written by me, than what is taken from suppositions upon the similitude of a hand that is easily counterfeited, and which hath been lately declared in the Lady Carr’s case to be no lawful evidence in criminal causes. But if I had been seen to write them, the matter would not be much altered. They plainly appear to relate unto a large treatise written long since in answer to Filmer’s book, which, by all intelligent men, is thought to be grounded upon wicked principles, equally pernicious unto magistrates and people. If he might publish unto the world his opinion: that all men are born under a necessity derived from the laws of God and nature, to submit unto an absolute kingly government, which could be restrained by no law or oath; and that he that hath the power, whether he came unto it by creation, election, inheritance, usurpation, or any other way, had the right; and none must oppose his will, but the persons and estates of his subjects must be indispensably subject unto it; I know not why I might not have published my opinion to the contrary, without the breach of any law I have yet known. I might as freely as he have declared publicly my thoughts, and the reasons upon which they were grounded; and I am persuaded to believe that God has left nations unto the liberty of setting up such governments as best please themselves.

The magistrates are set up for the good of nations, not nations for the honor and glory of magistrates; that the right and power of magistrates in every country is that which the laws of that country made it to be; that those laws were to be observed, and the oaths taken by them, having the force of a contract between magistrate and people, could not be violated without danger of dissolving the whole fabric; that usurpation could give no right, and the most dangerous of all enemies unto kings were they, who, raising their power to an exorbitant height, allowed unto usurpers all the rights belonging unto it; that such usurpations being seldom compassed without the slaughter of the reigning person, or family, the worst of all villains was thereby rewarded with the most glorious privileges; that if such doctrines were received, they would stir up men to the destruction of princes with more violence than all the passions that have hitherto raged in the hearts of the most unruly; that none could be safe, if such a reward were proposed unto any that could destroy them; that few would be so gentle as to spare even the best, if by their destruction a vile usurper could become God’s anointed and by the most execrable wickedness invest himself with that divine character.

By these means I am brought to this place. The Lord forgive these practices, and avert the evils that threaten the nation from them. The Lord sanctify these my sufferings unto me, and though I fall as a sacrifice unto idols, suffer not idolatry to be established in the land. Bless Thy people and save them. Defend Thy own cause, and defend those who defend it. Stir up such as are faint, direct those that are willing, confirm those that waver, give wisdom and integrity unto all. Order all things so as may most redound unto Thine own glory. Grant that I may die glorifying Thee for all Thy mercies, and that at the last Thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a witness of Thy truth; and even by the confession of my opposers, for that old cause in which I was from my youth engaged (Note: Sidney was only twenty-two years of age at the battle of Marston Moor, where he “charged with much gallantry in the head of my Lord Manchester’s regiment of horse and came off with many wounds, the true badges of his honor.” ) and for which Thou hast often and wonderfully declared Thyself.

Note: Spoken in London on the scaffold, December 7, 1683. Sidney (Algernon) was tried at King’s Bench before the notorious Jeffreys who, says C. H. Firth, “wrangled with the prisoner and browbeat him in his usual fashion.” When Sidney came to the scaffold, Evelyn says, “he told them only that he had made his peace with God; that he came not thither to talk but to die, put a paper into the sheriff’s hands and another into a friend’s; said one prayer as short as a grace, laid down his neck and bid the executioner do his office.” Read more!