Bishop Williams held with the Bishoprick of Lincoln and afterwards with the Arch-Bishoprick of York the Deanery of Westminster a Residentiaries place in the Church of Lincoln the Prebend of Asgarvey in the same and the Rectory of Walgrave If I might in the last place be allowed to speak freely to the Gentlemen and Lay-men of our Communion whom the popular Cry against Pluralities may have deceived I would desire them to judge of the Reasons which this Apology shall offer without prejudice and in the mean while to cast their Eyes upon those real Pests of the Church Mental Simony and Bonds of Resignation which in time will become her ruine The removal of these Evils will far more become their Zeal and from them only a Remedy can be obtained herein Notwithstanding the seeming difficulty of maintaining what in the opinion of most men is a Paradox notwithstanding the opposition which may be expected from good men prepossessed herein and bad men who by such a Defence may be deprived of one of their Common-places of Declaiming I thought it my duty to undertake this Province being assured that therein I should defend the Honour and the Interest of the Church of Christ which ever since the first Institution of Parishes hath permitted Pluralities and cannot now be well supported without them the wisdom of the Parliaments and the Laws of this Kingdom which have allowed them of the Kings and Queens of this Nation who have confirmed and continue them of the Honourable Peers and Universities of this Realm who have qualified Persons to obtain them the Reputation of many excellent Persons both alive and dead who have granted and enjoyed them of many eminent Divines and Lawyers who have justified them and that I shall hereby free the most Reverend Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Bishops residing near the Court for the Service of their Majesties and of the Church from the Imputation of that mortal sin which all who maintain the unlawfulness of Pluralities fix upon Non-residence To the defence of all these Things and Persons I am bound either by respect or duty and if therewith the former practice of some present Oppugners of Pluralities be defended I shall not be sorry altho I should receive no thanks from them The Enemies of Pluralities proceed upon these Heads either that to hold more Benefices than one with Cure of Souls is Jure Divino unlawful or that it is contrary to the first design of Parochial Indowments or that it is highly inconvenient to the Church Against these I shall assert and in order prove these three Propositions I. Plurality of Benefices with Cure of Souls is not Jure Divino unlawful II. It is not contrary to the first Design of Parochial Indowments III. It is not inconvenient to the Church CHAP. I. THAT Pluralities are unlawful by the Law of God some Casuists of the Church of Rome chiefly those of the Mendicant or Jesuit Orders have maintained and many Zealous Oppugners of Pluralities among the Reformers have taken up their Opinion or at least exaggerated the guilt of Pluralities so far as that it can searce otherwise be interpreted If we enquire the Reasons of this heinous Charge it is certain that nothing can be Jure Divino unlawful but either by the Law of Nature or by the Positive Law of God For the first none have been so ridiculous as to pretend that the Law of Nature bath determined any thing in this place That directs no more of Parochial Priests than of Parochial Constables There remains then only the Positive Law of God expressed in Scripture which can fix this guilt upon Pluralities But if we peruse the Bible from one end to the other we shall find no Directions herein no mention being made therein either of Parochial Priests or Parochial Cures nor indeed could be since the institution of them was first made long after the writing of those sacred Oracles as we shall prove hereafter As for Texts which may be supposed to allude thereto which our Reformed Adversaries sometimes alledge they are of no moment in this cause since it is a received Principle among all Protestants that nothing is necessarily to be believed unlawful which is not declared to be such either by the Law of Nature or by the express words of Scripture Yet in this case our Adversaries are not ashamed to betray the Fundamental Principle of the Reformed Church and arraign that as malum in se of which Nature and Scripture are wholly silent In our Dissenters this Opinion is yet much more unpardonable who maintain that nothing ought to be introduced in the Worship of God or in Ecclesiastical Discipline which is not warranted by express words of Scripture For things indifferent in their own nature may still remain so notwithstanding the silence of Scripture but the nature of any thing can never be changed from indifferent to unlawful without express words of Scripture When Scripture cannot be produced our Adversaries fly to Metaphors making great use of a Metaphor frequent in ancient Canons wherein the discharge of the Episcopal or Parochial care is compared to Marriage that as a man cannot have two Wives so neither can he have two Benefices But alas shall Metaphors and tropes and similies condemn a man Hath the Scripture any where said that all the circumstances of Marriage shall be observed in the case of Benefices with Cure of Souls Doth not every one know that nothing is more ordinary than to stretch Similitudes too far or more fallacious than to argue from them Will these men be concluded by the Similitude which themselves bring If so it will be as unlawful to be translated from one Bishoprick to another or from one Benefice to another as it is to change one Wife for another But against this the early and universal practice of the Church hath prevailed as to the Lawfulness of it The too common practice of it was afterwards restrained by Canons And as I suppose none of our Adversaries will maintain such Translations to be unlawful But the chief foundation of their Opinion is the Necessity of Residence which they suppose to be of Divine Right and since Residence cannot be maintained in two different places at the same time that therefore Plurality of Benefices is unlawful If we demand their warrant for this Assertion as in the former case we shall find them very destitute The Law of Nature they do not pretend to herein The Texts of Scripture which they urge are very remote and scarce applicable to our case Such are that reproof of the Shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel Wo to the Shepherds of Israel that feed themselves Sould not the Shepherds feed the flocks Ye eat the fat and ye clothe you with the wooll The diseased have ye not strengthned neither have ye healed that which was sick but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them c. or that description of them in Isaiah His watchmen are blind
inhabited before the coming of the Saxons there was no division of it into Parishes but any pious Priest who designed to instruct the Country people might with the leave of his Biâ—hop in remote places from the Cathedral Church build to himself a Church and therein instruct as many of the neighbouring rusticks as would frequent it This Church became then the proper Possession of that Priest and might by him be sold given demolished or quitted at pleasure This Conjecture for I propose it as no other is countenanced by the 23d Canon of the Council held in Ireland about the year 450 by St. Patrick Auxilius Iserninus and other Bishops which decreeth that Si quis Presbyterorum Ecclesiam â—dificaverit c. If any Presbyter shall build a Church let him not celebrate in it before he bring his Bishop to it that he may consecrate it And in the old Laws of the Northumbrians among whom great number of the conquered Britains still remained altho subject to the Saxons the second is Prohibemus Presbyterum aliquem Ecclesiam alterius emere We forbid one Priest to buy the Church of another and the 22th Law is If any one shall violently eject a Priest out of his Church let him be punished Another passage Mr. Selden produceth to the same purpose out of the ancient little History de Fundatione Ecclesiâ—e Landavensis which is found in the beginning of a famous ancient Register of that Church and is since printed in the English Monasticon The words are these Dubricius being ordained Archbishop of South Wales plures Ecclesiae cum suis dotibus decimis oblationibus sepulturis territoriis liberâ communione datae sunt sibi Ecclesiae Landaviae successoribus suis omnibus à Regibus Principibus Videns aâ—tem Dubricius sibi commissam Ecclesiam partitus est Discipulos mittens quosdam discipulorum suorum per Ecclesiaâ— sibi datas quasdam fundavit Ecclesiaâ— Episcopos coadjutores sibi ordinatis Parochiis suis consecravit Mr. Selden admonisheth that the Author of this History whom I suppose to have writ about the year 1120 speaketh according to the phrase and custom of his own time which may be admitted as to the description of the dotation of the Churches given to Dubricius but the rest I doubt not to be literally true yet from thence cannot conclude any division of Diocesses into certain Parishes or affixing of certain Priests to certain Parishes to have been then instituted or received but only that the Province of South Wales was then divided into several Diocesses and Bishops ordained to every one of them the word Parochia being the ancient Ecclesiastical name of a Diocess As for the supply of Country-Churches this Testimony seems rather to imply that it was performed by itinerant Priests whom Dubricius sent in their turns out of his own College And if any credit is to be given to the ancient Lives and Legends of the British Bishops and Saints this was the practice at that time in the British Church That the Bishops at their Cathedrals and holy Abbots and Doctors in several parts of the Diocess should eduâ—ate and maintain great numbers of Priests in a Collegiate life and preside over them who in their turns should travel about and instruct the Lay Christians in all the circumjacent territories and that beiâ—g done return to the College and give way to others to succeed them in the same imployment Afterwards when the Britains were driven into Wales and were fully setled in it that Country being become populous thereby they found it necessary to divide it into Parishes and to assign Priests to them For in the Laws of Howel Dha King of Wales made about the year 940 there is mention made of the house of the Parish Priest Domus Capellani Villae in every Village Altho the division was yet so imperfect that at this time frequent subdivisions were made as appears from the 35th Law of the same King And the â—ixing of one Parish Priest to every Parochial Church was yet so far from being setled in Wales that some Ages after it was in very few places received For Giraldus Cambrensis describing the obstinacy of the Welchmen in retaining their old Laws and Customs giveth this for one instance of it Ecclesiae verò istorum omnes ferè tot Personas participes habent quot capitalium virorum in parochiâ genera fuerint Vitium hoc genti ab antiquo commune fuit And this giveth a probable account of the original of those sine cure Rectories which in almost all the Churches of North Wales were distinct from the Vicarages of the same and held by distinct proprietors until within this last thirty years they began generally to be united From the uncertain Practice of the ancient British Church I pass to give a more certain account of the institution and division of Parishes in the ancient Saxon or English Church upon which their modern division laws and customs are founded When Augustin the first Archbishop of Canterbury came into England attended with several inferiour Clergy to preach the Gospel King Ethelbert gave to him ample possessions for the maintenance of himself and his Clergy not appointing any Laws to the direction or distribution of it but leaving that entirely to the discretion of the Archbishop A Church was built for him at Canterbury wherein he might fix his Chair and houses appointed wherein himself and Clergy might dwell in common Afterwards when the same pious King by the direction of the Archbishop founded Cathedral Churches at Rochester and London he endowed both with large possessions given for the Honour of God and general good of the Diocesses without giving any further direction The application of these possessions to the use intended was wholly left to the several Bishops In the same manner other Princes proceeded in the foundation and endowment of Cathedral Churches in other parts of the Nation All this is so manifest from Bede and the several Histories of the foundation and dotation of the Cathedral Churches of England that it would be superfluous to give an elaborate proof of it Let it suffice to observe out of Bede that Augustin desiring directions from Pope Gregory in several points of Discipline to be observed in his new Convert Church desireth to receive his Directions De Episcopis qualiter cum suis Clericis conversentur vel de his quae fidelium oblationibus accedunt Altari verâ—io Saxon. quae fideles ad Altaria Ecclesias Dei afferunt quantae debeant fieri portiones To this Question Gregory returns this Answer Quatuor fieri debent portiones una Episcopo familiae suae propter hospitalitatem alia Clero tertia pauperibus quarta Eccleâ—is reparandis Fraternitas tua Monasterii regulis erudita seorâ—im vivere non debet à Clericis suis in Ecclesiâ Anglorum From this Answer it appears 1. That the Bishop and his Clergy lived together at
afterwards but so as to supply in some measure the necessities of every Diocess every part of it having at least some one Church within its neighbourhood to which the People might repair to pay their Devotions and receive instruction Many Canons therefore made about that time insinuate the establishment of Parochial Cures every where and the division of Diocesses into them Thus in the Constitutions of Egbert Archbishop of York the first is Vnusquisque Sacerdos Ecclesiam suam cum omni diligentiâ aedificet For in many places the Patrons endowed the Churches but built not the Edifice leaving that to be done by the Priest out of the Oblations and contribution of the Christians of the vicinage which was easily effected in those times when devotion and piety were very great in all Orders of men The second Constitution directs all Priests to sound the Bells of their Churches at the usual hours of day and night to give notice of the time of prayer and of the several Offices of Religion which were then daily performed by the Priests in publick The sixth enjoyns every Priest carefully to instruct the people committed to him in the Lordâ—s prayer and the Creed This Parochial division was long before introduced in France For the Laws of King Dagobert made in the year 630. direct that Si quis Presbytero vel Diacono quem Episcopus in Parochiâ ordinavit vel qualem plebs sibi recepit ad Sacerdotem injuriam â—ecerit he should be punished in such a manner In England the first Synod of Celcyth held in the year 787. commands Vt omni anno in Synodalibus conventibus ab Episcopis singularum Ecclesiarum Presbyteri qui populum erudire debent de ipsâ fide diligentissimè examinentur And the tenth Canon of the second Synod at Celcyth which was held in the year 816. appoints that at the death of a Bishop Statim per singulas Parochias in singulis quibusq Ecclesiis pulsato signo omnis famulorum Dei coetus ad Basilicam conveniat ibiq pariter triginta Psalmos pro defuncti animâ decantent In proportion to the increase of these Parochial Foundations the necessity of sending itinerant Priests through the Diocess decreased and at last wholly ceased The last mention which I find made of them is in the 9th Canon of the Synod of Clovesho now Cliff held by Archbishop Cuthbert in the year 747 in which it is decreed Vt Presbyteri per loca regiones Laiâ—orum quae sibi ab Episcopis Provinciae insinuata injuncta sunt Evangelicae praedicationis Officium in baptizando docendo ac visitando studeant explere Which confirms my former conjecture that before the year 800. the Parochial division of Diocesses was generally received and that the ordinary instruction of the People was then wholly left to the Parish-Priests For before this time those two reasons which chiefly discouraged the erection and endowment of Parochial Churches had been taken away Of these the first was That all the Lands Tithes Oblations and Ecclesiastical Revenues of the whole Diocess belonged to the disposition of the Bishop so that the particular endowment of any Parish Church did only add so much to the common Treasure of the Diocess This being no small cause of restraining the devotion of Lay-founders the Bishops at last condescended that the whole revenue of the endowment with all other Ecclesiastical profits which should come to the hands of the Priest officiating at such a Church should be taken from the common Treasury of the Diocess and be perpetually annexed to the Church of that Clerk who received it So that the Bishop should not any longer receive those profits nor the Incumbent expect his Salary from the Bishop This the Bishops willingly did as soon as by the erection of many Parish-Priests the necessity of maintaining so many itinerant Priests ceased and their Cathedrals were sufficiently endowed for the maintenance of themselves and their Colledge of Clergy consâ—antly attending the service of the Cathedral Church Yet however they parted with the propriety and immediate dispensation of that part of the Ecclesiastical Revenues of their Diocesses they still limited and appointed the uses in which they should be imployed by the Parochial Clergy This appears from several Constitutions before cited upon other occasions and from others which may be alledged to the same purpose as the French Capitular made in the year 779 which orders cap. 7. De Decimis ut unusquisque suam decimam donet atque per jussionem Pontificis dispensentur Another Capitular directs it more expresly in these words Vt Decimae in potestate Episcopi sint qualiter à Presbyteris dispensentur The same is decreed in the Council of Worms cap. 59. and may be found in Regino L. 1. c. 42. This Priviledge of the Bishops continued in England at least until the time of King Alfred who confirmed it by a Law and appointed the Tithes delivered to the Priests to be divided into three parts Vnam partem and Ecclesiae reparationem alteram pauperibus erogandam tertiam verò Ministris Dei qui Ecclesiam ibi curant Which was consonant to the first limitation of their use made when they were first taken from the common Treasure of the Diocess save only that the Bishops had now long since remitted their fourth part which at first they did reserve The other discouragement of the Foundation of Parochial Churches was That the Incumbents of them would often either through levity or the hope of gaining other Churches better endowed or for any other reason quit their Churches and thereby defraud their Patrons of the end which they proposed in the foundation viz. the constant presence of a Priest for their instruction and the performance of Religous duties This therefore was soon remedied and the Parish Priests forbid to quit their Cures without the leave of their Diocesan as well as to accept them without their permission So the National Synod of France held in the year 744. in the presence of Boniface the Popes Lâ—gate decreed cap. 5. De Sacerdotibus qui suos titulos absque licentia Episcopi dimittunt ut tamdiu à communione habeantur alieni quousque ad suos titulos revertantur And cap. 10. Quando Presbyteri vel Diaconi per parochias constituuntur oportet eos Episcopo suo professionem facere The first Capitular of Charles the Great made in the year 769. reneweth both these Canons Cap. 9. Nemo accipiat Ecclesiam in Parochiam sine consensu Episcopi sui nec de unâ ad aliam transeat Another Capitular commands those Clergymen to be degraded who forsook their Churches and accepted the Cure of others Presbyter vel Diaconus qui deserit Ecclesiam suam ad aliam transierit deponatur Some Capitulars and Councils apply this to the Bishops as well as the inferiour Clergy and forbid as well them to be translated from one Bishoprick
it conduceth more to the interest honour and support of Religion in general and the good of the whole Diocess in particular that according to the design of those Foundations ten or more Preâ—endaries persons of extraordinary merit and knowledge as they are supposed and ought to be should constantly attend at the Cathedral Church seated in the chief City of the Diocess to see the publick Worship of God performed with decent solemnity to instruct the inhabitants of a populous City and to advise the Bishop upon all occasions than that ten little Country Villages should be supplied by the constant personal attendance of the Incumbents of their Churches Formerly therefore no doubt was made that they were more strictly obliged to attend the service of the Cathedral than any Incumbents were to attend the cure of Parochial Churches insomuch as when they had so far relaxed the obligation of their duty in the tenth Age as to pretend to execute it sometimes by Substitutes or Curates the Kings and great Persons of England would not endure it which the Monks taking advantage of in the time of King Edgar supplanted the Secular Canons and caused them to be ejected out of many Cathedral and Collegiate Churches The crime alledged by Edgar and the Monks against them as a reason of their ejection was that they did not execute their duty personally but per vicarios For some time after this it was thought the indispensable duty of all Prebendaries to give constant attendance upon the Cathedral Church either per se or per alium which obligation continued very long in the Church of England insomuch as frequent examples can be given of Coadjutors assigned to Prebendaries when by old age sickness or any infirmity they were disabled from personal attendance upon the service of the Church to which they belonged Which custom continued at least until the year 1300. All the abovementioned Canons Constitutions and jus commune of the Church concerning the Residence of Bishops and Archdeacons remain still in their full force The Case of Prebendaries is altred by particular Local Statutes and by later Ecclesiastical Constitutions And to the residence of Archdeacons and Prebendaries a new obligation is added by the Statute 21 H. 8. concerning Residence which includes every spiritual person promoted to any Archdeaconry Deanery or Dignity in any Monastery or Cathedral or other Church Conventual or Collegiate as well as Beneficed with any Parsonage or Vicarage To manifest yet more fully that it was never the design of the Church in the first institution of Parochial Cures that they should in all cases be supplied by the Incumbent in person I will add this observation That from the first beginning of Parechial cures Deacons were admitted to possess them alâ—ho it were notorious that they could not execute the Office personally since they could neither absolve penitents nor celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist For if we look upon the ancient Church of France by the example of which we have often observed the model of our Church to have been framed there Presbyters and Deacons were alike capable of enjoying Benefices So the tenth Canon of the French National Council held by Boniface the Popes Legate in the year 744. Quando Presbyteri vel Diaconi per Parochias constituuntur oportet eos Episcopo suo professionem facere and in the Capitulars it is decreed That a Priest or Deacon who forsakes his Church and takes another shall be deposed If we enquire particularly into the custom of the Church of England in this matter there the same practice did obtain insomuch as that it was ordered in the Council of Westminster in the year 1126 Can. 8. that none should be ordained Priest or Deacon but to some Title either of Benefice or Prebend Nullus in Presbyterum seu Diaconum nisi ad certum titulum ordinetur Indeed John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury in the Council held at Lambeth in the year 1280. decreed That all Rectors of Churches having cure of Souls should cause themselves to be promoted to the Order of Priesthood within a year and that for the future none should be admitted to the cure of Souls nisi promotus ad Sacerdotium but a Priest upon pain of Deprivation However it is manifest that this Constitution never did obtain in the Church For Deacons were all along allowed to possess Benefices until the late Act of Vniformity being only obliged to receive the Order of Priesthood when their Age would permit and the Bishop should require it To the same purpose it may be observed That it was always allowed to Princes and Great Persons to retain Chaplains in their Service and in their Family who might possess Benefices conferred on them by their Patrons and consequently must supply the cure of them by Substitutes The Order of Domestick Chaplains in the Families and â— Retinues of Great Men is neither any innovation nor corruption in the Church as some would fancy For the Capitular of Karloman made in a full Synod in the year 742. directs Cap. 2. That every Governour should have a Priest with him Vnusquisque Praefectus unum Presbyterum secum habeat And in the first Capitular of Charles the Great made in the year 802. it is ordered Cap. 21. That the Priests and other Clergymen living in the service of the Counts should be subject to the Bishop according to the Canons Presbyteros ac caeteros Canonicos quos Comites suis in ministeriis habent omnino eos Episcopis suis subjectos exhibeant ut canonica institutio jubet In England in the Saxon times Plegmund Ethelnoth and Edsi were promoted from Domestick Chaplains of the King to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury and Stigand from Domestick Chaplain of Count Harold to the Bishoprick of the East-Angles In Wales the same practice was received early For in the Laws of Howel Dha made in the year 940. it is provided that in the progresses of the King and his Court lodgings for the Chaplain and Clerks of the King shall be taken up at the house of the Parish-Priest and so also for the Chaplain of the Queen In truth if men would judge without prejudice it must be acknowledged That it is more for the interest of the Church and of Religion in general that men of eminent learning and prudence should attend in the Courts of Princes and Noblemen to admonish instruct and advise them their relations and dependants in matters of Religion and publick concern than that the same persons should be obliged to attend personally upon the instruction of a few rusticks who may learn as much as they are capable of from the meanest Curate As for Archbishops and Bishops Chaplains are yet more necessary to them to be subservient to them in the government of the Church And this the Commons of England were so sensible of that in the Petition made in Parliament 2 H. 4. against Pluralities and Non-residence
Nursing-Fathers and Queens her Nursing-Mothers Which Prophecy may well be expounded to denote among other things the Favour and large Rewards which Secular Princes when converted to the Faith should bestow upon the Ministers of the Church for the increase and continuance of the Faith This was abundantly performed in our Church by the Kings and Queens and Noble Personages of England whose Memory is for ever blessed and the Endowment made by them confirmed by innumerable subsequent Laws Then the Endowment was so large and the number of extraordinary Provisions in Conventual Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and from Chauntries and Oblations so very great that the assistance of Pluralities was not so very necessary to uphold the Honour of Religion and of the Clergy But when by Impropriations at first and afterwards by the Alienation of Abbey and other Church-lands almost all the extraordinary Provisions were taken away and the ordinary Provision reduced to less than half it is impossible to maintain the design of those Endowments that is the flourishing condition of the Church without the assistance of Pluralities In the continuance of this benefit to the Church we doubt not but their present Majesties will imitate the Piety and Devotion of their Ancestors and as they once preserved this Church from eminent danger of Ruin by their Wisdom and Valour will also maintain the well-being and the flourishing estate of it by countenancing and continuing all those Institutions Customs and Practises which are necessary to that end I might insist upon many other Conveniencies and Benefits which accrue to the Church from the use of Pluralities as that hereby young Clergy-men are trained up in Curacies under others more grave and experienced and fitted for the Service of any Parochial Church in their own Right who if at their first admission into Holy Orders the Cure of Souls and Government of Parochial Churches had been committed to them would be apt to commit many indiscreet acts and execute their Trust unskilfully Yet the present circumstances of things make it necessary to admit those who are educated to the Clergy into Orders as soon as their Age permits otherwise the Church would soon want a competent number of Candidates to supply her Service since Fellowships in Colledges do not satisfie for the tenth part of them And from the finishing of their Studies to their Presentation to a Benefice there is no other Provision made for them than by Curacies That by the same benefit Provision is made for Deacons who are incapable of possessing a Benefice themselves That hereby the Cure of Souls in many Parishes is executed by two Persons which is a great advantage to those Parishes and to Religion in general For it may happen that the Incumbent of any one Parish be negligent in his Duty or unlearned but it can scarce happen that in a Parish held by a Pluralist and served alternately by the Incumbent and his Curate that both Incumbent and Curate should be alike negligent or unlearned That hereby Provision is made for Chaplains attending and assisting Bishops in the execution of their Office and Government of their Diocesses or maintaining and preserving Religion and Vertue in the Families of Noblemen CONCLUSION I Have now finished what I had to say in defence of Pluralities and submit the whole to the Consideration of indifferent Judges Having done this I hope I may be allowed to speak to the Pluralist Clergy whose Cause I have all this while defended with all freedom Them I must conjure by the Honour of God and which to ingenuous Persons ought also to be an irresistable Argument by the sense of their Duty to make such use of the favour of Plurality granted to them that Religion and the Church may receive no inconvenience thereby and no just occasion of Scandal may be given by them I have proved indeed that Plurality doth not in its own Nature beget any Inconveniencies or Scandals But if it be not rightly used if the terms of the Dispensation be not fulfilled if they so behave themselves as if they cared not for the Souls of either Parish or if they live wholly at one and seldom visit the other if they think themselves wholly disburthen'd of the Cure of Souls by the delegation of it to a Curate if they put no bounds to their desire of Pluralities hold two by Union a third by Sequestration and perhaps a fourth under the Name of another Man by Simoniacal Contract if they neglect to give Alms and to use Hospitality in both their Benefices according to their Abilities if they suffer their Houses to be dilapidated and have no regard to the good of their Successors much more if without any reasonable Excuse they are continually or frequently absent from both their Cures either to hunâ— after better Preferment elsewhere or to follow their Pleasure and live more at ease in great Cities and Towns If they are not excused by Personal Attendance in the Families of Bishops or Great Men or by prosecution of their Studies in the Universities or by designs of publick Service to the Church more advantageous to Religion in general than the Personal supplying any two Country Cures would be or by indisposition of Body real and not pretended If without any of these Lawful Excuses they absent themselves from the Cure of Souls committed to them or do not immediately betake themselves to the Personal execution of it When any of these Reasons cease which did before excuse them in all these cases Plurality will in them be the occasion of great Inconveniencies to the Church and Scandal to Religion It was never my design to defend such Practises nor can they be excused by any Principles laid down in this Treatise But because all Men will not be perswaded to do their Duty I beg leave in the next place to address my self with all Reverence to the Arch-bishops and Bishops of our Church and entreat them to force such Pluralists to do their Duty This they are empowered to do by the Canons and Laws of our Church and Nation still in force By the due execution of which they may regulate all such disorders and all other corruptions which have crept into the Church It is not the fault of her Constitution which occasions any of these Inconveniencies but the neglect of her Orders and non-execution of her established Discipline If these were vigorously revived if their Lordships would please diligently to attend and inspect their Dâ—ocesses force their Arch-deacons to do their Duty the Chapters of their Cathedral Churches to observe their Statutes the Pluralist Clergy to fulfil the terms of their Dispensations and all their Clergy to obey the Canons and to do their known Duty all that Benefit and Reformation would follow which some not knowing the excellence of the present Constitution propose to obtain by such new Laws and Projects as would perhaps shake and endanger the whole Fabrick of the Church What the Lord Bacon observed concerning