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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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duces pounds , and affords us information of things occurring at a great distance . But the most perfect of all the senses , and , perhaps , next to the more simple operations of the mind , is that of sight . The eye , the beautiful organ of this power , is a type of its functions ; in transparency ,
delicacy , and brilliancy , it surpasses all the other parts of the body , appearing to lose the grosser characteristics of animal matter , and to approach the nature , of the mind , to which it serves as the most useful , rapid and extensive messenger , for procuring knowledge of the various objects in creation around us / 1
Such is the varied distribution of sense which the brain and nerves bestow upon the other parts of the frame . We are familiar with its uses ; we know the kinds of bodies which
are calculated to impress the different organs , and the manner in which those bodies effect their impressions , E } U . t of the nature of the brain and its operations we know nothing but by we effects
produced-To estimate the capacity of this organ we must trace the history of the human race front the beginning , and the systems which man has contrived and executed during this long period , for the accomplishment of his
happiness : all his establishments , political , civil and military , are but developements of the mental faculty : by it have been framed all his regulations , social and moral . In short , every improvement has its origin from this
spurce . By his superior , intellect the philosopher surveys the creation around himy and in a certain degree transfuses into , the affair of me *» the wisd om * and the beneficence which he discovers in the-system of the universe
~~» the astronomer penetrates the heavens * discovers , new worlds , and thus expands our admiration of the Supreme Being in hi * works * - —toy the same means the chemist and experi mentalist are enabled to analyse the various substances , about him , and
over which lie has any power , and tracing nature to tier recesses , draws forth valuable instructions , for the apf ^ ication of bodies to our wan td < and enjoyments . While the bulk of uwn ^ ud . le 4 Uy the knowledge of others ipt directed in , thei * proceedings by im sajaG infr ^ lestual faculty , though
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acting in a more humble degree . What the powers of the brain may hereafter be capable of , under new circumstances and combinations in life , remains for futurity to ascertain *
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ft On the Marriage Ceremony .
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Sir , AGREE with some writers in I your valuable work , that the mar * riage service is a subject of great and just complaint to Dissenters in gene * ral , but particularly so to Unitarian
Dissenters , who if they even consider it as a mere ceremony , their feelings must be hurt , and their minds revolt at , what is so opposite to their sentiments , the Trinitarian form of
worship contained in it . And as no good reason can be given why the feelings and consciences of so large . and re-: spectable a class of society should be thus wounded and oppressed , and in a matter too the most serious of their
lives ; let the evil be stated , the wrong be expressed , and if possible a remedy be procured . It may be asked , why not perform the marriage union before the civil magistrate , as it is now virtually a civil matter , and the breach of it an offence at common law . Wheii
a husband , or a wife so grossly mils in coujugal duty , that a remedy is sought for , recourse is generally bad not to the Church , but to a civil court . The marriage service then ought to be performed in that court , where the parties can alone be made responsible for a breach of the
contract . But if the marriage of two persona ought to be purely a religious contract and service , then let any one .: consider , whether in reason , such contract ought not to be performed agreeably to the religious sentiments of the parties immediately concerned * and whether such a mode would not
be likely to be more binding , ' and have a more lasting influence upon their minds , than when performed according to the creeds and ceremonies of a church deemed by them erroneous . This is clearly a question of policy and of revenue on the part ; of
the Established Church , as no good ground from scripture or reason can be made out for such monopoly . If the Quakers can / properly uianry a » mongst themselves , so might equally all other sects $ and Dissenters ought as men of honour and conscience ? to pnotest againafc such partiiaftity and oppression , and as knowingttbemselvefe
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1816, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2448/page/22/
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