Page:Last publick sermon, being a faithful and free one, preached by Mr. Hugh Mackaile ... upon the Sabbath immediately preceeding that 8th of September 1662, the day affixed for the removing of the ministers of Edinburgh from their kirks.pdf/32

( 32 ) Anſwer thereto To-morrow, and ſeeing in this matter of the higheſt Importance, not only all the Time allowed is very Short, but I am, and have been ever ſince my Torture, in a great Diſtemper and Fever, beſides the great Pain and ut- ter Inability of my I.eg, which hath conſtantly kept me Bed- faſt, and doth render me incapable, not only of minding my own Defence, but wholly unable to walk or ſtand, far leſs to go and compear before the Lord Juſtice, as I doubt not but Phyſicians will teſtify, if your Lordſhips will order them to viſit me, which I humbly beg; and ſeeing my Acceſſion to the Crimes libelled is ſo very ſlender, being only ſimple Preſence, and that not only occaſional, as I did declare before your Lord- ſhips, but alſo in ſome sort retracted and purged, by my purpos- ed and actual Off coming and deſerting. And, laſtly, Seeing I was put to fore Torture in order to a further Diſcovery, with a Promiſe of Favour in Caſe of my Ingenuity, which I then ſingly uſed, as in the sight of God to the utmoſt of my Knowledge ; May it therefore pleaſe your Lordſhips graciouſly to conſider the Premiſſes, eſpecially my utter Inability to make my Ap- pearance, and to ſurceaſe any legal Procedure againſt me, in this ſo weak and extreme Condition, and to diſcharge me of the foreſaid Citation and Appearance, and your Lordſhips Anſwer. This Petition, and the following are therefore ſet down verbatim, that both the utmoſt of his Condeſcendence may appear, and the Fainting that he ſo much regretes in his laſt Speech, be the better underſtood : And, with the ſame ſubſcribed by him, there was given in an Atteſtation under the Hands of ſeven Chirurgeons, declaring his weak and fickly Condition. Hereupon the Council did order two Phyſicians and two Chirurgeons, viz. Sir Robert Cuninghame, Dr. Hay, James Borthwick, and Thomas Kincaid to viſit him, and to return their Atteſtation upon Soul and Conſcience, be- twixt and To-morrow at Ten of the Clock, to the Juſtices. Upon