Damasus is ranked by Jerom^[1205] among the Ecclesiastical Writers, on account of the many small Pieces he writ, chiefly in Verse; for he had a particular Genius for Poetry, and was no despicable Poet, if some Compositions ascribed to him were truly his. He writ several Books, both in Prose and Verse, in Commendation of Virginity; but neither that, nor any of his other Works, has reached our Times, besides some Letters, and a few Epitaphs, Inscriptions, and Epigrams, which have been carefully collected by Baronius^[1206], though it may be justly questioned whether the several Pieces ascribed to him by that Writer were written by him. A short History of the first Popes, styled, The Pontifical of Damasus, and published together with the Councils, has long passed for the Work of Damasus; but now even Baronius owns it not to be his; and most Critics are of Opinion, that it was written after the Time of Gregory the Great; nay, some ascribe it to Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who flourished in the Ninth Century^[1207]. As for his Letters, those to Aurelius of Carthage, to Stephen, styled, Archbishop of the Council of Mauritania, to Prosper Primate of Numidia, to the Bishops of Italy, are all spurious, as well as the Letters to which some of them are Answers, and supposed to have been forged by that notorious Impostor Isidorus Mercator^[1208]. His genuine Letters are the Two, that are to be found among the Works of Jerom, to whom they were written; Two to Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, published by Holstenius in his Collection of the antient Monuments of the Church of Rome^[1209]; a Letter of great Length to Paulinus of Antioch, whereof the chief Heads are set down by Theodoret in his History, as are likewise those of his Letter to the Orientals concerning Timotheus, the favourite Disciple of Apollinaris. Several Letters from the Councils, that were held in Rome in his Time, and at which he presided, are still extant, and may well be ascribed to him. The Two Letters to Jerom are well worth perusing, being written in a pure, easy, and elegant Style, and with a great deal of Spirit, Vivacity, and even Gaiety, though Damasus was then much advanced in Years, and overburdened with Cares and Business^[1210]. In one of them he declares, that his only Delight was to read the Scriptures; and that all other Books, however well written, gave him rather Disgust than Pleasure. Jerom returned to Rome from the East in 382. with Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis, and Paulinus of Antioch, to assist at the Council held there. |Jerom kept at Rome,
and employed by him.| The other Two returned to their Sees; but Jerom continued at Rome, being kept there by Damasus, who employed him in answering the Letters he received from the Councils of several Churches applying to him for his Advice^[1211]. Damasus, taken with his Learning and Erudition, and chiefly with the Knowlege he had of the Scripture, had long before lived in great Intimacy with him, and upon his leaving Rome writ frequent Letters to him, not thinking it beneath the Rank he held in the Church to consult him as his Master about the true Meaning of some difficult Passages in holy Writ^[1212]. Thus in one of his Letters he desires him to explain the Parable of the Prodigal Son^[1213], and in another to interpret the Word Hosanna, which he says was differently interpreted by different Writers, who seemed to contradict each other^[1214]. In Compliance with this Request, Jerom writ the Piece on that Subject, which is still extant. It was likewise at the Desire of Damasus that he corrected the Latin Version of the New Testament, and revised at Rome the Latin Version of the Psalms, comparing it with the Greek Text of the Septuagint. But as to the Letter, with which Damasus is supposed to have encouraged him to undertake that Work, it is evidently supposititious, and altogether unworthy of him.

Anastasius ascribes to Damasus the Custom of Singing, instead of Reading, the Psalms at Divine Service^[1215]. But it is manifest from Austin, that this Practice was brought from the East, and first complied with by the Church of Milan^[1216], in the Year 386. that is, Two Years after the Death of Damasus. So long as Damasus lived, Jerom continued at Rome; but as, by his Learning and exemplary Life, he was an Eye-sore to the lewd, ignorant, and haughty Clergy of Rome, or as he styles them, the Senate of Pharisees^[1217], he thought it adviseable to abandon the City upon the Death of his great Friend and Protector, and retire to Jerusalem, hoping to find there that Quiet and Tranquillity which he despaired of being able to enjoy while he dwelt with the Scarlet Whore^[1218], that is, while he lived at Rome. |His Character.| As for the Character of Damasus; Jerom styles him, a Virgin Doctor of the Virgin Church; and, in his Letter to Eustochium, a Man of great Excellence. Theodoret commends him as a Man of a holy Life, as one who declined no Fatigue or Labour to support and maintain the Doctrine of the Apostles, and who struck the Arians with Terror, though he attacked them at a Distance^[1219]. Elsewhere he calls him the famous Damasus^[1220], and places him at the Head of the most celebrated Teachers of Truth, who, till his Time, had appeared in the West^[1221]. That Greek Writer could not be biassed in his Favour, though Jerom perhaps was. The Orientals declared, in 431. that they followed the Example of Damasus, and other Persons eminent for Learning^[1222]; and the Council of Chalcedon, speaking of his Letter to Paulinus of Antioch, styles him the Honour and Glory of Rome for Piety and Justice^[1223]. The Church of Rome honours him as a Saint, and his Festival is kept in some Places on the 10th, in others on the 11th of December. But, after all, that he got the Pontificate by the most horrible Violence and Bloodshed; that he lived in great State; that he had frequent and grand Entertainments; that he kept a Table, which, in Sumptuousness, vied with the Tables of the Emperors themselves; and all this at the Expence of the Roman Ladies, whose generous Contributions might have been applied to better Uses; is affirmed by contemporary and unexceptionable Writers. It is likewise manifest from the Letters of Jerom, that in his Time the Discipline of the Church was greatly relaxed; that the Observance of the primitive Canons was almost utterly neglected; and that Luxury, Ignorance, and Debauchery, universally prevailed among the Ecclesiastics at Rome. And this Charge against his Clergy in some degree recoils upon him, since he appears to have carried the Papal Authority farther than any of his Predecessors, and therefore might have restrained and corrected them. Whether his Sanctity may not from all this be justly questioned, notwithstanding the favourable Testimony of some antient Writers, I leave the Reader to judge.

Syricius, the Successor of Damasus, according to the Pontificals, and some antient Monuments quoted and received by Baronius^[1224], was a Native of Rome, the Son of one Tiburtius, had been first Reader, and afterwards Deacon, under Liberius, and, upon his Death, had zealously espoused the Cause of Damasus against Ursinus and his Party. Damasus being dead, he was chosen in his room by the unanimous Acclamations of the whole Roman People, being at that time Presbyter of the Church known by the Title of the Pastor, perhaps the most antient Church in Rome^[1225]. Ursinus, who was still alive, did not fail, upon the Vacancy of the See, to revive his former Claim; but he was rejected with Scorn and Indignation. Valentinian the younger, who then reigned in Italy under the Direction of his Mother Justina, received the News of this Election with great Joy; and, concluding from the Unanimity of the Electors, the Worth and Merit of the Person elected, confirmed Syricius in his new Dignity, by a Rescript dated the 23d of February, and directed to Piaianus, at that Time either Prefect or Vicar of Rome^[1226][N20].

The first Thing I read of Syricius is his answering a Letter or Relation which Himerius, Bishop of Tarragon in Spain, had sent to Damasus by Bassianus, a Presbyter of that Church, requiring the Advice of the Church of Rome concerning some Points of Discipline, and certain Abuses that prevailed in Spain. Damasus being dead before the Arrival of Bassianus, Syricius, who had succeeded him, caused this Relation or Letter to be read, and carefully examined, in an Assembly of his Brethren, that is, perhaps, of the Bishops who had assisted at his Ordination; and, having maturely weighed and considered every Article, he first acquainted Himerius with his Promotion, and then returned to each the following Answers^[1227]. The First was concerning the Sacrament of Baptism, which was by some Bishops of Spain rejected as null and invalid, when conferred by an Arian Minister. In Opposition to them, Syricius alleges the Authority of Liberius, and of the Council of Nice, the Practice of the Church of Rome, and that of all other Churches both in the East and West^[1228]. Isidorus of Seville takes particular notice of this Point of Discipline, which he says was established by the Letter of Syricius^[1229]. By the Second Article he forbids the Sacrament of Baptism to be administred at Christmas, or the Epiphany, on the Feasts of the Apostles or Martyrs, or at any other Time but Easter, and during the Pentecost of that Festival, meaning, in all Likelihood, all Easter time, or the Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost, or Whitsuntide; for such, adds he, is the Practice of the Church of Rome, and of all other Churches. From this Rule, however, he excepts Children, and all Persons, who are any-ways in Danger^[1230]. By the Third Article, he forbids granting the Grace of Reconciliation to Apostates, that is, forgiving and readmitting them to the Communion of the Church, except at the Point of Death^[1231]. By the Fourth, a Woman, who, being betrothed to one Man, has received the Priest’s Blessing to marry him, is debarred from marrying another. The Fifth Article commands all Persons, who, being guilty of a Crime, have performed Penance for it, to be treated as the Apostates, if they relapse into the same Crime; and the Sixth, all religious Persons, whether Men or Women, guilty of Fornication, to be dealt with in the same Manner, and, moreover, to be excluded from partaking of the sacred Mysteries, that is, of the Eucharist, except at the Point of Death^[1232]. How different is the present Practice of the Church of Rome from that of the same Church in the Fourth Century! which was perhaps even too severe.

Syricius, by the Seventh Article of his Letter, obliges all Priests and Deacons to observe Celibacy; and as some had not paid due Obedience to that Command of the Church, he allows those who should acknowlege their Fault, and plead Ignorance, to continue in their Rank, though without Hopes of rising: but as for those who should presume to defend this Abuse as lawful, he declares them deposed and degraded from the Rank they held in the Church^[1233]: Pope Innocent I. writing to Exuperius Bishop of Toulouse, quotes and transcribes great Part of this Article^[1234]. The Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Articles describe at length the Life which those ought to have led, who are raised by the Clergy and People to the Episcopal Dignity, and the Steps or Degrees by which they should ascend to it. They ought first to have been Readers; at the Age of Thirty, Acolytes, Subdeacons, and Deacons; Five Years after, Presbyters; and in that Degree they were to continue Ten Years before they could be chosen Bishops. Those who had been married to Two Wives, or to a Widow, are absolutely excluded from ever sitting in the Episcopal See. Even the Lectors are forbidden, on pain of Deposition, to marry twice, or to marry a Widow^[1235]. These, and several other less important Regulations, Syricius delivers as general Rules to be inviolably observed by all Churches, often declaring, that those who do not readily comply with them shall be separated from his Communion by the Sentence of a Synod, and strictly injoining the chief Prelates of each Province to take care they be punctually observed within the Bounds of their respective Jurisdictions, on Pain of being deposed, and treated as they deserve. He therefore desires Himerius to notify his Letter, not only to all the Bishops of his Diocese or Province, but likewise to those of Carthagena, Bætica, Lusitania, Galicia, and to all the neighbouring Bishops, meaning perhaps those of Gaul; for Innocent I. supposes the Decrees of his Predecessor Syricius to be known to Exuperius of Toulouse^[1236]; and in all Likelihood they were so to others in that Country.

This Letter is the First of all the Decretals acknowleged, by the Learned, to be genuine, and likewise the First in all the antient Collections of the Canons of the Latin Church. It is quoted by Innocent I. and Isidore of Seville, and is the only Letter of the many ascribed to Syricius, that Dionysius Exiguus has inserted in his Collection. It is to be found in Father Quesnel’s Roman Code^[1237]; and Cresconius quotes no other Decrees of Syricius but what are taken from this Letter. It is dated the Third of the Ides of February, that is, the Eleventh of that Month 385. Arcadius and Bauto being Consuls^[N21].

As Priests and Deacons are commanded, by the Seventh Article of this Letter, to abstain from Marriage, and this is the first Opportunity that has offered of mentioning the Celibacy of the Clergy, a short Digression on such a material Point of Discipline in the Church may not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the Reader. The laying of this heavy Burdens on the Shoulders of the Clergy, a Burden too heavy for most of them to bear, as Experience has shewn, was first moved in the Council of Elvira, held about the Year 300. according to the most probable Opinion; and, being warmly promoted by the celebrated Osius of Cordoua, and Felix of Acci, now Guadix in Andalusia, who presided at that Assembly, it passed into a Law; and all Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Subdeacons, were commanded, on Pain of Deposition; to abstain from Wives; and the begetting of Children. These are the very Words of the 33d Canon of that Council^[1238]. That, till this time, the Clergy were allowed to marry, even in Spain, is manifest from the 65th Canon of the same Council, excluding from the Communion of the Church, even at the Point of Death, such Ecclesiastics, as, knowing their Wives to be guilty of Adultery, should not, upon the first Notice of their Crime, immediately turn them out of Doors^[1239]. How long the 33d Canon continued in Vigour, is uncertain; nay, it may be questioned whether it ever took place: if it ever did, it was out of Date, or at least not generally observed by the Spanish Clergy, in the Time of Syricius, as evidently appears from the Words of his Letter, or Answer to Himerius of Tarragon. I said, by the Spanish Clergy, for no such Injunction had yet been laid on the Ecclesiastics of any other Country or Nation. About Fifteen Years after, was held the Council of Ancyra, in which it was decreed, That if any Deacon did not declare at his Ordination, that he designed to marry, he ought not to be allowed to marry after but might, if he made such a Declaration, because, in that Case, the Bishop tacitly consented to it. The Council of Neocæfarea, which assembled soon after that of Ancyra, and consisted, in great Part, of the same Bishops, commanded such Presbyters as married after their Ordination to be degraded. In the Year 325. was held the Council of Nice; and, in that great Assembly, it was moved, perhaps by Osius, who acted a chief Part there, that Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Subdeacons, should be debarred from all Commerce with the Wives they had married before their Ordination. But this Motion was warmly opposed by Paphnutius, who had himself ever led a chaste and single Life, and was one of the most eminent and illustrious Prelates, at that time, in the Church. He represented, that the Burden they proposed laying on the Clergy, was too heavy; that few had sufficient Strength to bear it; that the Women, thus abandoned by their Husbands, would be exposed to great Dangers; that Marriage was no Pollution, but, according to St. Paul, commendable; that those therefore, who were not married, when first admitted to the Sacerdotal Functions, should continue in that State; and such as were, should continue to live with their Wives. Thus Sozomen^[1240], Socrates^[1241], and Suidas^[1242][N22].

The Advice of Paphnutius was applauded by the whole Assembly, add the above-mentioned Historians, and the Point in Dispute was left undecided. In the Year 340. it was decreed, in the Council of Arles, that, no Man, incumbered with a Wife, should be admitted to Holy Orders, unless he promised, with his Wife’s Approbation and Consent, to abstain for ever from the conjugal Duty.

This is all I can find in the antient Records concerning the Continence or Celibacy of the Clergy, before the Time of Syricius. And hence it is manifest, that both Crichtonæus and Melanchthon were greatly mistaken; the former in affirming, which many have done after him, that Celibacy was first imposed upon the Clergy by Syricius^[1243]; and the latter by confidently asserting, that Celibacy was not required of the Ministers of the Gospel by any Council, but by the Popes, in Opposition to all Councils and Synods^[1244]. It must be owned, however, that this Law was not so generally observed before the Time of Syricius, as it was after. For it was not long after his Time before it became an established Point of Discipline in most of the Western Churches, not in virtue of his Letter, or of those which his Successors writ to the same Purpose, but because it was injoined by the Synods of each particular Nation. Thus it was established in Africa by the Council of Carthage in 390. in Gaul by one held at Orleans, by Two at Tours, and one at Agde; in Spain, by Three held at Toledo; in Germany, by the Councils of Aquisgranum, or Aix la Chapelle, of Worms, and of Mentz. We know of none in Britain: and that it did not even begin to take place here till the Arrival of Austin, in the Sixth Century, may be sufficiently proved from the Letters of that Monk to Gregory, and Gregory’s Answer to him; but of that more hereafter^[N23].

As to the present Practice and Doctrine of the Church of Rome, with respect to this, in their Opinion, most essential Point of Ecclesiastical Discipline, no Man is allowed, after his Ordination, to marry, or to cohabit with the Wife he had married before: nay, in order to prevent all possible means even of any clandestine Commerce between them, the Woman must, by a solemn Vow of Chastity, renounce all Claims on her Husband, and, retiring into a Monastery, bind herself by a second Vow to continue there, without ever once going out, on any Pretence whatsoever, so long as her Husband lives, who cannot be admitted so much as to the Rank of a Subdeacon, till she is secured by these Two Vows. Such is the present Practice of the Church of Rome, though Subdeacons were allowed to marry long after the Time of Syricius, who, in his Letter, mentions only Deacons and Presbyters, and does not even oblige them to part with their Wives, but only excludes them from rising to a higher Degree in the Church. Pope Leo the Great, chosen in 440. was the first who extended the Law of Celibacy to the Subdeacons, commanding them, in a Letter, which he writ about the Year 442. to Rusticus Bishop of Narbonne, to abstain, as well as the Deacons, Presbyters, and Bishops, from all Commerce with their Wives. But this Law was observed by very few Churches. In the Time of Pope Gregory the Great, that is, in the Latter-end of the Sixth Century, it had not yet taken place, even in Sicily, though reckoned among the Suburbicarian Provinces: it was first introduced into that Island by him; but he allowed those to cohabit with their Wives, who had been ordained without a previous Promise to live continent, though he would not suffer them to be raised to a higher Degree without such a Promise. Bellarmine^[1245], and the other Divines of the Church of Rome, to soften the Odium, which the hard, and commonly impracticable Command she lays on her Clergy, must reflect on her, represent Continency as a Virtue to be easily acquired. Their Ascetics seem better acquainted with the Difficulties and Struggles attending the Practice of that Virtue, than their Divines; for they prescribe, as the sole Means of attaining it, constant Prayer, frequent Fasting, macerating the rebelling Flesh with all kinds of Austerities, and principally the avoiding of all Female Company. And, if these be the sole Means of attaining it, I leave the Reader to judge how few of their Clergy do attain it.

No one is so little versed in the History of the Church, as not to know, that in the Three first Centuries of the Christian Religion, married and unmarried Men were indiscriminately raised to the Episcopal, and every other Ecclesiastical Dignity; nay, Jerom writes, that in his Time, that is, in the Fourth Century, the former were, the most part, preferred to the latter, not in regard of their greater Merit, but because, in such Elections, the unmarried Men were outnumbered by the married, who chose to be governed by one in their own Station of Life^[1246]. It is hence manifest, that Marriage was not thought, in Jerom’s Time, inconsistent with, or any Bar to, the Episcopal Dignity. And why should it? since, excepting St. John, the Apostles themselves were all married, as we are told, in express Terms, by Ignatius the Martyr^[1247], who was their Contemporary and Disciple, and whose Authority ought, on that Consideration, to be of greater Weight than that of all the other Fathers together. But such of the primitive Clergy, says Bellarmine^[1248], as were married before their Ordination, abstained ever after from the Use of Matrimony: let our Adversaries produce, if they can, but a single Evidence of a Presbyter or Bishop’s having any Commerce with their Wives. It lies upon him to shew they had not. We know nothing to the contrary, and therefore may well suppose, that, pursuant to the Advice given by the Apostle to all Husbands and Wives, they came together after Ordination as they did before, lest Satan should tempt them for their Incontinency.

The Fathers, it is true, out of a mistaken Notion of an extraordinary Merit attending Celibacy in this Life, and an extraordinary Reward reserved for it in the other, began very early to recommend it to Persons of all Ranks and Stations, but more especially to the Clergy, as the principal Excellence and Perfection of a Christian. By their Exhortations, and the Praises they were constantly bestowing on Virginity, Celibacy, and Continence, many among the Clergy, and even some of the Laity, were wrought up to such a Pitch of Enthusiasm, as to mutilate themselves, thinking they could by no other means be sufficiently qualified for the unnatural, but meritorious, State of Celibacy. And, what is very surprising, this Practice became so common in the End of the Third, and the Beginning of the Fourth, Century, that the Fathers of Nice were obliged to restrain it by a particular Canon. They enacted one accordingly, excluding for ever from the Priesthood, such as should make themselves Eunuchs, the Preservation of their Life or Health not requiring such a Mutilation. By the same Canon they deposed and degraded all, who should thus maim themselves after their Ordination^[1249]. But tho’ the Fathers warmly recommended Celibacy to the unmarried Clergy, and Continence to the Married, neither was looked upon as an Obligation, till late in the Fourth Century, and not even then in all Places; for Epiphanius, who lived till the Beginning of the Fifth, writes, that though Men still begetting Children were excluded by the Ecclesiastical Canons from every Dignity and Degree in the Church, yet they were in some Places admitted as Subdeacons, Deacons, and Presbyters, because those Canons were not yet universally observed^[1250]; so that, according to Epiphanius, it was not by the Apostles |never injoined by
the Apostles:| (as the Divines of the Church of Rome pretend), but by the Ecclesiastical Canons, that this Obligation was laid on the Clergy; and, in his Time, those Canons were not yet universally complied with, nor indeed many Ages after: nay, in the Greek Church, the Clergy are to this Day allowed to cohabit with the Wives they married before their Ordination; and, in this Kingdom, Celibacy was not universally established till after the Conquest, as I shall have Occasion to shew in the Sequel of the present History.

The abstaining from lawful, as well as unlawful Pleasures, was deemed, by the antient Pagans, especially in the East, the highest Degree of Sanctity and Perfection. Hence some of their Priests, in Compliance with this Notion, and to recommend themselves to the Esteem of the People, did not only profess, promise, and vow an eternal Abstinence from all Pleasures of that Nature, as those of the Church of Rome do, but put it out of their Power ever to enjoy them. Thus the Priests of Cybele by becoming Priests ceased to be Men, to borrow the Expression of Jerom; and the Hierophantes, who were the first Ministers of Religion among the Athenians, rendered themselves equally incapable of transgressing the Vows they had made, by constantly drinking the cold Juice of Hemlock^[1251]. A Stoic, called Cheremon, introduced by Jerom to describe the Lives of the Egyptian Priests, tells us, among other things, that, from the time they addicted themselves to the Service of the Gods, they renounced all Intercourse and Commerce with Women; and, the better to conquer their natural Inclinations, abstained altogether from Meat and Wine. Several other Instances might be alleged to shew, that Celibacy was embraced and practised by the Pagan Priests, long before the Birth of the Christian Religion; and, consequently, that it was not Religion, but Superstition, that first laid the Priesthood under such an Obligation. The Church of Rome has borrowed, as is notorious, several Ceremonies, Customs, and Practices of the Pagans, and perhaps the Celibacy of the Priesthood among the rest: I say, perhaps, because it might have been suggested to her by the same Spirit of Superstition that suggested it to them: for where-ever the same Spirit prevails, it will ever operate in the same manner, and be attended with the same, or the like Effects. Thus we find the same Austerities practised by the Pagans in the East-Indies, and other idolatrous Nations, that are practised and recommended by the Church of Rome; and yet no Man can imagine those Austerities to have been by either borrowed of the other. There is almost an intire Conformity between the Laws, Discipline, and Hierarchy of the antient Druids, and the present Roman-Catholic Clergy; nay, the latter claim the very same Privileges, Prerogatives, and Exemptions, as were claimed and enjoyed by the former^[1252]: and yet we cannot well suppose them to have been guided therein by their Example. Celibacy was discountenanced by the Romans, who nevertheless had their Vestals, instituted by their Second King at a time when, the new City being yet thinly inhabited, Marriage ought in both Sexes to have been most encouraged: and the same Spirit, which suggested to that superstitious Prince the Institution of the Vestals, suggested the like Institutions to other Pagan Nations, and to the Church of Rome that of so many different Orders of Nuns.

How much better had the Church of Rome consulted her own Reputation, had she either, in Opposition to the Pagan Priesthood, allowed her Clergy the Use of Matrimony, or, by a more perfect Imitation of their Discipline, with the Law of Celibacy, prescribed the like Methods of observing it! How many Enormities had been prevented by either of these Means, the World knows. But none of her Clergy have the Observance of their Vows so much at Heart as to imitate either the Athenian or the Egyptian Priests: and as for those of Cybele, they are so far from conforming to their Practice, that a Law subjecting them to it has kept them out of Protestant Kingdoms, when the Fear of Death could not.

If every Law or Institution is to be judged good or evil, according to the Good and Evil attending them, it is by daily Experience but too manifest, that the forced Celibacy of the Clergy ought to be deemed of all Institutions the very worst. Indeed all sensible Men of that Church know and lament the innumerable Evils which the Celibacy of her Clergy occasions, and must always occasion, in spite of all Remedies that can be applied to it. But she finds one Advantage in it, which, in her Eyes, makes more than sufficient Amends for all those Evils, viz. her ingrossing by that means to herself all the Thoughts and Attention of her Clergy, which, were they allowed to marry, would be divided between her and their Families, and each of them would have a separate Interest from that of the Church. Several Customs and Practices, once warmly espoused by that Church, have, in Process of Time, been abrogated, and quite laid aside, on account of the Inconveniences attending them; and this, which long Experience has shewn to be attended with more pernicious Consequences than any other, had, but for that political View, been likewise abolished.