Abridgment of Ecclesiastical Laws

I do allow the Printing of this Book, entitled An Abridgment of the Ecclesiastical Laws.

Imprimatur hic Liber, cui Titulus AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE. ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS.

THE Introduction.

T HE Question which King Henry the Eighth did once put to both the Universities of this Realm, viz. An aliquid Authoritatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat, plusquam alii cuicunque Episcopo Extero? being Resolved in the Negative, and that Resolution ratified in the Convocation An. 1534. an Act of Parliament passed about two years after for the extinguishing of that Papal Authority in this Realm. This succceded so well in consequence of what the Convocation An. 1530. had before acknowledged him, viz. The Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England, that that Supremacy was likewise after confirmed by Act of Parliament to him, his Heirs, and Successors. This is that Supremacy here tenderly touched at in the first Chapter of the ensuing Abridgment, and without which all that follows would be but insignificant and disfigured Cyphers. When King Henry the Eighth was thus both Parliamentarily and Synodically invested herewith, although it was with all the Privileges and Preheminences incident thereto, yet no more accrued to the Crown thereby, than was legally inherent in it before; yet in regard of the Usurpations, that in divers Kings Reigns had successively invaded the Rights of the Crown in that most splendent Jewel thereof, another Convocation in An. 1532. (to give the King as it were, Livery and Seisin of the said Supremacy) promised him in verbo Sacerdotii, That they would not from thenceforth Assemble in any Convocation or Synod without his Majesty's Writ, nor make any Canons or Constitutions without his License and consent, nor execute the same until they were Ratified under the Great Seal of England. All which was done without the least diminution of any Archiepiscopal or Episcopal Power or Privileges, in the free exercise of that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they anciently enjoyed. The whole of this Design being only to eject the Roman Pontifex, and annul his Usurpation in a matter of that weighty Consequence, to which the Crown was so undoubtedly Entituled: And this only in a way consonant to that Allegiance, which every Subject without distinction owes to his lawful Sovereign in all matters, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions; whereby the Clergy as well as Laity, being all Subjects alike, might be reduced not only to their Primitive Obedience unto, but also to their Dependance on their own Sovereign in preference to any Forein Potentate whatever.— That the Supreme Civil Power is also Supreme Governor over all Persons, and in all Causes Ecclesiastical,

The Nicene Canons became Laws by the Rescript of the Emperor Constantine, says Sozomen. When the Council of Constantinople was finished, the Fathers wrote to the Emperor Theodosius, and petitioned Ut Edicto Pietatis tuae confirmetur Synodi sententia. The confirmation of the Canon and Decrees of the great Council at Ephesus by the Emperor is to be seen at the end of the Acts of the Synod. And Marcian the Emperor wrote to Palladius his Prefect a Let • er, in which he testifies, that he made the Decrees of the Council of Chalcedon to become Laws, Ea quae de Christiana fide à Sacerdotibus qui Chalcedone • convenerunt, per nostra Praecepta Statuta sunt, &c. Thus also the Fathers of the Fifth General Synod petitioned Justinian to confirm and establish their Canons into a Law. The same Prince also Published a Novel, in which he commands Vim Legum obtinere Ecclesiasticos Canones à quatuor Synodis, Nicena, Constantinopolitana prima, Ephesina prima & Chalcedonensi expositos & confirmatos. Vid. Council. Tolet. All which confirms it for a Truth, That even in the Primitive Church the Supremacy in matters Ecclesiastical was in the Supreme Secular Prince.

Touching Archbishops, our Malmesbury confesses, that in the Ancienter times of the Britain's it was unknown where the Archbishopric was: At the Council of Arles, An. 314. Silvester the Pope is but plain Bishop, as appears by the Nomenclature of those that were at that Council. The High Title of Archbishop was for a long time in use in the Eastern Church, before it came into the West . For whereas our Beda tells us, That Augustine was Ordained Archbishop of the English Nation by Etherius Archbishop of Arles aforesaid, he therein follows the mode of speaking current in his own times: for Gregory the then Pope, in his several Letters written to them, affords neither of them that Title; no, not when he bestows the Pall upon Augustine, and gives him the precedency and priority in respect of York and all other Bishops of Britain . Yet the incomparable B. Usher affirms, that they did not quite deny Archbishops among the Old Britain's (for he proves they had such;) but that all Memorials were lost, where the Archiepiscopal or Patriarchal Seat resided . For although London hath been for many Ages the Chiefest of Britain, and was no less than 1300 years since reputed Vetus Oppidum, and Augusta . yet a Modern Writer of great Learning and Authority, would have York as the more Ancient Metropolis of the Diocese of the Britain's ; and that not only because it was a Roman Colony, which London was not, as Onuphrius (contrary to so great and plain Authority of Tacitus ) doth affirm : but also, for that the Emperors Palace, and Praetorium likewise, Tribunal or chief Seat of Judgment was there; whence by the Old Historian Spartianus it was called Civitas by way of excellency . It must be acknowledged, that the very Original of things are to us much clouded in obscurity and uncertainty; yet he that duly consults Antiquity, will find, That what Radulphus de Diceto writes touching the Original of Episcopacy and Archiepiscopacy in Britain, seems to have the best Analogy with the truth, comparing one Antiquary with another touching that Subject. This Radulphus de Diceto was Dean of London, a very Ancient Historian, he wrote the History of England, from A. 1147. to 1193. in a Book Entituled Imagines Historiarum; and in the Prologue to his Chronicle Abbreviations, says, That Augustine (who by Pope Gregory was sent into England. An. 600.) after he had Converted Ethelbert King of Kent to the Christian Faith, went in the year 602. to Arles, where he was Consecrated Episcopus Anglorum by Etherius Archbishop of that place; and being returned into Britain sent Laurentius the Presbyter, and Petrus the Monk to Pope Gregory, giving him an account of Britain's being converted to the Faith, and himself made Bishop thereof: Whereupon the said Gregory sent them back into England, and with them several Divines to preach the Gospel in this Isle, among which the Chief were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Ruffinianus, by whom he also sent the Pall to Augustine, and at the same time wrote him in what manner he should Constitute Bishops in England, and that in haec verba, viz. Per locos singulos 12 Episcopos ordines, qui tuae subjaceant ditioni • , quatenus Lundoniensis Civitatis Episcopus semper in posterum à Synodo propria debeat Consecrari, &c. Ad Eboricum vero Civitatem te volumus Episcopum mittere, quem ipse judicaveris Ordinare. Ita duntaxat, ut si eadem Civitas cum finitimis locis Verhum Dei receperit, ipse quoque 12. Episcopos ordinet, & Metropolitani honor fruatur. Quem tamen tuae Fraternitatis volumus dispositioni subjacere. Post obitum vero tuum ita Episcopus quos ordinaverit praesit, ut Lundoniensis Episcopy nullo modo ditioni subjaceat. Sit vero inter Lundoni & Eboricae Civitatis Episcopos in posterum honoris ista Distinctio, ut ipse prior habeatur qui prius fuerit Ordinatus. Tua vero Fraternitas Episcopos quos ordinaveris, qui vel per Episcopum Eboracae fuerint Ordinati, Sacerdotes etiam totius Britanniae Subjectos habeat . After the receipt of these Orders from Pope Gregory, the Bishops of Britain were convened to a Conference by Augustine, he having first Ordained the said Laurentius as his Suffragan, the said Mellitus Bishop of London, and the said Justus Bishop of Rochester: About which time King Ethelbert built St. Paul's Church London, or re-edified the same . About this time also it was, viz. An. 608. that Pope Boniface obtained of the Emperor Phocas, That the Church of Rome should be the Head of all other Churches, (That of Constantinople having till then assumed that Title) the which was after Decreed sub Anathemate in a Council of 62 Bishops. Afterwards the the said Laurentius, Mellitus, and Justus, became Archbishops of Canterbury successively, viz. Laurentius in An. 615. Mellitus in An. 622. and Justus in An. 626. according to the computation of the said Radulphus; by the last of which Paulinus was Ordained Archbishop of York , and to which Justus Pope Boniface wrote in haec verba, viz. Authoritati beati Petri praecipientes firmamus, ut in Dorobernia Civitate semper in posterum Metropolitanus totius Britanniae locus habeatur, omnesque Provinciae Regni Anglorum praefati loci Metropolitanae Ecclesiae subjiciantur. Again, the precedency of the See of Canterbury is recorded by the said Rodolphus in these words, viz. Sicut Cantia subjicitur Romae, quod ex ea fidem accepit, ita Eboricum subjicitur Cantuariae, quae eo Praedicatores misit. Sicut igitur sedes Cantuariae prima fuit in fide, prima sit in honor. After Justus, Honorius was made Archbishop of Canterbury, whom Paulinus consecrated at Lincoln; to whom Honorius Pope wrote in haec verba, viz. Cum Dorobernensis Antistes, vel Eboracensis de hac vita transierit, is qui superest habeat potestatem alterum ordinandi. Bed. lib. 2. cap. 16. Si de Consecrationibus Archiepiscoporum Cantuar. contrarium aliquid inveneris in Authentico Libro, quam in hoc volumine reperiatur, adquiescam in omnibus. And in the year 632. Pope Honorius wrote unto Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury in these words, viz. Tuae Jurisdictioni subjici praecipimus omnes Angliae Ecclesias & Regiones, & ut in Civitate Dorobernia Metropolitanus Locus & honor Archiepiscopatus, & Caput omnium Ecclesiarum Anglorum semper in posterum servetur.

That the Archiepiscopal Seat at York is likewise of very great Antiquity, is evident by what is forementioned touching Paulinus Archbishop thereof above one Thousand years since: Our Learned Antiquary tells us, Ex Patriis Scriptoribus, That York was adorned with an Episcopal Seat by Constantius; But if so, or if that be the truth which is recorded of Paulinus aforesaid, how then could Faganus, sent hither by Pope Eleut herius to King Lucius, to plant the Christian Religion, be (as reported) the first Archbishop thereof or how could King Lucius place there one Theodosius, which yet is also affirmed ? Or how could Sampson under the same King be Bishop of York? as appears by Godwin, who yet suspects it, in regard that at the first entertainment of Christianity among us, nor Hebrew, nor Greek Names of the New Testament were so rise among the Britain's; and indeed this Sampson is more generally reserved to some Ages after, till King Arthurs time. Thus the Original of things (as aforesaid) seems full of obscurity and uncertainty; yet it is most probable, that the first Bishop of York was not till Constantine's days; and we shall find this Bishop at Arles, in the Council there held about the year 314. whither (as himself writes in his Epistle to Chrestus Bishop of Syracuse ) he summoned (to hear the Cause of the Donatists ) many Bishops from divers places. In the last Edition of this Council, published by Jacobus Sirmondus at Paris, among other Subscriptions thereunto, you have out of Britain these following, viz. Eborius Episcopus, de Civitate Eboracensi, Provincia Britannia. Restitutus Episcopus, de Civitate Londinensi, Provincia superscripta. Adelphus Episcopus, de Civitate Colonia Londinensium, exinde Sacerdos Presbyter, Arminius Diaconus. From which Council at Arles it may be observed, (1) That York was no Archbishopric at that time, as neithet indeed was Rome itself. (2) That Eborius Bishop of York at this Council takes place of Restitutus Bishop of London, where (as some suppose) the Primacy always remained, till translated to Canterbury. Whether Constantine the Great (who is supposed) to have adorned York with an Episcopal Seat, as aforesaid) were Born there, and not elsewhere, as some conceive, is not easily, at least not expressly proved out of the Ancients, says a Learned Antiquary of Late times; yet (says he) That Authority seems to be drawn from them, which the Ambassadors of England made use of, and that in the hearing of the Learned World then, both at the Council of Constance, An. 1414. as also at that of Basil, An. 1431. At the Council of Constance, there being a Contest about Precedency between the English and French Ambassadors, the English have these words, viz.

Likewise, the English at Basil opposing the Precedency of Castile, say thus, viz. By this they mean Bederne, a College of Vicars there, sometime serving the Choir, which (as also Christchurch ) called in Ancient Charters Ecclesia Sanctae Trinitatis in Curia Regis, is verily thought to have been part of the Imperial Palace in old time; which seems the more probable by what Herodian writes, viz. That Severus the Emperor, and his eldest Son Antoninus, sat at York about Private and Common affairs, and gave their Judgment in ordinary Causes , as in that of Coecilia about recovery of Right of Possession; The Rescript or Law of which matter is to this day preserved in the Code , whereon the Learned Cuiacius of Great Britain hath made very remarkable Observations . This was that Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome, and Master of the World, who in this Isle breathed his last, and who, when he saw there was nothing to be expected but Death, called for the Urn wherein he had appointed his Ashes (after the Ossilegium should be put, and viewing it very exactly, Thou shalt hold (said he) the Man whom the World could not contain . No wonder then, that this City of so great Renown and Antiquity, was adorned with an Archiepiscopal Seat above a Thousand years since, as aforesaid; yet it never had those high Privileges or Pterogatives which were, and are peculiar to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury, whereof the Power (next under the Crown) of convening Councils and Synods is not the least. Gervasius in his Chronicle de Tempore H. 2. tells us, That RICHARDUS CANTUARIENSIS Archiepiscopus totius ANGLIAE Primas & Apostolicae Sedis Legatus, Convocato Clero ANGLIAE, celebravit Concilium in Ecclesia Beati PETRI ad WESTMONASTERIUM 15. kal. Junii Dominica ante Ascentionem Domini An. 1175. In hoc Concilio ad dextram Primatis sedit Episcopus LONDONIENSIS, quia inter Episcopos CANTUARIENSIS Ecclesiae Suffraganeos DECONATUS praeminet dignitate: Ad sinistram sedit Episcopus WINTONIENSIS, quia CANTORIS officio praecellit.

The Church when Disdiocesan'd by Death, Translation or otherwise, or quasi viduata whilst the Bishop is employed about Transmarine Negotiations in the Service of the King or Kingdom, the Law takes care to provide it a Guardian quoad Jurisdictionem Spiritualem, during such vacancy of the See or remote absence of the Bishop, to whom Presentations may be made, and by whom Institutions, Admissions, &c. may be given; and this is that Ecclesiastical Officer, whether he be the Archbishop, or his Vicar General, or Deans and Chapters, in whomsoever the Office resides, him we commonly call the Guardian of the Spiritualties. The Power and Jurisdiction of this Office in the Church is very Ancient, and was in use before the time of King Edward the First; it doth cease and determine so soon as a new Bishop is Consecrated to that See that was vacant, or otherwise Translated, who needs no new Consecration. This Ecclesiastical Office is in being immediately upon the vacancy of an Archiepiscopal See, as well as when a Bishopric happens to be vacant. Beside the Presentations, Admissions, Institutions, &c. aforesaid, that this Officer is legally qualified for, he may also by force of the Act of Parliament made in the Five and twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth, grant Licenses, Dispensations, Faculties, &c. which together with such Instruments, Rescripts, and other Writings as may be granted by virtue of the said Statute, may be had, made, done, and granted under the Name and Seal of the Guardian of the Spiritualties: And in case he shall refuse to give the same an effectual dispatch, where by Law it may and ought to be granted, in every such case the Lord Chancellor of England, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, upon Petition and Complaint thereof to him made, may issue his Majesty's Writ directed to such Guardian of the Spiritualties, requiring him by virtue of the said Writ, under a certain penalty therein limited by the said Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, to grant the same in due form of Law; otherwise (and no just and reasonable cause shown for such refusal) the said penalty may be incur'd to his Majesty, and a Commission under the Great Seal issued to two such Prelates or Spiritual persons as shall be nominated by his Majesty, impowring them by virtue of the said Act to grant such Licenses, &c. as were so refused to be granted by the Guardian, &c. as aforesaid.

The first thing in order to the Election of a Bishop, in the Vacancy of any Episcopal See, is (and ever hath been since the time of King John ) the Royal Conge d'Eslire, which being obtained, the Dean and Chapter proceeds to Election. It cannot legally be doubted, but that the consent of the Dean is not only requisite, but also necessary to the Election of a Bishop, as appears by an Ancient Contest above five hundred years since, between the Dean and Canons of London touching the Election of Anselm. Soon after King Stephen came to the Crown, he convened a Council at Westminster, vocati sunt ad Concilium (says an Historian) WILLIELMVS DECANVS LVNDONIAE, siuml & Canonici. Cum autem haberetur Tractatus de Concilio Lundoniensis Ecclesiae tunc vacantis, nec in aliquem possent unanimiter convenire, recesserunt à Decano Canoni corum multi, citra conscientiam ejus ANSELMUM Abbatem in Episcopum Eligentes. Canonici vero, quos Decanus habebat secum in Mensa diebus singulis, Appellaverunt, nec Regis occurrerunt offensam. Canonici quidem alii, quia quod fecerant, tam Regi quam toto Concilio videbatur iniquum, Regis indignationem plurimam meruerunt, quorum aliqui bonis suis spoliati sunt. The Pope afterwards having on this occasion a solemn Conference with his Cardinals, Albericus Hostiensis Episcopus, quod sequitur pronunciavit in Publicum, Quoniam Electio Canonicorum Lundoniensium citra conscientiam & Assensum Decani facta fuit, cujus est Officium in Eligendo Pastore suo de jure primam vocem habere, Nos eam authoritate beati Petri devocamus in irritum. So that according to this Ancient President, the Election of a Bishop may not be without the consent of the Dean; yet this we find upon Record nigh as Ancient as the former; That where at present there was no Dean, there the Election of the Bishop hath been by the Canons alone, Canonici Saresbirienses Decanum non habentes ad praesens, à Rege prius impetrata Licentia, Fratrem suum & Concanonicum Herebertum Cantuariensem Archidiaconum, Assensu Communi solemniter in Episcopum Elegerunt. Electionem factam in Publico recitavit Walterus Praecentor: Electioni factae praebuit Rex Assensum, quam & Hubertus Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus Auctoritate propria Confirmavit, &c. Consonant to which method is the Act of Parliament made in the 25. of H. 8. whereby it is Enacted, That on the vacancy of every Bishopric, his Majesty should issue out his Writ of Conge d'Eslire to the Dean and Chapter of the Church so vacant, enabling them to proceed to Election of another Bishop; which Election being returned by the said Dean and Chapter, and ratified by the Royal Assent, his Majesty should issue out his Writ to the Metropolitan to proceed to the Confirmation of the party Elected, and taking to himself two other Bishops at least, to proceed to Consecration, in case he had not before been Consecrated Bishop of some other Church.

The place of Consecration of Bishops was anciently at Canterbury, as the Mother-Church not only of that Province, but of all England; For when in the time of R. 1. An. 1192. a Bishop of Worcester Elect was to be Consecrated, and Westminster the place designed for that solemnity according to the Popes Command, it was opposed by the Prior and Covent of Christ-Church in Canterbury, and at a time when the Archbishop thereof (whose presence could not but have strengthened that opposition) was absent; yet the said Prior insisting on the Privileges and Customs of the Church of Canterbury, opposed the said place of Consecration, as appears by his Letter to the Bishop of Eli, the Popes Legate, and other Bishops of that Province, in haec verba, Reverendis in Christo Dominis & Fratribus W. Dei gratia Heliensi Episcopo Apostolicae sedis Legato, Domini Regis Cancellario, caeterisque Episcopis Cantuariensis Ecclesiae Suffraganeis, O. Prior & Conventus Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariae salutem ab Auctore salutis. Noverit Sanctitas vestra, Nos ad sedem Apostolicam appellasse, ne Wigorniensis Electus alias quam in Ecclesia Cantuariensi, sicut moris est, Consecretur, & ne quis vestrum, qui indemnitati Ecclesiae Cantuariensis vinculo Professionis providere tenemini, alias quam in eadem Ecclesi • ejus Consecationi interesse praesumat. And at a Synod held at Westminster under P. Honorius 2. in the Reign of H. 1. An. 1126. it was Ordained, That at the Consecration of Bishops nothing should by way of Offerings be exacted or by force required. Statuimus & Apostolica Authoritate Decernimus, ut in Consecrationibus Episcoporum, &c. nil omnino per violentiam, nisi sponte oblatum fuerit, penitus exigatur. Simeon. Dunelm. Hist. de Gest. Reg. Angl. The like you have Decreed at another Synod held also at Westminster under P. Innocent. 2. in King Stephens Reign, An. 1138. Apostolica authoritate Sancimus, ut in Consecrationibus Episcoporum ne quicquam ab Episcopo vel Ministris ejus exigatur. Hist. Richard. Prioris Hagustald. de Gest. Reg. Steph. In the year 1123. which was in the Reign of H. 1. at the Council of Three hundred Bishops convened at Rome, P. Calixtus 2. being President, it was Decreed, That no Bishop should be Consecrated, unless he were first Canonically Elected. Nullus in Episcopum nisi Canonice Electum Consecret, quod etsi praesumptum fuerit, & Consecratus & Consecrator absque recuperationis spe deponatur. dict. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. As that Canon was not in being, so the matter thereby ordained, in all probability was far from being observed, when Plegmundus Archbishop of Canterbury, whom P. Formosus honored with the Pall, Consecrated no less than Seven Bishops in one day, in the two and twentieth year of King Alfred. Chron. Johan. Brompton, Abbatis Jornalensis. When a Bishop is Consecrated, then may he Consecrate, viz. Churches, &c. and may Ordain Deacons, &c. But it was long since provided by the Council of Lateran, under P. Alexander, That the Bishop should not confer Holy Orders on any that were not then, or speedily to be provided with an Ecclesiastical Living, Episcopus, si aliquem sine certo Titulo, de quo Necessaria vitae percipiat, in Diaconum vel Presbyterum Ordinaverit, tam diu ei necessaria subministret, donec ei in aliqua Ecclesia Convenientia stipendia militiae clericalis assignet, nisi talis forte, qui Ordinatur, extiterit, qui de sua vel paterna haereditate subsidium vitae possit habere. Can. 9. And as touching the Bishops Consecrating of Churches, it being vulgarly supposed that there is a considerable piece of Superstition therein, it cannot but be seasonable here to inquire whether so or no, or whether the Consecration of Churches be not truly Primitive, according to the Judgment of the Learned Dr. Heylin. To which purpose you have here his very words, viz. The place of Public Worship is called generally (according to the style of the Ancient Fathers) by the name of the Church: For Consecrating or setting apart whereof to Religious uses, I find (says he) so great Authority in the Primitive times, as will sufficiently free it from the guilt of Popery: Witness the Testimony which Pope Pius gives of his Sister Eutorepia in an Epistle to Justus Viennensis, An. 158. or thereabouts, for setting apart her own House for the use and service of the Church: Witness the Testimony which Metaphrastes gives of Felix the First, touching his Consecrating of the House of Cicilia, about the year 272. And that which Damasus gives unto Marcellinus, who succeeded Felix, for Consecrating the House of Lucinia for Religions uses: Witness the famous Consecration of the Temple of the Holy Martyrs in Jerusalem, Founded by Constantine the Great, at which almost all the Bishops in the Eastern parts were summoned and called together by the Emperors Writ: and finally (not to descend to the following Times) witness the 89th Sermon of St. Ambrose, entitled De Dedicatione Basilicae, Preached at the Dedication of a Church built by Vitalianus and Maianus, and the Invitation of Paulinus, another Bishop of that Age, made by Sulpitius Severus his especial Friend, Ad Basilicam quae prorexerat, in Nomine Domini consummabitur, Dedicandum, to be present at the Dedication of a Church of his Foundation. Heyl. Cyprian. Angl. p. 12.

The Decree of Faith made by the Council of Trent, was attended with no less than Eight Anathematisms; the first whereof was against him that shall say, that there is no visible Priesthood in the New Testament, nor any power to Consecrate, &c. For in the beginning of that Decree it is affirmed, That there is a visible and external Priesthood, in which Power is given, by Divine Institution, to Consecrate the Eucharist, &c. In which Decree the Synod doth also condemn those who say all Christians are Priests, or have equal Spiritual power, which is nothing but to confound the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, which is in an Order, as an Army of Soldiers; To which Hierarchical Order do belong especially Bishops, who are Superior to Priests. Therefore one of the said Anathematisms did reach those who say, that there is not an Hierarchy instituted in the Catholic Church, by Divine Ordination, consisting of Bishops, Priests, and Ministers. The Historian of the aforesaid Council of Trent tells us, That the Sixth of the said Eight Anathematisms was much noted in Germany, in which an Article of Faith was made of Hierarchy; which word and signification thereof ( says he ) is Alien, not to say contrary to the Holy Scriptures; and though it was somewhat Anciently invented, yet the Author is not known; and in case he were, yet ( says he ) he is an Hyperbolical Writer, not imitated in the use of that word by any of the Ancients: and following the style of the Primitive Church, it ought ( says he ) to be named not Hierarchy, but Hierodiaconia, or Hierodoulia. But Thomas Passius, a Canon of Valentia, said in that Council, That all doubt made of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, did proceed from gross ignorance of Antiquity; it being a thing Notorious, that in the Church the People have always been governed by the Clergy, and in the Clergy the Inferiors by the Superiors, until all be reduced unto one Universal Rector, which is the Pope of Rome; and that it was plain that the Hierarchy consisteth in the Ecclesiastical Orders, which is nothing but an holy Order of Superiors and Inferiors. But Francis Forrier, a Dominican of Portugal, at the same time said, That Hierarchy consisteth in Jurisdiction, and the Council of Nice placeth it in that, when it speaketh of the Bishop of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, and therefore the handling of Hierarchy not to be joined with that of Order. Others were of a Third opinion, viz. That Hierarchy was a mixture of both, viz. of Order and Jurisdiction also. Thus was that Learned Council divided in this high point of Hierarchy, that though they all agreed the thing, yet they could not agree wherein to fix it, whether in Order, or in Jurisdiction, or in both. Notwithstanding it is generally agreed, That the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church is proved by the Testimony of all Antiquity, and by the continual use of the Church, and that it consisteth of Prelates and Ministers, who are Ordained by Bishops, in whom resides the power of Consecration, which may be a sufficient warrant for this digression. Which Consecration, as it refers to Persons, is done per impositionem manuum, except as to Virgins; for they also by the Pontifical Law are Consecrable Creatures, though they be Foolish Virgins, yea, though they be Polluted Virgins, provided it be not per spontaneam & voluntariam pollutionem, and there be but putativa Virginitas in the case; and shall have not only Laureolam Virginitatis, but also Velum Consecrationis, as they call it. Cajetan. in Sum. V. Virgin. consecrate. & Less. de Just. & Jur. lib. 4. c. 2. Dub. 16. & alii DD. But where the Consecration refers to Things, as Churches, Chapels, Bells, and other things of the like sound, there it is done per preces together with other Consecration-ceremonies, the Episcopal Order therein concurring: so likewise the Consecration of Virgins is per preces, together with other Ceremonies used in the Consecration of Virgins, Cujus Signum est, quod in Pontificali Romano, ubi de hac Consecratione agitur, non dicatur roganda de aliqua contaminatione, sed de vita, conscientia, & carnis integritate, ut notat Cajetan. Less. ubi sup.

That which is next in view, is some prospect of Deans and Chapters; there were it seems in former times certain Deans, who usurped an Authority beyond their Dignity or Function, and took upon them to exercise Episcopal Jurisdiction. These were condemned in a Council at Lateran under Pope Alexander, by the fifth Canon of, that Council in these words, viz. Quoniam, quidam in quibusdam partibus sub pretio statuuntur, qui Decani vocantur, & pro certa pecuniae quantitate Episcopalem Jurisdictionem exercent, praesenti Decreto statuimus, ut qui de caetero id praesumpserit, Officio suo privetur, & Episcopus conferendi hoc officium potestatem amittat. Chron. Gervas. de Temp. H. 2. Anciently likewise there were certain Deans, which were called Decani Christianitatis; one of which kind appears in an Ancient Record nigh Four hundred years since, relating to the Privileges of the Priory of St. Austin's, wherein the words to this present purpose sic se habent, viz. Super Privilegiis Innocentii Papae 4. hic superius ad mandatum conservatorum, ut praetactum est, publicatis, Thomas Prior Ecclesiae Christi Cant. Guydo Prior S. Gregorii, & Thomas Decanus Christianitatis, ejusdem Civitatis eadem Privilegia inspexisse ad certitudinem futurorum testati sunt. Chron W. Thorn. de Temp. Ed. 1. An. 1293. Heretofore also Priors have been called Deans; so we find Ceolnothus or Chelnothus ( in the time of King Æthelred and his Brother Alfred) Dean of Canterbury to have been called, Postea Ceolnothus Cantuariensis Ecclesiae Decanus, &c. ubi cum Decanus esset, quem nos Priorem vocamus, non modicum videre solebat Conventum. And again, Egelnothum, alias Ceolnothum, ejusdem Ecclesiae Christi Decanum, vel Praepositum suum Decanum vocabant, quem nos post adventum Lanfranci Priorem appellamus. Gervas. Act. Pontif. Cant. And where we meet with the word Decania, as in the History of Ranulphus Bishop of Durham in the Conquerors time, written by Simeon the Monk, Deconatus is thereby intended, it being the Ecclesiastical Dignity of him, qui, in Majori Ecclesia, denis ad minus Canonicis sive Praebendariis (ut vocant) sub Episcopo praeest; but the DECANUS CHRISTIANITATIS aforesaid, so called per Antiquiores Anglos, is secundum recentiores DECANUS RURALIS, quem Exteri ARCHIPRESBYTERUM UICANVM vocant. De quo & de Vrbano vid. Duaren. de Sacr. Eccl. minist. & benef. lib. 1. cap. 8. A probable conjecture why anciently he might be called Decanus Christianitatis, we may (ut mihi videtur) have from Mr. Selden, in Notis ad EADMERUM, pag. 208. Christianitas ( says he ) & ea quae ad Christianitatem pertinent, passim apud Eadmerum atque alios illius aevi Scriptores, functionem Episcopalem, atque Fori sacri actionem & administrationem, seu Officium Episcopale, ut usitatius appellatur, denotant.—Hinc apud nos, Fora sacra, quibus, jure nempe communi subnixis, aut Episcopy praesunt, aut ii qui eo nomine Episcopos, utpote quos provocare licet, suscipiunt, Curiae Christianitatis etiamnum vocitantur. Glossar. Hist. Angl. Antiq. ver. Christianitas. —vid. plura in Urbis Cantuar. Antiq. pag. 362, 363. ubi de Decano Christianitatis. But the Deans here specially meant and intended, are only such as with the Chapters, according to the ancient and genuine use thereof, are as Senatus Episcopy to assist the Bishop in his Jurisdiction, Cathedral Churches being the first Monuments of Christianity in England. So Dr. Hacket in Parliament, 1640.

The Office and Ecclesiastical Dignity of Archdeacons, which you next meet with in this Abridgment, is of very great Antiquity. There was a sharp Contest above Five hundred years since, in the time of King H. 2. between the Archdeacons and the Priors of Winchester and Eli, touching the Presentation of their Bishops Elect unto the Metropolitan in order to their Consecration, wherein by the Interlocutory of the said Metropolitan the Priors had the Victory. Hora congrua Consecrationis instant R. Wintoniensis & R. Elyensis Archidiaconi, cum Officiales Episcoporum dicantur, ad suum spectare contendebant Officium Electiones, &c. praesentare Metropolitano: W. Wintoniensis & S. Elyensis Priores in contrarium sentiebant: quam enim in Ecclesiis Cathedralibus, ubi Canonici divinis mancipantur obsequiis, Decani sibi vindicant dignitatem: hanc si Monachorum Conventus in Episcopali seed praemineat, sibi jure possunt vendicare Priores. Sed ut omnis in posterum amputetur occasio Litigandi, de Interlocutoria Metropolitani sententia, &c. Wintoniensis & Elyensis Electi • , ad Priorum suorum praesentationem recepti, ad Priorum suorum postulationem Episcopy Consecrati sunt. —Radulph. de Diceto Imag. Hist. By the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander it was Ordained, That an Archdeacon in his Visitation should not exceed the numqer of Five or Seven Horsemen for his Retinue. Chron. Gervas. de Temp. H. 2. And as to the Visitation-Articles, every Bishop and Archdeacon heretofore framed a Model thereof for themselves; but at the Convocation in the year 1640. a Body thereof was composed for the public use of all such as exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. And by the foresaid Canon of the Council of Lateran, it was further Ordained, That no Archdeacon in his Visitation should presume to exact from the Clergy more than was justly due, Archidiaconi autem sive Decani nullas exactiones in Presbyteros seu Clericos exercere praesumant. Notwithstanding what toleration the Law allows as to Archbishops, Bishops, Archdeacons, &c. as to the number of their Retinue in their Visitations; yet therein respect is ever to be had to the condition of the Churches, Persons, and Places Visited, as may plainly appear by the express words of the Canon aforesaid, viz. Sane quod de numero evectionis secundum tolerantiam dictum est, in illis Locis poterit observari, in quibus ampliores sunt redditus & Ecclesiasticae facultates. In pauperibus autem Locis tantam volumus teneri mensuram, ut ex acc • ssu majorum minores non debeant gravari, ne sub tali indulgentia illi qui paucioribus Equis uti solebant hactenus, plurium sibi credant potestatem indultam. So that no Archdeacon or other having Right of Visitation, ought by what the Law allows them in that case, to exercise their power in this matter, beyond what the condition of the place Visited will reasonably admit.

In all Visitations of Parochial Churches, made by Bishops and Archdeacons, the Law hath provided that the Charge thereof should be answered by the Procurations then due and payable by the Inferior Clergy, wherein Custom as to the Quantum shall prevail; but the undue Demands and supernumerary Attendants of Visitors have Anciently as well as in Later times, given the occasion of frequent Contests and Complaints: For prevention whereof it was Ordained by the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander, circa An. 1179. in haec verba, viz. Cum quidam Fratrum & Coepiscoporum nostrorum ita graves in Procurationibus subditis suis existunt, ut pro hujusmodi causa interdum ipsa Ecclesiastica Ornamenta subditi compellantur exponere, & longi temporis victum brevis hora consumat. Quocirca statuimus, Quod Archiepiscopi Parochias Visitantes, pro diversitate Provinciarum & facultatibus Ecclesiarum 40 vel 50 evectionis Numerum, Episcopy 20 vel 30, Cardinales vero 20 vel 25 nequaquam excedunt. Archidiaconi vero Quinque aut Septem, Decani Constituti sub Episcopis, Duobus Equis contenti existant. Prohibemus etiam, ne subditos suos talliis & exactionibus Episcopy gravare praesumant. Archidiaconi autem, sive Decani nullas exactiones, vel tallias in Presbyteros, seu Clericos exercere praesumant. vid. Chron. Gervas. de Temp. H. 2. col. 1455. can. 25. whereby it is evident, that these Procurations ought to be so moderated by the Bishops, as that they may not become a burden or grievance to the Clergy. The lawfulness of these Episcopal and Archidiaconal Rights of Procurations are not to be called into question at this day; for in all the Establishments and Ordinations of Vicarages upon the Ancient Appropriations of Churches, you shall find these Procurations excepted, and reserved in statu Quo: As appears by these of Feversham and Middleton, when by William the Conqueror they were Appropriated to the Abbey of St. Austin's; as also by these of Wivelsberg, Stone, and Brocland in Kent, when they were Appropriated to the same Abbey by the Charter of King Ed. 3. and in that of the Parish of Stone aforesaid, Pentecostals by name are reserved, in these words, Nihilominus solvet Procurationem debitam Archidiacono Cantuariensi Visitanti, & expensas pro Pentecostalibus faciendis. — vid. Chron. W. Thorn, Appropria. Eccles. col. 2089. Hist. Angl. What Procurations the Archbishop of Messena, who arrived in England as the Popes Legate in the year 1261. exacted and extorted from the Bishops and Abbots with great violence in the Reign of King▪ H. 3. you may find in Matthew Paris. But by the Fourth Canon of the Council at Rome under Pope Alex. 3. An. 1180. it was Ordained, That Bishops and Archbishops in their Visitations should not overcharge the Church of their Bounds, with unnecessary charges and expenses, specially the Churches that are poor.

No sooner had Princes in Ancient times assigned and limited certain Matters and Causes controversial to the cognizance of Bishops, and to that end dignified the Episcopal Order with an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; but the multiplicity and emergency of such affairs required, for the dispatch and management thereof, the assistance of such subordinate Ordinaries, as being experienced in the Laws adapted to the nature of such Causes, might prove a sufficient Expedient to prevent the avocation of Bishops, by reason of such Litigious interpositions, from the discharge of the more weighty Concerns of that Sacred Function. Hence it is supposed, that the Ecclesiastical Office of Diocesan Chancellors, Commissaries, and Officials originally came into use and practice, the place of their Session anciently styled the Bishops Consistory. Among the many Learned Ecclesiedicts, who have supplied that Ecclesiastical place, William Lindwood (who finished his industrious and useful work of the Provincial Constitutions about the year 1433. in the time of K. Henry the Sixth) seems to be of the highest Renown; his Education was in the University of Cambridge, first Scholar of Gonvil, then Fellow of Pembrook-hall; his younger years he employed in the study of the Imperial and Canon Laws; afterwards became Keeper of the Privy Seal unto King Henry the Fifth, by whom he was honored with an Embassy to the Crowns of Spain and Portugal. After the Kings death he reassum'd his Officials place of Canterbury, and then collected the Constitutions of the Fourteen later Archbishops of Canterbury, from Stephen Langton unto Henry Chichley, unto whom he dedicated that highly to be esteemed Work, his Gloss thereon, being in itself as a Canonical Magazine, or the Key which opens the Magazine of the whole Canon Law. It was printed at Paris, An. 1505. at the cost and charges of William Bretton Merchant of London, revised by the care of Wolfangus Hippolitus, and Prefaced unto by Jodocus Badius. This Famous Lindwood was afterwards made Bishop of St. David's.

By the Grant of William the Conqueror the Bishops originally had an entire Jurisdiction to judge all Causes relating to Religion, for before that time the Sheriff and Bishop kept their Court together. He granted also to the Clergy Tithes of Calves, Colts, Lambs, Woods, Mills, &c. So that before the Conquest there were no such Courts in England as we now call Courts Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, for Anciently the Bishops sat in Judgment together with the Secular Judges and Sheriffs on the same Tribunal, specially about Easter and Michalmass; which appears by Mr. Selden in his Notes on Eadmerus, pag. 167. as also by the Laws of King Aethelstane, Debent Episcopy cum Seculi Judicibus interesse Judiciis, ne permittant si possint, ut illinc aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint; & Sacerdotibus pertinet in sua Diocoesi, ut ad rectum sedulo quemcunque juvent, nec patiantur si possint, ut Christianus aliquis alii noceat, &c. Chron. Jo. Brompton. de Leg. Aethelst. Reg. And in the Preamble to the Laws of that King you will find these words, viz. Debet etiam Episcopus sedulo pacem & concordiam operari cum Seculi Judicibus. Yea, long after the Conquest, in the Reign of H. 2. An. 1164. by his Laws made at Clarendon the Bishops might interest themselves with the Kings Secular Judges, where the matter in Judgment extended not to diminution of Members, or were Capital. An. 1164. Congregati sunt Praesules & Proceres Anglicani regni apud Clarendoniam. Rex igitur Henricus, &c. Then it follows in Lege undecima, viz. Archiepiscopi & Episcopy, &c. sicut Barones caeteri debent interesse Judiciis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus, usque perveniatur in Judicio ad diminutionem Membrorum, vel ad mortem. Notwithstanding, at the same time the Bishops Ecclesiastical Courts, as also the Archdeacons Courts, were established in this Kingdom, and further ratified and confirmed by these very Laws of King H. 2. made at Clarendon, as appears by the Tenth Law, and that immediately foregoing the Premises, in haec verba, viz. Qui de Civitate, vel Castello, vel Burgo, vel dominico manerio Domini Regis fuerit, si ab Archidiacono vel Episcopo de aliquo delicto Citatus fuerit, unde debeat eis Respondere, & ad Citationes eorum noluerit satisfacere, been licet eum sub Interdicto ponere, sed non debet, &c. & exinde poterit Episcopus ipsum Accusatum Ecclesiastica Justitia coercere. Chron. Gervas. de Temp. H. 2. In those days there was no occasion for that just Complaint, which a Learned Pen (as a Modern Author observes) makes, viz. That Courts which should distribute Peace, do themselves practice Duells, whilst it is counted the part of a Resolute Judge to enlarge the Privilege of his Court. Lord Bacon in his Advanc. of Learn. p. 463. Aphor. 96.—It was with more moderation expressed by him who said, It was sad, when Courts that are Judges, become Plaintiffs and Defendants touching the Bounds of their Jurisdiction. In the first Parliament of King Edward the Sixth 's Reign it was Enacted, That all Process out of the Ecclesiastical Courts should from thenceforth be issued in the Kings Name only, and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of former Times. But this Statute being Repealed by Queen Mary, and not Revived by Queen Elizabeth, the Bishops and their Chancellors, Commissaries, and Officials, have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in their own Names, and under the distinct Seals of their several Offices respectively. Also by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 19. it being Enacted, That all former Canons and Constitutions, not contrary to the Word of God, the Kings Prerogative, or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, should remain in force, until they were review'd by Thirty two Commissioners, to be appointed by the King, and that Review being never made in that Kings time, nor anything done therein by King Ed. 6. (though he had also an Act of Parliament to the same effect) the said Ancient Canons and Constitutions remained in force as before they were; whereby all Causes Testamentary, Matrimonial, Tithes, Incontinency, Notorious Crimes of Public Scandal, Wilful absence from Divine Service, Irreverence, and other Misdemeanours in or relating to the Church, &c. not punishable by the Temporal Laws of this Realm, were still reserved unto the Ecclesiastical Courts, as a standing Rule whereby they were to proceed and regulate the Exercise of their Jurisdiction. Vid. Heyl. ubi supr. p. 2, 3. Touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, and what Matters and Causes should be cognizable in the Ecclesiastical Courts of Normandy in the Reign of King Richard the First, upon occasion of a Contest inter Ecclesiam ROTHOMAGENSEM & WILLIELMUM Filium RADULFI, Steward of Normandy, it was nigh Five hundred years since finally Accorded, Published, & (inter alia ) Declared by all the Clergy, That all Perjuries and Breach of Faith (except in case of National Leagues,) all Controversies relating to Dowries and Donations propter Nuptias (quoad Mobilia ) should be heard and determined in the Ecclesiastical Court; it was then also so many hundred years since further Resolved in haec verba, viz. Quod distributio eorum quae in Testamento relinquuntur, authoritate Ecclesiae fiet, nec Decima pars (ut olim) subtrahetur: It was likewise at the same time and so long since further Resolved, That Si quis subitanea morte, vel quolibet alio Fortuito Casu praeoccupatus fuerit, ut de rebus suis disponere non possit, Distributio Bonorum ejus Ecclesiastica authoritate fiet.—Radulph. de Diceto. Hist. de Temp. Rich. 1. Regis.

Of all the Churches in Great Britain, that of Saint Paul's London is of the largest structure, if not of the highest Antiquity: Some will have it in Ancient times to have been the Temple of Diana, but the Ingenious Commentator on Antoninus 's Itinerary, though he will admit that Diana was indeed worshipped here in the Roman times, and had Temples here also, yet he will not agree it other than a Tradition to assert, That St. Paul's Church was formerly a Temple of Diana; and is free to conjecture, that Mr. Selden did but sport his Wit, and was not in good earnest, when he imagined that London might be called first Lhan Dien, that is, the Temple of Diana . The same may be said concerning the Temple of Apollo, on the Ruines of which, the report is, St. Peters in Westminster was founded . The Antiquary will also have it, That at York was Bellona 's Temple; and Minerva 's Temple at Bath, and that from her the Town was called Caer Palladour, that is, the City of Palladian waters . They that will have the Church of Rome to be Caput Ecclesiarum, do ascribe it to Pope Boniface, that he obtained it of the Emperor Focas, because the Church of Constantinople writ herself Primam omnium Ecclesiarum: This was so Decreed in the year 608. by a Council of 62 Bishops sub Anathemata . At a Synod held at Westminster under Pope Innocent 2. in the Third year of King Stephen An. D. 1138. it was Decreed, That no Church should be built without Leave first obtained from the Bishop of the Diocese, Apostolica authoritate prohibemus, ne quis absque Licentia Episcopy sui Ecclesiam vel Oratorium constituat . By the Fifth Law of Ina King of the West Saxons the Church is made a Sanctuary, Si quis sit mortis Reus, & ad Ecclesiam fugiat, vitam habeat, & emendet sicut rectum consulet . At a Synod held at Westminster in the Reign of H. 2. An. 1175. it was ordained then no Judgments touching Blood or Corporal punishment should be given in a Church or Churchyard; by the Sixth Canon made at that Synod, Seculares Causas, in quibus de sanguinis effusione, vel de poena Corporali agitur, in Ecclesiis, vel in Coemiteriis agitari sub interminatione anathematis prohibemus . By the Fifth Canon made at a Synod held in London during the Reign of Edmond, Father of Edwin and Edgar, who succeeded Aethelstan, at which Synod were present Odo and Wulstan Archbishops, provision was for the Repairing of Churches, viz. Ut omnis Episcopus reficiat Dei domos in suo proprio, & Regem ammoneat, ut omnes Ecclesiae Dei sint been paratae . The like you have in the 92 Law of King Kanute, Ad refectionem Ecclesiae debet omnis populus secundum Legem subvenire . At a General Council held at Reims under Pope Calixtus, An. 1119. during the Reign of H. 1. it was Ordained, That whoever invaded the possessions of the Church should be Anathematiz'd; Universas Ecclesiarum possessiones, quae Liberalitate Regum, vel Largitione Principum concessae sunt, inconcussas in perpetuum, & inviolatas esse decernimus. Quod si quis ease abstulerit, aut invaserit, Anathemate perpetuo feriatur. And by the Sixth Law of Ina aforesaid, if any man fought in the Church, he should forfeit Six pounds; si quis in Ecclesia pugnet, 120 solid. emendet. And although it be now looked upon as Exaction for a Parson to demand his Funeral dues of Burial, where the deceased is carried out of his Parish to be buried in another, so it was long since Ordained by the Laws of King Kanute, leg. 16. Si Corpus aliquod à sua Parochia deferatur in aliam, pecunia tamen Sepulturae ejus jure in eam Ecclesiam pertinebit.

Among other Officers relating to the Church, those of Churchwardens, Questmen, and Sidemen are not to be omitted; for although they may be some of the Lower Form, yet they are of necessary use, and such as without whose care many disorders in the Church may pass unpunished, as well as the Concerns thereof much prejudiced; for which end and reason the Law will have them to be a Corporation, qualifies them to Sue, subjects them to Suits, and understands them in the nature of Ecclesiastical Trustees as Guardians of the Moveable Possessions of the Church: Therefore the Canons have determined, as to the qualification of the persons Eligible, the manner of their Choice, by whom, and the time when, their Oath, Office, Duration, and Account; when and before whom it shall be made, and how they shall be finally discharged.

By reason of the great desolation and ruin of many Churches and Parishes in the late Unnatural War in this Kingdom, and otherwise, it hath been judged necessary to pass an Act of Parliament for the Uniting of certain Churches in Cities and Towns Corporate: Notwithstanding which, the Parishes to remain distinct as to all Rates, Taxes, Parochial Rights, Charges and Duties, and all other Privileges, Liberties, and Respects whatsoever; wherein it is also Enacted, That the Patrons of such Churches and Chapels so united, shall Present by Turns only to that Church, which shall remain and be Presentative from time to time, &c. Provided, That Parishes having 100 l. maintenance per An. may not be United. Also the Incumbents of such united Parishes must be Graduates in some University. And the Owners of Impropriations may bestow and annex Maintenance to the Churches where they lie, and settle it in Trust for the benefit of the said Parsonage or Vicarage, without any License of Mortmain. It is there also further Enacted, That if the settled Maintenance of such Parsonage, Vicarage, Churches, and Chapels so united, &c. shall not amount to the full sum of 100 l. per An. clear and above all charges and reprizes, that then it shall be lawful for the Parson, Vicar, and Incumbent of the same, and his Successors, to take, receive, and purchase to him and his Successors, Lands, Tenements, Rents, Tithes, and other Hereditaments, without any License of Mortmain; any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding. The Churches and Parishes in London, which by that Act since the Dreadful Fire are United, are these, viz. The Parishes of Alhallowes Breadstreet and St. John Evangelist are united into one Parish, and the Church of the former to be the Parish-Church of the Parishes so united. The Parishes of St. Albans Woodstreet, and St. Olaves Silverstreet are united into one Parish, and the Church of the former to be the Parish Church of the said Parishes so united. The Parishes of St. Austin's and St. Faiths are united into one Parish, and the Church of the former to be the Parish Church of the said Parishes so united. The like order to be observed in all the rest of the Parish Churches that are by that Act united.

Touching Dilapidations of Ecclesiastical Edifices and Possessions, it may well be presumed, That the most of that kind that ever was in the Christian World, was in the time of Dioclesian 's Persecution; which moved Constantine, Son of Constantius Chlorus, who began his Reign in the year of our Lord 310. to give command for the Re-edifying and Repairing the Temples of the Christians; which was not only expeditely put in Execution, but many new Churches were also erected for the Convention of the Christians; and Idol-Temples shut up until Julian the Apostate restored the Heathenish Idolatry. It hath ever belonged to the care and cognizance of the Church, to make provision for the Repair of the Dilapidations of the Church. Thus Jehoida made it his business to repair the Dilapidations of the Temple: But although Controversies hence arising, and incident to this matter, are properly belonging to Ecclesiastical cognizance, yet they are not only Ecclesiastical persons that are hereunto obliged; for although they alone are to prevent and repair, or make satisfaction for what part of the Churches Dowry themselves have suffered to be Dilapidated, whilst in their own possession; yet as to the Church itself, and the Incidents thereof, others as well as Ecclesiastics are obliged to the Repairs thereof; for the Steeple with the Body of the Church, and all Chapels lying in Common thereunto, are to be Repaired by the Joynt cost of the Parishioners: And such Private Chapels, as wherein particular persons claim a propriety of Seat and Sepulture, are to be Repaired at their own charge; but the Chancel is to be kept in Repair at the Parsons cost: yet in all these respect is chiefly to be had to the Custom of the Place time out of mind, for that shall rule the Premises, and will go far to determine, whether the Fences of the Church-yard are to be made and repaired at the charge of the Parson (who may have the ground thereof as part of his Glebe) or at the charge of the Parishioners, or of such persons whose Land surrounds or abutts on the same. Suarez says, That for the better prevention of Dilapidations, there was Anciently a Custom in some places, That some part of the Tithes should not be paid to the Clerk, or applied to the party Beneficed, but should be reserved for the use of the Fabric of the Church, to repair the same, and for the use of the Poor; and were not properly due to any particular Clerk, ut in ejus dominium transferantur, but to the Church; not the material Temple, but to the Church, that is, the Clergy for the use of the Temple. The Executors or Administrators of a Dilapidator stand charged in the Ecclesiastical Court to the succeeding Incumbent to make good the Repairs; and if such Dilapidator in his life-time shall make a Deed of Gift to defeat the Successor of the effect of his Suit, it is void, 13 Eliz. cap. 10. And the Successor Incumbent shall have like remedy in the Ecclesiastical Court against such Donee or Grantee, as he might have had against the Dilapidators Executor or Administrator. Also by 14 Eliz. cap. 11. it is provided, That all the Moneys received for Dilapidations, shall within Two years be employed upon the Buildings, for which they were paid, on pain of forfeit of so much to the King as shall not be so employed.

When a Church becomes Litigious, and doubt arises touching the right of Patronage or Presentation, in that case the Law hath provided an Expedient for the Ordinary, whereby his being a Disturber, in case he Collate or Present, is prevented; to which end and in such case the Law directs him to award the Jure Patronatus; wherein the Practice with us at this day, answers to the pretence of all persons quorum interest, with more exactness and general satisfaction, than was anciently practicable according to the Canons and Constitutions of old, as appears by the defect (in this matter) of the Seventeenth Canon of the Council at Rome, An. 1180. which is only to this effect, viz. If a question arise concerning Presentations of divers persons to one Church, or concerning the Gift of Patronage, if the foresaid Question be not decided within the space of Three months, the Bishop shall place in the Church the person whom himself conceives most worthy. The Law takes notice of a twofold Jus Patronatus, the one Civile, the other Canonicum: The former is that which is introduced by the Civil Law, and refers to a Lord or Patron in respect of his Bondman made Free, and his Goods: the other, and which only is here intended, is, That which is instituted by the Church in show of gratitude to him who either Founded, built, or Endowed some Church; for which reason the Bishops granted them a certain Right in such Churches, which is commonly called Jus Patronatus, and that by the Canon Law understood as Honorificum, Utile, & Onerosum. Honorificum, in regard of that obsequious Respect due from the Parish to the Patron, specially in that the chiefest Seat in his Church is granted to him: Onerosum, in that the Patron may lawfully defend his Church, and prevent the Dilapidations both of the Church, and of what she is Endowed with according to the way and manner prescribed in cap. Filiis 16. q. 7. It is also called Jus Utile, because that if any time the Patron or any descending from him shall happen to fall into decay, in such case the said Church is more obliged to supply the necessities of him and his, than of any other Poor. c. Quaecunque cum sequent. For this reason also it is, and that others may be encouraged to the like Acts of Piety, the Church (as a Mark of special grace and favor) hath granted to such Patrons the Jus Praesentandi, or a Right to Present fit persons to the Benefice of such Churches. This Right or Jus Patronatus did not belong to Patrons anciently or jure antiquo, as appears by the Gloss in cap. Piae mentis; yet most certain it is, That this Right of Patronage was Jus antiquissimum, as is evident by cap. Quoniam. de jure Patronat. And the Lateran Council calls it Potestatem, in qua Ecclesia huc usque Patronos sustinuit.

The present Incumbents, Parsons and Vicars, of Churches burnt in London by the late Dreadful Fire, and by Act of Parliament not to be rebuilt, are by the said Act not deprived of the Tithes, or other profits formerly belonging to their respective Churches so long as they shall assist in serving the Cure, and other Offices belonging to their duty in the Parish-Church, whereunto their respective Parishes shall be united and annexed by the said Act, according to the direction of the Ordinary, &c. Saving to the Kings Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, the Tenths and First-Fruits of all such Parish-Churches as by force of the said Act are united and consolidated, &c. yet so, as that the said Parsons and Vicars are by the said Act indemnified from the payment of all First-Fruits, Tenths, and Pensions due, and which shall be due unto his Majesty, and from all dues to the Ordinary and Archdeacon, and all other dues whatsoever chargeable upon them respectively, until such time as they shall receive the Profits arising from the same, as formerly. And no Process to issue out of any Court whatsoever, against the persons aforesaid, for their Non-payment of First-Fruits, Tenths, Pensions, or any other the dues aforesaid, &c. The said Parsons are likewise by the said Act indemnified for not Reading the 39 Articles, or not doing other thing enjoined by Law, until such time as the said Churches be Re-edified, or made fit for Public Worship. The said Parsons and Vicars are likewise impower'd to lett Leases of their Glebe-Lands, with the consent of the Patron and Ordinary, for any Term not exceeding 40 years, and at such yearly Rents, without Fine, as can be obtained for the same: And that no Lapses incurred upon any Non-Presentation in due time of any of the Patrons of the said Livings since the said Fire, shall any ways prejudice, or make void the Presentations that the said Patrons have since made, whereupon any Incumbent is since Instituted and Inducted, any Law or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. By the Third Canon of that great Assembly of 180 Bishops at Rome, in the Church of Constantiniana, An. 1180. in the Twentieth year of Pope Alexander the Third, it was Ordained, That no man should be admitted to the Office of a Bishop under the age of Thirty years; nor that any should be admitted to be a Deacon, or Archdeacon, or to have the government of a Parish until he were of the full age of Five and twenty years.

The next Chapter speaks of Vicars, Vicarages, and Benefices; Gervasius a Monk of Canterbury in his Chronicle de tempore H. 2. (under whom a Synod was convened at Westminster, An. 1175. by Richard then Archbishop of Canterbury ) acquaints us with an Ancient Canon made at that Synod, whereby Vicars are restrained from behaving themselves proudly against their Parsons, a piece of Spiritual Insolence not grown quite out of practice to this day: It is the Eleventh Canon, the words are, Illud etiam de Vicariis, qui personis fide & juramento obligati sunt, duximus statuendum, quod si fide vel Sacramenti religione contempta Personatum sibi falso assumentes, contra Personas se erexerint, si super hoc in jure vel confessi vel convicti fuerint, de caetero in eodem episcopatu ad Officii sui Executionem non admitta • tur. In all Appropriations of Churches there ever was, and ought to be, an establishment of sufficient Maintenance for the Vicar and his Successors, pro sustentatione sua congrua, made by the Bishop of the Diocese, by and with the consent of such as to whom such Churches are Appropriated: And this, though for the most part consisting only of the Minute Tithes, yet hath the denomination of a Benefice, or Ecclesiastical Benefice, as properly as any Rectory or Parsonage whatever; for they are perpetual Vicars, in whom the Vicarage or Benefice is as in Fee, though not properly in demesne as in Fee, as Temporal Inheritances are; and therefore the word [ Beneficium ] with the Feudists and Canonists is the same as Feodum or Feudum with our Common Lawyers; yet sometimes it is opposed to that which we call Allodium, or what a man hath in his own Name, and in his own proper Right and absolutely, for that which is here understood by Beneficium, may be possessed nomine alieno, & certis sub Legibus; which may not properly be said of Allodium, that being properly what a man doth possess nomine proprio, & absolute: An instance of this you have in the Grant made by King William Rufus to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury; Praecepit Rex, ut investiretur Anselmus omnibus ad Archiepiscopatum pertinentibus, atque ut Civitas Cantuariae, quam Lanfrancus suo tempore in Beneficio à Rege tenebat, & Abbatia Sancti Albani, quam non solum Lanfrancus, sed & Antecessores ejus habuisse noscuntur, in Allodium Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariensis pro redemptione animae suae perpetuo jure transirent. By the Ninth Canon of the Lateran Council under Pope Alexander, It is prohibited to grant or promise any Ecclesiastical Benefices before they are actually void; the reason of which Canon was, to prevent the desire of the death of the present Incumbent, by him who by such promise or grant had an expectation to succeed him in the Benefice.

In the next place follows the Chapter of Advowsons, which the Canon Law calls Jus Patronatus, being a power or right of Presenting one to be Instituted to a vacant Ecclesiastical Benefice; I say, Vacant, because if the Benefice be not then void, the Presentation will be void in Law; the reason is, because were it otherwise, occasion might thereby be given the Presented to desire or wish for the Incumbents death. cap. Nulla. de Concess. Praebend. And although, what we call Advowson, the Canon Law calls Jus Patronatus; yet every Jus Patronatus is not an Advowson, according to the Civil Law; for the Jus Patronatus hath a twofold acceptation in the Law; the one, That Right which Lord's or Patrons have on their Bondmen made Free by Manumission, and so it is taken in ff. de jur. Patron. but this is not to our present purpose: the other, That Right of Presentation to an Ecclesiastical Benefice, which belongs to Patrons of Benefices and Churches, which in the Law is likewise called Jus Advocationis, as appears by cap. Quia Clerici, de Jur. Patronat. And this is that Advowson here intended. This Right of Advowsons or Jus Patronatus the Law doth also distinguish into Ecclesiastical and Laical. Touching the Ecclesiastical vid. Covarru. in qq. pract. c. 36. n • . 2. which is so called, not because an Ecclesiastic doth enjoy or possess it (for so he may also possess a Laic Patronage;) but because it belongs to one for that he hath founded, built, or endowed the Church Ex bonis Ecclesiasticis, or by reason of some Rectory of a Church, or some Ecclesiastical Dignity: As when a Benefice is erected with money gotten ex bonis Ecclesiasticis; in that case he hath Jus Patronatus Ecclesiastici, or Patronatum Ecclesiasticum: And so it is, if one hath the Advowson or right of Presentation on, because he is a Bishop, a Dean, or the like; this also is Jus Patronatus Ecclesiastici, so the Gloss, in Clem. 2. de jur. Patronat. & alii. The other kind of Advowsons or Jus Patronatus Laici is so called, for that it belongs to one, because he hath either founded, built, or endowed some Church, or erected some Benefice Ex bonis patrimonialibus. Lessius de Justic. & jure, cap. 34. de Benefic. Dub. 4. In pursuance of that distinction it is, that the Canon Law determines in a different manner in respect of Ecclesiastic and Laic Patronages, touching the time limited for Presentation to a vacant Benefice; for (according to that Law) if the Patronage be Laic, the Patron is obliged to Present within Four months next after the Church becomes void: but if the Patronage be Ecclesiastical, then within Six. cap. unico, de Jur Patronat. in 6.

Concerning Appropriations of Churches, the first thereof since the Conquest appears to be that of Feversham and Middleton in Kent, An. 1070. granted by William the Conqueror to the Abbey of St. Austin's in Canterbury in manner following, viz. In Nomine, &c. Ego Wilhelmus, &c. ex his quae omnipotence Deus sua gratia mihi largiri est dignatus, quaedam concedo Ecclesiae. S. Augustini Anglorum Apostoli, &c. pro salute Animae meae & Parentum meorum, Predecessorum, & Successorum, haereditario jure; haec sunt Ecclesiae & Decimae duarum Mansionum, viz. Feversham & Middleton ex omnibus redditibus qui, &c. & omnibus ibidem appendentibus, terra, sylva, pratis, & aqua, &c. Haec omnia ex integro concedo S. Augustino, & Abbati, & Fratribus, ut habeant, & teneant, possideant in perpetuum; which was afterward Confirmed by Pope Alexander the Third, and Ratified by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, together with an Establishment and Ordination of a Vicarage by the said Archiepiscopal Authority in each of the said Churches respectively. The like you have for the Appropriating of three other Churches to the same Abbey, viz. of Wyvelsberg, Stone, and Brocland in Kent, by the Charter of Ed. 3. above Three hundred years since, Confirmed by Pope Clement 's Bull, and Ratified by Simon Mepham then Archbishop of Canterbury, with his Establishment of Three perpetual Vicarages to the said Churches: Which Charter is to this effect, viz. Nos de gratia nostra specially, & pro C. Libris, quas praefati Abbas & Conventus nobis solvent, &c. Concessimus & Licentiam dedimus pro Nobis & haeredibus nostris, quantum in Nobis est, ejusdem Abbati & Conventui, quod ipsi Ecclesias praedictas Appropriare, & ease sic Appropriatas in proprios usus tenere possint sibi & Successoribus suis in perpetuum (nisi in hoc, Quod Nos tempore vacationis Abbatiae praedictae, si contigerit Ecclesias praedictas, vel aliquam earundem tunc vacare, Nos Jus Praesentandi ad easdem amitteremus) sine occasion, vel impedimento Nostri, vel haeredum nostrorum quorumcunque. Hujus Data est sub An. Do. 1349. The Modern Church-Historian of Britain in his Eleventh Book, pag. 136. calls to remembrance, That about An. 1626. there were certain Feoffees, a whole dozen of them (though not incorporated by the Kings Letters Patents, or any Act of Parliament, yet) Legally ( he says ) settled in Trust to purchase in Impropriations, and that it was incredible ( how then possible to be believed? ) what large Sums were advanced in a short time towards that work: But then withal tells us somewhat that is Credible, viz. That there are 9284 Parochial Churches in England, endowed with Glebe and Tithes; but of these (when the said Feoffees entered on their work) 3845 were either Appropriated to Bishops, Cathedrals, and Colleges, or Impropriated (as Lay-Fees) to Private persons, as formerly belonging to Abbeys. The Redeeming and Restoring (he does not mean to the Abbeys ) was the design of these Feoffees, as to those in the hands of Private persons, but re infecta, the Design proved abortive.

A Commendam or Ecclesia Commendata, so called in contradistinction to Ecclesia Titulata, is that Church, which for the Custodial charge and government thereof, is by a revocable Collation concredited with some Ecclesiastical person, in the nature of a Trustee, vel tanquam fidei Commissarius, and that for the most part only for some certain time, absque titulo; for he that is Titularly Endowed, hath the possession of the Church in his own Name and in his own proper Right during his life; hence it is, that in the Canon Law a Church collated in Commendam, and a Church bestowed in Titulum, are ever opposed as contraries vid. Hist. Council. Trident. lib. 6. pag. 600. & Duaren. de Benefic. lib. 5. cap. 7. Thus King Edgar Collated Dunstan Bishop of Worcester to the Bishopric of London by way of Commendam; Rex Edgarus (says Radulph. de Diceto in his Abbreviat. Chronicorum ) Lundoniensem Ecclesiam proprio Pastore viduatam commisit regendam Dunstano Wigornensi Episcopo. Et sic Dunstanus Lundoniensem Ecclesiam Commendatam habuit, & non Titulatam. dict. Radulph. de An. 962. It is supposed that the first Patent of a Commendam retinere granted in England by the King to any Bishop Elect, was that which King Henry the Third by the advice of his Council (in imitation of the Popes Commendams then grown very common) granted by his Letters Patents to Wengham then Chancellor of England notwithstanding his insufficiency in the knowledge of Divinity, to hold and retain all his former Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices, whereof the King was Patron, together with his Bishopric (he then succeeded Fulco Bishop of London ) for so long time as the Pope should please to grant him a Dispensation: whose Dispensation alone would not bar the King to Present to those Dignities and Benefices, being all void in Law by making him a Bishop. He had also the like Patent of Commendam retinere as to his Benefices and Ecclesiastical Preferments in Ireland. And this Patent of such a Commendam being made by the King, his Lord's and Judges, is for that reason the more remarkable. vid. Le Hist. of the Church of Great Britain, pag. 84. According to the proper and ancient Account, Commendams were originally introduced in favor and for advantage of the Church which is Commended, in favorem & utilitatem Ecclesiae quae Commendatur. Imola in ca. Nemo. de Elect. in 6. says, that Commendams are not to be Nisi ex evidenti Ecclesiae Commendatae necessitate vel utilitate. The distinction of Temporal and Perpetual Commendams in the Canon Law is of no great use with us; indeed in the Church of Rome, according to the former mode of Commendams, a vacant Church is Commended either by the Authority of the Pope, if it be a Cathedral; ca. penult. & ult. 21. q. 1. or by the Authority of the Bishop, if it be a Church Parochial. This is commonly Temporal, or for Six months, and is in utilitatem Ecclesiae: the other commonly Perpetual, and are magis in subventionem eorum, quibus commendantur, quam ipsarum Ecclesiarum. And a Commendatary for life, is the same in reality with the Titular. These Commendams in their Original were Instituted to a good purpose, but after used to an evil end: For when by reason of Wars, Pestilence, or the like, the Election or Provision could not be made so soon as otherwise it might, the Superior did Recommend the vacant Church to some honest and worthy person; to govern it, besides the Care of his own, until a Rector were provided; who then had nothing to do with the Revenues, but to govern them and consign them to another. But in process of time these Commendataries, under pretence of Necessity, made use of the Fruits, and to enjoy them the longer, sought means to hinder the Provision: for remdy whereof, order was taken that the Commenda should not continue longer than Six months: But the Popes by the plenitude of their Power, did exceed these Limits, and Commended for a longer time, and at last for the life of the Commendatary, giving him power to use the Fruits.

When any Ecclesiastical Benefices happen to be void, the Law provides that they shall be seasonably supplied with meet Incumbents, and will not by any means admit any long Vacancy, and hath therefore set a competent time within which he that hath the original right of Presentation in him, shall discharge his duty therein, or the Lapse shall incur to him or them to whom by Law ab Inferiori ad Superiorem it gradually devolves. This matter of Lapse ( in the intent and purpose thereof, though not by that denomination) is very Ancient: By the Ninth Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander, it is provided, That Cum Praebendas, Ecclesias, seu quaelibet officia in aliqua Ecclesia vacare contigerit, vel si etiam modo vacant, non diu maneant in suspenso, sed in Sex menses personis quae digne administrare valeant conferantur. Si autem Episcopus, ubi ad eum spectaverit, confer distulerit, per Capitulum ordinetur. Quod si ad Capitulum Electio pertinuerit, & infra praescriptum terminum hoc non fecerit, Episcopus exequatur. Aut si forte omnes neglexerint, Metropolitanus de ipsis absque illorum contradictione disponat. vid. Chron. Gervasii de Temp. H. 2. And by the Eighth Canon or Constitution of the Council at Rome in the year 1180, under Pope Alexander the Third, it was Ordained, That no Ecclesiastical Office should be promised to any man before it became vacant by the decease of the Possessor. For ( says the Canon ) it is an unrighteous thing to put any man in expectation of another man's Living, whereby he may wish his Brothers death. And when any place shall happen to be vacant, let it be planted again within Six months, or else he who hath the Right of Plantation shall lose it at that time, and the Chapter, or Metropolitan Bishop shall have power to provide the vacant place. According to the Canon Law the Lay-Patron hath but Four months to present to a Benefice, but an Ecclesiastical Patron hath Six. Patronatus vero Laicus intra quatuor menses praesentare potest, Ecclesiasticus autem Patronus intra Sex menses. c. uno, de jure Patron. in 6. But the Pope is not limited to any time, so that he may Collate to such Ecclesiastical vacant Benefice at what time he pleases. Papae vero non est aliquod tempus praefixum, cum non habet Superiorem, qui possit ejus negligentiam supplere. c. aliorum 9. q. 3. nisi in c. Statutum, de Praeb. in 6. Although regularly all inferior Dignities Ecclesiastical and Benefices ought to be bestowed within Six months of their Vacancy, according to the Rule of the Canon Law, c. cum nostris, c. dilectus, & c. postulastis. Yet the greater Dignities are by that Law to be confer'd within Three months, Majores vero Dignitates, ut Episcopales, debent intra Tres menses tribui. c. ne pro defectu, de Elect. c. postquam, 50. Dist.

Although in strictness and propriety of Speech, Presentation refers to the Lay-Patron, and Collation to the Bishop, yet in the Canon Law the words Collation and Collator are frequently used in a sense promiscuously relating to them both. Therefore you have it in one place said, That Praesentatio à Fundatore fieri solet, Episcopo, vel alteri Collatori, & Episcopus instituit Praesentatum à Patrono. Rub. & per tot. tit. de Instit. & c. quod autem, de jur. Patron. In another place it is said, That Praesentatio Large dicitur Collatio. Rebuff. in Prax. Benefic. Reg. de infirm. Benefic. resignant, gloss. 14. nu. 6. post Barba. in c. Abbatem de Rescript. col. pen. Yea, and sometimes Collation is generally taken also for Institution; per tex. in ca. uno. ut Ecclesiast. Benefic. sine diminut. conferant. Although a Lay-man doth found, build, or endow a Church, yet the Canon Law allows him not the Privilege of Jus Patronatus or Jus Praesentandi otherwise than ex gratia; for the Canonists do hold, That de rigor juris non potest Laicus Ecclesiastica tractare negotia. c. 2. de Judic. only (say they) the Popes to encourage them in the founding, building, or endowing of Churches, have reserved that Privilege for them, and confirmed it by a Law.— c. Decernimus 16. q. 7. & per tot. tit. de jur. Patronat. As the Jus Patronatus, so Presentation also by the Canon Law is twofold, the one by an Ecclesiastical Patron, the other by a Lay Patron: This distinction is best known only to the Canon Law, and although it may be so in Presentation, yet it is not properly applicable to Collation. The Ecclesiastical Patron (as aforesaid) hath by that Law Six months, to be computed from the day of his having Notice of the Vacancy to Present. c. unic. de jur. Patronat. 6. Do. de Rota, Decis. 568. tit. de Sent. & re jud. Decis. 31. & 845. tit. de filiis Presb. decis. 4. By the Ecclesiastical Patron is meant or intended, that person who hath the Jus Patronatus in him ration Ecclesiae seu Beneficii quod possidet. c. dilectus de Offic. Leg. c. cum dilectus, de jure Patro. But the Lay Patron, who hath the Jus Patronatus ration sui patrimonii, hath only Four months (as aforesaid) ad Praesentandum. d. c. uno. yet in his Presentation he may variare, but that may not be more than semel tantum. c. quod autem, de jure Patr. and this Cumulative, non autem ut à primo recedere omnino possit. c. cum autem, ubi Pan. ibid. So likewise as to Collation, that also is twofold by the same Law, viz. Necessary and Voluntary (a distinction of little use with us;) Necessary, which the Collator is bound to make, as to one who hath a Mandate from the Superior Power for the same, c. tibi, & c. duobus. de Resor. lib. 6. The Voluntary Collation, being that which is free in him who hath power to make the same.

The Canon positively requires, that Examination shall ever precede Ordination, Admission, Institution, and Induction; and although this be incumbent on the Bishop or Ordinary (when it is in order to a Benefice) before the Six months expire; yet no obligation lies upon him to effect it, so soon as the party offers his submission to an Examination, specially if at the same time the Ordinary be circa curam Pastoralem. This Examination refers to the due qualification of the person to be Ordained or Beneficed, as to his Ability and Conversation. After this Examination and thereon the Ordinaries Approbation, the way is open for Admission, if no other Legal impediment appears to the Ordinary; yet the Canon requires, that notwithstanding the Bishops Approbation upon the party's Examination, he may not Ordain him, unless he hath in esse or posse, a promise or a prospect of some Ecclesiastical Living, whereof to assume the Cure, and whereon to receive subsistence, unless the Ordinary will maintain him until he be so provided, in case he hath not of his own wherewith to subsist without such provision, for our Law and Practice both requires, that they should be Incumbents, and not Mendicants. By the Fifth Canon or Constitution made by that great Convention of no less than One hundred and Eighty Bishops at Rome, under Pope Alexander the Third, it was Ordained, That if any Bishop should Admit any man to be a Presbyter or a Deacon, without the Title of a Place that may afford unto him things necessary for the maintenance of his life: Let the Bishop himself sustain him, until he provide a Living for him, except he be able of his own patrimony to sustain himself. In the Council of Carthage it was Ordained, Quod nullus ordinetur Clericus, nisi probatus, aut examine Episcoporum, aut populari testimonio. cap. Nullus 24. dist. And by the Council of Pope Martinus it was Decreed, That all such as were Ordained Presbyters or Deacons without Examination, were to be expel'd the Clergy. c. si. 24. Dist. The Subject-matter whereon they are to be Examined differs with us from that used in the Church of Rome chiefly in these Three particulars, viz. Quoad Genus: quoad Patriam: quoad Fidem. vid. c. quando. 24. Dist. There are several ancient Canons which give this Jus Examinationis to Archdeacons, c. adhaec, &c. ut nostrum, De Offic. Arch. c. si quis 94. Dist. yet Rebuffus tells us, that at this day in France they have lost that part of their Office by a kind of desuetude or disuse thereof, it now wholly belonging to the Episcopal Order in that Kingdom, as in this and most other Churches of Christendom. c. Si servus, 54. Dist. c. accepimus. de aetate & qualitate.

Vacatio Beneficii, or the Avoidance of an Ecclesiastical Benefice, which you meet with also in the ensuing Abridgment, as it is opposed to Plenarty, is the want of a lawful Incumbent; during which vacancy the Law looks on the Church quasi viduata, without her Spiritual husband, and our Common Law on the Possessions thereof as in abeiance. An Avoidance in the causes thereof, as practicable with us, differs, much from that at the Canon Law, where there are thrice as many as are in use with us. Rebuffus enumerates above Thirty Causes of such Avoidances, but of such relation to the Pontifical Constitutions, that not above a Third part of them takes place in this Realm. It is Quaestio Juris, whether a Benefice be void before Sentence Judicially pronounced, albeit in the Law it be said, Quod ipso facto sit privatus? Admitting the Crime to be committed for which the Law says he shall be deprived ipso facto; yet the Question is held in the Negative, unless it plainly appears that the mind of the Legislators were otherwise, as if those words were added, viz. Beneficium eo ipso vacare, ita ut alteri Libere possit conferri. c. Dudum 2. de Elect. As when one takes a second Benefice Incompatible. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 62. art. 3. Cajetan. ib. Sotus lib. 1. de Just. q. 6. art. 7. Covar. de Matrim. p. 2. cap. 6. §. 8. nu. 9, & 13. and generally the Modern DD. But the Question is put a little further, As whether the Benefice be void when it is said in the Law, Sit privatus ipso facto absque alia declaratione? Covarruvios, Sotus, and Henriquez de Excom. c. 56. and many other of the later Writers are of Opinion, that it is not void, but that a declaratory Sentence of the Crime is requisite; and that Clause, absque alia declaratione, is to be understood of a declaration of the penalty incurred, not of the Crime committed; which exposition of the words, though it may seem somewhat strained, is notwithstanding by the frequent use and practice thereof among the Canonists sufficiently confirmed. And those Laws which say, that the Benefice shall be void ipso jurc, as in Extrav. Ambitiosae, De reb. Eccl. do not seem to be taken in that strict and rigorous sense, Ut sponte teneatur se Reus spoliare. Less. de Just. & Jur. lib. 2. cap. 29. de Judice. Dub. 8. nu. 68. If it shall hence be demanded, of what force, energy, or operation then are such Laws, whereby a man is ipso jure deprived of his Benefice, by reason either of some Crime committed, or another Benefice Incompatible accepted? the Answer which the Canonists make to it is, That by the words ( ipso jure privatus Beneficio ) the Offender doth immediately lose the very Title he had to the Benefice, insomuch as that he is no longer Dominus Beneficii, yet doth retain the possession thereof, of which he cannot be Deprived, nisi causa cognita, without a fair Trial at Law. Gloss. in c. Licet Episcopus, 28. de Praebendis in 6. & DD. ibi. Note, This is not said by way of interpretation of these words ( ipso jure ) in any Statute Law of this Realm, but by way of Exposition thereof among the Canonists.

Although the Clergy have ever been had in the highest repute both with Prince and People, where the Gospel hath been received, and have been honored with divers Privileges and Immunities above the Laity, yet the Law hath ever held it as prejudicial to the Church, That Plures honores Ecclesiastici uni personae sint tribuendi. At a Council convened at Westminster in the Five and twentieth year of the Reign of H. 1. being above Five hundred years since, Honorius 2. then Pope, in this Synod it was Ordained in these words, Praecipimus ne uni personae in Ecclesia Archidiaconatus, aut diversi tribuantur honores. To this purpose is the Third Canon of the Lateran Council under Pope Alex under, Quia nonnulli diversas Ecclesiasticas Dignitates, & plures Ecclesias Parochiales contra Sacrorum Canonum instituta nituntur adquirere, ita ut cum unum Officium vix implere sufficiant, stipendia sibi vendicent plurimorum, ne id de caetero fiat, districtius inhibemus. Et quia tantum quorundam processit ambitio, ut non duas vel tres, sed Sex vel plures Ecclesias perhibeantur habere, nec duabus possunt debitam provisionem impendere: per Fratres & Coepiscopos nostros hoc emendari praecipimus. Likewise Gregory the Tenth, who succeeded Clement, at a Council at Lions, Pluralitatem Beneficiorum Curatorum damnavit. Hen. de Knyghton. de Event. Angl. lib. 2. In like manner it appears by the Fourteenth Canon of the Council at Rome under Pope Alexander 3. An. 1180. That Plurality of Benefices is there forbidden, as a vice smelling of Avarice and Ambition, dangerous and prejudicial to the People, whose Souls are neglected by such Pastors. One of the chiefest Reasons, why the Law forbids Pluralities, is, because it enjoins Residence, both which are inconsistent in the same Incumbent. Aquinas says, That the having of Two Benefices is not intrinsically evil, or Malum in se, nor that it is altogether indifferent, but carries in it a species of Evil, yet so as that upon due Circumstances it may be capable of a qualified lawfulness. Aquin. quod-lib. 9. art. 15. To the many Inconveniencies, which the Law doth specifically observe to follow upon Pluralities, this may not impertinently be added, That thereby the pious Intention of Founders is frustrated. The Council of Trent hath these words of it, Haec Pluralitas est perversio totius Ordinis Ecclesiastici. Council. Trid. Sess. 24. cap. 17. Pope Alexander the Third said, That Pluralitas Beneficiorum certum continet animarum periculum. c. Quia in tantum 7. de Praebend. The Canonists speaking of this Subject in reference to Dispensations, to salve the matter if possible, and bring both ends together, have found out a very pretty distinction of Beneficia Incompatabilia primi generis, and Incompatabilia secundi generis: But we are not concerned in that Distinction. In that Council of Trent it was said by the Bishop of Bitonto, That Plurality of Benefices, unknown to the First Ages, was not brought in by the Court of Rome, but by Bishops and Princes, before the Popes took upon them to regulate the matter of Benefices throughout all Christendom. Yet the Author of the History of the said Council of Trent, lib. 2. says, That Clement the Seventh Commended to this Nephew Hippolitus, Cardinal de Medicis, in the year 1534. all the Benefices of the world, Secular and Regular, Dignities and Parsonages, Simple and with Cure, being vacant for Six months, to begin from the first day of his possession, with power to convert all the Profits thereof to his own use.

The ways whereby an Ecclesiastical Benefice may be acquired, are not many; but the Causes for which an Ecclesiastical person may thereof be Deprived, are very many; generally they may all be reduced to these Three Heads, (1) By the Disposition of the Law: (2) By the Sentence of the Judge: or (3) By a free and voluntary Resignation, which though it be not properly a Deprivation, yet it is an amission of the Benefiee. Deprivation by the disposition of the Law, is either by reason of some Crime, whereunto the penalty of Deprivation ipso facto is by the Law annexed, or by reason of accepting another Benefice Incompatible. The Pontifical Law adds Two more, which do not concern us, viz. Ingress into Religion, and Matrimony. The Crimes that incur Deprivation are many, but they must be proved, for the Beneficed party is not bound sponte sua to quit his Benefice ante Sententiam Judicis. Less. de Benefic. cap. 29. Dub. 8. And when a man is not Jure Privatus, but only Privandus, in that case his Benefice cannot be bestowed on another, unless a Privative Sentence be first pronounced by the Judge. If a person Beneficed be long absent and Non-resident from his Benefice, the Benefice is not by reason of such long Absence void ipso Jure; but the Law in that case also requires a Judicial Sentence of Deprivation, and that only post trinae Citationis in eorum Ecclesiis publice Edictum. Gloss. in c. Quoniam, ut lite non contestata, &c.

One of the chiefest Reasons in Law why Pluralities are prohibited, is for the prevention of Non-residence, as appears by the Third Canon of the Lateran Council; which Canon, after it prohibits the having of divers Ecclesiastical Dignities or more Parochial Churches than one, it makes provision against Non-Residence in these words, viz. Cum igitur vel Ecclesia, vel Ecclesiasticum Ministerium committi debuerit, talis ad hoc persona quaeratur, quae Residere in loco, & curam ejus per seipsum valeat exercere. Quod si aliter Actum fuerit, & qui receperit, quod contra Sacros Canones acceperit amittat; & qui dederit, largiendi potestate privetur. Likewise by the Thirteenth Canon of that great Council of One hundred and eighty Bishops, Assembled at Rome by Pope Alexander the Third in the year of our Lord 1180. it was Ordained, That such persons should be prefer'd to Ecclesiastical Dignities, as shall be actually resident with their people, and undertake the Cure of their Souls, by doing the work of their Ministry in their own persons, otherwise to deprive them of the Office and Benefice conferred on them; and they who do confer them without these Conditions, let them lose the right of conferring Offices and Benefices. By this appears, how strict and exact the Law is against Non-Residence in the Romish Church.

One of the most famous Abbots and Monasteries in Britain anciently, seems to be that of Bangor in Flintshire, whereof Ranulphus Cestrensis says, that Tradunt nonnulli Pelagium fuisse Abbatem apud Famosum illud Monasterium de Bangor .. This Monastery which Ranulphus speaks of, is by our Beda called Bamornabyrig lingua Anglorum, in quo (says he) tantus fertur fuisse numerus Monachorum, ut cum in Septem portiones esset cum Praepositis sibi Rectoribus Monasterium divisum, nulla harum portio minus quam Trecentos homines haberet, qui omnes de labor manuum suarum vivere solebant . But concerning Abbots, having nothing to do with them, nor they with us; it being also well known what once they were in this Kingdom, and what now they are where the Pope doth exercise his Jurisdiction, it may here suffice only to observe, That the word [ Abbates ] hath anciently had a wide and far different signification from what we now commonly understand thereby; for in and among the Laws of King Aethelstan, we find the words [ quatuor Abbates ] to be taken (according to the Glossographist thereon) for quatuor hebdomadas: That Law directs how and in what manner the Hundred Court shall be held; the words are, Hoc est judicium qualiter HUNDREDUM teneri debeat: In primis ut conveniant semper ad quatuor ABBATES, & faciat omnis homo Rectum alii . which the Glossary calls Locum plane mendosum, and by the quatuor Abbates will have quatuor hebdomadas to be understood; which is the more probable by what appears in one of the Laws of King Edward, Father of the said Aethelstan, who began his Reign in An. 901. being the Son of King Alfred: the words of which Law are, Volo ut omnis praepositus habeat GEMOTUM semper ad QUATUOR EBDOMODAS, & efficiat ut omnis homo rectum habeat, & omne placitum capiat terminum quando perveniat ad finem By the word [ Gemotum ] in that place is meant Conventus Publicus, Concilium, but chiefly Placitum, as appears by the 107th Law of King Kanute, made for the indemnity of such as should have recourse to Tribunals, for their safe coming and going to and from Courts of Justice. Et volo ut omnis homo pacem habeat eundo ad gemotum, vel rediens de gemoto, id est, placito, nifi fit fur probatus. It is a word from the Saxon 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , convenire, unde Nostratium, to meet. But this digression the Reader must put on the Abbots score, in regard the word [ Abbates ] gave the occasion thereof; which may be but a Venial offense, in regard that that Ecclesiastical Dignity is with us laid aside, though their Possessions had better Fortune; yet when King H. 8. did dissolve them, he did not only augment the number of Colleges out of the Revenues thereof, but also erected divers new Bishoprics, as at Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Bristol, Chester, and Gloucester; all remaining at this day save that at Westminster, which being restored to its pristine Institution by Queen Mary, and Benedictines placed therein, was after by Queen Elizabeth converted to a Collegiate Church. In this Chapter there is mention also made of Chauntries, Cantaria, or if you please, Aedes Sacra: ideo Instituta & Dotata Praediis, ut missa ibidem Cantaretur pro anima Fundatoris & propinquorum ejus. Ita Spelm. Of these and Free Chapels about 2374. were dissolved by King H. 8. to whom they were given by Parliament in the 38th year of his Reign: The Religious Houses under 200 l. per An. were granted to him in An. 1535. All greater Monasteries in An. 1538. The Chantery and Free Chapels in An. 1545. Of these Chanteries Forty seven belonged unto St. Paul's, London.

And as for Annates or First-Fruits, it is Historically reported to us, that they were first introduced into England in the time of King Edward the First by Pope Clement, who succeeded Benedict. For this Pope Clement after the death of Pope Benedict, was no sooner Elected and Enthron'd in France, but he began to exercise his new Rapines here in England, by a compliance with the said King Edward, in granting him a Two years Disme from his Clergy for his own use, though pretended for the aid of the Holy Laud, that with the more ease himself might exact the First Frutts of vacant Ecclesiastical Benefices to augment his own Revenues, though not within his own Territories. This is said to be the first President of any Popes reserving or exacting Annates or First-Fruits of all Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices throughout England, extant in our Histories: which, though reserved but for Two years by the Pope at first, yet afterwards grew into a Custom by degrees, both in England and elsewhere. And thus they remained in the Pope until an Act of Parliament entitled the Crown thereunto in the time of King Henry the Eighth, which afterwards were restored again to the Pope by Queen Mary; but in the first year of Queen Elizabeth an Act passed for restoring the Tenths and First-Fruits to the Crown. Notwithstanding what some Historians have (as aforesaid) reported touching the first introduction of First-Fruits into England by Pope Clement in the time of King Edward the First, it is most evident that they were to be yielded and paid here in England some hundreds of years before that time, as appears by the Laws of Ina King of the West Saxons, who began his Reign in the year 712. The Law was this, viz. Primitias seminum quisque ex eo dato domicilio, in quo ipso Natali die Domini commoratur. Lambert. de Leg. Inae Reg. And by the Laws of King Edgar, who began his Reign in the year 959. it is Ordained in these words, Ex omni quidem ingeniorum terra, ipsae Seminum Primitiae primariae penduntor Ecclesiae. Idem de Leg. Edgari Reg. Ipsas autem Seminum Primitias sub Festum Divi Martini reddito. Ibid. The like you have in the Laws of King Kanute, who began his Reign in the year 1016. Seminum Primitiae ad Festum Divi Martini penduntor: si quis dare distulerit, ease Episcopo undecies praestato, ac Regi Ducenos, & viginti Solidos persolvito. Idem Lamb. It is supposed, that Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Ed. 3. was the first that made way for Popes to Appropriate Annates and First-Fruits in this Kingdom to themselves; for the said Archbishop An. 1246. upon a feigned pretence, that his Church of Canterbury was involved in very great Debts by his Predecessor, but in truth by himself, to carry on Forein Wars, and gratify the Pope, procured from Pope Innocent a grant of the First years Fruits of all Benefices, that should fall void within his Diocese for the space of Seven years, till he should thence raise the Sum of Ten thousand Marks yearly out of the Bishopric. So that this Grant of First Fruits of Benefices to Boniface the said Archbishop, made way for Popes Appropriating First-Fruits and Annates to themselves soon after. But in process of time the Parliament having (as aforesaid) settled them on King H. 8. there was an Office thereof established in London, An. 1538. whereby the Kings Revenue increased exceedingly from this Office for the receipt of Tenths and First-Fruits, which was then first erected in London; such Moneys being formerly paid to the Pope, for that the Tenths and First-Fruits of the English Clergy were yearly returned to Rome. But now the Pope being dead in England, the King was found his Heir at Common Law, as to most of the Power and Profit he had usurped, and the Rents which the Clergy paid were now changed together with their Landlord; for Commissioners (whereof the Bishop of the Diocese was ever one) were appointed to estimate their Annual Revenues, that so their Tenths and First-Fruits might be proportioned accordingly. At this time the Oblations from the Living, and Obits from the Dead, were as duly paid as Predial Tithes, and much advanced the Income: but Queen Mary did after by Act of Parliament exonerate the Clergy from all these First-Fruits, and ordered the payment of the Tenths to Cardinal Poole, for discharge of Pensions allowed to certain Monks and Nuns; but Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Reign resumed these First-Fruits and Tenths, only Personages not exceeding ten Marks, and Vicarages ten Pounds, were freed from First-Fruits. vid. Stat. 1 Eliz. cap. 4.

That which in the method of the ensuing Treatise next offers itself to consideration, is Altarage; Altaragium, taking its denomination from the Altar, because (to speak properly) Altargium est Emolumentum Sacerdoti provenieus ration Altaris, ex Oblationibus sc. vid. Jo. de Athon. in Constit. Legatim. Otho. c. Auditu ver. Proventus. Touching this Altarage, there is an Ancient Record in the time of King H. 3. about the year 1234. in the Chronicle of William Thorn the Augustine Monk of Canterbury, whereof (among other things) there is mention made in a certain Composition between Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbot of St. Austin's in Canterbury, as to whom it may be paid, and to what value it may extend: The Composition runs thus, viz. Noverint universi praesens Scriptum inspecturi vel audituri, Quod cum inter Dominum Ed mundum Dei gratia Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum totius Angliae Primatem, Magistrum S. de Langeton, Archidiaconum Cantuariensem ex una parte, & •• minum Robertum Abbatem & Conventum S. Augustini Cantuariae ex altera, Controversia diutius mota fuisset super Ecclesia de Chistlet & Jurisdictione, &c. Item pro bono pacis concedunt Abbas & Conventus, quod Archidiaconus quando Visitationis exercet Officium, in Ecclesiis eorum sicut in aliis Ecclesiis Diocesis Cantuariensis recipiat Procurationem consuetam, exceptis, &c. In Capellis vero de Menstre scil. Sanct. P. & Johannes, & Laurentii praesentabunt Domino Archiepiscopo idoneos Capellanos perpetuos ad Altaragia, ita tamen quod singula Altaragia valeant decem Marcas, qui hac portion tantum erunt contenti sub poena amissionis dictae portionis, si coram Judice quocunque ex certa scientia plus aliquando petierint, praesertim cum Vicarius Matricis Ecclesiae de Menstre, &c. Whereby it is very evident, That these Altarages issued out of the Offerings to the Altar, and were anciently payable to the Priesthood, as well as Tithes and other Oblations. It is most probable, that the greatest Annual Revenue by Altars, if not by Altarages, in any one Church within this Realm, was in that of St. Paul's, London; for it seems when Chanteries were granted to King Henry the Eight, whereof there were 47 belonging to St. Paul's, as aforesaid, there were in the same Church at that time no less than Fourteen several Altars: And although they were but Chantery-Priests that Officiated at them, and had their Annual Salaries on that account, distinct from Altarages in the sense of Oblations aforesaid, yet in regard these Annual Profits accrued by their Service at the Altar, they may not improperly be termed Pension-Altarages, though not Oblation-Altarages.

Concerning Tithes, whether they are eo nomine due and payable now under the Gospel, is not to our purpose either to question or determine; it will be agreed on all hands, that the Law requires the payment thereof, and hath stated it within the cognizance of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. Historins of good credit and great Antiquity tell us, That Aethelwolfe King of the West-Saxons gave the Tenth part of his Kingdom unto God, whatever his design was by it, whether for the Redemption of his and his Ancestors Souls, or otherwise, yet it is now above 800 years since he Decimated totum Regni sui Imperium; An. 855. Aethelwolphus Rex Decimam totius Regni sui partem ab omni Regali servitio & tributo liberavit, & in sempiterno graphio in Cruce Christi, &c. uni & trino Deo immolavit. Simeon. Dunelm. Hist. de Gest. Reg. Angl. Likewise Aethelstan, who Reigned about 70 years after Aethelwolfe, in the first of all his Laws made special provision for the punctual payment of Tithes, Ego Adelstanus Rex, &c. Mando Praepositis meis omnibus in regno meo, &c. ut in primis reddant de meo proprio Decimas Deo, tam in vivente captali quam mortuis frugibus terrae, & Episcopy mei similiter faciant de suo proprio, & Aldermanni mei & Praepositi mei. Et volo ut Episcopy & Praepositi hoc judicent omnibus, qui eis parere debent, &c. Recolendum quoque nobis est, quam terribiliter in Libris positum est, Si Decimam dare nolumus, ut auferantur à nobis Novem partes, & solummodo Decima relinquatur. This AEthelstan dying without Issue was succeeded in the Kingdom by his Brother Edmond, in the Second of whose Laws we find it thus Enacted, in a great Synod convened at London, where Odo and Wolstan Archbishops were present, Decimas Praecipimus omni Christiano super Christianitatem suam dare, &c. Si quis hoc dare noluerit, Excommunicatus sit. And in the First of King Edgar 's Laws you have these words, Reddatur omnis Decimatio ad Matrem Ecclesiam cui Parochia adjacet. Also in the Fourth of King Æthelred 's Laws it is commanded in these words, Praecipimus ut omnis homo, &c. det rectam Decimam suam, sicut in diebus Antecessorum nostrorum fecit, quando melius fecit, hoc est, sicut aratrum peragrabit decimam acram. Et omnis Consuetudo reddatur ad Matrem nostram Ecclesiam cui adjacet. Et nemo auferat Deo, quod ad Deum pertinet, & Praedecessores nostri concesserunt. And in the Ninth of King Alfred 's Laws, Si quis Decimam contra teneat, reddat LASHLITE cum DACIS, WITAM cum ANGLIS. And in the Laws of the Conqueror it is particularly Ordained, That de omni annona Decima garba Deo debita est, & ideo reddenda. Si gregem Equarum habuerit, pullum reddat decimum; qui unam tamen vel duas habuerit, de singulis pullis Singulos denarios. Similiter, qui Vaccas plures habuerit, decimum vitulum: qui unam vel duas, de Vitulis singulis Obolos singulos. Et qui Caseum fecerit, det Deo decimum; si vero non fecerit, Lac decima die. Similiter decimum Agnum, decimum Vellus, decimum Caseum, decimum Butyrum, decimum Porcellum. Item, de Apibus vero Similiter Commodi. Quinetiam de bosco, & prato, & aquis, de molendinis, parcis, vivariis, piscariis, virgultis, & hortis, & Negotionibus, & de omnibus rebus quas dederit Deus, decima pars ei reddenda est, qui Novem partes simul cum Decem largitur. Qui eam detinuerint, per Justitiam Episcopy, & Regis si necesse fuerit, ad redditionem arguantur. It is on good ground that the Canonists do hold, That Tithes Originally and ex sua natura are of Ecclesiastical cognizance, beside the Statute of primo R. 2. That pursuit for Tithes ought, and of ancient time did pertain to the Spiritual Court, notwithstanding what others assert, That in their own nature they are a Civil thing, and that (as Bract. lib. 5. fol. 401.) they were annexed to the Spiritualty.

In the Chapter of Tithes in this ensuing Abridgment you find the Order of Cistercians, so called from Cistercium in Burgundy, being but refined Benedictines, exempted from paying of Tithes: so also were the Orders of Templars and Hospitallers, otherwise called of St. John's of Jerusalem; for anciently the Lands of Abbeys did pay Tithes to the Parish-Priest as well as the Lands of Lay-men, but in the year 1100 they obtained (besides the Appropriations they then had) of Pope Paschal the Second at the Council of Mainz, that their Lands for the future should be discharged thereof. But this Exemption was after limited and restrained by Pope Adrian the Fourth about the year 1150. (excepting the Tithes of new improvements in their own occupation by culture, Pasture and Garden-Fruits) only the said Three Orders were exempted from the general payment of all Tithes whatever. The Templars and Hospitallers were mere Lay-men, yet they were exempted as well as the other: Yet the Lateran Council in An. 1215. Ordered, That this Privilege should not extend to Covents erected since that Lateran Council, nor to Lands since bestowed on the said Orders, though their Covents were erected before that Council. Insomuch that when the said Cistercians, contrary to the Canons of that Council, purchased Bulls from the Pope to discharge their Lands from Tithes: King H. 4. Null'd such Bulls by the Stat. of 2 H. 4. cap. 4. and reduced their Lands to a Statu quo. These Exemptions from payment of Tithes in this or that particular Religious Order, was not known in the World, when Aethelwolph Son of Egbert, whom he succeeded as King of the West-Saxons, gave (as aforesaid) Tithes of all his Kingdom, and that freed of all Tributes, Taxes, and Impositions, as appears by his Charter to that purpose; having at a Solemn Council held at Winchester, subjected the whole Kingdom of England to the payment of Tithes. True it is, that long before his time many Acts for Tithes may be produced, such as the Imperial Edicts, Canons of some Councils and Popes, beside such Laws as were made by King Ina and Offa; yet the said Edicts and Canons were never received in their full power into England by the consent of Prince and People, nor were King Ina and Offa (though Monarchs of England, as it were, in their turns ) such Kings as conveyed their Crowns to the Issue of their Bodies, but the said Aethelwolph was Monarcha, Natus, non factus; and although before his time there were Monarchs of the Saxon Heptarchy, yet not successive and fixed in a Family; but the said King Egbert, being the first that so obtained this Monarchy, as to leave it by descent unto his Son, the said Aethelwolph, he thereby had the more indisputable power to oblige all the Kingdom unto an observance of the said Act.

In the said Chapter of Tithes there is also mention made of Mortuaries, as having some relation of Tithes, wherein is shown what it is, when, by and to whom, and wherefore to be paid. By the Stat. of 21 H. 8. they are reduced to another Regulation, than what was in the time of King Henry the Sixth. A Mortuary was then the Second best Beast whereof the party died possessed; but in case he had but two in all, then none due. It was called a Corse-Present, because ever paid by the Executors, though not always bequeathed by the dying party. All persons possessed of an Estate, (Children under Tuition, and Femes Covert, but not Widows, excepted) were liable to the payment thereof to the Priest of that Parish, where the dying party received the Sacrament (not where he repaired to Prayers;) but in case his House at his death stood in two Parishes, it was then divided betwixt them both: And it was given in lieu of Personal Tithes, which the party in his life time had through ignorance or negligence not fully paid— Lindw. Cons. de Consuetud. Such of the ancient Lawyers as were unacquainted with this word Mortuarium in the aforesaid sense as we now use it, took Mortuarium only pro derelicto in morte, & say of it, That it is Vocabulum novum & harbarum; but we understand it better, where of Custom it is due and payable. These Mortuaries, where by the Custom they are to be paid, were ever in consideration of the omission of Personal Tithes in the parties Life-time, which Personal Tithes were by the Canon Law to be paid only of such as did receive the Sacraments, and only to that Church where they did receive them, as may be infer'd plainly from cap. Ad Apostolicae de Decimis. But observe, says Lessius, that in many places these Personal Tithes have been quite taken away, and in some places they are paid only at the end of a man's Life, as among the Venetians, ( which manner of payment seems to have a great resemblance to these Mortuaries;) and in some places they are paid only ot the end of the year. And in like manner many Predial and Mixt Tithes in divers places are also abolished; which (says he) is for the most part done by the permission of the Church, where men have been observed to pay them with regret and much against their minds, nor hath the Church in such cases thought fit to compel them to it, on purpose to avoid scandal. Lessius de Just. & jur. lib. 2. cap. 39. Dub. 5. nu. 27. And in such places where the Custom is to pay a Personal Tithe, when any persons shall Hunt, Fish, or Fowl to make gain or merchandize thereby, and it be neglected to be paid, whether Restitution or Compensation by way of a Mortuary (where Mortuaries are Customable) be in that case due by Law, is a Question, which by Covarruvies may be well held in the Affirmative.

Although the face of the Church as well as State began to look with a purer (though less Sanguine ) complexion, when Queen Elizabeth adorned the Crown, than when her Sister wore it, yet even in Queen Elizabeth's time there crept such abuses into the Church, that Archbishop Parker found it necessary to have recourse unto the Power given him by the Queens Commission, and by a Clause of the Act of Parliament, For the uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church, &c. whereupon by the Queens consent, and the Advice of some of the Bishops, he sets forth a certain Book of Orders to be diligently observed and executed by all persons whom it might concern; wherein it was Provided, That no Parson, Vicar, or Curate of any Church Exempt, should from thenceforth attempt to conjoin, by solemnization of Matrimony, any, not being of his or their Parish-Church, without good Testimony of the Banns being asked in the several Churches where they dwell, or otherwise were sufficiently Licensed. Heyl. Hist. of Q. Eliz. An. Reg. 3. Banns or Banna, that word Bannum is sometimes taken pro Mandato, scil. Edicto; it is a word of divers significations, as appears almost by all the Glossographists and Feudists; it sounds sometimes like Edictum, sometimes like Mandatum or Decretum, and sometimes (as here) like Proclamatio, Saxonibus gebann, whence there is their gebannian pro Proclamare, edicere, mandare, ut & nostratium Banns, pro Nuptiarum foedere Publicato. This Publication of Banns was cautiously ordained for the prevention of Clandestine Marriages, which were prohibited in this Kingdom above 500 years since, as a thing contrary in all Ages to the practice of all Nations and Churches where the Gospel was received; and therefore at a Council convened at Westminster in the year 1175. by Richard Archbishop of Canterbury under the Reign of King H. 2. it was Ordain'd, That no person whatsoever should solemnize Marriage in any clandestine manner, and in case any Parson should have a hand therein, he was to be suspended ab Officio for the space of Three years: Nullus Fidelis cujuscunque Conditionis sit, occulte Nuptias faciat, sed à Sacerdote publice nubat in Domino. Si quis ergo Sacerdos aliquos occulte conjunxisse inventus fuerit, triennio ab Officio suspendatur. Can. 17. dict. Council. It is Recorded by good Historians, that Anciently in Ireland they were so far from Publishing these Banns before Marriage, that they rejected all Matrimonial Laws whatever, insomuch that Polygamy was very common amongst them until the Reign of King H. 2. who sent Nicholaus his Chaplain, and Radulphus Archdeacon of Landaff into Ireland, where at Cassell they held a great Council under Pope Alexander; in which Council Three things were specially Ordain'd, the one concerning Baptism, to be In the Name of the Father, Son, &c. for till then their Custom was to Dip the Child, as soon as it was born, three times in Water, but if it were a Rich man's Child, then in Milk: Another concerning Tithes to be duly paid to Ecclesiastical Persons, for till then many of them scarce knew whether Tithes ought to be paid or not: And the third was concerning Marriage, that it should be solemnized jure Ecclesiastico, plerique enim (says the Historian) illorum, quot uxores volebant tot habebant. There was also a Fourth thing Decreed in that Council, and that was concerning Testaments, and distributions of the Goods and Chattel of persons deceased.— Chron. Jo. Bromt. de Temp. H. 2.

Within the cognizance of the Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction are also all matters relating to the sin of Adultery; the Bishops Jurisdiction herein is very Ancient, as appears by the Laws of King Kanute, made above 650 years since, in Leg. 80. Si quis Sponsam & Concubinam simul habuerit, non faciat ei 'Presbyter aliquid rectitudinum, quae Christiano fieri debent, priusquam poeniteat, & ita emendet sicut Episcopus injunget. Such Adultery is a kind of double Fornication, according to the definition in the 75th of the same Laws, Adulterium est, si Sponsus cum vacua fornicetur, & multo pejus si cum sponsa alterius. It was a strange and most cruel punishment that Philip Earl of Flanders, in the time of King H. 2. caused to be executed on Walter de Fontibus, taken (as reported) in Adultery with the Countess Isabella: who commanded that he should be beaten to death with blows or strokes of Keys tied up in bundles; and being dead, his Body to be hung by the Feet on a Fork with the Head downwards, in a place prepared for that purpose, there to remain ignominiously exposed to the view of all Spectators. Radulph. de Diceto, Imag. Hist. The punishment of an Adulteress according to the foresaid Laws of King Kanute was much more favorable; for by the 78th of those Laws she was to lose but her Nose and her Ears, Si Mulier, vivente Marito suo, faciat Adulterium, & manifestetur, &c. ipsa perdat Nasum & Aures. But the Emperor Aurelian is said to have punished it in one of his Soldiers, for committing it with his Hostess, in a way of Cruelty little inferior to that practiced by the said Earl of Flanders; for he commanded the heads of two Trees growing nigh together to be bowed down, the Soldiers Legs to be fast tied thereunto, then to be suddenly let go; whereby he was torn in two parts, the one hanging on the one Tree, the other on the other, and so to remain as a terrifying Spectacle to his Army. Buc. Chron. Notwithstanding what was first abovesaid in reference to what Jurisdiction the cognizance hereof did anciently belong in the days of King Kanute, viz. That the Offender should make such satisfaction as the Bishops should enjoin; yet it is evident that after this, viz. in the Conquerors time, Fornication and Adultery were punishable in the Kings Temporal Court, and the Leets especially (by the name of Lecherwite, ) and the Fines of Offenders assessed to the King, though now it merely belongs to the Church, a President whereof we have in the Church of Corinth, which by St. Paul's Command proceeded against the Incestuous person; but as to a Rape, there being force and violence in the case, the Temporal Court and Common Law (were there no Statute in the case) hath the best Right to the trial and punishment thereof. By the Conqueror 's Laws the punishment of Adultery was only pecuniary, Leg. 14. Qui Desponsatam alteri vitiaverit, forisfaciat Weram suam Domino suo. Yet in some cases it was Capital, according to the said Conquerors Laws, as in Leg. 37. Si Pater deprehenderit filiam in Adulterio in domo sua, seu in domo generi sui, been licebit ei Oure ( lege for san Occire, Occidere) Adulterum. Lambert. de Priscis Angl. Legibus.

Forasmuch as Bastards and matters of Bastardy are within the cognizance of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, some notice is taken thereof in the next place of this Abridgment. By Bastard we commonly understand prolem ex illicito concubitu procreatam. The most Famous of this kind that we meet with in History, and that concerns us, was William the Conqueror, of whom Simeon Monachus Dunelmensis in his History says, That An. 1035. Obiit Robertus Dux Normandorum, cui successit Wilhelmus Bastard filius ejus in puerili aetate. Of whom also Radulphus de Diceto in suis Abbreviationibus Chronicorum on the year 1036. says, That Obiit ROBERTUS Dux NORMANNIAE Frater Tertii RICHARDI, ab JEROSOLIMIS rediens, apud NICEAM Civitatem. Cui successit WILLIELMUS BASTARD filius ejus in puerili aetate, qui ANGLIAM postea conquisivit; pater WILLIELMI Regis RUFI, & HENRICI. It is frequent in History to find William the Conqueror Sirnam'd the Bastard; nor did himself in the least disdain to style himself by that Addition; for in his Epistle to Alanus Earl of Britannia Minor, we find him thus styling himself, Ego Wilhelmus cognomento Bastardus. And no wonder (says the Glossographer on the said Historians) when the Title or Name of Bastard in those days was used by some as a mark of Honor; the which he is the rather induced to believe, for that ( vocis derivationem Kilianam amplectens) scil. a best-aerd, that is, optima indoles sive natura, there is no cause of being ashamed thereof: Illegitimo enim (says he) & furtivo concubitu procreati, animo plerunque sunt alacri & elato, ingenio sagaci, & judicio exacto: hanc (inquam) vocis originationem potius probarem, cum in caeteris nulla sit gloriandi causa. By the Canon Law a Bastard is prohibited from taking Orders, as also from having an Ecclesiastical Benefice. c. 1. & per tot. De filiis Presbyt. The said Prohibition is grounded by that Law on Deut. 23. Non i • gredietur Manzer, hoc est, de Scorto Natus, in Ecclesi • m Domini usque ad decimam generationem. Yet the Pope doth usually dispence with that Canon, specially where such Illegitimates live commendably, and follow not the vicious practice of their Parents; In illis qui paterna vitia non sequuntur, possunt suffragari virtutes, quae inducent S • mmum Pontificem ad Dispensandum, si morum honestas eos. Commendabiles reddat. c. Presbyterorum 56. Distin. And lest such should conceive themselves causelessly injured by that Prohibition, the Canonists assign three Reasons for it; the one is the Dignity of the Clergy and the Sacraments, which ought not to be committed to Infamous persons: Another is in detestation of their Parents Crime, which commonly extends also to their Children: The third is the Parents Incontinency, and because the Children do for the most part inherit their Parents Vices.— cap. Si gens Angelorum. 56. Distin. Yet a Modern Historian speaking of Pope Leo the Seventh, An. 935. says (out of Luitprandus ) that Bozon Bishop of Placentia, Theobald of Milan, and another great Prelate, were all the Bastards of Hugo King of Italy by his three Queens Bezola, Rosa, and Stephana, whom he termed Venus, Juno, and Semalo. vid. Prideaux 's Compend. Introduct. of Hist. p. 106. Edit. 5.

Next follows the matter of Divorce, which is the separation of Married persons by force of the Sentence of an Ecclesiastical Judge qualified to pronounce the same. Adultery in either party is the common, though not the only, cause of Divorce. Some there are (it seems) of great Reputation in the Church (for this is Quaestio tam Theology quam Juris ) who positively condemn it as unlawful for a Man or Woman to live with their Husband or Wife respectively, if either of them be notoriously guilty of Adultery. Of which Opinion was St. Jerome, saying, That a man is Sub maledictione si Adulteram retineat. And St. Chrysostom, Fatuus & iniquus, qui retinet Meretricem; Patronus enim Turpitudinis est, qui celat Crimen uxoris. So that it was none of Cato 's wisdom, nor any great piece of kindness done his Friend Hortensius, to lend him his wife Martia, whose Chastity deserved a better requital. Socrates also is reported to be as kind-hearted in this matter, as ever Cato was; and they are both said to lend their Wives as freely as a man lends an Utensil: As these Wife men were beyond the reach of a Diovorce, so they were more serious than to blush at Cornutism, the common Fate of such Philosophers. St. Basil was of Opinion, That it was lawful for a Woman still to cohabit with an adulterous Husband; to which purpose he made a Canon, and commanded it to be done in his Church, as appears in his Epistle to Amphilochius, 1. Can. 9. & 21. This also was the Sentence of St. Austin to Pollentius, and in his Book de Adulterinis Conjugiis. David received his wife Michal, who had lived with another man. St. Basil it seems, though he be of opinion that the Woman should still live with the Adulterous Husband, yet does not think it fit, that the man should be so obliged as to his Adulterous Wife. The Council of Eliberis refused to give the Sacrament to a Clergy-man, that did not instantly expel from his house his Wife whom he knew to commit Adultery: And by the Council of Neo-Cesarea he was to be deposed from his Dignity in the same case. In the Council of Trent there was a Canon made, having an Anathema added to it, which condemned those that say, That the Bond of Marriage is dissolved by Adultery, and that either of the parties may contract another Matrimony whilst the other liveth: And by the Fifth Anathematism of that Council, 22. July 1563. were condemned Divorces allowed in Justinian 's Code: which Anathematism was added at the instance of the Cardinal of Lorain, to oppose the Opinion of the Calvinists. In the same Council upon the Article of Divorce, it was said by one of the Fathers there, that the Matrimonial Conjunction was distinguished into Three parts; the Bond, the Cohabitation, and the Carnal Copulation: inferring, that there were as many Separations also: and that the Ecclesiastical Prelate had power to separate the Married, or to give them a Divorce in respect of the Two latter, the Matrimonial Bond still standing sure, so that neither can marry again. Yet the Gospel admits but of one cause of Divorce, viz. Fornication, which should seem to be understood de Vinculo, because Divorce in the other respects may have many Causes.

Of all Personal Actions within the Ecclesiastical Cognizance, that of Defamation seems to be of the tenderest concern, if that be observed which Solomon says, That a Good Name is to be chosen before great Riches; where by Name, nothing can be understood other than a man's Credit, Fame, and Reputation in the World: So that the Inference is clear, a Defamer is the worst of Thieves, the Sacrilegious ones excepted; yet were it not for the sweetness of Revenge, and the encouragement of the Law, such Actions might be better spared than what it costs to maintain them; and such illscented Suits do savor worse being kept alive in a Tribunal, than they would by being buried in Oblivion, specially if the Defamed considered, that to forget Injuries is the best use we can make of a bad Memory. This Defamation is not properly that, which we call Detractio, for Detractio in its proper signification is alienae famae occulta & injusta violatio; but Defamation, though it be an unjust, yet it is not an occult violation of another man's Fame or Reputation; they have indeed both the same end, but they do not both take the same way to that end: they both aim and design the extinguishing or diminishing the Credit and Repute which one man hath in the mind and good opinion of another; but the one doth it more openly and publicly, at least not in so clandestine way as the other. This Defamatio is of near affinity to that which we call Contumelia, which is an unlawful violation of a persons Honor and Reputation by undecent and false Speeches, Gestures, or Actions, on purpose to disgrace him: only in this also they differ, that Defamatio may be of one man to another in the absence of the Defamed; but Contumelia is not but to the party present, vel absenti tanquam praesenti, that is, in the prrsence of such as have a relative representation of the person Contumeliously so reproached. Touching Actions of Defamation there are two Questions raised, rather by the Casuists than Canonists; the one, Whether the Heirs of the Defamer be obliged to make restitution of Dammage to the Defamed, in case the Defamer died before satisfaction made? the other, Whether satisfaction for the damage done by Defamation, be to be made to the Heirs of the Defamed, in case he died before such damages were recovered by him? Although both these Questions are answered in the Negative by that known Rule in Law, Actio personalis moritur cum persona; the Reason being, because the Obligation arising thence is merely Personal, & non est ad aliquid dandum, sed ad aliquid agendum; yet Navar. Adria • . and others, who hold the contrary, will not be so answered; for though they agree the Rule of Law, yet they deny the foresaid reason of that Rule to hold in this case, for ( say they ) the obligation in this case is not purely and merely Personal, as is commonly supposed, but doth quodammodo affect the Estate of the Defamer, whether alive or dead: He gives an Instance, A man sets his Neighbors House on fire, and dies; his Heirs shall make good the damage done by that fire: A man's Good Name and Reputation is far more precious than his habitation: he that consumes that Good Name and Credit without cause, shall refund the damage out of his Estate, and death it self (before satisfaction made) shall not excuse his Heirs. vid. Navarre. c. 18. nu. 45. & Adrian. quodlibet 11. So likewise as to the other Question, Utrum defuncto sit Fama restituenda? there are who hold it in the Affirmative, Quia Fama est bonum, quod homo etiam post mortem censetur possidere. But when all is said (for some will superabound in their own Judgments) the said Rule of Law must stand void of all Exceptions, and hold good and applicable to the Premises, That Actio Personalis moritur cum persona.

Among all those horrid Offences whereby the Church is or can be violated, that of Sacrilege seems to look with the blackest face; which, though as a Felonious act, may fall under a Temporal cognizance, yet the Canon Law concludes it as a thing in its own nature properly subjected to the determination of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. It is now nigh a Thousand years since Withred King of Kent convened a Synod, wherein Brithwa • d Archbishop and Primate of all Britain was President: In which Synod it was so long since declared in these words, viz. Horrendum est hominibus Deum vivum expoliare, tunicamque ejus & haereditatem semdere. By the Laws of Alfred King of the West-Saxons, Leg. 7. the Sacrilegious person was to lose that hand wherewith he did the Fact, Si quis in Ecclesia furetur aliquid, amputetur manus de qua furatus est. In the time of Queen Elizabeth there were a Sacrilegious kind of Church-Plunderers, who under pretence of abolishing Superstition, demolished Ancient Tombs, raz'd the Epitaphs and Coat-Armours of most Noble Families, and other Monuments of venerable Antiquity, took the Bells out of Churches, and uncovered the Roofs of Churches by plucking off the Lead; but these Birds of Prey had their wings soon clip'd by the said Queens Proclamation, which was effectually put in execution for the restraint of such Sacrilegious Rapines: King Guthred, who by St. Cuthbert 's Command was in Childhood taken out of a Servile estate and made King of Northumberland about the year 890, made such an Edict against the Sacrilegious persons as thunder'd them all into Hell, Gravissimae maledictionis Anathemate percussit, ut cum Judah Proditore Domini, damnationis sententia feriantur. Simeo. Hist. de Dunelm. Eccl. Nor are Korah and his Confederates the only persons whom the Earth interred alive for their Rebellion against the Sacerdotal Function; for (if you will credit Tradition) the like hath since happened in the case of Sacrilege to the Scotch Army, which in the said Guthred 's time had no sooner (according to their Modern Practice) fleec'd the Church of Lindisfarne nigh Tweed, to tunick their Longshanks, but the Earth greedily opened her mouth, and devoured these Devourers, at that very instant when they were all ready to engage in a Battle with the said King of Northumberland. dict. Sim. ibid. But not to rake up Antiquity for discovery of what Legends and Romances lie under the Ashes thereof; this is as well True as Chronicled, That King William Rufus was Casu fortuito, non voluntary, darted to death instead of a Stag by a certain Franck, one Walter Tyrell, in the same place, which his Father the Conqueror had Sacrilegiously disecclesiated for more than 30 Miles, to Forest it into Speluncas latronum & lustra ferarum. This was a real Sacrilege in a Victorious Monarch, which added little to the Credit of his Conquests; but that in Pope Boniface the Seventh (if Historians do not bely him) was a Personal Sacrilege, who when he understood that the Roman Citizens conspired against him, took with him all the Jewels of the Church of St. Peter and fled to Constantinople, where he converted the same into money for the proper use of his Sacrilegious Holiness.

Another gross offense, and little inferior to the former, within the Cognizance of the Church, is Simony, or that Art Magic whereby Parsons, scarce worth the name of Persons, as the Devil did into our Natural Mother insensibly, so they Serpentine themselves into our Spiritual Mother, the Church visible, invisibly. Hildebrand, or by an alias Pope Gregory the Seventh, Conven'd a Synod General against Church-purchasers and buyers of Ecclesiastical Livings, and against such Bishops as from the hands of Kings or Emperors, receive the investure of their Bishoprics per traditionem Annuli & Baculi; he said, That Quisquis Episcopatum mercatur, contra Spiritum Sanctum, qui donum Dei dicitur, facit. He likewise made a Decree in the year 1074, That not only the Buyer and Seller of any Ecclesiastical Office, but whoever also that is consenting thereunto, shall be damned with Simon Magus. Simeon Dunelm. Hist. de Gest. Reg. Angl. It is unavoidable, for the Pope, who hath the Keys of Hell by his girdle, hath so Decreed it. But Pope Gelasius was in this matter better natured by far, for he left some place for Repentance, and proceeded not an inch beyond a Reversable Anathema; Si quis vendiderit, aut emerit vel per se, vel per alium, Episcopatum, Abbatiam, Deconatum, Archidiaconatum, Presbyteratum, Praeposituram, Praebendam, Altaria, vel quaelibet Ecclesiastica Beneficia, Promotiones, Ordinationes, Consecrationes, Dedicationes Ecclesiarum, Clericalem tonsuram, Sedes in choro, aut quaelibet Ecclesiastica Officia, & vendens & emens Dignitatis & Officii sui ac Beneficii periculo subjaceat. Q •• d nisi resipuerit, Anathematis mucrone perfossus, ab Ecclesia Dei quam • aesit, modis omnibus abscidatur. The like was Ordain'd by a Council of 300 Bishops Conven'd at Rome, Pope Calixius the Second being President, viz. Ordinari quemquam per pecuniam in Ecclesia Dei, vel promoveri authoritate Sedis Apostolicae modis omnibus prohibemus. Si quis vero in Ecclesia Ordinationem vel Promotionem taliter adquisierit, acquisita careat prorsus dignitate. dict. Simeo. ubi supra. The same in terminis you have Ordain'd at a Synod Conven'd at Westminster An. 1126. in the Reign of King Henry the First, Honorius the Second being then Pope, viz. Sanctorum Patrum vestigiis inhaerentes, quenquam in Ecclesia per pecuniam ordinari authoritate Apostolica prohibemus.—ibid. And at another Council Conven'd at Westminster in the year 1175. under the Reign of King H. 2. it was Ordain'd, that all Simoniacal Patrons should be deprived of their Right of Presentation forever; Nulli liceat Ecclesiam nomine dotalitii ad aliquem transfer, vel pro Praesentatione alicujus personae pecuniam vel aliquod emolumentum, pacto interveniente, recipere. Quod si quis fecerit, & in jure vel convictus vel Confessus fuerit, ipsum tam Regia quam nostra freti authoritate Patrocinio ejusdem Ecclesiae in perpetuum privari Statuimus. Can. 8. vid. Chron. Gervas. de Temp. H. 2. It is Reported of the Emperor Henry, Son of Conradus, that in his youth he accepted of a Silver Pipe from a certain Clerk on this Promise and Agreement, That when he should be made Emperor he should bestow a Bishopric on the said Clerk, the which he after did accordingly when he became Emperor; but not long after the Emperor being surprised with Sickness, and his Disease increasing he lay senseless and speechless for three days, and so wrapped as it were out of the Body, that he lay as one dead, the Bishops appointed a Three days Fast for the Emperors Recovery, which having obtained, he doth immediately by a Decree of the Council degrade the Bishop whom he had Simoniacally so made for a Silver Pipe; for it was confessed by all that heard hereof, That he was among the Devils during the space of all those Three days wherein he lay as dead, those Devils all that while darting fiery Flames through a Pipe into his mouth, whereby his whole body became but as one Firebrand, in comparison whereof our Material Fire here on Earth was but as congeled Ice to it, &c. As you like this, so you may have more out of the same Infallible Author, viz. Jo. Brompton. in Chronico suo. At a Council Assembled at Mantua by the Emperor Henry the Fourth in the year 1066. by the Third Canon of that Council it was Ordain'd, That whosoever was admitted to a Church Office, willingly and wittingly by a Simoniack person, should be removed from his Order: And by the Sixth Canon of the same Council it was likewise Ordain'd, That no Ecclesiastical Office or Benefice should be sold for Money, but freely given. Also by the Seventh Canon of the Council at Rome, consisting of 180 Bishops in the year 1180. under Pope Alexander the Third, it was Ordain'd, That no Reward be taken for admitting men to Spiritual Offices, and that no money be taken for Blessing them that are Married, or for Administration of any other Sacrament: For at this time Marriage was counted a Sacrament of the Roman Church. He that Simoniacally enters on an Ecclesiastical Living, aimed at something worth money; he cannot be supposed to intend principally the Ministry of Souls, who comes to that Office instructed only with a bag of Money. In Ireland there is a Custom of receiving Oblations at the Baptism of Infants; but if the Priest shall refuse to Baptize the Infant till he be secured of his Money, he is a direct Simoniack, for then he sells the Sacrament at a price certain. It is Recorded in History of Henricus Auceps, that when he fought against the Hungarians, he made a Vow to God, That if he would give him Victory, he would purge his Country of Simony. Epiphanius.

The precedent Evils of Sacrilege and Simony are no further punished than as they are reduced into act and practice; but Heresy, which in the method of the subsequent Abridgment next follows, and as within the Ecclesiastical Cognizance, is more speculative, having its Seat more in the Head than in the Hand, and consequently of the more pernicious quality, in regard of its poisonous venom in these more noble parts, the Head and Heart; nor is it only the poison of the Soul, fatal in whom it is; but it is also the plague and Leprosy of the Soul, dangerously infectious to others in whom but very lately it was not. This Heresy may be defined to be a Publish'd Opinion, repugnant to the Principles of our Christian Faith, obstinately maintained and persisted in by such as profess the Name of Christ; and so Heretics are distinguished from Atheists and Infidels, properly so called, albeit in a sense they have somewhat of both the other in them: He seems to give it an adequate definition, that made one for it by the true interpretation of the Greek word, Haeresis Greece, Electio Latin, est sententia humano sensu Electa, Scripturae Sacrae contraria, palam docta, pertinaciter defensa: And he seems to give the Heretic an apt comparison, who made one for him by the Mole, which is a Beast blind, with a black, but smooth outside, lurking in holes, working under ground, and spoiling the best Land. In the black List or Catalogue of Heretics, which you meet with in its proper Chapter of the ensuing Abridgment, you will not find all those Heresies mentioned by Epiphanius, contr. Haeres. lib. 2. being purposely omitted for brevities sake, because they were like abortive Births, and continued not long to disturb the Peace of the Church. Heresies of old, as of late days, have ever crept into the Church under a double pretence; the one, of zeal to the Glory of God; the other, of a detestation of Sin; the Devil would cease to be the Old Serpent, if after so many thousand years experience he were now to learn how to wheedle and deceive the Nations. It is observable, that whenever and wheresoever the Light of the Gospel hath appeared in anymore than ordinary luster and purity, there immediately the Devil hath exerted the utmost of his power and policy to obscure that Light, by cau • ing Clouds of Error to gather in that Element where the Gospel so increased in purity and splendor; and whenever he desists from this practice, let him no more be styled The Prince of Darkness; whence, if Simon Magus were (as some say) the Father of Heretics, you may guess who their Grandfather is; for according to the infernal genealogy, the Father of Lies must needs be the Grandfather of Heresies.

In this ensuing Abridgment therefore you have one Chapter of Blasphemy and Heresy, as being also within the sphere of Ecclesiastical Cognizance; they are placed together, in regard of that affinity they have each to other; for many of them are Cosin-Germans, but one degree of a Lie removed, or rather are Brethren in Iniquity, for they have both the same Father, Ye are of your Father the Devil, &c. he abode not in the Truth (says our Savior of the Jews that believed not;) many of whom Blasphemously said of him, That he had a Devil, and was mad: Others of them were foretold of by St. Peter, That they privily should bring in damnable Heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, &c. wresting the Scriptures unto their own destruction. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Blasphemare, that is, convitiis incessere, to speak reproachfully and wickedly of God, to ascribe to the Creature what belongs only to God, vel ab eo removere quod illi convenit, says St. Ambrose, or to prefer a False god before the True God, Rev. 13. 1. This kind of Blasphemy refers chiesly to God the Father. There is Blasphemy likewise which refers to God the Son; such was the Blasphemy of the Pharisees, when they said of Christ, That he was a man gluttonous, and a Wine-bibber, &c. This they might probably say out of their ignorance of his Person, and therefore a much inferior Blasphemy to that against the Holy Ghost, which is ever against Conscience, and out of Envy and Malice. Bartolus is of opinion, That there is a Blasphemy also which refers to Men. Bart. in l. Item apud, § ait Praetor. ff. de Injur. But this is not that Blasphemy here intended, although that Opinion seems to be backed with good Authority, 1 Cor. 4. 13. & Tit. 3. 2. yet St. Austin, who understood this matter better than Bartol, was of another opinion, Est autem Blasphemia (says he) cum aliqua mala dicuntur de bo • is. Itaque jam vulgo Blasphemia non accipitur, nisi mala verba de Deo dicere. De hominibus namque dubitari potest: Deus vero sine controversia bonus est. D. August. in lib. de Morib. Manichaeor. cap. 11. It is but a weak illustration of the matter, to say Quod in homines est Contumelia, hoc in Deum est Blasphemia. It may formally be defined to be an Injurious and Contumelious Speech against God: It is diametrically opposed to Divine Praise; and both these may be as well Internal, of the Heart, as External, of the Mouth, for in God's Omnisciency there is the language of the Heart, as well as of the Lip; and there may be Blasphemy in the one, as well as of the other. By the Levitical Law the Blasphemer was to be stoned to death. By the Civil Law he was likewise to die for it. Authen. ut non Luxurientur. in fin. But this Penalty in those days by reason of a defect of Religion and Justice is not inflicted, says Lucas de Penna, in L. omnes. C. de Delatorib. & Jul. Clarus. § Blasphemia, nu. 3. yet Blasphemers of the highest rank are at this day put to death in some places, in others they are condemned to the Oars, in some places they are Banish'd, in others they have their Tongues cut off, or a hole bored through with an hot Iron, ut refert Clarus. By the Canon Law solemn Penance was anciently enjoin'd to Lay-Blasphemers. c. 2. de Maled. But this is not now in use. The Council of Lateran under Pope Leo the Tenth, Commanded that such Blasphemers should not be absolved in foro Conscientiae absque gravissima poenitentia. dict. Council. Sess. 9. §. Ad abolendum. There are some who would have Heresy to be a kind of Blasphemy; doubtless there are some Heresies that are very Blasphemous; but Heresy in sui natura is quite another thing; for as Blasphemy is de Deo male dicendo, so Heresy is de Fide Catholica male eligendo; for the word Haeresis is derived 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Eligo, whence they are understood as Heretics, who departing from the true Catholic Faith of Christ aliam sectam Eligunt. Some there are, who would have all Heretics to be divided into the Major and the Minor; by the Major they will have to be understood all those qui nominatam haeresin praedicant, such of old were the Manichaeans, Arians, Eutychians, Samaritans, Ophites, Donatists, Priscillianists, and the like: By the Minor, those qui haeresin innominatam defendunt. Drosaeus in Method. Jur. Thus the Philosophers of old had their Sects also among them, & unusquisque sibi aliquod genus disciplinae ac Sectae proprium elegit; there were various Factions among them, which by the Greeks were termed Heresies, but by the Latins, Sects. Among the Ancient this word Heresy was not sensed in that odium as now with us, nor the word Secta among the Latins; St. Paul himself speaks of it in one place as in a sense almost indifferent, Act. 26. 5. Notwithstanding it is well known, that the Holy Scripture generally understands and speaks of it in pessimam partem; so in Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretic after the first and second Admonition reject: And in 1 Cor. 11. 19. There must be Heresies among you, that they which are approved, may be made manifest: And in Gal. 5. 20. Heresies are numbered among the works of the Flesh: And in 2 Pet. 2. 1. they are called Damnable Heresies. By the Civil Law an Heretic can neither make a Testament, nor receive any benefit by a Testament. L. fin. C. de Haereticis. And if you will believe Tho. Aquinas (as in this you very safely may) all Heretics by robbing the Holy Scriptures of the Truth to establish their pernicious Lies, are guilty of a kind of Sacrilege; and by Fathering such Lies on God, tacitly of Blasphemy. Aquin. ar. 2.

In the One and fortieth Chapter of the ensuing Treatise you have a brief Catalogue of the Councils according to our computation, here you have them more succinctly according to the Roman Account: Sebastus, a Judge in Thessolonica, in the time of Constantine Harmenopulus says, That some of the Ecclesiastical Canons were of the Holy Apostles, others of the Seven Oecumenical Councils, others of particular Synods, and others of certain Fathers of the Church; to say nothing of the Papal Decretals ordered to be compiled by Pope Gregory the 9th. The First Oecumenical Council was Conven'd at Nice under Constantine the Great, against Arius, who held the Son of God to be a mere Creature: This Council consisted of 318 Bishops, by whom Arius was Anathematiz'd, and his Heresy condemned. The Second was at Constantinople under Theodosius the Great, against the Pneumatomachists, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost: This Council consisted of 150 Bishops, by whom these Heretics together with their damnable heresy, was accursed. The Third was at Ephesus under Theodosius the Less, against Nestorius and Celestinus, who held that Christ was only Man: At this Council were 200 Bishops, by whom these Heretics were likewise censured as the former. The Fourth was at Chalcedon under Marcianus, against Dioscorus and Eutyches, who held that the Two natures of the Word, viz. of God and Man, were after the Union reduced into one Nature; for which they were Anathematiz'd by 630 Bishops there Convened. The Fifth was at Constantinople under Justinianus the First, where 160 Bishops were present, who confirmed the Decrees of the Fourth Synod, and condemned Origen and all other Heretics The Sixth was also at Constantinople under Constantine Barbatus, where were Assembled 170 Bishops, who pronounced the Sentence of Anathema against all those qui unum in Christo voluntatem, & unam agendi vim tradehant. The Seventh was at Nice under Constantine and his Mother Irene, where 367 Bishops were assembled against the Adversaries of Images, whom they subjected to their Anathema. (2) Of Particular Synods, one was held in the Temple of the Apostles in Constantinople under the Patriarch Photios, which was called the First and Second: Another under Leo and Constantine in the most Famous Temple Sanctae Dei Sapientiae, or Sanctae Sophiae, which confirmed the Seventh Synod: Another at Ancyra, more ancient than the first Universal Synod: Another at Cesarea, more ancient than that at Ancyra: Another at Gangra, after the Nicene, against Eustachius, who despised Marriage, and taught things not consonant to Ecclesiastical Tradition: Another at Antioch a City in Syria, where in truth were two Synods, the one under Aurelianus against Paulus Samosatenus, who said that Christ was mere Man; the other under Constantius Son to Constantine the Great: Another at Laodicea, scituate in Phrygia Pacatiana: Another at Serdica, that when Constantius embraced the foresaid Sect, his Brother Constance, Emperor of Old Rome, by his Letters threatening him with a War, if he would not desist from perverting the Church; his Answer was, That he sought no other Doctrine, than what was most agreeable to the Catholic Faith; whereupon by their and the Bishop of Rome's appointment 341 Bishops were Conven'd in a Synod, which having established the power and authority of the Nicene Synod, did constitute divers Canons for the Church: Another at Carthage under Theodosius, where 217 Bishops were assembled, and with them the Popes Vicegerents; this Carthage was part of Charchedon, and that a Province of Africa. (3) The Canons of the Fathers are taken (according to the Roman computation) out of the Epistles partly of Dionysius Alexandrinus, partly of Petrus Alexandrinus, partly of the Wonder-working Gregorius: partly also out of the Epistles of Bazil or Basilius the Great: partly out of the Epistle of Gregory or Gregorius Nyssenus to the B. of Melita: partly out of the Responses of Timothy Alexandrinus: partly out of the Responses of the Constantinopolitan Synod to certain Monks, Nicholaus the Patriarch being President: partly out of the Epistles of Cyril or Cyrillus: and partly out of the Epistles of Nicephorus the Patriach. (4) The Canons of the Holy Apostles (a book falsely ascribed to the Apostles ) are in number Eighty Five, according to a modest Computation, if you have any Faith to spare, at least enough to believe the Church of Rome, in that as in other Points, infallible. But the Canons indeed of the Apostles, which are of Order and External Government, do oblige (as Dr. Taylor says) the Conscience, by being accepted in several Churches, not by their first Institution; and were fitted only to Times, and Places, and present Necessities: For (says he) the Apostolical Decree of Abstaining from Blood was observed by more Churches, than those of Syria and Silicia, to which the Canon was directed; and the College of Widows or Deaconesses, derived itself into the manners of the Western Churches. And the Apostles in their first Preaching and Conversation in Jerusalem instituted a coenobitick life, and had all things in Common with Believers: (indeed no man was obliged to it.) Of the same nature were their Canons, Counsels, and Advices. The Canon concerning Widows, Let not a Widow be chosen under 60 years; and yet Justinian suffered one of 40 years old to be chosen. Novel. 123. c. 12, 13. And the Canon of the Apostles forbidding to eat things strangled, is nowhere observed in the Western Churches of Christendom. In the beginning of the Fourth Century, above 1300 years since, we find our Bishops, British Bishops, at the Councils of Arles, Nice, Sardis, and Ariminum; a clear Evidence of the flourishing state of Christianity so long since in this Island. At Arles in France, convened touching the Donatists, appeared for the Britain's, Eborius Bishop of York, Restitutus Bishop of London, Adelfius