command the Sick person to come and visit him or at least give him a meeting at such a Church and such a Tavern and then he shall hear what Prayers he will say over him St. James says Jam. 1.27 pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and Widdows c. What to do To pill them and poll them No surely that would not be a very pure Religion except of such a pure Religion as is made up of pure Money the Fatherless I suppose like not the visits of such kind of Fathers they had rather they would keep away and not help to make them poorer and add Affliction to the Afflicted of such Visiters better have their Room than their Company Is this your Kindness to your Friends when you come to visit them Hah Indeed I find that Allowance is taken care for in Visitations of old but what Not Money but Food and Drink such as the poor Vicar and his Family makes shift with but never never any Money in ancient time For which let him that lists consult Wil. Lindewood in his Provincial Constit l. 3. de Censubus Procurationibus f. 159 160. Johannes de Aten in his Glosses on Otho's and Othobon's Constitutions f. 43 89. Angelus de Clavasio in his Summa Angelica Tit. Visitatio also Gratian. Distinct 42. cap. non opertet Also Concil Lateran sub Innocent 3 Pap. An. 1215. cap. 33 34. Also Concil apud Castrum Gunter An. 1251. Concil Surius Con. Tom. 3. p. 746. apud Salmar An. 1253. Synod Andegavensis An. 1263. Concil Provincial apud Langres An. 1264. Concil Burdegal An. 1582 c. collected by Laurentius Bochellus Decret Eccles. Gallican lib. 5. Tit. 15. Devisitatione Procuratione personis quibus commissa est potestas visitandi Also Concil Coloniens An. 1549. Concil Trident Sess 24. de Reformatione cap. 3. Thomas Zerula in his Praxis Episcopal par 1. Tit. visitatio They all concur Vt nullus Procurationem recipiat nisi in Locis visitatis duntaxat tum Tantum victuallibus à locis quae visitantur That Meat and Drink when the Visiters are athirst or hungry shall be given them but not one Farthing of Money For says the said Council of London Anno 1200. The Children ought not to lay up for the Parents but Parents for their Children How far is it then from the Piety of Fathers if rich Prelates that ought like good Pastors to provide for the wants of their poor Flocks under them should be burthensom to their Inferiours And therefore the said John de Aton in his Gloss on that clause of Othobon's Constitution f. 89. hath these Words viz. Nos tam Ecclesiarum indemnitati quam Praelatorum saluti consultius provedentes districtius inhibemus nè quis eorum Procurationem quae ratione visitationis debeter ab Ecclesia quacunque recipiat nisi cum eidem visitationis officium impendit qui vero receperit donec restituerit ab Ingressu Ecclesiae sit suspensus By this Law then the Bishops and Archdeacons must make restitution of all the Moneys they received for Procurations or else be Suspended and not suffered to enter into the Church until they restore those ill-gotten Goods Et haec ratio fortè movet Episcopos hujus Regni qui in Visitationibus suis Procurationes ab Ecclesia communiter non exigunt quia ad singulas Ecclesias ob causam Visitationis non declinant lecet plenè personas visitent tà m Clerum quam populum ob hanc causam nunc ad unum locum nunc ad alium congruum convocando cumtamen Procurationem debeant recipere tantum modo de locis visitatis In short Visitations of old were to a good end like that of Paul and Barnabas by preaching the Word again to them to confirm them or strengthen and corroborate them in the Faith Afterwards this Godly usage became a Trade but never till there was Money to be got by it a nusance that Pride and Covetousness invented and continues in spight of the Laws and Canons of God and man For which cause the learned French Bishop Claudius Espencaeus complains in these words Comment in Epist ad Titum c. 1. Minores non tantum Episcopi sed ut Archidiaconi eorumque male officiosit absit verbo invidia nam de malis loquor Officiales Vicarii dum Diocaeses Parochias obequitant non tam facinorosos criminum reos poenis correctionibus à vitiis deterrent quo fine Peregrinationes hujusmodi olim jam fucrint jure canonico ordinatae quam pecuniâ praesenti numeratâ titulo Procurationis nè dicam fictitiae Jurisdictionis emungunt exigunt tum Clericos tum Laicos First they bring their printed Articles for the Church-wardens of every Parish to buy and though they have half a score of them which the Parish has bought ten years together yet still they must buy a new Book every year or lay down the money for it and then you may chuse whether you will take it with you or no Then also the Church-wardens must swear to keep and observe those Articles And are not all that do so forsworn Then they must give money a grant for being sworn then they must swear to Present and if they do not make a Presentment they are Excommunicated if they do put in a Presentment usually written in Court and very brief with an omnia benè for which they pay a shilling then also for putting in the Presentment a shilling more For three shillings and six pence or three shillings and eight pence a Church-warden may escape cleverly But saith the said French Bishop the Minor Bishops and Arch-deacons and their wickedly-officious pardon the Word for I speak only of the wicked Officials and Vicar-generals in their Visitations do not so much deterr men from sin by punishing the criminals as to drain their Purses by exacting ready monies of the Clergy and Laity by the name of Procurations and I know not what feigned Jurisdiction Thus the said good Bishop Espencaeus And therefore in the greatest height of Popery in England the Kings Judges and Justices in his Temporal Courts have usually decreed that Excommunicate persons shall be absolved clave errante when the Judges disallowed the cause for which a man was Excommunicated And many Actions of the Case have been brought against the Arch-deacons c. for Excommunicating men for things out of their cognizance and exceeding the limits of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions namely when they meddle with the right of Patronage exempt Churches being Lay-Fees c. and have made them pay sawce for being so sawcy and pragmatical I 'le instance in one Pat. 18 Edw. 1. m. 26. De libertatibus liberarum Capellarum Regis Rex omnibus c. salutem Inspeximus literas celebri memoriae Domini H. Regis Angliae patris nostri patentes in hec verba Henricus Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae
illa absolutos c. This amongst many others wherein I could instance is but to shew that the King's Judges did controul the inferiour Jurisdictions called Ecclesiastical and Judge whether the cause or contempt deserved Excommunication and accordingly commanded Absolution c. as I have known the Lord Chief Baron in his Majesties Court of Exchequer about seven years ago command Doctor Lake Commissary of Lincoln and then in Court to absolve one King c. to which the Doctor making some tergiversation the Lord Cheif Baron threatned to lay him by the heels for his contempt For it is great insolency for a Commissary Official or his Master the Arch-deacon to excommunicate in their Courts and Visitations the Kings Subjects except by Authority and Commission from God or the King From God they have no power to excommunicate or to hear Causes then hath any Parish-Priest in his Parish if so much And if they have a Commission from the King let them shew it but when they have shewn it I dare say it will run with submission to His Majesties Decrees in his superiour Courts Courts of Record at Westminster Courts of good and great use Courts that have his Majesties Authority and Commission to shew for what they do Courts that do not bear the Sword in vain Courts that are not made up only of an empty noise of Curses and Anathema's thundring and cracking as if they came from Heaven when all is but vox praeteria nihil and not of little or no use but to vex and weary out the Supplicants Suiters and Attendants by enriching some few not of the best of mankind with Money Money And on the contrary how careful have our Kings of England been rather to encourage Parish-Ministers that labour and look after the Flock even in times of Popery as for instance in this Brief sub privato sigillo Edwardi 1. anno regni ejus 33. in these words Rex dilecto sibi Ricardo Oysel Ballivo suo de Holdernesse salutem Mandamus vobis quod de exitibus Molendinorum nostrorum in Belliva vestra faciatis Decimas dari Personis Ecclesiarum in quarum Parochiis Molendina ista existunt prout alii Magnates de regno nostro ac hominis partium illarum Decimas dant de exitibus Molendinorum suorum Et nos vobis inde in compoto vestro ad Scaccarium nostrum debitum allocationem fieri faciemus T. R. apud Westm 20. die Octobris Per breve de privato sigillo And good reason sure had that valiant King to give all due encouragement to the Inferiour Clergy if we consider how he was affronted and defy'd and brav'd by the Prelates Polid. Virgil Angl. Hist l. 17. especially by Robert Arch-bishop of Canterbury so that the King was forc'd to put all the Rebellious Prelates and Clergy out of his protection seizing their Goods and Revenues until they at long-run submitted themselves after a tedious Bustle to which they were encouraged by Pope Boniface I know that the King granted his Favour afterwards and Protection to the said stout Arch-bishop Robert and the rest and suffered the said Arch-bishop to stand by him and his Son upon a wooden Scaffold erected before the Gates of Westminster-Hall for that purpose when with many Tears the King askt Pardon with all Humility not the Arch-bishop's Pardon but that the People would pardon him Walsingham Hist Angl. p. 36. but it was not for his humbling the proud Clergy as aforesaid but for his Arbitrary Government Dicens se minús bene tranquillè quam Regem deceret ipsos rexisse c. Rursum ut libertates contentas in Magna Charta Mat. West An. 1297. p. 409 410. Ypodigmae Neustr p. 84. de Foresta in usu extunc efficacius haberentur voluntarias super his exactiones inductas de caetero quasi id irritum revocaret petentibus Comitibus Baronibus Rex Articulos in praedictis chartis contentos innovari insuper observari mandavit Henry de Knyghton adds Rogavitque Populum accepta licentia ut omnia condonarentur ei orarent pro eo orabant quidam publicè alii vero sic alii vero occulte pauci vero bene Anno 32 Edw. 1. this King was again affronted by Thomas Corbridge Arch-bishop of York For when the King by his Letters Patents granted to Mr. John Bouhs the Prebend of Styvelington in the Church of St. Peter in York and commanded Thomas Corbridge the new Arch-Bishop to admit him c. after two successive Mandates he neglected to do it to the King's damage 10000 l. as in the Plea Rolls of Trinity Term held at York To be seen in the Receivers Office of the King's Exchequer at VVestminster 32 Edw. 1. is at large expressed Thereupon the Arch-bishop being summoned to answer this contempt before the King's Justices he appearing answered That he was always ready to obey the Kings commands so far as he could but he could not admit the King's Clerk because the Pope had conferred the said Prebendary and Chappel thereunto belonging on his own Clerks of whom they were now full and that he could not make void the Act of the Pope his Superiour Lord nor deprive or remove his Clerks And therefore prayed the King to hold him excused refusing to give any other answer Whereupon Judgment was solemnly given against him That what he alledged was no sufficient cause for him not to execute the Kings commands and that all his Temporalties should be seized into the Kings hands for this his contempt c. By which we may see that even in times of Popery the Kings of England have opposed the Popes Innovations and Usurpations and the Kings Justices have taken cognizance of these Ecclesiastical matters and that no Forreign Mandates or Bulls were pleadable in the Kings Courts in bar of the Kings Writs and that long before the Reign of King Henry 8. obedience to the Pope before the King was adjudged a very high contempt in Law and had a suitable punishment and that the Kings Temporal Courts had Soveraign Jurisdiction over the Ecclesiastical Proceedings which is also more evidenced by the several sorts of Mandates dates and Writs even in times of Popery frequently issued out against Arch-bishops Bishops Ecclesiastical Judges and Ordinaries commanding them to do this and that and prohibiting them not to do this and that witness the Writs of Quare impedit Quare incumbravit Quare non admisit de Clerico admittendo de copia libelli deliberanda de permutatione Beneficiorum de revocatione Praesentationis Bracton de Residentia facienda de cautione admittenda de Assisa ultima Praesentationis cessavit de Cantaria de Nonresidentia pro Clericis Regis de Praesentatione ad Ecclesiam Praebendam Capellam c. Nay it seems to me that even in times of Popery the Kings Judges would take no notice of any Excommunications Cook Instit 134.2 but what were decreed by the
Bishop himself or one that hath ordinary Jurisdiction and is immediate Officer to the Kings Courts Because only upon the Significavit's of Arch-bishops and Bishops only or such as have ordinary Jurisdiction shall be issued out the Writ De excommunicato capiendo For if a Bishop do not certifie the same upon his own knowledge Cook Instic Sect. 201. but only by hear-say or the Certificate of another Bishop and by parity of reason of any other man as his Commissary Arch-deacon c. such Certificà te is not sufficient And of these Ecclesiastical Proceedings the Kings Justices are the only Judges Much more are they Judges at this day whether these Procurations and Visitations shall be paid being so contrary to Magna Charta as well as against the Canon-Law Equity Reason and Conscience And also Judges whether the Seal to the Significavit be a legal Seal according to Statute and whether all the Processes have been made in the Name and Stile of the King as well as Seal'd with the King's Arms For all the reason in the World that if the Clergy will take in to help them on with their Ecclesiastical Ordinances and Jurisdiction The King 's helping hand to conduct all Men to the Goal whom they have delivered to the Devil that their proceedings also should be as the Law enjoyns in the Name stile and under the Seal of the King But strange also is the Practice at this day in their Spiritual-Courts in many particulars I 'le Instance but in two at present this discourse more properly coming under another head One is in the Case of Probate of Wills the other is in the Case of Excommunication The Practice at this day as to Probate of Wills wherein Lands Tenements and Hereditaments are given and granted is for the Register to keep the Original Wills and give the Executor only a Copy of the Original-Will to which Copy they affix the Seal of the Court. Estates disposed by Will are usually in Prejudice of the Heir at Law and yet if the Heir by Will have a Tryal at Law with the Heir at Law and show the Will prov'd under the Seal of the Court he will lose his Lands for all that for the Judges at this day will take no Notice of it and if he goes to get the Original out of the Register's Hands sometimes 't is lost and cannot be found for Love nor Money then farewel Land for that 's also gone past all Recovery or if the Registers do happen to stumble upon the Original they will not part with it except you give them a thousand pound Bond and good Security to return the same and also 40 s. or 50 s. it usually costs over and above I know it to be true by woful Experience to the ruine of many a Man's Estate to the defeating the Will of the deceased and in defiance of the Statute 21 Hen. 8.5 21 H. 8.5 which commands them to affix the Seal of the Court to the Original-Will in such cases where Lands and Hereditaments are bequeathed and deliver it to be kept by the Executor or Party concern'd for who can safer keep a Man's Deeds than himself and for the Copy they ought to take but one peny for every ten lines thereof whereof every line to contain ten Inches in length So that if the Question be ask'd again What are the Spiritual-Courts good for Are they not good at acting in defiance of the Statutes of this Realm And have they not always been good at that as in many Instances Appears in this Discourse I will not Advise tho' that to make them good and wholesom they should be drest and be drest as the Doctor Advis'd his Patient to dress Cucumbers with which he had long been enamour'd to the ruine of his health namely To take the Cucumbers and slice them and wash them in Vinegar then in Salt and Water then again in Vinegar and Salt and then in Vinegar and Pepper and then lastly the onely way to keep them from being mischievous is to throw them to the Dunghil But certainly Errors from the Rule from the Rule of holy Scriptures the further they go the further they go astray and it can have no colour of charity or pretence from God or Christ or the holy Scriptures to deliver precious Souls to the Devil for want of paying the Knave a Groat if their Excommunications were as they pretend a real delivery to Satan a precious Soul for whom Christ dyed is too cheap in all conscience to be fairly delivered to the Devil for the value of a Shilling or two But that the best on 't is they 'l redeem it again also for as cheap a Price a Man would wonder such mischiefs should be no more taken notice of except the Fellows are look'd upon to be so contemptible as that no wise Man heeds them nor their Blunder nor their Thunder Another miscarriage is That whoever the Register with some little Surrogate whom the Register leads by the Nose for the blindest and the willingest to be so led is the fittest Preperty shall excommunicate though but for want for paying the Register his Fees illegal and unjustifiable Fees all Parish-Ministers are bound to deliver their Flock so excommunicated to the Devil or declare the same so to be publickly in the Church though he knew nothing of the merit of the Cause nor of the due course of Proceedings But that 's not all a worse mischief is yet behind namely The Bishop 5 Eliz. 23. The Bishop upon the Certificavit of the Arch-deacon's Register grants his Significavit without hearing any thing of the Cause so that as Papists believe as the Bishop of Rome believes so here quite otherwise yet no better the Bishop believes as the Register of the Arch-deacon's Court believes and whatever he certifies to the Bishop he signifies into the High-Court of Chancery so that is usually more safe to displease any Lord in the Land than a little stingy sneaking Register that bought his Place and must make his best on 't And we may say of these pittiful Fellows as was said of Pope Alexander the 6th his Symony in selling so many Benefices Cardinal-Caps Indulgences c. as he was Pope having first by Bribes purchas'd the Popedom Emerat ille prius Why should not Chapmen sell their Ware When aboveboard they bought it fair Synodals are certain yearly Exactions paid by every beneficed-Priest to the Arch-deacon out of every Benefice in every Arch-deaconry yearly and every year throughout the whole Kingdom of England Originally They were given to the Clergy voluntarily for the maintainance of their two Procurators which were in every Arch-deaconry throughout England chosen by the inferior Clergy to represent them and vote for them in the Synod In imitation of the Wages allowed to the Knights 4 s. per diem Citizens and Burgesses 2 s. per diem for every day they Sit actually in Parliament for which there are several Statutes of old
were the 12th part of Israel Except this be proved a Parity of maintainance cannot hence be argued by paying the Tenth or Tithes unless a Parity of numbers of the Clergy of England bore the like proportion to England that the Tribe of Levi did to Israel that is a 12th part And therefore it is an Idle Dream and a Bug-Bear to call detaining of Tithes Sacriledge except it can be prov'd that God or Christ or the Apostles ever took or commanded to be taken the Tenth to Gospel-Ministers as God expresly commanded the Tythes of all Israel to the Levites That bear no proportion in number to the Tribe of Levi nor are the Tenth part nor scarce the hundreth part of most Parishes and yet shall lick up the whole Tenth part of the Parish But though detaining of Tythes from Ministers is not Sacriledge yet detaining of Tithes from Ministers is as great a Sin as and no greater sin than detaining Tithes from Impropriators namely as other frauds and wrongs A transgression of the Laws of the Land Which the wily Priests never cared to trust to if they could help it nor to be beholden to though to the Law of the Land alone and Acts of Parliament they are beholden for any Tithes or portion of Tithes that they do enjoy and therefore they secure their Tithes with this same frightful word Sacriledge and also Jure Divino A Vicar has not the great Tithes no nor a poor man has not the great Mannors and Lordships that others have but the poor and poor Vicars have all that is their due and allowed them as their Propriety and let them be thankful to God and the Laws for that though not so great as other men's and perhaps neither do they deserve so much as other men howsoever it is their Lot and therefore poor Vicar Sorte tuâ contentus abi though I wish thee well and more For it is not Sacriledge for a Gentleman to have the great Tithes or Abbey-Lands disposed of by Acts of Parliament if he honestly purchas'd them of the Crown But 't is Robbery at least in heart for thee poor Vicar thus to covet thy Neighbours Goods thy Neighbours great Tithes that never never no not in the days of Popery never were thine nor thy Predecessors but belong'd to the said Abbots and Nun's from whom by the Law of the Land they as being got by a Cheat Escheated to the King and never were God's Propriety or Gods Purchase for if this could be prov'd All the Kings and Parliaments in the World cannot take them away and Alienate them But fair and softly Though the said Whores Extortioners Usurers and Murderers c. being deluded and Cheated with an Imaginary Purgatory and Paradise over the Gates whereof the Pope writes in Capital Letters This House is to be Let Enquire of St. Peter's Successor for the Key The silly Purchasers like those of old that bartred their Silver-Spoons Bodkins and Tankards for the Publique-Faith were Fob'd of their Moneys Goods and Lands Nay Deat 23.18 though the Moneys and Lands be tendred to God and by deed of Gift fairly engros'd Sealed and deliver'd in the presence of Witnesses and super altare too as Bishop Andrews notably observes who can prove that God Accepts this Tender and strikes up the Bargain because there ought to go always two Words to a bargain namely as both buyer and seller can agree And when and where did God say that he Accepted these cheating Purchases these fruits of Sin for Deodates Nay I know that God has said to the contrary that he will not accept of any such Gift Offering Bargain or Sale in Deut. 23.18 Thou shalt not bring the Hire of a Whore or the Price of a Dogg into the House of the Lord thy God for any vow for even both these are an abomination unto the Lord thy God It was Politickly done tho' to fence in the Abbey-Lands with a Jure Divino and yet even in the days of Popery The noyse the wyly Priests made eccho'd by the silly Priests Sacriledge Sacriledge did not Affright our Kings and Parliaments from making many Statutes of Mortmayn to stop the Current of this Cheating Deluge of Charity to the Church almost ready to drown the Common-wealth And yet like Pharaoh's Lean-kine the greedy-Priests that had Eat up the Fat of the Land look'd as Hungry and Sharp as if they had really kept and observ'd their Vow of Poverty and yet were the richest Cormorants in the Land which Vow notwithstanding some think they kept as well as their Vow of Chastity And yet they were the Archest Fellows in nature at a Wench Insomuch as one of their own Popes and the Learnedest of them all Aeneas Sylvius used to say that Marriage of Priests had Ruin'd many But a Single Life had Damn'd many more For which Causes amongst other the King and Parliament made those Nunneries those Abbey-Lands a just forfeiture to the Crown And though the said old Charm Jure Divino and Sacriledge Sacriledge have lost their wonted vigour as being now disoover'd to be meer Stalking-Horses under whose shaddow crafty Men catch their Prey yet still it is in use amongst us Protestants on many such Accounts And does feats still amongst the simple and unwary Nay some of the Learned whether affectedly and colourably only or no or that Interest the great Sollicitor and best Advocate but the worst Judge bribes their Judgments I cannot tell but sure I am many of them seem to pin their Faith upon it Thus a Learned Bishop of our own in his Book of the Collection of the Canons A.S. Bishop o Norwich quotes another Learned Bishop deceased In his Title-Page concerning the form of Consecration of a Church or Chappel c. In these very words namely Bishop Andrews Notes upon the Liturgy It is not to be forgotten though It be forgotten that whoever gave any Lands or Endowments to the Service of God gave it in a formal Writing as now-adays betwixt Man and Man Sealed and Witnessed and the Tender of the Gift was super altare by the Donor on his Knees And why And why why a Deed in Writing Sealed and Witnessed and Delivered And why had not God the keeping of it then So he had as near as they could come to him super altare where they suppos'd he stood Metamorphos'd from a Wafer and Transubst antiated Inclosed also in the Pix Or else I guess the Bargain and Sale had been as effectual to all Intents and Purposes though the said formal Writing had been Seal'd and deliver'd in the Belfrey the Body of the Church or in the Church-Yard or Moot-Hall But why I wonder is not all this Ceremony to be forgotten now that the days of Transubstantiation are at an End with English Bishops And why must this formal Story be filed up amongst the Memorandums of those odd Reliques and Canons And together also with the form of Consecrating a Church or Chappel and of the place of
Parliament in these words Noverint universi Quòd Dominus H. Rex Angliae illustris Anno. 37. H. 3. R. Comes Norff. Marescallus Anglin H. comes Hereford Essex I comes de Warewico Petrus de Sabbaudia Caeterique Magnaces Anglia consenserunt in sentiam Excommunicationis generaliter latam apud Westm Tertio decimo die Muii Anno Regni Regis Pradicte in hà c formà scilices Quod vinculo Praefacae sententiae ligenter omnes venientes contra libertates contentas in chartis communium libertatum Angliae de Foresta c. Dominus Rex praedicti Magnates omnes Communitas Populi protestantur publitè c. by Communitus Populi there I understand the Honse of Commons though it had not the form in those days which now it puts on and decently wears By which it appears that the King and his Lay-people would not trust the Clergy in those days with making Sentences of excommunication nor with declaring causes of Excommunication much less without the Privity of King and Parliament as some have presumed But matchless is the Malice of those men that are angry with all Lay-men that dare be so bold as to see their own way with their own and not with Clergy eyes and Prospectives The Conclusion THus have I stared these Quaries so needful to be discuss'd And prov'd That all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction like all other Jurisdictions must be deriv'd from the King or the Pope To assert the latter Incurs a Praemunire or to pretend any old ordinary Jurisdiction originally granted them from the Pope in their first creation and his Majesty has oblig'd himself never to Empower them by Commission any more By the Statutes of Hen. 8. all those ordinary Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical were cut off and they left without any in Queen Maries time as the Synod did confess as aforesaid But in King Edward's time their Ecclesiastical Proceedings were revived but with condition that all Citations Processes c. should be in the Name of the King the Head of the Church as in Original and Judicial Writs at the Common Law He being also Head of the State And in due acknowledgment also of this Supremacy The Seals of their Spiritual-Courts should have engraven in them The Kings Arms. Great very great Reason there is and there was for such a Statute as that 1 Edw. 6. But oh this Hierarchy this Power how sweet could the Bishops ever be brought to this I 'le warrant some of them would keep no Courts at all first but who cares For cui bono cui fini should be the question every man puts in all his affairs so here cui bono cui fini what are the Spiritual Courts good for at this day as they are managed I protest I cannot tell and yet no man in England has more reason to know their virtue than I nor scarce any has had more experience of them and in them and still as I said before I have an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of mine own For except a little money I should say a great deal of money ungedly money wickedly got by the Extortions of Registers I 'le prove what I say and shamefully against Law and money money from the poor Clergy the Inferiour Clergy and silly Churchwardens against the Common-Law Statute-Law Canon-Law Civil-Law Equity Conscience Reason and Humane Compassion all condemning this unnatural and Unkind Rapaeity Except these be good things I know not what they are good for not by what Authority they dare send out Citations without the King's Name Title and Seal against the King's Liege-People or how a Writ de Excummunicato Capiendo can legally be awarded the ground whereof being a Significavii under Seal a legal Seal unless the Kings Arms be engraven in the Seal of the Significavit and the Process on which it is founded also run in the King's Name c. Tell not me for I know it That the opinion of the Judges was ask't about this as in the said Proclamation But when was it It was when the High-Commission-Courts were in being no man durst speak any thing in these days against their Placet's It would be his ruine if he did But now since that Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. is repealed I for my part know not by what Authority we do these things And I write this as much for my own satisfaction and more than for any man 's else And that too in a discourse here such as it is neither Polite nor neatly dres't I have neither Will nor Leisure to write it over again and sleek it and polish it and make it Fine 't is now most natural most like my self plain and blunt not curious nor affected like my Garb not Rich and yet I hope not Slovenly For I am one of those that love my Pleasure and Humour so much as not to take over-much pains to please or displease any man alive However what Prudent Man would barter his Ease to purchase in Exchange the Reputation of a Writer not worth one farthing in this Scribling-Age For New Books are like New-Plays wherewith the Poets and Actors can scarce please One in Ten And though the Fops get there all the little Wit they have yet they will rail and disparage them but cannot notwithstanding for bear seeing them for their hearts I write as I speak right on and the Naked Truth and Home Truths purposely neglecting the wily circumspection of Flatterers and Dislemblers Fellows of no Soul And as I have writ this off-hand and what came next to hand and occur'd at present without pumping yet has not one word here slipt my Pen without its due weight and consiration nothing is here presented Crude and Immature but well-digested as a few of those things that my Head and Heart have long been full of though a late Occasion now gives them Birth no Abortion I hope For I am well assur'd that I have not only given Birth here to my own Conceptions but to the Conceptions also of almost the whole Nation whose Judgments are not blinden and brib'd by Interest And these last shall Be mine Enemies and they only But I hope also Psal 62.3 they shall be like a bowing Wall and a tottering Fence whilst I say and Pray the whose Psalm 62. I have no picque against any man in Particular no private Interest nor Revenge to gratifie but wish for my own private-Interest as well as for the publique-Weal That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction were of force strength and vertue and not thus uncertain disorderly and precarious I have I confess in this Search and Inquiry Anatomiz'd and rip 't up to the Bottom some Secret parts yet I have also at the same time cast a vail over their Nakedness and hid their shame what I could I mean And in these Gentle Dissections if some think that I have gone too deep Let them consider that Old Vlcers and Fistula's are incurable except we search to the Bottom but in doing this also I hope I have retain'd the Property of a good Chirurgeon namely a Ladies Hand as well as a Lyons Heart And is there any but Babies and Boobies that will be frighted out of their Wits with a Scare-Crow or Magotte-Pye FINIS I Hereby allow and authorize Francis Smith Bookseller to Print my Book Entituled The Naked Truth the Second Part. Colchester November 2d 1680 Edmund Hiceringill