Persecution are all short liv'd But I am sure some Ecclesiastical-men have not so much as the Letter of the Law to justify their Sell-Soul-Trade Oppressions Illegal Fees Vexations Symony and Extortions wherein they are far less justifyable than vile Bonner Oh! Does our Bibles teach us Symony or to take money for the Gifts of God that are not to be sold nor purchased with money Does Christ or his Apostles teach us to exercise Dominion like the Princes of the Gentiles and to Lord it over Gods Heritage Simon Magus attempted it but to cheapen and ask the Price of the Gift of God but did not actually sell it However we do not read that he intended to be twice paid But it is contrary to our Canonical-Oath and your own Canons to take or give money for Letters of Orders Sacraments Institutions Bâ—ptings Marriages Burials c. and contrary to our Oath against Symony or selling or purchating Gods Gifts How are we 〈◊〉 What Oath have we sworn to keep There is yet one even most thumping Objection behind and unanswered which the Lord Coke seems to lay the greatest Stress upon and did most prevail with the Lord chief-Baron and others to get it hush't down and laid after the â—wo Lord Chief-Jusâ—â—â—â—â— could not deny but it begun to be reviv'd and walk again since 1 Jacobi To the great Tâ—â—rour of the ruling Priests Commissaries Officials Jaylors Registers and Summers for 〈◊〉 Trade seem'd to begin to fail but for one main Argument or Cord that seem'd to bind it down again viz. Object It would be great Scandal to the Kings Justice yea verily if there had been no Legal Priests and Bishops made for three long years together with other Inconveniences to boot if the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. should be in force and therefore it must not it shall not it cannot be in force Answ This Objection is like the Rancounter of a â—â—ayl there is no ward they think no fence against it and it is really so if the Law of England be Club-Law Object Was it a Scandal to have no Legal Bishops nor Legal Priests constituted for three long years how great then would the Scandal be for 70 long years say they Answ But My friends a Consumption or Gangrene is never the better but the worse more Inveterate more noysome more Dangerous and more difficulty cured by Continuance Did ever any man plead for the Expediency of an Vlcer because it was an old sore Is not the Continuance thereof the ready way to bring it to a Gangrene to the hazard of mortifying the part and threatning most formidably the Hazard of the Vitals and noble parts Never did Illegality or a Disease plead Seniority rationally for its Justification Is it a Scandal and attended with great Inconveniencies 'T is granted and it is too true What then What is to be done with it that is the next question and most necessary to be decided Is it a Scandal the more need there is of a speedy Removal of the Scandal such an old Scandal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Scandalum is a Greek word and it properly signifies a Threshold or stumbling block and Metaphorically all things that offend or lye in our way are called Scandals Now what shall we do with his block or Threshold or Scandal The Answer is most Easy Lay the block or the Threshold at the right Door whereto it belongs and appertains CHAP. IX DOes the Revival of this Statute put us again into the true Protestant dress does it take away the Conge Deslires and Elections thereupon which 1 Edw. 6. 2. says are in very deed no Elections but meer Colours Shadows and Pretences of Elections serving nevertheless to no Purpose and seeming also Derogatory and Prejudicial to the Kings Prerogative Royal c. Is the Kings Supremacy and Authority Ecclesiastical best asserted and avowed by his Name Stile and Armes in all Writs Original or Judicial in Ecclesiastical-Courts as well as they are in Temporal-Courts Then why should not Prelats and their Ecclesiastical Courts conform themselves and be as tender of the Kings Prerogative Supremacy and Authority in Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal Causes and Courts if they have not some Secret Reserve in the hollow of their Breasts why should they not be for the King as well in things that thwart as well as in things that make for their Interest if they be so Loyal in things that serve their own turnes Interest Power Grandeur and Dominion Is it a Scandal Remove it lay it at the doors it properly belongs unto If they be not Legally Constituted what then why then let them be Legally Constituted and if there be the more Vacancyes there will be the more first-fruits and Fees for Letters Patents They may the better afford it if they have had such stately Revenues so long illegally And what harm of all this Oh! say some A very great harm this would be a Confession of Guilt and a Confession of Sin and errour an old Sin an old Errour What then This is the first time that ever I heard that Confession of Sin was a Crime Oh but it argues such an Vniverssal Error why whoever said the Prelats are insallible in Spirituals much less Temporals we read of great Mischiess that have enshed by their buzzing at Câ—â—â—â—ong agoe and busying themselves with Politicks It had been much better for them 〈◊〉 for Princes too that Bishops had kept themselves to their Bibles And neither 〈◊〉 the World would have been so plagu'd with their Heats which like fire out of the Hearth 〈◊〉 has sometimes Consumed then Warmed having done Mischief unspeakable but what good 〈◊〉 this only my own Observation I learnt it from no worse man than a Bishop nay an 〈…〉 I mean Matt. Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury in good Queen Elizabeths days who in his 〈◊〉 Intitled Autiquitates Britannicae speaking of the times of K. R. 1 and the Pranks of Hubere 〈◊〉 Arch-bishop of Canterbury has these words Neque enim si verum Judicarc Volumus in Republica Christiana quicquam sani atque Integri Saculum illud tulit Fictaque et Adusnbrata Religionis specie Proposita totus Clerus in Sceleribus Muneribus honoribus et Rapinis Neglecto penitus Verbo impune Volutabat Hujus mali Origo ab hoc Prosluxit quod contra Orthodoxorum Patrum Decreta Clerus Nimium Mundanis se Negotiis Immiscuit Nor was there if we will Judge aright in that Age anything left sound or as it ought to be in the Christian Common-wealth for the whole Clergy under a feigned and outside form of Religion did with Impunity Wallow like Swine in Wickedness Briberies Honours and Râ—pines altogether neglecting the Word of God The Original of all which Mischiefs was this becauss the Clergy contrary to the Decrees of the Orthodox Fathers would needs be thrusting themselves into and intermedling with Worldly Affairs Then he goes on to shew a fearful Example of Gods Vengeance upon one of
said to the frequent breach of the Oath of Canonical Obedience which also is daily broke by extorting Money and selling Prayers Ordinations Institutions Lectures Sermons Baptizings c. Here 's rottenness all over Besides also many Inhumanities Vexations Extortions Imprisonments Grievances and Oppressions that have within these thousand years been used in Spiritual Courts are against the Law of Nature and not the least colour of them in the Law of God and some point blanck against the law of the Land Was there ever the like known that men should not fear to trample the Sacred Laws under their foot if they make against them and at the same time hale in each Tittle of the letter of the Law against Dissenters when there is so much Dissention amongst themselves so little Congruity or conformity either to one another or to the Act of Vniformity But the sin is greater when Holy Ordinances and Holy Keyes become Snares to catch away mens Liberties in civil matters and will be an addition heaped up and running over that a man would wonder how it is possible for so much rottenness and corruption when it happens should subsist A Bulwark against Popery some men talk of go make a Bulwark of nothing but rottenness and tell me what it is good for especially if the rottenness and corruption is of the same nature with that Popish filth that was brought from Rome by Augustine that vilest of Monks as aforesaid CHAP. XV. A Bulwark quoth he and Court-christian Court-christian was so called sayes Coke because That as in the secular Courts the Kings Laws do sway and decide Causes so in Ecclesiastical Courts the Laws of Christ should should that was well put in rule and direct for which cause the Judges in those Courts are Divines Ay we are fine Divines as Archbishops Commissaries Deans Archdeacons c. A very special Christian Regiment of which not one such name is found in the holy Muster-roll of Scripture Linwood sayes Curia christianitis in quâ servantur Leges Christi Court-christian so called because in it is observ'd the Laws of Christ whereas in the Kings Courts are observed the Laws of the World Optime opponis Domine the Kings Laws the Kings Courts set in distinction and diametrically opposite to the Laws of Christ and Court-christian I profess the King and his Courts are strangely beholden to us Laws of the World quoth he yea but Laws Ecclesiastical they call the Laws of Christ our Courts Christian forsooth in distinction from the Kings Courts our selves Divines in distinction from earthly Lay-men that mind the World and worldly things our selves Spiritual persons in distinction from the carnal Layety and our Courts Spiritual Courts in distinction from the worldly Kings Courts Well I commend them for giving themselves and us a good name and a good word becoming our own Trumpets to commend our selves for if we did not who strives to do it the Papists indeed were barbarously Inhumane Soul-sellers Cruel Revengeful Mischievous constant Friends to the Devil and the Gaol but had the Law of the Land on their side for their black deeds But some men Oppress Extort Money for Gods Gifts Illegal Fees in high and open Contempt of the known Laws of the Land and in defiance of their own Oaths against Symony and their Oaths of Canonical Obedience And moreover if the 1 Edw. 6. 2. being the last Statute that ever was revived concerning Bishop-making and Ecclesiastical Court-keeping be in force as I doubt not in the least that any body will deny then to all wickedness is added the greatest Insolence Scandal and daring Triumph over the Laws that ever any Chronicle does mention or record CHAP. XVI AND Blessed be God that has in his Providence so order'd it that out of the Eater is come forth Meat and out of the Strong sweetness to me through the Strength Interest Malice and Power of my Adversary A Power that by bereaving me of my capacity of being a States minister or receiving the States pay has thereby not only given me leisure and occasion Oh deep Polititians not only to pry into their Constitution and observe their Motions but also has thereby emancipated my Judgment and knockt off those Shackles wherewith it might happen to be feterr'd byas't warpt or bended the wrong way through Self-ends or private Respects Interest too frequently Bribing and consequently Blindfolding the Judgment that it cannot discern light from darkness nor can I deny but that in composing this little Treatise I have had more than ordinary help and assistance Divine to discern further and yet undeniably true into the Validity and force of this so needful Statute so long despised by men that talk much of the Kings Prerogative when it serves their own ends To which also I cannot say but they might the rather be inclin'd by the Lord Coke but whether they wrought him to it or he them 't is not a pin matter Ignorantia crassa non excusat For As it is most certain that an after-Statute vacates and makes voyd all precedent Statutes that are contrary thereunto And as it is also as certain as that every child is younger than its father the author of its life and every effect junior to its cause so also certain it is that this Revived Statute must date its life and force from 1 Jacob. and therefore vacates 1 Eliz. 1. 25 H. 8. 20. 1 Mar. 2. 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. and all other Statutes that make Bishops of any other fashion or send Writs and Processes in any other name than that Statute does direct and enjoyn And though this Argument alone unfetters it from Coke's threefold Cord wherewith he endeavours to bind it down yet 't is ex abundanti and more than needs For his second Cord is untyed and loosed by saying as aforesaid that It is Impossible any Law should aim at the doing any thing which is Impossible to be the aim and mind of the Legislators But it is Impossible that the repeal of 1 Edw. 6. 2. could be the mind of the Legislators because there was no such Statute in being to offend them or to need their repeal And besides the 1 2 Phil. Mar. 2. is not contrary to 1 Edw. 6. 2. For though they may be diverse they are not contrary but may very well subsist together For the Pope may keep his Supremacy though Processes Ecclesiastical did run in the Kings Name As well as the King may keep his Supremacy though Processes Ecclesiastical run in Doctor Exton's name or Pinfolds name Therefore it was below the Ingenuity of the learned Coke to mention such a frivolous Cord that is so easily broken The third Cord seems the strongest as to the repeal of the first branch of 1. Edw. 6. 2. though it is very idle and insignificant as to the other branch of the Statute concerning keeping Ecclesiastical Courts in the Kings name For 25 H. 8. 20 only allows Processes Ecclesiastical as
our Lives if that Branch of that Statute be in force In the Interim God keep me out of the enemies clutches though For I think I know sufficiently what Ecclesiastical Clemency is if they get a man at their mercy women and timerous men are said to be most cruel when they get a man down they never think themselves safe till he be made sure for ever rising up again but if they had not run to Westminster-Hall cry'd out there for help against me I could have dealt well enough with them till they had been Tyred nay They knew it as well But no more of that at present for their business was never so fully and compleatly done as now Take my word for it CHAP. III. THe Branch of the said Statute 1 Edw. 6. 2. now to be considered is this verbatim BE it therefore further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Summons and Citations or other Process Ecclesiastical in all Suits and Causes of Instance vetwixt Party and Party and all Causes of Correction and all Causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or Inquiry de Jure Patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of Persons deceased and all Acquitcances of and upon accounts made by the Erecutors Administrators or Collectors of Goods of any dead person be from the first day of July next following made in the name and with the style of the King as it is in Writs Original or Iudicial at the Common-Law And that the Teste thereof be in the name of the Arch-bishop or Bishop or other having Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction who hath the commission and grant of the Authority Ecclesiastical immediately from the Kings Highness And that his Commissary Official or Substitute exercising Iurisdiction under him shall put his name in the Citation or Process after the Teste Furthermore be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all manner of Person or Persons who have the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall have from the first day of July before expressed in the Seals of Office The Kings Highness Arms decently set with certain characters under the Arms for the knowedge of the Diocess and shall use no other Seal of Iurisdiction 〈◊〉 wherein his Maâ—esties Arms be ingâ—â—â—en upon pain that if any person shall use Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction after the day before expressed in this Realm of England Wales â—â— other his Dominions or Territories And not send or make out the citation or process in the Kings name or use any Seal of Iurisdiction other than before Limited That every such Offender shall inâ—â—â—â— and run in the Kings Majesties Displeasure and Indignation and suffer Imprisonment at his Highnesses will and pleasure Now what is there in all this that should make a man loth to act in the Name and Style and Seal of the Kings Majesty and not in the old method when a Priest was the head of the Church if there were not something in the hollow of his Heart They do not pretend as aforesaid that their Spiritual-Courts are named in God's Word if therefore they be the Kings-Courts what in the name of goodness makes them unwilling that their Processes Citations and Summons Ecclesiastical should not as other Writs Original or Judicial in the Kings Common-Law Courts run in the Name and Style and Arms of the Kings Majesty Edward 6. was the first Protestant-King since the Reformation For though King Henry 8 as I said Reform'd the lustful Monasteries yet he neither reform'd his own life thereby nor his Popish opinions But his Son was likely to be a happy Instrument of good to this Nation Whatever Doctor Heylin the darling Advocate of some Bishops have had the Confidence to Print to the contrary who in the Epistle before his pretended History of the Reformation expresly affirms That he cannot reckon the death of King Edward the Sixth for an Infelicity to the Church of England How Sir was it not an Infelicity to the Church to lose such a King To have the hopes of a glorious Reformation â—â—pt in the very Bud To have a fearful deluge of Blood and Idolatry rush in upon us by a Popish Successor But what will not the Craftsmen of Ephesus say when they fancy their Shrines in hazzard And how ready alas are such as think Lordships and vast Revenues and dominering power the Churches only Felicitâ—â—s to Reproach and Scandalize even in Sacred Princes the clearest Innocence and the most solid Piety and the brightest Zeal But God he thanked this Censure of Noble King Edward of Blessed Memory is but one Doctor 's opinion and I know not an other honest Protestant at home or abroad that will subscribe to it The very first Statute that the Parliament made as I said before in this good Kings Reign was this that we are now considering except one onely concerning the Blessed Sacrament and receiving it in both kindes with which they as piously begun and their next work was this Regulation of Spiritual-Courts For it seems very absurd that if the Ecclesiastical-Courts be the Kings-Courts and not the Prelates-Courts which they dare not in plain words deny That the Writs thence Issuing should not be in the name and style of the King the Ecclesiastical-head as well as the Temporal Nevertheless never since King Edwards Reign could the Prelates be perswaded to act in the Kings-Name but in their own Every thing would gladly be Independent and Noun Substantives And like reeling â—â—unkards scorn to be held up though they cannot stand by themselves And though this Statute was Repâ—â—â—â—d in the next Reign by a Popish Successor yet King James in his first Parliament In the first year of his Reign reviv'd this Statute by making void the Force of that Statute 1 Mar. 2. whiâ—â— had long held it under Restraint and made it Motion-less But those band being Loosned by Repeal of 1 Mary 2. in and by vertue of the Statute prim Jacobi cap. 25. It was thought to be reviv'd by the two Lord Chief Justices at the first in the fourth year of King James But when the Lord Chief Baron and other Judges had consider'd the Prejudice that might redound to the Kings Subjects if some Diocesses had no Lawful Bishop and consequently all the Priests ordained by such Bishops at least as were made since the first of the King namely the three last years must be Illegal Priests and Illegal Bishops And many other Inconveniences must ensue if the 1 Edw. 6. 2. should be deemed to be in force to the great Scandal and Impeachment of his Majesties Justice which together with the great Influence the Bishops had at Court In the three last reigns together with the Terror of the High Commission Court The business was Hush't up pretending that it was repealed and bound down with a three fold Cord as Coke is pleased to phrase it 2 Instit. fol. 685. or three after Statutes viz. 1. first by 1 Mar. 2. Secondly by 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary 8. Thirdly By 1 Eliz.
1. And if any one of these do but hold the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. must stand Repealed But as drowning men lay hold of any Root or knubs though under water and does but help to drown'd them so men that are plung'd into a Necessity to hold the Conclusion they are very willing to gain it upon any Premisses how sophistical soever Nalson in his late Collection of affairs of State â—o 763. undertakes torecite this Consult of the Judges 4 Jacobi as he says he finds it in the Paper Office and tells us That the being of this Stat. 1 Edw. 6. 2. in force was Long stuck upon but AT LAST an Answer was found So that it seems there was much longing and abundance of seeking for an Answer that is to say for any plausible pretence to avoid this Statute and at last and with much ado something as good as nothing was found for he furnishes us but with two of the very same too weak Cords which Coke mentions For some thought they were hard put to it for Arguments against the force of that famous Statute when they fly for help to the two last Cords or Ligaments to bind down that Statute which they Trembled to think might be of terrible Consequence if it happen to be in force notwithstanding the Strength of the said Cords and Ligaments none of which seemed to have any the least Power Imaginable to do the feat if men were not very willing to believe it except the first Cord namely 1 Mar. 2. for that does expresly and by name repeal 1 Edw. 6. 2. And indeed if it had not expresly and by Name repealed it It could never have been repealed if what Lawyers say be true That no Statute can be Repeal'd but by another Statute and that expresly and by Name or be contrary to the former Statute For if Wyre-drawn Consequences and Inferences might Repeal a Statute the Subjects would never know when a Statute is in Force For let but a crafty Lawyer with an oyly glib tongue use his skill and he may with Strains of wit and stretches and Inferences and far-fetcht Consequences and oblique Reflections make such a Clash among the Statutes one against another that none should seem of force that a cunning Consequence driver had any picque against But our Kings and Parliaments have always been more tender of the Validity of their Laws then to leave them Toâ—tering thus at the meâ—â—â— of every Inference-maker Especially when they draw 〈◊〉 Inferences and Consequences as could not possibly enter so much as into the minds and Cogitations of the Law-makers when they enacted and made a Statute And this is so clear a Truth and evident to every man that has but common sence that more needs not be said to it For it would be of most dreadful Consequence that the Statutes should be so flexible as to be made a Nose of Wax of to stand this way one day and that way another just as Mr. Consequence-maker is feed to set them The Dissenters for their money might find cunning Lawyers enough perhaps to defeat the Act of Uniformity and Repeal it if Far-fetcht Inferences and Consequences would do the feat But God forbid that the Laws of England should have nothing to stand firm upon but such slippery ground made such by an oyly Mouth If we cannot find 1 Edw. 6. 2. repeal'd but by Consequences and Oblique Inferences we shall make base Tinkerly work on 't and to patch up one hole of evil Consequences make two of Consequence twenty times more dreadful and pernicious Therefore the best Cord and that which seems most strongly to make void and of none effect the said Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. is indeed that which can never be deny'd namely that the same is expresly and by name repealed by 1 Mary 2. There let it stand or lie bound for ever except we can find its Ligaments and Shackles taken off and again set in its pristine Liberty Vigor and Splendor But as to those two latter Cords that they pretend bind it down for ever by Repealing it they are thought by wise men so trivial that they are not worthy any consideraâ—â—â—â—â— and that they were surely sore put to 't for shifts that made them of such over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. IV. FOr how in the name of Prudence could it enter into the thoughts of wise Legislators to kill a dead Horse Could the Parliament intend by the 1 and 2 Phil. Mar. 8. to repeal 1 Edw. 6. which was repealed already and made void but the very year before namely by 1 Mar. 2. They could not forget it it was so lately done nor can they be accounted so silly as Actum agere and make Laws against Non Entityes The Learned Judge Hobert uses a like Argument to prove that the King shall have not only the Estates In Fee of Traytors Estates in Tail being not by the Statutes 31 Hen. 8. 33 Hen. 8. by name given to the King yet also Estates in Tayl why because there being but two sorts of Estates of Inheritance namely in Fee and in Tayl and the Estates in Fee of Traytors being forfeit and given to the King by the Common-Law Those Statutes shall not be presum'd Actum agere but shall reach the other Estates in Tail which the Common-Law did not reach And by like reason since 1 Edw. 6. 2. is not so much as mentioned or named in 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. except by Inferences and Fetches deduced from the Stile and Latitude of those words All Statutes made against the See of Rome Repealed There is Life in a Mussle For the said Statute did not think sufficient for their Repeal by General Words but do therefore name particularly and Expresly what Statutes they mean to Repeal namely 25 Hen. 8. 9. 24 Hen. 8 12. with almost a score more amongst which my dear Statute of 1 Edw. 6 2 is not Named a 〈…〉 fore can never be repealed thereby nor could be intended to be 〈◊〉 thereby But some have said that there are in 1 2 Phil. Mar. 8. express words that do Repeal by Consequence the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. namely these words ANd the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction of the Arch bishops Bishops and Ordinarye to be in the same state for process of Sutes punishment of Crimes and Execution of Censures of the Church with knowledge of causes belonging to the same and as large in those points as the said Iurisdiction was in Anno 20 Hen. 8. To which it is readily answered That the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was thereby made Valid and Powerful as it was in Condition and State as to Process of Sutes Censures c. In the 20 of Hen. 8. And yet the manner of their Processes as to the Name and Stile might well enough differ For no man can rationally say that the Process of Suits punishment of Crimes and execution of Censures of the Church are not in the same
no very seasonable time for a Judge to declare a Statute to be null and void that never any Judge as yet did upon the Bench take upon him to do since 1 Jacobi reviv'd it by Repealing its Repealer 1 Mar. 2. And truly whilst Ecclesiastical-Courts did little else but prove Wills and now and then get a few crack't Groats from a poor fearful Church-Warden rather than contend with them and some such little business most men past them by through contempt As not daigning to trouble themselves with medling with them though in that little they did They opprest and still do oppress His Majesties Subjects most impudently by extorting excessive Fees in despight and defyance of the Statutes to the contâ—â—y Impudent Registers But there is this to be said for them by way of Apology That when they give some hundreds of Pounds for the Sell-Souls-place they must make their money of Sins and Souls which yet is contrary to their own Canons I profess I have many times long together been puzling my self by studying what those Ecclesiastical-Fellows in their Ecclesiastical-Courts are good for or what one good thing they do every Creature of God is good for something but now I think on 't they do not pretend to be purely of Gods making there 's nothing in holy Scripture that is alike to their Constitution nor by what has been here said will any man that I know venture to say they are purely of the King 's making Legally if they live in defyance of the Kings Laws and refuse to use the Kings Name Style and Seal in their Processes Ecclesiastical enjoyned by the Statute I have been in Popish Countreys and there I have seen a Crew in many things like them But God knows we Protestants do unanimously declare against Implicite Faith and yet the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from the first Citation to the end namely to Excommunication and the Jayl is much carryed on by Implicite Faith For the Judges believe the Bishops Significavit and Arch-bishops Signifieavits whilst they good men signify a man Excommunicated and yet never heard one word of the merit of the cause but the Judges believes the Bishops Significavit and the Bishop believes the Registers Certificavit which unavoidable comes if you do not stop the Registers hand with money to his content Oh sad estate of Christianity Christianity God bless the King and Parliament when it sits I mean and by all Tokens it is probable that they 'l soon resolve these Riddles and also not admit palpable Symony and Hypocrisy to Provoke Gods Wrath and Judgments upon the Nation by making holy Ordinances and Ordinations vendible and Gospel-Keys of binding and loosing once another Gift of God a money-business or Political Engine to take away men's Franchises and Votes when there is no other way to deprive them thereof I cannot think that Christ entrusted Anathemas to his Disciples to play them so frankly at a bold Rate fast loose He that eats drinks unworthily that is to a Politick Carnal End eats and drinks his own Damnation and he that opens and shuts Heaven and Hell-Gates binding and loosing using the Holy-Keys unworthily that is for low politick Carnal-Ends uses them to his own Damnation God will not be mocked CHAP. VI. I Doubt not but all that Read this must say that in this Tract I have done their business already to all intents and purposes A Law may sleep a Statute may lie Dormant as did the Act of Vniformity whilst the King's Act of Indulgence according to his Royal Word and Promise from Breda facilitating his Return did last but though Laws may be husht and lull'd asleep awhile nay a long time yet if they be not quite dead woe be to him that tramples on them for the Laws of England are so sacred that it has been observ'd they have been too hard for any man at long run that durst oppose them withstand them or stand in their way the Laws are called the Subjects best Inheritance I remember part of Sir Harbottle Grimston's speech in Parliament Anno 1640. concerning Spiritual-Courts was to take notice of an Insolence of theirs much alike to what has been heard of in other cases namely under a Religious Pretext to meddle with mens Franchyses Charters and Priviledges as English-men for says that Loyal Gentleman and true Englishman speaking of the Lambeth Canons of 40. and the Synod then there ` That the Synod called together upon pretence of Religion took upon them `the boldness out of Parliament to grant Subsidies and meddle with men's Free Holds Oh! How dishonourable is it to any Religion to palliate so much venome as under a notion of a Gospel Ordinance of Excommunication or the like to design to make men uncapable of a Vote or Freedoms Franchises and Charters especially if they seem to be affraid of nothing so much as that some should conform and consequently be capable of as many Priviledges as the Debauchee or prophane Libertine Christianity do you call it more like Ely's Sons or Simon-Magus Oh God! may not such well dread thy Vengeance Christianity do you call it The wisest of all the ten Persecuting Emperours was Dioclesian whose Conscience so tormented his Breast for Persecuting the Christians that he threw the Diadem from his hated head and hid it in a Garden in the obscurest Py-corner of the World But the Horrour of Nero's Visage is by Suetonius rendred so tremendous to behold after he vented his Cruelty upon the Christians that it would make a mans Hair stand on end to view him extantibus vigentibusque oculis usque ad horrorem visentium with ghastly Looks and frightful Eyes strikeing Horrour in all that saw him such was the Fate of this Persecuting Atheist Religionem usque quaque Aspernator as Suetonius calls him a Contemner of every thing that lookt like Religion And such are the brood of Simon Magus that make use of Religion which is intended for the Salvation of mens Souls only to the destruction of their Bodies and Estates Simon quoth he no Simon Magus was not thus Impudent he did his business indeed namely the money business and to be ador'd and Reverenc't forsooth But he did it by juggle and sleight of hand but the Son 's of Eli and Symonists like Ghosts long enur'd to walk appeared at Noon-day did take purses before mens faces Swagger Curse Anathematize Damn bluster In good time they were charm'd down In Nomine Domini Amen If ever you were in Spain or Portugal as I have been tell me what Monkey or Baboon is more contemtible than a sneaking perjur'd Hypocritical Ecclesiastical Property of State What more Ridicule then a fawning Spiritual Sycophant in Antick-Dress cringing with his Pin-Buttocks and hallow-smiles upon a Whore Atheist or Renegade that do but scoff at his ghastly Habilements of uncouth Guize and Shape Portentous and Prodigious Risum teneat is Amicâ— could ye have held from Laughing at the Holy Mymick