Faction and Schism and impatience of Contradiction from mere Equals therefore S. Jerom himself grants That to avoid these mischiefs there was a necessity of a Superior Order to Presbyters in the Church of God ad quem omnis Ecclesiae Cura pertineret Schismatum seminatollerentur as he speaks even where he seems most to lessen the Authority of Bishops But whatever some expressions of his may be when the Bishop of Jerusalem and the Roman Deacons came into his head his Reasons are very much for the Advantage of Episcopal Government For can any Man say more in point of Reason for it than that nothing but Faction and Disorder followed the Government of Presbyters and therefore the whole Christian Church agreed in the necessity of a higher Order and that the Peace and Safety of the Church depends upon it that if it be taken away nothing but Schisms and Confusions will follow I wish those who magnifie S. Jerom's Authority in this matter would submit to his Reason and Authority both as to the Necessity and Usefulness of the Order of Bishops in the Church But beyond this in several Places he makes the Bishops to be Successors of the Apostles as well as the rest of the most Eminent Fathers of the Church have done If the Apostolical Office as far as it concerns the Care and Government of Churches were not to continue after their Decease how came the best the most learned the nearest to the Apostolical Times to be so wonderfully deceived For if the Bishops did not succeed by the Apostles own Appointment they must be Intruders and Usurpers of the Apostolical Function and can we imagine the Church of God would have so uniuersally consented to it Besides the Apostles did not die all at once but there were Successors in several of the Apostolical Churches while some of the Apostles were living can we again imagine those would not have vindicated the Right of their own Order and declared to the Church That this Office was peculiar to themselves The Change of the Name from Apostles to Bishops would not have been sufficient Excuse for them for the Presumption had been as great in the Exercise of the Power without the Name So that I can see no Medium but that either the Primitive Bishops did succeed the Apostles by their own Appointment and Approbation which Irenaeus expresly affirms Qui ab Apostolis ipsis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis or else those who governed the Apostolical Churches after them outwent Diotrephes himself for he only rejected those whom the Apostle sent but these assumed to themselves the Exercise of an Apostolical Authority over the Churches planted and settled by them But to let us see how far the Apostles were from thinking that this part of their Office was peculiar to themselves we find them in their own time as they saw occasion to appoin r others to take care of the Government of the Churches within such bounds as they thought fit Thus Timothy was appointed by St. Paul at Ephesus to examine the Qualifications of such as were to be Ordained and not to lay hands suddenly on any to receive Accusations if there were Cause even against Elders to proceed judicially before two or three Witnesses and if there were Reason to give them a publick Rebuke And that this ought not to be thought a slight matter he presently adds I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou observe these things without prefetring one before another doing nothing by partiality Here is a very strict and severe Charge for the Impartial Exercise of Discipline in the Church upon Offenders And although in the Epistle to Titus he be only in general required to set in order the things that are wanting and to ordain Elders in every City as he had appointed him yet we are not to suppose that this Power extended not to a Jurisdiction over them when he had ordained them For if any of those whom he Ordained as believing them qualified according to the Apostles Rules should afterwards demeam themselves otherwise and be self willed froward given to Wine Brawlens Covetous or any way scandalous to the Church can we believe that Titus was not as well bound to correct them afterwards as to examine them before And what was this Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction but the very same which the Bishops have exercised ever since the Apostles Times But they who go about to Unbishop Timothy and Titus may as well Unscripture the Epistles that were written to them and make them only some particular and occasional Writings as they make Timothy and Titus to have been only some particular and occasional Officers But the Christian Church preserving these Epistles as of constant and perpetual Use did thereby suppose the same kind of Office to continue for the sake whereof those excellent Epistles were written And we have no greater Assurance that these Epistles were written by St. Paul than we have that there were Bishops to succeed the Apostles in the Care and Government of Churches Having said thus much to clear the Authority we act by I now proceed to consider the Rules by which we are to govern our selves Every Bishop of this Church in the Time of his Consecration makes a solemn Profession among other things That he will not only maintain and set forward as much as lies in him quietness love and peace among all Men but that he will correct and punish such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous within his Diocess according to such Authority as he hath by God's Word and to him shall be committed by the Ordinance of this Realm So that we have Two Rules to proceed by viz. the Word of God and the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm 1. By the Word of God and that requires from us Diligence and Care and Faithfulness and Impartiality remembring the Account we must give that we may do it with Joy and not with Grief And we are not merely required to correct and punish but to warn and instruct and exhort the Persons under our Care to do those things which tend most to the Honour of our Holy Religion and the Church whereof we are Members And for these Ends there are some things I shall more particularly recommend to You. 1. That you would often consider the Solemn Charge that was given you and the Profession you madeof yourResolution to do yourDuty at your Ordination I find by the Provincial Constitution of this Church that the Bishops were to have their solemn Profession read over to them twice in the year to put them in mind of their Duty And in the Legatine Constitutions of Otho 22 H. 3. the same Constitution is renewed not merely by a Legatine Power but by Consent of the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces wherein it is declared that Bishops ought to visit their
THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER'S CHARGE To the CLERGY OF HIS DIOCESE IN HIS Primary Visitation BEGUN At WORCESTER Sept. 11. 1690. LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phenix in S. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XC I. To the Reverend CLERGY Of the DIOCESE Of WORCESTER My BRETHREN WHat I lately delivered among you in the several Places of my Visitation and what I have since thought fit in some particulars to add I have here put together and sent it to you that it might remain with you not only as an Instance of my Duty but as a Monitor of your own And I may reasonably hope as well as desire that the frequent Reading and Considering the Things I here recommend to you will make a deeper Impression on your Minds than a mere transient Discourse for I know nothing will more effectually preserve the Honor and Interest of the Church of England than a diligent and conscientious Discharge of the Duties of our several Places In this time of general Liberty our Adversaries of all kinds think themselves let loose upon us and therefore we have the more reason to look to our selves and to the Flock committed to our Charge Yet I do not question but through the Goodness of God and the serious and vigorous Application of our Minds to the great Business of our High and Holy Calling that Church which we so justly value will escape sinking in the Quick-Sands as it hath hitherto being dashed against the Rocks If we behave our selves with that Prudence and Zeal and Circumspection which becomes us I hope the Inclinations of the People will never be made use of as an Argument against us For although in a Corrupt Age that be one of the weakest Arguments in the World if it be true and only shews the Prevalency of Folly and Faction Yet there is no such Way to prevent the spreading of both as our constant Care to instruct our People in the main Duties of Religion and going before them in the Ways of Holyness and Peace In the following Discourse I have first endeavoured to Assert and Vindicate the Authority of Bishops in the Christian Church and in as few Words and with as much Clearness as I could I have proved their Apostolical Institution And the Judgment and Practice of the Universal Church from the Apostles Times will prevail with all unbyas'd Persons above any modern violent Inclinations to the contrary In the next place I have recommended to you such things which I am sure are much for the Churches Service and Honour as well as our own and therefore I hope you will the more regard them In the last place I have made it my Design to clear several Parts of the Ecclesiastical Law which concerns Church-Men and have shewed the Nature Force and Extent of it and how agreeable it is to the Common Law of England In these things my aim was to do something towards the Good of this Church and particularly of this Diocese And that the Glory of God the Salvation of Souls and Holiness and Peace may be Promoted therein is the hearty Prayer of Westminst Jan. 33. 1690 1. Your Affectionate Brother and Fellow-Servant to Our Common Lord ED. Wigorn. My BRETHREN THIS being my Primary Visitation I thought it fitting to acquaint my self with the Ancient as well as Modern Practice of Episcopal Visitations and as near as I could to observe the Rules prescribed therein with respect to the Clergy who are now Summon'd to appear And I find there were Two principal Parts in them a Charge and an Enquiry The Charge was given by the Bishop himself and was called Admonitio Episcopi or Allocutio wherein he informed them of their Duty and exhorted them to perform it The Enquiry was made according to certain Articles drawn out of the Canons which were generally the same according to which the Juratores Synodi as the Ancient Canonists call them or Testes Synodales were to give in their Answers upon Oath which was therefore called Juramentum Synodale for the Bishop's Visitation was accounted an Episcopal Synod The former of these is my present business and I shall take leave to speak my mind freely to you this first time concerning several things which I think most Useful and fit to be considered and practised by the Clergy of this Diocess For since it hath pleased God by his wise and over-ruling Providence without my seeking to bring me into this station in his Church I shall esteem in the best Circumstance of my present Condition if he please to make me an Instrument of doing good among you To this End I thought it necessary in the first place most humbly to implore his Divine Assistance that I might both rightly understand and conscientiously perform that great Duty which is incumbent upon me for without his help all our Thoughts are vain and our best Purposes will be ineffectual But God is not wanting to those who sincerely endeavour to know and to do their Duty and therefore in the next place I set my self as far as my Health and other Occasions would permit to consider the Nature and Extent of my Duty with a Resolution not to be discouraged altho I met with Difficulties in the performance of it For such is the State and Condition of the World That no man can design to do good in it but when that crosses the particular Interests and Inclinations of others he must expect to meet with as much Trouble as their unquiet Passions can give him If we therefore consulted nothing but our own Ease the only way were to let People follow their Humors and Inclinations and to be as little concerned as might be at what they either say or do For if we go about to rowze and awaken them and much more to reprove and reform them we shall soon find them uneasie and impatient for few love to hear of their Faults and fewer to amend them But it is the peculiar Honour of the Christan Religion to have an Order of Men set apart not merely as Priests to offer Sacrifices for that all Religions have had but as Preachers of Righteousness to set Good and Evil before the People committed to their Charge to inform them of their Duties to reprove them for their Miscarriages and that not in order to their Shame but their Reformation Which requires not only Zeal but Discretion and a great mixture of Courage and Prudence that we may neither fail in doing our Duty nor in the best means of attaining the end of it If we could reasonably suppose that all those who are bound to tell others their Duties would certainly do their own there would be less need of any such Office in the Church as that of Bishops who are to inspect and govern and visit and reform those who are to watch over others But since there may be too great failings even in these too great neglect in some and disorder in others too great proneness to
the Design was to keep People in Ignorance For Learning is an irrecøncileable Enemy to the Fundamental Policy of the Roman Church and it was that which brought in the Reformation since which a just Care hath still been required for the Instruction of Youth and the fifty ninth Canon of our Church is very strict in it which I desire you often to consider with the first Rubrick after the Catechism and to act accordingly IV. After Catechizing I recommend to you the due Care of bringing the Children of your Parishes to Confirmation Which would be of excellent use in the Church if the several Ministers would take that Pains about it which they ought to do Remember that you are required to bring or send in Writing with your Names subscribed the Names of all such Persons in your Parish as you shall think fit to be Presented to the Bishop to be Confirmed If you take no Care about it and suffer them to come unprepared for so great so solemn a thing as renewing the Promise and Vow made in Baptism can you think your selves free from any Guilt in it In the Church of Rome indeed great Care was taken to hasten Confirmation of Children all they could Post Baptismum quam citius poterint as it is in our Constitution Provincial in another Synodical the Parochial Priests are charged to tell their Parishioners that they ought to get their Children Confirmed as soon as they can In a Synod at Worcester under Walter de Cantilupo in the time of Henry III. the Sacrament of Confirmation is declared necessary for Strength against the Power of Darkness and therefore it was called Sacramentum pugnantium and no wonder then that the Parochial Priests should be called upon so earnestly to bring the Children to Confirmation and the Parents were to be forbidden to enter into the Church if they neglected it for a Year after the Birth of the Child if they had opportunity The Synod of Exeter allowed two Years and then if they were not Confirmed the Parents were to Fast every Friday with Bread and Water till it were done And to the same purpose the Synod of Winchester in the time of Edw. I. in the Constitutions of Richard Bishop of Sarum two Years were allowed but that Time was afterwards thought too long and then the Priest as well as the Parents was to be suspended from entrance into the Church But what Preparation was required None that I can find But great Care is taken about the Fillets to bind their Heads to receive the Unction and the taking them off at the Font and burning them lest they should be used for Witchcraft as Lyndwood informs us But we have no such Customs nor any of the Reformed Churches We depend not upon the Opus operatum but suppose a due and serious Preparation of Mind necessary and a solemn Performance of it I hope by God's Assistance to be able in time to bring the Performance of this Office into a better Method in the mean time I shall not fail doing my Duty have you a care you do not fail in yours V. As to the Publick Offices of the Church I do not only recommend to you a due Care of the Diligent but of the Devout Performance of them I have often wondered how a fixed and stated Liturgy for general Use should become a matter of Scruple and Dispute among any in a Christian Church unless there be something in Christianity which makes it unlawful to pray together for things which we all understand beforehand to be the Subject of our Prayers If our common Necessities and Duties are the same if we have the same Blessings to pray and to Thank God for in our solemn Devotions why should any think it unlawful or unfitting to use the same Expressions Is God pleased with the Change of our Words and Phrases Can we imagine the Holy Spirit is gi ven to dictate new Expressions in Prayers Then they must pray by immediate Inspiration which I think they will not pretend to lest all the Mistakes and Incongruities of such Prayers be imputed to the Holy Ghost but if not then they are left to their own Conceptions and the Spirits Assistance is only in the Exciting the Affections and Motions of the Soul towards the things prayed for and if this be allowed it is impossible to give a Reason why the Spirit of God may not as well excite those inward Desires when the Words are the same as when they are different And we are certain that from the Apostles times downwards no one Church or Society of Christians can be produced who held it unlawful to pray by a set Form On the other side we have very early Proofs of some common Forms of Prayer which were generally used in the Christian Churches and were the Foundations of those Ancient Liturgies which by degrees were much enlarged And the Interpolations of latter times do no more overthrow the Antiquity of the Ground-work of them than the large Additions to a Building do prove there was no House before It is an easie matter to say that such Liturgies could not be S. James's or S. Mark 's because of such Errors and Mistakes and Interpolations of things and Phrases of latter times but what then Is this an Argument there were no ancient Liturgies in the Churches of Jerusalem or Alexandria when so long since as in Origen's time we find an entire Collect produced by him out of the Alexandrian Liturgy And the like may be shewed as to other Churches which by degrees came to have their Liturgies much inlarged by the Devout Prayers of some extraordinary Men such as S. Basil and S. Chrysostom in the Eastern Churches But my design is not to vindicate our use of an excellent Liturgy but to put you upon the using it in such manner as may most recommend it to the People I mean with that Gravity Seriousness Attention and Devotion which becomes so solemn a Duty as Prayer to God is It will give too just a Cause of Prejudice to our Prayers if the People observe you to be careless and negligent about them or to run them over with so great haste as if you minded nothing so much as to get to the end of them If you mind them so little your selves they will think themselves excused if they mind them less I could heartily wish that in greater places especially in such Towns where there are People more at liberty the constant Morning and Evening Prayers were duly and devoutly read as it is already done with good Success in London and some other Cities By this means Religion will gain ground when the publick Offices are daily performed and the People will be more acquainted with Scripture in hearing the Lessons and have a better esteem of the Prayers when they become their daily Service which they offer up to God as their Morning and Evening Sacrifice and the design of
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
part of common Justice and Honesty so to do And the Lord Coke positively affirms that Dilapidation is a good Cause of Deprivation And it was so Resolved by the Judges in the King's Bench 12. Jac. Not by Virtue of any new Law or Statute but by the old Ecclesiastical Law For which Coke refers to the Year-Books which not only shew what the Ecclesiastical Law then was but that it was allowed by the Common Law of England and we are told that is never given to change but it may be forced to it by a New Law which cannot be pretended in this Case And by the old Constitutions here received the Bishops are required to put the Clergy in mind of keeping their Houses in sufficient Reparations and if they do it not within two months the Bishop is to take care it be done out of the Profits of the Benefice By the Injunctions of Ed. VI. and Queen Elizabeth all Persons having Ecclesiastical Benefices are required to set apart the Fifth of their Revenue to Repair their Houses and afterwards to maintain them in good condition V. Pluralities By the Ecclesiastical Law which was here received the actual receiving Institution into a second Benefice made the first void ipso jure and if he sought to keep both above a Month the second was void too Lyndwood observes that the Ecclesiastical Law had varied in this matter And it proceeded by these steps which are more than Lyndw. mentions I. It was absolutely forbidden to have two Parishes if there were more than ten Inhabitants in them because no Man could do his Duty in both Places And if any Bishop neglected the Execution of it he was to be excommunicated for two Months and to be restored only upon Promise to see this Canon executed II. The Rule was allowed to hold as to Cities but an Exception was made as to small and remote Places where there was a greater Scarcity of Persons to supply them III. If a Man had two Benefices it was left to his Choice which he would have but he could not hold both This kind of Option was allowed by the Ecclesiastical Law then in force IV. That if he takes a second Benefice that Institution is void by the third Council of Lateran under Alexander III. V. That by taking a second the first is void which is the famous Canon of the fourth Lateran Council VI. That if he were not contented with the last but endeavour to keep both he should be deprived of both And this was the Ecclesiastical Law as it was declared in our Provincial Constitutions But the general Practice was to avoid the former according to the Lateran Council These were very severe Canons but that one Clause of the Pope's dispensing Power made them to signifie little unless it were to advance his Power and Revenue For when the Dispensing Power came to be owned the Law had very little force especially as to the Consciences of Men. For if it were a Law of God how could any man dispense with it unless it were as apparent that he had given a Power in some Cases to Dispense as that he had made the Law Those Casuists are very hard put to it who make Residence Jure Divino and yet say the Pope may dispense with it which at last comes only to this that the Pope can authoritatively declare the sufficiency of the Cause so that the whole matter depends upon the Cause whether there can be any sufficient to excuse from Personal Residence It is agreed on all hands that the habitual Neglect of a Charge we have taken upon our selves is an evil thing and that it is so to heap up Preferments merely for Riches or Luxury or Ambition but the main Question in point of Conscience is what is a sufficient Cause to justifie any Man's breaking so reasonable and just a Rule as that of Residence is It cannot be denied that the eldest Canons of the Church were so strict and severe that they made it unlawful for any man to go from that Church in which he first received Orders as well as to take another Benefice in it and so for any Bishop to be translated from that Place he was first Consecrated to as well as to hold another with it But the Good of the Church being the main Foundation of all the Rules of it when that might be better promoted by a Translation it was by a tacit Consent looked on as no unjust violation of its Rules The Question then is whether the Churches Benefit may not in some Cases make the Canons against Non-Residence as Dispensable as those against Translations And the Resolution of it doth not depend upon the voiding the particular Obligation of the Incumbent to his Cure but upon some more general Reason with respect to the State of the Church As being imployed in the Service of it which requires a Persons having not a bare Competency for Subsistence but a sufficiency to provide Necessaries for such Service For those seem to have very little Regard to the flourishing Condition of a Church who would confine the Sufficiency of a Subsistence merely to the Necessaries of Life But it seems to be Reasonable that Clergy-Men should have Incouragement sufficient not only to keep them above Contempt but in some respect agreeable to the more ample Provision of other Orders of Men. And by God's own Appointment the Tribe of Levi did not fall short of any of the rest if it did not very much exceed the Proportion of others We do not pretend to the Privileges they had only we observe from thence that God himself did appoint a plentiful Subsistence for those who attended upon his Service And I do not know what there is Levitical or Ceremonial in that I am sure the Duties of the Clergy now require a greater Freedom of Mind from the anxious Cases of the World than the Imployments of the Priests and Levites under the Law But we need not go so far back if the Church injoyed all her Revenues as entirely as when the severe Canons against Pluralities were made there would not be such a Plea for them as there is too much Cause for in some Places from the want of a competent Subsistence But since that time the Abundance of Appropriations since turned into Lay-Fees hath extremely lessened the Churches Revenues and have left us a great number of poor Vicarages and Arbitrary Cures which would hardly have afforded a Maintenance for the Nethinims under the Law who were only to be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water But this doth not yet clear the Difficulty for the Question is whether the Subsistence of the Clergy can lawfully be improved by a Plurality of Livings Truly I think this if it be allowed in some Cases lawful to be the least desireable way of any but in some Circumstances it is much more excusable than in others As when the Benefices