were no difficult Task to shew and were worthy the Observation of any Historian that would give a true Account of the continuance and increase of our deplorable Divisions And as we dislike this Notion the more when we consider the purposes and designs for which 't is calculated so we have this Argument to urge why it should be disown'd viz. Because it plainly sets up a Foreign Jurisdiction against which the Nation is solemnly sworn The second Canon excommunicates ipso facto all Impugners of the King's Supremacy Agâ—inst which we think there is nothing can be objected but the fault common to it with the 10 following Canons viz. Excommunicating ipso facto Of which more under these following Canons Can. 3. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Church of England by Law established under the King's Majesty is not a true and Apostolical Church teaching and maintaining the Doctrine of the Apostles Let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored but only by the Archbishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of such his wicked Error Can. 4. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Form of God's Worship in the Church of England established by Law and contained in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments is a corrupt superstitious or unlawful Worship of God or contains any thing in it repugnant to the Scriptures Let him be excommunicated ipso facto Can. 5. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That any of the 39 Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London 1562 c. are in any part superstitious or erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience subscribe unto Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 6. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by Law establish'd are Wicked Antichristian or Superstitious or such as being commanded by lawful Authority men who are zealously and godly affected may not with any good Conscience approve 'em use 'em or as occasion requires subscribe to 'em Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 7. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Government of the Church of England under His Majesty by Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons and the rest that bear Office in the same is Antichristian or repugnant to the Word of God Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 8. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or teach That the form and manner of making and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons contains any thing in it repugnant to the Word of God or that they who are made Bishops c. Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 9. Whosoever shall hereafter separate themselves from the Communion of Saints as 't is approved by the Apostles Rules in the Church of England and combine themselves together in a new Brotherhood c. Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 10. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That such Ministers as refuse to subscribe to the form and manner of God's Worship in the Church of England prescribed in the communion-Communion-book may truly take to 'em the Name of another Church not established by Law and dare presumâ— to publish it That this their pretended Church has of long time groan'd under the burden of certain grievances imposed upon it and upon the Members thereof before mentioned by the Church of England and the Orders and Constitutions therein by Law established Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 11. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or maintain That there are within this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the King 's born Subjects than such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the Name of true and lawful Churches Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 12. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That 't is lawful for any sort of Ministers or Lay-persons or either of them to join together and make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical without the King's Authority and shall submit themselves to be ruled and governed by them Let him be excommunicate ipso facto To these may be added Can. 139. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Sacred Synod of this Nation in the Name of Christ and by the King's Authority assembled is not the true Church of England by representation Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 140. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That no manner of person either of the Clergy or Laity not being themselves particularly assembled in the said Sacred Synod are to be subject to the Decrees thereof in Causes Ecclesiastical made and ratified by the King's Majesty's Supreme Authority as not having given their voices to them Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 141. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Sacred Synod assembled as aforesaid was a Company of such persons as did conspire together against godly and religious Professors of the Gospel and that therefore both They and their Proceedings in making of Canons and Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical by the King's Authority as aforesaid ought to be despised and contemned the same being ratified by the same Regal Power Let him be excommunicate c. We have often heard our Clergy mention among many other Excellencies of our Church her admirable Charity towards those that differ from her and we have hitherto taken it for one of her just Characters For tho those that dissent from us would frequently object the Severity of the Penal Laws and the rigor with which they have sometimes been Executed as if such heavy Fines and long Imprisonments look'd but like a cold and frozen sort of Charity yet we thought it a sufficient Answer That our Church did not Countenance any of these Severities by her Doctrine And therefore how active soever some of our fiery Zealots who were the Tools of another Party might be in urging the Execution of them this was their personal Fault and nor justly imputable to the Church her self Tho by the way we cannot think it so ingenuous in some of our Clergy to throw all the blame of those severe Laws on the Parliament that Enacted them which many of themselves were but too earnest and importunate Sollicitors of But we are extreamly surprized to read the foregoing Canons and when we hear them objected as an Evidence of the Uncharitableness of our Doctrine it self We are at a great loss what to say in defence of it for we plainly perceive by them that the Practice of our most violent Bigots in the Execution of the Penal Laws has been as much more Charitable than these Canons of our Church as 't is more merciful to send the Bodies of Men into the Custody of the Jailor than to consign their Souls into the Paws of the Devil Nay 't is well that Writs de Excom Cap. have not been issued out against all whom these Canons Excommunicate For if they had the whole Race of Dissenters had long
when they have not just Impediment The 46 and 47 runs thus 46 Every Beneficed Man not allow'd to be a Preacher shall procure Sermons to be preach'd in his Cure once in every Month at the least by Preachers lawfully licens'd if his Living in the Judgment of the Ordinary will be able to bear it And upon every Sunday when there shall not be a Sermon preach'd in his Cure he or his Curate shall read some one of the Homilies prescrib'd or to be prescrib'd by Authority to the Intents aforesaid 47 Every Benefic'd Man licens'd by the Laws of this Realm upon urgent occasions of other Service not to reside upon his Benefice shall cause his Cure to be supplied by a Curat that is a sufficient and licens'd Preacher if the Worth of the Benefice will bear it But whoever has two Benefices shall maintain a Preacher licens'd in the Benefice where he does not reside except he preach himself at both of them usually These Canons especially the former do so evidently expose themselves that they save us the labour of any long Remarks upon them We cannot but think it strange that a Man may be the Incumbent of a Cure and consequently enjoy both the Name and the Revenues of a Minister to that People who is not so much as licens'd to preach nay is so meer a Lay-man that according to Can. 49. he must not take on him to expound in his own Cure or elsewhere any Scripture or Matter of Doctrine and the highest Priviledg allow'd him is That he study to read plainly and aptly without glozing or adding the Homilies already set forth c. I perceive there may be Ignoramus Ministers as well as Lawyers or Jury-men and if our Church do not wrong them by the severe restraints this Canon lays on them they are more fit to be sent to School to con their Lesson than into the Pulpit to instruct the People But though we cannot admire the Wisdom of our Church in allowing such Men Benefices yet we must acknowledg her great Charity towards them and their Curats in providing so good a help as the Book of Homiliâ—s for those whose Eyes are the only considerable Talents that God almighty has thought fit to bless them withal We shall add no more under this Head but that we wish the Simoniacal Oath were strong enough to keep out all secret Arts of purchasing Preferments And we think it highly adviseable that according to Arch-Bishop Vsher's model Artic. 2d in every Rural Deanery the Ministers of particular Parishes might be censurable for Errors or gross negligence in their Office c. with Liberty of Appeals to a Diocesan Synod if need be But that the Clergy may not think us in these two Articles too severe on them and partial to our selves we shall propose it to the Wisdom of this Convocation Whether the Power of Patrons in presenting to Livings should not be so far restrain'd as not to impose a Minister on any Parish without their own consent The very Learned Bishop of Salisbury in his Regalia as well as others hath made it undeniably evident that this was the practice of the Universal Church for 600 if not 1000 Years after our Saviour's Time And therefore tho we would have so much regard paid to the Charity of our Ancestors as not to exclude Patrons from a Privilege enjoy'd on that score by so long Prescription yet we could be heartily glad that 't were rendred consistent with this Ancient Privilege of the People too that the Primitive Practice in this Particular might be reviv'd If indeed the Parson alone were to be sav'd or damn'd not only for himself but his Parishioners too 't were no great matter to the People who he be but if they must answer for their own Souls 't is but reasonable they should be satisfied whom they trust with the conduct of them And how liberally soever Patrons have endow'd any Churches 't were but a hard Bargain they make with the People to require them by implicit Faith to acquiesce in whatever Ministers they or their Heirs shall ever recommend to them Nay some would not have Patrons impose on our Clergy any more than on the People There are several secret ways of purchasing a Benefice which some Patrons oblige the Clergy to without making a down-right Bargain And we would not have so much as the courting an Abigal to be the price of it Of Reforming Manners in the People LEST the Fear and Apprehension into which the words Alteration and Review have cast the Author of Vox Clâ—ri should be fatal to him we shall now labour to recover him by assuring him that there are some of the old Canons we desire may be reinforc'd and that the Subjects to which they relate may be considered and examined viz. Such as order the Censures of the Church to be inflicted upon all Persons notoriously wicked that they may be hindred from coming to the blessed Sacrament with such Frequency and in such Numbers as they now ordinarily do particularly Can. 26. which runs thus No Minister shall in any wise admit to the receiving the Holy Communion any of his Cure or Flock which be opennly known to live in notorious Sin without Repentance nor any who have maliciously and openly contended with their Neighbours until they shall be reconciled Nor any Church-Warden or Side-man who having taken their Oaths to present to their Ordinary all such publick Offences as they are particularly charg'd to enquire of in their several Parishes shall notwithstanding their said Oaths and that their faithful Discharge of them is the chief means whereby publick Sins and Offences may be reform'd and punish'd wittingly and willingly desperately and irreligiously incur the horrible Crime of Perjury either in neglecting or in refusing to present such of the said Enormities and publick Offences as they knew themselves to be committed in their said Parishes or are notoriously offensive to the Congregation there although they be urg'd by some of their Neighbours or the Minister or by their Ordinary himself to discharge their Consciences by presenting them and not to incur so desperately the said horrible Sin of Perjury We do now humbly request that according to this Canon some effectual Provision may be made to hinder all such wicked Persons from our Communion which are a Scandal and Reproach to any Church much more to ours That the Matter may be seriously debated and weighed and whether more proper Methods than those hitherto resolv'd on may not be found out and settled For to speak on the behalf of the Laity as the imposing such a Task on us or the Church-Wardens is very hard and severe so it hath been unsuccessful to the Purpose for which it was intended and is likely always to prove so though the Canon says that the Church-Wardens and Sidesmens faithful Discharge of their Oaths in presenting Offenders to the Ordinary is the chief means whereby Publick Sins and Offences may be reform'd
c. 7. But a far greater Vertue lay in the Liver and the heart as Tobias afterwards found when he came to the House of Raguel For this Raguel had a Bonny Girl to his Daughter called Sarah on whom it seems a certain spiteful Devil had clapt a sort of a Venetian Pad-lock so that tho seven young Fellows had successively Married her yet none of them had been able to Consummate the Business but lost their own Lives the very first Night they made any offers that way Tobias was deeply smitten with her and not discouraged for all this in short makes up the Bargain and Marries her Tobit c. 8. And just before he Beds her takes the aforesaid Heart and Liver of the Fish and burns them upon the Coals which made such a perfume that away scours the Devil into the utmost parts of Egypt and so Tobias and Sarah very comfortably enjoy each other The Author of Vox Cleri hath a peculiar Crotchet of his own of reading some Portions out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Church for the further enlightning our Understanding And why not the Arcadian Prayer in the same Book for the furthering of our Devotions To carry on the Humour we humbly move that we may be inâ—tructed out of another Royal Paper That the same day on which this Story out of Tobit is read to us the other Lesson to make them both of a piece may be the late Depositions about the pretended Prince of Wales The Gloria * The frequent Repetition of this is one of those things which A. B. Vsher Bp. Williams Prideaux and Brownrig Dr. Ward Featly and Hacket took notice of and would have consider'd whether it were not fit to be amended See the Copy of the Proceedings of these Divines touching Innovations c. and Considerations on the Common-Prayer Book p. 7. Patri is sometimes said for Instance on the first day of the Month five times at the end of the Psalms read for the Morning-Service again at the end of the the Lords Prayer after the Absolution again at the end of the 95th Psal O come let us Sing c. again at the end of the Benedicite again at the end of Benedictus and again in the Litany that is ten times in the ordinary Morning-Service The Lords Prayer is said once at the end of the Absolution again after the Apostles Creed again in the Litany and again in the beginning of the Communion-Service and again in the second part of the Communion-Service and again in the Pulpit before Sermon so that 't is repeated five times every Sunday Morning constantly and six if there be a Communion Not to speak of the Kyrie Eleesons nor of all the Congregations even Women too saying after the Minister with a loud Voice nor of their alternate reading the Verses of the Psalms for which later we don't find any Rubrick all which seem to make such a confused Babling that we can hardly reconcile it to the Apostles Discouse in the first Epistle to Corinth and 14th Chapter and make a Man think he were in Dover-Court rather than a Christian Assembly Good Lord deliver us is repeated eight times in the Litany and We beseech thee to hear us good Lord no less than two and twenty times in the same We can't but on this Occasion sometimes reflect on that wise Doctor at Oxford who when he met with a little good way was wont after he had once travell'd over it to turn about his Horse and say 'T is so good let 's go this over again This hath a semblance of those vain Repetitions forbidden by our Saviour and when we reproach the Fanaticks for their Tautologies in Prayer they immediately flap us in the mouth with this and we profess sincerely we are not able to reply upon them Most of the Collâ—cts have but one Petition in them Were several of our short Prayers well digested into one we humbly conceive it would be like the uniting of the little Sparkles of Heaven into a constellation that renders them the more conspicuous And were the whole Service somewhat shortned and so room left for Free-Prayer and encouragement given to it we question not but our Learned Clergy would immediately exceed any of the Dissenters in that way and greatly edify us For not to examine what hath been urged on both sides we will take the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet's Opinion for true That this was an Invention of the Jesuits yet we know they are cunning Fellows 't is a very popular thing it takes wonderfully fas est ab hoste doceri We are of that Gentleman's mind who said Character of a Trimmer by Sir W. C. a Lay Gentleman of our Church p 20. There may be too great a restraint put on Men whom God and Nature hath distinguished from their Fellow-labourers by blessing them with a happier Talent and by giving them not only good Sense but a powerful Utterance too hath enabled them to gush out on the Attentive Auditory with a mighty stream of devout and unaffected Eloquence when a Man qualified endued with Learning too and above that adorn'd with a good Life breaks out into a warm and well-deliver'd Prayer before his Sermon it hath the appearance of a Divine Rapture he raiseth and leadeth the hearts of the Assembly in another manner than the most composed or best studied form of set words can ever do and the Pray-wees would look like so many Statues or Men of Straw in the Pulpit compar'd with those who speak with such a powerful Zeal that men are tempted at the moment to believe Heaven it self hath directed their words to them Herein we confess we don't expect the concurrence of the Author of Vox Cleri who hath an aking Tooth at Lectures and Sermons too as well as no doubt a mighty spleen at this Free-prayer and would have all the publick Ministrations to consist in reading Liturgies and Homilies And then if God Almighty would but send a man a good pair of Eyes or in case he don't do that a Fescue and a pair of Spectacles he might e'en keep â—he Gifts of his Spirit to himself for any nâ—ed that a Clergy-man may have of them We could wish for the sake of the Greek Churches that the severe Clauses in the Athanasian Creed were expunged for tho we believe all the Articles of Faith contained in it yet we think it no more becomes us to damn Folks in the Church and at Divine Service than in the Streets and in common Discourse We think it very odd that Te Deum Benedicite the Psalms in Prose and the Three Creeds should be appointed to be SUNG or said The Lessons in the Old Common prayer-Prayer-Book were order'd to be Sung in a plain Tune That is reform'd and they are now appointed to be read distinctly with an audible voice And is there not the same reason for the other two Were this canting way laid aside we might then have
very few years ago sweetly feather'd his Nest by this means as those barbarous Wretches in some places that live by the Sea-side rejoice at the sight of a Storm and enrich themselves with the Wrecks of those that are unfortunately cast away We our selves have known a Minister of our Church suspended for not burying a Corpse in his Surplice when the Surrogate bid him do it at the Grave and a well-meaning but stubborn Fanatick sent to the Devil as an Easter Offering because he would not give his Parson one of two pence half-penny and the obstinate fool lay by it on a Capias in the Jayl fâ—r several years But it were well if the Ecclesiastical Courts did let fly only on these Occasions For the neglect of a Religious Ceremony may by some be called a mortal Sin and not paying the Ministers dues is a Fundamental Point and a piece of Sacrilege But the Mâ—tter doth not stop here The Spirituâ—l Courts have got to themselves the Cognizance of a multitude of Temporal Causes viz. all Testamentary Matters See Cosins Apology p. 18 19. Matrimonial Causes and these are numerous for the Subject is Fruitful Jactitation of Matrimony Divorces Bastardy c. Defamations Violence to a Clergy-man Rights of Patronâ—ge Double Quereles Wages for a Curate or Clerk Interest and Title to a Benefice Maintenance in it such as Tithes of all kinds Oblations Obventions Pensions Mortuaries Church-yard c. The Dues of a Parishioner to the Church as to Reparations Seats Bells buying of Books Utensils or other Ornâ—ments Not building a Church enjoined by a Testator not keeping a Chuâ—ch in a comely sort or when a Church-Warden refuses to yiâ—ld an Account of the Church-Stock violating a Sequestration for Tithes nâ—t paid hindering to gather or carry Tithes Money promised for redeeming corporal Penance and detained Fighting or Brawling in a Church-yard I suppose least the Dead should be disturbed and hindered of their rest And then all Duties arising at first on the Exercise of Voluntary Jurisdiction and yet by denial made Litigious such be real Compositions sought by some Party to be Disannulled Procurations Pensions Synodals Pentecostals Indempnities Fees for Probates c. Or which they to be sure will not forget and therefore neither will we Fees growing due only upon Exercise of Litigious Jurisdiction and these either due to the Judg himself as Fees of Citation Fees of Sentences c. or due to other Attendants in the Court as Fees of Advocates Proctors Registers Apparitors c. Lord what a blessed Regiment of Causes is here like that of the Black-guard for Spiritual Courts Well but tho most of these one would think were Civil Causes and fit therefore for Civil Courts yet let them come before the Spiritual Ones if they please as long as a Lay-man is the Judg of them All that we stand on is this they Summon People to Answer in all these Cases and make Decrees and if any one do not Appear or do not Obey their Decrees or not Answer their Interrogatories they are judged Contumacious to the Church and then there 's Death in the Pot and they have no other way to Punish but by Excommunication So that an honest Man is frequently Smitten with the Churches Thunder for matters of meer civil Right or trivial Occasions or it may be through the Tricks and Quirks of inferior Officers or sometimes through the Ignorance of a blundering Surrogate for the sake of a little Money Let us hear my Lord Bacon's Opinion of this Matter Excommunication is the greatest Judgment on Earth Considerat for the better Establish of the Ch. of Engl. c. and therefore for this to be used Irreverently and to be made an ordinary Procâ—ss to Lacquey up and down for Fees how can it be without Derogation from Gods Honour and making the Power of the Keys contemptible I know very well the dâ—fence thereof which hath no great force That it issues forth not for the thing it self but the Câ—ntumacy But the Contumacy must be such as the Party as far as the Eye and Wisdom of the Church can discern standeth in stâ—tâ— of Reprobation and Damnation as one that for that time seemeth given over to final Impenitence To this I think we may add their device of excommunicating whole Communities of Men as a Dean and Chapter or a Master Fellows and Scholars of a Colledg the Mayor and Aldermen of a Town c. Hereby they have in some measure that Emperor's Wish that the People had but one Neck that he might chop it off at one blow By this Interdict are prohibited all Divine Offices Chamberlain's Present State of England part 2. p. 39. as Divine Service Christian Burial Administration of Sacraments c. in such a Place or to such a People and if it be against a People it follows them wheresoever they go if against a Place only then the People of that Place may go to Divine Offices elsewhere Only the Pope's Canon-Law adds Decret Greg. l. 5. Tit. 40. de Verb. signif c. 17. That some who are in a special manner priviledged by the Roman Church when a whole Country is interdicted may celebrate Divine Offices with a low Voice but then the Doors must be shut the Bells must not be rung and all the excommunicated and interdicted Persons must be excluded By this Contrivance whole Communities of Men may be broken off from the Body of Christ as whole Countries have been and some say Britain in particular from the Continent by the Fury and Violence of the Ocean But it will be hard to reconcile this to the common notion of Excommunication Lord Bacon coâ—sid p. 21. that 't is a precursory and prelusory Judgment of Christ in the End of the World when we have been so often told from the Pulpit and Press that then Societies shall not be punish'd as Societies but every Man shall personally answer for himself 3. We pass on to the manner of proceeding in Excommunications which we shall find exactly suitable to the Causes for which they are inflicted and the Tools that manage this Weapon For here 's no pains taken with Men to bring them to Repentance by Scripture and Reason convincing them of the heinous nature of their Offences and beseeching of them in the Bowels of Christ Only a bare pronouncing the words I admonish you three times in a breath like the Jews whipping St. Paul with a triple Cord and giving three Lashes in one We had thought this had been a meer Corruption in the Officers but we find one of their own Tribe tell us for Law That a Man may be admonish'd a first H. Consâ—t Practice of Ecclesiastical Courts p. 383 4. a second and a third time all at one and the same moment Things are managed at these Spiritual Tribunals just as they are at Civil ones If you will not buckle there 's no other means used to induce you to it but the Charges of
are sure our Church may as well spare them as a beautiful Face may those Blotches and Scabs that serve only to disfigure it And yet in all the Book of Canons we find not one that expresly orders the deposing a scandalous Clergy-man There is indeed a Canon against such Ministers as omit the use of any Form of Prayer Can. 38. or any Rite or Ceremony whatever prescrib'd in the Service-Book to suspend them for the first Fault if they persist a Month in it to excommunicate them if another to depose them Can. 54. and another to make void the Licenses of all such Ministers as refuse to conform to the Laws Institutes and Rites of our Church So that we cannot blame her for not taking sufficient Care to purge out of all her Sons that scandalous Sin of Non-Conformity Can. 68. For there 's another Canon to seclude from the Ministry for three Months every Minister that shall refuse to baptize any Child that 's brought to him be the Parents Christian Mahometan or Pagan or bury any except the Excommunicate c. according to the form prescribed in the Liturgy Another Canon forbids Ministers either to appoint or keep Fasts either in publick or Private Houses Can. 72. without the Leave of the Bishop threatning them with Suspension for the first time Excommunication for the second and Deposition for the third A Canon which we think might very well be spared For People need very little to be disswaded from that sort of Mortification and the Ministers will be very loth to attempt it when they are obliged to double Pennance to go on Pilgrimage to the Bishop one Day and fast the next Can. 73. Another Canon there is against all Meetings or Clubs of the Clergy to plot any thing against the Doctrine of the Church or to the Prejudice of the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book threatning them with Excommunication A very provident Canon indeed that seems to have been made by a Spirit of Prophecy against Smectymnuus and the Latitudinarians And 't is very probable those of our Clergy who were so fâ—ll of Indignation against the late Commissioners mistook them for such a plotting Conventicle We need not insist on the 74th Canon which prescribes the Clergy their several Habits and very prudently cautions them against wearing light-coloured Stockings and charitably allows short Gowns to the poor Curates that have not Mony to buy long ones But setting aside these hainous Crimes we find only this one Canon against other Immoralities viz. 75. No Ecclesiastical Persons shall at any time other than for their honest Necessities resort to any Taverns or Ale-houses neither shall they board or lodg in any such Places Furthermore they shall not give themselves to any base or servile Labour or to drinking or Riot spending their time idly by Day or by Night playing at Dice Cards or Tables or any other unlawful Game But at all times convenient they shall hear or read somewhat of the Holy Scripturâ—s or shall occupy themselves with some other honest Study or Exercise always doing the things that shall appertain to Honesty and endeavouring to profit the Church of God having always in Mind that they ought to excel all others in Purity of Life and should be Examples to the People to live well and Christianly under Pain of Ecclesiastical Censures to be inflicted with Severity according to the Qualities of their Offences This Canon indeed speaks something to the Purpose and yet we would beg leave to suggest two things relating to it 1. We suppose this Canon only threatens the scandalous Clergy with Excommunication for it does not as the 38 72 c. threaten them with Deposition on their persisting incorrigible Whereas that too is highly necessary there being all the Reason in the World that obstinate Non-Conformity to the Laws of God should at least be equally punish'd with stubborn Nonconformity to the Laws of the Church for it would look but very odd to treat a Minister more severely for omitting a Collect in the service-Service-Book or keeping a private Fast than for being drunk or lying with his Neighbour's Wife 2. We wish that this good Canon it self may not stand for a Cypher for want of Execution And yet hitherto all the good Effects that might have been expected from it to free our Churches from such leprous and unclean Priests have been in a great Measure frustrated For we do not see that one in twenty of such whose notorious Vices make too publick a noise to be unobserved was ever excommunicated much less deposed for them We speak within Compass and heartily lament the intolerable Mischiefs that from this fatal Source overflow our Church And therefore we would humbly recommend it to the Wisdom of the Convocation to take the most effectual Methods for the obviating of them and if it might be no Offence would take the Liberty to suggest that if the Rural Deaneries in Arch-bishop Vsher's Model were restored they might first receive Complaints against such and suspend them till the Matter come before the Diocesan Synod Were this done and were all our Clergy such excellent Ornaments of their Profession as God be thanked a great many of them are the Dissenters would not so easilâ— gain ground upon us as they have hitherto done by the pretended Strictness of Life in their Ministers and their great Laboriousness in the Duties of their Function Of the Reformation of Manners both in Ministers and People IN the Ministers What relates to such as are chargeable with scandalous Immoralities was considered under the former Head but under this Head we would humbly recommend to the present Convocation the reforming two very gross Corruptions retained in our Church notwithstanding all the loud Complaints that have been made against them Pluralities and Non-Residence two Diseases that have hitherto defied all Remedies and have been rather cherish'd by our spiritual Physicians than any thing effectual attempted towards the Cure of them and no wonder when many of the same Men were the Patients that should have been the Physicians so hard it is to redress these grand Evils in a Synod where the greatest Pluralists and Non-Residents do commonly make up the major Vote and yet these are so notorious Blemishes in a Church that even the Council of Trent could not for very Shame but take notice of them And the Truth is though they have in their best Decrees of Reformation left a Hole to creep out by Virtue of Dispensations yet their Canons are far more strict than ours for in their Decree of Reformation Sess the 7th cap. 2d they forbid any Prelate having more Metropolitan or Cathedral Churches than one in Commendam accounting him happy that can govern one well And cap. 3d. They enjoyn the Collation of inferiour Ecclesiastical Benefices that have Cure of Souls on worthy and able Persons who may reside on the Place and take care of the Flock themselves and by the 3. deprive that Clergy-man of all
Sacrament be prostituted to countenance and incourage such fatal Presumptions as these to strengthen the Hands of the Vile and cause them to commit Sin with all imaginable Boldness and without any Remorse Shall we turn the Cup of the Blood of Christ into the Cup of Devils as the Apostle expresses it in 1 Cor. 10.21 not only by permitting those who offer up themselves as Sacrifices to the Devil to drink of it but by making it as effectual to the promoting the Interest of Satan as though he himself had really instituted it 3. Because such a Practice as this tends to the increasing the Numbers of the Dissenting Conventicles For though they are not without faulty Members as well as we yet it must be confess'd that they are very careful to keep or purge out all that are openly scandalous in their Lives We indeed excel them in our Episcopal Government the Decency and Order of our Worship in the Numbers of sober and learned Clergy but in this particular we are more defective than they there is not so much of this unhappy Leaven among them as there is among us so that many Persons of strict Piety who are burden'd and griev'd with this Disorder will be tempted to desert us and join with them and they being not acquainted with the Distinctions of learned Men will be more easily led into such an Error and if a speedy Reformation be not made in this Matter we must expect the Numbers of those who are the greatest Ornaments of our Communion out of a pretended Concern for their Edification will leave us For 4. We must now ackowledg and declare that the Admission of such as these very much hinders our Edification and makes us take the Holy Sacrament with much less Joy and Comfort than wee might otherwise do As we belong to a Church that not only recommends the most inlarged Charity but is celebrated for it so we hope we are not without some Measures of that Love to God and the Souls of Men which she requires in all her Communicants and being influenc'd by this we cannot with unconcern'd Eyes and Hearts behold these Men at once profane the Name of God and eat and drink Damnation to themselves i. e. as our Church explains it Diseases Death and the Wine of God's Wrath. Exhort bef the Commun 'T is with a great and sincere Sorrow that we observe Persons guilty of the highest Impurities allowed to come to the Holy Communion who ought to be driven from it Our Peace and Benefit would be much greater in our Approaches to it if we did not find there some who but a few Hours before were venturing their Lives in the Quarrel of a Strumpet others who spent the last Night in Revelling and Drunkenness and when they joyn themselves to us seem to take us for a Crew of merry Companions others that just before the Communion were belching out Oaths and Curses and soon after the end of it will pour out whole Vollies of them again c. And if there were none allowed to kneel there but such as were sober and vertuous devoutly and religiously disposed We must therefore be excused if after so long a silence we take the liberty to express our Resentments in this Matter and to declare that we do with a very passionate Grief see the Holy Bread and Wine touch'd by such polluted Hands and unhallowed Mouths especially when we sear and expect that after the taking of these according to the Threatning denounced by our Church The Devil should enter into them as he did into Judas to fill them full of all Iniquities and bring them to destruction both of Body and Soul Exhort before the Communion And we would add that while we have a warm and zealous regard to the Honour of God Almighty and his Sacraments and the Good of others we shall have the same sense and apprehensions But to conclude this Subject that our present Convocation may be stirred up to a more vigorous Zeal and Diligence in the framing new Penitentiary Canons or reforming the Old we would with all modesty and submission remind our Fathers and Guides now assembled of the Promises they made at their several Ordinations and of the solemn Charge they received from our Church which is in these words Wherefore consider with your selves the End of your Ministry towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ Form of ordering of Priests Sparrow p. 125. and see that you never cease your Labour your Care and Diligence until you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden Duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your Charge unto that agreement in Faith and Knowledg of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of Age in Christ that there be no place left among you either of Error in Religion or for viciousness of Life And since we shall not entertain a suspicion of their readiness to discharge their Offices with the utmost fidelity of their willingness to pay a chearful Obedience to the Commands of our common Mother we will not question their gratifying our Desires in this Particular Of the Examination of such Persons as desire to be admitted into Holy Orders both as to their Learning and Manners 'T Is the unhappy neglect of this has not only over-stock'd our Church with a shoal of supernumerary Clergy but given too many the opportunity of crouding into Holy Orders whom their Parents only thrust on the Service of the Church because they know not how to dispose otherwise of them And yet it must be own'd that the Canons of our Church are not altogether chargeable with this Neglect For the 35th Canon enjoins the Bishop before he admits any Person into Holy Orders to examine him in the presence of those Ministers that shall assist him in the Imposition of Hands or at least take care that the foresaid Ministers examine him if he have any lawful Impediment We could heartily wish the Bishop might accordingly do it more constantly himself in the presence of such as assist at the Ordination and not leave it so generally to the Arch-Deacon or one of his Chaplains And 't were highly adviseable that the particular Trials which every Candidate for Sacred Orders must pass in order to give a good Specimen of his Proficiency in Humane Learning and especially in the study of Divinity were prescrib'd For it can by no means be thought a sufficient Evidence of a Man's being qualified for that Sacred Function that he can construe a piece of the Latin Testament and resolve that grand Question of Quot sunt Symbola c. The admirable care of many Foreign Churches particularly the Reformed Churches in France about the admission of their Proposants is a very commendable Pattern And even in this Point the Directory how idle a Book soever it may be in other things has the advantage of any thing prescrib'd in this Canon