AN APPENDIX TO THE QUERIES UPON THE 25th of Hen. VIII. Cap. 21.  
CONTAINING Some further Considerations in Behalf of the late Illegally Ejected OFFICERS of the ROYAL HOSPITAL of St. THOMAS SOUTHWARK; chief grounded upon certain Passages in the GRANT of KING EDWARD VI, to the MAYOR and COMMONALTY of the CITY of LONDON.  
WHEREIN The ROYAL PREROGATIVE, as to the Visitation and Regulation of that and other HOSPITALS, is Vindicated and Asserted; And the late Regulations in the time of KING CHARLES II. are more particularly considered and defended.  Assentatio vicina est imbecillitati: veritas divinum quiddam & omnipotens habet. 
LONDON, Printed for the Author, M.DC.XC.   

The PROVISO of the 25 H. 8. c. 21.  
THat it shall not be lawful for the Archbishop of Canterbury, or any other Person or Persons, to visit or vex any Monasteries, etc. Hospitals, Houses, or other Places Religious, which be or were exempt before the making of this Act; but that Redress, Visitation and Confirmation shall be had by the King's Highness by Commission under the Broad Seal, to be directed to such Persons as shall be appointed requisite for the same.   

An APPENDIX TO THE QUERIES.  
1. THE Orders by which the several late ejected Officers of the Royal Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark were admitted into their respective Offices and Employments in the time of King Charles II. run thus; At a meeting of the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty's Letters Patents, for Government of the several Hospitals of this City— as will appear by the Book of Entries, where the respective Orders are set down in the Town-Clerk's Office at Guild-Hall, which seems to be a clear Argument, that though the Authority were the same in both Cases, (whether we consider the administration of the City itself, whose Charter was now actually voided, or the Government of the several Hospitals belonging to it) that is to say, the King's, and though the Persons acting under it and by virtue of it were the same too, that is to say, the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen for the time being; and such other Lords and Gentlemen of the long Robe, as were named in the Commission: yet the said Commissioners did not look upon the root and foundation of that Authority under which they acted to be in both Cases the same, as in very truth it was not, for one (the avoidance of the City Charter, which was the foundation of their Power in the administration of the City by Commission) depended merely upon the King's Prerogative, which it hath been matter of dispute, whether it would extend so far or no; the other, (the Visitation and Government of Hospitals belonging to the City by Commissioners under the Great Seal) depended upon a clear Act of Parliament, 25 H. 8. c. 21. by which the King was empowered to visit the said Places, and to make such Alterations and Regulations therein, as should be found requisite from time to time, whether the Charter of the City were voided or not, a Case which the makers of that Act did not think of, and besides the Clause by which the K. is vested with this power, had no respect to the City or any other civil Incorporation whatsoever; neither were any of the Royal Hospitals, not so much as that of St. Bartholomew's, which is the ancientest Foundation of the four, annexed and incorporated into the City at that time.  
So that this was plainly the reason of that difference of stile, when they made Orders for the Government of the several Hospitals, and when they made others for the Administration of the City, that they looked upon them as two distinct Commissions; however they might both of them possibly be contained in the same Instrument, and both of them authorised by the same individual stamp of the Broad Seal, and Commissions they were, that were derived from as different Fountains, as the common and the statute Law (for the K. hath no Prerogative but from the Former of these) and no Man will deny, but there is a great and fundamental difference between these two.  
What are the true bounds of the Prerogative, or of the ancient and immemorial Rights of the Crown, the Lawyers themselves are not agreed, but the statute Law is plain, its bounds are certain, and its Interpretation for the most part very obvious and easy, and whatsoever right is given to the King by the Statute Law of this Realm, that is to say, to the King, his Heirs and Successors for ever, without any clause of Restriction or Limitation, any period assigned, any time, when it shall cease, determined, that Right is always indisputable and always the same; non-usance or length of time will not bar it, because nullum tempus occurrit Regi; neither can he give away that Right to the prejudice of his Successors, any otherwise than by such another Parliamentary Sanction, as that which bestowed it upon himself or his Predecessors, especially if it be a Right of such a nature that it transfers a Duty and an Obligation upon him for the good of his People, or of any part of parcel of them, which we humbly presume to be our very Case, and that it doth sufficiently justify the Visitation of Hospitals in the time of K. Charles II. and makes all those Acts and Regulations valid, which were ordained and constituted by him, and by the Commission still acting under the late King James during the avoidance of the City Charter, so far as all or any of those Acts were materially legal and allowable in themselves.  
2. The King even then when the Charter was standing and in full force, did of course visit by his Auditor of Accounts at every Audit or stating of the Accounts, or of the Receipts and Disbursements of the said House, and till he had so done and approved in the Person of his Auditor, the Account exhibited to him by the Treasurer of the said House, the said Treasurer's Accounts were never passed, which is as clear and indisputable an Act of Visitation, as any other Act or thing whatsoever.  
3. In the Letters Patents of K. Edward VI dated at Westminster upon the 12th Day of August, and in the 5th year of the Reign of the said King, there are several things that are very well worth Observation, viz.  
1. The King gives and grants the Lands, Tenements, etc. belonging to the Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark, together with the Site of the said Hospital and the Parsonage or Rectory and Parish Church thereto formerly belonging and adjoining▪ fully, freely, and wholly, and in as ample manner and form, as any Master of the said late Hospital, or any other or others, possessed it stood seized of, had, held or enjoyed the same in the time of H. 8. or before it.  
Now in former times, it is certain, that notwithstanding the said full, free and whole Possession of the Premises by any Master or others, yet the said Master and his Colleagues or Partners in the said Possession were still subject to the Visitation of the Bishop of Rome, or such as he should delegate and appoint; and thus much is certain from the nature of things themselves, that wherever there is a rightful Power of Visitation, there must also be a Power of Redress and Punishment, and in some cases of Expulsion and Forfeiture themselves, otherwise this power of Visitation were in vain.  
It follows therefore unavoidably from both of these things taken together, if the Power and Right of the Lord Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London over this Hospital and its Possessions, be but as free and no more, (as no more is given them by this Grant of E. 6.) as full, whole and ample, as that of any Master of the said Hospital or others formerly was, and if the Pope's power in these as well as other matters, being abolished, is, by Act of Parliament, devolved upon the King, that the King hath all that Power and Right of Visitation, as to this particular Case over the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London, by a very plain Inference from the words of K. Edward's Grant, that the Pope had formerly over the Master of this Hospital or others, or rather indeed a much greater, because the Pope's Power was in its nature foreign, in its original and root usurped, and was attended with many and great Inconveniences to the King and Kingdom, whereas the King's Power is natural to gover●●●● Persons and Estates of Men within his Realm, it flows from the very nature and essential Constitution of all Governments whatsoever, and without it no Government can either be so strong or so lasting as it designs to be.  
But not to insist upon Inferences, though so plain, so conclusive that nothing can be more, there are these very words in the Grant of the said King Edward.  
And We will and declare by these Presents, that it shall be lawful for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, from time to time as often as it shall seem fit and expedient, to assign Our Commissioners to visit the said Hospital and House of the Poor, and to do and execute all and singular such other things whatsoever, as We, Our Heirs and Successors shall there command to be done.  
From which we may observe these four things, First, That this power reserved to the King was strictly and properly legal in itself, being founded upon an express Provision in an Act of Parl. 25 H. 8. c. 21.  
Secondly, That bating the Authority of the Act of Parliament, this is a Reservation so reasonable and just, that it cannot be denied to any private Donor, to appoint other Visitors, as there shall be occasion, to visit the ordinary Feoffees entrusted by him, and to see from time to time that they be diligent and faithful in the discharge of their Duty.  
Thirdly, That this is a plain and categorical Vindication of the Regulation made in this and other Houses in the time of K. Charles II. supposing that they have also this Clause of Reservation; for than he was so far from straining the Prerogative, and from having acted after an illegal, arbitrary manner, as some that are very illegal and arbitrary themselves, will needs have him to have done, that it is plain he had an Act of Parliament and a Royal Grant on his side, and both of them implied such a Trust committed to him, as it concerned him in Conscience to look after.  
Fourthly and lastly, The Regulations made by that wise and good Prince in pursuance of this double Trust committed to him, cannot be evacuated by the ordinary trusties, (and much less by no power at all, of which more shall be said in its due place) for then this Reservation of K. Edward, this power given by the Act of Parliament were both of them absurd, monstrous, ridiculous and vain; and this concerns as well some that call themselves Governors, as others that pretend to be Officers of this House.  
In the third place K. Edward in the said Grant, appropriates, unites, knits and incorporates to the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London and their Successors, etc. the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark.  
From whence we may observe,  
1. Bating that the word Appropriation is a term particularly respecting Rectories, or Parsonages, as is here expressed, that, as to the true Propriety, which the Mayor and Commonalty of the said City were by this Grant to have in either of them, the Hospital and its Revenues and Demesns were as much knit, united and incorporated to the said Mayor, etc. as the Parish Church, or the Glebe, Tithe, Obventions, Oblations, etc. thereunto belonging.  
2. That notwithstanding this knitting, uniting and incorporating, which are words expressive of the Union, yet the King did still reserve to himself, his Heirs and Successors, as hath been seen, an express Power of Visitation, as often, as it should seem fit and expedient in the same Grant; so that he might lawfully have visited, notwithstanding this Incorporation, that is, notwithstanding the Corporation to which it was annexed, should always remain a Body Politic or Corporate, without any surrender, seizure or avoidance of their Charter.  
3. From hence it appears that the Visitation of the Hospital, and the avoidance of the Charter, whether right or wrong, are clearly and manifestly two distinct things, that they have no necessary dependence upon, or Connexion with each other, and that a Visitation of the Hospital by the King is legal, though the Charter be standing and in full force.  
4. From hence it further follows, though the Charter be restored, yet all those Regulations which were made by K. Charles II. by a Power derived not only from the Grant of K. Edward, but from an Act of Parliament 25 H. 8. c. 21. are still binding and valid by Virtue of that Act (the said Regulations, as to the matter of them being supposed to be legal) and that neither the Officers nor Governors that were then discarded, can lawfully be restored; for this were to suppose a Visitor superior to the Supreme, nay, that the delegated Power, which is supposed to be visited for its Faults and Failures, may correct and amend that Power to which it is by Law subjected, it were to imply, that a legal Act may be illegal and arbitrary at the same time; for if it were legal, why should it not be valid? and what an Absurdity is it in this Case, for Substitutes and vicarious Agents to correct their Principals of whom they hold, and from whom all their Power and Authority is derived? or would not this in its Consequence be to invert the nature and the order of Government, and to bring all things into confusion, if Inferiors shall at every turn correct and alter the Establishments of a Superior Power when they cannot help confessing them to be legal, and when they are made to be so by the same Law of the Land, by which every Man enjoys his Property, and holds his Estate?  
It remains therefore, that neither the Governors nor Officers ejected by King Charles II. can legally be restored by a subordinate Power, though by the Prince, who is always the same, and may be sometimes supposed to alter his Mind, for Reasons best known to himself, they might be, if it were not for a Cause that shall be mentioned in its place, which would make the Restoration of these Men to to be materially illegal, by reason of some Incapacities which they labour under, as shall be hereafter shown.  
In the mean time we may be assured, that the Parliament did never intent, when they gave the King this Power and Right of Visitation, that it should be be made fruitless and vain by the absurd Encroachments of a Power subordinate upon it, for this were to write an Act of Parliament in the Water or the Air, where the Impressions vanish as soon as they are made, as such a cross, Contradictory, and perverse Intention, if it could be supposed possible to be employed, would at the same time perfectly destroy what the Letter of the Law had given, and render the sense of all Acts of Parliament, and of all Writings whatsoever, without the help of some infallible Interpreter, whom we know not where to find, precarious and uncertain: For let Men say or write what they please, and with never so much seeming Perspicuity and Plainness, yet who knows at last but they may mean and intent the quite contrary to what they say, and so there is an end of Laws and of Humane Conversation.  
5. It goes on to follow whether we will or no, for Consequences will follow one another in their course and order, that all that hath been done since the 24th day of January 1681/9, when pretended Orders were issued out at Guild-Hall, for the restoring those Officers that were ejected by the Commission, as the ejected Governors had likewise been restored by the same means not long before, was a manifest Usurpation on both sides, (as well on that of the pretended Governors, as of the pretended Officers acting under them) upon the Law of the Land, and the known Rights of the Subject, the Commission still continuing, for the Reasons that have been given, in full force and effect.  
6. The Officers that intruded themselves, or were imposed upon the House by an illegal Authority, against the Consent and open Protestation of those into whose Places they came, ought not to be considered for their respective Services, so much as by way of quantum meruit; but the whole Salaries from that time to this are due to those that were wrongfully dispossessed; and it seems but reasonable, that the Law should allow them somewhat of Reparation for the Damage and Detriment they otherwise sustained by such an illegal and undue Ejectment.  
7. Those Governors, who have been chosen since the 24th of January aforesaid, or thereabouts, by sending of Green Staves, as the Custom is, to their respective Houses; from a pretended Clerk at the Instigation or Appointment of any pretended Governor or Governors whatsoever, have no power to act under that Name and Notion; their Authority having been shown so manifestly to rely upon a false Ground, and to stand upon a Bottom that will not support it.  
8. The Officers that were appointed by Commission under the Great Seal, are the only true legal Officers, and have been so all this while, because the Effect of that Commission still lasts, which depends upon the King's Power and Right of Visitation, even when the Commission itself is actually dissolved, tho' it is not denied, but upon the Dissolution of the Commission, and the Restitution of the City Charter, the ordinary Power returns together with it, and that those who were placed by the Commission, may in this Case be displaced after Admonition for Misdemeanour in their respective Charges, of which the ordinary Visitors upon the return of the Charter, and the Dissolution of the said Commission are the immediate Judges; yet so as that there still lies an Appeal to the Supreme.  
9 The whole Administration of the Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark, from the term aforesaid till this present time, hath been manifestly vicious, defective and void in Law; those that acted by Commission having joined and acted mutually together with those that were ejected by it; by that means disowning the Authority of the Commission, which is the only legal Refuge and Defence they have, and owning that of an unjust and Arbitrary Power, which hath no manner of Color or Pretence to justify itself, though this being done by them for the good of the House, and in compliance with the present emergent necessity of Affairs, for a laudable and wholesome End; they are not only to be excused, but commended for it, and the Acts which they did jointly, being for the most part things of course in the ordinary Management of the Hospital Affairs, which must otherwise have fallen to the ground, to the great disappointment of the Charity and Munificence of our Royal Founder, the said Acts, excepting only the appointment of new Governors, for which there was no necessity, aught to be esteemed, had, and taken for valid to all intents and purposes whatsoever, though they be not so in themselves.  
10. Though there were such an inseparable Connexion betwixt the Charter and the Hospital, as is pretended, that the King could not visit or regulate while the Charter stood, which we have proved there was not; and that even the restoring of the said Charter doth not at all affect the Visitation made in the time of K. Charles II. yet the Charter being voided, and Judgement entered up against it, that Judgement, though false and erroneous, must continue to be valid till the Error be represented and argued, and the Case set right in a Superior Court, that is to say, the High Court of Parliament; for there is no other in this Case Superior to the Court of King's Bench, so that thus far at least the Commission is justified from the necessity of it, when there was no Charter; and so are all that acted under it, unless we would have no Government, or unless Judgements may be reversed with a wet Finger, without any legal Process, which it is hard to imagine what way it can be done, without overthrowing and confounding all Justice in the World: Thus far therefore we are safe in our Employments, and aught to have our Salaries for the discharge of them, or for but offering to discharge and execute the same, if we be violently hindered from so doing: till the Charter be renewed at least, and the ordinary Jurisdiction of the City of London restored, though none of those things were true which we have represented, concerning the King's separate Right to visit by Commission, and the Validity of those Acts that are ordained by it, which we humbly conceive to be unanswerable, and so very plain, that the subtlest of our Adversaries can have nothing to say for themselves.  
These are the natural and unavoidable Consectaries from the Consideration of K. Edward's incorporating and uniting the Hospital and Parish of St Thomas Southwark to the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of London, as that Incorporation and Union is circumstanced with a Reservation in the Grant itself; founded upon an express Clause in a Parliamentary Act, whereby he is impowered to visit, redress, and regulate from time to time what he shall find amiss in such Places, as to His Princely Wisdom and Justice shall seem meet, and as occasion and necessity shall require. If any of the Observations that have been made from hence shall grate a little too hard upon some Men, who may possibly find themselves concerned in them, they may thank themselves for putting us upon a Defence, which could not be otherwise managed, but upon such Principles, as will destroy and evacuate their Authority in this House, and turn the intended Expulsion upon themselves, if the Law may be suffered to be the Rule between us, and may be allowed to decide the Controversy that is now depending; however we are well satisfied, whatever becomes of our particular Interests, which cannot suffer alone, but will more or less affect the Monarchy, and the Church themselves, that we have thus far defended the Prerogative, which is the support of the People, as well as of the Crown, against those, who under specious Pretences, would destroy it, and to show our Satisfaction in what we have hitherto done, we will pursue the same Design a little further.  
It is therefore further to be noted, that K. Edward is graciously pleased to tell us in His Royal Grant, not only that he unites, incorporates, etc. the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark to the City of London; but that he doth this by his Royal Authority, as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland. Now the Supremacy was a Right unalienable, which he could not part with, it being nothing else but a Right to govern all his Subjects of what nature, order or quality soever; and all Estates of Men within this Realm, without any foreign Jurisdiction or Appeal; but this was somewhat more particularly concerned in such Places as were exempt from Episcopal Visitation, and were more immediately dependent upon the Bishop of Rome and the Care of these together with the Supremacy was more particularly devolved upon the King, as a Trophy of his Victory over the See of Rome, and a Token of his having shaken off that intolerable Yoke, which neither he nor His Fathers were able to bear. But the more particular Reasons why the Visitation of such Places was devolved upon the King, were these that follow.  
1. The Regular Fraternities who owned no Subjection to the Bishop of the Diocese, or the Archbishop of the Province wherein they were seated, but paid their immediate Homage, and in all Emergencies made their next Application and Appeal to the See of Rome itself, would have disdained to come under any Episcopal Visitation, from which they pretended so ancient an Exemption, and an Exemption that had been and is still the cause of many and great Feuds and Animosities in the Church of Rome between the Seculars and them: so that the Act of Parliament of the 25 H. 8. c. 21. being made at a time when though H. 8▪ had actually taken the Supremacy upon himself, yet the Monasteries, Abbeys, and others Religious Houses were still in being, and enjoyed their Possessions and Revenues as before, it was thought a Matter that might occasion disturbance by the Number, the Opulency, and the Interest of both Parties contending with cach other: if the Regulars had been subjected to an Authority, which they would be sure not to own, and which they mortally hated, besides that the Opinion which the common People usually had of their Sanctity, and their long Experience of their Hospitality and bounty to the Poor, were things that would have heightened and animated the Disturbance by engaging a numerous Party on their side.  
2. Their being immediately subjected to the Visitation of the King, as it was not so great a Diminution to the Honour and ancient Privilege of their respective Societies; so it was the most powerful, and by Consequence the most natural way that could be thought of to wean them from hankering after the See of Rome, and to fright them into Obedience to the Government and Supremacy of the Church of England, as it was vested and established in the Person of H. 8. tho' this were but the revival and Recognition of an ancient Right, antecedent to any of the Popish Usurpations, by the known Laws and Usages of this Realm: And the Regulars not thinking themselves so safe in their dependence upon the King, whose Interest was not so much concerned in their Protection, as they were formerly in their Subjection to the Pope, to whose Greatness they seem to be absolutely necessary; and for this Reason being jealous of their Prince, and reflecting a Jealousy back upon themselves, this might probably be one Reason at that time, besides what Covetousness, Ambition, or the craving Necessities of the Public might afford, of their total and final Extirpation.  
3. All Public Charities, such as all these Houses were, for the Maintenance of Religious Men and Women, were naturally and rightfully vested in the King, who is the Father and Protector of his Country, and the proper Guardian of such Charities as these, to see that they be not embezzled or profusely squandered, instead of being employed, as was intended and meant, by the Piety and Beneficence of the Founders of the same.  
Now upon the Dissolution of Abbeys, etc. which followed shortly after, it must be confessed, that two of the aforesaid Reasons why Places exempt should be under the King's Visitation, did manifestly cease: But then the Third was stronger than ever it was before, for it it must be confessed, by all Protestants especially, to be a greater Charity, and of more public Use, to relieve the Poor, to cure the Sick, to heal the Maimed and Wounded, than to bestow the same Revenues merely to feed the Ignorance and Superstition of idle and useless Men; and still the Letter of the Act of Parliament itself is for the King, for it commits to him the Care of such Places as be or were exempt before the making of that Act: and it cannot be denied but the Hospital of St. Thomas is such, and upon that old Exemption its present and past ever since that time is unquestionably founded, as this and other such Places being formerly free from Secular or Lay Jurisdiction, and challenging an Exemption from the Civil Magistrate, they still maintain their Privilege of Freedom from Arrests by virtue of that ancient Custom, though the reason of that Custom, with the Dissolution and Extinction of those Regular Societies that formerly inhabited those Places, be antiquated and abolished.  
However thus much is acknowledged by the Governors themselves, that the Place is exempt; nay, it is not only acknowledged, but insisted upon, for they will not allow an Episcopal Visitation within the Walls of this House, no not so much as in the Chapel itself: Now there being no Place exempt from all manner of Jurisdiction, (besides, that its Exemption is founded upon that Act of Parliament, which hath been so often mentioned) to deny the Bishop's Visitation is in its own Nature and unavoidable Consequence to assert and recognize the Kings, which is all that we contend for; and so much the Governors, themselves must grant, or they cannot maintain the Privilege of their House.  
When Hughes, a Nonconformist, was preferred by Governors like himself, to the Chaplainship of this House, it was upon Supposition, that the Place was exempt from the Bishop's Visitation, for otherwise they dare not have done it, but if it were exempt from the King's too, they might as well have ordered the Koran or the Mass to be said, or sung in the Chapel, if they had so pleased, as either the Extemporary Raptures of their Dissenting Chaplain, or the stated, sober, and truly Christian Service of the Church of England, they might have made it if they pleased, a Mosch for Turks, a Synagogue for Jews, or even a Sanctuary for Thiefs and Robbers, and all this without any check or control from any but themselves. They were very sensible of the Exemption of the Place, whether they knew the cause of it or no, and they abused the King's Power committed to them to such Purposes, as he himself could not have extended it to, for King Edward and all his Successors in the Affairs of this House, and other exempted Charities committed to their Charge, have acted under no other notion than that of Successors to or rather rightful Possessors of the Popes Usurped Power, or in the Language, of K. Edward himself, as the Supreme Heads of the Churches of England and Ireland, as those Churches were then and have been ever since with some gradual Regulations established; but, as such, he could not place in any of his own Chapels a Nonconformist from the Established Worship, it being a Contradiction to be Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith, that is, more particularly of the Established Doctrine and Worship, and yet to betray and weaken the Church and Crown too at the same time, by putting Men into Offices of Trust, and especially in the holy things that are hallowed unto the Lord, that were Enemies to both, nay, it was a Practice that would have tended to the disinherison of the Crown itself, if after the Example of this Place, all others of equal Privilege, had been Nurseries of Faction, Encouragers of Sects and Religious distinctions, (which naturally tend to the Dissolution of this Monarchy and Church together,) with the Leave and Licence of the Supreme Power; so that we will now take it for granted, that the King's Power of Visitation is on all sides acknowledged, and that as the Supreme Visitor, or in other words, as the Supreme Head, Patron, and Protector of the Church of England, he could not place either Nonconformist Preachers, or Dissenting Governors or Officers in this House, this not being to defend the Church of England, or to act in the Capacity of Head of the Church of England and Ireland, which is the only Ground of the King's Authority in this House; and therefore we may be sure such were not chosen by any Authority delegated from him, and by Consequence they were chosen by no Authority at all.  
V Furthermore, if it be said by any that have a mind to raise a Dust where there is no real matter of Controversy and Dispute, that it was not the Hospital, but only the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark, which by the Grant of King Edward the VI was appropriated, united, knit and incorporated to the Mayor and Commonallty of the City of London, which we have already granted and shown, that it is not material, the same thing being equally to be understood of both Places, yet all that can be made of this Cavil, when the most of it is made that can be, is, that if the Hospital be not knit, united and incorporated in so close a manner as the Parish is, than it hangs more lose, and is more independent from the City and its Charter, which will be so far from obstructing a Royal Visitation, that it will but render it more natural and easy.  
VI But it may be argued, perhaps, whatever becomes of the Hospital itself, that the Parish is not under the King's Visitation, it being given, granted and consigned over to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London; without the Impeachments or bindrance of Us, Our Heirs and Successors, or of any Archbishop or Bishops, Archdeacon's, Sheriffs, Escheators, Justices, Commissioners, or any other, etc. Which words are so full and so plain, that they may seem to exclude a Visitation; what then becomes of the late Presentation by the Commissioners in the time of the late King James? To this it may and aught to be replied.  
First, That all the Grants which King Edward could possibly make, could not recall what was past, or make that not to have been which really was, the meaning is, that the Visitation of all Places which were exempt at the making of the Act of the 25 H. 8. c. 21. or before it was committed to the King, in the nature of a Trust, the true and faithful discharge of which, his People in Parliament expected from him, so as he could not wholly lay aside or neglect it, or give away his Right to visit and redress, as Occasions or Emergencies arising should require, without a Breach of the Faith and Honour of a King, by which he is bound not only to see that the Laws be indifferently and impartially executed in all Cases, but more particularly in those wherein Himself is more immediately concerned as a Trustee, as it is in this Case, though the whole Administration in a more general Sense be but one common Trust reposed in the King.  
Secondly, There was not only a Trust reposed in Him by this Act, but a Power for the Execution of that Trust conferred upon Him, and on his Heirs and Successors for ever; in this Case therefore if the King betray his Trust by neglect, or by a total Devolution of it into other Hands, without any further concerning Himself about it; he Sins, and is answerable to God's Justice for so doing; but by a thousand Grants he can never give away that Power to which his Successors have a Right as well as himself, he cannot give away the Rights of the Crown, any more than he can sell or mortgage his Dominions to a foreign Prince without the consent of his People, which he is never like to obtain: so that such a Grant as this, let it be expressed in words that are never so full and comprehensive, must either be interpreted as a void Act in its self, or must of necessity be understood of the ordinary Adminstration of, and Presentation to to the Rectory , with a tacit Reservation, which must be always implied, to the King's extraordinary and visitatorial Power.  
Thirdly, However close and strict the Union of the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark, may be thought to be by the words of the Grant to the Mayor and Commonalty, or to the Corporation of the City of London; yet it is not altogether so close as that of the Hospital, in which, notwithstanding the King hath expressly reserved to himself a Power of Visitation, that of the Hospital is an immediate Union, that of the Parish is only a Secundary, and derived from it; and this is the meaning of the word Appropriation. King Edward saith, That as Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland, be does appropriate, unite, knit and incorporate the Parsonage and Church of St. Thomas Southwark, etc. to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London. Now the meaning of an Appropriation in the Ecclesiastical Law, was laying a Parsonage or Rectory, and its Endowments, to a Religious House, so as the said House became the Parson, and received the Profits and Emoluments arising from the same: Sometimes this Church was supplied by one constant and ordinary residing Curate, and this was for the most part the rise of Vicarages endowed; sometimes the Monks took their courses among themselves, and then the whole Profits went into the Dividend, and were either equally, or by certain and stated Proportions distributed among them; in this manner was the Parsonage or Rectory, before the Dissolution of Religious Houses appropriated to the Hospital of St. Thomas Southwark, and to the Master and others in Possession of the same, the Church being situate within the Site, and the whole Parish contained within the Close thereof, as is expressly affirmed in the Grant itself, and Stow somewhere saith, That none were anciently Inhabitants of the said Parish, but such as had a dependence upon the Religious House adjoining; When therefore it is said, that the Parish is appropriate, etc. to the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London: It is meant that it is annexed and incorporated in the same manner that it was formerly to the Hospital adjoining, or it is annexed not immediately, but by the Mediation and Intervention of that Hospital to which it was formerly appropriated and united; so that the Union of the Hospital was immediate to the Corporation of London, that of the Church only Secondary and derivative from it, and therefore if the King hath reserved a Power of Visitation in the Hospital itself, he is much more supposed to do the same in the Parish, or indeed they are both of them unavoidably supposed together, by reason of their Appropriation, Incorporation and Union to each other.  
Fourthly, When the late King James presented by his Commissioners under the Great Seal to the Parish of St. Thomas Southwark, it was upon a Vacancy by Death; and it was at a time when Judgement was entered against the City Charter, by which means it was in Fact discorporated, whatever it were de jure, and that Judgement was the jure valid, though in Fact it might be erroneous and unlawful, for the Reason that hath already been assigned, so that now there was no other legal Patron but the King; the Power of Presentation by the Discorporation of the City returning naturally to the King, from whence it came; and besides that he hath always a perpetual Right of Presenting if he pleaseth, by virtue of his perpetual Power of Visitation, which implies it, it was in this Case necessary that he should present, unless he would suffer the Church to be wholly Vacant, and even then the Vacancy would have created a Lapse, that would have given him a Right after a certain time, though he had had none before. It is not to be questioned therefore upon all these Considerations, but what he did was legal, and that, as such, his Presentation ought to stand even after the City Charter is restored; much after the same manner that a Guardian may Present in the Minority of his Pupil, and that Presentation shall stand when his Pupil comes to Age, and so may the Guardian of the Spiritualities do many things in the Vacancy of a See, which shall be and are of course good to all Intents and Purposes of Law, when the Bishop is Enthronised, and the See is full.  
VII. And Lastly, King Edward says, And moreover, of Our ample and free Grace, We will, and by these Presents do grant, that of the Issues, Rents and Revenues of the said Premises, the said Mayor and Commonalty, and Citizens of the said City of London, and their Successors, yearly, from time to time, for ever, shall find, support and maintain, not only two fit and convenient Ministers, to celebrate Divine Services, and to administer the Sacraments and Sacramentals, as well to the Poor, and Officers and Ministers of the said Hospital, and Horse of the Poor, as to the Parishioners of the said Parish of St. Thomas in Southwark aforesaid, but also two Women, or Sisters, etc.  
Now here there are two Questions that offer themselves to be asked;  
First, what is meant by two sit and convenient Ministers? And this Question is capable of a twofold Reply: 1. By Fit and Convenient, is not meant great Clerks, but honest Men in holy Orders, tolerably qualified for their Employments. 2. When we reflect upon the Words Fit, and Convenient, we must consider who it is that speaks; it is King Edward VI who gives, grants, orders and enjoins every thing in these his Letters Patents, by virtue of that Authority which he had, as the Supreme Head on Earth, of the Churches of England and Ireland. Fit and Convenient must therefore be understood, with relation to the Establishment of the Church of England, as it was then settled and constituted by the Laws of this Land, in opposition to Popery on the one hand, and to an unnatural Schism and Separation on the other; though the latter of these were hardly known in the time of Edward VI, but began more powerfully to show itself in Queen Elizabeth's Days. The King was not the Supreme Head and Defender of a Popish Church, in the Sense that his Father, King Henry VIII, was, after he had taken the Supremacy upon himself; the Supremacy being then translated to another Person, without abandoning the gross Idolatry and Superstition of the Church of Rome; nor was he the Head of Schism and Disorder, which would have implied him to be Felo de se, an Enemy to himself, and to his own Imperial Dignity and Crown; but he was the Head, the Defender, the Patron, and Protector of that orderly and primitive Establishment, which was, and is, the only true Fence and Bulwark against both of these; and which, by giving to Caesar and to God their due, is a common Friend to Religion, and to Empire; and at the same time that it lays the surest Foundations for the Peace and Happiness of this World, chalks out the surest Way to the Peace of the next. By Fit and Convenient therefore is meant, as one plain Sense of the Words, a true and hearty Conformist to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, as it is by Law established, with no very material Alterations at this distance of Time, from what it was formerly, in King Edward's Days, in those early Dawnings of the Reformation: And indeed, it would be very strange, that any Prince should look upon any Chaplain to be fit and convenient in his House, who was not of the Religion which himself professed; which would be as much as to say, that himself was in the wrong, as not being of a fit and convenient Persuasion, not fit for the other World, nor convenient for this. King Edward being therefore, the Head and Protector of the Legal Establishment at that time, Fit and Convenient must needs be understood, with a due Analogy and Proportion to it.  
But Secondly, Which is the second Question arising from this Clause in the Royal Grant, What were those fit and convenient Ministers to do? Why the same Clause goes on to tell us, in these Words, They were to celebrate Divine Services, and to administer the Sacraments and Sacramentals, as well to the Poor, and Officers and Ministers of the said Hospital, and House of the Poor, as to the Parishioners of the said Parish of St. Thomas in Southwark, etc. Were they so? Why, then it seems they were to be all of a Cast; like Shepherd, like Flock; like Priest, like People: They were to be all Communicants of the Church of England, otherwise they would make but very improper Auditors of this fit and convenient Minister; or rather, they would think themselves obliged in Conscience to separate themselves, and straggle aside into forbidden Folds of Novelty and Separation.  
The Poor and Sick, indeed, are Objects of Pity, and aught to be relieved, notwithstanding any particular Persuasion; but yet, Caeteris paribus, if the Grief or Malady be such as calls equally for Help and Succour on both sides; and if it so happened, through the Straitness of the House, that both cannot be considered by it, in order to their Cure, it is more agreeable to the Intention of King Edward, and to the plain Consequences of this fit and convenient Minister, in which a fit and convenient Auditory is included, that that Patient should be taken in, who is best affected to the Government established; and a Testimonial of his Affection to it, is that which ought to be a Motive in his behalf, and an Inducement to the Governors to relieve him above others, though in other Respects equally deserving the Pity of the Governors, and the Charity of the House: But for Officers and Ministers there can be no pretence, in so great a Choice of fit Persons to be found, why they should not all be meet Auditors of king Edward's fit and convenient Incumbent of the Place; in the nature of Relatives, as the Logicians speak, they do most certainly imply one another; and King Edward must as much intent to have a conformable Auditory, as a conformable Preacher or Reader in his Chapel; otherwise such Preacher or Reader would be in vain. The Result of all which is, That it is a Breach of Trust, and a manifest Affront done to the Memory of King Edward; it includes a Forfeiture of the Charity itself, by breaking the Conditions, upon which it is bestowed. To place any Servants or Officers in this House, but what are faithful Members, and Communicants of the Church of England, and this without reflecting upon particular Persons, whom so much as in general Terms we would not touch, if it could be avoided, does sufficiently justify the wise, and honest and necessary Regulation made by King Charles the Second.  
But whereas in this Clause there is mention made of two Ministers, though there be now but one, it is to be considered, 1. That several other Regulations have been made, as there was reason for them, very different from what we now find in the Letters Patents of King Edward, wherein there are but two Sisters, one Porter, one Chirurgeon, etc. 2. That this is no more than what is actually done, and hath been so of a long time, in St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Parish, though, in the first Institution, they were two distinct places, as will appear by the Grant of King Henry VIII. 3. This was but reasonable, in consideration of the Salaries, which are not so good a Competence now as they were at first. 4. The King who was also the Ordinary and the Patron of the Place, had a Right in all of these Capacities, and much more taken all of them together, to unite these two incompetent Preferments to each other. 5. This depended upon the same Reason, with the Union of small Live after the Fire of London, and of several other Unions by Act of Parliament in the Country. 6. It is to be hoped, that two contiguous Living are as lawfully united as two that are at above forty Miles distance from each other, which is farther than the Canons allow. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
FINIS.