Religion: general interest

This volume is a major new scholarly edition of some of the most important sources in the history of the Anglican Church. It includes all the canons produced by the Church of England, from the opening of the Reformation parliament in 1529 to 1947. Most of the material comes from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, among which the canons of 1529, 1603 and 1640, and Cardinal Pole's legatine constitutions of 1556, are of particular importance. But the volume also includes the first scholarly editions of the deposited canons of 1874 and 1879 and the proposed canons of 1947. In addition, it includes both the Irish canons of 1634 and the Scottish canons of 1636. The canons are accompanied by a substantial number of supplementary texts and appendixes, illustrating their sources and development; Latin texts are accompanied by parallel English translations, and the editor provides a full scholarly apparatus, which is particularly valuable for its identification of the sources of the various canons. The texts are preceded by an extended introduction, which provides not only an up-to-date analysis of the framing and significance of each set of canons, but also critical discussions of the origins and development of canon law and the system of ecclesiastical courts. It is an essential work of reference for anyone interested in the history of the Church of England since the Reformation, or in Anglican canon law. GERALD BRAY is Anglican Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University.

Summary

The assertions of Ralph Lever touching the canon law, the English papists and the ecclesiastical officers of this realm, with his most humble petition to her majesty for redress.

1. The canon law in these ages devised and made by the church of Rome is in exceeding many points contrary to the written Word of God and repugnant to the positive laws of this realm.

2. And whereas the canon law doth chiefly and principally establish the bishop of Rome his usurped and general authority over all Christendom and breedeth in men superstition and a certain security that there is no further increase of faith required but to believe as the church of Rome believeth, it is rightly termed ‘the pope's laws'.

3. But the rules, ordinances and decrees which are printed in the books of the canon law and yet have warrant by the Holy Scriptures and by the law of nature, and thereupon are in force here at this day, being established by act of parliament to this end, that justice may be ministered to all her majesty's subjects with indifferency, ought not to be named, reputed or taken by any of her majesty's subjects for foreign or popish laws, but for good and wholesome English laws.

4. He that in open show defendeth or putteth in ure the said canon law, being repugnant to God s Word and to the laws of this realm, doth maintain foreign power and doth open himself to the world to be one of that church whose laws he doth best approve and like of.

5. He that believeth the church of Rome which now is to be the true church of God, and that the same church of Rome doth not err, nor hath not erred in making of canons, laws and decrees, and in commanding the same to be generally kept of all Christian nations, is a papist, and if he do openly profess the same then he is a disloyal person and not to be taken or used as a subject in the church and commonwealth of England.

Summary

1. We whose names are subscribed, each man for himself, do unfeignedly acknowledge and confess that all jurisdiction, privilege and superiority which by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority heretofore have been, or lawfully by the laws of this realm be exercised or used for the visitation, reformation and correction of the ecclesiastical state and persons within her majesty's dominions, and for the reformation and correction of all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities within the same, are united to the imperial crown of England, and that her majesty hath the same power and authority so united to the crown, as weU by God's law as by the laws and statutes of this realm.

2. That by God's law and the laws of this realm there ought not to be any synods, conventicles or assemblies for the concluding or establishing of any laws, articles, ordinances or constitutions to be exercised, used or put in use within this realm in any spiritual or ecclesiastical matters or causes, or over any persons whatsoever, otherwise than by the queen's majesty's assent and by virtue of her highness's authority, and that all synods, conventicles, assemblies and attempts for any innovation or alteration to be made within this realm, without her majesty's authority and assent, of or for any ecclesiastical laws or government, are seditious and unlawful.

3. That the ecclesiastical government of archbishops, bishops and other ecclesiastical persons now received and established by her majesty s authority in the Church of England, is lawful and allowable by the Word of God, and that the government challenged, devised or attempted to be executed by any presbytery or church assembly consisting of doctors, pastors, elders and deacons, or of any of them, or any such like not warranted by the laws of this realm, is not only unlawful but also very dangerous for the state of this realm.

Summary

Iniunctions orders and decrees made and given the seaventh day of November one thousand six hundred thirtie six by us Richard by Gods providence Lord Archbishopp of Yorke, Primate of England and Metropolitane unto the chapter and prebendaries of the collegiate church of the blessed Virgin Mary of Southwell within the county of Nottingham and dioces of Yorke and to all other members of the said church whom they may shall concerne being of the foundation of the late king of famous memory Kinge Henrie the eight.

Summary

That the bishops might diligently carry out the things which are written below, as well as all other things which pertain to their office.

Whereas archbishops and bishops ought to be a pattern to the flock, to which their subjects inferiors ought to conform, which cannot be done, unless they set an example for everyone; [therefore], adhering to the statutes of our predecessors, we exhort in the Lord, and warn in virtue of holy obedience and under the witness of divine judgment, that all and singular the bishops on the principal feast days, at least on the feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, Easter and Pentecost, and in Holy Week, shall manifest their due presence in their cathedral churches, and there celebrate masses, and prepare the holy oil for the sick on the day of the Lord's Supper every year, unless it happens that they are called away from their churches by their superiors, or are absent at that time because of illness or for some other good reason. Moreover they shall go about their dioceses at convenient times, monasteria et hospitalia reformando, clerum et plebem corrigendo, haereses et errores extirpando et Verbum Vitae in agro Dominico seminando. In conferendis ordinibus atque beneficiis, instituendisque curatis multo diligentius quam antehac vigilando, nес inhabiles ad curam animarum etiam ad tempus substituantur praecavendo; beneficiatos, qui ex causa non admodum urgenti abfuerint, ad residendum in suis beneficiis citra оmnem redemptionem compeliendo, veniasque eadem beneficia pro pecunia locandi prorsus rescindendo; exactiones et rigores officiariorum et ministrorum suorum compescendo; ecclesiarum et capellarum privilegiatarum abusus comprimendo; contionatores idoneos per dioeceses suas subinde emitiendo; haereticos eorumque libros explorando et corrigendo; et cum opus fuerit, etiam condemnando et extinguendo. Et ut rudimenta fidei et litterarum tam in universitatibus quam in aliis gymnasiis publicis pura iaciantur, puriusque et sincerius coalescant, solicitius incumbendo, abbates et priores ad debitum numerum religiosorum reducendo observando, ipsosque religiosos in suis monasteriis degentes, ad monasticam conversationem excitando ac reducendo, absentes ad sua monasteria compeliendo; licentiam capacitatum coercendo.

Summary

Advertisements partly for due order in the public administration of common prayers and using the holy sacraments, and partly for the apparel of all persons ecclesiastical, by virtue of the queen's majesty's letters commanding the same, the 25 th day of January in the seventh year of the reign of our sovereign lady Elizabeth (25 January 1565), by the grace of God of England, France and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Preface.

The queen's majesty, of her godly zeal, calling to remembrance how necessary it is to the advancement of God's glory and to the establishment of Christ's pure religion, for all her loving subjects, especially the state ecclesiastical, to be knit together in one perfect unity of doctrine, and to be conjoined in one uniformity of rites and manners in the ministration of God's Holy Word, in open prayer and ministration of sacraments, as also to be of one decent behaviour in their outward apparel, to be known partly by their distinct habits to be of that vocation (who should be reverenced the rather in their offices as ministers of the holy things whereto they be called) hath by her letters directed unto the archbishop of Canterbury and metropolitan, required, enjoined and straitly charged that with assistance and conference had with other bishops, namely such as be in commission for causes ecclesiastical, some orders might be taken whereby all diversities and varieties among them of the clergy and the people (as breeding nothing but contention, offence and breach of common charity, and be against the laws, good usage and ordinances of the realm) might be reformed and repressed, and brought to one manner of uniformity throughout the whole realm, that the people may thereby quietly honour and serve Almighty God in truth, concord, unity, peace and quietness, as by her majesty's said letters more at large doth appear. Whereupon by diligent conference and communication in the same, and at last by assent and consent of the persons before said, these orders and rules ensuing have been thought meet and convenient to be used and followed;

Summary

Articuli per archiepiscopum, episcopos et reliquum clerum Cantuariensis provinciae in synodo inchoata Londini vicesimo quarto die mensis Novembris, anno Domini MDLXXXIV, regnique serenissimae in Christo principis dominae Elizabethae, Dei gratia Angliae, Franciae et Hiberniae reginae, fidei defensoris, etc. vicesimo septimo stabiliti, et regia auctoritate approbati et confirmati.

Articles drawn up by the archbishop, bishops and other clergy of the province of Canterbury in the synod begun at London on the twenty-fourth day of the month of November in the year of our Lord 1584, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of her most serene highness in Christ, Lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland Defender of the Faith, etc., and approved and confirmed by royal authority.

Ut homines idonei ad sacros ordinēs et beneficia (uti vocant) ecclesiastica admittantur.

1 [33]. Primo cautum est, ne quis posthac ad sacros ordinēs suscipiatur, qui non eodem quoque tempore praesentationem sui ipsius ad beneficium aliquod intra dioecesim sive iurisdictionem eiusdem episcopi a quo sacros ordines petit, tunc vacans exhibuerit; vel qui non eidem episcopo certum, verum et indubitatum certificatorium attulerit de ecclesia aliqua intra dioecesim sive iurisdictionem dicti episcopi, in qua curae animarum inservire possit; vel qui in aliqua cathedrali aut collegiata ecclesia, vel collegio Cantabrigensi aut Oxoniensi non fuerit constitutus; vel saltern, qui ab eodem episcopo in beneficium aliquod, sive ad curam (uti vocant) inserviendam tunc etiam vacantem, non sit mox admittendus.

2 [34]. Deinde, ne quis episcopus posthac aliquem in sacros ordines cooptet, qui non ex sua ipsius dioecesi fiierit, nisi vel ex altera nostratium academiarum prodierit; vel, nisi litteras (ut loquuntur) dimissorias ab episcopo, cuius dioecesanus existit, attulerit et vicesimum quartum aetatis suae annum iam compleverit, ac etiam in altera dictarum academiarum gradum aliquem scholasticum susceperit; vel saltern, nisi rationem fidei suae iuxta articulos illos religionis in synodo episcoporum et cleri approbatos Latino sermone reddere possit, adeo ut sacrarum litterarum testimonia, quibus eorundem articulorum Veritas innititur, recitare etiam valeat; ac ulterius, de vita sua laudabili et morum integritate litteras testimoniales sub sigillo vel alicuius collegii Cantabrigensis aut Oxoniensis, ubi antea moram fecerit, vel alicuius iustitiarii ad pacem dominae reginae conservandam assignati, una cum subscriptione et testimonio aliorum proborum et fide dignorum hominum eiusdem parochiae, ubi per tres annos ante proxime elapsos commoratus est, exhibeat.

Summary

endorsed with Bishop Laud's hand, 1640.

1. Sundry canons seem to be made quite on purpose to displace and keep out such painful [i.e. painstaking] and godly ministers as make scruple of the ceremonies, reviving and pressing such ceremonies as by disuse were almost buried, and for which her late majesty promised in the fourteenth [year] of her reign [1572] that no minister should be molested. Canons 18, 24, 25, 28, 30, 58, 74.

2. Some of them are very dangerous, to cause a separation from our churches of so many as do not approve of all things in our discipline or ceremonies, excommunicating ipso facto such as affirm anything in the ecclesiastical government or ceremonies to be unlawful, or shall not receive the sacrament kneeling and of their curate, how bad soever, whereas it was allowed by statute that a man might receive the sacrament of any lawful minister in the land. Canons 4,5,

27, 57.

3. Many of them tend to the diminishing of preaching and preachers, pressing a subscription beside statute, making void ministers licences, suppressing of lectures, putting down sermons in market towns, discharging ignorant ministers by reading the service and homilies, admitting plurality of benefices, tying the minister at all times to read the whole service, omitting nothing of it for a sermon or other respects. Canons 36, 54, 56, 72,49,41, 14. 4. Some will open a door to any such corrupt doctrines as the bishops of several dioceses shall be pleased to allow, forbidding under pain of suspension the ministers, how sufficient soever, to confute any false doctrine taught in or near his charge, till the bishop have been first informed of it and given his direction. Canon 53.

5. Some of them are injurious to the laws of the land and the liberties of the king's subjects, denying appeals to ministers, tying the churchwardens to take certain books of articles at the officials’ hands, which they might have at the stationer's for a third part of that money, and (contrary to the free custom of many places), giving the minister alone the power of choosing the churchwarden, though he be the servant of the parish;

Summary

Articles to be enquired of, in the generali visitation of the archdeacon of Glocester. Holden in the yeere of our Lord, 1641.

Concerning the church, and all things necessary for divine service.

Summary

Constitutions and canons ecclesiastical, treated upon by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, presidents of the convocations for the respective provinces of Canterbury and York, and the rest of the bishops and clergy of those provinces, and agreed upon with the king's majesty's licence in their several synods begun at London and York, MDCXL in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord Charles, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland the sixteenth; and now published for the due observation of them by his majesty's authority under the great seal of England.

Charles, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

Whereas our bishops, deans of our cathedral churches, archdeacons, chapters and colleges and the other clergy of every diocese within the several provinces of Canterbury and York, being respectively summoned and called by virtue of our several writs to the most reverend father in God, our right trusty and right well beloved counsellor, William, by divine providence lord archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and metropolitan, and to the most reverend father in God, our right trusty and well beloved counsellor, Richard, by divine providence lord archbishop of York, primate and metropolitan of England, respectively directed, bearing date the twentieth day of February in the fifteenth year of our reign [20 February 1640], to appear before the said lord archbishop of Canterbury in our cathedral church of St Paul in London, and before the said lord archbishop of York in the metropolitan church of St Peter in York, the fourteenth day of April then next ensuing [14 April 1640], or elsewhere as they respectively should think it most convenient, to treat, consent and conclude upon certain difficult and urgent affairs contained in the said writs, did thereupon at the time appointed, and within the cathedral church of St Paul, and the metropolitan church of St Peter aforesaid, assemble themselves respectively together and appear in several convocations for that purpose, according to the said several writs, before the said lord archbishop of Canterbury and the said lord archbishop of York respectively;

Summary

1 [110]. That the laws late made against the recusants be put in more due execution considering the benefit that hath grown unto the church thereby, where they have been so executed, and the encouragement which they and others do receive by remiss executing thereof.

2 [71]. That all preaching, reading, catechizing, and other suchlike exercises in private places and families, whereunto others do resort, being not of the same family, be utterly inhibited, seeing the same was never permitted as lawful, under any Christian magistrate, but is a manifest sign of schism, and a cause of contention in the church.

3 [56]. That none be permitted to preach, read, or catechize in the church or elsewhere, unless he do, four times in the year at least, say service, and minister the sacraments, according to the book of common prayer.

4 [58]. That all preachers, and others in ecclesiastical orders, do at all times wear and use such kind of apparel as is prescribed unto them by the Book of advertisements and her majesty's injunctions anno primo.

5 [49]. That none be permitted to preach, or interpret the Scriptures, unless he be a priest, or deacon at the least, admitted thereunto according to the laws of this realm.

6 [36]. That none be permitted to preach, read, catechize, minister the sacraments or to execute any other ecclesiastical function, by what authority soever he be admitted thereunto, unless he first consent and subscribe to these articles following, before the ordinary of the diocese wherein he preacheth, readeth, catechizeth or ministreth the sacraments, viz.:

A. That her majesty, under God, hath and ought to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within her realms and dominions and countries, of what estate ecclesiastical or temporal soever they may be. And that none other foreign power, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority ecclesiastical or temporal within her majesty's said realms, dominions and countries.

Religion: general interest

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7 - To other canons

3 - To the Corpus iuris canonici

Miscellaneous Endmatter

The Anglican Canons, 1529–1947

5 - The assertions of Ralph Lever, touching the canon law, 1563

Summary

9 - The deans of the arches since 1487

18 - Bishop William Juxon's articles for the London ministry, 1635

10 - Additional articles concerning the ecclesiastical laws, 1591

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25 - Archbishop Richard Neile's injunctions for Southwell minster, 1636

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1 - The canons of the convocation of 1529*

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3 - The advertisements for due order, 1566

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6 - The canons of 1584 (1585)*

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6 - The canons of 1603 (1604), the deposited canons of 1874, the proposed canons of 1947 and the revised canons of 1964-9

15 - Proposals for the reform of the canons of 1603, 1640

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35 - Archdeacon Hugh Robinson's articles for Gloucester archdeaconry, 1641

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10 - To the royal injunctions

12 - The canons of 1640

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26 - Bishop John Owen's articles for St Asaph diocese, 1637

4 - To the legatine constitutions of Otho and Othobon

7 - Archbishop Whitgift's articles, 1583

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The Anglican Canons, 1529–1947

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