complaints, which have been made unto him by the lords and other men of quality, concerning the multitude of both unlearned and unworthy ministers, which pester the church and are always the causes of great scandal, and too often of schism and divisions therein, and some of 5 them are forced, to the shame of themselves and their calling, for want of means, to beg for their living, and yet are daily made in great numbers, and that directly against the canon of the church, which requires that no man should be made a minister "sine titulo." For 10 remedy of this great abuse and wrong to the church, his majesty has directed his letters to me, and by them required me to call all such bishops to me, as were then in or about the city, and after consultation with them, to send my letters to every several bishop within the pro- 15 vince, to require obedience to the canon of the church, and his majesty's directions according to it; the tenour of which his majesty's letter followeth: Most reverend father in God, right trusty and right entirely beloved counsellor, we greet you well. There is nothing more 20 dear to us, than the preservation of true religion, as it is now settled and established in this our kingdom, to the honour of God, and the great comfort of ourself, and our loyal people; and there can nothing more conduce to the advancement thereof, than the strict observation of such 25 canons of the church, as concern those, that are to take orders in their several times, more especially to the keeping of that particular canon, which enjoineth, that no man or collegiate duty, and were therefore compelled, in order to maintain themselves, to become itinerants, or "to undertake some stipendiary 30 lecture, wherever they could find entertainment, to the great fomenting of faction in the state, the danger of schism in the church, and ruin of both." In conformity with the king's commands, the archbishop declared that the 33rd canon allowed of certain cases of title, and of none other. Although his rules were in accordance with the canon, they 35 gave rise to complaints, at a period when any attempt at reviving an be made a priest or a minister without a title for we find that many not so qualified, do by favour or other means procure themselves to be ordained, and afterwards for want of means, wander up and down to the scandal of 5 their calling; or to get maintenance, fall upon some courses as are most unfit for them, both by humouring their auditories, and other ways altogether unsufferable : we have therefore thought fit, and we do hereby straitly require and charge you to call such bishops to you, as are 10 now present in or near our city of London, and to acquaint them with this our resolution; and further, that you fail not in the beginning of the next term to give notice of this our will and pleasure openly in our high commission court, and that you call into our said court 15 every bishop respectively, that shall presume to give orders to any man, that hath not a title, and there to censure him as the canon aforesaid doth enjoin, which is to maintain the party so ordered till he give him a title, and with what other censure you in justice shall think fit. And our further will is, that nothing shall be reputed a title to enable a man for orders, but that which is so by the ancient course of the church, and the canon law, so far forth as that law is received in this our church of England. And as you must not fail in these our direc25 tions, nor in any part of them, so we expect that you give us from time to time a strict account of your proceedings in the same. Given under our signet at our palace of Westm. the nineteenth day of September, in the ninth year of our reign. 20 30 cient discipline would meet with great obstruction; and this attempt accordingly became another addition to the many points at issue in the great and fierce contention of the times. By reason of these rules, no lecture whatsoever was admitted to be a canonical title; and so all ordinations of ministers to supply lectures was totally secluded; also no 35 chaplainship to any nobleman's family was allowed to be a sufficient title." Rushw. vol. ii. p. 214. Heylin's Laud, p. 255. According to these letters, I am tó pray and require you, that at all times of ordination you be very careful to admit none into holy orders, but such men, as for life and learning are fit, and which have a title for their maintenance, according to the laws and ancient practice 5 of the church. And his majesty hath further commanded me to advertise your lordship, that he will not fail to call for an account of these his letters both of me and you. Thus not doubting but you will have a special care both of the good of the church, and his majesty's 10 contentment herein, I leave you to the grace of God, and rest Your lordship's very loving friend and brother, Lambeth, Oct. 24. MDCXXXIII. W. CANT. The archbishop's declaration what is a title according to the canon.-Rushworth's Coll. vol. ii. p. 214. Heylin's Life of Laud ad annum. I. A PRESENTATION to some ecclesiastical pre-15 ferment. II. Or, a certificate undoubted, that he is provided of some church void there. III. Or, a grant of some petty canon's place, or the like, in a cathedral or a collegiate church. IV. Or, a fellow, or in the right of a fellow in some college in Oxford or Cambridge. V. Or, a conduct, or a chaplain in some college in Oxford, or Cambridge. 20 c V. Or, a conduct] Distinct from a chaplain, holding indeed the same 25 kind of office, but without endowment. Preces...per aliquem sacris ordinibus initiatum, communi aularium sumptu conducendum, peragantur." Statuta Aul. Univ. Oxon. VI. Or, a master of arts of five years standing, living at his own charge in either of the universities. VII. Or, the intention of the bishop that ordains, shortly to admit him to some benefice, or curate's place 5 then void. And I think the canon intends, that after a man is once admitted a curate, the parson or vicar of the place should not have power to put them off at pleasure, but only for such criminal unworthiness, as might deprive 10 him of his benefice, if he had one. CXL. Archiepisc. Cant. Anno Christi Reg. Angliæ 15 An order of council for placing the communion table in THIS day was debated before his majesty, sitting in council, the question of difference, which grew about the removing the communion table in St. Gregory's church, near the cathedral church of St. Paul, from the An order of council] See No. CXXXVII. Rushw. vol. ii. p. 207. Heylin's Laud, p. 259. It seems to have been the practice in churches to place the communion table for the administration of the sacrament, in such a centrical situation as might be most convenient for the minister and the communicants. This practice began in the reign of 20 king Edward VI., when bishop Ridley removed the ancient altars, and afterwards obtained letters from the council to confirm what he had done (dated Nov. 24, 1550). It continued also in the time of queen Elizabeth, from whose Injunctions (No. XLIII. p. 201.) it is evident that the table when required for the communion was removed from its 25 customary position, where the altar had formerly stood, and was placed in a more convenient situation within the church. The same practice middle of the chancel to the upper end, and there placed altarwise, in such manner as it standeth in the said cathedral, and mother church, as also in other cathedrals and in his majesty's own chapel, and as is consonant to the practice of approved antiquity; which removing and 5 placing of it in that sort was done by order of the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, who are ordinaries thereof, as was avowed before his majesty by Dr. King, and Dr. Montford, two of the prebends there; yet some few of the parishioners, being but five in number, did complain 10 of this act, by appeal to the court of arches, pretending that the Book of Common Prayer and the 82d canon do give permission to place the communion table where it may stand with most fitness and convenience. Now his majesty having heard a particular relation, made by the 15 council of both parties of all the carriage and proceedings in this cause, was pleased to declare his dislike of all innovation, and receding from ancient constitutions, grounded upon just and warrantable reasons, especially in matters concerning ecclesiastical orders and govern- 20 ments; knowing how easily men are drawn to affect novelties, and how soon weak judgments in such cases may be overtaken and abused. And he was also pleased to observe, that if those few parishioners might have their wills, the difference thereby from the aforesaid cathedral 25 has also been commended by bishop Jewel, as may be seen from his reply to Harding, (p. 144. ed. 1609.) by bishop Babington, by Dr. Fulke and other eminent divines. But independently of the disorder which had in some places arisen from the practice, and the greater degree of external observance that had gradually been gaining ground 30 in religious ordinances, the position of the table had now become the token of a distinct and solemn belief as to the nature of the eucharist, and was therefore treated as a question of conscience and an article of faith. The archbishop's religious opinions coincided with the strictest view of the case; and having this order of council in his favour, he proceeded gradually to establish a uniform practice respecting it. For cathedrals (as we find from the statutes enjoined by him in his own 35 |