this Law And that having not the Prince's leave to meet together they were in the construction of the Law Guilty of Meeting against it Now a Synod being no Ordinary or Siaâ—ed Convention but which was assembled only upon Extraordinary Occasions when the Necessities of the Church required the Meeting of it As there was no General Provision at the beginning made by the Laws for them so it was therefore necessary that in order to their meeting Lawfully the express Command or Allowance of the Emperor should be had for their so doing And if we look up to the History of the first and most famous Councils of the Church we shall accordingly find that They were All Convened by the Imperial Authority Thus Constantine the Great not only summon'd but sat Himself in that of Nice Theodosius the Great both Assembled the Second General Council of Constantinople and at the desire of the Fathers confirmed the Acts of it The Council of Ephesus the next General Council was not only Called by the Emperors Theodosiuâ— the Younger and Valentinian but that All things might be done decently and orderly in it they sent * Candidian as Their Commissioner to preside over the Bishops and to direct their Proceedings according to the Instructions which they had given Him for that purpose And when the Heresy of Eutyches gave a new Occasion â—o the same Emperors to Assemble another Synod They in like manner appointed it to meet at the same place and Commanded Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria to preside in it It was the same Authority that had caused this Synod to meet at Ephesus that after the death of Theodosius appointed a Review to be made of it in another Council which was summon'd first to Nice and from thence was Removed to Chalcedon And this the Emperors did not only upon their Own Authority But tho' Pope Leo had desired with all imaginable Earnestness that it might have been held somewhere in Italy to which they refused to Consent Such was the Authority by which the Four first General Councils of the Church were Assembled Nor were the next Four call'd by any other It was by the express Command of the Elder Justinian that the Second General Council of Constantinople met As it was by the like Summons of Constantinus Pogonatus that the Third in the same City was convened And because in these two no Canons were made for the discipline of the Church Justinian the younger call'd another Council to supply that defect and confirm'd the Canons that were made by it The second Council of Nice thô scarce right in any thing else yet in this was Orthodox that it was assembled by the Authority of Irenè the Empress and her Son Constantine And lastly the Fourth of Constantinople the last of the Eight general Councils was in like manner held by the consent of Basilius the Emperour and Approved by Him This then was the Power which the Christian Emperours claim'd over the Greatest Councils and which those Councils always acknowledged to be due to Them If from these we pass on to the Lesser Synods that were assembled in those days we shall find the Authority of the Civil Magistrate to be still the same And that These also were either expresly convened by Them or were summon'd by some Authority that was derived from Them When the Donatists being Angry that they could not gain their Ends upon Caecilian desired that an Examination might be made of their Case by some foreign Bishops Constantine the Emperour granted their Request And in Order thereunto appointed a meeting to be held at Rome upon that Affair and that three French Bishops should be joyn'd to Fifteen out of Italy for the Hearing of it And These together with the Bishop of Rome by the Emperours Command judged of this Matter And when those turbulent Men were not yet satisfied to put a final end to their Contentions He caused a Greater Number of Bishops to meet in a Synod at Arles and there Review the same Cause and pass a final Judgment in it To enumerate all the several Instances that remain to us of Councils call'd in like manner by the Imperial Authority would be as Infinite as it is Needless It may suffice to say that what Constantine thus began the succeeding Emperours constantly held to And suffer'd not any Assemblies of the Clergy to be made but by their leave and according to their Direction 'T is true there was a General Order made by the Fathers of the Council of Nice that for the better Regulation of the Churches Affairs the Bishops of every Province should meet together in a Provincial Synod under their Metropolitan twice every Year And this Council being not only confirm'd by Constantine who call'd it but by almost all the Emperors that follow'd after and particularly the Constitution now mention'd being provided for and adjusted by the Civil Laws themselves such Councils from thenceforth became Legal Assemblies and were of Course allow'd of tho' not expresly consented to by the Emperors And yet when Theodoret began to be too busie in calling the Bishops together Theodosius not only laid a Prohibition upon him but confined him to Cyrus his own little See as a Punishment for what he had before done So little was it then thought a matter of Right for the Clergy to meet as often as they thought good in Synods Or that any Injury was done them by their Princes when they refused to suffer them so to do But it may be these Emperors had some eminent Authority in them which ceased together with the Empire and which other Princes tho' of Sovereign Authority within their several Kingdoms yet ought not to pretend to That this is not so in Civil Matters I shall leave it to the Writers of Politicks to argue and to the Municipal Laws of their several Kingdoms to shew As for what concerns their Ecclesiastical Authority it is evident that in This as in all other Respects whatsoever Power the Emperors heretofore laid claim to in the Whole the same these Princes have continued to assert within their own particular States and Dominions When the Vandals had over-run the greatest part of Africa and by their Authority set up the Arrian Heresie in Opposition to the Catholick Faith which before prevail'd in those Parts Hunericus their King at the desire of his Arrian Bishops summon'd a General Convention of all the Catholick Bishops to meet at Carthage and there confer about the Point in difference between them And accordingly upon his Summons they all came thither and refusing to renounce the Terms of the Council of Nice were deprived of their Bishopricks and sent into Banishment by him But better was the Success of the Orthodox Bishops in their next Conference held by the like Authority under Gundebald at Rome An. 499 Who at the Request of the Catholick Clergy consented to
their Meeting and was greatly satisfied at their Behaviour in it It was not long after this that as Baronius himself confesses Theodorick summon'd another Synod at Rome to judge of the Crimes alledged against Symmachus Bishop of that See and submitted the Determination of that Affair to their Resolution And when Caesarius Bishop of Arles desired to convene a Provincial Synod in France according to the direction of the Antient Canons and the Allowance of the Laws to that purpose Yet he did not think it sitting so to do till he had obtained the Consent of Alaric the Goth for it And it is expresly noted that it was held by his Allowance What Caesarius here did with respect to Alaric an Arrian Prince the same did Avitus Bishop of Vienne with regard to Sigismond the Son of Gundebald King of the Burgundians whom he had not long before converted to the Catholick Faith He call'd even his Provincial Synod with the King's Consent And tho' himself Metropolitan of that District yet presided in it by the Prince's Order Such was the Authority by which these lesser Synods were wont to be held immediately upon the breaking of the Empire And that thus it continued till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to overthrow the Prince's Right will appear from a short View of this matter in some of the principal States which arose out of the Ruins of it And 1. That this was so in the Kingdom of Spain the Councils of Toledo the most eminent of Any in that Country both for Number and Authority sufficiently demonstrate That the Second of these was call'd by the Permission of Amalaric the Synod it self owns But the Third and I think the most considerable of them all is yet more full to our present purpose It was a General Council of that whole Nation In it the Goths adjured their Heresie and embraced the Catholick Faith This Faith was first establish'd in Spain by the Authority of this Council and several very useful Canons were framed by it for the Government of the Church for the Time to come And all this was done by the Command of Reccaredus their King Who with Badda his Queen subscribed to the Orthodox Faith in it and made not only his Bishops but the chief of his Nobility and others subscribe to it It would be needless for me after so clear an Evidence as this Synod has given us of the Authority by which Councils were antiently Convened in Spain to spend any long time in the particular Examination of the several Councils that follow'd after It shall therefore suffice barely to say thus much that the Fourth of Toledo Another National Council and of great Authority in those parts met by the Order of Sisenandus as the Third had done by that of Reccaredus The Fifth by the Command of Cinthila who also confirm'd the Acts of it The Sixth of Cinthilan The Seventh of Chindaswind The Eighth of Recceswinthus The rest by the Order of the several Princes which follow'd after As from the Acts of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth the last of these Synods it does evidently appear As for their Provincial Synods they were not indeed always summon'd by the express particular Order of those Princes But yet even these were held by Vertue of that Authority which the Third Great Council of Toledo under Reccaredus before mention'd had given to them It was by vertue of this Allowance that the Synods of Narbonne and Saragosa were assembled and in Both which for that Reason it is said that they met according to the Order of that Prince and to the Appointment of that Council 2. And the same Authority which these Kings used in Spain did their next Neighbours the Suâ—vian Princes exercise in Galaecia during the time of their Empire there The Second Council of Braga the Metropolis of that Country is expresly declared to have met at the Command of Ariamirus or as some have rather thought of Theodimirus their King It was by the same Authority that the Synod of Lugo not long after was assembled to divide the Country into several Provinces and to erect a greater number of Bishopricks in it And when by Vertue of this Division the Clergy of that Country were come together in two Provincial Synods under their respective Metropolitans according to the ancient Canons in that behalf Miro his Successor order'd them to meet both together in a General Council at Braga and there agree upon such Constitutions as they should find the Necessities of the Church to require 3. If from hence we cross over to the Kingdom of Burgundy we shall find those Princes in possession of the same Rights over their Synods that the other Kings have been shewn to have exercised The Inscription of the Second Council of Lyons assembled about the Year 567 shews that it was call'd by the Command of Guntramn their King who also not long after assembled another Synod at Challon as Gregory of Tours informs us It was by the Order of the same Guntramn that the Great Council of Mascon was held And when that had not sufficiently restored the Discipline of the Church he not only assembled another at Lyons but more in several other places at Valence Poitiers Mascon c. all whose Acts expresly avow the Authority by which they met 4. In Germany Carloman first and then Charles the Emperor as they were the great Restorers of Religion and Assertors of the Discipline of the Church so will they afford us a sufficient proof of the Prince's Authority in this particular It was the former of these who with the Advice of his Clergy and Nobles called the Council of Ratisbon which is accounted among the First of Germany An. 742. And how the Other continued by the same Authority to summon the like Assemblies the several Synods of Wormes Valenciennes Aix la Chappelle but especially the two Great Councils of Mentz and Frankford in the latter of which not only the Bishops of Germany but of France and Aquitain were assembled together and over all Whom Charles the Emperor presided abundantly shew No sooner was this great Prince dead but Ludovicus Pius his Successor after his Example call'd together his Clergy to Aix-la-Chappelle for the correction of the Negligence and Ignorance of the Bishops and for the better regulating of the Lives of the Clergy And having fully determined whatsoever was thought expedient in Order thereunto he commanded a strict Obedience to be paid to the Constitutions which had been made by them And when this did not yet sufficiently correct the Abuses of those times He not only summon'd a Second Council to meet at the same place but being met he proposed to them such Heads as he conceived to be farther necessary with respect both to the Lives and Doctrine of the Bishops and Clergy and order'd the
all Right and Justice on purpose that he might Oppress Them so to Do They yet submitted to his Commands and chose rather to suffer by their Obedience than to Usurp an Authority which they were sensible did not belong to Them But lest this should be thought to have been only the Perverseness of an Heretical Prince we shall find the same Power both Claim'd and Exercised by the most Orthodox Emperors and such as were in all Respects the most zealous for the Churches Interest When Eutyches began to corrupt the Christian Faith and it was thought necessary that a General Council should be call'd to put a stop to his Errors Leo Bishop of Rome petitioned Theodosius with all imaginable Earnestness that He would consent to let a Synod be assembled in Italy for the Judging of it This the Emperor utterly Refused to do and Order'd the Council to be held at Ephesus and the Good Bishop was so far from Complaining of it that he submitted to his Summons and thank'd him that he would at least vouchsafe to have it there And when by the Practices of Dioscorus that Council answer'd not what was Expected from it The same Leo not only supplicated the Emperor again with tears and groans in the Name of all the Bishops of the West that he would Command another Council to be held somewhere in the West to determine that Affair but moreover engaged Valentinian and Eudoxia his Wife with many others of the Greatest Note to join in the same Request with him But Theodosius not only now refused him as to the place but deny'd him as to the calling of any Other Synod nor would He be persuaded to suffer any other to meet as long as He lived And this brings me to a 2d Observation which ought to be taken notice of upon this Occasion viz. That whenever the Civil Magistrate has refused to Call a Synod tho' the Affairs of the Church have never so much seem'd to stand in need of One and the Bishops have never so Earnestly desired One yet have they quietly submitted to the Refusal and not presumed on any Pretence of Right which they had in Themselves to meet together without his Leave or against his Consent So Liberius and the Catholick Bishops did to Constantius first and Leo and the Western Bishops to Theodosius afterwards And I believe it would be difficult in those best and most early times of the Church to find out any Instance wherein the Orthodox Bishops have ever departed from this Rule or which is much the same thing have ever been justified by the Church in those Cases in which they have departed from it Nay but 3dly Tho' the Council of Nice first and after that several Other Synods provided for the Constant Meeting of Provincial Councils at a certain Season every year and these being allow'd of by the Emperors and Other Princes who confirm'd those Canons and Approved of what They had Defined may seem to have put these kind of Synods at least out of their Power Yet even in these we find Them still continuing to Exercise their Authority And not suffering even such Councils to be held without their Leave or against their Consent I have before observed how Theodosius the Emperor restrained Theodoret when he thought him too buisy in calling together the Bishops to these Lesser Synods And when in after times Wolfolendus Bishop of Bourges summon'd a Provincial Council according to these Canons to meet at the beginning of September yet having neglected to consult the King's Pleasure in it we find Sigebert for that Reason alone sent a Prohibition to his Bishops to go to it And it is worthy our notice for what Reason he put a Stop to its assembling He professes he was well content that they should meet some Other Time always provided that they first made Him acquainted with it that so he might Consider whether he should allow of it as proper either for the State of the Church or for the Benefit of the Kingdom or Otherwise fit to be consented to And therefore when the Fifth Council of Paris had resolv'd that it was Expedient that Provincial Synods should be held every Year according to the Orders of the Church and the Canonical Custom establish'd in it They made it their Request to Louis the Emperour and Lotharius his Son that they would consent that at a fit Season every Year they might be Assembled This Request was again Renew'd some Years after in another Synod And yet notwithstanding these General Permissions before they did come together they were to have a particular Warrant for their so doing as is evident from the Acts of the Synod of Soissons which was held about the same time that those very Orders I have now mention'd were made So intirely has the Assembling of Synods been look'd upon to depend upon the Will and Authority of the Christian Prince But this is not all For 4thly When it was resolv'd that a Synod should be held the Prince evermore either determin'd or allow'd both the Time and Place of their Meeting This is evident from the very Acts of all those Synods of which any Perfect Accout remains to Us and is most apparently confirm'd by the History of the most Antient Councils of the Church I have before observ'd how Theodosius not only Appointed the Council which he had order'd to meet about the Affair of Eutyches to assemble at Ephesus but utterly refus'd the Request of Leo and his Bishops who earnestly desired it might have been held in Italy But Marcian the Emperor went farther He not only Summon'd the Fourth General Council to Nice first and then to Chalcedon tho' requested in like manner as Theodosius had been by the Bishop of Rome and his Suffragans that it might meet in Italy but when being press'd in time Leo petition'd the Emperor that he would defer it but a little while for his greater Convenience Marcian refus'd him That also and the Good Man contentedly yielded to him in both Such Power did the antient Emperors assume to themselves over their Bishops as to these Circumstances Nor did the following Princes claim any less When Pepin resolv'd that Two Synods should be held in France every Year He not only specify'd the time for Both viz. the first of March and of October but reserv'd the Nomination of the Place where the Former should meet to his own Appointment and for that of the latter determin'd that it should either be at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops should agree upon in their first Assembly And Ludovicus Pius having thought fit for the better settling of the Ecclesiastical discipline to have Four Synods meet at Once that so they might separately Consider of the State of the Church and then their Opinions be altogether laid before him in one Common View not only Order'd this distribution of them but determin'd withal
Magistrate has a Right to prescribe to Them the Matters on which they are to Debate It is one great End which the Prince proposes to himself in calling of such Assemblies to take their Advice in things pertaining to the Church For the Prince being the Guardian of That as well as of the State and concern'd to provide for the Welfare of the One no less than of the Other ought accordingly to have his Council with which to consult of the things pertaining to Both. Now as in Civil Matters he has his Ministers of State and the Council of his Great Men or People to advise Him how to manage his Secular Concerns so in those things which are of a pure Ecclesiastical Nature it has generally been the Method of Christian Princes to take the Opinion of their Bishops and Clergy either single or convened together as the Importance or Difficulty of Affairs and the Circumstances of Times have prompted them to do But then if this be the main End for which Synods are call'd it will follow that the Prince must have a Right not only by Vertue of his Supreme Authority but from the very Nature of the Thing it self to propose to Them the Subject on which they are to proceed It being absurd to imagine that either a Particular Person should be sent for or a Body of Men be convened on purpose to give the Prince their Advice and the Prince not be left to propose his Doubts to them and shew them wherein it is that He needs Or desires their Opinion Now the Direction of the Prince as to the Subject of the Synods Debates may be either General or Particular or it may be partly One and partly the Other Sometimes the Prince has only declared to his Clergy that he call'd them to deliberate at large either upon Matters of Faith or Matters of Discipline for the better demonstrating the Churches Doctrine and Consent in the One or for the better establishing the Exercise of the Other Sometimes the Occasion of their Meeting has been to examine some particular Controversie that has risen up to corrupt the Faith or to divide the Unity of the Church As was especially seen in the Cases of Arius and the other Hereticks on whose account the first General Councils of the Church were called And in Both these sometimes the Prince has limited their Business to the particular Consideration of that Matter alone for which they were assembled At other times he has added to it such other Incidental Affairs as he has thought fit to propose to them Or it may be has given them a General Liberty after having done their main Business to deliberate on any thing else that they should judge necessary for the Glory of God and the Good of the Church And as there is such a Variety in the Ends for which Christian Princes have been moved to call such Synods so may there be no less a Difference observed in the Ways which they have taken to communicate their Wills to them Sometimes both the Design and Subject of their Meeting have been fully set down in the Precepts which have been sent to the Bishops to require their coming together Sometimes only a Glance has in general been given in Those at their Business and the rest been reserved to be more fully open'd to them at their Convention And that also has been done sometimes by a Synodical Epistle or Commission sent to them sometimes by Word of mouth And that again either by the Prince himself if he has thought fit as oftentimes Princes have to sit with them or by some other Person whom he has deputed to declare his Will to them But how great a Variety soever there has been in the Methods that have been taken to lay open their Business to them this is certain that as the calling of such Assemblies has always depended upon the Consent and Authority of the Prince So when they were assembled the Subject of their Debates has been prescribed them by the same Power and they have deliberated on nothing but what they have been directed or Allow'd by the Prince to do When Constantine the first Christian Emperor being desirous to restore that Peace to the Church which the Heresie of Arius and the Difference between the Eastern and Western Churches about the time of keeping Easter had so dangerously broken assembled the First General Council of Nice Eusebius tells us that at the Opening of it He earnestly Exhorted the Bishops by their wise Resolutions to settle all things in Quiet and Unity And accordingly the Subject of their Debates turn'd upon those two Points and Constantine himself both assisted at Them and consented to what was resolved concerning Them When this did not prevail but that the Arian Faction was resolved at any rate to Ruine Athanasius and since they could not corrupt the Catholick Faith were determined at least to Overwhelm him who had been the main Supporter of it And in Order thereunto another Synod was obtain'd of the Emperor to meet at Tyre the same Constantine not only prescribed them their Business viz. to examine into the Dissensions of the Churches of Aegypt but sent Dionysius in his own stead to be present at their Assemblies and to take care that his Orders were in all things observed by them And the same was the Method which Constantius his Son observed as to these Matters As is evident from his Management of the Great Synod of Arminum in which above 400 Bishops were by his Order Assembled He commanded Them in the first place to debate the Matter of Faith then to judge the Causes of those Bishops who complain'd that they had been unjustly either deposed or banished After that to Examine the Crimes laid to the Charge of certain Others And lastly having done what he had commanded Them to do to send a certain number of their Body to Him to account to Him what had been resolved by Them But above all most plain was that Authority which the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian shew'd in this particular at the General Council of Ephesus They not only declared at large to the Fathers the Cause of their Meeting in the Letters of Summons which they sent to the several Metropolitans But when they were met together they sent a Synodical Epistle to them by Candidian and appointed him to preside over Them in their stead both to preserve a due Freedom of Voting and Debating among them and also not to suffer them to enter upon any Other Matter till they had first come to a Resolution in that for which they were called together And when Candidian reported to the Emperors that the Bishops had not stuck so closely as they Ought to their Prescription The Emperors not only severely reproved Them for their Presumption but annull'd their Acts and commanded them to have a better Regard both to the Business and Method which They had Laid before Them
a kind of Conciliary Authority to it Or if this be not yet plain enough let it farther be observed that the Council hereupon treated Nestorius both in Words and Actions as a Catholick Bishop and invited him to come and sit among them as such Which evidently shews that the Council made no doubt but that the Emperor had sufficient Authority to suspend those Synods Decrees and that by his Suspension their Sentence had not yet taken place against him And the same was done in the Case of Eutyches the next great Heretick that infested the Church Who being condemn'd by Flavian Patriarch of Constantinople and his Council obtain'd of Theodosius another General Council to meet at Ephesus under the Presidence of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria In this Council by the Power and Fury of Dioscorus all was tumultuously transacted and Flavian was condemn'd as having deposed Eutyches contrary to the Canons Against this Sentence Flavian appeals and Pope Leo being applied to calls a Synod at Rome and therein rejects the Acts of the Ephesine Council in which all things had been carried in a very disorderly and â—ncanonical Manner For the better repealing of which Leo applies to Theodosius for help He intreats him that he would by his Authority resâ—ind all that had been done either by Flavian against Eutyches or by Dioscorus against Flavian or at least would suspend it till a General and Free Council should determine the Matter 'T is true this Theodosius would not consent to tho' Leo had interested no less Persons than Valentinian and his Empress in the Cause with him But yet Leo's Request shews that he thought the Emperor had Power to resâ—ind the Acts of Both those Councils And his Refusal convinces us that he himself thought he was no way concluded by what Leo and his Synod had resolved in Opposition to the Council of Ephesus However what Theodosius refused Marcian assented to He caused a General Council to be held at Calcedon and when he found Flavian to be justified by it he revoked both the Definition of the former Synod and the Constitution of Theodosius against him Such an Authority were the Emperors wont to exercise over the Acts of the most General Councils in confirming suspending or annulling their Sentences And so undoubtedly did the Bishops in those times believe that they ought of Right to be allow'd such an Authority Nor has the Prince any less Power to judge of their Constitutions than to enquire into their Sentences and either to confirm or reject them as he approves or not of their Decisions When Reccaredus confirm'd the Canons of the Third National Council of Toledo he gave this Reason why he did it That they were composed with great maturity of Sense and Understanding that they were agreeable to his Judgment and conformable to the Discipline of the Church It was the same Perswasion that moved Ervigius to confirm the Acts of the Thirteenth Synod held in the same City He specially recited and approved of their Decrees and by his Royal Authority form'd their Canons into an Ecclesiastical Law for all his People to observe The same did Egica in the Seventeenth Council He recited the several Heads of what the Fathers had done and upon a mature Consideration a full Knowledge and Approbation of their Acts he gave force to them The truth is it seems to have been the usual Method of the Princes about this time not so much to confirm the very Acts of their Synods as to form the Substance of their Definitions into a Law and to take Occasion from their Decrees to determine such things as concern'd the Church Thus the Spanish Kings now mention'd did and so Clotharius the Third did with Respect to the Fifth Council of Paris An. 615. He publish'd his Edict in the Close of it and therein expresly establish'd what the Fathers in the Synod had agreed to It was after the same manner that a great part of the Capitulars of the French Kings were composed They took the Substance of what their Synods had agreed to and having examined and form'd it according to their own liking they publish'd it for a Law to their Subjects Insomuch that sometimes they have even referr'd to the Canons of their Synods for the more clear understanding of what the Law had only briefly and in general deliver'd Such in particular was the Use which both Carloman and Charles the Emperor made of his Synods They call'd them as their Council to advise them in Ecclesiastical Matters and their Synods look'd upon themselves no otherwise They submitted their Decrees to their Examination and pretended not to expect that They should confirm them any farther than they appear'd to them to deserve it Thus the Fathers in the Third Council of Tours declare that they met to assist the Emperor by their Remarks of what they judged to need some Amendment And having drawn up their Opinions in Fifty one Canons they thus finally conclude All These things we have thus debated in Our Convention But how it will please our most Pious Prince hereafter to Act with Relation there unto we his faithful Servants are Ready with a willing Mind to submit to his Pleasure And the same was the Deference which the Council of Arles which met the same Year paid to his Authority These things say the Fathers which we found to need Amendment we have in a few words after the shortest manner observed and decreed to present to our Lord the Emperor Beseeching his Clemency that if Any thing be found wanting it may be supplied by his Prudence If any thing be designed otherwise than in Reason it ought to have been by his Judgment it may be Amended if any thing be Well and Rationally decreed it may thro' his Help by the Blessing of God be brought to Perfection Such a Submission did these Synods pay to their Emperor And this makes good what Eginhart a Contemporary Author of the Life of Charles the Great has observed as to this Matter That Councils by his command were held throughout all France for correcting the State of the Church And the Constitutions which were made in Each of Them were All together Compared and Examined by Him in the Convention of Aix la Chappelle Anno 813. I might farther confirm this from the Instances of many other Synods which have in like manner own'd the same Authority But I shall conclude all with the Words of that Council which gave Pattern to all the Rest of that Country I mean the First Council of Orleans under King Clouis Anno 511 whose Epistle to the King runs in these Terms To their Lord the Son of the Catholick Church the most Glorious King Clouis all the Priests whom you have commanded to come to the Council For as much as so great a Care of our Glorious Faith stirs you up to the Honour of the Catholick Religion that with the Affection
of the other Two But tho' this therefore be the General Method which I shall Observe yet I am sensible that in order to the better clearing of the former of these Questions I must take a much larger Compass than our Author's Design led him to do And to the end I may not barely answer his Allegations but may also give some tolerable Account of the true Nature and Rights of our Convocation which for all this Gentleman has yet done may still continue to be as little understood as those of a Jewish Sanhedrim I shall endeavour to examine this Matter to the bottom as far as my Skill will enable and my Leisure permit me to do it For as our Author has rightly observed that an exact and full Account of this Matter cannot be given but by one who has great Skill in our English Laws and Antiquities I may add and in the Laws and Antiquities of the Church too which Dyet must be competently understood oâ— this Subject can never be throughly handled so must I freely profess that neither will my other Affairs allow me to be very exact nor does my Profession as a Divine intitle me to so much Skill as I am sensible is requisite to the perfecting of such an Undertaking But however I will candidly offer what I have met with and where I chance to be mistaken especially in Matters of Law which lie out of my Way I hope those who are more learned will make a reasonable Allowance for my Errors CHAP. II. The first General Point proposed and the Method laid down for the handling of it In pursuance whereof a General Enquiry is first made into that Power which Christian Princes have always been allow'd to exercise over their Ecclesiastical Synods or Convocations with respect both to the Calling of them to the Managing of them when Sitting and to the Confirming or Annulling their Acts after wards TO come then without any more ado to the Business in hand the first and main Thing to be consider'd is this Whether there is any Law that commands or permits the Sitting and Acting of the Convocation besides the absolute free Pleasure of the Prince And if there be What that Law is And How far the Prince is obliged by it This I take to be the true state of the Question and I shall treat of it in this following Method I. I will enquire What Power Christian Princes in general have claim'd over such Convocations with respect both to their Assembling and Acting and to the giving Force and Authority to what is done by them II. I will consider Whether our Kings have not the same Authority over our Convocation that all other Christian Princes have claim'd over their Synods And III. Upon this Foundation I will Examine what this Author has alledged to the contrary and offer what I conceive may fairly be replied to it And I. Let us enquire What Power Christian Princes in general have claim'd over their Synods with respect both to their Meeting and Acting first and to the giving Force and Authority to what is done by them That Christian Princes have a Right not only to exercise Authority over Ecclesiastical Persons but to interpose in the ordering of Ecclesiastical Affairs too neither our own Articles and Canons nor the Consent of the Universal Church ever since the Empire became Christian will suffer us to doubt There is no one so great a Stranger to the History of the Holy Scriptures as not to know what Authority the Jewish Princes under the Law pretended to as to this matter And how far the first Christian Emperors follow'd their Examples were other Authors silent yet that one Assertion of Socrates would not suffer us to be ignorant where he affirms That ever since they became Christians the Affairs of the Church have depended upon them and the greatest Synods been assembled by their Order and still says he continue to be assembled It was a famous Saying of Constantine the first Christian Emperor to his Bishops That They indeed were Bishops in things within the Church but that He was appointed by God to be Bishop as to Those without And how far the succeeding Emperors continued to look upon the well ordering and Governing of the Church to be one great part of that Duty which God expected from them The Epistle of Theodosius and Valentinian to to St. Cyril and the rest of the Metropolitans whom they summoned to meet in the General Council of Ephesus abundantly shews Let us look into the several Collections of the Roman Laws The Code of Theodosius The Code and Novels of Justinian The yet later Collection of Basilius Leo and Constantine that followed after How many Constitutions shall we find in every one of these relating to Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Order and Government of the Church to the Election and Consecration of Bishops and Priests to the Lives Offices and Privileges of the Clergy to the Erection and Liberties of Churches to the Service of them nay and even to the very Faith which was to be taught and profess'd in Them And when the Empire began to be parcell'd out into several lesser States and Kingdoms We find their several Princes still maintaining the same Authority as to all these things that the Emperors had done before As from the Capitularies of the French and German Princes the Collections of the Spanish Councils our Own Antient Laws and the Histories which remain of the several Other Countries does evidently appear But of the Authority of Princes in Ecclesiastical Matters and over Ecclesiastical Persons in general there is no doubt Nor should there one would think be any more whether One great part of their Authority as to these Matters has not always been accounted to consist in the Power to convenâ— Synods and to order whatsoever relates both to the assembling and acting of them And for the better Proof of which I shall now distinctly consider what their Power is with respect 1 To the calling of such Synods or Convocations 2 To the directing of their Proceedings when they are Assembled And 3 To the approving and confirming their Constitutions afterwards And 1 Let us consider What the Power of the Civil Magistrate is as to the Convening of Ecclesiastical Synods and Convocations It has ever been look'd upon as one great part of the Prince's Prerogative that no Societies should be incorporated nor any Companies be allow'd to meet together without his Knowledge and Permission The Roman Law was especially very severe as to this Particular And tho' after the Conversion of the Emperors to the Faith of Christ a provision was made for the Publick Assemblies of the Church for Divine Service yet before that Tertullian who understood these matters as well as any one of his time tho' he excused their Meetings upon all Other Accounts could not deny but that they fell under the Censure of
That they had not proceeded according to the Method he had prescribed to them and commands them not to proceed to any farther Censures until they had settled the doctrine of Faith and receiv'd some New Directions from himself which he promis'd to send by another Commissioner whom he design'd to depute together with Candidian to look after them The Answer of the Council to this Order of the Emperor is very remarkable and clearly settles the Princes Right as to this particular They pretend not that he had no Power thus to Limit their Proceedings or to annul their Acts upon this pretence that they had not proceeded according to his Directions No but they beg leave to inform him that Candidian had not made a fair Report of their Actions to him and therefore intreat the Emperor that he would order Candidian with Five of the Fathers to come to him who should satisfie him that all things had been done Canonically by the Council The Emperor hereupon sends another Commissioner to them Who having examined both Parties and discover'd the Design of the Patriarch of Antioch gave leave to Seven Bishops of each side to go to Theodosius and inform him of their Proceedings This they did and the Emperor was satisfied that the Council had proceeded regularly against Nestorius In testimony whereof he approved of what they had done allow'd of their Acts and confirm'd them with his own Edict Such Authority has the Christian Prince to direct the Acts of the most General Councils and to require an Observance of their Directions I proceed 2dly To shew That for the better Exercise of this Authority He has also a Right if he pleases to sit in them and to preside over them So Constantine the first Christian Emperor did in the first General Council of Nice He not only sate with the Fathers but moderated in their Disputes and at last concurr'd with them in their Desinition And though after his Example in the Synod of Tyre the following Emperors chose rather to preside by their Commissioners than to come Themselves in Person and sit among them yet oftentimes we know they did vouchsafe their Presence to them and it was their Civil Affairs that prevented them when they did not Thus Marcian not only removed the Fourth General Council to Chalcedon on purpose that he might have it nearer to Him but was Himself present in the Sixth Action of it both to confirm what the Fathers had determined and to settle by their Judgment the Faith of the Church to After Ages And when by Order of the Council their Determination was read to him he not only approved of it but added this farther Sanction to it That if any Private Person Military Officer or Clergy-man should under pretence of any farther Dispute concerning those Matters cause any Disturbance if he were only a private Laick he should be banish'd if a Military Officer or Clergy man he should be degraded from his Employ and be liable to such farther Punishments as in such Case should be thought requisite And having done this he deliver'd to the Fathers Three Ecclesiastical Constitutions ready drawn up to be approved of by Them and they all gave their unanimous Assent to them But more frequent was the Custom of those Kings who Govern'd in those States which arose out of the Dissolution of the Roman Empire to sit and act with their Synods If we look to the Kingdom of Spain I have already observed how great a Veneration that Country has always paid to the Third Council of Toledo There were present at it five Metropolitans and seventy-eight Bishops subscribed to it Now at this Meeting Reccaredus was not only himself present but caused his Subjects who were before Arians to subscribe to the Catholick Faith in it And having done this He went on with the Fathers to settle the Discipline of the Church and acted rather like a Patriarch than a Prince among them For to instance only in a Canon or Two of that Council In the Second they tell us that the Bishops order'd so and so by the Advice of their most Glorious King Reccaredus In the Eighth by his Command and Consent In the Ninth by his Assent And lastly when all was done He thus subscribed the Acts of the Council together with the Bishops I Flavius Reccaredus King confirming this Deliberation which I have defined with the Holy Synod have subscribed to it It is impossible to imagine any thing more full to this purpose than what these Acts have afforded us As for the German Emperors they also sate in like manner with their Bishops In the famous Synod of Frankford one of the most eminent that was ever held after the first Antient and General Councils we read that it was assembled Praecipiente Praesidente Carolo Rege And whereas there were three great Points debated in it namely first Whether they should confirm the Sentence of Condemnation which had before been pass'd upon Elipandus Bishop of Toledo who held that our Saviour Christ was the Son of God only by Adoption and according to the Flesh not as if He were of the same Nature with God Secondly What they should resolve concerning the Second Council of Nice as to the Business of Image-Worship And Thirdly How to end some Secular Affairs It may be observed that in the Two first of These which related to Matters of Doctrine we find nothing of the Emperor's defining with the Bishops as neither of the Bishops concurring with Him in the Third But in all the Other Canons which concern the Discipline of the Church the King and the Synod join together and the Phrase runs in these Terms Statutum est Definitum est à Domino Rege à Sanctâ Synodo I might to this add many other Instances of the like nature but I shall take notice only of one and that of a Synod held under another Emperor lest any one should think that Charles the Great had taken more upon him than did of Right belong to him And it shall be of the Synod of Trebur called by Arnulf the Emperor about the Year 895. At the head of the Subscriptions made to which there is this remarkable Passage In this Holy Council the most Glorious King Arnulf our pious Prince presiding and assisting sate the Holy Fathers which came together with the Venerable Pastors of the Church And what they establish'd agreeably to the Catholick Faith they by a like profession confirm'd and with one accord subscribed to In short that the Princes of whom I have now been speaking did no more than all the other Emperors have been confest to have a Right to do is manifest from the Constitution made to this purpose in a full Synod An. 742. Where after a long Debate of the Prince with his Bishops and Priests how the Law of God and the Discipline of the Church might best be restored it was in the very
first place resolved that a Synod should be held every Year and that the Emperor being present the Decrees of the Canons and the Rights of the Church should be renew'd and the Christian Religion be amended And how far the Design of this Canon was to extend may at large be seen in the Injunction made thereupon by the Emperour which we find in the Collection of the same Capitularies according to the Edition of Benedictus Levita pag. 823. Num. ii ibid. And now if from Germany we pass into France we shall there also meet with the like Practice It was the constant Method of Charles the Great in that Kingdom as well as in the Empire to preside over his Clergy Thus we see he did in most of those Synods whose Acts remain to Us And in an Antient MS. of St. Germains wherein the Canons of the Bishop of Langres are transcribed the first Chapter carries this Inscription Out of the Council of Bishops where Charles the Emperor Presided And Charles the Bald not only Sate in the Second Council of Soissons anno 853 but proposed to the Fathers what He desired they should debate about and oftentimes prescribed to their very Resolutions also From what has been said I may now I conceive take it for granted That the Prince has a Right either to preside over his Synods in Person Or if he rather thinks fit to appoint his Commissioner to do it in his stead The only difficulty will be to determine how far he may be accounted a Part of the Synod and be allow'd not only to Preside over it but also to Sit and Vote in it And 1st As I have observed that One great End of his Sitting there is to keep the publick Peace and to see that all things be Regularly and Quietly transacted by the Bishops and Clergy in them So it must also be allow'd that He has all that Power over Them that is necessary for the obtaining of this End He may therefore without Controversie Commend the Modest and Ingenuous Reprove the Factious May keep all to their proper Business and not suffer them to Wander into other Matters or pursue any other Method than what He has prescribed to Them And if any shall become so disorderly as to need it He may as the antient Emperors did not only commit such turbulent seditious Persons to safe Custody and punish them according to the Nature of their Offence but if need be may annul the Acts that were so tumultuously and irregularly done by Them 2dly In the Debates of every such Synod of whatever kind they be the Prince may freely join with the Synod and offer any Objections or propose any Difficulties He shall think fit in order to his being better convinced of the Truth of what is to be believed or of the Expediency of what is determined by it For Princes are Men of Reason and Capacity as well as Bishops and Priests And when a Matter is debated may be as capable of making a sound Judgment as any One that is there Assembled It has I know been speciously Objected against this that Princes have commonly Other things to do than to study Divinity to read Commentators Fathers Councils and the like Books which are the proper Subjects of the Clergies Meditations This indeed is true nor shall I go about to deny it But are they sure it is necessary that the Prince should have study'd all these Books to be able to make a sound Judgment of what may be alleged out of Them May not a Point be proposed and Scripture be Quoted and Antiquity Alleged and Learned Men canvas these Matters so long till a Stander by who is endued with a good Natural Judgment shall be able very evidently to discern on which side the Truth and Authority lies If not I am sure the Generality of Christians will be left under very hard Circumstances who must at last believe as the Church believes and pin their Faith upon the Authority of their Clergy and neither be alow'd to judge of the Grounds of it nor if once in an Error be capable of ever being convinced of it But if therefore it must be confess'd that an Argument may be managed by Learned Men in such wise as to convince those that are not Learned on which side the Truth lies then certainly the Prince may also be capable of discerning whether his Synod has Reason for their Definitions or not tho' He has not perhaps himself Read so much Divinity as to be able to enter into the Learned Part of the Debate with the Fathers of it Whether therefore it be a Matter of Faith or a Matter of Discipline I see no Reason why the Prince if he think fit may not only be present when the Synod debates about it but may not also enter into the Merits of the Cause with Them and propose his Doubts and manage his Arguments and do whatsoever is requisite to his full Information and Satisfaction Concerning it And having done this I add 3dly That as Charles the Emperor did in the Great Synod of Frankford so may Every Other Christian Prince if he please do still I mean may Vote with Them in such things as concern the Discipline of the Church Because in these both the Rights of the People and the Power of the Prince are for the most part very nearly concerned Whether the Prince may judicially concur with the Clergy in their Decisions in Matters of Faith I do not think it worth the while to dispute Thus much I dare confidently affirm That if He may not judge with them He not only may but must judge after them For as much as He is not only concern'd in Common with his Subjects to believe aright but as a Christian Prince ought to assert the Right Faith too And do what in Him lies to promote the belief and profession of it in his Dominions For give me leave thus far to anticipate what I shall presently have Occasion more particularly to Consider When the Synod has settled the Doctrine of Faith and framed as they conceive a just and Orthodox Confession of it Is it the Duty of the Prince to Receive and give Countenance to their Definition or is it not To say that it is not is to sink the Credit of such Meetings very low indeed and to make their Assembling of very little Consequence if when They have done all they can to fix the Doctrine of the Church neither the Prince has any Obligation to support their Definition nor the People to Receive it But if when the Synod has done and their Sentence is pass'd and perhaps their Anathema's too have been thunder'd out against all that shall presume to call their Decisions in Question the Prince is obliged to add his Sanction to their Definition Then I hope They will think it to be their Duty in order to his confirming their Decrees with a Good Conscience to convince him of
the Truth of them and not Expect that he should not only believe Himself but should oblige Others to Believe what neither He nor They see any Reason to Receive For whatever in some Mens Opinion a General Council may be yet I hope no One will pretend that we must believe every particular Convocation to be infallible in its Definitions Let this then be the Result of our second Enquiry viz. * That the Christian Prince has a Right to prescribe to his Synods the Work they are to go upon and to Restrain them from meddling with such things as do not belong to Them * That he may Direct not only the Subject but the Order and Method of their Debates * That He may if He please Sit and Deliberate with his Clergy in them And interpose his Judgment not only in Matters of Discipline but in Matters of Faith too * That it is not only his Right but his Duty to Examine what they have concluded upon and either to Confirm or Rescind their Decisions according as He shall remain satisfied or not of the Truth the Justice and the Expediency of Them And this brings me to the Third and last Question proposed to be Consider'd viz. 3dly What the Authority of the Prince is with Relation to these Conventions after They have Ended what was to be done by Them Now that may be Consider'd in a double Respect 1st With Reference to their Persons And 2dly To their Acts. 1st With Reference to their Persons I have before shewn that no Synod can Regularly be assembled without the Consent of the Civil Magistrate I now add That neither being assembled can They dissolve Themselves and depart from any such Council till Licensed by him so to do This is a Right that has ever been Acknowledged by the Clergy to belong to the Christian Prince And therefore I shall need to insist the less upon the Proof of it When the Fathers who were call'd by Constantius to Ariminum had done the Business for which they were Convened and sent their Delegates to attend the Emperor with an account of their Proceedings They finally besought Him that He would give them leave to return to their Churches lest they should seem by their Longer Stay to have been forsaken by their Bishops 'T is true we are told by Sozomen that the Emperor being displeased at their firm Adherence to the Catholick Faith Refused to give any Answer to them Whereupon Growing weary of staying any longer at a Place where they had nothing to do they Return'd of their Own Accord to their several Churches But then he tells us withal that this the Emperor Resented as a very Great Affront which they put upon him and when he had an Opportunity he express'd his Resentments accordingly against Them But Theodosius and Valentinian took more Care of the General Council assembled by them at Ephesus For having appointed Candidian to look after it one part of that Instruction which they gave to him was this that he should by all means take Care that none of the Bishops left the City till all things were finish'd for which they came together And particularly till they had with all Exactness settled the Catholick Faith in Opposition to the Heretical doctrine of Nestorius upon whose account that Synod was Assembled Such was the Right which the Emperors claim'd over their Bishops in this particular And for the Exercise of it we shall need look no farther than to the next General Council Where when Marcian the Emperor came into the Synod and approv'd what the Fathers had done after their other Acclamations they all unanimously requested We beseech thee dismiss or dissolve us To this the Emperor return'd that they should tarry yet Three or Four days and move whatever they would and they should receive all due Encouragement from him And then concluded the Session with these Words see that none of you depart from the Holy Synod before all things be fully completed It is therefore the duty of all Synods as they are Conven'd by the Princes Authority so to tarry till they have the same Authority for their Dissolution As for the last particular wherein we are to consider the Power of the Christian Magistrate viz. 2dly With Relation to the Acts of their Synods It is I conceive allow'd on all hands that their definitions are no farther obligatory than as they are Ratified and Confirm'd by the Civil Authority For though the Faith of Christ neither depends upon the Authority of Man nor is subject to the Power either of Synods or Princes as to what concerns the Truth of it Yet what that Faith is which shall be allow'd to be profess'd in every Community by the Laws of it and receive not only Protection but Encouragement from the Civil Power must be left to the Prince to determine And the definitions of Synods in favour of it will signifie very little till what they have determin'd to be the right Faith be also allow'd by the Civil Magistrate to be publickly profess'd and taught and be receiv'd into his favour and under his Patronage as such But much more reasonable as well as necessary is the Confirmation of the Prince to give Authority to those Canons which regard the discipline and politie of the Church Because in these the interest of the State is Concern'd And an Authority usurp'd and Mens civil Interests either directly or by consequence affected And to all which as the Consent of the Prince is requir'd so the nature and ends of Government will not permit that any thing of this kind should be done within the State without his Consent first obtain'd for the doing of it Hence it is that from the Beginning Christian Princes have not only taken upon them to confirm the Acts of their Synods if they have thought fit but have been petition'd to by their Synods that they would do so Thus Constantine the Great was desired by the first General Council to ratifie by his Authority what the Fathers had Determin'd The same was Demanded of Theodosius by the Second General Council of Constantinople In the Third General Council of Ephesus the Fathers in like manner address'd to the younger Theodosius and Valentinian for the Ratification of what had been done by Them And so did Those of the Council of Chalcedon to Marcian the Emperor for the same purpose And all these Emperors answer'd their Desires and Confirm'd their Acts accordingly It were an Easie Matter to shew that the same Method still continued in all other Countries and Kingdoms after so that no Princes ever suffer'd any Canons to be put in Execution till they had first been View'd and Approv'd of by them as no way prejudicial to their Royal Power and Dignity But because this is a Point that is not I conceive at all deny'd among us and that I look upon the Power of the Christian Prince to extend much farther than to
Character but with them many Others of the Regular Clergy who had no place in the Parliament Writ yet still the Design was in Both the same viz. That they might thereby more effectually confirm what had in Parliament been granted to the King and the Monks and Friers become engaged by their own Consent not to oppose the levying of it Now this being the true Ground of the Convocation's being call'd together with the Parliament Custom and if you will the Constitution of our Government founded thereupon does indeed give them a Right to be summon'd when the Parliament is and accordingly they are still summon'd together with it But as they have no Custom to warrant them to deliberate or enter upon Business unless the King pleases to allow them so to do so neither have they any Right in that Particular but the King is still as much at Liberty in that respect as if there had never been any such Custom established for the Calling of them In short were it still the Method as formerly it was for the Clergy to Assess themselves but much more were the Case so now as antiently it seems to have been that they were a part of the Great Council of the Nation and whose Consent was requisite to the passing of Parliamentary Acts it would then be very evident wherefore they were Called and what they had to do But this being altered and yet the Antient Summons still continued it makes some Men think it an odd Thing that the Convocation should be Called to no purpose Not considering that but for those Ends which are now ceased they never had been wont either to be summon'd to Parliament or at the same time with it and that those being determined they have a Right to nothing but a Summons and it were no great Matter whether they had a Right to that or no. And this may suffice to shew what Authority our King has by the particular Laws of our Own Constitution to assemble the Convocation and that without his Writ they neither now can nor ever could regularly come together by any other Way I proceed 2dly To enquire What Power he has to direct their Debates when they are Assembled And here we are again told by the same Person whose Authority I before alleged that the second Point agreed upon by the Chief Justices and Judges at the Committee of the Lords was That the Convocation after their Assembly cannot confer to constitute any Canons without License de l'Roy Nor is this any more than what the Statute of the 25 Hen. 8. has directly establish'd When having recited the Promise which the Clergy had in their Petition made to the King That they would never from thenceforth presume to Attempt Allege Claim or Put in Ure Enact Promulge or Execute any new Canon Constitution Ordinance Provincâ—â—â— or Other or by whatsoever Name they shall be called in Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may by them be had to MAKE PROMULGE and EXECUTE the same and that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf They thereupon Enact That ne They nor any of Them frow henceforth shall presume to Attempt Alledge Claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Orders Provincial or Synodal or any Other Canons Nor shall Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocation in Time coming Unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to MAKE PROMULGE and EXECUTE such Conons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal I have transcribed this Paragraph of that Act at large to the End it may the more evidently appear that the Intention of it was as well to Restrain the Clergy from MAKING as from PROMULGING and EXECUTING any Canons without the Assent and Licence of the King first had for their so doing And which is indeed so plain that had not the constant Practice of all following Convocations and the Opinions of the most Learned in Our Laws so expounded the Sense of it yet we could not have been easily mistaken in it For besides that it was apparently the Design of this Act to Restrâ—ain the Clergy from doing somewhat which they had been wont to do in their Convocation the Statute it self interprets its own Expressions and tells us that by presuming to Attempt c. was meant as well presuming to MAKE as to Promulge and Execute any Canons or Constitutions without the Assent and Licence of the King first had by Them so to do Whether the Convocation may not without the King 's Writ deliberate of such things as may be fit to be done by Them for the Service of the Church I shall not undertake to say Certain it is that they may not so deliberate as to come to any Authoritative Resolution upon any particular Point or to frame any Order or Constitution of what kind soever it be without the King 's Leave which is in Effect to say that they may not debate Synodically at all without it To deliberate of what might usefully be consider'd by Them and to Petition the King thereupon for Leave so to do This as it is no Attempting to make a Canon c. so does it not I conceive come within the Design of that Prohibition which this Act has laid upon them And if the King allows the Convocation to sit I do not see wherein they would transgress in framing such an Address supposing that his Commission had not before prevented all Occasion for such an Application But then still this is but asking Leave to act as a Synod And it will after all remain in the King's Breast what Answer to make to such a Request and whether he will grant them that Leave which They desire or no As therefore the Convocation cannot Meet but by the King 's Writ so neither being Met can they proceed to any Canonical Debates or Resolutions without it For by vertue of this Act they are forbid not only to Make but to Attempt that is as I understand it to do any thing that tends towards the making of any Canons without his Warrant for their Doing of it And therefore when the King sends out his Writs for the Convocation to meet he therein reserves to himself the Privilege of Naming the Subject which they are to deliberate and resolve upon For having mention'd by way of Form in the beginning of the Writ That for certain urgent Affairs of great Concern both to the Church and Kingdom He had commanded the Arch-bishop to summon the Clergy to come together to such a certain Place and at such a certain Time He thus declares what they were to do when they met Ad Tractand c. Namely That they were To Treat Consent and Conclude upon the Premises and such other Matters as should more clearly be declared to them when they came together in
Allowance to them Was it because they had a Right to demand it Or that He had no Right to refuse it Was it because it had always been Customary for them to Sit when the Parliament met and to have such a Commission sent to them as often as they sat Nothing of all this But for divers Urgent and Weighty Causes and Considerations Him thereunto especially moving Out of his especial Grace and meer Motion That he granted it by virtue of his Royal Prerogative and of that Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical which gave him the same Power over his Clergy that all other Christian Princes were wont to exercise over Theirs And which how Great it was as to these matters I have before particularly shewn But to go on with this Commission The King having thus asserted his Authority now by virtue thereof gives leave to that Convocation Always provided that the President and greater number of the Bishops were present during the Session of the Parliament then Assembled to Propose Confer Treat Debate Consider Consult or Agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon or Canons then in force and of and upon any such other New Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necessary fit and convenient for the Honour and Service of Almighty God the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be from time to time observed fulfill'd and kept c. And further to Confer Debate Treat Consider Consult and Agree of and upon such other Points Matters Causes and Things as himself from time to time should deliver or cause to be deliver'd unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation under his Sign Manual or Privy Signet to be Debated Consider'd Consulted and Concluded upon This was the Business for which that Convocation sat and which they were accordingly licensed to enter upon But the Restrictions under which they were allowed to Act are yet more narrow than Those which his present Majesty laid upon our late Convocation For all this They were required to do not only under the same Conditions that I have beforeshewn were laid upon the Other but with these further Limitations namely That the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters and Things or Any of Them so to be Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon as aforesaid should not be contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy Established or to the Rubricks in it or to the 39 Articles or to any Doctrine Orders and Ceremonies of the Church of England already Established Thus did this Prince give such Orders for the Proceedings of this Convocation as he thought expedient to be observed by Them And when for the more effectual suppressing and preventing of the Growth of Popery He resolved an Oath should be framed for the Clergy to take of their firm adherence to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England And that a Canon should be drawn to enforce the taking of it He sent a new Order to them May 17 to empower them to enter on that Debate and to require them to Prepare and present such an Oath and Canon to Him But other Princes have gone yet farther than this They have not only prescribed to their Convocations what they should go about but have actually drawn up beforehand what they thought convenient to have Establish'd and have required them to Approve of it In the Convocation which met May 18 1 Jac. 1 The King sent his Letters with the Articles of 1562 to Them to be Approved and Allowed of by Them And to another Convocation about four Years after the same Prince signified to both Houses his Pleasure for Singing and Organ Service to be settled in Cathedral Churches without ever submitting it to their Judgment whether they approved of it or no. I shall conclude these Remarks with the Opinion which the Lower House of Convocation had of the Necessity of the King's Authority to Empower Them to enter with Security on their Debates about Matters of Religion in the first Year of King Edward the Sixth At the first Meeting of which we find this Order among some others made by them That Certain be appointed to know whether the Arch-bishop has obtain'd Indemnity for the House to intreat of Matters of Religion in Cases forbidden by the Statutes of this Realm to treat in But there is another Particular in which I have before shewn that Christian Princes had upon Occasion exercised an Eminent Authority over their Synods Whilst for the better Observance of the Orders which they gave to Them They asserted a Right either in Person or by their Commissioner to sit with and to preside over Them That our Kings heretofore did meet and sit together with their Clergy is not to be deny'd And our Great Oracle of the Law has told us That they did oftentimes appoint Commissioners by Writ to sit with them at the Convocation and to have Conusance of such Things as they meant to Establish that nothing might be done in prejudice of their Authority 'T is true since the Restriction laid upon the Clergy by the Statute of K. Henry 8 the King is now become so secure of them that He has no great need to send any such Commissioner to them to regulate their Proceedings For being neither at liberty to enter upon any Synodical Act but what he gives them leave to go upon Nor when they have concluded upon any Point being allow'd to Promulge or put it in Execution unless it shall be approved of and confirmed by Him He has nothing left to apprehend from them but is by his Commission as effectually President over their Debates as if he were present in Person among them And yet tho' this Act has therefore render'd the Exercise of such an Authority less necessary than it was before it has not depriv'd the King of it For even after the passing of this Statute K. Henry 8 by his Vicar General not only presided together with the Archbishop over the Convocation but Deliberated Voted and to all intents and purposes Acted together with his Clergy in it This is manifest from the Acts of the Convocation of the year 1536 and of which it may not be amiss to give a short account upon this Occasion Upon the 9th day of June 1536. Mr. William Peter came into the Convocation and alleged That for as much as this Synod was called by the Authority of the most illustrious Prince K. Henry 8 and that the said Prince ought to have the first Place in the said Convocation and in his Absence the Honourable Master Thomas Cromwel his Vicegerent being Vicar General in Ecclesiastical Causes ought to possess his Place Therefore he desired that the said Place might be assigned to Him And at the same time presented his said Master's Letters Sealed with the Seal of his Office as Vicar General Which being read the most Reverend the Archbishop assign'd him a Place besides
any Pope but such as was agreeable to his Will and Pleasure And particularly that he would not endure any Synod to be held by the Bishops of England or any thing to be determined in any Ecclesiastical Causes without Leave and Authority first had from him to empower them so to do And the same was the Resolution of his Sons after him And tho' being necessitated for the sake of their civil Interests to yield a little some of our following Princes did submit to the Papal Usurpations yet no sooner was their Government grown strong and their Peace setled but both our Kings and our great Men presently began to assert their Freedom and to cast off those Chains which the Pope had watch'd his Opportunity to put upon them So that now then to give a short account of the method of managing the Affairs of the Church in this Period it was briefly this In the great Council of the Realm and which tho' alter'd in some circumstances by the Conquerour from what it was before yet still continu'd in the main the same as the Bishops and most considerable of the Abbots had a place so now as heretofore Ecclesiastical as well as civil Causes were handled by them and Laws pass'd for the Government of the Church no less than of the State In the other and more select Councils of our Kings which in this Period were held sometimes at the great Feasts and sometimes at such other Seasons as our Princes thought sit and to which they took such of their great Men only both Ecclesiastical and Secular as themselves thought sit many Affairs of the Church were also debated tho' not with such Authority as in the other more general Councils Besides these Assemblies as from the beginning of this Period Ecclesiastical Synods did often meet so in them were the rest of those Matters transacted which appertain'd to the Church But then these as they met not without the King's Licence so neither did they determine any thing but by his Consent nor were their Acts of any Authority until they were confirm'd by him This was the State of the Church in the beginning of this Period whilst it as yet stood free from the Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome How it came to be enslaved afterwards will better appear from that particular view we are now to take of those Councils in which any thing of greater Moment relating to the Church has been concluded I have before observed how our Princes very early began with great Solemnity to keep the three chief Festivals of the Year and to be attended by their Bishops and Lords at them At one of these Seasons presently after he was setled in the Government the Conquerour commanded a Synod to be held and made use of the Pope's Au 〈…〉 rity and the Presence of his Legats to strengthen what he had to do in it Having thus assembled the Bishops apart into an Ecclesiastical Council he proceeded not only to deprive Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury who in some measure deserved it but several others of the Clergy for no other real reason but only that he did not love them or else wanted to have his Normans in their places And having thus proceeded as far as he thought good in this Council he stopt still the next solemn Festival And then in another Synod of the same kind and assembled by the same Authority he went on to farther Deprivations after the like manner as he had done before It was at a like meeting of his Bishops and Lords about two years after that resolving the great Council into an Ecclesiastical Synod he determined the Primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York and subscribed his Name to the Acts of it What that Synod was which Lanfrank sometime after held at Westminster we are not told This we are inform'd that it was call'd by the King's Command and that he was present at this as he had been at the other two Whether this were the same Council which we find recorded by Malmsbury in the life of Lanfranc or whether there was another assembled the same year I cannot tell But that a Synod was held about this time at London we are well assured In this many ancient Canons were revived and the foundation laid for renewing the Ecclesiastical Discipline of the Church And because this had not sufficiently determined what was necessary to be done the next Year after he held another at Winchester in which several usefull Constitutions were establish'd the Heads of which still remain to us These are the chief of those Ecclesiastical Synods that we are told were assembled under K. William the Conquerour And the last of which however said to have been call'd by Lanfranc who also presided in them yet still we must remember what we have before in general observed of this King that the Archbishop call'd them by his Command Who also approved their Acts before he suffer'd them to have any Authority in this Realm For the farther Confirmation of which Remark let us only cast our Eye upon the Conduct of this Prince as to these matters in his own Dutchy of Normandy and from thence we shall be able the more certainly to judge what Power he claim'd over his Clergy in his new Dominions And here we find that at Whitsontide Anno 1086 he assembled his Parliament at Roan The Members who composed it were the same that in those days made up ours There were present the Archbishop Bishops and Abbots of his Territories and with them the great Lords of the Laity Being met they made several Laws for the Government both of the Church and State and he was both present at their Debates and by his Authority confirm'd what had been agreed on by them And when some time before the Archbishop of Roan held a Provincial Synod with his Bishops and Clergy purely to consult of the Affairs of the Church and several Canons were compiled by them the Acts of it observe that the Conquerour was himself both present at the making of them and that he afterwards confirm'd them by his Command Such was the Authority which this Prince exercised over his Synods As for his Successor King William the Second he was not at all less but rather was more stiff in asserting his Rights as to these matters than ever his Father had been Insomuch that being on a time desired by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury To employ his Authority to the restoring of Christianity almost utterly defaced in his Realm He ask'd him What he would have him do Command says Anselm Councils to be renew'd according to ancient Custom There let it be enquired what has been done a miss and let a seasonable Provision be made for the remedying of it There has not been held a general Council of Bishops since you came to the Crown nor for some time before Through this defect many
times they have appear'd there as Spiritual Assistants to consider consult and consent Only he affirms that they never had Voices there because they were no Lords of Parliament the force of which Argument I shall leave to the House of Commons to answer In the mean time I must observe that in the case of Bird and Smith Trin. 4. Jac. 1. upon a Deprivation made of Smith by the High Commissioners for not Conforming to the Canons of the Church the Lord Chancellour having call'd Popham Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Coke of the Common Pleas and Fleming Lord Chief Baron to his assistance it was agreed to by all the three without any Exception That the Canons of the Church made by the Convocation and King without the Parliament shall bind in matters Ecclesiastical as well as an Act of Parliament Because the Convocation of the Clergy was once a Member of the Parliament but afterwards for Convenience separated and therefore does carry its peculiar Jurisdiction along with it in the Convocation House For which reason also a Clergy-man cannot be chosen a Member of the House of Commons nor a Lay-man of the Convocation as Coke then declared had been resolved in a Conference of the two Houses 21 Hen. 8. And as concerning the other part of my Lord Coke's Assertion that the Proctors of the Clergy never had Voices in Parliament because in the Writ of Summons it is said that they were call'd Ad consentiendum his quae tunc ibidem de communi consilio dicti regni nostri contigerit ordinari it may suffice to observe that tho' this be indeed the present Form yet when both the Clergy and Commons were first called to this great Council they were both summon'd to another purpose and in words that did expresly intitle them to act in it In the 23d Edw. 1. the first Summons for ought appears that was ever regularly issued out for them they were called Ad Tractand Ordinand Faciend nobiscum cum caeteris praelatis proceribus aliis incolis Regni nostri In the 4th Edw. 3. Ad Faciend Consentiend And this continued to be the usual Form afterwards And these are the very Words that were used in the Commons Writs in the same Parliament 4 Edward 3 And which tho' alter'd about the 26th of that King into others of greater force Ad Tractand Consulend Faciend Yet that Form lasted not very long but in the 46 of the same King it again was worded Ad Faciend Consulend and so has continued to this day And a more ancient Authority than this in my Lord Coke's Account has told us that the Clergy were call'd Ad Tractand Deliberand That their names were call'd over the beginning of every Parliament that they had a Voice in it and made a part of the Commons there But because this is a point that will best be clear'd by matter of Fact we will enquire a little what the Clergy were wont heretofore to do there For as for the Forms of Summons tho' I conceive at first they were very properly drawn and do mark out to us the undoubted Rights of those to whom they were sent as they were allow'd of in those ancient times yet how little they may signifie now the Form of our Parliamentary Writs in the Praemonentes to the Bishop does alone too evidently shew In the 6 Edw. 3. after the Archbishop of Cant. and Bishop of London had declared how that the French King designing an Expedition to the Holy Land had desired our King to go along with him and that this was the cause of calling that Parliament Sir Jeffery le Scroop added by the King's Commandment that the same was called as well to redress the Breach of the Laws and Peace as for the King 's going to the Holy Land The Bishops answer'd That it did not properly appertain to them to counsel in matters of Peace and to prescribe for the punishment of Evils And so together with the Proctors of the Clergy they went apart to consult about the Matters proposed to them In the 13th of the same King the King appointing Commissioners in his stead to begin and continue the Parliament we find the Dean of York as Treasurer standing next to the Archbishop in the Commission And in the Parliament which met the Michaelmas before it being resolved to hold another upon the Octaves of Hilary the Archbishops were order'd to summon their respective Convocations to be ready to meet with it In the 18th of the same Edw. 3. at the opening of the Parliament complaint was made that sundry of all Estates were absent whereat the King did no less muse than he was thereat offended Wherefore he charged the Archbishop for his part to punish the Defaults of the Clergy and he would do the like touching the Parliament And in the same Session the Resolution being taken that the King should end the War he was engaged in either by Battle or an Honourable Peace the King agreed And in order thereunto the Clergy of Cant. granted him a Triennial Disme and the Commons two fifteens of Counties and two Dismes of Cities and Towns It was the usual custom of the Commons in those days to begin such Bills as they thought necessary to have pass'd by Petition to the King in Parliament Thus they did in this Parliament 18 Edw. 3. which being ended the Bishops and Clergy exhibited their Petitions also being in number seven whereto the King answer'd and the same comprized in the Statute for the Clergy still extant In the Preamble of which the King takes notice of the Triennial Disme granted to him by the Prelates and Procurators of the Clergy of both Provinces In the 1 Rich. 2. we again find the Clergy petitioning in like manner And in the 21st of the same King the Commons by Sir John Bussey their Speaker pray the King that forasmuch as divers Judgments were heretofore undone for that the Clergy were not present therefore they pray'd the King that the Clergy should appoint some to be their common Proctor with sufficient Authority thereunto And the Bishops thereupon appointed Sir Thomas Piercie their Proctor to assent in the name of the Clergy And by vertue whereof when the Parliament took a new Oath to the King the Bishops and Abbots themselves took it and Sir Thomas Piercie as Proctor for the Clergy was sworn to the same And when in the same Parliament Sir John Bussey offer'd the King a Subsidy from the Commons and thereupon desired his general Pardon the Clergy gave the like power to Sir William â—e Scroop of Wilts to answer for them that they late did to Sir Thomas Piercie And when finally upon the advice of Sir John Bussey the Lords were required again to swear not to alter any thing of what was done in this Parliament not only the Bishops and Temporal Lords did so but sundry
of the Church of England already establish'd 5. Provided also and our express Will Pleasure and Commandment is That the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or any of them so to be by force of these presents consider'd consulted or agreed upon shall not be of any Force Effect or Validity in the Law but only such and so many of them and after such Time as we by our Letters Patents under our great Seal of England shall allow approve and confirm the same Any thing before in these Presents contain'd to the contrary thereof notwithstanding In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent Witness our self at Westminster the 15th Day of April in the xvith Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem Willis The Canons and the King's Declaration in Confirmation of them made hereupon are already extant in Sparrow's Collection pag. 335. VI. A Specimen of Convocations anciently held without Parliaments or at different Times from Them till the latter End of King Henry viiith's Reign ANno 1297. The Convocation sate March 26 But the King was then absent upon his Expedition in Scotland and held not his Parliament till the End of the Summer first at Berwick and after that at St. Edmunds-bury November 3. Wals. p. 68. Anno 1316. 9. Ed. 2. The Writ of Summons to the Convocations bears date Febr. 17. to meet post xv Pasch. The Parliament was summon'd the 16 Octob. before to meet in Quinden S. Hilarii Anno 1328. The Convocation was held at London the Fryday after the Purification The Parliament was held at Winchester the first Week in Lent after Wals. p. 129. Anno 1342. The Convocation met Oct. 10. But I do not find that any Parliament sate that Year Anno 1408. A Convocation and Parliament The Dates I have not But the former met at Oxford the latter at Gloucester Anno 1413. The Convocation met on Trinity Sunday The Parliament sate May the 15th being the Third Week in Easter foregoing Anno 1417. The Convocation met November 6. The Parliament sate not till November 16th Anno 1439. The Convocation met November 1. I find not any Parliament that Year Anno 1463. The Parliament sate April the 29th The Convocation met not till July 6. Anno 1466. The Convocation sate April 26. I find no Parliament this Year Anno 1486. The Convocation met February 13 The Parliament sate November 7. foregoing Anno 1538. A Convocation No Parliament Thus stood this matter till about the End of King Henry viiith's Reign Since which excepting in the Case of the Convocation of 1640 it has I think been the usual Custom for the Convocation to sit only in Time of Parliament VII An Abstract of several things relating to the Church which have been done since the 25 H. 8. by Private Commissions Or Otherwise out of Convocation 25 H. 8. THirty two Persons Appointed to Review c. the Canons of the Church and to Gather together out of them such as should from thenceforth alone be of force in it See the Act. c. 19. 1536. Injunctions by the King Bishop Burnet Hist. Ref. pag. 225. Order for the Translation of the Bible Ibid. pag. 195 249 302. 1538. New Injunctions Ibid. 249. Explication of the chief Points of Religion publish'd at the Close of the Convocation but not by it Ibid. p. 245. 1539. A Committee of Bishops appointed by the Lords at the King's Command to draw up Articles of Religion Ibid. p. 256. The vi Articles on which the Act passed brought in by the Duke of Norfolk and wholly carried on by the Parliament Ibid. p. 256 c. 1540. A Committee of Divines employed to draw up The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man Ibid. p. 286. Another Commission appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Ibid. p. 294. 1542. The Examining of the English Translation of the Bible being begun by the Convocation is taken by the King out of their Hands and committed to the two Universities Ibid. p. 315. 1544. The King orders the Prayers for Processions and Litanies to be put into English and sends them to the Archbishop with an Order for the Publick Use of Them Ibid. p. 331. King Edward VI. 1547. The King orders a Visitation over his whole Kingdom and thereupon suspends all Episcopal Jurisdiction while it lasted Bishop Burnet Hist. Ref. Vol. II. p. 26. The Homilies composed Ibid. p. 27. Articles and Injunctions set forth p. 28. 1548. New Injunctions Ibid. Append. p. 126. An Order of Council for Removing Images Ibid. p. 129. Directions by the Council to the King's Preachers Ibid. p. 130. A Committee of Select Bishops and Divines appointed to Examine and Reform the Offices of the Church Ibid. Hist. p. 61 71. A new Office of Communion set forth by them Ibid. p. 64. This made way for the Act of 1548. p. 93. and 1551. Ibid. p. 189. 1549. An Order of Council forbidding Private Masses Ibid. p. 102 103. The Forms of Ordination Appointed by Act of Parliament order'd to be drawn up by a special Committee of Six Bishops and Six Divines to be named by the King Ibid. p. 141 143. 1552. The Observation of Holydays order'd by Act of Parliament Ibid. p. 191. 1553. A new Catechism by the King's Order required to be taught by Schoolmasters Ibid. p. 219. Queen Elizabeth 1559. The Queen's Injunctions q. v. Ibid. p. â—98 King James I. 1603. The Conference at Hampton-Court Fuller Ch. Hist. p. 21. 1607. An Order for a new Translation of the Bible the King directs the whole Process of it Ibid. p. 44. c. 1618. A Proclamation by the King concerning Sports and Recreations to be allow'd of on the Lords-Day Ibid. p. 74. King Charles I. Directions concerning Preaching with respect to the Arminian Points I have set down these Remarks in this and the foregoing Number for the most part as they lay in my Collections and I hope they are Exact Tho' at present I have not either Time or Opportunity to make so careful an Examination as I ought to do of several of Them FINIS Books printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborne THE Genuine Epistles of St. Barnabas St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp the Shepherd of Hermas c. Translated and published in English 8 â— A Practical Discourse concerning Sweâ—ring 8 o. A Sermon on the Publick Thanksgiving for Preservation of his Majestie 's Person These three by the Reverend Dr. VVake Also several Sermons upon several Occasions By Dr. VVake Fables of Aesop and other eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections Folio Erasinus Colloquies in English 8 o. The Visions of Dom. Froncisco de Quevedo 8 o. The three last by Sir Roger L'Estrange Epiâ—â—eâ—u's Morals with Simpliciâ—â—'s Comment translated by Mr. Stanhope 8 o. Compleat Sets consisting of 8 Volumes of Letters writ by a Turkish Spy who lived 45 Years undiscovered at Paris 12 o Humane Prudence or the Art by which a man may raise himself
Authority set forth such Orders as He has thought fit should be Observed by the Clergy of the Realm and directed them to his Archbishops and Bishops for that End Such was the Letter of his Present Majesty to the Bishop of London as to matters of practise of Febr. 13. 1689 90 to be communicated to the two Provinces of Canterbury and York And such were his Injunctions with respect to matters of Faith by which He lately determined with what sobriety They should Write and Preach concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity To reduce some of our late Controvertists to the ancient Modes of speaking and not suffer them to affect new Terms to the hazard of the ancient Faith and to the scandal of many of the same profession with Themselves 2. Another Method of determining Ecclesiastical Matters has been by the Authority of the King and Parliament without the help of any Other Ecclesiastical deliberation than what the Archbishops and Bishops in the Upper House have given to them Many are the Acts of this Nature which have pass'd I do not say since the Reformation but even within our Own Memories Such were for example The Acts against Conventicles in the 16th and 22d of King Charles the Second The two Test-Acts in His 25th and 30th Years In a word The Act of Toleration in the first of his Present Majesty not to mention any Others of an Elder date 3dly A third way now made use of in transacting Ecclesiastical Matters is to do it by such Select Committees as those I before mentioned When the King having first appointed a certain Number of Bishops and Clergy-men to consider what may be fit to be Order'd in such Cases as He thinks fit to Referr to Them afterwards sets forth by his Royal Authority what has by their Advice been Recommended to Him After this manner was the Reformation in great measure carried on and the most important Affairs of the Church dispatch'd As by the short Collection Here referr'd to may more fully be discerned 4thly A fourth Way there is which our Princes have often taken in these Cases and that is to Referr not to a Particular Committee but to their Two Convocations what they would have done And having seen and approved their Conclusions to give their Royal Assent and Authority thereunto Upon this foundation stand our Book of Canons drawn up by the Convocation of 1603 and Ratified and Confirm'd by King James the First And after the same manner were those drawn up which gave so much Offence in our late times and were Authorized by King Charles the First Anno 1640. But above all as the most solemn so the most undoubtedly authoritative way of transacting such Matters as these is 5thly When the King designing any Constitution of a more than ordinary Concern to the Church or Realm do's for the more prudent Establishment of it first by a select Committee prepare what he thinks needfull to propose to the Convocation concerning it Then has it Examined and Concluded there And having Re-view'd it with his Privy Council and his learned Council in the Law finally referrs it to his Two Houses of Parliament Where being also consented to and approved of He finally himself subscribes to it and makes it a part of the Statute-Law of the Realm Thus has our Common-Prayer from time to time been setled Our Episcopal Government and Ordinals been Confirm'd and finally our Nine and Thirty Articles been Establish'd But as the choice of these several Methods of carrying on such Affairs Requires much Prudence in the determination so has our Law intirely submitted it to the Prince's Authority And we ought not to doubt but that He will Act in these Matters with all that Care and Advice which both the Nature of the things themselves requires and the Influence which they commonly have on Civil Affairs oblige Him to do 'T is true the Affection which some Men have for their Own Ways may prompt them to think that worthy the meeting of a Convocation which the King may be perswaded his Own Injunctions are abundantly sufficient to provide for But as All Men must allow that it would not only be grievous but foolish to assemble a Synod for the doing of that which may as effectually be done without it so all Reasonable Men must think it very just and equitable that his Majesty should be left to that liberty which both the Law has intrusted him with and his own Reason were there nothing else vindicates to him I mean of considering what He thinks in such Cases to be most sitting to be done and to act accordingly If by this means he should chance to be mistaken in his Choice 't is a Humane Infirmity and what Good Men will Easily make an Allowance for in a station where so much is to be done and it is so difficult oftentimes to judge what is best And let the positive censorious part of the World if for nothing else yet at least for their Own sakes consider this That a Kingdom is a large Place and that 't is not impossible but that among such Numbers of Men as there are in it some may be as firmly persuaded the Prince is in the Right as they can presume that He is in the Wrong CHAP. V. The Opinion advanced in the late Letter to a Convocation-Man Stated And the Arguments Examined by which the Author of it pretends to prove 1. That the Convocation has a Right to Meet whenever the Parliament do's And 2. That being met it Has also a Right to Act without any Licence from the King to Empower it so to do HAving now very fully and I think very clearly Establish'd the undoubted Right of our Kings in the matter before us I proceed according to my Method at first laid down III dly To Examine What the Author of the late Letter to a Convocation-Man has Offer'd to Overthrow the Conclusions before Establish'd and to Consider What may fairly be Replied to his Pretences In pursuance whereof that I may be sure not to fix any Opinions upon Him which He has not really Advanced I will in the first place draw up the Points in Controversie between us in his Own Words and so go on to consider what Arguments he has brought to make good his Assertions and to justifie that unusual Confidence with which he has deliver'd them Our Author then having first briefly Insinuated against all such as pretend to Any Religion among Us that they ought to allow the Church an Inherent Unalterable Right to the Exercise of its Ecclesiastical Power That is to say To apply the Law of God to particular Cases to Explain the Doubts that may arise concerning it and to deduce Consequences from it in things not explicitely determined already by that Law And this not by Way of Doctrine or Exhortation but in a judicial authoritative Manner by making of Canons and Articles and by enforcing Submission and Obedience to
its determinations Proceeds in the next place for their sakes who have No Religion at the bottom nor any Notion of a Church however for their Worldly Interest they may pretend to this or that Party by joyning Themselves to its Communion to shew What the Law of their Country says in this Case That so they may be for ever silenced in this Question and not dare to mutter any more after what this New Pythagoras shall have declared to Them And having thus engaged our attention he proceeds Oraculously to pronounce KNOW therefore says He that a Convocation is an Ecclesiastical Court or Assembly Essential to our Constitution and Establish'd by the Law of it It is the Highest of all Our Ecclesiastical Courts or Assemblies Is called and convened in Parliament time by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishops It consists of all the Clergy of both Provinces either Personally or Representatively present In the Upper House are the Archbishops and Bishops In the Lower House or House of Commons spiritual are the Deans Arch-deacons One Proctor for Every Chapter and Two for the Clergy of Each Diocess This is the Court. The frequent sitting of this Court is One of the Chief Rights of the Church of England The Church of England is a National Church and to such it is certainly incident to have National Synods or Convocations And in like manner to those Synods to have freedom of Speech or Debate about Matters proper for their Cognizance relating to the Being or Well-being of their Body as a Church And if the Church of England have any Rights or Privileges this of Assembling Debating and Conferring is certainly One and the Chief of Them 'T is true a Convocation cannot Assemble without the Assent of the King His Writ is necessary in Order to it And his Prerogative do's Empower him to Prohibit the Clergy Assembling in Synod without his Summons But then it is as true too that the Assembling of Them is not entirely dependant on His Will nor lodged purely in the Breast of the Sovereign But it is with the Convocation as it is with the Parliament The King is intrusted with the Formal part of Summoning and Convening it but so that by the very Essence and Constitution of our Church a Convocation ought at certain times to Meet Sit and Act and the Fundamentals of our Government shew Him When and How his Power in this Respect is to be Exercised and that it ought not to be at his free Will and Pleasure To Grant therefore that the King's Writ is necessary to the Assembling of the Convocation The Question is Whether that Writ ought not to Issue whensoever a Summons goes out for a Parliament And to this we say That the Law of the Realm hath directed the King or at least His Chancellour Keeper or Other Minister having the Custody of the Great Seal to Issue forth such Writs and they can no more be Omitted than any Single Peer's Summons to Parliament Thus far our Way is plain and clear But supposing all this the Question still is Whether or no the Convocation may conferr after their Summons and Meeting without the King ' s Special License and Assent In answer to which I must acknowledge that the Common Received Opinion is in the Negative However if what has been offer'd already with regard to their Convening have any weight in it it must hold also in some degree with respect to their Conferring and Treating when met about Matters proper to their Cognizance If they are a Court and have their Jurisdiction and are a Legislature and have the Power of making Ecclesiastical Laws both which they certainly are and have then the liberty of Conferring and Discussing is necessary to their very Existence c. This is the Summ of what this Author has asserted as to the point in Question and for the most part is express'd in his Own Words Let us now see Wherein we differ from One another And reduce the matter in debate between Us to as narrow a Compass as we can And 1st Tho' I will not enter upon a New Subject yet I must needs say I am by no means satisfied that the Church has either Command or Authority from God to assemble Synods or by Consequence any inherent and unalterable Right to make any such authoritative Definitions as He supposes in Them I am not Aware that either in the Old or New Testament there is so much as One single direction given for its so doing And excepting the singular Instance which we have Acts XVth I know of no Example that can with any shew of Reason be offer'd of such a Meeting And whether that were such a Synod as we are now speaking of may very justly be doubted The foundation of Synods in the Church is in my Apprehension the same as of Councils in the State The necessities of the Church when it began to be enlarged first brought in the One as Those of the Common-wealth did the Other And therefore when Men are Incorporated into Societies as well for the service of God and the salvation of their Souls as for their Civil peace and security these Assemblies are to be as much subject to the Laws of the Society and to be regulated by Them as any Other publick Assemblies of what kind soever are Nor has the Church any Inherent divine Right to set it at liberty from being Concluded by such Rules as the Governing part of every Society shall prescribe to it as to this Matter This is my Notion of these things and thus I conceive Synods are to be managed in Christian States As for those Realms in which the Civil Power is of another Persuasion natural Reason will prompt the Members of every Church to consult together the best they can how to manage the affairs of it and to Agree upon such Rules and Methods as shall seem most proper to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church and to give the least offence that may be to the Government under which they live And what Rules are by the Common-consent of Every such Church agreed to ought to be the measure for the assembling and acting of Synods in such a Country Whether this notion will please this Author or no I cannot tell If it do's not I hope he will shew me wherein my Error lies and how I may correct it In the mean time this security I have that if I am mistaken I err with Men of as great a Judgment and as comprehensive a Knowledge in these Matters as Any can be who differ from Me. But to come to that which I am now more properly to examine That the two Convocations consider'd as a National Synod are the Highest Ecclesiastical Assembly of this Kingdom I readily Agree Nor shall I deny but that a Convocation may be said to be Essential to our Constitution But that the frequent sitting
claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons Nor shall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinance Provincial by whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocations in Time Coming which alway shall be Assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing contrary to this and being thereof convict to suffer Imprisonment and to make fine at the King 's Will. Provided alway that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocations of the Clergy which shall be Contrariant or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding V. The Commission sent by King Charles Ist. to the Convocation of 1640. 1. CHarles by the Grace of God c. To all whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas in and by One Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry VIIIth reciting that whereas the King 's Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy c. Reciting all verbatim as in the Extract Numb iv And lastly it is provided by the said Act that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial which then were already made and which then were not Contrariant or Repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or hurt of the King 's Prerogative-Royal should then still be used and executed as they were before the making of the said Act until such time as they should be view'd search'd or otherwise Order'd and Determin'd by the Persons mention'd in the said Act or the more Part of them according to the Tenour Form and Effect of the said Act as by the said Act amongst divers other things more fully and at large it doth and may Appear 2. Know ye that we for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations us thereunto especially moving of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion have by Vertue of our Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical given and granted and by these Presents do Give and Grant full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority unto the most Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan President of this present Convocation for the Province of Canterbury during this Present Parliament now assembled and to the Rest of the Bishops of the same Province and all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province That they the said Lord Archbishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the Rest of the Bishops and other the said Clergy of this present Convocation within the said Province of Canterbury or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be always One Shall and may from Time to Time during the present Parliament Propose Conferr Treat Debate Consider Consult and Agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon or Canons now in force and of and upon any such Other New Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they the said Lord Bishop President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the Greater Number of them whereof of the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation to be One shall think necessary fit and convenient for the Honour and Service of Almighty God the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be from Time to Time observ'd perform'd fulfill'd and kept as well by the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops and their Successors and the rest of the whole Clergy of the said Province of Canterbury in their several Callings Offices Functions Ministries Degrees and Administrations as also by all and every Dean of the Arches and other Judges of the said Bishops Courts Guardians of Spiritualties Chancellors Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Commissaries Officials Registers and all and every Other Ecclesiastical Officers and their Inferiour Ministers whatsoever of the same Province of Canterbury in their and every of their distinct Courts and in the Order and Manner of their and every of their Proceedings and by all other Persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being Members of the Church it may concern them And further to conferr debate treat consider consult and agree of and upon such other Points Matters Causes and Things as We from Time to Time shall deliver or cause to be deliver'd unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation under our Sign-manual or Privy-Signet to be debated consider'd consulted and concluded upon the said Statute or any Other Statutes Act of Parliament Proclamation Provision or Restraint heretofore had made provided or set forth or any other Cause Matter or thing whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. And we do also by these Presents give and grant unto the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and to the Rest of the Bishops of the said Province of Canterbury and unto all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-deacons Chapters and Colleges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province full free and lawful Liberty Licence Power and Authority that They the said Lord Bishop of Canterbury President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same Province or the greater Number of them whereof the said President of the said Convocation to be One all and every the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters Causes and things so by them from Time to Time conferr'd treated debated consider'd consulted and agreed upon shall and may set down in Writing in such Form as heretofore hath been accustom'd and the same so set down in writing to exhibit and deliver or cause to be exhibited and delivered unto Us to the End that we upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or otherwise Disallow Anhillate and make void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of them so to be by force of these presents consider'd consulted and Agreed upon as we shall think fit requisite and convenient 4. Provided always that the said Canons Orders Ordinances Constitutions Matters and Things or Any of them so to be consider'd consulted and agreed upon as aforesaid be not contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy establish'd or the Rubricks in it or the xxxix Articles or any Doctrine Orders and Ceremonies