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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A61530 The Bishop of Worcester's charge to the clergy of his diocese, in his primary visitation begun at Worcester, Sept. 11, 1690 Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. 1691 (1691) Wing S5565A; ESTC R17405 34,012 60

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custom to observance of the same not as to the observance of the Laws of any Foreign Prince Potentate or Prelate but as to the Customs and ancient Laws of this Realm originally estabished as Laws of the same by the said Sufferance Consent Custom and none otherwise All that I have now to do is to shew what Authority the Bishops had over the Clergy by the Ancient Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm and what Censures they were lyable to for some particular Offences I. By the Ecclesiastical Law the Bishop is Judg of the Fitness of any Clerk presented to a Benefice This is confessed by the ord Coke in these Words And the Examination of the Ability and Sufficiency of the Person presented belongs to the Bishop who is the Ecclesiastical Judg and in the Examination he is a Judg and not a Minister and may and ought to refuse the Person presented if he be not Persona idonea But this is plain to have been the Ancient Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm by the Articul Cleri in Edw. 2. time De Idoneitate Personae praesentatae ad Beneficium Ecclesiasticum pertinet Examinatio ad Judicem Ecclesiasticum ita est hactenus usitatum fiat in futurum By the Provincial Constitutions at Oxford in the time of Hen. 3. the Bishop is required to admit the Clerk who is presented without Opposition within two Months dum tamen idoneus sit if he thinks him fit So much time is allowed propter Examinationem saith Lyndwood even when there is no dispute about Right of Patronage The main thing he is to be examined upon is his Ability to discharge his Pastoral Duty as Coke calls it or as Lyndwood saith whether he be commendandus Scientia Moribus As to the former the Bishop may judg himself but as to the latter he must take the Testimonials of others and I heartily wish the Clergy would be more careful in giving them by looking on it as a Matter of Conscience and not merely of Civility for otherwise it will be impossible to avoid the pestering the Church with scandalous and ignorant Wretches If the Bishop refuses to admit within the time which by the modern Canons is limited to twenty eight days after the Presentation delivered he is liable to a Duplex Querela in the Ecclesiastical Courts and a Quare impedit at Common Law and then he must certifie the Reasons of his Refusal In Specot's Case it is said that in 15 Hen. 7. 7 8. All the Judges agreed that the Bishop is Judg in the Examination and therefore the Law giveth Faith and Credit to his Judgment But because great Inconveniencies might otherwise happen the general Allegation is not sufficient but he must certifie specially and directly and the general Rule is and it was so resolved by the Judges That all such as are sufficient Causes of Deprivation of an Incumbent are sufficient Causes to refuse a Presentee But by the Canon Law more are allowed In the Constitutions of Othobon the Bishop is required particularly to enquire into the Life and Conversation of him that is presented and afterwards that if a Bishop admits another who is guilty of the same Fault for which he rejected the former his Institution is declared null and void By the Canon Law if a Bishop maliciously refuses to admit a fit Person he is bound to provide another Benefice for him but our Ecclesiastical Law much better puts him upon the Proof of the Cause of his Refusal But if the Bishop doth not examin him the Canonists say it is a Proof sufficient that he did it malitiosè If a Bishop once rejects a Man for Insufficiency he cannot afterwards accept or admit of him as was adjudged in the Bishop of Hereford's Case If a Man brings a Presentation to a Benefice the Bishop is not barely to examin him as to Life and Abilities but he must be satisfied that he is in Orders How can he be satisfied unless the other produce them How can he produce them when it may be they are lost What is to be done in this Case The Canon is express That no Bishop shall Institute any to a Benefice who hath been Ordained by any other Bishop for if he Ordained him himself he cannot after reject him because the Law supposes him to have examined and approved him except he first shew unto him his Letters of Orders and bring him a sufficient Testimony of his former good Life and Behaviour if the Bishop shall require it and lastly shall appear upon due Examination to be worthy of the Ministry But yet in Palmes and the Bishop of Peterborough's Case it was adjudged that no Lapse did accrue by the Clerk's not shewing his Orders for the Bishop upon his not coming to him again Collated after six Months But the Court agreed that the Clerk ought to make Proof of his Orders but they differed about the manner of their Proof Anderson said the Bishop might give him his Oath But if a Proof were necessary and the Clerk did not come to make Proof it seems to me to be a very hard Judgment II. The Bishop by the Ecclesiastical Law is to visit his Diocess and to take an account of the Clergy how they behaye themselves in the Duties of their Places By the eldest Canons I can find the Bishops Visitation is supposed as a thing implyed in his Office whereby he is obliged to look after the good Estate of his whole Diocess and especially of the Clergy in it In the time of Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the beginning of King Johns time care is taken in the Canons then made That Bishops should not be burdensom to the Clergy in the Number of the Attendants in their Visitations which then were Parochial and the Number allowed of 20 or 30 Horse was too heavy for the Clergy to bear And therefore by degrees it was thought fit to turn that Charge into a Certainty which was the Original of Procurations By the Fourth Council of Toledo the Bishop was to Visit his whole Diocess Parochially every Year The Gloss saith if there were occasion for it and that the Bishop may visit as often as he sees Cause but if he be hindred the Canon saith he may send others which is the original of the Arch-Deacons Visitation to see not only the Condition of the Churches but the Lives of the Ministers The Council of Braca in the latter end of the Sixth Century makes this the first Canon That all Bishops should Visit their Diocesses by Parishes and there should first examin the Clergy and then the People and in another Canon he was required to receive only his Cathedraticum i. e. a certain Sum in lieu of Entertainment which came to be setled by Prescription The Council of Cavailon in France A. D. 831. fixed no Sum but desired the Bishops to be no Burdens to the Clergy in