upon the Patron Some think the Peoples rights of Election were swallowed up by this Advancement of Patrons But 't is very plain by all the debates of this matter that though many things are produced or producible out of Antiquity about the Peoples Rights in chusing of Bishops yet there is no footstep of any such Right to choose Presbyters or Parochial or Congregational Ministers which yet is the point in issue between the Church of England and their Adversaries And 't is pity it is no more minded by the Litigants on both sides For whatsoever Canon gives people any Right gives it in conjunction with the Clergy but what Clergy are there to choose in a single Congregation And if there were what need they choose another to make a Pastoral Relation must there be Pastors upon Pastors in Infinitum Hath not the Church of Virginia authority to send a Pastor among the Indians to feed them with the word and doctrine and baptize them upon that command Go teach all nations and baptize them without the peoples choice Will any affirm he can preach no otherwise than as a gifted Brother among them This New England fancy hath hindred the salvation of the Indians amongst them And had the Apostles and Elders believed it had hindred the salvation of the world Men should consider that in the Primitive times there were no Parishes to choose nor did the People pay the Presbyters but the Bishop Nor were they so fixt in any place Pallad in vita Chrys. as not to be moveable at the discretion of the Bishop Chrysostom maintained many Presbyters whom he sent to preach in Phaenicia at his own charge Nor did the world know any other distinction but of City and Regionary Presbyters They were bred up in the Church from Lectors Acolytes Exorcists Sub-deacons Deacons Priests in all which offices they usually staid some time and were advanced at the discretion of the Bishop without the People Nor were they permitted to convert any offering made in the Country to their own use but accounted for it at the City Altar Nor do we hear any Complaints of the people against the usurpations of these Patrons now newly erected which we may reasonably believe they would have done had they found any Law of God broken or custom of the Church alter'd or Rights of the People invaded or Ministers obtruded against the usual practice These things consider'd an unprejudiced mind will be satisfied the people never had nor used any right in choosing Congregational guides whatever they might do in Electing Bishops whom they owned as compleat Pastors for worship and censures too and from whom they received their Presbyters and to whom they made their Offerings Nor are the Patrons Antichristian as some are pleased to call them whilst they conscientiously manage their Right of Praesentation without these sacrilegious practises but are lovers of their Nation and Religion in building them Synagogues And might have expected prayers and thanks from any but these murmurers that defame what they cannot imitate A good Author tells us Dugd. View of our troubles c. 35. p. 411. that some in Praise-God Barebones Parliament Dec. 13 1653 were earnestly voting down Patrons but others urged that this was an attempt to destroy the Subjects Property and that ended the debate Our dissenting Brethren so far favour that Anabaptistical fury in complaining of Patrons invading the peoples Rights as if they meant to espouse their folly Questionless Patrons are apprehensive enough that Dissenters Principles can't take place but by their ruine and therefore will keep a watchful Eye upon them But I return and am only to disswade them from the ill use of that Spiritual Trust that is in their hands If the Patron will be charitable L. 7. ep 110. he ought also to be just and not to rob for a Burnt offering Gregory the Great hath vehemently lashed this wickedness telling men they were more loaden by their Sacrilege than eased by their Charity That 't was one thing to give Alms to purge our sins and another to sin that we may give Alms. He says the rule is Prov. 3.9 honour the Lord with thy substance not with other mens Did not Justice Foster know that the sacrifice of the wicked was an abomination to the Lord. Is not this to rob the Spouse of Christ for an offering to her Husband to sacrifice the Priest for atoning of the Deity or like Judas to relieve the Poor with our Saviours ointment O blind hypocrisy that expects Grapes from Thorns and to receive good for doing evil 2. These charitable Bonds are a very compendious way to starve Religion out of the world For if the Patron may give 5 l. to the Widow why not 10 l. to the Daughter and 20 l. more to the use of the Poor and as much more to repair High-ways c. and require Bonds for all these And Justice Foster declare them good 'T is easy to cut large Cantals out of another mans Loaf And the Logicians will tell him a quatenus ad omne valet argumentum If one be lawful all of the same kind are We may presume all honest Lawyers ashamed of the Decision 3. Should these charitable Bonds be judged good corrupt Patrons might by this colour avoid all Convictions of Simony For what is more easy than to take Bonds in others names for our own advantage Can men ever want pretences for Charity are poor such rare and scarce Commodities Is it meet for Courts of Judicature to assist such avaricious Earth-worms to baffle the wisdom of the whole Nation at once And render their just and holy Laws ridiculous In the Act against Simony England hath shewed its love to Learning and Religion as well as to Justice and Equity and is it not sad if a false hearted Bond disguised under a cloak of charity should render all vain All the wine of Consolation to Learning and Piety may be drawn out at this one Tap of feigned charity Should the Lawyers declare the Law in favour of these Bonds they would but encourage Sacrilege and help forward these Patrons damnation and stain the Reverend Scarlet by sharing in the sin and suppress the Law to support the Malefactor But let the Simonist remember if he escape this Bar there is another at which the conscience will tell the whole Story and then the Sentence will be Thy Money perish with thee O voice of Thunder but a stony heart can't hear it 6. 'T is Simony to give Bonds for Resignation at the Patrons pleasure though upon pretence of a Son to be preferred when fit 'T is true at first blush this Plea seems reasonable Crook p. 2. 248. and found favour 8. Jac. in Jones and Lawrences case as Sir Geeorge Crook reports it And so did another 5 Car. 1. in the Kings Bench Crook Car. 1.180 between Babington and Wood reported by the same Author where was no pretence of a Son But 't is
said that in neither of these cases was any Simoniacal contract averred otherwise it might have been doubtful Pars Couns part 1. c. 5. whether the Bonds would have been found good or not says Sir Simon Degge Nor was it likely the Incumbent should alledge a Simoniacal Contract for then the Living was void and himself outed Noy 22. Yet this Gentleman mentions a case in Noy between Clerk and Paschal Trin. 15. Jac. in C. B. where the Bond for Resignation at pleasure was sued and judged Simoniacal but then the Church is declared void by such judgment the Incumbent carrying the cause but losing his Benefice and is uncapable of it for ever though the King should pardon the Simony and present him afresh But to clear this matter let us consider 1. That all the Arguments against charitable Bonds conclude as strongly against these but would be tedious to repeat 2. That if they should not prove Simony in Law yet would be so in conscience and likewise in the Canon Law which forbids all contracts whatsoever 3. Patrons by these Bonds act a most insolent and arbitrary power against the Liberties of the Church and all the Subjects of this Kingdom beside The Church in Magna Charta made at Westminster 10 Feb. Anno 9. Hen. 3. Anno Domini 1224 is the first Subject of Liberty in the first Chapter Where the King granteth to God and for him and his Heirs confirmeth That the Church of England shall be free and have all her Rights and Liberties inviolable One of which was to enter upon her Cures without Compacts and Bargains with Patrons as appears by the Canons made at London in the reign of Henry the 2d and his Son then crown'd King and by those of Stephen Langton made but two years before as also by the Canons of the four first general Councels Hist ecclesiae Angl. l. 4. c. 7. which were received in England says Bede long before and are so still says the Statute Eliz. 1. cap. 3. To impose Oaths Bonds Contracts upon Justices Sheriffs Knights and Burgesses in Parliament Constables Church-wardens Overseers more than the Law imposes would be thought arbitrary and tyrannical Oppression and can it be less to impose such obligations on the Rectors or Vicars of the Churches Must they enter the Church as Felons their tryals with Gives and Fetters Must they preach to the Patrons as St. Paul to Agrippa in Chains May not an Angel of the Church be trusted till bound to his good behaviour Who ever laid Shackles on any Embassadors but these of Christ the Shepherd is used like a Dog the Patron having put a Rope about his Neck to pull him up or out at his pleasure O vain name of Liberty whose sense is bondage 4. These Bonds may endanger the Protestant Religion for if Patrons be Popish how dare men in these Obligations reprove it or confirm their people against it May not Papists have Sons to prefer as well as Protestants Or have that Sect only no patronages in their hands The Dog must come over at his call that holds the string whether into Popery or Fanaticisme When King and Parliament can't silence some bastard Teachers these Patrons can at a word silence the most Orthodox Divine if any such enter their Bonds 5. These Bonds include a greater Heresy then any yet this fruitful age and Nation hath brought forth For it presumes the Ministerial calling to be for term of years that God's people may be leased out to a Governor That he is but a Hireling and Curatus pro tempore whose own the Sheep are not but the Sons That Priests may be laid aside for no cause but the Patrons pleasure which tends directly to make him careless to follow the world and make Hay while the Sun shines Not to consider the people as his charge nor to think of living and dying with them nor of making any account for them Nor to plant on the Gleab nor to repair the Houses or Chancels but to grasp what he can because his time may be short But seriously do these men think Aaron's Patent was during pleasure Was Christ less than a Priest for ever Was it not a sad corruption in the Jewish Church when Annas and Caiaphas were high Priests for years Can they think it fit to remove a Minister when he best understands his people and bring in an ignorant Novice because called my son Are they fit for the Kingdom of God that look back when they have put their hand to the Plough The Labourers in Christ's Vineyard came in at several hours but went out altogether when the dark covering of death shut up their day Our Canons forbid any Priests to relinquish their calling Can. 3. Jac. can 76. or to use themselves afterwards as Laymen upon pain of Excommunication Ames propounds this Question Ames l. 4. c. 25. n. 32. An vocatio ad Ministerium institui possit ad certos annos and answers Repugnat planè ministerii naturae and gives these reasons for it 1. God hath not allowed it 2. It abates affection between Priest and People 3. It makes the dignity of the calling seem mercenary 4. Ministers and People may part to both their prejudice N. 35. And again tells us what causes may justify a parting from ones calling Si tamen causa talis intercedat quae vel ineptum aliquem reddat ad ministerium exercendum vel exercitium ejus impossibile reddit velpeccandi necessitatem adfert exercenti turn nutu divino solvi videtur 'T is certain Athanasius Nazianzen Chrysostom c. were removed from their Churches but by Persecutors not Patrons And many others for Heresy or Schism but then 't was by sentence of the Church or State or both but never by single Patrons They so ruffle all Laws Divine and Humane that the Lawyers can scarce resolve where the Freehold is when the Incumbent is a Farmer at pleasure These men make havock of Christ's Institutions and put Barnacles on the Nose of Religion as they list They make Priests as summer Insects to be meer Ephemerists If the Incumbent say with St. Paul We be to me if I preach not the Gospel these Gold-suckers tell him you shall then preach with Bede to the Quarries or with Orpheus to the Trees for we will remove you to make way for our Sons Thus is Christ's Steward turned out of his House without leave or privity of the Master 6. The care to prefer Sons seems natural but was never judged spiritual Old Eli was ruin'd for honouring his Sons before God 1 Sam. 2.29 And the Decretals treating of Ecclesiastical profits 16. q. 7. pervenit complain of the ill bestowing them to unfitting persons vel quod gravius est etiam Consanguineis as if giving them to Kinsmen were the greatest crime of all And the rules were est honestum officium siliam dotare non tamen ex bonis ecclesiasticis And cognatosi juvare ut decenter
and informed him of the accusation desiring him to write his Name and Titles upon a Paper which he would shew the Synod to the utter confutation of his Adversaries Which when the poor Patriarch had done a Resignation of the Patriarchate was written above his name and deliver'd to the Synod Upon which they inaugurated young Theophylact into the Chair of Constantinople Anno Domini 944. Others I confess say Tryphon was but his Substitute till he came to that age This young Patriarch suited well his entrance living but twelve years and that in all kind of Luxury and Riot minding Dogs and Horses more than Churches and the Souls of men And leaving nothing remarkable but that instead of feeding Christs Sheep he fed 2000 Horses with the profits of his Bishoprick Cedrenus And better could not be expected from such an Entrance He died 956. 7. As we have shewed it no Simony to purchase an Advowson in Fee so 't is as plain Simony to purchase the next Presentation especially if the Church be empty or the Incumbent sick or aged This is malum in se though haply not malum prohibitum For here 't is presumed the intention is Simoniacal And in truth the right of Patronage is not salable at all if it be a spiritual thing only but in England 't is accounted by some a meer temporal thing But by the most and best 't is reckon'd partly temporal V. Glos 1. q. 1. quod autem and partly spiritual and so it will prove for as Lindwood de jurejurando well notes consider it as descendable to heirs and purchasable in Fee and so 't is temporal but jus patronatus praesentatio dicuntur spiritualia respectu rei ad quam praesentatur quae spiritualis est Consider it as 't is a presentation to a Church and to exercise divine offices and so 't is spiritual And all the profits of a Church are spiritual as devoted to God and his Service And so is the Parson presented too Extra de judic c. quanto ubi de hoc Accordingly the Canons determine their actions to be managed in foro ecclesiastico but the custom of England is otherwise Now how much Patrons scrape out of these sales of Advowsons is not easy to imagine Were the Church their Freehold they could scarcely make more and get the cure served Horne in his Speculum Justitiariorum tells us the Advowson of a Church is so much in the spirituality that there can be no alienation thereof but in Fee-simple Cap. 2. s 27. sub Titulo Contracts If this were the law under Edw. 1 and Edw. 2 in whose reign this Reverend Judge is said to live how came it to be alter'd and Contracts pro hâc vice now thought lawful Do the Lawyers change the Law at their pleasure as Sectaries do Religion then is both Religion and Law ambulatory and may both leave the Kingdom at length We may yet hope a right English Parliament will find time to retrench these Enormities and new lopp this overgrown Tree of Avarice In the mean time let Patrons know that if Law allow it conscience cannot for in them 't is rapine sacrilege betraying of trust living on what is none of their own and enriching themselves with Church-Revenues Com. In Luc. 4. multi leprosi I wish they would hear St. Ambrose Malè quaesitâ mercede non tam patrimonium facultatûm quam the saurum criminum congregârunt aeterno supplicio brevi fructu By ill got Goods we increase our treasure of sins rather than of Money little benefit but everlasting punishment And again in his Book de dignitate Sacerdotali he says Caro suscepit dignitatem anima perdidit honestatem they receive Money into their pockets and lose honesty out of their hearts Our law doth so detest this avaricious course that it hath made it punishable but to Elect a Scholar or Fellow c. 31 Eliz. 6. into any Colledge for Money which is a small thing compared with presenting a Priest to a Church 4. Having laid down what is Simony in Law and Conscience as far as we could judge and occasion offered we must now consider what respect the Common Law hath for it by which we shall discover the true old English spirit that disdained avarice and falshood and scorned to do a contumelious action The Abridger of our Statutes says in the Preface the whole Senate have bestowed at least half their time and industry in hacking at part of the Branches Boughs Sprouts Roots or Leaves of that monstrous ugly and hideous Tree Avaritia Yet it still sprouted again like a Hydraes head in another form and different shape But the Common Law hath had the same bent and design Simony is odious in the eye of the Common Law Inst 3. c. 71. f. 153. says Coke its greatest Oracle where he gives a double instance of it A Gardein in Socage may not present to a Living because he cannot account to the heir for it as being of no value nor benefit to him And therefore the Heir shall present though he be under age And also if an heir of Tenent in Capite have Livery cum exitibus yet shall the heir not present to an Advowson V. Com. in stat 31. Eliz. 6. because no issues nor profits can be taken thereof He farthera ffirms 't was the more odious because always accompanied with perjury Again in another place he tells us the Common Law so much detested Simony that before the Statute of Westm the 2d no damages could be recover'd upon a Quare Impedit lest says he any profit the Patron should take should savour of Simony And this seems to me reasonable enough yet still for if the Patron have costs why should he have damage of that which never could be profit to him Inst 2. Westm 2. c. 5. f. 362. had he had it and could be no diminution of his Revenue had he lost it but we must acquiesce in publick judgment Yet he says 't is so with the King still For he can have no damage upon his Quare impedit because he could not recover any by the Common Law before and that Statute helps him not though it do the Subject And the same Author seems very certain Bonds for resignation could not be sued at Common Law till the Statute of Westm the 2d for that the Incumbent once instituted and setled the Patron could have no Writ to remove him â—b fol. 357. though wrongfully presented and gives these reasons for it 1. Because having Curam animarum a great charge he might the more effectually and peaceably attend it 2. Because he came in by a Judicial Act from the Bishop to the Church who is supposed in Law to act Scrutatis Archivis And the form of Institution implies no less for the Te instituo ad tale beneficium habere curam animarum Et accipe curam tuam meam Accept thine and