191. The Canons made in the Convocation of 1597. bear this Title Capitula sive Constitutiones Ecclesiasticae per Archiepiscopum Episcopos reliquum Clerum Cant. Provinciae in Synodo c. congregatos tractatae ac posteà per ipsam Regiam Majestatem approbatae confirmatae utrique Provinciae tam Cant. quam Ebor. ut diligentiùs observentur eà dem Regiâ Authoritate sub Magno Sigillo Angliae promulgatae †Sparrow p. 243. L. M. P. has been guilty of a piece of slight of hand in producing this Title for he has remov'd the Comma which should be after the word Tractatae backward to Provinciae omitting the Words between those Two that so tractatae may seem to belong to the Sentence which follows it and the Reader be by that means led into a belief that the Original Treating it self was as much from Royal Condescension and Grace as the Passing and Promulging afterwards I need not say how absurd this is and how contrary to the Rules of common Construction and common Sense It is true and Truth being the only thing I seek I shall not conceal it that in the Manuscript Collections of a Learned Man who liv'd before the Convocation-Registers were burnt I have seen a Memor in these following Terms Lib. Convocat ab anno 1584. usque c. 1597. Fol. 195. The Queens Letters Patents to confirm the Canons a Recital of the Writ of their Desire the Canons Confirmation and a Command to have them observ'd in both Provinces Which shews indeed that the Synod in 1597 desir'd and had leave for the Canons they pass'd and implys further that both their Request and the Answer to it were very probably in writing since it could not else have been recited in the Ratification of them But what this Leave was ask'd and given for whether only for the passing these Canons or even for the Previous Treating about them appears not from this Memorandum and must otherwise therefore be determin'd Our Publick Records will not ease us of this Doubt among which I am told this Instrument is not now to be found and the only way therefore we have left of clearing it is by a Recourse to the Title of the Canons which if it may be depended on evidently shews that their Desire was for Leave not to Treat but to Enact only And how Authentick and Significant the Titles of Canons are to this purpose our Adversarys in the next Instance will tell us for they produce †Appeal p. 24. L. M. P. p. 37. the Title of those in 1603. as a manifest Proof that that Synod had a Commission to treat We allow it had and it is the first Synod that ever had one from the 25 H. VIII down to that time L. M. P. indeed has found out one somewhat Elder for he tells us that a Proclamation on came out 5. March 1. Iac. 1. for the Authorizing of the Book of Common Prayer c. which recites that the King had issu'd out a Commission to the Archbishop and others according to the Form which the Laws of the Realm in the like Case prescribe to be us'd to make an Explanation of the Common Prayer c. So that in those days says he this Independent Freedom of Debate was not esteemed amongst the Libertys of the Church †P. 41. But had that Writer seen the Commission it self and not guess'd at the Contents of it from a Recital in a Proclamation he would have known that it was directed not to the Clergy in Convocation for they met not till some Months after the Date of it but to the High Commissioners in Causes Ecclesiastical authorizing the Alterations they had made in the Common-Prayer-Book by vertue of a Proviso in the Act of Uniformity 1 â— Eliz. How is this to his purpose or what possible use can he make of it It is indeed to my purpose to observe from hence how high the Prerogative then ran and what Unreasonable Powers were claim'd by it The Book of common-Common-Prayer was establisht by an Act of the 1 st of the Queen in which it was provided that if there should happen any Contempt or Irreverence to be used in the Ceremonys or Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders appointed in that Book the Queens Majesty might by the Advice of her Commissioners or of the Metropolitan ordain and publish such further Ceremonys or Rites as might be most for the advancement of God's Glory the Edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's Holy Mysteries and Sacraments * Cap. 2. In vertue of this Proviso King Iames in his first Year gives Directions to the Archbishop and the rest of the High-Commissioners to review the Common-Prayer-Book and they accordingly made several Material Alterations and Enlargements of it in the Office of Private Baptism and in several other Rubricks and Passages added five or six new Prayers and Thanksgivings and all that part of the Catechism which contains the Doctrine of the Sacraments Which last Additions would not I conceive have been in the least warranted by that Proviso had the Powers there specify'd extended to the Queens Hâ—irs and Successors but as they were lodg'd peresonally in the Queen there could I presume be no Colour for K. Iames's exercising them in vertue of it The Drawer up of the Commission was aware of this and supplys therefore what was wanting in this Provisional Clause by some General Words and by a Recourse to that Inexhaustible source of Power the King 's supreme Authority and Prerogative Royall which it seems was at that time conceiv'd to extend so far as to enable the Crown to make Alterations of Great Importance in a Book establish'd by Act of Parliament to authorize the Book thus alter'd and to forbid the Use of the Other I question whether such a Proceeding would now be thought Legal but then it went down quietly and in vertue of it the Common Prayer-Book so alter'd stood in force from the 1 st of K. Iames till the 14 C. II. when upon a new Review it was again confirm'd by Parliament I shall place this Commission in the Appendix †N. XVIII that the Reader may have an Instance what the Doctrine of that time was concerning the Extent of the Prerogative in Church Matters and from thence cease to wonder that a Formal Commission to treat c. should be first granted to the Convocation a few Months afterwards I say first granted for there is no Suspicion of any preceding License of this kind but in 1597. only and that rises no higher than a Suspicion there being stronger Probabilitys against it than for it And thus I hope I have effectually remov'd Dr. W's Argument about the sense of the Act taken from the Constant Practise of All Convocations ever since the framing it which he appeals to so frequently and with so much Calmness and Security that one less acquainted with him than I am
docto pio fideli in Prolocutorem suum assumendo consultantes unanimiter consentiant eligant sicque electum ipsi R mo in eâdem domo Capitulari prox insequente Sessione debitâ cum solennitate praesentent His dictis descendunt omnes in inferiorem domum ad effectum praedictum Forma Eligendi Praesentandi Prolocutorem SOlet observari ut postquam ingressi fuerint Inferiorem Domum in sedibus se decenter collocent si aliqui ex iis sint Consiliarii sive Sacellanâ— Regiae Majestatis ut hi superiores sedes occupent atque inde unus ex iis propter dignitatem Reverentiam seu in eorum absentiâ Decanus Ecclesiae Cath. Divi Pauli London sive Archidiac Lond. Presidentis officio in hujusmodi Electione fungatur Atque ut ad hoc â—iâ—e procedatur primùm jubebit nomina omnium citatorum qui tunc interesse tenentur à dictae inferioris Domûs recitari praeconizari Notatisque absentibus alloquatur praesentes atque eorum sententiam de idoneo procuratore eligendo sciscitetur Et postquam de eo convenerint quod semper quasi statim absque ullo negotio perfici solebat mox conveniant inter se de duobus Eminentioris Ordinis qui dictum electum R mo D o. Cant. in die statuto debitâ cum Reverentiâ Solennitate praesentent Quorum alter sicut cum dies advenerit ipsum Prolocutorem cum Latinâ doctâ oratione praesentare tenetur sic etiam idem praesentatus habitu Doctoratûs indutus consimilem Orationem ad dictum R mum Patrem ac Praelatos caeteros praesentes habere debet Quibus finitis praefatus R mus Oratione Latinâ tam Electores quam Presentatorem Praesentatum pro suâ gratiâ collaudare ac demùm ipsam Electionem suâ Arch. authoritate expresse confirmare approbare non dedignabitur Et statim idem R mus Anglicè si placeat exponere solet ulteriâ—s beneplaeitum suum hortando Clerum ut de rebus communibus quae Reformatione indigeant consultent referant die statuto Ac ad hunc modum de Sessione in Sessionem continuabitur Convocatio quam diu expedire videbitur ac donec de eâdem dissolvendâ Breve Regium eidem R mo praesentetur Et sciendum est quòd quotiescunque Prolocutor ad praesentiam R mi causâ Convocationis ac Tempore Sessionis â—ccesserit utatur habitu praedicto ac Ianitor sive Virgifer dictae Inferioris Domûs ipsum reverenter antecedat Ejusdem Prolocutoris est etiam monere omnes ne discedant à Civitate London absque Licentiâ R mi Quodque statutis diebus tempestive veniant ad Conv. Quodque salaria Clericorum tam superioris quam Inferioris Domûs Ianitoris Inferioris Domûs juxta â—â—tiquam taxationem quatenus eorum quemlibet â—â—ncernit fideliter persolvant Synodalia fol 3. XVIII JAMES by the Grace of God See p. 385. c. To the most reverend Father in God our right trusty and well beloved Counsellor Iohn Archbishop of Canterbury of all England Primate and Metropolitan the reverend Fathers in God our trusty and well beloved Richard Bishop of London Anthony Bishop of Chichester and to the rest of our Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical Greeting Whereas all such Jurisdictions Rights Priviledges Superiorities and Prehemynences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority have heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for Reformation Order and Correction as well of the same as of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Virtue and the conservation of the Peace and Unity of this our Realm of England are for ever by authority of Parliament of this our Realm united and annexed unto the Imperial Crown of the same And whereas also by Act of Parliament it is provided and enacted that whensoever we shall see cause to take further Order for or concerning any Ornament Right or Ceremony appointed or prescribed in the Book commonly called the Book of Common Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and other Rights and Ceremonies of the Church of England and our Pleasure known therein either to our Commissioners so authorized under the great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical or to the Metropolitan of this our Realm of England that then further Order should be therein taken accordingly We therefore understanding that there were in the said Book certain things which might require some Declaration and enlargement by way of Explanation and in that respect having required you our Metropolitan and you the Bishops of London and Chichester and some others of our Commissioners authorized under our great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical according to the Intent and meaning of the said Statute and of some other Statutes also and by our Supream Authority and prerogative Royal to take some care and pains therein have sithence received from you the said particular things in the said Book declared and enlarged by way of Explanation made by you our Metropolitan and the rest of our said Commissioners in manner and form following Then come several Alterations in the Calendar Rubricks and Offices of Private Baptism and Confirmation an Addition about the Sacraments at the Close of the Catechism A Prayer for the Royal Family and six new Forms of Thanksgiving for Rain Fair Weather c. and after these inserted at length it follows All which particular points and things in the said Book thus by you declared and enlarged by way of Exposition and Explanation Forasmuch as we having maturely considered of them do hold them to be very agreeable to our own several Directions upon Conference with you and others and that they are in no part repugnant to the Word of God nor contrary to any thing that is already contained in that Book nor to any of our Laws or Statutes made for Allowance or Confirmation of the same We by virtue of the said Statutes and by our supream Authority and Prerogative Royal do fully approve allow and ratify All and every one of the said Declarations and Enlargements by way of Explanation Willing and requiring and withal Authorizing you the Archbishop of Canterbury that forthwith you do Command our Printer Robert Barker newly to Print the said Common Book with all the said Declarations and Enlargements by way of Exposition and Explanation above mentioned And that you take such Order not only in your own Province but likewise in our Name with the Archbishop of York for his Province that every Parish may provide for themselves the said Book so Printed and Explained to be only used by the Minister of every such Parish in the Celebration of Divine Service and Administration of the Sacraments and duely by him to â—e observed according to Law in all the other parts with the Rites and Ceremonies
only matter prepar'd for the Royal Stamp we are not at a loss to know what further he aims at This is doctrine that at a Convenient Season will serve as well for Acts of Parliament as Canons Let us hear some more of it One great Position of Dr. W. is that the Convocation cannot move a step but as they are directed by the King or debate of any thing but just what he impowers them to consider And thus far he is safe in his Assertion for unâ—itting Assemblys may be insulted at pleasure But when he tells us further that the Parliament it self is as much directed by the King in the main part of their Debates as the Convocation is †P. 289. the Comparison begins to be sawcy and may prove Dangerous He would seem to qualify it indeed by saying that the Parliament are as much though not as necessarily directed but this does not much soften the Expression for still it leaves the Parliament as much though not as necessarily Slaves in the Point of Freedom of Debate as Convocations are said to be and is I dare say such an Instance of Free Speech as was never yet practis'd towards a Parliament Another of his Maxims is that whenever a Synod meets the King may give Direction for the Choice of the Persons that are to compose it that so he may be satisfy'd that they are such whose Piety and Temper has fitted them to serve the Church and in whose Prudence and Conduct he himself may safely confide †P. 42. And then by vertue of his General Rule that gives to Our Princes all that Power which ever any Christian Prince had over their Synods he brings it home to us and says that the Choice of the Persons composing our Convocation is thus determin'd by the King 's Writ †P. 103. which implys that his Writ might determin the Choice otherwise that he might order more or fewer to be sent up or New ones to be return'd in the Room of those whose Temper he shall not approve of and whose Prudence and Conduct he cannot safely confide in And if he can deal thus with our Convocation-Writs and Members what hinders but he that may deal thus also with those of Parliament for his Writs alike determin the Choice as to Both these Meetings and then there 's an End of our Constitution whenever a Prince arises that has any Ill Designs upon it The laying aside of Convocations is thus justify'd by Dr. W. in divers parts of his Book * Pp. 107.227 250. c. that the Great and almost Onely Use that has been made of them was to raise Money and that Use therefore being now out of Doors there is no need of regularly assembling them Let us apply this to Parliaments and suppose that the King's Revenue was so setled and the Publick Debts so far discharged that there was no occasion for them to sit for the giving of Money would there be no occasion therefore for their sitting at all in order to assist the Crown with their Counsels or to redress Grievances This is unavoidably the Consequence of Dr. Wake 's way of arguing and he seems not to be asham'd of it for p. 207. he thus accounts for the Rise and Birth of Parliaments as now setled They were to meet he says when requir'd and that as often as the Prince wanted Money or expected a Supply from them Can a Man talk at this rate and pretend to be an Englishman Or can true Englishmen stand by and hear him talk thus without resenting the Indignity The Clergy therefore are not the only Persons concern'd in this Dispute the Laiety too have their share in it For besides that if Slavery be once establisht in the Church it will quickly spread it self into the State Dr. Wake 's Principles we see are such as have an Immediate Tendency toward subverting Liberty in General and would if pursu'd through their just Consequences give the Prerogative as high an Ascendant over Parliaments as Convocations And when such things are said therefore not the Men of the Church only but every Freeborn subject of England ought to take the Alarm for their Birthright is endanger'd The very best Construction that has been put upon Dr. W's Attempt by Candid Readers is that it was an Endeavor to advance the Prerogative of the Prince in Church-matters as high and to depress the Interest of the Subject Spiritual as low as ever he could with any Colour of Truth But surely this it self is no very creditable account of it Those Casuists that have taken pains to instruct men how near they may possibly come to a sin without actually sinning have not been reckon'd the honestest part of their Profession And those Divines who read Lessons to Princes how to strain their Ecclesiastical Power to the utmost without exceeding it and oppress their Clergy legally are not surely the best Men of their Order They are Church Empsons and Dudleys and usually find the fate of such Wretched Instruments to be detested by the One side and at last abandoned by the Other Were all that Dr. W. says strictly true and justifiable yet whether the laboring the point so heartily as he does and shewing himself so willing to prove the Church to have no Rights and Priviledges be a very Decent Part in a Clergyman I leave his Friends to consider The World I fear is so ill natur'd as to believe that seldom any Man is over busy in lessening the Publick Interests of that Body to which he belongs who does not hope to find his Private Account in it But when all a Man advances is not only ill design'd but ill-grounded and his Principles are as False as they are Scandalous as I have evidently prov'd his to be there are no Names and Censures too bad to be bestowed on such Writers and their Writings Will it be said in his Excuse that he wrote his Book in the Dark without a Competent Skill in the subject of it and that his Mistakes therefore are the Effects of Pure Ignorance allowing it how came he then to write at all in a Matter that he was not and could not but know that he was not Master of How came he to express himself so peremptorily in such Tender Points wherein the Great Priviledges of his Church and the Chief Interests of his Order are concern'd Was there less of Wisdom or Honesty in endeavoring to write down these without being sure that he had good grounds for it In truth though the best thing that can be said for Dr. W. is that he wrote at this rate because he knew no better yet I fear that even this it self cannot be justly pleaded For as little as he knows of these matters he seems to have known yet more than he was willing to own and enough to have kept him from engaging on that side of the Question he has done if some very Powerful Motive had not come in
to determin him Those little shifting Equivocal Forms of Speech he is so full of thâ—se savings and softnings he throws in every where shew that the Thistles he was mumbling did not pass easily and that he had not only no Assurance that he was in the Right but a Shrewd Guess that he was in the Wrong and laid in matter therefore for Evasion against he should have need of it So that whenever he thinks fit to make a Reply I question not but this will be one main part of it That He Good Man is much misunderstood and his Opinions ill represented which are at the bottom and taken together very Innocent and Blameless since whatever he has said that may sound harsh in any one part of his Book he has unsaid again explain'd and qualify'd in another I will not deny him to have in several Instances a Right to this Plea such an one as it is But He who makes use of it does in effect own that he had taken upon himself the hard Task of maintaining a Point which yet he saw was not defensible and that his Conscience star'd him in the Face every step that he took nevertheless being in he was resolv'd to go through with it And if this Excuse will be of any service to him by my Consent he shall be allow'd it Could we excuse his III Principles yet what shall we say to those Injurious Reflections that accompany them Those Slights and Reproaches he so Liberally casts on his Order when it has the Ill Luck to come in his way Many Actions of the Old Popish Clergy ly open enough in Conscience to censure but he is sure always to give the Worst and most Invidious turns to them He never distinguishes between the Men and their Popery but censures them in the gross and in such a Manner sometimes as to leave the Reader in doubt whether the Function it self were not in fault The Clergy of his Own Time are dealt with yet worse by him That part of them which desire a Convocation that is by his Leave the far Greater part of them are so represented by him as if they were Irregular in their Lives Violent in their Tempers and Factious in their Principles †That Little Noysy Turbulent Party that now set themselves up as Iudges amongst us Ap. p. 119. Some Hot Men for ought she knows her Enemies Ib. p. 119. What shall we say of the Conversation and Examples of some of those who wait at the Altar Pride and Peevishness Hatred and Evil Will Divisions and Discontents prevail among those who should teach and correct others and instead of improving a Spirit of Piety and Purity c. we mind little else but our several Interests and Quarrels and Contentions with one another c. Authority c. p. 333. Some there are of those that wait at the Altar much fitter to be cast out of the Church than to Officiate in it Pref. p. 8. Men notorious for their Irregularitys who have scandalously departed from the Rules of their Holy Profession Ibid. By these means the Busy Tempers of some Forward Men may be restrained But they are such Men and such Tempers that make these Restrictions necessary And their Unwillingness to submit to them shews but the more clearly how fitting it is that Princes should have all that Power to prevent them from doing both Themselves and the Church a Mischief p. 43. It is probable had not the Prince had this Ty upon us we should before this time in all appearance have expos'd both Our selves and the Church for a Prey to the Common Enemy p. 271. I am fully perswaded that nothing at this day preserves us from Ruin and Desolation but that we have not Power of our selves to do the Church a Mischief Ap. p. 211. A new sort of Disciplinarians are risen up from within our selves who seem to comply with the Government of the Church much upon the same account that others do with that of the State not out of Conscience to their Duty or any Love they have for it but because it is the Establish'd Church and they cannot keep their Preferments without it They hate our Constitution and revile all such as stand up in Good Earnest for it but for all that they resolve to hold fast to it and go on still to Subscribe and Rail App. Ep. Ded. and the Government is in the very last words of his Book excited to take Vengeance upon them as Men embark'd in a Separate Interest and averse to all the Methods of supporting it * The only way to deal with with some Men is to treat them as they Deserve and to let them know that those are unworthy of the Protection of the Government who are Embark'd in an Interest different from it and Refuse to contribute to the Necessities of it Authority c. p. 355. In a word so Contumelious is his way of treating them that had he not inform'd us who he was in his Title Page we should have guess'd him rather to have been of the Cabal against Priests and Priestcraft than One of the Order And this he has done at a time when Religion is struck at every day through the sides of its Ministers and he could not but know that such Reflections from such a Pen would be greedily entertain'd and ill employ'd Can a Man pretend to Principles and act at this rate The very Swiss that fight for pay will not march against their Own Country but whenever it is attack'd go home and defend it Must we believe that the Friends of Convocations have been represented under the same Colours to his Majesty that they are to the Reader as Enemies to his Government Hot Immoral considerable neither for their Merit Interest nor Number If so indeed we have here an Easy account of the Distinguishing steps that have of late Years been taken But sure they who talk at this rate do not believe themselves Hot Busy men would not have sat still and cool thus long under the Want of what they so earnestly desir'd would not have waited the Good Pleasure of their Superiors with so much submission and silence in a Point of such tender Concern to them but have taken other kind of steps than any that have been yet made use of towards obtaining it Were a Convocation the Desire of a small Despicable Party only and not of the Generality of the Clergy how come such Assemblys to be laid aside where a few Men though never so furious would make no figure nor be able to disturb measures And as to the Charge of Immorality it runs high indeed but 't is to be hop'd that it is groundless For were there so many Men of scandalous Lives among the Clergy sure the Fathers of the Church who have the Inspection of their Manners would ere this time have made Publick Examples of several of them I cannot think that their Lordships have been so far wanting in
Parts He might have added also why Bishops Elect were Summon'd before Confirmation and even the Vicars General of Elect Bishops when those Bishops were abroad because they were says he Praemunire Clericos i. e. that the Inferior Clergy might be sure to have their Summons This may have been one Reason of that Practice but I do not think it the only one * It could not be the Only one because long before the Praemunientes was inserted the Custom was to Summon the Chapters of Vacant Sees to Parliament of which take this Instance from M. Paris who tells us that in the Parliament of the 38 H. 3. there were Prâ—curatores tâ—ium Sedium Vacantium ex parte scilicet Capitulorum P. 643. because it does not account for the Summons of Elect Abbats also before their Installment and I doubt not therefore but this Custom had its Rise chiefly from the Double Capacity in which the Greater Clergy attended the Parliament both as Spiritual Prelates and Barons of the Realm on which account when they had not a right to a Summons as Barons yet as Ecclesiastical Prelates they had However They who make this Supposition make it mightily to the advantage of the Lower Clergy and suppose their Presence in Parliament to have been indispensably necessary And thus stood the Clergies Obligations in relation to the Praemunientes throughout Edward the Second's Reign Edward the Third continu'd this Practice upon the very same Foot that he found it the only difference was that whereas before his Time the Praemunientes was inserted or left out at the King's pleasure in his Reign it grew a constant and necessary part of the Bishop's Writ so that no Parliament ever met without one after his sixth year that is indeed after the Compleat Settlement of Parliaments upon the Foot on which they do now and will I hope for ever stand And this Observation alone is sufficient to shew that the Clause in the Bishops Writ was not grown Useless for if it had it would not then have been most regularly inserted and have grown most in request when its Use and Significancy if some Mens word were to be taken had utterly vanish'd In the year before it was fix'd tho' there were several Summons to Parliament yet it was inserted but in One of them and in that One it was obey'd For the Records of Parliament tell us that upon a Debate the Bishops and Proctors of the Clergy went by themselves * Abr. of Rec. p. 11. And that These were Proctors of the Inferior Clergy according to the strict sense of the word and not the Proxies only of Absent Bishops Abbats and Priors as L. M. P. dreams †P. 32. does from hence appear that in the other Parliaments of this year when the Praemunientes was not practis'd no mention is made of the Proctors of the Clergy the Phrase then being that the Bishops went by themselves the Lords by themselves and the Knights by themselves ‖ P. 12. Neither is there ever in those Records any mention of the Proctors of the Clergy at a Great Council but at Parliaments only the reason of which is that Parliament-Writs only had the Praemunientes in them but the Summons for Great Councils had not And now therefore the Clergies Returns for the Parliament are frequently to be met with in our Old Registers Parliaments themselves being frequent If in the succeeding Reigns we find not so many of these Procuratoria on Record it is not to be wonder'd at for the Archbishop's Writ which went out concurrently with the Praemunientes being understood to be a Summons to Parliament which it was in Effect tho' not in Terms and being strictly executed upon the Inferior Clergy might in time bring on a Disuse of the Forms practis'd in Executing the Other The Bishops through whose Hands both the Parliamentary and Provincial Summons came might sometimes either by the Neglect of their Officers * To this Neglect of their Officers that Clause seems to have refer'd which was an usual part of the King 's Writ to the Archbishop in E. 2. 3ds time Nos nolentes negotia nostra pro defectu Praemunitionum antedictarum si forsan minùs ritè factae fuerint aliqualiter retardari or as thinking it sufficient transmit the first of them only or if Both were transmitted might wink at the Clergies Omission in making their Return but to the One as not being unwilling to sooth up the Lower Orders in their Averseness to comply with a Lay-Summons because that sensibly encreas'd the Greatness and Power of the Parliament Prelates and by degrees brought the Clergies Interest in State-matters all into their Hands Besides oftentimes when the Bishop executed the Praemunientes and the Clergy certify'd upon it yet no notice might be taken in our Registers of Forms which return'd so very frequently and which were not stood much upon while the Provincial Mandate that went out on the same Occasion had its certain and Regular Course These and several other Accidents might I say conspire to make the Entry of such Procuratoria in chapter-Chapter-Books less frequent in after-times however neither are they sow'd so thinly there but that we can make a shift from the Helps of this kind that are left to continue the Succession of them down from the 22 E. 1. to the Latter End of Henry the Seventh's Reign as low as whose 19 th year * Anno 1503. I have seen a Deputation †See App. Num. XI made to a Monk to represent a Capitular Body in Parliament and that drawn up in such a manner as to be at once a Joint-Proxy both for the Parliament and Convocation I question not but that there are more of a Lower Date tho' I have not had Opportunity or Leisure to search for them for I find that the Praemunientes was executed in form as low as the 33 d and 36 th years of Henry the Eighth ‖ See Registr Bonner fol. 33 65. and Returns therefore were for some part of his Reign very probably made to it Not many years after this the Custom of returning Proxies to Parliament in Form did I believe cease and if a Conjecture may be allow'd in a matter of this nature where with some care and search one might be certain I should choose to fix the Time of this Total Disuse not far off of the 6 th or 7 th of Henry the Eighth when the Disputes between the Spiritualty and Temporalty about the Exemption of Clerks growing loud and warm and the Clergy with an high hand asserting their Priviledges might take up thoughts of setting themselves free also in another Instance than that which they contended about and agree generally to frame no more Instruments of Proxy in Obedience to the Lay-Summons And this Guess of mine falls in well enough with the Tradition my Lord of Sarum mentions as prevailing in Queen Elizabeth's time that the Inferior Clergy departed from
a Man and how far in time it may carry him from mending the Model of the Church which was the work Ten years ago to the Improving that of the State without considering that the One of these may be tamper'd with and practis'd upon more easily than the other and more securely When such Bold Proposals as these come from Private Unauthoriz'd Hands they deserve a Publick Censure and because I am for every thing 's having what it deserves I hope will find it Dr. Wake it seems does not understand to what purpose this Clause is retain'd in the Writ and proposes therefore a Retrenchment of it An hard Case this that the Writ should be alter'd because he does not understand it for at this rate what Old Forms are secure I have endeavour'd however to help his Understanding a little and to shew him that it is retain'd there to very good Purpose that it declares the King's Right of Summoning the Clergy to attend his Parliaments in Body the Lords and Commons Right of being thus attended and the Clergy's Right also to be Summon'd and to attend accordingly And that These are very great and weighty reasons for keeping it there appears from what has hapned already and may happen hereafter The Time is now come when the Clergy find themselves oblig'd to put in their Claim to a Parliamentary Attendance because it is disputed and according to the Natural Vicissitudes of things a Time may possibly come when the Crown or the Lords and Commons shall want the Parliamentary Attendance of the Clergy and be willing to claim it Equal Provision is made against each of these Inconveniences by continuing the Praemunitory Clause in the Bishops Summons where I hope it will ever continue even tho' a Sett of Future Bishops should arise which God forbid that would be contented to be Summon'd without it as not considering that it is as much Their Interest as the Inferior Clergy's â—o keep this Form whole and intire and that if the one part of the Writ goes the other may not stay long behind it Were this Alteration at any time to take place it had been well for Dr. Wake that it had hapned before he wrote his Book for then had the Clause been left out of the Writ he might have left it out of his Appendix too and by that means sav'd himself the shame of those Childish Mistakes which he has committed in Reciting it and which shall in due Time and Place be made known * See p. 427 8 9. of these Papers Nothing could have taken off from the Extravagantness of Dr. Wake 's Proposal but as wild an Assertion of a certain Acquaintance of his who is not afraid to tell us that Parliamentary Writs prove â—othing of the Constitution * L. M. P. p. 32. and this in words at length and not in Figures A Glorious Maximâ— which the Lords and Commons at Oxford knew nothing of who declare that the Writs of Summons are the Foundation of All Parliamentary Power †Declaration of the Treaty p. 15. I shall say not one word to disprove it for Parliamentary Writs and Constitutions are able to take care of themselves Only I cannot but observe how wise a way he has taken of making this Maxim good For continues he a Writ of Summons in the Time of Edward the First upon occasion of War with France had 〈◊〉 Chiuse Qâ—â—d omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur And it may with as much reason be concluded from that Writ that the King cannot make War without the Approbation of his Parliament 〈◊〉 from the Present Writ that he cannot hold a Parliament without calling the Clergy to it That is the King 's known Prerogative may with as much reason be barr'd by an Expression once inserted in the Preamble of a Writ as the Clergy's Right and Priviledge can be grounded upon a Clause in the Body of a Writ which has stood there for above four hundred years What a wonderful way of arguing is this how can we choose but surrender upon such Proofs as soon as they are produc'd Dr. Wake I remember has an Axiom that Logick is one thing and Law another ‖ P. 252. which by the by is all he knows of either And I must needs say that I never in my life met with a better Instance of the Truth of that Axiom than in this Gentleman 's Law-Reasonings Thus far of the Inferior Clergy's Summons to Parliament by the Clause in the Bishops Writ the Rise Nature and Force of which I have fully explain'd and proâ—'d that it is not even at this time so insignificant a Form as we are made to believe much more that it has not been so now for some Hundreds of years But there is also another Summons of the Clergy tho' not to Parliament yet to meet in Parliament-time under the Two Archbishops in their several Provinces And This too has been regularly issu'd out as often as a New Parliament was call'd from the Latter End of Edward the Second till now with Few Exceptions to the contrary and with None from the first Dawn of the Reformation in Henry the Eighth's Reign down to this present And from this Antient Custom as Antient as the Compleat Settlement of our Constitution the Clergy think themselves intitled to be Summon'd to assemble and to sit Provincially when ever a New Parliament meets But here it is objected that the King 's Writ to the Two Archbishops to call the Clergy of their Provinces together has no relation to the calling of a Parliament nor does so much as mention it * L. M. P. p. 29 30. that a Convocation is not in its Nature and Constitution at all dependent upon a Parliament that its Summons is distinct from that of a Parliament and so is its Dissolution and admitting therefore that the Clergy ought to be call'd to Parliament which is all that can be inferr'd from the Bishops Writ yet doth it not follow therefore that the Convocation ought to be Summon'd when the Parliament meets for that is plainly a Distinct Assembly and Summon'd by a Distinct Writ * P. 32. And much to the same purpose Dr. Wake p. 226. 284. and elsewhere has stated the matter I think this needs no Answer but what it has already receiv'd For allowing the Objection in its full force yet since Custom is the Law of Parliaments and it has perpetually been the Custom to issue out these Writs to the Archbishops whenever Writs went out for the Parliament it is certain that the Clergy have a Right to these Provincial Assemblies in Parliament time on the account of this Antient Prescription tho' the Convocation-Writ it self should neither mention a Parliament or any ways refer to it For if a Custom of three or four hundred years standing will not create a Right I know not what will However that I may not seem to neglect any thing that has the Look of an