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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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Mr * WortUy qh th Mqrriage / Cei ^ m o n ^ g £ &
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twixt Christ and hia Church . " This , to gay the least of it , is a most delicate refinement upon the other mysteries With -which Christianity has been loaded , and by which it has been well nigh borne down j and truly nothing bat the very lovC of mystery could
have led the compilers of our Liturgy to compare the union of the person of a man and that of a woman with the union of Christ and his Church . Here one cannot say what one would , to expose the absurdity of such a
comparison . Vve n \ ust be content with remarking , that mystery has been ttie great source of wealth to the priesthood of old times and all times , and that a more profitable mystery has not beep devised than that which , mixed
up the purest pleasures of life with the interests of the Christian priesthood . Next follow the three causes for which matrimony is said to have been ordained . There is a manifest indecency in
the first cause , which certainly need not be stated in the Christian assembly supposed to be present , and which , especially when the couple appear at the altar with their hoary locks , can excite no other than a smile .
The second appears to cast a slur upon the very ' honourable state' * itself as though it had been ordained , not as an act of pure benignity to the virtuous man , and good member of society , but as a covert into which the rogue may fly to escape an unavoidable
crune . The third i » the only cause which can with propriety be assigned in a public company for entering the married state , and if it be necessary to offer any apology at all for the act , of which there may be a doubt , this is a aurncient one .
Although the solemn charge which follows these 'causes o { matrimony , cannot on its own account be objected against , yet to the virtuous couple it is perfectl y needless , while the violators of decency and of rectitude will disregard it .
I know not whether I may venture to object against the queries which foHxm " wilt thou have this woman , &ccV' «« wilt thou have this man , &c . " which are addressed by the priest , first to the man and then to the woman , oil : the ' , grbund that , as they meet on cqiaAl ttirnin-, ' ' the same n ^ lemn extaagemcift * ho * id be entered into by poih * f *• ' : * 4 ' - > ¦ ' '* • > .- ' ' ' ^ ~*
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of them . Yet in pur service ^ whilfft the man covenants "to love , comfo ^ honour and keep" the woman , erM ^ is required to do more , ** to obey and to serve the man . " Is there anjt marked difference in the original for * mation of the two classes ot the bur
man species to justify a partiality erf " this kind ? Or has it not happened that the law Owes its birth to this circumstance , that the male part of th $ species have been , viva voce , thp framers of human laws ? Some yeajp ago a Liturgy was used in an English
Church on the Continent in wTtiob many marriages were celebrated $ * fi that Church the man and the vvoxnau were required to enter into ihe samjg solemn promise and engagement wilt * respect to each other , " to love , comfort , honour and keep in sickneos
and in health , and forsaking all other , " &c . Your readers will judge ., both male and female , whether thait Church or the Church of England was the more just in its requirements . If , however , for a moment we wave the consideration of
right t © make such a statute , it may be allowed to the sceptical by-stander to ask , what is the good of it ? is it not in most cases obliging an intelligent creature of God to make a solemn vow wl > ich she does not mean to fulfil ? Let the Dunmow flitch of bacon maintain the argument .
The charm which follows in th marriage service is one of the mo * t entertaining things one can well conceive of ; for as we are not on these occasions in a humour to be horrified at any thing , we can scarcely keep our lips in a posture sufficiently stead y to articulate the magical words "With
this ring I thee wed , with my body I thee worship , and with all my worldl y goods 1 thee endow / ' I must suppoa * that with most people these worcU arc a mere abracadabra . They have always reminded me of the jan—vantin— tan—tire—rare—litter—air—van .
—fain—well , of which , when I was a boy , I remember to have hearcj that these sounds were , under certain cUcumstances , calculated to produce n . most surprising effect . A venerable
Divine of the laat age was accustomed to say of the words of tnis charm , that the man whp repeats them is guilty of three of the greatest crimes . which the Bible knows—" with this ring I thoe w ^ Jj" thit f i « wilUjli ^ fk'Trivi lh roy
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1816, page 211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2451/page/23/
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