all their Skill to find means to be admitted into Holy Orders by some other hand A due Care of this Matter would go a great way in that Reformation which all good Men desire and justly hope from the present Bishops And this is no more than what is in your Power to do IV. A due Care of the Lives of the Clergy and to see that they Reside on their Cures and do their Duty This is a great part of the Bishops work And they may do very much in it and the Necessities of the Church and the Souls of Men call for it at your Hands A wicked Clergy-Man does unspeakable Mischief I know a considerable Town that was some Years since in good order the People came constantly to Church and they all did so At the usual times they came to the Sacrament also But a lewd and scandalous Minister is now the Incumbent of that Place one that is often disordered with Drink and swears commonly The People are now dispersed They are run into separate Meetings and in a word the Town is ruined I know the Truth of this and can name several Places in your Lordship's Diocess where there is something of this thô I know no Place where it is so notorious as in that considerable Town 'T will be needful that some Remedy be found out for so great an Evil. I will not undertake to Direct your Lordship 'T is too evident how much the Church hath lost by such bad Men. Another Care is that of Residence which is notoriously neglected There are a great Number of Parishes that have no resident Minister or Curate Instead of that the Minister comes or sends every Sunday and the Parishioners are destitute the rest of the Week There are many more Parishes which are great and have a considerable Revenue which are supplied by some cheap and very unfit Curates By reason whereof the People are scattered Parsonage-Houses are dilapidated Hospitality disused and which is the saddest Consideration of all the Souls neglected There are a Number of Ministers in England that do not Reside on their Livings Some chuse to live from their People in some great Towns at a distance for the sake of Conversation or Air or upon some other Pretence Some become Curates or Lecturers in other Places and forsake their own Charge Some are at the Universities on pretence of better fitting themselves Some lie about London hunting after another Living or some Lecture there Some are in the Families of Persons of Honour others hang about the Court and some are in Cathedral-Churches in some Employment there and notoriously neglect their cure of Souls in the mean time I know some that are perfect Strangers to their People that see them not in several Years and upon the matter never preach with them I know a Person that hath one of the best Livings in England and hath had for sixteen Years last past and never preached among them not for want of Ability or Leisure or because he hath any other Cure or Publick Employment but because he is not reconciled to the Labour of his Calling I could enlarge very much on this Head and yet not borrow Materials from others I have seen and do very well know many of the Neglects of this kind I am amazed when I seriously consider it and wonder how these Men can look up to Heaven or with what Brow they can look honest Men in the Face when they are conscious of so great a Sin 'T is time for the Bishops to look after this Matter as they would not have the Blood of the neglected Souls lie upon them But your Lordship will say How can this be prevented For a great Number of these Persons have Qualifications and Dispensations and some others are absent for Health or Studies and other reasonable Causes To which I answer That this will not excuse them that have no reasonable Cause for their Absence nor any longer than that Cause continues I know several Men that live at the Universities to a considerable Age and are never like to be more fit than they are These Men ought to go to their Cures and so should those Men too who withdrew for want of Health when their Health is restored The Dispensations to hold two Livings will not excuse a Man from not residing upon either And that hath too often been the Case Besides 't is very fit those Dispensations should be very rarely given and 't is in the Power of the Archbishop to restrain them 'T is no creditable thing for a Man to need a Dispensation generally speaking And thô where one Living is not a Maintenance and another small one is near it a Dispensation to hold those two may be a very allowable thing yet this will not excuse the promiscuous allowance of Dispensations I know a great Number of Men that have Plurality of the best Livings and those too at a considerable distance and the same Men that have two great Livings apiece have many of them besides one some two or three Dignities apiece Great have been the Mischiefs of Non Obstante's and Dispensations They were first used in the Court of Rome Vid. Godolphin Repertor Canonic p. 300. 'T was an ill President and Mischievous to all the Commonwealths of Christendom For the Temporal Princes perceiving that the Pope dispensed with Canons in imitation thereof have used their Prerogative to Dispense with their Penal Laws and Statutes when as before they caused their Laws to be Religiously observed like the Laws of Medes and Persians which cannot be dispensed with For this reason it was that a Canonist said Dispensatio est vulnus quod vulnerat jus commune Another saith That all Abuses of this kind would be reformed Si duo tantùm verba non Obstante non Impedirent And Matth. Paris having recited certain Decrees made in the Council of Lyons which were beneficial for the Church of England addeth Sed haec omnia alia per hoc repagulum non Obstante infirmantur After all 't is certain that there are very many Non-residents who have no Dispensation nor Excuse that is reasonable 'T is pity but these should be obliged to reside or proceeded against according to the Statutes in that behalf If they were duly punished according to Law we should soon find the good Effects of it I have heard some wise Men affirm who understand the present Posture of things in the City of London that there are a considerable Number of Men there who are Curates or Lecturers or Readers or at least Candidates for such Places that have Cures in the Country which they leave and some of those Cures not well provided for If this be so I am sure 't is a great Evil But this is an Evil easily cured The Bishop of London may put a stop to it when he pleaseth And I believe he will do it because I know he is a Prelate of great Vertue of most Exemplary Diligence and Care
observed Have the Heads and Governors resided as they ought Have they kept no Place nor been possest of Estates inconsistent with the Statutes of the House Have all Exercises been duly performed Diligence and Vertue duly encouraged What Lives do they lead And what Account can they give of Themselves and of their Time spent there What Lectures are read by the Professors and other Lecturers and whether all be done which the Statute requires Are those Studies pursued Diligently which tend to make Men useful to the Publick Are there no unstatutable Fees exacted No expensive Customs introduced No unnecessary Eating-Houses allowed c. Were these things looked into by Men of Authority were the Criminals severely punished and some of them that are most Guilty removed were this done frequently and with due Care we should soon see the good Effects of it There would be another Face of things quickly Prophaneness and Idleness would skulk presently and soon be banished and Diligence and Vertue would revive and hold up their Heads We have now many Men that have spent many Years there in order to serve the Church as they profess when they come for Orders they have not the Learning of some School-Boys This I know upon my certain Knowledge having been employed to Examine them when they offered themselves to be Ordained I could give your Lordship a great many Instances of those who have not had Skill enough to turn the Creed into true Latine or an Article of Religion And a great many others that had some of this Skill yet had not any Understanding at all of Theological Matters and yet were these Dunces admitted to Degrees and brought Testimonials under the College Seal My Lord you cannot imagine with what Grief I write this But thus it is And there must be due Care taken of it III. These Visitors might be of farther Use if they had Orders to require some Publick Exercises whilst they visited If they were obliged to bring with them a List of the most Pious and Deserving that should be kept in some publick Place If they had Power to appoint some Discipline and revive the Exercises of greatest Use that are now omitted A great many things might be named under this Head which I forbear One thing might easily be done viz. The requiring all the Students to speak the Latine Tongue within the Walls of their House with each other To do it at least at their Meals I remember well when this was done in a certain College and with that success that many of the House had gained that readiness and were arrived to that Elegance that they far exceeded all Foreigners 'T is a shame Men should be at a loss in this Matter when every Foreigner hath attained it that knows any thing of Letters IV. 'T will be necessary that greater Care be taken in bestowing Degrees to those only who deserve them That Testimonials be not given promiscuously That the Good and Bad have not the same Testimony That a Course and Method of Studies be contrived That there be greater Care taken to encourage Mathematical Learning and those Parts of it especially which are most for the Use of Life That those Theological Studies be commended which tend to make Men more Serviceable to the Church and better able to Defend our Common Christianity against all Gainsayers That particular Care be taken to Direct young Students in their Study of the Scriptures III. There ought to be very great Care taken in admitting to Holy Orders And this is a Care peculiarly belonging to the Bishops The want of this Care hath been attended with unspeakable Mischiefs The Church groans under them and is like to do so for some time The Bishops are the only Judges of the Fitness of Persons that come to be Ordained and may refuse them that they judge unfit without any danger of a quare impedit or any other Legal Molestation But when they are admitted a Bishop runs an hazard that refuseth to give them Institution If another Bishop Ordain an unfit Person and that Person be presented to your Lordship to a Cure you will find your self under great Difficulty If you admit him you deliver up the Cure of Souls to a Person you do not Approve If you refuse him you run the hazard of being sued at Law Indeed where you have Ordained a Person you cannot reasonably refuse him Institution when he desires it But 't is very hard you should be obliged to Institute him whom another Bishop hath without due Care admitted to Holy Orders This careless admitting Men to Holy Orders may by the united Agreement of all the Bishops be prevented for the future I need not tell you what good Laws are made on this behalf and how easie a thing 't will be for the future to take Care of this Matter But every Bishop must take the utmost Care and the Archbishops had need require a strict and constant Account that others do their Duty For if one Bishop be Careless as that Bishop will be resorted to and Ordain the greatest Number so the other Bishops and the Church will suffer greatly by it I know there have been some Bishops that have been very remiss And some who have had a small Diocess have had great Ordinations and that when they lived remote from their Diocess also This thing must be looked after Diligently and 't were well that every Bishop were obliged to give his Metropolitan an Account from time to time of the Number and Qualifications of all those whom he admits into Holy Orders and of the Places of their abode c. After all the Bishops had need be Careful that they be not imposed upon with false Titles a very common practice with slight Testimonials and the perfunctory Examination of a Chaplain He had need Examine them himself and require them that come for Orders to apply themselves to him some considerable time before-hand that he may be the better satisfied concerning them Every wise Man will be very tender in commending a Person as a Servant to his Friend much more if it be to a Place of any considerable Trust What Care then ought the Bishops to take when they Commend Men and Admit them to the Service of God and of his Church and the tremendous Care of Immortal Souls The utmost Care in this Matter will be little enough And were this Care taken by all the Bishops we should soon see the blessed Fruits of it young Men would ply their Studies and take care of their Lives and form themselves to some shew at least of Seriousness in Religion I know very well a certain excellent Prelate that hath in this Matter used Exemplary Care and Diligence and I am told by one that knows the good Effects of it too There are very few but have competently fitted themselves before they have offered themselves to him And for the Idle and Negligent that have heard of many such refused they have endeavoured with
some of the Bishops have Prebends and other small Dignities to bestow which cannot be better placed than upon the worthy Ministers of such Places who as they have the greater Charge and Work so ought to have the greater Encouragement Besides these are the Places where the Dissenters that preach generally are And indeed here are the greatest Number generally of that sort of People I have known several of these Places preserved from Schism and Faction by watchful and diligent and prudent Pastors and I speak it with grief a great many of them miserably divided from our Church through the Negligence and Folly and Wickedness of their Ministers Some of which have refused to Preach in an Afternoon when it hath been much desired others have spent their Pains in the Pulpit generally in bitter Invectives against the Dissenters others have gone beyond the Rubrick and refused to please their People where they might have done it without breaking any Law some have sided with Parties and instead of ending Differences have been of a certain Party in them and others have contended with their Neighbours for Trifles falling into Heats with them and then have refused to Visit them or do them Civil Offices The Dissenters have taken Occasion to set up Preaching in their Towns and drawn away their People The Schism hath hereby grown great and the Minister himself hath had too much hand in it notwithstanding his warm Declamations against it My Heart akes when I seriously think of this And 't will be worth the utmost Care of all the Bishops how to get this Evil at least lessened if not quite removed The Care of these great Places concerns the whole and 't will become the Bishops to find some way by themselves or their Interest at Court or elsewhere to procure some additional Maintenance for those who are Diligent and Painful in these Places Great Cities and Towns and the Universities especially most need warm and powerful Preachers and 't will be great Charity to provide them with such And thus my Lord I have spoken my Mind frankly Some perhaps will think I have used too great Liberty Nor shall I wonder at it For perhaps I have not considered you in this Letter as my Diocesan but have used that Freedom which I was wont to use with you when I knew you in the University If I have done so 't is not for want of Deference for your Person and your Character I make no question but when you come among us and in your Visitation you will answer the expectations of your Friends and at least silence your Enemies I doubt not but you will do all you can and you may do much by your Example and Authority to make us better and to work a Reformation which all good Men expect and desire You will find many of your Clergy very complying in those excellent Designs If you mind them of their Duty as I am sure you will I dare assure you of a great Number ready to assist you 'T is high time to be doing that great Work which you intend There are a considerable Number that expect your Commands and greatly hope you will vigorously Encourage us to look after our Cures to Instruct our Youth to set up Prayers in all the Families of our Parishioners and to preach up the Necessity of Reformation and preach against the Vices that reign amongst us and to do it with great Care and Application I am very certain as bad as the World is that by this Method you will be an Instrument of much Good to the Souls of Men. That you may be so is the most earnest Prayer of My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Obedient Servant F. W. March 26. 1692.