• Office Civil or Military, or receive Pay, Fee, or Wages, or have Command, or Place of Truft from his Majesty, or in the Service of his Majesty, Prince George, or Princess Anne of Denmark, all Ecclefiaftical Perfons, or • Members of Colleges and Halls, ofthe Foundation in either Üniverfity, being Eighteent Years old, all Perfons teaching Pupils, all • School-masters, Ufhers, Preachers, and Tea'chers of separate Congregations, Persons that

fhall act as Serjeants at Law, Counsellors, • Advocates, Attorneys, Sollicitors, Proctors, Clerks, or Notaries by practifing as fuch in any Court, and all Peers, and Members of the • Houfe of Commons, before they can Vote in their respective Houses of Parliament, fhould be obliged to take the Oath herein after mentioned, commonly called, The Abjuration Oath; which Oath was expreffed in the following Words.

A. B. do truly and fincerely Acknowledge, Profefs, Teftifie and Declare, in my Confcience, before God and the World, That our Sovereign Lord King William is Lawful and • Rightful King of this Realm, and of all other bis Majefties Dominions and Countries thereunto belonging; and I do folemnly and fincerely declare, that I do believe in my Confcience, that the Perfon pretended to be Prince of Wales, • during the Life of the late King James, and fince his Decease pretending to be, and taking upon himself the Stile and Title of King of England, by the Name of James the Third, bath not any Right or Title whatsoever to the • Crown of this Realm, or any other the Domi

• nions

< nions thereunto belonging; and I do renounce, • refufe, and abjure, any Allegiance or Obedience to him. And I do fwear, that I will bear Faith, and true Allegiance to his Majefty King • William, and Him will defend, to the utmost of my Power, against all Traiterous Confpiracies and Attempts whatsoever, which shall be • made against bis Perfon, Crown, or Dignity; and I will do my best Endeavour to difclofe and • make known to his Majefty, and his Succeffors, all Treafons and Traiterous Confpiracies, which • I shall know to be against Him, or any of them; • and I do faithfully promife, to the utmost of my Power, to fupport, maintain and defend the Limitation and Succeffion of the Crown,against Him the faid James, and all other Perfons whatsoever, as the fame is and ftands limited (by an Act, Entitled, An A&t declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subje&t, and fettling the Succeffion of the Crown) to his Majefty, during his MajeAty's Life, and after his Majefty's Deceafe to the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the Heirs of her "Body,being Proteftants,and for Default of fuch Iffue to the Heirs of the Body of his Majefty, being Proteftants; and as the fame by one other A, Entituled, An A&t for the further Limitations of the Crown, and better fecuring the Rights and Liberties of the Subje&, is, and stands Limited after the Deceafe of his Majefty, and the Princess Anne of Denmark; and for Default of Ifue of the faid Princess, and of his Majefty refpectively, To the Princess Sophia, • Electress and Dutchefs Dowager of Hanover, and the Heirs of her Body, being Proteftants. • And all thefe Things I do plainly and fincerely acknowledge, and fwear, according to thefe exprefs Words by me spoken, and according to the plain and common Sense and Understanding of thefe

་

thefefameWords, without any Equivocation, mental Evafion,or fecret Refervation whatsoever; and I do make this Recognition, Acknowledgement, Abjuration, Renunciation, and Promife, bear. tily, willingly, and truly, upon the true Faith of a Chriftian. So help me God. And it was thereby alfo enacted, That if any Perfon or Perfons, at any time after the 25th Day of March, 1702, fhould compafs or imagine the Death of her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark, or endeavour to deprive or hinder her from fucceeding to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and the Do• minions and Territories thereunto belonging, after the Demife of his Majefty, and the fame maliciously, advisedly and directly fhall attempt, by any Overt-Act, or Deed, every fuch Offence fhall be adjudged High Trea fon, and the Offender and Offenders therein, their Abetters, Procurers, and Counsellors, and all and every their Aiders and Comfor ters, knowing the faid Offence to be done, being thereof Convicted, or Attainted, ac. s cording to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, fhall be deemed and adjudged Trai• tors, and fhall fuffer Pains of Death, and all Loffes and Forfeitures, as in Cafes of High'Treafon.

Thus our great Deliverer accomplished his Work.

He would have thought it but half done, if he had deliver'd only one Generation from Popery and Slavery; and therefore made it his whole Care, and fpent the laft Remains of his invaluable Life, in contriving how the moft

pure

pure Religion, and the best Laws in the U-
niverse, might be tranfmitted to late Pofterity.

The last mentioned A&s of Parliament, and
the Legacy that great Prince left the Englif
Nation, infinitely more valuable than if he had,
without them, left Palaces and Principalities to
each of his Subjects.

The Memory of that great Benefactor to Mankind will always be dear to every Briton, who loves the Religion and Laws of his Coun try, and is an Enemy to Popery and Arbitrary Power, and to every Man who knows the Happinefs of a limited Monarchy circumfcribed and fenced about with the Bulwarks of Laws, which equally guard the Subject from the Invafion of the Prince, and the Prince from the Infults of the Subje&t.

His Vigilance was not confined to his Kingdom of England; the Happiness of the Kingdom of Scotland was equally his Care and Study. He zealously attempted to have had the Succeffion to the Crown of that Kingdom fettled alfo on the Houfe of Hanover, in the fame manner as that of England was fettled, and to have united both Kingdoms; but thefe High Benefits were referved by Heaven to be numbered amongst the Glories of her prefent Majefty's Reign, a Reign attended with fo many Victories obtained by her Arms Abroad, under the Conduct of her renown'd General, the. Duke of Marlborough; and with fo many Acts of Benevolence at Home, by the Advice ofthe best and wifeft Council that ever Prince employed, that as it has excelled the Tranfactions. of all former Ages, fo it will be a lafting Pattern for the Imitation of all which fhall fucceed.

Her Majefty was but just seated on her Throne, when with the fame Goodness towards her Subjects, in the firft Year of her Reign, the gives the Royal Affent to an Act of Parliament, Entituled, An Act for enlarging the Time for taking the Oath of Abjuration; and alfo for recapacitating and indemnifying fuch Per fons as have not taken the fame by the Time limited, and fhall take the fame by a Time to be appointed; and for the further Security of Her Majefty's Perfon, and the Succeffion of the Crown in the Proteftant Line, and for extinguishing the Hopes of the Pretended Prince of Wales, and all other Pretenders, and their open and fecret Abetters.

In which, amongst other things, it is Enacted, That if any Perfon or Perfons, at any time 'after the firft Day of March 1702, fhall endeavour to deprive, or hinder any Perfon ' who shall be the next in Succeffion to the Crown, for the time being, according to the "Limitations in an A&, Entituled, An Att declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and fettling the Succeffion of the Crown; and according to another A&t, Entituled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, • and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, from fucceeding after the Deceafe of her Majefty, to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and the Dominions and Terri'tories thereunto belonging, according to the Limitations in the before-mentioned A&ts, that is to fay, fuch Iffue of her Majefty's Body, as fhall from time to time be next in Succeffion to the Crown, if it fhall please God Almighty to blefs her Majefty with Iffue; and during the time her Majelly fhall have no

'Iffue,