in their own names and not in the name and stile of the King their head and the head of the Church as well as State and as all other his Majesties Courts are kept in England Indeed the Courts-Baron and Courts Leet c. are kept in the name of the Lord of the Leet Hundred c. they being the Lords-Courts properly and not the Kings-Courts no more than his Lands or Mannors are properly the Kings Lands and Mannors But the Courts of Justice whether Ecclesiastical or Civil ought surely to be open to all the Kings Leige people and have the Kings Authority name and stile not only for their Warrant and Authority but to give them thereby life vigour power Granduer and Majesty And 't is strange to me that men who have taken the Oath of Supremacy have bid desiance to the Pope and do not pretend to set up a Commonwealth in a Common-wealth nor any Government independent of the Crown Imperial of this Realm nor have no privy designs at some time or other to stand as of old upon their own legs without dependance upon the King whom both Papists Presbyterians Fift-monarchy-men c. endeavour to subjugate to their discipline should be so aukward and loath to have their Processes and Citations go out and run as other Writs in the Kings name and stile and it were but for their own ends to agrandize their Processes and Proceedings except as formerly the Clergy do take care to have as little dependance upon a Lay-man as possibly may be and I say again it will never be well nor our differences cemented until Lay and Ecclesiastical men be one and the same with one and the same ends and designs in this Kingdom where all Ecclesiastical and Lay-power is united and one and the same in one Head our Soveraign Lord the King 'T is this Bigottism that undoes us and wars upon the score of Religion that above all other things has blooded all over the woful face of Christendom But let me hear of no more Extortions for Visitations Procurations Synodals Institutions Inductions Ordinations Licenses to Preach Sequestrations Pilling and Polling the Clergy nor in Probate of Wills the Laity and in Visitations Church-Wardens And when they have done and Performed their said Great Duties if after that they cry out for want of work and Employment let them also sit upon as many Benches as shall be thought fit It is acknowledged also That Convocations are alwayes have been and ought to be Assembled by the King 's Writ only no doubt on 't for else they are an Unlawful Conventicle And there let them Sit together 'till I or any Body else disturb them or meddle with them The Power to make Laws for the Church was ever in the King and Parliament only and who ever denyes the same 't is fit they should severely Answer it in a Parliament Have a care of a Parliament Mr. Arch-Deacon Have a care of a Praemunire War-Hawk I will not say War-Buzzard I had almost forgot to touch upon one String with which he makes a great Sound and Noise in his Proem and that is to prove That Chancellors Registers Sumners Officials Commissaries Advocates Notaries Surrogates c. ejusdem farinae are all Church-Officers Jure Divino and according to Holy Writ Ay! But where What Chapter What Verse It follows as close as any thing In 1 Cor. 12.28 Helps in Government The Registers are but to Make I thought that had been the Judges Office to Make and keep the Acts of Court c. Advocates and Proctors to Order and Manage Causes And Apparitors to Serve Process and Execute Mandates c. Then this Remark Mr. Hickeringill is a Man of great Experience in Spiritual Jurisdiction and need not be told of these plain Matters having said in the first words of this Paragraph But How Witless and Quaker-like is this And How unlike Mr. Hickeringill Sometimes he makes Mr. Hickeringill a Hobbist a Papist a Statist and a Man of great Experience in Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and now a Witless Quaker Even just what the Good Old Gentleman pleases But sure Mr. Arch-Deacon does mistake and Mr. Hickeringill is not a Man of so great Experience but he had need to be told of these Plain Matters again and again before it can be beaten into his Head That the Apostle who never had Register Surrogate Apparitor nor Commissary Official nor Advocate nor the Primitive Church no not so much as an Arch-Bishop or an Arch-Deacon should ever intend or mean any such Creatures when he told the Corinthians of Helps in Government Well of a D. D. 't is an Incomparable Finder a Piercing and Quick-sighted Commentator for a Man of his Age that cannot see without Spectacles For Proctors Sumners and Apparitors are just such Helps in Government in the Church as Squire Dun and Gregory in the State namely Helps to Ruin many Alas Poor Primitive Church of Christ That made a Shift to subsist many Hundreds of Years by Miracle surely and yet never had these Ass-sistants or Helps in Government Such Helps in Government God knows Plut. Lives p. 940. as are far more fit to People the City that Plutarch speaks of called Poneropolis God grant them a good Shipping they 'l meet with many of their Brethren in Spain and Italy And it is as sensless to Defend these Ecclesiastical Fellows by Magna Charta because such as They if they still be Papists as those were were then Members of Holy-Church and brought hither from Rome by William the Conquerour For by that First Clause of Magna Charta That the Church of England shall be Free and have all Her Liberties c. can never be meant as the Arch-Deacon would insinuate that it is a Sin to alter that Frame of Government and the Rights and Libertyes of Holy Church For Peter-Pence First Fruits and Tenths to the Pope Investiture of Bishops c. with many other were then the Right and Liberties of Holy Church as aforesaid when Magna Charta was Made I have not willingly omitted to give Answer to all and every the idle Cavils and Exceptions in his Book Once for all by way of Conclusion for I am quite tired with his Impertinencies let the Reader Read the Statute of 1. Eliz. 1. and he will find 1. That the Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church at the Making of that Statute was cut off utterly by the Name of all Forreign Powers Repealing the 1. and 2. Phil. Mar. 8. whereby the See of Rome had been again set up in England from whence that Statute confesses with great Contrition to use the Words of that Statute They had a long while wandred and strayed abroad and in which Statute the Protestant Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction set up by Edward 6. is Disanulled 2. That therefore by 1. Eliz. 1. it appears there was then neither Popish nor Protestant Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical 3. That therefore full Power and Authority is granted to the Queen Her
humble Servant when where and in what he list For presently after he brings that of Isa 10.1 to vanquish the King and Parliament that made him Recant his own Canons two years before Isa 10.1 Dicente Domino per Prophetam Vae qui condunt Leges iniquas c. Wo unto them that Decree unrighteous Decrees c. meaning the Statutes made by the King and Parliament for so he goes on quia igitur ab antiquo tempore inter Leges Magnates Angliae ex parte unâ Archiepiscopos Episcopos Clerum ejusdem Regniex altera duravit amara dissensio pro oppressione Ecclesiae contrà Decreta summorum Pontisicum contra Statuta Conciliorum contra Sanctiones Orthodoxorum Patrum in quibus tribus summa auctoritas summa veritas summaque sanctitas consistunt supplicamus Regiae Majestati c. huic periculosae dissentioni dignemur finem apponere salutarem cui finis alitèr imponi non potest nisi vos sublimitatem vestram praedictis tribus scilicèt Decretis Pontificum Statutis Conciliòrum Sanctionibus Orthodoxorum Patrum juxtà Domini beneplacitum cùm Catholicis Imperatoribus dignemini inclinare ex his enim tribus sunt Canones aggregati jura Coronae vestrae Christi Coronae supponenda cujus sunt Diadema Sponsae suae monilia universae Ecclesiasticae Libertates All which are most emphatical words and most apt for our purpose to stop the Arch-deacon's Mouth that would have the present Church of England and its Jurisdiction derivative from Edw. 1. and Edw. 3. Nor do I know any man more able in all History to write all that could be said for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Canon-Law or Civil-Law than the said Peckham nor can any thing better represent the posture of Affairs in England as to Ecclesiastical matters than the said Letter which I will English faithfully as followeth Because quoth the Archbishop there has been of old and long has continued a bitter Dissention betwixt the King and Parliament of England on the one part God grant they may alwayes be so as they ought to be but one part and the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of this Realm on the other part to oppress the Church contrary to the Popes Decrees contrary to the Canons of Councils contrary to the Sanctions of the Orthodox Fathers in which three consists the Supream Authority the greatest Verity and the choycest Piety We intreat your Royal Majesty that we should vouchsafe together to put an end to this dangerous Dissention and Differences which can never be concluded except you will please to submit your highness to the said three things namely the Decrees of Popes the Canons of the Synods and the Opinions of the ancient Orthodox Fathers according to the Command of the Lord and after the Example of Catholick Kings For of these three are the Canons made and the Rights of your Crown must submit to the Crown of Christ the Churches Rights and Liberties being the Diadem of Christ and the Ornament and Jewels of his Spouse c. Whence I make these plain Remarks 1. That as the Devil Tempting our Blessed Saviour accosted him with Holy Scripture in his Mouth so does this filthy Symonist talk Scripture Language to the King and Parliament whilst he himself hated to be Reformed 2. That there was and has been an old Feud Difference and Dissention and cannot possibly be otherwise where the Layety are Governed by one Law and the Clergy by another the Layety a distinct and peculiar Party on the one part and the Clergy with other designs a party in Opposition to the Layety on the other part The Devil and the Pope brought in that distinction of Layety and Clergy not God and Scripture and it was never a quiet World in Christendome since that time of making that distinction which God never made 3. That when the King and Parliament Thwarts the Clergy and the Canons of their own devising and made to gratifie as those of Rading aforesaid only their Avarice Ambition and Revenge yet that is called Oppressing the Church of God 4. That Kings must alwayes under the notion of submitting to God and Christ submit their Scepters Crowns and Dignities to Religious Zealots and Bigots when they get the Power and they 'l have it too or they 'l want of their will 5. That the Clergy Archbishops and Bishops accounted themselves and were taken and accepted for the Church of England 6. That the Pope was Head of this Church his Decrees their Rule and Canons to walk by and carry on their Ecclesiastical-Courts and Jurisdiction 7. That their Laws were contrary to the sence of the King and Parliament 8. That the King and Parliament were sometimes though but a little little time too hard for those Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of whom the Pope was Supream head 9. That it is impossible that our present Archbishops Bishops and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction can derive their Authority for Ecclesiastical Courts from the Popish Arch-bishops Popish Canons Popish Bishops that had the Pope for their head since our Clergy Archbishops and Bishops do renounce the Popes Supremacy 10. That the Ecclesiasticals before Hen. 8. whilst the Pope was their head look't upon the Kings of England as their Inferiours and that the King and Parliaments Sentiments and Decrees should truckle to theirs And if some had not some strange Reliques they would not dare as this Archdeacon does to write and defend a Jurisdiction and Courts in England without special Authority and Commission from the King And for him to say They Keep Courts by Common-law is the idlest of all his dreams 1. Because before Will. the Conqueror there was never any Spiritual Courts Kept distinct from the Hundred-Courts and if they have right to keep them there at the Bayliffs house let them come but instead of Chancellours Surrogates and Officials and Archdeacons must sit for Judges there as now and of Old two honest Freeholders let them come then with their Ecclesiastical Courts founded in the Common-law before William the Conquerour 2. The Common-Law this D. D. calls p. 51. long and granted Use in the whole Land but then if they plead for their Ecclesiastical Courts according to ancient use and custome they must keep them in Places Times and by such Laws and Judges as were of the ancient use and custom 3. The Common-Law of England is ancienter than our Christianity but Bishops as now in England much less Archbishops for Austin the Monk sent hither by the Pope was the first Archbishop and much less Archdeacons are the Inventions of men and the favour of Kings at first of Popish Kings for before Austin the Monk Anno Dom 〈◊〉 England had neither Lord Bishops nor Lord Archbishops after the manner they are now therefore neither they nor their Courts as now kept have any foundation in Common-law 4. By his own shewing that Edict of William the Conquerour enjoyns that no Bishop nor Archdeacon hold Pleas any longer in
consider'd in his CHAP. III. Whose Title is That KING Henry 8. did not by renouncing the power pretended by the Pope make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by 1 Edw. 6.2 And to prove this Negative he 's at it again with his old way of Questions but that he shews a little more warmth and wrath against Mr. Hickeringill in this Ironical Sarcasm Pray Mr. Wiseman where and by what words did H. 8. cut off as you say all these ordinary Jurisdictions Mr. Hickeringill told you enough of it in the Naked Truth which read over seriously before you answer any more such Books good Mr. D. D. He told you that when the Popes Supremacy and Head was be-headed and the King made Supreme Head of the Church as well as State and of the Spirituality as well as Temporality by Act of Parliament The same King and Parliament devis'd also and advis'd by what Laws this new face of the Church having got a new head sure it had a new face should be guided and governed Therefore the King and Parliament enact that the King shall appoint Thirty-two Commissioners not to make new Laws but compile them out of the old ones so that they were not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative nor the Laws of the Realm But that was a thing impossible for most of the Canons being forged at Rome or Licensed there and Confirmed and also they supposing the Pope Head of the Church which was against the Laws of this Land nothing could be done and the reason is already given in the former Chapter at large so that less shall need to be said to this Chapter or indeed to the remaining part of his mighty Volume or Leges Angliae And truly that King Henry 8. had so much to do to keep and secure his new acquests the Abby-Lands Monastries c. and to Counterplot the Pope and his Emissaries and on the other side the English Bishops were so consternated at the sudden and total downfal of their Brethren and Sisters the Fryers Abbots and Nuns that they were in a bodily fear lest that King thus flesh't finding the sweetness of the Booty should hunt after more Church-Lands And therefore Mr. Archdeacon needed not ask the Question Was that watchful Prince asleep no surely nor yet the watchful Bishops I fear did not sleep very quietly but were always troubled in their sleep crying out oh this fat Mannor is upon the go And these brave Walks Houses and Orchards are a departing And as dreams sometimes prove unluckily true so did these dreams for soon after was first exchanged with the two Archbishops by the Satute of 37. Henry 8.16 Sixty-nine fat and stately Mannors named in the said Statute at one time from the Archbishop of York and also a great many brave Country-houses and rich Mannors from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from Edmond Bishop of London which See was particularly named in the Statute But some may say that the Abby-Lands which the King gave in exchange were not comparable in value to the said Archbishops Lands and Mannors Who can help that if they did not like those Abby-Lands I suppose they might have let them alone Thus the King having been busied in the 24th year of his Reign with cutting off the Roman Head and all appeals to Rome then troubled with his Abby-Lands beginning with the lesser Monastries 27 Henry 8.28 those digested then the great Monastries and Nunneries 31. Henry 8.13 then the next year the brave Houses Lands and Revenues of the Templers called the Knights of the Rhodes and of St. John of Jerusalem 32. Henry 8.24 then the Free-Chantries Hospitals c. in 37. Henry 8.4 and in this his last year that sad exchange with the Archbishops and Bishop of London 37. Henry 8.16 I do not see any cause Mr. Archdeacon why any flesh alive should say that either the King or the Bishops were asleep for Thirteen years together in which time every one had work enough to be watchful The best on 't is that the man thinks he can answer all Mr. Hickeringill's Arguments in the Naked Truth with a Story which he tells p. 14. and so silly and so little quadrating with the question in controversie that it is not worth the answering nor his observation thereon namely that though the Lords of the Mannors were changed yet the Customs and Courts and Officers were not changed No were not the Customs Courts nor Officers changed God forbid for then it must still be a Custom that neither the Bishop nor the Archdeacon may lawfully Marry it will still be a Custom to excommunicate as it was of old all that did not pay the Pope the first fruits and tenths if the Customs be not changed and a thousand such exceptions could I make if it were not below me to take notice of all his idle and impertinent Whimsies and Stories obvious enough to every learned and ingenuous Reader without my remark or asterisque to expose it Nor does any body deny but that King H. 8. willing to have a Divorce from Queen Katharine from Rome and not able to obtain the same got it at home the said Statute of Appeals cutting off all Appeals to Rome and enabling the Kings Courts Spiritual and Temporal to determine the same Any Forrein Inhibitions Appeals Sentences Summons c. from the See of Rome c. to the Let or Impediment in any wise notwithstanding 24. Henry 8.12 Whence note 1. The design of the Statute is to cut off Appeals to Rome this Realm of England being an Empire of it self governed by one Supreme Head 2. Therefore no need of such Appeals when they may be with less trouble ended here within the Kings Jurisdiction in Courts Spiritual and Temporal 3. That Statute limits the cognisance of all matters cognisable in Spiritual Courts to these Three sorts namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial or Divorces Tithes and Oblations and Obventions and if they can prove their Courts to be lawful Courts and by lawful Anthority who ever doubted but those Three things were matters and causes of Ecclesiastical cognisance but they are not content to keep themselves there and therefore the great design of the Naked Truth is not in the least to check their proceedings in those Three Particulars but their exorbitances in medling with Church Wardens the Oath of Church-Wardens exactions illegal and unconscionable in their Fees in despight of the Statutes in Probate of Wills Procurations Sequestrations Synodals Licenses to Preach Visitations c. 4. The Archbishops Bishops and Clergy in Convocation in less than Twenty years after this Statute found so little Authority in this 24. Henry 8.12 for keeping Spiritual Courts and exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it coming in but by way of Parenthesis and not the purport and main design of the Statute that they all acknowledg and confess uno ore and 2. Phil. and Mar. that their Jurisdiction and Liberties Ecclesiastical were taken away
and desired their restauration and surely they better understood their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in those days than this Archdeacon can possibly at this distance in these days Lastly The Temporal as well as Spiritual Courts are enabled by 24. Henry 8.12 to determine the controversies in this Realm without Appeals and yet none of them take upon them to Sit without the Kings special Commission and Authority except petty-Hundred-Courts c. which are Common-Law-Courts but so are not the Ecclesiastical at best further than Ecclesiastical matters may still by the Common Law be tryed before the Lord of the Hundred or his Steward and the Freeholders and the Bishop also and Archdeacon may be suffered to come into the Room but whether they may come in without knocking or must sit or stand be covered or uncovered when they come there by the Common Law it seems it is not by our D. D. the great Common Lawyer as yet determined And therefore it is much better for the Archdeacon at least much more proper for him to leave these doubtful matters as whether 1 Edward 6.2 be now in force and how far and to what Commissioners the 13 Car. 2.12 does extend wherein the Author of the Naked Truth would not peremptorily assert any thing to the decision of a Parliament or wiser heads than his own Then in Chap. 3. Sect. 2. the D. D. tells of another Statute 31 Henry 8.3 and cites the words but most egregiously false there is not one such clause in 31 H. 8.3 But if there were as perhaps I will not deny something to that purpose in another Statute that Archbishops Bishops c. may wear the Tokens and Ensigns and Ceremonies of their Order and whilst they do nothing but what to their Office and Order does appertain no body will trouble themselves about them And more false also is what he would make 25 Henry 8.19 speak as though by that Statute the Convocation hath power reserved by the same Act of making new Canons provided the Convocation be called by the Kings Writ and have the Royal assent and License to make promulgate and execute such Canons If this be true I do not know but the Lambeth-Canons exploded and condemned by Act of Parliament and those of King James are all Statute-Law for the Convocation that made them were called by the Kings Writ and they were confirmed also by the Royal assent In a matter of this consequence let us turn to the Statute and trust our Archdeacon henceforward no further than our own knowledg That of 25. Henry 8.19 begins thus The Title The Clergy in their Convocation shall enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent And as the Title so the body of the Act Where the Kings humble and obedient subjects the Clergy of this Realm c. promise in verbo Sacerdoti that they will never presume to attempt premulge or execute any new Canons c. unless the Kings Royal Assent and License be to them had to make promulge and execute the same Now is this D. D. an honest man when the Statute only binds them to good behaviour namely not to presume without the Royal assent but does not enable them to make any new though they have the Royal Assent False also most impudently false is his next quotation of a Statute 37 Henry 8.16 But if he mean 37 Henry 8.17 still it is false either through Imprudence or unparellel'd Impudence for there is not one word to the matter in question but the whole Statute is only a License to Marry a License for civil Lawyers to Marry and that though they be Marryed yet that shall not make them uncapable of being Commissaries Chancellors or Vicar-generals or Officials but does not create or constitute any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or Courts to put them in Indeed the said 37 Henry 8.17 is a clear and evident explanation of the 25 Henry 8.18 that thereby the King and Parliament did look upon all Ecclesiastical Canons Ordinances and Constitutions formerly made to be null and void and repealed and of no effect by the said 25 Henry 8.18 saying that the Bishop of Rome and his adherents minding utterly as much as in him lay to abolish obscure and delete such power given by God to the Princes of the earth whereby they might gather and get to themselves the government and rule of the world have in their Councils and Synods Provincial made divers Ordinances and Constitutions And albeit the said Decrees Ordinances and Constitutions by a Statute made 25 Henry 8. be utterly abolished frustrate and 1. By this it is evident that as the King Pope and Bishops had all work enough to look to themselves and that King Henry and his Parliament and Bishops were still Popish so if the Spiritual Courts had any Jurisdiction yet they had none but by way of Parenthesis in the said Statute of Appeals 2. And that only in causes Testamentary Marriage or Divorce Tithes or Oblations 3. And to Judg of these and determine was impossible because they had no Canons Decrees nor Laws Ecclesiastical by which to Judg and determine of them 4. And therefore Mr. Archdeacon though by what has been said your Official might keep Spiritual Courts although he were Married so also he might keep Spiritual Courts although he did nothing but whistle there all the while or throw stones at all that came near him for Sentences and Decrees cannot be made but according to a Canon Law or Rule and Canons there were none in force at that time in the said Judgment of the House of Commons And therefore though you had never so much Authority and Commission for keeping your beloved Courts what 's that to the Naked Truth Have you any Commissions for Extortions in Probate of Wills for illegal Extortions of Money for Citations Licenses to Preach Institutions Inductions Sequestrations Synodals Procurations Money from Church-Wardens Commutations Visitations to confute which is the great import of the Naked Truth and you have not one word in your Leges Angliae to say for them or for your selves or to justifie by whose or by what Commission or by what Canons you act and proceed It is a most dangerous and fatal thing sure for a man to think as the Papists do think in these days whereas I thought a man might have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and a thousand things more that the Papists believe and yet keep out of harms way But no our desperate D. D. has p. 22. got Mr. Hsckeringill upon the Hip again and gores him too with one of the unavoidable Horns of the sharpest of Arguments a Dilemma in these words namely I leave it to Mr. Hickeringill himself for if he think that that Convocation namely in Queen Marys Reign spake that which was not true he hath said nothing to the purpose so his business is done that way But if he think they did speak truth then he thinks that the Jurisdiction of the Church
Common-Law nor Civil-Law in England to justifie such Citations and Visitations Indeed there is old Canons in times of Popery to justifie that there has been Ecclesiatim Visitations namely for the Visitor or Bishop to come to your Churches and see how you do but it is against all Law Equity and Conscience to see how your Pockets do Therefore if they come Ecclesiatim Visits give them such poor fare as the Vicar feeds upon if they be hungry feed them do not fat them do not feast them and I 'le secure you shall not be often troubled with them thence following but give them not a cross of money and fear not that ever they 'l disquiet you very often As it is in the Naked Truth if their visitationes morum prove not to be visitationes nummorum I 'le be your warrant you shall not need a new Act of Parliament to stave them off So if they call upon you and cite you to prove a Will or take an Administration though the Sumner or Appariter come Forty Miles do not give the knave a Groat but for him and his Masters and the Citation or Process give him Three Pence and no more as by Statue 23. Hen. 8.9 1. Eliz. 1. If they ask or demand any more sue them upon the said Statute inan Action of debr or qui tam five Pounds due to the King and five Pounds to the party grieved The like penalty upon them if you sue them for taking more for Administrations or Probat of Wills than is allowed by Statute nay if they will not give you back your Will when proved into your own keeping upon demand there lies a swindging Action against them as Baron Weston declared at Chelmsford the last Assizes in open Court to the Countrey exhorting them to bring such Actions against those Ecclesiastical fellows so he stil'd them and if they brought such Actions before him he would make examples of them The cry the common-cry against the extortions of these Ecclesiastical fellows was loud and clamorous all over England and reacht the ears of the King and Parliament in Henry 8ths time as in good time it may again which occasioned the Statute of 21 Henry 8.5 as appears by the Preamble of that Statute against their extortions in these very words namely Where in the Parliament holden at Westminster in the 31st year of the Reign of the Noble King of Famous Memory Edw. 3. upon the complaint of his people for the outragious and grievous fines and sums of money taken by the Ministers of Bishops and of other Ordinaries of Holy Church for the Probat of Testaments and for the Acquittances by the said Ordinaries to be made concerning the same The said Noble King in the same Parliament openly charged and commanded the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops for that time being that amendment thereof should be had and if no amendment thereof should be had it was by the authority of the same Parliament accorded that the King should thereof make inquiry by his Justices of such oppression and extortions c. And where at the Parliament holden at Westminster 3 Hen. 5. it was recited that the Commons of this Realm had oftentimes complained there in divers Parliaments for that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probation of Testaments and other things thereunto belonging sometimes XL. s. sometimes LX. s. and sometimes more against Right and Justice where in time of King Edw. 3. men were wont to pay for such causes but 2. s. 6. d. or 5. at most by which unlawful exactions c. Then it follows in the Statute and is enacted that none of these Bishops Ordinaries Archdeabons Commissaries Chancellors Officials Registers Scribes Praisers Summoners Appariters or other their Ministers shall take or demand for Probation Writing Sealing Registring making of Inventories or giving of Acquittances or for any other manner of cause concerning the same any more than what follows namely Where the goods of the deceased amount not to more than 5. l.  l. s. d. To the Register For the Probat of the Will 00 00 06. To the Register Or if an Admistration then also 00 00 00. To the Register And to the Judg 00 00 00. Where the goods of the deceased amount to more than 5. l. and yet under 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Bishop or Ordinary 00 02 06. And to the Register 00 01 00. For such Probat Inventory or Administration Where the goods of the deceased amount to above 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Ordinary or Judg Ecclesiastical 00 02 06. And to the Register for Probat of such a Will 00 02 06. And for Administration of such goods of that value to the Register 00 00 00. Or the Register or Scribe may refuse the said 00 02 06. And if he please may take and demand a penny for writing every ten lines of such Testament each line to contain ten Inches For Inventories they usually take 40. s. a Press as they call it that is the length of an ordinary sheet of Parchment But by this Statute for Inventories not one farthing Here 's now one would think a Law to keep them in awe but it signifies nothing they have got so many cunning starting-holes to creep out 't is hard to catch a Fox For if they be Indited for extortion or that you bring an Action of Debt upon the Statute or a qui tam namely  l. s. d. Due to the King for every such extortion 05 00 00. Also to the party grieved 05 00 00. But here too you will be baffled again except you punctually observe these following Conditions If it be a Will that is to be proved 1. You must bring the Witnesses along with you to prove the Will and that it is the true whole and last Testament of the Testator and that the Executor also believes the same to be the last Will and Testament of the Testator 21 H. 8.5 2. You must bring Wax also soft Wax ready for the Judg to put to and affix the Seal of the Court if the goods of the deceased amount not to five pounds 21 H. 8.5 3. You must bring two Inventories fairly written and Indented the one to be left with the Ordinary the other to be carried away by the Executor or Administrator 21 H. 8.5 4. The very Individual Will and Testament of the Testator you must carry away with you again so soon as it is Registred as 21. H. 8.5 5. You must carry with you good Witnesses of the Tender of the said Fees And keep but to these Conditions which are plain and easie and there is never a Register or Chancellor or Sumner of them all that will give many hundreds of pounds for the Place nor will you be much pestered with these Ecclesiastical-Courts or Ecclesiastical fellows for that now belike is the word Ecclesiastical fellows nor with Archdeacons although they had never so good Authority for keeping Courts and sending Citations
the Name being the first Arch-bishop that wheedled himself into the estate of the deceased that died Intestate or that gave Letters of Administration in England and yet this deep-read Arch-Deacon makes the common Law depose and Justify their proceedings in Spiritual Courts Pretending that since the Poor Soul died without a Will and so Consequently had not taken care to Redeem his Soul out of Purgatory by giving the Priests his Goods Mony or Lands for so many Masses to that purpose therefore the Archbishop Piously took that care upon him yet he himself hapned to dye though not Intestate yet so suddenly for two judgments in Parliament against him namely the aforesaid and presently after for endeavouring to defraud the King of Three-hundred pounds of Money belonging to one Bonamy a banish't Jew and which he would have been fingering for himself knowing that the Money lay in the Priory of Bridlington within his Jurisdiction Broke his heart his Executors would not or durst not meddle with his Goods Executores enim sui se intromittere noluerunt Ibid ita quod non proprio sed potius alieno fiebant expensae funerum in ecclesia sua cum honore simplici repositus est non enim panis vel obolus pro anima ipsus dabatur unde justo dei Judicio contigit ut qui subditorum bona maxime ab Intestatis sitiret subita quasi morte praeventus nullum vel modicum ex Testamento suo proprio consecutus est Emolumentum That is saith Henry De Knighton His Executors would not meddle with the Execution of his Will so that his Funeral expences were defrayed out of other Men's rather than his own Estate he was buried in his own Church after a very homely manner for not a bit of bread was given to the poor nor one farthing to pray for his Soul by the just Judgment of God upon him that he that did so thirst after Intestates Estates especially dying in his province being prevented by a sudden death got none or very little benefit by his own last Will and Testament The second Instance shall be in Scotland for King Edward the first was King thereof at least by conquest King Edward the Conquerour of Scotland when the Bishop of Glasgow having a spight and a pique against a Minister of his Diocess Deprived him of his Living Tortiously and Arbitrarily whereupon King Edward the first by his Letters to his Lieuetenant or Guardian of Scotland restor'd him upon the Petition of John Comyn in these words Al Tres honorable prince e noble In Bundel Breviâ—…n petic in Tur. Load An. 24. E. 1. e a son Trescher signur lige sire Edward par la grace Dieu noble Roy Dengleterre le ce ou si luy plest Johan Comyn Kaunk il set e poet de Honur e de Reverence Com a seon seignur lige Chire sire si vus plest io vus pri especialment ke vus deyngnet mander vostre Lettre au Gardeynde Escoce pur mettre mesh Robert Mounsycitien partur de ceste Lettre en la eglice de graunt Dalton de la quele sire Robert Evesk de Glascou c. 't is too tedious further to recite The last Instance is a Record of a Fine set upon the Bishop of Cork in Ireland for holding Plea in the Spiritual Courts of things belonging to the King's Crown and Dignity for which he was amerced 140. l. Claus 20. E. 1. m. 13. Hibern pro Roberto nuper Corcagensi Episc to be Levyed upon his Goods and Chattels in these words Cum venerabilis Pater Robertus Cortagiensis Episcopus huper coram venerabill patre S. Tuamensi Archi-Episcopo tunc Justis Regis Hiberniae amerciatus esset ad centum libras pro contemptu idem Episcopus Amerciatus esset postmodum coram eodem Justic ad quadraginta libras pro eo quod advocavit se tenuisse placita in Curia Christianitatis and Coronam Dignitatem Regis spectantia c. Teste Rege apud Westm primo die Decembris 20. R. R. E. 1. And 't is observable this great Fine was set by an Arch-Bishop of Tuam then the Kings Lord-Chief-Justice in Ireland For indeed in those dayes The Clergy were the greatest Lawyers and had the greatest places Bak. Chron p. 50. and yet they would not suffer any Clergy-Man to be subject to temporal Magistrates by a Canon made B. Steph. in a Synod held at London by Henry Bishop of winchester the Pope's Legate 'T is true King Henry the Second opposed this Canon and Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that stood up for it and the Contest almost ruined them both But no King like King Henry the Eighth Bak. Chron. p. 95. and Edward the First for keeping the Crown safe from the usurpations of the Clergy this latter not suffering any Prelates to sit in the Parliament at Saltsbury Anno. 1274. and took their great Treasures hoorded up in Churches and Monasteries and put it in the Exchequer And though stout King Edward the Third strugled hard and a long time tug'd with John Stratford Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who threatned the King that he would exercise his Ecclesiastical Authority and proceed to Excommunication of his Officers though not of himself Queen or Children yet the great Offices of the Realm were executed by Clergy-Men in his Reign for at one time when Simon Langham was Arch Bishop of Canterbury he was also Lord Chancellor of England a Place that Becket resigned when he was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury denying to be at the Helm of the Common Wealth and the Church both at once william Wickham Arch-Deacon of Linclon was Keeper of the Privy Seal David Willer Parson of Sommersham Master of the Rolls Ten Benesis't Ministers Civilians Masters of the Chancery William Mulse Dean of S. Martins Le Grand chief Chamberlain of the Exchequer Receiver and Keeper of the Kings Treasure and Jewels William Aksby Arch-Deacon of Northampton Chancellor of the Exchequer William Dighton Prebendary of St. Martins Clark of the Privy Seal Richard Chesterfield Prebend of St. Stephen's Treasurer of the Kings House Henry Smatch Parson of Oundel Master of the Kings Wardrobe John Newnham Parson of Fenny-Staunton one of the Chamberlains of the Exchequer John Rawsby Parson of Harwick Surveyor and Comptroller of the Kings Works Thomas Brittingham Parson of Asby Treasurer to the King for the part of Guifness and the Marches of Callice John Troys a Priest Treasurer of Ireland But certainly a Gospel-Minister may find work enough though he be a Bishop or Arch Bishop in the Works of his Ministry and most Honour I am not for Alterations and great Changes yet certainly the Face of our Church of England is not only comely but beautiful and well guarded by the Statutes of Uniformity and Confining all Places of Honour and profit in the Kingdom to the Son 's of the Church and to such only as can Conform to Her Liturgy and Administration of the Blessed Sacraments And
la Royante S'il est de peu ou bien Communante Ayme l'aussi car Dieu t'y a faict naistre Love thou thy Country's State whether it be A Common-Wealth Senate or Monarchy All Change is fatal count then that the best In which thy Country finds most Peace most Rest AN ABSTRACT OF THE PREMISES IN A SHORT CONCLUSION 'T Is evident then by his own Shewing That there was no Ecclesiastical Courts distinct from the Hundred-Courts and Lay-Courts till the Pope's Champion brought over that New French and Italian Mode with a long Sword into England and Odo Bishop of Bayeux Brother to the Conqueror assisting to set up the Pope's Usurpations in Spiritual Courts or Spiritual Tyranny forbid by Christ and his Holy Apostles who pretended not to this Hierarchy or Frelacy Names as Unknown as Arch-Bishops or Arch-Deacons Chancellors Officials Surrogates Advocates Proctors Sumners and the rest of that kind to the Primitive-Church Secondly That it is great Impudence for the Clergy much more for the Frelacy to call themselves the Church as if the Lay-People were not as much Members of Christ nay as Learned Prudent Modest and Honest as the best of them I will not except the Pope himself And that to Style the Clergy alone the Church or Holy Church is contrary to the constant Style and Dialect of Holy-Writ as appears by Mat. 16.18 Act. 2.47 5.11 8.1 11.26 13.23 14.27 14.23 15.3 22 41. 16.5 20.17 28. Rom. 16.1 4 5 16 23. 1 Cor. 4.17 10.32 14.4 5 23 33 34. 1 Cor. 16.1 19. 2 Cor. 1.1 8.1.18 19.23 24. 11.8 28. 12.13 and in all other places which are numerous throughout the Holy Scripture Thirdly That by the Oath given alwayes to Excommunicate persons before they be Absolv'd namely Stare parere mandatis Ecclesiae to stand to and obey the Commands of the Church by Church they alwayes mean themselves the Prelacy or Governing Men of the Church And by Holy-Church being free in Magna Charta was and must be meant the Clergy and the Pope their Head but how Holy they were in those Times what Symonists and consequently Perjur'd Persons appears fully in the Premises By the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.1 8. the Prelates say by Angel there is meant the Bishop or Presbyter by the Church there them must be meant the Christian People of Ephesus and if these Clergy in Edw. 1. such as Old Nich. Pap. and Arch-Bishop Peckham c. were Angels they were black ones surely Fourthly That from the Reign of William the Conquerour to Hen. 8. The Clergy or Ecclesiastical Men had one Head namely a Forreign Head the Pope and the Laiety another Head the King Fifthly These Two Heads namely The Pope the Head of the Church and the King the Head of the State were ever and anon knocking one against the other and the English-Clergy alwayes sided with their Head the Pope to make the other Temporal Head bow down and submit to this Spiritual Head Sixthly That when this Spiritual Head would not submit to the Temporal Head and Gratify the King's will in the desired Divorce betwixt King H. 8. and His Queen who had been Twenty Years his Wife He caus'd this Pope his Spiritual Head and Forreign-Power to be Beheaded and cut off till it was restor'd and patch't on again by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. And indeed what ever that resolute King Henry did will that will soon became a Law if the King would have Queen Katherine Divorc't and her Daughter Mary declared Illegitimate Yea quoth the Stature 25. H. 8.22 when His Will was to have the Princess Elizabeth Legitimate and inheritable of the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Statute 25. H. 8.22 Again when he was minded to make her uncapable of the Crown Yea quoth the Statute 28. H. 8.7 And Lastly when his Will and His Mind was changed and that both the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth though it was Impossible but one of them was Illegitimate and both of them so declared Illegitimate in the said Statutes should be capable to Inherit as they both did the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Parliament 35. H. 8.1 when the Bishops grumbled that they had not their old Procurations out of the Dissolved Monasteries and Consequently could not pay him their First-Fruits and Tenth's though the King knew it was against their own Laws and Canons to have any yet the King willing to stop their Mouths and knowing that to take some Men by the Pocket is as bad as to take them by the Throat rather than he would disoblige them he being also at variance with the Pope he allows them these little snips out of his large New-Conquests and Acquests by the Statute 34. and 35. H. 8.19 But made them only recoverable in Ecclesiastical-Courts and only such as were paid Ten Years before the Dissolution of Monasteries which now is a thing Impossible to prove their own Registers being no competent Witnesses being Parties and their Register-Books no Records 7. That all the remaining Years of the Reign of Hen. 8. after the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction here in England had no dependance of the Pope they had no Laws no known Canons nor Rule to Proceed upon and if they kept Courts these Ecclesiastical Courts could take no Cognizance but of Three or Four things namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial Tyes and Obventions and such perhaps they have cognizance of at this Day if they have Authority for keeping Courts and have any Laws or Canons other than Acts of Parliament to direct them which I think they have not 8. That when the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction had got a Protestant-head it also had a Protestant-face by 1. Edw. 6.2 and 't is senceless to Imagine that that Statute was not constantly put in Execution and all Processes in the Name and Style of the King 9. This Protestant-face of Ecclesiastical Authority was Blasted by 1. Mar. and in its Room was again set up the Pope's head and the Popish-Church by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. and Forreign Powers and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical after the Old Italian or Romish Mode 10. This Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Foreign Powers were Defeated in 1. Eliz. 1. by repealing 1 Mar. and 1 Phil. Mar. 8. that had repealed 1 Edw. 6.2 which had been under restraint and made of no Force by the Repeal aforesaid and thence resum'd its former Vigour and Vertue but of that Quere All the Reason in the World for it as Mr. H. Cary learnedly insists 11. When 1. Eliz. 1. had cancel'd all the Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Spiritual-Courts there was none till the same Statute gave the Queen and Her Heirs and Successors Power by Commission to settle a new Form and Face of Government Ecclesiastical 12. That Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. that gave the Queen and Her Heirs this Power and Authority being repealed by 13. Car. 2.12 For my Part I must say It is beyond my Apprehension to find out where the
Authority of Ecclesiastical-Courts can or does consist or subsist or who gave them the Authority they pretend to not the Pope as of Old not the Common-Law I am sure nor can possibly the Canon-Law or Statute-Law 13. Grant they have Authority It is but in Three or Four particulars Causes Testamentary Matrimonial Tythes and for neglecting to come to Divine-Service by 1 Eliz. 2. or at most but those Ten Things in 5. Eliz. 23. de excommunicato capiendo enumerated what 's this to justify their great extortions in Probates of wills and Administrations and their illegal Proving the same and keeping Men's Wills contrary to that Statute What 's this to Justify the Force of any Canons at this Day Or who made them Laws of England without a Parliament What 's this to Justify the Pilling and Polling the Church-wardens and the inferior Clergy by Procurations Articles of Visitation Oaths Arbitrarily imposed upon them both for Canonical Obedience What 's all this to their great Business in Visitations and Court-keeping namely The Money-Business And lastly what a shamefull thing it is to Impose upon the consciences of the Clergy an c Oath of canonical obedience condemn'd by Act of Parliament in condemning the canons of 1640. in 13 car 2.12 What Insolence for a Bishop to commend the observation of those Canons which the King and Parliament have condemn'd by Statute Quer. What punishment do such Incurr and for Imposing Oaths upon Church-Wardens to enquire into the breach of such late Canon's which cannot be possibly the Laws of England if made since the dayes of King Henry the 8th Their shamefull and illegal extortions are a Thousand times more sufferable and pardonable than these Arbitrary Impositions of Oaths to torture and rack men's conscienees if not to precipitate them into Purjury nay except God be more mercifull than they eternal damnation making men swear Stare mandatis Ecclesiae to obey the commands of the Church and to obey his Majesties Laws Ecclesiastical when it is not defined what or where these Ecclesiastical Laws are the wisest of them all will not cannot dare not tell nor determine I 'le bid this Arch Deacon farewell with the same complement he passes upon Mr. Hickeringil in his last words bidding him not be wiser than the Law If this D. D. had not been wiser than the Law he had not writ such a thin discourse and yet face it with a Bulky and Imbost-Title stiling it Leges Angliae If the Spiritual Court keepers were not wiser than the Law they would first prove their Courts Legal their Canons Legal their Fees Legal their Extortions and Impositions of Oaths upon the consciences of the King's Subjects Legal Nor write I this to weaken their Authority but that it may if it seem good to the King and Parliament prove Instrumental to give them a just Authority and a true face of Power and also limit their Exorbitances There 's no wise man nor good man that favours Anarchy The Kings Throne which God long preserve is establish't by Justice and Law and 't is the Peoples Happiness to be governed and guided by honest Laws not Arbitrary Canons Impositions and Methods but such as are of the right English Make and Temper enacted by King and Parliament And I dare justify That there is nothing in the Naked-Truth but what is good for the Clergy as well as the Laity if they will lay aside Prejudice and Pertinacy Pride and Covetousness Finally for I am heartily weary of the Company of this same Totnes-Arch-Deacon and with conversing thus long with such an impertinent D. D. that has not his fellow among them all for Insolence and Impudence in defaming and belying a Gentleman he never saw nor knows any harm by except perhaps from malice that never speaks well and seldom speaks true or from fame which was a lyar of old and long before ever there was an Arch-Deacon heard of in Christendom And now at length to make Mr. Hickeringil the Common odium nothing will serve but to make him a Papist a Hobbist c. when all his Enemies that know him have not effrontery to deny but that he has more Loyalty than to be a Papist more Conscience than to be a Simonist though an Arch-Deaconry of Totnes might be put into the bargain and Seal more Honour and Ingenuity than to be a Parasite more Reason than to be an Atheist more Religion than to be an Hobbist and more Honesty and Plain-dealing than to be Well-Beloved in a Dissembling Age of Sycophantry But after all this bespattering Language how inhumane it is in an Arch-Deacon and a D. D. so unmercifully to attacque Mr. Hickeringill with Pun and quibble a persecution beyond the plague of Barbers in an Itchy endeavour to be witty forsooth in despite of Nature and his Stars who have all entred sufficient Caveats against it Then for the Serious part if there be such a part in his Idle Pamphlet Is it not Quixolisme beyond the relief of Hellebore to stile his Insignificant babling Leges Angliae Make Bonefires of your Cook your Littleton your Crook Dyer Statute-Books and Common Law-Books for behold here in thrifty Querpo Leges Angliae the Laws of England price 8 d. Nor less madness is it in him or more Idle vapour than to appear thus publiquely upon the Stage as the chavalier or champion of Mother-Church in answer to Mr. Hickeringil's Naked-Truth when he only tickles over the Skirts of the business and sayes not one word in answer to the main drift and design of the Naked-Truth namely in answer or vindication of the Canons Authority to keep Eclesiastical Courts or to impose Oaths of Canonical Obedience upon the Clergy or to impose Oaths upon the Church-Wardens nor one word does he say to vindicate their unjust and unconscionable Impositions and Extortions upon the Clergy in Procurations Institutions Licenses to Preach Ordinations Inductions Sinodals Visitations c. and yet most Impudently stiles his Book An Answer to Mr. Hickeringill c. Nor does that Statute 25. Hen. 8. give any Authority to Arch-Bishops or Bishops to keep Ecclesiastical courts or jurisdiction except such as was then practis'd when the Statute was made namely Popish Courts Popish Articles of Visitation Popish Habits and Palls and to be worn by Popish Arch-Bishops and Bishops But we have none now You know Hen. 8. that made that statute liv'd and dy'd a papist as aforesaid But what is that Statute however to justify your Arch-Deacon's Courts that Spiritual creature is not Nam'd in 25. Hen. 8. Well come Mr. Arch-Deacon Friends must part I 'le even bid you far-well and shake hands with you in hopes never to meet with you again but because I am in your debt for that witless Quible Hobby War-Hawk I 'le pay you Quid Pro Quo in the same coyne namely an Anagram for your Pun and Quibble nay an Anagram as Silly if possible as your Quible War-Hawk Fra-Fulwood Anagram War-dul-Fool THus has it cost me some pains the Labour of Six dayes not Seven dayes I protest to answer the Six Months Abortive Throwes of a sibling quibbling fribling fumbling Arch-Deacon And 't is enough at least as much as is needful and more than I could well afford upon so despicable an Opponent besides a subtle Anagram franckly vouchfaf't to him and ex abundanti liberally thrown and given him into the bargain To teach his costive-wit more Sobriety than to attacque the Naked-Truth only with Impertinencies and Pun and Quibble In his next attempt when peradventure he makes a second adventure Which not I so much as the the Booksellers greedily expect from him or rather some more modest more solid and better accounted champion of the Kirk's But enough I say at present not only because I am in haste and have other more Important affairs in hand than to spend much time with such a Scribling D. D. but chiefly because the Naked-Truth is Luscious too much at a time is apt to Glut and Nauseate to eat much Honey is not good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Husband-Man with wary Hand Not with whole Sack-fulls Sowes the Land But Thriftily contrives his Gain By Handfuls Husbanding the Grain FINIS London Printed for R. Janèway in Queens-Head Alley in Pater-Noster-Row