On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    ^^© feg ^? i ^ TO ^ y /? Justice ; © ngpw * ke mpre limited ground ot p rivate jeejing * . We are not permitted to enjoy the privileges of wedded life unless we . will go to the priest of a certain relifflon , which may be the reli g ion we approve or not , as the matter nappens to fall out : and without uttering

    certain words he dictates to us , which may or may not contain sentiments which we conceive to he indecent , absurd , nonsensical or idolatrous . Here then oar rights as subjects of a free government , in which the people bear

    a respectable and powerful part , are certainly broken in upon . We expect indeed to give up some of our natural ri g hts and privileges in order to enjoy those of social life ; but there is no occasion for us to abandon any

    in the enjoyments by which we cannot injure the society in which we live ; nor have we any occasion to submit to forms and ceremonies which to us appear absurd and mischievous . We shall not object to other men ' s being as absurd and as foolish as they

    please to be ; but they have no claim upon us to justify their folly by follow * ing their example ourselves . In the earlier periods of society the ceremony of marriage , though ever equally important , assumed a very diff rent character to that which it

    now bears in our country . It was regarded as nothing more than a social engagement entered into b y a man and a woman , to increase the virtuous pleasures of life , and to convey down to other creatures the privileges of human beiners' . It was then performed . man beings . It was then performed

    , as it generally still is in-most parts of the world , by a man going to the house of the woman ' s parents , and theje iu the presence of the family and cfftieV friends taking her to wife ; or by taking her from the house of her father to his own house , where he

    called in his friends and neighbours to bear witness that he had taken her for his wife Christian priests appear to have been more skilful in cutting out work for themselves which would be profitable to their fraternity , than

    even the priests of the ancient . Pagan systems or those of Jewish renown , celebrated as they were for gulling the people by an abundance of rites and ceremonies , and fattening upon their ftpoilA . The ceremony of marriage aw / otyfr ^ y ^' . ^ K * i * x $ ov *

    Untitled Article

    rite and made one of the seven sa * crame ^ n ts of the Church : < Gf i $ 9 f | c by Pope Innodent the third : rd&d the Church of England , ^ whiek in so many things adopted the j >\ axi * of that Church , did-not think it exp ^

    dient to give up so profitable a c

    But the Church of England did no * at first take to itself the excJtffrjve power of performing the ceremony of marriage . For when the principles of the reformation had spread m- " " -this country and different classes oPProlestants sprang up , they all performed this rite for themselves ; the Dissenters

    marrying in their respective place * of worship . This general practices prevailed in this country till the year 1753 , in the reign of George II ., when the

    celebrated Marriage Act was passed ; the object of which too plainly is to turn the attention from the pure art of marriage , to the ceremony which the priest performs , and which gives 6 ccasion to much deceit and wickedness .

    By the English law , marriage is regarded as of divine institution .. " , ijtfow if the reader wotjd know what if the ceremony of marriage as it has been ordained ofrGod , and was recognised by the Levitical law , let him look into the C 2 2 d Chapter of Exodus , ver . 16 , 17 , and into Deut . xxii . 28 , wherein

    the case is clearly and fully described ; and then let him examine the laws ot England , and refer to the various decisions of our Ecclesiastical Courts , he will find they are of a contrary character , and militate directly against the clear object of that law .

    The marriage act declares , that , "if a person shall solemnize marriage ^ except it be in Scotland , or except he be a Jew , or a Quaker , in any other p lace than in a Chftrch or " public Chapel after the publication " organs as therein directed , or by special licence from the archbishop ' s court , such

    marriage shall he null and void , \ "hereb y completely taking away from afl other . Dissenters tjie privilege they . had previously enjoyed , and giving all the ppsver and benefits oi the marriaoe ceremony t 6 the Clergy of the Church of England . ' ^ But exceptions ^ re ? , matte up favour of the Jews and thf ^ Qi&H&P * " It may " ^ • • . - " ' . . ; . j , ' "

    Untitled Article

    JljffV JP&rtley on the Marriage Ceremony . 909

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1816, page 209, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2451/page/21/