Grandeur of a Reverend Bishop to be an Informer or Promoter But the Half-crafty Proctor the said Nucourt was got into a Dilemma and knew not how well to extricate himself For when this Defendant urg'd the Statute of 23 H. 8.9 against Sir Robert Wiseman with the Penalty of 10 l. besides Costs and Damages for citing this Defendant out of the Diocess of London where he Inhabits to salve the business it was thought fit rather to let Doughty's said Promotion fall but then Costs should have been given this Defendant but it was denyed and refused against the Rules of their own Courts and Methods as if they had the Law in their own hands And to salve the Statute of 23 H. 8 9. and the Penalties there Henry Bishop of London was Inserted Promoter though this Defendant was never Cited to answer his Suit and Promotion Nay it looks like a Wheedle or a Trepan to drill a Man into a Court by Process in a feigned Suit and then clap an Action on his Back at another Man's Suit and without his Privity too but any methods to carry on the Cause The Cause Besides according to the usual Methods of this Court no Man is obliged to accept a Libel except the Promoter become bound in sufficient Penalty not only with responsable and sufficient Sureties but such as are capable of being Arrested in case of Non-suit or failure of proof to pay to the Defendant his Costs and Damages But no such thing is done for this Defendant new Lords new Laws This Defendant is like to thrive amongst you in the Interim CHAP. VIII NEvertheless this Defendant to vindicate himself and the integrity of his unblemish't he hopes he may say without offence in this his just and forc't defence Life and Conversation and to manifest that the said Protestations Answers and Pleas are not dilatory and on purpose to decline a particular Answer or evade the discussing of the merits of the Cause and Crimes alledged against him in the said Articles he this Defendant saving to himself the benefit of his former Allegations Pleas and Protestations further Particularly answereth and saith 1. That the first Article in the said Libel as being only in course is true and all the other false further than is hereafter declared 2. That the 2 3 4 and 5th Articles are Instances and Accusations against this Defendant as a common-mover exciter and maintainer of Suits and Quarrels which is Barretry an offence against the Statute Law and Common-Law of this Realm and therefore ought not to be Tryed in any Ecclesiastical-Court as forbidden in the Statute of Provisors 16 R. 2.5 In derogation of the Courts of our Lord the King mark how the Spiritual-Courts and the Kings-Courts are oppos'd implying necessarily that the King and Parliament did not then look upon the Spiritual Courts to be the Kings Courts but the High-Priests Courts nor do they to this day hold them in the King's Name and Style and all their Acts under His Seal what Policy is it at this time of day to be Independents I mean Noun-Substantives and stand by our selves The said Statute too 16 R. 2.5 is in pain of a Praemunire and has a mighty fetch and reach even over the water as well as on this side for the Statute says The Court of Rome or elsewhere 3. The said Defendant Mr. Hickeringill had an Information brought against him for Barretry in the Crown-Office and at a Tryal at Chelmnesford Assizes March 3. 1680. for the County of Essex thereupon amongst 24 Heads of the charge of Barretry exhibited against him then and there tried the 23d Head was the substance of the said 2d 3d 4th and 5th Articles in the Libel aforesaid mentioned and this Defendant though pleading his own Cause was acquitted with honour of this malicious Charge the Right Worshipful Knights and Gentlemen of that Special Jury not stirring from the Bar nor the least proof of the Charge made out against him in any one Particular nor any proof but of the Folly as well as Malice of the Informers Conspirators and Promoters then and there And must he now again for the same matters be tried again by the Ecclesiastical Men after acquittal in the Courts of our Lord the King and by Prosecutors that were then Accessories at least to the said causeless and malicious Prosecution and in defiance too of the said Statute of Provisors CHAP. IX 4. THE Title of not only a fourth part which is ground enough for a Prohibition but all the small Tythes of St. Botolph's Parish as in Article 4. is in question and controversie For the said Promoter Henry Bishop of London pretends Right to dispose of the said Tythes by Sequestration nay has dispos'd of the said Tythes but shall the Defendant suffer it to one Harris whereas the Defendant has enjoyed the Tythes 19 or 20 years and yet enjoys them as Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester in the said County of Essex in Right of and belonging to his said Rectory as his Predecessors the Rectors of All-Saints aforesaid have done quietly and 'till now without disturbance ever since the dissolution of Monasteries and amongst others the Priory of St. Botolph's in Colchester aforesaid granted sold or given by King Henry VIII to Thomas Lord Audley then Lord Chancellor of England and from him and his Brother and Heir Thomas Audley Esq together with his Executors joining together granted unto Robert Plumton Clerk Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints aforesaid and to his Successors for ever whose present lawful Successor and for above 19 years has been and now is this Defendant by Deed a true Copy whereof follows in these words verbatim TO all Christian People to whom this present Writing shall come Edward North and Thomas Pope Knights Edmund Martin Esq and Thomas Gimblet Gentleman Executors of the Testament or last Will of Thomas Audley whilâ—st he lived Knight of the Noble Order of the Garter Lord Audley of Walding and Lord Chancellor of England and Thomas Audley Esq Brother to the said Lord Audley do send Greeting Whereas the said Lord Audley in his Life-time for and in consideration of certain Covenants Grants and Agreements made between him and the Parishioners of the Parish-Church of All-Saints in the Town of Colchester in the County of Essex did give grant bargain sell and confirm unto the Rector of the said Purish-Church and to his Successors for ever All the Tythes as well of Hay Wood and Corn as of any other kind or sort whatsoever to him belonging in the Town of Colchester aforesaid by reason of the Dissolution or Resignation of his House or Priory of St. Botolphs in the said Town of Colchester Know ye therefore That we the aforenamed Edward North Thomas Pope Edmund Martin Thomas Gimblet and Thomas Audley Esq for the more sure and perfect accomplishment performance and execution of the said Covenants Grants and Agreements as also in Consideration and for the Sum of Forty Pounds
this Defendant hereby protests That if he ever shall or ever did transgress the known Laws of England or the dark and disputable Laws of England it was through error of his judgment and not of his will and therefore he desires this Court to inform and inlighten him and set him to rights if he err or if they can do it For it is not safe to say of that Act of Parliament 13 Car. 2.12 of not allowing or confirming the Canons of 40 commonly called the Lambeth Canons and all other Canons and Constitutions not confirmed by Act of Parliament c. that they signifie nothing and are inserted idlely and for no end and purpose Which those seem to assert and imply that say those words of not confirming the Canons or not allowing are not disallowing nor any remarque or neglecting Character thereby set upon them For the Canons had been left in statu quo prius as all other things were not mentioned in the said Act although not one word concerning them had been therein mentioned In all Grammatical Construction then the Not-confirming the Lambeth Canons or Canons of 40 c. That Not-allowing is a disallowing as plain as the Times perhaps would then bear And all those words in the said Act signifie the distaste and neglect the King and Parliament had of all Canons not confirmed by Act of Parliament and then all those words concerning the same signifie something and not nothing Especially leaving things as they were in the year 1639. when the High-Commission Court was up and 1 Eliz. 1. in force which is absolutely repeal'd by the same Statute And if any man thought that some had got by that 13 Car. 2.12 an Act for their Turn as was endeavor'd they were vilely mistaken or out-witted at least it was all that would even then be done for them which latter is most probable because of that fatal mistake in repealing 17 Car. 1. And there never was such an Act in the world nor any made in that year that this Defendant can find so lasting were the deep and bloody Prints of the High Commission even yet in Parliament-mens heads And this many took notice of long ago if they had thought it meet and opportune to take notice of it it might have been amended and may yet by an Act of Parliament otherwise it is to be feared that the mistake is fatal And the 16 Car. 1.11 be in force and not possible to be repealed by the repeal of the 17 Car. 1. Then good-night Nicholas and there 's an end of the Story and a Commissary Official or Register's place is not worth the buying no nor that of a poor Proctor of this Court of Arches which use to cost about 40 l. though the same man be a Proctor in any other Spiritual-Court yet he cannot practice in this Court without laying down the Cash I mean down with their Dust Gold Dust or Guinees Money more Money Which perhaps is the reason why the Proctors are suffered to take ten groats for a Fee that used to be by the style of this Court but and proportinably all other Fees abominably enhanc't wherever the fault lies they that buy must sell or else they have a bad bargain The Fees of an Excommunication and Absolution used to be but but now they are this Defendant knows to his cost and by woful experience a Guiney but note by the way This also is added de novo the said Bishops Vice-Register Nucourt is Arrested in an Indebitatus-assumpsit and will also have an Indictment or Information brought against him for the Extortion at the Suit of this Defendant who is vilely loth to be chous't of his Money and by a pitiful Proctor and Vice-Register too So that by this time this Desendant is come a great way towards the final Answer of these Articles in this Spiritual-Court if there were 1000 more of them especially in a Court that will neither show nor pretend to sit by a Commission from the King In whom alone is always inhaerent all Executive-power both Ecclesiastical and Temporal But our gracious Sovereign not only in his last Declaration but always has declared That he will rule us according to His Oath and the Fundamental Laws made by the only Legislative-power the King and Parliament And the Kings of England always have been of right and always were except during the Pope's Supremacy equally Heads or Head of the Church as well as of the State if they be two things And has right to make Laws for the regulating the Church or State-Ecclesiastical and as much as for Regulating the State-Temporal And far be it from the modesty of this Defendant to pry into the Cover'd Ark and search into the Prerogative of His gracious Majesty the Kingdoms glory as well as support both for his Mercy and Justice our dear and dread Sovereign and only Head of the Church and State which Prerogative His Majesty and his Father of blessed Memory our late Martyr'd Soveraign have explain'd to consist not only well but best with their Peoples Liberties and Properties making a sweet Harmony and enriching both King and People as Queen Elizabeth found that never had an Exchequer sooner emptied than filled though her Wars and Enemies were Great and Powerful She sometimes forgave and remitted what was given her by her Subjects in Parliament but never made a Speech or Motion for Money that prov'd successless Of which this Defendant had not now and here taken notice of further than to show in this his Defence in reference to the Church and the pretended Canons and Constitutions of the same that the said Queen never made any Canons neither did King James make any Canons or Constitutions for the Church or its Regulation until her Majesty and consequently his Majesty King James had by 1 Eliz. 1. and in that Statute given unto her and them her Heirs and Successors Power to Amend Reform c. And no more then needed at that time when the Clergy in Convocation acknowledged and surely they knew their own strength as well and much better than any can do at this distance and confest in the Statute 1 Mar. 2. that they had no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and therefore not Queen Mary but she in Parliament by 1 Mar. 2. restor'd it namely the old Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction until 1 Eliz. 1. Repeal'd it and in its room gave Power to the Queen to set up another which 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 pull'd down and Repeal'd Nay 't is evident in Cawdrey's-Case in Cookes Reports that the Jury were forc't to find the said High-Commission specially and so must other Juries do as well if ever the right of the Spiritual-Courts in Sequestrations Suspensions Deprivations in medling with mens Carnal Goods and Free-holds comes to be tryed in the King-Courts by a Jury if they can at this time a day find such a High-Commission which will be a difficult thing to persuade a Jury unto except
mark that should use such Hoods as pertaineth to their several Degrees So that to wear the Surplice or no is left to every Man's Liberty even in Cathedrals especially in all other places Hoods according to the degree not in time of Divine-Service as in many Cities and Country-places worn not for want of Ignorance but only may be worn in preaching the Sermon upon the Knowledg of a Man's Degree and Quality may recommend the Sermon possibly and possibly not the Hood is commended not commanded to be worn but the reason ceases in reading Divine-Service and Administring Sacraments or reading of Homilies which are the works of the Law not our own works and are not nor need to be recommended by the Dignity of the Reader or Administrator and therefore Hoods worn at any time except Sermon-time and Surplices forc'd upon Mens backs in reading Mattens Even-Song Baptizings or Burials whether they will or no and not leaving Men at Liberty is enjoining other Rites and Ceremonies than what the Law enjoyns as well as bowing at the Name of Jesus and bowing towards the Altar a place which some Men never pass by but they bow they ought to lose their Spiritual Promotions for such Superstition and good reason for it is either Folly or worse Popish Superstition For if he that bows still as he goes by or approaches the Altar does not fancy that there is somewhat extraordinary there that exacts and requires this extraordinary Reverence above other places then he is a foolish Coxcomb to beck and bow only to that place above all other for no reason or for nothing But if he doth believe there is something plac'd there that requires this Reverence as the Papists assert who can excuse him from the belief of that Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation Also all are Nonconformists that administer the Sacrament without Copes on and this makes all the Ministers in England Nonconformists for no body wears Copes and most wear Surplices tho this Defendant has not worn one except at Communion-times for several Years by-past And a Cope he would wear at such time only of celebrating the Lord's Supper but he cannot get one necessitas vincit Legem And in this Instance he hath been the more copious to show how little those Boanarges or Sons of Thunder do observe how they thunder out their own Sentence and Condemnation Out of thine own mouth will I judg thee thou wicked Servant When nothing but Hell and Damnation Goals and Excommunications Fines and Confiscations Suspensions and Deprivations will serve their turns for every little Breach of any Clause in the Rubrick and where no harm ensues nor loss but gain to the People when they are perhaps married without Banes or Licence And for Men to say that bowing at the Name of the Holy Jesus our blessed Redeemer is an harmless Ceremony aggravates the Offence It is the Popish Excuse for all their multiplied Ceremonies so many that their Religion is little else or so miserably covered therewith that Men can see little else To bow at the Name of God or Jehovah the greatest of all Names is harmless but it would be endless to do it and there is no Scripture to vouch these Bowings at the Name of JESVS or GOD c. as is hitherto unanswerably proved in the last page save two of the Naked Truth the second Part. To wear two or ten Surplices especially in cold weather together with an Hood about the Neck are harmless and the Hood keeps the Neck warm in Winter but is too hot in all conscience in Summer-time but if it were not too hot nor yet too heavy yet still they are other Rites and Ceremonies than are enjoined in the Act for Uniformity and therefore punishable and unlawful And what can or dare these Rigid Conformists answer in their own defence except cry Peccavi and confess their Ignorance Let us pray for them in our blessed Saviour's words Father forgive them they know not what they do For certainly the Law does not forgive them but is clear against them What can they say for themselves why Judgment should not be given against them according to their celebrated Act of Uniformity And to say the Canons enjoin some of these Ceremonies much aggravates the Offence to play old Canons against the King and Parliament's new Acts and Statutes this is petulant and unpardonable I had almost said They had more need petition for an Act of Indempnity to pardon all Non-Conformists and to get for themselves Remission in the Crowd CHAP. XI AGain The said Rubrick says None shall solemnize Matrimony without Banes But who observes it who obeys it Do not Commissaries Officials Archdeacons Registers Vice-Registers and all that Tribe grant Licences and Faculties with a non-obstante to the Statute and Rubrick But with what Forehead and by what Authority If the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or York should grant such Licences or Indulgence to dispence with the Statute a little more might be said for it if but a little But for these Fellows to sell Indulgences and Dispensations to the Statute where 's the Modesty or rather the Impudence The very same Rubrick is in the Common-Prayer-Book of 2 Edw. 6. For the said Statute gives no Privilege no Exception no Dispensation to any Man to solemnize Matrimony without Banes solemnly published three several Sundays or Holy-days in time of Divine Service where there are Churches and Divine Service said in such Parishes where the Parties inhabit otherwise they cannot be married without breach of the said Act or Rubrick except perhaps in that impediment because Necessitas vincit Legent And truly Matrimony tho not a Sacrament yet is so serious a thing so lasting when the Knot is once tied by a Priest ever lasting during Life that the Law could not safely have been made otherwise than by commanding such a solemn previous Publication in open Church in the Parishes where the Parties inhabit three several Sundays or Holy-days And then there could be no stoln-Weddings nor Infants trepann'd into Marriage without the consent of their Parents and Governors A Caution that even in the times of the late Usurpation was taken care for when the Justices of Peace did the Jobb And for Registers and Surrogates c. to take upon them to take Bond of 100 l. is so small a Penalty and the Bond so unwarrantable in Law that it signifies just nothing but to give a Man an Oath in the case is altogether illegal and punishable However it is contrary to Law in the said Rubrick But what shall be the Penalty The Judges alone shall determine according to the evil Circumstances and evil Consquences thereof So that if this Defendant be guilty of solemnizing Matrimony without Banes first published c. he hopes he may pass Scot-free in the Throng and amongst the crowd of so many and great Nonconformists But in this case this Defendant has more to say in his Vindication than all of them put together are
Pope hard-hearted wretch can deliver them but not a Soul of them except they or some-body for them down with their dust and ready Darby they will not trust for a twelve-penny piece which is the price of a Mass it seems now a days but when I was in Spain and Portugal they were cheaper one might have had two for a shilling and thank you too nay an Irish-Fryar a Teague Benedicite would make you twenty Legs too into the bargain with Abou bou bou by Chrees and by St. Patrick Fait and Trot by my Shoule Joy Never did such a silly cheat reign so long before in the whole World but it was only because they kept the people in ignorance and if any man durst offer to enlighten them and speak the Naked-Truth the Pope and his Inquisition and Emissaries were as spightful cruel and devillishly bloody as any are now amongst us at this day against the Naked-Truth They are vildly loth to lose their domineering insulting Kingdom of Darkness and are as mad as Bethlehem if men will not be Asses and tame Beasts and suffer themselves as of old to be caw'd crow'd over and Priest-ridden 'T is said of the Germans That just before God had raised up Luther to awake them and rowze them they were grown so fottish and be-jaded having so long been Priest-ridden that their Priests might almost have perswaded them not only to lye down and let the Priest whip them or which is as bad or worse make them whip themselves both of them daily Penances at this day in Popish-Countries but also they might easily have been perswaded poor Asses to eat Grass Surely English men are not so dull and tame to be Hen-peckt or to be rid and bestrid at such a rate I hope I confess I have not the patience to endure it But though the Pope says Christ gave Peter that is himself he says though his name be Pius Sergius Innocent or Alexander the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be it so we will not now quarrel about it yet how the Devil and he should be so kind that the Devil should trust him or prefer him to a Porters place in the Kingdom of Hell I cannot imagin I am sure there is no Scripture for it Nor any reason or any thing else in the case but the Money-case I think I have sufficiently evidenc't that in Matt. 18.17 there 's nothing like it nor from or in imitation of the Jewish-Church and Gods Platform of his own making neither God nor Christ in the Old nor New Testament ever gave Authority Power or Command to any man High-Priest or Low-Priest or any Assembly of men Clergy or Lay-Elders to turn men out of the Church and shut and lock them out from Divine Ordinances the comfort as well as cure of Sinners much less did ever prostitute such Sacred Mysteries to sale and make a Money-matter or a Money-business of it this was the inyention of Pluto the Money-God or Money-Merchant or his Factors the Popelings Nevertheless though I assert this yet I do not deny but the King and Parliament may impower Bishops or who they please to Excommunicate but I say I see no Scripture for Excommunication Indeed in our Saviours time the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sanhedrim or Synagogue or Courts of Justice were Jewish-Justice but put into Commission by the Roman Governour the High-Priest was a Jew but ordain'd by the Emperor or Roman Governour nor durst not call a Court or Sanhedrim but by permission of the Romans Archelaus the Son of Herod was by his Father constituted and appointed in his lust Will and Testament King after his Fathers Death but he durst not own the Name of King till Caesar confirm'd him Nor durst the High-Priest act till confirm'd by the Roman-Governour in any great affair as Josephus relates in his 20th Book of Antiquities and he was in a grievous quandary for procuring the Death of James the Just the Brother of our Lord during the interregnum after Festus his Death and before Abbinas his Successor was arriv'd in Judaea in his Government But I say the Romans usually granted the Conquer'd Jews to use their own Laws and to be govern'd by their own High-Priest and Countrymen and Sanhedrim but always under favour and under correction still of the Romans This Sanhedrim or a Synagogue then was the same in Christ's time as appointed in the Law of Moses namely the High-Court of Justice and the Lower-Courts of Justice and all the Magistracy they ever had But our Blessed Saviour he never changed the Government that was enacted and established by Moses's Law nor suffered his Disciples to innovate any thing in the Civil-Government or which is all one Spiritual-Government Sanhedrim or Synagogue Which if our Saviour had ever spoke against no doubt but his Adversaries that lay at catch would have accused him of it and laid it to his charge when they so thirsted after his Blood Of this Court of Jewish-Magistracy our Saviour speaks when he says in Matt. 18.17 tell it to the Church or Synagoge or Sanhedrim Which I say was not a meer Spiritual Court no no it was no Bawdy-Court but a Court of Justice for Trying Causes whipping men beating them stoning them to Death In this Court St. Peter and St. John were threatned and St. Stephen stoned Acts 7. And the same Court had stoned Peter and John too but that they durst not for fear of the people that were so taken with them for that a notable Miracle had been done by them in curing a Cripple that was born Lame from his Mothers Womb Acts 3. and this was such an evident demonstration of the hand of God going along with them and done so publickly and only with a word in the powerful Name of Jesus that the people could not but admire it and applaud it Whereupon they were put to a notable plunge and when they had laid their Heads together Acts 4.15 They were at their Wits end and knew not what to do Acts 4.16 For on the one hand they resolv'd to do all the mischief they could or durst and on the other hand they had no other colour for doing mischief to the Apostles but only that they had done good and cured a poor Cripple and that would bear no colour for their intended cruelty against them What shall they do What shall they do They were mischievously bent and were resolv'd to do as much mischief as in them lay but that that perplext them and put them to this sad perplexity the people the people could not be gull'd with any colourable mist to blind their eyes and make them believe they punisht the Apostles for Treason or Sedition or Heresie therefore the Text says Act. 4.21 Finding they sought but they could find nothing how they might punish them the Apostles why could they find nothing 't is answered in that Text Because of the people for all men glorified God for
I were in place where I might properly discuss the point but I have learnt to obey and to mind only mine own business CHAP. V. I Have heard some Lawyers say that all Laws of man which are contrary to Gods Laws are void ipso facto as soon as made But what 's that to this affair But there are worse consequences of an Excommunication amongst us than Imprisonment or the Fees or rather Fines severer consequences than what attends the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for if I mistake not an Excommunicate Person and signified under the Bishops Seal to be such shall not sue at Law for his Debts Lands nor Estate nor make a Will to dispose of the same or if he do the Spiritual-Courts will not prove it nay some would have it that they shall not give their Suffrages and Votes in the choice of Parliament-men nor be suffered to Trade nor to Buy or Sell nay in Popish Times and Countries none may buy any thing of any Excommunicate person Rev. 13.16 17. in pain of being also Excommunicate neither give nor sell them meat nor drink For which cause it was that Jane Shore was starv'd and dyed in Shore-ditch no body durst relieve her because she was Excommunicated And most of the Rebellions in the Reign of Henry VIII was because the Pope by his Bull of Excommunication dated Decemb 7. Anno Domini 1538. had deprived the King of his Kingdom and had absolved his Subjects from their Obedience Hard is the case both of Kings and People when they lie at the mercy of the Clergy except they will be content to be Gospel-Ministers and Servants of Christ and his People and not Lords to tyrannize and domineer over God's Heritage such Pride so contrary to the Gospel will have a Fall nay 1 Pet. 5.3 Isa 26.11 it has had a Fall yet some Men will never take warning nor believe in God but trust to broken Cisterns and their own Subtleties which are Foolishness with God I think every Man that has Liberties or Properties to lose and the poorest Man in England has Liberty to lose though he have no Freehold I say it is of Concernment to all Men to look about them and have a care God knows whose turn it may be next For my part I had rather anger the Great Turk than a peevish proud Surrogate Register or Summer And indeed my private Concerns was the first occasion to tell you true of making me look and pry into their nasty privy ways Extortions Oppressions under which His Majesties Subjects poor Widows and Orphans groan remediless to this day notwithstanding so many Acts of Parliament for their Relief Does not the Statute of 31 Edw. 3 4. tell us That the Ministers of Bishops and other Ordinaries of Holy-Church take of the People grievous and outrageous Fines where note by the way that by outrageous Fines is meant by the Statute unjust Fees for the Probate of Testaments c. And the Statute of 3 Hen. 5 8. begins thus Whereas the Commons of the Realm have oftentimes mark that in divers Parliaments mark that complained of that that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probate of a Testament c. against Right and Law c. therefore that Statute reduc'd them to Two shillings six-pence or Five shillings at the most A likely matter that Spiritual Men can be held bound by a Statute that could bind and loose all the Commons and Nobles too at their pleasure A Statute Law bind them No no no more than Samson's Wit hs or New Cords could hand-cuff the Gyant that is so long as and no longer than he list Therefore the Statute of 21 Hen. 8 5. complains and complains and tells how often these Ecclesiastical Men had baffled the Statute enumerating and particularly naming the two former Statutes here now recited and reduces then for the Probate and Inventory Sometimes to 6 d. sometimes to 2 s. 6 d. at most but 5 s. as I have more particularly given you a Table of Fees in my Vindication of the Naked Truth The Second Part And all this in pain of 10 l. one Moyety to the King and the other to the Party grieved together c. Then you 'll say Why do they still take 20 s. 30 s. 40 s. and sometimes 50 s. for a Probate sometimes much more I answer Because they are Impudent as their Predecessors are complain'd of Statute after Statute Parliament after Parliament and to little purpose Go bind Samson but you had best have a care you come not within his Clutches Go and complain against them To whom you 'll say perhaps write Naked Truths against them that at length our Superiors may hear the Complaints of the Widow and the Orphans opprest grievously by their Extortions in Probates c. Does not God Almighty say concerning the crying Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 18.20 21. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will hear Well then publish their known Extortions as the said Statutes already mentioned confesses that the Commons did grievously complain of the Extortions and Oppressions of the Spiritual Court And will not this way do Write against them and Print against their impudent sinning in defiance of the Statutes the Laws and Justice of the Realm And what then Will that do Yes that will do one thing namely undo the Author I 'll assure you expertâ— crede Roberto I am in a fair way to it if Actions brought by my great Bishop in Common-Law Courts and in Ecclesiastical Courts and Citation upon Citation in Arches in Delegates if all these and Power into the bargain will not sink one Poor Man sure then there 's more than humane help and more than a humane hand in it But you may well say Godly Bishops should not be angry and touchy nor enrag'd at nor become an Enemy an open Enemy against any Man for telling the Naked Truth of the Vileness and Extortions of their Ministers and Vnder-Officers against the known Laws of the Land but love and cherish such and if they will be angry they should vend their spleen against the said wickednesses of their Vnder-Officers and correct and amend and take shame to themselves and shew signs of Repentance But I am not bound to answer this Objection only it brings to my mind the temper and opinion the King and Parliament were of concerning the Bishops and their Visitations some years after the Pope's Supremacy and Prelacy was cut down in the beginning of the Reformation in H. VIII's time expressed by the coupling together of two words in 35 H. 8.21 namely Visit or Vex as if they were Synonyma's or the one explanatory of the other Visit or Vex good The King and Parliament had a good opinion of the Bishops Visitations in the
interim to count them vexatious and to make provision for the King's Churches and Chappels to be freed and exempt from their Visitations I shall never forget it Visit or Vex nay I know it experimentally a most admirable Couple or Conjunctive Copulative Visit or Vex good incomparable well since that wise King and Parliament put them together let them go Visit or Vex. Yet let no Man mistake me as the Vulgar Translation does the Text in St. Luke's Gospel reading Evertit domum instead of Everrit domum that is She overthrew the house instead of She swept the house No no I love a Bishoprick too well to wish its ruine the worst I wish them is to 'mend not end them Again You may well say That as Great as they are they are not Too Great Burly and Overgrown for the Law that has prov'd an Overmatch to the greatest Favourites and arbitrary Judges in England in all Ages and has brought some of them to the Block I doubt it not why then you 'll say Indict them and bring Informations in the Crown-Office against them Indict them Sh them There are so many starting holes in the Statute and they are Cunning and Rich and do you not know that Riches can make Friends I thought you had known it I have heard of some Highway-men and Robbers in other Kingdoms that when they Rob a Man of a 1000 l. they 'll be content to be taken and tryed for their Lives if you give them but 600 l. more why so what will the money do them good if they are hang'd true But they know a way worth two on 't for for 500 l. given to Madam she can procure a Reprieve But you 'll say What 's all this to the purpose or to the Men of Doctors Commons or do you think you tell us News or what 's this to Excommunication and the power of the Keys I answer with a late learned Author Why may not a Man be suffered to talk Impertinently now and then 'T is the mode the very Gazet-mode and the fashion of every weekly Pamphlet And yet by your favour though the Extortions and notorious Oppressions in the Probate of Wills c. be no news since Edward III's Reign a very very old Disease it 's well if it be capable of Cure yet treating here of the Power of the Keys and Excommunication I cannot be Impertinent if I shew you how Vice corrects Sin And as my private concern as I said before occasion'd my search into their Ways and Authority so I doubt not but the Reader will be abundantly satisfied in reading the whole Libel and Articles against me and my Answer Proximus ardet It may be your own case e're long or your friends and if it be by my Answer you 'l know the better how to handle them For for all my whining for the loss of my said Guiney I assure you I fear them not as I us'd to say in my old Motto like a Tortoise in his Shell Virtute mea me Involvo I am safe rowl'd up in mine own Innocence and in the Integrity I bless Almighty God of mine unblemish't Life and Conversation unblemish't I say that would not say it nor should not say it but on this occasion in mine own just defence I say again unblemish't except by Lies and Libels and a pack of Hireling-villains that for the sake of Money and a Fee be-slander me but Nubecula est evanescit 't is like a Vapor or a morning Cloud it vanishes and must and shall before I have done with them they 'l know me better I wish I could impart my Fortitude in suffering I mean to all that are oppressed they shall find I am Shot-free and Malice-proof and for my Guiney aforesaid let it go at present I 'le fetch some of it again with a vengeance to them and have Arrested or order'd to be Arrested the said Vice-Register Nucourt for it already I cannot endure to part with my Money no not upon the Road but I must know why and wherefore if they tell me a Lye they must shew me a reason for 't before we part if I be not Godfreydiz'd or Arnoldiz'd the World 's wicked enough But my Answer cannot be understood except I give you first an account of the Libel exhibited against me in the Arches Thomas Doughty Gent. the Promoter but upon second thoughts it was deem'd meet to make Henry Bishop of London Promoter but their Councels being coufus'd and the men Ruffled with my appearance in that Heathenish Language Greek which I spoke not in ostentation but because many of the Canons were made originally in Greek and the Interpreters thereof the Doctors of the Canon Law had need blush as Red and Scarlet as their Gowns of being ignorant of the Original they profess to interpret besides I did it to shew how well their Caps became them whil'st I forsooth must stand bare before the Gallants a very comely sight and a great deal of reason But so pudled they were some of them that when I came first into Court Thomas Doughty was the Informer and Promoter but he not being thought big enough or for what other reasons I cannot tell nor do I desire to be a privy Councellor amongst them but Doughty was scor'd out by the Bishop of London's said Vice-Register the said Nucourt and in his place by Interline was inserted Henry Bishop of London for the Promoter but that also was another blunder for in the last Article Doughty gets the honour of the place again and is made Promoter again against me in this terrible Libel following viz. CHAP. VI. IN Dei Nomine Amen Nos Robertus Wyseman Miles Legum Doctorê° Almae Curiae Cantê° de Archubus Londonê° Officialis Principalis Legitime constitutus tibi Edmundo Hickeringill Clerico Rectori Rectoriae Ecclesiae Parochialis omnium Sanctorum in villa Colcestriae Dioc. Londonê° Cantque Provincê° Articulos Capitula sive Interria meram animae tuae salutem morumque excessuum suorum reformationem praesertim crimina delicta tua infrascriptê° concernenê° ex Officio nostro ad promotionem Reverendi in Christo Patris Domini Domini Henrici Londonê° Episcopi objicimus Articulamur prout sequitur viz. 1. IMprimis Objicimus Articulamur That in the Months of March April May June July August September October November December January February and March in the years of our Lord 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680. and in the Months of March April and May 1681. You the said Edmund Hickeringill were and still are Rector of the Rectory and Parish-Church of All-Saints in Colchester aforesaid And as and for the Rector of the said Rectory and Parish-Church aforesaid you were during the time aforesaid and still are commonly accounted reputed and taken Et Objicimus Articulamur conjunctim divisim de quolibet 2. Item We Article and Object that you the said Edmund Hickeringill to promote differences between Sâ—muel
thereby but when this Defendant married ten times more in the years 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 and 1679. and made the People pay for a pretended Licence and Marriage about 12 s. or 13 s. of which each the said Registers and Commissary had 8 s. apiece Then oh no! Then not a word to be said nor any Promoters heard of against him But after the writing the Naked Truth that tells them roundly of their crying Extortions and Oppressions of the King's Subjects in illegal Fees or rather Exactions in Probates of Wills Letters of Administrations Ordinations Institutions Inductions Visitations Synodals Procurations Excommunications and Absolutions in answer whereof neither they nor one Fullwood their Doughty-Champion has so much as one word to say in their Defence Then nothing will serve but Ruine and Desolation in Plots and Contrivances against the Author for Barretry and No body knows what And now too have at his Rectory and the Profits thereof which he holds by the Law of the Land and will hold in spight of their teeth and malice For if such solemnizing Matrimony were prov'd upon him in a lawful Court and Judicature and against lawful Canons and Constitutions found upon Record and in a Court of Record but this Court if it be a Court is no Court of Record and a true Copy thereof here produced and testified And also if it be prov'd that such Canons and Constitutions so contrary to one another are or which of them are now in force in these days that the 1 Eliz. 1. by which they had enargie life and power is defeated and also by the said 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 Yet even then the malice of this Defendants Adversaries cannot reach his Rectory and the Profits thereof as Thomas Doughty threatens in the eighth and last Article for not only the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth ordains Suspension only ab officio but that Suspension in general terms in the pretended Canon of King James ought to be construed the same with that of Queen Elizabeth namely Suspension only ab officio or silencing or stopping the mouth a mighty Priviledg not Suspension a beneficio because of the said Maxim of the Civil-Law Common-Law Mercy Reason Equity and Conscience namely Poenae generaliter expressae semper debent intelligi in mitiori sensu punishments only in general terms exprest ought always to be taken in the mildest sense Oh! but the said Promoter Thomas Doughty in this last Article cannot afford so much clemency it is a pity therefore he should ever be called vestra clementia or his Grace mercy is an Herb rarely found in the Fields of an Informer or Promoter Solomon tells us The mercies of the wicked are cruelty However whatever may be prov'd against him in this mighty case he doubts not but to keep his Free-holds Lands and Tenements both spiritual and temporal which blessed be God are worth the gaping for and let them gape they may gape long enough before they stop their mouths with them 't is to be hoped their mouths will be stopt with mould first in the grave before they ruin a Man and his House a Man and his Family a Man and his dear Wife and seven lusty Children God bless them and keep them out of harms-way secure under the Protection of the Law against all Conspirators against this Defendant or them and against all Man-Catchers little and great we live in jolly times God keep us Which brings to mind Nothing of this was put in the Defendants Answer but is added de Nove the Caveats entred by Sir Mathew Hale that incomparable Lord Chief-Justice against and for himself necessary to be continually had in remembrance by all Judges Temporal and Spiritual and proper enough it is here to Insert one half or nine of them 1. That I never engage my self in the beginning of any Cause but reserve my self unprejudiced 'till the whole be heard 2. That I be not too rigid in matters purely conscientious where all the harm is diversity of Judgment 3. That I be not byassed with compassion to the Poor or favour to the Rich in point of Justice 4. That Popular or Court-Applause or Distaste have no Influence into any thing I do in point of distribution of Justice 5. Not to be solicitous what men will say or think so long as I keep my self exactly according to the Rules of Justice 6. If in Criminals it be a measuring cast mark that to incline to Mercy and Acquittal 7. In Criminals that consist meerly in words when no more harm ensues moderation is no Injustice 8. To abhor all private sollicitations of what kind soever and by whomsoever in matters Depending 9. To charge my Servants 1. Not to Interpose in any business whatsoever 2. Not to take more than their known Fees 3. Not to give any undue Precedence to Causes 4. Not to recommend Counsel Ay Ay here was I had almost said a None-such seldom comes a better nay nay seldom such another Again to our present matter in hand and the Article aforesaid of transgressing the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England The Article does not say what Canons whether Canons made before the Reformation or since whether Canons made when the Pope was Head of the Church of England or Canons made since the Kings of England were declared by Acts of Parliament the Heads or Head of the Church of England So that this Defendant cannot possibly know how particularly to answer the same or know whether to confess traverse or deny so that this Defendant therefore requires that it may be explain'd and particulariz'd by the Promoter or Promoters what Canons and Constitutions they mean or would be at and where such Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are to be found and in what Court of Record that this Defendant may give a more positive and particular Answer thereunto for dolus later in universalibus Secondly Besides what is already said at large as to the Uncertainty which is enough to quash the said Articles at least for the present if it were needful This Defendant further answereth and saith That he humbly denies the force strength and vertue of all Canons and Constitutions vulgarly called of the Church of England that are not Confirmed by King and Parliament the onely Legislators and Law-makers in this Realm of England Which if any deny to be true 't is like he may have an answer in Parliament if thought fit But if it be true and that no Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are allowed or confirmed to be obligatory Laws to an Englishman as in 13 Car. 2.12 16 Car. 1.11 then there 's an end of the Story and this Traverse is further needless But if this Court denies That the King and Parliament are the onely Legislators then this Defendant desires they would so declare and express themselves that so this Defendant and all others may know the limits of their obedience For
London Promoter against this Defendant in the beginning of the Articles by cashiering Thomas Doughty of the Place And then to prefer Doughty to his old place again and face about again as you were It is either an Affront to make the said Bishop a Promoter or else if he like the place 't is an Affront to dismiss him thereof and take Thomas Doughty on again in Conclusion But what Reason the said Bishop will have to thank the Impudent Proctor for the Promotion or Preferment time will discover In the Interim consider how sawcily impudent and mischievously sawcy are some Servants that if their Masters will tamely suffer the Familiarity play the sawce with their Masters like Churle-cats so long till they scratch them And is it not subtle to grant a Sequestration to Mr. Sewell for the poor Rectory of St. Leonard's aforesaid and never revoke the same nor give notice of such Revocation and yet send out another Sequestration for poor Harris the other to Mr. Sewell being unrevok'd as aforesaid and confirmed by accepting the Fees at every Visitation and in force if any Bishop's Sequestration be in force which is no sin to question especially upon this occasion their Power at best being for Edification not for Destruction like the Apostles if they be like their Power is to do Good not Harm especially to the Poor However by their own Law and Method all their Sequestrations are in force till they be revok'd and Mr. Sewell's was never yet revok'd no matter tho how soon that the People may see the difference on 't and that seldom comes a better in the mean while Mettal on mettal is false Heraldry And is it not subtle to implead this Defendant for a breach of a Clause in the Rubrick of marrying without Banes when every pittiful Register Surrogate Official c. makes no bones of it but publickly sells such Indulgences Licences or Dispensations in defiance of the Act of Parliament the Act of Uniformity and the said Rubrick a Branch of it that equally forbid and prohibit all Men And is it not subtle to cull out only five unlucky Couples for Instance that inhabit in such Parishes where it is impossible that the most of them should ever be married according to the rigid and strict Rules of the Rubrick there being no Divine Service constantly said in any of the said Parishes but in St. Leonard's at present not once in a quarter of a Year and in St. Bottolph's and St. Mary Magdalen not these thirty Years last past nor any Churches save what are demolished wherein to read Divine-Service or publish the Banes And therefore it would have been impious in this Defendant in this Exigency not to have coupled them together and to prevent their unmarried Concumbency and consequently Adultery Thus the Priest in a strait gave David some of the Shew-bread which except in case of hunger and necessity was not lawful for a Lay-man to eat but only for the Priests this Defendant also dispensing with the Rigor of a Commandment which was impossible to be kept without a greater Mischief and Inconvenience namely Adultery A Sin proper of all other for the Cognizance of this Court and the Scotch-man John Dargavel late Vicar of Boxted in Essex who got two Bastards in one House where he boarded much of one age this Defendant baptized them both calling one by the name of Dargavell being put into this Court and flying from Boxted a Vicarage of 30 l. per annum a wonder in Scotland was punish'd with another Living in the West Country of 100 l. per annum which he enjoyes at this day and when his new Parishioners prosecuted him in this Court for his old Adulteries they had as good have thrown their Caps at him These are Crimes with a witness publickly known and scandalous and yet in this Court it seems it found no Suspension for three Years as here in this case is threatned for preventing Adultery by marrying without Banes where none could be had Some Men had better steal a Horse than others look over the Hedg And lastly for this Paper is almost done Is it not subtle for Men to search for a Mote in this Defendant's Eye with a Beam in their own and by the busy officiousness thereby give an Occasion to have their own Eyes look'd into blear'd with illegal Fees Extortions and Oppressions of the King's Subjects in Probates Letters of Administration Ordinations Institutions Inductions Visitations Synodals Procurations Excommunications Absolutions Indulgences Licences and Dispensations and also in illegal Rites and superstitious Ceremonies in defiance of the Statutes of this Realm Thus giving Irritation and Provocation as well as Occasion to bring their Works of Darkness unto Light as if they long'd for Correction And Pity it is great pity that he should escape the Lash who wantonly calls for it efflagitantes sollicitescit Finis Respons CHAP. XIII VVEll may the Reader wonder that wise Men should be so Hood-wink'd with Passion or Prejudice to make such a do about nothing and accuse a Man for old acquitted Barretry in an improper Court or make it a Crime to defend himself his ancient Rights Freehold and Tenants from an Intruder But above all 't is incomparable that Registers Commissaries Officials and such kind of Creatures should make such a noise about marrying People without the strict Rituals of the Church which they break every day by granting Licences publickly in defiance of the Statute and pronouce such Solemnization of Matrimony a Prophanation How do they pass Sentence against themselves as if the Children of all that were married without Banes by their Licences and Indulgences contrary to the Ritual and punctilio of the Statute of Vniformity were Bastards Which wicked Suggestion the Papists may possibly but God forbid they should ever have the Power improve upon us all and by the same Argument make all our Marriages not Solemnizations but Prophanations and our Children conseqently Bastards c. not inheritable to our Estates as being not born in lawful Wedlock or Matrimony which say they can never be Legal except made according to the Ceremonies of the Roman Ritual And therefore tho some Protestants and Papists rashly marry together yet the Papists will be married according to the Roman Ritual by a Popish Priest and then they do not much care for they look upon 't as nothing more than of old to be married by a Justice of Peace for the present Exigency and edge of the Law and therefore will condescend to be married again according to the English Ritual Which brings to my mind a Passage here well worth the inserting and mentioned in the History of the Life and Death of that Famous Judg Lawyer Philosopher and Divine Sir Matthew Hale In these Words Page 83 84 85. He was a devout Christian a sincere Protestant and a true Son of the Church of England and yet he had been one of Oliver Cromwell 's Judges of the Common-Pleas moderate towards
the righteous that is such as would be wise and righteous if it were not for the Gift or Reward But wo wo Wo be to them saith the Prophet that decree unrigteous decrees Isa 10.1 2 3. and that write grievousness which they have prescribed To turn aside the needy from judgment and to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless And what will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far to whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your glory Loth very loth will such men be that such measure as they meet it shall be measured unto them again then will they curse the keeping of false weights and false measures one to buy by and another to sell by except they indeed intend to be Weathercocks that is true Conformists yet never true nor stable but only true to every Wind that blows strongest But this is the wisdom the honesty and the policy mean while men might blush if they had any blush or grace in them this is a kind of blind Devotion or Implicite Faith Thus have I known a willing Court yare and ready at an Execution right or wrong upon a Bishop's significavit send a man to Gaol when the Bishop to my knowledg granted that significavit of one Excommunicate and knew no more of the matter or whether just or the merit of the cause more than the Man in the Moon but by Implicite Faith in the Register or his Eccho I mean Mr. Formality called a Surrogate or Official Sinner you ought to be Excommunicate Suspended saith Register or Vice-Register Excommunicetur Suspendatur quoth Eccho-Surrogate Wonderful Ecclesiastical-Policy and Kirk-Discipline Is there any Wit or Grace Law Reason Conscience or Equity in these Proceedings What Curse men Damn them Gaol them and all by Implicite Faith in a Silly Covetous Wretched Extorting Lack-Latin Register Sir How came you by the Keys of the Church These Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth These Keys that let in and out to Hell and the Gaol Did you come honestly by them speak man How came you Sir to say First Take him Devil Secondly and consequently Take him Magistrate Thirdly and lastly Take him Gaoler And in Gaol he must there lie and die without Bayl or Mainprize by 3 Edw. 1.15 How long Until he first please that is pay this same extorting Register 'till 1. He be pleas'd and as much he pleases at the will of this Lord or rather Tyrant of Souls and Purses 2. He must swear to obey the Ordinary and staremandatis Ecclesiae commandments of Holy-Church 3. He shall then be Absolv'd and have a Certificavit thereof to the Bishop who then in course grants a Significavit and then by Writ to the Sheriff the poor Excommunicate gets out of Hell and the other Hell the Gaol So that the Register the Vice-Register with Formality-Eccho have all the Keys at their Devotion for what the Bishop does by Significavit of Excommunication or Absolution delivering to and fro the Devil and the Gaol and all that the King's-Courts consequently do thereupon are all by blind Implicite-Faith in the Register and Eccho all in course only For these little Sell-souls do the feat vulnus opemque tulit the same hand again they Wounded you and they cure you the Bishop's Significavit and the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo are but necessary Consequents and things in Course So that I say again it is safer 1000 times safer to anger the Great Turk or Great Mogull than a sneaking rascally covetous extorting Register or Vice-Register that buys or hires the Sell-soul-place to my knowledg and if he buys the Devil he must sell him Thus I think we English men are at a fine pass when our Souls our Bodies our Properties and Liberties lye at this loose lock whilst a Register or Sumner keeps really and truly the Keys of all To see an old Formality-Priest sit in the Court of Arches behind Noon as if forsooth they could do nothing without the Keys for fashion-sake which Mr. Necessity-Priest has at his Girdle hanging and represents the Archbishop who is absent about greater matters than Markets of Souls and looks just like the Divinity-man amongst the Civil Lawyers in Trinity-Hall in Cambridg called Mr. Necessity because he has no Law but they are troubled with him poor man because they cannot pray without him Quite contrary in Doctors-Commons they must they must upon necessity be troubled with this Hackney-Journey-man-Divinity-driver because the mischief is the Doctors good Souls are willing enough but alas they cannot Curse and Deliver to the Devil without him nor Absolve without him although the Money for Absolution be not only agreed upon but they have the Livery and Seizin thereof in their Pocket Why What must be done then give the Word for Mr. Necessity the Arch-Bishops Representative or in inferiour Coutts the Bishops Representative or the Arch-Deacons Representative Come hither Mr. Necessity nay hold up your head and look like a Man sit down put on your Hat Mr. Necessity you must Subscribe this Curse or Anathema yea quoth Necessity give me my Spectacles and Pen and Ink. This fellow makes no more Bones of a Soul than if it had not a Bone in it nor knows wherefore it is delivered to Satan or more of the matter or merit of the Cause than the most Reverend Arch-Bishop Lord-Bishop or Mr. Arch-Deacon that are miles off and absent I 'le depose for Mr. Necessity he knows no Law Civil-Law nor Uncivil-Law all he minds or knows or enquires is only Wher 's my Gray-Groat for subscribing the Anathema or Curse Is it a good Groat I take no Brumiughams no Brumingham I. Then if ever the Soul be Absolv'd then Mr. Necessity has a Groat more for the Absolution-Oath he cares not how many are delivered to Satan so many Souls so many Groats in his Pocket ready Money but his vertue is he Prays as hard for their Absolution for every Soul Absolv'd is as good as a Groat in his Pocket Mr. Necessity to Curse takes pains But Registers and Doctors get the gains Copy-hold at the will of the Lord is the basest Tenure but that is regulated and bounded by custom and kept within the limits of reason But in this case upon the good will pleasure or displensure of these Ecclesiastical-fellows depends all we have all our Liberties and Properties of Noblemen Gentlemen Yeomen all all are held at the will of these Spiritual Lords or rather Holy-Tyrants I mean Summers and Registers and such bran such Sell-souls we none of us can be assured of any thing we have if they be not curb'd in their career we cannot say our Souls are our own Are we not at a fine pass The thoughts hereof did so perplex the King and Parliament saith the Lord Cook Inst 1. Sect. 201. that though in antient time every Official
or Commissary might testifie Excommengement that is make a Sâ—gnicavit of Excommunication into the Kings Court Note by the way that Spiritual-Courts were not esteemed the Kings-Courts they must be the then Pope's Courts or no bodies Courts except they themselves be Soveraigns and for mischief that ensued thereupon Ay Ay that work was worthy a Parliament if they knew but how to 'mend a râ—tten Spiritual-Fabrick that has no foundation in the Word of God it was ordained by Parliament for Remedy But was not the Remedy still the same with the Disease that none should certifie Excommengement but the Bishop only there they hit it Did no body ever hear of a Gentleman he shall be nameless for me that would needs have a Hat button'd up of the right side but happening to put it on the wrong way stamp'd and star'd like mad at the Haberdasher Sirrah quoth he did not I speak for a Hat that button'd up on the right side yea quoth the Haberdasher but that will cost ten shillings more cost what it will cost quoth Gallant that had more Money than Wit I 'le have it so he was glad to go home and bring him the same Hat again and putting it on right all parties were pleas'd Or him that bespoke a Picture of a Horse lying tauveing upon his Back and the Painter brought it and set it before him en passant at which disappointment the Gallant rav'd 'till going home and for more Money he brought him the same Picture turn'd topsie-turvy and so the fool was pleas'd Was fault found with the Significavits of Officials Commissaries c. Oh then let the Bishop for the future send them to the Kings-Courts Ay well 't is done And what are you better when Bishops signifie just as Officials certifies Hixius doxius Face about as you were now the Cap I hope is Button'd upon the right side Are you now pleas'd Gentlemen Surely you are well helpt up now When God knows the Bishop is not ubiquitary Can he be here and there and every-where he is but a man What would you have Can he signifie of his own knowledg the merit of the Cause Or who ought or ought not to be Excommunicate when he judges meerly by hear-say and 20 Miles of and by Implicite Faith in his Proxies and of his own knowledg knows nothing whether he does well or ill right or wrong a meer Lottery for Souls And if as Cook Inst 1. Sect. 201. a Certificate upon another Bishop's report is not sufficient much more a Certificate upon a Register Surrogate or Officials report is illegal and insufficient An error in the first concoction Physicians say can never be amended in the second and third so here if the Official miss the mark the Bishop never mends it but shoots at random lets sly at all in Course and after him in Course too the Writ follows in Course Course-doings to be sure though the Sell-souls think 't is very sine It makes them sine that 's certain that 's all the good is got by this great mischief to the Kings Liege-people this 't is to be wiser than God and to set up an Ecclesiastical Discipline unknown to Holy Scripture and the Primitive times For what should a blind man do in the Gun-room he may Fire a Canon and kill a Friend as like as an Enemy or fight against God with Gods own Sword by Coring his Servants this is to kick against the pricks to bind and loose before Christ has breathed on us and given us the Gift of the Holy-Ghost the Gift of Disâ—…rning of Spirits or Spirit of Discerning take the Sword out of the Mad-mans hand or the Blind-mans hand he 's more like to do mischief with it than good Except it were lawful to have an Ecclesiastical Discipline that like an Essexâ— Jury hang half and save half or like drawing of Cuts for Souls long Cut or short Cut or like David's Revenge upon Moab making them all lie down in a Field Men Women and Children then stretching a Line through the middle of them on one side to put to death and with one full Line to keep alive 2 Sam. 8.2 A most nimble dispatch and compendious way of Execution There 's some hopes yet for a true man to escape by this Lottery but we are worse Is there any Whores Whoremasters Swearers Blasphemers c. let them live and 'mend what Ecclesiastical Discipline did ever correct a Debauchee But is there ever a true man or one that dares speak truth in a Province Sâ—…ner search him out Cite him to Court Come hither Sirrah Vallain you Rogue you speak truth in an Age of Sycophantry Pimping and Pandering make an example of him Indict him Sue him Article against him Swear against him get Witnesses to swear that he spoke scandalous Words against the great Lord Bishop Ha Sirrah Have we got you within the swing of a Statute of Scandalum Magnatum we 'll swinge him with a Vengeance Ay Ay it is even so you are in the right on 't Who dare deny you have got the whipping hand of him be sure you keep it it shall go hard else if power can but be persuaded to make curt'sie to Revenge Yea yea Did you never see the Character of a keen over-grown Churchman Drawn by a Pen not a Pencil in all his Bloody and Bloaty Features 't would make a man Spew to look at him in that trim with his two Appendixes Hell and the Gaol attending his Beck In good time I have it at their Service so Drawn to the Life that he that runs may read his Name in Characters and digito monstrarier dicier hic est I 'le let you see your own Faces in my Mirrour the Successors of the cruelty of Bloody Bonner Men born to ruin will never take warning yet History will tell them that a Bloody Joab never came to the Grave in Peace and the Persecuters were choak't with the Blood they spilt or drown'd in the tears of the Widows and Orphans that they made For Heaven has ears and there is a secret Nemesis a Divine Vengeance that pursues him and finds him out Lurk he behind what power he will to hide his hated Head from God's Justice Hodg like a Horse-leech still for Blood doth thirst By Blood the Villain liv'd by Blood he burst Come strike then and feel how hard it is to kick against the pricks you 'll find that striking the Naked Truth is striking a naked Weapon with a naked Hand the harder you strike the deeper you are gasht try as soon and as often as you will Iniquity and Cruelty will in time meet with its match in this World at least truth shall Conquer as Christianity got ground in the World by suffering when the Blood of the Martyrs were the seed of the Church Therefore let false men strike and spare not show as much Plodding-Policy after Revenge Craft and Cruelty as the Devil can teach them when they lay their Heads
together yet with all this Aid 't is impossible to prevail against God and his Truth Did you never see a Grey-Hound stare when he had lost a Hare in an unhappy Bush that stood by the way just when he was at the very clique and gaping to mouth her even so have I seen a cunning Politician stare as if out of his Wits or at least at his Wits end when some sudden cross Providence by him call'd strange acciden has given his Devilship the go-by then then to see him stare and stamp fret and curse rave and roar like a Lyon in a Graté that would be mouthing but for the Barriers Go then you subtile Persecutors fret and be molt in your own fat and live like the Green-land Bears in Winter upon your own Grease as long as it lasts whilst Truth like Muscovy-Wives and th' Walnut-Tree The more they are beaten still the better they be Well this I 'le say for the Pope and a fig for him but we ought to give the Devil his due much more the Arch-Bishop of all Bishops the Pope I say give him his due builds the Fabrick of his Ecclesiastical Policy rationally if his Foundation were true But Protestants do not that consess themselves and their Churches fallible and frail as does the Church of England in her 19th Article of the 39. For what non-sence is it for any Man or Church to Curse and Damn a Man for a Heretick when we confess our selves that we are fallible and consequently may err in our Judgment of the Man or his Faith Shall blind men shoot a Crow I hate this Hitty-missy Whereas the Pope grant him this Theoreme that he and his Church is infallible is in the right on 't let him Curse who he will and from Morning to Night for ever and aye for if he be infallible he only can draw this Sword of the Lord Excommunication and yet be secure that he fights not against God which Protestants that confess they may err even in matters of faith can never be sure of 'Till the Church then can get eyes to see and discern right from wrong infallibly and a Sinner from a Saint and a Believer from an Infidel and Truth from Falshood indisputably and not fallibly and uncertainly let them down on their knees and pray for the Conversion of one whom they judg an Infidel and then leave him to his Maker to stand and fall and pray to God to tye up their hands to the good Behaviour to Charity Meekness and Humility wherein they can never err which would well become them better than all this Ecclesiastical-Artillery which has ruin'd Christendom and rather let them break than uphold this Money-Trade and Merchandize of Souls especially in this her weak and Militant State How have the Churches the Councils the Fathers the Canons Clash't and Thwarted Curst and Condemn'd one another to the Pit of Hell it would make a man's heart ake to read Ecclesiastical Histories and to hear the pious Bishops complain that they never knew any good come of any Convocation of Bishops Councils nor Synod-men and one Guelt himself to make himself Canonically uncapable of Lawn-Sleeves How did the whole Christian World who were all Arrians and deny'd the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Curse that poor single Non-Conformist Athanasius Nick-naming him Sathanasius Banish't him and Suborn'd false Witnesses against him and try'd him for his Life for Murder whilst on the contrary our Church of England declares that no man can be saved that does not believe all the Creed of Athanasius and the Comment in words of his own not in Scripture-words of the Holy and Sacred Trinity made by him Though a man does believe the Holy Trinity declar'd in Scripture yet if he will be saved he must believe all the Athanasian-Creed I do not know any man that does not believe it But all the Common-Prayer-Books in the World and all the Acts for Uniformity nor all the Kings and Parliaments in the World can never make any thing true that is really false nor make any thing false which the Holy Scriptures plainly says to be true As for example suppose there be some mistakes in the Common-Prayer-Book by false Printing or in the Table to find Easter for ever yet it is Statute-Law But that cannot make a thing true which is Mathematically false nor can any Statute make a Child of God a Child of the Devil though Anathematiz'd for a Heretick And how good Bishops have bewail'd the Diocesan-frame in our days see pious Bishop Hall's Confession of the Corruptions in Church-Governours and Government I am not singular in his Modest Offer and Peace-maker See the Incomparably Learned Bishop Vsher's Model See Mr. Alesbury's Confession especially p. 21 24 28 104 169. See Mr. Baxter of Episcopacy or in short the Postscript thereof See Dr. Stillingfleet's Irenicon how does self-interest hoodwink the wise writ before he became a Dignitary-Ecclesiastical Or see Bishop Ganden's Hiera Epist particularly p. 263 and 287. with which I 'le conclude I neither approve or excuse the Personal faults of any particular Bishops as to their exercise of their Power and Authority which ought not in weighty matters to be managed without the Presence Counsel and Suffrages of the Presbyters such as are fit for that Assistance The want of this St. Ambrose St. Hierome and all sober men mark that justly reprove as unsafe for the Bishops and Presbyters and the whole Church Now I have done at the long run with my Naked Truth expos'd to the World without Power without Friends without Worldly Interest to support it It is usually thus those that worst may are often put to hold the Candle to their betters yet like Link-boys many times get not of the Gallants but a kick for their pains But I 'le shift the better having a King to Friend a Glorious King to Patronize me and vouch against all Bloody Religions Charles I. Eik Basil Advice to his Son our Gracious Soveraign Charles II. in these words In point of true conscientious tenderness I have often declared how little I desired my Laws and Scepter should entrench on God's Soveraignty who is the only King of Consciences My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you might avoid them Will nothing but Sanguinary Counsels yet please Are we no further yet from Rome Not yet Dost thou not feel me Rome Not yet Is Night So heavy on thee or my weight so light May Church of England say Have we so long Been quitting Rome yet not quite from among Christ and his Church by Blood are glorious grown But not by others Blood but by their own Whilst Antichrist and 's Church are Monstrous grown By shedding others Blood but not their own Bless us the Monster Yawns and Glares don 't start In nomine Domini stand speak say What art A Bishop sayst the Devil thou art more like
claim Jurisdiction over me and that by the sight of which Commission or hearing the same read I might know whether it were requisite in my case and circumstances to appeal from the same or make exceptions to the same if it do not give you cognizance of the Crime or pretended Crime objected against me and whether it be not counterfeit or not Sealed with the Kings Great Seal of England The old Ecclesiastical Popish Jurisdiction being as their Divine-Service and Mass Foreign and in a Foreign Language and exploded by 1 Eliz. 1. by the name of Foreign Jurisdictions and the High Commission Court by the same Statute 1 Eliz. 1. set up in the room thereof being also exploded by 13 Carol. 2.12 wherein his present Majesty obliges himself to grant no more Commissions Ecclesiastical which makes me believe you have no Commission at all nor Authority to cite me thus before you And therefore it is that I will not be uncovered before you until it appear that you are his Majesties Court Ecclesiastical by Commission derived from him II. I protest against your Proceedings because in the Citation of me hither there is no mention of the Kings Name nor the Kings Arms in the Seal thereof but only the name of Robert Wiseman Knight and Doctor of Law and to appear before him or his Surrogate whereas he is neither Arch-Bishop of Canterbury nor so much as Dean of the Arches and therefore he being at best but a Surrogate or Deputy he cannot have nor constitute a Surrogate or Deputy under him III. I protest against your Proceedings because I am cited out of the Diocess where I dwell contrary to the 23. H. 8.9 IV. I protest against your Proceedings because there is no certain day nor time mentioned in your Citation to limit and direct my appearance at a time certain V. I protest against your Proceedings because there is no certain and particular penal Crime mentioned in particular in the Citation to which and for which I am bound to make answer For it is a duty not a crime for a Presbyter as I am to joyn People together in holy Matrimony nor any Profanation though the Register get not unmerciful and unjust Fees for a formal License nor any penalty for marrying People without Bannes or License nor any thing more customary or more universally practised among the Ministers in the Country where I live than to marry without Bannes or License Nor do I acknowledge that the sixty second Canon pretended to be confirmed by King James is a Law of England nor any other Canons or things that are not enacted and confirmed by King and Parliament the naked truth whereof none dare deny without incurring a Praemunire the King and Parliament together having in England the only Legistative power Besides the Canons clash one against another for those made in Queen Elizabeth's time order That such as marry without Bannes or License shall be suspended ab officio for six months only But the sixty second of King James's Canons decrees Suspension for three years whereby it seems the Synod-men the longer they lasted the more they grew and improved not in goodness and mercy but in rigour and severity God bless us and all Englishmen from such Legislators and the bottom of the Plot and design of that Canon and Prosecution upon the same seems to be calculated to get mony for Licenses for the benefit of Registers Commissaries Officials and such like motly-Crew and Lay-Elders those Ecclesiastical Fellows whilst the Ministers and Clergy do the drudgery and truckle under them and truckle for them And is it not a Soul-saving and wholesom Canon that stops a Ministers mouth and silences him from Preaching the Gospel for three years together because a couple are honestly married for Five Shillings without giving the Commissaries Officials and Registers those Poscinummia Crumine mulgae eleven shillings and four pence more for a License VI. I protest against your Proceedings Argumento ad Hominem because according to your own not my Canons no Sentence ought to pass upon a Presbyter but by a Bishop and here is no Bishop to hear the Proceedings and therefore if afterwards any Bishop do pass Sentence Re in auditâ in propriâ personâ He must do it by a blind implicit faith in the reports of other men which I suppose no Bishop will be so rash as to venture upon Edmund Hickeringill Mr. Hickeringill told Sir Robert the penalty and danger incur'd by the said Statute of 23 Hen. 8 9. for thus vexatiously citing him out of the Diocess and threatned Sir Robert that he would sue him and prosecute him according to that Statute But Sir Robert replied That he would stop proceedings Mr. Hickeringill not content with that replied Who shall pay me for the vexatious Citation and unwarrantable trouble and charge you have put me to But Sir Robert said nothing to that nor to the Protestation it might as well have been Greek for it non-plust all reply Nor are all the Sir Roberts or Wisemen in England able to answer that Protestation for who can patch up an old rotten foundation that at first and at best was but a Popish invention not warranted in the Holy Scripture for a Bishop to vex and domineer and pill and poll and plague his Brethren Clergy and Laity biting and devouring what even birds of prey will not do their own Kind in spight of the Law of Christ Luk. 22.25 26. by illegal Fees Extortions Exactions Citations Excommunications Absolutions Dispensations Commutations Procurations Visitations Sequestrations c. Which last is an art so dark and unintelligible and as little known as seldom or never insisted upon of all other the mysteries of Iniquity which makes me subjoin this following Essay But some will say if Bishops Courts be dissolved as seems to be undeniably prov'd in the Naked-Truth and in a Book so stiled lately published then what are Bishops good for And what shall they do To which I answer Let them sit in Parliament and other Councils when his Majesty shall think fit to call them let them say their Prayers Preach give Alms Baptize and Catechise and do the work of their Ministry and if that be not work enough for one man which was a great deal more than the Apostles ever did who never were Parliament-men nor Privy-Councellors then let them perswade the King and Parliament if they can to set up their High-Commission Court again and give them power as formerly to be mischievous Bless us good God! what would Ambition and Covetousness Rage and folly be at if it could speak Is not stately Lordships and Mannors City and Country-houses vase Revenues and great and manifold Preferments enough to satisfie men but they must rob the Spittle and be uneasie except they have power to be mischievous Well God forgive them and give them repentance that 's the worst I wish them and send them more money and when they have got more wit and more