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If any Person having one Benefice with Cure of Souls,
being of the yearly Value of £8 or above Accept & take
another with Cure of Souls, and be Instituted and Inducted
in Possession of the Same, then and immediately after such
Possession had thereof, the first Benefice shall be adjudged in
Law to be void. And it shall be Lawful for every Patron
having the Advowson thereof to present another, and the
Presentee to have the Benefit of the same, in such like manner
and Form as tho' the Incumbent had died or resigned.
It is Manifest that Pluralities are as strictly inhibited by this
Statute and the Canon before Recited as by the third Clause
of the Act of Assembly which expresses itself.
" That the Minister shall have the 40 p Poll in each
respective Parish having no other Benefice to officiate
in, presented, Inducted or Appointed by his Excellency
the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time
being.
Provident as these Respective Words " no other " may
appear, they are really and totally needless and unnecessary
the Case being before Provided for by the Canon and Statute
above Mentioned. The Governor or Commander in Chief is
an officer Subordinate either to the King or Lord Proprietary.
A Patron by Courtesy, a Patron in Common with other
Patrons, who were to induct a Minister into a Second Living
Mero Motu, could not render the Tenure valid, but the former
Living would become, ipso Jure, by the Canon and ipso facto
by the Statute, Void. For tho' the Livings in Maryland are
not assess'd in the Kings Books, in a Court of Justice they
would be judged ad Valorem. But this Restriction was never
meant to Confine the King, Supposing the Government in his
Majesty's Hand, nor the Lord Proprietary in whom it is
vested, whose Supremacy in Church and State is incontest-
able. This Restriction Cannot annul the Cannon & Statute
Law, the Ancient Prerogative of the Crown or the Rights of
the Royal Charter which are transcendent to, and far above
the Controul of any Act of Assembly, and whether express'd
or Implied, must be held Sacred and Inviolate.
We shall soon see what Remedy is Provided in this Case,
and We must Conclude it as far as Laws can bind, a Legal
one.
Nor is this the only Case where the same Specific Distinc-
tion between the power of the Crown or Lord Proprietary and
of the Principal officers within the Province is made.*
* This Illustration being from a Civil Matter, to a Matter Ecclesiastical
the Laws Relating to which are totally distinct, is only so far in point as
to show, that even in Civil Promotions there is a Material Difference
between the Powers of the Crown or the Lord proprietary, and of the
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