some Service that he had done as I am informed the Commissioners should allot him so much Lands as they thought worth 200 li. and they out of favour to him and getting Lands so cheap as they did gave him this Bishops Court and so much more other Lands as are now far better worth than 200 li. per annum his Counsel said never a word touching his Title and Interest for he injoyed it not peaceably and quietly but only during the time of the Rebellion and Usurpation which I conceive to be no true Possession for as soon as ever his Majesty was so happily restored before one year had gone about I sent to enter upon it and to distrain for my Rent and Captain Burges Sir George Ayskues prime Tenant gave me a Writing which I have to shew under his hand to become answerable unto me for the whole Rent of this Bishops Court and Freshfoord when I should be peaceably setled in it So when these six Counsellours had spent their spirits in tyring the worthy Judges and beating the soft air to no purpose but only like those Fanatick Preachers that read their Text and never touch it after to amaze the simple and Jury which I may justly term for that I am confident the most of them were resolved what to do before ever they heard the Evidence My Counsel that were Sir William Dunvil the Kings Atturney Sir Audley Mervin * The Speaker of the House of Commons Sir John Temple the Kings Sollicitor Sergeant Gruffith and Mr. Rian all very worthy men and worthy to be named thinking it no wisdom in them as one of themselves told me nor any waies beneficial either to the King for his Fine or to me for the Possession to follow those extravagant Counsellours in their devious waies and to answer their needless discourses so far from the point in question as being only about Sheas Title and no waies touching nor contradicting the forcible entry were very silent and said never a word to all that the adverse Counsellours had said but left the Evidence to be explained to the Jury by the Judges who had so exactly examined them and so patiently heard what both sides could say for which some of the adverse Counsellours and some of my friends blamed them very much for making no manner of replication at all to Sir George Ayskues Counsel But truly I do conceive that digitus dei erat hic that as he openeth the mouth of babes and sucklings to shew forth his praise so he shuts the mouths of the Wise and Learned when it pleaseth him as here he did for the trial of this Jury whether they would be true and honest that being found * Like Belshazzar weighed in the balance and found too light as I conceive they are they might be made an example which he knew I would do to the uttermost of my power for all other Juries to terrifie them from falshood and wrong to the great benefit of the whole Kingdom which without some severe censures upon such high Offenders would rather prove to be a Den of thieves than a seat of safety for honest men that were best if Juries may still do what they list to obey the voice which cried in the air at the Siege of Hierusalem Migremus hinc Then my Lord of Santry that is my Lord Chief Justice seeing my Counsel silent began most nobly rightly and truly as a most upright Judge and like himself in all his judgements told the Jury that for the title and matter of Law and the Interest of either in this Bishops Court it was not in their charge to inquire of it but they that were the Judges of the Law and of the right interest were to do it and would do the same when my Counsel should move for the possession but they were for the King to enquire only of the matter of fact and force whether after possession was given to the Bishop by the Sheriff by vertue of an Order of the house of Lords and the Bishop continued his possession from April to the eighth of October The which saâ—d he a Disscisor should not forcibly be put out though he should be a Disseisor yet was he not forcibly put out and kept out of the same This was their only charge to inquire after and for this said my Lord Chief Justice you see what is proved a multitude of persons ten or twelve at the least when as one may make a forcible entry you heard also said he what weapons they had Gun Pike Sword and Staves and you heard what threatning words they used that they would make the Bishop to repent his coming there that they would knock down his Servants and beat out their brains if they attempted to come in and you heard likewise how they had beaten and wounded those Servants that sought to hinder them to impound their Cattle and all this said my Lord Chief Justice makes the forcible entry plain so that you need not stand upon it So justly and so fairly did my Lord of Santry deal herein without either fearing or favouring the one or the other So the Jury was dismist and all that heard the evidence Sure if I had not been a Bishop they would never have given such a Verdict and what my Lord Chief Justice said would have laid some twenty to one some forty to one and some a hundred to one that the Jury would not stand upon it but presently find the Verdict for the King Yet they brought their Verdict for the Defendants And as I am informed all the Grave and Reverend Judges wondred and were discontented at their Verdict And who will prosecute for the King if Juries be suffered to do thus and whereas some would have the Jury fined and imprisoned for the wrong they had done to the King my Lord Chief Justice answered there was a fitter place to punish them meaning as I conceive the Star-Chamber And if such men that formerly most of them were against their King be thus permitted to drive men out of house and home and forcibly to enter into their possession though they should be Peeres of the Realm which is a violence offered unto the Law and a peâ—ty Rebellion the next degree and fore-runner of rebellion against their King himself and when any oppressed and expulsed man shall with a great deal of pains and labour and with a vast expence of money and an indictment upon indictment thrice over bring the same to a travers and they the Jury without any Conscience contrary to all justice and contrary to all their evidence and the plain Declaration and Judgement of the Lords the Judges of the Court and of the whole Court shall do what they please and say Quod volâ—â—us id sanctum est what we do is Law without any speedy remedy against them to the utter undoing of many poor oppressed men who had better suffer any the greatest wrong than
and rooted out his whole off spring And I could spend my whole hour in examples of this kinde but I will content my self with two or three As 1. Of Ferdinando the fourth King of Castiâ—e Ferdinando who did most unjustly condemn two Knights to death and one of them cryed O thou unjust Judge we do cite thee to appear within thirty dayes before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ to receive judgement for thine injustice and so upon the last of those days he dyed to receive his sentence according to his summons And one Lapparel a Provost of Paris Lapparel caused a poor man that was prisoner in the Chastilet to be executed by giving him the name of a rich man who being guilty and condemned was set at liberty in the place of the poor man but the just judgment of God discovered his injustice and being accused and condemned he was hanged for his labour and so Philip King of Macedon was killed by Pausanias a mean Gentleman Philip Macedo Demetrius because he denied to do him justice against Antipater that had wronged him and Demetrius for throwing the petitions of his subjects into the River and denying to do them justice they all forsook him and Pyrrhus took away his Kingdome And many other men I could name to you that their injustice hath undone them And therefore all men should take heed of committing this horrible sin of injustice either by doing wrong or denying right unto others The injustice of some Judges And yet I am ashamed to speak it though I shall not be affraid to write it how gravely some Judges have sate upon the seat of judgment to pronounce unrighteous judgments and think to cover all their iniquity with the fig-leaves of the formalities of their Lawes to overthrow the reality of justice Oh beloved Monstrum horrendum ingens est it is a most horrible thing to have injustice done from the seat and from the Ministers of justice when a man is apparently wronged oppressed and expulsed out of house and home and shall with a deale of travel and a great deale of expences come to a Court of justice to be righted and instead of being redressed he shall see there scelus sceleribus tectum his former wrongs finely handled and loaded with far greater wrongs Do you think that this is well pleasing unto God or that such injustice shall escape unpunished no no for they shall finde that there is a God which judgeth the earth and that his judgment will be according to truth without partiality either to Jew or Gentile which here among men I see is not so But as I read that Diogenes seeing some petty thieves led to the place of execution laughed exceedingly and being demanded why he laughed he answered to see the great thieves lead the little thieves to the Gallowes so if he should see men forcibly expelled out of their possessions and the forcible entrers legally acquitted or if he should see the poor Irish Catholicks driven out of house and home either because they were Irish rebels which justly deserved it or because they were Romish Catholicks which should not therefore be destroyed and should see the great English Sectaries that had been greater rebels countenanced and magnified and to injoy the others Lands and Livings would he not laugh at this justice which is just like that which we read of in l. 1. of Philip Commines when Charelois lost the Feild and his Captains and their Troopers fled away he gave the offices and places of them that fled ten leagues to those that had fled twenty leagues beyond them Therefore I say to you whom God and the King have made Judges of these things for the settlement of this Kingdome As you have done hitherto so still ride on with your honour and have no respect of Persons nor of Nation nor of Religion but do that which is just and righteous in the sight of God and as God hath blest you and preserved you hitherto so he will still bless you and preserve you for evermore And for the preservation of better justice then I see in many places I shall speak more of it in another place and after another manner for you may be sure that Kingdome shall never be happy where oppression is frequently used and iniquity protected by injustice and especially by the Courts of Justice And therefore to the end that true justice might be truly observed I could wish the Parliament would make some Acts Lawes against many abuses practised by some cunning Lawyers in the very Courts of Justice The abuse of some cunning Lawyers in quashing of Indictments and especially against the frequent and abusive quashing of Indictments which is a sin of no slender malignity â—or when a poor man far from the fountain is by violence oppressed and he indicts his oppressors then presently comes a Certiorari and removes it to the Kings Bench and there the Lawyers are so skilfull in the tricks and quiddities of the Law and the Cases of John A-Nokes and John A-Stiles that they say there can hardly be any indictment framed but they are able to finde a flaw to quash it which I was told by great Lawyers And what a wrong is this to his Majesty in his fines what an injury to the poor men that are oppressed and what incouragement to all those wicked men that are so ready to offer all violence unto their neighbours which are not able to indict the same offendors three or four times over till they shall finde a man able to draw a faultless indictment And if this be not a greivous greivance worthy to be redressed if you desire the preservation of justice judge you And therefore it were good that some better way were devised for the framing of Indictments or the not quashing of them so easily and so frequently as they are reported to be 4. Sacriledge 4. The last frequent sin that I shall at this time desire you to cast your eyes behinde you to behold Gods detestation of it and his punishments that he poureth out upon the offenders is sacriledge which is the taking away and with-holding of those Revenues which God hath appointed and godly men have dedicated for the maintenance of Gods service and the religion of Jesus Christ and so the robbing of God himself both of his honour and service a sin so general that the custome of it hath quite taken away the sense of it and men think it to be no sin at all But I know what some may here say that now I plead mine own cause 1 Sam. 12.3 I will briefly answer as Samuel did unto the people and I say that I sued indeed for the Church right but I testifie before the Lord and your Grace and you All that I did it not to inrich my self for I thank God I have enough both for my self and my relation wife children and friends but I did it for the
but endeavour to be good in all things think well of themselves because they have some good things in them as a good wit great learning fair speeches some charity and it may be some justice and the like for so the Devils have some good things in them likewise and if thou hadst no good things in thee thou wert worse then the very Devils But if thou wouldest be deemed a good man thou must be ex omni parte bonus good in every way or at least endeavouring to be good in all things such as Job and Zacharias were that walked in all the Commandments of God without reproof 2. You must note that there is none of those good things Point 2 that are in them but as wicked Judges abuse their Authority to pervert Justice and corrupt Lawyers abuse their knowledg to wrest the Law and covetous worldlings do abuse their wealth and their power to oppress the poor so do these wicked spirits corrupt and abuse all the good things that are in them by making them means of effecting the greater evils as by their knowledge and subtilty to deceive us as they deceived Evah by their might and power to torment us as they tormented Job and those poor possessed men that we read of in the Gospel and by their agility to be every where in every corner ready to entrap us And therefore how wary and how watchfull should we be to escape their wiles and to prevent them for the more powerfull our enemies are the more preparation we ought to make against them But to the end we may the better see how farr and how many ways they pervert and turn all these good things that God hath given them to work our destruction and to shew their rebellion against God let us proceed unto the second point and so consider the names and titles whereby they are named and made known unto us because as the Poet saith Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis The names do often agree with the natures 2. Of the names and titles of the Devils 2. Touching their names and titles you must understand that all the names which we find given unto them are either In respect 1. Of their Nature and being or 2. Of their Practice and desire to do mischief 3. Of the Forms wherein they appeared 4. Of their Knowledg and Understanding 5. Of their Might and Power to effect what they intend to do Respect 1 1. In respect of their Nature they are sometimes called simply Spirits as in Matth. 4.1 Mar. 1.12 Luke 10.20 and sometimes they are called Angels as in 1 Cor. 6.3 and in 2 Pet. 2.4 But this is rather a name of office than of nature whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Nuncius a Messenger Respect 2 2. In respect of their Practice and desire to work mischief as the same is diverse so in that respect they have divers names As 1. Spiritus malus an evil Spirit and the unclean Spirit and that not onely because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 1.16 Matth. 13.19 and 39. Zach 13.2 Matth 12.43 1 Pet. 5.8 Zach. 3.1 Evil in himself but also endavoureth by all means to make all others evil and unclean 2. Adversarius an adversary for so S. Peter saith Your adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion and he is stiled our adversary because he is always against us and is continually an accuser of the brethren in which respect he is likewise stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil that is Calumniator Dei hominum the reviler or slanderer both of God and Men. 3. Spiritus fornicationum the spirit of Fornications for so the Prophet Hoseas saith Hos 4.12 The spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to erre and he is so called not onely because he pricketh our flesh to carnal and unlawfull lusts and uncleanness but especially because he instigateth all men unto spiritual fornication to run a whoring after strange Gods to commit idolatry with the Idols of the Gentiles and by their covetousness and greedy hunting after riches and the wealth of this world which is Idolatry as the Apostle affirmeth when we make a god of our gold and neglect the service of the everliving God 4. Spiritus mendacii a lying Spirit and the Father of lyes for so he saith himself 1 Reg. 22.22 I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets of Ahab and our Saviour faith he hath been a lyer from the beginning and he is a lyer John 8. not onely because he doth always use to lye as he did to Evah when he said Ye shall be like Gods and yet made them like Devils but also because he suggesteth nothing else but lyes to every one of us and perswadeth us by all means to turn the truth of God into a lye as S. Augustine sheweth August contra Jud Pagan Arian c. 2. That the Devil sometimes speaketh truth But though he be a lying Spirit and the father of lyes yet this proveth not but that as Maldonate very accurately sheweth the Devil may sometimes speak a truth for he spake the truth when he said I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets for so he was And he spake the truth when he alledged the Scriptures to Christ in the Desart and when he confessed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God even as S. Peter did though as S. Augustine well observeth Saint Peter was commended and the Devil reproved because as the Proverb is Non pulchrum est laus in ore peccatoris I desire not the praise of a lewd and dissolute fellow so truth loseth of his lustre when it proceeds from a common lyar whom men do suspect when he speaks the truth and besides this whensoever the Devil speaketh truth he alwayes levelleth at an evil end But alwayes to an evil end as when he spake the truth of Ahabs prophets it was to deceive them and to destroy Ahab and when he alledged the truth of the Scriptures unto Christ it was to see if he could perswade Christ to offend and when he confessed Christ to be the Son of God it was not to perswade us to believe it but to make us not to believe it because the Devil spake it And therefore whensoever lyars or the Father of lyes do speak the truth we should take heed of them and believe the truth not because they have spoken it but because the Scripture saith it or that we have other far better reasons to perswade us to it then their saying of it for that a lyars truth if there were no other reason to believe it is alwayes to be suspected 5. Satanas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tempter because the Devil doth alwayes provoke us unto sin and attempteth by all means to bring our sins unto perfection But here you must observe in what sense he is called a Tempter because there is a twofold temptation
I resolved once more to enter into the List to follow my alwaies very honourable Friend my Lord Chancellours Advice and try the Success with him by the Verdict of an honest Jury and Lindired 6 of the Tenants and Servants of Sir Geo. Ayskue for a forcible Entry and 5 of them now the third time and I had six Counsellours help to draw and compose the Indictment and so to review it and correct it if any thing was amiss therein that being found Billa Vera by the Jury it might so stand good and not be quashed as my two former Indictments were by the Judges of the Kings Bench. And the 6 forcible Enterers being indited for fear lest the Record should be falsified and corrupted as the former indirement of them had been I got the Clerke of the Peace to send it inclosed in a Letter sealed up by my man to his Agent in Dublin to be â—elivered into the Office which mine Adversaries presently told to my Lord of Santree and was objected as a Piaculum Meaning as I conceived by the Relation that I had printed of the former Proceedings and when the Record came to the Court my Lord Chief Justice said upon the Bench that my Lord Bishop had abused the Court to whom I replied that I had not abused the Court for that I had set down nothing but the Truth and was as Ioah as any man to offer the least Abuse to any of his Majesties Courts or Judges of his Courts And after my Lord Chief Justice and my self had conferred together I found him my very honourable Friend and I retained three of the Kings Counsel to follow the said Cause for his Majesty and the Counsellours of the Fanaticks failing to quash the Indictment my Lord Chief Justice told them they must either submit or be bound to prosecute their Traverse and they became bound in 200 l. to prosecute the same upon the 10th day of Easter Term which was the sixth day of May. And when upon that day the Jury were sworn That their children and their childrens children may understand from what I will not say Canaanites but Catharisâ—s they are sprung Who and what my Witnesses proved viz. William Baker of Ballytobin John Pursel of Lismore William Baxter of Earlstown Isaac Jackson of Kâ—lamery John Jones of Ri _____ Robert Hawford of Ballyneboly Nicholas Pharoe Thomas Tomlins of Lismoteag Chrystopher Render of Fadenarah John Nixon of Brawnebarn William Cheshire of _____ and Thomas Huswife of Gowran good men and true or neither good men nor true 1. I brought in evidence Mr. Sheriff Reigly who was the Sheriff that gave me possession and Mr. Connel and Hugh Linon that was thought needless to prove my possession given by the Sheriffe of the County of Kilkenny by vertue of an Order of the House of Lords of this Lordship of Bish Court the Lands thereto belonging and of the Tenements in Freshfoord as it was expressed in a Shedule annexed to the Order of the Lords upon the 29th day of April 1662. and that the Tenants did atturne Tenants and gave pieces of money in earnest of their rents and promised to keep the possession and to continue Tenants unto me during my pleasure 2. Mr. Thomas Bulkley Mr. William Williams Thomas Davies and my self proved the multitude of persons to the number of ten or twelve that upon the 8th day of October 1662. were entred into the said Bishops Court and there forcibly kept the possession against the Bishop and some one with a sword by his side and a staff or Cane in his hand and another with a long staff in his hand threatned that they would make him repent his doings and coming there and that Sir George Ayskue would spend 500 li. before he would leese this Bishops Court and that Captain Burges said he would keep and uphold the possession for Sir George Ayskue with his life and fortune and others having shut the Iron Grate to hinder the Bishop to go out or his Servants to come in when his Servants demanded what they meant to murder their Lord And desired to come in to wait upon their Master they threatned them and said that if they offered to come in there they would beat them down and knock out their Brains 3. Mr. Richard Marshal Mr. George Farre Mr. John Murphey and Ed. Dalton that proved how he was thrust out of the house by head and shoulders proved the forcible entry with arms and weapons a Gun and a Pike and Staves into some of the Tenements in Freshford and that for nine daies they kept the same with such a company of Fanaticks Anabaptists and other Sectaries that they seemed rather to be a Garrison than the keeping of the possession of any house And after nine daies they bound George Farre and others in a bond of a thousand pounds that they should continue true Tenants to Sir George Ayskue and keep the possession for him against the Bishop of Ossory And because the said George Farre proved this point so fully and so plain that nothing could be said against it one of the Fanaticks Counsellours said what I conceive was very unfit to be spoken in so publick a place and before such honourable Judges of any of the Kings Witnesses that this man the principal of the Witnesses was a parricide which I dare justifie to be most untrue 4. For impounding the Cattle and beating and wounding them that sought to hinder it the said George Farre proved the same so fully and that one of the women that was beaten lay long sick after her beating that Sir Audley Mervin and Serjeant Gruffith would not suffer three other Witnesses that I had there at the Bar that is John Duran Barbara Marshal and another Wench to be sworn and examined and so to trouble the Court any further because said they you see the Lords Justices and the whole Court are sufficiently satisfied that I had more than abundantly proved the forcible entry and detaining of this Bishops Court but they gave way to six of the Intruders Counsel to say what they could for their Clients And when each one of them had made his Oration and spent much time and my Lord Chief Justice heard them with a great deal of patience to prove what I never denied but was ready to confess all that they said touching the large Writings and Evidences that they produced to prove the Title and Interest of Mr. Robert Shea to this Bishops Court which at this time when the question was only of the forcible entry I had no reason to contradict and which perhaps might be good and perhaps not before he forfeited the same unto his Majesty But for Sir George Ayskue that for his Service How S. George Ayskue came to have this Bishops Court. you know to whom which makes me believe it will never prosper with him had a Commission from the Usurper Crummel that for 200 li. which was due unto him for
for his service they should be snatched out of his hands and transferred to Lay and prophane uses but that like those Censers they should ever continue for the service of his Altar and so St. Augustine sheweth as much in his 154 Epistle to Publicola And thus you see how God is robbed his Service neglected and his Servants deprived of their means and maintenance so that they can neither discharge their duties to God nor feed the flock of Chrâ—st and instruct the people committed to their charge as they ought to do and would no doubt do the same if they were enabled to do it which is a lamentable thing and yet I can shew you a greater abomination Ezek. 8.6 even in the Visitations of these poor and pillaged Clergy-men I remember God hath a twofold visitation the one in mercy to relieve the oppressed to deliver the Captives out of their Captivity as he visited the Israelites in Egypt and the like the other in justice to punish the malefactors and the transgressors of his Laws as he visiteth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him but whether the Visitations of our Clergy-men be in mercy or in justice or whether it be pro correctione morum or collectione pecuniarum and refectione corporum or both I will not determine I believe their first institution aimed at our good for the praise of them that do well and the punishment of the refractory and evil-doers but time and craft corrupteth the best things and as the wicked turn the graces of God into wantonness so covetous men and corrupt minds do abuse all the good institutions of our Ancestors so the service of the true God was in time translated to become the service of the Idols of the Gentiles and so I fear me these Visitations of the Clergy that at first aimed at their good and for their reliefe are now become in many places an oppression and a heavy yoak upon their necks and a burden scarce portable upon their shoulders As 1. In the multiplicity of them 1. The multiplicity of Visitations three or four that may be in one year as first the Archdeacon he visits and gathers up his Procurations perhaps all the money that the poor Clergy can procure then comes the Bishop and he visits and the Clergy must now double their file his Procurations being twice as much as the Archdeacons then every third year the Archbishop comes about in his triennial visitation and if in either the Bishop or the Archbishops visitation the Clergy fail either in the payment of their Procurations or making such refections as shall be to the satisfaction of their Visitors their Livings may be sequestred and let them live as they list and after all this the Lord Primate if he please may come in the same year to make a regal Visitation and he being so good a man and coming from so good and so gracious a King deserves no less than the best and the best entertainment that can be made for his Grace is fit to be made for him And can these many visits think you be for the profit of the poor Clergy But 2. 2. The Refections The refections seem to be more burthensome than the Procurations especially because the Procurations are certain what every man must pay but the Refections contrary to the mind of our Saviour that saith unto his Disciples Into what house soever ye enter eat what shall be set before you Luk. 10.7 must be to the satisfaction of the delicate and delicious company of the visitors and not according to the power of the poor Clergy when they remember not the old Proverb That the full dog knoweth not how or what the empty dog doth bark and if they be discontented with their entertainment their Censures must be as they please and none dares say that it is unjust or how can it be so from the men of God Yet as all powerful great men can easily find a staffe to beat a dog so the superiour Bishop or Archbishop can if they please soon find a fault in a poor inferiour Clergy man Now I will set down for I fear no man living what information I have by Letters from the last Visitation of the Archbishop of Dublin that was held in my Diocess of Ossory by his Surrogate Mr. Archdeacon Bulkley and these be the very words of the Letters that the World may thereby see and the Judge of all the World may judge in what case the poor Clergy do stand My Lord IT pleased God a little after your journey to Dublin to take out of this life your Grandchild Mrs. Cull who discovered much Religion on her death bed and as she wanted not attendance in her sickness so neither decency nor solemnity at her Funeral Since your Lordships departure your Maid did unknown to me marry Mr. Barry the Smiths man whom she brought to lye in your Lordships house whereupon there arose some quarrels between Thomas and her insomuch that Thomas sate up a whole night with Candle-light for fear of the men as he complained unto me whereupon I charged the man not to lye at night time in your Lordships house till your Lordship did return which hath prevented the like inconvenience since As to the triennial Visitation I shall give your Lordship this brief account The Lord Archbishop did not come in person but sent Mr. Bulkley whom we waited on three miles to bring him into Town he told us what noble refections he met with in the Diocess of Kildare Leighlin but that here he was resolved to lodge at his Daughters house he asked what Provision we had made for his Register we told him Mr. Connels house when his Register came to Town though his men some of them and his Portmantle were in Mr. Connels house he did not like his lodging and complained to the Vicar General On Monday after the Commission was read he told us that in regard the refection for the Archbishop was neglected he suspended the Jurisdiction for six months and whereas he thought to behave himself as a loving brother he would prove a severe Judge and that we should expect nothing but utmost justice we invited him that day to dine at Whitles where we bespoke a Dinner for his refection which cost six or seven pounds but he refused and every day we invited him but could not prevail on Tuesday and Wednesday he seemed very mild and respective and earnestly desired to be an happy Instrument in the reconciliation of Mr. Dean and my self Mr. Cull and Mr. Drisdale upon which importunity that we might not discover our selves to be litigious I was willing to be reconciled to him whom I had no visible quarrell with so was Mr. Drisdale but Mr. Bulkleys awe upon Mr. Cull made him condescend to a great submission and aske him forgiveness flexis genibus the next day the Archdeacon told me that if we
saith O God thâ—u art my God early will I seek thee and so the women that sought Christ came early while it was yet dark unto the Sepulchre And so all worldlings are diligent enough and have wings like Pegasus to flie about the affairs of this world Currit mercator ad Indos The Merchant runs to get Commodities unto the Indians and the Oppressours are most greedy to rob both God and man and the malicious man hath his feet swift to shed bloud and the Fanatick schismatick flieth about and compasseth Sea and Land to make a Proselyte and yet we that professe to journey towards Heaven do walk as it were upon leaden feet For you may see the Citizens of this World how diligent they are and spare no cost to repair and beautifie their own houses in the fairest manner and how slow they are and how backward to do any thing to set up the houses of God upon their feet But are like the Dog in the manger that will neither eate hay himself nor suffer the Oxe to eate it so they will neither raise the Church themselves 1 Chron. 29.1 2 3. nor suffer those that would to injoy the Revenues of the Church to raise the same But you know how heavily the Lord complaineth of those that dwell in sieled houses themselves Hag. 1.4 and suffer the house of God to lie waste and that use their wings to flie about their own worldly affairs and have scarce any feet to walk in Gods wayes How diligent the vvorldlings are about their ovvn affairs And therefore our Saviour tels us that the children of this World are wiser in their generation then the children of light because they omit no opportunity to gain their wicked ends and we neglect all the furtherances that may help us forward to the Kingdome of Heaven For so you see how Judas watched and walked unto the High Priests and from the High Priests to the Garden and from the Garden to the High Priests again and from the High-Priests to the gallowes and most of this while Saint Peter and the rest of the Disciples slumbered and slept But the reason why we are so slow in our flight towards heaven is because our wings that should carry us are bird-lim'd and entangled with abundance of cares about worldly wealth or drowned in the vain delights of sinful pleasures or pressed down with the weight of those vanities whereof the least is heavy enough to sink a ship that being burdened with such hinderances and hindered with such burdens we cannot serve God with that readiness as we ought to do For is it not strange to consider how many mens hearts are filled with the cares of this World and their heads loaded with a world of vanities and how should they fly about Gods service that are thus fettered with such obstacles What hindereth our readiness to serve God and our diligence in his service And therefore as we see the birds that flie will carry no more weight upon their backs but what necessity doth require And as the runners of a race will ease themselves of all heavy burdens so we being to flie up to Heaven and to run our race towards the spiritual Canaan should cast away both deliciarum putredinem curarum magnitudinem our worldly cares and our sinful delights and all other things that may hinder us to run readily to do the Lords service and to flie with the Cherubims and these Beasts about the Lords affairs Which if we do we shall be crowned not with a garland of flowers as the Romans used but with a crown of eternal glory as the Apostle speaketh And if this cannot allure us to be ready and diligent in Gods service but still to load our selves with the garbages of the earth then I must turn from the Apostles promise to the Prophets threatning and say Jerem. 48.10 Cursed shall all those be that do the work of the Lord negligently cursed in this life and cursed in the life to come cursed for a time and cursed for ever And therefore if we desire to avoid this curse let us with these beasts use two of our wings to flie about the service of God with all readiness and rather strive to be the first in the Church of God then the last for so we shall gain the blessing for ever And so much for the wings of these beasts and the use that they made of them 2. 2 The next part of their description is that they vvere full of eyes You must observe about the next part of their generall description which is common to each one of them that they are said First To be full of eyes And Secondly More particularly that they were full of eyes 1. Within v. 8. 2. Before v. 6. 3. Behind v. 6. For so it is in the 6. v. that they were full of eyes before and behind and here in this verse that they were full of eyes within First then you see that they were full of eyes which sheweth their illumination that they could see like Argos every way and our Saviour saith that the light of the body is the eye and those beasts being full of eyes Matth. 6 22 c. 5.14 they are rightly said to be the light of the World And here I might Philosophically dilate unto you the nature quality and excellency of this little part of the body which is the eye and the inestimable benefit of our sight which is the chiefest of all the five sences but to explain all these my time will not permit me And therefore I will onely say that as these beasts were full of eyes to see all things and to enlighten all others so should all Christians be like unto them full of eyes and especially 1 All Magistrates 2 All Ministers 1 That all the Magistrates and Ministers of justice should be full of eyes All the Magistrates and all the Judges of the earth should be full of eyes because they are not onely to look unto themselves and to see to their own ways but they are also to guide and to lead many others And if they be blind yet undertake to lead the blind the blind Magistrates to lead the blind people they both shall fall into the ditch as of late amongst us both have done because both wanted their eyes and so both were blind and he is blind saith Saint Chrysostom that hath not both his eyes in his head And these two eyes in a Magistrate and a Judge are What are the two eyes of the Magistrate 1. The eye of Knowledge and understanding of the Law and of all cases and causes that shall come before them 2. The eye of doing justice and executing judgement according to the truth and merit of every cause And for the first point 1 The eye of knowledg and understanding the truth of the cause that is brought before them in every circumstance thereof the understanding of
sins that is as well the great sins of the great men and the nobility of the house of Jacob as the ordinary sins and transgressions of the common people And because I know no sins that are greater Which are the great sins that do most mischief and more pernicious to the publick good and so destructive both to the Church and Commonwealth as Rebellion Sacriledge and Injustice for that Rebellion Turbabit faedera mundi shakes the foundations and ruinates whole Kingdomes and Sacriledge is the destruction of all Religion when as the props and pillars of Job's house Job 1.19 Judges 16.29 30. and so of the Philistines also being taken away the houses presently fell so the maintenance of Religion and the revenues of the Church being the only outward props and pillars of Religion Sublatis his religio perit when you take away these you may shake hands with your Religion and your Churches shall be as they are in most places here in Ireland weeping and wailing for want of roofs which is the fruit of Sacriledge of which I may truly say as St. Hierom doth against Vigilant Fatebor dolorem meum sacrilegium tantum patienter audire non possum in Epist 53. ad Riparium And Injustice especially when it proceedeth from the Seat and from the Courts of Justice and the Judges of the Law destroyeth all the duties of honesty and overthroweth all civil Societies and causeth Kingdomes to be translated from one Nation to another People as that of the Assyrians was to the Medes and Persians that of the Persians unto the Grecians that of the Grecians unto the Romans and that of the Romans unto the Gothes and Vandals when their Judges became corrupt and the companions of thieves as the Prophet Esay speaketh The Authors resolution And therefore as I hate and abhorr these sins above all other publick sins whatsoever so for Sion sake I will not hold my peace I cannot choose nor cease to cry out against all Rebels and Church-robbers and unjust Judges until they do cease to commit these sins or my mouth be filled with dust but while I am able to utter forth my voice or have means to prosecute my purpose I will never desist but do the uttermost of my power to hinder any man that hath been a Rebel and fought under the great Antichrist and the grand Usurper Cromwell against that gratious King whom they have murdered to hold the Revenues of the Church and to obstruct the Service of Jesus Christ because How to serve God day and night may be two wayes interpreted like these beasts we ought to be as Lions and to do our duties without fear without ceasing and to do it as my Text saith these beasts did it day and night And this phrase may admit a double exposition and that is 1. 1. Interpretation In the sun-shine of knowledge and the glorious light of the Gospel signified by the day or in the glimmering light of the Moon and darksome ignorance of superstition signified by the night they ceased not and gave not over to praise God and to serve him to the utmost of their abilities And they that do so Faithful ignorance preferred before proud and fruitless knowledge God will accept of their faithful service and praises of him in their invincible ignorance and the night time of superstition far better then the proud contempt and careless neglect of our duties in the height of our knowledge and the clear day-light of the Gospel when men know their Masters will and do it not in which case St. Augustines judgement is most certain that Melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia their zealous ignorance will find more favour at the hands of God then the others careless and fruitless knowledge unless it be the fruits of sin and iniquity Aud therefore I doubt not but our Forefathers that lived in the dayes of ignorance and superstition and in their zeal built the Churches of God and endowed them with maintenance for Gods service will rise in judgement against our Gnosticks that in the abundance of knowledge do overthrow the Churches and suppress the service of God and withal rob Christ of his garment to give it you know to whom the Evangelist saith it fell by lot I hope we will not do the like 2. This their not ceasing to praise God day and night 2. Interpretation may be understood of their constancy and perseverance in the faith and the service of God both in prosperity and adversity the Day signifying the joyous time of our prosperity and the Night signifying the sad and grievous times of our adversity And there have been alwayes too too many men How many men use to serve God John 6.26 Psal 4 8. Job 1.10 that as the Jews followed Christ not because they saw his miracles but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled so do they freely praise God while their Corn and Wine and Oyl increaseth and as the Devil falsly said of Job while God doth make an hedge about them and about their houses and about all that they have on every side and blesseth the work of their hands and their substance is increased in the land they will serve the Lord and yet as the Lord complaineth of them In tempore tribulationis recedunt à me when God putteth forth his hand and toucheth all that they have to try them as he tried Abraham then will they start aside like a broken bow deny their faith and be ready to curse God to his face Our Presbyterians like the Apostata's under the first persecutions And such were the Apostata's in the time of the first ten persecutions and our Presbyterians in the time of our late King Charles for while they enjoyed their livings they were right Episcopal men but when deprivation and persecution came they will have none of that but will rather change both their Coat and their Calling then serve God rightly in that adversity and that is to serve him and praise him in the day of our fulness and not in the night that is full of dangers But all the true Saints of God will with these beasts never cease to serve him and praise him as well in the night of adversity as in the best dayes of their prosperity Heb. 11.37 yea though they should be driven to wander like those spoken of by the Apostle in sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented for they are resolved as the same Apostle speaketh Rom. 8.35 that neither tribulation nor distress nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor peril nor sword nor any other creature shall separate them from the love of Christ or cause them to cease from the service of God day or night and such is the resolution of all Gods faithful servants which makes them to be as bold as lions to fear no man and no danger And so much for
find out the deepest Mysteries of Gods secrets in his absolute decrees and unsearchable waies of Election and Reprobation and the like but of those lighter heads that bestow their search about things of nothing as the Graecians did beat their brains to find out how many rowers Ulysses ship had and whether the Iliads or the Odysses were first written so we must know whether the ancient Monks wore their Cloaks short like the French or down to the heels like the Spaniards or whether Saint Augustine wore a white garment upon his black cloaths or a black cheimer upon a lawn surplice and a thousand such like points and ceremonies that are like the spiders web which will make no garment for them or like the banquet of a sick mans dream that will not satisfie their hungry souls and are raised up by the Devil to this only end that while we seek after these fruitless things that may hurt us much but avail us little that may best be spared and ought least to be disputed we might leave off to seek the Lord and those things that do necessarily pertain unto salvation But in universalibus later error What it is to seek the Lord general things are often dark and every one saith that he seeks the Lord but that either he mâ—keth darkness his secret place Ver. 14. his pavilion round about him with dark waters and thick clouds to cover him or else dwelleth in the light that no man can attain unto it Psal 37 27. otherwise God forbid that you should imagine saith every man that we do not seek the Lord. Therefore to take away this curtain to unvail this glorious face and to let you see that few of us do seek the Lord whatsoever we say the Prophet tells us plainly that to seek the Lord is to seek good and not evil or as he explaine h it further in the immediate Verse 15. it is to hate the evil and love the good and to establish judgement in the gate and this the Prophet David said long before eschew evil and do good and dwell for evermore Besides God is truth and God is justice therefore you must seek the truth and you must do justice for When truth shall flourish out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven Psa 85.11 12. then the Lord will shew loving kindness he will speak peace unto his people and our Land shall give her increase but while our Land flows with Lies and the father of lies rewards the Liers and spreads them abroad to uphold robberies oppressions and rebellions the Lord will not speak peace unto us because righteousness and peace have kissed each other and therefore though we should be never so desirous of peace and to procure peace be contented it should be done upon unrighteous terms it may be with the ruine of the Church yet it cannot be None can make peace but God Jer. 25.29 Psal 46.9 because it is not in the power of any man no not of the King himself to conclude a peace when God proclaimeth war for as he calleth for a sword upon the Inhabitants of a Land so it is he and he alone that maketh wars to cease in all the world he breaketh the bow and knappeth the spear in sunder and burneth the Chariots in the fire and without him it cannot be done as you may see in Ier. 47.6 And I fear and I pray God it be but my fear that as the wrath of God was never appeased for the innocent bloud of the Gibeonites that Saul most unjustly spilt untill it was revenged by bloud upon the house of Saul so the innocent bloud that hath been spilt in this Kingdom can never be expiated untill an attonement be made by bloud because that without bloud there is no remission that is of bloud unless they do with Manasses wipe away the streams of bloud with the streams of most penitent tears for he that sheddeth mans bloud that is illegally by man shall his bloud be shed that is judiciarily by the Magistrate saith God in the Old Testament and all they that take the sword that is without due authority shall perish by the sword that is by just authority saith our Saviour Christ in the New Testament and therefore if your peace may not be had with truth and according unto Justice gird you with your swords upon your thighs O you mighty men of valour and let the right hand of the most highest teach you terrible things untill as our Prophet speaketh Ver. 24. judgement shall run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream that is smoothly without any manner of opposition as Montanus and Vatablus render it Set God and his truth alwaies before your eyes and labour for that peace which may stand with the peace of Conscience and with your peace with God or otherwise you may purchase a worldly peace at too dear a rate it may be with the loss of your souls when God shall say unto you as he doth unto the Jews Shall not I visit for these things as if he said you indeed for your peace and prosperities sake for fear of danger and in hope of rest may be contented to wink at all these sins that have provoked me to wrath and perhaps to sell my truth and suffer my service to be abused and my servants to be destroyed that you may live in peace but do you think that I am such an one as your selves or that I will suffer all these things to go unrevenged No no saith the Prophet The Lord is known to execute judgement and he will be Judge himself he will kindle the fire and none shall quench it And therefore noble and religious Gentlemen that love your God better than the World and his eternal honour better than your own temporal happiness love peace and ensue it but let it be with the truth and with justice let the story of the worthy Maccabees be set before your eyes that rather than they would change their Religion or suffer the service of God any waies to be impaired and their Ecclesiastical government to be in any thing changed they sold their peace with the loss of their lives which is their everlasting praise and here I do profess I do most heartily wish for peace and would think my self most happy to see peace established as of old but rather than I should see it with the ruine of the Church with a Presbyterian Discipline that new-sprung out-landish weed of mans invention and no plant of Gods plantation I beseech Almighty God that I may beg my bread and seâ—k it in desolate places that my bloud may be poured like water upon the ground and the remainder of my years may be cut off from the Land of the Living so much do I desire to imbrace mine own misery rather than to see the Churches infelicity and the service of God so much vilified And I am confident
Church I had rather live a poor Curate in my own Country than a Bishop among such a company of Crumwellian Anabaptists Quakers and other worser Sectaries that do live in these parts and the wind of his Majesties happy Government and the prudent care of my Lord Lieutenant hath driven them As by their actions and hatred I do perfectly discern them like the Church Papists in Queen Elizabeths daies to come within the Pales of our Church and yet are as false-hearted if the same might be seen both to the King and the Church of Christ as ever they were in Crumwells daies as I conceive it to appear by the oath of one of my Witnesses that swore he heard the Captain of these forcible Enterers that I indicted incouraging his followers to keep the possession for Sir George Ayskue and to assure themselves things should never be quiet untill they returned and come again as they were before which was a strange saying as I understood it Yet I would not have my Reader here to think but that as the Scripture distinguisheth betwixt the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent the Children of God and the Sons of Belial so I do here in no waies prejudice nor think the least evil of the true-hearted English and true Protestants the worthy Gentlemen the Officers Captains and Commanders of the Army that are likewise many in these parts but I make a great deal of difference betwixt them so much as that I do as much love and honour the one as I do hate and abhor the doings and wickedness of the other So you may see what it is to live in Ireland For here now the Poet may well say that Terras Astraeâ— reliquit among Anabaptists and other Sectaries worse than Pagans and how it is my Fortune to feel the brunt and taste the poyson of their Malice to publish the same to all posterities God deliver his Servants from them Amen ANd now untill I shall see whether the Star-Chamber will think it Justice as I do that this Jury should bear all the damage that I sustain by their Verdict and which I should have recovered upon the forcible Enterers if they had gone according to their Evidence I thought good to prefer this Petition to His Majesty To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Gruffith Lord Bishop of Ossory Sheweth THat Justice is a vertue and grace most acceptable with God yet your Petitioner hath been infinity injured and your Majesty likewise wronged 1. By forcible Enterers that drove your Petitioner out of his house of Bishops Court and Freshfoord 2. By a wicked forgerer of the Indictment of those persons that were indicted for that entry 3. By a packt Jury that when the forcible Enterers were three times indicted by three several Juries quitted them contrary to their evidence and the mind of all the Judges May it therefore please your Majesty to cause that Justice may be done to your Petitioner and that you would write to the Sheriff of the County of Kilkenny that as formerly he hath setled your Petitioner in this Bishops Court and Freshfoord by vertue of an Order of the House of Lords so he would now settle him in his right and possession of the same by vertue of an Order from your Majesty And your Petitioner doth here promise and ingage himself to God and to your Majesty that as he bestowed about four hundred pounds already so having the four hundred pounds per annum that your Majesty granted setled upon him according to the Act of settlement pag. 71 72. he will lay out a thousand pounds more to repair the flat fallen formerly fair Cathedral Church of St. Keny And shall ever pray for your Majesty c. The sad condition of the Church and Clergy in the Diocess of Ossory and I fear not much better in all Ireland THE Church of Ireland in former times was very famous and glorious for many things especially for Piety and neighbourly Charity and bounty of the people one towards another as it appeareth by the rare and many many Edifices of Churches and Monasteries endowed with ample means and revenues dedicated for the honour of God and the service of Jesus Christ all to be seen at this very day for which cause it was wont to be admired and applauded and by the bordering Nations that observed their sedulity in pious works and neglect of worldly pomp when as the holy Patriarchs lived in Tents so most of them were contented to lie in Booths and poor earthly Cabins or houses made of Earth that they might build to God houses of Marble most sumptuous and glorious and that they might be the better able to bestow the more to adorn and beautifie the houses and Temples of God it was called and not amiss Ecclesia Sanctorum the glorious Church of holy Saints that aimed only to go to heaven But now since the unhappy time of that potent K. H. 8. when Sacriledge through his discontent with the Pope about his divorce with Queen Katherine Ut fama vagatur began to get the upper hand and to throw away Piety from the Church and trample it under-foot and cover it over with the Cloak of hypocrisie and the vain shadow of no Religion instead of the true service of God you may see reliquias danaum the ruines of Troy and in all places the carkass of Religion lodged in the thrown down walls of all the Abbies and Monasteries and most of the Cathedrals and the other Churches of Ireland that are now as the Prophet saith defiled and made heaps of stones Psal 79.1 For if you walk through Ireland as I rode from Carlingford to Dublin and from Dublin to Kilkenny and in my Visitation thrice over the Diocess of Ossory I believe that throughout all your travel you shall find it as I found it in all the waies that I went scarce one Church standing and sufficiently repaired for seven I speak within compass that are ruined and have only walls without ornaments and most of them without roofs without doors without windows but the holes to receive the winds to entertain the Congregation And what a lamentable thing and a miserable-fight is this If you say that in the time of blindness the people were over zealous in building too many Churches and thinking to merit much thereby I say that now in the fulness of knowledge and the Sun-shine of the Gospel they are too riotous to pull them down and too negligent of Gods honour and of the Peoples good to waste and ruinate so many Churches and to let the people want them to meet together to serve God which will merit a worse reward for them than they shall have that built them You may remember that when Moses was to erect the Tabernacle in the wilderness within a desart place of no trade or traffick and therefore not easie to get any wealth in it Yet Moses requiring their