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england_n	according_a	church_n	law_n	3,191	5	4.8145	4	false

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

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

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

makes it a necessary qualification of a Priest to be a Linguist and yet to my knowledge not a Fryar in forty can speak true Latin Did the Apostle deliver the Incestuous Person by his spirit to Satan and also the Blasphemers Why the Pope would be at it too though he cannot Kill whom he Excommunicates for Hereticks 'till he makes the silly Bigotted Magistrate Gregory it for him And so also most of the Popish Prelatical-tricks are meer Mimickry and Idle as well as Apish Imitation of the Apostles And he is fore't to pretend to this Juggle and Cheat because his Ambition has Entitul'd him Peter's Successor and his pretty Cardinals and Bishops Apostolical men give the Word backward for these Apostolical men Apostolical men Thus the Gypsies imitated Moses and Aaron with their Inchantments Exod. 7. till Aaron's Rod swallowed up their Rods yet Pharaoh's heart was hardned and he and all his Conjurers look't upon all Religion as a humane Invention till by being abominably Lousie and like Atheistical Herod eaten up with Lice they confest Digitum Dei the Finger of God Nor do I think the Popish Conjurers will ever part with their dear dear precious gainful Money-Trade of the Keys till some remarkable Judgment fall upon them for the Abominable and Atheistical abuse Alas the Keys 't is plain were no silver Keys nor earthly worldly mens Keys and therefore when Christ gave them to Peter he calls them Matt. 16.19 The Keys of the kingdom of Heaven So that an Excommunicate Person clave non errant if justly and duly Excommunicated by Persons qualified as the Apostles were with the Gift of the Holy-Ghost called the Gift of Discerning of Spirits without which we never read in Holy Scripture that any Man or Church took upon him or them to Excommunicate any body I say such an Excommunicate Person is by the Evangelical Precept to be as much shut out of Church as if he had never entred in or as much as and no more than a Heathen-man or a Publican But that ever Christ or his Apostles or the Primitive-Church did ever intend by Excommunication to lay claim to his Purse or deprive him of his Freedom Liberty or Property Moneys or Lands as the Jesuits held by asserting that Dominion is founded in Grace and is the ground-work of the Pope's Tyranny and Vsurpation over Princes and their Subjects is no where found in Holy Writ nor any such Appendix Writ or Label hanging at any Excommunication that ever I heard of in the Gospel or Primitive Church Nor the least hint in the Gospel that our blessed Saviour who would not suffer a Prelate no not St. Peter amongst his Disciples should under colour and by vertue of Excommunication grant them a Licence to rend and tear rant and domineer as nay more than the Princes of the Gentiles over one another much less by such a stratagem to deprive Nonconformists Atheists or Libertines of their Lands or Goods Freedom or Free-hold nor ever attempted any such Invasion of the Heathen Emperors Dominions but quite contrary paid them Tribute taught subjection to them by vertue of Religion not usurpation upon their civil Rights under colour of Religion and this no Man can deny who does believe our Saviour when he said My Kingdom is not of this world And therefore he never meant when he parted with these Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to his Church and Servants that they should flourish them huff and vapor with them fight and quarrel threaten and revenge or vend their malice with them or much less knock Mens brains out with these Keys or by the help of these Keys by more nimble conveyance get into their Purses or pick their Pockets or which is worse lock them up in a Jayle by vertue of these Keys and deprive them of their Lands and Livings Liberties and Properties No no it was the Pope the Pope and his Off-spring that first turn'd these Keys the wrong way as I have said and contrary to the way of Christ for which he and all such as he meritoriously deserves the name of Antichrist or contrary to Christ 'T is Pride devilish Pride call 't what you will that makes men Lord it over God's Heritage and enslave their Bodies and Souls too together with insatiable Avarice in greedy Dogs that can never have enough 'till they get the Devil and all This makes the Popes both the greater and the lesser by the abuse of Excommunication or the power of the Keys to cram their Coffers to enrich their Nephews and satisfie their Whores when decrepit old Age cannot surrogate to their Lust and therefore my Letany is From the Popes both the greater and the lesser From Le Chese the French Confessor And from his Popish Successor Libera Libera CHAP. IV. ANd I 'le justifie it it is but a Branch of Popery in any sort of people that decry the Pope and all his Works if they do the very same things whilst poor men change their Lords indeed but not the Lordliness and Vsurpation And that Incestuous Person that was Excommunicated and Delivered to Satan I Cor. 5.4 Wherefore was it To what end and purpose The same Text tells us for the destruction of the flesh his lustful Flesh or fleshly Lusts not for the destruction of his Estate Freedom or earthly Priviledges but that his spirit might be saved All the design and all the management and all the consequences were spiritual purely spiritual Our Blessed Saviour though it was proffer'd him and some would never have refused the Preferment that have not the mind of Christ would not be a Judg in Civil matters Counsellor nor Privy-Counsellor For his Kingdom was a spiritual Kingdom his Rule a spiritual Rule in mens Hearts and Spirits by his Word and Spirit his Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual for the bringing down of strong Holds not Castles and Mannors No no the Devil and the Pope and such as follow the steps of Antichrist set up and maintain and uphold this Anti-Kingdom in opposition to the Kingdom of Christ but the Pope was glad to uphold his tottering Kingdom with the Inquisition High-Commission Racks and Gibbets Fire and Faggot Fines and Imprisonments or which is all one deliver them over to the Magistate to be Excontioners for him We thought it a fair deliverance from this Popish thraldom when we were delivered from the Inquisition High-Commission Racks and Gibbets Fire and Faggot too of late by condemning the Writ de Heretico Comburendo I do not deny though but that the two last Fines that is unjust Fees and Imprisonments are to this day in England the Consequences of Excommunication But they are mistaken that think these Consequences are held forth to us in the Gospel of Christ or the practise of the Apostles or Primitive Church No no Fines and Imprisonments attend Excommunication upon another score namely the Law of the Land and therefore you hear me say nothing against it I know what I could say if

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

Hell for Ever and Aye Here 's your Men quoth the Popish Priests Chapmen What do you lack What do you buy Then then and not till then they got the whipping-hand of the superstitious world for he that has got a hank over other Mens Souls and Consciences their Bodies and Estates consequently are without dispute at his Service and Devotion And when a Priest can make a poor Lady believe that he can damn her or absolve her and has the Keys and something else under his Girdle and can let her into or shut her out from the Church and Sacraments so that she will but shew him all her Secrets and unbosome her self in Auricular Confession Cajol'd thereunto superstitiously and bug-bear'd by many lying Miracles in the Legend of many that dyed and got as far as Heaven-gates but were glad to return a long and weary Journey to earth again to be confest by a Priest before they could be let in dying unshriv'd or unhousled can such a Priest that has got the Lock and Key of a Ladies Closet and Secrets have far to go before he come at her heart And I have therefore wondred that the jealous Italians Spaniards and Portugueze that will not suffer any man scarce a Brother to see their Wives face should yet permit them to go to secret and auricular Confession to a young vigorous unguelt piece of Sanctity I had almost said Hypocrisie I could not but wonder 'till now of late to find St. Ambrosie Ora pro nobis in the Popish Letany or Mass For what merit Oh! Captain St. Ambrose was the first Ecclesiastical-Hector or Spiritual-Bravo that in defiance of God and the King durst as malapartly as barbarously and insultingly some say Traiterously shut the doors of the Church against his Prince and Emperor Theodosius the elder not admitting him to the Sacrament nor Divine Service 'till the Emperor submitted to the proud insulting Priest and promis'd upon his knees that for the future he would be rul'd and so he and the Priest became Friends again Well I see St. James the Author the Papists say of their Liturgy and Mass though he was none of the Twelve Apostles yet was a Bishop and a Prophet too if he could so early insert into the Churches Common-Prayer Book stout Captain St. Ambrose and make him pray for himself and all Christen-Souls 400 years before he was born Oh! the merit of some mens Ecclesiastical Insolence But if Captain Ambrose was Canoniz'd and Sainted for shutting the Church-doors and debarring a great Sinner from Divine Service and Sacraments Will not the men of the same Leaven Anathematize me for opening the Church-doors thus to Sinners great Sinners and small Sinners and shut me out But it is better far to eat with Publicans and Sinners as our blessed Saviour did than to partake with Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites to whom he denounced Wo Wo Wo. Thus have I known School-Boys taught in the Church but better fed than taught to barr out their Masters and be Masters of Mis-rule upon pretence of Christmas and a Holy-time and with a Brazen-face make Declamations and Verses in praise of that precious Ecclesiastical Discipline But if I come I 'le open the Church Doors again and spread the Arms of Mercy wide open and outstretched to as great a Latitude and Comprehension as our Blessed Saviour did even to Publicans and Sinners they shall eat with me let the Hypocrites eat alone and as fittest by themselves if they will not vouchsafe to eat with Sinners let them cringe and bow and face to the Left to the Left to the East the East Sinners look you Sinners though they despise Sinners so much in nomine Domini Sinners are the best Gryst that comes to their Mills If it were not for Sinners the Bench Ecclesiastical at least would not be so scarlet as it is their Holinesses might sit alone as well as a cold if it were not for Sinners and look as lean as an Easter-Offering Sinners quoth a Who is this that despises Sinners which our Blessed Redeemer did not despise by God's help this little Book shall open the Church-Doors to let in Sinners in spight of the most self-conceited Hypocrite as far as the Old and New Testament will go I say ipse dixi What shall sin walk barefac't magisterial in open Court and unrebuk't And shall the Naked-Truth be glad to hide its Head Ha shall the wicked Extortioners of Doctors-Commons sin and will you make me suffer and be whipt for their faults upon their Backs whilst they hold me up to you Sir look you my Lord Is there any Conscience in this Look you Sir look you I am got into the Modern Rhetorical Phraze entail'd on some seats of Eloquence can it be Justice look you my Lord that I should suffer because they sin and I only wish and endeavour their amendment Just thus does the unjust World abuse the poor Cuckolds when the Naked-Truth on 't is the great and only fault is in the Cuckold-makers the Whore and Rogue And must he not have a face of Brass look you and a conscience of Steel my Lord that shall vindicate that domineering Popishly invented Prelacy which the Holy Scriptures and our Blessed Redeemer condemns making all his Disciples Spiritual-Levellers Luke 22. Whose Disciples then are the Popish Prelates that in defiance of Christ will domineer over the Clergy their Brethren and vex them with Law-Suits having great Interest and great Power and withal Purse-proud to defend in spight of Christ that Antichristian Lordliness and Clergical Tyranny over their Brethren calling it as the Pope contradictione adjecto first call'd it Hierarchy or the Holy Rule But how can that be Holy that the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Jesus decries and condemns and it was first Enacted and made a Law in England when the Pope did what he list both with King and People They had and we have a happy time on 't yet most of these Popish Hierarchical Laws are abolished and that was stoutly attack't though it still stands and let it stand I said in my Naked-Truth Rome was not built and cannot be destroyed in one day it crumbles a pace If you be for Discipline and Spiritual Weapons rather Draw upon the Adulterers and Adulteresses the Extortioners impudent Extortioners in your Spiritual-Courts in Probates Administrations Visitations Ordinations granting Licences to Preach Institutions Inductions Procurations and if you have power to Anathematize and Curse Curse the Cursers and Blasphemers of the unparallel'd Age we live in In all the Reign of Edw. 6. I find no man taken upon the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo nor 'till the fifth of Queen Elizabeth nor any legal Cursing or Commination save that in the Common-Prayer-Book denouncing of Gods Anger and Judgments against Sinners Cursed is he that smiteth his neighbour secretly and Cursed is he that lyeth with his neighbours wife c. and all the people shall say Amen Cursed is he that taketh a reward

Man's Noddle how extravagant soever to conceive And if I had hapned to have such a sensless Thought that I should be so Bedlam-mad to make the said Harris my Privy-Councellor that came to eat the Bread out of my mouth and I thank God never frequented such Mens Companies much less Familiarity is no more possible for any reasonable and unprejudic'd Men to credit or believe than that I should impart and communicate such fond Scandals to some Irish Tories Man-catching will in time be out of Fashion surely and I live in hopes that Honesty and Christianity will never be so much decry'd in England as it is at this day in Italy where when they would express Emphatically that a Man is an Errant-Fool they describe him with this opprobrious Paraphrase saying The Man is a Christian meaning thereby he is so much a Coxcomb that he ought to be beg'd for a Fool. 'T is a mighty pretty Age we live in to be Recorded and Chronicled to Posterity new and monstrous Diseases require new and sharper Remedies And I wish there were a Law a severe Law made against Suborners and Man-catchers that they might fall into the same Pit that they dig for others or as Perillis might hansel their own Brazen-Bull or like Adonibezek undergo the same Punishment cruelly invented for others And that like him they might have cause to say Judges 11.7 As I have done or endeavor'd to do for here as in Treasons we must take the Will for the Deed so God hath requited me Nec Lex est Justior ulla Quam necis Artifices arte perire sua 'T is fit Death's Engineers handsel and try Their own Inventions of Mortality Or thus 'T is fit Men witty to destroy should try Their own Machines of Death and by them dy And then from the least of us even to the greatest of us we might well tremble to do to others what we should be loth to be done to us to the hazard or loss not only of Life Liberty but Estate and Family Honours and Inheritance in urging moving stimulating persuading and tempting with Money Lands Preferment Preferment for there are two sorts of Preferment belike and sometimes with Menaces and Threatnings to enforce men to damn their own Souls to murder the Innocent by form of Law Jezabel nick't it in Politicks when by the plausible assistance of False Swearers and Man-catchers by her and her Ministers suborn'd thereunto she made the Law the righteous Law contribute and club to the knocking out Naboth's brains in hopes and prospect of the pleasant Vineyard Heaven be prais'd in England for a Prince made up of Mercy and Goodness admitting no Impressions to gratifie sinister Ends and Designs or Revenge Revenge Which to a polluted Palate and Gusto out of taste and contaminated with malice and wickedness relishes and smach's more sweet as he said than Muscadine and Eggs Yet it leaves a cursed Farewell Will it not be bitterness in the latter end 'T is an unhappy time and miserable when in a Christian Realm it happens to prove dangerous or fatal to a man to speak Truth Tacitus tells us That it was the happiness of the glorious Reign of Nerva that every man might think what he pleas'd and speak what he thought nor was it to be fear'd that any man should speak against Nerva's Government wherein no good man could possibly live uneasie But now since our late unhappy Confusions it has been thought meet and without all Controversie upon legal and substantial Reasons to alter that old English Maxim That words may make an Heretick but not a Traytor Who if I might have my wish should not live a moment For Treason as it is the blackest of Crimes on this side Hell so it is attended and most justly with the most dismal punishments and everlasting reaching not only to the loss of the Traytor 's Life Honour and Estate but extending for ever to his Posterity And therefore the Law of England that is so tender of the Life of a Man that a Butcher us'd to Blood though but of Bullocks and Beasts is not permitted to be empanel'd upon a Jury of Life and Death as I have heard is much more tender of the Life and Livelihood of a whole Family and Posterity And therefore it does well to require that such a Crime as Treason should be well prov'd by honest and legal men such as fear God and an Oath not such vile Shacks as will swear an hundred Oaths for Nothing or a Whisker for Something Nay by the Civil Law which is the Municipal Law of most Nations in Christendom a poor beggarly Rascal is not admitted to be a Witness in any case Personae vili non facile creditur For Poverty is a temptation to Perjury with very very easie Subornation and therefore Suborners do usually as Jaundice-People do for Lice search the Gaols for such kind of Cattel and for Men in Necessity Wisely for this cause does Agur pray to God against Poverty lest he should take the Name of God in vain that is lest he should through Poverty be the more easily tempted to Perjury or to forswear himself Prov. 30.9 And God forbid that Villany should ever be more prosperous than Innocence or that the Devil should Reign so powerfully in Mens Hearts and Consciences that Truth should not dare to walk Naked in Christendom but be forc'd never to appear in Publick but like a Champion in the Lists arm'd Cap-a-pee for fear of the Enemy God forbid That England should have the Plague again and waste and consume with so mortal a Malady without a Remedy or that the righteous Law the best Remedy should so be abus'd as to make the Remedy worse than the Disease or exasperating the Humors confederate with the Disease That High-Priest was a Devil Incarnate that under colour of his Sacred Robe and Function poyson'd his Adversary with the Consecrated Host or Sacrament making the Bread of Life his Bane And hard is the hap of those Patients that are left to the sad choice either to dye by their Disease or by the Remedy the hand of the Physician hang such choice Thus Statesmen that consider not the design of God and the order of Nature in such infinite variety of Faces Features and Complexions in defiance and despight thereof will not follow those best and surest Guides but by excentrick motions of their own to make all men alike and uniform which is impossible sometimes deform all things The Church is not the less but the more beautiful for its precious stones although they be of different and divers colours and this is promis'd Isa 54.11 Nor is it to be done what some People contrive to make all men or all Christians alike and uniform except by putting out all mens Eyes and cutting off their Noses which is a bloody bungling ugly monstrous mishapen unnatural massacring horrid and cruel method and yet then even then there will be some Non-conformity Alas alas

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