Offerings, if there be any to be demanded They are Parishioners in all Refpects, but only that they are not liable to be kept by the Parish, if they fall into Poverty. Nor does the Law fay, that any Man is made liable to be kept by a Parifh, because he was there Married by Banns: Nor does it appear, that thefe Temporal Laws, relating to the Poor, were intended to alter the Laws of the Church, which by Cuftom and Canon has all along permitted, and requir'd Perfons to have the Banns publish'd, and the Marriage celebrated where the Parties dwell, or are commorant. See Can. 62. in Latin and English. And the Rubric before Marriage is to the fame purpose, viz. If they dwell in divers Parishes, Si degunt in diverfis parœciis, fays the Old Latin Tranflation; fi vivunt, fays the New But, for Caution's fake, the Minifter in publishing the Banns, may fay, N. of this Pa rifh Sojourner.

As to Perfons that hire to the value of 10% per An. in any Parish, or whofe Settlement there is no occafion to difpute, I fuppofe there can be. no doubt but that they are Parishioners from the. firft Day of their coming into any Farish. By Stat. 13, 14 Car. II. c. 12. Forty Days were requir'd to make one a Parishioner, in cafe he did not hire 10l. per An. value, and by the 3d and 4th of W. and M. thefe 40 Days fhall not commence, till after the Perfon's Name be publish'd in the Church. But thefe Acts only relate to Poor Perfons, or fuch as are like to become a Parish Charge; and yet even thefe, as has been faid, during their abode there, are Parishioners as to the Curate. For no other Clergyman can regu

regularly adminifter Sacraments, or perform other Divine Offices to fuch a Perfon, fo long as he continues within the faid Parish. By the Ca non Law, a Traveller (fays Lyndwood, L. 3. T. 15. c. Altiffimus v. peregrinantes) is a Parifhioner of every Church he comes to, and the Spi ritual Courts act by this Rule (if by any) when they grant a Licenfe to a Man to be married, that has not been 24 Hours within their Jurif. diction, and in their Licenfes write Seamen of that Parish, or Port, where they last landed, or where they lodg'd perhaps the Night before. Some Clergymen have been fummon'd and corrected in the Spiritual Courts for marrying. Perfons in Churches where the Banns were not: afk'd, and to which the Parties married did not. belong as Parishioners; tho' they had a Certifi cate of the Banns being publish'd under the. Hand of the Minifter, or Minifters, whofe Parishioners they were: And indeed this was for. bid by ancient Canons, as well as by our prefent. 62 Canon: But then the Licenfe of the Curate, whofe Parishioners they were, was fufficient by. the Conftitution of Archb. Stratford, L. 5. T. í. c. Humana, which, for ought that appear, is ftill in force; but then the Curate muft do more than certify the Publication of Banns, he muft exprefly, under his Hand, give leave to the Parties to be married in another Church, and to the Curate of that other Church to marry them.

I.

And indeed by the Constitution of Archbishop Peckham, Altiffimus, every Curate may licenfe his Parishioner to Communicate elfewhere.

By the Canons, both ancient and modern, it is well provided, that Marriage fhall be celebra

ted

ted in facie Ecclefiæ, or in time of Divine Service; but this Practice is now, as'twere, by univerfal Confent, laid afide. Yet one Queftion commonly afkt by Judges in Cafes of this fort, is, Whether the Church Doors were open, during the Time of the Solemnity.

Twas an ancient Cuftom, and a very good one, that Marriage thould be performed in no other Church, but that to which the Woman belonged as a Parishioner; and therefore to this Day the Ecclefiaftical Law allows a Fee due to the Curate of that Church, whether she be married there or not. And this Fee was exprefly referv'd for him by the Words of the License, according to the old Form, which is not yet difufed in all Diocefes: But'tis faid,that Judg ment has been otherwife given in the Temporal Courts. But I am apt to think, that the Reafon, why Temporal Judges have allow'd no fuch Fee to be due, is, that it has been claimed by virtue of the Canon Law: Whereas, if it were demanded as due by Prefcription, or Immemorial Cuftom, within fucha Parish, or larger District, and this Cuftom well proved, there is Reafon to believe, that the Temporal Courts would allow of this Plea: For Cuftom is Common Law.

Our Canons do not allow any to be married in private Houfes, or any other Time of the Day, but between Eight and Twelve in the Forenoon. And the Bifhops feldom or never difpenfe with these Canons here, as they often do in Ireland.

We

We might right well, fays the Great and Judicious Mr. Hooker, L. 5. fect. 73. * think it abfurd to fee in the Church a Wedding on the Day of a Publick Faft; therefore no regular Clergyman marries any by Banns during the Solemn Time of Lent; when good Chriftians ought to be engaged in more ferious and heavenly Bufinefs; and even when a Licenfe comes, and the Cafe is fomewhat extraordinary, yet he can fcarce ever get his own Confent, to the doing fo unagreeable a thing.

But the Proctors, and fome Almanack-makers tell Clergymen, that Marriage is out from Advent-Sunday, till the Octaves of Epiphany ; from Septuagefima-Sunday, to Low-Sunday; and from Rogation to Trinity-Sunday; and that therefore, during thofe Times, they must marry none without License: But this is a harder Precept than that of the Church of Rome, which only obliges Perfons not to marry from AdventSunday till Twelfth-tide, and from Afb-Wednes day to Low-Sunday. See 24 Seff. Conc. Trident. Decret. Reform. Matrimon. cap. 10. and the Rituale Rom. Ord. Matr. "Tis true, Lyndwood more than once in his Gloff. mentions these prohibited Times, but from whence he took this Rule did not formerly appear to me: But this Point is now very clear. The Romish Ritual, before the Council of Trent, had caufed an Alteration in this Particular, had thefe Words in the Ordo ad faciendum Sponfalia, viz. Tho

Efpoufals

*He mentions indeed Times in which the Liberty of Marriage is reftrain'd; but his Reafons affect real Fafting-Days only.

Efpoufals may be made at any time, and Matrimony alfo in private, by giving Confent only; yet the giving of Wives, and the Solemnity of Marriage is prohibited at certain Times, viz. from Advent to Twelfth-tide, from Septuage fima to Low-Sunday, from the Sunday before Afcenfion to Trinity-Sunday. It is evident then that the Obligation to forbear Matrimony at thefe Times was wholly grounded on this Rubric. But now this whole Ordo is entirely abolish'd, by the feveral Acts of Uniformity made in the Reigns of Edw. VI. and Queen Elizabeth; but efpecially by Stat. 3, 4 Edw. VI. c. 10. where it is enacted, That all Books beretofore made for the Service of the Church, other than fuch as fhall be fet forth by the King's Majefty, Jhall be by the Authority of this prefent Act extinguish'd, and forbidden to be ufed, or kept in this Realm. 'Tis true, this Act was repealed by Stat. 1 Mariæ fef. 2. c. 2. but reviv'd by Stat. 1 Jacob. I. c. 25. And this Rubric is not now in force in the Church of Rome itself.

:

The very Learned Bishop Gibson, Code p. 518. informs us, that in Parliament, 17 of Elizabeth, a Bill was depending, Entitul'd, An Act declaring Marriages lawful at all Times. And that in Convocation, A. D. 1575. the laft Article prefented to the Queen for Confirmation, but rejected by her, was, That the Bishops fhall take order, that it be published, and declared in every Parish Church, That Marriage may be folemnized at all times of the Year. It was fufficient Grounds for a De claratory Law, that many Inferior Ordinaries

did