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0 * - farther interruption might be made , went on ; but little difficulty arose till I was bid to repeat the words , * In the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost . * —Here , of course , I paused—and , after a moment , told him that , as conscientiously disbelieving the doctrine of the Trinity , I could not repeat these last words . He expostulated—said he was only the servant of the law , and that we must say these words , or the marriage
Tvould be incomplete . I appealed to him , as one professing religion , and standing in what he thought a sacred place , whether her ought to call upon us to join in what , to us , was
falsehood or blasphemy . The same answer as before . e At length , finding resistance here vain , ( though the point had been conceded to one of my friends by another parson , ) I spoke to this effect : * In the name of the
Father , and ( but protesting against it , ) of the Son , and ( but protesting against iU ) of the Holy Ghost . ' When the priest afterwards repeated the same words , (* In the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost , *) the whole party turned away from the altar . The minister ,
in this instance , did not press us to kneel , and waived most of the prayers which follow . Indeed , we contend , that , after he has ' pronounced the parties to be man and wife , the marriage must be , to all intents and purposes , complete , and every thing which follows may and should be omitted .
Thus much for my own case : I should say , however , that having been present at five or six marriages of my friends , ( all of whom have acted a similar part , ) we have found great difference in the manner in which the
minister has behaved , and the line of conduct he has adopted . Some have appeared really shocked at what they called our impiety * Some were afraid of incurring censure from their superiors if the matte r were known . Some
have omitted , at our request , nearly all the ceremony , whilst in one instance the whole * long * ceremony , ' as it is called , was insisted upon , together \ tith the kneeling , &c . ; but this experience has now convinced me never need |> e done by an individual , acting with the spirit and man-
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liness tyhich honest and conscientious intentions ought to give us . " I have only now generally to add some remarks upon the difficulties vou are likely to encounter . We considered it of great importance , as
really called for , to pay no disrespect to the minister , as an individual 3 it is the system and not the man we object to ; he would tell us that his situation was a painful one ; our reply was , that we knew it was such , and that we felt for him—but that ours was more
painful , to be called upon to go through a ceremony contrary to our belief and our consciences . We constantly kept up the distinction referred to in the protest , that we were willing to submit to him as the civil officer appointed by the law to register marriages- —we only objected to him in his religious capacity .
" On the subject of the law of marriage , ( with ' which , probably , you are better acquainted than myself , ) it may be well to bear in mind , that the object of what is called the Marriage Act was , not to compel people to go to the Church of England for religious
purposes , but to ensure publicity and prevent illicit marriages ; an object which , we contend , would equally be gained , ( even as the law now stands , ) by presenting ourselves to the priest , and being registered by him , without our approaching his idolatrous altar at all .
" On one or two occasions the priest was ,, or professed to be , so shocked at our proceedings , that he threatened not to go on with the ceremony ; this , we took leave to shew him , must be at his own peril , as , while by law we were obliged to
present ourselves there to be married , he , by the same law , was compelled to do his part ; and , as to any protest we might deliver , or objections we might verbally raise , the law had made no provision against them , to justify his therefore refusing to complete the marriage .
" By these means , acting with openness and firmness ? avoiding personal offence where it was possible , but even at the hazard of personal offence maintaining the rights of conscience , myself and friends have , in various instances , succeeded in bearing all the testimony in our power against the
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180 Protests against the Marric&ge Ceremony .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 180, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/44/
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