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    posed by tike Bill is merely optional ; that the party whose attachment to his or toer particular opinions wias strongest , would doubtless yield to the otker , and probably oftener to the Church th ^ i agakist it ; that to sen d the pdrttes tQ be married according to the xeligious service of each wottfd not

    remedy thei eYiI > because where coriscientioiis scruples were entertained , such a plan would violate the consciences of both instead of one , aad that the fairest plan seems to be to leave the parties their option . If both were inionthe

    equally firm in their adherence to their peculiar op s , consequence would be that their union could not take place ; thottgfc it may be questioned whether that be a ju * t or politic law , which should in afay case make such a fAvU inconvenience the result of steady adherence to the dictates of coaaclenee . Thirdly , as to the class of persons to whom the proposed relief shofcld apply j it is conceded that doctrinal scruples are matter of conscience and desfetriog of relief , but the Bill is objected to as , extending the same me a sure to the general Nonconformist objections to the discipline' & £ the GfrtBFch ^ unconnected with the question of doctrine ; and a question i « raised whether " conscientious scvupl & s" can properly be treated as the g-rotuad of su ^ h dlfisent .

    Under the word discipline are usually comprehended the worsjup , services , formularies , authority , and political institutions of the Church ; and it may perhaps be sufficient to ask , what drove the two thousand ministers from its communion in the reign of Charles II ., and what has kept the great * body of Dissenters separated from it for two hundred years , but grave objections

    to flie Establishment in these particulars , urged on moral and' scriptural grounds of conscientious Christian disapproval ? Without entering * oiv the merits of the controversy between the Church an < i th £ general' b # dy of Dissenters , ( of which mutual toleration and increased liberality have happily removed the greater part of the acrimony which once existed , ) it will surely

    be sufficient here to observe , that the latter have at any rate ever prqf & tised deep religious objections to such important proposition * as , —fh & t the civil Magistrate has any right or authority over the consciences or celigioti of men ;—that the Christian Church can consistently with the principles of its founder be connected with the State > —that its- minister ought to

    beamposed without the choice of the people , and required to subscribe formularies of faith;—that " * it hath power to decree rites and ceremonies , and authority in cfcntPoversfes of Ifrith ;"—that whoever affirms ** t & dt the govetfnmfcnt el' the Church by Archbishops , & 6 . is repugnant to the word of God /* ( Ckn * VII . )

    or that €€ the Common Prayer hath any thing- in it repugnant to the Scriptures / ' ( Can . VI . ) or ' * that any oE its thirty-nine Ardctes ar ^ In any part sup ^ alStidus or erroneous or such as he may not with a good conscience subsfciSb ^' ttkbi ' ( Can . VI ) fa excommunicate i ^ so fa eto ^—tliirt priests hav€ | i 6 Wfer to fot ^ ire dir retain the sins of men j—^ thkfr he u Wlio \ viH * e efav ^ d must

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    8

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1823, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1714/page/48/