also of the Churches determining controversies of doctrines and matters of belief in a full Council Act. 15. and requiring submission to those determinations from inferiour members The like did the Church afterwards in her general Councils of NICE CONSTANTINOPLE EPHESUS and CHALCEDON And not onely the General Councils have exercised this Authority but particular Churches also in National Councils in the Council of ORANGE MILEVIS and others have used the same power over their children whom they were bound to teach and govern and for whose souls they were to account to God and they did no more then was their right so long as they did it with submission to the general Church to whom they are subject Christ said to the Apostles and by this to all the guides of soules that should succeed them in a lawful Ordination He that heares you heares me and he that despises you despises me St. Cypr. ep 69 From these premises it plainly follows that our dear Mother the Church of England in making these Canons and Articles for determining of controversies in matters of belief which you may see in the ensuing Collection did no more then what was both her right and her duty to do both for the preservation of her peace and the guidance and conduct of the souls committed to her charge and what her care hath been in the exercise of this power for the good of her members ever since the Reformation will evidently to her honour appear by this following Collection made up not without great care and industry of the Publisher By which he hath done our Mother this farther right that now whosoever will may easily see the notorious slander which some of the Roman perswasion have endeavourd to cast upon her That her Reformation hath been altogether Lay and Parliamentary for by the Canons and articles following which were formerly scattered and hard to be seen by every one now gathered together into a body it easily appears to any that will but open their eyes and read that the Reformation of this Church was orderly and Synodical by the Guides and Governours of souls and confirmed by Supream Authority and so in every particular as legal as any reformation could or ought to be Anth. Sparrow Books sold by T. Garthwait THe Works of that Profound Divine Dr. Tho. Jackson president of Corp. Chr. Coll. Oxon. in Folio 3. Volumes The Scholastical History of the Canon of the Scripture by Dr. Cofin Ld. Bp. Duresme in 4o. An Introduction to the Oriental Languages by Dr. Walton Ld. Bp. of Chester in 12o. The English Case exactly set down by Hezekiahs Reformation in a Serm. at Paris before His Majesty by Dr. Steward Dean of Westminster in 12o. A Rationale upon the Book of Com. Prayer by Dr. Sparrow in 12o. A Defence of the Liturgy in answer to the Exceptions of divers Ministers in 12o. The Form of Consecration of a Church by Bp. Andrews Golden Remains of Mr. John Hales of Eton Colledge with His Letters touching rhe Synod of Dort in 4o. Dr. Pierce of the Positive being of sin with a Postscript touching Mr. Baxter in 4o. A Sermon of Lent preacht before his Majesty by Dr. Gunning c. in 4o. Bp. Andrews his Sermons in fol. INJUNCTIONS given by the most excellent Prince EDWARD the Sixt By the grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and in earth under Christ of the Church of England and Ireland the supreme head To all and singular his loving subjects as well of the Clergy as of the Laitie Imprinted at LONDON by Richard Grafton 1547. Injunctions given by the most excellent Prince Edward the sixt by the grace of God King of England France and Ireland defender of the Faith and in earth under Christ of the Church of England and of Ireland the supreme head To all and singular his loving subjects as well of the Clergy as of the Laity THE Kings most Royal Majestie by the advice of his most dear uncle the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector of all his Realms Dominions and Subiects and Governour of his most royal person and the residue of his most honourable counsel intending the advancement of the true honour of almighty God the suppression of Idolatry and Superstition throughout all his Realms and Dominions and to plant true Religion to the extirpation of all hypocrisy enormities and abuses as to his duty appertaineth doth minister unto his loving subjects these godly Injunctions hereafter following Whereof part were given unto them heretofore by the authority of his most dear beloved father King Henry the viii of most famous memory and part are now ministred and given by his Majesty All which Injunctions his highnesse willeth and commandeth his said loving subjects by his supreme authority obediently to receive and truely to observe and keep every man in their offices degrees and states as they will avoyd his displeasure and the pains in the same Injunctions hereafter expressed 1. The first is that all Deans Archdeacons Parsons Vicars and other Ecclesiastical persons shall faithfully keep and observe and as far as in them may lye shall cause to be observed and kept of other all and singular laws and statutes made as well for the abolishing and extirpation of the Bishop of Rome his pretensed and usurped power and jurisdiction as for the establishment and confirmation of the Kings authority jurisdiction and supremacy of the Church of England and Ireland And furthermore all Ecclesiasticall persons having cure of souls shall to the uttermost of their wit knowledge and learning purely sincerely and without any colour or dissimulation declare manifest and open iiii times every year at the least in their Sermons ond other collations that the Bishop of Romes usurped power and jurisdiction having no establishment nor ground by the laws of God was of most just causes taken away and abolished and that therefore no manner of obedience or subjection whithin his Realms and Dominions is due unto him And that the Kings power within his Realms and Dominions is the highest power under God to whom all men within the same Realms and Dominions by Gods laws owe most loyalty and obedience afore and above all other powers and Potentates in earth Besides this to the intent that all superstition and hypocrisy crept into divers mens hearts may vanish away They shall not set forth or extol any Images Relicks or Miracles for any superstition or lucre nor allure the people by any inticements to the Pilgrimage of any Saint or Image but reproving the same they shall teach that all goodness health and grace ought to be both asked and looked for onely of God as of the very author and giver of the same and of none other Item that they the persons above rehersed shall make or cause to be made in their Churches and every other Cure they have one Sermon every quarter of the year at the least wherein they shall purely and sincerely declare the word
used to be kept as holy dayes and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the Common Prayer Preaching or other service of God there to be used and ministred The forfeiture for not coming to Church 32. Eliz. 1. upon pain of punishment by the censures of the Church And also upon pain that every person so offending shall forfeit for such offence twelvepence to be levied by the Church-wardens of the Parish where such offence shall be done to the use of the poor of the same Parish of the goods lands and tenements of such offender by way of distresse And for due Execution hereof the Queens most excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in Gods name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their knowledges that the due and true Execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesse and Charges as they will answer before God for such evils and plagues wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his people for neglecting this good and wholsome Law And for their Authority in this behalf The Ordinary may punish Offenders by the Censures of the Church be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and singular the said Archbishops Bishops and all other their Officers exercising Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction as well in place exempt as not exempt within their Diocesse shall have full power and authority by this Act to reform correct and punish by Censures of the Church all and singular persons which shall offend within any their Iurisdictions or Diocesse after the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming against this Act and Statute any other Law Statute Privilege Liberty or Provision heretofore made had or suffered to the contrary notwithstanding And it is Ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid Which Justices may punish their offences That all and every Iustices of Oyer and Determiner or Iustices of Assize shall have full power and Authority in every of their Open and general Sessions to enquire hear and determine all and all manner offences that shall be committed or done contrary to any Article contained in this present Act within the limits of the Commission to them directed and to make Processe for the Execution of the same as they may do against any person being indicted before them of trespasse or lawfully convicted thereof A Bishop may joyn with the Iustices to enquire of offenders Provided alwayes and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and every Archbishop and Bishop shall or may at all time and times at his liberty and pleasure joyn and associate himself by vertue of this Act to the said Iustices of Oyer and Determiner or to the said Iustices of Assize at every of the said open and General Sessions to be holden in any place within his Diocesse for and to the enquiry hearing and determining of the offences aforesaid At whose charges the books of Common prayer shall be gotten Provided also and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the books concerning the said Services shall at the Costs and charges of the Parishioners of every Parish and Cathedral Church be attained and gotten before the said Feast of the Nativity of St. Iohn Baptist next following and that all such Parishes and Cathedral Churches or other places where the said books shall be attained and gotten before the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint Iohn Baptist shall within three weeks next after the said books so attained and gotten use the said Service and put the same in Vre according to this Act. And be it further enacted by authority aforesaid That no person or persons shall be at any time hereafter Impeached Within what time offenders shall be Impeached or otherwise molested of or for any of the offences above-mentioned hereafter to be committed or done contrary to this Act unlesse he or they so offending be thereof Indicted at the next General Sessions to be holden before any such Iustices of Oyer and Determiner or Iustices of Assize next after any offence committed or done contrary to the tenour of this Act Trial of Peers Provided alwayes and be it ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and singular Lords of the Parliament for the third offence above mentioned shall be tryed by their Peers Chief Officers of Cities and Boroughs shall enquire of offenders Provided also and be it Ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Major of London and all the Majors Bayliffs and other head Officers of all and singular Cities Boroughs and Towns Corporate within this Realm Wales and the Marches of the same to the which Iustices of Assize do not commonly repaire shall have full power and authority by vertue of this Act to enquire hear and determine the offences abovefaid and every of them yearly within fifteen dayes after Easter and St. Michael the Archangel in like manner and form as Iustices of Assize and Oyer and Determiner may do The Ordinaries Iurisdiction in their Cases Provided alwayes and be it Ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and singular Arch-bishops and Bishops and every of their Chancellours Commissaries Archdeacons and other Ordinaries having any peculiar Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall have ful power and authority by vertue of this Act as well to enquire in their Visitation and elsewhere within their Iurisdiction at any other time and place to take accusations and informations of all and every the things above mentioned done committed or perpetrated within the Limits of their Iurisdictions and authority and to punish the same by Admonition Excommunication Sequestration or Deprivation and other Censures and Processe in like form as heretofore hath been used in like Cases by the Queens Ecclesiastical Laws Provided alwayes and be it Enacted None shall be punished above once for one offence that whatsoever persons offending in the Premises shall for their offences first receive a punishment of the Ordinary having a Testimonial thereof under the said Ordinaries seal shall not for the same offence eftsoons be convicted before the Iustices And likewise receiving for the said first offence punishment by the Iustices shall not for the same offence eftsoones receive punishment of the Ordinary Any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding Provided alwayes and be it Enacted Ornamens of the Church and Ministers that such ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof shall be retained and be in use as was in this Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward the sixt until other order shall be therein taken by the Authority of the Queenes Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and Authorized under tho Great Seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of
assist and defend all jurisdictions priviledges preeminences and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse his Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm so help me God and the Contents of this Book Then shall the Bishop examine every one of them that are to be ordered in the presence of the people after this manner following DO you trust that you are inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to take upon you this office and ministration to serve God for the promoting of his glory and the edifying of his people Answer I trust so The Bishop DO you think that ye truely be called according to the will of the Lord Iesus Christ and the due order of this Realm to the Ministery of the Church Answer I think so The Bishop DO you unfeignedly beleive all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Answer I do believe The Bishop WIll you diligently read the same unto the people assembled in the Church where you shall be appointed to serve Answer I will The Bishop IT appertaineth to the office of a Deacon in the Church where he shall be appointed to assist the Priest in Divine service and specially when he Ministreth the holy Communion and to help him in distribution thereof and to read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Congregation and to instruct the youth in the Catechisme to Baptize and to Preach if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop And furthermore it is his office where provision is so made to search for the sick poor and impotent people of the parish to intimate their estates names and places where they dwell unto the Curate that by his exhortation they may be relieved by the Parish or other convenient almes will you do this gladly and willingly Answer I will do so by the help of God The Bishop WIll you apply all your diligence to frame and fashion your own lives and the lives of your familie according to the doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lieth wholesome examples of the flock of Christ Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper The Bishop WIll you reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers of the Church and them to whom the government and charge is committed over you following with a glad minde and will their godly admonitions Answer I will endeavour my self the Lord being my helper Then the Bishop laying his hands severally upon the head of every of them shall say Take thou authority to execute the office of a Deacon in the Church of God committed unto thee In the Name of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost Amen Then shall the Bishop deliver to every one of them the new Testament saying Take thou authority to read the Gospel in the Church of God and to preach the same if thou be thereto ordinarily commanded Then one of them appointed by the Bishop shall read the Gospel of that day Then shall the Bishop proceed to the Communion and all that are ordered shall tarry and receive the holy Communion the same day with the Bishop The Communion ended after the last Collect and immediatly before the Benediction shall be said this Collect following ALmighty God giver of all good things which of thy great goodnesse hast vouchsafed to accept and take these thy servants unto the Offices of Deacons in thy Church make them we beseech thee O Lord to be modest humble and constant in their ministration to have a ready will to observe all spiritual discipline that they having alwayes the testimony of a good conscience and continuing ever stable and strong in thy Son Christ may so well use themselves in this inferiour Office that they may be found worthy to be called unto the higher Ministeries in thy Church through the same thy Son our Saviour Christ to whom be glory and honour world without end Amen And here it must be shewed unto the Deacon that he must continue in that Office of a Deacon the space of a whole year at the least except for reasonable causes it be otherwise seen to his Ordinary to the intent he may be perfect and well expert in the things appertaining to the Ecclesiastical administration in executing whereof if he be found faithful and diligent he may be admitted by his Diocesan to the Order of Priesthood ⧠The form of ordering of Priests When the exhortation is ended then shall follow the Communion And for the Epistle shall be read out of the twentieth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles as followeth FRom Mileto Paul sent messengers to Ephesus and called the elders of the congregation which when they were come to him he said unto them Ye know that from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humblenesse of minde and with many tears and temptations which happened unto me by the lying in wait of the Iews because I would keep back nothing that was profitable unto you but to shew you and teach you openly throughout every house witnessing both to the Iews and also to the Greeks the repentance that is toward God and the faith that is toward our Lord Iesus And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Ierusalem not knowing the things that shall come on me there but that the holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bands and trouble abide me But none of these things move me neither is my life dear unto my self that I might fulfil my course with joy and the ministration of the word which I have received of the Lord Iesus to testifie the Gospel of the grace of God And now behold I am sure that henceforth ye all through whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men For I have spared no labour but have shewed you all the counsel of God Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock among whom the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to rule the congregation of God which he hath purchased with his blood For I am sure of this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Moreover of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them Therefore awake and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one of you night and day with tears And now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build further and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified I have desired no mans silver gold or vesture Yea you know your selves that these hands have ministred unto my necessities and unto them that were with me I have shewed you all things how that so
The Seales of ARMES of the Bishops of England etc. A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES Injunctions Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Ecclesiastical with other Publick Records OF THE CHVRCH of ENGLAND Chiefly in the Times of K. EDWARD VIth Q. ELIZABETH and K. JAMES Published to Vindicate the Church of ENGLAND and to promote Uniformity and peace in the same And humbly presented to the CONVOCATION LONDON Printed by R. Norton for Timothy Garthwait at the Little North-doore of St. Pauls Church 1661. THE TABLE  Anno Domini Pag. KIng EDWARD'S Injunctions 1547. 1. Order of Communion Service 1547. 15. Arch Bp. CRANMERS Articles of visitation 1548. 25. Bp RIDLYES Articles of visitation 1550. 33. ARTICLES of Religion agreed upon in the Convocation 1552. 39. The Latin Edition of those Articles 1552. 51. Q. ELIZABETH'S Injunctions 1559. 63. The Queens Articles of visitation 1559. 235. An ACT for Vniformity of Common Prayer 1559. 75. Celebratio Coenae Dom. in Funebribus in the 2. yeer of the Queen 1560. 249. Book of ORDINATION 1559. 96. Commendatio Benefactorum 1560.  ARTICLES of Religion agreed upon in the Convocation c. and compared with King EDWARD the VI. Articles 1562. 86. The Latine Edition of those Articles 1562. * .1 ADVERTISEMENTS for Due order about Ministers Apparel the Communion c. 1564. 86. Liber quorundam CANONUM 1571. * 15. ARTICVLI Provinciae Cantuariensis 1584. 243. Capitula sive CONSTITUTIONES Ecclesiasticae 1597. 37. The OATHES of Supremacy Allegiance Canonical Obedience Residence  88. The Oath against Simony  90. Of Abrogate HOLYDAYES in K. HENRY the 8 ths time 1536. 225. Proclamation against the despisers of the COMMON PRAYER c. 1573. 227. Proclamation against the Sectaries of the Family of Love 1580. 229. Proclamation against Schismatical and seditious Books and Libels 1588. 231. Prayers at the Healing  223. In K. JAMES his time CANONS and Constitutions in Latine 1603. 303. PRoclamation declaring the proceedings in Ecelesiastical Courts to be according to the Laws of the Land  91 A PREFACE to the Reader OUR great Lord and Master Christ having purchased to himself by his precious blood a peculiar people his One mystical Body the Church sanctified it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church holy without spot Ephes 5.27 not without all spot there is a spot of Gods children of sins of frailty and infirmity which the Church as long as she is Militant will never be without but without spot of malice and wicked lewdness such spots and blemishes as were figured by the corporal blemishes forbidden to the Priests and their sacrifices Lev. 21. 22.20 spots that will make the Church as abhorred in the sight of God as those bodily spots made the Priests and their sacrifices unto the eyes of men without such scandalous spots mentioned Gal. 5.9 all the members of this one Body may and ought to be That the Church may preserve her self in this purity without spot and in this unity without division and continue one holy Church as it is in our Creed a double power and Authority is needful as to all other Bodies politick so likewise to this Society of Believers the Church one of jurisdiction to correct and reform those impure members by spiritual censures whom counsel will not win and if they be incorrigible to cast them out of this holy Society lest their leaven should leaven the whole lump 1 Cor. 5.6 thus to preserve the Churches purity and again to correct and reduce to unity the contentious troublers of the Churches peace if it may be by charitable admonitions if not to stop their mouths Titus 1.11 not by arguments alone for such will never prevail upon absurd unreasonable and obstinate men and such there alwayes will be but by spiritual Censures even to the casting them out of the Churches Society so to preserve peace and unity Besides this power of Jurisdiction there is necessary also for the obtaining of those two high ends a Legislative power to make Canons and Constitutions upon emergent occasions For though our great Lord hath already given to his Church most holy and wise rules and Laws for the same purposes yet because they are general not descending to every particularity of time and place and manner of performanee which yet are necessary to be determined for the preservation of publick peace and unity and because there may at least through the perversnesse of men of corrupt minds arise some doubts and controversies about the sense and meaning of those most holy rules of our Lord for the determining of which we are not now to expect any resolution from Prophet or Oracle or other immediate voice from heaven it doth hereupon necessarily follow that there must be Authority left to this Church and the Governours thereof to make new Laws upon these emergent occasions to determine these particularities to decide and compose these controversies whereby to preserve the unity of the spirit in the Bond of Peace Who soever shall think that all this may be done by friendly perswasion or learned disputes onely will finde himself deceived as experience of all Ages hath shown and will shew as long as there be men of perverse mindes and corrupt affections Without a definitive and Authoritative sentence controversies will be endless and the Churches peace unavoidably disturbed and therefore the voice of God and right Reason hath taught that in matters of Controversie the definitive sentence of Superiours should decide the doubt and whosoever should decline from that sentence and do presumptuously should be put to death that others might hear and fear and do no more presumptuously Deut. 17. which is to be understood mystically also of death spirituall by Excommunication by being cut off from the living body of Christs Church It being thus cleared by reason and Gods own rule that such power is necessary for the preserving Peace and unity it cannot be imagined with reason that our great Master should deny his dear bought body such necessaries But not to rest upon the reason why they should be given it may be made to appear that de facto He hath given such power to the Church and that by reciting his gracious Commissions granted to the Church with his Apostles practice and exercise of those powers who best knowing their Lords will and pleasure must be by their practice the best Interpreters of his minde and meaning See then how read we For the power of Jurisdiction we finde a large Commission St. John 20. As my father sent me so send I you and one particular of Jurisdiction there expressed Whosoever sins you binde in Earth they are bound in Heaven a sharp and dreadful sentence worse then that of the Sword by so much as the death of the Soul is worse then the death of the Body which in obstinate despisers of that correction doth too certainly follow This power of spiritual censures St. Paul calls
may hear the same And every Sunday and holy day they shall plainly and distinctly read or cause to be read one Chapter of the New testament in English in the said place at Matius immediately after the Lessons and at Even-song after Magnificat one Chapter of the old Testament And to the entent the premisses may be more conveniently done the Kings Majesties pleasure is that when ix Lessons should be read in the Church three of them shall be omitted and left out with the responds and at Evensong time the responds with all the memories shall be left off for that purpose Also because those persons which be sick and in peril of death be oftentimes put in despair by the craft and subtilty of the Devil who is then most busy and specially with them that lack the knowledge sure perswasion and stedfast belief that they may be made partakers of the great and infinite mercy which almighty God of his most bountiful goodnesse and meer liberality without our deserving hath offered freely to all persons that put their ful trust and confidence in him therefore that this damnable vice of despair may be clearly taken away and firme belief and stedfast hope surely conceived of all their parishioners being in any danger they shall learn and have alwayes in a readinesse such comfortable places and sentences of Scripture as do set forth the mercy benefits and goodness of almighty God towards all penitent and believing persons that they may at all times when necessity shall require promptly comfort their flock with the lively word of God which is the onely stay of mans conscience ALSO to avoid all contention and strife which heretofore hath risen among the Kings Majesties subjects in sundry places of his Realmes and Dominions by reason of fond curtesie and challenging of places in procession and also that they may the more quietly hear that which is said or song to their edifying they shall not from henceforth in any parish Church at any time use any procession about the Church or Church-yard or other place but immediately before high Mass the Priests with other of the Quire shall kneel in the midst of the Church and sing or say plainly and distinctly the Litany which is set forth in English with all the Suffrages following and none other procession or Litany to be had or used but the said Litany in English adding nothing thereto but as the Kings grace shall hereafter appoint and in Cathedral or Collegiate Churches the same shall be done in such places as our Commissaries in in our visitation shall appoint And in the time of the Litany of the Masse of the Sermon and when the Priest readeth the Scripture to the parishioners no manner of persons without a just and urgent cause shall depart out of the Church and all ringing and knowling of Bells shall be utterly forborn for that time except one Bell in convenient time to be rung or knowled before the Sermon ALSO like as the people be commonly occupied the work-day with bodily labour for their bodily sustenance so was the holy day at the first beginning godly instituted and ordained that the people should that day give themselves wholly to God And whereas in our time God is more offended then pleased more dishonoured then honored upon the holy day because of idlenesse pride drunkennesse quarelling and brawling which are most used in such dayes people nevertheless perswading themselves sufficiently to honour God on that day if they hear Masse and service though they understand nothing to their edifying therefore all the Kings faithful and loving subjects shall from henceforth celebrate and keep their holy day according to Gods holy will and pleasure that is in hearing the word of God read and taught in private and publick prayers in knowledging their offences to God and amendment of the same in reconciling their selves charitably to their neighbours where displeasure hath been in often times receiving the Communion of the very body and blood of Christ in visiting of the poor and sick in using all sobernesse and Godly conversation Yet notwithstanding all Parsons Vicars and Curates shall teach and declare unto their Parishioners that they may with a safe and quiet conscience in the time of Harvest labour upon the holy and festival dayes and save that thing which God hath sent And if for any scrupulosity or grudge of conscience men should superstitiously abstain from working upon those dayes that then they should grievously offend and displease God ALSO forasmuch as variance and contention is a thing which most displeaseth God and is most contrary to the blessed Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ Curates shall in no wise admit to the receiving thereof any of their Cure and flock who hath maliciously and openly contended with his neighbour unlesse the same do first charitably and openly reconcile himself again remitting all rancour and malice whatsoever controversie hath been between them and neverthelesse their iust titles and rights they may charitably prosecute before such as have authority to heare the same ALSO that every Dean Archdeacon Master of Collegiate Church Master of Hospital and Prebendary being Priest shall preach by himself personally twice every year at the least either in the place where he is intituled or in some Church where he hath jurisdiction or else which is to the said place appropriate or united ALSO that they shall instruct and teach in their Cures that no man ought obstinately and maliciously to break and violate the laudable ceremonies of the Church by the King Commanded to be observed and as yet not abrogated And on the other side that whosoever doth superstitiously abuse them doth the same to the great peril and danger of his souls health as in casting holy water upon his bed upon Images and other dead things or bearing about him holy bread or saint Iohns Gospel or making crosses of wood upon Palm-Sunday in time of reading of the Passion or keeping private holy dayes as Bakers Brewers Smithes Shoomakers and such other do or ringing of holy bells or blessing with the holy candle to the intent thereby to be discharged of the burden of sin or to drive away devils or to put away dreames and phantasies or in putting trust and confidence of health and salvation in the same ceremonies when they be onely ordained instituted and made to put us in remembrance of the benefits which we have received by Christ And if he use them for any other purpose he grievously offendeth God ALSO that they shall take away utterly extinct and destroy all shrines covering of shrines all tables candlesticks trindilles or rolles of wax pictures paintings and all other monuments of feigned miracles pilgrimages Idolatry and superstition so that there remain no memory of the same in walls glasses windows or elsewhere within their Churches or houses And they shall exhort all their Parishioners to do the like within their several houses And that the
to him COme unto me all that travel and be heavy laden and I shall refresh you So God loved the world that he gave his onely begotten son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have life everlasting Heare also what S. Paul saith THis is a true saying and worthy of all men to be embraced and received that Iesus Christ came into this world to save sinners Heare also what St. John saith IF any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous he it is that obtained grace for our sins Then shall the Priest kneel down and say in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion this prayer following WE do not presume to come to this thy table O merciful Lord trusting in our own righteousnesse but in thy manifold and great mercies we be not worthy so much as to gather up the crombs under thy table but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy grant us therefore gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Iesus Christ and to drink his blood in these holy Mysteries that we may continually dwell in him and he in us that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most pretious blood Amen Then shall the Priest rise the people still reverently kneeling and the Priest shall deliver the Communion first to the Ministers if any be there present that they may be ready to help the Priest and after to the other And when he doth deliver the Sacrament of the body of Christ he shall say to every one these words following THe body of our Lord Iesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy body unto everlasting life And the Priest delivering the Sacrament of the blood and giving every one to drink once and no more shall say THe blood of our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy soul unto everlasting life If there be a Deacon or other Priest then shall he follow with the Chalice and as the Priest Ministreth the bread so shall he for more expedition Minister the wine in form before written Then shall the priest turning him to the people let the people depart with this blessing THe peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his son Iesus Christ our Lord. To the which the people shall answer Amen Note that the bread that shall be consecrated shall be such as heretofore hath been accustomed And every of the said consecrated breads shall be broken into two pieces at the least or more by the discretion of the Minister and so distributed And men must not think lesse to be received in part then in the whole but in each of them the whole body of our Saviour Iesus Christ Note that if it doth so chance that the wine hallowed and consecrate doth not suffice or be enough for them that do take the Communion the Priest after the first Cup or Chalice be emptied may go again to the altar and reverently and devoutly prepare and consecrate an other and so the third or more likewise beginning at these words Simili modo postquam coenatum est and ending at these words qui pro vobis pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum and without any levation or lifting up Articles to be enquired of in visitations to be had within the Diocesse of Canterbury in the second year of the Reign of our Dread Sovereign Lord Edward the 6. by the grace of God King of England France and Ireland defender of the Faith and in earth of the Church of England and also of Ireland the supreme head FIrst Whether Parsons Vicars and Curates and every of them have purely and sincerely without colour or dissimulation four times in the year at the least preached against the usurped power pretensed authority and jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome Item Whether they have preached declared likewise 4. times of the year at the least that the Kings Majesties power authority and preheminence within his Realms and dominions is the highest power under God Item whether any person hath by writing ciphring preaching or teaching deed or act obstinately holden and stand with to extol set forth maintain or defend the authority jurisdiction or power of the Bishop of Rome or of his sea heretofore claimed and usurped or by any pretense obstinately or maliciously invented any thing for the extolling of the fame or any part thereof Item Whether in their common prayers they use not the Collects made for the King and make not special mention of his Majesties name in the same Item Whether they do not every Sunday and Holy day with the collects of the English procession say the prayer set forth by the Kings Majesty for peace between England and Scotland Item Whether they have not removed taken away and utterly extincted and destroyed in their Churches Chappels and houses all images all shrines coverings of shrines all tables candelsticks trindels or rolles of wax pictures paintings and all other monuments of feigned miracles pilgrimages idolatry and superstition so that there remain no memory of the same in walls glaswindowes or elsewhere Item Whether they have exhorted moved and stirred their parishoners to do the like in every of their houses Item Whether they have declared to their Parishoners the Articles concerning the abrogation of certain superfluous holy dayes and done their indeavour to perswade the said parishioners to keep and observe the same Articles inviolably and whether any of those abrogate dayes hath been kept as holy dayes and by whose occasion they were so kept Item Whether they have diligently duly and reverently ministred the Sacraments in their Cures Item Whether they have preached or caused to be preached purely and sincerely the word of God in every of their Cures every quatter of the year once at the least exhorting their parishioners to the works commanded by Scriptures and not to works devised by mens phantasies besides Scripture as wearing or praying upon beads or such like Item Whether they suffer any Torches Candles Tapers or any other lights to be in your Churches but only two lights upon the high Altar Item Whether they have not every holy day when they have no Sermon immediately after the Gospel openly plainly and distinctly recited to their parishioners in the Pulpit the Pater Noster the Creed and the Ten Commandements in English Item Whether every Lent they examine such persons as come to Confession to them whether they can recite the Pater Noster the Articles of our Faith and the Ten Commandements in English Item Whether they have charged fathers and mothers masters and governours of youth to bring them up in some vertuous study or occupation Item Whether such beneficed men as be lawfully absent from their benefices do leave their Cure to a rude and unlearned
Church Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of the Lord is not onely a signe of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our redemption by Christs death Insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with faith receive the same the bread which we break is a communion of the body of Christ likewise the Cup of blessing is a Communion of the blood of Christ Transubstantiation or the change of the Substance of Bread and wine into the substance of Christs Body and Blood cannot be proved by holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture and hath given occasion to many superstitions For as much as the truth of mans nature requireth that the body of one and the self same man cannot be at one time in divers places but must needs be in some one certain place therefore the body of Christ cannot be present at one time in many and divers places and because as holy Scripture doth teach Christ was taken up into heaven and there shall continue unto the end of the World a faithful man ought not either to believe or openly to confesse the real and bodily presence as they tearm it of Christs flesh and blood in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was not commanded by Christs ordinance to be kept carried about lifted up nor worshipped Of the perfect oblation of Christ made upon the Cross THe offering of Christ made once for ever is the perfect redemption the pacifying of Gods displeasure and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world both original and actual and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses in the which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or sin were forged fables and dangerous deceits The state of single life is commanded to no man by the word of God BIshops Priests and Deacons are not commanded to vow the state of single life without marriage neither by Gods Law are they compelled to abstain from matrimony Excommunicate persons are to be avoided THat person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and excommunicate ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Iudge that hath authority thereto Traditions of the Church IT is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversity of countries and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods word Whosoever through his private judgement willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the word of God and be ordained and approved by common authority ought to be rebuked openly that other may fear to do the like as one that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the consciences of weak brethren Of Homilies THe Homilies of late given and set out by the Kings authority be godly and wholsome containing Doctrine to be received of all men and therefore are to be read to the people diligently distinctly and plainly Of the book of Prayers and Ceremonies of the Church of England THe Book which of very late time was given to the Church of England by the Kings authority and the Parliament containing the manner form of praying and ministring the Sacraments in the Church of England likewise also the book of ordering Ministers of the Church set forth by the foresaid authority are Godly and in no point repugnant to the wholsome Doctrine of the Gospel but agreeable thereunto furthering and beautifying the same not a little and therefore of all faithful members of the Church of England and chiefly of the Ministers of the word they ought to be received allowed with all readinesse of minde and thanksgiving and to be commended to the people of God Of Civil Magistrates THe King of England is Supream head in earth next under Christ of the Church of England and Ireland The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Civil Magistrate is ordained and allowed of God wherefore we must obey him not onely for fear of punishment but also for conscience sake The Civil Laws may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences It is Lawful for Christians at the commandment of the Magistrate to wear weapons and serve in lawful wars Christian mens goods are not common THe riches and goods af Christians are not common as touching the right title and possession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast Notwithstanding every man ought of such things as he possesseth liberally to give almes to the poor according to his ability Christian men may take an oath AS we confesse that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Iesu Christ and his Apostle Iames So we judge that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a cause of faith and charity so it be done according to the Prophets teaching in justice judgement and truth The Resurrection of the dead is not yet brought to passe THe Resurrection of the Dead is not as yet brought to passe as though it onely belonged to the soul which by the grace of Christ is raised from the death of sin but it is to be lookt for at the last day For then as Scripture doth most manifestly testifie to all that be dead their own bodies flesh and bone shall be restored that the whole man may according to his works have either reward or punishment as he hath lived vertuously or wickedly The Souls of them that depart this life do neither dye with the bodies nor sleep idly THey which say that the Souls of such as depart hence do sleep being without all sense feeling or perceiving untill the day of judgement or affirm that the souls dye with the bodies and at the last day shall be raised up with the same do utterly dissent from the right belief declared to us in holy Scripture Hereticks called Millenarii THey that go about to renew the Fable of the Hereticks called Millenarii be repugnant to holy Scripture and cast them selves headlong into a Iewish dotage All men shall not be saved at the length THey also are worthy of Condemnation who endeavour at this time to restore the dangerous opinion that all men be they never so ungodly shall at length be saved when they have suffered paines for their sins a certain time appointed by Gods Iustice The End of the Articles Imprinted by John Day 1553. ARTICULI de quibus in
V. of A in the Dioces of London Nor will at any time hereafter perform or satisfie any such kinde of payment contract or promise made by any other without my knowledge or consent So help me God through Jesus Christ Juramentum de CANONICA OBEDIENTIA EGO A. B. juro quod praestabo veram Canonicam Obedientiam Episcopo Londinensi ejusque successoribus in omnibus Licitis honestis Sic me Deus adjuvet Juramentum de continuâ Residentiâ in Vicariâ EGO A. B. Juro quod ero residens in Vicariâ meâ nisi alitèr dispensatum fuerit a Diocesano meo By the KING A PROCLAMATION Declaring That the proceedings of his Majesties Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers are according to the Lawes of the Realm WHereas in some of the Libellous books and Pamphlets lately published The most Reverend Father in God the Lord Arch-bishop and Bishops of this Realm are said to have usurped upon his Majesties Prerogative Royal and to have proceeded in the high Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts contrary to the Laws and statutes of this Realm It was ordered by his Majesties high Court of Star-Chamber the Twelfth day of June last that the opinion of the two Lords chief Justices the Lord chief Baron and the rest of the Judges and Barons should be had and certified in those particulars viz. Whether Processes may not issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the Name of the Bishops Whether a Patent under the great Seal be necessary for the keeping of the Ecclesiastical Courts and enabling Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other censures of the Church And whether Citations ought to be in the Kings name and under his Seal of Armes and the like for Institutions and Inductions to Benefices and correction of Ecclesiastical offences Whether Bishops Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical persons may or ought to keep any visitation at any time unlesse they have expresse Commission or Patent under the great Seal of England to do it and that as his Majesties Visitors onely and in his name and Right alone Whereupon his Majesties said Judges haveing taken the same into their serious consideration did unanimously concur and agree in opinion and the first day of July last certified under their hands as followeth That processes may issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the name of the Bishops and that a Patent under the great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions or Inductions to Benefices or correction of Ecclesiastical offences by Censure in those Courts be in the Kings name or with the style of the King or under the Kings Seal or that their Seals of office have in them the Kings Armes And that the statute of Primo Edvardi sexti cap. secundo which enacted the Contrary is not now in force And that the Bishops Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical persons may keep their Visitations as usually they have done without Commission under the great Seal of England so to do which opinions and resolutions being declared under the hands of all his Majesties said Judges and so certified into his Court of Starchamber were there recorded and it was by that Court further ordered the fourth day of the said month of July that the said certificate should be enrolled in all other his Majesties Courts at Westminster and in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts for the satisfaction of all men That the proceedings in the high Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts are agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm And his Royal Majesty hath thought fit with advice of his Councel that a publick Declaration of these the opinions and resolutions of his Reverend and Learned Judges being agreeable to the Judgment and resolutions of former times should be made known to all his Subjects as well to vindicate the legal proceedings of His Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers from the Unjust and scandalous imputation of Invading or entrenching on his Royal prerogative as to settle the minds and stop the mouths of all unquiet Spirits that for the future they presume not to censure His Ecclesiastical Courts or Ministers in these their Just and warranted proceedings And hereof his Majesty admonisheth all his Subjects to take warning as they shall answer the contrary at their perils Given at the Court at Lyndhurst the 18th day of August in the 13th year of his Majesties Reign God save the King Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majesty and by the Assignes of John Bill 1637. THE FORM and MANNER OF MAKING CONSECRATING BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS According to the APPOINTMENT OF THE Church of England LONDON Printed by Bonham Norton and John Bill Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1629. THE PREFACE IT is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there hath been these Orders of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons which Offices were evermore had in such reverent estimation that no man by his own private authority might presume to execute any of them except he were first called tried examined and known to have such qualities as were requisite for the same and also by publick prayer with imposition of hands approved and admitted thereunto And therefore to the intent these orders should be continued and reverently used and esteemed in this Church of England it is requisite that no man not being at this present Bishop Priest nor Deacon shall execute any of them except he be called tried examined and admitted according to the Form hereafter following And none shall be admitted a Deacon except he be twenty one years of age at the least And every man which is to be admitted a Priest shall be full four and twenty years old And every man which is to be consecrated a Bishop shall be fully thirty years of age And the Bishop knowing either by himself or by sufficient testimony any person to be a man of vertuous conversation and without crime and after examination and trial finding him learned in the Latine tongue and sufficiently instructed in holy Scripture may upon a Sunday or Holiday in the face of the Church admit him a Deacon in such manner and form as hereafter followeth The form and manner of ordering DEACONS FIft When the day appointed by the Bishop is come there shall be an Exhortation declaring the duty and office of such as come to be admitted Ministers how necessary such Orders are in the Church of Christ and also how the people ought to esteem them in their Vocation After the Exhortation ended the Archdeacon or his Deputy shall present such as shall come to the Bishop to be admitted saying these words REverend Father in God I present unto you these
endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Son of God we beseech thee to hear us Son of God we beseech thee to hear us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Grant us thy peace O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world Have mercy upon us O Christ hear us O Christ hear us Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in heaven c. And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen The Versicle O Lord deal not with us after our sins Answer Neither reward us after our iniquities ¶ Let us pray O God merciful Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart nor the desire of such as be sorrowful mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppresse us and graciously hear us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodnesse they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Iesus Christ our Lord. O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy names sake O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didest in their dayes and in the old time before them O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Glory be to the Father and to the Son c. As it was in the beginning is now c. From our enemies defend us O Christ Graciously look upon our afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people Favourably with mercy hear our prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ Graciously hear us O Christ graciously hear us O Lord Christ The Versicle O Lord let thy mercy be shewed upon us Answer As we do put our trust in thee Let us pray WE humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy Names sake turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holinesse and purenesse of living to thy honour and glory through our onely Mediator and Advocate Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God which hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and doest promise that when two or three be gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests fulfil now O Lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting Amen ¶ Then shall be said also this that followeth ALmighty God which by thy divine providence hast appointed divers orders of ministers in the Church and didst inspire thine holy Apostles to chuse unto this Order of Deacons the first Martyr S. Stephen with other mercifully behold these thy servants now called to the like office and administration replensh them so with the truth of thy doctrine and innocency of life that both by word and good example they may faithfully serve thee in this office to the glory of thy Name and profit of the Congregation through the merits of our saviour Iesu Christ who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy Ghost now and for ever Amen Then shall be sung or said the Communion of the day saving the Epistle shall be read out of Timothy as followeth LIkewise must the ministers be honest not double-tongued not given unto much wine neither greedy of filthy lucre but holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience and let them first be proved and then let them minister so that no man be able to reprove them Even so must their wives be honest not evil speakers but sober and faithful in all things Let the Deacons be the husbands of one wife and such as rule their children well and their own housholds For they that minister well get themselves a good degree and a great liberty in the faith which is in Christ Iesu These things write I unto thee trusting to come shortly unto thee but and if I tarry long that then thou mayest yet have knowledge how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the house of God which is the congregation of the living God the pillar and ground of truth And without doubt great is that mystery of godlinesse God was shewed in the flesh was justified in the spirit was seen among the angels was preached unto the Gentiles was believed on in the world and received up in glory Or else this out of the sixth of the Acts. THen the twelve called the multitude of the disciples together and said It is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve tables Wherefore brethren look you out among you seven men of honest report and full of the holy Ghost and wisdom to whom we may commit this businesse but we will give our selves continually to prayer and to the administration of the word And that saying pleased the whole multitude And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and full of the holy Ghost and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicholas a convert of Antioch These they set before the Apostles and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them And the word of God encreased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Ierusalem greatly and a great company of the Priests were obedient unto the faith And before the Gospel the Bishop sitting in a chair shall cause the Oath of the Kings supremacy and against the power and authority of all forreign Potentates to be ministred unto every of them that are to be ordered ¶ The Oath of the Kings Soveraignty I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highnesse is the onely supreme governour of this Realm and of all other his Highnesse dominions and Countries as well in all spiritul or Ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal and that no forraign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction power superiority preeminence or authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all forreign jurisdictions powers superiorities and authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawful Successors and to my power shall
otherwise then for their honest necessity there to drink and riot or to play at unlawful games Whether your Ministers be common brawlers sowers of discord rather then charity among their parishioners haukers hunters or spending their time idlely or coming to their benefice by Simony Whether your Ministers or any other persons have committed adultery fornication incest baudry or to be vehemently suspected of the same common drunkards scolds or be common swearers and blasphemers of Gods holy name Whether your Parsons and Vicars do maintain their houses and Chancels in sufficient reparation or if their houses be in decay whether they bestow yearly the fift part of the fruits of the benefice untill the same be repaired Whether your Parsons and Vicars absent from their benefice do leave their Cure to an able Minister And if he may dispend yearly xx.l. or above in this Deanry or else where whether he doth distribute every year among his poor parishioners there at the least the fourty part of the fruits of the same And likewise spending yearly C.l. Whether he doth finde one scholar at either of the universities or some grammar School and so for every other hundred pound one Scholar Whether every Dean Archdeacon and Prebendary being Priest doth personally by himself Preach twice every year at the least either where he is intitled or where he hath jurisdiction or in some place united or appropriate to the same Whether your Minister having licence thereunto doth use to preach or not licenced doth diligently procure other to preach that are licenced or whether he refuseth those offering themselves that are licenced or absenteth himself or causeth other to be away from the Sermon or else admitteth any to preach that are not licenced Whether any by preaching writing word or deed hath or doth maintain the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome Whether any be a letter of the word of God to be preached or read in the English tongue Whether any do preach declare or speak any thing in derogation of the book of Common prayer or any thing therein contained or any part thereof Whether any do preach and defend that private persons may make insurrections stir sedition or compel men to give them their goods Whether the Curate doth admit any to the Communion before he be confirmed or any that ken not the Pater Noster the articles of the faith and ten Commandments in English Whether Curates do Minister the Communion for mony or use to have trentals of Communions Whether any of the Anabaptists sect or other use notoriously any unlawful or private conventicles wherein they do use Doctrine or administration of Sacraments separating themselves from the rest of the parish Whether there be any that privatly in their private house have their Masses contrary to the form and order of the book of Communion Whether any minister doth refuse to use the Common prayers or minister Sacraments in that order and form as is set forth in the book of Common prayer Whether baptisme be ministred out of necessity in any other time then on the Sunday or holy day or in an other tongue then english Whether any speaketh against baptisme of Infants Whether any be married within degrees prohibited by Gods law or separate without cause lawful or is married without banes thrice first asked 3. several holy dayes or Sundayes openly in the Church at service time Whether any curate doth marry them of other parishes without that curates licence and certificate from him of the banes thrice solemnly asked Whether any saith that the wickedesse of the Minister taketh away the effect of Christs Sacraments Whether any saith that Christian men cannot be allowed to repentance if they sin voluntarily after baptisme Whether your Curates be ready to Minister the Sacraments visit the sick and bury the dead being brought to the Church Whether any minister useth wilfully and obstinately any other Right Ceremony Order Form or manner of Communion Mattens or Evensong Ministration of Sacraments or open prayers then is set forth in the Book of Common prayer Whether your Curate once in six weeks at the least upon some Sunday or holy day before Even-song do openly in the Church instruct and examine children not confirmed in some part of the Catechisme and whether Parents and Masters do send them thither upon warning given by the Minister Whether any useth to keep abrogate holy dayes or private holy dayes as bakers shoomakers brewers smiths and such other Whether any useth to hallow water bread salt bells or candles upon Candlemas day ashes on Ashwenesday Palms on Palmsunday the Font on the Easter even fire on paschal or whether there was any sepulchre on Good-Fryday Whether the water in the Font be changed every moneth once and then any other praiers said then is in the book of Common prayer appointed Whether there be any images in your Church Tabernacles Shrines or covering of Shrines candles or trindels of wax or feigned Miracles in your Churches or private houses Whether your Church be kept in due and lawful reparation and whether there be a comly pulpit set up in the same and likewise a coffer for almes for the poor called the poor mans box or chest Whether any legacies given to the poor amending high wayes or marrying poor maides be undistributed and by whom God save the King ARTICLES agreed upon by the BISHOPS and other Learned and Godly men In the Last CONVOCATION at LONDON In the year of our Lord 1552. to root out the discord of Opinions and establish the Agreement of true Religion Published by the Kings Majesties Authority 1553. Imprinted at LONDON by John Day ARTICLES agreed upon in the CONVOCATION and published by the KINGS MAJESTY Of Faith in the holy Trinity THere is but one living and true God and he is everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodnesse the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity the Father the Son and the holy Ghost That the word or Son of God was made very man THe Son which is the word of the Father took mans nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary of her substance so that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and manhood were joyned together into one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man who truely suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice for all sin of man both original and actual Of the going down of Christ into hell AS Christ died and was buried for us so also it is to be believed that he went down into hell for the body lay in the Sepulchre until the Resurrection but his Ghost departing from him was with the Ghosts that were in prison or in Hell and did preach to the same as the place of St.
Soveraign Lady Queen ELIZABETH London Printed 1559. INJUNCTIONS Given by the QUEENS MAJESTY Aswell To the Clergy as to the Laity of this Realm The QUEENS most Royal Majesty by the advice of her most honourable Councel intending the advancement of the true honour of Almighty God the suppression of superstition throughout all her Highness Realms and Dominions and to plant true Religion to the extirpation of all Hypocrisie enormities and abuses as to her duty appertaineth doth minister unto her loving Subjects these Godly Injunctions hereafter following All which Injunctions her Highness willeth and commandeth her loving Subjects obediently to receive and truly to observe and keep every man in their Offices degrees and states as they will avoid her Highnesse displeasure and the pains of the same hereafter expressed 1. THe first is That all Deans Archdeacons Usurped and forraign authority Parsons Vicars and all other Ecclesiastical persons shall faithfully keep and observe and as far as in them may lye shall cause to be observed and kept of other All and singular Lawes and Statutes made for the restoring of the Crown the antient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiastical and abolishing of all forraigne power repugnant to the same And furthermore all Ecclesiastical persons having cure of Souls shall to the uttermost of their wit knowledge and learning purely and sincerely and without any colour or dissimulation declare manifest and open foure times every year at the least in their Sermons and other Collations that all usurped and forraigne power having no establishment nor ground by the law of God is for most just causes taken away and abolished and that therefore no manner of obedience and subjection within her Highnesse Realms and Dominions is due unto any such forraigne power And that the Queens power within her Realms and Dominions is the highest power under God to whom all men within the same Realms and Dominions by Gods laws owe most loyalty and obedience afore and above all other powers and Potentates in earth 2. Besides this to the intent that all superstition and Hypocrisie crept into divers mens hearts Images may vanish away they shall not set forth or extol the dignity of any Images Relicks or Miracles but declaring the abuse of the same they shall teach that all goodness health and grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God as of the very author and giver of the same and of none other 3. Item That they the Parsons above rehearsed shall preach in their Churches A Sermon every Moneth and every other cure they have one Sermon every moneth of the year at the least wherein they shall purely and sincerely declare the word of God and in the same exhort their hearers to the works of faith Works of faith as mercy and charity especially prescribed and commanded in Scripture and that the works devised by mans fantasies besides Scripture as wandring of Pilgrimages setting up of Candles Works of mans device praying upon Beads or such like superstition have not only no promise of reward in Scripture for doing of them but contrariwise great threatnings and maledictions of God for that they be things tending to Idolatry and Superstition which of all other offences God Almighty doth most detest and abhor for that the same diminish most his honour and glory Quarter Sermon or Homily 4. Item That they the Parsons above rehearsed shall preach in their own persons once in every quarter of the year at least one Sermon being licenced especially thereunto as is specified hereafter or else shall read some Homily prescribed to be used by the Queens authority every Sunday at the least unless some other Preacher sufficiently licenced as hereafter chance to come to the Parish for the same purpose of Preaching 5. Item That every Holiday through the year when they have no Sermon The Pater Noster they shall immediately after the Gospel openly and plainly recite to their Parishioners in the Pulpit the Pater Noster the Creed and the Ten Commandements in English Creed and Ten Commandements to the intent the people may learn the same by heart exhorting all Parents and Housholders to teach their Children and Servants the same as they are bound by the Law of God and conscience to do Also that they shall provide within three moneths next after this visitation at the charges of the Parish one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English and within one twelve moneths next after the said visitation the Paraphrases of Erasmus also in English upon the gospel and the same set up in some convenient place within the said Church that they have cure of whereas the Parishioners may most commodiously resort unto the same and read the same out of the time of common Service The charges of the Paraphrases shall be by the Parson or Propriatory and Parishioners born by equal portions and they shall discourage no man from the reading of any part of the Bible either in Latine or in English but shall rather exhort every person to read the same with great humility and reverence as the very lively word of God and the especial food of mans Soul which all Christian persons are bound to embrace believe and follow if they look to be saved whereby they may the better know their duties to God to their Soveraign Lady the Queen and their neighbour ever gently and charitably exhorting them and in her Majesties name straightly charging and commanding them that in the reading thereof no man to reason or contend but quietly to hear the Reader 7. Also Haunting of Ale houses by Ecclesiastical persons the said Ecclesiastical persons shall in no wise at any unlawful time nor for any other cause then for their honest necessities haunt or resort to any Taverns or Ale-houses And after their meats they shall not give themselues to drinking or ryot spending their time idly by day and by night at Dice Cards or Tables-playing or any other unlawful game but at all times as they shall have leasure they shall hear or read somewhat of the holy Scripture or shall busie themselues with some other honest study or exercise and that they alwayes do the things which appertain to honesty and endeavour to profit the Commonwealth having alwayes in minde that they ought to excell all other in purity of life and should be examples to the people to live well and christianly 8. Also Preachers not licenced that they shall admit no man to preach within any their cures but such as shall appear unto them to be sufficiently liceaced thereunto by the Queens Majesty or the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Archbishop of York in either their Provinces or the Bishop of the Diocess or by the Queens Majesties Visitors And such as shall be so licensed they shall gladly receive to declare the word of God at convenient times without any resistence or contradiction And that no other be
the which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits 32. Of the marriage of Priests Non habentur haec notata in R. Edvard 6. Artic. BIshops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by Gods law either to vow the estate of single life or to abstain from marriage therefore it is lawful also for them as for all other Christian men to marry at their own discretion as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness 33. Of excommunicate persons how they are to be avoided THat person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican untill he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Iudge that hath authority thereunto 34. Of the traditions of the Church IT is not necessary that Traditions and ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversity of countries times and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods Word Whosoever through his private judgement willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by common authority ought to be rebuked openly that other may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain Non habentur haec notata in Edv. 6. Artic. change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by mans authority so that all things be done to edifying 35. * Homiliae nuper Ecclesiae Anglicanae per injunctiones Regias editae atque commendatae piae sunt atque salutares doctrinamque ab omnibus amplectendam continent Of Homilies THe second Book of Homilies the several titles whereof we have joyned under this Article doth contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine and necessary for these times as doth the former book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the sixth and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understanded of the people Of the names of the Homilies 1 OF the right use of the Church 2 Against peril of Idolatry 3 Of repairing and keeping clean of Churches 4 Of good works first of Fasting 5 Against gluttony and drunkennesse 6 Against excesse of apparel 7 Of Prayer 8 Of the place and time of prayer 9 That common Prayers and Sacraments ought to be ministred in a known tongue 10 Of the reverent estimation of Gods Word 11 Of almes doing 12 Of the nativity of Christ 13 Of the Passion of Christ 14 Of the Resurrection of Christ 15 Of the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ 16 Of the gifts of the holy Ghost 17 For the Rogation dayes 18 Of the state of Matrimony 19 Of Repentance 20 Against Idleness 21 Against Rebellion De libro precationum ceremoniarum Ecclesiae Anglicanae LIber qui nuperrime authoritate Regis Parliamenti Ecclesiae Anglicanae traditus est continens modum formam orandi Sacramenta administrandi in Ecclesiâ similiter libellus eadem autoritate editus de ordinatione ministrorum Ecclesiae quoad doctrinae veritatem pii sunt salutari doctrinae Evangelii in nullo repugnant sed congruunt eandem non parum promovent illustrant atque ideo ab omnibus Ecclesiae Anglicanae fidelibus membris maxime à ministris verbi cum omni promptitudine animorum gratiarum actione recipiendi approbandi populo Dei commendandi sunt Artic. R. Edvard 6. 36. Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers THe book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests and Deacons lately set forth in the time of Edward the sixt and confirmed at the same time by authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and ordering neither hath it any thing that of it self is superstitious and ungodly And therefore whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the Rites of that book since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same Rites we decree all such to be rightly orderly and lawfully consecrated and ordered 37. Of the civil Magistrates THe Queens Majesty hath the chief power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions Rex Angliae est supremum caput in terris post Christum Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae Artic. Edv. 6. Haec notata non habentur in Artic. Edverd 6. unto whom the chief government of all estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all causes doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any forreigne Iurisdiction Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief government by which titles we understand the minds of some dangerous folkes to be offended we give not our Princes the ministring either of Gods word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth out Queen do most plainly testifie but that onely prerogative which we see to have been given alwayes to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn and evil doers Magistratus eivilis est à Deo ordinatus atque probatus quamobrem illi non solum propter iram sed etiam propter conscientiam obediendum est Artic. R. Edv. 6. The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences The Laws of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences It is Lawful for Christian men at the commandment of the Magistrate to wear weapons and serve in the wars 38. Of Christian mens goods which are not common THe riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right title and possession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast Notwithstanding every man ought of such things as he possesseth liberally to give almes to the poor according to his ability 39. Of a Christian mans oath AS we confesse that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Iesus Christ and Iames his Apostle So we judge that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but that a man may sweare when the Magistrate requireth in a cause of
their own liberty of comely apparel Item That all inferiour Ecclesiastical persons shall wear long gowns of the fashion aforesaid and caps as afore is prescribed Item That all poor Parsons Vicars and Curates do endeavour themselves to conform their apparel in like sort so seon and as conveniently as their ability will serve to the same Provided that their ability be judged by the Bishop of the Dioces And if their ability will not suffer to buy them long gowns of the form afore prescribed that then they shall wear their short gowns agreeable to the form before expressed Item That all such persons as have been or be Ecclesiastical and serve not the ministery or have not accepted or shall refuse to accept the oath of obedience to the Queens Majesty do from henceforth abroad wear none of the said apparel of the form and fashion aforesaid but to go as meer lay men till they be reconciled to obedience and who shall obstinately refuse to do the same that they be presented by the Ordinary to the Commissioners in causes Ecclesiastical and by them to be reformed accordingly Protestations to be made promised and subscribed by them that shall hereafter be admitted to any office room or Cure in any Church or other place Ecclesiastical IN primis I shall not preach or publickly interpret but only read that which is appointed by publick authority without special licence of the Bishop under his seal I shall read the service appointed plainly distinctly and audibly that all the people may hear and understand I shall keep the Register book according to the Queens Majesties Injunctions I shall use sobriety in apparel and specially in the Church at Common prayers according to order appointed I shall move the Parishioners to quiet and concord and not give them cause of offence and shall help to reconcile them which be at variance to my uttermost power I shall read daily at the least one Chapter of the old Testament and an other of the New with good advisement to the increase of my knowledge I do also faithfully promise in my person to use and exercise my office and place to the honour of God to the quiet of the Queens subjects within my charge in truth concord and unity And also to observe keep and maintain such order and uniformity in all external policy rites and ceremonies of the Church as by the Laws Good usuages and orders are already well provided and established I shall not openly intermeddle with any artificers occupations as covetously to seek a gain thereby having in Ecclesiastical living to the sum of twenty nobles or above by year Agreed upon and subscribed by Commissioners in causes Ecclesiastical Matthaeus Cantuariensis Edmondus Londoniensis Richardus Eliensis Edmondus Roffensis Robertus Wintoniensis Nicolaus Lincolniensis With others Imprinted at LONDON by Reginald Wolfe The OATHS of ALLEGIANCE SUPREMACY AND Canonical Obedience The Oath of ALLEGIANCE I A. B. Do truely and sincerely acknowledge professe testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the World that our Soveraign Lord King Charles is lawful and rightful King of this Realm and of all other his Majesties Dominions and Countries and that the Pope neither of himself nor by any authority of the Church or Sea of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any power or authority to depose the King or to dispose any of his Majesties Kingdoms or Dominions or to authorize any Foraign Prince to invade or annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Subjects of their Allegiance and obedience to his Majesty or to give license or leave to any of them to bear Armes raise Tumults or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesties Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majestyes Subjects within his Majesties Dominions Also I do swear from my heart that notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Successours or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his Sea against the said King his Heirs or Successours or any Absolution of the said Subjects from their Obedience I will bear faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successours and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heires and Successours all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against him or any of them And I do further swear That I do from my heart abhor detest and abjure as impious and heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in Conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full authority to be lawfully administred unto me and do renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear according to these expresse words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any equivocation or mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and acknowledgement heartily willingly and truely upon the true faith of a Christian So help me God c. The Oath of SVPREMACY I A B. Do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings highnesse is the onely supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other his Highnesse Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And that no Foraign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual with in this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Foraign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and authorities and do promise from henceforth I shall bear faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawful Successours and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preeminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Successours or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this book The Oath of SIMONY I A. B. do swear that I have made no Simoniacal payment contract or promise directly or indirectly by my self or by any other to my knowledge or with my consent to any person or persons whatsoever for or concerning the procuring or obtaining of the R. or
committed to your charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture Answer I am so perswaded and have so determined by Gods grace The Bishop WIll you then give your faithful diligence alwayes so to Minister the doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this realm hath received the same according to the Commandements of God so that you may teach the people committed to your cure and charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same Answer I will do so by the help of the Lord. The Bishop WIll you be ready with all faithfull diligence to vanish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to Gods word and to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your Cures as need shall require and occasion be given Answer I will the Lord being my helper The Bishop WIll you be diligent in prayers and in reading of the holy Scriptures and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same laying aside the study of the world and the flesh Answer I will endeavour my self so to do the Lord being my helper The Bishop WIll you be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves and your families according to the doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lieth wholsom examples and spectacles to the flock of Christ Answer I will apply my self the Lord being my helper The Bishop WIll you maintain and set forwards as much as lieth in you quietnesse peace and love among all Christian people and specially among them that are or shall be committed to your charge Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper The Bishop WIll you reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief ministers unto whom the government and charge is committed over you following with a glad minde and will their godly admonitions and submitting your selves to their godly judgements Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper Then shall the Bishop say ALmighty God who hath given you this will to do all these things grant also unto you strength and power to perform the same that he may accomplish his work which he hath begun in you until the time he shall come at the latter day to judge the quick and the dead After this the Congregation shall be desired secretly in their prayers to make humble supplications to God for the foresaid things for the which prayers there shall be a certain space kept in silence That done the Bishop shall pray in this wise ¶ Let us Pray ALmighty God and heavenly Father which of thine infinite love and goodnesse towards us hast given to us thy onely and most dearly beloved Son Iesus Christ to be our redeemer and author of everlasting life who after he had made perfect our redemption by his death and was ascended into heaven sent abroad into the world his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Doctors and Pastors by whose labour and ministery he gathered together a great flock in all the parts of the world to set forth the eternal praise of thy holy Name For these so great benefits of thy eternal goodnesse and for that thou hast vouchsafed to call these thy servants here present to the same office and ministery of salvation of mankinde we render unto thee most hearty thanks we worship and praise thee and we humbly beseech thee by the same thy Son to grant unto all which either here or elsewhere call upon thy Name that we may shew our selves thankful to thee for these and all other thy benefits and that we may dayly increase and go forwards in the knowledge and faith of thee and thy Son by the holy Spirit So that as well by these thy Ministers as by them to whom they shall be appointed Ministers thy holy Name may be alwayes glorified and thy blessed kingdom enlarged through the same thy Son our Lord Iesus Christ which liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same holy Spirit world without end Amen When this prayer is done the Bishops with the Priests present shall lay their hands severally upon the head of every one that receiveth Orders the receivers humbly kneeling upon their knees and the Bishop saying REceive the holy Ghost Whose sins thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained and be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God and of his holy Sacraments In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen The Bishop shall deliver to every one of them the Bible in his hand saying TAke thou Authority to preach the word of God and to minister the holy Sacraments in this Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed When this is done the Congregation shall sing the Creed and also they shall go to the Communion which all they that receive Orders shall take together and remain in the same place where the hands were laid upon them until such time as they have received the Communion The Communion being done after the last Collect and immediatly before the Benediction shall be said this Collect. MOst merciful Father we beseech thee to send upon these thy servants thy heavenly blessing that they may be clad about with all justice and that thy word spoken by their mouthes may have such successe that it may never be spoken in vain Grant also that we may have grace to hear and receive the same as thy most holy word and the means of our salvation that in all our words and deeds we may seek thy glory and the encrease of thy Kingdom through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen And if the order of Deacons and Priesthood be given both upon one day then shall all things at the holy Communion be used as they are appointed at the ordering of Priests saving that for the Epistle the whole third Chapter of the first to Timothy shal be read as it is set out before in the order of Priests And immediatly after the Epistle the Deacons shall be ordered And it shall suffice the Letany to be said once ⧠The form of Consecrating of an Arch-Bishop or Bishop ¶ At the Communion The Epistle THis is a true saying If a man desire the office of a Bishop he desireth an honest work A Bishop therefore must be blamelesse the husband of one wife diligent sober discreet a keeper of hospitality apt to teach not given to over much wine no fighter not greedy of filthy lucre but gentle abhorring fighting abhoring covetousnesse one that ruleth well his own house one that hath children in subjection with all reverence For if a man cannot rule his own house how shall he care for the congregation of God He may not be a young scholar lest he swell and fall into the judgement of
thabrogacion of certayne holy dayes accordyng to the transumpte late sent by the kyngs hyghnes to all bysshops with his graces strayght commaundement to signifie his farther pleasure to all Colleges religious houses and Curates within theyr diocesse for the publicacion and also effectuall vniuersall obsercion of the same Anno 1536. FOr as moch as the nombre of holy dayes is so excessyuely growen and yet dayly more and more by mens deuocyon yea rather supersticyon was lyke further to encrease that the same was sholde be not onely preiudiciall to the common weale by reason that it is occasion as well of moche slouth and ydelnes the very nouryshe of theues vacaboundes and of dyuers other unthryftynesse and inconuenyencies as of decaye of good mysteryes and artes vtyle and necessary fort the common welthe and losse of mans fode many tymes beynge clene destroyed through the supersticious obseruaunce of the said holydayes in not takynge thoportunitie of good serene wheather offered vpon the same in time of haruest but also pernicyous to the soules of many men whiche beyng entysed by the lycencyous vacacyon and libertye of those holy dayes do vpon the same commonly vse and practyse more excesse ryote and supersluite than upon any other dayes And sith the Sabboth day was ordeyned for mans vse and therefore ought to gyue place to the necessite and behoue of the same whan soever that shall occurre mouche rather any other holyday institute by man It is therefore by the kings hyghnes auctority as supreme head in earth of the Church of Englande with the Common assente and consent of the prelates and clergy of this his realme in Convocacyon laufully assembled and congregate among other thynges decreed ordeyned and establyshed ¶ Fyrst that the feest of Dedicacyon of the church shall in all places throughout this realm be celebrated and kepte on the fyrst sonday of the moneth of Octobre for ever and vpon none other day ¶ Item that the feest of the patrone of every church within this realm called commonly the Church holyday shall not from henceforth be kepte or obserued as a holyday as heretofore hath been vsed but that it shall be laufull to all and singular persons resydent or dwellynge within this realme to go to their work occupacyon or mystery and the same truely to excercyse and occupy upon the said feest as vpon any other workyeday excepte the said feest of the Church holyday be such as must be ells vniversally observed as a holy day by this ordynaunce following Also that all those feestes or holy days which shall happen to occurre eyther in the haruest time which is to be compted from the fiyst day of Iuly unto the xxix day of Septembre or elles in the terme time at westmynster shall not be kepte or obserued from henceforth as holydayes but that it may be laufull for every man to go to his work or occupacion vpon the same as vpon any other workyeday except alwayes the feestes of the apostles of our blessed lady and of saynt George And also such feesles as wherein the kings Iudges at westmynster hall do not vse to sytte in Iudgement all which shall be kepte holy and solempne of every man as in tyme past have been accustomed Prouyded alwayes that it may be laufull vnto all preestes and clerkes as well secular as regular in the foresayd holydayes now abrogate to synge or saye their accostomed seruyce for those holydayes in their churches so that they do not the same solempnely nor do rynge to the same after the maner vsed in hygh holydayes ne do commaunde or indict the same to be kepte or obserued as holydayes Finally that the feest of the Natiuitie of our lord of Easter of the Natiuitie of saynt Iohn the baptyste and of saynt Mychaell shall be frome henceforth compted and accepted and taken for the iiij generall offering dayes And for further declaracyon of the premysses be it knowen that Easter terme begyneth alwayes the xviii day after Easter reckenyng Easter day for one and endeth the monday next after thascencyon day Trinitie terme begynneth alwayes the wednesday next after thoctaues of Trinitie sonday and endeth the xi or xii day of Iuly Myhgelmas terme beginneth the ix or x. day of October and endeth the xxviii or xxix day of Nouember Hillary terme begynneth the xxiii or xxiiii day of Ianuary and endeth the xii or xiii day of February In Easter terme upon thascencyon daye In Trinite term upon the Nativity of saynt Iohn Baptyst In Myghelmas terme vpon Alhallon day In Hillary terme vpon Candelmas day The kyngs Iudges at westmynster do not use to syt in Iudgement nor vpon any sondayes ¶ Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne by me Iohn Byddell Cum priuilegio Anno 1536. By the Queen A Proclamation against the despisers or breakers of the orders prescribed in the book of Common prayer THE Queens Majesty being right sorry to understand that the order of common prayer set forth by the common consent of the Realm and by authority of Parliament in the first year of her reign wherein is nothing conteined but the Scripture of God and that which is consonant unto it is now of late of some men despised and spoken against both by open preachings and writings and of some bold and vain curious men new and other Rites found out and frequenced whereupon contentions sects and disquietnesse doth arise among her people and for one godly and uniform order diversity of Rites and Ceremonies disputations and contentions schismes and divisions already risen and more like to ensue The cause of which disorders Her Majesty doth plainly understand to be the negligence of the Bishops and other Magistrates who should cause the good Laws and Acts of Parliament made in this behalf to be better executed and not so dissembled and winked at as hitherto it may appear that they have been For speedy remedy whereof Her Majesty straightly chargeth and commandeth all Archbyshops and Bishops and all Iustices of Assises and Oyer and Termyner and all Majors head officers of Cities and Towns corporate and all other who have any authority to put in execution the Act for the uniformity of common prayer and the administration of the Sacraments made in the first year of Her gracious reign with all diligence and severity neither favouring nor dissembling with one person nor other who doth neglect despise or seek to alter the godly Orders and Rites set forth in the said Book But if any person shall by publick preaching writing or printing contemn despise or dispraise the Orders contained in the said Book they shall immediately apprehend him and cause him to be imprisoned until he hath answered to the Law upon pain that the chief Officers being present at any such preaching and the whole Parish do answer for their contempt and negligence Likewise if any shall forbear to come to the Common prayer and receive the Sacraments of the Church according to
the order in the said book allowed upon no just and lawful cause all such persons they shall enquire of present and see punished and ordered according as is prescribed in the said Act with more care and diligence then heretofore hath been done the which negligence hath been cause why such disorders have of late now so much and in so many places encreased and grown And if any persons shal either in private houses or in publick places make assemblies and therein use other Rites of Common prayer and Administration of the Sacraments then is prescribed in the said Book or shall maintain in their houses any persons being notoriously charged by Books or preachings to attempt the alteration of the said orders they shall see such persons punished with all severity according to the Laws of this Realm by paines appointed in the said Act. And because these matters do principally appertain to the persons Ecclesiastical and to the Ecclesiastical government her Majesty giveth a most special and earnest charge to all Arch-Bishops Byshops Archdeacons and Deans and all such as have ordinary jurisdiction in such causes to have a vigilant eye and care to the observation of the Orders and Rites in the said book prescribed throughout their cures and Diocesse and to proceed from time to time by ordinary and Ecclesiastical jurisdiction as is granted thâ—m in the said Act with all celerity and severity against all persons who shall offend against any of the Orders in the said Book prescribed upon pain of her Majesties high displeasure for their negligence and deprivation from their dignities and benefices or other censures to follow according to their demerits Given at Grenewich the 20. day of October 1573. in the fifteenth year of the Queens Majesties reign God save the Queen Imprinted at London by Newgate Market next unto Christs Church by Richard Jugge Printer to the Queens Majesty Cum privilegio Regiae Majestatis By the Queen A Proclamation against the Sectaries of the Family of love WHereas by report of sundry of the Bishops of this Realm and others having cure of souls the Qeens Majesty is informed that in sundry places of Her said Realm in their several Diocesses there are certain persons which do secretly in corners make privie assemblies of divers simple unlearned people and after they have craftily and hypocritically assured them to esteem them to be more holy and perfect men then other are they do then teach them damnable heresies directly contrary to divers of the principal Articles of our Belief and Christian faith and in some parts so absurd and fanatical as by feigning to themselves a monstruous new kind of speech never found in the Scriptures nor in ancient Father or Writer of Christs Church by which they do move ignorant and simple people at the first rather to marvel at them then to understand them but yet to colour their sect withal they name themselves to be of the family of love and then as many as shall be allowed by them to be of that family to be elect and saved and all others of what Church soever they be to be rejected and damned And for that upon conventing of some of them before the Bishops and Ordinaries it is found that the ground of their sect is maintained by certain lewd heretical and seditious books first made in the Dutch tongue and lately translated into English and printed beyond the seas and secretly brought over into the Realm the author whereof they name H. N without yielding to him upon their examination any other name in whose name they have certain Books set forth called Evangelium Regni or a joyful Message of the Kingdom Documental sentences The prophecie of the spirit of love A publishing of the peace upon the earth and such like And considering also it is found that these Sectaries hold opinion that they may before any Magistrate Ecclesiastical or Temporal or any other person not being professed to be of their sect which they tearm the family of love by oath or otherwise deny any thing for their advantage so as though many of them are well known to be teachers and spreaders abroad of these dangerous and damnable sects yet by their own confession they cannot be condemned whereby they are more dangerous in any Christian Realm Therefore Her Majesty being very sorry to see so great an evil by the malice of the Devil first begun and practised in other countries to be now brought into this Her Realm and that by her Bishops and Ordinaries She understandeth it very requisite not onely to have these dangerous Hereticks and Sectaries to be severely punished but that also all other means be used by Her Majesties Royal authority which is given Her of God to defend Christs Church to root them out from further infecting of Her Realm She hath thought meet and convenient and so by this Her Proclamation She willeth and commandeth that all Her Officers and Ministers temporal shall in all their several vocations assist the Archbishops and Bishops of Her Realm and all other persons Ecclesiastical having cure of souls to search out all persons duely suspected to be either teachers or professors of the foresaid damnable Sects and by all good means to proceed severely against them being found culpable by order of the Laws either Ecclesiastical or Temporal and that also search be made in all places suspected for the books and writings maintaining the said Heresies and Sects and them to destroy and burn And wheresoever such books shall be found after the publication hereof in custody of any person other then such as the Ordinaries shall permit to the intent to peruse the same for confutation thereof the same persons to be attached and committed to close prison there to remain or otherwise by Law to be condemned until the same shall be purged and cleared of the same Heresies or shall recant the same and be thought meet by the Ordinary of the place to be delivered And that whosoever in this Realm shall either print or bring or cause to be brought into this Realm any of the said books the same persons to be attached and committed to prison and to receive such bodily punishment and other mulct as fautors of damnable Heresies And to the execution hereof Her Majesty chargeth all Her Officers and Ministers both Ecclesiastical and Temporal to have special regard as they will answer not onely afore God whose glory and truth is by these damnable Sects greatly sought to be defaced but also will avoid Her Majesties indignation which in such cases as these are they ought not escape if they shall be found negligent and carelesse in the Execution of their authorities Given at Our Manour of Richmond the third of October in the two and twentieth year of our Reign God save the Queen Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker Printer to the Queens most Excellent Majesty By the Queen A Proclamation against certain seditious and schismatical Books and Libels c.
THe Queens most excellent Majesty considering how within these few yeers past and now of late certain seditious and evil disposed persons towards her Majesty and the Government established for causes Ecclesiastical within Her Majesties Dominions have divised written printed or caused to be seditiously and secretly published and dispersed sundry Schismatical and seditious books diffamatory Libels and other phantastical writings amongst her Majesties Subjects containing in them doctrine very erroneous and other matters notoriously untrue and slanderous to the State and against the godly reformation of Religion and Government Ecclesiastical established by Law and so quietly of long time continued and also against the persons of Bishops and others placed in authority Eccesiastical under Her Highnesse by her authority in rayling sort and beyond the bounds of all good humanity All which Books Libels and writings tend by their scope to perswade and bring in a monstrous and apparent dangerous Innovation within Her Dominions and Countries of all manner of Ecclesiastical Government now in use and to the abâ—idging or rather to the overthrow of her Highnesse lawful Prerogative allowed by Gods Law and established by the Laws of the Realm and consequently to reverse dissolve and set at liberty the present Government of the Church and to make a dangerous change of the form of Doctrine and use of Divine service of God and the ministration of the Sacraments now also in use with a rash and malicious purpose also to dissolve the Estate of the Prelacy being one of the three ancient estates of this Realm under her Highnesse whereof her Majesty mindeth to have such a reverend regard as to their places in the Church and Common wealth appertaineth All which said lewd and seditious practises do directly tend to the manifest willful breach of great number of good Laws and Statutes of this Realm inconveniencies nothing regarded by such Innovations In consideration whereof her Highness graciously minding to provide some good and speedy remedy to withstand such notable dangerous and ungodly attemps and for that purpose to have such enormous malefactors discovered and condignely punished doth signifie this her Highnesse misliking and indignation of such dangerous and wicked enterprises and for that purpose doth hereby will and also straightly charge and command that all persons whatsoever within any her Majesties Realms and Dominions who have or hereafter shall have any of the said seditious Books Pamphlets Libels or Writings or any of like nature already published or hereafter to be published in his or their custody containing such matters as above are mentioned against the present Order and Government of the Church of England or the lawful Ministers thereof or against the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Church and allowed by the Laws of the Realm That they and every of them do presently after with convenient speed bring in and deliver up the same unto the Ordinary of the Diocesse or of the place where they inhabit to the intent they may be utterly defaced by the said Ordinary or otherwise used by them And that from henceforth no person or persons whatsoever be so hardy as to write contrive print or cause to be published or distributed or to keep any of the same or any other Books Libels or Writings of like nature and quality contrary to the true meaning and intent of this â—…er Majesties Proclamation And likewise that no man hereafter give any instruction direction favour or assistance to the contriving writing printing publishing or dispersing of the same or such like Books Libels or Writings whatsoever as they tender her Majesties good favour will avoid Her high displeasure and as they will answer the contrary at their uttermost perils and upon such pains and penalties as by the Law any way may be inflicted upon the offenders in any of these behalfs as persons maintaining such seditious actions which her Majesty mindeth to have severally executed And if any person have had knowledge of the Authors Writers Printers or dispersers thereof which shall within one moneth after the publication hereof discover the same to the Ordinary of the place where he had such knowledge or to any of her Majesties privie Councel the same person shall not for his former concealment be hereafter molested or troubled Given at her Majesties Palace at Westminster the xiii of February 1588. In the xxxi year of her Highnesse reign God save the Queen Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker Printer to the Queens most excellent Majestie 1588. ARTICLES to be enquired in the VISITATION IN THE First year of the reign of our most dread Sovereign LADY ELIZABETH By the grace of God Of England France and Ireland Queen defender of the Faith c. Anno Domini 1559. Articles c. Anno 1559. FIrst whether any Parson Residency Vicar or Curate be resident continually upon his Benefice doing his duty in preaching reading and duly ministring the holy Sacraments Item Whether in their Churches and Chappels all Images False miracles Shrines all Tables Candlesticks Trindals and rolls of Wax Pictures paintings and all other monuments of feigned and false miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition be removed abolished and destroyed Item Whether they do not every holy day The Lords prayer when they have no Sermon immediatly after the Gospel openly plainly and distinctly recite to their Parishioners in the Pulpit the Lords prayer the Belief and the ten Commandments in English Item Whether they do charge Fathers and Mothers Masters To bring up youth and Governours of youth to bring them up in some vertuous studie and Occupation Item Whether such beneficed men Curates as be lawfully absent from their Benefices do leave their cures to a rude and unlearned person and not to an honest well-learned and expert Curate which can and will teach you wholesome doctrine Item Reading the Scriptures Whether they do discourage any person from reading of any part of the Bible either in Latine or English and do not rather comfort and exhort every person to read the same at convenient times as the very lively word of God and the special food of mans soul Item Whether Parsons Vicars Curates and other Ministers Taverns and games be common haunters and resorters to Taverns or Alehouses giving themselves to drinking rioting and playing at undlawful games and do not occupie themselves in the reading or hearing of some part of holy Scripture or in some other godly exercise Item Preachers Whether they have admitted any man to preach in their cures not being lawfully licenced thereunto or have been licenced accordingly Item Whether they use to declare to their Parishioners Superstition any thing to the extolling or setting forth of vain and supersticious Religion Pilgrimages Relicks or Images or lighting of Candles kissing kneeling or decking of the same Images Register Item Whether they have one book or register kept wherein they write the day of every Wedding Christning and Burying