Itinerant Clergy was soon found to be very inconvenient and therefore all Incouragement was given where Christianity most prevailed for the building Churches at a convenient Distance from the Cathedral and setling a Number of Presbyters together there which were after called Collegiate-Churches and the Great and Devout Men of that Time gave them Liberal Endowments that they might the better attend the Service of God there and in the Countrey about them But after that the several Parts grew to be more populous and Lords of Manors for the Conveniency of themselves and their Tenants were willing to erect Churches within their Precincts Laws were then made that they might detain one Share of the Tithes for the Supply of this New Church the other two remaining due to the Mother Church And I can find nothing like any Allowance for the Lords of Manors to appropriate the other Two Parts as they thought fit For those Manors themselves were but Parcels of larger Parishes and the Tithes were due from those Estates which were no part of their Manors and therefore they had nothing to do with them But after the Norman Invasion the poor Parochial Clergy being Saxons and the Nobility and Bishops Normans they regarded not how much they reduced the Inferiour Clergy to enrich the Monasteries belonging to the Normans either at home or abroad And this I take to be the true Reason of the Multitude of Appropriations of Two Thirds of the Tithes in the Norman Times and too often with the Consent of the Bishops who ought to have shewed more Regard to the Interest of the Parochial Clergy than they generally did But of this I have discoursed more at large in one of the following Cases In the latter end of the Saxon Times if we believe those called the Confessors Laws after all the Danish Devastations there were Three or Four Churches where there had been but One before By which it appears that the Parochial Clergy were Numerous before the Conquest And within this Diocess in Two Deanaries of it there are to be found in doomsday-Doomsday-Book above Twenty parish-Parish-Churches In the Deanary of Warwick Ten and in the Deanary of Kingstone Fifteen But of the former Seven were Appropriated in the Norman Times and of the latter Ten by which we may see to how low a Condition they then brought the Parochial Clergy One Church in the former Deanary I find built in that time and that was at Exhal which was before a Chapel to Salford but was erected in the time of H. 1. by the Lord of the Manor and Freeholders who gave the Glebe and Tithes as appears by the Confirmation of Simon Bishop of Worcester Many other Parochial Churches I doubt not were built and endowed after the same manner although the Records of them are lost And as Churches were new erected the Parochial Bounds were fixed that the People might certainly know whither they were to resort for Divine Worship who were bound to attend them as part of their Charge from whose Hands they were to receive the Holy Sacraments and whose Advice and Counsel they were to take in Matters which related to the Salvation of their Souls Now here lies the main Difficulty with some People they cannot think that Parochial Bounds are to determine them in what concerns the Good of their Souls but if they can edifie more by the Parts and Gifts of another they conclude that it is their Duty to forsake their own Minister and go to such a one as they like I meddle not with extraordinary Occasions of Absence nor with the Case of Scandalous Incumbents because it is the Peoples Fault if they be not prosecuted and the Place supplied by better Men. But the Case as it ought to be put is how far a Regard is to be shewed to a Constitution so much for the General Good as that of Parochial Communion is We do not say That Mens Consciences are bound by Perambulations or that it is a Sin at any time to go to another Parish but we say That a constant fixed Parochial Communion tends more to preserve the Honour of God and the Religion Established among us to promote Peace and Vnity among Neighbours and to prevent the Mischief of Separation And what advances so good Ends is certainly the best Means of Edification Which lies not in moving the Fansie or warming the Passions but in what brings Men to a due Temper of Mind and a holy peaceable and unblameable Conversation And as to these Excellent Ends it is not only your Duty with great Zeal and Diligence to perswade your People to them but to go before them your selves in the Practice of them For they will never have any hearty Regard or Esteem for what any one says if they find him to contradict it in the Course of his Life Suppose it be the Peoples Fault to shew so little Regard to your Profession yet you are bound to consider how far you may have given too much Occasion for it and their Fault can be no Excuse for you if any of your own were the true Occasion of theirs We live in an Age wherein the Conversations of the Clergy are more observed than their Doctrines Too many are busie in finding out the Faults of the Clergy the better to cover their own and among such Priest craft is become the most popular Argument for their Insidelity If they could once make it appear that all Religion were nothing but a Cheat and Imposture of some cunning Men for their own Advantage who believed nothing of it themselves and that all the business of our Profession was to support such a Fraud in the World for our own Interest they were very excusable in their most bitter Invectives against such Priest-craft For nothing is more to be abhorred by Men of Ingenuous Minds and Natural Probity than to be the Instruments of Deceiving Mankind in so gross a manner But thanks be to God this is very far from being the Case among us for our Profession is built upon the Belief of God and Providence the Difference of Good and Evil and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life If these things have no Foundations we are certain that the best and wisest and most disinterested Men in all Ages have been in the same Fundamental Mistakes And it is now somewhat too late for any Persons to set up for Sagacity and true Iudgment in these Matters above all those of foregoing Ages There is a mighty Difference between slight and superficial Reasonings although some may be vain enough to cry them up for Oracles and those which are built on the Nature of Things and have born the Test of so many Ages and remain still in the same Degree of Firmness and Strength notwithstanding all the Batteries of Profane and Atheistical Wits For it cannot be denied that such there have been in former times as well as now but that makes more for the Advantage of Religion that our Modern Pretenders
and the more Ancient the more Suspicious But the Lord Chancellor and three Chief Judges declared That by the Common Law of England every Bishop in his Diocess and the Archbishops in Convocation may make Canons to bind within the Limits of their Jurisdiction 3. The subordinate Jurisdiction which was lodged in the Bodies of the Clergy resident in Cathedral Churches and of Archdeacons in the several Diocesses I cannot find either of these to have had any Jurisdiction here before the Conquest neither were there any Courts of Justice out of the several Counties before for all Causes were transacted in the County-Courts and Sheriffs Turns and Appeals lay from them to the Supreme Judicature of the King and the Lords But this doth not hinder but these Courts may be founded on the Law of England And so the original Jurisdiction which of Right belonged to the Bishop might by degrees and a gradual Consent come to be committed as to some parts to the Bodies of Cathedral Churches and to the Archdeacons who are saith my Lord Coke Sixty in England We are told in a late Case of Woodward and Fox That there are Archdeaconries in England by Prescription which have no Dependency on the Bishop but are totally exempt And for this Godolphin is cited who refers to the Gloss on the Legatine Constitutions f. 27. where we read of some Archdeacons having a customary and limited Iurisdiction separate from the Bishop for which a Prescription lies But this is only for some special Iurisdiction as the Archdeacon of Richmond for Institutions which came first by Grant from the Bishops but that not being to be produced they insist upon Custom and Prescription as the Deans and Chapters do where the Ancient Compositions are lost But none who understand the Ancient Constitution of this Church can suppose either of them to have been Original since the Right to the Jurisdiction of the Diocess was in the Bishop before there were here either Archdeacons or Chapters with Jurisdiction In the Case of Chiverton and Trudgeon it was declared That an Archdeacon might have a peculiar Jurisdiction as to Administration c. as the Dean of St. Paul's had at S. Pancras and so the Archdeacon of Cornwall as to Wills In the case of Gastril and Iones the Chief Justice declared That the Archdeacon is the Bishop's Officer and his Authority subordinate to the Bishops and granted by them but if special Custom be pleaded that must be well proved to which Dodderidge agreed But we must distinguish between Archdeaconries by Prescription for which I can find no Foundation being all derived by Grant from the Bishop and Archdeacons having some kind of Iurisdiction by Prescription which others have not which cannot be denied All the Power which the Archdeacons have by virtue of their Office is per modum scrutationis simplicis as Lyndwood speaks tanquam Vicarius Episcopi Whatever Power they have beyond this is not Iure communi but Iure speciali and depends either upon Grant or Custom which the Gloss on the Legatine Constitutions calls a limited Iurisdiction The Archdeacon's Court is declared by the Judges in Woodward ' s Case to have been time out of Mind settled as a distinct Court from which there lies an Appeal to the Bishop's Court by the Statute 24 H. 8. c. 12. And so the Archdeacon's Jurisdiction is founded on an immemorial Custom in Subordination to the Bishops As to Deans and Chapters I observe these things 1. That although Ecclesiastical Bodies in Cathedrals were very ancient yet we read not of any Jurisdiction peculiar to themselves during the Saxon times My Lord. Coke saith There were Chapters as the Bishop's Council before they had distinct possessions And by their Books he saith it appears that the Bishops parted with some of their Possessions to them and so they became Patrons of the Prebends of the Church Such were London York and Litchfield 2. That several of our Chapters were founded and endowed by the Bishops since the Conquest Such was that of Salusbury by Osmund out of his own Estate as appears by his Charter and the Confirmation of H. 2. So was that of Lincoln by Remigius who removed the See from Dorchester thither and placed there a Dean Treasurer Praecentor and Seven Archdeacons as Henry of Huntingdon saith who lived near the time And in following times those of Exeter and Wells were settled as Dean and Chapter for they were Ecclesiastical Bodies before but not under that Denomination 3. That some had the legal Rights of Dean and Chapters as to Election of Bishops and Confirmation of Leases c. but were a Monastick Body consisting of Prior and Convent Such were Canterbury Winchester Worcester after the Expulsion of the Secular Canons for the Monks not only enjoyed their Lands but were willing enough to continue the Name of Dean among them As at Canterbury after Dunstan's time Agelmothas is called Dean in Worcester Wolstan is called Dean when he was Prior and Winsius upon the first Change is said to be placed loco Decani by Florence of Worcester At Norwich Herbert the Bishop founded the Prior and Convent out of his own Possessions in the time of William II. and they became the Chapter of the Bishop by their Foundation Now as to these it is resolved in the Dean and Chapter of Norwich's Case That when the King transferred them from a Prior and Convent the Legal Rights remained the same And in Hayward and Fulcher's Case the Judges declared That an Ecclesiastical Body may surrender their Lands but they cannot dissolve their Corporation but they still remain a Chapter to the Bishop And it was not only then delivered but since insisted upon in a famous Case That it was the Resolution of the Iudges That a Surrender cannot be made by a Dean and Chapter without Consent of the Bishop because he hath an Interest in them 4. That H. 8. endowed some as Chapters to new erected Bishopricks as Chester Bristol Oxford c. 31 H. 8 9. 34 H. 8. 17. and united others as Bath and Wells and Coventry and Litchfield 33 H. 8. 30. 34 H. 8. 15. 5. That where the Custom hath so obtained there may be a Legal-Chapter without a Dean as in the Diocesses of S. David's and Landaff where there is no other Head of the Chapter but the Bishop but they must act as a distinct Body in Elections and Confirmations of Grants by the Bishops 6. That by the Ancient Custom of England there are sole Ecclesiastical Corporations as well as aggregate A sole Ecclesiastical Corporation is where a single Person represents a whole Succession and under that Capacity is impowered to Receive and to Convey an Estate to his Successors As Bishops Deans Archdeacons Parsons c. But Parsons and Vicars are seized only in Right of the Church but as to a Bishop he may have a Writ of
Incouragement both to repair Old Churches and to build New However the Work went on slowly Augustin consecrated but two Bishops which were setled at London and Rochester where Ethelbert built and endowed two Churches for the Bishops and their Clergy to live together In the Western Parts Bicinus built several Churches about Dorchester where his See was fixed Wilfred converted the South-Saxons and settled Presbyters in the Isle of Wight but they were but two In the Kingdom of Mercia there were five Diocesses made in Theodore's time and Putta Bishop of Rochester being driven from his See he obtained from Saxulphus a Mercian Bishop a Church with a small Glebe and there he ended his Days In the Northern Parts we read of two Churches built by two Noblemen Puch and Addi upon their own Manors And the same might be done elsewhere but Bede would never have mentioned these if the thing had been common But in his Epistle to Egbert Archbishop of York a little before his Death he intimates the great Want of Presbyters and Parochial Settlements and therefore earnestly perswades him to procure more And if Egbert's Canons be genuine of which there are several Ancient MSS. the Duties of Presbyters in their several Churches are set down However the Work went not on so fast but in his Successor Eanbaldus his time the Bishops were required to find out convenient places to build Churches in and the same passed in the Southern Parts by general Consent In the Council of Cloveshoo we read of Presbyters placed up and down by the Bishops in the Manors of the Laity and in several Parts distinct from the Episcopal See and there they are exhorted to be diligent in their Duties In the times of Edgar and Canutus we read of the Mother Churches which had the Original Settlement of Tithes after they were given to the Church by several Laws and of the Churches built upon their own Lands by the Lords of Manors to which they could only apply a third Part of the Tithes But in the Laws of Canutus we find a fourfold Distinction of Churches 1. The Head Church or the Bishop's See 2. Churches of a second Rank which had Right of Sepulture and Baptism and Tithes 3. Churches that had Right of Sepulture but not frequented 4. Field-Churches or Oratories which had no Right of Burial The second sort seem to be the Original Parochial Churches which had the Endowment of Tithes and were so large that several other Churches were taken out of them by the Lords of Manors and so the Parishes came to be multiplied so much that in the Laws of Edward the Confessor c. 9. it is said That there were then Three or Four Churches where there had been but One before In this Diocess I find by an Epistle of Wulston Bishop of Worcester to Anselm that before the Conquest there were Churches in Vills or upon particular Manors that were consecrated And if William the Conqueror demolished Six and thirty Parish Churches in the Compass of the New Forest as is commonly said there must be a very great Number before the Conquest although so few are said to appear in Doomsday Book yet there are many parochial Churches of this Diocess in it above twenty in two Deanaries but the Normans almost ruined the parochial Clergy by seizing the Tithes and making Appropriations of them But in the Saxon times the Number still encreased as Lords of Manors and others were willing to erect new Churches and to have a settled Parochial Minister among them who was to take Care of the Souls of the people within such a Precinct as hath obtained the Name of a Parish But Parishes now are of a very different Extent and Value but the Obligation which the Law puts upon them is the same only where the Maintenance is greater they may have the more Assistants And from hence came the Difference among the Parochial Clergy for those whose Parishes were better endowed could maintain inferior Clerks under them who might be useful to them in the publick Service and assist them in the Administration of Sacraments And this was the true Original of those we now call Parish-Clerks but were at first intended as Clerks-Assistant to him that had the Cure and therefore he had the Nomination of them as appears by the Ecclesiastical Law both here and abroad And Lyndwood saith Every Vicar was to have enough to serve him and One Clerk or more and by the Canon-Law no Church could be founded where there was not a Maintenance for Assisting-Clerks In the Synod of Worcester under Walter Cantelupe in Henry the Third's time they are called Capellani Parochiales and the Rectors of Parishes were required to have such with them And the Canon Law doth allow a Rector to give a Title to another to receive Orders as an Assistant to him and this without any prejudice to the Patron 's Right because but One can have a Legal Title to the Cure But Lyndwood observes very well That those who gives Titles to others as their Assistants or Curates are bound to maintain them if they want These are called Vicarii Parochiales Stipendiarii but Conductitii Presbyteri who are forbidden were those who took Livings to farm without a Title But after Appropriations came in then there were another sort of Vicars called Perpetui and were endowed with a certain Portion of the Temporalities and were admitted ad Curam Animarum But such could not Personam Ecclesiae sustinere in an Action at Law about the Rights of the Church but as to their own Right they might But still there is another sort of Vicars who are Perpetual but not Endowed any otherwise than the Bishop did allow a congrua Portio and this was in Appropriations where the Bishop consented only upon those Terms as they generally were so made till the Neglect made the Statutes necessary 15 R. 2. 6. and 4 H. 4. 12. The Bishops were to make or enlarge the Allowance say the Canonists after Presentation and before Institution and were to see that it were a sufficient Subsistence But there were some Cures which had Chapels of Ease belonging to them and they who offiuated in them were called Capellani and had their Subsistence out of the Oblations and Obventions and were often Perpetual and Presentative And where the Incumbents had several Chapels of Ease and only Assistants to supply them the Canon Law doth not call them Rectores but Plebani who had a sort of peculiar Jurisdiction in lesser Matters but still they were under the Bishops Authority in Visitations and other Ecclesiastical Censures because the Care of the whole Diocess belonged to him Iure Communi and so it was taken for granted in all Parts of the Christian World And especially in this Kingdom where Parochial Episcopacy was never heard of till of late