Jane had the Majority of Voices yet great endeavours were used to prefer the Dean whose Party having argued much for it but saw themselves overcome did at last yeild to the Election of Dr. Jane the Votes for him being double to the others The first thing that was done in the Convocation after the chusing the Prolocutor was Decemb. 4th when the Commission from the King was read there being present twelve Bishops the Commission was as follows WIlliam and Mary by the Grace of GOD King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith c. To all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas in and by one Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Reciting That whereas the King 's Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy of this Realm of England had not only acknowledged according to the Truth that the Convocation of the same Clergy were always had been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty had promised in Verbo Sacerdotis that they would never from thenceforth presume to Attempt Alledge Claim or put in Ure or Enact Promulge or Execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or others or by whatsoever other Name they should be called in the Convocation unless the said King's most Royal Assent and License might to them be had to Make Promulge and Execute the same and that the said King did give his Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf It was therefore Enacted by the Authority of the said Parliament according to the said Submission and Petition of the said Clergy among other things That they nor any of them from thenceforth should Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever Name they might be called in their Convocations in time coming which always should be Assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ unless the same Clergy might have the King 's most Royal Assent and License to Make Promulge and Execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodal upon Pain of every one of the said Clergy doing contrary to the said Act and being thereof Convict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fines at the King 's Will. And further by the said Act it is Provided That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances should be Made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocations of the Clergy which should be contrariant or repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in the said Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding And lastly It is also Provided by the said Act That such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial which then were already made and which then were not contrariant or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the Damage or Hurt of the King's Prerogative Royal should then still be Used and Executed as they were before the making of the said Act until such time as they should be Viewed Searched or otherwise Ordered and Determin'd by the Persons mentioned in the said Act or the most part of them according to the Tenor Form and Effect of the said Act as by the said Act among divers other things more fully and at large it doth and may appear And whereas the particular Forms of Divine Worship and Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being Things of their own Nature Indifferent and Alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigency of Times and Occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in Place and Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient And whereas the Book of Canons is fit to be Reviewed and made more suitable to the State of the Church And whereas there are divers Defects and Abuses in the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdictions and particularly there is not sufficient Provision made for the removing of Scandalous Ministers and for the Reformation of Manners either in Ministers or People And whereas it is most fit that there should be a strict Method prescribed for the Examination of such Persons as desire to be admitted into Holy Orders both as to their Learning and Manners Know ye That We for divers urgent and weighty Causes and Considerations Us thereunto moving of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion have by Vertue of Our Prerogative Royal and Supream Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical Given and Granted and by these Presents do give and grant full free and lawful Liberty License Power and Authority into the Right Reverend Father in GOD Henry Lord Bishop of London President of this Present Convocation for the Province of Canterbury upon the Suspension of the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury during this present Parliament now Assembled and in his Absence to such other Bishops as shall be appointed President thereof and to the rest of the Bishops of the same Province and to all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-Deacons Chapters and Colledges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province That they the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation and the rest of the Bishops and other the said Clergy of this present Convocation within the said Province of Canterbury or the greatest number of them whereof the President of the said Convocation to be always one shall and may from time to time during this present Parliament Confer Treat Debate Consider Consult and Agree of and upon such Points Matters Causes and Things as We from time to time shall Propose or cause to be proposed by the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation comercing Alterations and Amendments of the Liturgy and Canons and Orders Ordinances and Constitutions for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Courts for the Removing of Scandalous Ministers for the Reformation of Manners either in Ministers or People and for the Examination of such Persons as desire to be admitted into Holy Orders and all such other Points Causes and Matters as We shall think Necessary and Expedient for advancing the Honour and Service of Almighty GOD the Good and Quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof And we do also by these Presents Give and Grant unto the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Covocation and to the rest of the Bishops of the said Province of Canterbury and unto all Deans of Cathedral Churches Arch-Deacons Chapters and Colledges and the whole Clergy of every several Diocess within the said Province full free and lawful Liberty License Power and Authority That they the said Lord Bishop of London or other President of the said Convocation and the rest of the said Bishops and other the Clergy of the same
hold their Synods or Sacred Assemblies to deliberate and consult of things belonging to the Church constituted in that Province And p. 22. All such Churches by their Synods have power to make Laws as they shall judge expedient for the better Administration of the Publick Worship of God and of his Word and Sacraments within their Province otherwise it could not well be that any Provincial or National Church should long subsist or be at peace And p. 23. Moreover it belongs to all the Churches of God to establish by Ecclesiastical Penalties such Canons by them made lest any thing contrary to them should be without Impunity committed Object But our Divisions had almost betrayed us to Popery and Slavery for prevention of which danger for the future it is adviseable as much as may be to inlarge the Terms of our Communion Ans But who betrayed us to those Divisions were they not such as causelesly separated from us and were more ready to joyn with the common Enemy of the Protestant Religion though they call'd themselves true Protestants than with the Church of England Whereof he that wrote the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon of Separation gave an Account and even dared the Opponents to call him to the proof of it viz. That Dr. Owen c. were entertain'd as Pensioners to the late King and by him encouraged to continue our Divisions by which the Papists got great advantages against us And whereto tended the flattering and fulsom Addresses of the Sectaries to the late King to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes and to obey him without Reserve but to continue those Divisions and foment those Seeds of Discord which were grown up and ripen'd almost for the Harvest to cut us all down and utterly destroy us And what if some leading Presbyterians be by our Alterations let into the Church and advanced to such Preferments as they hope for to be Bishops Deans Arch-deacons c. what security have we that they will not promote Divisions in the Church more dangerous than the Schism they made by Separation from us as some Bishops and others that had been sour'd with that Leaven being preferred in the Reign of Charles the Second did attempt A secret Enemy within the Walls of a well Fortified City is more dangerous than an open Foe in the Field I have read in the Life of Judge Hales written by the present Bishop of Sarum p. 71. That there was a Bill for Comprehension contrived by Bishop Wilkins Sir Orlando Bridgman and that Judge which though it contained more reasonable Terms than what are now proposed as I have been informed for the Admission of some Dissenters into our Communion yet it was opposed by the Clergy because they thought a Faction within the Church would prove to be more hurtful than a Schism without it And when one Party was let in upon Terms not perhaps unreasonable another Party upon other Terms less reasonable would solicite their Admission And it was objected That as some might come in so others that were in our Communion might take Offence by the Alterations and desert it and seeing our frequent Changes in some things they might suppose that there is nothing certain among us and from the many Disputes about our Liturgy proceed to question our Articles and at last fall off to the Church of Rome which they saw more constant to their Principles For which and other reasons the Bill was cast out by the Votes of the House of Commons with whom the same Considerations may still prevail And now let the Men that are given to Change produce those weighty and important Reasons required in the Preface to the Common-Prayer or that great Necessity which Dr. Beveredge requires for the Alteration even of incommodious Laws Is it necessary that an honest Man should voluntarily resign his Freehold to a litigious Person who neither desires nor deserves it and perhaps would improve the possession of it to his ruine Is it necessary that a Parent should yeild to a disobedient Child upon his own unreasonable terms Is it necessary that a good Man should accuse bear false witness against and condemn and execute himself and be a Felo de se Is it necessary that the Citizens should suffer a breach to be made in their Wall to give advantage to an Enemy when they are ready to open their Gates to let in any that offers a reasonable assurance that he is a Friend Is there any necessity to Reform that Church which is conseft to be the best Reformed Church in the World that Church to whose Pattern all the rest do desire and only want power and opportunity to conform their own Is it necessary we should do more for those who wilfully departed from us and as our Saviour intimates Not being content to be with us were against us than we have done for those forreign Protestants Men of great Learning and tender Consciences who voluntarily offer themselves to our Communion without insisting on any Terms with us Is it necessary that a Church in which all things necessary to Salvation may be freely enjoyed should accuse herself of want of Christian Charity and of imposing such sinful Terms for admitting others into her Communion as were purposely designed to keep them out and afterward voluntarily cast off those things and thereby confess themselves guilty of so great Uncharitableness Is it necessary that a Church which hath Authority to judge for itself what is decent and orderly should subject herself to the Judgment of her Members to determine for her or themselves what is decent and expedient and what is not especially when the Exception from Obedience to the Church in such things ought to be as evident and unquestionable as the Command to obey them in such Matters is Is it necessary that we should give greater Offence to the Papists from coming into our Communion now in this juncture of time by our Variableness and Defect of the Solemnity of Publick Worship which hitherto they have objected against us Is it necessary we should part with any thing to them whom we have reason to suspect that they will not leave craving till they have all When all these things are proved to be necessary then shall we be ready to make Alterations in our Ceremonies and other Circumstances if the Dissenters will be content to let us injoy what is substantial and necessary to the well-being of our Church In the mean time we shall account our selves Happy in the number of those English-men that know when they are well REFLECTIONS ON A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Ecclesiastical Commission SIR I Have also conferred with my Brethren concerning a Book intituled A Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission 1689. Of which we shall not say so much as the Author doth of a former Commission for the like affair viz. That he never entertain'd a good Opinion of it We only remark that this Author hath laid the foundation which he
tend more certainly and speedily to its Confusion than that out of the Church And this Schism is already in being and will not be remedied tho' all the Ceremomonies should be taken away it is therefore very imprudent causlesly to begin another Schism in the Church especially when it is not so much Conscience as Scruple and Prejudice on which the Dissenters dislike our Ceremonies for when for their Interest and enjoyment of beneficial Offices they were required to conform to the Publick Worship they did it notwithstanding the Use of Ceremonies and I know few of them who are not willing that their Children and Relations should conform for their advantage and therefore I shall not trouble the Reader with his impracticable Idea's for Accommodation and only say That more than what he proposeth hath been offered for an Accommodation but refused and that not without scorn Page 9. He comes to the business of Reordination and says They that have been Ordained by Presbyters though they are not against Episcopal Orders yet think it unlawful to renounce them and to be Reordained Answ This he confesseth to be against a late Act of Parliament yet in force which hath provided That none are to be admitted to Officiate in the Church of England without Episcopal Ordination for which reason if there were no other I cannot see how any Member of the Convocation can consent to it The first Reason which the Letter gives for it is That it was not so before Answ It was ever so in the Church of England except in some extraordinary Cases where Ordination by Bishops could not be had as in the Case of the three Scottish Bishops but here the Case is altered there being Bishops ready to give Orders ever since 1660 wherefore such as have been Ordained by Presbyters since that time may be said to do it in Contempt of their Authority in that Case nor were those that were Ordained before that time deprived of an opportunity to take their Orders from the Hands of a Bishop there being some still ready to confer them and many in the preceding Years did accept of those Orders from Bishops which argues that such as did not refuse it in Contempt or for their Preferment which was denyed to some because they had been Episcopally Ordained but the main Argument may be taken from Dr. Beveridge's Text 1 Cor. 11.16 If any Man seem to be contentious we have no such Custom neither the Churches of God for search all the Ecclesiastical Records and you will find that except in case of great necessity no Ordination hath ever been accounted valid but such as hath been administred by the Hands of a Bishop and if any did contest it they have been branded as contentious Persons This Country-Minister therefore assumes too much to himself to prescribe to the Convocation in so material a Point and urge Arguments for it when the Commissioners were only to prepare Materials for the Convocation to determine of But he pleads farther p. 10. Quod fieri non debuit factum valet Though it ought not to be done yet being done it is valid This is denied because both those Presbyters that gave it and these who received it were guilty of a Schism as much then as now for the Practice is still continued Episcopal Ordination being still to be had without any considerable difficulty And the Author grants that St. Hierome tho' pleading the Cause of Presbyters against Bishops yet grants that it was the sole Prerogative and distinguishing Character of that Order viz. of Bishops to Ordain His words are Quid enim non faciat Presbyter quod facit Episcopus excepta Sola Ordinatione And therefore the Salvo's which he makes for the sake of some particular persons against the constant practice of the Universal Church and particularly against the Law of the Land cannot be excused from being a Plea for the present Schism and the perpetuating thereof such Ordinations being still practised Page 12. He speaks concerning Declarations and Subscriptions the result whereof is That he perswades himself and I think he will not perswade many others besides those who already stand out that what is generally understood by those Subscriptions and Declarations ought to be more plainly expressed For if it be generally so understood already as he would have it what need is there to have it more plainly expressed viz. That the former i. e. the Declaration of Assent and Consent is to the Vse of the Common-Prayer the latter viz. Subscription to the Articles is as to Articles of Peace and Concord which he says is the Sense of Archbishop Laud as he understands it against Fisher p. 51. n. 2. And without doubt that of Archbishop Bramhall Schism guarded S. 1. C. 11 c. and Mr. Chilingworth's Answer to Charity Maintained But yet to maintain Schism and Contention he forms a Case after this manner Suppose a young Student not a Dissenter thinks of entring into Holy Orders and considering what he is to do meets first with the Declaration of his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer among which he finds that the Apocrypha is to be read Of this Scruple we have spoken already Then he proceeds to the Psalms and comparing the two Translations finds some things inconsistent and sometimes the one to deny what the other affirms Ans And this Case hath been already seanned but to omit nothing of his Objections he adds That this young Man finds in the two Translations some things inconsistent and the one to deny what the other affirms and being to use both in the Desk he reads as Psal 105.28 They were not obedient to his word and in the Pulpit with the Hebrew and the new Translations he reads They rebelled not against his word To this I answer First There are many seeming Inconsistencies and Contradictions in that which he calls the Correct Translation namely from the Hebrew which have occasioned the writing of divers Books for the reconciling of them and none but such as are disposed to Atheism are offended at them 2dly This is such a Blunder as none but a Man wholly given to Contention and is able to read the Resolutions of Learned Men could be guilty of had he consulted but Mr. P.'s Synopsis on the place that the words LoMaru admits of an Interrogation and that is a vehement affirmation then the sence of this Translation Did they not rebel is as much as they did rebel against his word which is the same with the other Translation viz. They were not obedient or they rebelled against his word thus the Hebrew Translation agrees with the Septuagint And of this among other instances Mr. Poole gives one Exod. 8.26 we read will they not stone us when without the Interrogation it would have been translated They would not have stoned us but the Septuagint also agrees well with the Hebrew Translation for the