Life than others who withdrew from the common Conversation of Mankind and so by degrees from joining in the Acts of Publick Worship with them Which did unspeakable Mischief to Christianity for then the Perfection of the Christian Life was not supposed to consist in the active part of it but in Retirement and Contemplation As tho our highest imitation of Christ lay in following him into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil and not in walking as he walked who frequented the Synagogues and went about doing good But this way of Retirement happening to be admired by some great Men the Publick Worship came to be in less esteem and others upon Reasons of a different Nature withdrew themselves from such Acts of Devotion as required a stricter Attendance and a more prepared Temper of Mind And there were some who did abstain because they were not so well satisfied with themselves as to their own Preparations and such as these S. Chrysostom seems to favor rather than such who came often without due care as to the whole Course of their Lives only out of custom or out of regard to the Orders of the Church From hence many thought it better to forbear as long as they did it not out of Contempt And so by degrees the People were content to look on it as a Sacrifice for them to be performed by others rather than as an Office wherein they were to bear a part themselves at least they thought once or thrice a year sufficient for them And to this as appears by our old Provincial Constitutions they were forced by severe Canons When the Reformation began this Disuse of this holy Sacrament was looked on by the chief Reformers as a great Abuse and Corruption crept into the Church which ought by all means to be Reformed and the frequent Celebration of it set up in the Reformed Churches But unreasonable Scruples in some and Misapprehensions in others and a general Coldness and Indifference as to matters of Religion have hitherto hindered the Reviving this Primitive Part of Devotion among us I do not go about to determine the Frequency in your Parishes which the Scripture doth not as to the Christian Church but supposes it to be often done but I may require you to take Care that Christ's Institution be observed among you and that with your utmost Care both as to the Decency and Purity of it The last thing I recommend to you all is To have a great Care of your Conversations I do not speak it out of a distrust of you I hope you do it already and your Case will be so much worse if you do it not because you very well know how much you ought to do it For the Honor of God and Religion and the Success of your Ministry as well as your own Salvation depend very much upon it Lead your Flock by your Example as well as by your Doctrine and then you may much better hope that they will follow you for the People are naturally Spies upon their Ministers and if they observe them to mind nothing but the World all the Week they will not believe them in earnest when on the Lord's Days they persuade them against it And it takes off the Weight of all Reproof of other Mens Faults if those they reprove have reason to believe them guilty of the same I do not think it enough for a Preacher of Righteousness merely to avoid open and scandalous Sins but he ought to be a great Example to others in the most excellent Virtues which adorn our Profession not only in Temperance and Chastity in Justice and ordinary Charity but in a readiness to do good to all in forgiving Injuries in loving Enemies in evenness of Temper in Humility and Meekness and Patience and Submission to God's Will and in frequent Retirements from the World not merely for Study but for Devotion If by these and such things you shine as Lights among your People they will be more ready to follow your Conduct and in probability you will not only stop their Mouths but gain their Hearts For among all the Ways of advancing the Credit and Interest of the Church of England one of the most successful will be the diligent Labors and the exemplary Lives of the Clergy in it But if Men will not regard their own or the Churches Interest in this matter if they will break their Rules in such a manner as to dishonor God and the Church and themselves by it then you are to consider the next thing I was to speak to which is II. What Authority is given to us for the punishing Offenders in our Diocesses by the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm For this we are to consider that our Authority herein is not derived from any modern Canons or Constitutions of this Church altho due Regard ought to be shewed to them but from the ancient Common Law Ecclesiastical in this Realm which still continues in force For as there is a Common Law with respect to Civil Rights which depends not on the Feudal Constitutions altho in many things it be the same with them but upon ancient Practice and general Consent of the People from Age to Age. So I say there is a Common Law Ecclesiastical which altho in many things it may be the same with the Canon Law which is read in the Books yet it hath not its force from any Papal or Legatine Constitutions but from the Acceptance and Practice of it in our Church I could easily shew if the time would permit that Papal and Legatine Constitutions were not received here altho directed hither that some Provincial Constitutions never obtained the Force of Ecclesiastical Laws but my business is to shew what did obtain and continue still to have the force of such Ecclesiastical Laws among us By the Statute of 25. H. 8. c. 19. it is declared That such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or Hurt of the King's Prerogative Royal shall now still be used and executed as they were afore the making of this Act c. It 's true a Review was appointed but such Difficulties were found in it as to the shaking the Foundations of the Ecclesiastical Law here that nothing was ever legally established in it and therefore this Law is still in force In the Statute 25. H. 8. c. 21. it is said That this Realm Recognising no Superior under God but the King hath been and is free from Subjection to any Mans Laws but only to such as have been Devised Made and Observed within this Realm for the Wealth of the same or to such other as by the sufferance of the King and his Progenitors the People of this Realm have taken at their free Liberty by their own consent to be used amongst them and have bound themselves by long use and
Faction and Schism and impatience of Contradiction from mere Equals therefore S. Jerom himself grants That to avoid these mischiefs there was a necessity of a Superior Order to Presbyters in the Church of God ad quem omnis Ecclesiae Cura pertineret Schismatum seminatollerentur as he speaks even where he seems most to lessen the Authority of Bishops But whatever some expressions of his may be when the Bishop of Jerusalem and the Roman Deacons came into his head his Reasons are very much for the Advantage of Episcopal Government For can any Man say more in point of Reason for it than that nothing but Faction and Disorder followed the Government of Presbyters and therefore the whole Christian Church agreed in the necessity of a higher Order and that the Peace and Safety of the Church depends upon it that if it be taken away nothing but Schisms and Confusions will follow I wish those who magnifie S. Jerom's Authority in this matter would submit to his Reason and Authority both as to the Necessity and Usefulness of the Order of Bishops in the Church But beyond this in several Places he makes the Bishops to be Successors of the Apostles as well as the rest of the most Eminent Fathers of the Church have done If the Apostolical Office as far as it concerns the Care and Government of Churches were not to continue after their Decease how came the best the most learned the nearest to the Apostolical Times to be so wonderfully deceived For if the Bishops did not succeed by the Apostles own Appointment they must be Intruders and Usurpers of the Apostolical Function and can we imagine the Church of God would have so uniuersally consented to it Besides the Apostles did not die all at once but there were Successors in several of the Apostolical Churches while some of the Apostles were living can we again imagine those would not have vindicated the Right of their own Order and declared to the Church That this Office was peculiar to themselves The Change of the Name from Apostles to Bishops would not have been sufficient Excuse for them for the Presumption had been as great in the Exercise of the Power without the Name So that I can see no Medium but that either the Primitive Bishops did succeed the Apostles by their own Appointment and Approbation which Irenaeus expresly affirms Qui ab Apostolis ipsis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis or else those who governed the Apostolical Churches after them outwent Diotrephes himself for he only rejected those whom the Apostle sent but these assumed to themselves the Exercise of an Apostolical Authority over the Churches planted and settled by them But to let us see how far the Apostles were from thinking that this part of their Office was peculiar to themselves we find them in their own time as they saw occasion to appoin r others to take care of the Government of the Churches within such bounds as they thought fit Thus Timothy was appointed by St. Paul at Ephesus to examine the Qualifications of such as were to be Ordained and not to lay hands suddenly on any to receive Accusations if there were Cause even against Elders to proceed judicially before two or three Witnesses and if there were Reason to give them a publick Rebuke And that this ought not to be thought a slight matter he presently adds I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou observe these things without prefetring one before another doing nothing by partiality Here is a very strict and severe Charge for the Impartial Exercise of Discipline in the Church upon Offenders And although in the Epistle to Titus he be only in general required to set in order the things that are wanting and to ordain Elders in every City as he had appointed him yet we are not to suppose that this Power extended not to a Jurisdiction over them when he had ordained them For if any of those whom he Ordained as believing them qualified according to the Apostles Rules should afterwards demeam themselves otherwise and be self willed froward given to Wine Brawlens Covetous or any way scandalous to the Church can we believe that Titus was not as well bound to correct them afterwards as to examine them before And what was this Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction but the very same which the Bishops have exercised ever since the Apostles Times But they who go about to Unbishop Timothy and Titus may as well Unscripture the Epistles that were written to them and make them only some particular and occasional Writings as they make Timothy and Titus to have been only some particular and occasional Officers But the Christian Church preserving these Epistles as of constant and perpetual Use did thereby suppose the same kind of Office to continue for the sake whereof those excellent Epistles were written And we have no greater Assurance that these Epistles were written by St. Paul than we have that there were Bishops to succeed the Apostles in the Care and Government of Churches Having said thus much to clear the Authority we act by I now proceed to consider the Rules by which we are to govern our selves Every Bishop of this Church in the Time of his Consecration makes a solemn Profession among other things That he will not only maintain and set forward as much as lies in him quietness love and peace among all Men but that he will correct and punish such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous within his Diocess according to such Authority as he hath by God's Word and to him shall be committed by the Ordinance of this Realm So that we have Two Rules to proceed by viz. the Word of God and the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm 1. By the Word of God and that requires from us Diligence and Care and Faithfulness and Impartiality remembring the Account we must give that we may do it with Joy and not with Grief And we are not merely required to correct and punish but to warn and instruct and exhort the Persons under our Care to do those things which tend most to the Honour of our Holy Religion and the Church whereof we are Members And for these Ends there are some things I shall more particularly recommend to You. 1. That you would often consider the Solemn Charge that was given you and the Profession you madeof yourResolution to do yourDuty at your Ordination I find by the Provincial Constitution of this Church that the Bishops were to have their solemn Profession read over to them twice in the year to put them in mind of their Duty And in the Legatine Constitutions of Otho 22 H. 3. the same Constitution is renewed not merely by a Legatine Power but by Consent of the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces wherein it is declared that Bishops ought to visit their
of his Work to others can he reasonably look for the same Success Believe it all our Pains are little enough to awake the sleepy and secure Sinners to instruct the ignorant to reclaim the vitious to rebuke the profane to convince the erroneous to satisfie the doubtful to confirm the wavering to recover the lapsed and to be useful to all according to their feveral Circumstances and Conditions It is not to Preach a Sermon or two in a Weeks time to your Parishoners that is the main of your Duty that is no such difficult Task if Men apply their Minds as they ought to do to Divine Matters and do not spend their Retirements in useless Studies but the great Difficulty lies in Watching over your Flock i. e. knowing their Condition and applying your selves suitably to them He that is a Stranger to his Flock and only visits them now and then can never be said to watch over it he may watch over the Fleeces but he understands little of the State of his Flock viz. of the Distempers they are under and the Remedies proper for them The Casuists say That the reason why there is no Command for Personal Residence in Scripture is because the Nature of the Duty it self requires it for if a Person be required to do such things which cannot be done without it Residence is implyed As a Pilot to a Ship needs no Command to be in his Ship for how can he do the Office of a Pilot out of it Let none think to excuse themselves by saying that our Church only takes them for Curates and that the Bishops have the Pastoral Charge for by our old Provincial Constitutions which are still in force so far as they are not repugnant to the Law of the Land even those who have the smallest Cures are called Pastors and Lyndwood there notes that Parochialis Sacerdos dicitur Pastor and that not merely by way of Allusion but in respect of the Care of Souls But we need not go so far back For what is it they are admitted to Is it not ad Curam Animarum Did not they promise in their Ordination To teach the People committed to their Care and Charge The Casuists distinguish a threefold Cure of Souls 1. In foro interiori tantum and this they say is the Parochial Cure 2. In foro exteriori tantum where there is Authority to perform Ministerial Acts as to suspend excommunicate absolve sine Pastorali Curâ and this Archdeacons have by virtue of their Office 3. In utroque simul where there is a special Care together with Jurisdiction this is the Bishops And every one of these say they secundum commune Jus Canonicum is obliged to Residence i. e. by the common Law Ecclesiastical of which more afterwards The Obligation is to perpetual Residence but as it is in other positive Duties there may other Duties intervene which may take away the present force of it as Care of Health necessary Business publick Service of the King or Church c. But then we are to observe that no Dispensation can justifie a Man in point of Conscience unless there be a sufficient Cause and no Custom can be sufficient again the natural Equity of the Case whereby every one is bound from the Nature of the Office he hath undertaken I confess the Case in Reason is different where there is a sufficient Provision by another fit Person and approved by those who are to take Care that Places be well supplied and where there is not but yet this doth not take off the force of the Personal Obligation arising from undertaking the Cure themselves which the Ecclesiastical Law understands to be not merely by Promise but cum effectu as the Canonists speak which implies personal-Residence Not that they are never to be away Non sic amare intelligi debet ut nunquam inde recedat saith Lyndwood but these Words are to be understood civili modo as he expresses it i. e. not without great Reason There must not be saith he Callida Interpretatio sed talis ut cessent fraudes negligentiae i. e. There must be no Art used to evade the Law nor any gross Neglect of it It 's true the Canonists have distinguished between Rectoriēs and Vicarages as to Personal Residence but we are to consider these things 1. The Canon Law strictly obliges every one that hath a Parochial Cure to perpetual Residence and excepts only two Cases when the Living is annexed to a Prebend or Dignity and then he who hath it is to have a perpetual Vicar instituted with a sufficient Maintenance 2. After this Liberty obtained for dignified Persons to have Vicars endowed in their Places the Point of Residence was strictly injoyned to them and we find in the Provincial Constitutions a Difference made between Personatus and Vicaria but this was still meant of a Vicarage endowed This was in the time of Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury and in another Constitution he required an Oath of Personal Residence from all such Vicars altho' the Place were not above the value of five Marks which as appears by Lyndwood else where was then sufficient for Maintenance and Hospitality And to cover the shameful Dispensations that were commonly granted to the higher Clergy under Pretence of the Papal Power the poor Vicars by a Constitution of Otho were bound to take a strict Oath of continual Residence and without it their Institution was declared to be Null But even in that Case the Gloss there saith That they may be some time absent for the Benefit of the Church or State but not for their own particular Advantage 3. The Obligation in point of Conscience remains the same but Dispensing with Laws may take away the Penalty of Non-Residence in some Cases Joh. de Athon Canon of Lincoln who wrote the Glosses on the Legatine Constitutions doth not deny but that Rectors are as well bound to Residence as Vicars but these are more strictly tied by their Oath and because a Vicar cannot appoint a Vicar but a Parson may And altho that Name among some be used as a Term of Reproach yet in former Ages Personatus and Dignitas were the same thing and so used here in England in the Time of Henry II. but afterwards it came to be applied to him that had the Possession of a Parochial Benefice in his own immediate Right and was therefore bound to take Care of it For the Obligation must in Reason be supposed to go along with the Advantage however Local Statutes may have taken off the Penalty II. When you have thus considered the Obligation which lies upon you to take Care of your Elock let me in the next place recommend to you a plain useful and practical Way of Preaching among them I mean such as is most likely to do good upon them which certainly ought to be the just Measure of
our Church will be best answered which appoints the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily to be said and used throughout the Year VI. As to the Dissenters from the Church the present Circumstances of our Affairs require a more than ordinary Prudence in your Behaviour towards them It is to no purpose to provoke or exasperate them since they will be but so much more your Emies for it and if you seem to court them too much they will interpret your Kindness to be a liking their Way better than your own so that were it not for some worldly Interest you would be just what they are which is in effect to say you would be Men of Conscience if ye had a little more Honesty For they can never think those honest Men who comply with things against their Consciences only for their temporal Advantage but they may like them as Men of a Party who under some specious Colours promote their Interest For my own part as I do sincerely value and esteem the Church of England and I hope ever shall so I am not against such a due temper towards them as is consistent with the preserving the Constitution of our Church But if any think under a Pretence of Liberty to undermine and destroy it we have reason to take the best care we can in order to its Preservation I do not mean by opposing Laws or affronting Authority but by countermining them in the best way i. e. by outdoing them in those things which make them most Popular if they are consistent with Integrity and a good Conscience If they gain upon the People by an appearance of more than ordinary Zeal for the good of Souls I would have you to go beyond them in a true and hearty Concernment for them not in irregular Heats and Passions but in the Meekness of Wisdom in a calm and sedate Temper in doing good even to them who most despightfully reproach you and withdraw themselves and the People from you If they get an Interest among them by Industry and going from Place to Place and Family to Family I hope you will think it your Duty to converse more freely and familiarly with your own People Be not Strangers and you will make them Friends Let them see by your particular Application to them that you do not despise them For Men love to value those who seem to value them and if you once slight them you run the hazard of making them your Enemies It is some Tryal of a Christians Patience as well as Humility to condescend to the Weaknesses of others but where it is our Duty we must do it and that chearfully in order to the best End viz. Doing the more good upon them And all Condescension and Kindness for such an End is true Wisdom as well as Humility I am afraid Distance and too great Stiffness of Behaviour towards them have made some more our Enemies than they would have been I hope they are now convinced that the Persecution which they complained lately so much of was carried on by other Men and for other Designs than they would then seem to believe But that Persecution was then a Popular Argument for them for the complaining side hath always the most Pity But now that is taken off you may deal with them on more equal Terms Now there is nothing to affright them and we think we have Reason enough on our side to persuade them The Case of Separation stands just as it did in Point of Conscience which is not now one jot more reasonable or just than it was before Some think Severity makes Men consider but I am afraid it heats them too much and makes them too violent and refractory You have more reason to fear now what the Interest of a Party will do than any Strength of Argument How very few among them understand any reason at all for their Separation But Education Prejudice Authority of their Teachers sway them remove these and you convince them And in order thereto acquaint your selves with them endeavour to oblige them let them see you have no other Design upon them but to do them good if any thing will gain upon them this will But if after all they grow more headstrong and insolent by the Indulgence which the Law gives them then observe whether they observe those Conditions on which the Law gives it to them For these are known Rules in Law that he forfeits his Privilege who goes beyond the Bounds of it that no Privileges are to be extended beyond the Bounds which the Laws give them for they ought to be observed as they are given I leave it to be considered whether all such who do not observe the Conditions of the Indulgence be not as liable to the Law as if they had none But there is a very profane abuse of this Liberty among some as though it were an Indulgence not to serve God at all Such as these as they were never intended by the Law so they ought to enjoy no Benefit by it For this were to Countenance Profaneness and Irreligion which I am afraid will grow too much upon us unless some effectual Care be taken to suppress it VII There is another Duty incumbent upon you which I must particularly recommend to your Care and that is of Visiting the Sick I do not mean barely to perform the Office prescribed which is of very good use and ought not to be neglected but a particular Application of your selves to the State and Condition of the Persons you visit It is no hard matter to run over some Prayers and so take leave but this doth not come up to the Design of our Church in that Office For after the general Exhortation and Profession of the Christian Faith our Church requires that the sick Person be moved to make special Confession of his Sins if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter and then if the sick Person humbly and heartily desires it he is to be absolved after this manner Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left Power in his Church to absolve all Sinners who truly repent and believe in him c. Where the Power of Absolution is grounded upon the Supposition of true Faith and Repentance and therefore when it is said afterwards And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from the same c. it must proceed on the same supposition For the Church cannot absolve when God doth not So that all the real Comfort of the Absolution depends upon the Satisfaction of the Person 's Mind as to the Sincerity of his Repentance and Faith in Christ. Now here lies the great Difficulty of this Office how to give your selves and the wounded Conscience Satisfaction as to the Sincerity of those Acts I do not mean as to the Sincerity of his present Thoughts but as to the Acceptableness of his Faith and Repentance with God in order to Remission of Sins But what if you
their Parochial Visitations Lyndwood saith the Ancient Procuration here was a Day and Nights Entertainment which after came to be a customary Payment But however it was paid it is an evident Proof of the Right of the Bishops Visitations by the ancient Ecclesiastical Law and by such a Custom as is allowable by the Rules of our Common Law III. There are some Faults which make the Clergy lyable to Deprivation by Virtue of the Ecclesiastical Law which was here received I shall name only some of them and conclude these being sufficient for my present purpose I. Excessive Drinking All drinking ad Potus aequales was absolutely forbidden to Clergymen on pain of Suspension after Admonition not only by a Synodical but by a Provincial Constitution under Edmund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Canon Law saith in that Case ab Officio vel Beneficio suspendatur But our Constitution is more severe à Beneficio Officio The Council of Oxford not only strictly forbids all Clergymen whatever tends to Gluttony and Drunkenness but it requires the Bishops to proceed strictly against those who are guilty according to the Form of the General Council i. e. the Lateran 4. viz. by Admonition first and then Suspension Lyndwood complains that this was not so much looked after as it should be because it brought no Profit I hope that Reason will not hold among those who pretend to Reformation which will be very defective if it extend not to our Lives as well as our Doctrines For there can be no greater Reproach than to see those loose and dissolute in their Conversations who think it their Honour to be Ministers of a Reformed Church It was a stinging Reflection upon our Church by the Arch-Bishop of Spalato who was no very strict Man himself that he saw nothing Reformed among us but our Doctrines I hope there was more of Satyr than of Truth in it for I do not question but there were many then as there are now of Exemplary Lives and unblameable Conversations but if there be any others it will be the more shame not to proceed against them since even before the Reformation the Canons were so strict and severe in this matter In the Council at Westminster in Henr. II. time under Richard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury all Clergymen are forbidden going into Taverns to eat or drink unless upon Travelling and the Sanction of this Canon is aut cesset aut deponatur The same was forbidden in the Council at York in the time of Richard I. in the Council at London under Hubert in the time of King John And since the Reformation the same Canon is renewed That no Ecclesiastical Persons shall at any time other than for their honest Necessities resort to any Taverns or Alehouses And there have been Instances of the Severity of our Ecclesiastical Censures against Drunkenness in Clergy-men In 8 Jac. Parker was deprived of his Benefice for Drunkenness and moved for a Prohibition but it was denyed him In 9 Jac. another was deprived for the same Fault and the Judges at Common Law allowed the Sentence to be good No doubt there are other Instances but we had not known of these if they had not been preserved in Books of Reports II. Incontinency Lyndwood saith those who are proved to be guilty of it are ipso Jure privati but he thinks a Declaratory Sentence of the Ecclesiastical Judges necessary for the Execution of it Since the Reformation we have Instances of Deprivation for Adultery in our Law Books One 12 Eliz. another 16 Eliz. a third 27 Eliz. These are enough to shew that the Ecclesiastical Law is allowed by the Judges of Common Law to continue in sufficient force for Deprivation in this Case III. Simony Which is the Name given by the Ecclesiastical Law to all Contracts for Gain in the disposing or obtaining any Ecclesiastical Promotion or Ministry It is true these do not come up to the very Sin of Simon Magus which related to the immediate Gifts of the Holy Ghost but because the whole Ministerial Office in all the Parts of it especially the Cure of Souls is of a Spiritual Nature and all Bargains are so repugnant to the Design of it therefore the Ecclesiastical Law hath fixed that detestable Name upon it For all contractus non gratuiti in these things savour of turpe lucrum and tend to bring in turpe Commercium into the Church which would really overturn the whole Design of that Ministry which was designed for the Salvation of Souls And therefore it was necessary that when Persons had received by the Favor of Temporal Princes and other Benefactors who were Founders of Churches such Endowments as might encourage them in their Function that severe Laws should be made against any such sordid and mischievous Contracts And such there were here in England long before the excellent Stat. of 31 Eliz. c. 6. although it seems the force of them was so much worn out as to make that Statute necessary for avoiding of Simony which is there explained to be Corruption in bestowing or getting Possession of Promotions Ecclesiastical In a Council at London under Lanfranc in the Conqueror's time Simony was forbidden under the Name of Buying and Selling of Orders And it could be nothing else before the Churches Revenue was setled But in the time of Henr. I. Ecclesiastical Benefices were forbidden to be bought or sold and it was Deprivation then to any Clergy-Man to be convicted of it and a Lay-Man was to be out-law'd and excommunicated and deprived of his Right of Patronage And this was done by a Provincial Synod of that time In the Reign of Henr. II. it was decreed that if any Person received any Mony for a Presentation he was to be for ever deprived of the Patronage of that Church and this was not merely a Provincial Constitution but two Kings were present Hen. 2. and his Son and added their Authority to it This was not depriving a Man of his Freehold by a Canon as a learned Gentleman calls it for here was the greatest Authority Temporal as well as Ecclesiastical added to it But we are told these Canons were of as little effect as that of Othobon which made all Simoniacal Contracts void but some of the most judicious Lawyers have held that Simony being contractus ex turpi causâ is void between Parties All that I aim at is to shew that by our old Ecclesiastical Law Simoniaeus incurred a Deprivation and Disability before the Stat. 31. Eliz. and therein I have the Opinion of a very Learned Judge concurring with me IV. Dilapidations By which the Ecclesiastical Law understands any considerable Impairing the Edifices Woods and Revenues belonging to Ecclesiastical Persons by Virtue of their Places For it is the greatest Interest and Concernment of the Church to have things preserved for the Good of Successors and it is a