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Untitled Article
Christian Remembrancer , * ( for May , ) the general tendency and spirit of which went to the denial of the existence of any grievance , but which concluded by shewing how the wishes of the Dissenters might be reconciled with the spirit of the Marriage Law . " Let the banns of Marriage between Dissenters be published in their Parish Church , let a certificate of such publication be given by the minister , let the parties be married on the strength of such certificate by their own teacher , and let them bring a
certificate of their marriage to the parish register . * ' If we might be allowed a conjecture as to the author of this paper , we should name the most zealous opponent of the Unitarian claims upon the Episcopal Bench ; and the Presbyter has probably to thank a Prelate of his own Church for the suggestion of a plan which he denounces as destructive of the dignity and privileges of the clergy , and the offspring of insidious ambition amongst Dissenting teachers . Certain it is , that the Unitarian Dissenters were indebted to a Civilian of considerable eminence , whose attachment to the Establishment is
unsuspected , and who , as conductor of a morning paper , had publicly discussed and conceded the existence of the grievance complained of , for the sketch of a Bill which , with some few modifications , was presented to the House of Commons towards the close of the Session of 1822 , and was necessarily postponed , after being read a second time and printed . In this Bill , however , great care was employed not to recognize an order of ministers for the solemnization of marriages in the places of worship which were to be registered for the purpose ; but when the marriage had been celebrated ,
under sanction of a previous license or certificate of banns , the parties married and two witnesses were to attend the parochial minister or his deputy , and sign a certificate of the marriage in the register book , with a slight alteration of the form . All the civil precautions as to publicity were retained ; the clergy of the Establishment were relieved from the performance of any thing approaching to a religious ceremony ; whilst the necessity of registration secured to them their usual emoluments ; and a religious
celebration of the marriage was , in a great degree , secured , without any express recognition by the State of any new class of functionaries . The proceedings upon the general Marriage Law materially and necessarily impeded the prosecution of the particular measure ; but the question of relieving the Roman Catholic as well as Protestant Dissenters from an enforced submission to
the ritual of the Church , having been seriously entertained by the Committee upon the general law in the House of Lords , considerable hopes were indulged , that some broad and liberal plan of relief would have suggested itself . The Committee explained the grounds of their omitting to recommend specific provisions in the following paragraph : recommend specinc provisions in me iouowmg paragrapn :
. " The Committee think it not proper entirely to omit that their attention has been called to many other topics connected with the general subject of Marriage , and that they have been laboriously employed in considering them , particularly the cases of Roman Catholic Marriages and those of other Dissenters , especially Unitarians , which latter have been brought under their
consideration in numerous petitions referred to them by the House ; but after inquiry and discussion they have thought it more advisable , upon the whole , not to recommend that specific provisions respecting them should be included in the proposed Bill ; the cases of the various denominations of Dissenters being extremely diversified in their various circumstances , and
ap-, ' J ' » i i . » u . i i . -,. „ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦ ' " ' ——¦~— —• —i ¦ r- ' * ? See Mom Repoa .-Vol . XVU . p , 354 .
Untitled Article
3 $ g Reviews— Unitarian Marriage BUI ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1827, page 368, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1796/page/56/
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