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
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
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
in the case Rare Discipline Let me hear no more talk of Discipline except it were better Where does one of all the Whores in England stand in a white Sheet for lying in polluted Sheets are they amicae Curiae Besides Tho to me it seems improbable that ever Popery should be the State-Religion yet it is possible that it may be so and then by this Act of Uniformity-Principle we must all be Papists or Mariyrs Then I think we have uniform'd sinely and have made a sine Scourge for our own Backs And well may the Inquisition-men stop our Mouths with our own Arguments and Methods unanswerably with Out of thine now Mouth will I judg thee thou wicked Servant But all this while I had almost forgot our old Friend Mr. Manwaring and his Sentence which was 7. That his said Book was worthy to be burnt and that his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be all burnt accordingly in London and both the Vniversities and for inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This was a true English-Parliament in 28 and not that of 40 nor 41 41 as the rascally-Hireling Pamphleteers thunder it Slaves like Esau that vilely sell their Birth-rights And all the Addressers in England can never chuse other than true English-men to defend their Liberties their Lives their Estates their Children and their Wives basely sold by Pensioners formerly tho the Tantivy-Slaves little deserve such a Parliament England is not frenchisied nor ever will never think on 't they 'll dye first a thousand Deaths if possible Men may as well talk of 21 and 28 and 71 or 91 as 41. For when we are dead our Children will be true free-born English-men and so dye if they be not Bastards Now my Lord compare the Crimes of the Laudian-Convocation of 40 for which you do so stickle and hate me and vex me ever since I opposed them Canon 1. with the Crimes of Manwaring charged upon him in Parliament by Mr. Rous namely a Plot and practice to altar and subvert the Frame and Fabrick of this Estate and Common-wealth 1. In labouring to infuse into the Conscience of his Majesty Oh! may such Ear-wigs never now come so near him the perswasion of a Power not bounding it self with Laws the very Crimes charged against Duke Lauderaale and the E. of Danby by the Loyal Long-Parliament they sate never the longer for that tho But what car'd they which King James of famous Memory calls in his Speech to the Parliament Tyranny yea Tyranny accompaned with Perjury where is your Jus Divinum now my Lord and your Prime-Law In your Constitutions of 40 See the Articles and Impeachment of Arch-bishop Laud. 2. In endeavouring to perswade the Conscience of the Subjects that they are bound to obey Commands illegal yea he damns them for not obeying them vide your Can. 1. of 40 to the same tune 3. In robbing the Subjects of the Propriety of their Goods vid. the Proceedings twelve Years together from 28 till 40 whilst Bishop Laud was a Minion and a Privy-Counsellour in Loanes you may call them Gifts for they were never repayed Ship-money Customs and such like If a High-way-man say with Sword in hand Come Friend I must borrow your Purse we had as good give it him as be cut 4. He brands them that will not lose this Propriety with most scandalous Speeches and odious Titles to make them both hateful to Prince and People so to set a Division between the Head and the Members and between Members themselves and how like my Lord are your Proceedings against me ever since you said you begun to know me when I spoke against your Canon and Constitution of 40. How have I been vext and plagu'd ever since a Martyr for the Publick-weal against your Canons of 40 by your Promotions Citations Processes Ecclesiastical about Fiddle-faddle Suspensions Excommunications except I would pay a Guinny which I did Suits Articles Libels Actions Informations Whispers to Judges and Great Men Supplicavits Informations in the Crown-Office Defamations as a Person convicted of Perjury Declarations and now an outragious and convicted Verdict of 2000 l. And yet for God's sake what one Evil have I done or who swears against me but the for-sworn Rogues Groom and Martin your Apparitors six Proctors Harris and Exton all Ecclesiastical Fellows And yet here 's no Plot belike against my righteous Name and Reputation I never was quiet one whole week together since that fatal time that your Lordship begun to know me Know me for what for what for what you shall know me till I dye against your Lambeth-Canons of 40 a true free-born English-man that hath a lusty Posterity and Estate for my Heirs and Heirs for my Estate if I can but keep it out of your Episcopal-Gripes and I 'le gage all I have chearfully upon this Quarrel and Difference the true cause of all our Differences ever since and more fit to be decided by a Parliament than a Tory Jury pickt and singled out If I had said as you said and as the Convocation of 40 said and as the Poor Clergy then present durst do no other than say It had been 2000 l. in my way and a better penny the Canons of 40. with a Curse and mischief attending them But no Bribes can tempt me nor Fears appale me as the Cardinal told the Pope of Luther when he refused a Cardinals Cap Germana illa bestia non curat aurum Therefore keep your Gifts to your self and your Threats too and reserve your High-Places and Preferments for Tantivies I am none nor for Threat or Money to be made a Slave or a Traitor to the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom and this as Mr. Rouse stiled it to the Speaker without Rebuke This State and Common-wealth not unlimited and absolute Monarchy but bounded within Laws not by prime Law of Nature nor by express Texts of Holy Scripture as falsly Can. 1. of your Constit 40. but by human Bargain Compact and Stipulation contracted and agreed unto betwixt the King and his People 5. To the same end not much unlike to Faux and his Fellows he seeks to blow up Parliaments and Parliamentary Powers God grant there be no such Vilanies alive at this day No such privy Earwiggs nor therein Successors of Laud. One would think a Bible should better become Bishops than unhinging of Governments and Fundamental Laws that the Sycophanis have no skill in thus unlike Apostolical-Men and leaving the Word of God to serve Tables Acts 6. 2 4. nay leaving it to do Mischief and get the Kingdom 's Curse and sometimes a Block for their Pains and unsuitable Albtro-Episcopal Mischief Hamlet King of Denmark was poysoned and kill'd by Poyson poured into his Ears as he lay carelesly and securely and supinely sleeping by his false Friends and Sychophants We are told this day by Nat. Tompson's Intelligence Numb 134. that John Wolf I
Skill or Learning or Vndeastanding in Laws and State-matters with meer Cassock men meer Synod-men that never yet were lick't into other Form or Fashion than their own Tantivee Will and Inclination undisciplin'd unrefin'd in Judgment by the study of the Law of the Land the study of men and the Laws and Tempers and Constitutions of Forreign Kingdoms more whereof I have seen than some Tantivee Circingles ever read off in Heylin's Geography if they have it And do you compare my Knowledg-Salt-water-Souldiers Knowledg in State-matters Do you compare us that have been Souldiers at least on this side the Water in times of Peace with meer Cassockmen I Hope there is no Compare at least the Comparison is as odious as groundless But I had almost forgot the Provost of Eaton where I left him Mr. Rous to the Speaker saying For a Conclusion to give you the true Character of this man Dr. Edward Manwaring whom I never saw I will shew it you by one whom I know to be contrary to him Samuel we know all to be a true Prophet now we read of Samuel that he writ the Law of the Kingdom in a Book and laid it up before the Lord. And this he did as Mr. Manwarings own Authors affirms That the King may know what to command and the People what to obey But Mr. Manwaring finding the Law of this Kingdom written in Books tears it in pieces and that in the presence of the Lord right Tantivee in a Pulpit that the King may not know what to command nor the People what to obey Thus Mr. Manwaring being contrary to a true Prophet must needs be a false One and the Judgment of a false Prophet mark that belongs to him I have shewed you an evil Tree that bringeth forth evil fruit and now it rests for you to determine whether the following sentence shall follow cut it down and cast it into the fire Thus have you seen my Lord what a Pother and a do these Clergymen have made in the Kingdom how Parliaments have been plagu'd with these Tantivee-Jehu's nay Kings most of all and themselves also the Rash Phaeton's setting the world in a flame by ambitiously mounting and driving switch and spur Gallop and Tantivee in a Chariot they have Pride to mount but no skill to drive sindging and burning themselves to boot in flames of their own kindling In your next Visitation I hope we shall hear no more of these Canons and Constitutions of 40 I wish it for my own sake that would avoid all occasions of Contests Differences Suits and Disputes with all men more especially with you but I wish it also more for your own sake you will most repent it in Conclusion if it take Air and be nois'd abroad so loud till it come to the Ears of the King and Parliament when we got one His Majesty has promis't his Subjects frequent Parliaments the Fundamental Laws which whosoever attempts to undermine and liker another Faux to blow up it will be his ruin and fall heavy on his head Better leave no Lands no Fields to our Heirs than Akeldama's only or Fields of Blood or else in base Tenure at the Will of the Lord much worse at the mercy of every Court Sycophant that may well beg us and our Estates for Fools if we be willing to part with our Fundamental Laws for Manwaring's Sycophantry or your so magnified Can. 1. of the Constitutions of 40. And in your next Visitation not my Sufferings will so far daunt the English-Clergy but that they will remember they are Englishmen not Scots nor Irish Tories nor Lambeth Canon-men especially when their Eyes are a little more opened with more Naked-Truth for Magna est veritas praevalebit Men will not long be blinded under pretence of Loyalty to abuse the King the Constitutions of the Kingdom and themselves and their Posterities nor be willing to bold their Liberties their Estates their Lives their Wives and their Livings ad nutum Episcopi no nor ad libitum Regis but ad libitum Legis Oh vile Slaves willing by cowardly Pedantry or ambitious Sycophantry to be Hoodwink't and led by the Nose to a certain Precipice and ruine or to have a Ring put through their Nose and led about like Bears for Sport or Collars about their Necks because enamell'd perhaps or made of Silver and snapping and biteing and snarling at him above all others that would take the Collars off wnuld unringle them would unhoodwink the blind-men Buffs in spight of their Teeth I 'le do 't I am resolv'd let them snarle and bite poor hearts it is their nature they cannot help it nor can I in reason expect other requital of my Charity I know them the men and their Communication the men and their innate envy and peevish revenge In time they will grow better when prejudice and passion makes them not forget that they are Englishmen not Irish-men Christians not Bigots and willing to be governed by our ancient English Constitutions and Laws not the Manwaring and Laud's Canons and Constitutions of 40. Have we with so much adoe been puzzling all this while these 40 Years and are we not yet got over the Lambeth-Canons and Constitutions of 40 must the Church and Kingdom twice be split on the same Rock some men endeavour it might and main or else the Loyal Long-Parliament were not the Happy House of Commons as the King styles them at least not happy in their Intelligence if they struck so violently without sufficient Reason against Duke Lauderdail and the Earl of Danby for this very cause of the Kingdom The Good Old Cause without a Sarcasm Good for the King and Kingdom the best and surest if not the only way to make the King and Kingdom happy safe and pleasantly united against which the old and true foundation and principle none ever yet attempted but it prov'd his ruine bringing the Old House over his Head And when you hav impartially weighed the mischiefs that have attended these new Sybthorpian Doctrines Manwaring and Dr. Lauds false Canon of 40. you and I shall never more quarrel nay let us now shake hands enter the Ring again and try the other touch in a New Tryal or let us shake hands and be friends and on Condition you be so Good Natur'd as to remit this Vnconscionable and Outragious Verdict I to shew my Good Nature in requital will Remit the Injuries aforesaid the Original Sin that has tainted the Consequent Differences and Contests I hope I have in this Long Letter given your Lordship such sufficient satisfaction about the Canons of 40 the vanity the Mischief and Falshood especially of the 1. Canon thereof that like eager Disputants we shall end just where we began and yet both be wiser and better and the Kingdom too for this Contest and then this Outragious and Vnconscionable and Vnreasonable Verdict will have a Happy Issue in either Curing the St. Anthonies Fire Heat and Tantivee-Flame that has not
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
his Lordship and such Words he told them as the Defendant himself ingenuously acknowledged Such a Rehearsal transpros'd would fright a Man from ever making an ingenuous Acknowledgment whilst he lived If a Man be not submissive then he is proud and obstinate and justifies an Aggravation an Aggravation as Mr. Withins said but if he be coming they 'll take him o' the Chaps and make him stand further off but this is the Policy The Judg said that the Defendant acknowledged that if he had said the Words modo formâ as they are laid in the Declaration the Jury could not punish him enough This 't is to be courtly and complemental a Man that is not us'd to it neither for really and truly the Words in the Declaration the Lawyers say are not actionable except the last Innuendo the Popish Plot had been proved and instead of an Innuendo Harris swore Plot against my righteous Name It is besides impossible to be prov'd by this Declaration because no preceding Colloquium is laid but this 't is to be civil and to make Concessions without which the Judg would have been put to 't to have directed the Jury as to the Scandal of them or the Law in that Point For 't is not Scandal Magnat the Learned say to say His Lordship is very ignorant because 't is true of him and of wiser Men and better Men than Henry Bishop of London and therefore cannot be Lies and scandalous or within that Statute The Bishop of London for Knowledg and Wisdom is not worthy to carry St. Paul's Books Cloak or Parchments after him if he were alive and yet that blessed Apostle that could cast out Devils with a word confesses he was very ignorant and knew nothing as he ought to know But not to insist of Divinity to come to Philosophy the wisest Man of Greece and the chief of the seven wise Men of Greece to whom the Oracle of Apollo awarded the Golden Tripos confess'd he was so ignorant that he knew nothing but only this namely he knew that he was very ignorant or knew nothing Hoc tantum scio quòd nihil scio 'T is Atheism to say that St. Paul made that ingenuous Confession of his Ignorance in that and many more Places only in Complement as some that are as proud as Lucifer or as the Devil can make them will yet say Your humble Servant For Shame Away with these Scandal Magnat.'s and undoing Men and Families for speaking nothing but the Naked-Truth and which the Bishop of London cannot without blushing refuse to acknowledg that His Lordship is very Ignorant Which if he does acknowledg the Defendant and he are agreed in one certain Naked-Truth But if his Lordship does not acknowledg that he is very ignorant all the wisemen of Man-kind must condemn him as very ignorant For none but he that does not know himself none but a Fool but must know and acknowledg themselves to be very ignorant 'T is true the Issue is Non-Culp because the Defendant never spoke those Words as they are modo formâ laid singly by themselves in the second Count of the Declaration and all the Witnesses except Harris nay Exton the Doctor 's Commons Man too says that the Word Ignorance had reference to the Law or Statute of which tho a Bishop be ignorant yet it is no blemish nor scandal to him Nay scarce a Bishop in England understands or ever read so much Law as the Defendant yet it is no Scandal to them nor disparagement Nay Harris himself at last confesses that the Ignorance and the Impudence had reference to the Printed Paper and the Canons of Forty and therefore these Words His Lordship is very Ignorant could never as laid in the second Count singly be spoken in Manner and Form as they are laid in the Declaration But were the Bishop of London really and truly wiser than Solomon St. Paul or Socrates yet it is as clear as the Sun at Noon-day that he was ignorant in tanto whatever he might be in toto namely ignorant in so much and in that which occasion'd all this Discourse namely in sending Harris with a Sequestration of the Benefits and the small Tithes of the Parish of St. Buttolph's the place of this Contest and also the occasion too in Colchester when the said small Tithes and Benefits nay all Tithes both small and great Tithes of St. Buttolph's Parish appertain to the Defendant as Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints and has been enjoyed by his Predecessors since the Raign of Henry the 8th and so to continue for ever as is more fully declared pag. 27. of the Black-Non-Conformist and therefore it is no Lye and therefore not within the said Statute of Scandal Magnat but a great Truth tho a costly one Truth has been a dear Commodity to this Defendant but still it is too true that the Bishop was very ignorant in sending such a Sequestration it had been better for the Defendant by 2000 l. if he had been wiser and then this sad occasion had never come hard Case to be whip'd on another's Back and taken up at these Years for other Men's Faults and that the Bishop should without Law disturb the Defendant's Title to his Free-hold and then by the help of his Tool and Utensil and a good Jury ruine him for complaining when he is pinch'd The Itch the Scab the Morphew the Boyls the Uncombs the Carbuncles the Leprosy the Pimples a Pox and the Nodes are but Skin-Diseases and Deformities coming immediately from the vicious Ros and Gluten of the third Concoction at third hand poor par-boyling Function but it cannot help it for the Mischief the Mischief the Author and Origine of all this Mischief is the first Ventricle that 's erronious and out of order If the Bishop the Original Cause of all this Discourse and Stir in sending down a Sequestration of the small Tithes of St. Buttolphs the Defendant's Free-hold by this same Harris in hopes to do the Defendant a Mischief or Displeasure had not been mistaken in this his Attempt these Evils had not come they were but the third Concoction and necessary Consequents of the bishop's Error Except some thought perhaps that Mr. Hickeringill is as Heraclitus now calls him an Ass good for nothing but to be burthen'd or worse than a Worm and should say Prelate come tread me come stamp upon me I know such an Ass-like sottishness had been as it proves the wisest way because the cheapest way But what Patience can endure to be so nusled And so the Word Impudent if as it ought it have reference to that nonsensical at least Imposition upon the Clergy and to the Statute who can deny but that it is Insolence and Impudence too for a Bishop so to insult over the Clergy as either to recommend to them Articles to observe which are no where to be found or which interfere or are not warranted by the Statute And if the
Trial without some Remarks or Observations OBSERVATIONS Made by an unknown Hand Upon the foregoing TRIAL FIrst we will observe the Observations that have been already made of this noisy Trial by the Tory Pamphleteers The Tory Observator is wiser than to trouble himself with disquieting Mr. Hickeringill or to abuse himself by nicknaming others whether out of respect or sense of Honour or out of fear of Mr. Hickeringill's smarter Pen that never scratches but when Defendant we will not determine But Thompson and Heraclitus How now Thompson and Heraclitus Will any Man of Honour stoop so low to take notice of such contemptible Wretches Wretches below all scorn Wretches that would have no Name but for the Ills they do For they like Erostratus are ambitious of a Name by committing unheard-of Villanies tho they thereby ruine themselves and an once stately Church And without offence be it spoken it is a Condescension meritorious for any Man to debase himself so much as to take notice of such despicable and forlorn Bravo's the Objects of every honourable and honest Man's Contempt any otherwise or with any other design than those charitable Visits made to the Jail when common Robbers and Murtherers are condemn'd to the Gallows to enquire either after Goods by them stollen or by shewing them the Evil of their Ways bring the condemn'd Villains to Repentance before they be hang'd Which Act of Charity Humility and bountiful Condescension I now piously take upon me by thus observing their Observations Nay the Tories shall not have all the Observators on their side the Whigs shall have some for to tell you the naked Truth on 't the politick and pious Tories have bereft me of better Employment and very cunningly have given me leisure to do little else but observe their Motions God reward them according to their Piety and their Works and let them fall into the Pit that with such combined Interest Cunning and Power so industriously they have digg'd And first for Thompson so vile a Moth that he is too much honour'd to be crush'd with the blunt End of my Pen. But I use him here as he will be used when he comes amongst other condemn'd Murtherers and Assassinates of Mens Lives and Reputations at Tyburn namely to tie up and halter the greatest Rogue first Fogh I have done with him for ever now the very first time I come near him no rotten Carcase or Jakes comes nigh him for a Scent He stinks above Ground most abominably and nauseously in the Nostrils of all that have not lost their Senses His Rogueship being very ignorant and also such a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Lies in his Printed Papers contrary to Law whence it will appear that he is concerned in the Plot the horrid Plot against Mr. Hickeringill's righteous Name and Reputation belying him all the Kingdom over as a Man convict of Perjury and so assassinates his Honour and Reputation the only Answer yet made in defence of the Extortions and Oppressions so impudently continued to this day in Ecclesiastical Courts in defiance of the Statutes of this Realm and contrary to the Naked Truth I am not able to endure the Carrion any longer and therefore I leave him to the Justice of the Nation and to Mr. Hickeringill's swinging Action against him and his pretty Consort and except he hide his hated Head for ever he will be punish'd for that dangerous and damnable Lie and Slander against the righteous Name and Reputation of Mr. Hickeringill in saying he was convict of Perjury Nay they would convict Mr. Hickeringill of somewhat worse than Perjury I fear if they could get any Man-catchers or Teagues O Divelly into his Company nay there was one Mortlack a Black-smith of Colchester that asking a Cunning-Lawyer's Advice what he should swear against Mr. Hickeringill Breath-seller replied Canst thou not swear Treason against him Or that he is a common Drunkard or a common Whoremaster or a common Swearer Treason quoth Mortlack yes I can In what replied Petty-fogger in Words or Deeds Mortlack answer'd In Words Treasonable Words But Crafty replied How long ago How long is it since you can prove you were in his Company and in what place Mortlack answer'd That he heard the Words spoken in the King's High-way near Dilbridge about four Months before that Time for he could not prove that ever he was in Mr. Hickeringill's Company except that time when there were also above twenty People more Whereupon quoth Crafty Speak no more then of Treasonable Words for you will be hang'd for concealing Treason thus long but what say you to the other Mortlack answered It is too apparent to all that know Mr. Hickeringill that he is no common Drunkard nor common Whoremaster but he took a great Oath upon it saying I will swear that he is a common Swearer and that never a Word comes out of his Mouth but an Oath comes out And he was as good as his Word and got two more to swear the same along with him both of which have with Tears since and on their bended Knees begg'd Mr. Hickeringill's Pardon that 's more than Thompson hath done and he frankly and generously did forgive them and they live in Colchester to this day but Mortlack is fled for it ever since For by the Craft of Sir J. S. before Sir Mundiford Bramston as Master in Chancery the Villains swore to Articles whereupon a Supplicavit this Doctors Common's Supplicavit is not the first nor the first Supplicavit devis'd against him by that Root of Bitterness and Revenge Sir J. S. was granted against him and bound he was in Chancery in 20 l. the Principal and 10 l. the Manucaptors and thus was he put to some little Trouble and Charge And Mr. Hickeringill stands to this day in Chancery upon Record a Common-Swearer c. and yet he never swore so much as one rash Oath in his Life What will not Malice and Man-catchers swear But none that knows Mr. Hickeringill believes them but knows they are perjur'd Villains and like this Thompson or Parson Thompson of Colch as like his Name-sake Nat as one Devil to another the Scum of Mankind and so black in the Mouth with continual Lies and Slanders both of them and especially against Mr. Hickeringill that no Recording Ink can paint their smutty Features dismal or black enough they are so Hellish and Impâ—like where I leave them to discourse with Party-per-pale half Fool half Knave Half-Fool or Jester and Half-Knave in Earnest Heraclitus what Observation does he make of this famous Trial Busy Heraclitus Num. 59. treating of this Affair this Ishmael's Hand must be against every Body is it not meet that every Man's Hand should be against this Privy and Masquerade Assassinate of Men's Reputation Saying He Hick Forsooth wishes by this time he had made use of an abler Counsellor No doubt Tricks and Niceties in Law are best defeated by Men accustom'd to such Querks and Tricks
the disguize of Truth and the defeat of many an honest Cause These Quirks the Rabble that use them are useless in the Vnited Provinces where every Man pleads his own Cause of which the same Sun that views the first Process sees the End and Determination before it sleeps in the Ocean Whereas we labour with our nice Pleadings Quirks and Tricks Writs of Errors Pleas Rejoynders and Demurrers eternally A Man was Indicted quia furatus est Equum because he stole a Horse in Holland he had dy'd for it but with us the Indictment was quash'd for lack of Form there wanted Forsooth the Word Felonicè and therefore ill 29. Ass 45. A Man was Indicted that he was communis Latro a common Thief and the Indictment was held vicious because too general never coming on to the particular Proof A Man Murder'd another but the Indictment by the Clerks oversight or worse was only Interfecit and was quash'd for want of the Word Murdravit Thousands of Instances might be given of pretty Quirks and Niceties that are now made such essential parts of the Law that he is accounted the Man of Law that is most nimble at them to take a Cause with a Why not Tick-Tack as if some design had been to make the Law like Sives and Cullenders full of Holes for the nonce But some may say then What shall become of the Vermine the Locusts and the Catterpillars that like those Plagues of Egypt eat up evary green thing in the Land How now Is this good Behaviour Is Sampson bound or bound with Wit hs of smal Cords made on purpose to be broken Explain your self who do you mean by the Vermine the Locusts and the Caterpillars that eat up every green thing in the Land and is the great plague-sore thereof Who do you mean Sir You that are so blunt and such a plain Dealer do you mean those Throngs about Temple-Bar and Chancery-Lane those Crouds of Pen and Inkhorns that a Man can scarce stir there without being justled or run down by them or their Coaches Speak out who do you mean by the Vermine of the Land the Locusts and the Caterpillars Why then really truly and plainly I call those Locusts and Caterpillars and Vermine that live on the Sweat of other Men's Brows and of the sweet Labour and Industry of the painful Husbandman and Country-man who if they were not Fools would agree their Quarrels over a good Fire and a Pot of Ale by the Men of their Neighbourhood for it must come to that at last and why not as well at first before the Estate be wasted time consum'd with Danceing Attendance to Vermine But what shall the Locusts and Caterpillars do Ask Mr. Wilson who tells you in his Description of the new Plantation called Carolina that there is good Air room enough for the Locusts and Caterpillars those unprofitable Insects and Devourers Room enough for the He 's and She 's let them go there and work and Engender why should not Spiders spin And yet with Heraclitus his good leave the Defendant did if it were worth the mentioning in his pleading this Cause this Tick-tack which might as well have been kept secret but that Heraclitus will not be pleased without it For the Declaration is only un'Prelat not un'Magnat and though the Plantiff does declare as Episcop-Lond and un'Prelat yet said the Defendant it does not appear by the Declaration that the Plantiff is un'Magnat and therefore not within the Statute For the Defendant said further that he had consulted the Records of those times whereby the meaning of the Words Bishop and Prelate in those days is best cleared and does not find that ever by Prelates or Bishops is meant Magnates or le Grantz or le Seignieurs and therefore Scandalum Praelatorum nor Scandalum Episcoporum can possibly by that Statute be meant Scandalum Magnatum 25. Edw. 3. The Proceedings and Judgment of Death against Sir William de Thorp Chief Justice for Bribery and brought into Parliament which the King caused to be read Overtment devent les grantz de Parlement c. openly before the Great Men coram Magnatibus that could not be the Bishops Abbots Priors nor Prelates for they were always withdrawn in those days out of the House of Lords in Judgments or Inquest upon Life and Death as this was For the Chief Justice was hang'd for his Bribery right and good reason Cave cave 42. Edw. 3. Sir John de Lee Steward of the King's House was charged in Parliament for several Misdemeanors Et Apres manger vindrent les Prelats Duc's Counts c. After Dinner came the Prelates Dukes Counts c. Here being but a Misdemeanor the Prelates were present it not being in a Question of Life or Death 50. Edw. 3. Alice Perrers was accused for Breach of an Ordinance so is the Record but it was really a Statute which in those Days was called an Ordinance Fait venir devant ' les Prelats les Seignieurs du Parlement Which also was not in a Question of Blood and therefore the Prelates are nam'd as well as the Magnates or les Seigneurs Many Instances of this Nature may be given wherein Prelates were never signified by the words Magnates le Grants or le Seignieurs or Peers For they are tried as all Men ought to be by Magna Charta per Pares by their Peers or Equals and being tried by their Peers that is Commoners they therefore are Commoners not Peers of the Realm as the other Magnates le Seignieurs and le Grantz are And therefore tho the Bishop of London be Magnas as he is a Privy-Councellor and a Great Officer of the Realm yet the Declaration not mentioning any such thing the Defendant urg'd that it was deficient but the Judg over-rul'd him therein Yet 28. Edw. 3. Roger of Wigmore Cousin and Heir of Roger Mortimer Earl of March desires that the Attainder made 4. Edw. 3. against the said Mortimer might be examin'd Et dont le dit Seignieur le Roy vous charge Counts Barons les Piers de son Royalme c. The Lord the King charged the Counts Barons and Peers of his Realm to examine the said Attainder and give righteous Judgment But if the Prelates were meant by Counts Barons and Peers then they also were to examine the Attainder by that Command of the King But they had nothing to do with Attainders it being against their own canon-Canon-Law and Oath of Canonical Obedience as they afterwards declared in another Case to be seen in the Rolls of Parliament 5. Edw. 3. In a Parliament called for Breach of the Peace of the Kingdom away went the Prelates out of the Parliament saying What had they to do with such Matters Et les dits Counts Borones autres Grants per eus mesmes And the Counts Barons and other great Men went by themselves c. to consult c. So in the same Parliament upon Judgment given against Sir John Grey for
laying his hand on his Sword in the King's Presence for which he was question'd for his Life no Bishops nor Prelates being there therefore yet the Record says Le Roy charge touts le Countes Barons autre Grantz The King charges all the Counts Barons and other Great-Men to consult c. And then he must charge the Prelates too if he charged all the Great Men if the Prelates be Magnates or les Grantz which could not be in a Question of Blood 'T is true the Bishops are a kind of Barons and so were the Abbots and Priors by virtue of the Baronies bestowed upon them by the Charity or blind Devotion or for what other reason by William the Conqueror c. who divided his Conquests all over England into Knights-Fees and of several Knights-Fees laid together he made Baronies And some of these Baronies the Lay-men got but the Clergy in the Scuffle and Scramble put in never fear it for a Share and got proportionably and more some Lord-Bishops got and some Lord-Abbots got and some Priors By virtue of which Baronies they had Votes and Places in the House of Lords But one House being not able to hold so many Lords the King divides his Baronies into Majores Minores the Minors he tript off but the Bishops Abbots and Priors held it fast till Hen. 8. and then the Lord-Abots and Priors tripp'd off this was a sore Shock to the Prelacy and only the Bishops of all the Prelates in 2 R. 2. hold it to this Day And who Parliaments as at Bury St. Edmonds and also as aforesaid 2. Edw. 3. have been held without the Prelates and tho it is declared before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the major Part of the Prelates in 7. Hen. 8. in Keilway's Reports p. 184. Dr. Standishes Case Les Justices de soi ent que nostre Seigneur le Roy poit asser bien tener son Parlement per luy ses temporal Seignieurs per ses Commons tout sans les spirituals Seignieurs That our Lord the King may well hold his Parliament by Himself and his Temporal Lords and by his Commons without the Spiritual Lords c. Yet by virtue of their Baronies they have Right to sit in the House of Peers tho their Brethren-Prelates Abbots and Priors be outed and the Privilege of Sitting in the House of Lords does not now continue de facto to those Gentlemen that now enjoy those Baronies which the Abbots had with all their Privileges and Immunities c. Of which Privileges and Immunities c. this was one to sit in the House of Peers and granted and regranted in the same manner the Abbots c. held these Baronies But I do not know de Jure how far this Immunity does extend nor is it my Province to argue it tho I am possessed of the Barony of the Priory of Wickes in Essex to me and my Heirs with all the Immunities c. and therefore one would think I might claim the Privilege of a Prelate out of that old Statute 2 R. 2. that hath caused all this Debate and Debait Nay all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates so Lyndwood a Doctors-Commons Official in his Provincials Con. Otho sacer Ordo verb. illiteratos Quae Ignonantia multò magis detestanda esset in Episcopo seu majori Prelato If there was a major Prelate then there was a minor Prelate little Men are Men tho little A hundred Instances I could give that all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates Now if the speaking against any Prelate who is not Magnas nor so mentioned in the Declaration as here it is not mentioned that the Plantiff is Magnas and if in the Language and Dialect of those Times the Word Bishops does not imply Magnates or les Grants then surely all Prelates and all that have the Fee-simple of those Lands and Baronies granted to the King and his Heirs and Assigns by Act of Parliament and given and regranted to others together with all the Immunities and Privileges that the Abbots had and enjoyed by virtue of those Lands and Baronies c. ought to have the Benefit of this Statute of Scandal Magnat quâ Prelat Why they should not enjoy the Privilege of Prelates in that Act of 2 R. 2. of Scandal Magnat and all other Privileges that ever the Abbots enjoyed by virtue of their Lands and Baronies being meer Temporals not Gospel nor Spiritual Priviledges I cannot imagine if the Bishops do enjoy these Benefits quâ Prelati or quâ Barones Howsoever the other Priviledg of sitting in the House of Lords may be lost for the long Intervall or Vacation of not being call'd thither time out of mind of Man by the King 's Writ be lost or for what other Reason it is not needful here to discuss For if the Bishops sit not in the House of Lords purely ex Gratia Regis but quâ Barones by reason of their Baronies then è fortiori much more may those Gentlemen that have the Abbot's Baronies and other Prelate's Baronies claim the old Privileges belonging to their Baronies and for which and other Immunities they have an Act of Parliament to them and their Heirs Since Bishops have not so firm a Tenure of their Baronies and the Privileges Temporalities and Immunities thereunto belonging because they hold them ex Gratiâ Regis and for Contempt may lawfully be forfeited and seized into the King's Hands But the Baronies of Us that hold them in Fee-simple and by Act of Parliament with the Immunities and Privileges anciently belonging to the Abbot-Prelates and Prior-Prelates cannot for such Contempt ad libitum Regis be so forfeited or seized Nay since many Rectors in England have Baronies annex'd to their Rectories and their Parsonage-House is the Manor-House where Court Barons are kept to this day and the Tenants do their Homage and Fealty and they are really and truly Prelates I see no Reason in Law or Equity but they may have the Benefit of this Statute of 2 Rich. 2. of Scandal Magnat if it pertain to Prelates quâ Prelati And then every little Rector may bring his Action upon this Statute Qui tam c. for Contempt of his Clergy-ship and Prelateship and then Hey day we shall have a little Pope in every Parish and a spiritual Hogen Mogen in every Rectory Hey then up go we and then Thompson and Heraclitus look to 't we 'll pay you off for your Nick-names you had better have been tongue-ty'd And none can give a Reason why this Defendant should not also have the Privilege of a Prelate which his Predecessors had the Abbots of Wicks when this Statute was made whose Successor is this Defendant in the Barony and to him and his Heirs for ever Nay really Thompson and Heraclitus I believe the Defendant is in earnest since so much Money as 2000 l. may be ceined out of old Statutes there are London Juries and Middlesex Juries as well as Essex Juries
Friggats e're crus't in the Sea But she could bring them to her Lee At the long-run both Great and Small She could with ease weather them all No Man of War did ever shame The Naked-Truth that was her Name But now she 's split and sunk to boot That th' Bishop and his Clerks should do 't First they torment us till we groan Then Jayle us next because we moan Have they not rockie Hearts of Stone To. Why do these Rocks so covert lie Drown'd in their Seas hid from the Eye Men lost e're they these Rocks espy Bo. Poor Widows-sighs does them surround And Orphans Tears 'till they are drown'd Oh! but say some Prelates and high-flown Churchmen are not so stony-hearted nor such Tantivies riding Post to the Devil and driving Men to Heaven or Hell with Switch and Spur as you think for But Order is a good thing and since the Naked-Truth and such Books taxes them so smartly as if they were good for little but to be ' mended and reformed The Ecclesiastical Fabrick may tumble down God bless us Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln tax't the shameful Abominations of the Court of Rome in his Letters to the Pope that it hindered him from being Canoniz'd and Sainted though he deserv'd a Red Letter better than any Papist in the Kalendar he was if it be not contradictio in adjecto an honest Papist and if the Bishop and his Clerks of Rome had not been stony-hearted and impenetrable beyond all amendment and polishing neither Luther Calvin nor the Protestant Name had ever been heard of to this day By Grosthead's Counsel Rome had stood Had she not vow'd ne're to be good Rob. Grosthead the Author of a great deal of Naked-Truth flourish'd in spite of the Pope Anno 1250 and defines Heresy to be an Opinion taken and chosen of a Man 's own Brain contrary to Holy Scripture openly maintained and stifly defended This is a true good and honest Description of Heresy and if so for God's sake tell me true If Prelacy be contrary to Scripture contrary to the holy Commands of Christ and his Apostles in plain not doubtful Words and if Men stifly maintain it and openly defend it with Actions Statutes Suspensions Silencings Curses Anathema's Excommunications and Jails for God's sake who is the Heretick now Tell not me of Statutes they are void ipso facto as soon as made if they be contrary to the Statutes of God and Christ saith the Lord Coke the Oracle of the Law who tho a Lawyer was not asham'd to be a Christian Away with Hypocrisy and Cheat It shall it shall tumble down and fall on the Heads and crush all that shoulder it up and endeavour to support it It shall I say I cannot tell you when but it shall in due Time they on whom this Stone shall fall it shall grind them to Pouder Stay till the Iniquity of the Amorites be full and till they have drunk Brimmers full of the Tears of Widows and Orphans Huzzah till they have fill'd the Jails full of Howlings Wo and Lamentation then down Dagon down to Hell for ever down It is an infallible Truth That not only what is contrary to God and the Sence and Meaning of his holy Gospel shall come to naught but also what is contrary to the Sence and Meaning and Desires of the greatest Part of the Nation must tumble down especially when it has no Foundation of Truth or Honesty but stands upon frail and rotten Crotches the next Puff or great Wind stand clear for down it goes or the next Calm when the Master-Builders have Time and Leisure to view it and find its Danger and its Malignity down it goes The House of Lords represent themselves but the House of Commons are the Representatives of all the People in England What therefore the Generality of the People affect that I say in time shall become a Law The Honourable House of Commons have not only struck at this Statute 2 R. 2. which the Prelates make such Work with but the Repeal thereof past the House with general Approbation and was committed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence therein it stopp'd there So much for this time The Words called Scandal Magnat which must cost this Defendant 2000 l. are not actionable taken in sensu conjuncto as learned Lawyers say nor can the Innuendo in the third Count lie because he that drew the Declaration forgot to mention the Colloquium for if it had but been in no doubt but Harris would have swore it through and through what an Oversight was this Therefore say some to the Defendant Bring a Writ of Error next Term and quash it and there 's an End of an outragious Verdict of a desperatee Jury Or else motion for a new Trial because the Declaration is That the Words were spoken before divers of the King's Subjects and but one little Subject appeared A Writ of Error Where to be argued In the Exchequer-Chamber before all the Judges This is a cunning Way more Grist to the Mill as good be in the Clutches of an unmerciful Prelate as uninerciful Breath-sellers Mr. Chamberlin Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot c. that were Jailed for refusing to pay Customs and Ship-Money in Charles the First 's Time because there was no Law for the same a clear Case they took this Course and the Judges ten of twelve gave the Cause against them they lost their Fees and their Cause and this Defendant gets nothing but Wit Exchequer Chamber He knows a Way worth two on 't he 'll keep himself and his Estate out of all their Clutches keep in Harbor till the Storm blow over let it bluster And to Jail the Defendant looks like an Inhumanity like that of some Creditors that in Cruelty arrest the dead Corps a Barbartty of no great Credit to a Bishop that if he do not propagate at least should not by Jails and Shams hinder the Propagation of the Gospel especially not how bigg soever any Man is at this time of Day Money a great deal of Money will Gadbury get and more than ever the Bishop will get by this Affair for Flectere qui nequeant Superos Acheronta movebunt The Horary Questions will be Where the Defendant's Estate is where his Lands where his Goods where his Moneys if any Body could tell for I believe the Defendant himself can scarcely tell that and lastly Where he himself is whether within a Mile of an Oak or just under the Bishop's Nose And when all comes to all the Inquisitors will but throw good Money after bad for the Devil will cheat them as he did Madam Cellier both of the Money and the Sham-plot And after all the Ass-trologer knows no more by all his Intelligence with Mercury and the Moon where the Defendant is than I do perhaps not so well nor ever shall till the Time come when Truth is valued more than Hypocrisy when Innocence is a sufficient Guard