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 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 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 it , there is no such Resemblance as has been pretended between the Proceedings of Parliament and Convocation : That , on the contrary , the chief part of the Prolocutor's Business , is to convey to the Presbyters the Pleasure of their Metropolitan and Bishops , and to represent to their Lordships the Answers , Opinions , and Petitions of the Lower-House ; and so , for ever to prevent the Independence of the Clergy , and preserve the Original Union of the Synod , as to the matter , method , order , tendency , and progress of the Debates .

These ( with many more testimonies of an English Convocation's being in reality what all the Friends of our Church ought to wish it , an Ecclesiastical Synod ) will naturally occur to every one , who shall peruse these Acts with impartiality and an ordinary attention : And Readers , under that conv●… from the practice of former Convocations , may be allow'd to wonder upon what Model some late Proceedings and Principles were form'd ; and to re●… seriously upon the Design , or at least the natur●… Trndency , of them . The Archbishops , Parker , Wh●…gift , Laud , Juxon , and Sheldon , ( under whom the five Convocations were held ) are Names distinguisht in this Church by an eminent Zeal in maintaining its Constitution and the Rights of the Clergy . And , now the Proceedings of the last Convocation are made publick , let every Man be his own judge , whether our present Metropolitan and Bishops have not acted by the self same Rules : and he will then see , what Spirit has govern'd those Men , who from thence have taken occasion to inveigh so freely against their Lordships , as endeavouring to Overthrow the Rights of the Church and Clergy .

That part of the Controversie which relates to the Proceedings of Convocation when met , began not before the Opening of the last in 1700. The Nation had been industriously prepossess'd with false Notions of the Constitution and Proceedings of an English Synod : but the Alteration of Opinions about the Right of Continuing , upon a plain State thereof from the Registers , was evident enough ; and shows , that the Generality both of Clergy and Laiety are dispos'd to make as impartial a judgment upon all other Heads , when the Practice of former Times shall be clearly laid before them . For the Information of such , five Journals are here publisht Entire , and the Form and Proceedings of an English Convocation particularly defcrib'd , not only upon the Authority , but in the very Words , of all the remaining Acts. I pray God they may in any measure tend to the Removal of our unhappy Differences , and the future preservation of Peace and Unity in the Synods of our Church .