because in their making there was no Consent of an House of Commons and the House of Commons being but Delegates themselves can not Delegate the Peoples Interest in the Legislative to others for Delegatus non pâ—test delegare it was an Office of Personal Trust reposed in the Persons Elâ—cted to be Members of Parliament to treat with the King and assent to equal Laws in behalf of the People they could not grant over therefore this Office of Trust to Bishops or a Synod or a Council to treat with the King and assent to Laws for the People but every Member of Parliament ought either to refuse to accept of the Election or if he accept to serve in Person All Books of Canons made by Bishops without consent of Parliament void and not by Proxy assign or subdelegate in so great a Trust as to join in making Laws for the Publick Safety and Peace Hence will follow therefore That all Ecclesiastical Canons and Laws of Synods and Councils prohibiting Marriage without Publick Bans or Episcopal Licences and all Canons prohibiting Marriage in time of Advent Septuagesima and Rogation and all Canons prohibiting Marriage within degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity not prohibited by the Moral Law of God and all Canons prohibiting Marriage not made by the Ceremonies of a Priest and Temple and all Canons of the Council of Trent making null and void all Marriages not made before a Priest and two Witnesses are all in themselves utterly void for the House of Commons never assented to their making and all Laws prohibitory of Marriage being before shewn to be contrary to the Moral Law of God and to come from the Devil P. 52. and it being here shewn that they have no consent of Parliament such Books of Canons must in both respects be of necessity null and void as being neither the Laws of God nor Man in England but of the Devil according to which Books of Canons Bishops therefore Judging of Marriage contrary to the Moral Law of God and without any positive Law of Man their Judgment must likewise be void being according to the Law of the Devil and such Persons are no fit Judges who judg according to such Laws 7. They take to themselves the Fines and Penalties of their own Judgments That the Sole and Final Cause why Bishops so eagerly contest for the Jurisdiction of Marriage is Filthy Lucre is shewn before P. 52 53. c. and the same is so great a Pillar of the Kingdom of Anti-Christ that Pope ruin'd where Episcopal Jurisdiction of Marriage is taken away take but away Episcopal Jurisdiction of Maâ—riage the Papal Power is immediately ruin'd in those Provinces wheresoever it is done 1. In regard of the infinite Treasure he heaps hereby which appears before P. 52 53. 2. In regard of the Power he gains hereby over Kings and Princes in assuming to himself the Judgment of Filiations and Successions to Kingdoms 3. By enticing Princes to unlawful Marriages contrary to the Moral Law of God and procuring them to take his Dispensations for thereby such Prince and his Successors will be in great danger as to his Title unless he expose his Interest and Religion to obtain assistance from the See of Rome which made Philip the Second King of Spain who Married Queen Mary so furious to support the Catholick Religion in the Low Countreys by Fire and Sword and to make a Law That none should succeed him in the Government of those Provinces unless he took an Oath to maintain the Catholick Religion there and maintain the Authority of the Church of Rome And this made Queen Mary so cruelly furious against Protestants in England the Title of her Mothers Marriage and her Succession depending on the Popes protection And wheresoever any Prince is promoted by the Popes Canon Laws contrary to the Right of Succession instituted by the Moral Law of God such Prince to defend his Title against the right Heir by the Moral Law of God and his Successors become assured Vassals to the Religion and See of Rome 4. The Pope by procuring and dispensing Marriages of Catholick Ladies with Protestant Princes gains a numerous increase of Catholicks in those Dominions and many times turns the whole Tide to carry Tribute to Tyber But to return to the lesser Rivers the Bishops 't is no small stream of gain flows in to them too by such an unjust Power of Bribing themselves to Injustice by exercising so Arbitrary a Proceeding as to Fine and Commute what they please and putting it in their own Purses which should go to the Publick Treasury 8. They License Dispense and Pardon all Offences against the Law for Money It is to no purpose to make Penal Laws if the Judg hath liberty to License Dispense and Pardon Offences against them and nothing better enables him to do it than to allow a Judg to Fine or Commute and to put the Fine or Commutation Money in his own Purse now the Power of Licensing Dispensing and Pardoning Offences against the Laws of Marriage or any other Law must of necessity so corrupt the Judg as he will protect and increase the Vice he pretends to suppress Hence the Popes Taxa Camerae and the Bishops Courts increase more Fornication and Adultery than aâ—l the loose Women in the Countrey They are therefore no fit Judges of Marriage 9. They cannot be known whether they are Protestants or Papists if Bishops The Laws of Marriage have a very great influence on all Religions and in all Nations but more specially God hath been pleased in England to make the same the chief means and occasion in the time of H. 8. of planting the Protestant it is therefore of very great concern for the Preservation of the same that the Judges of Marriage be Protestants and it cannot be known whether they are so or no if Bishops 1. Because the excess of Riches which the Jurisdiction of Marriage Filtation and Succession especially to Kingdoms carries with it and all other Profits of a Bishoprick joined therewith are so great as may be too much a Temptation to any unless a Saint by Miracle to be of any Religion to obtain them and Christ himself Matth. 19 24. makes this Temptation so difficult to be resisted that he saith It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yea he makes a Miracle necessary for any to obtain Riches and Heaven together for he saith Verse 26. With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible And Austin in imitation of this confesseth in effect the same difficile imò impossibile est praesentibus futucis bonis frui It is difficult yea impossible to enjoy the good things of this World and of that to come Damasus Bishop of Rome endeâ—vour'd to convert Praetextatus a great Heathen Phâ—losopher to Christianity he answer'd him Make me Bishop of Rome and I will turn
Votes whereby no Judgment can be given as in a Ceux que Droit Case where are many Competitors for the same thing A. B. C. D. the first Judg may be for A. the second for B. the third for C. the fourth for D. whereby no Judgment can be given 4. In a General Issue or Special Issue some Jurors may be of the Gonscience that such Witnesses are not above Exception nor to be credited others that they are others that such Evidence doth not conduce to the Issue others that it doth whereby no Verdict could be given were they not compell'd by that unconscionable way of starving them to agree against their Consciences 5. If we come from Judges of the Fact to Judges of the Law who allow themselves better Quarters than the other and will not be kept without Meat Drink Fire or Candle-light till they pass their Sentence yet the Courts in Westminster consisting of the equal number of Four Judges are often divided two against two and what if the Vote of the Chief Justice hear it against the other yet one mans opinion being as good as another yea the Puisne Justice being oftentimes of greater Age and Ability than the Chief his Sentence will not carry the Reputation of Justice neither may it be thought worth the Labour and Cost to have an Associate joined with him if his Vote must be null'd by the others he had been better at first sate and Sentenced alone and of more esteem his Sentence would have been had it never been opposed by a contrary Sentence of greater esteem than that to help which there hath been sometime added a Fifth Judg in England and in Scotland where the number of the Lords of the Session or Judges was Fifteen with a Numero Deus Impare gandet but in neither of these is this happy Imparity so much to be found as in one who cannot be divided in the least proportion against himself whereas Four may be divided Two against Two and Fifteen Eight against Seven which will leave a Sentence very Instable and Suspicious for many times the Minor Party are the Melior 6. In a numerous Court they may all vary in the state of the Question to be Voted if the President should have Power to put what Question to the Vote he pleaseth if he propose either a General Issue or State of the Question the Residue may each raise his Special Question which will need a Decision before the General can be Voted as a Jury often do in a Special Verdict if the President propose a Special Iâ—sue or State of the Question the Residue again may every one raise his particular or Individual State of the Question and think the Special cannot be Voted till the particular be decided whereby they will be able no more to agree in the Special than the General unless used as a Jury none of which Inconveniences can fall out in a single Judg but he easily gives his Sentence in the Roman manner either Absolvo or Condemno or Non liquet in England they use to send two Judges in every Circuit because one sits on Civil Causes in the Nisi prius side by himself and the other on Criminals in the Crown side of the Town-Hall where they come by himself which fashion being imitated in Scotland and two English Judges usually in every one of those Circuits being sent to sit both together in one Criminal Court for there are no Nisi Priuses or Tryals of Civil Actions in the Circuits of Scotland proved inconvenient and though but two they often differing one with another left Business not done or at least much delayed whereas the Custom of Scotland before was much better who used to send but one Judg at a time in their Circuits or Justice Eir whom they call the Justice General 7. Where Justice is appointed to be done by a Quorum it is extream difficult and many times impossible to get them together that this Clog upon Civil Proceedings was brought in by the Romish Bishops to the same intention which is before mention'd to weaken the Roman Tribunes appears from the very name that 't is Latine Restraining Justices of Peace to Quorums destroys Justice and the effect of it destructive to Justice for wheresoever a Justice of Peace is limited to Act single without a Quorum he is as good as to that matter disabled to Act at all especially for the Poor who have most need of them and are not able to draw Quorums together as the Rich may In no less danger is the Publick safety of his Majesty and his Protestant Subjects by Restraining or at least making doubtful the Authority of the Sheriff who is his Majesties Lieutenant Sworn and Vice Consul of his Province or County to oppose a Rebellion or Invasion without a Quorum of Deputy Lieutenants or Justices of Peace who though Persons of great Honour Ability and Valour to serve their King and Country yet if Fetter'd together in Quorums like Plurality of Generals in an Army by how much of higher Courage and Conduct they are by so much the more are they apt by Ambitious Emulation to cross one another To restrain Sheriffs by a Quorum dangerous to Publick safety and bring the Army in confusion whom to follow An Example of which happen'd in the Alarm in Dorset Decemb. 9th 1678. of a Foreign Enemy landed on that Coast which I have the more Reason to remember happening to have been prickt Sheriff but not Sworn for that County when as soon as the noise was spread some ran to the Sheriff some to one Deputy Lieutenant some to another some to one Justice of Peace some to another some gathered together East some Wist some North with great Courage and Resolution to Fight the Enemy wherever they found him but in such a Confusion they knew not who was to Command or who to Obey and pity 't was to see so many stout men so unarmed undisciplined and unprovided as they were and certainly if they are suffer'd so to continue in that and other Countries it is impossible for the Protestant not be Surprized by whatsoever Rebellion the Native or Invasion the Foreign Papist unless God as he hath hitherto done discover their Plots by Miracle Design and Attempt neither doth appear any more ordinary way of Remedy than freeing the Militia from Quorums who without their default may have Popish Spies unknown crept in amongst them which is impossible for any but a single Person to prevent to discover their Councels and cross all their Actings and will be utterly disabled either to Arm Train or Discipline a Militia as were necessary all which would be easily done by a Sheriff who is a single Person if his Ancient Legal Authority were as is most fit restored to him to Act singly for the preservation of his Country without a Quorum and his Honour and Interest would oblige him had he undisputable Authority to Muster Arm Train and Discipline those
seems Abraham's example and direction to choose a Wife for his Son came hence The Banyans Sons are Heirs to their Fathers Estates but as a recompence They are bound to maintain their Mother and marry their Sisters that they likewise may be provided for out of their Father's substance The Goan Indians have a custom That none must marry but in a family using his Father's Trade To which end the several Trades are sever'd one from another and set apart in streets by themselves Linschotten The Inhabitants of Carthagena allow not marriage with the Sister on this Tradition That one who married his Sister was for that offence carried and confin'd to the Moon where he still remains the spot or Man in the Moon In China many charitable people Fornication as they think themselves have given and bequeathed for the good of their Souls Rents and Revenues to maintain Houses of Common women who are to prostitute themselves to such Poor as have no money freely which they think a work of great merit Mendez In China adultery with a Married woman is death The Common women not being suffer'd to live within the Walls but in the Suburbs where they are educated to Singing Musick and Dancing and whatsoever is fit for Dalliance and are for that end bought of their Mothers and prostituted for gain In a large street in Pequin in China dwell a great number of Curtezans who are all under Protection of the Tutan of the Court. At Cambalu Harlots have a Corporation In the Countreys of Cotam and in Pegin the Wives may marry new Husbands Divorce for absence if the old be absent but twenty days Purch 427. Divorces are frequent amongst the Muscovites for when they have a desire to part they accuse each other by suborn'd false Witnesses of Adultery or want of Devotion by which they are condemned without answering for themselves The Inhabitants of Casear have a Law if the Husband or Wife is absent from one another twenty days the other is at liberty to marry again Heyl. 856. Diodorus Siculus saith That the Egyptians before they had any Laws every Man had as many Wives as they pleased Divorce at pleasure and both parties were at liberty as any other Companions to come together and part when either pleased For they said It was impossible if Men and Women should be tied together but the same must be with much trouble contentions and brawles The Tappinineers in Hercinia bestowed their Wives on other Men after they had had two or three Children by them Purchas 351. It was esteemed a dishonour not only amongst the Indians but Romans and other Nations for Ladys who lov'd their Husbands to survive them Porcia killing herself on news of the death of her Husband Conjugis audisset fatum eum Porcia Bruti Et subtracta sibi quaereret arma dolor Nondum scitis ait mortem non posse negari Credideram satis hoc vos docuisse patrem Dixit ardentes avido bibit ore favillas I nunc ferrum turba molesta nega Martial When Porcia heard of her dear Brutus slain Weapons she sought withdrawn from her in vain Death said she not to be deny'd me is I thought my Father's death had taught you this She swallow'd Coals and proudly spoke the word Deny me now to die by point of Sword The Fact of Lucretia Beza thus censures Lucretia killing herself on the Rape of Tarquin Si fuit ille tibi Lucretia gratus adulter Immerito ex merita praemia morte petis Sin potius casto vis est allata pudori Quis furor alterius crimine velle mori Frustra igitur laudem captas Lucretia namque Vel scelerata cadis vel furiosa ruis If thou Lucretia loved'st th' Adulterer Thy Death deserv'd reward to claim doth err If rather force did thy chast Beauty stain How mad for others Crimes to be self slain In vain Lucretia praise thou seek'st for Ay Since Guilt or Madness then cast thee away Condemn not yet so great a Lady as Lucretia without hearing her Answer Pectora Tarquini virtuti ingrate fuissent Hac perfâ—ssa manu Foemina si potui Jam cruor hic noster me non violasse pudorem Ante homines testis spiritus ante Deos. Stulte meam frustra quid tentas redere famam Orbe volat simul ac aethere protegitur On Tarquin's breast to vertue oh ingrate If able I prevented had my Fate My blood to Men my Soul to Gods on high Now my chast Innocence shall testifie Fool thou in vain carp'st at Lucretia's Fame Since Earth and Heav'n both preserve the same The Epigram of Beza is neat but the Author seems to be much of the French woman's mind mention'd by Montaigne who alledged her self to be Ravish'd by force but after often rejoyced and thank't God she had once in her life so much pleasure without sin Whereas Tamar who was truly Ravish'd by force 2 Sam. 13.13 saith Whither shall I cause my shame to go And vers 18. It is said She having a Garment of divers colours upon her for with such Robes were Kings Daughters that were Virgins apparell'd And vers 19. And Tamar put Ashes on her Head and rent her Garment of divers colours and laid her hand on her head and went on Crying Why doth not Beza tax Tamar in the same degree for spoiling her fine Cloths and blubbering her Face as he doth Lucretia who being a Wife was more concern'd in the double perhaps treble honour of her self her Husband and Children then a Virgin in her's which is only single and therefore to clear all suspicion thought it necessary to give so high a Testimony of her Innocence as she did Cicero in the like case commends divers noble Virgins who kill'd themselves to preserve their honour The like did the Women of Antioch under Dioclesian and other Antiochian Women under Chosroe the Persian The like did Sophronia a noble Christian Matron under Decius Many Virgins there were in the Primitive times who drowned themselves in Rivers for the same cause St. Ambrose highly commends those Virgins who slew themselves for the same cause and are all generally Recorded in the Ecclesiastical Histories for Martyrs Yet St. Austin and other Fathers seem doubtful and I dare not in a Doctrine of blood be positive yet I confess though I am no Idolater of Saints deceased I cannot pass by their Ashes without due honour to their memory and do think even the greatest Ethnicks among them shall rise up in Judgment against too many of the latter Age who call themselves Christians and glory in their shame of what those laid down their lives to avoid the dishonour and cannot but be struck with admiration of so Divine excellency in so weak a Sex as made them greater in valour than Men in love of their Husbands than Women in fame than Angels To whom though Christ gives so high a degree of Chastity as neither to marry or give in
henceforth all Iustices of or in the Courts where any Plea is or shall be depending taken or moved in which Pleas so depending taken or moved Bastarvy shall be alledged against any person party to the same Plea and thereupon an Issue joyned which by the Law ought to be certified by the ordinary that the Iudges or one Iudge of or in the Courts where the said Plea is or shall be depending taken or moved before the time that any Writ of Certificate pass out of the same Court to the Ordinary to certifie upon the Issue so joyned or to be Ioyned shall make a Remembrance under their Seals or his Seal at the suit of the Demandant or Tenant Plaintiff or Defendant in the Plea in which the Bastardy is or shall be alledged reciting the Issue that is joyned in the same Plea of Bastardy and certifying to the Chancellor of the King of England for the time being to the intent that thereupon Proclamation be made in the said Chancery by threé Months once in every Month that all persons pretending any interest to object against the parties which pretendeth himself to be Mulier that they sue to the ordinary to whom the Writ of Certificate is or shall be directed to make their allegations and objections against the party which pretendeth him to be Mulier as the Law of the Holy Church requireth And the said Chancellor having notice of the said Remembrance and Issue joyned and being required by the said Demandant or Tenant Plaintiff or Defendant having the said Remembrance to make the said Proclamation as aforesaid The same Chancellor for the time being shall cause to be made Proclamation in the form aforesaid And the Proclamation so made shall certifie in the Court where the said Plea in which the Bastardy is alledged another time shall be depending And that the Iudges of or in the Court where the same Plea is or shall be depending taken or moved before any Proclamation so to be made in the Chancery make one time such Proclamation openly in the same Court and also another time when the Proclamatâ—on shall be certified by the Chancellor of England and made in the form above rehearsed then the said Iudge shall award the said Writ of Certificate to the Ordinary to certifie upon Issue so joyned or to be joyned and if any Writ of Certificate be made or granted before that all the Proclamations in the form aforesaid be made and certified that then the said Writ of Certificate and the Certificate of the Ordinary thereupon made or to be made shall be void in Law and of none effect And if any Writ before this time be directed to any Ordinary to certifie if the said Eleanor Wife of James be Bastard or not and at this time not certified if it be certified hereafter by virtue of the said Writ that the same Certificate of the said Ordinary so made be void and of none effect Rast pla fo 29.105.261.280.577.609 That one Circuit of Action is too much is well known where 't is unnecessary as on penal Bonds sued at Common Law the party injuried is repell'd from any Plea of Equity either that he paid the Money and the Creditor refuses to deliver up his Bond or to give him an acquittance or that he received an acquittance but it was since burnt by fire or he hath since by any other casualty lost it and forces him to a costly tedious and sometimes inextricable Suit for releif in the Chancery whereby the remedy unless for a very great Sum becomes worse then the disease All which Pleas of Equity and others of the like nature might have been far better determin'd in the same Court of Common-Law as is excellently well done in Scotland by admitting those Pleas of Equity in the same Court and on proof of them restricting the Penalty of the Bond to principal Interest Cost and Damage But here the Birth-right of the Subject wherein not only all his Bonds but Lands and Goods are concern'd is put to a tedious Circuit in the Chancery of Suite and Proclamations and after that again to another Circuit of Action in the Spiritual Court and then again to a third Circuit to Common-Law of Prohibitions and then again to a fourth Circuit back to the Spiritual Court by a Consultation Circuits enough to tire any horse much more any honest man yet shall he never come to the end of his journey at last or if he do he shall be rob'd with Theives and as this Statute mentions if true men fail false Witnesses shall be suborn'd against him which if he had staid in one Court and rid no Circuit at all but the matter had been there tried by Twelve good men and true at a Nisi Prius in his own Country none of these Theives or false Witnesses would have dared to appear as they presume to do in so great a Forest as London in the Chancery Ecclesiastical Courts Affidavits and Examiners Officers there aâ—terrible oppression of the Subjects or if they did they would be easily taken or discover'd There are four mischiefs appear in this Statute caused by Ecclesiastical Laws 1. Circuit of Action 2. Endless delay and costs 3. Subornation and perjury of Witnesses 4. Interfering of Jurisdictions One in ordine ad Spiritualia the other in ordine ad Temporalia one in ordine ad naturalem Equitatem the other in ordine ad Legem communem and as to the same certâ—inly a greater Calamity cannot fall on the miserable Client then to be made a Borderer between two enemies-Enemies-Countries an Hare between two Dogs a Mouse between two Cats and a Corne between two Milstones Priesthood changed changeth the Law It is said Heb. 7.12 The Priesthood being changed there is of necessity a change also of the Law Either therefore the Papists Preisthood is not intended to be changed into a Protestant-Priesthood but the whole Papal power translated in time of Popery by the 25. H. 8.21 from Rome to Lambeth must so stand for ever or if it be intended this Papal-Priesthood shall be changed into a Protestant 't is not the changing the Person from Italian to English or the place from Tyber to Thames will do it but 't is the changing of the Laws from Papal to Protestant for Papal Laws and a Protestant Priesthood are no more consistent then Fire and Water Many more great exceptions there are against Ecclesiastical Laws which my great hast forceth me to pretermit CHAP. VI. Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession not to be judged by such Laws of England Scotland or Ireland as are Reliques of Popery and contrary to the Law of God Of the Law making Marriage a Sacrament Of the profound Popery of the common Lawyers of Transubstantiation of two persons into one person and the mischeifs thereof A Note taken at Kings-Bench of the miraculous Transubstantiation of a Shoulder of Mutton between a Man and Woman Of the Law of Transubstantiation of the Children of the Wife
by breaking the Custom and being drawn by the Deceit of Roxolana to Marry her by a Priest The Reasons why the Grand Seigniors Marry not themselves by a Priest or in a Temple or by a Magistrate or with any other Publick Solemnity but only make Use of Private Natural Marriage are 1. It prevents the great Charge of a Dower or Jointure which Turkish Emperors are bound to give their Queens who are Married by a Priest for as Withers Relates amongst the Grand Seigniors Seraglio of Women Marriage made by the first birth of a Child and not by words of a Priest she is esteemed Empress who brings him the first Son and they were formerly Married before the Mufti or Arch-Priest which was only to give one another their Assent before him and he to make an Hodget or Note in Writing of it and of the Dower the Emperor was to give her which except as to the Dower was no other than as our Certificate of the Bishop touching which Selymus being Uxorious and having given in his Marriage Five Hundred Thousand Chequins a Year to his Queen made a Law no Successor if they Married should give less than he had done to their Queens whereupon the Emperors succeeding forebore and it grew out of fashion to Marry by the Priest to save their Dower and other excessive Expences incident to Publick Marriages of Princes and had thereby likewise their Queens far more obsequious than before they thereby depending wholly on the Love of their Husbands to give them what they pleased according to their merit 2. By not Marrying by a Priest he is clear from all Burden of Allyances of his Sultana Poor or Rich. 3. The Grand Seignior thereby regained into his own hands the Patria Potestas belonging to every Father of being Judg who were his own Children which had been by his Superstitious Predecessors unwarily Alien'd to his Arch-Mufti or Arch-Bishop for by giving him Power by his Hodget or Certificate to declare the Marriage there followed as incident thereto the Arch-Bishop's Legitimation of his Children and Declaration of his Heir Apparent and Successor Then further the Mahometan Law allowing Plurality if Married by the Priest they could not be Married altogether but one after another or if they were a Child of a Woman Married after might come sooner which Priority of Marriage by the Mother would have destroyed the Custom of Primogeniture of the Son first born of any Wife whether the beloved or hated or first Married or after Married so 4. he kept the Right of Primogeniture and Peace in his own Family which if he having an Elder Son by a first Wife not Married by a Priest should have a Younger Son by a Second Wife Married by a Priest this pretence might cause Murder or Civil Wars between his Elder and Younger Sons one standing on his Right of Primogeniture and the other on the Hodget or Certificate of the Arch-Bishop of Prior Marriage of the Later Mother by the Priest as happen'd in the Example of Solyman the Magnificent and Roxolana Turk Hist 758. where it appears that Solyman the Magnificent begot of his first Empress a Circassian Bond-woman not Married by a Priest Mustapha his Eldest Son who proved a Prince of great Excellency and most dearly beloved by the Army and People after Solyman according to their Custom of Plurality of Wives grows wanton and begets four Sons more of Roxolana another of his Bond-women namely Mahomet Selymus Bajazet and Tzithanger and one Daughter called Chameria Married to Rustan the Great Basha Roxolana being her self a great Beauty and having so fair an Issue and a Potent Son in Law to assist her and no obstacle but the Primogeniture of Mustapha to make her own Son the Heir apparent of the Greatest Empire in the World discover'd her self to be more adorned with Gold and Pearls than Vertue yet counterfeits Religion to bring her Designs to pass but first take the Epigram by Knolles subscribed to her Picture Fronti nulla fides nulla est fiducia formae Pectore dum savo dira venena Latent Philtra viro Miscet fallax miserumque coegit Sanguine natorum Commaculare manus No Trust there is to Face or Beauty when The Breast of Poison'd Serpents is the Den. Her wretched Husband her Love-Cups untrue Made in his own Sons blood his hands imbrue This Woman to begin her intended Tragedy under colour of Good-will and Love had procured Mustapha the Young Prince and his Mother to be sent as she pretended for their greater Honour and Estate with a Princely Train and Revenue to Caramâ—nia to Govern that Great Countrey and having thus cunningly Rid the Court of the two Competitors both of her Love and the Empire rested not so but began straight way to plot in her malicious head the Destruction of him to whom all others wished Happiness and though she had removed him far absent in his Person yet the continually encreasing Fame of his Valour Vertues and Perfections seem'd to be still before her Eyes and in her Ears the great and only disturbance of her Desires and Clouds which kept the Sun from shining on them and doubting of any sufficient Assistants or Instruments amongst the Military Forces in regard all the Soldiers were at the Devotion of the Prince and not of Rustan her Son in Law whom they hated though she had got him to be Chief Commission-Officer over them she therefore fixes the other part of her hopes on the Priest and Resolves to try what could be supplied by the Gown which was defective in the Sword and to prepare the way the better she on a sudden Counterfeits her self to be very Religious and having grown by the favour of Solyman exceeding Rich pretended as if it had been on a devout Zeal for the health of her Soul after the manner of their Turkish Superstition to build an Abby with an Hospital and a Church which so Godly a purpose she imparted to the Mufti or Chief Mahometan Priest demanding of him if such works of Charity were not acceptable to God and available to her Souls health to which the Mufti answer'd That those Works were no doubt gratious in the sight of God but nothing at all meritorious for her Souls health being a Bond-woman yet very profitable for the Soul of the Great Emperour Solyman unto whom as unto her Lord both she and all that she had appertained at which answer of the great Priest she seemed to be exceedingly troubled and thereupon became wonderful pensive and Melancholick her Chearful Countenance was Replete with Sadness and her fair Eyes flowed with Tears her Mirth was Mourning and her Joy Heaviness which thing Solyman perceiving and sorry to see his Love upon Conceit so to languish sent her word to be of good chear and to comfort her self promising in short time to take such a Course as should ease her of all her Griefs of which she had made some discovery to him which he did solemnly Manumising
Title of very good if it had been put in Latine might have been more Complementally express'd Optimo had it not been a Danger lest Maximo would have been added whether the Title of very good given to man is always as great a Fiction as the Titles of Sanctus Clemens and Pius given to Popes may be always doubtful in regard Christ himself in Humility refused the Attribute of Good which is a degree under very good Luke 18.19 And Jesus said unto him Why callest thou me good None is good but One that is God but this Title very good is sometimes certain and not doubtful to be a Fiction when it is attributed to the Leudest Person known the Letter begins After my very hearty commendations to your Lordship This when there is a Mortal Feud between the Chancellor and the Lord must be a Fiction Whereas there hath been of late a Bill of Complaint exhibited into the Court of Chancery against you by H. O. Gent. I have thought good to give you notice thereof rather by these my private Letters than by awarding his Majesties Ordinary Process This if no Bill is come in is as great a Fiction and Falsity in a Private Letter as in a Subpoena and it were far fairer dealing with any Noble-man as well as a Poor man if J. O. first took his Oath of Calumny to his Bill and then made him according to the Precept of Christ an Oblatio Libelli and sent him a Copy of his Bill by his own Letter before he troubled him with a Chancellors Subpoena or Letter and made Use of them only on Probation and declaratory Sentence of Contumacy first obtained and after that obtained far fairer dealing it were with J. O. or any Poor man to grant the same Process of Contumacy that a Noble-man shall have against a Poor man and not put him to the extraordinary cost and incertainty of a Chancellors Private Letter to a Noble-man seeing by Law he ought not to receive any Private Letter from him and such Noble-man ought to be punished by the Civil Law de Ambitu and by the Common Law for Maintenance if he send any and this Justice would prevent Fictions both of Poor and Rich and bring forth Righteousness and Truth The Letter goes on and says Wherefore these are to pray your Lordships to give order for the taking out of the Copy of a Bill and for the putting in of your Answer thereunto according to the usual course in such Cases accustom'd at or before Octab. Hill next ensuing By this Prayer here is a Fiction that the old Episcopal Chancellor had an Imperial Authority over the Commons and only Precarious over the Nobles and was a Fiction if he derived his Authority from the King of the weakness of the Royal Power and of a Dishonour to it as if it was not able to do Justice to the Commons against the Nobles as well as to the Nobles against the Commons if a Sheriff at Common Law should Execute his Praecipe quod reddat and his Praecipe quod faciat whereby he is will'd by the King to command those against whom those Writs are directed by writing his humble Letters when he perceives they concerned Noble-men to pray their Lordships to do what he was appointed to command the Law makes him liable to high punishment and why a Chancellor should not be liable to the same who commits the same offence and having the Kings Process to command in his hand will not or dares not administer Equity by the same equal Process to his Majesties Subjects both Poor and Rich appears no reason or rather an higher Quanto Major qui peccat habetur by how much greater the Power of a Chancellor is extending to a Kingdom than of a Sheriff confined to a single Countrey The next in the Letter is Nothing deubting but that your Lordship will have the care and regard which appertaineth but another man may doubt whether he spake Truth or Fiction He concludes well if not in Hypocrisie I leave your Lordship to the most Merciful keeping of the Almighty from Saint A. the 9th of May 1654. Your very loving Friend J. P. Prolixity caused by Fiction The Bill in Chancery for want of the Oath of Calumny is known to be commonly a Pack of Lies from beginning to the end which is full of infinite Mischiefs and destructive to all Justice and makes it of such immense Prolixity for Lies may be infinite but Truths are few and short that it compels the Answer to be longer than it self for every Lie must be Answer'd as well as the Truth and by reason of such Prolixity neither the Chancellor as he ought to do will take the pains to read nor the Councel to be instructed in either but the Truth like a Grain of Mustard-feed thrown into an heap of Tares is lost and impossible to be found and Sentences and Decrees pass'd both Interloquutory and Final without the least Merit of the Cause Started Stated or Debated The Process of the Chancery is almost as mischievous a Fiction as the Outlawry at Common Law which is the Commission of Rebellion that on non-appearance the most Loyal Subject that is may be Feigned Proclaimed and Imprisoned as a Rebel so the Chancellor needs nothing but a Fiction to elude Magna Charta and the Petition of Right and an Hundred Acts of Parliament more if they were made to that purpose to which the Fiction is point blank contrary and destructive and as inconsistent with all the Fundamental Laws of Liberty and Propriety as Darkness with Light yet is there no necessity of it at all for where it is not necessary to take the Defendants Oath but the Plaintiff can prove his Bill by Witnesses full Justice may be done either by Missio in Possessionem where the Action is Real or where it is to stop Suits by the English Injunction or Scotch Suspension and where the Defendants Oath is necessary either for Discovery or Probation on proof made of the Bill and of the Countumacy and Sentence Declaratory a Capias may be awarded against the Defendant as after a Judgment pass'd Fictions of Latitats If we go to the Common Law Process that is as bad infected with Fictions as the Court of Conscience The Latitat is a meer Lie first it supposeth a Bill of Middlesex to precede where there is no such matter then the Defendant is slander'd Latitare discurrere when he lives as openly as any of his Neighbours and never stirs from his home the suggested Latitations are therefore Lies Then it saith De placito Transgr ' Ac etiam for if the Ac etiam be true of Debt then it is false as to Trespass for there can be no Joindure in Action of Debt and Trespass in the same Writ and so the Kings-Bench ought to have no Jurisdiction of Debt notwithstanding this Fiction except on a Writ of Error which is upon the matter confess'd by Coke himself
Bells Transform'd to Ring to Weddings and to Knells To an Aceldama their Church turn'd next And the dead Bones for Burial-Fees they vext Their restless rest thus purchased in vain They then for Reliques dig'd them up again And sell their Merits though of Tyburn-Saints And Heaven to all whose Purse or Faith not faints Oh Joseph of Arimathea nam'd And on the British-Shores for ever fam'd Whose Ship of Olive-planks from Palestine Of Tidings glad the Pacquet brought Divine The Sea Nymphs danc'd each with a Triton Mate For joy thou mad'st their Isles the Fortunate Oh tell us had thy Vessels such broad sides Of Canon as that which in Tybur rides Whose roaring Thunder beats and buries Towns Cities and Churches Kingdoms and their Crowns And sinks them how or whither none can tell To Time-set Limbo's or Eternal Hell Or from thy Bark being then the Western-Church Thy Passengers to leave so in the lurch Did'st thou cast overboard and in the Dark Leave them there to be snapt by the old Shark That thou their Cargo rifle might'st the while And Gold and Silver like a Pyrat vile Tell us did Christ the great or lesser Curse Teach who were bad before to make them worse Or Bless or Curse not did he who did say Intend and mean the clean contrary way Who left his Peace did he bid to annoy Who came the World to save would he destroy From Satan who so oft deliver'd men Them back again did he cast to his Den He in this World who Kingdom would have none Did he bid Priests Depose Kings from the Throne Deliverance to Captives who did Preach Priests them to starve in Prison did he Teach When Peter warm'd did for his Master mourn All whom he Master'd did he bid him burn No Joseph no this was not the good Seed Thou brought'st and Sow'd'st whereon the Flocks might feed The Evil One those Fiery tasted Tares Sowed and them intangled with Snares None but the Devil from th' Infernal Pit Doth Curse and Ban and Fire and Brimstone Spit Great Hus and Jerom now for ever blest Oh two true Witnesses Slain by the Beast Whose Treachery safe Conduct gave to both But basely perjur'd broke it and his Oath You who made tremble the Infernal States And dared Attacque black Dis at his own Gates What was your Doctrine which so terrified The pompous Popedom in its highest Pride You held and that made them so highly hate That Bishops could not Excommunicate This did you both from thence to Heaven raise And sent you thither Crown'd with Fiery Bays And Sparks of you to Stellifie this sent With Protestants the British Firmament Brave Hero's now the horned Miter pull From Phalaris of Rome his Brazen Bull Hear your dead Martyrs how they do you press And cry from all his Fiery Furnaces Dismount his Canons from the Battlements Of his Church-Catholick which get his Rents Take from the Building but the Thunder-stone Oh then for ever down falls Babylon An Epode on Protestants Excommunicated by Papists What though with Bans and Curses They Rob and Kill and take our Purses In highest Faith come on And know there hath or shall be none Happy decreed by Fate But who first was or is unfortunate Arm Arm against the Devil He 'l flie and all his Spirits Evil. And Beast with Seven Heads At this time was a great noise in the Countries of Armies seen rising out of the ground and others in the Air. If on your Land or Sea he treads To fight him never spare Soldiers and Poor each one then take your share What though whole Armies rising From Earth are fearful hearts Surprising And Daemons of the Air Fighting in Clouds tempt to Despair What though they come from Hell There 's no Enchantment against Israel Hark how our Canons Thunder And keep the Romish Canons under Their Organs grunt and whine Our Flutes and Haubois are Divine And Cornets to the Skie Sound for Religion and for Liberty Angels to hear grow prouder Than their 's our holy Musick louder And valiant Souls shall bear From Death to Musick 's highest Sphere Who burn would not like a Brand That thus renown'd may die with Sword is hand Whether an Union can be of Protestant-Parliaments and Churches without a true Test between Papist and Protestant Test between Papist and Protestant Neither Protestant-Parliaments or Churches can be Known without a true Test much less therefore can they be United Whether Recusancy to pray in a Temple or in the Form of Common-Prayer is a true Test between Papist and Protestant A true Test ought to Provide and see that there be none in it of the Servants of the Lord but the Worshippers of Baal only 2 Kings 10.23 But in this of Recusancy to pray in a Temple are all the true Worshippers of God in Spirit and Truth if we may believe Christs Precept and Designation of them at large before Debated p. 210. c. in Reference to the Omnipresential Worship of God Christ in thy Closet bids thee Pray Thine is there both the Church and Key What though no Bishop walk'd it round Gods being there makes holy Ground The mischiefs of Compelling Protestants to a Form of Common-Prayer appear too much in being the occasion of the first breaking out of the late miserable Civil Wars and the Irreparable loss of his then Majesty the mischiefs of Compelling Papists to Protestant-Churches appear in this That one Church-Papist is more Dangerous than an Hundred open Absenters and they who truly understand the Danger of Mixing would rather think it prudent like the Primitive Christians to have a Non-Communion with Idolaters and their Ostiarii as they had to see none crept into the Places of their Convention for Prayer than compell such Bloody Spies incensed by Penal Laws thither to betray them Whether Recusancy to receive the Sacrament in a Temple or in the Common-Form is a true Test This likewise is before Discuss'd p. 212. and Examples of the frequent Poisoning the Sacrament by the Priest p. 240 241. To compell therefore any Eminent Protestants to Receive the Sacrament of such Persons of whom they cannot be assured were to be Accessary to their Murder Whether Subscription to the 39. Articles is a true Test 'T is shewn before That no true Test ought to endanger the Conscience of any Protestant but 't is notorious that the greatest part of Protestants are Dissentients in Conscience to divers Doctrines of the 39. Articles and therefore Subscription to the same is no true Test nor ought to be Imposed on them 1. Because these 39. Articles were made by the Bishops Anno 1562. in the Fourth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth while the Papist Peers were yet in Parliament and in Power who with the Bishops in their Front were too hard for her and of whom she might then say Res durae Regni Novitas me talia cogunt She was not able to perfect Reformation at one Stroke 2. Because
and less Damage to himself and Subjects have prevented those Intestine Dissensions by not taking from them that Liberty of Conscience as to Faith and Form of Worship which he was compell'd at last to give them it being certain that the Bordering Turk by the Imprudence of divers of the Emperors in being blinded by the Romish Bishops and their own to violate the Liberty of Conscience of those Frontier Countries and thereby dividing and disuniting them against the Common Enemy he hath thereof taken great advantages to the great danger of the Emperors themselves the Empire and the rest of Christendom And how unfortunate were Episcopal Councils in our own Countrey in this point of Compulsion of the Conscience to their Faith Forms and Ceremonies tending to Episcopal and not the Regal Interest and how they thereby exposed his late Majesty a Valiant Wise and Pious King and his Three Kingdoms to an unnecessary War and the miserable loss ensued thereby is yet in Bleeding Memory What Wars have been in France by Compulsion of Conscience by Force and destroying it by Perfidious Treacheries of Episcopal Councils is likewise sadly known so that in all the Kingdoms of Christendom Bishops by this Compulsion to their Faith Forms and Ceremonies have one time or other raised Civil Wars and Dissensions dangerous or destructive to Princes and People and shared thereby the Spoils of both or what was a greater Prey got by our own made Sale of all the Estates of the Revenues of the Bishopricks fallen Twenty Years before they ever made a Sermon in their Church or Served at their Altar so though the Wars were by themselves occasion'd and kindled and were an universal loss to the People yet they lost nothing and gain'd all That Compulsion against Conscience causeth Wars doth likewise agree the Learned and Pious Doctor More who saith Denial of Liberty of Conscience brings upon Nations and Families Wars Bloodshed Subversion of Families Deposing Stabbing Poisoning of Princes perpetual Hatred and Enmity amongst men and all the Works and Actions of the Kindom of Darkness whereas if it were universally acknowledged that Liberty of Religion were the Right of Mankind all these mischiefs would be prevented the Prince could not pretend any Quarrel against the People nor the People against the Prince or against one another except for Civil Rights which are more plain and intelligible That Compulsion to Faith or Forms of Worship hath had the same Destructive Effects against the Eastern Emperors likewise which it hath had against the Western appears by the Example of Michael Palaeologus Emperor of Greece who fearing an Invasion from the Turks and other Foreigners from the East endeavour'd to strengthen himself from the Pope and by him with the Emperor and other Christian Kings from the West and by his Ambassadors to that end treated with Gregory the Tenth then Pope of Rome to Unite and Conform the Greek Church to the Latine and to acknowledg the Popes Supremacy over the Greeks and Liberty of Appeal from them to the Court of Rome which the Emperor offer'd and the Pope gladly accepted of but the People generally abhor'd these Proceedings of the Emperor and were so Tumultuous that the Emperor was fain to leave off the care of the Foreign Dangers to look to these greater at home and told the People to quiet them that this Alteration was made not out of any good liking he had to it but in respect of the dangerous Estate of things in that juncture of Time it behoved Prudence to admit the less Evil to avoid the greater for if by not granting the Latine Church what they would have they would take advantage of the Wars they had with their other Enemies and fall on them at the same time whereby they would attain more by force from them than would satisfie them by Treaty and not only by War become Lords of their Religion and Ceremonies but of all at once their Wives Children Estates and Lives at the will of the Conqueror therefore he required them to yield to necessity and not to compell him to use more Severe Remedies and not finding them pliable some he Imprison'd some Banish'd some Confiscated some pull'd out their Eyes some Tortur'd some Dismembred on which some outwardly Conformed but not in their hearts but the greater part fled some to Thrace some to Achaia some to Peloponesus and other Countries and the Emperor trusting to Foreign Forces whom he joined and this and his other Cruel Practices in denying his Subjects Liberty of Conscience seeing they were put to Fight only to confirm their own Slavery so discouraged the Greek Army that the Turks overthrew them and their Emperor and won the day by which they got their first Footing in Europe Whereby appears That as Compulsion to the Faith and Ceremonies of the Bishop of Rome and denial of Liberty of Conscience to the first Arrian Christians was the cause of the great Conquests of Mahomet who gave them Toleration in Asia which they could not have of the Roman Emperors so this denial of Liberty of Conscience by this Greek Emperor and his Compulsion of his Subjects to the Ceremonies of the Bishop of Rome was the first opening an Entrance to the Turk into Europe and after the losing of the Grecian Empire to him whence so many Fatal Miseries have ensued to Christendom By the Interruption of the Press I am compell'd to break off this Book abruptly