all Right and Justice on purpose that he might Oppress Them so to Do They yet submitted to his Commands and chose rather to suffer by their Obedience than to Usurp an Authority which they were sensible did not belong to Them But lest this should be thought to have been only the Perverseness of an Heretical Prince we shall find the same Power both Claim'd and Exercised by the most Orthodox Emperors and such as were in all Respects the most zealous for the Churches Interest When Eutyches began to corrupt the Christian Faith and it was thought necessary that a General Council should be call'd to put a stop to his Errors Leo Bishop of Rome petitioned Theodosius with all imaginable Earnestness that He would consent to let a Synod be assembled in Italy for the Judging of it This the Emperor utterly Refused to do and Order'd the Council to be held at Ephesus and the Good Bishop was so far from Complaining of it that he submitted to his Summons and thank'd him that he would at least vouchsafe to have it there And when by the Practices of Dioscorus that Council answer'd not what was Expected from it The same Leo not only supplicated the Emperor again with tears and groans in the Name of all the Bishops of the West that he would Command another Council to be held somewhere in the West to determine that Affair but moreover engaged Valentinian and Eudoxia his Wife with many others of the Greatest Note to join in the same Request with him But Theodosius not only now refused him as to the place but deny'd him as to the calling of any Other Synod nor would He be persuaded to suffer any other to meet as long as He lived And this brings me to a 2d Observation which ought to be taken notice of upon this Occasion viz. That whenever the Civil Magistrate has refused to Call a Synod tho' the Affairs of the Church have never so much seem'd to stand in need of One and the Bishops have never so Earnestly desired One yet have they quietly submitted to the Refusal and not presumed on any Pretence of Right which they had in Themselves to meet together without his Leave or against his Consent So Liberius and the Catholick Bishops did to Constantius first and Leo and the Western Bishops to Theodosius afterwards And I believe it would be difficult in those best and most early times of the Church to find out any Instance wherein the Orthodox Bishops have ever departed from this Rule or which is much the same thing have ever been justified by the Church in those Cases in which they have departed from it Nay but 3dly Tho' the Council of Nice first and after that several Other Synods provided for the Constant Meeting of Provincial Councils at a certain Season every year and these being allow'd of by the Emperors and Other Princes who confirm'd those Canons and Approved of what They had Defined may seem to have put these kind of Synods at least out of their Power Yet even in these we find Them still continuing to Exercise their Authority And not suffering even such Councils to be held without their Leave or against their Consent I have before observed how Theodosius the Emperor restrained Theodoret when he thought him too buisy in calling together the Bishops to these Lesser Synods And when in after times Wolfolendus Bishop of Bourges summon'd a Provincial Council according to these Canons to meet at the beginning of September yet having neglected to consult the King's Pleasure in it we find Sigebert for that Reason alone sent a Prohibition to his Bishops to go to it And it is worthy our notice for what Reason he put a Stop to its assembling He professes he was well content that they should meet some Other Time always provided that they first made Him acquainted with it that so he might Consider whether he should allow of it as proper either for the State of the Church or for the Benefit of the Kingdom or Otherwise fit to be consented to And therefore when the Fifth Council of Paris had resolv'd that it was Expedient that Provincial Synods should be held every Year according to the Orders of the Church and the Canonical Custom establish'd in it They made it their Request to Louis the Emperour and Lotharius his Son that they would consent that at a fit Season every Year they might be Assembled This Request was again Renew'd some Years after in another Synod And yet notwithstanding these General Permissions before they did come together they were to have a particular Warrant for their so doing as is evident from the Acts of the Synod of Soissons which was held about the same time that those very Orders I have now mention'd were made So intirely has the Assembling of Synods been look'd upon to depend upon the Will and Authority of the Christian Prince But this is not all For 4thly When it was resolv'd that a Synod should be held the Prince evermore either determin'd or allow'd both the Time and Place of their Meeting This is evident from the very Acts of all those Synods of which any Perfect Accout remains to Us and is most apparently confirm'd by the History of the most Antient Councils of the Church I have before observ'd how Theodosius not only Appointed the Council which he had order'd to meet about the Affair of Eutyches to assemble at Ephesus but utterly refus'd the Request of Leo and his Bishops who earnestly desired it might have been held in Italy But Marcian the Emperor went farther He not only Summon'd the Fourth General Council to Nice first and then to Chalcedon tho' requested in like manner as Theodosius had been by the Bishop of Rome and his Suffragans that it might meet in Italy but when being press'd in time Leo petition'd the Emperor that he would defer it but a little while for his greater Convenience Marcian refus'd him That also and the Good Man contentedly yielded to him in both Such Power did the antient Emperors assume to themselves over their Bishops as to these Circumstances Nor did the following Princes claim any less When Pepin resolv'd that Two Synods should be held in France every Year He not only specify'd the time for Both viz. the first of March and of October but reserv'd the Nomination of the Place where the Former should meet to his own Appointment and for that of the latter determin'd that it should either be at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops should agree upon in their first Assembly And Ludovicus Pius having thought fit for the better settling of the Ecclesiastical discipline to have Four Synods meet at Once that so they might separately Consider of the State of the Church and then their Opinions be altogether laid before him in one Common View not only Order'd this distribution of them but determin'd withal
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
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
Synod to frame their Debates upon them When this Emperor was dead and the Difference between his Sons appeased Lewis to whom the Government of Germany fell after his Father's Example call'd the Great Council of Mayence to regulate those Disorders which the late Distractions had brought into the Church And because many things remain'd which could not then be sufficiently provided for He the next Year after assembled another Synod for the Determination of them It was about twenty Years after this that the same Lewis convened a General Council at Wormes and there in like manner order'd many things relating both to the Faith and Discipline of the Church It was not long after that Arnulph his Nephew having obtain'd the Empire call'd together in like manner his Bishops to a Great Council at Trebur presided and assisted in it and caused what was done not only to be subscribed by the Bishops whom he had Assembled but to be confirm'd by a great number both of the Inferior Clergy and of the Laity of the Empire And lastly not to metion any more Henry the First after the Example of his Predecessors by his Princely Command assembled the great Synod at Erpsford with the Advice of his great Men and particularly of Archbishop Hildibert who was chiefly consider'd by him 5. And now having thus fully shewn what was the Practice of these Princes in Germany I might spare my self and Reader the trouble of enquiring into the Methods used in France which was generally either in the same Hands or Govern'd by Those of the same Family that the Empire in those days was Yet because I think the Ecclesiastical Discipline was no where better kept up or more exactly follow'd than in that Country and that I conceive our own Synods were very much framed by the pattern of Theirs I will take a short View of their Conventions also and so conclude these first general Remarks To begin then with the first of their Christian Kings Clouis the Great And here we find that he not only Called the first Council of Orleans and which has ever been look'd upon as the Model and Pattern to all their succeeding Synods but moreover Prescribed to it the Points on which it was to debate And all this at the Desire and with the Advice of St. Remigius as Hincmarus in the History of his Life informs Us. It was by the like Command of Childebert and his Brethren that the Second Council of the same Place was held The Synod of Clermont the next of any Consequence that met in France assembled with the Consent of King Theodebert And so did that of Tours afterwards with the like Consent and Allowance of Charibert The Fifth Council of Paris not only declares that it was Assembled by the Authority of Clotharius but tells us that their Assembling by his Authority was as indeed it was agreeable to the Constitutions of the Antient Fathers who had gone before Them And the Synod of Chalons Owns in like manner that it met together in Obedience to the Call and Command of Clouis the Second their King It was by the Royal Authority of Pepin that a General Council was held in his Palace at Vernis Anno 755. Of Charles the Great that the Second Council of Rhemes and the Third of Tours â—ere convened Of Louis the Emperor and his Son Lotharius that the Sixth Council of Paris was called And lastly not to instance in any more of Charles the Bald that the Synod of Quierzy was assembled for Reforming Mens Manners and to put a Stop to that Corruption in point of Faith too which was about that time supposed to be breaking out in those Parts Whaâ— the Practice of our own Country has been as to this matter I shall particularly consider when I come to Enquire into the Rights of our Own Kings in this Respect In the mean time from the Account which has hitherto been given of that Authority by which the Bishops and Clergy have been wont to be called together into Synods it Appears that as in Fact no Councils have met without the Permission of the Civil Magistrate ever since the Empire became Christian So neither does it appear that the Clergy have ever made any Complaints against Them as usurping herein upon the Rights of the Church or pleaded any Privilege as of Divine Authority for their Meeting and Acting against their Consent But to the End it may the more Evidently Appear how far the Power of Christian Princes has been accounted to Extend as to this Particular I shall to that General Deduction I have now made of the Authority by which the Church has been accustomed from the Beginning to meet together in Councils subjoin a few more particular Remarks for the better clearing of this whole matter And 1st It may be observed that tho' the Civil Magistrate has generally Advised with his Bishops and Clergy upon these Occasions and ask'd their Opinion whether it were fitting or not to call a Synod before he has given Orders for the meeting of it Yet was this never look'd upon as any matter of Right but on the contrary Princes have oftentimes assembled such Councils without ever consulting Them at All and at others when their Bishops have not only Advised but Desired them so to do have yet upon their Own Judgment or by the Advice of their Council utterly refused to comply with their Requests If we look into the Acts of the several Synods I have before mention'd we shall find indeed sometimes that the Advice of the Bishops was taken for their Meeting but we shall oftner find them call'd by the Prince with the Advice of his Great Men and yet oftner no notice at all taken of the Advice of Either How often did Liberius and the Catholick Bishops in vain petition Constantius that a Free and Orthodox Council might be Call'd to judge in the Case of Athanasius but could never Obtain it And tho' the method taken by that Emperor to manage that Affair in Favour of the Arians and the Refusal of such a Council as was desired was the Effect of that Enmity he had conceived against Them and their Doctrine yet we do not find the Catholick Bishops any where complain that in this the Emperor did any more than what he had Authority to do or pretend to any Original Ecclesiastical Power left them by Christ to call such a Synod whether He would or no. But on the contrary notwithstanding the Urgency of that Affair and the eager Desire they had to end it neither Liberius nor Any others attempted to meet against the Emperor's Command but quietly submitted to the Prohibition he had laid upon Them not to do so So little did the greatest Bishops of the Church in those Days think it lawful to hold a Council against the Prince's Will that being forbidden by an Heretical Emperor and that against
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
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
knowledge of the method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in these most remote times upon which I am now entring and that the understanding of these will very much depend upon a right apprehension of the nature of those great Councils I shall have so much occasion to insist upon in this Period I will endeavour in the first place to give the most distinct account I can of them and that from Foreign Historians as well as from those of our Own Country And here were the manner of holding Parliaments as truly ancient as its Preface pretends and as some affirm that it is we should be able to go on the more easily in our Account of these Councils But because there are many things which make me justly suspect the Antiquity of that piece I must be forced to look out for some other Guides of a better Note and of whose Sincerity there can be no doubt That there was all along in these days a very near Affinity between the Polity of France and that of our own Country in its Ecclesiastical as well as in its civil Establishment might from many Instances evidently be made appear Those Northern Nations who about 400 years after Christ began to over-run the greater part of Europe were very much alike in their Manners and Constitutions And the Government which at the beginning they setled in those Countries in which they six'd tho' in some Circumstances it might vary yet in the main was the same too Now the Parliaments of France for so in aftertimes the great Councils of the Nation were call'd by them as well as with us were first brought into a setled Order and Method by Pepin Brother to Carloman about the year 744 in the very times we are noâ— discoursing about And the manner in which he did it was this He call'd together his Bishops and great Lords to a Council at Soissons and there with the advice of both commanded the ancient Canons to be observed and set out several new Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy as well as of the Laity And to the end that the State of both might be kept in better order they farther decreed that from thenceforth such a Synod should be held for the same purpose once every Year And thus this Affair stood for some time till about eleven years after being a little at leisure from those Wars which had almost continually exercised him he began to put his Kingdom into a better Posture To which end having again call'd together almost all the Bishops of France he resolved to have two Meetings held every year the first upon the Kalends of March in the presence of the King and at such place as he should appoint the other upon the Kalends of October at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops at the former Meeting should agree And here began a manifest difference to appear between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Synods For at the former of these there met not only the Bishops but the chief of the Lay Lords of the Realm In that were Laws made both for the Civil and Ecclesiastical State and being framed by the Council were examined and confirmed by the King Whereas at the latter there appear'd only the Bishops and Clergy and these made no new Constitutions but only consulted together about the State of the Church and if need were prepared matter for the next State Meeting or else took care to order the Reformation of Mens Manners according to the Laws already made Such was the Polity which that King establish'd for the Ordering both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs But now this Settlement begun by Pepin was very much improved by Charles the Great And because of this we have a very exact account given us by Hincmarus out of the Writings of Adalardus Abbot of Corbey and a near Relation of Charles himself it may not be amiss to take a short View of it In the first place then He appointed two Assemblies to be held every Year the One a General Council of all the Bishops Abbots and Lords of the Realm The Other more select consisting only of a certain number of the more aged and honourable of all these such as the Prince should think sit to chuse together with his principal Ministers of State whom he also call'd to it In the General Council all the publick Affairs for the following Year were setled In the Other were handled such incidental Matters as not being foreseen could not by Consequence be provided for in that Great Assembly and yet were of such a Nature that They ought not to be deferr'd till that Council should meet again In Both these Councils tho' chiefly in the General One Laws were made both for the Church and Realm The King proposed to them what He would have them debate upon and having for three days consulted together they laid the Result of their Debates before Him and his Choice and Approbation determined the Matter But that which I would chiefly observe in these Councils is this That as the Causes which sell in to be handled by them were of a different Kind so were they dispatch'd by Them after a different Manner If the Matter to be deliberated upon were purely Spiritual in that Case the Bishops and Abbots went apart by Themselves and debated upon it If it were wholly Civil or Military the Lords alone consulted about it If it were of a mix'd Nature as relating to the Government or Discipline of the Church then they Both together treated of it But which soever it were still the King consider'd of their Resolutions and determined all as He saw fit From this difference both of the Matters debated in these Assemblies and of the Manner of deliberating upon Them the same Assembly is oftentimes called both a Royal and Synodical Council Thus Sigebert styles the Council of Trebur under the Emperour Conrade Anno 1031. And thus may many of our ancient Councils be distinguish'd I shall mention only One in which a learned Antiquary of our Own Country has made the same Remark the famous Synod of Aenham at which not only the Bishops and Abbots but the lay Nobility were present But yet the most part of what was done in it related to the Church and was concluded by the Clergy alone who went apart from the Other Lords for that purpose It were an easie matter to shew that the same method of deliberation continued to be observed not only in our more Ancient General Councils of this period but even after the Reduction of our Parliament to the Form in which it now is But this would lead me too far away from those Times I am now upon And I shall have a more proper Occasion hereafter to take notice of it In the mean time from what has been said it appears that the Method of transacting publick Affairs in France in
those I shall therefore think my self concern'd in the first place to Consider Now among these not to mention the two Conferences of Austin with the British Bishops I know of none more ancient than that which was held before King Oswi and his Son at Streanshealch in the Monastery of Hilda concerning the time of Easter the form of Tonsure and as Florence of Worcester adds some other Ecclesiastical Matters Whether King Oswi by his Authority called this Synod it do's not appear this we know that He not only consented to the meeting of it but also sate with his Son in it and managed the debates of it He proposed the business for which they met and at last finally Resolved what was to be held to with Reference to the Points that had been debated And tho' the Argument that determined him to embrace St. Peter's Tradition rather than St. John's viz. that He kept the door in Heaven and therefore He durst not contradict him lest when he came thither the Apostle should Resuse him Entrance was but very mean and suitable to the Rudeness and Ignorance of those Times yet we see what Authority our Princes from the beginning had as to these matters and how considerable a part they were allow'd in their Synods But more eminent as well as more exact were the Synods held by Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury in the first of which at Herudford as the Bishops of several Provinces were assembled so did they Agree with Theodore upon many usefull Constitutions for the Government of the Church And as this Synod first setled the Discipline of the Church in these Parts so did that of Heathfield which met about seven years after establish the Faith of it It admitted of the decisions of the Five first General Councils and setled the Catholick doctrine of the Church against the several Heresies which had been condemn'd in those Councils In both these Synods it is expressly said that Theodore Presided And so he did in the next I am to take notice of which was held at Atwyford Anno 685. In which among other things St. Cuthbert was chosen Bishop of Lindisfarn and upon Easter-day was Consecrated by seven Bishops who Attended upon the King at that solemn Season By whose Authority these Councils were call'd it do's not sufficiently appear to Us but that in this last King Egfride was present we are expressly inform'd And the constant Custom of the Princes in those days will not suffer us to doubt but that it was by their Direction that their Bishops both met and acted in Them At the Council of Cloveshoe Anno 742 not only Aethelbald K. of the Mercians Presided but his Princes and Officers were present too Yet this was properly an Ecclesiastical Synod and the Matters transacted in it all Related to the Church Nor is this so much to be wonder'd at seeing in the Legatine Synods held by Gregory and Theophylact sent hither by Pope Adrian the First for that purpose Our Kings not only directed the Assembling of Them but together with their Nobles sate in Them And to testify their Consent to what was done together with their Lords as well as Bishops subscribed to the Acts of Them And these are the chief of those Ecclesiastical Synods which were held in these Times As for the many Others whose Acts remain to Us they are manifestly Civil Conventions and most of them such Assemblies of the States as were afterwards call'd by the Name of Parliaments Among these as none ought more to be consider'd so were none more plainly such than Those in which our Ancient Saxon Laws were either drawn up or publish'd And a very considerable part of which relate to the Order and Discipline of the Church Thus Ina made his Laws with the Consent of his Bishops and all his Aldermen K. Alfred collected his with the advice of all his Wise-men K. Edward the Elder and Guthrun review'd and enlarged Them as assisted by their Wise-men And tho' in the Preamble to the Laws of K. Aethelstan we find mention only made of his Archbishop and Bishops because they indeed only drew up those Laws which were more properly Ecclesiastical yet in the Close of them we are told that all these Constitutions were publish'd in one of those Synods at which not only Wulfhelm the Archbishop but all his Great and Wise-men were present that is were publish'd in one of his Great Councils by him K. Edmund compiled his Laws in the Assembly of his Wise-men as well Ecclesiasticks as Lay-men So did Edgar and Ethelred afterwards And lastly Canutus in the Preface to his Laws not only tells us that they were made with the Advice of his Wise-men to the Glory of God-Almighty the Ornament of his Kingly Majesty and the Good of the Common-wealth But precisely notes the time when he compiled them namely That they were made at Christmas in the City of Winchester where he then kept that Feast and his Nobles according to the ancient Custom attended upon him and sate in Council with him To run thro' all the other Councils of the like nature in which Constitutions have been made and Debates held concerning things relating to the Church would engage me in a needless as well as tedious Research I shall only mention a few of those of chiefest Note which together with those before spoken of may suffice to give us a right Understanding of the Nature and Quality of them At Becanceld about the Year 694 Withred King of Kent held a General Council and if the relation be true it was indeed of an extraordinary Composition There were present at it not only the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Rochester with the Lords and others of the Laity but the Abbots Abbesses Priests and Deacons of the Clergy It was called by Archbishop Brithwald at the Kings Command And not only the King and Bishops but all others of the Clerical Order subscribed to it At Berghamsted the same King about three Years after held another Council with his Bishops and Military Men and by their common Consent made several Constitutions to be added to the Laws and Customs of Kent But more remarkable is the Council at which Wulfred presided under Kenulph King of the Mercians Anno 816. At which as at that of Becanceld before not only a great number of Bishops were present but together with the King came also his Princes Dukes and Lords And all these were surrounded with the rest of the Holy Orders Abbots Priests and Deacons treating with one accord of what was usefull or necessary for the Church I insist not upon the Synods of Cloveshoe assembled by Beornulfe King of the Mercians Anno 822 824 And both which were evidently great Councils of that Nation As were also the Council of London An. 833 Of Kingstone An. 838 Of Kingsbury An. 851 Of Winchester An. 855 Of
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
of the Church of England already establish'd 5. Provided also 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 Patents under our great Seal of England shall allow approve and confirm the same Any thing before in these Presents contain'd to the contrary thereof notwithstanding In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent Witness our self at Westminster the 15th Day of April in the xvith Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem Willis The Canons and the King's Declaration in Confirmation of them made hereupon are already extant in Sparrow's Collection pag. 335. VI. A Specimen of Convocations anciently held without Parliaments or at different Times from Them till the latter End of King Henry viiith's Reign ANno 1297. The Convocation sate March 26 But the King was then absent upon his Expedition in Scotland and held not his Parliament till the End of the Summer first at Berwick and after that at St. Edmunds-bury November 3. Wals. p. 68. Anno 1316. 9. Ed. 2. The Writ of Summons to the Convocations bears date Febr. 17. to meet post xv Pasch. The Parliament was summon'd the 16 Octob. before to meet in Quinden S. Hilarii Anno 1328. The Convocation was held at London the Fryday after the Purification The Parliament was held at Winchester the first Week in Lent after Wals. p. 129. Anno 1342. The Convocation met Oct. 10. But I do not find that any Parliament sate that Year Anno 1408. A Convocation and Parliament The Dates I have not But the former met at Oxford the latter at Gloucester Anno 1413. The Convocation met on Trinity Sunday The Parliament sate May the 15th being the Third Week in Easter foregoing Anno 1417. The Convocation met November 6. The Parliament sate not till November 16th Anno 1439. The Convocation met November 1. I find not any Parliament that Year Anno 1463. The Parliament sate April the 29th The Convocation met not till July 6. Anno 1466. The Convocation sate April 26. I find no Parliament this Year Anno 1486. The Convocation met February 13 The Parliament sate November 7. foregoing Anno 1538. A Convocation No Parliament Thus stood this matter till about the End of King Henry viiith's Reign Since which excepting in the Case of the Convocation of 1640 it has I think been the usual Custom for the Convocation to sit only in Time of Parliament VII An Abstract of several things relating to the Church which have been done since the 25 H. 8. by Private Commissions Or Otherwise out of Convocation 25 H. 8. THirty two Persons Appointed to Review c. the Canons of the Church and to Gather together out of them such as should from thenceforth alone be of force in it See the Act. c. 19. 1536. Injunctions by the King Bishop Burnet Hist. Ref. pag. 225. Order for the Translation of the Bible Ibid. pag. 195 249 302. 1538. New Injunctions Ibid. 249. Explication of the chief Points of Religion publish'd at the Close of the Convocation but not by it Ibid. p. 245. 1539. A Committee of Bishops appointed by the Lords at the King's Command to draw up Articles of Religion Ibid. p. 256. The vi Articles on which the Act passed brought in by the Duke of Norfolk and wholly carried on by the Parliament Ibid. p. 256 c. 1540. A Committee of Divines employed to draw up The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man Ibid. p. 286. Another Commission appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Ibid. p. 294. 1542. The Examining of the English Translation of the Bible being begun by the Convocation is taken by the King out of their Hands and committed to the two Universities Ibid. p. 315. 1544. The King orders the Prayers for Processions and Litanies to be put into English and sends them to the Archbishop with an Order for the Publick Use of Them Ibid. p. 331. King Edward VI. 1547. The King orders a Visitation over his whole Kingdom and thereupon suspends all Episcopal Jurisdiction while it lasted Bishop Burnet Hist. Ref. Vol. II. p. 26. The Homilies composed Ibid. p. 27. Articles and Injunctions set forth p. 28. 1548. New Injunctions Ibid. Append. p. 126. An Order of Council for Removing Images Ibid. p. 129. Directions by the Council to the King's Preachers Ibid. p. 130. A Committee of Select Bishops and Divines appointed to Examine and Reform the Offices of the Church Ibid. Hist. p. 61 71. A new Office of Communion set forth by them Ibid. p. 64. This made way for the Act of 1548. p. 93. and 1551. Ibid. p. 189. 1549. An Order of Council forbidding Private Masses Ibid. p. 102 103. The Forms of Ordination Appointed by Act of Parliament order'd to be drawn up by a special Committee of Six Bishops and Six Divines to be named by the King Ibid. p. 141 143. 1552. The Observation of Holydays order'd by Act of Parliament Ibid. p. 191. 1553. A new Catechism by the King's Order required to be taught by Schoolmasters Ibid. p. 219. Queen Elizabeth 1559. The Queen's Injunctions q. v. Ibid. p. â—98 King James I. 1603. The Conference at Hampton-Court Fuller Ch. Hist. p. 21. 1607. An Order for a new Translation of the Bible the King directs the whole Process of it Ibid. p. 44. c. 1618. A Proclamation by the King concerning Sports and Recreations to be allow'd of on the Lords-Day Ibid. p. 74. King Charles I. Directions concerning Preaching with respect to the Arminian Points I have set down these Remarks in this and the foregoing Number for the most part as they lay in my Collections and I hope they are Exact Tho' at present I have not either Time or Opportunity to make so careful an Examination as I ought to do of several of Them FINIS Books printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborne THE Genuine Epistles of St. Barnabas St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp the Shepherd of Hermas c. Translated and published in English 8 â— A Practical Discourse concerning Sweâ—ring 8 o. A Sermon on the Publick Thanksgiving for Preservation of his Majestie 's Person These three by the Reverend Dr. VVake Also several Sermons upon several Occasions By Dr. VVake Fables of Aesop and other eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections Folio Erasinus Colloquies in English 8 o. The Visions of Dom. Froncisco de Quevedo 8 o. The three last by Sir Roger L'Estrange Epiâ—â—eâ—u's Morals with Simpliciâ—â—'s Comment translated by Mr. Stanhope 8 o. Compleat Sets consisting of 8 Volumes of Letters writ by a Turkish Spy who lived 45 Years undiscovered at Paris 12 o Humane Prudence or the Art by which a man may raise himself
of the other Two But tho' this therefore be the General Method which I shall Observe yet I am sensible that in order to the better clearing of the former of these Questions I must take a much larger Compass than our Author's Design led him to do And to the end I may not barely answer his Allegations but may also give some tolerable Account of the true Nature and Rights of our Convocation which for all this Gentleman has yet done may still continue to be as little understood as those of a Jewish Sanhedrim I shall endeavour to examine this Matter to the bottom as far as my Skill will enable and my Leisure permit me to do it For as our Author has rightly observed that an exact and full Account of this Matter cannot be given but by one who has great Skill in our English Laws and Antiquities I may add and in the Laws and Antiquities of the Church too which Dyet must be competently understood oâ— this Subject can never be throughly handled so must I freely profess that neither will my other Affairs allow me to be very exact nor does my Profession as a Divine intitle me to so much Skill as I am sensible is requisite to the perfecting of such an Undertaking But however I will candidly offer what I have met with and where I chance to be mistaken especially in Matters of Law which lie out of my Way I hope those who are more learned will make a reasonable Allowance for my Errors CHAP. II. The first General Point proposed and the Method laid down for the handling of it In pursuance whereof a General Enquiry is first made into that Power which Christian Princes have always been allow'd to exercise over their Ecclesiastical Synods or Convocations with respect both to the Calling of them to the Managing of them when Sitting and to the Confirming or Annulling their Acts after wards TO come then without any more ado to the Business in hand the first and main Thing to be consider'd is this Whether there is any Law that commands or permits the Sitting and Acting of the Convocation besides the absolute free Pleasure of the Prince And if there be What that Law is And How far the Prince is obliged by it This I take to be the true state of the Question and I shall treat of it in this following Method I. I will enquire What Power Christian Princes in general have claim'd over such Convocations with respect both to their Assembling and Acting and to the giving Force and Authority to what is done by them II. I will consider Whether our Kings have not the same Authority over our Convocation that all other Christian Princes have claim'd over their Synods And III. Upon this Foundation I will Examine what this Author has alledged to the contrary and offer what I conceive may fairly be replied to it And I. Let us enquire What Power Christian Princes in general have claim'd over their Synods with respect both to their Meeting and Acting first and to the giving Force and Authority to what is done by them That Christian Princes have a Right not only to exercise Authority over Ecclesiastical Persons but to interpose in the ordering of Ecclesiastical Affairs too neither our own Articles and Canons nor the Consent of the Universal Church ever since the Empire became Christian will suffer us to doubt There is no one so great a Stranger to the History of the Holy Scriptures as not to know what Authority the Jewish Princes under the Law pretended to as to this matter And how far the first Christian Emperors follow'd their Examples were other Authors silent yet that one Assertion of Socrates would not suffer us to be ignorant where he affirms That ever since they became Christians the Affairs of the Church have depended upon them and the greatest Synods been assembled by their Order and still says he continue to be assembled It was a famous Saying of Constantine the first Christian Emperor to his Bishops That They indeed were Bishops in things within the Church but that He was appointed by God to be Bishop as to Those without And how far the succeeding Emperors continued to look upon the well ordering and Governing of the Church to be one great part of that Duty which God expected from them The Epistle of Theodosius and Valentinian to to St. Cyril and the rest of the Metropolitans whom they summoned to meet in the General Council of Ephesus abundantly shews Let us look into the several Collections of the Roman Laws The Code of Theodosius The Code and Novels of Justinian The yet later Collection of Basilius Leo and Constantine that followed after How many Constitutions shall we find in every one of these relating to Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Order and Government of the Church to the Election and Consecration of Bishops and Priests to the Lives Offices and Privileges of the Clergy to the Erection and Liberties of Churches to the Service of them nay and even to the very Faith which was to be taught and profess'd in Them And when the Empire began to be parcell'd out into several lesser States and Kingdoms We find their several Princes still maintaining the same Authority as to all these things that the Emperors had done before As from the Capitularies of the French and German Princes the Collections of the Spanish Councils our Own Antient Laws and the Histories which remain of the several Other Countries does evidently appear But of the Authority of Princes in Ecclesiastical Matters and over Ecclesiastical Persons in general there is no doubt Nor should there one would think be any more whether One great part of their Authority as to these Matters has not always been accounted to consist in the Power to convenâ— Synods and to order whatsoever relates both to the assembling and acting of them And for the better Proof of which I shall now distinctly consider what their Power is with respect 1 To the calling of such Synods or Convocations 2 To the directing of their Proceedings when they are Assembled And 3 To the approving and confirming their Constitutions afterwards And 1 Let us consider What the Power of the Civil Magistrate is as to the Convening of Ecclesiastical Synods and Convocations It has ever been look'd upon as one great part of the Prince's Prerogative that no Societies should be incorporated nor any Companies be allow'd to meet together without his Knowledge and Permission The Roman Law was especially very severe as to this Particular And tho' after the Conversion of the Emperors to the Faith of Christ a provision was made for the Publick Assemblies of the Church for Divine Service yet before that Tertullian who understood these matters as well as any one of his time tho' he excused their Meetings upon all Other Accounts could not deny but that they fell under the Censure of
That they had not proceeded according to the Method he had prescribed to them and commands them not to proceed to any farther Censures until they had settled the doctrine of Faith and receiv'd some New Directions from himself which he promis'd to send by another Commissioner whom he design'd to depute together with Candidian to look after them The Answer of the Council to this Order of the Emperor is very remarkable and clearly settles the Princes Right as to this particular They pretend not that he had no Power thus to Limit their Proceedings or to annul their Acts upon this pretence that they had not proceeded according to his Directions No but they beg leave to inform him that Candidian had not made a fair Report of their Actions to him and therefore intreat the Emperor that he would order Candidian with Five of the Fathers to come to him who should satisfie him that all things had been done Canonically by the Council The Emperor hereupon sends another Commissioner to them Who having examined both Parties and discover'd the Design of the Patriarch of Antioch gave leave to Seven Bishops of each side to go to Theodosius and inform him of their Proceedings This they did and the Emperor was satisfied that the Council had proceeded regularly against Nestorius In testimony whereof he approved of what they had done allow'd of their Acts and confirm'd them with his own Edict Such Authority has the Christian Prince to direct the Acts of the most General Councils and to require an Observance of their Directions I proceed 2dly To shew That for the better Exercise of this Authority He has also a Right if he pleases to sit in them and to preside over them So Constantine the first Christian Emperor did in the first General Council of Nice He not only sate with the Fathers but moderated in their Disputes and at last concurr'd with them in their Desinition And though after his Example in the Synod of Tyre the following Emperors chose rather to preside by their Commissioners than to come Themselves in Person and sit among them yet oftentimes we know they did vouchsafe their Presence to them and it was their Civil Affairs that prevented them when they did not Thus Marcian not only removed the Fourth General Council to Chalcedon on purpose that he might have it nearer to Him but was Himself present in the Sixth Action of it both to confirm what the Fathers had determined and to settle by their Judgment the Faith of the Church to After Ages And when by Order of the Council their Determination was read to him he not only approved of it but added this farther Sanction to it That if any Private Person Military Officer or Clergy-man should under pretence of any farther Dispute concerning those Matters cause any Disturbance if he were only a private Laick he should be banish'd if a Military Officer or Clergy man he should be degraded from his Employ and be liable to such farther Punishments as in such Case should be thought requisite And having done this he deliver'd to the Fathers Three Ecclesiastical Constitutions ready drawn up to be approved of by Them and they all gave their unanimous Assent to them But more frequent was the Custom of those Kings who Govern'd in those States which arose out of the Dissolution of the Roman Empire to sit and act with their Synods If we look to the Kingdom of Spain I have already observed how great a Veneration that Country has always paid to the Third Council of Toledo There were present at it five Metropolitans and seventy-eight Bishops subscribed to it Now at this Meeting Reccaredus was not only himself present but caused his Subjects who were before Arians to subscribe to the Catholick Faith in it And having done this He went on with the Fathers to settle the Discipline of the Church and acted rather like a Patriarch than a Prince among them For to instance only in a Canon or Two of that Council In the Second they tell us that the Bishops order'd so and so by the Advice of their most Glorious King Reccaredus In the Eighth by his Command and Consent In the Ninth by his Assent And lastly when all was done He thus subscribed the Acts of the Council together with the Bishops I Flavius Reccaredus King confirming this Deliberation which I have defined with the Holy Synod have subscribed to it It is impossible to imagine any thing more full to this purpose than what these Acts have afforded us As for the German Emperors they also sate in like manner with their Bishops In the famous Synod of Frankford one of the most eminent that was ever held after the first Antient and General Councils we read that it was assembled Praecipiente Praesidente Carolo Rege And whereas there were three great Points debated in it namely first Whether they should confirm the Sentence of Condemnation which had before been pass'd upon Elipandus Bishop of Toledo who held that our Saviour Christ was the Son of God only by Adoption and according to the Flesh not as if He were of the same Nature with God Secondly What they should resolve concerning the Second Council of Nice as to the Business of Image-Worship And Thirdly How to end some Secular Affairs It may be observed that in the Two first of These which related to Matters of Doctrine we find nothing of the Emperor's defining with the Bishops as neither of the Bishops concurring with Him in the Third But in all the Other Canons which concern the Discipline of the Church the King and the Synod join together and the Phrase runs in these Terms Statutum est Definitum est à Domino Rege à Sanctâ Synodo I might to this add many other Instances of the like nature but I shall take notice only of one and that of a Synod held under another Emperor lest any one should think that Charles the Great had taken more upon him than did of Right belong to him And it shall be of the Synod of Trebur called by Arnulf the Emperor about the Year 895. At the head of the Subscriptions made to which there is this remarkable Passage In this Holy Council the most Glorious King Arnulf our pious Prince presiding and assisting sate the Holy Fathers which came together with the Venerable Pastors of the Church And what they establish'd agreeably to the Catholick Faith they by a like profession confirm'd and with one accord subscribed to In short that the Princes of whom I have now been speaking did no more than all the other Emperors have been confest to have a Right to do is manifest from the Constitution made to this purpose in a full Synod An. 742. Where after a long Debate of the Prince with his Bishops and Priests how the Law of God and the Discipline of the Church might best be restored it was in the very
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
those days of which I am at present to discourse was briefly this 1. They had every Year a General Council of the Kingdom made up of the chief Men both in Honour and Employ whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and therein Laws were made with the Assent of the Prince both for the Church and State In Matters purely Spiritual such as the Articles of Christian Faith the Clergy advised alone and what was upon their Advice determined by the Prince became a Law as to those Matters In Matters of a Mix'd Nature as in Regulating the Discipline of the Church The Great Lords deliberated together with the Bishops And the Prince confirm'd what by the Common Advice and Consent of Both was Recommended to Him But because it might so fall out that some Affairs might arise which neither could be foreseen at those General Meetings nor might be deferr'd till their next Assembling Therefore 2. To prevent any Inconvenience that might happen by this means there was another Great Council held every Year made up of a select Number of those who came to the General Assembly and by them were such Matters determined after the same Manner and with the Concurrence of the same Authority by which the Other proceeded Such was the method of proceeding in these Publick Affairs abroad and the same was in Effect the Polity of our Own Country under the Government of our Saxon Princes They had their General Councils first in which they Deliberated of all Publick Matters And these Councils consisted of the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of the Clergy and of the Wise-men Great-men Alder-men Counts that is to say of the chief of the Laity indifferently call'd in those Times by any or all these Names In these Councils they debated both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs and made Laws with the Prince's Consent and Concurrence for the Ordering of Both. And this they did as far as I can judge after the like manner that we have seen the French were wont to do The Bishops and Clergy advised apart in Matters purely Spiritual But the Great-men debated together with them in Civil and Mix'd Affairs and in which the interest of the State was concern'd as well as that of the Church Thus Athelstan when he publish'd his Ecclesiastical Laws tells us that He did it with the Counsel of his Bishops But when he came to his Other Constitutions we find from their Subscription that his Nobles as well as Bishops were Present and that Both assisted at the making of Them Whether besides these General Councils there were not in those Times some more particular Ones with Us as there were in France I shall not undertake to say That in process of time there were we are very sure and to which such only of the Bishops and Great-men were call'd as the Prince thought sit to Advise with Indeed as to any setled times of these Councils meeting it do's not appear that as yet there were any fix'd tho' afterwards a Custom began to be introduced of holding these Great Councils Once every Year But yet within this period Our Princes began very Solemnly to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with their Bishops and Lords And by that means in some sort held a Council three times every Year with Them It is true our ancient Laws make mention of a solemn Assembly that was convened every Year upon the first of May in which the chief both of the Clergy and Laity met together And this differ'd but little from such a Council as We are now speaking of But yet it do's not appear that in these Meetings any great Affairs of State were transacted much less any Laws made but rather the main business that was done in them was solemnly to Renew their Oath of Fidelity to the King and for the Maintenance of the Laws already made But tho' the Greatest part of what concern'd the Church was therefore transacted with us as it was abroad in these State Councils yet it cannot be doubted but that within this Period there were held several Ecclesiastical Convocations or Synods properly so called To these not only the Archbishops and Bishops were admitted but the Abbots and other Clergy were called Insomuch that in some of them we find Priests Deacons and Monks and even Abbesses also mention'd And besides these not only the Prince was for the most part present but often-times his Nobility together with Him In these Synods sometimes the Canonical Discipline was inforced and Matters of Faith establish'd But generally they met for Other purposes and did little more than either confirm the Estates or Privileges of some Religious Houses or transact the like particular Affairs And still the General concerns of Religion were setled either by the Bishops and Abbots apart or else by them together with the Great Men in the Common-Council or Parliament of the Realm And now having said thus much to clear the way for a Right Understanding of the Method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in those Times in which Christianity first began to be setled among Us by our Saxon Ancestors I shall go on to take a short View of the most considerable Assemblies whether Synods or Councils that were held in this Country before the Time of the Norman Conquest It was about the Year of Christ 596 that Austin the Monk having determined to undertake the Conversion of the Saxons in these Parts with the Leave of Pope Gregory Arrived here And having with Good success persuaded Ethelbert King of Kent to become his Proselyte He from thenceforth began to have a very Great Authority with Him We are told by a Monkish Historian that about the Year of our Lord 605 that King being now fully confirm'd in the Christian Faith did with Bertha his Queen and Eadbald his Son and with Austin his Bishop and the Great Lords of his Land solemnly keep his Christmas at Canterbury And there in a Common Council both of his Clergy and People He endow'd the Monastery which Austin had Founded in that City and granted several large Privileges and Immunities to it I have before observed that it was an Ancient Custom of our Kings to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with an Extraordinary State and Solemnity Their Bishops and Great Men attended upon Them and they appear'd in the highest Pomp of Majesty they could put on among Them and took those Occasions to transact such affairs as they thought expedient for the publick Welfare If there be any Credit to be given to this Relation for which I dare not answer then we must look upon this to have been such a Civil Council Sure we are that in after-times many were held of the like Kind But tho' in these days the affairs of the Church were for the most part determined in such Meetings yet I have before said that some Synods they had which were properly Ecclesiastical and
Enormities have broke out and there being none to suppress them they have by an evil Custom grown to too great a Height To which the King answer'd Of this I will determine when I see fit and that at my own Pleasure not at yours And he kept his word with him For during his whole Reign there was no Ecclesiastical Synod held in England But what this King deny'd the next readily complied with For in the second Year of his Reign he consented to the desire of Anselm to call a Synod and accordingly at Michaelmas Anno 1102 a Convocation met in St. Peter's Church near London At this Synod not only the King but all his Nobles were present The Archbishop desiring they might be fully satisfied in the Orders which should be made to the end they might the more readily afterwards concurr with the Bishops in the enforcement of them For so the Iniquity of those times required in which for want of Synods Vice was grown to an extraordinary heigth and the Fervour of Christianity was much abated It was a long time after this before any other Ecclesiastical Synod was held in this Country but then there met one of an extraordinary Nature and which I must take particular notice of because that in it was made the first considerable Invasion upon the Princes Authority as to this matter in these parts Pope Honorius having appointed Jo. de Crema to go as his Legat into England he met the King in Normandy and after having been stop'd for some time by him managed his business so well as to obtain the King's Permission to come over hither Being arrived here he assembled a National Council by his Legatine Authority Anno 1125. And the method He took of doing of it is worth our Notice It being the first Instance we have of any thing of this nature that was Attempted here The Legate assuming to Himself the King's Prerogative commands the Archbishop of Canterbury to Issue out his Writ for the Calling of it This the Archbishop was forced to submit to yet being desirous to maintain his Own Authority as well as He could He drew up the Writ in these Words William c. Archbishop of Cant. to Urban Bishop of Landaff Health I signifie to you by this Letter that John Cardinal Priest and Legat of the Roman Church has by Our Order and Connivance design'd to Hold a Council at London the day of the Blessed Virgin 's Nativity Wherefore I Command you that at the Time and Place prefix'd you fail not to meet us with the Arch-deacons Abbots and Priors of your Diocess to Determine concerning Certain Ecclesiastical Affairs and to Reform or Correct what the Sentence of Our said Convocation shall agree is to be Reformed or Corrected The Council being thus Assembled the Legate presided in it He sate not only above the Archbishop and Bishops but above all the Nobility of England who came thither By this Pride of his he raised the Indignation of the whole Realm against Him And being caught in Bed with a Whore at Night after having bitterly inveighed against the Marriage of the Clergy the day before He was forced to leave the Kingdom in a very dishonourable Manner But tho' the Archbishop therefore did what he could to assert his Authority yet he was not without a very tender sense of the Assront that had been put upon Him To prevent the like for the future instead of maintaining the Rights of his See and the Privileges of his Country and in both which our Nobility would certainly have stood by Him He applied to Rome for a Legatine Power to be Granted to him and so unhappily brought both the Kingdom and his own Dignity under a greater Servitude Being return'd from Rome with his New Character Anno 1127. He the same Year held a Council not as Archbishop but as the Pope's Legate the first of the Kind that ever any Archbishop held in England To this was gather'd besides the Bishops a great Croud both of the Clergy and of the Laity But these were spectators only the Bishops alone Voted in it And all the Power the King was now allowâ—â— was after having heard what was defined by Them to Consent to it and to give leave to them to put in execution what had been as we see determined by Them But tho' the Clergy by this means began to get Ground upon this Prince yet it was not very long before he found out a way to be even with Them and that such a One as was very Gratefull to his Close and Thrifty disposition For about three years after having Observed how little the Decrees of the late Councils had prevailed to Oblige the Clergy to Abandon their Wives in another Council held at London August the 1st 1129. He persuaded the Bishops to leave the Ordering of that matter to Himself Which being done He exacted vast Summs of Money from the Married Priests and instead of forcing them to leave their Wives gave license to such as would pay for it to live on freely with Them King Henry being dead it cannot be wondred if the Invasions begun to be made upon the Prince's Rights towards the latter end of his Reign were not only continued but encreased under K. Stephen He who sounded One part of his Title to the Crown upon the Papal Authority could hardly be supposed capable of denying the Pope the same Power which his Predecessors had allow'd to Him And for the Opposing whereof he had himself so weak a foundation Three Synods we meet with during the Reign of this King and Every One held by the Legatine Power The first was in the Year 1138 It was call'd by Albericus Bishop of Ostia and all the favour which was allow'd the King was That He was present at it and help'd to make Theobaldus Archbishop of Canterbury in it But much less was his interest in the next of these Synods which met at Winchester about four years after and which was not only call'd without his leave by the Legatine Authority of his Brother the Bishop of that See but was assembled on purpose to Animate the Clergy against him and to prepare the way for Maude the Empress to overthrow Him But the fortune of the King prevail'd And about the End of the same Year in another Synod of the like kind at Westminster the Legate return'd to the King his Brother's Party and Recommended it to the People to pay that Obedience they Owed to Him Thus pass'd these Affairs in this troublesome Reign and in which the Authority first Usurp'd by the Pope in the time of King Henry the First got new strength and began now to plead prescription in its favour But now the Civil State being a little more Quiet the King was thereby in a better condition to Assert his ancient Rights And accordingly being inform'd that some foreign
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
its determinations Proceeds in the next place for their sakes who have No Religion at the bottom nor any Notion of a Church however for their Worldly Interest they may pretend to this or that Party by joyning Themselves to its Communion to shew What the Law of their Country says in this Case That so they may be for ever silenced in this Question and not dare to mutter any more after what this New Pythagoras shall have declared to Them And having thus engaged our attention he proceeds Oraculously to pronounce KNOW therefore says He that a Convocation is an Ecclesiastical Court or Assembly Essential to our Constitution and Establish'd by the Law of it It is the Highest of all Our Ecclesiastical Courts or Assemblies Is called and convened in Parliament time by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishops It consists of all the Clergy of both Provinces either Personally or Representatively present In the Upper House are the Archbishops and Bishops In the Lower House or House of Commons spiritual are the Deans Arch-deacons One Proctor for Every Chapter and Two for the Clergy of Each Diocess This is the Court. The frequent sitting of this Court is One of the Chief Rights of the Church of England The Church of England is a National Church and to such it is certainly incident to have National Synods or Convocations And in like manner to those Synods to have freedom of Speech or Debate about Matters proper for their Cognizance relating to the Being or Well-being of their Body as a Church And if the Church of England have any Rights or Privileges this of Assembling Debating and Conferring is certainly One and the Chief of Them 'T is true a Convocation cannot Assemble without the Assent of the King His Writ is necessary in Order to it And his Prerogative do's Empower him to Prohibit the Clergy Assembling in Synod without his Summons But then it is as true too that the Assembling of Them is not entirely dependant on His Will nor lodged purely in the Breast of the Sovereign But it is with the Convocation as it is with the Parliament The King is intrusted with the Formal part of Summoning and Convening it but so that by the very Essence and Constitution of our Church a Convocation ought at certain times to Meet Sit and Act and the Fundamentals of our Government shew Him When and How his Power in this Respect is to be Exercised and that it ought not to be at his free Will and Pleasure To Grant therefore that the King's Writ is necessary to the Assembling of the Convocation The Question is Whether that Writ ought not to Issue whensoever a Summons goes out for a Parliament And to this we say That the Law of the Realm hath directed the King or at least His Chancellour Keeper or Other Minister having the Custody of the Great Seal to Issue forth such Writs and they can no more be Omitted than any Single Peer's Summons to Parliament Thus far our Way is plain and clear But supposing all this the Question still is Whether or no the Convocation may conferr after their Summons and Meeting without the King ' s Special License and Assent In answer to which I must acknowledge that the Common Received Opinion is in the Negative However if what has been offer'd already with regard to their Convening have any weight in it it must hold also in some degree with respect to their Conferring and Treating when met about Matters proper to their Cognizance If they are a Court and have their Jurisdiction and are a Legislature and have the Power of making Ecclesiastical Laws both which they certainly are and have then the liberty of Conferring and Discussing is necessary to their very Existence c. This is the Summ of what this Author has asserted as to the point in Question and for the most part is express'd in his Own Words Let us now see Wherein we differ from One another And reduce the matter in debate between Us to as narrow a Compass as we can And 1st Tho' I will not enter upon a New Subject yet I must needs say I am by no means satisfied that the Church has either Command or Authority from God to assemble Synods or by Consequence any inherent and unalterable Right to make any such authoritative Definitions as He supposes in Them I am not Aware that either in the Old or New Testament there is so much as One single direction given for its so doing And excepting the singular Instance which we have Acts XVth I know of no Example that can with any shew of Reason be offer'd of such a Meeting And whether that were such a Synod as we are now speaking of may very justly be doubted The foundation of Synods in the Church is in my Apprehension the same as of Councils in the State The necessities of the Church when it began to be enlarged first brought in the One as Those of the Common-wealth did the Other And therefore when Men are Incorporated into Societies as well for the service of God and the salvation of their Souls as for their Civil peace and security these Assemblies are to be as much subject to the Laws of the Society and to be regulated by Them as any Other publick Assemblies of what kind soever are Nor has the Church any Inherent divine Right to set it at liberty from being Concluded by such Rules as the Governing part of every Society shall prescribe to it as to this Matter This is my Notion of these things and thus I conceive Synods are to be managed in Christian States As for those Realms in which the Civil Power is of another Persuasion natural Reason will prompt the Members of every Church to consult together the best they can how to manage the affairs of it and to Agree upon such Rules and Methods as shall seem most proper to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church and to give the least offence that may be to the Government under which they live And what Rules are by the Common-consent of Every such Church agreed to ought to be the measure for the assembling and acting of Synods in such a Country Whether this notion will please this Author or no I cannot tell If it do's not I hope he will shew me wherein my Error lies and how I may correct it In the mean time this security I have that if I am mistaken I err with Men of as great a Judgment and as comprehensive a Knowledge in these Matters as Any can be who differ from Me. But to come to that which I am now more properly to examine That the two Convocations consider'd as a National Synod are the Highest Ecclesiastical Assembly of this Kingdom I readily Agree Nor shall I deny but that a Convocation may be said to be Essential to our Constitution But that the frequent sitting
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
unwilling to believe it tho' all the while it is apparent that by that very Insinuation they hope to make it stick the more they think they have done their Business They have Guarded themselves against being called to account for it by Men and I am Afraid they never once think what Account they must give for it to God It is by this little Artifice that this bold Writer has presumed to vent such Calumnies against the Greatest and best Men as had they really been true could hardly have been Reported without a Crime Has traduced the King as a Man of No Religion but particularly as no Friend to the Church of England The Arch-bishop as either Ignorant of the Churches Interests or too much a Courtier to trouble the King about them The Bishops as Men that value not what becomes of the Church so long as they can but keep their Honour and their Dignity in the State The Inferiour Clergy as full of Discontents and Dissatisfaction as Persons who have been ill used and resent it accordingly And lastly even the Parliament its self as a Body that has never yet done any thing in favour of Religion nor that seems at all disposed to do any thing for the Advantage of it And when such is the Case of all these what wonder if he freely declares his Apprehension of a General Conspiracy of all Sorts of Men among Us to undermine the Catholick Faith so that it is much to be feared no Order no Degree or Place among Us is wholly free from the Infection It would be endless for me to insist upon these and the like Reflections which He seems industriously to have catcht at in every Part of his Letter I shall instead of all examine the Story with which he concludes it and so take my Leave of Him There was says He a Time when the Clergy was deem'd Publick Enemies and us'd as such viz. in the Reign of Edw. 1. but it was upon a very Honourable Account because they Asserted the Laws of the Realm The King at that Time did by Commission against the ancient Laws and Customs of the Kingdom pretend to collect Money without the Assent of Parliament not from the Clergy only but from the Earls Barons and Commonalty of the Realm The Latter did too many of them submit the Clergy stoutly Resisted it So that Sir Robert Brabazon the King ' s Chief Justice pronounced openly in the King ' s Bench in terrorem that from thenceforth no Justice should be done at their Suit and that Justice should be done against Them in the King's Courts at any Man's Suit This Passage I mark'd when I first read the Institutes as a very extraordinary one 't is pag. 529. 2 Inst I suppose you will think it so too and that England was then bless'd with a Righteous Chief Justice This is the Fable and the Moral of it is not difficult King William is the Edward here meant The present Clergy are like those here mention'd deem'd Publick Enemies but upon a very Honourable Account because they Assert the Laws of the Realm that is stand up for Another Interest and are Enemies to the Present Government For this they are not only Deem'd Publick Enemies but are Used as such Some of them have been turn'd out of their Preferments Others have been Discountenanced and not Preferr'd according to their Deserts because they also have Honourably stood up for the Laws of the Realm that is for another Interest tho' they have again and again sworn Obedience to the Present Government and some of them tho' sore against their Wills even Subscribed the Association in Defence of it To say nothing of Others who were the most forward and busie of any in the Kingdom to help on the Revolution and to establish that Government they now dislike And this they have done at the same time that the Laity have too many of them submitted And will I hope shew that they are Able to defend the Government which they have established against all the Enemies of it tho' they are never so much censured and reviled by these new Patriots for their so doing Having thus accounted for this Story as related by this Gentleman and that too imperfectly from Sir Edw. Cook Whose Authority in point of History he is willing to allow of tho' He cannot Away with it in a Point of Law I shall in Justice to the Memory of that Great Prince and most worthy Judge give a true Account of this whole Matter And let this Author if He pleases make as pertinent an Application of it for me as if I am not mistaken I have done for Him King Edward the 1st having exhausted his Stores in the War of Scotland and that with Great Honour to Himself and Advantage to the Nation call'd his Parliament at St. Edmundsbury the Day after All Souls and accounted his Circumstances to Them The Laity readily Granted him a Subsidy as desired but the Clergy pretending their Fear of the Pope's Bull deny'd in any wise to assist Him Pope Boniface the VIIIth being desirous to advance the Liberties of the Church had the Year before publish'd a Constitution by which he sorbad the Clergy to pay any Taxes to their Prince without the Pope's Consent and Excommunicated as well the Receivers as Payers of such Taxes This was the Bull which these Good Men stood upon and this that Pope publishd at the particular Desire of Robert Winchelsea Arch-bishop of Canterbury and of the Rest of the Clergy of England The King tho' he were sufficiently sensible of their jugling and displeased at it nevertheless gave them time till the next Parliament to consider what they had to do and how to make some better and more satisfactory Answer to Him But in the mean time He caused all their Stores to be sealed up And the Arch-bishop to be even with Him at the same time order'd this Bull of the Pope to be publish'd in all the Churches of his Province The next Parliament being met at London the Day after Hilary the King again demands a Supply of them They persist in their Denyal and the King thereupon puts them out of his Protection And holding his Parliament with his Barons without them an Act is pass'd by which all their Goods are Confiscated to the King's Use. In this State the Clergy were when the Lord Chief Justice as my Lord Coke says Sir Robert Brabazon who was then Chief Justice not of the King's Bench but of the Common-pleas declared to the Attorneys of the Bishops and Clergy what the King and Parliament had done He bade them acquaint their Masters That from thenceforth no Justice could be done for them in the King's Court tho' they should be never so much injured but that Justice might be had against Them by any who had need and would move it to the Court. Now this was no more
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
their Meeting and was greatly satisfied at their Behaviour in it It was not long after this that as Baronius himself confesses Theodorick summon'd another Synod at Rome to judge of the Crimes alledged against Symmachus Bishop of that See and submitted the Determination of that Affair to their Resolution And when Caesarius Bishop of Arles desired to convene a Provincial Synod in France according to the direction of the Antient Canons and the Allowance of the Laws to that purpose Yet he did not think it sitting so to do till he had obtained the Consent of Alaric the Goth for it And it is expresly noted that it was held by his Allowance What Caesarius here did with respect to Alaric an Arrian Prince the same did Avitus Bishop of Vienne with regard to Sigismond the Son of Gundebald King of the Burgundians whom he had not long before converted to the Catholick Faith He call'd even his Provincial Synod with the King's Consent And tho' himself Metropolitan of that District yet presided in it by the Prince's Order Such was the Authority by which these lesser Synods were wont to be held immediately upon the breaking of the Empire And that thus it continued till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to overthrow the Prince's Right will appear from a short View of this matter in some of the principal States which arose out of the Ruins of it And 1. That this was so in the Kingdom of Spain the Councils of Toledo the most eminent of Any in that Country both for Number and Authority sufficiently demonstrate That the Second of these was call'd by the Permission of Amalaric the Synod it self owns But the Third and I think the most considerable of them all is yet more full to our present purpose It was a General Council of that whole Nation In it the Goths adjured their Heresie and embraced the Catholick Faith This Faith was first establish'd in Spain by the Authority of this Council and several very useful Canons were framed by it for the Government of the Church for the Time to come And all this was done by the Command of Reccaredus their King Who with Badda his Queen subscribed to the Orthodox Faith in it and made not only his Bishops but the chief of his Nobility and others subscribe to it It would be needless for me after so clear an Evidence as this Synod has given us of the Authority by which Councils were antiently Convened in Spain to spend any long time in the particular Examination of the several Councils that follow'd after It shall therefore suffice barely to say thus much that the Fourth of Toledo Another National Council and of great Authority in those parts met by the Order of Sisenandus as the Third had done by that of Reccaredus The Fifth by the Command of Cinthila who also confirm'd the Acts of it The Sixth of Cinthilan The Seventh of Chindaswind The Eighth of Recceswinthus The rest by the Order of the several Princes which follow'd after As from the Acts of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth the last of these Synods it does evidently appear As for their Provincial Synods they were not indeed always summon'd by the express particular Order of those Princes But yet even these were held by Vertue of that Authority which the Third Great Council of Toledo under Reccaredus before mention'd had given to them It was by vertue of this Allowance that the Synods of Narbonne and Saragosa were assembled and in Both which for that Reason it is said that they met according to the Order of that Prince and to the Appointment of that Council 2. And the same Authority which these Kings used in Spain did their next Neighbours the Suâ—vian Princes exercise in Galaecia during the time of their Empire there The Second Council of Braga the Metropolis of that Country is expresly declared to have met at the Command of Ariamirus or as some have rather thought of Theodimirus their King It was by the same Authority that the Synod of Lugo not long after was assembled to divide the Country into several Provinces and to erect a greater number of Bishopricks in it And when by Vertue of this Division the Clergy of that Country were come together in two Provincial Synods under their respective Metropolitans according to the ancient Canons in that behalf Miro his Successor order'd them to meet both together in a General Council at Braga and there agree upon such Constitutions as they should find the Necessities of the Church to require 3. If from hence we cross over to the Kingdom of Burgundy we shall find those Princes in possession of the same Rights over their Synods that the other Kings have been shewn to have exercised The Inscription of the Second Council of Lyons assembled about the Year 567 shews that it was call'd by the Command of Guntramn their King who also not long after assembled another Synod at Challon as Gregory of Tours informs us It was by the Order of the same Guntramn that the Great Council of Mascon was held And when that had not sufficiently restored the Discipline of the Church he not only assembled another at Lyons but more in several other places at Valence Poitiers Mascon c. all whose Acts expresly avow the Authority by which they met 4. In Germany Carloman first and then Charles the Emperor as they were the great Restorers of Religion and Assertors of the Discipline of the Church so will they afford us a sufficient proof of the Prince's Authority in this particular It was the former of these who with the Advice of his Clergy and Nobles called the Council of Ratisbon which is accounted among the First of Germany An. 742. And how the Other continued by the same Authority to summon the like Assemblies the several Synods of Wormes Valenciennes Aix la Chappelle but especially the two Great Councils of Mentz and Frankford in the latter of which not only the Bishops of Germany but of France and Aquitain were assembled together and over all Whom Charles the Emperor presided abundantly shew No sooner was this great Prince dead but Ludovicus Pius his Successor after his Example call'd together his Clergy to Aix-la-Chappelle for the correction of the Negligence and Ignorance of the Bishops and for the better regulating of the Lives of the Clergy And having fully determined whatsoever was thought expedient in Order thereunto he commanded a strict Obedience to be paid to the Constitutions which had been made by them And when this did not yet sufficiently correct the Abuses of those times He not only summon'd a Second Council to meet at the same place but being met he proposed to them such Heads as he conceived to be farther necessary with respect both to the Lives and Doctrine of the Bishops and Clergy and order'd the