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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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tfcatjB ^ gia ^ fc ^^ MjMiii'tipii ^ Mm ^ ^» e to the Dissenter;—that a we althy divine , who kicks at performing these offices for a Dissenter , may spend hundreds in making out a title to his estate *
or may , perhaps , lose it , owing to defects arising out of this squeamishness of him * self or a predecessor . No ! he persists in supporting the Church ' s exclusive right to keep these Registers , at the same time that he refuses to render them
efficient . But , after all , what is this Birth Register , as it is called , even to a Churchman ? It is at best but a clumsy proof ; for it does not prove at all , except inferentially , the most essential requisite—the age of ± he party . It proves , to be sure , that the party was baptized at a given time , and we are wise enough , and courts are wise enough , to infer thence , that the
party was at all events born be / ore that event ; but when , or how soon before , no where appears ; and important cases have occurred where parties have been of age , and exercised important acts as such , when the only record which the institutions of the country afford , will not prove them to have been of age till some time after ; and it has become necessary to have ail intermediate acts subsequently confirmed .
The truth is , that a completely newmodelled or created establishment is wanted for this and many other purposes of a similar nature , connected with what we may call the police of the country , and all together ( so far as civil formalities are concerned ) dissociated from these ecclesiastical offices , which the progress of toleration places at every turn at variance with convenience and
common sense . We believe that there are few countries in Europe where such establishments do not exist . Forinstance , ji « the case of marriages , all the difficulties attending on the discussions in this case , and on reconciling civil regularity with religious charity and liberty , would be at once avoided if the parties , wherever per * forming their religious ceremony ( which
the Legislature , if it thought it necessary , wight require to be done some where ) were Attended at that ceremony by an officer , whose duty it was to take note of the civil . formalities and to relieve the minister from any duties not properly religious , and from the fear of transportation or some other degrading penalty if he neglects them .
The district notary , constable , or by whatever name he might be called , should have a permanent office , as he has abroad , and would answer a thousand
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purposes of regularity and security in civil transactions , which are now managed by the clumsy and ignorant intervention of \ j hurchwardens , &c , the only persons to fyiom recourse is had on all occasions . With regard to a Birth Register , it is atjll more important to provide for a system independent of Church observances , ( though , of course , it might avail itself of them when resorted to , ) because there are sects who do not resort to
infant baptism in any place , and who , on the present plan , can in no way get registered at all . An easy remedy for this would be effected by providing for the same civil officer taking , either at the baptism when t | takes place , or from the parents , or other competent evidence , a declaration and certificate of the birth to be verified a ^ d certified by such of&cerf
and entered on record , which would give a much more correct and valuable Registry than the present . A similar provision could be made with greater ease as to deaths . This Register might be kept ( for want of a better office for acts of this description ) in the parish chest , but should be regularly copied for the general custos rotulorum of the county . If all this be too much
to be conceded , the parish Register ought to be made as comprehensive as possible , and the births or baptisms , &c , of Dissenters should be entered upon it ( as they actually were by a statute of William HI ., for the purpose of collecting a stamp duty , then in force ); and if the minister feels a difficulty in performing this office , let the parish clerk or the churchwarden do it .
But supposing things to remain as they are ( which we fear is most probable ) , the question arises , how are Dissenters to provide a registration at any rate for births , which shall give as good a record ( if not legal proof ) of the met as can be got , considering that they have not and cannot have any person answering to the recognized and official character which is
borne by a Church clergyman , acting under the canons of his Church and Acts of Parliament , and which entitles his acts to credit per se in courts of justice ? Where a Dissenter ' s child is baptized at a chapel keeping a Register , this is one moUe of proof , and we would by no means recommend this to be neglected ,
the Registers there being valuable documents easily reported to ; but this does not apply to all Dissenters . Their Registers are , besides , carelessly kept and easily lost , and they have not the legal character , after all , which the Church Registers haver—Birth , then , it is evident , must be of necessity , in the case
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/75/
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