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INTELLIGENCE. — ^mpji
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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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DOMESTIC . RELIGIOUS . Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty . The Fifteenth Anniversary of this
Society was held on Saturday , May 13 , at the City of London Tavern . The most Honourable the Marquis of Lansdowne was in the Chair , supported by Lord Dacre , who had presided on a former
Anniversary . Mr . John Wilks rose , and was received by the Meeting with enthusiastic cheering , which having at length subsided , he commenced an address that continued for more than three hours . After an exordium , in which he
pathetically alluded to friends of the Society taken away by death during the past year , he proceeded to a case described at the last meeting which made a deep impression . It was a refusal to celebrate the marriage ceremony between David
Davids and Mary Jenkins at the parish of Llangain in Wales : the clergyman refusing to perform the service of the Church , unless the female would forego her faith , and would consent to be introduced into what he called the Christian
Church , by the baptismal rite to be administered by him . J will not detail the circumstances , but only remind you that the hoary father of the young woman , with the independence which honours the mountaineer and ancient Briton ,
ventured to express , in no measured tones , his disappointment and disgust . For that conduct the clergyman prosecuted him in the Bishops' Court at Carmarthen , for brawling on the occasion . The
Committe pledged themselves to have this clergyman taught his duty by law , and tluu the shield of this Society should be spread over the peasant ' s head . They « ave therefore removed the suit into the
Arches Court of Canterbury , in this metropolis , where an enlightened judge will preside , and justice will result . Having detailed some minor grievances , « n relation to Sunday-tolls , and the assessment of Chapels to the Poor-Rates , Mr . Wilks proceeded to take notice of
sotne applications on the subject of rates for building New Churches . As Dissen ter , he said , we do not compiaiu that we have to erect and to repair the edijjces , whether lofty or humble , which we <*< hcate to religious adoration . We do jw > t complain that we have to support ™ e ministers we prefer , and who amply
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repay us by intellectual and moral benefits , and leave us their debtors in an amount no fortunes can supply . No ; we feel no sorrow—we utter no com . plaint ; it is our honour and delight . But really , when we find , that after
paying dues , and fees , and tithes , and rates for ministers we do not know , and buildings we never visit ; and after contributing to the ^ 1 , 500 ., 000 voted exclusively for the erection of New Churches for the accommodation of the members
of the Established Church ; we are farther compelled to pay , long and largely , additional charges as New Church rates , in our respective parishes , for the repairs and expenses attendant on New
Churches , we canuot but writhe under the new burdens , and our withers )> ecome wrung . But however grievous , such burden must be home . From the Rev . Mr . Fry , the Unitarian minister of Kidderminster , au application on this subject was received . He felt as I describe . But it was not
even of the new church—chapel , and the heavy rate alone that he complained . The introduction of organs and ornaments to please the taste or vanity of parish officers , and the requirement of rates from Dissenters for those objects , especially excited his displeasure . Those matters—those painted trifles—and gaudy
decorations neither he nor myself could deem essential for the humble , spiritual , acceptable worship of the Infinite Supreme—He who disdaineth not to irradiate the humblest heart , and who sees no glory in the splendour of a thousand suns ! Or if the gilded pageant could please some beings , he thought that they
who were so pleased should not require him and the Dissenters to pay the purchase for the toy- As the law , however , gave the Vestry the power to sanction such expense , and he had not resisted the measure at the Vestry , the
Committee could only advise acquiescence in the rate . Many such evils Dissenters might obviate or levssen , if they more frequently attended public Vestries , and asserted , as they well and usefully might do , their parochial rights . At Vestries , inhabitants are entitled to attend . There
officers are chosen—expenses orderedpoor aud church rates are imposed—and if Dissenters did not heedlessly neglect attendance , they might often cruah in the bud those e ^ ils which , when matured , form a spreading plant which no time nor labour can uproot . On deniandU of Easter Offerings many applications have been made . One of
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( , 371 )
Intelligence. — ^Mpji
INTELLIGENCE . — ^ mpji
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/55/
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