laying his hand on his Sword in the King's Presence for which he was question'd for his Life no Bishops nor Prelates being there therefore yet the Record says Le Roy charge touts le Countes Barons autre Grantz The King charges all the Counts Barons and other Great-Men to consult c. And then he must charge the Prelates too if he charged all the Great Men if the Prelates be Magnates or les Grantz which could not be in a Question of Blood 'T is true the Bishops are a kind of Barons and so were the Abbots and Priors by virtue of the Baronies bestowed upon them by the Charity or blind Devotion or for what other reason by William the Conqueror c. who divided his Conquests all over England into Knights-Fees and of several Knights-Fees laid together he made Baronies And some of these Baronies the Lay-men got but the Clergy in the Scuffle and Scramble put in never fear it for a Share and got proportionably and more some Lord-Bishops got and some Lord-Abbots got and some Priors By virtue of which Baronies they had Votes and Places in the House of Lords But one House being not able to hold so many Lords the King divides his Baronies into Majores Minores the Minors he tript off but the Bishops Abbots and Priors held it fast till Hen. 8. and then the Lord-Abots and Priors tripp'd off this was a sore Shock to the Prelacy and only the Bishops of all the Prelates in 2 R. 2. hold it to this Day And who Parliaments as at Bury St. Edmonds and also as aforesaid 2. Edw. 3. have been held without the Prelates and tho it is declared before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the major Part of the Prelates in 7. Hen. 8. in Keilway's Reports p. 184. Dr. Standishes Case Les Justices de soi ent que nostre Seigneur le Roy poit asser bien tener son Parlement per luy ses temporal Seignieurs per ses Commons tout sans les spirituals Seignieurs That our Lord the King may well hold his Parliament by Himself and his Temporal Lords and by his Commons without the Spiritual Lords c. Yet by virtue of their Baronies they have Right to sit in the House of Peers tho their Brethren-Prelates Abbots and Priors be outed and the Privilege of Sitting in the House of Lords does not now continue de facto to those Gentlemen that now enjoy those Baronies which the Abbots had with all their Privileges and Immunities c. Of which Privileges and Immunities c. this was one to sit in the House of Peers and granted and regranted in the same manner the Abbots c. held these Baronies But I do not know de Jure how far this Immunity does extend nor is it my Province to argue it tho I am possessed of the Barony of the Priory of Wickes in Essex to me and my Heirs with all the Immunities c. and therefore one would think I might claim the Privilege of a Prelate out of that old Statute 2 R. 2. that hath caused all this Debate and Debait Nay all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates so Lyndwood a Doctors-Commons Official in his Provincials Con. Otho sacer Ordo verb. illiteratos Quae Ignonantia multò magis detestanda esset in Episcopo seu majori Prelato If there was a major Prelate then there was a minor Prelate little Men are Men tho little A hundred Instances I could give that all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates Now if the speaking against any Prelate who is not Magnas nor so mentioned in the Declaration as here it is not mentioned that the Plantiff is Magnas and if in the Language and Dialect of those Times the Word Bishops does not imply Magnates or les Grants then surely all Prelates and all that have the Fee-simple of those Lands and Baronies granted to the King and his Heirs and Assigns by Act of Parliament and given and regranted to others together with all the Immunities and Privileges that the Abbots had and enjoyed by virtue of those Lands and Baronies c. ought to have the Benefit of this Statute of Scandal Magnat quâ Prelat Why they should not enjoy the Privilege of Prelates in that Act of 2 R. 2. of Scandal Magnat and all other Privileges that ever the Abbots enjoyed by virtue of their Lands and Baronies being meer Temporals not Gospel nor Spiritual Priviledges I cannot imagine if the Bishops do enjoy these Benefits quâ Prelati or quâ Barones Howsoever the other Priviledg of sitting in the House of Lords may be lost for the long Intervall or Vacation of not being call'd thither time out of mind of Man by the King 's Writ be lost or for what other Reason it is not needful here to discuss For if the Bishops sit not in the House of Lords purely ex Gratia Regis but quâ Barones by reason of their Baronies then è fortiori much more may those Gentlemen that have the Abbot's Baronies and other Prelate's Baronies claim the old Privileges belonging to their Baronies and for which and other Immunities they have an Act of Parliament to them and their Heirs Since Bishops have not so firm a Tenure of their Baronies and the Privileges Temporalities and Immunities thereunto belonging because they hold them ex Gratiâ Regis and for Contempt may lawfully be forfeited and seized into the King's Hands But the Baronies of Us that hold them in Fee-simple and by Act of Parliament with the Immunities and Privileges anciently belonging to the Abbot-Prelates and Prior-Prelates cannot for such Contempt ad libitum Regis be so forfeited or seized Nay since many Rectors in England have Baronies annex'd to their Rectories and their Parsonage-House is the Manor-House where Court Barons are kept to this day and the Tenants do their Homage and Fealty and they are really and truly Prelates I see no Reason in Law or Equity but they may have the Benefit of this Statute of 2 Rich. 2. of Scandal Magnat if it pertain to Prelates quâ Prelati And then every little Rector may bring his Action upon this Statute Qui tam c. for Contempt of his Clergy-ship and Prelateship and then Hey day we shall have a little Pope in every Parish and a spiritual Hogen Mogen in every Rectory Hey then up go we and then Thompson and Heraclitus look to 't we 'll pay you off for your Nick-names you had better have been tongue-ty'd And none can give a Reason why this Defendant should not also have the Privilege of a Prelate which his Predecessors had the Abbots of Wicks when this Statute was made whose Successor is this Defendant in the Barony and to him and his Heirs for ever Nay really Thompson and Heraclitus I believe the Defendant is in earnest since so much Money as 2000 l. may be ceined out of old Statutes there are London Juries and Middlesex Juries as well as Essex Juries
the Statute made in the Parliament of King Richard the Second after the Conquest at Glocester in the Second Year of his Raign held amongst other things it is Enacted and strictly Charged under great pain That none should be so bold as to devise speak or relate of the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and other Nobles and Great Men of the Realm of England nor of the Chancellor Treasurer or Clerk of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's House Justice of the one Bench or other nor of any Great Officers of the said Realm any false News Lyes or any such Falsities whereof any Scandal or Discord within the said Realm may arise And whosoever this should do should incur the Penalty otherwise thereof ordained by the Statute of Westminster the First as in the said Statute more fully it is contained Yet the said Edmond Hickeringill the Statute aforesaid not regarding nor the Penalty of the said Statute any ways fearing but craftily designing the Good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit of our said Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and great Officers of this Realm of England and also of divers worthy Persons Subjects of our said Lord the King that now is to bring the fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Lord the King at Chelmnesford in the County of Essex divers false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet being Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm of England in the presence and hearing of divers of the Subjects of our said Lord the King falsly maliciously and scandalously devised spoke related published and proclaimed in these English Words following viz. The Lord Bishop of London meaning himthe said Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads in Divinity to all his Clergy in those parts meaning the Clergy within the Diocess of London in those parts which are contrary to Law meaning the Laws of the Realm And of his further Malice the said Edmond afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year abovesaid at Chelmnesford in the said County of Essex scandalously and maliciously and further to defame and scandalize the said Bishop likewise devised spoke related published and proclamed of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London upon a Discourse of the said Bishop then and there had these other false News and horrible Lies in these English Words following that is to say His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London is very ignorant And the said Edmond further craftily designing not only the good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into further great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit â—our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and â—â—eat Officers of this Kingdom of England and of divers other worthy Subjects of our said Lord the King to bring but also to cause him to endure the pain and peril of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm against Traitors and such Malefactors made afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the said three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is at Chelmnesford aforesaid in the said County divers other false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm in the presence and hearing of divers of the King's Subjects scandalously falsly and maliciously devised spoke related published and declared in these English Words following viz. I meaning him the said Edmond Hickeringill can prove His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London to be concerned in the Damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot to destroy the King and subvert the Government of this Realm late discovered By Means of which said several false News and horrible Lyes the said Bishop is not only hurt and scandalized in his Reputation Honour and Dignity and the said Bishop hath lost the Favour good Opinion and Esteem which our said Soveraign Lord the King and other great Men and Prelates of this Realm afore towards him did bear and divers Rumors and Scandals between divers of the Nobles of this Realm and great Men and other the King's Subjects upon the Occasion aforesaid within this Realm are risen and spread abroad and great Scandals and Discords by reason of the Premises between the said Bishop and others of this Realm are risen and daily more and more are likely to arise to the great disturbance of the Peace and Tranquillity of the Realm to the Contempt of our said Lord the King and great Scandal of the said Bishop and against the Form of the said Statute of Richard the Second to the Bishop's Damage 5000 l. and therefore he brings this Suit Issue Non Cul This Trial of so great expectation came on about nine a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the 8th of March 1681. To prove the Declaration only one single Witness was produced for the Plantiff namely one Samuel Harris Clerk Witnesses sworn on the behalf of the Defendant were The Right Honourable Edward Earl of Lincoln Mr. Benjamin Edgar Mr. Ambrose Flanner Robert Potter Henry Bull Christopher Hill and Daniel Howlet all except that Noble Earl Parishioners of the Parish of St. Buttolph's in Colchester and present when the Words were pretended to be spoken Actions for Words ought to be precisely and punctually prov'd and all the Words together without addition or diminution otherwise as the Defendant who pleaded his own Cause told the Court the Sense must differ except they be taken together with the antecedent and subsequent Discourse in sensu conjuncto not diviso jointly and not severally adding that he had a thousand times said that there is no God and yet that saying that looks so scandalously Atheistically and Blasphemously taken disjointed and severally from the foregoing Words are really innocent and harmless and have been spoken a thousand times by every Man that has a thousand times read or repeated Psal 14. 1. The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God So also in infinite Instances as to say It is not lawful to love God nor to 〈◊〉 our Neighbour dissemblingly or hypocritically take away the last Words and 〈◊〉 looks scandalously and most prophanely but taken altogether no harm all but good and true and like that of the Apostle Let Love be without Dissimulation The said Harris Witness for the Plantiff had got the Words pretty well by Heart but yet did not swear them so roundly off as was expected For as to the first Words namely The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity to all his Clergy in these
Defendant both in Years in Travels in Studies at the University in Experience nay as a Souldier too one a Cornet the other a Captain one a great Traveller as the most Gentlemen in England the other 's greatest Travels is but over the Diocess in Conferences Visitations to gather Procurations and unconformable Confirmations not according to Law as is proved in the Black-Non-Conformist and for the Defendant to have called one who is indeed only by the King's Grace as being made a Bishop and a Doctor and therefore only his Senior but his younger Brother by many Degrees in all other respects as aforesaid if the Defendant had pleased Sir George's Humour and had stiled him Reverend Father in God perhaps the Bishop would have thought the Defendant had jeer'd him and then all the Fat had been in the Fire again and all in a Flame the other Action of Scandalum Magnatum And let the By-standers judg whether it had not been as much for the Bishop's Honour if Sir George had never touch'd upon the Pedigree but have left it quiet as he found it nor yet have star'd about when he mist the old cogging flattering Hierarchical and Prelatical Complement of Reverend Father in God A Complement now worn out at Elbows and as tatter'd trite and Thread-bare as Your Humble Servant And for the noble Pedigree the Welsh-man had as good have let it alone if it had been possible for a Welsh-man to omit the Occasion but the noble Extract and Pedigree which no Body does deny had rested never the worse if he had suffer'd it to sleep quietly to all Posterity without this his Index to disturb it Here 's a flanting-do with these Welsh-men and their Extracts and their Pedigree's and if old Adam or Noah were alive they would equally love a Beggar as one who is as nigh a Kinsman of their Blood as the Welsh Knight himself Away with this musty worm-eaten-Heraldry some by pimping and worse have got to be Lords stand clear there from all his Progeny remember 2 Ric. 2. Sirra we 'll Scandalum Magnat you do you not honour a Lord and a Lord's Son A Lord's Son Can you prove your Words Now it is the Mode in some Countries for Ladies that have Lords to have also a Gallant a strong Back'd Coach-man or sweaty Foot-man or Groom Spindle-shank'd Gentlemen-Ushers as useless being laid aside And now it is the Mode the Court-like Mode for a Lord that has a Wife to keep a Miss likewise That it would puzzle this same little Harris who would make no Bones of a probable Oath but swallow it roundly to swear who is a Lord's Son and yet what a pother Men keep in the World with their Noble Blood Noble Blood when the Chirurgeon swears that there is not one of a hundred Lords upon trial of Phlebotomy has so good Blood in his Veins as the Defendant In Guinee therefore to secure the Blood-Royal infallibly in the Blood and Family-Royal the eldest Son of the King 's eldest Sister does Heir the Crown not the King's Son for so there can be no foul play But the said two Letters were read wherein the Defendant inculcated the Commands of our Saviour to his Disciples that they should not Lord it over one another as the Princes and Men of the World do Look you says Sir Francis Withins he justifies his speaking against Prelates As if it were a Sin to quote our Saviour's own Words But especially He and Sir George storm'd when the Defendant said That Prelacy is condemn'd 1 Tim. 5. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque eo ut unum alteri praeferas without preferring or prelating one before another Worse and worse saith Mr. Withins He justifies here 's Scandalum Magnatum again an Aggravation Gentlemen I hope you will remember it in the Damages Ay Ay trouble not your Head The Jury-men were Wise-men and had conn'd their Lesson perfectly and knew their Business and what to do as well as Sir Francis could tell them he might have spar'd his Breath to cool his Pottage or for the next cause and yet when his Tongue did not go his Hand went at every Clause and Period and sometimes at every Word lifting up his Hand and then the Cadence he had seen the Singing-men how they act their Prayers And when the Words of the Letter were full of heavy complaints made to the Bishop by this Defendant at every Period or Clause Hah quoth Sir Francis As when in the Letter the Defendant complains that the Bishop of London listned to clandestine Affidavits Hah quoth Sir Francis about the false Accusations of Barretry Hah and taken illegally Hah and out of Court Hah when there was no Cause depending Hah nor any Issue joined Hah nor any Cause that was of Ecclesiastical cognizance Hah and sworn by two Bum-lifts Martin and Groom Hah two Fellows of the basest Conversation Hah the former Martin whip'd for a Thief Hah in Sudbury Hah and the Record thereof produc'd and prov'd at the Assizes by Mr. George Catesby Town-Clerk of Sudbury Hah still quoth Sir Francis And that the Fellows swore through an Inch-Board as swearing against Records Hah and after his Lordship knew this to be true yet He or his Chancellor Sir Tho. Exton or the Registers Morris and Betts or all of them still prosecuted the Defendant as a Common-Barretor Hah and for taking a Bribe for granting an Administration to Thomas Shortland which they knew by their Register-Books was never granted and yet knowing all this they suffer'd this Martin to swear that he brought the Administration from Chelmnesford from the Register's-Office of that Couple Morris and Betts and Groom their Apparitor fit Companions in their Spiritual Court swore he saw the Administration under Seal of the Court and granted to Thomas Shortland by the Defendant as Surrogate when they knew all was false as God is true and that not the Defendant but Gilbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the Prerogative-Court where the Defendant was never concern'd in his Life and Marcus Cottle not Morris nor Betts Registers and under the Seal of the Arch-Bishop Of such Vexations and Grievances the Defendant humbly complains but smartly and warmly too in his Letters to the Bishop and humbly entreats the Bishop either to give him reparation for the Damages he has causelessly been put unto or if he would stand upon the Plea of his Innocence and Justification that he would please to give this Defendant the Benefit of righting himself by Law Hah And that the said Bishop would be pleased to wave his Priviledg and give Appearance to the Desendants Attorney Mr. Coleman Hah and come in amongst the rest of the Conspirators and Plotters against the Defendants righteous Name and Reputation Hah And that all these Mischiefs had their rise from that old inveterate piece of Malice Hah Sir John Shaw Hah who without any lawful Power or Authority Hah had taken clandestine Affidavits Hah in his House Hah about Barretry Hah
Perdition For the love of Mony is the Root of all Evil which while some coveted after they have been seduced from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows 20. Rich. 2. The Commons complain to the King that the King kept so many Bishops about him in his Court c. and advanced them and their Followers An old complaint When the Devil tempted our Blessed Saviour shewed him the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Mat. 4. 8 9 10. Then Jesus said unto him Avoid Satan But how many of our Apostolical Men that vaunt themselves Successors of the Apostles do say as the Apostles did Acts 6. 2 4. It is not meet that we should leave the Word of God and serve Tables But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the ministry of the Word Ay Ay that 's a good Work the best Work and work enough and the most proper Work for Apostolical Men. We never read that any Apostle turn'd Action-Driver or Promoter surrounded with the black Regiment of Aparitors Proctors Hangmen and Jaylors Again what bold daring impudence is it for them to keep Courts and not in the Name and Style of the King contrary to 2. Edw. 1. if it be in force A Statute thought so necessary for the Reformation and so agreeable to the King's Supremacy in the wisdom of our Ancestors that one would wonder any good Subject should scruple at its observance much less live in contempt of it It is a Statute lawfully made and never repealed I know what Coke says of it and wherefore he durst say no more during the Tyranny of the High-Commission which High-Commission alone kept off all punishment from the Transgressors thereof an extrajudicial Judgment was once given against it But where is the Judg will declare against its force and say in Westminster-Hall that it is repealed I grant in Queen Mary's Reign all the Statutes against the Pope's Supremacy are repealed and her Repeal is repealed by Queen Elizabeth and King James But the Pope's Supremacy continues in France and yet Process Ecclesiastical might if the French King pleas'd run in his own Name and yet the Pope and he continue very good Friends and the Pope's Supremacy continue therefore the repealing the Statutes made against the Pope's Supremacy is no repeal of this Statute there goes more than general words to repeal a Law and such a Law If this Statute be repealed Why does not the Judges so declare it If it be in force no Name is bad enough nor any Punishment on this side Death for the wilful and stubborn Transgressors thereof and 't is my wonder that no Men in England will put it home to have it argued that it may not continue a Snare to the King's Subjects for if that Statute had not promis'd fair and most Learned Counsellors at Law of the same Opinion the Contest with Ecclesiastical Courts had never been continued against them for any thing but only because of their vile Extortions and Oppressions in high contempt of the Law of God and Man braving his Majesty's Laws his Statutes their own Canon Laws their own Table of Fees against Justice Conscience and Equity What is Impudence if this be not The King may seize their Temporalities for Contempt no wonder they frisk being so netled How they strive for Life And for the words in the last Count more need not be said than that it is ridiculous to insist upon them and therefore Sir Fran. Withins said They would take a Verdict only for the words in the first Count For instead of damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot their own little single Witness Harris swore against them namely Horrid Plot against my Righteous Name and Person though that word Person was false too for instead of Person it was Reputation and so did all the Witnesses agree never was such a Cause carried on the Testimony of so infamous a Man a Man of so bad Memory that could not tell his Tale right twice together nor twice the same way and therefore though he had not been proved infamous by that Noble Earl yet he ought not to have been believed against the Testimony of so many substantial Witnesses that if they were not crazy must needs have better Memories than he Lastly He swore for himself and in revenge and to get the Defendant's Benefice And yet the precious Jury would not only believe him against so many but would not only find the words that are not actionable in themselves as has been prov'd at large and beyond all contradiction For Men thus to ruin a Man and beggar him to enrich a Rich Man that has enough already one would think or at least as much as he deserves is so like the Parable in 2 Sam. 12. 1 2 3 4. of the Ewe-Lamb the poor Man's whole Substance lost at a clap that the Jury may thank God that they escape King David's Threat For David's Anger Ver. 5. was greatly kindled against the Man and he said to Nathan As the Lord liveth the Man that hath done this thing shall surely die And he shall restore the Lamb four-fold Mark that four times 2000 pounds How much is that 8000 l. because he did this thing and because he had no pitty To dishonour God by a rash Oath taking his Name in vain is but by our Law twelve pence for the temporal Punishment And to defame a Prelat that in comparison of God is but Worms-meat shall the temporal Punishment be no less than Imprisonment or 2000 l. in Mony Oh monstrous The Mercies of the Wicked are Cruelty But cruel Men should remember in time they may have cause to remember the wretched End of Empson and Dudley those grand Pick-pockets that from the Breach of old Statutes and Penalties did ruine Families Sir Richard Baker p. 247. tells us that their principal Working was upon Penal Statutes to use his Words they consider'd not whether the Law was obsolete or in use and had ever a Rabble of Promoters a brave Employ for a Person of Honour and leading Jurors mark that too at their Command They liv'd and they liv'd to be hang'd for their Pains after three long Years for so long God suffered them to drink the Tears of Widows and Orphans namely from Anno Dom. 1406 till 1409. And the Promoters mark that too Canby Page Smith Derby Wight Simson and Stockton 't is fit their loathed Names should be chronicled to all Posterity and so shall others too that drive the same Trade condemn'd to the Pillory and then to ride through the City with Papers on their Heads and their Faces towards the Horses-tails All seven died strangely in seven Days after in Newgate for very shame There 's an End a wretched End of a Pack of Wretches pack'd Jurors and Promoters The Righteous God will hear the Groans and Cries of the Widows and Orphans by unreasonable and wicked Men ruin'd and undone and will pay off the stony-hearted
opened It is not to be done now in England If we may judg at the Minds of the People more by the last Parliaments than the last Addresses which I like well enough of But were there not as many and as numerous Subscriptions to that Usurper Richard Protector nay more zealous Expressions and Promises But when he needed them not a Man stood by him I know the case is vastly different but not different in zealous Promises and Protestations But as little Rivulets alter their Motions to follow the great Tyde and the Stars obey the motion generally of the Primum Mobile though they may have some little excentrick motions of their own For whatever the generality of this Nation does affect or disaffect it shall become a Law it is naked Truth Oh! but we have a Law and Act of Vniformity and must not Laws be put in Execution I answer No not with partiality but either hand all or save all either punish all Nonconformists or none make not Fish of one and Flesh of another say In your Conscience and Honour is there any Conscience or Honour in this Partiality Hang it It breeds ill Blood Shall a Non-conformist-Bishop send Men to the Devil for Non-conformity Hey-day where live we Besides Cruelty Severity and Persecution does ill become a Protestant Bishop the Servant of the Lord should not strive but with meekness instructing not Jayling nor Cursing those that oppose mark that themselves Should they indeed Curse them and Jayl them and send them to the Devil by Excommunication and tossing them to the Magistrate as nimbly as if they were but Tennisballs and all this Racket about a Moot-case or Mony matter by Significavits in order to Jayl them And then the nimble Magistrate tosses them to the Bishop again As the Justices of Middlesex admonish or desire you in their late printed Declaration to deliver Men to Satan by Excommunication that so also and likewise they may not be capable of suing for their lawful Debts nor be Competent Witnesses nor Jury-men nor Testators This is no Persecution to speak of but except death what is worse Nay 't is worse than Death to be thus us'd for a Bawble Time was when I writ Curse ye Meroz that I was just of those Mens scandling And in this particular had no more wit than Sir George Jefferies who then admir'd my folly for such it was as all Men admire those things that sit their own size their pitch and their attainment their honour and their scantling But I confess my Lord at that time I knew no better How does Interest blind the Eyes of the wisest 'till I consider'd the Golden Rule of our Saviour in this case of doing as we would be done unto And how loth we should be that the rigour of Law should be exacted for our Non-conformity or Premunires And that Empson and Dudley were hang'd for being so rigerous against the general sence in exacting the penalty of Statutes in force too Some Justices now admire this Policy Hullou Let them go on They got the Law in their own Hand Time was when I look'd upon all Non-conformity to proceed from Humour Frowardness Self-conceit or Design rather than from tenderness of Conscience the mock of Atheists that have none until I had impartially weighed their Arguments which I could never as yet meet with any Man that was able to answer if you can you understand more than I. No not that Argument of King Charles the First mentioned just before the last Verses of my Black Nonconformist concerning Conscience God's Throne And therefore refrain Do not like the Giants attempt to scale Heaven the Babel is in vain to boot though Pope and Devil High-Commission or Inquisition should confederate against Conscience God's Throne it is hard for such Persecuting Saul's to kick against the Pricks Besides the great Friend of Persecutors innuendo the aforesaid Devil usually leaves them as he does Witches when he had brought them to the Gallows I do not desire you should in a sowr humour turn the Cordial Wine in this Letter to Vinegar and cavil at it as formerly and make it my Accuser but do if you have the boldness for I will justify it to a Tittle and that there is no Scandalum Magnatum in it to any but the Wicked who have most need on 't and therefore much good may it do them There is a Divine Nemesis a Divine Vengeance the Heathens could say that pursues bloody and cruel Men they shall not live out half their days like that Heathen Adonibezeck I shall live to hear them say As I have done so God hath required me And my Lord you have not such Enemies under Heaven in time you will believe me as these Ecclesiastical Fellows that egg you on and hearten you on to stalk as their Promoter for their own little and baser Ends and Gain in their dear-bought Offices and Places to these harsh Methods so below the dignity of a Bishop saying What will become of Discipline what of the Church Fie on them What care they for Discipline that as well as they love Mony coine but little out of Whores and Rogues Swearers Drunkards Tories and Blasphemers except of a poor Whore now and then but Mony will redeem or buy off a white Sheet But if there be a consciencious Non-conformist they coin him presently or if he will not down with his Dust and ready Darby then curse him and Jayl him Brave doings and yet what Wretches in England are greater contemners of the King's Laws than they or greater Oppressors And how can you answer it to talk of Discipline and Excommunication and be a Promoter and yet not deliver these Fellows to the Devil amongst other vile Sinners What has the House of Prayer to do with a Den of Thieves For shame for shame for shame of the World and speech of People abhominate this Partiality or pretend to no Discipline at all The very Heathen Romans did so hate Partiality that Brutus sacrificed his Son to Justice And shall a Christian nay a Protestant nay a Protestant Bishop be guilty of Partiality and draw his two-edged Sword against some Dissenters and some Non-con's and some that marry without Blanck-Licences or Banes and yet connive at others nay at the impudent contempt of the King's Laws in Extortions and Oppressions and illegal Fees of his own Servants and Officers just in his Eye and under his Nose It admits no Answer no Cavil to evade it A Premunire is not harsh for harsh Men and partial and unjust cruel Men. Augustus busy to reform the State blusht when a Peasant bid him go home and reform his own House first his Wife and Daughters being the veryest Whores in Rome Whose Vices what Sins what Oppressions does your Discipline-mongers correct no not their own good doings the while when Vice corrects Sin nay it does not that neither if there be Friendship Tory-ship Tantivee-ship or Mony
his Lordship and such Words he told them as the Defendant himself ingenuously acknowledged Such a Rehearsal transpros'd would fright a Man from ever making an ingenuous Acknowledgment whilst he lived If a Man be not submissive then he is proud and obstinate and justifies an Aggravation an Aggravation as Mr. Withins said but if he be coming they 'll take him o' the Chaps and make him stand further off but this is the Policy The Judg said that the Defendant acknowledged that if he had said the Words modo formâ as they are laid in the Declaration the Jury could not punish him enough This 't is to be courtly and complemental a Man that is not us'd to it neither for really and truly the Words in the Declaration the Lawyers say are not actionable except the last Innuendo the Popish Plot had been proved and instead of an Innuendo Harris swore Plot against my righteous Name It is besides impossible to be prov'd by this Declaration because no preceding Colloquium is laid but this 't is to be civil and to make Concessions without which the Judg would have been put to 't to have directed the Jury as to the Scandal of them or the Law in that Point For 't is not Scandal Magnat the Learned say to say His Lordship is very ignorant because 't is true of him and of wiser Men and better Men than Henry Bishop of London and therefore cannot be Lies and scandalous or within that Statute The Bishop of London for Knowledg and Wisdom is not worthy to carry St. Paul's Books Cloak or Parchments after him if he were alive and yet that blessed Apostle that could cast out Devils with a word confesses he was very ignorant and knew nothing as he ought to know But not to insist of Divinity to come to Philosophy the wisest Man of Greece and the chief of the seven wise Men of Greece to whom the Oracle of Apollo awarded the Golden Tripos confess'd he was so ignorant that he knew nothing but only this namely he knew that he was very ignorant or knew nothing Hoc tantum scio quòd nihil scio 'T is Atheism to say that St. Paul made that ingenuous Confession of his Ignorance in that and many more Places only in Complement as some that are as proud as Lucifer or as the Devil can make them will yet say Your humble Servant For Shame Away with these Scandal Magnat.'s and undoing Men and Families for speaking nothing but the Naked-Truth and which the Bishop of London cannot without blushing refuse to acknowledg that His Lordship is very Ignorant Which if he does acknowledg the Defendant and he are agreed in one certain Naked-Truth But if his Lordship does not acknowledg that he is very ignorant all the wisemen of Man-kind must condemn him as very ignorant For none but he that does not know himself none but a Fool but must know and acknowledg themselves to be very ignorant 'T is true the Issue is Non-Culp because the Defendant never spoke those Words as they are modo formâ laid singly by themselves in the second Count of the Declaration and all the Witnesses except Harris nay Exton the Doctor 's Commons Man too says that the Word Ignorance had reference to the Law or Statute of which tho a Bishop be ignorant yet it is no blemish nor scandal to him Nay scarce a Bishop in England understands or ever read so much Law as the Defendant yet it is no Scandal to them nor disparagement Nay Harris himself at last confesses that the Ignorance and the Impudence had reference to the Printed Paper and the Canons of Forty and therefore these Words His Lordship is very Ignorant could never as laid in the second Count singly be spoken in Manner and Form as they are laid in the Declaration But were the Bishop of London really and truly wiser than Solomon St. Paul or Socrates yet it is as clear as the Sun at Noon-day that he was ignorant in tanto whatever he might be in toto namely ignorant in so much and in that which occasion'd all this Discourse namely in sending Harris with a Sequestration of the Benefits and the small Tithes of the Parish of St. Buttolph's the place of this Contest and also the occasion too in Colchester when the said small Tithes and Benefits nay all Tithes both small and great Tithes of St. Buttolph's Parish appertain to the Defendant as Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints and has been enjoyed by his Predecessors since the Raign of Henry the 8th and so to continue for ever as is more fully declared pag. 27. of the Black-Non-Conformist and therefore it is no Lye and therefore not within the said Statute of Scandal Magnat but a great Truth tho a costly one Truth has been a dear Commodity to this Defendant but still it is too true that the Bishop was very ignorant in sending such a Sequestration it had been better for the Defendant by 2000 l. if he had been wiser and then this sad occasion had never come hard Case to be whip'd on another's Back and taken up at these Years for other Men's Faults and that the Bishop should without Law disturb the Defendant's Title to his Free-hold and then by the help of his Tool and Utensil and a good Jury ruine him for complaining when he is pinch'd The Itch the Scab the Morphew the Boyls the Uncombs the Carbuncles the Leprosy the Pimples a Pox and the Nodes are but Skin-Diseases and Deformities coming immediately from the vicious Ros and Gluten of the third Concoction at third hand poor par-boyling Function but it cannot help it for the Mischief the Mischief the Author and Origine of all this Mischief is the first Ventricle that 's erronious and out of order If the Bishop the Original Cause of all this Discourse and Stir in sending down a Sequestration of the small Tithes of St. Buttolphs the Defendant's Free-hold by this same Harris in hopes to do the Defendant a Mischief or Displeasure had not been mistaken in this his Attempt these Evils had not come they were but the third Concoction and necessary Consequents of the bishop's Error Except some thought perhaps that Mr. Hickeringill is as Heraclitus now calls him an Ass good for nothing but to be burthen'd or worse than a Worm and should say Prelate come tread me come stamp upon me I know such an Ass-like sottishness had been as it proves the wisest way because the cheapest way But what Patience can endure to be so nusled And so the Word Impudent if as it ought it have reference to that nonsensical at least Imposition upon the Clergy and to the Statute who can deny but that it is Insolence and Impudence too for a Bishop so to insult over the Clergy as either to recommend to them Articles to observe which are no where to be found or which interfere or are not warranted by the Statute And if the
Friggats e're crus't in the Sea But she could bring them to her Lee At the long-run both Great and Small She could with ease weather them all No Man of War did ever shame The Naked-Truth that was her Name But now she 's split and sunk to boot That th' Bishop and his Clerks should do 't First they torment us till we groan Then Jayle us next because we moan Have they not rockie Hearts of Stone To. Why do these Rocks so covert lie Drown'd in their Seas hid from the Eye Men lost e're they these Rocks espy Bo. Poor Widows-sighs does them surround And Orphans Tears 'till they are drown'd Oh! but say some Prelates and high-flown Churchmen are not so stony-hearted nor such Tantivies riding Post to the Devil and driving Men to Heaven or Hell with Switch and Spur as you think for But Order is a good thing and since the Naked-Truth and such Books taxes them so smartly as if they were good for little but to be ' mended and reformed The Ecclesiastical Fabrick may tumble down God bless us Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln tax't the shameful Abominations of the Court of Rome in his Letters to the Pope that it hindered him from being Canoniz'd and Sainted though he deserv'd a Red Letter better than any Papist in the Kalendar he was if it be not contradictio in adjecto an honest Papist and if the Bishop and his Clerks of Rome had not been stony-hearted and impenetrable beyond all amendment and polishing neither Luther Calvin nor the Protestant Name had ever been heard of to this day By Grosthead's Counsel Rome had stood Had she not vow'd ne're to be good Rob. Grosthead the Author of a great deal of Naked-Truth flourish'd in spite of the Pope Anno 1250 and defines Heresy to be an Opinion taken and chosen of a Man 's own Brain contrary to Holy Scripture openly maintained and stifly defended This is a true good and honest Description of Heresy and if so for God's sake tell me true If Prelacy be contrary to Scripture contrary to the holy Commands of Christ and his Apostles in plain not doubtful Words and if Men stifly maintain it and openly defend it with Actions Statutes Suspensions Silencings Curses Anathema's Excommunications and Jails for God's sake who is the Heretick now Tell not me of Statutes they are void ipso facto as soon as made if they be contrary to the Statutes of God and Christ saith the Lord Coke the Oracle of the Law who tho a Lawyer was not asham'd to be a Christian Away with Hypocrisy and Cheat It shall it shall tumble down and fall on the Heads and crush all that shoulder it up and endeavour to support it It shall I say I cannot tell you when but it shall in due Time they on whom this Stone shall fall it shall grind them to Pouder Stay till the Iniquity of the Amorites be full and till they have drunk Brimmers full of the Tears of Widows and Orphans Huzzah till they have fill'd the Jails full of Howlings Wo and Lamentation then down Dagon down to Hell for ever down It is an infallible Truth That not only what is contrary to God and the Sence and Meaning of his holy Gospel shall come to naught but also what is contrary to the Sence and Meaning and Desires of the greatest Part of the Nation must tumble down especially when it has no Foundation of Truth or Honesty but stands upon frail and rotten Crotches the next Puff or great Wind stand clear for down it goes or the next Calm when the Master-Builders have Time and Leisure to view it and find its Danger and its Malignity down it goes The House of Lords represent themselves but the House of Commons are the Representatives of all the People in England What therefore the Generality of the People affect that I say in time shall become a Law The Honourable House of Commons have not only struck at this Statute 2 R. 2. which the Prelates make such Work with but the Repeal thereof past the House with general Approbation and was committed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence therein it stopp'd there So much for this time The Words called Scandal Magnat which must cost this Defendant 2000 l. are not actionable taken in sensu conjuncto as learned Lawyers say nor can the Innuendo in the third Count lie because he that drew the Declaration forgot to mention the Colloquium for if it had but been in no doubt but Harris would have swore it through and through what an Oversight was this Therefore say some to the Defendant Bring a Writ of Error next Term and quash it and there 's an End of an outragious Verdict of a desperatee Jury Or else motion for a new Trial because the Declaration is That the Words were spoken before divers of the King's Subjects and but one little Subject appeared A Writ of Error Where to be argued In the Exchequer-Chamber before all the Judges This is a cunning Way more Grist to the Mill as good be in the Clutches of an unmerciful Prelate as uninerciful Breath-sellers Mr. Chamberlin Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot c. that were Jailed for refusing to pay Customs and Ship-Money in Charles the First 's Time because there was no Law for the same a clear Case they took this Course and the Judges ten of twelve gave the Cause against them they lost their Fees and their Cause and this Defendant gets nothing but Wit Exchequer Chamber He knows a Way worth two on 't he 'll keep himself and his Estate out of all their Clutches keep in Harbor till the Storm blow over let it bluster And to Jail the Defendant looks like an Inhumanity like that of some Creditors that in Cruelty arrest the dead Corps a Barbartty of no great Credit to a Bishop that if he do not propagate at least should not by Jails and Shams hinder the Propagation of the Gospel especially not how bigg soever any Man is at this time of Day Money a great deal of Money will Gadbury get and more than ever the Bishop will get by this Affair for Flectere qui nequeant Superos Acheronta movebunt The Horary Questions will be Where the Defendant's Estate is where his Lands where his Goods where his Moneys if any Body could tell for I believe the Defendant himself can scarcely tell that and lastly Where he himself is whether within a Mile of an Oak or just under the Bishop's Nose And when all comes to all the Inquisitors will but throw good Money after bad for the Devil will cheat them as he did Madam Cellier both of the Money and the Sham-plot And after all the Ass-trologer knows no more by all his Intelligence with Mercury and the Moon where the Defendant is than I do perhaps not so well nor ever shall till the Time come when Truth is valued more than Hypocrisy when Innocence is a sufficient Guard
no man dare make any such suggestions for the future and may such Earwigs also be banish't to any part of Earth or into the Earth rather than thus to plague a King and Kingdom at this rate in all Ages and vex and grieve his Sacred Majesty and his Parliaments what a pother and a doe have Parliaments had with these Tantivies in all Ages And how ruinous and ruful were the Consequents I know not whither you my Lord can remember But I can by woful experiment you said you begun to know me now you know me better and I know you in part I hope I shall know you better the onely design of this Letter I wish Synods and Lambeth Convocations and Bishops would keep to their Bibles and mind their own business work enough in conscience for 1000 Bishops in England if they would stoop to be Conformists to the Act of Uniformity and more than a thousand Bishops can legally perform if there were so many in England for there was a greater number in a far less spot of ground in Africa Contemporaries with S. Austin the Bishop of little Hippo that was never so big as Islington which is not impossible nay if we had a thousand Bishops in England they could not at all do the confirming work alone let alone the Work in the House of Lords and at the Councel-Board and their promotions at Doctors Commons and ther Actions Suites and Declarations and Libels as Action-drivers and Promoters and Visitations and vexations of ruinous consequence to the Projectors as well as to the Kingdom such as the Tantivie Doctrine of Manwaring and little Laud that had better minded his Book his excellent Book against Fisher then to turn Politick-Engineer and Master-Gunner in planting of Canons against the Fundamental Laws that such Tantivies are not skill'd in but if they read but of a King in Scripture though it be Rehoboam that Fool or Caesar that Heathen then Heysday for the Pulpit or the Synod Hey for Lambeth and the Canons of 40. But you will say what have I to do a Priest also with these State-matters ' To which I answer 1. These State-matters improperly or foolishly handled by your Tantivee-Archbishop Laud and your Tantivees Bishops that would have been Sybthorp and Manwaring and by your Tantivee Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 was by you justified in your publick Visitation and before the Mayor hnd Aldermen of Colchester and the greatest part of the Gentlemen of the Town and Clergy of that Precinct and for you boldly to recommend or justifie this Tantivie-Canon 1 of the Constitutions of 40 I know not whether all the Clergy you have or any Friend in England would have thus adventur'd suo periculo to awake you out of this Tantivee-dream in which as in the old disease the Plague of English-men and of English-men only called Suder Anglicus or the English-sweating-sickness if you sleep in it 't is mortal if you had a hundred thousand lives and I think you are beholden to me above all mankind him that you have thus vext above all mankind for nothing but the cause the cause of the Kingdom the cause and Fundamaentl-Laws scoff't at and derided by none but drunken Tories and Sack-posset-Tantiviees that cry brother let me pledge thee Brother Sybthorp Brother Two Livings Brother Manwaring Brother Arch-Laud they will be loath to follow him though at the long run and latter end But it is that we must all come to If we be Tantivees therefore as you love your self my Lord and me Let me hear no more in my part of Essex any more Commendations Justifications Aggravations or Recommendations of this ignorant Synod and Tantivee-Convocation of Lambeth in their Constitutions of 40 nor of any such Synod-men that were never lick't into Form-Political let them tell Sacred Stories of God and Christ I but no more Politick Canons of 40. against the Fundamental Laws if you love me or my betters innuendo your Lordship for one 2. This Politick-Lecture of State-matters begun by you and your Lambeth-Synod has been a Plaguyvexation to our Kings and Parliaments in all Ages read the History of the Barons Wars in King John's Reign Hen. 2. Hen. 3. The Edwards The Richard's the Henry's I had almost said The Charle's By what I have said you read the said Bickerings in the Reigns of King Charles I. and our present Soveraign King Charles the II and His Loyal House of Commons then which never any King was more Happy than He in that yet though chosen in a time of Languishing Expectation after the Prosits and Benefits of a King which we had too long wanted they were English-men still And he 's an Ass that expects a fitter juncture or more auspicious Election for the choice of Parliament to carry on any Designs but what are Catholick and according to the Good Old Cause I mean the Fundamental Laws which not a few swearing and beggarly Pamphleting Tories and unthinking and very impudent Tantivees and withal very ignorant are able to defeat though they draw down their Canons of 40 which I thought had been nail'd and damn'd and ram'd 40. years ago by the Tories Themselves and Tantivees to whom they prov'd so fatal will men never take warning must Parliaments always be plagu'd with these Earwiggs and Tantivees Flaterers and Court Sycophants and Blesphemous Insinuators of Divinity into Humanity by a most Atheistical Invention of a New Hypostatical Vnion But the Holy Trinity admits no Partners though the Priests teach us or inculcate never so villanously traiterously falsely illegally unscripturely irrationally or blasphemously It is a high shame that 's the truth on'c that such Tantivee-Doctrines should thrive and such as stand up for the Ancient Laws and Liberties must suffer above all others 't is a shame power should be thus abused like a silk worm to ruin and consume its self to bedeck worse Vermin 't is a shame I will not venture to say any more but draw a Curtain over some mens shame because I will not show all their Nakedness I forbear my Lord I have done And leave you to think sadly to think and with sorrow I hope and repentance too for justifying this first Canon of the Constitutions of 40. those Chequer-works of different Hue black and white good and bad especially the First of them nigro carbene notamur let you and I remember that First fatal Canon of the 1. of the Constitutions of 40. that has been so mortal already and will still prove without very timely and immediate Repentance baneful to one of us or rueful to both of us or to this Kingdom State and Common-wealth But still you will object what have I to do to discuss these State-matters sit chiefly for a Parliament I answer That you have given the occasion the sad occasion It now becomes me and becomes necessary what before had been as impertinent as for a Bishop or Synod-man to meddle in the State-affairs But 2. Do you compare my