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
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
Friggats e're crus't in the Sea But she could bring them to her Lee At the long-run both Great and Small She could with ease weather them all No Man of War did ever shame The Naked-Truth that was her Name But now she 's split and sunk to boot That th' Bishop and his Clerks should do 't First they torment us till we groan Then Jayle us next because we moan Have they not rockie Hearts of Stone To. Why do these Rocks so covert lie Drown'd in their Seas hid from the Eye Men lost e're they these Rocks espy Bo. Poor Widows-sighs does them surround And Orphans Tears 'till they are drown'd Oh! but say some Prelates and high-flown Churchmen are not so stony-hearted nor such Tantivies riding Post to the Devil and driving Men to Heaven or Hell with Switch and Spur as you think for But Order is a good thing and since the Naked-Truth and such Books taxes them so smartly as if they were good for little but to be ' mended and reformed The Ecclesiastical Fabrick may tumble down God bless us Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln tax't the shameful Abominations of the Court of Rome in his Letters to the Pope that it hindered him from being Canoniz'd and Sainted though he deserv'd a Red Letter better than any Papist in the Kalendar he was if it be not contradictio in adjecto an honest Papist and if the Bishop and his Clerks of Rome had not been stony-hearted and impenetrable beyond all amendment and polishing neither Luther Calvin nor the Protestant Name had ever been heard of to this day By Grosthead's Counsel Rome had stood Had she not vow'd ne're to be good Rob. Grosthead the Author of a great deal of Naked-Truth flourish'd in spite of the Pope Anno 1250 and defines Heresy to be an Opinion taken and chosen of a Man 's own Brain contrary to Holy Scripture openly maintained and stifly defended This is a true good and honest Description of Heresy and if so for God's sake tell me true If Prelacy be contrary to Scripture contrary to the holy Commands of Christ and his Apostles in plain not doubtful Words and if Men stifly maintain it and openly defend it with Actions Statutes Suspensions Silencings Curses Anathema's Excommunications and Jails for God's sake who is the Heretick now Tell not me of Statutes they are void ipso facto as soon as made if they be contrary to the Statutes of God and Christ saith the Lord Coke the Oracle of the Law who tho a Lawyer was not asham'd to be a Christian Away with Hypocrisy and Cheat It shall it shall tumble down and fall on the Heads and crush all that shoulder it up and endeavour to support it It shall I say I cannot tell you when but it shall in due Time they on whom this Stone shall fall it shall grind them to Pouder Stay till the Iniquity of the Amorites be full and till they have drunk Brimmers full of the Tears of Widows and Orphans Huzzah till they have fill'd the Jails full of Howlings Wo and Lamentation then down Dagon down to Hell for ever down It is an infallible Truth That not only what is contrary to God and the Sence and Meaning of his holy Gospel shall come to naught but also what is contrary to the Sence and Meaning and Desires of the greatest Part of the Nation must tumble down especially when it has no Foundation of Truth or Honesty but stands upon frail and rotten Crotches the next Puff or great Wind stand clear for down it goes or the next Calm when the Master-Builders have Time and Leisure to view it and find its Danger and its Malignity down it goes The House of Lords represent themselves but the House of Commons are the Representatives of all the People in England What therefore the Generality of the People affect that I say in time shall become a Law The Honourable House of Commons have not only struck at this Statute 2 R. 2. which the Prelates make such Work with but the Repeal thereof past the House with general Approbation and was committed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence therein it stopp'd there So much for this time The Words called Scandal Magnat which must cost this Defendant 2000 l. are not actionable taken in sensu conjuncto as learned Lawyers say nor can the Innuendo in the third Count lie because he that drew the Declaration forgot to mention the Colloquium for if it had but been in no doubt but Harris would have swore it through and through what an Oversight was this Therefore say some to the Defendant Bring a Writ of Error next Term and quash it and there 's an End of an outragious Verdict of a desperatee Jury Or else motion for a new Trial because the Declaration is That the Words were spoken before divers of the King's Subjects and but one little Subject appeared A Writ of Error Where to be argued In the Exchequer-Chamber before all the Judges This is a cunning Way more Grist to the Mill as good be in the Clutches of an unmerciful Prelate as uninerciful Breath-sellers Mr. Chamberlin Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot c. that were Jailed for refusing to pay Customs and Ship-Money in Charles the First 's Time because there was no Law for the same a clear Case they took this Course and the Judges ten of twelve gave the Cause against them they lost their Fees and their Cause and this Defendant gets nothing but Wit Exchequer Chamber He knows a Way worth two on 't he 'll keep himself and his Estate out of all their Clutches keep in Harbor till the Storm blow over let it bluster And to Jail the Defendant looks like an Inhumanity like that of some Creditors that in Cruelty arrest the dead Corps a Barbartty of no great Credit to a Bishop that if he do not propagate at least should not by Jails and Shams hinder the Propagation of the Gospel especially not how bigg soever any Man is at this time of Day Money a great deal of Money will Gadbury get and more than ever the Bishop will get by this Affair for Flectere qui nequeant Superos Acheronta movebunt The Horary Questions will be Where the Defendant's Estate is where his Lands where his Goods where his Moneys if any Body could tell for I believe the Defendant himself can scarcely tell that and lastly Where he himself is whether within a Mile of an Oak or just under the Bishop's Nose And when all comes to all the Inquisitors will but throw good Money after bad for the Devil will cheat them as he did Madam Cellier both of the Money and the Sham-plot And after all the Ass-trologer knows no more by all his Intelligence with Mercury and the Moon where the Defendant is than I do perhaps not so well nor ever shall till the Time come when Truth is valued more than Hypocrisy when Innocence is a sufficient Guard
Defendant both in Years in Travels in Studies at the University in Experience nay as a Souldier too one a Cornet the other a Captain one a great Traveller as the most Gentlemen in England the other 's greatest Travels is but over the Diocess in Conferences Visitations to gather Procurations and unconformable Confirmations not according to Law as is proved in the Black-Non-Conformist and for the Defendant to have called one who is indeed only by the King's Grace as being made a Bishop and a Doctor and therefore only his Senior but his younger Brother by many Degrees in all other respects as aforesaid if the Defendant had pleased Sir George's Humour and had stiled him Reverend Father in God perhaps the Bishop would have thought the Defendant had jeer'd him and then all the Fat had been in the Fire again and all in a Flame the other Action of Scandalum Magnatum And let the By-standers judg whether it had not been as much for the Bishop's Honour if Sir George had never touch'd upon the Pedigree but have left it quiet as he found it nor yet have star'd about when he mist the old cogging flattering Hierarchical and Prelatical Complement of Reverend Father in God A Complement now worn out at Elbows and as tatter'd trite and Thread-bare as Your Humble Servant And for the noble Pedigree the Welsh-man had as good have let it alone if it had been possible for a Welsh-man to omit the Occasion but the noble Extract and Pedigree which no Body does deny had rested never the worse if he had suffer'd it to sleep quietly to all Posterity without this his Index to disturb it Here 's a flanting-do with these Welsh-men and their Extracts and their Pedigree's and if old Adam or Noah were alive they would equally love a Beggar as one who is as nigh a Kinsman of their Blood as the Welsh Knight himself Away with this musty worm-eaten-Heraldry some by pimping and worse have got to be Lords stand clear there from all his Progeny remember 2 Ric. 2. Sirra we 'll Scandalum Magnat you do you not honour a Lord and a Lord's Son A Lord's Son Can you prove your Words Now it is the Mode in some Countries for Ladies that have Lords to have also a Gallant a strong Back'd Coach-man or sweaty Foot-man or Groom Spindle-shank'd Gentlemen-Ushers as useless being laid aside And now it is the Mode the Court-like Mode for a Lord that has a Wife to keep a Miss likewise That it would puzzle this same little Harris who would make no Bones of a probable Oath but swallow it roundly to swear who is a Lord's Son and yet what a pother Men keep in the World with their Noble Blood Noble Blood when the Chirurgeon swears that there is not one of a hundred Lords upon trial of Phlebotomy has so good Blood in his Veins as the Defendant In Guinee therefore to secure the Blood-Royal infallibly in the Blood and Family-Royal the eldest Son of the King 's eldest Sister does Heir the Crown not the King's Son for so there can be no foul play But the said two Letters were read wherein the Defendant inculcated the Commands of our Saviour to his Disciples that they should not Lord it over one another as the Princes and Men of the World do Look you says Sir Francis Withins he justifies his speaking against Prelates As if it were a Sin to quote our Saviour's own Words But especially He and Sir George storm'd when the Defendant said That Prelacy is condemn'd 1 Tim. 5. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque eo ut unum alteri praeferas without preferring or prelating one before another Worse and worse saith Mr. Withins He justifies here 's Scandalum Magnatum again an Aggravation Gentlemen I hope you will remember it in the Damages Ay Ay trouble not your Head The Jury-men were Wise-men and had conn'd their Lesson perfectly and knew their Business and what to do as well as Sir Francis could tell them he might have spar'd his Breath to cool his Pottage or for the next cause and yet when his Tongue did not go his Hand went at every Clause and Period and sometimes at every Word lifting up his Hand and then the Cadence he had seen the Singing-men how they act their Prayers And when the Words of the Letter were full of heavy complaints made to the Bishop by this Defendant at every Period or Clause Hah quoth Sir Francis As when in the Letter the Defendant complains that the Bishop of London listned to clandestine Affidavits Hah quoth Sir Francis about the false Accusations of Barretry Hah and taken illegally Hah and out of Court Hah when there was no Cause depending Hah nor any Issue joined Hah nor any Cause that was of Ecclesiastical cognizance Hah and sworn by two Bum-lifts Martin and Groom Hah two Fellows of the basest Conversation Hah the former Martin whip'd for a Thief Hah in Sudbury Hah and the Record thereof produc'd and prov'd at the Assizes by Mr. George Catesby Town-Clerk of Sudbury Hah still quoth Sir Francis And that the Fellows swore through an Inch-Board as swearing against Records Hah and after his Lordship knew this to be true yet He or his Chancellor Sir Tho. Exton or the Registers Morris and Betts or all of them still prosecuted the Defendant as a Common-Barretor Hah and for taking a Bribe for granting an Administration to Thomas Shortland which they knew by their Register-Books was never granted and yet knowing all this they suffer'd this Martin to swear that he brought the Administration from Chelmnesford from the Register's-Office of that Couple Morris and Betts and Groom their Apparitor fit Companions in their Spiritual Court swore he saw the Administration under Seal of the Court and granted to Thomas Shortland by the Defendant as Surrogate when they knew all was false as God is true and that not the Defendant but Gilbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the Prerogative-Court where the Defendant was never concern'd in his Life and Marcus Cottle not Morris nor Betts Registers and under the Seal of the Arch-Bishop Of such Vexations and Grievances the Defendant humbly complains but smartly and warmly too in his Letters to the Bishop and humbly entreats the Bishop either to give him reparation for the Damages he has causelessly been put unto or if he would stand upon the Plea of his Innocence and Justification that he would please to give this Defendant the Benefit of righting himself by Law Hah And that the said Bishop would be pleased to wave his Priviledg and give Appearance to the Desendants Attorney Mr. Coleman Hah and come in amongst the rest of the Conspirators and Plotters against the Defendants righteous Name and Reputation Hah And that all these Mischiefs had their rise from that old inveterate piece of Malice Hah Sir John Shaw Hah who without any lawful Power or Authority Hah had taken clandestine Affidavits Hah in his House Hah about Barretry Hah
your Cause even in your own opinion if you dare not upon so fair Terms let go the catching hold you have got and take fair hold when you may assure your Mony your Costs your Credit and your Dammages all now desperate only by playing the Prize over again once more before indifferent and equal Judges and you shall have Mony of me too for playing the Prize again with a naked single Priest friendless helpless but not hopeless though you are arm'd with all your Power Friends Riches and consequently Learned Counsel High Places and Interest and flush'd also with your late Victory and Success I 'le venture all I have in the World upon this Contest if you will stake an equal Gage What Shall such a Man as I am be run down with one little single ill thriven infamous Priest against God's Holy Word and so many substantial Witnesses nay a Priest that cannot tell his own Tale off-book with the exactness uniformity and docillity of a Parrot The World cries shame on 't and of such a Jury Nay further I here promise that I will surcease the prosecution of that same Harris in order to convict him of Perjury 'till first this new Tryal be over he shall have his beggarly Ears a little longer on this condition That 's some comfort for this Episcopal Witness These are the certain Benefits and Honour you may be assured of by consenting to a new Trial And if you do not consent I doubt not but the Judges will grant me a new Trial whether you will or no at the Term upon such Suggestions as I shall make to them and upon such Motives as has been prevalent with them in other Cases and why I should not have Justice nay their Countenance too more than vile Extortioners Oppressors or their Abettors and Partakers I do not understand I believe I shall live to see the day that Judges will value the Oath of a Judg and have no respect of Persons in Judgment though never so great Oh! for Judg Hales at this day and in this Affair or if they warp will warp on the right side and countenance the innocent Sufferer for telling Men of their Sins and not warp in confederacy with the Sinners and grand Contemners of the King's Laws who are very ignorant or else bold daring and impudent to act so contrary to Law in vile Extortions c. At a fair Hearing my Lord you can never justify the Wrongs you have done me in despight of his Majesty's Laws and God's Laws where is Mr. Withins with his dumb shows to give Item hereof His dumb shows could not keep him in the Parliament-House from his Knees How can you answer the invading of my Legal Rights by an Illegal Sequestration contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right How can you answer it to turn Promoter in the Spiritual Court Is it for a Bishop to be a Striker that is an Action-Driver or Promoter and to strike with his two edged Sword and hack and hew both ways as you have hack'd me in Spiritual Court and Temporal Courts Ecce duo gladii The Popishgloss says Temporal and Spiritual Sword but what is that to you How can you answer it to vex me in despight of a Premunire with Law-Suits and Accusations of Barrety in the Spiritual Courts as you have done in defiance of the many Statutes of Provisors Are you above the Law are you indeed we will try that one day It is no Scandalum Magnatum to say that greater Men than you ever were or ever shall be have been glad to kneel and submit their sturdy Necks to the Laws of England How can you answer it to vex me in the Spiritual Court for Barretry in those very Instances whereof I have been honourably acquit upon a fair Hearing in the Courts of our Lord the King How can you answer it as Promoter to cite me and prosecute me in the Name of Robert Wiseman Doctor and Knight or I know not who from my Home my Employment my Cure that you ought to further not hinder and not in the Name and Style of the King as enjoyned 2. Edw. 6. 1. a Statute that I doubt not but to make good against you all and then what will become of you all How can you answer it when you were or might be convinc'd at the King's Head in Colchester that Martin and Groome c. your Apparitors who forswore themselves against me and against the Ecclesiastical Records and Registries still to countenance the Prosecution And when I was acquit honourably still to vex me again and turn Promoter to plague me for Crimes of which I was prov'd Innocent and to vex me in a Court that cannot take cognizance thereof and have incurr'd the danger of a Premunire for the vexation you have done me therein causelesly and for the illegal Prosecution for you as Promoter swore Witnesses to those Articles and cited I was at your Promotion to attend your Motions thereon at Lexden Manent altâ mente repostum when time shall serve you shall hear on 't And when you had plagu'd me almost a Year with these Barretry-Articles then they dwindled only to Marriages without Banes or not paying your Registers or your under-Officers Mony as I used to do for Blanck-Licenses or marrying too cheap this is the worst inconvenience thereof and I think that I can prove that I have as much or more Authority to give Blank-Licences then your Lay-Vicar Doctor Exton or your Lay-Registers a fine World when Matrimony must be the Benefit of those Gray-Fryars instead of the Benefit of the Clergy because the Hermophrodites buy their Places or hire them Besides There is not a Minister in our Town or almost in the whole Country but does the same and why do not you turn Promoter against them also if Justice be not only the Pretence but malice spleen and revenge at the bottom why do you make fish of one and flesh of another why a Picque at mee only or is it because none of them had the Wit or at least not the Grace nor honesty nor courage to discover the Ecclesiastical Corruptions which you are too privy unto and ought to amend and not boulster them up I am ashamed on t and so may others too in time and of such grand Partiality Besides those poor five couples which I am accused off for marrying without Banes first published in time of divine-service in the Parish-Church or Churches is a fault impossible to be avoided for else the couples could never have been Legally and in strictness of Law marryed having no Parish-Churches nor any divine-service at that time and yet your Procters in the Articles swore they were high crimes Oh! My Lord would you be willing to be so serv'd and to be so done by as you have done by me to be plagu'd vext and suspended of your Benefice and Office three years for transgressing the Rubrick in the Common-Prayer-Book which you so dayly
in the case Rare Discipline Let me hear no more talk of Discipline except it were better Where does one of all the Whores in England stand in a white Sheet for lying in polluted Sheets are they amicae Curiae Besides Tho to me it seems improbable that ever Popery should be the State-Religion yet it is possible that it may be so and then by this Act of Uniformity-Principle we must all be Papists or Mariyrs Then I think we have uniform'd sinely and have made a sine Scourge for our own Backs And well may the Inquisition-men stop our Mouths with our own Arguments and Methods unanswerably with Out of thine now Mouth will I judg thee thou wicked Servant But all this while I had almost forgot our old Friend Mr. Manwaring and his Sentence which was 7. That his said Book was worthy to be burnt and that his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be all burnt accordingly in London and both the Vniversities and for inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This was a true English-Parliament in 28 and not that of 40 nor 41 41 as the rascally-Hireling Pamphleteers thunder it Slaves like Esau that vilely sell their Birth-rights And all the Addressers in England can never chuse other than true English-men to defend their Liberties their Lives their Estates their Children and their Wives basely sold by Pensioners formerly tho the Tantivy-Slaves little deserve such a Parliament England is not frenchisied nor ever will never think on 't they 'll dye first a thousand Deaths if possible Men may as well talk of 21 and 28 and 71 or 91 as 41. For when we are dead our Children will be true free-born English-men and so dye if they be not Bastards Now my Lord compare the Crimes of the Laudian-Convocation of 40 for which you do so stickle and hate me and vex me ever since I opposed them Canon 1. with the Crimes of Manwaring charged upon him in Parliament by Mr. Rous namely a Plot and practice to altar and subvert the Frame and Fabrick of this Estate and Common-wealth 1. In labouring to infuse into the Conscience of his Majesty Oh! may such Ear-wigs never now come so near him the perswasion of a Power not bounding it self with Laws the very Crimes charged against Duke Lauderaale and the E. of Danby by the Loyal Long-Parliament they sate never the longer for that tho But what car'd they which King James of famous Memory calls in his Speech to the Parliament Tyranny yea Tyranny accompaned with Perjury where is your Jus Divinum now my Lord and your Prime-Law In your Constitutions of 40 See the Articles and Impeachment of Arch-bishop Laud. 2. In endeavouring to perswade the Conscience of the Subjects that they are bound to obey Commands illegal yea he damns them for not obeying them vide your Can. 1. of 40 to the same tune 3. In robbing the Subjects of the Propriety of their Goods vid. the Proceedings twelve Years together from 28 till 40 whilst Bishop Laud was a Minion and a Privy-Counsellour in Loanes you may call them Gifts for they were never repayed Ship-money Customs and such like If a High-way-man say with Sword in hand Come Friend I must borrow your Purse we had as good give it him as be cut 4. He brands them that will not lose this Propriety with most scandalous Speeches and odious Titles to make them both hateful to Prince and People so to set a Division between the Head and the Members and between Members themselves and how like my Lord are your Proceedings against me ever since you said you begun to know me when I spoke against your Canon and Constitution of 40. How have I been vext and plagu'd ever since a Martyr for the Publick-weal against your Canons of 40 by your Promotions Citations Processes Ecclesiastical about Fiddle-faddle Suspensions Excommunications except I would pay a Guinny which I did Suits Articles Libels Actions Informations Whispers to Judges and Great Men Supplicavits Informations in the Crown-Office Defamations as a Person convicted of Perjury Declarations and now an outragious and convicted Verdict of 2000 l. And yet for God's sake what one Evil have I done or who swears against me but the for-sworn Rogues Groom and Martin your Apparitors six Proctors Harris and Exton all Ecclesiastical Fellows And yet here 's no Plot belike against my righteous Name and Reputation I never was quiet one whole week together since that fatal time that your Lordship begun to know me Know me for what for what for what you shall know me till I dye against your Lambeth-Canons of 40 a true free-born English-man that hath a lusty Posterity and Estate for my Heirs and Heirs for my Estate if I can but keep it out of your Episcopal-Gripes and I 'le gage all I have chearfully upon this Quarrel and Difference the true cause of all our Differences ever since and more fit to be decided by a Parliament than a Tory Jury pickt and singled out If I had said as you said and as the Convocation of 40 said and as the Poor Clergy then present durst do no other than say It had been 2000 l. in my way and a better penny the Canons of 40. with a Curse and mischief attending them But no Bribes can tempt me nor Fears appale me as the Cardinal told the Pope of Luther when he refused a Cardinals Cap Germana illa bestia non curat aurum Therefore keep your Gifts to your self and your Threats too and reserve your High-Places and Preferments for Tantivies I am none nor for Threat or Money to be made a Slave or a Traitor to the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom and this as Mr. Rouse stiled it to the Speaker without Rebuke This State and Common-wealth not unlimited and absolute Monarchy but bounded within Laws not by prime Law of Nature nor by express Texts of Holy Scripture as falsly Can. 1. of your Constit 40. but by human Bargain Compact and Stipulation contracted and agreed unto betwixt the King and his People 5. To the same end not much unlike to Faux and his Fellows he seeks to blow up Parliaments and Parliamentary Powers God grant there be no such Vilanies alive at this day No such privy Earwiggs nor therein Successors of Laud. One would think a Bible should better become Bishops than unhinging of Governments and Fundamental Laws that the Sycophanis have no skill in thus unlike Apostolical-Men and leaving the Word of God to serve Tables Acts 6. 2 4. nay leaving it to do Mischief and get the Kingdom 's Curse and sometimes a Block for their Pains and unsuitable Albtro-Episcopal Mischief Hamlet King of Denmark was poysoned and kill'd by Poyson poured into his Ears as he lay carelesly and securely and supinely sleeping by his false Friends and Sychophants We are told this day by Nat. Tompson's Intelligence Numb 134. that John Wolf I
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
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