not well how to avoid it And therefore Powel being first ask'd the Question and the rest of them after him one after another was at a stand and knew not what to say Let 's have no Pumping no Pumping I beseech you good Mr. Powel answer directly said the Defendant Is it not an ill thing for a Minister to be Non-Resident ever since before Mid-Summer last Yes replyed he and they there was no help for it Well then Has not Mr. Harris been non-Resident and deserted his Flock ever since Mid-summer last Yes replyed Mr. Powel and the rest of them and yet before they knew no ill thing But says Mr. Powel there has been some Differences and Contentions about the Parishes of St. Buttolphs and St. Leonard's in Colchester which the Bishop gave to Mr. Harris by Sequestration But replyed the Defendant What is that to Fingringhoe to which Vicaridge Harris is Instituted and Inducted to your knowledg for you were present at his Induction and so was Thompson and Shelton the other Witnesses which all of them confest for they could not avoid it by any Evasion or Equivocation only said there was no Vicarage-House at Fingringhoe to whom the Defendant retorted That it might be a good excuse for not residing upon his Vicarage if he resided in any other House of the Parish but what is that to his leaving his Flock at the distance of fourty Miles namely at London and taking upon him another Cure and Charge as Curate under Mr. Grove and leaving none to supply the place for three quarters of a Year nor four Sermons from Mid-summer to Michaelmas and those preach'd by a quondam Logg-river one Mr. Sills Rector of Dounyland a good Rectory but the Man tho a Rector never yet could nor ever was able so much as to read his Accidence yet he that knows not how to supply his own Cure as he ought must for cheapness mumble to boot a little for this prime and single Episcopal-Witness good doings the while This 't is to be in Favour with a Prelate and this 't is to incur the Displeasure of a Prelate and tell bold Truths behold the difference The Defendant silenc'd stigmatiz'd bely'd and slander'd vilify'd as a Common-Varlet and Common-Barretor paid off with Indictments Informations Actions and Accusations in Spiritual Court in Temporal Courts Henry Bishop of London Promoter Suspensions Supplicavits Excommunications Fines outragious Verdicts Plots and Complots Conspiracies and Horrid Plots to ruine him and his Family by enriching the Rich Bishop and all for what For a little Naked-Truth Sir George Jefferies brought the Books and pointed with his Index to the two last Lines of the Black Non-Conformist namely A Bishop sayest Thou lyest Him Cornet call Of the Black-Regiment that Jayles us all The Welsh-man looking merrily at the Defendant and glaring in his Face For Sir George insisted more to the Jury concerning the Defendant's Books and his writing and speaking against Lordly Prelacy than upon the Declaration producing two Letters writ by the Defendant to the Bishop wherein he complain'd to the Bishop how hardly he was used I wish they would Print those Letters as well as produce them to the Jury as if it were a Sin to groan when a Man is pinch'd and tormented First they make us sigh and then accuse us for sighing to ease our Hearts But first Sir George insisted upon the Title and Superscription of those Letters To the Bishop of London which was descanted upon notably by that Critick in Law Sir George Jefferies namely this To HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON These Do you see Gentlemen quoth Sir George Henry Lord Bishop no more I Sir quoth he to the Defendant It might have become you to have styl'd him Reverend Father in God you have not said To the Right Reverend Father in God Henry Lord Bishop c. That quoth Sir George is omitted and seems to be an Aggravation at least if not another Scandalum Magnatum nothing but plain Henry Lord Bishop A Gentleman of a noble Extract and Pedigree I hope the Jury will take notice of this Omission here is no Reverend Father in God That is replyed the Defendant the very Naked-Truth on 't you say right Sir George there is no Reverend Father in God in the case who denies it But said the Defendant I am not innur'd nor desire to be innur'd to Court-Complements I think to say Henry Lord Bishop is pretty fair for him and pretty fair from me Sir George makes little or nothing of a Lordship belike whereas the Bishop of London's Grand-Father William Compton liv'd the greatest part of his Life without the Title of Lordship For indeed William Compton this Bishop's Grand-Father was the first of the Compton's that ever was an Earl since Adam And King James created him Earl of Northampton I could tell the Reader how and for what too Anno Dom. 1618. There are thousands alive that remember the Business But no doubt but the Bishop did come of a noble Extract But if Sir George had not taken notice of it the noble Family would have been never the worse for when Men are always dung in the Teeth with the same and the same Bastinado Self-Preservation makes them stand upon their Guard and perhaps take the length on 't and as it happens this Pedigree that Sir George did so bluster with is not so long neither not so long as a Welsh-Pedigree ap Lewis ap George ap Morgan ap Taphee ap Lloyd is a Pedigree more than twice so long But I should have wondred if the Welsh-man on this occasion too you 'll say had not vapour'd with his Extract and Pedigree But to the Business Here 's no Reverend Father in God 'T is readily granted nor is the Omission a Sin of Omission 't is no Crime For a younger Brother to be a Lord that 's pretty fair and more honour than his Grand-Father arriv'd unto at his Years For a Man that was but the other day a Cornet in Captain Compton's Troop in the Earl of Oxford's Regiment I think by the King's Grace to be made a Prelate and a Lord Bishop there 's no reason in the World that he or any Body else should take it so in disdain to be called only Lord Bishop since that old Complement of Popish-Times namely Reverend Father in God was never given 'till Priests grew abominably and loathsomely Proud and Ambitious when Pride and Prelacy came in Fashion The Defendant in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Arch-Bishop to avoid offence in his Book called the Black-Non-Conformist does give that old Father The Stile namely the Stile that Sir George does so want and does so stare about to the Jury to find it missing To the Reverend Father in God William c. But the Bishop of London is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 newly come to the Faith as being young in Years and a Cornet of Horse within the memory of Youth and unmarried and much a younger Brother to the
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
past if he had had no other work but to fence and ward off the Blows made at him Then six Proctors they swear against him Articles in the King's-Bench and procure the Writ of Supplicavit against him a Writ seldom granted against any in these Days as we are told by the Compleat Sollicitor p. 73 74. He says he remembers that about eight Years ago in the days of Usurpation for his Book was printed Anno. Dom. 1666. a troublesome malicious Priest sued one namely a Supplicavit against some of his Neighbours but he had not heard of any since and the Parties craving it should take their Corporal Oath that it is not desired for any Malice Hatred or Envy to the Party surely if the said six Proctors swore it they swore it freely heartily and clearly Besides tho 't is a Writ rarely granted yet when it is granted it is more rarely granted against any but common Rogues and Villains common Barretors and Man-Catchers Is there greater Indignity than to be crucified amongst Thieves and Rogues It has been the Lot of his Betters tho the Defendant offered an Affidavit in his behalf made before Judg Dolben by three Worthy Citizens and desired with all Humility that as the Bench had heard of one side Affidavits against him that they would please to leave one Ear open to hear some Affidavits for him and some Pleas in his Defence intending to insist upon the Statute of 2 Edw. 6. 1. which if it be in force then the Ecclesiastical Courts sit not legally nor can they be called by Names bad enough and if that Statute be not in force then why did the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton insist upon it so lately at the King's-Bench Bar and also Mr. Rotherham for their Client Mr. Weald of Much-Waltham in Essex about the time that the last Parliament sate at Westminster telling the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs that he would not urge it warmly or Words to the like Effect because he perceiv'd his Lordship was not prepar'd at that time to give an answer to that Statute or Words to the like Effect A moot-Case belike then and a hard Case to bind a Man to the Good-Behaviour or threaten him with a Jaile when not wiser in the construction of the force of a Statute than the Lord Chief Justice But nothing would be admitted to be pleaded in the Defendants Defence but utrum horum that is not false Latin whatsoever quisquis is Sad choice alas Bail or a Jail There is no fence against a Flail They that will hear but of one Ear here shall be made to hear on both Ears one Day the Day of Judgment And tho Mr. Shepherd in his Office of a Justice of the Peace pag. 83. says that in taking a Recognizance upon a Supplicavit the ordinary Sum is ten or twenty Pounds and difficultly enough too to be procured by a poor Rogue tho a great Rogue yet since the time and Sum is Arbitrary and in the Breast of the Justices no less than a hundred Pounds must Mr. Hickeringill be bound in for affronting the Men of Doctors-Commons if the Proctors swore through-stitch nay one of the Bench stood stifly for 200 Pounds that the Principal should Recognize but in that he was over-ruled and four Sureties in 50 l. apiece whereas a poor common-Rogue could hardly have procur'd two Manucaptors Ay Ay he that will have Honour must sometimes pay for his Ambition But as if all these troubles were too little for the Defendant besides the Weekly Affronts By the Weekly News-mongers in their Tantivy-Pamphlets not to mention those familiar little friendly Courtships and Caresses of Villain Rogue Colchester-Hick the great Scribler of the Nation Daring Nat. Thompson reports him to be convict of Perjury tho Nat. hides his viler Head for the same and dare not give an appearance for himself and his Consort to Mr. Godfrey Woodward Attorney who has long been prepar'd for him if he could come at him for villifying and aspersing such a Man as Mr. Hickeringill with so pernicious and false a Slander all the Kingdom over But these are small Matters loss of Reputation and to be called and accounted a common Rogue common Barretor common Villain a small matter Oh! But in the Neck of all comes me decima unda the tenth Wave an Action of 5000 l. thick brought by a great Bishop too of great Interest great Power great Friends great Parts great Learning and great all over against a poor Priest or younger Brother a Minorite to Reform him if any Body could tell how and make him better Nay it will be dangerous this whole long Year for Mr. Hickeringill to say as did the Emperour at a General Council when at the first setting out and opening thereof the good Fathers were gravell'd and at a loss where first to begin to 'mend the Ecclesiastical Frame being so horribly out of Frame â Minoritis cries one of the great Ones very politickly no quoth the Emperour rather a Majoritis let us first begin to 'mend the great Ones The Naked Truth with ease we tear Not such as Vizor-Masques do wear For Vizors sconce and skreen Men here But will not always last I fear This fam'd Trial came on March 8 1681. at the Nisi prius Bar before the Lord Chief Justice Sir Francis Pemberton The Jury by the Sheriff of the County of Essex were thus return'd viz. Essex ss Nomina Jur. inter Henr. Epis Lond. qui tam c. Quer. Et Edmond Hickeringill Cler. Defend Andreas Jenner de Dunmow Magnâ Bar. Ricardus Everard de Waltham Magnâ Bar. Edwardus Smith de Thoydonmount Bar. Willielmus Appleton de Shenfield Bar. Johannes Bramston de Roxwell Miles Balnei Marcus Guyon de Coggeshall Magnâ Miles Johannes Marshal Miles Willielmus Maynard de Waltham Stow Ar. Willielmus Glascock de Farnham Ar. Jacobus Milbourn de Dunmow Magnâ Ar. Alexander Prescot de Mountnessing Ar. Willielmus Pert de eâd. Ar. Samuel Hare de Leigh Ar. Anthonius Abdey de Kelvedon Ar. Ricardus Ballet de Hatfield Broad-Oak Ar. Johannes Meade de Wenden Ar. Johannes Tendring de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Willielmus Petre de Stanford Rivers Ar. Henricus Paschal de Baddow Magnâ Ar. Henricus Humfreys de Westhamingfield Ar. Ricardus How de Ingate-stone Ar. Ricardus Stanes de Altâ Ongar Ar. Aurelius Piercey Wiseman de Wimbish Ar. Edwardus Taverner de Canfield Ar. None of the Jury were challenged by either side Most of the Gentlemen first named in the Pannel appear'd and serv'd being sworn a little Councel tremblingly made a shift to read the Heads of the Declaration viz. The Declaration in English faithfully translated out of the Lawyers Latin was to this Effect viz. Trinity Term xxxiii R. R. Carol. 2. HENRY Bishop of London one of the Prelates of this Realm of England as well for our Soveraign Lord the King as for himself complaineth of Edmond Hickeringill Clerk in the Custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea for that whereas in
the Statute made in the Parliament of King Richard the Second after the Conquest at Glocester in the Second Year of his Raign held amongst other things it is Enacted and strictly Charged under great pain That none should be so bold as to devise speak or relate of the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and other Nobles and Great Men of the Realm of England nor of the Chancellor Treasurer or Clerk of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's House Justice of the one Bench or other nor of any Great Officers of the said Realm any false News Lyes or any such Falsities whereof any Scandal or Discord within the said Realm may arise And whosoever this should do should incur the Penalty otherwise thereof ordained by the Statute of Westminster the First as in the said Statute more fully it is contained Yet the said Edmond Hickeringill the Statute aforesaid not regarding nor the Penalty of the said Statute any ways fearing but craftily designing the Good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit of our said Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and great Officers of this Realm of England and also of divers worthy Persons Subjects of our said Lord the King that now is to bring the fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Lord the King at Chelmnesford in the County of Essex divers false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet being Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm of England in the presence and hearing of divers of the Subjects of our said Lord the King falsly maliciously and scandalously devised spoke related published and proclaimed in these English Words following viz. The Lord Bishop of London meaning himthe said Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads in Divinity to all his Clergy in those parts meaning the Clergy within the Diocess of London in those parts which are contrary to Law meaning the Laws of the Realm And of his further Malice the said Edmond afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the three and thirtieth Year abovesaid at Chelmnesford in the said County of Essex scandalously and maliciously and further to defame and scandalize the said Bishop likewise devised spoke related published and proclamed of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London upon a Discourse of the said Bishop then and there had these other false News and horrible Lies in these English Words following that is to say His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London is very ignorant And the said Edmond further craftily designing not only the good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said Bishop to hurt and blacken and him the said Bishop into further great Displeasure Distrust and Discredit â—our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is and of the great Men and â—â—eat Officers of this Kingdom of England and of divers other worthy Subjects of our said Lord the King to bring but also to cause him to endure the pain and peril of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm against Traitors and such Malefactors made afterwards to wit the said fourth day of April in the said three and thirtieth Year of the Raign of our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is at Chelmnesford aforesaid in the said County divers other false News and horrible Lyes of the said Henry then and yet Bishop of London and one of the Prelates of this Realm in the presence and hearing of divers of the King's Subjects scandalously falsly and maliciously devised spoke related published and declared in these English Words following viz. I meaning him the said Edmond Hickeringill can prove His Lordship meaning the said Henry Lord Bishop of London to be concerned in the Damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot to destroy the King and subvert the Government of this Realm late discovered By Means of which said several false News and horrible Lyes the said Bishop is not only hurt and scandalized in his Reputation Honour and Dignity and the said Bishop hath lost the Favour good Opinion and Esteem which our said Soveraign Lord the King and other great Men and Prelates of this Realm afore towards him did bear and divers Rumors and Scandals between divers of the Nobles of this Realm and great Men and other the King's Subjects upon the Occasion aforesaid within this Realm are risen and spread abroad and great Scandals and Discords by reason of the Premises between the said Bishop and others of this Realm are risen and daily more and more are likely to arise to the great disturbance of the Peace and Tranquillity of the Realm to the Contempt of our said Lord the King and great Scandal of the said Bishop and against the Form of the said Statute of Richard the Second to the Bishop's Damage 5000 l. and therefore he brings this Suit Issue Non Cul This Trial of so great expectation came on about nine a Clock in the Morning Wednesday the 8th of March 1681. To prove the Declaration only one single Witness was produced for the Plantiff namely one Samuel Harris Clerk Witnesses sworn on the behalf of the Defendant were The Right Honourable Edward Earl of Lincoln Mr. Benjamin Edgar Mr. Ambrose Flanner Robert Potter Henry Bull Christopher Hill and Daniel Howlet all except that Noble Earl Parishioners of the Parish of St. Buttolph's in Colchester and present when the Words were pretended to be spoken Actions for Words ought to be precisely and punctually prov'd and all the Words together without addition or diminution otherwise as the Defendant who pleaded his own Cause told the Court the Sense must differ except they be taken together with the antecedent and subsequent Discourse in sensu conjuncto not diviso jointly and not severally adding that he had a thousand times said that there is no God and yet that saying that looks so scandalously Atheistically and Blasphemously taken disjointed and severally from the foregoing Words are really innocent and harmless and have been spoken a thousand times by every Man that has a thousand times read or repeated Psal 14. 1. The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God So also in infinite Instances as to say It is not lawful to love God nor to 〈◊〉 our Neighbour dissemblingly or hypocritically take away the last Words and 〈◊〉 looks scandalously and most prophanely but taken altogether no harm all but good and true and like that of the Apostle Let Love be without Dissimulation The said Harris Witness for the Plantiff had got the Words pretty well by Heart but yet did not swear them so roundly off as was expected For as to the first Words namely The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity to all his Clergy in these
of danger This Light-house now will shew the way Which may secure any stranger It was your Wisdom and your Care This rare contrivance to invent No Pains no Charges you did spare Our Dangers that you might prevent Old Strombolo that burns to light Seamen unto Messinas Phare With Agnes flames that shine so bright For usefulness cannot compare That future Ages will record Who did this Stately Fabrick raise And to your glory tell abroad This deed to your immortal Praise Come fellow Seamen 't is the night We use clean linnen to put on He'rs to our Wives it is a right Them once a week to think upon The Bishops and his Clerks no more Shall Shipwrack bring as in late years And as they us'd to do of Yore Now the light-house of Naked-truth appeares Men love darkness rather then light because their Deeds were evil For every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his Deeds should be discovered But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Jo. 3. 19 20 21. By their fruits you shall know them if they be mischievous and bring forth nothing but sharp pricks then they are Briers and Thisles and Thorns and nigh unto a curse whose end is to be burned They loved cursing and Anathema's so let it come unto them saith Holy David Any sober-man would think that a Reasonable man might well enough be contented if he were not very Ignorant and very Impudent to enjoy quietly the Pleasures the Riches the Honours the Grandieur and the Pomp that now attends Bishops of so cheap too and easy acquest or purchase and Stately and Prince-like as may be temporal and wicked lay-Princes of the Gentiles nay as many the Princes and Peers of the Nation who by Inheritance come by the same and Rights to which by Gods Providence Nature and Birth they are born unto nay in their City houses for ease their Country houses for delight far Transcending the most Peers of the Realm one would think I say such Bishops after so full a Meal might say Grace and bless God for his goodnss to them and never disturb themselves nor the Neigbourhood with being Promoters Inventers Action-drivers exacters of Penalties and utmost Rigour of old Statutes for which crimes Empson and Dudley were hanged What an odd sight it is to see Lawn-sleves surrounded with Procters and Jaylors and Apparitors and Promoters and Serjants and Bayliffs Affidavit men and hung about with Articles Writs Labels and Libels Declarations Informations Indictments and then Proctors and a little Black-Coat at his elbow hungry for a living and ready to swear through-stich when his own Interest and the favour of a Bishop is in the case What wanton pride as well as cruelty and hard heartedness to delight in Visitations Vexations when he might well enough content himself one would think with his exceeding many flocks and herds which the Piety and Charity of our devout Ancestors and the cunning and avarice of others has Monopoliz'd to them leaving the poor now quite out of their old and primitive share thereof and good right unto ' without the wanton Boulimy and greedy Appetite after his Neighbours little Ewe-lamb and all the substance and subsistence of a man and his house no though he should pretend to dedicate his Neighbours little Ewe-Lamb to God as a Sacrifice or an Anathema or a Corban by grand Hypocrisy as if God Almighty did not hate Robbery much more Cruelty under colour and by the help of Summum jus or the rigour of Law for a Burnt offring And if no less will serve the Bishop of London's charity then to give 2000l towards the building of Pauls it is more honour to take it out of his own numerous flocks and herds which once the poor had as much Title unto as the Rich Prelate before Avarice and Pride came in fashion-Ecclesiastical And not go to rob the Spittle for a deodand and by force or rigour of Law I have known a Gentleman that had one odd humour and you will say it was a very ill humour that after dinner when his Belly was full of good Victuals and Wine and strong drink the Fop grew so wanton and the Ape wasso mischievously gamesy and with good chear half drunk or so half-Tipsey that he so far forgot himself that instead of saying Grace he would be pinching and nipping those that sat nigh or within his reach especially if he had any old Pique against them he would nip and pinch 'till he made all black and blew or left the Print of his Nayles in their flesh Ecce Signum I 'le conclude this essay with an Epitome of the most considerable Parts and passages in this long Book that has swelled beyond the Primitive intention and will best serve those that will not find leisure to read the whole in this following-letter long yet most compendious most Emphatical most Humble and most Submissive letter writ by Mr. Hickeringil himself verbatim To the Right Reverend HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON at London-Howse My Lord SO little success has attended all my former Addresses that I am almost hopeless of this but understanding that your Lordship expected my application no deficiency should be on my part Though I must confess that had it not been for this worthy Gentleman Mr. Firman the Bearer hereof I was not readily perswaded to write to you Because you carry my Letters to your Lawyers for them to pick ' vantages and accordingly two of my Letters to your Lordship most disingenuously were read against me at the Tryal But the Judg told them they were no proof of your Declaration yet Sir Francis Withins he made mimick and dumb signs to the Jury at every word nay my very Books were brought into Court and Sir George Jefferyes just such another man as the woman said that other-hopeful Council he pointed at my Books with his Index as not knowing what to say against them without blushing of which yet he is not very guilty and onely made dumb shows too which were not capable of answer or vindication yet were sufficient hints to a willing Jury that knew their meaning by their mumping and their gaping and accordingly gave a Verdict contrary to all mens expectations against me and dammages 2000 l. a good round sum two Horse-loads and therefore would break the back of one Horse no wonder then a single Parson should shrink or sink under the unconscionable load Yet I understand that this unreasonable Verdict is so pleasing to you that in the jollity of devotion you have made it a Deodand and intends to Dedicate the Trophee of your Victory towards the building of Pauls If so I fear your Piety is not of the Cabal or Cabinet-Councel with your charity nor will you find that it is pleasing to God to make a man an Offender for a word and no such mighty words neither if
parts he swore them thus namely The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending a Printed Paper wherein were some Heads of Divinity which were contrary to Law But the Defendant again examining and bidding him repeat the Words He said the Words were The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity in a Printed Letter which is contrary to Law Whereupon the Defendant taking notice and advantage from the difference of the Expressions and Words The Judg bid that same Harris to repeat the Words once more as he would bide by it Whereupon Harris sware that the Words were these The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity in a Paper contrary to Law There the Mercury was fixt after all its several shapes The Words in the second Count He swore roundly off without any Haesitation But the Words in the third Count he did not swear as they were laid in the Declaration and yet without doubt the Declaration was made according to his single Information But it pleased God he did not swear them off so roundly for instead of these Words I can prove his Lordship to be concerned in the Damnable Plot meaning the Popish Plot he swore these Words I can prove his Lordship to be concerned in the Horrid Plot against my righteous Name and Person and that the Words were spoken by the Defendant without any intervenient Question all in one continued Discourse Yet the Counsel would gladly have insinuated to the Gentlemen that were sworn That the Words should not be taken together but to make a Pause at Horrid Plot as if the next Words against my righteous Name did not sufficiently give the meaning without any subintelligitur for who can imagine in sober sense that a Man means John a Stiles when he expresly says John a Nokes or who can imagine that a Man means a Popish-Plot when he expresly says a Horrid Plot against my righteous Name c. And he and all the Defendants Witnesses argeed in one thing namely That not any Colloquium Discourse or Mention was made of any Popish Plot during the Defendants stay in the Company that 4th of April 1681. being Easter-Monday at the said Parish-Meeting for the Election of Officers for the said Parish of St. Buttolph's in Colchester as their yearly custom was on every Easter-Monday The said Harris his Testimony was confronted with six honest Witnesses substantial Men who had no design upon the Defendant's Benefice of St. Buttolphs an Appurtenance to his Rectory of All-Saints time out of mind of Man to the contrary But the said Harris could not deny but he had a Pretension thereunto by a Sequestration granted to him by the Plantiff And first Mr. Edgar told the Judg and those that were sworn that he was present all the time from first to last from the said Harris his coming into the Room at the said Parish-meeting where Harris found the Defendant and gave good attention to all the Discourse that past betwixt the Defendant and the said Harris all the while they were together which was not long the Defendant soon leaving the Room and departing He was order'd to declare the whole Discourse which he did as followeth namely that when the said Harris came into the said Parish-meeting the fourth of April last The Defendant ask'd the said Harris what Business he had there or what he had to do there in his Parish to whom Harris reply'd that he had a Sequestration of the said Benefice of St. Buttolphs from the Lord Bishop of London To whom the Defendant reply'd saying The Lord Bishop is not infallible and that the Pope is not infallible for instance continued the Defendant The Lord Bishop of London sent a Printed Letter to every one of the Clergy in these parts wherein he recommended to them the Observation of the Canons of Forty which Canons are disanulled by Law which Law if the Bishop did not know it was his Ignorance but if he did know it it was Insolence Besides The Defendant added these Words The Bishop of London has a prejudice against me for I can prove that he was concerned in the Horrid Plot against my righteous Name and Reputation In short all the Defendants Witnesses agreed with Mr. Edgar's Testimony and all of them swore positively that they were present during the whole Discourse betwixt the said Harris and the Defendant that they all gave attention thereunto and that they did hear and take good notice of the whole Discourse that past at that time betwixt the Defendant and the said Harris and that the Defendant during the whole Discourse mention'd not these Words The Lord Bishop of London is a bold daring impudent Man nor any mention made of any Heads of Divinity nor these Words His Lordship is very ignorant nor the least mention made of a Popish Plot by any in the Room nor any Colloquium of the Popish Plot laid in the Declaration but all agreed that the Defendant in a continued Discourse said I can prove his Lordship to be concern'd in the Horrid Plot against my righteous Name and Reputation but Harris said against my righteous Name and Person And yet the said Harris confessed that after the Defendant was gone out of the said Room from the said Meeting he went alone by himself into another Room and writ something and brought it so written to some of the Company to the said Mr. Flanner in particular and desired him to subscribe to the same this spake his Malice and Design presently after the Defendant was gone away But the said Mr. Flanner and the rest held up their Hands as astonish'd and blest themselves from him saying There was no such Words spoke by the Defendant and thereupon Mr. Flanner and Mr. Edgar writ down the Words as aforesaid which were spoken thinking the Man had some Design against the Defendant to do him a Mischief as it appears since too true and therefore they could not but remember the whole Discourse as well as he at least all could tell there was no such Words spoken The Preacher was a Prophet when he preach'd of the Horrid Sin of Man-catching It was Jezebel's-way to get Naboth's Vineyard and his Life to boot 't is often fatal to have a Vineyard that other Men covet 1 Kings 21. 15. And it came to pass when Jezabel heard that Naboth was dead that Jezabel said to Ahab Arise take possession of the Vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to give thee for Money for Naboth is not alive but dead Cunning Harlot And it came to pass when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead that Ahab rose up to go down to the Vineyard of Naboth the Jezreellite to take possession of it But this is a Parenthesis It was good sport to the By-standers to hear how the glib-toung'd Counsel did lay on Tongue against the Defendant and to improve their
against all the rest of the Company who are so positive in what they heard and then swore unto unanimously and constantly like honest Men when no Persuasions no Motives no Temptations could alter them for they had all been tamper'd with and Mr. Edgar Mr. Hill and Daniel Howlet were subpoena'd for the Plantiff But all would not do to win them for the Bishop's side and make them face about 7. Lastly What Jury alive except this could against the Evidence of so many substantial Witnesses credit one single Creature that was so infamous First For deserting his Flock that he swore to feed and was bound by Oath by Law of God and Man Justice Conscience Equity and Christianity to look after and mind the Cure of them and take the Care and Charge but neglected by him three Quarters of a Year together and whilst the Fleece grows he is hired to another Flock staying till Summer till the Wooll be grown before he goes down to clip them Secondly Infamous because he had forsworn himself before this time as the Right Honourable the Earl of Lincoln there in Court testified upon his Oath When Harris was his Chaplain and having often broke his Word with the Earl and told him many a Lie he was not willing any more to trust him upon the Security of his bare Word whereupon Harris takes up a Greek Testament that lay upon the Table and solemnly imprecates by all the Mercies and Benefits that he should receive by the Contents of that Holy Book he would return to the Earl at furrhest on the next Saturday and so be ready the next day to officiate except Sickness prevented But the Gentleman came not home till the Tuesday following and then came with Tears in his Eyes that is as the Earl upon his Oath explain'd it drunk maudline-drunk And the Earl said it was some considerable time and not till his Servants took notice of it to him that Weeping was the certain Symptom of his being in Drink that as other Men rant and tear and swear when they are drunk this little Episcopal Tool always wept when he was drunk Whereupon the Earl one time when he saw him weep ask'd him What ail'd him Harris answered That he had a Sister an Apprentice in the Exchange and that he had heard sad News of her namely that her Mistress and she had quarrell'd and had some hard Words together Another time he said he wept because he had an Vncle lately dead This was over-night but the next day when the Earl ask'd him of the Quarrel betwixt his Sister and her Dame and of the Death of his Vncle at another time Harris star'd at him and ask'd his Lordship what he meant by these Matters for he could not imagine what the Earl should mean by such Questions he said indeed he had a Sister an Apprentice he had an Vncle but never heard of his Death nor at the other time of the said Female-Bickering And as for the Solemn Oath that he had took and broke he told the Earl There was a Cause for his Stay for he was in pursuit of a Girl whom he intended also to marry and he was as good as his Word in that for this Episcopal Implement has her much good may she do him Body and Bones But would any Jury that were not of Tory-Consciences credit the single Testimony of this Bishop's Engine when it was prov'd that he abandon'd all his Interest that he expected in the Mercies and Benefits of the Gospel and the Merits of our blessed Redeemer for a Fit of Wooing or in pursuit of a Wench Or set a profligate Clergy-man in competition with six honest substantial Laymen and Men of unstained Honesty and Reputation except the Tories are Eagle-sighted nimble and quick to foresee the Inundation of Popery that they senslesly imagine is coming tumbling in apace But I hope God will preserve his Majesty with longer Life than any of his Father's Children that as he is the Alpha he may be the Omega the last as well as the first of his Father's Children Thus I prophesy as I would have it not I confess according to the Course of Nature nor according to the bloody Principles and bloody Plots of Papists who as it is undoubtedly known even by them that ridicule the Popish Plot never spare any Prince that is not at least in Heart Heretical and of whose Inclination they have not good Assurance longer than they think good or can come at him I say the Jury possibly were quicker-sighted than other Mortals and could foresee the speedy Appearances of approaching Popery if all be Gospel and infallible that comes from a Clergy-man tho he be as lewd and bad as the Irish Friar Teague O Divelly but Lay-men are not to be believed against a Clergy-man this is the Council of Trent right just right nor to have the Benefit of the Clergy You must not expect it Gentlemen never look for it you Lay-men till you come to be hang'd From a Tory-Jury Good Lord deliver us That 's as honest a Letany as that Letany that used to be read or sung just before the Mass I do not mean that Letany where 's Harris with his Innuendo the Popish Suffer me to explain my self do not lie at catch and at snap I do not mean that Letany wherein was the Suffrage now blotted out and thought by the Wise who think themselves wise enough to make our Prayers for us in spite of our Teeth to be omitted and left out for fear no doubt of displeasing his Holiness namely From the Bishop of Rome and all his vile Enormities good Lord deliver us But since neither the Act of Vniformity nor the Common-prayer-Book does license us as once it did to pray so against the Popeâ— yet I will take liberty without asking leave of an Act of Uniformity or a Common-prayer-Book to pray From a Tory Jury of forlorn desperate and hardned Consciences Good Lord deliver us I once thought the Defendant might have ventur'd his Life in the hands of this Genteel Jury one Moyety Knights I 'le assure you but as Coleman said at the Gallows when his Devil fail'd him There is no Truth in Men. When Power and Interest does but plead against it there is no Oath so sacred but some sort of Judges and Jury-men will break it without any regard Ay ay the honest Lord Chief Justice Hale is dead and gone in his Room seldom comes a better came Sir Will. Scroggs but as thought unmeet discharged but to mend the Market who comes there who comes next Sir Francis Pemberton the present Judg in this Cause With whom we will as he did conclude this Trial for I have enough on 't if you knew all whatever the Reader has Sir Francis summing up the Evidence and directing the Jury to this effect namely That this Action was brought by the Bishop of London against Mr. Hickeringill upon the Statute Scandal Magnat for speaking scandalous Words of
the disguize of Truth and the defeat of many an honest Cause These Quirks the Rabble that use them are useless in the Vnited Provinces where every Man pleads his own Cause of which the same Sun that views the first Process sees the End and Determination before it sleeps in the Ocean Whereas we labour with our nice Pleadings Quirks and Tricks Writs of Errors Pleas Rejoynders and Demurrers eternally A Man was Indicted quia furatus est Equum because he stole a Horse in Holland he had dy'd for it but with us the Indictment was quash'd for lack of Form there wanted Forsooth the Word Felonicè and therefore ill 29. Ass 45. A Man was Indicted that he was communis Latro a common Thief and the Indictment was held vicious because too general never coming on to the particular Proof A Man Murder'd another but the Indictment by the Clerks oversight or worse was only Interfecit and was quash'd for want of the Word Murdravit Thousands of Instances might be given of pretty Quirks and Niceties that are now made such essential parts of the Law that he is accounted the Man of Law that is most nimble at them to take a Cause with a Why not Tick-Tack as if some design had been to make the Law like Sives and Cullenders full of Holes for the nonce But some may say then What shall become of the Vermine the Locusts and the Catterpillars that like those Plagues of Egypt eat up evary green thing in the Land How now Is this good Behaviour Is Sampson bound or bound with Wit hs of smal Cords made on purpose to be broken Explain your self who do you mean by the Vermine the Locusts and the Caterpillars that eat up every green thing in the Land and is the great plague-sore thereof Who do you mean Sir You that are so blunt and such a plain Dealer do you mean those Throngs about Temple-Bar and Chancery-Lane those Crouds of Pen and Inkhorns that a Man can scarce stir there without being justled or run down by them or their Coaches Speak out who do you mean by the Vermine of the Land the Locusts and the Caterpillars Why then really truly and plainly I call those Locusts and Caterpillars and Vermine that live on the Sweat of other Men's Brows and of the sweet Labour and Industry of the painful Husbandman and Country-man who if they were not Fools would agree their Quarrels over a good Fire and a Pot of Ale by the Men of their Neighbourhood for it must come to that at last and why not as well at first before the Estate be wasted time consum'd with Danceing Attendance to Vermine But what shall the Locusts and Caterpillars do Ask Mr. Wilson who tells you in his Description of the new Plantation called Carolina that there is good Air room enough for the Locusts and Caterpillars those unprofitable Insects and Devourers Room enough for the He 's and She 's let them go there and work and Engender why should not Spiders spin And yet with Heraclitus his good leave the Defendant did if it were worth the mentioning in his pleading this Cause this Tick-tack which might as well have been kept secret but that Heraclitus will not be pleased without it For the Declaration is only un'Prelat not un'Magnat and though the Plantiff does declare as Episcop-Lond and un'Prelat yet said the Defendant it does not appear by the Declaration that the Plantiff is un'Magnat and therefore not within the Statute For the Defendant said further that he had consulted the Records of those times whereby the meaning of the Words Bishop and Prelate in those days is best cleared and does not find that ever by Prelates or Bishops is meant Magnates or le Grantz or le Seignieurs and therefore Scandalum Praelatorum nor Scandalum Episcoporum can possibly by that Statute be meant Scandalum Magnatum 25. Edw. 3. The Proceedings and Judgment of Death against Sir William de Thorp Chief Justice for Bribery and brought into Parliament which the King caused to be read Overtment devent les grantz de Parlement c. openly before the Great Men coram Magnatibus that could not be the Bishops Abbots Priors nor Prelates for they were always withdrawn in those days out of the House of Lords in Judgments or Inquest upon Life and Death as this was For the Chief Justice was hang'd for his Bribery right and good reason Cave cave 42. Edw. 3. Sir John de Lee Steward of the King's House was charged in Parliament for several Misdemeanors Et Apres manger vindrent les Prelats Duc's Counts c. After Dinner came the Prelates Dukes Counts c. Here being but a Misdemeanor the Prelates were present it not being in a Question of Life or Death 50. Edw. 3. Alice Perrers was accused for Breach of an Ordinance so is the Record but it was really a Statute which in those Days was called an Ordinance Fait venir devant ' les Prelats les Seignieurs du Parlement Which also was not in a Question of Blood and therefore the Prelates are nam'd as well as the Magnates or les Seigneurs Many Instances of this Nature may be given wherein Prelates were never signified by the words Magnates le Grants or le Seignieurs or Peers For they are tried as all Men ought to be by Magna Charta per Pares by their Peers or Equals and being tried by their Peers that is Commoners they therefore are Commoners not Peers of the Realm as the other Magnates le Seignieurs and le Grantz are And therefore tho the Bishop of London be Magnas as he is a Privy-Councellor and a Great Officer of the Realm yet the Declaration not mentioning any such thing the Defendant urg'd that it was deficient but the Judg over-rul'd him therein Yet 28. Edw. 3. Roger of Wigmore Cousin and Heir of Roger Mortimer Earl of March desires that the Attainder made 4. Edw. 3. against the said Mortimer might be examin'd Et dont le dit Seignieur le Roy vous charge Counts Barons les Piers de son Royalme c. The Lord the King charged the Counts Barons and Peers of his Realm to examine the said Attainder and give righteous Judgment But if the Prelates were meant by Counts Barons and Peers then they also were to examine the Attainder by that Command of the King But they had nothing to do with Attainders it being against their own Canon-Law and Oath of Canonical Obedience as they afterwards declared in another Case to be seen in the Rolls of Parliament 5. Edw. 3. In a Parliament called for Breach of the Peace of the Kingdom away went the Prelates out of the Parliament saying What had they to do with such Matters Et les dits Counts Borones autres Grants per eus mesmes And the Counts Barons and other great Men went by themselves c. to consult c. So in the same Parliament upon Judgment given against Sir John Grey for
laying his hand on his Sword in the King's Presence for which he was question'd for his Life no Bishops nor Prelates being there therefore yet the Record says Le Roy charge touts le Countes Barons autre Grantz The King charges all the Counts Barons and other Great-Men to consult c. And then he must charge the Prelates too if he charged all the Great Men if the Prelates be Magnates or les Grantz which could not be in a Question of Blood 'T is true the Bishops are a kind of Barons and so were the Abbots and Priors by virtue of the Baronies bestowed upon them by the Charity or blind Devotion or for what other reason by William the Conqueror c. who divided his Conquests all over England into Knights-Fees and of several Knights-Fees laid together he made Baronies And some of these Baronies the Lay-men got but the Clergy in the Scuffle and Scramble put in never fear it for a Share and got proportionably and more some lord-Lord-Bishops got and some Lord-Abbots got and some Priors By virtue of which Baronies they had Votes and Places in the House of Lords But one House being not able to hold so many Lords the King divides his Baronies into Majores Minores the Minors he tript off but the Bishops Abbots and Priors held it fast till Hen. 8. and then the Lord-Abots and Priors tripp'd off this was a sore Shock to the Prelacy and only the Bishops of all the Prelates in 2 R. 2. hold it to this Day And who Parliaments as at Bury St. Edmonds and also as aforesaid 2. Edw. 3. have been held without the Prelates and tho it is declared before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the major Part of the Prelates in 7. Hen. 8. in Keilway's Reports p. 184. Dr. Standishes Case Les Justices de soi ent que nostre Seigneur le Roy poit asser bien tener son Parlement per luy ses temporal Seignieurs per ses Commons tout sans les spirituals Seignieurs That our Lord the King may well hold his Parliament by Himself and his Temporal Lords and by his Commons without the Spiritual Lords c. Yet by virtue of their Baronies they have Right to sit in the House of Peers tho their Brethren-Prelates Abbots and Priors be outed and the Privilege of Sitting in the House of Lords does not now continue de facto to those Gentlemen that now enjoy those Baronies which the Abbots had with all their Privileges and Immunities c. Of which Privileges and Immunities c. this was one to sit in the House of Peers and granted and regranted in the same manner the Abbots c. held these Baronies But I do not know de Jure how far this Immunity does extend nor is it my Province to argue it tho I am possessed of the Barony of the Priory of Wickes in Essex to me and my Heirs with all the Immunities c. and therefore one would think I might claim the Privilege of a Prelate out of that old Statute 2 R. 2. that hath caused all this Debate and Debait Nay all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates so Lyndwood a Doctors-Commons Official in his Provincials Con. Otho sacer Ordo verb. illiteratos Quae Ignonantia multò magis detestanda esset in Episcopo seu majori Prelato If there was a major Prelate then there was a minor Prelate little Men are Men tho little A hundred Instances I could give that all Clergy-men that are Rectors are Prelates Now if the speaking against any Prelate who is not Magnas nor so mentioned in the Declaration as here it is not mentioned that the Plantiff is Magnas and if in the Language and Dialect of those Times the Word Bishops does not imply Magnates or les Grants then surely all Prelates and all that have the Fee-simple of those Lands and Baronies granted to the King and his Heirs and Assigns by Act of Parliament and given and regranted to others together with all the Immunities and Privileges that the Abbots had and enjoyed by virtue of those Lands and Baronies c. ought to have the Benefit of this Statute of Scandal Magnat quâ Prelat Why they should not enjoy the Privilege of Prelates in that Act of 2 R. 2. of Scandal Magnat and all other Privileges that ever the Abbots enjoyed by virtue of their Lands and Baronies being meer Temporals not Gospel nor Spiritual Priviledges I cannot imagine if the Bishops do enjoy these Benefits quâ Prelati or quâ Barones Howsoever the other Priviledg of sitting in the House of Lords may be lost for the long Intervall or Vacation of not being call'd thither time out of mind of Man by the King 's Writ be lost or for what other Reason it is not needful here to discuss For if the Bishops sit not in the House of Lords purely ex Gratia Regis but quâ Barones by reason of their Baronies then è fortiori much more may those Gentlemen that have the Abbot's Baronies and other Prelate's Baronies claim the old Privileges belonging to their Baronies and for which and other Immunities they have an Act of Parliament to them and their Heirs Since Bishops have not so firm a Tenure of their Baronies and the Privileges Temporalities and Immunities thereunto belonging because they hold them ex Gratiâ Regis and for Contempt may lawfully be forfeited and seized into the King's Hands But the Baronies of Us that hold them in Fee-simple and by Act of Parliament with the Immunities and Privileges anciently belonging to the Abbot-Prelates and Prior-Prelates cannot for such Contempt ad libitum Regis be so forfeited or seized Nay since many Rectors in England have Baronies annex'd to their Rectories and their Parsonage-House is the Manor-House where Court Barons are kept to this day and the Tenants do their Homage and Fealty and they are really and truly Prelates I see no Reason in Law or Equity but they may have the Benefit of this Statute of 2 Rich. 2. of Scandal Magnat if it pertain to Prelates quâ Prelati And then every little Rector may bring his Action upon this Statute Qui tam c. for Contempt of his Clergy-ship and Prelateship and then Hey day we shall have a little Pope in every Parish and a spiritual Hogen Mogen in every Rectory Hey then up go we and then Thompson and Heraclitus look to 't we 'll pay you off for your Nick-names you had better have been tongue-ty'd And none can give a Reason why this Defendant should not also have the Privilege of a Prelate which his Predecessors had the Abbots of Wicks when this Statute was made whose Successor is this Defendant in the Barony and to him and his Heirs for ever Nay really Thompson and Heraclitus I believe the Defendant is in earnest since so much Money as 2000 l. may be ceined out of old Statutes there are London Juries and Middlesex Juries as well as Essex Juries
Look to 't 'T is readily granted that there is a disserence betwixt the Bishop and the Defendant as to Riches c. But what then As a Prelate a poor Prelate has as much right to his Priviledges as the Rich and more need of it a great deal It is hard to pull off Hairs from the bald Crown or to rob the Spittle but there is no charity nor reason to take the few Hairs from the bald Crown to make a Wigg on for him that has a good Head of Hair of his own and needs no Wigg nor such superfluous Additaments I grant indeed Bishops are Prelats and Barons too So is the Defendant a little one and more than so the Defendant's Barony cannot be seized into the King's Hands as the Bishop's may for Contempt therefore I called the Bishops a sort or kind of Barons Not such Barons as the Temporal Lords who cannot forfeit them to the King nor the King cannot seize them for Contempt as aforesaid therefore there is a vast difference betwixt a Baron who is a Peer of the Realm and a Spiritual Baron the one is Magnas natus born a Peer and sits in the House of Lords as his Birth-right and Inheritance the other is Greatus and sits ex Gratiâ Regis and may upon the King's Displeasure or Contempt lose his Seat near the Wool-Packs and his Baronies and Temporalities forfeited into the King's Hands But what non-sence is it for Heraclitus to prate Numb 59. Jest says They the Whiggs clamour and say the Dammages are excessive Honestly said for a Fool or Jester Why so says Earnest or Sober-sides I think and so must every Man that thinks at all in one Doctor 's Opinion he might have said 't is a very cheap penny-worth to that which the honest Man Honest Man quoth he and a Proctor's Boy good sence and Tory-like had that pull'd off Hick's what plain Hick still no dread of the 2. Rich. 2 Will Men never take warning till they be maul'd 2000 l. thick Sure the Fellow thinks the Defendant cannot get as good a Jury in London or Middlesex as was lately in Essex Hicks Hat except the Privileges of the Saintship be as great as those of the Peerage Peerage The wise Fellow thinks that Bishops are Peers and thinks there 's no difference betwixt Words that are but wind and Blows or Assault and Batteries and Challengings to fight The Bishop is great Who denies it But 't is not so long ago since the Defendant being then as now for he is no Changling Rector of All-Saints and Cornet Compton quartering in Colchester I doubt the Defendant being an old Captain by Commission from two Kings of Sweden and Portugal by Sea and by Land would not have thought himself obliged in good Manners to give him the Wall except he had as Sir George did first told of his Pedigree then indeed then I grant But not a word of this should have been said but that they come so with their Comparisons when the Defendant had told them in the first words of the Naked Truth Second Part that he honoured Bishops but did not Idolize them could say my Lord but not my God But these Hireling Pamphletiers do so deify them that they are netled when Men do not fall down and worship the The Distance is great None envies his Lordships greatness the Distance is great the King made it so great as it is and can as easily make the Distance less when he list But enough of this Folly for such I acknowledg it but only that the Wise Man bids us answer a Fool according to his folly that is beat the Fool at his own Weapon 45. Edw. 3. The two Houses join Counts Barons Communes and represent to the King how the Government of the Kingdom had been a long time in the Hands of the Clergy do you see an old Complaint they were Papists indeed but true born Englishmen and could not tell how to buckle to a Mitre or Lawn-sleeves or that Westminster-Hall should truckle to Doctor's-Commons a great Indignity and a shameful Purent grant Mischiefs Dammages sont avenoz c. for the great Mischiefs and Damages that came thereby c. says the Parliament-Rolls But notwithstanding all this the Prelates baffled both King Lords and Commons having their Spiritual Weapons eek't out with two Temporal Writs namely de Heretico comburendo the other de Excommunicato capiendo The former with much adoe is damn'd to Perdition for the flames it made in Smithfield and all the Kingdom over the other de Excommunicato capiendo is yet in force and fills the Jayls dayly with Men Excommunicated many about Mony-matters and Fees Illegal-Fees and Oppressions Extortions as not paying the Knave a Groat c. For when the Popish Prelates could not burn any that stood in their way for a Heretick yet as obstinate and contemptuous they sent him to the Divel and then he and the Chancellours and the King's-bench and the Sheriffs got the poor Soul buryed alive in a Jayl till he dyed or submitted and swore future Obedience to Holy-Church Seven Years after this of 25. Edw. 3. the Prelates having got the whipping hand claw'd it away and to stop Men's Mouths from muttering got this Statute 2. Ric. 2. 5. Nay they are as cunning to preserve their Prelacy as for the Holy Scripture Christ and his Apostles having declar'd an Abhorrence of Spiritual Pride and Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Oppression calling them greedy Dogs that can never have enough and Wolves in Sheep's cloathing not sparing the Flock but tearing rending and devouring it It concern'd them to fly to Force and Temporal Power for aid of their abominable Hierarchy and the Magistrate in those days what for Fear and what for Folly what for Preferment or to keep Preferment since there was no other way gave his Assistance to the Beast and the false Prophet caw me and I 'le caw thee Rev. 13. 15 16 17. And he had power to give Life unto the Image of the Beast that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And he causeth all both smal and great rich and poor free and bound to receive a Mark in their right hand or in their foreheads And that no Man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or the Name of the Beast or the number of his Name Yet in 20. Ric. 2. Eighteen Years after this Statute the House of Commons forgot not that they were Englishmen still and remonstrated to the King complaining that he kept so many Bishops about him in his Court and advanced them and their Partakers The King did not or the Bishops would not suffer him to heed his Subject's herein as aforesaid And Poor King it prov'd his ruine for after he had lost the hearts of his People it was not a few Lawn Sleeves and flattering Sycophants and Parasitical
I have made to your Lordship that all Differences as well as the Action of Scandalum Magnatum brought against me by your Lordship may be amicably composed before the utmost Extremity be tried If I had spoke the Words modo formâ as they are laid in your Declaration I know not whether upon any Submission your Lordship would find Mercy enough to remit them But my Lord if you will vouchsafe me a Hearing with or without your own Witness or Witnesses I doubt not but he or they will evidence my Innocence that I never spoke the Words as they are laid but without any Interruption or Intermission in a continued Discourse I did explain and explain and express what horrid Plot it was which I said your Lordship had a hand in viz. against my righteous Name and Reputation in the Barretry And that those ungrateful Words of Impudent and Ignorant which are odious if considered abstractly had reference only to a Discourse we had of a printed Paper your Lordship recommended to the Clergy of Essex in your last Visitation and amongst other things the Observation of the Canons of 40 by Name disallowed by 13. Car. 2. 12. Which Statute if your Lordship knew not I said you were ignorant thereof or if you knew it it was impudent to confront the said Act of King and Parliament opposing your Sence against theirs All which my Lord are not scandalous taken together nor against the Statute if true but the last Words were very rashly and irreverently spoken and I am so far from justifying the Irreverence and Indecency of the Expressions what Provocation soever I might have that I will give your Lordship what Satisfaction your Lordship shall reasonably require with all Humility and Contrition And I am the rather hopeful of the good Success of this my humble Submission because I hope your Lordship intended nothing else in bringing the Action but only to bring me to Acknowledgment of the Irreverence of the Expressions and not with a design to enrich your self by any Money of mine or undoing me and my Family Yet my Lord I doubt not but to make it appear if you will admit me to your Lordship that the Action against me is ill laid and that you wlil certainly be non-suited tho it be no Policy to tell your Lordship how and wherein at this time of Day However it will approve me ingenuous towards your Lordship and that I do as industriously avoid a Conquest as well as all Contest with your Lordship and that this Submission proceeds from nobler Principles than Fear can suggest But I have had so ill Success in all my former Applications to your Lordship that I have but little Faith or Hope in the Success of this however nothing on my part shall be wanting to an Accommodation And since Almighty God in Mercy does not send a Thunderbolt for every rash Oath or every irreverent Word against his holy Name your Lordship I faintly hope will after his Example find Mercy and Grace enough to remit My Lord Your Lordship 's humble Servant EDM. HICKERINGIL Now let the Reader judg whether any soft Concession or Submissions can mollify this sort of Men Flints will break upon a Feather-Bed but the Bishop and his Clerks near the Isle of Scilly are harder than Flint harder than the Adamant or the nether Milstone What Advantage did Sir Francis Pemberton the Lord Chief Justice take at the Defendant's ingenuous Concessions which were more than needed in the Case For there are not any Words laid in the Declaration if never so true and well-prov'd that are actionable or within that Statute but are justifiable as they were spoken And upon a Writ of Error it will appear for the Oath of the Judges is to have no respect of Persons in Judgment That the Words in all the three several Counts are not actionable nor scandalous and if so then all this Noise is like the Shearing of Hogs a great Cry and a little Wooll To say His Lordship is very ignorant 't is too true and if he be wise he will confess it as aforesaid St. Paul did and so Socrates and all the wise Men before or since Agur or Solomon one of them says I am more brutish than any Man I have not the Vnderstanding of a Man That Danger is over the other is easy For to say in sensu conjuncto nay in sensu diviso That his Lordship is a bold Man A Souldier should be so much more when he is a Souldier of Christ much more when he mounts so high as to be a Prelate he had need be bold or daring because of the many Oppositions he must expect to encounter The Apostle bids us stand to our Arms and put on the whole Armor of God and stand and when we have done all to stand Aristotle and all the Philosophers make Fortitude to be one of the four Cardinal Vertues I never heard it was scandalous before to say a Man is bold and daring if it had on the contrary been said his Lordship is fearful a Coward and then Then then indeed the Scandal magnat would be greatly scandalous and within the Statute and the Action would well lie but not to say His Lordship is a bold daring Man though you add a bold daring impudent Man for sending some Heads of Divinity in a printed Paper contrary to Law Is it not Impudence to live in the Practice and Office Episcopal acting contrary to those Methods Rules and Rubricks commanded in the Statutes by King and Parliament and contrary to the Common-Prayer Book and Act of Uniformity Yes you must say for a Bishop cannot plead Ignorance nor Frailty for then his Lordship would indeed be very ignorant The Defendant is the Man that will prove if any Body have the Face to deny it and when Time shall serve that there is a Bishop within a Mile of an Oak that has liv'd in the Practice and Office Episcopal acting contrary to those Methods Rules and Rubricks commanded in the Statute by King and Parliament and Common-Prayer Book and Act of Uniformity As for Instance He that confirms all Comers Hand over Head without Exception without Examination without Certificate without knowing that they are Baptiz'd or Catechis'd is not this abominable bold daring and impudent No great Man if he be a Subject is too great for the Law not too great to be corrected reform'd and better taught not too great for King and Parliament and their Statutes It is Treason to deny this Truth What shall Confirmation of which the Papists make a Sacrament and Protestants make an Ordinance and Statute-Law be slubber'd over against the very Design of it be slubber'd over by confirming such as have neither Sureties there nor any Witness nor any God-Father or God-Mother nor any Minister to testify that ever they were baptized O abominable What is bold daring and impudent if this be not The Canon Law says Episcopus non potest statuere contra
for a silly villian Scroggs quoth a that was discarded or discharged honourably Scroggs that was questioned for as much as his life was worth in Parliament Scroggs quoth a a Rascally knave or fool I 'le warrant him to talk such non-sense does not the fool deserve to have a writ of Supplicavit sent after him to bind him to the good behaviour But I know not how to finish these observations till I have cast away one look more upon another ne're be good Heraclitus who sayes this week Numb 59. March 15. 81. where speaking of Hick as in good manners the blade is pleas'd in familiar-wise to stile the Gentleman he never saw at least never beg'd his leave thus to clip or new coyn his name in these words Ay cry they this is brave that a man must pay but a shilling that takes the Lords name in vain but if he do but abuse a Bishop a little he shall pay 2000l And yet 't is said Hick again himself so pleaded his own cause but I doubt he finds a great deal of truth in that forreign Proverb The Asse it 's well 't is no worse that supposes himself a Stag taking his eares I suppose for Hornes does find that he is deceived when he is to leap over a Ditch Formerly they gave him hard-names such as Knave Rascal convicted of Perjury The Great Soribler of the Nation mock not And now in all hast They make an Ass of him this is Language most suitable to such Mens Genius and way of Writings which slanders in time they may repent But as for his being an Ass Is it not too true For who but an Ass would write or speak so much plain and naked truth in a dissembling Hypocritical and lying Age Who but an Ass would discover the extortions and oppresitions wherewith the Ecclesiastical Fellows load the Kings Subjects and in hope to ease their shoulders be burthen'd 'till his back crack with actions upon actions Promotions Informations Supplicavit's Declarations Articles Verdicts Libels Suspensions Excommunications Power and Interest Nor would the late Essex-Jury have so unmercifully heaped such a heavy load upon him but they took him for an Ass 2000 l. why if a Minister live the days of Methusalem it is not to be Collected in Easter-Offerings 1000 l. is a Horse-Load they say if so then 2000 l. is too much in all conscience to put upon an Asses back Oh! But it is charitably designd for the building of Pauls if it be yet the work of building Cathedrals of Stone upon the ruines of Temples of Bone or living-Temples or as was said before to rob Peter to pay Paul can never be pleasing to Almighty God And thus the Hypocritical Pharisees for fear their hard hearted ness should be condemn'd by all for suffering their Parents to starve They made an Anathema of the Goods they should have had for such Relief calling it Corban Dedicating it to the Church and the pious Deodand devouerd their charity Thus making Charity without which all Religien is a Cheat and a Bawble to give place to a foolish and Hypocritical as well as impious Devotion For my part I wish Mr. Hickeringil was not so overburthen'd and made an Ass of because of such back-burthens of afflictions the Apostle Paul confesses We are Fools for Christ's sake and Truth 's sake And then however since Stultorum plena sunt omnia since Folly is so Endemical a Disease and Universal in my Judgment It is as good to be a Fool for Christ's sake and for Truths sake as to be like the weekly News-monger and rayling Pamphleteer a fool for the Devils sake or for the lyes sake besides the comfort of a good conscience and a sound mind attends innocence in the Streights-mouth For a great Soul like Heaven is Seated high And like Olympick-Top doth quiet lye The Middle-Region-storms come not her nigh So ne're to Heaven she seems to mate the Skye And with Top-gallant brave the Galaxye God Almighty always by some providence either takes off the Load or which is all one strengthens the back of all that trust in him Yet this does not at all excuse the malice the injustice the cruelty of men Which brings to my mind a most excellent Copy of Verses made by the ingenuous Mr. John Butler of Crouchet-Friars London and by him presented to Mr. Hickeringil on the occasion of his sufferings but Dedicated To the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Trinity-house upon that stately useful Light-house built upon St. Agnes to discover those dangerous Rocks called the Bishop and his Clerks AFisherman whose nets were torn By stormy Tempests and by Sherks At last near to the Rocks were born Called the Bishop and his Clerks But who those names did give and why Are Problems none resolved have But this is sure what Ships do try Their strength against them find a Grave Witness Bows rent Sides torn ' Backs broak Of many Ships that prov'd a Wrack Though made of Iron and of Oak Did by these Rocks asunder crack Are Neptunes Clerks and Bishops such No mercy from them can be found As whosoever doth but touch Upon them sinks unto the ground Or were the Flamens in the time Of Pagan-worship so renownd For Cruelties Was it their crime And only theirs And not since found Or did the Bishops who did come In place when these were dead and gone Retain their Cruelty to doom Men unto ruine that not one Who touch't upon them could evade Their anger fury and their rage As if to sink men were their trade Which they did use from age to age Or did some Satyrs who had sinn'd And by the Bishops sentenc't were In Linnen white up to be pinnd To give these Names together swear Or did the Gondeliers who see Romes Bishop with insulting feet Tread on great Fredricks neck that he In Venice City shame might meet For which th' Old Doge doth every year With Madam Adriattique make A Marriage And they tell you there That for her Lord she doth him take Or was it they that did behold Henry the fourth to seek the Grace On his bare feet in Winter cold Of that proud Pope who hid his face In Miss Matildas-Lap till she Did rub his Ears and him awake That so poor Henry being free He other measures then might take Or was 't Tom Becket in a huff With his most right and lawful King From whose posteriors came a puff That him upon his Knees did bring After he sainted was for Treason Yet then the King unto his shrine Did barefoot go against all reason And scourged was by filthy Swine The Monks which in that Cloyster dwelt Such great disgrace in days of Yore The greatest Princes oft have felt By Prelates may they never more It may be this or that or t' other Gave the first rise unto the name And cruelties they could not smother Did afterward confirm the same But that these Rocks no longer may Be unto Seamen cause
opened It is not to be done now in England If we may judg at the Minds of the People more by the last Parliaments than the last Addresses which I like well enough of But were there not as many and as numerous Subscriptions to that Usurper Richard Protector nay more zealous Expressions and Promises But when he needed them not a Man stood by him I know the case is vastly different but not different in zealous Promises and Protestations But as little Rivulets alter their Motions to follow the great Tyde and the Stars obey the motion generally of the Primum Mobile though they may have some little excentrick motions of their own For whatever the generality of this Nation does affect or disaffect it shall become a Law it is naked Truth Oh! but we have a Law and Act of Vniformity and must not Laws be put in Execution I answer No not with partiality but either hand all or save all either punish all Nonconformists or none make not Fish of one and Flesh of another say In your Conscience and Honour is there any Conscience or Honour in this Partiality Hang it It breeds ill Blood Shall a non-conformist-Non-conformist-Bishop send Men to the Devil for Non-conformity Hey-day where live we Besides Cruelty Severity and Persecution does ill become a Protestant Bishop the Servant of the Lord should not strive but with meekness instructing not Jayling nor Cursing those that oppose mark that themselves Should they indeed Curse them and Jayl them and send them to the Devil by Excommunication and tossing them to the Magistrate as nimbly as if they were but Tennisballs and all this Racket about a Moot-case or Mony matter by Significavits in order to Jayl them And then the nimble Magistrate tosses them to the Bishop again As the Justices of Middlesex admonish or desire you in their late printed Declaration to deliver Men to Satan by Excommunication that so also and likewise they may not be capable of suing for their lawful Debts nor be Competent Witnesses nor Jury-men nor Testators This is no Persecution to speak of but except death what is worse Nay 't is worse than Death to be thus us'd for a Bawble Time was when I writ Curse ye Meroz that I was just of those Mens scandling And in this particular had no more wit than Sir George Jefferies who then admir'd my folly for such it was as all Men admire those things that sit their own size their pitch and their attainment their honour and their scantling But I confess my Lord at that time I knew no better How does Interest blind the Eyes of the wisest 'till I consider'd the Golden Rule of our Saviour in this case of doing as we would be done unto And how loth we should be that the rigour of Law should be exacted for our Non-conformity or Premunires And that Empson and Dudley were hang'd for being so rigerous against the general sence in exacting the penalty of Statutes in force too Some Justices now admire this Policy Hullou Let them go on They got the Law in their own Hand Time was when I look'd upon all Non-conformity to proceed from Humour Frowardness Self-conceit or Design rather than from tenderness of Conscience the mock of Atheists that have none until I had impartially weighed their Arguments which I could never as yet meet with any Man that was able to answer if you can you understand more than I. No not that Argument of King Charles the First mentioned just before the last Verses of my Black Nonconformist concerning Conscience God's Throne And therefore refrain Do not like the Giants attempt to scale Heaven the Babel is in vain to boot though Pope and Devil High-Commission or Inquisition should confederate against Conscience God's Throne it is hard for such Persecuting Saul's to kick against the Pricks Besides the great Friend of Persecutors innuendo the aforesaid Devil usually leaves them as he does Witches when he had brought them to the Gallows I do not desire you should in a sowr humour turn the Cordial Wine in this Letter to Vinegar and cavil at it as formerly and make it my Accuser but do if you have the boldness for I will justify it to a Tittle and that there is no Scandalum Magnatum in it to any but the Wicked who have most need on 't and therefore much good may it do them There is a Divine Nemesis a Divine Vengeance the Heathens could say that pursues bloody and cruel Men they shall not live out half their days like that Heathen Adonibezeck I shall live to hear them say As I have done so God hath required me And my Lord you have not such Enemies under Heaven in time you will believe me as these Ecclesiastical Fellows that egg you on and hearten you on to stalk as their Promoter for their own little and baser Ends and Gain in their dear-bought Offices and Places to these harsh Methods so below the dignity of a Bishop saying What will become of Discipline what of the Church Fie on them What care they for Discipline that as well as they love Mony coine but little out of Whores and Rogues Swearers Drunkards Tories and Blasphemers except of a poor Whore now and then but Mony will redeem or buy off a white Sheet But if there be a consciencious Non-conformist they coin him presently or if he will not down with his Dust and ready Darby then curse him and Jayl him Brave doings and yet what Wretches in England are greater contemners of the King's Laws than they or greater Oppressors And how can you answer it to talk of Discipline and Excommunication and be a Promoter and yet not deliver these Fellows to the Devil amongst other vile Sinners What has the House of Prayer to do with a Den of Thieves For shame for shame for shame of the World and speech of People abhominate this Partiality or pretend to no Discipline at all The very Heathen Romans did so hate Partiality that Brutus sacrificed his Son to Justice And shall a Christian nay a Protestant nay a Protestant Bishop be guilty of Partiality and draw his two-edged Sword against some Dissenters and some Non-con's and some that marry without Blanck-Licences or Banes and yet connive at others nay at the impudent contempt of the King's Laws in Extortions and Oppressions and illegal Fees of his own Servants and Officers just in his Eye and under his Nose It admits no Answer no Cavil to evade it A Premunire is not harsh for harsh Men and partial and unjust cruel Men. Augustus busy to reform the State blusht when a Peasant bid him go home and reform his own House first his Wife and Daughters being the veryest Whores in Rome Whose Vices what Sins what Oppressions does your Discipline-mongers correct no not their own good doings the while when Vice corrects Sin nay it does not that neither if there be Friendship Tory-ship Tantivee-ship or Mony
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
only endamaged Me but Endanger'd the Peace of the Kingdom if we believe the late Long and Loyal Parliament or if not convert at least convict and rise up in Judgment against those Erostratus's that get great Titles by setting the Church on Fire again by such Tantivee-Heats as produc 't and brought forth that destructive-Canon 1. of the Constitutions of 40 and burnt a fine Church Yet some tell me that all this Long Letter is but labour in vain that you are set upon a Will and Revenge and whom you once hate you know not how to Remit but I have other hopes surely I do not wash a Blackamore nor preach thus long a Sermon to as little purpose as St. Bede when he preacht to a heap of Stones or as if I were preaching to the Rocks near Silly called The Bishop and his Clerks you cannot be so Stony-hearted I think but either you will Remit the Verdict and be friends or accept of those Honourable and profitable Proposals which I hear make you of a New-Tryal and if you will do neither the World shall know it that they may judge betwixt you and me and my Six substantial Witnesses and your single interessed Witness that swears for his own ends to get me out of my Rights which you have unlawfully indeavoured to invade by an Illegal sequestration the cause of the words betwixt us and the Canons of 40 the cause and first occasion of your displeasure against me which made you so willing in defiance of 1 Tim. 5. 19. Gods Holy Word to receive an accusation nay and prosecute it too upon the single Testimony of an in famous wretch who wants the necessary accoutrement of a Lyar a good Memory whom I have begun to prosecute for the Perjury I hope you will not still countenance him against such a Man as I am I have also prosecuted for Perjury your other Apparitors Groom Martin and your six Procters of Doctors-Commons blush for them help them not for for shame I hope no noli prosequi nay I am advis'd to make an attaint against the Jury I have in this Letter made very sharp Reflexions and corroding Epithites of the Laudian-Faction and Tantivee-Principle It is not rashly done but upon good Advice such spreading Cancers and dangerous cannot be corrected check't nor cured without Precipitate Corrosives For this Lambeth Divinity ruins Humanity Polity and Policy We do not live in Muscovy where John Valevodsky I believe I do not write it right the Muscovy-Duke and Emperour of Russia Tyrannically laid a Tribute upon the people of several bushels of living Fleas and in default an outragious Fine and arbitrry If it had been bushels of dead Fleas I believe I knew where he might have been fitted the last Summer but Fleas have a skittish Property and are sooner kill'd than jail'd or put into pound except they be dealt with as the Spanish Fryar dealt with the Musquetoes of the Bay of Campeachy in America namely he Excommunicated them and then every body knows it is not very far to the Jail or pound The Tyrant had as good have seized their Lands their Liberties their Lives and their Wives without the Ceremony of Bushels of Fleas only to pick a quarrel For so the Tyrannical Bashaws of Egypt at this day bring thither a Ship load of Tin and without the Philosopher's Stone turns it immediately to a Ship load of Silver by sending to every man according to his Estate a quantity of Tin commanding them to send him the like quantity of Silver and so the Bargain is made or if they do not like the Bargain a Mute goes along with the Janizaries and does the mens business with a Bowstring if they do not cheat them and save them the Labour by making use of his own Bed-Cords before they come nigh when he first hears they are coming and knows their Errand Tyranny needs no Ceremony but a long Sword These arbitrary Cruelties are common in Turky Muscovy and a little I fear in France and the Priests make them believe they have a Jus Divinum and express Texts of Alcoran in English holy Scripture for all But the Canons of 40. are not yet Canonical my Lord nor ever shall if I can help it though you prosecute me with all the united Power privy Whispers Affidavits Verdicts Articles Libels Supplicavits Informations Declarations Suspensions Silencings Jails and Bails or your severest weapon namely what the Fryar frighted the Flys with Excommunications But I have by this fair Proposal so profitable to you acquit my self in the Judgment of all Ingenuous men for if it be profit or my money you seek that I will secure if you recover by an indifferent Jury if Honour that is better secur'd by this Proposal for it can be no Honour to you if you dare not try the cause before not a pitckt Jury for the nonce but such a Jury as is indifferently return'd upon other Tryals And if nothing will prevail with you but you 'l keep the catching hold you have got nor listen to any thing but revenge revenge except I make dishonourable and base Submissions then Scabbard be gone fight on be bold And let him fall that first says hold I believe you do not read my Books for if you had impartially weighed the 7th Page of Naked Truth second part second Edition I should have been more in your books then the Canons and Constitutions forty read 21 Hen. 8. 13. or Acts. 6. 2. 4. against Spiritual-Apostolical-persons medling with temporal Councels and Employments disdain not to bedrawn out of a Pit with rags and do by me as you would be done by when time shall serve for these contests are but a kind of hot-cockles there will be no sport if we do not lye down in our turns especially when I prophesy so right why and how and who it is that smote me Neither despise nor reject with scorn the good Admonitions in this Letter if I had not lov'd you well and better than you deserve at my hands I would not have bestowed so much pains upon you But there is seldome a greater Plague attending Greatness than the flattery of their own judgments and conceits as well as the flattery of Sycophants without but what non-sense is it The King can make a man a Knight but he cannot make the Knight one jot the wiser or more learmed he may be the poorer for his Title The King can make a Bishop but all the Kings in Christendome cannot with the Lord convey Learning and Wisdom but usually less for a Lord-Bishop has more Diversions from his Studies and Books by attending Councils and Parliaments and Confirmations and Procurations and Visitations Promotions Suits and vexations that it is next to impossible that he can study so much as a Country Vicar Robert Grotshead Bishop of Lincoln writ a Letter Monitory to the Pope and the distance betwixt them two was was far greater than betwixt your Lordship and my self nay Abbot
to the Grave they are dangerous steps for you believe Me. The CONCLVSION THIS Letter is the Quintessence and Epitome of the whole Book and may for a shift serve those that will not or cannot find leisure to read the whole Book and though writ raptim and in haste yet though I say it that should not say it worthy for the matter to be writ in Letters of Gold and transmitted to all Posterity the Subject is so Good so seasonable and so needful to be handled For however it happen to work doubtfully upon Teagues and Irish-Tories and slavish prostituted and Hackney-Pamphleteers whose only Religion is their Gain yet I doubt not but it has sufficient Vertue in it to Convert all English Tories and Tantivees that are not sworn-slaves and make them perfect WHIGGS whose Numbers increase daily they are never the fewer for me and this Contest with the Bishop and multiply wonderfully and so will still when things are well-consider'd and impartially-weighed according to our ancient Honourable safe and most excellent English Frame and Constitution of Government Our Kings are Kings of France but God forbid they should be like the French King then indeed as the Tantivee-Preacher ratled it our very Souls would not be our own nor scarcely would God be suffered quietly to enjoy them as his share but All would be Caesars our Estates our Libertiet our Children our Lands our Lives and our Wives And then what shall we have nay what shall God have If All be Caesars such Tantivee-Fops and senceless Preaching-Sots deserve to be hang'd and till some of them be so served or made Exampels of we shall never be freed of these ENGLISH Incendiaries Tory-Pulpiteers and Tory Pamphleteers but be ruin'd twice in an Age with one and the same Plagues and Pests And work as Negroes do in Barbadoes by day for their Masters and at night lie with their Wives to get slaves for their Masters too And is it not better to have no Charters no Priviledges then to serve a weary Apprentyship and give Money to boot for our Freedom and yet hold them by no surer Tenure then till a Courtier be displeas'd or wants Money And as for Ecclesiastical Courts if 16 Car. 1. 11. be in force and was never repealed and that the 13 Car. 2. 12. repealing 17 Car. 1. can never be construed to Repeal 16 Car. 1. Then what force have they or Power toward impose or inflict any pain penalty c. nor did they or durst they inflict any pain or penalty as loath to venture 100 l. for every offence nor did they censure any till 13 Car. 2. 12. repealed 17 Car. 1. 11. but if it did not repeal 16 Car. 1. 11. as it is evident upon the Parliament Roll it is 16 Car. 1. 11. that repeals the branch of 1 Eliz. I think they have brought their Hogs to a Fine Market and stand liable for all the mischief they have done to Souls to Bodies and to Bones I believe some in the Parliament at least did intend to repeal 16 Car. 1. 11. but if it be as it is a great mistake it is fatal and not to be remedied but by a PARLIAMENT and if ever they should be so bold and daring as to inflict any penalty upon me have at them for the 100.l Besides I doubt not but 1 Edw. 6. 2. is in force for though it is repeal'd by 1 Mar. 2. yet that 1 Mar. 2. is repeal'd by 1 Jacob. 25. and Samson is unbound again Remoto Impedimento Revivescit and herewith agreeth the Book-Case in 15. Ed. 3. tit Petition Placit 2. Coke mag chart 686. 'T is true that 4 Jacob two questions were moved first whether any Bishops made especially since the first day of that first Sessions of Parliament 1 Jacob. were lawful or no. 2. Whether the Proceedings in the Ecclesiastical-Courts being made under the name Stile and Seal of the Bishop were warranted by Law The Chief Justices agreed that 1 Edw. 6. 2. was in force for though the Act 1. Eliz. 1. Revive the 25. Hen. 8. 20. Which Empowers Bishops to Act as formerly and consequently or obliquely the 1 Ed. 6. 2. is struck at yet can any man in his right wits imagine that it is either true or safe that a Statute should be repealed obliquely and by consequence without the least thought thereof in the Legislators this would be of most dangerous consequence But the Legislators could not think of repealing that which was actually and expresly at that time repealed already by 1. Mar. 2. nor of repealing the Ed. 6. 2. by 1. and 2. Phil. and Mar. 8. which was repealed already by 1 Mar. and 1. 2. Phil. Mar. that does not repeal 1 Ed. 6. 2. by name and consequents will not do nor inferences this is tricks and wiredrawing to defeat a Statute-Law by finess or nicety of Wit or Lawyers-Criticisms And therefore there is no need of flying to 1 Eliz. 1. for the repeal af 1. 2. Phil. Mar. 8. yet the Judges generally extrajudicially were of another opinion The case deserves the Resolution of the Judges in open-Court or in a Parliament or both an extrajudicial Judgment then has been in Jan 4 and 1 July 1637 and the Judges gave their opinions as the Bishops best liked Dr. Laud especially but the same Judges also to please him were for the Legallity of Ship-money and customes unsetled by Parliament see Appendix of Dr. Godolphins Abridgment of Laws and Coke Instit C. 2. p. 685. 686. the Lord Coke was overawed by the High-Commission Court now the Law is not in awe though the Gentleman that gives this Narrative of the said Tryall did not take it in short-hand he that has so vast a memory shall not need nor yet is willing to be known to be the Author of these observations not that there is a a word or line in this book that he is not prompt and at hand and to chuse willing to justifie if any dare be so bold daring and impudent or so very ignorant as to oppose these profitable and well known truths backt with the Gospel and the Law Ha Let me have no grumbling you may Whisper Point make Dumb-shows and Signs but I will have no grumbling aloud But he is not willing to put his Name to this Book as Author yet nevertheless according to the Common-Custome of Learned Authors that Preface their works with their own Pictures or Effigies they shall not need neither some of them are not so handsomâ— no more then the course face of this Blunt Author Nevertheless the Author to humour the Common vanity gave me leave to give you part of his Effigies or a halfe-face of him pourtray'd as followeth not in his first but last Page of his book if you be Oediposses you may soon unriddle the aenigma the Author has a soul so great I 'le say no more on 't but as for his fancy and invention the whole Creation is so immediately at