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cause_n	day_n	good_a	great_a	2,831	5	2.5730	3	true

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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

starts Doughty the old Promoter again and threatens what the said Bishop probably would have scorn'd to do for the said Thomas Doughty recovering his place again of which the said Nucourt had really deprived him takes up the Gantlet again and threatens to take from this Defendant his said Rectory of All-Saints a great Eye-sore it seems to him and that for three long Years besides costs of Suit And indeed it is a Threat that does much better become such a doughty Fellow than a Reverend Divine or Bishop who ought to endeavour that the Flock should be fed not starv'd and to encourage the painful Labourers that bear the Burden and sweat of the Day and not suspend stop their Mouths or Handcuff them but to remember that what Power he has should be employed to the utmost for Edification and not for Destruction to do all the Good he can not all the Mischief he can Or if he will be punishing Punish the Drones the idle and ignorant Clergy-Men the Whoremasters the Drunkards the Swearers and blasphemers of God's Holy Name Or if that will not be at least to begin at home and punish the vile Extortions and Oppressions of his Registers Vice-Registers c. in exacting illegal Fees in Probates Letters of Administrations Institutions Inductions Ordinations Excommunications Dispensations Absolutions Visitations c. to the great and groaning Oppression of his Majesties Subjects Especially to find other Work than suspending this Defendant from his Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester of all Places where the chief Men at least nay and the chief Women too as well as the Generality of the People by their Confluence to the said Church of All-Saints should seem to give him but little Thanks for his great Pains therein No more Thanks to him than to his Court that has kept this Defendant two lords-Lord's-Days together from his Ministerial Function there only to attend your Motions This good you do If therefore the said Doughty be not Promoter in this Cause then the said Rectory of All-Saints is not in jeopardy and the proofs of Witnesses are not directed and taken in order thereunto and consequently the eighth Article at least is null and void as being in Doughty's name and at his Promotion and yet not one Witness is sworn nor any Commission directed to swear them at his Promotion and consequently if all the objected Crimes were true and also as proper for your cognizance as they are here proved all of them to be improper for your cognizance and also tho your Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical was never so legal and founded and built upon the Law of the Land And tho you had known Canons legitimated by our Sole Legislators in all which you are deficient Yet then even according to the stile of your Court the Promoter Henry Bishop of London desisting and aiming not at all at the said Suspension and Rectory tho the Crimes were truly prov'd yet his promoted Libel declaring for no Penalty at his Promotion there ought to be a non-suit for that Blunder and the Defendant dismiss'd with costs But if this Court or the said Bishop the Promoter or the Promoter Doughty desire to begin again and have not yet enough of so impertinent and non-sensical Articles let them come single and one by one one after another ne Hercules contra duos If this be fair Play I have no Skill in Play nor understand Trap. But this Defendant is quite tired and so 't is hoped by this time is every body else but the Proctors This Defendant having already been so copious and substantial upon so idle and slender occasion Hereafter if the Promoter or Promoters like the Place Promotion and Preferment let them bring a more solid Charge against this Defendant that he may muster up more and greater Forces than his own to answer the Shock For in this Defence he is single and alone without as well as without need of any other Man's Assistance or Advice but then perhaps he will get better Heads than his own In the Interim here 's enough without a Fee especially upon so slight and trivial an Occasion For is it not subtle for Men to puzzle themselves in a Court about a Crime as here for Barretry an Offence against Common-Law and Statute-Law of which this Court can hold no Plea nor take Cognizance of What have Spiritual Courts to do to decide or try Causes or Cases belonging to Common-Law and Statute-Law in derogation of the Courts of our Lord the King as in the Statute of Provisors War-hawk as Fullwood says have a care of a Praemunire have a care of hooking in every thing in ordine ad Spiritualia And is it not subtle to object the very same Instances of Barretry as of old for which this Defendant has already at a fair hearing been honourably acquit As if they had conspired to publish and thereby proclaim to the World the Integrity of the Defendant's Life and Conversation to be so great and without Reproof that in all this time their Invention should be so barren of new Matter and new Accusations whilst at the same time they prove the Fertility of their Malice and Revenge Both which are the worst Privy Counsellors unto whose Suggestions Dictates and Advice whoever hearkens he need no other Enemy they alone will do his Business for him and lead him into such Follies rash and precipitate Counsels and Designs into which like as into all other ways to Hell the Entrance and Descent is easy but no Deliverance from thence but return and timely Repentance which at best brings a Man Shame at the last And is it not subtle to question this Defendant's Title to his ancient and undoubted Rites and Freeholds and in a Court too that cannot try nor decide such Titles and Controversies except they ●rack a Commandment and hook it in as some do every thing rebus Christi and so bring all temporal matters to Excommunication or the stool of Repentance or else like the Pope and Jesuits compass Sea and Land and drive all in and under their Jurisdiction Kingdoms Titles Freeholds Lands and Patrimonies into St. Peter's Patrimony in ordine ad spiritualia Will Men never take warning nor tremble at the Statutes of Provisors nor leave those old and discoverd Gilsee-tricks And is it not subtile to rip up Peccadillo's against the Act of Uniformity thereby giving occasion to prying Men to search into their own Nonconformity in illegal Rites and Ceremonies universally and without Repentance practis'd whereby they show their wit even in Cathedrals and Universities in defiance of the Act of Uniformity But no Man is too great or overgrown for the Law to which in all Ages the greatest Subjects and Favorites of old have been as well as in our days forc'd to be subject and submit their sturdy Necks and hated Heads unto it but some Men will never take warning Lege Historiam ne sias Historia And is it not subtile to make Henry Bishop of

of Parchment 00 00 08 00 00   Item In defiance of the Statute For Ingrossing every Inventory and Accompts according to the length thereof not exceeding Two shillings for every Press of Parchment 00 00 02 00 00   Item In defiance of the Statute For Exhibiting of every Inventory and for subscribing of the same 00 06 00 06 00   Item For the Copy of every Act extracted out of the Registry under the Register's hand 00 00 01 00 00   Item For the Copy of every Inventory Testament Libel Matter Allegations or Articles whatsoever extracted out of the Register under the Register's hand 00 00 According to the length 00   Item For Letters of Request made to another Ordinary to Cite one dwelling out of the Judges Jurisdiction 01 08 01 08 00   Item For every Renunciation of an Administration of the Goods of a Deceased or an Executor of a Will Admitted and Enacted 00 06 00 06 00   Item For every Decree made upon the distribution of Goods amongst the next of Kin and for Registring the same 06 08 06 08 00   Item The Fee of a Proctor every court-Court-day in which he is Retained upon any Cause whatsoever is 01 00 00 00 00   And no more Therefore they Abuse you when they take Ten Groats ☞ And indeed there is scarce one of all these Particulars but the Officers belonging to these Courts do now Demand Take and Extort most Vnjustly Greater Fees than are here set down which yet are all that themselves had the Confidence to ask or pretend due in the Time of King Charles I. since which Time they have not any Colour of Law Reason or Authority to have them increased Therefore if any of them shall for the future Demand or Take any Fees Duties or Sums of Money more or greater than are here set down let the Party grieved forthwith Indict them for Extortion the onely way to Curb the Avarice and Oppression of greedy devouring Locusts who like the Sons of the Horse-Leech always Cry Give Give till with tedious Vexations they undo those they can get into their Birdlime-Clutches POSTSCRIPT I 'LL add but one Argument more and 't is the slenderest in all the Artillery of Logick but for Home-thrusts like a Vipers tongue 't is slender indeed but most Mortal and Irresistible 't is called Argumentum ad Huminem like Rom. 2.22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery Doest thou commit adultery so say I Thou Adulterer Art not thou a transgressor of the Law and Acts for Uniformity Is not Adultery against the Common-Prayer-Book Is not an Illegal Ceremony-monger a Non-Conformist Is not an Adulterer a Non-Conformist Is not a Noddy I should say Nodder to the Altar to the East a Non-Conformist Is he so Why then thou old formality thou whip and spur Will no pace serve thee but a Gallop and Tantivy Foot and Horse Companies and Troops Trot and Gallop On what Service What Expedition To root a Conventicle Have a care man and fly fly get out of harms way for fear they face about and root thee for a Non-Conformist and take from thee thy pride and joy of thy heart thy 2 3 4 5. Spiritual Promotions Ha Non-Conformists Is that the Word one would think thou shouldst for thine own sake hereafter be good to Non-Conformists thou dull Coyner and Forger of Ceremonies thy chief Religion in defiance of the Holy Acts for Uniformity You that would have all Non-Conformists undone Body Soul and Estate you that are all for Cursing and Imprisoning all for filling Hell and the Gaol come on How do you like this deprivation for Non-Conformity How does this Stone-doublet fit you you that breathe nothing but Gaols Fines Confiscations Suspensions Hell and Excommunications and Writs in the Rear of it Thou wicked and unjust Judg dost thou Sentence or Excommunicate some Non-Conformists and not all Non-Conformists and dost thou partially spare thine own Nodding Superstitious silly self James 2.1 My Brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ nor the Laws of God and the King the Lord of glory with respect of persons Either all being guilty let all suffer but where shall we get Executioners or else being guilty As in general Mutiny none suffer Otherwise James 2.3 Are ye not then partial in your selves and are become judges of evil thoughts Then do not bespeak Grand-Jury-men to make fish of one and flesh of another but either spare all Non-Conformists or spare no Non-Conformists small nor great Lay-man nor Clergy-man Bishop nor Arch-Bishop Dean nor Chapter Singing-men nor Singing-boys Register nor Sumner no nor Justices nor your selves Grand-Jury-men spare all or spare none from the greatest to the least from the Bench to the Bar. Dost thou say no Non-Conformists ought to be sworn of a Jury Ha let me hear this again Is this Law That no transgressors of the Law shall be either Judg or Jury-man turn thine eyes inward look into thine own Breast and then tell me Is this Law What Shall no transgressor of a Statute be a Judg or a Jury-man not one Whoremaster Drunkard Extortioner nor Blasphemer Curser nor Swearer Or is the transgression of the Statutes for Uniformity the greatest transgression There 's no reason for that but we 'l admit it rather than spoil good discourse and then tell me thou silly Superstitious deviser and observer of Illegal Ceremonies thou Cloud that would overcast all Religion Dost thou think to escape the Inquisition by the works of Darkness Mists and Clouds of thine own making Art not thou also a Non-Gonformist The Millenaries have long expected Christs Personal Reign upon Earth when the Saints shall judg the World but all in vain for now one Non-Conformist condemns another a Non-Con on the Bench a Non-Con at the Bar pretty I protest Vice corrects Sin Fait and Trot and by St. Patrick 't is well a fine Joy If ever Popery come to be the State-Religion as it was for hundreds of years in England then those that assert it for good Law That no Non-Conformist shall he a Jury-man has cut all our Throats defeated all our Estates Liberties and Properties with that one Breath Pestilential Breath For where are our Lives our Liberties our Properties our All by the Law if it be Law to have none but Conformists Jury-men if ever we live to see none but Papists Conformists which is not impossible This it is to wyre-draw the Law only to serve a trick or a turn or a present occasion this furnishes the Papists with a fine lash to slash us and by Law too our own Law Judges and officers saith God Deut. 16.18 19. shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy Tribes And they shall judg the people with just judgment Thou shalt not wrest judgment thou shalt not respect persons neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wife and pervert the words of

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 And Except they Repent Are Liable to be Indicted and Presented by GRAND-JURIES to the Loss of their Spiritual Promotions and Imprisonment without Bayl and the Patrons to PRESENT as if they were Dead when in Defiance of the Acts for Uniformity They Practise ILLEGAL CEREMONIES In Enjoyning to be worn whether Men will or no Ministring Divine-Service The HOOD FORSOOTH Or at any time except at the Communion the SURPLICE Prov'd to be SURPLUS or OVER-PLUS In bowing to the ALTAR at the Name JESUS to the EAST placing insignificant and idle UNLIGHTED CANDLES upon the ALTAR not wearing the COPE at Communion-Times using other Publick Prayers in the Pulpit than what are in the COMMON-PRAYER-BOOK 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 ECCESIASTICAL-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 when attended with the BLACK REGIMENT WRITS and LABELS Citations and Libels Cures and Suspensions Silencing and Excommunications Sell-Souls and the Devil of Hell Canonists and Civilians Superstitions and Fopperies Noddings and Cringings Illegal as well as Deformed-Vestments and Scare-Crows Hornings and Stools of Repentance Fire and Fagot Bel and the Dragon the Bloody-Priests and their Surrogates Chancellors and Officials Registers and Gaolers Benches and Executioners Sumners and Promoters Hangmen and Apparitors The Second Edition Dedicated to the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY with all Modesty and Submission By EDM. HICKERINGILL Rector of the Rectory of ALL-SAINTS in Colchester LONDON Printed by G. Larkin and are to be Sold by Richard Janeway and most Booksellers in London M.DC.LXXXII To the most Reverend Father in GOD VVILLIAM Lord ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBVRY Primate and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND And one of His MAJESTIES most Honourable Privy-Counsellors His GRACE SIR IN this Treatise your Grace will find somewhat suitable to you in the Case of Nectarius not Arch-Bishop for that name was not then invented but which did Tatamount Patriarch of the Arch-See of Constantinople Elected thereunto per saltum or rather vaulting and skipping into the Holy-See or uppermost Seat in the Church over the heads of all not only his equals but by many degrees his Superiors contrary to the Canon-Law of Holy-Church himself also being then but a Lay man nay and unbaptized To show us that it is not the first time that the Church has crack't a Commandment to dispense with rigour and summum jus in favour of great and not vulgar merit For many reasons therefore as well as for this great and concern'd example of Lenity against the strict Rules of Law does this little Tract in all lowliness expect as well as flie so high as your Patronage and Protection And Published not so much in mine own behalf for I need not your favour but impartial and equal Justice as in the behalf of the many Dissenters and Nonconformists to the strict Rules of the Act for Vniformity With which if you cannot dispense or grant Indulgences it concerns me as little or less than your self or those Clergy-men that are here prov'd to be Non-Conformists when they too frequently practise Illegal Ceremonies in defiance of the Acts for Uniformity that enjoyns those few Ceremonies in the Common-Prayer-Book and no other mark that no other Ceremonies which other Ceremonies are therefore Illegal Superstitions in enjoyning the Surplice and yet forbearing the Cope wherein none but Popish Priests are Conformists or arayed that I know of at this day and yet the Cope is as much commanded as the Surplice And besides in bowing at the Holy Name of Jesus the impertinence at least whereof I have in all humility undeniably evinc't in my Naked-Truth the second Part except we also bow at the Holy Name of God and the Holy-Ghost names equally venerable so often as we hear them or also bow at the Name of Jesus every time a Blasphemer which is too usual swears by the Name of Jesus and yet no man dops the head much less bows the knee there-at no not in Sermon-time when we hear the Minister 100 times in an hour name Jesus Or as impertinent as that illegal and idle Superstition or Ceremony in defiance of the Act of Uniformity so generally practis'd by bowing to the Altar setting insignificant and unlighted Candles thereon and bowing to the East Nay some have been so sillily and ridiculously Superstitious as to ruine a handsom Pile and Fabrick to their own impoverishment so far as to need or get the Charity of others only by rebuilding it worse to make it face to the left and directly East and West That so Men might bow to the Altar and to the East also with one single Nod Oh! most incomparable Atchievement and no doubt meritorious Whereas Astronomy tells us infallibly that there is no such thing really as East and West but meer imaginary Points and fictitious as the Figures of the heavenly Dog and Bear that being West to some others which is East to us and East to others which is West to us But besides the Folly so it may well be called it is hereafter prov'd to be a sin against the Act of Uniformity to bow to the East or Altar and not only a Peccadillo but so great as to make us except we repent and reform that wicked Error to forfeit all our spiritual Promotions The tender Consideration whereof will I hope make us tender against Nonconformists for our own sakes it had been better tho' for Charities sake to take off our keen and fiery edge against Dissenters and Breakers of some Branch of the Act of Uniformity lest we pronounce our own Suspension and Anathema with the same mouth and for the same Cause for which we censure and sentence others I have here modestly I hope search'd into the Nature and try'd the mettal and mettle of your great and onely Weapon in your Arch-Court or Court of Arches but always under Correction and with submission to better Judgments and the Laws Excommunication So often let flie in your Name in that Court though you seldom or never come there to hear the Merit of the Cause and the Witnesses viva voce and face to face no wonder then if you make many Random-shots and wide and beside the mark if you trust

therefore thou mayst take thy course at Law with him and bring a Clausum Fregit or Action of Trespass against him before the Roman-Magistrates in their Courts of Judicatory as you may against a Heathen-man that is a Gentile or a Publican For the Publicans though many of those Excise-men Toll-gatherers or Custom-gatherers were Jews by Nation and Religion too and some of them Jewish Christians yet they were Herodians that is true Conformists to the Roman-yoke and Government and therefore odious to the Puritanical Eygots the Hypocritical Pharisees that lookt with scorn upon all Man-kind and as Dogs despis'd and hated all if they were not of their Religion or rather foolish Superstition The best Comment upon Holy-Scripture is its self and the best Interpreter of our Blessed Saviour's sayings are his own and his Apostles Words and Actions A like Saying to this of Matt. 18.17 we have in Luk. 17.3 4. where our Saviour says If thy Brother trespass against thee if he repent forgive him that is if he pay the Trespass and make thee satisfaction and confess his fault and be sorry for it and promise amendment for without these there is no true Repentance then forgive him seven times and seventy seven times even as often as he shall sin against thee and neither Court him nor Sue him in the Spiritual-Court before the Sanhedrim or High-Priests-Court nor yet in the Temporal Courts of the Gentiles or Heathen-men and Publicans For our Blessed Saviour does not say Let him be to the Church as a Heathen-man or a Publican which the Pope to colour the Authority and Jus Divinum of his Excommunications as he does that of Christ to Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church does without any ground or colour as politickly as sencelesly Construe and Interpret But our Blessed Saviour only says Let him be to thee to thee not to the Church as a Heathen-man or a Publican that is thou mayst lawfully then Sue thy Brother Jew at Law as well as any Gentile or Heathen-man or Publican Nor did ever any solid Scholar or Divine that was not prejudic'd and forestall'd in his Judgment which is usually the same with that of their Mothers and Catechisers for few men have wit enough to see and chuse their own way and know why and wherefore following like Horses in a Teame with Nose in Tayl of their Predecessors I say never an unbyass't man that ever I yet met with could prove Excommunication out of Matt. 18.17 But what may be concluded from the next Ver. 18. shall be examin'd by and by But Matt. 18.17 to my understanding sounds much like that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints Do ye not know that the Saints shall judg the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judg the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judg Angels how much more things that pertain to this life If then ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life set them to judg who are least esteemed in the Church I speak this to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man amongst you no not one that shall be able to judg between his brethren But brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers Now therefore there is utterly a fault amongst you because you go to Law one with another Why do ye not rather suffer wrong Why do ye not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded So that when Jews or Christians happen to live in subjection under a Gentile or Heathen-Government than that of our Saviour Matt. 18.17 and this of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 6. is a Rule for them to walk by as to going to Law But if the Romans had not Conquer'd and given Laws to the Jews as they did in our Saviour's time and also if Christians do not live under a Heathen-Government then Matt. 18.17 and 1 Cor. 6. has no place nor is there any occasion for those Rules but they are Rules only in such cases nor is it heard of in an Age I know it that have liv'd amongst the Jews that the Jews go to Law one with another before the Christians or put them into a Court-Christian or Court-Mahometan But in a Kingdom or Country where the chief Magistrates are Christians or Jews there is no place nor occasion for this Rule namely Let him be unto thee as an Heathen-man or a Publican And therefore this Text is nothing to prove or colour Excommunication at this day nor ever was in our Saviour's time 't is nothing to the purpose but a foolish Popish groundless Comment But as this Comment arose from Popish Politicks and Prelatical Usurpation so it was grounded and is yet countenanced by and from a vulgar error Namely That the Synagogue or Sanhedrim amongst the Jews was only a Spiritual-Court or Kirk-Administration and that all the weapons they had was putting out of the Synagogue or debarring and excluding from the Sacraments Ordinances Divine-Service and all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical-Communion And not one of a thousand at this day but so accept it Whereas in truth the Sanhedrim Kirk or Synagogue was no more a Spiritual Ecclesiastical Court than those amongst us in Westminster-Hall or at the Assizes For the Sanhedrim or Synagogue acted by a standing Commission of Oyer and Terminer there was not amongst the Jews especially in our Saviours time when he spoke those words Matt. 18.17 two distinct Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical and Temporal one for the Soul another for the Body for such differen Courts are apt to clash and keep a quarrelling or ado with Prohibitions Consultations and I know not what But the Lord-Chief-Justice was also High-Priest and Chief Magistrate and all the Inferiour Courts had Jurisdiction over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal called the Sanhedrim the great the less and sometimes and usually the Synagogue Which Synagogue I say was carried on by Commission of Oyer and Terminer and never Excommunicated any man that is never debarr'd any man Synagogue Church and never shut any man out of the Church or Temple if he was a Jew though never so prophane But the Kirk or Synagoghe Church or Judges or Justices of Peace Magistrates call them what you will for they were one and the same men as they are at this day in Turk●… Persia and the greatest part of the well-govern'd World as well as in the Theocratye of the Jews the Government of Gods own making Moses was Lord-Chief-Justice and Priest too and Consecrated and Ordain'd Aaron and his Son Moses Promulgated Canons and Constitutions not only temporal but Ecclesiastical Joshua nor Eleazar was commanded by God to look to and take care that the Israelites should be Circumcised the second time neither was he to except any amongst them or debar them from

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

Dissenters and just even to those from whom he differ'd most which appeared signally in the care he took in a Case of the Quakers wherein he was very cautious mark that in declaring their Marriages void and so bastarding their Children But he consider'd Marriage and Succession as a Right of Nature from which none ought to be barred what mistakes so ever they might be under in point of revealed Religion And therefore in a Trial that was before him when a Quaker was sued for some Debts owing by his Wife before he married her and the Quaker's Counsel pretended That it was no Marriage that had past between them since it was not solemnized according to the Rules of the Church of England He declared that he was not willing on his own Opinion to make their Children Bastards and gave Directions to the Jury to find it special which they did It was a Reflection on the whole Party that one of them to avoid an Inconvenience he had fallen in thought to have preserved himself by a Defence that if this Judg had absolutely determin'd must have made their whole Issue Bastards and incapable of Succession And for all their pretended Friendship to one another if the Judg had not been more their Friend than one of those so called their Posterity had been little beholden to them But he govern'd himself indeed by the Law of the Gospel of doing to others what he would have others do to him Which Law vacuates and makes null and void all Laws of Man ipso facto that are made to the contrary as being against the Law of God and the Law of Nature And therefore because he would have thought it a Hardship not without a Cruelty if amongst Papists all Marriages were null'd which had not been made with all the Ceremonies of the Roman Ritual so he applying this to the case of the Sectaries he thought all Marriages made according to the several Perswasions of Men ought to have their Effects in Law Here was a Man made up of Law and Reason and had Conscience and Compassion to human kind mingled with his Profession of Christianity and was good as well as wise He well foresaw what a Rod a just Rod we Protestants make for our selves and if ever the Papists prevail to bastardize all our Children if it be a concluded Maxime of the Church and Law of England That every omission or want of the established Rituals in the solemnization of Matrimony make it null Marriage being a Right in Nature and observed amongst Heathens where I have inhabited and dwelt that never heard or regarded any other Religion than the Law of Nature And tho one Man may if he can manage them or think that he has not enough of One if he please and also if another Woman agree to it he may take her to Wife and as many as he can in addition But Adultery is never heard of amongst them at least more rarely than in Courts Christian And thus I hope both I and all my Country-men true-hearted English-men and Protestants will have more cause to rejoice than Court Christian that ever they royl'd or provok'd my lazy and beloved Silence Retiredness and Privacy by so silly an occasion to publish thus my Thoughts and Meditations on greater Matters But such is the Policy when I had begg'd of Sir Thomas Exton my old Friend and Acquaintance as if it had been for an Alms more than once which they ignorantly construed to proceed from fear of them That he would speak to the Bishop of London to withdraw the Prosecution and Promotion and not force me to Answer what I knew would and which I was loth should be displeasing to them And it is ●sual for Men that are chiefly guided by the Maxims only of Self Self-Interest and Self-Designs to construe all Overtures of Peace Quietness Amity and Accommodation to proceed from fear of some Mischief from them of doing which they are resolved when they can not to be over-cautious for they cannot imagine that such amicable Overtures proceed from Ingenuity and a study of Peace and Quietness But if Men like some eager Wrestlers that have more mettle than skill or strength after many repeated Foils Foil after Foil will never take warning 't is just they take what follows Self do self have Nay no matter who bid them be so Fool-hardy Did not Light-foot that pretty sweet-lips Asahel all Mettle and Hot-spur pursue Abner that old Captain and by no Perswasions could be induc'd to fall upon the Youngsters or common-men but Abner Abner only must be the Man he would hunt down and conquer Tho 2 Sam. 2.21 22 23. Abner said to him Turn thee aside to thy right-hand or to thy left and lay hold on one of the young-men and take his Armor But Asahel would not turn aside from following him And Abner said again to Asahel Turn thee aside from following me wherefore should I smite thee to the Ground How then shall I hold up my face to Joab thy Brother Howbeit he refused to turn aside wherefore Abner with the hinder-end of the Spear smote him under the fifth rib that the Spear came out behind him and he fell down there and died in the same place CHAP. XIV NOR does the Order of Matrimony now used much differ from that made by the inspiration from the Holy-Ghost in 2 Edw. 6. for there also no Indulgences nor Perfunctory Money-Licences are allowed or wink'd at nor the Avarice countenanc'd save that instead of With this Ring I thee wed with my Body I thee worship c. is inserted With this Ring I thee wed This Gold and Silver I thee give with my Body I thee worship c. For the Bridegroom besides the Ring was to give the Bride other Love-Tokens called there Tokens of Spousage as Gold or Silver and also they were to receive the Holy Communion together or Sacrament without which never any Matrimony was solemnized a good begining makes a good ending But to come to a Conclusion of this Essay Schism or Sedition quasi se itio or going by one's self or in a private path or way of one's own head out of the King's High-way the Act of Uniformity is a transgression indeed of the Law But if nothing will serve men but severe Remarks must be made on such Seditious or Schismaticks by what has been said you see we must all cry guilty from the highest to the lowest Clergy and Laity that have but bow'd at the Name of Jesus or to the Altar or set up everlasting Candles thereon for the Papists light them and burn them upon the Altar in imitation for most of their Religion is only Apish Mymicry of the Primitive Times and Christians who were glad because of Persecution to meet in private Conventicles in Cells and Cellars and by stealth in the Night and consequently did all as the Papists now do usually at Noon-day in their chiefest Churches they obscure the Windows with