war against the rebel Covenanters, and began with appointing committees of religion and grievances; the rest; but episcopacy is more than this: it is a distinction of order. The superiority of a bishop is an intrinsic power in his character, not conferred by canon law, or by the will of a prince, but possessed by virtue of his consecration." Hall next laid down the common position, that Presbyterianism has no foundation, as the church of Christ, either in Scrip ture or in the practice of fifteen hundred years. That which the Apostles recommended, though without command, is an apostolical institution: apostolical institution is divine right; and a government, established by the Apostles, was intended for a perpetual duration. The universal practice of the church in the age succeeding that of the Apostles, affords the best comment on the apostolic practice and writings. The primitive fathers would not readily change the form of government received from them. With these statements Laud expressed himself dissatisfied. Episcopacy, said he, must be allowed a higher ascent than the Apostles. Rome is to be guarded against as well as Geneva. The jus divinum immediatum is the foundation of independence in the order: the preference of one was a matter of compact: the jus divinum mediatum, or a church aristocratical originating in the Apostles and not in Christ, is the Italian rock. Some of the Genevans, on the other hand, allow a jus divinum, suadens sed non imperans and Beza, imperans sed non universaliter imperans, et citra considerationem durationis: so that the churches of Geneva and Scotland might have bishops at one time and not at another. This is the rock in the Lake of Geneva. To return to Bishop Hall: Men condemned, says he, as heretics, by the ancient church, are not the best vouchers for church government. Texts on which a new government is founded, ought to be clear and indisputable in meaning. New and unheard-of tenets ought to be suspected: and to re : for which refractory behaviour they were suddenly dissolved. The monarch's necessities were better supplied by the convocation, who, in consideration of a commission lately granted, authorizing them to amend the canons and to enact new ones, voted him six subsidies to be paid in six years, at the rate of four shillings in the pound. Laud, who was directed by a clause in the commission to be a party to every consultation, introduced canons against Popery and Socinianism; and by his influence the penalties inflicted on popish volt from the Apostles to Calvin is a bold measure. If the -Presbyterian government were the true church of Christ, men would have been agreed long before on the form and condition of that institution. If this be the kingdom of God, as the Papists and Puritans pretend, then is not Christ's kingdom set up in the church. "Beware here," said Laud, "of a saucy answer which these people are much more ready to give, than a learned one."-The accession of privileges and titles affects not the episcopal function. This refers, observed the corrector, to archbishops, patriarchs, &c. but the meaning requires being guarded.-Christian polity requires nothing ab surd or impossible; and presbyterianism may be useful, where episcopacy is not to be had. A dangerous concession, remarked the Archbishop: episcopacy is every where practicable; the Presbyterians obtrude their discipline as Christ's kingdom and ordinance, and discard episcopacy as unwarrantable. Let us not disguise the truth or mince the matter, through complaisance to Amsterdam of Geneva. It was Laud's custom to collect from his bishops, an account of their several dioceses; and to present an annual report of the whole province to the king. This year, the last of these reports was published. recusants for absence from their parish-church, were extended to all separatists. As the commision to enact canons had only extended to the close of the parliamentary session, the King issued a new grant for continuing the assembly as a synod; and they sat, passing constitutions, a full month after the Parliament had been dispersed. In this assembly, which Fuller, the church historian, attended, and concerning which he speaks in the first person plural, "We met, &c." seventeen canons were enacted on miscellaneous subjects: on the divine right of kings; on ceremonies; on preaching licenses, and institution, as exclusively to be granted by bishops; on penance and excommunication; on wills and citations. Articles of visitation were drawn up and registered in a book, and inquiries were directed to be confined to them. An attempt was made to introduce an oath of adherence to the doctrine, discipline, and government of the English church, to be imposed on all divines and members of universities; but as it was found to be obnoxious to a considerable body of the clergy, the King dispensed with it for the present. In the canon against Socinianism, Socinians, says Neale, are not once mentioned: but this is a ⚫ mere carping remark. There is a slight grammatical inaccuracy in the sentence; but the word "they" refers very clearly to the professors of the Socinian heresy. .I As to the &c. in the midst of an oath, which has been treated with so much ridicule by Neale, Hume, and others, it was no more than this"The Church of England, as governed by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, &c." Yet Lord Digby called this, "the bottomless perjury of an et cetera." The canons, after receiving the approbation of the privy council, were subscribed by both the houses of convocation (with the exception of thirtysix protests); and being then passed for signature to the ecclesiastical parliament of York, they were confirmed by the King's letters patent under the great seal. XXV. In the Long Parliament, which, in conquence of the Scottish invasion, the King summoned together in November, these canons were made the subject of warm discussion. The Puritans predominating in both houses, it was resolved, that no synodical acts can bind the clergy or laity, without consent of Parliament; that the late canons bind not either clergy or laity; that they contain matters contrary to the fundamental laws of the realm, and to the rights, property, and liberties of his Majesty's subjects; and lastly, that the benevolences granted, being illegal, ought not to bind the clergy. These resolutions were the frettings of unreasonable malice, and assumptions of unlawful authority. The Convocation was called together by dif ferent writs from those of the Parliament; the members were deputed by the clergy, and being their representatives, could bind them: neither the canons of 1603, nor any others, were ever confirmed in Parliament; the act of 51 Edw. III. had only declared that the Commons should not be bound by canons, without their own consent, but said nothing of ecclesiastics; by 25 Henry VIII. c. 19, they were empowered to make canons with the King's consent, while the Parliament was never once mentioned; the Judges and Lord Keeper, who had been consulted on this occasion, pronounced the protracted session to be regular; the clergy had always taxed their own body; the subsidy had been granted before the Parliament rose; and had the case been otherwise, there was a precedent in the reign of Elizabeth, for the granting of a subsidy in convocation, when the Parliament was not sitting*. XXVI. Laud, as chief framer of the canons, was exposed to many severe animadversions; and the Scottish commissioners having, at the same time, in a conference with the Commons, presented some articles of charge against him, an impeachment for high treason was sent up to the House of Lords, and led to his confinement in the Tower. Soon after, a specimen of the impartiality he had to expect was afforded in the * Neale is wrong in stating that the subsidy was voted in the synod after the rising of Parliament.-Nalson, p. 545. |