Non-Residency.

1. THE People thought they had a great Victory over the Clergy, when in Henry the Eighth’s time they got their Bill passed, That a Clergy-Man should have but two Livings; before a Man might have Twenty or Thirty; ’twas but get∣ting a Dispensation from the Pope’s Limi∣ter, or Gatherer of the Peter-Pence, which was as easily got, as now you may have a Licence to eat Flesh.

2. As soon as a Minister is made, he hath Power to preach all over the World, but the Civil-Power restrains him; he cannot preach in this Parish, or in that; there is one already appointed. Now if the State allows him Two Livings, then he hath Two Places where he may Ex∣ercise his Function, and so has the more Power to do his Office, which he might do every where if he were not restrain∣ed.