himself against him which went so far as to procure an Inhibiâ—ion and Citation against him out of his Court. P. 97. All his Brethren forsook him even the Primate himself though the lasâ— that did so yet at length Almighty God so remarkably prosper'd the zeal of this holy Man that he was conniv'd at and held on undisturb'd iâ— personally attending his Episcopal Court God give to our Englâ—sh Bâ—â—hops the like Courage and Success Thus the Rooks give check to the King and the Lay-chancellor in the Court proves too hard for the Bishop as the Devil in the Sign of a Tavern doth for the Saint Dunstan we mean But as though this were not enough matters are yet a great deal worse For not only doth an Appeal lie to the Câ—urt of Delegates of which we shall say nothing because 't is his Majesty's But there is also the Archbishops Court of * Chamberâ—ain's Present State of England part 2. p. 33. Arches where any Ecclesiastical Suits between any Persons within the Province of Canterbury except some peculiar †Consets Practice of Eccl Courts Jurisdictions belonging to the King'â— Majesty may waving all Inferior Courts be decided The Official may take cognizance of all Ecclesiastical Causes whatsoever not only at the instance of Parties but also of his mere Office or when they are promoted as also all manner of Appeals except as before excepted from any Bâ—shops Deans and Chapters c. Arch-deacons their Officiaâ—s and Commissaries or other Ecclesiastical Judges whatsoever as also all Commissaries of the Archbishop of Canterbury whether particular or special within all or any Diocese of his Province This Court is kept in the Archbishop's name by his Official who is the Judge of it called also Dean of the Arches a perfâ—ct Lay-man usually a Knight and Doctor of Laws But he being for the most part absent substitutes a Surrogate in his place who is the Archbishop's Man's man viz. the Dean of the Deanry of the Arches And there doth this Judge Perkin sit in state Chamberlain's Pres â—â—â—te of England part 2. page 273. and according to the old Mumpsimus of the Pope's canon-Canon-Law alone without any Assessors hears and determins all Causes without any Jury of 12 men as is necessary in Common Law-Courts and presumes to sentence not only us Lay-men but the Clergy-men also and even Bishops themselves for any Delinquency And as the Official treats our Superioâ—s in the Arches so doth the Lay-chancellor handle us and the Inferior Clergy in the Bishop's Court held in the Cathedral of his Diocese Only when any do not appear being legally cited and propounded contumacious and decreed excommunicate then the Plaintiff's Proctor offers a Schedule of Excommunication to the Judge H. Conset Pracâ—ice of the Spiritâ— C◠〈…〉 who reads it if he be in hâ—ly Orders for you must know a special care must be taken of that and if not then it is given to one who is in Holy Orders who is constituted to this purpose by the Judge Good God! saith the forementioned Author of Naked Truth 〈…〉 what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority This notorious Transâ—r â—â—â—â—n is excused as they think by this that a Minister call'd the Bishop's Surrogate but is indeed the Chancellor's Servant chosen called and placed there 〈◊〉 him to be his Cryer in the Court no better when he hath examin'd heard and sâ—nt ne'd thâ— Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Then the Judges Seal being clapt to them away the Letters of Excommunication are posted to the Rector Vicar or Curate of the Parish with Orders to publish the same in time of Divine Service on some Sunday or Holy-day always provided these Letters of Excommunication be deliver'd to tâ—e Rector c. at least that same day on which they are to â—e read before Morning or Evening Prayers that they may be sure to have timely notice of it saith our * H. Conset Practice of Eccl. Courts p. 38. Author which they are to publish without delay unless they are willing to undergo the Fate of the Miller's Man who was hang'd for his Master for if they neglect so to do they are to be punisht by Suspension from their Office For unless at his own peril the Parish Minister must no more examine the equity and justice of the Sentence than a Hang-man dares but must do his Office though to the best liver in his Parish be the Cause what it will how unjust soever the Sentence is or how illegally soever obtain'd He must give fire when the word of Command is given though he good man know nothing of the matter yet denounce the Ecommunication he must and give the rest of the People warning that they avoid the company of such a one just as the two nimble Iron Sparks on the outside of St. Dunstan's Church when moved by the Wires within briskly turn about and give a Thump on the Bell that all may know what quarter of the hour it is 2. But to proceed from Persons to things This we suppose no sober man will deny that Excommunication being a punishment of an immediate Divine Original men should have a Divine Warrant in what cases to inflict it And being so severe a Punishment no less than cutting off from the Body of Christ and shutting out of the Kingdom of Heaven as well as the Society of Christians on Earth it should not be inflicted but for those black Crimes and deadly Sins and those obstinately persisted in too for which the Holy Jesus hath declared that men do deserve that amputation and exclusion from Heaven that so what is bound here below may be bound above And this being the Church's expulsive faculty for the casting out of noxious Humâ—rs her weapon for the cutting off rotten and scandalous Members should be used to that end only as we find in the New Testament and many Centuries after it was in the case of Heresy or detestable Enormities accompanied with Contumacy Now such Sinners swarm among us we have such crowds of Adulterers Drunkards Swearers Blasphemers c. that some of the Sons of our Church say by way of excuse for the neglect of Discipline it would not be prudent or safe to attack them How few of these do our Ecclesiastical Courts take notice of In David's time the Sparrows were allowed a place near God's Altar in our days whole herds of Swine have the same privilege and no one will or dare to drive them out But if a man trip in a Ceremony if an honest but simple Dissenter will not come to the Sacrament because though weakly yet it may be conscienciously he scruples Kneeling or will not trhough obstinacy pray the Parson his Dues or if the Governors of the State have a Political Design to carry on out comes the sacred two-edged Sword immediately and they are cut off by dozens We might refer the Reader to Dr. Pinfold as to this Point who a
stile them our most Religious and Gracious ones and that in the Church too don't look like that Reverence we have been taught to bear towards Crowned Heads True indeed the Israelites once did pronounce several of these Curses on Mount Ebal with an Amen but this was by virtue of an express Command from God and this might be suitable enough to a Legal Spirit to the rough and sowre dispensation of the Law but not to the calm kind and peaceable Institution of the Gospel which is soft and gentle as the wings of that Dove that lighted on the head of him who was the Author of it Having consider'd the Liturgy we proceed to take notice of those Rites and Ceremonies of our Worship which His Majesty hath join'd with it and concerning which he says That being things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations c. Now it being confess'd on all hands that they are things alterable and indifferent in their own nature we are all of us of the mind that many unanswerable Reasons may be urg'd for their utter removal and their being totally laid aside such as are the dangers and hazards to which they have already expos'd our Church the fatal Divisions the unnatural and implacable animosities they have occasioned and continue to foment the obligations that we lie under from the Commands and Examples of Christ and his Apostles to yield in things of so small moment to the invincible scruples and the earnest importunities of our weaker Brethren as well as many others that have been alledged and inforced by many Learned Pens We cannot tell how to excuse the conduct of those persons who notwithstanding all the respect they owe to a Gracious Prince their Duties to God and their scrupulous fellow-Christians will evidently lay open both the Church and State to an unavoidable Ruin rather than depart from the Imposition and Use of such Rites no more than we could have justified St. John the Baptist if he had fallen a Sacrifice to the fury of Herod meerly because he would not administer Baptism without his Raiment of Camelâ— hâ—ir and his leathern Girdle We cannot blame the Piety and Wisdom of our first Reformers who introduced and continued these to avoid throwing the Nation that was then over-run with Superstition into great and deadly Convulsions but since these reasons are now ceas'd and very dismal inconveniences do attend their present use we do think it better to throw them by than retain them It was necessary that when our Church first rose out of the Superstition Darkness and Idolatry in which she had been so long buried she should like Lazarus have some of the Grave-cloaths about her but if out of some odd Humour she should resolve still to wear them she would appear not only unlovely but ridiculous But lest we should seem to push this matter too far we shall only say That it is highly requisite that the use of them should be left indifferent that a strict Uniformity in these Rites is no longer necessary provided there be an Agreement in all the Essentials of her Doctrine and Worship and there are many Grounds that move us to insist on this viz. that they are but trivial things and of no moment that they neither add any real Decency and Beauty to our Worship nor render it more acceptable and pleasing to God besides there are many Persons in our Communion who are weary of them and many others who frequent our Churches that do either despise or smile at our rigorous insisting upon them P. 20. 22. for as the Letter concerning the Convocation well says The number of those who are addicted to them is not very great and the greatest part of the Nation are such as are not over-zealous and fond of them but might by the Method we offer be more firmly fixed to us There is a Body of Men who are still among us and attend in our Churches and at our Sacraments who do think our present Contests about these matters to be much like that which we about London saw managed between the Ladies and the Mobile about Top-knots the Rabble design'd to force them to lay them aside by Ballads Pictures and insolent Jeers but that Sâ—x which uses to conquer by their Charms got the Victory now by Obstinacy and Resolution and the poor Top-knots have outlived their fury While we saw no prejudices arise to the Nation this afforded us a pleasant diversion but had the dispute run so high as to endanger an universal Mutiny and Insurrection we should have commended that Sex if they had prudently thrown them off and quitted the Field We do therefore judge That such things as these should no longer be imposed as terms of our Communion and such as will not submit to them may be esteemed as genuine Sons of our Church as those that do that this is a Season wherein these latter should be allowed as free an access to our Altars and Fonts as the other and that it is a condescention which we owe not only to our Blessed Saviour and those weak Disciples which he hath so tender a concern for but to the Safety and Honour of our Church as well as her present Constitution Of the Canons SInce the consideration of the greatest part of 'em will fall under the following Heads in His Majesty's Commission we shall confine these Remarks to a few of 'em that cannot be so conveniently rang'd under those Particulars The first Canon enjoins the maintaining the King's Supremacy over the Church of England in Causes Ecclesiastical Can. 1. And as that Canon declares all Foreign Power forasmuch as the same has no establishment by the Law of God to be justly taken away and abolish'd so that Doctrine should in all reason be disown'd and censur'd which so many Divines of our Church have endeavoured to defâ—nd and propagate in their publick Writings viz. That the Church Vniversal ought to be governed by the Decrees of General Councils and during the interval of such Councils the only way of Concord is to obey the Governing Part of the Universal Church viz. All the Bishops in one Regent College governing the whole Christian World per literas formatas Especially when on pretence of the easier Execution of these Universal Laws some of 'em have been so liberal to his Holiness as to assign that Province to him of Patriarch of the West and the Centre of Unity to this part of the Catholick Church And how much all the fierceness of Archbishops Laud and Bramhall Dr. Heylin Bishops Morley Gunning and Sparrow Dr. Saywell Mr. Dodwell c. against all Dissenters at home and their strange chilness to the Reformed Churches abroad is owing to a miserable fondness for this Notion as the hopeful ground of a Reconciliation between the Church of England and the French Church that has cast off the Papal Infallibility it
that his Libel is in Articles and he desires the Judg may repeat it in full Force of the Positions and Articles which accordingly is done and the Libel admitted with a Salvo Jure Impertinentium non admittendorum c. On this the Plaintiff desires an Answer to the Positions of this Libel whereupon the Defendants Proctor replies He don't believe the Positions to be true Then the Plaintiff by his Advocate desires the Defendant may be decreed to be cited to answer Personally to the Positions of the Libel before the Judg or some Commissioners The Defendant's Proctor dissents from this and requests a Term to be assign'd to prove the Libel And here both sides may squabble and brawl about it but it must be by their Seconds the Officers I mean in Mood and Figure about the time that 't is too short or too long and either of them for that reason may appeal The Suit being contested from Words the Proctors fall to Oaths and either Side may lend his client a Swear the one that he believes the Contents of the Libel are faithfully propounded the other that he will give a faithful Answer Then the two Principals must take the Oaths of Calumny the general one and this is taken but once and that either here or in any part of the Proceedings and the particular one called the Oath of Malice to this purpose that both of them believe their Cause to be good that they will manage it honestly and not protract the Suit and give no Bribes only the Fees are excepted to such Persons to whom the Laws and Canons do allow them After this their Proctors help them to keep these Oaths by staving off the Business upon impertinent Quirks for six Court-days nay sometimes for two or three Terms so that saith our Author Men complain exceedingly of these Abuses Conset p. 92. that they never knew any End of their Business after it comes into these Courts Well the Citation though long first at last is gotten out for the Defendant to appear and answer the Libel before the Judg or the Commissioners which Commission must be certified into Court that it hath been executed and is sometimes paid for jointly sometimes by one of the Parties only The Defendant then puts in his Answer which is either Categorical Hypothetical Modal affirming or denying finitely or infinitely True necessarily or contingently False or in equipollent Terms Then the Defendant appearing Personally is sworn to make a faithful Answer to the Positions of the Libel only his Proctor protests he don 't intend to answer to any Criminal or Captious Position or if he do it shall be accounted Null The next Court-day he is ordered to appear to be examin'd But it may be he hath answered too little and then he is summon'd again to answer more fully it may be too much and then his Proctor may subduct and revoke it When this is settled If the Witnesses won't come voluntarily on an offer of bearing their Charges then come Letters Compulsory for them to appear before the Judg or Commissioners and a Commission is then granted to hear their Depositions within the Term Probatory These Letters are returned into the Court and it may be the Witnesses can't be found none of them or but some of them do appear and the Absenters are to be excommunicated and this is often contriv'd on purpose that hereby the Term Probatory may be prorogued and so the Suit may be protracted and the Charges encreased The Witnesses at last being got all together before the Judg they are sworn Then the Proctor protests against them and any thing they shall say against the intention of his Client and desires a Day to be assigned for propounding Interrogatories which are to be given in by him into the Hands of the Register or Examiner Then the Witnesses are privately examined their Depositions put into writing by the Register and signed by the Witnesses and after repeated before the Judg who examins them Whether on their Oath it be all right and true and whether they would have any thing altered But their Positions are taken in Latine because we suppose that 's a Language that is like the Vniversal Character which all even the Country Jobbers themselves do understand Now after this it may be the Proctor on one side objects that the Witnesses han't answered to some Interrogatories which they ought to do or not fully but he on t'other side gives him the Lie and so a Day is appointed for the Judg to enquire into this It may be the Witnesses are to be produced not before the Judg but the Commissioners and then there 's more ado in that Case than in this which to avoid tediousness we omit For the same Reason we shall though we are yet come hardly half way proceed no further nor speak particularly to the publishing the Depositions of the Witnesses producing more Witnesses Exceptions which are numerous and Replications which are as many and answer the other just as one Tally doth another nor of Duplications and Triplications and Quadruplications For by all these ways is the Cause bang'd about between the Parties and beaten to and fro like a Shittle-cock between two Battle-dores Nor of dead Proofs which are Instruments either Publick or Private and both of them of many sorts Nor of the Assignation of the Term to hear Sentence nor of the Suppletory Oath given sometimes to one side sometimes to t'other to supply and piece out the defect of Proof Besides and after all this there 's another long pair of Stairs and 't is the Third in order that would break a Man's wind to get up and that is the giving of Sentence And then when you think the matter is issued and ended all is undone again by an Appeal which if we should fully speak of there are so many deep steps that we should be utterly tired as to be sure the Plaintiffs and Defendants have been long ere this by being carried up and led down so many dark and winding Stairs in these enchanted Castles From what hath been offer'd we plainly see there 's no difficulty in believing that to be a very great Truth that Dr. Burnet tells us of Bp Bedel's Bp Bedel 's Life pag. 89. observation That the Officers of his Spiritual Court drew People into trouble by vexatious Suits and held them so long in it that for three penny-worth of the Tithe of Turf they would be put to five pounds Charges We have only one thing to add on this Head and we leave it That one half of the manner of their Proceedings hath not been told in Plenary Causes and though many cramp Words have been used by us in what we have written they are the proper Terms of Art and there 's a very large Vocabulary of them necessary to be mention'd by us if we should tell out the remainder of this Tale which we forbear lest Men should think we have a Design upon