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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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J . P . on me Marriage Ceremony * fcij
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jnOUft ffiwGS * * ' ** i £ Jp $ 9 ihc - heart atpd «^ i ^ a ^ re ^ horougUly disposed & » enter iA ^ t ^ ese-serrto ^ with purity < and spif&T 1 I P ? * ^ T * * th ^ k , to sCQ&se-Sffie marriages at Church is a profaaafjM . oi the holy religioft which as gfaistians we prdfesa I object to it fofall Christians , not merely for Uni-? hri ^ n Christians ^ I object to it , Sir ,
feieause it 13 luring tn religion with H / gia&er whichnas nothing to do with irf igien , and which belongs to the $ fdBr « iagistrate , anc ^ not to tne priest . It may be said in answer to this ) v that marriage is a divine institution , and thafccnQthing can be so proper as to ^ te rlntd it ,: With minds imbued with
a ^ sjimt of devotion , and to ask upon the act , the blessing of heaveri . That marriage is a Divine institution I readity grant . Itiias always appeatedrto me so . But the contract between the
parties marrying , on the notification of this contract , is a matter of civil concern . -And so it is regarded * in this cffiSntry . D . E . justly remarks , that th ^ rerrtedy for the breach of this contrtteVis to be sought for in our courts of law : for in this view the
ecclesiastifcd court may be considered : but if we except this court , ^ v ^ hich regards only minor transgressions , or at least in a minor way—the remark is just . And it is observable that the marriage
contract has been varied by different }> eople . This anyone may satisfyliimself of , by going no further than to Cahnet ' s account of it among the Jews , —who mentions a disagreement as to thecetemon ies to subsist between
Buxtorf , Selden ; and Leo of Modena . THe marriage therefore as a divinein-Mftution h one thing ; the contract between the parties quite another ; It ma ^ Tiowever still be said , if the institution be divine , is it not right to keep up the idea of its being so , by celebrating the contract within the
sacfetr walls used for the purposes of rf&dtibn > ' Is iif " not right then to ask , as is Gone by' the present ceremony , «^ In V 16 rriore immediate preer % e of the ATniighty , whether the MUei ? are aware " that there is any im-Pwnrient ' whv thev ntav not be
law-WSj # in ^ d wgether irt matrinibh ^; m to askWe trXem that so ntatiy as wM 0 L tp ^ thei otherwise ! frjan S ^ PtovuJed marriage were entered into as
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a rBiigicms eb&gafioK , - this mtgril-tm wclfe * bat as it is riotortbusiy rtW ^ Jb entdred'into , ifap ^ e ^ fs to n ^ e to ^^ S ^ fe sharrmful ferce w" things holy ,, to Wt strch ^ questlons ^ jf more espedtaffy asrWe ybiing tieople of the by-stand ^ r ^ *§ # ? not toM what it is that GodV wdni allows or forbids thereupon . ^ !^ Wd if they were told , would it in an ; Hprobability have * any effect I Mr . E 8 M , the discussion of the subject of r&ifriage H alinost sure to give ris ^ e fo isbtrjte droll ideas ; and I feel that ih haiiS ^ rre :
it I'may he thought fanciful j HltPu must say there are two things ofhttSSl in the cat 3 tiori 9 g iven to young perils on this head which appear , tfrrfre ^ t least , essentially to be Avoided iri ' tfatiifriage , provided it is expected that \ JrYe Divine blessing will attend it . ^ Jirst
then , I say ; I think proj > erty , or ctiwsideratiori of property , should heveffife the basis of the marriage contract , ^ t do not mean that a wife with fdtty thousand pounds may not be iti ^ Ye convenient for many purposes trian ^ a wife with Only one ; but I do n ¥ e&i that he who marries the woman with .
forty thousand pounds , while he really in his heart and judgment prefers ti ^ fe woman with only one , is a eortipWtp violator of the institution of marriagfe * For if , as appears both from the © iS and New Testament , to be th ^ case , the man and wife are to be as dear to
each other as though they were Sty ^ Jlesh , does not he thwart the design , and go contrary to the spirit of the institution who marries , what , in respect to his feelings of regard , is rigtning but a statue of gold ? It cannctf be said that those enter into th ^ bep ^ p spirit of this institution , who make it
a matter of traffic , or political regu la - tion . But further , those persons , vfp--late the marriage institution , yv \ io ejS f ter into it , having previously ij jerejp been connected with any" other rnq-u or woman , such man or wornan feeing still alive . If I can reap my BGhf ^
rightly , marriage is the cpnnectygi between the sexes : and the fifstcon ^ nectlon ( in the eye dfTheayen ) fo tn ^ the man and wife ! I consider tjips ^ to be , in the estimation of heaven
dd , y , lter $ r $ a # d ad y lftirfsses , wljo toi ^ p a wife or a husband «* t chuw : l | , w ^ s all ^ those wiir ^ wnbrxj they We ^ € ^ vm ^^^ Sm ^ M ^ i ^^ it-torn o f £ 8 $ ^[ * $$ f $ * kw&'im&m remark , and saj , ** wT ^ o flien wilr be saved ? " To this question , which need
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™> x . xi . 2 f
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1816, page 213, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2451/page/25/
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