THE Rights Powers and Priviledges OF AN English Convocation STATED and VINDICATED IN ANSWER TO A Late Book of Dr. Wake 's Entituled The Authority of Christian Princes over their Ecclesiastical Synods asserted c. AND TO Several Other PIECES And one shall say unto him What are these wounds in thine hands Then he shall answer Those with which I was wounded in the House of my Friends Zech. XIII 6. Eâ Tempestate facies Ecclesiae foeda admodùm turpis erat non enim sicut priùs ab Externis sed à Propriis vastabatur Ruffin Eccles. Hist. L. 1. c. 21. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. THE PREFACE BEtween three and four Years ago came out A Letter to a Convocation-Man concerning the Rights Powers and Priviledges of that Body which together with the Replys that were made to it by Dr. Wake and some Other Writers led the Author of these Papers to consider the Point in Debate with a Particular Care and Application He confesses he came to Dr. W's Book with expectations of finding there whatever was necessary to set this matter in a clear Light The Bulk of the Work the Appearance of Learning it carried and the Great Authority by which it endeavored to recommend it self All seem'd to promise Exactness But upon perusing it to his Surprize he found that it was a Shallow Empty performance written without any Knowledge of our Constitution any Skill in the Particular subject of Debate upon such Principles as are destructive of all our Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Libertys and with such Aspersions on the Clergy both Dead and Living as were no less injurious to the Body than his Doctrine The Love I bear to Truth to my Church and Country soon gave me Resolution of stating this matter anew and of taking off the slight Colors under which Dr. W. had disguis'd it if at least I were not prevented by some Abler Hand particularly by the Author of that Letter which first gave rise to this Debate and who it was expected would have appear'd once more upon it and freed what he had advanc'd from all Exceptions This and some other Accidents were the Cause that the following Papers though prepar'd early saw the Light no sooner and have indeed been deferr'd so long till it is now grown absolutely necessary to say something in Defence of the Churches Rights or to sit down contentedly under the Loss of them For by this time Dr. W's Book Weak as it is has yet by not being oppos'd gotten strength and made its way into the good Opinion of many who wish not ill to the Order A Learned Adversary indeed has taken him to Task upon the General Principles of Church-Discipline and Government but in the Domestick Part of the Dispute which relates to our Own Laws and Usages nothing has been said For which reason even from well meaning Men we every day hear this Language If the Dr. has indeed misrepresented the Constitution why does not some body set it right again If he has given up the Libertys and Priviledges of his Church how comes the Body to be silent They understand their Own Rights sure and will not suffer themselves to be writ out of 'em we must believe therefore that they have 'em not if no body thinks fit to claim them This indeed is the Natural Construction which People must and do make of our silence and his Principles therefore must either quickly be disprov'd or prevail Nay upon these Principles a suitable Practise may soon establish it self and as Some New Customs first made way for his Doctrine so the Doctrine it self may make way for Others which when once taken up will be difficultly laid down for it is much easier to preserve a Constitution than to retreive it Already since he wrote it has so hapned that upon the Calling of a New Parliament the Writ for the Province of York has been dropp'd thro' Forgetfulness no doubt however for the same reason it may so happen again when another Parliament is call'd that the Writ for the Province of Canterbury shall be forgotten too And if it should withall be forgotten to be Claim'd as well as Issu'd We should then be in the same case with our Neighbours of the Church of Ireland among whom as I am inform'd Convocation-Writs are now grown out of Date two New Parliaments having been successively summon'd without them And by the same Degrees that the Convocations of the Establisht Church have declin'd in both these Countrys those of our Brethren of the Separation have begun to revive The Summer after Dr. W's Book came out a General Meeting of the Dissenting Ministers was appointed here in London as appears by the Date of the Newbury-Letter printed in the Appendix * Numb 11. and it is not long ago since the Irish Nonconformists met publickly at Dublin and printed a Sermon preach'd at the Opening of their Synod tho' I think the Establisht Clergy there have never been Synodically conven'd since the Revolution And how affairs stand in Scotland with relation to these matters the Reader if he desires Information may in the 25th Page of the following Papers find it Nor is it to be forgotten that since this New Doctrine came abroad a New Definition of Convocations has obtain'd which we are now told are only Occasional Assemblys for such Purposes as the King shall direct * Nicolson Hist. Lib. Vol. 3. p. 200. And even the New State of England Man has upon it varied his Phrase for his last Edition says that they are to meet now and then in Time of Parliament †Meige N. S. of E. part 3d. p. 64. It may seem not Material to observe any thing that falls from such a Pen but it shews how Common Opinion runs as much as if a Wiser Author had said it It was High time therefore to assert a Right which was so far endanger'd And this unequal as I may be to the Task yet rather than it should remain undone I have resolv'd to do not led so much by Inclination to studys of this kind as pushed on by an Hearty concern for the Interests of Religion and of my Order as far as the Latter of these is subservient to the Former and by an Eager Desire of doing somewhat towards supporting the Good Old Constitution I live under which Dr. W. has both in Church and State done his best to undermine His Blow indeed is directly levell'd at the Rights and Libertys of the Church only but it glances often on those of the State and wounds them sore as far as His Arm was capable of putting strength into it The Argument of his Book throughout turns upon such Maxims and Grounds as equally affect Both of them And because I am not willing to say any thing against him without good Proof I shall here give the Reader a short Tast of his Principles to prepare him for the larger
from Eusebius * L. 5. c. 23 24. St. Cyprian †Ubique and ‖ De Jejun c. 13. Tertullian They were necessary for deciding the Differences that might happen between one Diocese and another or between those of the same Diocese if they could not be composed at home for the maintenance of sound Doctrine and wholsome Discipline and for the promoting of the general good of Christianity The Authoritative part of these Meetings was compos'd of the Bishops and Presbyters who sat * Conc. Eliberit in Proaem Greg. L. 4. Ep. 44. 4. Conc. Tolet. Capit. 3. Cypr. Ep. 1. Graviter commoti sumus Ego Collegae mei qui praesentes aderant Compresbyteri nostri qui nobis assidebant the Bishops in a Semi-circle formost and the Presbyters behind them before whom the Deacons and the People stood being little more than Witnesses of what pass'd at the Synod The Presbytery were in every City a necessary standing Council to their respective Bishops whose Power in the Church was much like that of a King in one of our mix'd Monarchies and together with their Bishops therefore they met in a Diocesan Synod upon all great Causes and without their Advice and Consent nothing of Importance was or could be determin'd This was the settl'd Rule of the Primitive Church and was kept up to here in England when it had declin'd almost every where else as the Constitutions of Egbert * Can. 44 45 46 47 apud Spelman Conc. T. 1. p. 258. Arch-Bishop of York made in the middle of the Eighth Century declare And some Remains of this Ancient Discipline are yet visible in those Capitular Bodies planted in our Cathedral Churches who as they were Originally intended to be a Select Presbytery to the Bishop for all the Affairs of his Diocese so have they still a Restraint upon his Authority in several Cases by the known Customs of this Church and Laws of the Realm Some of their Presbyters the Bishops were oblig'd to carry along with 'em to the Council of the Province and there I say they Sat Deliberated and Voted upon all Matters that came before the Assembly Indeed to General Councils the Inferior Clergy came not ordinarily in their Own Right but as the Proxy's only of absent Bishops which was necessary to hinder those Meetings from being too numerous and to prevent Confusion However even the Bishops that were present in General Councils were deputed thither by Provincial Synods * See the Emperor's Letter to St. Cyril Conc. Ephes. Part I. as also The Epistle of Capreolus Bishop of Carthage excusing himself for sending no Bishops because the War which had broke out in those parts hindred him from calling â— Provincial Synod from whence they were to be deputed Ib. pars 2. Act. 1. and brought along with them the Resolution and Consent of the several Churches from which they came and the Presbyters therefore having Voices in those lesser Synods their Consent was also in the Definitions of the Greater presum'd and included In one of these Provincial Synods held in the Second or Third Century was that which is since call'd the 37th Apostolick Canon fram'd which orders that there shall be two of these Assemblies yearly one in Spring and the other in Autumn The same thing with some small variety as to the exact time of Meeting was by the Great Council of Nice decreed more solemnly * Can. 5. and their Decree enforc'd by the Council of Antioch †Can. 20. first and then by the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon ⸫ Can. 19. Afterwards by reason of the difficulty of convening in times of War and Confusion these Synods were order'd to meet but once a Year by the Sixth ‖ Can. 8. and Seventh General Councils * Can. 6. in the East and this Order was renewed here in the West by the Fourth great Lateran Council held under Innocent III. at the beginning of the Thirteenth Century * Can. 6. And thus the general Law of the Church stood in succeeding times as to Us at least For the Decree of the Council of Basil †Sess. 15. which made these Meetings Triennial was not I think received here in England The Rule set by these General Councils ‖ All of â—em but â—hat at Antioch reputed such was prescrib'd also by the Roman Law * Justinian Nov. 123. c. 10.137 c. 4. received into the Capitulars of Charles the Great in Germany †Lib. 1. Tit. 13. and provided for very early by special Canons in the Churches of Spain and France ‖ 3. Conc. Tolet. c. 18. Conc. Regiens c. 7. 1. Conc. Araus c. 29. 2. Conc. Aurel. c. 2. 2. Conc. Turon c. 1. and of those lesser Kingdoms that arose out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire and particularly here in England by a Canon of the Council of Herudford ⸫ Beda I. 4. c. 5. Placuit convenire nos juxta morem Canonum Venerabilium held Anno 673 under Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and which took care not only to establish the Practice for the future but also to affirm the ancient Usage it being at the very entrance of the Acts of it expresly said to assemble in Vertue of the Old Canons as it was held also much about the Time that those Old Canons prescrib'd †Sept. 24. The Lateran Canon that reviv'd the use of Yearly Provincial Assemblies was in force here as Iohn de Athon tells us ‖ Proaem Othob tho' not so well observed he says as it ought to have been for a Reason too reflecting to be ⸫ Qualia Concilia Provincialia singulis annis celebrari ponitur sub praecepto quod non est ergo negligendum Sed hodiè de facto praetermittitur quia fortè Lucrum Bursale Praelatis non acquiritur sed potiùs tùnc Expensae apponuntur He gives I find the same free Reason in another place for the neglect of some Provincial Constitutions De facto perrarò servantur quando servando Constitutionem Bursae Praelatorum vacuarentur Sed aliae Constitutiones quae Praelatis Bursales sunt satis memoriae commendantur exequuntur ad unguem Ad Constit. de Hab. Cler. Englished This must be understood of the time when Athon wrote which was somewhat above an hundred Years after * For Pitts 's Account which has been taken all along upon trust viz. that he Flourished in 1290 must be a mistake since Athon was made Prebend of Lincoln in 1329 and died in 1350 as I find by unquestionable Authorities when in France also it was grown into neglect as appears by Durandus's Complaint †De modo Conc. Gen. cel Rubr. 11. But at first no doubt both here and elsewhere it was more strictly kept and to it we owe that Body of Provincial Constitutions which we have the earliest of 'em those of Stephen Langton bearing Date 1222 a few Years after that
than the Statute it self The several Convocations in the 12 last years of H. the VIII those of E. the VI th of Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth all for ought I can find acted without any such Commission or License in writing and the first time we meet with it on Record is in 1603 when King Iames's first Synod met to settle the Discipline of the Church in that Body of Canons which at present obtains Nor is there any Opinion I believe for the Necessity of such a License elder than this Practise at least I have not had the good fortune ever to meet with any though I have diligently sought for it 'T is true the Registers of most Convocations summon'd since this Statute were lost in the Fire of London however large Extracts out of several of them are preserv'd and compleat Transcripts of some and in none of these is there the least Footstep of any License under the Broad Seal to be seen but very plain Intimations to the contrary as I shall now by some Remarkable Passages taken from thence and from other Books and Papers of good Authority shew And if I am somewhat Larger in my Recitals of this kind than is absolutely necessary the Reader I hope will easily forgive me What does not directly tend to establish my Assertion will serve at least to give some small Light into the Methods of Proceeding usual in Convocation which the Author of the Letter to a Convocation-man rightly observes to be little known or minded And Dr. Wake who smiles at his Remark is himself a most Contemptible Instance of the Truth of it since he has ventur'd to write a Book about the Customs and Priviledges of Convocations without having perus'd the Acts of almost any One English Synod and has from the beginning to the end of his wretched Performance prov'd nothing effectually but his own profound Ignorance of the Subject he is engag'd in I shall take the Rise of my Enquirys from the Convocation which sat upon a Prorogation Nov. V. 1532. before which the Submission of the Clergy was made to the King but not yet Enacted so that though it oblig'd them not Then as a Law yet it bound them as a Promise by the Terms of which if a Commission to Treat had been then held necessary we may be sure they would not so soon after the making that Promise have treated without one And yet I find no Hint of a Commission in a Diary of that Meeting where a great many things of much less moment are set down and where it being the first time the Clergy met after they submitted had any such thing been practised we should without fail have heard of it Sess. 11. Martii 26. 1533. this Note is inserted Tunc vertebatur in dubium an liceret disputare in Negotio Regio eò quòd Negotium pendet coram summo Pontifice indecisum Which Doubt the President remov'd by producing the Apostolick Brief that gave leave cuilibet Opiniones suas dicere Dominus Praesidens instanter rogavit omnes ut diligenter inquirerent de ista quaestione referrent quid sentirent See Ant. Brit. ad ann where the very same account is given of Stokesly ' s producing a License from the Pope but no hint of any from the King They had no doubts it seems about the Lawfulness of Treating without a Royal License which had they had it would have been mention'd here together with the Papal Leave and we may fairly therefore presume they had none In the Convocation begun Iune 9. 1536. the first in which Cromwel sat as Vice-gerent * The Bishop of Sarum tells us that Cromwell came hither as the King's Vicar-General but he was not yet Vicegerent For he sate next the Archbishop but when he had that Dignity he sat above him Nor do I find him styl'd in any Writing Vicegerent for sometime after this though my Lord Herbert says he was made Vicegerent the 18th of July this Year the same day on which the Parliament was Dissolv'd Vol. 1. p. 213. In which Paragraph there are great Marks of Haste For the Acts of this Convocation expresly call Cromwell Vicegerent as well as Vicar-General and shew that he both took place of the Archbishop and sign'd before him as he does in two Papers that passed this very Convocation and which together with the Subscriptions his Lordship has given us Vol. 1. Coll. of Rec. p. 157. p. 315. The Words of the Acts are Magister Willielmus Petre allegavit quòd ubi haec Synodus convocata â—it auctoritate illustrissimi Principis dictus Princeps Supremum Locum in dictâ Convocatione tenere debeat ac eo absente honorandus Magister Tho. Cromwell Vicarius Generalis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas ejus Vicemgerens locum ejus occupare debeat ideò petiit pradictum locum sibi assignari Ac ibidem praesentavit Literas Commissionales dicti Domini sui sigillo Principis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas sigillatas Quibus perlectis Reverendissimus assignavit sibi Locum juxta se i. e. the Place next above himself which he demanded Nor does my Lord Herbert say that Cromwell was made Vicegerent July 18th this Year but July 9th see Hist. p. 466. which is a manifest Misprint for June 9th the very day on which this Convocatâ—on was open'd and on which I suppose his Patent bore date Indeed I question whether the Powers of Vicar-General and Vicegerent were different and conveyed as my Lord of Sarum thinks by different Patents for I have seen no Good Ground any where for such a Distinction In the Collection of Records at the End of the second Part p. 303. the Bishop has given us what he calls Cromwell 's Commission to be Lord Vicegerent in all Ecclesiastical Causes But his Lordship had not time to peruse it for upon reading it he would have found that it was only the Draught of a Commission to certain Persons deputed by Cromwell to execute the Vicegerents Power in several parts of the Kingdom One of those Subordinate or Subaltern Commissions which had respect to a Superior one as his Lordship upon another occasion Vol. 2. p. 347. very properly distinguishes we are told Comparuit Dominus Prolocutor unà cum Clero exhibuit Librum sub Protestatione continentem mala Dogmata per Concionatores intra Prov. Cant. publicè praedicata This List is Printed by Fuller †P. 208. and in it the Clergy by way of Preface to their Articles Protest That they neither in Word Deed or otherwise directly or indirectly intend any thing to speak attempt or do which in any manner of wise may be displeasant unto the King's Highness c. and that they sincerely addict themselves to Almighty God his Laws and unto their said Soverign Lord the King their Supreme Head in Earth and his Laws Statutes Provisions and Ordinances made here within his Graces Realms Had any General Commission been granted them there had been no
consider'd do yet certainly prove it not necessary in order to Petition There are many Requests of the Clergy in Convocation to Queen Elizabeth One Anno 1580 in behalf of the Archbishop then out of favour that she would be pleas'd to restore him Fuller IX Book p. 121. Another Anno 1587 about the Act said to be intended against Pluralities Full. Ibid. pag. 191. A third to the same purpose in some other Convocation of her Reign which being yet unprinted I shall insert in the Appendix * Numb IV. It is a Paper very Remarkable both for the weightiness of the Matter and closeness of the Expression and for the spirit and freedom with which it is drawn which however I propose not as a Pattern but as a Great Argument of that Liberty they thought remaining to them A fourth from the Lower to the Upper House of Convocation to be presented in their Name to the Queen for the Pardon of Lapses and Irregularities 'T is in a Cotton MS. Cleop. F. 2. f. 123. and from thence I shall Transcribe it See App. Num. V. A fifth against the Encroachments of Chancellors upon Archdeacons Ibid. p. 264. A sixth praying many Regulations in very weighty matters Ibid. There is also extant in Fuller * IX Book p. 55. See the Preface to it p. 66. of this Book a Remonstrance of the Clergy of the Lower House being a Declaration of their Judgments made indeed in the very beginning of Queen Elizabeth when this Statute was not yet revived and about Popish Tenets but which may I presume be safely imitated for the Assertion of truly Catholick Doctrines Anno 1606 A Petition from the Lower House of Convocation to King Iames against Prohibitions This too the Reader will find with the others in the Appendix †Numb VI. Nay even the Assembly of Divines it self tho' it was more strictly ty'd up by the Ordinance of Parliament ‖ See it Rushw. 3. part Vol. 2. p. 328. than ever any Convocation was by their Commission for there were Negative words in that Ordinance which impower'd 'em to Treat and Confer of such Matters and Things as should be propos'd to 'em and no other yet did not think themselves restrain'd from Petitioning and proposing several Heads of Reformation to the Parliament See 'em Ibid. p. 344. The Clergy in Convocation were not us'd only to be Petitioners themselves they were also some times address'd to in the same way by others either by their Brethren of the Establisht Clergy or by those of the Separation Of the former I have seen an Instance in Manuscript being a Petition from the London Ministers * See Cat. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. n. 8494. The Direction of it is To the Reverend Fathers in God the Lords Bishops and the Rest of the Convocation It is said in the Manuscript to have been read and committed Febr. 10. 1580. Of the Latter several Mentions and Accounts remain tho' the Petitions themselves be lost For Example In Queen Elizabeth's time those who were then call'd the Puritans Petition'd the Convocation as appears from a Passage in one of their Books thus quoted by Bishop Bancroft * Dang Posit L. 4. c. 4. p. 140. We have sought say they to advance the Cause of God by Humble Suit to the Parliament by Supplication to your Convocation-house c. And whether it be this or some other Petition of theirs that is refer'd to in a Manuscript Justification †See Cat. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. n. 1987. of the Mille-manus Petition to King Iames I cannot tell but these words occur in it We have often and in many Treatises declar'd our Objections against the Liturgy at large and namely in a Petition which Four Godly Grave and Learned Preachers offer'd in our Names to the Convocation-house A yet greater Liberty than any I have mention'd was taken by the Clergy in that Long Address miscalled by Fuller ‖ P. 208. the Protestation which the Lower House offered to Henry the Eighth himself after the passing of the Statute or in that other very long one to the Upper House in Queen Mary's time * Hist. Ref. part 2. B. 2. Coll. n. 16. In the first we have an Instance of very Free Convocational Representations and of yet freer Petitions in the Latter for it attempts not only Canons but Acts of Parliament and particularly prays †Art 10. that the Statute of which we have been speaking may be repealed But the Clergy no more stand in need of these Instances than they would joyn in these Designs and Petitions The Statute of Submission is none of their Grievances nor do they ask or wish a Repeal of it They desire only that it may not have an Unnatural and Illegal Construction put upon it and that they may be bound up no otherwise by it than the Submitters themselves were They know indeed that the Reflection which a Right Reverend Member of theirs once made upon this Statute was That the Extreme of raising the Ecclesiastical Power too high in the Times of Popery had now produced another of depressing it too much So seldom is the Counterpoize so justly Ballanced that Extremes are reduced to a well-tempered Mediocrity * Bishop Burnet 's Hist. Vol. 2. pp. 49 50. But as they are not sure that this is his Lordship's present Opinion so they are certain it is none of Theirs for they think their Power as Great as it need to be if it be not made less than it really is Had they lived indeed in Henry the Eighth's time they should not perhaps have humoured his Imperious Temper so far as to have made that mean Submission or tamely to have given up any one Legal Priviledge which belonged to the Body and was not inconsistent with the Good of their Country But since it was made and Enacted they know how like Good Englishmen and Good Subjects chearfully to obey it Only they can never submit to such a sense of the Submission as was never intended nor throughout that Age wherein it was made ever practised This would be a much meaner part in them than the first Act was in their Ancestors whose Religion was all Submission and Slavery and it is no wonder therefore that the Fetters prepar'd for them sat so easily upon them But in a Protestant Clergy the profess'd Assertors of the Just Freedoms and Rights of Mankind in Religious affairs and who have been more than once Instrumental in shaking off Yokes of every kind from the Necks of Englishmen such Illegal Complyances would be inexcusable In short they have and they own that they have great reason to be content with the Priviledges which the Law has clearly marked out to them and the Great Petition they have to offer is that they may be permitted to enjoy them If their Predecessors were struck with a Panick Fear at the very sound of a Premunire in a Reign when the Laity too trembled at the
Flights of the Fathers but now he is of another mind every Submissive word every Respectful Form of Expression that he finds to have dropped at any time from the Mouths of the Members of a Synod when addressing to their Prince is Ground sufficient to rear a proof of his Prerogative upon But thus it is when Princes are to be complimented at the Expence of their Subjects Rights Compliments shall pass for Arguments As Dr. Wake has furnished himself with a Plea for the boundlâ—â—s Authority of Sovereigns in Church-matters from such Extraordinary Acts of Power as have been submitted to in good Princes so can he argue as well from the Unjust and Violent Encroachments of Ill ones Henry the Eighth was such if ever any Prince upon Earth was and Sir Walter Rawleigh therefore says of him that if all the Pictures and Patterns of a Merciless Prince were lost in the World they might all again be painted to the Life out of the Story of this King * Preâ— to hiâ— Hist. of the World And yet the Acts of this King the most Exorbitant and Oppressive Acts of Power which he exercised towards the Clergy are produced by Dr. Wake as good and lawful Precedents which all his Successors are allowed and incited to follow Particularly that Instance of his Correcting and Amending the Determinations of the Clergy in Synod even upon Doctrines of Faith is given us †See pp. 136 137 138 139. without any Intimation that such a practice exceeded the Bounds of the Kingly Power And in this he is followed by Mr. Nicholson ‖ Hist. Lib. â—ol 3. p. 196 197 And both these Gentlemen are so eager to assert this Power to the Crown that they have not given themselves leisure to inquire how far the Authorities they in this case cite are to be depended on Dr. Wake quotes my Lord of Sarum for it whose words are These Articles in 1536 being thus conceived and in several places corrected and tempered by the King 's Own Hand were subscribed by Cromwell and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Seventeen other Bishops Forty Abbots and Priors and Fifty Archdeacons and Proctors of the Lower House of Convocation * Hist. Ref. Vol. 1. p. 217. And in the Addenda to his first Volume †P. 364. his Lordship further says that He has had the Original with all the Subcriptions to it in his Hands I have had it too and can assure the Reader that there is not a single Correction by Henry the Eighth's hand or any others in that Original 'T is a Copy fairly Engrossed in Parchment ‖ See it Bibl. Cotton Cleop. â— 5. without any Interlineations or Additions whatever My Lord Herbert indeed who is Mr. Nicholson's and I suppose my Lord of Sarum's * I suppose so because my Lord of Sarum 's account of the Subscriptions is exactly the same as my Lord Herbert 's and with the same mistakes no Deans being mentioned by either nor any Consideration had of those of the Lower House who subscribed in double Capacities which makes the Subscriptions more numerous than they are represented to be Authority says that the Bishops and Divines who consulted upon these Articles were divided in their Opinions some following Luther and some the Old Doctrine whose Arguments on either side the King himself took pains to peruse and moderate adding Animadversions with his own Hand which are to be seen in our Records †Hist. H.S. p. 469. But these words I must be bold to say are mistaken both by my Lord Bishop and Mr. Nicholson if they infer from thence that the King made any Alterations in the Articles after they were drawn up since the Animadversions plainly were not on the Articles themselves but on the Arguments urged on either side of the Questions determined in ' em These Arguments or Opinions were it seems according to the known way of that time offered in Writing and subscribed by the Parties maintaining 'em And the King took upon him to temper and soften the Expressions on either side till he had brought both to a Compliance But this is a very different thing from his Correcting and Amending the Articles themselves even as different as assisting in the Debates of a Synod before the Conclusion is formed and altering the Conclusion it self after it has been unanimously agreed on This is truly the Case of those Amendments of Henry the Eighth which Dr. Wake is so full of However had it been such as he represents it yet no Argument of Right I say can be advanced on such Facts as these and it had become Dr. Wake therefore when he related 'em to have told us withal that they were unjustifiable Many of the Actions of that Supreme Head of the Church were such as cannot justly and will therefore I hope never be imitated by any of his Successors For instance he made his Bishops take out Patents to hold their Bishopricks at pleasure tho' I suppose my Lords the Bishops that now are do not think such a Power included in the Notion of the King's Supremacy William the Conquerour is another of the Pious Patterns he recommends who would suffer nothing he says to be determined in any Ecclesiastical Causes without Leave and Authority first had from him * P. 179. L.M.P. p. 34. for which he cites Eadmerus and might have told us from thence if he had pleased more particularly that he would not let any of his Noblemen or Ministers tho' guilty of Incest and the Blackest Crimes be proceeded against by Church-Censures and Penalties * Nulli Episcoporum permittebat ut aliquem de Baronibus suis seu Ministris sive Incestu sive Adulterio â—ive aliquo Capitali Crimine denotatum publicè nisi ejus praecepto implacitaret aut Excommunicaret aut ullâ Ecclesiastici rigoris poenâ constringeret Eadmer pag. 6. that he made his Bishops his Abbots and Great Men out of such as would be sure to do every thing he desired of 'em and such as the World should not much wonder at for doing it as knowing who they were from whence he took 'em and for what end he had raised 'em and that all this he did in order to make way for his Norman Laws and Usages which he resolved to establish here in England †Usus atque Leges quas Patres sui ipse in Normanniâ— habere solebant in Angliá servare volens de hujusmodi Personis Episcopos Abbates alios Principes per totam terram instituit de quibus indignum judicaretur si per omnia suis Legibus postpositá omni aliâ consideratione non obedirent si ullus corum pro quávis terrenâ potentiâ caput contra eum levare auderet scientibus cunctis Unde Qui ad Quid assumpti sunt Cuncta ergo Divina Humana ejus Nutum expectabant Ibid. This I say and more than this he might have given us from the very Page
Liberty as these Princes left their Metropolitans he would not think it I believe a sufficient Direction of their Choice because I dare say he would not find it so In the mean time what Bungling Work is this for an Old Controvertist that has encountred the Bishop of Meaux and half persuaded him to be a Protestant The Dr. indeed lets us know plainly enough what he would be at in the Positions he lays down but by the Instances he sometimes brings to back 'em one can hardly tell which side he is retain'd on CHAP. V. HItherto I have made only some General Remarks on Dr. Wake 's way of managing this Controversie and by that means shew'd the Reader how much there is in his Loose Work utterly wide of the Mark he should have aim'd at and how unfair he is in his Representations and defective in his Proofs even on those Points which are not pertinent and where Truth had been of little or no disservice to his Cause I might go on and in the same manner lay open his Fourth Chapter also which he calls a Short View of the State of our Convocation in times past * P. 147. and which is just as short a View as it is a True one it being drawn out to the length of an hundred tedious Pages in which there is scarce One I speak what I have considered that would not upon a careful Review yield a manifest Proof of his Insincerity or Ignorance So slight and partial are the accounts he there gives of the Business of Convocations and the Ends of assembling them so false are his Allegations often times and so weak the Inferences he draws from them such an Implicit Relyance has he on every Relation he meets with in any of the Monkish Chroniclers and so willing is he to think it as Exact and Full as if the Authors had written Just Histories of Ecclesiastical Affairs and not Lean Journals only so thoroughly in the dark does he appear every where to be as to all those Manuscript Papers and Records that might be of use to clear up this Controversie so base and untrue are the Aspersions he casts on some of the best Clergy-men of those times and where he can on his Whole Order so mean and fulsome is the Flattery he bestows on the Memory of some of our Worst and most Arbitrary Princes Upon all these Accounts I say and many more than these Dr. Wake has left so much room for Censure that it would be the business of one entire Book to set out the Mistakes and Prevarications of that single Chapter But in this I shall rather trust the Reader to believe as he pleases than tire him with a proof of it especially since opportunity will be given me of displaying some of them here and there under the following Heads of Matter I have mark'd out and according to the Method I have resolved to proceed in By That I am now led to consider the Exceptious of all sorts that have been taken at the Two Points asserted in the Entrance of this Work by any of those Writers who have pretended to answer the Letter to a Convocation-man We have hitherto done little more than set aside what in Dr. Wake 's Book is foreign to the Argument he treats of let us see now what there is either in That or any other Piece written on the same side that can be thought Material I shall conceal nothing that may seem in the least to affect the Truth I contend for or the Proofs which I have brought to support it In Relation to the first Point laid down we are told that the Provincial Writ by which a Convocation is Summon'd has no relation to the calling of a Parliament nor does so much as mention it †L. M. P. p. 29 30. That by such Writs the Clergy may be assembled when no Parliament is in being may meet before the Parliament and be continu'd after the Dissolution of it That as to the Clause Praemunientes in the Bishops Writ it is matter of Form only having stood there these three hundred Years without any manner of use ‖ Ibid. p. 32. and referring to a Convocation which for many Years past has had no Existence * W. p. 284. That it was first inserted upon some Particular Occasion and continu'd after the Cause was determin'd †L. M. P. p. 32. and that merely by the neglect of a Clark as my Lord of Sarum conjectures ‖ Hist. Ref. Vol. 2. p. 49. That upon the whole therefore the Time of the Convocations meeting is no ways fix'd but Precarious * L. M. P. p. 27. and it 's Iust Definition is an Occasional Assembly for such Purposes as the King shall direct when they meet as a late Little Author †Nicolson Hist. Libr. Vol. 3. p. 200. has told us out of a Great one But let the Definition come from what Hand it will I must be bold to say that it is unskilfully drawn For from the Accounts already given in these Papers it appears that the Convocation is not an Occasional but a Stated Assembly in some measure Stated as a Provincial Synod simply in it self considered much more so as a Synod attendant on a Parliament As a Provincial Council the Rules of the Church receiv'd in all Christian States and particularly in ours direct that it should be Annual As a Synod attendant on the Parliament it has the same stated times of assembling that the Parliament has And such Parliamentary Meetings of the Clergy ought the rather to be kept up because it was from These that the Disuse of yearly Provincial Councils here and elsewhere originally sprung For when through the Piety of our Saxon Ancestors the Clergy were call'd to the Great Councils of the Realm and made a constant and necessary part of them they were oblig'd so frequently to attend in that Capacity that they had neither Leisure nor Need to observe the set times of their Provincial Assemblies The Ordinary Business of These was dispatch'd at those State-meetings which were frequent and gave the Clergy the Opportunity of an easie Recourse to the Civil Power for a Confirmation of their Decrees And this by degrees brought on a discontinuance of Provincial Synods which from thence began to meet only on Great Emergencies and for Extraordinary Occasions Thus the matter stood throughout the Saxon Times and for some Reigns after the Conquest The Clergy of the whole Realm met Nationally with the Laity and did Church-business at the same Time and Place that the Great Affairs of the State were transacted Afterwards it was thought more Regular that they should attend the Parliament not in one Body but in Two Provincial Synods which would equally answer the State-Ends of assembling them and would withall be more strictly agreeable to the Canons Accordingly they have for near 400. years past constantly thus attended and are therefore in this respect as
Objection I will give a further and more distinct Answer to it going on as I propos'd in the 2 d Place to shew that the Writs to the Two Archbishops to convene the Clergy of their Provinces tho' they do not expresly mention a Parliament yet have an Immediate Reference to it the Original Design of their Issuing out together with the Bishops Writ being only to secure an Obedience to the Praemunitory Clause and to make the Clergy's Parliamentary Assemblies more Full and Certain This is so Indubitably true and so capable of being made out clearly from the Elder Convocation-Writs yet remaining that had Dr. Wake or the Letter-Writer seen any one of them they would have foreborn starting this Objection for very fear of receiving the true Answer to it than which nothing can more expose the Weakness of that Cause they plead for or of the Arguments they bring to maintain it The Case was truly thus From the time that the Praemunientes was first graâ—ted into the Bishops Writ the Popish Clergy who out of a false Policy studied all ways of dividing themselves from the Laiety were as I have said very uneasie under it and cast about how to evade it When it went out therefore in the 33 Edw. 1. Archbishop Winchelsey took this way of salving in some measure the pretended Priviledges of the Clergy without disobeying it * See Append Numb XIV c In his Letter to the Prior and Chapter of Canterbury he recites not the whole Summons sent him by the King but the substance only of the Warning Clause and then commands them as he did I suppose the Clergy of his Diocese by the Archdeacon and all the rest of his Province by the Dean of it the Bishop of London to appear before himself at Lambeth a Day or two earlier than the Parliament was to meet in order to treat with Him as a Provincial Council and to do afterwards in Parliament what the Holy Canons of the Church should allow of A weak Government succeeding the Rigor of this Clause was so far relax'd that tho' the King still kept it in his Writs yet was he forc'd as I have observ'd to call the Archbishop to his help in order to get it obey'd and to comply with the Clergy so far as to let the Provincial go out hand in hand with the Parliamentary Summons accepting their Obedience to the One as a Constructive Obedience to the Other upon Condition that the Forms should still be kept up that Execution should be duly made of the Praemunientes and Letters of Proxy sent up and Register'd as often as it went out And these Acknowledgments being pay'd they were allow'd to meet and do all manner of Business in their Provincial Assemblies according to the Tenor of the Archbishops Summons This I apprehend to have been the Method of obeying Both Writs which was then pitched upon and afterwards obtain'd The first Instance of this kind wherein I remember such a Double Writ to have been plainly practis'd is 8 Edw. 2. In which year it went out twice for Two several Parliaments The Tenor of it was that whereas the King had Summon'd a Parliament to such a Time and Place he did râ—gando mandare the Archbishop Then and There to convene such of the Clergy of his Province as He and the Bishops were by Distinct Writs order'd to premonish See Append Nu. XIV d ad tractandum consentiendum hiis quie in praemissis tunc ibidem contigerit ordinari It was rested the same day with the Ordinary Bishops Writ and transmitted at the same time with it to the Archbishop In the 14 Edw. 2. if not sooner it receiv'd some Alteration for the Preamble of it recited the Bishops Writ with the Clause Praemunientes intirely See App. Numb XIV e and then added Nos nolentes negotia nostra in dicto Parliamento tractanda propter absentiam dictorum Decanorum Priorum Arcâ—idiaconorum retardari Vobis Mandamus rogantes c. And thus the Form with some little Variety continu'd for many years afterwards particularly I have seen the several Writs with this or the like Clause for the several years of E 2. and E. 3. mention'd in the Margent * 17 E. 2. Cl. m. 27. dors 20 E. 2. Cl. m. 4. dors 1 E. 3. Cl. ps 2. m. 16. dors m. 3. dors 2 E. 3. Cl. m. 22. dors and so in his 3 d 4 th 6 th 7 th 8 th 9 th 10 th 13 th and 14 th years See Pryn 's Register of Parl. Writ Pp. 34 36 37 43 44 46 98 99. where many of these Writs are Printed With this or the Like Clause I say for from the End of E. 2. downwards it ran nearly in these Terms Et licet Injunxerimus singulis Episcopis praedictis quâ—d quilibet eorum praemuniri faciat c. nolentes tamen dicta negotia nostra pro defectu praemunitionum praedictarum si forsan minùs ritè factae fuerint aliqualiter retardari Vobis mandamus rogantes c. Hitherto therefore the Writs for a Convocation went not out only together with those for a Parliament but were design'd purely to Second and Inforce them and to be a Double Tye upon the Clergy to come to Parliament being call'd thither both by the Bishops Writ and by a Provincial Citation from their Metropolitan And the same Members therefore we may observe neither more nor fewer are order'd to be resummon'd by the Provincial Writ which had been before Summon'd by the Premonishing Clause Deans Cathedral-Priors Archdeacons and the Clergy of Chapters and Dioceses being the only Persons cited both by the One and the Other without any mention of Bishops Abbats or other Priors who had Personal Summons to Parliament and there being not so much danger therefore of Their not attending the Archbishop had no Commands in Relation to them Accordingly his Mandate was usually drawn just as this Form directed citing those of the Clergy and no other than those which it mention'd and exactly to the Time and Place prescrib'd I shall present the Reader with a Copy of this Mandate among the other Records as it was practis'd Anno 1321 to execute the Writ of the 14 E. 3. just now mention'd and in it he will find also Expressions which shew Append. Numb XIV f. that the same Course had for a good while before this obtain'd 'T is true when the Archbishop Summon'd in Obedience to this Second Writ he did not do always just what that Writ exacted and no more but took occasion †Thus Anno 1323. when the Parliament met in Octabis S. Hil. and the Praemunientes went out for the Writ has it whereby that Parliament was Prorogu'd See Dugd. Summ. p. the Archbishop at the King's Instance express'd in his Second Writ with the Clause Nos nolentes c. a Copy of which for the Prorogation of this Parliament is in Pryn Vol. 1. p. 98. Summon'd not the Parliament-Clergy alone
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