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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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4 i That th | s Meeting views with sincere pleasure the truly Christian spirit displayed by many members of the Episcopal Bench , and more particularly by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury , in supporting a measure of so much importance to the preservation of mental sincerity and integrity of conscience , without which no religious service can be useful or acceptable .
" That the sincere thanks of this Meeting are also due to the Earl of Liverpool and Earl Harrowby for their liberal and candid attention to the case submitted to their consideration , and to the former more particularly for his candid
declaration of his sense of the unequivocal intention of the Legislature to place Unitarians upon the footing of other Protestant Dissenters by the Act of the 53 rd Gco * III ., and of their just title to further relief in the event of doubts attaching to the complete operation of that Act .
" That tins Meeting is also anxious to express its gratitude to Lord Holland for his manly and energetic support of the rights of conscience , and to such other noble Lords , on both sides of the House , as furthered the measure by their speeches or votes .
< c That while the members of this Association are encouraged to look with confidence to the ultimate success of their efforts , they think themselves called upon thus publicly to declare the true object of their complaint , the grounds on which they seek relief , and the plan of redress which they have ventured to suggest .
" That the present Marriage Law of England , made in the year 1753 , and for the avowed purpose of merely preventing clandestine marriages , requires all persons ( except Jews and Quakers ) to join on that occasion in the worship and service of the Established Church .
c < That the conformity thus imposed upon the Unitarian Dissenter is repugnant to his conscientious feelings and opinions ; first , because as a Dissenter he objects to being forced to join for civil purposes in the ordinances of that Church from which
he conscientiously withdraws himself , under the sanction and protection of ' the law ; but secondly and chiefly , because the Marriage Service of the Church is one in which he cannot , as a Unitarian , join without a species of equivocation , painful to his conscience and degrading to an honourable mind .
" That this compulsive conformity is of comparatively recent origin , the Church having no such exclusive privilege until it was conferred upon it ( not as an ecclesiastical privilege , but as a civil regulation ) in 1753 , prior to which time , marriage appears to have been in England , as in almost all other countries , a civil
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contract , requiring for . its legal validity the religious sanction of no church . " That the enforcing of conformity in this respect is repulsive to the jp ^ Ucy of the existing laws of England , which long previous to the Marriage Act bad sanctioned and protected the right of Dissent from the worship and discipline of the Church .
" That the effect of this Act , so far as it operates as a constraint on conscience , could not have been intended by the Legislature ; that the framers of it had avowedly in view merely the civil object ofrpromoting regularity in the formation and registration of the matrimonial contract ; and that this is evidenced by the
exception of the parties ( Jews and Quakers ) against whose religious habits and opinions it obviously militated—which exceptiou would most probably have been extended to Unitarian ? , if their worship had at that time been included , as it now is , within the protection and sanction of the Toleration Acts .
" That the grievance is extremely partial , inasmuch as the marriages of all Dissenters in Ireland are legalized , by express Act of Parliament , ( passed in 1772 , after the fullest discussion ;) as those contracted in Scotland are of course binding ; and as even so late as 1820 , an Act was passed for rendering valid Presbyterian marriages in British India ,
" That the law is not only unjust , but that it is not warranted by the slightest political or civil expediency , inasmuch as the object in view ( the due publicity and registration of marriages ) may notoriously and obviously be accomplished with the greatest ease without any constraint on religious feelings .
" That if the Legislature feels itself in any manner called upon to interfere with the celebration of marriages , as a religious ordinance , in order to secure a binding and impressive influence on the con sciences ) of the parties concerned , still it is clear that such an object can best be accomplished by avoiding all constraint , and by choosing such religious ceremonial as will be accordant to the
feelings , and , therefore , most likely to produce the desired effect on the minds of the parties . " That the existing constraint is not only vexatious to Unitarian Dissenters ,
but must , as they conceive , be extremely unpleasant to the ministers of the Church , who , by the existing law , are obliged to administer sacred ordinances to , and join in religious worship with , persons who are known to them on all other occasions
to disavow and publicly renounce their communion . , " Tljat , as a remedy for this grievance , the pill recently introduced provided for
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Intelligence *—Unitarian Association . 367
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1824, page 367, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2525/page/47/
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