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Church in the United States of America, in order to render the same conformable to the American Revolution and the Constitutions of the respective States:" And it was further agreed and declared, that the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, as altered by an instrument of writing, passed under the authority of the aforesaid convention, entitled, "Alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, proposed and recommended to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, should be used in this Church, when the same should have been ratified by the conventions which had respectively sent deputies to the said General Convention:"-And thereupon the said convention, anxious to complete their Episcopal system by means of the Church of England, did transcribe and transmit an address to the most reverend and right reverend the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the bishops of the Church of England, earnestly entreating that venerable body to confer the Episcopal character on such persons as should be recommended by this Church, in the several states so represented.

And whereas the clerical and lay deputies of this Church have received the most friendly and affectionate letters in answer to the said address, from the said archbishops and bishops, opening a fair prospect of the success of their said applications; but, at the same time, earnestly exhorting this convention to use their utmost exertions for the removal of certain objections by them made, against some parts of the alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, and Rites and Ceremonies of this Church, last mentioned: In pursuance whereof, this present General Convention hath been called, and is now assembled; and being sincerely disposed to give every satisfaction to their lordships, which will be consistent with the union and general content of the Church they represent; and declaring their steadfast resolution to maintain the same essential articles of faith and discipline with the Church of England:

Now therefore, the said deputies do hereby determine and declare,

First, That in the creed commonly called the Apostles' Creed, these words" He descended into hell," shall be and continue a part of that creed.

Secondly, That the Nicene Creed shall also be inserted in the said Book of Common Prayer, immediately after the Apostle's Creed, prefaced with the rubric [or this.]

And whereas, In consequence of the objections expressed by their lordships to the alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, last mentioned, the conventions in some of the states, represented in this General Convention, have suspended the ratification and use of the said Book of Common Prayer, by reason whereof it will be improper that persons to be consecrated or ordained as bishops, priests, or deacons, respectively, should subscribe the declaration contained in the tenth article of the general ecclesiastical constitution, without some modification.

Therefore, it is hereby determined and declared,

Thirdly, That the second clause so to be subscribed by a bishop, priest, or deacon of this Church, in any of the states which have not already ratified or used the last mentioned Book of Common Prayer, shall be in the words following"And I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, according to the use of the Church of England, as the same is altered by the General Convention, in a certain instrument of writing, passed by their authority, entitled, Alterations of the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in order to render the same conformable to the American Revolution, and the Constitutions of the respective States, until the new Book of Common Prayer, recommended by the General Convention, shall be ratified or used in the state in which I am (bishop, priest, or deacon, as the case may be), by the authority of the convention thereof. And I do further solemnly engage, that when the said new Book of Common Prayer shall be ratified or used by the authority of the convention in the state for which I am consecrated a bishop (or ordained a priest or deacon,) I will conform to the doctrines and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as settled and determined in the last mentioned Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, set forth by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States."

And it is hereby further determined and declared,

That these words in the preface to the new proposed Book of Common Prayer, viz. "In the creed commonly called the Apostle's Creed, one clause is omitted, as being of uncertain meaning; and"-together with the note re

ferred to in that place, be, from henceforth, no part of the preface to the said proposed Book of Common Prayer.

And it is hereby further determined and declared,

That the fourth article of religion in the new proposed Book of Common Prayer, be altered, to render it conformable to the adoption of the Nicene Creed, as follows, "of the creeds. The two creeds, namely, that commonly called the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, ought to be received and believed, because they," &c. &c.

Done in General Convention, at Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, the day and year first aforesaid.

No. 14. Page 138.

To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come, or whom the same shall or may in any wise or at any time concern, we, John, by Divine Providence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan, send greeting:

Whereas, by an act of parliament, passed at Westminster, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the third, king of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, entitled, "An Act to empower the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York, for the time being, to Consecrate to the Office of a Bishop, Persons being Subjects or Citizens of Countries out of his Majesty's Dominions," it is enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, for the time being, together with such other bishops as they shall call to their assistance, to consecrate persons, being subjects or citizens of countries out of his majesty's dominions, bishops, for the purposes aforesaid, without the king's license for their election, or the royal mandate under the great seal for their confirmation and consecration, and without requiring them to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the oath of due obedience to the archbishop for the time being. Provided always, that no persons shall be consecrated bishops in the manner herein provided, until the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, for the time being, shall have first applied for, and obtained his majesty's license, by warrant under his royal signet and sign manual, authorizing and empowering him to perform such consecration, and expressing the name or names of

the persons so to be consecrated; nor until the said archbishop has been fully ascertained of their sufficiency in good learning, of the soundness of their faith, and of the purity of their manners. Provided also, and be it hereby declared, that no person or persons consecrated to the office of a bishop in the manner aforesaid, nor any person or persons deriving their consecration from or under any bishop so consecrated, nor any person or persons admitted to the order of deacon or priest by any bishop or bishops so consecrated, or by the successor or successors of any bishop or bishops so consecrated, shall be thereby enabled to exercise his or their respective office or offices within his majesty's dominions. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that a certificate of such consecration shall be given under the hand and seal of the archbishop who consecrates, containing the name of the person so consecrated, with the addition as well of the country whereof he is a subject or citizen, as of the Church in which he is appointed bishop, and the further description of his not having taken the said oaths, being exempted from the obligation of so doing by virtue of this act.-Now, know all men by these presents, that we, the said John, lord archbishop of Canterbury, having obtained his majesty's license, by warrant under his royal signet and sign manual, did, in pursuance of the said act of parliament, on Sunday, the fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, in the chapel of our palace, at Lambeth, in the county of Surry, admit our beloved in Christ, William White, clerk, D. D. a subject or citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, in North-America, and rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's, in the city of Philadelphia, in the said state, of whose sufficiency in good learning, soundness in the faith, and purity of manners, we were fully ascertained, into the office of a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the state of Pennsylvania aforesaid, to which the said William White hath been elected by the convention for the said state, as appears unto us by due testimony thereof by him produced; and him, the said William White, did then and there rightly and canonically consecrate a bishop, according to the manner and form prescribed and used by the Church of England, his taking the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and canonical obedience only excepted, he being exempted from the obligation of taking the said oaths by virtue of the above recited act. Provided, that neither he, the said bishop, nor any person or persons

deriving their consecration from or under him, nor any person or persons admitted to the order of deacon or priest by him, or his successor or successors, shall be enabled to exercise his or their respective office or offices within his majesty's dominions. In testimony whereof, we have caused our archi-episcopal seal to be affixed to these presents. Given at Lambeth House, the day and year above written, and in the fourth year of our translation.

J. (L. S.) CANTUAR.

We, William, lord archbishop of York, Charles, lord bishop of Bath and Wells, and John, lord bishop of Peterborough, were present and assisting at the consecration within mentioned.

W. EBOR,

C. BATH & WELLS,
J. PETERBOROUGH.

The signatures of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Peterborough, were made in my presence, February 4th, 1787. W. DICKES,

(Copy.)

Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

On Sunday, the fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and in the fourth year of the translation of the most reverend father in God, John, by divine Providence, lord archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and metropolitan, in the chapel at the palace at Lambeth, in the county of Surry, the said most reverend father in God, by virtue and authority of a certain license or warrant from his most gracious majesty, and our sovereign Lord George the third, by the grace of God, of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, and so forth, to him, in this behalf, directed, the most reverend father in God, William, by the same Providence, lord archbishop of York, primate of England, and metropolitan, and the right reverend fathers in God, Charles, by divine permission, lord bishop of Bath and Wells, and John, by divine permission, lord bishop of Peterborough, assisting him, consecrated the reverend William White, doctor in divinity, rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's, in the city of Philadelphia, a subject or citizen of the United States of North-America, and the reverend Samuel Provoost, doctor

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