as innocent and honourable to all who engage in it discreetly, advisedly, soberly, with purity of heart, and in the fear of God.

Then speaking to the Persons that are about to be married, the Man standing on the right hand, the Woman on the left, the Minister shall say,

MY Christian Brother and Sister, I re

quire and charge you both, as ye will answer it at the awful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it.

If no impediment be confessed, then shall the Minister call upon each of the Parties about to be married, to make the following Declaration, prescribed by Law:

The Man.-"I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, A. B., may not be joined in Matrimony to C. D."

The Woman.-"I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, C. D., may not be joined in Matrimony to A. B.”

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The Minister shall then ask, "Who giveth the Woman to be Married to the Man?" and receiving her at her Father's or Friend's hand, shall cause the Man with his right hand to take the Woman by her right hand, and say to her, as prescribed by Law,

"I CALL upon these persons here pre“I sent to witness, that I, A. B., do take thee, C. D., to be my lawful wedded wife."

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¶ The Woman then, in like manner, with her right hand, shall take the Man by his right hand, and shall say to him, as prescribed by Law,

"I CALL upon these persons here present to witness, that I, C. D., do take thee, A. B., to be my lawful wedded husband."

¶ Then the Man shall present a Ring, and the Minister taking the Ring shall deliver it to the Man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand. This being done, and the Married Persons again joining hands, the Minister shall say to them,

BY this Token, the ancient and accepted symbol of conjugal love, you, A. B. and C. D., do declare yourselves wedded to one another, as Husband and Wife, according to God's holy ordinance and the law of the land: And you now solemnly engage and pledge yourselves, each to the other to live together in

this holy bond, and to keep the one to the other only, from this day forward; taking each other for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part.

The Husband and Wife shall severally answer,

"We do."

Then shall the Minister say,

FORASMUCH as these, our brother and sister, have thus engaged and pledged themselves, each to the other, before God and this company, I pronounce them henceforth Husband and Wife.

And hear ye the sacred injunction of the Christian Lawgiver, with regard to the union of man and woman in marriage, "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

¶ Hereupon the Minister shall deliver the following benediction :

MAY God Almighty, the Father of fa

milies, mercifully keep and bless these his servants now joined in holy wedlock, and cause their union to be a source of true and growing happiness: and may He grant them his heavenly grace that

they may evermore seek to promote each other's piety and Christian virtue, and may thus be alike prepared for the felicity that shall never end, promised at the resurrection of the just, by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Here the Marriage may be registered, as the Law directs,— unless the registry can be deferred to the conclusion of the service, which, where it can be done conveniently, is to be desired.

The Minister shall then deliver the following Exhortation to the Persons married:

MY Christian Brother and Sister, you

have now, by joining your hands and hearts in wedlock, of your own will and accord entered upon the most important engagement of human life; a solemn as well as joyful engagement, ordained by God, for the mutual society, help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. You have here publicly vowed true affection and constant fidelity to one another, so long as God in his goodness shall be pleased to spare your lives. You declare yourselves to be one in heart and soul, and promise to have henceforward one common interest, and to

seek each the other's welfare. You plight yourselves mutually to share the duties, the enjoyments and the cares of life, to solace one another in trouble, and to tend one another in affliction. Remember habitually, I beseech you, these your voluntary professions and vows; and let it be your continual purpose and endeavour to fulfil them, by avoiding the occasions of disunion, by mutual forbearance, by confidingness, by cherishing an amiable temper, by cultivating a gentle and kind demeanour, and by sympathy both in joy and in sorrow. In this religious service, you willingly consecrate, and look up to Heaven to sanctify, your union, as the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ: I therefore enjoin it upon you to maintain always the Christian character, and (to train up your household in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Be ye mindful of every new duty to which ye may be called, as husband and wife, in the perpetually varying and extending relations of domestic life; and remember, that whilst every such new duty will bind you in closer dependence, it ought, in the same degree,