THE CRY OF BLOOD: OR, A Confutation of those Thirteen Reasons of the Felicers at Westminster, for the maintenance of their illegal Capias for Debt.  
By which is discovered the great benefit and freedom that will accrue to the people of the Common wealth by the reformation of that destructive Law.  Luk. 11.46. 
Woe unto you lawyers, for ye lad men with burdens grievous to be borne, etc.  
Bianca Joht Jones of Neyath in Com Brecon. Gent.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Matthewes, at the Cock in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1653.   

To his Excellence OLIVER CROMWELL, Lord General of the puissant Army of the PARLIAMENT of ENGLAND.  
Renowned Sir!  
AS your Command is general, so are your cares, troubles, sufferings, actions and endeavours all general, for the general good of this Nation in general: Nor is the case and number of the Prisoners for Debt in England and Wales, for whom you have been, and are a solicitous, although yet improsperous mediator to the House of Parliament so small a particular, but that as the prudent King Philip of Macedon, who accounted his body but small to the rest of his endowments, and knew it to be mortal, desired to be daily remembered he was mortal, to the end he should not more glory in what he had well done, than persevere in well-doing, and finishing his wel-begun enterprises; that so he might immortalise his fame, and illustrate the faculties of his immortal virtues, that posterity might speak of him, not like Pythagorists of their master, ipse dixit, but ipse fecit; nay more, ipse perfecit. I hope likewise your Excellence will not be offended with me one of the heartiest, though of the meanest of your Honour's wellwishers, to mind you of the neglected miseries of the said prisoners now, more than ever, likelier to be continued and increased then relieved, or abated by the generation of Lawyers overswaying the mildeness of those Parliament Members that have long promised you to be merciful to such Prisoners, and to hasten their enlargement out of their wrongful imprisonments; which, if you see performed, as hereafter is desired, will be an action of no less Divinity than Charity, and no less profit than Honour to yourself in particular, and the Commonwealth in general. The Officers in Law have lately presented the Parliament with 13. Reasons or the maintenance of Arrests and Imprisonment for Debt, contrary to Magna Charta, and the Petition of Right, as I have eftsoons proved elsewhere, and repugnant even to Reason itself, as I have here following farther declared in answer to their said Reasons in the Prisoner's behalf; in which, and whose names I likewise humbly dedicate the same to your Honour, with a copy of the said Reasons hereunto first annexed as it came to my hands, and next an answer to their preamble: and afterward particular answers to their particular Ratiocinations: and lastly, the Prisoner's humble Petition to your Honour; all which I could not have ready before Colonel Pride's departure (whom God prosper in your Service, and the Commonwealth's, whose welfare he preferreth above all worldly ends) but have now presumed to send them unto you; beseeching your Honour that your Lieutenant General, Colonel Fleetwood, (a man of no less worth than eminence) or some other like public spirit may act in this matter, and others of the like nature in your Honour's absence according to your directions, and the people's necessity from time to time, that no opportunity be lost, and more lives of Prisoners be saved, and your care thereof to the uttermost expessed.  
The Lord Precedent of the Council of State, and Col. Martin are conceived to be no less willing than able to procure such a Commission as the Petitioners desire, and Law would afford, if your Honour would be pleased to write to them, which I humbly submit to your Honour's consideration.  
So wisheth your daily Orator, John Jones.   

REASONS for the continuance of the process of Arrests, for the good of the Commonwealth.  
THe proceed by way of Arrest at the King's Suit; and in all actions that were Quare vi & Armis, between the subjects, are as ancient as the Common Law of this Land; but the process for the people in other Actions, was Summons, Attachment, and distress, which Cours, as to recover Debts, did prove dilatory, and many times fruitless, to the great hindrance of Merchandise, and other Commerce in this Nation; and therefore former Parliaments did provide as appears by divers Statutes) the writ of Capias to an Arrest as a full remedy, and most necessary for this Commonwealth. 3 Rep. 12. Sir Will Herbert's Case. 52 Hen. 3. in Accomp. 1267.25 Edw. 3. c. 17. An. Dom. 1350.  
1. Because attaching the person doth secure the Petitioner's debt, either by present payment, or causing other satisfaction, which the proceed by summons do not; and as a man will give all for his life, so he will do much for his liberty.  
2. When men are detained upon the Arrest (which is but seldom, for few are arrested in comparison, and then) it is ordinarily but for a short time, until they have given security to answer the Action, or some warrant to appear.  
3. If men may not proceed by Arrest, it will much hinder Trade, and other deal; for men will not adventure to trust, where there is much liberty for the debtor to stand out; and Merchants, and Trades men many times look upon the Person as the best security, and the remedy by Arrest, the speediest to gain their debts; without which Trade will necessarily decay.  
4. The process to Arrest, doth end most suits before the Person be attached, and before appearance, as experience doth show; for when men will not regard a summons, they will take course before they will suffer an Arrest, 52 Hen. 3. cap. 23.  
5. Men will take occasion from the summons (as formerly they have done) to be gone from one Country to another, and to make away their estates, and though the Plaintiff know it, yet he cannot help himself, which the Arrest doth prevent: And the Lawmakers of this Land have ever held it more reasonable to provide for the satisfaction of the Creditor, than the liberty of the Debtor.  
6. England is an Island compassed with many Port Towns, where there are many Merchants, and men that go abroad, and trade by Sea, who buy wares upon Credit; there will be continual occasion of suits against divers persons of this sort, who will not much regard the summons, but will betake themselves, and their estates, to Sea again, and the Creditor can have no remedy; whereas if the parties may be Attached, they will make satisfaction.  
7. Whereas divers tradesmen subsist upon their Credits, and take up great sums of Money, for which they can give no other security than their persons, and by advantage thereof, many times attein to great estates; but if the process of arrest be taken away, they can hope no more to be entrusted, which apparently tends to their ruin.  
8. And that proceed by Arrest may not seem at all cruel, or unjust; woe find both precedents, and approbation of the like, and greater severity in the Old and New Testament; as selling the Debtor, his wife and children, and all that he had to make payment, and of taking, and casting into prison for debt, until the utmost farthing were paid: And yet this course was not condemned amongst the Romans, (so much they loved Justice) nor by Christ himself in the New Testament, who bids agree with thy adversary before thou come to the Judge: And God, who will have that which is right to be done among men, was very careful that his own people should pay their debts; and therefore if any were indebted, though they were poor, and could not pay, yet the Creditor might take the Debtor, and his Children to be his servants and bondmen; and might take their Garments from them, and the bedding whereon they did lie, from under them, which was a far greater punishment than our light Arrests; for the Prison, with us, is but a gage, or pledge, until the defendant take course to answer the Action. Mat. 5.25. Mat. 18.30. 2 Kings 4.7. Levit. 25.39. Prov. 20.16. Prov. 22.27.  
9 Men ordinarily begin Suits upon necessity, and Debtors generally are called upon before any suit is commenced: which indeed is in the nature of a summons; but yet neither this, nor the writ of summons doth drive men to take any course, until the process of Arrest issue forth, being more compulsory, and a more speedy remedy for the Creditor, than the mild, and gentle summons was found to be, (as appears by sundry Statutes, 19 Hen. 7. cap. 9) which are more provisional for the Creditor, who is always out of his money, then for the Debtor, who seldom well spent it, or hath care to repay it.  
10. And if by any new way, upon mere summons only, and default, Judgement shall be had before appearance, (which course the Law doth not countenance) than the grand pillar of our Common Law, the Trial by 12. Men (which the Law doth much honour and favour) will fall to the ground; for much business will rest wholly upon the Affidavid of a summoner, or the like, which will be a means to multiply suits, and is an unsure course, and will induce more perjury into this Nation, than our Law would ever before this time give an inlett unto: And therefore former Parliaments providing against delays by summons, did not give Judgement upon default, but found out a speedy remedy by Arrest to bring the Defendant to his answer.  
11. By the Law a Capias ad satisfaciendum, doth not lie, but where there is a Capias ad satisfaciendum first: and there is as great reason and equity for the Arrest to answer before Judgement, as for the Arrest to satisfy after Judgement, because the Capias ad respondend. doth compel the defendant to take notice of the action, to which he may plead, if he will, and doth secure him him that he shall not start, so that when the Capias ad satisfaciendum doth issue forth, there is left no colour of just exception for the defendant: but on the other side, if Judgement shall be entered upon a supposed summons, there will be many grievous complaints, and the succeeding evils will hardly be redressed; many will be undone, and suits will be multiplied.  
12. Experience doth show that the benefit of the process of Arrest hath been very great to this Common wealth: and all the Statutes have mentioned it from time to time, and have given a larger extent unto it, then before it had, and none have abridged it in any thing, which is now of great antiquity, having been for many Ages the best remedy (for the People to recover their Debts, and to compose other differences) that our Ancestors could devise. Anno Dom. 1267, 1350.  
13. Lastlie, The subtlety and subterfuges of Debtors having made the process of Arrest now more necessary then formerly, there will be reason rather to add to the remedies provided for the Creditors in former Parliaments, then to diminish them: And if amnie inconveniency by this so necessary a course happen to the Debtor, yet will the taking it await prove more prejudicial to the Plaintiff, who is the party injured, and in reason his case to be preferred, and favoured.   

THE CRY of BLOOD.  
THE first part of this Preamble is far from the matter: We confess, Arrests by Capias, without Summons, for Treasons, Murders, Felonies, and Trespasses, done Vi & Armis, or Contrapacem, or Formam Statuti, as Extortions, and all Frauds, and Injustice, done under colour of Office and Justice, to be lawful, and as ancient as the Common Law of this Land; and more ancient too, because such offences were committed before the Laws were written, or made in those cases, or thought upon, upon, to punish the past, and prevent the future. By the Law, we know the sin that was before it; and by the due course of Law, the course of sin ought to be stayed or corrected. But what is this to a debtor, which groweth neither vi & Armis, nor contra Pacem, nor contra Formam Statuti? for recovery whereof, against able debtors, the Statute of Westminster 2. cap. 18. And the Common Law before that, provided remedies, the process, or proceed whereof were by summons, attachment & distress, (as our adversaries confess) which course, if Antiquity can meliorate, is far ancienter than the Capias for debt, which they make no elder than the repealed Statute that gave it, 25 Ed. 3.17. which the same King annulled the 3. and 17. years' next after, viz. 28. and 42. of his Reign. The delatoriness alleged in the course of Summons, is a deceitful information, and an untrue report made to the High Court of Parliament; which were it to an inferior Judicature, deserveth no less punishment, than the Informers, to be imprisoned a year, silenced for ever, and fined, and ransomed at the State's pleasure, Westm. 1. cap. 29.3 Ed. 1. For the truth is, there can be no speedier way devised, considering Actions of Debt by Common Law, and many Statutes, aught to be laid in the proper County wherein the Defendant dwelleth, and hath, or hath not wherewith to pay; where the Sheriff having his Justices, which is the only proper writ for debt, is a Commission to hold plea above forty shillings, and is to summon, attach, and distrein, and do execution according to the verdict of the Jury, if in an Hundred Court, in three weeks, allowing fifteen days, as Law requireth, between Process and Process; which three weeks between Court and Court, may fully afford, and that is no long delay, in comparison of what is usual at Westminster: or if in the County Court, three months, or twelv week's doth the same. But if the Action be laid in, or removed to the Common Pleas at Westminster, (which ought not to be done, or suffered, without injustice, or partiality, proved, not alleged in the Sheriff) they cannot determine the Action under three Terms, which is not the fault of the course of Summóns, which requireth but fifteen days between Process and Process; but the fault (more than dilatory) of the course at Westminster, which requireth long Vacations between Term and Term, and removeth more Causes thither in one Term, or Vacation, than they can end in seven.  
And where they say, Summons are many times fruitless; that is never, except the Debtor hath nothing to be summoned by, & so ought not by any Christian Law, to be looked after, but with eyes of charity. And why Merchandise and Commerce in this Nation should be hindered for want of a Capias, to arrest and imprison non-solvents to death, cannot be truly demonstrated by any Christian reason, since all men know, that all other Nations as well Heathens, as Christians, who never admitted so impious a remedy to recover debts, as the Capias, find no hindrance of Trade or Commerce amongst them, but only the Trade of Lawyers and Liars, whereof the fewer make the better Commonwealth.  
That former Parliaments provided the Capias for debts, as a full and most necessary remedy for this Commonwealth; and that divers Statutes affirm so much, appeareth to be these men's additions to their former misinformations, and endeavours, to abuse this Honourable Parliament: For it was but one Statute that ever provided this Capias, and that is long since repealed as aforesaid, and so continueth by more than thirty three Parliaments and Statutes. Neither doth that Statute show any cause for its provision, making, being, or necessity of its continuance, or hath any Preamble at all (as all necessary Introductions of Law usually have) but pinneth itself to the Statute made for Accomptants, viz. Lords, Bailiffs, Rent-gatherers, and servants, that cheated their Masters of their rents, and moneys committed to their trust, to collect and account for, contrary to all Laws, Justice, Equity, Mercy, and common honesty; all which they falsified, and converted their Master's moneys to their own use; which to answer unto by due course of Law, they commonly durst not abide, for shame, more than for the debt, and therefore became Fugitives from their acquainance: so that the Capias was necessary to stay, and fetch them to account with their Masters. But this pin, or relating this Statute to that, seemeth to be (as Master Cook writeth thereof) the work of some corrupt Lawyers, Members of that Parliament, that passed it unexamined, except by a Committee, which they overruled; and that is in a few words, so huddled up amongst other things, as they might be as soon forgotten by the hearers, as read by the Impostors: which practise they have used for the unspeakable advantage in all Parliaments that trusted them; God bless this from the like, and grant it be not too late wished. Howsoëver, that venerable Judge, and Author of the Mirror of Justice, pag. 283. ca 5. sect. 7. condemneth this Capias, and declareth it to be contrary to Law; and showeth reasons therefore, both there, and p. 108. where the Action for account is debated, and declared to be mixed, in regard of the trust and deceit of the Accountant, deserving therefore to be prosecuted so far, as to be forced to an account: but for the debt, more than he hath wherewith to satisfy, the Law requireth nothing of him that hath nothing; and giveth no recovery, nor other remedy then revenge, which God calleth his own. And both this Author, and the Lord Coke, in the Third part of his Institutes, agree, that the acting and maintaining of things contrary to Law, as Law, or lawful, is a subversion of the Law, and that is no less than High Treason against this State and Commonwealth; which case is our adversaries, whom we hereby impeach thereof, and crave direction and assistance, to indict and prosecute them according to the known Laws in that behalf; So far as they may not lose the honour of their Antiquity, which they press so much for; and we confess, that for the mysteries of its craft, it hath exceeded the Sciences of all their Progenitors in their several faculties; for in the art of mencatching, there are of them many one, who exceed,  
1. Three Bum-Bailies, who by virtue of their Capias, can commonly catch but one by the poll at once, nor that without vi & Armis, and loss, or hazard of lives, by the fury of their passions, while our Chamber-Officer can make threescore Capises to catch five times threescore persons without any danger of his own, except by the wrath of God, which few of them ever feared, but are all emboldened by his patience, to attempt the catching of a whole Parliament of most wise Senators at once, to become subject in themselves, or their posterities, to this Purs-net, persuading them to father, and maintain this Bastard Capias, which knoweth no difference between a Parlamentman, and another, or between his friend and his foe.  
2. In the Art of Ambition, they exceed their Father the Devil, who did but attempt to be Lord of Hosts, whilst these men become Hosts of Lords, and still covet to enlarge their Dominions.  
3. In the Art of Murdering, they exceed their brother Cain, who killed but one Abel in all his life time, and for that one offence, had the curs of God upon him and his seed for ever; while these men daily murder many of their brethren with falls Judgements, and solace themselves with Angels, defile their hands, and fill them with blood, yet would be heard in Parliament, when God telleth them he will not hear them, Isa. 1.15. and bids them fill up the measure of their Fathers, that upon them may come all the righteous blood of the Earth, from the blood of Abel, etc. Mat. 23.32.35. and Luke 11.50, 51. concluding v. 52. woe unto you Lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in, you hindered: Which Scripture, we conceiv, may be fitly applied to our English Lawyers, who have taken away the English of our Laws, which was the key of our knowledge therein; And entered not into the truth thereof themselves; and them that would, they hindered, until this happy Parliament righted us in that, sore against their wills, and will as we hope, and they fear, further right and free us from their bondage, finding that now they have filled the measure of their Fathers, that upon them may come, and from them may be required all the righteous blood of prisoners for debt, from the blood of the first Freeman of England, imprisoned for that cause, to the blood of the last that shall perish in prison for the same.  
4. In the Art of Treason, they exceed Judas, who with one kiss, betrayed but one Master, to a death fore-ordeined by God's Providence, for the life of the world, except his desperate betrayer, and other unbeliever's children of perdition; while these men by their daily prevarication, and changing their notes, since they have deserted the Canonical Organs, and Psalmistical Harmonies, to the tune of the Organical Canons, shrill Trumpets, and rattling Drums, siding with the strongest Faction in Wars, as with the richest party in Peace, till they have betrayed three Commonwealths to manifold deaths, avoidable by the mercy of God, and Prayers of men, except these impenitents that harden themselves in their wickedness, do stir up others to second them of seditious and implacable spirits, sons of Belial.  
5. In the art of Impostors, they exceed the Pope, and Mahomet, who by their impostures endeavoured but to counterfeit Christ's Miracles, and make those counterfeits sailable at high rates, thereby to disestimate his truth, and prefer their own inventions, and to eclipse his kingdom of grace, that they might ostentate themselves in too of Vain glory; whilst these men having disguised our Laws in Foreign languages, made them vendible to ourselves at their own prices, and thereby have subjected the seven liberal Sciences, and three free Kingdom's of several free Nations, to their unlimitable impudence, which being overruled for the language they intent to maintain, and augment in price and jurisdiction, and settle themselves in one tyrannical Monarchy, as arbitrary, as intolerable, and as slavish, as mercenary. And contrary to Magna Charta, and were ever since the Court called the Upper Bench, hath imposed its judicature in matters of Debt, and other Common Pleas, expressly forbidden them, and taken out of their jurisdiction; and both it, and the Common Pleas, impose their Judicature in cases of Tithes, expressly taken out of their jurisdiction by several Statutes, and given to the spiritual Courts, which (though now suppressed) their jurisdiction ought not to be resumed but by the Parliament, nor executed without an Act for that end.  
6. In the Art of Perjury; they infinitely exceed Peter, who forswore himself but once, and when he heard the Cock crow, went out from the Maid that urged him, wept bitterly, repent him of his sin, and resolved to do so no more: whilst these men forswear themselves daily; and when they hear their Pockets ring, go in to their Wenches, with whom they interchange deceitful embraces, and seem to laugh merrily, persevere in their wickedness, and implore a Parliament to countenance, and continue them in condition to do so still.  
7, 8, & 9 In the several Arts of Extortion. Bribing, and Prevarication, they exceed the notorious Judges, De'Burgo Tresilian, Bremble, Thorpe, etc. as well in their take, as in their numbers; for as those were few to their many, and Thorp's taking was but 100 l. from many hands; how many hundred pounds taketh one of them from one hand? we can witness too well, and others may compute by the increase of the price of an habeas Corpus, Error, etc. And the necessity of divers parties to make frequent uses those instruments, more to avoid Justice. them to desire it: whereby the prevarication, Ambodextership, and Legerdemain of these men daily appeareth more and more by their impairing of their Clients to improve themselves; many men of many thousands being brought suddenly to nothing, and most of them from nothing to many thousands per annum.  
10. In the Art of Communtation they exceed both Canonists, and Civilians, who commuted corporal penances to pecuniary, paiable out of personal estates, while these men change Treasons to trespasses, and Trespasses to treasons at their pleasure, and make debt guilty of death, surer, though sometimes slower than Treason, or Misdemeanour whatsoever, and men's estates as well real, as personal wholly their own.  
11. In the Art of Transformation they exceed Chameleons, who can be of any colour but white, expressed in Scripture to be the immaculate investiture of Angels: These men can seem of all colours to suit with all predominations, though never so divers, and all contraries, and turn the Law for all their turns, and arrogate most trust when they are most treacherous, and face themselves with the truth of Saints, when they are as falls as Devils.  
12. In the Art of Counterfeiting, they exceed both Alchemists, and Coiners, of whom the first counterfeit, but Gold, and Silver, and turn more Gold to brass, and Silver to lead, than Copper to Gold, or Led to Silver: And the second Counterfeit, but Pictures, whilst these men counterfeit Justice, Equity, and Laws, more concernable than Metals, to God and Man; and fix men's substances, more considerable than their pictures, upon themselves, and their heirs.  
13, & 14. In the Arts of Forgery, and Fraud, they exceed all Coiners of falls moneys, and Counterfeiters of Letters, and Tokens; whom, if they catch with such misdeameanors, they sometimes severely punish, and sometimes pass over slightly, or excuse artificially, as may most conduce to their profit, or concur with their practice, whilst they themselves make it a chief part of their office to forge the returns of Sheriffs and Coroners of several Writs, and to file them for true Records, and due proceed of Law; whereupon follow Judgements, Executions, and Imprisonments to many thousands, to their utter undoing and for want of summons, Attachments, and exigents duly executed, and returned by those Officers who never see them, yet are answerable by Law for those falls Returns made unknown to them, and the Forgers thereof, as of all other faudulent deeds which cannot be drawn, engrossed, antedated, and contrived advisely without them, or some of their Counsels, aught to be punished for the same, for which they are never questioned; but contracting the greatest Forgeries, wherein they are actors, pass for good deeds and online those trifles that want their skill, and privity, are made great, or dear offences.  
15. In the Art of Lying they exceed the men of Crect, and Chozeba, who (as is written, 1 Chron. 4.22.) were also Ancient, as these men would be accounted; for those but as Men and Heathens, lied but to men in humane things, whilst these men, as Devils, lie unto God, and in contempt of his Divine Word, and Deity, as shall appear hereafter.  
16. In the art of Simony, they exceed Simon himself, who would have bought, for his money, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, and intending the Apostles favour, purchased their indignation: whilst these men have, with their Monies, purchased their Offices, and all the said gifts of the Devil, to execute them, and by the same endeavour to acquire the favour of many other corrupt members, who (as we hope) shall not be suffered long to abuse the rest of this happy Parliament.  
17. and 18. In the arts of rapacity, and Tenacity, the● Catchpoles and Gaolers exceed Lions, and Tigers, and their Gaols and Dungeons Heayen, and Hell, for Lions will favour their friends, and Tigers their neighbours. And Heaven will neither take, nor receiv, any but God's Elect; nor Hell any but Reprobates; but Catchpoles, Gaolers, and their Gaols catch, and receiv all men they can sue, and count all too few, and keep them in their paws, and caves, while they are worth a farething.  
And thus having suppedinated their Proëm with eighteen descriptions of their properties that appropriate to themselves all our proprieties, and so supernumerated their 13 falls Reasons for the supportation of their innumerable falsities, we shall descend to fist those Reasons as followeth.  
1. The first is all falls; for the attaching of persons secureth no part of the Plaintiffs debts by payment, or other satisfaction, but commonly their debtors bodies to miserable deaths, and their estates from their heirs and creditors, to Lawyers and Officers: For the proceed by Summons, we have answered before. And for Prisoners that are able to give for their liberty or their Gaolers, they have as much as they desire and pay for out of their creditors rights; and their own Fry, and not the Plaintiffs, or their heirs, have their Gaoler's leave.  
2. The second is like the first; for it is not a few, that are detained for debt, when Sir Jo. Len●hal hath in his custody or list one thousand persons; the Warden of the Fleet as many, the Gaols of London, Westminister, and Liberties adjoining, few less; and in the rest of all the Gaols of England and Wales, will be found many more. They that account so many few, declare their desire is to have all the Freemen of England and Wales (except themselves) in the same case; why? and with whom else do they make the comparison, but because they conveiv there are more persons out of prison, then in; their detention is not seldom, but frequent, and so are murders, and hurts, committed as well before, and at, as after arrests; by reason thereof, they are not detained for a short time, but ordinarily till death as aforesaid: Warrant of Attorney, if they need any Attorneys, they ought to give to whom they pleas, and not to whom any Court appointeth. And for appearance, no Freeman oweth it to any Court out of his Decenarie, Hundred, or County.  
3. The third is but a blockhead-ship's Proëm, as untrue as the former, and so demonstrated in our answer thereunto before. No Trade but Lawyers, nor such, but Westmonasterians, will be hindered by taking away the Capias. It was the lawless use thereof, that caused more Usurers than Merchants, to look after men's persons: It never was, nor could be the speediest way for Plaintiffs to gain their debts, but the most dilatory to recover, and the most ready and usual to lose them; so as the repetition of the decay of Trade, if the Capias were taken off, is but tautology for want of reason, and an abuse of Parliament, to be offered such untruths, to hear, or look upon, punishable as aforesaid.  
4. The fourth is as bad as all the former; for the attaching of a man's person, where he hath neither means to pay, nor friends to bail, produceth no end but Imprisonment, Summons, and Attachments of men's goods, where they have to pay, conduce to the speediest end between Debtor and Creditor: He that hath of his own to pay, will regard Summons, lest if that he be attached, he shall lose all, and if submitted to his Creditor's mercy, he may save some. He that hath enough, or more than sufficient to pay his Creditors, of his own estate, will neither regard Summons, nor fear Arrest, but desire it, being sure of what liberty he pleaseth, paying his Gaoler, and to leave what his Gaoler leaveth, to whom he list, as aforesaid; whereby more Creditors are cheated, then by any other deceit, and more undone, than debtors of that kind, who commonly live too plentifully, and leave something, when their Creditors have nothing whereby to live, or whereof to leave.  
5. The fifth is as untrue as the rest; for a debtor that is worth the Summoning, can live no where better than in his Decenarie where he is best known, and hath his pledges answerable for his honesty; nor can he transfer his estate to any other County but to his loss: And his avoiding the due course of Law, is a misdemeanour that depriveth him of the benefit depriveth him of the benefit thereof; which being certified by a Testatum, a Capias of course ensueth, to pursue him from County to County, till he be found, or outlawed; which was ever lawful against such as waved their Law and freedom, to anser it in its due course; and such a Certificate of the Sheriff of that County whence he fled, aught to make to the Chancery, whence he had his Justices to determine the matter; and the Chancery ought to send the Capias to the Sheriff in whose County he doth latitare, & discurrere; and so the alias Plures, Exigent, and outlawry, till he be forced to return himself to the first Sheriffs, to have his cause determined there by his Peers, as it ought: all which, affording fifteen days between Process and Process, is feasible in half a year; and what he shall be then found to have left of his personal estate, his creditors must have all, and two parts of his real; with less than a tenth part of the fees and delays used at Westminster: which old course of Law being restored, and so known, will make every able debtor submit to Summons, and farther Process, especially Outlawries, more terrible and odious then now, when they are but scare-crows, reversable and extinguishable by their grantors, for their gain at their pleasures: For the debtor that is not worth the summoning, up on the Sheriffs return of Non est inventus, & nihil habet, the Law is ended (as aforesaid) until God enable him. And in the interim, wheresoëver he lurketh, or liveth, by lawful endeavours, Cantabil vacuus coram latrone viator, no debtor justly indebted, can, or aught to be suffered by any just law, or equity to make away his estate, before he pay his just debts, for it is not his own, but his creditor's; and such Conveyances ought to be adjudged fraudulent, although the fraudulent makers of that fraudulent Statute, have inserted the words honlifide, for themselves, and their imps, who never had good faith or honesty to expound for their profit, as aforesaid; for good faith can do no man wrong, but falls Lawyer's interpretations thereof, and of the Law, commonly wrong all men, and enrich only themselves. The Lord coke in the Third part of his Institutes, upon the Writ de odio & atia, declareth these men to be liar that charge the Law, or its makers, with more regard of men's debits, than their liberties.  
6. The fixth is of the same stuff, and in substance answered before. Do more Merchant's trade out of England by sea, because it is an Island, then into it out of larger and Foreign lands, where the Capias for debt was never known? Do not these men buy wares upon trust, and trade to sea as often as the English? and having no Capias, have their creditors no Laws to recover their debts? is it not better to attach their debtor's goods, or their, than their bodies? And so hath London used to do by Custom, and other Towns and Ports ought to have done so aswel; and the Law of the Admiralty hath its course of Justice within its jurisdiction. Will common Lawyers have no Law but their bastard the Capias, to range about by Sea and Land, like its its Grandfather the Devil, seeking whom it may devour? Nay, are not the words of the Writ of Summons, at the Common Law, directed to the Sheriff, which any Major, or chief Magistrate of any Corporation, may upon complaint direct to Sheriff or Sergeant; praecipe, etc. per bonos summonitores; that is, I command thee to summon A B, etc. by good Summonitors, etc. and have their names, &c, and this Writ before me by such a day: And to what end? but that the Summonitors being two, or more of the ablest Freemen, or Pledges of the Jurisdiction, undertaking the Summons, undertake the goods till the Attachment ensue, if they cannot end the matter before, as neighbours bound in charity so to do. But these Westmonasterians abhor that, and seem neither to know, nor willing to admit any charitable end, or other Law, but their Capias to catch and bring all fish to their net.  
7. The seventh is but a chip of the sixth, and answered before, with this addition. Is there no trust, but where the Capias is, or can thrust itself? If it be the cause of trust, Justice, Equity, etc. and such a cause, as without which none of these can subsist (as they say it is) and both legal and necessary for this Commonwealth, that it seems the only Trustee thereof? Why is it not warranted, or suffered by these men themselves to peep into their Inns of Court, and Chancery? places pretended to be egress and ingress of Law, Justice and Equity, and known to take upon trust more than all the Merchants of England can tell how to recover by the Capias against their persons, who make their Inns, and their Gaols of the upper Bench, and Fleet their Sanctuaries, more privileged than those that were so called and used by such debtors as made fraudulent gifts, feoffments, etc. and afterwards withdrew themselves thither, until the second Statute made the second year of Richard the second, granted a Capias to ferret out such Latitants out of such Latebras; Such a ferret conceiv we now, to be necessary for the Commonwealth, and especially for many undone Londoners, by trusting such debtors, or rather cheaters, to fetch them out of their profane Asylums, the Fleet, Marshalsey, their Inns, etc. instead of that by them commended for the use of the Commonwealth, and yet commanded not to meddle with themselves, or their habitations; as if they concluded themselves and theirs, to be no part thereof, though will known to be all forfeited thereunto. But how irrational they show themselves, when they offer reasons to a most wise and circumspect Parliament, to persuade them that can only be profitable to all, which is so  to them, that they cannot endure their own beagles that carry it abroad, to be their Inmates an hour longer than while they slave and pump them, and so make them as fit to be their Mass-Priests, as their prowling Proctors.  
8. The eighth showeth these men's desires, as well to pervert the Word of God, as to subvert the Laws of England, and declareth their right as well to the Faggot, as to the Halter, and their fitness as well for Hell, as the Gallows. They blush not to say, that they find precedents and approbations in the Old and New Testaments, of like proceed, and greater cruelties against debtors, amongst the Jews, then is used by them and their Capias here: And those (say they) were condemned, neither by the Romans, that loved Justice, nor by Christ. The first Scripture they cite, is Matth. 5.25. where whosoëver is angry with his brother without a cause, is advised to leave his gift before the Altar, and be reconciled to his brother first, and then offer his gift, lest at any time the Adversary deliver him to the Judge, and the Judge deliver him to the Officer, and he be cast into prison; where Christ saith unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out, until thou payest the utter most farthing: wherewith agreeth Lu. 12.58.59. and both with the Parable of the non-solvent servant, Mat. 18.25. & all these places conclude with the rest of the Scriptures, that the debt here meant to be punished by imprisonment, was not a debt of money borrowed for need, and lent for love, prophesied to be done. Deut. 15.6. and commanded Matth. 5. and 42. And therefore being no action of sin by the Old and New Testament, was liable to no action of Law, tending to personal punishment or imprisonment; but the debt meant here, was indeed the duty of the Usurer, Extorter, Deceiver, Hypocrite, etc. to forgive their debtors their debts so accrued: But Usury, Extortion, Bribery, etc. which were such heinous offences amongst the Jews, as still they are, or aught to be with us, that they incurred mixed actions in Law worthy of arrests and imprisonments, till the uttermost farthing were paid, or restored, with amends; Levit. 6.2, 3, & 4, expoundeth this debt to be such clearly, and no other. Our penal Laws for those offences, which make the principal debts void, and give the Plaintiff triple for damages, or according to the Judge's discretion, carry shadow of that Justice. The Context in Matth. 5. declaring our Savior's speeches to the Scribes and Pharisees, elsewhere called Lawyers, Extorters, Dissemblers, etc. and here redargued of their unrighteousness, and breaking of the Commandments, which they adjudged death to others; accounting kill only such as was done with the sword, and him to be subject to the judgement, where they knew; that by their own law, men that killed in their own defence, had sanctuary, & that the word Judgement emphatically proceeded with the word The, is always used for the general Judgement of God: wherefore Christ telling them, that killing extends to him that is angry with his brother without cause, and elsewhere to him that suffereth his brother to perish when he may save him; much more than to Falso Judges, Extorters, Usurers, etc. who may find themselves sufficiently described in him to whom his Lord forgave all his debt; (which in the last verse of this Chapter (as frequently elsewhere) is called as well trespass, as debt, because mixed, and compounded with sin, more than borrowing, or lending of money) until he extorted from his fellow-servant, who ought nothing to him, but to his Lord, upon whom he had not like compassion, as his Lord had upon himself, but grew angry with his fellow-servant without cause, and cast him into prison; which, when his Lord heard, he was wroth, and delivered the mad Extortor, not the meek Debtor to the tormenter, &c whereof let Extorters, Usurers, etc. take better notice, and apply the said Scriptures to themselves, and know that the Devil, called here emphaticallie the Adversary, is he that delivereth them (as the common accuser of sinners whom he seduceth thereunto) to the Judge of Judges, and King of Kings, the God of Truth, Justice, and Mercy, who (except they say, and resolve to pay all, viz. repent, and have like compassion upon their brethren, as they expect from him) will deliver them to the Officer, as saith Matthew the 5. Tormentor, as saith Matthew 18. viz. the Devil again, who supplieth all such offices, and delivereth all that are delivered to him, to Hell, whence is no Redemption, till the uttermost farthing be paid, which is never to be done after the oil is out of the lamp, and the door shut: Where contrariwise the Law of the Jews (which Christ saith he came not to destroy, Mat. 5.17. and neither did, nor would alter, as appeareth, Mat. 18.25.) did not imprison money debtors at all, but sell them, and their wives and children, and all they had to their creditors that were bound by the same law to keep, and find them in their houses, and employments, not in prisons, and dungeons, without, and from all employment but wickedness, as our Gaolers do us; nor as these men impiously allege, and belie the Holy Ghost, saying, That their creditors might take their debtor's , and bed-cloaths from them; where the Text they cite, (Leu. 25.39.) saith, they must use them as brethren, hired servants, and sojorners (which we find all the Old Testament over, had the trust, and charge, not only of their Master's estates, but of their children, and their wives, and wanted nothing suitable, not only to their own necessities, but also to their master's credits, and employments. And debtors were to be kept so by virtue of their sale, but till the year of Jubilee, which, when it fell within seven years in the time of Moses, restored them to their liberty; for without it, the seventh year they were to be restored, as appeareth, Deut. 15.1. etc. And in jeremy's time, at the fixth years' end, Jer. 34.14. Now doth the Capias, Arrests, and Imprisonments used by these men, hold any analogy with the mercy, justice, susten. stentation, freedom, and hope of liberty in few years, which the Jewish law afforded to those debtors they sold to their Creditors? Compare, and find as followeth: There the debtors had the mercy to be no Prisoners at all, but as hired servants, and sojorners: The Justice, to be no bondmen which masters might use at their pleasures: The sustentation; to have food and raiment enough, and compotent to their conditions, and their master's callings: The freedom; to live, and love husbands, wives, and children all together; to pray, feed sheep, and work comfortably together in their master's houses, fields, vine yards, etc. with no less good instruction, and recreätion to themselves, than profit and pleasure their masters, and hope of full liberty to make use of those good instruments for their own best advange at six years' end, if a Jubilee freed them no sooner. Contrariwise; here the poorest debtor hath the cruelest imprisonment; that is the rule of these men's mercy: The greatest cheater hath the greatest favour; that is their Justice: The sustentation we would buy for our selus at the best hand, while our money lasts, our Gaolers take, or keep from us, to force us to buy half so much, and nothing so good of them, while we have a penny left; and after to starve; when others, for our Custom, would prolong our lives, with trust for a time, they will trust no poor man for a farthing; nor rich, but to fetch his money. Our Freedom is not to the next Ward, nor in our own, to enjoy wives, or children, longer than they bring fees to the Gaoler; that when we have sold our , and bed-cloaths to feed our bloodsuckers, our common bed is the bare ground, till we famish here, and our wives and children in the streets, and ditches, do the like; hope of liberty we have none, but by such deaths; for our livelihoods are too little to pay our Fees from the days of our Arrests, to our Funeral: if any attein to liberty by some casualty, he is the worse while he liveth for his Gaol education. Our Law is derived from the Romans, who (as these men say) condemned not the Law of the Jews concerning Creditors, and Debtors; we wish ours were as merciful; and so it was before and since Magna Charta, when it meddled not with men's bodies that had not wherewith to pay their debts, but relieved, and employed them according to their endeavours, forgiving their debts, and believing that of our Saviour; if you forgive not men's trespasses, neither will my Father forgive yours, Mat. 7.12. But these men that dare abuse the everlasting Word of the everliving God, and the fundamental Laws of this Land grounded thereupon, to mis-inform a Parliament to their own ends, notwithstanding they know we have abundance of sound Divines to expound Scriptures, and some honest Lawyers, though no professors to explain Laws. What shall we think of these men's sincerity to be trusted with the making up, and keeping of Records concerning the whole estates of the Commonwealth? but submits the consideration thereof to all interested therein.  
Their 9 Reason pursueth the former in its Coin; for most untrue it is, That men always begin suits (meaning by way of Capias, and Arrest) upon necessities of injustice, that is to say; when no other trick will serve to bar men of their liberty to prosecute just suits for loss of lives, or estates of most concernment; or for Treasons, felonies, or trespasses most notorious, committed by night, and defended by injustice, what is more common then to arrest the prosecutors for supposed debts of thousands of pounds, more than they are able to find bail for, until Trials, and Judgements be carried against them in the causes they should follow by the same hands of Power and Justice, that they should prosecute, but cannot, being so prevented. And how many are now imprisoned for supposed debts, which they never ought, or if they did, have paid, or which were not due at the time of the Arrest, etc. And what necessity of Justice was to begin such suits? And what murder more wilful, more manifest, and more cruel, then to imprison men so till they die? And where they say, that most commonly debtors have notice before any suit be commenced, why then do they debar summons, which is the right process of notice? How come Justices of Peace, and Grand Jury men, that always attend Assizes and and Sessions, to be arrested by bills of middle Latitats, and Outlawries, before they can hear of any suits against them? which case is common. And for their alleging of many Statutes, or Parliaments, that approved of their Capias, let them name one more than that of 25 Edw. 3.17. which gave it, and was repealed, 28 Edw. 3.3. and 42 Edw. 3. as aforesaid. What Statute, or Parliament, ever since revived it in express terms? It is true, That of 19 Hen. 7.9. ordaineth process upon Actions of trespass upon the case to be no more dilatory than that practised for debt. And we grant that actions upon the Case, being mixed actions, ever aught to have been by Capias before that Statute, however neglected by such as ever left undone those things which they ought to have done, to do those things which they ought not. And that summons is a milder way, and not so compulsory: as the Capias, we confess, and hold more Christian; for the Capias compelleth men that are not able to pay their debts, and that never ought any, to be imprisoned, starved, murdered: And no just debt to be paid so soon as summons, all the world knoweth thereof, and therefore no Nation but English admitteth a Capias for debt.  
The 10. is as deceitful an information as any before that; for we desire no new way upon summons, to hasten Judgements before Attachments and distress, by affidavit of a summoner: but that summons may go by Writ, as it was wont, to the Sheriff of the County wherein the debtor dwelleth, requiring him by good summonitors (which are the words of the Writ) to summon the party to be at the return of the Writ, in the Court whence it issued, whether the Sheriff is to return both the writ, and the summonitor's names, in that aught to be substantial freeholders', and free pledges of the same decenarie as the debtor, who, if they return summonitus, are answerable for so much as they find him worth, till Attachment taketh it into the Sheriff's hands, or sureties for appearance. If the return be a nibil haber, than (as aforesaid) the Law ought to look no further after him, till God make him able: for (as the Proverb was) where nothing was to be had, the King was to loos his due. And if the return be non est inventus, his shunning of the Law maketh him a malefactor, subject to a Capias upon a Testatum directable to the Sheriff of the County wherein he lurketh, and so from County to County, till he be taken, or outlawed. Again, if the return be summonitus, Attachment, distress, and Judgement follow of course, legally, and speedily, and are the only due process of Law, as we have declared before; and so is not a Judgement by nihil dicit, stolen by connivance of Attorneys, unknown to the Defendant, although his warrant of Attornie be had to appear for him: a common feat countenanced too much by the Law at Westminster, to thousands undo, and their own gain. For trial by Jury, Issues joined, cannot be tried otherwise, Nihil dicits, & Arrests by Capias use them not: For multiplicity of Suits and Perjuries, they were things never found fault with at Westminster these 200 years, till now. And now if the Chancery grant Justicieses to Sheriffs and Stewards, as they ought, gratis; and Corporations proceed by their Charters, Westmonasterians need not fear to be troubled with multiplicity of Suits; and those growing fewer, so will their perjuries.  
11. The eleventh is a toy; for we grant that a Capias ad respondend. being unlawful, that ad satisfaciend. is groundless, and both most lawless, and useless; the due process of law for debt being as aforesaid, summons, etc.  
12. The twelfth is a Riddle and a Paradox, wherewith these men would amaze us with some wonders of their experience happened by this Commonwealth by the benefit of their Capias, which they call the Process of Arrest, Anno Domini 1267, & 1350. They might have done well to declare their particulars, that others that know them not, might judge thereof as well as themselves. We confess, and they know the Arrest, Imprisonment, Exile, and Hanging of Traitors, Extortioners, etc. as were the Spencers, Father and Son; the Judges Hugh d' Burgo, Tresilian, etc. who seduced Kings, as these men would Parliament, were beneficial to this Commonwealth; and we hope it will be so again, though we know not how long the Devil may help his servants: but of poor debtors we can remember no arrest that was ever beneficial to any one person of this Commonwealth, but have sufficiently proved the Negative.  
13. Lastly, for the subtleties, and subtersuges of debtors, we know none more than these men; and their predecessors taught such as grew indebted, and by their natural inclinations, assisted with these men's advices, and devices, far more subtle than their own, to cheat men of their Lands and Estates; and by the credits of their sureties, that took them to be honest men, until too late, they found the contrary. We confess it is true, that such debtors by the helps of such teachers, became so subtle, as to get in their hands all they could of their Creditor's rights, and conveied them to what uses they pleased; and procuring themselves afterwards to be arrested, where they might be brought, or removed to the upper Bench, or Fleet; made those places their sanctuaries and subterfuges, where they are many thousands in list, but few in custody, riding, rioting, and spending their Creditor's and Sureties Estates, sometimes at their own doors, who want for their sakes those blessings to reliev them, which they vainly consume to outbrave them; and sometimes in parts remote and Foreign, more active against this Commonwealth, then for it.  
The premises tenderly considered, and for that these men, by these their endeavours declare themselves, and their Judges, and the rest of their rabble, to be of one fraternity; and all parties in this matter of our wrongful imprisonments, and guilty of all the Extortions and Oppressions concurrent therewith, and livers, and thrivers thereupon; and therefore no fit Judges in these causes, as further appeareth by their lothness to submit, or give way to the House, whereof they are overruling members, to perform their promises to your Excellence in our behalves, made many years past, or to restore us, and themselves, to our birthright, liberties, and freedom, whereof they have rob us, but are ashamed so to do like thieus and intruders, to deliver their possessions to the right owners. May it therefore pleas your Honour, in our further behalves, to cause the House once more to be moved to grant a Commission under the Great Seal, directed to indifferent Commissioners, that shall be no professed Lawyers, Attorneys, etc. or persons engaged to public employments, Martial, or Civil; but men of understanding, and discretion, undoubted honesty, well-affected to the present Government, to be nomited by us, and approved by any two, or more Parlament-men; autorising every two, or more such Commissioners, (not exceeding twelv in all) to deliver all the Gaols of England and Wales, of all prisoners for debt, forthwith without delay, compelling all that are able, to pay all or part of their just debts, to pay accordingly, so far as all their goods, (except the beasts of their plough, tools of their trade, and necessary  and bedding) and two parts of their Lands shall extend, notwithstanding any Conveyance of any such Lands since the debts grew, (except distributions between real Creditors.) And to hear and determine all wrongful Imprisonments, Extortions, Briberies, Usuries, Perjuries, Forgeries, Frauds, Deceits, Trespasses, or Oppressions whatsoëver, concerning such prisoners only, committed, or to be committed by any person or persons whatsoëver, against them, or any of them, or by any of them against any of their Creditors, throughout England and Wales, according to the ancient Laws and Customs of England, confirmed by the great Charter, and Petition of Right, to endure for three years from the date thereof; allowing every such Commissioner 300 l per annum, above his necessary expenses, for his salary, in consideration of his pains, and loss in his time, and private affairs; and such fees, and allowances to their Clerks, Messengers, and other necessary Ministers, as any three of them shall think fit, not exceeding the precedents of other Courts, in like cases, to be deducted out of such fines, amerciaments, issues, profits, and perquisits, as shall grow due to the Commonwealth, by their service, as other Courts use to do; and the rest to be accounted for, to such other public uses, as the House shall appoint: Which being done by your means, the Land shall be purged of much iniquity, the Lord's wrath for the same much appeased, your Excellency, and your Army gain much happiness, love, and honour, divine, and humane, temporal, and eternal; the Commonwealth regain a Million of money picked out of their purses by Extorters, Usurers, and common Deceivers; and your Petitioners be at liberty to fight for their Country, and safeguard of those lives of their own with courage and comfort, which as yet they have no hope but to lose with care, and sorrow.  
And they, and theirs, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc.   

A Case concerning a matter of Justice.  
TO the premises I must add another Case of no less perspicuity and manifestation of our Lawyer's actions, than the former, briefly thus; A Gentleman of Drurie-lane, ever faithful to the Parlament's service, and an adventurer of his life and fortunes therein, imparted for their use and the Commonwealths, 3600 l ready money, upon condition to be repaied, with lawful consideration, in convenient time, to supply his own occasions, much subject to oppressions and injuries offered unto him by Lawyers, and their Clients; in which respect it pleased the Parliament to take him into their protection, which he conceiveth Lawyers sitting Members in the House, advised or consented to be done, and granted as a lawful and just thing; or had it been otherwise, would have advised the contrary, and never consented to the same. Now the Gentleman (having received none of his money, nor any consideration for any part thereof, is forced to borrow money upon hard terms, of Use, and other Engagements, to buy his Leases late held of the Bishopric of Elie, to prevent others to deprive him thereof, being his main subsistence,) can have no benefit of his protection, from any of them that granted it, or of those Courts wherein they are employed, and eminently authorised; and the Gentleman and his Estate daily and unduly questioned, yet desireth he no more than his own, to defend himself from injustice, or to be protected therefrom, until he hath his own, and justice with it, or for it; or that he may be satisfied how necessary it is, or can be to this Parliament and Commonwealth, or either to have these men, these Counsellors, these Advisers, or rather Devisers of frauds, and subtleties to delude Truth and Justice, that will counsel, advise, devise, or consent things to be granted, which they will not justify to be performed by themselves, (except that as in cases of common concernment, wherein the party most suffering aught to have negation from all) Stratagems are tolerable in war, continued or tolerated in place or power, to misguide Parliaments, as their predecessors have done Kings in times of peace, or to be sole Judges or Interpreters of their own inventions; no less dangerous to this Republic, and their Estates, than the Exposition of Papistical Impostures, while it was left to the autors, was to our predecessors and their souls. All which is humbly submitted to your honour's further consideration, with the rest as aforesaid; by the same  
Your honour's faithful servant, and observant, Jo. Jones.   

A Case concerning Tithes.  
FOR the further manifestation of the lawless Imposture, and usurpation of Jurisdiction, arbitrary proceeding, and destruction of Propriety, exercised daily, and generally by Judges, and no Judges at Westminster, and in their Circuits to the deheredetation of many, and hazard of all; may summarily appear in that one Case lately adjudged by no Judges legally authorised thereunto, between Sir Matth. Lister Knight, Plaintiff, and Lionel Gelson, Defendant, published in print, partly by Petition, partly otherwise, by the modest and discreet wife, and fellow-sufferer of the Defendant, in the Caus of Ann Gelson: the brief whereof is this; the Plaintiff being possessed of the Tithes of a rectory, called Burwel, in the County of Lincoln, an Impropriation, sometimes parcel of the dissolved College of Totterial in the said County, by virtue of a Conveyance derived from a Grant of King H 8. in which it is mentioned that the said King gave that rectory (cùm pertinentiis inter alia) to the then Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs. And because it is there further mentioned, that the said King gave also to the said Duke the Presentation of the rectory of Walmsgate, which is a Parish of itself in another Decenarie, and Wapentack of the said County, distinct from, though neighbouring to that of Burwel, and founded by the Lord of the Manor of Walmsgate, who then was (as yet the Defendant who claimeth from him, is) Lord of all that Parish in Fee-simple, and gave the Tithe thereof (as well his own, as his Tenants at will) to the Rector for the time being, and his successors for ever, reserving to himself, and his heirs for ever, the Patronage and Presentation; so that when there happened a neglect of Presentation in him, or in his heirs, the right thereof fell by laps to the Bishop of Lincoln, and upon his neglect, to the King; which being so then, in King H. 8. he might grant for that time to the said Duke: But saving for that time, or the like relapse, the inheritance descended to the Defendant. Now this Inheritance from the Defendant, and Tithes from the Incumbent, and his Farmor, are adjudged to the Plaintiff, by Judges and Jurors, according to the course of Common Law, (as they pretend) whereas by the Statute 2 Ed. 6.13. and many precedents, no right of Tithes ought to be tried but by Ecclesiastical Judges, and Courts according to Ecclesiastical Laws; which, though now abolished, the said Statutes being not repealed, the Judicature is obeyed, and yet undisposed of by the Parliament, which only can dispose thereof. But in the interim, such Judges and Jurors, as assume jurisdiction to try the rights of Tithes by Common Law, are no Judges, but offenders in Praemunire; such trials, no trials, but arbitrary and lawless Disseisins, and destructions of men's properties; and consequently (if not timely remedied) of the common liberty, rights, and birthrights of all the Commonalty of England; And the Defendant can but fear to be deprived by the same course, of his whole Manor, and subsistence, as well as he is of part.  
FINIS.