THE DECLARATION Of the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Late Lord Bishop of CHICHESTER UPON HIS DEATH-BED.

BEing called by a Sick (and I think a Dying) Bed, and the good hand of God upon me in it, to take the Last and Best Viaticum, the Sacrament of my dear Lord's Body and Blood, I take my self obliged to make this short Recognition and Confession, That whereas I was baptized into the Religion of the Church of England, and sucked it in with my Milk, I have constantly adhered to it thorough the whole Course of my Life, and now, if so be the will of God, shall dye in it, and had resolved, through God's grace as­sisting me, to have dyed so, though at a Stake. And whereas that Religion of the Church of England taught me the Doctrine of Non-re­sistence and Passive Obedience, which I have accordingly inculcated upon others, and which I took to be the distinguishing Character of the Church of England, I adhere no less firmly and stedfastly to that; and in consequence of it have incurred a Suspension from the Exercise of my Office, and expected a Deprivation. I find in so doing much in­ward Satisfaction; and if the Oath had been tendered at the Peril of my Life, I could only have obeyed by Suffering.

I desire you my worthy Friends and Brethren to bear Witness of this upon Occasion, and to believe it as the Words of a dying Man, and who is now ingaged in the most Sacred and Solemn Act of Conver­sing with God in this World, and may, for ought he knows to the contrary, appear with these very Words in his Mouth at the Dreadful Tribunal.

Aug. 27. 1689.
Manu propriâ subscripsit, Jo. Ciceftrensis.

This Declaration was read and subscribed by the Bishop in the Presence of

  • Dr. Green, the Parish Minister.
  • Dr. Hicks, Dean of Worcester.
  • Mr. Jenkins, his Lordship's Chaplain.
  • Mr. Powel, his Secretary.
  • Mr. Wilson, his Amanuensis.

Who all communicated with him.

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