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parated ; %%$ <>» e almost entirely civil ; tfie oilier Jl ^ vQtlQif ^ , 4 nd perfectly proper perhaps fpf the . members of the Church . Considering the many difficulties which would attend withdrawing the performance of marriage from the parish church , and the many advantages that attended , amongst
other things , the use of only one register , and the regularity which ensued from the present practice , the petitioners were not inclined to seek to be exempted from the use of the seryice altogether , but they did object to parts of it , and it was his intention to propose the omission of those parts . He proposed that the minister ,
on receiving a written declaration from the parties that they or one of them was a Protestant Dissenter , should use only the parts included between the words " I regiijre and charge you both , ' and the words * and thereto I
give thee rny troth . " This was all that could he necessary , and thus th ' te whole devotional service . % yas omitted , to which , whether objectionable or not in form , it was unpleasant to a
Dissenter , as such , but particularly to a Unitarian l > isaenter , to conform * as it amounted to a recognition of the religious services of a Church from which hs separated . This plan would leave ^ 11 classes of individuals who
could be interested precisely in their present situation , as far as civil objects were concerned . It went not to alter any thjng , but only to select an unobjectionable part , and use it whole and entire . No additional duty would
be imposed on the minister ; on the contra ry , he would be exempted from the painful necessity of insisting on what was disagreeable to others . No reduction was proposed in the accustomed fees ; in fact , he did not
conceive there was any description of person or property that eould be in * j ured or affected by the measu re . Even supposing a religious ceremony was proper to sanction the marriage contract , to impress upon the-mind the weight , toe solemn character of
the engagement into which it entered , surely to , be productive of any beneficial effect , it ought not to be one uncongenial tathe religious principles conscienti ously entertained by the parties . Tine \ # w acted upoa these idfeas wica it consulted the religious creed of the parties iv whom it itepoaed the
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obligation of an , oatti « The Jew wi « sworn on the Did Testament ; the Mahometan on the Kotfan , not oil any thing to which his mind attached 06 religious importance . For liimself , however , he was inclined to doubt whether the association of a religtdtts
ceremony at all with the marriajgfe contract had always the good effect ascribed to it ; and he believed , on the contrary , that in the > se countries , especially Catholic countries , wherer mar * riage was treated as a sacrament , it would be found that its vows werfe
much inore frequently broken than in the northern part of this kingdom , where , ( as in England prior to the 36 th of Gfeo . II . ) no religious cereitiony was essential to its validity . Under all these considerations *
looking to the case as it stood historically , as it was irv practice among the Dissenters of Ireland and Scotland , and as liberal and just policy dictated , he trusted it would be thought the
petitioners would , at any rate , bfe considered fully entitled to the relief they sought , interfering with 110 principle of the . policy of the country , with none of its civil regulations , with the interests or conveniences - of no
one . It was not a matter to be treated with levity or indifference . It was a case of conscience , to which he was fully persu&ded the House would give every relief in its power , Mr . S .
concluded with moving for leave to bring in " a Bill to relieve certain persons Dissenting from the Church of England , from some parts of the Ceremony required by Law in the celebration of Marriages . ' *
Lord Castlereagh said he did not rise to object to 4 he introduction of the bill , but only to observe , that as he was not present when the Honourable Member commenced his observations , and as lie was not aware of
the provisions it might contain , he must not be Considered as precluded from delivering his opinion on the subject , when the measure should be "immediately and fully before the House .
Mr . Wilberforce observed , tljat he als 6 had onjy heard a pkrt of his H& ~ nourable Friend ' s obseryations ; but that he perfectly acquiesced in tii ^ propriety 6 f allowirtg the bil | to h& brought in . Jfe could ^ Hfelp ^^ iiig , hoSteVfeti sonie app ^ lie& $ ibn lc ! st
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lnt € ? iligence . A ~~ -Umtmwn &sdciqtion . SS 3
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VOJb , XIV , 3 F
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 385, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/41/
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