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Untitled Article
teefcing that some &i the most iawschtevous delusions which had ever disgraced a couiitry , had originated in the unfounded assertion , that the Chinch was in danger . The most disgraceful acta recorded in our history were excited by enroaeous clamours of this sort . The mob , who had
carried the torch ; to the house of one of the greatest magistrates who had ever presided in England , had been led on to that act of violence and barbarism , under the influence of such au absurd belief .
When , therefore , an opuuon respecting the danger of the Church Establishruent was thrown out by such am authority as the Noble Lord ©« the Woolsack , it was to be wished and expected that he would condescend to state in what the danger consisted . He would take leave to direct
their Lordships attention to what had been done in Ireland , where the Church was the same as the Church of England , except so far as the measure to which he was about to allude had altered and liberalized the spirit of chureh government . An Act was then passed ia 1781 ^ declaring all marriages of all Dissenters to be valid ,
and without any of the regulations which this Bill proposed ; and he would ask the Prelates of tbye Church Establishment in Ireland , to state in what instance this regulation had been foiwid injurious to the Church ? That Act had passed in
Ireland , cot only with the approbation of the Right Reverend Bench and of the Lord Lieutenant , but of the Privy Council , acting at that time under the iniduenee of Lord Tiiuiiow , a man not Likely to . disregard the interests of the Church . Some of
the Bishops ,, who had taken a part in thai proceeding , had left their opinions recorded ia a protest ; and those opinions were so different from those avowed by the Noble and Learned Earl , that he could not help alluding to them * The Bill for
allowing the marriages of Dissenters in Ireland , passedi the Commons without any opposition . In- the House of Lords it was objected to ; but when sonae of the Prelates came to form a protest against the measure , after it had passed into an Act , they stated their objections to he , not against the principle , of which , on the contrary , they approved , but because , it gave the Dissenters greater privileges than the members of the Church , ( they being willing to give them as much , ) and because- it did not contain in its
euactments a provision against clandestine niai riages , nor a provision to facilitate divorces in the ordinary cases . They expressed themselves most willing to concur i « the principle of the Bill , which they would not have done if they thought it Kkely to be attended with danger to the Church . He could not conceive that auy
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ob $ eetion > couhl he made to the principle € * f the present Bill , except by persons who bfcld that Unitarians were unfit to ? be recognized in civil society . What « Hf ~ ierence there might be in point of doctrine between them and the Established
Church * it was not his business to inquire ; but if Unitarians had been tolerated , and were still considered worthy Co be tolerated it * this country , and to contract marriages *** - !* followed , that they ought to be relieved from a form which imposed upon then * a simulation of
confortuity and an acquiescence which the Ctmrch oitgkt to disdain to accept , unless it came freely and from the heart . He eoidd say witk truth , that in proportion as he attached importance to tfae doctrines of the Church of England , he would be an&iotis that no other assent should be
required on their behalf * btrt that which flowed from the conviction of the heart . If there were aoy persons in this country who felt a complete indifference on matters of religion ,, who regarded it only as
a trick of State , intended to secure obedience to Government ^ and respect for law ,, those were the very persons who , he expected , would be the first to compel others to wear that mask which they were content to wear themselves . But
such a proceeding was unworthy of a Christian and Protestant teacher , unworthy of the Church of England , and unworthy of that Assembly : they had no right to ask from others any submission which was not essential ; and , after obtaining what was necessary to secure
against clandestine marriages , they would not , he was persuaded , consent to vex the consciences of individuals , by obtaining a false assent to doctrines , in which they could iiat sincerely acquiesce . With respect to the amendments suggested , he should have no objection , If the Bill went
into Committee ? to meet the views of the Ri # ht Reverend Prelates , preserving the principle of tke Bill . But with respect to the proposition for obliging the Dissenters to keep a separate registry of their own , he doubted whether the general registry would uot be more effectual : at the same
time that lie was willing to agree to ainvy regulations w , hich were considered neces * - sury . The Bill was not intended far t he benefit of Unitatiaus ,. but for the general benefit , by giving to marriage the greatest solemnity of which it was capable ;—» the best way to insure that solemnity was ,
to connect it with the religions belief of the parties , wbtither they might ccmsider it mistaken or wot ; and' the moat certain way to weaken and destroy it was > to call them into the bosom of the Church , and , as it were , into the presence ol > their Creator , for the . purpose of affectirtg opi-
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Inlellrg ^ ncG ^ PmUammiary .- Unkaruuu * Marriage BilL 307
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/51/
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