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1285 [1284]

K. Edw. 6. Iniunctions geuen out by the king to all Churches, in his visitation.

Marginalia1547.
The x. Commaūdemētes & the Lordes prayer in Englishe, to be read.
x. cōmaundements of almighty God: in the English tongue  

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Injunction 4 represents an early, albeit radical, step in the introduction of a new vernacular worship service.

: exhorting the people not only to learn them their selues, but also to teach them to their childrē and families,MarginaliaParentes & maisters charged in trading vp of their children. & also should charge all Parentes and gouernours of housholds to bring vp their youth in some good exercise or occupation whereby they might afterwards serue the common wealth, and not runne about like vagabondes and idle loyterers, and therby encur the danger of the lawes  
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Injunction 5.

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MarginaliaSacraments to be reuerētly ministred. And furthermore that the sayd parsons (hauinge cure) should see the holy Sacramentes of Christ reuerently ministred within their cures: and that if any of them (by specyall licence or other cases expressed in the Statutes of thys Realme) should be at any time absent from their benefices, that then they should leaue in their rowmes some godly learned and discreet Curate,that were able to enstruct the people in all truth and godlines not seking themselues, but rather the profit of their flock  

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Injunction 6.

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MarginaliaThe Bible in Englishe of the largest volume, to be set vp in euery church with the Paraphrases of Erasmus. And likewise, that they should see prouided and set vp in some most conuenyent and open place of euery their seuerall Churches, one great Bible in English, and one book of the Paraphrases of Erasmus vpon the gospels, both in Englishe, that the people might reuerently without any argument or contention, read & heare the same at such times as they listed: and not to be inhibited therfrom by the Parsō or Curate, but rather to be the more encouraged and prouoked thereto  

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In a striking reversal of the 1543 withdrawal of permission for Bible reading by commoners (see n. 41, below), Injunction 7 mandates provision of chained copies of the Great Bible and the two-volume English translation of Erasmus's Paraphrases of the New Testament (1548-49; STC 2854-2854.7) for public reading by members of the laity.

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MarginaliaEcclesiastical persons not to haunt Tauernes, or play at vnlawfull game And that the sayd Persons and Curates should not at any tyme (but for necessary causes) haunte anye tauerne or alehouse, neyther shoulde spende theyr tyme idlely in vnlawfull games, but at all theyr conuenient leasures should geue themselues to the readyng or hearyng of the holye Scriptures  

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Injunction 8.

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Moreouer, that in the tyme of confession euery Lent, they should examine theyr parishioners whether they coulde say the Lordes prayer, the ten commaundementes, and the articles of the Christian fayth: and that if they coulde not, they should then reproue them, declaryng further vnto them that they ought not to presume to come vnto the lordes table without the true knowledge thereof, and earnest desire to fulfill the same  

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Injunction 9.

.MarginaliaNone to preach but sufficiently licenced.

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Also that they shoulde not admitte any man to preache within their cures, but suche as were lawfully lcenced thereunto: and that they hauyng at anye tyme before extolled and praysed any Idolatrous pilgrimage, or other superstition, should nowe openly recante the same before the people  

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Injunctions 10-11.

.Marginalia hinderers of Gods word, & fauourers of the cōtrary proceedings, should be detected.

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And if there were any open hinderer or disturber of the readyng or preachyng of the worde of God within their parishes, that then they should forthwith detect the same vnto the kinges counsaile, or vnto some Iustice of peace to them next inhabityng  

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Injunction 12.

.MarginaliaEcclesiastical & beneficed persōs, what they must geue to the poore.

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And further, that learnyng and knowledge might be the better maintayned, it was also ordayned herein, that euerye beneficed person that mought yearely dispende twenty poundes or vpwarde (and not Resident vpon theyr cures) should paye towardes the reliefe of the poore within theyr parishes euery yere, the fourty part of their fruites and profites  

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Injunction 14.

:MarginaliaEuery benefice of a C. pounde, to finde a scholler at the Vniuersitie. and likewyse that euery such as might dispende one hundreth poundes yerely, or more, should for euery hundreth pound geue a competent exhibition vnto some poore scholer within one of the Vniuersities of Oxford or Cambridge, or els in some other grammer schole of the realme  
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Injunction 15.

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And also that euery priest beyng vnder the degree of a Bacheler of Diuinitie should haue of hys owne, one newe Testament in English and Latin, with the Paraphrases of Erasmus vpon the same, and should diligently read and study therupon, and should collect and kepe in memory all such comfortable places of the Scripture, as do set forth the mercy, benefites, and goodnes of almighty God towards all penitent and beleuyng persons, that they might therby comfort their flock in all daunger of death, dispayre or trouble of conscience: and that therfore euery bishop in their visitatiōs should from tyme to tyme try and examine them howe they had profited in these their studies  

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Injunction 20 is designed to eliminate ignorance of the New Testament on the part of clerics.

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MarginaliaThe Gospell & Epistle to be read in the hearing of the people. And although the Masse was then still by the lawe retayned, yet was it enioyned, that at euery hygh Masse the sayer or singer therof should openly and distinctly read the Gospell and Epistle in Englishe, in the Pulpitte or in some other conuenient place that the people mought heare the same. And in lyke place and maner should reade euery holyday and Sonday at Mattines one chapter of the newe Testament in English, omittyng therfore three of their 9. Latine Lessons with their Respondes: and at Euensong likewise immediately after Magnificat, one chapter of the olde Testament in steade of their wonted Respondes and Memories  

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In requiring the reading of passages from the Old and New Testaments in vernacular translation, Injunction 21 represents the starting point in a radical departure from the Latin service that survived England's 1534 schism from the Church of Rome. Readings from the Great Bible in conjunction with those from the forthcoming Book of Homilies (Injunction 32) and Book of Common Prayer (forthcoming in 1549) would comprise a wholly new church service in the English language. King, English Reformation Literature, pp. 123-38.

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Furthermore, because of the vayne contention that often fell among the people for goyng on Procession, it was Marginalia Processions layd downe.ordeyned that thenceforth the Priestes and Clarkes should knele in the midst of the Church, and there distinctly sing or read the Letany in Englishe set foorth by the authoritie of king Henry the eight: and that no person shoulde depart the Church in the tyme of readyng the Scripture or the Letany, or during the time of any Sermon, without iust and vrgent cause  

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Injunction 23. The 1544 Litany was the first component in the vernacular worship service contained in the Book of Common Prayer (forthcoming in 1549).

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MarginaliaThe true vsing of the holy day. Likewyse that the people should spend the holydayes in hearyng the worde of God, in priuate and publike prayers, in knowledgyng their offences vnto God and amendement of the same, in reconcilyng themselues charitably to their neighbours where displeasure hath bene, in often receiuyng the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ, in visiting the poore and sicke, and in all sober and godly conuersation: and not in vanitie, idlenes, or drunkennes, neither yet in any bodily labour, otherwise then in the tyme of haruest, to saue the fruites of the earth, if necessitie so required  

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Injunction 24.

:MarginaliaDiligent preparation to be had before the comming to the Communion. and that no Curate should admit vnto the receiuyng of the holy Cōmunion, any person who had maliciously and openly contended with hys neighbours, vnlesse the same dyd first also openly reconcile hymself agayne, and remitte all rancour and malice whatsoeuer  
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Injunction 25.

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MarginaliaA godly charge geue to euery beneficed minister to preach personally twise at least in the yeare, & what to preach. Moreouer it was ordeined that euery Dean, Archdeacon, master of Collegiat Churches or Hospitals, and Prebendaries (being Priest) should him selfe personnally preach twise euery yeare at the least, in some suche place where hee had iurisdiction and liuing  

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Injunction 26.

: and that they and al other Curates should teach the people that as no man of any priuate affection ought maliciously to violate any ceremon in the Church, then not abrogated by the kings authority: so likewise they ought not on the other side, to vse them superstitiously or Idolatrously, in attributing to them remission of sinnes, driuing away of euil spirits, and other suchlike dreames and fantasies of men, or els in putting any confidēce of saluation or health in them  
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Although Injunction 27 mandates strict observance of ecclesiastical ceremonies, it anticipates the forthcoming abrogation of many elements in the traditional service by denying that ceremonies discharge any soteriological function.

.MarginaliaAll monuments of Idolatry to be taken away out of churches, houses, & windowes. And farther, that they should vtterly take away and destroy all Shrines and Monuments of fayned Miracles, Pilgrimages, and other Idolatrous superstition, as well in their Churches, as within their priuate houses  
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Injunction 28 gives official sanction to the iconoclastic destruction of shrines and religious images and to shrines that constitute objects of veneration, including those in stained glass windows.

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MarginaliaA Chest to be prouided vpon publicke charge to receaue the almes of the poore & the Curates to call vpō their parishioners to geue to the same chest. Also that they should see prouided within their churches a strong and fit chest for the safe keping of the peoples beneuolence geuen towardes the reliefe of the poore, and that the sayd Curates should earnestly exhorte and moue their Parishioners (especyally at the making of their Testaments) that as they had been thertofore willing to bestow much of their substance vpon vain superstitions and blind deuotions contrary to Gods word, so now they would be much more readyer to geue some portion therof vnto their poore & nedy brethren, knowing the same to be not onely commaunded in the word of God, but also promised to be rewarded. And for the better reliefe of the poore it was also appointed that all money & profits rysing vpon Fraternities, Guildes, stocks of Churches or geuen to the finding of Idolatrous lightes should be conuerted for that present vnto the same vse  

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Injunction 29.

.MarginaliaHomelies to be read euery sonday when there is no sermon. Last of all, for the want of learned Curates and other good preachers, it was enioyned that the Curats (hauyng no serm&) should euery sonday read vnto the people in their churches one of the homelies which should be shortly set forth for the same purpose by the kings authoritie: & that when any homely or sermō should be preached or read, then the Prime and Houres shoulde be omitted  
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Acknowledging the existence of an inadequate supply of learned clerics, Injunction 32 enjoins unlicensed preachers to read officially authorized sermons in Certain sermons, or homilies, appoynted by the kynges maiestie, to be declared and redde. Its initial publication on 31 July 1547 coincided with that of the Royal Injunctions. The King's Printer, Richard Grafton, or his associate, Edward Whitchurch, published eleven editions of the Book of Homilies during 1547 (STC 13638.5-13641.9). Various hands contributed twelve sermons on a range of topics (e.g., exhortations on original sin, against whoredom and adultery, and against strife and contention). It is a virtual certainty that Archbishop Cranmer composed the homilies on Bible reading, salvation, faith, and works, which expound the core Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone and the concomitant position that good works lack efficacy in themselves and possess no validity if they are not grounded in faith. King, English Reformation Literature, pp. 131-34.; MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer, pp. 372-75.

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There were also diuers other Articles in the same Iniunctions appointed for comlines and due order in the churches: as for repairing of Chauncels and Priestes houses, for keeping of a Register booke of weddinges, christenings and burials, for reading of these Iniunctions euery quarter for due paying of tithes for forbidding of any other alteration of seruice in the Church, or fasting dayes, for makinge of comely Pulpits for the Prachers, for auoyding of symony in buying and selling of benefices, for the charitable vsing of Priests, for praying onely vpon the English and Latine Primmers set forth by K. Henry the eight, for the teachng of hs Grammer in the common Scholes. And last that the Chauntrye Priestes shoulde teach yong children, either to write and read, or els some other good and profitable exercises:MarginaliaRead the former edition of the booke of Actes and Monumentes, pag. 684. as it doth more fully and amplye appeare in the same Iniunctions at large set forth in the þ684. page of the firste booke of Actes and Monumentes of the church hertofore imprinted  

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Foxe advises the reader to consult page 684 of the first edition of the Book of Martyrs in order to consult a more expansive paraphrase of Injunctions 13, 16-19, 22, 30-31, and 33-34.

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Besides these generall Iniunctions for the whole estate of the Realme, there were also certaine others particularlye appointed for the Bishops onely: which being deliuered vnto the Commissioners, were likewise by theire visitations committed vnto the sayd Byshops with charge to be inuiolably obserued and kept vpon payne of the kings maiestyes displeasure: the effect wherof is as in maner foloweth.

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First that they should to the vttermost of their witte and vnderstandng, see and cause all euery and singular þe kings

Iniunc-
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