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as this does exist , and I only deplore the Spirit which has given it existence . There are other important circumstances that have required the interference of the Society . Among them is that which relates to the qualification of Dissenters to serve on juries . Two cases
of tins nature have called for our interference . One occurred in Cornwall , the other in the county of Carnarvon . The Act declares , that no minister of more than one congregation shall be liable to serve on juries , unless , indeed , he nil some other situation , and then it is just he should give the public a portion of that time which is not fully occupied by his religious duties . In one of these cases the gentleman did not follow any other occupation , and he was therefore declared exempt ; but in the other case , the individual r !? d , and he was consequently entitled so to serve .
Another subject is that of the liability of Dissenting clergymen to be drawn for the militia . A gentleman of the name of Richard Whitmore was employed by a Devonshire Religious Society , to officiate at Broadham ; and he was chosen for the militia . Mr . Tyrrell , a highly respectable
attorney at Exeter , who has frequently done much service to our cause , wrote to me upon the subject . And in reply I stated how the law stood—that , although the gentleman was not the minister of any distinct congregation , he was notwithstanding exempt . This opinion was submitted to the Lord Lieutenant of the
county—who submitted it to the Secretary of War—who again submitted it to counsel ; and the result was , that Mr . Whitmore was entitled to be exempted , and the exemption was consequently allowed .
Another case also lias occurred to which I feel it necessary to refer ; and this case is rendered important by the interposition of a Bishop , rather than by any intrinsic merit of its own . it occurred in the town of ff ^ eUlngborongh 9 m
Northamptonshire , and relates to the tolling of a bell . To the parish of Wcllingborough came a clergyman of the name of Wilson , who thought proper to interrupt this custom , which had been established for sixty years , and to issue his orders that no bell should toll when a Dissenter
expi red . The sixty seventh Canon provides that , When any is passing out of thi . s life , a bell shall be tolled , and the minister shall not then slack to do his last duty — and after the party ' s death ( if it
so fall out ) there . shall be rung no more but one short peal , and one other before the burial , and one other after the burial . ' In the particular case to which I allude , the Dissenter was interred in the Dissenters' burial-ground , and , therefore
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there may be a doubt whether , as he was not interred in the church-yard , the bell ought to have tolled . But the case is important , as the clergyman has- stepped forward , and in a letter , a copy of which I hold in my hand , declares , " That as
to the passing bell , he never would permit that bell to be rung for a Dissenter even in the event of an interment in the church-yard ; and that his pledge was open , publicly and universally known
that whilst he held the Curacy , no bell of his church should ever toll for a Dissenter , and that he would not even permit the bells to ring for a marriage when the parties were Dissenters . " And yet , whatever be our inclinations on this sub .
ject , they compel us to go , and to go only , to their church to be married . In this instance , an appeal was made to the Bishop of Peterborough , who -wrote a long letter on the subject , and defended the
conduct of this Wellingborough curate . I indeed regret that a man of such mighty mind should so have acted ; and that he should have suffered any occurrence to have sullied a glory and a reputation hitherto so exalted and so well deserved
I have the opinion of some eminent men on this question , and I find that a right of a Dissenter to the two "first ringings is unquestionable , but that it is not so clear as to the two latter . Yet we contribute
to rear those edifices , we pay their tithes , we raise their funds . When 1 , 500 , 000 / . were required for the erection of new churches , did not we contribute ? And to their churches we must attend to be
baptized , and there we must attend to be married , unless we are satisfied to live in a state which I would by no means recommend , a state of cheerless celibacy ; and m their church-yards ( except where the wisdom of Dissenters has provided
for themselves a burial ground ) we must deposit the ashes of those we hold most dear ; and yet they would withhold from us that public token of esteem which they would not withhold from the most worthless or most base . I have stated
the opinion I have procured , to be , that the Dissenters are certainly entitled to the two first ringings mentioned in the canon—for how is it to be known where we are to be interred ? or how to be known that we are Dissenters > or it
we were , the law will not allow aw illegal act—but the right is not equally certain as to the two last tollings . Now , in tlio court , it is difficult to say how the question would be decided , for it is only to the Ecclesiastical Courts that we can £ <>•
There is nothing with which we are connected , in which ministers of the Kstablished Church do not interfere . But it the will of a clergyman is to he the law , and if on his dictum is to depend whetlK 1
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632 Intelligence . —Protestant Society Mr . Wilks ^ s Speech .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 632, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/56/
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