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THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

CONSTITUTIONS and CANONS Ecclesiastical, treated upon by the Bishop of London, president of the Convocation for the Province of Canterbury, and the rest of the Bishops and Clergy of the said Province: and agreed upon with the King's Majesty's License, in their Synod begun at London, Anno Domini 1603, and in the Year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, France, and Ireland, the First, and of Scotland, the Thirty-seventh and now published for the due observation of them, by his Majesty's authority under the Great Seal of England.

JAMES, by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., 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 province of Canterbury, being summoned and called by virtue of our writ directed to the most reverend father in God, John, late archbishop of Canterbury, and bearing date the one and thirtieth day of January, in the first year of our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the thirty-seventh, to have appeared before him in our cathedral church of St. Paul in London the twentieth day of March then next ensuing,

or elsewhere, as he should have thought it most convenient, to treat, consent, and conclude upon certain difficult and urgent affairs mentioned in the said writ: did thereupon, at the time appointed, and within the cathedral church of St. Paul aforesaid, assemble themselves, and appear in convocation for that purpose, according to our said writ, before the right reverend father in God, Richard bishop of London, duly (upon a second writ of ours, dated the 9th day of March aforesaid) authorized, appointed, and constituted, by reason of the said archbishop of Canterbury his death, president of the said convocation, to execute those things, which, by virtue of our first writ, did appertain to him the said archbishop to have excuted it, if he had lived: We, for divers urgent and weighty causes and considerations as thereunto especially moving, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, did, by virtue of our prerogative royal, and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical, give and grant by our several letters patent under our great seal of England, the one dated the twelfth day of April last past, and the other the twenty-fifth day of June then next following, full, free, and lawful liberty, license, power, and authority unto the said bishop of London, president of the said convocation, and to the other bishops, deans, archdeacons, chapters, and colleges, and the rest of the clergy before mentioned, of the said province, that they, from time to time, during our first parliament now prorogued, might confer, treat, debate, consider, consult, and agree of and upon such canons, orders, ordinances, and constitutions, as they should think necessary, fit, and convenient, for the honor and service of Almighty God, the good and quiet of the church, and the better government thereof, to be from time to time observed, performed, fulfilled, and kept, as well by the

archbishops of Canterbury, the bishops, and their successors, and the rest of the whole clergy of the said province of Canterbury, in their several callings, offices, functions, ministries, degrees, and administrations; as also by all and every dean of the arches, and other judge of the said archbishop's courts, guardians of spiritualities, chancellors, deans and chapters, archdeacons, commissaries, officials, registrars, and all and every other ecclesiastical officers, and their inferior ministers, whatsoever, of the same province of Canterbury, in their and every of their distinct courts, and in the order and manner of their and every of their proceedings; and by all other persons within this realm, as far as lawfully, being members of the church, it may concern them, as in our said letters patent amongst other clauses more at large doth appear. Forasmuch as the bishop of London, president of the said convocation, and others, the said bishops, deans, archdeacons, chapters, and colleges, with the rest of the clergy, having met together, at the time and place before mentioned, and then and there, by virtue of our said authority granted unto them, treated of, concluded, and agreed upon certain Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, to the end and purpose by us limited and prescribed unto them; and have thereupon offered and presented the same unto us, most humbly desiring us to give our royal assent unto their said Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, according to the form of a certain statute or act of parliament, made in that behalf in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, and by our said prerogative royal and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical, to ratify by our letters patent under our great seal of England, and to confirm the same, the title and tenor of them being word for word as ensueth:

OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

I. The King's Supremacy over the Church of England, in Causes Ecclesiastical, to be maintained.

As our duty to the king's most excellent majesty requireth, we first decree and ordain, That the archbishop of Canterbury (from time to time), all bishops of this province, all deans, archdeacons, parsons, vicars, and all other ecclesiastical persons, shall faithfully keep and observe, and (as much as in them lieth) shall cause to be observed and kept by others, all and singular laws and statutes, made for restoring to the crown of this kingdom the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical, and abolishing of all foreign power repugnant to the same. Furthermore, all ecclesiastical persons having cure of souls, and all other preachers, and readers of divine lectures, shall, to the uttermost of their wit, knowledge, and learning, purely and sincerely, without any color or dissimulation, teach, manifest, open, and declare, four times every year at the least, in their sermons and other collations and lectures, that all usurped and foreign power (forasmuch as the same hath 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, or subjection, within his majesty's realms and dominions, is due unto any such foreign power, but that the king's power, within his realms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and all other his dominions and countries, is the highest power under God; to whom all men, as well inhabitants, as born within the same, do by God's laws owe most loyalty and obedience, afore and above all other powers and potentates in the earth.

II. Impuguers of the King's Supremacy censured.

Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, That the King's majesty hath not the same authority in causes ecclesiastical, that the godly kings had amongst the Jews and Christian emperors of the primitive church; or impeach any part of his regal supremacy in the said causes restored to the crown, and by the laws of this realm therein established; let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but only by the archbishop, after his repentance, and public revocation of those his wicked errors.

III. The Church of England a true and Apostolical Church.

Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, That the Church of England, by law established under the king's majesty, is not a true and apostolic church, teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the apostles; let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but only by the archbishop, after his repentance, and public revocation of this his wicked error.

IV. Impugners of the Public Worship of God, established in the Church of England, censured.

Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, 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, superstitious, or unlawful worship of God, or containeth anything in it that is repugnant to the scriptures; let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but by the bishop of the place, or archbishop, after his repentance, and public revocation of such his wicked errors.

V. Impugners of the Articles of Religion, as established in the Church of England, censured.

Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, That any of the nine and thirty Articles agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy, in the convocation holden at London, in the year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred sixty-two, for avoiding diversities of opinions, and for the establishing consent touching true religion, are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto; let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but only by the archbishop, after his repentance, and public revocation of such his wicked errors.

VI. Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies, established in the Church of England, censured.

Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, That the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, by law established, are wicked, anti-christian, or superstitious, or such as, being commanded by

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