ences; viewed the records; and heard all the allegations on either side". favour of He then declared, "that it appeared from divers His decision in evidences, that from all antiquity the See of Armagh Armagh. had been acknowledged the prime see of the whole kingdom; and the archbishop thereof reputed, not a provincial primate, like the other three metropolitans, but a national; that is, the sole Primate of Ireland, properly so called. That in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Dublin did constantly subscribe after the Archbishop of Armagh. That in the statute for free-schools, in the 12th of Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Armagh is nominated before the Archbishop of Dublin, as he is in that of the 27th of Elizabeth, where all the archbishops and bishops were ranked in their order, as appeared by the Parliament Rolls. For which reasons he decreed, that the Archbishop of Armagh, and his successors for ever, should have precedency, and be ranked before the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors, as well in parliament and convocation house, as in all other meetings; and in all commissions, where they should be mentioned; and in all places, as well within the diocese or province of Dublin, as elsewhere; until upon better proof, on the part of the Archbishop of Dublin, it should be adjudged otherwise." And thus was finally concluded this dispute, which had from time to time perplexed and disturbed both Church and State for many hundred years. It may be here incidentally noticed, that the same dispute having been perpetuated between the two titular archbishops, as late as the year 1670, the question was referred to the See of Rome; when the 10 WARE'S Bishops, p. 79. matter was solemnly considered, in a full meeting of Cardinals; and the congregation de propagandá fide, with the approbation of the Pope, decided, that "Armagh was the chief see and metropolis of the whole island"." Parliament and Acts for improving the temporal estates of the Church. SECTION V. Acts of Parliament for improving the Temporal Estates of the Church. Convocation. Petition to the King in behalf of the inferior Clergy. Proposed adoption of the ThirtyNine Articles of the Church of England. Difficulty of carrying it, surmounted by the Lord Deputy. Conduct of Primate Ussher. Proceedings in Convocation. Canon for manifestation of Agreement between the two Churches. Effect on the former Articles of the Irish Church. Subscription to them abandoned. Proposal to adopt the English Canons. Composition of a new Book committed to Bishop Bramhall. Wherein differing from English Book. Omissions. Additions. Publication of the Canons. Congratulatory Letter of Archbishop Laud. On the 14th of July, 1635, a Parliament met, and also a Convocation of the Clergy. In this Parliament several acts were passed for improving the temporal estates of the Church, more, it has been said, than in any other parliament. The first was for the maintenance and execution of pious uses; obliging all archbishops and bishops to perform every such trust, according to the true intent of the deeds, in that behalf made or to be made. The next was a statute for confirmation of leases, made by the Lord Primate and other prelates of Ulster, of such endowments as had been granted by King James to the sees of Armagh, Derry, Clogher, Raphoe, and Kilmore; giving them power, at any 11 STUART'S Armagh, p. 365. time within five years, to make leases for sixty years of such lands. In another session of this parliament, a third and very important act was passed for the preservation of the inheritance, rights, and profits of lands belonging to the Church and persons ecclesiastical. This limited them to term and rent; prescribed what they might set, for what and how long; and was the great security of succession. Also in the same adjourned session another act was passed for the benefit of the inferior clergy; enabling restitution of impropriations, and tythes, and other rights ecclesiastical to the clergy, with a restraint from alienating the same, and directions for the presentations to churches'. Meanwhile business was transacting in the con- Convocation. vocation, affecting both the temporalties and spiritualties of the Church. prelates to the With respect to the former, the archbishops and Petition of the bishops, in behalf of the inferior clergy, agreed on king. the following humble petition to the king. It set forth, inferior clergy. "That in the whole Christian world, the rural clergy Distress of the have not been reduced to such extreme contempt and beggary as in this your highness's kingdom, by the means of the frequent appropriations, commendams, and violent intrusions into their undoubted rights in times of confusion; having their churches ruined, their habitations left desolate, their tythes detained, their glebes concealed, and, by inevitable consequence, an invincible necessity of a general nonresidence imposed upon them, whereby the ordinary subject has been left wholly destitute of all possible means to learn true piety to God, loyalty to their prince, civility Irish Stat., 10 Charles I., sess. iii., chap. 1 & 5; and 10 & 11 Charles I., chap. 2 & 3, Prayer for the appropriations. Spiritual matters. General conformity of the two Churches. towards one another, and whereby former wars and insurrections have been occasionally both procreated and maintained. Whereas by settling a rural clergy, endowed with competency to serve God at his altar, besides the general protection of the Almighty, which it will most surely bring upon your majesty and this kingdom, barbarism and superstition will be expelled, the subject shall learn his duty to God and his sovereign, and true religion be propagated. "Our most humble suit is, that your highness would be graciously pleased, for God's cause and for his Church's cause, and for the encouragement of others by your royal example, to so good a work, to perfect the pious intentions of your blessed Father, and your sacred majesty, by establishing upon a rural and resident clergy, those appropriations which are yet in the crown undisposed. So as the same may bring no diminution to your revenue, nor considerable prejudice to the rights of the imperial crown of this realm, as by a representation of the true state of these benefices made to the Lord Deputy, and hereunto annexed, may appear." The convocation was, at the same time, actively engaged in questions affecting the spiritual condition of the Church. The two Churches of England and Ireland were actuated by the same spirit, and presented, in a great degree, the same appearance as to their religious provisions; for indeed the reformation of the latter had followed the direction of the former. But in the construction of their respective Articles of Religion, the Church of Ireland had declined the example of the sister church; and, in particular, had defined certain speculative questions which had been in England, more wisely, perhaps, and tenderly, left undetermined. By many sincere and zealous friends 2 COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 763. tion of the Articles. of both churches, this absence of perfect unity was lamented, and an entire harmony of profession desired. The course to be pursued was the adoption Proposed adopby the Irish Church of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Thirty-Nino the Church of England. This measure was strongly recommended by Bishop Bramhall: it was cordially encouraged by the English and Irish Governments: it received the concurrence, if not the zealous cooperation, of the Lord Primate: and to procure the general consent of the bishops and clergy, and so to establish a perfect and unequivocal identity in the profession of Christian doctrine, was a principal object of the present convocation. The chief, if not the only, difficulty, which attended the measure, seems to have arisen out of the different body of Articles which the Church of Ireland had agreed upon in 1615. The history of the proceedings taken for accomplishing the measure, as deduced from the correspondence between the two governments, is extremely curious; and derived, as it is, from such a source, cannot but be authentick. Difficulty pre sented by the Irish Articles of 1615. Letter to the from Arch Lord Deputy bishop Laud, Oct., 1634. The subject must have been discussed in earlier letters, which do not appear; for in one from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lord Deputy, dated October 20, 1634, manifest reference is made to a former communication, to which this is an answer. "I knew how you would find my Lord Primate affected to the Articles of Ireland; but I am glad the trouble that hath been in it will end there, without advertising of it over to us. And Course with rewhereas you propose to have the Articles of England received in ipsissimis verbis, and leave the other as no way concerned, neither affirmed nor denied, you are certainly in the right; and so says the king, to spect to them. |