one or more Presbyters preceded :-"Then let the Presbyters exhort the people, one by one, but not all together, and the Bishop last of all." This is the rule of the Constitutions. Some Homilies of S. Chrysostom preached at Antioch bear on the face of them evidence of their having been followed by a discourse from his Bishop. Thus he says, "Let it now be the time for me to be silent, that it may be the time for the master to speak "2 (alluding to Eccl. iii. 7). "Having said one thing more, I will end the discourse, yielding the greater matters to our common master."3 In Africa, however, Presbyters were not allowed to preach in the presence of their Bishop before the time of S. Augustine. Valerius, his Bishop, was a Greek, and but little acquainted with the language of his flock; which led him to give S. Augustine "authority to preach the Gospel and to expound very frequently before himself in Church, contrary to the use and custom of the African Churches, .. and afterwards, when the fame of this had spread abroad, some Presbyters, the good example having been set, being authorized by the Bishops, began to expound the Word of God to the people in their presence."4 In S. Augustine's case at least, the Bishop did not preach at the same time. At Alexandria, after the rise of the Arian heresy, the founder of which was a Presbyter, it became a rule that none but Bishops should preach ;' and this probably extended throughout the Patriarchate. On the other hand, at the Council of Ancyra in Galatia, A.D. 315, we find preaching already reckoned among the ordinary duties of the Presbyter. Those of that order who had sacrificed in a time of persecution, but afterwards repented, were to be still reputed Presbyters, but forbidden "to offer and preach or perform any part whatever of their priestly functions." Later in the same century (A.D. 394), S. Jerome7 complains of it as a bad custom that in some Churches Presbyters were silent in the presence of their Bishops, and mentions it as an honour to S. Epiphanius, that while only "a Presbyter of a Monastery he was heard by Eutychius," the Bishop.

"5

III. Deacons were always expected to labour more than

1 Apost. Const. L. ii. c. lvii. Cotel. tom. i. p. 263.

2 Hom. ii. in illud Vidi Dominum, tom. vi. p. 128.

3 Hom. in Diem Nat. D. N. J. C. § 6, tom. ii. p. 427.

4 Vita, Auct. Possidio, c. v. Opp. tom. xv. col. 762.

5 Sozom. Hist. Eccl. L. vii. c. xix. p. 596.

6 Can. i. Pand. tom. i. p. 373.

7 Ep. xxxiv. ad Nepotian. tom. iv. col. 262; and Ep. xxxviii. ad Pammach. col. 308.

laymen for the conversion of the heathen and the edification of believers. Thus S. Ignatius, A.D. 107, speaks of two Deacons who "served" him, while a prisoner, "in the Word of God." S. Cyprian,2 A.D. 250, writing to some lay confessors with whom he had reason to find fault says:"I had supposed that the Presbyters and Deacons, who are there, admonished and taught you most fully respecting the law of the Gospel, as hath been always done in time past under our predecessors, viz., that the Deacons going to the prison should control the desires of the martyrs by their counsels and the precepts of Scripture." In one of the Apostolical Canons good Deacons are classed with good Bishops and Presbyters as "preachers of religion." We read that during the great persecution in Persia, A.D. 420-450, the King, at the request of the Roman Ambassador, offered to release a Deacon named Benjamin if he would promise "not to offer the Christian doctrine to any of the Magi;"-a condition with which he refused to comply. Hilary, the Commentator on the Epistles of S. Paul (before 384), who was himself a Deacon, speaks thus:-" The Evangelists [mentioned Eph. iv. 11] are Deacons, as Philip was. Although they are not Priests, yet can they preach the Gospel sine cathedrâ, as did also the blessed Stephen and Philip aforenamed." He thinks that at first they (and all who had that special gift) went beyond this:-"That the people might increase and multiply, it was allowed to all at the beginning both to preach the Gospel and to baptize and to explain the Scriptures in Church." After showing the necessity of more stringent rules for the preservation of order, when things had settled down, he adds:-" Hence it is that Deacons do not now preach in [the congregation of] the people." It was, however, in the power of the Bishop to permit it, as is clearly implied in the rebuke addressed by Vigilius of Rome, A.D. 540, to some Deacons who had preached without license" Ye have moreover done through a detestable pride things which are not read of, and which men of your order have not at any time presumed to do without the command of their own Bishop, claiming for yourselves authority to preach against all custom or Canons." As an example of such a license, we may mention S. Vincent of

1 Ad Philad. c. xi. tom. ii. p. 394; ed. Jacobs.

2

Ep. xv. p. 33.

3 Cod. Can. Eccl. Prim. Can. xxxiii. Bever. tom. i. p. 46; Oxon. 1848.

4 Theodoret. Eccl. Hist. L. v. c. xxxix. p. 247.

5 Comm. in Eph. iv. 11, 12; in App. Opp. S. Ambr. tom. vii. p. 283. 6 Labb. Conc. tom. v. col. 554.

Saragossa, A.D. 304, whose Bishop, having an impediment in his speech, employed him in preaching as his own substitute.1 Gregory the Great preached while yet a Deacon, and availed himself of his powers in a remarkable manner during the vacancy that preceded his elevation to the See of Rome.2

SECTION IV. Of the Licensed Preachers of the Church of
England.

The Medieval rule was that a Bishop could preach without license anywhere, "even in the Diocese of another;" that clergy in lower preferment could preach "in their own cures, though they were only Deacons." Masters in Theology were so far authorized that they could preach for the occasion with no other license than that of the Curate of the Church. Deacons and others not preferred could only preach by special license or delegation from the Bishop; and when sent by the Bishop or proposing of themselves to preach in any parish, they were "actually to exhibit the license itself to the Rector or Vicar of the place." Without this none but the Curate could preach "either in the Church or out of it." The chief Preachers of those days were the Friars, who were at first all subject to the above law. At length, however, a general license was granted to the Dominicans and Franciscans, and the privilege inserted in the body of the Common Law; but the Augustinians and Carmelites were still obliged to sue for it individually.

It is probable that in the course of time these restrictions had become relaxed in practice; but, if so, they were reinforced, and with great rigour, in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1536 that King, by his Commissioner Cromwell, forbade the beneficed Clergy to permit any one "to preach within their benefices or cures but such as should appear unto them to be sufficiently licensed thereunto by the King's Highness, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of the Diocese." 4 The prohibition is repeated, with the addition of the ancient rule for the exhibition of the license, in Bonner's Injunctions of 1542"No Parson, Vicar, Curate, or other Priest having cure of souls . . . shall from henceforth permit. . . any manner of person. . . under the degree of a Bishop to preach or make any Sermon or collation openly to the people within

1 Tillemont, Mém. Eccl. tit. S. Vinc. Art. i. tom. v. p. 93.

2 Vita Joh. Diac. L. i. cc. xli.-xliii. S. Greg. Opp. tom. i. coll. 15, 16. 3 Lyndwood, L. iii. tit. 4, c. Præterea, N. Prædicant, p. 133; and L. v. tit. 5, c. Reverendissima, Nn. Auctorizatus est et seq. p. 289.

Burnet, P. i. Rec. B. iii. n. xi. p. 180.

their Churches, Chapels, or elsewhere within their cures, unless he that shall so preach have obtained before special license in that behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King, or of me, Edmund, Bishop of London. . . . And the same license so obtained he shall then and there really bring forth in writing under seal, and show to the said Parson, Vicar, Curate, or Priest before the beginning of his Sermon."1 Without naming them, these injunctions set aside the special privilege of the Dominicans and Franciscans, who, although their houses were dissolved, were still numerous, and must otherwise have imposed a great restriction on preaching in many parts of the country. The Injunction of Cromwell. was renewed among those of Edward vi., 1547. In February 1548, a proclamation appeared which allowed licenses to be given by " the King, the King's Visitors, the Archbishops or the Bishops within their respective Dioceses. In the procla mation of the 24th of April this power of licensing was given exclusively to the King, to the Protector, and the Archbishop of Canterbury."3 On the 13th of May a Letter was addressed by the Council to the preachers so licensed, directing them "in their sermons to confirm and approve whatsoever had been "abolished, taken away, reformed, and commanded," and to labour "to reduce the people obedience and following of such orders." "But disturbances still continued; and another proclamation, bearing date Sept. 23rd in the same year, and referring to, the previous proclamation of April 24th, cancelled the licenses, of whatever kind, previously given, and prohibited all preaching for the future, until one uniform order should be had throughout the realm." 4 Only the Homilies were to be read." "So that now no Bishop might license any to preach in his own diocese; nay, nor might preach himself without license; so I have seen," says Strype," "licenses to preach granted to the Bishop of Exeter, an. 1551, and to the Bishops of Lincoln and Chichester, an. 1552."

.. to

After the death of Edward all Bishops and Curates were again required to preach to their subjects, if able, "according to the rules of the sacred Canons ;"7 and others could, as

1 Burnet, P. i. Rec. B. iii. n. xxvi. p. 256.

2 No. 10, Doc. Ann. vol. i. p. 10.

3 Doc. Ann. vol. i. p. 63, note. indebted to Dr. Cardwell.

To the end of this paragraph I am

For the proclamations to which he refers see D. A. u.s. pp. 44, 61, 70. 6 Doc. Ann. vol. i. p. 71. 6 Eccl. Mem. vol. ii. P. i. p. 142.

7 Convocation, Jan. 21, 1557, renewed and enlarged the old Provincial Constitution of Arundel before cited (De Hæret. c. Reverendissimæ,) ordaining that no secular or regular should preach except in his own

before, obtain a license to preach either from the Pope or the ordinary. On the accession of Elizabeth, 1558, all preaching was again forbidden, by a proclamation dated Dec. 27, "until consultation might be had."2 By the Injunctions of 1559, "all ecclesiastical persons having cure of souls" were required to preach, "being licensed specially thereunto," or else read one of the prescribed Homilies " every Sunday at the least," and they were to "admit no man to preach within any their cures, but such as should appear unto them to be sufficiently licensed thereunto by the Queen's Majesty, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York, in either their provinces, or the Bishop of the Diocese, or by the Queen's Majesty's Visitors." The Bishops objected to this power being given to the Visitors, and it was soon withdrawn.5 In 1560, at the end of the "Admonition" concerning the degrees within which Marriages are unlawful, then hung up in the Churches, was appended a notice that it was forbidden for "any under the degree of a Master of Art to preach or expound the Scripture." In October of the year following we find Parker, when requiring a return of the resident Clergy, asking" which of them (being already licensed to preach) do preach accordingly."7 In 1571 the Upper House of Convocation, assembling on the 3rd of April, ordered that before September the Bishops should demand the licenses of all Preachers, and either suspend or annul them, and then make a fresh selection and issue new faculties.8 At the same time the old rule was again affirmed that "none, without permission of his Bishop, should preach publicly in his own parish, or presume to preach beyond his own ministry and Church, unless he should have received authority so to preach either from the Queen's Majesty throughout the realm, or from an Archbishop throughout his Province, or from a Bishop in his Diocese."9 By the Constitutions of

Church, even though authorized to preach by the written law or special privilege, unless examined and approved by the Archbishop or Bishop. -Acts and Proceedings, Synod. p. 471.

1 Constit. Legat. Poli.; Decr. iv. Doc. Ann. vol. i. P. 184. 2 Doc. Ann. u.s. p. 209.

3 D. A. u.s. pp. 212, 3, 5.

See their remarks, D. A. u.s. p. 236, note; or Strype's Annals, ch. 17, vol. i. p. 213.

5 It was inserted in their commission, June 24, 1559 (D. A. u.s. p. 253), but the licenses of the Preachers so authorized were revoked by a resolute act of the Bishops; the first of their "Resolutions and Orders taken by common consent," in 1560, "unless it were the year before,” being "that the license given for preaching by the late Visitors-General be no longer in force."-Strype's Annals, ch. 17, vol. i. p. 220.

6 Strype's Parker, B. ii. ch. 3, p. 88. Doc. Ann. vol. i. p. 309.

8 Synod. p. 112.

9 Ibid. p. 126.