thine ear wiser and better and greater Men than thy self expressed their trouble to the Doctor when they heard he was about to reflect upon thy scandalous Book for so they called it that he should condescend so far as to honour it with an Answer and feared that thou wouldst value thy self those were the words upon thy being taken so much notice of by a Dignitary of the Church of England which indeed had almost prevented the Print But at length Phil. thou art a Gentleman and will have the world know thou hast 200 l. per An. Land of Inheritance Well Phil be it so but we must take thy word for both seeing thou livest by ill neighbours We have thy Picture drawn to the life by a Modern Dawber no primitive Painter in all thy Books but it is well that Gentleman is written by otherwise a Man would swear 't were the Picture of a Cock or Bull rather than a Gentleman a Cock for his Crowing or a Bull for his Rage CHAP. V. A Specimen of his Wit Doctor 's Expressions vindicated Phil. WHat 's the matter Tim. art quite lost and turn'd Enemy Tim. I had almost done with thee but thy wonderful Witticisms which I lately discovered have pretty well reconciled me and made me amends for all together How smoothly runs that viz. a Protestant Head must have a Protestant Face how Ingenuous that the Proem takes up too much room in another character least the best of Puns should escape unobserved which without the cost of a costive Anagram more than pays the Doctor for his Hobby Warr-Hawks but there 's no end of this Topick every Line has its Salt and therefore passing all the rest I shall crown my observation with a little further notice of that Anagram we hinted at which crowns thy wit at the end of thy Book 't is this Fra. Fullwood war dul-fool Now Phil. let 's be serious a-while and war-dull-fool indeed is his name as much too hard for thy wit as his Arguments for thy Reason what makes thee deal so barbarously with it O Phil. thy wit is cruel and short for War-dull fool can reach but to Fra. Vlwood and short and cruel what cut off the lower half of his Christian name and the Head of his Sirname I now find thy knack at capping of Verses and uncapping of Names and am not much concern'd tho' his Name thus suffers seeing his reputation is above thy reach Phil. Would any Man alive beside thee have been such a fool in print and without shame have boasted of this subtle Sylly Anagram as thou callest it thy self such folly calls for the fury of a chastizing Paedagogue and whipping Tom indeed Phil. What because it is not true to a letter the troth is Tim for a phansie or a humour we Wits regard neither truth nor sense nor good manners But now I am provoked I 'le expose two such instances of the Doctor 's wit that are strangers enough to sence and as much as any of mine 1. What dost think of his rock of Sand upon which he supposeth me to triumph I never heard of a Rock of Sand before Tim. It may be so Phil. but I think the expression is at least pardonable but thy Reading in Philosophy is hardly so hast forgot or didst never hear of that question about the generation of Stones and Rocks But cease thy wonder he never intended a natural real and firm Rock for he knew well enough that thou hadst none such to stand upon but he meant such as thou hadst and such as thy matter depended upon a fictitious false counterfeit rock and such a one may easily be made of Sand mix'd with the slime and dirt which so much defiles Naked Truth Phil. But thou canst never bring him off for his other extravagancy for lying envy malice c. he saith I am a very Angel of light Tim. What Phil. fail in thy Rhetorick too hast forgotten the figure that warrants such manners of expression I wonder what thou wouldst be called for such kind of virtues as lying c. or any of thy other excellencies An Angel of Darkness and Confusion the Prince of the Air the Accuser of the Brethren or a Devil-incarnate And in this Sphear this Wilderness of Evils None prosper highly but the perfect Devils CHAP. VI. A previous attempt of Mr. Phil's Judgment and Logick SECT I. Tim. THough thou approachest towards the main battle timidè and with deal of modesty even to despair yet I observe thou makest some on-sets that give tokens of some braveness in thee I acknowledge thou art strangely qualified with stoutness of body resoluteness of mind invincible passions haughtiness of expression accurateness in History and Law especially against the Church and Ecclesiastical Courts all managed with a singular stream of wit and fancy as I lately noted Yet to deal plainly with thee Phil. there is a small gift or two that seem not to be altogether so compleat in thee I mean that clearness of mind and foundness of wisdom and that dexterous faculty of reasoning that should crown a disput an t of thy strange adventure Phil. How man why that 's my glory and in the knack of arguing I challenge the world But if it should be with me as thou saist yet thou maist perceive I am even with this Archdeacon for he lai'th out his whole strength in a little point which I denied and indeed argued against with all my might and skill in Law and Story Namely the Lawfulness of Ecclesiastical Government and seems to neglect those Weightier things of Pag. ◠Procurations Synodals Fees of Courts c. and is not that as ill in him as for me to shew my manhood in those noble points of resolution passion fancy story and expression though I should be found less and less concerned in the inconsiderable points of wisdom and reason However Tim. I know no Nakedness in my discourse but the Naked Truth If thou dost shew it Tim. This Nakedness appears in the whole body of thy Book not to prevent that discovery I shall here only instance in two of thy attempts 1. The Doctor had said our Laws exclude the purely Spiritual power of the keys from the Supremacy of our Kings except it be to see that Spiritual men do their duty therein Here upon I am ashamed to see how thou triumphs before the Victory and how pury like how poorly and fallaciously thou attack'st him First Thou say'st K. Hen. 3. preacht in Pulpit ergo c. Secondly Emperors called Councils and approved their Canons Ergo Thirdly Our Kings are ordained Priests as Baker relates therefore thou strongly concludest they have the power of the Keys but the conclusion should have been that they have the purely Spiritual power of the Keys doest not perceive it Phil. Our Laws do say that the King is mixta persona cum sacerdote and all those ensigns at his Coronation import as much but in which of them is
originally nor in those times according to our own Laws depend upon the Pope but upon the Crown Q. E. D. which was then the sence of the Laws and all the States of the Realm long before Hen. 8. as also is noted and assented unto and insisted on at the beginning of his Reformation To assert the contrary is certainly to assert a Popish opinion and one of the greatest Arguments the Romanists use to Justifie the Papal Vsurpation in England take it as thou canst Phil. Leave off this club-way of arguing thou wilt ensnare thy self thy Talent Phil. lies another way thou hast no clear distinguishing Head thou art better at dividing and more skill'd in the methods of confounding than of founding the Church of England What didst mean Phil. by that non-sensical cant upon a place of Scripture I know it was not thy design to stumble upon the Rock of Ages and fall upon St. Peter's Phil. Enough of this Tim. fool thou know'st to escape the Law we may flie to the Gospel thou knowst Phil well enough he is for a Legal Scripture and Religion except when it is against him besides he finds canting on Scripture tho' never so impertinently sounds very lusciously in some Mens ears that I have a mind to gratifie SECT II. His other Arguments against our power before Hen. 8. Tim. THen let 's see how thou prosperest with thy other Arguments against this point 1. Thou saist the Pope was Head of our Church before Hen. 8. but 't is evident he was not so legally either by Law or Construction of Law or really so in the Constitution of the Church of England he was only so in pretence and by illegal Vsurpation he had never possession by Law but what he usurped was contrary to Law and the ancient Customes of the Land as my Lord Coke demonstrates tho' he is not to be taken notice of by Phil. H. yea his very possession in fact was never undisturbed for any considerable time together The Doctor informed thee better that it was the sence of the whole Kingdom that the Pope's Power and Jurisdiction here was usurped and illegal Contrary to God's Laws the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and in derogation of the Imperial Crown thereof and that it was timorously and ignorantly submitted unto before Hen. 8. vid. 28. H. 8. c. 16. 2. Thou saist boldly and ignorantly that H. 8. made Himself Head of the Church by Parliament that 's another Popish opinion the Law is open Phil. and Argument too depending on the former for both the Law and my Lord Coke affirm that the Statutes in that behalf were only declarative of the Ancient Fundamental Rights of the Imperial Crown of England which alone can Justifie the King's Title of the Head of the Church 3. Thou arguest subtilly that before H. 8. Appeals were frequently made to the Pope and that then our Courts were Rome's inferiour Courts What then why then upon the Popes ceasing to be Head the Courts were dissolved i. e. Just as our inferiour Courts were dissolved upon the dissolution of the High Commission Thou ought'st to know that our Laws never allowed or required Appeals to Rome and that our Courts continued in their proper Legal being under the Royal as well as and better than under the Popish head 4. At last thou questionest whether ever a Statute was made from the Conquest or rather from Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy i. e. the consent of the Pope their Head Art stark mad Phil were all our Laws Antichristian before Hen. 8. was no Law made by the Nation or Realm as such but only as Popish Are all our Ancient Statutes the Popes Laws Did the Pope consent to all the provisions and premunire's in the Laws made directly against himself Phil. If my Arguments fail take some Stories and my free Concessions and then I hope thou wilt be pleased 1. My Stories prove there was old Tugging betwixt our Kings and the Pope from time to time Tim. Well said at last Phil. and was not the Law on the Kings side Then the Pope had neither legal nor full nor quiet possession Thy cause languisheth in thy own hand and 't is time to yield to it Thy Concessions are most ingenuous instances of a good nature or a baffled cause Speak out man Phil. I grant that the Laws of the Popish party were contrary to the sence of King and Parliament Well said in part Phil. therefore the King and Pag. 13 Parliament were not altogether Popish But prethee what Laws could concern us contrary to the sence of King and Parliament who made those Laws for us in England Tim. But the matter is not clear yet Speak out man Phil. 'T is undoubtedly true that the Crown of this Realm is and has been before Hen. 8. Imperial that is de jure not de facto thanks to the wicked Usurper and his Legats it ought not to have been done it was commonly de facto done before Hen. 8. Tim. This is something more but not all Thou dost imply indeed by commonly that it was not always so done And if the Pope before Hen. 8. was a Vsurper he had not right here and the Jus the Law was against him For if he had had the Law on his side how had he been a Vsurper Speak a little plainer Phil. and all 's well so far Phil. I do ingenuously confess our Ancient Ecclesiastical Government and Laws depended upon the Crown and not upon the Pope by the Laws Pag. 2â— of England and in the Judgment of all the States of the Kingdom before Hen. 8. and so did also the Execution of those Laws by those Governors in the same publick Judgment These are the Doctors words and all this is true and the very Naked Truth in other words varied which saith That all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction till Hen. 8. was derived from the Pope but my meaning was that it was not derived from the Pope before Hen. 8. thus thou seest I have no mind to quarrel Tim. 'T is well enough but why didst not say so much at first or excuse thy obscurity and distinguish sooner Yea why didst contend for so many pages against that which thou art compell'd to yield at last Art thou obstinate that thou must be press'd before thou wilt confess or hadst an Itch upon thee to vent thy stories as if the world had nothing to do but to hearken to thy impertinencies If storying were arguing thou art a brave fellow indeed but this way it seems thou art not formidable The Doctor set thee up for a Shrovetide-Cock as thy phrase is and thou hast cut thy own Comb. So much for the first Proposition CHAP. IX The Doctor 's Second PROPOSITION Hen. 8. did not make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Neither was it void before it was restor'd by 1 Edw. 6. 2. Phil. I Hope I quit my self better here Tim. Much at one First thou
be not to swear against themselves Phil. Nor one word doth he write to vindicate their unjust and unconscionable Impositions and Extortions upon the Clergie in Procurations Synodals Institutions c. Tim. Now thou art in thy Element but thy memory is unfaithful Not one word Phil about Procurations and Synodals the main thing wherein the Arch-deacon is concern'd in the charge Indeed he saith nothing in defence of unjust and unconscionable impositions and extortions but he said enough to prove to any reasonable man the lawfulness of taking the usual Sum for Procurations and Synodals which have been ever paid so far as our Books can discover But this charge is at the end of thy Book and it seems thou hadst forgot what thou saidst at the beginning of it there thou saist that he produceth not one Reason or Argument except the Statute of Hen. 8. for Synodals and Proxies to be granted from dissolved Monasteries c. And Phil the Argument from Dissolved Monasteries to the ordinary Clergy is potent à fortiori the Reason in the Statute is the same for both the Bishop c. pays First-fruits and Tenths as well for his Procurations and Synodals received from the Clergy as from the dissolved Monasteries and the argument stronger because the Clergie are visited the Monasteries are not and you know Procurations are due ratione visitationis But Phil. I ought to have an account why thou saist the Doctor gives not one reason or argument for Procurations and Synodals besides the Statute thus thou leapest like a Squirril from one twigg to another till thou fallest to the ground first not one word next not one Reason except the Statute both alike honest and true doth not he tell thee plainly and in more words that Procurations and Synodals are due by ancient Composition upon a valuable Consideration and by undoubted long Possession and Custom which is Law in England Sit liber Judex Leg. An. p. 64. And in a word if any other fees are taken or exacted from the Clergy or others that are not warrantable by Law or Custom take thy remedy the Law is open CHAP. XV. CONCLUSION Phil. an Advocate for the Courts his Reasons on their behalf from the value of money abuses in civil Court Peace his Declaration Tim. WELL Phil. I find at last thou hast painted thy self too fierce for thy Nature I find some bias upon thy reason inclining thee well and it 's pity but ye should be friends for 1. Thou notest the value of money is so different from what it was in Hen. 8. 's time when a Harry groat would have bought as much Victuals as half a Crown now that they cannot afford to keep Clarks nor to write and to Register Wills at this day for the Legal Fees 2. Again thou observest and that in favour of Ecclesiastical Courts that other Courts are more abusive and excessive in fees I leave thee to make it good and 't was very kindly remarked on our side tho' severely enough against the Common-Law Courts according to thy manner of speaking thus Indeed the Extortions of the Spiritual Courts are inconsiderable in Comparison of those amongst the numerous Frie of Common-Lawyers Attornies Clarks Notaries Sollicitors Splitters of Causes c. whose numbers are numberless and so goes on with the Crie p. 30 31. 3. At length thou seem'st to have studied better politicks than thou hast lately practis'd for in the nature of a Conclusion thou saist Therefore men that trie will certainly find perhaps too late that seldom 〈◊〉 31. comes a better This is very friendly indeed Phil. a little more of this Nature might render thee worthy of an Advocates place in the Spiritual Courts and then thou might'st go snips too hadst thou writ Finis here But I find thou canst not end without one fling more at the Doctor Phil. Thou seest I can speak to thy sense and indeed I could say much more to please thee and the Doctor and the Bishops too had I encouragement as I think I deserve and this I had done before now if the Lady at the beginning of the Doctor 's Book had made me a Curtesie or thank't me for my pains upon Curse ye curse ye MEROZ but no such matter Tim. too much Ingratitude and envy raigns amongst a sort of unthinking Black-coats Tim. No such matter Phil. the Black-coats did think and thought that thy Text was well interpreted and justly turn'd against the Enemies of the Church of England but they thought also that thou playedst too wantonly with a serious subject in an angry Age and indeed thou actedst the part of a Mountebank rather than a grave Preacher Well but what 's this to the Doctor how shall he be satisfied Phil. He was severe with me and I was rude with him and there 's an end Tim. Rude Yea barbarous and prodigiously scurrilous and I should wonder if thou seest not a necessity of giving both thy self and the Doctor and the Church of England better satisfaction I have known many that when they have taken up thy Vindication and with a cast of their eye have perceived the mode of thy Scribble have with disdain and loathing cast it from them and to deal friendly with thee I think thou ought'st to do something to recover thy self with the world Phil. I am sorry to hear that prethee what would'st have me do Tim. Thou hast heard of an Engine call'd Pia fraus but Phil. if thou hast not the skill to joyn Piety and Craft together either of them well used may do thee a kindness My first advice and my best is this that thou would'st be meek and humble and give the world a Cast of thy Piety in an honest retractation and ingenuous peccavi But secondly if repentance be too hard a Task or thy Talent lie not that way the other part of my advice is to use this craft Send to thy Gazetteer he that Printed the Title of thy Vindication and desire him to publish this following Declaration Whereas there was lately Printed a very simple and malicious Pamphlet called a Vindication of Naked Truth the Second Part against the trivial Objections of one Fullwood under the pretended Name of Phil. Hickeringill that the Scandalous Pamphlet might go off the better These are to give Notice that the said Pamphlet is so idle and trivial and rudely Barbarous and so insolently treats an ancient Doctor in Divinity and the Laws of England and our Church-Government that the true Phil-Hickeringill is ashamed of it and doth hereby disown and disavow it as the off-spring of the windy vapour of some hot Spanish Genet or to speak more truly if not so properly some wild English Ass Given under my Hand Philautos or the true Phil-Hickeringill THE END A CATALOGUE of some Books lately Printed for Richard Royston THE Establish'd Church Or a Subversion of all the Romanists Pleas for the Popes Supremacy in England Together with a Vindication of the present Government of the Church of England as allow'd by the Laws of the Land against all Fanatical exceptions particularly of Mr. Hickeringill in his Scandalous Pamphlet stiled NAKED TRVTH the 2d Part. By Fran. Fullwood D. D. Arch-deacon of Totnes in Devon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or a Discourse of the Morality of the Sabbath being an Exposition of Exod. xx v. 8 9 10 11. with Prayers relating thereunto humbly offered to this present Age. By John Gregory Arch-deacon of Glocester The New Distemper Or the Dissenters Usual Pleas for Comprehension Toleration and the Renouncing the Covenant Consider'd and Discuss'd with some Reflections upon Mr. Baxter's and Mr. Alsop's late Pamphlets published in Answer to the Reverend Dean of S. Paul's Sermon concerning Separation The Lively Picture of Lewis du Moulin drawn by an incomparable Hand Together with his Last Words Being his Retractation of all the Personal Reflections he had made on the Divines of the Church of England in several Books of his Signed by Himself on the Fifth and the Seventeenth of October 1680.
A DIALOGUE BETWIXT PHILAUTUS AND TIMOTHEUS In Defence of Dr FVLLWOOD's LEGES ANGLIAE Against the Vindicator of Naked Truth Stiling himself PHIL. HICKERINGILL LONDON Printed for Rich. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred MAJESTY 1681. TIMOTHEVS and PHILAVTVS CHAP. I. Of the Author's Name Phil. Hickeringill TImotheus Well met Philautus Philautus Why Philautus Tim. I know you call your self Phil. Hickeringill but that Dutoh-Hobgoblin name is so rugged and harsh in the mouth and so unsutable to the smoothness of your Vindication of Naked Truth that neither my self nor a Thousand others can endure it at the first time they heard it it brought a Curse with it and they wish they had never heard it since and are frightned at the very sound of it as if it were conjuring Indeed Hickeringill speaks ill and hears worse therefore as you have faced about and chang'd your countenance as to Religion or against it I thought it not amiss to change your name too Phil. How now Tim hast an itchy endeavour to be witty forsooth in Vindic. p. 35. spite of Nature and thy Stars enough of Hickeringill but why must Phil. be added to autus why Philautus thou thinkst thou hast a trick for that too Tim. To deal plainly with thee every body perceives that this Phil. Hickeringill is the same Person that lies prostrate under the name of Edmond at the foot of Naked Truth and it is known that Phil. and Edmond are all one that is Ned loves Hickeringill and Hickeringill is in love with himself and for this Reason I have made bold for the better sounds sake to call thee Philautus But prethee Phil. why art thou pleased with that throatling name Phil. Hickeringill is it not for the same reason good wits may jump Phil. Say nothing Tim and I will tell thee the naked truth and whether I thought of thy reason or not I am resolved upon good reason to love my self for I see little in the world that a Man should be fond of and but few that regard me as I deserve or merit my kindness Nor can I expect otherwise Plain dealing has few friends and that 's my Talent besides I have flown at all sorts of People Fift-Monarchists p. 35. Anabaptists Quakers Independents Presbyterians Papists and I trow in a very civil manner at our own Church-men too and thus have provoked them all against me and is it not time to take care of my self I had once some hopes of favour from the Church of England but now I despair for I saw little was to be got by her kindness and occurr'd her displeasure to speak the truth she hath always been a Step-Mother Vind p. 2. to the Author of the Naked Truth and he never had any thing from her but frowns and blows at best but a Bitt and a Knock and now alas she is in the Wane and not worth the courting I found her lately in the Frontispiece of a Book called Leges Angliae a pretended answer to Naked Truth pictured in a very low and weeping posture groaning under the Cross and I hate her in her very picture but seeing it is so sad with her I will pity and love my self therefore call me what thou wilt I am Phil. Hickeringill and will be so in spight of the World and the Church too CHAP. II. Of the Title Leges Angliae one Fullwood a libelling Pamphlet Tim. THou mentionest a Book called Leges Angliae prethee what 's thy opinion of it Phil. That Book I have not patience to speak of it it so scandalously handles my beloved Naked Truth it proves it to be all lies and then cloaths it with Bears-skins and all shapes of Villany and then exposeth it and hectors and beats and kills it and all that under the detestable name of my chief old enemy the Laws of England Many years agon these Laws of England had like to have done me a mischief and I could never endure the name of them since especially when the wind blows West-ward and I wonder at my heart how these Laws can give warrant to others in a Hectoring way to say â—ind p. 6. Come Clergyman deliver your Purse your Purse But with what Title his pitiful Pamphlet can challenge so swelling a Title shall be considered only by the sequel 〈…〉 2. Tim. Good Phil. why so angry the Title did thee a kindness Some think had it not been for this Title and a small Jest thou hadst had little to say to the whole Book and it seems to be true too because thou so often makest mention and makest so much advantage of them But to speak my mind a serious Book that consists chiefly of our Laws and Vindicates a legal Government by Arguments of express Laws may wear this Title of Leges Angliae modestly enough though I must tell thee I am well assured that that Title was put to the Book by another hand and not by the Authors who knew it not certainly till he saw it in Print He hath often said he did not like it because he had twit Mr. Cary for stiling his lesser Book The Law of England though that seems to be a greater Title But good Phil. why must thy Vindication carry so much folly and rage in the front of it Scornfully calling thy Adversary one Fullwood though he tells the world both his Name and his Title and Dignity If he be a Doctor in Divinity and a Dignitary in the Church or but an aged Spectacle-Divine thou shouldest have used him with less disdain if not with reverence Some think he honoured thee too much in condescending to take notice of and answer thy Book and dishonour'd himself Phil. Why did he not let Naked Truth alone then why did he write so libelling a Pamphlet against it Tim. I know thou hast betray'd thy wit as well as manners in calling a serious Book touching lawful government written by an Ancient D. D. a libelling Pamphlet But Phil. if he write that which is true and set his name to it how is his Book a Libel That thou against whom his Book is written wer 't guilty enough was evident because thou fled'st for it not daring to put thy name at first to thy Naked Truth as the Doctor doth to his Book I say thou didst thus fly for it and that out of a sense of guilt or great fear Fear what the men or the Leges Angliae thou hadst offended by thy Naked Truth would do with thee should they find thee out as thou often confessest in that Book Indeed when thou hadst got thy Friends about thee I mean the Rabble that like not the Laws of England and as thou thought'st secured thy self among thy Abettors then thou appearest and shewest thy self though sneakingly at the Tail of thy Book Seeing thy self then in the face of those moveable waters thou seemest to fall in love with and pride thy self as the Author of a Book so highly esteemed by the weak
Tired and sore and art I believe heartily weary of the company of this same Totnes Arch-deacon as thou hast cause to complain p. 35. but thou must have patience a little longer while we make Hue and Cry after the Doctor 's fourth proposition lest if it should be lost Pag. 21. he sue thee for damages I have search'd Phil. as for a Needle in a bottle of Hay and at length I caught it by the skirts in p. 26. and afterwards as cast out into the Pag. 14. abstract of the premisses CHAP. XII The Doctor 's Fourth PROPOSITION The Act of 1 Eliz. 1. establishing the High Commission Court was not the foundation of ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Tim. THou canst not but remember how fully and largely the Doctor both disproved and exposed thy singular Notion of this point and now with thy wonted Front taking little or no notice of the Author's discourse thou saist the same over again That Branch which gave the Queen power to settle the High Commission being repealed by 13 Car. 1. 12. For my part 't is beyond my apprehension to find out where the Authority of Ecclesiastical Courts can or does consist For thy part it's well thou speakst for thy self who is the dull fool now what not apprehend what every body else apprehends is a singular non-sensical notion and barrenness of Apprehension sufficient strength or warrant to batter Government Phil. I cannot beat it into my head who gave them that Authority they pretend to Not the Pope as of old not the Common I am sure nor can possibly the Canon-Law or Statute-Law â—â—g 24. Tim. Well fare thee Phil what need of reason thou hast done all in a word and had not the Doctor demonstrated 1. That the Pope did never give us that Authority 2. That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is establish'd by Common-Law 3. By an infinite number of Statutes 4thly and lastly By that very Statute that takes off the power of the High-Commission we might have taken thy word but thou hast opened a wide door and set us in a large Field wherein we shall follow thee with patience upon the Heads mentioned and hasten to the end of our pleasant Journey SECT I. Our Ecclesiastical Courts not impowred originally from the Pope Phil. THat the Pope gave them their Authority of old is evident for the Arch-deacon rightly notes that till William the Conqueror there were no Bishops Courts in England but the Hundred Courts But the Pope made William the Conqueror set up such Ecclesiastical Courts as were at Rome to proceed according to the Canons of the Pope and was there ever any Statute made from William the Conqueror or rather Henry 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy that is to say the consent of the Pope their Head p. 6. Tim. Thou art a bold undertaker Phil. but is' t possible thou shouldst be ignorant that the Conqueror was not so much a slave to the Pope that he confirm'd and published the Laws of his Predecessor that he maintained the Ecclesiastical investiture in the Crown all which thou may'st find in Selden's Notes upon Eadm as also the Proclamation mentioned for the distinction of Courts seeing thou art at a loss about it Yea doth not that Law of the Conqueror suppose the prae-existence of our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction tho' not in a distinct Court before the Conquest Yea canst imagine that when Spiritual Causes were tried in Hundret and at the Civil Courts of Judgment that Lay-men had any thing to do with them more than to be present quaere However did not the Doctor rightly observe that that very Law that divided the Courts was made by the King 's own power not the Pope's and with the Council of his own Realm alone Tho' William the Conqueror was a Papist doth it follow that he did nothing and made no Laws but quatenus a Papist and not as King of England Do not the Statutes of Hen. 8. and my Lord Coke plainly prove that Canons and Foreign Laws become the King's Laws when confirmed by Parliament or made so by reception voluntary consent or custom Must all our Laws before Hen. 8. and after the Conquest be thus damn'd for Popish Laws and the Pope's Laws and those too that were directly made in provision against the Pope himself and his Usurpations as before Was ever such stuff vented before it's well thou hast a Salvo rather from Hen. 3. tho' that also gives Sentence against thee SECT II. Ecclesiastical Courts by Common-Law Phil. BUT for him to say they keep Courts by Common-Law is the idlest of all dreams the Common-Law of England is ancienter than our Christianity But Bishops much less Arch-Bishops and Arch-Deacons as now in England are of later date therefore their Courts can have no foundation in Common-Law Tim. Thou art a Lawyer Phil. now with all thy Law canst thou deny this Proposition that long Ancient and general use is Common-Law in England as saith my Lord Coke or canst thou deny this Assumption that our Ecclesiastical Courts are of very ancient and general use in England if not as thou dost not dare what hinders this Conclusion that we keep those Courts by Common-Law 2. Again Phil. If there was such a thing as Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England before the Conquest as most certainly there was how stood it then thou grantest not by Canon-Law it was exercised contrary to the Canons I grant it stood not by Statute-Law viz. before we had any Statutes then it must stand before the Conquest upon Common-Law 3. And indeed since the Division of the Courts by the Conqueror the same ancient Ecclesiastical Authority is continued in its exercise as to its substance by Common-Law tho' in that new mode as distinguish'd from the Civil and in distinct Courts as matters of other nature that have their foundation in Common-Law tho' somewhat new modified by Statute continue to be Common-Law still so far as they are not altered as no Man of sence will deny 4. Yea the very Courts themselves tho' divided by the Conqueror continuing afterwards so long a time in general use in England before Statute-Law came thereby to be customary and contracted the nature of Common-Law and certainly there is no necessity that every particular in Common-Law should have its beginning before Christianity in England if it fall under the condition of ancient and general use and Phil. thou knowst that Statute that limits the time that is required to make a custom in England and before Christianity or from the beginning was never put into the definition of Common-Law 5. Lastly That they were so hath thus further demonstration That all the Statutes from Magna Charta suppose the Spiritual Court 's pre-existing i. e. by Common Law or ancient allowed usage of the whole Realm And my Lord Coke is express that Spiritual Causes belong to these Courts by Common Law But to put this crotchet out of thy head for ever I