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summoned for this purpose iu 1634 ; and by it , through the dexterous management of Strafford , and contrary to the inclinations of the majority of the clergy , the XXXIX Articles were adopted , and a selection of the English canons , to the number of a hundred , made for the regulation of the Irish Church . In this assembly many non-conforming divines sat as members . Indeed , were it not foreign to the object of this paper , it could be easily
shewn , that the majority of the clergy , especially in the province of Ulster , were of Presbyterian principles . Mr . James Hamilton , nephew to Lord Clanabey and minister of Ballywalter in the Co . Down , afterwards of Dumfries and Edinburgh , was a member of this Convocation ; and Joshua Hoyle , D . D ., afterwards a member of the Assembly at Westminster , also sat in it . Summary accounts of its proceedings may be found in Leland , Book v . chap , i ., and in Neal , VoL II . page 231 , last edition . But they who would
wish to look behind the scenes , and get a glimpse of the secret springs of its public acts , will find ample gratification in the first volume of Stratford ' s State Letters . The letter of the Deputy to Laud , describing the manner in which he cajoled the Lower House into his measures , is worthy of insertion in the Repository on several accounts , but its great length prevents me giving
it a place here . In addition to its interest as exhibiting a singular specimen of political maneuvering and clerical tameness and submission , it is this letter that contains the celebrated clause afterwards produced , I believe , with great effect on his trial , — ' * so as npw I can say the king is as absolute here as any prince in the whole world can be , and may be still , if it be not spoiled , on that side . "
The ecclesiastical authorities were not slow in bringing into operation the penal enactments passed by this assembly . The northern bishops in particular soon began the work of silencing , fining , and imprisoning all who disobeyed their orders or refused to render entire conformity to the newlyformed canons of the church . Their dominancy , however , was of short duration . The rebellion in 1641 destroyed the influence of that party ; nor did it revive till the restoration placed them on their former footing , and gave
them power to lord it once more over God ' s heritage . Scarcely had that event taken place , when a convocation , the third in Ireland , was summoned to meet with the Irish Parliament in May , 1661 . It sat but a short time , and again assembled in July , 1662 , as we learn from the following letter written to the Primate by two ministers in the city of Derry . These desired to be excused from attending the convocation— " because of the cathedral not otherwise in this scarcity of ministers likely to be $ upplied , and for the herding of schismatics who run about predicants in this diocese . Some fourteen
days since I seized upon a- squinted fellow , one Smith , who had played his conventicling freaks in the street the week before . Examined him before the Mayor ; but such a piece of ignorance and impudence ( though I have met with many thick-skinned foreheads in my time ) I never grappled with before . He slipt our hands and ran the diocese ; wherever he comes I fear he is of pernicious aspect . I have heard since that he was Corbet ' s chaplain who was lately hanged , drawn , and quartered . " JVbte . —Miles Corbet sat at King Charles' trial , and signed the warrant for his death , for which he was executed this year at Tyburn . Of the proceedings of this convocation we have no record , though it continued to sit occasionally to 1666 ,
The revival of convocations in England in the commencement of Queen Anne ' s reign , led to the same measure in Ireland . In September , 1703 , the Irish Convocation was , fyx the fourth time , summoned with parliament ; and
Untitled Article
238 Irish Convocation * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 238, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/6/
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