FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION

OF

MATRIMONY.

When the persons to be married and their friends are assembled, together with the Registrar of Marriages legally appointed to that office, the Minister shall say:

MY Christian friends, we are assembled here before Almighty God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony; a social relation instituted of God; adorned and sanctioned by Christ's presence and benediction; and set forth and commended in the Christian Scriptures, 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, and the Woman on the left, the Minister shall say:

MY

Y Christian brother and sister, I require 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 the Man to make the following declaration, required by Law:

"I do solemnly declare, that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, M. may not be joined in matrimony to N.”

¶ Then shall the Minister say to the Man :

WILT thou then have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her,

honour and keep her in sickness and in health, so long as ye both shall live?

"I will."

The Man shall answer :

In like manner, the Minister shall call upon the Woman to make the foregoing declaration required by Law; and shall afterwards say to

her:

WILT thou then have this man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou serve him, love, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health, so long as ye both shall live?

"I will."

The Woman shall answer :

¶ The Minister shall then ask, "Who giveth this Woman to be married to this 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 to say to her, as prescribed by Law;

"I call upon these persons here present to witness, that I, M. do take thee, Ñ. to be my lawful wedded wife.”

¶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, N. do take thee, M. 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, M. and N. do declare yourselves wedded to one another, as husband and wife, according to God's holy ordinance and the laws of this land: and you now solemnly engage and pledge yourselves, each to the other, to live together in this holy bond; taking each other, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death you do 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.

¶ Hereupon the Minister shall deliver the following Benediction.

MAY Almighty God, the Father of families, and the Giver of all heavenly grace, send down his blessing on these his servants, this man and this woman; that they may steadfastly perform and keep the vow and covenant now betwixt them made, and may henceforth dwell together in perfect peace and love. Amen.

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

T The Minister shall then deliver to the persons married, either the following Exhortation, or any other which he may have prepared for the occasion:

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