invigilarunt proferantur hujus Domâ—s Examinationem subeant Synodalia And something of the same nature seems to be intimated in the Statute I mentioned which Enacts that whatever should be Ordained and set forth by the Archbishops Bishops and Doctors now appointed or other Persons hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith †This relates to the Institution of a Christian Man then to be reviewed and Lawful Rites and Ceremonies ‖ This to the Rituals at the same time to be altered and Observations of the same shall be in all and every point limitation and circumstance thereof by all his Grace's Subjects c. fully believed obeyed observed and performed Here the words by the whole Clergy of England do most naturally refer to the Last Verb appointed and under that Construction imply that this and such like Committees were consented to by the Convocation as well as named by the King and so they certainly were And the reason of establishing 'em was because the matters to be discussed requiring as this very Act speaks ripe and mature deliberation were not rashly to be defined nor restrained to this present Session or any other Session of Parliament as they must have been if they had been considered only in Convocation which Then sat and rose always within a few days of the Parliament These Committees therefore were appointed to sit in the Intervals of Parliament and tho' they had a Power of concluding finally yet they seldom I suppose did more than prepare business to be laid before the Convocation when it sat Accordingly what was done by this Committee for reforming the Offices was reconsider'd by the Convocation it self two or three years afterwards as a Manuscript Note * Sess. 19. 21. Feb. 1542 43. Reverendissimus dixit Regem velle Libros quosdam Ecclesiasticos examinari corrigi Ubi Reverendissimus tradidiâ— hos Libros examinandos quibusdam Episcopis I have met with taken from the Journals of Convocation implies These Committees indeed are spoken of sometimes in our Statutes and elsewhere as appointed by the King without any mention of the Convocation-Clergy which was partly owing to the Doctrine of those times by which the King in virtue of his Supreme Headship was said to do decree and order every thing tho' the previous Steps and Resolves were from the Convocation and was withal not improper considering how much was left to the Royal Power in such matters for the Clergy often only Petitioned the King for a Committee and referred the Nomination of it to him of which a clear Instance has been given before in the Request for the Translation of the Bible Indeed when the Committee was composed of Members from both Provinces as it was in the Present case * The Act styles them The Archbishops and sundry Bishops of Both Provinces of Canterbury and York within this Realm and also a great Number of the best Learned Honestest and most Vertuous sort of Doctors of Divinity Men of Discretion and Iudgment and Good Disposition of this said Realm it could not sit and act by a bare Order of the Clergy but was necessarily to have the King's Commission before it could be a Legal Assembly and no wonder therefore if tho' both Convocations consented to it and perhaps sometimes named it yet the King only be said to impower them And here I must once for all observe that whatever was done by such Select Committees appointed or approved by Convocation tho' done out of Convocation must be reckoned done by it as carrying the stamp of its Authority For so the way has been in all manner of Assemblies both Ecclesiastical and Civil The Catechismus ad Parâ—chos among the Papists is accounted to have the Authority of the Council of Trent tho' that Council never passed or saw it because it was drawn up and published by Order of the Pope to whom that Council had referred it The like is to be said of the Oxford †Bp. Bâ—â—â— Vol. 1. p. 85. and Cambridge ‖ Ibid. p. 87. Resolutions concerning the Invalidity of King Henry's first Marriage which carried the Authority of those Universities because drawn up by Committees which were in full Convocation appointed by them Nor want we Precedents of a Delegation of the Power even of Parliaments to Committees in antient times For 1 Hen. 6. some Lords and Others of the King's Council were impowered to determine all such Bills and Petitions as were not answered in Parliament * Rot. Parl. n. 21. and so agen 6 Hen. 6. n. 45 46. and several Times before and after And Henry the Eighth had frequently the whole Power of Parliament Translated upon him We are not to wonder therefore if the Convocations of his Reign did something like this when they had so Great Patterns to follow and were so much more at his Mercy than Parliaments were 1542. The Examining of the English Translation of the Bible being begun by the Convocation is taken by the King out of their Hands and committed to the two Universities Ibid. p. 315. Were the Translating of Scripture a Work appropriated to Synods as sure it is not yet the Petition of the two Houses in 1534 to the King to take care of a New Translation of the Bible would have been Warrant enough for him to have put it into whose hands he pleased Especially since it is probable that this very Synod in 1542 complied at last with the King's Proposal I find indeed in some Minutes of their Acts that the Bishops at first disagreed to it †Sess. 9. Mart. 1541 42. but they were I suppose over-rulâ—d for Parker's account is only Aliquandiu quibus Biblia transferenda committerentur ambigebant ‖ P. 338. which shews that the dispute was soon over 1544. The King orders the Prayers for Processions and Litanies to be put into English and sends them to the Archbishop with an Order for the Publick Use of them Ibid. p. 331. This was done by a Royal Injunction * So it is stylâ—d in Bonner 's Reg. f. 48. then equal to an Act of Parliament and need not therefore by me here be accounted for However there is reason to believe that the Committee for Reforming the Offices or the Convocation it self might have an hand in it for about this time it is plain they composed the Little Book of Prayers called the Orarium †Orarium sive Libellus Precationum per Regiam Majestatem Clerum Latinè editus Ex Officina Rich. Grafton 1545. which was set out by the King the Year afterwards 1547. The King orders a Visitation over his whole Kingdom and thereupon suspends all Episcopal Iurisdiction while it lasted Vol. II. p. 26. The King Visited by vertue of his Supreme Headship recognized first in Convocation and established afterwards in Parliament
Name of all the rest of the Members At least if Heylin's word may not be taken for it yet Dr. Wake 's I hope may And he in his Appeal ‖ P. 28. calls the Clergy's Dedication of this Book an Address of the Convocation to the King and says it was Subscribed by both Houses 1539. A Committee of Bishops appointed by the Lords at the King's Command to draw up Articles of Religion Ibid. pag. 256. This was in a Preparatory way only and in order to their being considered by the Convocation and Parliament However this Committee did nothing ⸫ ‖ Bp. Burn. Ibid. and should not therefore be made an Instance of Things relating to the Church done out of Parliament And which is more the Convocation did the very business which this Committee was appointed to do as we shall learn from the next Particular The Six Articles on which the Act passed brought in by the Duke of Norfolk and wholly carried on by the Parliament Ibid. p. 256 c. This is News to that Parliament by which Dr. Wake says it was wholly carried on for They in the Preamble of the Act of the Six Articles say That the King considering c. had caused his most High Court of Parliament to be Summoned and also a Synod and Convocation of all the Archbishops and Bishops and other Learned Men of the Clergy of this his Realm In which Parliament and Convocation there were certain Articles set forth c. and after a great and long deliberate and advised disputation and consultation had and made concerning the said Articles as well by the Consent of the King's Highness as by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Learned Men of his Clergy in this Convocations and by the Consent of the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled it was and is finally resolved accorded and agreed in manner and form following †31 H. 8. c. 14. We see these Articles were so far from being wholly carried on by Parliament that the Parliament it self thought not fit to Enact 'em without expressing in their Bill the previous Consent of the Clergy in Convocation Some Body seems to have told the Doctor thus much before he wrote his Appeal in a corner of which among the Errata he desires that these four Lines may be blotted out Why he was so Particular in his Requests I cannot tell but sure I am that there are very few Lines in this whole Article of his Appendix that do not deserve blotting out as much as They. 1540. A Committee of Divines employed to draw up the Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man Ibid. p. 286. In saying they were employed to draw it up he speaks unaccurately for that implys it to be then first drawn up whereas this Book was in the main the same with that which was published in 1537 under the Title of the Institution of a Christian Man This I have already shewn passed the Convocation The Members of which that were employed in composing it do in their Dedication of it to the King Most humbly submit it to his most Excellent Wisdom and Exact Iudgment to be recognized overseen and corrected if his Grace shall find any Word or Sentence in it meet to be changed qualified or further expounded c. The Liberty thus given by the Clergy was made use of by the King who in 1540 committed it to several Bishops and Divines All Members of Convocation to be review'd and made afterwards some Alterations in it with his own Hand to be seen still in the Original in Sir I. Cotton's Library * Heylin Ref. justif p. 549. and finally published it anew in the year 1543 †There was an Edition in 1540. which differs not considerably from that in 1543 and therefore I give no Distinct Account of it with this Title ‖ Which the Exact Mr. Nicholson has changed into a Necessary Defence for all sorts of People Hist. Libr. Vol. 3. p. 197. Where he tells us also that the King drew up these Articles in 1543 meaning that he made some Marginal Amendments to the Book after it was drawn up This he mentions at large as an approved Instance of the King's Power in such cases without intimating his Dislike of it and without letting us know how should be for he knew it not himself that what the King did here was not only at the previous Permission but Desire of the Clergy and was afterwards once again by them in Convocation confirmed Such accuracy is there in the Accounts of Books given us by this Historical Librarian A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Chrysten Man set furthe by the Kinges Majeste of England There is no mention here of the Concurrence of the Clergy in Convocation to this Book and yet it is certain that all the new Alterations and Additions in it as they sprang at first from a Request of theirs so passed 'em agen solemnly afterwards This appears from some short Memorandums * Sess. 25. Apr. 25. Reverendissimus tractavit de Sacramentis of which that Book treats at large ibi examinati sunt quidam Articuli Sess. 26. Ult. Apr. Reverendissimus exposuit Articulum Liberi Arbitrii which is another Head there ubi Prolocutor c. exposuerunt suas Sententias of the Acts of Convocation in 1543 from Heylin's Express Testimony †Ibid. See also in his Quinquartic Controv. p. 569. some other Passages out of the Acts of that Convocation which prove manifestly that these Alterations underwent their Review and from those words in the King's Preface prefix'd to the Book that he had set it furthe with the Advise of his Clergy the Lordes bothe Spirituall and Temporall with the Nether House of Parliament having both seen and lik'd it well Another Commission appointed to Examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Ibid. p. 294. This Committee of Bishops and Divines for reforming the Rituals and Offices of the Church was setled at the same Time with That which reviewed the Institution and was composed therefore as That was of the Members and probably of the same Members of Convocation which was sitting now at the Time when this Committee was appointed as appears by the Subsidy * 32 H. 8. c. 23. and the Sentence of Divorce ⸫ 32 H. 8. c. 25. that passed 'em compared with the Act of Parliament of the same Session †Rastall p. 690. that mentions this Committee as sitting From hence alone we might have been satisfied that this Committee was impowered by the Convocation to act had we no other Evidence for it But as it happens we have for in the short Remains of Edward the Sixth's first Convocation this Committee is said to have met ex Mandato Convocationis * In a Petition of theirs where they pray Ut Opera Episcoporum aliorum qui aliàs ex Mandato Convocationis Servitio Divino Examinando Reformando Edendo
than the Statute it self The several Convocations in the 12 last years of H. the VIII those of E. the VI th of Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth all for ought I can find acted without any such Commission or License in writing and the first time we meet with it on Record is in 1603 when King Iames's first Synod met to settle the Discipline of the Church in that Body of Canons which at present obtains Nor is there any Opinion I believe for the Necessity of such a License elder than this Practise at least I have not had the good fortune ever to meet with any though I have diligently sought for it 'T is true the Registers of most Convocations summon'd since this Statute were lost in the Fire of London however large Extracts out of several of them are preserv'd and compleat Transcripts of some and in none of these is there the least Footstep of any License under the Broad Seal to be seen but very plain Intimations to the contrary as I shall now by some Remarkable Passages taken from thence and from other Books and Papers of good Authority shew And if I am somewhat Larger in my Recitals of this kind than is absolutely necessary the Reader I hope will easily forgive me What does not directly tend to establish my Assertion will serve at least to give some small Light into the Methods of Proceeding usual in Convocation which the Author of the Letter to a Convocation-man rightly observes to be little known or minded And Dr. Wake who smiles at his Remark is himself a most Contemptible Instance of the Truth of it since he has ventur'd to write a Book about the Customs and Priviledges of Convocations without having perus'd the Acts of almost any One English Synod and has from the beginning to the end of his wretched Performance prov'd nothing effectually but his own profound Ignorance of the Subject he is engag'd in I shall take the Rise of my Enquirys from the Convocation which sat upon a Prorogation Nov. V. 1532. before which the Submission of the Clergy was made to the King but not yet Enacted so that though it oblig'd them not Then as a Law yet it bound them as a Promise by the Terms of which if a Commission to Treat had been then held necessary we may be sure they would not so soon after the making that Promise have treated without one And yet I find no Hint of a Commission in a Diary of that Meeting where a great many things of much less moment are set down and where it being the first time the Clergy met after they submitted had any such thing been practised we should without fail have heard of it Sess. 11. Martii 26. 1533. this Note is inserted Tunc vertebatur in dubium an liceret disputare in Negotio Regio eò quòd Negotium pendet coram summo Pontifice indecisum Which Doubt the President remov'd by producing the Apostolick Brief that gave leave cuilibet Opiniones suas dicere Dominus Praesidens instanter rogavit omnes ut diligenter inquirerent de ista quaestione referrent quid sentirent See Ant. Brit. ad ann where the very same account is given of Stokesly ' s producing a License from the Pope but no hint of any from the King They had no doubts it seems about the Lawfulness of Treating without a Royal License which had they had it would have been mention'd here together with the Papal Leave and we may fairly therefore presume they had none In the Convocation begun Iune 9. 1536. the first in which Cromwel sat as Vice-gerent * The Bishop of Sarum tells us that Cromwell came hither as the King's Vicar-General but he was not yet Vicegerent For he sate next the Archbishop but when he had that Dignity he sat above him Nor do I find him styl'd in any Writing Vicegerent for sometime after this though my Lord Herbert says he was made Vicegerent the 18th of July this Year the same day on which the Parliament was Dissolv'd Vol. 1. p. 213. In which Paragraph there are great Marks of Haste For the Acts of this Convocation expresly call Cromwell Vicegerent as well as Vicar-General and shew that he both took place of the Archbishop and sign'd before him as he does in two Papers that passed this very Convocation and which together with the Subscriptions his Lordship has given us Vol. 1. Coll. of Rec. p. 157. p. 315. The Words of the Acts are Magister Willielmus Petre allegavit quòd ubi haec Synodus convocata â—it auctoritate illustrissimi Principis dictus Princeps Supremum Locum in dictâ Convocatione tenere debeat ac eo absente honorandus Magister Tho. Cromwell Vicarius Generalis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas ejus Vicemgerens locum ejus occupare debeat ideò petiit pradictum locum sibi assignari Ac ibidem praesentavit Literas Commissionales dicti Domini sui sigillo Principis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas sigillatas Quibus perlectis Reverendissimus assignavit sibi Locum juxta se i. e. the Place next above himself which he demanded Nor does my Lord Herbert say that Cromwell was made Vicegerent July 18th this Year but July 9th see Hist. p. 466. which is a manifest Misprint for June 9th the very day on which this Convocatâ—on was open'd and on which I suppose his Patent bore date Indeed I question whether the Powers of Vicar-General and Vicegerent were different and conveyed as my Lord of Sarum thinks by different Patents for I have seen no Good Ground any where for such a Distinction In the Collection of Records at the End of the second Part p. 303. the Bishop has given us what he calls Cromwell 's Commission to be Lord Vicegerent in all Ecclesiastical Causes But his Lordship had not time to peruse it for upon reading it he would have found that it was only the Draught of a Commission to certain Persons deputed by Cromwell to execute the Vicegerents Power in several parts of the Kingdom One of those Subordinate or Subaltern Commissions which had respect to a Superior one as his Lordship upon another occasion Vol. 2. p. 347. very properly distinguishes we are told Comparuit Dominus Prolocutor unà cum Clero exhibuit Librum sub Protestatione continentem mala Dogmata per Concionatores intra Prov. Cant. publicè praedicata This List is Printed by Fuller †P. 208. and in it the Clergy by way of Preface to their Articles Protest That they neither in Word Deed or otherwise directly or indirectly intend any thing to speak attempt or do which in any manner of wise may be displeasant unto the King's Highness c. and that they sincerely addict themselves to Almighty God his Laws and unto their said Soverign Lord the King their Supreme Head in Earth and his Laws Statutes Provisions and Ordinances made here within his Graces Realms Had any General Commission been granted them there had been no
are us'd only pro Honore Regio etiamsi ad id de Iure teneatur But I pay too great a Regard to his trifling Remarks in pursuing them thus minutely and go on therefore to remove the rest of the Exceptions taken at our way of expounding the Statute In my account of the Practise of Convocations since the 25 H. VIII I slipp'd over some Requests of the Lower House of Convocation to the Upper a few years after this Act pass'd and promis'd to make a distinct Head of them which I shall now therefore consider and explain It is objected against that sense I have given of the Statute that the Clergy of those times did themselves understand it otherwise for in a Petition put up by them to the Bishops 1 o E. VI. they recite some part of the Submission-Act and of the 27 H. VIII that confirms it and then desire that being presently assembled in Convocation by auctority of the King 's Writ the King's Majestys License in Writing may for them be obtain'd and granted according to the Effect of the said Statues auctorising them to attempt entreat and commune of such matters and therein freely to give their Consents which otherwise they may not do upon Pain and Peril premis'd This indeed seems Material and for this Reason I suppose Dr. W. takes no notice of it But L. M. P. insists upon it and styles it an Authentick Exposition of that statute which without any other Evidence is sufficient to shew that it was the Intention of that Act that the Treating and Resolving as well as the Meeting of a Convocation should depend upon the Mere Good-will of the Prince †Pp. 39 40 The Reader may observe how wondrous kind this Gentleman can be to the Clergy upon occasion and what a profound respect he has for their Opinion when it is for his Turn He allows a Petition of the Lower House of Convocation to be an Authentick Exposition of an Act of Parliament an Honor which the most solemn Decisions of both Houses would not much less do the Petitions and Requests of any one deserve and least of all the particular Requests we are at present concerned with For It is probable that the Petition it self is not Authentick and then the Exposition it gives to be sure cannot be so There are two Papers printed by my Lord of Sarum †2. Vol. Coll of Rec. n. 16 17. which he calls Petitions of the Lower House of Convocation 1 o E. VI. to the Upper The Former of these †N. 16. is not a single Petition but four several Requests or rather the Minutes of four joyn'd together with a certain Query annex'd in the Close of them Of these the First relates to the Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws appointed by Act of Parliament to be made in H. the VIII th's time The Second is a Proposal for adjoyning the Lower House of Convocation to that of Parliament The Third concerns the Committee for reforming the Offices The Fourth is about the Statute of First fruits and Tenths The Query added is Whether the Clergy of the Convocation may liberally speak their mind without danger of Statute or Law The Latter is a Petition in form from the Lower Clergy to the Bishops enforcing the second of those Requests put up in the former Paper and praying a License in Writing in the Terms already recited †P. 399. Now this last Paper I say seems never to have been approv'd or presented by the Lower Clergy and I say it upon these Grounds 1. Because the short Acts of this Convocation preserv'd in the Book call'd Synodalia †In Bennet Coll. Library short as they are ‖ These Acts short as they are give an account of the Business that was done and the Motions that wee made every single Day that the Convocation sat from Nov. 5 to Decem. 1â— except in the 4th Session only which was Nov. 25. where my Transcript of the Acts is a Blank And there is but this One Day therefore in which it can be suppos'd that this Petition might have been drawn and presented do yet I find mention the first Paper and the four several Articles of it ⸪ Sess. 3.22 Nov. Istâ die convenientibus in inferiori Domo concordatum suit ut Dominus Prolocutor nomine totius Domûs referal R mo subsequentes Petitiones Viz. 1 o. Quòd provideatur ut Ecclesiasticae Leges Examinentur Promulgentur juxta statutum Parliamenti editum 35 H. VIII 2. Item ut pro nonnullis urgentibus causis Convocatio hujus Cleri si fieri possit assumatur cooptetur in Inferiorem Domum Parliamenti sicut ab antiquo fieri consuevit 3. Item ut Opera Episcoporum Alicrum c. as before p. 181. 4. Item ut Rigor statuti de Primitiis Domino nostro Regi solvendis aliquantisper in certis urgentibus Clausulis moderetur reformetur si commodè fieri possit in the Order they there lie but give not the least Hint of this Second nor does Archbishop Parker in Antiquitates Britannicae where he speaks ⸪ P. 339. largely of matters agitated in this Convocation say a syllable of it On the Contrary both He and Bishop Burnet give us some Particulars that do not seem very consistent with the supposal of such a Petition Bishop Burnet's words are That the Act which repeal'd the Statute of the six Articles was occasion'd by a Speech that Archbishop Cranmer had in Convocation in which he exhorted the Clergy to give themselves much to the study of Scripture and to consider seriously what needed Reformation c. upon which some intimated to him that as long as these Six Articles stood in force it was not safe for them to deliver their Opinions This he reported to the Council upon which they order'd this Act of Repeal †Hist. Ref. Vol. 2. p. 40 his Lordship means agreed that the Repeal of this Statute should be propos'd in Parliament Thus his Lordship out of Archbishop Parker's Papers and thus the Archbishop himself out of the Records of Convocation * Ex Archivis he himself says In Synodo Cranmerus Archiepiscopus habità oratione de religione ex verbo Christi institutâ— populo tradendâ c. consulendum duxit Sed Legum adhuc de Sex Articulis Henrico Rege regante latarum severitas plerosque terruit quò minûs suas de Religione resormandà Sententias libere dicerent Itaque impetravit à Rege Cranmerus ut interim dum illae Leges Parliamento abrogentur Praelatis de Religione in Synodo disserentibus atroces illae rigidaeque paenae laxarentur Quod concâ—ssum est A clear account is given here of the Clergys fears in relation to the Statute of the six Articles and of their care to screen themselves from the sad Penaltys of it but not a word of any Apprehensions they were under in reference to the Submission-Act And with these
of a setled Prolocutor is not I think to be found in the Registers till sometime afterwards Though the Mere silence of such imperfect and scanty Records is by no means sufficient to establish a Negative all the Notices we now have of this kind being short Entrys only made by the Archbishops Registrary who was no more careful to record what related to the Honor or Priviledges of the Inferior Clergy than the Clark of Parliament appears antiently to have been in relation to the Commons For in those Days neither the Lower House of Convocation nor Parliament kept distinct Acts of their own and when the Clergy first began to do it we know not certainly though from the Acts of the Convocation 1 o. E. VI. †In the Book call'd Synodalia it appears that they then had a Separate Actuary which is as high as we have any Iournals for the Commons * Though Mr. Nicolson Vol. 3. p. 51. tells us of a Iournal of theirs throughout H. the VIII Reign now in the Cotton Library such a Iournal is I dare say in no other Library but his Own Historical one to be found where there is indeed a Great Collection of such kind of Curiositys though 6 to Hci 8 vi the Book of the Clerk of Parliament appointed or to be appointed for the Common House be in a statute †C. 16. of that Year mention'd After the Separation of the two Houses of Convocation was fix'd we scarce ever find them Treating and Resolving together in Body upon any Occasion But if any thing hapned that requir'd Joynt-Counsels their way was to transact it in a Committee of both Houses wherein the Number of the Inferior Clergy exceeded that of the Greater Prelates For instance a Grand Committee in 1408. Ian. 25. ‖ Registr Arundel consisted of six Bishops twelve Abbots and Priors and of twenty four from the Lower House i. e. I suppose of six from the four Ranks or Degrees of Clergy which compos'd it Deans Archdeacons Proctors of Chapters and Dioceses The Resolutions of the Lower House were communicated to the Upper by their Prolocutor attended with some of their Members More or Less as the Importance of the Message seem'd to require and sometimes for instance when they presented their Subsidys or Grievances which they generally did together the whole House came up with them And whatever they had to offer in Writing or by Word of Mouth they did it standing always the Prelates in the mean time being Seated Most of the Business of Convocation took its Rise from the Lower House there regularly Taxes were first agreed on there Articles of Reformation where drawn in preparing which as they had a nearer Interest so had they more Leisure for it than those of the Upper House who were call'd upon often to attend the Parliament and were forc'd to adjourn often for that reason the Inferior Clergy continuing to sit all that while and do Business †Die Lunae praesens Archiepiscopus propter Parliamenti Negotia venerabilibus Fratribus sibi assidentibus prorogavit ad diem Veneris demandavit aliis Praelatis Clero quòd singulis diebus interim ad dictum locum convenirent laboratent circa reformanda Articulos conciperent-Registr Arundel in Conv. 10. Maii 1406. And when they adjourn'd it was sometimes their Own Act but oftner at the Command of the Archbishop This Power belong'd to him acourse when the Two Houses were united and he preserved it after they were separated I have added these Particulars that I might not barely trace Dr. W's Mistakes which is too Dry and too Humble a Task but might with all make my Proofs of his Ignorance as instructive as I could to the Reader Whether the Clergy call'd to Parliament by the Premunientes consulted with the Laiety or by Themselves is a Point that the Dr. has left doubtful But the Great Record in Ryleys Placita †See part of it App. Numb XII will I judge go a good way towards clearing it For as we may be pretty certain from thence that the Clergy made their appearance in Parliament upon the first Opening it for why else should their Proxys be all Register'd in the Records of that Meeting so have we good Ground also to believe from thence that they divided afterwards and consulted by themselves since their Proxys are entred not promiscuously but apart from those of the Laiety The Bishop of Winton therefore we may observe sends up the Archdeacon of Surry as his Proxy and yet tha◠Archdeacon makes a Proctor for Himself which he needed not to have done had the Clergy and Laiety sat all in one House as the common Opinion supposes them Now to have done for then this Archdeacon might have Voted in a double Capacity But if the Clergy sat a part from the Laiety it was necessary for the Archdeacon when he appear'd for his Bishop among the Barons to make a Proxy for himself among the Clergy Besides I find the Bishops and Abbats do not give Procuratorial Letters exactly to the same Persons †Thus in the Diocese of St. Asaph the Chapters Dean Archdeacon and Clergy of the Diocese send the very same Proctors but the Bishops different ones And when the Bishop of Hereford commissioned one Lugwardin who was sent up also by the Archdeacons of Hereford and Salop the Chapter of Hereford and the Clergy of the Diocese he joyn'd another with him who might be his separate Proxy upon occasion The only Exception to this that I have observ'd in the List of Proxys is That the Chapter and Bishop of Exon return the very same But he might perhaps be if the Transcript of the Record be exact here the Chapters Proxy and the Bishops Messenger only who brought his Letters of General Ratihabition without any Power of Voting for him in particular cases For this Method I find was practis'd at that Meeting v. g. Abbas de Cumbâ non misit Procuratorem set promittit per Literas suas Patentes se ratum gratum habiturum quicquid indicto Parliamento Rex decreverit salubriter ordinandum The Reader who has consider'd Dr. W's Book finds that the Spirit of this Implicit Abbat did not die with him but has descended upon One who makes the same offer with less Wariness and puts not in so much as a Salubriter to guard his Submissive Doctrine as are impower'd by any of the Inferior Clergy but if one or two of them be the same they add a Second or Third that is different which I take not to have been Casual but with Design that so He who was Proxy for the Bishop alone might separate from the Rest and act for him among the Laiety while the Others Voted for him among the Clergy Which I apprehend also to be what chiefly gave birth to the Custom of the Clergys sending more Proctors than One both to the Convocation and Parliament by the Clause
to determin him Those little shifting Equivocal Forms of Speech he is so full of thâ—se savings and softnings he throws in every where shew that the Thistles he was mumbling did not pass easily and that he had not only no Assurance that he was in the Right but a Shrewd Guess that he was in the Wrong and laid in matter therefore for Evasion against he should have need of it So that whenever he thinks fit to make a Reply I question not but this will be one main part of it That He Good Man is much misunderstood and his Opinions ill represented which are at the bottom and taken together very Innocent and Blameless since whatever he has said that may sound harsh in any one part of his Book he has unsaid again explain'd and qualify'd in another I will not deny him to have in several Instances a Right to this Plea such an one as it is But He who makes use of it does in effect own that he had taken upon himself the hard Task of maintaining a Point which yet he saw was not defensible and that his Conscience star'd him in the Face every step that he took nevertheless being in he was resolv'd to go through with it And if this Excuse will be of any service to him by my Consent he shall be allow'd it Could we excuse his III Principles yet what shall we say to those Injurious Reflections that accompany them Those Slights and Reproaches he so Liberally casts on his Order when it has the Ill Luck to come in his way Many Actions of the Old Popish Clergy ly open enough in Conscience to censure but he is sure always to give the Worst and most Invidious turns to them He never distinguishes between the Men and their Popery but censures them in the gross and in such a Manner sometimes as to leave the Reader in doubt whether the Function it self were not in fault The Clergy of his Own Time are dealt with yet worse by him That part of them which desire a Convocation that is by his Leave the far Greater part of them are so represented by him as if they were Irregular in their Lives Violent in their Tempers and Factious in their Principles †That Little Noysy Turbulent Party that now set themselves up as Iudges amongst us Ap. p. 119. Some Hot Men for ought she knows her Enemies Ib. p. 119. What shall we say of the Conversation and Examples of some of those who wait at the Altar Pride and Peevishness Hatred and Evil Will Divisions and Discontents prevail among those who should teach and correct others and instead of improving a Spirit of Piety and Purity c. we mind little else but our several Interests and Quarrels and Contentions with one another c. Authority c. p. 333. Some there are of those that wait at the Altar much fitter to be cast out of the Church than to Officiate in it Pref. p. 8. Men notorious for their Irregularitys who have scandalously departed from the Rules of their Holy Profession Ibid. By these means the Busy Tempers of some Forward Men may be restrained But they are such Men and such Tempers that make these Restrictions necessary And their Unwillingness to submit to them shews but the more clearly how fitting it is that Princes should have all that Power to prevent them from doing both Themselves and the Church a Mischief p. 43. It is probable had not the Prince had this Ty upon us we should before this time in all appearance have expos'd both Our selves and the Church for a Prey to the Common Enemy p. 271. I am fully perswaded that nothing at this day preserves us from Ruin and Desolation but that we have not Power of our selves to do the Church a Mischief Ap. p. 211. A new sort of Disciplinarians are risen up from within our selves who seem to comply with the Government of the Church much upon the same account that others do with that of the State not out of Conscience to their Duty or any Love they have for it but because it is the Establish'd Church and they cannot keep their Preferments without it They hate our Constitution and revile all such as stand up in Good Earnest for it but for all that they resolve to hold fast to it and go on still to Subscribe and Rail App. Ep. Ded. and the Government is in the very last words of his Book excited to take Vengeance upon them as Men embark'd in a Separate Interest and averse to all the Methods of supporting it * The only way to deal with with some Men is to treat them as they Deserve and to let them know that those are unworthy of the Protection of the Government who are Embark'd in an Interest different from it and Refuse to contribute to the Necessities of it Authority c. p. 355. In a word so Contumelious is his way of treating them that had he not inform'd us who he was in his Title Page we should have guess'd him rather to have been of the Cabal against Priests and Priestcraft than One of the Order And this he has done at a time when Religion is struck at every day through the sides of its Ministers and he could not but know that such Reflections from such a Pen would be greedily entertain'd and ill employ'd Can a Man pretend to Principles and act at this rate The very Swiss that fight for pay will not march against their Own Country but whenever it is attack'd go home and defend it Must we believe that the Friends of Convocations have been represented under the same Colours to his Majesty that they are to the Reader as Enemies to his Government Hot Immoral considerable neither for their Merit Interest nor Number If so indeed we have here an Easy account of the Distinguishing steps that have of late Years been taken But sure they who talk at this rate do not believe themselves Hot Busy men would not have sat still and cool thus long under the Want of what they so earnestly desir'd would not have waited the Good Pleasure of their Superiors with so much submission and silence in a Point of such tender Concern to them but have taken other kind of steps than any that have been yet made use of towards obtaining it Were a Convocation the Desire of a small Despicable Party only and not of the Generality of the Clergy how come such Assemblys to be laid aside where a few Men though never so furious would make no figure nor be able to disturb measures And as to the Charge of Immorality it runs high indeed but 't is to be hop'd that it is groundless For were there so many Men of scandalous Lives among the Clergy sure the Fathers of the Church who have the Inspection of their Manners would ere this time have made Publick Examples of several of them I cannot think that their Lordships have been so far wanting in
but Bishops and Priests forasmuch as the Declaration of the Word of God pertaineth unto †Hist of the Ref. Vol. I. p. 174. them A Testimony that being given by those of the Higher Order in the Church in behalf of the Powers and Priviledges of the Lower must be allowed Considerable In the course therefore of our Provincial Synods the Inferior Clergy's Consent was expected and not that of the Suffragans only But still as we may observe the Archbishop alone is said to Decree and Ordain which is a stile of Authority peculiar to him Here and beyond what belonged Originally to his Character Indeed by the ancient Rules of the Church the Metropolitan's Consent was nenessary to make the Ordinance and He had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Stile and Power of the Archbishop of this Province might in this respect run higher because he challenged to be looked upon as something more than a simple ‖ Quasi velitis says Peckam in a Letter to the Bishop of London Jura Cantuariensis Ecclesiae ad Simplices Metropolitani Limites Coarctare Whart App. ad Hist. de Ep. Lond. p. 270. Metropolitan and had the Title of a Legat Born and in virtue of that Character he might take upon him to Decree and Ordain as the Pope did in Foreign Councils and as the King here at home used to do iâ— our elder Statutes And as these at the end of every Session of Parliament were used to be Enacted by the King so the Provincial Constitutions were published on the last Day of the Synod by the Archbishop He also some time afterwards enjoyning the Bishop of London and by him as Dean of the Episcopal College the other Bishops to see them Promulged and Executed as Acts of Parliament were ordered to be Proclaimed by the Comes at first and since by his Vicar-General the Sheriff This was the manner of holding Councils and making Canons neither was it necessary to have the King 's or Pope's leave to hold the one nor was their Authority requisite for Decreeing the other The Clergy were only to take care that they did not exceed their Limits either in the Matter or Manner of their Decrees and that their Constitutions were such as would not be Revoked and Annulled by either of those Supreme Powers The Metropolitans were by the Canons and by the Roman Law * Nov. 123. c. 10. where it had force Oblig'd to call those Synods Yearly Neither was Leave to be ask'd for their Summoning such Assemblâ—es then any more than there is now for a Bishop's Convening his Clergy and Church-Officers to a Visitation Not because those Canons were above the Law of our Country but because they were received into it and made a part of the Constitutions and Usages of the Kingdom 'T is true the Archbishop called them sometimes at the King's Instance signified to him by a Royal Writ Yet even then not in Virtue of 〈◊〉 Writ but by his Own Authority By which also whether called at the King's Instance or not he always Dissolved them And of this we have a very remarkable proof in the last Convocation under Henry the IVth ‖ Hen. IV. Writ for the Calling it bears date Jan. 19. 1412. It met â—n the 6 th of March He Died on the 20 th but the Convocation sat on to the 10 th of May when it was Dissolved which though Meeting at his Writ was yet so little thought to be held in Virtue of it that it Sat for near Two Months under his Successor Henry the Vth without a Dissolution Till Archbishop Chichley's time Convocations were frequently held even while Parliaments were sitting without any other Writ from the King but what was contained in the Bishops Summons with the Clause Praemunientes After the 8. of H. VI. the Clergy if they met by the King's Letter had the benefit of the Act of Parliament of that Year and therefore I suppose usually deâ—ired it to gain the Parliamentary Protection not as Fuller idly Conjectures * Ch Hist. Book 5. p. 290. and Dr. Wake from him p. 230. to avoid a Praemunire When they met †Mr. Nicolson Eng. Hist. Lib. part 3. p. 196. says They were Inhibited in their very Writs of Summons from Decreeing any thing to the Prejudice of the King or his Realms And for this he refers us to Dugdale 's Summons in the Reigns of E. 1. and E. 2. where there is not a word to this purpose nor can there be for Dugdale has no Writs for Convocations but only for the Parliament When the next Edition of his Work comes out he will be pleased to tell us from whence he drew this curious Remark I have seen many Convocation Writs but never that I remember one with a Prohibition in the Belly of it Writs were often sent to them by the King Forbidding them to attempt any thing against his Crown and Dignity and these Prohibitions are allowed to have been Tacit Permissions of such Assemblies provided they kept within their Bounds ‖ Bishop Stillingfleet 's Duties and Rights of the Parochial Clergy p. 371. And so indeed they certainly were for otherwise it had been as easy for the King to forbid their Meeting and Sitting as their Acting in such and such Instances which yet he appears very rarely to have done and to have been yet more rarely Obeyed when he attempted it * The Oldest Instance insisted on is a Prohibition of Geofry Fitz-Peter Lord Iustitiary to Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury But how it was obeyed the Annals of Lanercost in Bib. Cott. Claud. D. 7. declare Hub. Arch. Cant. celebravit Concil contra Prohibitionem Gaufridi c. in quo Concilio Archiepiscopus Subscripta promulgavit Decreta Ann. 1200. The Oldest Writ produced is 9 Joh. Ann. 1208. See it in Pryn. 3. Tom. Eccl. Jurisd p. 10. Whether comply'd with or not I do not find But suppose it was for it Issued out upon a Complaint of the whole Parliament A Third Instance I find in the 41 H. 3. Rot. Cl. M. 6. dors when the Convocation was forbid meeting at London because the King had at that very time Summoned all the Members of it that owed him Service to Attend his Army in Wales See the Writ Pryn. Ibid. Vol. II. p. 890. But though this Prohibition was so reasonable yet it was not Obeyed On the contrary when Archbishop Boniface at the Opening it proposed this Question to them among others Item Cùm Dominus Rex Prohibuerit Praelatis Ecclesiae sub forisfacturâ omnium terrarum suarum quas de eo tenent ne venirent ad hujusmodi Convocationem Auctoritate Domini Archiepiscopi factam an liceat deceat expediat tractare in hujusmodi Convocatione de Negotiis Ecclesiae vel potiùs quod absit Prohibitioni Regiae parere c. Ann. Burt. p. 383. it was carried that they should proceed notwithstanding and so they did as appears by the Roll of Grievances then
suppose to be fetch'd purely from Money but Redress of Grievances according to the honest Doctrine of the Mirror * Pur Oyer Terminer les playntes de tort de le Roy de la Roigne de lour Enfans de eux specialment de queâ—x Torts lun ne poet aver autrement common droit Cap. 1. Further had the accounts we have left of Convocations mention'd little more than the Supplies they gave yet it might have become Dr. Wake to suspect that those accounts were Defective and that much besides might have been done tho' little else was recorded The Proportion that the Clergy bore in the Taxes being a matter in which the State as well as the Church was nearly concern'd might be set down in our Annals with a more than Ordinary Care on the Crown-side it might be taken notice of that the King for the future might be sure of as much on the Clergy's side that they might be sure of giving no more Both might think it prudent to arm themselves with Precedents for a Demand or a Denyal as the Case might happen and for this reason among others the Article of Subsidies might have been suppos'd to make so considerable a Figure in the Story of those Synods had Dr. Wake been inclin'd in the least to embrace any accounts that were for the Honour or Interest of his Order But after all the very Bottom he goes upon is false an injurious and groundless Misrepresentation For that the Clergy when met had a great deal of other Business to do besides Raising Money appears from Numerous and Undeniable Testimonies And if Dr. Wake cannot find 'em as he says 't is because he has not look'd where they ought to be found or at least not with that care he ought to do in order to find them Had he look'd into Spelman or Lynwood methinks he might have found that they made Provincial Canons and Constitutions all along for the good Government of the Church and by means of 'em repress'd now and then an Aspiring Clergy-man that was making a False Court by betraying the Interests of his Body and endeavouring to build his Fortune upon the Ruin of their Liberties Had he lookt into our Historians as nicely as he would be thought to have done particularly into Harpsfield and Antiquitates Britannicae he would have found that they were taken up often in Foreign and more often in Domestick Affairs of the utmost Importance in Deputing some of their Members to General Councils * Harpsf p. 610 611. and preparing their Instructions in restoring Peace to the Church when it was broken by the clashing of Popes with Councils †Ant. Br. p. 227. or by the Contentions of Rival Popes about the Lawfulness of their Titles ‖ Harpsf p. 608. in resisting Papal Encroachments and Provisions ⸫ Harpsf p. 618 654. in exercising their Jurisdiction in Reforming Abuses among themselves or Petitioning for the Redress of them above that they open'd their Mouths to their Superiors as well as their Purses and gave Dutiful Advice sometimes that was as serviceable and welcome to a Good Prince as their Money But above all had he look'd into the few Old Acts and Journals of Convocation sav'd out of the General Wreck and yet remainining he would have found that the Articuli Reformandi or Gravamina Cleri were put up almost at every Session that Subsidies were seldom given without them and that they were suggested often when no Subsidies were given the Clergy in those Days being allow'd sometimes to approach their Prince Empty-handed and to beg of him what was their Due without paying for the Liberty of doing it Reforming Grievances was so much the End of the Clergy's Conciliary Meetings that the Archbishop mention'd it oftentimes in his very Provincial Mandate * In one of Archbishop Mepham 's Anno 1328. there is this Clause Proviso quod singuli Episcopi antequam Dioceses suas versus dictum Concilium egressi fuerint cum suo Clero deliberent inquirant sagaciter de Gravaminibus Defectibus dicti Concilii studio reformandis and to the same purpose another of Stratford's Dated 10. Kalend. Aug. 1341. These were for Provincial Councils strictly so call'd the Bishops being there directed to consult with the Clergy of their several Dioceses about the particular Grievances they lay under in order to their being laid before the Assembly And the Lower Clerks have now and then observ'd these Directions of their Metropolitan so well as to complain to him of the Inabilities or Exactions of those who had Iurisdiction under Him or under any of the other Bishops †Duck. Vit. Chichleii ad Ann. 1421 1432. As they were always sure of his Good Offices so sometimes it has so hapned that He himself has stood in need of Theirs and accordingly the Subject of their Debates has been how to screen an Archbishop from the Displeasure of his Prince ‖ Heylin's Hist. of Presbyt p. 250. Sometimes they have consulted of measures for the Advancement of Learning and Encouragement of Universities ⸫ Concilium Provinciale ad reparationem splendidarum Universitat Oxon. Cant. ac Graduatorum in eadem proficientium promotionem Ann 1417. Registr Bubwith Ep. B. W. and have come to resolutions very much to the Honour and Advantage of those Famous Bodies * Spelm. Conc. Vol. 2. p. 677. Ant. Brit. p. 214. and have by that means made way for them when under a Cloud to the Favour and Bounty of Others At some times the Regulation and Improvement of Grammar-Schools †Acta MSS. Synodi tentae An. 1555 ad Jan. 7. 1555 56. at Others the Loosness and Disorders of the Stage ‖ Febr. 24. 1541 42. Episcopi consultârunt de Publicis Dissolutis Comaediis corrigendis Act. MSS. have been the Subject of their Debates and it has been known when even Matters of Common Iustice and Traffick have felt the Influence of their Resolves and the Kingdom been generally benefitted by the Spiritual Censures they have denounc'd on the Use of False Weights and Measures * Constitutio facta in Convocatione 1430. pro abolitio Ponderis vocati Le Auncell Weight Spelm. Vol. 2. p. 687. A Late Writer †Nicholson Hist. Lib. p. 196. has found out yet another Employment for the Clergy in Convocation to pass the Finales Concordiae or Levies of Fines as we now call them and this upon no less an Authority than Sir Henry Spelman's who says ‖ In voce Finis it seems that such Matters were transacted sometimes coram Episcopo in Synodali Conventu and so they might be without however being ratify'd by a Convocation properly so call'd for the words of Sir Henry refer to those Mixt Assemblies where the Clergy and Laiety sat together Would Mr. Archdeacon afford us an Instance of a Fine thus pass'd in a Pure Ecclesiastical Meeting after the two Jurisdictions were compleatly separated it
Accounts that Passage in the Acts falls in Sess. 7. Dec. 9. The same day were likewise appointed Mr. Dean of Winchester and Mr. Dr. Draycott to associat Mr. Prolocutor to my Lord of Cant. to know a Determinat Answer what Indemnitys and Immunities this House shall have to treat in matters of Religion in Cases forbidden by the Statutes of this Realm to treat in They are concern'd here we see to be indemnify'd to treat of matters of Religion in some Particular Cases forbidden by the Statutes of this Realm i. e. by the Statute of the six Articles and another 35 H. â— c. 1. enforcing it But as for a General License authorizing them to treat in All Cases such an one as this second Petition prays they express no want or desire of it And yet had they wanted it at all it was now high time to have had it for five weeks of the Session were run out when this Motion was made Indeed 2. Had such a Petition for Liberty of Debate been presented it had in all probability been the First step which the Convocation after they sat down would have taken whereas we find by the Petition it self that it could not be drawn up till the Session had continu'd some time for the first Clause of it mentions a former Suit of theirs made to the Bishops in order to be by Them promoted with the King of which the Clergy had hitherto been expecting some Account from their Lordships without receiving any Further 3. The Paper it self that part of it I mean which prays a License has such manifest mistakes in relation to the Submission of the Clergy and the Statute enacting that Submission as one cannot suppose the whole Lower House of Convocation could well fall into For it confounds the Praeamble of the Act with the Body of it reciting that part of the Statute which declares the Penalties and an whole Proviso at the End of it as if they had been the very words of the Clergys Submission which it is manifest they were not and could not be My Lord of Sarum therefore not informing us whether the Paper from whence he transcribed this form was an Original as when it is so he generally does I must take leave to suspect that it was not and to apply to it the words which his Lordship himself uses about a Proclamaon of an Extraordinary Nature printed by Faller If he saw but a Copy we have reason to doubt of it for that might be only the Essay of some Projecting Man's Pen †Vol. 2. p. â—1 The present Paper might be and it is likely was no more than the first Draught of a Petition fram'd by some Private Hand but never agreed to by the Lower Clergy And were it allowable to guess at his Lordships Thoughts in this case I should think that He himself had entertain'd some such Opinion concerning it For though he has Printed this second Petition together with the First in his Collection of Records yet in his History †Vol. 2. p. 47. he makes but a very slight mention of it and gives no Account but of the First only and yet this Last contains New Matter in it of great Importance and which were the Paper where it is Authentick would very well have deserv'd a place in the Body of his Lordships Work and could not well have escap'd the Pen of so Discerning a Writer One would think therefore that his Lordship had some secret Suspicions of the inauthoritativeness of this second Paper grounded either on a View of the Manuscript it self from whence he transcrib'd it or on some other reasons which his Lordship has not been pleas'd to acquaint us with Indeed Bishop Stillingfleet who first produc'd it seems to say it was found among Archbishop Cranmer's Papers which looks as if it had been lodg'd in his hands as President of the Convocation and consequently were not a mere Draâ—giâ— only but agreed to and presented by the Lower House For which reason notwithstanding all the Probabilitys there are to the contrary I will suppose it Authentick and if it were so have this further to say to it That if we allow this Petition to have been actually offer'd yet it is certain that it had not its Effect and that no License in Writing issu'd upon it For if it had we should never have heard of any such Memorandum in the Acts as that I just now produc'd It is manifest that at the Time of the Date of this Memorandum the Clergy were 〈◊〉 Licens'd for they could not then have needed an Indemnity to treat in particular cases since the General Powers contain'd in that License would have been to all Intents and Purposes their Warrant and Security And if they had not a Commission in five Weeks from the time of their Meeting it will be easily granted me that they had none afterwards Indeed for the same Reason that this Memorandum proves that the Clergy had no License now it proves also that they were to have none for had they not laid aside all Thoughts of a General License they would never have ask'd for a Particular one to indemnify them in some special Cases On the very day when they pray'd this Indemnity the Acts say also †Isto die communi consensu nominati â—ssignati fuerunt Magister Roland Merrik Ioh. ap Harry Ioh. Williams Elizeus Price Doctores in Solli 〈◊〉 ad obtinendum Effectus sequentes viz. That the Petition made to have this House adjoyned to the Lâ—wer House of Parliament may be obtained that they appointed some Members of their own to sollicit their Conjunction with the Commons which was plainly in consequence of the first Branch of their Petition intimating a Design of appointing such Sollicitors But as to the Second Clause relating to the 25 H VIII and a General License they now take no notice of it but instead of it desire only to be Indemnify'd from the six Articles Which is a manifest sign that they had now drop'd this Request if they ever made it The Petition therefore if put up in form was most certainly quash'd above by the Bishops satisfying the Clergy upon Advice had in the case that such a Commission was needless So that nothing can be more to the Advantage of the Clergys Freedom of Debate than this Petition supposing it Authentick For as the Preferring it shews that the Clergy doubted at first whether a Commission might not be necessary to enable them to attempt entreat and commune c. so their acting without such a Commission afterwards for act they did is a clear Evidence that those Doubts were overrul'd as soon as started and does in effect amount to a Determination of the Point in question For the Iudges to be sure or King's Coâ—ncil and it may be both were consulted in the Case and did therefore as the Event shews give their Opinion against the Necessity of such a License but not it seems