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general and heavy grievances press upon the community , and demand the attention of the first reformed Parliament . Indeed , such censure will not apply , if it be intended that the principle laid down in the first reason , and corroborated in the second *
should be fairly carried out into its legitimate consequences . On this supposition it is not merely a dissenting grievance , but one of the great evils of the social state ; one of the worst miseries which priestcraft and aristocracy have combined to inflict upon mankind , that the Dissenters are pledging themselves to endea *
vour to remedy . If they can induce the legislature to adopt the theory that the marriage contract is ' a Common , in distinction (frotn a religious engagement , should be regarded by the law merely as a civil transaction ^ ' is superatitiously converted into a religious ceremony , ' and is not * an affair of ecclesiastical cognizance / they will do enough towards ^ social reformation and the diffusion of social enjoyment , amply to merit oblivion for all the past inertness which they deplore .
To carry this principle consistently into effect , there must be no transfer of the celebration of marriage' from the episcopalian minister to the dissenting minister . We are sorry to see , by the sixth reason in the paper referred to , that any such transfer should be contemplated . Its inconsistency with an honest adherence to the principle is manifest . That principle can never be established in the minds of the people generally , so long as the interposition of priest i
or quasi priest , of a person in * holy orders , ' or pretended holy orders / is inseparably connected with entering into the marriage contract . Let episcopalian or dissenter invite the presence and the prayers of priest or minister on that , as on other important occasions , if he so please , but let it be plain to all parties that this is a proceeding perfectly voluntary ; that the contract is distinct from it , and complete without it . Unless this be Carefully done , the Romish superstition , which the congregationalists SO
properly denounce ,, can never be eradicated . The dissenting ministry already tends quite enough towards a priesthood . The pretensions set up by some , anil the supervision and influence exercised by many , bear all the marks , and produce some of the worst effects of priestcraft . The public and the legislature may be rightfully jealous of an addition to the privileges or function ! of a distinct class or order of men , who bear ft peculiar character , possess peculiar interests , and already exercise a powerful and extensive influence . Or pis we would rather nut it , dissenting
ministers themselves should be anxious to disclaim investiture with any privilege , or the discharge of any function , which obliterates the distinction between the minister and the priest , and fosters in the people ft deceptive notion of the authority , dighity * and relative position of those who are nothing more than brother * amongst brethren . They will do well , also , in distinctly dis * claiming the fee-svstem . Let them anticipate , and so for evel
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The Dissenting' Marriage Question * 189
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 139, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/71/
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