390 LETTERS RELATING TO 



taken ; wherein we might attribute a good deal of 

 worthy industry and watchful inquiry to my lord of 

 Canterbury. We thought fit also to take some new 



Antichrist will be revealed when sin shall be at the highest? 

 and then the end is nigh : that such is our time; sin is now at 

 the highest; ergo that the land is the abomination of desolation 

 mentioned by Daniel, and the habitation of devils, and the 

 antimark of Christ s Church. Williams s defence was, l.That 

 what he had written was not with any malice or disloyalty of 

 heart towards the king, but purely from affection, and by way 

 of caution and admonition, that his majesty might avoid the 

 mischiefs likely to befal him; having added in his book, when 

 he delivered the threats of judgment and destruction, which 

 God avert, or such words. 2. That the matter rested only in 

 opinion and thought, and contained no overt act; no rebellion, 

 treason, or other mischief following it. 3. That he had inclosed 

 his book in a box sealed up, and secretly conveyed it to the 

 king, without ever publishing it. But the court was unani 

 mously of opinion, that he was guilty of high treason; and 

 that the words contained in the libel, as cited above, imported 

 the end and destruction of the king and his realm; and that 

 antichristianism and false religion were maintained in the said 

 realm; which was a motive to the people to commit treasons, 

 to raise rebellions, &c. and that the writing of the book was a 

 publication. Reports of Henry Rolle, serjeant at law, part II. 

 p. 88. In consequence of this judgment he had a sentence of 

 death passed upon him, which was executed over against 

 Charing-cross two days after. MS. letters of Mr. Thomas 

 Lorkin to Sir Thomas Puckering, Bart, dated at London, June 

 the 24th and 30th, 16 13, and March the 16th, 1618-9, and May 

 the 4th and 5th, 1619, among the Harleian MSS. Vol. 7002. 

 At his death he adhered to his profession of the Roman Catholic 

 religion, and died with great resolution. He prayed for the 

 king and prince; and said, that he was sorry for having written 

 so saucily and irreverently ; but pretended that he had an inward 



