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    church , from which they have separated in order to secure the validity of a civil contract . We regret to observe here a symptom of the too common inconsistency of a sectarian when advocating religious liberty . The writer seems to have no objection to the recognition of a dissenting priesthood by the State , and the employment of that priesthood in a religious matrimonial ceremony .

    ' The State has to see that the contract is made with sufficient publicity * before a civil officer and competent vntnesses , and is subject to an exact registration ; and it has to refer any religious exercise proper to such solemn engagements to the minister of the contracting parties . —p . 14 . But suppose the contracting parties are not blessed with a pastor and master , what is then to be done ? What , for instance , is

    to become of the Freethinking Christians , by whom this question was first stirred , and who have neither priest nor altar ? Who knows not that there are many thousands of unbelievers in the country , that they may be found in all ranks of society , from the highest to the lowest ? Are they to remain subject to that compulsory conformity , from which the Dissenters crave relief for themselves ? Dissent may reply , perhaps , Am I my brother ' s

    keeper ? Let him bestir himself for redress , if he feel aggrieved , as I do . ' And so let him , by all means . But it would surely be more honourable to the Dissenters to stick to the broad principles of civil and religious liberty , and not strive merely to draw their own necks out of the collar , leaving others under the yoke . It will evidently be practicable to satisfy the Dissenters on this point , and yet to leave untouched no inconsiderable portion of

    the common grievance . The whole subject of marriage , as affected by the law , imperatively requires revision . What can be a more extraordinary anomaly than a Divorce Bill ? The three estates of the realm , King , Lords , and Commons , in Parliament assembled , all employed in legislating for a single case of alleged breach of contract , instead of laying down a general principle by which all such cases might be at once disposed of , under a known

    rule . The practice is as absurd , as if a separate Act of Parliament were made necessary for every dissolution of partnership , instead of at once declaring the forms and conditions by the observance of which the parties might relieve themselves from their joint responsibility . The fact is , that the present system consists of two parts ; a mistaken religious principle , and , the violation of that principle on behalf of those who find favour in the eyes of the Aristocracy , and can afford to pay . Here is need enough of reform , only it happens not to be peculiarly a dissenting grievance . 3 . The ' ' forced conformity' of Dissenters in the burial of their dead . This grievance seems to us to be the lightest in the list . * Frequently it happens that the Dissenter has no other place of interment than the parochial ground ; when he has the choice of place , it is

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    JN o , 85 . *

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    The Case of the Dissenters . U 5

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1834, page 65, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2629/page/67/