depending in the King's-Bench Hah where Sir John Shaw had no Authority to give or take an Oath Hah in private Hah against the Laws of the Land Hah and made them ready against the Bishop came down to set the Bishop to Roil Mr. Hickeringill whom he knew would not tamely suffer himself and his Reputation to be illegally and publickly brought in question by any Bishop in Christendom Hah This was the Sum and Substance of those two Letters which the Defendant writ to the said Bishop that were never answered but only as Men are when they are prest to Death with more Weight more Weight The Defendant in vain opposed the reading of his private Letters saying it was not genteel civil nor manly to produce such Evidence and nothing to the present Declaration and that tho there was nothing in them but what was modest and true yet private Letters are and ought to be sacred in their Privacy and that Si liceat parvis componere magna King Charles 1. If it be lawful to compare great with small did justly upbraid the Parliament with the Incivility of publishing his private Letters taken at Naseby tho there was nothing in them nor in this Defendants Letters for which any Man need blush or be blam'd But this is the Ecclesiastical-Candor any Method to expose the Defendant no Vengeance is great enough no Fine or Verdict outragious enough to crush one that dares as the Defendant has discover the Mystery of Iniquity Ecclesiastical in Extortions illegal Fees Oppressions and Courts kept in dessance of the Statutes of this Realm Excommunications Absolutions Prophanations Procurations Visitations namely Vexations c. There 's a Villain indeed Plague him All Hands aloft all 's at Stake down goes if you do not help This Fellow is another Germana illa Bestia quae non curat Aurum a German Beast that regards not Preferment as the Cardinal told the Pope when he chid him because he could not by tampering with Luther and the proffer of Gold and a Cardinal's Cap prevail with him nor take him off from writing and preaching against the Abominations and Corruptions of the Church and Church-men Church and Church-men Ay set but the Clergy upon a Man and you need not set any Dogs upon him to worry him Church and Church-men Ha! do you know who you speak against what Find fault with Oppressions and Extortions of Ecclesiastical-Courts with Apparitors Registers Commissaries and all that Fry of Lay-Elders Church and Church-men Ha! Do you speak against Prelacy Say that Word again say it again before Witness Sirrah Villain Rogue How dare you at this time of day speak Scripture dangerous Scripture Scripture against Statute-Law 2 Rich. 2. 5. which Statute makes a Prelate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 9. some great One and you Sirra would have him as your Saviour and the Gospel would have him as lowly as Christ or his Apostles you Sirra do you speak Scripture in a Court of Law Ha! what do you produce a Bible instead of a Breviate Do you plead Gospel against Law and Christ and his Apostles in defiance of Rich. 2 An Aggravation an Aggravation as Sir Francis Withins said the Defendant justifies in a Plea of Non-Culp this is rich indeed These Errors will be committed when you suffer Parsons to be Pleaders and plead their own Cause and understand not the Punctilio's and Methods of nice-pleading very fine What suffer Scripture to be quoted instead of Law and Christ and his Apostles instead of Cook and Littleton for Shame And yet the Defendant ignorant Man did not understand the mischief of urging a little Scripture in this Cause betwixt two Church-men and already there decided namely that of Christ St. Paul and St. Peter against all Prelacy Pride Lordliness and Dominion one Brother over another not Lording it over God's Heritage But Christ and St. Paul and St. Peter were poor Men Silver and Gold had they none they were meek humble and lowly and when they were reviled reviled not again nor brought an Action of Scandalum Magnat nor did Fee a pack of Lawyers to mouth it upon an old Statute made in the time of Popish Prelacy and when Antichrist was Rampant and when the Devil raigned a time as the Defendant told the Court when the Prelates did all and all ill a time when the Prelates were grand Rebels as ever were in England For then in the Raign of Rich. 2. was this Statute made when the Clergy were as very Rebels as Wall the Priest Wat. Tyler or any of that wicked Crew 'T is true Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich was General for the King both in England and France did not Armour disgrace Bishop Henry's Lawn-Sleeves The Bishop of Ely was Lord Chancellor Countez Two Tho. Arundel Bishop of Hereford Countez Three Lord Treasurer Nicholas Abbot of Waltham Lord Privy-Seal Four William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Five Alexander Arch-Bishop of York Countez Six William Bishop of Winchester Seven And Thomas Bishop of Exeter Eight Good Men and True that 's a Lye a Pack of damnable Villains and Rebells as ever were in England for taking upon them by Commission to rule the King and Kingdom and so the Judges concluded that Commission of thirteen Persons to rule the King and Kingdom of which eight were Prelates with five Lay-men for fashion-sake for the Prelates could out-vote them when they list a Devilish Rebellion abominable Prelates in Rich. 2d's time when the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum was made and struck at it has been by the last Parliament at Westminster and others as a Statute obsolete or in the Judgment of the Wisdom of the Nation the Honourable House of Commons to be repealed being made in the wicked time aforesaid when the Devil danc'd and Simon Magus vaunted himself to be one of the Magnat some Great One and yet also the Successor of Simon Peter who was a poor Fisher-man and a Fisher of Men not a Pick-Pocket nor a Promoter of Law-Suits nor did he mend his Market by turning Church-man as some have done too well known but to his dying day was poor and pennyless having his Faith and Hope in another World and being a Disciple of him whose Kingdom is not of this World All this and more the Defendant told the Court and the Men that were sworn for to give the Judge his due he gave the Defendant sufficient leave and leisure for three hours to defend himself against the crafty Suggestions and dirty Language thrown at him on purpose to vilify him with Dirt which the Counsel had rak'd up together and in two set-Speeches made on purpose fetch'd it far and not at all to the purpose or to the matter in hand villifying him with the Miseries and Vexations with which they had loaded him in the Barretry and Supplicavit as if his Sufferings were his only Crime But something they must say for their Guinies and for their Lord Prelate and in hopes of Preferment and his
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
past if he had had no other work but to fence and ward off the Blows made at him Then six Proctors they swear against him Articles in the King's-Bench and procure the Writ of Supplicavit against him a Writ seldom granted against any in these Days as we are told by the Compleat Sollicitor p. 73 74. He says he remembers that about eight Years ago in the days of Usurpation for his Book was printed Anno. Dom. 1666. a troublesome malicious Priest sued one namely a Supplicavit against some of his Neighbours but he had not heard of any since and the Parties craving it should take their Corporal Oath that it is not desired for any Malice Hatred or Envy to the Party surely if the said six Proctors swore it they swore it freely heartily and clearly Besides tho 't is a Writ rarely granted yet when it is granted it is more rarely granted against any but common Rogues and Villains common Barretors and Man-Catchers Is there greater Indignity than to be crucified amongst Thieves and Rogues It has been the Lot of his Betters tho the Defendant offered an Affidavit in his behalf made before Judg Dolben by three Worthy Citizens and desired with all Humility that as the Bench had heard of one side Affidavits against him that they would please to leave one Ear open to hear some Affidavits for him and some Pleas in his Defence intending to insist upon the Statute of 2 Edw. 6. 1. which if it be in force then the Ecclesiastical Courts sit not legally nor can they be called by Names bad enough and if that Statute be not in force then why did the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton insist upon it so lately at the King's-Bench Bar and also Mr. Rotherham for their Client Mr. Weald of Much-Waltham in Essex about the time that the last Parliament sate at Westminster telling the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs that he would not urge it warmly or Words to the like Effect because he perceiv'd his Lordship was not prepar'd at that time to give an answer to that Statute or Words to the like Effect A moot-Case belike then and a hard Case to bind a Man to the Good-Behaviour or threaten him with a Jaile when not wiser in the construction of the force of a Statute than the Lord Chief Justice But nothing would be admitted to be pleaded in the Defendants Defence but utrum horum that is not false Latin whatsoever quisquis is Sad choice alas Bail or a Jail There is no fence against a Flail They that will hear but of one Ear here shall be made to hear on both Ears one Day the Day of Judgment And tho Mr. Shepherd in his Office of a Justice of the Peace pag. 83. says that in taking a Recognizance upon a Supplicavit the ordinary Sum is ten or twenty Pounds and difficultly enough too to be procured by a poor Rogue tho a great Rogue yet since the time and Sum is Arbitrary and in the Breast of the Justices no less than a hundred Pounds must Mr. Hickeringill be bound in for affronting the Men of Doctors-Commons if the Proctors swore through-stitch nay one of the Bench stood stifly for 200 Pounds that the Principal should Recognize but in that he was over-ruled and four Sureties in 50 l. apiece whereas a poor common-Rogue could hardly have procur'd two Manucaptors Ay Ay he that will have Honour must sometimes pay for his Ambition But as if all these troubles were too little for the Defendant besides the Weekly Affronts By the Weekly News-mongers in their Tantivy-Pamphlets not to mention those familiar little friendly Courtships and Caresses of Villain Rogue Colchester-Hick the great Scribler of the Nation Daring Nat. Thompson reports him to be convict of Perjury tho Nat. hides his viler Head for the same and dare not give an appearance for himself and his Consort to Mr. Godfrey Woodward Attorney who has long been prepar'd for him if he could come at him for villifying and aspersing such a Man as Mr. Hickeringill with so pernicious and false a Slander all the Kingdom over But these are small Matters loss of Reputation and to be called and accounted a common Rogue common Barretor common Villain a small matter Oh! But in the Neck of all comes me decima unda the tenth Wave an Action of 5000 l. thick brought by a great Bishop too of great Interest great Power great Friends great Parts great Learning and great all over against a poor Priest or younger Brother a Minorite to Reform him if any Body could tell how and make him better Nay it will be dangerous this whole long Year for Mr. Hickeringill to say as did the Emperour at a General Council when at the first setting out and opening thereof the good Fathers were gravell'd and at a loss where first to begin to 'mend the Ecclesiastical Frame being so horribly out of Frame â Minoritis cries one of the great Ones very politickly no quoth the Emperour rather a Majoritis let us first begin to 'mend the great Ones The Naked Truth with ease we tear Not such as Vizor-Masques do wear For Vizors sconce and skreen Men here But will not always last I fear This fam'd Trial came on March 8 1681. at the Nisi prius Bar before the Lord Chief Justice Sir Francis Pemberton The Jury by the Sheriff of the County of Essex were thus return'd viz. Essex ss Nomina Jur. inter Henr. Epis Lond. qui tam c. Quer. Et Edmond Hickeringill Cler. Defend Andreas Jenner de Dunmow Magnâ Bar. Ricardus Everard de Waltham Magnâ Bar. Edwardus Smith de Thoydonmount Bar. Willielmus Appleton de Shenfield Bar. Johannes Bramston de Roxwell Miles Balnei Marcus Guyon de Coggeshall Magnâ Miles Johannes Marshal Miles Willielmus Maynard de Waltham Stow Ar. Willielmus Glascock de Farnham Ar. Jacobus Milbourn de Dunmow Magnâ Ar. Alexander Prescot de Mountnessing Ar. Willielmus Pert de eâd. Ar. Samuel Hare de Leigh Ar. Anthonius Abdey de Kelvedon Ar. Ricardus Ballet de Hatfield Broad-Oak Ar. Johannes Meade de Wenden Ar. Johannes Tendring de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Willielmus Petre de Stanford Rivers Ar. Henricus Paschal de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Henricus Humfreys de Westhamingfield Ar. Ricardus How de Ingate-stone Ar. Ricardus Stanes de Altâ Ongar Ar. Aurelius Piercey Wiseman de Wimbish Ar. Edwardus Taverner de Canfield Ar. None of the Jury were challenged by either side Most of the Gentlemen first named in the Pannel appear'd and serv'd being sworn a little Councel tremblingly made a shift to read the Heads of the Declaration viz. The Declaration in English faithfully translated out of the Lawyers Latin was to this Effect viz. Trinity Term xxxiii R. R. Carol. 2. HENRY Bishop of London one of the Prelates of this Realm of England as well for our Soveraign Lord the King as for himself complaineth of Edmond Hickeringill Clerk in the Custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea for that whereas in
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
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
Defendant had not been over-ruled by a sort of Lawyers he would have pleaded the Words specially as they were spoken absque hoc c. And not to come upon an Issue Non-Culp against a Fellow that every Body assur'd him would swear right-down Thump and yet his Memory fail'd him for he could not for his Life repeat the first Words right nor any one time repeat them one like another and uniform But let the World judge whether any sorry Witness be not good enough when a Bishop is Plantiff and before such a Jury and such a God help it will not always be thus Let not the Tory Pamphleteers ever henceforth prate of an Ignoramus-Jury Here 's a Billa-vera Jury an Essex-Jury to a Proverb that shall give them half way and yet over-run them But all this long Parenthesis by the way Sir Francis Pemberton goes on to this Effect tho not perhaps in the very Words That the Jury had heard the Defendant's ingenuous Acknowledgment and that he must direct them to find good Damages if they find for the Plantiff saying that the Bishop of London is a worthy and learned Bishop as any in England that 's a large Place and a large Word and a large Comparison I know not how the old Arch-Bishop of Canterhury would take it if he should hear on 't and therefore quoth the Judg you must vindicate his Lordship's Reputation and give good Damages if you find the Words And they are sworn unto by one that is a Clergy-man he is said the Judg a single Witness for what Sir Thomas Exton says he told them they must not take to be any proof of this Declaration but if they find that this single Witness swears true contrary to the other six for the Defendant for he said he must say the Evidence is quite contrary one to the other and cannot both be true then if they find for the Plantiff he told them they might have some respect to Sir Thomas Exton's Evidence in Aggravation of Damages but said again very honestly that Sir Thomas proved nothing as to the Declaration but told them that Sir Thomas Exton is a Man of unstained Reputation the Judg not reflecting in the least upon the known and constant Extortions and Corruptions of Doctor's-Commons nor taking the least notice of Dr. Exton's disingenuity in being a publick Evidence in Aggravation for Words spoken upon treaty of Submission and as to a Friend and without any exception or disgust well liked of by the Doctor at least unmanly to make his Table a Snare except a Man had spoke Treason but this is the Candor of an Ecclesiastical-Lay-Elder or Lay-Vicar General For that is his place he is the Bishop of London's Vicar-General the Bishop cannot help it he has a Patent for it for his Life granted by Humphrey late Bishop of London Good doings when our Souls must be Tutor'd by a Lay-Vicar that cannot preach but has got a Patent to send us to the Devil and at his good Pleasure back again rare doings This is the Man of Reputation who is the Judg goes on unblemish'd in his Repute telling the Jury that he must say as to the Reputation of this single Evidence for the Plantiff for indeed the Cause depends wholly upon his single Reputation and that tho Non-residence be an ill thing and that is prov'd upon him and cannot be denied yet a Man may be a good Witness tho he do transgress a Statute none of us said he but do transgress a Statute some time or other Note by the way this is not the same Direction given at Mr. Rouse's Trial when for the Breach of a Statute of Vniformity the Dissenters could not be admitted to be Jury-men the Black Non-Conformist is good for something yet for since the publishing of the Black Nonconformist those new Laws are not repeated and if they are by the Breach of a Statute uncapable of giving a Verdict surely they are much more incapacitated to give an Evidence But he goes on telling the Jury Non-residence is not good it is an ill thing indeed it is but God forbid but a Man may be believed upon his Oath tho he be Non-resident And no doubt on 't 't is very true and so may a Non-conformist also surely God forbid else and with much more reason For the one sins if Non-conformity be such a Sin out of Weakness but this Non-resident whom the Judg excus'd has sinn'd three Quarters of a Year wilfully and wickedly a vast difference How many Blemishes can Episcopal Favour draw a Curtain over and hide And indeed the Judg if a Body may say so mightily mistook through want of Memory or worse in summing up the Evidence thus to the Jury for the Defendant did not examine and force the Clergy-men to swear Harris's Non-residence as thereby uncapable of being a Witness as the Judg summ'd it the Defendant was never guilty of such Nonsence and Impertinence and therefore the Judg mistook himself but the Defendant made the Clergy-men that brought to support Harris his Credit to swear his Non-residence that with their own Tongues they might swear that they themselves were not Men of Credit nor sit to be believed and therefore more unfit to prop another Man's Credit that had ruin'd for ever their own by swearing contrary things and impossible to be true namely That they never knew any ill thing by him and yet they were forced after that to swear him a Non-resident that contrary to his Oath Canonical and his Duty to God and his Flock had left them to a Log-river that cannot read his Accidence much less supply his own Cure the said Mr. Sylls The Nonconformists have not got all the Mechanick Preachers the Church of England hath got some Log-rivers Broken Trades-men and I know who But listen to the Judg how he goes on but takes no notice of what the Earl of Lincoln swore against Harris no notice of his forswearing himself for the Company of a Wench no notice of his being a Maudlin-Drunkard no notice of Harris his Design to ensnare the said Earl out of the Fee-simple of the Manor of Throckingham 300 l. per annum by a Deed writ in Court-hand which he thought the Earl could not read when the Earl intended only to settle the Mannor of Throckingham and for this piece of Knavery the Earl swore that he was credibly informed that Harris was to have if it succeeded a hundred Guinnies Nemo repentè fit improbus No Man can be a great Rogue per saltum suddenly Villany like Youth must have time to grow gradatim But the Honest Judg took no notice of the Villany sworn against this Harris and thus particulariz'd by that Noble Earl that scarce a Jury in the World would hang a Dog upon such Evidence But listen to what the Judg said to this effect telling the Jury that he left it to them But on the other side said the Judg the Defendant has made indeed a very
debaucht Courtiers that could guard him from the unjust Arms of Hen. 4 who had got the Peoples Hearts only because the lawful King had lost them by adhering to an Effeminate debaucht Crew Observe the Machiavillian-skill of the Ingineer's what Masters of Art these Ecclesiasticks Divine and Lay conjumbled have commenc'd in Politicks and all not worth to them one Louse after they have beat their Heads together for a piece of cunning let them alone when Advocats and Counsellors Civilians or no Civilians Lawyers and Divines Clergy and Lay ana The Proctors and Atturneys the Pulpit and the Bar Breath-sellers all are in Conjunction against a poor Whig to bring him to ruine to trample on his conquer'd Corps to insult over his Grave to drink and cry Huzzah the Enemy is fled we are Conquerors and shall yet in spight of Fate and the naked Truth live and rule the Roast oppress and extort make Havock of of Souls Bodies and Estates hang up or Jayl their Bodies damn their Souls beggar their Families swallow and grow Fat with their Estates not so greedily there have a care of choaking come let us carowze and drench our selves revell and be drunk with the Tears of the Widow and Orphans Huzzah Huzzah incomparable Epicures Nay I am told from a very good Hand that the good Bishop of London in great piety and devotion intends to dedicate this 2000 l. to St. Paul for a Deodand and build up Paul's Ruins here in London with the Defendant's 2000 l. as far as 2000 l. will go Oh! most Exemplary and Episcopal Zeal worthy his great Soul and noble Extract and fit to be chronicled to all Posterity This Heroick Charity shall be writ upon his Tomb where he shall lie in Paul's when 't is built nay he shall lie as great Men use to lie in State and his Exequies adorn'd with the magnificence of this grand Exploit celebrated in Heroick Verse answerable to it and his own Grandieur I am just now before my Fancy cool writing his Epitaph to be ready for him we are all mortal But yet the greatest glory of this Atchievement does belong to Inch-board Harris that small Heroe must come in to the Meeter and Merits the one half of the 2000 l. he earn'd it dear and swore hard for it he has more right to it than any Man alive except the Jury-Men for the Judg upon the whole Matter with some grains of Allowance to humane Frailty and Temptation was there or thereabouts at least he was the best of them a Judg swears to have no respect of Persons in Judgment Oh hard hard And therefore I say though the Glory of the Action and the Honour of the Foyl shall be given to the precious Jury-Men alone for they only did the Business and the most that the Counsel said to the Matter except Railing and Ribaldry against the Defendant was not very pertinent to the Declaration for want of Matter in it no doubt yet the whole profit of the Verdict does really and truly belong to Harris he gag'd his poor Soul for it let him have it I say 't is more than Judas got he has my Vote for it and that signifies more thereunto than all the Votes of all the Men in the World besides for if I say no He never gets a Penny of it nor all the Prelates in Christendom on this side the Alpes Therefore do not blaspheme St. Peter nor St. Paul by thinking to wheedle them into the Contract for they were monyless when alive and have less need of 2000 l. now they are dead God tells us he hates Robbery for a Burnt-Offering and if Paul's will not be built or go on but slowly God knows there 's my 35 s. buried already I wish I had it in my Pocket again for this Trick the Fool and his Mony should not be so soon parted to help to build a Cathedral whose Walls must be cemented with the briny Tears of the Widow and Orphans and the noise of the Singing-Men and Singing-Boys drowned with the Groans Cries and Howlings of Men distressed and jailed by a Bishop For his great Honour Another B This should not have been here inserted for it is part of an Epitaph belike But I 'le divert my Reader and recreate my heavy Fancy from meditating on the doleful Cruelties and tragical Adventures of Ecclesiastical Policy Oh! wo wo and alas that ever a Bishop and his Clerks should be so stony-hearted I 'le chear you though and my self too and no more than needs in this Confinement and Retirement with musing on those mischievous Rocks near the Isle of Silly at the Lands-end of England so fatal to Mariners and called I am in earnest indeed by Sea-men time out of mind of Man to the contrary The Bishop and his Clerks In a Dialogue betwixt BO-PEEP and TORY Bo-peep THose fatal Rocks in Sea that stand Near th' Isle of Silly nigh the Land By Marriners so shun'd and blam'd The Bishop and his Clerks are nam'd But prethee Tory tell me why They were so call'd for Rythme truly Tory. It was some Whigg first call'd them so Meer Scandalum Magnat I trow Bo. A Whigg dost say that is not so Whiggs were not born so long ago To. Not Christned by that Name you mean Bo. Ever since Abel Whiggs have been I must confess By Tory-Cain Poor Abel persecuted was and slain No Tory can this Truth confute For Tory-Cain did Persecute For Difference in Religion too Plagu'd the Dissenter Is 't so now For Whiggish Abel was so stout He would not cringe nor face about To East nor West nor yet comply With th' Act of Vniformity Which Cain had made but did implore His Makers Mercy and adore The best way that he could and so As God did best approve on 't too Not walking in the Way of Cain But his Religion was his Bane For Naked-Truth Abel was slain But to the Question keep and tell Why that Name suits those Rocks so well To. Bishop and 's Clerks Call you Rocks so Harris come here and swear once mo'e Would you make Bishops stony-hearted And have shook hands with Grace and parted Or make them as of Old when as Bonner a Friend to Jaylors was When Bishops by Canonical Oath Were bound it is the naked-Troth By Canon-Law to keep a Jayl Or two or sometimes three for fail Bo. Hard Hap When Clerks are made of stone And yet a Name Divine dares own Who e're alas does come them nigh Or touch upon these Rocks they die Behold yond' Wreck swims there I say A stately Ship it was this day With Flags and Streamers in her trim How pleasant 't was to see her swim How loftily she loum'd no sight E're pleas'd the Eye with more delight To gaze on her some ceas'd to eat With joy forgetting Work and Meat A bluff-tall-Ship she was indeed But her best Quality was Speed No Algerines swift though they be So nimbly cut the Waves as she No
Jura Lyndwood in Con. Oth. quid ad ven v. corrigend Then 2 dly For the Bowings Noddings to the East to the Altar to the Wax-Candles Is it not bold and daring c. to set up or countenance Ceremonies against the King's Laws and Acts of Uniformity that were never of God's making nor of the King and Parliament's making Is not this bold daring and abominably impudent Then 3dly To recommend in a printed Paper Canons for the Clergy to observe the 65 66 and 3 of the Canons of Forty when there never was any such in the World And as for these Lambeth Canons that to make all the Republicks in the World our Enemies falsely assert that Monarchy is Jure divino by the prime Law of Nature and at large confuted in Naked Truth 2d Part. It was Impudence in the Clergy to make that first-of-the Lambeth-Canons at first and greater Ignorance that a whole Convocation should be no wiser and yet so bold daring and impudent as to impose upon the Clergy and Lay-People such Vntruths and Falshoods as are in that first Article of the Constitutions of Forty but strangely bold daring and impudent for any Man at this day to justify vindicate recommend or defend them The Naked Truth 2d Part has confuted the Vanity and Ignorance of the Convocation in that first Article of their Lambeth-Canons or Constitutions of Forty against all Contradiction and beyond the Skill of all the Bishops and Clergy of England to answer at least hitherto they have slept quietly upon 't and shall a single Bishop and one of the youngest Sort too revive them and yet cannot justify the very first of them which is not the worst of them neither as is fully and particularly and at large proved by the Defendant in his former Works and condemn'd by the great Wisdom of the Nation in an Ordinance This 't is for Men to stand on the utmost Pinacle of the Temple and oversee and command all others when a lower Seat of the Church would be as well or more easily supplied by them What Mischief to the Church in all Ages has it brought To make Boy-Cardinals and Boy-Bishops and Novices great before they be good and to command wiser Men than themselves Like Fresh-water and Courtier-Captains of Ships and yet know not Larboard from Starboard or how to right the Helm nay perhaps can neither box nor so much as say their Compass and yet these must be Pilots and Governors 't is the Ruin of the Fleet. Or to set up or prop a Church of Christ with the unsuitable and rotten Props of Cruelty and Force as if Christianity destroyed what it came to amend Humanity or that to be a Christian Governor is to be an inhumane Devil good for nothing but to run up and down seeking whom he may devour and worse than Turks Jews Heathens and Infidels It is this Ecclesiastical Policy that has ruin'd the most resplendent Empire of the Christian World Spain not so terrible in her inexhaustible Treasures and Indie-Mines as formerly in her Warlike Hands yet How contemptible now how depopulated how despicable to all their Neighbours that were so formidable so latley to England and the Christian World How did King James court them and King Charles the First humble himself in hopes of an Alliance with Spain What cringing Letters upon this Hope were writ to his Holiness what Complements for I hope they were not in earnest to Pope Gregory the 15th that Wretch Sanctissime Pater Beatitudinis vestrae Literas c. Nunquam tanto quo ferimur studio nunquam tam arcto tam indissolubili vinculo ulli mortalium conjungi cuperemus cujus odio Religionem prosequeremur c. Vt sicut omnes unam individuam Trinitatem unum Christum crucifixum confitemur in unam Fidem coalescamus Quod ut assequamur labores omnes atque vigilias Regnorum etiam atque Vitae pericula parvi pendimus c. Bless us what Promises are here of Propensity to Rome even to the Hazard of Life Kingdoms and All in devotion to his Blessedness so he is friled who will not stir a Step from his Infallibility one would think that to have met him half way had been Devotion enough in all Conscience Reason Scripture Law or Equity and for such mighty and wise Kings and Princes too you 'll say as were King James and King Charles the First in so I hope never to be again imitated Condescension and Submission It makes my Heart ake to think on 't or read the Letters published at length by the indefatigable Mr. Rushworth as before quoted and all the Pope's Demands signed by the King and Prince p. 73. of his Historical Collect. Part 1. And all this for what For the Spanish Match And now Spain is glad to woo instead of being wooed glad to court and address instead of receiving Addresses glad with Gifts Pensions even to the emptying of their Inexhaustible Treasure beggar themselves and keep themselves poor and pennyless to keep Cart on Wheels nay and all will scarce do neither And why and why They are depopulated by the Inquisition the Severity and Persecution according to Law tho And their Trade is decayed by reason of their foppish and numerous Holy-Days or Play-days Families are needy and starved because not suffered to work upon the Six Days whereon God says thou shalt labour That were it not that the Indian Mines did supply them with merconary Souldiers poor Refuge to trust unto God knows they had given up the Ghost long ago And now do not they gape for Help or some poor Comfort like Men drawing on or at the last Gasp Nay I my self know scarce any Man better that if there were War betwixt England and Spain which few Men desire in this Conjuncture Jamaica and the Wind-ward Islands alone are ten Men to one of all the natural Spaniards in the Indies and without the help of England either in Men or Ships Money or Ammunition could I know what But I 'le reserve it to another Season I know on what Score the brave Raleigh was sacrificed to Gundamore's Revenge the Spanish Embassador Yet some Politicians the Scholars and Disciples of Nat. Thomson L'Estrange and Heraclitus think that the best Way to keep a Kingdom quiet is to depopulate jail them beggar them sham-plot them send them to the Devil and the Jail spoil all Trade discourage all Adventures to Sea as if Men were Dogs and good for nothing but to be hang'd And yet the wise Man found it true That Oppression makes a wise Man mad and with all his Wisdom and his Politicks he found too late that he was mated and bearded by his own Servant and he none of the best neither Jeroboam who taking advantage of the People's Discontent and Murmurings wanting only a Head to relieve themselves soon won eleven of the twelve Tribes from the Fool that would listen to no Advice no Address but that
for an Alms and yet be angry when they thought themselves disappointed and fob'd off with the empty Benediction of Lawn-Sleeves I mean that Popish Lawn-Sleeves who smil'd in his Sleeves and said Si populus vult decipi decipiatur as if he should say The World is a great cheat The Knaves cheat the foolish Bigots But if that Parisian frenchified Bishop had been forc'd by Law to give a Souce or a Shilling to every one he so Bishop'd that as he pretended to both the two Swords the Temporal and the Spiritual to do mischief with so he might be forced to both the two Charities the Temporal and the Spiritual to do good with And be constrained by Law to be good in spight of his Teeth as well as cruel and mischievous and to be as honest as the Publican that said Half my Goods I give unto the Poor and if I have taken any thing from any Man by false Accusation mark that lo I restore him four-fold And if the Bishop had so given the Poor their old Moety and Primitive share in his Mannors Tithes and Glebes or at least let them go snips with him in getting a Shilling for every time and every Man Woman and Child to whom he so liberally higgle-tee-pickle-tee hand over head gave his Benediction I am of opinion the Popish Bishops whatever the Protestant Bishops may would not frisk so often about their Diocessess in frequent Visitations Procurations Mony more-mony Conferences c. but rather shut up their Doors and keep a big overgrown Porter to keep out the crouding Votaries from such Benediction However the Office of such a Bishop would be then good for something and they would be giving Twelve-pence a Blessing spiritually and temporally charitable as now some are with their two-edged Sword Spiritual and Temporal most troublesome and mischievous in France by Suspensions Silenceings Church-Censures Curses and Anathema's and Mony more Mony Excommunications Prisons Jayls Hey-day for an Apostolical Man alamode de France Come my Lord open the Pulpit Doors of All-Saints again to me or else I 'le open them my self which with so much ado you have endeavoured to shut and exclude me and bolt me out if you could tell how for a Bibble-babble marrying too cheap or not with a Blanck-License as hundreds others do uncheck'd therefore act not in Revenge nor partially in devotion to your Registers that used you unworthily in many Mens Opinions in making a Promoter of you for the accomplishment of their viler and baser Ends And let there be no more strife as Abraham said to Lot betwixt me and thee betwixt my People and thy People for we are Brethren why should we thus quarrel a days and thus fall out by the way about your Registers Blanck-Licenses or Fees illegal or Mony And a little Mony has to my knowledg often taken up this Dispute with them for you know Mony is all they aim at that buy their places or hire them you know it well enough or if you do not I can tell you how and where and whom and when And as for your little Harris his Evidence if it were true consider the first provocation you gave me through your ignorance of my Title to the Benefits of the small Tithes of St. Buttolphs to usurp which from me illegally you sent the Creature with your Sequestration would you be so done by or have your Superiors to take from you your Rights and you must not speak for your self and tell them they are ignorant and mistaken in your Title or if you do slap says the Usurpur with an Oath upon you and reports your words in the worst sence and another sence than you spoke them For Harris has not wit memory nor docility to repeat my words twice together alike off-book and must I pay 2000 l. because he wants Wit or Grace My Lord 't is hard you would say your self if it were your own case Why should we make our selves thus the Town-talk the Kingdoms talk the chat of every Ale-bench and Coffee-house This might have been in time foreseen but you did not know me when you said you began to know me if you had you would not have ventured to attempt to wrong me of my said Rights to please ten thousand such as Harris a little Minion that neither you nor the Church can have any credit of more than of a little Fucus good for nothing but to paint your Cheeks with a blush and to say too late I had not thought Better late thrive tho than never I assure your Lordship as I did formerly I have not done half my best that is my worst as you will call it perhaps and you will find it true and the Men of Doctors Commons too say I tell you so whereas I as I said before do lie on the ground and can fall no lower I am shot-free or if with so much advantage of Power and the outragious Verdict of your Pick'd-Jury you hit my Body yet you shall never finger my Estate and my old Corps will but make you sick of them and prove fatal to you and annoy you if you do catch them extend then your utmost cruelty that your great Power or Revenge can contribute yet stony-heartedness will bring no other renown to the Bishop and his Clerks except the external blame and fame of being mischievous to all Posterity by virtue of a single Oath of an infamous Wretch that swore for his own Ends against all the By-standers and believed by a Jury singled out for the Service against the Word of God so expresly to the contrary as aforesaid a Bishop should not countenance this nor is Scandalum Magnatum an Offence at Common Law but an Offence only against a Penal Statute and the Penalty Imprisonment only 'till the Author be found out but the very words of 2. Rich. 2. are scarce intelligible in the last words Yet no Punishment of the Author is mentioned in the Statutes and Penal Statutes ought to be taken strictly and not extended to Dammages as the Lawyers have finely spun it out especially when no harm have you received nor ever could if Harris had not broach'd his own Lies and father'd his spurious Brats on me and I must be charg'd with them 2000 l. thick by false accusation Remember Zacheus Luk. 19. 8. But not a Penny upon my word shall you get except you will consent as aforesaid to a fair new Trial by an indifferent Jury empannell'd in other Causes and not pick'd for this Exploit only This is not a Time my Lord for Bishops to rule with a Rod of Iron and break Men in pieces like a Potters Vessel Christ and his Apostles did not so This method might have done simply tho in Queen Mary's days and in the Inquisition of Spain and in England too when the High-Commission-Court was up but the wringing of the Nose brought forth Blood and the bloody and cruel Bishops paid dear for it in conclusion Mens Eyes are
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
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