the Death of the Prince The same Convocation is said in the Extracts out of the Upper-house Books to be Soluta per mortem Reginae Mariae as we find afterwards Anno 1624. that the Convocation was dissolv'd by the Death of King James the First On the contrary before the Reformation Anno 1412. we find that Archbishop Arundel summon'd a Convocation in Obedience to the King 's Writ and yet it was continu'd for some time after the Death of Henry the Fourth Again Anno 1460. Archbishop Bourchier issu'd his Summons in a like Obedience to the Royal Writ but the same Convocation not expiring with the Death of Henry the Sixth continu'd in the Reign of Edward the Fourth The difference in this Matter before and since the Reformation naturally arises from the foregoing Construction of the Submission-Act Before that was made the Archbishop had a Right to hold Convocations independent of the Prince and was by consequence under no Obligation to discontinue them upon the Death or Demise of the Prince He was bound to obey the Royal Writ as oft as it was sent him by exerting the Summoning-Authority according to the Tenor thereof but he was not absolutely confin'd to wait for and receive such Writ in order to Summon or Hold nor was a Convocation holden by the Archbishop independent of the King an illegal Assembly by the Laws then in being But by the Statute of Submission interpreted in its most genuine Meaning an absolute Restraint is laid upon the Archbishop from holding his Convocation unless authoriz'd so to do by the Royal Writ By this means any such Meeting of the Bishops and Clergy holden by the Archbishop without such Writ is become an illegal Assembly Now the Force of the Writ directed to the Archbishop to take off the Restraint laid upon him by the Statute must cease and expire with the Prince in whose Name and under whose Seal it was issu'd And when that happens the Archbishop is by Law reduc'd to the same Inability to hold a Convocation as he was under before the Reception of such Writ A Dissolution by the King's Death no Prejudice to the Archiepiscopal Authority That therefore a Convocation dies in Law with the Prince resolves wholly into that Incapacity which is acknowledg'd both in this Section and elsewhere to be laid upon the Ecclesiastical Power by the Statute of Submission And so the most that such a Dissolution can infer is that the Archbishop is now uncapable in Law to hold a Convocation unless authoriz'd by the King 's Writ to hold it or in other words that without the Force and Warrant of such Writ he cannot now as before the Statute he could give Subsistence to a Convocation But to argue from hence That the Convocation subsists by the sole Authority of the Crown and that the Authority of the Archbishop is wholly lost and so his share in summoning and holding is purely Ministerial these Inferences are a direct Violence to the Statute such as one would naturally expect from some Advocate of an Erastian-Church or a declar'd Enemy to our Reformation but 't is strange to see a profess'd Member and which is more a Minister of our Reform'd Church wresting the Statute into a Sense so very injurious to her Liberty and her Honour The Statute as it lodges in the Civil Power the sole Right of judging when our Synods shall be held is an Abridgment of the Liberties of the Church and we must be content But let us bless God that the Power of the Church is not so affected either by this or any other Statute but that the Metropolitans of both Provinces have a Right after the Writ has given them the Liberty of exerting their Power first to Summon their Convocations in an Authoritative or Canonical way and then to hold them by the ancient Ecclesiastical Rules A Blessing for which they are very ungrateful who can so much delight in saying and even pleading that the Convocation subsists by the Royal Writ exclusive of the Archiepiscopal Authority when the Dean of the Province's Certificatorium or Return with the exhibiting whereof the Convocation properly opens declares and recognizes in every particular the immediate Authority by which they assemble The Archiepiscopal Authority directly recogniz'd in the Dean of the Province's Certificatorium I have before repeated some of the Terms in which that Instrument recognizes the Archiepiscopal Authority but for a more full Satisfaction to the Reader I will here subjoin it at large REverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Thomae Providentia Divina Cantuar Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Metropolitano vestrove in hac parte Locum tenenti sive Commissario vel Commissariis Henricus permissione Divina London Episcopus omnimodam Reverentiam Obedientiam tanto Reverendissimo Patri debitam cum Honore Literas vestras Reverendissimas Citatorias Monitoriales jamdudum Nobis sub sigillo vestro direct cum ea qua decuit Reverentia humiliter recepimus exequend sub tenore verborum sequentium videl Thomas Providentia Divina c. See the Form of the Mandate p. 9 57. Quarum quidem Literarum vigore pariter authoritate Nos praefatus Henricus London Episcopus omnes singulos Confratres nostros Co-Episcopos Ecclesiae vestrae Christi Cant. constitutos peremptorie citari premoneri ac per eos Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Collegiatarum singula Capitula earundem Archidiaconosque alios Ecclesiarum Praelatos Exemptos non Exemptos Clerumque cujuslibet Dioec Provinciae vestrae Cantuar. antedictae peremptorie citari praemoneri respective fecimus Quòd iidem Episcopi Decani c. compareant coram Peternitate vestra Reverendissima aut vestro in hac parte Locum tenente sive Commissario vel Commissariis die loco in eisdem vestris Literis Reverendissimis plenius specificat designat cum Continuatione Prorogatione dierum extunc sequentium locorum si quatenus expediat Ad tractandum super arduis urgentibus negotiis c. ut prius in Mandato Ulteriusque Authoritate per Receptionem Literarum Destrarum Reverendissimarum Citotoriarum Monitorialium praedictarum fatemur Nos Henricum London Episcopum antedictum peremptorie fore esse citatum ad comparendum coram vestra Reverendissima Paternitate aut vestro in hac parte Locum tenente sive Commissario vel Commissariis hujusmodi die loco praecitatis de super Negotiis memoratis tractatur ' Et nos iisdem Literis vestris Reverendissimis hujusmodi juxta vim formam tenorem effectum carundem debite parebimus Intimavimus insuper denuntiavimus intimari denuntiari fecimus dictae Provinciae vestrae Cantuar. Co-episcopis c. quòd eos a personali comparitione in hujusmodi negotio Convocationis Congregationis dictis die loco ut praemittitur divina favente clementia excusatos Reverendissima vestra Paternitas non habere intendit ista vice nisi
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
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
Contumacy to another time Reservando poenam eorum Contumaciae in aliquem diom competentem pro beneplacito ipsius Reverendissimi This is a short and general Account of the Opening a Convocation enough to convince any Indifferent Man of his Grace's Right as to Preside over the whole Body so to dispense with the Absence or require the Attendance of every particular Member according to the reasons and circumstances of Things The Archbishop's Jurisdiction over the Members as to their Atteâ—… asserted But because in the last Convocation the Power of the Archbishop over the Members of the Lower-House was not only call'd in Question but in effect directly deny'd by the departure of several without applying to his Grace for leave and not only so but in contempt of the Metropolitical Authority several Applications were directly made to the Lower-House and the leave of the House thought a sufficient Discharge from their obligation to attendance Upon these Accounts and the Inferences that are made on the Supposition of such a Right in the Lower-House it becomes necessary to be full and clear in the Explication of these Certificates or Returns which as made in pursuance of the Archiepiscopal Mandate are the foundation of his Grace's Power in that point over all the Members indifferently To show on the one hand the Antiquity of them that no room may be left to suspect 'em Innovations and on the other their real force and effect as appearing from the Archbishop's frequent Exercise of this Power that they may not be thought a matter of Form or the appearance only of a legal Title without the Authority of Practice to support and confirm them By the Tenor of the Mandate none to be excus'd but who shall shew reasonable cause I. In the Archbishop's Mandate for the Summoning a Convocation it is and always has been usual for his Grace to require the Dean of the Province among other things to acquaint the Bishops and by them the Inferior Clergy that he will excuse no member from attending according to the Tenor thereof but who shall show such cause as his Grace shall judge reasonable This Notice is given in the antient Mandates under different Forms but all to the same effect with the present Clause Anno 1281. After an Enumeration of all the Members to be cited Denunciantes eisdem quòd contra absentes in Formâ Canonica procedemus Nec debilitatis Excusationem sufficere reputamus illorum qui per Maneria sua juxta Dioceses suas extra ad alia loca per Cant. Provinciam se faciunt pro familiaribus negotiis in quibuscunque vehiculis deportari Anno 1296. Compareant eodem die sequentibus opportunis Sub poena Excommunicationis Majoris Interdicti quae meritò poterunt formidare qui in forma praenotatâ contumaciter omiserint seu contempserint comparere quae contra eosdem qui sic comparere detrectaverint sine delectu Personarum intendimus Executioni debitae demandare Anno 1297. Vos etiam praemunimus caeteros sic citandos praemuniri Mandamus quod absentes in Citatione praedicta msi Evidens inevitabile impedimentum per probationes certas superesse docuerint tanquam Inobedientes offensores notorios graviter punicmus And another the same Year Denunciantes dictis Coepiscopis per eos suos subditos sic vocandos faciatis idonee praemuniri quod absentes in citatione praedicta nisi Evidens inevitabile impodimentum sufficienter probetur tanquam inobedientes graviter puniemus Much of the same Form and wholly to the same purpose is this Clause in the Mandates Anno 1333. and 1327. Anno 1356. Intimantes eisdem quod contra absentes in formâ Canonicâ procedemus nullius sic absentis excusationem penitus admissuri nisi quatenùs ad hoc nos arctaverint Canonicae Sanctiones Anno 1359. Volumus intimamus quòd intimetis seu denunciari faciatis dictae Provinciae Coepiscopis Confratribus ac Vicariis hujusmodi Decanis Abbatibus Prioribus caeteris Ecclesiarum Praelatis supradictis quòd cos à personali comparitione in hujusmodi Congregatione dictis die loco per nos seu nostra Auctoritate Deo annuente celebranda habere non intendimus excusatos ista Vice nisi ex causa necessaria tunc ibidem alleganda probanda sed eorum Contumacia si qui forsitan absentes fuerint secundum juris exigentiam Canonice punietur From thence to this Day the same Clause continues a part of the Archiepiscopal Mandate with a very small variation of the Words and none at all of the Sence or Intention Volumus insuper et mandamus quatenus intimetis et denuncietis seu intimari et denunciari faciatis dictae Provinciae nostrae Cantuar Coepiscopis Decanis Archidiaconis ac caeteris Ecclesiarum Praelatis suprascriptis quod eos à Personali comparitione in hujusmodi negotio Convocationis et Congregationis dictis die et loco ut praemittitur divina favente Clementia celebrand excusatos non habere intendimus ista Vice nisi ex causà necessariâ â—…nc et ibidem allegandâ et proponendâ et per nos approbandâ sed Contumacias eorum qui Absentes fuerint Canonice punire I know not how clearer Testimonies can be given of any Point than these are of a constant right in our Metropolitan the same that Metropolitans have always enjoy'd to require Attendance according to the tenor of his Mandate and to judge of the Reasonableness of all Excuses of Absence and to punish the Contumacy of those who are Absent without sending Reasons that in his Grace's Judgment are good and sufficient All Returns ever made directly to the Archbishop II. In pursuance of his General Summons and that particular Admonition the Archbishop in the same Mandate and in the Clause immediately following commands the Dean of the Province to Intimate to every Suffragan Bishop that he Exhibit to his Grace at the Day appointed a Schedule under his Episcopal Seal containing the Names and Sirnames of all the Persons he has cited to appear The words of this Clause have not always been the same they are now but such as express the same meaning and had the same effect for instance Anno 1281. Mandantes insuper singulis Episcopis quòd secum deferant in scriptis nomina omnium in forma praedicta de suis Dioecesibus ad Concilium vocatorum And more distinctly the very next Year viz. Anno 1282. De nominibus vero Abbatum Priorum et aliorum Religiosorum Decanorum Archidiaconorum Procuratorum tam Cleri cujuslibet Dioecesis quam Capitulorum singuli Episcopi pro suis Dioecesibus ad dictos diem et locum per suas literas distincte nos certificent et aperté In the next Century it comes yet nearer to our present Form As Anno 1350. After direction given to the Dean of the Province to bring a particular Return or Certificate of the due Execution of the Mandate
consider of a Subsidy quòd interim Informarent Petitiones suas super Reformatione Injuriarum ut eas conciperent in Scriptis quòdque responsiones darent die prox sequenti Dec. 8. The Bishop of London Presiding Coram eo Procuratores Cleri ibidem comparentes Decimam c. concesserunt ac dictam Concessionem in Scriptis dicto Domino London Episcopo porrexerunt unà cum quibusdam Supplicationibus pro Reformatione quarundam Injuriarum Ecclesiae Anglicanae illatarum in eadem Scripturâ content Anno 1376. Non. Febr. The Grievances were presented to the President and Bishops and 12 Kal. Martij we find the Archbishop making his Report to the King's Answer Praelatis Clero habita deliberatione per dictos Praelatos Clerum super hujusmodi Responsione Dominus Continuavit c. And again 2. Kal. Martij I suppose upon some further Application made by the Clergy the Archbishop acquaints them with the King's Readiness to comply with their Petitions Eas salvo jure Coronae suae feliciter expedire Anno 1379. 4. Kal. Martij Praelati Clerus concesserunt Domino Regi c. rogando Dominum Regem quód Injurias Gravamina illata Ecclesiae Viris Ecclesiasticis faceret revocari Anno 1384. At the end of the Convocation Clerus porrexit certos Articulos petendo Remedium Concessit Medietatem c. Anno 1421. The Archbishop's Official in the name of the rest produxit unam Cedulam Papiri formam Concessionis unius integrae Decimae continentem c. cum hoc quód per Dominum Regem auctoritate Parliamenti tunc apud Westm praesentis posset adhiberi remedium cortis Gravaminibus eis illatis In these and other Instances the Clergy who had a Right to Petition for Redress were willing those Petitions should accompany the Grant because that made them sure of a favourable Answer But this was not constantly observ'd The Grievances to whom address'd nor were all the Grievances address'd to the King but many of them ultimately to the Archbishop and Bishops when the Matter thereof concern'd their Courts and so the Redress was in their Lordships Power We find also Anno 1399. Oct. 11. mention made of such Articles offer'd to the Pope in a Case we may imagin that was not otherwise to be reform'd Decanus Ecclesiae Hereford Articulos de mandato Domini Archiepiscopi palam apertè perlegebat Et quia in dictis Articulis continebantur certa Gravamina per Sedem Apostolicam reformanda visum fuit satis honestum expediens Domino Archiepiscopo c. that the Pope's Collector should be sent for and advis'd with Whose Council was That the King the Archbishop and Bishops should write to the Pope pro Reformatione eorundem In like manner we meet with Applications of the same kind as to the King singly so to the King in Council to the King in Parliament as Redress was most probably and regularly to be had either in the one or the other The Points of this kind consider'd and debated in Convocation were either General when the Matters to be reform'd had Relation to the Common Good of the Church and equally affecting the Bishops and Clergy were settl'd in a Synodical way and address'd and presented in the Names of both which the Registers call Reformanda in Convocatione Reformanda in Parliamento c. Or else Particular when the Bishops or Clergy had Grievances to offer that affected only their own Order respectively and in such cases tho' the Clergy presented theirs to the Upper-House for their Approbation and the Conveyance of them to the King or Parliament yet the Form ran in their own Name only which were properly what we call the Gravamina and Articuli Cleri The Upper house have a Right to direct at what time the Grievances shall be propos'd These the Clergy in Convocation have an undoubted Right to present but as they are to be laid immediately before the Upper-House so the Arch-bishop and Bishops have a Right to direct as oft as they see cause at what Time they shall be propos'd and offer'd in Form Anno 1356. 16. Kal. Jun. Archiepiscopus injunxit Religiosis alijs de Clero quòd die tunc crastinâ proponerent Petitiones suas Anno 1369. 10. Kal. Feb. Archiepiscopus voluit quòd Clerus Religiosi Petitiones suas super Injurijs Violentijs Gravaminibus in Scriptis redigerent sibi porrigerent die Veneris Anno 1373. The Clergy directed Quòd interim informarent Petitiones suas super Reformatione Injuriarum ut eas conciperent in Scriptis quódque Responsiones darent die prox Sequent Anno 1377. 2. Id. Nov. The President praemunivit quòd unus Clericus de quolibet Episcopatu dictae Provinciae Cant. veniret ad Ecclesiam S. Pauli London ibidem inter se post prandium c. deliberarent super Petitionibus formandis de singulis Gravaminibus communiter Clerum cujuslibet Episcopatù tangentibus Anno 1399. Oct. 6. Quia videbatur Domino Archiepiscopo alijs Episcopis sue Cant. Provinciae satis difficile omnes Praelatos Procuratores Cleri in communi congregare ad concipiend Articulos ex parte Cleri proponendos propter hoc deputavit 5. Personas viz. Mag. Thomam Stowe c. ad concipiend Articulos ex parte Praelatorum Cleri super quibus praetendunt Ecclesiam se gravatos Anno 1411. Dec. 2. Archiepiscopus mandavit Procuratoribus Cleri quatenùs si aliqua essent Gravamina ex parte eorum Reformatione indigentia quòd vellent deberent citra diem Veneris extunc proximò futur coram Convocatione Dominorum in Domo Capitulari seriosiùs intimare The Grievances first offer'd in a general Representation vivà voce At other times when the Clergy had receiv'd no previous Direction to bring their Grievances in Writing we find them first making a general Representation thereof Vivâ voce to the Archbishop and Bishops and upon that either leaving them to their Lordships Consideration or receiving Directions what was further necessary to be done Anno 1356. On the first Day of Business they are directed only in general quòd die tunc crastinâ proponerent Petitiones suas And the next Session 't is thus express'd Propositis quibusdam Petitionibus per Clerum tam vivâ voce quà m in Scriptis Anno 1373. Dec. 2. The Clergy upon a general Motion for the Redress of Grievances by the King are commanded Informare Petitiones suas super Reformatione Injuriarum bujusmodi Anno 1411. Nov. 4. The Clergy according to the Order of Dec. 2. just now cited that they should Gravamina c. Sâ—riâ—siùs intimare did it on Dec. 4. in the following manner Comparuerunt Procuratores Cleri qui plura referebant Gravamina allegantes quòd de tâ—t tantis se sâ—ntijt Clerus malis praegravatum quòd nisi in Scriptis contineantur non possent de facili recenseri The Proctors retire and
directly upon themselves For it was in their own Power upon this Principle to become a House when they pleas'd and not the less so for his Grace's Delaying the Appointment of a Common Referendary But in truth since the Separation of the two Houses in their Debates the title of Prolocutor has comprehended all the Offices of the Place as the Confirmation of his Grace and the Bishops has been ever thought to Instate him in the Office and make the Lower Clergy a House to act in a due Subordination to those their Superiors And this new division of the Office is evidently fram'd to Support the notion of their being a Separate House and in a Condition to debate business of their own antecedent to this Act and the Authority of their Lordships Which being once allow'd would quickly establish them in a Co-ordinate State and open a way to any degrees of Independence they should hereafter please to insist on IV. Additional Observations touching the AUTHORITY of the SUMMONS to Convocation The Authority of Summoning appli'd both to the King and the Archbishop P. 189. The title of the Convocation of 1562. as of others since the Act of Submission runs thus Convocatio Praelatorum Cleri Cantuar. Provinciae inchoat in Domo Capitulari Ecclesiae Divi Pauli London Auctoritate Brevis Regij Reverendissimo c. in hac parte directi c. P. 1. App. The form of holding a Convocation drawn by Archbishop Parker for that of 1562. begins thus Sciendum est quòd omnes qui Auctoritate Reverendissimi Domini Archiepiscopi Cant. citantur ad comparendum coram eo in in Domo Capitulari Ecclesiae Cathedralis Divi Pauli London c. The Titles of our Convocations before and since the Reformation agree in the first Clause Convocatio Praelatorum Cleri Cantuarlensis Provinciae which shews that by our Protestant Constitution they are no less an Ecclesiastical and Provincial Synod of Bishops and their Clergy under one common head the Metropolitan of of the Province than in the times of Popery they were If therefore the Clergy as has been pleaded of late be not comprehended in that Phrase Convocationem Praelatorum Cleri in the form of Continuing they are by the same rule no Members of an English Convocation But whereas the Convocations before the Reformation are generally said in the Title to be Factae per Reverendissimum c. upon the Submission Act the Style seems to have been chang'd because the first title we have entire after that Act this I mean of 1562. makes the Convocation to be begun Auctoritate Brevis Regij Reverendissimo c. direct And yet we see that Archbishop Parker lookt upon the Convocation of that very Year to be Cited or Summon'd Auctoritate Reverendissimi c. Hereupon a question arises about the true meaning of the term Authoritas as us'd in these titles and on some other Occasions In what Sense the Bishops and Clergy are said to be Summon'd to Convocation by the King's Authority and in what by the Authority of the Archbishop The Archiepiscopal Summons Authoritative before the Act. It is agreed on all hands that before the Act of Submission an English Convocation was Summon'd by the Sole Authority of the Metropolitan Nor do we deny that Act to have been a confiderable Abridgment of the Liberties of the Church in the matter of holding Synods but only that it did not so far affect the Ecclesiastical Power as to change them into Civil Meetings i. e. Meetings Summon'd and acting in virtue of that Summons immediately upon a Civil Authority The Civil Summons an argument of the Papists against our Reformation This Civil Summons and the Authority of it has been warmly asserted by two sorts of Persons 1. By the Papists who ever since the Reformation have taken the Advantage of that Act of Submission to asperse our Protestant Synods as Civil Meetings and the Canons c. made in them as of a Secular Original 2. By some late Opposers of the Metropolitical and Episcopal Authority in Convocation One of whom forms this New and very Uncanonical Scheme of Summoning and Holding Synods upon that Expression in the Submission-Act The Authority by which the Convocation meets is now purely Royal Power of the Lower House p. 3. c. 1. The words of the Act are express in the case which shall always be assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ So that since this Statute the Archbishop's share in Convening them is not Authoritative but Ministerial And when therefore he frames his Mandate upon the King 's Writ he does it as the King's Instrument only and the proper Officer who is to execute the Royal Summons The Argument arising from hence is that his Grace has now no Authority to Convene the Body of the Clergy Again Ibid. p. 17. c. 1. 2. An English Metropolitan Presiding over a Synod c. call'd together not any way by his but purely by Royal Authority And in another place Ibid. p. 20. c. 2. The Convocation Subsists by the King 's Writ Let the most virulent Adversary of this Protestant Church frame if he can a description of its Synodical Meetings that shall be a deeper Reproach to our happy Reformation Against the first sort of Adversaries the Papists and Protestants one would think should be as easily answer'd a full Vindication of our Reform'd Church has been built upon the Genuine meaning of the Act of Submission interpreted according to the true intent thereof and the antecedent and subsequent Practice with other Circumstances all which we have been forc'd more particularly to Urge and enforce of late to defend the honour of our Constitution against the Second sort of Adversaries also As The intent of the Statute no more than to restrain the Archbishop from exerting his Authority without the Royal License That the Crown did not want the Assistance of any Act to have a Convocation at pleasure because the Right of enjoyning the Archbishop to Summon it in due form as our Princes saw Occasion was always thought a Power Inherent in the Crown and was all along practis'd in England both before and since the Reformation and is indeed a Right belonging to Christian Princes in general But till the Act of Submission the Archbishop also had a Power of Summoning Convocations according to the Exigencies of the Church without the permission or direction of the Royal Writ And King Henry VIII apprehending that the Archbishop Bishops and Clergy in Convocation might protest against or obstruct his Measures of Reformation got a sufficient Security against that danger by making himself in virtue of that Act the Sole Judge when a Convocation should be Summon'd As the King neither gain'd nor wanted more than this so nothing was taken from the Archbishop but the ancient Right of Exerting his Summoning Authority AT PLEASURE the Authority it self remaining Entire and as full and effectual as ever when that Restraint is taken off The Power
which the King gain'd and the Archbishop lost is express'd by the Statute in the word Always Which shall Always be assembled by Authority of the King 's Writ Before that Statute the Convocation had been sometimes call'd at the sole Motion and Pleasure of the Archbishop and sometimes upon the Royal Writ but since the Archbishop is confin'd to wait for the Direction of the Royal Writ The Intention therefore of directing the Royal Writ to the Archbishop is twofold 1. To signify the Pleasure of the Prince that at that particular time his Grace shall exert the Summoning-Authority inherent in his See as it has been ever exerted at the Command of the Kings of England 2. To be a legal Discharge from the Restraint of this Statute and a Security against the Penalties of Summoning without the Royal License The word Authority in the Statute only implys a le Leave or License For that the word Authority as it stands in the Act was intended for no more than a Leave or License to Summon is evident from the very Submission upon which the Act was immediately founded We will never from henceforth c. unless your Highness by your Royal Assent shall License us to assemble our Convocation And from the Dedication of the Clergy to the King prefixt to the Institution of a Christian Man Without your Majesty's Power and License we acknowledge and confess that we have not Authority to assemble together for any Pretence or Purpose c. And lastly from the Stile given to the Royal-Writ by Queen Elizabeth Cum Nos c. Archiepiscopo mandaverimus eidémque Licentiam Concesserimus quòd Convocari faceret singulos Episcopos c. As therefore the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation apprehensive of the Penalties of the Statute have taken care to use the very Expression of it with Reference to the Royal-Writ so that Expression being directly taken from the Statute is of course to be interpreted according to the Extent and Meaning thereof The Archbishop's Summons Authoritative from the Stile of the Mandate and Returns The Methods of Summoning antecedent and subsequent to that Statute are a clear Argument that the Archbishop's Authority therein remain'd entire That all his Summons before it tho' issu'd upon a Royal Writ and that expressly recited in the Mandate were yet Authoritative is not deny'd And if this Act of Submission had been intended to change the Archiepiscopal Summons into a Ministerial Office it would have given Directions for changing the Authoritative into a Ministerial Stile at least such a Change must of course have been made But no such Alteration appears either in the Mandate or the Dean of the Province's Certificate of the Execution The Writ comes to the Archbishop for it can be directed to none else in the same Stile and Manner as before the Statute it did and is now no otherwise inserted in the Archiepiscopal Mandate than was usual before the Reformation The Archbishop directing that Mandate to the Dean of the Province goes on Breve Regis c. recepimus in haec verba After a recital of the Writ he proceeds Quocirca i. e. having receiv'd this Royal Permission and Direction to exert the Summoning-Power inherent in the See Fraternitati vestrae COMMITTIMUS MANDAMUS VOLUMUS MANDAMUS INJUNGIMUS MANDAMUS All express Terms of Authority in his Grace's own Name and under the Archiepiscopal Seal Accordingly the Dean of the Province's Certificatorium or Return declares his Execution of every particular Branch thereof to have been in Virtue and by Authority of his Grace's Mandate Literas vestras Reverendissimas Citatorias Monitoriales jam dudum nobis sab sigillo vestro directas cum câ quâ decuit Reverentiâ humiliter recepimus Quarum literarum VIGORE pariter AUTORITATE AUTORITATE per receptionem Literarum vestrarum juxta VIM FORMAM EFFECTUM earundem secundum FORMAM TENOREM Literarum Vestrarum In like manner the Returns of all the other Suffragans are made immediately to his Grace and ultimately lodg'd where they ever were before the Submission-Act in the Registry of the Archiepiscopal See Whereas all Executions by the King's Authority are returnable of course into the Offices belonging to the Crown Right of the Archbishop p. 9. c. Hist of Con. p. 14. This Point of the Metropolitan's Authoritative-Summons has been more largely prov'd and explain'd elsewhere But the contrary Doctrine of its being Ministerial is attended with Consequences so very dishonourable to our Reform'd Church that I could not leave the Reader under any Danger of being missed into that Opinion by this general Expression of the Statute transcrib'd from thence into the Titles of our Acts and into some of the Instruments of Convocation For if that new Notion were true the Proceedings of Convocation would be so far from agreeing to the Principles of an Episcopal Church that they would not be the Proceedings of any Church at all The Ecclesiastical Power must then be swallow'd up in the Civil and the Methods of Proceeding would not be influenc'd by the ancient Synodical Rules or the Distinction of Bishops and Presbyters but founded entirely upon a Model fram'd and establisht by the State Enough I think has been said to expose and overthrow that Uncanonical Scheme but because it is come in my way I will take the Opportunity of adding an Observation or two 1. That at the Opening of Convocations as well since as before the Act of Submission the first step in certifying the due Execution of the Summons has been the Exhibiting and Reading the Dean of the Province's Certificatorium or Return directed to the Metropolitan alone in pursuance of whose Command and Authority every particular as we have seen is said to be duly executed Nor has any more Notice been taken of the Royal-Writ than as 't is recited in the Archiepiscopal Mandate just as it was before the Statute at the Opening of all Convocations which were Summon'd upon the Writ 2. The Contumacy pronounc'd thereupon is meerly for not attending according to the Tenor of his Grace's Mandates to the several Bishops with their Lordships Certificates to his Grace of the due Execution and the Censures for Absence being all purely Canonical shew them to be inflicted for an Act of Disobedience to the Authority of their Canonical Superior 3. Cardinal Pool held a Convocation in the Year 1557 the latter end of Queen Mary's Reign and the Title of it is Convocatio sive Sacra Synodus Convocata auctoritate Brevis Regis Philippi Mariae c. Now 't is not to be imagin'd that either the Queen or the Cardinal so remarkably tender of the Privilegdes and Immunities of the Church would have given way to a Convocation upon that Foot had it been the Opinion of those Times that the Authority of the Royal Writ destroy'd that Authoritative Summons which the Archbishops before the Reformation had always exercis'd The Case of the Convocation's being Dissolved by