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king_n	edward_n	england_n	year_n	23,637	5	4.8786	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43611	The black non-conformist, discover'd in more naked truth proving, that excommunication, confirmation, the two great Episcopal appurtenances & diocesan bishops, are not (as now in use) of divine, but human make and shape, and that not only some lay-men, but all the keen-cringing clergy are non-conformists ... : also a libel, and answer (thereunto) fitted to every man's case (be it what it will) that is cited to ecclesiastical courts, whose shallow foundation is unbared, and a true table of ecclesiastical court fees, as it was return'd into the star-chamber, Anno Domini 1630, by the ecclesiastical fellows themselves, and compar'd with the statutes : also concerning the unlawfulness of granting licences to marry, Quakers-marriages, folly, as well as other evil consequences of that new law-maxim, viz. that no non-conformists ought to be jury-men : shewing also, that, religion, religion, that should have been the world's great blessing, is become the plague of mankind, and the curse of Christendom ... / by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1797; ESTC R22899	136,499	106

of Sterling 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 fold 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 spirituali●… Fifthly As for the Rectory of St. Leonards in Colchester 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 Penny-loaves 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 Defendant 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

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 Matten● 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

I were in place where I might properly discuss the point but I have learnt to obey and to mind only mine own business CHAP. V. I Have heard some Lawyers say that all Laws of man which are contrary to Gods Laws are void ipso facto as soon as made But what 's that to this affair But there are worse consequences of an Excommunication amongst us than Imprisonment or the Fees or rather Fines severer consequences than what attends the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for if I mistake not an Excommunicate Person and signified under the Bishops Seal to be such shall not sue at Law for his Debts Lands nor Estate nor make a Will to dispose of the same or if he do the Spiritual-Courts will not prove it nay some would have it that they shall not give their Suffrages and Votes in the choice of Parliament-men nor be suffered to Trade nor to Buy or Sell nay in Popish Times and Countries none may buy any thing of any Excommunicate person Rev. 13.16 17. in pain of being also Excommunicate neither give nor sell them meat nor drink For which cause it was that Jane Shore was starv'd and dyed in Shore-ditch no body durst relieve her because she was Excommunicated And most of the Rebellions in the Reign of Henry VIII was because the Pope by his Bull of Excommunication dated Decemb 7. Anno Domini 1538. had deprived the King of his Kingdom and had absolved his Subjects from their Obedience Hard is the case both of Kings and People when they lie at the mercy of the Clergy except they will be content to be Gospel-Ministers and Servants of Christ and his People and not Lords to tyrannize and domineer over God's Heritage such Pride so contrary to the Gospel will have a Fall nay 1 Pet. 5.3 Isa 26.11 it has had a Fall yet some Men will never take warning nor believe in God but trust to broken Cisterns and their own Subtleties which are Foolishness with God I think every Man that has Liberties or Properties to lose and the poorest Man in England has Liberty to lose though he have no Freehold I say it is of Concernment to all Men to look about them and have a care God knows whose turn it may be next For my part I had rather anger the Great Turk than a peevish proud Surrogate Register or Summer And indeed my private Concerns was the first occasion to tell you true of making me look and pry into their nasty privy ways Extortions Oppressions under which His Majesties Subjects poor Widows and Orphans groan remediless to this day notwithstanding so many Acts of Parliament for their Relief Does not the Statute of 31 Edw. 3 4. tell us That the Ministers of Bishops and other Ordinaries of Holy-Church take of the People grievous and outrageous Fines where note by the way that by outrageous Fines is meant by the Statute unjust Fees for the Probate of Testaments c. And the Statute of 3 Hen. 5 8. begins thus Whereas the Commons of the Realm have oftentimes mark that in divers Parliaments mark that complained of that that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probate of a Testament c. against Right and Law c. therefore that Statute reduc'd them to Two shillings six-pence or Five shillings at the most A likely matter that Spiritual Men can be held bound by a Statute that could bind and loose all the Commons and Nobles too at their pleasure A Statute Law bind them No no no more than Samson's Wit hs or New Cords could hand-cuff the Gyant that is so long as and no longer than he list Therefore the Statute of 21 Hen. 8 5. complains and complains and tells how often these Ecclesiastical Men had baffled the Statute enumerating and particularly naming the two former Statutes here now recited and reduces then for the Probate and Inventory Sometimes to 6 d. sometimes to 2 s. 6 d. at most but 5 s. as I have more particularly given you a Table of Fees in my Vindication of the Naked Truth The Second Part And all this in pain of 10 l. one Moyety to the King and the other to the Party grieved together c. Then you 'll say Why do they still take 20 s. 30 s. 40 s. and sometimes 50 s. for a Probate sometimes much more I answer Because they are Impudent as their Predecessors are complain'd of Statute after Statute Parliament after Parliament and to little purpose Go bind Samson but you had best have a care you come not within his Clutches Go and complain against them To whom you 'll say perhaps write Naked Truths against them that at length our Superiors may hear the Complaints of the Widow and the Orphans opprest grievously by their Extortions in Probates c. Does not God Almighty say concerning the crying Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 18.20 21. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will hear Well then publish their known Extortions as the said Statutes already mentioned confesses that the Commons did grievously complain of the Extortions and Oppressions of the Spiritual Court And will not this way do Write against them and Print against their impudent sinning in defiance of the Statutes the Laws and Justice of the Realm And what then Will that do Yes that will do one thing namely undo the Author I 'll assure you expert● crede Roberto I am in a fair way to it if Actions brought by my great Bishop in Common-Law Courts and in Ecclesiastical Courts and Citation upon Citation in Arches in Delegates if all these and Power into the bargain will not sink one Poor Man sure then there 's more than humane help and more than a humane hand in it But you may well say Godly Bishops should not be angry and touchy nor enrag'd at nor become an Enemy an open Enemy against any Man for telling the Naked Truth of the Vileness and Extortions of their Ministers and Vnder-Officers against the known Laws of the Land but love and cherish such and if they will be angry they should vend their spleen against the said wickednesses of their Vnder-Officers and correct and amend and take shame to themselves and shew signs of Repentance But I am not bound to answer this Objection only it brings to my mind the temper and opinion the King and Parliament were of concerning the Bishops and their Visitations some years after the Pope's Supremacy and Prelacy was cut down in the beginning of the Reformation in H. VIII's time expressed by the coupling together of two words in 35 H. 8.21 namely Visit or Vex as if they were Synonyma's or the one explanatory of the other Visit or Vex good The King and Parliament had a good opinion of the Bishops Visitations in the

came in 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 creaible 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

this Defendant hereby protests That if he ever shall or ever did transgress the known Laws of England or the dark and disputable Laws of England it was through error of his judgment and not of his will and therefore he desires this Court to inform and inlighten him and set him to rights if he err or if they can do it For it is not safe to say of that Act of Parliament 13 Car. 2.12 of not allowing or confirming the Canons of 40 commonly called the Lambeth Canons and all other Canons and Constitutions not confirmed by Act of Parliament c. that they signifie nothing and are inserted idlely and for no end and purpose Which those seem to assert and imply that say those words of not confirming the Canons or not allowing are not disallowing nor any remarque or neglecting Character thereby set upon them For the Canons had been left in statu quo prius as all other things were not mentioned in the said Act although not one word concerning them had been therein mentioned In all Grammatical Construction then the Not-confirming the Lambeth Canons or Canons of 40 c. That Not-allowing is a disallowing as plain as the Times perhaps would then bear And all those words in the said Act signifie the distaste and neglect the King and Parliament had of all Canons not confirmed by Act of Parliament and then all those words concerning the same signifie something and not nothing Especially leaving things as they were in the year 1639. when the High-Commission Court was up and 1 Eliz. 1. in force which is absolutely repeal'd by the same Statute And if any man thought that some had got by that 13 Car. 2.12 an Act for their Turn as was endeavor'd they were vilely mistaken or out-witted at least it was all that would even then be done for them which latter is most probable because of that fatal mistake in repealing 17 Car. 1. And there never was such an Act in the world nor any made in that year that this Defendant can find so lasting were the deep and bloody Prints of the High Commission even yet in Parliament-mens heads And this many took notice of long ago if they had thought it meet and opportune to take notice of it it might have been amended and may yet by an Act of Parliament otherwise it is to be feared that the mistake is fatal And the 16 Car. 1.11 be in force and not possible to be repealed by the repeal of the 17 Car. 1. Then good-night Nicholas and there 's an end of the Story and a Commissary Official or Register's place is not worth the buying no nor that of a poor Proctor of this Court of Arches which use to cost about 40 l. though the same man be a Proctor in any other Spiritual-Court yet he cannot practice in this Court without laying down the Cash I mean down with their Dust Gold Dust or Guinees Money more Money Which perhaps is the reason why the Proctors are suffered to take ten groats for a Fee that used to be by the style of this Court but and proportinably all other Fees abominably enhanc't wherever the fault lies they that buy must sell or else they have a bad bargain The Fees of an Excommunication and Absolution used to be but but now they are this Defendant knows to his cost and by woful experience a Guiney but note by the way This also is added de novo the said Bishops Vice-Register Nucourt is Arrested in an Indebitatus-assumpsit and will also have an Indictment or Information brought against him for the Extortion at the Suit of this Defendant who is vilely loth to be chous't of his Money and by a pitiful Proctor and Vice-Register too So that by this time this Desendant is come a great way towards the final Answer of these Articles in this Spiritual-Court if there were 1000 more of them especially in a Court that will neither show nor pretend to sit by a Commission from the King In whom alone is always inhaerent all Executive-power both Ecclesiastical and Temporal But our gracious Sovereign not only in his last Declaration but always has declared That he will rule us according to His Oath and the Fundamental Laws made by the only Legislative-power the King and Parliament And the Kings of England always have been of right and always were except during the Pope's Supremacy equally Heads or Head of the Church as well as of the State if they be two things And has right to make Laws for the regulating the Church or State-Ecclesiastical and as much as for Regulating the State-Temporal And far be it from the modesty of this Defendant to pry into the Cover'd Ark and search into the Prerogative of His gracious Majesty the Kingdoms glory as well as support both for his Mercy and Justice our dear and dread Sovereign and only Head of the Church and State which Prerogative His Majesty and his Father of blessed Memory our late Martyr'd Soveraign have explain'd to consist not only well but best with their Peoples Liberties and Properties making a sweet Harmony and enriching both King and People as Queen Elizabeth found that never had an Exchequer sooner emptied than filled though her Wars and Enemies were Great and Powerful She sometimes forgave and remitted what was given her by her Subjects in Parliament but never made a Speech or Motion for Money that prov'd successless Of which this Defendant had not now and here taken notice of further than to show in this his Defence in reference to the Church and the pretended Canons and Constitutions of the same that the said Queen never made any Canons neither did King James make any Canons or Constitutions for the Church or its Regulation until her Majesty and consequently his Majesty King James had by 1 Eliz. 1. and in that Statute given unto her and them her Heirs and Successors Power to Amend Reform c. And no more then needed at that time when the Clergy in Convocation acknowledged and surely they knew their own strength as well and much better than any can do at this distance and confest in the Statute 1 Mar. 2. that they had no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and therefore not Queen Mary but she in Parliament by 1 Mar. 2. restor'd it namely the old Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction until 1 Eliz. 1. Repeal'd it and in its room gave Power to the Queen to set up another which 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 pull'd down and Repeal'd Nay 't is evident in Cawdrey's-Case in Cookes Reports that the Jury were forc't to find the said High-Commission specially and so must other Juries do as well if ever the right of the Spiritual-Courts in Sequestrations Suspensions Deprivations in medling with mens Carnal Goods and Free-holds comes to be tryed in the King-Courts by a Jury if they can at this time a day find such a High-Commission which will be a difficult thing to persuade a Jury unto except

we have layd our hands mark that for it is the same in our Common-Prayer Book to certifye them by this Signe of thy savour and gracious goodnes towarde them leat thy fatherly hande c. I know a Bishop being a great person may as Majesty uses to do when he means only his own single act and single hand say we we for so it is said we have laid our hands But how these words our hands can be meant of the Bishop's laying on his single hand and but one hand cannot be reconciled to any Grammar For in King Edward VI's Reign the happy Reformers kept up Imposition of hands not hand as the Collect aforesaid says after the example of the holy Apostles and in imitation of the Apostles laying on of their hands upon the Disciples and thereby conveying to them the gifts of the Holy Ghost Therefore the Papists anoint or have an Unction in meer Mimickry or Imitation of the Unction of the Holy Ghost which was not sold or made of Apothecary Drugs as the Papists Unction is but purely spiritual gifts of the Holy Ghost the gift of Tongues discerning of Spirits c. But they that would fain be accounted Successors of the Apostles and of St. Peter and St. Paul and love to be called the Apostolical men would make Confirmation to be performed or of right ought to be performed by Bishops onely who the Papists account to be the onely Apostolical men and Successors of the small Prophets or Apostles St. Matthew Thomas c. and the Pope the onely Successor of St. Peter and St. Paul But our first Reformers did not confine this Act of Confirmation to a Bishop alone but to other his Fellow Presbyters who signed with the Cross and said as many words over the head of the Child as the Bishop himself Thus when John was present Peter did not bid him stand aside but both of them together laid their hands upon the young Converts and they received the gifts of the Holy Ghost in imitation whereof Confirmation was brought in And the Rubrick makes the Curate or his Certificate a necessary qualification and that of King Edw. 6. the first Reformers the Minister laid his hands on or at least signed the Party with the sign of the Cross and said words over him or prayed over him And probably also as is usual in Ordination both laid their hands on or else what English or Sense is in those words in the Collect Vpon whom we have laid our hands But now I say the Bishop without the concurrence or consent of the Minister of the Parish who best knows the state of the Flock alone confirms all that come which are very few God knows not one in a hundred or more that are baptized And those or most of them hand over-head without any previous examination of their fitness And therefore who can pray in Faith or believe what he says and prays as aforesaid in these words God who hast vouchsafed to Regenerate these thy Servants by water and the Holy Ghost and yet for ought he knows I am sure of some were never baptized so much as by water over whom yet he prays or ought to pray in these words and then and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins c. Be not deceived God is not mocked saith the Apostle But what extravagancy will not men run into that would grasp all to themselves contrary to the provision the Law has made for the Minister's consent and concurrence at least to this same Confirmation to his actual laying on of Hands as well as the Bishops in King Edward VI's time and signing with the Cross as well as the Bishop and praying over their heads part of that Prayer that now the Bishop will say alone but in King Edward VI's Common-Prayer Book the Minister said alone before the Bishop toucht the Party to be confirmed So that Confirmation without previous examination and fitness without Godfather or Godmother for a Witness and without the Curate's presenting those of his Parish to be confirmed and certifying their fitness is not only rash and perfunctory impertinent and contrary to the great design those had that invented it but is also illegal and against Law and the Act for Vniformity Hereafter I may perhaps shew at large when and by whom it was invented but this for the present I am clear for the use of it according to Law but the abuse of it is abominable I write this for the observation of the Law and that such as cry down Nonconformists and call for Gaols Stocks Fines Excommunications Suspensions Deprivations and Confiscations may learn Forbearance Mercy Humanity and Kindness to humane kind considering humane frailty so visible in themselves and may not with the same mouth opened against other Nonconformists at the same time pronounce their own doom and deprivation of their spiritual Promotions that are worth the keeping and tugging for And may learn to be quiet and bless Almighty God that they are so well on 't themselves and never Vex themselves to vex others breathing out nothing but mischief and ruine to such as are loth to unman themselves by servile Baseness Flattery and Sycophantry For my part I would much rather cease to be a Clergyman than cease to be an Honest man an Englishman and a Gentleman Which ne'r a Flattering Pimp and Sycophant in England can possibly be In short Confirmation is either good for something or good for nothing either good fit and expedient or not expedient If it be not expedient Why is it put into the Common-Prayer Book or so much as once perfunctorily practis'd If it be good for something which I readily grant then why is it not us'd but abus'd 1. Why is it ever us'd by a Bishop rashly hand over-head Hickletee-Pickletee to all that kneel down whether baptiz'd or unbaptiz'd whether they can or cannot say their Catechism whether they have Godfathers and Godmothers along with them or though they never had any such Godfathers or Sureties but tell Stories when they say They did promise and vow three things in my name c. as in the Catechism And not one word of all the three is true or was ever promis'd or vow'd by any body no not by their own Parents who one would think ought to be most concern'd both in the Vow and Performance 2. Why does not the Bishop require the Significavit from the Parish-Minister of the Truth of the Premises and the fitness of those that are to be confirmed but this 't is to do all alone what is impossible to be well done by any one man 3. Why does not the Bishop go to all the Parishes in his Diocess to confirm the Souls that are therein It is his work and he is well paid for the same And why onely at a great Town two or three where there is a great Inn and good Accomodation I am confident St. Paul never sent his Harbinger before him when

claim Jurisdiction over me and that by the sight of which Commission or hearing the same read I might know whether it were requisite in my case and circumstances to appeal from the same or make exceptions to the same if it do not give you cognizance of the Crime or pretended Crime objected against me and whether it be not counterfeit or not Sealed with the Kings Great Seal of England The old Ecclesiastical Popish Jurisdiction being as their Divine-Service and Mass Foreign and in a Foreign Language and exploded by 1 Eliz. 1. by the name of Foreign Jurisdictions and the High Commission Court by the same Statute 1 Eliz. 1. set up in the room thereof being also exploded by 13 Carol. 2.12 wherein his present Majesty obliges himself to grant no more Commissions Ecclesiastical which makes me believe you have no Commission at all nor Authority to cite me thus before you And therefore it is that I will not be uncovered before you until it appear that you are his Majesties Court Ecclesiastical by Commission derived from him II. I protest against your Proceedings because in the Citation of me hither there is no mention of the Kings Name nor the Kings Arms in the Seal thereof but only the name of Robert Wiseman Knight and Doctor of Law and to appear before him or his Surrogate whereas he is neither Arch-Bishop of Canterbury nor so much as Dean of the Arches and therefore he being at best but a Surrogate or Deputy he cannot have nor constitute a Surrogate or Deputy under him III. I protest against your Proceedings because I am cited out of the Diocess where I dwell contrary to the 23. H. 8.9 IV. I protest against your Proceedings because there is no certain day nor time mentioned in your Citation to limit and direct my appearance at a time certain V. I protest against your Proceedings because there is no certain and particular penal Crime mentioned in particular in the Citation to which and for which I am bound to make answer For it is a duty not a crime for a Presbyter as I am to joyn People together in holy Matrimony nor any Profanation though the Register get not unmerciful and unjust Fees for a formal License nor any penalty for marrying People without Bannes or License nor any thing more customary or more universally practised among the Ministers in the Country where I live than to marry without Bannes or License Nor do I acknowledge that the sixty second Canon pretended to be confirmed by King James is a Law of England nor any other Canons or things that are not enacted and confirmed by King and Parliament the naked truth whereof none dare deny without incurring a Praemunire the King and Parliament together having in England the only Legistative power Besides the Canons clash one against another for those made in Queen Elizabeth's time order That such as marry without Bannes or License shall be suspended ab officio for six months only But the sixty second of King James's Canons decrees Suspension for three years whereby it seems the Synod-men the longer they lasted the more they grew and improved not in goodness and mercy but in rigour and severity God bless us and all Englishmen from such Legislators and the bottom of the Plot and design of that Canon and Prosecution upon the same seems to be calculated to get mony for Licenses for the benefit of Registers Commissaries Officials and such like motly-Crew and Lay-Elders those Ecclesiastical Fellows whilst the Ministers and Clergy do the drudgery and truckle under them and truckle for them And is it not a Soul-saving and wholesom Canon that stops a Ministers mouth and silences him from Preaching the Gospel for three years together because a couple are honestly married for Five Shillings without giving the Commissaries Officials and Registers those Poscinummia Crumine mulgae eleven shillings and four pence more for a License VI. I protest against your Proceedings Argumento ad Hominem because according to your own not my Canons no Sentence ought to pass upon a Presbyter but by a Bishop and here is no Bishop to hear the Proceedings and therefore if afterwards any Bishop do pass Sentence Re in auditâ in propriâ personâ He must do it by a blind implicit faith in the reports of other men which I suppose no Bishop will be so rash as to venture upon Edmund Hickeringill Mr. Hickeringill told Sir Robert the penalty and danger incur'd by the said Statute of 23 Hen. 8 9. for thus vexatiously citing him out of the Diocess and threatned Sir Robert that he would sue him and prosecute him according to that Statute But Sir Robert replied That he would stop proceedings Mr. Hickeringill not content with that replied Who shall pay me for the vexatious Citation and unwarrantable trouble and charge you have put me to But Sir Robert said nothing to that nor to the Protestation it might as well have been Greek for it non-plust all reply Nor are all the Sir Roberts or Wisemen in England able to answer that Protestation for who can patch up an old rotten foundation that at first and at best was but a Popish invention not warranted in the Holy Scripture for a Bishop to vex and domineer and pill and poll and plague his Brethren Clergy and Laity biting and devouring what even birds of prey will not do their own Kind in spight of the Law of Christ Luk. 22.25 26. by illegal Fees Extortions Exactions Citations Excommunications Absolutions Dispensations Commutations Procurations Visitations Sequestrations c. Which last is an art so dark and unintelligible and as little known as seldom or never insisted upon of all other the mysteries of Iniquity which makes me subjoin this following Essay But some will say if Bishops Courts be dissolved as seems to be undeniably prov'd in the Naked-Truth and in a Book so stiled lately published then what are Bishops good for And what shall they do To which I answer Let them sit in Parliament and other Councils when his Majesty shall think fit to call them let them say their Prayers Preach give Alms Baptize and Catechise and do the work of their Ministry and if that be not work enough for one man which was a great deal more than the Apostles ever did who never were Parliament-men nor Privy-Councellors then let them perswade the King and Parliament if they can to set up their High-Commission Court again and give them power as formerly to be mischievous Bless us good God! what would Ambition and Covetousness Rage and folly be at if it could speak Is not stately Lordships and Mannors City and Country-houses vase Revenues and great and manifold Preferments enough to satisfie men but they must rob the Spittle and be uneasie except they have power to be mischievous Well God forgive them and give them repentance that 's the worst I wish them and send them more money and when they have got more wit and more