the Kings behalf The Affairs then which the Convocation is in general to debate about and consent to are the Urgent Affairs which concern the King the Church and the Realm And these therefore are the constant Introduction of every Convocation Writ But what those Affairs are with Reference to Any or All of These which every particular Convocation is call'd to consider That the King reserves to himself to declare to Them and they are when met to expect his special Direction and not to ramble after their own Fancies on any Matter within this general Compass without his Warrant It has indeed been questioned by a Late Author Whether this Clause was antiently inserted into these Writs and he would fain have it thought that herein also the Clergy have of late been encroach'd upon But the Forms of Publick Instruments are not so easily altered If they were we might rather have expected that some other Expressions which relate to those Privileges which the Clergy formerly enjoy'd but which have now for a long time been utterly laid aside should have been omitted or changed than this which is perfectly agreeable both to the Laws of the Realm and to his Majesty's Royal Prerogative in these Matters But indeed this Clause if not as antient as the Writ it self is yet of very great Antiquity And we have at this day Writs as far back as King Henry the Sixth's Time in which this Clause is found in the very same Words that it is continued in at this day But were there any doubt to be made concerning the Authority of this Clause yet that Method that has always been taken by the King to set the Convocation on Work would be more than enough to shew how intirely their Deliberations depend upon his Direction When the last Convocation under his present Majesty was met the King by his Principal Secretary of State sent his Commission to Them In which having taken notice of the Statute of Henry the Eighth before mentioned and the Obligation which was thereby laid upon Them not to proceed to any Business without his Licence first had so to do he does therefore in order to their proceeding with Safety to Themselves and pursuant to the true Purpose and Intent of that Law particularly declare upon what Points he allow'd Them to Consult and under what Conditions he gave them Authority so to do That they should consider of any Alterations which they thought proper to be made in the Form Rites or Ceremonies of our Divine Service That they should Review the Book of Canons Should consider What Defects or Abuses might be found in the Ecclesiastical Courts How the Manners both of the Ministers and People might more effectually be Reform'd And such Provision be made that None should hereafter be Admitted into Holy Orders but such as were duly qualified both in their Lives and Learning to be received into the same These are the Heads on which the Clergy of that Convocation were directed to debate And even upon these they were to deliberate under these following Restrictions 1st That the President and Greater Number of the Bishops were to be always present And 2dly That even upon these General Heads they should consider only such particular Points Matters Causes or Things as his Majesty should propose or cause to be proposed by the President of the Convocation to Them Such was the Commission by which the last Convocation was set on work And to prepare the particular Matters which the King reserved to himself to propose to Them and upon which alone They were allow'd to debate His Majesty some time before the Convocation was to meet appointed a Select Committee of the Bishops and Clergy to consult about the same Matters and to draw up such Resolutions as they should think most fitting for him to lay before the Convocation when it should be Assembled Nor was this any New Invention any Unusual Restraint laid upon the Clergy in these days of Doubt and Distrust but the constant Method which had before been pursued ever since the 25 Hen. 8. It cannot be deny'd but that whatever his present Majesty may in some Mens Opinions be said to be yet without all Question King Charles the First was a true Friend to the Episcopal Clergy Nor can it any more be doubted whether Archbishop Laud had not both Care enough to Examine into the Rights of the Convocation and Interest enough with that Prince to assert the Privileges of it Let us therefore to avoid all Exceptions in this Case enquire how things pass'd in that Famous Convocation of 1640 wherein much was done and great Offence given to those who Resolved not to be pleased with any thing that either that King or that Archbishop did but nothing that can justly be found fault with by such as we are now especially concerned if it may be to convince Now that Convocation being met by vertue of the same Writ that is still made use of in these Cases the King sent his Special Commission to them to impower them to Act bearing date April 15. 1640. In this Commission he first at large Recites the Statute of the 25 Hen. 8. as from the time that it was made it had always been the Custom in the like Commissions to do to shew the need they had of his Royal Licence and Assent to enable them to go on with safety in their Debates and Resolutions Having done this He in the next place prefaces the Permission he was about to grant to them with these very Words which ought not to be omitted Know ye therefore that We for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations Us thereunto moving of our Especial Grace certain Knowledge and Meer Motion have by vertue of our Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical given and granted and by these Presents do give and grant full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority to the most Reverend Father in God c. I shall not need to make any Remarks upon this Preamble which fully answers all the Pretences of those who fancy not only the Sitting but the Acting too of the Convocation to be a matter of Right naturally belinging to Them And that either no Commission at all is needful to Authorize them so to do or that if there be the King is of Course obliged to Grant it to them For first That without the King's Commission they cannot proceed to any Business of Themselves without Violating an Act of Parliament and encroaching upon the King's Prerogative Royol and Supreme Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical is here directly asserted And that such a Commission the King may lawfully Grant or refuse as he thinks convenient not only the constant Custom of our Princes in adjourning their Convocations excepting only at such times as they had something for them to do assures us but the very words of the present Commission directly imply For how came the King to grant this
claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons Nor shall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinance Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocations in Time Coming which alway shall be Assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing contrary to this and being thereof convict to suffer Imprisonment and to make fine at the King 's Will. Provided alway that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocations of the Clergy which shall be Contrariant or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding V. The Commission sent by King Charles Ist. to the Convocation of 1640. 1. CHarles by the Grace of God c. To all whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas in and by One Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry VIIIth reciting that whereas the King 's Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy c. Reciting all verbatim as in the Extract Numb iv And lastly it is provided by the said Act that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial which then were already made and which then were not Contrariant or Repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or hurt of the King 's Prerogative-Royal should then still be used and executed as they were before the making of the said Act until such time as they should be view'd search'd or otherwise Order'd and Determin'd by the Persons mention'd in the said Act or the more Part of them according to the Tenour Form and Effect of the said Act as by the said Act amongst divers other things more fully and at large it doth and may Appear 2. Know ye that we for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations us thereunto especially moving of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion have by Vertue of our Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical given and granted and by these Presents do Give and Grant full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority unto the most Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan President of this present Convocation for the Province of Canterbury during this Present Parliament now assembled and to the Rest of the Bishops of the same Province and all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province That they the said Lord Archbishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the Rest of the Bishops and other the said Clergy of this present Convocation within the said Province of Canterbury or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be always One Shall and may from Time to Time during the present Parliament Propose Conferr Treat Debate Consider Consult and Agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon or Canons now in force and of and upon any such Other New Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they the said Lord Bishop President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the Greater Number of them whereof of the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation to be One shall think necessary fit and convenient for the Honour and Service of Almighty God the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be from Time to Time observ'd perform'd fulfill'd and kept as well by the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops and their Successors and the rest of the whole Clergy of the said Province of Canterbury in their several Callings Offices Functions Ministries Degrees and Administrations as also by all and every Dean of the Arches and other Judges of the said Bishops Courts Guardians of Spiritualties Chancellors Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Commissaries Officials Registers and all and every Other Ecclesiastical Officers and their Inferiour Ministers whatsoever of the same Province of Canterbury in their and every of their distinct Courts and in the Order and Manner of their and every of their Proceedings and by all other Persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being Members of the Church it may concern them And further to conferr debate treat consider consult and agree of and upon such other Points Matters Causes and Things as We from Time to Time shall deliver or cause to be deliver'd unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation under our Sign-manual or Privy-Signet to be debated consider'd consulted and concluded upon the said Statute or any Other Statutes Act of Parliament Proclamation Provision or Restraint heretofore had made provided or set forth or any other Cause Matter or thing whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. And we do also by these Presents give and grant unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and to the Rest of the Bishops of the said Province of Canterbury and unto all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority that They the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be One all and every the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters Causes and things so by them from Time to Time conferr'd treated debated consider'd consulted and agreed upon shall and may set down in Writing in such Form as heretofore hath been accustom'd and the same so set down in writing to exhibit and deliver or cause to be exhibited and delivered unto Us to the End that we upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or otherwise Disallow Anhillate and make void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of them so to be by force of these presents consider'd consulted and Agreed upon as we shall think fit requisite and convenient 4. Provided always that the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters and Things or Any of them so to be consider'd consulted and agreed upon as aforesaid be not contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy establish'd or the Rubricks in it or the xxxix Articles or any Doctrine Orders and Ceremonies
Allowance to them Was it because they had a Right to demand it Or that He had no Right to refuse it Was it because it had always been Customary for them to Sit when the Parliament met and to have such a Commission sent to them as often as they sat Nothing of all this But for divers Urgent and Weighty Causes and Considerations Him thereunto especially moving Out of his especial Grace and meer Motion That he granted it by virtue of his Royal Prerogative and of that Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical which gave him the same Power over his Clergy that all other Christian Princes were wont to exercise over Theirs And which how Great it was as to these matters I have before particularly shewn But to go on with this Commission The King having thus asserted his Authority now by virtue thereof gives leave to that Convocation Always provided that the President and greater number of the Bishops were present during the Session of the Parliament then Assembled to Propose Confer Treat Debate Consider Consult or Agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon or Canons then in force and of and upon any such other New Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necessary fit and convenient for the Honour and Service of Almighty God the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be from time to time observed fulfill'd and kept c. And further to Confer Debate Treat Consider Consult and Agree of and upon such other Points Matters Causes and Things as himself from time to time should deliver or cause to be deliver'd unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation under his Sign Manual or Privy Signet to be Debated Consider'd Consulted and Concluded upon This was the Business for which that Convocation sat and which they were accordingly licensed to enter upon But the Restrictions under which they were allowed to Act are yet more narrow than Those which his present Majesty laid upon our late Convocation For all this They were required to do not only under the same Conditions that I have beforeshewn were laid upon the Other but with these further Limitations namely That the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters and Things or Any of Them so to be Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon as aforesaid should not be contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy Established or to the Rubricks in it or to the 39 Articles or to any Doctrine Orders and Ceremonies of the Church of England already Established Thus did this Prince give such Orders for the Proceedings of this Convocation as he thought expedient to be observed by Them And when for the more effectual suppressing and preventing of the Growth of Popery He resolved an Oath should be framed for the Clergy to take of their firm adherence to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England And that a Canon should be drawn to enforce the taking of it He sent a new Order to them May 17 to empower them to enter on that Debate and to require them to Prepare and present such an Oath and Canon to Him But other Princes have gone yet farther than this They have not only prescribed to their Convocations what they should go about but have actually drawn up beforehand what they thought convenient to have Establish'd and have required them to Approve of it In the Convocation which met May 18 1 Jac. 1 The King sent his Letters with the Articles of 1562 to Them to be Approved and Allowed of by Them And to another Convocation about four Years after the same Prince signified to both Houses his Pleasure for Singing and Organ Service to be settled in Cathedral Churches without ever submitting it to their Judgment whether they approved of it or no. I shall conclude these Remarks with the Opinion which the Lower House of Convocation had of the Necessity of the King's Authority to Empower Them to enter with Security on their Debates about Matters of Religion in the first Year of King Edward the Sixth At the first Meeting of which we find this Order among some others made by them That Certain be appointed to know whether the Arch-bishop has obtain'd Indemnity for the House to intreat of Matters of Religion in Cases forbidden by the Statutes of this Realm to treat in But there is another Particular in which I have before shewn that Christian Princes had upon Occasion exercised an Eminent Authority over their Synods Whilst for the better Observance of the Orders which they gave to Them They asserted a Right either in Person or by their Commissioner to sit with and to preside over Them That our Kings heretofore did meet and sit together with their Clergy is not to be deny'd And our Great Oracle of the Law has told us That they did oftentimes appoint Commissioners by Writ to sit with them at the Convocation and to have Conusance of such Things as they meant to Establish that nothing might be done in prejudice of their Authority 'T is true since the Restriction laid upon the Clergy by the Statute of K. Henry 8 the King is now become so secure of them that He has no great need to send any such Commissioner to them to regulate their Proceedings For being neither at liberty to enter upon any Synodical Act but what he gives them leave to go upon Nor when they have concluded upon any Point being allow'd to Promulge or put it in Execution unless it shall be approved of and confirmed by Him He has nothing left to apprehend from them but is by his Commission as effectually President over their Debates as if he were present in Person among them And yet tho' this Act has therefore render'd the Exercise of such an Authority less necessary than it was before it has not depriv'd the King of it For even after the passing of this Statute K. Henry 8 by his Vicar General not only presided together with the Archbishop over the Convocation but Deliberated Voted and to all intents and purposes Acted together with his Clergy in it This is manifest from the Acts of the Convocation of the year 1536 and of which it may not be amiss to give a short account upon this Occasion Upon the 9th day of June 1536. Mr. William Peter came into the Convocation and alleged That for as much as this Synod was called by the Authority of the most illustrious Prince K. Henry 8 and that the said Prince ought to have the first Place in the said Convocation and in his Absence the Honourable Master Thomas Cromwel his Vicegerent being Vicar General in Ecclesiastical Causes ought to possess his Place Therefore he desired that the said Place might be assigned to Him And at the same time presented his said Master's Letters Sealed with the Seal of his Office as Vicar General Which being read the most Reverend the Archbishop assign'd him a Place besides
any Pope but such as was agreeable to his Will and Pleasure And particularly that he would not endure any Synod to be held by the Bishops of England or any thing to be determined in any Ecclesiastical Causes without Leave and Authority first had from him to empower them so to do And the same was the Resolution of his Sons after him And tho' being necessitated for the sake of their civil Interests to yield a little some of our following Princes did submit to the Papal Usurpations yet no sooner was their Government grown strong and their Peace setled but both our Kings and our great Men presently began to assert their Freedom and to cast off those Chains which the Pope had watch'd his Opportunity to put upon them So that now then to give a short account of the method of managing the Affairs of the Church in this Period it was briefly this In the great Council of the Realm and which tho' alter'd in some circumstances by the Conquerour from what it was before yet still continu'd in the main the same as the Bishops and most considerable of the Abbots had a place so now as heretofore Ecclesiastical as well as civil Causes were handled by them and Laws pass'd for the Government of the Church no less than of the State In the other and more select Councils of our Kings which in this Period were held sometimes at the great Feasts and sometimes at such other Seasons as our Princes thought sit and to which they took such of their great Men only both Ecclesiastical and Secular as themselves thought sit many Affairs of the Church were also debated tho' not with such Authority as in the other more general Councils Besides these Assemblies as from the beginning of this Period Ecclesiastical Synods did often meet so in them were the rest of those Matters transacted which appertain'd to the Church But then these as they met not without the King's Licence so neither did they determine any thing but by his Consent nor were their Acts of any Authority until they were confirm'd by him This was the State of the Church in the beginning of this Period whilst it as yet stood free from the Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome How it came to be enslaved afterwards will better appear from that particular view we are now to take of those Councils in which any thing of greater Moment relating to the Church has been concluded I have before observed how our Princes very early began with great Solemnity to keep the three chief Festivals of the Year and to be attended by their Bishops and Lords at them At one of these Seasons presently after he was setled in the Government the Conquerour commanded a Synod to be held and made use of the Pope's Au 〈…〉 rity and the Presence of his Legats to strengthen what he had to do in it Having thus assembled the Bishops apart into an Ecclesiastical Council he proceeded not only to deprive Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury who in some measure deserved it but several others of the Clergy for no other real reason but only that he did not love them or else wanted to have his Normans in their places And having thus proceeded as far as he thought good in this Council he stopt still the next solemn Festival And then in another Synod of the same kind and assembled by the same Authority he went on to farther Deprivations after the like manner as he had done before It was at a like meeting of his Bishops and Lords about two years after that resolving the great Council into an Ecclesiastical Synod he determined the Primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York and subscribed his Name to the Acts of it What that Synod was which Lanfrank sometime after held at Westminster we are not told This we are inform'd that it was call'd by the King's Command and that he was present at this as he had been at the other two Whether this were the same Council which we find recorded by Malmsbury in the life of Lanfranc or whether there was another assembled the same year I cannot tell But that a Synod was held about this time at London we are well assured In this many ancient Canons were revived and the foundation laid for renewing the Ecclesiastical Discipline of the Church And because this had not sufficiently determined what was necessary to be done the next Year after he held another at Winchester in which several usefull Constitutions were establish'd the Heads of which still remain to us These are the chief of those Ecclesiastical Synods that we are told were assembled under K. William the Conquerour And the last of which however said to have been call'd by Lanfranc who also presided in them yet still we must remember what we have before in general observed of this King that the Archbishop call'd them by his Command Who also approved their Acts before he suffer'd them to have any Authority in this Realm For the farther Confirmation of which Remark let us only cast our Eye upon the Conduct of this Prince as to these matters in his own Dutchy of Normandy and from thence we shall be able the more certainly to judge what Power he claim'd over his Clergy in his new Dominions And here we find that at Whitsontide Anno 1086 he assembled his Parliament at Roan The Members who composed it were the same that in those days made up ours There were present the Archbishop Bishops and Abbots of his Territories and with them the great Lords of the Laity Being met they made several Laws for the Government both of the Church and State and he was both present at their Debates and by his Authority confirm'd what had been agreed on by them And when some time before the Archbishop of Roan held a Provincial Synod with his Bishops and Clergy purely to consult of the Affairs of the Church and several Canons were compiled by them the Acts of it observe that the Conquerour was himself both present at the making of them and that he afterwards confirm'd them by his Command Such was the Authority which this Prince exercised over his Synods As for his Successor King William the Second he was not at all less but rather was more stiff in asserting his Rights as to these matters than ever his Father had been Insomuch that being on a time desired by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury To employ his Authority to the restoring of Christianity almost utterly defaced in his Realm He ask'd him What he would have him do Command says Anselm Councils to be renew'd according to ancient Custom There let it be enquired what has been done a miss and let a seasonable Provision be made for the remedying of it There has not been held a general Council of Bishops since you came to the Crown nor for some time before Through this defect many
Archbishop and Legate held a Synod at Merton upon St. Barnabas's day The Pope had the year before granted to the King the Tenths of the Clergy for three years But the Clergy tho' they Honour'd the Pope much yet resolved not to part with their Money And the Archbishop held this Synod on purpose to Oppose the payment of what he had granted Upon another Legate's being sent hither Anno 1261 several Councils were this year call'd and held in Our Country The two Archbishops Assembled their Respective Clergy at London and Beverley And Boniface held another distinct Council at Lambeth and publish'd many excellent Constitutions in it But most famous in these times as of chiefest Authority afterwards was the Council Assembled by Ottobon another Legate about the Year 1268. He had two years before at the Parliament at Northampton Assembled the Clergy who met there and with Them Excommunicated all such as should adhere to Simon Montfort and his Party And now he held this Other at London with the Clergy of the whole Kingdom and therein publish'd those Notable Constitutions we still have under his Name It was now become a matter of Custom and accounted a matter of Right for the Legates Extraordinary and the Archbishop of Canterbury as Legate of Course to Summon the Clergy to Convocations Insomuch that we do not find this Great King who otherwise was sensible enough of the Encroachments that had been made and were daily making upon the Royal Authority to have been at all Offended at it Hence Peckham the Archbishop being return'd from Rome Anno 1280 the same year held a Council at Redding and therein commanded the Constitutions of the General Council of Lyons to be observed And the next year He assembled another at Lambeth in which the Orders and Constitutions establish'd by Otho and Ottobon were Confirm'd and some Others added for the better Government of the Church About ten years after the same Peckham again held another Synod at Redding in which when the King heard that They were attempting some Orders in derogation to his Authority He sent to the Archbishop and Bishops to desist And upon his Threatnings they put a stop to their Proceedings and Brake up the Council And thus have we seen what Encroachments were made towards the End of this Period upon the Prince's Authority in the Subject before Us. There were within this Period as all along after besides these National and Provincial Councils several Episcopal or Diocesan Synods Assembled for the Affairs of that particular Diocess in which they were held and some Rules were made by Them to be observed by the Clergy of that District only Such were the Constitutions of Alexander Bishop of Coventry Anno 1237 Of Walter Bishop of Worcester made in his Synod at Worcester Anno 1240 Of Walter Bishop of Norwich made in his Synod at Norwich Munday after Michaelmas Anno 1255 Of Giles Bishop of Salisbury Anno 1256 And of which it is not necessary that I should take any particular Notice on this Occasion But tho' the Affairs of the Church were in great measure handled in these several Kinds of Ecclesiastical Synods yet this did not hinder but that still Our Kings with their Great Councils did from time to time interpose in these Matters and order many things relating to Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes When Wulstan Bishop of Worcester challenged some Lands as belonging to his See which were with-held from it by the Archbishop of Tork the Cause between them was judged by William the Conquerour in his Parliament at Pendrede the Archbishop Bishops Lords and Great Men being present This was manifestly a State Assembly and by these was the Right between the two Bishops examined and determined But more properly Ecclesiastical was the Cause which William the Second examined in his Parliament at Rockingham upon Anselm's resolving to go to Rome and to receive his Pall from thence This the King vehemently opposed and declared that the Archbishop could not both preserve his fidelity to him and pay obedience to the Pope And it is observable that the referring of this cause to the Judgment of the Parliament was at Anselm's own desire who cannot be suspected of doing any thing that he thought in the least inconsistent with the Liberties of the Church The next great Controversie that arose of this kind was in the second Year of King Henry the First about the Right of Investitures This was a point much debated in those times not only here but in most of the Countries of Europe To this the King laid a claim and accounted himself to have as good a Title to it as his Father and Brother before him had Upon this occasion the Quarrel grew so high between the King and Anselm that the latter was once more sorced to leave the Kingdom But the cause was at last brought before the Parliament and there it was by mutual Consent resolved that from thenceforth no one should be invested by the King or any other lay hand to a Bishoprick or Abbey by the delivery of the Pastoral Staff or Ring but yet upon such a promotion they should do Homage to the King for it which was the other thing that Pope Urban had before insisted upon as much as upon the point of Investitute its self This matter was scarce ended when another arose about the Marriage of the Clergy And this was in like manner ended in Parliament by the Authority as well of the King and his Lords as of the Archbishops and Bishops And an order made to prohibit all such as were in any Clerical Order to cohabit with their Wives There was yet a third great Controversie remaining concerning the Primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Subjection that was due from the Archbishop of York to him This also was brought before the King at Whitsontide and determined by him with his Bishops and Lords and the Authority of the See of Canterbury asserted by them And when some time after this Thurstine Archbishop of York refused to be concluded by this Decree he was in full Parliament obliged either to renounce his Bishoprick or to pay Obedience to the See of Canterbury No sooner was this King dead and Stephen placed in his Throne but in full Parliament he confirm'd the Liberties of the Church and made very ample Concessions to it In his Parliament at Northampton two years after he disposed of several Ecclesiastical Preferments And that this was the customary manner of those times may be gathered from the last Parliament of this King Which was call'd by him as well for the Affairs of the Kingdom as to make Provision for the Church of York then vacant by the death of St. William the late Bishop of it How far the Parliament still continued to meddle with Ecclesiastical Affairs under the next King's Reign the
this Law And that having not the Prince's leave to meet together they were in the construction of the Law Guilty of Meeting against it Now a Synod being no Ordinary or Siaâ—ed Convention but which was assembled only upon Extraordinary Occasions when the Necessities of the Church required the Meeting of it As there was no General Provision at the beginning made by the Laws for them so it was therefore necessary that in order to their meeting Lawfully the express Command or Allowance of the Emperor should be had for their so doing And if we look up to the History of the first and most famous Councils of the Church we shall accordingly find that They were All Convened by the Imperial Authority Thus Constantine the Great not only summon'd but sat Himself in that of Nice Theodosius the Great both Assembled the Second General Council of Constantinople and at the desire of the Fathers confirmed the Acts of it The Council of Ephesus the next General Council was not only Called by the Emperors Theodosiuâ— the Younger and Valentinian but that All things might be done decently and orderly in it they sent * Candidian as Their Commissioner to preside over the Bishops and to direct their Proceedings according to the Instructions which they had given Him for that purpose And when the Heresy of Eutyches gave a new Occasion â—o the same Emperors to Assemble another Synod They in like manner appointed it to meet at the same place and Commanded Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria to preside in it It was the same Authority that had caused this Synod to meet at Ephesus that after the death of Theodosius appointed a Review to be made of it in another Council which was summon'd first to Nice and from thence was Removed to Chalcedon And this the Emperors did not only upon their Own Authority But tho' Pope Leo had desired with all imaginable Earnestness that it might have been held somewhere in Italy to which they refused to Consent Such was the Authority by which the Four first General Councils of the Church were Assembled Nor were the next Four call'd by any other It was by the express Command of the Elder Justinian that the Second General Council of Constantinople met As it was by the like Summons of Constantinus Pogonatus that the Third in the same City was convened And because in these two no Canons were made for the discipline of the Church Justinian the younger call'd another Council to supply that defect and confirm'd the Canons that were made by it The second Council of Nice thô scarce right in any thing else yet in this was Orthodox that it was assembled by the Authority of Irenè the Empress and her Son Constantine And lastly the Fourth of Constantinople the last of the Eight general Councils was in like manner held by the consent of Basilius the Emperour and Approved by Him This then was the Power which the Christian Emperours claim'd over the Greatest Councils and which those Councils always acknowledged to be due to Them If from these we pass on to the Lesser Synods that were assembled in those days we shall find the Authority of the Civil Magistrate to be still the same And that These also were either expresly convened by Them or were summon'd by some Authority that was derived from Them When the Donatists being Angry that they could not gain their Ends upon Caecilian desired that an Examination might be made of their Case by some foreign Bishops Constantine the Emperour granted their Request And in Order thereunto appointed a meeting to be held at Rome upon that Affair and that three French Bishops should be joyn'd to Fifteen out of Italy for the Hearing of it And These together with the Bishop of Rome by the Emperours Command judged of this Matter And when those turbulent Men were not yet satisfied to put a final end to their Contentions He caused a Greater Number of Bishops to meet in a Synod at Arles and there Review the same Cause and pass a final Judgment in it To enumerate all the several Instances that remain to us of Councils call'd in like manner by the Imperial Authority would be as Infinite as it is Needless It may suffice to say that what Constantine thus began the succeeding Emperours constantly held to And suffer'd not any Assemblies of the Clergy to be made but by their leave and according to their Direction 'T is true there was a General Order made by the Fathers of the Council of Nice that for the better Regulation of the Churches Affairs the Bishops of every Province should meet together in a Provincial Synod under their Metropolitan twice every Year And this Council being not only confirm'd by Constantine who call'd it but by almost all the Emperors that follow'd after and particularly the Constitution now mention'd being provided for and adjusted by the Civil Laws themselves such Councils from thenceforth became Legal Assemblies and were of Course allow'd of tho' not expresly consented to by the Emperors And yet when Theodoret began to be too busie in calling the Bishops together Theodosius not only laid a Prohibition upon him but confined him to Cyrus his own little See as a Punishment for what he had before done So little was it then thought a matter of Right for the Clergy to meet as often as they thought good in Synods Or that any Injury was done them by their Princes when they refused to suffer them so to do But it may be these Emperors had some eminent Authority in them which ceased together with the Empire and which other Princes tho' of Sovereign Authority within their several Kingdoms yet ought not to pretend to That this is not so in Civil Matters I shall leave it to the Writers of Politicks to argue and to the Municipal Laws of their several Kingdoms to shew As for what concerns their Ecclesiastical Authority it is evident that in This as in all other Respects whatsoever Power the Emperors heretofore laid claim to in the Whole the same these Princes have continued to assert within their own particular States and Dominions When the Vandals had over-run the greatest part of Africa and by their Authority set up the Arrian Heresie in Opposition to the Catholick Faith which before prevail'd in those Parts Hunericus their King at the desire of his Arrian Bishops summon'd a General Convention of all the Catholick Bishops to meet at Carthage and there confer about the Point in difference between them And accordingly upon his Summons they all came thither and refusing to renounce the Terms of the Council of Nice were deprived of their Bishopricks and sent into Banishment by him But better was the Success of the Orthodox Bishops in their next Conference held by the like Authority under Gundebald at Rome An. 499 Who at the Request of the Catholick Clergy consented to
Magistrate has a Right to prescribe to Them the Matters on which they are to Debate It is one great End which the Prince proposes to himself in calling of such Assemblies to take their Advice in things pertaining to the Church For the Prince being the Guardian of That as well as of the State and concern'd to provide for the Welfare of the One no less than of the Other ought accordingly to have his Council with which to consult of the things pertaining to Both. Now as in Civil Matters he has his Ministers of State and the Council of his Great Men or People to advise Him how to manage his Secular Concerns so in those things which are of a pure Ecclesiastical Nature it has generally been the Method of Christian Princes to take the Opinion of their Bishops and Clergy either single or convened together as the Importance or Difficulty of Affairs and the Circumstances of Times have prompted them to do But then if this be the main End for which Synods are call'd it will follow that the Prince must have a Right not only by Vertue of his Supreme Authority but from the very Nature of the Thing it self to propose to Them the Subject on which they are to proceed It being absurd to imagine that either a Particular Person should be sent for or a Body of Men be convened on purpose to give the Prince their Advice and the Prince not be left to propose his Doubts to them and shew them wherein it is that He needs Or desires their Opinion Now the Direction of the Prince as to the Subject of the Synods Debates may be either General or Particular or it may be partly One and partly the Other Sometimes the Prince has only declared to his Clergy that he call'd them to deliberate at large either upon Matters of Faith or Matters of Discipline for the better demonstrating the Churches Doctrine and Consent in the One or for the better establishing the Exercise of the Other Sometimes the Occasion of their Meeting has been to examine some particular Controversie that has risen up to corrupt the Faith or to divide the Unity of the Church As was especially seen in the Cases of Arius and the other Hereticks on whose account the first General Councils of the Church were called And in Both these sometimes the Prince has limited their Business to the particular Consideration of that Matter alone for which they were assembled At other times he has added to it such other Incidental Affairs as he has thought fit to propose to them Or it may be has given them a General Liberty after having done their main Business to deliberate on any thing else that they should judge necessary for the Glory of God and the Good of the Church And as there is such a Variety in the Ends for which Christian Princes have been moved to call such Synods so may there be no less a Difference observed in the Ways which they have taken to communicate their Wills to them Sometimes both the Design and Subject of their Meeting have been fully set down in the Precepts which have been sent to the Bishops to require their coming together Sometimes only a Glance has in general been given in Those at their Business and the rest been reserved to be more fully open'd to them at their Convention And that also has been done sometimes by a Synodical Epistle or Commission sent to them sometimes by Word of mouth And that again either by the Prince himself if he has thought fit as oftentimes Princes have to sit with them or by some other Person whom he has deputed to declare his Will to them But how great a Variety soever there has been in the Methods that have been taken to lay open their Business to them this is certain that as the calling of such Assemblies has always depended upon the Consent and Authority of the Prince So when they were assembled the Subject of their Debates has been prescribed them by the same Power and they have deliberated on nothing but what they have been directed or Allow'd by the Prince to do When Constantine the first Christian Emperor being desirous to restore that Peace to the Church which the Heresie of Arius and the Difference between the Eastern and Western Churches about the time of keeping Easter had so dangerously broken assembled the First General Council of Nice Eusebius tells us that at the Opening of it He earnestly Exhorted the Bishops by their wise Resolutions to settle all things in Quiet and Unity And accordingly the Subject of their Debates turn'd upon those two Points and Constantine himself both assisted at Them and consented to what was resolved concerning Them When this did not prevail but that the Arian Faction was resolved at any rate to Ruine Athanasius and since they could not corrupt the Catholick Faith were determined at least to Overwhelm him who had been the main Supporter of it And in Order thereunto another Synod was obtain'd of the Emperor to meet at Tyre the same Constantine not only prescribed them their Business viz. to examine into the Dissensions of the Churches of Aegypt but sent Dionysius in his own stead to be present at their Assemblies and to take care that his Orders were in all things observed by them And the same was the Method which Constantius his Son observed as to these Matters As is evident from his Management of the Great Synod of Arminum in which above 400 Bishops were by his Order Assembled He commanded Them in the first place to debate the Matter of Faith then to judge the Causes of those Bishops who complain'd that they had been unjustly either deposed or banished After that to Examine the Crimes laid to the Charge of certain Others And lastly having done what he had commanded Them to do to send a certain number of their Body to Him to account to Him what had been resolved by Them But above all most plain was that Authority which the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian shew'd in this particular at the General Council of Ephesus They not only declared at large to the Fathers the Cause of their Meeting in the Letters of Summons which they sent to the several Metropolitans But when they were met together they sent a Synodical Epistle to them by Candidian and appointed him to preside over Them in their stead both to preserve a due Freedom of Voting and Debating among them and also not to suffer them to enter upon any Other Matter till they had first come to a Resolution in that for which they were called together And when Candidian reported to the Emperors that the Bishops had not stuck so closely as they Ought to their Prescription The Emperors not only severely reproved Them for their Presumption but annull'd their Acts and commanded them to have a better Regard both to the Business and Method which They had Laid before Them
himself On the 11th of July in the same Convocation the Bp of Hereford produced a certain Book containing the Articles of Faith and Ceremonies of the Church Which being read by the said Bishop the said Honourable Thomas Cromwel the Archbishop and other Prelates with the Prolocutor and Clergy of the Lower House by their Subscriptions Approved of the said Book On the 15th of July It was agreed by the Lord Cromwel the Archbishop and Convocation as to certain Ordinances c. And lastly On the 20th of July the Bishop of Hereford produced a certain Book containing the Causes why the King ought not to appear at the General Council then to be held Which Book the aforesaid Honourable Lord Thomas Cromwel the Archbishop and the Rest of the Convocation by their Subscriptions approved of Thus did the King's Commissioner not only sit but act with the Bishops in their Convocation And I am not aware of any Law that has debar'd the King if need were to do that again now which King Henry 8. heretofore did And this may suffice to shew what Authority the King has over Our Convocation both by the Statute and Common Law by his own Prerogative as a Christian Prince and by the Particular Concessions of our own Parliaments and Convocations But we are told that the Convocation must be consider'd by Us not only as an Ecclesiastical Synod but as an Ecclesiastical Court too and which as such has Jurisdiction to deal with Heresies Schisms and other meer Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Causes juxta legem divinam Canones S. Ecclesiae And herein their Power is not at all Restrain'd by any particular Statute but still remains whole and entire to Them In this respect therefore the Convocation may at least act without the King's Licence and as of Right against any Bishop Priest or Deacon for such Offences This is the Doctrine of our Late Author but is not so clear to me as he would make it That Provincial Synods heretofore did look upon Themselves as endued with a sufficient Authority to proceed against any of their Own Body who by any of the Crimes before mentioned had deserved their Censure is not to be deny'd The Provincial Councils of old did so but especially in the Case of Heresie wherein the Church has ever Accounted it self to be particularly Concern'd But then it must be remember'd too that when they had so proceeded against Any One the Prince still judged whether they had acted Canonically or no And if he found a just Reason to move Him so to do he did oftentimes suspend their Sentence and order a new Enquiry in some other Synod to be made of such a Matter and after all determined it at last as He saw Cause Thus Theodosius did in the Case of Nest orius after he had been Condemn'd in two several Provincial Councils And thus Constantius before him had done in the Case of Photinus a worser Heretick He received his Appeal from the Council of Sirmium and order'd a new Examination to be made of his Case and then confirm'd the Sentence of the Synod and concurr'd in the Deposition of him And when Flavian Patriarch of Constantinople had in like manner condemned Eutyches for his Heresie the Emperor not only referr'd the Matter to the Council of Ephesus to be re-heard by it but when by the indirect Management of Dioscorus that Synod instead of Confirming his Sentence against Eutyches condemn'd Flavian himself tho' Orthodox and Innocent Theodosius not only refused to suspend the Sentences of Both till another Free Council might be call'd to judge of the Matter but left the Sentence of this last Council to remain in force and would not suffer any other Synod to be called about this Affair as long as He lived As for our own Convocation it is not deny'd but that antiently They were wont to judge of Heresy in it The first Instance that occurs of this and that the case of Pelagianism excepted as antient as the first coming of Heresie into our Country is that of the Council of Oxford held about 1260 and the Occasion of which was this It had happen'd some time before that about 30 Persons came over hither out of Germany and held secret Meetings differing from the common Opinion of the Church in several Particulars but chiefly as to the points of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist To prevent the spreading of their Errors the King commanded that Council to meet at Oxford and there to judge of them Being convened before this Synod and convicted of their Errors and refusing to abjure them they were pronounced Hereticks by it and deliver'd back to the King to be punished by the Civil Power It is in a Provincial Council held by Steph. Langton that we meet with the next Instance we have of the like Proceedings In this we are told of two Impostors upon one of whom were found the five Wounds of the Crucifixion convicted and condemn'd by the Judgments of the Church But Bracton adds to these another and a more notable Instance He tells us of a certain Deacon who out of Love to a Jewish Woman apostatiz'd from the Faith of Christ and was thereupon sentenc'd and degraded by the Synod and deliver'd over to the Secular Power to be Burnt for it And the same was the manner by which Sautre was condemn'd as appears not only by the Writ still extant for his Execution but from the Rolls of the Parliament 2 Hen. 4. in which the order was given for issuing out the Writ to the Sheriffs of London for it Feb. 26. He was first examined and condemned by the Clergy in Convocation and by them deliver'd up to the Civil Magistrate to be burned And tho' the Lord Cobham was not finally sentenced in Convocation but by the Archshop of Canterbury assisted by the Bishops of London and Winchester after it was risen yet was this Cause first brought on there and he was therein both Adjudged an Heretick and Excommunicated as such The Truth is so great is the Scandal and so severe in those days was the Punishment too of Heresy that it has moved some very Learned Men to think that before the 2 Hen. 4. no one could be otherwise convicted of it than in a Provincial Synod or Convocation And tho' my Lord Coke maintains this to be a Mistake and affirms that the Bishop always had as He still has Power to convict of Heresy and to proceed by the Censures of the Church against such as are guilty of it yet this is no Argument why the Convocation should not still retain its antient Authority and have the Power of doing that which any single Bishop alone may do But here then a question may arise that will deserve to be consider'd on this occasion and that is When any one is to be convicted of Heresie or of any other the like Ecclesiastical Crime in Convocation who it is
that judges him Whether he is to be judged by the Votes of the two Houses or whehe is to be judged by the upper House alone and the lower to stand in the nature of Prosecutors against him Or lastly Whether the Archbishop alone does properly judge and the rest concurr as Assistants to him and assent to what he does In answer to which Enquiry if I may be allow'd to offer my own Conjecture I do conceive that in such cases as these it is not so much the Convocation that judges as the Archbishop in Convocation For besides that it was never known that the inferiour Clergy were allow'd a Jurisdiction in such cases nor is there any reason why they should have it here First The very words of the Writ upon which Sautrey was burnt seem to speak in such a manner of his Conviction in Convocation as shew the power of Judicature to have been eminently in the Archbishop and that the rest were only of Council to him and consented to what he did Cum venerabilis Pater Thomas Archiepiscopus Cant. totius Angliae Primas Apostolicae sedis legatus de Consensu Assensu ac Consilio Episcoporum confratrum Suffraganeorum suorum necnon totius Cleri provinciae suae in Concilio suo Provinciali congregati per suam sententiam definitivam Haereticum manifestum pronunciavit declaravit c. Nor can this be sufficiently accounted for by looking upon the Archbishop as President of the Convocation and so acting as Speaker in it When the Lord Keeper in the House of Lords or the Lord High Steward in the Commission for Tryal of a Peer determine or give Sentence in any civil or criminal Cause we do not find it said That they with the Counsel and Assent of the Lords pronounce or award so or so but they deliver the Sentence of the Lords and declare that this or that is their Judgment And the same ought to have been the case here supposing that the Convocation or even the upper House had equally judged with the Archbishop The Writ must have run in the Name of the whole Body Whereas the Archbishop and Bishops with the rest of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury in Convocation assembled have by their definitive Sentence pronounced c. Nor can any good reason I believe be given why the Writ did not run in this manner but because the Archbishop even in Convocation still retain'd the power of Judicature which I shall presently shew was peculiar to him and by vertue thereof judged of him And this will yet more clearly appear Secondly From the acts of the Convocation under K. Henry the Fifth Anno 1413 and the Process made against the Lord Cobham therein For first Upon several Provocations given and Affronts put upon the Clergy by the Lollards and that at the very time that the Convocation was sitting The Archbishop was required in behalf of the whole Clergy that he would vouchsafe to proceed against the Lord Cobham upon and concerning the Premises In pursuance of this request the Archbishop with a great part of the Convocation apply to the King for leave to proceed against him both because he was a Person in great credit with his Majesty and to be consider'd upon the account of his Own Honour and Quality Having obtain'd leave of the King to proceed against him it is said all along that my Lord of Canterbury summon'd him to appear before him in Convocation That when the Summons could no otherwise be executed upon him he orderâ—d it to be fix'd upon the doors of the Church of Rochester That upon the eleventh of September the day appointed for his appearance the Archbishop excommunicated him and after a farther process at last came to a final Sentence against him 'T is true tho' this process began in Convocation yet it was carry'd on and ended out of it But withal it is plain that tho' the Convocation was risen yet still the Archbishop continued the same process that began in it He sate in the Chapter House of St. Paul's he took the Bishops of London and Winchester first and then to them added the Bishop of Bangor for his Assistants Besides these a great number of the inferiour Clergy was present And when at last the Lord Cobham was brought before him the Archbishop took notice to him how he had been discover'd and accused in Convocation i. e. had been accused to himself in Convocation when they first desired him to proceed against him To all which let me add the Preamble to the Sentence which the Archbishop at last pass'd upon him and which shews that both in and out of Convocation the judgment of this matter lay before him We Thomas by Divine Permission c. in a certain Cause or Matter of Heretical Pravity of and concerning divers Articles upon which Sir John Oldcastle Knight Lord Cobham was accused before Us in the last Convocation of the Clergy of our Province of Cant. c. Nor let any one think that in asserting such an Authority to the Archbishop in these matters any injury is done to his Suffragan Bishops but rather were it otherwise the Convocation must apparently have encroach'd upon that eminent power of judging which the Archbishop heretofore had For tho' since the Statute of the 23 of Henry the Eighth the power of the Archbishop is very much restrain'd and he cannot now call whatever causes he pleases to his own judgment but only under the Limitations provided in that Act and therefore since that time the right of judging in this case would in the first instance have belonged to the Bishop of Rochester and to the Archbishop no otherwise than either by way of Appeal or upon some negligence or defect in the Diocesan to judge of it yet before that Statute the Archbishop had a power to call any cause immediately before himself and when therefore in his Syned he did do so we ought not to question but that it was he who properly speaking did judge and that the rest of the Bishops were only his Assistants in it I conclude then that tho' the person in such a case were try'd in Convocation yet precisely speaking it was the part of the lower House to discover and accuse of the Bishops to counsel and assist but of the Archbishop to hear and judge But still the main question remains to be consider'd namely Whether the Convocation howsoever it be that it judges may proceed in these cases without the King's leave or whether his Commission be necessary to justifie them in it That they are not restrained by vertue of that Statute which has so much retrench'd their power in other respects is confidently affirm'd Nor shall I deny but that the intention of that Act seems rather to restrain them from making any New Canons or Constitutions than from judging in causes Ecclesiastical according to the Canons already made That they had heretofore a power to judge
times they have appear'd there as Spiritual Assistants to consider consult and consent Only he affirms that they never had Voices there because they were no Lords of Parliament the force of which Argument I shall leave to the House of Commons to answer In the mean time I must observe that in the case of Bird and Smith Trin. 4. Jac. 1. upon a Deprivation made of Smith by the High Commissioners for not Conforming to the Canons of the Church the Lord Chancellour having call'd Popham Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Coke of the Common Pleas and Fleming Lord Chief Baron to his assistance it was agreed to by all the three without any Exception That the Canons of the Church made by the Convocation and King without the Parliament shall bind in matters Ecclesiastical as well as an Act of Parliament Because the Convocation of the Clergy was once a Member of the Parliament but afterwards for Convenience separated and therefore does carry its peculiar Jurisdiction along with it in the Convocation House For which reason also a Clergy-man cannot be chosen a Member of the House of Commons nor a Lay-man of the Convocation as Coke then declared had been resolved in a Conference of the two Houses 21 Hen. 8. And as concerning the other part of my Lord Coke's Assertion that the Proctors of the Clergy never had Voices in Parliament because in the Writ of Summons it is said that they were call'd Ad consentiendum his quae tunc ibidem de communi consilio dicti regni nostri contigerit ordinari it may suffice to observe that tho' this be indeed the present Form yet when both the Clergy and Commons were first called to this great Council they were both summon'd to another purpose and in words that did expresly intitle them to act in it In the 23d Edw. 1. the first Summons for ought appears that was ever regularly issued out for them they were called Ad Tractand Ordinand Faciend nobiscum cum caeteris praelatis proceribus aliis incolis Regni nostri In the 4th Edw. 3. Ad Faciend Consentiend And this continued to be the usual Form afterwards And these are the very Words that were used in the Commons Writs in the same Parliament 4 Edward 3 And which tho' alter'd about the 26th of that King into others of greater force Ad Tractand Consulend Faciend Yet that Form lasted not very long but in the 46 of the same King it again was worded Ad Faciend Consulend and so has continued to this day And a more ancient Authority than this in my Lord Coke's Account has told us that the Clergy were call'd Ad Tractand Deliberand That their names were call'd over the beginning of every Parliament that they had a Voice in it and made a part of the Commons there But because this is a point that will best be clear'd by matter of Fact we will enquire a little what the Clergy were wont heretofore to do there For as for the Forms of Summons tho' I conceive at first they were very properly drawn and do mark out to us the undoubted Rights of those to whom they were sent as they were allow'd of in those ancient times yet how little they may signifie now the Form of our Parliamentary Writs in the Praemonentes to the Bishop does alone too evidently shew In the 6 Edw. 3. after the Archbishop of Cant. and Bishop of London had declared how that the French King designing an Expedition to the Holy Land had desired our King to go along with him and that this was the cause of calling that Parliament Sir Jeffery le Scroop added by the King's Commandment that the same was called as well to redress the Breach of the Laws and Peace as for the King 's going to the Holy Land The Bishops answer'd That it did not properly appertain to them to counsel in matters of Peace and to prescribe for the punishment of Evils And so together with the Proctors of the Clergy they went apart to consult about the Matters proposed to them In the 13th of the same King the King appointing Commissioners in his stead to begin and continue the Parliament we find the Dean of York as Treasurer standing next to the Archbishop in the Commission And in the Parliament which met the Michaelmas before it being resolved to hold another upon the Octaves of Hilary the Archbishops were order'd to summon their respective Convocations to be ready to meet with it In the 18th of the same Edw. 3. at the opening of the Parliament complaint was made that sundry of all Estates were absent whereat the King did no less muse than he was thereat offended Wherefore he charged the Archbishop for his part to punish the Defaults of the Clergy and he would do the like touching the Parliament And in the same Session the Resolution being taken that the King should end the War he was engaged in either by Battle or an Honourable Peace the King agreed And in order thereunto the Clergy of Cant. granted him a Triennial Disme and the Commons two fifteens of Counties and two Dismes of Cities and Towns It was the usual custom of the Commons in those days to begin such Bills as they thought necessary to have pass'd by Petition to the King in Parliament Thus they did in this Parliament 18 Edw. 3. which being ended the Bishops and Clergy exhibited their Petitions also being in number seven whereto the King answer'd and the same comprized in the Statute for the Clergy still extant In the Preamble of which the King takes notice of the Triennial Disme granted to him by the Prelates and Procurators of the Clergy of both Provinces In the 1 Rich. 2. we again find the Clergy petitioning in like manner And in the 21st of the same King the Commons by Sir John Bussey their Speaker pray the King that forasmuch as divers Judgments were heretofore undone for that the Clergy were not present therefore they pray'd the King that the Clergy should appoint some to be their common Proctor with sufficient Authority thereunto And the Bishops thereupon appointed Sir Thomas Piercie their Proctor to assent in the name of the Clergy And by vertue whereof when the Parliament took a new Oath to the King the Bishops and Abbots themselves took it and Sir Thomas Piercie as Proctor for the Clergy was sworn to the same And when in the same Parliament Sir John Bussey offer'd the King a Subsidy from the Commons and thereupon desired his general Pardon the Clergy gave the like power to Sir William â—e Scroop of Wilts to answer for them that they late did to Sir Thomas Piercie And when finally upon the advice of Sir John Bussey the Lords were required again to swear not to alter any thing of what was done in this Parliament not only the Bishops and Temporal Lords did so but sundry
But there is another Respect under which the Clergy in Convocation may be consider'd and of which it will therefore be necessary for me to give also some Account before I go on to take any particular View of what was done by them under this Capacity I have before said that when the King Orders his Writs to be Issued out for Calling a Parliament He do's at the same time direct two Others to be sent to the Two Archbishops to Summon the Clergy of their Respective Provinces to meet together about the same time And it will be necessary for me in the first place to take notice of the difference there is between these Two kinds of Summons because that by that we shall be able the better to judge what is intended by Each of Them First then The Parliamentary-Writ is sent distinctly to every Bishop â—mmediately from the King and the Bishop is thereby Required to Summon the Clergy of his Diocess to go along with him to Parliament Whereas the Convocation-Writ is sent only to the Archbishop and He by the Bishop of London sends to the Other Bishops of his Province to meet Him with their Clergy in Convocation according to the King's Command And sometimes the Archbishop heretofore Summon'd them only by his Own Authority 2. By the Parliamentary-Writ the Bishop and Clergy of Each Diocess are to come to the place where the Parliament is intended to be Opened and upon the Day appointed for the Assembling of it By the Convocation-Writ they are call'd to the Chapter-House at Pauls or to such Other place as the Archbishop appoints and that oftentimes heretofore on some Other day than that on which the Parliament began 3. The Parliamentary-Writ Summons Them to come to Parliament there to Treat c. with the King the Rest of the Prelates and Lords and Other Inhabitants of the Realm concerning the Urgent Affairs that are there to be deliberated of with respect to the King the Realm and the State of the Church of England The Convocation-Writ calls them to consult only among Themselves and that as they shall be directed by the King when they come together 4. By the Parliamentary-Writ only the Deans Arch-deacons and Proctors of the Clergy are Summon'd But the Convocation-Writ with these call'd the Regular Dignitaries too Omnes Abbates Priores c. tam Exemptos quà m non Exemptos and so gave many a place in Convocation that had nothing to do in the Parliament 5. Lastly By the Parliamentary-Writ they were ever to meet at the very precise time the Parliament did By the Other they not only did not meet always at the same precise Time but very often at such time as no Parliament was Sitting Which was the Case of the most ancient Convocation-Writ I have 〈◊〉 met with of the 9 Edw. II. And according to which the Convocation sate Febr. 17 whereas the Parliament met the October before It is therefore as plain as any thing can well be That the Convocation of the Clergy consider'd as call'd by the Parliamentary-Writs and sitting by Vertue of Them and the Convocation consider'd as Summon'd by the Convocation-Writ and the Orders of the Archbishop consequent thereupon are in their nature and constitution two different Assemblies and which by no means ought to be Confounded together The great Question is What the nature of this Convocation as distinguish'd from the Parliamentary-Convention is and what the design of their Meeting Originally was Had these Convocations been always Assembled by the Authority of the Archbishop without any Writ from the King as oftentimes heretofore they were And had they meddled only with Ecclesiastical Matters when they met It would have been no hard matter to give a plain and certain Answer to this Enquiry Because in that Case it would have been Evident that these Convocations were no Other than Provincial Synods which the Archbishop took occasion to Assemble for the Ease of the Clergy and the Benefit of the Church at the same time that they were otherwise Required to come together for the business of the State And this Use Our Kings were wont sometimes to make of Them They referr'd Ecclesiastical Matters to them and advised with them in things pertaining to Religion But as the Form of their Summons entitles them to meet upon some urgent Affairs which concern not only the security and defence of the Church of England but of the King too and the peace and tranquility the publick Good and defence of the Kingdom So the main design Our Princes seem to have had in Assembling these Convocations either at the same time they did their Parliament or not long after was to get Money from Them That so in a much fuller Body of the Clergy than what usually came to the State-Council and consisting of such Members particularly as were most haâ—d to be dealt with the Abbots and 〈◊〉 they might either obtain a supply from the Clergy there when they had 〈◊〉 in Parliament or have that Supply confirm'd by them in Convocation which had before been Granted to Them in Parliament Nor is this any vain Conjecture but founded upon a General Observation of what was done by the Convocation when it met and which for the most part was nothing else but to confirm or make an Order for Money And even upon the very Summons themselves which were anciently sent to them and in which the Cause of their meeting was oftentimes more particularly express'd than afterwards it was wont to be I shall offer an Instance of this in that ancient Summons before mention'd 9 Edw. II. In which it is declared That those Bishops and Others of the Clergy who were Summon'd to Parliament had as far as they were concern'd unanimously yielded to a Subsidy but so that Others of the Clergy who were not Summon'd to Parliament should Meet in Convocation and Consent thereto And that for this Cause the King had sent his Writ to the Archbishop to Summon All Prelates whether Religious or Others and Others of the Clergy of his Province to meet at London post 15 Pasch. to treat and consent of the Matter aforesaid This therefore was the great Use which Our Kings were wont all along to make of their Convocations and from this it came to be the Custom to Summon them for the most part as often as the Parliament met and Generally at the same time that it did so But tho' our Convocations therefore even as Ecclesiastical Synods have by this means come to be for a long time Summon'd at the same time that the Parliament was to meet yet I do not see any Reason there is to consine them so closely to such a season as to make it absolutely necessary for the King to call the One whenever He do's the Other Indeed Custom which in such Cases ought to be allow'd its just force has prevailed so far that it may be question'd whether the Clergy thereby have not a Right to
either did or said when he was of Council for his Majesty but for Other Tenets Elsewhere and at Other times advanced by Him And therefore pray his Assistance according to his Coronation Oath and as He desired to avoid the Censures of the Church The Clergy thus proceeding the Lords and Judges of the Realm at the Instance of the House of Commons address also to the King and desire him by vertue of his Coronation Oath that He would assert his Temporal Jurisdiction and protect Standish in the Great peril in which He was against the Malice of the Clergy who evidently Objected to him the same Tenets which He had defended in Right of the King's Authority Being thus applied to on Both sides the King first consults with Dr. Veysey Dean of his Chapel and having had his Opinion orders the Justices of his Courts and his Own Council both Spiritual and Temporal with several Members of the Parliament to meet at the Black-Fryars and there to take Cognizance of the Cause between Standish and the Convocation and to hear what Standish had to say for himself in answer to the Points objected to Him The Cause is heard and in conclusion Standish is acquitted and the whole Convocation judged to have incurred a Praemunire by their Citation and Prosecution of Him Upon this the King comes himself to Baynards Castle all the Bishops and a Great Part of the Parliament with the Judges attending upon Him Being sate Woolsey as Cardinal and in high favour with the King first applies to Him in behalf of the Convocation and prays that the Cause might be Referr'd to the Judgment of the Court of Rome This was seconded by Warham Archbishop of Canterbury in the name of All the Clergy and much was Argued for and against This. At length the King deliver'd himself to this Effect to them That by the Order and Sufferance of God He was King of England and as such would maintain the Rights of his Crown and his Royal Jurisdiction in as ample a manner as any of his Progenitors had done before Him Then he commanded the Convocation to dismiss Standish which accordingly they did And were content for that time to let the Royal Supremacy get the better of the Spiritual Jurisdiction CHAP. VI. Some Rules laid down by which to judge for what Causes and at what times Synods ought or ought not to be Assembled And the Reasons suggested by the Author of the Letter c. to prove a Convocation to be at this time Necessary to be held Examined and Answer'd HItherto we have been stating the matter of Right between the King and the Convocation And if I do not very much deceive my self I have plainly made it appear against the Author of the Late Letter to a Convocation-Man that that Venerable Body have neither any Right to Meet nor Power to Act but as the King shall Graciously Allow them to do But now having Asserted this in Vindication of the Prince's Prerogative I must not forget what I have before confess'd as to this matter and see no Cause yet to Retract viz. That His Majesty both as a Christian and a King is Obliged to permit his Clergy to Sit and Act whensoever he is perswaded that the Necessities of the Church require it and it would be for the Publick Good of his People that They should do so And tho' 't is true the Law has intrusted Him with the Last Judgment of this and without which it would be impossible for him to maintain his Supremacy in this Respect yet certainly He ought to be by so much the more careful to Consider the Interest of the Publick by How much the Greater the Trust is which the Publick in Confidence of such his Care has Reposed in Him It must be confess'd indeed that our present Author has neither taken a very proper Method of communicating his Advice to the King nor done it in such a Manner as if He design'd to perswade either the King or his Ministers to pay any Great Deference to his Judgment On the contrary it appears that in all that he has said he intended rather to Reflect upon the Administration of Affairs and to raise discontents in Mens Minds against the Government than to do any Service either to Religion or the Church But however I will consider nevertheless what he has alledged to shew That our present times call for a Convocation and that the King ought not any longer to prevent their sitting The Question to be examin'd is thus proposed by Him What Occasion there is at present for a Convocation And his Answer to it is Short and Vehement full of Warmth as being I suppose design'd to Enflame That if Ever there were need of 〈◊〉 Convocation since Christianity was Establish'd in this Kingdom there is need of One Now. To clear this Point and see how well this Author makes Good so bold an Assertion I shall take this Method 1st I will lay down some General Rules by which we may the better Judge at what Times and in what Cases it may be either necessary or expedient for a Prince to call a Convocation And then proceed 2dly To Consider What this Gentleman has offer'd to prove the Necessity of a Convocation under our present Circumstances to be so exceeding Great and Urgent as He pretends it is I. That Synods may in some Cases be as Useless to the Church as in Others they are Expedient Every Man 's Own Reason will tell him And that such Times may happen in which they may be apt to prove not only Useless but Hurtful we have not only the Experience but the Complaints of the Best Men to convince us It was a severe Judgment which Gregory Nazianzen pass'd upon the Synods of his Time and is the more to be Regarded because it was the Result of a frequent Tryal and a sad Observation That He fled all such Assemblies as having never seen any One of them come to a Happy Conclusion or that did not Cause more Mischief than it Remedied Their Contention and Ambition says he is not to be Express'd And a Man may much easier fall into Sin himself by judging of Other Men than He shall be able to Reform their Crimes There is scarce any thing in Antiquity that either more Exposed our Christian Profession heretofore or may more deserve our serious Consideration at this day than the Violence the Passion the Malice the Falseness and the Oppression which Reigned in most of those Synods that were held by Constantine first and after him by the following Emperours upon the Occasion of the Arian Controversy Bitter are the Complaints which we are told that Great Emperour made of Them The Barbarians says he in his Letter to One of Them for fear of Us Worship God But we mind nothing but what tends to Hatred to Dissention in One word to the Destruction of Mankind And what little Success other Synods have oftentimes