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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	canon_n	council_n	nice_a	2,852	5	10.4936	5	false

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

or ought it to be otherwise appli'd than as to the matter in hand that whatsoever the Pope do yet God gives no Indulgences Licences or Priviledges either to sin or to sin impunè Besides Piety is the greatest Policy in the World and the most easy as well as most safe certain and sure way of governing Mankind in Mercy Goodness Meekness Compassion Justice in not being over-rul'd with Popular or Parasitical Applause or distast of the greatest Favorite Especially in England of all the World who are sturdy generally hard to be forc'd or driven but easily drawn like a great Ship in calm Water with a Twine-Thred Besides the Defence of the King and Kingdom consists not in impregnable Fortresses Forts and Citadels as in the Low Countries but in the Limbs and Hands Heads and Hearts of the happy Natives I mean our Main-guard under God consists in Castles of Bones and not in Castles of Stones CHAP. XVI FRiday Novemb. 25th 1681 was the day appointed and agreed upon on both sides to argue the said Pleas Protestations and Answer and to that purpose Sir Philp Lloyd upon the 21st Instant being their Court-day did bid me nominate and chuse what Advocates I thought most meet to argue and improve my said Prostestations Pleas and Answer Advocates Replied I Advocates what shall I ask Advice of the Fox how to preserve my Chickens Advocates indeed have the Advantage of me in Skill Eloquence Pleadings and Subtilties but all that will be abundantly supplied by the Advantage of the Ground on which my Innocence has plac'd me Let Criples go on Crutches I told them and that I doubted not by God's help but I should stand on my own Legs and against them all if I might but be allowed fair play and the benefit of the Laws which was fairly promised and honestly performed yet on the day time and place appointed in Doctors-Commons to argue this mighty Case before the Judg came into the Room I was most insolently affronted and my Hat pluck'd off in great Rudeness and tumultuously by a Proctor's Clerk unworthy the naming who being reproved for the sawcy Attempt by some Citizens there present all strangers and unknown to me upon the Stir comes in Sir Philip Lloyd and inquiring the Cause of such Disturbance and Noise was told by one of the Citizens and who caused the same He very honestly check'd and severely chid the Fellow and bid him be gone out of the Room and that otherwise he might have been thought privy or at least to countenance such Rudeness when Men come upon their Affairs Citations and Monitions to Doctors-Commons but that was poor Satisfaction for so great and publick an Affront 't is well we have his Majesties Laws and his Majesties Courts to vindicate and secure us from such barbarous Assaults and probably the Fellow has heard from me concerning it before this time In the Interim to proceed Sir Philip takes a Chair and sits down and so did all the Advocates and very courteously the Judg desires me also to take a Chair amongst them and sit down and great Expectation there was by the By-standers to hear this mighty Argument But when it came to Sir Thomas Exton of Counsel for the Promoter instead of arguing admitted my Pleas and there 's an end of an old Song except at the next Term the Term Probatory further Debate or Debait arise so away I came out of their Room with the stifling Crowd after me who were defeated of their hopes to hear soome Proof or good Foundation for their Spiritual's Courts which Sir Thomas Exton said I denied and my Reasons for the same you have heard in my Answer which was not argued but admitted and so the By-standers lost their Longing as well as I lost my time detain'd for a Nonni-no above a Fortnight at London from my Parish my Family my Cure and Charge But how I employed my self in that Fortnight you have read thus far in this Book all writ at London in that time and the next day coming to Colchester weary and tir'd and bemir'd I immediately to show my Love to Peace and Quietness writ by Saturday Post this following Letter to Sir Thomas Exton not amiss here to insert in these very Words Colchester November 26th 1681. Right Worshipful I Expected Yesterday that you would have argued as the Bishop's Advocate against my Allegations but since you chose to admit them I have resolved once more thus to perswade you rather to be a Moderator which is in your Power to reconcile the Differences betwixt the Bishop of London and my Self rather than to espouse a Party and be a Stickler tho for a Lord Bishop against your old Friend and Vniversity-Acquaintance of 35 Years Continuance If you think this motion for Peace and Accommodation proceeds from fear the Impartial-Consideration of my Answer will undeceive you And this is the last Overture I will ever make for an Accommodation except you answer it and me effectually within a Week And by your neglect which is probable for Passion and Rage is deaf and hath no Ears I shall then think my self absolv'd not only in my own Conscience and Honour but in the Opinion and Sentence of all good Men if after these amicable Overtues rejected Differences grow to that height that in my just defence I be forc'd to reach some unhappy Blowes that may otherwise against my will hit an old Friend Thus you see how I study to be quiet and to avoid Disputes especially with my Diocesan though he cannot possibly contrive a way to make my Name and Fame so Eminent and considerable as by thus publickly entring into the Lists of Contests with me Wherein if I be foyl'd no great Honour can he get by the Victory after such great advantage of the ground he has got to stand on above me But if he come off with loss how will he have cause to blame those Counsels that irritated him to this unseemly Encounter Revenge is God's Attribute and can no more be safely and honourably handled by any Man then burning-Coals which leave at best unhandsome Scars and uncomely Cicatrizes though healed never so cleaverly But Harm watch Harm catch And if nothing else will serve then let all our Faults be rip'd up and expos'd upon the Publick-Stage to make sport for the By standers and currat Lex I am Your Servant Edm. Hickeringill It was and is yet a Canon agreed on all hands in the first General Council of Nice which the Church of England ownes That no Bishop shall quit a small Bishoprick for a bigger and therefore better But who heeds the Canon when an useful Man a Man of great Parts great Improvements great Learning and also which I had almost forgot great Relations and Friends in the Case It was a Canon Concil Sardic that none should be made a Bishop but gradually and passing through all the Inferiour Orders and had also continued in them for some considerable time there was no

to slay an innocent person Deut. 27.25 that is in plain English Cursed is the Suborner that promises or threatens a Reward or Advancement for there are two sorts of Advancements or Rewards belike the Learned say and Cursed is the Suborned namely Cursed is the Man-catcher and his Mate or Comrogue those two Judasses that give or take a Reward to slay an innocent person and all the people shall say Amen Nay if men be for Cursing they may have their belly full in Curses that are not money-matters nor causeless and therefore shall come to pass For though the Curse causeless shall not come Prov. 26.2 Yet the Curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Prov. 3.33 Indeed the Rubrick does bewail that we have not the godly Discipline of the Primitive-Church where Sinners were punish't in this World by delivering to Satan for never any man in the New Testament escap't death when the Apostles had deliver'd them over for the destruction of the flesh that must be death that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus No alas alas we cannot kill men with a word as did St. Peter and St. Paul upon great and terrible occasions to make an example of notorious Sinners The Pope therefore made the silly Bigot-Magistrate do what the Devil us'd to do in the Apostles times in killing and burning Hereticks and entituling the Magistrate to the blood and odium as well as to the honour of being the surrogate of the Priests Revenge the Magistrate had a happy employment on 't but he durst do no other lest upon his contempt of Canons of holy-Holy-Church Holy-Church had serv'd him with the same sawce In my Travels in Popish Countries as Portugal Spain c. whose Laws-municipal are the Canon-Laws and Civil-Law I have observ'd that in the grand business of the Inquisition and Excommunication the Lay-Doctors the Civilians do the business but always under the Name and Authority of some Bishop or Bishops Who well knowing the way to the Wood and that to be led gently by the nose by those Lay-Doctors is the shortest cut to Preferment and to be an easie Soul or a tame Property is a meritorious qualification in a Candidate for the Holy See it would make a man smile if it were lawful to smile on so sad an occasion to see an old Nidget put on his Spectacles to write his Name under the Sentence for burning a Heretick which the Lay-Chancellors and Officials bring to him ready for his Wisdom's Subscription though poor old heart he knew nothing of the matter nor heard one Witness viva voce in the Cause Nay they would be very angry if he makes the least scruple or hesitation or enquiry What not trust his Delegates his Lay-Vicars not trust publick Notaries and Proctors Advocates and Surrogates that would not be guilty of an Extortion or Wrong I 'le warrant for any thing in the World except money And truly my Lord you could not have troubled me worse than you did the last Term by the answer you gave me to my Letter sent by a Gentleman my Sollicitor saying You knew nothing of the matter nothing of my cause or the merit of it for that you left all to your Vnder-Officers Your under Officers Why they are the sort of men of Doctors-Commons that hitherto have seem'd to Cite me upon pretended Articles of Barretry of which neither you nor they are competent Judges but you run the hazard all of you of a Praemunire if you take upon you to hale matters into your Courts that belong only to the Jurisdiction of the Courts of our Lord the King as if they design'd only under colour of a Process to get me in amongst them to affront abuse me squeeze and crush me they have done their utmost And do what you will I will never again appear at Doctors-Commons in your Court except you will secure me from affronts and keep the Peace that you will be personally present there and hear my defence and be an ear-witness as well as a Judg how I 'le baffle them all Leave me to your Vnder-Officers Are you in Earnest have a care your under Officers in meditating their Revenge on me hit not you home by bringing you within the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire if you with implicite faith trust to them they are in a fair way to 't But no Subject how high so ever is too great for the Law and Truth they must they must read all Chronicles they always did buckle and submit their sturdy necks to the Law or the Block Leave me to your Vnder-Officers Do you say so still God defend No Sir no leave me not in the hands of mine Enemies and give me not over to the will of mine Enemies that hate me without a cause without good cause and only for telling truth of their vile Extortions and viler Merchandize of precious Souls Leave me to your Vnder-Officers nay then I am well help't up I am like to have a hopeful time on 't Why these men of Doctors-Commons as you 'l see hereafter in this little Book they are flesh't upon me already upon my Soul and upon my Purse too Leave me to them and they 'l bring you a Sentence for you to suspend me stop my mouth silence me or perhaps Excommunicate me but throw away your Pen when you come to subscribe it let me advise you for once trust them not with a power Legantine what care they what inconvenience they bring upon you or the Church they shoot securely under the covert of your great Name and Authority whilst your Delegates do indeed by such Proxy Sentence but make you a Surrogate of their private spleen malice and revenge you cannot have a worse employment I know my Lord that you and many others that do not know me will wonder both at what I have written and that I durst write what follows but 't is because they do not know me for those that do will wonder at neither Common-talk or fame is seldom a good Limner or Pourtrays any man true besides it is so various too now as of old some said he was a good man others said nay but he deceiveth the people My own Cause in your Court you 'll see needs not ten Lines to answer all no but I take willingly the occasion here given to search into your mysteries for how can I or any honest English-man or Christian sit unconcern'd when we view such havock made of Christian Souls bought and sold sent to Satan and thence redeem'd but not without Money Money Fye upon 't Fye upon 't 't is a burning shame it should be suffered 't is against Conscience Reason Law Equity and Religion And shall these fellows bold and old in sin be cherish't and I accounted too bold to tell them of their wickedness And shall they have more of your countenance than I do your pleasure But you ought not to judg re inaudita and hearing

but of one ear reserve but one for me unstufft with prejudice and if you had never so lawful a Court I neither need nor require a greater or other favour from you whilst I live But to leave me to them you shall not leave me to them I 'le wash my hands of them God bless me from them I tell you here I 'le not come at them And I would have told you so at Lambeth but I dare not come there neither without your Order and Permission and when I writ to you and the Gentleman I sent ask't you If you would have me to attend you you said No you left all to your under Officers so that I have no other way but this publick way to approach your hand or ear which is I hope a sufficient Apology for this Humble Address of which I trust you will not be an Abhorrer 'T is true these Vncivil-Civilians that make Markets of Souls do but I know truckle under the Clergy for a Livelihood yet they are as petulant to the Clergy as if they were only their Sport or May-game or poor tame Asses fit for nothing so much as to be the Objects of their Wrath and the Subjects of their Affronts and Scorn Thus have I known wanton Jades kick the Hand that fed them and made them fat nay and throw their Masters too when Provant prick't them I Prophesie tho' that I have taken off the keen edge of their onely Toole these Ecclesiastical Fellows work for money with viz. Excommunication with a poor Formality-Priest standing Surrogating in black like at their right hand to see Livery and Seizin given of the Excommunicate Person that is delivered to Satan they shall fight hereafter but with rebated Weapons they are so cruel in their Fulminations and for such Trifles too That ever a Kingdom of Christians should be so long bewitch'd to believe that any can damn them or forgive sins save God onely or that any man has power on earth given him from God to keep others from the Ordinances the means of Grace the Sacraments the Food of Souls and the Bread of Life because they are Sinners Sinners Why there should need no Ordinances nor Sacraments if it were not for Sinners nor did ever any man receive the blessed Sacrament but Sinners all except our Saviour onely The Soul is sick 't is granted more need of Physick and Food The whole have no need of a Physician Nay the first that ever partook of the Blessed Supper if they were Penitents they were soon relaps't For in Luke 22. in the 20th Verse they took it and in the 24th Verse they were no sooner come out from the Holy Feast but they fell a quarrelling and justling for the place and striving it runs in the kind perhaps which of them should be the greatest But the crafty Popish Priests finding that Sinners found the goodness and sweetness of the Blessed Sacrament and long'd for it and they were the onely Stewards of those Mysteries they resolved to make the best benefit of the Stewards place And indeed I have observ'd in some Countries where I have been that when once the Clergy have perceiv'd that their Office was found so mighty necessary they resolve to take the occasion and make their best advantage of it Did the People find comfort in the Bread of Life and also were made to believe that none could Consecrate it but a Priest or Popish Priest Ay quoth the Popish Priest Sinner Do you see Do you see here what I have got in my hands Would you not be glad to have some Nay Hold Stand off Here is the Bread of Life but not a Bit upon a march not a Bit upon the great march and High-way to Heaven though it would save your Soul except you be obedient to your Diocesan nay and swear Obedience to Canons and Laws of Holy Church though you starve and dye for a Bit. He therefore that can make a Sacrament and debarr ad libitum sinners from it may well take the wall of all other Men in Christendom But there is no Scripture in the Old or New Testament that ever I found that ever gave power to any Man Men or Church to debar any Man from the Sacraments that is pleased to come to them for such as were deliver'd to Satan in the Apostles days were therewith kill'd their Flesh was destroyed 'T is true an impenitent Sinner he comes at his own peril if he venture to eat unworthily but 't is not a greater sin to eat unworthily than not to eat at all rejecting of the Ordinance is certain damnation whereas he that eats unworthily makes a hopeful Assay of Obedience to Christ and as he said Lord I believe help my Vnbelief so it is acceptable worthiness to say Lord I endeavor to eat and drink worthily help my unworthiness And as he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks his own damnation so he that prays preaches or hears unworthily preaches hears and prays damnation to himself Nor need I tell you my Lord that the world is generally mistaken in the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unworthily better Translated unbecomingly or unsuitably namely to the Institution as when Men make the Sacrament of Christ or take the Sacrament of Christ for no other Cause than a Test or State-Sacrament only making it the Sacrament of a Corporation or of Preferment only to get into a Ship or a Fort or on the Bench. And this Construction of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have in Ephes 4.1 Col. 1.10 Phil. 1.27 1 Thess 2.12 Rom. 16.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as becometh Saints for there is none but Papists that plead the merit of Condignity or that any man is worthy of God or worthy the Gospel otherwise than as endeavouring to walk becomingly and suitably thereto And to back this Interpretation I have the great Le Groot or Grotius on my side a Name that with me out-weighs all the Popish Priests put together We are all Sinners and the Sacrament's made on purpose for us and none but those that have the gift of God of discerning of spirits infallibly by the Holy Ghost as the Primitive Christians had can judge of the truth of any mans Repentance or consequently setch power from the Scriptures to debar men from the holy Ordinances or shut the Church-doors against them I know Priests have made a gainful Trade on 't but abating that By what Authority Divine do they these things and who gave them that Authority I always except the Rubrick in the Common-Prayer Book Sacramenta non sunt Vaenalia Sacraments are too holy to be made Vendible Commodities And if my Child shall not be baptiz'd 'till I have compounded with the Priest whose Religion is No Penny No Pater-noster Nor if I must not come into the Church but be barr'd out 'till I have pleas'd that is paid the Sumner the Register the Proctor and the Court-Fees Good Lord deliver us

Bridge Clerk Rector of Wivenhoe in the County of Essex aforesaid and his Parishioners did within the time aforesaid endeavour to Animate and Incense the said Parishioners or some of them against their said Rector and proffer'd that if they would give or pay you twenty pounds you would rout the said Mr Bridge from the said Living or from amongst them or to that effect Pot. tamen de qualibet alia summa 3. Item We Article and Object that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know believe or credibly have heard that Samuel Harris Clerk was and is the lawful Vicar of the Vicaridg of Fingringhoe in the said County of Essex and by vertue thereof rightly instituted to the small Tythes belonging to the said Vicaridg and that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmund Hickeringill have stirred up and forewarned several of the Parishioners of the said Parish not to pay their small Tythes to the said Vicar on purpose to stir up contentious Suits between the said Vicar and the said Parishioners And this was and is true publick and notorious and so much you the said Edmund Hickeringill have confessed and acknowledged to be true Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 4. Item We Article and Object that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know believe or have credibly heard that within the time aforesaid the Tythes Profits and Emoluments of and belonging to the Parish-Churches of St. Botolphs and St. Leonards in Colchester being both void of an Incumbent are by vertue of a Sequestration for each of the said Churches rightly and duly committed and granted by the Right Reverend Father in God Henry Lord Bishop of London to the Custody of the said Samuel Harris Clerk and that he is rightful and lawful Sequestrator of the same and that by vertue of a Licence or Licences under the Seal of the said Bishop the Cure of the Souls of the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said respective Parishes are rightly and duly committed and granted to the said Samnel Harris And that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmund Hickeringill have forewarned several Parishioners of the said Parish or one of them not to pay any Tythes Dues or Duties to the said Mr. Harris And more particularly by a Note under your Hand bearing Date the sixth of April 1681. Directed to the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish of St. Botolphs have promised to save harmless and indempnifie all the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish in the payment of their Tythes Offerings Obventions and Oblations unto you against all men living And likewise by another Note under your Hand bearing Date the 16th day of March 1680. have promised and engaged unto one Robert Gibson of St. Leonards in Colchester aforesaid Baker to desend him and save him harmless in the Possession of the Parsonage-House of St. Leonards aforesaid upon condition he pay unto you the Quarterly Rent of twelve shillings and six pence so long as he holds the same notwithstanding the said House belongs to the said Mr. Harris by vertue of the said Sequestration And that if he be ejected or troubled by Suits at Law you will bear the charges of the said Suit and will also bear the charges of erecting an Oven there if he be forced out of the Possession thereof by due Course of Law before Christmas next after the Date of the said Note he paying you fifty Shillings at Christmas next if he be in the Possession of the same Parsonage-House and do not relinquish the same 'till forced thereunto by due Order of Law or to that effect Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 5. Item Objicimus Articulamur that notwithstanding the said Mr. Harris is Licensed by the said Bishop to serve the said Cures of St. Botolph and St. Leonards aforesaid yet you the said Edmund Hickeringill in contempt of the Authority of the said Bishop your Ordinary have threatned the Sextons of the said Parishes or one of them that you will ruin him or them if he or they give notice to the said Mr. Harris of any business concerning the Ministerial Function to be done or performed as Christning Marrying Burying or the like in the said Parishes or either of them and that you have several times or at least once disturb'd the said Mr. Harris in doing and performing his Ministerial Function in the said Parishes or one of them in one or more of the Holy Offices aforesaid to the great scandal of our Ministerial Function and of all good people in and about Colchester aforesaid And this was and is true publick and notorious Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra Item Objicimus Articulamur that you the said Edmund Hickeringill do know or have heard that by the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England in that behalf Published and Established no Minister upon pain of suspension per triennium ipso facto shall Celebrate Matrimony between any Persons without a Faculty or Licence first in that behalf lawfully obtained except the Banes of Matrimony have been first Published three several Sundays or Holy-days in the time of Divine-Service in the Parish Churches and Chappels where the said Parties dwelt according to the Book of Common-Prayer And that every Minister who shall hereafter Celebrate Marriage betwixt any Persons contrary to the said Constitutions or any one of them under colour of any peculiar Liberty or Priviledg claim'd to appertain to certain Churches and Chappels shall be suspended per triennium by the Ordinary of the Place where the offence shall be committed as by the said Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical it doth more plainly appear Et Objicimus Articulamur ut supra 7. Item Objicimus Articulamur that notwithstanding the Premises you the said Edmund Hickeringill in contempt of the said Canons and Constitutions did in the Months of March April May June July August September October November December January February and March in the Years of our Lord 1678 1679 1680. And likewise in the Months of March April and May 1681. And in all some of one of the said Years and Months without any Licence or Faculties in that behalf first obtained or Banes Published and Denounced as is enjoyned by the said Canons and Constitutions and by the Book of Common-Prayer by Law established in the Church of England Solemnize or rather Prophane several Marriages between several persons and more especially between James Abel of the Parish of St. Leonards in Colchester aforesaid and Anne Burnham of the same Parish And also between John Shepheard of the Parish of St. Leonards aforesaid and Damaris Gillings of the same Parish And also between Edward Hartley of the Parish of St. Botolphs in Colchester and Mary Groom of the Parish of St. Leonards aforesaid And also between Daniel Steers of the Parish of St. Mary Magdalen in Colchester aforesaid and Ann Bloome of the Parish of St. Leonard aforesaid And also between Richard Potter of

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

thereby but when this Defendant married ten times more in the years 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 and 1679. and made the People pay for a pretended Licence and Marriage about 12 s. or 13 s. of which each the said Registers and Commissary had 8 s. apiece Then oh no! Then not a word to be said nor any Promoters heard of against him But after the writing the Naked Truth that tells them roundly of their crying Extortions and Oppressions of the King's Subjects in illegal Fees or rather Exactions in Probates of Wills Letters of Administrations Ordinations Institutions Inductions Visitations Synodals Procurations Excommunications and Absolutions in answer whereof neither they nor one Fullwood their Doughty-Champion has so much as one word to say in their Defence Then nothing will serve but Ruine and Desolation in Plots and Contrivances against the Author for Barretry and No body knows what And now too have at his Rectory and the Profits thereof which he holds by the Law of the Land and will hold in spight of their teeth and malice For if such solemnizing Matrimony were prov'd upon him in a lawful Court and Judicature and against lawful Canons and Constitutions found upon Record and in a Court of Record but this Court if it be a Court is no Court of Record and a true Copy thereof here produced and testified And also if it be prov'd that such Canons and Constitutions so contrary to one another are or which of them are now in force in these days that the 1 Eliz. 1. by which they had enargie life and power is defeated and also by the said 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 Yet even then the malice of this Defendants Adversaries cannot reach his Rectory and the Profits thereof as Thomas Doughty threatens in the eighth and last Article for not only the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth ordains Suspension only ab officio but that Suspension in general terms in the pretended Canon of King James ought to be construed the same with that of Queen Elizabeth namely Suspension only ab officio or silencing or stopping the mouth a mighty Priviledg not Suspension a beneficio because of the said Maxim of the Civil-Law Common-Law Mercy Reason Equity and Conscience namely Poenae generaliter expressae semper debent intelligi in mitiori sensu punishments only in general terms exprest ought always to be taken in the mildest sense Oh! but the said Promoter Thomas Doughty in this last Article cannot afford so much clemency it is a pity therefore he should ever be called vestra clementia or his Grace mercy is an Herb rarely found in the Fields of an Informer or Promoter Solomon tells us The mercies of the wicked are cruelty However whatever may be prov'd against him in this mighty case he doubts not but to keep his Free-holds Lands and Tenements both spiritual and temporal which blessed be God are worth the gaping for and let them gape they may gape long enough before they stop their mouths with them 't is to be hoped their mouths will be stopt with mould first in the grave before they ruin a Man and his House a Man and his Family a Man and his dear Wife and seven lusty Children God bless them and keep them out of harms-way secure under the Protection of the Law against all Conspirators against this Defendant or them and against all Man-Catchers little and great we live in jolly times God keep us Which brings to mind Nothing of this was put in the Defendants Answer but is added de Nove the Caveats entred by Sir Mathew Hale that incomparable Lord Chief-Justice against and for himself necessary to be continually had in remembrance by all Judges Temporal and Spiritual and proper enough it is here to Insert one half or nine of them 1. That I never engage my self in the beginning of any Cause but reserve my self unprejudiced 'till the whole be heard 2. That I be not too rigid in matters purely conscientious where all the harm is diversity of Judgment 3. That I be not byassed with compassion to the Poor or favour to the Rich in point of Justice 4. That Popular or Court-Applause or Distaste have no Influence into any thing I do in point of distribution of Justice 5. Not to be solicitous what men will say or think so long as I keep my self exactly according to the Rules of Justice 6. If in Criminals it be a measuring cast mark that to incline to Mercy and Acquittal 7. In Criminals that consist meerly in words when no more harm ensues moderation is no Injustice 8. To abhor all private sollicitations of what kind soever and by whomsoever in matters Depending 9. To charge my Servants 1. Not to Interpose in any business whatsoever 2. Not to take more than their known Fees 3. Not to give any undue Precedence to Causes 4. Not to recommend Counsel Ay Ay here was I had almost said a None-such seldom comes a better nay nay seldom such another Again to our present matter in hand and the Article aforesaid of transgressing the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England The Article does not say what Canons whether Canons made before the Reformation or since whether Canons made when the Pope was Head of the Church of England or Canons made since the Kings of England were declared by Acts of Parliament the Heads or Head of the Church of England So that this Defendant cannot possibly know how particularly to answer the same or know whether to confess traverse or deny so that this Defendant therefore requires that it may be explain'd and particulariz'd by the Promoter or Promoters what Canons and Constitutions they mean or would be at and where such Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are to be found and in what Court of Record that this Defendant may give a more positive and particular Answer thereunto for dolus later in universalibus Secondly Besides what is already said at large as to the Uncertainty which is enough to quash the said Articles at least for the present if it were needful This Defendant further answereth and saith That he humbly denies the force strength and vertue of all Canons and Constitutions vulgarly called of the Church of England that are not Confirmed by King and Parliament the onely Legislators and Law-makers in this Realm of England Which if any deny to be true 't is like he may have an answer in Parliament if thought fit But if it be true and that no Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England are allowed or confirmed to be obligatory Laws to an Englishman as in 13 Car. 2.12 16 Car. 1.11 then there 's an end of the Story and this Traverse is further needless But if this Court denies That the King and Parliament are the onely Legislators then this Defendant desires they would so declare and express themselves that so this Defendant and all others may know the limits of their obedience For

this Defendant hereby protests That if he ever shall or ever did transgress the known Laws of England or the dark and disputable Laws of England it was through error of his judgment and not of his will and therefore he desires this Court to inform and inlighten him and set him to rights if he err or if they can do it For it is not safe to say of that Act of Parliament 13 Car. 2.12 of not allowing or confirming the Canons of 40 commonly called the Lambeth Canons and all other Canons and Constitutions not confirmed by Act of Parliament c. that they signifie nothing and are inserted idlely and for no end and purpose Which those seem to assert and imply that say those words of not confirming the Canons or not allowing are not disallowing nor any remarque or neglecting Character thereby set upon them For the Canons had been left in statu quo prius as all other things were not mentioned in the said Act although not one word concerning them had been therein mentioned In all Grammatical Construction then the Not-confirming the Lambeth Canons or Canons of 40 c. That Not-allowing is a disallowing as plain as the Times perhaps would then bear And all those words in the said Act signifie the distaste and neglect the King and Parliament had of all Canons not confirmed by Act of Parliament and then all those words concerning the same signifie something and not nothing Especially leaving things as they were in the year 1639. when the High-Commission Court was up and 1 Eliz. 1. in force which is absolutely repeal'd by the same Statute And if any man thought that some had got by that 13 Car. 2.12 an Act for their Turn as was endeavor'd they were vilely mistaken or out-witted at least it was all that would even then be done for them which latter is most probable because of that fatal mistake in repealing 17 Car. 1. And there never was such an Act in the world nor any made in that year that this Defendant can find so lasting were the deep and bloody Prints of the High Commission even yet in Parliament-mens heads And this many took notice of long ago if they had thought it meet and opportune to take notice of it it might have been amended and may yet by an Act of Parliament otherwise it is to be feared that the mistake is fatal And the 16 Car. 1.11 be in force and not possible to be repealed by the repeal of the 17 Car. 1. Then good-night Nicholas and there 's an end of the Story and a Commissary Official or Register's place is not worth the buying no nor that of a poor Proctor of this Court of Arches which use to cost about 40 l. though the same man be a Proctor in any other Spiritual-Court yet he cannot practice in this Court without laying down the Cash I mean down with their Dust Gold Dust or Guinees Money more Money Which perhaps is the reason why the Proctors are suffered to take ten groats for a Fee that used to be by the style of this Court but and proportinably all other Fees abominably enhanc't wherever the fault lies they that buy must sell or else they have a bad bargain The Fees of an Excommunication and Absolution used to be but but now they are this Defendant knows to his cost and by woful experience a Guiney but note by the way This also is added de novo the said Bishops Vice-Register Nucourt is Arrested in an Indebitatus-assumpsit and will also have an Indictment or Information brought against him for the Extortion at the Suit of this Defendant who is vilely loth to be chous't of his Money and by a pitiful Proctor and Vice-Register too So that by this time this Desendant is come a great way towards the final Answer of these Articles in this Spiritual-Court if there were 1000 more of them especially in a Court that will neither show nor pretend to sit by a Commission from the King In whom alone is always inhaerent all Executive-power both Ecclesiastical and Temporal But our gracious Sovereign not only in his last Declaration but always has declared That he will rule us according to His Oath and the Fundamental Laws made by the only Legislative-power the King and Parliament And the Kings of England always have been of right and always were except during the Pope's Supremacy equally Heads or Head of the Church as well as of the State if they be two things And has right to make Laws for the regulating the Church or State-Ecclesiastical and as much as for Regulating the State-Temporal And far be it from the modesty of this Defendant to pry into the Cover'd Ark and search into the Prerogative of His gracious Majesty the Kingdoms glory as well as support both for his Mercy and Justice our dear and dread Sovereign and only Head of the Church and State which Prerogative His Majesty and his Father of blessed Memory our late Martyr'd Soveraign have explain'd to consist not only well but best with their Peoples Liberties and Properties making a sweet Harmony and enriching both King and People as Queen Elizabeth found that never had an Exchequer sooner emptied than filled though her Wars and Enemies were Great and Powerful She sometimes forgave and remitted what was given her by her Subjects in Parliament but never made a Speech or Motion for Money that prov'd successless Of which this Defendant had not now and here taken notice of further than to show in this his Defence in reference to the Church and the pretended Canons and Constitutions of the same that the said Queen never made any Canons neither did King James make any Canons or Constitutions for the Church or its Regulation until her Majesty and consequently his Majesty King James had by 1 Eliz. 1. and in that Statute given unto her and them her Heirs and Successors Power to Amend Reform c. And no more then needed at that time when the Clergy in Convocation acknowledged and surely they knew their own strength as well and much better than any can do at this distance and confest in the Statute 1 Mar. 2. that they had no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and therefore not Queen Mary but she in Parliament by 1 Mar. 2. restor'd it namely the old Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction until 1 Eliz. 1. Repeal'd it and in its room gave Power to the Queen to set up another which 16 Car. 1.11 and 13 Car. 2.12 pull'd down and Repeal'd Nay 't is evident in Cawdrey's-Case in Cookes Reports that the Jury were forc't to find the said High-Commission specially and so must other Juries do as well if ever the right of the Spiritual-Courts in Sequestrations Suspensions Deprivations in medling with mens Carnal Goods and Free-holds comes to be tryed in the King-Courts by a Jury if they can at this time a day find such a High-Commission which will be a difficult thing to persuade a Jury unto except

able to say namely In the next place That this Defendant did never marry any without Consent of Parents or Governours nor ever any within the prohibited degrees of Affinity or Consanguinity nor any who had a Suit depending thereon or any the like Impediment Inconvenience evil Circumstance or evil Consequence And moreover To answer more particularly to the said Articles that charge this Defendant for solemnizing Matrimony as in the 7th Article betwixt James Abel and Anne Burnham John Shepherd and Damaris Gillings all of the Parish of St. Leonard in Colchester and also Ed. Hartley of the Parish of St. Bottolphs aforesaid and Mary Groom of St. Leonard's aforesaid and also D. Steeres of the Parish of St. Mary Magdalen in Colchester aforesaid and An. Bloom of St. Leonards aforesaid and also R. Potter of Aldham in the County of Essex and Everet of the same To which this Defendant particularly answereth and saith That all the aforesaid five Couples are poor People that either live in Parishes where there is no Church but what is demolished as are the Churches of St. Bottolph's and St. Mary Magdalen aforesaid and no Cure at all serv'd there since the Siege of Colchester or else no constant Cure served for the space of a month and more together as at the time when the said Potter of Aldham and Abel and the rest of St. Leonard's were married and consequently no Banes could be published in time of Divine Service where there is no Divine Service nor any Profits belonging to the Church of St. Bottolph's or St. Mary Magdalen aforesaid that ever he heard of if the Churches were standing and so little to the Church of St. Leonard's as aforesaid that they have had no Minister sometimes for two or three Years together nor did any body regard it or take care of it for two or three Years together till Mr. Sewell aforesaid took some care of it and if he desert the same they 'll be just served as formerly Canis in Presepi So that the said People who told this Defendant they had not the gift of Continency and therefore Marriage being the only lawful remedy they were loth to come together and lye together unmarried and Money they had none to spare for a Licence and if they had this Defendant had equally transgress'd the Statute if he had marryed them with any pretended Licence except the Banes had been three times published three several Sundays or Holy-Days in time of Divine-Service which was impossible necessitas vincit Legem as aforesaid And this Court had had this Answer sooner but that this Defendant could not in safety or without Affronts approach your Courts having been there but twice and both times by your Clerks Vassals and Rabble without any regard or Reverence to his Quality or the Dignity of his Function assaulted affronted and threatned And had he not accidentally and by good Providence had a great number of Substantial Citizens thither brought perhaps through Curiosity especially the first time of his appearance and followed him out of your Court mischief much mischief might have been done Yet even then your Creatures unprovok'd did with most insolent and opprobrious Language and Threatnings pursue this Defendant and the said Citizens out of the Gates of Doctors-Commons into the Street and there shamefully rail'd and scolded till we were out of hearing There are none of his Majesties Courts in England but both for their own and his Majesties Honour will not only keep the Peace but a Decorum and will protect those especially that they summon before them from Affronts Nor are the King's Subjects obliged to appear in any Courts that will not or cannot protect the Suiters from Jeopardy of their Lives Limbs or Reputations But to cite this Defendant to Doctors-Commons and then to suffer if not to countenance your Vassals to abuse and affront-him is no great Argument for the upholding such a Society but looks like a Trepan at least it is most barbarous and unanswerable Which if you will not amend and secure him from the Affronts of your Creatures for the future he does hereby protest that he does not think himself obliged to obey your Summons or Monitions to attend this Court though he had no other Reason but he has shewn many more to the contrary Nor does he think himself obliged to provide himself of a Life-Guard to secure him from the Affronts of the Men of Doctors-Commons Nor did he at his first appearance speak Greek to affront the Doctors but to shew how ill it did become them to expect that such a Man as this Defendant should stand bare-headed before such as they that being Doctors of the Canon-Law much whereof was writ originally in Greek they might well blush as red as their Scarlet-Gowns to expect and command him to stand bare-headed before them when the Complement is not due from this Defendant to their Master the Arch-Bishop by the Canon-Law which ordains that Episcopus aliquo loco sedens Presbyterum stare non patiatur multo minus nudo Capite In Ecclesia autem concessu Presbyterorum sublimior sedeat intra domum vero Collegam se Presbyterorum esse cognoscat A Bishop for they had no Arch-Bishops in Africa where the Canon was forg'd in those days sit he where he will he shall not suffer a Presbyter to stand before him much less then one would think bare-headed yet in the Church the Bishop shall have the uppermost Seat but in a House he ought to know that he is but a Fellow and Companion of the Presbyters or Hail fellow well met It seems they begun to justle for Superiority and the Place in those days in spite of two Canon Laws more which from a Man you do not love you shall have in a Language you do not love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. XII IT was not therefore Pride nor Arrogance that moved this Defendant to answer you with his Head covered for those only are guilty of Arrogance that like you from this Defendant arrogate that to your selves which is not due to you But a true sense of his Duty his Quality and yours as well as your Master's Quality taught him this demeanour which no Law makes in him a misdemeanour To whom this Defendant is willingly subject in licitis honestis only and not in things unbecoming a Gentleman a Clergy-man and an English-man Lastly One Blunder more is yet behind which this Defendant had almost forgot namely That when the said Promoter Henry Bishop of London seems to desist and give over the Promotion and Prosecution in the end of the 7th Article as being probably weary of the Preferment to which his Vice-Register the said Nucourt so sawcily promoted him unto without his Privity as is conjectured or perhaps weary of the Prosecution fore-seeing the Answers and Reasons already here alleaged But when this Defendant was in hopes the worst had been past then in the 8th Article up