himself acknowledges And I am sure whenever the King shall think fit to let them Meet He will send Them his Licence to Act too If they accept his Licence and proceed to Act by vertue of it this will afford us a new Argument to prove that we are not mistaken in the Sense we give of this Statute If not we shall then in all probability be set Right in it and upon a Judicial determination which this Author tells us was wanting in Cokes Report be satisfied what Skill this positive Man has in Interpreting of Acts of Parliament And whether tho' there be No Sense yet there may not be Good Law on the side of the King's Prerogative And now I may venture to say we have seen the utmost of what this Author can do As for what he next catches at That my Lord Coke affirms that the King had heretofore a Right to send Commissioners to sit with the Clergy in Convocation tho' Quo jure he says it do's not Appear And therefore it must be supposed that the Clergy had a Right to debate of what they pleased because else it would have been needless to send a Commissioner to Watch them I must needs say I do not see by what Rules of Reason any such Consequence will follow from it Unless we should suppose that because Men are limited to Act by certain Rules therefore there is no danger of their transgressing of Them The ancient Emperours we are well assured tied up their Councils to very Strict Rules Yet so dull were They that for that very Reason they sent Commissioners to sit with their Bishops that so they might take Care to keep them within bounds and see that they acted according to the Rules they had prescribed to Them 'T is true the Clergy in those days did take the Liberty to transact many things in their Convocations without any particular Licence from the King to warrant Them so to do And this rendred the presence of such Commissioners more necessary heretofore than it is Now. But that they did take upon them to do this is no proof that they had a Right to do it any more than their attempts in many other instances prove that they ought to have enjoy'd all those priviledges by which it is on all hands allow'd that they did oftentimes notoriously Usurp upon the Royal Authority There is yet a little spiteful Suggestion for I cannot call it an Argument drawn from Magna Charta and the King's Coronation-Oath But these things will then be fit to be Consider'd when He shall first have proved the Church to have such a Right as he supposes but has not yet offer'd one tolerable proof of unless we should take a Confident Assertion for proof in which it must be confess'd he has not been Wanting In the mean time whilst the Church is deprived of no Liberty that either the Laws have given it or it ought of Right to enjoy the King may keep his Coronation-Oath and Magna Charta be as sacredly observed as any One could Wish it should be tho' the Clergy be not allow'd all that unreasonable Liberty which some Men plead for on their Behalf but which neither the Clergy nor Convocation have Themselves ever pretended to But whatever Restraints may be pretended to be laid upon the Convocation by this Act with regard to the making of Laws and Constitutions For Laws this Author will have the Convocation to make as well as the Parliament yet the Exercise of their Jurisdiction as they are a Court properly so called is certainly left free and intire to them This He takes for Granted and never so much as attempts a Proof of it And therefore there is no more for me here to do after what I have already said as to this matter If the Case be so as it is here supposed If neither the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Causes nor the Laws of the Realm nor the Custom of Convocations which like that of the Parliament is I conceive the Law of Convotion have restrained the Clergy as to these Matters I am sure I shall be far from desiring to lay any Restraint upon them I shall conclude this whole Chapter with a Relation which I meet with in One of our Ancient Reports and which being added to what I have before observed may contribute a little to the better understanding of the power of the Convocation in the Particular we are now upon In the 4. H. 8. An Act of Parliament was made to deny the benefit of the Clergy to certain Malefaâ—â—ors therein mentioned The Clergy being angry at this as intrenching too much on the Rights of the Church for the Church in those Days was always wont to be very tender of her Rights whether they were for the publick Good or no About three years after the Parliament then sitting the Abbot of Winchomb in a Publick Sermon at Pauls Cross not only Preach'd against the said Act and all Those who had Consented to the Passing of it but farther Affirm'd that All Clerks who have once been admitted into any Holy Orders whether Greater or Lesser were from thenceforth Exempt from all temporal Punishment before any Temporal Judge for any Criminal Cause whatsoever The Lords Temporal and Commons being alarum'd at this Petition the King that he would order this Point to be publickly argued by Divines and Canonists on both sides And thereupon a Certain Day was appointed by the King for that purpose at the Black-Fryars London Among the Council for the King was Doctor Henry Standish a Learned Man and Guardian of the Mendicant Fryars in London The Cause was handled and many Members of both Houses were present And in the Opinion of all who heard it Dr. Standish had so much the Better of the Council that argued for the Clergy that it was moved to the Bishops that they should Oblige the Abbot Publickly to Recant his Assertions At Michaelmas following the Clergy sitting in Convocation cited Dr. Standish to appear before them to answer to such Articles as should there be Exhibited against Him He appeared as he was order'd and four Articles were first proposed by the Archbishop to Him and being afterwards encreased to six were deliver'd to Him in Writing All tending to the purport of what he had before Asserted in defence of the King's Authority And he was Required upon a Certain Day to Answer to Them It seems to assert the King's Authority over the Clergy was accounted in those days to be no less than Heresie and perhaps may still be thought by some Men to come near to it Doctor Standish easily perceived what the Convocation drove at And being sensible that He should not be Able to withstand their Malice and Authority put Himself under the King's Protection and referr'd his Cause to Him The Clergy being a little surprised at this protest to the King that their Process against Him was not for any thing he
desire to Understand than the Laws and Antiquities of the Country in which I live but especially of the Church in which I minister And I am not a little pleas'd to see that there are at this time so many Persons of Excellent Parts no less addicted to these Researches and much better Able to pursue them than I am It may possibly be some provocation to One or Other of These to give us a more perfect Account of the present Subject to see how little is here done in it The Argument certainly deserves Consideration and I heartily wish it a better Hand and a better Head too than any that has yet appear'd upon it In the following Treatise having first stated the Subject I was to go upon and settled the Method I thought most proper to be observed in the prosecution of it I in the next place go on to lay the Foundation of what I had to say with Reference to our own Laws and Constitutions upon the Practice and Opinions of the Antient Church and of all the Christian Countries round about us for above 800 years after Christ. I consider'd that the Church of England beyond most Churches in the World has a peculiar Veneration for the Discipline as well as Doctrine of the Primitive Church And I thought it would be no small Evidence of my good Intentions towards it upon this Occasion to shew that I pretended to nothing in behalf of our own Kings but what the Bishops and Clergy from the fourth Century downwards had readily allow'd to their Emperours And what all Other Christian Princes continued to Enjoy till the Papal Authority prevail'd over Them and deprived them of that Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters which They originally had and to which the Reformation has again so justly restored them And now having laid so good a Foundation I thought I might proceed the more freely to Enquire into the Case of our own Country and see what Authority the King of England has over his Convocations and by what Law or Custom he enjoys that Authority In this I was forc'd to confine myself within the time of the Reformation because it was about the Beginning of that that Our Kings were restored to their Supremacy in this as well as in other matters or at least had their Authority more solemnly recognized by the Clergy and established by the Parliament than ever it had been before But lest such a Supremacy as this should seem to depend rather upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament than to be derived from that Original Power in Ecclesiastical Causes which belongs to all Christian Princes and to Ours as well as to any and which was Exercised by them many Ages before any Statute was made to intitle them thereunto Having shewn what the Law as to these matters now is I thought it might not be amiss to enlarge my Enquiry and to see how the Case has stood in this particular from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time wherein I began my former Disquisition And upon search I found and I think have plainly made it appear that the Authority I here assert to the King is no other than what our most antient Princes till about 1100 years after Christ continued to exercise and even then claim'd a Right too when they were not any longer permitted to excercise it If in pursuing of this Enquiry through so many past Ages I have sometimes taken the liberty to fill up those Vacancies which through the want of Materials proper for such an Undertaking often fall in my way with Reflections a little foreign to my proper Business I hope it will not be taken for any great Offence in a Work of this Nature especially considering that my very Digressions are rather not directly to the purpose of my present Subject than altogether distant from it As for the remainder of my discourse which is spent in Answering the Letter to a Convocation-man I shall only say thus much that I have not designedly either over-look'd any of its Arguments or made an imperfect much less a false Representation of them I have examined every thing that seem'd considerable enough to be taken notice of and I hope have fully answered what I have examined I am not aware that in doing of this I have given my Adversary any hard Treatment tho' I cannot but say He has taken care oftentimes to deserve it But I thought it unreasonable to be guilty of that my self which I look'd upon to have been a fault in Him 'T is true I have all along spoken my mind with great freedom and where I sound any thing amiss have not stuck to own it tho'it seemed to reflect upon those of my own Order Till Clergy-men cease to be Men they will be guilty not only of Follies and Imprudencies but of Sins too as well as others and to what purpose should I dissemble that which whether it be confess'd or not all the World knows to be but too True Were our Faults so private that to allow of them were to publish them I am sure no One should be more careful to hide them than I would be But I cannot conceive it to be either for the Credit or Interest of the Church to dissemble those Vices which those who Commit them take no Care to Conceal If any one should be so unreasonable as to take occasion from hence to think hardly of our Profession or to be scandalized at our Religion for the Faults of those who minister in It I would only desire them to consider that we live in an unhappy Age and make up a large Number of Men and it can hardly be thought but that where so many thousands wait at the Altar some there should be who are much fitter to be cast out of the Church than to officiate in it In the mean time God be thanked Many there are who are as Eminent for their Piety as some others are Notorious for their Irregularities and this Advantage they ought to have to recommend our Religion beyond what the others should have to defame it that these live agreeably to the Rules of their Holy Profession whereas the others must be confess'd to have scandalously departed from them To conclude the following Treatise as it was truly intended for the Service of the Church of England so I hope it may be of some Use to many in it At least it will satisfie Those who have taken Offence at the Letter here examined that it speaks not the Sense of All if of any of our Clergy And shew that many there be who no less disapprove the Assertions of this Author than they are justly offended at his Bold and Scandalous Reflections THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE Design of the following Treatise with a short Account of the Method that is proposed to be observed in the Prosecution of it The Order of the Questions proposed in the Letter to a Convocation man changed and an Enquiry design'd to
the Kings behalf The Affairs then which the Convocation is in general to debate about and consent to are the Urgent Affairs which concern the King the Church and the Realm And these therefore are the constant Introduction of every Convocation Writ But what those Affairs are with Reference to Any or All of These which every particular Convocation is call'd to consider That the King reserves to himself to declare to Them and they are when met to expect his special Direction and not to ramble after their own Fancies on any Matter within this general Compass without his Warrant It has indeed been questioned by a Late Author Whether this Clause was antiently inserted into these Writs and he would fain have it thought that herein also the Clergy have of late been encroach'd upon But the Forms of Publick Instruments are not so easily altered If they were we might rather have expected that some other Expressions which relate to those Privileges which the Clergy formerly enjoy'd but which have now for a long time been utterly laid aside should have been omitted or changed than this which is perfectly agreeable both to the Laws of the Realm and to his Majesty's Royal Prerogative in these Matters But indeed this Clause if not as antient as the Writ it self is yet of very great Antiquity And we have at this day Writs as far back as King Henry the Sixth's Time in which this Clause is found in the very same Words that it is continued in at this day But were there any doubt to be made concerning the Authority of this Clause yet that Method that has always been taken by the King to set the Convocation on Work would be more than enough to shew how intirely their Deliberations depend upon his Direction When the last Convocation under his present Majesty was met the King by his Principal Secretary of State sent his Commission to Them In which having taken notice of the Statute of Henry the Eighth before mentioned and the Obligation which was thereby laid upon Them not to proceed to any Business without his Licence first had so to do he does therefore in order to their proceeding with Safety to Themselves and pursuant to the true Purpose and Intent of that Law particularly declare upon what Points he allow'd Them to Consult and under what Conditions he gave them Authority so to do That they should consider of any Alterations which they thought proper to be made in the Form Rites or Ceremonies of our Divine Service That they should Review the Book of Canons Should consider What Defects or Abuses might be found in the Ecclesiastical Courts How the Manners both of the Ministers and People might more effectually be Reform'd And such Provision be made that None should hereafter be Admitted into Holy Orders but such as were duly qualified both in their Lives and Learning to be received into the same These are the Heads on which the Clergy of that Convocation were directed to debate And even upon these they were to deliberate under these following Restrictions 1st That the President and Greater Number of the Bishops were to be always present And 2dly That even upon these General Heads they should consider only such particular Points Matters Causes or Things as his Majesty should propose or cause to be proposed by the President of the Convocation to Them Such was the Commission by which the last Convocation was set on work And to prepare the particular Matters which the King reserved to himself to propose to Them and upon which alone They were allow'd to debate His Majesty some time before the Convocation was to meet appointed a Select Committee of the Bishops and Clergy to consult about the same Matters and to draw up such Resolutions as they should think most fitting for him to lay before the Convocation when it should be Assembled Nor was this any New Invention any Unusual Restraint laid upon the Clergy in these days of Doubt and Distrust but the constant Method which had before been pursued ever since the 25 Hen. 8. It cannot be deny'd but that whatever his present Majesty may in some Mens Opinions be said to be yet without all Question King Charles the First was a true Friend to the Episcopal Clergy Nor can it any more be doubted whether Archbishop Laud had not both Care enough to Examine into the Rights of the Convocation and Interest enough with that Prince to assert the Privileges of it Let us therefore to avoid all Exceptions in this Case enquire how things pass'd in that Famous Convocation of 1640 wherein much was done and great Offence given to those who Resolved not to be pleased with any thing that either that King or that Archbishop did but nothing that can justly be found fault with by such as we are now especially concerned if it may be to convince Now that Convocation being met by vertue of the same Writ that is still made use of in these Cases the King sent his Special Commission to them to impower them to Act bearing date April 15. 1640. In this Commission he first at large Recites the Statute of the 25 Hen. 8. as from the time that it was made it had always been the Custom in the like Commissions to do to shew the need they had of his Royal Licence and Assent to enable them to go on with safety in their Debates and Resolutions Having done this He in the next place prefaces the Permission he was about to grant to them with these very Words which ought not to be omitted Know ye therefore that We for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations Us thereunto moving of our Especial Grace certain Knowledge and Meer Motion have by vertue of our Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical given and granted and by these Presents do give and grant full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority to the most Reverend Father in God c. I shall not need to make any Remarks upon this Preamble which fully answers all the Pretences of those who fancy not only the Sitting but the Acting too of the Convocation to be a matter of Right naturally belinging to Them And that either no Commission at all is needful to Authorize them so to do or that if there be the King is of Course obliged to Grant it to them For first That without the King's Commission they cannot proceed to any Business of Themselves without Violating an Act of Parliament and encroaching upon the King's Prerogative Royol and Supreme Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical is here directly asserted And that such a Commission the King may lawfully Grant or refuse as he thinks convenient not only the constant Custom of our Princes in adjourning their Convocations excepting only at such times as they had something for them to do assures us but the very words of the present Commission directly imply For how came the King to grant this
Convocation is called They should not only meet Formally but sit and act as the Parliament do that there should be a Session of Convocation as well as a Session of Parliament Now not to be too curious in examining the Parallel here offered betwixt these two and which were it as exact as I am confident it is not would yet no more prove their Privileges to be Equal than the Likeness of two Corporations in having a Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council would prove that therefore in despight of their several Charters they must have all the same Privileges also 1st I am not satisfied that the Convocation is of the same Power with Regard to the Church that the Parliament is in Respect of the State Because I am told by very good Lawyers that the Convocation in making Ecclesiastical Constitutions must proceed by certain Rules and cannot even with the King's consent conclude any thing contrary to the Laws or Statutes or Customs of the Realm But now the Parliament is not subject to any such limitations Its Power is Arbitrary and Uncontroulable And being joyn'd with the Royal Authority can enact what it will for the publick Good any Law Statute or Custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding 2. As for the Word Parliament I shall not much contend with him about it It is well known that it was a name brought in by the Normans and but late Received among Us to denote those Meetings of State which were anciently called mycel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colloquium Concilium Synodus and the like It is more extraordinary which He tells us that as Wittena-Gemote was wont to signifie what we call a Parliament so Church-Gemote denoted what we call a Convocation And for which I am confident He will be hard put to it to bring us any Author elder than Sir Edw. Coke from whom as poor Godolphin first so has he now taken it at all Adventures Tho' were this true the Observation would amount in plain English to no more than this That as a Parliament was anciently call'd an Assembly of the Wise-men so was a Convocation call'd an Assembly of Church-men And of which if He can make any Use I shall not envy him the Honour of so weighty and critical a Remark Were it needfull in Return to these little Remarks to mention the several Differences that might be assigned between these two Assemblies I might easily enlarge them into many more particulars and of much greater Importance than Those which He has alledged To say nothing of the Convocations being multiplied according to the number of the Provinces into which the Church is divided and representing the Clergy not of the whole Church but only of One part of it whereas the Parliament is an Assembly for the whole Realm The manner of Consulting Resolving and Acting is very different in the One and in the Other The Authority of the Archbishop is much other in the Convocation than the Lord-Keepers is in the Parliament But especially the Power of the Parliament in making Laws free and unbounded whereas the Convocation is by Authority of Parliament determined both in its Principle and Power of Acting And can neither Debate effectually nor Resolve to any purpose of any thing but what is Agreeable to the Laws of the Realm and is no wise prejudicial to the Civil interests of any But to allow of the supposed Parallel between the Parliament and Convocation What will this Gentleman inferr from it Not I hope that the One should therefore â—it and act whenever the Other do's A Father for example has two Sons They are both his Children both of the same Sex both Equally Related to Him perhaps and both Equally Beloved by Him But will this Author from thence conclude That they have an Equal Right to his Estate and ought Equally to succeed in it This would be a very Agreeable conclusion to many I make no doubt but I am afraid will hardly be allow'd by the Elder Brothers to be a Just One 'T is true a Father in this Case may possibly have left them Portions alike and have made them as equal in their Fortunes as they were in their Relation to him And so perhaps Our Constitution may have made the Parliament and the Convocation But whether the Father has done this must be proved from the settlement of his Estate and not from any supposed Equality of Right in his Sons to his Affection And whether Our Constitution has given these Assemblies an Equal right to meet â—it and act must be determined by the Laws and Customs of the Realm and not be collected from imaginary Parallels and wild Inferences which have neither any Law and but very little Sense in Them 3. As for those State Maxims which he has finally added to support this Argument it will then be proper to give a Reply to them when this Author shall have shewn us that there is any thing in them to be Replied to In the mean time I must observe that whether we consider the Nature or End of the Parliament the Necessities of the Civil Affairs or the Interest which Both the Prince and People may have in the Assembling of it there must in all probability be always a much greater need of Frequent Parliaments for the benefit of the State than of Frequent Convocations for the Welfare of the Church When a National Church is once thoroughly Establish'd and neither needs any farther Laws to be made for the enforcing of its Discipline or any new Confessions to be framed for the security of its Doctrine When its Liturgy and other Offices are fix'd and stated and there is so far from being any need of altering or improving any of these that it is thought a Crime but even to suppose that it is possible to improve them or to make any Alterations but for the Worse in them I cannot imagine untill something arises to unsettle such a Constitution what a Convocation could have to meet about But this is not the Case of the Civil State which is God knows subject to many more changes than the Ecclesiastical and will oftner want to have publick Remedies applied for the redress or prevention of its publick Evils Perhaps a Prince arises who affects an Arbitrary sway and his Ministers joyn in the same designs with him and nothing less than the Authority of a Parliament can put a stop to their Attempts This therefore may make it necessary in times of Peace and Quietness for the Parliament to meet at certain times to prevent such attempts and to keep every Member of the Constitution within its due bounds And such was the Case of the last Reign It may be the Common-wealth is assaulted by its Enemies from abroad and those Enemies are countenanced by a factious discontented Party at home and it is necessary for the Parliament to meet and to raise Supplies for the Defence of the Realm against the One and to make some
claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons Nor shall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinance Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocations in Time Coming which alway shall be Assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing contrary to this and being thereof convict to suffer Imprisonment and to make fine at the King 's Will. Provided alway that no Canons 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 any thing contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding V. The Commission sent by King Charles Ist. to the Convocation of 1640. 1. CHarles by the Grace of God c. To all whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas in and by One Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry VIIIth reciting that whereas the King 's Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy c. Reciting all verbatim as in the Extract Numb iv And lastly it is provided by the said Act that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial which then were already made and which then were not Contrariant or Repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or hurt of the King 's Prerogative-Royal should then still be used and executed as they were before the making of the said Act until such time as they should be view'd search'd or otherwise Order'd and Determin'd by the Persons mention'd in the said Act or the more Part of them according to the Tenour Form and Effect of the said Act as by the said Act amongst divers other things more fully and at large it doth and may Appear 2. Know ye that we for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations us thereunto especially moving of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion have by Vertue of our Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical given and granted and by these Presents do Give and Grant full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority unto the most Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan President of this present Convocation for the Province of Canterbury during this Present Parliament now assembled and to the Rest of the Bishops of the same Province and all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province That they the said Lord Archbishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the Rest of the Bishops and other the said Clergy of this present Convocation within the said Province of Canterbury or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be always One Shall and may from Time to Time during the present Parliament Propose Conferr Treat Debate Consider Consult and Agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon or Canons now in force and of and upon any such Other New Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they the said Lord Bishop President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the Greater Number of them whereof of the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation to be One shall think necessary fit and convenient for the Honour and Service of Almighty God the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be from Time to Time observ'd perform'd fulfill'd and kept as well by the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops and their Successors and the rest of the whole Clergy of the said Province of Canterbury in their several Callings Offices Functions Ministries Degrees and Administrations as also by all and every Dean of the Arches and other Judges of the said Bishops Courts Guardians of Spiritualties Chancellors Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Commissaries Officials Registers and all and every Other Ecclesiastical Officers and their Inferiour Ministers whatsoever of the same Province of Canterbury in their and every of their distinct Courts and in the Order and Manner of their and every of their Proceedings and by all other Persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being Members of the Church it may concern them And further to conferr debate treat consider consult and agree of and upon such other Points Matters Causes and Things as We from Time to Time shall deliver or cause to be deliver'd unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation under our Sign-manual or Privy-Signet to be debated consider'd consulted and concluded upon the said Statute or any Other Statutes Act of Parliament Proclamation Provision or Restraint heretofore had made provided or set forth or any other Cause Matter or thing whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. And we do also by these Presents give and grant unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and to the Rest of the Bishops of the said Province of Canterbury and unto all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority that They the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be One all and every the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters Causes and things so by them from Time to Time conferr'd treated debated consider'd consulted and agreed upon shall and may set down in Writing in such Form as heretofore hath been accustom'd and the same so set down in writing to exhibit and deliver or cause to be exhibited and delivered unto Us to the End that we upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or otherwise Disallow Anhillate and make void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of them so to be by force of these presents consider'd consulted and Agreed upon as we shall think fit requisite and convenient 4. Provided always that the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters and Things or Any of them so to be consider'd consulted and agreed upon as aforesaid be not contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy establish'd or the Rubricks in it or the xxxix Articles or any Doctrine Orders and Ceremonies
Synods of this kind during this Period § 14. c. Of the Ecclesiastical Matters of most note that were transacted in the great Councils of the same Period § 18. c. II. Period From the coming in of K. William I. to the 23d of K. Edward I. The Papal Power began about this time to prevail over the Princes Authority § 21. By what degrees it did so § 22 c. William the Conqueror stood out against its Incroachments and continued the Affairs of the Church in the same state they were in before § 24. So did his Sons after him § 25. What that State was ibid. An Historical Account of the chief Ecclesiastical Synods under King Willam I. § 26 27. King William II. § 28. King Henry I. § 29. How the Pope now began to send his Legats hither and by that means encroach'd upon the King's Prerogative in the business before us § 30. How the Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave the next shock to it § 31. Of the Affairs of the Church under K. Stephen § 31. K. Henry II. § 32. K. Richard I. § 33. K. John § 34. K. Henry III. § 35. K. Edward I. § 36. How far our Kings during this Period continued to transact the Affairs of the Church in their Great Councils § 37 III. Period From the 23d of King Edward I to the 25th of King Henry VIII Of the Nature of the Civil Government about the beginning of this Period particularly of the Great Council of the Nation § 43. Of the Change which some suppose was about this time made in it § 44 45 That the same Change was made in the Ecclesiastical which seems to have been made in the Civil part of it § 46. What place from thenceforth the Inferiour Clergy had in it shewn From the Parliament Writ § 47. From the Parliament Rolls § 48. How our Great Councils Met and Acted at the beginning of this Establishment § 49. Of the State of the Convocation as it is a Provincial Synod about this time shewn From the difference between the Parliament and Convocation Writ § 50 51. How the Convocation came to bè summon'd at or about the same time with the Parliament § 51. Whether One may not be held without the Other § 52. By whom the Convocation in these times was wont to be Called § 53. Of the chief Convocations held under K. Edw. I. § 54. K. Edw. II. § 55. K. Edw. III. § 56. Of the Opposition which began about this time to be made to the Pope's Usurpations ibid. Of the Convocations under our following Kings to the time of King Henry VIII § 58 ad 61. Period IV. From the 25th of K. Henry VIII to Our Own Times An Historical Account of the Statute 25. Hen. VIII cap. 19. § 62 63 64. Of the Dependance which the Convocation has upon the Parliament § 65. Whether the Convocation as it now stands be any part of the Parliament § 66. Of Select Committees and the Great Use that has been made of them under this Period § 67. The several Ways of transacting Ecclesiastical Affairs at this day consider'd in Five Particulars § 68. It is at the Prince's choice by which of these he will from time to time transact them § 69 70. CHAP. V. The Opinion advanced in the Late Letter to a Convocation Man stated and the Arguments examined by which the Author of it pretends to shew 1. That the Convocation has a Right to meet whenever the Parliament does And 2. That being Met it has also a Right to Act without any Licence from the King to empower it so to do The Subject of this Chapter proposed § 1. And the Questions in debate stated from the Words of the Letter here to be Examined § 2. Whether the Church has any Original Inherent Right of its Own to Assemble Synods § 3. The First Question brought to its true State § 4. The Second Question in like manner reduced to its true bounds § 5. I. Question § 6. That the Convocation has a Right to Sit as often as the Parliament meets does not follow 1. From any supposed Parallel between them § 7. Which is examined and answer'd ib. That there is more need of frequent Parliaments than of frequent Convocations § 8. 2. Nor from the 8th Hen. VI. § 9. 3. Nor from its power to judge in matters of Heresie § 10. 4. Nor from the Bishops Parliament Writ § 11. The Objection of the Archbishop's being prohibited by the King's Justice to hold a Synod by his Own Authority neither well Related nor to the purpose § 12. 5. Nor from the Descriptions of a Convocation in the Law Dictionaries § 13 II. Question § 14. That the Convocation being Met may proceed to Act without the King's Licence Not proved 1. From any thing unreasonable that would follow if it might not § 15. 2. Nor from any supposed Right which they have to the King's Licence if it be needful § 16. 3. Nor from the Parallel again urged between the Convocation and the Parliament § 17. 4. Nor from the Prohibitions antiently sent by the King to it § 18. 5. The Stature 25. Hen. VIII Vindicated from the new Interpretation given of it by this Author § 19 20. The King 's Right to send Commissioners to sit in Convocation nothing to his Advantage § 21. Of the Authority of the Convocation in point of Judicature § 23. The Case between Dr. Standish and the Convocation Related as it stands in our antient Law Books § 24. CHAP. VI. Some Rules laid down by which to judge for what Causes and at what Times Synods ought or ought not to be Assembled And the Allegations brought to prove a Convocation to be at this time necessary to be held Examined by Them It is confess'd that the King ought to suffer the Convocation to sit when the Necessities of the Church do really require it § 1 The Author's Position laid down and the Method proposed for the Examining of it § 2. I. That Synods are oftentimes Useless and even Hurtful to the Church § 3. The Ends for which Synods ought to be call'd best shew when it is fitting to call them § 4. The General Measures from whence to judg of this from thence stated § 5. From those General Measures the following Particular Rules deduced 1. Synods ought not to be called to determine plain and clear Matters § 6. 2. Nor for such as have by an Equal or perhaps Greater Authority been already determined § 7. 3. Nor to do that which may be done by more Easie and Ordinary Methods § 8. 4. Nor when there is no probable Expectation of any Good to come from their Meeting § 9. 5. Nor in Unquiet and Unsettled Times § 10. II. What the Author of the Letter c. has offered to prove that it is necessary a Convocation should now meet § 11. It is confess'd that we stand in great need of a Reformation but it does not thence follow that we
a kind of Conciliary Authority to it Or if this be not yet plain enough let it farther be observed that the Council hereupon treated Nestorius both in Words and Actions as a Catholick Bishop and invited him to come and sit among them as such Which evidently shews that the Council made no doubt but that the Emperor had sufficient Authority to suspend those Synods Decrees and that by his Suspension their Sentence had not yet taken place against him And the same was done in the Case of Eutyches the next great Heretick that infested the Church Who being condemn'd by Flavian Patriarch of Constantinople and his Council obtain'd of Theodosius another General Council to meet at Ephesus under the Presidence of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria In this Council by the Power and Fury of Dioscorus all was tumultuously transacted and Flavian was condemn'd as having deposed Eutyches contrary to the Canons Against this Sentence Flavian appeals and Pope Leo being applied to calls a Synod at Rome and therein rejects the Acts of the Ephesine Council in which all things had been carried in a very disorderly and â—ncanonical Manner For the better repealing of which Leo applies to Theodosius for help He intreats him that he would by his Authority resâ—ind all that had been done either by Flavian against Eutyches or by Dioscorus against Flavian or at least would suspend it till a General and Free Council should determine the Matter 'T is true this Theodosius would not consent to tho' Leo had interested no less Persons than Valentinian and his Empress in the Cause with him But yet Leo's Request shews that he thought the Emperor had Power to resâ—ind the Acts of Both those Councils And his Refusal convinces us that he himself thought he was no way concluded by what Leo and his Synod had resolved in Opposition to the Council of Ephesus However what Theodosius refused Marcian assented to He caused a General Council to be held at Calcedon and when he found Flavian to be justified by it he revoked both the Definition of the former Synod and the Constitution of Theodosius against him Such an Authority were the Emperors wont to exercise over the Acts of the most General Councils in confirming suspending or annulling their Sentences And so undoubtedly did the Bishops in those times believe that they ought of Right to be allow'd such an Authority Nor has the Prince any less Power to judge of their Constitutions than to enquire into their Sentences and either to confirm or reject them as he approves or not of their Decisions When Reccaredus confirm'd the Canons of the Third National Council of Toledo he gave this Reason why he did it That they were composed with great maturity of Sense and Understanding that they were agreeable to his Judgment and conformable to the Discipline of the Church It was the same Perswasion that moved Ervigius to confirm the Acts of the Thirteenth Synod held in the same City He specially recited and approved of their Decrees and by his Royal Authority form'd their Canons into an Ecclesiastical Law for all his People to observe The same did Egica in the Seventeenth Council He recited the several Heads of what the Fathers had done and upon a mature Consideration a full Knowledge and Approbation of their Acts he gave force to them The truth is it seems to have been the usual Method of the Princes about this time not so much to confirm the very Acts of their Synods as to form the Substance of their Definitions into a Law and to take Occasion from their Decrees to determine such things as concern'd the Church Thus the Spanish Kings now mention'd did and so Clotharius the Third did with Respect to the Fifth Council of Paris An. 615. He publish'd his Edict in the Close of it and therein expresly establish'd what the Fathers in the Synod had agreed to It was after the same manner that a great part of the Capitulars of the French Kings were composed They took the Substance of what their Synods had agreed to and having examined and form'd it according to their own liking they publish'd it for a Law to their Subjects Insomuch that sometimes they have even referr'd to the Canons of their Synods for the more clear understanding of what the Law had only briefly and in general deliver'd Such in particular was the Use which both Carloman and Charles the Emperor made of his Synods They call'd them as their Council to advise them in Ecclesiastical Matters and their Synods look'd upon themselves no otherwise They submitted their Decrees to their Examination and pretended not to expect that They should confirm them any farther than they appear'd to them to deserve it Thus the Fathers in the Third Council of Tours declare that they met to assist the Emperor by their Remarks of what they judged to need some Amendment And having drawn up their Opinions in Fifty one Canons they thus finally conclude All These things we have thus debated in Our Convention But how it will please our most Pious Prince hereafter to Act with Relation there unto we his faithful Servants are Ready with a willing Mind to submit to his Pleasure And the same was the Deference which the Council of Arles which met the same Year paid to his Authority These things say the Fathers which we found to need Amendment we have in a few words after the shortest manner observed and decreed to present to our Lord the Emperor Beseeching his Clemency that if Any thing be found wanting it may be supplied by his Prudence If any thing be designed otherwise than in Reason it ought to have been by his Judgment it may be Amended if any thing be Well and Rationally decreed it may thro' his Help by the Blessing of God be brought to Perfection Such a Submission did these Synods pay to their Emperor And this makes good what Eginhart a Contemporary Author of the Life of Charles the Great has observed as to this Matter That Councils by his command were held throughout all France for correcting the State of the Church And the Constitutions which were made in Each of Them were All together Compared and Examined by Him in the Convention of Aix la Chappelle Anno 813. I might farther confirm this from the Instances of many other Synods which have in like manner own'd the same Authority But I shall conclude all with the Words of that Council which gave Pattern to all the Rest of that Country I mean the First Council of Orleans under King Clouis Anno 511 whose Epistle to the King runs in these Terms To their Lord the Son of the Catholick Church the most Glorious King Clouis all the Priests whom you have commanded to come to the Council For as much as so great a Care of our Glorious Faith stirs you up to the Honour of the Catholick Religion that with the Affection
Character but with them many Others of the Regular Clergy who had no place in the Parliament Writ yet still the Design was in Both the same viz. That they might thereby more effectually confirm what had in Parliament been granted to the King and the Monks and Friers become engaged by their own Consent not to oppose the levying of it Now this being the true Ground of the Convocation's being call'd together with the Parliament Custom and if you will the Constitution of our Government founded thereupon does indeed give them a Right to be summon'd when the Parliament is and accordingly they are still summon'd together with it But as they have no Custom to warrant them to deliberate or enter upon Business unless the King pleases to allow them so to do so neither have they any Right in that Particular but the King is still as much at Liberty in that respect as if there had never been any such Custom established for the Calling of them In short were it still the Method as formerly it was for the Clergy to Assess themselves but much more were the Case so now as antiently it seems to have been that they were a part of the Great Council of the Nation and whose Consent was requisite to the passing of Parliamentary Acts it would then be very evident wherefore they were Called and what they had to do But this being altered and yet the Antient Summons still continued it makes some Men think it an odd Thing that the Convocation should be Called to no purpose Not considering that but for those Ends which are now ceased they never had been wont either to be summon'd to Parliament or at the same time with it and that those being determined they have a Right to nothing but a Summons and it were no great Matter whether they had a Right to that or no. And this may suffice to shew what Authority our King has by the particular Laws of our Own Constitution to assemble the Convocation and that without his Writ they neither now can nor ever could regularly come together by any other Way I proceed 2dly To enquire What Power he has to direct their Debates when they are Assembled And here we are again told by the same Person whose Authority I before alleged that the second Point agreed upon by the Chief Justices and Judges at the Committee of the Lords was That the Convocation after their Assembly cannot confer to constitute any Canons without License de l'Roy Nor is this any more than what the Statute of the 25 Hen. 8. has directly establish'd When having recited the Promise which the Clergy had in their Petition made to the King That they would never from thenceforth presume to Attempt Allege Claim or Put in Ure Enact Promulge or Execute any new Canon Constitution Ordinance Provincâ—â—â— or Other or by whatsoever Name they shall be called in Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may by them be had to MAKE PROMULGE and EXECUTE the same and that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf They thereupon Enact That ne They nor any of Them frow henceforth shall presume to Attempt Alledge Claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Orders Provincial or Synodal or any Other Canons Nor shall Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocation in Time coming Unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to MAKE PROMULGE and EXECUTE such Conons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal I have transcribed this Paragraph of that Act at large to the End it may the more evidently appear that the Intention of it was as well to Restrain the Clergy from MAKING as from PROMULGING and EXECUTING any Canons without the Assent and Licence of the King first had for their so doing And which is indeed so plain that had not the constant Practice of all following Convocations and the Opinions of the most Learned in Our Laws so expounded the Sense of it yet we could not have been easily mistaken in it For besides that it was apparently the Design of this Act to Restrâ—ain the Clergy from doing somewhat which they had been wont to do in their Convocation the Statute it self interprets its own Expressions and tells us that by presuming to Attempt c. was meant as well presuming to MAKE as to Promulge and Execute any Canons or Constitutions without the Assent and Licence of the King first had by Them so to do Whether the Convocation may not without the King 's Writ deliberate of such things as may be fit to be done by Them for the Service of the Church I shall not undertake to say Certain it is that they may not so deliberate as to come to any Authoritative Resolution upon any particular Point or to frame any Order or Constitution of what kind soever it be without the King 's Leave which is in Effect to say that they may not debate Synodically at all without it To deliberate of what might usefully be consider'd by Them and to Petition the King thereupon for Leave so to do This as it is no Attempting to make a Canon c. so does it not I conceive come within the Design of that Prohibition which this Act has laid upon them And if the King allows the Convocation to sit I do not see wherein they would transgress in framing such an Address supposing that his Commission had not before prevented all Occasion for such an Application But then still this is but asking Leave to act as a Synod And it will after all remain in the King's Breast what Answer to make to such a Request and whether he will grant them that Leave which They desire or no As therefore the Convocation cannot Meet but by the King 's Writ so neither being Met can they proceed to any Canonical Debates or Resolutions without it For by vertue of this Act they are forbid not only to Make but to Attempt that is as I understand it to do any thing that tends towards the making of any Canons without his Warrant for their Doing of it And therefore when the King sends out his Writs for the Convocation to meet he therein reserves to himself the Privilege of Naming the Subject which they are to deliberate and resolve upon For having mention'd by way of Form in the beginning of the Writ That for certain urgent Affairs of great Concern both to the Church and Kingdom He had commanded the Arch-bishop to summon the Clergy to come together to such a certain Place and at such a certain Time He thus declares what they were to do when they met Ad Tractand c. Namely That they were To Treat Consent and Conclude upon the Premises and such other Matters as should more clearly be declared to them when they came together in
That if a canon-Canon-Law be against the Law of the Land the Bishop ought to Obey the Commandment of the King according to the Law of the Land Now these two Things being supposed and in which the Law at the present cannot be doubted to be very clear That no Acts of Convocation can be put in Execution or be promulged in Order to a Publick Observance without the King's Licence And that the King's Licence cannot give the Convocation any Authority to promulge or execute any Canons but what are Agreeable to the Laws and Customs of the Realm it must of Necessity follow 1st That the King has not only a Right to Review the Acts of Every such Convocation but ought moreover to submit Them to the Examination of his Learned Council in the Law That so he may the more securely be able to judge Whether they be Consistent with the Laws of his Realm and by Consequence capable of receiving any Enforcement from Him Forasmuch as it would be not only too Rash and Unseemly but even a Vain Thing for the King to expose his Prerogative by undertaking to give Authority to that which by being contrary to the Laws already Establish'd has such a natural defect in its Original Constitution as will not suffer it to be Capable of Any 2dly That notwithstanding the Resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation yet still the King is to remain the last Judge not only of the Lawfulness but of the Expediency too of their Constitutions and has Authority either to Ratifie or Reject Them as He with the Advice of his Council shall think Them either Usefull or Otherwise to the Church When His Majesty gave Liberty to our last Convocation to consider of the several Points which in his Commission he proposed to Them and permitted Them to draw into Forms Rules Orders Ordinances Constitutions and Canons such Matters as to Them should seem Necessary and Expedient for the Purposes which He had before proposed to Them and the same being set down in Writing from time to time to Exhibit and Deliver or to Cause to be Exhibited and Delivered to Him He thus goes on to declare what was to be done after such their Resolutions should be delivered in by Them To the End that We as Occasion shall Require may thereupon have the Advice of our Parliament and that such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things as shall be thought Requisite and Convenient by our said Parliament may be presented to us in due Form for Our Royal Assent if upon Mature Consideration thereof We shall think sit to Enact the same And from whence it appears to have been His Majesty's Intention had that Convocation proceeded to any Resolutions to have submitted the Examination of their Acts not only to his Parliament but that being done to have Reserved the final Judgment of Them to his Own Consideration And we cannot doubt but that it was upon the best Advice of his Learned Council in the Law that He so Intended But more full and express to this purpose is the Commission of King Charles the First to the Convocation of 1640 before mentioned Wherein having granted the same Liberty we here meet with to his Clergy To set down in Writing and to Exhibit or Cause to be Exhibited to Him All and Every the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things to be by Them from time to time Conferr'd Treated Debated Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon He adds To the end that We upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or Otherwise Disallow Annihilate and Make Void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon as We shall think Fit Requisite and Convenient But this is not yet all In the close of his Commission he again Reserves to Himself the same Power in these Remarkable Words Provided always and our Express Will Pleasure and Commandment is That the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted or Agreed upon shall not be of Any Force Effect or Validity in the Law but only such and so many of Them and after such time as We by our Letters Patent under our Great Seal of England shall Allow Approve and Confirm the same These are the Limitations under which that Convocation Acted and from which these three Conclusions will Unavoidably follow 1st That the King by granting the Convocation license to consider and draw up any Canons Orders or Constitutions or to determine any Matters or Causes do's not give them any final decisive Power of Concluding those affairs but Empowers them only to deliver their Judgment to Him which He may either Approve or Reject as He shall afterwards see Cause to do 2dly That in determining concerning their Resolutions He is not obliged either to Approve and Confirm or else to Reject and Annihilate ALL that they have done but may judge distinctly of Every particular Point or Matter debated by Them and severally pass his judgment upon Them May give Force and Authority to some things and at the same time make Void and disallow of Others And this 3dly Not only upon his Own private judgment or upon the Advice of any select persons of his Clergy tho' it be a matter Ecclesiastical but with the advice of his Council who by his Command are also Empowred to judge of what the Convocation has done and whose Opinion if He approves of it He may preferr to that of his Clergy But we will go on with the History of this Convocation and see how these several Conclusions may be yet farther clear'd and confirm'd by it When by Vertue of this Commission the Convocation had drawn up such Canons and agreed upon such Orders as to them seem'd most proper to answer the Ends proposed by the King to Them We are told by His Majesty in His Declaration of June 30th following that according to His direction They had Offered and Presented the same to Him desiring Him to give His Royal Assent to what They had done Now as hereby they plainly acknowledged His Majesty to have all that Authority as to this matter which in His Commission he had pretended to so we find the King still proceeded according to the same measures he had first laid down to the Ratification of what they presented to Him For thus the Declaration goes on We having diligently with great Content and Comfort Read and Consider'd all the said Orders Ordinances and Constitutions agreed upon as is before express'd And finding the same such as We are persuaded will be very profitable not only to Our Clergy but to the whole Church of this Our Kingdom and to All the true Members
Archbishop's Command and so they proceeded to the business for which they were called And here then we have a full Representation of the State of our Convocation and how it was managed in these times Great was the Usurpation which the Pope in all this made upon the King's Authority And it ought the rather to be taken notice of because this Archbishop was otherwise a hearty Friend to the Liberties of his Country and had a true respect and value for the King whose Follies and Excesses wrought so far upon him that they are at last thought to have broke his Heart The next Archbishop that succeeded him as he came in by the Pope's Authority so to maintain his Power the better he took care by such means as seldom fail in the Roman Court to gain mighty Privileges from that See Being supported with these he proceeds to make a Provincial Visitation holds several Synods at Oxford Lambeth and in other places And in one at Westminster publishes his Provincial Constitutions And all that the King was able to do was to send a Prohibition to him not to attempt or do any thing to his Prejudice or to the Prejudice of the State his Crown or Kingdom As for Simon Mepham who succeeded this Archbishop he held some few Synods and made some Provincial Constitutions in neither of which there is any thing extraordinary to be observed And the same must be said of the Convocations held by Archbishop Stratford who follow'd after In all which there is little to be taken notice of more than this that what Constitutions were made by them he ordered to be observed by his own Authority and to be publish'd by the Clergy throughout his Province But here tho' it be not necessary to our present purpose yet it may not be amiss to observe how our Kings began by degrees to assert their Authority and to put a stop if not an end to the Usurpations of the Court of Rome It was about the Year 1343 that the Pope desiring to encrease his Revenue here sent a Message to the Clergy to perswade them out of the two Provinces of Canterbury and York to maintain too Cardinals at Rome This being brought before the Parliament it was resolved by the common Consent of that great Council to let the Pope freely know that they were grown weary of his Impositions and neither could nor would bear any longer those Burdens which he was continually laying upon the Kingdom For which end it was also resolved that whosoever procur'd any Benefice in this Realm by vertue of the Pope's Provision should be obliged to come and live upon it and not be suffer'd to draw the Wealth of the Nation into other Countries And least this should not do it was also farther establish'd that no one should be admitted to any Benefice upon the Authority of any Bull from Rome without the King 's special License and Consent And all the Lords and Nobles declared that if the Pope went on by his Provisions to dispose of Benefices whether to Foreigners or others which their Ancestors had given by way of Charity to religious Persons to pray for them they would forthwith seize them into their own hands and dispose of them as they thought good This was a brisk stand and some restraint it did put to the Pope's Exorbitancies And yet it was but a year after that he sent two Bishops to the King to prevail with him to revoke these orders But our Historians tell us that they received a short Answer and presently return'd home again And the next year following the King put a Fine upon all Foreign Clergy-men and took of every one according as they were able to give It would be too long for me to say how far this great King following herein the steps of his Royal Grandfather King Edward I. proceeded to maintain his own Authority and the Liberties of his Country against the Papal Encroachments I shall only add that notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Court of Rome to the contrary he constantly adhered to the Laws made against Provisors c. And when the Pope publish'd his Indulgence at Rome Anno 1349 he not only expresly forbad any of his Subjects to go thither but recall'd those who were already there But to return to our Convocations and the method observed in holding of them When the Archbishop complain'd in the Parliament of the Violation that was made of the Privileges of the Church in that Clergy-men known to be such were oftentimes forced to appear before the King's Judges it was freely told him that in this nothing was done but what was absolutely necessary to the Peace of the Realm For that the Ordinary was so negligent in punishing of them that there would be no bounds set to their Excesses unless the civil Magistrate took some care to restrain them The Archbishop was sensible that this was but too true and thereupon he went apart with his Parliamentary Clergy and by their common Advice and Consent set forth an order for the more severe confining and punishing of such Offenders As for the other Synods held by this Archbishop there being little remarkable in them I shall not need to insist upon them It was about the Year 1393 that the famous Statute of Proemunire was pass'd and by which it was hoped that an effectual stop would have been put to the Usurpations of the See of Rome And indeed it has been said by some that from this time forward our Archbishops did leave off to summon Convocations by their own Authority and call'd them only at the King's Command But tho' I am not altogether satisfied in this particular yet that they now began to be more moderate in the Exercise of their Power I do easily believe And certain it is that not only after this Act but all along before when things ran at the highest against the Royal Prerogative yet still our Kings often interposed their Authority and summon'd Convocations by their own Writs directed to the Archbishop as they still continue to be at this day And now the Preaching of Wickliffe and the Opinions by him brought in began to be taken notice of Insomuch that Courtney being Archbishop thought it needfull to hold a Synod at London on purpose to pass a Sentence of Condemnation upon them Whether he did this at the King's Command or by vertue of his own Legatine Authority I shall not enquire But this we are assured that the King thereupon issued out his orders for the Arresting of all such as held any Heretical Tenets and particularly that opposed the Doctrine of the Church agreed upon in that Convocation And the same was the business of the Councils held by Arundel his Successor first at Oxford Anno 1394 then at London Anno 1408. And lest the orders of such Synods should not be sufficient to put a stop to the growth of
Authority set forth such Orders as He has thought fit should be Observed by the Clergy of the Realm and directed them to his Archbishops and Bishops for that End Such was the Letter of his Present Majesty to the Bishop of London as to matters of practise of Febr. 13. 1689 90 to be communicated to the two Provinces of Canterbury and York And such were his Injunctions with respect to matters of Faith by which He lately determined with what sobriety They should Write and Preach concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity To reduce some of our late Controvertists to the ancient Modes of speaking and not suffer them to affect new Terms to the hazard of the ancient Faith and to the scandal of many of the same profession with Themselves 2. Another Method of determining Ecclesiastical Matters has been by the Authority of the King and Parliament without the help of any Other Ecclesiastical deliberation than what the Archbishops and Bishops in the Upper House have given to them Many are the Acts of this Nature which have pass'd I do not say since the Reformation but even within our Own Memories Such were for example The Acts against Conventicles in the 16th and 22d of King Charles the Second The two Test-Acts in His 25th and 30th Years In a word The Act of Toleration in the first of his Present Majesty not to mention any Others of an Elder date 3dly A third way now made use of in transacting Ecclesiastical Matters is to do it by such Select Committees as those I before mentioned When the King having first appointed a certain Number of Bishops and Clergy-men to consider what may be fit to be Order'd in such Cases as He thinks fit to Referr to Them afterwards sets forth by his Royal Authority what has by their Advice been Recommended to Him After this manner was the Reformation in great measure carried on and the most important Affairs of the Church dispatch'd As by the short Collection Here referr'd to may more fully be discerned 4thly A fourth Way there is which our Princes have often taken in these Cases and that is to Referr not to a Particular Committee but to their Two Convocations what they would have done And having seen and approved their Conclusions to give their Royal Assent and Authority thereunto Upon this foundation stand our Book of Canons drawn up by the Convocation of 1603 and Ratified and Confirm'd by King James the First And after the same manner were those drawn up which gave so much Offence in our late times and were Authorized by King Charles the First Anno 1640. But above all as the most solemn so the most undoubtedly authoritative way of transacting such Matters as these is 5thly When the King designing any Constitution of a more than ordinary Concern to the Church or Realm do's for the more prudent Establishment of it first by a select Committee prepare what he thinks needfull to propose to the Convocation concerning it Then has it Examined and Concluded there And having Re-view'd it with his Privy Council and his learned Council in the Law finally referrs it to his Two Houses of Parliament Where being also consented to and approved of He finally himself subscribes to it and makes it a part of the Statute-Law of the Realm Thus has our Common-Prayer from time to time been setled Our Episcopal Government and Ordinals been Confirm'd and finally our Nine and Thirty Articles been Establish'd But as the choice of these several Methods of carrying on such Affairs Requires much Prudence in the determination so has our Law intirely submitted it to the Prince's Authority And we ought not to doubt but that He will Act in these Matters with all that Care and Advice which both the Nature of the things themselves requires and the Influence which they commonly have on Civil Affairs oblige Him to do 'T is true the Affection which some Men have for their Own Ways may prompt them to think that worthy the meeting of a Convocation which the King may be perswaded his Own Injunctions are abundantly sufficient to provide for But as All Men must allow that it would not only be grievous but foolish to assemble a Synod for the doing of that which may as effectually be done without it so all Reasonable Men must think it very just and equitable that his Majesty should be left to that liberty which both the Law has intrusted him with and his own Reason were there nothing else vindicates to him I mean of considering what He thinks in such Cases to be most sitting to be done and to act accordingly If by this means he should chance to be mistaken in his Choice 't is a Humane Infirmity and what Good Men will Easily make an Allowance for in a station where so much is to be done and it is so difficult oftentimes to judge what is best And let the positive censorious part of the World if for nothing else yet at least for their Own sakes consider this That a Kingdom is a large Place and that 't is not impossible but that among such Numbers of Men as there are in it some may be as firmly persuaded the Prince is in the Right as they can presume that He is in the Wrong CHAP. V. The Opinion advanced in the late Letter to a Convocation-Man Stated And the Arguments Examined by which the Author of it pretends to prove 1. That the Convocation has a Right to Meet whenever the Parliament do's And 2. That being met it Has also a Right to Act without any Licence from the King to Empower it so to do HAving now very fully and I think very clearly Establish'd the undoubted Right of our Kings in the matter before us I proceed according to my Method at first laid down III dly To Examine What the Author of the late Letter to a Convocation-Man has Offer'd to Overthrow the Conclusions before Establish'd and to Consider What may fairly be Replied to his Pretences In pursuance whereof that I may be sure not to fix any Opinions upon Him which He has not really Advanced I will in the first place draw up the Points in Controversie between us in his Own Words and so go on to consider what Arguments he has brought to make good his Assertions and to justifie that unusual Confidence with which he has deliver'd them Our Author then having first briefly Insinuated against all such as pretend to Any Religion among Us that they ought to allow the Church an Inherent Unalterable Right to the Exercise of its Ecclesiastical Power That is to say To apply the Law of God to particular Cases to Explain the Doubts that may arise concerning it and to deduce Consequences from it in things not explicitely determined already by that Law And this not by Way of Doctrine or Exhortation but in a judicial authoritative Manner by making of Canons and Articles and by enforcing Submission and Obedience to
new Laws for the suppression or discovery of the Others And this has been the Case of the present Government But now what Effect have all these Civil Exigencies had upon the Affairs of the Church Unless it be that an Act of Toleration has been made which our Author professes He envies not to the Dissenters or if He did I hope He would not have the Convocation pretend to Repeal it In short all he can alledge are certain disorders which either there is a sufficient provision already made against Or if there be not I doubt the Convocation will hardly be able to do any thing farther for the more effectual Redress of Them But however this I shall have Occasion more particularly to consider when I come to examine what He has said to prove the necessity which He pretends there is for the sitting of a Convocation And I must not anticipate here what will more properly as well as more fully be handled there So little is there in his first Argument which he has brought to prove that the Convocation has a Right to sit as often as the Parliament meets and has been unwarrantably deny'd by the Government so to do Let us see whether his next proof be any better Now that 2dly is no less than an Act of Parliament 8 Hen. VI. ch 1. The substance of which Statute is this That the Clergy who are called by the King 's Writ to Convocation shall fully Use and Enjoy such Liberty and Defence in Coming Tarrying and Returning as the Great Men and Commonalty of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament do Enjoy and were wont to Enjoy or in time to come ought to Enjoy Well be this so But is there any thing in this Statute which says that the Clergy shall come to the Convocation when ever the Great Men and Commonalty of England do to the Parliament That is not pretended But what is there then in this Act to the purpose of our present Enquiry Why in the Preamble to it 't is said that The Clergy Coming to Convocation were often-times and commonly molested From whence our Author admirably concludes That therefore they did oftentimes and commonly in those days meet in Convocations That this can reasonably be inferr'd from those words I am by no means satisfied which only signifie that when the Clergy went to Convocation they were very often molested by Arrests c. but do's not at all imply that the Convocation used often to meet However let this be Granted In Henry the Sixth's time the Convocation often met therefore it met whenever the Parliament sate How do's that appear Nay but we must go farther Therefore of right it ought to meet now whenever the Parliament do's Nay but this will not yet do Therefore it ought not only formally to meet but to sit and act too as often as the Parliament assembles This our Author must mean or He alledges this act to no purpose And he who can draw this Consequence from that Act must be a mighty Man of Reason indeed and too unequal a Match for Men of ordinary Skill in Logick to deal with And yet after all this I confess is true The Convocation in those days did sit and act too for the most part as often as the Parliament met For the Clergy in those days assessed Themselves and without their sitting either as a Member of the Parliament which heretofore they were Or in a Provincial Synod which commonly met with the Parliament the King could have no supply from the Church But as for Ecclesiastical business for ought I can find they did as little with their Often-meeting then as they do with their Seldom-meeting now And were this the Case of the Convocation still were the business of its assembling principally if not only to give Money to the Government I believe instead of this Vindication of its Right to â—it we should rather have seen a Complaint against the charge and trouble of it At least I am pretty confident neither this Gentleman nor his Convocation-Friend would have been much concern'd for their Meeting or have been at all scandalized at those unwarrantable Adjournmen's they have now so tender a sense of But 3dly The Convecation says this Author is an Ecclesiastical Court. To it belongs the punishment of Heresies And in ancient times it was frequently and of necessity used for that End for without it there could be no punishment of Heresie Since the 25th of Hen VIII this is in good measure again the Case And it cannot reasonably be supposed to be in the King 's absolute Will whether it shall exercise this Jurisdiction or not This is his next Argument and should we intirely allow of it it would only prove that the King ought to permit Them to meet and act whenever any Hereticks were to be convicted by Them But would by no means shew either that they have a right even in such a Case to meet without the King's leave Or that the King ought of Right to let them sit when there is no such need of it But indeed if my Lord Coke be in the right there is a manifest mistake in the very foundation of this Argument For the Bishop of the Diocess had always Power to convict of Heresie and to proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Hereticks All that he was defective in was that He had no power to Imprison and for want of that could not proceed often-times to any purpose against them This Power therefore was given to the Bishop by the 2d of Hen. IV. And tho' now the Civil Penalty that was wont to be inflicted upon Hereticks be taken away yet has it been resolved that the Bishop may still proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Them Whether this be so or not I shall leave it to this Gentleman to enquire who possibly may be better acquainted with such matters than I am But if it be then 't is manifest there can be no need of the Convocations meeting to do that which may be as well done by the Bishops without it And these are only some lesser Arguments with which our Author design'd to skirmish before we came to his main battle But now we are to begin to look to our selves For 4thly His next Proof is taken from no less a Topick than the Parliamentary-Writ and in his Own Opinion â—s an Argument of Invincible Strength to Establish the Necessity of Convocations meeting as often as Parliaments In answer whereunto I do readily agree that when the Proemonition to the Bishop to Summon his Clergy to Parliament was first put into that Writ the Clergy thereby summon'd had as much right to meet by Vertue of it as the Bishop himself had And it is accordingly by Our best Antiquaries acknowledged that in Ancient times the Inferior Clergy were a Member of the Great Council of the Nation as well as the Bishops and Abbots But then this
is a Convocation that for many years past has had no Existence And the Convocation of which we are now disputing is quite another thing Is summon'd by another kind of Writ and consisted of another sort of Persons As by comparing the ancient Writs of both may evidently be discern'd So that this invincible Argument has one terrible defect in it that whether it could otherwise be answer'd or not yet 't is evidently nothing at all to the purpose But here our Author objects against himself That once upon a time the Archbishop call'd a Synod by his Own Authority without the King's License and was thereupon prohibited by Fitz-herbert Lord Chief Justice but the Archbishop regarded not his Prohibition What this is to his purpose I cannot tell nor do I see wherefore he brought it in unless it were to blame Rolls for quoting Speed for it And therefore in behalf of Both I shall take the liberty to say thus much That I know not what harm it is for a Man in his Own private Collections for such Rolls's Abridgment was tho' afterwards thought worthy of a publick View to note a memorable passage of History and make a Remark of his Own upon it Out of one of the most faithfull and judicious of all our Modern Historians I have before taken notice of this passage and that not from Speed but from Roger Hoveden from whom I suppose Speed may also have taken the Relation I shall therefore only beg leave to set this Gentleman to whom all our Historians are I doubt equally unknown right in two particulars by telling him that neither was Fitz-herbert the Man who prohibited the Archbishop nor was he Chief Justice when he did it His Name was Geoffrey Fitz-Peter He was Earl of Essex and a very Eminent Man in those days And his Place was much greater than this Author represents it even Lord Justice of England which he was first made by King Richard Anno 1198. And held in the King's absence to his death Anno 1213 In which year K. John going over into France constituted Peter Bishop of Winchester Lord Justice in his Place And now we are come to a low Ebb indeed the description of the Convocation as it stands in our Law-Dictionaries and that too like all the rest nothing to the purpose The Convocation is by them described to be a meeting of the Clergy in Parliament-time And some there were in the Long Parliament of 1641 who thought it could not lawfully be held but while the Parliament sate Well what follows Why therefore the Convocation has a Right to sit and act as often as the Parliament meets For a close Reasoner let this Author alone In the mean time I have before shewn that tho' the Convocation be Summon'd together with the Parliament yet it may sit when the Parliament do's not And we are like to have a hopefull time of it to answer such proofs where there is neither Law in the Antecedent nor Reason in the Consequence These then are the Arguments which this Author has offer'd to establish his first assertion namely That the Convocation has a Right to sit and act not only upon all such Occasions as the Necessities of the Church or Realm require it should but generally and without regard to any thing there is for them to do as often as the Parliament is Assembled I proceed II dly To consider What he has alledged for his Other Position Viz. That being met they have no need of any License from the King to empower them to act but may conferr debate and make Canons and do any other Synodical business which they think fit by their Own Authority And that either no Commission at all is needfull to enable them to do this or that if there be it ought of Course to be granted to Them In order whereunto I must in the first place observe that those who affirm that the King's License is necessary to warrant the Convocation to act do not sound their Opinion either upon the Power he has to assemble it or upon the Form of the Writ by which he Summons Them tho' that do's plainly seem to imply that some such Commission is to be expected from him But either first in General Upon that supreme Authority which Every Christian Prince as such has in Ecclesiastical Matters And by vertue whereof whenever they have admitted their Clergy to meet in Synods they have still prescribed to them the Rules by which they were to proceed in Them Or else 2dly In Particular Upon the Statute of the 25 Hen. VIII which has expressly declared this Power to belong to the King and forbidden the Clergy to presume to act Otherwise than in subordination thereunto But against this our Author excepts For first Is the Case be so Then is the Convocation an Assembly to little or no purpose whatsoever If their Tongues be entirely at the King's Will 't is improper to give their Resolutions any Title but the King's Rules and Ordinances They are to all intents and purposes His upon whose Will not only their Meeting but their very Debating depends In answer whereunto I reply First That either there is really no Inconvenience in all this Or if there be it follows not from what I am now asserting For certain it is that this was the Case of the most General and famous Councils that were ever held in the Church And which were not only call'd by the Emperour's Authority but being met acted intirely according to their prescription But indeed I cannot perceive that any of those hard things this Author so much complains of do at all follow from this supposition For what tho' the King do's propose to them the Subject of their Debates What they are to consult about and draw up their Resolutions upon Are They not still free to deliberate conferr resolve for all that Will not their Resolutions be their Own because the King declared to them the General Matter upon which they were to consult Is a Counsellor at Law of no use or has he no freedom of Opinion because his Client puts his Case to Him Or do's our Law unsitly call the Answer of a Petit-Jury its Verdict because the Judge Summ'd up the Evidence to them and directed them not only upon what points but from what proof they were to Raise it What strange Notions of things must a Man have who argues at such a Rate as this And might upon as good Grounds affirm the Parliament its self not to be free as he has deny'd the Convocation to be so because that in the main parts of their Debates That also is as much tho' not so necessarily directed by the King in what He would have them consult about I have insisted the more upon this particular because it is one of the most popular Arguments he has offer'd in defence of his Opinion tho' alas 't
is at best but miserable Harangue to oppose against the Express Authority of the Law and the Common Prerogative which All Christian Princes have from the beginning laid claim to as to this Matter But He urges farther 2dly That supposing a License were necessary yet for that very Reason it ought to be Granted And it matters not much whether we say that a License ought ex debito Justitiae to be Granted to empower them to deliberate Or whether they have of Themselves a Power of deliberation without such License expressly given That whenever the King requires the Convocation to sit he ought to send them a License to act is out of doubt because otherwise he would either oblige them to meet to no purpose or would lay a snare in their way by bringing them together and putting them upon acting without a License which by Law they ought not to do But that this is granted Ex debito Justitiae I utterly deny because in all the Commissions I have ever seen 't is particularly said to be Granted by the King of his special Grace and meer Motion which cannot with any propriety of Speech be said of what in justice belongs to them The truth of the Case is this The 25 of Hen. 8th has restored the Crown to its Royal Authority as to this matter It has put the Power of directing the Convocation as of Right it ought to be into the King's hands They cannot Act without his Licence and he is not Obliged by any Law to grant it to them but may allow or not allow them to Do business as he thinks it will be most expedient for the Churches Welfare That therefore the King do's at any time Grant them such a Licence is of his Own Good Pleasure Nor can it any Otherwise be accounted a Debt of Justice than as he is Obliged in Justice to his People to Do whatsoever he thinks to be for the Publick Good But yet in point of Reason it must be confess'd that the King either ought not to Require his Clergy to meet together more than for Form sake Or that if he do's He ought to Commission Them to act too That so they may neither meet to no purpose or which is Worse do it to their Own detriment by Acting Otherwise than the Law allows Them to do And therefore I do Agree that in a very large improper sense of the Words it may be said that when they do sit a Licence ought ex debito Justitiae to be Granted to them Because they ought not to sit but when their sitting will be for the Good of the Church and when that is so the King is obliged in Justice to the Church to give them Licence to Act. But in this Gentleman's sense I utterly deny either that the Convocation has any right to Meet whenever the Parliament do's Or that upon every such Formal Assembling they ought to have a Commission sent to them to Empower them to Act tho' I still affirm that they are not at Liberty to Act without it As for what is here again urged 3ly from the Rights of the Parliament It may suffice to say That neither do's the Parliament lie under the same Restrictions that the Convocation do's nor can it with any Consistency to our Constitution be supposed that it should do so The Parliament Acting in Concurrence with the King have the Legislative Power in their Hands They neither are Restrain'd by any Laws nor is it possible they should be But the Convocation is truly no more than an Ecclesiastical Council It s business is to Advise and Assist the King in things pertaining to the Church And tho' I know it will displease this Author to be told so yet I must again put him in mind that the Clergy have no power to make laws They may draw up Canons and Constitutions within the Limits which the Parliament has set to them and the King may confirm them And that being done they will have a due force But still Laws they are not unless in a very imperfect Sense the same in which the Convocation is a Legislature and the Master of a family a Monarch within his Own House But tho' I cannot therefore joyn with this Author in his Argument yet I heartily concurr with him in his Conclusion of it That an English Christian King is as much Obliged by the Laws and Usages had and accustomed in this Kingdom in regard to the Church as the Sovereign of England is with relation to the State This I say is unquestionably true and brings us to the true way of deciding the Point before us If by the Laws and Usages of this Kingdom the Convocation has a Right to sit and act as this Gentleman affirms let those Laws be produced and those Usages made out and I submit But if according both to the Laws and Usages of the Realm the Convocation be wholly in the King's hands As I think I have abundantly shew'd that it is then let our Author be concluded by his Own Rule and Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's to God the things that are God's But our Author here again objects to himself what if he had not I dare say no man living would ever have Objected to him that the Convocation has oftentimes been prohibited by the King to deal with any thing that concern'd his Crown and Dignity c. And he thus makes his Advantage of it That since those Prohibitions were only to keep the Convocation from Excess and within their just bounds it is evidnetly supposed that they may intermeddle with any Other Matter without Express Licence Whether that be supposed or no I cannot tell this I am sure is that the Clergy in those days were but too apt to meddle with matters in their Convocation that did not at all belong to them And I doubt were some mens Notions allow'd of we should find but too much need of having these kind of Prohibitions brought again into Practice But the truth is when those Prohibitions were wont to be sent to the Convocation the Clergy oftentimes did not only Meet but Act too without the King's Licence And by both usurp'd upon the Royal Authority And to suppress these abuses and to vindicate the King's Supremacy it was that the Statute of the 25 H. 8. c. 19. was pass'd Since which time we meet with none of these Prohibitions and I hope the Crown will never fall any more into such hard Circumstances as to stand again in need of them As for what this Author in the next place excepts against the Authority of Cokes xiith Report I am but little concern'd in it The fortunes of the Crown depend not upon the Credit of it Let those who build their Opinion as to these matters upon the Resolution of the Judges there Related if Any such there be undertake the Defence of it We are now come to the main Point and which
either did or said when he was of Council for his Majesty but for Other Tenets Elsewhere and at Other times advanced by Him And therefore pray his Assistance according to his Coronation Oath and as He desired to avoid the Censures of the Church The Clergy thus proceeding the Lords and Judges of the Realm at the Instance of the House of Commons address also to the King and desire him by vertue of his Coronation Oath that He would assert his Temporal Jurisdiction and protect Standish in the Great peril in which He was against the Malice of the Clergy who evidently Objected to him the same Tenets which He had defended in Right of the King's Authority Being thus applied to on Both sides the King first consults with Dr. Veysey Dean of his Chapel and having had his Opinion orders the Justices of his Courts and his Own Council both Spiritual and Temporal with several Members of the Parliament to meet at the Black-Fryars and there to take Cognizance of the Cause between Standish and the Convocation and to hear what Standish had to say for himself in answer to the Points objected to Him The Cause is heard and in conclusion Standish is acquitted and the whole Convocation judged to have incurred a Praemunire by their Citation and Prosecution of Him Upon this the King comes himself to Baynards Castle all the Bishops and a Great Part of the Parliament with the Judges attending upon Him Being sate Woolsey as Cardinal and in high favour with the King first applies to Him in behalf of the Convocation and prays that the Cause might be Referr'd to the Judgment of the Court of Rome This was seconded by Warham Archbishop of Canterbury in the name of All the Clergy and much was Argued for and against This. At length the King deliver'd himself to this Effect to them That by the Order and Sufferance of God He was King of England and as such would maintain the Rights of his Crown and his Royal Jurisdiction in as ample a manner as any of his Progenitors had done before Him Then he commanded the Convocation to dismiss Standish which accordingly they did And were content for that time to let the Royal Supremacy get the better of the Spiritual Jurisdiction CHAP. VI. Some Rules laid down by which to judge for what Causes and at what times Synods ought or ought not to be Assembled And the Reasons suggested by the Author of the Letter c. to prove a Convocation to be at this time Necessary to be held Examined and Answer'd HItherto we have been stating the matter of Right between the King and the Convocation And if I do not very much deceive my self I have plainly made it appear against the Author of the Late Letter to a Convocation-Man that that Venerable Body have neither any Right to Meet nor Power to Act but as the King shall Graciously Allow them to do But now having Asserted this in Vindication of the Prince's Prerogative I must not forget what I have before confess'd as to this matter and see no Cause yet to Retract viz. That His Majesty both as a Christian and a King is Obliged to permit his Clergy to Sit and Act whensoever he is perswaded that the Necessities of the Church require it and it would be for the Publick Good of his People that They should do so And tho' 't is true the Law has intrusted Him with the Last Judgment of this and without which it would be impossible for him to maintain his Supremacy in this Respect yet certainly He ought to be by so much the more careful to Consider the Interest of the Publick by How much the Greater the Trust is which the Publick in Confidence of such his Care has Reposed in Him It must be confess'd indeed that our present Author has neither taken a very proper Method of communicating his Advice to the King nor done it in such a Manner as if He design'd to perswade either the King or his Ministers to pay any Great Deference to his Judgment On the contrary it appears that in all that he has said he intended rather to Reflect upon the Administration of Affairs and to raise discontents in Mens Minds against the Government than to do any Service either to Religion or the Church But however I will consider nevertheless what he has alledged to shew That our present times call for a Convocation and that the King ought not any longer to prevent their sitting The Question to be examin'd is thus proposed by Him What Occasion there is at present for a Convocation And his Answer to it is Short and Vehement full of Warmth as being I suppose design'd to Enflame That if Ever there were need of 〈◊〉 Convocation since Christianity was Establish'd in this Kingdom there is need of One Now. To clear this Point and see how well this Author makes Good so bold an Assertion I shall take this Method 1st I will lay down some General Rules by which we may the better Judge at what Times and in what Cases it may be either necessary or expedient for a Prince to call a Convocation And then proceed 2dly To Consider What this Gentleman has offer'd to prove the Necessity of a Convocation under our present Circumstances to be so exceeding Great and Urgent as He pretends it is I. That Synods may in some Cases be as Useless to the Church as in Others they are Expedient Every Man 's Own Reason will tell him And that such Times may happen in which they may be apt to prove not only Useless but Hurtful we have not only the Experience but the Complaints of the Best Men to convince us It was a severe Judgment which Gregory Nazianzen pass'd upon the Synods of his Time and is the more to be Regarded because it was the Result of a frequent Tryal and a sad Observation That He fled all such Assemblies as having never seen any One of them come to a Happy Conclusion or that did not Cause more Mischief than it Remedied Their Contention and Ambition says he is not to be Express'd And a Man may much easier fall into Sin himself by judging of Other Men than He shall be able to Reform their Crimes There is scarce any thing in Antiquity that either more Exposed our Christian Profession heretofore or may more deserve our serious Consideration at this day than the Violence the Passion the Malice the Falseness and the Oppression which Reigned in most of those Synods that were held by Constantine first and after him by the following Emperours upon the Occasion of the Arian Controversy Bitter are the Complaints which we are told that Great Emperour made of Them The Barbarians says he in his Letter to One of Them for fear of Us Worship God But we mind nothing but what tends to Hatred to Dissention in One word to the Destruction of Mankind And what little Success other Synods have oftentimes
the Loosness or rather the Licentiousness of our present Times as the Convocation That hitherto they have not done it is no Argument that they are either Unfit for or Uncapable of doing it That they are not Skill'd in Divinity may be a Good Argument to prove that they are not so well provided to dispute with Hereticks as a Convocation may be but do's by no means hinder but that they may be Able to take a much more Effectaul Way of dealing with Them And I have before shewn that to enable them to know what is Heretical it is by no means necessary that they should be nicely Skill'd in the Languages of the Bible much less that they should be Masters of all the Learned Fathers or of the History of the Primitive Church Let them stick to the Rule already Establish'd by Authority of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 1. And provide only that nothing be innovated or attempted contrary thereunto and I believe it will puzzle the Convocation to shew what could more effectually be done to support the Catholick Faith or to suppress those Heresies which now especially set themselves up in Opposition thereunto As for the Papists Objection against our Religion as meerly Parliamentary it has been often answer'd and would receive no great Strength by the adding of one new Law in defence of the Catholick Faith We cannot but remember what Endeavours the Papists themselves once made to get a Parliament for their Purpose Could they have attain'd their Ends and have got their Religion restored again by a legal Authority I believe they would hardly have thought the worse of it for being Parliamentary or have refused to let it be introduced by the Will of the Prince and the Authority of the Peers and Commons And whatsoever this Gentleman may fancy I dare say the Parliament will always think that it lies in the Breast of the King and of that High Court to determine what shall be the National Religion and have the Advantage of a Legal Establishment to support it And I would desire this Author to tell us if He can Supposing an Act were drawn up upon his Own Terms to prohibit all Persons to Write or Dispute in favour of Atheism Deism Socinianism c. Or any Books relating to Religion to be printed or sold that were not Licenced by the Archbishop of the Province and approved by the Bishop of the Diocess in which the Author Lived whose Name should evermore be set to them And were this Law enforced with suitable Penalities and care taken that those Penalties should be put in due Execution I say supposing such an Act were pass'd let this Author judge whether it would not be much more likely to put a Stop to the Presumption of such Persons than ten thousand Canons made by the Convocation tho' an Anathema were added to every one of them And now our Author has but one thing more to do and then He thinks he has clear'd his Point beyond all Exception and that is to Obviate an Objection which I perceive gives him some little Disturbance And that is supposing when the Convocation meets somebody should have the Boldness to attempt to raise a Ferment in it in Defence of Doctrines or Persons too justly liable to Censure Now in this Case he tells us It 's not to be doubted but that the Piety and Moderation and Christian Courage of the Rest would be soon Able to Suppress it and to advance the Good Ends for which they are call'd I am willing to indulge any Good Opinion of a Convocation that any one can reasonably desire and therefore shall not Oppose our Author in this Only I must Observe that all this is but a Conjecture and must be left to Time to discover when this Great Assembly shall be met and these Persons be call'd to an account by them The Proceedings of large Bodies are very Uncertain And 't is as hard to calculate before-hand how they will act when they come together as to compute at Christmas which way the Wind will sit in March A very little matter throws them into Disorder and when Men think they have made their Party so strong that nothing can Oppose them yet we know how mistaken they have oftentimes been and have seen all their Projects by some indiscernible Accident or Omission brought to nothing To conclude then It is confess'd that the Evils which this Gentleman here complains of are certainly very Great and it were much to be wish'd that some Remedy might be thought of that would effectually deliver us from them But as there is no need to Assemble a Convocation to assert the Honour and Innocency of our Church and to shew that she is no way consenting to Them so if what former Synods have done to Correct them be not sufficient as a sad Experience shews that it is not I do not see what a new Convocation could pretend to do more for the Suppression of them Were a better Discipline setled in the Church and a Vigorous Law made in Defence of our Faith and to Restrain those scandalous Attempts that are made against it this might possibly reduce our Disorders within some tolerable Bounds but any thing short of this would I fear signifie very little And when our Other Circumstances shall be so favourable as to encourage the Government to think of this I shall then readily Close in with this Gentleman and confess that it will not only be very sitting but a matter of Duty in the Prince to call a Convocation and to Require them to consider how to Restore the Honour of Religion and to suggest to his Parliament such Heads as may be proper for them to pass into an Act for the better Preservation of it in Times to come CONCLUSION AND thus have I done with the Reasoning of this Author and I hope given a sufficient Answer to Every Thing that can pretend to such a Character in his Letter It may possibly be expected that I should now take some Notice of those Reflections which he has made with a more than Ordinary Freedom upon all sorts of Persons and upon none more than upon Those who might have expected to have the least fallen under the Levities and Scurrilities of such a Piece But this is a Work of too ungrateful a Nature to be particularly pursu'd And I am sensible that in doing of it I must either say very much less than He has taken care to deserve Or very much more than I am willing to allow my self to do It is indeed very sad to consider what an Immoderate Liberty some Men indulge Themselves on these Occasions With what Readiness nay with what Satisfaction they catch at any thing that is scandalous and may help to blacken Those whom they do not Love And if they can but give it a Witty Turn or pass it off with a Little Grace as if they were sorry to speak it or