the Reformation they continued the self same Ways of acting that were establisht before as these Deductions under the several Heads do abundantly show For tho' many of our Accounts since the Reformation are only Abridgments of the Acts the Originals whereof were burnt in 1666. yet even in them and much more in the others that remain entire we have clear and numerous testimonies of the Clergy's continuing to Act in all respects with the self same Deference and Subordination to their Metropolitan and Bishops I doubt not but an objection formerly made will now be renew'd against the Authorities from the Upper House Registers as insufficient Witnesses in the Concerns of the Lower They are so as to the Debates there but not as to the Matters Debated many of which and those the most considerable have originally come from the Upper House with particular Instructions how to proceed upon them and the same have been also constantly return'd thither and together with the Applications of all kinds from the Lower House have made a part of the Register of the Vpper Now our present Concern is not about the methods of debating in either House separately but the usual Communication between the two Houses Which being maintain'd by the going up of the Prolocutor alone or attended voluntarily or as sent for by their Lordships the Reports they bring the Petitions they make with the Orders they receive i. e. all the matters from whence we infer these methods of their corresponding and the authority of my Lords the Bishops in the Proceedings of Convocation are enter'd of course in the Books of the Vpper House And the Heads of which the Lower-house-Books chiefly consist viz. the Motions made Below with their Debates upon them and the appointment of Committees of their own for special purposes would not if we had them entire be of any great moment in the present Points For these immediately concern the Relation between the two Houses and turn not upon the proceedings of each Separately but upon the Manner of the Intercourse and Correspondence between them The methods of the Journals of both Houses with the Matters usually enter'd in each will be best understood by the Acts of five Convocations added by way of Appendix to this Book as a Pattern to future Proceedings The three first in 1562 1640 and 1661. belong to the Vpper-house and the two others of 1586 and 1588. are the Acts of the Lower These last are the only entire Journals of that House now remaining and I made choice of the three others as they are accounts of Transactions while all the Original Registers were in being and yet so lately two of them at least that the Establishment of different Vsages since that time will not be pretended Add to this the importance and variety of the matters transacted in each viz. the xxxix Articles in 1562. the Canons in 1640. against which no exceptions were ever taken as to the Methods of Proceeding in Convocation and the Review and Establishment of the Common Prayer with many other things of publick note and concern in 1661. and the three following years That of 1562. is certainly the entire Register of the Vpper-house but whether the Book which remains be the very original I cannot directly say Those of 1586 1588 and 1640. are the Original Books deposited according to custom in the Registry of the See of Canterbury The Book of 1640. contains also an Account of the second Convocation in the same year but such were the Confusions of the Kingdom and the Miseries of the Church that no Business could be done in it save only the Opening and then Continuing it in the common Form after the Archbishop Sess 3. had committed the determination of certain controverted Elections to the Prolocutor and other Members of the Lower-house See the Passage cited p. 114. of this Book The last also is the very Original Register of the Vpper-house from May 8. 1661. to Sept. 19. 1666. inclusive mostly in the hand of Mr. Fisher Actuary of the Lower-house in 1640. and Deputy-Register to the Vpper in 1661. with an Attestation in form to every Session It was lately communicated to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury by the Reverend Mr. Nurse Executor to a Gentleman in whose House Mr. Fisher dy'd and by his Grace to the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation The Method in which they are now publisht is this The beginning and ending of every Session in the Vpper-house is usually the same at the beginning they express the place of meeting the attestation of the Notary the names of the Archbishop or his Commissary and of the Bishops present with the accustom'd Prayers concluding always with the Con̄tinuations at length As to all these therefore which are pure matters of form and a repetition of the same words in the same Order I have thought it sufficient to give a Specimen of them at the beginning of each and then to contract them especially in 1661. c. where the Sessions are more numerous But the Reader may rest assur'd that the like Forms run through the whole 'T is true the Names of the Persons present sometimes vary but they can be of no use except on some un-foreseen and very extraordinary Occasions and whenever these happen recourse may be had to the Originals themselves In 1661. the Bishop of London usually Presided in the Archbishop's stead and is always meant by the style Dominus when it stands single the names of the other Commissaries who were but few being constantly express'd But the Forms in the two Journals of the Lower-house are various and having withal made so great a part in the Dispute about Continuations or Adjournments I have printed both the Introduction and Conclusion of each Session at length without omitting any thing except the Names of the Persons every day present IN perusing these Acts both of the Vpper and Lower House the Reader will observe all along How the Synodical Business is mark't-out by the Metropolitan and Bishops as Governours of the Church and so much of it consider'd debated and prepar'd by the Inferior Clergy as their Lordships from time to time have recommended to their Care That the Presbyters of former times have ever receiv'd and pursu'd those Directions with the utmost readiness and then taken care to osser their Applications and Reports with all the marks of Duty and Humility That therefore the publick Cancerns of our Church have in English Convocations been transacted by rules and methods purely Ecclesiastical that is by a Synod consisting of Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters all contributing their Endeavours towards the same common End and within the Bounds assign'd by Antiquity to their respective Orders and Degrees in the Church of Christ That however the Bishops and Presbyters have their Separate Places of Debate and may not under that general Appearance be unlike the two Houses of Parliament yet as to their Independence in Acting or any degrees of
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
directed to proceed upon particular Business by the Archbishop and Bishops 5 20 22 24 37 39 40 42 50 68 70 72 85 87 91 104 118 210. Lower-house go up voluntarily 22 37 41 45 46 50 174 207 213 214 215. Lower-house bring up and return Business 27 35 37 39 40 41 42 43 45 47 49 51 91 92 112 119 155 160 173 206 213 214 215. M Mandates from the Archbishop for Summoning a Convocation 9 57. N Notice given to the Upper-house of Persons chosen for Committees in the Lower V. Committees O Oblations unjustly detain'd from the Clergy 35. Offertory at the Opening of Convocation 2. Ogleby's Bible 70. Ordinations determin'd to the 4 Seasons 109. not to be perform'd out of the Diocese without Letters dimissory from the Archbishop 109. P Parliament Prayer for it made in Convocation 23 27. Thanks from the Lords in Parliament to the Bishops and Clergy for their Care and Labour in Revising the Common-Prayer 106. Point whether lawful for Bishops to sit in Parliament in Cases of Blood consider'd 99. Petition presented to the Lower-house laid before the Upper 45 50. from the Clergy in the Isle of Wight 123. by the Bishop of Norwich 124. from the Lower-Clergy to the House of Lords in the Case of a Money-Bill 176 177. Pluralities 172 2. Praeconizations 139 163 167 170. Prayer Common revis'd 84 85 86 87 92. Preface to it 90 93. General Thanksgiving 93. General Revisal of the whole 93. Subscriptions to it with the Preparation of a Form 94 95. Act of Parliament for establishing the Common-Prayer debated in Convocation 98. Alterations made by Parliament in the Common-Prayer debated in Convocation 103. Orders for Printing the Book of Common-Prayer 104. Appointment of a Supervisor and Correctors 105. Thanks to the Bishops and Clergy from the House of Lords for their Care and Labour in Revising the Common-Prayer 106. Method of dispersing the Books of Common-Prayer 108. Prayer Form of for the King's Restoration 67. for the 30th of January 67. for the 5th of November 110. The three â—oregoing Forms brought in and approv'd 110. Prayers at Sea 89 90. Prayer before Sermon unica Forma Precum 90. Privilege Breach of 39. Prolocutor or Referendary chosen by Order or Leave from the Archbishop at the beginning of Convocation 3 4 5 16 63 137 165 196. chosen in the middle of Convocation upon the Promotion of another 101. chosen upon Death 126. Prolocutor recommended by the Archbishop 196. presented to the Archbishop and Bishops 19 67 101 126 139 166 199. Office 6. Assessors appointed by him 139 151 153 168 170. comes alone to the U. house 23 35 37 155. confers in private with the President 46 47. confers with the Presid and Bish 157. Prolocutor sent for alone with a certain number or with the whole House to the Upper-house Reverendissimus c. Voluit mandavit Prolocutorem ad se accersiri Fecit ad se accersiri Jussit Prolocutorem coram se Confratribus suis vocari Nunciatum fuit Domino Prolocutori de voluntate Reverendissimi c. quòd ad se accederet c. 18 21 31 33 36 38 40 42 46 48 67 68 69 71 75 76 83 85 87 91 101 104 105 118 122 125 126 146 147 150 152 153 154 157 159 167 168 170 171 175 176 170 2 172 2 198 206 210. Prolocutor dismis'd by the Archbishop and Bishops Dimisso Prolocutore Eis dimissis c. 20 22 23 24 27 32 35 37 38 39 41 42 43 45 46 47 49 50 51 53 67 72 75 83 85 87 91 92 101 102 119 124 126 199 210. acting by a Deputy 147 148 212. Protestation 44 Proxies order'd to be brought in by the Archbishop 154. Psalms revis'd 88. R Recusants Canon against them 39 45. Residence enjoin'd 172 2. S Schedules of Continuation At the Conclusion of every Session in the Upper-house-Books Schedules of Reformation 140 149 167 193. Silence enjoin'd 24 26 169. Socinians Canons against 41. Subsidies 20 21 118 120 206 212. Subsidy-Bills review'd and corrected by Committees 23 26 118 151 154. read 156. pass'd in Form 212. Subscription to the Book of Common-Pray 94 95. Subscriptions to the 39 Articles debated 108. Substitution of a Presid 24 62 192 193 205 217. V Visitational-Articles 75 102 104. W Welsh Common-Prayer 45. Westminster Dean of protests his Appearance in Convocation to be with a Salvo jure to the Rights of his Church 196. Protestation of the Church of Westminster 18 65 192. Writ of Prorogation 113 122. of Dissolution 163. Y York the Archbishop and Bishops of that Province in the Convocation of 1661. 75 76 c. Addenda Emendanda IN the Catalogue of Convocation Acts add 1st after the Year 1380. 1382 Nov. 18. Courtney fol. 33. a. 2 ly At the Year 1554. add The Acts of the Upper House are Enter'd in Bishop Bonner's Register 3 ly At the Year 1562. add A fragment of the Proceedings in the Lower House Febr. 13. 1562. is in the hands of Mr. Petyt 4 ly Concerning the Index in Dr. Atterbury's hands it is to be observ'd that the few passages Cited in this Book are immediately taken out of a late Extract from thence of such things as concern the present Controversy Pag. 34. After the Sentence of Contumacy by Archbishop Chichele add But a much elder than this is enter'd in the Register of Archbishop Courtney Anno 1391. Dominus contra Absentes sub hac Formâ processit Nos Willelmus permissione Divina Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus totius Angliae Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus c. omnes singulos ad praesens Concilium nostrum legitimè peremptoriè citatos praeconizatos diucius expectatos non comparentes reputamus pronunciamus Contumaces in paenam Contumaciarum suarum hujusmodi Decernimus Declaramus Pronunciamus omnia singula in praesenti Concilio habita atque facta suum debitum sortiri debere effectum ipsorum Contumacijs in aliquo non obstantibus in hac parte poenam aliam Canonicam eis eorum singulis infligendam Nobis seu Commissario nostro quem ad id duxerimus deputandum nihilominùs specialiter Reservantes Pag. 47. lin 23. Paenâ sibi reservatâ is not the express language of the present Schedule but sufficiently appears to be the meaning of it both from the frequent mention in the Registers of such Reservations to the Archbishop singly and the no less frequent Inflictions of such Canonical Punishment upon the Lower Clergy and that by the President without any interposition or concurrence of the Bishops or Clergy Pag. 53. lin 16. Add To which purpose the Extracts out of the Upper House Books Anno 1541. conclude with the following Note ' Memorandum in fine Libri Inseruntur Constitutiones Substitutiones in Convocatione praedictâ ex Licentiâ Reverendissimi ubi habentur Scripta diversarum Absolutionum eorum qui Absentes erant Pag. 61. lin 19. for Suspend read Supersede Pag. 183. lin 12. To the Chapter Of the manner of Passing Business in Convocation add And even in Canons and all other matters Passing by Subscription the Metropolitan's ancient Authority remains thus far entire that without his Concurrence the Agreement of all the rest is not the Act of Convocation nor can be presented as such to the Prince for his Royal Confirmation Pag. 186. lin 12. For 1434. read 1534. App. p. 131. For 1686 and 1688. read 1586 and 1588. Pag. 233. lin antepeâ—… I am since assur'd That in York-Province the Archbishop or his Commissary always Sign the Instrument of Continuation after Reading Pag. 295. lin 8. Read their Church lin 13. add They knew the Kings of England had often directed their Writs to the Archbishop before the Act of Submission was thought of and were as constantly obey'd And the Writ being an immediate Direction to the Archbishop and not to any particular Member of Convocation they were so far from thinking that a Summons upon the Authority of such Writ destroy'd his Grace's authoritative Summons that we see they use the Term even while the Act was repeal'd and they were by consequence under no Obligation to use it ☞ Throughout the Book wherever mention is made of the Last Convocation 't is to be understood of that which began Febr. 10. 1700 1 wherein these unhappy Differences between the two Houses first arose P. 138. l. 32. read Domum Superiorem P. 165. l. 1. read de uniendis parvis Beneficiis P. 169. l. 1. read Not but. P. 228. l. 13. for Julius XI read Julius II.
SYNODVS ANGLICANA Or The Constitution and Proceedings OF AN ENGLISH CONVOCATION SHOWN From the ACTS and REGISTERS thereof to be agreeable to the Principles OF AN Episcopal Church APPENDIX 1. Three Registers of the Upper-house in 1562. in which the xxxix Articles were agreed upon 1640. under Archb. Laud. 1661 c. in whch the Common-Prayer was Revis'd 2. The two entire Journals of the Lower-House in 1586 and 1588. LONDON Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-noster-row 1672. THE PREFACE THE unhappy Disputes in the last Convocation were too plain a prejudice to our Church and Order to suffer any man who had a common respect for either to stand by unconcern'd But in studying proper Remedies the great difficulty was to find out where the Disease lay that is from which House the Encroachments came and upon what foundation a sure Judgment thereof might be made The REASON of the thing had been offer'd as one way of fixing the Right but that I found might be urg'd plausibly on either side For an Advocate of common knowledge and dexterity which part soever he undertake cannot in Causes of this Nature want a Variety of that sort of Colours but they are little regarded in Law nor ever urg'd in a case of Legal Right that can be supported by Arguments and Authorities from Custom or Statute Such Suggestions about the Reason and Consequence of things are useful towards the prudent Settlement of new Laws but can have no part in the determination of questions about ancient Rights In this imperfect State of things many Failings and Inconveniences will ever attend the wisest Establishments and when Designs are set afoot to invade or undermine them these Possibilities of mischief are always made the Instruments of raising jealousies and discontents among the Generality who are hardly brought either to see the mischief of too much Liberty or the necessity of lodging an ultimate Trust some-where in order to the peace and safety of any Society The Proceedings in PARLIAMENT have been also urg'd to justifie some late Measures in Convocation but whatever be the virtue of a Parliamentary-Relation the very persons who contend for it disown its being a Rule in the present Disputes by confessing that the Clergy have not a right to all the Privileges of the Commons in Parliament and yet assigning no reason why some may be claim'd upon that foot more than all the rest There is however one known custom in Parliament that may well deserve to be consider'd in Convocation viz. the Recourse they have and the Deference they pay in all contests about Privilege to the Records and Journals of former Parliaments For both our Civil and Ecclesiastical Meetings are Ancient Constitutions each whereof has all along proceeded by establisht Methods of its own And as Custom has in a Legal sense markt-out the Privileges of the two Houses in each of these Assemblies so by all Prudential Rules our Security lies not in making new Experiments but in the Continuance of Methods which have been try'd and establisht upon the practice of former times and are not become disagreeable to our own by any new or singular Circumstance And even this last is a Consideration that could have very little place in Ecclesiastical Government wherein the different Orders and Degrees with the proper Rights of each are establisht upon a primitive foundation not to be remov'd at the pleasure of Men and much less if that ancient foundation appear to be confirm'd and supported by the additional authority of its own Usages as a Particular or National Church And it ought certainly to be matter of Joy to every good man to find such a double Security to the Honour and Purity of the Church of which Providence has made him a Member as is the Concurrence of a Civil with its Ecclesiastical Claim to the Vsages of Antiquity Resolving therefore to make the strictest Enquiry how far the Church of England is entitl'd to this Blessing in the great point of Holding her Synods I enter'd upon a diligent Search into all the remaining Registers of Convocation I begun with that of 1356. the Acts whereof are the first we have and descended in order to our own times according to the Catalogue of Convocation-Acts subjoyn'd to this Preface All these I say I have distinctly examin'd since the disputes in Convocation began and am the rather oblig'd to make this particular Profession of it because a late Paper entitl'd the Expedient p. 17. c. 2. studying to weaken the Authority of my Arguments for the Archbishop's Right to Continue says they are only the Substance of what pass'd in the Debates of the House reduc'd by me into Form I shall always have a just honour for that House and the Debates of it but must beg leave to think that the Registers of Convocation the only Rule in all disputes about Privilege are a Guide somewhat surer Which Guide and no other I follow'd as in examining that Case of Continuations so also in drawing the States upon those other Heads which I formerly promis'd Right of the Archbishop p. 113 136. and do now Present to the Reader The truth is from my first entrance upon this Examination of the Registers in order to form a true judgment about the differences depending I have industriously laid by the late Accounts of both Sides concerning the Nature of an English Convocation resolving to give way to no Impressions but what should come immediately from the Registers themselves where alone the State of the Controversy is apparently lodg'd The Reflections upon the Paper I just now mention'd the Expedient I mean were intended for a part of the Preface to this Book but proving somewhat too large they are already sent abroad in a Separate Paper As for the present Work I am sensible that the same Accounts in the way of a regular History would have been much more Entertaining but it was not my business to divert but to instruct and convince and I was sure no description I could frame would either have a Weight equal to the very Words of the Registers or give so lively a View of Proceedings upon all Points as this regular Deduction of Authorities through the Successive Ages It was I confess a mighty Satisfaction to me as it must be to all the friends of Episcopacy to find the Proceedings of an English Synod so agreeable to the Constitution of an Episcopal Church however some late Books had mis-represented them And as to the Publication of what I found it is accounted for in the Introduction which contains the general Occasion and Design of the Chapters that follow it A scruple has been rais'd by some Members of the Lower House how far the Registers before the Reformation are to be regarded in the Methods of Holding an English-Synod But as nothing passed then which could any way affect the usual Intercourse between the two Houses when met and enter'd upon business so after
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
be in a Condition to bear their part in the Business he commands them to retire and chuse a Prolocutor Anno 1460. May 10. The Archbishop first directs the Choice of a Prolocutor and then confirms him after which he explains to them the Causes of the Convocation In these two last Instances the Clergy are not directed to Retire as they had usually been to debate apart about the Matters of Convocation laid before them by the Archbishop Because now they began as to their debating to be in a more separate State so that the bare Proposition of Business to be Prepar'd or Consider'd was notice enough that they were to Retire to their usual Place and set about it The old Registers have only the Acts of four Convocations more so that we have no light between the Years 1488 and 1529. nor any from thence to the Year 1562. besides certain Extracts out of the Registers of the Upper-House But the ancient Directory in Edward the sixth's time and Archbishop Parker's Form of holding a Convocation both of them written while the Registers of Covocation remain'd entire and both as above-cited setting down his Grace's declaration of the Causes of the Summons as a necessary part of their preparation for Business leave no Room to doubt whether in that Interval the same Usage continu'd which we have shown to be the Practiee of Convocation from the beginning of the most early Acts. Not but that even in these Extracts we find the Custom plainly enough tho' not express'd under all the Circumstances that appear in the Original Registers So Anno 1536. the Second in that Collection the Bishop of London's Return being exhibited Reverendissimus exposuit Causas hujusmodi Convocationis denide monuit omnes Praelatos quatenus conferrent se ad locum consuetum eligant unum virum in Referendarium Prolocutorem qui eorum nomine loqui possit Anno 1547. the next but one in which as well as in the first of that Book the Form of Opening is very much contracted by the Abridger and consists only of some short hints Archbishop Cranmer is there said in general to have acquainted them that the Convocation was then Summon'd quod Praelati Cleri inter se consulerent de vera Christi Religione probè instituenda tradenda popule that being the first Year of Edward the sixth Again Anno 1444. The Return being exhibited Episcopus London in the Vacancy of the Archbishoprick Summariè compendiosè Causam Synodi vocatae exposuit monuit Inferiorem Domum de eligendo sibi Prolocutorem Anno 1557. The Archbishop with the Consent of his Brethren having confirm'd the Prolocutor mox Causas hujus Synodi verbo-tenus proposuit which are there set down at large Anno 1558. Praeconizatione facta Inferiore Doino evocata exposuit Episcopus ibidem Causam Convocation is But more distinctly in the next which is an entire Register That I mean of Archbishop Parker in which the 39 Articles were made viz. Anno 1562. Reverendissimus Dominus Archiepiscopus Cant. brevens quandam Orationem Eloquentiae plenam habuit ad Patres Clerum per quam inter alia opportunitatem Reformandarum rerum in Ecclesia Anglicana jam oblatam esse aperuit ac propensos animos tam illustrissimae Dominae nostrae Regine quam allorum Magnatum hujus regni ad hujusmodi Reformationem habendam declaravit hortando praecipiendo mandando Praelatos Clerum Inferioris Domus in dicta domo capitulari coram co reliquis Patribus constitutos quatenus ad Conventus sui locum sese conferentes unum virum gravem c. eligant in eorum Prolocutorem Anno 1640. the next Convocation of which the Upper-House-Acts remain after the Prolocutor is confirm'd the Archbishop produces the King's License Et Reverendissimus Pater antedictus praefatum Prolocutorem alios de Domo inferiori Decanos Archidiaconos Capitula Cleri Procuratores ibidem praesentes voluit ut ipsi inter se convenirent mature excogitarent de Subsidiis Domino nostro Regi concedend Canonibus Constitutionibus Statum Ecclesiasticum Christi Religionem in Ecclesia Anglicana concernen concipiendis Et quicquid inde senserent sive excogitaverint in scriptis redigant coram ipso Reverendissimo Confratribus Episcopis exhibeant Anno 1661. The Prolocutor being confirm'd Committees of both Houses were order'd in the Upper-House to compose Services for the 29th of May and the 30th of January c. And when afterwards by the coming of the Royal License they thought themselves at liberty to Enter upon the Business which was the chief Cause of their Meeting the Archbishop directs the Members of the Lower-House to proceed in it in the self same words that Archbishop Laud had us'd in the Year 1640. The Inference from the Archbishop's declaring the Causes of Convocation I have been thus particular in my Deduction of Authorities to show the Right of the President to mark out a Scheme of Business to be transacted in Convocation Beause as by the Tenor of the Mandate his first step in Summoning we are led to the Foundation of his Grace's Power over the Members of the Lower-House so in this their Entrance upon Business we clearly see his Influence and Authority over their Proceedings That is we have the view of an Ecclesiastical Synod consisting of a Metropolitan Bishops and Presbyters all going on to Act within their proper Spheres and suitably to the Constitution of an Episcopal Church The Metropolitan having advis'd with his Suffragan-Bishops about the State and Condition of the Church of which He and They are constituted Governours recommends to the Synod the Consideration of such Improvements or Reformations as evidently tend to its Honour and Safety The Clergy are there in readiness to receive the Opinion and Directions of their Ecclesiastical Superiors and to offer their own Judgment as there shall be occasion with all Duty and Humility and in short to give their Assistance of every kind in a proper Subordination towards the ready and effectual Dispatch of all Business that shall be regularly propos'd for the Advancement of Religion The Archbishop and Bishops wee see deliberate Above And the Clergy debate the same Matters below to be ready with their Opinions and Resolutions when requir'd And thus they appear like one Body of Men met about the same common Business in which all in their several Stations are immediately concern'd Proceeding also with such a Paternal Affection on the one Hand and such Dutiful Obedience on the other as becomes their holy Function and is due to Measures for preserving the Order and Vnity of the Church But some late Principles and Practices have another Tendency For instance the Clergy's proceeding in Business of the greatest Moment and even coming to form'd Resolutions thereupon without ever acquainting their Ecclesiastical Superiors and much less offering them first in general as Points that in their Opinion deserve or
with such mean methods to proclaim her Breaches and make her the publick scorn of her Enemies For the sake of our Church and Religion may the Author of these Methods be once brought to such a Spirit and Temper as shall at least oblige him to common Decency or however restrain him from such open and virulent abuses of his Ecclesiastical Governors Orders made in Convocation against the Publication of Debatés whilâ—… depending He seems to have overcome the obligations of Duty but may remember that in some former Convocations particular Orders have been made against Revealing the Debates even in Discourse till finisht and that upon Penaltiés which he is taking great Pains to Deserve Anno 1529. Sess 3. Reverendissimus monuit omnes sub poenâ Excommunicationis ne aliquis revelet extra-Domum aliquibus personis cujuscunqué Statûs nisi inter Semetipsos Anno 1529. Sess 19. Reverendissimus omnes singulos admonuit ne quicquam revelent de hujusmodi Communicatione Anno 1529. Sess 20. Episcopus London Commissarius c. monuit omnes ne quicquam Revelarent ibi dictum vel recitatum sub poenâ Excommunicationis latae Sententiae Anno 1541. Sess 8. Accessit Prolocutor cum quibusdam de Electis à Clero exposuerunt querelas suas c. ubi Reverendissimus praecepit ne quid effutirent de rebus ipsis expositis Anno 1557. The Archbishop having explain'd to the Bishops and Clergy the Causes of the Convocation viz. the Reformation of Abuses in the Church c. enjoyns them to consider of proper methods Et quid sibi videatur Voluit cos sibi servare Anno 1588. Sess 4. The Prolocutor having been in the Upper House to receive directions about the Subsidy which was afterwards consider'd and debated below monuit omnes praesentes ne publicè revelarent tractata gesta isto die Anno 1640. Sess 5. Apr. 25. Et ulteriùs pro meliori Expeditione negotiorum hujus sacrae Synodi idem Reverendissimus cum consensu assensu corundem Confratrum suorum ordinavit Quòd nullus Episcopus aut aliquis è Clero Copiam Canonis aut partis Canonis proposituri tractaturi exscribere aut de aliquo hujusmodi Canone foras fabulare praesumpserit donec hac Convocatione sive Sacrâ Synodo plenarie finaliter assensum sacra Regia Majestate approbat erit sub poena Suspensionis cujuslibet è Clero per tres menses Synodicae monitionis pro quolibet Praelato qui ita peccaverit prout in Actu Synodico sequen continetur viz. c. Dominus Prolocutor venit cum 5 aliis è Domo Inferiori eis declaravit istum Actum Synodicum praeceden voluit eundem Dominum Prolocutorem ad declarand istum Actum toto Coetui dictae Domûs Mox revertebat dixit se totum Coetum Domûs Inferioris consensum assensum suos Confectioni dicti Actûs Synodici adhibuisse eundem unanimiter approbâsse The Convocations in which those strict Provisions for Secrecy were made would without doubt have animadverted severely upon such a shameful Method of sending the Debates I am sorry to say the Divisions Session by Session into all parts of the Kingdom But after a general request to this Writer that in the manner of venting his Resentments he will at least have a greater regard to the honour of our Church I will consider the Matter of his Paper so far as it concerns the Substitution of a Prolocutor and affects the Account I have given of this Point Chap. 4. p. His Insincerity in the other parts of that Relation has been already laid open and this about Substitutions as depending upon the Registers of Convocation is the only Head that falls under my Consideration Reasons why a Sub-Prolocutor ought to be confirm'd in the Vpper House In the fourth Chapter p. 74. I infer a necessity that the Substitute be admitted and confirm'd by the Upper House because without this he is not the Person agreed on between the Bishops and Clergy for the mutual conveyance of their Messages nor can their Lordships receive any thing from him as the Sense of the Inferior Clergy and much less Return their own Pleasure by him Add to this that at the Opening of Convocation and in the middle upon Death or Promotion the Clergy cannot proceed to an Election without his Grace's leave nor was he ever thought to be qualifi'd for the Exercise of any part of the Office before Confirmation He blames me for a further observation to the same purpose Right of the Archbishop p. 67. that neither the Speaker of the House of Commons nor the House it self have the Power to Substitute a Speaker But however I had declar'd all along against inferring an Independence of the Lower House from the Independence of the Commons it was I hope no unseasonable Suggestion to those who so much desire to make the Proceedings in Parliament their Rule that in this point of Substitutions they go beyond their Rule 'T is true the Dignitaries of the Lower House have a personal Right to be Summon'd and as such are capable of appearing by Proxie but cannot actually appear so without the consent and approbation of the President Nor is it at all to the purpose to talk of the ordinary Substitutions of Proxies unless that Power infer'd an absolute and immediate Right to Substitute a Prolocutor or Speaker See Chap. 3. which he must needs know to be otherwise in the House of Peers where the Nobility Substitute their Proxies but not a Speaker Instances of Substitutions oâ— Authority of the Vpper House defended against the late Paper Number 1. These Considerations from the Reason of the thing and the Nature of the Office are confirm'd p. 75. by Instances of Application to the Upper House upon the Substitution of a Prolocutor for the Lower The first that of Archdeacon Wolman is too express to be evaded Anno 1533. Sess 3. in the Upper House Book Ibidem Dominus Prolocutor D. Wolman affirmavit se aegrotum esse petiit ut durante infirmitate ejus Mr. Fox si vellet adesse vel Mr. D. Bell exerceret officium suum concessum est And this instance is made more full and clear by the Additional Remark he brings out of some other Extracts which are yet conceal'd Another Extract from the same Register says he p. 8. gives this further Account of it Which done the Prolocutor being Sick desir'd that Mr. Fox Archdeacon of Leicester and Mr. Bell Archdeacon of Glocester might be Substituted in his Place Ad cujus Petitionem dictus Dominus Praesidens cum consensu Dominorum Episcoporum Praelatorum Cleri tunc praesentium licentiavit dictum Ri. Wolmannum abesse pro tempore Infirmitatis suae I know not certainly in whose hands these Extracts are but must beg leave to think that in the Course of this Controversie we should have heard more of them had they been to the Advantage of
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