Induction

Induction is a term used in England to denote the investing or giving possession of a benefice to a clergyman. This is done by a mandate from the bishop to the archdeacon (in some places the dean and chapter) to make the induction. The inductor takes the clergyman by the hand, and lays it on the key of the church-door (or some part of the church itself), then opens the door and causes him to enter the church alone, and to toll one of the bells as a public notification to the parishioners. The incumbent's possession of the benefice is completed by 'reading himself in'—i.e. reading, generally on the following Sunday, the Thirty-nine Articles, and immediately thereafter making a formal declaration of assent to their doctrine, and giving a pledge of his conformity to the rules of the church.—In Scotland the presbytery induct the minister.