our Lives if that Branch of that Statute be in force In the Interim God keep me out of the enemies clutches though For I think I know sufficiently what Ecclesiastical Clemency is if they get a man at their mercy women and timerous men are said to be most cruel when they get a man down they never think themselves safe till he be made sure for ever rising up again but if they had not run to Westminster-Hall cry'd out there for help against me I could have dealt well enough with them till they had been Tyred nay They knew it as well But no more of that at present for their business was never so fully and compleatly done as now Take my word for it CHAP. III. THe Branch of the said Statute 1 Edw. 6. 2. now to be considered is this verbatim BE it therefore further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Summons and Citations or other Process Ecclesiastical in all Suits and Causes of Instance vetwixt Party and Party and all Causes of Correction and all Causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or Inquiry de Jure Patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of Persons deceased and all Acquitcances of and upon accounts made by the Erecutors Administrators or Collectors of Goods of any dead person be from the first day of July next following made in the name and with the style of the King as it is in Writs Original or Iudicial at the Common-Law And that the Teste thereof be in the name of the Arch-bishop or Bishop or other having Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction who hath the commission and grant of the Authority Ecclesiastical immediately from the Kings Highness And that his Commissary Official or Substitute exercising Iurisdiction under him shall put his name in the Citation or Process after the Teste Furthermore be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all manner of Person or Persons who have the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall have from the first day of July before expressed in the Seals of Office The Kings Highness Arms decently set with certain characters under the Arms for the knowedge of the Diocess and shall use no other Seal of Iurisdiction 〈◊〉 wherein his Maâ—esties Arms be ingâ—â—â—en upon pain that if any person shall use Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction after the day before expressed in this Realm of England Wales â—â— other his Dominions or Territories And not send or make out the citation or process in the Kings name or use any Seal of Iurisdiction other than before Limited That every such Offender shall inâ—â—â—â— and run in the Kings Majesties Displeasure and Indignation and suffer Imprisonment at his Highnesses will and pleasure Now what is there in all this that should make a man loth to act in the Name and Style and Seal of the Kings Majesty and not in the old method when a Priest was the head of the Church if there were not something in the hollow of his Heart They do not pretend as aforesaid that their Spiritual-Courts are named in God's Word if therefore they be the Kings-Courts what in the name of goodness makes them unwilling that their Processes Citations and Summons Ecclesiastical should not as other Writs Original or Judicial in the Kings Common-Law Courts run in the Name and Style and Arms of the Kings Majesty Edward 6. was the first Protestant-King since the Reformation For though King Henry 8 as I said Reform'd the lustful Monasteries yet he neither reform'd his own life thereby nor his Popish opinions But his Son was likely to be a happy Instrument of good to this Nation Whatever Doctor Heylin the darling Advocate of some Bishops have had the Confidence to Print to the contrary who in the Epistle before his pretended History of the Reformation expresly affirms That he cannot reckon the death of King Edward the Sixth for an Infelicity to the Church of England How Sir was it not an Infelicity to the Church to lose such a King To have the hopes of a glorious Reformation â—â—pt in the very Bud To have a fearful deluge of Blood and Idolatry rush in upon us by a Popish Successor But what will not the Craftsmen of Ephesus say when they fancy their Shrines in hazzard And how ready alas are such as think Lordships and vast Revenues and dominering power the Churches only Felicitâ—â—s to Reproach and Scandalize even in Sacred Princes the clearest Innocence and the most solid Piety and the brightest Zeal But God he thanked this Censure of Noble King Edward of Blessed Memory is but one Doctor 's opinion and I know not an other honest Protestant at home or abroad that will subscribe to it The very first Statute that the Parliament made as I said before in this good Kings Reign was this that we are now considering except one onely concerning the Blessed Sacrament and receiving it in both kindes with which they as piously begun and their next work was this Regulation of Spiritual-Courts For it seems very absurd that if the Ecclesiastical-Courts be the Kings-Courts and not the Prelates-Courts which they dare not in plain words deny That the Writs thence Issuing should not be in the name and style of the King the Ecclesiastical-head as well as the Temporal Nevertheless never since King Edwards Reign could the Prelates be perswaded to act in the Kings-Name but in their own Every thing would gladly be Independent and Noun Substantives And like reeling â—â—unkards scorn to be held up though they cannot stand by themselves And though this Statute was Repâ—â—â—â—d in the next Reign by a Popish Successor yet King James in his first Parliament In the first year of his Reign reviv'd this Statute by making void the Force of that Statute 1 Mar. 2. whiâ—â— had long held it under Restraint and made it Motion-less But those band being Loosned by Repeal of 1 Mary 2. in and by vertue of the Statute prim Jacobi cap. 25. It was thought to be reviv'd by the two Lord Chief Justices at the first in the fourth year of King James But when the Lord Chief Baron and other Judges had consider'd the Prejudice that might redound to the Kings Subjects if some Diocesses had no Lawful Bishop and consequently all the Priests ordained by such Bishops at least as were made since the first of the King namely the three last years must be Illegal Priests and Illegal Bishops And many other Inconveniences must ensue if the 1 Edw. 6. 2. should be deemed to be in force to the great Scandal and Impeachment of his Majesties Justice which together with the great Influence the Bishops had at Court In the three last reigns together with the Terror of the High Commission Court The business was Hush't up pretending that it was repealed and bound down with a three fold Cord as Coke is pleased to phrase it 2 Instit. fol. 685. or three after Statutes viz. 1. first by 1 Mar. 2. Secondly by 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary 8. Thirdly By 1 Eliz.
For the true words are As any Arch-bishop or Bishop of this Realm without offending the Prerogative Royal of the Crown and the Laws and Customes of this Realm might at any time heretofore do Which clause by Cook wilfully or weakly omitted and left out quite alters the Case and gives the Arch-Bishops and Bishops no power to act do execute or Issue out any Processes Ecclesiastical as Popish Bishops used to do in their own Names and Styles sealed with their own Arms and not the Kings Armes because it is contrary to the Law and Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2 And those Armes are usually Papa in Cathedraâ— as 〈…〉 of my Court in the Soken of Essex is the Mitred Pope sitting 〈…〉 Chair so that still I say The Kings Armes engraven in all Cour◠〈…〉 â— would be a good Recognition that all the Ecclesiastical Co 〈…〉 His and He Head of the Church as the Popes Picture of old â— Court-Seales with the two Cross-keys in his hand did seem 〈…〉 Popes Supremacy and Authority as chief head of their old 〈…〉 Ecclesiastical Courts 〈…〉 the second and third Ligaments or Cords said to bind the force of this Act namely 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. 1 Eliz. 1. does not so much as touch upon 1 Edw. 6. 2. no not obliquely much less do they repeal it expresly and by name and least of all could it be any ways possible that the Legislators had the least thoughts to strike it dead by 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. or 1 Eliz. 1. when they knew it was dead and buryed before by 1 Mar. 2. CHAP. V. THis Beloved Statute then is got loose from the pretended shackles that Phillip and Mary or Queen Elizabeth are said to design against it alas they could not possibly be so weak as to plant their Artillery against a thing that the Queen had struck dead whilst she was a maid a year before they had not the least thought of it I dare say for them Much less had Queen Elizabeth the least thoughts of destroying this Statute by any thing in 1 Eliz. 1. when they very well knew that it was dead or repealed by 1 Mar. 2. And though 1 Eliz. 1 does obliquely glance at it by making the old fashion of making Bishops Legal in a Protestant Church yet she does not empower by a revival of 25. Hen. 8. 20. any Arch-bishop or Bishop to transgress any Statute allready in force much less any Statute that should come to be in force after Queen Elizabeth was dead and buryed Which is the very case here For had Queen Elizabeth as Queen Mary or any other King or Queen by name expresly Repealed this Statute with which Cords Learned Coke makes such a Pother to no purpose yet by his own Arguments all his Pother is an idle Pother and nothing that King Phillip and Mary nor Queen Mary alone nor Queen Elizabeth alone nor all of them united can do is able to repeal 1. Edw. 6. 2. for ever For if an after-after-King and Parliament do but repeal their Repeal the Statute Repealed gets New Life and is born again as Coke infallibly proves and affirms in his discourse upon the Revival of this very Statute For he says that by the Repealing of a Repeal the first Act is Reviv'd which is most true for remoto Impedimento reviviscit Statutum And therefore the Force of this Statute about which Coke does so puzzle himself with this Three-fold Cord easily appears and Breaks loose from any Tye that 1 Mar. or 1 2 Phil. Mar. or Q. Eliz. could possibly shackle it and fetter it with which Shackles shall bind no longer then till they or some of the succeeding Kings and Parliament do unbind and take them off All which was soon done in the first of King James in his first Parliament Repealing by Name 1 Mar. 2. that by Name had Repealed this Royal Statute so advantagious to the Kings Supremacy and Prerogative Royal and also thereby through its Revival Virtually Repealing all Precedent Statutes whether of Phil. Mar. or Mary or Queen Elizabeth that went before it if contrary to it or in tanto For in Statute Law contrary to the Laws of Heraldry The Junior always takes place of the Senior But the Arch-bishops or Bishops ought to have used their own names Styles c. in their Processes whilst 1 Edw. 6. 2. stood repealed during the Reigns of the two Sisters Mary Elizabeth and no longer it seems then till Primo Jacobi It was revived The only difficulty that ever I could find that seem'd to question the force of this Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. Is its Repeal by 1 Mar. 2. which though its self be Repealed by 1 Jacobi yet the 1 Edw. 6. 2 being not revived by Name therefore some doubt its vigour though the Force it lay under be quite taken away Because say they It is not reviv'd in express words by 1 Jacobi But the Lord Coke makes no difficulty at all of that for he has these Words on this very occasion namely It was strongly urged and enforced c. that all their the Bishops Process and Proceedings being in their own Names Stiles and Seals where by the said Act they ought to have been in the Kings Name and under the Kings Seale were all unlawful and voyd Ay! And to prove that the said Act of Anno 1 Edw 6. was nâ—w in force They alleadged that this Act of 1 Edw. 6. was Repealed by the said Act of 1 Mar. above mentioned which Act of Repeal being Repealed by the said branch of Primo Regis Jacobi â—â—nsequently the said Act of 1 Edw. 6. was thereby revived For when an Act of Repeal is Repealed The first Act that was Repealed is Revived A plain Case Remoâ—o Impedimento Reviviscit Statutum And herewith agreeth the Book Case in 15 Edw. 3. Tit. Petition Placit 2. And this is true and cannot be denyed Thus far Coke Why is it so Then truly I think 't is no great sin to be of my Lord Chief Justice Pembertons Opinion I mean whilst he was at the Bar urging the force Validity of this Statute in Mr. Wealds Case of Much-Waltham in Essex moving with Mr. Rotheram for a Prohibition against the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical mens Process against Mr. Wealds because their Process against him run in their own Names sealed with their own Seales and not the Kings-Arms But because Sir William Scrogs nestled and nestled and Scracht his Head Sir Francis Pemberton it seems easily perceived his Disease and therefore seemed to Compassionate the Lord Chief Justice Scrogs by saying My Lord I have urged the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. but I will not be warm upon it because I perceive your Lordship is not prepar'd at this time to give it an Answer or he used words to the like effect in Presence of above an hundred Witnesses The Truth is the time Sir Francis Pemberton urg'd this Statute was Parliament-time
them who had Clambered up to a very high Office in the State and closeth that Relation thus Cujus Generis Exemplaid circo proferenda sunt ut deterreatur a Vectigalibus Regiis et Civilibus publicisque Occupationibus Clerus et Evangelio Propagando precipue student aâ— Incumbat Examples of this kind ought to be Recorded that the Clergy may be deterred from hankering after Court-Preserments and busling in Civil and publick Offices and mainly Study and devote themselves intirely to the Propagation of the Gospel You are in the Right Reverend much in the Right They are Spiritual men or should be they are Divines or should be they are like a Fish out of the Water out of their Element when they meddle with Politicks out of their Sphere Inconsistent with their Office and perhaps their Education nor has God blest them in such Undertakings Away with them to their Bibles and Common-Prayer-Book Those are sitter and more becoming Tools then Writs Capiasses â—ibels Declarations Informations Citations Vexations and Promotions It was Augustine the Monk that first and worst Arch-bishop of Canterbury that first brought the Plague into England from Rome The Plague-Ecclesiastical of Avarice Pride Dominion pomp and Popish Prelacy If ever Anti-Christ appear'd in a Single Person none could ever show a better Title to him then this proud Monk Nor that ever did defile the Church of England with more Romish Filth and Rubbish then he would it were clean swept if any Noysome Corruptions which he brought over with him be not taken away and how beautifully it looks then But the great Infection of his Plagues had not spread but that he had such an Influence upon King Eichelbert and his Parliament Anno 601. He first got the Conusans of Tythes into his Ecclesiastical-Courts as appears by the Statutes 13. Edw. 1. 1. 18. Edw. 3. 7. at the Request of the Prelats says the Statute And that it use to be otherwise before as the first words of the said Statute specifyes and Inter leges Edw. Regis cap. 8. fol. 128. which speaks of Tythes It is said Hec Predicavit Augustinus et Concessa sunt Rege Baronibus et Popule c. The King Lords and Commons gave the Ecclesiastical men the Conusans of Tythes upon Augustin's preacbing to them to that Purpose For till the Statute of Circumspecte agatis no Person could demand Tythes in Court Christian Decimae sunt Spiritualitats Annexa says Braction They got the probate of Wills and the granting Commissions of Administration by Statute nay they could not make a Will by the Common Law of their own Goods and Chattels much less could they dispose of other mens Goods so Linwood confesses too who wrote in the Raign of H. 6. Beneficiaâ—us non potest Testari de Communi Jure sed de Consuctudine in Anglia Linwood Confesses the same concerning probates of Wills they got them granted to them I name these things before I come for ever to overthrow this Last Thumping Objection to let the Reader know that if it were not for probate of Wills Tythes and Administrations which by their horrible Corruptions and Extortions they have most Injuriously Administred if not forfeited there needs not any Statute no not this 1 Edw. 6. 2. to correct the Ecclestastical Courts and Ecclesiastical Fellows for some think they must then either starve or begg or take a better Trade And therefore though the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. should prove to be in force what then Why then they would keep no Courts at all rather then keep them in the Kings Name and not their own And what then where 's the Inconvenience if the Kings Temporal-Courts again get the Conusans of Tythes Probate of Wills Administrations c. the great Business besides vexing Souls and Church-Wardens and poor Parsons and the Money Business all which Vexations may well be spared And then the Saddle will but be set again upon the right Horse where it was handsomely set Till the Government was Priest-ridden by Augustine that Covetous Supercilious and insolent Monk Object Ay but will some say Cognizance of Tyths Fornication Adultery Defamation c. are purely Spiritual things and more concern the Soul Answ But I say it is false Tythes Fornication Defamation do no more concern the Soul then do other Injuries and Sins Murder Felony or Treason no nor so much Nay Even as to Bastardy in an action upon the Case for calling one Bastard if the Desendant Justify It shall be tryed per Pais and not by the Certificate of the Ordinary CHAP. X. WEll but will some say you promist in this Treatise before that the first Branch of the Statute of 1. Edw. 6. 2. concerning the Bishop-making might be sav'd by 1. Eliz. 1. reviving the 25. Hen. 8. 20. And then if we can but keep our Bishops and prove them to be Legal they 'l dispence no doubt at length with the old Romish way of Summons in their own name as did the Bishops in the Reign of Edw. 6. for most of them were Popish Bishops in Hen. 8 Reign Protestant Bishops in Edw. 6. Reign And again Popish-Bishops in Queen Maries days And if they conform so far to the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. as to vouchsafe to use the Kings Name Stile and Seals in their Ecclesiastical-Courts you promis'd that the First Branch of 1 Edw. 6. 2. was vacated by 1. Eliz. 1. And they consequently Legal Bishops Answ I answer that I never promist any such thing in my life though the esteem I have for Prelates together with my natural â—ropensity to Lordliness Ay and my own Interest too being a Judge of an Ecclesiastical-Court and sending Processes Ecclesiastical all in my own name hitherto though if God and the King do but forgive my Sins past herein I will never do so any more It is Imprisonmen tduring the Kings Pleasure I confess and to be in miserecordia Regis for what all of us have done might be perswasive motives thereunto But alas I can do no more than I can for our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction I must not dare whatever others do to Impeach the validity of a Statute seeming so long injur'd and looking so evidently in force for fear of After-Claps I said indeed that if Oracle Coke did not mistake himself and the Law The Bishops and Arch-bishops were Legally made after the old Fashion of Conge Deslire and Elections as in 25. H. 8. 20. Revived by 1. Eliz. 1. And he also says that if they were made according to the Act of 1. Edw. 6. they were unlawful But I never said any such thing whatever I might wish or think But Quere whether the 8. Eliz. 1. does not do us a Courtesy is the King please yet the 1 Edw. 6. revived after 8. Eliz. 1. Quere whether it do not vacate it as to Elections or wherein it is contrary to it Also 14. Car. 2. 14 conscrate us Nay The Learned Coke seems to give
an impregnable reason for that opinion of his namely that all after and subsequent Statutes do vacate and make null and void all precedent Statutes that are contrary to them And though the 25. H. 8. 20. be a precedent Statute to 1 Edw. 6. 2 and consequently was by the same defeat ed yet 1. M 〈◊〉 2. Repealing the 1. Edw. 6. 2. and 1 Eliz. 1. reviving 25. Hen. 8 20. The Life of 25. H. 8. 20. Shall bear date onely from the Date of its Reviver 1 Eliz. 1. which gave it its life and vigour onely by that Second Birth and consequently is a Junior Statute and takes place of 1. Edw. 6. 2. otherwise the effect would be senior to its cause but cause est prior causato the Son can no more possibly be Elder than the Father then 25. H. 8. 2. can be Elder than 1. Eliz. 1. which alone gives it life and is the cause of its being aad motion Therefore 1. Eliz. 1. reviving 25. H 8. makes 25. H. 8. 20. an After-Act to 1 Edw. 6. 2. And nulls it so far as it is contrary to it This is the Learned Coke's reasoning aud it is pretty well But if the Oracle had not warpt sometimes as that at Delos by Demostehenes is said to Phillipiâ—â— through the underhand-dealing with the Priests so wise a man could not so Inconsiderately have over-shot himself For he needs no other Argument than his own to confound his said opinion he Sâ—abs himself with his own Keen Weapon which otherwise is irresistable through rashness Precipitancy haste prejudice or I know what For it is irresistably true that 1. Eliz. 1. reviving 25. H. 8. 20. makes it a Junior-Act and consequently to take place contrary to the Laws as aforesaid of Heraldry of its senior 1 Edw. 6. 2. Even as in a Feoffment made of Land holden in chief to the use of such Person or Estate as the Donor shall give or dispose in his Will Here the uses shall not opperate by way of Feoffment but onely as a Testamentary Device which cannot bear Date nor Life from the Feoffment but from the Will post obitum Testatoris nam viventis non est Testamentum And yet the Feoffmene is good but onely in Embrio and without Life or motion till the Will operate and give it life And therefore in construction of Law notwithstanding the Feoffment which the Donor made in his life time yet he shall dye seized and his Wife shall have Dower because the Feoffment notwithstanding its Date and delivery in the life of the Donor shall be motion-less and life-less till The Will gives it life and vigour So also though it be said and truly too That the First-Feoffment in Law defeats the second and all After Feoffments yet if a man seized in demesue as of Fee make Feoffment as aforesaid to such Person and Estate as shall be given and declared in his last Will and Testament and then afterwards make a Second Feoffment to A. B. and his Heirs and then make his Will and dye giving the same to C. D. Here C. D. that had the Second Feoffment shall have the Land Because in Intendment of Law The Second Feoffment is the First Feoffment that has life and motion whatever be the Date thereof But my Masters Coke also says in the same Page and says true that by Repealing a Repeal the first Act is revived The Truth whereof he undoabtedly confirms in the next foregoing Page p. 687. And this Stabbs and confounds his own opinion For 1. Jacobi reviving 1 Edw. 6. 2. the life and date of 1. Edw. 6. 2. shall be accounted onely from the Date of 1. Jacobi the author of its Being and the Father that gave it life and motion knocking the Shackles off wherewith Queen Mary had bound it â— and consequently 1 Edw. 6. 2. being as young fresh and youthful as Primo Jacobi It shall vacate 1. Eliz. 1. 1. Mar. 1. and 2. Phil. Mar. 8. 25. H. 8. 20. And all other Statutes made before I Jacobi if they be contrary to it I wonder what all my â—retlâ—â—â— Prelateâ— in England can â—ry in answer to this For the â— Jacobi â—â—ust be repealed before the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which take its life and vigour from Primo Jacobi can be vacated And if the Lord Coke had suffered himself to weigh this Argument by bit own Scâ—ales he would not have busyed himself with the three fold Cord he talkes of which is so easily broken by the strength of his own Maxâ—nes of Law Sie sum Facili rumpitnr tripleâ— Fasciculus For 25. H. 8. 20. is yet in force but that the 1 Edw. 6. 2. made it null and void by establishing a Junior and Fresher Constitution in the Room of that old Frame by Conge Dâ—slieâ—â— and Elections thereon which 1 Edw. 6. 2. calls Pretences Colours and Shadows onely and derogatory and Prejudicial to the Kings Prerogative-Royal Which Prerogative-Royal by clearing up the the vigour of this Statute that has long lain clouded and obscured by strange Arts If I have surely vindicated I hope no man will deny but I have deserved well of my King and Countrey And upon the whole if Curst Cows happen tohave short Horns what Harm Where 's the Scandal or Inconvenience CHAP. XI Obj. OH But still say some It must not be admitted that the â— Edw. 6. 2. be in fore Why Because the Judges have been of another opinion Answ I answer it does nor appear that ever they judicially declared themselves to be of another opinion some Judges have given their opinion against it extrajudicially and so also some Judges ten of the twelve gave their opinions for the Legallity of Ship-money to King Charles 1. And the same King in Parliament condemned the said opinion by Statute as contrary to Magna Câ—arta The Petition of Right and many other good Laws Judges have been frail to their Ruine If Judges therefore will warp and give opinions against known Statutes against their Oaths their Consciences thereby breaking their own as they have been said to break the Kings Oath They are the vilest of men and do merit the worst of Punishments But on the contrary This is no novel opinion The choice Lawyers of this Land have declared themselves that this Royal Statute is in force and not onely so but that there is all the reason in the World that it should be in force and that in acknowledgment of the Kings Supremacy in all causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil There is all the reason in the World that Writs and Processes should run in the Kings Name in Ecclesiastical-Courts if they be indeed his Courts as are the Temporal-Courts and kept in his name and not in the name of a Commissary Official or I know not who If I say they be the Kings-Courts and he the Supream Head Ecclesiastical however the Pope has formerly usurp't What a fine thing it is to have the Kings Subjects run
yet I wish all men did obey as well as my self whilst it is a Law yet is it pleasing either to God or man to knock mens brains out because they are blind or pur-blind and will not go to Heaven along with us in our way A thousand wayes there are to Church and to Heaven as there are a Thousand lines from the Circumference to the Centre and a thousand wayes to London I wish all men went my way because it is the nearest Way I know but if they will not let them go their own in Gods Name way should we quarrel about the matter If God and Nature would have had us Vniform We had all been made alike of one Stature Size and Complexion but God and Nature seems so to delight in Variety that there are scarcely any two things in the World Uniform Nay we Prelats our selves are neither Vniform amongst our selves nor Vniform according to the Act as I have sufficiently prov'd in The Black Non-con-formsts setting up and Observing Ceremonies that God never made nor yet our so Celebrated Act for Vniformity where 's the Justice and Honesty to punish one Non-Con-Formist and let another Escape Scot-free One Prelate sets Candles upon the Altar another sets none one Prelate bowes to the very ground where and when another stands up as right as a dart one Church Celebrates with all sorts of Musick another with none at all One Church Sings their Prayers another reads them one reads the Communion Service in the Desk another at the Altar one Prays before Sermon another only bids men pray one Reads his own Notes another reads a Homely another has it Memoritâ—r one wears a Surplice only another a Surplice and Hood another neither of them and 40 more such Instances Now when these men dissent so from the Act of Uniformity and are Dissenters also one from another Are ye not Partial in your selves to prefer one Dissenter and Jayl the other Wo be to them that keep false Measures and Scales and Ballancies of deceitful weight one to buy by and another to sell by The Prelates indeed have gained the Ascendant upon the Affections of the three last Kings which no man envyes if they make good use of it and Legal use Their Influence too has not boen confined to White-Hall but has reach't Westminster-Hall I know it God knows but yet their Influence seldom reach â—â—o effectually Further West in the two Houses as to gain over much of them there in my Remembrance or if they did Chronicles are silent therein How therefore they now of late or why In Nomine Domini or with what Policy they grow so violent I cannot Imagine for if the 1 Edw. 6. 2. be in Force of which to me there seems not the least doubt I think we are in a fine Pickle lyable to every mans Action whom we have Illegally vext and damnified and Imprisoned through our Significavits in our own Nemes nay indeed as I said what Punishment can equal the Merit of such Mischiefs such Epidemical and national Mischiefs Though I doubt not but this little react will so clip our nails that we shall scarce venture to scratch terribly hereafter And truly I think and I would say it too but that it is Immodesty to commend my own Modesty that I have handled them here as Tenderly and Gingerly as if I had gone about to draw the great aking Tooth of the Nation ERRATA PAge 1. line 27. for Summer Read Sumner p. â— 1. 8. for Spiritualia R. ad Spiritualia p. 3 L. 17. for judiciously R. ingenuously p. â— l. 51. for-By Partially Timidity R. They declare the Kings-Laws by p. 4. L. 14. for Angeryr R. Ayery p. 4. l. 2â— for Emblemishments R. Embellishment With many other PART II. Query 21. Whether any of the Canon-Law or How much of the Canon-Law is in force at this day CHAP. XIII To which I answer briefly that it is undenyably true 1. THat All Laws of England must either be made or Confirmed by the Legislative-power and if they be not so made as are the Statutes or Confirmed as is part and but part of the Common-law and Canon-law by Statutes made by the Legislative-power they are not Laws of England and then cannot oblige the Subjects to Obedience For our King is our Liege or Legal Lord and we are his liege or Loyal that is legal Subjects because the Laws direct his Precepts and our Obedience and Duty 2. All the Canon-laws and Constitutions whether Synodical or Provincial are now Statute-law by 25 H. 8. 19. so that they be not contrary to the Laws of the Land Hence it follows that all Canons made since 25 H. 8. 19. and not made nor Confirmed by Parliament are not by this rule the Laws of England and consequently require not our Obedience thereunto for that reason whatever other reason there may be For the Executive-power of the Laws is in the King alone but it has been accounted Treason against the fundamental Laws of our Kingdom and Common-wealth to assert that the Legislative-power is in the King alone If it were he needs no Parliaments when he has a mind to any Money nor needs a Parliament to repeal a Statute if he could do it without them But his Will Goodness Justice and Oath and Declarations do promise us the continuance of his Rule and Reign according to Law And when by the King's Declaration of Indulgence he suspended the Statute we were in a most uncertain Condition not knowing what to trust to having according to his Royal word from Breda liberty of Conscience and by the Indulgence one day and lost the next when the Act took place again I say again Then In nomine Domini then how come we Ecclesiasticals to Command and exact of our Inferiours Canonical Obedience to Canons neither made nor confirmed by the Legislative-power but none were since 25 H. 8. so made nor confirmed By what Law can we exact of the Clergy then an Oath of Canonical Obedience to those Canons that are not Leges Angliae the Laws of the Land and command likewise and admonish the Layety to Subscribe the three Canons that vouches their Hierarchy and Dominion by Archbishops Deans Arch-deacons c. to be consonant to the Word of God when the Word of God has not such a Word in it as Archbishops Archdeacons Commissaries c. not a word on 't and this under pain of Excommunication and a worse turn as some think the Gaol these are brave doings the while When poor Clergy-men must Swear Canonical Obedience else we will not Institute them to a Living and then they must Starve and Dye for Thrash they may not Farm and Trade they may not being Spiritual-persons if they Begg they 'l be Whipt if they Steal they 'l be Hang'd for all the benefit of their Clergy and if they take a blind Oath of Canonical Obedience and yet do not know what is Canonical Obedience they must be Forsworn as much
good Even so The wise States-men have made such excellent Laws against Oppressors Extortioners Promoters Suborners Common Informers and the like Animals that rend and tear the Kings poor Subjects and Lambs that Encouragement is given by the same Laws to every right Englishman and true Protestant that will put the same in Execution against them he shall not only benefit the publick but himself also and deserve well of his King and Countrey For who can without great Regret and check of Conscience connive at much less Countenance such publick Scandals Oppressions Grievances Offences and Delinquency's Did our blessed Saviour or his holy Apostles curse them that refus'd to pray with them or refus'd to hear them preach and yet they were infallibly in the right Some of the more furious Zealots amongst his Disciples once and but once call'd for fire from heaven to consume those that rejected them as Elias did but our Redeemer presently Rebuk't the evil Spirit and cast it out of them saying see know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Did the Apostles drive men to Pound or the Jayl with any or all their Ecclesiastical rods and then replevy them and redeem them but never without Money in the case Did Christ or his Apostles whose Poverty and Self-denyal taking up the Cross was a qualification as absolutely necessary for a Follower of Christ and Successor of the Apostles as was Faith Hope and Charity did they by any Ecclesiastical Engine feel their Pockets get dominion or wreak their malice and revenge or truckle to Polititians to make their Spiritual Weapons Tools of State wherewith to do a State Jobb Did they either make money of Souls or of Sins Did they call to the Jaylors Hang-men or Bumbaylies to come and help them and lend them à hand to carry on the Gospel Did they either force or fright men to Heaven or scare them out of their Wits or out of their Consciences or out of their Purses or out of their Freedoms Liberties Estates Birthrights or Temporal Inheritances which he confest himself were exempt from his Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction not hooking it in as the Pope and others do with the old Popish Cheat in ordine Spiritualia taking away their Temporalities in order to their Souls health Our Blessed Saviour taught us not this cunning nor these medendi methodos new ways of Cure and Arts Empyrical Men never sooner cry out then when pincht of their Liberties or pincht by the Pocket especially if Spiritual-men be active in it they are apt to cry By what Authority do you these things and who gave you this Authority The old Prelates in King James his Reign calling themselves the Church of England in their Articuli Cleri presented to the King and Councel against all the Judges confest judiciously where their great Sampsons strength lyes as to their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction not in the least mentioning God nor Christ therein neither the Prophets Apostles nor the Gospel for it their modesty is Comm endable because no such Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Spiritual nor Temporal is found in the Holy Bible But very plainly and open heartedly they avow without dissembling the matter in the least That the chiefest Temporal Strength of their Ecclesiasti-Jurisdiction is Imprisonment upon the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo Implying that if their Sampson's-Locks were cut they would become weak as other men And if this Royal Statute I Edw. 6. 2. be in force all their Processes Ecclesiastical Significavits Certificavits in their own name and not in the Kings name must all be illegal and consequently all Capiesses and Imprisonments thereupon Illegal and ill grounded Therefore no wonder if men concern'd do stand up stoutly to keep this Law down For if it rise up in Judgment against us what will become of us or if all the standing in the world cannot bind it down For the Law at long run is too hard for any man alive I profess The old Prelates knew how it concern'd them to hush it down when it seem'd to rise up to fright them by being unloosned primo Jacobi having long been fetter'd and bound down primo Mariae And it was honestly done of them to confess that their strength did lie in the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo why should men ly for the matter especially in a case so plain and palpable We are all agreed that Commissaries Officials Proctors Registers Sumners and all that drive that Sell-Soul Trade are not found in Gods Word If therefore it shall appear before we have done that they are not of the King neither prethee tell me if thou canst who they are of This Province I know would be best managed by a Lawyer yet it is not his Peculiar nor Exempt from the proper Cognizance of a Divine especially in Reference to such Statutes as this of 1 Edw. 6.2 which relates only to Divines and their Surrogates especially to such Divines as I am to wit a Bencher and Judge Ecclesrastical 'T is true I only state the Case for it is the Kings Judges that onely ought to determine its Validity And well are they called in Law his Locum Tenentes because by Partiality Timidity Corruption or Injustice they have not only been charg'd with breaking the King's Oath thereby as well as their own put have had their Necks broke at the Gallowes for their pâ—iâ—s Nor since this question was first started 4 Jacobi did any of them I will â—â— say they durst not decide this Quere Judicially For the Judges may declare the Law but never a man in England can either make or Repeal a Statute out of Parliament 't is Fatal to him if he attempt it And I 'le speak a bold word I believe the Ingenious Reader will conclude before I have done that all the thâ—n in England are not able to speak one reasonable word against the Validity of this Royal Statute thought so necessary for the Preservation of the King's Supremacy and Royal Prerogative after the Popes-head was decollated that it was the first Statute that ever was made except that concerning the blessed Sacrament to be taken in both kinds after the Reformation In the Reign of Edw. 6. For his Father Reform'd indeed the Monasteries into his Pocket but liv'd and dy'd a Zealous Papist CHAP. II. ANd if in handling this Serious and Solid Argument The Reader happen to meet with an Angery expression sometimes which he deems too light for the Gravity of the matter in hand let him know there is not a word here writ till well ponder'd and of Set-purpose For which mixtures I have the Oracle of the Law the most incomparable Cook for my Warrant as well as Copy and President recommending the plain down Right Arguments of Law in his Institutes by Interlacing them with Poetry and vivid Humanity therefore rendring them more Amâ—aâ—le and acceptable Or if you please He Damask's and Waters his best and strongest Stuff And I to speak in his own Phrase I mean the Cooks
1. And if any one of these do but hold the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. must stand Repealed But as drowning men lay hold of any Root or knubs though under water and does but help to drown'd them so men that are plung'd into a Necessity to hold the Conclusion they are very willing to gain it upon any Premisses how sophistical soever Nalson in his late Collection of affairs of State â—o 763. undertakes torecite this Consult of the Judges 4 Jacobi as he says he finds it in the Paper Office and tells us That the being of this Stat. 1 Edw. 6. 2. in force was Long stuck upon but AT LAST an Answer was found So that it seems there was much longing and abundance of seeking for an Answer that is to say for any plausible pretence to avoid this Statute and at last and with much ado something as good as nothing was found for he furnishes us but with two of the very same too weak Cords which Coke mentions For some thought they were hard put to it for Arguments against the force of that famous Statute when they fly for help to the two last Cords or Ligaments to bind down that Statute which they Trembled to think might be of terrible Consequence if it happen to be in force notwithstanding the Strength of the said Cords and Ligaments none of which seemed to have any the least Power Imaginable to do the feat if men were not very willing to believe it except the first Cord namely 1 Mar. 2. for that does expresly and by name repeal 1 Edw. 6. 2. And indeed if it had not expresly and by Name repealed it It could never have been repealed if what Lawyers say be true That no Statute can be Repeal'd but by another Statute and that expresly and by Name or be contrary to the former Statute For if Wyre-drawn Consequences and Inferences might Repeal a Statute the Subjects would never know when a Statute is in Force For let but a crafty Lawyer with an oyly glib tongue use his skill and he may with Strains of wit and stretches and Inferences and far-fetcht Consequences and oblique Reflections make such a Clash among the Statutes one against another that none should seem of force that a cunning Consequence driver had any picque against But our Kings and Parliaments have always been more tender of the Validity of their Laws then to leave them Toâ—tering thus at the meâ—â—â— of every Inference-maker Especially when they draw 〈◊〉 Inferences and Consequences as could not possibly enter so much as into the minds and Cogitations of the Law-makers when they enacted and made a Statute And this is so clear a Truth and evident to every man that has but common sence that more needs not be said to it For it would be of most dreadful Consequence that the Statutes should be so flexible as to be made a Nose of Wax of to stand this way one day and that way another just as Mr. Consequence-maker is feed to set them The Dissenters for their money might find cunning Lawyers enough perhaps to defeat the Act of Uniformity and Repeal it if Far-fetcht Inferences and Consequences would do the feat But God forbid that the Laws of England should have nothing to stand firm upon but such slippery ground made such by an oyly Mouth If we cannot find 1 Edw. 6. 2. repeal'd but by Consequences and Oblique Inferences we shall make base Tinkerly work on 't and to patch up one hole of evil Consequences make two of Consequence twenty times more dreadful and pernicious Therefore the best Cord and that which seems most strongly to make void and of none effect the said Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. is indeed that which can never be deny'd namely that the same is expresly and by name repealed by 1 Mary 2. There let it stand or lie bound for ever except we can find its Ligaments and Shackles taken off and again set in its pristine Liberty Vigor and Splendor But as to those two latter Cords that they pretend bind it down for ever by Repealing it they are thought by wise men so trivial that they are not worthy any consideraâ—â—â—â—â— and that they were surely sore put to 't for shifts that made them of such over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. IV. FOr how in the name of Prudence could it enter into the thoughts of wise Legislators to kill a dead Horse Could the Parliament intend by the 1 and 2 Phil. Mar. 8. to repeal 1 Edw. 6. which was repealed already and made void but the very year before namely by 1 Mar. 2. They could not forget it it was so lately done nor can they be accounted so silly as Actum agere and make Laws against Non Entityes The Learned Judge Hobert uses a like Argument to prove that the King shall have not only the Estates In Fee of Traytors Estates in Tail being not by the Statutes 31 Hen. 8. 33 Hen. 8. by name given to the King yet also Estates in Tayl why because there being but two sorts of Estates of Inheritance namely in Fee and in Tayl and the Estates in Fee of Traytors being forfeit and given to the King by the Common-Law Those Statutes shall not be presum'd Actum agere but shall reach the other Estates in Tail which the Common-Law did not reach And by like reason since 1 Edw. 6. 2. is not so much as mentioned or named in 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. except by Inferences and Fetches deduced from the Stile and Latitude of those words All Statutes made against the See of Rome Repealed There is Life in a Mussle For the said Statute did not think sufficient for their Repeal by General Words but do therefore name particularly and Expresly what Statutes they mean to Repeal namely 25 Hen. 8. 9. 24 Hen. 8 12. with almost a score more amongst which my dear Statute of 1 Edw. 6 2 is not Named a 〈…〉 fore can never be repealed thereby nor could be intended to be 〈◊〉 thereby But some have said that there are in 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. express words that do Repeal by Consequence the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. namely these words ANd the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction of the Arch bishops Bishops and Ordinarye to be in the same state for process of Sutes punishment of Crimes and Execution of Censures of the Church with knowledge of causes belonging to the same and as large in those points as the said Iurisdiction was in Anno 20 Hen. 8. To which it is readily answered That the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was thereby made Valid and Powerful as it was in Condition and State as to Process of Sutes Censures c. In the 20 of Hen. 8. And yet the manner of their Processes as to the Name and Stile might well enough differ For no man can rationally say that the Process of Suits punishment of Crimes and execution of Censures of the Church are not in the same
State all over London yet the Processes of Suits run not in the same name and Style but sometimes in the name of the Bishop sometimes in the name of his Arch-Deacon sometimes in the name of the Vicar-General sometimes in the name of the Official c. Therefore this far fech't Inference strained and stretcht is too short to reach a Blow or so much as to touch that part of the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. concerning the use of the name style and Arms in the Citations and Processes Ecclesiastical Nay more It is evident also that the Popes 〈◊〉 Supremacy and re-establishment might well enough 〈…〉 i th the use of the King's Name and Style in Processes 〈◊〉 as well as with Exton's name or Pinfold's name or any 〈…〉 ay-Commissary's name in the Time of Popery If you sa 〈…〉 ut the name of the King's Majesty in a Writ or Process 〈…〉 an Avow or Tacite Recognition that the Courts-Ecclesiasti 〈…〉 the King's-Courts I readily grant it and therefore it argues the more strongly for the reasonableness and great Expediency of that Statute that well enjoyns His Majesties Name Style and Arms in Courts Ecclesiastical If they be the Kings-Courts Ecclesiastical and His Majesty Head of the Church as he is of the State This Statute then of 1 and 2 Phil. and Mar. 8. does not so much as by Consequence repeal 1 Edw. 6. 2. Yet I well know what my Lord Coke says to it and do better know that he durst say no other then he did so terrible then were the Prelates looking bigg and formidable in their High-Commission-Court and Starr-Chamber Otherwise a man of his sence and acute reason could not have talkt as he does of the dreadful Consequences if that Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. be in force to the Infinite Prejudice of His Majesties Subjects in cases of great Importance and to the Scandal and Impeachment of His Majestics Justice c. For â—le secure the Scandal and all the dreadful Consequences before the Reader has turn'd over many more Leaves of this little Tract if the Oracle of the Law the Learned Coke be not mistaken And if the Bishops in 4 Jacobi had not had somewhat else at the bottome which I â—are not to name we should have had and still have as good Bishops and Priests as ever we had if that be all the Objection that the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2 as to the use of the name and style of the King in Processes Ecclesiastical will make us loose our Priests and Bishops God bless us we are not so lost and undone as yet if 〈◊〉 Coke be not out of his Law in this particular the Learned are affi 〈…〉 warps But a Statute may by express words in after-Statutes be repealed in part and in a Branch and not alwayes in the whole as is easy to instance in many Crowding Presidents And Coke says the Arch-bishops and Bishops would all be illegal if they were made according to our Celebrated Act of 1 Edw. 6. Because Thought it be not repealed yet the 1 Eliz. 1. reviving the Act of 25. Hen. 8. 20. is thought to vacate so much of it as concerns the making and constituting Bishops And therefore King James his Bishops should not have needed to have been so scared and affrighted as if the Sky had fallen when the 1 Edw. 6. 2. was reviv'd by King James his repealing 1 Ma. 2. if the Lord Coke say true For Queen Elizabeth had secur'd his and her Bishops by reviving her Fathers Act concerning Bishop-making in these words And at every Avoydance of any Arch-bishoprick Bishoprick The King His Heirs and Snccessors may grant to the Prior and Covent we have got none now or to the Deaâ— and a Chapter a Licence under the great Seal c. containing the Name of the person which they shall Elect and choose c. A pretty kind of Election for they shall neither will nor chuse nor dare to refuse him that is nominated in the Letters missive yet it is called an Election though although it be whether they will or no. Bishops then 〈◊〉 need if Coke be not mistaken to fear but they are well enough made 〈◊〉 I wish with all my heart that some of them were made better for their ow 〈…〉 and for my own sake There 's no harm nor scandal in this Prayer I 〈◊〉 But still what 's all this to the contempt 〈…〉 ute of 1 Edw. 6. 2 as to the use of the name style c. of the King in 〈…〉 mmons Ecclesiastical if that Clause in 1 Edw. 6. 2. be unrepealed Why it is repealed in effect says the Lord Coke by this 〈◊〉 that Statute of 25. Hen 8. 20. as aforesaid by 1 Eliz. 1. reviv'd namely in these words And further it is Enacted that every person chosen Elected Iuvested and consecrated Arch-bishop or Bishop according to the Form and Effect of this Act c. shall do and execute iu every thing and things touching the same as any Arch-bishop or Bishop of this Realm c. might at any time heretofore do Thus the Lord Coke recites that Branch of the Statute with greater prevarication then became a man of his Ingenuity which herein far surpast his Integrity The Truth is a great Lawyer and the higher he is staged had need to be of all others a good man like Roscius of whom Cicero gives this Character Roscium it a peritum dixit ut solus esset dignus qui in Scenam deberet intrare ita virum bonum ut solus esset dignus qui eo non debeat accedere Roscius was such a skilful Actor that he of all others did best become the stage but so good a man withall that it was a Pity he should ever have come there As the Learned Coke does quote the Statute Arch-bishops and Bishops may nay they ought to say Mass baptise our Bells spit in our Childrens mouths when they baptise them and a thousand idle â—opperies more they ought to do if they ought to do in every thing as any Popish Archbishop or Bishop might at any time heretofore do To the great Dishonour and Disparagement of the Prudence and Wisdom of Queen Elizabeth and her first Parliament nay and of all Parliaments since that time By Cooks Citation of the Statute to serve his purpose against the said clause of the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. he opens a gap to let in Popery or to let out the Bishops thither if they please if they must do and execute in every thing and things as any Arch-bishop or Bishop of this Realm might at any time do before the time of Hen. 8. Story says that Aesculapius was struck by a Thunderbolt for taking Immoderate Fees for a Cure and some men think that it was either Covetousness of a great Huge banking Fee or Fear of loosing some Place or Office by displeasing the Bishops that Cook did not fully and honestly recite the said Statute
no very seasonable time for a Judge to declare a Statute to be null and void that never any Judge as yet did upon the Bench take upon him to do since 1 Jacobi reviv'd it by Repealing its Repealer 1 Mar. 2. And truly whilst Ecclesiastical-Courts did little else but prove Wills and now and then get a few crack't Groats from a poor fearful Church-Warden rather than contend with them and some such little business most men past them by through contempt As not daigning to trouble themselves with medling with them though in that little they did They opprest and still do oppress His Majesties Subjects most impudently by extorting excessive Fees in despight and defyance of the Statutes to the contâ—â—y Impudent Registers But there is this to be said for them by way of Apology That when they give some hundreds of Pounds for the Sell-Souls-place they must make their money of Sins and Souls which yet is contrary to their own Canons I profess I have many times long together been puzling my self by studying what those Ecclesiastical-Fellows in their Ecclesiastical-Courts are good for or what one good thing they do every Creature of God is good for something but now I think on 't they do not pretend to be purely of Gods making there 's nothing in holy Scripture that is alike to their Constitution nor by what has been here said will any man that I know venture to say they are purely of the King 's making Legally if they live in defyance of the Kings Laws and refuse to use the Kings Name Style and Seal in their Processes Ecclesiastical enjoyned by the Statute I have been in Popish Countreys and there I have seen a Crew in many things like them But God knows we Protestants do unanimously declare against Implicite Faith and yet the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from the first Citation to the end namely to Excommunication and the Jayl is much carryed on by Implicite Faith For the Judges believe the Bishops Significavit and Arch-bishops Signifieavits whilst they good men signify a man Excommunicated and yet never heard one word of the merit of the cause but the Judges believes the Bishops Significavit and the Bishop believes the Registers Certificavit which unavoidable comes if you do not stop the Registers hand with money to his content Oh sad estate of Christianity Christianity God bless the King and Parliament when it sits I mean and by all Tokens it is probable that they 'l soon resolve these Riddles and also not admit palpable Symony and Hypocrisy to Provoke Gods Wrath and Judgments upon the Nation by making holy Ordinances and Ordinations vendible and Gospel-Keys of binding and loosing once another Gift of God a money-business or Political Engine to take away men's Franchises and Votes when there is no other way to deprive them thereof I cannot think that Christ entrusted Anathemas to his Disciples to play them so frankly at a bold Rate fast loose He that eats drinks unworthily that is to a Politick Carnal End eats and drinks his own Damnation and he that opens and shuts Heaven and Hell-Gates binding and loosing using the Holy-Keys unworthily that is for low politick Carnal-Ends uses them to his own Damnation God will not be mocked CHAP. VI. I Doubt not but all that Read this must say that in this Tract I have done their business already to all intents and purposes A Law may sleep a Statute may lie Dormant as did the Act of Vniformity whilst the King's Act of Indulgence according to his Royal Word and Promise from Breda facilitating his Return did last but though Laws may be husht and lull'd asleep awhile nay a long time yet if they be not quite dead woe be to him that tramples on them for the Laws of England are so sacred that it has been observ'd they have been too hard for any man at long run that durst oppose them withstand them or stand in their way the Laws are called the Subjects best Inheritance I remember part of Sir Harbottle Grimston's speech in Parliament Anno 1640. concerning Spiritual-Courts was to take notice of an Insolence of theirs much alike to what has been heard of in other cases namely under a Religious Pretext to meddle with mens Franchyses Charters and Priviledges as English-men for says that Loyal Gentleman and true Englishman speaking of the Lambeth Canons of 40. and the Synod then there ` That the Synod called together upon pretence of Religion took upon them `the boldness out of Parliament to grant Subsidies and meddle with men's Free Holds Oh! How dishonourable is it to any Religion to palliate so much venome as under a notion of a Gospel Ordinance of Excommunication or the like to design to make men uncapable of a Vote or Freedoms Franchises and Charters especially if they seem to be affraid of nothing so much as that some should conform and consequently be capable of as many Priviledges as the Debauchee or prophane Libertine Christianity do you call it more like Ely's Sons or Simon-Magus Oh God! may not such well dread thy Vengeance Christianity do you call it The wisest of all the ten Persecuting Emperours was Dioclesian whose Conscience so tormented his Breast for Persecuting the Christians that he threw the Diadem from his hated head and hid it in a Garden in the obscurest Py-corner of the World But the Horrour of Nero's Visage is by Suetonius rendred so tremendous to behold after he vented his Cruelty upon the Christians that it would make a mans Hair stand on end to view him extantibus vigentibusque oculis usque ad horrorem visentium with ghastly Looks and frightful Eyes strikeing Horrour in all that saw him such was the Fate of this Persecuting Atheist Religionem usque quaque Aspernator as Suetonius calls him a Contemner of every thing that lookt like Religion And such are the brood of Simon Magus that make use of Religion which is intended for the Salvation of mens Souls only to the destruction of their Bodies and Estates Simon quoth he no Simon Magus was not thus Impudent he did his business indeed namely the money business and to be ador'd and Reverenc't forsooth But he did it by juggle and sleight of hand but the Son 's of Eli and Symonists like Ghosts long enur'd to walk appeared at Noon-day did take purses before mens faces Swagger Curse Anathematize Damn bluster In good time they were charm'd down In Nomine Domini Amen If ever you were in Spain or Portugal as I have been tell me what Monkey or Baboon is more contemtible than a sneaking perjur'd Hypocritical Ecclesiastical Property of State What more Ridicule then a fawning Spiritual Sycophant in Antick-Dress cringing with his Pin-Buttocks and hallow-smiles upon a Whore Atheist or Renegade that do but scoff at his ghastly Habilements of uncouth Guize and Shape Portentous and Prodigious Risum teneat is Amicâ— could ye have held from Laughing at the Holy Mymick
and ride forty or fifty miles from their Houses their Trades and their Families upon the Summons of a Commissary in his own name which is none of the best names neither sometimes however some names abstracted from the quality of some that may happen to wear them may by accident become Scandalous and Odious Ravilliack Murther'd His Majesties great Grandfather Hen. 4. the French-King And in detestation or that villanous treacherous King-killing Fact the Loyalty Wisdom Justice and Piety of France enacted that the House wherein the Villian was born should be made a Dunghil never to be rebuilt but as â—ocursed ground layd waste his Father and Mother for ever banisht and all of the name of Ravilliack to change that King-killing name for some other and a better So sacred are the persons of Kings that they are not to be toucht in bloody earnest without an eternal stigmatize and brand set upon the Prophane A tempt to all Posterity Nay Jolm Scotus lost himself because he would not loose his Jest when the French King sitting on the one side of the Table and Duâ—â— Scotus on the other the King askt him merrily what was the difference between a Scot and a Soâ— Scotus bluntly answered The Table If it be dangerous to play at â—â—yles with Princes 't is eternally mortal to play at Sharp's And therefore I wish with all my heart too that His Majesties Royal Ancestor the stout King Richard the second had not been basely cowardly and treacherously Murther'd with a Back-stroke by an Exton And if it had been in France I doubt not but the Loyalty Piety and Prudence of the French-men would have exterminated not all the men that were called Exton But in horrour and detestation of King-killing namely they would have so abbominated that King-killing name as they did Rabilliacks that they would have oblitterated it to all Posterity and have made all the Extonâ— in the Kingdom change that King-killing Name for a better that the loathed-name might like a hateful Sâ—uff be put out and extinct to all Posterity But if in contempt of that Royal Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. and in defyance of the reason of that Statute The Kings Subjects should happen to be cited in any such untoward King-killing name and then be prosecuted till they have satisfied and paid the onsequence cannot but be the more ungrateful for that once deservedly odious name especially since the 1 Edw. 6. 2 commands all Processes Ecclesiastical to be all the reason in the World in the Kinge name the Ecclesiastical-Head as well as the Temporal-Head And if the Prelates and Ecclesiastical-men should not as industriously endeavour all manner of Legal wayes to advance and aâ—â—w the Kings Prerogative Royal as much as Lay-men then they are very ungrateful and ill deserve the Bounty so Gracious a King has confer'd so liberally upon them If this Statute has been long I know not by what Arts and yet I do tooknow in part why it has beâ—n husht asleep and Scandal and Inconveniences may ensue by its awakened vertue and force the moâ—re shame for them that have been the true causes and Authors of so grand a Scandal and Inconveniences lay the Scandal at the right door Scandals and Offences will coâ—e says our Saviour but wo be to them by whom they come Now is there any Scandal or Inconveniences so great but the King and Parliament can readily avoid them or compound them and remedy them CHAP. XII YEt can I not deny but that all Parliaments since the Reformation have been so Jealous of the Exorâ—itant Power of Church-men finding by woful Experience in the late High-Commission-Court granted by 1. Eliz. 1. what Ruefull Work was made that they fetcht it down with as much Celerity as they could and by the same Statute that repealed it have branded it to Posterity saving 17 Car. 1. 11 That it â—eâ—ded to the great wrong mark that and Oppression of the Kings Subjects c. And though some men never had greater Hopes of Regaining that unhappy Power or some-what alike it then by the long Parliament faisâ— called The Pentionerâ— Parliament for though there might be Judasses amongst them yet as to the Major part of them never were there Wiser nor Truer English-men All that they could gain by 13 Car. 2. 12. was onely to place their Ecclesiastical Courts in Statu quo just as they were in 1639. without the Addition of any new power or any new Confirmation of them but left their foundation as Tottering as they found it before the troubles commenâ—'t And truly they were with the frustration so dejected that no People were more scorned and neglected and Indicted for their Extortions and Oppressions And yet for many years the Registers with a little Cypher at his Elbow or over his head called a Surrogate scrap't up a poor untoward living sometimes catching what they could with as Little Noise as they could But now with Contrary Politicks how wisely let them look to it they have grown so busy with the Kings Subjects torturing their Souls Purses Liberties and Estates by their Citations in their own names Certificavits and Significavits in their own Names which ought by the 1 Edw. 6. 2. to have been under the Seal and in the Name of the Kings-Majesty and then upon such Significavits not sealed with the Kings Seal have got the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo and then what Gratefull Works they made for the Jaylors and Bum-bayliffes is so notorious that no man can wonder that men are deservedly rowzed to Examine their Frame and Constitutions and pry whether all be right within when such ghastly ruines appear abroad that who can Imagine that the good God ever gave them Commission to make havock of mens Souls Liberties and Estates The Keys of Excommunication seldom opening any thing so soon as a Jayl-Door whence by the other Cross-Key of Absolution they were never delivered without Money money Nor is it for Church-men to Vapour long with Gospel-Ordinances when instead of using them for Spiritual-ends they abuse them to vile base and Sordid Designs to fill their Pockets and wreak their Malice This Rapine in the Sons of Eli prov'd the Ruine of his house for those alone that Honour God he will Honour but those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed And how truly this threathing has been verifyed upon the Ecclesiasticals let any man speak his Conscience say whether any sort of People in the Kingdom have been so contemned and lightly esteemed as they Not but that Contempt may happen to good men and the Scornerâ— be in the fault but when the light Esteem is grounded upon the Avarice Pride Idleness Extortion Malice and Oppression of Church-men it looks certainly like Digiâ—us Dei the just Judgment of Almighty God But if both King and some Houses of Parliament once did not like the Act for Uniformity what Wisdom is it for men to be so fierce for the Letter of the Law which
namely the lessening and diminishing the Papistical Numbers and therefore in this time your Majesty hath especial Cause to employ them if it were but as the Emperour Frederick the Second employed the Saracens against the Pope because he was well assured that they only would not spare his Sanctity The CONCLVSION THerefore certainly Solomon knew what he said when he said That the Throne is establisht by Righteousness and Justice For Justice or which is all one the Law is the only sure foundation of the Throne which William Sirnamed the Conquerour so well understood that he post-pon'd or wav'd his Title to England as Conquerour and a long Sword deriving it against Earl Harold that Usurpt his Crown from King Edward the Confessor his immediate Predecessor as his next Heir by nature 'T is true Coke calls him William Bastardus and the Common-law sayes at least to all Subjects Bastardus non haereditabit a Bastard shall not Inherit but whether King William had any reason or rather was mistaken to think it too low to reach the Laws of the Crown though afterwards Illegitimacy upon another score so declared by Acts of Parliament proved not a sufficient Barr to seclude either Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth from the Imperial Crown of this Realm or whether it was but King Williams meer fancy or that he had some other Title by the Will of King â—dward concerns not us at this distance so much as to enquire further than to say what all History agrees in negatively he did not claim his Right to the Crown by his Sword or by laying his Hand upon his Hilt but gently like other Successive Kings of England took the Coronation Oath and vowed observance of and Obedience to the Laws For the Throne of England is more stately magnificent and well-grounded than to stand upon so Ticklish a point as the Point of a Sword be it never so long a Sword much less should it stand upon so tottering a Lottery as to come to measuring of Swords or the long Cut carry it Especially since the Law of God and Nature teaches the vanquished to put by the longest Sword as far as they can from their Breasts and Throats except the Sword be Commissionated and Legitimated from the Law of the Land And since the Law of the Land is the only sure true infallible and impartial â—mpire in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclestastical as Temporal to decide all differences and contests that may or can possibly arise betwixt Arbitrary Lust Rage Will and force on the one hand and Disobedience and Rebellion on the other hand and since it has prov'd so fatal hitherto to any man that has dared to refuse to stand to the Umpirage and Award of the Law then tell me who will nay Indeed who may or can withstand or gainsay the Law that is irresistable And if by the Premises it be undeniably true that by the repealing of a Repeal the first Act is revived and also that an after-Statute makes void all its Predecessours that are contrary to it and also if the effect must be after its Cause then so certain it is that this Royal Statute 1 Edw. 6. 2. bearing date of its Life from its Cause prim Jacob. that reviv'd it must undoubtedly take place of 1 Eliz. 1. 1 2 Phil. Mar. 1 Mar. and all other Statutes that are its Seniors in every thing where they thwart it But alas 1 Eliz. 1. 1 Phil. Mar. 8. were not contrary to it much less could it come into the hearts and minds of those Legislators to repeal it more than to offer to kill a dead Horse for it was as dead by 1 Mar. 2. 'till King James Reviv'd it since which time who can deny but it has had Life by what Arts soever or for what hidden Cause soever or by whomsoever it has seem'd to be smothered though so advantageous and suitable to the Kings Prerogative Royal. Also if all the Canon-law made before 25 H 8. and no other be in force in Tanto for so much of them as are not contrary to the Laws of the Realm nor to the Kings Prerogative Royal which the Law also does in every thing support direct declare and advance and if Symony in contracting or purchasing selling buying or bargaining for Divine Gifts Functions and Offices be odious to God and man and to the Laws both of God and man then tell me who will or dare nay indeed who may or can give or take require or exact Money for Baptizings Buryals and Marriages for Sins Sacraments and Lectures for Letters of Orders Institutions Inductions Collations or the like much less chop and change Bishopricks or Benefices for lucre filthy Lucre in defiance of the Oaths against Symony in defiance of the Oaths of Canonical Obedience taken and sworn God forgive us by every Benefic't Priest and Bishop in defiance of the Law of God and man and which is worst of all to the apparent hazard of our Immortal Souls and all this for a little ungodly gain Who will believe us or our Preaching or can any Imagine that we believe what we Preach whilst without repentance we live in such Symonical Crimes to the universal scandal and contempt of the Clergy Which seems not more Catholick and general than Just if by our known Symony and Avarice Pride and Cruelty Persecuting-spirit and Woldly-mindedness above all others we taint our Holy Functions and be spot and stain our Surplices with so much filth making our selves thereby the common Scandal as well as common Odium what need have we above all others to ask forgiveness both of God and man And such may as lawfully be resisted as an honest Woman may resise a Goat or a Ravisher Howbeit It is so far from Purgation that it aggravates any Villains Crimes when he thinks to expiate his Abominations as Manasseh did by Humane Victimes sacrificing Men to his Wrath by encouraging inhumane Cruelties and Vexations against such who happen to have straiter Consciences and not so wide a swallow as himself How many Hearts were ever won by vexing them or how can men in Justice or Law be compelled to that Church by the Act of Uniformity which is not conformable to the Act but coyns or keep up new Ceremonies in unlighted Candles on the Altars cringing and bowing to them Organs and Musick with many such Innovations punishable by the Act of Uniformity If men must obey the established Religion let us have no other but what is established and if Dissenters must be punisht let all Dissenters be punisht and not make fish of one and flesh of another since Dissenters have this unanswerable excuse for not coming to Church and to the established Religion if there be another or more Religion or rather Superstition there than what is established by the Act for Vniformity For I and all good Subjects ought equally to abhor all Faction and all Innovation all new Religions or
shall bear date from the Beginning of every Parliament or from the beginning of the several Session of Parliament as it is resolved 3 H. 8. B. Parliament 86. in Fartridge and Croker's Case Plowd 79. And never did any Parliament or Session of Parliament begin in 17 Car. 1. and therefore the 13 Car. 2. 12 seems to affect the 16 Car. 1. no more than the 26 Car. 1. or any other Statute Does some ill fate attend our Ecclesiastical-Genius of Spiritual Courts that even the Statutes made in our favour prove unsuccessful What 's worse than ill Luck I profess I cannot but apprehend the just Judgment and Justice of God upon me whatever evil Instruments he made his Red of for my apparent Symony in giving forty Shillings to be made a Priest and eight pounds for Institution to the Work and then 20 s. for Induction and then 30 shillings to have Licenses to use the Priestly Office of preaching c. but they would not do it cheaper to the apparent breach of our Canonical-Oaths and Oaths against-Simony And yet I paid all only as forc't Fees And is it not also just with God to make us clash and break us onâ— upon mother and one by with and against another for such abominable breach of Oaths Extortions and Symonical oppressions in exacting money for Buryals Marriages Lectures Baptizings c. What Sell holy Sacraments and holy Offices Fy for shame But I repent heartily heartily and thus publickly take shanie to my Self standing thus in a white-sheet for it And if ever I do so any more then let my Heavenly Father whip me again with the â—â—d of the Wicked to my dying day But blessed be his Name that letting me hereby see my Sin I may probably 〈◊〉 Instrumental to convert my Brethren from such horrid Symony Avarice and dangerous Oaths that so God may avert his Judgements and the Universal contempt of the Clergy under which we grâ—an unpitied But no work at present however of these matters Whatsoever is not founded neither upon Gods Law nor the Law of England cannot long subsist with what frail props soever vain man endeavours to Shoar it up Stand clear there I 'de wish you As you love your selves your Families and Posterities come not too near such a câ—asiâ— frame stand where it will For what cannot stand must fall That 's all 〈…〉 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 are all 〈…〉 〈…〉 and would it not be a kind of Miracle to see over the â—â—â—â—s of 〈…〉 〈…〉 now so plenish't 〈…〉 many Ages hence I mean a Paper Pasted over the Gates thereof Importing This House is to be Let Is it not just that they should for ever b 〈…〉 Neck and Hâ—â—â—â— and â—â—â—ter'd to â—â—â— Posterity that to the loss of their Honour as well as Honesty and Gr 〈…〉 do must â—â—â—â—â—shly â—â—â—rle and most câ—â—râ—â—shly snap at thosâ— â—â—â—â—â—ble â—â—ngers that would 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Cords Then there let them lye with their Posterities bound down and crippl'd with those bands where 〈…〉 poor Bigots first were Priest-rid by Austin the Monk Treasure of times Hobart in Case Sheffield vers Ratcliff Coke Mag. Chart. p. 68◠〈◊〉 p. 686. 〈◊〉 Chart. p 686. Orat pro Râ—sciâ—efâ—rente augusteno de consensu â—vaugleâ— cap. 23. T. 4 Coke 2d Instit p. 685 686. Lyâ—â—ood L. v. Tit. 2. cap. preterea Coke 2d Instit p63 Mr Grimstonsspeach in Parlia Suet. Nero Cambdens Eliz. lib. 4 Anno 1602 45. Eliz. * Fox Acts and Monuments * Aprodigius Canon so called Parker antique Britan p. 47. 13. E. 1. 1. 18 E. 3. 7. Bract. lib. 5. fol. 401. Linwood Tit. de consuet verb. nullus Lin. de foro Compet lib. 7. Hobarts Cases Next to Swan and Hollams Case Coke in Sâ—at 32. H. 8. cap. 38. p. 686 2 d. Inst it Hobart's Cases Sheffield vers Ratcliff Lindwood Provinc l. 5. Tit. 2. de Simonia Lynd. ibid. verb. sepultura Lynd. ibid. verb. Baptismus Concil Pau. Anglicum Anno 1236. Tit. 4. Lyndw. ibid. verb. impediatur Lyndwood Provinc l. 5. Tit. 2. cap. Praeterea venalitatem Verb. Triennalibus Constitut extrava Londini Oct. 10. Anno Dom. 1342. Joh. Stratford Archi. Cant. Can. Concil Nicen. general Concil Londini in Eccles Sanct. Pauli Anno 1342. Constitut Concil Londin pau-Anglicum Annâ— 1236. Titui 13. Concil Anglic. Lond. 52. Hen. 3. Anno 1268. Tit. 5. Conc. Pau. Anglic 1236 Tit. Coke in Articul Cler. cap. 9. Coke in circumsp agatis Inst l. 2. p. 488. Lyndwood Provinc l. 1. Tit. 7. cap. ignorantia Sacerdotum ver Praelati Ecclesiae Lyndwood Provinc l. 1. Tit. 11. cap. Presbyterorum ver canes menti Baron Annal. Ann. 1033. Fascicul ad Ann. 1033. Platina de 〈◊〉 pontis Lâ—itprand l. â— c. 7. Eccles 9. 11. Eccles 8. 12 13. Lord Treasurer Burleigh's Letter to Q. Eliz. in Bacon's â—elicity of Q. Eliz. Coke in Proem 2 d. Institut Cokâ— 2 d. Instit 688. Mark 2. 20. Mat. 9. 17. Hobart in the Case of Anne Wheeler versus Bishop of Winchester See Archâ—â— Parker de Antiq Eccles Britan p. 47. How Austin iâ—cited King Ethelbers to kill the Monks of Bangor that were not Conformists to his Romish Drivel and Ceremonies bloody Monk Anno 60â—