seek to be relieved And as the Poet saith Excessit medicina modum by such a way whereby usura superat sortem and the seeking of a Remedy shall so far exceed the Disease I know not with what safety either of Life State or Fortune which are all in the power of the Juries to determine of them any man can live in this Kingdom For here especially in the County of Kilkenny where that perfidious Rebell and Traytor Axtell planted his Colony such a multitude of Anabaptists Quakers and other worser Sectaries What I say against these I say not against the worthy Gentlemen and good Protestants that are also very many and my very good Friends in these parts Neither do I say it against those wel-bred Gentlemen that were Officers and Commanders in the Arâ—â— but of the generality of the Common â—ouldiers and some of the meaner Officers that for their small Arrears got large Territories and are now great Free-holders and the chiefest Jury-men and Judges of our Lives Lands and Fortunes that in the beginning of the English Rebellion were broken Citizens and Tradesmen Taylers and Tinkers Shoomakers and Coblers Plow-men and others the like men of no fortune thought to raise themselves by the Irish Wars and having some Arrears of Pay due unto them go Orders to set out Lands unto them for the same and the Kingdom being depopulated and wasted and made a Wilderness without Inhabitants the Lands were of nothing worth and they had what Lands they pleased and as much as they pleased for their Arrears for ten pounds as much as is now worth a hundred pounds a year and for a hundred pounds as much as I will give a hundred pounds per annum These men that followed Axtells Religion and were of his Plantation being mounted up on Cock-horse to be such great Eâ—â—eholders the Irish Proprietors being for the most part driven away and the Church Lands also taken into these Souldiers hands they must now be for the most part the principal Jury men and so the Judges of our Lives Lands and Fortunes And they considering their own interest to be alike in the Lands both of the Church of the Irish and of all from whomsoever they hold it do stick and cling together like sworn brethren or rather like forsworn wretches to defend and maintain each others Title and Interest in the Lands that each one holdeth both against Clergy and Laity God or the King be the same right or wrong they will not lose their lands And they do incourage each other thus to continue in their wickedness saying that they got their Lands with the loss of their bloud and the hazard of their lives and therefore to get the King some small fine whereof he shall have but the least part of it and be but very little the better for it and to dispossess their own fanatick Party and give the Lands unto their Enemies especially unto the Bishops whom of all others they hate most of all and Bishop Williams above all the rest as he that hates their former Rebellions and their now practices more than any man else they will never do it though they hazard the loss both of body and soul Indeed for the Bishop of Ossory he understands their malice towards him well enough I pray God forgive them so great that were it not for some honest and truly religious Irish Gentlemen and some of the Catholick Religion I profess that I durst not live amongst these that formerly warred against their King and if the truth were known do as I believe as little love their present King as they do much hate our Church and the Bishops of our Church when as they that hate their Bishops cannot be said to honour their King as I have most fully shewed in my Grand Rebellion And therefore I went unto his grace my Lord Lieutenant and related to his Grace the Verdict of the Jury plain contrary to their evidence and the Declaration of my Lord Chief Justice and the Judgement of the whole Court and therefore did most humbly desire his Grace to give me leave to go for England to dispatch some necessary occasions and to signifie unto his Majesty that if there were no Court of Star-Chamber here nor any other provision made to punish all perjured Juries and all high Transgressors of the Laws and hainous offendors that deprive his Majesty of the fines justly due unto him and his Subjects of their right we the true Protestants and his Mâ—jesties loyal Subjects were not in safety nor able to live among such Confederates of wickedness but must as King Boco said to the Senate of Rome depart thence lest the ire of the Gods or the rage and injustice of such men do utterly destroy us And his Grace very mildly and graciously answered my Lord the Bill for a Star-Chamber is already arawn and sent to his Majesty to be signed and will speedily come down to pass the Houses and then such Malefactors may be fully punished according to their offence And I protested and do protest that I would be with the first that would do my uttermost endeavour to punish this Jury and all false and forsworn perjured Juries and the like high Transgressours that concern me whatsoever For It is most certain that Impunitas peccati invitat homines ad malignandum And therefore I do believe that I am as equally bound in conscience to punish this Jury as I am to recover the Lands of the Church and as Solomon saith because the punishment is deferred the hearts of the children of men are altogether set to do evil and my Divinity assureth me that to punish a perjured person and a transcendent Transgressour of the Law is as acceptable unto God as the relieving of the Oppressed because that hereby we do our best that those which will not be perswaded by good Counsel to be honest and vertuous may be forced with stripes to do their duties or at least terrified from being so vicious for that as St. Bernard saith Qui non vult duci debet trahi And therefore with what means that God hath given me I will with his assistance do my best to repair Gods House to relieve the Distressed and to punish the Perjured and the Oppressors of Gods People and the rather because that here in the parts where I live I have seen in three or four years more forcible Entries Riots and Oppressions than I have seen in England or Wales that might be thought a little more wild than England in all my life so that a Stranger might rather think it a Country of Robbers Tyrants and Oppressours much like unto Albion when Brutus entred it than a Country where with safety he might dwell amongst them for I do profess were it not for some honest Irish that are not all of my Religion nor I of theirs that do further me incourage me and protect me in Gods servicâ— and the advancement of Gods
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the Providence of God Hebr. 1.3 and to shew that nothing cometh to pass without the will of God and all things that do come to pass by the wil of God are in respect of God most holy just and good for as in the creation all that he made was exceeding good so in the ordering disposing and governing of them all that he doth is exceeding just and the very evil that he suffereth to be done he turneth to good for his own glory and the benefit of his Church as he did the crucifying of his Son to the saving of all his servants For so great is his goodness saith S. Augustine that he would never have suffered Sin or any other evil to be done unless his power and wisdom were able as he drew light out of darkness so to draw a greater good out of our evil though not to them that commit the evil Rom. 6.1 because we should not sin that grace might abound as the Apostle sheweth 2. Signification Deut. 4.24 2. The foresaid Father and others say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is adurere accendere to burn and to kindle and enlighten and so Moses saith Our God is a consuming fire either because of his wrath against sin and sinners 1 John 1. or because of the brightness of his Majesty even as S. John saith God is light in whom there is no darkness at all Ezek. 1.27 and therefore he appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire in the burning bush and in his vision to Ezekiel he manifested himself in the appearance of fire which should make all sinners to be afraid to offend him lest this terrible fire should consume them 3 Signification Hebr. 4.13 3. The said Damascen saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he seeth all things and all things are patent and open in his sight as the Apostle sheweth and no Creature no word no thought can be hid from him and therefore the Wise man adviseth all discontented persons to beware of murmuring which is nothing worth because the eare of jealousie heareth all things and the noise of your muttering is not hid Sap. 1.10 11. neither is there any word so secret that it shall go for naught These be the Etymologies and significations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Damascen giveth Curro uro cerno to run to burn to see and to these the Latine Writers do add another and say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be derived à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by changing the asperate Δ into Θ and that signifieth fear because all nations should fear the Lord our God And so the Greeks shew us Qualis sit Deus what manner of God he is that seeth and governeth all things and the Latines shew us Quid sit nostri officii what our duty is to be afraid to offend this great and glorious God and so the Prophet Jeremiah demandeth Who would not fear thee O King of nations and God himself saith Fear ye not me and will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it that is which have bridled and tamed that unruly Element by the small and silly Sands and though the waves toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over these poor and feeble things 4. The next Attribute here expressed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourth Attribute is of Gods power which is omnipotent in three respects 1. Respect Psal 135.6 that is Almighty or that can do all things and he is said to be almighty in three special Respects 1. Because he can do whatsoever he would do and he can hinder whatsoever he would not have don for whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places saith the Prophet and so the Creation of the World makes this manifest And Solomon saith Prov. 19.21 that many devices are in man's heart but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand and all their devices without his counsel shall come to nought as the Gyants that thought to build the Tower of Babel to scale the Walls of Heaven were soon confounded and their devices suddenly destroyed Gen. 11. Gen. 19. so the men of Sodom thought to press upon Lot and the Angels that were with him but the Lord presently blind-folded them so Absolon conceited to make himself King but God brought him to the bough where he was hanged and so our late Vsurpers and Rebells had brave devices and projects in their hearts to destroy us all and to make themselves Lords over all but you see how easily the Lord overwhelmed them and brought them to shame and confusion 2. He is said to be Omnipotent 2. Respect because he bringeth all things to pass so easily without any difficulty in the world for he did but speak the word and they were made Psal 148.5 he commanded and they stood fast And he doth all things either without means or with the weakest means in the world and sometimes contrary to the nature of the proper means as when he made the world out of nothing he did but say Let there be light and it was so Psal 77.20 Josh 6.20 Judg. 4.21 Judg. 7.2 and what weak instruments were Moses and Aaron to bring Israel out of Egypt Or Rams horns to batter down the strong walls of Jericho or a silly woman to be the death of General Sisera or Gideon with three hundred men to overthrow the mighty Host and the innumerable Army of the Midianites And with what improbable strength hath this Almighty God brought our gracious King to his Crown and Kingdoms again It was the Almighty God that did it And so in the Spiritual work of our Redemption by what weak means hath he loosned and overthrown the work of the Devil 2 Cor. 12.19 and delivered his Prisoners out of captivity For blessed be this strong Jehovah we see how his power is made perfect through weakness as the Apostle speaketh and how Christ that seemed a worm and no man as the Prophet speaketh in becoming poor hath made us rich and in becoming a curse hath made us the heirs of blessing 2 Cor. 8.9 1 Pet. 3.9 and after his Ascention into heaven with what weak instruments hath he converted the world from Idolatry and Infidelity to imbrace the Christian Faith Through the foolishness of Preaching saith the Apostle of a few poor Fisher-men and us that are their successors this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eye But it is more marvellous that he should do what he will not only without means and by weak means but also contrary to all means John 9.6 as with Clay that is
time of seeking God 3. The time when God may be found you must remember that the Prophet bids us Seek the Lord while he may be found and many men seek salvation in medio gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae and therefore mistaking their time they miss to find it for God allowed us no time to seek him but the time present during this life and no other time and you know the first Aphorism of Hippocrates is that Ars longa vita brevis Art is long and our Life is short yea so short Seneca de brevitat vita c. 1. that as Seneca saith Aristotle Theophrastus and others quarrelled with nature for giving beasts and plants so long an age and to man so short a time which as the Prophet saith is but a span long Psal 90.10 a dreame a thought a nothing so soon passeth our time away and we are gone And yet it is strange to see how men do spend that little time which they have to live aut nihil agendo aut malè agendo either in doing nothing or that evil which is indeed far worse than nothing for though you see no man willing to part with his money yet you may find how lavish every man is of his time which is more pretious than all wealth And Seneca tels us of divers men in his time Senec de bâ—evit vit c. 12. that spent every day an hour or two in the Barbers shop to cut down those hairs that grew the night before and were more curious of their locks than they were careful of the Common-wealth and others worse than these spend their time in gaming drinking and oppressing their poor Neighbours and they are very loath to consider how vainly and how wickedly they do wast their dayes for he that hath desired with ambition conquered with insolency cozened with subtilty plundered with covetousness and mis-spent all by prodigality must needs be affraid to review those things which must needs make him ashamed or if these men have so much grace to look back to see what they have mis-spent before they have spent all then shall you hear them say that if they were young again they would change their course and Seek the Lord that they might live and not lose their lives in following after lying vanities but alas that cannot be for as Plato saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time and tyde stay for no man and as the Poet saith nec quae preteriit hora redire potest that which is past cannot be recalled again and Seneca saith that the greatest Poet that ever was tells us our happiest daies do pass from us first Eccles 12 1. And therefore I say to you young men remember your Creator in the daies of your youth and as Timothy had known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was nursed up in the fear of the Lord so do you for what will it avail you to compose your speech according to the rules of Lilly and the Rhetorick of Cicero and not to have your lives answerable to the rules of charity and the precepts of the holy Scriptures to learn out of Aristotle the nature of the creatures and to remain ignorant of the will of the Creator and to have learned that whereby you may live richly here for a while and to neglect that whereby you may live happily hereafter for ever And I say to you old men that nunquam sera est ad paenitendum via it is never too late to repent if you can but truly repent for he that requireth your first fruits refuseth not your last age And I say to you all to day if you will hear his voice Psal 95. harden not your hearts for now is the time acceptable now is the day of Salvation semper nocuit differre vocatis When we ought most especially to seek the Lord. But though we ought at all times in all places to seek the Lord yet there are some times wherein we ought more especially and more earnestly to seek after him than at all other times and those are the times of troubles and adversities when God scourgeth us for losing him Psal 50 15. Mat. 11.28 for so God biddeth us call upon me in the time of trouble and Christ saith come unto me all you that travel and are heavy Laden and so the Brethren of Joseph sought unto God in their troubles and the Mariners that transported Jonas Jonas 1.5 7. though but heathens yet will they call every man upon his God when the Sea was ready to swallow them up Mat. 8.25 and the Disciples being in the like danger came crying unto Christ and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord save us me perish and they that will not seek the Lord in their distress will never seek him for the Prophet speaking of the wicked saith fill their faces with shame Psal 83.16 that they may seek thy name and of them that will not then seek him the Lord saith Why should ye be stricken any more as if he had said Isa 1.5 you are now past all hope when your afflictions cannot make you seek the Lord but that you will revolt more and more and prove like Pharaoh that the more the Lord plagued him Exod. c. 8 c 9 c. 10. the more he hardened his own heart And therefore seeing the Lord hath now bent his bow like an enemy and set us as a mark for the arrow he hath set our necks under persecution and turned our songs into mournings and our happy and long continued Peace into cruel Wars though heretofore we have past our time in vanities and have neglected to seek the Lord yet if we have any grace let us now seek unto the Lord and say with the Prophet O Lord Lam. 5.23 21. wherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long a time turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our daies as of old And 4. For the manner how we ought to seek the Lord 4 The manner how we ought to seek the Lord. 1 Totally with all parts 1 of our bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 it must be 1. Totally with all our parts 2. Carefully with all diligence 1. With all our parts of body and soul externally and internally with outward profession and with inward obedience For 1. Externally we are to glorifie God in our body that is with our members with bended knees with our eyes lifted up to Heaven and with our tongues praising God and confessing our own sins that God may be justified in his sayings and clear when we are judged otherwise as many ask and receive not because they ask amiss Rom. 3. â— James 4. â— that is aut praeter verbum aut non propter verbum either not according to Gods will or not for Christ his sake so many men do seek and find not because they seek
of them and do you think that this value is sufficient to maintain an able Ministery to supply all these Churches and Parishes as they ought to be or that Popery shall be supprest and the true Protestant Religion planted amongst the people by the unition of Parishes and the diminution of Churches without any augmentation of their means Credat Judaeus Apella non ego Object But you will say his Majesty hath most graciously provided and it is confirmed by the Act of Settlement that a very ample augmentation is added to all the meanest Bishopricks of Ireland and he hath most royally and religiously bestowed all the Impropriations forfeited to his Crown upon the several Incumbents unto whose Churches they did belong Answ I answer That when God placed man in Paradice the devil was ready to cast him out and when God maketh our paths straight and easie Satan will straight put rubbs and blocks in our way to stumble us so though I gave above fifty pounds for Agents money to follow the Churches cause and spent above thirty pounds to procure a Commission to gain that augmentation which his Majesty was so graciously pleased to add unto the Bishop of Ossory yet presently there comes a Supersedeas to stop the proceeding of my Commission How the devil hindereth all intended good and I am not the better either by Augmentation or Agents so much as one penny to this very day and some devil hath put some great rub for a stumbling block in my way untill God removes the same and throws it where blocks deserve to be And though his Majestie hath been pleased to bestow his Impropriations upon the Incumbents yet my Lord Lieutenant and the Council thought it fit to take forty pounds per annum out of those Impropriations for the better provision of the Quire in Dublin and so by that means the Clergy of Ossory are not the better by one penny that the Clergy might be like unto their Bishop for I find but four impropriations forfeited to his Majesty and bestowed upon the Church in all the Diocess and these being set by Mr. Archdeacon Teate to the uttermost pitch that he could they did not reach to forty pounds the last year And to say the truth without fear of any man we are not only deprived of the Vicarial Tythes and offerings by the Farmers of the great Lords Impropriate Rectories but our Lands and Glebes are clipped and pared to become as thin as Banbury Cheese by the Commissioners and Counsel of those illustrious Lords for though his Grace our most excellent Lieutenant the Duke of Ormond is I say it without flattery a man of such worth so noble so honourable and so religious as is beyond compare and for his fidelity and Piety and other incomparable parts scarce to be equalized by any Subject of any King and so many other great Lords are in themselves very noble and religious yet as Rehoboam in himself considered was not so very a bad King but had very bad Counsellours that did him a great deal of dishonour and damage so this most honourable Duke And thus as Christ was crucified betwixt the good thief and the bad so are we betwixt the good Lords and their bad Agents But let them fear least by making their Lords great here on earth they do make themselves little in heaven and other great Lords may have as I fear some of them have such Commissioners and Counsel that as well to make themselves a fortune as to enlarge their Lords revenues will pinch the Parsons side and part the Garments of Christ betwixt themselves and their Lords as my Lord Dukes Agents have distrained and driven away my Tenants Cattel for divers great sums of Chieferies and challenged some Lands that as I am informed were never paid nor challenged within the memory of man And who dares oppose these men or say unto them Why did you so Not I though they should take away my whole estate for as Naboth had better have yielded up his Vineyard than to have lost his life so I conceive it better to yield to their desires quietly than to lose both my Lands and my labour by such a Jury as will give it away though never so Unjustly whereof I have had experience and a sad proof non sine meo magno malo Yet The Civility and Piety of the 49 men I confess the 49. men have been very civil and shewed themselves very fairly conditioned and religious both to my self and as I understand to all other Clergymen and I wish that all Noblemens Commissioners and Agents would be so likewise that their doings may bring a blessing and not a curse upon them and perhaps upon their Lords and Masters Lords and Masters shall answer to God for the oppressions that their servants do under their power that must give an account to God for the ill carriages and the oppressions of the poor by their servants who dishonour their Lords and make them liable to Gods wrath for the wrongs that they do to make them the greater and so receive the greater condemnation for great men must not only do no wrong themselves but they ought also to see that none under their wings and through the colour of their power and authority do any wrong unto the poore But to deal plainly and to shew what respect favour and justice we the poor Bishops and Clergymen have from the great Lords and Courts of justice in this Kingdom I will instance but in the example of my self who after I had exposed my self to the dayly and continual hazard of my life by my preaching and publishing so many Books against the Rebels and Long Parliament which I have unanswerably proved to be the Great Antichrist and had for all their Reign served duram servitutem and suffered more hardship than any Bishop and upon my restitution to my Bishopprick by the happy restauration of our most gracious King having spent above four hundred pounds to gain the Bishops Mansion house where Bishop Bale saw five of his Servants kill'd before his face and himself driven to flee to save his life and which was given to Sir George Askue by Cromwel for his service to the Long Parliament I have fully shewed the favour and the justice that I had at the Kings Bench though I must ingeniously confess my Lord Chief Justice dealt as fairly and as justly as any Judge in the world could do And I do pray to God that both Judges and Jury and all the pleaders may have better at the Bar of the King of Kings Then letting pass the proceeding of the Court of Claim that gave away the Lands and Houses that were in my possession while I was in London though a chief Member of that Court promised that nothing should be done against the Church untill I returned home and acknowledging the civility and fair respect that was shewed me by my Lord Chief Baron and the other
Barons of the Exchequer in doing right both to the King and to my self by putting the Bishops Lands out of charge His Mâ—jesty having most graciously conferred four hundred pounds per annum â—o me and my Successors out of the fee Farmes forfeited to his Mâ—jesty and the Parliament confirming the same by the Act of settlement I took a Commission of enquiry and when all my Witnesses came together and were ready to proceed there comes a Supersedeas to stop our way but his Majesties Atturney Sir William Dunvil and Sir Audley Mervin and the rest of the Kings Sergeants and Sollicitors did so faithfully so learnedly and so religiously plead on his Majesties behalf and the Church for which the God of heaven will reward them that they had the Supersedeas superseded and vâ—cated by our most honourable and most religious Lord Chancellour and then I proceeded and the Jury found this Bishops house and Freshford forfeited to the King and worth a hundred pounds per annum then coming to Dublin to have my Commission put upon the file and to get a Pattent according to the Act and the Kings Grant to enjoy the same after I had spent above a hundred pounds to bring the matter to this pass I received this answer that my Lord Deputy and Council were resolved to do nothing unless they received the Kings Letter and Command to do it and though I was sorry for the vaste expence of money that I laid out to no benefit yet I am glad to see men so observant of the Kings Word and Command I would to God they and all others the Kings Subjects would have obeyed Solomons Counsel to observe the words and commands of our late most gracious King Charles the First I should not have needed to suffer so much as I have done and so often to have troubled our now most gracious King and to have spent near sixty pounds for Agents money for the good of the Church and above four hundred pounds to repair the Chancel of S. Keney and in all above five hundred pounds to recover the Bishops Mansion house and Freshford from Captain Burges and Sir George Ayskue and to be not one jot the nearer nor one penny the richer for all this money that I have spent nor have any more by one penny-worth than what my most gracious King and late loving Master gave me to this very day and I conceive this to be nothing else but But then after I received this answer I presently went to London and presented this Petition to his Majesty To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of Gruffith Lord Bishop of Ossory Sheweth THat your Petitioner hath suffered the loss of all that he had and the continual hazard of his life during all the time of Cromwel and the Long Parliament for his service and faithfulness to your Majesty and your Royal Father of most blessed memory That your Majesty hath been most graciously pleased to grant four hundred pounds per annum out of the forfeited Fee-farmes for an augmentation to his poor Bishopprick of Ossory and that your Petitioner being by the Sheriff put into the possession of the former Bishops Mansion house called Bishops Court by vertue of an Order from the House of Lords and being forcibly driven out by the Tenants of Sir George Askue whom your Petitioner hath therefore indicted three several times by three several Juries yet after the expence of above four hundred pounds could not be righted And your Petitioner having got a Commission of inquiry what Fee-farmes were forfeited to your Majesty and when the same Commission was superseded having with a great expâ—nce superseded that supersedeas and had by the fourth Jury found the said Bishops Court to be a Fee-farme held from the Bishop of Ossory worth by improvement a hundred pounds per annum and forfeited to your Majesty yet after the expence of above a hundred pounds to bring the Commission to this pass your Petitioner received this answer from the Lord Deputy and Counsel that they were resolved to pass no Pattent of any Lands granted by your Majesty and the Act of Settlement unto the Bishops but to such as had your Majesties special Letters to do the same And forasmuch as it had been better for your Petitioner to have had nothing granted unto him than after such a vaste expence above five hundred pounds to miss of gaining one hundred pounds per annum Your Petitioner humbly prayeth that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to write your Letters to the Lord Deputy to pass a Pattent according to what the Jury found and according to your Majesties former Grant and the Act of Settlement And your Petitioner doth oblige himself to lay it out all for the repair of the now ruinous Cathedral Church of S. Keney and he shall ever pray c. And his Majesty did most graciously read it every word himself and then said I will speak to my Lord of Ormond to do it So whether I recover it or not Non hujus facio I weigh it not a rush for I hope my Saviour Jesus Christ whose Sollicitor I am only in this suit will not impute the loss of this to me seeing I have done my very best to regain it for his service yet could not do it by reason of the great Friends of Sir George Askue who made me like Ixion that embraced a Cloud for Juno to spend five hundred pounds to hunt after a shadow and to lose the substance and to have his Majesties gracious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but let him take heed of Moses Emphatical Prayer for Levi and of Davids Prophetical Prediction what shall become of them that keep the Revenues of the Church and the Houses of God in their possessions and let his great Friends and his Jury pray to God that they may have more favour from Jesus Christ than they have shewed for his honour and if this be the reward that Sir George Askue and the Bishop of Ossory shall receive for their service to King Charles the first I will say no more but pray to God as I do both day and night to be a just Judge betwixt me and them that have opposed me in this the Churches right Amen So you have seen some part of the miseries of the Church of Ireland and all the Livings in my Diocess of Ossory and who holds them and what they are deemed to be worth communibus annis unto the Incumbents and this together with the state and condition of the Bishoppricks in Ireland which are now like Anthropophagites eating up and devouring one another excepting the poor Bishopprick of Ossory that standeth yet alone like the trunke of a goodly Oake without boughs without leaves without beauty when as many Bishops here in Ireland have two or three Bishoppricks apiece As the Bishop of Cork hath also Rosse and Cloyne the Bishop of Limricke hath also the Bishopprick of
would discharge his Servants quarters he would take off the Inhibition upon the Jurisdiction whereupon Mr. Connel and my self engaged to discharge the Reckoning and so we thought that all things had been ended in a fair correspondence but upon his departure he did privately sequester all the Livings of Mr. Cull Junior the Vicaredge of Aghaboe into the hands of one Manby the Archbishops Chaplain he sequestered out of my own poor means Donnoghmore and Rosconnel and two Livings more of Mr. Cull Senior and there were many other Sequestrations that I could not get an account of which they carried to Dublin Thus praying for your Lordships speedy return to countenance and support the Clergy I rest Kilkenny July 23. 1664. Your Lordships most obliged Servant Joseph Teate And now having set down this Letter I would have my Reader to understand that whatsoever I set down here touching my Lords Grace his Visitation I say it not to accuse any of his Officers of the least fault or to lay the least blame on them for any unjust proceeding therein The things acted by Mr. Archdeacon Bulkley in my Lords Grace his Visitation which the Bishop of Ossory understands not as 1. The suspension of the Bishops jurisdiction Canon 24. But I only set down rem gestam to shew how heavy the Censure was and how burthensome which a just judgement may be unto the poor Clergy whose neglect or fault I excuse not if they committed any but only pitty their case under their Censure and likewise to shew how far beyond my understanding which notwithstanding might be most just many things were acted therein As 1. The Suspension or inhibition of the Jurisdiction I know not for how many months together nor for what cause if as Mr. Teates Letter saith for the neglect of the Archbishops Refection I find the Canons say that neither the Archbishops in their Visitation shall charge their Suffragans nor the Bishops their Clergy with any noctials or refections over and above their ordinary Procurations reserving notwithstanding unto the Archbishops the refections heretofore usually received in those Diocess where the same Procurations are not received by them which are yearly paid by the Clergy unto their Bishops But the Archbishops do receive from the Clergy of the Diocess of Ossory all the Procurations that they do yearly pay unto their Bishops And yet notwithstanding this exemption of Refections by the Canon I am sure I paid seventeen pound for the Archdeacons refection in the Archbishops last Visitation which is a great deal more than the Subsidy and twentieth part that I pay unto his Majesty any year and it may be more than ever was bestowed upon a Dinner for the blessed Apostles S. Paul But you see in the Letter how highly they do extoll the Bishop of Kildare which is the prime Bishop in the Kingdom for the noble entertainment that he made at this Visitation spending as some say forty pounds at least for their Refection and the Bishop of Lachlin and Fernes in like manner that was not much behind the former to shew his love and respect to his Metrâ—politan my Lords Grace of Dublin Truly I do honour respect and reverence and do heartily love my Lords Grace of Dublin as a most noble Gentleman and a most reverend and a worthy Father of the Church and as much and it may be more than any of them and have suffered somewhat for the love I bare him though my large expence for the rights of the Church darkened the expression thereof in the Archdeacons Refection as the Archdeacon represented it to his Grace Or it may be as some say my Jurisdiction for the Jurisdiction is mine and not my Archdeacons nor Register was suspended because I appeared not at the Visitation but went to England without my Lords Grace his leave especially after I had notice of his Visitation Indeed I must confess I went after I had notice of the Visitation but my only business was the business of the Church and I had my Lord Lieutenants leave under his hand and seal to go without any prejudice unto me neither was I so forgetful of my duty or of civil respect as to neglect my Lords Grace but I went unto his Grace to excuse my absence from his Visitation and to desire his leave to go on my journey and he very graciously yielded unto me And why after such leaves obtained my Jurisdiction which is half my Episcopal Function should be inhibited I understand not If Mr. Bulkley saith quomodo constat that you had my Lords Grace leave to be absent I answer quomodo constabat how did I know that Mr. Archdeacon Bulkley should visite me and would think me so uncivil and so ill bred as to forget my respect and duty to my Lords Grace as to go away without his leave I but why did not you saith the Archdeacon send a Certificate under the Archbishops hand that you had his Grace his leave 1. Because I did not understand that if I were at Corke or Kerry or some other such remote place from Dublin it is absolutely necessary by any Canon or Law that I must either go or send to Dublin to get my Lords Grace his leave to go about my most unavoidable occasions of what consequence soever they be or else to be sequestred from my means or to be suspended from my jurisdiction 2. Because that having his leave ore tenus by word of mouth I did not believe that Mr. Archdeacon would imagine that a man should not trust the Archbishops words except he had it under his hand and seal when as I never doubted of any honest mans word and much less of the words of my Lords Grace of Dublin Yet the Jurisdiction was suspended as they say for six months till all the harvest and the profit of the year should be past over and what a grievance this is to all those parties that have suits depending in the Bishops Court to have justice retarded all this while and to those also that would sue for their Tythes or for any other right within the cognizance of the Ecclesiastical Court I do not understand it but am sorry for it and let others judge of it 2. The taking of the Articles exhibited against the Dean out of the Bishops Court 2. When as Articles were exhibited unto me of high nature against the Dean of S. Kenny and I calling him into my Court to answer them and giving him his own time that he desired to have to make his answer that he might not be surprized and this long before any inhibition of my Jurisdiction came into my hands I do not understand how the same suit depending in my Court could be taken off but by an appeal and transmitted by a due Course of Law or otherwise all the suits and causes depending in my Court might be cancelled and taken off as well as this and what a grievance is this to the prosecutors of any suit