man from purchafing the perpetuity of a patronage, more than any other perfon; but purchafing the perpetuity, and forthwith felling it again, with a refervation of the next turn, and with no other defign than to poffefs himself of the next turn, is in fraudem legis, and inconfiftent with the oath.

3. The procuring of a piece of preferment, by ceding to the patron any rights, or probable rights, belonging to it. This is fimony of the worst kind; for it is not only buying preferment, but robbing the fucceffion to pay for it.

4. Promifes to the patron of a portion of the profit, of a remiffion of tythes and dues, or other advantage out of the produce of the benefice : which kind of compact is a pernicious condefcenfion in the clergy, independent of the oath; for it tends to introduce a practice which may very foon become general, of giving the revenue of churches to the lay patrons, and supplying the duty by indigent ftipendaries.

5. General bonds of refignation, that is, bonds to refign upon demand.

I doubt not but that the oath againft fimony is binding upon the confciences of thofe who take it, though I question much the expediency of requiring it. It is very fit to debar public patrons, fuch as the king, the lord chancellor, bifhops, ecclefiaftical corporations, and the like, from this kind of traffic; because, from them may be expected fome regard to the qualifications of the perfons whom they promote. But the oath lays a fnare for the integrity of the clergy; and I do not perceive, that the requiring of it, in cafes of private patronage, produces any good effect, fufficient to compenfate for this danger.

Where advowfons are holden along with manors, or other principal eftates, it would be an eafy regulation to forbid that they fhould ever hereafter be separated; and would, at leaft, keep church preferment out of the hands of brokers.

Chapter XXI.

OATHS TO OBSERVE LOCAL STATUTES.

MEMBERS of colleges in the universities, and of other ancient foundations, are required to swear to the observance of their respective statutes: which obfervance is become in fome cafes unlawful, in others impracticable, in others ufelefs, in others inconvenient.

Unlawful directions are countermanded by the authority which made them unlawful.

Impracticable directions are difpenfed with by the neceffity of the cafe.

The only queftion is, how far the members of thefe focieties may take upon themselves to judge of the inconveniency of any particular direction, and make that a reafon for laying aside the obfervation of it.

The animus imponentis, which is the measure of the juror's duty, feems to be fatisfied, when nothing is omitted, but what, from fome change in the circumftances under which it was prefcribed, it may fairly be prefumed that the founder himself would have difpenfed with.

To bring a cafe within this rule, the inconveniency muft,

1. Be manifeft; concerning which there is no doubt.

2. It muft arife from fome change in the circumftances of the inftitution; for, let the inconveniency be what it will, if it exifted at the time of the foundation, it must be presumed, that the founder did not deem the avoiding of it of fufficient importance to alter his plan.

3. The direction of the ftatute must not only be inconvenient in the general, for fo may the inftitu

tion itself be, but prejudicial to the particular end proposed by the inftitution; for it is this laft circumftance which proves that the founder would have difpenfed with it in pursuance of his own purpose.

The ftatutes of fome colleges forbid the fpeaking of any language but Latin, within the walls of the college; direct that a certain number, and not fewer than that number, be allowed the use of an apartment amongst them; that fo many hours of each day be employed in public exercises, lectures, or difputations; and fome other articles of difcipline, adapted to the tender years of the ftudents, who in former times reforted to universities. Were collèges to retain fuch rules, nobody now-a-days would come near them. They are laid afide, therefore, though parts of the ftatutes, and as fuch included within the oath, not merely because they are inconvenient, but because there is fufficient reafon to believe, that the founders themselves would have difpenfed with them, as fubverfive of their own defigns.

Chapter XXII.

SUBSCRIPTION TO ARTICLES OF RELIGION.

SUBSCRIPTION to Articles of Religion, though no more than a declaration of the fubfcrib er's affent, may properly enough be confidered in connexion with the fubject of oaths, because it is governed by the fame rule of interpretation.

Which rule is the animus imponentis.

The inquiry, therefore, concerning subscription will be, quis impofuit, et quo animo.

The bishop who receives the fubfcription, is not the impofer, any more than the cryer of a court, who adminifters the oath to the jury and witneffes, is the perfon that impofes it; nor, confequently, is the

U

private opinion or interpretation of the bishop of any fignification to the fubfcriber, one way or other. The compilers of the thirty-nine articles are not to be confidered as the impofers of fubfcription, any more than the framer or drawer up of a law is the perfon that enacts it.

The legislature of the 13 Eliz. is the impofer, whofe intention the fubfcriber is bound to fatisfy.

They who contend, that nothing lefs can justify fubfcription to the thirty-nine articles, than the actual belief of each and every feparate propofition contained in them, muft fuppofe, that the legislature expected the confent of ten thousand men, and that in perpetual fucceffion, not to one controverted propofition, but to many hundreds. It is difficult to conceive how this could be expected by any, who obferved the incurable diversity of human opinion upon all subjects short of demonstration.

If the authors of the law did not intend this, what did they intend?

They intended to exclude from offices in the church, 1. All abettors of popery.

2. Anabaptifts, who were at that time a powerful party on the continent.

3. The Puritans, who were hoftile to an epifcopal conftitution; and, in general, the members of fuch leading fects or foreign establishments as threatened to overthrow our own.

Whoever finds himself comprehended within these descriptions, ought not to fubfcribe. Nor can a fubfcriber to the articles take advantage of any latitude which our rule may seem to allow, who is not first convinced that he is truly and substantially satisfying the intention of the legislature.

During the prefent ftate of ecclefiaftical patronage, in which private individuals are permitted to impofe teachers upon parishes, with which they are often little or not at all connected, fome limitation of the patron's choice may be neceffary, to prevent unedifying contentions between neighbouring teachers,

or between the teachers and their respective congregations. But this danger, if it exift, may be provided against with equal effect, by converting the articles of faith into articles of peace.

Chapter XXIII.

WILLS.

THE fundamental queftion upon this fubject is, whether Wills are of natural or of adventitious right? that is, whether the right of directing the difpofition of property after his death belongs to a man in a state of nature, and by the law of nature, or whether it be given him entirely by the positive regulations of the country he lives in?

The immediate produce of each man's perfonal labour, as the tools, weapons, and utenfils, which he manufactures, the tent or hut he builds, and perhaps the flocks and herds which he breeds and rears, are as much his own as the labour was which he employed upon them, that is, are his property naturally and absolutely; and confequently he may give or leave them to whom he pleases, there being nothing to limit the continuance of his right, or to reftrain the alienation of it.

But every other fpecies of property, especially property in land, ftands upon a different foundation. We have seen in the Chapter upon Property, that, in a state of nature, a man's right to a particular fpot of ground arifes from his ufing it, and his wanting it; confequently ceafes with the ufe and want; fo that at his death the eftate reverts to the community, without any regard to the laft owner's will, or even any preference of his family, farther than as they become the first occupiers after him, and fucceed to the fame want and use.

Moreover, as natural rights cannot, like rights created by act of parliament, expire at the end of a