A history of the Roman and English hierarchies

Front matter

Class B A t Book _ .Ak

A HISTORY

ROMAN & ENGLISH HIERARCHIES,

Contents

Introduction — Origin of the present Work — Letter to Dr. Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, containing a caution against acting with prejudice — His Grace's Letter in reply — Interview with the Archbishop — Remarks on the same — Letter to his Majesty, as Supreme Head of the Church of England, on episcopal intolerance as connected with ordination — His Secretary, Lord Melbourne's Reply — Act of Supremacy — Stricture on Lord Melbourne's Letter — Design of the work — Concluding Reflections.

CHAP. PAGE

I. The Origin and Gradual Advance of Papal

Introduction

In submitting to the public the following pages, which are designed to trace out and expose the various abuses and usurpations which exist in the Established Church of England, it will be expected that I should give some account of the origin of an undertaking which some may regard as rash, profitless, or absurd. That the efforts of a private individual to redress public grievances must be limited in their more immediate effect, I am well aware ; and also, that such endeavours incur the risk of misrepresented motives, personal suffering, and angry reprobation. But it is impossible, as is observed by Dr. Johnson, to determine the limits of inquiry, or to foresee the consequences which discovery may produce. It is, indeed, evident, that public attention, in the first instance, must be roused to general activity by individual exertion, however fatal or inconvenient it may be to him by whom it is first made. I pretend not, however, to have discovered any thing before radically unknown, but to disclose facts which accident or the artifice of those who are implicated may have concealed from the public view, and to deduce such inferences as would suggest themselves to an ordinary and unbiassed judgment.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

As a portion of my personal history is connected with the present undertaking, I must present the reader with a brief sketch of the events in which it originated.

I was educated in the principles and faith of the Established Church, and designed to be numbered amongst her clergy. But, from my earliest acquaintance with her mode of government I considered it to be incompatible with the precepts of the gospel, and subversive of that religious liberty which, as Christians, we ought to profess. I have continued in her communion, however, and endeavoured to enter her ministry, being actuated by the desire of a union between myself and her members, which I regarded as the best means of aiding an intended effort to produce a reform of her manifold corruptions and abuses. During the last fifteen years, I have perceived that a veiy material alteration in her government was demanded by common sense and common honesty ; and thence I have been endeavouring to qualify myself for the execution of the present undertaking.

To me, titles, dignities, and riches have never appeared as the chief good, or even as essentially constituent of the happiness of the life of man. I have considered them, when weighed with honesty and a good conscience, as dust in the balance. The influence which I also observed them to exercise upon clerical conduct, and the spirit of domination and insolence which their possession generated in prelatical characters, convinced me that their ex-

INTRODUCTION. IX

istence in any church must be a source of certain and positive evil. Hence I have conceived that all honour is disgraceful, and all profit vile, which are the result of mean compliances with corrupt systems ; and that obsequious submissions to corrupt and despotical men is a base desertion of the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My general sentiments on the state and corruptions of the church were published in 1821 ; but as they met with much opposition from the clergy, I was induced to withdraw them from public notice till a more favourable period should arrive. At this time, I came into possession of a Chapel atDavington, in Kent. I repaired the dilapidated edifice, and preached in it for twelve months, to large and respectable audiences. But the fact of my not being episcopally ordained, as well as the large congregations which attended, excited the jealousy of the neighbouring clergy and the Archbishop of Canterbury. I was therefore induced to discontinue preaching, and to enter the University of Cambridge, preparatory to receiving episcopal ordination. I subsequently, in a letter addressed to an eminent American Divine, disclosed my intention of attempting a reform in the government of the Episcopal Church. After the lapse of several years, spent in the requisite studies, and having received the necessary testimonials from the College to which I belonged, I applied, in 1830, to the Bishop of Norwich, for the rite of ordination. Strange to say, however, he brought into the field against me

X INTRODUCTION.

the secretary of the present Archbishop of Canterbury, and who had been my opponent, in 1821, for my resistance, during the late Queen's trial, to the tyranny of his former patron, Dr. Sutton. The fact of my having preached without episcopal ordination had been recorded by that prelate, a caution was issued against my being admitted into the church, and the Bishop thence refused me admission into holy orders. This, after much inquiry and correspondence with the Bishop of Norwich, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and their secretaries, I discovered to be the cause of my application being rejected. Several letters having passed between me and Dr. Howley on this subject, in which his Grace was dark and mysterious, I was resolved to close the subject, and for this purpose I wrote the following letter to the Archbishop.

Bracondale House, Norwich,

My Lord,

After all the explanation I have given to

your Grace, relative to my connexion with Daving-

ton, ten years ago, and after having taken my

degree at Cambridge, I beg simply to know if I

am to be precluded from episcopal ordination ? It

may be proper, here, to pause.

It is not for my own sake that I wish your Grace to consider the responsibility of your situation. But I do request your Grace to beware, lest you indulge any emotion of resentment. If I am refused ordination, or treated contemptuously by

INTRODUCTION. XI

your Grace, my case will be delivered to the world, and will not be able to be recalled. The conspiracy against an innocent man cannot alter facts, nor refute arguments ; and I pray that your Grace will not furnish me with materials against yourself. It has been well said, that an honest man, like the true religion, appeals to the understanding, or modestly confides in the internal evidence of his conscience. The impostor employs force instead of argument — imposes silence where he cannot convince. I Will Only add, 'Opt/xa lums xaQo§a Ttcara, rx yiyvofxevoc.

I am, my Lord, Your Grace's obedient, faithful Servant,

JAMES ABBOTT.

P.S. I must again beg the favour of your Grace to forward me the five original documents in your Grace's possession. J. A.

To the most Reverend Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.

The following is his Grace's letter, in return : —

Dover, Oct. 20M, 1830.

Sir,

In answer to your question respecting ordination, I have only to say, that whenever I shall be referred to by any bishop, it will be my duty to inform him of the circumstances which occasioned a caution to be issued by the late Archbishop. I remain, Sir,

Your obedient, humble Servant, W. CANTUAR.

To James Abbott, Esq.

Bracondale House, Norfolk.

Xll INTRODUCTION.

On receiving this letter from his Grace, I committed the whole of the correspondence, which consisted of forty-three letters, to press ; and the following November, having occasion to visit London, I called on Dr. Howley. His Grace received me courteously, but answered me with extreme caution ; indeed, after using my best endeavours, for upwards of half an hour, to obtain some satisfaction, I could obtain no other reply than — " I have no wish to interfere against you, Mr. Abbott. I must attend to my official duties. If a bishop apply to me, I must inform him, that there appears in the books of my predecessor a caution to the bishops, not to ordain you without reference to him. I can say no more."— I delicately pointed out to his Grace the absurdity of such a subterfuge, and the impossibility of applying to a dead man ; and begged to know, if an archbishop had nothing more than his official duty to perform, and if he thought my conduct, in any one instance, deserved the treatment I received ? ' ' I can make you no other reply than I have done, Mr. Abbott," said his Grace. Finding it useless to altercate, I left the Archbishop, who absolutely refused to look at my printed documents against his predecessor, the Bishop of Norwich, and his clergy.

There was so much in this interview repugnant to my principles, that I resolved never to seek episcopal ordination out of the diocese of Norwich. A liberal mind must reprobate the conduct of Dr. Howley, who would evade every argument, and

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

prevent all discussion and inquiry, that might tend to clear and justify me in opposing the spirit of intolerance and the persecution of his predecessor, and also a bishop who ought long before to have been superannuated. Let it be remembered, that it is the duty of a bishop to endeavour to reclaim, rather than to punish. The scourge and the inquisition ought never to supply the place of justice or of argument. Archbishop Sutton chose the former, without using one effort towards effecting the latter. His Grace never hinted to me an objection to my assisting in the duties of Davington ; but, like a despot of the dark and tyrannical ages of the ancient decemviri, or the later Roman emperors, breathing revenge for performing what in my conscience I considered a duty, he issued an edict which was calculated to blast my character and reputation, and which led me into difficulties and embarrassments from which I am but just extricated ; and which his successor, with the mildness and complacency of a Nerva, renewed. # Thus a second

* Tillemont, discussing the antiquity of Christian churches, informs us that none were erected till the peace of Alexander Severus ;f and Mr. Moyle says, not till the peace of Gallienus.^: Till this period, we find the Christians held their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places. And though Christ and his apostles were allowed to preach in the Jewish synagogue, t Memoires Ecclesiastiques, torn, iii, part 2, pp. 68 — 72. \ Vol. i. pp. 378—398.

XIV INTRODUCTION.

persecution was commenced, after the revolution of ten years, by another Christian bishop, who unblushingly tells us he derives his claims of office from Jesus Christ, though he tyrannizes over a mind he cannot subdue.

I must confess that, during my correspondence with the bishops, I felt more for their character, than interest for episcopal ordination, for I never thought this essential to the usefulness of a minister of Christ. Indeed, I have always considered it to be a scriptural doctrine, that the work of preaching is not so peculiarly confined to ordained ministers, but that others also, gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit, and called by the providence of God, may publicly, ordinarily, and regularly perform it. " As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth." # If a man's liberty and sentiments be from God, he

such is the vast and mighty stride of intellectual greatness in Christian morals, that a man who presumes to follow the example of his Divine Master and the humble fishermen of Galilee, by expounding the Scripture, even amidst the ruins of a monastery or convent, not under episcopal jurisdiction, is persecuted, not by a Jewish or pagan magistrate, but by conciliatory, charitable, and Christian — (or should I not rather say, by arrogant, courtly, and inexorable?) prelates.

INTRODUCTION. XV

has a divine right to make them known to others.* However, to satisfy myself fully upon the inconsistency of the conduct of the hierarchy of the church, the same month I drew up, and sent the annexed letter to the King : —

To the King's most excellent Majesty. Sire,

I, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subject, Bachelor of Arts, of Queen's College, Cambridge, and resident of Bracondale House, in the County of Norwich, in accordance with your Majesty's paternal regard for the rights and immunities of every individual subject in your Majesty's dominions, approach your Majesty, with esteem and filial affection, to lay before your Majesty my grievances, and the flagrant motives and infractions of duty with which bishops and archbishops sometimes discharge their functions.

The question, Sire, is one in which the religious liberties of your Majesty's faithful subjects are deeply involved ; and should my case invoke the generous sentiments and sympathy of your Majesty, or be instrumental in obtaining emancipation from arbitrary power, that patriotic spirit of independence, which can appreciate the liberties of my

* In 1562, an Act was passed, entitled " For Reformation of Disorders in the Ministers of the Church," (13 Eliz. cap. 12,) in which the Parliament admits of ordination by presbyters, without a bishop.

XVI INTRODUCTION.

fellow-countrymen, would not shrink from the purchase, though I were to fall the victim to episcopal tyranny.

In 1821, I came into possession of part of a conventual chapel called Davington church, in Kent. This chapel had been built partly under the same roof with a priory, founded by Faulk, a.d. 1 1 53, for twenty-four French nuns,^ to whom, among other lands, he gave the manor of Davington, for their support and maintenance. f Their whole income amounted to no more than 2\l. 13s. lOd. In the reign of Edward III. the poverty of the prioress and nuns was so great, and though the members were reduced to sixteen, they were obliged to present a petition to the king, representing their incapability of meeting his dues .J The priory afterwards became so insignificant, that, in the reign of Henry VIII., there was neither prioress nor nuns in it, so that it became escheated to the crown. §

The manor, Sire, was afterwards sold, with all its buildings, and has for centuries been in possession of laymen. || In 1625, Richard Milles w T as permitted to preach in the chapel, by the king's letters patent.^ In 1700, the estate fell, for a short period, into the hands of a clergyman, named

X Southouse Mon. p. 147. § Jacob's Hist, of Fav. p. 114. || Rym. Foed. vol. xviii. p. 647. *[[ Rot. Esch. ejus. an. pt. 5., also Hastead, pages 130, 661.

INTRODUCTION. XV11

Sherwin, who occasionally performed service in the remaining part of the chapel. * Religious duties have since been permitted, at the will and pleasure of the owner of the estate, as may be seen from a register kept by the late impropriators ; to which, in 1822, I affixed my signature as clerk, curate, and incumbent. f The chapel has never been subject to the control or jurisdiction of any Protestant bishop, archdeacon, or other ordinary. J For seven years previous to my possession of this chapel, no service had been performed in it. The building was hastening rapidly to ruins, and was used as a workshop, and for the timber and

* Philpot, p. 180.

t It is the disposition of some men to confine the sense of & word by their own narrow views, to suit their bigoted notions, and to answer their interested purpose. It may therefore be necessary, from a remark lately made to me, relative to these signatures, to direct the attention of those high churchmen, who so bountifully exercise that " charity which thinketh no evil," to Todd's Johnson, for the definition of these terms. If such charitable gentlemen choose the authority of a lawyer in preference to a lexicographer, they may turn to " Blackstone's Commentaries," for the term clerk — vol. i. b.i. chap. 11. They will there find that the term is not confined to a minister or teacher in orders, as their limited minds conceive. The terms were used in strict adaptation to their true import, and in conformity to my character, as lessee of the property, and as assistant minister or curate to the impropriator, to whom the freehold of the chapel belonged.

b

XV111 INTRODUCTION.

materials of the farm, to which the remaining part of the priory is now appropriated.

I, your Majesty's dutiful subject, called on the late Archbishop (Sutton), and informed him of my intention to restore the building for divine service; and I left the palace, with the impression that I should be ordained by his Grace.

I expended several hundred pounds in repairing this church ; but, unhappily, about this time I unintentionally offended his Grace, and the neighbouring clergy, by successfully advocating the cause of the persecuted Queen Caroline. Party spirit grew high, and I was peremptorily refused ordination, on the ground (as the Archbishop said) of the building's not being within the pale of the Establishment. I made my case known to the Bishop of Norwich, who also refused to ordain me on Davington.

Having spent my property on this building, and finding, in Eusebius Pamphilius, that the primitive bishops — Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoctystus, Bishop of Caesarea — commended Origen for preaching and expounding in the church, before he was ordained to the ministry ;* and as it was a natural conclusion of the mind of your Majesty's faithful petitioner, as well as a position of infallible truth, that where there is no law there is no transgres-

* Euseb. b. vi. c. 10. »

INTRODUCTION. XIX

9ion, I immediately took the oaths of allegiance, as a clerk or teacher, required by the " Toleration Act," to qualify myself legally to assist in the religious duties of this place. I read parts of Rogers's " Lectures on the Church Liturgy," every Sunday evening, for a year, to the most crowded and respectable auditories ever before or since witnessed in that neighbourhood ; but, unfortunately, to the great envy and annoyance of the surrounding clergy. This induced me to desist, and to write to the Archbishop, stating, that I was aware how extremely easy it was for men to mistake my motives and to misrepresent my design ; that I felt sorry to give any occasion to let my good be evil spoken of ; and as I had desisted from taking any part of the duties, and intended to obtain a degree at Cambridge, I begged to know if, with my degree and episcopal ordination, I could re-attend Davington church, without incurring his Grace's displeasure. The copy of this letter, and his Grace's answer, with several honourable testimonials of high respectability, given me on leaving Kent, are now in my possession.

I beg further humbly to state to your Majesty, that on the receipt of this letter I immediately sold my interest in the church, but, unfortunately, to an unprincipled clergyman, from whom I never obtained a shilling. The loss of this property obliged me to withdraw my name from the boards of my College. I was soon after, in 1824, re-

b 2

XX INTRODUCTION.

spectably introduced to his Grace the Archbishop of York, under whose eye I lived till 1827, when his Grace recommended me to return to Cambridge to complete my Terms, and condescended to write me the following letter, dated Feb. 13: —

" Sir,

1 ' On receiving from you the intelligence of your having taken your degree at Cambridge, I shall have great pleasure in endeavouring to obtain for you a nomination to a curacy in this diocese.

" I am, Sir, " Your obedient humble servant,

" E. EBOR.

" To James Abbott, Esq.

" Sneaton Hall."

I, your Majesty's petitioner, was received back to my old college, and the Head Tutor (Mr. King), to whom the whole affair of my former connexion with Davington was known, in a letter, dated February 13th, 1827, to Colonel Wilson, late Member for York, writes — " I think it but just to Mr. Abbott to observe, that his conduct in college, during 1822 and 1823, was highly proper and decorous ; and that I always considered the conduct of his enemies, in pursuing him and hunting him down, as harsh and uncalled for."

I obtained my degree last year, and have sent to

INTRODUCTION. XXI

the Bishop of Norwich my college testimonials, with all papers required of candidates for holyorders. Without troubling your Majesty with a detail of circumstances, as vexatious as unjust, which I have experienced ; it is with unfeigned sorrow that necessity obliges me to inform your Majesty that the late Archbishop, ten years ago, sent to the several bishops, without informing me, cautioning them not to ordain me without reference to himself. This reference is now impossible, his Grace being dead. The Bishop of Norwich states, that he cannot ordain me unless the present Archbishop of his diocese removes this caution or caveat, which his Grace does not appear willing to do, without the authority of your Majesty.

I, therefore, earnestly invoke your Majesty, as head of the church, and father of your people, graciously to consider my prayer, to remove this hindrance to my obtaining episcopal ordination ; in order that your Majesty's Royal prerogative may secure to me the privileges and rights of a denizen and of a British graduate.

Sire,

I have the honour, with dutiful respect, to subscribe myself,

Your Majesty's Obedient, faithful, and loyal Petitioner,

JAMES ABBOTT.

Bracondale House, Norwich, November 27th, 1830.

XX11 INTRODUCTION.

The following is Lord Melbourne's reply : —

" Whitehall, 29th December, 1830.

" Sir,

" I am directed by Lord Melbourne to

acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th

instant, and to inform you that his Lordship

cannot advise the King to give any command for

controlling the judgment of a bishop on the

subject of ordination to holy orders.

" I am, Sir, " Your obedient humble Servant,

" S. M. PHILLIPS.

" James Abbott, Esq.

" Bracondale House, Norwich."

Before I make any remark on this letter, I will give the substance of the Act of Supremacy, with a few quotations from Judge Blackstone : —

26 Henry VIII. cap. 1.

" Albeit, the king's Majesty justly and rightly is, and ought to be, supreme head of the Church of England, and is so recognised by the clergy of this realm ; yet, nevertheless, for conformation and corroboration thereof, and increase of virtue in Christ's religion within this realm of England, &c. be it enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the King, our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed, the only supreme head, on

INTRODUCTION. XX111

earth, of the Church of England, and shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well as the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, immunities, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the said church belonging and appertaining ; and that our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, contempts, and enormities whatsoever they be, which, by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction, ought or may be lawfully reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, and increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the convention of peace, unity, and tranquillity of this realm, any usage, custom, foreign law, foreign authority, presumption, or any thing or things to the contrary notwithstanding."*

Now, what am I to understand by this Act ? That the king is not supreme head of the Church of

* Though papists repudiate the oath of supremacy, as inconsistent with their allegiance to the pope, every loyal protestant may conscientiously take it, with the explication, that no more is intended than that his Majesty, under God, has the sovereignty and rule over all persons born in his dominions, either ecclesiastical or temporal, so as no foreign power has, or ought to have, any superiority over them. In this sense, and no other, I willingly take it.

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

England; that he has not power and authority to visit, repress, and redress errors ; that it is not his duty to order, correct, restrain, and amend all abuses, contempts, and enormities whatsoever? It would seem that this is Lord Melbourne's view of it. — Let us see what opinion Judge Blackstone entertains on this matter : —

" The king is," he says, " considered by the laws of England, as the head and supreme governor of the national church. To enter into the reasons upon which this prerogative is founded, is matter rather of divinity than of law. I shall, therefore, only observe, that, by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1. it is enacted, that the king shall be reputed the only supreme head, on earth, of the Church of England, and shall have annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as well as the title and style thereof, as all jurisdictions, authorities, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the church appertaining. And another statute of the same purport was made, 1 Eliz. c. 1.

11 In virtue of this authority, the king convenes, prorogues, restrains, regulates, and dissolves all ecclesiastical synods or convocations.

" From this prerogative also, of being head of the church, arises the king's right of nomination to vacant bishoprics, and certain other ecclesiastical preferments.

" As head of the church, the king is likewise the dernier resort in all ecclesiastical causes ; an

INTRODUCTION. XXV

appeal lying ultimately to him in Chancery from the sentence of every ecclesiastical judge."*

What will Lord Melbourne say to this ?

Let us further see what the learned lawyer says on the duty of a king : —

" The principal duty of a king," says the judge, 11 is to govern his people according to law. Nee regibus infinita out libera potestas, was the constitution of our German ancestors on the continent.! And this is not only consonant to the principles of nature, of liberty, of reason, and of society; but has always been esteemed an express part of the common law of England.

" The king of England must rule his people according to the decrees of the laws thereof. But, to obviate all doubts and difficulties concerning this matter, it is expressly declared by statute 12 and 13 Wil. III. c. 2. ' that the laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof ; and all the kings and queens, who shall ascend the throne of this realm, ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws ; and all their officers and ministers [mark this, Lord Melbourne,] ought to sei~ve them respectively , according to the same : and therefore all the laws and statutes of this realm, for securing the established religion, and the rights and liberties of the people thereof, and all other laws and statutes of the same now in force, are ratified and confirmed accordingly.' '

* Blackstone, vol. i. b. i.-c. 7. f Tac. de mor. Germ. c. 7.

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

A question asked of the king by the bishop, in administering the coronation oath, is — <£ Will you, to your power, cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments ?" The king answers — " I will ; so help me, God." #

Again, Blackstone tells us — " Justice is not derived from the king, as from his free gift ; but he is the steward of the public, to dispense it to whom it is due. He is not the spring, but the reservoir, from whence right and equity are conducted, by a thousand channels, to every individual. The original power of judicature by the fundamental principles of society, is lodged in the society at large ; but as it would be impracticable to render complete justice to every individual by the people in their collective capacity, therefore every nation has committed that power to certain select magistrates, who, with more ease and expedition, can hear and determine complaints : and in England, this authority has immemorially been exercised by the king, or his substitutes. "f

I now ask any man of common sense, who is not wholly destitute of a feeling of respect for the laws of his country, if the responsible situation of Secretary of State ought to be filled by a man so indifferent to his duty, or ignorant of those laws and institutions which justice demands him to execute and observe, as Lord Melbourne has shewn him-

* Blackstone, vol. i. b. i. c. 6. f Blackstone, vol. i. b. i. c. 7.

INTRODUCTION. XXV11

self to be in his conduct towards me ? How am I to reconcile the treatment I have experienced with the principles of candour and rectitude ? I sent a petition for Lord Melbourne, as Secretary of State, to present to his Majesty. It is required of his Lordship, as a servant of the King and people, to execute with fidelity the duties of his office. My request was for a legal right; it was to remove a grievance, and to reform an abuse, which could not be effected in any other way, without entering into a ruinous Court of Chancery.