THE AUTHORITY OF Christian Princes Over their Ecclesiastical Synods ASSERTED With Particular Respect to the CONVOCATIONS OF THE CLERGY of the REALM AND Church of England Occasion'd by a late Pamphlet intituled A Letter to a Convocation Man c. By William Wake D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for R. Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1697. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England AND Metropolitan c. My LORD THAT I presume to Prefix your Graces Name to so Rude and Hasty a Production it is not because I think the following Treatise deserves your Acceptance but because I fear it may need your Patronage To appear against an Author who pretends to be the Champion of the Church of England and to stand up in Defence of the long Neglected Rights and Priviledges of its Clergy has something in it so Improper in Any but especially so Unbecoming a Minister of that Church that I thought it would be Requisite for me to take all the Care I could to Remove those Prejudices which this might be apt to raise in some against the very Design of my Discourse And I knew no Way more effectually to do this than by begging leave to Inscribe what I had done to your Grace who as by Providence you are placed in the First and Highest Station in Our Church so have you upon all Occasions no less eminently signalized your self in the Defence of it It would my Lord look too much like Vanity in me to say that I here publish nothing but what has in some Measure been before Approved of by your Grace It shall suffice me if I may be allow'd to declare thus much That the Principles upon which I go are such as in your Graces Judgment have nothing in them that is either Contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England or otherwise injurious to the Rights and Liberties of it Who the Person against whom I Write is I neither do Know nor am at all Sollicitous to Discover But as his Principles seem but too much to look towards a Party against which the Church of England ever has and I am perswaded will always be ready Vigorously to oppose her self so the Disaffection which appears in the whole Process of his Discourse to the present Establishment sufficiently shews that He had some farther Design in the publishing of it than barely to assert the Rights of the Clergy and Convocation But of this let every One judge as he sees Cause My Business is with his Book not with his Person or Design In my Reply to which as I have endeavour'd according to my Ability to defend the Cause both of the King and Church so for the Arguments sake if for nothing else I thought I might presume to commend the Protection of it to your Grace Who have so Great a Zeal for Both and will therefore I hope be the rather disposed to favour this Honest though but Imperfect Performance of Him who with all possible Duty and Respect shall ever remain My LORD Your Graces Most Humble and Obedient Servant WILLIAM WAKE ERRATA PReface page iii. line 23. read Of divine p. vi l. 17. r. fell Book p. 7. l. â—4 r. yet p. 24. marg l. 8. r. Masticon p. 49. l. 13. r. Ariminum p. 81. l. 20. r. how far p. 91. l. 12. r. of Their p. 92. marg l. 10 r. placeâ—it ibid. l. 16. r. defined p. 95. l. 8. r. Countries p. 99. l. 5. r. Convocation p. 101. l. 24. add Consent p. 109. l. 14. r. Canons p. 175. l. 11. r. Gervilio p. 203. marg l. 9. r. 271 l. 15. r. 502 p. 237. l. ult r. two p. 270. l. 22. r. than p. 293. l. 27. to r. for p. 311. l. 5. r. these p. 376. l. 20. r. Annihilate THE PREFACE I Am so well assured that I have asserted nothing in the following Discourse but what is agreeable to the Principles of the Church of England that I shall not make the least Apology for declaring my self against an Author whose Notions neither our Own nor any other Reformed Church that I know of has ever approved nor is there any Reason to expect that any Christian Prince should be content to allow of them How this Gentleman came to be Engaged to write in Defence of the supposed Rights of our Convocations I cannot tell But sure I am he has done it in such a manner as is not much for the Benefit of the Church nor will I suppose at all encourage any One to stand up in Defence of Him That his main Assertion is New and Paradoxical Contrary to the Sense of all the Learned in the Law and Repugnant to the Constant Practice of our Convocations ever since the time of Henry VIII is certain nor does He himself deny it One would therefore have hoped that his Arguments should have born some proportion to his Allegations and that there should have been at least as much Weight in the One as there was Assurance in the Other But when I came to examine them I found there was nothing formidable in this Author but his Confidence and that like some empty Spectre his power was only to fright such as had not the Resolution to Speak to him If any one shall ask how I came to Oppose so large an Answer to a Letter so little in Bulk and so much yet less in Weight and Substance He may please to know that the much Greatest as well as most Useful part of the following Book has no concern at all with it but was only Written upon Occasion of it I was willing to lay hold on the Opportunity which this Author had given Me to search as far as my Leisure would permit into this Subject and having so done I was no less willing to communicate what I had met with to the World not knowing but that some others might receive as much Satisfaction from these Researches as I was sensible I my self had done It has been complain'd of by this Gentleman as no small Neglect in Those of our Profession that they are for the most part but little acquainted with the Rights and Power of an English Convocation And indeed a Subject it is that has but very little been searcht out by them or Examined by any Others of our Antiquaries for Them I may presume to say I have here published more than I have ever yet met with in any One Piece upon this Argument But yet when that is said I am not so carried away with an undue Opinion of my own Performance as not to know that what is here publish'd is at most but an imperfect Essay and like the first Lines of a Draught shews rather what I design'd than what I have been able in any tolerable manner to finish I cannot deny but that next to the Knowledge in Divine things there is nothing I should rather
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
which all humane Constitutions are exposed that tho' I have before sufficiently shewn what the Nature of our Convocation at present is and what Authority our Kings have over it yet we can by no means from thence conclude that this was always the case of it or that the Act of the 25th of King Henry the VIII did only restore our Kings to their ancient Rights over their Clergy and not rather give them a greater Power than ever they before had or than the Parliament ought to have put into their hands To clear this matter and withal to shew how Ecclesiastical Affairs have heretofore been transacted in this Realm I shall here take a short View of the State of our Convocation in times past and of the method that was wont to be observed in making of Canonical Orders and Constitutions from the Conversion of the Saxons to the settlement of it in that Form under which it continues to this very day And the Method I shall take for the better clearing of this matter shall be this I. I will consider how the Affairs of the Church were managed from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time of the Norman Conquest II. From the coming in of K. William the Conquerour to the 23d of Edward the First About which time both the Parliament and the Convocation seem to have been fully setled upon the same foot on which they have both continued to stand ever since III. From the 23d of Edward the First to the 25th of Henry the Eighth When the Parliament and Clergy restored the Crown to those Rights which the Usurpations of the Court of Rome had before in great Measure deprived it of And IV. From the 25th of Henry the Eighth to our own times I PERIOD And First Let us enquire how the Affairs of the Church were transacted from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time of the Norman Conquest It is evident to any one who has ever consider'd by what Authority and after what Manner our Clergy are called together in Convocation that when those Writs were framed which we still continue to make use of they referr'd to a double end and it was intended the Clergy should meet together under a double Capacity by vertue of them When the King issues out his Parliamentary Writs and summons the Bishops to come to that great Council every Bishop is thereby distinctly required To give notice to the Dean and Chapter of his Cathedral Church and to the Arch-deacons and Clergy of his Diocess of the King's Pleasure to the end that they the said Dean and Arch-deacon in their proper persons their Chapter by one and the Clergy of every Arch-deaconry by two Proctors lawfully chosen and empowered may together with the Bishop attend upon the King in Parliament and there consent to such things as shall be agreed upon for the good of the Church or State Now this Clause as it equally requires the inferiour Clergy as the rest of the Writ does the Bishop himself to come to Parliament so has the necessity of it been accounted so great that some have thought this to be the reason why if the See be Vacant the Writ shall in such a case bedirected to the Guardians of the Spiritualties viz. That by this means the Proxies of the Clergy may by them be proemonished to come to the Parliament according to their duty and as of ancient Custom they have been required to do It must therefore be allow'd and accordingly it is indeed confessed by those who have been the best acquainted with the Nature of our Constitution that the Clergy were anciently a part of the Parliament and that the Dignitaries and Proxies of the Lower Order did together with the Spiritual Lords make up the third Estate in it But now together with this Parliamentary Writ sent out to every Bishop in particular There is another general Order directed only to the Archbishop of each Province to call together the whole Clergy of their several Provinces to another place and usually upon another day The Copy of this Writ the Archbishop of Canterbury sends to the Bishop of London as Dean of the Episcopal College and requires him to summon the Clergy of his Province and to attend himself with the Clergy of his own Diocess according to the King's Command And this is more properly a Provincial Synod tho' at present it consists of the same Persons and was oftentimes heretofore employed to the same ends that the Clergy who came to the Parliament were and consulted at once both of the State of the Church and how to supply the Prince's Wants And as this is the case of the Clergy at the present so if we look back to those first Times we are now particularly to consider we shall find the foundation of this difference laid in them and clearly see how it came to be derived down from thence to the Times that follow'd after It has ever been the Wisdom as well as Piety of Christian Princes to pay a just deference both to the Judgment and Integrity of their Church-men And to think none more proper to advise with even in their civil Concerns and ostentimes to intrust too with the management of them than those whose Profession at once disposes them both to a greater extent of Knowledge and to a quicker sense of their duty than is ordinarily to be met with in other Men. And I believe there is no Nation where the Gospel of Christ has prevailed in which Ecclesiastical Persons have not been by a kind of general Consent admitted to the Management of civil Affairs and been advised with as well in matters relating to the State as in those which concern the Church Now as this first brought them into the Great Councils of Princes so was it the same opinion of their Ability and Integrity which first gave original to that part they now have and ever did enjoy in the Parliaments of this Nation For as our Princes from the beginning were wont to do all things of greater Moment with the Advice of their great Councils so in all those Councils the Clergy still had the chiefest place as in the progress of these remarks I shall have occasion very plainly to shew Nor were the Laity any losers at all by this For the Bishops and great Clergy-men being by these means present at their Councils and the King by his very Office having an original Right to deliberate concerning the Affairs of the Church as well as of the State it came to pass that these great Councils by degrees transacted both They deliberated as well of Ecclesiastical as of civil Affairs and the causes that concerned the Church were no less determined by the Judgment and Authority of the Laity than the civil ones were by the Advice of the Clergy But because it may be of some advantage to the right understanding of this whole subject to have a clear
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
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
desire to Understand than the Laws and Antiquities of the Country in which I live but especially of the Church in which I minister And I am not a little pleas'd to see that there are at this time so many Persons of Excellent Parts no less addicted to these Researches and much better Able to pursue them than I am It may possibly be some provocation to One or Other of These to give us a more perfect Account of the present Subject to see how little is here done in it The Argument certainly deserves Consideration and I heartily wish it a better Hand and a better Head too than any that has yet appear'd upon it In the following Treatise having first stated the Subject I was to go upon and settled the Method I thought most proper to be observed in the prosecution of it I in the next place go on to lay the Foundation of what I had to say with Reference to our own Laws and Constitutions upon the Practice and Opinions of the Antient Church and of all the Christian Countries round about us for above 800 years after Christ. I consider'd that the Church of England beyond most Churches in the World has a peculiar Veneration for the Discipline as well as Doctrine of the Primitive Church And I thought it would be no small Evidence of my good Intentions towards it upon this Occasion to shew that I pretended to nothing in behalf of our own Kings but what the Bishops and Clergy from the fourth Century downwards had readily allow'd to their Emperours And what all Other Christian Princes continued to Enjoy till the Papal Authority prevail'd over Them and deprived them of that Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters which They originally had and to which the Reformation has again so justly restored them And now having laid so good a Foundation I thought I might proceed the more freely to Enquire into the Case of our own Country and see what Authority the King of England has over his Convocations and by what Law or Custom he enjoys that Authority In this I was forc'd to confine myself within the time of the Reformation because it was about the Beginning of that that Our Kings were restored to their Supremacy in this as well as in other matters or at least had their Authority more solemnly recognized by the Clergy and established by the Parliament than ever it had been before But lest such a Supremacy as this should seem to depend rather upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament than to be derived from that Original Power in Ecclesiastical Causes which belongs to all Christian Princes and to Ours as well as to any and which was Exercised by them many Ages before any Statute was made to intitle them thereunto Having shewn what the Law as to these matters now is I thought it might not be amiss to enlarge my Enquiry and to see how the Case has stood in this particular from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time wherein I began my former Disquisition And upon search I found and I think have plainly made it appear that the Authority I here assert to the King is no other than what our most antient Princes till about 1100 years after Christ continued to exercise and even then claim'd a Right too when they were not any longer permitted to excercise it If in pursuing of this Enquiry through so many past Ages I have sometimes taken the liberty to fill up those Vacancies which through the want of Materials proper for such an Undertaking often fall in my way with Reflections a little foreign to my proper Business I hope it will not be taken for any great Offence in a Work of this Nature especially considering that my very Digressions are rather not directly to the purpose of my present Subject than altogether distant from it As for the remainder of my discourse which is spent in Answering the Letter to a Convocation-man I shall only say thus much that I have not designedly either over-look'd any of its Arguments or made an imperfect much less a false Representation of them I have examined every thing that seem'd considerable enough to be taken notice of and I hope have fully answered what I have examined I am not aware that in doing of this I have given my Adversary any hard Treatment tho' I cannot but say He has taken care oftentimes to deserve it But I thought it unreasonable to be guilty of that my self which I look'd upon to have been a fault in Him 'T is true I have all along spoken my mind with great freedom and where I sound any thing amiss have not stuck to own it tho'it seemed to reflect upon those of my own Order Till Clergy-men cease to be Men they will be guilty not only of Follies and Imprudencies but of Sins too as well as others and to what purpose should I dissemble that which whether it be confess'd or not all the World knows to be but too True Were our Faults so private that to allow of them were to publish them I am sure no One should be more careful to hide them than I would be But I cannot conceive it to be either for the Credit or Interest of the Church to dissemble those Vices which those who Commit them take no Care to Conceal If any one should be so unreasonable as to take occasion from hence to think hardly of our Profession or to be scandalized at our Religion for the Faults of those who minister in It I would only desire them to consider that we live in an unhappy Age and make up a large Number of Men and it can hardly be thought but that where so many thousands wait at the Altar some there should be who are much fitter to be cast out of the Church than to officiate in it In the mean time God be thanked Many there are who are as Eminent for their Piety as some others are Notorious for their Irregularities and this Advantage they ought to have to recommend our Religion beyond what the others should have to defame it that these live agreeably to the Rules of their Holy Profession whereas the others must be confess'd to have scandalously departed from them To conclude the following Treatise as it was truly intended for the Service of the Church of England so I hope it may be of some Use to many in it At least it will satisfie Those who have taken Offence at the Letter here examined that it speaks not the Sense of All if of any of our Clergy And shew that many there be who no less disapprove the Assertions of this Author than they are justly offended at his Bold and Scandalous Reflections THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE Design of the following Treatise with a short Account of the Method that is proposed to be observed in the Prosecution of it The Order of the Questions proposed in the Letter to a Convocation man changed and an Enquiry design'd to
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
a kind of Conciliary Authority to it Or if this be not yet plain enough let it farther be observed that the Council hereupon treated Nestorius both in Words and Actions as a Catholick Bishop and invited him to come and sit among them as such Which evidently shews that the Council made no doubt but that the Emperor had sufficient Authority to suspend those Synods Decrees and that by his Suspension their Sentence had not yet taken place against him And the same was done in the Case of Eutyches the next great Heretick that infested the Church Who being condemn'd by Flavian Patriarch of Constantinople and his Council obtain'd of Theodosius another General Council to meet at Ephesus under the Presidence of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria In this Council by the Power and Fury of Dioscorus all was tumultuously transacted and Flavian was condemn'd as having deposed Eutyches contrary to the Canons Against this Sentence Flavian appeals and Pope Leo being applied to calls a Synod at Rome and therein rejects the Acts of the Ephesine Council in which all things had been carried in a very disorderly and â—ncanonical Manner For the better repealing of which Leo applies to Theodosius for help He intreats him that he would by his Authority resâ—ind all that had been done either by Flavian against Eutyches or by Dioscorus against Flavian or at least would suspend it till a General and Free Council should determine the Matter 'T is true this Theodosius would not consent to tho' Leo had interested no less Persons than Valentinian and his Empress in the Cause with him But yet Leo's Request shews that he thought the Emperor had Power to resâ—ind the Acts of Both those Councils And his Refusal convinces us that he himself thought he was no way concluded by what Leo and his Synod had resolved in Opposition to the Council of Ephesus However what Theodosius refused Marcian assented to He caused a General Council to be held at Calcedon and when he found Flavian to be justified by it he revoked both the Definition of the former Synod and the Constitution of Theodosius against him Such an Authority were the Emperors wont to exercise over the Acts of the most General Councils in confirming suspending or annulling their Sentences And so undoubtedly did the Bishops in those times believe that they ought of Right to be allow'd such an Authority Nor has the Prince any less Power to judge of their Constitutions than to enquire into their Sentences and either to confirm or reject them as he approves or not of their Decisions When Reccaredus confirm'd the Canons of the Third National Council of Toledo he gave this Reason why he did it That they were composed with great maturity of Sense and Understanding that they were agreeable to his Judgment and conformable to the Discipline of the Church It was the same Perswasion that moved Ervigius to confirm the Acts of the Thirteenth Synod held in the same City He specially recited and approved of their Decrees and by his Royal Authority form'd their Canons into an Ecclesiastical Law for all his People to observe The same did Egica in the Seventeenth Council He recited the several Heads of what the Fathers had done and upon a mature Consideration a full Knowledge and Approbation of their Acts he gave force to them The truth is it seems to have been the usual Method of the Princes about this time not so much to confirm the very Acts of their Synods as to form the Substance of their Definitions into a Law and to take Occasion from their Decrees to determine such things as concern'd the Church Thus the Spanish Kings now mention'd did and so Clotharius the Third did with Respect to the Fifth Council of Paris An. 615. He publish'd his Edict in the Close of it and therein expresly establish'd what the Fathers in the Synod had agreed to It was after the same manner that a great part of the Capitulars of the French Kings were composed They took the Substance of what their Synods had agreed to and having examined and form'd it according to their own liking they publish'd it for a Law to their Subjects Insomuch that sometimes they have even referr'd to the Canons of their Synods for the more clear understanding of what the Law had only briefly and in general deliver'd Such in particular was the Use which both Carloman and Charles the Emperor made of his Synods They call'd them as their Council to advise them in Ecclesiastical Matters and their Synods look'd upon themselves no otherwise They submitted their Decrees to their Examination and pretended not to expect that They should confirm them any farther than they appear'd to them to deserve it Thus the Fathers in the Third Council of Tours declare that they met to assist the Emperor by their Remarks of what they judged to need some Amendment And having drawn up their Opinions in Fifty one Canons they thus finally conclude All These things we have thus debated in Our Convention But how it will please our most Pious Prince hereafter to Act with Relation there unto we his faithful Servants are Ready with a willing Mind to submit to his Pleasure And the same was the Deference which the Council of Arles which met the same Year paid to his Authority These things say the Fathers which we found to need Amendment we have in a few words after the shortest manner observed and decreed to present to our Lord the Emperor Beseeching his Clemency that if Any thing be found wanting it may be supplied by his Prudence If any thing be designed otherwise than in Reason it ought to have been by his Judgment it may be Amended if any thing be Well and Rationally decreed it may thro' his Help by the Blessing of God be brought to Perfection Such a Submission did these Synods pay to their Emperor And this makes good what Eginhart a Contemporary Author of the Life of Charles the Great has observed as to this Matter That Councils by his command were held throughout all France for correcting the State of the Church And the Constitutions which were made in Each of Them were All together Compared and Examined by Him in the Convention of Aix la Chappelle Anno 813. I might farther confirm this from the Instances of many other Synods which have in like manner own'd the same Authority But I shall conclude all with the Words of that Council which gave Pattern to all the Rest of that Country I mean the First Council of Orleans under King Clouis Anno 511 whose Epistle to the King runs in these Terms To their Lord the Son of the Catholick Church the most Glorious King Clouis all the Priests whom you have commanded to come to the Council For as much as so great a Care of our Glorious Faith stirs you up to the Honour of the Catholick Religion that with the Affection
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
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
That if a Canon-Law be against the Law of the Land the Bishop ought to Obey the Commandment of the King according to the Law of the Land Now these two Things being supposed and in which the Law at the present cannot be doubted to be very clear That no Acts of Convocation can be put in Execution or be promulged in Order to a Publick Observance without the King's Licence And that the King's Licence cannot give the Convocation any Authority to promulge or execute any Canons but what are Agreeable to the Laws and Customs of the Realm it must of Necessity follow 1st That the King has not only a Right to Review the Acts of Every such Convocation but ought moreover to submit Them to the Examination of his Learned Council in the Law That so he may the more securely be able to judge Whether they be Consistent with the Laws of his Realm and by Consequence capable of receiving any Enforcement from Him Forasmuch as it would be not only too Rash and Unseemly but even a Vain Thing for the King to expose his Prerogative by undertaking to give Authority to that which by being contrary to the Laws already Establish'd has such a natural defect in its Original Constitution as will not suffer it to be Capable of Any 2dly That notwithstanding the Resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation yet still the King is to remain the last Judge not only of the Lawfulness but of the Expediency too of their Constitutions and has Authority either to Ratifie or Reject Them as He with the Advice of his Council shall think Them either Usefull or Otherwise to the Church When His Majesty gave Liberty to our last Convocation to consider of the several Points which in his Commission he proposed to Them and permitted Them to draw into Forms Rules Orders Ordinances Constitutions and Canons such Matters as to Them should seem Necessary and Expedient for the Purposes which He had before proposed to Them and the same being set down in Writing from time to time to Exhibit and Deliver or to Cause to be Exhibited and Delivered to Him He thus goes on to declare what was to be done after such their Resolutions should be delivered in by Them To the End that We as Occasion shall Require may thereupon have the Advice of our Parliament and that such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things as shall be thought Requisite and Convenient by our said Parliament may be presented to us in due Form for Our Royal Assent if upon Mature Consideration thereof We shall think sit to Enact the same And from whence it appears to have been His Majesty's Intention had that Convocation proceeded to any Resolutions to have submitted the Examination of their Acts not only to his Parliament but that being done to have Reserved the final Judgment of Them to his Own Consideration And we cannot doubt but that it was upon the best Advice of his Learned Council in the Law that He so Intended But more full and express to this purpose is the Commission of King Charles the First to the Convocation of 1640 before mentioned Wherein having granted the same Liberty we here meet with to his Clergy To set down in Writing and to Exhibit or Cause to be Exhibited to Him All and Every the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things to be by Them from time to time Conferr'd Treated Debated Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon He adds To the end that We upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or Otherwise Disallow Annihilate and Make Void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon as We shall think Fit Requisite and Convenient But this is not yet all In the close of his Commission he again Reserves to Himself the same Power in these Remarkable Words Provided always and our Express Will Pleasure and Commandment is That the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted or Agreed upon shall not be of Any Force Effect or Validity in the Law but only such and so many of Them and after such time as We by our Letters Patent under our Great Seal of England shall Allow Approve and Confirm the same These are the Limitations under which that Convocation Acted and from which these three Conclusions will Unavoidably follow 1st That the King by granting the Convocation license to consider and draw up any Canons Orders or Constitutions or to determine any Matters or Causes do's not give them any final decisive Power of Concluding those affairs but Empowers them only to deliver their Judgment to Him which He may either Approve or Reject as He shall afterwards see Cause to do 2dly That in determining concerning their Resolutions He is not obliged either to Approve and Confirm or else to Reject and Annihilate ALL that they have done but may judge distinctly of Every particular Point or Matter debated by Them and severally pass his judgment upon Them May give Force and Authority to some things and at the same time make Void and disallow of Others And this 3dly Not only upon his Own private judgment or upon the Advice of any select persons of his Clergy tho' it be a matter Ecclesiastical but with the advice of his Council who by his Command are also Empowred to judge of what the Convocation has done and whose Opinion if He approves of it He may preferr to that of his Clergy But we will go on with the History of this Convocation and see how these several Conclusions may be yet farther clear'd and confirm'd by it When by Vertue of this Commission the Convocation had drawn up such Canons and agreed upon such Orders as to them seem'd most proper to answer the Ends proposed by the King to Them We are told by His Majesty in His Declaration of June 30th following that according to His direction They had Offered and Presented the same to Him desiring Him to give His Royal Assent to what They had done Now as hereby they plainly acknowledged His Majesty to have all that Authority as to this matter which in His Commission he had pretended to so we find the King still proceeded according to the same measures he had first laid down to the Ratification of what they presented to Him For thus the Declaration goes on We having diligently with great Content and Comfort Read and Consider'd all the said Orders Ordinances and Constitutions agreed upon as is before express'd And finding the same such as We are persuaded will be very profitable not only to Our Clergy but to the whole Church of this Our Kingdom and to All the true Members
had might easily be made appear were it needful to enlarge upon so Known and Melancholy a Subject Now this as it has obliged not only the Best Men but the Wisest Emperours to be very careful how they either called or encouraged such Assemblies unless they had some Reason to hope for a Good Effect of Them so may it suffice to convince Us still that neither are All Times nor All Causes either Proper for or Worthy of such Meetings and that the Expediency of Them ought to be very Clearly made out before it can with any Reason be expected that the Prince should consent to their Assembling It has I think been generally agreed that the main End for which Synods are necessary to be Assembled is either to establish the Faith and to declare the Unity of the Church in matters of Doctrine Or to advise and assist the Civil Magistrate in things pertaining to the Discipline of it As for the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that in every well settled Church is commonly provided for by some more Ordinary Means So that except in a few Cases of an Extraordinary Nature there is seldom any Occasion for a Synod to meet upon any such account Now as these are the Ends for which Synods ought to be Assembled so I believe it will be allow'd by all Considering Persons that the Prince ought never to Call them when Either 1st It is needless Or 2dly It would be hurtful so to do When there is no Appearance of any Good to come from their Meeting but rather it may justly be fear'd that their Meeting will turn to the Prejudice of the Church In short That the Prince ought never to call his Clergy together but for some Rational and Good End When there is something Proper for such an Assembly to do and They may be likely to Do it so as to advance the Welfare of the Church by it This I conceive must be allow'd in point of Prudence to be the General Measure by which the Prince ought upon all Occasions to judge whether it be Necessary or even Expedient for him to suffer a Convocation to Meet or no. And from these General Measures we will proceed to draw some farther and more particular Directions for our better judging in the Point before Us. And 1st Because in Clear and Evident Cases where both the Truth is Manifest and the Consent of the Church Constant and Out of doubt there is no need of any Definitions either to declare its Sense or to testifie its Agreement therefore neither can there be any Need to Assemble a Convocation to Judge or Determine in such Cases If in a Christian Country where the Gospel is profess'd and its Truth establish'd and Men have for many Ages been Bred up to the Knowledge and Belief of it A sort of Libertines should arise to deny not only the truth of Christianity but the very Being of a God the Certainty of Revelation the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and the like Common and Avow'd Principles of Religion It would be not only Needless but Absurd for a Synod to be call'd to debate over again the Fundamentals of Piety and solemnly to define against these Sceptical Profane Disputers That there is a God That He has Revealed his Will to Mankind and that the Scriptures were written by divine Inspiration And all that they would Gain by doing of it would be only this that they would see their Authority and their Definitions despised by Them And might probably give Offence to Good Men as if they had so much Reason on their side or there were so much Difficulty in this Case as to need the Solemnity of a Convocation to interpose in it In such Cases as this the Christian Magistrate ought to take upon him the Protection of Religion of the Faith which he professes and of that Saviour by whom He hopes to be Saved And so to Order Matters that such Persons shall either Cease to blaspheme Or they shall find out some Other Place than a Christian Country to do it in Civil Authority may Restrain such bold Men but 't is Ridiculous to think that all the Synods in the World should ever be able to Perswade Them Again 2dly Upon the same Grounds I affirm that neither is there any need of a New Synod to declare the Doctrine and Consent of the Church in such Points in which it has by as Great Or even Greater Authority been before Declared Thus supposing any Church should not only have solemnly Received the Four first General Councils but in farther testimony of its Agreement in Faith with Them should have given their Creeds a Place in its Publick Liturgy And to strengthen all this should have drawn up a Clear and Full Confession of its Own upon the Principles by them defined and have Required that Confession to be Received and Subscribed to by All who are Admitted to any spiritual Office or Function in it How ridiculous would it be for such a Church to Assemble a Convocation to declare to all the World that it believes our Saviour's Divinity and holds a Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the God-head What tho' there be some in such a Church who deny this and take advantage of the Liberty or rather Licentiousness of evil Times to dare even to Write and Argue against it The Doctrine and Faith of the Church are still the same And it may as well be said that in Our Protestant Reform'd Church it is needful to call a Convocation to protest again against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome because some not only Write in defence of Them but are buisie also to make Converts to them As for such a Church to call a Synod to declare that it has no part with those who Write and Argue against its own Avow'd Sense in the Points of the Holy Trinity and of the Divinity of the Son of God A Convocation may sit and draw up what Creeds and Confessions it will But if They expect that Those who despise the Authority of the Ancient General Councils of the Church should be Concluded by their Definitions It will I doubt appear that They have but flatter'd themselves with Vain Hopes And they will find too late that those who are not to be Restrain'd by what has been already Determin'd will much less regard any New Decisions that can be made Against Them In this Case again 't is the Civil Power or nothing that must Restrain their Presumption A Good Law may Oblige them to be silent but I doubt neither that nor any Thing else will be Able to cure them of their Infidelity But. 3dly If a Convocation ought not to be called without need then neither can it be Necessary or even sitting to Assemble it for such Matters as not only may be Equally provided for by Ordinary Means but which fall more properly under the Cognizance of some Other Authority Such are first
all Private Cases which are determinable in Other Courts and before some Other Judges which the Law has provided for Them And the King might as well Assemble his Parliament to try a Thief or a Felon as his Convocation to convict a Man of Heresie or Schism There are Civil Courts appointed for the One and Ecclesiastical Courts provided for the Other And if these Neglect or Refuse to do their Duty there are Shorter Ways of Applying a Remedy to it than by calling either a Parliament or Convocation for such a Purpose And such are secondly such Disorders as either the Bishop in his Diocess the Arch-bishop in his Province Or the King in the whole Church have sufficient power by their Own immediate Orders or Injunctions to redress Whether they be Occasion'd by Mens departing from the Rules and Measures already prescribed to Them Or for want of a Vigorous Execution of those Laws by which they ought to be punish'd for their so doing Indeed where the Discipline and Authority of the Church its self is defective and Irregularities both in the Clergy and Laity abound for want of a Power sufficient to suppress them a Convocation may be needful to consider How a Remedy may be provided for this Defect and the Church be enabled more successfully both to Guard the Faith and to Reform the Manners of its Members And I heartily wish our Circumstances were such that a Convocation might meet for this Purpose But I am afraid our Distemper is become too Great to be healed And that we are Uncapable of such a Discipline as above all things We the most Want And therefore 4thly And to go on with these Remarks As in such Cases as I have hitherto mentioned it is needless to Call a Convocation so would it be in Vain to Assemble it for such purposes in which there were no probable Expectation of Success or hope that any Good should be done by it This as for ought I know it may be One Great Reason why a Convocation is not called to Review some of our Publick Offices to Improve our Discipline And to Reform many Disorders in the Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so am I the rather Confirm'd in my Opinion of the little Probability there is of any Good to be yet done by a Convocation in this respect that amidst all the Reasons Offer'd by this Author to prove the necessity of holding a Convocation He has never Once given any Intimation of these matters tho he could not but know that they were look'd upon by the Government as the principal things for which a Convocation might be wanting But 5thly And to have done As there are many Cases for which it would be improper to call a Convocation so may there be some Times too in which it â—ould be altogether Unadvisable to Assemble it When Mens Passions are let loose and their Minds disorder'd When their Interests and Designs their Friends and their Parties nay their very Judgments and Principles lead them different Ways and they Agree in nothing so much as in being very Peevish and Angry with One Another When their very Reason is depraved and they judge not according to Truth or Evidence but with Respect of Persons and Every One Opposes what Another of a different Perswasion either Moves or Approves of What Good can the Prince propose to Himself or any Wise Man hope for from any Assembly that can be brought together under the unhappy Influence of These and the like Prepossessions It was the sense of this made a Wise Man in the last Age tell Charles the Vth That it appear'd by Experience and might from Reason be demonstrated that those Affairs seldom succeeded well which were to be done by Many And if such be the inconvenience to which Number alone exposes such meetings in the best times Sure I am both Reason and Experience will much more convince Us that in times of doubt and discontent this will be more likely to be the Case and that under such Circumstances there is little Good to be expected from them And this may suffice in General to shew what those Cases and those Times are in which the Prince may have Reason to think that it is either needless or improper for him to suffer his Clergy to Meet and Act in Convocation I Go on II. Secondly Upon these Principles to Examine what this Author has Offer'd to prove the Necessity or even Expediency of their present Assembling Now this He pretends to make out by these 2 Ways 1st By Proving that there is upon many Accounts an Absolute necessity that something should be done for the Defence of Religion and the Church And 2dly By shewing That what is thus necessary to be done can be done no Other Way but by a Convocation 1st That something is necessary to be done He proves from the Open Looseness of Mens Principles and Practises and that setled Contempt of Religion and the Priesthood which He says has prevail'd every where And upon this General Ground he go's on to dilate in several Particulars which must therefore he Consider'd by Us. But before I proceed any farther in this Debate I must here once for all profess that I should be far from Opposing any thing that could reasonably be proposed to be done in Order to so Good an End as the Reforming the Open Loosness of Mens Principles and Practises would certainly be I am by no means Unsensible that a Great Part of what this Author here complains is but too true Tho' whether the Loosness of Mens Principles has corrupted their Manners or the Depravity of their Manners may not rather have been at the bottom one great Cause of the Corruption of their Principles I am not able to determine And were a Convocation necessary to Vindicate the Church from being in any degree accessary to these Crimes or had it Authority sufficient to Reform this Licentiousness I would much rather joyn with this Author in Petitioning for their Sitting than Contend with Him about the Expediency of it But being fully Satisfied that the Convocation has neither Strength sufficient to Grapple with these Enormities nor is in any respect necessary to assert the Churches Innocence But especially being perswaded that should it meet for any such purpose under our present Circumstances it would only expose its Own Authority and our Religion to the Greater Contempt of Profane and Wicked Men I shall proceed with all freedom to Examine the Reasons here alledged and to Vindicate not only the King's Honour but the Churches too and shew that if the Other Ways which this Author here Rejects be not sufficient to Reclaim Mens Vices neither can it be hoped that the Convocation should be able by any Orders it can make to Reclaim Them First then Let us suppose that as he alledges Scepticism Deism and even Atheism its self is pouring in upon Us Would this Gentleman have a Convocation called to
than declaring to them how the Law then stood and still is in the like Cases And in which it is Agreed that Men Attaint or Outlaw'd shall be put to answer in Any Action against them because it is to their Prejudice But in an Action brought by Them they shall not be Answered because it is to their Benefit So that if the Chief Justice committed any Fault it must be either in Obeying the Law or in declaring to their Council what Incapacities the Clergy lay under That is for acting uprightly in his Place and judging according to the Laws of the Realm which is not wont to be accounted a Crime in such Persons The truth is there is hardly a Man of those Times upon whom this Author could more unluckily have Reflected than this Sir Robert Brabazon He was made Second Justice of the Common-pleas by King Edward 1st about the 18th Year of his Reign Seven Years he served his Prince in that Station and was then for his Merits created Lord Chief Justice of that Court Anno 24. Edw. 1. In the first Year of his Son King Edw. 2. He was sworn anew into his Place And about Seven Years after had the Care of the Treasury committed to him till a Lord Treasurer should be chosen which was done about a Year after And being thus Grown Old in the Service of his two Masters and disabled to attend any Longer at his Court that he might sit down with Honour He was in Consideration of his Great Fidelity chosen into the King's Council and in that Quality ended his Life This is the Man whom this discreet Author has endeavour'd to Bespatter and this was the Crime for which he so tragically exclaims against Him And now upon the whole matter let this Gentleman freely say What he has to except against in the Conduct of this Great Prince Or whether upon a true State of this Matter He will espouse the Cause of the Archbishop and Clergy Here is a brave and war-like Prince engaged in a War of the utmost Consequence to his Country and People He carrys it on himself with Vigor and ends it with Glory He forces his Enemy not only to yield to Him but to Own his Authority and do him Homage Being Return'd with Victory He calls his Parliament and is Readily assisted by his Lay Subjects to pay his Debts and prepare himself against his Other Enemies Only his Clergy not only Refuse to contribute to the Defence of their Country but put an Indignity of the basest Nature upon their King Like the Pharisees with their Vow of Corban they first procure the Pope to pass an Order against their assisting of Him and then with a Jewish Hypocrisie look demure and pretend That truly they would Assist him with all their Hearts but the Pope has forbidden it And they dare not do it In return to this Usage the King determines no longer to afford his Protection to those who had deliver'd themselves up to Another Interest and thereupon refused to contribute any thing to the Support of the Government by which they were secured in the peaceable Enjoyment of their Own Rights and Estates And the Parliament thought his Resolution so just that they closed in with it and readily confirm'd it with their Authority This was the Case of the whole Clergy then and it is but too like the Case of some of them Now. And the Effect was that being by this means brought to a Sense of their Duty the greatest Part of them presently submitted to the King and All the next Year granted a Supply to Him And have thereby left us this Observation That the only way to deal with some Persons is to treat them as they deserve And to let them know that those are unworthy of the Protection of the Government who are Embark'd in an Interest different from it and Refuse to Contribute to the Necessities of it APPENDIX CONTAINING Some PUBLICK ACTS and Other Collections referr'd to in the Foregoing Discourse APPENDIX I. The Ancient Form of summoning an Abbot to Parliament Ex Reyner Apost Benedict p. 149. Append. Part. iii. num LXIX HEnricus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae c. N. Abbati S. Albani Quia de Avâ—samento consilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Nos Statum Defensionem Regul nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae contingentibus quoddam Parleamentum apud Westminster tali die teneri Ordinavimus ibidem Uobiscum cum Ceteris Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostti Colloquium habere tractatum Uobis in â—ide dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo Mandamus Quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum Arduitate Periculis imminentibus Personaliter intersitis Nobiscum ac cum Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus predictis super predictis Negotiis traâ—taturi Uestrumque Consilium impensuri hoc sicut nos Honorem nostrum ac Salvationem Defensionem Regni Ecclesie predicte Expeditionemque dictorum Negotiorum diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso The Parliament Abbots thus summon'd Ex Eod. 1. Abbas Glastoniae 2. Abbas S. Augustini Cant ' 3. Abbas S. Petri Westmonaster ' 4. Abbas S. Albani 5. Abbas S. Edmundi de Bury 6. Abbas S. Petri de Burgo 7. Abbas S. Johannis Colcestriae 8. Abbas Eveshamiae 9. Abbas Winchelcumbiae 10. Abbas Croylandiae 11. Abbas de Bello 12. Abbas Redingiae 13. Abbas Abendoniae 14. Abbas Salopiae 15. Abbas S. Petri Gloucestriae 16. Abbas Bardeneyae 17. Abbas S. Benedicti de Hulmo 18. Abbas Thorneiae 19. Abbas Ramseiae 20. Abbas Hydae 21. Abbas Maimesbiriae 22. Abbas S. Mariae Eborac ' 23. Abbas Selbeyae 24. Abbas Tavestoke 25. Prior Conventriae II. The Ancient Writs of Summons of a Bishop to Parliament Cl. 49. H. 3. M. 11. Dors. in Schedula HEnricus dei Gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae Dux Aquitaniae venerabili in Christo Patri R. eadem Gratia Episcopo Dunelm Salutem Cum post Gravia turbationum diserimina dudum habita in Regno Charissimus Filius Edwardus Primogenitus noster prâ— pace in Regno nostro Assensuranda Firmanda Obses traditus extitisset jam sedata benedictus Deus turbatione predicta super deliberatione ejusdem salubriter providenda plena securitate tranquilitate pacis ad Honorem Dei Utilitatem totius Regni nostri firmanda totaliter complenda ut super Quibusdam al 〈…〉 is Regni nostri Negotus que sine Consilio vestro aliorum Prelatorum Magnatum nostrorum nolumus expediri cum iisdem tractatum habere nos oportet Uobis Mandamus Rogantes in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini quod Omni Occasione post-posita Negotiis al 〈…〉 s pretermissis sitis ad nos London in Octabis S. Hilarii proxim futur Nobiscum cum predictis Prelatis Magnatibâ—s nostris quos ibid. vocari fecimus super premissis tractatur Concilium impensur Et