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nomination , had attended on a green , where twenty or thirty persons usually congregated on a Sunday afternoon , to listen to the truths lie thought it important to declare . Mr . Clavill attended with a retinue of servants , and
approached the man . r l hat he was a worthy and an excellent , although a poor and humble individual , the concurrent testimony of many respectable persons has satisfactorily established . Mr . Clavill commanded him to desist . The preacher took no notice of the command , and proceeded to
read his text . The clergyman then commanded the tithing-man to seize him . But the man had something of true English feeling . He paused . Why ? There was something in the brow—something in the very face of the man that bespoke his innocence—and then his words were
all " peace and good-will ;"—he was telling them to " love God and honour the King . " How could he be guilty of a crime ? But then he was pointed out as an aggressor . Habit enslaves us all 1— - and habit got the better of his feelingand he made a prisoner of the man ! He appealed to the clergyman , and inquired
what " harm he was doing ; " but the clergyman and the magistrate forgot the gentleman , and , in reply , brandished the stick he held , directing that he should be taken to Wareham gaol . When brought up the next day for examination , Mr . Clavill attended . The case was heard , and ordered to stand over for the
Sessions . But Mr . Clavill was better advised than to appear with such a cause in a court of justice . He knew that the man had not violated the laws , and that he had no right to apprehend him , or , having apprehended him , to use such brutal force . No 1 Mr . Clavill never appeared . Before a Jury of Englishmen he dared not shew his brow , and the man
returned to his home with the honest satisfaction of a man who has triumphed over a mighty foe . I feel it necessary , however , on the subject of out-door preaching , to remark , that nothing but necessity should warrant it , while places of worship are so easily registered , and
while so many already exist . If a man were indicted for stopping the highway , hy assembling a number of persons and preaching to them , I have no doubt that |» e would be convicted , and I think that , 111 justice , he might be so : but it was "ever yet intended to declare , that outunor preaching breach of the
was a peace when not upon the highway . Indeed the j ' y phrase denies it , for how could a " reach of the peace be committed by such Perso ns assembled for such a purpose ? instances have again occurred in which cl € J * gymch of the Established Church have Ie « 8 ed to bury the dead . —At CMdds J £ r-
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cul % in Shropshire , the child of a poor man was refused interment , and the father was obliged to carry it . six miles before it could be laid at rest in its mother earth I
At Catsfleldy in Sussex , near Hastings , and iu Hastings itself , clergymen have refused to Dissenters the rites of burial . And under what circumstances does the refusal occur ? Why , at the moment when the mourners are assembled—why , when the bell has tolled—why , when all
the awful preparations have been passed through , and when the time is comethe time when the earth is to fall heavily upon the coffin containing the only remains of the being that affection has endeared , and when those who stand by need all the consolations that religion
can supply to support and animate . — Yes , it was at this moment that the clergyman appeared , but advanced only to give pain to the mourners , and to agonize a parent ' s heart , by saying , Now that you have waited an hour till it suited me to come , I will not inter your child ! I
did not know that you were Dissenters —take your child somewhere else—take it where you please—but here it shall not lie in consecrated ground . Yes , Gentlemen , eleven miles were they compelled tp carry their child away from the abode of the parents , and from the place that gave
it birth . But in this instance , the clergyman the next day found that he had acted wrong ; he discovered that he had no right to do as he had done ; but by that time the father had been to Hastings , had prepared the ground for the interment of his child , and had decided on
the course he would pursue . I interfered , but not to punish the deed which had been admitted to be wrong . I only wrote to the Bishop of Chichester , stating the circumstance , and requesting him to
explain to the clergyman and to all the clergy in his diocese that the conduct adopted by this particular man was neither consistent with Christianity—with the laws of his country—with his own liberal mind—nor with the true interests
of the Established Church . Such then was the conduct pursued by the Rev . Thomas James Cazalet towai- ^ s the child of Thomas West , and such was the conduct pursued by Thomas West towards the clergyman .
At Mevagissetfy in the county of Cornwall , the Rev * W . Ascot , the Vicar , did what I believe the clergymen are entitled to do—he refused to allow the corpse of a Dissenter to be brought within the church , and therefore read the burial service in the open air : but in consequence of which he read only a part of that service , and omitted the most beautiful portion . I fear that such a power
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Intelligence . S —Protestant Society : Mr . TVilks s peech . 631
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 631, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/55/
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