ear reserve but one for me unstufft with prejudice and if you had never so lawful a Court I neither need nor require a greater or other favour from you whilst I live But to leave me to them you shall not leave me to them I 'le wash my hands of them God bless me from them I tell you here I 'le not come at them And I would have told you so at Lambeth but I dare not come there neither without your Order and Permission and when I writ to you and the Gentleman I sent ask't you If you would have me to attend you you said No you left all to your under Officers so that I have no other way but this publick way to approach your hand or ear which is I hope a sufficient Apology for this Humble Address of which I trust you will not be an Abhorrer 'T is true these Vncivil-Civilians that make Markets of Souls do but I know truckle under the Clergy for a Livelihood yet they are as petulant to the Clergy as if they were only their Sport or May-game or poor tame Asses fit for nothing so much as to be the Objects of their Wrath and the Subjects of their Affronts and Scorn Thus have I known wanton Jades kick the Hand that fed them and made them fat nay and throw their Masters too when Provant prick't them I Prophesie tho' that I have taken off the keen edge of their onely Toole these Ecclesiastical Fellows work for money with viz. Excommunication with a poor Formality-Priest standing Surrogating in black like at their right hand to see Livery and Seizin given of the Excommunicate Person that is delivered to Satan they shall fight hereafter but with rebated Weapons they are so cruel in their Fulminations and for such Trifles too That ever a Kingdom of Christians should be so long bewitch'd to believe that any can damn them or forgive sins save God onely or that any man has power on earth given him from God to keep others from the Ordinances the means of Grace the Sacraments the Food of Souls and the Bread of Life because they are Sinners Sinners Why there should need no Ordinances nor Sacraments if it were not for Sinners nor did ever any man receive the blessed Sacrament but Sinners all except our Saviour onely The Soul is sick 't is granted more need of Physick and Food The whole have no need of a Physician Nay the first that ever partook of the Blessed Supper if they were Penitents they were soon relaps't For in Luke 22. in the 20th Verse they took it and in the 24th Verse they were no sooner come out from the Holy Feast but they fell a quarrelling and justling for the place and striving it runs in the kind perhaps which of them should be the greatest But the crafty Popish Priests finding that Sinners found the goodness and sweetness of the Blessed Sacrament and long'd for it and they were the onely Stewards of those Mysteries they resolved to make the best benefit of the Stewards place And indeed I have observ'd in some Countries where I have been that when once the Clergy have perceiv'd that their Office was found so mighty necessary they resolve to take the occasion and make their best advantage of it Did the People find comfort in the Bread of Life and also were made to believe that none could Consecrate it but a Priest or Popish Priest Ay quoth the Popish Priest Sinner Do you see Do you see here what I have got in my hands Would you not be glad to have some Nay Hold Stand off Here is the Bread of Life but not a Bit upon a march not a Bit upon the great march and High-way to Heaven though it would save your Soul except you be obedient to your Diocesan nay and swear Obedience to Canons and Laws of Holy Church though you starve and dye for a Bit. He therefore that can make a Sacrament and debarr ad libitum sinners from it may well take the wall of all other Men in Christendom But there is no Scripture in the Old or New Testament that ever I found that ever gave power to any Man Men or Church to debar any Man from the Sacraments that is pleased to come to them for such as were deliver'd to Satan in the Apostles days were therewith kill'd their Flesh was destroyed 'T is true an impenitent Sinner he comes at his own peril if he venture to eat unworthily but 't is not a greater sin to eat unworthily than not to eat at all rejecting of the Ordinance is certain damnation whereas he that eats unworthily makes a hopeful Assay of Obedience to Christ and as he said Lord I believe help my Vnbelief so it is acceptable worthiness to say Lord I endeavor to eat and drink worthily help my unworthiness And as he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks his own damnation so he that prays preaches or hears unworthily preaches hears and prays damnation to himself Nor need I tell you my Lord that the world is generally mistaken in the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unworthily better Translated unbecomingly or unsuitably namely to the Institution as when Men make the Sacrament of Christ or take the Sacrament of Christ for no other Cause than a Test or State-Sacrament only making it the Sacrament of a Corporation or of Preferment only to get into a Ship or a Fort or on the Bench. And this Construction of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have in Ephes 4.1 Col. 1.10 Phil. 1.27 1 Thess 2.12 Rom. 16.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as becometh Saints for there is none but Papists that plead the merit of Condignity or that any man is worthy of God or worthy the Gospel otherwise than as endeavouring to walk becomingly and suitably thereto And to back this Interpretation I have the great Le Groot or Grotius on my side a Name that with me out-weighs all the Popish Priests put together We are all Sinners and the Sacrament's made on purpose for us and none but those that have the gift of God of discerning of spirits infallibly by the Holy Ghost as the Primitive Christians had can judge of the truth of any mans Repentance or consequently setch power from the Scriptures to debar men from the holy Ordinances or shut the Church-doors against them I know Priests have made a gainful Trade on 't but abating that By what Authority Divine do they these things and who gave them that Authority I always except the Rubrick in the Common-Prayer Book Sacramenta non sunt Vaenalia Sacraments are too holy to be made Vendible Commodities And if my Child shall not be baptiz'd 'till I have compounded with the Priest whose Religion is No Penny No Pater-noster Nor if I must not come into the Church but be barr'd out 'till I have pleas'd that is paid the Sumner the Register the Proctor and the Court-Fees Good Lord deliver us I know
lay their Heads together yet with all this Aid 't is impossible to prevail against God and his Truth Did you never see a Grey-Hound stare when he had lost a Hare in an unhappy Bush that stood by the way just when he was at the very clique and gaping to mouth her even so have I seen a cunning Politician stare as if out of his Wits or at least at his Wits end when some sudden cross Providence by him call'd strange acciden has given his Devilship the go-by then then to see him stare and stamp fret and curse rave and roar like a Lyon in a Graté that would be mouthing but for the Barriers Go then you subtile Persecutors fret and be molt in your own fat and live like the Green-land Bears in Winter upon your own Grease as long as it lasts whilst Truth like Muscovy-Wives and th' Walnut-Tree The more they are beaten still the better they be Well this I 'le say for the Pope and a sig for him but we ought to give the Devil his due much more the Arch-Bishop of all Bishops the Pope I say give him his due builds the Fabrick of his Ecclesiastical Policy rationally if his Foundation were true But Protestants do not that consess themselves and their Churches fallible and frail as does the Church of England in her 19th Article of the 39. For what non-sence is it for any Man or Church to Curse and Damn a Man for a Heretick when we confess our selves that we are fallible and consequently may err in our Judgment of the Man or his Faith Shall blind men shoot a Crow I hate this Hitty-missy Whereas the Pope grant him this Theoreme that he and his Church is infallible is in the right on 't let him Curse who he will and from Morning to Night for ever and aye for if he be infallible he only can draw this Sword of the Lord Excommunication and yet be secure that he fights not against God which Protestants that confess they may err even in matters of faith can never be sure of 'Till the Church then can get eyes to see and discern right from wrong infallibly and a Sinner from a Saint and a Believer from an Infidel and Truth from Falshood indisputably and not fallibly and uncertainly let them down on their knees and pray for the Conversion of one whom they judg an Infidel and then leave him to his Maker to stand and fall and pray to God to tye up their hands to the good Behaviour to Charity Meekness and Humility wherein they can never err which would well become them better than all this Ecclesiastical-Artillery which has ruin'd Christendom and rather let them break than uphold this Money-Trade and Merchandize of Souls especially in this her weak and Militant State How have the Churches the Councils the Fathers the Canons Clash't and Thwarted Curst and Condemn'd one another to the Pit of Hell it would make a man's heart ake to read Ecclesiastical Histories and to hear the pious Bishops complain that they never knew any good come of any Convocation of Bishops Councils nor Synod-men and one Guelt himself to make himself Canonically uncapable of Lawn-Sleeves How did the whole Christian World who were all Arrians and deny'd the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Curse that poor single Non-Conformist Athanasius Nick-naming him Sathanasius Banish't him and Suborn'd false Witnesses against him and try'd him for his Life for Murder whilst on the contrary our Church of England declares that no man can be saved that does not believe all the Creed of Athanasius and the Comment in words of his own not in Scripture-words of the Holy and Sacred Trinity made by him Though a man does believe the Holy Trinity declar'd in Scripture yet if he will be saved he must believe all the Athanasian-Creed I do not know any man that does not believe it But all the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Books in the World and all the Acts for Uniformity nor all the Kings and Parliaments in the World can never make any thing true that is really false nor make any thing false which the Holy Scriptures plainly says to be true As for example suppose there be some mistakes in the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book by salfe Printing or in the Table to find Easter for ever yet it is Statute-Law But that cannot make a thing true which is Mathematically false nor can any Statute make a Child of God a Child of the Devil though Anathematiz'd for a Heretick And how good Bishops have bewail'd the Diocesan-frame in our days see pious Bishop Hall's Consession of the Corruptions in Church-Governours and Goternment I am not singular in his Modest Osser and Peace-maker See the Incomparably Learned Bishop Vsher's Model See Mr. Alesbury's Confession especially p. 21 24 28 104 169. See Mr. Baxter of Episcopacy or in short the Postscript thereof See Dr. Stillingsleet's Irenicon how does self-interest hoodwink the wise writ before he became a Dignitary-Ecclesiastical Or see Bishop Ganden's Hiera Epist particularly p. 263 and 287. with which I 'le conclude I neither approve or excuse the Personal faults of any particular Bishops as to their exercise of their Power and Authority which ought not in weighty matters to be managed without the Preseuce Counsel and Suffrages of the Presbyters such as are sit for that Assistance The want of this St. Ambrese St. Hierome and all sober men mark that justly reprove as unsafe for the Bishops and Presbyters and the whole Church Now I have done at the long run with my Naked Truth expos'd to the World without Power without Friends without Worldly Interest to support it It is usually thus those that worst may are often put to hold the Candle to their betters yet like Link-boys many times get not of the Gallants but a kick for their pains But I 'le shift the better having a King to Friend a Glorious King to Patronize me and vouch against all Bloody Religions Charles I. Eik Basil Advice to his Son our Gracious Soveraign Charles II. in these words In point of true conscientious tenderness I have often declared how little I desired my Laws and Scepter should entrench on God's Soveraignty who is the only King of Consciences ' My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you might avoid them Will nothing but Sanguinary Counsels yet please Are we no further yet from Rome Not yet Dost thou not feel me Rome Not yet Is Night So heavy on thee or my weight so light May Church of England say Have we so long Been quitting Rome yet not quite from among Christ and his Church by Blood are glorious grown But not by others Blood but by their own Whilst Antichrist and 's Church are Monstrous grown By shedding others Blood but not their own Bless us the Monster Yawns and Glares don 't start In nomine Domini stand speak say What art A Bishop sayst the Devil thou art more like Or Munster's Bishop made to hew and strike Black mouth to damn and Bloody Arms to fight When Hand-cuff't good we 'll do the Devil right Of Flaming-Comet long since have you heard With Tayl hung down to Earth and grisly Beard I 'm skill'd i' th' Language of the Stars and know That horrid Meteor what it meant 't was thou Thou Bonner London's Bishop seem'd to be Arm'd with this Hellish Black-Guard Cap-a-pee Ordain'd it seems and good for naught but harms Like the French Bishop Odo clad in Arms That Coat of Mail ill suits that Coat so Gay Filii tui Haeccine Tunica Satan once came like a Py'd-Piper now This was a Fiend in Jeast in Earnest Thou By the Black-Regiment Martyrs chose to die That Naked Truth might live and so will I. After the French Religion must we Dance Now Persecution's A la mode de France Or shall the French find fairer Quarter here Than we to one another make appear A Bishop sayst Thou ly'st Him Cornet call Of the Black Regiment that Gaols us all FINIS ERRATA THE Introduction Page 4. Line 30. for every word in that weeks Read most words in the two Weeks p. 42. l. 14. for efflagitantes sollicitescit read efflagitates and sollicites it with several other escapes by reason of the Author's absence from the Press but not many
Suspension or Sequestration or Deprivation be supported by that which can only support them viz. a Statute But they should not need to have found the said High-Commission specially if Ecclesiastical-Courts then had or consequently have an ordinary Jurisdiction without special Commission from the King only and equally the Head of the Church and State But no Temporal-Courts or Judges do or dare Act implicitely but by special Patents or Commissions under Seal for as for Hundred-Courts they belong to Proprietors but all derived originally by Patents from the Crown as Sheriff-Courts and Corporation-Courts And besides from these Inferior Courts or Common-Law-Courts as are the Handred-Courts they sit in the Hundred by Prescription where the Bishops also used to sit and keep their Courts together and at the same time and place which if they do not now so they cannot plead to hold Courts by Prescription except they as does to this day the Hundred-Courts and County-Courts keep up and keep to their Prescriptions as to place and time Canons and Laws Therefore away with all idle thoughts of making the Spiritual-Courts Ordinary or Comnion-Law-Courts this Court it self the Supreme of all the Spiritual-Courts cannot prescribe for sitting here in Doctors-Commons beyond the memory of man for it us'd to be kept in the Arches of Bow-Church whence it had its name but now most improperly except it sit by special Commission from his Majesty and be so styled in the Commission And if the Arch-Bishop have such Patent from the King to keep Courts of Judicature-Ecclesiastical as have the Judges in Westminster-Hall for keeping Courts-Temporal this Defendant desires this Court then so to Declare it that he may the better know how to demean himself with all humility and submission thereunto But this Defendant has taken the Oath of Supremacy and dare not own any other Head of the Church or Ecclesiastical Judicature but what is derived from Him in whom alone is inherent all the Executive power in Church and State And from Him imparted and derived to the Judges under Him Nay when His Majesty has derived such power to His Judges yet they cannot make a Deputy if they be sick nor an Official or Surrogate Indeed sometimes a Serjeant at Law is surrogated in the room of one of the 12 Judges sick dead or otherwise avocated and goes the Circuit but this must be done by Special Commission and his Name specially inserted and mentioned therein no Judge can make such a Surrogate or Deputy Besides it is but onely pro eo vice for that turn only And though an Archbishop with his Archbishoprick and Bishop with his Bishoprick if constituted according to Law have all Priviledges also annexed anciently and of right belonging thereunto by Prescription or otherwise yet a Right by Prescription and Custom or Common Law is lost when the Custom surceases and other new Customs innovated for Customs ought to be certain uninterrupted and continual both as to time place c. Thus a Court-leet may be lost and forfoited for want of Use according to the ancient Usage and perhaps this is also part of the Case Thirdly To solemnize Matrimony without Banes first published three several Sundays or Holy-days in time of Divine Service in the Parish or Parishes where the Parties inhabit is an Offence against Statute-Law onely namely the Rubrick before the Order of Matrimony in the Common-Prayer Book every Sentence whereof is Statute-Law in the Act of Vniformity Which if true then this Court is no competent Interpreter nor Judge of Statute Law nor of the nature of the offences against the same nor of the quality and degree of the punishment of such offences And though all Englishmen are bound to obey the same to a Tittle yet scarce any Englishman Bishop Priest or Lay-man but does offend and transgress the same little or much and are all Nonconformists and accordingly are all liable to be Indicted and have Presentments made against them for Nonconformity according to the said Statute of Uniformity and as Sinners and Transgressors of the same Yet some of the Rules in the Rubrick and the Transgressions thereof were thought so small and such little Peccadillo's that the Legislators or Law-makers did not think fit to annex and assert any Punishment to and for the same As for Example It is enjoined in the Rubrick to read the Communion Service at the Communion Table yet not One of a Thousand obeys except in Cathedrals c. and there also the Act of Vniformity is as much or more transgress'd than in any Countrey-Church in England that this Defendant knows of as shall be proved infallibly by and by But if all Ministers obey the Act of Vniformity aforesaid in reading the Communion Service at the Communion Table in the Chancel in many Churches if not in all Churches not one of an hundred could possibly at that distance and in the hollow and obscured Chancel hear the same or be more edified than if in Latine was read the said Communion Service or Mass for so is our English Communion Service said to be commonly known and called the Mass in the Common-Prayer Book put out by the Reformers who in composing and translating the said English Common-Prayer Book are by the Act of Parliament in 2 Edw. 6. Reign made for the common Use and general Practice thereof throughout the Realm said to be inspired thereunto by the Holy Ghost But here is the unsuitableness betwixt our Times and those Times they like the Primitive Christians Acts 2. took the blessed Sacrament in Cathedrals every day and in all Countrey-Churches on every Sunday and Holy-day Wednesdays and Fridays on which days onely the Communion Service was to be read nor was it wholly read but when the Holy Sacrament was administred which was usually every Sunday and Holyday in Country Churches and in Cathedrals every day and then read after the Letany and when the Letany was read then and not till then the Priest put on the Surplice or Albe and Cope And though no man is enjoined by that Act of Uniformity and Common-Prayer Book to receive the blessed Sacrament above once a year yet the Housholds in the Parish the Rubrick says were so order'd that one at least as his turn came always communicated with the Priest one or other every Sunday or Holy-day at the Altar where the Priest stood whil'st he read the Communion Service in the Chancel and might well enough be heard by the Communicants who all were in the Chancel This is to shew there is not the same reason now adays when the Holy Communion is so seldom celebrated no not in Cathedrals as it was wont when the Rubrick of King Edw. 6. enjoined the Communion Service to be read at the Altar for so is the Communion Table there stiled in that Book said by Statute Law to be composed translated or made by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as aforesaid Again To give another Example of the constant and wilful transgression
ought it to be otherwise appli'd than as to the matter in hand that whatsoever the Pope do yet God gives no Indulgences Licences or Priviledges either to sin or to sin impunè Besides Piety is the greatest Policy in the World and the most easy as well as most safe certain and sure way of governing Mankind in Mercy Goodness Meekness Compassion Justice in not being over-rul'd with Popular or Parasitical Applause or distast of the greatest Favorite Especially in England of all the World who are sturdy generally hard to be forc'd or driven but easily drawn like a great Ship in calm Water with a Twine-Thred Besides the Defence of the King and Kingdom consists not in impregnable Fortresses Forts and Citadels as in the Low Countries but in the Limbs and Hands Heads and Hearts of the happy Natives I mean our Main-guard under God consists in Castles of Bones and not in Castles of Stones CHAP. XVI FRiday Novemb. 25th 1681 was the day appointed and agreed upon on both sides to argue the said Pleas Protestations and Answer and to that purpose Sir Philp Lloyd upon the 21st Instant being their Court-day did bid me nominate and chuse what Advocates I thought most meet to argue and improve my said Prostestations Pleas and Answer Advocates Replied I Advocates what shall I ask Advice of the Fox how to preserve my Chickens Advocates indeed have the Advantage of me in Skill Eloquence Pleadings and Subtilties but all that will be abundantly supplied by the Advantage of the Ground on which my Innocence has plac'd me Let Criples go on Crutches I told them and that I doubted not by God's help but I should stand on my own Legs and against them all if I might but be allowed fair play and the benefit of the Laws which was fairly promised and honestly performed yet on the day time and place appointed in Doctors-Commons to argue this mighty Case before the Judg came into the Room I was most insolently affronted and my Hat pluck'd off in great Rudeness and tumultuously by a Proctor's Clerk unworthy the naming who being reproved for the sawcy Attempt by some Citizens there present all strangers and unknown to me upon the Stir comes in Sir Philip Lloyd and inquiring the Cause of such Disturbance and Noise was told by one of the Citizens and who caused the same He very honestly check'd and severely chid the Fellow and bid him be gone out of the Room and that otherwise he might have been thought privy or at least to countenance such Rudeness when Men come upon their Affairs Citations and Monitions to Doctors-Commons but that was poor Satisfaction for so great and publick an Affront 't is well we have his Majesties Laws and his Majesties Courts to vindicate and secure us from such barbarous Assaults and probably the Fellow has heard from me concerning it before this time In the Interim to proceed Sir Philip takes a Chair and sits down and so did all the Advocates and very courteously the Judg desires me also to take a Chair amongst them and sit down and great Expectation there was by the By-standers to hear this mighty Argument But when it came to Sir Thomas Exton of Counsel for the Promoter instead of arguing admitted my Pleas and there 's an end of an old Song except at the next Term the Term Probatory further Debate or Debait arise so away I came out of their Room with the stifling Crowd after me who were defeated of their hopes to hear soome Proof or good Foundation for their Spiritual's Courts which Sir Thomas Exton said I denied and my Reasons for the same you have heard in my Answer which was not argued but admitted and so the By-standers lost their Longing as well as I lost my time detain'd for a Nonni-no above a Fortnight at London from my Parish my Family my Cure and Charge But how I employed my self in that Fortnight you have read thus far in this Book all writ at London in that time and the next day coming to Colchester weary and tir'd and bemir'd I immediately to show my Love to Peace and Quietness writ by Saturday Post this following Letter to Sir Thomas Exton not amiss here to insert in these very Words Colchester November 26th 1681. Right Worshipful I Expected Yesterday that you would have argued as the Bishop's Advocate against my Allegations but since you chose to admit them I have resolved once more thus to perswade you rather to be a Moderator which is in your Power to reconcile the Differences betwixt the Bishop of London and my Self rather than to espouse a Party and be a Stickler tho for a Lord Bishop against your old Friend and Vniversity-Acquaintance of 35 Years Continuance If you think this motion for Peace and Accommodation proceeds from fear the Impartial-Consideration of my Answer will undeceive you And this is the last Overture I will ever make for an Accommodation except you answer it and me effectually within a Week And by your neglect which is probable for Passion and Rage is deaf and hath no Earsy I shall then think my self absolv'd not only in my own Conscience and Honour but in the Opinion and Sentence of all good Men if after these amicable Overtues rejected Differences grow to that height that in my just defence I be forc'd to reach some unhappy Blowes that may otherwise against my will hit an old Friend Thus you see how I study to be quiet and to avoid Disputes especially with my Diocesan though he cannot possibly contrive a way to make my Name and Fame so Eminent and considerable as by thus publickly entring into the Lists of Contests with me Wherein if I be foyl'd no great Honour can he get by the Victory after such great advantage of the ground he has got to stand on above me But if he come off with loss how will he have cause to blame those Counsels that irritated him to this unseemly Encounter Revenge is God's Attribute and can no more be safely and honourably handled by any Man then burning-Coals which leave at best unhandsome Scars and uncomely Cicatrizes though healed never so cleaverly But Harm watch Harm catch And if nothing else will serve then let all our Faults be rip'd up and expos'd upon the Publick-Stage to make sport for the By standers and currat Lex I am Your Servant Edm. Hickeringill It was and is yet a Canon agreed on all hands in the first General Council of Nice which the Church of England ownes That no Bishop shall quit a small Bishoprick for a bigger and therefore better But who heeds the Canon when an useful Man a Man of great Parts great Improvements great Learning and also which I had almost forgot great Relations and Friends in the Case It was a Canon Concil Sardic that none should be made a Bishop but gradually and passing through all the Inferiour Orders and had also continued in them for some considerable time there was no Bishops
was at first a good Invention of the Church and politickly and wisely ordain'd not in supplement to Infant-Baptism for that is sufficient without it but to the end that when Children come to the years of discretion and have learned in the Church-Catechism what their Godfathers and Godmothers vowed and promised for them as their Sureties and Pledges 'till they came to Age that they should in their own persons vow the same with their own mouth and consent openly before the Congregation But it is not a Sacrament or necessary to Salvation as the Papists insinuate for it is certain by God's Word as said in the Rubrick of the said first English Common-Prayer Book since the Reformation made in the Reign of Edward VI. That children beeying Baptised yf they depart out of this lyfe in their infancye are undoubtedly saved And this Common-Prayer Book as is said before is declared to be composed by the Aid of the Holy Ghost in the Statute 2 Ed. 6.1 And there is the Church-Catechism set down beginning as ours What is your Name And ending with these words And therefore I say Amen so be it But our Catechism is much larger and all of it ought to be learnt by all before they be brought to the Bishop to be confirm'd And 'till they can say this Catechism and give account of it not like a Parrot hudling it over but sensible and understanding what they say shall they be confirm'd by the Bishop who ought by himself or such as he shall appoint Pose them or Appose them in it nor then neither except they also bring with them one Godfather or Godmother that every Child may have a Witness of their Confirmation Nor then neither ought they to be confirm'd except the Curate of the Parish where they dwell come along with them or at least send a Certificate in writing with his hand subscribed thereunto the Names of all such Persons within his Parish as he shall think fit to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed And then if the Bishop upon Posing them find them fit they shall be confirmed in manner as prescrib'd in the Common-Prayer Book But are these things observed or who regards them I have been 19 or 20 years Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester and during that time have had three several Bishops or Diocesans Gilbert Bishop of London never made any Visitation into the Countrey and over his Diocess to confirm any and yet the same Rubrick says None shall be admitted to the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 'till they be confirmed or desire to be confirmed which last words are not in the first Common-Prayer Book of Edw. VI. Humphrey Bishop of London made but two Visitations and in the latter never came near Harwich and that Countrey by twenty Miles nor near Colchester by above eight Miles Henry Bishop of London has also made two Visitations and consequently Confirmations and several of my Parish have been confirmed by them But how I never gave a Certificate of the Names of such as I thought fit and capable of Confirmation the Question was never ask'd me nor of any Minister that I know of nor Godfathers and Godmothers requir'd as the Rubrick enjoins to every one that is confirm'd nor many if any of the children Men or Women appos'd or pos'd by any Bishop or other by him appointed to examine the fitness of them for the same Nor did I ever see any Bishop ever examine any if they did I that was present saw it not done and I am sure many if not all were confirm'd without questioning the matter or any such said Certificate from the Curate Surely Confirmation was godlily design'd but a perfunctory performance thereof at all adventures is quite contrary to the Institution and Act of Vniformity Nor did I ever hear this essential Question put by the Bishop namely Do ye here in the presence of God and of this Congregation renew the Solemn Promise and Vow that was made in your Name at your Baptism nay some have been confirm'd to my knowledge that were never baptized ratifying and confirming the same in your own persons and acknowledging your selves bound to believe and to do all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook and most of them I am sure of my Parish never had any Godfathers or Godmothers nor their Parents could be persuaded to procure them or if they were willing they were not able by any means or persuasion to procure Sureties to be bound promise and vow for their Children or undertake by Vow that they should forsake the Devil and all his works and obediently keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments for you Answer I do But I say there required no Answer where the Question was not put nor the Answer particularly requir'd of each of them For all that was required or I am sure of a great many was but to kneel down whil'st the Bishop with a Common-Prayer Book in one hand and the other hand upon the head of the person to be confirmed said over each of them these words Defend O Lord this thy Child or this thy Servant if past Infancy or Childhood with thy heavenly grace that he may continue thine for ever and daily increase in thy holy Spirit more and more until he come unto thy everlasting Kingdom But in King Edward VI's Common-Prayer Book Confirmation was quite another thing and the words these First The Minister signed them with the Sign of the Cross saying Signe them O Lord and mark them to be thine for ever by the vertue of thy holy Crosse and Passion confirme and strengthen them with the inward Unction of thy Holy Ghoste mercifully unto everlasting life Then the Bishop shall cross them in the forehead and lay his hand upon their head saying N. or M. or any other Name N. I Signe thee with the Signe of the Crosse and lay my hand upon thee In the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Amen But the Prayer preceding is the very same with ours observe it Almightie and everliving God who hast vouchesafed to regenerate these thy Servants of water and the Holy Ghost And hast geven unto them forgevenesse of all their sinnes Sende down from Heaven we beseeche thee O Lord upon them thy Holy Goste the Coumforter with the manifolde giftes of Grace the Spirite of wysedom and understanding The Spirite of councell and gostly strength The Spirite of knowledge and true godlinesse and fulfyll them O Lorde with the Spirite of thy holy feare but ours adde onely now and for ever And then this Collect following is almost the same with that of King Edw. 6. I 'll set down only part of it namely Almightie everliving God whiche makest us bothe to will and to doe those thinges that be good and acceptable unto thy Majestie we make our humble supplications unto thee for these Children upon whome after the xample of thy holy Apostles
we have layd our hands mark that for it is the same in our Common-Prayer Book to certifye them by this Signe of thy savour and gracious goodnes towarde them leat thy fatherly hande c. I know a Bishop being a great person may as Majesty uses to do when he means only his own single act and single hand say we we for so it is said we have laid our hands But how these words our hands can be meant of the Bishop's laying on his single hand and but one hand cannot be reconciled to any Grammar For in King Edward VI's Reign the happy Reformers kept up Imposition of hands not hand as the Collect aforesaid says after the example of the holy Apostles and in imitation of the Apostles laying on of their hands upon the Disciples and thereby conveying to them the gifts of the Holy Ghost Therefore the Papists anoint or have an Unction in meer Mimickry or Imitation of the Unction of the Holy Ghost which was not sold or made of Apothecary Drugs as the Papists Unction is but purely spiritual gifts of the Holy Ghost the gift of Tongues discerning of Spirits c. But they that would fain be accounted Successors of the Apostles and of St. Peter and St. Paul and love to be called the Apostolical men would make Confirmation to be performed or of right ought to be performed by Bishops onely who the Papists account to be the onely Apostolical men and Successors of the small Prophets or Apostles St. Matthew Thomas c. and the Pope the onely Successor of St. Peter and St. Paul But our first Reformers did not confine this Act of Confirmation to a Bishop alone but to other his Fellow Presbyters who signed with the Cross and said as many words over the head of the Child as the Bishop himself Thus when John was present Peter did not bid him stand aside but both of them together laid their hands upon the young Converts and they received the gifts of the Holy Ghost in imitation whereof Consirmation was brought in And the Rubrick makes the Curate or his Certificate a necessary qualification and that of King Edw. 6. the first Reformers the Minister laid his hands on or at least signed the Party with the sign of the Cross and said words over him or prayed over him And probably also as is usual in Ordination both laid their hands on or else what English or Sense is in those words in the Collect Vpon whom we have laid our hands But now I say the Bishop without the concurrence or consent of the Minister of the Parish who best knows the state of the Flock alone confirms all that come which are very few God knows not one in a hundred or more that are baptized And those or most of them hand over-head without any previous examination of their fitness And therefore who can pray in Faith or believe what he says and prays as aforesaid in these words God who hast vouchsafed to Regenerate these thy Servants by water and the Holy Ghost and yet for ought he knows I am sure of some were never baptized so much as by water over whom yet he prays or ought to pray in these words and then and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins c. Be not deceived God is not mocked saith the Apostle But what extravagancy will not men run into that would grasp all to themselves contrary to the provision the Law has made for the Minister's consent and concurrence at least to this same Confirmation to his actual laying on of Hands as well as the Bishops in King Edward VI's time and signing with the Cross as well as the Bishop and praying over their heads part of that Prayer that now the Bishop will say alone but in King Edward VI's Common-Prayer Book the Minister said alone before the Bishop toucht the Party to be confirmed So that Confirmation without previous examination and fitness without Godfather or Godmother for a Witness and without the Curate's presenting those of his Parish to be confirmed and certifying their fitness is not only rash and perfunctory impertinent and contrary to the great design those had that invented it but is also illegal and against Law and the Act for Vniformity Hereafter I may perhaps shew at large when and by whom it was invented but this for the present I am clear for the use of it according to Law but the abuse of it is abominable I write this for the observation of the Law and that such as cry down Nonconformists and call for Gaols Stocks Fines Excommunications Suspensions Deprivations and Confiscations may learn Forbearance Mercy Humanity and Kindness to humane kind considering humane frailty so visible in themselves and may not with the same mouth opened against other Nonconformists at the same time pronounce their own doom and deprivation of their spiritual Promotions that are worth the keeping and tugging for And may learn to be quiet and bless Almighty God that they are so well on 't themselves and never Vex themselves to vex others breathing out nothing but mischief and ruine to such as are loth to unman themselves by servile Baseness Flattery and Sycophantry For my part I would much rather cease to be a Clergyman than cease to be an Honest man an Englishman and a Gentleman Which ne'r a Flattering Pimp and Sycophant in England can possibly be In short Confirmation is either good for something or good for nothing either good fit and expedient or not expedient If it be not expedient Why is it put into the Common-Prayer Book or so much as once perfunctorily practis'd If it be good for something which I readily grant then why is it not us'd but abus'd 1. Why is it ever us'd by a Bishop rashly hand over-head Hickletee-Pickletee to all that kneel down whether baptiz'd or unbaptiz'd whether they can or cannot say their Catechism whether they have Godfathers and Godmothers along with them or though they never had any such Godfathers or Sureties but tell Stories when they say They did promise and vow three things in my name c. as in the Catechism And not one word of all the three is true or was ever promis'd or vow'd by any body no not by their own Parents who one would think ought to be most concern'd both in the Vow and Performance 2. Why does not the Bishop require the Significavit from the Parish-Minister of the Truth of the Premises and the fitness of those that are to be confirmed but this 't is to do all alone what is impossible to be well done by any one man 3. Why does not the Bishop go to all the Parishes in his Diocess to confirm the Souls that are therein It is his work and he is well paid for the same And why onely at a great Town two or three where there is a great Inn and good Accomodation I am confident St. Paul never sent his Harbinger before him when