ARTICLES OF VISITATION and ENQUIRY Within the Diocess of ELY IN THE Second Episcopal Visitation OF THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD PETER By Divine Permission LORD BISHOP of ELY In the fifth Year of his Translation LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft 1679. The Tenour of the Oath to be administred to the Church-wardens and Side-men YOU shall Swear diligently to Enquire and true Presentment make of every person now or lately of your Parish which hath made any default or offence enquirable by the King's Laws Ecclesiastical and become known unto you So help you God and the Contents of his Holy Gospel Articles of Instruction and Direction to the Church-wardens and Side-men of what they are to take more especial Notice in their Presentments Concerning Religion and the Government of the Church Established in this Realm IMprimis Is there any in your Parish who are guilty of Atheistical or blasphemous Speeches against the Majesty of Almighty God or Scoffers at Religion and the Souls future immortal state Is there any guilty of Speeches of Infidelity against the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ Any who in their communication or otherwise defend the Socinian or Arrian Heresie denying the Eternal Godhead of the Lord Iesus or Pelagian denying the necessity of his Grace and of Baptism for the washing away of Original Sin II. Is there any one that doth affirm or teach and who is he that the holy Scripture doth not contain all things necessary to Salvation or that what is contained in the 3 Creeds ought not throughly to be received and believed or that the Church hath not Authority in Controversies of Faith III. Is there any that doth affirm and teach that the Church of England by law established is not a true and Apostolical Church and a true member of the Catholick Church having in her all things necessary to Salvation Or is there any that doth affirm and teach that the XXXIX Articles agreed upon by the Arch-bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London A.D. 1562. are in any part erroneous or superstitious or such as may not with a good conscience be subscribed unto IV. Is there any in your Parish that doth affirm and teach that the Form of God's Worship in the Church of England established by law and contained in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments is a corrupt Popish or any way superstitious or unlawful Worship of God or containeth any thing in it that is repugnant to Scripture or to the Doctrine and Worship in the Catholick or Primitive Church V. Is there any that doth affirm or teach and who is he that Baptism of Infants according as is practised in the Church of England is unlawful or unnecessary or better to be delayed or not appointed for the Remission of Sins or that it may be repeated or that Infants duly baptized according to the Churches Order and dying before they commit actual sin are not saved everlastingly through God's grace given them in Baptism VI. Is there any who doth affirm or teach that the king's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical which we see hath been given always to all godly Princes by God himself both among the Iews and in the Christian Church Or that doth any way deny or impugn the king's Majesties Royal Authority or Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical in this Realm Or who denies that within his Majesties Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and all other his Dominions and Countries our Lord the king is the highest Power under God to whom the chief Government of all Estates whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth appertain without any subjection due from Him or his Subjects to any foreign Iurisdiction VII Is there any who doth affirm and teach and who is he that the Government of the Church of England under his Majesty by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons or other chief Ministers bearing office in the same or that the forms or manner of Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons established by law contains any thing that is Antichristian or repugnant to the word of God or to the practice of the Catholick Church Or that persons so ordained Bishops Priests or Deacons have not sufficient external calling or that they ought not to be accounted truly Bishops Priests or Deacons till they have some other external calling unto those divine Offices or that teaches that those three holy Orders abovesaid have not been ever in Christ's Church even from the Apostles time VIII Is there any in your Parish and who is he that separating himself from this Church and from the Communion of Saints therein joyning himself to Conventicles breaks the Communion of the Church of England and so the Communion of the Catholick Church of whose Communion hers is a part or accounts of others as prophane and none of the godly for their orderly conforming themselves to the Church of England as established by law Or that any combining themselves in Assemblies or Congregations of the king's born Subjects within this Land other then such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed may truly take unto themselves the name of another purer Church or of the Church of England IX Is there any who doth affirm and teach and who is he that the Rites and Ceremonies and the Rules of the Church of England by law established are Antichristian superstitious or frivolous or any way unlawful or such as may not be subscribed unto and practised with a good conscience or that the Church hath no power to decree any such Rites and Ceremonies Concerning the Clergy their Duty and Office I. IS your Parson Vicar or also Curate in holy Orders by Episcopal Ordination a Priest ordained according to the laws of the Church of England hath he been legally instituted and inducted into his Benefice or is he known or suspected to have obtained his Parsonage or Vicarage by any Symoniacal Contract II. Did he within two Months after his Induction publickly in your Church or Chappel upon some Sunday or Holy day in the time of Divine Service openly read the XXXIX Articles ' established by Authority in this Church A. D. 1562. and then profess and publish his assent and subscribe his name thereto in the presence of the Church-wardens Do you not know or have you not heard that in his reading or pretending to read those XXXIX Articles he passed over some one or more of them or some part of one or more and what part of the Articles was it that he left unread Did your Parson Vicar or Curate upon some Lord's-day within two Months after his Induction solemnly read in your Church or Chappel both the Morning and Evening Prayer as it is appointed in the Book of Common-Prayer by law established And did he after such reading
Doth your Parson Vicar or Curate celebrate Matrimony betwixt any persons without the Banns of Matrimony first published on three several Sundays or Holy-days in the Parish-Church or Chappel where the said Parties dwell or at any times by Law prohibited without special Faculty or License in either case granted by lawful Authority Or doth he celebrate the same in any other place than in the Church and in such Church or Chappel only where both or one of the parties dwell though he have License granted by the Ordinary or in the Church at any other time then between the hours of eight and twelve in the Forenoon Or betwixt such persons as are prohibited by the Laws of God and are within those Degrees of Consanguinity or Affinity which are expressed in the Table of Marriage or under the Age of One and twenty years compleat without the consent of their Parents or of their Guardians and Governours if their Parents be dead first signified unto him XXII Or have any such Licenses as above-mentioned that you know of been granted by any under the Iurisdiction of this Diocess for the celebration of Matrimony until it do appear to the person himself who is judge in these cases by the Oaths of two sufficient witnesses one of them being known to the Iudge or to some person whom the Iudge may reasonably trust in this particular That the express consent of the Parents or Parent if one be dead or Guardian or Guardians of the Parties except they both were in the state of Widowhood is thereunto had and obtained and until one of the Parties to be Married have personally Sworn that he believeth there is no let or impediment of Precontract Kindred or Alliance or any other lawful cause nor any suit commenced in any Ecclesiastical Court to bar or hinder the proceeding of the said Matrimony XXIII Hath your Minister admitted any Women delivered of any Child begotten in Adultery or Fornication to be churched without License from the Ordinary XXIV Doth your Minister serve more than one Church or Chappel in distinct Parishes on one day if so how far distant are those Churches or Chappels which he so serveth XXV Doth your Parson Vicar or Curate if commanded by the Ordinary openly some Sunday denounce and declare for Excommunicate all such as stand Excommunicate by the Law of the Church to the end that others may be admonished to refrain their Company hath he said Divine Service whilst he knew such Excommunicate persons to have been in the Church or admitted such to the Communion whilst they stood so excommunicate XXVI Doth your Parson Vicar or Curate having convenient notice given delay or refuse to bury any that are brought to the Church or Church-yard according to the form prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer except such as die either unbaptized or Excommunicate Majori Excommunicatione and no man able to testifie their Repentance or have laid violent hands upon themselves XXVII Doth your Minister in the Parish Church or Chappel where he hath charge read the Book of Canons and Constitutions agreed on at the Synod holden at London A. D. 1603 once every year upon some Sundays or Holy-days in the Afternoon before Divine Service and doth he so divide the same as the one half may be read one day and the other half the other day XXVIII Doth your Minister publickly read the whole XXXIX Articles unto the people twice every year so that they may the better understand the same and be made more throughly acquainted with the Doctrine of the Church of England and not be so easily drawn away from the same as formerly before they know what it is XXXIX Is any Lecture preached in your Church is he or are they who preach it Licensed so to do by the Bishop Doth every such one before his Lecture either read the whole publick Service himself appointed for that day by the Church in his Surplice or at least be present at the whole reading thereof and is he in all respects conformable to the Laws and Orders of the Church of England Or doth he any way endeavour to bring the Parson or Vicar of the place into disrepute with his Parishioners XXX Doth every one abide in his own Calling whereunto he is called viz. Doth any Lay-man that is not duly ordained openly read Common-Prayer or execute any Ministerial duty in your Church Or is there any Clergy-man viz. any in Holy Orders who doth voluntarily relinquish those his Orders and use himself as a Lay man only without taking any care of the Church of God Concerning the Parishioners I. HAve you any persons or person living in your Parish that to your knowledge live not as becomes a Christian according to his promise and vow made in his Baptizm viz. denying ungodliness and worldly lusts living soberly justly and godly II. Have you any in your Parish who wilfully absent themselves from your Church or Chappel either at Morning or Evening Prayer upon Sundays and other days appointed by law to be used and kept as Holy-days or who come late to Church or depart from thence before Service be done and the blessing given Or hate you any that upon any Holy-days keep open shops or sell wares or follow their bodily and ordinary labour or trade or permit their Servants so to do in time of Divine Service Or have you any Dintners Inn-keepers or other Victualiers or sellers of Beer or Ale that permit any on such times to tipple or game in their houses or upon any pretence whatsoever except in some necessity as of sickness to remain in their houses in the time of Divine Service or Sermon Forenoon or Afternoon upon those days or any that will come to hear Sermons but will not come to the Common-Prayer and Worship of God appointed in this Church III. Are there any in your Parish of years of understanding that remain unbaptized or any that refuse to send their Infants to be baptized publickly in the Church in due time except in cases of necessity or in such cases do they procure them to be baptized at home in due manner according to the order of the Church of England Or are there any that send their Children away from their own Minister present among them to be baptized in other Churches Or any persons that being unconfirmed are not instructed in their Catechism or not Religiously brought up or not brought to confirmation or being of years neglect themselves to seek it upon pretence of elder age or of having received the Communion or Orders or upon any other pretence whatsoever Or are there any that being Sixteen years of Age do not receive the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist three times in the year whereof Easter to be one Or that doth forsake their own Parish-Church to receive elsewhere Or are there any married Women who after their delivery from the pain and peril
of Child-bearing refuse in convenient time to return a publick Thanksgiving to God according to the Order of the Church Or are there any that neglect to obtain the Christian burial of their dead according to the Rites of the Church of England IV. Do any in your Parish entertain in their house any Sojourner common Guests or other persons who refuse to frequent Divine Service or receive the holy Communion as aforesaid and what are the names qualities and conditions of such Sajourners V. Do any refuse to be uncovered during the time of Divine Service or Sermon or Homily prescribed therein or devoutly to kneel when by the Common-Prayer-Book they are commanded so to do or to stand up at the Glory be to the Father c. and at the Creeds and holy Gospel and to make answer at all the Responsals appointed by the said Book and due reverence when the Name of our Lord Jesus is mentioned or to say the Creed and the Lord's Prayer in a loud voice with the Minister Or do any in time of Divine Service or Sermon or Homily behave themselves rudely by walking talking whispering laughing or sleeping VI. Do any persons excommunicate intrude into your Church in time of Divine Service or doth any other person disturb your Minister doing any part of his Ministerial Office or do any brawl quarrel challenge one another fight or strike in the Church or Church-yard Or are any Plays Feasts Drinkings or Church-Ales kept in your Church or Church-yard VII Do any Housholders Fathers Masters Mothers Mistresses in your Parish neglect to cause their Children and Servants Apprentices or other Persons living in their House which have not yet learnt the Churches Catechism to learn the same and to come to Church on Sundays and Holy-days in the Afternoon there to be examined by their Minister and instructed therein VIII Is there any in your Parish Master or Servant Sojourner or Inhabiter Man or Woman that lieth under a common fame or suspicion or notoriety of Adultery Fornication or Incest or other Incontinency having married within the degrees prohibited by God and expressed in a Table set forth by Authority A.D. 1563. Or have you any that live together in your Parish as a man and wife who refuse to make known when where or by whom they were married Or any that being lawfully married do yet live asunder without separation in due form of Law Or have you any Bawds Entertainers or Concealers of incontinent persons or any common Drunkards Extortioners Swearers or Blasphemers of God's Name any sowers of Sedition Faction or Discord among their Neighbours any Railers Revilers common Slanderers of their Neighbours filthy and lascivious talkers or which have sollicited any person to unchastity or any which have used any Charms Inchantments or consultations of those called Wizards Witches or cunning men or any Sorceries not including here such as are made Felony by the Laws of this Realm or which have committed perjury in any Ecclesiastical Court and Cause IX Are there any Recusants in your Parish or other Schismatically affected who refuse communion with the Church in her Prayers and Sacraments who keep in their Houses any that take upon them to be spiritual guides and instructers or any School-master in their Family which come not to Church to hear Divine Service and to receive the holy Communion or that labour to seduce and withdraw others within or without the Family from the Religion in this Church established or any in your Parish that retain sell or disperse any Popish books or writings or other books or writings of any Sectaries touching the Religion State or Government Ecclesiastical of this kingdom of England or Books of Heresie X. Have you any in your Parish that are suspected to be Antinomians Anabaptists Familists Libertines Brownists Quakers Muggletonians Independents or Presbyterian opposers of Episcopal Government XI Did any dying in your Parish or elsewhere leave any Legacy to your Church or Chappel or to the Poor or to any other pious or charitable purposes What were the Legacies and how have they been bestowed Are there any in your Parish living that do to your knowledge or as you have heard with-hold any part of the stock goods or legacies given to any Church or Pious and Charitable use any provision for free Schools Alms-houses or Hospitals not including here such as are of his Majesties Foundation or Patronage or that employ them otherwise then according to the intent of their several foundations and the allowance of the Laws Are there any Testaments or Wills by any concealed or unproved or any Goods unadministred or administred without a due grant from the Ordinary XII Have you any in your Parish that refuse to pay their duty for Easter offerrings to your Minister or to reckon with him then or that refuse to contribute and pay the Rate cessed upon them for the repair of your Church or Chappel or for the providing of such Books Furniture or necessary Ornaments as are requisite for the performance of any of the Divine Offices there XIII Do you know of any person in your Parish having the Presentation or gift of any Ecclesiastical Benefice who hath presented a Minister to it upon any Bargain either for Mony or Pension or Lease or reserve of Tythes or Glebe or any part thereof or upon any other Symonical contract whatsoever Concerning Church-wardens Side-men Parish-Clerks and Sextons I. ARe the Church-wardens of your Parish yearly and duly chosen by the joint consent of your Minister and Parishioners or one of them by your Minister and the other by the Parishioners and are they sworn Have the last Church-wardens given up their Accounts before the Minister and Parishioners delivering up also the money remaining into your hands and other things of right belonging to your Church or Chappel and is the same delivered to you by bill indented II. Doth any person or persons trouble or molest you the Church-wardens for presenting any offenders in any of the premises or for performing the duty that lies upon you in executing any part of your office and who are they that do so molest and trouble you III. Do you the Church-wardens against every Communion provide a sufficient quantity of fine white Bread and good and wholsome Wine according to the number of the Communicants and do you bring the Wine so provided in a clean and sweet standing Flagon of Pewter or other purer Metal kept for that use IV. Do you suffer the Table for the holy Communion to be applied at any time to any prophane or common use as of writing setting dead Corps upon it at Funerals or others in the Church to sit upon it or irreverently to make it a place to lay their arms or hats upon it V. Do you the Church-wardens note them that come late to Church after Divine Service is begun or depart before it be ended and do you