1502 in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 47 The professing of a nonne of Elstowe.

1572 W. Forrest Theophilus 401 in Anglia (1884) 7 91 I heeare doe forsake, her sonne, and all thinge That doth appertayne to their professinge.

1733 W. Hudleston Divine Truths Vindicated 212 [In treating of the Sacrament of Holy Orders] Thomasin observes..that the professing of a Monk's Life stood instead of this holy and great Order of a Subdeacon [that was used in the Early Church].

1895 Catholic World Dec. 400 His allotted work..consists in the administering of the sacrament of confirmation, the professing of a nun, the blessing of a church.

1974 Hist. County York (Victoria County History) III. xvii. 124/1 (note) This is the only allusion hitherto met with in the York Registers relating to the formal professing of a nun.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccxlix For the true professing of the Gospell they be expulsed.

1633 G. Wither Ivvenilia 225 You to whom deeds of former times are known, Mark to what passe this age of ours is grown, Even with us that do strictest seem to be In the professing of Christianitie.

a1683 J. Owen Posthumous Serm. in Wks. (1851) IX. 178 This is a professing that brings conviction.

1799 J. Bidlake Serm. Var. Subj. II. 298 The countenance of his Lord, though not expressive of reproach, by a look recalling him to his former professings.

1829 N. Amer. Rev. July 272 By an act of parliament, the professing of that religion [sc. Catholicism] under certain circumstances was declared to be treason.

1947 Times 19 Sept. 4/4 Treat all Muslims as fifth columnists; declare the professing of Islam unlawful.

1988 D. M. Bauer Feminist Dialogics iv. 104 He explains this family morality as the professing of ‘a highly moral behavior and of practicing another’.

1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 225 If the Church..be the company of professing Beleevers.

1652 J. Brock Memorandum in Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc., n.s. (1943) 53 102 The professing Indians are not to be trusted.

1675 J. Owen Serm. in Wks. (1851) IX. 311 Believers shall be saved and a professing church shall be preserved.

a1735 Ld. Lansdowne Genuine Wks. (1736) 141 Friendship's a Cloak to hide some treach'rous End, Your greatest Foe, is your professing Friend.

1799 J. Boaden Aurelio & Miranda iii. 29 Well, Niece, nothing of your professing Lorenzo! So passionate a lover, and so dilatory in his visits.

1822 J. MacDonald Mem. J. Benson 136 He censures himself for things which too many in the professing world would look upon as so many innocent infirmities.

1842 H. E. Manning Serm. i. 16 What a prodigy in God's world is a professing atheist!

1875 C. Merivale Gen. Hist. Rome lxix. 563 The storm had no doubt the effect of winnowing the multitude of professing disciples.

1927 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation viii. 290 Thouless, who writes on religious psychology from the standpoint of a psychologist who is also a professing Christian.

1987 C. Ozick Ruth in Metaphor & Memory (1989) 253 Offer monotheism to almost anyone..and ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will be declined, even by professing ‘monotheists’.

1994 Fortean Times Oct.–Nov. 27/3 Thousands of professing Christians are being hoodwinked by a psycho-religious phenomenon that is completely unrelated to genuine Christian spirituality.