consider'd in his CHAP. III. Whose Title is That KING Henry 8. did not by renouncing the power pretended by the Pope make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by 1 Edw. 6.2 And to prove this Negative he 's at it again with his old way of Questions but that he shews a little more warmth and wrath against Mr. Hickeringill in this Ironical Sarcasm Pray Mr. Wiseman where and by what words did H. 8. cut off as you say all these ordinary Jurisdictions Mr. Hickeringill told you enough of it in the Naked Truth which read over seriously before you answer any more such Books good Mr. D. D. He told you that when the Popes Supremacy and Head was be-headed and the King made Supreme Head of the Church as well as State and of the Spirituality as well as Temporality by Act of Parliament The same King and Parliament devis'd also and advis'd by what Laws this new face of the Church having got a new head sure it had a new face should be guided and governed Therefore the King and Parliament enact that the King shall appoint Thirty-two Commissioners not to make new Laws but compile them out of the old ones so that they were not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative nor the Laws of the Realm But that was a thing impossible for most of the Canons being forged at Rome or Licensed there and Confirmed and also they supposing the Pope Head of the Church which was against the Laws of this Land nothing could be done and the reason is already given in the former Chapter at large so that less shall need to be said to this Chapter or indeed to the remaining part of his mighty Volume or Leges Angliae And truly that King Henry 8. had so much to do to keep and secure his new acquests the Abby-Lands Monastries c. and to Counterplot the Pope and his Emissaries and on the other side the English Bishops were so consternated at the sudden and total downfal of their Brethren and Sisters the Fryers Abbots and Nuns that they were in a bodily fear lest that King thus flesh't finding the sweetness of the Booty should hunt after more Church-Lands And therefore Mr. Archdeacon needed not ask the Question Was that watchful Prince asleep no surely nor yet the watchful Bishops I fear did not sleep very quietly but were always troubled in their sleep crying out oh this fat Mannor is upon the go And these brave Walks Houses and Orchards are a departing And as dreams sometimes prove unluckily true so did these dreams for soon after was first exchanged with the two Archbishops by the Satute of 37. Henry 8.16 Sixty-nine fat and stately Mannors named in the said Statute at one time from the Archbishop of York and also a great many brave Country-houses and rich Mannors from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from Edmond Bishop of London which See was particularly named in the Statute But some may say that the Abby-Lands which the King gave in exchange were not comparable in value to the said Archbishops Lands and Mannors Who can help that if they did not like those Abby-Lands I suppose they might have let them alone Thus the King having been busied in the 24th year of his Reign with cutting off the Roman Head and all appeals to Rome then troubled with his Abby-Lands beginning with the lesser Monastries 27 Henry 8.28 those digested then the great Monastries and Nunneries 31. Henry 8.13 then the next year the brave Houses Lands and Revenues of the Templers called the Knights of the Rhodes and of St. John of Jerusalem 32. Henry 8.24 then the Free-Chantries Hospitals c. in 37. Henry 8.4 and in this his last year that sad exchange with the Archbishops and Bishop of London 37. Henry 8.16 I do not see any cause Mr. Archdeacon why any flesh alive should say that either the King or the Bishops were asleep for Thirteen years together in which time every one had work enough to be watchful The best on 't is that the man thinks he can answer all Mr. Hickeringill's Arguments in the Naked Truth with a Story which he tells p. 14. and so silly and so little quadrating with the question in controversie that it is not worth the answering nor his observation thereon namely that though the Lords of the Mannors were changed yet the Customs and Courts and Officers were not changed No were not the Customs Courts nor Officers changed God forbid for then it must still be a Custom that neither the Bishop nor the Archdeacon may lawfully Marry it will still be a Custom to excommunicate as it was of old all that did not pay the Pope the first fruits and tenths if the Customs be not changed and a thousand such exceptions could I make if it were not below me to take notice of all his idle and impertinent Whimsies and Stories obvious enough to every learned and ingenuous Reader without my remark or asterisque to expose it Nor does any body deny but that King H. 8. willing to have a Divorce from Queen Katharine from Rome and not able to obtain the same got it at home the said Statute of Appeals cutting off all Appeals to Rome and enabling the Kings Courts Spiritual and Temporal to determine the same Any Forrein Inhibitions Appeals Sentences Summons c. from the See of Rome c. to the Let or Impediment in any wise notwithstanding 24. Henry 8.12 Whence note 1. The design of the Statute is to cut off Appeals to Rome this Realm of England being an Empire of it self governed by one Supreme Head 2. Therefore no need of such Appeals when they may be with less trouble ended here within the Kings Jurisdiction in Courts Spiritual and Temporal 3. That Statute limits the cognisance of all matters cognisable in Spiritual Courts to these Three sorts namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial or Divorces Tithes and Oblations and Obventions and if they can prove their Courts to be lawful Courts and by lawful Anthority who ever doubted but those Three things were matters and causes of Ecclesiastical cognisance but they are not content to keep themselves there and therefore the great design of the Naked Truth is not in the least to check their proceedings in those Three Particulars but their exorbitances in medling with Church Wardens the Oath of Church-Wardens exactions illegal and unconscionable in their Fees in despight of the Statutes in Probate of Wills Procurations Sequestrations Synodals Licenses to Preach Visitations c. 4. The Archbishops Bishops and Clergy in Convocation in less than Twenty years after this Statute found so little Authority in this 24. Henry 8.12 for keeping Spiritual Courts and exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it coming in but by way of Parenthesis and not the purport and main design of the Statute that they all acknowledg and confess uno ore and 2. Phil. and Mar. that their Jurisdiction and Liberties Ecclesiastical were taken away
Common-Law nor Civil-Law in England to justifie such Citations and Visitations Indeed there is old Canons in times of Popery to justifie that there has been Ecclesiatim Visitations namely for the Visitor or Bishop to come to your Churches and see how you do but it is against all Law Equity and Conscience to see how your Pockets do Therefore if they come Ecclesiatim Visits give them such poor fare as the Vicar feeds upon if they be hungry feed them do not fat them do not feast them and I 'le secure you shall not be often troubled with them thence following but give them not a cross of money and fear not that ever they 'l disquiet you very often As it is in the Naked Truth if their visitationes morum prove not to be visitationes nummorum I 'le be your warrant you shall not need a new Act of Parliament to stave them off So if they call upon you and cite you to prove a Will or take an Administration though the Sumner or Appariter come Forty Miles do not give the knave a Groat but for him and his Masters and the Citation or Process give him Three Pence and no more as by Statue 23. Hen. 8.9 1. Eliz. 1. If they ask or demand any more sue them upon the said Statute inan Action of debr or qui tam five Pounds due to the King and five Pounds to the party grieved The like penalty upon them if you sue them for taking more for Administrations or Probat of Wills than is allowed by Statute nay if they will not give you back your Will when proved into your own keeping upon demand there lies a swindging Action against them as Baron Weston declared at Chelmsford the last Assizes in open Court to the Countrey exhorting them to bring such Actions against those Ecclesiastical fellows so he stil'd them and if they brought such Actions before him he would make examples of them The cry the common-cry against the extortions of these Ecclesiastical fellows was loud and clamorous all over England and reacht the ears of the King and Parliament in Henry 8ths time as in good time it may again which occasioned the Statute of 21 Henry 8.5 as appears by the Preamble of that Statute against their extortions in these very words namely Where in the Parliament holden at Westminster in the 31st year of the Reign of the Noble King of Famous Memory Edw. 3. upon the complaint of his people for the outragious and grievous fines and sums of money taken by the Ministers of Bishops and of other Ordinaries of Holy Church for the Probat of Testaments and for the Acquittances by the said Ordinaries to be made concerning the same The said Noble King in the same Parliament openly charged and commanded the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops for that time being that amendment thereof should be had and if no amendment thereof should be had it was by the authority of the same Parliament accorded that the King should thereof make inquiry by his Justices of such oppression and extortions c. And where at the Parliament holden at Westminster 3 Hen. 5. it was recited that the Commons of this Realm had oftentimes complained there in divers Parliaments for that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probation of Testaments and other things thereunto belonging sometimes XL. s. sometimes LX. s. and sometimes more against Right and Justice where in time of King Edw. 3. men were wont to pay for such causes but 2. s. 6. d. or 5. at most by which unlawful exactions c. Then it follows in the Statute and is enacted that none of these Bishops Ordinaries Archdeabons Commissaries Chancellors Officials Registers Scribes Praisers Summoners Appariters or other their Ministers shall take or demand for Probation Writing Sealing Registring making of Inventories or giving of Acquittances or for any other manner of cause concerning the same any more than what follows namely Where the goods of the deceased amount not to more than 5. l.  l. s. d. To the Register For the Probat of the Will 00 00 06. To the Register Or if an Admistration then also 00 00 00. To the Register And to the Judg 00 00 00. Where the goods of the deceased amount to more than 5. l. and yet under 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Bishop or Ordinary 00 02 06. And to the Register 00 01 00. For such Probat Inventory or Administration Where the goods of the deceased amount to above 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Ordinary or Judg Ecclesiastical 00 02 06. And to the Register for Probat of such a Will 00 02 06. And for Administration of such goods of that value to the Register 00 00 00. Or the Register or Scribe may refuse the said 00 02 06. And if he please may take and demand a penny for writing every ten lines of such Testament each line to contain ten Inches For Inventories they usually take 40. s. a Press as they call it that is the length of an ordinary sheet of Parchment But by this Statute for Inventories not one farthing Here 's now one would think a Law to keep them in awe but it signifies nothing they have got so many cunning starting-holes to creep out 't is hard to catch a Fox For if they be Indited for extortion or that you bring an Action of Debt upon the Statute or a qui tam namely  l. s. d. Due to the King for every such extortion 05 00 00. Also to the party grieved 05 00 00. But here too you will be baffled again except you punctually observe these following Conditions If it be a Will that is to be proved 1. You must bring the Witnesses along with you to prove the Will and that it is the true whole and last Testament of the Testator and that the Executor also believes the same to be the last Will and Testament of the Testator 21 H. 8.5 2. You must bring Wax also soft Wax ready for the Judg to put to and affix the Seal of the Court if the goods of the deceased amount not to five pounds 21 H. 8.5 3. You must bring two Inventories fairly written and Indented the one to be left with the Ordinary the other to be carried away by the Executor or Administrator 21 H. 8.5 4. The very Individual Will and Testament of the Testator you must carry away with you again so soon as it is Registred as 21. H. 8.5 5. You must carry with you good Witnesses of the Tender of the said Fees And keep but to these Conditions which are plain and easie and there is never a Register or Chancellor or Sumner of them all that will give many hundreds of pounds for the Place nor will you be much pestered with these Ecclesiastical-Courts or Ecclesiastical fellows for that now belike is the word Ecclesiastical fellows nor with Archdeacons although they had never so good Authority for keeping Courts and sending Citations
bit and a knock nay when he had above all others dis-arm'd the Phanaticks of their old Weapon that lay ready at hand to make use of and take up by writing Curse ye Moroz for which at least this same Step-mother might at least have made him a Courtesie and thank't him for his great pains no such matter too much envy and Ingratitude reigns amongst a sort of unthinking Black-Coats the Lumber of the Ship of the Church that pester it in a Calm and onely help to sink it in a Storm Nor has he any share in her Government nor never will till they show as good Authority for their Government and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical as he can for his namely 4 Patents from 4 Kings of England granted with all Royalties Immunities Jurisdictions and Priviledges in the exempt Jurisdiction of the Soken in the County of Essex and the Inheritance of the most Noble Earl Rivers but in no Diocess nor subject to any Archbishop or Bishop and of which Mr. Hickeringill is Commissary lawfully Constituted and he and his Predecessors have been the only Ordinaries from whose Sentence there is no appeal but to the King in Chancery or the King in the greatest Court of Judicature in England or perhaps in the world the House of Lords But for this he has so little cause to thank the Bishops that I believe they would take it from him if they could and by privy whispers and Fictions and Stories do him all the mischief good Catholicks that in them lyes for opposing their Usurpations and Encroachments at least of some of them and for vindicating the ancient Immunities and Royalties of the many-ages enjoy'd Inheritance of that Noble Earl and from Nasauces and Encroachments of greedy Neighbours that think they can never have enough though God knows this Exempt Peculiar is but 3 Parishes a Puinsul almost encompassed with the Sea and is not worth five pounds per Annum to Mr. Hickeringill who values the favour and good will of that Noble Lord in conferring it on him without his seeking or Petition more then twenty times the profit thereof It being usually bestowed as the most Signal mark of favour upon such whom that Noble Family had a mind to Grace But enough of the Pelican Mother or Step-mother and also of the Frontispiece with which trifle I have too much busied my self and the Readers Now for the Title Leges Angliae The Laws of England But by what Title his pittiful Pamphlet can challenge or lay claim to so swelling a Title shall be consider'd only by the Sequel Next his Epistle to the Reader Wherein at first dash he endeavours to preoccupate and prepossess his Readers with an opinion of his Modesty good man he cannot wail nor whip his Adversary That 's pitty And yet he begs pardon that he is such a Doe-little he has not chastiz'd so spightful an Adversary according to his Merits and provocations for he verily wants the Talent and dislikes the Sport As if he should say Time was in his Juvinile years when he was as indeed he was a furious chastizing Paedagogue another Whipping-Tom that took pleasure to lash and slash but those merry days are done that 's happy for Mr. Hickeringill He now verily wants the Talent and dislikes the Sport What a Tarmagant Whipster would this have been if he had taken pleasure and made a sport of whipping men according to their Merits and Provocations But why he should at first step fall down of his knees and beg his Readers pardon for not chastizing Mr. Hickeringill for not being cruel to him for not bringing him to the Whipping-Post I cannot imagine I am sure if he cannot slash and lash and chastize if his Bridewel-Accomplishments have now forsaken his old wither'd Arm he yet retains his Billing sgate Old men can prate however and Scold and so does he He calls Mr. Hickeringill all to naught he calls him Papist in the very next Page I suppose for writing the Naked-Truth and exposing the wickedness of Papists and their Popes in p. 2. of the Naked-Truth nay he makes another Hugh Peters of him and that 's somewhat strange that Hugh Peters should be a Papist and more strange that Mr. Hickeringill should be Hugh Peters and also afterwards he makes a Quaker of Mr. Hickeringill nay p. 6. He calls him both Papist and Hobbist and most unmercifully tears him with Pun and quibble for which a very Barber ought to be kickt saying I thought I had caught a Hobby but war-hawk And a great deal of bad Language this Archdeacon and D. D. does very liberally bestow upon Mr. Hickeringill in almost every page the wonted Attaques of such feeble and effeminate Disputants Well even what he pleases he brings Mr. Hickeringill within two strides of the Gallows saying he takes him to be at Hugh Peter's Game I supose for Preaching on Curse ye Meroz and drolling upon Hugh peter's Sermon and running his wicked race I see there 's no remedy at present against such a Cursing Railer the next now and all that remains is to make Mr. Hickeringill Infidel Pagan Atheist Turk and great Magul and yet this Modest Archdeacon cannot nay has not the Talent to Rail and dislikes the Sport Then lastly he says for Pride Envy wrath Malice Spight and Revenge some say he Mr. Hickeringill is a very Angel of light and somewhat more excellent Bless thy seven Wits dear D. D for thou art the first that has made an Angel of Light old excellent Pride Envy Wrath Malice Spight and Revenge The only modest expression in his Book is the last clause To the Reader where he confesses his unparalel'd shallowness of Conception saying If others can find Truth in the man he cannot So that what has already got a verdict all England over except amongst the Archdeaconry and men Byas'd with Interest its Grace is stopt by a sorry D. D. that confesses his Ignorance and hates the Truth that thwarts his Gourmaudizing would lessen his Paunch animus in Patinis Thus much for his Epistle It 's well it 's no worse The Proem This Proem takes up all the sense and also almost one quarter of doughty Pamphlet Indeed it takes up too much Room And Arbitrary Government of Will. the Conquerers Long Sword and Proclamation is all the Reading he has shown throughout the whole Book citing an old Edict out of Spellman but he conceales the Plagyary and will not loose the Worm-eaten honour of some ambitious Antiquary whilst he quotes the Record and puts us to our Trumps to guess how or when or where he came honestly by it Well much good may it do him when we come to it And first like a Church-man of the old stamp he will permit his Majesty to come into the Church that 's more kindness then old St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan would show sometimes to the great Emperour Theodosius when he did not do as he would have him to do nay This Archdeacon opens the doors himself
Cathedral Church doors of Canterbury and also a Bull of Deprivation upon condition tho' That if John paid the said 4000 Marks the subject of the Quarrel to the Lucan-Merchants within one Month after demand the Pope and Peckham would be as good Friends as ever John Peckham thought of having a fair hearing at the Bar and Advocates and Councel on both sides or perhaps John would have pleaded his own cause to make void the Bond but some are Wiser then other some the Pope knows a trick worth two on 't and without more adoe sends him to the Devil and deprives him of his Archbishoprick except as before excepted In short seeing he had met with his match there was no remedy but the Money must be paid not a Farthing bated of the Principal onely the Pope gave him a Years time instead of the said Month for the payment of so immense a summ Of all which hard Measure Poor John Complains in his Letter to the Pope in these very Words Ecce me creastis quanto creatura a sua naturaliter appetit perfici createre sic in meis oppressionibus censeo per ves recreandum Sane nuper ad me pervenit Cujusdam executionis Litera horribilis in aspectu auditu terribilis quod nisi infra mensem mercatoribus Lucanensibus cum effectu de quatuor millibus in arcarum quae in Romana Curia contraxi extunc sunt excommunicationis sententia innodatus in Ecclesia mea alijs Majoribus pulsatis campanis accensis Candelis excommunicatus denuncior singulis diebus Deminicis festivis Hanc tam graudem solutionem impossibilem sibi futurum rescribit c. A great deal of heavy splutter he had poor man all the dayes of his Life whilest he sat Archbishop what with the Pope on one fide the King on the other and the Augustine Monks of Canterbury who were wonderfull Rich and well worth the shearing and fleecing Chron. VVill. Thron col 1960 1961. and therefore he would have gladly have been at it amongst them with Visitations But they stood upon their guard defy'd him and bid him come at his Peril or dare to meddle with their exempt Churches of Menstre Chistelet Nordborne Middleton and Faversham c. And that they would suffer none to visit them but the Pope and his Legate which Priviledges they contested with him Anno 1293. and maintain'd that they were no other than the Priviledges of their ancient Foundation granted by Augustine the Monk Apostle of England the Popes Apostle and first Archbishop of Canterbury Anno Dom. 600. or thereabouts and confirmed by Pope Boniface Agatho Caelestine Calixt Innocent Vrban Eugenius Lucius Alexander Gregory Innocent Alexander and Honorius But Peckham after a weary life took occasion to dye and there was an end of his Contests his Creator Pope Nicholas departing his busie life a little before him but first calling all his Cardinals into his Bed-chamber Saxoniae l. 8. c. 35. Cent. Magd. 13. c. 10. col 1091. where he lay upon his Death-bed and by the Prerogative of his Power degrades them every man and makes as many Friar-minor's of his own Order Cardinals in their Rooms and charging them upon his Benediction to choose none but Friar-minors into the Papal-Chair for ever Which they performed to their utmost and untill Sextus 4. was Pope there was always a little-Pope lurking among the Fryar-minors and he had his Cardinals and pardon'd Sins I 'le warrant as well as the best Pope of them all only he sold his Indulgences much cheaper and a better Penniworth This mischief hapned An. 19 Ed. 1. and by Peckham's death the King was freed of a Tyger of a Priest that alwayes resisted his Majesty tooth and nayl threatning and vapouring with his Bell Book and Candle But after their death the King took heart as by a memorable Example in our Common-Law Books happening at this time may appear before the Statute of Carlisle against Popes Bulls and Provisions For A Subject of this Realm procured a Bull of Excommunication from the Pope against another Subject and gave notice thereof to the Treasurer of the King for which offence Le Roy voluyt quil ust este tray pendus The King willed he should be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Here 's an Instance Mr. D. D. as pregnant as your 25 Ed. 1. against the Popes Usurpations But this was no thanks to John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops For all resisted all the Clergy and did as much mischief as in them lay But the King and Parliament got the day An. 7. Edw. 1. and made John Peckham the Archbishop Recant his dissolute Canons made in the Convocation at Rading in these words Memorandum quod venerabilis Pater Johannes Cantuarensis Archiepiscopus venit coram Rege Concilio suo in Parliamento Regis sancti Michaelis Claus 7 Edw. 1. m. 1. dorso Revocationes Provisionum Concilii Rading anno Regni Regis septimo apud Westm consitebatur concessit quod de Statutis Provisionibus Declarationibus eorundem quae per ipsum promulgatae fuerunt apud Rading mense Augusti Anno eodem inter quasdam sententias Excommunicationis quas idem Archiepiscopus ibid promulgabat Primò deleatur pro non pronunciata habeatur illa clausula in prima sententiâ Excommunicationis quae facit mentionem de Impetrantibus literas Reglas ad Impediendum Processum in causis quae per sacros Canones ad forum Eoclesiasticum pertinere noscuntur Secundò quòd non Excommunicente Ministri Regis licet ipsi non pareant Mandato Regis in non capiendo Excommtnicatos Tertiò de illis qui invadunt Maneria Clericorum ut ibi sufficiat Paena per Regem posita Quarto quod non Interdicat vendere victualia Eboracensi Archâ—episcopo vel alii venienti ad Regem Quintò quod tollatur Magna Charta de foribus Ecclesiarum Consitetur etiam concessit quod nec Regi nec Haeredibus suis nec Regno suo Angliae ratione aliorum Articulorum in Concilio Rading Contentorum nullum prejudicium generetur in futurum In English thus Be it remembred that the Reverend Father John Archbishop of Canterbury came before the King and the King 's great Council of Parliament in Michaelmas Term at Westminster in the seventh Year of his Reign and confest and acknowledged that of the Laws Provisions and Declarations which were by him Promulgated at Rading in the Month of August last past amongst other Sentences of Excommunication which the said Archbishop did there pronounce First Let that clause in the first Sentence of Excommunication pronounced against all those that obtain the Kings Prohibition to hinder Process in Ecclesiastical Courts of such Causes as are known to appertain to Ecclesiastical Cognizance and Jurisdiction be made null and void and stand for nothing as if it had never been made as also Secondly That the Kings Ministers of Justice
and desired their restauration and surely they better understood their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in those days than this Archdeacon can possibly at this distance in these days Lastly The Temporal as well as Spiritual Courts are enabled by 24. Henry 8.12 to determine the controversies in this Realm without Appeals and yet none of them take upon them to Sit without the Kings special Commission and Authority except petty-Hundred-Courts c. which are Common-Law-Courts but so are not the Ecclesiastical at best further than Ecclesiastical matters may still by the Common Law be tryed before the Lord of the Hundred or his Steward and the Freeholders and the Bishop also and Archdeacon may be suffered to come into the Room but whether they may come in without knocking or must sit or stand be covered or uncovered when they come there by the Common Law it seems it is not by our D. D. the great Common Lawyer as yet determined And therefore it is much better for the Archdeacon at least much more proper for him to leave these doubtful matters as whether 1 Edward 6.2 be now in force and how far and to what Commissioners the 13 Car. 2.12 does extend wherein the Author of the Naked Truth would not peremptorily assert any thing to the decision of a Parliament or wiser heads than his own Then in Chap. 3. Sect. 2. the D. D. tells of another Statute 31 Henry 8.3 and cites the words but most egregiously false there is not one such clause in 31 H. 8.3 But if there were as perhaps I will not deny something to that purpose in another Statute that Archbishops Bishops c. may wear the Tokens and Ensigns and Ceremonies of their Order and whilst they do nothing but what to their Office and Order does appertain no body will trouble themselves about them And more false also is what he would make 25 Henry 8.19 speak as though by that Statute the Convocation hath power reserved by the same Act of making new Canons provided the Convocation be called by the Kings Writ and have the Royal assent and License to make promulgate and execute such Canons If this be true I do not know but the Lambeth-Canons exploded and condemned by Act of Parliament and those of King James are all Statute-Law for the Convocation that made them were called by the Kings Writ and they were confirmed also by the Royal assent In a matter of this consequence let us turn to the Statute and trust our Archdeacon henceforward no further than our own knowledg That of 25. Henry 8.19 begins thus The Title The Clergy in their Convocation shall enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent And as the Title so the body of the Act Where the Kings humble and obedient subjects the Clergy of this Realm c. promise in verbo Sacerdoti that they will never presume to attempt premulge or execute any new Canons c. unless the Kings Royal Assent and License be to them had to make promulge and execute the same Now is this D. D. an honest man when the Statute only binds them to good behaviour namely not to presume without the Royal assent but does not enable them to make any new though they have the Royal Assent False also most impudently false is his next quotation of a Statute 37 Henry 8.16 But if he mean 37 Henry 8.17 still it is false either through Imprudence or unparellel'd Impudence for there is not one word to the matter in question but the whole Statute is only a License to Marry a License for civil Lawyers to Marry and that though they be Marryed yet that shall not make them uncapable of being Commissaries Chancellors or Vicar-generals or Officials but does not create or constitute any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or Courts to put them in Indeed the said 37 Henry 8.17 is a clear and evident explanation of the 25 Henry 8.18 that thereby the King and Parliament did look upon all Ecclesiastical Canons Ordinances and Constitutions formerly made to be null and void and repealed and of no effect by the said 25 Henry 8.18 saying that the Bishop of Rome and his adherents minding utterly as much as in him lay to abolish obscure and delete such power given by God to the Princes of the earth whereby they might gather and get to themselves the government and rule of the world have in their Councils and Synods Provincial made divers Ordinances and Constitutions And albeit the said Decrees Ordinances and Constitutions by a Statute made 25 Henry 8. be utterly abolished frustrate and 1. By this it is evident that as the King Pope and Bishops had all work enough to look to themselves and that King Henry and his Parliament and Bishops were still Popish so if the Spiritual Courts had any Jurisdiction yet they had none but by way of Parenthesis in the said Statute of Appeals 2. And that only in causes Testamentary Marriage or Divorce Tithes or Oblations 3. And to Judg of these and determine was impossible because they had no Canons Decrees nor Laws Ecclesiastical by which to Judg and determine of them 4. And therefore Mr. Archdeacon though by what has been said your Official might keep Spiritual Courts although he were Married so also he might keep Spiritual Courts although he did nothing but whistle there all the while or throw stones at all that came near him for Sentences and Decrees cannot be made but according to a Canon Law or Rule and Canons there were none in force at that time in the said Judgment of the House of Commons And therefore though you had never so much Authority and Commission for keeping your beloved Courts what 's that to the Naked Truth Have you any Commissions for Extortions in Probate of Wills for illegal Extortions of Money for Citations Licenses to Preach Institutions Inductions Sequestrations Synodals Procurations Money from Church-Wardens Commutations Visitations to confute which is the great import of the Naked Truth and you have not one word in your Leges Angliae to say for them or for your selves or to justifie by whose or by what Commission or by what Canons you act and proceed It is a most dangerous and fatal thing sure for a man to think as the Papists do think in these days whereas I thought a man might have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and a thousand things more that the Papists believe and yet keep out of harms way But no our desperate D. D. has p. 22. got Mr. Hsckeringill upon the Hip again and gores him too with one of the unavoidable Horns of the sharpest of Arguments a Dilemma in these words namely I leave it to Mr. Hickeringill himself for if he think that that Convocation namely in Queen Marys Reign spake that which was not true he hath said nothing to the purpose so his business is done that way But if he think they did speak truth then he thinks that the Jurisdiction of the Church
Heirs and Successors to set up the High-Commission-Court the Soul and Life of all the other Inferior Ecclesiastical Courts 4. That this High-Commission-Court might for the Greatness thereof for the Novelty thereof and for the Grievous Vexations thereof be called Extraordinary yet all the Inferior and Subordinate Courts were all of a Piece It was the Head-Court whither all Appeals at length might come and it animated all the Rest and when it was Disanulled and that Head Beheaded by 13. Car. 2.12 all the little Inferior and Ordinary Ecclesiastical-Courts were held Dead in Law and Spirit-less And when we shall perswade the King and Parliament to Revive Them God only knows But let us suppose that they have Right in their Ecclesiastical Courts to take Cognizance of causes Testamentary Matrimonial of Tythes and Oblations and by 1. Eliz. 2. for not coming to Divine Service What 's this to Visitations Church-Wardens and the Oath of Church-Wardens Procurations c. In Causes Testamentary whether Men be cited or not cited I will as I am an Ecclesiastical Judge give my Country-men this honest Councel without a Fee meerly for the Publick Weal Bring your Will if you be Executor and Inventory as aforesaid as also make the same application to them if you be next of Kin to the Deceased and have Right to take Letters of Administration keep to the former Instructions and Tender them the afore-said Fees And if you be an Administrator then according to a late Act for an Administration-Bond tender them One Shilling more If they Refuse to Dispatch you without Frustratory Delay go away And what ever you are Damnifyed thereby the Law will give you Right and Satisfaction and Reparation upon them And if they be thus held to Justice and to take no more than due and legal Fees there needs no Act of Parliament to Discountenance the Ecclesiastical Courts And indeed they cannot afford to buy their Offices and yet get no more than legal Fees for the value of Mony is so different from what it was in Henry the Eighths time when a Harry-groat was the chiefest Silver-Coyne and would have bought as much Victuals as Half-a-Crown will now that they cannot afford to keep Clarks nor to write and Register Wills at this day for the Legal Fees But who dare Make himself wiser than the Law when the High-Commission-Court was up there was no dealing with them nor with their extortions And ever since that Court has been defeated no Parliament has as yet thought them worthy of larger Fees and why should men be wiser than what is written and enacted in the Statutes of this Realm No doubt but the settling of these Ecclesiastical-Matters and the Curbing these Ecclesiastical Fellows are things of weight and great Consequence deserving the most serious debate of the highest Judicature a Parliament But till they have time or till they think fit to take some Order herein I have shown you how to do their business Nor have I done this out of Malice and Spleen against these Ecclesiastical Fellows that do so Huff the Countrey and the Inferior Clergy but in Detestation of their Avarice and Extortions Aggravated with such insufferable Insolence that I speak but the sense of the Common-Cry of the Country against them as Loud and Obstreperous and for the same exorbitances as in the Reigns of Edward the Third Henry the Fifth and Henry the Eighth when those three Statutes were made on purpose to check their Insufferable Pride and Greediness And for an Example to them I 'le only Instance in the said Popish King Edward the First how he made an Example of them 1. In England 2. Scotland 3. Ireland 1. In England when John Roman Arch-Bishop of York Excommunicated Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for Imprisoning John de Amelia and william de Melton publick Notaries sent by the Arch-Bishop to Summon before him and the said Bishop then employed in the Kings-Service in the Northern parts the Arch-Bishop admonishing him thereunto Once Twice Thrice and still the Bishop or his Ministers refusing to release them the Arch-Bishop thunder 's out the Curse against him of Excommunication to the Prior of Boulton in Craven to cause the same to be published in the Churches of Alverton and Darlington begining Claus 20. E. 1. m. 2. Dorso Brevia Regis Johannes Permissione dia Eborac Archi-Episcopus Angliae primas Dilecto in Christo filio Priori de Boulton c. Dat. apud Sanctum Martinum juxta viterbium 13. Kal. Maii Anno Gratiae 1292. Pontificatus nostri Septimo In the seventh year of our Popedom For Papa or Pope was the Common Complement every little Bishop past upon his brother Bishop in those dayes of which I can Instance in many Records if needful This difference was decided by Parliament See placita Parliam An. 21. Ed. 1. nu 17.18 Johannes Archi-Episcopus Eborum Attachiatus fuit ad respondendum Domino Regi de placito quare cum placita de Imprisonamento alijs transgressionibus in Regno Regis contra pacem Regis factis ad Regem Coronam Idem Archi-Episcopus per Johannem Priorem de Bolton in Cravene Commissarium suum in venerabilem Patrem Antonium-Episcopum Dunelm c. Die mercurii prox ante festum S. Jacobi Apostoli Anno vicessimo apud Derlington c. Sententiam Excommunicationis in dictum Antonium c. fecerit fulminari c. In Regis contemptum c. in despectum ipsius Regis 20. Mill. Librarum hoc offert Rioardus de Bretenil pro Domino Rege verificare c. Et Archi-Episcopus venit defendit omnem contemptum totum c. dicit quod Ipse nihil fecit in contemptum Regis nec contra dignitatem suam c. dicit quod de sententia a Canone lata per ipsum declarata in curia Domini Regis non debet respondere sed tamen salva libertate Ecclesiae suae ob Reverentiam Domini Regis vult plane declarare factum suum c. Et Richardus de Bretenill qui Sequitur pro rege dicit quod Praedictus Episcopus Dunelm Habet duos status viz. Statum Episcopi quoad Spiritualia et Statum Com. Palatii quoad Ten. sua Temporalia c. too long here to Recite I can shew the whole process in Parliament where the Arch-bishop was voted to be committed to Prison to Absolve Bishop Anthony and to pay what fine the King pleased which was Four Thousand Marks of Silver an Immense Sum in those dayes but the Arch-bishop was vastly Rich and though the Son of a whore a poor Chamber-maid yet she had the wit to lay the Bastard at a Rich Man's door Fathering it upon one John Roman Treasurer of York who educated him very well made him a Schollar and * H. de Knighton de event Aug. l. 3. c. 7. Col. 2507. Henry De Knighton sayes he was a right Roman for he inherited the Roman Avarice of those dayes as well as
what would men be at what would they have more than a certain setled Religion as in Holland which alone is countenanc't alone Entrusted with affairs of State Places of Honour or Profit both at Sea and land indeed other Religions or Modes of worship are rather conniv'd and wink 't at than incouraged both in England and Holland And will no face of a Church please some men but the Blood-red Bloaty and Sanguinary Carbuncle Fiery Face of an Inquisition Canon's or High Commission or Low Commission Courts unkown to the Primitive Church and Christians that were content to serve God though they had not power to Damn and Cram and Ram c. Oaths Canons Creeds down Mens Throats in spite of their Teeth But on the other hand I abhor the novelty as much as the Ruin I foresee in Men that are so given to Change and Reformation that nothing terminates their designs but total Destruction They cannot be content to sweep the house but they must pull it down and how to set up one a better in its room more cleanly and more convenient they have neither skill nor will to enquire like the late Reformers in the late times that pull'd down and pull'd down without considering what next to set up and erect or knowledg how to do it And indeed the Extortions in the Spiritual-Courts are inconsiderable in comparison of those amongst the numerous fry of Common-Lawyers Atturneyes Clarks Notaryes Sollcitors Splitters of Causes c. Whose numbers are almost numberless and now they are born they must be kept and if one or two Lawyers in a Country be enough to disquiet the same what are all those growing and threatning swarmes twenty times more than in the dayes of Qeen Elizabeth who astonish't and afrighted at the wonderfull growth of the numbers of Lawyers Atturneyes Pettifoggers and Solicitors in her time seeming to threaten some alteration as the Spirit that Conjurers raise some say will fall upon their Masters for want of other work and imployment was comforted by the Learned Lord Treasurer Burleigh with this answer Madam the more Spanyells alwayes the more Game And there may be the more sport for the Lawyers but still the Country the poor Country-man the Laborious Country-man the staff of bread is there Decayed and Impoverish't through numerous Shoals of Beef Eaters and Man-Eaters which if they were honestly put to Sea and the Plantations the sturdy young fellows would do good work and live with less care less shifts more honestly nay more profitably also both for themselves and their country And therefore though I have told you that the Spiritual-Courts are naught stark naught yet where shall we mend our market For I am certain that the Fees of Lawyers and the pretty devices to fill up Atturnyes Bills in despight of 3. Jacob. so notably of late found out and enhanc't That a man might have tryed two causes twenty years ago as cheap as he can try one now Some Men never know when they have enough ten shillings or twenty at most use to be the Highest Fee for the best Serjeant that came to the Barr now every Petty Counce look's asquint and lakes it in disdain if you proffer him Silver and not Guinies Two Three Four nay Ten or Twenty Guinies some of them think all too little And if you do not satisfy these Breath Sellers and 't is almost impossible to satisfy them they may perhaps leave You and your Cause in the Lurch or find out some Quirkâ— or Quiditty or 〈◊〉 Trick to unravel all you have done And then fet you to begin again and at it again more Guinies again And therefore Men that try will certainly find perhaps too late that Seldom comes a Better All violent Changes distemper a State which Caesar's Murderers found to their Cost repenting they did not rather Submit to the Time and endure his Usurpation the Ruin of the bravest Common-Wealth that ever was in the World rather than by such Violence to give the better Colour to the Pretences of his Successors who wanted Caesar's Incomparable Clemency and Magnanimity I 'le Conclude with the Story of Pacavius Calavinus a Man of Great Authority in Capua the Second City of Italy who by a wile had shut up and secur'd the Senate and Chief Magistrates of that Famous City in the Guild-Hall there being Men Bad enough in all Conscience and the Common Cry against them for their Enormities was not Louder nor more Universal than in England of late Years against the Rump or Committee of Safety But Pacuvius having made them thus fast call'd the People into the Forum or Market-place to hear their Good Pleasure and what Sentence or Punishment they would doom them unto With one Mouth the People Neâ—…ine Contradicente Condemn'd them to Death and Torture and to be drawn out by Lot one by one to Execution but not one to Suffer 'till another was chosen by the People to supply his Place for they knew they could not subsist without Justice and consequently Justices and Governours First That One on whom the Lot hapned to fall was called out by Pacuvius and Sentenc't to be cut off as a Pernicious and Rotten Member But First saith Pacuvius Make Choice of another better Qualifyed to supply his Place This unexpected Speech bred a Distracted Silence and the Multitude were put to a Grievous Plunge one thought upon One Friend and another of Another every one as his Interest Relation Friendship or Acquaintance most perswaded at length one of the Boldest of the Rabble ventur'd to Name One Fittest in his Opinion to Succeed And no sooner was he Nominated but the Multitude who had other Designs for other Friends of Their Own or some Just Cause of Digust against Him that was propos'd by a general Consent of Voyces did Condemn this New-Magistrate with a more Loud and Universal Out-Cry than the former old Senator who was bad enough but not Guilty of so many Hundred Imperfections and Faults as was Objected against this New-Upstart So that these Contradicting Humours growing more Violent and Hot every one following his private Affection or Malice a far greater Confusion and Hurly-Burly ensued upon the Nomination of a Second and Third for in Chusing fit Successors the Multitude could never agree At last weary of this Tumultuous Toyle One sneak't Home one way Another another way Scattering and Stealing away from this Rabble-Rout every one with this Resolution That since all Men are frail Mortals not Angels of Two Evils best to chuse the Least that some Diseases are safer to be Ender'd than Cur'd and better an Old Evil of which we know the Worst and have had Experience than a New-Evil that we know not whither it will tend or where it will End and Finally That Seldom comes a Better Let these Elegant French-Verses finish the Discourse made by Piâ—…rack the French-Poet but more Honestly than Elegantly Ayme l'estat tel que tu le voîs estre S'il est Royall ayme