are mean when they lie near each other when great Care is taken to put in sufficient Curates with good Allowance when Persons take all Opportunities to do their Duties themselves and do not live at a distance from their Benefices in an idle and careless manner But for Men to put in Curates merely to satisfie the Law and to mind nothing of the Duties of their Places is a horrible Scandal to Religion and our Church and that which if not amended may justly bring down the Wrath of God upon us For the loosest of all the Popish-Casuists look upon this as a very great Sin even those who attributed to the Pope the highest Dispensing Power in this Case But when the greate Liberty of Dispensing had made the Ecclesiastical Laws in great measure useless then it was thought fit by our Law-makers to Restrain and Limit it by a Statute made 21. H. 8. wherein it is Enacted That if any Person or Persons having one Benefice with Cure of Souls being of the yearly value of eight pounds or above accept or take any other with Cure of Soul and be instituted and inducted in possession of the same that then and immediately after such Possession had thereof the first Benefice shall be adjudged to be void And all Licenses and Dispensations to the contrary are declared to be void and of none effect This one would have thought had been an effectual Remedy against all such Pluralities and Dispensations to obtain them and this no doubt was the Primary Design of the Law but then follow so many Proviso's of Qualified Men to get Dispensations as take off a great deal of the Force and Effect of this Law But then it ought well to be considered whether such a License being against the chief Design of a Law can satisfie any Man in point of Conscience where there is not a just and sufficient Cause For if the Popes Dispensation with the supposed Plenitude of his Power could not satisfie a Mans Conscience without an antecedent Cause as the Casuists resolve much less can such Proviso's do it It is the general Opinion of Divines and Lawyers saith Lessius that no Man is safe in Conscience by the Popes Dispensation for Pluralities unless there be a just Cause for it No Man can with a safe Conscience take a Dispensation from the Pope for more Benefices than one merely for his own Advantage saith Panormitan and from him Sylvester and Summ. Angelica A Dispensation saith Card. Tolet secures a Man as to the Law but as to Conscience there must be a good Cause for it And that is when the Church hath more benefit by it than it would have without it But the Pope's Dispensing Power went much farther in Point of Conscience in their Opinion than that which is setled among us by Act of Parliament For it is expressed in the Stat. 21 Hen. 8. that the Dispensation is intended to keep Men from incurring the Danger Penalty and Forfeiture in this Statute comprised So that the most qualified Person can only say that the Law doth not deprive him but he can never plead that it can satisfie him in Point of Conscience unless there be some Cause for it which is of more moment to the Church than a Man 's sole and constant Attendance on a particular Cure is But this Stat. is more favourable to the Clergy than the Canon Law was before in two Particulars 1. In declaring that no simple Benefices or mere Dignities as the Canonists call them are comprehended under the Name of Benefices having Cure of Souls viz. No Deanery Arch-deaconry Chancellorship Treasurership Chantership or Prebend in any Cathedral or Collegiate Church nor Parsonage that hath a Vicar endowed nor any Benefice perpetually appropriate But all these before were within the reach of the Canon Law and a Dispensation was necessary for them Which shews that this Law had a particular respect to the necessary Attendance on Parochial Cures and looked on other Dignities and Preferments in the Church as a sufficient Encouragement to extraordinary Merit 2. That no notice is taken of Livings under the value of 8l which I suppose is that of 20 E. 1. for that of H. 8. was not till five Years after But after that Valuation it was to be judged according to it and not according to the real Value as the Judges declared 12 Car. I. in the Case of Drake and Hill Now here was a regard had to the Poorness of Benefices so far that the Statute doth not deprive the Incumbent upon taking a second Living if it be under 8 l. The Question that arises from hence is Whether such Persons are allowed to enjoy such Pluralities by Law or only left to the Ecclesiastical Law as it was before It is certain that such are not liable to the Penalty of this Law but before any Person might be deprived by the Ecclesiastical Law for taking a second Benefice without Dispensation of what value soever now here comes a Statute which enacts that all who take a second Benefice of 8l without Qualification shall lose his legal Title to the first but what if it be under Shall he lose it or not Not by this Law But suppose the Ecclesiastical Law before makes him liable to Deprivation doth the Statute alter the Law without any Words to that purpose The Bishop had a Power before to deprive where is it taken away The Patron had a Right to present upon such Deprivation how comes he to lose it And I take it for granted that no antecedent Rights are taken away by Implications but there must be express Clauses to that purpose So that I conclude the ancient Ecclesiastical Law to be still in force where it is not taken away by Statute And thus my Brethren I have laid before you the Authority and the Rules we are to act by I have endeavoured to recommend to you the most useful Parts of your Duty and I hope you will not give me occasion to shew what Power we have by the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm to proceed against Offenders Nothing will be more uneasie to me than to be forced to make use of any Severity against you And my Hearts desire is that we may all sincerely and faithfully discharge the Duties of our several Places that the Blessing of God may be upon us all so that we may save our selves and those committed to our Charge Regino l. 2. p. 205. Hispan Concil p. 29. Regino Collect. Canon lib. 2. p. 204. Burchrd l. 1. c. 91 92. Gratian. 35. q. 5. c. 7. Hieron Comment ad Titam Epist. ad Evagr. Advers Luciferian Hier. in Psal. Ad Evagr. Ad Marcell Cyprian Ep. 3. 66. Aug. in Ps. 44. 44. Ambros. ad Eph. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 28. Theod. ad 1 Tim. 1. 3 Iren. l. 3. c. 3. 3 John 9 10. 1 Tim. 3. 2 3 c. 5. 22. 19. 20. 21. Titus 1. 5. De voto voti
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
our Church will be best answered which appoints the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily to be said and used throughout the Year VI. As to the Dissenters from the Church the present Circumstances of our Affairs require a more than ordinary Prudence in your Behaviour towards them It is to no purpose to provoke or exasperate them since they will be but so much more your Emies for it and if you seem to court them too much they will interpret your Kindness to be a liking their Way better than your own so that were it not for some worldly Interest you would be just what they are which is in effect to say you would be Men of Conscience if ye had a little more Honesty For they can never think those honest Men who comply with things against their Consciences only for their temporal Advantage but they may like them as Men of a Party who under some specious Colours promote their Interest For my own part as I do sincerely value and esteem the Church of England and I hope ever shall so I am not against such a due temper towards them as is consistent with the preserving the Constitution of our Church But if any think under a Pretence of Liberty to undermine and destroy it we have reason to take the best care we can in order to its Preservation I do not mean by opposing Laws or affronting Authority but by countermining them in the best way i. e. by outdoing them in those things which make them most Popular if they are consistent with Integrity and a good Conscience If they gain upon the People by an appearance of more than ordinary Zeal for the good of Souls I would have you to go beyond them in a true and hearty Concernment for them not in irregular Heats and Passions but in the Meekness of Wisdom in a calm and sedate Temper in doing good even to them who most despightfully reproach you and withdraw themselves and the People from you If they get an Interest among them by Industry and going from Place to Place and Family to Family I hope you will think it your Duty to converse more freely and familiarly with your own People Be not Strangers and you will make them Friends Let them see by your particular Application to them that you do not despise them For Men love to value those who seem to value them and if you once slight them you run the hazard of making them your Enemies It is some Tryal of a Christians Patience as well as Humility to condescend to the Weaknesses of others but where it is our Duty we must do it and that chearfully in order to the best End viz. Doing the more good upon them And all Condescension and Kindness for such an End is true Wisdom as well as Humility I am afraid Distance and too great Stiffness of Behaviour towards them have made some more our Enemies than they would have been I hope they are now convinced that the Persecution which they complained lately so much of was carried on by other Men and for other Designs than they would then seem to believe But that Persecution was then a Popular Argument for them for the complaining side hath always the most Pity But now that is taken off you may deal with them on more equal Terms Now there is nothing to affright them and we think we have Reason enough on our side to persuade them The Case of Separation stands just as it did in Point of Conscience which is not now one jot more reasonable or just than it was before Some think Severity makes Men consider but I am afraid it heats them too much and makes them too violent and refractory You have more reason to fear now what the Interest of a Party will do than any Strength of Argument How very few among them understand any reason at all for their Separation But Education Prejudice Authority of their Teachers sway them remove these and you convince them And in order thereto acquaint your selves with them endeavour to oblige them let them see you have no other Design upon them but to do them good if any thing will gain upon them this will But if after all they grow more headstrong and insolent by the Indulgence which the Law gives them then observe whether they observe those Conditions on which the Law gives it to them For these are known Rules in Law that he forfeits his Privilege who goes beyond the Bounds of it that no Privileges are to be extended beyond the Bounds which the Laws give them for they ought to be observed as they are given I leave it to be considered whether all such who do not observe the Conditions of the Indulgence be not as liable to the Law as if they had none But there is a very profane abuse of this Liberty among some as though it were an Indulgence not to serve God at all Such as these as they were never intended by the Law so they ought to enjoy no Benefit by it For this were to Countenance Profaneness and Irreligion which I am afraid will grow too much upon us unless some effectual Care be taken to suppress it VII There is another Duty incumbent upon you which I must particularly recommend to your Care and that is of Visiting the Sick I do not mean barely to perform the Office prescribed which is of very good use and ought not to be neglected but a particular Application of your selves to the State and Condition of the Persons you visit It is no hard matter to run over some Prayers and so take leave but this doth not come up to the Design of our Church in that Office For after the general Exhortation and Profession of the Christian Faith our Church requires that the sick Person be moved to make special Confession of his Sins if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter and then if the sick Person humbly and heartily desires it he is to be absolved after this manner Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left Power in his Church to absolve all Sinners who truly repent and believe in him c. Where the Power of Absolution is grounded upon the Supposition of true Faith and Repentance and therefore when it is said afterwards And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from the same c. it must proceed on the same supposition For the Church cannot absolve when God doth not So that all the real Comfort of the Absolution depends upon the Satisfaction of the Person 's Mind as to the Sincerity of his Repentance and Faith in Christ. Now here lies the great Difficulty of this Office how to give your selves and the wounded Conscience Satisfaction as to the Sincerity of those Acts I do not mean as to the Sincerity of his present Thoughts but as to the Acceptableness of his Faith and Repentance with God in order to Remission of Sins But what if you