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fessoF depends upon his exertions , and l consequence the reputation of that university is so high , that Englishmen think it necessary to finish their
education by passing a year there . They learn shallow metaphysics there , and come back worse than they went , inasmuch as it is better to be empty than flatulent . " { To be continued *]
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more speedily , procure for the Dissenters the privilege to be married by their own ministers , as well as the removal of all illiberal restrictions for conscience sake .
The case referred to by J . F . [ XI . ^ 91 , ] of a clergyman having refused to marry a person , because she had not been baptized , materially enhances the importance of speedily procuring such relief : for I fully agree with J . F . that the number of Anti-baptists is rapidly increasing .
It is nevertheless certain , that the established clergy will defend most strenuously their exclusive right to the performance of this service , so long as it is accompanied by any considerable emoluments . By curtailing the emoluments , we should greatly facilitate
the object in view . And such curtailment is completely in our power . The legal fee for the performance of a marriage service is trifling . It has , however , been customary with all classes , except the poor , gratuitously
to enlarge the fee according to the rank of the parties . Besides which , the happy pair or their attendants are assailed by a whole host of subaltern church officers . The clerk , the ringers , the singers , ( and in one instance which 1 witnessed , the sexton and the
sexton s assistant ) levy a contribution upon the poor bridegroom ' s benevolence ; thinking , I suppose , that the happy man will at such a moment hesitate not to reward every one attached to the sacred edifice , which has been the instrument of his induction , as J . F *
emphatically expresses it , into " the only bliss of paradise which has survived the falL " JLet then the minister of each Dissenting society compose a form of marriage service , and henceforth let every Dissenter be married by his or
her own minister , and pay to him , and to him only , such gratuitous fee as they can afford and think proper . And since the existing law requires that . the service shall be repeated by a clergyman of . the Established . Church ,
the already wedded pair must submit to be again married secundum legem . But let them jiot pay one iota more than the fees enjoined ; by Jaw . Thus will the scanty incomes of our own ministers be increased , and wlien the churoh finds itself thus deprived of the
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On Marriage of Umta ?* iafis hy the Established Clei * gy . 409
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Sir , Warvingtori ) &th Aprily 1817 . IT having long been a desideratum with all classes of Dissenters to have every civil disability , on account of religious sentiment removed from our
code of laws , 1 conceive it to be incumbent upon each individual to do all iu his power towards the accomplishment of such an object . Permit me then to lay my thoughts before the readers of the Repository upon the Ceremony of Matrimony . 1 am one of those who think this ought to be
considered a civil , rather than a religious service . As , however , this change can only be effected by a legislative enactment , of which as yet there seems but little probability , we must be content to be joined in wedlock by the dictum of a minister of the gospel : and as the law now stands , this minister must be one of the
Established Churcb . One sect only is exempt from this servile submission . I shall not now notice the many objectionable passages in the prescribed form , which are obnoxious to purity of taste and purity of mind . But as an IJnitarian , I do protest against a statute , which allows no alternative ,
but that tiie great bulk of our fellowsubjects shad ] , in such cases , repair to a temple , consecrated for Trinitarian worship , jxiin in a service wkh a minister ordained to . such worship , and at the close of "the ceremony receive from Jbiru a ihenediotion , which , to say the least , bears jthe stamp of inconsistency to one who believes his God to be one
undivided person . As in the instance of the S&ave Trade , w . e have witnessed tbexnaruh of mind caused by the iaud-** We . perseverance of individuals in a virtuous cause , I Uiip ^ k a si m ilar
perseverance jn fcach successive session , pursued . by the enlightened and indefatigable advocates of civil and religious liberty in , the great senate of'the nation , would as certainly , and perhaps
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vol . xij . 3 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 409, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/33/
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