gart `reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. AndBe it enafted----that no Parent ¡]tailbe forbidden to enter his ownChild into, Covenant with God in baptifm, by fpeakingfbehpromising and undertakingwords,as by the Liturgy and Canonarenow required ofthe Godfathers and Godmothers alone: Nor 'lull any MYlinifter be forced againft his Confcience to baptize any Child, who is not thus offered to God, by oneof the Parents, or by fuch a pro parent as taketh the Childfor his own, andundertaketh the ChriftianEducation. Be it alto Enafted that noperfon (hall be con&rained againft his Confcience to the deof the Crofs in Baptifni or of theSurplice, nor anyMinuter to deny the Lord's Supper to any for not receiving it kneeling ; nor readanyof the Apocryphafor Lefton ; nor to puniah any Excommunication or Abfolutionagainft hisConfcience ; but the Bifhop or Chan- çellour who decreeth it ¡hall taufe fuchto publith it as are not diffatisfyed fo to do, or`fhall onlyaffix it on the Church-Door. Nor 'hall anyMinifter be conftrained at Bu- rial tofpeak only words importing the faleation of any perfon, who within a year received not theSacrament of Communion, of was fufpended from it according to the Rubrickor Canon, and fatisfyed not the Minifterof his ferious Repentance. III. Andwhereas many perfons having been ordained as Presbyters by Paroehi, alPaftors in the times of llfurpationand Diftraftion, bath occafioned many Diftìcul- ties; for the prefentremedy hereof, be it Ehafted. - -That allfuck perfons asbefore this timehave been ordained as Presbyters by Parochial Pattononly, and are quali- fyedfor that Officeas the Law required; !hall receive power to exercife it, from a Bifhop by a written Inftrument (which every Bifhop in his Diocefs is hereby em- powered and required to Grant) in thefe words and no other [To A. B. ofC. in the Country of D. Take thou Authority to exercif the Office of aPresbyter, in any place and Congregation in the King's Dominions whereto thou /hall be lawfully called.] And this praftice fufhcing for prefent Concord, no one flail be put to declare his Jhdgment, whetherThis, or That which he before received, (hail be taken for his Ordination, nor Railbeurged to fpeak anywords of fuch lignification; but eachparty 'hall be left to Judge as they fee caufe. IV. And whereas the pietyof Families, and Godly Converfeof Neighbours is a great means ofpreferving Religion and Sobriety in the World, and left the Aft for fupprelliagfeditious Conventicles Ihould be mif-interpretedas injurious thereto, be itdeclared---that it is noneof the meaningof the faid Aft, to forbidany fuch Fa- mily Piety or Converfe, thomore then four Neighbours Ihould be peaceably pre- fent, at theReading of the Scriptures, or a Licenfed Book, the Singing ofa Pfalm, repeating of the publick Sermons, or any fuchExercife which neither the Laws nor Canons doforbid they beingpeifomedby fuchas joynwith theallowed Church-Af- femblies, and ref'afenot the Infpcftion of the Minifters of the Pariah ; Efpecially whereperfons that cannot read areunable todo filch things athome, as by Can. 13. is enjoyned. V. And whereas the formof the Oath and Declaration, impofedon perfonsof Office and Trill in Corporations, is unfatisfaftory to many thatare Loyal and peaceable, that our Concordmayextend to Corporations as well as Churches, Be tt Euafted-----That thetaking of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and the Declaration againftReligion and Difloyalty, here before prefcribed, ¡hall toall Ends andpurports Office inftead of the faid Oath andDeclaration. VI. And whereas there aremany peaceable SubJefts, who hold all theEffentials of the ChriftianFaith, but conformnot to fo much as isrequired to the Eftablifbed Miniftry and Church-Communion Be it Enafted that All and only they who fhall publickly take the Oaths ofAllegiance and Supremacy, before forceCourt of Juftice, or at the open Seffions of the County where they live, and that then and there Snbfcribe as followeth. [ I A. B. dounfeignedlyfraud to my Baptifmal Covenant, and do believe all the Articles ofthe Creeds called theAporks,the Nicene,andConftanti- nopolitane ; and the truth of the holy Canonical Scriptures, and do renounce all that zs contrary hereto,] Roll be fo far tolerated in the Excercife of their Religion, as His Majelty, with the advice ofhis Parliament or Council, Rail from timeto time, find aoofifteat with the peace and fafetyofhis Kingdoms. ViI. 9
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