was requir'd of them On the 10th the Archbishop of Cant. reported it to the Lords and Commons On the 11th the King let the Queen then at Richmond know what was done and had her Consent to it and on the 12th a Bill was brought into the House annulling the Marriage which says my Lord of Sarum Vol. 1. p. 282. went easily through both Houses for the Summer was now far come on and the Parliament of Necessity soon to disperse it could not therefore be committed separately to the Convocations of either Province there to be transacted in a Regular manner But all the Bishops of the Province of York being present in Parliament and all the Clergy of that of Canterbury being ready hard by in their Convocation the King took this way of joyning both together by his Commission and forming One National Assembly To these he recommended the Discussion of his Case so that what should be by them determin'd id demùm says he Totius Ecclesiae nostrae Autoritate innixi licitè facere exequi audeamus It is manifest that this Commission to Treat or rather to Sit †The Clergy are said in the Instrument to be Congregati Convocati virtute Commissionis c. but there is no formal Mention of their Treating in vertue of it was here necessary to be issu'd out for such Reasons as sufficiently distinguish both this Meeting and their Business from those we are discoursing of To proceed therefore to the times of E. VI. In his first Year I have shewn the Custom still continu'd for the President to declare the King's good Pleasure to the Houses Orally without producing any License under the Broad Seal 'T is true there is the Draught of a Petition of this Year preserv'd which seems at first sight to imply the contrary and shall be fully consider'd under a separate Head All I shall here say to it is that should the Sense of the Inferior Clergy be justly express'd in this Petition at the opening of this Convocation yet 't is certain they continu'd not long of this Opinion but were soon satisfy'd either from the Answer made to them by the Bishops or some other way that their Fears of incurring a Premunire if they treated without a Commission were vain and groundless because we are as sure as we can be of a Negative of this nature at this distance that in all the Convocations for many Years after this they treated without one In the 6 th of the same Prince 1552 that Convocation met in which the first 42 Articles pass'd whose Title is Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinensi Anno Dom. 1552 ad tollendam Opinionum dissensionem consensum Verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios Eruditos Viros convenerat Regià Authoritate in Lucem Editi And here again the Omission of a License in form ought to satisfy us that there was no such thing because where we know it was granted as in 1603. and 1640. there the Titles of the Canons then fram'd carry an Express mention of it 1 o. Mariae The Prolocutor certify'd the Lower House upon their first Meeting that it was the Queens Pleasure that the Company of the same House being Learned Men * This explains the Eruditi Viri in the Title of the Canons of 1552. And is another Instance of the Convocational Vse of that Phrase to be added to those I have given p. Assembled should debate of matters of Religion and constitute Laws thereof which her Grace and the Parliament would ratify †Philpot 's account in Fox Vol. 3. p. 19. And the same Intimation was given I suppose by Bonner the President of the Upper House to the Bishops or rather to both the Houses joyntly and his Speech reported afterwards by the Prolocutor to the Lower Clergy as the Custom is for the Speaker to do in Parliament The Business committed to this Convocation was very extensive we see and yet no other License but what was Verbal either given or requir'd tho' the 25. H. VIII stood in full force both then and the Year afterwards When another Convocation met Nov. 13. 1554. They too debated and acted though Unlicens'd †As far as the Silence of the Acts in this case good part of which I have seen are an Evidence of it and among other things sollicited for a Repeal of this Statute Twenty Eight Articles of Reformation the Lower House preferr'd and in the Preface to those Articles assert the Power by which they did it Accounting our selves say they to be called hither to treat with Your Lordships as well concerning the restitution of this Noble Church of England to the Pristin State and Unity of Christ's Church as of other things touching the State and Quietness of the same Church in Doctrine and in Manners we have for the furtherance of your Godly Doings therein devis'd these Articles following †Bishop Burnet 2. Vol. Col. of Rec. p. 207 The next Convocation Dr. IV. * Appeal p. 30. assure us out of the late Life of Cranmer was assembled by Cardinal Pole in vertue of a License from the Queen whereby he was impower'd also to make Canons But this is according to his usual Exactness in these Matters The Convocation in 1555. met Oct. 22. †Act. MSS the Cardinal's License to hold a Synod bears date Nov. 2. ⸪ Anth. Harmar p. 142. that Year and that Convocation therefore could not possibly be assembled by him in vertue of this License Besides he was not consecrated till the Day after Granmer's Death 22. March 155◠‖ Hist. of Ref. Vol. 2. p. 340. and could not therefore as Archbishop till then summon a Convocation of the Province The true account of this matter is that the Parliament meeting this Year Oct. 21. †Dâ—dg Sum. p. 517. the Convocation also in course met the day after it at Pauls being conven'd by the Dean and Chapter of Cant. ‖ Heylin Hist. Q. Mary p. 223. as was usual in the Vacancy The Cardinal though in England did not appear at it but Bonner by Commission from the Chapter presided There they sat and did business till Oct. 30. * Act. MSS when I find them coming to a Conclusion and offering their Subsidys and Complaints to the Queen The second of the next Month Anth. Harmar p. 141 the Cardinal had his License under the Broad Seal to hold his Synod Legatin of both Provinces and upon it issu'd out his Mandate to Bonner Nov. the 8 th for the Prov. of Cant. to meet those of York on the second of Decem. following Accordingly both Provinces met in the King's Chappel at White-Hall †Act. MSS. Memorandum 〈◊〉 post incaeptam Convocationem in Ecclesiâ Divi Pauli c. Loco Capitulari ibidem posteà Episcopi unà cum Inferiori Clero Prov. Ebâ—r comparuerunt in Synodo Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Domini Reginaldi c.
entring on any particular Debate whatever without being Qualify'd by a Broad Seal for it It follows Tùnc dimisso Clero Inferioris Domûs Reverendissimus rogavit Patres quòd unusquisque eorum intra proximam Sessionem Excogitate velit ea quae in eorum specialibus Diaeces reformatione indigeant ac in proximâ Sessione proponere dignaretur Jan. 19. Habitâ inter dictum Reverendiss Patrem ac caeteros Episcopos communicatione sive deliberatione de quibusdam Articulis ad Christianam fidem facientibus tandem dictùs Reverendissimus accersiri jussit ad se Prolocutorem Domûs Inferioris Qui quidem Prol. unà cum Sex aliis de Clero dictae Domûs Inferioris coram Patribus sui Copiam faciens proposuit asseruit quòd quidam de dictà Domo exhibuerant quasdam diversas Schedas de rebus reformandis per eos respectivè Excogitatas in Scripta redactas Quae quidem schedae de communi consensu traditae sunt quibusdam Viris gravioribus doctioribus de caetu dictae Domûs Inferioris ad hoc electis perspiciendae considerandae Quibus sic electis ut asseruit assignatum est ut hujusmodi Schedas in Capitula redigant ac in proximâ Sessione exhibeant corà m ipso Prolocutore Et ulteriùs proposuit quòd Articuli in Synodo Londinensi tempore nuper Regis Edvardi Sexti ut asseruit Editi †This is a sufficient Proof that the Articles of 1552. passed the Synod of that Year in form however my Lord of Sarum in his late Exposition came to say the contrary See Introd p. 5. where his Lordship thinks it probable that they were prepar'd by Cranmer and Ridley and publish'd without any Synodal Consent by the Regal Authority What were the Reasons inducing his Lordship to think this probable I presume not to guess The only Reason he has pleas'd to give is That the Major part of the Synod could not have agreed to 'em without a Miracle However since the Acts of another Synod Ten Years afterwards assure us that such a Miracle was done we have reason I think to take Their Word before my Lord of Sarum 's Conjecture traditi sint quibusdam aliis Viris ex Caetu dictae Domûs Inferioris ad hoc etiam electis ut eos diligenter perspiciant examinent considerent ac proüt eïs visum fuerit corrigant reforment ac in proximâ Sessione etiam exhibeant Et tunc Rev mus hujusmodi Negotia per dictum Proloc Clerum incaepta approbavit ac in iisdem juxta eorum determinationem procedere voluit mandavit Jan. 20. Episcopi de super quibusdâ—m Articulis sacrosanctam Christi Religionem concernentibus per spatium trium horarum aut circiter inter se tractarunt Jan. 29. Post Tractatum aliquem inter Episcopos habitum tandem super quibusdam Articulis Orthodoxae fidei inter Episcopos quorum nomina eïs subscribuntur convenit Deinde Electi fuerunt Reverendi Patres Domini Edmund Londin c. ad Excogitanda quaedam Capitula de Disciplinâ in Ecclesiâ habendâ Feb. 5. Reverendi Patres Domini Joh. Sarum c. assignati fuerunt ad examinandum Librum dictum the Catechism Mart. 1. Comparuit corà m eïs Prolocutor allegavit qùod Caetus dictae Domûs Inferioris excogitavit quaedam Capitula Additionalia ad librum de Disciplinâ corà m patribus ultimà Sessione porrectum Quae quidem Capitula dicto Libro ut asseruit addi cupit Unde dictus Rev mus tradidit eidem dicto Prolocutori Librum praedictum mandando quod additis hujusmodi Capitulis sic Excogitatis ipsum Librum cum Additionalibus praedictis denuò exhibeant corà m codem Rev mo Mart. 3. Dominus Proloculor c. Nomine totius Caetûs praesentarunt eisdem Patribus quendam Librum nuncupatum Catechismus Puerorum cui ut asseruerunt omnes de Caetu ejusdem Domûs unanimiter consenserunt Mart. 5. Dom. Proloc c. comparuerunt exhibuerunt c. Librum de Disciplinâ unà cum quibusdam Capitulis Additionalibus ad eundem viz. de Adulterio c. The Reader sees that the Business here gone upon was as great and weighty as perhaps ever employ'd any English Synod The Doctrine of the Church was here setled in the Articles and the Catechism and new Rules of Discipline form'd and all this was done without any Previous License except what was contain'd in that General Message deliver'd by the Archbishop in his Speech which I have already mention'd It is further observable that the Review of the Articles took its Rise from the Lower House that the matter of the New Canons was There first suggested and drawn into Form and that every thing almost that was done came Originally from Them to the Upper House and not from the Archbishop to Them and was not the Effect therefore of any Royal Command or Intimation but a Free Act of the Body The Articles set out by this Synod bear this Title Articuli de quibus convenit inter Archiepiscopos Episcopos utriusque Provinciae Clerum Universum in Synodo Londini Ann. 1562. Editi Authoritate Serenissimae Reginae The Ratification of them afterwards in 1571. when they were again with this Ratification Printed runs thus Hic Liber antedictorum Articulorum jam denuò approbatus est per Assensum Consensum serenissimae Reginae Elizabethae Dominae Nostrae retinendus per totum regnum Angliae exequendus Qui Articuli lecti sunt denuò confirmati subscriptione D. Archiepiscopi Episcoporum Superioris Domûs totius Cleri inferioris Domûs ‖ My Lord of Sarum Exposition p. 16. doubts whether the Articles in 1571. pass'd the Lower House at least whether they were Subscrib'd by the Members of it But these Words in the Ratification of them Printed by his Lordship p. XVI though at present I suppose out of his mind leave no Room or Colour for such a Doubt His Lordship was betray'd into it it seems c. by the Beâ—net Colledge Manuscript where the Subscriptions of the Bishops only appear But it might have been presum'd that the Bishops did in this Instance sign One Copy by themselves and the Clergy of the Lower House another which has since perish'd in Convocatione A. D. 1571 * Sparrow p. 222. In neither of these is there any hint of a License under the Broad-Seal although it be expresly mention'd afterwards where we know it was employ'd The Speech wherewith Archbishop Parker open'd a Convocation in 1572. I have seen and perus'd and there is no Expression in it from whence we can suspect that that Meeting was to Treat by Commission from her Majesty In the Synod of 1584 the Style of the Articuli pro Clero then agreed upon is Articuli per Archiepiscopum Episcopos reliquum Clerum Cant. Prov. in Synodo c. Stabiliti Regiâ— Authoritate approbati confirmati †Sparrow p.
to them Or 2 dly that in their Publick Capacity they will not Enact or Publish any such Canons for the future without the same Royal Assent and Approbation And that this was all their Promise meant is no new Opinion but the sense of Archbishop Parker who understood these things as well as any Man He in Antiqu. Eccles. Britann A Book compos'd under his Direction gives this account of it Totus in Synodo Clerus in Verbo Sacerdotii fidem dedit ne â—llas deinceps in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas Leges nisi Synodus Authoritate Regid Congregatâ— Constitutiones in Synodo Publicatae eâdem Authoritate Ratae essent * P. 326. And in this Exposition he is constant for agen in another place he thus expresses himself Postquam Clerus in Verbo Sacerdotii Henrico Regi promifissent fiâ—e Authoritate Regid in Synodo se nihil Decreturos †P. 339. With this agrees my Lord Herbert's Abstract of the Submission by which he says they promis'd his Majesty that they would not Make or Alledge any New Canons without his Highness's Assent and License * Life of H. 8. p. 399. And agen more clearly they promis'd for the future to make no Constitution nor execute any without the King's Leave †Ibid. p. 349. i. e. to make no New ones and to Execute or Alledge neither New nor Old ones To the same Purpose my Lord of Sarum They promis'd in Verbo Sacerdotii that they would never Make nor Execute any New Canons or Constitutions without the Royal Assent to them ⸫ Vol. 1. p. 147. and before this p. 113. of the same Volume They promised for the future not to Make nor Execute any Constitution without the King's License None of these Writers it is clear thought the Clergy restrain'd by their Submission from any Debates or Resolutions which were previous to the Establishing a Canon for otherwise they would not in their accounts of it have omitted this Particular which was above all others to be taken notice of And none of 'em therefore we may be sure took the work Make in any other sense than to Enact or thought the word Attempt applicable to any but the Old Unauthoriz'd Canons And the Judgment of these Persons is the more to be depended on because the First of 'em liv'd at the time of the Submission and must be well acquainted with the sense then given of it the Second was a Lay-man and one who was thought to have but little regard for the Priesthood and the Third tho' of the Clergy yet is observ'd throughout his Works where-ever the Interest of the Order is concern'd to be under no degree of Partiality towards them More Authorities of this kind might be given if either these were not sufficient or the stress of the Point lay upon the way of wording the Submission which it does not but on the Terms us'd in that part of the Statute where the Submission is Enacted and this we now come to consider For after the Submission and Petition of the Clergy are thus recited in the Statute it proceeds to Enact that They ne any of them from henceforth shall presume to attempt alledge claim or put in Ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons Nor shall Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever name or names they may be call'd in their Convocations in Times coming unless they may have the King 's most Royal Assent and License to Make Promulge and Execute the same Now whatever Ambiguity there may seem to be in the words Attempt and Make as they lye in the Recital of the Submission yet here in the Body of the Statute it self it is perfectly clear'd For 1. The words Attempt Alledge Claim and put in Ure are here manifestly divided from those Enact Promulge and Execute and make a Distinct Member of the Period having Substantives of their own Constitutions Ordinances c. which they govern and in which their signification is determin'd 2. These words are plainly us'd to Enact the Petition of the Clergy which prays a Suspension of the Force of the Old Canons and by these words and these alone as I have shewn the force of those Canons is suspended and therefore to attempt as well as to alledge claim and put in ure must be understood of Canons as already made and not of Canons as in fieri or making And if so then 3. The Exception afterwards made Unless the said Clergy may have the King 's most Royal Assent and License to Make Promulge and Execute can no ways refer to their Attempting Alledging Claiming or putting in Ure for a License to be had in order to make Canons cannot possibly affect words that are us'd only of Canons already made And therefore 4. That Exception belongs purely to the words immediately foregoing by which they are forbid to Enact Promulge or Execute Two of the words of this Prohibition Promulge and Execute being repeated in the Exception annex'd and the Third Enact being express'd by Make a word of the same force and value Whatever sense then the Submission made in those difficult Times and under so great a Terror * The Gentleman that publish'd Some Thoughts on a Convocation insults the Learned Mr. Hill on this head who had represented the Convocation which submitted as then under the Lasâ— of a Premunire But this says he is a Great Blunder for the Premunire was off at least three years before and releas'd by Act of Parliament in the 22 H. 8. the Convocation-Act being not till the 25th p. 8. It seems this Gentleman knows not what one would have thought every body knew that the Clergy made their Submission sâ—â—e years before it was Enacted by Parliament and that Then the Premunire hung over them yet as unacquainted as he is with things of this nature ventures at Randome to bestow his Rude Language on the suppos'd Mistake of another Man Under so great a Degree of Ignorance a little more Modesty had become him My Lord of Sarum's Expressions I suppose misled him which in the Year 1534. are As the Parliament was going on with thâ—se good Laws there came a Submission from the Clergy then sitting in Convocation to be pass'd in Parliament p. 147. But this is one of those Nods that Great Men in Long Works are subject to for his Lordship p. 113. of that Work seems to have soon known that the Submission was made by the Convocation in 1531 2 however he came to forget it here and to place the Rise of it two Years lower But whether his Lordship were aware of this or not it is certain the Submission was so much Older than the Act as appears by the Iournal of the Convocation that fram'd it still remaining tho' his Lordship Ib. p. 147. complains that it is lost and excuses himself on â—his account for not being able to
And while this Royal Visitation lasted all Inferior Jurisdictions ceased a course as they do even when an Archbishop visits ‖ Pendente Visitatione Atchiepiscopali tam Suffraganei quam Inferiores Praelati ordinariâ— suâ— Jurisdictione abstinent omniaque per Archiepiscopum ejusque Commissarios expediuntur Ant. Brit. p. 29. But what would Dr. Wake infer from this Instance that the King took to himself a Power which has been thought regularly to belong to the Convocation Why was ever any Man wild enough to say that the Convocation were the Visitors-General of all Ecclesiastical Bodies in England The Homilies composed Ibid. He should say reviewed and altered for they were composed many years before in the Convocation of 1542 as the Acts declare * Ian. 1541 42. Tractavit Reverendissimus de Homiliis conficiendis 16. Feb. 1542 43. Presentatae sunt Homiliae compositae per quosdam Praelatos de diversis materiis And by vertue of this Convocational Authority which they had Archbishop Cranmer sent 'em 1 E. 6. to Bishop Gardiner requiring him to publish 'em throughout his Diocese Thus Bishop Gardiner himself in his Letters to the Protector †Fox Vol. 2. p. 1. the first words of the first of which are After most humble Commendations to your Grace I have received this day Letters from my Lord of Canterbury touching certain Homilies which the Bishops in the Convocation holden Anno Dom. 1542. agreed to make for stay of such Errors as were then by Ignorant Persons sparkeled among the People The Second begins thus I have received other Letters from my Lord of Canterbury requiring the said Homilies by vertue of a Convocation holden five years past He does not allow indeed that the Homilies formally passed that Synod for he adds Wherein we communed of That which took none effect then and much less needeth to be put in Execution ne in my judgment cannot But Cranmer we see was of another opinion and thought these Homilies sufficiently authoriz'd by the Convocation of 1542 and that they wanted only to be confirmed and recommended by the King as they were in the Injunctions of that year But should there be any thing wanting to the Authority of these Homilies when first set out that want was made up when they were subsequently ratified by the Clergy in Convocation * See Art of 1552 1562. L. M. P. has increased Dr. Wake 's Collections by an Instance or two of this date which must not be neglected Parliaments he says without the Concurrence of Convocations have learnedly argued and determined the Questions about the Lawfulness of Priests Marriage and Communion in one kind †P. 16. As to the first of these the Stat. 2 3 E. 6. c. 21. does indeed determine this point but it is in consequence and almost in the very words of the Determination of the Clergy in Convocation made the year before which Arth. Harmar has Printed ‖ P. 170. and my Lord of Sarum has given a short account of ⸫ Vol. 2. p. 50. tho' with some mistakes in the Circumstances of it For whereas his Lordship makes but Thirty five to have affirmed the Question and but Fourâ—een to have denied it there were many more in either case Fifty three in the first and Twenty two in the latter * Synodalia The Name also of the Prolocutor who gathered these Votes is mistaken for it was Io. Taylor Dean of Lincoln not I. Tyler who had been Prolocutor Thirty two years before in the Convocation of 1515 where his Lordship takes notice of him †Vol. 1. p. 14. with Indignation for making a Partial Entry in the Journals of Parliament on behalf of the Clergy then contending with the Lay-power about their Ecclesiastical Priviledges which his Lordship says is no wonder the Clark of the Parliament being at the same Time Speaker to the Lower House of Convocation tho' had not his Lordship thus judged I should have been apt to have thought this Entry Impartial for the very same reason because the Man that made it belonged equally to both the contending Parties Unless it shall be said that Clergy-men are so blindly devoted to the Interests of their Order that no other Tyes or Views whatsoever can make 'em think indifferently where That is concerned But of this his Lordship 's own Works are an Effectual Disproof As to the other Point about the Communion in both kinds neither did the Parliament establish that without the Concurrence of Convocation for tho' the Clause concerning it was brought into the House of Lords by Bishop Cranmer I suppose Novemb. 24 * Bishop Burn. Vol. 2. p. 41. yet it lay upon the Table without being called for again till the Clergy Decemb. 2. had Voted it in Convocation after which the very next day †Synodalia it had a Second Reading 1548. A Committee of Select Bishops and Divines appointed to Examine and Referm the Offices of the Church Ibid. p. 61 71. To such a Select Committe I have shewn that the reforming the Offices was by Convocation intrusted in Henry the Eighth's time so that this was but continuing that business in the same method into which the Convocation had formerly put it And there is Great Reason to believe that it was thus continued by this Convocation it self and that the Petition of the Lower House to the Bishops ‖ Mentioned by me p. 181. out of the Acts of this Convocation for a Review of the Books prepared by the former Committee to this purpose ended in an Address of Both Houses to the King for a New one Thus it is plain Bishop Burnet * See Vol. 2. p. 50. understood this matter and Bishop Stillingfleet too who first produced that Petition in his Irenicum †See p. 386. where he terms it a Petition for calling an Assembly of Select Divines in order to the setling Church-affairs Not that this was the Direct Purport but only the Result of it and occasioned by it A New Office of Communion set forth by Them i. e. by the Select Committee Pag. 64. And it was therefore Authorized by that Convocation which we have reason to think consented to this Committee However sure we are that it was established soon afterwards by another Convocation which passed the whole Service-Book where this Communion-Office was with some Alterations inserted There is a Deep silence all along in my Lord of Sarum's History as to the Convocational Authority of this Service-Book which he seems to represent as the Work of a Committee ‖ See Vol. 2. p. 71 93. only confirmed afterwards by Parliament His Lordships's History has that Credit in the World that his very Omissions may in time pass for Proofs if they be not observed and supplied especially in the Present Case where it will be naturally enough concluded that the Church-Authority did not intervene if a Church-Historian of his Lordship's Rank takes no notice of it
again What means this Absurd Writer to place his Inconsistencies so near one another that one Glance of the Eye discovers them Even Dr. W. is in this respect a more Modest and Wary Manager for His Contradictions usually keep their Distance and may lie hid therefore if the Reader do not think it worth his while as few Readers do perhaps to carry the several parts of his Book in their mind and compare them one with another Besides if the Irish Parliament is not under an Universal Restraint what have we to do with it here where we are enquiring after Instances to countenance the laying such an Universal Restraint on the Convocation in England If this be not a Parallel of a Restraint in the same Degree it is no parallel at all there is no doubt but such meetings may be restrain'd how far is the Question Were Precedents Proofs of the Reasonableness of such and such ways of acting yet those Precedents must be exact and full or they prove nothing Ay but the same Power that disabled them so far might have put them under an entire disability It might so if they were a Province won to the Crown by its Sword for it might have allow'd them no Parliament at all but if it allow'd them any Freedom of Debate could not have been deny'd them without which in the Apprehensions of Us Englishmen there can be no Parliament 'T is true the French use the word otherwise for with Them it signifies an Assembly to which the King's Edicts are sent to be verify'd But we are not yet acquainted with this Sense of the Word and I hope never shall We took the Term from them heretofore when it signify'd something else and we have taken care to preserve its Original Meaning Dr. W. indeed bids far for introducing the French sense of the Word for he tells us roundly That the English Parliament are P. 289. in the main parts of their Debates as much though not as necessarily directed by the King in what he would have them consult about as the Convocation it self And how far the Convocation is in his Opinion to be directed by the King his Book informs us This is harsh Doctrine to suppose any restraint upon the Parliaments Freedom of Debate and may happen not to go down easily with Those that are concern'd in it But he thinks he has soften'd it by saying that the Parliament are in their Debates as much though not as necessarily directed as the Convocation What the meaning of that senseless Distinction is I cannot see or how it does him any service Should we allow him that his Doctrine curbs the Parliaments Freedom of Debate as much though not as necessarily as it does that of Convocation would such an allowance mend the matter or screen him a whit the more from the Just Resentments of Those who will no more bear being told that they are as much than that they are as necessarily directed in their Debates as the Convocation is if indeed the Convocation can debate of nothing till they are qualify'd for it under the Broad Seal of England I am mistaken if this be not to wound the Libertys of Parliament through those of Convocation The Instance of the Lords of the Articles in Scotland is as little to the purpose They were a Previous Committee compos'd of some Members of the Estates of Parliament thro' which every Act was to pass before it could come before the States themselves But they were no bar upon the Debates of Parliament where any Subject might be started and discuss'd any Requests or Proposals to the Prince might be drawn whether these Lords had made way for such Considerations or no. However the check which this gave to the Parliament in their Legigislative Capacity was thought a Badge of slavery by the Scotch and therefore towards the beginning of this Revolution when the Chains were knock'd off every where from his Majesty's Subjects this Committee was abolish'd And had the English Clergy then lain under any undue Restraint They too might have hop'd for a Relief from it assoon as any men since none had been more Instrumental than They in promoting the Common Deliverance They might have expected a legal Relaxation of the Rigor of any Law that lay hard upon them but instead of this their only Request is that an Act made in Abridgment of their Priviledges may not be constru'd to an Illegal and Oppressive Sense that they may enjoy their Old Rights which they stand possess'd of by Law and that no New Encroachments may take place upon them Which is so very Modest a Plea as may be made by any Body of Men even without Merit on their â—â—de and cannot when understood be deny'd them without Injustice and therefore I am confident when it is understood will not be deny'd them Having taken off this General Colour drawn from the Authority exercis'd over such Meetings as these in other Times and Countrys I go on now to what has been objected more particularly and closely And the first Exception of Weight that lies against the Claim made is That the Perpetual Practise of Convocations ever since the 25 H. VIII runs otherwise and this indeed were it true would be a strong one And if General Assertions without Proofs would have made it true Dr. W. had done it for he has over and over †Pref. p. II. pp. 26 40 43 109 113 115 116 c. 293. L. M. P. p. 40 43 3â— affirm'd this to be the case with as much assurance as if he had perus'd the Journals of every Convocation since that Act and seen the King's several Commissions enter'd there By that time he is got to the second Page of his Preface we have him affirming that the Sense of the Act given is repugnant to the Constant Practise of our Convocations ever since the time of H. VIII This is certain he says nor does he Himself against whom he writes deny it Indeed 't is just as certain as it is that that Writer yields it who says only in answer to a Question there put whether the Convocation may conferr without a License that the Common receiv'd Opinion is in the Negative †P. 40. But not a word has he there or any where else about the Practise consequent upon that Act and he speaks only of the Opinion at present receiv'd without entring into the Judgment of Elder times So that Dr. W. represents his Adversarys Positions just as honestly as he argues against them Indeed should that Author have allow'd the stream either of Practise or Opinion to have been always contrary to his sense of the Act he had been as Dr. W. now is under a Gross Mistake for it is certain that both General Opinion and Practise were on his side for many Years after the Act pass'd Upon a strict Enquiry into the matter I find no Instance of a Commission to treat that is not Threescore and ten Years younger