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Ordinary of nominating a Curate to a Vacant Parish, and after
due Probation Removing or confirming him Minister as he
shall appear worthy of the Ministry. I have heard Persons
object that they did not apprehend that the General Assembly
had precise and distinct Ideas annex'd to the Words they
made use of, but look'd on them all as Synonimous, but this
is paying them but a Sorry Compliment. I must moreover
beg their pardon for not joining in it. The Act was maturely
considered here and in England without doubt by the best
Civilians there. It was sent back With an Absolute Dissent
in 1696 with a Disapprobation and Corrections in 1700, and
one may well presume that each word of Cousequence was
well weighed, and had that Idea affix'd to it as the Laws and
the Practice of the Church of England warranted, and in this
sense of the word Appointed it is that Letters of Licence are
given which Work a temporary Plenarty under the Act without
the Concurrence or Consent of any Vestry revocable at the
will of the Ordinary. A design well imagined, a Practice
well Adapted for the Service of God, the Lustre and Credit of
his Lordships Dominion and the Instruction and Good Order-
ing of the people.
Before I conclude I shall take Notice of Another Method
by which a Plurality of Benefices is tenable, and that is by
Consolidation or Union : which is the uniting combining or
Consolidating two Churches or Benefices in one, which Cannot
be done without The" Consent of the Bishop Patron & Incum-
bent. There are several Causes or Reasons in Law given for
this Consolidation or Union. The following are in Point,
i. An unnecessary or unlawfull Dividing of those Benefices
precedent to the Reintegration as when such As had been
formerly united were, divided. 2 For and by Reason of the
extreme Poverty of one of the Parishes. 3. For the better
Hospitality and that the Rector may be thereby better enabled
to Relieve the Poor ; And Lastly Convenient Nearness is
required. These Reasons all coincided in an Attempt made
Some time since to unite the Parishes of St Ann and St Mar-
garet, which I hear fail'd on the Dissent of the Vestry of the
latter Parish. But whence the Consent or Dissent of a Vestry
could have any effect I cannot guess. All Lawers agree in
this Definition, Unio est Beneficiorum seu Ecclesiarum ab
Episcopo aut alio superiore facta Annexio. There is no
Consent of Vestries mentioned in any Writer upon the Sub-
ject. If Vestries have a controlling or Concurrent Power it
must be by Commission from the supreme Ordinary, who
alone has power of Granting such Commission under his
great seal. But I never heard he had granted such Commis-
sion to Vestries, and if he had it would have been at least
injudicious.
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