Hereticks were privily got into England He commanded a Council of Bishops to meet at Oxford and to call them before them And being accordingly Convicted by them they were publickly punish'd by the Civil Power By whose Authority the next Convention of the Clergy was assembled the year following it do's not appear Certain it is that in the Election of the Archbishop of Canterbury for which they met all was managed to the King 's content and the person chose whom He recommended to them After the death of Becket Richard Archbishop of Canterbury held a Provincial Council At this the two Kings both Father and Son were present and all things were done not only under their Inspection but the very Council was held with their Consent and Good Will And the King with his Lords confirm'd the Decrees of it How these matters flood in the next Reign it will not be very easie to say In which the King was for the most part absent upon his Expedition to the Holy Land and by the means whereof the Affairs of the Kingdom suffered not a little at Home Yet Baldwyn the Archbishop designing to accompany the King before he set out assembled a Provincial Synod to settle the State of the Church and to take such care as he thought needfull to secure the Liberties of his See It was not long after that William Bishop of Eli held another Synod at Westminster But He being endued with the double Character both of Lord Justice of the Kingdom in Richard's Absence and of the Pope's Legate as we cannot tell by which Authority He called it so neither can it be doubted but that between Both he had a sufficient Authority so to do And the same was the Case of Hubert after Who being empower'd both by the King and Pope assembled a Synod at York Presided in it and made many useful Constitutions for the Government of the Church Thus stood the Affairs of our Convocations in these two Reigns We must now go on to another prospect to a Reign in which thro' the ill Circumstances of the Government and the Troubles that fell out by the means of it the Pope according to his Custom made farther Invasions upon the Prince's Right and at last rais'd up his Authority to the highest pitch that ever it arrived at in this Kingdom The King being absent upon his Affairs in France and Hubert still enjoying his Legatine Power by Vertue thereof call'd a Synod to Westminster Anno 1200 And tho' forbidden by Geoffry Earl of Essex whom the King had left as Lord Justice of England during his Absence yet nevertheless went on with it and made several Constitutions in it It was about six years after that Jo. Ferentinus being sent as Legate into England and having got together a vast Quantity of Money held a Synod at Redding and so took his leave of the Realm From henceforth all things began to run into Confusion The King Obstinately opposing the admission of Stephen Langton to the See of Canterbury and the Pope thereupon putting the Kingdom under an Interdict and at last Excommunicating the King himself But it was not long before the Pope and the King came to an Agreement dishonourable to Himself and derogatory to the Rights both of the Crown and Kingdom Insomuch that Stephen himself Opposed it and joyn'd himself to the Barons against both Pope and King in defence of his Countries Liberties It was upon this new Agreement between the King and Pope that John doing what He would with the Preferments of the Church the Archbishop held a Council at Dunstable Anno 1214 And deputed two of their number to go to the Legate whom the Pope on that Occasion had sent hither to stop both His and the King's Proceedings by putting in an Appeal against Them Both to the Court of Rome And the same year the said Legate having received full satisfaction from the King and being therefore to Relax the Sentence which had pass'd both upon Him and the Kingdom that He might do it with the more Pomp caused a solemn Council to be held at St. Paul's London and there Released the Realm from its Interdict and Restored the King to his Royal Authority And here we must put an End to these Enquiries during this troublesome Reign For from henceforth the Kingdom was in a continual disorder in the midst of which the King at last died But tho' by the Wise Management of the Earl of Pembrook his Governour King Kenry the 3d. soon brought things into a better posture in the State yet still the Usurpations were maintain'd in the Church and the Archbishop as Legate continued to Summon the Clergy to his Synod So did Stephen Langton Anno 1222 In which He held his famous Synod at Oxford and publish'd those Constitutions which still pass under his Name About four years after Otto the Legate coming hither to enlarge the Pope's Revenues before too great in this Kingdom held a Council at Westminster the day after Hilary and proposed to the Clergy the project upon which He came To avoid the design He had upon them the Bishops made answer that the King being indisposed was Absent and several of their Brethren were not come to the Synod and so they could Resolve upon nothing for want of Them The Legate who understood the meaning of this proposed to them that They should at least Agree to another Meeting about Mid-lent and he would undertake that the King should come to it But the Bishops replied That without the Consent of the King and their Brethren who were absent they could not Agree to any such Proposal And the King Himself forbad all who held any Baronies of Him to do any thing in prejudice of His Rights So zealous were these Men for the King's Prerogative when they needed it to guard them against the Encroachments of the Pope And so little do Men value how differently they behave themselves when their interests lead them to shift their Party and their Opinions But tho' the King now joyn'd with his Clergy against the Pope yet it was not very long before He himself invited the same Otho to come again as Legate into England Who being accordingly come hither held a Legantine Council at St. Paul's London in the Octaves of St. Martins to Reform the abuses of Pluralities and some other Enormities that were crept into the Church And there proposed his Constitutions to the Clergy that so by their Suffrage and Consent they might be establish'd for the Reformation of the State of the Church of England I insist not upon the two fresh Attempts that were made by this Legate upon the Clergy for Money and in Both which He was constantly refused by Them As was also Rustandus who succeeded him and by the like authority call'd another Synod to fleece the Clergy for the Pope's Advantage About three years after Boniface
is a Convocation that for many years past has had no Existence And the Convocation of which we are now disputing is quite another thing Is summon'd by another kind of Writ and consisted of another sort of Persons As by comparing the ancient Writs of both may evidently be discern'd So that this invincible Argument has one terrible defect in it that whether it could otherwise be answer'd or not yet 't is evidently nothing at all to the purpose But here our Author objects against himself That once upon a time the Archbishop call'd a Synod by his Own Authority without the King's License and was thereupon prohibited by Fitz-herbert Lord Chief Justice but the Archbishop regarded not his Prohibition What this is to his purpose I cannot tell nor do I see wherefore he brought it in unless it were to blame Rolls for quoting Speed for it And therefore in behalf of Both I shall take the liberty to say thus much That I know not what harm it is for a Man in his Own private Collections for such Rolls's Abridgment was tho' afterwards thought worthy of a publick View to note a memorable passage of History and make a Remark of his Own upon it Out of one of the most faithfull and judicious of all our Modern Historians I have before taken notice of this passage and that not from Speed but from Roger Hoveden from whom I suppose Speed may also have taken the Relation I shall therefore only beg leave to set this Gentleman to whom all our Historians are I doubt equally unknown right in two particulars by telling him that neither was Fitz-herbert the Man who prohibited the Archbishop nor was he Chief Justice when he did it His Name was Geoffrey Fitz-Peter He was Earl of Essex and a very Eminent Man in those days And his Place was much greater than this Author represents it even Lord Justice of England which he was first made by King Richard Anno 1198. And held in the King's absence to his death Anno 1213 In which year K. John going over into France constituted Peter Bishop of Winchester Lord Justice in his Place And now we are come to a low Ebb indeed the description of the Convocation as it stands in our Law-Dictionaries and that too like all the rest nothing to the purpose The Convocation is by them described to be a meeting of the Clergy in Parliament-time And some there were in the Long Parliament of 1641 who thought it could not lawfully be held but while the Parliament sate Well what follows Why therefore the Convocation has a Right to sit and act as often as the Parliament meets For a close Reasoner let this Author alone In the mean time I have before shewn that tho' the Convocation be Summon'd together with the Parliament yet it may sit when the Parliament do's not And we are like to have a hopefull time of it to answer such proofs where there is neither Law in the Antecedent nor Reason in the Consequence These then are the Arguments which this Author has offer'd to establish his first assertion namely That the Convocation has a Right to sit and act not only upon all such Occasions as the Necessities of the Church or Realm require it should but generally and without regard to any thing there is for them to do as often as the Parliament is Assembled I proceed II dly To consider What he has alledged for his Other Position Viz. That being met they have no need of any License from the King to empower them to act but may conferr debate and make Canons and do any other Synodical business which they think fit by their Own Authority And that either no Commission at all is needfull to enable them to do this or that if there be it ought of Course to be granted to Them In order whereunto I must in the first place observe that those who affirm that the King's License is necessary to warrant the Convocation to act do not sound their Opinion either upon the Power he has to assemble it or upon the Form of the Writ by which he Summons Them tho' that do's plainly seem to imply that some such Commission is to be expected from him But either first in General Upon that supreme Authority which Every Christian Prince as such has in Ecclesiastical Matters And by vertue whereof whenever they have admitted their Clergy to meet in Synods they have still prescribed to them the Rules by which they were to proceed in Them Or else 2dly In Particular Upon the Statute of the 25 Hen. VIII which has expressly declared this Power to belong to the King and forbidden the Clergy to presume to act Otherwise than in subordination thereunto But against this our Author excepts For first Is the Case be so Then is the Convocation an Assembly to little or no purpose whatsoever If their Tongues be entirely at the King's Will 't is improper to give their Resolutions any Title but the King's Rules and Ordinances They are to all intents and purposes His upon whose Will not only their Meeting but their very Debating depends In answer whereunto I reply First That either there is really no Inconvenience in all this Or if there be it follows not from what I am now asserting For certain it is that this was the Case of the most General and famous Councils that were ever held in the Church And which were not only call'd by the Emperour's Authority but being met acted intirely according to their prescription But indeed I cannot perceive that any of those hard things this Author so much complains of do at all follow from this supposition For what tho' the King do's propose to them the Subject of their Debates What they are to consult about and draw up their Resolutions upon Are They not still free to deliberate conferr resolve for all that Will not their Resolutions be their Own because the King declared to them the General Matter upon which they were to consult Is a Counsellor at Law of no use or has he no freedom of Opinion because his Client puts his Case to Him Or do's our Law unsitly call the Answer of a Petit-Jury its Verdict because the Judge Summ'd up the Evidence to them and directed them not only upon what points but from what proof they were to Raise it What strange Notions of things must a Man have who argues at such a Rate as this And might upon as good Grounds affirm the Parliament its self not to be free as he has deny'd the Convocation to be so because that in the main parts of their Debates That also is as much tho' not so necessarily directed by the King in what He would have them consult about I have insisted the more upon this particular because it is one of the most popular Arguments he has offer'd in defence of his Opinion tho' alas 't
desire to Understand than the Laws and Antiquities of the Country in which I live but especially of the Church in which I minister And I am not a little pleas'd to see that there are at this time so many Persons of Excellent Parts no less addicted to these Researches and much better Able to pursue them than I am It may possibly be some provocation to One or Other of These to give us a more perfect Account of the present Subject to see how little is here done in it The Argument certainly deserves Consideration and I heartily wish it a better Hand and a better Head too than any that has yet appear'd upon it In the following Treatise having first stated the Subject I was to go upon and settled the Method I thought most proper to be observed in the prosecution of it I in the next place go on to lay the Foundation of what I had to say with Reference to our own Laws and Constitutions upon the Practice and Opinions of the Antient Church and of all the Christian Countries round about us for above 800 years after Christ. I consider'd that the Church of England beyond most Churches in the World has a peculiar Veneration for the Discipline as well as Doctrine of the Primitive Church And I thought it would be no small Evidence of my good Intentions towards it upon this Occasion to shew that I pretended to nothing in behalf of our own Kings but what the Bishops and Clergy from the fourth Century downwards had readily allow'd to their Emperours And what all Other Christian Princes continued to Enjoy till the Papal Authority prevail'd over Them and deprived them of that Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters which They originally had and to which the Reformation has again so justly restored them And now having laid so good a Foundation I thought I might proceed the more freely to Enquire into the Case of our own Country and see what Authority the King of England has over his Convocations and by what Law or Custom he enjoys that Authority In this I was forc'd to confine myself within the time of the Reformation because it was about the Beginning of that that Our Kings were restored to their Supremacy in this as well as in other matters or at least had their Authority more solemnly recognized by the Clergy and established by the Parliament than ever it had been before But lest such a Supremacy as this should seem to depend rather upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament than to be derived from that Original Power in Ecclesiastical Causes which belongs to all Christian Princes and to Ours as well as to any and which was Exercised by them many Ages before any Statute was made to intitle them thereunto Having shewn what the Law as to these matters now is I thought it might not be amiss to enlarge my Enquiry and to see how the Case has stood in this particular from the first Conversion of the Saxons to the time wherein I began my former Disquisition And upon search I found and I think have plainly made it appear that the Authority I here assert to the King is no other than what our most antient Princes till about 1100 years after Christ continued to exercise and even then claim'd a Right too when they were not any longer permitted to excercise it If in pursuing of this Enquiry through so many past Ages I have sometimes taken the liberty to fill up those Vacancies which through the want of Materials proper for such an Undertaking often fall in my way with Reflections a little foreign to my proper Business I hope it will not be taken for any great Offence in a Work of this Nature especially considering that my very Digressions are rather not directly to the purpose of my present Subject than altogether distant from it As for the remainder of my discourse which is spent in Answering the Letter to a Convocation-man I shall only say thus much that I have not designedly either over-look'd any of its Arguments or made an imperfect much less a false Representation of them I have examined every thing that seem'd considerable enough to be taken notice of and I hope have fully answered what I have examined I am not aware that in doing of this I have given my Adversary any hard Treatment tho' I cannot but say He has taken care oftentimes to deserve it But I thought it unreasonable to be guilty of that my self which I look'd upon to have been a fault in Him 'T is true I have all along spoken my mind with great freedom and where I sound any thing amiss have not stuck to own it tho'it seemed to reflect upon those of my own Order Till Clergy-men cease to be Men they will be guilty not only of Follies and Imprudencies but of Sins too as well as others and to what purpose should I dissemble that which whether it be confess'd or not all the World knows to be but too True Were our Faults so private that to allow of them were to publish them I am sure no One should be more careful to hide them than I would be But I cannot conceive it to be either for the Credit or Interest of the Church to dissemble those Vices which those who Commit them take no Care to Conceal If any one should be so unreasonable as to take occasion from hence to think hardly of our Profession or to be scandalized at our Religion for the Faults of those who minister in It I would only desire them to consider that we live in an unhappy Age and make up a large Number of Men and it can hardly be thought but that where so many thousands wait at the Altar some there should be who are much fitter to be cast out of the Church than to officiate in it In the mean time God be thanked Many there are who are as Eminent for their Piety as some others are Notorious for their Irregularities and this Advantage they ought to have to recommend our Religion beyond what the others should have to defame it that these live agreeably to the Rules of their Holy Profession whereas the others must be confess'd to have scandalously departed from them To conclude the following Treatise as it was truly intended for the Service of the Church of England so I hope it may be of some Use to many in it At least it will satisfie Those who have taken Offence at the Letter here examined that it speaks not the Sense of All if of any of our Clergy And shew that many there be who no less disapprove the Assertions of this Author than they are justly offended at his Bold and Scandalous Reflections THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE Design of the following Treatise with a short Account of the Method that is proposed to be observed in the Prosecution of it The Order of the Questions proposed in the Letter to a Convocation man changed and an Enquiry design'd to
That if a Canon-Law be against the Law of the Land the Bishop ought to Obey the Commandment of the King according to the Law of the Land Now these two Things being supposed and in which the Law at the present cannot be doubted to be very clear That no Acts of Convocation can be put in Execution or be promulged in Order to a Publick Observance without the King's Licence And that the King's Licence cannot give the Convocation any Authority to promulge or execute any Canons but what are Agreeable to the Laws and Customs of the Realm it must of Necessity follow 1st That the King has not only a Right to Review the Acts of Every such Convocation but ought moreover to submit Them to the Examination of his Learned Council in the Law That so he may the more securely be able to judge Whether they be Consistent with the Laws of his Realm and by Consequence capable of receiving any Enforcement from Him Forasmuch as it would be not only too Rash and Unseemly but even a Vain Thing for the King to expose his Prerogative by undertaking to give Authority to that which by being contrary to the Laws already Establish'd has such a natural defect in its Original Constitution as will not suffer it to be Capable of Any 2dly That notwithstanding the Resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation yet still the King is to remain the last Judge not only of the Lawfulness but of the Expediency too of their Constitutions and has Authority either to Ratifie or Reject Them as He with the Advice of his Council shall think Them either Usefull or Otherwise to the Church When His Majesty gave Liberty to our last Convocation to consider of the several Points which in his Commission he proposed to Them and permitted Them to draw into Forms Rules Orders Ordinances Constitutions and Canons such Matters as to Them should seem Necessary and Expedient for the Purposes which He had before proposed to Them and the same being set down in Writing from time to time to Exhibit and Deliver or to Cause to be Exhibited and Delivered to Him He thus goes on to declare what was to be done after such their Resolutions should be delivered in by Them To the End that We as Occasion shall Require may thereupon have the Advice of our Parliament and that such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things as shall be thought Requisite and Convenient by our said Parliament may be presented to us in due Form for Our Royal Assent if upon Mature Consideration thereof We shall think sit to Enact the same And from whence it appears to have been His Majesty's Intention had that Convocation proceeded to any Resolutions to have submitted the Examination of their Acts not only to his Parliament but that being done to have Reserved the final Judgment of Them to his Own Consideration And we cannot doubt but that it was upon the best Advice of his Learned Council in the Law that He so Intended But more full and express to this purpose is the Commission of King Charles the First to the Convocation of 1640 before mentioned Wherein having granted the same Liberty we here meet with to his Clergy To set down in Writing and to Exhibit or Cause to be Exhibited to Him All and Every the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things to be by Them from time to time Conferr'd Treated Debated Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon He adds To the end that We upon mature Consideration by Us to be taken thereupon may Allow Approve Confirm and Ratifie or Otherwise Disallow Annihilate and Make Void such and so many of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted and Agreed upon as We shall think Fit Requisite and Convenient But this is not yet all In the close of his Commission he again Reserves to Himself the same Power in these Remarkable Words Provided always and our Express Will Pleasure and Commandment is That the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Matters Causes and Things or Any of Them so to be by force of These Presents Consider'd Consulted or Agreed upon shall not be of Any Force Effect or Validity in the Law but only such and so many of Them and after such time as We by our Letters Patent under our Great Seal of England shall Allow Approve and Confirm the same These are the Limitations under which that Convocation Acted and from which these three Conclusions will Unavoidably follow 1st That the King by granting the Convocation license to consider and draw up any Canons Orders or Constitutions or to determine any Matters or Causes do's not give them any final decisive Power of Concluding those affairs but Empowers them only to deliver their Judgment to Him which He may either Approve or Reject as He shall afterwards see Cause to do 2dly That in determining concerning their Resolutions He is not obliged either to Approve and Confirm or else to Reject and Annihilate ALL that they have done but may judge distinctly of Every particular Point or Matter debated by Them and severally pass his judgment upon Them May give Force and Authority to some things and at the same time make Void and disallow of Others And this 3dly Not only upon his Own private judgment or upon the Advice of any select persons of his Clergy tho' it be a matter Ecclesiastical but with the advice of his Council who by his Command are also Empowred to judge of what the Convocation has done and whose Opinion if He approves of it He may preferr to that of his Clergy But we will go on with the History of this Convocation and see how these several Conclusions may be yet farther clear'd and confirm'd by it When by Vertue of this Commission the Convocation had drawn up such Canons and agreed upon such Orders as to them seem'd most proper to answer the Ends proposed by the King to Them We are told by His Majesty in His Declaration of June 30th following that according to His direction They had Offered and Presented the same to Him desiring Him to give His Royal Assent to what They had done Now as hereby they plainly acknowledged His Majesty to have all that Authority as to this matter which in His Commission he had pretended to so we find the King still proceeded according to the same measures he had first laid down to the Ratification of what they presented to Him For thus the Declaration goes on We having diligently with great Content and Comfort Read and Consider'd all the said Orders Ordinances and Constitutions agreed upon as is before express'd And finding the same such as We are persuaded will be very profitable not only to Our Clergy but to the whole Church of this Our Kingdom and to All the true Members
Enormities have broke out and there being none to suppress them they have by an evil Custom grown to too great a Height To which the King answer'd Of this I will determine when I see fit and that at my own Pleasure not at yours And he kept his word with him For during his whole Reign there was no Ecclesiastical Synod held in England But what this King deny'd the next readily complied with For in the second Year of his Reign he consented to the desire of Anselm to call a Synod and accordingly at Michaelmas Anno 1102 a Convocation met in St. Peter's Church near London At this Synod not only the King but all his Nobles were present The Archbishop desiring they might be fully satisfied in the Orders which should be made to the end they might the more readily afterwards concurr with the Bishops in the enforcement of them For so the Iniquity of those times required in which for want of Synods Vice was grown to an extraordinary heigth and the Fervour of Christianity was much abated It was a long time after this before any other Ecclesiastical Synod was held in this Country but then there met one of an extraordinary Nature and which I must take particular notice of because that in it was made the first considerable Invasion upon the Princes Authority as to this matter in these parts Pope Honorius having appointed Jo. de Crema to go as his Legat into England he met the King in Normandy and after having been stop'd for some time by him managed his business so well as to obtain the King's Permission to come over hither Being arrived here he assembled a National Council by his Legatine Authority Anno 1125. And the method He took of doing of it is worth our Notice It being the first Instance we have of any thing of this nature that was Attempted here The Legate assuming to Himself the King's Prerogative commands the Archbishop of Canterbury to Issue out his Writ for the Calling of it This the Archbishop was forced to submit to yet being desirous to maintain his Own Authority as well as He could He drew up the Writ in these Words William c. Archbishop of Cant. to Urban Bishop of Landaff Health I signifie to you by this Letter that John Cardinal Priest and Legat of the Roman Church has by Our Order and Connivance design'd to Hold a Council at London the day of the Blessed Virgin 's Nativity Wherefore I Command you that at the Time and Place prefix'd you fail not to meet us with the Arch-deacons Abbots and Priors of your Diocess to Determine concerning Certain Ecclesiastical Affairs and to Reform or Correct what the Sentence of Our said Convocation shall agree is to be Reformed or Corrected The Council being thus Assembled the Legate presided in it He sate not only above the Archbishop and Bishops but above all the Nobility of England who came thither By this Pride of his he raised the Indignation of the whole Realm against Him And being caught in Bed with a Whore at Night after having bitterly inveighed against the Marriage of the Clergy the day before He was forced to leave the Kingdom in a very dishonourable Manner But tho' the Archbishop therefore did what he could to assert his Authority yet he was not without a very tender sense of the Assront that had been put upon Him To prevent the like for the future instead of maintaining the Rights of his See and the Privileges of his Country and in both which our Nobility would certainly have stood by Him He applied to Rome for a Legatine Power to be Granted to him and so unhappily brought both the Kingdom and his own Dignity under a greater Servitude Being return'd from Rome with his New Character Anno 1127. He the same Year held a Council not as Archbishop but as the Pope's Legate the first of the Kind that ever any Archbishop held in England To this was gather'd besides the Bishops a great Croud both of the Clergy and of the Laity But these were spectators only the Bishops alone Voted in it And all the Power the King was now allowâ—â— was after having heard what was defined by Them to Consent to it and to give leave to them to put in execution what had been as we see determined by Them But tho' the Clergy by this means began to get Ground upon this Prince yet it was not very long before he found out a way to be even with Them and that such a One as was very Gratefull to his Close and Thrifty disposition For about three years after having Observed how little the Decrees of the late Councils had prevailed to Oblige the Clergy to Abandon their Wives in another Council held at London August the 1st 1129. He persuaded the Bishops to leave the Ordering of that matter to Himself Which being done He exacted vast Summs of Money from the Married Priests and instead of forcing them to leave their Wives gave license to such as would pay for it to live on freely with Them King Henry being dead it cannot be wondred if the Invasions begun to be made upon the Prince's Rights towards the latter end of his Reign were not only continued but encreased under K. Stephen He who sounded One part of his Title to the Crown upon the Papal Authority could hardly be supposed capable of denying the Pope the same Power which his Predecessors had allow'd to Him And for the Opposing whereof he had himself so weak a foundation Three Synods we meet with during the Reign of this King and Every One held by the Legatine Power The first was in the Year 1138 It was call'd by Albericus Bishop of Ostia and all the favour which was allow'd the King was That He was present at it and help'd to make Theobaldus Archbishop of Canterbury in it But much less was his interest in the next of these Synods which met at Winchester about four years after and which was not only call'd without his leave by the Legatine Authority of his Brother the Bishop of that See but was assembled on purpose to Animate the Clergy against him and to prepare the way for Maude the Empress to overthrow Him But the fortune of the King prevail'd And about the End of the same Year in another Synod of the like kind at Westminster the Legate return'd to the King his Brother's Party and Recommended it to the People to pay that Obedience they Owed to Him Thus pass'd these Affairs in this troublesome Reign and in which the Authority first Usurp'd by the Pope in the time of King Henry the First got new strength and began now to plead prescription in its favour But now the Civil State being a little more Quiet the King was thereby in a better condition to Assert his ancient Rights And accordingly being inform'd that some foreign
But there is another Respect under which the Clergy in Convocation may be consider'd and of which it will therefore be necessary for me to give also some Account before I go on to take any particular View of what was done by them under this Capacity I have before said that when the King Orders his Writs to be Issued out for Calling a Parliament He do's at the same time direct two Others to be sent to the Two Archbishops to Summon the Clergy of their Respective Provinces to meet together about the same time And it will be necessary for me in the first place to take notice of the difference there is between these Two kinds of Summons because that by that we shall be able the better to judge what is intended by Each of Them First then The Parliamentary-Writ is sent distinctly to every Bishop â—mmediately from the King and the Bishop is thereby Required to Summon the Clergy of his Diocess to go along with him to Parliament Whereas the Convocation-Writ is sent only to the Archbishop and He by the Bishop of London sends to the Other Bishops of his Province to meet Him with their Clergy in Convocation according to the King's Command And sometimes the Archbishop heretofore Summon'd them only by his Own Authority 2. By the Parliamentary-Writ the Bishop and Clergy of Each Diocess are to come to the place where the Parliament is intended to be Opened and upon the Day appointed for the Assembling of it By the Convocation-Writ they are call'd to the Chapter-House at Pauls or to such Other place as the Archbishop appoints and that oftentimes heretofore on some Other day than that on which the Parliament began 3. The Parliamentary-Writ Summons Them to come to Parliament there to Treat c. with the King the Rest of the Prelates and Lords and Other Inhabitants of the Realm concerning the Urgent Affairs that are there to be deliberated of with respect to the King the Realm and the State of the Church of England The Convocation-Writ calls them to consult only among Themselves and that as they shall be directed by the King when they come together 4. By the Parliamentary-Writ only the Deans Arch-deacons and Proctors of the Clergy are Summon'd But the Convocation-Writ with these call'd the Regular Dignitaries too Omnes Abbates Priores c. tam Exemptos quà m non Exemptos and so gave many a place in Convocation that had nothing to do in the Parliament 5. Lastly By the Parliamentary-Writ they were ever to meet at the very precise time the Parliament did By the Other they not only did not meet always at the same precise Time but very often at such time as no Parliament was Sitting Which was the Case of the most ancient Convocation-Writ I have 〈◊〉 met with of the 9 Edw. II. And according to which the Convocation sate Febr. 17 whereas the Parliament met the October before It is therefore as plain as any thing can well be That the Convocation of the Clergy consider'd as call'd by the Parliamentary-Writs and sitting by Vertue of Them and the Convocation consider'd as Summon'd by the Convocation-Writ and the Orders of the Archbishop consequent thereupon are in their nature and constitution two different Assemblies and which by no means ought to be Confounded together The great Question is What the nature of this Convocation as distinguish'd from the Parliamentary-Convention is and what the design of their Meeting Originally was Had these Convocations been always Assembled by the Authority of the Archbishop without any Writ from the King as oftentimes heretofore they were And had they meddled only with Ecclesiastical Matters when they met It would have been no hard matter to give a plain and certain Answer to this Enquiry Because in that Case it would have been Evident that these Convocations were no Other than Provincial Synods which the Archbishop took occasion to Assemble for the Ease of the Clergy and the Benefit of the Church at the same time that they were otherwise Required to come together for the business of the State And this Use Our Kings were wont sometimes to make of Them They referr'd Ecclesiastical Matters to them and advised with them in things pertaining to Religion But as the Form of their Summons entitles them to meet upon some urgent Affairs which concern not only the security and defence of the Church of England but of the King too and the peace and tranquility the publick Good and defence of the Kingdom So the main design Our Princes seem to have had in Assembling these Convocations either at the same time they did their Parliament or not long after was to get Money from Them That so in a much fuller Body of the Clergy than what usually came to the State-Council and consisting of such Members particularly as were most haâ—d to be dealt with the Abbots and 〈◊〉 they might either obtain a supply from the Clergy there when they had 〈◊〉 in Parliament or have that Supply confirm'd by them in Convocation which had before been Granted to Them in Parliament Nor is this any vain Conjecture but founded upon a General Observation of what was done by the Convocation when it met and which for the most part was nothing else but to confirm or make an Order for Money And even upon the very Summons themselves which were anciently sent to them and in which the Cause of their meeting was oftentimes more particularly express'd than afterwards it was wont to be I shall offer an Instance of this in that ancient Summons before mention'd 9 Edw. II. In which it is declared That those Bishops and Others of the Clergy who were Summon'd to Parliament had as far as they were concern'd unanimously yielded to a Subsidy but so that Others of the Clergy who were not Summon'd to Parliament should Meet in Convocation and Consent thereto And that for this Cause the King had sent his Writ to the Archbishop to Summon All Prelates whether Religious or Others and Others of the Clergy of his Province to meet at London post 15 Pasch. to treat and consent of the Matter aforesaid This therefore was the great Use which Our Kings were wont all along to make of their Convocations and from this it came to be the Custom to Summon them for the most part as often as the Parliament met and Generally at the same time that it did so But tho' our Convocations therefore even as Ecclesiastical Synods have by this means come to be for a long time Summon'd at the same time that the Parliament was to meet yet I do not see any Reason there is to consine them so closely to such a season as to make it absolutely necessary for the King to call the One whenever He do's the Other Indeed Custom which in such Cases ought to be allow'd its just force has prevailed so far that it may be question'd whether the Clergy thereby have not a Right to
be Summon'd to the Convocation as often as the Other Estates are to the Parliament But as Our Kings have often been wont to hold Convocaons when there were no Parliaments sitting so in this very Age we know the Convocation was continued after the Parliament was dissolved and our most Eminent in the Law declared that it might lawfully be so How long our Archbishops went on by their Own Authority to call these Convocations I am not able precisely to determine But as it is observed by One who has been very Curious in these Remarks of Simon Langham first That He summon'd such Synods partly at the desire and command of the King and partly without the King's Letters at his own pleasure and of Thomas Arundell after That the Convocation of 1408 as almost all the Others of His Time were called by the sole Letters and Command of the Archbishop tho' nevertheless He sometimes held Them at the desire of the King and by vertue of his Letters for the Publick Affairs of the Realm So it is plain that not only in these times the King did often send his Orders to the Archbishop for this purpose but that from the very time of Edward the First He had been constantly used so to do And it is no improbable con 〈…〉 ure of our Church-Historian that about the End of Arundell's time the King began wholly to Assume this Power and that from thenceforth no Convocations were call'd but at his Command That this was the Case in Henry the Eighth's time the Act of his 25th Year Chapt. 19. tells us And whosoever shall weigh the Introduction of that Statute will see cause to conclude from the Wording of it that so it had been for some considerable time before And now having thus prepared the way for a Right understanding of the nature of the Convocation as it was first setled in the beginning of this Period and has from thence been derived down to Us Let us go on to take a brief View of the chiefest of those Meetings of which any Account remains to Us and from thence we shall be able more clearly to discover the Nature of them and what dependence of Right they ought to have upon the Royal Authority No sooner was Winchelsea made Archbishop of Canterbury but He presently turn'd his Mind to the Reformation of his Court of Arches and for the better accomplishing thereof call'd a Provincial Synod in which He publish'd those Orders for the Regulation of it which still Remain to us under his Name The next year after the same Archbishop held Another Synod and therein agreed that a Sentence of Excommunication should be publish'd against all such as should Infringe the Liberties granted by the King in his Great Charter and Charter of the Forest and that the Copies of Them order'd by the King and Parliament to be sent to Every Cathedral Church should according to their Command be publickly Read to the People Assembled there There were some other things done in this Convocation for the better securing of the Privileges of the Church and an Order publish'd by the Archbishop throughout his Province to make known to the Clergy what had been Resolved by Them What was design'd to have been done in the Convocation again called the year following is not known All that we are told of it is That two Fryars appear'd there in behalf of the King to shew that notwithstanding the Pope's Prohibition the Clergy might lawfully grant a Subsidy to the King to help Him in his Wars Which being done they laid a Command upon the Clergy under pain of Imprisonment not to publish any Sentence of Excommunication either against the King or against any that put Themselves under his Protection and thereupon the Synod immediately broke up For the better understanding of which we must know that the Archbishop had procured a Bull from Rome to forbid the Clergy to grant the King any farther assistance without his leave first had for the doing of it The King hereupon put the Clergy out of his protection And then the Clergy granted him a fifth part of their Goods only the Archbishop Himself stood out and had his Goods Confiscated But so ill were the Circumstances of the King at that time that he thought it not safe to Contest it with Him but in a little time return'd again to Peace with the Archbishop and restored his Goods to Him But this Reconciliation lasted not long the King seeming rather to have waited for an Opportunity of doing him a mischief without hurting himself than to have truly forgiven him And therefore being now in better Circumstances with the Pope He accused the Archbishop of having been the chief Fomenter of all the late Troubles he had met with from his Barons and forced him to go to Rome to answer for it And when in the last year of his Reign He held his Parliament at Carlisle An. 1308 He caused an Inhibition to be Put upon William de Testa a new Legate sent to get up more Money here and a Restraint to be laid upon such Monks as had Lands in England but whose capital Houses were in other Kingdoms So earnestly did this King labour to recover his Authority from those intollerable Usur pations that had been made upon it No sooner was King Edward the Second His Son Crown'd but He gave the Archbishop now Return'd from Rome to understand that He would not suffer his Realm to be obliged either by the Decrees of the General Council of Lyons abroad or by the Constitutions of Otho and Ottobon at home against his Consent And therefore that he should not deprive any of his Chaplains of their Benefices on any pretence of Pluralities or Non-Residence But still the Pope's Authority both in assembling and managing of our Convocations nevertheless prevailed An eminent instance of which we have in the Convocation held the year after and from whence we may collect how they were order'd about this time The Pope having resolved to suppress the order of the Knights-Templers summons a general Council to mâ—et at Vienne To this he invites or rather commands our Archbishops and Bishops to come And that they might be the better prepared for what they were to do there he requires the Archbishop of Canterbury to assemble a Provincial Synod and therein to deliberate about the affairs of the Knights-Templers and to dispose the way for their more essectual Condemnation at the general Council The Archbishop having received this order from the Pope immediately sends his Writ to the Bishop of London requiring him to call the Bishops and Clergy to a Convocation The Bishop of London sends abroad his Summons accordingly And when they met the usual Preliminaries being over the Pope's Bulls were in the first place read next the Bishop of London's Certificate to shew what he had done in obedience both to the Pope's and
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
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
unwilling to believe it tho' all the while it is apparent that by that very Insinuation they hope to make it stick the more they think they have done their Business They have Guarded themselves against being called to account for it by Men and I am Afraid they never once think what Account they must give for it to God It is by this little Artifice that this bold Writer has presumed to vent such Calumnies against the Greatest and best Men as had they really been true could hardly have been Reported without a Crime Has traduced the King as a Man of No Religion but particularly as no Friend to the Church of England The Arch-bishop as either Ignorant of the Churches Interests or too much a Courtier to trouble the King about them The Bishops as Men that value not what becomes of the Church so long as they can but keep their Honour and their Dignity in the State The Inferiour Clergy as full of Discontents and Dissatisfaction as Persons who have been ill used and resent it accordingly And lastly even the Parliament its self as a Body that has never yet done any thing in favour of Religion nor that seems at all disposed to do any thing for the Advantage of it And when such is the Case of all these what wonder if he freely declares his Apprehension of a General Conspiracy of all Sorts of Men among Us to undermine the Catholick Faith so that it is much to be feared no Order no Degree or Place among Us is wholly free from the Infection It would be endless for me to insist upon these and the like Reflections which He seems industriously to have catcht at in every Part of his Letter I shall instead of all examine the Story with which he concludes it and so take my Leave of Him There was says He a Time when the Clergy was deem'd Publick Enemies and us'd as such viz. in the Reign of Edw. 1. but it was upon a very Honourable Account because they Asserted the Laws of the Realm The King at that Time did by Commission against the ancient Laws and Customs of the Kingdom pretend to collect Money without the Assent of Parliament not from the Clergy only but from the Earls Barons and Commonalty of the Realm The Latter did too many of them submit the Clergy stoutly Resisted it So that Sir Robert Brabazon the King ' s Chief Justice pronounced openly in the King ' s Bench in terrorem that from thenceforth no Justice should be done at their Suit and that Justice should be done against Them in the King's Courts at any Man's Suit This Passage I mark'd when I first read the Institutes as a very extraordinary one 't is pag. 529. 2 Inst I suppose you will think it so too and that England was then bless'd with a Righteous Chief Justice This is the Fable and the Moral of it is not difficult King William is the Edward here meant The present Clergy are like those here mention'd deem'd Publick Enemies but upon a very Honourable Account because they Assert the Laws of the Realm that is stand up for Another Interest and are Enemies to the Present Government For this they are not only Deem'd Publick Enemies but are Used as such Some of them have been turn'd out of their Preferments Others have been Discountenanced and not Preferr'd according to their Deserts because they also have Honourably stood up for the Laws of the Realm that is for another Interest tho' they have again and again sworn Obedience to the Present Government and some of them tho' sore against their Wills even Subscribed the Association in Defence of it To say nothing of Others who were the most forward and busie of any in the Kingdom to help on the Revolution and to establish that Government they now dislike And this they have done at the same time that the Laity have too many of them submitted And will I hope shew that they are Able to defend the Government which they have established against all the Enemies of it tho' they are never so much censured and reviled by these new Patriots for their so doing Having thus accounted for this Story as related by this Gentleman and that too imperfectly from Sir Edw. Cook Whose Authority in point of History he is willing to allow of tho' He cannot Away with it in a Point of Law I shall in Justice to the Memory of that Great Prince and most worthy Judge give a true Account of this whole Matter And let this Author if He pleases make as pertinent an Application of it for me as if I am not mistaken I have done for Him King Edward the 1st having exhausted his Stores in the War of Scotland and that with Great Honour to Himself and Advantage to the Nation call'd his Parliament at St. Edmundsbury the Day after All Souls and accounted his Circumstances to Them The Laity readily Granted him a Subsidy as desired but the Clergy pretending their Fear of the Pope's Bull deny'd in any wise to assist Him Pope Boniface the VIIIth being desirous to advance the Liberties of the Church had the Year before publish'd a Constitution by which he sorbad the Clergy to pay any Taxes to their Prince without the Pope's Consent and Excommunicated as well the Receivers as Payers of such Taxes This was the Bull which these Good Men stood upon and this that Pope publishd at the particular Desire of Robert Winchelsea Arch-bishop of Canterbury and of the Rest of the Clergy of England The King tho' he were sufficiently sensible of their jugling and displeased at it nevertheless gave them time till the next Parliament to consider what they had to do and how to make some better and more satisfactory Answer to Him But in the mean time He caused all their Stores to be sealed up And the Arch-bishop to be even with Him at the same time order'd this Bull of the Pope to be publish'd in all the Churches of his Province The next Parliament being met at London the Day after Hilary the King again demands a Supply of them They persist in their Denyal and the King thereupon puts them out of his Protection And holding his Parliament with his Barons without them an Act is pass'd by which all their Goods are Confiscated to the King's Use. In this State the Clergy were when the Lord Chief Justice as my Lord Coke says Sir Robert Brabazon who was then Chief Justice not of the King's Bench but of the Common-pleas declared to the Attorneys of the Bishops and Clergy what the King and Parliament had done He bade them acquaint their Masters That from thenceforth no Justice could be done for them in the King's Court tho' they should be never so much injured but that Justice might be had against Them by any who had need and would move it to the Court. Now this was no more
hoc sicut Nos Honorem nostrum vestrum nec non Communem Regni nostri tranquilitatem diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso xiiii Decemb. Anno Regni nostri 49. §. 2. Cl. 23. Ed. 1. M. 4. Dors. Rex venerabili in Christo R. eadem gratia Cantuariensi Arcihepiscopo totius Angliae Primati salutem Sicut lex justissima provida circumspectione sacrorum Principum Stabilita Hortatur statuit ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur sic innuit evidenter ut communibus periculis per Remedia provisa communiter obvietur Sane satis nostis jam est ut credimus per universa mund Climata divulgatum qualiter Rex Franciae de terra nostra Vasconiae nos fraudulenter cautelose decepit eam nobis nequiter detinendo â—unc vero predictis fraude nequitia non contentus ad expugnationem Regni nostri classe maxima Bellatorum copiosa multitudine congregatis cum quibus Regnum nostrum Regni ejusdem incolas hostiliter jam invasit linguam Aâ—glicam si concepte iniquitatis proposita detestabili potestas correspondeat quod Deus avertat omnino de Terra delere proponit Quia igitur previsa jacula minus ledunt Res vestra maxime sicut ceterorum Regni ejusdem Concivium agitur in hac parte Uobis mandamus in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungentes quod die dominica proxima post festum S. Martini in hyeme proximo futurum apud Westminster personaliter intersitis PRAEMUNIENTES Priorem Capitulum Ecclesie vestre Archidiaconum totumque Clerum vestre Dioecesis facientes quod iidem Prior Archidiaconus in propriis personis suis dictum Capitulum per unum idemqon Clerus per duos Procuratores idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero habentes una Uobiscum intersint modis omnibus tunc ibidem ad Tractandum Ordinandum Faciendum Nobiscum cum ceteris Prelatis Proceribus aliis Incolis Regni nostri qualiter sit hujusmodi periculis excogitatis Maliciis obviandum Teste Rege apud Wengeham xxx die Septembris §. 3. The last Clause of this Writ as it was settled 15 Ed. 2. compared with the same as it is now 15 Ed. 2. PRAEMUNIENTES Priorem Capellanum Ecclesie vestre Cant. Archidiacon totumque Clerum vestre Diocesâ— quod iidem Prior Archidiacon in propriis Personis suis dictum Capellanum per Unum Idemque Clerus per duos Procuratores Idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capellano Clero habentes una Uobiscum intersint modis omnibus tunc ibidem ad faciendum consentiendum hiis que tunc ibidem de Communi Consilio favente Deo Ordinari contigerit super Negotiis antedictis Et hoc nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso 13 Elizab. PRAEMONENTES Decanum Capitulum Ecclesie Uestre Cant. ac Archidiacon totumque Clerum vestre Dioeces Quod iidem Decanus Archidiacon in propriis personis suis ac dictum Capitulum per Unum Idemque Clerus per duos Procuratores Idoneos plenam sufficientem Potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero divisim habentes predictis die loco personaliter intersint ad Consentiendum His que tunc Ibidem de Communi Consilio dicti Regni nostri divina favente Clementia contigerint Ordinari Teste Meipsa III. The Forms of the Convocationwrits before and since the Reformation REX c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri A. Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Apostolicae Sedis Legato salutem Quibusdam arduis urgentibus Negotiis Defensionem Securitatem Ecclesie Anglicanae ac Pacem Tranquillitatem Bonum Publicum Defensionem Regni nostri Subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Uobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini Rogando mandamus quatenus premissis debito intuitu attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestre Provinciae ac Decanos Praecentores Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbates Priores alios Electivos Exemptos non Exemptos Nec non Archidiaconos Conventus Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioeceseos ejusdem Provinciae ad Conveniendum coram Uobis in Ecclesia S. Pauli London vel alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super Premissis aliis que sibi clarius proponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et hoc sicut nos Statum Regni nostri Houorem Utilitatem Ecclesie predicte diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste Meipso §. 2. Elizabetha Dei Gratia c. Reverendissimo c. Salutem Quibus dam arduis urgentibus Negotiis Nos securitatem defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ac Pacem Tranquillitatem Bonum Publicum Defensionem Regni nostri Subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Uobis in fide dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini Rogando Mandamus quatenus premissis debito intuitu Attentis Ponderatis Universos Singulos Episcopos vestre Provinciae ac Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium nec non Archidiaconos Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujustibet Dioecesis ejusdem Provinciae ad comparendum coram Uobis in Ecclesia Cathedrali S. Pauli London tertio die Aprilis proxime futuri vel Alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super Premâ—ssis Aliis que sibi Clarius exponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et Hoc sicut Nos Statum Regni nostri ac Honorem Utilitatem Ecclesie predicte diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipsa apud Westm. xvi die Februarii Anuo Regni nostri tertio decimo IV. An Act concerning the Submission of the Clergy to the King's Majesty 25 H. 8. c. 19. WHere the King 's most Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy of this Realm of England have not only knowledged according to the Truth that the Convocations of the same Clergy are always have been and ought to be Assembled by the King 's Writ but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty have promised in verbo Sacerdotii that They will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure or enact promulge or execute any New Canons Constitutions Ordinance Provincial or Other Or by whatsoever Name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that Behalf Be it therefore now Enacted by 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 alledge
of a Priestly Mind you have commanded your Priests to be gathered together into one Place to treat of such things as are Necessary We have according to the Purpose of your Will and the Heads which you gave to us answer'd in Our Definition as to us seem'd Good So that if those things which we have Established are also approved of as Right by your Judgment The Consent of so great a King and Lord may Confirm the Sentence of the Priests to be observed with the Greater Authority And thus have I done with the First Thing which I proposed to Consider I have shewn what Authority the Christian Prince has always been accounted to have over Ecclesiastical Synods with respect to the Assembling of them to their Proceedings whilst they are Sitting and to the Confirming or Annulling their Decrees afterwards I shall make only an Observation or two upon the whole with Respect to our present purpose and so conclude this Chapter And 1st I must take notice that whatever Privileges I have here shewn to belong to the Christian Magistrate they belong to Him as such They are not derived from any positive Laws and Constitutions but Result from that Power which every such Prince has Originally in Himself and are to be look'd upon as part of those Rights which naturally belong to Sovereign Authority Hence we find that All Princes in All wountries how different soever they have been in other Respects have yet evermore claim'd an Equal Authority in these Matters And the little Kings of Suevia and Burgundy accounted themselves to have as good a Title to Them as the Roman Emperors in their most flourishing Estate had Which being so it will follow 2dly That every Sovereign Prince has a Right to Exercise this Authority within his Dominions And that to prove this Right it is sufficient to shew That he is a Sovereign Prince and therefore ought not to be deny'd any of those Prerogatives which belong to such a Prince among which this Authority is One. 'T is true such Princes may by their own Acts limit themselves as they think fitting And these Limitations may give such Assemblies a Privilege in One Country beyond what they have in Another But then these Limitations must be plainly proved to have been made in their favour And till they are so the Prince must be accounted to have a Right to that Power which as a Prince belongs Him and is not yet proved to have been given away by Him And therefore 3dly Whereas it is now to be Enquired What the Authority of our Kings is over our Convocations We have thus far proceded towards the discovery of it that we have shewn what Power They had Originally over Them and as Christian Princes ought still to Enjoy And those who will Restrain Them with narrower Bounds must first shew how they came to lose that Power which they would take from Them and which till This shall be cleared they must be Presumed still to have a Right to CHAP. III. Of the Authority which our Own Kings have over their Convocations with Respect both to their Meeting and Acting first and to the Confirming or Annulling of their Acts after WE have now seen what Authority all Other Christian Princes have claim'd and Exercised over their Clergy from the first Conversion of the Empire to Christianity till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to deprive Them of that Supremacy which of Right belong'd to Them Let us go on upon this Foundation to Enquire II. Whether our Own Kings have not as Great an Authority over their Convocations as any Other Princes have ever pretended to over their Councils That this of Right they Ought to have I have before observed The only Question is whether our Own particular Constitution has interposed to deprive Them of that Authority which we have already shewn did originally belong to Them And here I might justly leave it to Those who advance such Pretences to produce their Proofs and shew us upon what Grounds they do it And account the Right of our Kings to this Authority to have been sufficiently established in that common Claim which I have already proved all Christian Princes as such have ever made to the Exercise of of it But that nothing may be wanting to the clearing of this Matter beyond all reasonable Exception I shall to the General Argument I have before made use of add those particular Confirmations which our own Laws and Customs afford us of this Truth And shew that by our own Constitution the King of England has all that Power at this day over Our Convocation that ever any Christian Prince had over his Synods 1st Then if we consider His Authority as to the first thing before-mention'd viz. of Calling together of the Clergy in Convocation We are told by One of the most Eminent Professors of our Laws that it was among other Points Resolved by the Two Chief Justices and other Judges at a Committee of Lords in Parliament Trin. 8. Jac. 1. That a Convocation cannot Assemble at their onvocation without the Assent of the King And One would think such Persons should not only be very well Qualified to know what our Law is but should also be very Careful especially at such a Time and in such a Place not to deliver any thing for Law which They were not very well assured was so But because some have excepted against the Authority of this Report as a Piece that was published after the Death of the Author and in Suspected Times Tho' I cannot see what Interest any One should have to falsifie his Relation in the Instance before Us We will take his Opinion from a Book which we are sure is Authentick and lies open to no Exceptions 4. Instit. pag. 322. Where treating expresly about the Court of Convocation He affirms that the Clergy were never Assembled or Call'd together at a Convocation but by the King 's Writ And in which tho' I am sensible He has spoken a little too Generally as to matter of Fact yet in point of Law and in which only I make use of his Authority I cannot but look upon him to have been absolutely in the Right It being certain that the Clergy not only now cannot but never could be lawfully call'd together in Convocation but by the King 's â—rit or with his Consent And in assirming this I say no more than what was the joint Opinion of the whole Representative Body of the Nation as well of the Clergy in their Convocation as of the rest of the Realm in Parliament 25 Hen. 8. And from whence if from any Authority we may certainly the best take our Measure to judge Whether a thing does of Right belong to the King and is a part of his Royal Prerogative or No. For 1st As for the Clergy We are told in the Preamble to the Act of the 25 Hen. 8. chap. 19. That the Clergy of this Realm of England had acknowleged
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