depending in the King's-Bench Hah where Sir John Shaw had no Authority to give or take an Oath Hah in private Hah against the Laws of the Land Hah and made them ready against the Bishop came down to set the Bishop to Roil Mr. Hickeringill whom he knew would not tamely suffer himself and his Reputation to be illegally and publickly brought in question by any Bishop in Christendom Hah This was the Sum and Substance of those two Letters which the Defendant writ to the said Bishop that were never answered but only as Men are when they are prest to Death with more Weight more Weight The Defendant in vain opposed the reading of his private Letters saying it was not genteel civil nor manly to produce such Evidence and nothing to the present Declaration and that tho there was nothing in them but what was modest and true yet private Letters are and ought to be sacred in their Privacy and that Si liceat parvis componere magna King Charles 1. If it be lawful to compare great with small did justly upbraid the Parliament with the Incivility of publishing his private Letters taken at Naseby tho there was nothing in them nor in this Defendants Letters for which any Man need blush or be blam'd But this is the Ecclesiastical-Candor any Method to expose the Defendant no Vengeance is great enough no Fine or Verdict outragious enough to crush one that dares as the Defendant has discover the Mystery of Iniquity Ecclesiastical in Extortions illegal Fees Oppressions and Courts kept in dessance of the Statutes of this Realm Excommunications Absolutions Prophanations Procurations Visitations namely Vexations c. There 's a Villain indeed Plague him All Hands aloft all 's at Stake down goes if you do not help This Fellow is another Germana illa Bestia quae non curat Aurum a German Beast that regards not Preferment as the Cardinal told the Pope when he chid him because he could not by tampering with Luther and the proffer of Gold and a Cardinal's Cap prevail with him nor take him off from writing and preaching against the Abominations and Corruptions of the Church and Church-men Church and Church-men Ay set but the Clergy upon a Man and you need not set any Dogs upon him to worry him Church and Church-men Ha! do you know who you speak against what Find fault with Oppressions and Extortions of Ecclesiastical-Courts with Apparitors Registers Commissaries and all that Fry of Lay-Elders Church and Church-men Ha! Do you speak against Prelacy Say that Word again say it again before Witness Sirrah Villain Rogue How dare you at this time of day speak Scripture dangerous Scripture Scripture against Statute-Law 2 Rich. 2. 5. which Statute makes a Prelate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 9. some great One and you Sirra would have him as your Saviour and the Gospel would have him as lowly as Christ or his Apostles you Sirra do you speak Scripture in a Court of Law Ha! what do you produce a Bible instead of a Breviate Do you plead Gospel against Law and Christ and his Apostles in defiance of Rich. 2 An Aggravation an Aggravation as Sir Francis Withins said the Defendant justifies in a Plea of Non-Culp this is rich indeed These Errors will be committed when you suffer Parsons to be Pleaders and plead their own Cause and understand not the Punctilio's and Methods of nice-pleading very fine What suffer Scripture to be quoted instead of Law and Christ and his Apostles instead of Cook and Littleton for Shame And yet the Defendant ignorant Man did not understand the mischief of urging a little Scripture in this Cause betwixt two Church-men and already there decided namely that of Christ St. Paul and St. Peter against all Prelacy Pride Lordliness and Dominion one Brother over another not Lording it over God's Heritage But Christ and St. Paul and St. Peter were poor Men Silver and Gold had they none they were meek humble and lowly and when they were reviled reviled not again nor brought an Action of Scandalum Magnat nor did Fee a pack of Lawyers to mouth it upon an old Statute made in the time of Popish Prelacy and when Antichrist was Rampant and when the Devil raigned a time as the Defendant told the Court when the Prelates did all and all ill a time when the Prelates were grand Rebels as ever were in England For then in the Raign of Rich. 2. was this Statute made when the Clergy were as very Rebels as Wall the Priest Wat. Tyler or any of that wicked Crew 'T is true Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich was General for the King both in England and France did not Armour disgrace Bishop Henry's Lawn-Sleeves The Bishop of Ely was Lord Chancellor Countez Two Tho. Arundel Bishop of Hereford Countez Three Lord Treasurer Nicholas Abbot of Waltham Lord Privy-Seal Four William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Five Alexander Arch-Bishop of York Countez Six William Bishop of Winchester Seven And Thomas Bishop of Exeter Eight Good Men and True that 's a Lye a Pack of damnable Villains and Rebells as ever were in England for taking upon them by Commission to rule the King and Kingdom and so the Judges concluded that Commission of thirteen Persons to rule the King and Kingdom of which eight were Prelates with five Lay-men for fashion-sake for the Prelates could out-vote them when they list a Devilish Rebellion abominable Prelates in Rich. 2d's time when the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum was made and struck at it has been by the last Parliament at Westminster and others as a Statute obsolete or in the Judgment of the Wisdom of the Nation the Honourable House of Commons to be repealed being made in the wicked time aforesaid when the Devil danc'd and Simon Magus vaunted himself to be one of the Magnat some Great One and yet also the Successor of Simon Peter who was a poor Fisher-man and a Fisher of Men not a Pick-Pocket nor a Promoter of Law-Suits nor did he mend his Market by turning Church-man as some have done too well known but to his dying day was poor and pennyless having his Faith and Hope in another World and being a Disciple of him whose Kingdom is not of this World All this and more the Defendant told the Court and the Men that were sworn for to give the Judge his due he gave the Defendant sufficient leave and leisure for three hours to defend himself against the crafty Suggestions and dirty Language thrown at him on purpose to vilify him with Dirt which the Counsel had rak'd up together and in two set-Speeches made on purpose fetch'd it far and not at all to the purpose or to the matter in hand villifying him with the Miseries and Vexations with which they had loaded him in the Barretry and Supplicavit as if his Sufferings were his only Crime But something they must say for their Guinies and for their Lord Prelate and in hopes of Preferment and his
the Statute made in the Parliament of King Richard the Second after the Conquest at Glocester in the Second Year of his Raign held amongst other things it is Enacted and strictly Charged under great pain That none should be so bold as to devise speak or relate of the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and other Nobles and Great Men of the Realm of England nor of the Chancellor Treasurer or Clerk of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's House Justice of the one Bench or other nor of any Great Officers of the said Realm any false News Lyes or any such Falsities whereof any Scandal or Discord within the said Realm may arise And whosoever this should do should incur the Penalty otherwise thereof ordained by the Statute of Westminster the First as in the said Statute more fully it is contained Yet the said Edmond Hickeringill the Statute aforesaid not regarding nor the Penalty of the said Statute any ways fearing but craftily designing the Good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit of our said Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and great Officers of this Realm of England and also of divers worthy Persons Subjects of our said Lord the King that now is to bring the fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Lord the King at Chelmnesford in the County of Essex divers false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet being Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm of England in the presence and hearing of divers of the Subjects of our said Lord the King falsly maliciously and scandalously devised spoke related published and proclaimed in these English Words following viz. The Lord Bishop of London meaning himthe said Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads in Divinity to all his Clergy in those parts meaning the Clergy within the Diocess of London in those parts which are contrary to Law meaning the Laws of the Realm And of his further Malice the said Edmond afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year abovesaid at Chelmnesford in the said County of Essex scandalously and maliciously and further to defame and scandalize the said Bishop likewise devised spoke related published and proclamed of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London upon a Discourse of the said Bishop then and there had these other false News and horrible Lies in these English Words following that is to say His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London is very ignorant And the said Edmond further craftily designing not only the good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into further great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit â—our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and â—â—eat Officers of this Kingdom of England and of divers other worthy Subjects of our said Lord the King to bring but also to cause him to endure the pain and peril of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm against Traitors and such Malefactors made afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the said three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is at Chelmnesford aforesaid in the said County divers other false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm in the presence and hearing of divers of the King's Subjects scandalously falsly and maliciously devised spoke related published and declared in these English Words following viz. I meaning him the said Edmond Hickeringill can prove His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London to be concerned in the Damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot to destroy the King and subvert the Government of this Realm late discovered By Means of which said several false News and horrible Lyes the said Bishop is not only hurt and scandalized in his Reputation Honour and Dignity and the said Bishop hath lost the Favour good Opinion and Esteem which our said Soveraign Lord the King and other great Men and Prelates of this Realm afore towards him did bear and divers Rumors and Scandals between divers of the Nobles of this Realm and great Men and other the King's Subjects upon the Occasion aforesaid within this Realm are risen and spread abroad and great Scandals and Discords by reason of the Premises between the said Bishop and others of this Realm are risen and daily more and more are likely to arise to the great disturbance of the Peace and Tranquillity of the Realm to the Contempt of our said Lord the King and great Scandal of the said Bishop and against the Form of the said Statute of Richard the Second to the Bishop's Damage 5000 l. and therefore he brings this Suit Issue Non Cul This Trial of so great expectation came on about nine a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the 8th of March 1681. To prove the Declaration only one single Witness was produced for the Plantiff namely one Samuel Harris Clerk Witnesses sworn on the behalf of the Defendant were The Right Honourable Edward Earl of Lincoln Mr. Benjamin Edgar Mr. Ambrose Flanner Robert Potter Henry Bull Christopher Hill and Daniel Howlet all except that Noble Earl Parishioners of the Parish of St. Buttolph's in Colchester and present when the Words were pretended to be spoken Actions for Words ought to be precisely and punctually prov'd and all the Words together without addition or diminution otherwise as the Defendant who pleaded his own Cause told the Court the Sense must differ except they be taken together with the antecedent and subsequent Discourse in sensu conjuncto not diviso jointly and not severally adding that he had a thousand times said that there is no God and yet that saying that looks so scandalously Atheistically and Blasphemously taken disjointed and severally from the foregoing Words are really innocent and harmless and have been spoken a thousand times by every Man that has a thousand times read or repeated Psal 14. 1. The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God So also in infinite Instances as to say It is not lawful to love God nor to 〈◊〉 our Neighbour dissemblingly or hypocritically take away the last Words and 〈◊〉 looks scandalously and most prophanely but taken altogether no harm all but good and true and like that of the Apostle Let Love be without Dissimulation The said Harris Witness for the Plantiff had got the Words pretty well by Heart but yet did not swear them so roundly off as was expected For as to the first Words namely The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity to all his Clergy in these
past if he had had no other work but to fence and ward off the Blows made at him Then six Proctors they swear against him Articles in the King's-Bench and procure the Writ of Supplicavit against him a Writ seldom granted against any in these Days as we are told by the Compleat Sollicitor p. 73 74. He says he remembers that about eight Years ago in the days of Usurpation for his Book was printed Anno. Dom. 1666. a troublesome malicious Priest sued one namely a Supplicavit against some of his Neighbours but he had not heard of any since and the Parties craving it should take their Corporal Oath that it is not desired for any Malice Hatred or Envy to the Party surely if the said six Proctors swore it they swore it freely heartily and clearly Besides tho 't is a Writ rarely granted yet when it is granted it is more rarely granted against any but common Rogues and Villains common Barretors and Man-Catchers Is there greater Indignity than to be crucified amongst Thieves and Rogues It has been the Lot of his Betters tho the Defendant offered an Affidavit in his behalf made before Judg Dolben by three Worthy Citizens and desired with all Humility that as the Bench had heard of one side Affidavits against him that they would please to leave one Ear open to hear some Affidavits for him and some Pleas in his Defence intending to insist upon the Statute of 2 Edw. 6. 1. which if it be in force then the Ecclesiastical Courts sit not legally nor can they be called by Names bad enough and if that Statute be not in force then why did the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton insist upon it so lately at the King's-Bench Bar and also Mr. Rotherham for their Client Mr. Weald of Much-Waltham in Essex about the time that the last Parliament sate at Westminster telling the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs that he would not urge it warmly or Words to the like Effect because he perceiv'd his Lordship was not prepar'd at that time to give an answer to that Statute or Words to the like Effect A moot-Case belike then and a hard Case to bind a Man to the Good-Behaviour or threaten him with a Jaile when not wiser in the construction of the force of a Statute than the Lord Chief Justice But nothing would be admitted to be pleaded in the Defendants Defence but utrum horum that is not false Latin whatsoever quisquis is Sad choice alas Bail or a Jail There is no fence against a Flail They that will hear but of one Ear here shall be made to hear on both Ears one Day the Day of Judgment And tho Mr. Shepherd in his Office of a Justice of the Peace pag. 83. says that in taking a Recognizance upon a Supplicavit the ordinary Sum is ten or twenty Pounds and difficultly enough too to be procured by a poor Rogue tho a great Rogue yet since the time and Sum is Arbitrary and in the Breast of the Justices no less than a hundred Pounds must Mr. Hickeringill be bound in for affronting the Men of Doctors-Commons if the Proctors swore through-stitch nay one of the Bench stood stifly for 200 Pounds that the Principal should Recognize but in that he was over-ruled and four Sureties in 50 l. apiece whereas a poor common-Rogue could hardly have procur'd two Manucaptors Ay Ay he that will have Honour must sometimes pay for his Ambition But as if all these troubles were too little for the Defendant besides the Weekly Affronts By the Weekly News-mongers in their Tantivy-Pamphlets not to mention those familiar little friendly Courtships and Caresses of Villain Rogue Colchester-Hick the great Scribler of the Nation Daring Nat. Thompson reports him to be convict of Perjury tho Nat. hides his viler Head for the same and dare not give an appearance for himself and his Consort to Mr. Godfrey Woodward Attorney who has long been prepar'd for him if he could come at him for villifying and aspersing such a Man as Mr. Hickeringill with so pernicious and false a Slander all the Kingdom over But these are small Matters loss of Reputation and to be called and accounted a common Rogue common Barretor common Villain a small matter Oh! But in the Neck of all comes me decima unda the tenth Wave an Action of 5000 l. thick brought by a great Bishop too of great Interest great Power great Friends great Parts great Learning and great all over against a poor Priest or younger Brother a Minorite to Reform him if any Body could tell how and make him better Nay it will be dangerous this whole long Year for Mr. Hickeringill to say as did the Emperour at a General Council when at the first setting out and opening thereof the good Fathers were gravell'd and at a loss where first to begin to 'mend the Ecclesiastical Frame being so horribly out of Frame â Minoritis cries one of the great Ones very politickly no quoth the Emperour rather a Majoritis let us first begin to 'mend the great Ones The Naked Truth with ease we tear Not such as Vizor-Masques do wear For Vizors sconce and skreen Men here But will not always last I fear This fam'd Trial came on March 8 1681. at the Nisi prius Bar before the Lord Chief Justice Sir Francis Pemberton The Jury by the Sheriff of the County of Essex were thus return'd viz. Essex ss Nomina Jur. inter Henr. Epis Lond. qui tam c. Quer. Et Edmond Hickeringill Cler. Defend Andreas Jenner de Dunmow Magnâ Bar. Ricardus Everard de Waltham Magnâ Bar. Edwardus Smith de Thoydonmount Bar. Willielmus Appleton de Shenfield Bar. Johannes Bramston de Roxwell Miles Balnei Marcus Guyon de Coggeshall Magnâ Miles Johannes Marshal Miles Willielmus Maynard de Waltham Stow Ar. Willielmus Glascock de Farnham Ar. Jacobus Milbourn de Dunmow Magnâ Ar. Alexander Prescot de Mountnessing Ar. Willielmus Pert de eâd. Ar. Samuel Hare de Leigh Ar. Anthonius Abdey de Kelvedon Ar. Ricardus Ballet de Hatfield Broad-Oak Ar. Johannes Meade de Wenden Ar. Johannes Tendring de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Willielmus Petre de Stanford Rivers Ar. Henricus Paschal de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Henricus Humfreys de Westhamingfield Ar. Ricardus How de Ingate-stone Ar. Ricardus Stanes de Altâ Ongar Ar. Aurelius Piercey Wiseman de Wimbish Ar. Edwardus Taverner de Canfield Ar. None of the Jury were challenged by either side Most of the Gentlemen first named in the Pannel appear'd and serv'd being sworn a little Councel tremblingly made a shift to read the Heads of the Declaration viz. The Declaration in English faithfully translated out of the Lawyers Latin was to this Effect viz. Trinity Term xxxiii R. R. Carol. 2. HENRY Bishop of London one of the Prelates of this Realm of England as well for our Soveraign Lord the King as for himself complaineth of Edmond Hickeringill Clerk in the Custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea for that whereas in
Defendant both in Years in Travels in Studies at the University in Experience nay as a Souldier too one a Cornet the other a Captain one a great Traveller as the most Gentlemen in England the other 's greatest Travels is but over the Diocess in Conferences Visitations to gather Procurations and unconformable Confirmations not according to Law as is proved in the Black-Non-Conformist and for the Defendant to have called one who is indeed only by the King's Grace as being made a Bishop and a Doctor and therefore only his Senior but his younger Brother by many Degrees in all other respects as aforesaid if the Defendant had pleased Sir George's Humour and had stiled him Reverend Father in God perhaps the Bishop would have thought the Defendant had jeer'd him and then all the Fat had been in the Fire again and all in a Flame the other Action of Scandalum Magnatum And let the By-standers judg whether it had not been as much for the Bishop's Honour if Sir George had never touch'd upon the Pedigree but have left it quiet as he found it nor yet have star'd about when he mist the old cogging flattering Hierarchical and Prelatical Complement of Reverend Father in God A Complement now worn out at Elbows and as tatter'd trite and Thread-bare as Your Humble Servant And for the noble Pedigree the Welsh-man had as good have let it alone if it had been possible for a Welsh-man to omit the Occasion but the noble Extract and Pedigree which no Body does deny had rested never the worse if he had suffer'd it to sleep quietly to all Posterity without this his Index to disturb it Here 's a flanting-do with these Welsh-men and their Extracts and their Pedigree's and if old Adam or Noah were alive they would equally love a Beggar as one who is as nigh a Kinsman of their Blood as the Welsh Knight himself Away with this musty worm-eaten-Heraldry some by pimping and worse have got to be Lords stand clear there from all his Progeny remember 2 Ric. 2. Sirra we 'll Scandalum Magnat you do you not honour a Lord and a Lord's Son A Lord's Son Can you prove your Words Now it is the Mode in some Countries for Ladies that have Lords to have also a Gallant a strong Back'd Coach-man or sweaty Foot-man or Groom Spindle-shank'd Gentlemen-Ushers as useless being laid aside And now it is the Mode the Court-like Mode for a Lord that has a Wife to keep a Miss likewise That it would puzzle this same little Harris who would make no Bones of a probable Oath but swallow it roundly to swear who is a Lord's Son and yet what a pother Men keep in the World with their Noble Blood Noble Blood when the Chirurgeon swears that there is not one of a hundred Lords upon trial of Phlebotomy has so good Blood in his Veins as the Defendant In Guinee therefore to secure the Blood-Royal infallibly in the Blood and Family-Royal the eldest Son of the King 's eldest Sister does Heir the Crown not the King's Son for so there can be no foul play But the said two Letters were read wherein the Defendant inculcated the Commands of our Saviour to his Disciples that they should not Lord it over one another as the Princes and Men of the World do Look you says Sir Francis Withins he justifies his speaking against Prelates As if it were a Sin to quote our Saviour's own Words But especially He and Sir George storm'd when the Defendant said That Prelacy is condemn'd 1 Tim. 5. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque eo ut unum alteri praeferas without preferring or prelating one before another Worse and worse saith Mr. Withins He justifies here 's Scandalum Magnatum again an Aggravation Gentlemen I hope you will remember it in the Damages Ay Ay trouble not your Head The Jury-men were Wise-men and had conn'd their Lesson perfectly and knew their Business and what to do as well as Sir Francis could tell them he might have spar'd his Breath to cool his Pottage or for the next cause and yet when his Tongue did not go his Hand went at every Clause and Period and sometimes at every Word lifting up his Hand and then the Cadence he had seen the Singing-men how they act their Prayers And when the Words of the Letter were full of heavy complaints made to the Bishop by this Defendant at every Period or Clause Hah quoth Sir Francis As when in the Letter the Defendant complains that the Bishop of London listned to clandestine Affidavits Hah quoth Sir Francis about the false Accusations of Barretry Hah and taken illegally Hah and out of Court Hah when there was no Cause depending Hah nor any Issue joined Hah nor any Cause that was of Ecclesiastical cognizance Hah and sworn by two Bum-lifts Martin and Groom Hah two Fellows of the basest Conversation Hah the former Martin whip'd for a Thief Hah in Sudbury Hah and the Record thereof produc'd and prov'd at the Assizes by Mr. George Catesby Town-Clerk of Sudbury Hah still quoth Sir Francis And that the Fellows swore through an Inch-Board as swearing against Records Hah and after his Lordship knew this to be true yet He or his Chancellor Sir Tho. Exton or the Registers Morris and Betts or all of them still prosecuted the Defendant as a Common-Barretor Hah and for taking a Bribe for granting an Administration to Thomas Shortland which they knew by their Register-Books was never granted and yet knowing all this they suffer'd this Martin to swear that he brought the Administration from Chelmnesford from the Register's-Office of that Couple Morris and Betts and Groom their Apparitor fit Companions in their Spiritual Court swore he saw the Administration under Seal of the Court and granted to Thomas Shortland by the Defendant as Surrogate when they knew all was false as God is true and that not the Defendant but Gilbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the Prerogative-Court where the Defendant was never concern'd in his Life and Marcus Cottle not Morris nor Betts Registers and under the Seal of the Arch-Bishop Of such Vexations and Grievances the Defendant humbly complains but smartly and warmly too in his Letters to the Bishop and humbly entreats the Bishop either to give him reparation for the Damages he has causelessly been put unto or if he would stand upon the Plea of his Innocence and Justification that he would please to give this Defendant the Benefit of righting himself by Law Hah And that the said Bishop would be pleased to wave his Priviledg and give Appearance to the Desendants Attorney Mr. Coleman Hah and come in amongst the rest of the Conspirators and Plotters against the Defendants righteous Name and Reputation Hah And that all these Mischiefs had their rise from that old inveterate piece of Malice Hah Sir John Shaw Hah who without any lawful Power or Authority Hah had taken clandestine Affidavits Hah in his House Hah about Barretry Hah
Jura Lyndwood in Con. Oth. quid ad ven v. corrigend Then 2 dly For the Bowings Noddings to the East to the Altar to the Wax-Candles Is it not bold and daring c. to set up or countenance Ceremonies against the King's Laws and Acts of Uniformity that were never of God's making nor of the King and Parliament's making Is not this bold daring and abominably impudent Then 3dly To recommend in a printed Paper Canons for the Clergy to observe the 65 66 and 3 of the Canons of Forty when there never was any such in the World And as for these Lambeth Canons that to make all the Republicks in the World our Enemies falsely assert that Monarchy is Jure divino by the prime Law of Nature and at large confuted in Naked Truth 2d Part. It was Impudence in the Clergy to make that first-of-the Lambeth-Canons at first and greater Ignorance that a whole Convocation should be no wiser and yet so bold daring and impudent as to impose upon the Clergy and Lay-People such Vntruths and Falshoods as are in that first Article of the Constitutions of Forty but strangely bold daring and impudent for any Man at this day to justify vindicate recommend or defend them The Naked Truth 2d Part has confuted the Vanity and Ignorance of the Convocation in that first Article of their Lambeth-Canons or Constitutions of Forty against all Contradiction and beyond the Skill of all the Bishops and Clergy of England to answer at least hitherto they have slept quietly upon 't and shall a single Bishop and one of the youngest Sort too revive them and yet cannot justify the very first of them which is not the worst of them neither as is fully and particularly and at large proved by the Defendant in his former Works and condemn'd by the great Wisdom of the Nation in an Ordinance This 't is for Men to stand on the utmost Pinacle of the Temple and oversee and command all others when a lower Seat of the Church would be as well or more easily supplied by them What Mischief to the Church in all Ages has it brought To make Boy-Cardinals and Boy-Bishops and Novices great before they be good and to command wiser Men than themselves Like Fresh-water and Courtier-Captains of Ships and yet know not Larboard from Starboard or how to right the Helm nay perhaps can neither box nor so much as say their Compass and yet these must be Pilots and Governors 't is the Ruin of the Fleet. Or to set up or prop a Church of Christ with the unsuitable and rotten Props of Cruelty and Force as if Christianity destroyed what it came to amend Humanity or that to be a Christian Governor is to be an inhumane Devil good for nothing but to run up and down seeking whom he may devour and worse than Turks Jews Heathens and Infidels It is this Ecclesiastical Policy that has ruin'd the most resplendent Empire of the Christian World Spain not so terrible in her inexhaustible Treasures and Indie-Mines as formerly in her Warlike Hands yet How contemptible now how depopulated how despicable to all their Neighbours that were so formidable so latley to England and the Christian World How did King James court them and King Charles the First humble himself in hopes of an Alliance with Spain What cringing Letters upon this Hope were writ to his Holiness what Complements for I hope they were not in earnest to Pope Gregory the 15th that Wretch Sanctissime Pater Beatitudinis vestrae Literas c. Nunquam tanto quo ferimur studio nunquam tam arcto tam indissolubili vinculo ulli mortalium conjungi cuperemus cujus odio Religionem prosequeremur c. Vt sicut omnes unam individuam Trinitatem unum Christum crucifixum confitemur in unam Fidem coalescamus Quod ut assequamur labores omnes atque vigilias Regnorum etiam atque Vitae pericula parvi pendimus c. Bless us what Promises are here of Propensity to Rome even to the Hazard of Life Kingdoms and All in devotion to his Blessedness so he is friled who will not stir a Step from his Infallibility one would think that to have met him half way had been Devotion enough in all Conscience Reason Scripture Law or Equity and for such mighty and wise Kings and Princes too you 'll say as were King James and King Charles the First in so I hope never to be again imitated Condescension and Submission It makes my Heart ake to think on 't or read the Letters published at length by the indefatigable Mr. Rushworth as before quoted and all the Pope's Demands signed by the King and Prince p. 73. of his Historical Collect. Part 1. And all this for what For the Spanish Match And now Spain is glad to woo instead of being wooed glad to court and address instead of receiving Addresses glad with Gifts Pensions even to the emptying of their Inexhaustible Treasure beggar themselves and keep themselves poor and pennyless to keep Cart on Wheels nay and all will scarce do neither And why and why They are depopulated by the Inquisition the Severity and Persecution according to Law tho And their Trade is decayed by reason of their foppish and numerous Holy-Days or Play-days Families are needy and starved because not suffered to work upon the Six Days whereon God says thou shalt labour That were it not that the Indian Mines did supply them with merconary Souldiers poor Refuge to trust unto God knows they had given up the Ghost long ago And now do not they gape for Help or some poor Comfort like Men drawing on or at the last Gasp Nay I my self know scarce any Man better that if there were War betwixt England and Spain which few Men desire in this Conjuncture Jamaica and the Wind-ward Islands alone are ten Men to one of all the natural Spaniards in the Indies and without the help of England either in Men or Ships Money or Ammunition could I know what But I 'le reserve it to another Season I know on what Score the brave Raleigh was sacrificed to Gundamore's Revenge the Spanish Embassador Yet some Politicians the Scholars and Disciples of Nat. Thomson L'Estrange and Heraclitus think that the best Way to keep a Kingdom quiet is to depopulate jail them beggar them sham-plot them send them to the Devil and the Jail spoil all Trade discourage all Adventures to Sea as if Men were Dogs and good for nothing but to be hang'd And yet the wise Man found it true That Oppression makes a wise Man mad and with all his Wisdom and his Politicks he found too late that he was mated and bearded by his own Servant and he none of the best neither Jeroboam who taking advantage of the People's Discontent and Murmurings wanting only a Head to relieve themselves soon won eleven of the twelve Tribes from the Fool that would listen to no Advice no Address but that
Perdition For the love of Mony is the Root of all Evil which while some coveted after they have been seduced from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows 20. Rich. 2. The Commons complain to the King that the King kept so many Bishops about him in his Court c. and advanced them and their Followers An old complaint When the Devil tempted our Blessed Saviour shewed him the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Mat. 4. 8 9 10. Then Jesus said unto him Avoid Satan But how many of our Apostolical Men that vaunt themselves Successors of the Apostles do say as the Apostles did Acts 6. 2 4. It is not meet that we should leave the Word of God and serve Tables But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the ministry of the Word Ay Ay that 's a good Work the best Work and work enough and the most proper Work for Apostolical Men. We never read that any Apostle turn'd Action-Driver or Promoter surrounded with the black Regiment of Aparitors Proctors Hangmen and Jaylors Again what bold daring impudence is it for them to keep Courts and not in the Name and Style of the King contrary to 2. Edw. 1. if it be in force A Statute thought so necessary for the Reformation and so agreeable to the King's Supremacy in the wisdom of our Ancestors that one would wonder any good Subject should scruple at its observance much less live in contempt of it It is a Statute lawfully made and never repealed I know what Coke says of it and wherefore he durst say no more during the Tyranny of the High-Commission which High-Commission alone kept off all punishment from the Transgressors thereof an extrajudicial Judgment was once given against it But where is the Judg will declare against its force and say in Westminster-Hall that it is repealed I grant in Queen Mary's Reign all the Statutes against the Pope's Supremacy are repealed and her Repeal is repealed by Queen Elizabeth and King James But the Pope's Supremacy continues in France and yet Process Ecclesiastical might if the French King pleas'd run in his own Name and yet the Pope and he continue very good Friends and the Pope's Supremacy continue therefore the repealing the Statutes made against the Pope's Supremacy is no repeal of this Statute there goes more than general words to repeal a Law and such a Law If this Statute be repealed Why does not the Judges so declare it If it be in force no Name is bad enough nor any Punishment on this side Death for the wilful and stubborn Transgressors thereof and 't is my wonder that no Men in England will put it home to have it argued that it may not continue a Snare to the King's Subjects for if that Statute had not promis'd fair and most Learned Counsellors at Law of the same Opinion the Contest with Ecclesiastical Courts had never been continued against them for any thing but only because of their vile Extortions and Oppressions in high contempt of the Law of God and Man braving his Majesty's Laws his Statutes their own Canon Laws their own Table of Fees against Justice Conscience and Equity What is Impudence if this be not The King may seize their Temporalities for Contempt no wonder they frisk being so netled How they strive for Life And for the words in the last Count more need not be said than that it is ridiculous to insist upon them and therefore Sir Fran. Withins said They would take a Verdict only for the words in the first Count For instead of damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot their own little single Witness Harris swore against them namely Horrid Plot against my Righteous Name and Person though that word Person was false too for instead of Person it was Reputation and so did all the Witnesses agree never was such a Cause carried on the Testimony of so infamous a Man a Man of so bad Memory that could not tell his Tale right twice together nor twice the same way and therefore though he had not been proved infamous by that Noble Earl yet he ought not to have been believed against the Testimony of so many substantial Witnesses that if they were not crazy must needs have better Memories than he Lastly He swore for himself and in revenge and to get the Defendant's Benefice And yet the precious Jury would not only believe him against so many but would not only find the words that are not actionable in themselves as has been prov'd at large and beyond all contradiction For Men thus to ruin a Man and beggar him to enrich a Rich Man that has enough already one would think or at least as much as he deserves is so like the Parable in 2 Sam. 12. 1 2 3 4. of the Ewe-Lamb the poor Man's whole Substance lost at a clap that the Jury may thank God that they escape King David's Threat For David's Anger Ver. 5. was greatly kindled against the Man and he said to Nathan As the Lord liveth the Man that hath done this thing shall surely die And he shall restore the Lamb four-fold Mark that four times 2000 pounds How much is that 8000 l. because he did this thing and because he had no pitty To dishonour God by a rash Oath taking his Name in vain is but by our Law twelve pence for the temporal Punishment And to defame a Prelat that in comparison of God is but Worms-meat shall the temporal Punishment be no less than Imprisonment or 2000 l. in Mony Oh monstrous The Mercies of the Wicked are Cruelty But cruel Men should remember in time they may have cause to remember the wretched End of Empson and Dudley those grand Pick-pockets that from the Breach of old Statutes and Penalties did ruine Families Sir Richard Baker p. 247. tells us that their principal Working was upon Penal Statutes to use his Words they consider'd not whether the Law was obsolete or in use and had ever a Rabble of Promoters a brave Employ for a Person of Honour and leading Jurors mark that too at their Command They liv'd and they liv'd to be hang'd for their Pains after three long Years for so long God suffered them to drink the Tears of Widows and Orphans namely from Anno Dom. 1406 till 1409. And the Promoters mark that too Canby Page Smith Derby Wight Simson and Stockton 't is fit their loathed Names should be chronicled to all Posterity and so shall others too that drive the same Trade condemn'd to the Pillory and then to ride through the City with Papers on their Heads and their Faces towards the Horses-tails All seven died strangely in seven Days after in Newgate for very shame There 's an End a wretched End of a Pack of Wretches pack'd Jurors and Promoters The Righteous God will hear the Groans and Cries of the Widows and Orphans by unreasonable and wicked Men ruin'd and undone and will pay off the stony-hearted
Caitiffs that have lost all Bowels of Humanity and Compassion with a Vengeance That Atheists may know that there is a God that judgeth in the Earth and pays men in their own Coin This Adonibezek too late acknowledg'd when his Thumbs and great Toes were cut off the very same Cruelty which he had inflicted upon others And thus the Merciless that without remorse delight in the Ruin of a Man and his House palliating Revenge with an Hypocritical Deodand to ruin a Man and his Heritage when God has rewarded them in their own kind each of them over their own Ruines shall say with Adonibezek Judg. 1. 7. As I have done so God hath requited me For Truth hath said it They shall find Judgment without Mercy who have shewed no Mercy Tho this must be said in the behalf of that Jury that tho it was reported in London before the Trial what the Issue has prov'd yet it is also said that the Jury in so great a Fine as 2000 l. intended nothing therein of Prejudice to the Defendant but to bring him to a Submission in vindication of the Bishop's Credit which how true it is is Time will discover But in truth the Bishop's Reputation had been sufficiently and better vindicated if they had given credit to six substantial Witnesses who acquitted the Defendant that the Words in the Declaration were not spoken as they are laid rather than to that little Body who was prov'd upon Oath to be so infamous a Person by that Noble Earl and by his own Vouchers prov'd to have so little regard to his Duty which he ows to God to his own Soul and to his Parishioners and to his Oath of Residence in his said Perpetual-Vicarage as to leave them utterly and forsake them taking another Cure and Flock and leaving his own to the Care of one that was lately a silly Log-river and knows not well how to discharge his own Cure nor to read his Accidence And all this when not only all the said Witnesses for the Defendant did swear negatively that they did not hear such Words but positively swore that they heard the whole Discourse and writ down the Words immediatly upon Harris his false Recital of them and his bringing them in Writing to the Witnesses for them to subscribe which with abhorrence and astonishment they refused the Defendant being gone out of the Room before and knowing nothing thereof and also gone out of Town and the Witnesses of their own Accord writing down the true Words which they swore to and several more of the Company might have been brought to testify the same for tho there wanted no Endeavour by all means possible to gain but one Witness to back Harris his Evidence yet found they none At last came one single false Witness who will as 't is said be Indicted thereupon for Perjury for his Pains and Witnesses substantial Witnesses to prove it upon him let him claw it off as well as he can or his Friends to help him No Man is too great for the Law such Fellows must be made Examples of that swear thorow-stitch and become false Witnesses to get Naboth's Vineyard from him when it can be done no other way must it be done by a single Son of Belial Naboth had yet the Honour to fall by two Sons of Belial Hard Case Must the Defendant be ruin'd by one alone and such an one and one so infamous Nay there was not only two against Naboth but also there was not six positive Witnesses for him as there was for this Defendant to swear positively that they were in Company all the Time and heard all the Words which were not so but so and so And lastly were this little-Blade of Fortune rectus in Curiâ nor had any Design upon the Defendant's Vineyard and never so honest yet it is against positive Scripture and God's holy Word for the Jury to bring in a Verdict thereupon against the Defendant as the Defendant well told them because against an Elder an Accusation ought not to be received but at the Mouth of two or three Witnesses And neither Common-Law Statute-Law Civil-Law Canon-Law no nor the Bishop of Rome himself can give the Jury a Dispensation against God's holy Word and that they will find one Day for so wilful a Sin and so fairly forewarn'd thereof by the Defendant God forgive them It is ill for Men that are but Worms-meat to sin wilfully and in defiance of the Holy Will and Word of their Creator In the Interim tho the Sabeans and Caldeans ruin'd Job yet they were but Instruments the Defendant sees the Finger of God therein and says with Job The Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. The World shall find in this World God's righteous Justice that 's my Faith and in this Case particularly wherein God's Truth is concerned against the Cruelties Oppressions and apparent bold and impudent Extortions and illegal Fees of the Ecclesiastical Fellows so unanswerably revealed by the Defendant in relief of the Kings Subjects who are in behalf of their Souls plagu'd with their Anathema's and Excommunications in behalf of their Bodies hurried afterward to Jails in behalf of their Purses Liberties and Estates so mangled by this Nest at Doctors-Commons and all the Kingdom over by Birds of the same Feather that no wonder they flock together to ruine the Man that will be the Ruine of their wicked Trade and all the Powers on Earth will not long uphold them to live thus as they do in publick and daily defiance of the King's Laws in Oppressions illegal Fees and Extortions in open contempt of the many Statutes made against them and now in force if any be in force surely they are as much in force as that of 2 Rich. 2. about Scandal Magnat made when the Prelates Popish Prelates were rampant alas alas too rampant both Laymen and Clergy-men little Clergy-men were more afraid of them than of Serpents Toads Tygers or Wolves and well they might for those venemous Creatures and ravenous Brutes were less dangerous less mischievous and less fierce and cruel than those Prelates when they got a Man at advantage Do you mark me I say those Prelates do not catch mind the Colloquium before-going of Popish Prelates we are speaking of Popish Prelates that were more mischievous more inexorable and hard-hearted than Snakes Tygers Bears Dogs or Wolves or any other persecuting Worry-Sheep or cruel Blood-hounds And yet those mind what I say Popish Prelates with all their Suspensions Curses Anathema's and Excommunications and such kind of Thunder were esteemed by wise Men even in these Days saving your Presence Sir-reverence a meer Crack-fart Pope Paul the Third excommunicated our King Henry the Eighth with such a Pope's Bull that the Historian says the like was never known before nor since No wonder he bellow'd and roar'd so for take a greedy Ecclesiastick by the Pocket and hinder his Cheat and Extortions as Hen. 8. did and you
complain against them in the Name of the Commons of England and to perswade the King not to disoblige his People for the sake of a few Court-Prelats But do you think that that unthinking King would hear them And did not he lose their Hearts thereby And did they not all join with an Vsurper against him that had no Title to the Crown nor a thousand Men at first when he landed One says well Lege Historiam ne sias Historia Let us observe the History of Times past lest our inconsiderate Actions fill the Chronicles of Times to come Let us remember Rehoboam and Richard 2d I dare say the Defendant does not so much as in a wish regret what 's past for all things shall work together for good c. 'T is only short-sightedness and want of Faith in God that makes Men stag and despond Nay no good thing will he with-hold from them that desire to walk uprightly And what unrighteousness has the malice of the Adversary been able to prove against Mr. Hickeringill and yet there are Man-catchers enough that have perverted his words which were but due and just Reproofs against a wicked foolish and perverse Generation The Defendant has cause if any other have more cause to say with Holy David Psal 37. 4 6. My Soul is among Lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire and the Sons of Men that are set on fire whose Teeth are Spears and Arrows and their Tongue a sharp Sword They have prepared a Net for my steps my Soul is bowed down They have digged a Pit before me in the midst whereof they are fallen themselves God shall send from Heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up He travaileth with Iniquity and hath conceived Mischief and brought falshood Hide me secretly in thy Pavilion from the strife of Tongues until this Tyranny be overpast My Enemies in the Hebrew Man-catchers would daily swallow me up for they be many that fight against me oh thou most High Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil yet have I not refrained to declare thy Truth to the great Congregation and therefore they gather themselves together they hide themselves they mark my steps when they wait for my Soul Psal 22. 12 13 16 19 20 21 22. Many Bulls have compassed me strong Bulls of Bashan have beset me round They gaped upon me with their Mouths yea the very abjects gathered themselves against me making mouths at me and ceased not For Dogs have compassed me the Assembly of the Wicked have inclosed me Deliver my Soul from the Sword my Darling from the power of the Dog Save me from the Lion's Mouth And then I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren In the midst of the Congregation I will praise thee Psal 56. 7 8 9 3 10 11. Shall they escape by Iniquity In thine Anger cast down the People oh God Thou tellest my wandrings put thou my Tears into thy Bottle Are they not in thy Book When I cry unto thee then shall mine Enemies turn back This I know for God is for me What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In God will I praise his Word in the Lord will I praise his Word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what Man can do unto me Psal 57. 1. In the shadow of thy Wings will I make my Refuge until these Calamities be overpast Psal 58. 6 7 8 9 10 11. Break their Teeth O God in their Mouths c. The Righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the Vengeance He shall wash his Feet in the Blood of the Wicked so that a Man shall say verily there is a Reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But of all the whole Book of Psalms there is not one Psalm better suits his Condition or administers more Comfort than every Verse of Psal 94. It was when David hid himself and play'd Bo-peep 1 Sam. 23. 14 15. in the Wilderness of Ziph in a Wood. He fled not from Goliah when hand to hand but he would not contend with the Power of the King and yet he did study Self-preservation Who can blame him against combin'd malice And wherefore were David's Enemies so malicious not for any fault of mine he saith Psal 59. 2 3. for loe they lie in wait for my Soul the Mighty are gathered together against me not for my Transgression nor for my Sin O Lord for they compassed him about with words of Hatred and fought against him Psal 109. 3. without a cause Yet though they compassed him about yea they compassed him about yet he had Faith to say Psal 118. 11 12. that though they compassed him about like Bees stinging stingy and in Swarms yet in Faith he said in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them Ay but when might some say to David When can you tell us that for to a carnal Eye there was little probability of it Nay in the very next Onset Psal 118. 13. Thou hast saith he thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me That whole 118 Psalm is spoken of Christ and his Kingdom under the Type of David and his Sufferings typified and his Resurrection and Ascension by David's Victory at length then God had delivered him from the hands of all his Enemies it was long first he was glad to fly for it first and from the Hand of Saul But at length Vers 22. of that 118 Psalm the Stone which the Builders refused typified of Christ and verified also in David the same is become the Head of the Corner This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes In Mr. Hickeringill's Retirement his Muse the Heavenly and only Companion of his Solitude compos'd this Psalm an Infallible Antidote if sanctified against all Discontent the common Plague of Mankind Sorrows and Fears And which for that purpose he sent since his Fiery-Tryal to his most dearly beloved Wife to Confirm her not to Bishop her but to strengthen her against the Bishop's Promotions and Suits which for the Publick-Good or Common-Weal I here publish viz. THat which disquiets most Poor Mortals here Is not the Pains they feel but what they fear And what we fear Either it will not come Or else sooner may come our fatal Doom And free us lodging us in our Long-Home Where neither Bishops nor his Clerks will come To wrack us any more Then do not whine The present Good or Ill alone is thine But what 's i' th' depth of future Times can'st tell Thou Fool for thou the Morrow know'st not well Nor where thou shal't to morrow be nor tell Whether on Earth thou'lt be in Heaven or Hell Let Fools and Knaves then for the Morrow pine And fear they know not what nor can divine And let the morrow for its self
take care Sufficient for the day its Evils are But enough of this at present at least let us in the next place consider the Doughty Articles sworn by six Doctor's-Commons Reverend Fellows called Proctors on which was bottom'd and founded a Supplicavit namely ARTICLES OF THE Good Behaviour Exhibited in the Court of our Lord the King before the King at Westminster against Edmond Hickeringill Rector of All-Saints in Colchester in the County of Essex Clerk for several Misdemeanours by him committed Imprimis THat in Trinity Term last Articles were Exhibited against the said Edmund Hickeringill in the Arches Court of Canterbury for Clandestine Marriages at the promotion of Henry Lord Bishop of London of which high Crimes he still 〈…〉 and he said Edmund Hickeringill did several Court days make his 〈…〉 said Court and behaved himself irreverently and did affront 〈…〉 said Court and more particularly 20th of Jan. Anno vicessimo tertio of 〈◊〉 King did again make his Appearance in the said Court then held in the common â—â— all of Doctors-Commons London by Sir Richard Lloyd Knight Doctor of Laws then sitting judicially in the said Court with many persons along with him or following him to the number of thirty or twenty Persons as they do verily believe Tho. Tillot Tho Smith Jur. ad predict primum Articulum Tho. Tyllet Tho. Smith in cur die predict Hillar Anno xxxiii o coram codem Rege 2. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill did on the said twentieth of January then and there behave himself in the Court of Arches then sitting as aforesaid very indecently and insolently to the Court keeping his Hat on tho by the Judg of the same Court several times monished to the contrary and then the Officer of the said Court by the Judg his Command taking off his Hat he put it on again in a contemptuous manner Tho. Tyllot Tho. Smith Cha. Tuckyr Jur. ad predict secundum Articulum Tho. Tyllet Tho. Smith Carolus Tuckyr in cur die Anno supradict 3. Item The said Edmund Hickeringill then very sawcily and impudently declaring to the Judg of the said Court of Arches That if the Arch-bishop himself was there he would not stand uncovered Jo. Miller Tho. Stoker Char. Turkry Jur. id predict tertium Articulum Johannes Miller Tho. Stokes Carolus Tucker in cur die Anno supradict 4. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill in the open Court there among other opprobious and abusive Language then used by him to the Court said it was no Court by Law and that they had no power to call him before them and that perhaps the Court of Arches might do him a Mischief but that they never had done any good or he used words to that Effect Tho. Stoker John Coker Jurad predict quartum Articulum Tho. Stokes Johannes Coker in cur die Anno supradict 5. Item That the said Edmund Hickeringill did then in a moct opprobrious manner tell the Judg of the said Court that Toads had Poison in them but had an Antidote also that Vipers had Poison in them but their Flesh was an extraordinary Medicine or to that effect and that every the vilest or worst of God's Creatures had something of good in it saving that Court which he then said never did any good nor ever would or to that effect and that the Persons or many of them that came into the said Court of Arches with the said Edmund Hickeringill laughed aloud at what the said Hickeringill said and followed him out of the said Court with great Noise and laughed to the great Disturbance of the said Court Tho. Smith John Coker Jur. ad predict quintum Articulum Tho. Smith Johannes Coker in cur die Anno supradict In Banco Regis Westminster Dominus Rex versus Edmund Hickeringill Clericum JEremy Ives Cheesmonger and Citizen of London Joseph Ashhurst Draper and Citizen of London and Samuel Wells Mercer and Citizen of London do depose as followeth viz. That on the twentieth day of January in the three and thirtieth Year of this King these Deponents were personally present in the Court commonly called the Arches held in Doctors-Commons London when Mr. Edmund Hickeringill Rector of the Rectory of All Saints in Colchester made his Appearance there and heard the whole Discourse and saw the Actions and Demeanours that passed betwixt Sir Richard Lloyd Official there and the said Mr. Hickeringill during his stay there and that the said Sir Richard commanded the said Mr. Hickeringill to put off his Hat which he refused to do whereupon the said Sir Richard commanded an Officer to take off Mr. Hickeringill's Hat which he delayed to do saying he was afraid that Mr. Hickeringill would have an Action against him for so doing but the said Sir Richard again and again encouraging him at length he pull'd off Mr. Hickeringill's Hat two or three times the said Mr. Hickeringill putting it on so often as his Hat was return'd to him mildly telling the said Sir Richard at the same time that it was not Pride Insolence nor any design to affront them that made him then to be covered but a sence of his Duty except they would own their Court to be the King's Court and that they sate there by the King's Authority and Commission and consequently would make out their Citations Acts and Processes in the Name and Stile of the King according to the Statute and that then but not till then no Man should pay them more Reverence and Respect than He but the said Official not asserting their Court to be the King's Court and as aforesaid to be kept in the King's Name and Stile and by his Authority Mr. Hickeringill would not be uncovered saying That it was against the Oath of Canonical Obedience against the Oath of Supremacy against the Canons and the Statutes to own any Court Ecclesiastical but what sate by the King's Authority and Commission and acted in the Name and Stile of the King And if that Court of Arches was only the Arch-bishop's Court He the said Mr. Hickeringill durst not nor would he be uncovered before the Arch-bishop himself if he were present because it is contrary to their own Canon-Law and the Oath of Canonical Obedience for a Presbyter to stand bare-headed in presence of any Bishop or he used words to the like effect Saying that if they could argue his Hat off his Head by Statute-Law Canon Law Civil-Law or Common-Law it should be at their Service and he would stand bare-headed before them or he used words to the like effect And the said Mr. Hickeringill during his whole stay there used no other Actions nor Speeches that might give just Offence unless the said Sir Richard took Offence when he at the same time said That every Creature that God made was good and had some good in it that a Pearl was sometimes found in the Head of a Toad and the Toads Flesh is an Antidote against its own Venom And the best Cordial
your Cause even in your own opinion if you dare not upon so fair Terms let go the catching hold you have got and take fair hold when you may assure your Mony your Costs your Credit and your Dammages all now desperate only by playing the Prize over again once more before indifferent and equal Judges and you shall have Mony of me too for playing the Prize again with a naked single Priest friendless helpless but not hopeless though you are arm'd with all your Power Friends Riches and consequently Learned Counsel High Places and Interest and flush'd also with your late Victory and Success I 'le venture all I have in the World upon this Contest if you will stake an equal Gage What Shall such a Man as I am be run down with one little single ill thriven infamous Priest against God's Holy Word and so many substantial Witnesses nay a Priest that cannot tell his own Tale off-book with the exactness uniformity and docillity of a Parrot The World cries shame on 't and of such a Jury Nay further I here promise that I will surcease the prosecution of that same Harris in order to convict him of Perjury 'till first this new Tryal be over he shall have his beggarly Ears a little longer on this condition That 's some comfort for this Episcopal Witness These are the certain Benefits and Honour you may be assured of by consenting to a new Trial And if you do not consent I doubt not but the Judges will grant me a new Trial whether you will or no at the Term upon such Suggestions as I shall make to them and upon such Motives as has been prevalent with them in other Cases and why I should not have Justice nay their Countenance too more than vile Extortioners Oppressors or their Abettors and Partakers I do not understand I believe I shall live to see the day that Judges will value the Oath of a Judg and have no respect of Persons in Judgment though never so great Oh! for Judg Hales at this day and in this Affair or if they warp will warp on the right side and countenance the innocent Sufferer for telling Men of their Sins and not warp in confederacy with the Sinners and grand Contemners of the King's Laws who are very ignorant or else bold daring and impudent to act so contrary to Law in vile Extortions c. At a fair Hearing my Lord you can never justify the Wrongs you have done me in despight of his Majesty's Laws and God's Laws where is Mr. Withins with his dumb shows to give Item hereof His dumb shows could not keep him in the Parliament-House from his Knees How can you answer the invading of my Legal Rights by an Illegal Sequestration contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right How can you answer it to turn Promoter in the Spiritual Court Is it for a Bishop to be a Striker that is an Action-Driver or Promoter and to strike with his two edged Sword and hack and hew both ways as you have hack'd me in Spiritual Court and Temporal Courts Ecce duo gladii The Popishgloss says Temporal and Spiritual Sword but what is that to you How can you answer it to vex me in despight of a Premunire with Law-Suits and Accusations of Barrety in the Spiritual Courts as you have done in defiance of the many Statutes of Provisors Are you above the Law are you indeed we will try that one day It is no Scandalum Magnatum to say that greater Men than you ever were or ever shall be have been glad to kneel and submit their sturdy Necks to the Laws of England How can you answer it to vex me in the Spiritual Court for Barretry in those very Instances whereof I have been honourably acquit upon a fair Hearing in the Courts of our Lord the King How can you answer it as Promoter to cite me and prosecute me in the Name of Robert Wiseman Doctor and Knight or I know not who from my Home my Employment my Cure that you ought to further not hinder and not in the Name and Style of the King as enjoyned 2. Edw. 6. 1. a Statute that I doubt not but to make good against you all and then what will become of you all How can you answer it when you were or might be convinc'd at the King's Head in Colchester that Martin and Groome c. your Apparitors who forswore themselves against me and against the Ecclesiastical Records and Registries still to countenance the Prosecution And when I was acquit honourably still to vex me again and turn Promoter to plague me for Crimes of which I was prov'd Innocent and to vex me in a Court that cannot take cognizance thereof and have incurr'd the danger of a Premunire for the vexation you have done me therein causelesly and for the illegal Prosecution for you as Promoter swore Witnesses to those Articles and cited I was at your Promotion to attend your Motions thereon at Lexden Manent altâ mente repostum when time shall serve you shall hear on 't And when you had plagu'd me almost a Year with these Barretry-Articles then they dwindled only to Marriages without Banes or not paying your Registers or your under-Officers Mony as I used to do for Blanck-Licenses or marrying too cheap this is the worst inconvenience thereof and I think that I can prove that I have as much or more Authority to give Blank-Licences then your Lay-Vicar Doctor Exton or your Lay-Registers a fine World when Matrimony must be the Benefit of those Gray-Fryars instead of the Benefit of the Clergy because the Hermophrodites buy their Places or hire them Besides There is not a Minister in our Town or almost in the whole Country but does the same and why do not you turn Promoter against them also if Justice be not only the Pretence but malice spleen and revenge at the bottom why do you make fish of one and flesh of another why a Picque at mee only or is it because none of them had the Wit or at least not the Grace nor honesty nor courage to discover the Ecclesiastical Corruptions which you are too privy unto and ought to amend and not boulster them up I am ashamed on t and so may others too in time and of such grand Partiality Besides those poor five couples which I am accused off for marrying without Banes first published in time of divine-service in the Parish-Church or Churches is a fault impossible to be avoided for else the couples could never have been Legally and in strictness of Law marryed having no Parish-Churches nor any divine-service at that time and yet your Procters in the Articles swore they were high crimes Oh! My Lord would you be willing to be so serv'd and to be so done by as you have done by me to be plagu'd vext and suspended of your Benefice and Office three years for transgressing the Rubrick in the Common-Prayer-Book which you so dayly
opened It is not to be done now in England If we may judg at the Minds of the People more by the last Parliaments than the last Addresses which I like well enough of But were there not as many and as numerous Subscriptions to that Usurper Richard Protector nay more zealous Expressions and Promises But when he needed them not a Man stood by him I know the case is vastly different but not different in zealous Promises and Protestations But as little Rivulets alter their Motions to follow the great Tyde and the Stars obey the motion generally of the Primum Mobile though they may have some little excentrick motions of their own For whatever the generality of this Nation does affect or disaffect it shall become a Law it is naked Truth Oh! but we have a Law and Act of Vniformity and must not Laws be put in Execution I answer No not with partiality but either hand all or save all either punish all Nonconformists or none make not Fish of one and Flesh of another say In your Conscience and Honour is there any Conscience or Honour in this Partiality Hang it It breeds ill Blood Shall a Non-conformist-Bishop send Men to the Devil for Non-conformity Hey-day where live we Besides Cruelty Severity and Persecution does ill become a Protestant Bishop the Servant of the Lord should not strive but with meekness instructing not Jayling nor Cursing those that oppose mark that themselves Should they indeed Curse them and Jayl them and send them to the Devil by Excommunication and tossing them to the Magistrate as nimbly as if they were but Tennisballs and all this Racket about a Moot-case or Mony matter by Significavits in order to Jayl them And then the nimble Magistrate tosses them to the Bishop again As the Justices of Middlesex admonish or desire you in their late printed Declaration to deliver Men to Satan by Excommunication that so also and likewise they may not be capable of suing for their lawful Debts nor be Competent Witnesses nor Jury-men nor Testators This is no Persecution to speak of but except death what is worse Nay 't is worse than Death to be thus us'd for a Bawble Time was when I writ Curse ye Meroz that I was just of those Mens scandling And in this particular had no more wit than Sir George Jefferies who then admir'd my folly for such it was as all Men admire those things that sit their own size their pitch and their attainment their honour and their scantling But I confess my Lord at that time I knew no better How does Interest blind the Eyes of the wisest 'till I consider'd the Golden Rule of our Saviour in this case of doing as we would be done unto And how loth we should be that the rigour of Law should be exacted for our Non-conformity or Premunires And that Empson and Dudley were hang'd for being so rigerous against the general sence in exacting the penalty of Statutes in force too Some Justices now admire this Policy Hullou Let them go on They got the Law in their own Hand Time was when I look'd upon all Non-conformity to proceed from Humour Frowardness Self-conceit or Design rather than from tenderness of Conscience the mock of Atheists that have none until I had impartially weighed their Arguments which I could never as yet meet with any Man that was able to answer if you can you understand more than I. No not that Argument of King Charles the First mentioned just before the last Verses of my Black Nonconformist concerning Conscience God's Throne And therefore refrain Do not like the Giants attempt to scale Heaven the Babel is in vain to boot though Pope and Devil High-Commission or Inquisition should confederate against Conscience God's Throne it is hard for such Persecuting Saul's to kick against the Pricks Besides the great Friend of Persecutors innuendo the aforesaid Devil usually leaves them as he does Witches when he had brought them to the Gallows I do not desire you should in a sowr humour turn the Cordial Wine in this Letter to Vinegar and cavil at it as formerly and make it my Accuser but do if you have the boldness for I will justify it to a Tittle and that there is no Scandalum Magnatum in it to any but the Wicked who have most need on 't and therefore much good may it do them There is a Divine Nemesis a Divine Vengeance the Heathens could say that pursues bloody and cruel Men they shall not live out half their days like that Heathen Adonibezeck I shall live to hear them say As I have done so God hath required me And my Lord you have not such Enemies under Heaven in time you will believe me as these Ecclesiastical Fellows that egg you on and hearten you on to stalk as their Promoter for their own little and baser Ends and Gain in their dear-bought Offices and Places to these harsh Methods so below the dignity of a Bishop saying What will become of Discipline what of the Church Fie on them What care they for Discipline that as well as they love Mony coine but little out of Whores and Rogues Swearers Drunkards Tories and Blasphemers except of a poor Whore now and then but Mony will redeem or buy off a white Sheet But if there be a consciencious Non-conformist they coin him presently or if he will not down with his Dust and ready Darby then curse him and Jayl him Brave doings and yet what Wretches in England are greater contemners of the King's Laws than they or greater Oppressors And how can you answer it to talk of Discipline and Excommunication and be a Promoter and yet not deliver these Fellows to the Devil amongst other vile Sinners What has the House of Prayer to do with a Den of Thieves For shame for shame for shame of the World and speech of People abhominate this Partiality or pretend to no Discipline at all The very Heathen Romans did so hate Partiality that Brutus sacrificed his Son to Justice And shall a Christian nay a Protestant nay a Protestant Bishop be guilty of Partiality and draw his two-edged Sword against some Dissenters and some Non-con's and some that marry without Blanck-Licences or Banes and yet connive at others nay at the impudent contempt of the King's Laws in Extortions and Oppressions and illegal Fees of his own Servants and Officers just in his Eye and under his Nose It admits no Answer no Cavil to evade it A Premunire is not harsh for harsh Men and partial and unjust cruel Men. Augustus busy to reform the State blusht when a Peasant bid him go home and reform his own House first his Wife and Daughters being the veryest Whores in Rome Whose Vices what Sins what Oppressions does your Discipline-mongers correct no not their own good doings the while when Vice corrects Sin nay it does not that neither if there be Friendship Tory-ship Tantivee-ship or Mony
no man dare make any such suggestions for the future and may such Earwigs also be banish't to any part of Earth or into the Earth rather than thus to plague a King and Kingdom at this rate in all Ages and vex and grieve his Sacred Majesty and his Parliaments what a pother and a doe have Parliaments had with these Tantivies in all Ages And how ruinous and ruful were the Consequents I know not whither you my Lord can remember But I can by woful experiment you said you begun to know me now you know me better and I know you in part I hope I shall know you better the onely design of this Letter I wish Synods and Lambeth Convocations and Bishops would keep to their Bibles and mind their own business work enough in conscience for 1000 Bishops in England if they would stoop to be Conformists to the Act of Uniformity and more than a thousand Bishops can legally perform if there were so many in England for there was a greater number in a far less spot of ground in Africa Contemporaries with S. Austin the Bishop of little Hippo that was never so big as Islington which is not impossible nay if we had a thousand Bishops in England they could not at all do the confirming work alone let alone the Work in the House of Lords and at the Councel-Board and their promotions at Doctors Commons and ther Actions Suites and Declarations and Libels as Action-drivers and Promoters and Visitations and vexations of ruinous consequence to the Projectors as well as to the Kingdom such as the Tantivie Doctrine of Manwaring and little Laud that had better minded his Book his excellent Book against Fisher then to turn Politick-Engineer and Master-Gunner in planting of Canons against the Fundamental Laws that such Tantivies are not skill'd in but if they read but of a King in Scripture though it be Rehoboam that Fool or Caesar that Heathen then Heysday for the Pulpit or the Synod Hey for Lambeth and the Canons of 40. But you will say what have I to do a Priest also with these State-matters ' To which I answer 1. These State-matters improperly or foolishly handled by your Tantivee-Archbishop Laud and your Tantivees Bishops that would have been Sybthorp and Manwaring and by your Tantivee Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 was by you justified in your publick Visitation and before the Mayor hnd Aldermen of Colchester and the greatest part of the Gentlemen of the Town and Clergy of that Precinct and for you boldly to recommend or justifie this Tantivie-Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 I know not whether all the Clergy you have or any Friend in England would have thus adventur'd suo periculo to awake you out of this Tantivee-dream in which as in the old disease the Plague of English-men and of English-men only called Suder Anglicus or the English-sweating-sickness if you sleep in it 't is mortal if you had a hundred thousand lives and I think you are beholden to me above all mankind him that you have thus vext above all mankind for nothing but the cause the cause of the Kingdom the cause and Fundamaentl-Laws scoff't at and derided by none but drunken Tories and Sack-posset-Tantiviees that cry brother let me pledge thee Brother Sybthorp Brother Two Livings Brother Manwaring Brother Arch-Laud they will be loath to follow him though at the long run and latter end But it is that we must all come to If we be Tantivees therefore as you love your self my Lord and me Let me hear no more in my part of Essex any more Commendations Justifications Aggravations or Recommendations of this ignorant Synod and Tantivee-Convocation of Lambeth in their Constitutions of 40 nor of any such Synod-men that were never lick't into Form-Political let them tell Sacred Stories of God and Christ I but no more Politick Canons of 40. against the Fundamental Laws if you love me or my betters innuendo your Lordship for one 2. This Politick-Lecture of State-matters begun by you and your Lambeth-Synod has been a Plaguyvexation to our Kings and Parliaments in all Ages read the History of the Barons Wars in King John's Reign Hen. 2. Hen. 3. The Edwards The Richard's the Henry's I had almost said The Charle's By what I have said you read the said Bickerings in the Reigns of King Charles I. and our present Soveraign King Charles the II and His Loyal House of Commons then which never any King was more Happy than He in that yet though chosen in a time of Languishing Expectation after the Prosits and Benefits of a King which we had too long wanted they were English-men still And he 's an Ass that expects a fitter juncture or more auspicious Election for the choice of Parliament to carry on any Designs but what are Catholick and according to the Good Old Cause I mean the Fundamental Laws which not a few swearing and beggarly Pamphleting Tories and unthinking and very impudent Tantivees and withal very ignorant are able to defeat though they draw down their Canons of 40 which I thought had been nail'd and damn'd and ram'd 40. years ago by the Tories Themselves and Tantivees to whom they prov'd so fatal will men never take warning must Parliaments always be plagu'd with these Earwiggs and Tantivees Flaterers and Court Sycophants and Blesphemous Insinuators of Divinity into Humanity by a most Atheistical Invention of a New Hypostatical Vnion But the Holy Trinity admits no Partners though the Priests teach us or inculcate never so villanously traiterously falsely illegally unscripturely irrationally or blasphemously It is a high shame that 's the truth on'c that such Tantivee-Doctrines should thrive and such as stand up for the Ancient Laws and Liberties must suffer above all others 't is a shame power should be thus abused like a silk worm to ruin and consume its self to bedeck worse Vermin 't is a shame I will not venture to say any more but draw a Curtain over some mens shame because I will not show all their Nakedness I forbear my Lord I have done And leave you to think sadly to think and with sorrow I hope and repentance too for justifying this first Canon of the Constitutions of 40. those Chequer-works of different Hue black and white good and bad especially the First of them nigro carbene notamur let you and I remember that First fatal Canon of the 1. of the Constitutions of 40. that has been so mortal already and will still prove without very timely and immediate Repentance baneful to one of us or rueful to both of us or to this Kingdom State and Common-wealth But still you will object what have I to do to discuss these State-matters sit chiefly for a Parliament I answer That you have given the occasion the sad occasion It now becomes me and becomes necessary what before had been as impertinent as for a Bishop or Synod-man to meddle in the State-affairs But 2. Do you compare my