THE ORDERING OF DEACONS.
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and adorn them Do O you trust that you are inward
innocency of life, that, both by word ly moved by the Holy Ghost to and good example, they may faith- take upon you this Office and Minfully serve thee in this Office, to the istration, to serve God for the proglory of thy Name, and the edifica- moting of his glory, and the edifying tion of thy Church; through the of his people? merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and for ever. Amen.
Answer. I trust so.
The Epistle. 1 Tim. iii. 8.
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the due
LIKEWISE must the Deacons order of this Realm, to the Ministry
of the Church? Answer. I think so.
be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience;
And these also first be proved; then let them use the Office of a Deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the Deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the Office of a Deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Or else this, out of the sixth of the Acts of the Apostles.
Acts vi. 2.
The Bishop.
0 ou think that you are truly
titude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the Apostles; and, when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
The Bishop.
Do you unfeignedly believe all the t Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament?
Answer. I do believe them. The Bishop.
WILL you diligently read the
same unto the people assembled in the Church where you shall be appointed to serve?
Answer. I will.
The Bishop.
IT T appertaineth to the Office of a
Deacon, in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the Priest in Divine Service, and specially when he ministereth the him in
the distribution thereof, and to read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church; and to instruct the youth in the Catechism; in the absence of the Priest to baptize infants, and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop. And furthermore, it is his Office, where provision is so made, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the Parish, to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell, unto the Curate, that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the alms of the Parishioners, or others. Will you do this gladly and willingly?
Answer. I will so do, by the help of God.
The Bishop.
And the Word of God increased, WILL you apply and fashion
frame
number the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith.
your own lives, and the lives of your families, according to the Doctrine of Christ; and to make both your
And before the Gospel, the Bishop, sit- selves and them, as much as in you ting in his chair, shall examine every one of them that are to be Ordered, in the presence of the people, after this manner following.
lieth, wholesome examples of the flock of Christ?
Answer. I will so do, the Lord being my helper.