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VI: Francis Mason (1566/7–1621)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 January 2024
Extract
During the reign of Elizabeth I the ecclesial and legal ‘revolution’ under Henry VIII, to establish in England a national church under the royal supremacy, was converted into a ‘settlement’. It steered a course between radical puritans and recusant Catholics. Clothed in legal propriety, this settlement was articulated both juristically and theologically by the great Richard Hooker (d. 1600). After the return to Rome under Mary, the Elizabethan Acts of Parliament re-established the English Church, revived legislation made under Henry VIII and Edward VI, and imposed uniformity in worship. The period also sees the use of ‘soft-law’, like Articles, Admonitions, and Advertisements. Parliament rejects the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum in 1571, but Canons were passed piecemeal in 1571, 1575, 1585, and 1598. The turn of the Welsh Tudors to rule ended in 1603. The Scottish Stuarts came next. The reign of James I (1603–1625) saw bitter dispute between the King and the common lawyers over the royal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical. But there was one lasting legal landmark: the Canons Ecclesiastical 1603/4. This new code was studied theologically by a contemporary cleric, Francis Mason. Whilst several notable civilians from that time have become well-known – such as John Cowell (d. 1611), Daniel Dun (d. 1617), Clement Colmore (d. 1619), and Thomas Ridley (d. 1629), Francis Mason is largely unknown. However, he is very worthy of inclusion in the canon of Anglican priest-jurists. What follows sketches the life and career of Mason, outlines his treatise on the Canons, and discusses that treatise in a wider context, including comparing it with a similar work by Bishop Edward Stillngfleet (d. 1699).
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- Rediscovering Anglican Priest-Jurists
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References
1 See Doe, N and Coleman, S (eds), The Legal History of the Church of England: From the Reformation to the Present (Oxford, forthcoming February 2024), chapters 3 and 4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 For example, Helmholz, R, The Profession of Ecclesiastical Lawyers: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2019)CrossRefGoogle Scholar makes no mention of Mason, but has chapters on Dun and Colmore, and references to Cowell and Ridley.
3 I am grateful to Susan and Peter Lock, of Halesworth, Suffolk, and their daughter Stephanie (and her husband Edward Doe) for having inspired the idea for this article after a visit in November 2021 to Orford, Suffolk.
4 Porter, B, ‘Mason, Francis (c. 1566–1621)’, Dictionary of National Biography, vol 37 (London, 1885–1900), 417–419 at 417Google Scholar. Nothing further is known about John.
5 Ibid, at 419.
6 See Cranfield, N, ‘Mason, Francis (1565/6–1621)’, Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)Google Scholar.
7 Ibid; he describes how there may be doubt as to whether Mason wrote the whole of the work.
8 Mason's manuscript (in Latin) was entitled De Ministerio Anglicano, and Brent's edition Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae. It was reprinted in 1638. Brent was made Warden of Merton College, Oxford, in 1622, and later became Commissary of the Diocese of Canterbury, and later still judge of the Prerogative Court.
9 Porter (note 4), at 418.
10 Porter (note 4) 418 cites Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p 277, ‘where the suggested date, 1622, is clearly wrong’.
11 ‘Address to the Reader’ (London, 1621; republished by Lindsay, 1747).
12 Cranfield (note 6).
13 ‘Upon David's Adultery’ and ‘Upon David's Politick Practices’ (London, 1621; republished by Lindsay, 1747).
14 R Tricker, St Bartholomew's Church, Orford, Suffolk: A Brief Guide (1997), 9.
15 Cranfield (note 6); and Porter (note 4).
16 Cranfield (note 6): citing an ‘Act’ from Queen's College, Oxford, MS 390, fol. 68r. John Prideaux (d. 1650) was Regius Professor of Divinity, and leaned toward Calvin: see S Hampton, Grace and Conformity: The Reformed Tradition and the Early Stuart Church (Oxford, 2021), esp ch 1, ‘The Act Lectures of John Prideaux’. In his A Synopsis of Councils (1654) 54, of the 1603 Canons he writes: ‘The London Synod, in which 141 Constitutions, relating to the pious and peaceable government of the Church, presented to King James by the bishops and others deputed [to] meet together, are worthily confirmed by his regal authority’; one of his ‘inquiries’ is whether the ‘laity have only a receptive not a prescriptive authority in commanding the rites of the Church’.
17 Porter (note 4), at 418.
18 Authority (1607, first edition, printed for John Norton), title page.
19 Authority, title page.
20 Authority, para 28, at 30: ‘my brethren of the Ministry, for whose love I have undertaken this labour’.
21 Cranfield (note 6) citing Authority, Dedication.
22 Authority, para 2, at 2: as this speaks only of ‘explication’ and ‘application’, his ‘confutations’, ‘exhortations’ and ‘inducements’, strictly, come under ‘applications’, but I devote separate sections to them in this study; para 1, at 1, sets out the scope of the sermon. The spellings of Mason's words in this study have been modernised.
23 Authority, para 3, at 3; para 4, at 4–5, is a gloss on 1 Cor. 14.10.
24 Authority, para 5, at 4.
25 Authority, para 6, at 4–5. Here Mason echoes Hooker.
26 Authority, para 6, at 6–8: he cites Scriptural texts and (on what wine is used) Calvin, ‘Cal. Inst. 4.17.43’.
27 Authority, para 7, at 8–9: citing e.g. Rom 13.1; 1. Pet. 2. 13; and Coke: ‘S. Edw. Cook. de iure Regis eccl.’.
28 Authority, para 8, at 9–11; he also gives examples from the field of ceremonies of what needs to be done ‘decently’ (e.g. in baptism, music, preaching, vesture, and the pulpit), as well as from the natural world.
29 Authority, para 9, at 13.
30 Authority, para 9, at 12.
31 For the idea in Elizabeth jurisprudence and legislation, see N Doe, ‘Ralph Lever (c. 1530–1585)’ (2023) 25 Ecc LJ 66–80 at 74.
32 Authority, para 9, at 13.
33 Authority, para 9, at 13–15: in para 9 he cites: on conscience, 1 John 3.5, ‘Calvin and other learned Divines’, such as Beza; on submission to authority, Rom 13.1; on ceremonies, the Act of Uniformity 1559; on law which enjoins what is unjust, Augustine and Gratian, ‘Grat. dist. 1. Cap. 2’.
34 Authority, para 10, at 15: para 10 ends: ‘And thus much of the explication, and so I come to the application’.
35 Authority, para 11, at 15.
36 Authority, para 12, at 15, citing ‘Sir Edw. Cooke de iure Reg. eccles. folio 8. b. Monarchy’.
37 Authority, para 12, at 15, citing 8 Hen. VIII [c. 19].
38 Authority, para 12, at 15–16; emphasis added.
39 Authority, para 13, at 16–17 citing e.g. 1 Tim 5.22 and Titus 1.5 and 5.19 and 22, Chrysostom and Ambrose.
40 Authority, paras 14–17, at 17–21.
41 Authority, para 18, at 21–24, citing e.g. Whitgift, Alesius, Calvin (who required subscription from the laity also), and Bucer; para 19, at 24 deals with the laying-on of hands at ordination (also citing Calvin).
42 Authority, para 19, at 24.
43 Authority, paras 20 and 21, at 24. Needless to say, these Canons contain exceptions to these rules.
44 Authority, para 22, at 24–25.
45 Authority, para 23–24, at 25.
46 Authority, paras 25 and 26, at 25.
47 Authority, para 27, at 25–29; he cites the Preface to the Prayer Book for the rule about referral. This paragraph ends what Mason describes as his ‘declaration’, after which comes his ‘confutation’.
48 Authority, para 28, at 29–31: he cites e.g. Whitgift's Admonitions.
49 Authority, para 29, at 31–32.
50 Authority, para 30, at 32–36.
51 Authority, para 31, at 36–39: for Calvin, see also nn 26, 33, 41, 53, 59; para 32, at 39–41, cites Elizabeth's Injunctions; para 33, at 42–45, is on vesture; para 34, at 46–48, on music in church: ‘For the sweetness of harmonical sounds doth insinuate itself into the soul of man, preparing the affections for the service of God, lifting up the heart towards heaven, delighting the mind, kindling devotion, and ravishing the spirit with celestial joy’.
52 Authority, para 37, at 57–60.
53 Authority, para 38, at 60–61: ‘I wish that you which in other things so magnify and admire the person of Calvin, would in this point follow the sound judgment, grave counsel, and tractable disposition of Calvin’.
54 Authority, para 39, at 61–62.
55 Authority, para 40, at 62–64; para 41, at 64–65: e.g. Augustine ‘forsook his own errors to follow a truth discovered by a Donatist’. There is therefore no ‘discredit’ in the reformation of conscience (para 42).
56 Authority, para 43, at 65–66, citing John 21.15.
57 Authority, para 44, at 66, citing Rom 13.1.
58 The ‘Brownists’ were the followers of Robert Browne (d. 1633), the puritan separatist.
59 Authority, para 45, at 67–69; he deals too with the counter-argument that the Marian martyrs should not have opposed the return to Rome because Convocation supported that return; again he prays in aid Calvin.
60 Authority, para 46, at 69–72.
61 Authority, para 47, at 71–72: ‘To conclude, let us all proceed by one rule, that we may mind one thing. And the Lord of heaven blesse this land, both Prince and people. The Lord blesse this Church and the Ministers thereof. O Lord in thy mercy make up the rents and breaches of Sion. O gracious father knit our hearts to thee, and one to another, that we may love and fear thy name, and keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Grant this O God of all grace and peace, for thy Son our blessed Saviour his sake, to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be rendered all praise, glory and majesty in the Church, from generation to generation. Amen’.
62 Smith, D, Sir Edward Coke and the Reformation of the Laws: Religion, Politics and Jurisprudence (Cambridge, 2014), 135–136CrossRefGoogle Scholar: no date is given for Coke's treatise. See also See also F Rogers, Ecclesiastical Law (1840), 253: ‘Coke says, a convocation may make constitutions, by which those of the spirituality shall be bound, for this, that they all, either by representation or in person, are present; but not the temporality. 12 Rep. 73’. See also The Case of Convocations (1611) 12 Co Rep 73.
63 Helmholz, R, ‘The Canons of 1603: the contemporary understanding’, in Doe, N, Hill, M and Ombres, R (eds), English Canon Law: Essays in Honour of Bishop Eric Kemp (Cardiff, 1998), 23Google Scholar.
64 2 Atkyns, 650.
65 See Blaney, I and Coquillette, D, ‘Legal Ideology and Incorporation I: The English Civilian Writers, 1523–1607’ (1981) 61 Boston University Law Review 71Google Scholar.
66 Quoted by I Blaney, ‘The Source and Limit of the King's Ecclesiastical Law: 1603–1660’, in N Doe and S Coleman (note 1), ch 4.
67 Doe, N, ‘Robert Sanderson (1587–1663)’ (2022) 24 Ecc LJ 68–86Google Scholar.
68 Namely: The Mischief of Separation (1687) and The Unreasonableness of Separation: Or, An Impartial Account of the History, Nature and Pleas of the Present Separation from the Communion of the Church of England (1680); he also wrote A Rational Account of the Grounds of Protestant Religion (1664).
69 The second part is on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction and courts.
70 It is based on a Visitation 29 October 1696.
71 Obligation, 326–327; see 362–374 for e.g. Vaughan LCJ (the 1603 Canons bind lay people because the power to create them came from an Act of Parliament, 25 Hen. VIII c. 19) ) and Coke (that they do not).