way Head of the Church than as he was the Head of the State with whom the Executive Power is lodged and who is the Head of the Legislative in Conjunction with the Great Body of his Parliament But this Author knows how much the Doctrine he now advances was condemned and by whom not long ago Therefore a little more Temper were but decent if he thought fit to find fault with it Another of this Author's Maxims was not long ago as P. 307. much exploded and yet now is very heartily espoused by him in which I was ever of the same mind with him That there is just reason to explode that conceit that the Commons were not summoned to Parliament before the 49 th of Henry III. This was a Notion once so zealously maintained by some that he was thought an Enemy who went not into it I was so fully convinced of the contrary both by what I had observed of the Gothick Constitution and the Feudal Law and by the Authorities which were brought together with great Fidelity and Industry by my most honoured Friend Mr. Petyt that I declared my sense of it plainly in my History though that was a little mollified by a Parenthesis added by a great Licenser but I was then severely censured for it Thus it is that while Men think they have a good Interest in the Administration they do very naturally favour all Opinions that make for it or rather that make for themselves But if their Interest declines there they are ready to tack about even to that which a little while ago passed under the most odious Characters possible The World does not fail to observe this and is too ill-natur'd not to make unkind Inferences from it without considering that received Opinions do often pass without much enquiry about them and that even those who depart from them chuse for their own quiet 's sake to do it covertly and modestly Those who both held those Opinions when they were much decried as not favourable to the Regal Authority and do still adhere to them while they are more favourably treated have some advantages over those who may be supposed to retreat to them on design to vent their Spleen I turn next to the main design of this Work No Man that is in any degree conversant in Antiquity can deny that the Presbyters were the Bishops Assistants and Counsel That good Bishops governed their Dioceses by their Advice as well as with their Concurrence though it has been made a Question by very Learned Men Whether S. Cyprian's Expressions to this purpose were pursuant to established Rules or were the Effects of his own Modesty and Humility But even in this particular such as from the beginning of their Service in the Church have declared for this Constitution have some advantage over those among whom Dr. Hammond's Notions passed long as certain That the Bishop was the sole Pastor of his whole Diocese and that his Presbyters were but his Assistants as Curates who had no other Authority but what was Delegated to them from him so quickly can Men go from one Extreme to another But how certain soever this may be That Presbyters in conjunction with their Bishops are his Counsel yet this may be very positively affirmed That in no part of the Ancient Constitution and in no Church for many Ages after the Primitive Times can it be made appear even by a Conjecture that in any National or Provincial Synod the Inferior Clergy formed a Body apart and sate by themselves without their Bishops acting in any sort as a co-ordinate Body with them So that whatsoever may be found of this kind among us is no part of our Ecclesiastical Constitution as we have an Authority from Christ that ought to be managed conform to the Primitive Pattern but is meerly a Temporal Constitution taken from the Frame of our Parliaments Therefore if Men have a true Zeal for the Primitive Times they should turn it all another way to procure a Constitution suitable to that Frame The Commons of the Spiritualty sate in a Chamber apart as the Commons of the Temporalty did and were summoned by the same Authority and to the same End But tho' with Relation to the Temporal Concerns of the Clergy this was a good Constitution yet it cannot be called a true Representative of the Church tho' it be now a legal one In the lower House there are of the Province of Canterbury 20 Deans or more who pretend to sit there there are as many Proctors from Chapters and 60 Archdeacons and but 38 Clerks chosen by the Clergy So that the Deans and Chapters who had their Authority at first by Papal Bulls and have now their Exemptions and Jurisdictions continued to them only by a Proviso in in the Statute of 25 Hen. 8. have more Interest in the Convocation than the whole Body of the Clergy These are all made either by the King or by the Bishops The Threescore Archdeacons are all of the Bishops Nomination and their Authority is of a late Date and but a human Constitution All this is besides the Interest that the Bishops have in making the Returns of Two only out of all those who are chosen in the several Archdeaconâ—ies of their Diocese so that the Inferior Clergy can in no sort be said to be equally represented there I acknowledge that this is not necessary in a Constitution that pretends no higher than Law and Custom A Practice past Prescription is in such cases a good foundation and if Men rise no higher in their Claim for Church-power than Law and Custom this is enough But if they pretend to a Divine Original they must seek for another Constitution Indeed if they are contented to take up with a human Authority they may rest satisfied with this howsoever it is fit for Men to write exactly and upon a consistent Hypothesis and so have all the parts of it of a piece But to enlarge a little upon this I wish those who are full of high Notions would try how to justify the Jurisdiction that is exercised among us by Deans and other exempted persons who do Exercise not only the Archidiaconal but the Episcopal Jurisdiction the former being of Ecclesiastical Creation may without doubt be transferred to them But if we are true to a Principle that has been received in the Church of God from the Apostles days downwards and has been maintained with much Zeal by this Church now for above an hundred years That Christ and his Apostles have established in the Church a Subordination in Bishops Priests and Deacons so that the latter are subordinate to the former and that in consequence to this the Discipline of the Church the highest step of which is Excommunication ought to be chiefly under the Bishops direction and also the appointing of Priests to Cures and by consequence the depriving them should likewise be under their care according to the establishment first made by the Apostles How comes
REFLECTIONS ON A BOOK ENTITULED The Rights Powers and Privileges of an ENGLISH CONVOCATION Stated and Vindicated By GILBERT Bishop of Sarum LONDON Printed for RI. CHISWELL at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. REFLECTIONS on a Book Entituled The Rights Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation c. IT is so natural for all Men to love Power and Authority that it was not to be wondred at if the Book published some Months ago asserting the Rights of a Convocation was received by many with great Approbation and much Applause Some things indeed it had in it agreeable enough but there was one thing wanting which was too evident not to appear both in the whole Contexture and almost in every Page That though the Author pretended to plead the Cause of the Church which is indeed the Cause of Christ himself who is the Head of the Body yet he had so entirely laid aside the Spirit of Christ and the Characters of a Christian that without large Allowances of Charity one can hardly think that he did once reflect on the Obligations he lay under to follow the Humility the Meekness and the Gentleness of Christ So far from that he seems to have forgot the common Decencies of a Man or of a a Scholar A Book writ with that roughness and acrimony of Spirit if well received would be a much stronger Argument against the Expediency of leaving a Convocation at full liberty than any he brings or can bring for it A meeting of Men of that Temper would give but too much occasion to renew all the Complaints that Nazianzen made of the Synods and Councils in his time and would I doubt be a greater prejudice to the common Concerns of the Christian Religion than could be ballanced by any thing that the best Men in it might promote When such a Spirit appears without doors what might be expected from Men covered by the freedom of Speech which must be allowed in all publick Consultations If the Writer had been provoked by any thing writ on the Subject in that Strain to which he lets himself loose then the great Liberties he takes had been capable of some excuse But the attacking of Men who had given him no colour of provocation in so petulant and virulent a Stile is somewhat new and I hope shall be so little liked that it shall not be much followed The Scorn with which he treats my self and the Malice that he pours out upon me in such a copious manner are things that I can very easily bear I have been long accustomed to them chiefly from some Men of one sort If Fame sixes this Book to the true Author I had no reason to look for such treatment from him unless the unsuccessfulness of my Attempts to serve him though managed by me with much care and zeal oftner than once does pass with him for so great an injury that upon it he thinks every thing may be justified that he can write against me He takes some pains to colour the blackness of his Spite but the Art is so course and the Venom is so malignant that it breaks through all disguises It is true I may be mistaken in the Author and for several Reasons I wish I were But certainly since those he levels his Wrath at have put their Names in the Front of their Books it had been reasonable that an Answer to these should have likewise been as publickly owned by its Author He writes on the Popular side but has many peculiar Maxims and this may be one of them Not to engage himself past retreat He might perhaps hope that this performance would be more effectual for his Advancement than my Endeavours had been This shewed what he could do yet still all was safe he might be taken off and then Altri tempi altri castumi But I leave him in his Covert to pursue his designs by what methods he pleases only for the Church's sake as well as for his own I wish he would more frequently carry those words of our Saviour's in his mind Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart It gives Scandal enough to the World when Lawyers Philosophers Physicians and Politicians happen to write one against another with Bitterness and Scurrility but it is much more Scandalous when Divines keep no Temper in their Writings but forget all Decency and shew themselves Enemies not only to the Opinions but also to the Persons of those they write against and that in such an open and visible Contradiction to the Words of our Saviour By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another as if they affected a Reverse of them By this shall all men know your zeal to your Party if ye hate all those who are not of it Such practices as these do effectually obstruct the progress of Religion while an Age that is too much possessed against both us and our Holy Faith fails not to make a very wicked use of all those Advantages with which ambitious or ill-natur'd Zealots furnish them to represent us to the World as a Company of aspiring and factious Men who are ready to Sacrifice every thing to our own Humours and Notions not considering how much Religion it self suffers by the management These are Things that I hope good Men will lay seriously to heart and that they will watch over their own Tempers even after the highest provocation from those who seem to be in the gall of Bitterness and the bond of Iniquity not to return railing for railing nor to be overcome of evil but to overcome evil with good But after I have taken the liberty to admonish the Writer in a Strain that I think becomes me considering both the Post that how undeserving soever I hold in the Church together with my Age and the Services that I have endeavoured to imploy my Life in I shall in the next place acknowledge what I must needs commend him for He writes with just and due Respect of the King and of the present Constitution This has come so seldom from that Corner that it ought to be the more consider'd I will not give that scope to Jealousy as to suspect that this was an Artifice but accept it sincerely and do acknowledge that this which is so heartily express'd ought to make Abatements for the many severe Reflections that are made in it on the whole Bench of Bishops not excepting the Head of it and his carrying his Spite back so far as even to Bishop Bancroft I confess if he had taken a little more pains to have Vindicated King Charles the First and Archbishop Laud from that for which he falls so foully on the present Administration it had been more suitable to the respect that all the Lovers of the Church do pay their Memory If it does appear that We and They have acted upon the same Principle then a Wound and that a deep one
it I say that the Authority of Papal Bulls and Royal Confirmations and a Provision in a Statute made in a Reign that some take pleasure now to decry should be thought strong enough to authorize Deans and other Exempted persons to do all the Acts of Episcopal Jurisdiction If Ecclesiastical Authority is only of human Original indeed all this may be excused and born with But if our Plea for a Divine Original is well founded then since no human Law nor Custom can derogate from the Divine Law let those who are concerned in these things see how they can reconcile our Principles to their Practices Here are Presbyters acting in most parts of the Episcopal Functions as Bishops without any Subordination to them If all is founded on a Divine Right then by the same Authority that they do invade many Acts of Episcopal Jurisdiction they might as well have invaded all the rest and if the one would be condemned as a sacrilegious attempt it will not be easy to excuse much less to justify the other Upon all these things I wish that Men would apply their Thoughts more carefully and direct their Zeal a little better and that they would lay all the ends of their System together that it may appear that all is coherent and hangs well together And therefore it is not very fairly done to bring some Authorities from Ancient Authors and Councils of Presbyters assisting their Bishops and from thence immediately to conclude for the Right of a Convocation constituted as ours is I must acknowledge this Author confines himself chiefly to our own Laws and Customs In which I will not trace him but shall leave that to others who may be more at leisure to follow him only I must in general remark one thing which I find some are beginning to observe with no kind Intentions The Clergy are now generally admitted as Freeholders to chuse the Representatives of the Commons in Parliament and I believe they would look on it as a very unfriendly Office if any Doctrines were laid down that might exclude them from this But it passes for a Maxim That those who constitute any other State or part of the Parliament how great soever their Estates or Freeholds may be cannot Vote in the Elections to Parliament how far the Doctrine that is so much laboured by this Author may have an influence in this matter I will not determine If it does I doubt not but that since mens Affections do as we have already observed very much biass their Judgments the Opinion of the World concerning this performance may come to be changed from what it is at present I have neither Leisure nor Inclination to enter further into the discussion of this pretended Right of the Convocation's sitting and being Constituted into a Body and of their preparing and proposing of Matters I will only offer some Historical Observations upon which it will be easy to make Remarks to shew that there is nothing new in the present Administration how heinously soever it may be complained of I will avoid saying any thing with relation to King Henry the VIIIth's Reign because of the Prejudices that these Men have against it and I will refer a very material part of King Edward's Reign to the end of these Reflections The Debates with the Puritans and the Disciplinarian Controversy was that which occasioned great Heats during Queen Elizabeth's Reign But the Convocation never medled with this it was left wholly with the Queen she appointed some Bishops and others of the Clergy who were of the High-Commission to settle Rules in those Matters They did it and their Decisions are Printed and may be seen in the later Editions of Bishop Sparrow's Collections I have an Edition of them Printed in that Reign so here a matter of very great consequence was settled by a few Bishops and others acting by the Queen's Commission and this was the Rule that the Church was Governed by till the late Civil Wars Here was a good Plea for the Puritans which this Author has found for them that none of themselves made use of The next Subject of dispute was during a great part of King James the First 's Reign and all King Charles the First 's till the War concerning Predestination In this the Calvinists appealed to the Articles and seemed to have a strong Plea from them This was a point of Doctrine and the Dispute being about the sense of Articles that had been agreed on in Convocation it seemed very natural to make the Appeal to that Body but yet that was not done Our Kings made Declarations in this matter and gave Directions to the Bishops It was generally thought that in King James's Reign the much greater number of both Houses were the followers of St. Austin's Doctrine if not of Calvin's Yet I never found this among the Complaints of the Angry Men of that time that the Decision of the matter was not left to a Convocation And among all the Remonstrances how warm soever that were Voted in the House of Commons I do not find this is ever named Nor is Archbishop Laud ever Charged with this though that was a time in which all his Actions were severely descanted on There was then in the House of Commons a Set of Men who by reason of the Ship-money and some other Disputes had examined further into the Original of our Constitution than ever was done before or since So in this particular a Negative Argument is of great force to shew that they had not those Notions of our Constitution which this Writer suggests After the Corrections of the Liturgy that were made upon the Restoration of King Charles the Second there was not a Line published and scarce a word muttered demanding a Convocation Then the danger of Popery's breaking in upon us appeared in very eminent Instances and though some apprehended that sooner than others yet none doubted of it after the Declaration in the year 1672. But during both that and the late Reign among all the zealous Attempts that were made for securing us from it not any one was offered at for a Convocation's medling in it even among the indiscreet Instances of ill-governed Zeal this was not so much as once mentioned This Writer names among other reasons for one now the growth P. 102. of Popery It may justly seem strange if this is a good one now that it was not thought on when the Danger was so Threatning and Visible There was no want of a just and well-governed Zeal in that time But the men that managed it knew what they had a Right to and what they could Legally both demand and maintain If there were any just grounds to fear that Popery was beginning again to be active and insolent among us when this Book was Written I suppose the Act pass'd in the last Session has put such an effectual stop to it that there will be little occasion given any more to reckon that among
the reasons of calling for a Convocation Thus it has appeared that for above 140 Years the Crown has been in possession of a Right of making use of a Convocation or of settling matters of Religion without it at Discretion Queen Elizabeth made use of one to settle our Doctrine and little more was done in Convocation in her time King James the First made use of one to make a Body of Canons but took all other matters under his own care King Charles the First followed the same method And though in the Year 1640. some things were done that must be put on the heat of that time yet the Declaration that was made of the extent of the King's Authority as it was all managed by Archbishop Laud and Directed by that King so it shews plainly what the Sense of this Church was as to that Matter Which had been indeed the Sense and Language of their Predecessors for above an 100 Years before that time In King Charles the Second's time the Convocation was allowed to consider what Alterations ought to be made in the Liturgy and after that there was no more work given them only they Met on Wednesdays and Frydays to Read the Litany which I am sure I heard many who were then required to Attend that so there might be a Face of a Meeting answering the great name that it bare complain of as oâ— a very uneasy and troublesome Attendance that was of no sort of use But now to come to the Present Reign a Convocation was opened in it and a Secretary of State brought a License from His Majesty and the late Blessed Queen to them to consider of such things as should be laid before them in order to the healing the Schisms and Breaches that were among us The Bishops in the former Reign had in that Petition upon which they Suffered so Gloriously expressed a readiness to come to a just Temper in all the matters of Difference among us when they should be brought before them in Convocation or Parliament and among other Messages that were sent over to the King being then Prince of Orange one was That he would use all his Interest among the Dissenters to hinder them from running in to the Declaration and to the design that was then promoted of animating them against the Church Of this I may be allowed to speak confidently because it passed through my own hands and I drew the directions that were given to an Eminent Person who was Employed in it Upon these reasons it was that the Prince now King promised in his Declaration with which he came over that he would use his endeavours to bring about the so much desired Union between the Church of England and the Dissenters So their Majesties were under Engagements to make the Experiment It is true it did not succeed a formed Resolution of consenting to no Alterations at all in order to that Union made that the attempt was laid aside I will not enter into any further Reflections on mens Behaviour at that time it plainly appeared it was not a proper season to try to make Peace Attempts that way were more likely to create new rents than to heal the old ones I shall only touch on one particular which will shew that when Men are disposed to be jealous they will suspect every thing even that which at another time would be thought the most effectual method to prevent or to cure jealousy Princes do commonly prepare the matters which they propose to such Assemblies with the advice of their Council But upon that occasion the King and Queen did create a Council by a special Commission of all the Bishops who owned their Authority and of the most Eminent of the Clergy gathered from the several parts of the Kingdom that they might consider and prepare such things as should be offered by them to the King and Queen that so their Majesties might propose these to the Convocation This surely was done in favour of the Church But even this was cried out upon as a limiting the Convocation with many other hard words which I do not love to repeat It did then appear in so many visible Instances that our Wounds were then too tender to be either handled or healed so it was thought fit to let the matter sleep and to give no new occasion to Heat or Animosity But at the same time to keep the Clergy still ready upon call if there should be any occasion for them during the Sessions of Parliament yet not to charge them with a needless Attendance when the Publick occasions put them under so many heavy Taxes It being also observed that in a hot time all unnecessary Assemblies are to be avoided for if they have no business one way they commonly make it another And now after this short but true and clear account of this matter what is to be said of the fruitfulness of a man's Imagination who could make so great a Book and such heavy complaints for no other cause but this because by a possession of above an 140 Years founded upon a Statute that has been understood at least by both Divines and Lawyers in favour of the Crown for I leave the Examining the Importance of the Words of the Act to those whose Profession leads them to Expound them best it is at the King's Discretion whether he will allow a Convocation to Treat of matters or not and upon a Trial his Majesty found it not convenient either to carry the thing further at that time or to repeat the Experiment hitherto and since he did not intend this he has thought fit to free them from the charge and trouble of an unprofitable Attendance What is in his discretion to do or not to do must be left there But since some do not rightly apprehend his Care and Kindness in delivering them from a fruitless Trouble it were a great pity that this should be any longer misunderstood but that either the Clergy should understand the thing as it is truly meant or that they should return to that toil of which they were generally so weary not many Years ago Upon the whole matter let men vex themselves as long as they please in fixing the limits of the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Authority I believe no other will ever be found but this That the Magistrates Authority must go to every thing that is not contrary to the Law of God so that no bounds can be set to it but those which God himself has set and this is of the same extent in Spiritual as well as in Civil matters a Law in Temporal concerns that is contrary to the eternal Laws of Morality of Justice and Truth is void of its self Because it is contrary to a Superior Authority which cannot be controul'd by a Subaltern Upon the same reasons a Law made contrary to any Rule in the Gospel that is delivered as a perpetual Law binding to all Christians is void of it self and ought