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register one, of the names of all that are there baptized; another, of the names of all that are approved upon their aforesaid credible profession, and so admitted into the number of communicants, or that have a certificate of such approbation, regularly elsewhere performed.

And if Confirmation be continued, let his Majesty's Declaration be observed, requiring that Confirmation be rightly and solemnly performed, by the information, and with the consent, of the minister of the place.

Let no minister be enforced to admit any himself to the Lord's Supper, who hath been clancularly* and irregularly approved.

Those that after this approbation prove scandalous offenders, shall not by the minister be suffered to partake of the Lord's Table, until they have openly declared themselves to have truly repented, and amended their former naughty lives.

Of the Celebration of Matrimony.

BEFORE the solemnizing of marriage between any persons, their purpose of marriage shall be published by the minister three several Lord's-days in the * Clancularly, (Lat. clanculum ;) secretly, surreptitiously.-P. H.

H

congregation, at the place or places of their most usual abode respectively. And of this publication the minister who is to join them in marriage shall have sufficient testimony, before he proceed to solemnize the marriage; the parents' consent being first sufficiently made known.

At the celebration the minister shall, either by a sermon, or other exhortation, open to them the institution, ends, and use of marriage, with the conjugal duties which they are faithfully to perform to each other and then shall demand of them whether it be their desire and purpose to be joined together in the bond of the marriage covenant; and if they answer affirmatively, he shall say to them:

I REQUIRE and charge you, as you will answer at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you do know any impediment, by precontract, or otherwise, why you may not lawfully be joined together in marriage, you discover it, and proceed not.

If no impediment be discovered by them or others, he shall proceed and pray.

Gen. ii. 18;i. 28. MOST merciful Father, who hast ordained marriage for mutual help, and

Mal. ii. 15.

for the increase of mankind with a 1 Cor. vii. 14, 9.

Heb. xiii. 4.

Psal. cxxvii. 3.

legitimate issue, and of the Church Luke i. 6. with a holy seed, and for prevention of Eph. v. 22, &c. uncleanness: bless thy own ordinance Mal. ii. 15, 16. to these persons, that, entering this Matt.xix. 13, 14. state of marriage in thy fear, they may there entirely devote themselves unto Ezek. xvi. 8. thee, and be faithful in all conjugal Prov. xx. 7. Eph. vi. 4.

Deut. xxix. 11,

12.

affections and duties unto each other. 1 Pet. iii. 1, 7. [And if thou bless them with children, 1 Tim. iii. 11; If they be young let them be devoted unto

v. 13, 14.

1 Cor. vii. 5.

it may be said, thee, and accepted as thine Gen. ii. 18.

Bless

them

with children, own, and blessed with thy

and let them be devoted, &c.

Prov. v. 18.
Heb. x. 16.

1 Pet. iii. 7.

grace, and educated in thy 1 Cor. vii. 29. fear.] Subdue those cor- Luke xii. 40. ruptions that would make their lives Rev. xix. 7. unholy or uncomfortable, and deliver John xvii. 24. them from temptations to impiety, worldliness, unquietness, discontent, or disaffection to each other; or to any unfaithfulness, to thee or to each other. Make them meet helps to each other in thy fear, and in the lawful management of the affairs of this world. Let them not hinder, but provoke one another to love and to good works: and, foreseeing the day of their separation by death, let them spend

their days in a holy preparation, and live here together as the heirs of life, that must rejoice at the great marriage-day of the Lamb, and live for ever with Christ, and all the holy angels and saints, in the presence of thy glory. Amen.

The woman, if she be under parents or governors, being by one of them, or some deputed by them, given to be married, the man with his right hand shall take the woman by the right hand, and shall say,

I, A. do take thee, B. to be my married wife; and do promise and covenant in the presence of God, and before this congregation, to be a loving and. faithful husband to thee, till God shall separate us by death.

Then the woman shall take the man by the right hand with her right hand, and say,

I, B, do take thee, A. to be my married husband; and I do promise and covenant in the presence of God, and before this congregation, to be a loving, obedient, and faithful wife unto thee, till God shall separate us by death.

Then let the Minister say,

THESE two persons, A. and B. being lawfully mar

ried according to God's ordinance, I do pronounce them husband and wife. And those whom God. hath conjoined, let no man put asunder.

Next he may read the duty of husbands and wives, out of Eph. v. 2, Col. iv. 2, 1 Pet. iii. and Psalm cxxviii; or some other pertinent Psalm may be said or sung. And let the Minister exhort them to their several duties, and then pray,

1 Tim. iv. 5.

1 Cor. x. 31.

1 Thes. iii. 12. Eph. v. 25.

Most merciful Father, let thy blessings Gen. xxviii. 3. rest upon these persons, now joined in Tit. i. 15. lawful marriage: sanctify them and their conversations, their family, estates, and affairs, unto thy glory. Furnish Gal. v. 22. them with love to thee and to each Rom. viii. 1, 13. other, with meekness, patience, and contentedness. Let them not live unto the flesh, but unto the Spirit; that of the Spirit they may reap everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Gal. vi. 8.

Then let him conclude with a Benediction.

GOD Almighty, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, bless you in your souls and bodies, family, and affairs, and preserve you to his heavenly kingdom. Amen.

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