docto pio fideli in Prolocutorem suum assumendo consultantes unanimiter consentiant eligant sicque electum ipsi R mo in eâdem domo Capitulari prox insequente Sessione debitâ cum solennitate praesentent His dictis descendunt omnes in inferiorem domum ad effectum praedictum Forma Eligendi Praesentandi Prolocutorem SOlet observari ut postquam ingressi fuerint Inferiorem Domum in sedibus se decenter collocent si aliqui ex iis sint Consiliarii sive Sacellanâ— Regiae Majestatis ut hi superiores sedes occupent atque inde unus ex iis propter dignitatem Reverentiam seu in eorum absentiâ Decanus Ecclesiae Cath. Divi Pauli London sive Archidiac Lond. Presidentis officio in hujusmodi Electione fungatur Atque ut ad hoc â—iâ—e procedatur primùm jubebit nomina omnium citatorum qui tunc interesse tenentur à dictae inferioris Domûs recitari praeconizari Notatisque absentibus alloquatur praesentes atque eorum sententiam de idoneo procuratore eligendo sciscitetur Et postquam de eo convenerint quod semper quasi statim absque ullo negotio perfici solebat mox conveniant inter se de duobus Eminentioris Ordinis qui dictum electum R mo D o. Cant. in die statuto debitâ cum Reverentiâ Solennitate praesentent Quorum alter sicut cum dies advenerit ipsum Prolocutorem cum Latinâ doctâ oratione praesentare tenetur sic etiam idem praesentatus habitu Doctoratûs indutus consimilem Orationem ad dictum R mum Patrem ac Praelatos caeteros praesentes habere debet Quibus finitis praefatus R mus Oratione Latinâ tam Electores quam Presentatorem Praesentatum pro suâ gratiâ collaudare ac demùm ipsam Electionem suâ Arch. authoritate expresse confirmare approbare non dedignabitur Et statim idem R mus Anglicè si placeat exponere solet ulteriâ—s beneplaeitum suum hortando Clerum ut de rebus communibus quae Reformatione indigeant consultent referant die statuto Ac ad hunc modum de Sessione in Sessionem continuabitur Convocatio quam diu expedire videbitur ac donec de eâdem dissolvendâ Breve Regium eidem R mo praesentetur Et sciendum est quòd quotiescunque Prolocutor ad praesentiam R mi causâ Convocationis ac Tempore Sessionis â—ccesserit utatur habitu praedicto ac Ianitor sive Virgifer dictae Inferioris Domûs ipsum reverenter antecedat Ejusdem Prolocutoris est etiam monere omnes ne discedant à Civitate London absque Licentiâ R mi Quodque statutis diebus tempestive veniant ad Conv. Quodque salaria Clericorum tam superioris quam Inferioris Domûs Ianitoris Inferioris Domûs juxta â—â—tiquam taxationem quatenus eorum quemlibet â—â—ncernit fideliter persolvant Synodalia fol 3. XVIII JAMES by the Grace of God See p. 385. c. To the most reverend Father in God our right trusty and well beloved Counsellor Iohn Archbishop of Canterbury of all England Primate and Metropolitan the reverend Fathers in God our trusty and well beloved Richard Bishop of London Anthony Bishop of Chichester and to the rest of our Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical Greeting Whereas all such Jurisdictions Rights Priviledges Superiorities and Prehemynences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority have heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for Reformation Order and Correction as well of the same as of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Virtue and the conservation of the Peace and Unity of this our Realm of England are for ever by authority of Parliament of this our Realm united and annexed unto the Imperial Crown of the same And whereas also by Act of Parliament it is provided and enacted that whensoever we shall see cause to take further Order for or concerning any Ornament Right or Ceremony appointed or prescribed in the Book commonly called the Book of Common Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and other Rights and Ceremonies of the Church of England and our Pleasure known therein either to our Commissioners so authorized under the great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical or to the Metropolitan of this our Realm of England that then further Order should be therein taken accordingly We therefore understanding that there were in the said Book certain things which might require some Declaration and enlargement by way of Explanation and in that respect having required you our Metropolitan and you the Bishops of London and Chichester and some others of our Commissioners authorized under our great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical according to the Intent and meaning of the said Statute and of some other Statutes also and by our Supream Authority and prerogative Royal to take some care and pains therein have sithence received from you the said particular things in the said Book declared and enlarged by way of Explanation made by you our Metropolitan and the rest of our said Commissioners in manner and form following Then come several Alterations in the Calendar Rubricks and Offices of Private Baptism and Confirmation an Addition about the Sacraments at the Close of the Catechism A Prayer for the Royal Family and six new Forms of Thanksgiving for Rain Fair Weather c. and after these inserted at length it follows All which particular points and things in the said Book thus by you declared and enlarged by way of Exposition and Explanation Forasmuch as we having maturely considered of them do hold them to be very agreeable to our own several Directions upon Conference with you and others and that they are in no part repugnant to the Word of God nor contrary to any thing that is already contained in that Book nor to any of our Laws or Statutes made for Allowance or Confirmation of the same We by virtue of the said Statutes and by our supream Authority and Prerogative Royal do fully approve allow and ratify All and every one of the said Declarations and Enlargements by way of Explanation Willing and requiring and withal Authorizing you the Archbishop of Canterbury that forthwith you do Command our Printer Robert Barker newly to Print the said Common Book with all the said Declarations and Enlargements by way of Exposition and Explanation above mentioned And that you take such Order not only in your own Province but likewise in our Name with the Archbishop of York for his Province that every Parish may provide for themselves the said Book so Printed and Explained to be only used by the Minister of every such Parish in the Celebration of Divine Service and Administration of the Sacraments and duely by him to â—e observed according to Law in all the other parts with the Rites and Ceremonies
191. The Canons made in the Convocation of 1597. bear this Title Capitula sive Constitutiones Ecclesiasticae per Archiepiscopum Episcopos reliquum Clerum Cant. Provinciae in Synodo c. congregatos tractatae ac posteà per ipsam Regiam Majestatem approbatae confirmatae utrique Provinciae tam Cant. quam Ebor. ut diligentiùs observentur eà dem Regiâ Authoritate sub Magno Sigillo Angliae promulgatae †Sparrow p. 243. L. M. P. has been guilty of a piece of slight of hand in producing this Title for he has remov'd the Comma which should be after the word Tractatae backward to Provinciae omitting the Words between those Two that so tractatae may seem to belong to the Sentence which follows it and the Reader be by that means led into a belief that the Original Treating it self was as much from Royal Condescension and Grace as the Passing and Promulging afterwards I need not say how absurd this is and how contrary to the Rules of common Construction and common Sense It is true and Truth being the only thing I seek I shall not conceal it that in the Manuscript Collections of a Learned Man who liv'd before the Convocation-Registers were burnt I have seen a Memor in these following Terms Lib. Convocat ab anno 1584. usque c. 1597. Fol. 195. The Queens Letters Patents to confirm the Canons a Recital of the Writ of their Desire the Canons Confirmation and a Command to have them observ'd in both Provinces Which shews indeed that the Synod in 1597 desir'd and had leave for the Canons they pass'd and implys further that both their Request and the Answer to it were very probably in writing since it could not else have been recited in the Ratification of them But what this Leave was ask'd and given for whether only for the passing these Canons or even for the Previous Treating about them appears not from this Memorandum and must otherwise therefore be determin'd Our Publick Records will not ease us of this Doubt among which I am told this Instrument is not now to be found and the only way therefore we have left of clearing it is by a Recourse to the Title of the Canons which if it may be depended on evidently shews that their Desire was for Leave not to Treat but to Enact only And how Authentick and Significant the Titles of Canons are to this purpose our Adversarys in the next Instance will tell us for they produce †Appeal p. 24. L. M. P. p. 37. the Title of those in 1603. as a manifest Proof that that Synod had a Commission to treat We allow it had and it is the first Synod that ever had one from the 25 H. VIII down to that time L. M. P. indeed has found out one somewhat Elder for he tells us that a Proclamation on came out 5. March 1. Iac. 1. for the Authorizing of the Book of Common Prayer c. which recites that the King had issu'd out a Commission to the Archbishop and others according to the Form which the Laws of the Realm in the like Case prescribe to be us'd to make an Explanation of the Common Prayer c. So that in those days says he this Independent Freedom of Debate was not esteemed amongst the Libertys of the Church †P. 41. But had that Writer seen the Commission it self and not guess'd at the Contents of it from a Recital in a Proclamation he would have known that it was directed not to the Clergy in Convocation for they met not till some Months after the Date of it but to the High Commissioners in Causes Ecclesiastical authorizing the Alterations they had made in the Common-Prayer-Book by vertue of a Proviso in the Act of Uniformity 1 â— Eliz. How is this to his purpose or what possible use can he make of it It is indeed to my purpose to observe from hence how high the Prerogative then ran and what Unreasonable Powers were claim'd by it The Book of common-Common-Prayer was establisht by an Act of the 1 st of the Queen in which it was provided that if there should happen any Contempt or Irreverence to be used in the Ceremonys or Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders appointed in that Book the Queens Majesty might by the Advice of her Commissioners or of the Metropolitan ordain and publish such further Ceremonys or Rites as might be most for the advancement of God's Glory the Edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's Holy Mysteries and Sacraments * Cap. 2. In vertue of this Proviso King Iames in his first Year gives Directions to the Archbishop and the rest of the High-Commissioners to review the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book and they accordingly made several Material Alterations and Enlargements of it in the Office of Private Baptism and in several other Rubricks and Passages added five or six new Prayers and Thanksgivings and all that part of the Catechism which contains the Doctrine of the Sacraments Which last Additions would not I conceive have been in the least warranted by that Proviso had the Powers there specify'd extended to the Queens Hâ—irs and Successors but as they were lodg'd peresonally in the Queen there could I presume be no Colour for K. Iames's exercising them in vertue of it The Drawer up of the Commission was aware of this and supplys therefore what was wanting in this Provisional Clause by some General Words and by a Recourse to that Inexhaustible source of Power the King 's supreme Authority and Prerogative Royall which it seems was at that time conceiv'd to extend so far as to enable the Crown to make Alterations of Great Importance in a Book establish'd by Act of Parliament to authorize the Book thus alter'd and to forbid the Use of the Other I question whether such a Proceeding would now be thought Legal but then it went down quietly and in vertue of it the Common Prayer-Book so alter'd stood in force from the 1 st of K. Iames till the 14 C. II. when upon a new Review it was again confirm'd by Parliament I shall place this Commission in the Appendix †N. XVIII that the Reader may have an Instance what the Doctrine of that time was concerning the Extent of the Prerogative in Church Matters and from thence cease to wonder that a Formal Commission to treat c. should be first granted to the Convocation a few Months afterwards I say first granted for there is no Suspicion of any preceding License of this kind but in 1597. only and that rises no higher than a Suspicion there being stronger Probabilitys against it than for it And thus I hope I have effectually remov'd Dr. W's Argument about the sense of the Act taken from the Constant Practise of All Convocations ever since the framing it which he appeals to so frequently and with so much Calmness and Security that one less acquainted with him than I am
Years last past that is ever since the Council of * An. 1624. Bourdeaux unless we should call that Meeting of a few Prelates the other Day to Condemn the Archbishop of Cambray's Book a Provincial Council And if I mistake not they called themselves so by the same Figure as my Lords the Bishops who are of the Commission for Ecclesiastical Preferment may be stiled a Convocation But true Protestants and true Englishmen will like this Fashion the worse for being of Popish and French Extraction and for coming from a Country where both Civil and Ecclesiastical Liberty have expir'd long ago As they are not any where observ'd to live long after one another CHAP. II. THus does our Right to these Assemblies stand by the Law Ecclesiastical Which Law has been consider'd by it self for the clearer Evidence of the Argument and not in any opposition to the Temporal Government It not following from hence that such Assemblies should be held contrary to the Will of the Sovereign Power but that the Sovereign Christian Power should be desired to permit or rather to encourage them If in this Request we were not already prevented by the Law of the Land which not only allows but commands them as will appear if as hitherto I have enquir'd only into the Rights of a Synod of the Province of Canterbury at large so I go on now to consider it as Attendant upon a Parliament of England For so the matter at present stands and has stood for 400 Years and upwards to speak at the lowest Tho' in the Elder Ages it plainly enough appears that the Clergy came at once from both Provinces and joined Nationally with the Lay Assembly That this was the usage of the Saxon Reigns is acknowledg'd from the remaining Monuments of those Times But what the Order of these National Assemblies was is not as I see yet clearly discover'd As therefore the most knowing and exact of our Antiquaries have thought it proper for the better understanding of our Saxon Government to go over into Germany and consult the Laws and Manners of those Places from whence we came so possibly we might not be much out of our way in this Argument if we looked into France and enquir'd how the Franks there govern'd themselves those Fellow-Germans and near Neighbours of our Ancestors and who had much about the same time possessed themselves of Gaul as these had of this part of Britain especially if we consider the times of Charles the Great that Renown'd and Mighty Monarch whose Example had it vary'd from the Common Original Practice would yet probably have been imitated by our Lesser Kings And here we may content our selves with what the judicious De Marca reports to us of this matter in his Excellent Work De Concordiâ Sacerdotii Imperii * L.VI. c. 24 25. That in King Pepin's time when the Kingdom began to recover it self from the Disorders it suffer'd before it was resolv'd that two National Ecclesiastical Synods should be held every Year the One in March in the King's presence and where-ever he should appoint the other in October at the Place where the Bishops in their former Meeting should agree upon That whereas this last was a pure Ecclesiastical Council the other was a Royal One to which the Great Men of the Kingdom resorted from all Parts of it to take their Resolutions for the succeeding Year As there was also towards the Winter another Royal but Privy Council consisting only of the Great Ministers and such others as the King thought fit to call in which Matters were prepared and digested into Heads to be proposed to the Greater Assembly in the Spring This General Convocation of the Spiritualty and Laity which was after by Pepin's Son Charles the Great appointed to meet on the first of May was call'd indifferently Conventus Flacitum Concilium Synodus or Colloquium and in Latter Times Parliamentum which word also is still retained In it the Clergy and Laity deliberated sometimes together and sometimes apart according as the nature of the Business to be treated of was whether purely Secular Ecclesiastical or mixt When they were apart as well as when together the Great Persons Earls c. were distinguish'd from those of a lower Degree sitting by themselves and on Honourable Seats These too manag'd the Debates and formed the Conclusions the Commoners assenting and sometimes speaking but so as rather to signifie their Opinion than give a Vote This we may suppose to have been the Method also on the Spiritual side And so Hincmar out of Adalbardas Cousin and Councellor to this Charles expresses it * Ad Proceres pro Institutione Caâ—olom Regis c. 29. Generalias says he Universorum tam Clericorum quam Laicorum conveniebat Seniores that is the Magnates whether Counts or Bishops propter Consilium ordinandum Minores that is the Lesser Barons and Inferior but qualified Clergy propter idem suscipiendum interdum pariter tractandum non ex Potestate sed ex proprio mentis intellectu vel sententiâ confirmandum And after all what was resolv'd on in this Great Assembly was presented to the Emperor And what he in his Wisdom approv'd was to be observ'd by all * c. 34. Much after the same manner I suppose were the mixt Meetings of our Saxon Kings held They were call'd by the same Name being styl'd Synodi †Which the Learned Mr. Nicholson with all his Saxon knowledge seems not to have consider'd where he asserts the Meeting at Twiford in which St. Cuthbert was chosen Bishop to have been no Synod but a Parliament See his Notes on Northumberland in the Engl. Cambden p. 859. An Instance which shews how fit he is for that Office he has taken upon himself of being an Umpire in this Controversy and Concilia tho' Secular Persons join'd and Secular Affairs were transacted in them They were compos'd of the same Persons For there sat the Bishops Counts c. and there attended the Lesser Thanes and their Equals ‖ LL. Athelst. §. 71. Missae Presbyteri Saecularis Thani Jusjurandum in Anglorum Lege computatur aeque carum LL. H. 1. c. 64. the Priests c. the Spiritual and Temporal part of the Convention consulting together or asunder ⸫ See Council of Cloveshoe Ann. 747. where tho' King Ethelbald his Princes and Dukes were present yet are the Canons said to be made by the Clergy alone who went aside for that purpose Spelm. Conc. I. 1. p. 245. And the same thing is observed in the Glossary concerning the Laws of Athelstan in voce Parliamentum as they saw occasion They were conven'd in like manner twice a Year by a Law of King Alfred's (*) Mirror c. 1. Sect. 3. and one of those Meetings was fix'd if not in his time yet afterwards to the Calends of May (†) LL. Edv. c. 35. Debent Populi omnes Gentes Universae singulis annis Convenire
consider'd do yet certainly prove it not necessary in order to Petition There are many Requests of the Clergy in Convocation to Queen Elizabeth One Anno 1580 in behalf of the Archbishop then out of favour that she would be pleas'd to restore him Fuller IX Book p. 121. Another Anno 1587 about the Act said to be intended against Pluralities Full. Ibid. pag. 191. A third to the same purpose in some other Convocation of her Reign which being yet unprinted I shall insert in the Appendix * Numb IV. It is a Paper very Remarkable both for the weightiness of the Matter and closeness of the Expression and for the spirit and freedom with which it is drawn which however I propose not as a Pattern but as a Great Argument of that Liberty they thought remaining to them A fourth from the Lower to the Upper House of Convocation to be presented in their Name to the Queen for the Pardon of Lapses and Irregularities 'T is in a Cotton MS. Cleop. F. 2. f. 123. and from thence I shall Transcribe it See App. Num. V. A fifth against the Encroachments of Chancellors upon Archdeacons Ibid. p. 264. A sixth praying many Regulations in very weighty matters Ibid. There is also extant in Fuller * IX Book p. 55. See the Preface to it p. 66. of this Book a Remonstrance of the Clergy of the Lower House being a Declaration of their Judgments made indeed in the very beginning of Queen Elizabeth when this Statute was not yet revived and about Popish Tenets but which may I presume be safely imitated for the Assertion of truly Catholick Doctrines Anno 1606 A Petition from the Lower House of Convocation to King Iames against Prohibitions This too the Reader will find with the others in the Appendix †Numb VI. Nay even the Assembly of Divines it self tho' it was more strictly ty'd up by the Ordinance of Parliament ‖ See it Rushw. 3. part Vol. 2. p. 328. than ever any Convocation was by their Commission for there were Negative words in that Ordinance which impower'd 'em to Treat and Confer of such Matters and Things as should be propos'd to 'em and no other yet did not think themselves restrain'd from Petitioning and proposing several Heads of Reformation to the Parliament See 'em Ibid. p. 344. The Clergy in Convocation were not us'd only to be Petitioners themselves they were also some times address'd to in the same way by others either by their Brethren of the Establisht Clergy or by those of the Separation Of the former I have seen an Instance in Manuscript being a Petition from the London Ministers * See Cat. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. n. 8494. The Direction of it is To the Reverend Fathers in God the Lords Bishops and the Rest of the Convocation It is said in the Manuscript to have been read and committed Febr. 10. 1580. Of the Latter several Mentions and Accounts remain tho' the Petitions themselves be lost For Example In Queen Elizabeth's time those who were then call'd the Puritans Petition'd the Convocation as appears from a Passage in one of their Books thus quoted by Bishop Bancroft * Dang Posit L. 4. c. 4. p. 140. We have sought say they to advance the Cause of God by Humble Suit to the Parliament by Supplication to your Convocation-house c. And whether it be this or some other Petition of theirs that is refer'd to in a Manuscript Justification †See Cat. MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. n. 1987. of the Mille-manus Petition to King Iames I cannot tell but these words occur in it We have often and in many Treatises declar'd our Objections against the Liturgy at large and namely in a Petition which Four Godly Grave and Learned Preachers offer'd in our Names to the Convocation-house A yet greater Liberty than any I have mention'd was taken by the Clergy in that Long Address miscalled by Fuller ‖ P. 208. the Protestation which the Lower House offered to Henry the Eighth himself after the passing of the Statute or in that other very long one to the Upper House in Queen Mary's time * Hist. Ref. part 2. B. 2. Coll. n. 16. In the first we have an Instance of very Free Convocational Representations and of yet freer Petitions in the Latter for it attempts not only Canons but Acts of Parliament and particularly prays †Art 10. that the Statute of which we have been speaking may be repealed But the Clergy no more stand in need of these Instances than they would joyn in these Designs and Petitions The Statute of Submission is none of their Grievances nor do they ask or wish a Repeal of it They desire only that it may not have an Unnatural and Illegal Construction put upon it and that they may be bound up no otherwise by it than the Submitters themselves were They know indeed that the Reflection which a Right Reverend Member of theirs once made upon this Statute was That the Extreme of raising the Ecclesiastical Power too high in the Times of Popery had now produced another of depressing it too much So seldom is the Counterpoize so justly Ballanced that Extremes are reduced to a well-tempered Mediocrity * Bishop Burnet 's Hist. Vol. 2. pp. 49 50. But as they are not sure that this is his Lordship's present Opinion so they are certain it is none of Theirs for they think their Power as Great as it need to be if it be not made less than it really is Had they lived indeed in Henry the Eighth's time they should not perhaps have humoured his Imperious Temper so far as to have made that mean Submission or tamely to have given up any one Legal Priviledge which belonged to the Body and was not inconsistent with the Good of their Country But since it was made and Enacted they know how like Good Englishmen and Good Subjects chearfully to obey it Only they can never submit to such a sense of the Submission as was never intended nor throughout that Age wherein it was made ever practised This would be a much meaner part in them than the first Act was in their Ancestors whose Religion was all Submission and Slavery and it is no wonder therefore that the Fetters prepar'd for them sat so easily upon them But in a Protestant Clergy the profess'd Assertors of the Just Freedoms and Rights of Mankind in Religious affairs and who have been more than once Instrumental in shaking off Yokes of every kind from the Necks of Englishmen such Illegal Complyances would be inexcusable In short they have and they own that they have great reason to be content with the Priviledges which the Law has clearly marked out to them and the Great Petition they have to offer is that they may be permitted to enjoy them If their Predecessors were struck with a Panick Fear at the very sound of a Premunire in a Reign when the Laity too trembled at the
Name of all the rest of the Members At least if Heylin's word may not be taken for it yet Dr. Wake 's I hope may And he in his Appeal ‖ P. 28. calls the Clergy's Dedication of this Book an Address of the Convocation to the King and says it was Subscribed by both Houses 1539. A Committee of Bishops appointed by the Lords at the King's Command to draw up Articles of Religion Ibid. pag. 256. This was in a Preparatory way only and in order to their being considered by the Convocation and Parliament However this Committee did nothing ⸫ ‖ Bp. Burn. Ibid. and should not therefore be made an Instance of Things relating to the Church done out of Parliament And which is more the Convocation did the very business which this Committee was appointed to do as we shall learn from the next Particular The Six Articles on which the Act passed brought in by the Duke of Norfolk and wholly carried on by the Parliament Ibid. p. 256 c. This is News to that Parliament by which Dr. Wake says it was wholly carried on for They in the Preamble of the Act of the Six Articles say That the King considering c. had caused his most High Court of Parliament to be Summoned and also a Synod and Convocation of all the Archbishops and Bishops and other Learned Men of the Clergy of this his Realm In which Parliament and Convocation there were certain Articles set forth c. and after a great and long deliberate and advised disputation and consultation had and made concerning the said Articles as well by the Consent of the King's Highness as by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Learned Men of his Clergy in this Convocations and by the Consent of the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled it was and is finally resolved accorded and agreed in manner and form following †31 H. 8. c. 14. We see these Articles were so far from being wholly carried on by Parliament that the Parliament it self thought not fit to Enact 'em without expressing in their Bill the previous Consent of the Clergy in Convocation Some Body seems to have told the Doctor thus much before he wrote his Appeal in a corner of which among the Errata he desires that these four Lines may be blotted out Why he was so Particular in his Requests I cannot tell but sure I am that there are very few Lines in this whole Article of his Appendix that do not deserve blotting out as much as They. 1540. A Committee of Divines employed to draw up the Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man Ibid. p. 286. In saying they were employed to draw it up he speaks unaccurately for that implys it to be then first drawn up whereas this Book was in the main the same with that which was published in 1537 under the Title of the Institution of a Christian Man This I have already shewn passed the Convocation The Members of which that were employed in composing it do in their Dedication of it to the King Most humbly submit it to his most Excellent Wisdom and Exact Iudgment to be recognized overseen and corrected if his Grace shall find any Word or Sentence in it meet to be changed qualified or further expounded c. The Liberty thus given by the Clergy was made use of by the King who in 1540 committed it to several Bishops and Divines All Members of Convocation to be review'd and made afterwards some Alterations in it with his own Hand to be seen still in the Original in Sir I. Cotton's Library * Heylin Ref. justif p. 549. and finally published it anew in the year 1543 †There was an Edition in 1540. which differs not considerably from that in 1543 and therefore I give no Distinct Account of it with this Title ‖ Which the Exact Mr. Nicholson has changed into a Necessary Defence for all sorts of People Hist. Libr. Vol. 3. p. 197. Where he tells us also that the King drew up these Articles in 1543 meaning that he made some Marginal Amendments to the Book after it was drawn up This he mentions at large as an approved Instance of the King's Power in such cases without intimating his Dislike of it and without letting us know how should be for he knew it not himself that what the King did here was not only at the previous Permission but Desire of the Clergy and was afterwards once again by them in Convocation confirmed Such accuracy is there in the Accounts of Books given us by this Historical Librarian A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Chrysten Man set furthe by the Kinges Majeste of England There is no mention here of the Concurrence of the Clergy in Convocation to this Book and yet it is certain that all the new Alterations and Additions in it as they sprang at first from a Request of theirs so passed 'em agen solemnly afterwards This appears from some short Memorandums * Sess. 25. Apr. 25. Reverendissimus tractavit de Sacramentis of which that Book treats at large ibi examinati sunt quidam Articuli Sess. 26. Ult. Apr. Reverendissimus exposuit Articulum Liberi Arbitrii which is another Head there ubi Prolocutor c. exposuerunt suas Sententias of the Acts of Convocation in 1543 from Heylin's Express Testimony †Ibid. See also in his Quinquartic Controv. p. 569. some other Passages out of the Acts of that Convocation which prove manifestly that these Alterations underwent their Review and from those words in the King's Preface prefix'd to the Book that he had set it furthe with the Advise of his Clergy the Lordes bothe Spirituall and Temporall with the Nether House of Parliament having both seen and lik'd it well Another Commission appointed to Examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Ibid. p. 294. This Committee of Bishops and Divines for reforming the Rituals and Offices of the Church was setled at the same Time with That which reviewed the Institution and was composed therefore as That was of the Members and probably of the same Members of Convocation which was sitting now at the Time when this Committee was appointed as appears by the Subsidy * 32 H. 8. c. 23. and the Sentence of Divorce ⸫ 32 H. 8. c. 25. that passed 'em compared with the Act of Parliament of the same Session †Rastall p. 690. that mentions this Committee as sitting From hence alone we might have been satisfied that this Committee was impowered by the Convocation to act had we no other Evidence for it But as it happens we have for in the short Remains of Edward the Sixth's first Convocation this Committee is said to have met ex Mandato Convocationis * In a Petition of theirs where they pray Ut Opera Episcoporum aliorum qui aliàs ex Mandato Convocationis Servitio Divino Examinando Reformando Edendo
invigilarunt proferantur hujus Domâ—s Examinationem subeant Synodalia And something of the same nature seems to be intimated in the Statute I mentioned which Enacts that whatever should be Ordained and set forth by the Archbishops Bishops and Doctors now appointed or other Persons hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith †This relates to the Institution of a Christian Man then to be reviewed and Lawful Rites and Ceremonies ‖ This to the Rituals at the same time to be altered and Observations of the same shall be in all and every point limitation and circumstance thereof by all his Grace's Subjects c. fully believed obeyed observed and performed Here the words by the whole Clergy of England do most naturally refer to the Last Verb appointed and under that Construction imply that this and such like Committees were consented to by the Convocation as well as named by the King and so they certainly were And the reason of establishing 'em was because the matters to be discussed requiring as this very Act speaks ripe and mature deliberation were not rashly to be defined nor restrained to this present Session or any other Session of Parliament as they must have been if they had been considered only in Convocation which Then sat and rose always within a few days of the Parliament These Committees therefore were appointed to sit in the Intervals of Parliament and tho' they had a Power of concluding finally yet they seldom I suppose did more than prepare business to be laid before the Convocation when it sat Accordingly what was done by this Committee for reforming the Offices was reconsider'd by the Convocation it self two or three years afterwards as a Manuscript Note * Sess. 19. 21. Feb. 1542 43. Reverendissimus dixit Regem velle Libros quosdam Ecclesiasticos examinari corrigi Ubi Reverendissimus tradidiâ— hos Libros examinandos quibusdam Episcopis I have met with taken from the Journals of Convocation implies These Committees indeed are spoken of sometimes in our Statutes and elsewhere as appointed by the King without any mention of the Convocation-Clergy which was partly owing to the Doctrine of those times by which the King in virtue of his Supreme Headship was said to do decree and order every thing tho' the previous Steps and Resolves were from the Convocation and was withal not improper considering how much was left to the Royal Power in such matters for the Clergy often only Petitioned the King for a Committee and referred the Nomination of it to him of which a clear Instance has been given before in the Request for the Translation of the Bible Indeed when the Committee was composed of Members from both Provinces as it was in the Present case * The Act styles them The Archbishops and sundry Bishops of Both Provinces of Canterbury and York within this Realm and also a great Number of the best Learned Honestest and most Vertuous sort of Doctors of Divinity Men of Discretion and Iudgment and Good Disposition of this said Realm it could not sit and act by a bare Order of the Clergy but was necessarily to have the King's Commission before it could be a Legal Assembly and no wonder therefore if tho' both Convocations consented to it and perhaps sometimes named it yet the King only be said to impower them And here I must once for all observe that whatever was done by such Select Committees appointed or approved by Convocation tho' done out of Convocation must be reckoned done by it as carrying the stamp of its Authority For so the way has been in all manner of Assemblies both Ecclesiastical and Civil The Catechismus ad Parâ—chos among the Papists is accounted to have the Authority of the Council of Trent tho' that Council never passed or saw it because it was drawn up and published by Order of the Pope to whom that Council had referred it The like is to be said of the Oxford †Bp. Bâ—â—â— Vol. 1. p. 85. and Cambridge ‖ Ibid. p. 87. Resolutions concerning the Invalidity of King Henry's first Marriage which carried the Authority of those Universities because drawn up by Committees which were in full Convocation appointed by them Nor want we Precedents of a Delegation of the Power even of Parliaments to Committees in antient times For 1 Hen. 6. some Lords and Others of the King's Council were impowered to determine all such Bills and Petitions as were not answered in Parliament * Rot. Parl. n. 21. and so agen 6 Hen. 6. n. 45 46. and several Times before and after And Henry the Eighth had frequently the whole Power of Parliament Translated upon him We are not to wonder therefore if the Convocations of his Reign did something like this when they had so Great Patterns to follow and were so much more at his Mercy than Parliaments were 1542. The Examining of the English Translation of the Bible being begun by the Convocation is taken by the King out of their Hands and committed to the two Universities Ibid. p. 315. Were the Translating of Scripture a Work appropriated to Synods as sure it is not yet the Petition of the two Houses in 1534 to the King to take care of a New Translation of the Bible would have been Warrant enough for him to have put it into whose hands he pleased Especially since it is probable that this very Synod in 1542 complied at last with the King's Proposal I find indeed in some Minutes of their Acts that the Bishops at first disagreed to it †Sess. 9. Mart. 1541 42. but they were I suppose over-rulâ—d for Parker's account is only Aliquandiu quibus Biblia transferenda committerentur ambigebant ‖ P. 338. which shews that the dispute was soon over 1544. The King orders the Prayers for Processions and Litanies to be put into English and sends them to the Archbishop with an Order for the Publick Use of them Ibid. p. 331. This was done by a Royal Injunction * So it is stylâ—d in Bonner 's Reg. f. 48. then equal to an Act of Parliament and need not therefore by me here be accounted for However there is reason to believe that the Committee for Reforming the Offices or the Convocation it self might have an hand in it for about this time it is plain they composed the Little Book of Prayers called the Orarium †Orarium sive Libellus Precationum per Regiam Majestatem Clerum Latinè editus Ex Officina Rich. Grafton 1545. which was set out by the King the Year afterwards 1547. The King orders a Visitation over his whole Kingdom and thereupon suspends all Episcopal Iurisdiction while it lasted Vol. II. p. 26. The King Visited by vertue of his Supreme Headship recognized first in Convocation and established afterwards in Parliament
For which reason and because I think the Point to be of Importance and withal related nearly to the Article we are upon I shall here produce some Passages from the Papers and Records of that time which fully clear it King Edward's Answer to the Devonshire-Mens Petition * Fox Vol. 2. p. 666. Assures 'em that for the Mass no small Study or Travel hath been spent by All the Learned Clergy therein †p. 667. b. And agen That whatsoever is contained in our Book either for Baptism Sacrament Mass Confirmation and Service in the Church is by our Parliament established by the whole Clergy agreed yea by the Bishops of the Realm devised by God's Word confirmed ‖ P. 668. a. The Council's Instructions to Dr. Hopton how to discourse the Lady Mary ⸫ Fox Vol. 2. p. 701. affirm the same thing somewhat more forcibly The first of these is Her Grace writeth that the Law made by Parliament is not worthy the Name of a Law meaning the Statute for the Communion c. You shall say thereto The Fault is great in any Subject to disallow a Law of the King a Law of the Realm by long Study free Disputation and uniform Determination of the whole Clergy consulted debated concluded But above all most Express and Full to this purpose is the Assertion in a Letter of Edw. 6. dated Iuly 23. Regni tertio and entred in the Register of Bonner * F. 219. a. it runs thus That one Uniform Order for Common-Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments hath beyn and is most Godly sette fourthe not onely by the Common Agreement and full Assent of the Nobility and Commons in the late Session of our late Parliament but also by the lyke Assent of the Bysshopps in the same Parliament and of all other 's the Learned Men of this our Realm in their Synods and Convocations Provincial I thought it worth my while to make good this Point because it has by some been much doubted and their Doubts have been countenanced by the Act 2 3 Edw. 6. c. 1. which establishes the Service-Book and wherein there is mention only of the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most Learned and Discreet Bishops and other Learned Men of this Realm appointed to compile it but no Formal notice is taken of the Convocation that passed it And the Proof I have given in this single Instance will suggest to the Reader that it might be so in General and that several other Things done by this Select Committee were probably approved afterwards in Convocation tho' the Statutes and other Records of that time should seem to mention the Committee only The Convocation-Records which alone could have given us Full Light in this case are destroyed and the chief way we now have of supplying this Defect is by Parallel Instances and Probable Reasonings which Fair Men therefore will admit as good Evidence for want of better and not take advantage as Dr. Wake does from the Destruction of such Records to deny that there ever were any This is as if a Man should pretend to prove that none of the People of such or such a Parish were in the Reign of Edward the Sixth Christned because perhaps the Old Parish-Registers are lost This made way for the Act of 1548 p. 93. and 1551 p. 189. He means King Edward's two Acts of Uniformity which established the first and second Service-Book and way therefore was made for them not by this New Office of Communion but by the Service-Books themselves These I have shewn tho' the Work of a Committee yet had the Authority of Convocation inasmuch as the Convocation approved this Committee before-hand and confirmed what was done by it afterwards I have shewn it I mean of the One and the Reader therefore will easily believe that the same Steps and Measures were observed as to the Other 1549. An Order of Council forbidding Private Masses Ibid. p. 102 103. As contrary to the Statute of Uniformity and to the Determinations of the Clergy in Convocation and the Council therefore who sent this Order do afterwards in a Letter of theirs to the Lady Mary * Iune 4. 1551. call her Chaplains saying Mass a contempt not of Their but of the Ecclesiastical Orders of this Church of England †Fox Vol. 2. p. 709. The Forms of Ordination appointed by Act of Parliament ordered to be drawn up by a special Committee of Six Bishops and Six Divines to be nam'd by the King Ibid. p. 141 143. The true account of this is that the Council had already appointed this Committee at the Instance as we may from former Precedents reasonably collect of the Convocation it self then sitting and of the Members of Convocation therefore this Committee was composed according to my Lord of Sarum's account of it Some Bishops and Divines says he brought now together by a Session of Parliament were appointed to prepare a Book of Ordination * Vol. 2. p. 140. The Session was likely to end before these Forms could be prepared and the Parliament passed therefore a previous Confirmation of them as they had done in the case of the Necessary Erudition in 1540 †See Stat. 32 Hen. 8. cap. 25. Dr. Wake must have a very uncommon way of arguing if he can draw any thing to the Prejudice of the Churches Power from such Instances as these where such an Implicit Deference was paid to the Resolutions of the Clergy as to Enact 'em before the Parliament had seen 'em and indeed before they were made Dr. W. we see does in this and in every other step of this Article appeal to my L. of S.'s Book and would under the cover of his Lordship's Name put off all his Bad History and Worse Opinions It may not be amiss therefore to give him the Iudgment of this Right Reverend Prelate clearly expressed and avowed in another Piece ‖ Vind. of the Ord. of the Ch. of Engl. and with that to ballance all these Doubtful and Uncertain Authorities His Lordship speaking of the English Ordinal the Point we are upon and of the Alterations that were afterwards made in it has these words It was indeed confirmed by the Authority of Parliament and there was good reason to desire That to give it the force of a Law but the Authority of the Book and those Changes is wholly to be derived from the Convocation who only consulted about them and made them And the Parliament did take that care in the Enacting them that might shew they did only add the force of a Law to them for in passing them it was ordered that the Book of common-Common-Prayer and Ordination should only be read over and even that was carried upon some Debate for many as I have been told moved that the Book should be added to the Act as it was sent to the Parliament from the Convocation without ever reading it but that seemed Indecent and too Implicit to
Usage but were allow'd freely to sit and declare their Grievances as often as they were understood earnestly to desire it in the Succeeding Reigns there being no Instance of such a Liberty deny'd by any of our Princes to any of their Synods when the Prince and the Synod were of the same Judgment in Religion I have shewn that it has been granted even when they differ'd in Principles let Dr. Wake prove to us that ever it was with-held when they agreed and he will somewhat lessen the Opinion the Clergy have of the Hardship they at present lye under If Custom therefore creates a Right we are sure that the Clergy have a Right to somewhat more than a Bare Summons they have a Right actually to assemble to be form'd into a Body and to fill the Chair of the Lower House and if they have any Petitions or Motions to make in Church-matters they have a right to sit so long as till they have made them for thus they have been always accustom'd to do and when they were adjourn'd without it it was upon a Presumption that they had nothing of this kind to offer and were themselves consenting to such Adjournments Dr. Wake himself is forc'd in good measure to agree to this for he owns that whilst the Clergy were wont to assess themselves and their sitting upon this account was necessary for the support of the Government they were not only Summon'd to meet but were wont actually to assemble and sit so long as it was requisite for them to do for this purpose * P. 141 249. Now 't is not forty years ago since the Clergy were in the undisputed Possession of this Priviledge of Assessing themselves and till That time therefore even by Dr. Wake 's Confession they had Custom and consequently Right of their side even for Assembling and Sitting as well as being Summon'd And the Late Discontinuance of this Custom cannot yet have infring'd that Right as being not yet Immemorial There is no Custom therefore for the Methods lately taken and it is the Clergy's great desire that there never may be any and for that reason among others it is that a Convocation is so earnestly call'd for to prevent this Pretence of Dr. Wake 's from growing up into an Argument for tho' it have now no manner of strength in it yet twenty or thirty years hence perhaps it may But tho' Dr. Wake is out as to the Clergy's having no Right because no Custom to sit yet at least he can prove he thinks that 't is very fit and reasonable they should have none upon Two Accounts the One drawn from the True End and Design of calling the Clergy to Parliament the Other from the Alteration that has hapned in the Original Constitution of those Meetings As to the First of these he tells us that the True End and Design of the Clergy's Assembling with the Parliament was to raise Money and that End therefore now ceasing since they have left off to assess themselves the Right grounded upon it ought to cease too * All the use that was generally made of them was to conconcur with the other Estates in granting Money to the King which having done they were commonly dismissed without entring on any other Business Pp. 106 107. However the King usually added a Conciliary Summons to his Parliamentary Writ yet still the Design was in Both the same that they might thereby more effectually confirm what had in Parliament been granted to the King c. Ibid. The Main Design our Princes seem to have had in assembling these Convocations either at the same time they did their Parliament or not long after was to get Money from them P. 227. This was the Great Use the King was wont to make of our Convocations and from thence it came to be the Custom to Summon them for the most part as often as the Parliament met P. 229. For the most part what was done by the Convocation when they met was only to confirm or make an order for Money P. 228. For the most part the Great End our Kings had in Summoning them was to get Money from them P. 245. As long as the Clergy in Convocation have continu'd to assist the Government by granting Subsidies it has been allow'd to sit as often as it was necessary to that purpose tho' it has seldom done any thing besides P. 250. As to the Second That the Convocation when it us'd to sit at the same Time with the Parliament was a Member of Parliament but not being so now there is no reason why it should sit with it †Pp. 105 106 107. The first of these is so False and Scandalous a Reflection upon our Princes and those Meetings and upon the Constitution it self that I wonder how it could drop from the Pen of an English Divine that had any Regard left for his Church or his Country and how even This Writer as meanly as he may think of Synods and their Powers could yet prevail with himself to say it He says it not once or twice only but often and with the utmost Assurance of Convocations call'd out of Parliament time as well as of those which met in it and seems to be afraid only lest this Decent Maxim should escape the Reader 's Eye and has therefore taken care to instill it so often and on so different Occasions that one cannot read long in his Book without meeting it Let us see how he attempts the Proof of it Why he tells us that in the accounts of our Elder Synods little more is said to have been done by them than that they gave the King such and such Supplies and tho' they met often in former times yet as for Ecclesiastical Business for ought he can find they did as little with their often meeting then as they do with their seldom meeting now †P. 283. But first allowing all this to be true does it follow from hence that the End of the Convocations sitting was to give Money might not frequent Opportunities be taken of pressing the Clergy to Grants and yet That not be the End of their Meeting Money has been as frequently given by Parliaments as by Convocations and has been as much the Design of calling them so that once upon a Time †Cl. Rot. 21 E. 3. ps 2. m. 9. dors Et scire Vos volumus quod dictum Parliamentum non ad Auxilia seu Tallagia à Populo dicti regni nostri petenda vel ad alia Onera eidem Populo imponenda set duntaxat pro Justitiâ ipsi Populo nostro super Dampnis Gravaminibus sibi illatis faciendâ See Pryn. Parliam Writ Vol. 1. p. 53. when the King inserted a Clause in the Commons Writs to assure them that That Parliament was not call'd in order to a Supply it is taken notice of by our Antiquaries as a Wonder Nevertheless the Reason and End of those State-meetings is not I
for as low as the 7 th of R. II. it call'd them ad consentiendum only (b) Ib. p. 117. I defy any Man to make more Mistakes in so few Words as Dr. W. has done One or Two of them I find he has with Great Industry pick'd out of the Grand Question (c) P. 156. but where he got all the rest I cannot imagin P. 104. He makes it a doubt whether the setled number of the Inferior Clergy call'd by the Bishops Writ was deriv'd from thence into the Convocation-Writ or from the Convocation-Writs into those of Parliament which is in effect to doubt whether the Deans Archdeacons Capitular and Rural Proctors were call'd to Convocation before the Bishops Writ had that Clause in it And he who doubts of this puts it beyond a Doubt how far He is qualify'd to write on this subject The 49 th of H. the III. is not more famous for sheathing the Old Barons Swords than for Exercising the Pens of our Modern Writers Much has been said of it in relation to the Parliamentary Interest of the Commons Temporal Dr. W. seems to make it the Aera of that of the Commons Spiritual too for thus he speaks of it Whereas before the 49 th of H. III. only the Bishops and Abbots who held of the King by their Baronys were wont to be summon'd to Parliament in that Year when the Commons began to be call'd several of the Inferior Clergy were also call'd together with them and that for ought appears in a larger Proportion than the Laity themselves were †P. 209. Here are two Assertions in the last of which he is kinder to his Function than will consist with Truth and in the First not so just as he ought to be For long before the 49 th of H. III. not Bishops and Abbots only but I hope some Priors too were call'd to Parliament We will suppose him to have comprehended These under Abbats yet even thus his account is very defective For not those Abbats and Barons only who held by Barony were call'd but many more than these and oftentimes the whole Order The first Parliamentary Summons left †6. Ioh. calls all the Abbats and Priors of the Diocese together with the Bishop of it and the Priores Installati plenum sub se Conventum habentes are I have shewn already several times mention'd by Paris as having a General Call to Parliament Who speaks also not seldom of the Decani Archidiaconi †And so Annals of Burton See Pp. 301 302. of this Book aliae Ecclesiasticae Personae as present Dr. W. who would be thought to know All our Historians so intimately should methinks have had some sort of acquaintance with the best of them M. Paris at least he should not till he had read him have ventur'd to determin any thing concerning the Constituent Members of the Great Councils in H. the III's time of which we have no where so just an account as in that accurate Writer But he makes his Order amends in what follows for in the 49 th H. III. it seems when the Commons began to be call'd several of the Inferior Clergy were also call'd together with them and that for ought appears in a Larger Proportion than the Laity themselves were Were they so How came then our Historys and Records not to have mention'd it From none of which can it be certainly learnt that there were any of the Clergy call'd to this Meeting below Abbats and Priors but five Deans only It may be many of Inferior Rank might be summon'd too but if they were 't is more than can be prov'd for there is not I believe the least Hint of such a Summons remaining sure we are that they could not be call'd up in the same way that was afterwards practis'd for the Bishops Writ of that Year is on record and has no Warning Clause in it But it may be the Abbats Priors and Deans that held not by Barony are Dr. W.'s Inferior Clergy let them be so their Number in this Instance did not amount to above Eighty whereas the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque Ports must have been four or five times that Number Whence he drew this Piece of History therefore I cannot divine The Learned Person †Dr. Brady I am sure whom he vouches for it in his Margin has not a Letter this way in the Pages cited but he thought the Reverence Men had for the Character of that most Knowing Antiquary would have made them take every thing implicitly for Truth to which his Name was set and have prevented all further Enquirys In what Place the Clergy call'd to Parliament met Dr. W. professes himself not to have found * P. 221. but he thinks it not improbable that it may have been at St. Pauls because their Other Convocations were usually held there * P. 221. But I think it very improbable that while they were strictly speaking a Member of Parliament they should meet so far from the Place where it open'd and sat as improbable as that the Commons should have met at the same Distance from the Lords Westminster Abby was somewhat nearer and more convenient and if the Commons had the Use of the Chapter House there we may reasonably believe that the Clergy too were accommodated with some Other Room in that Monastery as indeed they antiently were for sometimes we hear of them in the Capella Monachorum infirmorum (a) Hoveden ad ann 1194. p. 735. In Concâ—lio Northampt vide Benedict Abb. Apud Cotton Reliq p. 212. which is call'd also Capella S ta Catharinae (b) Diceto inter X Scriptores c. 589. and sometimes in the Capella S ti Iohannis Evangelistae (c) M. Par. ad ann 1244. p. 640. when the Parliament we find was open'd and all the States of it came together in Refectorio Monachorum (d) M. Par. ibid. and continu'd so to do for at least Fifty Years afterwards for Math. of Westminsters Relation in 1294 implys that that was Then the place where the Spiritual and Lay part of the Parliament met one another (e) Congregatis in Refectorio Monachorum Westm. Surgens unus Miles Ioannes de Havering dictus in medio eorum dicebat Viri Venerabiles c. p. 422. Upon the Division of the Two Houses the Commons sat in the Chapter-house of the Abbat of Westminster Dr. W. observes that this is mention'd in the Abridgment of Records 50 E. III and might have observ'd how it is mention'd there as the accustom'd or rather as the Roll it self speaks the Antient * Aunciene place Place of their assembling which implys them to have sat there probably from the time of their Separation Not many Years after this they seem to have exchang'd this Place with the Clergy and to have sat themselves in the Refectory of the same Abby for in the 9 H. V. the