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gather round everV door itf Cfaeap&ide a multitude engaged in discussing every variety of topics . Such was fiOt the law . Such could not be the law . If above twenty persons were collected in any uncertified place , they were liable to a certain penalty . If any person chose to certify a field , which was not a highway
or thoroughfare , the question of the legality of the certification was riot settled . The Committee would endeavour to ascertain how the law applied to that kind of certification . If in any instance persons had offended against the law ^ by outdoor preaching , it should be remembered
that they had offended indiscreetly , enthusiastically , somewhat in temperately perhaps , but beyond doubt holily . At Peterborough , a prebendary of the Cathedral , who was a magistrate also , directed Mr . Charles Thorpe , of that town , to be taken into custody for exhorting a few persons &V the threshold of a friend . At
the village' of Benefield , near Dandle , James Hortiery an itinerant * preacher , was taken kita * cnfcSody by * drder of the vicar and magistrat e * tKePfe ; whert Homer was brought befbve this Reverend Gentleman , he aTB ^ ed , {< Is- this the fellow ^ ? Come , I want ? none of vow talk about souls . " Horner was then ! committed uhdei * the
new Vagrant Afctv H ^ e was sent gaol without a warrant , though bail was offered to the Amount of £ 500 . Afterwards he was released and 1 suffered to depart without molestation . This-was a subject of considerable delicacy . WtfiTe he ( Mr . W . ) was prepared Vo censure any indiscreet indulgence in the practice , he was flat prepared t *> give up the right '
altogether , and-especially when he found it strenuously maintained by some of the best and wisest champions of popular rights . Me referred particularly to the well-known case of William Penu , " the distinguished member Of that excellent , benevolent and pious sect , the Society of Friends , w * te , irt all workff of utility alld philanthropy ,- were ev « r active and fbren » ost . Penn was trtrid in 1670 . for
preaching in ^ i ^ aicecfrutfch Street , and he published hie trial- uti&er the title of " The People ' s Ancient aw * Just Liberties asserted . ' * On this ttfial the Recorder , and the eitaplain * of the Archbishop of Canterbury , extifes ' ged sentiments which
singularity accorded wkh some now eii ~ tei tained by persons whom he * woald notr name , l he Recorder mid , " the Spanish-Inquisition w » a ! s ex <* ellent ,- as a good way to prevent sehisafc . " And * Cher Chaplfchi ' & < UQ » " tSK-i * - W ( . t * - tfcrtf-cVtlJI tvA WktfSsll ln& »* t ^ i'Ml > # ¦>* "jMd' « that it KiU ! lles infuH ^ Ufir to
* > e s ^ the Govern toettt ? w dispense witH 5 pi « ofane and k > os ^ J perisoti s thtitk to allow a 1 toleration to Pmcestaw Difts ^ ttter ^ . " On * ^ ki « g abroad at « ie condl « k > tr *> f Bitf-* e »«« r « ha « aw t , ha same aaeBta fRttng ei sawhetfe . At M <« M ; r « ftk ia > LOwW C *~
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nada , the Di ^ Sentfei ^ s dn % re 4 J fttH «* ppe ^^ ctsely the san * e ittfeasttres of Avhkih > riiot ? ^ ociet ] r co ifi {> 1 ainecl , The mzj&i&f of tfe 4 ^ iahabitants wdre Catholks ^ j tart * thmigfe * Catholwrs , Bpiscopaiians and Presbyte ^ nans , legally exercised-th ^ rights of baptizing , inarryitfg and burying , yet Dissenters of all denominations were
dertiedthem . Lord Dalhousie :, tbe governor , though frreiidlily inclined towards the Dis * senters , had no pawer against the court of appeal , of which the Bfchop of Quebec was the bead . Of tbe Protestant inba ^ bhants only 2-15 ths were Episcopalia « s , so that 13-15 ths were degraded' aud
oppressed . —He now came to review the general state of religious freedom in the British dominions . In the first place , there was * much wanted some more explicit declaration of the Toleration Aet , That was of pre-eminent and universal importance . In the next place , it was necessary that their Baptist friends should
be protected . There was great propriety in requiring that Dissenting ministersshould have authority to celebrate marriage . This power was possessed by the Quakers , than whom a more domestic , pioifs , or happy people did not exist . It Was also enjoyed by the Jews , that long *
persecuted , but , he hoped , now reviving people . In Ireland , Dissenting Ministers generally had the right , and in Scotland also ; why then should it be denied to them in England , where , indeed , it was once possessed ? During the commonwealth marriages were rendered legally only a civil contract . Upon the Catholics of England the evil pressed with peculiar
hardship . With them marriage was a sacrament , and could be celebrated only by their priests * The consequence was , that alt their marriages were unlawful , and theft * children illegitimate . By law they were as separate ^ and disunited as the most perfect strangers . No tie of kindred , no bond of blood could unite them . If this object—the celebration of
marriage by Dissenting ministers—were ' sought with temper and firmness , he did not believe it would be refused . The nex& object was to validate the registration of baptism ^ The Court of Chancery had decided lately , that a registration of baptism > on Dr . Williams * ** plan , was not a matter of record . Their
places of meeting'ought to be exempted from' assessment , whether in p ^ ocilial tfates or king's taxes ; and , lasi $ |^ vfftp repeal of the Test and Corporation Jfccts * waa an object of all others to bttdesired . They vtem not to be satisfied ^ frith a « n
annual ? Indemnify Act , by which they were ^ ardoned for oflfences they had never conitmt ^ edi No : they claimfed to stand 1 wkh alt theirftllow ^ Hibjects Oft tfte if road 1 dtod eijtial ba » i ^ of the * tew . Lofcklti ^ £ ff the whole state of the world ; he would
Untitled Article
itTteiHgejiGe r - ^ Prv&itani- 'Soeiety ' t Mh . TFUktfv' SpS&thl at ) i *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 309, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/53/
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