The Clergyman's Assistant, Or A Collection of Acts of Parliament, Forms and Ordinances, Relative to Certain Duties and Rights of the Parochial Clergy;

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PREFACE

THE SECOND EDITION.

THE Collection of Acts of Parliament, Forms, and Ordinances, of which a Second Edition is now offered to the Public, was grounded on a former Work of the same kind; the plan of which, however, was very much enlarged, as well by giving the Acts in question more at length, as by adding others, especially some recently passed, to which the Parochial; Clergy must often have occafion to refer. Some useful Forms also, generally received in practice, were fubjoined, taken chiefly from Ecton's Liber Valorum, and Bacon's Liber Regis, together with Rules for the direction of those who might have occafion to make application to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty.

Little doubt was entertained but that such a lication would be an useful one to the Clergy, from the nature of the information contained in it, the convenient fize of the volume, and, more especially, from the circumstance, that the Laws which are obligatory upon Ecclefiaftical Persons were brought down to the present time, as well as given in the words themselves (so far as might be) of the several Statutes

and

[iv]
and Ordinances with which they are bound to com-
ply. But it was not foreseen, that the demand for this
Publication would be so rapid, as within the space of a
year to exhaust the whole Impression, and that a very
considerableone, which was put forth in the year 1806.
The utmost diligence has been used therefore to pre-
pare a Second Edition, so that no one, who wished to
possess the Work, might be disappointed, on his en-
quiry for it. And upon this occasion the whole has
now been rendered more complete, bythe addition of
several particulars not before inserted, all of which the
Reader will find distinguished by an Asterism in the
Table of Contents. Lest it be thought an over-
fight, at the same time, that no enlargement in this
way

has been made of what was contained in the
First Edition respecting the Rights of the Clergy, it
must be stated, that this has been purposely avoided ;
and for the same reasons also with those before af-
figned for not extending this part of the Work be-
yond what might be of easy application, and general
use-namely, that, in a matter so complex and in-
tricate, a competent knowledge is to be acquired
only froin books written expressly upon the subject;
and that even with the help of these in cases of
difficulty at least) the Clergy will feldom be able to
form a just opinion without professional advice, and
the assistance of those who are most conversant with
the several decisions of the Courts, as well as the se-
veral Laws which have been made respecting the
point in question.