A LETTER TO THE Late Lord Bishop of L. and C.  
UPON HIS Translation to W.  
Showing The ill Consequences of such REMOVES.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1699.   

My Lord,  
SOME Occasions having called me to Ireland, a little before I left it, which is not long since, there happened the Death of a Bishop, which occasioned a Remove in the Church, that gave no small offence to all her Wellwishers; and among others, I was resolved, as soon as I got home, to give the Party concerned my thoughts of it: but fore I could do this, we had the account of your Lordship's Translation to W— r, though 'twas not believed at this distance by any here that pretend to be of your acquaintance, till confirmed by the last Post.  
Your Character, for the most part, has been such, that I have been always one of your Admirers; and had I not happened into the Conversation of some discerning Men here, who see the ill consequences of such Removes, that Admiration might perhaps have still continued, which now, I confess, is wonderfully lessened; and as a reason for it, give me leave to lay before your Lordship their Sentiments, which I shall do truly and plainly, having neither Will nor Skill to do otherwise.  
They say, my Lord, you have now a second time given the Church herself, as well as that sacred Order to which they believe you unworthily entitled, a more severe Blow than any of her pretended Friends, nay, her most cruel and professed Enemies were ever able to do. You have, they say, declared to the World, what those of your Order (generally speaking) propose to themselves in desiring and accepting that Office, which the Apostle calls A good Work. You have given encouragement to that deluge of Atheism which hath broke in upon us, and espoused their Cause, whose hope extends not beyond this present World, and look for no other reward for all their best Services than what this Life affords: and this at a time when you are just leaving it, have more than one foot in the Grave, and will not (without their being the Prophet of your Woe) live long to enjoy it.  
They wonder what remorse of Conscience must needs seize you, when you consider what you have done, how you have opened the mouths of Adversaries who lie in wait for advantages of this kind, and are of themselves, without any manner of occasion, too ready to revile and asperse your Profession; nay, have given your very Friends reason to conceive most desperate Prejudices against your high and holy Calling. And some of these Gentlemen have an account from London, that several who have been formerly attacked, but never could be prevailed with to desert the Church, have upon this Translation of yours, turned their backs upon her, and chose rather to join themselves to those Societies, where such unwarrantable Practices are not allowed, and where their Teachers seem to have an eye for all their Services and Labours to a future Reward, than to abide in the Communion of a Church, where their very Governors and Guides by their daily Practices declare, if they can, by hook or by crook, no matter how, add to their Wealth and Grandeur here, they value not what may be feared or hoped for hereafter.  
You have, say these Gentlemen, very unhappily given us a sad instance of this; and the Ground thereof (pretend what you will) 'tis like proceeds from something too near Atheism. It is not very likely, say they, you believe there is a God, or that the Scriptures are his Word, which, besides that inward Peace, Comfort and Satisfaction which naturally attend the performance of a man's Duty, propose no other Reward than what chiefly relates to a future State; whereas you seem, say they, to despise this, and are altogether for the present: who for the lucre of not many 100 l. a year, have forsaken (they wish they could say your first) your second, nay your third Love, and left a Diocese, where, by knowing and being known, you might be much more serviceable than where you are altogether a Stranger, and cannot expect to live to be otherwise, and in divers respects unfit to succeed him that is gone, who yet, besides his learned Works, left no great Character behind him, nor found out the way of doing so much good as might have been expected from him, and which, they fear, may much less be hoped for from your Lordship.  
Ambition and Avarice have been, as they conceive, the two great Rocks you have in your Christian Course split upon. The former carried you from the Vicaridg of St. M rt-ns to the Bishopric of St. A—; the latter from thence to L. and C. and now from thence to W. In your first remove, you declared yourself sensible of the temporal Loss you sustained; but the pretence was, the desire of doing good (a very warrantable inducement) to which you said your being a Native of the Country, and skilful in the Language, would conduce much. But being either weary of doing good, or unable to do any to others, you began to think of doing good to yourself, and laid hold of the first opportunity to give your poor Countrymen the slip, and got into a Diocese of much greater profit, as well as of a far larger extent; and in which (as to a great part of it) you are, as I am informed, as much a Stranger as he that writes this, who was never within the Verge of any part thereof. These Gentlemen would fain ask, what answer you will make when you shall be called to give an account of your Stewardship: Will it be sufficient to say, a great part of your time was taken up at London in minding the Affairs of State, which yet notwithstanding you could never comprehend, no less in managing the private concerns of your Family, and so much in indulging your aged and decayed Carcase, that you had little or none left for the business of your Calling?  
However, my Lord, all this is no stumbling Block to me, who have learned to distinguish between the personal failings of Men, and their Office: but others, not so well satisfied, desire to know, from which of the Apostles or Primitive Bishops (from whom you boast of a Succession) do you derive Authority for this unwarrantable Remove? As the former were for the most part no where fixed, and therefore can afford us no precedent in this case; so it is well known how industriously the latter waved all opportunities of forsaking their first Charge, and could never be brought to it, but when the pressing Necessities of the Church required it; and than 'twas often from a greater, to a place of less Profit.  
Nor is this all; you have hereby exposed your Profession and Order not only in your own Person, but cast a Temptation in the way of another.  
The Bishop of O—, in every respect a single Man, being unable to live upon 700 l. a Year, though he never spent 200, removes from O— the Seat of the Muses, and the sweetest preferment (especially considering his other Circumstances) the Church affords, and snatches at L—, not much more than 2 or 300 l. a Year better. But there is this to be said for him, that nothing else (if he may be believed) could have tempted him to such an unaccountable Practice; and there are Letters here from some who pretend to know him well, averring, he would not have accepted of W—rc— r, or any other except L— and C— in England; which being his Country, the place of his Birth, as O— d was of his Education, it was but almost natural for him to affect it. So that something may be offered for him; but for your Lordship, nothing more than that you have given those who are Friends to the Church occasion to take offence and grieve, (and woe be to them by whom such Offences come) and those who are her Enemies to rejoice and insult; who, though they are silent, make their own Observations, laugh in their Sleeves, and whisper to one another, Let them go on, by these irregularities they'll bring themselves into Contempt, and all in good time do their own work.  
One would think, since Dr. T— is thought worthy to be a Bishop, and no Body, I suppose, doubts it; he might have been more serviceable at W— r, where he has lived so long D— n, and must needs be acquainted with the Constitution of the Diocese, and Temper of the People, than èlsewhere: or if there was a necessity to comply with your Lordship, by giving you this lift; why might not Dr. A— n the Dean of L— have been thought of to succeed? A Man by his useful and good Works better known to the World, than any of those concerned in these Removes.  
You know, my Lord, one of the great outcries in the two last Reigns, was, that Interest (especially in Church-preferments) carried all, without any manner of regard to Merit: God forbid it should prove a just Complaint in this, wherein it was particularly promised to be reformed.  
Or yet farther; if these irregular Changes, unknown to the Primitive Church, in which we so much glory, must be continued; we know it has been usual for the Bishops of B— l (a See very mean and low in its Revenue) to have the advantage of a Remove: and so perhaps it had been now, but that the present Bishop stands adjudged guilty of two terrible faults in a Bishop of our Times.  
The first is, he is moderate in his Principles, not fond of a highflown Jurisdiction; and it may be thinks it needless in the Church, where the Magistrate is Christian in the State. The other, and more intolerable, is, that he is a constant and painful Preacher, a Crime not to be forgiven by those (except a very few) of his own Order, for that he thereby lessens himself, and instead of ruling and governing (his sole and proper Business) slaves and drudges in the Work of the Presbyters. These, no doubt, may prove blocks in his way▪ while your Lordship▪ and others of your Order, ride on successfully, without troubling yourselves either with Preaching or Praying▪ the latter especially (though it be the more honourable of the two) being thought so much below your Dignity, that it were a prodigy to find a Bishop in the Desk, reading Divine Service. Nay, I have been assured by a Gentleman come lately from London, that going to Evening▪ prayer on a Weekday, in one of the Out-Churches there, the Congregation being gathered, and the Reader, on some occasion or other, failing, the People were dismissed without Prayers, though there were two Bishops present. O tell not this to the unconverted World: publish it not in Askelon, tell it not in Gath; declare it not in the Streets of Rome or Jerusalem, lest Turks and Infidels abroad, as well as our Fellow Christians at home, deride and laugh us to scorn.  
You yourselves, who by a great and good Example, should influence others to the contrary, contribute not a little to the contempt of our public Service, while out of Sloth, or Pride, or both, you scorn (at least omit) to minister in it▪ whereas you ought to esteem it your greatest Glory.  
And it were well if you were only short in this; but are you not so in all the other Duties of your Function? Do you know what it is to preach in season and out of season? Do most of you know what it is to preach at all, unless now and then at Court you are pleased to harangue the Auditory? Can you tell when you visited a sick Bed? comforted an afflicted, instructed an ignorant, informed an erroneous, or resolved a doubting Conscience? What differences in your Neighbourhood have you composed? What care have you had that your Clergies in their several places do duly and conscionably discharge their respective Duties? What Encouragement and Rewards have you dispensed to those that do? What Frowns, if not Punishments have you cast upon those that do not? What Hospitality have you kept? What Charity have you exercised? How many naked Backs have you at your own Expense clothed? How many hungry Bellies have you fed? What Sick and Needy have you visited and relieved? No, these are matters, that for the most part, come not within the compass of your Care. To live in State and Splendour, to look scornfully upon your Brethren, to carry things with a high hand against those that will not truckle, or upon any occasion stand in your way, and to heap up Wealth for your Families, have been too much the Care and Business of your Lives: and that this last will be always yours, your late proceeding, in coveting what you ought by no means to have thought of, does sufficiently manifest.  
You may indeed derive a Precedent for this, from what has lately been done in Ireland, where by the death of the Bishop which I mentioned before, two Bishoprics became void; and the Government there, who consider, it seems, how destructive Pluralities of any kind are to the Church, recommended two several Persons to them; (though by the way, one of them was looked upon by the Clergy there very unfit, and every way unqualified for that Office; but he is Chaplain to the Government, and that is enough.) However, these Recommendations were laid aside, and at the instance of some at Court, who it may be neither understand the Constitution, nor are capable of consulting the good of that Church▪ a Gentleman well nigh as aged as your Lordship, is removed from a Diocese where he has been 20 years' Bishop, and had his Residence in the second best City of the Kingdom, to almost a waste Country, which, as I was informed, affords not a House fit to live in, nor three Churches that are roofed, nor six British Families fit to be conversed with; and yet the advantage not above 100 or 150 l. a year. These inconveniencies, they say, may be avoided by the Bishop's living at Dublin, as his Predecessor before him always did. For though the Inferior Clergy be enjoined Residence, yet a Bishop there is above all Rules, and may live where he will. And as for this Bishop, I mean he that is removed, I had such a Character of him, that if my Authors erred not, he may be looked upon as a Prodigy in nature. Some of them had been his Scholars, others his Parishioners at Dublin, and some his near Neighbours and intimate Acquaintance at C— k, where he was Bishop; and yet they all assured me that the whole Country where he was concerned, tho much troubled for the Slur cast upon the Church by his Remove, will yet greatly rejoice that they are rid of him, who was always upon every little occasion, jarring, quarrelling and brow-beating them. He was, they say, a great part of his time a Schoolmaster, which so sowered his Temper, that he's scarce fit for civil Conversation; and as they describe him, is defective in every one of those Qualifications which the Scripture requires in one of his Order; so far from being blameless, that he is in all respects and relations whatsoever, faulty: but his Faults for his Order sake ought not to be exposed. They own him (considering his Station) apt to teach, but so positive and singular in the very Pulpit, as renders his Doctrine harsh and nauseous. He is allowed by all to be a man of Letters and Parts; but his Infirmities are so many, that they eclipse any thing that's valuable in him. They added to all this, that he is (if not a downright Enemy) yet no Friend to the Government: He sat all along in King James' Parliament, wanted either Courage or Will to thwart or protest against their proceedings; and still voted with them against the few Protestants and other discerning honest men amongst them; was often in private with that King, and still, they say, retains much of that Leaven.  
And now, my Lord, can you think such a man as this a Pattern worthy your imitation? and will his Translation any way justify yours? I know one thing cunningly urged for these Translations is, That they are an advantage to the Crown, by reason of the first Fruits that arise from them: but is this Consideration fit to come in the balance with the great Scandal and Dishonour they bring upon the Church? How little doth the King value these Mites, who yet suffers extremely in this matter? And the Reproach extends not only to the Parties immediately concerned, but (though very unreasonably) to his Majesty himself.  
It is very well known there are not wanting too many restless and discontented Wretches, who would fain do ill Offices between the King and his People, and among other things suggest (though falsely) that he hath no manner of regard for the Church, and therefore all Courses are taken to bring her into contempt and disgrace; and I find it a common observation among the very Clergy at Dublin, that except four or five, none since the Revolution, but the lowest, in some sense or other, of the People, (as in Jeroboam's time) men meriting as little from the Government as from God and the World, have been graced with the chief Preferments in the Church; which hath given great offence to many, as if it were done purposely to expose her. All this may be true; but why should it be imputed to the King? It being impossible for him to know men, but as they are represented; and no doubt of it, but unqualified Persons have been recommended by some, purposely to bring an Odium both upon him and the Church; and it is to be feared they have had too much of their design this way. And it hath been the business of others, especially in Ireland, to recommend Men for no other Qualification than their Super-conformity: they seemed to be jealous of Presbytery, and sought out Men, however otherwise unqualified, that would be sure not to dispense (though to save a Soul) with a Syllable of the Rubric.  
But nothing has been more fatal to her Reputation, than those seandalous Removes of her dignified Clergy, of which, as I was informed, there have been more in that Kingdom since the Revolution, than in all the last four Reigns. The late Duke of Ormond, a great Lover of the Church, knew this well enough; and therefore would never endure it, unless from a Bishopric to an Archbishopric, and that only in cases extraordinary. The greatest Sticklers for Episcopacy, when the times required striking for it, who would never consent to part with any of the least Privileges annexed to it, were sufficiently aware how mischievous and destructive this Course was to its very Constitution; and therefore always declared against it, and not only consented, but in all Debates relating thereunto, earnestly pressed, that no Bishop should remove, or be translated from the Bishopric which he should first undertake, unless when the necessary good of the Church, rather than the convenience of the Person to be removed, required it. But your Lordship has, it seems, been of another mind, and 'twere well if you could yet live to be otherwise. Have you not Win— r or any other better than Wor— r now in your eye? and are you not ready to make t'other step when occasion serves? when will you settle at this rate? when will you allow yourself a resting time, that you may prepare for another Journey which you must soon go? I have often heard it said that the Church could never be destroyed but by herself; and I am persuaded, were it not for the scandalous Lives of many, and the cold, dead, lazy way of preaching of almost all our Clergy, together with such irregular, covetous, and unwarrantable Courses as are practised in these Removes, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but she would, in spite of all opposition, still flourish. And that she may, and your Lordship hereafter contribute to it, shall be the daily Prayer of the Church's and your Lordship's Wellwisher,  
E. D.  
FINIS.