next to it Assoon as Mr. Colmer was reinstated by the Commissary he was immediately after his departure again Expell'd or rather disown'd by the Rector The pretences and colours upon which he now proceeded and the management of this process were more surprizing even then his former conduct in this affair He cited Mr. Colmer to answer to a new Charge and at the meeting disir'd a Publick Notary to attest That he did not own him to be a rightful Fellow of the said College but a pretended Fellow and as such he would proceed against him upon farther evidence of incontinency Now it is not easy for a less subtile man than the Rector to imagine why he should deny him to be Fellow and yet proceed against him If he was Fellow why disavow'd and if not how could he fall under his jurisdiction The Rector's autority over him was founded on Mr. Colmer's relation to the College and why should the one remain if the other was determin'd If Dr. Masters proceedings were valid why is Mr. Colmer's right disputed and if there was a nullity in them why is his present right implied and confess'd by a subsequent Expulsion Mr. Colmer therefore told the Rector that if he would not own the Sentence pass'd by the Bishop's Commissary he thought he had no jurisdiction over him There being no Statute provided for the Expulsion of Intruders and pretended Fellows But if the Rector would own that Sentence he was ready to answer to any new Charge from which that Sentence did not clear him The Rector persisted to deny the Commissary's autority and upon that account only Mr. Colmer thought it not advisable for him nor a duty incumbent upon him to submit to the Rector who upon his own Principles had no jurisdiction and from whom there could be no expectation of justice by what he had said and heretofore done He left the Room therefore and in his absence part of a Paper which the Rector had formerly Printed concerning Mr. Colmers Case was read before the Seniors and upon this evidence without any witnesses call'd or proof given Mr. Colmer's name was struck out of the book and somewhat was declar'd either that he now was not or that hereafter he should not be Fellow And now since we have had occasion to mention that Paper we should not let it go without some particular remark and its due Character It is design'd for the summ total of all the Rector's evidence and the defence of Mr. Colmer's Expulsion and is wrote with as much prudence as the affair it-self of which it treats was manag'd with as much decency as Mr. Colmer would wish to his adversary and with as much truth as we might justly expect from a man of the Rector's principles These unjustifiable proceedings carried on so rudely at this time in such a manner must be intended and taken as direct affronts to the Visitor and his autority However his Lordship's resentments were not so heightned by these injuries done to himself as by the other scandalous offences of the Rector which were levell'd against his Savior For not long before this time an Heretical book entitled the Naked Gospel was publish'd by Dr. Bury in which with some weak arguments and disagreeable mirth The Author endeavors to confute the divinity of Christ and to expose it The Godhead of our Savior who in some places is nam'd a Crucified Vagabond is declar'd to be a dangerous and impertinent Speculation and to speak in this Author's Idiom a silly Qnestion and a Push-pin point The Fundamental Articles of our Faith are there stil'd Gross impositions and matters of no certainty nor perhaps of credibility The Council of Nice is by him represented as an ignorant and Partial Synod and the Decrees of it such as were made according to the interest of Parties not the merits of the Cause His way of reasoning is much like that when heretofore he pretended to sole unqualified and incommunicable power from the words in the College Statutes sit unus Rector tho' in other places the officers and seniors have a joynt autority and are Commissioners with him In short all the absur'd and desperate opinions of the Anti-Trinitarians abroad are here repeated and avow'd all the old misapply'd citations of which the more learned Arians are now asham'd are here reviv'd and enforc'd and indeed the whole System of the Socinian doctrine is by this Plagiary transcrib'd and made his own with the new additions only of worse language and less decency This book the Rector being then Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford carried to the Press and by the autority of his Character prevail'd with the Printer to print it without any other licence Assoon as it was finish'd he dispers'd it to some Friends and intended as he himself since professes to have presented it to Convocation But when his Friends had disswaded him from so dangerous an attempt He resolv'd in a second Edition to mollify some harsh expressions to carry on the same design with more cunning and to give as great a stroke to the Divinity of Christ with more security to himself Thus this Blasphemous Treatise with some few variations sometimes alter'd for the better more often for the worse was publish'd by him and his confident Sir Kingston with more openness and assurance than the former It was time now for the Bishop to be mindful of those earnest entreaties and prayers by which the Founders of that College have adjur'd him to preserve the Christian Faith in it He foresaw the sad consequences which must necessarily ensue if Dr. Bury were permitted in such a Station by the power of his irresistible autority to publish such doctrines and to enforce them This book of the Rector's was not more complain'd of to the Visitor than his life and his Morals discredited the College as much as his Speculations He openly sold the offices and places of the College and consequently the Collegiates were expos'd to the impositions of those who had purchas'd a right of defrauding them His Chastity was said to be so notorious that he seem'd to have other designs in Expelling Mr. Colmer than the punishment of Vice and to have acted more like a Rival than a Judge His indifference to order in the Chappel His neglect of discipline in the House His not maintaining of Lectures c. made the whole College as far as in him lay one continued disorder So that the Dissentions of the Fellows upon these arbitrary proceedings grew high and without the interposing care of the Visitor there was no prospect of quiet and agreement It was easy now to foresee that nothing could put a stop to the approaching ruine of the College but a Visitation no other way was left of reforming these Enormities or of composing these Divisions no other method could prevent the change of this Nursery of Religion into a Seminary of Socinianism and therefore his Lordship was resolv'd to discharge the great trust which was happily
as he ought he order'd them to be more firmly barr'd and secur'd resolving as he had before kept the Bishop out of the Chappel now to double his rudeness and shut him out of the College The Bishop knowing his temper and apprehending such usage from him resolv'd as he had been before by his Councill advis'd to have kept the Visitation as near the College as conveniently he could but hearing afterwards that the Doors of the College were open'd and that a great uproar was occasion'd thereby he went with all convenient speed to put an end to the confusion and to proceed as quietly as might be in the Visitation How the Gates were open'd or by whom the Bishop knows not and less can he understand by what colour of Law at that time they were shut up But probable it is since the Gates were open'd from the College side that some of the Fellows finding themselves unstatutably confin'd by the Rector and having no prospect of liberty within the three days appointed for the Visitation thought fit to free themselves from an illegal and arbitrary Imprisonment And if any tumult happen'd on that account the guilt of it must certainly lye on those who by their unjustifiable act first occasion'd it and afterwards by their rude and violent interposition promoted it As soon as the Bishop came into the Hall the Rector with like rudeness as formerly threw in the former Protestation against the Bishop's Jurisdiction The Bishop however permitted that the Protestation should be read as far as the Fellow that accompany'd the Rector could read it and upon the Rector's desire promised that it should be entred in the Register His Lordship farther desired the Rector to sit down who return'd this answer only to the Civility No I will stand by what I doe After this indecent language in a Contemptuous manner He went out of the Hall and refus'd to attend the Visitation or indeed the Issue of his own Plea Now however a Plea to a Jurisdiction may exalt a man against him who hath no Jurisdiction at all yet against a known Ordinary Judge in case he should seem to intermeddle beyond his Jurisdiction great Temper and Reverence is to be us'd the matter is to be debated before him and his judgment is to govern the question till farther Appeal With all which the shutting up the Chappel Doore at one time and the College-Gates at another the flinging in a Protestation and rudely receding without expecting the Success of it are very inconsistent a defence cloath'd with these circumstances is so far from tempering the Contempt that is adds thereto Enmity to the Judge and despight to the Law than which there can be no greater aggravations However his Lordship without taking notice or advantage of these indecencies order'd the Protestation to be read throughout and Proclamation to be thrice made for the Rector and protesting Fellows to appear and to justify their protestation and to hear his Lordship's Judgment therein but when none would answer tho divers of the protesting Fellows were present he observ'd the usual forms of process and proceeded on regularly in the business of his Visitation The Articles of Enquiry were read and the Bishop as by Statute directed gave an Oath to such of the Fellows as own'd his Lordship's Authority and oblig'd them to discover to him such Enormities in the College as by publick fame or otherwise should come to their knowledg It is not thought convenient nor is it consistent with Statute to discover the names of those that detected each crime But in General the returns upon Oath to the Interrogations were these 1. That the Rector was the reputed Author of a Book call'd the Naked Gospell that he sat at S. Athanasius's Creed in the Chappel that he was generally suspected of Heresy and did not read Prayers in the Chappel as often as by Statute he was oblig'd 2. That he pretended to an Arbitrary power over the Fellows and had put some of them out of Commons for obeying the Inhibition of the Visitor in Mr. Colmer's Case 3. That he had sold Places and Offices in the College particularly those of the Cook and Butler and propos'd the Illegal Exaction of Bonds from the Fellows who should thereafter be Elected whereby they should engage to seek no reparation if he expell'd ' em 4. That he was by publick Fame upon probable grounds suspected of Incontinence 5. That Dr. Hern having a Parsonage above the value limited in the Statute kept his place contrary to the intent of the Founder 6. That Mr. Vivian was Elected into Mr. Colmer's place being then full 7. And lastly That Divinity Disputations were seldom held the Philosophical Lectures perform'd by Deputies the Catechist's Duty not observ'd and in short the whole Discipline of the College neglected The Visitor seeing the Rector â—nd others charg'd with some of these Crimes upon Oath and suspected of others called them again in Court to answer to these Accusations and when they could not be brought to appear his Lordship thought fit not to punish the contempt of the Rector till he had taken all farther just and legal methods of detecting the Crime and expected his submission and innocence to the last day In the mean time his Lordship found that some of the Fellows who factiously abetted Dr. Bury in these his arbitrary proceedings could not be brought to appear before him and to own his power this great and repeated contempt met with no other punishment than a suspension ab Officio Beneficio for three Months and farther till they should be brought to own his Autority And since Sir Kingston the Person who had before rudely affronted the Bishop immediately upon his Suspension the same day exercised his Office in the Chappel upon the doors whereof the Sentence had been affix'd the Bishop according to the direction of the Statutes upon so great a contempt heightened with so many aggravations thought fit to Excommunicate him The substance of the Evidence which was taken before his Lordship and upon which his Sentences were grounded was in short this which followeth As to Dr. Hern it appear'd by the Register of the Lord Bishop of London That he was Admitted and Collated to the Parish of St. Anns 1 Apr. 1686. and upon comparing of the Statute of the College with the Act of Parliament relating to the Rector of that Parish it appear'd that such maintenance was by the Act setled and such residence enjoyn'd as is wholly incompatible with his Fellowship The Condition of his Parsonage is that he shall reside upon it four parts of five in the Year and the Condition of his Fellowship is that he shall not be absent from the College above fifty days All livings rated above 8 l. per Annum in any publick Records are inconsistent with a Fellowship and upon this 100l are setled by Act of Parliament besides several rents and other perquisites Dr. Hern by this direct clear and authentick Evidence
Offices by Dr. Bury with the Bond annex'd July 25. 1690. WHich day appear'd personally Robert Harding of Islip in the County of Oxford Inholder and by vertue of his Oath deposed that William Harding this Deponent's Father was for several years before and to the time of his Death which happened about the Month of May 1672 Cook of Exeter College in the University of Oxford and after his Death He this Deponent went to the Dr. to know how he should dispose of himself and told him that he had promised to be kind to him and thereupon he treated with him for the Place of Cooke of the said College who told this Deponent that he should have the Place cheaper by Fifty pounds than any other Person and thereupon they came to an Agreement that this Deponent should pay him One Hundred and Fifty pounds for the said Place of Cooke and this Deponent entred into a Penal Bill in the Summ of three hundred Pounds for the payment of one hundred and fifty Pounds to the said Dr. Bury within a Moneth after the Date of the said Bill and thereupon the Deponent was admitted into the said place and he afterwards payed off the said Penal Bill to the said Dr. Bury and had his Receipts for part of the same on the back of the said Bill which he wrot with his owne hand and that after he had payed off the said Penal Bill the said Dr. Bury delivered the same up to him being the penal Bill hereunto annexed Eodem die jurat cor Domino Episc. Robert Harding KNow all men by these presents that I Robert Harding of Oxford Cook do justly owe and am indebted to Arthur Bury Doctor in Divinity Rector of Exeter College the summ of one hundred and fifty pounds good and lawful Mony of England one moneth after the Date of these presents To the which payment well and truly to be made I bind my Self my Heirs Executors and administrators in the summ of three hundred pounds of Lawful English Mony firmly by these presents Sealed with my Seal Given the fourth day of June in the four and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the second c. Anno. Dom. 1672. Sealed and Delivered in the presence of Francis Southcote Jane Southcote Mary Southcote Robert Harding Received in part of this Bill Eighty pounds A. Bury Received more Mar. 14. 40 pounds The like Affidavits were made by William New Butler who pay'd the Rector 170 pound for his place and by Hedges the Cook who payd Robert Harding 150 pounds for Resigning the Place and gave 50 to the Rector for consenting to his Resignation 7 The Deposition of Leonard Litchfield Printer who printed an Heretical Book call'd the Naked Gospel Published by Dr. Bury since Censur'd and Burnt by the Vnanimous Decree of the Vniversity of Oxford July 14. 1689. WHich day appeared Personally Leonard Litchfield of the University of Oxford Printer And deposeth that I Printed a Book Entituled the Naked Gospel for Dr. Bury who paid me for my Work and told me if any one question'd me for it I should say that I had the Pro-Vice-Chancellor's leave he being then Pro-Vice-Chancellor as he told me and at another time told me he would bear me harmless Not long after he sent for me and said that it gave some distast and that he would make such Alterations as would take off the offence that it gave after which he order'd me to Print the Sheets H and I and as I remember the last half sheet and told me that he had not dispos'd of many and order'd me to Print of these Alterations about 400 or more the full Number at first was 500. He also told me he intended to leave out the sheet K and then to Publish it with these Alterations Eodem die The same Mr. Litchfield made Oath that he verily believed what he hath here wrote down and set his hand to is True Leonard Litchfield 8 A Copy of the Statute whereby Dr. Hern's Place is Declared void De promotione causis deserendi Collegium STatuimus ut si quis hujus Collegii Scholaris cujuscunque status aut conditionis uxorem duxerit aut matrimonium vel sponsalia contraxerit aut alicui obsequio officio aut exercitio per quod à studio in Universitate Oxoniensi ultra unum Mensem in Anno praeter quinquaginta dies superius in Statuto de Exitu ab Universitate venia petenda precedente praeexceptos impediatur se commiserit immediate posteaquam aliquod istorum Rectori vel in ejus absentia Subrectori certo cognitnm fuit omne jus titulum quem in hoc Collegio habuit eo ipso amittat ab illo primo notitiae die in numero Scholarium ejusdem nunquam postea numeretur Si vero praedictorum Scholarium quispiam patrimonium haereditatem feodumve seculare prebendam aut aliud consimile aut Annuam pensionem ad terminum vitae duraturam ad Annuum valorem communibus Annis Decem Marcarum ipse vel alius ad ejus usum commodum assequutus fuerit tunc eum infra annum à tempore assequutionis alicujus hujusmodi haereditatis patrimonii pensionis aut feodi continue numerandum authoritate presentis Statuti ab hoc Collegio amotum fore Statuimus ipso facto ac postea pro non Scholari penitus haberi Quod si quispiam Scholarium praedictorum beneficium Ecclesiasticum quod publicis regiisve munimentis Octo Librarum annuo valore taxatum sit pacifice adeptus fuerit eum per Annum unum non ultra in hoc Collegio Scholarem manere permittimus Volentes ac etiam decernentes ut post lapsum illius anni immediate nisi intra Annum eundem ipsum benesicium effectualiter sine fraude ulla absque pensione aliqua totaliter dimiserit ipso facto pro non Scholare habeatur 9 A Copy of Part of an Act of Parliament Anno 30. Car. 2. Entituled an Act for making Part of the Parish of St. Martin in the Field a new Parish c. whereby it is evident that Dr. Hern who is Rector of the said Parish hath a greater Maintenance setled by Act of Parliament and is oblig'd to a longer absence from the College then is compatible with the Statutes of the College BE it farther Enacted by the Autority aforesaid that the Rector and all other succeeding Rector's of the said Parish shall have take and enjoy such and the like Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Easter Books and Ecclesiastical Duties as the Vicar of the Parish Church of St. Martins now enjoyeth which shall arise and grow due within the said Parish and also an Annuity or Yearly Summ of One hundred Pounds to be Charged and Assessed upon all and every the Inhabitants Owners and Occupiers of Lands Houses Tenements and Hereditaments or any personal Estate Rateable to the Poor in such manner as is hereafter limited and appointed Provided allways that such