SOME REFLECTIONS ON A MODEL NOW IN Projection BY THE Presbyterian Dissenters WITH A CIRCULAR LETTER Intimating It. LONDON Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall MDCXCVIII The Circulary Letter Newbery June 7. 98. For Mr. S. Minister of the Gospel in Oxford Reverend Sir I Had a Letter last Week by the Direction of the Committee of Ministers and Gentlemen appointed at London for setling a Correspondence of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers and Congregations throughout this Kingdom for the Advancement of the Interest of Religion and Reformation of Manners with the Articles there agreed upon in order thereunto and I desire you Communicate them speedily to the Brethren in these Parts And if possible a General Meeting must be had this Summer in London Pursuant thereunto it is desired that you would not fail to come your self and bring with you one Prudent Person of your Congregation Chosen for that End according to the Method resolved on at London to meet several of the Brethren and the Members of their respective Congregations here at Newbery on Wednesday the 22 Instant to consider of the said Proposals which shall be laid before you and the proper Method to Attain so desirable an End You are desired to be here on Tuesday in the Evening that we may enter on our Work on Wednesday Morning Resolving God willing to spend some time in Prayer before we begin I am SIR Your Affectionate Brother and Servant in the Lord W. T. SIR ON the Receipt of yours I laboured to get the fullest Account of that Project which in a Circular Letter directed to another of your Name fell by Chance into your Hands But by all the Interest I can make with that sort of Men I find it impossible for me to penetrate into the Bottom of the Contrivance or inform my self from what Spring it had its Rise and therefore must be Content with the Light your Paper gives me of it only I must confess that whatever may be hereafter Attempted I am of Opinion that at present it is but in Proposition and Design But tho' necessitated to this Brevity about your Enquiry I will be more large in shewing the Illegality of their Model And to this End I will as a Foundation of what I have to say set down the Project and give my Reasons why I judge it to be Illegal and Unsafe for them to Ripen it into Act. The Project if I take you right is as follows 1. There are to be Lesser Meetings of their Ministers and one or two Lay-Elders of every Congregation within a certain District every Three Months That is as I understand it and I think with good Reason there must be Classical Assemblies every three Months 2. These Lesser Assemblies or Classes are to choose one Minister and two other Discreet Persons or Lay-Elders of their Number to manage a Correspondence either with the Larger Meetings in the Country or the General Assembly in London 3. That there be an Union of several Districts or Classes in one Larger Meeting once every Six Months where the Ministers and Lay-Elders of the said Classes shall meet either in Person or by their Representatives called by 'em Delegates 4. That this Assembly do Appoint One Person to manage the Correspondence i. e. as I conceive a Praeses who in Vacancy of this Provincial Council is in Conjunction with other Presidents and the General Committee in London to maintain the Correspondence for the better Government of their Church 5. The Larger or Provincial Assemblies shall send one Minister and one Lay-Elder as their Delegates to a General Meeting to be held once a Year in London or oftner if Occasion not the King requireth it 6. That these Delegates bring with them Testimonials of their Delegations 7. That the Ministers do carefully observe and faithfully relate to the Provincial and National Assemblies the State of their Congregations respectively 8. That the whole be digested into a Method and Recorded in a Register This is I think a true and impartial Account of their New-Model which is no more nor less than a National Church-form wanting nothing that is Essential thereunto For 1. The Design is the settlement of Matters Ecclesiastical according to their own Methods and Rules 2. They have Ordained that there be Ecclesiastical Provincial and National Assemblies answerable to the Diocesan Provincial and National Convocations 3. Their Power is stretched unto the utmost Parts of the Kingdom taking in every one that will submit unto them which is the most our Church can do during the Suspension of Penal Laws 4. They have appointed stated Assemblies Provincial and National to be held without the King 's Writ of Summons who are to agree on Rules for Church Government without a Commission from the King and send them forth tho' not confirmed by the King's Letters Patents which our Church cannot do without incurring Grievous Penalties They assume to themselves an unlimited Power and want only the Formality of a Law to give to their General Meetings the Names of Magna servorum Dei Frequentia and Church-Gemote as also that of Convocation or Synodical Convention The next thing of which I 'll give you a View is the Reasons proving the Illegality of this National-Church-Form and the Danger of putting it into Act or Execution First then it 's well known to the Learned in our Laws That none of his Majesty's Liege People of what denomination soever may Assemble to Entreat of Matters Ecclesiastical for the Reformation of Manners as in the Case before us unless called by the King 's Writ nor may they without the Royal Assent entreat of or make any Constitutions Rules or Cannons by what Name or Names soever they are called nor can they Promulge or Execute them when made until confirm'd by Letters Pattents under the Great-Seal without incurring the Penalty of 25 H. 8. c. 19. whereby 't is Enacted That none shall promulge or execute any Cannons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in time Coming which shall be assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent to make promuige and execute such Cannons Provincial or Synodal upon pain of every one doing contrary to this Act and being thereof Canvict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the King 's Will. The Crime is manifest and so is the Penalty so that in case the Dissenting Ministers shall have their Assemblies whether Classical Provincial or National and entreat of make promulge or put in Execution any Cannons Constitutions or Rules by what Name or Names soever they are called Or if there hath been an Assembly whether of Twenty Four of their Clergy alone or part Clergy part Lay-Elders who have formed promulged and put in Execution divers Rules about Matters Ecclesiastical in either of these Cases they fall within the Words of this Act and are lyable to the Pains of Imprisonment and
of making Fine at the King 's Will. Secondly If these Men shall at any time presume to make or put in Execution any Cannons or Rules about Classical Provincial or National Assemblies such Rules are not only against the King's Prerogative but Contrariant and Repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and the Pain no less than a Premunire In 25 H. 8. cap. 19. there is a Proviso against all such Constitutions Cannons or Rules It is in these words Provided always that no Cannons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocations of the Clergy which shall be Contrariant or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm c. Now if a Convocation called by the King 's Writ and enabled by the Royal Licence to make Cannons may not make nor put in Execution such as are Repugnant to the King's Prerogative c. much less may any Assembly of the King's Liege People do so who have neither the King 's Writ nor Royal Licence And it 's Remarkable that 't was the Opinion of the Learned in the Law That had not the Assembly of 1640. been a Convocation the Cannons then made would have been according to the Vote of the ensuing Parliament against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and against the King's Prerogative whereby they would have justly incurred a Premunire The Laws of this Land are so Tender in this Point that about Church-Matters they 'll not admit of the least Usurpation or Incroachment on the King's Prerogative For instance If the King by his Letters Patents should appoint one to be a Bishop and limit the Dean and Chapter to Choose and the Arch-Bishop to Consecrate him within Twenty Days and they Act contrary to this Limitation they do thereby run into the Dangers Pains and Penalties of the Statute of Provisors and Premunire made in 25 E. 3. cap. 1. and 16 R. 2. cap. 5. Ay and their Aiders Counsellers and Abettors incur the same Punishment by 25 H. 8. cap. 20. These Gentlemen then should they promulge or put in Execution any Rules contrariant to the King's Prerogative the Incroachment hereby made upon it is much greater than what is done in the Case aforesaid and the Penalties not less And it 's certain that all Rules made for the Calling of Provincial or National Assemblies without the King 's Writ is to the Disberison of the Crown And they their Aiders Counsellors and Abettors cannot escape a Premunire Besides the appointing Classical Provincial and National Assemblies about Church-Matters is not only a Blow at the King's Prerogative but at the Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm For whatever is against the Prerogative Royal hath been always deemed to be contrariant to the Common Law of the Land as what is contrary to Common Law is also against God's Law Ley d'Angleter est found'n sur le Ley de Dieu And Ley de Exe Ley de Dieu sont tout un The Law of England is founded upon the Law of God And The Law of the Land and the Law of God are all one And consequently Incroachments on the King's Prerogative are not only to the prejudice and disherison of the King and of his Crown but to the disherison of all his Subjects and to the undoing and destruction of the Common Law of this Realm as may be seen in the Preamble of the Statute of 27 E. 3. cap. 1. Furthermore Rules about Classical Provincial and National Assemblies as to Matters Ecclesiastical are not only consequentially but directly against the Laws of the Land as they are contrary to the Rubricks and Cannons and those Statutes which have confirm'd and establish'd them That Rules about Classical Provincial and National Assemblies are against the Cannons of 1603. is too obvious and plain to be denied And my Lord Chief Justice Vaughan avers That if Cannon Law be made part of the Law of this Land then is it as much the Law of the Land and as well and by the same Authority as any other part of the Law of the Land Edes Walt. Bishop of Oxford's Case And whatever is the Law of the Kingdom is as much the Law as any thing else that is so for what is Law doth not suscipere magis aut minus Hill Good 's And the Cannons of 1603. are Established by 25 H. 8. cap. 18. For the Convocation in which they were made was called by the King 's Writ and enabled by the King's Commission to entreat make and promulge Cannons and Constitutions which were confirmed by Letters Patents under the Great Seal Besides Cannons for the setting up Assemblies c. are directly contrariant and repugnant unto the Act of Uniformity by which the Government of our Church is Established So that should these Gentlemen make any such Cannons or Rules 't will be impossible for them to Escape a Premunire They must not think to come off by telling us They design not to intermeddle with the National Church-Form nor to set up an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but only a Brotherly and amicable Correspondence That they use not the Terms Classical Provincial or National Nor do they impose any Cannons or Constitutions upon their Brethren They do but send them their Proposals or Methods for Regulating their Correspondencies To which 't is answered 1. That this is but Protestatio facto contrario it being evident they design the Regulating such matters as are of Ecclesiastical Conusance as the advancing Religion Unity and Love and the Reformation of Manners are 2. The Project proposed is a National Church-form For in it are Cannons appointing stated Times for their several Assemblies and ordaining that they shall be made up of Ministers and Lay-Elders and that they shall be of three distinct sorts as the Established Assemblies are so that tho' they use not the Terms Classical Provincial and National yet they secure the Thing 3. Tho' they do carefully lay aside the word Classical lest by its use they should frighten us before they have maturated what is now in design yet have they selected other Terms importing Jurisdiction in using the word Districts into which they have distributed their several Congregations For Districtus est Tractus in quo Dominus Vasallos Tenentes suos distringere potest Justitiae exercendae in eo tractu facultas Whence it is lib. 2. Teudor Tit. 54. Qui allodium vendiderit districtum Jurisdictionem Imperatoris vendere non praesumat Besides the Clergy have adopted it and Pope Boniface in his Bull anno 1033. has Consecrated it Maneantque sub Judicio Districtu vestro Agreeably hereunto the lesser and larger Districts are to send unto the General Assembly in London their Delegates to whom they give in their Testimonials or Dedimus potestatem or Commission For Delegatus is dicitur which for the most part in the understanding of the Common Law is as much as
Delegatio with the Civilians For Delegatus is dicitur cui Causa committitur terminanda vel exequenda vices delegantis repraesentans in Jurisdictione nihil proprium habens The reason is because Delegatus Jurisdictionem non suo Jure sed alieno beneficio habet They have also their Committees that is Persons to whom the consideration and ordering their Church Matters is committed which is usual in Convocations as well as Parliaments And their National Assembly they call General Committee perhaps to tell us they 'll imitate their Neighbours and be as Parliamentary in their Proceedings as may be and to this end Resolve their Assembly into a Committee of the whole House In a word they have also a Register that is Books or Rolls wherein are Recorded the Proceedings of their Spiritual Court. 4. Tho' they call not their Proposals by the Names of Constitutions Cannons or Ordinances yet are they of the same Nature and being designed for the regulating Matters of Ecclesiastical Conusance they are within 25 H. 8. cap. 19. And it 's well known that when several Parish Ministers of the Puritan way had in the Reign of the Queen their Assemblies at Wadsworth London Oxford Northamptonshire and other Places tho' with a Protestation 't was only in Subordination and not in Opposition to the Established Government and tho' they acted with much greater Caution than these Gentlemen if they go on with their Project do yet could they not escape Imprisonment and Ruine And it must be confessed that the Methods taken by the Popes to get their Decrees received by the English Church was by Cloathing 'em under soft Names and modest Terms such as Rogationes which they intreated us for the promoting of Holiness to submit unto Once more the Statutes of Provisors are so strictly penned against Offenders that the laying aside the Common Terms in use amongst Ecclesiasticks and taking up new ones cannot Skreen them from the Pains and Dangers of a Praemunire For they do extend not only to Usurpations and Incroachments made on the Royal Power by Papists but to all Persons whatsoever as my Lord Cook saith of what Quality or Sex soever The words be If any 2. To all Courts of what Jurisdiction soever or whether holden by Right or by Wrong the word alibi is of a large Extent so large you see as to take in these Gentlemens stated Assemblies for Reformation of Abuses c. 3. To all Things whatsoever Where any thing which words are as general as can be c. 3. There are some Circumstances affecting the Convocation of 1640. which may justly frighten these Gentlemen from having any hand in such a Project For it 's certain that this Convocation was called by the King 's Writ That as soon as they assembled the Archbishop produced a Commission under the Great Seal by Authority whereof they might according to 25 H. 8. cap. 19. propose entreat consult and agree on what Orders Cannons or Constitutions they should judge meet keeping within the Limitations of the said Statute And when they had Enacted their Cannons and had the Royal Confirmation by Letters Patents under the Great Seal yet were they Voted by the House of Commons in the following Parliament to be against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm against the King's Prerogative Property of the Subject the Right of Parliament and to tend to Faction and Sedition The Reasons of this Vote were many some of which were 1. That upon the Dissolution of the Parliament the Convocation was determined and what Cannons or Rules soever are made in an Assembly not Called by the King 's Writ are against the Prerogative Royal and such are the Classical Provincial and National Meetings of these Dissenters 2. The Cannons then enacted were against some Rubricks in the Service Book and contrary unto some of the XXXIX Articles which is as true of those Rules in the Dissenters Project For contrary to the Established Government by Bishops Archbishops c. They have set up a National Church Government by Ministers and Lay-Elders in their various Meetings ut supra This brief Account may shew them what appearance of Law this Convocation of 1640. and the Cannons then made had And yet for the Reasons aforesaid the Clergy who acted therein did then as was Voted by that Parliament we may call Whiggish fall into the Pains and Dangers of a Praemunire as is to this Day the Opinion of our Learned and Reverend Judges and other great Lawyers in Westminster-hall How much rather then may they be supposed to incur the same Penalties who shall come to a General Meeting that is not called by the King 's Writ agree on Rules about Church-matters without the Royal Licence and tho' they have not Letters Patents under the Great Seal for their Confirmation promulge and execute them some of which are against the Rubricks Articles and Cannons by Law Established 4. This Project altho' in its appearance and truest Complection doth most resemble the late National Church-form amongst the French Hugonots which was granted them by sundry Edicts yet they were never so bold as to ordain and appoint National Assemblies at any time but when Lieensed by their Kings and more than seventy years by-gone 't was ordained by Letters Patents and verified in the Court of Parliament That in all Assemblies of the King's Subjects of the Reformed Religion one of his Majesties Officers being of the same Religion should assist in Person and see that nothing should be propounded and handled amongst them but such Matters as were permitted by his Edicts The French Kings were so very Jealous of their Clergy lest they should incroach upon the Regalia that they would never suffer them of the Romish Faith to come together but when called by Authority of the King and when assembled divers Tituli or Capitula containing Directions how to proceed and what to enter upon were sent to 'em whereupon the Clergy when assembled did in their Synodical Epistles assure their Prince that they acted Secundum voluntatis vestrae consultationem Titulos quos dedistis This was not a Practice only in the Gallican but long before in the Catholick Church For Dionysius Comes was sent by Constantine to the Council at Tyre Ut Animadversor esset Custos Conservandae Aequabilitatis Ordinis Candidianus was sent by Theodosius upon the same Score to the Ephesine Synod If then neither Protestant nor Papist nor the Modern nor Ancient Clergy could hold a General Assembly unless called by the King 's Writ nor enter upon any Business concerning the State of the Church without the King's Licence and certain Capitula or an Animadversor of the Kings and Emperors Appointment How is it that these Dissenters without either Summons or Licence without an Animadversor or Capitula dare appoint Stated Provincial and National Assemblies and frame Rules and Cannons in prejudice to the King and his Crown and contrariant and repugnant to the Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm SIR What I have thus briefly offer'd to prove the Illegality of this Project and the Danger of putting what is yet but in Design into Act or Execution may satisfie you that the Uttermost the unquiet Party among the Dissenters can do is to Alarm the True Sons of our Holy Mother the Church of England to take heed That whilst Liberty is given to the Consciencious amongst them the Licentious be not suffer'd to Undermine and Subvert the National Establishment as this Project must needs do if They meet not with a timely Check by putting the said Laws in Execution against those Ill-designing discontented Gentlemen as soon as ever they shall be guilty of the first Breach which their bare Assembling in order to the Ripening this Project will apparently be and expose all concern'd to the Exemplary and Merited Punishment inflicted on such Bold Undertakers as can Contemn the Laws and Trample on Prerogative Adieu SIR I am Yours