more to be continued one year than fifty If it be alledged that they enjoyed not the Temporal Revenues but only the Spiritual Jurisdiction of these Diocesses I answer that this is all which properly belongs to the Episcopal Function and constitutes the Character of a Bishop The Temporalties are no essential part of him If it be said that this was done for the good of the Church I answer that S. Paul pronounceth it unlawful to do evil that good may come of it and that if Plurality be in its nature unlawful no good design can take away the guilt of it It appears then plainly how false and pernicious the Principles are of these Anti-pluralists That they make it impossible to continue the Government or Service of the Church without inevitable sin or to secure the reputation of so many excellent Prelates from partaking in this sin It is much more easie safe and charitable to suppose that in all these cases of Plurality and Non-residence the principle by which every man ought to direct himself is the general good of the Church And this is the true resolution of the Case Bishops and Priests were not ordained only to serve this Diocess or that Parish in particular but the Church of Christ in general Good Order and Discipline indeed require that the exercise of his Office be confined to some certain limits and place but he still remains a Bishop or Priest not of that place only but of the whole Catholick Church and may execute his Office in any part of the Catholick Church out of his own limits if the greater good of the Church shall so require Whether any mans private case be such he ought to judge by rules of right reason taking especial care that he do not flatter and deceive himself herein by a false judgment And after the satisfaction and direction of his own Conscience ought to be directed herein by his Superiours the Priests by their Bishop and the Bishops by their Metropolitan And when such Cases happen the rules of Religion and the Laws of the Church allow Bishops and Priests either to be Non-resident or to retain the administration of more than one Diocess or Parish Thus in times of Persecution it was always thought lawful for Bishops or Priests to be Non-resident and to execute their Office in any part of the Catholick Church where-ever they should come In times of Infection I will not say it was always thought lawful to be Non-resident but I am sure it was always thought lawful for any Parish Priest in that case to take upon him the care of any neighbour Parish deserted by the proper Priâ—â—t Upon occasion of General Patriarchal or Provincial Councils it was always accounted lawful for Bishops to absent themselves from their Diocesses and attend the Council altho it should last for many months or years together All these Cases became lawful for the same reason because the greater good of the Church did so require Upon the same account it is lawful for the Prelates of our Church to attend continually their Majesties in Council or Parliament or any weighty offices or affairs wherein they shall please to employ them and in all these cases to be Non-resident because it is the interest of the Church in general It is more for the advantage of this National Church that the Archbishop of Canterbury should reside near the Court and be always ready to advise their Majesties in matters of Religion and defend the cause of the Church upon all occasions and more readily receive Appeals and give directions to his whole Province than that he should be tied down in constant Residence in his own Diocess For this reason all the Archbishops of Canterbury since the Reformation have for the greater part of the year and all for these sixty years last past during the whole year resided at Lambeth For this reason all the Bishops of the Church are wâ—nt to give attendance in Parliament altho sometimes their Sessions continue a whole year together because the Church reapeth greater benefit by their presence there than it suffers detriment by a temporary absence from their Diocesses For this reason many excellent Prelates have attended whole years together at Court because it is always of greater advantage to the Church in general to secure the favour of the Prince to it and direct his conscience than continually to attend to the care of any particular Diocess On the contrary if this Principle of these Anti-pluralists be allowed if Plurality be always sinful and in its nature if Residence be of Divine Right and consequently in all cases indispensable it will follow That all those holy and learned Bishops who in all Ages have appeared in Councils That all who have absented themselves in time of Persecution or in that and like cases have taken upon them the care of other Diocesses or Parishes That all the Bishops of our Church who have attended Parliaments since the first institution of them That all the Kings Lords and Commons of this Nation who have by publick Laws required their attendance therein That all the Archbishops of Canterbury since the Reformation and other excellent Prelates alive and dead who have absented themselves from their Diocesses to attend the publick Service of the Church at Court have committed mortal sin and do still continue in it That what hath been laid down in the case of Bishops may not be mistaken I will subjoyn That the obligation of Bishops to all the parts and consequences of their duty and particularly as to Residence is far greater than that of Parochial Priests in as much as the right discharge of their Office is of greater concern to the good of the Church and is also imposed on them by Divine Institution If therefore a Priest ought not to neglect his charge much less a Bishop and if the absence of a Parochial Priest ought to be supplied by a Curate much more doth it seem reasonable that the absence of a Bishop if it be long or frequent should be supplied by a Suffragan Bishop It is a fatal mistake to imagine that the care of the Souls of the Laity belongs only to the inferiour Clergy and that the Bishop hath no more to do but only to govern the Clergy or that a Diocess doth not more want the constant presence of a Bishop than any private Parish the presence of a Priest And therefore in the Church of England before the Reformation even in the most corrupt times of Popery the Archbishop of Canterbury and all other Biâ—hops attending at Court or employed by the King in publick Service constantly maintained Suffragan Bishops in their Diocesses This practice was confirmed and intirely setled by an Act of Parliament in the Reign of Henry VIII and from that time Suffragan Bishops were without interruption continued in the Diocess of Canterbury till the end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and in some Diocesses till the middle of King James It
the Archbishoprick of York held two Bishopricks and the best Abbey of England In the beginning of the Reformation in England the Papal Power being abolished by Act of Parliament it was found necessary to invest the power of granting Dispensation of Plurality in some person For this purpose the Statute 21 H. 8. was made which restored to the Prelates of the Church their original power of dispensing herein long since taken from them by Papal usurpation only restored it not to every Ordinary to be executed in his own Diocess as was formerly but fixed it wholly in the Archbishop of the Province In this Act the 29th Canon of the fourth Lateran Council is confirmed in relation to Benefices with cure of Souls viz. That if such a second Benefice be taken without Dispensation it shall void the first Then the power and manner of Dispensation is declared and appointed and the persons named who shall be capable of receiving such a Dispensation that is all Chaplains of the King Queen and Royal Family eight Chaplains of every Archbishop six of a Duke or Bishop five of a Marquess or Earl four of a Vicount three of a Baron Lord Chancellour and Knight of the Garter two of a Dutchess Marchioness Countess or Baroness being Widows one of the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and Warden of the Cinque-ports all Brothers and Sons of Temporal Lords and Knights all Doctors and Batchelors of Divinity or of the Canon Law who shall be admitted to any of those Degrees by either of the Universities These are the only persons capable of receiving Dispensation but as yet they have no right to claim it that is to be acquired by their particular merit of which the Archbishop is made the sole Judge After all no more than two Benefices are allowed to be dispensed with except only in one case that is when any of the Kings Chaplains are sworn of the Kings Council such being made capable of receiving a Dispensation for three Benefices a case which perhaps never happened to any except Dr. Wotton and I am not assured whether he took the advantage of it As for Secretary Boxall and some others in Queen Mary's time when the Popes dispensing power was revived they are not to be accounted for When such a Dispensation is in virtue of this Act granted to any one both the Grant if self and the Câ—nons of the Church limit the use of it that so neither of the Benefices therein personally united may receive any deâ—riment either in spiritual or mixt matters The 41th Canon of the Synod held at London in the year 1603. directs That no Dispensation for keeping more Benefices with cure than one shall be granted to any but such only as shall be thought very well worthy for his learning and very well able and sufficient to discharge his duty c. Provided always that he be by a good and sufficient caution bound to make his personal Residence in each his said Benefices for some reasonable time in every year and that the said Benefices be no more than 30 miles distant asunder and lastly that he have under him in the Benefice where he doth not reside a Preacher lawfully allowed that is able sufficiently to teach and instruct the people The form of the Dispensation which hath been always used since the Reformation begins with a supposal of the great merits of the person to whom it is granted and afterwards adds these Conditions Provided alway that in each of the aforesaid Churches as well that from which you shall be absent for the greater part as the other in which you shall make perpetual and personal residence you preach thirteen Sermons every year according to the Constitutions of the Church of England in that case set forth and therein handle the holy Word of God sincerely religiously and reverently and that in the same Benefice from which you shall be chiefly absent you keep hospitality for two months every year and in that time entertain and relieve the inhabitants of the same Parish especially the poor and needy in proportion to the profits and revenues of the Benefice Provided also always that the cure of that Church from which you shall be chiefly absent be in the mean time well supplied in all things by some fit Minister able to explain and interpret the Principles of the Christian Religion and to preach the Word of God to the people if the revenues of the said Church can coveniently maintain such a Curate and that a competent and sufficient Salary to be limited and appointed by the Bishop of that place according to his discretion or by us or our Successours in case the Diocesan Bishop shall not do his duty herein be given and paid bonâ side to the said Curate Herein it is to be observed That altho no more than two months Residence upon the Benefice less frequented be expressed yet thirteen Sermons are injoyned to be preached yearly at it which being not ordinarily to be performed in distant Parishes as for contiguous Parishes the Pluralist may reside constantly upon both in an Ecclesiastical sense without the residence of as many weeks I have for that reason often said in this Discourse that a Pluralist is bound to reside three months in every year upon that Benefice which he less frequenteth I have now finished the History of Parochial Foundations and Pluralities in this Nation and now dare to appeal to the judgment of the Reader whether the granting of such Pluralities as are now allowed be against the first design of the foundation and endowment of Parochial Churches I fear the same judgment will not be passed concerning some other Cases which have been incidentally mentionâ—d as of the Residence of Bishops at their Cathedral Churches which for the greater good of their Diocesses the Council of London held under Archbishop Lanfranc commanded to be translated to the principal Cities of their Diocesses of the obligation of Prebendaries and Archdeacons to constant Residence of the incompatibility of two such Dignities of the unlawfulness of holding Commendams in another Diocess or being translated from one Diocess to another All these cases were manifested to be consonant to the first design of the Foundation and Endowments of Cathedral Churches yet contrary practices are introduced and no exclamation made against them Other like cases might be named as as that formerly Clergymen if they had proper possessions sufficient to maintain them should receive no allowance from the Church that they were bound to spend all in hospitality and alms or bequeath what remained to the Church whence they got their money or possessions Many of these old customs may be agreeable to the first design of the endowment of the Church yet not necessary and some of them not fit to be continued If any of them do deserve to be revived they are such as may be effected by the old Laws still in force and want no new Laws but only the pleasure
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
Livings of England are now held by Pluralists who hardly see either of their Livings in a year and served by mean Curates is no better than a calumny To the second Article touching Dilapidations I only answer That Dilapidation is no more incident to a Pluralist than to an Unalist and for this I appeal to Experience as well as the Objector and add that where ever it is found it is the fault of the Bishop and Archdeacon if it be not corrected and amended The third Objection is drawn from the neglect of Alms and Hospitality and to this the former Answer might suffice That Pluralists are no more guilty of this neglect than Unalists But because the Objection is popular I will consider it somewhat further It is said that the Clergy are obliged by the design of the Act 21 H. 8. to maintain Hospitality so were the Laity possessing the Lands of dissolved Abbies not only by the design but by the express words of the Act 31 H. 8. yet no such thing was ever done by them nor required of them It is added that the Decree of Pope Sylvester directeth a fourth part of the goods of the Church to be given to the poor but it is somewhat shameful for a Professor of the Law to cite the Decrees of Pope Sylvester as genuine which were forged almost 500 years after his death As to the Law of King Alfred why are not those Laws as well produced which direct a community of possessions in the Bishop and his Clergy as in the first endowment of the Church May that Clergyman be accursed who doth not give Alms of that he hath and maintain Hospitality among his Neighbours and Parishioners according to his circumstances and ability yet no man can without great ignorance of the change of times imagine the same obligation of alms and hospitality to continue in the Clergy which was formerly Before the Reformation it was the humour of all orders of men in the Nation to maintain an effuse Hospitality to which they were the more induced by the great cheapness of all things consumable and without it no Great man could keep up his Interest or Reputation Now the Lay-Nobility and Gentry have wholly laid it aside and if it could be continued by the Clergy it would be accounted no other than Luxury and Prodigality Then it was a real Charity to make constant Feasts for the inferiour people who lived very meanly and hardly Now they generally live so well that a good entertainment would very little oblige them and would scarce be a work of Charity Then the Revenues of the Clergy were very great no Taxes were imposed on them but by themselves the recovery of their rights and dues was easie being left wholly to the decision of their own Courts their Title for life was secure what ever change in Government happened they were undisturbed they were not obliged to make any provision for Posterity and lastly little Learning was then required or expected of them and consequently few Books necessary to them On the contrary since the Reformation the far greater part of their Revenues have been taken away from them and even of that little which remains a great part is diminished by prevailing modi decimandi and after all it is often not to be obtained but by course of Law and that taken out oâ— the hands of Ecclesiastical Judges in most cases of moment and put into a long costly and difficult method they are burdened with constant ordinary Taxes unknown to Laymen in extraordinary Taxes they are generally forced to pay a much greater proportion than other men who in some places oppress them as they please herein without any remedy concerning the insecurity of their Title it is not necessary to say any thing and the Law hath allowed them to bring up children for the service of the publick and consequently to make a competent provision for them and lastly a great measure of Learning and Knowledge being become necessary to them a much greater number and variety of Books is now requisite than was formerly to them These considerations may perswade any reasonable man that it is not just to expect equal Alms and Hospitality in the present as in the ancient Clergy But after all Plurality is so far from obstructing that it increaseth both Charity and Hospitality in the Clergy enabling them to perform both more freely and plentifully than otherwise they could do and that may be as well performed in the Benefice less frequented as in the other For there is no Benefice so rich which a man may not if he so pleaseth expend wholly in Alms and Hospitality in that three months residence which the Canon requireth As to matter of fact that no such Residence is made if it were true it would be the fault of the Bishop who doth not enforce the Pluralist to observe the terms of his Dispensation But when it is generally affirmed it is no more true than that other charge that no Hospitality is kept by Pluralists For the fourth Accusation raised from the Scandals consequent to Plurality there need no other answer than that since all the disorders and inconveniencies from which the supposed Scandal doth arise are proved to be unjustly charged upon Plurality the imputation of Scandal must fall to the ground If Plurality be neither unlawful in it self nor contrary to the design of the endowment of Churches nor the cause of any notable inconveniencies as hath been largely proved it cannot be the occasion of any Scandal to those who rightly judge It will indeed still be occasion of Scandal to such as have been deceived by the unjust exclamations which have been made against it and refuse to be undeceived but then the fault lyes wholly not in the nature of the thing but in the Authours of the Scandal who represent an innocent practice of the Church as an inexcusable Scandal If the Surplice and Cross be scandalous to any those men only are to be blamed who have perswaded the simple people that they are unlawful or superstitious If the Confession of the Trinity be matter of Scandal to a Socinian he must lay the whole blame upon his own understanding The Church is not obliged to account for these things nor to change her Doctrines Ceremonies and received Practices to please the humour of brainsick men However somewhat must be particularly answered to that violent exclamation whereby they pretend the practice of the Church of England herein to be more corrupt and enormous than it ever was before the Reformation or now is in the Church of Rome It is alledged that the Church of Rome after all her impudence is ashamed of these abuses yet it is well known that the practice is continued and defended by her The Example of France is produced against us but I would fain know what abuse our Church hath in this kind comparable to their Commendatory Abbots The opinion of the greater and better number of the
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