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cause_n	bishop_n	great_a	pope_n	1,627	5	6.0909	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43611	The black non-conformist, discover'd in more naked truth proving, that excommunication, confirmation, the two great Episcopal appurtenances & diocesan bishops, are not (as now in use) of divine, but human make and shape, and that not only some lay-men, but all the keen-cringing clergy are non-conformists ... : also a libel, and answer (thereunto) fitted to every man's case (be it what it will) that is cited to ecclesiastical courts, whose shallow foundation is unbared, and a true table of ecclesiastical court fees, as it was return'd into the star-chamber, Anno Domini 1630, by the ecclesiastical fellows themselves, and compar'd with the statutes : also concerning the unlawfulness of granting licences to marry, Quakers-marriages, folly, as well as other evil consequences of that new law-maxim, viz. that no non-conformists ought to be jury-men : shewing also, that, religion, religion, that should have been the world's great blessing, is become the plague of mankind, and the curse of Christendom ... / by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1797; ESTC R22899	136,499	106

came in the said Parish not once since June last but hired out himself a Curate in London under Dr. Grove to this day so that the Defendants said Parish of which he is Patron is miserably abus'd the Cure deserted the Flock neglected the Fleece only expected and neither His Majesties Tenths paid nor the Vicaridge disburthen'd thereof for the payment of which Tenths to His Majesty this Defendant desires this Court to sequester the Profits and better provide for the Cure both which the Bishop of London the said Promoter neglects to do so that great harm but no good is done by this Interruption and Fingringhoe has also cause to say Seldom comes a better Nor is it any great additional Honour to the Pastoral Staff that pretends a whole Diocess to be its Flock Cure and Charge even of All the Souls therein a pretty great burden and weight for a single shoulder that not satisfied to be well paid for sitting still must be doing and medling though it had much better do nothing than do mischief and harm 'T is well the Archbishop is the Bishop of Bishops and as much superior and elevated above the common or ordinary Bishop as a Bishop above the little Presbyters And 't is proper in this Case to let the Archbishop know that he may take notice and correct the neglect of the said Promoter the said Bishop of London in neglecting to collect His Majesties Arrearages of the Tenths aforesaid due from the said Harris the said little Vicar of Fingringhoe and his sin of omission in neglecting personally to demand the said great Arrearages of Tenths of the said Harris when he has as he has frequently met with him or upon refusal and non-payment to have declared the said Vicaridge ipso facto void of the said Incumbent as if he was dead as is enjoined by and in the said Statute 23 H. 8. That so the Patron might present a better man and the neglect of His Majesties said Revenue be no longer conniv'd and wink'd at nor the Cure of Souls in Fingringhoe aforesaid be so neglected and abandoned and much worse provided for by the said Bishop the Promoter in this Case than ever Whil'st there is none to Administer the Holy Sacraments there nor to Baptize or Catechize their Children Bury the Dead Read Divine Service nay nor so much as a Sermon read by the said Curate Harris or rather Reader for he can do nothing else but read whil'st the honest Parishioners have cause to bewail these Contrivances and bemoan the fruits of this Discord that whil'st the said Promoter intended to strike this Defendant he mist his blow and hit none but the harmless Parishioners who good men pay for all and All for nothing For though the said Harris has let out himself to work a kind of Journey-work under the said Dr. Grove yet he has not quite so forgot his Parishioners but that he has most magisterially commanded them to send him money for half a years Tythes or else he has threatned them that he will Ay that he will 'T is meet that this Court of Arches or Archbishop if it can do any thing that it should correct the faults of Bishops We must even turn the Tables Nor will any Body pity those busie Medlers and Master-workmen that cannot be content to oversee the Labourers hard at work and well wrought and employed but they must be placing and displacing stones in the Building and set them a tumbling and rowling 'till they fall upon their own Pates Nay no matter Harm watch Harm catch So that the 2 3 4 and 5th Articles are already answer'd by Statute Law and so shall all the rest besides what has been already pleaded and professed together with another Law that has no Law Necessity Therefore CHAP. X. 7thly AS to the 6 7 and 8 Articles or last Articles they urge a Transgression in solemnizing or rather prophaning Matrimony well-worded and cunningly but if the Register and Sir Thomas Exton had had eight shillings for every Marriage as they have had for many years together above 40 l. of this Defendant upon that Score and at that Rate then bonas noches and not a word of prophaning Matrimony without Banes or Licence contrary to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England Alas Poor Church of England Thou must be made a Skreen a Pretence and a Colour for Mens Avarice Oh Hypocrisie To which this Defendant answereth particularly and saith First That this Charge against him is in its self null and void in Law Reason Equity and Conscience for the uncertainty in not naming what particular Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are thereby transgrest since the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England that go under that Name Colour and Title are contrary to one another in many Particulars too long here to recite But in this particular Case of solemnizing Matrimony without Banes or Licence the Canons or Constitutions that go under the name of Queen Elizabeth and King James in Print are vastly different one from the other Queen Elizabeth's Canons and Injunctions ordaining for such Offence a Suspension ab officio onely and so particularly exprest onely for the space of six months But those under the names of King James ordain for the like Offence a Suspension for three long years a long time for a painful and laborious Minister to live with his mouth stopt and upon such an occasion too that not one word is said to it nor any body aggrieved if the said Registers and Commissaries go but swips in the pretended Licence and have a feeling in the hand Which makes it more than probable that those said Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are not truly Printed nor is any man bound to take notice of them except they be Recorded in a Court of Record and a true Copy be produced in such Court and particularly in this Court upon this Suit and this occasion and the Truth thereof sworn upon Oath of good and creaible Witnesses which this Defendant does hereby require in this Case and Suit according to the Rules and Methods of Law and Justice Reason and Equity Besides the said pretended Canon of King James ordaining Suspension in general ought by the Rules of the Civil Law Reason and Common Law be taken in the mildest sense For there being two kind of Suspensions namely 1. Ab Officio 2. A Beneficio The first only damages the Flock and Parish The second also starves the poor Priest and all his Family oh Cruelty for a Peccadillo when no man is damnified thereby but a greedy Register and Commissary they that buy must sell and if their mouths be but stopt with Guinees the Minister's shall never be stop't the Fault 's alledged against this Defendant for solemnizing or rather prophaning Matrimony without Banes being only in the years 1680 and 1681. when he took but about 5 s. for the same the People being the gainers

I know many People think 't is a hard world since the Inquisition and High-Commission-Court were dissolved now that Curst Cows have short Horns yet let them comfort themselves with Excommunication and the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo for though the Writ de Heretico comburendo be burnt and we cannot burn an Heretick for our Lives yet the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo shall imprison the Heretick and bury him alive in a Jayl and what would men have Methinks that should content them Enough Enough in all Conscience a man would think if they have any Conscience in them What would they be at Do they know Do they not know when they are well Will nothing serve but Hang the Rogue burn the Heretick or crop the Roundhead in a Pillory Time was Ay Ay Time was when a bold Fellow that durst speak the Naked-Truth or tell Rich men of their Roguery he had as good have eat his Ears in the merry days of the Inquisition and High-Commission But who can help the thing that will away Truly my Lord I daily expect the Effects of the Fury and Rage of the Devil and devilish men that rage so much the more as foreseeing their time is short But blessed be God my shoulders are as big and large of the largest size as the most of Mortals and can bear as much I doubt not but they 'll try my strength A whole Legion of Sell-Souls will fall upon me for this little Book better make one Back crack than not load the Wretch that takes away the Trade of the Higlers and Retailers of Heaven and Hell by which they have liv'd so long and so plentifully But I believe in God not without some Faith and Hope sure I have some grounds for it in your Grace and Clemency And for all your sayings that yet you will alter your word and not leave me to your Under-Officers Alas I am in their Clutches already they have begun to squeeze me already When shall I get out of their hands can you tell me How well will it become your Lordship to heal the Breaches and not stretch the Wounds wider they gape and are ghastly enough already and all that I have hitherto writ I told them so before but they would not believe is but an Earnest-penny of what I have at their service And to serve you and the Church I have much more in my head and heart I am scarce yet warm in my work extorted from me too and I do but play a little about the skirts of the business though some perhaps could wish me warm in Smithfield their Christian requital for my great pains if they might have leave to carry me and the Fagots thither But those days are not yet come To confute the Naked-Truth with the Arguments of Bloody Bonner a Bone-fire or a Jayl a Dungeon and a Pillory Here 's enough in all Reason for a Letter writ Raptim and in Haste I dare say your Grace never had such another Letter for length in your life And take it not in dudgeon that in memory of our mutual and spiritual Alliance I make bold to subscribe my self MY LORD Your most loving Brother Most obedient Son And most humble Servant Edm Hickeringill COLCHESTER Decemb. 4. 1681. POSTSCRIPT THE said Bishop St. Ambrose was not asham'd of his spiritual Kindred to his Flock Vos miht est is Parentes qui Sacerdotium tulistis vos inquam filii vel parentes filii singuli universi Parentes Ambrose Tom. 3. p. 89. in Luk. 18. No no Bishop Ambrose was not asham'd of his poor Kinsmen and Relations spiritual as high and stout as he was and scorn'd to Try them Judge them much less Curse them Silence them Stop their Mouths and Excommunicate them by Proxy or by his Vnder-Officers And yet he was a great Ecclesiastical Judge as well as your Lordship not a Judge at or of Common-Law Statute-Law the Municipal-Law but a Judge by and according to Canon-Law Canon-Law Ay if any Body can or does Judge by it this day Canon-Law Canon-Law four or five great Folio's of it too bulky to get well into any man's head that is already stufft full of Divinity Canon-Law 'T is as easie to make a Rope of Sand as to make the Canon-Law agree with its self one Canon and one Council does so thwart and thwack one another Canon-Law in which whosoever is vers't shall find enough to fit almost any purpose Had we not as good keep to the Canon of Holy Scripture as to be led to Sentence by Proxy and Lay-Doctors of Canon-Law even just as they shall nuzzle things into our heads But give me leave to mind you of one Canon-Law more most agreeable to our English Laws Concil Carthag 4. Can. 22 23 29 30 32. Episcopus si Clerico vel Laico crimen imposuerit deducatur ad probationem in Synodum Can. 30. Caveant Judices Ecclesiae ne absente eo cujus causa ventilatur sententiam proferant quia irrita erit imo causam in Synodo pro facto dabunt Let the Ecclesiastical Judges have a care and look to that they pronounce no Sentence in the absence of the Party accus'd nor without consent of a Synod of Presbyters if otherwise it shall be null and void c. And most reasonable such Presbyters too as are of the Neighborhood for shall not our Temporal Estates Free-holds or Monies no not in Trifles be given away from us without a Jury of the Neighborhood And shall our everlasting Souls and the liberty of our Bodies be given away by Proxy and a blind implicit Faith in the Certificavit or Significavit of a single malicious peevish interested and revengeful Sell-Soul Surrogate Official or Register King Balak himself could not with all his Gifts persuade the wicked and mercenary Prophet Balaam to curse whom God had not cursed but in spight of his teeth he was glad to say How can I desie whom the Lord hath not defied Yet he loved Cursing and Mischief in his heart and accordingly gave King Balak most wicked counsel which ended in mischievous Events on all sides No Judge that has any thing of a Man in him can pass Sentence of Death upon a Malefactor that deserves it without some yernings of the Bowels of Humane Compassion to Humane Kind And shall a keen-spiritual Judge make no more of it than to be yare and brisk and ready prest and bent to anathematize excommunicate silence suspend and curse to eternal death the Souls of poor Christians for every Trifle to the Pit of Hell and his Body to the Jayl Is this Christianity Is this Religion Learnt we this of our Saviour God forbid God forbid that protestant-Protestant-Bishops should be like the Bishops Lather speaks of for this cause To. 2. p. 310. Adversus falsum nominatum ordinem Episcop Perinde c. It is with these wicked Bishops all one as if the Devil himself should sit Mitred in the Chair and Rule the People The

nothing but never suffered any man to be delivered from Satan or absolv'd but he made him then pay for his Journey thither by Excommunication before ever he would suffer them to return by Absolution and as bad as trading goes for the Naked-Truth has almost quite spoil'd it yet it is to this day absolutely the best Trade I was going to say but that 's a lie but it is still the most gainful Trade in Europe for you run no hazard but of the first waftage to Satan and even then also if ever they be suffered to return they pay sauce they pay for all at last besides a man runs no great hazard in stock for a small stock will set a man up a little Wax and Paper and Pen and Ink except the place might cost somewhat at the entrance and admittance for a Garsome or Fine but however the Trade begins to brisk up again and sometimes they shall make you of one particular Soul especially if it be a Churchwarden's Soul ten or twenty waftages and for every waftage seven or eight pound if it be a weighty and rich Soul and long upon the Road or Voyage for they go both by Land and Water and of a poor Soul and quick passage perhaps not above ten Groats or such a matter I am sure I am within a shilling under or over if it be a poor Churchwardens Soul and sometimes thirteen shillings and four pence and sometimes I may well say a Guiney Well! 't is no laughing matter Gentlemen Proximus ardet it may be your own turns in good time there 's no body has cause to laugh that I know but the Pope and such as he first constituted Sumners Apparitor's Surrogates c. they indeed may well laugh they win There are two Books of Naked-Truth I ought to tell the Reader the third Part and fourth Part that are father'd upon me but they are spurious and unlike me or my style which is uniform at worst and some say so singular that I need not put my name thereunto 't is self-evident I never writ more Naked-Truths than This and the Second Part of Naked-Truth and the Vindication thereof against Fullwood Nor had I writ this but upon the said occasion nor troubled my self or the World with my Notions if I had not been troubled in their Spiritual-Courts for I love my retiredness having been cloy'd with the Flourish and Grandeur of the World before I chose to settle my self in an obscure and dormant Function in being a Priest In which silence I had for ever as my desire was lain hid but Providence will have it otherwise Yet after two or three experiments I think men are mad possest or bewitch'd to trouble me or trouble themselves with me incessantly to instigate and provoke a man that studies to be quiet if the Devil did not owe them a shame The Reader cannot reasonably expect that accuracy of method or spruce style in so hasty a Birth Conceiv'd and Digested long ago but writ every word in that Weeks stay I made at London in the throng of other businesses and far from my Study my Notes and my Books But he that will please to read St. Augustine in his 16th Sermon upon Gods Word in St. Matthew and in his first Book of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and Athanasius Chrysostome and Theophylact and they will find that my Comment here upon Matt. 18.17 is not Heterodox nor Singular I have but one thing more to beg of the Courteous Reader viz. his Pardon for several escapes lapses and tautologies not to be avoided but by writing it over again But I have no leisure and less disposition to give it a second draught Let it go rough as it runs blunt and unhewn 't is natural and mine own But neither I nor the Reader will repent our cost and pains if this do but help to blunt that keen and fiery edg of Excommunication that has set all Societies in Christendom together by the ears and has been the great if not only bane of Charity the sole Test and Truth of any Religion The two most Learned Pen's Sir Thomas Moor and Erasmus Contemporaries and great Cronies together are both my Warrant and Authority as well as President for this Jocular way of writing on a weighty subject which is nauseous if it be affected and not free and natural But if it be genuine it is the most profitable way of writing upon a grave subject because pleasant For the most tough and sinewy Arguments are then most effectual when made pliable to the capacity and finely fitted to the head which the said two great names 't is rare two in one Age had got the knack of nor were any of their time more belov'd by some or more hated by others The former hated even to death The latter to damnation or rather Excommunication by the Pope and Fryars and yet for his great Learning pleasant and facetious way of Writing Canoniz'd by others for a Saint so that setting one against the other 't is fancied that he is neither in Heaven nor Hell but betwixt both in a Limbus of his own However the Town of his Nativity Roterdam as the seven Islands-Mediterranean contended for the Honour of being the Birth-place of Homer in eternal memory of his Immortal Name have set up his Effigies in Brass in their chief Church as I am informed styling him for their own Honour as well as his Erasmus Roterdamus But no man ever yet writ so well since the Christian World was and is so divided into factions as to get every bodies good word no not our blessed Jesus himself some said true of him as Peter Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God and others lyed and said Thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil And it will always be so with the best of men some shall not love him so well but others shall hate him as much either through their Native Virulency Malignity and ill Humor or else in envy of his Fame Learning Parts or Prosperity will endeavour to blacken him and do him mischief And these Delinquents the Fools and the Knaves are by far the major part of the World and therefore 't is reputation enough and to be sure the most lasting and the way to be everlasting if men be but acceptable to the few honest and wise who shall eternize the memory for fools bolts are not sooner shot than vanisht and the envy of knaves expires and ceases and is buried with and in the Grave of the Worthy Besides Truth is always prevalent and strongest at long run if it be not smother'd by an Inquisition or a Jayl the Popish methods of old but uot practicable now people are generally unhoodwinkt And yet I deny not but the World I mean the vulgar are not guided by Reason Truth or solid Judgment but by Interest Fancy Opinion and Superstition yet they are glad always at long run for their own sakes to

I were in place where I might properly discuss the point but I have learnt to obey and to mind only mine own business CHAP. V. I Have heard some Lawyers say that all Laws of man which are contrary to Gods Laws are void ipso facto as soon as made But what 's that to this affair But there are worse consequences of an Excommunication amongst us than Imprisonment or the Fees or rather Fines severer consequences than what attends the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for if I mistake not an Excommunicate Person and signified under the Bishops Seal to be such shall not sue at Law for his Debts Lands nor Estate nor make a Will to dispose of the same or if he do the Spiritual-Courts will not prove it nay some would have it that they shall not give their Suffrages and Votes in the choice of Parliament-men nor be suffered to Trade nor to Buy or Sell nay in Popish Times and Countries none may buy any thing of any Excommunicate person Rev. 13.16 17. in pain of being also Excommunicate neither give nor sell them meat nor drink For which cause it was that Jane Shore was starv'd and dyed in Shore-ditch no body durst relieve her because she was Excommunicated And most of the Rebellions in the Reign of Henry VIII was because the Pope by his Bull of Excommunication dated Decemb 7. Anno Domini 1538. had deprived the King of his Kingdom and had absolved his Subjects from their Obedience Hard is the case both of Kings and People when they lie at the mercy of the Clergy except they will be content to be Gospel-Ministers and Servants of Christ and his People and not Lords to tyrannize and domineer over God's Heritage such Pride so contrary to the Gospel will have a Fall nay 1 Pet. 5.3 Isa 26.11 it has had a Fall yet some Men will never take warning nor believe in God but trust to broken Cisterns and their own Subtleties which are Foolishness with God I think every Man that has Liberties or Properties to lose and the poorest Man in England has Liberty to lose though he have no Freehold I say it is of Concernment to all Men to look about them and have a care God knows whose turn it may be next For my part I had rather anger the Great Turk than a peevish proud Surrogate Register or Summer And indeed my private Concerns was the first occasion to tell you true of making me look and pry into their nasty privy ways Extortions Oppressions under which His Majesties Subjects poor Widows and Orphans groan remediless to this day notwithstanding so many Acts of Parliament for their Relief Does not the Statute of 31 Edw. 3 4. tell us That the Ministers of Bishops and other Ordinaries of Holy-Church take of the People grievous and outrageous Fines where note by the way that by outrageous Fines is meant by the Statute unjust Fees for the Probate of Testaments c. And the Statute of 3 Hen. 5 8. begins thus Whereas the Commons of the Realm have oftentimes mark that in divers Parliaments mark that complained of that that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probate of a Testament c. against Right and Law c. therefore that Statute reduc'd them to Two shillings six-pence or Five shillings at the most A likely matter that Spiritual Men can be held bound by a Statute that could bind and loose all the Commons and Nobles too at their pleasure A Statute Law bind them No no no more than Samson's Wit hs or New Cords could hand-cuff the Gyant that is so long as and no longer than he list Therefore the Statute of 21 Hen. 8 5. complains and complains and tells how often these Ecclesiastical Men had baffled the Statute enumerating and particularly naming the two former Statutes here now recited and reduces then for the Probate and Inventory Sometimes to 6 d. sometimes to 2 s. 6 d. at most but 5 s. as I have more particularly given you a Table of Fees in my Vindication of the Naked Truth The Second Part And all this in pain of 10 l. one Moyety to the King and the other to the Party grieved together c. Then you 'll say Why do they still take 20 s. 30 s. 40 s. and sometimes 50 s. for a Probate sometimes much more I answer Because they are Impudent as their Predecessors are complain'd of Statute after Statute Parliament after Parliament and to little purpose Go bind Samson but you had best have a care you come not within his Clutches Go and complain against them To whom you 'll say perhaps write Naked Truths against them that at length our Superiors may hear the Complaints of the Widow and the Orphans opprest grievously by their Extortions in Probates c. Does not God Almighty say concerning the crying Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 18.20 21. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will hear Well then publish their known Extortions as the said Statutes already mentioned confesses that the Commons did grievously complain of the Extortions and Oppressions of the Spiritual Court And will not this way do Write against them and Print against their impudent sinning in defiance of the Statutes the Laws and Justice of the Realm And what then Will that do Yes that will do one thing namely undo the Author I 'll assure you expert● crede Roberto I am in a fair way to it if Actions brought by my great Bishop in Common-Law Courts and in Ecclesiastical Courts and Citation upon Citation in Arches in Delegates if all these and Power into the bargain will not sink one Poor Man sure then there 's more than humane help and more than a humane hand in it But you may well say Godly Bishops should not be angry and touchy nor enrag'd at nor become an Enemy an open Enemy against any Man for telling the Naked Truth of the Vileness and Extortions of their Ministers and Vnder-Officers against the known Laws of the Land but love and cherish such and if they will be angry they should vend their spleen against the said wickednesses of their Vnder-Officers and correct and amend and take shame to themselves and shew signs of Repentance But I am not bound to answer this Objection only it brings to my mind the temper and opinion the King and Parliament were of concerning the Bishops and their Visitations some years after the Pope's Supremacy and Prelacy was cut down in the beginning of the Reformation in H. VIII's time expressed by the coupling together of two words in 35 H. 8.21 namely Visit or Vex as if they were Synonyma's or the one explanatory of the other Visit or Vex good The King and Parliament had a good opinion of the Bishops Visitations in the

Aldham in the County of Essex and Everert of the said Parish Widdow Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 8. Item Objicimus Articulamur quod praemissa fuerunt sunt vera publica notoria manifesta pariter famosa ac de super eisdem laboravit in Praesenti laborat publica vox fama unde firma fide de jure in hac parte requisita petit pars ista proponens jus justitiam sibi fieri Ministrari cum effectu nec non prefatum Edmundum Hickeringill pro tanto suae temeritatis excessu in delictis criminibus suis praedictis Canonice corrigi puniri a dicta sua Rectoria omnium Sanctorum in Villa Colcestria praedicta per triennium juxta Canones Constitutionis praedictꝰ suspendi ac pro sic suspenso denunciari declarari doctumque Edmundum Hickeringill in expensis Legitimis ex parte per partem Thomae Doughty in hujnsmodi causa factꝰ faciendum eidemque se ad omnia singula promissa probanda sed quatenus probaverit in premissis catenus obtineat in petitis officium Domini Judicantis humiliter implorando To which Libel at my second appearance before them in Doctors-Commons of which this is the News November 12. 1681. I gave in over and above the Protestations to be seen in my first Printed News from Doctors-Commons This following Answer CHAP. VII ALLEGATIONS humbly propounded in the Court vulgarly called the Arches held in Doctors Commons London in further Protestation Plea and Answer to certain Articles in a Libel against Mr. Edmund Hickeringill Clerk Defendant Exhibited before Sir Robert Wiseman there upon a Citation at the Promotion of Thomas Doughty Gent. alias at the Promotion of Henry Bishop of London Novemb. 21. 1681. THIS Defendant saving to himself all Advantages and Benefit of Exceptions already made by Protestation against the Proceedings of this Court by reason of the Statute 1 Edw. 6.2 against all Process Ecclesiastical wherein the Name and Style and Seal of the King is not inserted which with the Penalties at the Peril of the Transgressors thereof is now in force as this Defendant is informed by his Councel learned in the Law notwithstanding some Opinion given to the contrary during the Awe and Terror of the High-Commission-Court now blessed be God abolished Saving also the benefit of such other Statutes and Reasons by this Defendant formerly alledged in the said Protestation All which being saved to this Defendant he further Protesteth and saith First That under Favor of this Court and with submission to better Judgments this Defendant humbly conceives that there is a Statute made in 16 Car. 1.11 whereby not only that branch of 1 Eliz. 1. is repealed But also It is further Enacted by the said Statute That no Archbishop Bishop Archdeacon Commissary Official Statute print c. shall inflict any Pain Penalty c. for any Misdemeanors or Contempt c. in pain of One hundred pounds and Costs and Damages to the Party grieved Upon which it is acknowledged by 13 Car. 2.12 that doubt did arise whether by 17 Car. 1. and yet there never was any Statute made in that 17 Year All Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not thereby suspended which doubts whether well-grounded this Defendant does not take upon him to determine but rather thinks that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as to purely Spirituals and purely Spiritual Weapons is not thereby taken away nor should the Weapons of their Warfare be Carnal but Spiritual But this Defendant humbly conceives That the said Statute comes fully home to this his present Case in the said Articles and is without doubt The last Article of the said Libel threatning this Defendant with no small Pain and Penalty but no less than that of being suspended for Three Years from his Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester in that County of Essex And also to pay money for Costs Both which are great Pains and Penalties though not so bad as corporal Punishment yet they are Punishments not Spiritual but Temporal Pains and Penalties All which that Statute takes right and good reason from their Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical or Spiritual as well as Corporal punishments As ill becoming Church-men that never learn'd this of their Saviour Nor as this Defendant is informed by his Councel learned in the Law is this Statute of 16 Car. 1.11 repealed nor whether any reason it should be repealed this Defendant thinks it not proper for him to determine but humbly thinks that it is impossible that the repealing the 17 Car. 1. should repeal 16 Car. 1. But doubts not but it is available to him to defend him from the force of the said Article and to keep his said Rectory Tythes and Profits from the reach of this Spiritual Court. Besides The said Article threatning to suspend this Defendant from his Rectory for Three Years and the said Rectory being this Defendants Freehold the validity of this Defendants Title thereunto ought not to be tried in any Ecclesiastical Court but in the Courts of our Lord the King as in the Statute of Provisors 16 Rich. 2.5 For the Plenarty of a Benefice or whether a Benefice be full shall not be tried in the Ecclesiastical Court or Court Christian says the Lord Cook but in the Kings Courts as in the other Statute of Provisors 25 Edw. 3. 9 Edw. 1.2 18 Edw. 3.5 16 Car. 1.11 And in cause of disturbance as this is concerning the Right of Tythes pertaining to a Rectory when it is deraigned then shall the Plea pass in Court Christian as far forth as and no further at their peril then it is deraigned in the Kings Courts as in the said 9 Edw. 1.2 18 Edw. 3.5 28 Edw. 3.3 A Jury not an Official or Commissary Bishop nor Archdeacon shall determine Mens Freeholds such are all Rectories and Vicaridges Secondly In the said Process or Citation the ground or leading Process to the after-proceedings against this Defendant in the said Court the said Defendant is cited to answer certain Articles at the Promotion of Thomas Doughty Gent. But such Articles at the said Doughty's Promotion are not deliver'd to this Defendant nor were exhibited against him at his first appearance upon the said Citation as is provided by 2 Hen. 5.3 nor such Libel or Declaration answerable to the Process charged upon this Defendant to this day and therefore he ought by the said Statute to be dismist with Costs But instead thereof another Libel was deliver'd to this Defendant wherein Henry Bishop of London is Promoter Richard Nucourt the Proctor in presence of this Defendant blotted out for the Ink was not dry when the Libel was deliver'd Thomas Doughty the aforesaid Promoter and in his Room very sawcily and no doubt without the said Bishops privity being absent inserted Henry Bishop of London as Promoter nor will the said Bishop have very much cause to thank him for the Place or Preferment it being much below the

Bishops then made per saltum as at leap-frog skipping over 3 or 4 Heads none vaulted into the Holy See or Seat nor leapt so high at one Jump but mounted as to the Altar and Holy of Holies by Stairs Steps and by Degrees Because a Bishop should be a Presbyter or Elder 1 Tim. 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a young Novice And why And why what stops his Grace The Apostle shews cause for his Non-placet in the next words lest he fall into Temptation or the Condemnation of the Devil by being puffed up with Pride 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swelled like a Bladder with the Windy and Fanatical Self-conceit of his own merit when in truth that Bigness is nothing but windy Emptiness and being discovered or let out will fall and flag as Lucifer did from Heaven That is the meaning of the Condemnation of the Devil namely the same Sin of being swell'd with Pride and Self-conceit will have the same Punishment that Lucifer had But notwithstanding all this the Church made bold to crack a Commandment in the case of Nectarius who having great Friends and Relations was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople whilst he was a Souldier a Layman and unbaptized And I can tell you the Patriarch or Pope of Constantinople would have scorn'd in those days to have given the Wall to the Pope of Rome Also stout Captain St. Ambrose that would scorn to bend to the Emperour Theodosius but flatteringly cring'd to the Usur per Eugenius was chosen Notwithstanding the Canon-Law to be Bishop of Milan whilse he was a Souldier and Governour of the same City and Metropolis of Milan nay also unbaptized as I remember Thus when the Church can nail the Canons or crack a Commandment for Men of great Parts Interest Relations and Friends surely to show its Charity it may condescend a little from its rigorous Constitution and reach a helping-hand themselves also being frail and tardy and Indulgence in this my case to me a poor little Man that has neither great Friends great Relations great Parts great Learning nor indeed great any thing save a great Adversary To the 2d Question namely Quest 2. If Christ or his Apostles did ordain such an Ordinance as Excommunication who were the Administrators Answ The Answer is easy namely such as had Ability to judg and discern Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood and an Orthodox-man from an Heretick by the Gift of the Holy Ghost called discerning of Spirits For we shall be in fine taking if upon a fair Trial and Issue what colour is such a Horse white or brown we should place a blind Man upon the Bench or Jury or Men-purblind and short-sighted The Pope craftily foresaw this before ever he applyed that of Tit. 3.10 to his Jurisdiction namely a Heretick after the first or second Admonition reject And therefore he first made himself the Infallible Judge that cannot be mistaken but alwayes discerns Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood an Orthodox-man from an Heretick for then and then only is Excommunicating a Heretick rational when built and only then when built upon Infallibility take that away and down comes the lofty Fabrick or Fortress or Cittadel of Excommunication that has so aw'd and overaw'd the whole Christian World For what a Blunder is it in Ratiocination to say the Church of Rome Alexandria Antioch have erred and the Church of England may erre and yet these same Churches shall as stifly decide and positively assert what is and what is not Truth as if they were not Seekers Searchers and Viatores but Infallibility men For supposing a Church or Church-men may err as did the greatest Council of Bishops that ever was in the World about 700 at Ariminum Sirmium c. who were Arrians and denied the Divinity of our Saviour the Orthodox and Protestants had a good time of it to be burnt by the Bishops as Hereticks for asserting the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Lawn-sleeves then nor all those Reverend Habits and Accoutrements of the Bishops whether the Most Reverend or the Right Reverend Fathers in God we see by many Experiments are no infallible Marks or Signs of Truth without all peradventure as if all their Placets must must must needs be right whilst they are frail like other Mortals And therefore Excommunication like Scanderbeg's Sword is but a common Weapon except it be wielded by Scanderbeg's Arm Judgment and Dexterity A Crieple would make but bungling work with it nay perhaps lose it to the Enemy and then we shall have it turn'd upon us fatally Good Crieples sit still and be quiet till you get Apostolical Arms Judgment and Dexterity for fear this two-edged Sword with which you do so cut and hack dismember and mangle the Body of Christ for a Guinee a cut be one day turned upon your selves with the fatal Edge towards you if the Enemy recover it and get it in his hand again The Enemy the common Enemy the Papists first from Tit. 3.10 Excommunicate a Heretick that is they deliver him over to Satan as the Apostles did but finding Satan would not take the Excommunicate as he did in the Apostles days then the Pope by an Arrogance as petulant as the Sarcasme surrogates the Magistrate instead of Satan to take the Excommunicate for the destruction of the Flesh and that in the most compendious way by Fire and Faggot for the destruction of the Flesh Body and Bones in the Flames And though amongst us the Heretick shall not now be delivered over to the Magistrate to be burnt since the Abolition of the Writ de Heretico comburendo yet even at this day when holy Church which yet confesses her self subject to error signifies a Man to be Excommunicate for Heresy the Magistrate takes him with the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for the Destruction of the Flesh not with the fierce Fire and Faggot but still with a lingring death a Goal until he Repent and Recant that his wicked Error As for example Suppose a man should not with both his eyes which are good as other mens and with which he can see as far into a Milstone as any man should assert that though it be the positive Law of the Land to Excommunicate and Deprive men of the blessed Sacrament yet he cannot see in Holy Writ that Christ debarr'd Judas the Traytor nor that the Apostles ever did by Practise or Injunction command such a Discipline by some called an Ordinance of God in depriving them of the Ordinances of God as if a Physician should command that the Patient should never take a Cordial or Sanative Medicine because he is sick Alas Alas Cordial Medicines are made for the very nonce for the sick as the Sacraments for sinners and the whole if there be any such have no need of this Physick but them that are sick And if all sinners must be deprived of the blessed Sacrament and Excommunicate I doubt the Bishop and his Chancellor that Excommunicate sinners must

look't ugly and deform'd ever since to all Christendom that have but eyes of Reason or Religion or any heart of a man in them to see with pity the Butcheries of that cruel man of sin surrounded and upheld by Curses Excommunications Absolutions Inquisitions Writs and Goals St. Peter indeed was put into a Goal but he got out without paying any Fee and never help't any man to a Goal by cursing him or help't the Goaler to his Fees much less Gregory Of old the Heathens Persecuted the Christians now Christians in name I mean Persecute Christians more cruelly than those under Mahomet and the Great Turk Oh the Impudence as well as the Villany and Bloody Hypocrisie of such Religion 't was this Blood-red Religion that made the Indian Heaven to forswear because he heard the Spaniards were there Gore-blood Religion thus Confounds The Naked Truth with Blood and Wounds Conniving at known Whores and Whoremasters Atheists Infidels Debauchees Drunkards Cursers Swearers and Blasphemers I wonder who ever saw a Whore or Whoremaster call'd to Doctors-Commons or other Court-Ecclesiastical and do Penance in a White-Sheet since the Restauration of his Gracious Majesty I never did they find fairer Quarter Spiritual-Courts are no Bawdy-Courts I would have you know But does any man speak against their Fees or bring down the Fee of a Marriage from 15 s. to poor 5 s. or dare speak against Illegal Ceremonies bowing and ducking and cringing to the East to the Altar towards the lighted Candles Where is the Villain stop his Mouth Gagg him Pillory him Crop him Curse him Excommunicate him Gaol him nay Man-catch him Indict him Sue him Vex him Plague the Tom-Tell-Truth nay hang him if possible What should he do in a Church where a Tory-Teague newly Converted thereunto Fait and Trot Joy shall have fairer Quarter But is there any Christianity Law Equity Reason or Conscience for such Methods or to damn a man by Proxy or Deputy Gaol a man by Proxy feed the Flock by Proxy well let men do to themselves what they do to others and feed themselves too only by Proxy and Deputy and see if in a little while they do not look as lean and cadaverous as the poor starv'd Flock that is fed by Proxy and rul'd by Proxy and Deputies and under Officers Chancellors Officials Surrogates Registers and Apparitors Shall Wolves in Sheeps-cloathing that have Nayls and Teeth and Fangs behold the Print govern the Sheep of Christ that neither knows them nor are known by them jealous and zealous far more for the breach of a Ceremony Human Laws their own profit and honour at ten thousand times more than Adulterers Blasphemers c. breaker of Laws Divine and dishonourers of the Almighty God oh the abominable Hypocrisie of such Religion Worms-meat Acts 12.23 shall know that God will not be mocked The CONCLUSION THus you see my gentle Readers what an Example the Ecclesiastical-men have made of me in plaguing me in their Spiritual-Courts as you have heard and at the Assizes and Ctown-Office and in the name of our Good and Gracious King too for Barretry Barretry And will not this be a terror to all English-men for the future for ever writing or speaking any more Naked-Truths against them and their Extortions and Illegal and unconscionable Fees in the Courts of Conscience or Courts-Christian in Probates of Wills Letters of Administrations Ordinations Institutions Inductions and Sequestrations Licences Indulgences and Dispensations Absolutions Suspensions and Excommunications Synodals Procurations and Visitations c. There were more old Naked-Truths to the same purpose made against them for the like Crimes namely the said Statutes as 31 Edw. 3.5 3 Hen. 5.1 and 21 Hen. 8.5 c. And why did they not fret and gnash their Teeth as well also against those Naked-Truths They durst not but they dare and do to this day live in defiance of the said Naked-Truths and Statutes the more bold and overbold they you 'l say but they cannot for fear of a Praemunire call a Statute and Parliament-men to account before them coram nobis as formerly into the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court no not now Dat Deus immiti cornua curti bovi Curst Cows have short Horns saith the Proverb But foenum in cornu still I had need be shie of them For besides the said Promotion of the said Henry Bishop of London against me in the Arches and Barretry in the Kings-Bench in both which they have hitherto no cause to glory or rejoice praised be Almighty God for his help and assistance There is Still another Vexation and Law-Suit brought against me and in the Kings-Bench too and at the Suit of the said Henry Bishop of London upon the Statute Scandalum Magnatum 2 Rich. 2.5 Help me still good God! when shall we have done Burthen upon Burthen Suit upon Suit Vexation upon Vexations Canons upon Canons Burthens and Canons enow one would think almost to sink a stout Frigat or Bluffe Man of War Indeed that Statute was made when Popish Prelacy was in its Splendor and Meridian they even made what Laws they lift yet the House of Commons have attempted at it more than once and our blessed Saviour absolutely condemns all Clergy-Domineering one over another that whatever the Princes of the Gentiles do in exercising Lordship and Dominion over one another yet his Clergy shou'd not do so 't is a shame especially for Apostolical men and such as pretend to be the Successors of the Apostles that they should not be as ambitious also to succeed them in their Christian humility and Brotherly kindness And I have read somewhere I think in Cook 's Institutes That all Laws of men are ipso facto null and void if contrary to the Laws of Christ And this Scandal forsooth must be sworn too by the said little Vicar Harris an incomparable person that not being able to defeat me of my ancient Rights and Profits of my said Parish of St. Buttolphs in Colchester which have been enjoyed by me above 20 years and by my Predecessors Rectors of All-Saints about Sixscore years before even since the dissolution of Monasteries yet the said Henry Bishop of London granted the said Harris a Sequestration of them but in vain yet some hope 't is not in vain to bring the said Action of Scandalum Magnatum against me and the said Harris has sworn it already and the said Bishop has declar'd against me accordingly That I should say the said Bishop was ignorant and impudent and had a hand in the Plot and that I thereby meant that the said Bishop had a hand in the Popish Plot or to that effect I have heard that the said Bishop has of all Bishops been accounted without reflection the Protestant Bishop with an Emphasis But that ever any Man should imagine that he was Popishly affected much less that ever he had a hand in the Popish Plot many People say also there is no such Plot never never sure yet came into any

every other Witness 00 4½ 00 4½ 00   Item For the Examination of Witnesses upon Interrogatories 00 09 00 09 00   Item For the Examination of every Party principal 00 09 00 09 00   Item For the Oath of every Party principal 00 00 00 00 02   Item For the Copy of every Witness upon any matter produced and examined 00 00 00 08 00   Item For the Copy of the Parties principal Answer 00 00 01 00 00   Item For every Commission for the Examination of a Party principal or Witnesses or for the Prizing of Goods of a Deceased or to take the Oath of a Party upon an Inventory or Accompts or any other matter 05 00 05 00 00   Item For the Constitution of a Proctor 00 00 00 04 00   Item For Exhibition of every Proxy in Writing 00 00 00 02 00   Item For every Act 00 00 00 04 00   Item For every Act upon the opening or recovering of a Prohibition Consultation or any others of the King's Writs 15 00 15 00 00   Item For a Delay For every Definitive Sentence and Interlocutory Decree 05 00 05 00 12   Item For every Significavit to the Chancery for the Taking and Imprisoning of an Excommunicate Person in any Cause as well of Instance as Office 05 00 05 00 00   Item For every Significavit to the Chancery for the Freedom and Inlargement of an Excommunicate Person in any Cause as well Instance as Office 05 00 05 00 00   Item To see it Executed For the Copy of every Order of Penance 06 00 06 00 12   Item For Transmitting every Process Judicis a quo ad Judicem ad quem to the Register according to the Taxation of the Judge ad quem or according to Composition between the Register and the Party Appellant 00 00 13 00 00   Item For the Seal of the Judge a quo set to the Process Transmitted 06 08 00 00 00   Item For all Letters of Guardianship under Seal 06 08 06 08 00   In Causes of Office that is where the Court proceeds of its own Accord and t is not between Party and Party To the Comissary To the Register To the Apparitor   s. d. s. d. d.   IMprimis For every Original Citation and Appearance of every Party 00 06 00 06 04   Item For every Decree Viis Modis 00 06 00 06 04   Item For every Excommunication or Suspension under Seal 00 09 00 09 04   Item For every Absolution from an Excommunication or Suspension 00 09 00 09 00   Item For Letters Testimonial to be made upon any Cause and for writing them if the Cause require it 06 08 06 08 00   Item For the Examination of every Party principal 00 09 00 09 00   Item For the Copy of every Parties principal Answer 00 00 01 00 00   Item For the Oath of every Party principal 00 00 00 00 02   Item For drawing of Proxy for Appearance at all Visitations and Synods 00 00 02 06 00   Item For the Exhibition and Consignation of every Proxy in writing at the Visitations and Synods onely 00 00 00 04 00   Item For warning of them For Registring the Names of the Church-wardens and Side-men of every Parish 00 00 00 04 04   Item For every Certificate made to the Bishop by the Commissary for the Commutation of any Penance 06 08 06 08 12   Item When any Penance is Commuted by the Bishop and the Commutation extended to the Commissary 10 00 10 00 00   Item For the writing of any Bond taken for the Indempnity of the Judge or his Commissary upon any Cause 00 00 01 00 00   Item For every Act passed in Court 00 00 00 04 00   Item For every Faculty that grants Licence except for Teaching 05 00 05 00 00   Item For Exhibiting every Bill of Presentments at the Visitation onely 00 00 00 04 00   Item For the Purgation of every Person to whom Purgation is assigned and for his own hand 00 09 00 09 04   Item For every Compurgator first sworn and for his hand 00 09 00 09 02   Item For every other Compurgator 00 06 00 06 02   Item For every Intimation sent out for all those that will object against a Purgation of any Man and his Compurgators 01 03 01 03 04   Item For a Dismission of every Man out of the Court for any Cause whatever 00 06 00 06 04   Item For any Search made by the Register for any Act of Court or any other Instrument after a Cause is ended 00 00 01 00 00   Item For every Sequestration of the Fruit of a Benefice and Publication of the same under Seal 05 00 05 00 12   Item For Letters Commendatory for a Curate going out of the Jurisdiction 03 04 03 04 00   Item For every Caveat entered 00 00 01 00 00   Item For the Copy of every Order of Penance 00 06 00 06 12 To see it Executed Item For Transmitting a Process Judice a quo to Register according to the Taxation of the Judge ad quem if there be no Composition made betwixt the Register and Party Appellant 00 00 13 00 00   Item For the Seal of the Judge to the same Process 06 08 00 00 00   Item For the drawing of Articles against any Man Convented of Office for lawful Proof made of the truth of them 01 08 01 08 00   Item For every Act upon the withdrawing of a Caution out of the Registry 00 00 00 11 00   Item For every Dispensation for Exhibiting of an Inventory into Court 06 08 06 08 00   Item According to Statute For an Administration of the Goods of a Deceased not extending to the Sum of Five Pounds 00 00 00 06 04   Item In defiance of the Statute For the Administration of the Goods of a Deceased amounting above the Value of Five Pounds and under Forty 02 06 02 06 10   Item In defiance of Statute For the Administration of the Goods of a Deceased amounting to Forty Pounds and upwards let it be as many Thousands as it will is 06 08 06 08 11   Item According to Statute For the Probat of a Will where the Value doth not exceed the Sum of Five Pounds ●… 00 00 06 04   Item According to Statute For the Probat of a Will where the Goods exceed Five Pounds and not above Forty Pounds 02 06 01 00 10   Item According to Statute For the Probat of a Will where the Goods do exceed the Value of Forty Pounds and upwards let it be as much as it will 02 06 02 06 10             For every Skin Item In defiance of the Statute For the Ingrossing of every Will according to the length thereof not exceeding eight Skins for every large Skin

the righteous that is such as would be wise and righteous if it were not for the Gift or Reward But wo wo Wo be to them saith the Prophet that decree unrigteous decrees Isa 10.1 2 3. and that write grievousness which they have prescribed To turn aside the needy from judgment and to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless And what will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far to whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your glory Loth very loth will such men be that such measure as they meet it shall be measured unto them again then will they curse the keeping of false weights and false measures one to buy by and another to sell by except they indeed intend to be Weathercocks that is true Conformists yet never true nor stable but only true to every Wind that blows strongest But this is the wisdom the honesty and the policy mean while men might blush if they had any blush or grace in them this is a kind of blind Devotion or Implicite Faith Thus have I known a willing Court yare and ready at an Execution right or wrong upon a Bishop's significavit send a man to Gaol when the Bishop to my knowledg granted that significavit of one Excommunicate and knew no more of the matter or whether just or the merit of the cause more than the Man in the Moon but by Implicite Faith in the Register or his Eccho I mean Mr. Formality called a Surrogate or Official Sinner you ought to be Excommunicate Suspended saith Register or Vice-Register Excommunicetur Suspendatur quoth Eccho-Surrogate Wonderful Ecclesiastical-Policy and Kirk-Discipline Is there any Wit or Grace Law Reason Conscience or Equity in these Proceedings What Curse men Damn them Gaol them and all by Implicite Faith in a Silly Covetous Wretched Extorting Lack-Latin Register Sir How came you by the Keys of the Church These Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth These Keys that let in and out to Hell and the Gaol Did you come honestly by them speak man How came you Sir to say First Take him Devil Secondly and consequently Take him Magistrate Thirdly and lastly Take him Gaoler And in Gaol he must there lie and die without Bayl or Mainprize by 3 Edw. 1.15 How long Until he first please that is pay this same extorting Register 'till 1. He be pleas'd and as much he pleases at the will of this Lord or rather Tyrant of Souls and Purses 2. He must swear to obey the Ordinary and staremandatis Ecclesiae commandments of Holy-Church 3. He shall then be Absolv'd and have a Certificavit thereof to the Bishop who then in course grants a Significavit and then by Writ to the Sheriff the poor Excommunicate gets out of Hell and the other Hell the Gaol So that the Register the Vice-Register with Formality-Eccho have all the Keys at their Devotion for what the Bishop does by Significavit of Excommunication or Absolution delivering to and fro the Devil and the Gaol and all that the King's-Courts consequently do thereupon are all by blind Implicite-Faith in the Register and Eccho all in course only For these little Sell-souls do the feat vulnus opemque tulit the same hand again they Wounded you and they cure you the Bishop's Significavit and the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo are but necessary Consequents and things in Course So that I say again it is safer 1000 times safer to anger the Great Turk or Great Mogull than a sneaking rascally covetous extorting Register or Vice-Register that buys or hires the Sell-soul-place to my knowledg and if he buys the Devil he must sell him Thus I think we English men are at a fine pass when our Souls our Bodies our Properties and Liberties lye at this loose lock whilst a Register or Sumner keeps really and truly the Keys of all To see an old Formality-Priest sit in the Court of Arches behind Noon as if forsooth they could do nothing without the Keys for fashion-sake which Mr. Necessity-Priest has at his Girdle hanging and represents the Archbishop who is absent about greater matters than Markets of Souls and looks just like the Divinity-man amongst the Civil Lawyers in Trinity-Hall in Cambridg called Mr. Necessity because he has no Law but they are troubled with him poor man because they cannot pray without him Quite contrary in Doctors-Commons they must they must upon necessity be troubled with this Hackney-Journey-man-Divinity-driver because the mischief is the Doctors good Souls are willing enough but alas they cannot Curse and Deliver to the Devil without him nor Absolve without him although the Money for Absolution be not only agreed upon but they have the Livery and Seizin thereof in their Pocket Why What must be done then give the Word for Mr. Necessity the Arch-Bishops Representative or in inferiour Coutts the Bishops Representative or the Arch-Deacons Representative Come hither Mr. Necessity nay hold up your head and look like a Man sit down put on your Hat Mr. Necessity you must Subscribe this Curse or Anathema yea quoth Necessity give me my Spectacles and Pen and Ink. This fellow makes no more Bones of a Soul than if it had not a Bone in it nor knows wherefore it is delivered to Satan or more of the matter or merit of the Cause than the most Reverend Arch-Bishop Lord-Bishop or Mr. Arch-Deacon that are miles off and absent I 'le depose for Mr. Necessity he knows no Law Civil-Law nor Uncivil-Law all he minds or knows or enquires is only Wher 's my Gray-Groat for subscribing the Anathema or Curse Is it a good Groat I take no Brumiughams no Brumingham I. Then if ever the Soul be Absolv'd then Mr. Necessity has a Groat more for the Absolution-Oath he cares not how many are delivered to Satan so many Souls so many Groats in his Pocket ready Money but his vertue is he Prays as hard for their Absolution for every Soul Absolv'd is as good as a Groat in his Pocket Mr. Necessity to Curse takes pains But Registers and Doctors get the gains Copy-hold at the will of the Lord is the basest Tenure but that is regulated and bounded by custom and kept within the limits of reason But in this case upon the good will pleasure or displensure of these Ecclesiastical-fellows depends all we have all our Liberties and Properties of Noblemen Gentlemen Yeomen all all are held at the will of these Spiritual Lords or rather Holy-Tyrants I mean Summers and Registers and such bran such Sell-souls we none of us can be assured of any thing we have if they be not curb'd in their career we cannot say our Souls are our own Are we not at a fine pass The thoughts hereof did so perplex the King and Parliament saith the Lord Cook Inst 1. Sect. 201. that though in antient time every Official

or Commissary might testifie Excommengement that is make a S●gnicavit of Excommunication into the Kings Court Note by the way that Spiritual-Courts were not esteemed the Kings-Courts they must be the then Pope's Courts or no bodies Courts except they themselves be Soveraigns and for mischief that ensued thereupon Ay Ay that work was worthy a Parliament if they knew but how to 'mend a r●tten Spiritual-Fabrick that has no foundation in the Word of God it was ordained by Parliament for Remedy But was not the Remedy still the same with the Disease that none should certifie Excommengement but the Bishop only there they hit it Did no body ever hear of a Gentleman he shall be nameless for me that would needs have a Hat button'd up of the right side but happening to put it on the wrong way stamp'd and star'd like mad at the Haberdasher Sirrah quoth he did not I speak for a Hat that button'd up on the right side yea quoth the Haberdasher but that will cost ten shillings more cost what it will cost quoth Gallant that had more Money than Wit I 'le have it so he was glad to go home and bring him the same Hat again and putting it on right all parties were pleas'd Or him that bespoke a Picture of a Horse lying tauveing upon his Back and the Painter brought it and set it before him en passant at which disappointment the Gallant rav'd 'till going home and for more Money he brought him the same Picture turn'd topsie-turvy and so the fool was pleas'd Was fault found with the Significavits of Officials Commissaries c. Oh then let the Bishop for the future send them to the Kings-Courts Ay well 't is done And what are you better when Bishops signifie just as Officials certifies Hixius doxius Face about as you were now the Cap I hope is Button'd upon the right side Are you now pleas'd Gentlemen Surely you are well helpt up now When God knows the Bishop is not ubiquitary Can he be here and there and every-where he is but a man What would you have Can he signifie of his own knowledg the merit of the Cause Or who ought or ought not to be Excommunicate when he judges meerly by hear-say and 20 Miles of and by Implicite Faith in his Proxies and of his own knowledg knows nothing whether he does well or ill right or wrong a meer Lottery for Souls And if as Cook Inst 1. Sect. 201. a Certificate upon another Bishop's report is not sufficient much more a Certificate upon a Register Surrogate or Officials report is illegal and insufficient An error in the first concoction Physicians say can never be amended in the second and third so here if the Official miss the mark the Bishop never mends it but shoots at random lets sly at all in Course and after him in Course too the Writ follows in Course Course-doings to be sure though the Sell-souls think 't is very sine It makes them sine that 's certain that 's all the good is got by this great mischief to the Kings Liege-people this 't is to be wiser than God and to set up an Ecclesiastical Discipline unknown to Holy Scripture and the Primitive times For what should a blind man do in the Gun-room he may Fire a Canon and kill a Friend as like as an Enemy or fight against God with Gods own Sword by Coring his Servants this is to kick against the pricks to bind and loose before Christ has breathed on us and given us the Gift of the Holy-Ghost the Gift of Dis●…rning of Spirits or Spirit of Discerning take the Sword out of the Mad-mans hand or the Blind-mans hand he 's more like to do mischief with it than good Except it were lawful to have an Ecclesiastical Discipline that like an Essex● Jury hang half and save half or like drawing of Cuts for Souls long Cut or short Cut or like David's Revenge upon Moab making them all lie down in a Field Men Women and Children then stretching a Line through the middle of them on one side to put to death and with one full Line to keep alive 2 Sam. 8.2 A most nimble dispatch and compendious way of Execution There 's some hopes yet for a true man to escape by this Lottery but we are worse Is there any Whores Whoremasters Swearers Blasphemers c. let them live and 'mend what Ecclesiastical Discipline did ever correct a Debauchee But is there ever a true man or one that dares speak truth in a Province S●…ner search him out Cite him to Court Come hither Sirrah Vallain you Rogue you speak truth in an Age of Sycophantry Pimping and Pandering make an example of him Indict him Sue him Article against him Swear against him get Witnesses to swear that he spoke scandalous Words against the great Lord Bishop Ha Sirrah Have we got you within the swing of a Statute of Scandalum Magnatum we 'll swinge him with a Vengeance Ay Ay it is even so you are in the right on 't Who dare deny you have got the whipping hand of him be sure you keep it it shall go hard else if power can but be persuaded to make curt'sie to Revenge Yea yea Did you never see the Character of a keen over-grown Churchman Drawn by a Pen not a Pencil in all his Bloody and Bloaty Features 't would make a man Spew to look at him in that trim with his two Appendixes Hell and the Gaol attending his Beck In good time I have it at their Service so Drawn to the Life that he that runs may read his Name in Characters and digito monstrarier dicier hic est I 'le let you see your own Faces in my Mirrour the Successors of the cruelty of Bloody Bonner Men born to ruin will never take warning yet History will tell them that a Bloody Joab never came to the Grave in Peace and the Persecuters were choak't with the Blood they spilt or drown'd in the tears of the Widows and Orphans that they made For Heaven has ears and there is a secret Nemesis a Divine Vengeance that pursues him and finds him out Lurk he behind what power he will to hide his hated Head from God's Justice Hodg like a Horse-leech still for Blood doth thirst By Blood the Villain liv'd by Blood he burst Come strike then and feel how hard it is to kick against the pricks you 'll find that striking the Naked Truth is striking a naked Weapon with a naked Hand the harder you strike the deeper you are gasht try as soon and as often as you will Iniquity and Cruelty will in time meet with its match in this World at least truth shall Conquer as Christianity got ground in the World by suffering when the Blood of the Martyrs were the seed of the Church Therefore let false men strike and spare not show as much Plodding-Policy after Revenge Craft and Cruelty as the Devil can teach them when they lay their Heads