OUR Church indeed is chargeable with no fuch thing. She, in her Canons, and Conftitutions, has taken effectual Care to preclude all fuch. But Canons and Conftitutions are but a a dead Letter, unless they are put in Execution. In her 48th Canon, which admits of none to serve in any Place, without the previous Exami nation and Admiffion of the Bishop, the requires, That in Cafe any Curate or Minifter fhall remove from one Diocefe to another, he fhall not, by any means, be allow'd to ferve, without a Teftimonial in Writing from the Bishop of the Diocese, or Ordinary of the Place from whence he came, of his Honefty, Ability, and Conformity to the ecclefiaftical Laws of the Church of England. And to fhew her great Caution farther, in her fiftieth and fifty-fecond Canons fhe directs, That neither the Minifter, Churchwardens, or any Officers of the Church, fhall fuffer any Man to preach within their Churches, or Chapels, but fuch as, by fhewing their Licence to preach, shall appear unto them to be fufficiently authoriz'd thereunto: And that the Bishop may understand, if Occafion fo require, what Sermons are made in every Church of his Diocese, and who prefume to preach without Licence; the Churchwardens and Side-men fhall fee, that the Names of all Preachers, which come to their Church from any other Place, be noted in a Book, which they shall have ready for that Purpose; and wherein every Preacher shall subscribe his own Name, the Day when he preached, and the Name of the Bishop by whom he had the Licence to preach. I may add, that in the Articles of Prefentment, which are to be exhibited every Vifitation, the Churchwardens are required (I think charg'd upon Oath) to prefent their Curate, in cafe he has not a Licence, be it which

Way

Way it will, either thro' his own Neglect, or the Incumbent's Management, that he wants

one.

THESE are all excellent Rules, and wifely contrived for the Prevention of Mischiefs arifing from fraudulent Intruders. But notwithstanding all this, if the Incumbent will take into his Service, or hire only for a prefent Turn, a Curate upon Content, as we call it, without ever enquiring into his Abilities and Honesty, without ever defiring to infpect his Letters of Orders; if this Curate fhall never be prefented to the Bishop, to be examined and licensed by him, never called upon to appear at Visitations, never required to produce his Orders, and never prefented by the Churchwardens for prefuming to preach without Licence, what can we fay in this Cafe, and wherein lies our boafted Security? For may not this Curate, as well as the Teacher of any feparate Congregation, be a mere Layman, that has been contaminating the Mysteries of Religion; or a crafty Jefuit, that has been carrying on the Defign of the Conclave, for fome Years perhaps, in one of the largest Parishes in this Town; unless we can fuppofe, that this is no Age for Counterfeits and Cheats, and the Malice of the Church of Rome is a little better reconciled to the Church of England.

BUT now, if any fuch Impoftor fhould infihuate himself, what a fad diftra&ted Condition muft a People be in, when they come to confider, that all the Sacraments he has prefum'd to adminifter, all the Prayers and Liturgies he has offer'd up, all the Benedictions and Abfolutions he has been bold to difpenfe, are null and of no effect; if the Doctrine of the Invalidity of LayBaptifm (and equally of all other Lay-Offices) appears

appears to be true, as there are fome very great Authorities to make us believe it is.

FOR my part, I cannot fee how any one that thinks he has a Soul to fave, and hopes to fave it by the ordinary Means of God's Word and Sacraments, can permit a Stranger to administer to him in these high Concerns, coming from a distant Diocese, and without any CommendatoryLetters from the Bishop thereof; until he has been firft examined, and approved, and admitted to the Curacy, in a regular Manner, and by those that have the proper Authority. This, I think, every one that defires his own, and his Family's Edification, ought, fome way or other, to be acquainted with, before he joins in full Communion, and commits the Guidance of his Soul to a Man, that he knows to be a Divine by no other Token but only his Habit and outward Appearance.

OUR Church has wifely committed the Mat ter of this Enquiry to the Churchwardens of every Parish, who have full Authority to demand of the Curate, the first time that he comes to preach among them (as I take the Sense of the above-cited Canons to be) an Exhibition of his Letter of Licence from the Bishop of the Diocefe; are requir'd to prefent him at the next Vifitation, in cafe he has none, for prefuming to preach without it; and may be profecuted in the* Ecclefiaftical Court themselves, as perjur'd Perfons, if they wittingly or wilfully refuse or neglect it.

AND therefore we must not forbear, upon all Occafions, my Lord, to remind the Churchwardens of their Duty in this Refpect, and to bespeak their Care and Obfervance of it for the

Vid. Johnson's Clergyman's Vade mecum, p. 166.

future:

future. They may value themselves, perhaps, upon their being the Head-Officers of the Parish, and diftinguifh'd by the Pew wherein they fit; upon their having the Goods and Utenfils of the Church, and fometimes the Revenues and Reparations of it, under their Cognizance and Direction: But certainly, if they would confider their own Authority truly, the greatest Power and Trust that is committed to their Hands is, that of enquiring into the Qualifications of the officiating Minifter.

OUR Church prefumes, that the Bishop, thro' various Avocations of Bufinefs, may forget; and the Incumbent, for Reasons beft known to himfelf, may not be follicitous, whether the Curate has a Licence or no : But in her Churchwardens fhe fuppofes no fuch Neglect, because he knows of what Importance it is to them, to be fatisfied in this Particular; and therefore, when all her Officers fail her, he makes them her Stay, and repofes her laft Confidence in their Fidelity. They ought therefore frequently to be told (when they come to take their Prefentments) that it will be Perfidioufnefs in them, as well as down→→ right Perjury, not to be true to their Truft herein; and that, if they are fenfible their Curate has no Commiffion from the Bishop, OF any other Licence to officiate among them but the bare Permiffion of the Incumbent only, as they tender their own Souls, they speak it out; and not conceal from their Bifhop what Danger they conceive their Parish may be in, by this Juggle and Contrivance to elude his Authority.

HE, no doubt, will thank them for the Dif covery, because it gives him an Opportunity of Knowing the State and Condition of his Clergy, and of correcting a grofs Abufe And if the Incumbent is not fo well pleafed with it, on him

let the Shame and the Condemnation lie; for 'tis a fcandalous thing, that his Clark fhonld be allowed a Licence, and his Curate none; and that every little * Schoolmafter, or Surgeon, or Midwife fhou'd be authoriz'd by the Bishop, before they can follow their Employments, and yet he who has the great Work of the Miniftry, the Edification of the Church, and the Concerns of Mens Souls upon him, fhould be admitted to a full Exercife of his Office, unfight unseen by the Bishop, and without any previous Examination or Cognizance of his Abilities to perform

it.

NOTHING, my Lord, as Matters now go, can prevent this Evil, but the Interpofition of honeft Churchwardens; and therefore they are to be exhorted daily not to fear the Face of any Man in the Execution of their Office; and given to understand that they are appointed to be a Curb and Reftraint upon the Licentiousness of their Minister in this Particular; and all Favour and Affection apart, ought to take care (for fear of drawing the guilty Confequences upon themselves) that the Publick receive no Detriment by their Default; that they owe it therefore to the Church, whofe Officers they are; to the Bishop, that expects it from them; to the Parish, that entrusts their Safety with them; and to their own Souls, that must be perjur'd if they thus betray it; not to make any Concealment of this kind. I was going to fay (if our Concerns were of any Moment to the World, my Lord) that they owe something of this to their Curates likewife; whofe Quiet and Security, as well as happy Execution of their Office, depends in a great Measure upon the obtaining Licences.

* Vid. Stat. 3. Hen. VIII. Chap. 11.
I

I HAVE