Southwark to the Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London as that Incorporation and Union is circumstanc'd with a Reservation in the Grant it self founded upon an express Clause in a Parliamentary Act whereby he is impowered to visit redress and regulate from time to time what he shall find amiss in such Places as to His Princely Wisdom and Justice shall seem meet and as occasion and necessity shall require If any of the Observations that have been made from hence shall grate a little too hard upon some Men who may possibly find themselves concern'd in them they may thank themselves for putting us upon a Defence which could not be otherwise managed but upon such Principles as will destroy and evacuate their Authority in this House and turn the intended Expulsion upon themselves if the Law may be suffered to be the Rule between us and may be allow'd to decide the Controversie that is now depending however we are well satisfied whatever becomes of our particular Interests which cannot suffer alone but will more or less affect the Monarchy and the Church themselves that we have thus far defended the Prerogative which is the support of the People as well as of the Crown against those who under specious Pretences would destroy it and to shew our Satisfaction in what we have hitherto done we will pursue the same Design a little further It is therefore further to be noted that K. Edward is graciously pleased to tell us in His Royal Grant not only that he unites incorporates c. the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark to the City of London but that he doth this by his Royal Authority as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland Now the Supremacy was a Right unalienable which he could not part with it being nothing else but a Right to govern all his Subjects of what nature order or quality soever and all Estates of Men within this Realm without any foreign Jurisdiction or Appeal but this was somewhat more particularly concerned in such Places as were exempt from Episcopal Visitation and were more immediately dependent upon the Bishop of Rome and the Care of these together with the Supremacy was more particularly devolved upon the King as a Trophy of his Victory over the See of Rome and a Token of his having shaken off that intolerable Yoak which neither he nor His Fathers were able to bear But the more particular Reasons why the Visitation of such Places was devolved upon the King were these that follow 1. The Regular Fraternities who owned no Subjection to the Bishop of the Diocese or the Archbishop of the Province wherein they were seated but paid their immediate Homage and in all Emergencies made their next Application and Appeal to the See of Rome it self would have disdain'd to come under any Episcopal Visitation from which they pretended so ancient an Exemption and an Exemption that had been and is still the cause of many and great Feuds and Animosities in the Church of Rome between the Seculars and them so that the Act of Parliament of the 25 H. 8. c. 21. being made at a time when though H. 8 had actually taken the Supremacy upon himself yet the Monasteries Abbies and others Religious Houses were still in being and enjoy'd their Possessions and Revenues as before it was thought a Matter that might occasion disturbance by the Number the Opulency and the Interest of both Parties contending with cach other if the Regulars had been subjected to an Authority which they would be sure not to own and which they mortally hated besides that the Opinion which the common People usually had of their Sanctity and their long Experience of their Hospitality and bounty to the Poor were things that would have heightned and animated the Disturbance by engaging a numerous Party on their side 2. Their being immediately subjected to the Visitation of the King as it was not so great a Diminution to the Honor and ancient Privilege of their respective Societies so it was the most powerful and by Consequence the most natural way that could be thought of to wean them from hankering after the See of Rome and to fright them into Obedience to the Government and Supremacy of the Church of England as it was vested and established in the Person of H. 8. tho' this were but the revival and Recognition of an ancient Right antecedent to any of the Popish Usurpations by the known Laws and Usages of this Realm And the Regulars not thinking themselves so safe in their dependence upon the King whose Interest was not so much concern'd in their Protection as they were formerly in their Subjection to the Pope to whose Greatness they seem to be absolutely necessary and for this Reason being jealous of their Prince and reflecting a Jealousie back upon themselves this might probably be one Reason at that time besides what Covetousness Ambition or the craving Necessities of the Publick might afford of their total and final Extirpation 3. All Publick Charities such as all these Houses were for the Maintenance of Religious Men and Women were naturally and rightfully vested in the King who is the Father and Protector of his Country and the proper Guardian of such Charities as these to see that they be not embezled or profusely squander'd instead of being imploy'd as was intended and meant by the Piety and Beneficence of the Founders of the same Now upon the Dissolution of Abbies c. which followed shortly after it must be confessed that two of the aforesaid Reasons why Places exempt should be under the King's Visitation did manifestly cease But then the Third was stronger than ever it was before for it it must be confess'd by all Protestants especially to be a greater Charity and of more publick Use to relieve the Poor to cure the Sick to heal the Maim'd and Wounded than to bestow the same Revenues merely to feed the Ignorance and Superstition of idle and useless Men and still the Letter of the Act of Parliament it self is for the King for it commits to him the Care of such Places as be or were exempt before the making of that Act and it cannot be denied but the Hospital of St. Thomas is such and upon that old Exemption its present and past ever since that time is unquestionably founded as this and other such Places being formerly free from Secular or Lay Jurisdiction and challenging an Exemption from the Civil Magistrate they still maintain their Privilege of Freedom from Arrests by virtue of that ancient Custom though the reason of that Custom with the Dissolution and Extinction of those Regular Societies that formerly inhabited those Places be antiquated and abolish'd However thus much is acknowledged by the Governors themselves that the Place is exempt nay it is not only acknowledged but insisted upon for they will not allow an Episcopal Visitation within the Walls of this House no not so much as in the Chappel it self
and strict the Union of the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark may be thought to be by the words of the Grant to the Mayor and Commonalty or to the Corporation of the City of London yet it is not altogether so close as that of the Hospital in which notwithstanding the King hath expresly reserved to himself a Power of Visitation that of the Hospital is an immediate Union that of the Parish is only a Secundary and derived from it and this is the meaning of the word Appropriation King Edward saith That as Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland be does appropriate unite knit and incorporate the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark c. to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London Now the meaning of an Appropriation in the Ecclesiastical Law was laying a Parsonage or Rectory and its Endowments to a Religious House so as the said House became the Parson and received the Profits and Emoluments arising from the same Sometimes this Church was supply'd by one constant and ordinary residing Curate and this was for the most part the rise of Vicarages endowed sometimes the Monks took their courses among themselves and then the whole Profits went into the Dividend and were either equally or by certain and stated Proportions distributed among them in this manner was the Parsonage or Rectory before the Dissolution of Religious Houses appropriated to the Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark and to the Master and others in Possession of the same the Church being situate within the Site and the whole Parish contain'd within the Close thereof as is expresly affirmed in the Grant it self and Stow somewhere saith That none were anciently Inhabitants of the said Parish but such as had a dependence upon the Religious House adjoining When therefore it is said that the Parish is appropriate c. to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London It is meant that it is annexed and incorporated in the same manner that it was formerly to the Hospital adjoining or it is annex'd not immediately but by the Mediation and Intervention of that Hospital to which it was formerly appropriated and united so that the Union of the Hospital was immediate to the Corporation of London that of the Church only Secondary and derivative from it and therefore if the King hath reserved a Power of Visitation in the Hospital it self he is much more supposed to do the same in the Parish or indeed they are both of them unavoidably supposed together by reason of their Appropriation Incorporation and Union to each other Fourthly When the late King James presented by his Commissioners under the Great Seal to the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark it was upon a Vacancy by Death and it was at a time when Judgment was entred against the City Charter by which means it was in Fact discorporated whatever it were de jure and that Judgment was de jure valid though in Fact it might be erroneous and unlawful for the Reason that hath already been assigned so that now there was no other legal Patron but the King the Power of Presentation by the Discorporation of the City returning naturally to the King from whence it came and besides that he hath always a perpetual Right of Presenting if he pleaseth by virtue of his perpetual Power of Visitation which implies it it was in this Case necessary that he should present unless he would suffer the Church to be wholly Vacant and even then the Vacancy would have created a Lapse that would have given him a Right after a certain time though he had had none before It is not to be questioned therefore upon all these Considerations but what he did was legal and that as such his Presentation ought to stand even after the City Charter is restored much after the same manner that a Guardian may Present in the Minority of his Pupil and that Presentation shall stand when his Pupil comes to Age and so may the Guardian of the Spiritualities do many things in the Vacancy of a See which shall be and are of course good to all Intents and Purposes of Law when the Bishop is Enthronized and the See is full VII And Lastly King Edward says And moreover of Our ample and free Grace We will and by these Presents do grant that of the Issues Rents and Revenues of the said Premises the said Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the said City of London and their Successors yearly from time to time for ever shall find support and maintain not only two fit and convenient Ministers to celebrate Divine Services and to administer the Sacraments and Sacramentals as well to the Poor and Officers and Ministers of the said Hospital and Horse of the Poor as to the Parishioners of the said Parish of St. Thomas in Southwark aforesaid but also two Women or Sisters c. Now here there are two Questions that offer themselves to be asked First what is meant by two sit and convenient Ministers And this Question is capable of a twofold Reply 1. By Fit and Convenient is not meant great Clerks but honest Men in holy Orders tolerably qualified for their Employments 2. When we reflect upon the Words Fit and Convenient we must consider who it is that speaks it is King Edward VI. who gives grants orders and enjoins every thing in these his Letters Patents by virtue of that Authority which he had as the Supreme Head on Earth of the Churches of England and Ireland Fit and Convenient must therefore be understood with relation to the Establishment of the Church of England as it was then setled and constituted by the Laws of this Land in opposition to Popery on the one hand and to an unnatural Schism and Separation on the other though the latter of these were hardly known in the time of Edward VI but began more powerfully to shew it self in Queen Elizabeth's Days The King was not the Supreme Head and Defender of a Popish Church in the Sense that his Father King Henry VIII was after he had taken the Supremacy upon himself the Supremacy being then translated to another Person without abandoning the gross Idolatry and Superstition of the Church of Rome nor was he the Head of Schism and Disorder which would have implied him to be Felo de se an Enemy to himself and to his own Imperial Dignity and Crown but he was the Head the Defender the Patron and Protector of that orderly and primitive Establishment which was and is the only true Fence and Bulwark against both of these and which by giving to Caesar and to God their due is a common Friend to Religion and to Empire and at the same time that it lays the surest Foundations for the Peace and Happiness of this World chalks out the surest Way to the Peace of the next By Fit and Convenient therefore is meant as one plain Sense of the Words a true and hearty Conformist to the
Now there being no Place exempt from all manner of Jurisdiction besides that its Exemption is founded upon that Act of Parliament which hath been so often mentioned to deny the Bishops Visitation is in its own Nature and unavoidable Consequence to assert and recognize the Kings which is all that we contend for and so much the Governors themselves must grant or they cannot maintain the Privilege of their House When Hughes a Non-conformist was preferred by Governors like himself to the Chaplainship of this House it was upon Supposition that the Place was exempt from the Bishop's Visitation for otherwise they dare not have done it but if it were exempt from the King 's too they might as well have ordered the Alchoran or the Mass to be said or sung in the Chappel if they had so pleased as either the Extemporary Raptures of their Dissenting Chaplain or the stated sober and truly Christian Service of the Church of England they might have made it if they pleased a Mosch for Turks a Synagogue for Jews or even a Sanctuary for Thieves and Robbers and all this without any check or control from any but themselves They were very sensible of the Exemption of the Place whether they knew the cause of it or no and they abus'd the King's Power committed to them to such Purposes as he himself could not have extended it to for King Edward and all his Successors in the Affairs of this House and other exempted Charities committed to their Charge have acted under no other notion than that of Successors to or rather rightful Possessors of the Popes Usurped Power or in the Language of K. Edward himself as the Supreme Heads of the Churches of England and Ireland as those Churches were then and have been ever since with some gradual Regulations established but as such he could not place in any of his own Chappels a Non-conformist from the Establish'd Worship it being a Contradiction to be Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith that is more particularly of the Establish'd Doctrine and Worship and yet to betray and weaken the Church and Crown too at the same time by putting Men into Offices of Trust and especially in the holy things that are hallowed unto the Lord that were Enemies to both nay it was a Practice that would have tended to the disinherison of the Crown it self if after the Example of this Place all others of equal Privilege had been Nurseries of Faction Encouragers of Sects and Religious distinctions which naturally tend to the Dissolution of this Monarchy and Church together with the Leave and Licence of the Supreme Power so that we will now take it for granted that the King's Power of Visitation is on all sides acknowledged and that as the Supreme Visitor or in other words as the Supreme Head Patron and Protector of the Church of England he could not place either Non-conformist Preachers or Dissenting Governors or Officers in this House this not being to defend the Church of England or to act in the Capacity of Head of the Church of England and Ireland which is the only Ground of the King's Authority in this House and therefore we may be sure such were not chosen by any Authority delegated from him and by Consequence they were chosen by no Authority at all V. Furthermore if it be said by any that have a mind to raise a Dust where there is no real matter of Controversie and Dispute that it was not the Hospital but only the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark which by the Grant of King Edward the VI. was appropriated united knit and incorporated to the Mayor and Commonallty of the City of London which we have already granted and shewn that it is not material the same thing being equally to be understood of both Places yet all that can be made of this Cavil when the most of it is made that can be is that if the Hospital be not knit united and incorporated in so close a manner as the Parish is then it hangs more loose and is more independent from the City and its Charter which will be so far from obstructing a Royal Visitation that it will but render it more natural and easie VI. But it may be argued perhaps whatever becomes of the Hospital it self that the Parish is not under the King's Visitation it being given granted and consigned over to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London without the Impeachments or bindrance of Vs Our Heirs and Successors or of any Archbishop or Bishops Archdeacons Sheriffs Escheators Justices Commissioners or any other c. Which words are so full and so plain that they may seem to exclude a Visitation what then becomes of the late Presentation by the Commissioners in the time of the late King James To this it may and ought to be reply'd First That all the Grants which King Edward could possibly make could not recall what was past or make that not to have been which really was the meaning is that the Visitation of all Places which were exempt at the making of the Act of the 25 H. 8. c. 21. or before it was committed to the King in the nature of a Trust the true and faithful discharge of which his People in Parliament expected from him so as he could not wholly lay aside or neglect it or give away his Right to visit and redress as Occasions or Emergencies arising should require without a Breach of the Faith and Honor of a King by which he is bound not only to see that the Laws be indifferently and impartially executed in all Cases but more particularly in those wherein Himself is more immediately concern'd as a Trustee as it is in this Case though the whole Administration in a more general Sense be but one common Trust reposed in the King Secondly There was not only a Trust reposed in Him by this Act but a Power for the Execution of that Trust conferred upon Him and on his Heirs and Successors for ever in this Case therefore if the King betray his Trust by neglect or by a total Devolution of it into other Hands without any further concerning Himself about it he Sins and is answerable to God's Justice for so doing but by a thousand Grants he can never give away that Power to which his Successors have a Right as well as himself he cannot give away the Rights of the Crown any more than he can sell or mortgage his Dominions to a foreign Prince withont the consent of his People which he is never like to obtain so that such a Grant as this let it be expressed in words that are never so full and comprehensive must either be interpreted as a void Act in its self or must of necessity be understood of the ordinary Adminstration of and Presentation to to the Rectory above-mentioned with a tacit Reservation which must be always implied to the King 's extraordinary and visitatorial Power Thirdly However close
Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as it is by Law established with no very material Alterations at this distance of Time from what it was formerly in King Edward's Days in those early Dawnings of the Reformation And indeed it would be very strange that any Prince should look upon any Chaplain to be fit and convenient in his House who was not of the Religion which himself professed which would be as much as to say that himself was in the wrong as not being of a fit and convenient Persuasion not fit for the other World nor convenient for this King Edward being therefore the Head and Protector of the Legal Establishment at that time Fit and Convenient must needs be understood with a due Analogy and Proportion to it But Secondly Which is the second Question arising from this Clause in the Royal Grant What were those fit and convenient Ministers to do Why the same Clause goes on to tell us in these Words They were to celebrate Divine Services and to administer the Sacraments and Sacramentals as well to the Poor and Officers and Ministers of the said Hospital and House of the Poor as to the Parishioners of the said Parish of St. Thomas in Southwark c. Were they so Why then it seems they were to be all of a Cast like Shepherd like Flock like Priest like People They were to be all Communicants of the Church of England otherwise they would make but very improper Auditors of this fit and convenient Minister or rather they would think themselves obliged in Conscience to separate themselves and straggle aside into forbidden Folds of Novelty and Separation The Poor and Sick indeed are Objects of Pity and ought to be relieved notwithstanding any particular Persuasion but yet Caeteris paribus if the Grief or Malady be such as calls equally for Help and Succor on both sides and if it so happen'd through the Straitness of the House that both cannot be considered by it in order to their Cure it is more agreeable to the Intention of King Edward and to the plain Consequences of this fit and convenient Minister in which a fit and convenient Auditory is included that that Patient should be taken in who is best affected to the Government established and a Testimonial of his Affection to it is that which ought to be a Motive in his behalf and an Inducement to the Governors to relieve him above others though in other Respects equally deserving the Pity of the Governors and the Charity of the House But for Officers and Ministers there can be no pretence in so great a Choice of fit Persons to be found why they should not all be meet Auditors of king Edward's fit and convenient Incumbent of the Place in the nature of Relatives as the Logicians speak they do most certainly imply one another and King Edward must as much intend to have a conformable Auditory as a conformable Preacher or Reader in his Chappel otherwise such Preacher or Reader would be in vain The Result of all which is That it is a Breach of Trust and a manifest Affront done to the Memory of King Edward it includes a Forfeiture of the Charity it self by breaking the Conditions upon which it is bestowed To place any Servants or Officers in this House but what are faithful Members and Communicants of the Church of England and this without reflecting upon particular Persons whom so much as in general Terms we would not touch if it could be avoided does sufficiently justifie the wise and honest and necessary Regulation made by King Charles the Second But whereas in this Clause there is mention made of two Ministers though there be now but one it is to be considered 1. That several other Regulations have been made as there was reason for them very different from what we now find in the Letters Patents of King Edward wherein there are but two Sisters one Porter one Chirurgeon c. 2. That this is no more than what is actually done and hath been so of a long time in St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Parish though in the first Institution they were two distinct places as will appear by the Grant of King Henry VIII 3. This was but reasonable in consideration of the Salaries which are not so good a Competence now as they were at first 4. The King who was also the Ordinary and the Patron of the Place had a Right in all of these Capacities and much more taken all of them together to unite these two incompetent Preferments to each other 5. This depended upon the same Reason with the Union of small Livings after the Fire of London and of several other Unions by Act of Parliament in the Country 6. It is to be hoped that two contiguous Living are as lawfully united as two that are at above forty Miles distance from each other which is farther than the Canons allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS