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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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gation , may , on a certificate in writing , under the hands of several " substantial and respectable householders belonging to such congregation , signed in the presence of some credible witness
who is to make proof of their signatures upon oath at a general sessions of the peace , be permitted to take the oaths , and to sign the declarations previousl y required , and shall then , and then only during their continuance to be ministers of such separate congregation , be entitled to all the privileges and exemptions which the former acts had conferred * 2 . That any other person who may desire to qualify himself to preach as a dissenting minister , must procure several substantial and
reputable householders , being dissenters of the same sect , and of the same congregation , to certify on their consciences , in writing , to his being a protestant dissenting
minister of their sect , p , nd of the same congregation , and " to their individual and long knowledge to his sobriety of conversation , and to his ability and fitness to preach , and that such certificate must be
proved as before stated , before he be permitted to take the oath and subscribe the declaration , before he be exempt from the pains , penalties , and punishments to which he would otherwise be
liable as a dissenting minister * And 3 . That any person of a sober life and conversation , admitted to preach on probation to any
separate congregation , must produce a certificate from several dissenting ministers ( who have taken the oath , to be also proved on oath at a general session ) of his life and conversation , and to their long
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previous knowledge , before he can be permitted to take the oaibs and subscribe the declaration ; and that he may then , during a limited peri , od , to be specified in the certifi .
cate , officiate as a probationer to any dissenting congregation , and be , duringa limited period , exempt from prosecution and punishment . But neither of the two last men .
tioned classes of persons will be entitled to any privileges , or to the exemptions from offices conferred on dissenting ministers by the Toleration Act .
V . That the principle assumed as the foundation of the Bill isin . correct : —That the Toleration Act authorised any persons to become Dissenting ministers , who conceived themselves to be called
and qualified to pleach , upon giving security to the state , for their loyalty and Christian prin . cipies , by taking certain oaths , and subscribing certain declara . — _ _
tions , and not only prevented their persecution under laws made in times less favourable to civil and religious liberty , but con . ceivins their labours to be of
public utility , granted to them exemptions from all parochial offices ami other duties which mig ht interfere with their more important exertions—That such construe
tion of the Act of Toleration has been sanctioned by the general practice of a eelhtury , and has never been impugned by any decision in a superior court of law —and that even if such
construction be incorrect and legislative exposition be required ,, such declaratory Bill ought to follow the intention of the only Act which has subsequently passed , and should extend and not contract ,
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SCO _ Toleration Act .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1811, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2416/page/44/
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