Mr. Sadler, SADDLED, IN The Vindication of Mr. R. Cranmer Of London Merchant: AND CONFUTATION, Of the Abominable Untruths, and Falsehoods, of ANTHONY SADLER of Mitcham, Clark; Contained in a Letter and Petition Directed to the Right Reverend Father in God George, Lord Bishop of Winchester; and afterwards Publshed to the world in Print.  
By a True Lover of Truth and Justice.  Quos vult perdere Jupiter prius dementat. 
London, Printed in the Year, 1665.   

Mr. SADLER, Saddled, In the Vindication of Mr. Robert Cranmer of London, Merch t. etc.  
FOr our more Orderly Proceeding in this business, we will take these Steps. 

1. You shall know how Anthony Sadler, came to be Vicar of Mitcham, and when.  
2. You shall know Mr. Cranmers' Carriage and Conversation towards him.  
3. You shall understand Anthony Saddler's Demeanour towards Mr. Cranmer, and divers others of the best of his Parishioners.  
4. And lastly, You shall understand the Necessity and Justice of Mr. Cranmers' Proceed against Anthony Sadler for his removal, for the Future Settlement of the Peace and Quiet of that Town and Parish of Mitcham.    
For the First, You must know, that about the Year of our Lord, 1660. This Anthony Sadler being very Poor, but well stocked with Wife and Children, went up and down a Birding for a Spiritual Benefice, or Living; Some that knew Anthony Sadler, requested Mr. Cranmer, the rightful Patron of that Vicarage, to let him Preach at Mitcham, in order to his settlement in that Place in case his Preaching was approved of. Anthony Sadler did accordingly Preach there an Approbation Sermon, which well pleased Mr. Cranmer, and the Rest of the Parish; but it being told him that it was but a small subsistence, worth not above 40l. per annum, the Vicarage house much out of Repairs, and that it had not been Inhabited by divers of his Predecessors before him for many years. Anthony Sadler replied, He would willingly accept it withal Faults, and bless God and his Patron for it: Whereupon the Patron Mr. Cranmer, did freely Present him to the then Lord Bishop of Winton, Bishop of the Diocese; And Anthony Sadler was Instituted and Inducted accordingly. And thus began the name and Relation between them of Patron and Vicar.  
2. For the Patron's carriage towards him and his after this, the Patron thought he had not done enough by this public provision of maintenance for him, and his; but Invited him daily to his own house and Table, where Anthony Sadler was as it were Commoner, and had the freedom to come when he pleased: Provided him Wood, Coale, and other necessaries for him at his own Charge; Sends him Cordials and other Physic in times of sickness, Commends him, and his, to the Love and Respects of his Neighbours; At their weekly Neighbourly meetings; the Vicar was a constant invited Guest among them, where he had many times Meat, Drink, and Money; and as a farther Testimony of the Patrons and Parishioners care of him, they had consulted to Rebuild the Vicarage house at their own cost and charges; for that purpose the one subscribes a Contribution of Bricks, another of Timber, a third of Money, and were putting the same in Execution; but then comes next to be considered the said Anthony Sadler, his Carriage towards the Patron, and Parishioners, which diverted these good intentions, and so leads you to the third Step.  
3. As soon as Anthony Sadler had heard that there was Forty Pounds, or some such like Sum of Moneys subscribed, towards the Repairing and Rebuilding of the Vicarage house; He goes to some Evil Counsel, (as Anthony Sadler himself hath since Confessed,) who advise him, To furnish his House with the Money, and to Commence a Suit in the Prerogative Court against his Patron, Mr. Cranmer, for Dilapidations: This advice pleasing his Hot and Heady Temper and Disposition, he presently puts in Execution. Cites his Patron into the Court of Arches, and there Libels against him for Dilapidations, contrary to all precedents of former times, that a Vicar should Sue his Patron for Dilapidations, who had so freely presented him to the Vicarage, and did confidently persuade himself of Victory in this cause; When this was noised abroad, the Chief of the Parish advised the said Anthony Sadler to desist from this unjust Prosecution of his Patron, who had deserved much better at his hands; but as a man Obdurated and Hardened, he stops his ear to their Advice; Breaks all Correspondency with his Patron; Reviles him, and Vigorously Prosecutes his Suit in the Arches against him; Which the chief of the Parish observing, they e-strange themselves from the said Anthony Sadler, and do adhear to Mr. Cranmer, who by the general Voage was the Suffering Party, and had received the Wrong; Anthony Sadler hereupon is no more an Invited Guest to their Tables; And they have no more to do with him, then to hear him in the Pulpit; Where Anthony Sadler Acts his Part most Rarely, as you will perceive by the ensuing Discourse; Preaching up himself in these Words, I was, and am for the Liturgy of the Church of England: You were, and are for the Covenant; I was, and am for the Government of the Church of England; Your were, and are for Presbytery; and so runs on in a very unprofitable discourse, Extolling himself, and Reproaching his Parishioners. But you shall see by his Practice, what a Dutiful Son of the Church he is; It was observed by some Persons who had been at Mitcham but three Sundays, that two of those days, Anthony Sadler Read Prayers without a Surplice, and frequently Baptizeth Children without it and Preached in his Cloak, both forenoon and afternoon; oftentimes neglects the Duty of his Place, four or five Sundays together: Some Sundays when the Bells have Assembled the People, his Maid is sent to the Clerk to Dismiss them; either because it is Cold Wether, and the Vicar loves his Bed well, or else he is straggling Abroad, where he is not to be found. Upon the last Anniversary day the Thirtieth of January, Appointed by Act of Parliament for our Solemn Humiliation, for the Murder of our late KING of Blessed Memory, there is by the Church set Prayers appointed for that Occasion, yet there was neither Praying nor Preaching that day at Mitcham, by this Dutiful Son of the Church Anthony Sadler: When Anthony Sadler is in the Church, he more observes the Behaviour and carriage of his Parishioners, than his Text, and squares his Matter more to his own Jangling humour, then to the Edification and Profit of his People. And yet they must come to Hear him too, else to the Bishop's Court he goes, Presents them, and troubles them with Citations, Witness Mr. Cranmer his Patron, whom he Prosecuted to an Excommunication for not coming to Mitcham Church, when the Gentleman is usually at his house in LONDON, upon those days; if any chance but once to sit with his Hat on, though he be at that time indisposed in Health, yet he shall taste of the same sauce, Witness Sr. William Green of Mitcham Baronet, who for such an Offence, Anthony Sadler caused to be cited into the Bishop's Court, by the Name and Style of William Green Brewer of Westminster; Edward Brigstock one of the Churchwardens of the Parish of Mitcham, this Anthony Sadler Presented, because he would not Present what and whom he pleased; and caused the said Edward Brigstock to be Excommunicated thereupon; upon the Week days You shall find this Anthony Saddler in the Alehouse Drinking, and Wantonly Discoursing of Women beyond all Bounds of Civility, or Railing against his Patron, or Enticing poor People to Subscribe their Hands, or set their Marks to some stuff that Anthony Sadler hath prepared and drawn up before hand against his Patron; or telling strange stories of himself of his Sufferings, and of his Learned Works, in which Discourse must be brought in by Head and Shoulders, the Inquisitio Anglicana, which Anthony Sadler calls his, though many have affirmed that it was not his, but made at a Club of Divines, and that Anthony Sadler being the Boldest and most Confidentest of them, did first Adventure to Print it.  
Thus you see how Arrogantly Anthony Saddler Imps his Wings with other men's Feathers, and has not the Ingenuity of the Prophet to say, Alas it was borrowed; We need not mention his frequent Swearing by the Name and Attributes of God, his Drunkenness, and other of his Personal Vices, which declare him not to be a Moral Man; and which are attested under the Hands of divers of the Inhabitants. His familiar Conversing with the Basest and Meanest of the people; If you will view him in his Acts of Justice, we will cite you but one, that is, Hemings his Case, to whom Anthony Sadler was indebted for a horse, and gave the said Hemings Bond for the Mony. Hemings being in much want, came to Mitcham to Anthony Sadler to desire his Money, Anthony Sadler denied that he owed him any thing (though the Money had been many years due) but sends for a Marshal's Man, and in a great pretended Action Arrests Hemings, who for want of Bail was carried to the marshalsea, and there detained for the space of Eighteen Months, till the poor man was almost destroyed with Vermin; and unless Hemings would release the Debt, Sadler would not discharge his pretended Action. And thus you have a taste of Anthony Sadlers Demeanour at home and abroad, in the Pulpit and out of it, to his Patron and Parishioners, and to a Stranger: Ex Ungue Leonem.  
Now we are come in the Fourth and last place, To set forth Mr. Cranmers' Proceed against Anthony Sadler, the matter of Fact was thus:  
Mr. Cranmer, Sir William Green, the Churchwardens, and divers others of the Parishioners of Mitcham, being upon the Information of Anthony Sadler, cited to appear before Sir Mundyford Bramstone in November last, in the Court held in St. Marry Overyers Church, they did appear accordingly. At which Court was also Anthony Sadler, with his Proctor Richardson, who took upon him most Impudently and Falsely before the Judge, to affirm that Mr. Cranmer was an Excommunicated Person; which Sentence is of so high a Nature, that it Excludes a man from the benefit of God's Ordnances, and from the benefit of the Laws of the Land, from the Burial of a Christian, if he dies without Repealing it; which did very highly provoke Mr. Cranmer, to hear such a matter in the face of the Court of Justice, and in God's house, and before his Neighbours and Countrymen, so falsely and scandalously objected against him. Whereupon Mr. Cranmer who had hitherto only acted the defensive part, upon good advice, did now become Plaintiff, and entered an Action against this Richardson in the Borough Court in Southwark for the Scandal, and another against Anthony Sadler for his unjust and malicious Prosecution, upon which Actions they were both Arrested; Richardson puts in Bail, and so had his Liberty; Anthony Sadler could find no Bail, and so was kept in Custody; Mr. Cranmer with Mr. Hooker the day following, went to the Prison where Anthony Sadler was in Custody, and sends for Anthony Sadler, where after some choler spent on both sides, the Patron and the Vicar came to some quiet terms, and could drink to, and pledge each other; and Anthony Saddler's fury was much abaited, and began not only to confess his former wrongs done to his Patron, but to have some kind of sorrow and remorse for the same, and Mr. Hooker observing some easiness of Temper in the Patron to remit and forgive; though it is somewhat preternatural in him to forget: thought it a fit time to strike a peace betwixt them, for this purpose, proposeth Anthony Sadler his Relinquishing of the Vicarage, as the means of their Reconciliation; Anthony Sadler consented to it, and the Patron accepts it; but said Mr. Sadler, Sir, I cannot do it presently: I own Money and have contracted some debts upon me, by the long and chargeable Suit I had with you in the Arches, and therefore pray let me have the benefit of the Easter book before I go; Moreover (said Anthony Sadler) my wife is with Child, and I cannot with any conveniency remove my Family till she be delivered, which will be about Easter, said the Vicar; Pray set your day, (said the Patron) when you will leave the Vicarage, & give me security for your Performance, and all is ended. Said Anthony Sadler, Sir, I will give you my Bond of 500l. to leave the Vicarage of Mitcham, and the Town too, by the 10. of April next, which will be in the Year of our Lord, 1665. but said Mr. Hooker, will you give a Warrant of Attorney to confess a Judgement upon the Bond, as of the next Term of St. Hillary. The Vicar replied, I will willingly and freely do it; upon this the Bond and Warrant of Attorney were drawn, and afterwards showed to the Vicar, who in the presence of Mr. Hooker and divers other persons, did soberly and deliberately Sign, Seal, and deliver the same as his several Acts & Deeds unto the Patron, and for his use. After this the Patron withdraws his Action against him and sets him at Liberty; The Vicar very much pleased with this Agreement, goes the day following to his Cure, and on Monday following returns to London, brings his Presentation with him, and in the presence and hearing of divers persons delivers up his Presentation to his Patron, Congratulates Mr. Hooker as the blessed Instrument of peace betwixt them, lays the load of all his former miscarriages upon his Evil Counsel; professeth a great deal of hearty love and affection to his Patron, prays for him in public, and for his Wife, and Family in very Pathetical expressions; gives God thanks in a neighbour Church upon the Lord's day, for this work of peace wrought between his Patron and himself.  
Preaches a Sermon upon this Text, How happy and how pleasant a thing it is, for Brethren to agree together in Unity; and makes the Union between Him, his Patron, and Parishioners to be the Subject of his Discourse; and incites the whole Congregation to Prayers and Thanksgivings for the same. And in like manner, the Patron, he takes all occasions to express his love to the Vicar, and restores him by his mediation and example to the former respects of his Neighbours and Parishioners, to whose Tables he was again invited after a long estrangment; and they began to be again as well open handed as open hearted unto him: But what use doth Anthony Sadler make of all this? he is lifted up with these kindnesses and respects shown him; and his Jealousies and Apprehensions not being quite extinguished, they take Life and Head again; he repairs to his own evil Counsellors (one Thomas Witherden Cammel-keeper of Mitcham being the chief of them and they hunt together like Bell and the Dragon after all occasions to traduce Mr. Cranmer; and gather up all lose reports, let them come from any foul mouth whatsoever, and how mean and inconsiderable soever the persons be, that are the Authors, it matters not, and with these they Stigmatize him as Treacherous, Barbarous, and Oppressive, both to the Right Reverend Bishop of that Diocese, and to the World in Print, in that lying Legend of his, styled Strange News from Mitcham in Surty; wherein he makes the Church's Jurisdiction, and Discipline, and the Churches , and his Preaching up the Regal Authority, and Mr. Cranmers' Injury and Disobedience to all, to be the ground of his Lawsuit and Presentments; but this man must needs be reckoned a stout Champion and firm Asserter of the Church's Rights; when, under his own hand directed to his Proctor Richardson, he gives him order to withdraw the Cause, and to stop all further proceed upon the Presentments; And gives Mr. Cranmer his Bond for the payment of Thirty Pounds for costs of Suit for his unjust Prosecution; This is that well known Minister Anthony Sadler, who in his Petition to the Reverend Bishop attests Mr. Cranmer to be a public Oppressor and notorious in Oppression, and why? Because when he had been in law two years and a half with his Patron about Dilapidations, and had there unjustly oppressed him, (as appears by his withdrawing the Cause and giving Bond for Costs, and because he was in person to prosecute his unjust Presentments in the Bishop's Court against his Patron, which afterwards he withdrew) his Patron arrested him there; as if for M. Cranmers' legally and by due course of Law to seek his remedy against Anthony Sadler for the damage he hath sustained by him, were to oppress Anthony Sadler; and if Anthony Sadler had not taken that opportunity in Prison, to make his Atonement with his Patron, by securing him that he would leave the Vicarage, at the time prefixed. It is to be believed that Anthony Sadler had long ere this, at the Trial of that Action been convinced, that he himself was the Greatest and most Notorious in Oppression. That Anthony Sadler was cast into Prison and lay there a day and a night, was not his Patron's fault, but his own, for if he had put in Bail, his person would have been presently discharged, and he needed not to have entered the prison door, nor have been kept one hour from his Family and Study; but that which is the most Stupendious untruth in the whole pack, is that Mr. Cranmer his Common Lawyer should cause Anthony Sadler to Subscribe and Seal a Blank paper, or papers, which paper or papers Mr. Cranmer and his Common-Lawyer, report to be a Judgement and a Warrant for the payment of 500l. to Mr. Cranmer; And thus he would persuade the world that he was consulted against, imprisoned, and complotted to be ruined; the truth of the matter of Fact, you have heard before; the penalty in the Bond was indeed 500l. but conditioned, that if Anthony Sadler should deliver up his Presentation by such a day, and resign the Vicarage into the hands of the Bishop, that so his Patron might freely present another Person, and should also by the 10th. of April next, remove his Wife and Family out of the Parish, than the Bond to be void; A. Sadler is both able to write and read, and knew what he did, before he delivered it; the other paper was a Warrant of Attorney to confess a Judgement upon the same bond, which A. Sadler did Sign, Seal, and Deliver in the presence of very many persons. Yet this well known Minister hath the Impudence to affirm to the world, that to his best remembrance they were Blank papers; the world may well think that Anthony Sadler hath lain in bed so long this cold Winter, that he hath forgotten what he did Engage to perform by the 10th. of April next; and now being awakened and finding the day approaching, he would willingly cast off all his Engagments, by calling them Blank Papers; or else does implore Episcopal assistance to enforce that, which is against the Laws of the Land; (for so is his express word in his pretended letter to the Bishop, (that his Lordship would send for Mr. Cranmer and enforce, (indeed the next word is (Equity,) but the meaning is, his Security from Mr. Cranmer; And if that will not do, then comes the Petition directed to the same Right Reverend Bishop, to implore his Favour to have Mr. Cranmers' Security, (which he calls Papers) to be produced before the King and His Council; It is a sign that this Anthony Sadler is distracted or quite mad, to think that the King and His Council have no more to do, then to mind his pitiful stories and wranglings with his Patron & Parishioners. But all this while we do but contend with a shadow; For he declares that his Letter and Petition were directed To the Lord Bishop of Winchester, but does not affirm that he sent either; and it is believed that he durst not for fear that he should be disowned for a Son of the True Church, being so unlike his Mother, both in speech and carriage, or at least censured for a disobedient Son, in not obeying his Mother's commands, and unlike his Brothers in those qualifications set down by the Apostle St. Paul to Timothy; That they should be blameless, sober, of good behaviour, not given to wine, patiented, no brawler nor no vice, nor lifted up with pride; That Mr. Cranmer should be injurious to the Churches Freehold, is inconsistent with his own interest, having purchased the presentation in Fee, and is the real Patron of that Vicarage, and called Patron, because it is his duty to defend the Churches Right, and as well his Interest as his Duty; Now to injury the Churches Freehold, is to make Mr. Cranmer a Felo de se, which no man in his wits can well imagine, that Mr. Cranmer should be disobedient to the Church's Discipline, is as little imaginable, when in the worst of times he presented very able and orthodox Divines, and such as were most conformable to the Discipline of the Church, to the Vicarage of Mitcham, witness Dr. San●iland, and Mr. Welden; and not only favoured such most in his Judgement, but was most charitably disposed to the distressed and sequestered Clergy, yearly distributing large portions amongst them; as is very well known to some Persons now of great Eminency in the Church; which is not mentioned by way of vain glory, but to take off those aspersions cast upon him by Anthony Sadler.  
To conclude, by which hath been already alleged, it would be thought Strange News indeed, or News with a Witness, and a wonder to the World, that there should be at Mitcham, one Anthony Sadler, that styles himself the Vicar of Mitcham, and a Dutiful Son of the Church of England, that doth neglect his Ministerial Office, and disobeys the Church's commands, disturbing the peace and quiet of his Parishioners, and by his evil and bad conversation is most likely to corrupt the people to the dishonour of Religion, to the reproach of the Ministry, to the contempt of the Discipline of the Church of England, and yet to be so bold, as to appeal to the Learned and Right Reverend Bishop of that Diocese for his 〈◊〉 and Protection.   

Lond●n, Printed by Thomas Ma●b at Paul's Whaiff, 1664.