Regulations in the Church or in their particular Diocese be necessary at that time The Clergy in the Lower House who are suppos'd to be Eye-witnesses of many things that don't ordinarily reach the notice of their Diocesan have a right either jointly or separately to lay before their Lordships an account of any disorderly Persons or Practices they know And this either vivâ voce by the Prolocutor or in Schedules put into the Prolocutor's hands in order to be severally laid before the Archbishop and Bishops and to be compar'd and jointly consider'd with those of the same kind exhibited by their Lordships These Reformanda in many cases could require no more than the strict Exercise of the Ordinary Jurisdiction in in every Diocese and were therefore answer'd by a solemn Recommendation of them to the care of the Bishops respectively But if the Abuses call'd for a new Law and the Reformation of them requir'd the assistance of the Prince or the Parliament these Schedules were reduc'd into Articles and upon them as containing the general sense and request of the Synod such Sollicitations were set a foot as were judg'd necessary to bring about the Reformation desir'd The Care of the Reformanda in Parliamento usually left to the Archbishop c. The Applications upon the Reformanda in Parliamento were usually left to the care of the Archbishop Bishops and the Parliamentary Prelates one instance whereof I will set down at large because it is more distinct and particular than the rest and will give the Reader a clear apprehension of this matter Anno 1452. Mar. 3. Quia caetera Negotia quae in Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ Reformatione indigebant Majestatem Regiam Jura regni concernebant sic definitioni Sententiae dicti Concilii nequaquam interim subjacebant supplicatum fuerat ex parte Cleri quatenus dictus Reverendssimus in Christo Pater necnon dicti Reverendi in Christo Patres caeterique Praelati ad tunc ibidem existentes in Parliamento quod tunc in prox diebus apud Radyng inchoand fuerat apud Regiam Celsiudinem necnon Optimates Proceres Communitatem praedict regni in codem Parliamento in unum congregando pro Reformatione hujusmodi ritè faciend efficaciter instarent Cujus Supplicationi annuit idem Reverendissimus in Christo Pater Reverendique in Christo Batres promittentes sc curaturos acturos apud Regiam Celsitudinem necnon Optimates Proceres Communitatemque praedict quoad in cis foret pro felici cita celeri Reformatione eorundem sicut in Parliamento praedict pro viribus suis pro eadem Reformatione instarunt Deputies appointed by Convocation to assist the Bishops in Soliciting On some other occasions we find a certain number of the Clergy deputed by Convocation to assist the President and Bishops in soliciting their business Anno 1444. Octo. 22. The Clergy are directed quatenùs pro corrigend reformand c. inter se deliberarent Oct. 26. Clerus Domûs Inferioris desiderabat ab Episcopis aliis Praelatis sentire suum super Cedulâ de Reformand in ipsâ Convocatione per Clerum concept ad tunc Dominus Bathon Commissarius de Consensù Confratrum suorum Religiosorum caeterorum Procuratorum Cleri manu suâ proprlâ subscripsit singulos Articulos in eadem Cedulâ contentos Et quantum ad Reformanda per Parliamentum nominati in dicta Cedulâ fuerunt Deputati ad solicitand dictam Materiam Anno 1452. Mar. 15. Assignatis insuper quibusdam de Clero viz. Magistris c. ad sollicitandum instruendum pleniùs informandum Reverendissimum in Christo Patrem Reverendos in Christo Patres caeterosque Praelatos in desuper dictis Materiis negotiis in Parliamento in proximis diebus inchoand corrigend Reformand Anno 1460. The last day of Convocation Pluribus Articulis lectis recitatis ad Supplicationem totius Cleri Reverendissimus Pater aliique Reverendi Patres se penes Regiam Majestatem pro Reformatione eorundem promiserunt suos impendere labores Deinde certi Viri ex clero electi fuerunt qui dictûm Reverendissimum Patrem alios Reverendos Patres ad praemissa facienda solicitarent Thus much is sufficient to show what part the Clergy in Convocation have always born and may therefore justly claim in Grievances and Reformation distinguisht in Convocationlanguage from all other Business by the known Names of Articuli or Gravamina Cleri and Reformanda Their Petitions and Applications of other kinds come next under Consideration CHAP. XIII The Clergy's Petitions of other kinds THE Clergy in Convocation have a Right not only to the Redress of their own particular Grievances or to interpose of the Reformation for any disorders they may observe in the Church but also to offer to the Archbishop and Bishops all such Measures as may in their Opinion tend to the honour and interest of Religion This is regularly done by way of Petition of which the Registers afford us a Variety upon several matters and occasions And my design in the following Enumeration is not on the one hand to lay any confinement either upon the matter or occasions of the Clergy's Petitions nor yet on the other to extend them beyond the present Laws of the Realm but only in pursuance of my method all along to give the clearest Insight that the Registers afford into the Practice of former times And when that is done every Man is left to his own application Petitions The Petitions I have observ'd are 1. For making new Canons I. For the making of new Canons or Ordinations of which sort we meet with none in the more early times because then the Clergy had no concern in them But in the Year 1529. Sess 7. it is said that the Prolocutor applying himself to the Upper House voluit ut Ordinatio fieret de Appropriationibus Ecclesiarum de Pensionibus Vicariis persolvendis Anno 1541. Sess 20. Clerus exposuit iv Petitiones primò de legibus Ecclesiasticis condendis 3º de uniendis per jus Beneficiis 4o. De Decimis solvendis 2. For the revival of old Canons 2. For the revival of such ancient Canons and Constitutions as were in force but seem'd to be disus'd and forgotten So Anno 1412. Sess 2. we meet with an Address at large from the Clergy to the Bishops praying their Lordships to en force the Observation of certain Constitutions Anno 1419. The last day of the Convocation Dominus ad petitionem Cleri quandam Constitutionem Provincialem per Rob. Wynchelse Praedecessorem suum editam qua sic incipit Capellani Stipendiarij c. cum omnibus suis Capitulis verbis clausulis dictionibus in eadem ad totam Provinciam suam Cantuariensem extendi omnes artari debere ex consensu Fratrum suorum autoritate totius Concilij declaravit pronunciavit 3. For the Abolition or Suspension of Laws 3. For the Abolition or Suspension
the Reformation they continued the self same Ways of acting that were establisht before as these Deductions under the several Heads do abundantly show For tho' many of our Accounts since the Reformation are only Abridgments of the Acts the Originals whereof were burnt in 1666. yet even in them and much more in the others that remain entire we have clear and numerous testimonies of the Clergy's continuing to Act in all respects with the self same Deference and Subordination to their Metropolitan and Bishops I doubt not but an objection formerly made will now be renew'd against the Authorities from the Upper House Registers as insufficient Witnesses in the Concerns of the Lower They are so as to the Debates there but not as to the Matters Debated many of which and those the most considerable have originally come from the Upper House with particular Instructions how to proceed upon them and the same have been also constantly return'd thither and together with the Applications of all kinds from the Lower House have made a part of the Register of the Vpper Now our present Concern is not about the methods of debating in either House separately but the usual Communication between the two Houses Which being maintain'd by the going up of the Prolocutor alone or attended voluntarily or as sent for by their Lordships the Reports they bring the Petitions they make with the Orders they receive i. e. all the matters from whence we infer these methods of their corresponding and the authority of my Lords the Bishops in the Proceedings of Convocation are enter'd of course in the Books of the Vpper House And the Heads of which the Lower-house-Books chiefly consist viz. the Motions made Below with their Debates upon them and the appointment of Committees of their own for special purposes would not if we had them entire be of any great moment in the present Points For these immediately concern the Relation between the two Houses and turn not upon the proceedings of each Separately but upon the Manner of the Intercourse and Correspondence between them The methods of the Journals of both Houses with the Matters usually enter'd in each will be best understood by the Acts of five Convocations added by way of Appendix to this Book as a Pattern to future Proceedings The three first in 1562 1640 and 1661. belong to the Vpper-house and the two others of 1586 and 1588. are the Acts of the Lower These last are the only entire Journals of that House now remaining and I made choice of the three others as they are accounts of Transactions while all the Original Registers were in being and yet so lately two of them at least that the Establishment of different Vsages since that time will not be pretended Add to this the importance and variety of the matters transacted in each viz. the xxxix Articles in 1562. the Canons in 1640. against which no exceptions were ever taken as to the Methods of Proceeding in Convocation and the Review and Establishment of the Common Prayer with many other things of publick note and concern in 1661. and the three following years That of 1562. is certainly the entire Register of the Vpper-house but whether the Book which remains be the very original I cannot directly say Those of 1586 1588 and 1640. are the Original Books deposited according to custom in the Registry of the See of Canterbury The Book of 1640. contains also an Account of the second Convocation in the same year but such were the Confusions of the Kingdom and the Miseries of the Church that no Business could be done in it save only the Opening and then Continuing it in the common Form after the Archbishop Sess 3. had committed the determination of certain controverted Elections to the Prolocutor and other Members of the Lower-house See the Passage cited p. 114. of this Book The last also is the very Original Register of the Vpper-house from May 8. 1661. to Sept. 19. 1666. inclusive mostly in the hand of Mr. Fisher Actuary of the Lower-house in 1640. and Deputy-Register to the Vpper in 1661. with an Attestation in form to every Session It was lately communicated to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury by the Reverend Mr. Nurse Executor to a Gentleman in whose House Mr. Fisher dy'd and by his Grace to the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation The Method in which they are now publisht is this The beginning and ending of every Session in the Vpper-house is usually the same at the beginning they express the place of meeting the attestation of the Notary the names of the Archbishop or his Commissary and of the Bishops present with the accustom'd Prayers concluding always with the Con̄tinuations at length As to all these therefore which are pure matters of form and a repetition of the same words in the same Order I have thought it sufficient to give a Specimen of them at the beginning of each and then to contract them especially in 1661. c. where the Sessions are more numerous But the Reader may rest assur'd that the like Forms run through the whole 'T is true the Names of the Persons present sometimes vary but they can be of no use except on some un-foreseen and very extraordinary Occasions and whenever these happen recourse may be had to the Originals themselves In 1661. the Bishop of London usually Presided in the Archbishop's stead and is always meant by the style Dominus when it stands single the names of the other Commissaries who were but few being constantly express'd But the Forms in the two Journals of the Lower-house are various and having withal made so great a part in the Dispute about Continuations or Adjournments I have printed both the Introduction and Conclusion of each Session at length without omitting any thing except the Names of the Persons every day present IN perusing these Acts both of the Vpper and Lower House the Reader will observe all along How the Synodical Business is mark't-out by the Metropolitan and Bishops as Governours of the Church and so much of it consider'd debated and prepar'd by the Inferior Clergy as their Lordships from time to time have recommended to their Care That the Presbyters of former times have ever receiv'd and pursu'd those Directions with the utmost readiness and then taken care to osser their Applications and Reports with all the marks of Duty and Humility That therefore the publick Cancerns of our Church have in English Convocations been transacted by rules and methods purely Ecclesiastical that is by a Synod consisting of Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters all contributing their Endeavours towards the same common End and within the Bounds assign'd by Antiquity to their respective Orders and Degrees in the Church of Christ That however the Bishops and Presbyters have their Separate Places of Debate and may not under that general Appearance be unlike the two Houses of Parliament yet as to their Independence in Acting or any degrees of
it there is no such Resemblance as has been pretended between the Proceedings of Parliament and Convocation That on the contrary the chief part of the Prolocutor's Business is to convey to the Presbyters the Pleasure of their Metropolitan and Bishops and to represent to their Lordships the Answers Opinions and Petitions of the Lower-House and so for ever to prevent the Independence of the Clergy and preserve the Original Union of the Synod as to the matter method order tendency and progress of the Debates These with many more testimonies of an English Convocation's being in reality what all the Friends of our Church ought to wish it an Ecclesiastical Synod will naturally occur to every one who shall peruse these Acts with impartiality and an ordinary attention And Readers under that convâ—… from the practice of former Convocations may be allow'd to wonder upon what Model some late Proceedings and Principles were form'd and to reâ—… seriously upon the Design or at least the naturâ—… Trndency of them The Archbishops Parker Whâ—…gift Laud Juxon and Sheldon under whom the five Convocations were held are Names distinguisht in this Church by an eminent Zeal in maintaining its Constitution and the Rights of the Clergy And now the Proceedings of the last Convocation are made publick let every Man be his own judge whether our present Metropolitan and Bishops have not acted by the self same Rules and he will then see what Spirit has govern'd those Men who from thence have taken occasion to inveigh so freely against their Lordships as endeavouring to Overthrow the Rights of the Church and Clergy That part of the Controversie which relates to the Proceedings of Convocation when met began not before the Opening of the last in 1700. The Nation had been industriously prepossess'd with false Notions of the Constitution and Proceedings of an English Synod but the Alteration of Opinions about the Right of Continuing upon a plain State thereof from the Registers was evident enough and shows that the Generality both of Clergy and Laiety are dispos'd to make as impartial a judgment upon all other Heads when the Practice of former Times shall be clearly laid before them For the Information of such five Journals are here publisht Entire and the Form and Proceedings of an English Convocation particularly defcrib'd not only upon the Authority but in the very Words of all the remaining Acts. I pray God they may in any measure tend to the Removal of our unhappy Differences and the future preservation of Peace and Unity in the Synods of our Church A CATALOGUE Of the Remaining Acts and Registers OF CONVOCATION From whence the Following HISTORY is drawn The Years in which they were held The Days on which they were open'd The Registers wherein the Acts are enter'd 1356 May 16. Islip fol. 117. a. 1369 Jan. 21. Wyttlesey f. 17. b. 1371 Apr. 24. Wyttlesey f. 40. 1373 Dec. 1. Wyttlesey f. 63. 1376 Febr. 3. Sudbury f. 33. b. 1377 Nov. 8. Sudbury f 44. a. 1379 May 9. Sudbury f. 55. a. 1380 Dec. 1. Sudbury f. 72. a. 1383 Dec. 2. Courtney f. 78. a. 1384 May 20. Courtney f. 79. a. 1384 Dec. 1. Courtney f. 79. b. 1385 Nov. 6. Courtney f. 83. b. 1386 Nov. 5. Courtney f. 84. b. 1387 Febr. 26. Courtney f. 73. a. 1388 Oct. 12. Courtney f. 74. a. 1391 Apr. 17. Courtney f. 75. a. 1396 Febr. 19. Arundel f. 44 a. 1394 Febr. 5. Reg. 4. Epp. f. 195. b. 1399 Oct. 6. Arundel f. 51. a. 1400 Jan. 26 Arundel Vol. 2 f. 1. b. 1402 Oct. 21 Arundel Vol. 1. 54. a. 1404 Apr. 21. Arundel 57. a. 1404 Nov. 24. Arundel f. 62. b. 1406 May 10. Arundel 65. a. 1408 Jul. 23. Arundel f. 71. a. 1408 Jan. 14. Arundel Vol. 2. f. 7. b. 1409 Febr. 17. Arundel f. 15. a. 1411 Dec. 1. Arundel f. 22. a. 1412 Mar. 6. Arundel f. 4. b. 1415 Nov. 18. Chichley Vol. 2. fol. 1. a. 1416 Apr. 1. Chichley 3. a. 1416 Nov. 9. Chichley 6. a. 1417 Nov. 29. Chichley f. 10. a. 1419 Oct. 30. Chichley f. 17. a. 1421 May 5 Chichley f. 23. b. 1422 Jul. 6. Chichley f. 30. b. 1424 Oct. 12. Chichley f. 33. b. 1425 Apr. 23. Chichley f. 40. a. 1426 Apr. 15. Chichley f. 65. a. 1428 Jul. 5. Chichley f. 69. a. 1429 Oct. 19. Chichley f. 77. b. 1430 Febr. 19. Chichley f. 81 a. 1432 Sept. 15. Chichley f. 86. b. 1433 Nov. 7 Chichley f. 93. a. 1434 Oct. 7. Chichley f. 99. a. 1437 Apr. 29. Chichley f. 101. a. 1438 Apr. 28. Chichley f. 103. a. 1439 Nov. 21. Chichley f. 109. b. 1444 Oct. 19. Arundel Vol. 2. f. 28. a. 1452 Febr. 7. Kemp. f. 219. a. 1460 May 6. Bourchier f. 12. a. 1463 Jul. 6. Bourchier f. 18. a. 1480 Mar. 21. Bourchier f. 26. a. 1486 Febr. 13. Morton f. 33. a. 1488 Jan. 14. Morton f. 41. a. ¶ Thus far the Acts are distinctly enter'd in the Registers of the Archbishop but about this time they began to have separate Books for the affairs of Convocation 1529 Nov. 5. Large Extracts out of the Upper-housebooks except those of 1553. and 1554. which are taken from Journals of the Lower-house 1532 Nov. 5. 1536 Jun. 9. 1541 Jan. 30. 1547 Nov. 5. 1553 Oct. 6. 1554 Apr. 3. 1554 Nov. 13. 1555 Oct. 22. 1555 Dec. 10. 1557 Jan. 1. 1558 Jan. 24. 1562 Jan. 21. The Register of the Upper-house entire 1584 Nov. 24. Index of the Upper-house Register 1586 Oct. 16. Two Journals of the Lower-house in the Registry at Doctors-Commons 1588 Nov. 13. 1586 Oct. 16. Index of the Upper-house Registers in the hands of Dr. Atterbury 1588 Nov. 13. 1592 Febr. 20. 1601 Oct. 18. 1603 Mar. 20. 1605 Nov. 6. 1606 Nov. 19. 1614 Apr. 6. 1620  1623 Febr. 13. 1625 May 18. 1625 Febr. 7. 1627 Mar. 18. 1640 1ª Conv. Apr. 14. Entire Registers of the Upper-house and Minutes of the Lower in the Office at Doctors Commons 2ª Conv. Nov. 4. 1661 c. May 16. The original Register of the Upper-house and Minutes of the Lower at Doctors Commons 1689 Nov. 6. The original Register of the Upper-house at Doctors Commons THE CONTENTS Introduction THE Occasion and Design of this Book 1 The late Principles about a Parliamentary Alliance 2 The ill Consequence thereof to Episcopacy 3 The beginning of these Innovations in the Convocation of 1689. 5 The tendency of such Proceedings to a Co-ordinate Power of Presbyters 7 Some new Claims of the last Lower-house 8 The design of this Book To settle all Proceedings upon the Custom of Convocation 9 All Proofs from the words of the Registers 11 The necessity of citing Authorities at large ibid. The necessity of such a Work at this juncture to maintain the honour of our Reformed Church 12 CHAP. I. The Method of Summoning an English-Convocation 15 The Writ to the Archbishop ibid. The Warrant to the Lord Chancellor of another nature 17 The Returns immediately and ultimately to the
before the Act of Submission 288 The notion of a Civil Summons an argument for the Papists against our Reformation 289 The intent of the Statute no more than to restrain the Archbishop from Exerting his Authority without the Royal-License 290 The word Authority in the Statute implies a Leave or Licence 291 The Archbishop's Summons Authoritative from the style of the Mandate and Return 292 The Case of the Convocation's being dissolv'd by the death of the Prince 295 A dissolution by the King's death no prejudice to the Archiepiscopal Authority as giving Subsistence to a Convocation 296 The Archiepiscopal Authority recogniz'd in the Dean of the Province's Certificatorium set down at large 297 V. Observations upon the Table of Fees and the Catalogue of Members presixt to the Registers of Convocation 301 Inferences from the Table of Fees 1. That the Officers of Convocation are under the immediate Jurisdiction of the Archbish 303 2. That the Admission of Proxies of the Lower-Clergy belongs to his Grace ibid. 3. That none could make Proxies but who were personally Cited ibid. Catalogues of Convocation-Members and Inferences from them 304 1. That the Entry of the Lower-Clergy in the Upper-house-Books shows the Convocation to be one Body under one common Head 304 2. That the Lower-house is Included in the Clause Convocatio Prael Cleri in Continuations ibid. 3. That the Members of both Houses in the Convocations of 1640 and 1661 were eminent Assertors of the RIGHTS and LIBERTIES of the CHURCH ibid. 4. That therefore our present Prelates in Convocation have been unjustly traduc'd for proceeding by the same Rules 306 THE CONSTITUTION AND PROCEEDINGS OF AN English Convocation c. INTRODUCTION The Occasion and Design of the following Discourse AMong the pretences that have been fram'd of late to gain the Clergy in Convocation some new Exemptions from their Metropolitan and Bishops no one has been insisted on so much as a Parliamentary Capacity suppos'd to belong to them And it was an artificial Management in those who set the design a-foot to make this the chief ground of their Claim not only because such Exemptions could have no Colour from their Ecclesiastical Capacity and the Constitution of the Primitive Synods but also because an Alliance to the Parliament in Constitution was the most likely way to lead the generality of Men to take the measures of their Proceediegs from thence Every one knows that the Parliament consists of two Houses and they have withal an Opportunity of observing out of the publick Votes the Separate Methods whereby the Commons Act and Govern themselves And little more of the nature of a Convocation being ordinarily understood than that It also consists of two Houses debating a-part this without recourse to the Primitive Times or opportunity to know our own Establisht methods of acting prepar'd Men's minds to favour the late Claims of some of the Clergy to such Privileges as the Commons enjoy In which Error they have been industriously confirm'd by the Endeavours of the same Persons to bring the Parliament and Convocation to such an alliance as was never thought of before the publication of some late Books The late Principle of Parliamentary Alliance That the Members of the Lower-House are the Clergy Commoners and Spiritual Commons that the whole Convocation subsists by the King's-Writ and not by the Archiepiscopal Mandate that the Clergy thereof are ATTENDANT on the Parliament as the Parliament has a Right to be ATTENDED by them is the ordinary Language of a late Book Atterb Rights c. which yet is pretended to be written in Defence of the Church's Liberties and censures the Principles of its Adversary as of a Slavish tendency From this Principle others of the same kind relating to their Constitution and Privileges have since sprung Answer to 1st Letter p. 2. Col. 2. That the Model of an English Convocation was doubtless taken from the Model of an English Parliament Ibid. p. 6. c. 1. That an English Synod was form'd upon the Plat-form of an English Parliament Nar. p. 6. That the Synodical Rights peculiar to the Lower-Clergy of the Church of England are owing to a Conformity to the Parliament Nar. p. 8. That the distinct Capacity of the Lower-house of Convocation was deriv'd from an imitation of the Lower-house of Parliament The ill consequence thereof to Episcopacy The two last Passages acknowledge in effect that some of the Privileges they are already in possession of were unknown to the more ancient Synods And as to the other Exemptions for which they contend if they had any countenance from those Early Times That I suppose would be thought a more decent Pleain a Case of Ecclesiastical Government than laying their model in the imitation of a Parliament For I take it to be new Doctrine that a late Author delivers with great assurance to take off the ill appearance of Contending and that with so much warmth for Ecclesiastical Rights upon a Secular Foundation Atterb Rights c. p. 138. I am sure and am ready whenever I am call'd upon particularly to prove that the more our Church shall resemble the State in her temper and manner of Government the nearer still will she approach to primitive Practice This is a Position that will require Proof when he is at leisure to go about it not being half so evident in my opinion as that the Rights and Privileges of the House of Commons if vested in the Lower-House of Convocation would give the Clergy a co-ordinate Power with their Bishops and so remove our Church still further from primitive Practice But all along on one side of this Controversie the Church seems to signifie no more than the Inferiour Clergy exclusive of the Metropolitan and Bishops as if the giving Presbyters new degrees of Exemption from their Ecclesiastical Superiors were the way that primitive Practice has trac'd out for the perfection of an Episcopal Church An Opposition to the Liberties of the Church has an odious sound and sounds no worse than it really is when the Bishops as well as Inferior Clergy acting regularly and peaceably within their proper Spheres are allow'd to be the constituent Members of that Church But the present claim of Parliamentary Rights is only in other Words a diminution of the Canonical Authority of the Archbishop and Bishops over their Clergy which being diminished as far as Parliamentary Exemptions would do it must evidently destroy the Subordination of Presbyters to their Bishops that is it must bring us by degrees to a state of Presbytery Now no Law has determin'd how far these which they call their Parliamentary Rights may be carried or which is the same thing how near the Claims upon that Foundation may bring us to Presbytery The late Narrative of the Lower-House p. 8. speaking of their distinct Capacity as deriv'd from an Imitation of the Lower-House of Parliament does indeed say that they are far from presuming to
Commons in Parliament are possess'd of with relation to the Lords And if this must be their standing Pattern and their Parliamentary Capacity a certain refuge whenever their Claims exceed the Custom of former Convocations how far they will go I cannot say nor will I judge with what Intention they pursue Measures so opposite to the State of the primitive Church but this I am sure of that the same Foundation upon which their late Claims are grounded will equally justisie them in many more that being once introduced would make the Frame of an English Convocation as inconsistent with Episcopacy as the profess'd Enemies thereof can desire It will be objected that the Persons who at present are in those Levelling Measures have not formerly been thought in the Presbyterian Interest and that now also they are more open and bitter than most other Men in their Invectives against them and remarkably loud in a Concern for the Church All this is readily acknowledg'd and 't is no new thing with frail Mankind such especially who are uneasie under Government to rail at those the most who are in the possession of what themselves most desire But Words are empty Testimonies in comparison of Actions and the hardest Names they can find for that Sect will be no Conviction to Them nor Vs either that these endeavours to lessen the Character of Bishops are not an evident Service to their Cause or that such Invasions by Presbyters upon the primitive Rights of Episcopacy are not an evident undermining of our Establishment The design of this Book to settle their Proceedings upon the Custom of Convocation But when I speak of the primitive Rules I would not be understood to propose the forms of the more ancient Synods as the measure of my future reasonings upon the Privileges either of Bishops or Clergy in an English Convocation but only to prevent its being thought that any of the Powers they now claim and the Bishops deny are so much as pretended to receive support from the Condition of Presbyters in the primitive Church So far from this that many of their real Privileges peculiar to the Clergy of this Nation and now grown into legal Rights are much younger than the first Accounts we have of a Convocation properly so call'd such are Their debating in a separate Body Their having a standing Prolocutor of their own The share they have in framing Canons and Constitutions Their Negative upon the Archbishop and Bishops in Synodical Acts of an Ecclesiastical Nature and even their right to be summon'd in the present Form or for Ecclesiastical Purposes For their Civil Property could not be dispos'd of but by their own consent and the necessity of having this gave them a Negative upon the Bishops in Subsidies which was then the chief business of Convocation the Canons and Constitutions of the Church being for many Ages after constantly made in Synods consisting only of the Archbishop and his Provincial Bishops But the Affairs of the Church as they came to be transacted in Convocation fell under the Rules and Methods that had been establish'd there upon Civil Accounts By which means the Inferiour Clergy came into the same share in the Ecclesiastical that they had enjoy'd in the Secular Business and as Custom has given them a legal Claim to several Privileges of that kind unknown to the Primitive Presbyters or even to the Presbyters of any other Episcopal Church at this Day so be their original what it will it is no part of my Design to call in question any of their Claims that the remaining Acts of Convocation will warrant Their want of Authorities from the primitive Times with the lateness of their coming to a share in the Canons and Constitutions of our own Church and the secular Original of the Title they now have to bear a part in framing and passing them will be a general Reason with all unprejudic'd Men why they should at least acquiesce in these and not endeavour to build higher upon that secular Foundation But in the present Controversie I freely pass by all these disadvantages and desire only that every Point may be determined by the Constitution and Customs of Convocation resolving neither to assert any Authority to the Upper-House nor deny any Privileges to the Lower but as the Proceedings of former Convocations establish the first and prove all Pretensions to the second groundless and illegal All proofs froâ—… 〈◊〉 Registers themselves Nor do I propose to have the Reader depend upon my Assertions or bare Representations of things but upon all Points that are either made a Question already or can possibly bear one the Evidences shall be produc'd at large that so every Reader may be his own Judge and none be able to contradict the Positions laid down but by first denying the Authority of the Registers My accounts may perhaps seem too minute and particular to some who are already skill'd in Convocation Affairs but it is not for their Use that I write this but for the sake of the Generality many of whom Eminent in other parts of Learning may without reproach be presum'd Strangers to a Subject that has so lately come under Consideration Which will also be a fair Apology for their having been mis-led into a favourable Opinion of some Measures not to be warranted by the Practice of Convocation if they shew themselves ready to retire upon a clear Conviction from proper Authorities In the producing of which my multiplying Testimonies of the same kind and to the same purpose may possibly be thought a fault but if it be they who have so openly deny'd Truths establish'd upon Evidences so plain and numerous are answerable for it The necessity of citing Authorities at large In Truth the Errors and Prejudices arising from the notion of a Parliamentary Body have been wrought into Men's Minds with so much Art and Diligence that nothing under Originals and a variety of Authorities from thence can hope to dispossess them nor will it upon any less Testimony be thought possible that Persons in Holy Orders should contend so earnestly for meeting and acting in a Civil Capacity about matters of an Ecclesiastical Nature if they had any Pretence in Law or Custom to meet and act under the Character or Appearance of a Sacred Synod Especially when Subsidies the great Business of a Secular Nature that ever belong'd to the Convocation are not now granted in it And since even after the business of it is become purely Ecclesiastical the Endeavours to make it a Civil Meeting have been so remarkable my design in the following Papers is to do Right to its Constitution by restoring it to all the Spiritual Liberties and Advantages it may justly claim by the Laws of the Land and its own perpetual Usage From which as convey'd to us by the Acts themselves The general Design of this Book I will shew in a plain and naked Relation of Matters of Fact That an
English Convocation however laid under some Restraints from the Civil Constitution is far from being so much transform'd into a Civil Meeting as has been pleaded of late That in the Summoning Opening and Acting it appears what it is an Ecclesiastical Synod of Bishops with their Presbyters and neither a Parliamentary Body on the one hand nor an Assembly of Presbyters on the other That however the Papists slander the English Reformation as if it had chang'd our Church into a Civil Constitution yet 't is evident against all the Endeavours of some among our selves to help the Church of Rome in that Objection that as to the Nature of our Synods at least it left 〈◊〉 in the same Ecclesiastical State as it found them To proceed regularly in this Design it must be all along observ'd what I hinted before that the Corruptions which have been endeavoured of late in an English Convocation are in general the Diminution of the Canonical Authority of the Metropolitan and Bishops and the Clergy's claiming such Exemptions from that Authority as makes the whole Body look more like an English Parliament than a Sacred Synod To this purpose it has been pleaded Nar. p. 6. That the Convocation was divided into two Houses in conformity to the Parliament Answ p 9. c. 2. That the Prolocuter is President of the Lower-House as the Archbishop is of the Vpper That the Acts and Declarations of both are only the Effect of the Order or Consent of each House respectively That the Prolocutor governs the Time of the Lower in as full a manner as his Grace does that of the Vpper i. e. with the Consent of the House Nar. p. 17. That their Debates are manag'd Independently from their Lordships Nar. p. 61. That they have a general Negative upon the Vpper-House That in virtue thereof they have a Right to deny the Appointment of Committees and even a sight of their Journals in which by the way they exceed their Pattern the Journals of the two Houses of Parliament being mutually open to the Members of each at all times and upon all occasions Nar. p 3. That without the Knowledge or Directions of their Lordships they can enter upon and proceed in business of the highest Importance and if any Point happen that in the judgment of the Vpper-House may be most conveniently Debated in Writing Nar. p. 50. they can insist upon a free Conference as the fittest Method and if that be deny'd are under no Obligation to be further accountable to their Lordships for any of their Practices or Proceedings Nar. p. 49. Add to these the Power they claim over their own Members upon which they can require their Attendance and according to the known practice of the last Convocation can discharge them from it by a Vote or Resolution of the House with that other Claim which has been so much insisted on their Right to adjourn to different Days from the Metropolitan and Bishops and to sit and act on these Days as a House In these Claims and Practices I say we have the view of an English Parliament but lose that of an Ecclesiastical Synod consisting of a Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters By these Rules we see the Debates as to the matter manner and time are all separated at the pleasure of the Inferior Clergy and as the Archbishop and the Upper-house are made to resemble the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Lords Temporal so to compleat the Parallel the Prolocutor and the Lower-House that is as they term themselves the Spiritual Commons answer to the House of Commons and their Speaker However such Comparisons if they went no further than Names or the general Appearance of the two Bodies might be innocent enough but when upon these the Claims of new Privileges begin to be founded and such Privileges too as are an apparent diminution of the Metropolitical and Episcopal Authority separating the Synod and raising the Presbyters by degrees to a co-ordinate Power then the Parallel is no longer safe but the Governors of the Church and all that love our Episcopal Constitution are concern'd to enter upon proper Measures for the Preservation of it And these in our present Circumstances I conceive to be the opposing to those new attempts the Authority of former Convocations and describing from thence i. e. from the only true Rule the Practice and Proceeding proper to each House Which will not only shew that their Lordships have insisted upon no Power but what their Character and the Usage of Convocation fully justifie and that therefore the Clergy's Claims of Exemption from it are not to be warranted but will also discover to the World how they have been impos'd on by those who have grounded such Claims upon an imaginary Alliance between the Parliament and Convocation two Bodies that will appear to be widely different both in Constitution and Proceedings And since that difference as I said before consists chiefly in the Authority which belongs to the Metropolitan and Bishops over the Inferior Clergy and their Proceedings 't is my design to shew out of the Records themselves how that Authority stands and has always stood in the several Ages and Instances from the Summoning and Opening a Convocation to the Dissolution thereof with an Eye all along to the different Constitution and manner of corresponding in the two Houses of Parliament and particularly to the late Claims of Independence built upon a Parliamentary Relation CHAP. I. The Method of SUMMONING an English Convocation The Writ to the Archbishop I. WHen his Majesty by the Advice of his Council resolves to Summon his Parliament and with it a Convocation he signifies his Royal Pleasure by Writ to the Archbishop Rex c. Reverendissimo c. then the generaI Causes of his calling a Convocation are recited Vobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando mandamus quatenus praemissis debito intuitu attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestrae Provinciae ac Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium necnon Archidiaconos Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioecesis ejusdem Provinciae ad comparendum CORAM VOBIS in Ecclesia Cathedrali S. Pauli London die c. VEL ALIBI prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommodâ MODO DEBITO Convocari faciatis A Writ to this effect and for some hundred Years in this very Form has been all along directed to the Archbishop whenever the King had resolved that a Convocation should be Summon'd Upon the reception whereof his Grace always proceeded to summon it in the fixt and Canonical Method that he ever us'd in calling of Convocations upon his own motion without that Writ For tho' the King as having a Right to the Assistance of the Clergy had also a Right to be obey'd by the Archbishop in calling them together for that end yet in the dispatch of that business he left them to proceed according to
be in a Condition to bear their part in the Business he commands them to retire and chuse a Prolocutor Anno 1460. May 10. The Archbishop first directs the Choice of a Prolocutor and then confirms him after which he explains to them the Causes of the Convocation In these two last Instances the Clergy are not directed to Retire as they had usually been to debate apart about the Matters of Convocation laid before them by the Archbishop Because now they began as to their debating to be in a more separate State so that the bare Proposition of Business to be Prepar'd or Consider'd was notice enough that they were to Retire to their usual Place and set about it The old Registers have only the Acts of four Convocations more so that we have no light between the Years 1488 and 1529. nor any from thence to the Year 1562. besides certain Extracts out of the Registers of the Upper-House But the ancient Directory in Edward the sixth's time and Archbishop Parker's Form of holding a Convocation both of them written while the Registers of Covocation remain'd entire and both as above-cited setting down his Grace's declaration of the Causes of the Summons as a necessary part of their preparation for Business leave no Room to doubt whether in that Interval the same Usage continu'd which we have shown to be the Practiee of Convocation from the beginning of the most early Acts. Not but that even in these Extracts we find the Custom plainly enough tho' not express'd under all the Circumstances that appear in the Original Registers So Anno 1536. the Second in that Collection the Bishop of London's Return being exhibited Reverendissimus exposuit Causas hujusmodi Convocationis denide monuit omnes Praelatos quatenus conferrent se ad locum consuetum eligant unum virum in Referendarium Prolocutorem qui eorum nomine loqui possit Anno 1547. the next but one in which as well as in the first of that Book the Form of Opening is very much contracted by the Abridger and consists only of some short hints Archbishop Cranmer is there said in general to have acquainted them that the Convocation was then Summon'd quod Praelati Cleri inter se consulerent de vera Christi Religione probè instituenda tradenda popule that being the first Year of Edward the sixth Again Anno 1444. The Return being exhibited Episcopus London in the Vacancy of the Archbishoprick Summariè compendiosè Causam Synodi vocatae exposuit monuit Inferiorem Domum de eligendo sibi Prolocutorem Anno 1557. The Archbishop with the Consent of his Brethren having confirm'd the Prolocutor mox Causas hujus Synodi verbo-tenus proposuit which are there set down at large Anno 1558. Praeconizatione facta Inferiore Doino evocata exposuit Episcopus ibidem Causam Convocation is But more distinctly in the next which is an entire Register That I mean of Archbishop Parker in which the 39 Articles were made viz. Anno 1562. Reverendissimus Dominus Archiepiscopus Cant. brevens quandam Orationem Eloquentiae plenam habuit ad Patres Clerum per quam inter alia opportunitatem Reformandarum rerum in Ecclesia Anglicana jam oblatam esse aperuit ac propensos animos tam illustrissimae Dominae nostrae Regine quam allorum Magnatum hujus regni ad hujusmodi Reformationem habendam declaravit hortando praecipiendo mandando Praelatos Clerum Inferioris Domus in dicta domo capitulari coram co reliquis Patribus constitutos quatenus ad Conventus sui locum sese conferentes unum virum gravem c. eligant in eorum Prolocutorem Anno 1640. the next Convocation of which the Upper-House-Acts remain after the Prolocutor is confirm'd the Archbishop produces the King's License Et Reverendissimus Pater antedictus praefatum Prolocutorem alios de Domo inferiori Decanos Archidiaconos Capitula Cleri Procuratores ibidem praesentes voluit ut ipsi inter se convenirent mature excogitarent de Subsidiis Domino nostro Regi concedend Canonibus Constitutionibus Statum Ecclesiasticum Christi Religionem in Ecclesia Anglicana concernen concipiendis Et quicquid inde senserent sive excogitaverint in scriptis redigant coram ipso Reverendissimo Confratribus Episcopis exhibeant Anno 1661. The Prolocutor being confirm'd Committees of both Houses were order'd in the Upper-House to compose Services for the 29th of May and the 30th of January c. And when afterwards by the coming of the Royal License they thought themselves at liberty to Enter upon the Business which was the chief Cause of their Meeting the Archbishop directs the Members of the Lower-House to proceed in it in the self same words that Archbishop Laud had us'd in the Year 1640. The Inference from the Archbishop's declaring the Causes of Convocation I have been thus particular in my Deduction of Authorities to show the Right of the President to mark out a Scheme of Business to be transacted in Convocation Beause as by the Tenor of the Mandate his first step in Summoning we are led to the Foundation of his Grace's Power over the Members of the Lower-House so in this their Entrance upon Business we clearly see his Influence and Authority over their Proceedings That is we have the view of an Ecclesiastical Synod consisting of a Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters all going on to Act within their proper Spheres and suitably to the Constitution of an Episcopal Church The Metropolitan having advis'd with his suffragan-Suffragan-Bishops about the State and Condition of the Church of which He and They are constituted Governours recommends to the Synod the Consideration of such Improvements or Reformations as evidently tend to its Honour and Safety The Clergy are there in readiness to receive the Opinion and Directions of their Ecclesiastical Superiors and to offer their own Judgment as there shall be occasion with all Duty and Humility and in short to give their Assistance of every kind in a proper Subordination towards the ready and effectual Dispatch of all Business that shall be regularly propos'd for the Advancement of Religion The Archbishop and Bishops wee see deliberate Above And the Clergy debate the same Matters below to be ready with their Opinions and Resolutions when requir'd And thus they appear like one Body of Men met about the same common Business in which all in their several Stations are immediately concern'd Proceeding also with such a Paternal Affection on the one Hand and such Dutiful Obedience on the other as becomes their holy Function and is due to Measures for preserving the Order and Vnity of the Church But some late Principles and Practices have another Tendency For instance the Clergy's proceeding in Business of the greatest Moment and even coming to form'd Resolutions thereupon without ever acquainting their Ecclesiastical Superiors and much less offering them first in general as Points that in their Opinion deserve or
require Consideration The difference between former Methods and the late Practices and taking the Advice and Direction of their Lordships about the Expediency and Methods of proceeding in them To the same effect is that Language so familiar of late among some of the Inferior Clergy in Convocation That they have Business of their own to do That 't is generally different from what is transacted at the same time in the Vpper-House That their Debates are manag'd independently from their Lordships that the Archbishop with his Suffragans has no Right to take cognizance of or interpose in their Debates That there is no Necessity be the Matter never so important of previous Directions from the Vpper-House Principles somewhat ambiguously express'd perhaps not without a foresight of certain Objections but being interpreted by the late Practices their Tendency to a Division of the Synod and a Co-ordinate Power in the Church is no less plain than is their Opposition to all the Proceedings of former times One thing more I would observe upon this Head what little likeness there is between a Convocation and a Parliament in their very first Entrances upon Business Unless the Enemies of the Ecclesiastical Power will object as they who are so fond of a Parliamentary-Relation are like enough to do that the Archbishop in Convocation opening the Causes of their Meeting does only the same thing with the Lord Chancellor in Parliament whose Office it is to Convey and Enforce to the two Houses the Instructions he receives from his Majesty But they may understand that as oft as the King had occasion to solicit Business in Convocation he sent Commissioners of his own to do it as every one must know who casts his Eye upon our Convocation-Registers never so slightly These were said to come thither ex parte Domini Regis and their coming as occasion requir'd to represent the Desires of the King and the Condition of the Kingdom was a Custom so much known and establish'd that the Register takes notice of the Archibishop's doing it as a thing Singular and Extraordinary Anno 1380. Dec. 1. Et quia protunc Dominus meus Archiepiscopus erat Cancellarius Angliae nec comparuit alius pro parte Domini Regis qui exponeret Clero negotia regni sicut fieri Consuevit in aliis Convocationibus dictus Dominus meus negotia regni pericula imminentia satis clare exposuit Nor did it make any Difference in the Form of their Proceedings thereupon that the first Motion came from the Court but the Archibishop having given the Commissioners some such general Answer as this quod voluit super his mature communicare cum Confratribus suis Praelatis Clero he immediately proceeded to that Communication either with the Clergy and Bishops in a Body or directing the Clergy to debate in their own House with his Brethren alone If it be further said that the Necessity of a Royal-License before the Convocation can proceed to make Canons c. has restrain'd the President 's ancient Power of explaining the General Causes of the Summons the Answer is this That the Persons whose present Endeavours it is to diminish the Metropolitical and Episcopal Authority affirm that a great Variety of Ecclesiastical Matters may not only be begun but transacted and concluded without the Authority of such a License and so far the President 's Right of proposing the General Matters stands where it did And as to Canons and Constitutions if they may not be actually enter'd upon without a License yet his Grace at the opening of the Convocation may deliver his own Judgment as to the Expedience of them and refer it to the Consideration of the Bishops and Clergy Whether it be adviseable to desire the Royal-License for that end CHAP. VII The Right of the Archibishop and Bishops to require the Clergy to consider any particular Business throughout the Convocation THE foregoing Chapter shows the Right of the President after consultation had with his Brethren the Bishops first to lay before the Clergy the general Causes of his Summons and then to require them to Retire and Deliberate thereupon But the Scene of Business opening and enlarging it self many unforeseen difficulties will unavoidably occur and new Designs also for the Benefit of the Church must naturally arise from the mutual Debates of the Governors thereof assembl'd in Convocation And accordingly when any such Occasions requir'd the Inferior Clergy have been ever enjoyn'd to Debate and Examine all Matters proposed by their Ecclesiastical Superiors for that purpose from the beginning to the end of Convocation The instances hereof are very numerous The necessity of showing this to prevent an objection from the explication of the General Causes at the opening of a Parliament but necessary to be added to the Testimonies contain'd in the last Chapters which without those would leave room for an Objection that as to the General Causes at the beginning those are equally explain'd to the two Houses of Parliament and yet the Honourable Members of the Lower House there are under no such Restraint or Subordination in their subsequent Proceedings An Objection I say of this sort is like enough to be started considering how industriously those Fancies about a Parliamentary Relation have been insinuated into the minds of Men. I will therefore show that what the Archibishop does in opening the general Causes of his Summons and directing the Clergy to deliberate about it at the beginning of Convocation the same thing he and his Suffragans have a Right to Do upon all emergent Occasions during the whole course of their Proceedings And this will manifest to the World how the Constitution and Proceedings of an English Convocation to the glory of it are exactly model'd according to the Primitive Distinction between Bishops and their Presbyters in point of Order and Authority while from the most early Accounts of Convocations to this day we see the Metropolitan and Bishops as the Governors of the Church Propesing and Directiing in Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Presbyters at hand with their Advice and Assistance in Subservience to the same Ends. The separation of the two Houses made no difference in this point Nor do we find any difference in this Point between the Times before and after the Separation of the Bishops and Clergy excepting this one that before it they all took the directions immediately from the President and retir'd in a Body and since his Grace upon those Occasions has either sent up for the whole House or which is more ordinary for the Prolocutor with Five or Six more Reverendissimus cum consensu Confratrum voluit jussit mandavit ad se accersiri Prolocutorem and by him conveys to his Brethrem below the Pleasure and Instructions of the Upper House But as to the manner end or authority of these occasional Directions their Division into two Houses made not the least difference in them as will appear beyond contradiction from the
Registers themselves Anno 1369. 10 Kal. Febr. The Clergy having granted a Supply on condition to have their Grievances redressed Archiepiscopus voluit quod Clerus Religiosi praedicti Petitiones suas c. in Scriptis redigerent sibi porrigerent die Veneris Anno eod 4 Kal. Febr. The Archibishop having enlarg'd before the Clergy upon the necessity of a Decima triennalis which the Bishops had granted Tunc injunxit Procuratoribus Cleri Relig. bujusmodi exhertando eosdem quòd se ad partes in dictâ Ecclesiâ transferrent concordarent pro dictâ decimâ triennali Anno 1376. Id. Febr. The Bishop having proposed certain matters for the benefit of the Church Oneravit Clerum in eorum Conscientiis ut deliberarent inter se quid esset melius faciendum pro utilitate dictae Ecclesiae Anno 1377. Id. Nov. Dominus voluit quod Procuratores compararent simul in praefatâ Ecclesiâ S. Pauli dicto die post prandium ad deliberand ad invicem utrum melius expediat concedere Decimas an Impositiones Anno 1379. 5 Id. Maij. Reverendissimus Pater praecepit quòd Procuratores Praelatorum Cleri exirent dictam domum Capitularem imer se tractaturi super materiâ Convocationis praedictae quibus exeuntibus dictus Reverendissimus Pater cum Suffraganeis in câlem Domo Capitulari secretè tractavit super materiâ praedict Et post tractatum hujusmodi dictus Reverendissimus Pater praecepit Procuratoribus quòd die fovis tunc prox sequente post Prandium convenirent ad invicem in Domo Capitulari praedictâ tractaturi ad invicem super materiâ Convocationis praedictae dixit quòd ipse alii Confratres sui revenirent die Veneris tunc prox sequente ad Domum Capitularem praedictam ad effectum tractandi materiam Convocationis praedictoe Anno eod 16 Kal. Jun. Dominus c. moneri fecit ibidem publicè omnes Procuratores Praelatorum Cleri quòd die Mercurii prox tunc sequente in dictâ Domo Capitulari comparerent simul ante boram nonam deliberaturi tractaturi de modo Subventionis Anno eod 13 Kal. Jun. Dominus praefixit Procuratoribus ad comparendum in Domo Capitulari dictum diem Veneris post prandium c. ad pleniùs tractand super praemissis Anno 1383 Decem. 4. The Pope's Subcollector comes to Convocation and desires a Subsidy The Archbishop having enforc'd his Request praecepit Procuratoribus quod super codem Negotio diligenter tractarent finalem responsum sibi Confratribus suis praeberent Super quibius omnibus singulis habito inter ipsos tractatu diligenti Procuratores eodem quarto die responsa sua in eâ parte finaliter in Scriptis redacta dicto Domino Cant. coram Confratribus suis pretunc ibidem existentibus exhibuerunt Anno 1404. May 17. Archiepiscopus c. continuavit demandavit aliis Praelatis Clero tunc ibidem praesentibus quod singulis diebus interim ad dictum locum convenirent laborarent circa Reformanda in Cantuariensi Provinciâ Eod. Anno Jun. 9. Conveniente Reverendissimo c. expositis periculis necessitatibus Regni tandem Procuratores Cleri convenientes sub domo Capitulari more solito ibidem super proedictis per aliquantum tempus tractantes tandem abinde secesserunt convenerunt coram dictis Reverendissimo Patre suis Suffraganeis concesserunt c. and again in the same Year June 16. upon the request of a Grant from the Pope's Collector Anno 1421. Maij 7. The Chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge coming to Convocation Reverendissimo Patri Confratribus suis totique Concilio commendabant c. Rogantes assidue de aliquo congruo Remedio propromotione Pauperum Studentium in Universitatibus bujusmodi auctoritate Concilij ad tunc inibi congregati graciose misericorditer provideri Quam quidem Recommendationem Dominus Confratres sui gratanter benevolè ut apparuit acceptarunt recedentibus tunc de mandato Domini Procuratoribus Cleri in Domum suam Inferiorem pro tractatibus fiendis in bujusmodi Convocationibus consuetam Dominus Confratres sui remanserunt in Domo Capitulari praedictâ post Tractatam non modicum tam circa Promotionem Graduatorum Studentium in Universitalibus praedictis quà m circa subventionem Domino Regi faciendam Dominus tandem Continuavit c. Anno 1428. Nov. 18. Clerici Seculares Cleri Procuratores ad Domum suam solitam de mandato Domini recesserunt Dominus vero Confratres sui Episcopi in Domo Capitulari remanserunt per aliquod tempus de super certis materijs arduis Convocationem bujusmodi tangentibus simul tractantes Eod. Anno November 23. Lectoe suerunt in publico literae Apostolicae Soliciting for a Subsidy to suppress the Hereticks of Bohemia quibus lectis Dominus cum Confratribus suis c. de super materiâ in dictis literis Apostolicis contentd communicavit caeteris de Clero interim de mandato Domini se retrahentibus Anno 1433. Decemb. 1. Reverendissimus Pater injunxit Clero quatenùs collaborarent providerent quid fiendum seu dicendum esset de Subsidio concedendo And again Decem. 10. Clero Dominus mandavit quatenus circa Subsidium Domino Regi concedend diligenter collaborarent Anno 1434. Oct. 20. Dominus mandavit Mro Thomae Bekington alijs diversis de Clero ut Articulos illos de generali Sententiâ quae consueta est quater in anno per Curatos Ecclesiarum publicari solemniter denunciari conciperent in linguâ maternâ sub breviori modo quo possent Anno 1438. After the meeting of Oct. 6. upon a Prorogation Dominus praecepit omnibus de Clero quatenus in Domo Inferiori simul convenirent super illis pro quibus fuerant bac Vice convocati diligenter tractarent viz. pro promotione in Universitatibus ordinandâ pro Subsidio pro trasmittendis ad generale Concil Ferrar. super his effectualiter responderent Anno eod die Martis prox Dominus mandavit Clero quantenùs super praemissis effectualiter communicarent recitando eis qualiter quomodo secerunt concesserunt Praelati Religiosi pro expensis transmittendorum ad Concil Generale Ferrar. Suadendo ut omni post positâ in ea parte divisione ad consimiliter concedend suos animos applicarent Anno 1439. Dec. 11. Cedulâ c. pro quadam Constitutione Augmentationis Pauperum Exilium Vicariarum Provinciae Cant. auctoritate bujusmodi Conciliis Provincialis faciendâ post aliqualem Communicationem babitam super eâdem inter Dominos Episcopos Praelatos Religiosos de Domo Superiori tandem ipsis de Clero Domûs Inferioris pro certis in câdem resormandis neo non pro avisamento deliberatione in hac parte capiend extitit liberata Eod. anno Dec. 22. Clerus de mandato Domini ad tractand pro subsidio aliis
Scriptam continen Nomina Praelatorâ—…m Cleri Domiâ—… Inferioris per eos elect scil the Names all enter'd in the Upper-house Book Quibus nominibus per me Notarium publicum de mandato Reverendi Patris Praesidentis antediuti publicè perlect dictus Reverendus Pater acceptavit corum respective Nomina Persâ—…s diâ—…sit dictam Prolocutorem c. Anno 1663. Jun. 27. The Prolocutor declares quòd ipse Coetus Domûs Inferioris de propositis diligenter tractarunt séque totum Coetum Domûs Inferioris elegisse in Examinatores Correctores Libri Subsidiorum c. Venerabiles Viros c. all the Names enter'd in the Upper-house Book Quam Electionem Dominus Praeses Confratres sui Approbarunt The Right of the Upper-house to appoint Committees of the Lower never question'd before 1689. and 1701. In this manner have the Archibishop and Bishops in Convocation requir'd Committees of the Lower Clergy in order to treat of any Matters they had to lay before them either by themselves or in conjunction with a certain number of Bishops as the Upper-house judg'd most convenient Nor can I find that Obedience to this their Lordships Authority and Appointment was ever Scrupl'd much less deny'd by the Inferior Clergy of any Age before the Convocation of 1689. Sess 13. and the last in 1701. Sess 18. Which Denials not countenanc'd from any one Precedent nay directly oppos'd by the Numbers we have produc'd above ought certainly to be accompany'd with very singular Circumstances and some very cogent Reasons arising from thence to make them I will not say Legal for that nothing under a New Law can do against an Establisht Usage but in any measure Excusable This Denial from the Lower-house the last Convocation produc'd a Resolution in the Upper not to receive any Papers from them till the Irregularity of refusing a Committee was set right And this having been since so freely censur'd as a groundless Exception and their Lordships thereupon made the Authors of breaking the Communication between the Bishops and their Clergy I will consider that Instance and the other of 1689. to see whether they afford any Circumstances which may cast the Crime on their Lordships side against the authority of so long and uninterrupted a Usage The Refusal in 1689 had no grounds from the Registers 1. Anno 1689. Sess 13. Upper-house Book Dominus Reverendus Pater Praeses antedictus Viz. Episcopus London proposuit Prolocutori ad nominand Coetum Selectum Domûs Inferioris Convocationis ad conveniend cum Coetu selecto Superioris Domûs Convocationis in ordine ad inspiciend Acta ambarum Domum Convocationis sed dictus Prolocutor respondebat se non posse ad id consentire sine Consensu Coetûs Domûs Inferioris Convocationis prius habito A little after Dominus Prolocutor cum numero copioso Domûs Convocationis comparuit declaravit quòd dicta Domus noluit consentire ad nominandum Coetum Selectum eorum Domûs ad conveniend cum Coetu praedict Domûs Superioris Convocationis ad effect supra mentionat durante recessu Convocationis Now the Archbishop and Bishops having in their Synods an undoubted Right to the Advice and Assistance of their Presbyters this act upon the foundation of Primitive Practice was a breach of their Canonical Obedience Again the Archbishop and Bishops in an English Convocation having ever requir'd their Clergy's Asistance in this particular of Appointing Committees and been as constantly obey'd without the least appearance of Scruple that Refusal is further Aggravated by its opposition to the Establisht Customs of this National Church Contrary to which was the Prolocutor's suspending his Complyance till he knew the Pleasure of the House for this implys that the House had a power if they thought fit to refuse but more directly so was the final Resolution of the House it self 'T is true that Refusal is represented by the Register under one Circumstance which they seem to have offer'd as the ground of it That it was appointed in a Recess of the Convocation Which Recess was no more than a Continuation in the common Form from December 14. to January 24. and if the President and Bishops have a Right to order the Choice of Committees to sit in the Shorter Intervals of Sessions by what law or Custom are they restrain'd from doing the same thing in the Longer On the other hand it was not only lawful but at that juncture very necessary too for such a Committe to have sat upon the business propos'd by their Lordships The inspecting the Registers of both Houses Because some differences in point of Custom and Priviledge had then hapn'd between the two Houses and that Recess was a proper opportunity to rectifie what was past and by that inspection to prevent future misunderstandings The Refusal of a Committee in the last Convocation prov'd Irregular 2. Anno 1701. Sess 18. Lower-House Book The Arch-Bishop signifies in Writing the Appointment of a Committee of five Bishops to meet with any Committee to be nam'd by the Lower-House not exceeding the number often to inspect the Acts of both Houses of Convocation to this time Et super eare declarârunt ordina ant That they are of Opinion that their Act-Books of this Session should not be freely inspected as yet their Lordship 's not having expressed the Intention of any such Inspection And then follows an Order That Notice be given to their Lordships that they have not thought fit to appoint such a Committee The Reasons alledg'd in the Narrative particularly answer'd Supposing that the Lower-House had a Right to judge in what Circumstances it is fit or unfit that Committees be appointed yet the Members refusing it at this time seem to assign a Reason that is somewhat strange Why not inspected as yet and why were their Lordships to give previous Notice of their Intention If it was that the Lower-House might have time to frame them into Acts and so make them more accurate they afterwards alter'd their Opinion of Things when in the Narrative Nar. p. 35. they prize the Minutes of 1640 more confus'd I an sure by many Degrees than theirs could be even above regular Registers in point of Credit But however the Minutes of 1701 might be industriously disparag'd to give a Colour at least to this their Refusal their own Journal says expressly That the Acts of the foregoing Session were distinctly read at the opening of the next which implies a regular Journal and the fair Copy now in the Register's Office is said to be the greatest part of it if not all a Transcript from those Acts. No inherent Power to admit or decline the Appointment of their Lordships This therefore does not seem to be the Reason they abide by but an Inherent Power of naming or not naming Committees at pleasure Thus much the Journal intimates in the Notice to be given to their Lordships That they have not thought fit
Refusal put a stop to the measures of Accommodation I appeal to any imparial Man whether that Motion intended to be made to the Upper House was fit to be offer'd any where but in the Lower in which the Obstruction solely lay CHAP. XI The Right of the President and Bishops to take to them the Assistance of Persons learned in the Law c. BEsides the Opinion and Assistance of the Inferior Clergy acting in conjunction with the President and Bishops as Members of the same Convocation their Lordships have a separate Power to advise with Counsel either in the Common or Civil Law upon any difficulty in the Course of their Proceedings in Cases more especially where there is any danger or appearance of their interfering with the Statutes and Customs of the Realm The Manner of taking their Advice has been either by admitting them to the Debates of the House or appointing a Select number of Bishops to lay before them any Doubts or Difficulties that were in their way and to desire the Opinion Anno 1419. Sess 3. Coram Archiepiscopo c. adductus fuit quidam Ricardus Walker c. quem ut asserebatur Prior Ecclesiae Cath. Wigorn. tanquam Sortilegum de Sortilegio suspectum c. apprehenderat Being examin'd he was remanded to Prison usque deliberari posset per Jurisperitos quâ poenâ talis Sortilegus esset per Jurisperitos puniendus Anno 1425. Jun. 8. Two Hereticks remanded in the same manner Donec Reverendissimus Pater de concilio avisamento Confratrum suorum ac Jurisperitorum deliberaret quid cum eis faciend censeret si in Poenam Relapsûs cecidissent neone Anno 1428. Upon the Question Whether the Religious should receive Hereticks as Prisoners into their Houses the Register adds Et quia ut asseruerunt materia illa ut eis videbatur gravis erat ac res quaedam insolita inaudita Supplicarunt Domino pro deliberatione ulteriori in hac parte habendâ ad finem quòd possent communicare cum Jurisperitis ne eis aut eorum Privilegijs seu Indultis Apostolicis praejudicium aliquod generaretur Anno 1460. Maij. 20. Administratis per Mr. Johannem Stoks Praelocutorem c. certis Articulis utilitatem Regis Regni Angliae defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus Reverendissimus Pater cum consensu suorum Confratrum in dictâ Convocatione praesentium elegit certos viros praeeminentis Scientiae viz. Magistros Rob. Styllington c. Legum Doctores ad interessend pertractand consiliand cum cis de super hujusmodi Articulis coram dicto Reverendissimo Patre suis Confratribus c. Anno 1586. Sess 3. Mar. 3. Lower House Book Dominus Prolocutor significavit praesentem Voluntatem Reverendissimi ac aliorum Dominorum Praelatorum de benevolâ Contributione c. quód de bujusmodi Libello concipiendo maturior deliberatio cum Jurisperitorum consilio habeatur Anno 1640. Sess 12. May 16. Upon a Debare concerning the Fees for Charchings c. Reverendissimus cum Consilio assensu Praelatorum Confretrum suorum negotium hujusmodi Attornato Generali Domini Regis significand fore decrevit ut ipse de aliquo Remedio pro eis in hac parte curaret Eod. Anno Sess 13. Reverendissimus cum Confratrum consensu elegit Dominos Episcopos Elien Bristol ad consulendum cum utroque Dominorum Justiciariorum Primariorum citra certas Clausulas Verba in Canonibus contra Recusantes They make their Report Sess 15. that Sir Edward Littleton advis'd ut quaedam verba in isto Canone expungerentur alia verba magis apta in loco eorum conscriberentur Eod. Anno Sess 25. Reverendissimus in praesentijs Domini Johannis Lamb Militis c. qui ad informandum Reverendissimum Episcopos vocati sunt tractavit cum Domino Prolocutore citra Canones Anno 1661. Jan. ult A Question arising Whether the Bishops might be present in the House of Lords in Causes of Blood Concordatum ordinatum fuit de cum consensu totius Domûs Superioris ad censulend Jurisperitos tam in Foro Seculari quà m in Curijs Civilibus Ecclesiasticis versatos de super dictâ Quaestione sive Argumento erga proximam Convocationem Anno 1662. Apr. 12. Habito tractatu de Subscriptionibus Clericorum Instituendorum c. Dominus Episcopus London Praesidens c. curam commisit Reverendis Patribus c. ad consulend Jurisperitos de concipiendâ Formâ in Scriptis in circa Subscriptionem praedict Application of these testimonies I produce these Evidences to justifie their Lordships from the Reflections cast upon them for declining to joyn the Lower House in the Censure of Toland's Book The History of which Case with the Reasonableness of what they did therein is set forth at large in the History of the Proceedings of the Upper House and comes no otherwise under my Consideration than as their Lordships appear from hence to have acted agreeably to the Practice of Convocation in advising with Council and upon that Advice determining themselves The necessity of having recourse to Council about the Censure of Books The Penalties of the Statute 25 H. 8. c. 19. upon the extent whereof the Question depended are very great and if incurr'd in Convocation would have affected the whole Body of the Clergy of this Province And therefore my Lords the Bishops the Governours of the Church could not involve the Clergy either of this or future times in a difficulty of that nature by omitting any methods of informing themselves whether the Act could be clearly warranted in Law And who were so fit to be their Guides in that Point as Council Learned in the Law to whom Recourse has been ever had in all Doubts of the same nature as it was particularly in the Convocation of 1689. and upon this very Question too viz. the Power they had in Law to pass a Censure of this kind As their Lordships must be presum'd to have taken the Advice and Opinion of the Ablest Men in the Profession and such withal whom they knew to be Persons of honour and integrity so it becomes not me or any other Person so little entitl'd to Accomplishments of that kind to call in question either the Justness or the Conscience of that Opinion The Narrative of the Lower House says P. 53. that though some eminent Lawyers were against it there were others perhaps as eminent who are of a contrary Opinion It may be so but did my Lords the Bishops understand so much or suppose they had such a Difference in Opinions is no uncommon thing nor must we in many cases ever determin our selves if we stay till all Men be unanimous Their Lordships therefore having appli'd to those of the Profession in whom they thought they could entirely confide had reason to acquiesce in the Judgment they gave especially when they were so expresly warn'd that the Effects of their Acting
the Arch-bishop and Bishops debate about the same Matter Procuratores c. reintrarunt circa horam undecimam quibus per Dominum Archiepiscopum ad tunc mandabatur quòd citra proximum diem Convocationis exhibeant declarent Articulatim Gravamina sua in Scriptis redacta Accordingly Dec. 7. two of the Members nonnullas Inconvenientias Gravamina pro ex parte Cleri cujus gerebant Organa vocis exposuerunt quae in Scriptis redacta exhibuerunt Anno 1452. The Prolocutor having given the Upper-house an Account of what was done about the Subsidy is askt An quicquam voluisset pro parte Cleri in Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ Reformatione dignum proponere And he continuò quasi ex insperato quamplurima c. proposuit Et quia non erat facilè singula per ipsum ibidem exposita memoriae quae admodùm labilis est commendare idcircò admonuit eundem Prolocutorem dictus Reverendissimus Pater ut singula per eum in hac parte proposita redigeret in literas Concilio traderet pleniùs maturiùs super eisdem deliberaturo Anno 1452. Feb. 7. Praelocutor post explicationem declarationem nonnullorum Gravaminum Ecclesiae Anglicanae Clero ejusdem à Laicis illatorum super quibus petijt Reformationem debitam intimavit c. Anno 1460. May 13. Propositis ibidem coram dicto Reverendissimo Patre alijs in dictâ Domo Capitulari protunc ibidem existentibus quibusdam Articulis per Prolocutorem vivâ voce dictus Reverendissimus Pater decrevit hujusmodi Articulos sic vivâ voce declarat ' in Scriptis redigi Anno 1460. May 24. Reverendissimus c. auditis per eum pluribus Articulis coram ipso adtunc vivâ voce ministratis continuavit c. Anno 1541. Sess 8. Accessit Prolocutor cum quibusdam de Electis à Clero exposuerunt querelas suas Thus the usual Methods of entring upon the Grievances of the Clergy were either upon an express Command from the Arch-bishop and Bishops or by a general Representation thereof to their Lordships who being in that manner sollicited to redress them either by their own ordinary Power or by Intercession with the King or Application to the Parliament were the best Judges of the Methods most proper to be taken for that End and gave their Directions accordingly The Redress of Grievances The Grievances being reduc'd into Articles and read in the Upper-house by the Prolocutor were presented to the Arch-bishop and Bishops to be by them particularly consider'd and debated in order to their further Prosecution of such Measures as should appear most effectual to the Relief of their Clergy After mature Deliberation upon them with the Clergy or among themselves as seem'd most convenient the Articles were either suspended for some time as those in 1411. Dec. 7. Omnes isti suprascripti Articuli quorum Reformatio deliberationis dierum exegit Inducias de consilio assensu expressis Dominorum in Convocatione praesentium positâ— fuerunt adhuc in suspenso or being thought in all Respects just and reasonable they were approv'd and Measures taken by the President and Bishops in Convocation or by their Ordinary Authority if the Matters were such as came under their own Power in either of these Capacities Otherwise they convey'd them to the King in Person in his Council or in his Parliament according to the Nature of the Requests they offer'd The Reformanda frequently propos'd by the Arch bishop among the Causes of Convocation II. The Reformanda whether in Convocatione in Parliamento or per Regem were upon Matters that concern'd the Good of the Church and Religion in general and being therefore equally the Care and Concern as well of Bishops as Clergy were frequently mov'd and propos'd by the Arch-bishop at the Opening of the Convocation among the Causes of his Summons Anno 1400. Jan. 29. The Arch-bishop explains Causas negotia Celebrationis sui Concilij Provincialis Convocationis Cleri vulgariter nuncupat viz. pro defectibus ejusdem Provinciae tam in Clero quà m in Populo juxta Juris Exigentiam Canonicè Reformandis and then he descends to the Particulars Anno 1404. May 17. The first Day of Business the Arch-bishop continuing the Convocation to May 21. demandavit alijs Praelatis Clero tunc ibidem praesentibus quòd singulis diebus interim ad dictum locum Domum Capitularem convenirent laborarent circa Reformanda in Cantuariensi Provinciâ exinde Articulos conciperent in Scriptis redigendos ut cum Dei adjutorio adhibita corum Benevolentia in hac parte quaeque Reformanda hujusmodi possent reformari Anno 1416. Nov. 16. Expositâ per Reverendissimum Patrem Causa Convocationis eorum protunc factae celebratae communicató que inter eosdem viz. the Bishops and Clergy then present aliquamdiu de super varijs Reformandis in Provincia tandem Dominus Continuavit c. Anno 1419. Among the Causes of calling the Convocation particularly explain'd by the Archbishop the third is Pro defectibus in Clero regnantibus auctoritate illius Provincialis Concilij reformandis And then he directs the Lower-Clergy to retire to their House quòd ibidem de super materijs praedictis tractarent communicarent ad finem quòd babitd deliberatione de super praemissis ad Dei laudem auctoritate Concilij finaliter concludi posset concorditer ordinari Anno 1434. The Arch-bishop reckons up several Grievances of the Church Et tunc babita Communicatione super bujusmodi Gravaminibus ordinatum erat tunc ibidem ut hujusmodi Gravamina ac alia quaecunque in quibus dictus Clerus se sentijt gravari nec non si quae forent Crimina Excessus infra Clerum usitat quae necessariâ Reformatione indigerent in Scriptis redigerentur ut super his omnibus ex communi consilio consensu auxilio Remendium posset debitum adhiberi Anno 1439. The Arch-bishop declares the Causes of the Convocation viz. qualiter Jurisdictio Ecclesiastica per Brevia Regia praecipuè per Brevia illa de Praemunire facias plus solito extitit perturbata impedita atque enormiter laesa Qualiter Personae Ecclesiasticae tam Seculares quà m Regulares per falsa Indictamenta alias vias Exquisitas plus solito vexatae gravaâ—ae sunt his diebus And the next Sesson Dominus mandavit Praelatis Clero quartenùs super praemissis alijs materijs quibuscunque Reformatione recessaria indigentibus viz. Qualiter illud Breve de Praemunire facias ipsa falsa Indictamenta quae hodiernis diebus falsò nequiter malitiosè usitantur continuantur in aliquo mitigari aut pro perpetuo deleri finaliter extingui valeant Billas alia Advisamenta in hac parte necessaria ad praemissa Reformanda conciperent Anno 1444. After the mention of the foresaid Writ among the Causes of Convocation the Arch-bishop adds Qualiter in
Ecclesiâ Anglicana fuerant plurima Reformatione digna de quibus voluit asseruit cum Confratribus suis pleniùs deliberare And in the next Convocation when these things made a part of the Speech at the first Opening we afterwards find the Reformanda in Convocatione and Reformanda in Parliamento at large The Methods of bringing in the Reformanda In Compliance with such general Directions from his Grace or tho' these were not expressly given in pursuance of one great End of these Synodical Meetings of the Bishops and their Presbyters we find the Lower-Clergy 1. Making general Representations to the President and Bishops vivâ voce of such things as they conceiv'd to want Reformation 2. Bringing in Schedules of particular Abuses that in their Opinion were injurious to the Honour and Interest of the Church The Clergy's Right to propose Reformations I. The Clergy in Convocation have a Right to offer general Representations of such things as they conceive to want Reformation Anno 1412. At the Conclusion of that Convocation Domino London Praesidente tradante cum Praelatis Clero Provinciae super quibusdam ordinand ad honorem Dei Ecclesiae tandem certa proposita fuerunt pro parte Cleri super quibus ordinationes fieri jubebantur quae Clerus in Scriptis redegit Anno 1463. Jul. 6. Dominus assidentibus sibi Episcopis post communicationem inter eos diu habitam factáque Supplicatione eisdem vivae vocis oraculo per Praelocutorem pro certis Reformationibus in Ecclesiá habendis continuavit c. Anno 1486. Feb. 17. Dominus communicavit cum Confratribus suis Praelatisque Clero de pluribus Reformandis in Ecclesiâ Et ibidem inter eosdem responsum erat quòd Privilegia Priori Sancti Johannis Jerusalem in Angliâ Fratribus suis concessa malè enormiter his diebus utebantur Et quòd Praedicantes verbum Dei apud Crucem S. Pauli London maximè clamant contra Ecclesiam Ecclesiasticos in eorum absentiâ in praesentiâ Laicorum qui semper Clericis sunt infesti Anno 1529. Sess 4. Ingressus est Prolocutor cum quibusdam de Clero qui exposuit certa Capitula in vulgari concernen utilitatem praedictae Synodi pro Reformatione Abusionum Et ibi Reverendus monuit Prolocutorem ut rediret in Domum Inferiorem conciperet Articulos de Abusionibus Accordingly Sess 6. Ingressus est Prolocutor cum Clero ibi exhibuerunt Articulos suos pro Reformatione Examinatio delata in prox Sessionem And Sess 7. Prolocutor exhibuit suos Articulos deliberandos in proximâ Sessione The Bishops c. in the mean time were also preparing their Articles of Reformation for so the Register has it Sess 5. Reverendissimus voluit ut Suffraganei sui alijt Praelati conciperent Reformationem exhiberent tales Articulos die Lunae prox On which Day Sess 6. Episcopus Heref. exhibuit quosdam Articulos pro Reformatione Clericorum Episcopi Exon. Coven Lichf Lincoln Bathon Wellen. exehibuerunt Billas pro Reformatione Abusionum Ecclesiarum Appropriatarum Monasteriis c. de quibus deliberatio delata in prox Sessionem Anno 1562. Jan. 19. The Prolocutor with certain of the Lower House comes up to acquaint the President and Bishops Quòd quidam de dictâ domo exhibuerunt quasdam diversas Schedas de Rebus Reformandis per eos respective excogitat ' in Scriptis redact Quae quidem Schedae de communi consensu traditae sunt quibusdam viris gravioribus doctioribus de Coetu dictae Domûs Inferioris ad hoc electis perspiciend considerand Quibus sic electis ut asseruit assignatum est ut hujusmodi Schedas in Capitula redigant ac in proxima Sessione exhibeant coram eodem Prolocutore Et tunc Reverendissimus hujusmodi negotia per dictum Prolocutorem Clerum incaepta approbavit ac in eisdem erga prox Sessionem juxta corum determinationem procedere voluit mandavit The Clergy's Right to bring in Schedules of Reformation II. We find the Clergy i. e. every particular Clergyman required to bring in their Schedule of Abuses for the information of the Synod and the enabling the Bishops and Clergy to proceed jointly to a Reformation Anno 1586. Sess 2. Lower House Book Post aliquem tractatum inter Reverendos Patres Dominum Prolocutorem cum alijs ex Inferiori Coetu de rebus quibusdam necessarijs dictus Dominus Prolocutor cum Coetu suo praedicto in dictam Inferiorem Domum revertebatur And after the House was settl'd in the accustom'd manner Habita est per Dominum Prolocutorem Admonitio omnibus ex hoc Coetu c. ut si qui sint qui aliquas Schedulas proferre vellent de rebus in hujusmodi Convocatione Reformandis easdem sibi traderent in proximâ Sessione Anno 1586. Sess 7. In the Extracts out of the Upper House Journal Archbishop gives Intimation at a Conference with the Lower House to Present if any had ' Ordain'd or Instituted any unworthy Persons or of any breach of the Canons that it may be Reformed 1586. Dec. 2. Extracts out of the Upper House Journal ' Brought up by the Lower House 2 Schedules 1. A complaint of Disorders in Norwich Diocese 2. Another Schedule intitul'd Suffolk-Archdeaconry Anno 1586. Sess 11. Lower House Book Precibus finitis Prolocutor adiit Reverendissimum Patrem caeteros Praelatos paulò pòst revertens intimavit omnibus praesentibus consultum esse per eosdem Reverendissimum Patrem Praelatos de Reformatione fiendâ quoad Schedulas eidem Reverendissimo ac Domino Prolocutori exhibitas Et quòd conventum est inter dictos Reverendissimum Praelatos de Exercitiis fiend per Ministros infra Prov. Cant. Et quòd ijdem Reverendi Patres cum redierint in Dioeceses suas ordinem corundem significabunt omnibus quibus interest in hac parte Anno 1588. Sess 2. Lower House Book Dominus Prolocutor universo Coetui significavit Voluntatem Reverendissimi caeterorumque Praelatorum esse quòd si aliquis hujus Domûs noverit quenquam Ministrum de quo justè conqueri possit quòd contra Leges Ecclesiasticas nunc temporis auctori tate legitimâ receptas approbatas se gessit gérit aut si aliquis noverit quenquam qui Canenes in ultimâ Convocatione approbatos edâ—…â—…iolaverit eosdem in Scriptis denunciarent Reverendissimo Domino Cant. Archiepiscopo caeterisque Dominis Praelatis praedict pro debitâ Correctione Reformatione in eâ parte faciend Accordingly The next Session we find this Intimation of such a Schedule brought in Isto die porrecta fuit Domino Prolocutori Schedula Reformand per M. Coton Inferences from the foregoing Accounts From the foregoing Passages I infer this plain account of the Reformanda in Convocation While the Archbishop and Bishops are suppos'd to be consulting in the Upper House whether any
of Laws or Customs that appear'd to be burthensome or inconvenient Anno 1428. The last day of Convocation Dominus ex assensu Confratrum suorum ad Petitionem Cleri poenam in Constitutione propter excessiva Stipendia Capellanorum tam contra dantes quam recipientes latam pro parte dantium suspendit usque ad proximam Convocationem ipsos hujusmodi poenâ minimè involutos fore decrevit Anno 1529. Sess 91. Prolocutor intrans c. perijt quòd praesentati ad Ecclesiastica Beneficia non arctentar per Diecesanos scripto aliquo obligatorio aut poenâ temporali obligari ad Resi ientiam Anno 1541. Sess 20. Clerus exposuit Peâ—…ionem de Conjugies sactis in Bethlem abolendis Anno 1555. Sess 3. The Clergy grant a Subsidy illie expoluit Clerus tres Petitiones primùm quòd omnes Beneficati qui spe Remissionis primorum fructuum ex communi rumore Sacerdotia assecuti sunt non obligentur rependere duplos c. 2 do ut possint Diplomata Apostolica pro Sacerdotiis retinend assequi postremò quòd Statutum tollatur pro Decimis solvendis c. quòd Decimarum Causae emergentes coram Ordinatio examinentur decidantur 4. About Festivals 4. For the appointment of new Festivals or improving the Services of the old Anno 1434. Oct. 9. Dominus ex consensu Confratrum suorum ad Petitionem Cleri ordain'd that St. Frideswide's Day cum novem lectionibus aliis quae ad hujusmodi Festum cum Regimine Chori secundum usum Sarum pertinent per totam Provinciam suam perpetuò celebraretur Anno 1444. Oct. 24. Magister Willelmus Byconil Offic. Curiae Cant. totius Cleri Praelocutor Supplicabat Domino ex parte Cleri ut dies Translationis S. Edwardi c. sub duplici Festo per suam Provinciam solempnizari posset de Confratrum suorum consensu concedere dignaretur 5. For the Archbishops intercession with the King 5. For the Archbishop's Intercession with the King to restrain the Lay Officers from oppressing the Church or to pray their assistance in the Enforcement of Ecclesiastical Laws Anno 1394. Supplicatio Cleri directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York Chancellour of England that for the Suppression of Lollardy they will intercede with the King ut dignetur extendere cum effectu brachium suae Majestatis Anno 1463. Jul. 18. Petitum fuit per Magistrum Johannem Stocks Prolocutorem à Domino ut ipse Regiae Majestati scriberet pro liberatione certarum Personarum Ecclesiasticarum in Custodià laicali incarceratarum custoditarum ut secundum Cartam alias per Regem viris Ecclesiasticis concessam suis Ordinariis possint liberari Anno 1480. Apr. 3. A Petition presented by the Prolocutor to the Archbishop and Bishops praying them in the name of the Clergy to intercede with the King for Protection to the Church against the encroachments of Lay-Officers molesting and imprisoning the Clergy 6. For the Execution of Discipline 6. For more strict Execution of Ecclesiastical Discipline As Anno 1586. March 15. Extracts out of the Upper House Book ' The Lower House beseech the Bishops to be careful of Ordinations to restrain their Officers from Excessive Fees and that they will force every Instituted Person within a certain time to take Induction or else sequester the Profits 7. Petitions of several kinds 7. In the Year 1555. I find at the end of the Journal an Abstract of the Petitions offer'd by the Inferiour Clergy to the Upper House Item Supplication of the Lower House to the Bishops concerning Spiritual Lands in Temporal Mens hands Item for Schools and Hospitals promised in the Statute of Suppression of Colleges Item for Mortmayn Tythes Appropriations of Preachers of Books of Statutes and Jurisdiction against Hereticks of Pluralities of Seminaries of Liberties of the Church in Magna Charta of Praemunire of the Statute of Submission of the Clergy of finding great Horses of Usurers of Violence against any of the Clergy of Clarks Apparel of Priests Married of School-Masters of exempt Jurisdiction and Peculiar Places in Lay-Mens hands of the Cognition of Causes of Tythes before the Mayor of London that Places exempted may be allotted to certain Priests of Chancels decay'd of Priests Marriâ—… to be reconciled of Payment for Tythes of Religious Women Married to be Divorc'd that in Divorces innocent Women may enjoy the Lands and Goods which were theirs before the Marriage That Wardens of Churches may make their Accompts that Ecclesiastical Persons which spoiled Churches and plucked down certain Edifices may be compelled to restitution and to Build them again Petitions of the Clergy presented immediately to the Vpper House All Petitions of this nature were delivered to the Archbishop and Bishops and rested with them as those others to the King or Parliament were put into the hands of the Archbishop singly or jointly with his Suffragans that after Approbation they might by their Lordships be convey'd and solicited according to the Intent and Tenor thereof Nor do I remember to have met with any Petition in the Registers delivered separately or immediately by the Clergy themselves except that one in 1588. Sess 10. to the House of Lords The Commons had sent up a Bill for a provision of Arms c. by the Clergy it was therefore the single and immediate concern of the Lower House to prevent it in order to which they Address'd the Lords in Parliament as in a matter of Property and among the rest the Petition was directed to the Archbishop and Bishops Upon which Accounts it cannot be extended to other Cases of an Ecclesiastical Nature in all which the Bishops and their Clergy must be jointly concern'd The time of presenting such Petitions The time of the Clergy's presenting their Petions to the Upper House whether Vivâ voce or in Scriptis was usually upon Delivery of their Grant and at the end of Convocation Not any but they had the same Right to offer them any other time tho' no Supplies were given but that being the most desirable opportunity of conveying their Grievances to the King became thereupon the ordinary time of bringing in their Petitions of all other kinds CHAP. XIV The Part which the Clergy have had in Judicial Cases THE ordinary way of Trying and Convicting Hereticks and Offenders against the Canons was in the Ecclesiastical Courts of every Diocese where they proceeded according to the stated Rules of such Courts and the severe Canons and Statutes then in force But if the Bishop upon Examination did not see cause to deliver over the Party accus'd to the Secular Power either the Degree or Evidence of the Crime falling short the Suspicion was however reckon'd a sufficient Cause of Imprisonment That if he had not abjur'd in Form he might by that means be compell'd to it or if he had that he might not be trusted abroad till he had given sufficient Proofs of
the Sincerity of his Recantation In Cases of this kind the Person was frequently brought before the next Convocation especially such as had relaps'd after an Abjuration of their Errors according to the Language and corrupt Opinions of those Times The whole Process in the Interior Courts was return'd into the Arch-bishop's to be deposited there against the next Convocation and when that came the Person was produc'd and a Relation of the former Prosecutions publickly given either by the Arch-bishop or the Diocesan Constitution for bringing Hereticks before the Convocation This was the ordinary Practice long before that Establishment of it by a Constitution under Arch-bishop Chichle Anno 1416. part of which I will here transcribe because it shews the manner and end of bringing Persons examin'd already in the Bishops Courts before the whole Body of the Clergy in Convocation After a general Direction to the several Bishops Archdeacons c. to be diligent in the Discovery and Prosecution of Hereticks Et si quas personas convictas forsan Curiae Seculari non reliquant ipsos ad carceres perpetuos sive temporales prout rei qualitas exegerit ad minus usque ad prox Praelatorum Cleri Cantuariensis Provinciae Convocationem duratur realiter committant in eisdem secundum Juris exigentiam servari faciant ac de omnibus singulis supradictis quomodo viz. inquisierunt reperierunt ac in Processibus se habuerunt personas hujusmodi convictas diligentiaque aut negligentijs Archidiaconorum siue Commissariorum praedictorum alijsque omnibus singulis circumstantijs praemissis quomodolibet concernen ac praesertim de Abjurationibus si quos interim haerses abjurare contingat in prox Praelatorum Cleri Convocatione sub forma publica distincte aperte Nos Successores nostros certificare curent eosdem Processus Officiali Curiae nostrae Cant. effectualiter liberent penes eundem seu in Registrario Curiae nostrae Cant. remansur sic videlicet quòd quemlibet cujus interest pro executione ulteriori corundem Processuum ad eundem Officialem recur habere poterit cum effectu Such was the Method of those Times Hereticks brought before the Arch-bishop Bishops and Clergy but that which I am chiefly to consider is the Judicature in Convocation and this was usually the Arch-bishop Bishops and Clergy in a Body before whom the Party accus'd is generally said to be brought Coram Reverendissimo Confratribus suis Clero in Concilio congregatis adductus fuit or words to the same effect is the ordinary Language of the Registers in those Cases Sentence in all their Names And the Sentence running in the name of the Arch-bishop is pass'd auctoritate de consilio assensu c. Praelatorum Cleri The Instances of both kinds are too numerous to be particularly set down nor can they be over-lookt by any one who shall cast an Eye upon the Convocation-Acts of those times when such Prosecutions hapned 'T is true they are sometimes said to be produc'd Coram Domino Confratribus without mention of the Clergy or only praesente Clero and in praesentiâ Cleri in which Cases the Arch-bishop and Bishops might probably act as a pure Provincial Council for into such we know they sometimes resolv'd themselves upon the Opportunity of coming together in Convocation But in the ordinary Stile of the Registers the Appearance is made before them and the Sentence ordinarily pronounc'd by their Authority in Conjunction with that of the Bishops and therefore in those Days and upon those Occasions they were ordinarily at least a part of the Judicature in Convocation As to any Restraints in this Matter that may have been laid upon the Convocation by subsequent Statutes I don't pretend to give a Judgment of them but only assert the Clergy's Rights by ancient Usage to a share in the Judicature with the Arch-bishop and Bishops supposing Cases of that nature to come actually before them CHAP. XV. The Clergy's Right of a Negative or Final Dissent from the Upper-House The Original of the Clergy's Negative THE greatest Power enjoy'd by the English Clergy in a Provincial Synod beyond the Presbyters of other Nations is a Negative upon the Metropolitan and Bishops none of whose Resolutions either in part or in whole can be pass'd into Synodical-Acts without the previous Approbation of the Inferior Clergy 'T is very true what we observ'd before that it was a Civil Account which brought them by degrees into this Extraordinary Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs Their Civil Property could not be dispos'd of but by their own Consent and this being the great Business of Convocation at the beginning the Negative of the Clergy became an establisht Rule there and so that Rule took place in Canons Constitutions and other Ecclesiastical Affairs when these also which before had solely belong'd to a Synod of the Archbishop and Bishops came to be consider'd and fram'd in Convocation A Negative or final Dissent an establisht Right of the English Clergy However it is now an establisht Right of the Lower-house and a part of the Constitution of this National Church Nor is it my Design to dimiâ—…sh it by the Observation I am about to add That tho' the Clergy's Negative as to Subfidies was directly founded in that common Right of English Subjects Not to be Tax'd but by their own Consent yet under that Right the Clergy of those Days preserv'd such a Sense of Duty to their Ecclesiastical Superiors All Denials of the Clergy made with great Humility that all their Denials were made with great Humility and often accompany'd also with a Request to be excus'd for that time and also with their particular Reasons why they could not come up to the Desires of the Arch-bishop and his Brethren For the granting of Subsidies was always propos'd by the President upon which the Clergy were directed to retire and Debate and return their Answers to him and his Brethren Generally they concurr'd with great Readiness and when they dissented they usually shew'd the Causes thereof with the utmost Humility Anno 1356. 12 Kal. Jun. They excus'd themselves in a formal Address to the Arch-bishop and Bishops Vobis Reverendis in Christo Patribus Dominis Die gratia Archiepiscopo Cant. vestrisque Suffraganeis ad celebrandum Concilium Provinc juxta sacrorum instituta Canonum congregatis supplicat humiliter devotè Clerus Cant. Provinciae quatenus pio sibi compatientes affectu Rationes suas Motiva infrà Scripta clementer auscultare dignemini eis in examine circumspectae discretionis vestrae diligentius ponderatis Petitiones ejusdem Cleri admittere gratiose they offer several Reasons and then conclude thus Placeat benignitati vestrae absque ulteriori onere hac vice Ecclesiae imponendo ipsum Clerum qui dicto Domino Regi semper devotus extitit ipsum nunc in quantum potuit ne deterioris conditionis existat quà m Communitos Laicorum habere
The Method of Passing Canons and Constitutions before the Statute 25. H. 8. c. 19. was the same that has ever been practis'd in Synodical Meetings viz. by the Authority of the Synod and with the Sanction of the Metropolitan and these two gave them their full Force and Effect But now they are fram'd in order to be laid before the Prince as agreed on by the Arch-bishop Bishops and Clergy and none to be of any Force Effect or Validity in Law but only such and so many of them as he by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England shall allow approve and confirm This is the Language of the Royal Licence the Necessity whereof in order to make promulge and execute Canons c. is an Abridgment of the Ecclesiastical Power in these Respects and therefore the ancient Sanction which always signify'd a final Authority could not be continu'd in any Matters which were not to be promulg'd or executed without the Allowance Approbation and Confirmation of the King by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England But all Synodical-Acts to which the Royal Licence is not necessary receive their final Authority from the Sanction of the Metropolitan i. e. they still pass in the ancient Canonical way whatever some late Writers too much bent upon the Diminution of Ecclesiastical Power may suggest to the contrary CHAP. XVII Of Proroguing and Dissolving a Convocation AS the Arch-bishop upon receiving the Royal Writ for Calling a Convocation is bound by Law and agreeably to the Deference that has been ever paid to Christian Princes to exert his Summoning Authority so is he under the same Obligation to proceed to Prorogations and Dissolutions thereof in a Canonical way when the Pleasure of the Prince shall be signify'd by Royal Writs to those Purposes For how little Truth there is in the late Notion That the Arch-bishop in those Cases acts purely in a Ministerial way may appear by a Comparison of the Methods of Executing those Commands in Parliament and Convocation The manner of the A. bishop's Proroguing and Dissolving Authoritative For the the first the Prorogation of a Parliament the King by his Letters Patents constitutes such of the Nobility as he thinks fit his Commissioners for that end Dante 's vobis tenore praesentium plenam potestatem facultatem authoritatem c. ad praesens Parliamentum nostrum nomine nostro prorogand c. In the same Stile is the Commission for Dissolving as oft as his Majesty is not present in Person A Stile that is truly and evidently Ministerial But the Writs for doing the same things in Convocation can be directed to none but the Metropolitan himself and that without any Conveyance of Authority or Order to act in his Majesty's Name or any other Direction besides the Proroguing or Dissolving it according to the accustom'd Methods of Convocation Debito modo prorogetis and Dissolvetis seu dissolvi faciatis In pursuance of which Order the Archbishop Prorogues and Dissolves either in Person or by one or more Commissioners specially constituted by his Grace for those Purposes The Archbishop's Admonitions immediately before a Proragation or Dissolution Immediately before a Prorogation or Dissolution we find the Arch-bishop as he saw occasion publickly recommending to the Bishops and Clergy the due Execution of the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Reformation of any particular Abuses and Irregularities in the Church Anno 1428. Ulteriúsque rogavit hortatus est requisivit Reverendissimus Pater Dominus praedictus praefatos Confratres suos ut in inquisitione fienda contra Lollardos Haereticos hujusmodi diligentiam interim omnimodam quam poterant adhiberent cùâ—… revenerint quid contra eos fecerint ipsum pleniùs certificarent specialiter de illis quorum momina sibi detecta dictis Confratribus suis prout unumquemque in Dioc. suâ concernebant in Cedulis divisis conscripta circa tres Dies antea tradidit liberavit Anno 1601. Sess 18. The Extracts out of the Upper-house Books have this Note immediately before the Dissolution Arch-bishop exhorts the Bishops to be diligent in their Charge and careful to observe the Canons in the last Convocation Anno 1586. The Lower-house Book immediately before the Dissolution Revereâ—dissimus Pater Dominus Cant. querelatus est de pravâ immoderatâ luxuriâ ac minus verecundo gestu ac morum intemperie nonnullorum Clericorum Provinciae Cant. ad fora loca publica concurrentium Quare monuit Decanos Archidiaconos alios jam praesentes ad quos Correctio delinquentium hujusmodi pertinet ad severè procedend puniend obnoxios culpahiles si incorrigibiles perseveraverint ad implorand auxilium opem Episcopi Diocesani vel ipsius Reverendissimi Patris vel etiam ipsius Serenissimae Dominae nostrae Reginae ne actionum morum pravitas istorum obnubilet obscuret Dectrinam Evangelii quod verbis profitentur quo pluribus perniciosum siet pessimum eorum exemplum The Writs of Prorogation and Dissolution On the Day of Prorogation or Dissolution the Royal Writ is produc'd and publickly read But that being only a Direction to the Archbishop to Prorogue or Dissolve neither of these are effected by that Publication of the Writ On the contrary the very first Writ of Prorogation we meet with Anno 1532. May 15. was read in the Morning Reverendissimus ostendebat quoddam Breve Regium sibi directum pro Prorogatione hujusmodi Convocationis Quod Breve idem Reverendissimus publicè legebat and yet the Convocation sat till Noon and after Dinner met again So also Anno 1434. March 31. The Writ of Prorogation was brought in and read and afterwards the Resolutions of the Lower-Clergy touching the Pope's Supremacy were delivered and then the Arch-bishop is said to Continue to the Day specify'd in the Writ For so is the Practice of Convocation The Pleasure of the Prince is signify'd to the Archbishop by the Writ but his Grace pursues that Royal Order by a â—ormal Declaration out of a Schedule mentioning indeed the Royal Writ but running solely in the Arch-bishop's Name and by him pronounc'd in presence of the Bishops and Clergy The Authors therefore of some late Schemes have done a manifest Injustice to the Constitution of our Protestant Church in contending against Law and Practice that the Reformation put an end to the ancient Canonical Ways of transacting Ecclesiastical Matters and introduc'd a new Model inconsistent with the Primitive Distinctions between Presbyters and Bishops and unknown before either to this or any other Episcopal Church The foregoing Chapters I hope may vindicate our Reformation from the late Aspersions of that kind as well as the Ecclesiastical Government thereof from any such Repugnancy to the Primitive Rules and may withal make it more easily understood whether they who have carry'd on those new Measures or they who have oppos'd them are the truer Friends to the Rights Liberties and Honour of our
the matter into Consideration against the next meeting At the best therefore it was doubtful whether any one was legally Substituted to exercise the Office of a Prolocutor But which is more the Intimation of the Act of Continuing is a Referendary-Act a Report from their Lordships to the Lower House and they who contended the most Zealously for his taking the Chair declar'd it to be their intention that he should not act in any instance as a Referendary till he had been confirm'd by their Lordships To argue upon their own principles I only suppose this distinction between a Prolocutor and a Referendary but no such appears in the Registers which stile him not only Prolocutor Referendarius but Prolocutor sive Referendarius implying the names to be of the same Import in the language of Convocation But this will be explain'd more largely under another head At present I will pursue my Observations upon the general Right of Continuing from the five Journals which are here made publick The Phrase Continuavit quoad hanc Domum no Argument for a Separate Power in the L. House The only colour that can be drawn from these of a Separate Power of Continuation in the Lower House is the Phrase of some Continuations in 1586 Prolocutor continuavit quoad hanc domum But here no Act or Power is express'd besides that of the Prolocutor and they who are so earnest for an Inherent Power in the House are yet as zealous as we against all pretences to a Personal Authority in the Prolocutor The Question therefore is by whose Authority he must be suppos'd to Continue in those Cases by that of his Grace or of the Lower House He had certainly notice of the Continuations in the Upper House because these in the Lower are declar'd to the same time And the Advocates for this Inherent Right are at last brought to Acknowledge an Obligation to attend on his Grace's Day and by consequence the necessity of having an Authentick Notice thereof The Prolocutor is also known by his Office to be the Referendary or Reporter of all Messages from the Upper House and I think sufficiently prov'd in the 4th Chapter of this Book to moderate the Debates of the Lower in his Graces stead These are natural reasons why Continuations express'd in such general terms should be the pure Effects of the President 's Authority but as to the Vote Act or Consent of the Lower House there is no mark or footstep of it either in these or any other Separate Continuations The Phrase it self not to be met with elsewhere in all our Journals of Convocation was introduc'd by the Prolocutor's being put into the President 's Commission to Prorogue This oblig'd him to pronounce the Continuation in the Upper House at least to bear a part in it and coming from thence to give notice to the Lower the Actuary's use of the ordinary Style Intimavit would not have been so consistent with the meaning thereof in Convocation Language But while he considered him not only as Prolocutor but as Commissary to the President it was natural to change Intimavit a Ministerial word into terms that might better express the Authority he then had as Commissary to his Grace The Phrase in Parliament Dom. Canc. Contin praesens Parl. no argument for the Lower House See the Right of the A. Bishop p. 43 44. To this I will add a short but clear reply to another Suggestion why the Lower Clergy are not comprehended in the terms of the Archbishop's Continuations It is that in Parliament the Adjournments of the House of Peers are enter'd Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum and yet the Act of the Chancellour Adjourns the Lords only But the distinctions in this Case between the two Houses of Parliament and Convocation are too remarkable to leave room for such a Parallel 1. There is no original Subordination between the constituent Members of the two Houses of Parliament nor any Relation but what arises purely from the Usage and Constitution of the Kingdom But in the two Houses of Convocation as the Bishops make the Upper and Presbyters the Lower a Subordination is establisht in the Lower by Apostolical Institution and in Conformity thereto by the Constitution of this National Church And so every step made by Presbyters towards a co-ordinate or independent Power is a proportionable Deviation in the constitution of our Church from the pattern of the purest Ages For 2. The Adjournment of the House of Peers is pronounc'd by one who has no Authority over the Commons nor any concern even among the Lords besides that of Moderating except he be a Peer of the Realm and in Right of his Peerage have a Title to Vote c. But in Convocation the Continuation is pronounc'd by the Metropolitan of the whole Province and the President of the whole Convocation who advising with his Brethren the Bishops directs the business of Convocation and is at the head of Proceedings in both Houses nay which is more has a final Negative upon them and by his Concurrence gives the Sanction to their Acts in all matters to the framing and Promulging whereof the Royal License and Authority are not necessary in Law 3. That Act of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Peers is plainly Ministerial or the effect of an immediate direction from the House but his Grace's in Convocation is Authoritative Nos Continuamus in virtue of a Power belonging to him as President of the whole Body 4. The terms of the two Continuations or Adjournments are widely Different In the House of Lords it is the praesens Parliamentum which the Lord Chancellour Adjourns by word of Mouth and it is no extraodinary thing to find the Word Parliamentum signifying one House when the standing Clerk thereof is Stil'd Clericus Parliamentorum But the Archbishop in a formal Instrument Continues praesentem sacram Synodum sive Convocationem Praelatorum Cleri Cantuariensis Provinciae where the Parties thereby Continued the Bishops and Clergy are directly express'd nor is the Register of the Upper House tho' acting by a Deputy in the Lower also ever term'd Registrarius Convocationum or the word Convocatio much less Convocatio Praelatorum Cleri ever apply'd to one House Separately 5. Tho' those Expressions were us'd on any other occasions which they are not to signifie the Upper House only yet the known Effect they have always had in this Case of Continuation would necessarily extend them to the Lower as well as Upper House For whereas the Adjournment in the House of Lords is never notified to the Commons who equally govern their own times of meeting and sitting and so no Concurrence as to time appears in the Sessions of the two Houses of Parliament In Convocation the Lower House has express and authentick Notice of the Act in the Upper and so the Clergy according to all the concurrent Books of the two Houses have ever met again at the time
and place specifi'd in the Act above I know no way to determin the Strict and Legal meaning of Words in any Case but by the known and ordinary acceptation of them in general and the effect or operation they have and ever had in particular Cases that may fall under my Consideration In this therefore I refer my self to the Judgment of any impartial Man Suppose ' That by our Constitution the House of Commons in their Proceedings were bound to receive and follow the directions of the Peers ' That both these Houses sat and acted under one common President the L. Chancellour or Keeper ' That all the Adjournments were solemnly pronounc'd by him in his own Name and in Terms directly expressing the whole Parliament nay specifying the Lords and Commons ' That an Authentick Notice hereof were immediately transmitted to the House of Commons ' That in fact according to all the contemporary Journals it appear'd that the Adjournments Below had been to the same Day Hour and Place with those Above Under these Circumstances I say for in Convocation this is the Case could it be a Doubt with any unprejudic'd Man Whether that Constant Adjournment of the Commons from and to the same Time with the Lords could spring from any Cause but the sending down a Constant Notice of the Adjournment Above and a perpetual Perswasion among the Commons that they were Included in that Adjournment and absolutely determin'd by it The necâ—ssity of Insisting upon it that the L. Clergy are Included in the Continuation Above As therefore this concurrence of Sessions in the Upper and Lower House is an undeniable proof that Authentick Notice of the President 's Act has been ever conveyed to the Inferior Clergy so the form of that Continuation in the Schedule and Journals proves the whole Convocation to have been always Included in the Act. And whoever reflects upon the Consequenees of their not being Included will agree with me that 't is highly necessary his Grace should insist on it at this Juncture when the terms of the Schedule have been so publickly pretended to comprehend the Upper House only and the Intimation is reduc'd to a bare Notice of the Day and Hour to which their Lordships have Adjourn'd themselves without any Authority that shall bind or affect the Inferior Clergy Add to this The asking the express Consent of the House and The Intimating out of a written Paper of their own both of 'em without President and both Intended for a more open and publick Declaration that it is an Act of their own upon an Inherent Power in the House A separate Power of Continuing in the L. House opens a way to perpetual divisions of the Synod A Principle evidently introducing a Separation of the Synod both as to Bishops and Clergy and of the Clergy among themselves when Discontents happen to arise among the Presbyters or Designs against Episcopacy shall be set a foot For if they be not Included in the Continuation Above it is wholly at their own Pleasure whether they will attend at the next meeting of their Lordships The President can have no right in Law to oblige them to attend or to punish them for non attendance which upon that Supposition of their Adjourning themselves is no Disobedience to any Command of his Grace or Contempt of His Authority The present Presbyters of our Church may probably be content to observe their Lordships Days But I think Wise Men in the Settlement of all Constitutions are wont to look a little beyond the present time And should the Inferior Clergy of the next Age be dispos'd to take all Advantages which these Principles of their Predecessors supposing them to be now establisht would give I â—ee not what Fence the Church or Bishops will have against a Presbyterian Assembly The same Principle opens a ready way to Divisions among the Inferior Clergy themselves Suppose for the purpose that any number of the Lower-house Members should dislike the Proceedings and refuse to attend in pursuance of the separate Adjournment of the Majority neither the House nor the Prolocutor have a Right in Law Temporal or Ecclesiastical to oblige them to it Reflect on Exped p. 10. The Effect whereof as hath been observ'd elsewhere is a Session under the Name of a Synodical-Meeting protested against by the Archbishop Bishops and any number of the Inferior Clergy under the Majority and which is yet worse no Provision made by the Laws either of Church or State to re-unite even the Clergy themselves The Archbishop who Summons the Clergy hath also a Right to enforce their Attendance according to the Continuations that shall be made in the Upper-house which is a coherent Scheme of Government and will perpetually secure the Unity of the Synod The Presbyterian Assemblies also are at least thus far regular that the Assembly which Adjourns is suppos'd by them to have a Power of proceeding to Censures in case of non-attendance But the present Claim of separate Adjournments made by Episcopal Divines under the Perswasion of a Want of Power to enforce Attendance is in my Apprehension a very inconsistent Scheme and has a direct Tendency to perpetual Distractions and Divisions both between the Bishops and their Clergy and among the Clergy themselves A separate Power takes away all the Means of Re-uniting the Synod I will add That if this Principle I mean a Right in the Clergy to Adjourn tho' they have no Power to enforce Attendance were true it would not only break the Union of the Synod but take away all the means of re-uniting it The President has the Power of Censures but he cannot inflict them for Non-attendance upon Persons not enjoin'd upon his Authority to attend The Lower-house by this Principle are suppos'd to have the Right of enjoining their Members to attend but then they have no Authority in case of Non-attendance to censure and punish This Scheme therefore is a very unworthy Reflection upon the Wisdom of our Constitution It supposes a Power lodg'd in the Governours of our Church over the Inferior Members thereof for the Preservation of Peace and Union and yet that the Inferior Members are exempted from that Power It supposes also an easy way left open for factious Spirits to destroy the Union and by degrees the Being of our Episcopal Church without any Provision made to repair the Breach and restore that Union That is it makes our Constitution an incoherent and inessectual Scheme of Government below the Wisdom even of Human Policy and much more unbecoming the Dignity of an Apostolical Institution These Principles you observe make all Attendance whether on his Grace's Days or their own a mere voluntary Act of every particular Member of the Lower-house there being no Coercive Power to reach or censure them for Non-attendance The Majority in the last and present Convocations have not yet exerted the Right which their Principles would give of denying Attendance when the Upper-house met Intermediate Sessions a
with such mean methods to proclaim her Breaches and make her the publick scorn of her Enemies For the sake of our Church and Religion may the Author of these Methods be once brought to such a Spirit and Temper as shall at least oblige him to common Decency or however restrain him from such open and virulent abuses of his Ecclesiastical Governors Orders made in Convocation against the Publication of Debatés whilâ—… depending He seems to have overcome the obligations of Duty but may remember that in some former Convocations particular Orders have been made against Revealing the Debates even in Discourse till finisht and that upon Penaltiés which he is taking great Pains to Deserve Anno 1529. Sess 3. Reverendissimus monuit omnes sub poenâ Excommunicationis ne aliquis revelet extra-Domum aliquibus personis cujuscunqué Statûs nisi inter Semetipsos Anno 1529. Sess 19. Reverendissimus omnes singulos admonuit ne quicquam revelent de hujusmodi Communicatione Anno 1529. Sess 20. Episcopus London Commissarius c. monuit omnes ne quicquam Revelarent ibi dictum vel recitatum sub poenâ Excommunicationis latae Sententiae Anno 1541. Sess 8. Accessit Prolocutor cum quibusdam de Electis à Clero exposuerunt querelas suas c. ubi Reverendissimus praecepit ne quid effutirent de rebus ipsis expositis Anno 1557. The Archbishop having explain'd to the Bishops and Clergy the Causes of the Convocation viz. the Reformation of Abuses in the Church c. enjoyns them to consider of proper methods Et quid sibi videatur Voluit cos sibi servare Anno 1588. Sess 4. The Prolocutor having been in the Upper House to receive directions about the Subsidy which was afterwards consider'd and debated below monuit omnes praesentes ne publicè revelarent tractata gesta isto die Anno 1640. Sess 5. Apr. 25. Et ulteriùs pro meliori Expeditione negotiorum hujus sacrae Synodi idem Reverendissimus cum consensu assensu corundem Confratrum suorum ordinavit Quòd nullus Episcopus aut aliquis è Clero Copiam Canonis aut partis Canonis proposituri tractaturi exscribere aut de aliquo hujusmodi Canone foras fabulare praesumpserit donec hac Convocatione sive Sacrâ Synodo plenarie finaliter assensum sacra Regia Majestate approbat erit sub poena Suspensionis cujuslibet è Clero per tres menses Synodicae monitionis pro quolibet Praelato qui ita peccaverit prout in Actu Synodico sequen continetur viz. c. Dominus Prolocutor venit cum 5 aliis è Domo Inferiori eis declaravit istum Actum Synodicum praeceden voluit eundem Dominum Prolocutorem ad declarand istum Actum toto Coetui dictae Domûs Mox revertebat dixit se totum Coetum Domûs Inferioris consensum assensum suos Confectioni dicti Actûs Synodici adhibuisse eundem unanimiter approbâsse The Convocations in which those strict Provisions for Secrecy were made would without doubt have animadverted severely upon such a shameful Method of sending the Debates I am sorry to say the Divisions Session by Session into all parts of the Kingdom But after a general request to this Writer that in the manner of venting his Resentments he will at least have a greater regard to the honour of our Church I will consider the Matter of his Paper so far as it concerns the Substitution of a Prolocutor and affects the Account I have given of this Point Chap. 4. p. His Insincerity in the other parts of that Relation has been already laid open and this about Substitutions as depending upon the Registers of Convocation is the only Head that falls under my Consideration Reasons why a Sub-Prolocutor ought to be confirm'd in the Vpper House In the fourth Chapter p. 74. I infer a necessity that the Substitute be admitted and confirm'd by the Upper House because without this he is not the Person agreed on between the Bishops and Clergy for the mutual conveyance of their Messages nor can their Lordships receive any thing from him as the Sense of the Inferior Clergy and much less Return their own Pleasure by him Add to this that at the Opening of Convocation and in the middle upon Death or Promotion the Clergy cannot proceed to an Election without his Grace's leave nor was he ever thought to be qualifi'd for the Exercise of any part of the Office before Confirmation He blames me for a further observation to the same purpose Right of the Archbishop p. 67. that neither the Speaker of the House of Commons nor the House it self have the Power to Substitute a Speaker But however I had declar'd all along against inferring an Independence of the Lower House from the Independence of the Commons it was I hope no unseasonable Suggestion to those who so much desire to make the Proceedings in Parliament their Rule that in this point of Substitutions they go beyond their Rule 'T is true the Dignitaries of the Lower House have a personal Right to be Summon'd and as such are capable of appearing by Proxie but cannot actually appear so without the consent and approbation of the President Nor is it at all to the purpose to talk of the ordinary Substitutions of Proxies unless that Power infer'd an absolute and immediate Right to Substitute a Prolocutor or Speaker See Chap. 3. which he must needs know to be otherwise in the House of Peers where the Nobility Substitute their Proxies but not a Speaker Instances of Substitutions oâ— Authority of the Vpper House defended against the late Paper Number 1. These Considerations from the Reason of the thing and the Nature of the Office are confirm'd p. 75. by Instances of Application to the Upper House upon the Substitution of a Prolocutor for the Lower The first that of Archdeacon Wolman is too express to be evaded Anno 1533. Sess 3. in the Upper House Book Ibidem Dominus Prolocutor D. Wolman affirmavit se aegrotum esse petiit ut durante infirmitate ejus Mr. Fox si vellet adesse vel Mr. D. Bell exerceret officium suum concessum est And this instance is made more full and clear by the Additional Remark he brings out of some other Extracts which are yet conceal'd Another Extract from the same Register says he p. 8. gives this further Account of it Which done the Prolocutor being Sick desir'd that Mr. Fox Archdeacon of Leicester and Mr. Bell Archdeacon of Glocester might be Substituted in his Place Ad cujus Petitionem dictus Dominus Praesidens cum consensu Dominorum Episcoporum Praelatorum Cleri tunc praesentium licentiavit dictum Ri. Wolmannum abesse pro tempore Infirmitatis suae I know not certainly in whose hands these Extracts are but must beg leave to think that in the Course of this Controversie we should have heard more of them had they been to the Advantage of
general were remarkably zealous for the Rights of the Church so many of the Members in the two Convocations were some of the most eminent Assertors of those Rights that our Church or Nation has known Not to mention more we find Anno 1640. in the Upper-house Archbishop Laud with the Bishops Juxon Wren Davenant Mountague Duppa Warner c. In the Lower we meet with Dr Lancy Potter Brownrig Frewen Heylin Sheldon Feil Hammond Steward with many others distinguisht soon after by their eminent Sufferings in Defence of the Rights and Discipline of the Church Anno 1661. in the Upper-house Archbishop Juxon and the Bishops Sheldon Wren Duppa Sanderson Henchman Morley Warner Laney c. In the Lower Dr. Gunning Earl Sudbury Pearson Fell Dolben Thorndike Lamplugh Oliver Ward Sparrow Blanford Fleetwood c. It will not I hope he said much less believ'd That the Members of these two Convocations did not understand and pursue the true Interests of the Church or that they either knew not or did not regard the establisht Methods of Proceeding in an English Convocation Nor do the Characters of the Members in each House suffer us to imagine either that the Bishops were in the least Disposition to Invade the Liberties of the Clergy or if they had that the Clergy would have given way to any Violation of the Rights of their Order and the Privileges of their House It has been the Care of our present Prelates to govern their Proceedings by the Practice of former times and particularly of such Convocations as had before them the Registers now consum'd and consisted of Members so deservedly celebrated among us for a strict Regard to the Interest the Rights and Discipline of the Church It may therefore be justly expected that the Persons who on account of these Proceedings have so freely charg'd my Lords the Bishops with Designs of subverting the Church and oppressing the Clergy that they I say should produce the Instances in which their Lordships have deviated from the Example of those their Predecessors whose Affection to the Church and Clergy was never question'd till struck at in some late Censures of our present Prelates for imitating them in the Canonical Method of holding a Convocation Nor can they of the Lower-house who desire to act in a dutiful Subordination to their Ecclesiastical Superiors be liable to any Censures for this their Submission which will not equally make those Learned and Orthodox Presbyters in 1640 and 1661 the Betrayers of the Rights of their Order whether through Negligence or mean Compliances for Secular Ends. 4. If it be objected against the Authority of the Register of 1661 that the difuse of Convocations during the Civil-Wars might make the Clergy less acquainted with the true Methods of holding them the Answer is obvious That they had then the Direction of all the Registers entire and appear in Fact to have follow'd the Methods in 1640 as that without doubt proceeded by the Pattern of former Convocations Add to this That several of the Persons in 1661 had been Members also in the Convocation of 1640 and must therefore be presum'd to have a sufficient Knowledge of the Manner of Proceeding By comparing the Lists of these two Convocations I find besides the Archbishop that six of the Bishops Duppa Pierce Wren Warner Roberts and Skinner were Members of the Upper-house in both and four more viz. Sheldon Floyd Griffith and Ironside advanc'd to the Dignity of Bishops at the Restoration to have been Members of the Lower-house in 1640. And as to the Lower-house it self Dâ— Oliver Fleetwood Rives Baily with several others at least twenty in all appear to have been Members thereof in both these Convocations of 1640 and 1661. and suppose all former Registers to have been lost as they then remain'd entire it would not be suggested that in 1661 these ancient Members were either unable to direct their Brethren or willing to mislead them FINIS AN INDEX REFERRING To the most remarkable Matters in the foregoing Registers of the Vpper-house and Journals of the Lower A ARticles XXXIX debated page 193 194. Pass'd 196. Archbishop's going from Lambeth to St. Paul's the first day of Convocation 1 9 61 194. Assessors to the Prolocutor vid. Prolocutor B Beale Doctor a Member of the Lower-house threatn'd with Censures by the Archbishop upon a Complaint against him in Parliament 38. Benevolences of the Clergy to the King over and above the ordinary Subsidies 31 33 36 43 82 154 170. C Calendar of the Common-Prayer revis'd 89. Canons begun 23 31. finisht 43. laid before the Council 48. read and pass'd by Subscription 52. Canons of 1640 revis'd in 1661. 96 97 98 102. Catechism examin'd by a Committee of Bishops 206. confirm'd by the Lower-house 215. Causae Convocationis explain'd to the Bishops and Clergy by the President 3 196. Certificatorium of the due Execution of the Mandate exhibited to his Grace by the Dean of the Province 2 63 195 Certificates of the other Bishops exhibited to a Commissioner appointed by his Grace 197. Commination-Service in the Liturgy 90. Committees of both Houses appointed and order'd in the Upper-house 22 26 47 67 68 72 74 92 124 125 168. Committees of Bishops 39 45 47 76 79 84 88 94 97 102 103 107 108 110 114 116 118 120 158 206 213. Committees of the Lower-house order'd by the Archbishop 23 32. Committee of the whole House order'd by the Archbishop 33. Committees i. e. the Names of the Members chosen notify'd to the Upper-house 22 23 32 76 119. Common-Prayer V. Prayer Conference 92. Consecration and Ordination of Deacons Presbyters and Bishops the Form revis'd 88. Consecration of parish-Parish-Churches a Form thereof compil'd 107 116 118 121. Constitutions for collecting a Subsidy 158. pass'd 160. Contumacy for Absence and the Schedules thereof 2 16 64 197. executed by the Archbishop upon the Inferior Clergy 151 153 163. threatn'd to be executed 170 2. Contumacy pronounc'd in the Lower-house by Dr. Yale as his Grace's Commissary 211. Convocation the opening thereof 1 2 13 61 137 164 194. Sitting after the Parliament 33. divided into two Houses 3. Council advis'd with in Convocation 36 39 40 51 99 108 154. Courts Ecclesiastical reform'd 49 50 74. D Disciplina Capitula de brought in 196. compleated 213. Additions made 214 215. Dissolution of the Convocation 54 164 176. E Elections try'd one in the Upper house another in the Lower by the Prolocutor 140 c. Excommunicat capiend Breve de 37 42. Exercises to be perform'd by Ministers 149. F Fees unjustly detain'd from the Clergy 36. G Goodman Bishop of Glocester protests 44. suspended for not subscribing 52. Grammars to be us'd in all Schools 115 117 123 124. H Habits of Convocation 1. I Jesuits Canon against them 23. K King's Thanks to the Convocation for their Care and Pains in preparing Canons 48. his Letters to the Convocation 38 42 83. L Licenses from the King 19 31 34 71 73 83. Lower-house