"maintain or affirm any doctrine directly contrary or re"pugnant to the Thirty-nine Articles, and being convented "before the Bishop of the diocese, shall persist therein, or "not revoke his error, or after such revocation eftsoon "affirm such untrue doctrine, such maintaining, or affirm-. ❝ing, and persisting, or such eftsoon affirming, shall be just "cause to deprive such person of his ecclesiastical promo❝tion; and it shall be lawful to the Bishop of the diocese, "or the Ordinary, to deprive such person so persisting, or 66 lawfully convicted of such eftsoons affirming; and upon "such sentence of deprivation pronounced, he shall be in"deed deprived:" and one other Act of Parliament, made in the ninth year of King William the Third, intituled An Act for the more effectual Suppressing of Blasphemy and Profaneness; by which it is provided, "That if any person "shall, by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, "deny any one of the Persons in the holy Trinity to be God, or shall assert or maintain there are more Gods ❝than one, or shall deny the Christian religion to be true, "or the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to "be of divine authority, and shall, upon indictment or in"formation in any of his Majesty's Courts at Westminster, "or at the Assizes, be thereof lawfully convicted, by the "oath of two or more credible witnesses; such person, for "the first offence, shall be adjudged incapable and disabled "in law to have or enjoy any office or employment, eccle❝siastical, civil, or military; and that if any person so con"victed, as aforesaid, shall, at the time of his conviction, 66 66 66 enjoy or possess any office, place, or employment, such "office, place, or employment shall be void; and if he "offend, and be convicted a second time of any of the said "crimes, he shall be disabled to sue, prosecute, plead, or 66 use any action or information in any court of law or equity, or to be guardian of any child, or executor, or "administrator of any person, or capable of any legacy or "deed of gift, or to bear any office, civil or military, or be"nefice ecclesiastical, for ever, within this realm, and shall "also suffer imprisonment for the space of three years, "without bail or mainprize, from the time of such con"viction :" We therefore, being desirous to discountenance and suppress all such impious attempts and practices to the utmost of our power, do strictly charge and command you to make use of your own authority for that end, according to the tenor and direction of the said Act, made in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth; together with all other means and endeavours suitable to your holy profession, for opposing and suppressing all such practices. And we, on our part, will give strict charge to our Judges, and all other civil officers, to do their duty, in executing the said Act, made in the ninth year of King William the Third, and all other the good and wholesome laws made for the preservation of our holy religion, upon such persons as shall offend against the same, and thereby give occasion of scandal and disturbance in our church and kingdom. Given at our Court at St. James's, the seventh day of By his Majesty's command, CARTERET. BY THE KING. A Proclamation for the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue, and for preventing and punishing of Vice, Profaneness, and Immorality. GEORGE R. WHEREAS we cannot but observe, with inexpressible concern, the rapid progress of impiety and licentiousness, and that deluge of profaneness, immorality, and every kind of vice, which, to the scandal of our holy religion, and to the evil example of our loving subjects, hath broken in upon this nation: We therefore, esteeming it our indispensable duty to exert the authority committed to us for the suppression of these spreading evils, fearing lest that they should provoke God's wrath and indignation against us, and humbly acknowledging that we cannot expect the blessing and goodness of Almighty God, (by whom kings reign, and on which we entirely rely,) to make our reign happy and prosperous to ourself and our people, without a religious observance of God's holy laws: to the intent that religion, piety, and good manners, may (according to our most hearty desire) flourish and increase under our administration and government, have thought fit, by the advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our royal Proclamation, and do hereby declare our royal purpose and resolution to discountenance and punish all manner of vice, profaneness, and immorality, in all persons of whatsoever degree or quality, within this our realm, and particularly in such as are employed near our royal person; and that, for the encouragement of religion and morality, we will, upon all occasions, distinguish persons of piety and virtue, by marks of our royal favour: and we do expect and require, that all persons of honour, or in place of authority, will give good example by their own piety and virtue, and to their utmost contribute to the discountenancing persons of dissolute and debauched lives, that they, being reduced by that means to shame and contempt for their loose and evil actions and behaviour, may be thereby also enforced the sooner to reform their ill habits and practices, and that the visible displeasure of good men towards them may (as far as it is possible) supply what the laws (probably) cannot altogether prevent: and we do hereby strictly enjoin and prohibit all our loving subjects, of what degree or quality soever, from playing, on the Lord's day, at dice, cards, or any other game whatsoever, either in public or private houses, or other place or places whatsoever: and we do hereby require and command them, and every of them, decently and reverently to attend the worship of God on the Lord's day, on pain of our highest displeasure, and of being proceeded against with the utmost rigour that may be by law. And, for the more ef fectual reforming all such persons, who, by reason of their dissolute lives and conversation, are a scandal to our kingdom, our further pleasure is, and we do hereby strictly charge and command all our Judges, Mayors, Sheriff's, Justices of the Peace, and all other our officers and ministers, both ecclesiastical and civil, and all other our subjects, to be very vigilant and strict in the discovery and the effectual prosecution and punishment of all persons who shall be guilty of excessive drinking, blasphemy, profane swearing and cursing, lewdness, profanation of the Lord's day, or other dissolute, immoral, or disorderly practices; and that they take care also effectually to suppress all public gaming-houses, and other loose and disorderly houses, and also all unlicensed public shows, interludes, and places of entertainment, using the utmost caution in licensing the same: also to suppress all loose and licentious prints, books, and publications, dispersing poison to the minds of the young and unwary, and to punish the publishers and venders thereof; and to put in execution the statute, made in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of the late King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for the better Observation of the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday; and also an Act of Parliament, made in the ninth year of the reign of the late King William the Third, intituled An Act for the more effectual suppressing of Blasphemy and Profaneness; and also an Act, passed in the twenty-first year of our reign, intituled An Act for preventing certain Abuses and Profanations on the Lord's day, called Sunday; and all other laws now in force for the punishing and suppressing any of the vices aforesaid; and also to suppress and prevent all gaming whatsoever, in public or private houses, on the Lord's day; and likewise that they take effectual care to prevent all persons keeping taverns, chocolate-houses, coffee-houses, or other public houses whatsoever, from selling wine, chocolate, coffee, ale, beer, or other liquors, or receiving or permitting guests to be or remain in such their houses in the time of Divine service on the Lord's day, as they will answer it to Almighty God, and upon pain of our highest displeasure. And, for the more effectual proceeding herein, we do hereby direct and command all our Judges of Assize and Justices of the Peace, to give strict charge at their respective Assizes and Sessions, for the due prosecution and punishment of all persons that shall presume to offend in any of the crimes aforesaid; and also of all persons that, contrary to their duty, shall be remiss or negligent in putting the said laws in execution; and that they do, at their respective Assizes and Quarter Sessions of the Peace, cause this our royal Proclamation to be publicly read in open Court immediately before the charge is given. And we do hereby further charge and command every Minister in his respective parish church or chapel to read, or cause to be read, this our Proclamation at least four times in every year, immediately after Divine service, and to incite and stir up their respective auditors to the practice of piety and virtue, and the avoiding of all immorality and profaneness. And, to the end that all vice and debauchery may be prevented, and religion and virtue practised by all officers, private soldiers, mariners, and others who are employed in our service by sea and land, we do hereby strictly charge and command all our commanders and officers whatsoever, that they do take care to avoid all profaneness, debauchery, and other immoralities, and that, by their own good and virtuous lives and conversation, they do set good examples to all such as are under their care and authority; and likewise take care of and inspect the behaviour of all such as are under them, and punish all those who shall be guilty of any of the offences aforesaid, as they will be answerable for the ill consequences of their neglect herein. Given at our Court at St. James's, the first day of June, 1787, in the twenty-seventh year of our reign. God save the King. His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury's Letter to the Right Reverend the Lords Bishops of his Province. Lambeth, Feb. 21, 1770. My Lord, IT having been the unanimous opinion of as many of our brethren, the Bishops of this province, as I have had an opportunity of consulting, that it might be for the service of religion to revive, and enforce, with some small variation, the rules published by the five last of my predecessors in the see of Canterbury, soon after their accession to it: I earnestly recommend to you, 1. That you require of every person who desires to be admitted to holy Orders, that he signify to you his name and place of abode, and transmit to you his testimonial, and a certificate of his age, duly attested, with the title upon which he is to be ordained, at least twenty days before the time of Ordination; and that he appear on Wednesday, or at farthest on Thursday, in Ember-week, in order to his examination. 2. That if you shall reject any person who applies for holy Orders, upon the account of immorality proved against him, you signify the name of the person so rejected, with the reason of your rejecting him, to me, within one month; that so I may acquaint the rest of my suffragans with the case of such rejected person before the next Ordination. 3. That you admit not any person to holy Orders, who having resided any considerable time out of the University, does not send to you, with his testimonial, a certificate signed by the Minister, and other credible inhabitants of the parish where he so resided, expressing that notice was given in the church, in time of Divine service, on some Sunday, at least a month before the day of Ordination, of his intention to offer himself to you to be ordained at such a time; and that, upon such notice given, no objections |