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[Perceval .Arthur Philip]
An address to the Deans and Chapters.
on the election of Bishops:
London, 1833.

Presented by tlie Author

AN

ADDRESS

DEANS AND CHAPTERS

OF THE
CATHEDRAL CHURCHES
IN
ENGLAND AND WALES,
ON THE

ELECTION OF BISHOPS:
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A
PRAYER FOR THE, ORTHODOX CATHOLICS, WHILE THEIR
CHURCH IS UNDER PERSECUTION.

" Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." — Ps. lxxxvii. 3.

PRESBYTER IN THE DIOCESE OF CANTERBURY.
Perceval Arthur PWiWb '
in  i_ i
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD,
AND WATERLOO PLACe7pALL MALL.
1833.

LONDON:
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

A PRAYER
For the Orthodox Catholics while their Church is under
Persecution.

Read 74th Psalm; then say,
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast pur
chased to thyself an Universal Church by the precious
blood of thy dear Son, we beseech thee mercifully to look
down upon that pure and apostolic branch of it in these
realms, which is now suffering from the unhallowed coun
sels of daring and presumptuous men. We acknowledge
with shame and sorrow, that we have richly deserved thy
wrath, and that our sins and wickednesses and neglects
of duty have justly called forth this affliction from thy
hands. Yet, O gracious Lord, who writest bitter things
against us, and makest us to possess our former iniquities,
we beseech thee now to turn away from thy great wrath,
and from the fierceness of thy anger. Remove far from
us, if it may please thee, for thy Son's sake, the evils that
encompass and threaten us ; or, if it be more for thy ho
nour that they should be suffered to fall upon us, enable
us by thy Holy Spirit to bear them as thy servants
should, and in meekness, patience, and forgiveness of
our enemies, to glorify thee in adversity, whom we
have failed to honour in prosperity. And, forasmuch as
the preservation of pure and sound religion, and of the
truths which our forefathers received from the Apostles,
and have delivered unto us, depends, under thy Provi
dence, on the firmness and fidelity of those who are en-
a 2

trusted with the charge of spiritual things, we beseech
thee so to guide and govern the minds of thy servants the
Bishops and pastors of thy flock, that they may faithfully
and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred
ministry of thy Church. So strengthen them, 0 Lord,
with might, by thy Spirit, in the inner man, that no hope
of human favour, no fear of earthly suffering, may induce
them to make shipwreck of a good conscience, and to
betray their trust, by choosing into the place of the Apos
tles unsound or improper men. We implore thee to
forgive our rulers the sins which they have committed
agaiust thee in profaning thy sanctuary, in despising thy
ministers, and trampling upon thy sacred ordinances.
Turn their hearts, O good Lord, we pray thee, and awaken
them to such a sense of their misconduct, that they may
yet glorify thy name, and obtain acceptance at thy hand,
for Jesus' sake, and that thine anger may be turned away
from this whole nation. And O blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, as the time of thy return to visit and to judge the
earth draweth nigh, pour out, we pray thee, upon thy
people so large a measure of thy grace, and of the gifts of
the Holy Ghost, that both the knowledge of thy mercy
may be made known in distant lands which have not yet
received thee, and an increase of faith and holiness take
place among those that are already called by thy name,
that so it may please thee of thy gracious goodness,
shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and- to
hasten thy kingdom, that we, with all those that are de
parted in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our
perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul,
in thy eternal and everlasting glory, where with the Fa
ther and the Holy Ghost, thou reignest one God, world
without end. Amen.
Ember Weelt. September 1833.

PREFACE TO THE ADDRESS.

Dark and evil must the days be in which neces
sity calls forth such a publication as this. Let
the blame be to them who make, not to him who
only answers to that call. If the prelates whose
names are here mentioned are offended at it, I
desire it may be considered that all that I have
done is to transcribe their names from the public
papers, and to state nakedly and distinctly some
of the enactments of the Bill for which they voted,
and some of the evils resulting from it, which they
have aided to inflict upon the Church of Christ.
If for so doing they deem any apology to be due
from me, I do, in truth, in sadness and singleness
of heart, offer them all the apology which a servant
of Jesus Christ should offer, when, in contending
for his Master's honour, he is forced to lift up the
veil that would conceal or obscure conduct which
is injurious to it. More they cannot require, un
less they can maintain that I have offended against
ecclesiastical discipline. If they can do this — if
they can shew that during the first six centuries,
or during any age of the Church, when a Bishop

VI

of one Diocese broached novel and strange doc
trines, or assisted the persecutors of the Church,
it was held unlawful for a presbyter in another
diocese (praised be God for preserving my own dio
cesan from that snare; reward him, O Lord, and
strengthen him for thy service, through Jesus
Christ !) to point out to the orthodox the evil ten
dency of such conduct, then I will both recall
this publication as far as shall be in my power, and
make every amends which shall be judged right
and proper. It is to their conduct as members of
the civil legislature, not as Bishops of the Catholic
Church, that I have ventured to call attention.
If any of them, which God grant ! is sorry for the
part he took, is it too much to expect that, as the
offence to the Church was open, the acknowledg
ment of it should be also ? Or, let them prove, if
they can, that the course which they pursued is
according to the truth of Scripture, as the Catholic
Church has received and taught it.

AN

ADDRESS, &c.

Very Reverend and Reverend Brethren,
Let me request you to read carefully the following
list : —
The Most Rev. E. V. Harcourt, Archbishop of York.
The Most Rev. R. Whateley, Archbishop of Dublin.
The Right Rev. C. J. Blomfield, Bishop of London.
The Right Rev. C. R. Sumner, Bishop of Winchester.
The Right Rev. G. H. Law, Bishop of Bath and Wells.
The Right Rev. J. B. Sumner, Bishop of Chester.
The Right Rev. E. Maltby, Bishop of Chichester.
The Hon. and Rt. Rev. E. Grey, Bishop of Hereford.
The Hon. and Rt. Rev. H. Ryder, Bp. of Lichfield and Coventry.
The Right Rev. E. Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff.
The Right Rev. H. Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich.
It contains the names of those among the Clergy
who, on the 19th of July, 1833, were found united
with Dissenters, Papists, Socinians, and other
reckless laymen, in forcing through the civil
legislature, a measure affecting the Church in
Ireland, which the Spiritual Pastors of that
Church did, with almost unanimous voice, de-

clare to be injurious to the spiritual interests
of their flocks. Under the sanction of these
names, a decree has gone forth, that the number
of the Apostles in the Orthodox Catholic Church
in Ireland shall be reduced nearly one half: that
the Sees from which the Bishops are to be taken
shall, as they fall vacant, be conferred upon men
holding other Sees, without their consent being
asked in the matter, and without the intervention
of any Ecclesiastical authority whatsoever : and
that the remainder of the Bishops shall be sub
jected, in the discharge of some of their Aposto
lical and Episcopal functions, to the control of a
mixed board of Ecclesiastics and laymen, re
movable by men (the King's Ministers) whom the
law of the land, since 1829, contemplates as not
necessarily being in the communion of the Church.
No disrespect is here intended to those whose
names are given, nor ought it to be supposed that
they will consider themselves aggrieved by it. That
which they, as public men, have openly done in the
face of God and man, is fairly open to comment and
observation. They cannot think, nor do they
probably wish, that it should be forgotten. At all
events it can matter very little to them whether it
is recorded here or not: there is one book in
which the record has been entered with an inde
lible pen : I mean the book of God's remembrance,
to whom at the great day they must one and all
account for their share in this transaction. He,

9
and not mortal man, will be their Judge at that
day ; He who can read the heart, and understand
the motive that prompted them, which man cannot
do. If we must allude to motives at all, we are
bound to judge as Christians ; and, with the cha
rity which " thinketh no evil," to believe that they
thought themselves to be actuated by amiable and
praiseworthy motives in the course which they
adopted. This does not, and cannot affect the
matter. A Bishop in the earlier days of persecu
tion, might have thought that he was actuated by
a praiseworthy love of peace, and an amiable re
gard to the temporal comforts of his Clergy, when,
in the hope of staving off persecution, he offered
sacrifice and endeavoured to persuade his Clergy
to do the same. The Church, as far as I am
aware, never inquired into or listened to the mo
tives: these were before his Judge, his conduct
was before the Church, and with that they dealt.
It is only to the simple facts of the conduct of
these most reverend and right reverend prelates,
and to what they have done, that there is any
desire to call your attention. Is it not beyond the
reach of denial, that the Act which these prelates
assisted to pass invades the spiritual authority of
the Church ; removes the safeguard which the
prescience of the Holy Spirit has placed for the
preservation of the Catholic Faith ; and tramples
under foot the ordinances of the Son of God ?
For whereas our blessed Lord has entrusted in

10
Ireland the care of the spiritual wants of his
Church to the spiritual officers of that Church, the
Bishops and Clergy, this Act of Parliament decrees
alterations in things spiritual, not only without
consulting them, but in direct opposition to their
solemn remonstrances; in which they protest
against it " as deeply injurious to the spiritual pri
vileges, rights, and interests of the Church," as
" totally opposed to their system of Ecclesiastical
polity, inconsistent with the spiritual authority of
the prelates, calculated to impede the extension of
the principles of their Church among the people,
and highly injurious to the progress of true
religion in that country '."
It was in defiance of this solemn remonstrance,
that the prelates, whose names are here given,
aided a party composed in part of persons out of
the pale of the Church, to do that which they,
whom God had made the judges of the matter, did
in their Master's name declare to be hurtful and
injurious to the Church.
When, before, in the annals of the Church, if
we except the usurpations of the Bishop of Rome,
in the abuse of his patriarchal office, was it ever
known that Bishops presumed to dictate to Bishops,
in the regulation of the affairs of their own<dio-
ceses ? Yet here a handful of Bishops in the pro-

1 See Petition of Irish Clergy presented to the House of Lords
by the Archbishop qf Canterbury.

11
vinces of Canterbury and York, together with the
Metropolitan of Leinster, not in a synod of the
Church, but in an assembly which is actually com
posed in part, and for any thing that the law says
to the contrary, may be composed entirely, of
persons out of the Communion of the Church, join
hands with the Socinians, who deny the Divinity
of the eternal Son of God, with the Romanists,
who pay to a dead woman J the honour due to the
Almighty, and with other Dissenters from the
Church, to pass decrees by which all the Bishops,
in the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and
Connaught, and all their metropolitans, are com
manded, in certain points, to order the affairs of
their dioceses, at the direction of a mixed board
of laymen and ecclesiastics, removable by the mi
nisters of the crown, whom, as was before observed,
the law of the land contemplates as Dissenters,
Romanists, and Socinians. Thus the rules of the
Catholic Church are openly violated2 ; the Divine
1 In the Psalter of our Lady, what David ascribed to the
Lord, is ascribed to the Virgin Mary, by the substitution of her
for his, and Lady for Lord. This book, which received the
highest encomiums at the time of its appearing, has never been
disowned by the Romish Church. They in that Church who
assumed the authority of placing " the Holy Scriptures" on the
list of forbidden books, have never placed " the Psalter of our
Lady" there.
3 Extract from the eighty-eighth Canon of the Code of the
universal Church. The Canon was made A.D. 341.
" It seems good that he (the Metropolitan) should have pre-

12
commission set aside ' ; and the express injunc
tions of the Holy Ghost made of none effect 2 ;
" So that we are become an open shame to our
enemies, a very scorn and derision unto them that
are round about us 8."
To show how directly this Act of Parliament
is at variance with the commands of the Holy
Spirit, as set forth in Scripture, look to the mixed
commission, in which men who may be lay mem
bers of a Bishop's flock, are empowered to controul
him whom God has commanded them to obey ;
and that in a point of such intimately spiritual
moment as the ordaining Elders to places in his
diocese. The Bishop says to the lay-commis
sioner, " by warrant of Holy Scripture," Heb. xiii.
17. I require you to obey me in spiritual matters."
The lay-commissioner answers, " By virtue of Act
cedence in honour : and that the other Bishops do nothing of
great importance, without him, according to the ancient decrees
of our fathers ; or those things only which belong to their respec
tive dioceses, and to the districts which are attached to them.
For each Bishop has authority over his own diocese, and governs
it according to the measure of his piety, and has the care of all
the country under it ; so as both to ordain Presbyters and Deacons,
and lo determine every thing with judgment. But* beyond this
let him undertake nothing without the Metropolitan ; nor he
without the consent of the rest."
' Luke xxii. 29. Matt, xxviii. 20.
2 Heb. xiii. 17. Tit. i. 5.
3 Psalm lxxix. 4. See the letter of Dr. M'Hale, one of the
Romish Bishops in Ireland, to the Bishop of Exeter.

13
of Parliament, I will, on the contrary, controul you
in the discharge of your duties." The Bishop says,
" By warrant of God's word, (Tit. i. 5.) I am com
missioned to ordain Elders, in my diocese, where
they shall seem to me to be needed." The com
missioner, be he layman or ecclesiastic, it matters
not, replies, " By warrant of Act of Parliament,
§. 116. I am commissioned to forbid you." The
Bishop says, " I am answerable to Almighty God that
I do ordain them." The commissioner replies, " But
you are answerable to Lord Grey, and the House
of Commons, that you do not." Thus " the king
dom of this world" is put in direct opposition to
"the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ."
" The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers
take counsel together, against the Lord, and
against his anointed. Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us." (Ps.
ii. 2, 3.)
Verv Reverend and Reverend Brethren, as the
safety and welfare of the Church depends, under
God's Providence, in a very great degree upon
the soundness and fidelity of the Chief Pastors ',
1 The opinion of the early Church, both before and after the
Nicene Council, on the subject of translations, may be gathered
from the following rules :
Eleventh Canon of the Ante-nicene Code, commonly called
Apostolical. " Let not a Bishop be allowed to leave his own
diocese and leap into another, though he be violently importuned
by many, without some just cause compelling him to do so,

14
it is natural that at this trying juncture the
eyes of the whole Church should be turned to
you : and with this view have I ventured to ad
dress you, that, in the event of the removal of
the Bishop to whose cathedral your Chapter is
annexed, you may not be taken by surprise, but
may have well and maturely considered, and made
up your mind, as to the course which your duty
to Christ and to his Church requires at your hands,
remembering the solemn account which you must
one day give before the tribunal of God. As to
what that course should be there is no desire here
to express an opinion ; nor can you need to know
the sentiments of one who has rather need to learn
of you. The opinion of others, if favourable to
the election of any man, would not clear you of
guilt in the sight of God, if you proceeded to elect
him, while your own heart told you it was wrong :
on account of his being able to bring greater good to the
people there by his godly doctrine ; and this not of his own
head, but by the judgment and earnest request of many other
Bishops." Hundredth Canon of the Post-Nicene Code, or Code Univer
sal. A.D. 341. "Let not a Bishop be translated from one
diocese to another, either of his own accord, or by any force of
the people or Bishops, but let him remain in the Church to which
he was first called."
First Canon of the Council of Sardis. A.D. 347. " If any
Bishop remove from a lesser city to a greater, through covetous
ness, and an affectation of power, it seems good to all the Bi
shops that such ought not to enjoy even lay communion."

15
nor, if unfavourable, need it weigh with you to
reject him if, seriously and conscientiously, you
believed that the interests of the Apostolic Church,
and the holy ordinances of our Lord, might be
safely committed to his charge. It is a simple
matter of conscience, a matter which involves the
honour of our blessed Master, the essential cha
racter of the Catholic Church, the welfare- of true
religion, the spiritual interests of the members of
Christ's flock, and the eternal salvation of your
souls. Brethren, the position which you hold in the
Church, the trust which is committed to you is
one of the most awful and tremendous responsi
bility. By what means it has come to pass that
the right which formerly was acknowledged to be
in the whole body of a diocese to choose their
chief pastor has become vested in a few clergy
who hold offices in the cathedral, but need not
have any cure of souls in the diocese, there is no
need to inquire l. It is enough that, for the pre
sent, in your hands is placed the trust, on your
heads rests the responsibility. Let the person
recommended to you for election be who he may,
you are the individuals whom the Church at pre
sent vests, and recognizes as vested, with authority
to judge of his fitness. If, upon due deliberation,
you are conscientiously satisfied that he is indeed
1 See Note at the end.

16
well fitted for the office, you proceed at once to
the election ; and your fellow-men are bound to
suppose that you have good grounds for your de
cision. In the formal instrument of address to
the Bishop Elect you declare such choice to have
been made after " prayers to Almighty God, and
after mature and serious consideration :'' we are
no judges of the sincerity of those prayers, of the
strict and conscientious nature of that considera
tion ; we are bound in charity to believe that it is
as you solemnly declare it to be. Any failure in
any of these points is a matter for which He only
whose servants you are can and will call you to
account. But if, upon calm deliberation, you shall feel
convinced that the person recommended to you is
unfit for the office, then painful it becomes your
duty, as you value the honour of your Lord and
Saviour, as you tender the preservation of Ca
tholic and Apostolic truth, as you regard the
welfare of true religion and the safety of the souls
of your fellow-men, by all your hopes of heavenly
happiness, by all your fears of the wrath of God,
as you shalf stand before His tribunal to account
to Him for what you do in this life, to reject that
man and to refuse to elect him.
Are you unprepared for such a step ? Well then
-consider, with the eyes of men, of Christians, of
angels, and of God himself upon you, what other
you will choose. Brethren, I beseech you, suffer

17
the word of exhortation. I am speaking to faithful
men, who are zealous for their Master's service.
But we have lived so long in peace and safety that
many among us are unprepared for scenes of a
different kind : we have been so long surrounded
by those who professed friendship to our Zion,
that we require some consideration before we can
see clearly what course our duty points out when
the foes of God stalk forth from their hiding-places
and array themselves in open day against the king
dom of His Son. It is probable that they who
have not as yet well weighed our altered circum
stances, will be apt to pause to consider the conse
quences of such a course as that here recom
mended. Let me, with veneration and affection,
remind them that, in matters of duty and fidelity
to our crucified Redeemer, whose commission we
bear, we have, if I may so speak, nothing to do
with consequences. The points to be aimed at
are to clear our own consciences, to save our own
souls, to defend our Master's honour ; the conse
quences being left to God. Let us do our duty,
and leave the rest to him, in the full and certain
faith which, as Christians, we must have, that that
must in the end be the wisest and most prudent
course, which is most in accordance with His will.
This rule will hold the same let the consequences
be never so tremendous. Yes, brethren, though
exile or death were before us, we may not shrink.
" He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he that

18
loseth his life for Christ's sake shall keep it unto
life eternal." Luke ix. 24. John xii. 25.
Nevertheless, let us, if you will, consider the
consequences ; that even our enemies may not be
able to say that the thing was taken in hand rashly
and wantonly, but soberly, discreetly, advisedly,
and in the fear of God. Let us first consider per
sonal consequences: for, after much uninterrupted
peace, men, not unnaturally, are apt to be timid
and sensitive on that score. Let us suppose then —
forgive the supposition — that some man should be
tempted to turn aside from the course which his
conscience tells him to be most in accordance with
his duty to God, through fear of worldly personal
consequences. The first which will probably
occur to his imagination is the possible loss of his
stall or canonry. If the eyes of any individual,
thus halting between two opinions, shall light upon
these pages, let me entreat him, before he pro
ceeds further, to retire to his room, and in single
ness of heart let him pray for guidance to his
Father which seeth in secret ; and let him, in his
thoughts, place before him, on one side the clear
ing of his conscience before his Almighty Judge, on
the other the proceeds of his chapter dividend ;
and then " utrum, horum mavis accipe." May he
receive grace and strength firmly to adhere to
that which the Spirit of his God shall point out to
him as the most valuable ! But perhaps it is not
so much for himself, but on account of his family
12

19
that he hesitates, and cannot bring his mind to
do what conscience clearly indicates to be right,
through fear of the inconveniences to which they
may be exposed thereby. Beloved brethren, the
voice of nature is strong, and it will needs cost
many a tug at the heart-strings to adopt a course
which may, even by possibility, be hurtful to the
comfort of those so near and dear. But the voice
of the God of nature is stronger ; and what saith
the Scripture ? " He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt. x. 37.)
In this respect " I am as thou art ;" and indeed it
seems very probable that, before the trial is over
which awaits those who are faithful to their Lord,
many of us, laity and clergy alike, may be put to
many privations; which, after the abundance which
hitherto it has pleased Almighty God to grant us,
it will he hard and grievous to bear. But what
then, brethren ? shall I, on that account, shrink
back and disobey my Master's call, when he bids
me suffer for His sake ? Surely I cannot in sin
cerity believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came down from heaven, and suffered on the cross
for my salvation, but what I must be willing rather
to earn a scanty maintenance by labouriug with
my hands, or beg my bread from door to door,
than wilfully dishonour Him, and betray the trust
which He has committed to me. And this I am sure
will be the feeling of your breasts also, especially
if you take into consideration these three things :
b2

20
First, if, by a compromise of your duty, and by
acting contrary to the dictates of your conscience,
in a matter so intimately affecting the honour of
your Saviour and the welfare of His Church, you
shall succeed for a time in securing the possession
of your present earthly income, whose pay and
wages will you be receiving ? It cannot be God's;
no Christian, no, nor Heathen, can suppose that
God will pay a man for dishonouring Him, and
loving this world better than the next. Whose
wages must they be ? Think of that, whosoever
thou art that waverest, and then ask thyself whe
ther it can be kind to thy wife and children to feed
them with the bread of such a master ?
Secondly, consider that no compromise or sur
render on your part can avail to save your cathe
dral preferments. The spoiler has gone round and
marked your dwellings, and his ruthless hand will
be laid upon you, whether you are faithful to your
Lord or not. And the only question is, whether
honour or dishonour shall attend the overthrow
of those noble monuments of the piety and devo
tion of a better age.
Lastly, consider that if a concern for the well-
being of your families weighs, as it needs must
weigh with you, you can no otherwise secure that
well being, you can no otherwise secure that every
thing that is really good for them shall be provided
for them, than by adhering strictly to the honour
and service of him from whom every good gift and

21
every perfect gift proceedeth : remembering our
Lord's injunction, " Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness," and having confi
dence in his promise that, in that case, " all these
things shall be added thereto." Confirmed as that
promise is by the previous testimony of one who
says, " I have been young, and now am old, and
yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging their bread."
But perhaps it is worse than this, and that not
only loss of income but imprisonment may await
you, if, in a matter committed to your trust, you
act according to your conscience, and do your
duty to your God and Saviour. It is even so. The
nation which has struck from her statute book, as
foul and loathsome blots, every restraint upon the
civil and religious liberty of Dissenters, Romanists,
and Socinians, still retains upon it laws whereby
the commissional servants of God in the Orthodox
Catholic Church, are liable to loss of worldly goods,
and to perpetual imprisonment (25 Hen. viii. c. 20.)
if they refuse respectively to elect and consecrate
to the place of Apostles in the Church of Christ,
any men whom the Prime Minister of the day may
recommend to them ; that Prime Minister being
contemplated by the eye of the law as a Dissenter,
Romanist, or Socinian '. Yes, though the man
1 It is a mere quibble to say that it is not the Minister but the
King who appoints. All that the King of England does, is by
the advice of his Ministers, or rather they do it in the King's

22
whom such a Minister may recomtriend may be
unsound in his faith, unholy in his life; if the
Chapter hesitate to elect him, if they hesitate to
declare that they have done so after solemn
prayer to Almighty God, and due and mature
deliberation ; or if faithful Bishops shall hesitate to
consecrate such a one, both Bishops and Clergy
are liable to the pains and penalties of a praemunire1,
to outlawry, loss of all their worldly goods, and to
perpetual imprisonment. It is not probable that
any Minister would dare to advise his Majesty to
enforce the penalties of that profane and wicked
statute ; but we should be prepared for all conse
quences, and it is certainly possible that they might.
Well, brethren, suppose they did, and that to prison
you must go. You will have for your companions
the noble Paul, the affectionate Peter, the faithful
Silas ; you will have Polycarp and Ignatius with you,
Cyprian and Basil, Latimer and Ridley, Ken and
Sancroft, yea, the whole noble army of martyrs and
confessors. Shall the look of their prison make
you and me shrink back from joining their blessed
company ? Alas ! my brother, if it does, with what
hearts shall we behold the day of judgment ? when,
together with them, we shall be placed before the
dread tribunal, and see them receive the crown of
glory that fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens,
name. Such quibbling would not hold in things of earth ; will
it hold in points of conscience, and in things of Heaven 1
1 Note at the end.

while from us our Saviour's face will be averted in
shame before the holy angels, because we have
been ashamed of him in this adulterous and sinful
generation ? Mark viii. 38.
Here the power of the oppressors ends. Not
even their statute book will warrant them in add
ing death to confiscation and imprisonment, for
fidelity to our Master's service. But, if it did, still
I trust we should be ready to go, not to prison
only, but also to die, for the testimony and the truth
of Jesus. Cease then to calculatepersonal conse
quences. They ought to have, and can have, no
weight with those whose hearts and affections are
devoted to the Lord, to turn them from the right
path. But what will be the consequences to the
Church ? the next inquiry will be. Surely, our
best and wisest plan will be to leave those to Him
who has promised to take care of them. One
thing is certain, the spiritual interests of the
Church of Christ can never be promoted by com
promise of duty, by gulping conscience. Let us
be true to our God, and we may rely upon it that
he will be true to us and to his Church, according
to his most sure promise, " The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." So long" as, in faith
fulness and truth, we adhere to him, vain will be
all the machinations of our enemies : " He that
dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn ; the
Lord shall have them in derision." Still it will be

24
the part of prudent men to anticipate the probable
consequences, that we may not be taken un
awares, nor, in the hour of trial, have to seek and
to doubt about our course, as men destitute of
forethought and consideration.
Let us first consider the probable consequences,
which are these. If the ministers of the crown
are, what with their lips they profess to be, friends
to the orthodox Catholic Church, hitherto estab
lished in this kingdom, the mere knowledge of the
wishes and conscientious feeling of the Clergy,
will induce them to be cautious in their recom
mendation, and to name only such persons as are
beyond the reach of reasonable exception. Thus
the whole difficulty will be removed, and things
be as they ought to be ; the State co-operating
with the Church, in providing for the welfare and
preservation of sound and apostolic religion l. But
if the Ministers of the Crown be, what from their
acts.we should naturally judge them to be, hostile
to the Apostolic Church, and aiming either at its
disgrace, or at its separation from the State, by
1 Lest any in their zeal should be inclined to suppose that the
fact of there being now no security against the Minister of the
Crown being a person out of the Communion of the Catholic
Church, is in itself a reason for rejecting at once any one re
commended from that quarter, let them consider that so far is
this from being so, that St. Paul mentions it as highly desirable
that one, otherwise duly qualified for the ministry, should "have
a good report of them that are without." 1 Tim. iii. 7.

25
any means, fair or foul, then they will persist in
some obnoxious recommendation. If the Clergy,
as fearing the wrath of God, refuse to comply,
and choose another, the only step which it seems
probable that the Ministers of the Crown will take,
is, to content themselves with confiscating the
temporalities of the See, and saying to the Clergy,
" as you will not violate your consciences to please
us, we will plunder the endowments which not
we, but others, have dedicated to the service of
your God, and you may provide for your Bishop
as you may." If such is the line they adopt ', then
1 To deter any clergyman from undertaking the spiritual charge
of one of the condemned dioceses, now stripped of all its temporal
emoluments (the only apparent object of such gratuitous service
could be the honour of God,) the Lord Chancellor of England (I
heard him myself) suggested a clause (happily, it was not pressed,)
that such person should be incapable of holding any ecclesiastical
benefice whatsoever. Have these men no fear of God ? " Remem
ber the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem, how
they said, down with it, down with it, even to the ground." It
is no excuse for their wickedness to say that they only " follow
a multitude to do evil," and do what they think Trill please the
people ; for not only is this forbidden by the Holy Ghost,
(Exod. xxiii. 2.) but even the very heathens acknowledged that
it was inconsistent with the character of an honest and upright
man. " Justum et tenacem propositi virum, non civium ardor
prava jubentium  mente quatit solida." If these men are
Christians, (let it always be remembered that we have no secu
rity from the law that any of them shall be, unless the Socinians,
who blaspheme our Lord, are to be accounted such,) let me
entreat them, not in their council-chamber, but in their private

26
« arise, O God, maintain thine own cause ; re
member how the foolish men blaspheme thee
daily ;" make their faces ashamed, O Lord, that
they may seek thy name ; " that this people may
know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou
hast turned their heart back again." And now I
think I hear the men of this world, whose only
estimate for the value of any thing is the price
which it will bring in the money-market, asking
in scorn, " whom will you get to undertake the
office, when we have taken away the emoluments
of it ?" Servants of the living God ! let us reply
by asking another question, " Where is the man,
whom the Lord has admitted into his household,
who, so long as his Master gives him ' food and
raiment,' will dare to hazard his salvation by re
fusing, when duly called upon, to serve his Mas
ter in the hour of need, through such considera-
closets, to read the passages which follow ; and when they lie
down at night, on the bed from which it is possible they will
not rise again in this world, let them, calmly, and in the fear of
God, consider how far the conduct which they have been pur
suing, resembles that here spoken of.
" Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto
them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be cru
cified." Mark xv. 15.
" Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his
hands to vex certain of the Church. And he killed James the
brother of John with the sword ; and because he saw il pleased
the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also." Acts xii.
1, 2, 3.

27
tions ?" " Curse ye Meroz, saith the angel of the
Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof,
because they came not to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty,"
But it is right to take into account, not the
probable consequences only, but also the possible
ones. Let us consider, then, what other course
it would be in the power of the ministers of the
crown to pursue. If a chapter of a vacant diocese,
on proceeding to elect a Bishop, shall, through
conscientious conviction of the unfitness of the
individual, in the fear of God, refuse to elect the
nominee of the crown, and shall choose in his
stead1 some faithful man in whose soundness,
judgment, firmness, and fidelity, they may safely
rely, the impious statute of Henry VIII. gives
the King the power, as far as an Act of Parlia
ment can, to set aside the canonical election of
the ministers of God's Church ; to sentence them
to outlawry, loss of worldly goods, and perpetual
imprisonment; and, by letters patent under the
1 It will not be necessary for them at once to take this step.
If they have hope that the civil power will be accessible to rea
son, and to a regard to decency and religion, it will be sufficient
for them to reject the unworthy candidate ; and to wait till the
ministers of the crown, having made more accurate investiga
tion, shall have found some one to recommend, who, in the judg
ment of the electors, is fitted for the office. It will be a matter
for their discretion which course they adopt. If they proceed at
once to elect another, no one can deny that it is free for them to
do so, and that such a course is strictly canonical.

28
great seal, to nominate and present to the See the
rejected and unworthy candidate.
It is doubtful whether such an impious exercise
of arbitrary power, would be attempted in the
present day ; but, for the sake of the argument, we
will suppose that it would : what would be the
next step ?
The person nominated by the Crown would
either be a Bishop already, or he would not. In
either case some assistance of the spiritual officers
of God's Church would be necessary to carry the
wishes of the Crown into effect, either by invest
ment and installation, if already consecrated; or
by consecration if not. The first difficulty would
arise, probably, from the individual himself; who,
if not altogether destitute of conscientious feeling,
and the fear of God, would hesitate to persevere,
ag knowing that by no fiction whatever could he
believe that he was " called according to the will
of our Lord Jesus Christ," (answer of Bishop Elect
at Consecration Service) to the office of a Bishop
in that diocese, in which the ministers of God
had canonically rejected him. Before we need
proceed further with the case, we must suppose
that there must be more persons than one among
those listed iff the household of God, thus madly
and presumptuously wicked, else the scheme
would stop short at once ; for none would con
secrate, and none lend their hands to institute a
canonically rejected person (" that it may please

29
thee to bless this our brother elected, and to send
thy grace upon him, that he may duly, execute
the office whereunto he is called," (prayer of the
Archbishop at consecration). But let us still
suppose (craving pardon of our prelates and
clergy for the grossness of the supposition) that
it were otherwise, and that by an abuse of the
authority of the civil power/ the person were en
abled to present himself to the diocese which had
rejected him, and claim to be their Bishop. What
course would it be their duty then to pursue?
There is no difficulty in answering the question.
They must refuse to receive him. If it seem rash
presumption in a single Presbyter to answer such
a question, let it be replied, that the answer is
furnished, not by him, but by the Church of God.
The rules of the primitive Church supplied it.
" If a Bishop availing himself of the assistance of
secular princes, shall obtain a Church by their
means, let him be deposed and excommunicated,
and all who communicate with him." The words
form the thirtieth of the Canons of the Primi
tive Code, the antiquity and authenticity of which
the learned Beveridge so ably vindicated ; it occurs
in that part which was afterwards adopted both
into the Eastern and Western Code ; so that it
has all the authority of the Ante and Post-Nicene
Church. Thus the course for the clergy of the
diocese to pursue with regard to the rejected can
didate is broadly and distinctly marked out. But

30
what, in the mean time, will be the method most
proper to be pursued with regard to the person
duly and canonically elected, if they have adopted
this course ? There is as little hesitation in an
swering this question. Let them apply to the
neighbouring Bishops for his consecration. If
those nearest at hand refuse, to those farther off;
until they have made application, and been re
fused, by all the orthodox Bishops in England,
Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and America, they
cannot say that God has put it out of their power
to provide conscientiously for the safety of His
House. Let them do this, and let them not fear
that they will fail. " Them that honour me,"
saith God, " I will honour, and those that despise
me shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. ii. 30.
If such a course shall lead to the separation of
Church and State, let the blame fall where it is
due, on those who would tyrannize over the
Church of God. If the only condition on which
the State will agree to the continuance of the
connection be, that the Clergy shall violate their
consciences, and betray their trust, and make a
mock of holy things, by choosing as " meet to be
elected," a person, whom in their consciences they
believe to be unfit, then, indeed, it is no longer
possible that the connection shall continue ; but
let God above bear witness that the separation is
by their compulsion, not of our seeking.
This consideration may serve to remove the

31
fear which good men may, at first, entertain lest
this be a resistance to " the powers that be," and
therefore contrary to Scriptural injunction. Let
us " compare spiritual things with spiritual," and
set this text by the side of that : " Render unto
Cagsar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God
the things which be God's ;" by which it will ap
pear that unlimited obedience is indeed due to the
civil power, in the things which belong to it — that
is, in civil and temporal matters ; and accordingly
in this address you will find no allusion to the
temporal enactments of the Irish Bill, harsh and
unequal as they appear to be 1. If the supreme
civil power in the State were arbitrarily to deprive
us of all our temporal goods, personal as well as
ecclesiastical, I know no resistance which the
Christian religion warrants but meek endurance,
and supplication to Almighty God to strengthen
us and to forgive them. " Here is the patience and
the faith of the saints." But spiritual things God
has committed, not to the civil but to the spiritual
authorities. These are " the powers that be" in

1 Let it never be forgotten, that when the Irish Clergy were
reduced to the extreme of privation, and subsisting, in part,
upon the charitable succours of others, the government of this
country (Earl Grey being Prime Minister) imposed burdens
upon that impoverished class which had heretofore fallen upon
the nobles and wealthy land-owners. It is a new sera in wicked
ness when the rich turn highwaymen, and the pauper's last
shilling is the object of their plunder.

32
these matters : and if the civil power attempts to
trample upon the ordinances of God, we are not
only not bound, we are forbidden by Scripture to
aid or acquiesce in such a transaction : for " we
ought to obey God rather than man ;" and we
must " render to God the things which be God's."
But what, then, becomes, another will ask, of
your acknowledgment of the King as head of the
Church ? It is very true that the Bishops and
pastors of Christ's flock, for the sake of peace and
of the well-being of the state, have agreed to in
vest the supreme civil governor with such a por
tion of their authority that, so long as he acts
according to the laws of the Church, the supreme .
decision of all ecclesiastical matters should be re
ferred to him. But in every case where the
supreme civil power turns round and becomes a
persecutor, and attempts to set aside the laws of
the spiritual Church, and the Divine ordinances,
that headship falls to the ground. The pastors
of Christ's flock cannot, even if they wish it, invest
him with authority to do this. The primitive
Christians could not have given the Roman senate
power to set aside the decrees of the Church and
of the Holy Ghost.
But will not the oath of allegiance militate
against such a course ? No, by no means. For
the very fact of taking the oath acknowledges
the supreme sovereignty of Almighty God; and it
is impossible that, in the act of doing this, we can

33
bind ourselves to obey a deputed earthly sovereign
against our Supreme Heavenly One : or if such is
the meaning of the engagement, its blasphemy and
impiety make it of none effect.
But, brethren, although as long as these im
pious laws remain on the statute-book, it will be
our duty to submit with meekness to the punish
ments that they award, and to endure the loss of
all things, rather than do dishonour to our Lord
and Master ; our duty to ourselves, to our families,
to the nation, to the Church, and to the Founder
of that Church, justifies us in using all the lawful
means within our reach for procuring the repeal
of them. Let all the Clergy who desire permis
sion to exercise their spiritual functions unfettered
by the fear of human tyranny, let all the laity who
consider that the loss of all their worldly goods
and perpetual imprisonment : ought not to await
their pastors for fearing God, and endeavouring
to discharge their consciences to Him, and their
duty to the whole body of the Church ; in short,
1 The evil, monstrous as it has ever been in theory, was not
much felt in practice, while the government was necessarily in
the hands of communicants of our Church, who were wont to
consult the metropolitan as to the persons to be recommended
by the Crown. But it becomes intolerable when the advisers
of the Crown are no longer necessarily members of our Church,
and, whatever their profession may be, act hostilely to it, and
are so far from consulting its wishes that not even the most
solemn remonstrances can induce them to turn from a course
which is declared to be injurious to true religion.
C

34
let all in the Apostolic Church who fear God, and
value the consciences of the teachers of their reli
gion, unite in sending up, from every diocese and
from every parish, humble petitions to those to
whose hands is entrusted the power of making
laws, entreating them for relief from such great
and intolerable grievances.
There can be little doubt that success will attend
our exertions. The members of the present ad
ministration cannot with decency refuse to the
Orthodox Catholics that freedom from civil pe
nalties in matters of conscience which they sought
and obtained for the members of the Church of
Rome. The members of the late administration
will not deny to those of their own communion
that liberty of conscience which they procured for
all others. On the other hand, who will venture
to oppose the prayer of our petition ? Who will
dare to stand up in the face of God and man and
say that outlawry, loss of worldly goods, and per
petual imprisonment ought to be the lot of the
commissioned servants of God if they dare to act
according to their conscience in providing for the
spiritual wants of the Church over which the
Holy Ghost has made them overseers ? No one.
The case needs only to be stated to be admitted.
It is the cause of truth and right, and must pre
vail. And now, brethren, I commend you to God,
and to the word of His grace ; may His Holy

35
Spirit direct, support, and strengthen you in and
to every good work ! And I beseech you, brethren,
pray for me that, having spoken the word of ex
hortation to others, I may have grace and strength
to act according to it myself, when the hour of
trial comes. And may the Lord bruise Satan
under your feet shortly ! The struggle that awaits
us may possibly, nay probably, be severe : but
something seems to whisper that it will not be for
long. The greatness of the enemy's wrath, we
are told, is to arise " because he knoweth that he
hath but a short time." Rev. xii. 12. We have
waited for thy salvation, O Lord! Surely the
night is far spent, the day is at hand ; already
upon the mountains do our seers fancy they can
trace the harbingers of light, and discern the faint
rumblings of His chariot wheels, who returns to
judge the earth. I am,
Very Reverend and Reverend Brethren,
Your faithful but unworthy fellow-servant
in the Gospel of Christ,
A Presbyter in the Church of Canterbury.

c 'Z

NOTES.

A.

The mode of election into the number of chief pastors, which
was exercised by the Apostles of our Lord, is recorded in the
first chapter of Acts ; where we find that, at a solemn meeting,
consisting of one hundred and twenty disciples, two were chosen,
and, after solemn prayer to Almighty God, it was decided by
lot, which of the two should succeed to the vacant office. Who
these one hundred and twenty were, whether only Apostles and
their assistants in the ministry, (the Elders, Luke x. 1. and
the Apostles alone would exceed eighty) or a mixed assembly,
the remaining thirty-nine being simple brethren, we are not in
formed ; we only know that they formed but a small portion of
those who believed in the Lord Jesus, St. Paul speaking of
" above 500 brethren" being assembled " at one time," on some
previous occasion, when the opportunity of seeing their risen
Lord was afforded them. 1 Cor. xv. 6. Thus under the im
mediate sanction of the Holy Ghost, the principle was recognized
of a small portion of the Church, of whom it is not unreasonable
to suppose that two thirds, if not the whole, consisted of persons
in the ministry, being entrusted with this matter, which so im
mediately affects the interests of the whole body.
None of the Canons which have come down to us, (see Beve-
ridge Codex Primitivse Ecclesiae Vindicatus) of the Church, be
tween the decease of the Apostles, and the establishment of the
Christian religion under Constantine, set forth any method of
12

38 t
election, as authorized by the Church, during that time. But
we have reason to conclude that the wishes of the people were
not of necessity consulted, because the thirty-seventh Canon
contemplates the case of a newly-ordained Bishop going to his
diocese, and " not accepted by reason of the perverseness of the
people;'' and the Council of Ancyra (Canon 18.) A.D. 315,
afterwards received into the code of the universal Church, speaks
of the same case.
But some light is thrown upon the matter by the Canons of
the great Nicene Council, (A.D. 325,) which expressly state as
follows. Canon 4. " A Bishop ought to be constituted by all the Bi
shops that belong to the province ; but if this be not practicable
by reason of urgent necessity, or the length of the way, three
must by all means meet together, and when they have the con
sent of those that are absent, signified by letter, then let them
perform the ordination, and the ratification of what is done must
be allowed to the Metropolitan in every province." For, as the
fathers in that Council adopt as their motto, " let ancient cus
toms prevail," (Canon 6.) it is not probable that they made any
violent alteration in this matter. At any rate, such is the method
acknowledged by the Church in the fourth century, which, if it
goes no further, recognizes, first in the Bishops of the province,
and then, in the Metropolitan, the right of rejecting an unworthy
candidate. This is further confirmed by the Council of Antioch,
(A.D. 341,) the Canons of which were received into the univer
sal code : " Let not a Bishop be ordained without a Synod, and
the presence of the Metropolitan, who is to call all his fellow-
bishops to the metropolis by letter, and it is best that all meet ;
but if this be not practicable, yet a majority, at least, ought to be
present, or to give their consent by letter, and then let the ordi
nation be performed, with the presence or suffrage of the majo
rity ; but if they proceed contrary to the decrees, let the ordina
tion be of no force : but if some contradict, out of an affectation
of dispute, let the majority of voices prevail." Cone. Ant.
Can. 19.

39
 Let the constitution of the Church be observed,
namely, that a Bishop be made no otherwise than in a Synod,
and by the judgment of the Bishops, who have power to promote
a deserving man, when the former Bishop is gone to rest."
Cone. Ant. Can. 23.
So again, the Council of Laodicaea, A.D. 367, whose Canons
also were received into the Code Universal, speaks,
" That such Bishops ought to be constituted in their eccle
siastical government by the discretion of the Metropolitan and
the neighbouring Bishops, as have been for a long time tried in
relation to their faith, and in the dispensation of the sincere
word." Cone. Laodic. Can. 12.
And both this Council and that of Antioch show how little
claim was allowed, as of right, to the people in the matter ; for
the Council of Antioch, Can. 18, speaks of a Bishop " not going
to the parish to which he was ordained by reason of the aver
sion of the people;'' and the Council of Laodicaea, Can. 13,
provides, that " the multitude be not permitted to choose them
who are to be ordained to the Priesthood."
But though these Canons were received into the code of the
whole Church (they form the 4th, 38th, 97th, 98th, 116th,
117th, of that Code in JusteU's edition), in the West much
greater weight was allowed to the wishes of the people and of
the clergy.
The 6th Canon of the Council of Sardis (A.D. 347), which
after the defection of the Arians, was composed of Western
Bishops, says, " If one Bishop in a province neglect to meet,
and consent to the ordination of a Bishop desired by the people,
let him be summoned by the letters of the Exarch of the me
tropolis (i. e. the Metropolitan) ; but if he do not come nor send
any answer, let the people have their desire." And from the
decrees put forth by Siricius, Boniface, Coelestine, and Leo,
Bishops of Rome, about the end of the fourth and beginning
of the fifth century, it is clear, that both the clergy and the
people of the vacant diocese, were consulted (as of right) be-

40
fore the Bishops of the province proceeded to consecrate, or the
Metropolitan assented and ratified the deed.
Siricius, in his 10th and 11th Canons, speaks of obtaining
the Episcopal Chair by election of clergy and people. Boni
face complains of parties made among the clergy and people,
for the election of a new Bishop, on occasion of his sickness.
Ccelestine's 18th decree directs, " none to be ordained without
clergy and people." Leo sets forth a somewhat detailed ac
count of the process, 15th decree : " they are not to be reck
oned Bishops who are not chosen by the clergy, nor requested
by the people, nor consecrated by corn-provincial Bishops,
according to the judgment of the Metropolitan."
The writer has no wish to see the election taken out of the
hands of the Chapters in England. The system has worked
well while the government of the country was in the hands of
friends and members of the Church ; and if only the Chapters
and the Bishops be allowed liberty of conscience, which it seems
hard to deny to Christian clergymen, it may continue to work
well, though the government may be hostile to or alien from the
Church. The saying " Let well alone," does not seem liable
to any just exception. But, at the present day, it seems to be
established, that it is not enough for a thing to be good in prac
tice, unless it also squares to some theory : a reason, in short,
is asked for every thing, and, if it be not forthcoming, the
thing is condemned. As it will be difficult to assign a rea
son why a handful of clergy, who need have no cure of souls
in the diocese, should have the exclusive privilege of electing
the Bishop, in all probability some change in the mode of
election will be asked for and obtained, especially if the ca
thedral establishments are to be removed or re-modelled. In
that case it may be as well that the ancient modes, in use in
the best times, should be present to the minds of those who
have to consider the matter. And, with this view, the follow
ing method, founded upon ecclesiastical and scriptural precedent,
has been drawn out, and is, with the utmost deference, sub-

41
nutted to the opinion of those who maybe called upon to deter
mine it.
Upon the vacancy of a Diocese, the Archdeacon, or, in his
absence, the Dean or chief officer of the Church attached to the
see, shall give notice of the same to the Deans of the Rural
Deaneries within the diocese, who shall thereupon proceed to
election as follows :
Each Rural Dean shall summon a meeting of the Church
wardens, two from every parish in his Deanery, who, after attend
ing divine service, shall, in his presence, agree among themselves
as to two clergymen within the limits of the diocese to be re
commended as fit and proper to succeed to the vacant Bishopric ;
and if they cannot agree, it shall be determined by a majority of
votes : and the Rural Dean shall transmit the names of the
persons so recommended to the Archdeacon, or in his absence to
the chief officer of the Church attached to the see.
The Archdeacon, or chief officer as aforesaid, as soon as he
shall have received from the Rural Deans the names of the per
sons recommended from their Deaneries, shall summon a meeting
of the clergy of the diocese, to be held in the Cathedral or
diocesan Church, and shall submit to their consideration the
names of the persons (two from every Deanery) recommended
for the office of Bishop ; thereupon the clergy, having attended
divine service, shall, in his presence, choose out of the list of
persons so recommended, two whom they shall judge best qua
lified, and if they cannot agree, it shall be decided by a majority
of votes. And the Archdeacon shall transmit the names of the
persons so chosen to fhe Archbishop or Metropolitan of the
province. The Metropolitan shall then summon a Synod of Bishops of
the province, and shall submit to them the names of the persons
recommended by the people and elected by the clergy. If it
shall seem to the Episcopal Synod that they are liable to no just
exception, then, after solemn prayers to Almighty God, it shall,
in their presence, and in open court, be decided by lot which
of the two shall be Bishop. D

42

But if it shall seem to the Episcopal Synod that either or both
of the individuals whose names have been transmitted to them
is or are unqualified for the office, then it shall be in the power
of the Metropolitan, with the consent of two-thirds of all the
Bishops of the province, to return to the Archdeacon of the
vacant diocese the name of the person or persons against whom
exception has been taken. And the Archdeacon shall summon
the clergy, who shall choose one or two others, as the case may
be, out of the list of those recommended by the Churchwardens ;
and these being returned to the Archbishop, he shall proceed to
decide between the two as above stated.
If none but lay-communicants were allowed to vote at the
election'of the Churchwardens, every member in communion
with the Church, and none else, would have a share in the elec
tion and appointment of the chief pastor.
This is merely a rough outline, thrown out for the considera
tion of others, who may fill it up if they think it worthy of atten
tion. If each diocese consisted of one hundred parishes (and there
can be little hope of reviving primitive Christianity till they are
reduced to that, or below that number '), divided into Deaneries of
1 This would make the number of dioceses in England and Wales some
where about 140: in which case it might perhaps be advisable to restore St.
David's to its ancient Archiepiscopal rank, and to raise Lincoln and Exeter
into Archbishopricks, each province consisting of about 28 Bishoprics, being
six more than Canterbury now reckons. If it seem to any that so large
an increase would be wholly superfluous, let him consider that in the places
where Christianity was first planted, and where it flourished the purest, the
number of Bishops was much larger in proportion to the extent. In that part
of Asia Minor, which was in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and which
contains 132,000 square miles, there were nearly 400 Bishops. In part of
Italy, containing 30,000 square miles, there were 140 Bishops. In the Patri
archate of Jerusalem, embracing 19,000 square miles, there were 48 Bishops,
and so on in other districts. Bingham's Antiq. Book 7- and Preface. The
celebrated Archbishop Usher, whom the learned Bingham quotes with appro
bation, recommended that each Rural Deanery should have its Bishop. And
certainly if any body thinks that a Bishop with one hundred parishes under his

43
ten parishes each, (which was the original size, as the name im
plies,) there might be, if each Deanery recommended different
persons, as many as twenty for the clergy to select out of ; and
perhaps it might be as well to allow the clergy, in case some one
individual eminently qualified had been omitted by the Church
wardens, to add his name to the two taken out of the Church
wardens' list, and send up three instead of two to the Arch
bishop. B.
Terms of the penalties in 25 Edw. III. and 16 Ric. II. to
which, by 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20. the Clergy who refuse to elect,
the Archbishop and Bishops who refuse to confirm, invest, and
consecrate the nominee of the King (Prime Minister), are liable,
let the man's character for doctrine or morals be what it may —
They " their Procurators, Executors, and Notaries, shall be
attached by their body, and brought to answer : and if they be
convicted, they shall abide in prison without being let to main
prise or bail, or otherwise delivered, till they have made fine and
ransom to the King at his will, and to the party that shall
feel himself aggrieved. And nevertheless, before they be deli
vered, they shall make full renunciation, and find sufficient
surely, that they shall not attempt such things for the time to
come." " They, their Notaries, Procurators, Maintainers, Abettors,
Fautors, and Counsellors, shall be put out of the King' s protec
tion, and their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeit to
our Lord the King.'
superintendence, would not have enough to do, he has very little considered
the nature of his office,— what it is, or rather ought to be, when properly
administered.

THE END.

LONDON:
OILBKRT & RIVINOTON, PRINTERS^
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.