the known Rules of a Provincial Synod viz. to be summon'd before their Metropolitan and to the Place he should think fit to appoint and in the manner that was usual in all other Convocations For the Archbishop had a Right to call a Convocation at pleasure till the Statute 25 H. 8. c. 19. absolutely restrained him from doing it unless empower'd by the King 's Writ Which effected this Alteration in the Summons that whereas before it was issu'd sometimes upon the Pleasure of the Prince signified to the Archbishop and sometimes upon the Archbishop's alone the Authority of the Summons in both resting equally in his Grace Now he is restrain'd from the Exercise of that Authority till he receive leave or direction from the Prince The Summons upon that intimation of the Royal Pleasure being still issued in his Grace's Name and under the Archiepiscopal Seal that is remaining as properly Authoritative as before * See this point proved more largely in Right of the Archbishop 9 c. II. For whereas in the late comparisons of a Convocation and Parliament the parallel lies between the Archbishop in the first and the Lord Chancellor in the second the share they have in the Summoning these two Bodies is very different The Warrant to the Lord Chancellor who acts Ministerially The Lord Chancellor or Keeper receives a Warrant from the King whereby his Majesty signifies his Resolution to call a Parliament In which case divers and sundry Writs are to be directed forth under our Great Seal of England c. Wherefore we Will and Command you forthwith upon the receipt hereof and by Warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and sealed under our Great Seal for the accomplishment of the same as in like cases hath been heretofore used and accustom'd c. What the King in this case requires of the Lord Chancellor is in a way purely Ministerial his Lordship being commanded to act only in his Majesties Name and under his Seal i. e. solely by his Authority while the Archbishop is only Licens'd or Directed to Exert a Power and Authority which belongs to him as well in the common Right of a Metropolitan as by the antient Laws and Customs of this Realm In virtue whereof he directs his Mandate to the Bishop of London whose Office it is as his Grace's Dean of the Province to Execute that Mandate and whose part therefore in the calling a Convocation answers to that of the Lord Chancellor in the Summons of a Parliament Both of them Act Ministerially in the Name and by the Authority the one of his Civil and the other of his Ecclesiastical Superior The Writ for a Parliament issu'd in the King's Name by the Lord Chancellor summons the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Personally to attend his Majesty on a certain day at Westminster Vobis in side legiantia quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo Mandamus quod consideratis Dicto die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum And another also in his Majesty's Name to the Sheriff of each County commands him to take care that the Knights Citizens and Burgesses duly Elected pay their Attendance to the King at the same Place But the Archbishop in his Mandate executed by the Bishop of London first reciting the Royal Writ to shew that the Restraint of the Statute is taken off Summons the Bishops and Clergy of his Province to appear before himself in his Provincial Convocation at St. Pauls Quod iidem Episcopi Decani Archidiaconi caeteri Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Praelati c. compareant coram nobis aut nostro in hac parte locum tenente sive Commissario in Domo Capitulari Ecclesiae Cathedralis Divi Pauli London The Returns to Parliament to the King The Sheriff of each County is directed in the Royal Writ to make a due Return of his Election to the King in his Court of Chancery Et Electionem tuam in pleno Comitatu tuo factam distinctè apertè sub sigillo tuo sigillis eorum qui Electioni illi interfuerint nobis in Cancellariâ nostrâ ad diem locum in Brevi Contentum certifices indilatè In Convocation to the Archbishop By the Archbishop's Mandate the Bishop of each Diocese to whom the immediate Execution thereof belongs is directed to make the Return to his Grace or his Commissary Et praeterea vobis ut supra injungimus quòd omnibus singulis Coepiscopis Suffraganeis Provinciae nostrae Cant. injungatis injungi faciatis ut singuli eorum sigillatim de facto suo quatenus pertinet ad eosdem Nos seu locum-tenentem sive Commissarium unum vel plures dictis die horâ loco per literas eorum Patentes Nomina Cognomina omnium singulorum per eos respectivè Citatorum continentes distinctè certificent apertè These Returns are ultimately deposited in their proper Offices the Parliamentary in his Majesties Court of Chancery and those to Convocation in the Register of the See of Canterbury That is the due Execution of each being immediately certified to the Person from whom the Command comes and in whose Power it is to punish the default the Testimonies of that Execution rest and stop at the Authority The Summons not less Ecclesiastical for its being enjoined by the Prince from whence the Summons in both cases immediately flow'd Thus far to the Honour of our Reform'd Church nothing appears in the manner of an English Convocation but what is truly Ecclesiastical or in other Words suitable to the Constitution and Government of an Episcopal Church as well as the Degrees and Order of the Members whereof it consists Bating I mean that one Restraint which the Statute has laid upon the Archbishop from calling a Convocation at pleasure as the antient Metropolitans and our own here in England before that Statute had a right to do For as to the Archbishop's exercising his Summoning Authority at the Command of the King this is so far from changing our Convocations into Civil Meetings that 't is no more than an obedience which has been ever paid to Christian Princes by the Governours of National Churches planted and establish'd under their Influence and Protection Nor in our own did the Archbishop's calling his Clergy upon the King 's Writ or without it ever make the least Alteration in the stated Ecclesiastical Methods of Summoning All these God be thank'd are still pretty entire and I hope safe enough against the Endeavours of some restless Men who would perswade us that they are pleading the Cause of the Church in doing all they possibly can to make her a meer Creature of the State The Clergy not Summon'd in the same manner from the beginning This has ever been the Method of Summoning a Convocation but as to the Members summon'd the Cathedral and Diocesan Clergy were not from the beginning represented as now they are by Persons of
require Consideration The difference between former Methods and the late Practices and taking the Advice and Direction of their Lordships about the Expediency and Methods of proceeding in them To the same effect is that Language so familiar of late among some of the Inferior Clergy in Convocation That they have Business of their own to do That 't is generally different from what is transacted at the same time in the Vpper-House That their Debates are manag'd independently from their Lordships that the Archbishop with his Suffragans has no Right to take cognizance of or interpose in their Debates That there is no Necessity be the Matter never so important of previous Directions from the Vpper-House Principles somewhat ambiguously express'd perhaps not without a foresight of certain Objections but being interpreted by the late Practices their Tendency to a Division of the Synod and a Co-ordinate Power in the Church is no less plain than is their Opposition to all the Proceedings of former times One thing more I would observe upon this Head what little likeness there is between a Convocation and a Parliament in their very first Entrances upon Business Unless the Enemies of the Ecclesiastical Power will object as they who are so fond of a Parliamentary-Relation are like enough to do that the Archbishop in Convocation opening the Causes of their Meeting does only the same thing with the Lord Chancellor in Parliament whose Office it is to Convey and Enforce to the two Houses the Instructions he receives from his Majesty But they may understand that as oft as the King had occasion to solicit Business in Convocation he sent Commissioners of his own to do it as every one must know who casts his Eye upon our Convocation-Registers never so slightly These were said to come thither ex parte Domini Regis and their coming as occasion requir'd to represent the Desires of the King and the Condition of the Kingdom was a Custom so much known and establish'd that the Register takes notice of the Archibishop's doing it as a thing Singular and Extraordinary Anno 1380. Dec. 1. Et quia protunc Dominus meus Archiepiscopus erat Cancellarius Angliae nec comparuit alius pro parte Domini Regis qui exponeret Clero negotia regni sicut fieri Consuevit in aliis Convocationibus dictus Dominus meus negotia regni pericula imminentia satis clare exposuit Nor did it make any Difference in the Form of their Proceedings thereupon that the first Motion came from the Court but the Archibishop having given the Commissioners some such general Answer as this quod voluit super his mature communicare cum Confratribus suis Praelatis Clero he immediately proceeded to that Communication either with the Clergy and Bishops in a Body or directing the Clergy to debate in their own House with his Brethren alone If it be further said that the Necessity of a Royal-License before the Convocation can proceed to make Canons c. has restrain'd the President 's ancient Power of explaining the General Causes of the Summons the Answer is this That the Persons whose present Endeavours it is to diminish the Metropolitical and Episcopal Authority affirm that a great Variety of Ecclesiastical Matters may not only be begun but transacted and concluded without the Authority of such a License and so far the President 's Right of proposing the General Matters stands where it did And as to Canons and Constitutions if they may not be actually enter'd upon without a License yet his Grace at the opening of the Convocation may deliver his own Judgment as to the Expedience of them and refer it to the Consideration of the Bishops and Clergy Whether it be adviseable to desire the Royal-License for that end CHAP. VII The Right of the Archibishop and Bishops to require the Clergy to consider any particular Business throughout the Convocation THE foregoing Chapter shows the Right of the President after consultation had with his Brethren the Bishops first to lay before the Clergy the general Causes of his Summons and then to require them to Retire and Deliberate thereupon But the Scene of Business opening and enlarging it self many unforeseen difficulties will unavoidably occur and new Designs also for the Benefit of the Church must naturally arise from the mutual Debates of the Governors thereof assembl'd in Convocation And accordingly when any such Occasions requir'd the Inferior Clergy have been ever enjoyn'd to Debate and Examine all Matters proposed by their Ecclesiastical Superiors for that purpose from the beginning to the end of Convocation The instances hereof are very numerous The necessity of showing this to prevent an objection from the explication of the General Causes at the opening of a Parliament but necessary to be added to the Testimonies contain'd in the last Chapters which without those would leave room for an Objection that as to the General Causes at the beginning those are equally explain'd to the two Houses of Parliament and yet the Honourable Members of the Lower House there are under no such Restraint or Subordination in their subsequent Proceedings An Objection I say of this sort is like enough to be started considering how industriously those Fancies about a Parliamentary Relation have been insinuated into the minds of Men. I will therefore show that what the Archibishop does in opening the general Causes of his Summons and directing the Clergy to deliberate about it at the beginning of Convocation the same thing he and his Suffragans have a Right to Do upon all emergent Occasions during the whole course of their Proceedings And this will manifest to the World how the Constitution and Proceedings of an English Convocation to the glory of it are exactly model'd according to the Primitive Distinction between Bishops and their Presbyters in point of Order and Authority while from the most early Accounts of Convocations to this day we see the Metropolitan and Bishops as the Governors of the Church Propesing and Directiing in Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Presbyters at hand with their Advice and Assistance in Subservience to the same Ends. The separation of the two Houses made no difference in this point Nor do we find any difference in this Point between the Times before and after the Separation of the Bishops and Clergy excepting this one that before it they all took the directions immediately from the President and retir'd in a Body and since his Grace upon those Occasions has either sent up for the whole House or which is more ordinary for the Prolocutor with Five or Six more Reverendissimus cum consensu Confratrum voluit jussit mandavit ad se accersiri Prolocutorem and by him conveys to his Brethrem below the Pleasure and Instructions of the Upper House But as to the manner end or authority of these occasional Directions their Division into two Houses made not the least difference in them as will appear beyond contradiction from the
of God c. Quâ per me praefatum Sacvilum Wade in hac parte Actorum Scribam sive Registrarii Deputatum publicè tunc ibidem altâ voce perlectâ dictus Reverendissimus Pater caeteri Episcopi secum assidentes Clerus Domûs Inferioris praedict sese coram eis exhibentes cum omni Reverentia Obedientiâ Subjectione Humilitate gratis Animis acceptarunt receperunt Reverendissimus Pater antedictus Prolocutorem alios de Domo Inferiori Decanos Archi-Diaconos Capitula Cleri procuratores ibidem praesentes voluit ut ipsi inter se convenirent excogitarent de Benevolentiâ sive extraordinariâ Contributione dicto Serenissimo Domino nostro Regi concedendâ deinde de Canonibus Constitutionibus Statum Ecclesiasticum Ecclesiae Vtilitatem concernentib ' componend ' faciend ' inter se consentiend ' Et ut ipsi pro meliori celeriori ipsius negotii expeditione quosdam graviores doctiores Viros de gremio suo eligerent dictum negotium de Canonibus concipiendis Subitur ' Et subsequenter Magister Willielmus Fisher Notarius Publicus DomuÌ„s Inferioris Actuarius mihi praefato Notario certificavit in fidem Notarii Venerabiles Viros Dominum Prolocutorem Isaacum Bargrave Thomam Wynnyffe Richardum Baily Sacrae Theologiae respectivè Professores Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Cant. London Sarum Thomam Paske Andream Binge Radulphum Brownrigg Sacrae Theologiae Professores Archi-Diaconos London Norwicen ' Coven ' Johannem Montfort Gilbertum Sheldon Sacrae Theologiae Professores Procuratores pro Capitulis Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Divi Pauli London ' Gloucester ' necnon Dominum Johannem Lambe Militem Legum Doctorem Benjaminum Laney Thomam Turner Edwardum Franklin Sacrae Theologiae Professores Gilbertum Ironside Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaurcum Procuratores pro Clero Lincoln ' Winton Norwicen ' Bristolien ' esse electos cum consensu totius Domûs ad effectum praedictum Tunc dimisso Domino Prolocutore cum toto Coetâ—… Domûs Inferioris Reverendissimus Colloquium habuit cum confratribus suis ut excogitarent imprimis de Canonibus Novis concipiendis deinde de Veteribus Canonibus percontandis examinandis ad effectum cisdem addendi vel eos supplendi si hujusmodi sacrae Synodo expedire videatur Et insuper hortatus est idem Reverendissimus ut Formae libri Articulorum in qualibet Visitatione posthâc Ministrandorum de Consecratione Ecclesiarum Capellarum Coemeteriorum concipiantur post res ita gestas praedictus Reverendissimus Pater jussit Prolocutorem coram se Confratribus suis vocari Quo Prolocutore cum Octo Decanis eum comitantibus comparente idem Reverendissimus eos Voluit ad conveniendum die Veneris proximo tempestivè ad tunc tractandum cum toto Coetu Domûs Inferioris citra Benevolentiam sive Contributionem voluntariam dicto Domino nostro Regi concedendam Et ut ipsi Formam Articulorum in Visitationibus imposterum ministrandis concipiant Denique eis dimissis Idem Reverendissimus Pater cum Consensu Confratrum suorum continuavit c. prout in Schedula per eum lectâ c. The Opinion of the Lord Keeper and other the Judges and the King's Councel for the Continuance of the Convocation The Convocation being call'd by the King 's Writ under the Great Seal doth continue until it be dissolv'd by Writ or Commission under the Great Seal notwithstanding the Parliament be dissolved 14 Maij 1640. Jo. Finch C. S. H. Manchester John Bramston Edward Littleton Ralphe Whitfeld Jo. Bankes Ro. Heath Sessio XI DIE Veneris 15º Viz. die Mensis Maij Anno Dom. 1640. inter horas secundam quartam post Meridiem Reverendissimus c. Confratribus suis notum fecit Quòd Serenissimus Dominus Rex honorandum Virum Dominum Henricum Vane Militem Vnum è Secretariis suis Principalibus Thesaurarium Hospitij sui Regij tanquam Nuncium specialem ad hanc Domum destinavit eundemque honorandum Virum in Capellâ ex parte Australi hujus loci praesentem esse Ideóque Reverendissimus Pater cum Consensu confratrum suorum ad se accersiri fecit dictum honorandum Virum nec non Dominum Prolocutorem totum Coetum Domûs Inferioris Qui quidem honorandus Vir domum hanc Convocationis sive Sacrae Synodi primò intravit ac deinde Dominus Prolocutor cum toto Coetu Domûs Inferioris Dominus Archi-Episcopus istius Sacrae Synodi Praeses eundem honorandum Virum benignè recepit in Cathedra è manu Sinistrâ positâ eum locavit Et tunc idem honorandus Vir eisdem Reverendissimo patri ac Praelatis Clero brevi Oratione declaravit se fuisse per Dominum Regem ad hanc Domum missum ad Regiam suam voluntatem eidem narrandum Scilicet Quod idem Dominus noster Rex Licentiam sive Commissionem de Ordinando Canones Constitutiones Ecclesiasticas pro meliori gubernatione Ecclesiae ad Dei gloriam Regis honorem totius hujus Regni pacem uti speratur huic sacrae Synodo ex gratia Speciali concedens cum Dominis è privato suo consilio consultum habuit an hujusmodi sacra Synodus ad hujusmodi Canones Constitutiones faciendum procederet necne Et dicti Domini unanimi Consensu nullo eorum dissentiente Vota eorum exhibuerunt tanquam maximè necessarium adjudicarunt ut Sacra haec Synodus ad istos Canones juxta potestatem eidem Synodo datam faciendum concipiendum procedat Ideóque dictus honorandus Vir nomine ex parte dicti Domini Regis hortatus est ut tales Canones in brevi tempore fiant quales Ecclesiae praesenti huic statui maximè utiles sint Et subjunctâ aliâ brevi Oratione per Reverendissimum Patrem antedictum Praelatis toto Coetui praedicto cum monitione Nomine dicti Domini Regis ut nullus eorum à dictâ Sacrâ Synodo discedat donec omnia juxta mandatum Regium praedictum perimpleantur idem Reverendissimus Pater unà cum dicto honorando Viro à dictâ Sacrâ Synodo ad Consilium ineund ' cum Domino Rege apud Whitehall recessit Et post aliquem tractatum inter Dominos Episcopos antedictos habitum Reverendus Pater Dominus Johannes Sarum Episcopus dicti Reverendissimi Patris Commissarius sive locum-tenens continuavit c. prout in Schedula per eum lecta continetur Cujus c. Sessio XII DIE Sabbathi 16º viz. die mensis Maij Anno Domini 1640 inter horas Octavam Vndecimam ante Meridiem c. Reverendissimus c. communicavit cum eisdem Dominis Episcopis Et inter hujusmodi communicationes comparuit Dominus Prolocutor cum Decanis Cant ' London tradidit in Manus dicti Reverendissimi Patris quasdam Schedulas Papyri continentes quaedam Capitula Canonum per eum Prolocutorem totum clerum Domûs
directed to proceed upon particular Business by the Archbishop and Bishops 5 20 22 24 37 39 40 42 50 68 70 72 85 87 91 104 118 210. Lower-house go up voluntarily 22 37 41 45 46 50 174 207 213 214 215. Lower-house bring up and return Business 27 35 37 39 40 41 42 43 45 47 49 51 91 92 112 119 155 160 173 206 213 214 215. M Mandates from the Archbishop for Summoning a Convocation 9 57. N Notice given to the Upper-house of Persons chosen for Committees in the Lower V. Committees O Oblations unjustly detain'd from the Clergy 35. Offertory at the Opening of Convocation 2. Ogleby's Bible 70. Ordinations determin'd to the 4 Seasons 109. not to be perform'd out of the Diocese without Letters dimissory from the Archbishop 109. P Parliament Prayer for it made in Convocation 23 27. Thanks from the Lords in Parliament to the Bishops and Clergy for their Care and Labour in Revising the Common-Prayer 106. Point whether lawful for Bishops to sit in Parliament in Cases of Blood consider'd 99. Petition presented to the Lower-house laid before the Upper 45 50. from the Clergy in the Isle of Wight 123. by the Bishop of Norwich 124. from the Lower-Clergy to the House of Lords in the Case of a Money-Bill 176 177. Pluralities 172 2. Praeconizations 139 163 167 170. Prayer Common revis'd 84 85 86 87 92. Preface to it 90 93. General Thanksgiving 93. General Revisal of the whole 93. Subscriptions to it with the Preparation of a Form 94 95. Act of Parliament for establishing the Common-Prayer debated in Convocation 98. Alterations made by Parliament in the Common-Prayer debated in Convocation 103. Orders for Printing the Book of Common-Prayer 104. Appointment of a Supervisor and Correctors 105. Thanks to the Bishops and Clergy from the House of Lords for their Care and Labour in Revising the Common-Prayer 106. Method of dispersing the Books of Common-Prayer 108. Prayer Form of for the King's Restoration 67. for the 30th of January 67. for the 5th of November 110. The three â—oregoing Forms brought in and approv'd 110. Prayers at Sea 89 90. Prayer before Sermon unica Forma Precum 90. Privilege Breach of 39. Prolocutor or Referendary chosen by Order or Leave from the Archbishop at the beginning of Convocation 3 4 5 16 63 137 165 196. chosen in the middle of Convocation upon the Promotion of another 101. chosen upon Death 126. Prolocutor recommended by the Archbishop 196. presented to the Archbishop and Bishops 19 67 101 126 139 166 199. Office 6. Assessors appointed by him 139 151 153 168 170. comes alone to the U. house 23 35 37 155. confers in private with the President 46 47. confers with the Presid and Bish 157. Prolocutor sent for alone with a certain number or with the whole House to the Upper-house Reverendissimus c. Voluit mandavit Prolocutorem ad se accersiri Fecit ad se accersiri Jussit Prolocutorem coram se Confratribus suis vocari Nunciatum fuit Domino Prolocutori de voluntate Reverendissimi c. quòd ad se accederet c. 18 21 31 33 36 38 40 42 46 48 67 68 69 71 75 76 83 85 87 91 101 104 105 118 122 125 126 146 147 150 152 153 154 157 159 167 168 170 171 175 176 170 2 172 2 198 206 210. Prolocutor dismis'd by the Archbishop and Bishops Dimisso Prolocutore Eis dimissis c. 20 22 23 24 27 32 35 37 38 39 41 42 43 45 46 47 49 50 51 53 67 72 75 83 85 87 91 92 101 102 119 124 126 199 210. acting by a Deputy 147 148 212. Protestation 44 Proxies order'd to be brought in by the Archbishop 154. Psalms revis'd 88. R Recusants Canon against them 39 45. Residence enjoin'd 172 2. S Schedules of Continuation At the Conclusion of every Session in the Upper-house-Books Schedules of Reformation 140 149 167 193. Silence enjoin'd 24 26 169. Socinians Canons against 41. Subsidies 20 21 118 120 206 212. Subsidy-Bills review'd and corrected by Committees 23 26 118 151 154. read 156. pass'd in Form 212. Subscription to the Book of Common-Pray 94 95. Subscriptions to the 39 Articles debated 108. Substitution of a Presid 24 62 192 193 205 217. V Visitational-Articles 75 102 104. W Welsh Common-Prayer 45. Westminster Dean of protests his Appearance in Convocation to be with a Salvo jure to the Rights of his Church 196. Protestation of the Church of Westminster 18 65 192. Writ of Prorogation 113 122. of Dissolution 163. Y York the Archbishop and Bishops of that Province in the Convocation of 1661. 75 76 c. Addenda Emendanda IN the Catalogue of Convocation Acts add 1st after the Year 1380. 1382 Nov. 18. Courtney fol. 33. a. 2 ly At the Year 1554. add The Acts of the Upper House are Enter'd in Bishop Bonner's Register 3 ly At the Year 1562. add A fragment of the Proceedings in the Lower House Febr. 13. 1562. is in the hands of Mr. Petyt 4 ly Concerning the Index in Dr. Atterbury's hands it is to be observ'd that the few passages Cited in this Book are immediately taken out of a late Extract from thence of such things as concern the present Controversy Pag. 34. After the Sentence of Contumacy by Archbishop Chichele add But a much elder than this is enter'd in the Register of Archbishop Courtney Anno 1391. Dominus contra Absentes sub hac Formâ processit Nos Willelmus permissione Divina Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus totius Angliae Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus c. omnes singulos ad praesens Concilium nostrum legitimè peremptoriè citatos praeconizatos diucius expectatos non comparentes reputamus pronunciamus Contumaces in paenam Contumaciarum suarum hujusmodi Decernimus Declaramus Pronunciamus omnia singula in praesenti Concilio habita atque facta suum debitum sortiri debere effectum ipsorum Contumacijs in aliquo non obstantibus in hac parte poenam aliam Canonicam eis eorum singulis infligendam Nobis seu Commissario nostro quem ad id duxerimus deputandum nihilominùs specialiter Reservantes Pag. 47. lin 23. Paenâ sibi reservatâ is not the express language of the present Schedule but sufficiently appears to be the meaning of it both from the frequent mention in the Registers of such Reservations to the Archbishop singly and the no less frequent Inflictions of such Canonical Punishment upon the Lower Clergy and that by the President without any interposition or concurrence of the Bishops or Clergy Pag. 53. lin 16. Add To which purpose the Extracts out of the Upper House Books Anno 1541. conclude with the following Note ' Memorandum in fine Libri Inseruntur Constitutiones Substitutiones in Convocatione praedictâ ex Licentiâ Reverendissimi ubi habentur Scripta diversarum Absolutionum eorum qui Absentes erant Pag. 61. lin 19. for Suspend read Supersede Pag. 183. lin 12. To the Chapter Of the manner of Passing Business in Convocation add And even in Canons and all other matters Passing by Subscription the Metropolitan's ancient Authority remains thus far entire that without his Concurrence the Agreement of all the rest is not the Act of Convocation nor can be presented as such to the Prince for his Royal Confirmation Pag. 186. lin 12. For 1434. read 1534. App. p. 131. For 1686 and 1688. read 1586 and 1588. Pag. 233. lin antepeâ—… I am since assur'd That in York-Province the Archbishop or his Commissary always Sign the Instrument of Continuation after Reading Pag. 295. lin 8. Read their Church lin 13. add They knew the Kings of England had often directed their Writs to the Archbishop before the Act of Submission was thought of and were as constantly obey'd And the Writ being an immediate Direction to the Archbishop and not to any particular Member of Convocation they were so far from thinking that a Summons upon the Authority of such Writ destroy'd his Grace's authoritative Summons that we see they use the Term even while the Act was repeal'd and they were by consequence under no Obligation to use it ☞ Throughout the Book wherever mention is made of the Last Convocation 't is to be understood of that which began Febr. 10. 1700 1 wherein these unhappy Differences between the two Houses first arose P. 138. l. 32. read Domum Superiorem P. 165. l. 1. read de uniendis parvis Beneficiis P. 169. l. 1. read Not but. P. 228. l. 13. for Julius XI read Julius II.
English Convocation however laid under some Restraints from the Civil Constitution is far from being so much transform'd into a Civil Meeting as has been pleaded of late That in the Summoning Opening and Acting it appears what it is an Ecclesiastical Synod of Bishops with their Presbyters and neither a Parliamentary Body on the one hand nor an Assembly of Presbyters on the other That however the Papists slander the English Reformation as if it had chang'd our Church into a Civil Constitution yet 't is evident against all the Endeavours of some among our selves to help the Church of Rome in that Objection that as to the Nature of our Synods at least it left 〈◊〉 in the same Ecclesiastical State as it found them To proceed regularly in this Design it must be all along observ'd what I hinted before that the Corruptions which have been endeavoured of late in an English Convocation are in general the Diminution of the Canonical Authority of the Metropolitan and Bishops and the Clergy's claiming such Exemptions from that Authority as makes the whole Body look more like an English Parliament than a Sacred Synod To this purpose it has been pleaded Nar. p. 6. That the Convocation was divided into two Houses in conformity to the Parliament Answ p 9. c. 2. That the Prolocuter is President of the Lower-House as the Archbishop is of the Vpper That the Acts and Declarations of both are only the Effect of the Order or Consent of each House respectively That the Prolocutor governs the Time of the Lower in as full a manner as his Grace does that of the Vpper i. e. with the Consent of the House Nar. p. 17. That their Debates are manag'd Independently from their Lordships Nar. p. 61. That they have a general Negative upon the Vpper-House That in virtue thereof they have a Right to deny the Appointment of Committees and even a sight of their Journals in which by the way they exceed their Pattern the Journals of the two Houses of Parliament being mutually open to the Members of each at all times and upon all occasions Nar. p 3. That without the Knowledge or Directions of their Lordships they can enter upon and proceed in business of the highest Importance and if any Point happen that in the judgment of the Vpper-House may be most conveniently Debated in Writing Nar. p. 50. they can insist upon a free Conference as the fittest Method and if that be deny'd are under no Obligation to be further accountable to their Lordships for any of their Practices or Proceedings Nar. p. 49. Add to these the Power they claim over their own Members upon which they can require their Attendance and according to the known practice of the last Convocation can discharge them from it by a Vote or Resolution of the House with that other Claim which has been so much insisted on their Right to adjourn to different Days from the Metropolitan and Bishops and to sit and act on these Days as a House In these Claims and Practices I say we have the view of an English Parliament but lose that of an Ecclesiastical Synod consisting of a Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters By these Rules we see the Debates as to the matter manner and time are all separated at the pleasure of the Inferior Clergy and as the Archbishop and the Upper-house are made to resemble the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Lords Temporal so to compleat the Parallel the Prolocutor and the Lower-House that is as they term themselves the Spiritual Commons answer to the House of Commons and their Speaker However such Comparisons if they went no further than Names or the general Appearance of the two Bodies might be innocent enough but when upon these the Claims of new Privileges begin to be founded and such Privileges too as are an apparent diminution of the Metropolitical and Episcopal Authority separating the Synod and raising the Presbyters by degrees to a co-ordinate Power then the Parallel is no longer safe but the Governors of the Church and all that love our Episcopal Constitution are concern'd to enter upon proper Measures for the Preservation of it And these in our present Circumstances I conceive to be the opposing to those new attempts the Authority of former Convocations and describing from thence i. e. from the only true Rule the Practice and Proceeding proper to each House Which will not only shew that their Lordships have insisted upon no Power but what their Character and the Usage of Convocation fully justifie and that therefore the Clergy's Claims of Exemption from it are not to be warranted but will also discover to the World how they have been impos'd on by those who have grounded such Claims upon an imaginary Alliance between the Parliament and Convocation two Bodies that will appear to be widely different both in Constitution and Proceedings And since that difference as I said before consists chiefly in the Authority which belongs to the Metropolitan and Bishops over the Inferior Clergy and their Proceedings 't is my design to shew out of the Records themselves how that Authority stands and has always stood in the several Ages and Instances from the Summoning and Opening a Convocation to the Dissolution thereof with an Eye all along to the different Constitution and manner of corresponding in the two Houses of Parliament and particularly to the late Claims of Independence built upon a Parliamentary Relation CHAP. I. The Method of SUMMONING an English Convocation The Writ to the Archbishop I. WHen his Majesty by the Advice of his Council resolves to Summon his Parliament and with it a Convocation he signifies his Royal Pleasure by Writ to the Archbishop Rex c. Reverendissimo c. then the generaI Causes of his calling a Convocation are recited Vobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando mandamus quatenus praemissis debito intuitu attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestrae Provinciae ac Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium necnon Archidiaconos Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioecesis ejusdem Provinciae ad comparendum CORAM VOBIS in Ecclesia Cathedrali S. Pauli London die c. VEL ALIBI prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommodâ MODO DEBITO Convocari faciatis A Writ to this effect and for some hundred Years in this very Form has been all along directed to the Archbishop whenever the King had resolved that a Convocation should be Summon'd Upon the reception whereof his Grace always proceeded to summon it in the fixt and Canonical Method that he ever us'd in calling of Convocations upon his own motion without that Writ For tho' the King as having a Right to the Assistance of the Clergy had also a Right to be obey'd by the Archbishop in calling them together for that end yet in the dispatch of that business he left them to proceed according to
their own immediate Choice The Deans Priors and Abbots were requir'd by the Archbishop to bring Procuratorial Letters from the respective Bodies over whom they were placed as the Archdeacons were to do from the Parochial Clergy within their District Anno 1257 the Archiepiscopal Mandate runs thus In virtute obedientiae praecipiendo ut praedicti Decanus Prior dictarum Cathedralium Ecclesiarum Abbates alii Priores cum literis Procuratoriis nomine Congregationum suarum confectis ac dicti Archidiaconi cum literis similiter factis ex parte Clericorum qui subsunt eisdem c. dictis die loco personaliter debeant interesse Anno 1258 to the same purpose Vocetis eciam Decanos Cathedralium et aliarum Ecclesiarum nec non etiam Abbates Priores Majores insuper et Archidiaconos vestrae Diaecesis universos ut cum literis suorum subditorum Procuratoriis loco et die antedictis compareant And the Bishop's Order upon that Mandate to the Archdeacon Ac nihilominus Vos ipsi compareatis dictis die et loco cum literis Procuratoriis Cleri totius Archidiaconatûs vestri Anno 1279. The Archbishop's Mandate directs the Bishops to call their Clergy together and excite them to contribute liberally to the King's Necessities and then leaves them at liberty whether they will send their Resolutions by the Bishoâ—… or their Proxies or by Proctors of their own Hujusmodi autem Servitii vel Subsidii quantitatem per Vos aut Procuratores vestros vel certe per Procuratores proprios ad hoc si expedire videritis destinandos nobis intimare studeant in Congregatione nostrâ London c. The same Method I mean of the Bishops calling together the Clergy is prescrib'd by the Archiepiscopal Mandates of 1282. and 1283. when the Clergy appear to have been represented in both by two Proctors But afterwards Anno 1296. we find the Diocesan Clergy requir'd to appear by one Proxy Vnumquodque Capitulum seu Conventus per unum Clerus quoque cujuslibet Dioecesis per unum similiter Procuratorem idoneum et instructum And Anno 1311. either by one or two Clerus autem per unum vel duos Procuratores consimiles communiter destinandos Inferences from the foregoing Testimonies I produce not these Instances to invalidate the Right of the Cathedral Clergy to be constantly represented by one or the Diocesan by two Proctors of their own choice For that they have now an undeniable Custom of almost four hundred years as they have a Prescription of half that time and upwards for the part they bear in framing and passing Ecclesiastical Constitutions But such Observations came naturally into this Historical Account of the Archiepiscopal Summons and the Inferences I would draw from them are ' That an Interest in Convocation much more a concern in Affairs Ecclesiastical is far from belonging to the Lower Clergy Originally even by the Customs of our own Nation and those Customs Modern if compared with Primitive Practice ' That the present Frame and Establishment first arose from the Command of the Metropolitan to send two Proctors and from a Custom growing thereupon That the Figure they now make in Convocation and much more the Figure that some of the Members would make is far beyond any thing that these their Predecessors pretended to That the Exercise of the Archbishop's Authority in Convocation has been much greater than it is and yet the Church and her Rights did not prosper the less That therefore even waving the Practice of Convocation upon which the Claims of the Upper-House are immediately grounded the late Clamours of Danger and Ruin to the Church from thence can in Reason be regarded by none who will look back to the Condition of the Presbyters in the Primitive Times or even in our own Nation and that not many Centuries ago CHAP. II. The manner of Opening a Convocation All the Members to be ready at St. Pauls ON the day prefixt in the Archbishop's Mandate for the Convocation's meeting all the Members cited thereby are obliged to be ready at St. Pauls for the coming of his Grace Thus it is and ever has been according to Archbishop Parker's account of the establisht Form of Opening a Convocation Sciendum est quòd omnes qui authoritate Reverendissimi citantur ad comparendum coram eo in domo Capitulari Ecclesiae Cathedralis D. Pauli London die tenentur praefixo tempore interesse atque in eadem Ecclesiâ Cathedrali praestolari adventum dicti Reverendissimi The President 's coming to St. Pauls His Grace waited on at his Landing by all the Advocates and Proctors of his Court is by them and his own Retinue conducted to the Church of St. Pauls at the Door whereof the Bishops and Clergy meet and receive him and all walk in Procession to the Quire Prayers and Sermon ended he with the Bishops and Clergy go into the Chapter-House The Dean of the province exhibits his Certificatorium where the Lord Bishop of London Dean of the Province exhibits a Certificate that the Mandate has been duly executed Reverendissimo ac caeteris suis Coepiscopis in suis sedibus ordine consedentibus ac reliquo Clero circumstante Reverendus Dominus Episcopus London Mandatum sibi a dicto Reverendissimo ad Convocationem hujusmodi Summonend directum una cum â—…bito Certificatorio super Executione ejusdem iâ—…roducere ac debita cum Reverentiâ eidem Reverendissimo Patri praesentare tradere tenetur This Certificate under the Episcopal Seal and directed to the Archbishop first acknowledging the receipt of his Grace's Mandate recites it and then signifies how by Virtue and Authority thereof the Bishops of his Province and by them the Deans c. have been regularly Summon'd That he owns himself duly Cited by the Authority of the same Mandate That he has intimated to them his Grace's Resolution not to hold any excus'd but upon good Reasons to be then and there alledg'd That he has also enjoyn'd every Bishop to bring with him a Certificate of the Execution of the foresaid Mandate in his own Diocese And then adding how he has executed it particularly in the Diocese of London he subjoins a Catalogue of the Members therein In like manner every Bishop makes his Return immediately to the Archbishop in a formal Instrument under his Episcopal Seal certifying the Summons of his Dean Archdeacons and Clergy in Virtue of his Grace's Letters Mandatory transmitted by the Lord Bishop of London and adding their several Names and Sirnames By the Archbishop's Order the Bishop of London's Certificate is publickly Read and one or more Officers of his Court appointed by him Other Certificates and Proxies to receive in his Name the Certificates of the other Bishops and all the Letters of Proxy Then a wiritten Schedule is put into his Grace's Hand by which he pronounces all Members cited and not appearing Contumacious Contumacy Pronounced Forma Convocat reserving the Punishment of their
Refusal put a stop to the measures of Accommodation I appeal to any imparial Man whether that Motion intended to be made to the Upper House was fit to be offer'd any where but in the Lower in which the Obstruction solely lay CHAP. XI The Right of the President and Bishops to take to them the Assistance of Persons learned in the Law c. BEsides the Opinion and Assistance of the Inferior Clergy acting in conjunction with the President and Bishops as Members of the same Convocation their Lordships have a separate Power to advise with Counsel either in the Common or Civil Law upon any difficulty in the Course of their Proceedings in Cases more especially where there is any danger or appearance of their interfering with the Statutes and Customs of the Realm The Manner of taking their Advice has been either by admitting them to the Debates of the House or appointing a Select number of Bishops to lay before them any Doubts or Difficulties that were in their way and to desire the Opinion Anno 1419. Sess 3. Coram Archiepiscopo c. adductus fuit quidam Ricardus Walker c. quem ut asserebatur Prior Ecclesiae Cath. Wigorn. tanquam Sortilegum de Sortilegio suspectum c. apprehenderat Being examin'd he was remanded to Prison usque deliberari posset per Jurisperitos quâ poenâ talis Sortilegus esset per Jurisperitos puniendus Anno 1425. Jun. 8. Two Hereticks remanded in the same manner Donec Reverendissimus Pater de concilio avisamento Confratrum suorum ac Jurisperitorum deliberaret quid cum eis faciend censeret si in Poenam Relapsûs cecidissent neone Anno 1428. Upon the Question Whether the Religious should receive Hereticks as Prisoners into their Houses the Register adds Et quia ut asseruerunt materia illa ut eis videbatur gravis erat ac res quaedam insolita inaudita Supplicarunt Domino pro deliberatione ulteriori in hac parte habendâ ad finem quòd possent communicare cum Jurisperitis ne eis aut eorum Privilegijs seu Indultis Apostolicis praejudicium aliquod generaretur Anno 1460. Maij. 20. Administratis per Mr. Johannem Stoks Praelocutorem c. certis Articulis utilitatem Regis Regni Angliae defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus Reverendissimus Pater cum consensu suorum Confratrum in dictâ Convocatione praesentium elegit certos viros praeeminentis Scientiae viz. Magistros Rob. Styllington c. Legum Doctores ad interessend pertractand consiliand cum cis de super hujusmodi Articulis coram dicto Reverendissimo Patre suis Confratribus c. Anno 1586. Sess 3. Mar. 3. Lower House Book Dominus Prolocutor significavit praesentem Voluntatem Reverendissimi ac aliorum Dominorum Praelatorum de benevolâ Contributione c. quód de bujusmodi Libello concipiendo maturior deliberatio cum Jurisperitorum consilio habeatur Anno 1640. Sess 12. May 16. Upon a Debare concerning the Fees for Charchings c. Reverendissimus cum Consilio assensu Praelatorum Confretrum suorum negotium hujusmodi Attornato Generali Domini Regis significand fore decrevit ut ipse de aliquo Remedio pro eis in hac parte curaret Eod. Anno Sess 13. Reverendissimus cum Confratrum consensu elegit Dominos Episcopos Elien Bristol ad consulendum cum utroque Dominorum Justiciariorum Primariorum citra certas Clausulas Verba in Canonibus contra Recusantes They make their Report Sess 15. that Sir Edward Littleton advis'd ut quaedam verba in isto Canone expungerentur alia verba magis apta in loco eorum conscriberentur Eod. Anno Sess 25. Reverendissimus in praesentijs Domini Johannis Lamb Militis c. qui ad informandum Reverendissimum Episcopos vocati sunt tractavit cum Domino Prolocutore citra Canones Anno 1661. Jan. ult A Question arising Whether the Bishops might be present in the House of Lords in Causes of Blood Concordatum ordinatum fuit de cum consensu totius Domûs Superioris ad censulend Jurisperitos tam in Foro Seculari quà m in Curijs Civilibus Ecclesiasticis versatos de super dictâ Quaestione sive Argumento erga proximam Convocationem Anno 1662. Apr. 12. Habito tractatu de Subscriptionibus Clericorum Instituendorum c. Dominus Episcopus London Praesidens c. curam commisit Reverendis Patribus c. ad consulend Jurisperitos de concipiendâ Formâ in Scriptis in circa Subscriptionem praedict Application of these testimonies I produce these Evidences to justifie their Lordships from the Reflections cast upon them for declining to joyn the Lower House in the Censure of Toland's Book The History of which Case with the Reasonableness of what they did therein is set forth at large in the History of the Proceedings of the Upper House and comes no otherwise under my Consideration than as their Lordships appear from hence to have acted agreeably to the Practice of Convocation in advising with Council and upon that Advice determining themselves The necessity of having recourse to Council about the Censure of Books The Penalties of the Statute 25 H. 8. c. 19. upon the extent whereof the Question depended are very great and if incurr'd in Convocation would have affected the whole Body of the Clergy of this Province And therefore my Lords the Bishops the Governours of the Church could not involve the Clergy either of this or future times in a difficulty of that nature by omitting any methods of informing themselves whether the Act could be clearly warranted in Law And who were so fit to be their Guides in that Point as Council Learned in the Law to whom Recourse has been ever had in all Doubts of the same nature as it was particularly in the Convocation of 1689. and upon this very Question too viz. the Power they had in Law to pass a Censure of this kind As their Lordships must be presum'd to have taken the Advice and Opinion of the Ablest Men in the Profession and such withal whom they knew to be Persons of honour and integrity so it becomes not me or any other Person so little entitl'd to Accomplishments of that kind to call in question either the Justness or the Conscience of that Opinion The Narrative of the Lower House says P. 53. that though some eminent Lawyers were against it there were others perhaps as eminent who are of a contrary Opinion It may be so but did my Lords the Bishops understand so much or suppose they had such a Difference in Opinions is no uncommon thing nor must we in many cases ever determin our selves if we stay till all Men be unanimous Their Lordships therefore having appli'd to those of the Profession in whom they thought they could entirely confide had reason to acquiesce in the Judgment they gave especially when they were so expresly warn'd that the Effects of their Acting
against it were to reach the whole Body and so themselves became thereby much more inexcusable for endangering that Body after a Caution given them by such competent Judges and upon so much deliberation Their recommending the Case to the B. of the Diocese agreeable to the Practice of Convocation But the Statute being a Restraint upon the Convocation only and not upon the Ecclesiastical Courts of every Bishop confirm'd and establisht by Law their Lordships desirous to discourage the publication of such Books by all methods consistent with the Clergy's safety recommended that matter to the Bishop in whose Diocese the Offender resided and who upon that account had a right to Summon and prosecute him in a Legal way A method that we find taken in Cases of that kind even while the Convocation had an indisputable right not only to judge of Heretical Doctrines but to convene censure and punish the Heretick Anno 1416. May 23. One John Barton of the Diocese of Lincoln was accus'd of holding Heretical Opinions And May 26. the Register says Praefatus Dominus Johannes Barton per Dominum Cantuariensem fuit deliberatus Reverendo Patri Philippo Lincoln Episcopo ut ipse procederet contra eum Secundum Canonicas Sanctiones Again at the conclusion of the same Convocation we find this Entry Memorandum quòd Ds. Robertus Chapell c. post dictam Convocationem finitam etiam ex deliberatione confilio Praelatorum inibi existentium fuit remissus ad Episcopum Roffensem ad effectum quòd ipse procederet contra eum prout de jure fuerit procedend Anno 1428. July 16. The Rector of Heggely of the Diocese of Lincoln being examined in Convocation tandem Dominus mandavit ut idem Robertus traheret se ad partem ordinavit ut Confrater suus Episcopus Lincoln c. procederet contra eundem ut Ordinarius suus in hac parte Anno 1430. Mar. 2. In the Case of one Thomas Bagley accus'd of Heresy Dominus videns quòd ipse Confratres sui nihil possent proficere in eo ad aedificationem Animae suae mandavit Domino London ut ipsum reciperet contra eum procederet Secundum quod in hac parte dictaverunt Sanctiones And Mar. 5. Dominus assignavit eidem Thomae diem Veneris tunc prox ad audiend Sententiam ferend contra eum per Dominum Willielmum London Ordinarium suum pro eo quòd in Diaecesi sua extitit Beneficiatus Anno 1463. July 16. An accusation being brought in against one of the Diocese of Winchester Dominus commisit eum Confratri suo Willelmo Winton Episcopo puniend And in the very Convocation of 1689 the Right Reverend the Bishop of London Presiding and the present Bishops of Rochester Winchester Exeter and Worcester being then Members of the Upper House this method was markt out to them as appears from the Declaration they then made viz. Anno 1689. Sess 13. The Prolocutor and Lower Clergy being sent for to the Upper House Reverendus Pater Praeses eis declaravit ad effectum Sequen Scil. quòd conscij fuerunt diversas esse Clausulas perniciosas in Libris aliàs penes eos ex directione dictae Domûs relict sed informati sunt per Juris-peritos utriusque Juris proprias esse Curias Judiciales pro punitione delictorum hujusmodi I do not mention either this or the foregoing Instances as agreeing in all respects with the present Case but only to show the readiness of their Lordships upon a reasonable Apprehension of Danger to the Church and Clergy from the measures propos'd to enter upon such other methods as the Laws of the Land would permit and they were sure the Practice of Convocation would justifie THus far we have seen the Clergy in Convocation debating preparing and returning Matters immediately recommended to their care by the President and Bishops and consider'd in the manner and to the purposes directed by their Lordships Our next business is to shew the Rights to which the Clergy are entitl'd by the constant Practice of Convocation and the Regard that upon the same ground is due from my Lords the to their Application and Advice with the Interest they have in the final issue of all Synodical Acts. These I think come under the four following heads viz. their Right I. To present their own and the Church's Grievances to the President and Bishops II. To offer to their Lordships their Petitions of any other kind III. To be with them as a part of the Judicature upon Persons conven'd and examin'd in Convocation IV. To dissent finally from any Matter so as to hinder it's passing into a Synodical Act. CAHP. XII The Gravamina and Reformanda in Convocation The Gravamina often consider'd and presented with the Subsidies I. FRom the most early accounts of Proceedings in Convocation it appears to have been usual for the Clergy to lay before the President and Bishops the Grievances under which they labour'd and with a duitful submission to the judgment of their Lordships to pray a Redress These were stil'd the Gravamina or Articuli Cleri and chiefly concern'd matters relating to Jurisdiction and their Civil-Property viz. The Encroachments of the Lay-Officers the Exactions and other Irregularities of Ecclesiastical Courts and such like called frequently upon that account Injuriae Sometimes therefore the Redress of them made an express Condition of the Subsidies they granted and accordingly in some Instances we find them presented to the Court together with the Subsidy Bill and the King's Answer afterwards reported by the President Anno 1369. Concesserunt Domino Regi decimam biennalem solvendam eidem Domino Regi insra biennium à tempore dictae Concessionis numerandum Sub istis tamen Conditionibus adjectis additis per dictum Clerum viz. quòd dictus Dominus Rex Injurias Violentias ac alia Gravamina Viris Ecclesiasticis in enervationem libertatis Ecclesiasticae per Ministros Regios multipliciter attemptata per ipsum Clerum in Scriptis redigenda dicto Domino Archiepiscopo per cum Domino Regi porrigenda corrigat reformet Et tunc Dictus Dominus Archiepiscopus voluit quòd Clerus Religiosi praedicti Petitiones suas super dictis Injurijs Violentijs Gravaminibus in scriptis redigerent sibi porrigerent c. quòd super eis cum suis Confratribus poterit consulere deliberare cas habitá deliberatione hujusmodi unà cum concessione decimae biennalis praedictae dicto Domino Regi intimare assignavit dictis Clero Religiosis diem Sabbatti prox seq ad comparendum coram eo in dictâ Capellâ horâ primâ voluntatem Regiam super dictis Petitionibus etiam grates regias pro dictâ Concessione quas reportabit audituris Et ad hoc faciendum continuavit dictam Convocationem ad diem Sabbati supradictum Anno 1373. Dec. 2. Upon the Clergy's Motion to have their Grievances redress'd by the King they were directed to
of Laws or Customs that appear'd to be burthensome or inconvenient Anno 1428. The last day of Convocation Dominus ex assensu Confratrum suorum ad Petitionem Cleri poenam in Constitutione propter excessiva Stipendia Capellanorum tam contra dantes quam recipientes latam pro parte dantium suspendit usque ad proximam Convocationem ipsos hujusmodi poenâ minimè involutos fore decrevit Anno 1529. Sess 91. Prolocutor intrans c. perijt quòd praesentati ad Ecclesiastica Beneficia non arctentar per Diecesanos scripto aliquo obligatorio aut poenâ temporali obligari ad Resi ientiam Anno 1541. Sess 20. Clerus exposuit Peâ—…ionem de Conjugies sactis in Bethlem abolendis Anno 1555. Sess 3. The Clergy grant a Subsidy illie expoluit Clerus tres Petitiones primùm quòd omnes Beneficati qui spe Remissionis primorum fructuum ex communi rumore Sacerdotia assecuti sunt non obligentur rependere duplos c. 2 do ut possint Diplomata Apostolica pro Sacerdotiis retinend assequi postremò quòd Statutum tollatur pro Decimis solvendis c. quòd Decimarum Causae emergentes coram Ordinatio examinentur decidantur 4. About Festivals 4. For the appointment of new Festivals or improving the Services of the old Anno 1434. Oct. 9. Dominus ex consensu Confratrum suorum ad Petitionem Cleri ordain'd that St. Frideswide's Day cum novem lectionibus aliis quae ad hujusmodi Festum cum Regimine Chori secundum usum Sarum pertinent per totam Provinciam suam perpetuò celebraretur Anno 1444. Oct. 24. Magister Willelmus Byconil Offic. Curiae Cant. totius Cleri Praelocutor Supplicabat Domino ex parte Cleri ut dies Translationis S. Edwardi c. sub duplici Festo per suam Provinciam solempnizari posset de Confratrum suorum consensu concedere dignaretur 5. For the Archbishops intercession with the King 5. For the Archbishop's Intercession with the King to restrain the Lay Officers from oppressing the Church or to pray their assistance in the Enforcement of Ecclesiastical Laws Anno 1394. Supplicatio Cleri directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York Chancellour of England that for the Suppression of Lollardy they will intercede with the King ut dignetur extendere cum effectu brachium suae Majestatis Anno 1463. Jul. 18. Petitum fuit per Magistrum Johannem Stocks Prolocutorem à Domino ut ipse Regiae Majestati scriberet pro liberatione certarum Personarum Ecclesiasticarum in Custodià laicali incarceratarum custoditarum ut secundum Cartam alias per Regem viris Ecclesiasticis concessam suis Ordinariis possint liberari Anno 1480. Apr. 3. A Petition presented by the Prolocutor to the Archbishop and Bishops praying them in the name of the Clergy to intercede with the King for Protection to the Church against the encroachments of Lay-Officers molesting and imprisoning the Clergy 6. For the Execution of Discipline 6. For more strict Execution of Ecclesiastical Discipline As Anno 1586. March 15. Extracts out of the Upper House Book ' The Lower House beseech the Bishops to be careful of Ordinations to restrain their Officers from Excessive Fees and that they will force every Instituted Person within a certain time to take Induction or else sequester the Profits 7. Petitions of several kinds 7. In the Year 1555. I find at the end of the Journal an Abstract of the Petitions offer'd by the Inferiour Clergy to the Upper House Item Supplication of the Lower House to the Bishops concerning Spiritual Lands in Temporal Mens hands Item for Schools and Hospitals promised in the Statute of Suppression of Colleges Item for Mortmayn Tythes Appropriations of Preachers of Books of Statutes and Jurisdiction against Hereticks of Pluralities of Seminaries of Liberties of the Church in Magna Charta of Praemunire of the Statute of Submission of the Clergy of finding great Horses of Usurers of Violence against any of the Clergy of Clarks Apparel of Priests Married of School-Masters of exempt Jurisdiction and Peculiar Places in Lay-Mens hands of the Cognition of Causes of Tythes before the Mayor of London that Places exempted may be allotted to certain Priests of Chancels decay'd of Priests Marriâ—… to be reconciled of Payment for Tythes of Religious Women Married to be Divorc'd that in Divorces innocent Women may enjoy the Lands and Goods which were theirs before the Marriage That Wardens of Churches may make their Accompts that Ecclesiastical Persons which spoiled Churches and plucked down certain Edifices may be compelled to restitution and to Build them again Petitions of the Clergy presented immediately to the Vpper House All Petitions of this nature were delivered to the Archbishop and Bishops and rested with them as those others to the King or Parliament were put into the hands of the Archbishop singly or jointly with his Suffragans that after Approbation they might by their Lordships be convey'd and solicited according to the Intent and Tenor thereof Nor do I remember to have met with any Petition in the Registers delivered separately or immediately by the Clergy themselves except that one in 1588. Sess 10. to the House of Lords The Commons had sent up a Bill for a provision of Arms c. by the Clergy it was therefore the single and immediate concern of the Lower House to prevent it in order to which they Address'd the Lords in Parliament as in a matter of Property and among the rest the Petition was directed to the Archbishop and Bishops Upon which Accounts it cannot be extended to other Cases of an Ecclesiastical Nature in all which the Bishops and their Clergy must be jointly concern'd The time of presenting such Petitions The time of the Clergy's presenting their Petions to the Upper House whether Vivâ voce or in Scriptis was usually upon Delivery of their Grant and at the end of Convocation Not any but they had the same Right to offer them any other time tho' no Supplies were given but that being the most desirable opportunity of conveying their Grievances to the King became thereupon the ordinary time of bringing in their Petitions of all other kinds CHAP. XIV The Part which the Clergy have had in Judicial Cases THE ordinary way of Trying and Convicting Hereticks and Offenders against the Canons was in the Ecclesiastical Courts of every Diocese where they proceeded according to the stated Rules of such Courts and the severe Canons and Statutes then in force But if the Bishop upon Examination did not see cause to deliver over the Party accus'd to the Secular Power either the Degree or Evidence of the Crime falling short the Suspicion was however reckon'd a sufficient Cause of Imprisonment That if he had not abjur'd in Form he might by that means be compell'd to it or if he had that he might not be trusted abroad till he had given sufficient Proofs of
the matter into Consideration against the next meeting At the best therefore it was doubtful whether any one was legally Substituted to exercise the Office of a Prolocutor But which is more the Intimation of the Act of Continuing is a Referendary-Act a Report from their Lordships to the Lower House and they who contended the most Zealously for his taking the Chair declar'd it to be their intention that he should not act in any instance as a Referendary till he had been confirm'd by their Lordships To argue upon their own principles I only suppose this distinction between a Prolocutor and a Referendary but no such appears in the Registers which stile him not only Prolocutor Referendarius but Prolocutor sive Referendarius implying the names to be of the same Import in the language of Convocation But this will be explain'd more largely under another head At present I will pursue my Observations upon the general Right of Continuing from the five Journals which are here made publick The Phrase Continuavit quoad hanc Domum no Argument for a Separate Power in the L. House The only colour that can be drawn from these of a Separate Power of Continuation in the Lower House is the Phrase of some Continuations in 1586 Prolocutor continuavit quoad hanc domum But here no Act or Power is express'd besides that of the Prolocutor and they who are so earnest for an Inherent Power in the House are yet as zealous as we against all pretences to a Personal Authority in the Prolocutor The Question therefore is by whose Authority he must be suppos'd to Continue in those Cases by that of his Grace or of the Lower House He had certainly notice of the Continuations in the Upper House because these in the Lower are declar'd to the same time And the Advocates for this Inherent Right are at last brought to Acknowledge an Obligation to attend on his Grace's Day and by consequence the necessity of having an Authentick Notice thereof The Prolocutor is also known by his Office to be the Referendary or Reporter of all Messages from the Upper House and I think sufficiently prov'd in the 4th Chapter of this Book to moderate the Debates of the Lower in his Graces stead These are natural reasons why Continuations express'd in such general terms should be the pure Effects of the President 's Authority but as to the Vote Act or Consent of the Lower House there is no mark or footstep of it either in these or any other Separate Continuations The Phrase it self not to be met with elsewhere in all our Journals of Convocation was introduc'd by the Prolocutor's being put into the President 's Commission to Prorogue This oblig'd him to pronounce the Continuation in the Upper House at least to bear a part in it and coming from thence to give notice to the Lower the Actuary's use of the ordinary Style Intimavit would not have been so consistent with the meaning thereof in Convocation Language But while he considered him not only as Prolocutor but as Commissary to the President it was natural to change Intimavit a Ministerial word into terms that might better express the Authority he then had as Commissary to his Grace The Phrase in Parliament Dom. Canc. Contin praesens Parl. no argument for the Lower House See the Right of the A. Bishop p. 43 44. To this I will add a short but clear reply to another Suggestion why the Lower Clergy are not comprehended in the terms of the Archbishop's Continuations It is that in Parliament the Adjournments of the House of Peers are enter'd Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum and yet the Act of the Chancellour Adjourns the Lords only But the distinctions in this Case between the two Houses of Parliament and Convocation are too remarkable to leave room for such a Parallel 1. There is no original Subordination between the constituent Members of the two Houses of Parliament nor any Relation but what arises purely from the Usage and Constitution of the Kingdom But in the two Houses of Convocation as the Bishops make the Upper and Presbyters the Lower a Subordination is establisht in the Lower by Apostolical Institution and in Conformity thereto by the Constitution of this National Church And so every step made by Presbyters towards a co-ordinate or independent Power is a proportionable Deviation in the constitution of our Church from the pattern of the purest Ages For 2. The Adjournment of the House of Peers is pronounc'd by one who has no Authority over the Commons nor any concern even among the Lords besides that of Moderating except he be a Peer of the Realm and in Right of his Peerage have a Title to Vote c. But in Convocation the Continuation is pronounc'd by the Metropolitan of the whole Province and the President of the whole Convocation who advising with his Brethren the Bishops directs the business of Convocation and is at the head of Proceedings in both Houses nay which is more has a final Negative upon them and by his Concurrence gives the Sanction to their Acts in all matters to the framing and Promulging whereof the Royal License and Authority are not necessary in Law 3. That Act of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Peers is plainly Ministerial or the effect of an immediate direction from the House but his Grace's in Convocation is Authoritative Nos Continuamus in virtue of a Power belonging to him as President of the whole Body 4. The terms of the two Continuations or Adjournments are widely Different In the House of Lords it is the praesens Parliamentum which the Lord Chancellour Adjourns by word of Mouth and it is no extraodinary thing to find the Word Parliamentum signifying one House when the standing Clerk thereof is Stil'd Clericus Parliamentorum But the Archbishop in a formal Instrument Continues praesentem sacram Synodum sive Convocationem Praelatorum Cleri Cantuariensis Provinciae where the Parties thereby Continued the Bishops and Clergy are directly express'd nor is the Register of the Upper House tho' acting by a Deputy in the Lower also ever term'd Registrarius Convocationum or the word Convocatio much less Convocatio Praelatorum Cleri ever apply'd to one House Separately 5. Tho' those Expressions were us'd on any other occasions which they are not to signifie the Upper House only yet the known Effect they have always had in this Case of Continuation would necessarily extend them to the Lower as well as Upper House For whereas the Adjournment in the House of Lords is never notified to the Commons who equally govern their own times of meeting and sitting and so no Concurrence as to time appears in the Sessions of the two Houses of Parliament In Convocation the Lower House has express and authentick Notice of the Act in the Upper and so the Clergy according to all the concurrent Books of the two Houses have ever met again at the time
set themselves upon a level with that honourable Body or to pretend to equal Privileges thence with respect to the Lords the Bishops But they no where tell us how far they will or may carry their Claims upon the foot of that Relation nor assign any reason why it does not as well entitle them to all the other Privileges of that august Assembly as to those they contend for at present And the Friends of Episcopacy will hardly be content that our Constitution be perpetually expos'd to Ruin whenever a majority of the Lower-House happens to be out of humour and in a disposition to withdraw their Obedience or invade the Rights of their Superiors under a general pretence of their Parliamentary Relation That they enjoy several Rights unknown to the Presbyters of the primitive Times is not deny'd nor ought to be forgotten by those who not content with that addition of Power and Privilege were making larger Encroachments upon their Ecclesiastical Superiors and which is worse upon a Foundation that will raise them to what further degrees of Independence the Clergy may at any time be drawn to attempt either out of a personal dislike of their Bishops or a secret enmity to the Character it self These Innovations begun in 1689. Reg. Sup. Domus These new Claims were set a-foot with what design or upon what grounds I cannot say in the Convocation of 1689. In the sixth Session whereof the Upper-House drew up an Address of Thanks to his Majesty for his Royal Licence and a Gracious Message which he had sent that day to the Convocation The Form being agreed on was according to Castom sent down to the Lower-House for their consent but they instead of giving their consent or signifying the Amendments they conceiv'd necessary return'd an Answer to this effect That they had resolved to Address in a Form of their own framing and presently after upon their Lordship's disapproving that Answer they declared their Resolution more openly That they intended to Address separately Intendebant Supplicem Libellum separatim praesentare An expression very agreeable to the Constitution of a House of Commons but never heard of before in Convocation And as the Practice was wholly New so was it resisted and over-rul'd by the Right Reverend the present Lord Bishop of London then President and his Brethren the Bishops In the Tenth Session Ibid. the Prolocutor having receiv'd certain Amendments from the President to be consider'd by the Lower-House immediately ask'd the Question Whether in case the Lower-House agreed to those their Lordships intended to make any more Which would not perhaps have been thought a very proper or decent Offer even from One House of Parliament to the other in a like Case And being so much more improper in Convocation especially as coming from the Lower to the Vpper-House would have justified their Lordships in a Resentment less mild and gentle than they were pleased to express Praeses c. declaravit quaestionem per cum propositam fuisse valde Irregularem talem cui nullo modo respondere queat aut tenetur Session 13th Ibid. The President proposes to the Prolocutor the naming a Committee of the Lower-House to meet a select number of the Upper in order to inspect the Acts of both Houses Upon this a double Irregularity ensu'd so I take the liberty to call them now because they will be proved such hereafter in their proper place the first in the Prolocutor who return'd an answer that I dare say no President ever met with before from a Prolocutor se non posse ad id consentire sine Consensu Coetus domûs Inferioris Convocationis prius habito The second in the House whose resolution was not to appoint any Committee for that purpose durante recessu Convocationis As if by the establish'd Rules of Convocation they had a negative upon the President in the appointment of Committees or had any further share in it than to receive his Directions and when the number and the Persons are left to their discretion to confirm the Prolocutor's Nomination In that Convocation also the new practice of sending the Resolutions and Opinions of their House by other hands than the Prolocutor's was first attempted but presently taken notice of as an Innovation and check'd by the President and Bishops I produce not these as testimonies of any Design in the Clergy of that time to transgress the Rules of Convocation or to gain new Privileges to their House The tendency of Parliamentary Claims to a co-ordinate Power Tho' it may be some of the Members then had this notion of Parliamentary Rights in their Eye and the manner of holding an English Convocation not being near so thorowly consider'd as since it has been the taking some of their Measures from the Proceedings in Parliament might under that imperfect knowledge of things be a pardonable Error But the observation I would make upon these Practices is That they were plainly enough an Imitation of the Methods in the house of Commons and being so shew how the very beginnings of such an Imitation tend to divide and separate the Synod and introduce a co-ordinate Power of Presbyters with their Bishops and that therefore the safety of our Episcopal Constitution at this juncture depends upon a timely and stedfast opposition to those Parliamentary Claims with the Establishment of all Proceedings in Convocation upon the only true bottom the current usage of former Convocations as contain'd in the remaining Registers of either House These have been diligently examin'd since the year 1689. and being so opposite to the Claims that were then made as will be shown at large from the Registers themselves it might have been hop'd that some of the more inquisitive Members would have come together the last Convocation in a disposition to recede from those groundless pretences But whether they had not thoroughly examin'd the Books or whether they suffer'd themselves to be misled by one whose Interest it was to draw a majority of the Clergy to act upon Principles that he had publickly advanc'd whatever I say was the Cause 't is certain in Fact that they were far enough from revoking the Innovations attempted in 1689. Some new Claims of the last Lower-House So far as upon the same Foundation to proceed to new Claims of Independence as little warranted from the Vsage of Convocation and tending equally if not more to set up the Co-ordinate Power we are complaining of and to destroy the fundamental Constitution of an English Synod Such are The Power they pretend over their own Members Their sitting and acting in a Synodical Way without their Metropolitan and Bishops Their proceeding to Resolutions upon matters of the highest importance without the previous knowledge and directions of the Vpper-House Their refusing to return their Answer in Writing and to appoint Committees when requir'd by the President c. with other steps towards such an Independence from their Bishops as the
Commons in Parliament are possess'd of with relation to the Lords And if this must be their standing Pattern and their Parliamentary Capacity a certain refuge whenever their Claims exceed the Custom of former Convocations how far they will go I cannot say nor will I judge with what Intention they pursue Measures so opposite to the State of the primitive Church but this I am sure of that the same Foundation upon which their late Claims are grounded will equally justisie them in many more that being once introduced would make the Frame of an English Convocation as inconsistent with Episcopacy as the profess'd Enemies thereof can desire It will be objected that the Persons who at present are in those Levelling Measures have not formerly been thought in the Presbyterian Interest and that now also they are more open and bitter than most other Men in their Invectives against them and remarkably loud in a Concern for the Church All this is readily acknowledg'd and 't is no new thing with frail Mankind such especially who are uneasie under Government to rail at those the most who are in the possession of what themselves most desire But Words are empty Testimonies in comparison of Actions and the hardest Names they can find for that Sect will be no Conviction to Them nor Vs either that these endeavours to lessen the Character of Bishops are not an evident Service to their Cause or that such Invasions by Presbyters upon the primitive Rights of Episcopacy are not an evident undermining of our Establishment The design of this Book to settle their Proceedings upon the Custom of Convocation But when I speak of the primitive Rules I would not be understood to propose the forms of the more ancient Synods as the measure of my future reasonings upon the Privileges either of Bishops or Clergy in an English Convocation but only to prevent its being thought that any of the Powers they now claim and the Bishops deny are so much as pretended to receive support from the Condition of Presbyters in the primitive Church So far from this that many of their real Privileges peculiar to the Clergy of this Nation and now grown into legal Rights are much younger than the first Accounts we have of a Convocation properly so call'd such are Their debating in a separate Body Their having a standing Prolocutor of their own The share they have in framing Canons and Constitutions Their Negative upon the Archbishop and Bishops in Synodical Acts of an Ecclesiastical Nature and even their right to be summon'd in the present Form or for Ecclesiastical Purposes For their Civil Property could not be dispos'd of but by their own consent and the necessity of having this gave them a Negative upon the Bishops in Subsidies which was then the chief business of Convocation the Canons and Constitutions of the Church being for many Ages after constantly made in Synods consisting only of the Archbishop and his Provincial Bishops But the Affairs of the Church as they came to be transacted in Convocation fell under the Rules and Methods that had been establish'd there upon Civil Accounts By which means the Inferiour Clergy came into the same share in the Ecclesiastical that they had enjoy'd in the Secular Business and as Custom has given them a legal Claim to several Privileges of that kind unknown to the Primitive Presbyters or even to the Presbyters of any other Episcopal Church at this Day so be their original what it will it is no part of my Design to call in question any of their Claims that the remaining Acts of Convocation will warrant Their want of Authorities from the primitive Times with the lateness of their coming to a share in the Canons and Constitutions of our own Church and the secular Original of the Title they now have to bear a part in framing and passing them will be a general Reason with all unprejudic'd Men why they should at least acquiesce in these and not endeavour to build higher upon that secular Foundation But in the present Controversie I freely pass by all these disadvantages and desire only that every Point may be determined by the Constitution and Customs of Convocation resolving neither to assert any Authority to the Upper-House nor deny any Privileges to the Lower but as the Proceedings of former Convocations establish the first and prove all Pretensions to the second groundless and illegal All proofs froâ—… 〈◊〉 Registers themselves Nor do I propose to have the Reader depend upon my Assertions or bare Representations of things but upon all Points that are either made a Question already or can possibly bear one the Evidences shall be produc'd at large that so every Reader may be his own Judge and none be able to contradict the Positions laid down but by first denying the Authority of the Registers My accounts may perhaps seem too minute and particular to some who are already skill'd in Convocation Affairs but it is not for their Use that I write this but for the sake of the Generality many of whom Eminent in other parts of Learning may without reproach be presum'd Strangers to a Subject that has so lately come under Consideration Which will also be a fair Apology for their having been mis-led into a favourable Opinion of some Measures not to be warranted by the Practice of Convocation if they shew themselves ready to retire upon a clear Conviction from proper Authorities In the producing of which my multiplying Testimonies of the same kind and to the same purpose may possibly be thought a fault but if it be they who have so openly deny'd Truths establish'd upon Evidences so plain and numerous are answerable for it The necessity of citing Authorities at large In Truth the Errors and Prejudices arising from the notion of a Parliamentary Body have been wrought into Men's Minds with so much Art and Diligence that nothing under Originals and a variety of Authorities from thence can hope to dispossess them nor will it upon any less Testimony be thought possible that Persons in Holy Orders should contend so earnestly for meeting and acting in a Civil Capacity about matters of an Ecclesiastical Nature if they had any Pretence in Law or Custom to meet and act under the Character or Appearance of a Sacred Synod Especially when Subsidies the great Business of a Secular Nature that ever belong'd to the Convocation are not now granted in it And since even after the business of it is become purely Ecclesiastical the Endeavours to make it a Civil Meeting have been so remarkable my design in the following Papers is to do Right to its Constitution by restoring it to all the Spiritual Liberties and Advantages it may justly claim by the Laws of the Land and its own perpetual Usage From which as convey'd to us by the Acts themselves The general Design of this Book I will shew in a plain and naked Relation of Matters of Fact That an