Canons of
the
English Church
relating to
Creation and Authority.
Passed
during the Convocation
Presided over by Richard Bancroft
Archbishop of Canterbury,
First
called in A.D. 1603 and continued with
adjournments and prorogations until A.D. 1610.
BOOK I.
Approved
by the Convocations of Canterbury and York A.D. 1606,
made public under licence by
William Sancroft Archbishop of Canterbury June 24th, A.D. 1689.
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 describes the book of which these constitutions form part in these words "A tract proving the supremacy of kings and chief civil governors above the High Priest, from the Creation to the end of the Jewish estate. These thirty-six Chapters, with the Constitutions upon them were with joint consent approved in the Synods at Canterbury and York in Archbishop Bancroft's time; ... I have heard there was a second part to prove the like, from Christ to this present. But I could never see it, nor could I tell whether it ever passed the Convocations, as this did. W. Cant." [formal signature as Archbishop].
Canon I.
"If any man therefore shall affirm with any Pagan, Heretic, Atheist, or any other profane persons, which know not, or believe not the Scriptures, either that heaven and earth had no beginning, or that the world was not otherwise made by Christ, than as He was an instrument of God the Father for the making of it; or that He did not, as God, create our said parents, Adam and Eve, he doth greatly err."
Canon II.
"If any man shall therefore affirm that men at the first, without all good education, or civility, ran up and down in the woods, and fields, as wild creatures, resting themselves in caves, and dens, and acknowledging no superiority one over another, until they were taught by experience the necessity of government; and that thereupon they chose some amongst themselves to order and rule the rest, giving them power and authority so to do; and that consequently all civil power, jurisdiction, and authority, was first derived from the people, and disordered multitude; or either is originally still in them, or else is deduced by their consents naturally from them; and is not God's ordinance originally descending from Him, and depending upon Him, he doth greatly err."
Canon III.
"If any man therefore shall affirm either that our first parents after their fall, or consequently any of their posterity, could serve or please God truly by any natural powers, or faculties, that were left in them after the said fall; or that the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ was not a secret, whereunto our corrupt nature could not attain; or that our Saviour Christ is not the promised seed that should break the serpent's head; or that any can possibly be partakers of everlasting life without faith in Him, he doth greatly err."
Canon IV.
"If any man shall therefore affirm that the Son of God having from the beginning a Church upon earth, did leave them till the flood without priests, and priestly authority to govern and instruct them in those ways of their salvation, and in the right manner of the worship and service of God; or that they might teach them any other doctrine in that behalf, than that which they did received from God Himself, he doth greatly err."
Canon V.
"And therefore if any man shall affirm with any Pagan, or profane Atheist, either that there was not any such general deluge, or that there is any nation or people in the world that doth not descend from one of the said three sons of Noah, he doth greatly err."
Canon VI.
"If any man shall therefore affirm either that the civil power and authority which Noah had before the flood, was by the deluge determined [=extinguished]; or that it was given unto him again by his sons and nephews; or that he received from them the sword of his sovereignty; or that the said distribution did depend upon their consents, or received from them any such authority as without the same it could not lawfully have been made; or that this power, superiority and authority, and all the parts thereof, which Noah's three sons and their children had, (as is before declared,) did not proceed originally from God, or were not properly His ordinances, but they had the same from the people, their offspring, he doth greatly err."
Canon VII.
"If any man shall therefore affirm either that the priestly office, and authority ecclesiastical, which Noah had before the flood, was by that deluge determined [=extinguished], or that it was by the election of his offspring conferred again upon him; or that Sem, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were neither priests, nor had any ecclesiastical authority, until they were chosen thereunto by their children and nephews; or that the priesthood and ecclesiastical authority were not the ordinances of God for the governing and instructing of the Church, according to the will and directions of God Himself delivered and revealed unto them, as is aforesaid, he doth greatly err."
Canon VIII.
"If therefore any man shall affirm that the said posterity of Noah his children did well in altering either the manner or form of civil government, which God had appointed, by bringing in tyranny or factious popularity; or of the ecclesiastical, by framing unto themselves a new kind of priesthood and worship after their own humours; or that it was lawful for such as then served God, upon pretence to have imitated their examples in either of those courses, he doth greatly err."
Canon IX and X..
"IX. If any man therefore shall affirm either that the uniting of the children of Jacob into one nation, or the severing of the civil and ecclesiastical functions (the prerogatives of birthright) from Reuben the first-born, and dividing of them from one person, was made by themselves;"
"X. Or that their servitude in Egypt was unjustly suffered to lie upon them so long by Almighty God; or that they being His Church, He left them destitute of such comforts of direction and instruction as were necessary, those times considered, for their civil or ecclesiastical estate; or that the people took then upon them appointing of the heads of their tribes and families, or the choice of the civil superiors, or of the priests; or that the example of those wicked kings may be any lawful warrant for any other king so to oppress the people, and Church of God, he doth greatly err."
[Canons XI through XXXIV to be transcribed]
Canon XXXV.
"If any man therefore shall affirm either that the Son of God, according to the doctrine of the Old Testament, was not the governor of all the world: or, that He did not appoint under Him divers kings, princes and civil magistrates, to rule and govern in the kingdoms and places assigned unto them: or, that having so appointed them, He did not Himself direct, uphold, and rule them by His omnipotence, according to His divine wisdom; and might not, in that respect, be truly called the Lord of lords, and the God of gods: or, that all the world and the particular kingdoms and civil kinds of government in the world were not in respect of the Son of God, as He is the governor of the world, and the Lord of lords, and God of gods, one kingdom, principality or government, thereby to impeach the mild and temperate government which He had established amongst Jews: or, that He ever committed the government of all the world, after Adam and Noah's times, to any one man, to be the sole and visible monarch of it: or, that the said kingdom of Christ, as He was the Lord of lords, and God of gods, and so governed the whole world, was otherwise visible upon the earth, than per partes, viz. by the particular kingdoms and kinds of civil government, or perhaps by some representation , he doth greatly err."
Canon XXXVI.
"If any man therefore shall affirm either that during the continuance of the Old Testament, the merits of Christ's death actually to come, were not sufficient to save all true believers: or, that there was then no Catholic Church: or, that at any time there was any other rock but Jesus Christ, the blessed Seed, upon whom the Catholic Church was then built: or, that many of the Gentiles were not always, for aught that is known to the contrary, true members of the Catholic Church: or, that Christ Himself was not the sole head or monarch all that while of the whole Catholic Church: or, that the said Catholic Church, after the members of it were dispersed into all the places of the world, was otherwise visible than per partes: or, that Noah did appoint any man to be the visible head of the said Catholic Church, or, that the High-Priest among the Jews had any more authority over the Catholic Church of God than king David had over the universal kingdom of God: or, that the said High-Priest had not greatly sinned, if he had taken upon him, or usurped any such infinite authority, he doth greatly err."
Canons and
background information from
Bishop Overall's Convocation Book
concerning
The Government of God's Catholic Church
and the
Kingdom's of the Whole World.
Oxford, 1844.
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