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"Service of the Church for that Day appointed

is read, and before the whole is finifhed,) read "the thirty-nine Articles of Religion, in the Pa"rish Church, &c. into which he fhall be Induct"ed, and declare his unfeigned Affent and Confent

to all that is therein contain'd; and he must like"wife, within two Months actual Poffeffion of "fuch Benefice, &c. (which is intended within

two Months of Induction, or Installation, &c.) "read the Book of Common Prayer (that is, the whole Service of the Church appointed for that Day, as it is there appointed,) and likewife de"clare his Affent and Confent to all the Matters. "and Things therein contained, in thefe Words, "I A. B. do declare my unfeigned Affent and Confent to all and every Thing contained and prefcribed, &c. by the Book intituled, The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Ufe of the Church of England; together with the Pfalter or Pfalms of "David, pointed as they are to be fung or faid in Churches, and the Form or Manner of Making, "Ordaining, and Confecrating of Bishops, Priefts, "and Deacons.

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"And if any Parfon, Vicar, &c. fail in the doing of any of thefe Things beforementioned, "or any of thofe be neglected, the Church bes "comes void; and the Clerk that makes fuch Fai

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lure, in cafe he fhall fue for his Tythes, or any, other Church Duty, or other Thing belonging to the Church; if the Defendant infift upon it, "muft

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66 must prove the doing of all thefe Things"And it is to be obferved, that the Parfons, Vicars "&c. muft, upon the Acceptance of every new Li"ving or Ecclefiaftical Perferment, within this "Law, repeat all thefe Things; for the Perfor"mance of all thefe Things, upon the taking of "one Living, will not fatisfy for any other.

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"I fhall give my Reverend Clergymen there"fore this Caution, if any of them have accepted any Ecclefiaftical Preferments, and have negligently omitted any of these Things, and that "thereby they may be lapfed to the King, that ❝ they obtain Presentations from the King ad coroborandum, and that thereupon they perfect all "their former Neglects.

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"And for the Future I advise them, that they "first have some credible Witneffes prefent, when "they make their Subfcription before the Bifhop; "and that they atteft the Bishops Certificate; and

that they get two Books of Articles, and that "when they Read the thirty-nine Articles, they give "one of thofe Books of Articles to fome credible "Parifhioners, to read with them, and then attest "the Book, that they were present, and heard the "Clerk read the faid thirty-nine Articles, during "the Time of Common-Prayer, and declared his "unfeigned Affent and Confent to all the Matters "and Things therein contained, by fubfcribing their "Names thereunto; and that the Clergyman keep

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fafely the faid Book of Articles, with this Atteftation. And I advife that when he reads the Book of Common-Prayer, which muft (as above

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“is is faid) be read Morning and Evening, in all "Things which are prefcrib'd therein within two "Months after Induction, that he likewife make "fome intelligent Parishioners to read with him, "and give him a Copy of the Declaration afore"faid, and at the Foot of it take an Atteftation "under their Hands of his reading the fame Book "of Common-Prayer and Declaration. Which "may be done in this Form.

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"First in a fair and legible Hand, write the De"claration aforefaid. Then write under to this "Effect. Memorandum, That upon Sunday the Day of in the Year of our Lord Parfon of D in the County of D, read "Common-Prayers in the Parish Church of aforefaid, both in the Forenoon and "Afternoon of the fame Day; according to the "Form and Order prefcrib'd and directed by the "Book, Intitled &c. And immediately after the rea"ding the fame, made a Declaration of his unfeign"ed Affent and Confent, to all the Matters and

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Things therein contained, in the former Words above Written. And then let the Witneffes hereunto fubfcribe the fame Certificate: Which "the Clerk is to keep carefully with his Inftitu"tion, Induction, and Certificate, with the Book "of Articles, attefted as is above directed, and in

thefe Things I advife all Clergymen to be very "tender and careful."

Now the Reader may Note here, that the New Teftament, with the Apoftolick Conftitutions and Canons, and all the Qualifications in the Epiftles

to Timothy and Titus are intirely omitted, and the whole is put upon the Truth, and certainly of the Church of England's Settlements as then by Law Eftablished; without regard to any other Rule whatfoever. To be fure Sir Richard Steel hit the Mark, when he thus diftinguished the two Principal Churches in Chriftendom, the Church of Rome and the Church of England; that the former pretended to be Infallible; and the latter to be always in the Right,

N. B. The Reader muft give me leave to tell him here another Fact, which will hardly come in better any where elfe, but ftill relates fo directly to myself, that it ought not to be omited in these Memoirs of my own Life: It is this:

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Soon after the Acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover to the Throne, Sir Joseph Jekyl, that most excellent and upright Mafter of the Rolls, and fincere ChriftiDr. Clark's and my very good Friend; had fuch an Opinion of us two, that we might be proper Perfons to be made Bishops, in order to our endeavouring to amend what was amifs in the Church; and had a mind to feel my Pulfe, how I would relish fuch a Propofal, if it ever should be made me : My Anfwer was direct and fudden; that I would not Sign the xxxix Articles to be Archbishop of Canterbury: To which Sir Jofeph reply'd, that Bishops are not obliged to fign thofe Articles. I faid I never knew fo much before. But ftill I added, If I were a Bifhop I muft oblige others to fign them; which would go forely againft

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the Grain with me. However I added further, that fuppofing I fhould get over that Scruple, and esteem this Act only as Minifterial; which would by no means imply my own Approbation, yet when I were a Bishop, I fhould certainly endeavour to govern my Diocese by the Chriftian Rules, in the Apoftolical Conftitutions, and in St. Paul's Epiftles to Timothy and Titus: Which as they would frequently contradict the Laws of the Land, would certainly expofe me to a Præmunire, to the Forfeiture of all my Goods to the Crown, and to Imprifonment as long as the King pleased. And this, concluded I, would be the End of Bifop Whifton. So I thought no more of it. I might have added alío, what would for ever exclude me from a Bishoprick in the prefent State of the Church, the 31ft Canon of the Apoftles. If any Bishop makes use of the Rulers of this World, and by their Means obtains to be a Bishop of a Church, let bim be deprived and fufpended, and all that Communicate with him. See my Chriftian Difcipline, page 56.

I conclude this Matter with that very pertinent and emphatical Reply, which a Fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge made to a Friend of his of the fame College, when at the Reftoration; wherein by Mr Baxter's Account 1800 Clergymen [a prodigious Number this] were deprived for Nonconformity, he had been reprefenting the great Difficulties of Conformity in point of Confcience; concluding however with thefe Words: But we muft live.. To which the other anfwered only, with the like Number of Words, But we must die. Than which a better Anfwer could not poffibly be given.

N. B.

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