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
those days of which I am at present to discourse was briefly this 1. They had every Year a General Council of the Kingdom made up of the chief Men both in Honour and Employ whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and therein Laws were made with the Assent of the Prince both for the Church and State In Matters purely Spiritual such as the Articles of Christian Faith the Clergy advised alone and what was upon their Advice determined by the Prince became a Law as to those Matters In Matters of a Mix'd Nature as in Regulating the Discipline of the Church The Great Lords deliberated together with the Bishops And the Prince confirm'd what by the Common Advice and Consent of Both was Recommended to Him But because it might so fall out that some Affairs might arise which neither could be foreseen at those General Meetings nor might be deferr'd till their next Assembling Therefore 2. To prevent any Inconvenience that might happen by this means there was another Great Council held every Year made up of a select Number of those who came to the General Assembly and by them were such Matters determined after the same Manner and with the Concurrence of the same Authority by which the Other proceeded Such was the method of proceeding in these Publick Affairs abroad and the same was in Effect the Polity of our Own Country under the Government of our Saxon Princes They had their General Councils first in which they Deliberated of all Publick Matters And these Councils consisted of the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of the Clergy and of the Wise-men Great-men Alder-men Counts that is to say of the chief of the Laity indifferently call'd in those Times by any or all these Names In these Councils they debated both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs and made Laws with the Prince's Consent and Concurrence for the Ordering of Both. And this they did as far as I can judge after the like manner that we have seen the French were wont to do The Bishops and Clergy advised apart in Matters purely Spiritual But the Great-men debated together with them in Civil and Mix'd Affairs and in which the interest of the State was concern'd as well as that of the Church Thus Athelstan when he publish'd his Ecclesiastical Laws tells us that He did it with the Counsel of his Bishops But when he came to his Other Constitutions we find from their Subscription that his Nobles as well as Bishops were Present and that Both assisted at the making of Them Whether besides these General Councils there were not in those Times some more particular Ones with Us as there were in France I shall not undertake to say That in process of time there were we are very sure and to which such only of the Bishops and Great-men were call'd as the Prince thought sit to Advise with Indeed as to any setled times of these Councils meeting it do's not appear that as yet there were any fix'd tho' afterwards a Custom began to be introduced of holding these Great Councils Once every Year But yet within this period Our Princes began very Solemnly to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with their Bishops and Lords And by that means in some sort held a Council three times every Year with Them It is true our ancient Laws make mention of a solemn Assembly that was convened every Year upon the first of May in which the chief both of the Clergy and Laity met together And this differ'd but little from such a Council as We are now speaking of But yet it do's not appear that in these Meetings any great Affairs of State were transacted much less any Laws made but rather the main business that was done in them was solemnly to Renew their Oath of Fidelity to the King and for the Maintenance of the Laws already made But tho' the Greatest part of what concern'd the Church was therefore transacted with us as it was abroad in these State Councils yet it cannot be doubted but that within this Period there were held several Ecclesiastical Convocations or Synods properly so called To these not only the Archbishops and Bishops were admitted but the Abbots and other Clergy were called Insomuch that in some of them we find Priests Deacons and Monks and even Abbesses also mention'd And besides these not only the Prince was for the most part present but often-times his Nobility together with Him In these Synods sometimes the Canonical Discipline was inforced and Matters of Faith establish'd But generally they met for Other purposes and did little more than either confirm the Estates or Privileges of some Religious Houses or transact the like particular Affairs And still the General concerns of Religion were setled either by the Bishops and Abbots apart or else by them together with the Great Men in the Common-Council or Parliament of the Realm And now having said thus much to clear the way for a Right Understanding of the Method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in those Times in which Christianity first began to be setled among Us by our Saxon Ancestors I shall go on to take a short View of the most considerable Assemblies whether Synods or Councils that were held in this Country before the Time of the Norman Conquest It was about the Year of Christ 596 that Austin the Monk having determined to undertake the Conversion of the Saxons in these Parts with the Leave of Pope Gregory Arrived here And having with Good success persuaded Ethelbert King of Kent to become his Proselyte He from thenceforth began to have a very Great Authority with Him We are told by a Monkish Historian that about the Year of our Lord 605 that King being now fully confirm'd in the Christian Faith did with Bertha his Queen and Eadbald his Son and with Austin his Bishop and the Great Lords of his Land solemnly keep his Christmas at Canterbury And there in a Common Council both of his Clergy and People He endow'd the Monastery which Austin had Founded in that City and granted several large Privileges and Immunities to it I have before observed that it was an Ancient Custom of our Kings to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with an Extraordinary State and Solemnity Their Bishops and Great Men attended upon Them and they appear'd in the highest Pomp of Majesty they could put on among Them and took those Occasions to transact such affairs as they thought expedient for the publick Welfare If there be any Credit to be given to this Relation for which I dare not answer then we must look upon this to have been such a Civil Council Sure we are that in after-times many were held of the like Kind But tho' in these days the affairs of the Church were for the most part determined in such Meetings yet I have before said that some Synods they had which were properly Ecclesiastical and
had might easily be made appear were it needful to enlarge upon so Known and Melancholy a Subject Now this as it has obliged not only the Best Men but the Wisest Emperours to be very careful how they either called or encouraged such Assemblies unless they had some Reason to hope for a Good Effect of Them so may it suffice to convince Us still that neither are All Times nor All Causes either Proper for or Worthy of such Meetings and that the Expediency of Them ought to be very Clearly made out before it can with any Reason be expected that the Prince should consent to their Assembling It has I think been generally agreed that the main End for which Synods are necessary to be Assembled is either to establish the Faith and to declare the Unity of the Church in matters of Doctrine Or to advise and assist the Civil Magistrate in things pertaining to the Discipline of it As for the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that in every well settled Church is commonly provided for by some more Ordinary Means So that except in a few Cases of an Extraordinary Nature there is seldom any Occasion for a Synod to meet upon any such account Now as these are the Ends for which Synods ought to be Assembled so I believe it will be allow'd by all Considering Persons that the Prince ought never to Call them when Either 1st It is needless Or 2dly It would be hurtful so to do When there is no Appearance of any Good to come from their Meeting but rather it may justly be fear'd that their Meeting will turn to the Prejudice of the Church In short That the Prince ought never to call his Clergy together but for some Rational and Good End When there is something Proper for such an Assembly to do and They may be likely to Do it so as to advance the Welfare of the Church by it This I conceive must be allow'd in point of Prudence to be the General Measure by which the Prince ought upon all Occasions to judge whether it be Necessary or even Expedient for him to suffer a Convocation to Meet or no. And from these General Measures we will proceed to draw some farther and more particular Directions for our better judging in the Point before Us. And 1st Because in Clear and Evident Cases where both the Truth is Manifest and the Consent of the Church Constant and Out of doubt there is no need of any Definitions either to declare its Sense or to testifie its Agreement therefore neither can there be any Need to Assemble a Convocation to Judge or Determine in such Cases If in a Christian Country where the Gospel is profess'd and its Truth establish'd and Men have for many Ages been Bred up to the Knowledge and Belief of it A sort of Libertines should arise to deny not only the truth of Christianity but the very Being of a God the Certainty of Revelation the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and the like Common and Avow'd Principles of Religion It would be not only Needless but Absurd for a Synod to be call'd to debate over again the Fundamentals of Piety and solemnly to define against these Sceptical Profane Disputers That there is a God That He has Revealed his Will to Mankind and that the Scriptures were written by divine Inspiration And all that they would Gain by doing of it would be only this that they would see their Authority and their Definitions despised by Them And might probably give Offence to Good Men as if they had so much Reason on their side or there were so much Difficulty in this Case as to need the Solemnity of a Convocation to interpose in it In such Cases as this the Christian Magistrate ought to take upon him the Protection of Religion of the Faith which he professes and of that Saviour by whom He hopes to be Saved And so to Order Matters that such Persons shall either Cease to blaspheme Or they shall find out some Other Place than a Christian Country to do it in Civil Authority may Restrain such bold Men but 't is Ridiculous to think that all the Synods in the World should ever be able to Perswade Them Again 2dly Upon the same Grounds I affirm that neither is there any need of a New Synod to declare the Doctrine and Consent of the Church in such Points in which it has by as Great Or even Greater Authority been before Declared Thus supposing any Church should not only have solemnly Received the Four first General Councils but in farther testimony of its Agreement in Faith with Them should have given their Creeds a Place in its Publick Liturgy And to strengthen all this should have drawn up a Clear and Full Confession of its Own upon the Principles by them defined and have Required that Confession to be Received and Subscribed to by All who are Admitted to any spiritual Office or Function in it How ridiculous would it be for such a Church to Assemble a Convocation to declare to all the World that it believes our Saviour's Divinity and holds a Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the God-head What tho' there be some in such a Church who deny this and take advantage of the Liberty or rather Licentiousness of evil Times to dare even to Write and Argue against it The Doctrine and Faith of the Church are still the same And it may as well be said that in Our Protestant Reform'd Church it is needful to call a Convocation to protest again against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome because some not only Write in defence of Them but are buisie also to make Converts to them As for such a Church to call a Synod to declare that it has no part with those who Write and Argue against its own Avow'd Sense in the Points of the Holy Trinity and of the Divinity of the Son of God A Convocation may sit and draw up what Creeds and Confessions it will But if They expect that Those who despise the Authority of the Ancient General Councils of the Church should be Concluded by their Definitions It will I doubt appear that They have but flatter'd themselves with Vain Hopes And they will find too late that those who are not to be Restrain'd by what has been already Determin'd will much less regard any New Decisions that can be made Against Them In this Case again 't is the Civil Power or nothing that must Restrain their Presumption A Good Law may Oblige them to be silent but I doubt neither that nor any Thing else will be Able to cure them of their Infidelity But. 3dly If a Convocation ought not to be called without need then neither can it be Necessary or even sitting to Assemble it for such Matters as not only may be Equally provided for by Ordinary Means but which fall more properly under the Cognizance of some Other Authority Such are first
Synod to frame their Debates upon them When this Emperor was dead and the Difference between his Sons appeased Lewis to whom the Government of Germany fell after his Father's Example call'd the Great Council of Mayence to regulate those Disorders which the late Distractions had brought into the Church And because many things remain'd which could not then be sufficiently provided for He the next Year after assembled another Synod for the Determination of them It was about twenty Years after this that the same Lewis convened a General Council at Wormes and there in like manner order'd many things relating both to the Faith and Discipline of the Church It was not long after that Arnulph his Nephew having obtain'd the Empire call'd together in like manner his Bishops to a Great Council at Trebur presided and assisted in it and caused what was done not only to be subscribed by the Bishops whom he had Assembled but to be confirm'd by a great number both of the Inferior Clergy and of the Laity of the Empire And lastly not to metion any more Henry the First after the Example of his Predecessors by his Princely Command assembled the great Synod at Erpsford with the Advice of his great Men and particularly of Archbishop Hildibert who was chiefly consider'd by him 5. And now having thus fully shewn what was the Practice of these Princes in Germany I might spare my self and Reader the trouble of enquiring into the Methods used in France which was generally either in the same Hands or Govern'd by Those of the same Family that the Empire in those days was Yet because I think the Ecclesiastical Discipline was no where better kept up or more exactly follow'd than in that Country and that I conceive our own Synods were very much framed by the pattern of Theirs I will take a short View of their Conventions also and so conclude these first general Remarks To begin then with the first of their Christian Kings Clouis the Great And here we find that he not only Called the first Council of Orleans and which has ever been look'd upon as the Model and Pattern to all their succeeding Synods but moreover Prescribed to it the Points on which it was to debate And all this at the Desire and with the Advice of St. Remigius as Hincmarus in the History of his Life informs Us. It was by the like Command of Childebert and his Brethren that the Second Council of the same Place was held The Synod of Clermont the next of any Consequence that met in France assembled with the Consent of King Theodebert And so did that of Tours afterwards with the like Consent and Allowance of Charibert The Fifth Council of Paris not only declares that it was Assembled by the Authority of Clotharius but tells us that their Assembling by his Authority was as indeed it was agreeable to the Constitutions of the Antient Fathers who had gone before Them And the Synod of Chalons Owns in like manner that it met together in Obedience to the Call and Command of Clouis the Second their King It was by the Royal Authority of Pepin that a General Council was held in his Palace at Vernis Anno 755. Of Charles the Great that the Second Council of Rhemes and the Third of Tours â—ere convened Of Louis the Emperor and his Son Lotharius that the Sixth Council of Paris was called And lastly not to instance in any more of Charles the Bald that the Synod of Quierzy was assembled for Reforming Mens Manners and to put a Stop to that Corruption in point of Faith too which was about that time supposed to be breaking out in those Parts Whaâ— the Practice of our own Country has been as to this matter I shall particularly consider when I come to Enquire into the Rights of our Own Kings in this Respect In the mean time from the Account which has hitherto been given of that Authority by which the Bishops and Clergy have been wont to be called together into Synods it Appears that as in Fact no Councils have met without the Permission of the Civil Magistrate ever since the Empire became Christian So neither does it appear that the Clergy have ever made any Complaints against Them as usurping herein upon the Rights of the Church or pleaded any Privilege as of Divine Authority for their Meeting and Acting against their Consent But to the End it may the more Evidently Appear how far the Power of Christian Princes has been accounted to Extend as to this Particular I shall to that General Deduction I have now made of the Authority by which the Church has been accustomed from the Beginning to meet together in Councils subjoin a few more particular Remarks for the better clearing of this whole matter And 1st It may be observed that tho' the Civil Magistrate has generally Advised with his Bishops and Clergy upon these Occasions and ask'd their Opinion whether it were fitting or not to call a Synod before he has given Orders for the meeting of it Yet was this never look'd upon as any matter of Right but on the contrary Princes have oftentimes assembled such Councils without ever consulting Them at All and at others when their Bishops have not only Advised but Desired them so to do have yet upon their Own Judgment or by the Advice of their Council utterly refused to comply with their Requests If we look into the Acts of the several Synods I have before mention'd we shall find indeed sometimes that the Advice of the Bishops was taken for their Meeting but we shall oftner find them call'd by the Prince with the Advice of his Great Men and yet oftner no notice at all taken of the Advice of Either How often did Liberius and the Catholick Bishops in vain petition Constantius that a Free and Orthodox Council might be Call'd to judge in the Case of Athanasius but could never Obtain it And tho' the method taken by that Emperor to manage that Affair in Favour of the Arians and the Refusal of such a Council as was desired was the Effect of that Enmity he had conceived against Them and their Doctrine yet we do not find the Catholick Bishops any where complain that in this the Emperor did any more than what he had Authority to do or pretend to any Original Ecclesiastical Power left them by Christ to call such a Synod whether He would or no. But on the contrary notwithstanding the Urgency of that Affair and the eager Desire they had to end it neither Liberius nor Any others attempted to meet against the Emperor's Command but quietly submitted to the Prohibition he had laid upon Them not to do so So little did the greatest Bishops of the Church in those Days think it lawful to hold a Council against the Prince's Will that being forbidden by an Heretical Emperor and that against
which all humane Constitutions are exposed that tho' I have before sufficiently shewn what the Nature of our Convocation at present is and what Authority our Kings have over it yet we can by no means from thence conclude that this was always the case of it or that the Act of the 25th of King Henry the VIII did only restore our Kings to their ancient Rights over their Clergy and not rather give them a greater Power than ever they before had or than the Parliament ought to have put into their hands To clear this matter and withal to shew how Ecclesiastical Affairs have heretofore been transacted in this Realm I shall here take a short View of the State of our Convocation in times past and of the method that was wont to be observed in making of Canonical Orders and Constitutions from the Conversion of the Saxons to the settlement of it in that Form under which it continues to this very day And the Method I shall take for the better clearing of this matter shall be this I. I will consider how the Affairs of the Church were managed from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time of the Norman Conquest II. From the coming in of K. William the Conquerour to the 23d of Edward the First About which time both the Parliament and the Convocation seem to have been fully setled upon the same foot on which they have both continued to stand ever since III. From the 23d of Edward the First to the 25th of Henry the Eighth When the Parliament and Clergy restored the Crown to those Rights which the Usurpations of the Court of Rome had before in great Measure deprived it of And IV. From the 25th of Henry the Eighth to our own times I PERIOD And First Let us enquire how the Affairs of the Church were transacted from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time of the Norman Conquest It is evident to any one who has ever consider'd by what Authority and after what Manner our Clergy are called together in Convocation that when those Writs were framed which we still continue to make use of they referr'd to a double end and it was intended the Clergy should meet together under a double Capacity by vertue of them When the King issues out his Parliamentary Writs and summons the Bishops to come to that great Council every Bishop is thereby distinctly required To give notice to the Dean and Chapter of his Cathedral Church and to the Arch-deacons and Clergy of his Diocess of the King's Pleasure to the end that they the said Dean and Arch-deacon in their proper persons their Chapter by one and the Clergy of every Arch-deaconry by two Proctors lawfully chosen and empowered may together with the Bishop attend upon the King in Parliament and there consent to such things as shall be agreed upon for the good of the Church or State Now this Clause as it equally requires the inferiour Clergy as the rest of the Writ does the Bishop himself to come to Parliament so has the necessity of it been accounted so great that some have thought this to be the reason why if the See be Vacant the Writ shall in such a case bedirected to the Guardians of the Spiritualties viz. That by this means the Proxies of the Clergy may by them be proemonished to come to the Parliament according to their duty and as of ancient Custom they have been required to do It must therefore be allow'd and accordingly it is indeed confessed by those who have been the best acquainted with the Nature of our Constitution that the Clergy were anciently a part of the Parliament and that the Dignitaries and Proxies of the Lower Order did together with the Spiritual Lords make up the third Estate in it But now together with this Parliamentary Writ sent out to every Bishop in particular There is another general Order directed only to the Archbishop of each Province to call together the whole Clergy of their several Provinces to another place and usually upon another day The Copy of this Writ the Archbishop of Canterbury sends to the Bishop of London as Dean of the Episcopal College and requires him to summon the Clergy of his Province and to attend himself with the Clergy of his own Diocess according to the King's Command And this is more properly a Provincial Synod tho' at present it consists of the same Persons and was oftentimes heretofore employed to the same ends that the Clergy who came to the Parliament were and consulted at once both of the State of the Church and how to supply the Prince's Wants And as this is the case of the Clergy at the present so if we look back to those first Times we are now particularly to consider we shall find the foundation of this difference laid in them and clearly see how it came to be derived down from thence to the Times that follow'd after It has ever been the Wisdom as well as Piety of Christian Princes to pay a just deference both to the Judgment and Integrity of their Church-men And to think none more proper to advise with even in their civil Concerns and ostentimes to intrust too with the management of them than those whose Profession at once disposes them both to a greater extent of Knowledge and to a quicker sense of their duty than is ordinarily to be met with in other Men. And I believe there is no Nation where the Gospel of Christ has prevailed in which Ecclesiastical Persons have not been by a kind of general Consent admitted to the Management of civil Affairs and been advised with as well in matters relating to the State as in those which concern the Church Now as this first brought them into the Great Councils of Princes so was it the same opinion of their Ability and Integrity which first gave original to that part they now have and ever did enjoy in the Parliaments of this Nation For as our Princes from the beginning were wont to do all things of greater Moment with the Advice of their great Councils so in all those Councils the Clergy still had the chiefest place as in the progress of these remarks I shall have occasion very plainly to shew Nor were the Laity any losers at all by this For the Bishops and great Clergy-men being by these means present at their Councils and the King by his very Office having an original Right to deliberate concerning the Affairs of the Church as well as of the State it came to pass that these great Councils by degrees transacted both They deliberated as well of Ecclesiastical as of civil Affairs and the causes that concerned the Church were no less determined by the Judgment and Authority of the Laity than the civil ones were by the Advice of the Clergy But because it may be of some advantage to the right understanding of this whole subject to have a clear
knowledge of the method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in these most remote times upon which I am now entring and that the understanding of these will very much depend upon a right apprehension of the nature of those great Councils I shall have so much occasion to insist upon in this Period I will endeavour in the first place to give the most distinct account I can of them and that from Foreign Historians as well as from those of our Own Country And here were the manner of holding Parliaments as truly ancient as its Preface pretends and as some affirm that it is we should be able to go on the more easily in our Account of these Councils But because there are many things which make me justly suspect the Antiquity of that piece I must be forced to look out for some other Guides of a better Note and of whose Sincerity there can be no doubt That there was all along in these days a very near Affinity between the Polity of France and that of our own Country in its Ecclesiastical as well as in its civil Establishment might from many Instances evidently be made appear Those Northern Nations who about 400 years after Christ began to over-run the greater part of Europe were very much alike in their Manners and Constitutions And the Government which at the beginning they setled in those Countries in which they six'd tho' in some Circumstances it might vary yet in the main was the same too Now the Parliaments of France for so in aftertimes the great Councils of the Nation were call'd by them as well as with us were first brought into a setled Order and Method by Pepin Brother to Carloman about the year 744 in the very times we are noâ— discoursing about And the manner in which he did it was this He call'd together his Bishops and great Lords to a Council at Soissons and there with the advice of both commanded the ancient Canons to be observed and set out several new Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy as well as of the Laity And to the end that the State of both might be kept in better order they farther decreed that from thenceforth such a Synod should be held for the same purpose once every Year And thus this Affair stood for some time till about eleven years after being a little at leisure from those Wars which had almost continually exercised him he began to put his Kingdom into a better Posture To which end having again call'd together almost all the Bishops of France he resolved to have two Meetings held every year the first upon the Kalends of March in the presence of the King and at such place as he should appoint the other upon the Kalends of October at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops at the former Meeting should agree And here began a manifest difference to appear between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Synods For at the former of these there met not only the Bishops but the chief of the Lay Lords of the Realm In that were Laws made both for the Civil and Ecclesiastical State and being framed by the Council were examined and confirmed by the King Whereas at the latter there appear'd only the Bishops and Clergy and these made no new Constitutions but only consulted together about the State of the Church and if need were prepared matter for the next State Meeting or else took care to order the Reformation of Mens Manners according to the Laws already made Such was the Polity which that King establish'd for the Ordering both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs But now this Settlement begun by Pepin was very much improved by Charles the Great And because of this we have a very exact account given us by Hincmarus out of the Writings of Adalardus Abbot of Corbey and a near Relation of Charles himself it may not be amiss to take a short View of it In the first place then He appointed two Assemblies to be held every Year the One a General Council of all the Bishops Abbots and Lords of the Realm The Other more select consisting only of a certain number of the more aged and honourable of all these such as the Prince should think sit to chuse together with his principal Ministers of State whom he also call'd to it In the General Council all the publick Affairs for the following Year were setled In the Other were handled such incidental Matters as not being foreseen could not by Consequence be provided for in that Great Assembly and yet were of such a Nature that They ought not to be deferr'd till that Council should meet again In Both these Councils tho' chiefly in the General One Laws were made both for the Church and Realm The King proposed to them what He would have them debate upon and having for three days consulted together they laid the Result of their Debates before Him and his Choice and Approbation determined the Matter But that which I would chiefly observe in these Councils is this That as the Causes which sell in to be handled by them were of a different Kind so were they dispatch'd by Them after a different Manner If the Matter to be deliberated upon were purely Spiritual in that Case the Bishops and Abbots went apart by Themselves and debated upon it If it were wholly Civil or Military the Lords alone consulted about it If it were of a mix'd Nature as relating to the Government or Discipline of the Church then they Both together treated of it But which soever it were still the King consider'd of their Resolutions and determined all as He saw fit From this difference both of the Matters debated in these Assemblies and of the Manner of deliberating upon Them the same Assembly is oftentimes called both a Royal and Synodical Council Thus Sigebert styles the Council of Trebur under the Emperour Conrade Anno 1031. And thus may many of our ancient Councils be distinguish'd I shall mention only One in which a learned Antiquary of our Own Country has made the same Remark the famous Synod of Aenham at which not only the Bishops and Abbots but the lay Nobility were present But yet the most part of what was done in it related to the Church and was concluded by the Clergy alone who went apart from the Other Lords for that purpose It were an easie matter to shew that the same method of deliberation continued to be observed not only in our more Ancient General Councils of this period but even after the Reduction of our Parliament to the Form in which it now is But this would lead me too far away from those Times I am now upon And I shall have a more proper Occasion hereafter to take notice of it In the mean time from what has been said it appears that the Method of transacting publick Affairs in France in
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
THE AUTHORITY OF Christian Princes Over their Ecclesiastical Synods ASSERTED With Particular Respect to the CONVOCATIONS OF THE CLERGY of the REALM AND Church of England Occasion'd by a late Pamphlet intituled A Letter to a Convocation Man c. By William Wake D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for R. Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1697. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England AND Metropolitan c. My LORD THAT I presume to Prefix your Graces Name to so Rude and Hasty a Production it is not because I think the following Treatise deserves your Acceptance but because I fear it may need your Patronage To appear against an Author who pretends to be the Champion of the Church of England and to stand up in Defence of the long Neglected Rights and Priviledges of its Clergy has something in it so Improper in Any but especially so Unbecoming a Minister of that Church that I thought it would be Requisite for me to take all the Care I could to Remove those Prejudices which this might be apt to raise in some against the very Design of my Discourse And I knew no Way more effectually to do this than by begging leave to Inscribe what I had done to your Grace who as by Providence you are placed in the First and Highest Station in Our Church so have you upon all Occasions no less eminently signalized your self in the Defence of it It would my Lord look too much like Vanity in me to say that I here publish nothing but what has in some Measure been before Approved of by your Grace It shall suffice me if I may be allow'd to declare thus much That the Principles upon which I go are such as in your Graces Judgment have nothing in them that is either Contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England or otherwise injurious to the Rights and Liberties of it Who the Person against whom I Write is I neither do Know nor am at all Sollicitous to Discover But as his Principles seem but too much to look towards a Party against which the Church of England ever has and I am perswaded will always be ready Vigorously to oppose her self so the Disaffection which appears in the whole Process of his Discourse to the present Establishment sufficiently shews that He had some farther Design in the publishing of it than barely to assert the Rights of the Clergy and Convocation But of this let every One judge as he sees Cause My Business is with his Book not with his Person or Design In my Reply to which as I have endeavour'd according to my Ability to defend the Cause both of the King and Church so for the Arguments sake if for nothing else I thought I might presume to commend the Protection of it to your Grace Who have so Great a Zeal for Both and will therefore I hope be the rather disposed to favour this Honest though but Imperfect Performance of Him who with all possible Duty and Respect shall ever remain My LORD Your Graces Most Humble and Obedient Servant WILLIAM WAKE ERRATA PReface page iii. line 23. read Of divine p. vi l. 17. r. fell Book p. 7. l. â—4 r. yet p. 24. marg l. 8. r. Masticon p. 49. l. 13. r. Ariminum p. 81. l. 20. r. how far p. 91. l. 12. r. of Their p. 92. marg l. 10 r. placeâ—it ibid. l. 16. r. defined p. 95. l. 8. r. Countries p. 99. l. 5. r. Convocation p. 101. l. 24. add Consent p. 109. l. 14. r. Canons p. 175. l. 11. r. Gervilio p. 203. marg l. 9. r. 271 l. 15. r. 502 p. 237. l. ult r. two p. 270. l. 22. r. than p. 293. l. 27. to r. for p. 311. l. 5. r. these p. 376. l. 20. r. Annihilate THE PREFACE I Am so well assured that I have asserted nothing in the following Discourse but what is agreeable to the Principles of the Church of England that I shall not make the least Apology for declaring my self against an Author whose Notions neither our Own nor any other Reformed Church that I know of has ever approved nor is there any Reason to expect that any Christian Prince should be content to allow of them How this Gentleman came to be Engaged to write in Defence of the supposed Rights of our Convocations I cannot tell But sure I am he has done it in such a manner as is not much for the Benefit of the Church nor will I suppose at all encourage any One to stand up in Defence of Him That his main Assertion is New and Paradoxical Contrary to the Sense of all the Learned in the Law and Repugnant to the Constant Practice of our Convocations ever since the time of Henry VIII is certain nor does He himself deny it One would therefore have hoped that his Arguments should have born some proportion to his Allegations and that there should have been at least as much Weight in the One as there was Assurance in the Other But when I came to examine them I found there was nothing formidable in this Author but his Confidence and that like some empty Spectre his power was only to fright such as had not the Resolution to Speak to him If any one shall ask how I came to Oppose so large an Answer to a Letter so little in Bulk and so much yet less in Weight and Substance He may please to know that the much Greatest as well as most Useful part of the following Book has no concern at all with it but was only Written upon Occasion of it I was willing to lay hold on the Opportunity which this Author had given Me to search as far as my Leisure would permit into this Subject and having so done I was no less willing to communicate what I had met with to the World not knowing but that some others might receive as much Satisfaction from these Researches as I was sensible I my self had done It has been complain'd of by this Gentleman as no small Neglect in Those of our Profession that they are for the most part but little acquainted with the Rights and Power of an English Convocation And indeed a Subject it is that has but very little been searcht out by them or Examined by any Others of our Antiquaries for Them I may presume to say I have here published more than I have ever yet met with in any One Piece upon this Argument But yet when that is said I am not so carried away with an undue Opinion of my own Performance as not to know that what is here publish'd is at most but an imperfect Essay and like the first Lines of a Draught shews rather what I design'd than what I have been able in any tolerable manner to finish I cannot deny but that next to the Knowledge in Divine things there is nothing I should rather
Synods of this kind during this Period § 14. c. Of the Ecclesiastical Matters of most note that were transacted in the great Councils of the same Period § 18. c. II. Period From the coming in of K. William I. to the 23d of K. Edward I. The Papal Power began about this time to prevail over the Princes Authority § 21. By what degrees it did so § 22 c. William the Conqueror stood out against its Incroachments and continued the Affairs of the Church in the same state they were in before § 24. So did his Sons after him § 25. What that State was ibid. An Historical Account of the chief Ecclesiastical Synods under King Willam I. § 26 27. King William II. § 28. King Henry I. § 29. How the Pope now began to send his Legats hither and by that means encroach'd upon the King's Prerogative in the business before us § 30. How the Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave the next shock to it § 31. Of the Affairs of the Church under K. Stephen § 31. K. Henry II. § 32. K. Richard I. § 33. K. John § 34. K. Henry III. § 35. K. Edward I. § 36. How far our Kings during this Period continued to transact the Affairs of the Church in their Great Councils § 37 III. Period From the 23d of King Edward I to the 25th of King Henry VIII Of the Nature of the Civil Government about the beginning of this Period particularly of the Great Council of the Nation § 43. Of the Change which some suppose was about this time made in it § 44 45 That the same Change was made in the Ecclesiastical which seems to have been made in the Civil part of it § 46. What place from thenceforth the Inferiour Clergy had in it shewn From the Parliament Writ § 47. From the Parliament Rolls § 48. How our Great Councils Met and Acted at the beginning of this Establishment § 49. Of the State of the Convocation as it is a Provincial Synod about this time shewn From the difference between the Parliament and Convocation Writ § 50 51. How the Convocation came to bè summon'd at or about the same time with the Parliament § 51. Whether One may not be held without the Other § 52. By whom the Convocation in these times was wont to be Called § 53. Of the chief Convocations held under K. Edw. I. § 54. K. Edw. II. § 55. K. Edw. III. § 56. Of the Opposition which began about this time to be made to the Pope's Usurpations ibid. Of the Convocations under our following Kings to the time of King Henry VIII § 58 ad 61. Period IV. From the 25th of K. Henry VIII to Our Own Times An Historical Account of the Statute 25. Hen. VIII cap. 19. § 62 63 64. Of the Dependance which the Convocation has upon the Parliament § 65. Whether the Convocation as it now stands be any part of the Parliament § 66. Of Select Committees and the Great Use that has been made of them under this Period § 67. The several Ways of transacting Ecclesiastical Affairs at this day consider'd in Five Particulars § 68. It is at the Prince's choice by which of these he will from time to time transact them § 69 70. 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 shew 1. That the Convocation has a Right to meet whenever the Parliament does And 2. That being Met it has also a Right to Act without any Licence from the King to empower it so to do The Subject of this Chapter proposed § 1. And the Questions in debate stated from the Words of the Letter here to be Examined § 2. Whether the Church has any Original Inherent Right of its Own to Assemble Synods § 3. The First Question brought to its true State § 4. The Second Question in like manner reduced to its true bounds § 5. I. Question § 6. That the Convocation has a Right to Sit as often as the Parliament meets does not follow 1. From any supposed Parallel between them § 7. Which is examined and answer'd ib. That there is more need of frequent Parliaments than of frequent Convocations § 8. 2. Nor from the 8th Hen. VI. § 9. 3. Nor from its power to judge in matters of Heresie § 10. 4. Nor from the Bishops Parliament Writ § 11. The Objection of the Archbishop's being prohibited by the King's Justice to hold a Synod by his Own Authority neither well Related nor to the purpose § 12. 5. Nor from the Descriptions of a Convocation in the Law Dictionaries § 13 II. Question § 14. That the Convocation being Met may proceed to Act without the King's Licence Not proved 1. From any thing unreasonable that would follow if it might not § 15. 2. Nor from any supposed Right which they have to the King's Licence if it be needful § 16. 3. Nor from the Parallel again urged between the Convocation and the Parliament § 17. 4. Nor from the Prohibitions antiently sent by the King to it § 18. 5. The Stature 25. Hen. VIII Vindicated from the new Interpretation given of it by this Author § 19 20. The King 's Right to send Commissioners to sit in Convocation nothing to his Advantage § 21. Of the Authority of the Convocation in point of Judicature § 23. The Case between Dr. Standish and the Convocation Related as it stands in our antient Law Books § 24. CHAP. VI. Some Rules laid down by which to judge for what Causes and at what Times Synods ought or ought not to be Assembled And the Allegations brought to prove a Convocation to be at this time necessary to be held Examined by Them It is confess'd that the King ought to suffer the Convocation to sit when the Necessities of the Church do really require it § 1 The Author's Position laid down and the Method proposed for the Examining of it § 2. I. That Synods are oftentimes Useless and even Hurtful to the Church § 3. The Ends for which Synods ought to be call'd best shew when it is fitting to call them § 4. The General Measures from whence to judg of this from thence stated § 5. From those General Measures the following Particular Rules deduced 1. Synods ought not to be called to determine plain and clear Matters § 6. 2. Nor for such as have by an Equal or perhaps Greater Authority been already determined § 7. 3. Nor to do that which may be done by more Easie and Ordinary Methods § 8. 4. Nor when there is no probable Expectation of any Good to come from their Meeting § 9. 5. Nor in Unquiet and Unsettled Times § 10. II. What the Author of the Letter c. has offered to prove that it is necessary a Convocation should now meet § 11. It is confess'd that we stand in great need of a Reformation but it does not thence follow that we
need a Convocation § 12. 1. A Convocation not necessary to condemn Scepticks or Deists § 13. 2. Nor to censure Socinians § 14. 3. Nor against those who plead for a General Toleration § 15. 4. Nor to call some Particular Persons to account § 16. 5. Nor to prevent these things from Corrupting the Manners of Men. § 17. The farther Pretences of this Author to the same purpose consider'd and answered viz. 1. That the Bishops cannot Reform those Abuses § 18. THE AUTHORITY OF Christian Princes ASSERTED c. CHAP. I. The Design of the following Discourse with a short account of the Method that is proposed to be observed in the Prosecution of it THO it be not very material in what Order we examine the Questions here proposed nor shall I therefore pass any ensure upon the Method which our Author has taken in handling of them yet because I think the matter of Right in this case is of much greater Concern in it self than that of Expedience and the Proof of which if it stand good will supersede the necessity of looking any farther I shall take the liberty to begin with that Point which howsoever it be resolved will go a great way towards a Determination of this whole Controversie For if the Convocation has a legal Right to Sit and Act Independent upon the Will and Pleasure of the Prince and if to deny them so to do as often as the Parliament is Assembled is to violate that Right which by vertue of our Constitution they ought to enjoy as this Author doubts not to affirm Then whether there be any such present Occasion for their Sitting as he pretends or no it must be confess'd that the Clergy have had wrong enough already done them and ought not to be encroach'd upon by any farther Adjournments On the contrary If the Meeting and Acting of the Convocation does depend upon the Grace and Pleasure of the Prince so that they can neither Assemble nor Consult without his Permiss 〈…〉 nor is He any farther obliged to 〈◊〉 of either than he is persuaded 〈◊〉 Meeting and Acting will be for the 〈◊〉 Benefit of the Church and Kingdom Then it must follow that in pretending to judg of these Matters our Convocation-Man and his Friend have meddled with that which does not belong to them And that in vain do they insist upon what seems agreeable to their Apprehensions whilst they cannot tell but that His Majesty may have as Good or Better Reasons against their Sitting under the present Circumstances of Affairs as they can Imagine they have offer'd for it Indeed if our Author be at this time a Member of the House of Commons as in One passage of his Book he seems to intimate that He is And if His Concern for the Honour of Religion and the Good of the Church be so Great as he would have us think it to be I cannot but wonder why he has so long suffered that Honourable House to neglect this matter so far as never once to enter upon the Consideration of it He knows the Commons have a standing Committee for Religion and he seems to lay it to their charge that notwithstanding this nothing has 〈◊〉 been done by 'em since the Revolution in favour of it But why then did not our Zealous Advocate chuse rather to Represent the Injury that is done our Church and the Invasion that has been made upon the very Fundamental Frame of our Constitution to those worthy Gentlemen and at such a Committee where he had a Right to speak and where this Point would have been properly debated than to creep out into the World under the disguise of a nameless Author and Expose both Himself and his Cause to those Censures which by this means are so justly pass'd upon Both. We cannot suppose that he declined this out of any distrust of the Arguments he had to allege to make good his Pretensions in favour of the Convocation No we find he is so consident of their Clearness that he asserts it again and again with much Assurance that to Sit and Act is their Right and that the King cannot hinder them from doing Both without Violating our Constitution as well as Injuring the Convocation And for his Opinion of the Readiness of the House of Commons to do us Justice as to this matter I shall need only to repeat his own Words to shew that He had no reason to Except against That For the same Reason says he that they are concern'd to maintain the Rights and Privileges of Their own Body They would be careful not to invade Those of Another They are wise enough to know that the preserving the Constitution as it is is the best way to preserve their true and real Interests and that the Constitution can no otherwise be upheld than by the several parts of it being preserved in their just Rights and Powers allow'd to Act in their proper Spheres and Circumscribed within them This I say they are wise enough to know and withal just enough to own That a Convocation is as much a part of the Constitution as a Parliament it self But our Author has taken his own Way and I must either follow him in it or must leave one great part of his Letter unanswered And it is not unlikely but that in doing this some may be so far byass'd in his Favour as to believe that it was unanswerable And tho' I am sensible that in pursuing of these Considerations I shall meddle with such Matters as do not at all belong to a private Debate yet since others have had the Boldness to arraign the Government for not suffering the Convocation to meet and to tell the World that both the Honour of Religion and the Good of the Church are concern'd in it and cannot be preserved without it I hope I may take the liberty to examine what Ground there is for so invidious a Suggestion and have as much Right to transgress in behalf of Authority as this Gentleman has taken to offend against it And the Method that I shall choose for the clearing of this Subject shall be this First I will enquire as to the matter of Right whether there be 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 Which being settled I will Secondly Consider What Occasion there is at present for a Convocation And whether the Necessity of its Meeting and Acting be so great and the Delay of it so dangerous as our Author pretends it to be As for his Third Question which respects the Validity of the Acts of a Convocation any farther than they are Confirm'd and Approved of by Parliament that is not much insisted upon by our Author And what is needful to be said to it will incidentally fall in in the Prosecution
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
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
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
both the Time and Places of their Meeting and after what Manner they should proceed being Met. But 5thly And to conclude all That nothing may be wanting to shew what an entire dependance the Synods of the Christian Church have ever had upon their respective Princes I add That not only the Convening of them and the Time and Place of their Meeting depend upon their pleasure but that they have morever Authority to appoint what Persons shall come to them and to direct the Choice that is to be made of them Thus Constantine the Great did when he call'd the Synods of Arles and Tyre And thus his Successors continued to do in the most General Councils that were held by them When Theodosius had agreed to call the General Council of Ephesus He directed his Precept to the several Metropolitans and commanded them to choose such and so many of their Suffragans as they thought convenient to draw out of their Provinces and to bring them with them to the Council And the same Method was observ'd in the next Synod that met there The Emperror commanded Dioscorus to Summon ten Metropolitans of his District with such other Bishops as he thought convenient and that none else should presume to come to it And in another Letter upon the same Occasion the same Theodosius appointed Barsumas the Priest to come to the same Council and appear in it as Representative of all the Archimandrites of the East It was after the same manner that Marcian the Emperour Assembled the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon He wrote to the Metropolitans to come to it and left it to them to bring such of their Suffragan Bishops as they thought fit along with them And when the Princes who follow'd after summon'd their National Synods they in like manner directed the Choice of those who were to come to them as we see in the Synods of Vernis and Aix la Chappelle assembled by Ring Pepin and Charles the Emperor An. 755. 816. 'T is true the Metropolitans in these Cases did oftentimes call a Provincial Synod and therein agree who among them should attend upon their Primate to the General Council But neither did they always take this Course nor when they did had they any Direction from the Emperors so to do They only sent their Orders to the Metropolitans and commonly left the rest to them to chuse such Bishops out of their Provinces as they thought fit As for the lesser Synods tho' the Princes did not often interpose in them yet neither was there any choice left to the inferiour Clergy to nominate the Members of Them To the Provincial Synods all the Bishops of the Province were obliged if able to come And they brought with them for their Companions such of their own Priests and Deacons as they thought fit At the Diocesan Synod every beneficed Priest of the Diocese was required to appear And they had not so much a Right as an Obligation lying upon them to be present at them And thus have I shewn what the Authority of the Supreme Civil Magistrate is as to the Business of Assembling Ecclesiastical Synods or Convocations And the Sum of what I have proved is in short this * That it is the Right of Christian Princes to call such Assemblies and that they cannot lawfully meet but as they are either commanded or allow'd of by Them * That They and not the Clergy are Judges when it is proper to Convene them * And ought not to be censured for not assembling of them when they are perswaded it is Needless or would be Inexpedient for Them so to do * That even the Ordinary Synods required by the Canons and allow'd of by Themselves may yet upon just Grounds be stop'd by them And when there is a just Reason for them so to do they are to judge And being so prohibited cannot be lawfully Assembled In short * That when-ever they do meet the Prince is not only to appoint or at least to approve of the Time and Place of their Meeting but may give Direction for the Choice of the Persons that are to compose them That so he may be satisfied that they are such whose Piety and Temper have fitted them to serve the Church and in whose Prudence and Conduct himself may safely confide It were an easie matter to argue the Reasonableness of every one of these Conclusions from the Ends of Civil-Government and the Power that is necessary to be placed in the Hands of the Supreme Magistrate in order to those Ends. And I need not say that Christianity came not to Usurp upon the Civil Power but rather to engage Men to be the more ready to render that Duty which they owe to it 'T is true by these means the busie Tempers of some forward Men may be restrain'd and to such these Limitations may seem very Odious and Unreasonable But they are such Men and such Tempers that make these Restrictions necessary And their Unwillingness to submit to them shews but the more clearly how fitting it is that Princes should have all that Power I have now mentioned to prevent them from doing both Themselves and the Church a Mischief That Princes may abuse this Power to the Detriment of the Church is no more an Argument that they ought not to enjoy it than it would be that they ought not to be entrusted with a Civil Power because they may abuse that too to the ruine of the State But I am apt to believe that were the Dangers to be weigh'd it would be much more fatal both to the Church and State to have some Men intrusted with an Immoderate Liberty than others with a Soveraign Power to restrain them And 't is enough to answer all Pretences of this nature to say that whenever the Civil Magistrate shall so far abuse his Authority as to render it necessary for the Clergy by some extraordinary Methods to provide for the Churches Welfare that Necessity will warrant their taking of them In the mean time such an Authority as I have now shewn the Prince has in these Matters and till things come to such an Extremity we must leave him as of Right he ought to enjoy it And this may suffice for the First thing proposed in this Enquiry viz. To shew What Power the Christian Prince has in the calling of Ecclesiastical Synods or Convocations I go on 2dly To consider What Authority He has over Them when They are Assembled Now that may I conceive be reduced to these 2 Particulars 1st Of his Authority to Direct and Govern Them in their Proceedings And 2dly To sit with and to preside over them in Order thereunto 1st Then I affirm That the Civil Magistrate has a Right to Direct and Govern Them in their Proceedings And that with Respect both to the Matters on which they are to Debate and to the Method which they areto take in Debating upon Them 1st The Civil
the bare Confirmation of what the Synod has determined I will proceed more particularly to shew what his Authority in this Respect is and how the final Determinations of such Assemblies fall at last under the Power of the Prince's Judgment And 1st As it would be absurd to suppose that he should so it is certain that the Prince is not obliged at all Adventures to confirm whatsoever the Clergy shall think â—it to determine This were not only to give an immoderate Power to the one but unreasonably to confine and limit the other It were in truth to hood-wink the Prince and not allow him the common Privilege of a Rational Creature to know and examine his Actions and proceed with Reason and Discretion in Them And it were as well plainly to say that Synods have a Supreme Authority and are no way accountable to any Civil Power in what they do As to pretend that the Prince shall be obliged at all Adventures to Ratifie and the People by consequence to submit to whatsoever it shall please them to determine It were indeed to be wish'd that such Venerable Assemblies might always be composed of Men so Wise and Prudent and that they would proceed in all things so calmly and impartially that the Prince might evermore find it to be both Just and Honourable for Him to take upon him the Protection and Guardian-ship of their Definitions But because such is the Condition of Humane Nature that Passion and Prejudice Ignorance and Interest Noise and Clamour oftentimes break in and confound the Proceedings of these as well as of all Other Assemblies and many things are debated hastily carried on with Faction and concluded Unreasonably 't is very fit and just that the Prince should give Direction to have their Actions carefully Review'd and Consider'd before He assents to Them That so he may not be imposed upon nor do either the Church or Himself a Prejudice by a blind complyance with the Dictates of his Clergy And for the same Reason that He ought to have a Power of Examining the Councils Acts it follows 2dly That he must also be allow'd to have a Power of Annulling and Rejecting what they have done if it shall appear to be Hurtful or Unjust as well as a Power to Ratifie and Confirm it if they shall be found to have proceeded canonically and to have acted for the Good and Benefit of the Church It being in vain to allow the Prince a Liberty of Examination if there be not left him a Liberty of Choice and Resolution And an Authority indifferently either to confirm or reject their Definitions according to the Judgment which He shall finally pass upon Them But because where many things are Done and several Constitutions made it is possible a different Judgment may finally Remain in the Mind of the Prince concerning Them so that He may Approve of some part of what the Synod has determined and dislike the Rest It will from hence farther follow 3dly That he ought to have a Power not only to confirm or reject the whole of what the Synod has done but to confirm that part of their Acts which he is perswaded will be for the Churches Benefit and to annul that which he thinks would be otherwise Whether it will be thought to be as Reasonable 4thly That the Prince should be allow'd a farther Power to alter or improve what the Synod has defined to add to or to take from it so as to render it in his Opinion more useful to the End for which it was design'd I cannot tell But sure I am that this Princes have done and so I think they have Authority to do For since the Legis-lative Power is lodged in their hands so that they may make what Laws or Constitutions they think fit for the Church as well as for the State Since a Synod in matters relating to Discipline is but a kind of Council to them in Ecclesiastical Affairs whose Advice having taken they may still act as they think fit Seeing lastly a Canon drawn up by a Synod is but as it were Matter prepared for the Royal Stamp the last forming of which as well enforcing whereof must be left to the Prince's Judgment I cannot see why the Supreme Magistrate who confessedly has a Power to confirm or reject their Decrees may not also make such other Use of them as he pleases and correct improve or otherwise alter their Resolutions according to his own liking before he gives Authority to them 'T is true in this Case the Prince will not so much confirm what the Synod has done as take Occasion from that which the Synod has done to make another Ecclesiastical Law of his Own But still this Power the Supreme Civil Magistrate has And if this be all the Use he shall think fit to make of his Synod viz. to suggest to him fit matter for the making of some seasonable and good Laws I do not see wherein he can be accounted to abuse his Authority And sure I am 't is no small Service done the Church to suggest such Thoughts to the Prince as otherwise perhaps might never have entred into his Mind And as the Prince has this Authority over the Canonical Resolutions of his Synods so has he no less over their Judicial Determinations Which 5thly He may either confirm suspend or totally annul as he thinks they have proceeded either fairly and impartially and with good Judgment or else hastily and partially and with Prejudice in them For the Prince as He is the supreme Fountain of Justice in the State so does it appertain to him to rectify the undue Proceedings of inferiour Judges And to his Conscience there will always lie an Appeal let the Synod determine how it will These are the Rights of Christian Princes with respect to the Actions of Synods after they have done their Business and that these have All been confirm'd and allow'd of to them by such Assemblies I shall now proceed from a brief History of this Matter to shew When Nestorius had infected the Church with his Heresie he was by two of the Greatest Patriarchs of the World Celestine Bishop of Rome and Cyril Bishop of Alexandria in their several Provincial Synods justly condemn'd unless he should repent of his Error within ten days Being inform'd of these Sentences thus pass'd against him he applied himself to Theodosius the Emperor complain'd of their Proceedings and desired that a General Council might be call'd to judge of this Matter Theodosius who at the same time was moved by Others to the same purpose Resolves upon a General Council to meet at Ephesus and in the mean time suspends the Decrees of the two Provincial Synods and orders that nothing should be innovated till that Council should meet And when the Council was met the Fathers were so far from complaining of this Suspension as a hard thing that they appointed the Emperor's Order to be inserted into their Acts and thereby gave
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
that the Convocation of the same Clergy is always hath been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ And 2dly As for the Laity the Parliament in the same Act not only concurs in the same opinion with Them in the Preamble before-mention'd that this their Acknowledgment was according to the Truth But in the Body of the Act it self have Provided thereupon that from thenceforth They never should meet in Convocation without the King's Leave to Empower them so to do Be it enacted say They by the Authority of this present Parliament according to the said Submission and Petition of the said Clergy That They ne any of Them from henceforth shall presume to Attempt c. Nor shall Enact c in their Convocations in time Coming Which always shall be assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ And from all which it is Evident that in the Opinion both of that Parliament and of that Convocation the King not only ought to have and by Law now has the sole Authority of Calling the Clergy together in Convocation but that this is such a Power as did always of Right belong to Him and that no Convocation ever could be lawfully assembled without his Permission or against his Hence it is that not only our Present Convocations are all summoned by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishop of Each Province for that purpose but if we look back to the times preceeding this Statute we shall find the same to have been the antient manner of summoning of Them And tho' in a matter of this Nature it is not to be expected we should be able to produce the very Copies of the Writs by which our Convocations were called from the beginning yet I shall hereafter plainly prove that from the beginning they did meet by the King's Command And we have the very Writs of Summons as far back as the 9 Edw. 2 that is to say for above 200 years before this Acknowledgment of the Clergy and Act of Parliament were made Such Right have our Kings to Call their Convocations Nor is their Authority any less in all those Circumstances which I have shewed were wont to Accompany their Calling Them If we consider the Time and Place of their Meeting they are expresly limited in the Writ by which They are Summon'd And tho' Custom has of late so far prevail'd that the Convocation has generally met at the same Time that the Parliament has done and at St. Paul's Church or Chapter House in London yet have not our Kings ever been so far confined in either of these Particulars as not to have it still in their Power to call the Convocation at any other time or to any other place which they shall think sit In that antient Summons I before mention'd perhaps the most antient of any we have now remaining of the 9th of Edw. II. The Convocation was call'd to meet Febr. 9. but the Parliament sate October 16. foregoing And in the Writs of these latter times though the Convocation be call'd and its Session confin'd to that of the Parliament yet still if the King pleases he may continue the sitting of the one after the other is prorogued or even dissolv'd And for the Place it is sometimes determin'd to be St. Paul's London but for the most part is left with a Greater Latitude to be held at any other Place which the Archbishop shall judge to be more convenient for it And the same is the Case as to the Persons who are to come to the Convocation and the Choice of whom as it is still determin'd by the King 's Writ so must it be allow'd to have Originally depended upon it For having first declared in General the Reason wherefore he had resolv'd to call his Clergy together He next goes on to specifie in particular whom he required the Archbishop to summon to the Convocation That he should Order first the Bishops of his Province with the Deans and Archdeacons to come in Person and secondly the Chapters and Archdeaconries to send their several Proxies to represent them the Chapters one of their body and every Archdeaconry two to be chosen by them for that purpose I shall not need to enquire how this came to be the settled number that was to make up our Provincial Synods or Convocations Whether this manner of Choice was deriv'd from the antient manner of holding Convocations into the Parliamentary Writs or from the Parliamentary Writs of King Edward I. into the summons of Convocations which from thenceforth usually met together with the Parliament Howsoever this were thus much is evident that since the Power of Assembling the Clergy in such Convocations is seated Originally in the King so that they have no Authority to come together but what he gives them It must follow that neither can any other Persons have a just Right to come to these Assemblies than such only as are commissioned by him or are chosen by such Rules as he has preserib'd for the choise of those whom he allows to be sent to them It remains then that not only the caling of our Convocations but the determination of the Time and Place of their sitting of the Persons who are themselves to come to them and of the manner of choosing Representatives for those who are not all depend upon the Authority of the Prince and were originally deriv'd from thence And so lastly does their very sitting too For however Custom which in time becomes a kind of Law has in this as well as in some of the foregoing Circumstances so far prevail'd that when soever a Parliament is held a Convocation is call'd together with it yet is this rather a matter of Form than any effectual Summons And the King still keeps his Antient Power to all intents and purposes in his own hands and suffers them not either to sit or act but when and as often as he thinks fit so to do Nor is this to be look'd upon as any Encroachment upon the Liberties of the Clergy but as the Assertion of a Power which always did and of right ought to belong to the Prince For though it has now for some Ages been the Custom to Convene the Clergy as often as the Parliament meets yet as it is manifest that when this Custom first began they met not so much as an Ecclesiastical Synod as a part of the Parliament of the Realm So all the Use that was generally made of Them was to concur with the Other Estates in granting of Money to the King which having done they were commonly dismiss'd without entring upon any other Business The Convocation then tho' it consisted of Ecclesiastical Persons was yet assembled for a Civil End and seems rather to have been a State Convention than a Church Synod And however the King usually added a Conciliary Summons to his Parliamentary Writ and thereby not only assembled the Proctors of the Clergy under another
to shew that it ought not Easily to be neglected And therefore tho I know no Positive Law that do's determine the King 's Absolute and free Will as to this matter yet I humbly conceive that so ancient and setled a Custom ought to be held to and our Princes accordingly still order the one to be summon'd as often as the other is called But now secondly If by sitting be meant as in the present question I suppose it is their meeting to do Business and being allow'd to come together for that purpose Then I reply that for such their sitting I know no Law besides the absolute and free power of the Prince Custom we are sure is as much against this as it has been for the other and any Statute or positive Law for it has not that I know of been pretended to Indeed whilst the Clergy were wont to assess themselves and their sitting upon that account was necessary for the support of the Government they were not only summon'd to meet but were wont actually to assemble and sit so long as it was requisite for them to do for this purpose But that being done they were for the most part forthwith Adjourned and met no more till the King had some new occasion for their assistance And that I may not be thought to speak this at all adventures I will offer an instance or two of it The Convocation which met the first of King James the First was by Prorogations continued from time to time for seven years together Yet except it were in his first year we do not hear of any great business that was done by them more than that of granting Subsidies which I have mention'd In King Charles the First 's time there were but few Parliaments and therefore we are not to look for Convocations in that When his Son King Charles the Second return'd the famous Convocation of 1660 met to remedy those disorders which the Civil Wars had occasion'd In order whereunto it was necessary for them at the first to sit and settle the Affairs of the Church but that being done they were by the King 's Writ prorogued eighteen several times successively and it does not appear by the Journal of it which I have seen that any thing material was afterwards done by it And as their sitting so thirdly I affirm that their acting too does depend upon the Will of the Prince They cannot enter upon any business without his special Commission for it And whether he will grant them such a Commission or no depends entirely upon his own Will But when I say that the sitting and acting of the Convocation does depend upon the absolute and free Will of the Prince and which terms I make use of only because they are prescribed to me by one whom at present I am obliged to follow I must observe that by his absolute and free will I understand a Will not determined by any humane Law to act otherwise than according to the Dictates of a Man 's own Reason and upon the last Result of his own Judgment he would do For otherwise there are Laws which in this as in all other cases of the like Nature determine the most absolute Sovereigns in the World and we do not deny our King as well as all other Princes to be subject to them The Law of Reason is a Law by which every wise Man does and every Man as such is obliged to act The positive Law of God and the common Principles of Right and 〈◊〉 are another Law by which all Christians of what Bank or Authority 〈◊〉 both out of duty to God and with regard to their own Consciences are required to attend And lastly The publick Good and Welfare of the Community is another Law to which all Princes even those who in other respects are the most absolute are oblig'd to look and with the observance of which they cannot dispence tho' no human Constraint lies upon them to force them thereunto or to punish them if they do not By all these Laws Princes are obliged And the Will of the Prince regulated by these Laws but not under the direction of any more particular Obligations is that Will on which I affirm the sitting and acting of the Convocation to depend The Government has intrusted him with the Power of giving them leave to sit and act when he pleases and when he pleases he may deny them to do either But still it was supposed when that trust was committed to him that he should use it with Prudence and Moderation and as he should from time to time be perswaded would be most for the publick Good both of the Church and State And therefore fourthly Notwithstanding any thing that has hitherto been said I shall not doubt to affirm that whenever the King is in his own Conscience convinced that for the Convocation to sit and act would be for the Glory of God the Benefit of the Church or otherwise for the publick Good and Welfare of his Realm he is obliged both by the Law of Reason as a Man by his duty to God as a Christian and by his duty to his People as a Ruler set over them for their Good to permit or rather to command his Clergy to meet in Convocation and transact what is sit for any or all these ends to be done by them As on the other hand whensoever he is clearly and evidently convinced that for them thus to come together would be needless or hurtfull to these ends it is then his duty to restrain them from sitting and that tho' he should be never so importunately desired by some that they may sit or rail'd at by others for not allowing them so to do These I take to be the plain Consequences of the foregoing Discourse And by them I suppose a clear and full Resolution is given to the first general Question viz. Whether there be any Law that commands or permits the sitting and acting of the Convocation besides the absolute and free Pleasure of the Prince And if there be What that Law is And how far the Prince is obliged by it I might now proceed upon this foundation without any more ado to examine what has been offer'd by our late Author to the contrary and so pass on to the other part of my Discourse But because it may be a matter of some Satisfaction as well as use to those whose Enquiries have not lain this way to know what has been the State of our Convocations ever since we have any accounts that we can rely upon concerning them I will therefore take leave to digress so far from my present business as may suffice to shew this in a short History of our Convocations from the first Conversion of the Saxons to Christianity down to our present Times CHAP. IV. In which the State of the Convocation is Historically deduced from the first Conversion of the Saxons to our Own Days SO great is the Uncertainty to
those I shall therefore think my self concern'd in the first place to Consider Now among these not to mention the two Conferences of Austin with the British Bishops I know of none more ancient than that which was held before King Oswi and his Son at Streanshealch in the Monastery of Hilda concerning the time of Easter the form of Tonsure and as Florence of Worcester adds some other Ecclesiastical Matters Whether King Oswi by his Authority called this Synod it do's not appear this we know that He not only consented to the meeting of it but also sate with his Son in it and managed the debates of it He proposed the business for which they met and at last finally Resolved what was to be held to with Reference to the Points that had been debated And tho' the Argument that determined him to embrace St. Peter's Tradition rather than St. John's viz. that He kept the door in Heaven and therefore He durst not contradict him lest when he came thither the Apostle should Resuse him Entrance was but very mean and suitable to the Rudeness and Ignorance of those Times yet we see what Authority our Princes from the beginning had as to these matters and how considerable a part they were allow'd in their Synods But more eminent as well as more exact were the Synods held by Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury in the first of which at Herudford as the Bishops of several Provinces were assembled so did they Agree with Theodore upon many usefull Constitutions for the Government of the Church And as this Synod first setled the Discipline of the Church in these Parts so did that of Heathfield which met about seven years after establish the Faith of it It admitted of the decisions of the Five first General Councils and setled the Catholick doctrine of the Church against the several Heresies which had been condemn'd in those Councils In both these Synods it is expressly said that Theodore Presided And so he did in the next I am to take notice of which was held at Atwyford Anno 685. In which among other things St. Cuthbert was chosen Bishop of Lindisfarn and upon Easter-day was Consecrated by seven Bishops who Attended upon the King at that solemn Season By whose Authority these Councils were call'd it do's not sufficiently appear to Us but that in this last King Egfride was present we are expressly inform'd And the constant Custom of the Princes in those days will not suffer us to doubt but that it was by their Direction that their Bishops both met and acted in Them At the Council of Cloveshoe Anno 742 not only Aethelbald K. of the Mercians Presided but his Princes and Officers were present too Yet this was properly an Ecclesiastical Synod and the Matters transacted in it all Related to the Church Nor is this so much to be wonder'd at seeing in the Legatine Synods held by Gregory and Theophylact sent hither by Pope Adrian the First for that purpose Our Kings not only directed the Assembling of Them but together with their Nobles sate in Them And to testify their Consent to what was done together with their Lords as well as Bishops subscribed to the Acts of Them And these are the chief of those Ecclesiastical Synods which were held in these Times As for the many Others whose Acts remain to Us they are manifestly Civil Conventions and most of them such Assemblies of the States as were afterwards call'd by the Name of Parliaments Among these as none ought more to be consider'd so were none more plainly such than Those in which our Ancient Saxon Laws were either drawn up or publish'd And a very considerable part of which relate to the Order and Discipline of the Church Thus Ina made his Laws with the Consent of his Bishops and all his Aldermen K. Alfred collected his with the advice of all his Wise-men K. Edward the Elder and Guthrun review'd and enlarged Them as assisted by their Wise-men And tho' in the Preamble to the Laws of K. Aethelstan we find mention only made of his Archbishop and Bishops because they indeed only drew up those Laws which were more properly Ecclesiastical yet in the Close of them we are told that all these Constitutions were publish'd in one of those Synods at which not only Wulfhelm the Archbishop but all his Great and Wise-men were present that is were publish'd in one of his Great Councils by him K. Edmund compiled his Laws in the Assembly of his Wise-men as well Ecclesiasticks as Lay-men So did Edgar and Ethelred afterwards And lastly Canutus in the Preface to his Laws not only tells us that they were made with the Advice of his Wise-men to the Glory of God-Almighty the Ornament of his Kingly Majesty and the Good of the Common-wealth But precisely notes the time when he compiled them namely That they were made at Christmas in the City of Winchester where he then kept that Feast and his Nobles according to the ancient Custom attended upon him and sate in Council with him To run thro' all the other Councils of the like nature in which Constitutions have been made and Debates held concerning things relating to the Church would engage me in a needless as well as tedious Research I shall only mention a few of those of chiefest Note which together with those before spoken of may suffice to give us a right Understanding of the Nature and Quality of them At Becanceld about the Year 694 Withred King of Kent held a General Council and if the relation be true it was indeed of an extraordinary Composition There were present at it not only the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Rochester with the Lords and others of the Laity but the Abbots Abbesses Priests and Deacons of the Clergy It was called by Archbishop Brithwald at the Kings Command And not only the King and Bishops but all others of the Clerical Order subscribed to it At Berghamsted the same King about three Years after held another Council with his Bishops and Military Men and by their common Consent made several Constitutions to be added to the Laws and Customs of Kent But more remarkable is the Council at which Wulfred presided under Kenulph King of the Mercians Anno 816. At which as at that of Becanceld before not only a great number of Bishops were present but together with the King came also his Princes Dukes and Lords And all these were surrounded with the rest of the Holy Orders Abbots Priests and Deacons treating with one accord of what was usefull or necessary for the Church I insist not upon the Synods of Cloveshoe assembled by Beornulfe King of the Mercians Anno 822 824 And both which were evidently great Councils of that Nation As were also the Council of London An. 833 Of Kingstone An. 838 Of Kingsbury An. 851 Of Winchester An. 855 Of
London under Edred An. 948 Of Brandenford An. 959 Of London under Edgar An. 970 Of Winchester and Calne under Dunstan Archbishop of Cant. Of Aenham An. 1009 And of Westminster An. 1066. It is sufficiently evident from the instances I have already given that whatsoever the Synod or Council were in which the affairs of the Church were transacted they depended intirely upon the Princes Authority Who for the most part determined what was needfull concerning them in the great Councils of their Realms and when they did not â—et still kept the management even of their Ecclesiastical Convocations in their own hands And suffer'd them not either to meet act or establish any thing but according to their good Pleasure II PERIOD From the Coming in of William the First to the 23d of Edward the First Hitherto our Princes maintain'd their Rights and asserted that Authority which their Royal Sovereignty gave them over their Clergy But now the Papal Power began to shew its self and to usurp upon their Prerogatives And among other Instances in which it did so this before us was not the least till at last it grew up to that monstrous Pitch in which we shall find it about the latter end of this Period When the King was become of little value to his Synods which were wholly subject to the Popes direction and depended upon the Will either of his extraordinary Legats or of the Archbishop of Canterbury to whose See a kind of perpetual Legantine Power and Authority was in the end annex'd by him I should depart too much from my present subject should I look abroad and consider by what steps these Encroachments were carried on to the prejudice of the civil Power and against which no Princes either asserted their Authority with greater Vigour or took more care to recover it when lost by them than Ours did It shall suffice as a Preparatory to what we shall hereafter meet with barely to point out to you the Artifices that were made use of in order to this end and to shew by what secret and almost indiscernible Workings they first began to restrain and at last utterly destroy'd the Rights of Princes in the point before us And first having either sent their Legat into a Kingdom or else constituted some of the chief Bishops to bear that character the Prince indeed commanded the Clergy to assemble but the other as the Pope's Commissioner advised the doing of it Thus Boniface began the Usurpation in the time of Carloman Anno 745. He assisted as Pope Zachary's Legat in the third Council of Germany in which Gervitio Bishop of Mentz was deposed and the said Boniface put in his place And this Council as the Acts of it speak was held Carlomanno jubente Bonifacio consulente The Prince commanded the Legat advised it to be held But much greater was the advance which Pope John the VIII made in the time of Charles the Bald Anno 876. For now the Pope call'd the Synod and all the Emperour had to do was to require the Pope's Summons to be obey'd So the Acts of the Synod of Pontigon shew where we read That the Holy Synod was gathered together in the name of the Lord by the calling of John the most Blessed and Universal Pope and at the Command of Charles the Emperour And in the Acts of it among other things that were determined by it we find this Canon to our present purpose That As the Pope had with the Connivance Consent and Joynt-determination of the Emperour resolved to establish Ansegisus Archbishop of Sens to be his Legat and had bestow'd upon him the Primacy of France and Germany in calling of Synods and Canonically defining such things as were necessary so did the Fathers of the Synod agree to it and in like manner determine and establish I might take notice of many things determined in this Decree in manifest Derogation of the Emperour's Authority But I shall content my self to observe how by this time the Pope in those parts had got the power of Calling Synods wholly into his Hands and either himself expresly did it or else gave Commission to some other to do it in his Name and by vertue of his Authority 'T is true the Emperour consented to what was done in the present case but that was only to allow that particular Person one of his own Subjects to take upon him the Character of the Pope's Legat not to enable the Pope to grant such a power which he now assumed to himself a right to do And accordingly in the second Synod of Troyes held but two years after the same Pope coming into France to remedy the disorders of the Church and free it from some oppressions which it lay under call'd that Synod by his own Authority Made what Canons he thought needful for those times and publish'd them in the Council and the Council had the honour to approve and receive them from him But as Encroachments of this nature being once begun run still on to a greater excess so Pope Formosus soon carried the Usurpation yet farther He assembled by his Legat the Council of Vien the Metropolis of France and the Bishops met at his Command And from henceforth it became a setled Custom for the Pope by his Legats to call such Synods and to sit with the Bishops in those parts Nor did the Pope only by his Legats call such Synods and assist at them but even when the King himself was present the Legat now began to preside over them and to draw even matters of a civil Nature before him and judge of them So the Synod of Engelsheim under Agapetus the second and Otho the Emperour did It judged of the wrong that had been done to Lewis the 4th King of France and excommunicated the Person by whom it was done To such a Slavery had the Pope brought the Christian World about the beginning of the Period I am now entring upon He call'd Synods He presided over them He sent what Canons he pleas'd to be confirm'd by them and required their Consent to them And lastly He drew not only Ecclesiastical Affairs under their Cognizance but judg'd of the Affairs of Princes in them and the differences that arose among them concerning their civil Authority and Jurisdiction But to none of these Invasions would the Conquerour ever submit but on the contrary he held his Bishops to the same subjection which they paid to their Saxon Princes and tho' upon occasion he made use of the Pope's Authority to serve his own turn against Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury yet that being done he quickly put a stop to his Jurisdiction and suffer'd him not to meddle in any Matters but where it was for his interest to allow of it We are told by one than whom no one better understood the state of these matters that this Prince would not suffer any of his Subjects to acknowledge
Archbishop and Legate held a Synod at Merton upon St. Barnabas's day The Pope had the year before granted to the King the Tenths of the Clergy for three years But the Clergy tho' they Honour'd the Pope much yet resolved not to part with their Money And the Archbishop held this Synod on purpose to Oppose the payment of what he had granted Upon another Legate's being sent hither Anno 1261 several Councils were this year call'd and held in Our Country The two Archbishops Assembled their Respective Clergy at London and Beverley And Boniface held another distinct Council at Lambeth and publish'd many excellent Constitutions in it But most famous in these times as of chiefest Authority afterwards was the Council Assembled by Ottobon another Legate about the Year 1268. He had two years before at the Parliament at Northampton Assembled the Clergy who met there and with Them Excommunicated all such as should adhere to Simon Montfort and his Party And now he held this Other at London with the Clergy of the whole Kingdom and therein publish'd those Notable Constitutions we still have under his Name It was now become a matter of Custom and accounted a matter of Right for the Legates Extraordinary and the Archbishop of Canterbury as Legate of Course to Summon the Clergy to Convocations Insomuch that we do not find this Great King who otherwise was sensible enough of the Encroachments that had been made and were daily making upon the Royal Authority to have been at all Offended at it Hence Peckham the Archbishop being return'd from Rome Anno 1280 the same year held a Council at Redding and therein commanded the Constitutions of the General Council of Lyons to be observed And the next year He assembled another at Lambeth in which the Orders and Constitutions establish'd by Otho and Ottobon were Confirm'd and some Others added for the better Government of the Church About ten years after the same Peckham again held another Synod at Redding in which when the King heard that They were attempting some Orders in derogation to his Authority He sent to the Archbishop and Bishops to desist And upon his Threatnings they put a stop to their Proceedings and Brake up the Council And thus have we seen what Encroachments were made towards the End of this Period upon the Prince's Authority in the Subject before Us. There were within this Period as all along after besides these National and Provincial Councils several Episcopal or Diocesan Synods Assembled for the Affairs of that particular Diocess in which they were held and some Rules were made by Them to be observed by the Clergy of that District only Such were the Constitutions of Alexander Bishop of Coventry Anno 1237 Of Walter Bishop of Worcester made in his Synod at Worcester Anno 1240 Of Walter Bishop of Norwich made in his Synod at Norwich Munday after Michaelmas Anno 1255 Of Giles Bishop of Salisbury Anno 1256 And of which it is not necessary that I should take any particular Notice on this Occasion But tho' the Affairs of the Church were in great measure handled in these several Kinds of Ecclesiastical Synods yet this did not hinder but that still Our Kings with their Great Councils did from time to time interpose in these Matters and order many things relating to Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes When Wulstan Bishop of Worcester challenged some Lands as belonging to his See which were with-held from it by the Archbishop of Tork the Cause between them was judged by William the Conquerour in his Parliament at Pendrede the Archbishop Bishops Lords and Great Men being present This was manifestly a State Assembly and by these was the Right between the two Bishops examined and determined But more properly Ecclesiastical was the Cause which William the Second examined in his Parliament at Rockingham upon Anselm's resolving to go to Rome and to receive his Pall from thence This the King vehemently opposed and declared that the Archbishop could not both preserve his fidelity to him and pay obedience to the Pope And it is observable that the referring of this cause to the Judgment of the Parliament was at Anselm's own desire who cannot be suspected of doing any thing that he thought in the least inconsistent with the Liberties of the Church The next great Controversie that arose of this kind was in the second Year of King Henry the First about the Right of Investitures This was a point much debated in those times not only here but in most of the Countries of Europe To this the King laid a claim and accounted himself to have as good a Title to it as his Father and Brother before him had Upon this occasion the Quarrel grew so high between the King and Anselm that the latter was once more sorced to leave the Kingdom But the cause was at last brought before the Parliament and there it was by mutual Consent resolved that from thenceforth no one should be invested by the King or any other lay hand to a Bishoprick or Abbey by the delivery of the Pastoral Staff or Ring but yet upon such a promotion they should do Homage to the King for it which was the other thing that Pope Urban had before insisted upon as much as upon the point of Investitute its self This matter was scarce ended when another arose about the Marriage of the Clergy And this was in like manner ended in Parliament by the Authority as well of the King and his Lords as of the Archbishops and Bishops And an order made to prohibit all such as were in any Clerical Order to cohabit with their Wives There was yet a third great Controversie remaining concerning the Primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Subjection that was due from the Archbishop of York to him This also was brought before the King at Whitsontide and determined by him with his Bishops and Lords and the Authority of the See of Canterbury asserted by them And when some time after this Thurstine Archbishop of York refused to be concluded by this Decree he was in full Parliament obliged either to renounce his Bishoprick or to pay Obedience to the See of Canterbury No sooner was this King dead and Stephen placed in his Throne but in full Parliament he confirm'd the Liberties of the Church and made very ample Concessions to it In his Parliament at Northampton two years after he disposed of several Ecclesiastical Preferments And that this was the customary manner of those times may be gathered from the last Parliament of this King Which was call'd by him as well for the Affairs of the Kingdom as to make Provision for the Church of York then vacant by the death of St. William the late Bishop of it How far the Parliament still continued to meddle with Ecclesiastical Affairs under the next King's Reign the
its determinations Proceeds in the next place for their sakes who have No Religion at the bottom nor any Notion of a Church however for their Worldly Interest they may pretend to this or that Party by joyning Themselves to its Communion to shew What the Law of their Country says in this Case That so they may be for ever silenced in this Question and not dare to mutter any more after what this New Pythagoras shall have declared to Them And having thus engaged our attention he proceeds Oraculously to pronounce KNOW therefore says He that a Convocation is an Ecclesiastical Court or Assembly Essential to our Constitution and Establish'd by the Law of it It is the Highest of all Our Ecclesiastical Courts or Assemblies Is called and convened in Parliament time by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishops It consists of all the Clergy of both Provinces either Personally or Representatively present In the Upper House are the Archbishops and Bishops In the Lower House or House of Commons spiritual are the Deans Arch-deacons One Proctor for Every Chapter and Two for the Clergy of Each Diocess This is the Court. The frequent sitting of this Court is One of the Chief Rights of the Church of England The Church of England is a National Church and to such it is certainly incident to have National Synods or Convocations And in like manner to those Synods to have freedom of Speech or Debate about Matters proper for their Cognizance relating to the Being or Well-being of their Body as a Church And if the Church of England have any Rights or Privileges this of Assembling Debating and Conferring is certainly One and the Chief of Them 'T is true a Convocation cannot Assemble without the Assent of the King His Writ is necessary in Order to it And his Prerogative do's Empower him to Prohibit the Clergy Assembling in Synod without his Summons But then it is as true too that the Assembling of Them is not entirely dependant on His Will nor lodged purely in the Breast of the Sovereign But it is with the Convocation as it is with the Parliament The King is intrusted with the Formal part of Summoning and Convening it but so that by the very Essence and Constitution of our Church a Convocation ought at certain times to Meet Sit and Act and the Fundamentals of our Government shew Him When and How his Power in this Respect is to be Exercised and that it ought not to be at his free Will and Pleasure To Grant therefore that the King's Writ is necessary to the Assembling of the Convocation The Question is Whether that Writ ought not to Issue whensoever a Summons goes out for a Parliament And to this we say That the Law of the Realm hath directed the King or at least His Chancellour Keeper or Other Minister having the Custody of the Great Seal to Issue forth such Writs and they can no more be Omitted than any Single Peer's Summons to Parliament Thus far our Way is plain and clear But supposing all this the Question still is Whether or no the Convocation may conferr after their Summons and Meeting without the King ' s Special License and Assent In answer to which I must acknowledge that the Common Received Opinion is in the Negative However if what has been offer'd already with regard to their Convening have any weight in it it must hold also in some degree with respect to their Conferring and Treating when met about Matters proper to their Cognizance If they are a Court and have their Jurisdiction and are a Legislature and have the Power of making Ecclesiastical Laws both which they certainly are and have then the liberty of Conferring and Discussing is necessary to their very Existence c. This is the Summ of what this Author has asserted as to the point in Question and for the most part is express'd in his Own Words Let us now see Wherein we differ from One another And reduce the matter in debate between Us to as narrow a Compass as we can And 1st Tho' I will not enter upon a New Subject yet I must needs say I am by no means satisfied that the Church has either Command or Authority from God to assemble Synods or by Consequence any inherent and unalterable Right to make any such authoritative Definitions as He supposes in Them I am not Aware that either in the Old or New Testament there is so much as One single direction given for its so doing And excepting the singular Instance which we have Acts XVth I know of no Example that can with any shew of Reason be offer'd of such a Meeting And whether that were such a Synod as we are now speaking of may very justly be doubted The foundation of Synods in the Church is in my Apprehension the same as of Councils in the State The necessities of the Church when it began to be enlarged first brought in the One as Those of the Common-wealth did the Other And therefore when Men are Incorporated into Societies as well for the service of God and the salvation of their Souls as for their Civil peace and security these Assemblies are to be as much subject to the Laws of the Society and to be regulated by Them as any Other publick Assemblies of what kind soever are Nor has the Church any Inherent divine Right to set it at liberty from being Concluded by such Rules as the Governing part of every Society shall prescribe to it as to this Matter This is my Notion of these things and thus I conceive Synods are to be managed in Christian States As for those Realms in which the Civil Power is of another Persuasion natural Reason will prompt the Members of every Church to consult together the best they can how to manage the affairs of it and to Agree upon such Rules and Methods as shall seem most proper to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church and to give the least offence that may be to the Government under which they live And what Rules are by the Common-consent of Every such Church agreed to ought to be the measure for the assembling and acting of Synods in such a Country Whether this notion will please this Author or no I cannot tell If it do's not I hope he will shew me wherein my Error lies and how I may correct it In the mean time this security I have that if I am mistaken I err with Men of as great a Judgment and as comprehensive a Knowledge in these Matters as Any can be who differ from Me. But to come to that which I am now more properly to examine That the two Convocations consider'd as a National Synod are the Highest Ecclesiastical Assembly of this Kingdom I readily Agree Nor shall I deny but that a Convocation may be said to be Essential to our Constitution But that the frequent sitting
Convocation is called They should not only meet Formally but sit and act as the Parliament do that there should be a Session of Convocation as well as a Session of Parliament Now not to be too curious in examining the Parallel here offered betwixt these two and which were it as exact as I am confident it is not would yet no more prove their Privileges to be Equal than the Likeness of two Corporations in having a Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council would prove that therefore in despight of their several Charters they must have all the same Privileges also 1st I am not satisfied that the Convocation is of the same Power with Regard to the Church that the Parliament is in Respect of the State Because I am told by very good Lawyers that the Convocation in making Ecclesiastical Constitutions must proceed by certain Rules and cannot even with the King's consent conclude any thing contrary to the Laws or Statutes or Customs of the Realm But now the Parliament is not subject to any such limitations Its Power is Arbitrary and Uncontroulable And being joyn'd with the Royal Authority can enact what it will for the publick Good any Law Statute or Custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding 2. As for the Word Parliament I shall not much contend with him about it It is well known that it was a name brought in by the Normans and but late Received among Us to denote those Meetings of State which were anciently called mycel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colloquium Concilium Synodus and the like It is more extraordinary which He tells us that as Wittena-Gemote was wont to signifie what we call a Parliament so Church-Gemote denoted what we call a Convocation And for which I am confident He will be hard put to it to bring us any Author elder than Sir Edw. Coke from whom as poor Godolphin first so has he now taken it at all Adventures Tho' were this true the Observation would amount in plain English to no more than this That as a Parliament was anciently call'd an Assembly of the Wise-men so was a Convocation call'd an Assembly of Church-men And of which if He can make any Use I shall not envy him the Honour of so weighty and critical a Remark Were it needfull in Return to these little Remarks to mention the several Differences that might be assigned between these two Assemblies I might easily enlarge them into many more particulars and of much greater Importance than Those which He has alledged To say nothing of the Convocations being multiplied according to the number of the Provinces into which the Church is divided and representing the Clergy not of the whole Church but only of One part of it whereas the Parliament is an Assembly for the whole Realm The manner of Consulting Resolving and Acting is very different in the One and in the Other The Authority of the Archbishop is much other in the Convocation than the Lord-Keepers is in the Parliament But especially the Power of the Parliament in making Laws free and unbounded whereas the Convocation is by Authority of Parliament determined both in its Principle and Power of Acting And can neither Debate effectually nor Resolve to any purpose of any thing but what is Agreeable to the Laws of the Realm and is no wise prejudicial to the Civil interests of any But to allow of the supposed Parallel between the Parliament and Convocation What will this Gentleman inferr from it Not I hope that the One should therefore â—it and act whenever the Other do's A Father for example has two Sons They are both his Children both of the same Sex both Equally Related to Him perhaps and both Equally Beloved by Him But will this Author from thence conclude That they have an Equal Right to his Estate and ought Equally to succeed in it This would be a very Agreeable conclusion to many I make no doubt but I am afraid will hardly be allow'd by the Elder Brothers to be a Just One 'T is true a Father in this Case may possibly have left them Portions alike and have made them as equal in their Fortunes as they were in their Relation to him And so perhaps Our Constitution may have made the Parliament and the Convocation But whether the Father has done this must be proved from the settlement of his Estate and not from any supposed Equality of Right in his Sons to his Affection And whether Our Constitution has given these Assemblies an Equal right to meet â—it and act must be determined by the Laws and Customs of the Realm and not be collected from imaginary Parallels and wild Inferences which have neither any Law and but very little Sense in Them 3. As for those State Maxims which he has finally added to support this Argument it will then be proper to give a Reply to them when this Author shall have shewn us that there is any thing in them to be Replied to In the mean time I must observe that whether we consider the Nature or End of the Parliament the Necessities of the Civil Affairs or the Interest which Both the Prince and People may have in the Assembling of it there must in all probability be always a much greater need of Frequent Parliaments for the benefit of the State than of Frequent Convocations for the Welfare of the Church When a National Church is once thoroughly Establish'd and neither needs any farther Laws to be made for the enforcing of its Discipline or any new Confessions to be framed for the security of its Doctrine When its Liturgy and other Offices are fix'd and stated and there is so far from being any need of altering or improving any of these that it is thought a Crime but even to suppose that it is possible to improve them or to make any Alterations but for the Worse in them I cannot imagine untill something arises to unsettle such a Constitution what a Convocation could have to meet about But this is not the Case of the Civil State which is God knows subject to many more changes than the Ecclesiastical and will oftner want to have publick Remedies applied for the redress or prevention of its publick Evils Perhaps a Prince arises who affects an Arbitrary sway and his Ministers joyn in the same designs with him and nothing less than the Authority of a Parliament can put a stop to their Attempts This therefore may make it necessary in times of Peace and Quietness for the Parliament to meet at certain times to prevent such attempts and to keep every Member of the Constitution within its due bounds And such was the Case of the last Reign It may be the Common-wealth is assaulted by its Enemies from abroad and those Enemies are countenanced by a factious discontented Party at home and it is necessary for the Parliament to meet and to raise Supplies for the Defence of the Realm against the One and to make some
new Laws for the suppression or discovery of the Others And this has been the Case of the present Government But now what Effect have all these Civil Exigencies had upon the Affairs of the Church Unless it be that an Act of Toleration has been made which our Author professes He envies not to the Dissenters or if He did I hope He would not have the Convocation pretend to Repeal it In short all he can alledge are certain disorders which either there is a sufficient provision already made against Or if there be not I doubt the Convocation will hardly be able to do any thing farther for the more effectual Redress of Them But however this I shall have Occasion more particularly to consider when I come to examine what He has said to prove the necessity which He pretends there is for the sitting of a Convocation And I must not anticipate here what will more properly as well as more fully be handled there So little is there in his first Argument which he has brought to prove that the Convocation has a Right to sit as often as the Parliament meets and has been unwarrantably deny'd by the Government so to do Let us see whether his next proof be any better Now that 2dly is no less than an Act of Parliament 8 Hen. VI. ch 1. The substance of which Statute is this That the Clergy who are called by the King 's Writ to Convocation shall fully Use and Enjoy such Liberty and Defence in Coming Tarrying and Returning as the Great Men and Commonalty of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament do Enjoy and were wont to Enjoy or in time to come ought to Enjoy Well be this so But is there any thing in this Statute which says that the Clergy shall come to the Convocation when ever the Great Men and Commonalty of England do to the Parliament That is not pretended But what is there then in this Act to the purpose of our present Enquiry Why in the Preamble to it 't is said that The Clergy Coming to Convocation were often-times and commonly molested From whence our Author admirably concludes That therefore they did oftentimes and commonly in those days meet in Convocations That this can reasonably be inferr'd from those words I am by no means satisfied which only signifie that when the Clergy went to Convocation they were very often molested by Arrests c. but do's not at all imply that the Convocation used often to meet However let this be Granted In Henry the Sixth's time the Convocation often met therefore it met whenever the Parliament sate How do's that appear Nay but we must go farther Therefore of right it ought to meet now whenever the Parliament do's Nay but this will not yet do Therefore it ought not only formally to meet but to sit and act too as often as the Parliament assembles This our Author must mean or He alledges this act to no purpose And he who can draw this Consequence from that Act must be a mighty Man of Reason indeed and too unequal a Match for Men of ordinary Skill in Logick to deal with And yet after all this I confess is true The Convocation in those days did sit and act too for the most part as often as the Parliament met For the Clergy in those days assessed Themselves and without their sitting either as a Member of the Parliament which heretofore they were Or in a Provincial Synod which commonly met with the Parliament the King could have no supply from the Church But as for Ecclesiastical business for ought I can find they did as little with their Often-meeting then as they do with their Seldom-meeting now And were this the Case of the Convocation still were the business of its assembling principally if not only to give Money to the Government I believe instead of this Vindication of its Right to â—it we should rather have seen a Complaint against the charge and trouble of it At least I am pretty confident neither this Gentleman nor his Convocation-Friend would have been much concern'd for their Meeting or have been at all scandalized at those unwarrantable Adjournmen's they have now so tender a sense of But 3dly The Convecation says this Author is an Ecclesiastical Court. To it belongs the punishment of Heresies And in ancient times it was frequently and of necessity used for that End for without it there could be no punishment of Heresie Since the 25th of Hen VIII this is in good measure again the Case And it cannot reasonably be supposed to be in the King 's absolute Will whether it shall exercise this Jurisdiction or not This is his next Argument and should we intirely allow of it it would only prove that the King ought to permit Them to meet and act whenever any Hereticks were to be convicted by Them But would by no means shew either that they have a right even in such a Case to meet without the King's leave Or that the King ought of Right to let them sit when there is no such need of it But indeed if my Lord Coke be in the right there is a manifest mistake in the very foundation of this Argument For the Bishop of the Diocess had always Power to convict of Heresie and to proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Hereticks All that he was defective in was that He had no power to Imprison and for want of that could not proceed often-times to any purpose against them This Power therefore was given to the Bishop by the 2d of Hen. IV. And tho' now the Civil Penalty that was wont to be inflicted upon Hereticks be taken away yet has it been resolved that the Bishop may still proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Them Whether this be so or not I shall leave it to this Gentleman to enquire who possibly may be better acquainted with such matters than I am But if it be then 't is manifest there can be no need of the Convocations meeting to do that which may be as well done by the Bishops without it And these are only some lesser Arguments with which our Author design'd to skirmish before we came to his main battle But now we are to begin to look to our selves For 4thly His next Proof is taken from no less a Topick than the Parliamentary-Writ and in his Own Opinion â—s an Argument of Invincible Strength to Establish the Necessity of Convocations meeting as often as Parliaments In answer whereunto I do readily agree that when the Proemonition to the Bishop to Summon his Clergy to Parliament was first put into that Writ the Clergy thereby summon'd had as much right to meet by Vertue of it as the Bishop himself had And it is accordingly by Our best Antiquaries acknowledged that in Ancient times the Inferior Clergy were a Member of the Great Council of the Nation as well as the Bishops and Abbots But then this
either did or said when he was of Council for his Majesty but for Other Tenets Elsewhere and at Other times advanced by Him And therefore pray his Assistance according to his Coronation Oath and as He desired to avoid the Censures of the Church The Clergy thus proceeding the Lords and Judges of the Realm at the Instance of the House of Commons address also to the King and desire him by vertue of his Coronation Oath that He would assert his Temporal Jurisdiction and protect Standish in the Great peril in which He was against the Malice of the Clergy who evidently Objected to him the same Tenets which He had defended in Right of the King's Authority Being thus applied to on Both sides the King first consults with Dr. Veysey Dean of his Chapel and having had his Opinion orders the Justices of his Courts and his Own Council both Spiritual and Temporal with several Members of the Parliament to meet at the Black-Fryars and there to take Cognizance of the Cause between Standish and the Convocation and to hear what Standish had to say for himself in answer to the Points objected to Him The Cause is heard and in conclusion Standish is acquitted and the whole Convocation judged to have incurred a Praemunire by their Citation and Prosecution of Him Upon this the King comes himself to Baynards Castle all the Bishops and a Great Part of the Parliament with the Judges attending upon Him Being sate Woolsey as Cardinal and in high favour with the King first applies to Him in behalf of the Convocation and prays that the Cause might be Referr'd to the Judgment of the Court of Rome This was seconded by Warham Archbishop of Canterbury in the name of All the Clergy and much was Argued for and against This. At length the King deliver'd himself to this Effect to them That by the Order and Sufferance of God He was King of England and as such would maintain the Rights of his Crown and his Royal Jurisdiction in as ample a manner as any of his Progenitors had done before Him Then he commanded the Convocation to dismiss Standish which accordingly they did And were content for that time to let the Royal Supremacy get the better of the Spiritual Jurisdiction CHAP. VI. Some Rules laid down by which to judge for what Causes and at what times Synods ought or ought not to be Assembled And the Reasons suggested by the Author of the Letter c. to prove a Convocation to be at this time Necessary to be held Examined and Answer'd HItherto we have been stating the matter of Right between the King and the Convocation And if I do not very much deceive my self I have plainly made it appear against the Author of the Late Letter to a Convocation-Man that that Venerable Body have neither any Right to Meet nor Power to Act but as the King shall Graciously Allow them to do But now having Asserted this in Vindication of the Prince's Prerogative I must not forget what I have before confess'd as to this matter and see no Cause yet to Retract viz. That His Majesty both as a Christian and a King is Obliged to permit his Clergy to Sit and Act whensoever he is perswaded that the Necessities of the Church require it and it would be for the Publick Good of his People that They should do so And tho' 't is true the Law has intrusted Him with the Last Judgment of this and without which it would be impossible for him to maintain his Supremacy in this Respect yet certainly He ought to be by so much the more careful to Consider the Interest of the Publick by How much the Greater the Trust is which the Publick in Confidence of such his Care has Reposed in Him It must be confess'd indeed that our present Author has neither taken a very proper Method of communicating his Advice to the King nor done it in such a Manner as if He design'd to perswade either the King or his Ministers to pay any Great Deference to his Judgment On the contrary it appears that in all that he has said he intended rather to Reflect upon the Administration of Affairs and to raise discontents in Mens Minds against the Government than to do any Service either to Religion or the Church But however I will consider nevertheless what he has alledged to shew That our present times call for a Convocation and that the King ought not any longer to prevent their sitting The Question to be examin'd is thus proposed by Him What Occasion there is at present for a Convocation And his Answer to it is Short and Vehement full of Warmth as being I suppose design'd to Enflame That if Ever there were need of 〈◊〉 Convocation since Christianity was Establish'd in this Kingdom there is need of One Now. To clear this Point and see how well this Author makes Good so bold an Assertion I shall take this Method 1st I will lay down some General Rules by which we may the better Judge at what Times and in what Cases it may be either necessary or expedient for a Prince to call a Convocation And then proceed 2dly To Consider What this Gentleman has offer'd to prove the Necessity of a Convocation under our present Circumstances to be so exceeding Great and Urgent as He pretends it is I. That Synods may in some Cases be as Useless to the Church as in Others they are Expedient Every Man 's Own Reason will tell him And that such Times may happen in which they may be apt to prove not only Useless but Hurtful we have not only the Experience but the Complaints of the Best Men to convince us It was a severe Judgment which Gregory Nazianzen pass'd upon the Synods of his Time and is the more to be Regarded because it was the Result of a frequent Tryal and a sad Observation That He fled all such Assemblies as having never seen any One of them come to a Happy Conclusion or that did not Cause more Mischief than it Remedied Their Contention and Ambition says he is not to be Express'd And a Man may much easier fall into Sin himself by judging of Other Men than He shall be able to Reform their Crimes There is scarce any thing in Antiquity that either more Exposed our Christian Profession heretofore or may more deserve our serious Consideration at this day than the Violence the Passion the Malice the Falseness and the Oppression which Reigned in most of those Synods that were held by Constantine first and after him by the following Emperours upon the Occasion of the Arian Controversy Bitter are the Complaints which we are told that Great Emperour made of Them The Barbarians says he in his Letter to One of Them for fear of Us Worship God But we mind nothing but what tends to Hatred to Dissention in One word to the Destruction of Mankind And what little Success other Synods have oftentimes
all Private Cases which are determinable in Other Courts and before some Other Judges which the Law has provided for Them And the King might as well Assemble his Parliament to try a Thief or a Felon as his Convocation to convict a Man of Heresie or Schism There are Civil Courts appointed for the One and Ecclesiastical Courts provided for the Other And if these Neglect or Refuse to do their Duty there are Shorter Ways of Applying a Remedy to it than by calling either a Parliament or Convocation for such a Purpose And such are secondly such Disorders as either the Bishop in his Diocess the Arch-bishop in his Province Or the King in the whole Church have sufficient power by their Own immediate Orders or Injunctions to redress Whether they be Occasion'd by Mens departing from the Rules and Measures already prescribed to Them Or for want of a Vigorous Execution of those Laws by which they ought to be punish'd for their so doing Indeed where the Discipline and Authority of the Church its self is defective and Irregularities both in the Clergy and Laity abound for want of a Power sufficient to suppress them a Convocation may be needful to consider How a Remedy may be provided for this Defect and the Church be enabled more successfully both to Guard the Faith and to Reform the Manners of its Members And I heartily wish our Circumstances were such that a Convocation might meet for this Purpose But I am afraid our Distemper is become too Great to be healed And that we are Uncapable of such a Discipline as above all things We the most Want And therefore 4thly And to go on with these Remarks As in such Cases as I have hitherto mentioned it is needless to Call a Convocation so would it be in Vain to Assemble it for such purposes in which there were no probable Expectation of Success or hope that any Good should be done by it This as for ought I know it may be One Great Reason why a Convocation is not called to Review some of our Publick Offices to Improve our Discipline And to Reform many Disorders in the Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so am I the rather Confirm'd in my Opinion of the little Probability there is of any Good to be yet done by a Convocation in this respect that amidst all the Reasons Offer'd by this Author to prove the necessity of holding a Convocation He has never Once given any Intimation of these matters tho he could not but know that they were look'd upon by the Government as the principal things for which a Convocation might be wanting But 5thly And to have done As there are many Cases for which it would be improper to call a Convocation so may there be some Times too in which it â—ould be altogether Unadvisable to Assemble it When Mens Passions are let loose and their Minds disorder'd When their Interests and Designs their Friends and their Parties nay their very Judgments and Principles lead them different Ways and they Agree in nothing so much as in being very Peevish and Angry with One Another When their very Reason is depraved and they judge not according to Truth or Evidence but with Respect of Persons and Every One Opposes what Another of a different Perswasion either Moves or Approves of What Good can the Prince propose to Himself or any Wise Man hope for from any Assembly that can be brought together under the unhappy Influence of These and the like Prepossessions It was the sense of this made a Wise Man in the last Age tell Charles the Vth That it appear'd by Experience and might from Reason be demonstrated that those Affairs seldom succeeded well which were to be done by Many And if such be the inconvenience to which Number alone exposes such meetings in the best times Sure I am both Reason and Experience will much more convince Us that in times of doubt and discontent this will be more likely to be the Case and that under such Circumstances there is little Good to be expected from them And this may suffice in General to shew what those Cases and those Times are in which the Prince may have Reason to think that it is either needless or improper for him to suffer his Clergy to Meet and Act in Convocation I Go on II. Secondly Upon these Principles to Examine what this Author has Offer'd to prove the Necessity or even Expediency of their present Assembling Now this He pretends to make out by these 2 Ways 1st By Proving that there is upon many Accounts an Absolute necessity that something should be done for the Defence of Religion and the Church And 2dly By shewing That what is thus necessary to be done can be done no Other Way but by a Convocation 1st That something is necessary to be done He proves from the Open Looseness of Mens Principles and Practises and that setled Contempt of Religion and the Priesthood which He says has prevail'd every where And upon this General Ground he go's on to dilate in several Particulars which must therefore he Consider'd by Us. But before I proceed any farther in this Debate I must here once for all profess that I should be far from Opposing any thing that could reasonably be proposed to be done in Order to so Good an End as the Reforming the Open Loosness of Mens Principles and Practises would certainly be I am by no means Unsensible that a Great Part of what this Author here complains is but too true Tho' whether the Loosness of Mens Principles has corrupted their Manners or the Depravity of their Manners may not rather have been at the bottom one great Cause of the Corruption of their Principles I am not able to determine And were a Convocation necessary to Vindicate the Church from being in any degree accessary to these Crimes or had it Authority sufficient to Reform this Licentiousness I would much rather joyn with this Author in Petitioning for their Sitting than Contend with Him about the Expediency of it But being fully Satisfied that the Convocation has neither Strength sufficient to Grapple with these Enormities nor is in any respect necessary to assert the Churches Innocence But especially being perswaded that should it meet for any such purpose under our present Circumstances it would only expose its Own Authority and our Religion to the Greater Contempt of Profane and Wicked Men I shall proceed with all freedom to Examine the Reasons here alledged and to Vindicate not only the King's Honour but the Churches too and shew that if the Other Ways which this Author here Rejects be not sufficient to Reclaim Mens Vices neither can it be hoped that the Convocation should be able by any Orders it can make to Reclaim Them First then Let us suppose that as he alledges Scepticism Deism and even Atheism its self is pouring in upon Us Would this Gentleman have a Convocation called to
declare that the Church of England not only Believes in God but in Jesus Christ and his Gospel too Has Christ been thus long preach'd among Us to leave it still in doubt whether after all our Church be a Christian Church or No If neither our Constant Confession of our Faith in Christ nor our publick Worship of Him and of the Father by Him If neither our publick Preaching nor our publick Writing in Vindication of this Faith neither what our Convocations have formerly declared and we all continue to support and defend be sufficient to satisfie Mankind that the Church of England condemns all Atheism and Deism and that However such Persons may Live among Us yet they are by no means Countenanced or Approved by Her I cannot imagine What this Author thinks a new Convocation could do more to Assert her Innocence And the same I must answer Secondly to the Plea next offer'd from the Open Appearance of Socinianism among Us and the Opposition that is made by some Men to the Mysteries of the Gospel For let it be confess'd to be some Scandal to our Country as indeed it seems to be that such Profaneness should be suffer'd to Go on without controul in a Christian Kingdom where the Gospel is perhaps the best understood and the Church the most carefully Reform'd of any in the World Yet what has our Church to answer for in this Case Complain she may that she is suffered to be thus Torn in pieces between presumptuous Hereticks on the one hand and profane Scoffers on the other But sure this ought not to be added to the Rest of her Sorrows to have her Own Faith and Integrity call'd in Question Nay the very Socinians themselves whilst they abuse her in Other respects by their so doing justifie her in This. They know and confess her Faith to be Against them And for this cause it is that they Rail so despightfully at her And sure We ought not our selves to lay that to Her Charge from which her Greatest Enemies acquit her In short Our Articles our Creeds Our Liturgy our Homilies All bear witness to the Catholick Faith in Opposition to these Hereticks Our Sermons and our Writings declare against Them And what can any Abroad or at Home desire either the Church or Her Ministers should do more Or what more could a Convocation were it to meet tomorrow Do As for the next Particular which he insists upon Thirdly concerning the Power of the Magistrate and of the Church which he tells us is struck at and that Indifference of All Religions which he says is endeavour'd to be Establish'd by Pleas for the Justice and Necessity of an universal unlimited Toleration even against the Sense of the Whole Legislature I shall say but very little If such a Toleration be so dangerous as this Author apprehends and as for ought I know it may be And the Magistrate has the same Opinion of it It is to be hoped the Government will take care to secure its self by a constant Denyal of it And establish'd I am sure it cannot be against the consent of the Whole Legislature nor indeed without the concurrence of every Part of it But however what can a Convocation do in this Case Whether the Civil Power shall think fit to Grant or Refuse such a Toleration is a Political as well as an Ecclesiastical Question And the Government will Act as it thinks fit in it and a Convocation can neither help nor hinder their Proceedings What the Opinion of our Clergy is as to this matter is well known And I conceive there is no need of a Synod to meet to shew that their Sense is the same in Convocation that it is out of it And those very Pleas which he Refers to have had their Answers which if they do nothing else yet certainly thus much must be allow'd to Them that they shew the Opinion of the Churches Friends to be the same that it ever was in this Particular Hitherto therefore I do not see what need there is of a Convocation or what it could do to make things better than They are But now we come to the killing Consideration and by which we are to be for ever silenced For Fourthly All these things have been countenanced by Members of our Own Church nay by some of the Clearical Order And this has given great Scandal to the Churches abroad and to Remove this Scandal and to Animadvert upon these Men a Convocation ought to be suffer'd to Meet and Act. The truth is it is a Tragical Account which our Author gives us of this Matter and of which I shall only say that I hope it is not true I will set it down in his Own Words Indeed to be plain there seems to be an Universal Conspiracy amongst a Sort of Men under the Stile of Deists Socinians Latitudinarians Denyers of Mysteries and Pretending Explainers of them to undermine and overthrow the Catholick Faith There seems too much reason to fear there is no Order Degree nor Place among us wholly free from the Infection And a Convocation Regularly Meeting and Acting freely that is according to this Gentleman's Notion Meeting with every Session of Parliament and left to its Liberty to do whatever it pleases without Check or Controul is the Greatest Fence against these Mischiefs and the most proper Instrument to Apply a Remedy Whether a Convocation be the most proper Instrument to Apply a Remedy to these Mischiefs we shall enquire by and by But I must needs say That should a Convocation be allow'd to Meet so Regularly and to Act so ' freely as some Men desire I fear it would soon appear that the Remedy was worse than the Disease But what Proof do's he bring of this Odious Conspiracy as far as the Church is concern'd in it For as for Deists Atheists and Socinians openly acting and professing themselves such I hope he would not have the Church to answer for their Profaneness Why first he tells us there is one ingenious Author who has cunningly undermined and exposed under pretence of Explaining the Mosaic History There is another in great Dignity and Preferment in the Church who has Sophistically opposed the Unity of the Godhead under pretence of Writing in Vindication of the Holy and Ever-blessed Trinity And a third has set out a Discourse concerning the Divinity and Death of Christ which he is not satisfied with Two Tracts more there are which to encrease the Churches Guilt he brings into this Number The One concerning the Reasonableness of Christianity the Other against the Mysteries of it I wonder he did not add the Notes upon Athanasius and the three Collections of Socinian Tracts and for All which he might as well have call'd the Church to answer as for These And is this at last all the Ground he has upon which so tragically to lay about him as if the Greater Part of our Bishops and Clergy were become downright
beyond all Others if not to help to Reform the World yet certainly to take Care that they do not help to make it Worse Whilst Pride and Pâ—â—vishnâ—ss Hatred and Evil-will Divisions and Discontents prevail among those who should teach and correct Others And instead of improving a true Spirit of Piety and Purity of Love and Char 〈…〉 of Peaceableness and Humility we mind little else but our several Interests and Quarrels and Contentions with one another What wonder if we see but little Success of our Ministry and are but little Regarded upon the account of it We must Reverence our Office our selves if ever we mean that others should Reverence us upon the accou 〈…〉 of it A Teacher who is an Hâ—retick iâ— any Point of Doctrine may do somewhat to Corrupt the Faith But 't is the Minister who shews himself an Infidel in his Practise that Roots up the very Foundations of Religion and prompts Men to cast off at once all Belief of it And thus have I consider'd those Evils from whence this Author has endeavour'd to shew that it is absolutely necessary a Convocation should be call'd for the Redress of them I go on 2dly To Examine what He has Offer'd to prove that nothing but a Convocation can do it And 1st The Bishops He says cannot safely proceed in Matters of Heresie because of the Danger they may Incurr thereby But this is an Argument that either really proves nothing or if it do's will prove more than He desires it should It being certain that the Convocation can no more declare Heresie or proceed any farther in the Punishment of it than any Single Bishop by Law may do What is by our Law to be accounted Heresie the Stat. of 1 Eliz. c. 1. has declared And tho' that Statute particularly Referrs to the High Commissioners yet is it by Construction a Safe Rule for all Others to proceed by As for the Punishment of it I do not find it in the least doubted but that a Bishop may proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Hereticks And certain it is that now they can Go no farther So that here then there is no such mighty Danger unless for those who would make more to be Heresie than the Law has declared so to be And if that be the Danger this Author speaks of I believe all Wise and Charitable Men will desire that they may be always lyable to it However as I before observed be the Hazzard what it will the Convocation is subject to the same Limitations that every single Bishop lies under And the One if they are too busie may as easily run into a Praemunire as the Other 2. As for the Authority of the Universities I confess it extends only to their Own Members But yet so great a Number of Those who make the chiefest Figure among Us when they are Men have commonly their Education there in those Years in which they ought to be well settled in their Principles of Religion as â—ell as in their other Notions that I cannot but account it a kind of Pâ—â—lick B 〈…〉 sit to the Church and Kingdom not only that those Great Bodies hold so Sound and Intire but that they are endued with a sufficient Power to hinder any Contagious Principles to spread within them and to infect their Members His Majesty's Authority is next excepted agaiâ—st as extending no farther than to inforce the Exercise of those Powers which says He I have already shewn and Experience proves to be too short Or clogg'd with too much Difficulty and Discouragement to attain the End we all so much want and contend for 'T is true his Majesty does not pretend to enlarge his Supremacy beyond those Bounds which the Laws of the Realm have set to it Nor has he any Need so to do The Authority of the King in all these Matters is by Law very Great and extensive And I believe few Evils can happen to the Church which may not in Good Measure be provided for by it But here our Author opens himself and gives us a broad Hint what it is He wants He would have the Bishops or rather the Convocation empower'd to determine what they please to be Heretical And when they have done so to proceed against their Own Members it not against Others accordingly By Vertue of this Power whatsoever Books were publish'd by Men whom they did not like should be censured and executed as Heretical and the Authors be obliged to a Retractation of Them And I am sometimes afraid this Gentleman do's really fancy the Convocation to have a certain Original Inherent Right in it so to do Should this be so and should there chance to be any considerable Number of his Convocation Friends of the same Opinion I shall onlâ— say 't is Happy for Them that they are not permitted to come together For certainly they would quickly undo themselves if they were It can hardly be doubted but that upon this Supposition one of the first things these Members would do would be to fall soul upon Dr. Sherlock as an Heretick Now let us only suppose the Dean to have as much Kindness for himself and Regard to his Own Reputation as we see the Men of the last Age had And that he should thereupon take the same Course to defend himself that Dr. Standish before did Who can tell what the Opinion of the Temporal Judges in such a Case might be Or what they might make of their proceeding And tho' King Henry the 8th let the Matter fall and took no farther notice of it yet should they now be deem'd to have fallen under a Praemunire by such an Attempt who will ensure them that another Prince shall not take the Advantage of it But indeed tho' when Men are Resolved to maintain an Hypothesis 't is no great matter what they affirm and in such a Case his Majesty's Authority may seem nothing to them yet I cannot imagine what a Convocation can do that the King may not as well and much more safely do in these Matters He can Forbid some Men to affect new Terms Can discourage Others who advance new Theories to the detriment of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures He can publish Rules for the Preaching of Some and Orders to Reform the Vices of Others But indeed he cannot by all this or by any thing else that He can do Oblige some Men And therefore ought the less to be blamed if he do's not trouble himself to Go out of his Way to gratifie their peevish and unreasonable Desires 4. And now we are come to the last Authority I mean that of the King and Parliament and if this also be thought Unable to do Our Business we may I think venture to Conclude that the Immoderate Passion which this Gentleman has for the sitting of a Convocation do's so Byass him that He can Approve of nothing else But why may not the Parliament be as well Qualified to put a Stop to
Magistrate has a Right to prescribe to Them the Matters on which they are to Debate It is one great End which the Prince proposes to himself in calling of such Assemblies to take their Advice in things pertaining to the Church For the Prince being the Guardian of That as well as of the State and concern'd to provide for the Welfare of the One no less than of the Other ought accordingly to have his Council with which to consult of the things pertaining to Both. Now as in Civil Matters he has his Ministers of State and the Council of his Great Men or People to advise Him how to manage his Secular Concerns so in those things which are of a pure Ecclesiastical Nature it has generally been the Method of Christian Princes to take the Opinion of their Bishops and Clergy either single or convened together as the Importance or Difficulty of Affairs and the Circumstances of Times have prompted them to do But then if this be the main End for which Synods are call'd it will follow that the Prince must have a Right not only by Vertue of his Supreme Authority but from the very Nature of the Thing it self to propose to Them the Subject on which they are to proceed It being absurd to imagine that either a Particular Person should be sent for or a Body of Men be convened on purpose to give the Prince their Advice and the Prince not be left to propose his Doubts to them and shew them wherein it is that He needs Or desires their Opinion Now the Direction of the Prince as to the Subject of the Synods Debates may be either General or Particular or it may be partly One and partly the Other Sometimes the Prince has only declared to his Clergy that he call'd them to deliberate at large either upon Matters of Faith or Matters of Discipline for the better demonstrating the Churches Doctrine and Consent in the One or for the better establishing the Exercise of the Other Sometimes the Occasion of their Meeting has been to examine some particular Controversie that has risen up to corrupt the Faith or to divide the Unity of the Church As was especially seen in the Cases of Arius and the other Hereticks on whose account the first General Councils of the Church were called And in Both these sometimes the Prince has limited their Business to the particular Consideration of that Matter alone for which they were assembled At other times he has added to it such other Incidental Affairs as he has thought fit to propose to them Or it may be has given them a General Liberty after having done their main Business to deliberate on any thing else that they should judge necessary for the Glory of God and the Good of the Church And as there is such a Variety in the Ends for which Christian Princes have been moved to call such Synods so may there be no less a Difference observed in the Ways which they have taken to communicate their Wills to them Sometimes both the Design and Subject of their Meeting have been fully set down in the Precepts which have been sent to the Bishops to require their coming together Sometimes only a Glance has in general been given in Those at their Business and the rest been reserved to be more fully open'd to them at their Convention And that also has been done sometimes by a Synodical Epistle or Commission sent to them sometimes by Word of mouth And that again either by the Prince himself if he has thought fit as oftentimes Princes have to sit with them or by some other Person whom he has deputed to declare his Will to them But how great a Variety soever there has been in the Methods that have been taken to lay open their Business to them this is certain that as the calling of such Assemblies has always depended upon the Consent and Authority of the Prince So when they were assembled the Subject of their Debates has been prescribed them by the same Power and they have deliberated on nothing but what they have been directed or Allow'd by the Prince to do When Constantine the first Christian Emperor being desirous to restore that Peace to the Church which the Heresie of Arius and the Difference between the Eastern and Western Churches about the time of keeping Easter had so dangerously broken assembled the First General Council of Nice Eusebius tells us that at the Opening of it He earnestly Exhorted the Bishops by their wise Resolutions to settle all things in Quiet and Unity And accordingly the Subject of their Debates turn'd upon those two Points and Constantine himself both assisted at Them and consented to what was resolved concerning Them When this did not prevail but that the Arian Faction was resolved at any rate to Ruine Athanasius and since they could not corrupt the Catholick Faith were determined at least to Overwhelm him who had been the main Supporter of it And in Order thereunto another Synod was obtain'd of the Emperor to meet at Tyre the same Constantine not only prescribed them their Business viz. to examine into the Dissensions of the Churches of Aegypt but sent Dionysius in his own stead to be present at their Assemblies and to take care that his Orders were in all things observed by them And the same was the Method which Constantius his Son observed as to these Matters As is evident from his Management of the Great Synod of Arminum in which above 400 Bishops were by his Order Assembled He commanded Them in the first place to debate the Matter of Faith then to judge the Causes of those Bishops who complain'd that they had been unjustly either deposed or banished After that to Examine the Crimes laid to the Charge of certain Others And lastly having done what he had commanded Them to do to send a certain number of their Body to Him to account to Him what had been resolved by Them But above all most plain was that Authority which the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian shew'd in this particular at the General Council of Ephesus They not only declared at large to the Fathers the Cause of their Meeting in the Letters of Summons which they sent to the several Metropolitans But when they were met together they sent a Synodical Epistle to them by Candidian and appointed him to preside over Them in their stead both to preserve a due Freedom of Voting and Debating among them and also not to suffer them to enter upon any Other Matter till they had first come to a Resolution in that for which they were called together And when Candidian reported to the Emperors that the Bishops had not stuck so closely as they Ought to their Prescription The Emperors not only severely reproved Them for their Presumption but annull'd their Acts and commanded them to have a better Regard both to the Business and Method which They had Laid before Them