parson or vicar himself, but to the curate or substitute present. LXX. Ministers to keep a Register of Christenings, In every parish-church and chapel within this realm, 5 shall be provided one parchment book at the charge of the parish, wherein shall be written the day and year of every christening, wedding, and burial, which have been in that parish since the time that the law was first made in that behalf, so far as the ancient books thereof can 10 be procured, but especially since the beginning of the reign of the late queen. And for the safe keeping of the said book, the church-wardens, at the charge of the parish, shall provide one sure coffer, with three locks and keys; whereof the one to remain with the minister, and 15 the other two with the church-wardens, severally; so that neither the minister without the two church-wardens, nor the church-wardens without the minister, shall at any time take that book out of the said coffer. And henceforth upon every Sabbath day, immediately after morning 20 or evening prayer, the minister and church-wardens shall take the said parchment book out of the said coffer, and the minister, in the presence of the church-wardens, shall write and record in the said book the names of all persons christened, together with the names and surnames of 25 their parents, and also the names of all persons married and buried in that parish in the week before, and the day and year of every such christening, marriage, and burial; and, that done, they shall lay up that book in the coffer, as before, and the minister and church-wardens 30 unto every page of that book, when it shall be filled with such inscriptions, shall subscribe their names. And the church-wardens shall once every year, within one month after the five and twentieth day of March, transmit unto the bishop of the diocese, or his chancellor, a true 35 copy of the names of all persons christened, married, or buried in their parish in the year before, (ended the said five and twentieth day of March,) and the certain days and months in which every such christening, marriage, and burial was had, to be subscribed with the hands of5 the said minister and church-wardens, to the end the same may faithfully be preserved in the registry of the said bishop; which certificate shall be received without fee. And if the minister or church-wardens shall be negligent in performance of any thing herein contained, 10 it shall be lawful for the bishop, or his chancellor, to convent them, and proceed against every of them as contemners of this our constitution. LXXI. Ministers not to preach, or administer the 15 No minister shall preach, or administer the holy communion, in any private house, except it be in times of necessity, when any being either so impotent as he cannot go to the church, or very dangerously sick, are desirous to be partakers of that holy sacrament, under pain of suspen- 20 sion for the first offence, and excommunication for the second. Provided, that houses are here reputed for private houses, wherein are no chapels dedicated and allowed by the ecclesiastical laws of this realm. And provided also, under the pain before expressed, that no chaplains 25 do preach or administer the communion in any other places, but in the chapels of the said houses; and that also they do the same very seldom upon Sundays and holy-days; so that both the lords and masters of the said houses, and their families, shall at other times resort to 30 their own parish-churches, and there receive the holy communion at the least once every year. LXXII. Ministers not to appoint public or private Fasts or Prophecies, or to exorcise, but by authority. No minister or ministers shall, without the license 35 and direction of the bishop of the diocese first obtained and had under his hand and seal, appoint or keep any solemn fasts, either publicly or in any private houses, other than such as by law are, or by public authority shall be appointed, nor shall be wittingly present at any 5 of them, under pain of suspension for the first fault, of excommunication for the second, and of deposition from the ministry for the third. Neither shall any minister not licensed, as is aforesaid, presume to appoint or hold any meetings for sermons, commonly termed by some 10 prophecies or exercises, in market-towns, or other places, under the said pains: nor, without such license, to attempt upon any pretence whatsoever, either of possession or obsession, by fasting and prayer, to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation of imposture or 15 cosenage, and deposition from the ministry. LXXIII. Ministers not to hold private Conventicles. Forasmuch as all conventicles, and secret meetings of priests and ministers, have been ever justly accounted very hurtful to the state of the church wherein they live; 20 we do now ordain and constitute, That no priests, or ministers of the word of God, or any other persons, shall meet together in any private house, or elsewhere, to consult upon any matter or course to be taken by them, or upon their motion or direction by any other, which 25 may any way tend to the impeaching or depraving of the doctrine of the Church of England, or of the Book of Common Prayer, or of any part of the government and discipline now established in the Church of England, under pain of excommunication ipso facto. LXXIV. Decency in Apparel enjoined to Ministers. The true, ancient, and flourishing Churches of Christ, being ever desirous that their prelacy and clergy might be had as well in outward reverence, as otherwise regarded 30 for the worthiness of their ministry, did think it fit, by a prescript form of decent and comely apparel, to have them known to the people, and thereby to receive the honour and estimation due to the special messengers and ministers of Almighty God: we therefore following their 5 grave judgment, and the ancient custom of the Church of England, and hoping that in time newfangleness of apparel in some factious persons will die of itself, do constitute and appoint, That the archbishops and bishops shall not intermit to use the accustomed apparel of their 10 degrees. Likewise all deans, masters of colleges, archdeacons, and prebendaries, in cathedral and collegiate churches, (being priests or deacons,) doctors in divinity, law, and physic, bachelors in divinity, masters of arts, and bachelors of law, having any ecclesiastical living, 15 shall usually wear gowns with standing collars, and sleeves strait at the hands, or wide sleeves, as is used in the universities, with hoods or tippets of silk or sarcenet, and square caps. And that all other ministers admitted or to be admitted into that function shall also usually 20 wear the like apparel as is aforesaid, except tippets only. We do further in like manner ordain, That all the said ecclesiastical persons above mentioned shall usually wear in their journeys cloaks with sleeves, commonly called priests' cloaks, without guards, welts, long buttons, or 25 cuts. And no ecclesiastical person shall wear any coif or wrought nightcap, but only plain nightcaps of black silk, satin, or velvet. In all which particulars concerning the apparel here prescribed, our meaning is not to attribute any holiness or special worthiness to the said gar-30 ments, but for decency, gravity, and order, as is before specified. In private houses, and in their studies, the said persons ecclesiastical may use any comely and scholarlike apparel, provided that it be not cut or pinkt; and that in public they go not in their doublet and hose, 35 U without coats or cassocks; and also that they wear not any light-coloured stockings. Likewise poor beneficed men and curates (not being able to provide themselves long gowns) may go in short gowns of the fashion afore said. 5 LXXV. Sober Conversation required in Ministers. No ecclesiastical person shall at any time, other than for their honest necessities, resort to any taverns or alehouses, neither shall they board or lodge in any such places. Furthermore, they shall not give themselves to 10 any base or servile labour, or to drinking or riot, spending their time idly by day or by night, playing at dice, cards, or tables, or any other unlawful game: but at all times convenient they shall hear or read somewhat of the holy scriptures, or shall occupy themselves with some other 15 honest study or exercise, always doing the things which shall appertain to honesty, and endeavouring to profit the Church of God; having always in mind, that they ought to excel all others in purity of life, and should be examples to the people to live well and christianly, under pain 20 of ecclesiastical censures, to be inflicted with severity, according to the qualities of their offences. LXXVI. Ministers at no time to forsake their Calling. No man being admitted a deacon or minister shall from thenceforth voluntarily relinquish the same, nor afterward 25 use himself in the course of his life as a layman, upon pain of excommunication. And the names of all such men, so forsaking their calling, the church-wardens of the parish where they dwell shall present to the bishop of the diocese, or to the ordinary of the place, having epi-30 scopal jurisdiction. |