A DEFENCE OF Pluralities OR Holding two BENEFICES WITH Cure of Souls As now Practised in the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. A DEFENCE OF Pluralities Or Holding Two Benefices with Cure of Souls As now Practised in the Church of ENGLAND INTRODUCTION THE Use and Continuance of Pluralities in the Church of England since the Reformation hath been much inveighed against ever since the rise of Puritanism and represented as injurious to Religion and subservient only to the Avarice and Ambition of the Clergy That the Puritans should with so much heat oppose it is not much to be wondered because it was allowed by the Church and the opposition carried with it an apparent shew of religious Zeal To that waspish Generation it was a sufficient ground of opposing any thing if it were practised or permitted by the Church however lawful and indifferent or perhaps decent and necessary and no Artisice was thought unlawful which might create to them an opinion of Sanctity among the People But that an Accusation raised against the Church by her professed Enemies should be continued and prosecuted by her own Members we should have just cause to wonder if we did not know by frequent Examples to what Intemperancies Mankind may be betrayed by the use of false Principles None can be ignorant what Clamours have in late years been raised and carried on against Pluralities what Accusatious have been formed against them in the Writings and Discourse of many otherwise deservedly eminent how they are represented as the great Scandal of the Reformation and the most pernicious Relique of Popery that they are traduced as the Cause of many Evils and Inconveniencies in the Church affirmed to be sinful in the nature of them or little less than such obstructing the good of Souls and destroying the honour and welfare of the Church And to lay the greater load upon them all the violent Exclamations brought formerly by good and zealous men against those enormous Pluralities which obtained in the Church of Rome are applied to the present permission and practice of them in the Church of England as if the same thing were practised among us without any restraint or limitation The Clergy in the mean while assured of the justice of their Cause and impertinence of these Exclamations have remained silent expecting that this unreasonable Accusation should cease with time or at least make no impression upon those whom the solly of Puritanism hath not yet infected But when many Persons of our own Communion engage themselves in the same quarrel and publickly desame the Church upon this account it is not fit the injured Clergy should any longer continue their silence lest it should be thought to imply a Confession of Guilt or give way to all those Inconveniencies which a hasty and imprudent change in this matter might probably produce to the Church I am not insensible what a difficult Province I have undertaken what Opposition and Censures will attend it Many will esteem it a Paradox and most will conclude it a rash Undertaking to oppose Reason to a Popular Cry and to endeavour to defend what almost all men by hearing only one side have been long since induced to condemn Many good men really zealous and concerned for the honour of Religion will perhaps suppose it to be a Scandal to apologize for what they have hitherto believed to be no less than Evil. To these I doubt not to give intire satisfaction if they will judge with Candour and Indifferency Others who are farr the most violent Adversaries only zealous in pretence affecting to gain the Reputation of Extraordinary Piety not really concerned for the Honour of Religion but endeavouring to recommend themselves by the pretence of it will decry the Author of this Apology as an Enemy to Religion and Purity as an ungodly Pluralist who prefers his Interest to the honour of God and the good of others nor will perhaps stop here the effects of their Anger if he be so unfortunate as to be discovered Indeed it is so easy and withal so advantageous a Subject to expose the Faults of others and especially the supposed corruptions of a National Church that the Inclination of Ambitious men to oppose this innocent practice of the Church may easily be accounted for It seems to unwary persons to be an evident Argument of exalted Sanctity to oppugn the received Discipline of any Communion since this insinuates as if they were more religious and knowing than a whole Nation To such men nothing is more grievous than to be tied down to the ordinary Rules of Religion and Government since to be religious in the common way would never distinguish them from other men Somewhat must be continually attempted by them which may make the credulous part of Mankind cry out See a man more religious than all the Clergy who went before or are contemporary with him They all practised or at least allowed a scandalous Custom This man's Piety is extraordinary and qualifieth him beyond others to be a Governour of the Church It is lamentable indeed to consider that the credulity of Mankind should be so easily wrought upon by designing men and that Impostors of this kind should seldom want success Such Exclamations against the received Order and Discipline of the Church have ever since the first Foundation of it been the Common-place to all ambitious Clergy-men desiring to appear zealous Nothing is more easy than to discover vices in another or corruptions in a Society This is a Subject which will afford constant matter to publick Harangues and can never be exhausted At the same time nothing is more popular in that it qualisteth the perverse nature of men who generally love to hear things and persons of publick esteem decried and secureth to the pretended Zealot the reputation of a more elevated Piety than that which appears in any of those whom he opposeth With this Artifice a man may not only create Authority to himself but cover his own Faults however gross and numerous by diverting and fixing the eyes of men upon the Faults of others or if his own Crimes be too notorious to be dissembled compensating for them by a wonderful appearance of Zeal He that will vehemently exclaim against Pluralities and the other supposed Imperfections of the Church may safely neglect all the parts of his own duty may be Non-resident may â—ordidly enrich himself and his Relations may injure his Equals oppress his Inferiours and all this shall be easily forgiven in consideration of his Zeal If I would recommend my self to a Lecture in the City I could take no more successful method than to inveigh against Pluralities to accuse the Clergy of negligence and covetousness The name of a zealous Reformer would set me beyond all competition of real Worth and Learning If I desired to excuse any scandalous Immoralities which cannot be dissembled I would arraign all the Corruptions of the
Church exclaim powerfully against her Governours and cry up the necessity of Reformation To so warm a zeal for publick good private sins would easily be permitted Those who know the Town have seen Examples of both kinds within this year This Air of Popularity hath been the great pest of the Church in all Ages when Church-men employ their Designs not so much to preserve the Honour of Religion as to acquire to themselves a Name and Interest among the Multitude when they apply themselves to obtain the favour of the professed Enemies of the Church and for that end stick not to betray her Constitutions and to be instrumental in her disgrace Doubtless in the ancient Church it would not have been thought any great recommendation of a Catholick Clergy-man to have sought the favour of the Donatists to admit and second those heavy Imputations which they cast upon the Catholicks to call them Brethren and treat the sincere Members of the Church as Enemies How can it ever be expected that the Laity should conscientiously obey the Constitutions of the Church and retain their duty to her when the Clergy make light of her Authority vilifie her Constitution court the friendship of those who have divided themselves from her Communion and seek her Ruine when for their sake they will slight her Sacred Offices mutilate or disuse her Ceremonies prostitute her Honour and betray her Cause It is undeniable that this great Cry against Pluralities was raised by the Enemies of the Church the Puritans in the last Age. Before the Reformation the same Clamours were raised against Pluralities by the Mendicant Orders The Artifices and Hypocrisy of both are so like that they ought not to be passed by without some reflection These Mendicant Orders arose and chiefly infested the Church in the Thirteenth Age. They pretended an extraordinary Call from God to reform the World and correct the Faults of the Secular Clergy To this end they put on a mighty shew of Zeal for the good of mens Souls and of contempt of the World accused the Secular Clergy of famishing the Souls of Men called them dumb Dogs and cursed Hirelings maintained that Evangelical Poverty became the Ministers of the Gospel that it was unlawful for them to possess any thing or to retain propriety in any worldly Goods As for the Publick Orders of the Church they would not be tied to them alledging that themselves being wholly Spiritual could not be obliged to any Carnal Ordinances They broke in every where upon the Parochial Clergy usurped their Office in all populous and rich Places set up Altars of their own withdrew the People from the Communion of their Parish-Priest would scarce allow the hopes of Salvation to any but their own Disciples whom they bewitched with great pretences of Sanctity and assiduity in Preaching These Artifices had raised their Reputation and Interest so high in a few years that they wanted very little to ruine the Secular Clergy and therewith the Church But in less than an Age the cheat of these Impostors became manifest to all men They procured to their Societies incredible Riches built to themselves stately Palaces infinitely surpassed that viciousness of which themselves had perhaps unjustly accused the Secular Clergy and long before the Reformation became the most infamous and contemptible part of the Church of Rome After the decay of their Reputation the Jesuites arose that last and greatest Scourge of the Christian Church who upon the same Principles and Pretences carried on the same Design and still prosecute it in opposition to the Clergy where ever they are planted altho the World is no less convinced of their Fraud than of their Predecessours whom after all their pretences to Evangelical Poverty and Simplicity they have far exceeded in Riches and worldly Interest After all this it may be easily judged how little Authority their Opinion in this matter ought to bear and how unfair it is to alledge the Determinations of the Regulars against the Secular Clergy To cite the Opinions of them in this Case of Pluralities is no other than to produce the Authority of Baxter or Owen against Episcopacy or of Milton and Ferguson against Monarchy Such were the Opposers of Pluralities in our Church before the Reformation I mean the Opposers of the simple use of them as for the Opposers of the great abuse of them many of them were excellent men of which I shall speak hereafter Since the Reformation altho the Abuse of them was not continued they have been vehemently decried by the Puritans whose agreement with the Mendicants in the same Principles and Designs is so evident from the precedent account of the latter that I need not make any minute comparison Every one knows what were the first Pretences and Principles of our Dissenters and what is their modern Practice how they inveighed against our Secular Clergy maintained the unlawfulness of their Possessions set up Altar against Altar withdrew the Laity from their Communion put on a specious appearance of Mortification and unusual Sanctity have long since quitted their precise strictness but still retain the pretence and their quarrel to the Clergy Thus an hardned Hypocrisy will obstinately persist altho it be notorious that the Cheat has been long since discovered by the experience of a more licentious practice of those things which themselves have condemned in others Particularly in this Case of Pluralities it is well known that when the Dissenters had by a successful Rebellion ejected all the Clergy of the Kingdom together with their lawful King and usurped the Authority and Revenues of both their Leaders and Favourites seized on and retained to themselves more Benefices than have been lately united in any Clergy-man of the Church of England And at this day many of the Heads of the Separation hold Plurality of Conventicles as the Presbyterians of Scotland do of Benefices To these open and professed Enemies of the Church I might add those secret ones those unfaithful Clergy-men those Traditores who seek to oblige the Enemies of the Church by betraying her Out-guards to them Altho I would not lay the imputation of Infidelity upon all Some it may be hoped acted upon a mistaken Zeal and false Prejudices But upon whatever Principle they proceeded it was long since observed of them that with insatiable greediness they heaped up Plurality and Multiplicity of Prebends in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and there growing fat inveighed against the Dualities of the Parochial Clergy as a Mortal Sin Among all our Bishops since the Reformation none have so much favoured the Cause of our Dissenters as Hooper and Williams the first through weakness of Judgment the other through a violent Ambition which prompted him to oppose whatsoever his Rival Arch-Bishop Laud should undertake Of these Hooper held two Bishopricks those of Glocester and Worcester for many years together an abuse which this Church had never seen from the time of Stigand to Cardinal Wolsey And
more to be continued one year than fifty If it be alledged that they enjoyed not the Temporal Revenues but only the Spiritual Jurisdiction of these Diocesses I answer that this is all which properly belongs to the Episcopal Function and constitutes the Character of a Bishop The Temporalties are no essential part of him If it be said that this was done for the good of the Church I answer that S. Paul pronounceth it unlawful to do evil that good may come of it and that if Plurality be in its nature unlawful no good design can take away the guilt of it It appears then plainly how false and pernicious the Principles are of these Anti-pluralists That they make it impossible to continue the Government or Service of the Church without inevitable sin or to secure the reputation of so many excellent Prelates from partaking in this sin It is much more easie safe and charitable to suppose that in all these cases of Plurality and Non-residence the principle by which every man ought to direct himself is the general good of the Church And this is the true resolution of the Case Bishops and Priests were not ordained only to serve this Diocess or that Parish in particular but the Church of Christ in general Good Order and Discipline indeed require that the exercise of his Office be confined to some certain limits and place but he still remains a Bishop or Priest not of that place only but of the whole Catholick Church and may execute his Office in any part of the Catholick Church out of his own limits if the greater good of the Church shall so require Whether any mans private case be such he ought to judge by rules of right reason taking especial care that he do not flatter and deceive himself herein by a false judgment And after the satisfaction and direction of his own Conscience ought to be directed herein by his Superiours the Priests by their Bishop and the Bishops by their Metropolitan And when such Cases happen the rules of Religion and the Laws of the Church allow Bishops and Priests either to be Non-resident or to retain the administration of more than one Diocess or Parish Thus in times of Persecution it was always thought lawful for Bishops or Priests to be Non-resident and to execute their Office in any part of the Catholick Church where-ever they should come In times of Infection I will not say it was always thought lawful to be Non-resident but I am sure it was always thought lawful for any Parish Priest in that case to take upon him the care of any neighbour Parish deserted by the proper Priâ—â—t Upon occasion of General Patriarchal or Provincial Councils it was always accounted lawful for Bishops to absent themselves from their Diocesses and attend the Council altho it should last for many months or years together All these Cases became lawful for the same reason because the greater good of the Church did so require Upon the same account it is lawful for the Prelates of our Church to attend continually their Majesties in Council or Parliament or any weighty offices or affairs wherein they shall please to employ them and in all these cases to be Non-resident because it is the interest of the Church in general It is more for the advantage of this National Church that the Archbishop of Canterbury should reside near the Court and be always ready to advise their Majesties in matters of Religion and defend the cause of the Church upon all occasions and more readily receive Appeals and give directions to his whole Province than that he should be tied down in constant Residence in his own Diocess For this reason all the Archbishops of Canterbury since the Reformation have for the greater part of the year and all for these sixty years last past during the whole year resided at Lambeth For this reason all the Bishops of the Church are wâ—nt to give attendance in Parliament altho sometimes their Sessions continue a whole year together because the Church reapeth greater benefit by their presence there than it suffers detriment by a temporary absence from their Diocesses For this reason many excellent Prelates have attended whole years together at Court because it is always of greater advantage to the Church in general to secure the favour of the Prince to it and direct his conscience than continually to attend to the care of any particular Diocess On the contrary if this Principle of these Anti-pluralists be allowed if Plurality be always sinful and in its nature if Residence be of Divine Right and consequently in all cases indispensable it will follow That all those holy and learned Bishops who in all Ages have appeared in Councils That all who have absented themselves in time of Persecution or in that and like cases have taken upon them the care of other Diocesses or Parishes That all the Bishops of our Church who have attended Parliaments since the first institution of them That all the Kings Lords and Commons of this Nation who have by publick Laws required their attendance therein That all the Archbishops of Canterbury since the Reformation and other excellent Prelates alive and dead who have absented themselves from their Diocesses to attend the publick Service of the Church at Court have committed mortal sin and do still continue in it That what hath been laid down in the case of Bishops may not be mistaken I will subjoyn That the obligation of Bishops to all the parts and consequences of their duty and particularly as to Residence is far greater than that of Parochial Priests in as much as the right discharge of their Office is of greater concern to the good of the Church and is also imposed on them by Divine Institution If therefore a Priest ought not to neglect his charge much less a Bishop and if the absence of a Parochial Priest ought to be supplied by a Curate much more doth it seem reasonable that the absence of a Bishop if it be long or frequent should be supplied by a Suffragan Bishop It is a fatal mistake to imagine that the care of the Souls of the Laity belongs only to the inferiour Clergy and that the Bishop hath no more to do but only to govern the Clergy or that a Diocess doth not more want the constant presence of a Bishop than any private Parish the presence of a Priest And therefore in the Church of England before the Reformation even in the most corrupt times of Popery the Archbishop of Canterbury and all other Biâ—hops attending at Court or employed by the King in publick Service constantly maintained Suffragan Bishops in their Diocesses This practice was confirmed and intirely setled by an Act of Parliament in the Reign of Henry VIII and from that time Suffragan Bishops were without interruption continued in the Diocess of Canterbury till the end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and in some Diocesses till the middle of King James It
sufficient Revenue for a Clergy-Man imposing a Tax in the nature of a mulct upon Pluralists possessing more would contribute very little And if the necessary helps to Learning be denied to the Clergy they cannot maintain the Honour and Well-being of the Church nor defend the cause of Christianity in general or of the reformed Religion in particular as it ought to be What can be expected from a Clergy-man however Learned and Industrious when through want of a proportionable Estate he shall not be able to obtain the Instruments of doing good of performing eminent Service to the Church or to the World when his Library must be reduced to a Concordance a Postil and a Polyanthea and his Purse will reach no further Of these indeed Mr. Selden hath said the Library of a Clergy-man doth consist and from thence taketh occasion to upbraid them of Ignorance The Charge indeed then was false for the Clergy were then in a flourishing condition and had arrived to as great an height of Learning as was ever known in the Christian Church But if by the diminution of the encouragements and revenues of the Clergy their Libraries should be indeed reduced to such a condition they would soon give just occasion to the Enemies of the Church to upbraid them of Ignorance and to make their advantage of it If we call to mind all the famous Writings of our Clergy published since the Reformation to the increase and support of Religion the advancement of Knowledge and the honour of the Nation We shall find that they were almost all written by those who were well preferred in the Church A Soul oppressed with Poverty can never raise itself to attempt any great design in this Nature or if it should attempt it in a condition unable to purchase the necessary helps of Learning the attempt would be but vain I know that the Case of Mr. Hooker will be objected against this Assertion But it is a vulgar Errour which the Author of his Life hath also taken up that he was but meanly preferred For to my certain knowledge at the time when he wrote his celebrated Books of Ecclesiastical Polity he had very great preferments of which he died possessed It is no less necessary to the support of Religion that a Clergy-man be able to give Alms liberally and to maintain some sort of Hospitality in the place where he liveth as well to give Example to the Laity as to oblige the Poorer sort to the Practice of their Duty by that Influence which the Application of Charity to them shall obtain The necessity of this is not indeed so obvious in great Cities But whoever knows the state of Country Parishes and the Conditions and Humours of the Poorer sort there will confess that a sense of Religion can hardly be kept up among them unless it be in the Power of the Parish-Priest to oblige them by Charity and Hospitality Above all it is necessary to the preservation of Religion that the Clergy do not want those helps which will give to them Respect and Authority among the People which a bare Competence can never do unless they be able to maintain themselves in a condition above the common Rank of Men. It is certain that it is not so much the force of Reason or the sense of Duty which maintains Religion among many of the meaner and unlearned sort as the Opinion which they have of their Pastors and the deference which they are taught to pay to their Judgment and Direction If the Clergy should be reduced to a bare Subsistence all this authority would fall to the Ground and their Persons thereby becoming contemptible to the People Religion would be despised with them Even among Persons of greater Knowledge and better Education Piety and Vertue in that case could scarce be maintained when such would scorn to converse with those whose Poverty made them far Inferiour to their Quality Men may frame to themselves what Systems they please in their Closets and in Speculation and imagine that the Clergy however poor will still be honoured for their Works sake that Vertue and a conscientious Discharge of their Duty will procure to them everlasting respect and Authority But when these Systems are reduced to practice Experience demonstrates the Folly of them If an Angel should descend from Heaven and take upon him the Ministerial Office if he abstained from working Miracles he would never be able to procure any great Respect to himself or do eminent Service to the Church and to Religion unless he might converse with the Gentry upon equal ground and were raised a degree above the Commonalty Let any Gentleman fancy himself stript of his large Possessions and reduced to a bare subsistence and then let him imagine if he can that his Vertue will secure that Authority among his Neighbours which a large Estate and Power delegated to him for the sake of it did before procure to him In the last place it is necessary that additional Provisions be made for the Reward of those Clergy-men who by extraordinary Learning and Industry shall deserve more than others For without this the Church would be deprived of the benefit of almost all the extraordinary Labours of her Clergy since scarce any would be found willing to undertake any unnecessary pains if after all there were no hopes of being distinguished from others who labour not so much as well by their Preferment as by their Merit It is commonly said indeed that Prebends and other Dignities in Cathedral Churches were intended for Rewards of extraordinary Merit and are sufficient to that purpose But it is to be considered that those are given promiscuously as Benefices are to Men of ordinary as extraordinary worth and that it never did or can happen otherwise that the Persons of extraordinary worth to whom they are given are generally those who ply next at Court that Rewards of extraordinary Merit ought to be provided for the Clergy of other Diocesses as well as for them that many Bishops have not the gift of one Prebend wherewith to Reward their Chaplains and deserving Clergy and the Arch-Bishop himself of no more than three and consequently that no constant Provision can be made for extraordinary Merit otherwise than by Pluralities Other great inconveniencies which would arise from confining the Revenues of the Clergy to a bare Subsistence might be urged as that it would reflect dishonour upon Religion that it would soon introduce a general Ignorance that it would induce them to follow a Secular Life that it would tempt them to prevaricate to flatter Vice in Rich Men and to betray the Cause of Religion in times of Tryal such as we lately saw These and the above-mentioned Considerations make it absolutely necessary that the Clergy should be endowed with and permitted to enjoy ample Possessions and Revenues God therefore foretold it as the great Blessing of his Church which should be founded among the Gentiles that Kings should be her