money by Richard Aufeild and William Hutton now Church-wardens of the aforesaid Church of All-Saints to the aforenamed Lord Thomas Audley in his Life time paid in full Purchase and Bargain of the aforesaid Tythes to him the aforenamed Rector and to his Successors for ever Have given granted sold and by this present Writing confirmed unto Robert Plumton Clerk Rector of the Parish Church of All-Saints in the Town of Colchester aforesaid and unto his Successors for ever all the aforesaid Tythes in the Town of Colchester or elsewhere To have enjoy hold and take all and singular the aforesaid Tythes to the said Robert Plumton and to his Successors Rectors of the Parish-Church of All-Saints in Colchester aforesaid for the time being for ever And I the said Thomas Audley Esq and my Heirs All and singular the Premises above specified against me the said Thomas Audley Esq and my Heirs to the said Robert Plumton and his Successors aforesaid shall and will warrant and for ever defend by these Presents In witness whereof we the said Edward North Thomas Pope Edmund Martin and Thomas Gimblet and Thomas Audley Esq to this our present Writing have set our Seals Dated May 14 in the 36 year of the Reign of the most excellent and invincible Prince and our Lord Hen. VIII by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and on Earth the Supreme Head of the Church of England France and Ireland EDWARD NORTH THOMAS POPE EDWARD MARTIN THOMAS GIMBLET THOMAS AVDLEY And is it not Great first to invade a man's Rights and Freeholds and then Article against him as a Barretor for defending himself and them Oh! most incomparable Subtlety and Policy And if a Plenarty for three years only shall be an Estoppel to the King as in some Cases 18 Edw. 3.5 much more a Plenarty for 19 or 20 years as in this Case not to be stiffed nor tryed whether by Right obtained or by Intrusion though this Defendant enjoys them by lawful Presentation from the King and Institution and Induction thereon but however this Spiritual Court extravagantly inquires after it the Titles of mens Freeholds and Rectories belonging onely to the Courts of our Lord the King and a Tryal by Juries as proved by the Statutes before mentioned beyond all contradiction or fear of any thing but a Praentunire for being Busie-bodies that would hook in all things by hook and by crook into the Jurisdiction of their Courts as you know who does in ordine ad spiritualist Fifthly As for the Rectory of St. Leonards in Colobester aforesaid a poor business it is God knows not is worth 7 l. per Annum nor that able to repair the Dilapidations of the Parsonage-house in ten years nay it had been demolished to the ground long ere this but for care taken for the same by Robert Sewell Gent. who was and still is Sequestrator of the Profits of the said Rectory constituted and appointed under the Seal of the said Henry Bishop of London bearing date April 17. 1676. and in the first year of his Translation and confirmed by the said Bishop in all and every of his Visitations and the Fees paid for the same and the same still is in force and unrevok'd Besides though the Benefice of the said Leonards is so small as aforesaid yet the said Mr. Sewell provided to support the House which is large and keep it up in tolerable Repair and provided the learned and honest Gentleman Mr. Bridge of Alesford in Essex to preach there once a month and sometimes this Defendant though not above once in a year sometmes But the said Living being so poor and scandalous and the Parish so lamentably abounding with Poor above any other Parish in Colchester this Defendant constantly paid to the relief of the Poor 2 s. per mensem and also at every Sermon that Mr. Bridge aforesaid or this Defendant did preach there this Defendant also caused to be distributed Four and twenty Penns-lodves amongst the poorest sort but after since the said Bishop has given the interruption the Poor has had the less Food for their Souls for the Church-doors have long been shut against the said Mr. Bridge and this Defendant wonderful care of the Cure of Souls whereby also the Poor has been deprived of relief for their Bodies also That 's all the good that is or is ever likely to be by this peevish stop  l. s. d. per Annum The Profits of the Rectory 07 00 00 per Annum Out of which    per Annum The Kings Tenths Pension Bishops Visitation Synodals and Procurations about 02 00 00 per Annum To the Poor assessed and freely given 02 10 00 per Annum For preaching 13 Sermons to Mr. Bridge per Annum at 5 s. per Serm. 03 05 00 per Annum But the Profits the said Mr. Sewell does yet receive as he hopes he lawfully may be the Authority of the said Bishop unrevok'd to this day and not worth the contending for For no man can get a Penny by it and seldom comes a better but no matter how soon the same is revok'd that the great advantage the poor People gets by this bustle and change may be seen For it is a shame that the Bishop should provide worse for them and make a bustle only to do harm and if he do provide better then the said Promoter and Bishop must part with money probably out of his own Pocket thereunto which this Defendant fears will not be done Sixthly The Vicaridge of Fingringhoe is void by the Statute 26 H. 8.3 by reason the said Samuel Harris Clerk in the third Article mentioned being Instituted and Inducted in or about the month of December last past yet has not paid the King's Tenths to the value with Charges thereupon in the Exchequer of 30 or 40 l. now due and refused to be paid or neglected by the said Bishop to be demanded of him personally or if demanded lawfully then the said Vicaridge is void and ought to be so declared and the Right of Patronage or Advowson being in this Desendant together with the great Tythes and Impropriation of Fingringhoe aforesaid the Custody of the Profits of the said Vicaridge does belong during the Vacancy to this Defendant the Patron as this Defendant humbly conceives by force of the Statutes 25 Edw. 3. and 35 Edw. 1.1 But if disputable be this Defendants Title to the same yet neither this Court nor any Ecclesiastical Court can hold Plea thereof nor of any matter whereof the King's Courts have Right of Jurisdiction 2 Edw. 6.13 nor can determine the Titles and Rights of Freehold as 25 Edw. 3.4 28 Edw. 3.3 17 alias 16 Car. 1.11 aforesaid Besides the said Harris never was Resident so much as one night in the said Parish of Fingringhoe since his first Induction to the said Vicaridge thereof but preach'd three or four times to the Parishioners got half a years Tythes and never came in
but when this Defendant married ten times more in the years 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 and 1679. and made the People pay for a pretended Licence and Marriage about 12 s. or 13 s. of which each the said Registers and Commissary had 8 s. apiece Then oh no! Then not a word to be said nor any Promoters heard of against him But after the writing the Naked Truth that tells them roundly of their crying Extortions and Oppressions of the King's Subjects in illegal Fees or rather Exactions in Probates of Wills Letters of Administrations Ordinations Institutions Inductions Visitations Synodals Procurations Excommunications and Absolutions in answer whereof neither they nor one Fullwood their Doughty-Champion has so much as one word to say in their Defence Then nothing will serve but Ruine and Desolation in Plots and Contrivances against the Author for Barretry and No body knows what And now too have at his Rectory and the Prosits thereof which he holds by the Law of the Land and will hold in spight of their teeth and malice For if such solemnizing Matrimony were prov'd upon him in a lawful Court and Judicature and against lawful Canons and Constitutions found upon Record and in a Court of Record but this Court if it be a Court is no Court of Record and a true Copy thereof here produced and testified And also if it be prov'd that such Canons and Constitutions so contrary to one another are or which of them are now in force in these days that the 1 Eliz. 1. by which they had enargie life and power is defeated and also by the said 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 Yet even then the malice of this Defendants Adversaries cannot reach his Rectory and the Profits thereof as Thomas Doughty threatens in the eighth and last Article for not only the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth ordains Suspension only ab officio but that Suspension in general terms in the pretended Canon of King James ought to be construed the same with that of Queen Elizabeth namely Suspension only ab officio or silencing or stopping the mouth a mighty Priviledg not Suspension a beneficio because of the said Maxim of the Civil-Law Common-Law Mercy Reason Equity and Conscience namely Poenae generaliter expressae semper debent intelligi in mitiori sensu punishments only in general terms exprest ought always to be taken in the mildest sense Oh! but the said Promoter Thomas Doughty in this last Article cannot afford so much clemency it is a pity therefore he should ever be called vestra clementia or his Grace mercy is an Herb rarely found in the Fields of an Informer or Promoter Solomon tells us The mercies of the wicked are cruelty However whatever may be prov'd against him in this mighty case he doubts not but to keep his Free-holds Lands and Tenements both spiritual and temporal which blessed be God are worth the gaping for and let them gape they may gape long enough before they stop their mouths with them 't is to be hoped their mouths will be stopt with mould first in the grave before they ruin a Man and his House a Man and his Family a Man and his dear Wife and seven lusty Children God bless them and keep them out of harms-way secure under the Protection of the Law against all Conspirators against this Defendant or them and against all Man-Catchers little and great we live in jolly times God keep us Which brings to mind Nothing of this was put in the Defendants Answer but is added de Nove the Caveats entred by Sir Mathew Hale that incomparable Lord Chief-Justice against and for himself necessary to be continually had in remembrance by all Judges Temporal and Spiritual and proper enough it is here to Insert one half or nine of them 1. That I never engage my self in the beginning of any Cause but reserve my self unprejudiced 'till the whole be heard 2. That I be not too rigid in matters purely conscientious where all the harm is diversity of Judgment 3. That I be not byassed with compassion to the Poor or favour to the Rich in point of Justice 4. That Popular or Court-Applause or Distaste have no Influence into any thing I do in point of distribution of Justice 5. Not to be solicitous what men will say or think so long as I keep my self exactly according to the Rules of Justice 6. If in Criminals it be a measuring cast mark that to incline to Mercy and Acquittal 7. In Criminals that consist meerly in words when no more harm ensues moderation is no Injustice 8. To abhor all private sollicitations of what kind soever and by whomsoever in matters Depending 9. To charge my Servants 1. Not to Interpose in any business whatsoever 2. Not to take more than their known Fees 3. Not to give any undue Precedence to Causes 4. Not to recommend Counsel Ay Ay here was I had almost said a None-such seldom comes a better nay nay seldom such another Again to our present matter in hand and the Article aforesaid of transgressing the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England The Article does not say what Canons whether Canons made before the Reformation or since whether Canons made when the Pope was Head of the Church of England or Canons made since the Kings of England were declared by Acts of Parliament the Heads or Head of the Church of England So that this Defendant cannot possibly know how particularly to answer the same or know whether to confess traverse or deny so that this Defendant therefore requires that it may be explain'd and particulariz'd by the Promoter or Promoters what Canons and Constitutions they mean or would be at and where such Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are to be found and in what Court of Record that this Defendant may give a more positive and particular Answer thereunto for dolus later in universalibus Secondly Besides what is already said at large as to the Uncertainty which is enough to quash the said Articles at least for the present if it were needful This Defendant further answereth and saith That he humbly denies the force strength and vertue of all Canons and Constitutions vulgarly called of the Church of England that are not Confirmed by King and Parliament the onely Legislators and Law-makers in this Realm of England Which if any deny to be true 't is like he may have an answer in Parliament if thought fit But if it be true and that no Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are allowed or confirmed to be obligatory Laws to an Englishman as in 13 Car. 2.12 16 Car. 1.11 then there 's an end of the Story and this Traverse is further needless But if this Court denies That the King and Parliament are the onely Legislators then this Defendant desires they would so declare and express themselves that so this Defendant and all others may know the limits of their obedience For this
Ay ay that 's the right and only way of return to God for manifestation of any Naked-Truth by his Servants to glorifie his Name for the same And why should not the Sanhedrim have glorified God for the same as well as the people Had not they Souls to save as well as the people What was this Sanhedrim or High-Court of Justice made up of Who were the Members of this Council It is answered Acts 4.1 The Priests Ay Ay I should have wondred else at a piece of mischief if I had not found the Jewish-Priests there in the first place next the Captain of the Temple and the Sadduces A fine medley of Priests Soldiers and Atheists for so were the Sadduces the Jewish-Church was like to be well govern'd nor do I wonder they went about in the next Verse Acts 4.2 to suspend the Apostles ab officio or silence them from Preaching being grieved good hearts that they taught the People Whereupon they put them in Jayl for that Night designing to get all or a greater number of their Council together upon so good an occasion too And then appears a great Motley crew made up of Rulers and Elders and Scribes and Annas the High-Priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all the High-Priests Nephews Cousins and Cousin-Germans This is only to show you what the Church was that our Saviour speaks of Matt. 18.17 Tell it to the Church is as much as to say in England Complain in Westminster-Hall Sessions or Assizes For want of the knowledg whereof Excommunication has been counted a sacred Ordinance and every little gather'd Church as well as the great took upon them the Government and thought themselves some-body and would have power over their own Members to interdict deprive cut off c. and woful work they made with it Johnson and others that fled to Holland and had a gathered-Church and cut of and cut off Hereticks and wrong Believers till he left himself alone or but with one that just jumpt with him in all things And indeed as in the Mathematicks when a crooked Line deviates from a streight Line the further it reaches in length still the greater distance and more irreconcileable so here this Text of Matt. 18 17. being mistaken and wrong construed the longer the error lasts the greater mischief and the harder to be reconciled For this Interpretation has leaven'd not only Diocesan Synodical but Presbyterian Independent and Congregational-Churches till they have fought one another with this Spiritual-Weapon most Bloodily and they knew not wherefore they are mistaken in the words of their Commission Father forgive them they know not what they do I deny not but that a Bigot Papist Protestant Presbyterian or any other Sect that believes the Church has this power at this day to bind and loose and knows no better than the old Traditional-Interpretation of these words Tell the Church have and may still if they please be frighted out of their little Wit with the thunder of Excommunication thinking it Jure Divino and that the Thunder comes from Heaven But I doubt not but to prove how far it is a meer earthly Cracker and a Bugbear and frights none but Women and Fools were it not for the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo that follows in the Rear of it I know well how the Emperor Theodosius the younger was frighted out of his little Wit because a silly Monk had Excommunicated him and could not eat drink nor sleep till he absolv'd him there has and will be Bigotted Fools and Coxcombs to the Worlds end Nay men that are in all other things wise yet if they once be possessed with the Spirit of Bigottism and Superstition and be Priest-ridden not minding what the Holy Scriptures say but what comments the Priests for their own lucre and to uphold their Prelatical Hierarchy Dominion and Usurpation put upon it are easily Bugbear'd with this cracker of Excommunication as was that bravest of Men and Warriours the Emperor Theodosius the Elder Excommunicated by Ambrose the greater sinner of the two Not but that the Emperor might be in fault in some fault as what great Warriour and Conqueror as he was can possibly be innocent and have hands clean from any stain of Blood but whether he was in fault or no is not easie to determine read the Story in Nicephorus and though the Emperor did command the Soldiers to humble the City that were certainly Traytors and were Guilty laesae Majestatis in abusing most shamefully the Statues and Picture of his dear Wife and Empress and possibly the Soldiers might they are apt enough to exceed their Commission when there is good plunder in the case But the poor Emperor must pay for all and smart for all For indeed he was not Emperor but a Bigot I mean he did not know his own Strength Power and Authority but suffered himself to be nuzzled by Ambrose that formerly had been a Captain and now was made Bishop of the same Town Milan that he had formerly been Governour of but he forgot not his stout heart though he had put on his Canonical-Weeds read but the Story it is too long here to insert but you will then with me pity the poor Bigot Emperor got into ill-handling and under the clutches of a Priest that well knew the Ascendant he had over him For even in these days a Bishoprick begun to be a stately business and not only a good but a great thing and had been so of 100 years standing namely ever since the good Emperor Constantine had been so wonderfully Enamour'd of them Bishops and therefore he made them rich and riches are apt to make men proud and pride is apt to make men fall And there 's an end on 't But if the Sanhedrim or Synagogue had been a Spiritual-Court only as men make it that thus Construe Tell the Church then certainly it was a Bloody Court as well as a Bawdy Court for St. Paul confesses that he had a Commission from thence to Imprison men and put them to Death which surely was Law or else King Agrippa and Festus the Roman-Governour would have chastised him for it when he confest Acts 26.10 that many of the Holy men he shut up in Prison having received Authority from the Chief-Priests mark that and when they were put to Death he gave his Vote for it and punisht them oft in every Synagogue or Church so that I say Tell it to the Church or Synagogue is Complain to the Justice and no more And it is strange indeed that Christ should in those Words of Matt. 18.17 set up a new Jurisdiction in the World and the Apostles who at that time knew nothing of nulling any of the Law of Moses or that Christ should die and yet should make no exception to it or question to have it more explain'd if it were to be a standing Sacred Ordinance to vouch Excommunication to the Worlds end And as strange that none of the
Clerk Rector of Wivenhoe in the County of Essex aforesaid and his Parishioners did within the time aforesaid endeavour to Animate and Incense the said Parishioners or some of them against their said Rector and proffer'd that if they would give or pay you twenty pounds you would rout the said Mr Bridge from the said Living or from amongst them or to that effect Pot. tamen de qualibet alia summa 3. Item We Article and Object that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know believe or credibly have heard that Samuel Harris Clerk was and is the lawful Vicar of the Vicaridg of Fingringhoe in the said County of Essex and by vertue thereof rightly instituted to the small Tythes belonging to the said Vicaridg and that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmund Hickeringill have stirred up and forewarned several of the Parishioners of the said Parish not to pay their small Tythes to the said Vicar on purpose to stir up contentious Suits between the said Vicar and the said Parishioners And this was and is true publick and notorious and so much you the said Edmund Hickeringill have confessed and acknowledged to be true Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 4. Item We Article and Object that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know believe or have credibly heard that within the time aforesaid the Tythes Profits and Emoluments of and belonging to the Parish-Churches of St. Botolphs and St. Leonards in Colchester being both void of an Incumbent are by vertue of a Sequestration for each of the said Churches rightly and duly committed and granted by the Right Reverend Father in God Henry Lord Bishop of London to the Custody of the said Samuel Harris Clerk and that he is rightful and lawful Sequestrator of the same and that by vertue of a Licence or Licences under the Seal of the said Bishop the Cure of the Souls of the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said respective Parishes are rightly and duly committed and granted to the said Samnel Harris And that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmund Hickeringill have forewarned several Parishioners of the said Parish or one of them not to pay any Tythes Dues or Duties to the said Mr. Harris And more particularly by a Note under your Hand bearing Date the sixth of April 1681. Directed to the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish of St. Botolphs have promised to save harmless and indempnifie all the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish in the payment of their Tythes Offerings Obventions and Oblations unto you against all men living And likewise by another Note under your Hand bearing Date the 16th day of March 1680. have promised and engaged unto one Robert Gihson of St. Lconards in Colchester aforesaid Baker to desend him and save him harmless in the Possession of the Parsonage-House of St. Leonards aforesaid upon condition he pay unto you the Quarterly Rent of twelve shillings and six pence so long as he holds the same notwithstanding the said House belongs to the said Mr. Harris by vertue of the said Sequestration And that if he be ejected or troubled by Suits at Law you will bear the charges of the said Suit and will also bear the charges of erecting an Oven there if he be forced out of the Possession thereof by due Course of Law before Christmas next after the Date of the said Note he paying you fifty Shillings at Christmas next if he be in the Possession of the same Parsonage-House and do not relinquish the same 'till forced thereunto by the Order of Law or to that effect Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 5. Item Objicimus Articulamur that notwithstanding the said Mr. Harris is Licensed by the said Bishop to serve the said Cures of St. Botolph and St. Leonards aforesaid yet you the said Edmund Hickeringill in contempt of the Authority of the said Bishop your Ordinary have threatned the Sextons of the said Parishes or one of them that you will ruin him or them if he of they give notice to the said Mr. Harris of any business concerning the Ministerial Function to be done or performed as Christning Marrying Burying or the like in the said Parishes or either of them and that you have several times or at least once disturb'd the said Mr. Harris in doing and performing his Ministerial Function in the said Parishes or one of them in one or more of the Holy Offices aforesaid to the great scandal of our Ministerial Function and of all good people in and about Colchester aforesaid And this was and is true publick and notorious Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra Item Objicimus Articulamur that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know or have heard that by the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England in that behalf Published and Established no Minister upon pain of suspension per triennium ipso facto shall Celebrate Matrimony between any Persons without a Faculty or Licence first in that behalf lawfully obtained except the Banes of Matrimony have been first Published three several Sundays or Holy-days in the time of Divine-Service in the Parish Churches and Chappels where the said Parties dwelt according to the Book of Common-Prayer And that every Minister who shall hereafter Celebrate Marriage betwixt any Persons contrary to the said Constitutions or any one of them under colour of any peculiar Liberty or Priviledg claim'd to appertain to certain Churches and Chappels shall be suspended per triennium by the Ordinary of the Place where the offence shall be committed as by the said Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical it doth more plainly appear Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 7. Item Objicimus Articulamur that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmand Hickeringill in contempt of the said Canons and Constitutions did in the Months of March April May June July August September October November December January February and March in the Years of our Lord 1678 1679 1680. And likewise in the Months of March April and May 1681. And in all some of one of the said Years and Months without any Licence or Faculties in that behalf first obtained or Banes Published and Denounced as is enjoyned by the said Canons and Constitutions and by the Book of Common-Prayer by Law established in the Church of England Solemnize or rather Prophane several Marriages between several persons and more especially between James Abel of the Parish of St. Leonards in Colchester aforesaid and Anne Burnham of the same Parish And also between John Shepheard of the Parish of St. Leonards aforesaid and Damaris Gillings of the same Parish And also between Edward Hartley of the Parish of St. Botolphs in Colchester and Mary Groom of the Parish of St. Leonards aforesaid And also between Daniel Steers of the Parish of St. Mary Magdalen in Colchester aforesaid and Ann Bloome of the Parish of St. Leonard aforesaid And also between Richard Potter of Aldham in the
the said Parish not once since June last but hired out himself a Curate in London under Dr. Grove to this day so that the Defendants said Parish of which he is Patron is miserably abus'd the Cure deserted the Flock neglected the Fleece only expected and neither His Majesties Tenths paid nor the Vicaridge disburthen'd thereof for the payment of which Tenths to His Majesty this Defendant desires this Court to sequester the Profits and better provide for the Cure both which the Bishop of London the said Promoter neglects to do so that great harm but no good is done by this Interruption and Fingringhoe has also cause to say Seldom comes a better Nor is it any great additional Honour to the Pastoral Staff that pretends a whole Diocess to be its Flock Cure and Charge even of All the Souls therein a pretty great burden and weight for a single shoulder that not satisfied to be well paid for sitting still must be doing and medling though it had much better do nothing than do mischief and harm 'T is well the Archbishop is the Bishop of Bishops and as much superior and elevated above the common or ordinary Bishop as a Bishop above the little Presbyters And 't is proper in this Case to let the Archbishop know that he may take notice and correct the neglect of the said Promoter the said Bishop of London in neglecting to collect His Majesties Arrearages of the Tenths aforesaid due from the said Harris the said little Vicar of Fingringhoe and his sin of omission in neglecting personally to demand the said great Arrearages of Tenths of the said Harris when he has as he has frequently met with him or upon refusal and non-payment to have declared the said Vicaridge ipso facto void of the said Incumbent as if he was dead as is enjoined by and in the said Statute 23 H. 8. That so the Patron might present a better man and the neglect of His Majesties said Revenue be no longer conniv'd and wink'd at nor the Cure of Souls in Fingringhoe aforesaid be so neglected and abandoned and much worse provided for by the said Bishop the Promoter in this Case than ever Whil'st there is none to Administer the Holy Sacraments there nor to Baptize or Catechize their Children Bury the Dead Read Divine Service nay nor so much as a Sermon read by the said Curate Harris or rather Reader for he can do nothing else but read whil'st the honest Parishioners have cause to bewail these Contrivances and bemoan the fruits of this Discord that whil'st the said Promoter intended to strike this Defendant he mist his blow and hit none but the harmless Parishioners who good men pay for all and All for nothing For though the said Harris has let out himself to work a kind of Journey-work under the said Dr. Grove yet he has not quite so forgot his Parishioners but that he has most magisterially commanded them to send him money for half a years Tythes or else he has threatned them that he will Ay that he will 'T is meet that this Court of Arches or Archbishop if it can do any thing that it should correct the faults of Bishops We must even turn the Tables Nor will any Body pity those busie Medlers and Master-workmen that cannot be content to oversee the Labourers hard at work and well wrought and employed but they must be placing and displacing stones in the Building and set them a tumbling and rowling 'till they fall upon their own Pates Nay no matter Harm watch Harm catch So that the 2 3 4 and 5th Articles are already answer'd by Statute Law and so shall all the rest besides what has been already pleaded and professed together with another Law that has no Law Necessity Therefore CHAP. X. 7thly AS to the 6 7 and 8 Articles or last Articles they urge a Transgression in solemnizing or rather prophaning Matrimony well-worded and cunningly but if the Register and Sir Thomas Exton had had eight shillings for every Marriage as they have had for many years together above 40 l. of this Defendant upon that Score and at that Rate then bonas noches and not a word of prophaning Matrimony without Banes or Licence contrary to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England Alas Poor Church of England Thou must be made a Skreen a Pretence and a Colour for Mens Avarice Oh Hypocrisie To which this Defendant answereth particularly and saith First That this Charge against him is in its self null and void in Law Reason Equity and Conscience for the uncertainty in not naming what particular Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are thereby transgrest since the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England that go under that Name Colour and Title are contrary to one another in many Particulars too long here to recite But in this particular Case of solemnizing Matrimony without Banes or Licence the Canons or Constitutions that go under the name of Queen Elizabeth and King James in Print are vastly different one from the other Queen Elizabeth's Canons and Injunctions ordaining for such Offence a Suspension ab officio onely and so particularly exprest onely for the space of six months But those under the names of King James ordain for the like Offence a Suspension for three long years a long time for a painful and laborious Minister to live with his mouth stopt and upon such an occasion too that not one word is said to it nor any body aggrieved if the said Registers and Commissaries go but swips in the pretended Licence and have a feeling in the hand Which makes it more than probable that those said Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are not truly Printed nor is any man bound to take notice of them except they be Recorded in a Court of Record and a true Copy be produced in such Court and particularly in this Court upon this Suit and this occasion and the Truth thereof sworn upon Oath of good and credible Witnesses which this Defendant does hereby require in this Case and Suit according to the Rules and Methods of Law and Justice Reason and Equity Besides the said pretended Canon of King James ordaining Suspension in general ought by the Rules of the Civil Law Reason and Common Law be taken in the mildest sense For there being two kind of Suspensions namely 1. Ab Officio 2. A Beneficio The first only damages the Flock and Parish The second also starves the poor Priest and all his Family oh Cruelty for a Peccadillo when no man is damnified thereby but a greedy Register and Commissary they that buy must sell and if their mouths be but stopt with Guinees the Minister's shall never be stop't the Fault 's alledged against this Defendant for solemnizing or rather prophaning Matrimony without Banes being only in the years 1680 and 1681. when he took but about 5 s. for the same the People being the gainers thereby
Suspension or Sequestration or Deprivation be supported by that which can only support them viz. a Statute But they should not need to have found the said High-Commission specially if Ecclesiastical-Courts then had or consequently have an ordinary Jurisdiction without special Commission from the King only and equally the Head of the Church and State But no Temporal-Courts or Judges do or dare Act implicitely but by special Patents or Commissions under Seal for as for Hundred-Courts they belong to Proprietors but all derived originally by Patents from the Crown as Sheriff-Courts and Corporation-Courts And besides from these Inferior Courts or Common-Law-Courts as are the Handred-Courts they sit in the Hundred by Prescription where the Bishops also used to sit and keep their Courts together and at the same time and place which if they do not now so they cannot plead to hold Courts by Prescription except they as does to this day the Hundred-Courts and County-Courts keep up and keep to their Prescriptions as to place and time Canons and Laws Therefore away with all idle thoughts of making the Spiritual-Courts Ordinary or Comnion-Law-Courts this Court it self the Supreme of all the Spiritual-Courts cannot prescribe for sitting here in Doctors-Commons beyond the memory of man for it us'd to be kept in the Arches of Bow-Church whence it had its name but now most improperly except it sit by special Commission from his Majesty and be so styled in the Commission And if the Arch-Bishop have such Patent from the King to keep Courts of Judicature-Ecclesiastical as have the Judges in Westminster-Hall for keeping Courts-Temporal this Defendant desires this Court then so to Declare it that he may the better know how to demean himself with all humility and submission thereunto But this Defendant has taken the Oath of Supremacy and dare not own any other Head of the Church or Ecclesiastical Judicature but what is derived from Him in whom alone is inherent all the Executive power in Church and State And from Him imparted and derived to the Judges under Him Nay when His Majesty has derived such power to His Judges yet they cannot make a Deputy if they be sick nor an Official or Surrogate Indeed sometimes a Serjeant at Law is surrogated in the room of one of the 12 Judges sick dead or otherwise avocated and goes the Circuit but this must be done by Special Commission and his Name specially inserted and mentioned therein no Judge can make such a Surrogate or Deputy Besides it is but onely pro eo vice for that turn only And though an Archbishop with his Archbishoprick and Bishop with his Bishoprick if constituted according to Law have all Priviledges also annexed anciently and of right belonging thereunto by Prescription or otherwise yet a Right by Prescription and Custom or Common Law is lost when the Custom surceases and other new Customs innovated for Customs ought to be certain uninterrupted and continual both as to time place c. Thus a Court-leet may be lost and forfoited for want of Use according to the ancient Usage and perhaps this is also part of the Case Thirdly To solemnize Matrimony without Banes first published three several Sundays or Holy-days in time of Divine Service in the Parish or Parishes where the Parties inhabit is an Offence against Statute-Law onely namely the Rubrick before the Order of Matrimony in the Common-Prayer Book every Sentence whereof is Statute-Law in the Act of Vniformity Which if true then this Court is no competent Interpreter nor Judge of Statute Law nor of the nature of the offences against the same nor of the quality and degree of the punishment of such offences And though all Englishmen are bound to obey the same to a Tittle yet scarce any Englishman Bishop Priest or Lay-man but does offend and transgress the same little or much and are all Nonconformists and accordingly are all liable to be Indicted and have Presentments made against them for Nonconformity according to the said Statute of Uniformity and as Sinners and Transgressors of the same Yet some of the Rules in the Rubrick and the Transgressions thereof were thought so small and such little Peccadillo's that the Legislators or Law-makers did not think fit to annex and assert any Punishment to and for the same As for Example It is enjoined in the Rubrick to read the Communion Service at the Communion Table yet not One of a Thousand obeys except in Cathedrals c. and there also the Act of Vniformity is as much or more transgress'd than in any countrey-Countrey-Church in England that this Defendant knows of as shall be proved infallibly by and by But if all Ministers obey the Act of Vniformity aforesaid in reading the Communion Service at the Communion Table in the Chancel in many Churches if not in all Churches not one of an hundred could possibly at that distance and in the hollow and obscured Chancel hear the same or be more edified than if in Latine was read the said Communion Service or Mass for so is our English Communion Service said to be commonly known and called the Mass in the Common-Prayer Book put out by the Reformers who in composing and translating the said English Common-Prayer Book are by the Act of Parliament in 2 Edw. 6. Reign made for the common Use and general Practice thereof throughout the Realm said to be inspired thereunto by the Holy Ghost But here is the unsuitableness betwixt our Times and those Times they like the Primitive Christians Acts 2. took the blessed Sacrament in Cathedrals every day and in all Countrey-Churches on every Sunday and Holy-day Wednesdays and Fridays on which days onely the Communion Service was to be read nor was it wholly read but when the Holy Sacrament was administred which was usually every Sunday and Holyday in Country Churches and in Cathedrals every day and then read after the Letany and when the Letany was read then and not till then the Priest put on the Surplice or Albe and Cope And though no man is enjoined by that Act of Uniformity and Common-Prayer Book to receive the blessed Sacrament above once a year yet the Housholds in the Parish the Rubrick says were so order'd that one at least as his turn came always communicated with the Priest one or other every Sunday or Holy-day at the Altar where the Priest stood whil'st he read the Communion Service in the Chancel and might well enough be heard by the Communicants who all were in the Chancel This is to shew there is not the same reason now adays when the Holy Communion is so seldom celebrated no not in Cathedrals as it was wont when the Rubrick of King Edw. 6. enjoined the Communion Service to be read at the Altar for so is the Communion Table there stiled in that Book said by Statute Law to be composed translated or made by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as aforesaid Again To give another Example of the constant and wilful transgression
of the Act of Uniformity by the Bishops and Clergy especially Namely In the Rubrick before the order of Morning Prayer we find these words namely And here is to be noted That such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof at all times of their Ministration shall be retained and be in use mark that as were in this Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward VI. Now the great Question will be What Ornaments they were that were in use in the Reign of King Edward the sixth A question that I hope few Countrey or City Clergy-men of ordinary Rank know how to answer for it is to be hoped that they sin through ignorance and not through stubbornness and contempt of the Act of Vniformity and are rather ignorant Nonconformists than wilful Nonconformists in using other Rites and Ceremonies and other Ornaments at all times of their Ministration than what were in use in the time of the 2d of Edward the sixth enjoined by Act of Parliament For in the Rubrick in the Communion Service made in the said 2d of Edward the sixth after the Title which is in these very words The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion commonly called the MASSE We have this Commandment namely Upon the day and at the time appointed for the ministration of the Holy Communion the Priest that shall execute the Holy Ministery shall put upon him the Vesture appointed for that Ministration that is to say A white Albe plain with a Vestment or Cope And where there be many Priests or Deacons there so many shall be ready to help the Priest in the Ministration as shall be requisite And shall have upon them likewise the Vestures appointed for their Ministry that is to say Albes with Tunicles And to make the matter plainer in the Act for the Uniformity of Common-Prayer and Service in the Church and Administration of the Sacraments 1 Eliz. It is enacted That every manner of Parson Vicar or other whatsoever Minister that ought or should sing or say Common-Prayer mentioned in the said Book or minister the Sacraments c. shall minister the same in such order and form mark that as they be mentioned and set forth in the said Book Or shall wilfully or obstinately standing in the same which I hope they will not hereafter venture to do use any other mark that Rite Ceremony Order Form or Celebrating the Lord's Supper openly or privity or Martins Evensong Administration of the Sacraments or other open Prayers than is mentioned and set forth in the said Book The Penalties for the first Offence The profit of the Benefice Benefices and all the Spiritual Benefits and Promotions the Offender hath for one Year next after conviction is thereby forfeited and gone together with six Months Imprisonment without Bail or Mainprise For the second Offence Deprivation ipso facta of all the Spiritual Promotions and one whole Years Imprisonment and that it shall be lawful for all Patrons and Donors c. to present or collate to the same as if the Offenders were really dead And for the third Offence Deprivation as aforesaid and Imprisonment during Life And if the Offender be not benefic'd or promoted for the first Offence Imprisonment for one year without Bayl. And for the second Offence Imprisonment during Life So 14 Car. II there is an Act of Uniformity that to the same effect enjoyns no other Rite Ceremony Form or Order of Common-Prayer Ornaments c. This is mentioned to humble the rigid Conformist that he do not plume himself and be exalted above measure over other Nonconformists without any Mercy or Compassion to human Nature human Frailty human Error and human Kind lest he himself by the next Grand Jury be presented and found guilty of using other Rites and Ceremonies than what are enjoyned in the Act of Uniformity and Common-Prayer-Book of King Edward VI or this Common-Prayer-Book And consequently get a Prison on his back the same Prison whereinto he has so often endeavoured to put other Nonconformists and for the same Sin too of Nonconformity and Transgression of the same Act of Uniformity that he has so extoll'd and cry'd up For to bow towards the Altar to bow at the Holy Name of Jesus to force the Inferiour Clergy except in Cathedrals to were the Surplice or to wear the Hood during the Ministration of Baptism Burial Morning-Prayer Letany or Evensong are other Rites and Ceremonies and other Ornaments than were forced on the Clergy to use in 2 Edw. 6th as aforesaid Indeed upon the day and at the time and only at the time of Ministration of the Lord's Supper the Priest was enjoyned to put on the Albe or Surplice and Cope But not till the Letany was read and just before he began to read the Common-Service and administer the Communion at the Altar for so says the Rubrick in the said Communion-Service in the Common-Prayer-Book of 2 Edw. 6th just after the Prayer for fair Weather in these Words And tho there be none to communicate with the Priest yet these days namely Wednesdays and Fridays afore-named in the said Rubrick after the Letany ended the Priest shall put upon him a plain Albe or Surplice with a Cope and say all things at the Altar appointed to be said at the Celebration of the Lord's Supper until after the Offertory So that all are Nonconformists and liable to Indictments and loss of their Liberty as well as loss of their Livings that pray before or after Sermon in other Form or Order than is set down in the Common-Prayer-Book And all that force the Country or City Ministers except in Cathedrals to wear the Surplice during Mattens or Morning-Prayer Letany Baptism Burial Evensong or Evening-Prayer And all that bow towards the Altar and set great Candles thereon and all that bow at the Name of Jesus And all that wear or force Men to wear Hoods at any time except Sermon-time whether Scarlet Black Lamb-skin or Taffety according to their degree except in Cathedrals they may if they please only it is seemly so to do in Sermon time but for that it ought to be left to every Man's Liberty For so says the Rubrick of the second Common-Prayer Book which I confess seems strangely worded in these very Words In the saying or singing of Mattens and Even-song Baptizing and Burying the Ministers in Parish-Churches and Chappels annexed to the same shall I suppose it should have been printed may use a Surplice and in all Cathedral-Churches and Colledges the Arch-Deacons Deans Provosts Masters Prebendaries and Fellows being Graduates may here it is may not shall use in the Quire besides their Surplices such Hoods as pertaineth to their several degrees which they have taken in any University within this Realm But in all other places mark that every Minister shall be at Liberty to use any Surplice or no. It is also seemly that Graduates when they do preach mark that
Promoter against this Defendant in the beginning of the Articles by cashiering Thomas Doughty of the Place And then to prefer Doughty to his old place again and face about again as you were It is either an Affront to make the said Bishop a Promoter or else if he like the place 't is an Affront to dismiss him thereof and take Thomas Doughty on again in Conclusion But what Reason the said Bishop will have to thank the Impudent Proctor for the Promotion or Preferment time will discover In the Interim consider how sawcily implident and mischievously sawcy are some Servants that if their Masters will tamely suffer the Familiarity play the sawce with their Masters like Churle-cats so long till they scratch them And is it not subtle to grant a Sequestration to Mr. Sewell for the poor Rectory of St. Leonard's aforesaid and never revoke the same nor give notice of such Revocation and yet send out another Sequestration for poor Harris the other to Mr. Sewell being unrevok'd as aforesaid and confirmed by accepting the Fees at every Visitation and in force if any Bishop's Sequestration be in force which is no sin to question especially upon this occasion their Power at best being for Edification not for Destruction like the Apostles if they be like their Power is to do Good not Harm especially to the Poor However by their own Law and Method all their Sequestrations are in force till they be revok'd and Mr. Sewell's was never yet revok'd no matter tho how soon that the People may see the difference on 't and that seldom comes a better in the mean while Mettal on mettal is false Heraldry And is it not subtle to implead this Defendant for a breach of a Clause in the Rubrick of marrying without Banes when every pittiful Register Surrogate Official c. makes no bones of it but publickly sells such Indulgences Licences or Dispensations in defiance of the Act of Parliament the Act of Uniformity and the said Rubrick a Branch of it that equally forbid and prohibit all Men And is it not subtle to cull out only five unlucky Couples for Instance that inhabit in such Parishes where it is impossible that the most of them should ever be married according to the rigid and strict Rules of the Rubrick there being no Divine Service constantly said in any of the said Parishes but in St. Leonard's at present not once in a quarter of a Year and in St. Bottolph's and St. Mary Magdalen not these thirty Years last past nor any Churches save what are demolished wherein to read Divine-Service or publish the Banes And therefore it would have been impious in this Defendant in this Exigency not to have coupled them together and to prevent their unmarried Concumbency and consequently Adultery Thus the Priest in a strait gave David some of the Shew-bread which except in case of hunger and necessity was not lawful for a Lay-man to eat but only for the Priests this Defendant also dispensing with the Rigor of a Commandment which was impossible to be kept without a greater Mischief and Inconvenience namely Adultery A Sin proper of all other for the Cognizance of this Court and the Scotch-man John Dargavel late Vicar of Boxted in Essex who got two Bastards in one House where he boarded much of one age this Defendant baptized them both calling one by the name of Dargavell being put into this Court and flying from Boxted a Vicarage of 30 l. per annum a wonder in Scolland was punish'd with another Living in the West Country of 100 l. per annum which he enjoyes at this day and when his new Parishioners prosecuted him in this Court for his old Adulteries they had as good have thrown their Caps at him These are Crimes with a withess publickly known and scandalous and yet in this Court it seems it found no Suspension for three Years as here in this case is threatned for preventing Adultery by marrying without Banes where none could be had Some Men had better steal a Horse than others look over the Hedg And lastly for this Paper is almost done Is it not subtle for Men to search for a Mote in this Defendant's Eye with a Beam in their own and by the busy officiousness thereby give an Occasion to have their own Eyes look'd into blear'd with illegal Fees Extortions and Oppressions of the King's Subjects in Probates Letters of Administration Ordinations Institutions Inductions Visitations Synodals Procurations Excommunications Absolutions Indulgences Licences and Dispensations and also in illegal Rites and superstitious Ceremonies in defiance of the Statutes of this Realm Thus giving Irritation and Provocation as well as Occasion to bring their Works of Darkness unto Light as if they long'd for Correction And Pity it is great pity that he should escape the Lash who wantonly calls for it efflagitantes sollicitescit Finis Respons CHAP. XIII VVEll may the Reader wonder that wise Men should be so Hood-wink'd with Passion or Prejudice to make such a do about nothing and accuse a Man for old acquitted Barretry in an improper Court or make it a Crime to defend himself his ancient Rights Freehold and Tenants from an Intruder But above all 't is incomparable that Registers Commissaries Officials and such kind of Creatures should make such a noise about marrying People without the strict Rituals of the Church which they break every day by granting Licences publickly in defiance of the Statute and pronouce such Solemnization of Mattimony a Prophanation How do they pass Sentence against themselves as if the Children of all that were married without Banes by their Licences and Indulgences contrary to the Ritual and punctilio of the Statute of Vniformity were Bastards Which wicked Suggestion the Papists may possibly but God forbid they should ever have the Power improve upon us all and by the same Argument make all our Marriages not Solemnizations but Prophanations and our Children conseqently Bastards c. not inheritable to our Estates as being not born in lawful Wedlock or Matrimony which say they can never be Legal except made according to the Ceremonies of the Roman Ritual And therefore tho some Protestants and Papists rashly marry together yet the Papists will be married according to the Roman Ritual by a Popish Priest and then they do not much care for they look upon 't as nothing more than of old to be married by a Justice of Peace for the present Exigency and edge of the Law and therefore will condescend to be married again according to the English Ritual Which brings to my mind a Passage here well worth the inserting and mentioned in the History of the Life and Death of that Famous Judg Lawyer Philosopher and Divine Sir Matthew Hale In these Words Page 83 84 85. He was a devout Christian a sincere Protestant and a true Son of the Church of England and yet he had been one of Oliver Cromwell 's Judges of the Common-Pleas moderate towards
Dissenters and just even to those from whom he differ'd most which appeared signally in the care he took in a Case of the Quakers wherein he was very cautious mark that in declaring their Marriages void and so bastarding their Children But he consider'd Marriage and Succession as a Right of Nature from which none ought to be barred what mistakes so ever they might be under in point of revealed Religion And therefore in a Trial that was before him when a Quaker was sued for some Debts owing by his Wife before he married her and the Quaker's Counsel pretended That it was no Murriage that had past between them since it was not solemnized according to the Rules of the Church of England He declared that he was not willing on his own Opinion to make their Children Bastards and gave Directions to the Jury to find it special which they did It was a Reflection on the whole Party that one of them to avoid an Inconvenience he had fallen in thought to have preserved himself by a Defence that if this Judg had absolutely determin'd must have made their whole Issue Bastards and incapable of Succession And for all their pretended Friendship to one another if the Judg had not been more their Friend than one of those so called their Posterity had been little beholden to them But he govern'd himself indeed by the Law of the Gospel of doing to others what he would have others do to him Which Law vacuates and makes null and void all Laws of Man ipso facto that are made to the contrary as being against the Law of God and the Law of Nature And therefore because he would have thought it a Hardship not without a Cruelty if amongst Papists all Marriages were null'd which had not been made with all the Ceremonies of the Roman Ritual so he applying this to the case of the Sectaries he thought all Marriages made according to the several Perswasions of Men ought to have their Effects in Law Here was a Man made up of Law and Reason and had Conscience and Compassion to human kind mingled with his Profession of Christianity and was good as well as wise He well foresaw what a Rod a just Rod we Protestants make for our selves and if ever the Papists prevail to bastardize all our Children if it be a concluded Maxime of the Church and Law of England That every omission or want of the established Rituals in the solemnization of Matrimony make it null Marriage being a Right in Nature and observed amongst Heathens where I have inhabited and dwelt that never heard or regarded any other Religion than the Law of Nature And tho one Man may if he can manage them or think that he has not enough of One if he please and also if another Woman agree to it he may take her to Wife and as many as he can in addition But Adultery is never heard of amongst them at least more rarely than in Courts Christian And thus I hope both I and all my Country-men true-hearted English-men and Protestants will have more cause to rejoice than Court Christian that ever they royl'd or provok'd my lazy and beloved Silence Retiredness and Privacy by so silly an occasion to publish thus my Thoughts and Meditations on greater Matters But such is the Policy when I had begg'd of Sir Thomas Exton my old Friend and Acquaintance as if it had been for an Alms more than once which they ignorantly construed to proceed from fear of them That he would speak to the Bishop of London to withdraw the Prosecution and Promotion and not force me to Answer what I knew would and which I was loth should be displeasing to them And it is usual for Men that are chiefly guided by the Maxims only of Self Self-Interest and Self-Designs to construe all Overtures of Peace Quietness Amity and Accommodation to proceed from fear of some Mischief from them of doing which they are resolved when they can not to be over-cautious for they cannot imagine that such amicable Overtures proceed from Ingenuity and a study of Peace and Quietness But if Men like some eager Wrestlers that have more mettle than skill or strength after many repeated Foils Foil after Foil will never take warning 't is just they take what follows Self do self have Nay no matter who bid them be so Fool-hardy Did not Light-foot that pretty sweet-lips Asahel all Mettle and Hot-spur pursue Abner that old Captain and by no Perswasions could be induc'd to fall upon the Youngsters or common-men but Abner Abner only must be the Man he would hunt down and conquer Tho 2 Sam. 2.21 22 23. Abner said to him Turn thee aside to thy right-hand or to thy left and lay hold on one of the young-men and take his Armor But Asahel would not turn aside from following him And Abner said again to Asahel Turn thee aside from following me wherefore should I smite thee to the Ground How then shall I hold up my face to Joab thy Brother Howbeit he refused to turn aside wherefore Abner with the hinder-end of the Spear smote him under the fifth rib that the Spear came out behind him and he fell down there and died in the same place CHAP. XIV NOR does the Order of Matrimony now used much differ from that made by the inspiration from the Holy-Ghost in 2 Edw. 6. for there also no Indulgences nor Perfunctory Money-Licences are allowed or wink'd at nor the Avarice countenanc'd save that instead of With this Ring I thee wed with my Body I thee worship c. is inserted With this Ring I thee wed This Gold and Silver I thee give with my Body I thee worship c. For the Bridegroom besides the Ring was to give the Bride other Love-Tokens called there Tokens of Spousage as Gold or Silver and also they were to receive the Holy Communion together or Sacrament without which never any Matrimony was solemnized a good begining makes a good ending But to come to a Conclusion of this Essay Schism or Sedition quasi se itio or going by one's self or in a private path or way of one's own head out of the King's High-way the Act of Uniformity is a transgression indeed of the Law But if nothing will serve men but severe Remarks must be made on such Seditious or Schismaticks by what has been said you see we must all cry guilty from the highest to the lowest Clergy and Laity that have but bow'd at the Name of Jesus or to the Altar or set up everlasting Candles thereon for the Papists light them and burn them upon the Altar in imitation for most of their Religion is only Apish Mymicry of the Primitive Times and Christians who were glad because of Persecution to meet in private Conventicles in Cells and Cellars and by stealth in the Night and consequently did all as the Papists now do usually at Noon-day in their chiefest Churches they obscure the Windows with Hangings
ought it to be otherwise appli'd than as to the matter in hand that whatsoever the Pope do yet God gives no Indulgences Licences or Priviledges either to sin or to sin impunè Besides Piety is the greatest Policy in the World and the most easy as well as most safe certain and sure way of governing Mankind in Mercy Goodness Meekness Compassion Justice in not being over-rul'd with Popular or Parasitical Applause or distast of the greatest Favorite Especially in England of all the World who are sturdy generally hard to be forc'd or driven but easily drawn like a great Ship in calm Water with a Twine-Thred Besides the Defence of the King and Kingdom consists not in impregnable Fortresses Forts and Citadels as in the Low Countries but in the Limbs and Hands Heads and Hearts of the happy Natives I mean our Main-guard under God consists in Castles of Bones and not in Castles of Stones CHAP. XVI FRiday Novemb. 25th 1681 was the day appointed and agreed upon on both sides to argue the said Pleas Protestations and Answer and to that purpose Sir Philp Lloyd upon the 21st Instant being their Court-day did bid me nominate and chuse what Advocates I thought most meet to argue and improve my said Prostestations Pleas and Answer Advocates Replied I Advocates what shall I ask Advice of the Fox how to preserve my Chickens Advocates indeed have the Advantage of me in Skill Eloquence Pleadings and Subtilties but all that will be abundantly supplied by the Advantage of the Ground on which my Innocence has plac'd me Let Criples go on Crutches I told them and that I doubted not by God's help but I should stand on my own Legs and against them all if I might but be allowed fair play and the benefit of the Laws which was fairly promised and honestly performed yet on the day time and place appointed in Doctors-Commons to argue this mighty Case before the Judg came into the Room I was most insolently affronted and my Hat pluck'd off in great Rudeness and tumultuously by a Proctor's Clerk unworthy the naming who being reproved for the sawcy Attempt by some Citizens there present all strangers and unknown to me upon the Stir comes in Sir Philip Lloyd and inquiring the Cause of such Disturbance and Noise was told by one of the Citizens and who caused the same He very honestly check'd and severely chid the Fellow and bid him be gone out of the Room and that otherwise he might have been thought privy or at least to countenance such Rudeness when Men come upon their Affairs Citations and Monitions to Doctors-Commons but that was poor Satisfaction for so great and publick an Affront 't is well we have his Majesties Laws and his Majesties Courts to vindicate and secure us from such barbarous Assaults and probably the Fellow has heard from me concerning it before this time In the Interim to proceed Sir Philip takes a Chair and sits down and so did all the Advocates and very courteously the Judg desires me also to take a Chair amongst them and sit down and great Expectation there was by the By-standers to hear this mighty Argument But when it came to Sir Thomas Exton of Counsel for the Promoter instead of arguing admitted my Pleas and there 's an end of an old Song except at the next Term the Term Probatory further Debate or Debait arise so away I came out of their Room with the stifling Crowd after me who were defeated of their hopes to hear soome Proof or good Foundation for their Spiritual's Courts which Sir Thomas Exton said I denied and my Reasons for the same you have heard in my Answer which was not argued but admitted and so the By-standers lost their Longing as well as I lost my time detain'd for a Nonni-no above a Fortnight at London from my Parish my Family my Cure and Charge But how I employed my self in that Fortnight you have read thus far in this Book all writ at London in that time and the next day coming to Colchester weary and tir'd and bemir'd I immediately to show my Love to Peace and Quietness writ by Saturday Post this following Letter to Sir Thomas Exton not amiss here to insert in these very Words Colchester November 26th 1681. Right Worshipful I Expected Yesterday that you would have argued as the Bishop's Advocate against my Allegations but since you chose to admit them I have resolved once more thus to perswade you rather to be a Moderator which is in your Power to reconcile the Differences betwixt the Bishop of London and my Self rather than to espouse a Party and be a Stickler tho for a Lord Bishop against your old Friend and Vniversity-Acquaintance of 35 Years Continuance If you think this motion for Peace and Accommodation proceeds from fear the Impartial-Consideration of my Answer will undeceive you And this is the last Overture I will ever make for an Accommodation except you answer it and me effectually within a Week And by your neglect which is probable for Passion and Rage is deaf and hath no Earsy I shall then think my self absolv'd not only in my own Conscience and Honour but in the Opinion and Sentence of all good Men if after these amicable Overtues rejected Differences grow to that height that in my just defence I be forc'd to reach some unhappy Blowes that may otherwise against my will hit an old Friend Thus you see how I study to be quiet and to avoid Disputes especially with my Diocesan though he cannot possibly contrive a way to make my Name and Fame so Eminent and considerable as by thus publickly entring into the Lists of Contests with me Wherein if I be foyl'd no great Honour can he get by the Victory after such great advantage of the ground he has got to stand on above me But if he come off with loss how will he have cause to blame those Counsels that irritated him to this unseemly Encounter Revenge is God's Attribute and can no more be safely and honourably handled by any Man then burning-Coals which leave at best unhandsome Scars and uncomely Cicatrizes though healed never so cleaverly But Harm watch Harm catch And if nothing else will serve then let all our Faults be rip'd up and expos'd upon the Publick-Stage to make sport for the By standers and currat Lex I am Your Servant Edm. Hickeringill It was and is yet a Canon agreed on all hands in the first General Council of Nice which the Church of England ownes That no Bishop shall quit a small Bishoprick for a bigger and therefore better But who heeds the Canon when an useful Man a Man of great Parts great Improvements great Learning and also which I had almost forgot great Relations and Friends in the Case It was a Canon Concil Sardic that none should be made a Bishop but gradually and passing through all the Inferiour Orders and had also continued in them for some considerable time there was no Bishops
then made per saltum as at leap-frog skipping over 3 or 4 Heads none vaulted into the Holy See or Seat nor leapt so high at one Jump but mounted as to the Altar and Holy of Holies by Stairs Steps and by Degrees Because a Bishop should be a Preshyter or Elder 1 Tim. 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a young Novice And why And why what stops his Grace The Apostle shews cause for his Non-placet in the next words lest be fall into Temptation or the Condemnation of the Devil by being puffed up with Pride 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swelled like a Bladder with the Windy and Fanatical Self-conceit of his own merit when in truth that Bigness is nothing but windy Emptiness and being discovered or let out will fall and flag as Lucifer did from Heaven That is the meaning of the Condemnation of the Devil namely the same Sin of being swell'd with Pride and Self-conceit will have the same Punishment that Lucifer had But notwithstanding all this the Church made bold to crack a Commandment in the case of Nectarius who having great Friends and Relations was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople whilst he was a Souldier a Layman and unbaptized And I can tell you the Patriarch or Pope of Constantinople would have scorn'd in those days to have given the Wall to the Pope of Rome Also stout Captain St. Ambrose that would scorn to bend to the Emperour Theodosius but flatteringly cring'd to the Usur per Eugenius was chosen Notwithstanding the Canon-Law to be Bishop of Milan whilse he was a Souldier and Governonr of the same City and Metropolis of Milan nay also unbaptized as I remember Thus when the Church can nail the Canons or crack a Commandment for Men of great Parts Interest Relations and Friends surely to show its Charity it may condescend a little from its rigorous Constitution and reach a helping-hand themselves also being frail and tardy and Indulgence in this my case to me a poor little Man that has neither great Friends great Relations great Parts great Learning nor indeed great any thing save a great Adversary To the 2d Question namely Quest 2. If Christ or his Apostles did ordain such an Ordinance as Excommunication who were the Administrators Answ The Answer is easy namely such as had Ability to judg and discern Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood and an Orthodox-man from an Heretick by the Gift of the Holy Ghost called discerning of Spirits For we shall be in fine taking if upon a fair Trial and Issue what colour is such a Horse white or brown we should place a blind Man upon the Bench or Jury or Men-purblind and short-sighted The Pope craftily foresaw this before ever he applyed that of Tit. 3.10 to his Jurisdiction namely a Heretick after the first or second Admonition reject And therefore he first made himself the Infallible Judge that cannot be mistaken but alwayes discerns Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood an Orthodox-man from an Heretick for then and then only is Excommunicating a Heretick rational when built and only then when built upon Infallibility take that away and down comes the lofty Fabrick or Fortress or Cittadel of Excommunication that has so aw'd and overaw'd the whole Christian World For what a Blunder is it in Ratiocination to say the Church of Rome Alexandria Antioch have erred and the Church of England may erre and yet these same Churches shall as stifly decide and positively assert what is and what is not Truth as if they were not Seekers Searchers and Viatores but Infall ibility men For supposing a Church or Church-men may err as did the greatest Council of Bishops that ever was in the World about 700 at Ariminum Sirmium c. who were Arrians and denied the Divinity of our Saviour the Orthodox and Protestants had a good time of it to be burnt by the Bishops as Hereticks for asserting the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Lawn-sleeves then nor all those Reverend Habits and Accoutrements of the Bishops whether the Most Reverend or the Right Reverend Fathers in God we see by many Experiments are no infallible Marks or Signs of Truth without all peradventure as if all their Placets must must must needs be right whilst they are frail like other Mortals And therefore Excommunication like Scanderbeg's Sword is but a common Weapon except it be wielded by Scanderbeg's Arm Judgment and Dexterity A Crieple would make but bungling work with it nay perhaps lose it to the Enemy and then we shall have it turn'd upon us fatally Good Crieples sit still and be quiet till you get Apostolical Arms Judgment and Dexterity for fear this two-edged Sword with which you do so cut and hack dismember and mangle the Body of Christ for a Guinee a cut be one day turned upon your selves with the fatal Edge towards you if the Enemy recover it and get it in his hand again The Enemy the common Enemy the Papists first from Tit. 3.10 Excommunicate a Heretick that is they deliver him over to Satan as the Apostles did but finding Satan would not take the Excommunicate as he did in the Apostles days then the Pope by an Arrogance as petulant as the Sarcasme surrogates the Magistrate instead of Satan to take the Excommunicate for the destruction of the Flesh and that in the most compendious way by Fire and Faggot for the destruction of the Flesh Body and Bones in the Flames And though amongst us the Heretick shall not now be delivered over to the Magistrate to be burnt since the Abolition of the Writ de Heretico comburendo yet even at this day when holy Church which yet confesses her self subject to error signifies a Man to be Excommunicate for Heresy the Magistrate takes him with the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for the Destruction of the Flesh not with the fierce Fire and Faggot but still with a lingring death a Goal until he Repent and Recant that his wicked Error As for example Suppose a man should not with both his eyes which are good as other mens and with which he can see as far into a Milstone as any man should assert that though it be the positive Law of the Land to Excommunicate and Deprive men of the blessed Sacrament yet he cannot see in Holy Writ that Christ debarr'd Judas the Traytor nor that the Apostles ever did by Practise or Injunction command such a Discipline by some called an Ordinance of God in depriving them of the Ordinances of God as if a Physician should command that the Patient should never take a Cordial or Sanative Medicine because he is sick Alas Alas Cordial Medicines are made for the very nonce for the sick as the Sacraments for sinners and the whole if there be any such have no need of this Physick but them that are sick And if all sinners must be deprived of the blessed Sacrament and Excommunicate I doubt the Bishop and his Chancellor that Excommunicate sinners must be
by the Election of the Major part of the Presbyters within the Archdeaconry 4. To the End the Dean and Chapters may the better be fitted to afford Counsel and Assistance to the Bishops both in Ordination and other Offices mentioned before c. Moreover an equal Number to those of the Chapter of the most learned pious and discreet Presbyters of the same Diocess annually Chosen by the Major Vote of all the Presbyters of that Diocess present at the Election shall be always advising and assisting together with those of the Chapter in all Ordinations and every part of Jurisdiction which appertains to the Censure of the Church and at all other solemn and important Actions in the Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction wherein any of the Ministery are concern'd And Our Will is That the great work of Ordination be constantly and solemnly performed by the Bishop and his aforesaid Presbytery 5. We will take Care that Confirmation be rightly and solemnly performed by the Information and with the Consent of the Minister of the place who shall admit none to the Lord's Supper 'till they have made a credible Profession of their Faith and promised Obedience c. This was the Judgment of His Majesty in that Declaration which see at large to which the Parliament that made the Act of Uniformity gave so much Deference and Reverence That they Publickly gave His Majesty Thanks for the same And as to the matter in hand concerning Confirmation they Enacted it almost to a Tittle which see in the Rubrick foregoing that Sacred Office But who is Conformable thereunto and who are the Nonconformists now And who makes a pause in the work 'till first be obtained the Information and Consent of the Minister of the place without which in the Judgment of His Gracious Majesty Confirmation could not be rightly and solemnly performed It has been prov'd that if a Diocesan-Bishop had no other work besides Confirmation only it is impossible that all the Bishops in England should confirm those that want Confirmation in this one only Diocess of London though they did nothing else and left their own Sees vacant if they observe the Rubrick and Act of Uniformity and not do it as is too frequent perfunctorily and shamefully but with such previous caution scrutiny examination and circumspection and with Certificates thereof and Godfathers and Godmothers as the Common-Prayer-Book enjoyns Grant Confirmation to be a good and needful work yet the Law enjoyns Impossibilities if no one man can possibly be sufficient for these things though he shake off all worldly Affairs and Counsels Again If a Diocesan-Bishop had no other work but only to teach and exhort his Flock publickly and from House to House as Ignatius tells us all Bishops did in his time in the second Century before ever any Diocesan-Bishops were heard of for Bishops then were to enquire after every one by name even Man-servants and Maid-servants even this necessary feeding-work of a good Shepherd would be fully employed in a single Parish and in such a Parish as Saint Andrews-Holborn London there would be work enough for the Bishop and his Dean though the Lecturer and Reader came in to help For no Bishop in the Primitive-times nor 'till Pope Silvester I. had more than one Flock one Altar one Church nor then neither except only in Rome and Alexandria Indeed the Apostles that had the Gift of Tongues travelled all Nations and were Itinerant Preachers for the most part but I speak of setled standing Officers of the Church called Bishops or which is all one in Scripture-Language as Dr. Hammond Jo. Gerson Grotius and most learned men generally agree to be all one with Presbyters for a Sub-Presbyter such as Parish-Priests are made in England is not to be found in the Holy-Scripture of the New-Testament nor the Prime-Primitive-times How then and when did Diocefan-Bishops come into the World and wherefore may some say To which I will answer but not before some body answer me this Question How when and wherefore Hell and Devils came into the Word for from the beginning Hell and Devils were not Some say it was Pride and Ambition that made Angels of Darkness of those that were first Angels of Light Lucifer would be like his Maker ambituis for Rule and Domineering and like God to be Omnipresent and Ubiquitary Therefore Down Lucifer Down to Hell and be condemned said the Almighty to Everlasting Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the Great Day History Ecclesiastical tells us that the Chorepiscopi or Country-Bishops just like the Rectors of the Parishes saving the Name nay even the Name too of Prelates and Hierarchici was given to Parish-Presbyters though Parishes are no antient Invention Presbyteri qui prasunt Ecclesiis c. Concil Aquisgr and the Learned Filesacus p. 576 577. proves it abundantly that Presbyters were called Prelates as well as Bishops Episcoporum instar suam habebant plebem regendam I say the Chorepiscopi were dismist of their Authority by the rich adjoyning City-Bishopes ne vilescat nomen Episcopi poor Country-Bishops that have no Lordly Equipage will make the name of Bishop cheap and vile and vulgar Ay Ay so it will What Can a Lord-Bishop found like a Lordly Name when poor fellows such as St. Paul the Tent-maker and St. Peter the Fisherman and poor Country Rural Beggarly Bishops pretend to the same Power and Authority in Name and Thing Can the name of a Bishop found Lordly and Domineering over the rost of the Brethren of the Clergy if it be common to every beggarly Minister of Christ and Steward of the Mysteries Therefore make Room and enlarge the Boundaries the Arch-bishoprick of York was glad to swallow seven little Bishopricks at one gulp to make it swell but to the bigness it is now of yet lopt and cropt Can the Tythes of a single Parish maintaian six Lackqueys six Grooms and as many idle Gentlemen or as the Dutch style them idle men Can lean Easter-Offerings buy a guilt Coach Come tell me that Or can a single Acre of melancholly and solitary Glebe-land make fat six Flanders-Jades or Coach-Horses No you must say No why then read the Learned History of the Council of Trent compos'd by Father Paulus a Papist but as great an Enemy of proud Prelacy as any Protestant he will tell you in Page 330 331 332 333. How Grandieur Grandieur And make Room there Sirrah for my Lord Bishop after the Emperors became Christian crept gradually and stole into the Church unknown to the Primitive and New-Testament sanctity I owe the Pope one touch more of my Pen if it be but for bringing in maintaining abetting and promoting Prelatical and Ecclesiastical Lordliness and Domineering in spight of his vaunted Predecessor St. Peter and in spight of our Blessed Saviour 1 Pet. 5.3 Luke 22. to both which he vaunts himself to be the Vicar or Vicegerent Luther's single Pen gave his Holiness such a crock or scratch the wretch
lay their Heads together yet with all this Aid 't is impossible to prevail against God and his Truth Did you never see a Grey-Hound stare when he had lost a Hare in an unhappy Bush that stood by the way just when he was at the very clique and gaping to mouth her even so have I seen a cunning Politician stare as if out of his Wits or at least at his Wits end when some sudden cross Providence by him call'd strange acciden has given his Devilship the go-by then then to see him stare and stamp fret and curse rave and roar like a Lyon in a Graté that would be mouthing but for the Barriers Go then you subtile Persecutors fret and be molt in your own fat and live like the Green-land Bears in Winter upon your own Grease as long as it lasts whilst Truth like Muscovy-Wives and th' Walnut-Tree The more they are beaten still the better they be Well this I 'le say for the Pope and a sig for him but we ought to give the Devil his due much more the Arch-Bishop of all Bishops the Pope I say give him his due builds the Fabrick of his Ecclesiastical Policy rationally if his Foundation were true But Protestants do not that consess themselves and their Churches fallible and frail as does the Church of England in her 19th Article of the 39. For what non-sence is it for any Man or Church to Curse and Damn a Man for a Heretick when we confess our selves that we are fallible and consequently may err in our Judgment of the Man or his Faith Shall blind men shoot a Crow I hate this Hitty-missy Whereas the Pope grant him this Theoreme that he and his Church is infallible is in the right on 't let him Curse who he will and from Morning to Night for ever and aye for if he be infallible he only can draw this Sword of the Lord Excommunication and yet be secure that he fights not against God which Protestants that confess they may err even in matters of faith can never be sure of 'Till the Church then can get eyes to see and discern right from wrong infallibly and a Sinner from a Saint and a Believer from an Infidel and Truth from Falshood indisputably and not fallibly and uncertainly let them down on their knees and pray for the Conversion of one whom they judg an Infidel and then leave him to his Maker to stand and fall and pray to God to tye up their hands to the good Behaviour to Charity Meekness and Humility wherein they can never err which would well become them better than all this Ecclesiastical-Artillery which has ruin'd Christendom and rather let them break than uphold this Money-Trade and Merchandize of Souls especially in this her weak and Militant State How have the Churches the Councils the Fathers the Canons Clash't and Thwarted Curst and Condemn'd one another to the Pit of Hell it would make a man's heart ake to read Ecclesiastical Histories and to hear the pious Bishops complain that they never knew any good come of any Convocation of Bishops Councils nor Synod-men and one Guelt himself to make himself Canonically uncapable of Lawn-Sleeves How did the whole Christian World who were all Arrians and deny'd the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Curse that poor single Non-Conformist Athanasius Nick-naming him Sathanasius Banish't him and Suborn'd false Witnesses against him and try'd him for his Life for Murder whilst on the contrary our Church of England declares that no man can be saved that does not believe all the Creed of Athanasius and the Comment in words of his own not in Scripture-words of the Holy and Sacred Trinity made by him Though a man does believe the Holy Trinity declar'd in Scripture yet if he will be saved he must believe all the Athanasian-Creed I do not know any man that does not believe it But all the Common-Prayer-Books in the World and all the Acts for Uniformity nor all the Kings and Parliaments in the World can never make any thing true that is really false nor make any thing false which the Holy Scriptures plainly says to be true As for example suppose there be some mistakes in the Common-Prayer-Book by salfe Printing or in the Table to find Easter for ever yet it is Statute-Law But that cannot make a thing true which is Mathematically false nor can any Statute make a Child of God a Child of the Devil though Anathematiz'd for a Heretick And how good Bishops have bewail'd the Diocesan-frame in our days see pious Bishop Hall's Consession of the Corruptions in Church-Governours and Goternment I am not singular in his Modest Osser and Peace-maker See the Incomparably Learned Bishop Vsher's Model See Mr. Alesbury's Confession especially p. 21 24 28 104 169. See Mr. Baxter of Episcopacy or in short the Postscript thereof See Dr. Stillingsleet's Irenicon how does self-interest hoodwink the wise writ before he became a Dignitary-Ecclesiastical Or see Bishop Ganden's Hiera Epist particularly p. 263 and 287. with which I 'le conclude I neither approve or excuse the Personal faults of any particular Bishops as to their exercise of their Power and Authority which ought not in weighty matters to be managed without the Preseuce Counsel and Suffrages of the Presbyters such as are sit for that Assistance The want of this St. Ambrese St. Hierome and all sober men mark that justly reprove as unsafe for the Bishops and Presbyters and the whole Church Now I have done at the long run with my Naked Truth expos'd to the World without Power without Friends without Worldly Interest to support it It is usually thus those that worst may are often put to hold the Candle to their betters yet like Link-boys many times get not of the Gallants but a kick for their pains But I 'le shift the better having a King to Friend a Glorious King to Patronize me and vouch against all Bloody Religions Charles I. Eik Basil Advice to his Son our Gracious Soveraign Charles II. in these words In point of true conscientious tenderness I have often declared how little I desired my Laws and Scepter should entrench on God's Soveraignty who is the only King of Consciences ' My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you might avoid them Will nothing but Sanguinary Counsels yet please Are we no further yet from Rome Not yet Dost thou not feel me Rome Not yet Is Night So heavy on thee or my weight so light May Church of England say Have we so long Been quitting Rome yet not quite from among Christ and his Church by Blood are glorious grown But not by others Blood but by their own Whilst Antichrist and 's Church are Monstrous grown By shedding others Blood but not their own Bless us the Monster Yawns and Glares don 't start In nomine Domini stand speak say What art A Bishop sayst the Devil thou art more like Or Munster's Bishop made to hew and strike Black mouth to damn and Bloody Arms to fight When Hand-cuff't good we 'll do the Devil right Of Flaming-Comet long since have you heard With Tayl hung down to Earth and grisly Beard I 'm skill'd i' th' Language of the Stars and know That horrid Meteor what it meant 't was thou Thou Bonner London's Bishop seem'd to be Arm'd with this Hellish Black-Guard Cap-a-pee Ordain'd it seems and good for naught but harms Like the French Bishop Odo clad in Arms That Coat of Mail ill suits that Coat so Gay Filii tui Haeccine Tunica Satan once came like a Py'd-Piper now This was a Fiend in Jeast in Earnest Thou By the Black-Regiment Martyrs chose to die That Naked Truth might live and so will I. After the French Religion must we Dance Now Persecution's A la mode de France Or shall the French find fairer Quarter here Than we to one another make appear A Bishop sayst Thou ly'st Him Cornet call Of the Black Regiment that Gaols us all FINIS ERRATA THE Introduction Page 4. Line 30. for every word in that weeks Read most words in the two Weeks p. 42. l. 14. for efflagitantes sollicitescit read efflagitates and sollicites it with several other escapes by reason of the Author's absence from the Press but not many