General Denomination of Commons as the Case plainly was in the Petition just now produc'd which is enter'd in the Rolls among the Petitions of the Commons tho' the Clergy joyn'd in it and as it probably was in that mention'd by Mr. Elsyng pag. 275. but with false Numbers where the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons Et autres Gens de la Cominaltie d'Engleterre pray that they may let out to Farm the Wasts of Mannors held of the King in capite without his License which being the Case of many Inferior Clergy-men who held such Mannors of the Crown it is to be suppos'd that they also joyn'd in the Petition and are under the Autres Gens de la Cominaltie included But more express to this purpose is the Statute of the Clergy 18 E. 3. which recites * I take the words of it from Rastal with the more assurance because Pryn says he has compar'd the Print with the Record and that they agree Abridg. of Rec. p. 44. That the Prelates Great Men and Commons had advis'd and aided the King and afterwards the Great Men aforesaid grant so and so and the said Prelates and Procurators of the Clergy grant so and so whereas there is no Previous Mention of the Procurators of the Clergy but under the Title of Commons To these many other Records might be added which mention the Convocation-Clergy as of the Parliament and in it But that I may not load the Reader a few of these taken from the Beginning the Middle and the End of that Period we are considering shall suffice The rest will find as proper a place in another part of these Collections and thither therefore I shall refer the Reader for an account of them In the 10 E. 3. a Writ issu'd to the Archbishop of York reciting that the Clergy of Canterbury-Province had given the King a Tenth in Parliamento nostro Westminster and exciting Him and his Clergy to follow their Example †Cl. 10 E. 3. m. 36. dors The like Recitals are to be met with often in latter Writs as particularly in 43 E. 3. Cl. m. 6. Dors. which begins Rex Arch o. Cant. salutem Qualiter negotia nostra tam Nos Statum Regni nostri quam necessariam defensionem ejusdem concernentia ac onera nobis per hoc incumbentia Vobis Aliis in ultimo Parliamento nostro existentibus plenius exposuimus vos non latet Ad quorum onerum supportationem absque adjutorio fidelium nostrorum non sufficimus sicut scitis propter quod aliquod subsidium congruum in supportationem tantorum onerum à Vobis Aliis de Clero Dioeceseos Provinciae vestrarum in dicto Parliamento tunc existentibus nobis concedi petivimus c. And the same Passage in Terms recurs in another Letter of the same kind to the Archbishop two years afterwards Cl. 45 E. 3. m. 35. Dors. The Great Deed of Entail in the 8 Hen. 4. by which the Crown was setled on his Heirs male and which was witness'd by the Great Men and by Sir I. Typtot the Speaker in behalf of the whole Body of the Commons recites Quòd in Parliamento nostro apud Westminster 7 o. Die Iulii Anno Regni nostri 7 o. per nos de consensu avisamento omnium Praelatorum Magnatum Procerum ac Cleri Communitatis regni nostri Angliae fuerit Statutum Ordinatum And proceeds to make void what had been so ordain'd in these Memorable words Nos igitur ad instantem Petitionem eorundem Praelatorum Magnatum Procerum Cleri Communitatis supradictae de eorum omnium singulorum Voluntate Assensu expressis nec non nostrâ praesentis Parliamenti nostri auctoritate Statutum Ordinationem praedictam cassamus adnullamus Nec non ad eorundem Praelatorum Magnatum Procerum Cleri Communitatis praedictae Petitionem Rogatum ac de Eâ—rum Consensu concordi auctoritate c. And this too Pryn has abridg'd * See Abr. of Records p. 454. in his way without taking notice of these Passages which are so Material and Instructive The Original Record with all its appendant Seals intire tho' the Deed it self be cancel'd is preserv'd still in the Cottonian Library †Inter Chartas in Pyxide Galba and affords a manifest Proof of the Interest which the Convocation Clergy at that time had in Parliament for it would be ridiculous to imagin that by Clergy in this Instrument thus plac'd between the Lords and Lay-Commons any other than the Convocation-Clergy are intended For near 140 years afterwards the Language I find continu'd the same in the Bishops Mandates to their Archdeacons for the Collection of Subsidies for thus speaks one of Bonner's ⸫ In Registro Cum Praelati Clerus Prov. Cant. in Parliamento hujus regni Angliae nuperrimè apud Westminster tento celebrato quoddam Subsidium sub certis modo formâ tunc expressis Illustrissimo c. Ex nonnullis rationabilibus causis dederint concesserint c. Oct. 10. 1543. And if I should beyond all this affirm that the Convocation attended the Parliament as One of the Three States of the Realm I should say no more than the Rolls have in express Terms said before me where the King is mention'd as calling Tres Status Regni ad Palatium suum Westm. viz. Praelatos Clerum Nobiles Magnates nec non Communitates dicti regni * Rot Parl. 9 H. 5. n. 15. And when more than Three States are mention'd as in the Antient Piece of the Manner of Holding Parliaments the Inferior Clergy is still reckon'd as one of them Judge Thirnyng therefore thus addresses himself to Richard the IId at his Deposition †See the Roll of Parliam Printed at the End of X. Script p. 2760. SIRE It is wele knowe to zowe that there was a Parlement Somond of all the States of the Reaume for to be at Westmynstre c. bycause of the whiche Sommons all the States of tâ—is Lond were there gadyr'd the whiche States hole made thes same persones that ben comen here to zowe nowe her Procuratours and gafen him full auctorite and Power and charged him for to say the wordes that we shall say to zowe in her name and on thair behalve that is to wytten the Byshop of Seint Assa for Ersbishoppes and Bishoppes the Abbot of Glaâ—â—enbury for Abbots and Priours and all other Men of Holy Chirche Seculers and Rewelers the Erle of Gloucestre for Dukes and Erles the Lord of Berkeley for Barones and Banerettes Sir Thomas Irpyngham Chamberleyn for all the Bachilers and Commons of this Lond be south Sire Thomas Grey for all the Bachilers and Commons by North and my Felawe Iohn Markham and Me to come with him for All this States and so Sire these wordes and the doying that we sall say to zowe is not onlych our wordes bot the wordes and doyings
continu'd And as the time of the Convocation of Canterbury's assembling was in this and in most oother Ancient Instances different from that of her Sister Province so was it we see different also from that of Parliament Here it preceded ‖ Seven Days but generally it followed the Parliament a Week or two on purpose as I apprehend that the Bishops and Parliamentary Abbots might be at leisure to attend both those Meetings And this was the usual Distance throughout Edward the Third and Richard the Second's Reigns till Henry the Fourth began to enlarge it in and after whose time the Clergy held their Assemblies during and near the Sessions of Parliament but not thoroughly concurrent with them the Archbishop it seems affecting Independency and the King who above all things desir'd to stand well with the Clergy favouring him and them in that respect and giving way to their being call'd later or dismiss'd sooner than the Laity as having been already answer'd in his Demands at that or some other Synod of the Province call'd out of Parliament-time Such Assemblies being frequent in those days and transacting all Affairs that belong'd even to Parliamentary Convocations But this was only an Interruption of the Old Practice for a time not a through alteration of it for about the Entrance of the last Age when the Prerogative began to recover the Ground it had lost to the Church we find these Meetings of the Clergy and Laity more closely united the Dates of Henry the Eighth's Convocation being all one or a few days before or after if not altogether the same with those of his Parliaments And from 1 Edw. 6. to this Reign the Clergy have I think met always and parted within a day of the Parliament the day it self on which the Parliament sat and rose being not judg'd so proper for this purpose because the Bishops were then to attend the House of Lords But since the late Revolution the Business of these Two Meetings not interfering the same day has serv'd to open both of 'em or rather to open the one and shut up the other There have been no Deviations from this Rule that I know of except in a Legatin Synod or two which are no Presidents and once in the Convocation of 1640 but that Experiment succeeded too ill to be ever try'd a Second Time The Clergy therefore tho' by a Mistake in their Politicks separated from the Parliament yet continu'd still to attend it in Two Provincial Assemblies or Convocations which as they met for the same Purpose and had the same Reasons of State inserted into their Writs of Summons as the Parliament had so did they to manifest yet more their Origin and Allyance keep closely up to the Forms and Rules and Manner of Sitting and Acting practis'd in Parliament I cannot do right to my Subject without pointing out several Particulars wherein this Conformity was preserv'd and I shall not therefore I hope be misinterpreted in doing it The Two Houses of Parliament sat together Originally and so therefore did the Two Houses of Convocation of which to omit other Proofs I shall mention that only which may be drawn from the Inferior Clergy's being sent as Delegates from the Bishops to represent and act for 'em in Convocation an Usage which tho' practis'd long after the Greater Prelates divided from the Less yet must in all Probability have had its Rise when they were together as the like Custom also in Parliament had whither the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being us'd to send Commoners to Vote for them while the States were together continu'd the Practice also long after they were asunder as appears on the Spiritual Side by Numerous Instruments of Proxy yet remaining in the Bishops Registers and on the Temporal by some Probable Inferences of Mr. Elsyng * Cap. 5. p. 126. tho' Direct Proofs of it are together with the Proxy Rolls lost †One I find in the 5 H. 5. where Th. de la Warre a Baron gives Letters of Proxy to two Commoners and those which is very particular of the Clergy but his case was particular for his Barony descended to him after he was in Orders and he is styl'd therefore constantly Magister and not Dom. de la Warre in his Summons to Parliament As the Commons in Process of Time withdrew from the Peers so did the Inferior Clergy from the Bishops and Abbats Each having their Prolocutor in ordinary the very Word that is us'd every where in the Latin Rolls * And sometimes in the English Iournals See Sir Symonds d'Ewe◠p. 15. p. 328 c. for the Speaker and not withdrawing only from the Great Lords upon occasion for Liberty of Debate and in order the better to agree upon their Petitions and Opinions as I presume they always did even in the Old mixt Assemblies but meeting together at the very first in a Distinct Body and joyning with the Upper House only on Great Occasions The Prolocutor was so chosen as the Speaker by the Body whose Mouth he was so presented to the Archbishop and confirm'd by him as the other was by the King His Office was much the same on either side He moderated their Debates kept them to Order and attended the Lords sometimes with the sense of the House and at the Entrance of his Office disabled himself in form several Instances of which occur in the latter Acts of Convocation * Act. MS. Conv. 1541 Sess. 2. 1554. Sess. 3. 1562. ad Ian. 16. Bills of Money and Grievances but especially the latter began usually in the Lower House here as well as there had alike several Readings and were Enacted at the Petition of that House as Statutes antiently were and the Successive Variations in the Enacting Forms of our Statutes were observ'd and transcrib'd generally into the Clergy's Constitutions Their Subsidies were often given Conditionally and with Appropriating Clauses and Indentures drawn upon those Conditions between the Archbishop and the King if the Grant was to the Crown or between the Archbishop and the Prolocutor of the Lower House †Scriptutura Indentata inter Reverendissimum Tho ex unâ parte Mag. Dogett Prolocutorem Cleri eundem Clerum ex alterâ testatur quòd dictus Clerus concessit dicto Reverendissimo Patri Caritativum Subsidium Registrum Wottonian ad fin And so the Commons granted per quandam Indenturam Sigillo Prolocutoris Sigillatam if to the Archbishop just as the Way was in the Grants of the Commons In Matters of Jurisdiction the Upper House gave Sentence the Lower House prosecuted as was usual in Parliament for which reason the Act of H. 8. * 24 H. 8. c. 12. which in all Causes relating to the King or his Successors allow'd an Appeal to Convocation mention'd the Bishops Abbats and Priors of the Upper House only because They only were Judges But over their Own Members both Houses of Convocation had Power in like manner
as those of Parliament which they exercis'd either joyntly or apart by Mulcts (a) See an Instance An 1462. in Anth. Harmar p. 32. and Confinements (b) If you will not give place quoth the Prolocutor to Archdeacon Philpot being Commission'd I suppose so to speak by the House I will send you to Prison This is not quoth Philpot according to your Promise c. not denying the House's Power but the Justice only of exerting it in his Case Fox sometimes but chiefly by inflicting Ecclesiastical Censures by Excommunicating (c) See Instance of Bishop Cheyney Excommunicated for departing the Convocation without Leave Hist. of the Troubl and Try of Laud. p. 82. Suspending (d) See Bancroft ' s Register fol. 138 139. for an Instance of a Dean an Archdeacon and a Proctor suspended for deserting the Synod Mandatis nostris licitis vel Prolocutoris dictae Convocationis minimè obtemperantes As the Archbishop's Sentence of Suspension runs Depriving (e) See an Instance of Bishop Goodman Sentenc'd to be depriv'd by the Convoc of 1640. for refusing to subscribe the Canons Heyl. Life of Laud. Pag. 446. My Lord of Sarum has suggested * Hist. Ref. Vol. 1. p. 130. another Branch of this Parallel that as none were of the Lower House of Parliament but such as came thither by Election and all that had Personal Summons sat Above so the Lower House of Convocation was compos'd of those who were deputed thither from others and the Upper of such as sat in their own Right But this Conjecture contradicting not only the Records of the Convocations in Henry the Eighth's Reign to which my Lord applys it but all the Elder Accounts of our Synods in the Archbishop's Registers where the Deans and Archdeacons are said always as now to sit together with the Proctors of the Clergy I am sorry that I cannot fall in with it the rather because it would give me an opportunity of adorning these Rude Collections with something drawn from his Lordship's Exacter Works and of making him my Publick Acknowledgments for it His Lordship would perhaps have omitted this Guess had he consider'd that the Provincial Assemblies of the Clergy were as I have shewn in lieu of that Parliamentary Attendance which the Crown challeng'd by the Premunientes and their Session therefore in Two Houses was adapted to the Parliamentary Summons so that between Them and the Laiety the Parallel in this respect ran that as all of the Laiety who were Summon'd singly * Singillatim and in Generali are the words of Art us'd to distinguish these Two sorts of Summons in K. John 's Charter by the King sat in Parliament as Peers and all who were Summon'd generally by the Sheriff as Commoners so in the Convocation all of the Clergy who had been call'd immediately and by Name to Parliament belong'd to the Bishop's house but such as were us'd to be cited at second Hand only and Mediante Episcopo as Deans Cathedral-Priors †These for a long time after the Distinction of the two Houses of Convocation sat in the Lower House but afterwards with the other Priors and Abbats in the Upper Archdeacons and the Proctors of the Clergy sat apart by themselves That which led his Lordship into this Opinion was it seems a Passage in Ioscelin * Ad Ann. 1532. where a Question †About the Unlawfulness of the King 's first Marriage is said to have been carried for the Crown by 216 in the Upper House i. e. by the whole Upper House for there were none against it whereas in the Lower 23. only were present and but 14. of those for it Which Disparity of Numbers his Lordship is at a loss how to account for otherwise than by the Supposition laid down But since that is plainly Erroneous I may I hope without Presumption endeavour to solve the Difficulty â—nother way His Lordship knows very well that the Bishops with those Abbats and Priors who were of some consideration amounted to several Hundreds in Number out of which there is no doubt but 216 might be got to do the King's Business especially at that Critical Juncture when the General Dissolution of Monasteries was threatned and already in part begun * For in June before this Convocation sat the King procur'd a Bull from the Pope to suppress several Hist. Ref. 1. Vol. p. 121. and the Regulars had no way to escape the Storm which they saw gathering but by complying with the King's Demands tho' never so unreasonable Whereas the Inferior Seculars having no such Fears and lying generally out of the Reach either of the Awe or Bribes of a Court were as backward to give their helping hand in this case as the Religious were forward and but 14. therefore of the Lower House could be prevail'd with to lend the King a Vote This perhaps may be no improbabâ—e Solution of the Difficulty if after all it â—e not a Numeral Mistake of the Transcriber or Printer such as I find sometimes in that Work I mean in the Hanover Edition of it which alone I have for instance the Câ—nvocation in 1536 is said to meet Nonis Iulii instead of Nono die Iulii for it met not on the 5 th but the 9 th of Iuly as the Writ still extant shews But enough of this I return to those Marks of Resemblance which were between the Parliament and Convocation long after they separated and by which as by some common Ensigns of Honour the One of these may be plainly discern'd to be of the same Family and Descent as it were with the Other The Instruments impowering the Proctors of the Clergy to act for the several Dioceses were drawn up I have said in the same Form almost with those for the Knights of Shires I add that they had equally Wages from those they represented and those Wages were laid on the Diocese with the same Distinction that the Others were on the County all such as came Personally to Parliament either as Councellors or Assistants being excus'd from contributing to em not to descend to yet minuter Differences which were still on both sides alike observed And which is very Material the Proctors enjoying these Expences are in the Writs and Records of that time expresly said to be entitled to 'em on the account of their Service in Parliament tho' strictly speaking they sat not in Parliament but only as they do now in a Convocation held concurrently with it Of which I will stop to give the Reader here two very significant Instances the One is of a Discharge which the Abbat of Leicester obtain'd from Personal Attendance on the Parliament on condition as the Patent speaks Quod dictus Abbas successores sui in Procuratores ad hujusmodi Parliamenta Concilia per Clerum mittendos consentiant ut moris est expensis contribuant eorundem †Pat. 26. E. 3. par 1. M. 22. See it in Selden's Tit.
Confirmation However that may be sure we are That the Convocation of the Clergy have as has been said already for above 150 Years in every Instance except that of Forty and the Synods Legatin Met and Rose within a day of the Parliament And if Custom therefore be the Law of Convocations as it is of Parliaments and we have Dr. Wake 's Word for it that it is †Pp. 105 â—98 then is it Law that the Convocation should meet Only and Always in time of Parliament The Learned Mr. Cambden knew no better whose Words are Synodus quae Convocatio Cleri dicitur semper simul cum Parliamento habetur ‖ Britannia in Cap. de Tribunalibus Thus stood Britannia Then though a late Paultry Compiler of the New State of England will have it that it is an Assembly which now and then Meets and that in time of Parliament * Miege 's New State of England Part. III. p. 64. Thanks to Dr. Wake for furnishing him with the occasion for such a Definition which I trust however that the Doctor and all his Friends shall not in the Event be able to prove a True One not even by that only Argument which can ever possibly prove it so Future practice The very Warrant to the Keeper of the Great Seal for issuing out Writs for a Parliament is a standing Testimony against these new Notions It ran thus in Iames the First 's time and I suppose runs so still Whereas we are resolved to have a Parliament at c. These are to Will and Require you forthwith upon Receipt hereof to Issue forth our Writs of Summons to all the Peers of our Kingdom and also all other Usual Writs for the Electing of such Knights Citizens and Burgâ—sses as are to Serve therein and withall to Issue out all Usual Writs for the Summoning of the Clergy of both Provinces in their Houses of Convocation And this shall be your Warrant so to do * Hâ—câ—er's Life of Bishop Williams p. 173. So that the Writs for the Convocation are it seems as Usual as those for the Commons and the One Assembly therefore is as Customary as the Other My Lord of Sarum seems to have had no other thoughts where in the Entrance of his History of our Reformed Synods for such every History of our Reformation is or should be he lays it down That with the Writs for a Parliament there went out always a Summons to the Two Archbishops for calling a Convocation of their Provinces †Hist. Ref. I. Vol. p. 20. Always i e. long before the times of H. VIII of which his Lordship is Writing I doubt not but his Lordship's Meaning then was That these Writs went out to Purpose and had their due and full Effect for the Distinction which some State-Logicians since have Coin'd ‖ Dr. W. p. 106 107 14â— 141. between a Right of being Summoned and a Right of Mâ—â—â—ing in Virtue of that Summons was not then Invented But I presume too far in venturing to guess at his Lordship's Thoughts when his Words are such as may indifferently serve either Hypothesis and can therefore I must confess be a good Authority for neither Let us have Recourse therefore to Those who are more determined in their Expressions Archbishop Cranmer in that Speech by which he opened the first Convocation under E. 6. affirms it to be * MS. Acta Synodi incoeptae Nov. 5. An. 1547. De more regni Angliae primo quoque anno regni cujuslibet Regis citare Parliamentum nec non Convocare Synodum Episcoporum Cleri sicque fieri in praesenti de Mandato Regis He speaks of a Custom only in the First Year of every Reign because That was the Present Case whereas Cardinal Pool at a Synod held in the latter end of Queen Mary enlarges the Assertion and says †Act. MS. Syn. coeptae Ian. 21. 1557. Quòd cum de antiquo more Rex Angliae ob aliquot arduas Causas Praelatos hujus Regni ad Concilium sive Parliamentum suum adesse jubet propter Regis Securitatem Regni Statum Concilia Auxilia sua impâ—nsuros Ita Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Episcopos suos Suffraganeos Praelatos c. ad Sacrum Concilium evocare assolet de iisdem Causis tractaturos auxilia sua consimili modo daturos And to the same purpose the Good Martyr Archdeacon Philpott a Member of Convocation and well skill'd in the Rights of it He in his Supplication to the King Queen and Parliament complains That where there was by the Queen's Highness a Parliament called and after the Old Custom a Convocation of the Clergy ‖ Fox Vol. III. p. 587. Nor did those Lords of the Council who disputed other Points with him deny this but agreed in Terms That the Convocation-House was called by One Writ of Summons of the Parliament of an Old ⸪ Ibid. p. 552. Custom I lay no great weight upon their Opinion because it was casually given and by Persons who though of the King 's Privy Council yet might perhaps be as Ill inform'd of these Matters as Meaner Men For a Seat at that Honourable Board does not necessarily imply a thorough knowledge of this part of our Constitution I mention their Opinion only to meet with Dr. Wake who has produced it on the other side with as much Gravity and Deference as if it were a Resolution of the Twelve Judges Assembled * P. 251. He had been Reading I suppose in that Notable Book of the Law The Attorney's Academy where he found it thus formally vouch'd †P. 221. And he thought he might safely Write after so Worthy a Pattern To make amends for this slight Authority I shall produce another of somewhat more force even the Judgment of a whole Synod in Queen Mary's time who introduce their Petition about the Confirmation of Abby Lands to the Patentees with this Preamble ‖ 1.2 P. M. c. 8. Nos Episcopi Clerus Cant. Prov. in hâc Synodo more nostro solito dum Regni Parliamentum celebratur congregati Where we see they lay claim to an Old Immemorial Custom not only of being Called by the King 's Writ together with every Parliament but of Meeting also upon that Call by the same Custom For unluckily it happens to spoil Dr. Wake 's New Scheme that they place the Usage in their being more solito Congregati not Convocati or Summoniti as the Word should have been to make Their Assertion consistent with His. But alas they knew nothing of this new Doctrine and their Expressions therefore are not so contrived as to favour it They were then Assembled in a Synod and Acting as a Synod when they drew up this Petition And 't is of a Custom therefore of so Assembling and Acting that they speak and not of being only Summoned Nor was this the Sense of the Clergy alone but of an Whole Parliament
Memory of the Clergy and according to his deep Skill in English History has represented it * P. 248. Nor yet merely for Appearing and Making Suit in his Courts as a Greater Author †Bishop Burnet 's Hist. of Ref. Vol. I. p. 106. but in this Conjecture no less Unhappy than He seems to take it for then All the Clergy could not have been concluded under the Penalty for All had not Su'd there But that which made the whole Body at once Obnoxious was their obeying his Mandates †Rigida enim Provisionum Jura says Josceline upon this occasion non modò eos puniunt qui Romanas Legationes sine Regis Licentia suscipiunt sed qui iis parent Ant. Brit. Eccles. in Warhamo p. 325. and appearing in his Synods Legantine which the Clergy had often and lately (*) An. 1527. done The Cardinal had been a Favourite beyond Example the Sole and Uncontroul'd Minister of his Prince He was at that time Lord Chancellor by the King's Commission and had been made Legat with his Privity and at his Special Instance as Bishop Gardiner informs us (†) In a Letter to the Protectour Fox Vol. II. p. 2. col 1. What he did in one Capacity as well as in the other was presum'd to be done by the King 's Appointment and whoever had opposed him had certainly been crush'd by the Royal Power The Subject neither durst nor thought it necessary to enquire whether He had a License from the Great Seal who had himself the keeping it However their Obedience to his Unlicens'd Authority was Criminal even to the Loss of Liberty and Estate And could they in any case have vouch'd the King's Command for their Obeying it the Command would have been said to have been against Law and no Warrant Thus both the Clergy and Laity were unawares at the King's Mercy and the Clergy not admitted to pardon Gratis as the Laity afterwards were but forc'd to ransome themselves by a good Round Sum * 100000 l. for the Province of Canterbury and 18840 l. 10 d. for that of York which was laid as all other Convocation-Grants were proportionably on the whole Clergy as appears from the Assessments to be seen still in the Bishops Registers particularly in that of Hereford An. 1531. And I wonder therefore that my Lord of Sarum should say That he had not been able to discover whether the Inferior Clergy paid their Proportion of this Tax or not Vol. I. p. 115. and agen That the Prelates had a great Mind to draw 'em in to bare a share of the Burthen Ib. p. 114. He speaks of the Time after the Convocation which made the Grant was up For this was both Needless and Impracticable Needless because the Lower Clergy had already drawn themselves in by consenting to the Grant in Convocation and Impracticable because if they had not there was no way left of drawing 'em in afterwards for those times and by an Acknowledgment in Convocation that the King was Supreme Head together with the Submission and Petition recited in the Preamble of the Act we are discoursing of There the Clergy first knowledge and the Parliament add according to the Truth that the Convocation is always hath been and ought to be Assembled by the King 's Writ Which Acknowledgment however is not according to Truth unless understood of Parliamentary Convocations that is of those which were summoned as well by the Praemunientes as by the Archbishop's Mandate And to Those therefore it must be restrain'd And they had reason to Own and Avow this particularly because the Cardinal had taken upon him to Convene Legantine Synods by his own Authority frequently during his Ministry and particularly Once not long before his Fall and the Time of this Submission on Nov. 27. 1527. * As I gather from a Printed Sermon of Longland 's said to be Preached on that Day and Year Coram Celeberrimo Conventu tùm Archiepiscoporum cùm Episcoporum caeteraeque multitudinis in Occidentalis Coenobii Sanctuario juxta Londinum Though this Title I confess is somewhat Dubious And that Practice of his therefore might be oppos'd by this Declaration which prefaces the Submission In the Submission which follows the Clergy promise 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 other name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and License may to them be had to Make Promulge and Execute the same And that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf Now here are Two several Things distinctly promised in Two Different Branches of the same Sentence divided from Each other by the Particle Or They will not Attempt Alledge Claim or put in Ure that is one part of their promise Or Enact Promulge or Execute that is another The First of these respects Canons as already made whether by a Foreign or Domestick Authority the Second as to be made here at Home The Former part of their Assurance is given in their Private and Ministerial Capacity in relation to the Proceedings in the Spiritual Courts the Latter in their Publick and Legislative Capacity as they were Members of Convocation In their Private Capacity as they might be either Judges or Litigants they promise not to Attempt Alledge Claim or put in Ure i. e. not to be any ways Instrumental in acknowledging or promoting the force of any Canons made without the Royal Assent such as the whole Text of the Foreign Canon Law and all our Own Provincial and Legantine Constitutions were In their Publick Capacity they promise further not to Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons for the Future unless they may have the same Royal License for it But here is no promise couch'd in any of these words that they will not debate about the matter or form the Draught of a Canon without such a License None of the Words Enact Promulge or Execute which alone relate to their Proceedings in Convocation including any such Promise and the only word which can be pretended to imply it the word Attempt being determinnd by its Situation to signify much the same thing as Alledge Claim or put in Ure and restraining the Persons promising only as they might Act in their Private or Ministerial Capacity that is out of Convocation To Attempt a Canon therefore must signify to put it upon tryal or prove the force of it and is a word of Art borrowed from the Civilians However we need not go so far for an account of it the very Act we are upon affording us an undeniable Instance of its being thus used as will appear if we consider the Petition of the Clergy which follows this Promise and the Enacting Words in the Body of the Statute which answer to that Petition The Petition
being oppos'd or understood since That it self would be a Misfortune to 'em tho' they were sure to have it quash'd elswhere The Bishops Interest Authority Eloquence 〈…〉 sufficient to plead the Churches 〈◊〉 and secure her Interests in the House of Lords where all the Noble Members are under so favourable a Disposition towards Her that they would certainly do Her Justice tho' they were sollicited by less Powerful Advocates However the Commons Spiritual think it very Proper and Reasonable that they should in these cases have a Recourse to the Commons Temporal whose Interests in the State running parallel with Theirs in the Church and being nearly linkâ—d with them seem mightily to encourage such an Application and to make it a Point of Prudence as well as Duty in the Clergy to practise it where it may be had The Commons have a considerable Interest in the Lesser Clergy by reason of their Patronage They are their Protectors and Guardians appointed by Law in relation to one part of their Maintenance and will be extremely tender therefore of all their other Civil or Ecclesiastical Rights and careful to cover them from any Attempts that shall be made upon their Priviledges That so they may be in Heart and at Hand always to stand up with them in behalf of Liberty when it shall be attack'd and to resist a Growing Tyranny either in Church or State as it may happen For Arbitrary Government is a Spreading and Contagious Thing and when once it is set up any where there is no knowing where it will end My Lords the Bishops therefore must excuse us if as great a Reverence as we bear to their Characters and as high an Esteem as we have of their Personal Qualifications their Integrity Capacity Courage yet we think it fit that other Helps should be call'd in since All Helps are but little enough to support the sinking Interests of Religion and the Clergy and judge the Great Concerns of the Church no where so secure as where the Wisdom of our Constitution has lodg'd 'em in the Hands of a Convocation of the Province We know the Enemies of the Church sleep not tho' the Watchmen sleep too often are the words of one once an Active Presbyter of this Church now a Vigilant Prelate * Dr. Burnet 's Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons Anno 1681. p. 25. We cannot God be thanked apply 'em to the Present Bench of Bishops and would not if we could unless in a Case of the Utmost Necessity because nothing less than that would justifie such a freedom in Meaner Authors However Times may come that will deserve such Language but when if the Provincial Assemblies of the Church be together with its Watchmen laid asleep it will be too late to use it The Right Reverend Author of that Discourse who should understand the Frame of our Church well having written the History of it observes that it is happily Constituted between the Extremes of Ecclesiastical Tyranny on the one Hand and Enthusiastical Principles on the other Hand †Ibid p. 9. It is so and the Happiness of this Constitution in relation to one of these Extremes lyes in the Interest which the Lower Clergy have in Convocation where they are associated with their Lordships in the Care and Government of the Church Whereas out of Convocation they are not I think advis'd with and have little else to do but to observe Orders The Diocesan Synods of our Church being not for Counsel now but for the Exercise of the Episcopal Authority This Happy Frame therefore should by all means be kept up and the rather because it suits very happily with that of the State and with the Constitution of Parliaments And it is highly expedient for every Church and State that the Ecclesiastical Polity should be adapted to the Civil as nearly as is consistent with the Original Plan of Church-Government which in our Case there will be no danger of departing from by a Compliance with the State-Modell For I am sure and am ready when ever I am call'd upon particularly to prove that the more our Church shall resemble the State in her Temper and Manner of Government the nearer still will she approach to Primitive Practice and the nearer she comes up to Both these the more likely will she be to Endure and Flourish What the same Eminent Pen has said on this Occasion I willingly subscribe to That as in Civil Government a Prince governing by Law and having high Prerogatives by which he may do all the Good he has a mind to which yet he cannot abuse to act against the Law and who is oblig'd often to consult with his People in what relates to common safety by whose Assistance he must be enabled to put in Execution the Good Things he designs is certainly the best Expedient for preventing the Two Extremes in Civil Society Confusion and Slavery So a Bishop that shall have the Chief Inspection over those whom he is to Ordain and over the Labours of those already plac'd whom he shall direct and assist in every thing and who governs himself by the Rules of the Primitive Church and by the Advice of his Brethren is the likeliest Instrument both for propagating and preserving the Christian Religion * Pref. to the Hist. of the Regal I add and for the keeping up of this Particular Church in some Degree of Repute and Authority which have ever been best secur'd to it when her Prime Pastors have met their Clergy often in Synod and by their Advice and Assistance manag'd the Great Affairs of it But if that be thought too much and sound too high for the Lower Orders to pretend to who must be contented rather to be the Subjects of Ecclesiastical Government than any Sharers in it yet even Subjects themselves may Petition and make known whatever Grievances or Requests they have to offer without Encroachment on any of their Superiors And that the Liberty of such Addresses and Representations is still left to the Convocation to the Lower House alone or to Both joyntly I have fully shew'd The Statute of Submission even under the most Rigorous Interpretation of it being scarce pretended to abridge their Priviledges in this respect And because Practice in this kind is the best Proof I shall here add a few Instances of it In the Convocation of 1542 33 Hen. 8. the Acts say that at the passing of the Subsidy Clerus exposuit 4. Petitiones to the Upper House who when they presented the Subsidy were to acquaint the King with them 1. De Legibus Ecclesiasticis condendis 2. De Conjugiis factis in Bethlehem abolendis 3. De veneundis Beneficiis 4. De Decimis solvendis Act. MSS. Sess. 20. The Two Petitions in the first Convocation of E. 6. See 'em in Bishop Burnet's Hist. Vol. 1. p. 118. Collect. of Records whatever force they may have to prove a License necessary on other Occasions which shall hereafter be fully
Flights of the Fathers but now he is of another mind every Submissive word every Respectful Form of Expression that he finds to have dropped at any time from the Mouths of the Members of a Synod when addressing to their Prince is Ground sufficient to rear a proof of his Prerogative upon But thus it is when Princes are to be complimented at the Expence of their Subjects Rights Compliments shall pass for Arguments As Dr. Wake has furnished himself with a Plea for the boundlâ—â—s Authority of Sovereigns in Church-matters from such Extraordinary Acts of Power as have been submitted to in good Princes so can he argue as well from the Unjust and Violent Encroachments of Ill ones Henry the Eighth was such if ever any Prince upon Earth was and Sir Walter Rawleigh therefore says of him that if all the Pictures and Patterns of a Merciless Prince were lost in the World they might all again be painted to the Life out of the Story of this King * Preâ— to hiâ— Hist. of the World And yet the Acts of this King the most Exorbitant and Oppressive Acts of Power which he exercised towards the Clergy are produced by Dr. Wake as good and lawful Precedents which all his Successors are allowed and incited to follow Particularly that Instance of his Correcting and Amending the Determinations of the Clergy in Synod even upon Doctrines of Faith is given us †See pp. 136 137 138 139. without any Intimation that such a practice exceeded the Bounds of the Kingly Power And in this he is followed by Mr. Nicholson ‖ Hist. Lib. â—ol 3. p. 196 197 And both these Gentlemen are so eager to assert this Power to the Crown that they have not given themselves leisure to inquire how far the Authorities they in this case cite are to be depended on Dr. Wake quotes my Lord of Sarum for it whose words are These Articles in 1536 being thus conceived and in several places corrected and tempered by the King 's Own Hand were subscribed by Cromwell and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Seventeen other Bishops Forty Abbots and Priors and Fifty Archdeacons and Proctors of the Lower House of Convocation * Hist. Ref. Vol. 1. p. 217. And in the Addenda to his first Volume †P. 364. his Lordship further says that He has had the Original with all the Subcriptions to it in his Hands I have had it too and can assure the Reader that there is not a single Correction by Henry the Eighth's hand or any others in that Original 'T is a Copy fairly Engrossed in Parchment ‖ See it Bibl. Cotton Cleop. â— 5. without any Interlineations or Additions whatever My Lord Herbert indeed who is Mr. Nicholson's and I suppose my Lord of Sarum's * I suppose so because my Lord of Sarum 's account of the Subscriptions is exactly the same as my Lord Herbert 's and with the same mistakes no Deans being mentioned by either nor any Consideration had of those of the Lower House who subscribed in double Capacities which makes the Subscriptions more numerous than they are represented to be Authority says that the Bishops and Divines who consulted upon these Articles were divided in their Opinions some following Luther and some the Old Doctrine whose Arguments on either side the King himself took pains to peruse and moderate adding Animadversions with his own Hand which are to be seen in our Records †Hist. H.S. p. 469. But these words I must be bold to say are mistaken both by my Lord Bishop and Mr. Nicholson if they infer from thence that the King made any Alterations in the Articles after they were drawn up since the Animadversions plainly were not on the Articles themselves but on the Arguments urged on either side of the Questions determined in ' em These Arguments or Opinions were it seems according to the known way of that time offered in Writing and subscribed by the Parties maintaining 'em And the King took upon him to temper and soften the Expressions on either side till he had brought both to a Compliance But this is a very different thing from his Correcting and Amending the Articles themselves even as different as assisting in the Debates of a Synod before the Conclusion is formed and altering the Conclusion it self after it has been unanimously agreed on This is truly the Case of those Amendments of Henry the Eighth which Dr. Wake is so full of However had it been such as he represents it yet no Argument of Right I say can be advanced on such Facts as these and it had become Dr. Wake therefore when he related 'em to have told us withal that they were unjustifiable Many of the Actions of that Supreme Head of the Church were such as cannot justly and will therefore I hope never be imitated by any of his Successors For instance he made his Bishops take out Patents to hold their Bishopricks at pleasure tho' I suppose my Lords the Bishops that now are do not think such a Power included in the Notion of the King's Supremacy William the Conquerour is another of the Pious Patterns he recommends who would suffer nothing he says to be determined in any Ecclesiastical Causes without Leave and Authority first had from him * P. 179. L.M.P. p. 34. for which he cites Eadmerus and might have told us from thence if he had pleased more particularly that he would not let any of his Noblemen or Ministers tho' guilty of Incest and the Blackest Crimes be proceeded against by Church-Censures and Penalties * Nulli Episcoporum permittebat ut aliquem de Baronibus suis seu Ministris sive Incestu sive Adulterio â—ive aliquo Capitali Crimine denotatum publicè nisi ejus praecepto implacitaret aut Excommunicaret aut ullâ Ecclesiastici rigoris poenâ constringeret Eadmer pag. 6. that he made his Bishops his Abbots and Great Men out of such as would be sure to do every thing he desired of 'em and such as the World should not much wonder at for doing it as knowing who they were from whence he took 'em and for what end he had raised 'em and that all this he did in order to make way for his Norman Laws and Usages which he resolved to establish here in England †Usus atque Leges quas Patres sui ipse in Normanniâ— habere solebant in Angliá servare volens de hujusmodi Personis Episcopos Abbates alios Principes per totam terram instituit de quibus indignum judicaretur si per omnia suis Legibus postpositá omni aliâ consideratione non obedirent si ullus corum pro quávis terrenâ potentiâ caput contra eum levare auderet scientibus cunctis Unde Qui ad Quid assumpti sunt Cuncta ergo Divina Humana ejus Nutum expectabant Ibid. This I say and more than this he might have given us from the very Page
Name of all the rest of the Members At least if Heylin's word may not be taken for it yet Dr. Wake 's I hope may And he in his Appeal ‖ P. 28. calls the Clergy's Dedication of this Book an Address of the Convocation to the King and says it was Subscribed by both Houses 1539. A Committee of Bishops appointed by the Lords at the King's Command to draw up Articles of Religion Ibid. pag. 256. This was in a Preparatory way only and in order to their being considered by the Convocation and Parliament However this Committee did nothing ⸫ ‖ Bp. Burn. Ibid. and should not therefore be made an Instance of Things relating to the Church done out of Parliament And which is more the Convocation did the very business which this Committee was appointed to do as we shall learn from the next Particular The Six Articles on which the Act passed brought in by the Duke of Norfolk and wholly carried on by the Parliament Ibid. p. 256 c. This is News to that Parliament by which Dr. Wake says it was wholly carried on for They in the Preamble of the Act of the Six Articles say That the King considering c. had caused his most High Court of Parliament to be Summoned and also a Synod and Convocation of all the Archbishops and Bishops and other Learned Men of the Clergy of this his Realm In which Parliament and Convocation there were certain Articles set forth c. and after a great and long deliberate and advised disputation and consultation had and made concerning the said Articles as well by the Consent of the King's Highness as by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Learned Men of his Clergy in this Convocations and by the Consent of the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled it was and is finally resolved accorded and agreed in manner and form following †31 H. 8. c. 14. We see these Articles were so far from being wholly carried on by Parliament that the Parliament it self thought not fit to Enact 'em without expressing in their Bill the previous Consent of the Clergy in Convocation Some Body seems to have told the Doctor thus much before he wrote his Appeal in a corner of which among the Errata he desires that these four Lines may be blotted out Why he was so Particular in his Requests I cannot tell but sure I am that there are very few Lines in this whole Article of his Appendix that do not deserve blotting out as much as They. 1540. A Committee of Divines employed to draw up the Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man Ibid. p. 286. In saying they were employed to draw it up he speaks unaccurately for that implys it to be then first drawn up whereas this Book was in the main the same with that which was published in 1537 under the Title of the Institution of a Christian Man This I have already shewn passed the Convocation The Members of which that were employed in composing it do in their Dedication of it to the King Most humbly submit it to his most Excellent Wisdom and Exact Iudgment to be recognized overseen and corrected if his Grace shall find any Word or Sentence in it meet to be changed qualified or further expounded c. The Liberty thus given by the Clergy was made use of by the King who in 1540 committed it to several Bishops and Divines All Members of Convocation to be review'd and made afterwards some Alterations in it with his own Hand to be seen still in the Original in Sir I. Cotton's Library * Heylin Ref. justif p. 549. and finally published it anew in the year 1543 †There was an Edition in 1540. which differs not considerably from that in 1543 and therefore I give no Distinct Account of it with this Title ‖ Which the Exact Mr. Nicholson has changed into a Necessary Defence for all sorts of People Hist. Libr. Vol. 3. p. 197. Where he tells us also that the King drew up these Articles in 1543 meaning that he made some Marginal Amendments to the Book after it was drawn up This he mentions at large as an approved Instance of the King's Power in such cases without intimating his Dislike of it and without letting us know how should be for he knew it not himself that what the King did here was not only at the previous Permission but Desire of the Clergy and was afterwards once again by them in Convocation confirmed Such accuracy is there in the Accounts of Books given us by this Historical Librarian A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Chrysten Man set furthe by the Kinges Majeste of England There is no mention here of the Concurrence of the Clergy in Convocation to this Book and yet it is certain that all the new Alterations and Additions in it as they sprang at first from a Request of theirs so passed 'em agen solemnly afterwards This appears from some short Memorandums * Sess. 25. Apr. 25. Reverendissimus tractavit de Sacramentis of which that Book treats at large ibi examinati sunt quidam Articuli Sess. 26. Ult. Apr. Reverendissimus exposuit Articulum Liberi Arbitrii which is another Head there ubi Prolocutor c. exposuerunt suas Sententias of the Acts of Convocation in 1543 from Heylin's Express Testimony †Ibid. See also in his Quinquartic Controv. p. 569. some other Passages out of the Acts of that Convocation which prove manifestly that these Alterations underwent their Review and from those words in the King's Preface prefix'd to the Book that he had set it furthe with the Advise of his Clergy the Lordes bothe Spirituall and Temporall with the Nether House of Parliament having both seen and lik'd it well Another Commission appointed to Examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Ibid. p. 294. This Committee of Bishops and Divines for reforming the Rituals and Offices of the Church was setled at the same Time with That which reviewed the Institution and was composed therefore as That was of the Members and probably of the same Members of Convocation which was sitting now at the Time when this Committee was appointed as appears by the Subsidy * 32 H. 8. c. 23. and the Sentence of Divorce ⸫ 32 H. 8. c. 25. that passed 'em compared with the Act of Parliament of the same Session †Rastall p. 690. that mentions this Committee as sitting From hence alone we might have been satisfied that this Committee was impowered by the Convocation to act had we no other Evidence for it But as it happens we have for in the short Remains of Edward the Sixth's first Convocation this Committee is said to have met ex Mandato Convocationis * In a Petition of theirs where they pray Ut Opera Episcoporum aliorum qui aliàs ex Mandato Convocationis Servitio Divino Examinando Reformando Edendo
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
Parts He might have added also why Bishops Elect were Summon'd before Confirmation and even the Vicars General of Elect Bishops when those Bishops were abroad because they were says he Praemunire Clericos i. e. that the Inferior Clergy might be sure to have their Summons This may have been one Reason of that Practice but I do not think it the only one * It could not be the Only one because long before the Praemunientes was inserted the Custom was to Summon the Chapters of Vacant Sees to Parliament of which take this Instance from M. Paris who tells us that in the Parliament of the 38 H. 3. there were Prâ—curatores tâ—ium Sedium Vacantium ex parte scilicet Capitulorum P. 643. because it does not account for the Summons of Elect Abbats also before their Installment and I doubt not therefore but this Custom had its Rise chiefly from the Double Capacity in which the Greater Clergy attended the Parliament both as Spiritual Prelates and Barons of the Realm on which account when they had not a right to a Summons as Barons yet as Ecclesiastical Prelates they had However They who make this Supposition make it mightily to the advantage of the Lower Clergy and suppose their Presence in Parliament to have been indispensably necessary And thus stood the Clergies Obligations in relation to the Praemunientes throughout Edward the Second's Reign Edward the Third continu'd this Practice upon the very same Foot that he found it the only difference was that whereas before his Time the Praemunientes was inserted or left out at the King's pleasure in his Reign it grew a constant and necessary part of the Bishop's Writ so that no Parliament ever met without one after his sixth year that is indeed after the Compleat Settlement of Parliaments upon the Foot on which they do now and will I hope for ever stand And this Observation alone is sufficient to shew that the Clause in the Bishops Writ was not grown Useless for if it had it would not then have been most regularly inserted and have grown most in request when its Use and Significancy if some Mens word were to be taken had utterly vanish'd In the year before it was fix'd tho' there were several Summons to Parliament yet it was inserted but in One of them and in that One it was obey'd For the Records of Parliament tell us that upon a Debate the Bishops and Proctors of the Clergy went by themselves * Abr. of Rec. p. 11. And that These were Proctors of the Inferior Clergy according to the strict sense of the word and not the Proxies only of Absent Bishops Abbats and Priors as L. M. P. dreams †P. 32. does from hence appear that in the other Parliaments of this year when the Praemunientes was not practis'd no mention is made of the Proctors of the Clergy the Phrase then being that the Bishops went by themselves the Lords by themselves and the Knights by themselves ‖ P. 12. Neither is there ever in those Records any mention of the Proctors of the Clergy at a Great Council but at Parliaments only the reason of which is that Parliament-Writs only had the Praemunientes in them but the Summons for Great Councils had not And now therefore the Clergies Returns for the Parliament are frequently to be met with in our Old Registers Parliaments themselves being frequent If in the succeeding Reigns we find not so many of these Procuratoria on Record it is not to be wonder'd at for the Archbishop's Writ which went out concurrently with the Praemunientes being understood to be a Summons to Parliament which it was in Effect tho' not in Terms and being strictly executed upon the Inferior Clergy might in time bring on a Disuse of the Forms practis'd in Executing the Other The Bishops through whose Hands both the Parliamentary and Provincial Summons came might sometimes either by the Neglect of their Officers * To this Neglect of their Officers that Clause seems to have refer'd which was an usual part of the King 's Writ to the Archbishop in E. 2. 3ds time Nos nolentes negotia nostra pro defectu Praemunitionum antedictarum si forsan minùs ritè factae fuerint aliqualiter retardari or as thinking it sufficient transmit the first of them only or if Both were transmitted might wink at the Clergies Omission in making their Return but to the One as not being unwilling to sooth up the Lower Orders in their Averseness to comply with a Lay-Summons because that sensibly encreas'd the Greatness and Power of the Parliament Prelates and by degrees brought the Clergies Interest in State-matters all into their Hands Besides oftentimes when the Bishop executed the Praemunientes and the Clergy certify'd upon it yet no notice might be taken in our Registers of Forms which return'd so very frequently and which were not stood much upon while the Provincial Mandate that went out on the same Occasion had its certain and Regular Course These and several other Accidents might I say conspire to make the Entry of such Procuratoria in Chapter-Books less frequent in after-times however neither are they sow'd so thinly there but that we can make a shift from the Helps of this kind that are left to continue the Succession of them down from the 22 E. 1. to the Latter End of Henry the Seventh's Reign as low as whose 19 th year * Anno 1503. I have seen a Deputation †See App. Num. XI made to a Monk to represent a Capitular Body in Parliament and that drawn up in such a manner as to be at once a Joint-Proxy both for the Parliament and Convocation I question not but that there are more of a Lower Date tho' I have not had Opportunity or Leisure to search for them for I find that the Praemunientes was executed in form as low as the 33 d and 36 th years of Henry the Eighth ‖ See Registr Bonner fol. 33 65. and Returns therefore were for some part of his Reign very probably made to it Not many years after this the Custom of returning Proxies to Parliament in Form did I believe cease and if a Conjecture may be allow'd in a matter of this nature where with some care and search one might be certain I should choose to fix the Time of this Total Disuse not far off of the 6 th or 7 th of Henry the Eighth when the Disputes between the Spiritualty and Temporalty about the Exemption of Clerks growing loud and warm and the Clergy with an high hand asserting their Priviledges might take up thoughts of setting themselves free also in another Instance than that which they contended about and agree generally to frame no more Instruments of Proxy in Obedience to the Lay-Summons And this Guess of mine falls in well enough with the Tradition my Lord of Sarum mentions as prevailing in Queen Elizabeth's time that the Inferior Clergy departed from
than the Statute it self The several Convocations in the 12 last years of H. the VIII those of E. the VI th of Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth all for ought I can find acted without any such Commission or License in writing and the first time we meet with it on Record is in 1603 when King Iames's first Synod met to settle the Discipline of the Church in that Body of Canons which at present obtains Nor is there any Opinion I believe for the Necessity of such a License elder than this Practise at least I have not had the good fortune ever to meet with any though I have diligently sought for it 'T is true the Registers of most Convocations summon'd since this Statute were lost in the Fire of London however large Extracts out of several of them are preserv'd and compleat Transcripts of some and in none of these is there the least Footstep of any License under the Broad Seal to be seen but very plain Intimations to the contrary as I shall now by some Remarkable Passages taken from thence and from other Books and Papers of good Authority shew And if I am somewhat Larger in my Recitals of this kind than is absolutely necessary the Reader I hope will easily forgive me What does not directly tend to establish my Assertion will serve at least to give some small Light into the Methods of Proceeding usual in Convocation which the Author of the Letter to a Convocation-man rightly observes to be little known or minded And Dr. Wake who smiles at his Remark is himself a most Contemptible Instance of the Truth of it since he has ventur'd to write a Book about the Customs and Priviledges of Convocations without having perus'd the Acts of almost any One English Synod and has from the beginning to the end of his wretched Performance prov'd nothing effectually but his own profound Ignorance of the Subject he is engag'd in I shall take the Rise of my Enquirys from the Convocation which sat upon a Prorogation Nov. V. 1532. before which the Submission of the Clergy was made to the King but not yet Enacted so that though it oblig'd them not Then as a Law yet it bound them as a Promise by the Terms of which if a Commission to Treat had been then held necessary we may be sure they would not so soon after the making that Promise have treated without one And yet I find no Hint of a Commission in a Diary of that Meeting where a great many things of much less moment are set down and where it being the first time the Clergy met after they submitted had any such thing been practised we should without fail have heard of it Sess. 11. Martii 26. 1533. this Note is inserted Tunc vertebatur in dubium an liceret disputare in Negotio Regio eò quòd Negotium pendet coram summo Pontifice indecisum Which Doubt the President remov'd by producing the Apostolick Brief that gave leave cuilibet Opiniones suas dicere Dominus Praesidens instanter rogavit omnes ut diligenter inquirerent de ista quaestione referrent quid sentirent See Ant. Brit. ad ann where the very same account is given of Stokesly ' s producing a License from the Pope but no hint of any from the King They had no doubts it seems about the Lawfulness of Treating without a Royal License which had they had it would have been mention'd here together with the Papal Leave and we may fairly therefore presume they had none In the Convocation begun Iune 9. 1536. the first in which Cromwel sat as Vice-gerent * The Bishop of Sarum tells us that Cromwell came hither as the King's Vicar-General but he was not yet Vicegerent For he sate next the Archbishop but when he had that Dignity he sat above him Nor do I find him styl'd in any Writing Vicegerent for sometime after this though my Lord Herbert says he was made Vicegerent the 18th of July this Year the same day on which the Parliament was Dissolv'd Vol. 1. p. 213. In which Paragraph there are great Marks of Haste For the Acts of this Convocation expresly call Cromwell Vicegerent as well as Vicar-General and shew that he both took place of the Archbishop and sign'd before him as he does in two Papers that passed this very Convocation and which together with the Subscriptions his Lordship has given us Vol. 1. Coll. of Rec. p. 157. p. 315. The Words of the Acts are Magister Willielmus Petre allegavit quòd ubi haec Synodus convocata â—it auctoritate illustrissimi Principis dictus Princeps Supremum Locum in dictâ Convocatione tenere debeat ac eo absente honorandus Magister Tho. Cromwell Vicarius Generalis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas ejus Vicemgerens locum ejus occupare debeat ideò petiit pradictum locum sibi assignari Ac ibidem praesentavit Literas Commissionales dicti Domini sui sigillo Principis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas sigillatas Quibus perlectis Reverendissimus assignavit sibi Locum juxta se i. e. the Place next above himself which he demanded Nor does my Lord Herbert say that Cromwell was made Vicegerent July 18th this Year but July 9th see Hist. p. 466. which is a manifest Misprint for June 9th the very day on which this Convocatâ—on was open'd and on which I suppose his Patent bore date Indeed I question whether the Powers of Vicar-General and Vicegerent were different and conveyed as my Lord of Sarum thinks by different Patents for I have seen no Good Ground any where for such a Distinction In the Collection of Records at the End of the second Part p. 303. the Bishop has given us what he calls Cromwell 's Commission to be Lord Vicegerent in all Ecclesiastical Causes But his Lordship had not time to peruse it for upon reading it he would have found that it was only the Draught of a Commission to certain Persons deputed by Cromwell to execute the Vicegerents Power in several parts of the Kingdom One of those Subordinate or Subaltern Commissions which had respect to a Superior one as his Lordship upon another occasion Vol. 2. p. 347. very properly distinguishes we are told Comparuit Dominus Prolocutor unà cum Clero exhibuit Librum sub Protestatione continentem mala Dogmata per Concionatores intra Prov. Cant. publicè praedicata This List is Printed by Fuller †P. 208. and in it the Clergy by way of Preface to their Articles Protest That they neither in Word Deed or otherwise directly or indirectly intend any thing to speak attempt or do which in any manner of wise may be displeasant unto the King's Highness c. and that they sincerely addict themselves to Almighty God his Laws and unto their said Soverign Lord the King their Supreme Head in Earth and his Laws Statutes Provisions and Ordinances made here within his Graces Realms Had any General Commission been granted them there had been no
need of this Protestation which was made to guard against the Penaltys of the Acts 25. and 27. H. VIII and has therefore we see a plain reference to them The Convocation in which Alesius the Scot disputed with so much applause sat the Year after this Anno 1537 †Ant. Brit. p. 331. Fox Vol. 2. p. 504. though my Lord of Sarum †Vol. 1. p. 214. I find out of a laudable Eagerness to record the Honors done to his Countrymen has plac'd this Dispute a Year earlier than it hapned Cromwell open'd the Meeting with a Speech where he tells them that they are call'd to determin certain Controversys in Religion which at this time be moved concerning the Christian Religion and Faith not only in this Realm but also in all Nations thorough the World For the King studieth Night and Day to set a Quietness in the Church and he cannot rest till all such Controversys be fully debated and ended through the Determination of You and of his Whole Parliament For he will suffer no Common Alteration but by the Consent of You and of his Whole Parliament And he desireth You for Christ's sake that All Malice Obstinacy and Carnal Respect set apart ye will friendly and lovingly dispute among your selves of the Controversys mov'd in the Church c. These Fox tells us were the very words of his Speech and that as soon as it was ended the Bishops rose up altogether giving thanks unto the King's Majesty not only for his Great Zeal towards the Church of Christ but also for his Godly Exhortation worthy so Christian a Prince and then immediately they went to Disputation We may observe here that neither Cromwell in his Speech to the Convocation nor the Prelates in their Answer mention any Commission to Treat though it had been a Proper Head to have been enlarg'd on in both Cases and could not well have escap'd the Clergy when returning Thanks to the King for his Goodness to them had any such Commission then issu'd But that it did not and that the Clergy were then under no Apprehensions that their liberty of Debating on what Subjects and even of coming to what Conclusions they pleas'd was abridg'd by the late Act the Preface to the Institution of a Christian Man a Book which pass'd this Convocation evidently shews I have transcrib'd the Passage already from thence †See P. 97. and shall here therefore only referr the Reader to it No the Practise then and long afterwards was only for the President of the Synod to declare to 'em by word of Mouth * Thus in the Convocation of Jan. 1. 1557 The Acts say that Card. Pool Causas hujus Synodi Verbo tenùs proposuit And so divers times before and after 1541. Ian. 20. Reverendissimus exposuit iis ex parte Regis qùod intentio ejus erat qùod ipsi inter se deliberarent de Reformandis Errotibus conficerent Leges de Simoniâ vitandâ c. 1547. 1. E. VI. Nov. 5. Rev mus exposuit iâ—s fuisse c. de mandato Regio Procerum qùod Praelati Clerus inter se conâ—â—lerent de verâ— Christi Religione probè instituendâ With this agrees an Old Directory of Cranmer's for the first Day of the Convocation 7 E. VI. May 1. 1552. §. 6. The Clergy of the Inferior House to be called up to the Chapitor his Grace to declare the Cause of this Convocation and to appoint them to Elect c. 1555. 22. Oct. Episcopus London summariè compendiosè Causam Synodi vocatae exposuit Ian. 13. 1562. Arch. Cant. brevem quandem Orationem Eloquentiae plenam habuit ad Patres Clerum perquam inter alia opportunitatem reformandarum rerum in Eccl. Anglic. jam oblatam esse aperuit ac Propensos animos tam illustrissimae Dominae Nostrae Reginae quà m aliorum Magnatum hujus regni ad hujusmodi Reformationem habendam declaravit I have laid these Instances together that we may see clearly what the Custom then was and how a Message from the King by the President supply'd the place of a Commission under the Broad Seal which was afterwards practis'd Heylin and Fuller have translated some of these Passages in their Historys but so loosly as to accommodate them to the Current Doctrine and Practise of their time when a License to Treat was held necessary Which I mention to warn the Reader not to receive their Versions as Literal For it is plain they saw no other Acts of Convocation than those from whence these Transcripts were taken the King's Pleasure for what Ends he had call'd them together and what Business he would have them proceed upon And this Verbal Intimation was all the Previous Leave that was either ask'd or given in That or several other succeeding Reigns The only Instance in H. the VIII 's time that seems to contradict this is the Divorce of Anne of Cleve in 1540 mention'd by L. M. P. * P. 40. which he says the Clergy could not take cognizance of till the King's Commission impower'd them to debate and consider it And in their Iudgment therefore they recite that Commission at large and by vertue of it declare c. They do so and there were Two very good Reasons for it arising from the Matter about which they were to give their Judgment and from the Manner also in which they were to handle it As to the first of these the attempting any thing by Word or Deed against this Marriage of the King with Anne of Cleve was High-Treason or at leastâ— Misprision of Treason by the Laws of the Realm as the Clause of Pardon in the Act †32. H. 8. c. 25. for dissolving this Marriage evidently shews And the Clergy therefore had reason to desire a Commission from the Crown to screen them from these Penealtys But further such a Commission was necessary not only for their security in a point of this Importance but in order to their very Assembling For which has not been hitherto observ'd this Cause was adjudg'd not in a Convocation properly so call'd that is in a Provincial Synod but in a National Assembly of the whole Clergy of either Province the King issuing out his Letters Commissional under the Great Seal as the Sentence * See it Bishop Burnet Vol. 1. Col. of Rec. p. 197. speaks to the Two Archbishops All the Bishops Deans Archdeacons and Clergy of England and commanding them in Universalem Synodum convenire to debate and determin this matter The Lords and Commons then sitting had petition'd the King to referr it to his Clergy with a design of grounding an Act of Parliament on Their Determination The Business requir'd Haste †The Commission was seal'd the 6 th of July the Clergy met by Vertue of it the 7th The Cause was heard Iudgment given and Letters Testimonial of that Iudgment drawn up and sign'd by all the Clergy on the 9th such Dispatch
as this Gentleman affirms let those Laws be produc'd and those Usages made out and I submit †Pp. 285 286. I agree with him that this is the true way of deciding the Point before us and have accordingly taken this way and no other to decide it I have produc'd the Laws and Usages of this Kingdom that make out both these Rights so incontestably and clearly I think as to leave no Room for a Cavil and I call upon Doctor Wake therefore to Submit or to shew wherein I have mistook or mis-represented those Laws and Usages Let him not think to evade the Force of what has been said by Loose and General Reflections by once again amusing us with Heaps of Foreign Precedents and long Historical Tales nothing to the Purpose in a word by drawing fresh supplys from that Everlasting Magazine of Insignificant Authoritys his Common-place-Book All this Shew of Reading and God knows it is but a Shew will be of no manner of weight with Discerning Judges the short Point between Him and Me is as He himself acknowledges how our Own Constitution stands and what are the Particulars Laws and Usages of this Kingdom By these I affirm and have proved That the Convocation has a Right not only to be Summon'd but to Meet with every New Parliament and to be open'd in Due Form by Divine Service and a Sermon That the Clergy of the Lower House when thus met have a Right of filling the Chair of it with a Prolocutor and of being put into a Condition of doing Business That if they have any Requests any Motions to make to my Lords the Bishops the King or his Great Council for the Good of Religion or the Redress of Church-Grievances they have a Right to make them to enter into what Debates and come to what Resolutions they shall think fit within their Proper Sphere without being oblig'd to Qualify themselves for such Debates or Resolutions by a Royal License which is necessary to no Synodical Act previous to that of Making or Enacting a Canon That in these Respects and to these Purposes the Convocation is still a Parliamentary Body and an Essential Part of our Constituon callâ—d both by the Clause in the Bishop's Summons and by Writs directed to the Archbishop of either Province which Clause and which Writs whenever a New Parliament is to meet can no more by the Rules of our Constitution be omitted than the Writs for any of the Lords or Commons can In short that the King has not only a Right of thus calling the Clergy to attend but the Clergy also have a Right of attending and the Lords and Commons a Right of being attended by them This is the Doctrine briefly laid down in that Letter which first gave rise to this Debate and in these Papers more fully explain'd and prov'd If Dr. Wake can shew wherein any part of it disagrees with the Laws and Usages of this Kingdom let him do it if he cannot as I am certain he cannot he is oblig'd by his Own Proposal to Submit that is to own himself utterly mistaken throughout this Dispute and publickly to retract his Illegal and Slavish Opinions APPENDIX I. EDvardus dei gratia Rex Angliae See p. 20. Franciae Dominus Hiberniae Uenerabili in Christo Patri Radulfo eadem gratia Bath Well Episcopo salutem Cum pridem in Parliamento nostro apud Westm. in quindena Paschae convocato quaedam Legibus Consuetudinibus regni nostri Angliae expresse contratia Regiae Dignitati nostrae nedum vaâ—de prejudicialia sed probrosa fuissent nimis importune petita quae nisi per modum statuti tunc permisissemus consignari dictum Parliamentum fuisset sine omni Expeditione in Discordia dissolutum sic Guerrae nostrae Franciae Scotiae quas de Consilio vestro ut scitis principaliter assumpsimus fuissent quod absit verisimiliter in ruina Nos ad evitanda tanta pericula praemissis protestationibus de revocando cum possemus provide quae sic a nobis quasi invitis extorta fuerint illa sigillo nostro sigillari permiserimus ista vice postmodum ea de Consilio Assensu Comitum Baronum ac aliorum Peritorum ex Causis Legitimis quia defecit Consensus noster declaravimus esse nulla nec nomen vel vim habere debere statuti Ac jam accepimus quod Uenerabilis Pater Arch. Cant. unum Concilium Provinciale in crastino S ti Lucae proxime futuro apud London convocare mandavit in quo Uos caeteros Praelatos Cant. Prov. contra Nos concitare aliqua nobis praejudicialia circa roboratinem dicti pretensi statuti in Enervationem Depressionem Diminutionem Iurisdictionis Iurium Prerogativarum nostrarum regalium nec non circa Processum inter Nos Praedictum Archiepiscopum super quibusdam ex parte nostra eidem Arch o oppositis pendentem statuere declarare super hiâ—s Censuras Graves intenditis promulgare Nos volentes tanto Prejudicio ut convenit obviare Uobis districte prohibemus ne quicquam quod in Derogationem seu Diminutionem Regiae Dignitatis Potestatis jurium Coronae nostrorum seu Legum Consuetudinum dicti regni nostri aut in Prejudictum Processus memorati vel etiam in roborationem dicti pretensi statuti vel alias in contumeliam nostri nominis honoris aut in gravamen vel dispendium Consâ—liariorum vel Obsequialium nostrorum cedere poterunt in dicto Concilio vel alibi proponatis statuatis aut aliqualiter attemptetis aut attemptari faciatis Scituri quod si secus feceritis ad Uos ut Inimicum nostrum nostrorum Uiolatorem Iurium gravius quo licite poterimus capiemus Teste Rege apud Westmonast 1. Oct. regni 15. II. For Mr. Sanders Minister of the Gospel at Oxford Reverend Sir Newbury June 7. 98. I Had a Letter last week by the Direction of the Committee of Ministers and Gentlemen Sept. 26. appointed at London for setling a Correspondence of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers and Congregations throughout this Kingdom for the advancement of the Interest of Religion and Reformation of Ministers with the Articles there agreed upon in order thereunto and a desire to communicate them speedily to the Brethren in these Parts that if possible a General Meeting might be had this Summer in London Pursuant hereunto it is desir'd that You would not fail to come your self and bring with you one prudent Person of your Congregation chosen for that End according to the Method resolv'd on in London to meet several of the Brethren and the Members of the Respective Congregations here at Newbury the 22 Instant to consider of the said Proposals which shall be laid before you and the proper Method to obtain so desirable an End You are desir'd to be here on Tuesday in the Evening that we may enter on our Work on Wednesday Morning resolving God