[336] Nalson, ii. 766. Thomas Fuller advocated the calling of a synod.—Life, by Russell, 124.
[337] Rushworth, v. 337. Husband, 208.
"There must be some laymen in the synod, to overlook the clergy, lest they spoil the civil work; just as when the good woman puts a cat into the milk house to kill a mouse, she sends her maid to look after the cat, lest the cat should eat up the cream."—Selden's Table Talk, 169.
[338] Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield; Morley, Bishop of Winchester; Nicholson, Bishop of Gloucester; Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester; Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich.
[339] Calamy's Continuation, i. 28.—Bancroft, on the authority of Winthrop, says that the colonial Churches of America were invited to send deputies to the Westminster Assembly. But Hooker, of Hartford, "'liked not the business,' and deemed it his duty rather to stay in quiet and obscurity with his people in Connecticut, than to turn propagandist and plead for Independency in England."—United States, i. 417. Did Philip Nye seek to strengthen the Independents in the Assembly by inviting brethren from America?
[340] "It was almost implied in the meaning of the word. An 'Œcumenical Synod,' that is an 'Imperial gathering,' from the whole οἰκουμένη, or empire (for this was the technical meaning of the word, even in the Greek of the New Testament) could be convened only by the emperor."—Stanley's Lectures on the Eastern Church, 80. The first council of Arles, inferior only to a General Council, was called by the Emperor Constantine.—Euseb. Hist., lib. x. c. v.
[341] The Divines were allowed by the Parliamentary ordinance four shillings a day.
[342] Perhaps some one better versed in the controversy touching powers of Convocation than I am might shew that, after all, the power of decision, and the liberty of discussion in the two Houses, do not far exceed what was allowed to the Westminster Assembly. It is admitted on all hands that Convocation cannot meet without a royal writ, nor make canons without licence, nor publish them without confirmation by the Great Seal, and some contend that Convocation may not even discuss any matters without royal licence.—See Lathbury's History of Convocation, 112.
While I am revising this book for the press, I find the following in to-day's Times, January 11th, 1866: "Convocation is nothing more whatever than a general commission of enquiry into the affairs of the Church empowered to report its opinions to the Crown." Change "Crown" into "Parliament," and this passage describes the Westminster Assembly, so far as its power was concerned.
[343] Rushworth, v. 339. It does not appear clearly whether the sermon was delivered in the abbey or the chapel. Rushworth, after mentioning the sermon and the presence of the two Houses, says of the Divines, "After which they assembled in the said chapel:" as if the "Houses" had heard the sermon in some other part of the abbey.