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Protest against the Marriage Service . Or * Thursday , May 13 , a marriage took place at Ketteringp , in Northamptonshire , between Mr . Fisher of St . Ives , in the connty of Huntingdon , Attorney at Law , and Miss Child of the former place .
Previous to the performance of the ceremony a Protest was pat into the hands of the minister , of which the following is a copy :
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" To Mr . Fletaher ^ commonly called the Reverend Mr . Fletcher . <* The undersigned being Protestant Dissenters , present to you the following Protest against the Marriage Ceremony , to which , according * to the . law of tlie land , they are compelled to subscribe . They disclaim all intention of acting * dierespectfully , either to the Legislature , or
to its civil officer before whom they stand . They lament that they are placed in a situation so unnatural , as , that even forbearance to what they consider as established error , would be a formal recantation of opinions which they received on conviction , and which they will only renounce on similar grounds . ' Against the Marriage Ceremony , they can but most solemnly protest .
66 Because it makes marriage a religious instead of a civil act . " Because , as Unitarian and Protestant Dissenters , it is impossible we can allow of the interference of any human institution , with matters which concern our faith and consciences .
u Because parts of the Ceremony are highly indelicate , and must he to every correctly-constituted mind , extremely offensive . " Because the man is required to worship the woman , thougih the Founder of Christianity has declared that God is the only object for a Christian to worship . "THO ESC . FISHER .
"ANN CHILD . " May 13 , 1819 . " " And I further protest against the Marriage Ceremony , because , after several years careful and impartial examination of the arguments for and against the doctrine of Three Persons in one God , I have been led to embrace the doctrine of
the Divine Unity , as held by Unitarians ; and it is therefore impossible I should willingly join in a ceremony performed in the name of the Trinity , thereby recognizing a doctrine which I disbelieve and abominate .
" THO . ESC . FISHER . " The minister , on this occasion , omitted , at Mr . Fisher ' s request- —part of the introduction to the service—dispensed with the kneeling at the altai *—placing * the ring on the book ; and he omitted also , all the prayers and the blessings which follow the
words , u I pronounce that they be tn&n and wife together , in the name , &c . ( except the first short prayer immediately following ) . He particularly begged to go through the service , and to receive the Protest in the vestry , and not at the altar , both of which were objected to . His conduct altogether was most liberal , candid and gentlemanly . Mr . Fisher had previously written io
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S 40 Intelligence . —Protest against the Marriage Service .
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exclusive of a variety of other Uuifurian publications consigned to the same bookseller from other quarters . The Edinburgh Report also mentioned that the fund for the erection of a chape ) in Edinburgh is steadily improving '} and that , with the assistance of the friends of Umtarianism
in the South , the society hope that , at no distant period , this very desirable object may he accomplished . Letters were received from Glasgow , Paisley , Neilston , Dairy , Greenock , Falkirk , Blackford , TiU lidoultry , Newburgh and Dundee . Prom the Greenock letter it appeared that some of the tracts distributed by the Association had been found useful : the writer
expresses , confidently , his persuasion that Unitarian principles had been gaining ground through the medium of these tracts ; hut gave no information with regard to the money subscribed in England for the Gveenock chapel , nor with regard to the intentions of the friends in Greenock , of appropriating that money to its object . The following * paragraph is extracted from the letter of Mr . Millar of Dundee : " It
is my decided opinion , that a resident minister , combining with other essential requisites a judicious and well-directed zeal , would soon form a pretty numerous congregation here . We have long struggled in tbe hope © f procuring" that assistance to which we still look forward , and which
ve think would be attended with the happiest effects , in relation to what we consider the interests of true religion , but "which neither the present number nor circumstances of the joined members of the society , can enable us to procure , without aid from the friends of the common cause
elsewhere . " At tbe meeting on Monday , the Association entered into a resolution , expressive of their cordial approbation and liearty concurrence with the objects contemplated by the Association , latelv
instituted in London , for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Unitarians . At the annual dinner of the Association thirty-six persons were present—Dr . Gairdner in the chair . Several interesting : speeches were delivered , and all seemed animated with that zeal for
the spread of the pure doctrines of Christianity , which it is the object of such meetings to excite . T . G .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 340, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/60/
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