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By
Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth I – 1571 |
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"... And that if
any manner of Parson, Vicar, or other whatsoever Minister, that ought
or should sing or say Common Prayer mentioned in the said Book, or minister
the Sacraments, ... refuse to use the said Common Prayer, or to minister
the Sacraments in such Cathedral, or Parish-Church, or other places, as
he should use to minister the same, in such order and form as they be
mentioned, and set forth in the said Book; or shall wilfully, or obstinately
standing in the same, use any other Rite, Ceremony, Order, Form, or Manner
of celebrating of the Lord's Supper, openly or privily, or Mattens, Evensong,
Administration of the Sacraments, or other open Prayers,
than is mentioned and set forth in the said Book, [open Prayer in and
throughout this Act, is meant that Prayer which is for others to come
unto or hear, either in Common Churches, or Private Chapels, or Oratories,
commonly called the Service of the Church] or shall preach, declare
or speak any thing Book, or any thing therein contained, or of any part
thereof, and shall be thereof lawfully convicted, according to the laws
of this Realm, by verdict of twelve men, or by his own confession, or
by the notorious evidence of the fact, shall lose and forfeit to the Queen's
Highness, Her Heirs and Successors, for his first Offence, the profit
of all his Spiritual Benefices, or Promotions, coming or arising in one
whole Year next after his Conviction: And also that the Person so convicted,
shall for the same Offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of
six Months, without Bail or Mainprise. And if any such Person,
once convict(ed) of any Offence concerning the Premisses, shall after
his first conviction eftsoons offend, and be thereof in form aforesaid
lawfully convict: That then the same Person shall for his second Offence
suffer Imprisonment by the space of one whole Year, and
also shall therefore be deprived, ipso facto, of all his Spiritual
Promotions, and, That it shall be lawful to all Patrons, or Donors of
all and singular the same ... |
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| By His Royal Majesty Charles I – | ||
Concerning
liturgy added: "...by the growth of Anabaptism, through the
licientiousness of the late times crept in amongst us, is now
become necessary, and may be always useful for the baptizing of Natives
in our Plantations ... nor can expect that men of factious, peevish, and
perverse spirits should be satisfied with any thing that can be done in
this kind by any other than themselves" (Page xii). "Being by God's Ordinance, according to Our just Ttile, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Governor of the Church, within these Our Dominions, We hold it most agreeable to this Our Kingly Office, and Our own religious Zeal ... That the Articles of the Church of England ... prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles ... the settled Continuance and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England now established; from which We will not endure any varying or departing in the least Degree. ... We will, that all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be generally set forth in the holy Scriptures, and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them. And that no man hereafter shall either print, or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof ... That if any publick Reader in either of Our Universities, or any Head or Master of a College, or any other person respectively in either of them ... shall publickly read, determine, or hold any publick Disputation, or suffer any such to be held either way, in either the Universities or Colleges respectively; or if any Divine in the Universities shall preach or print any thing either way, other than is already established in Convocation with Our Royal Assent; he, or they the Offenders, shall be liable to Our displeaure, and the Church's censure in Our Commission Ecclesiastical, as well as any other: And We will see there shall be due Execution upon them." (Page 631-632). |
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