The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-09-29 00:00:00

NOVEL IMPEDIMENT TO MARRIAGE AT
MERE REGIS.

We have been requested to publish the following
correspondenoe between the Lord Bishop of Salisbury,
and the Rev. G. C. Smith, Congregational Minister of
Bare Regis, relative to the retinal of the Curate of
Bore Regis to marry a young woman, because, as he
said, she had no "true Christian name," not haring
been baptised.

To the Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
My Lord,—l beg to call your lordship's attention to
the following statement, which, should your lordship
deem it necessary, I am prepared to confirm by
documentary evidence. The barn:toot marriage between
Joseph Brewer, and Jane Payne Butler, both of this
parish, were published in church on three successive
Sundays, *is., August 16th, 23rd, and 30th. On the day
before the second time of asking, the Rev. H. P. M.
Dodington, curate of the parish, intimated to the
woman that he should refuse to soleininse the proposed
marriage, on the sole ground that ahe had not been
baptised. On her requesting to be admitted to the
I ordinance of baptism, either on her own responsibility
or on that of sponsor*, it was made known to her that
It would be necessary for her to submit to a three
mouths' course of religious instruction, sus preparatory
to the adininstration of the solemn rite. I took the
liberty? my lord, of opening correspondence, a few days
ago, with Mr. Dodington touching this matter, which
was causing offence to my fellow-parishioners. I cannot
but bear most willing testimony to his Christian
courtesy, the carefulness with which he has reviewed
the grounds of his decision, his manifest conscientiousness,
and his loyalty to the laws of the church, as he
interpreta them. But the impression prevails
on the minds of many, and in my own, that
him refusal to solemnize marriage between the
persons named, save on a condition that may involve
uninitTlitemonr.peotrpebt al7h.tbei:pos,:ithiitpot oliabie;tmaegipureein:siittirwoocifrofompitbsfke:sytvieyPicinsrovp:oielr,
ecclesiastical or
law. Your lordship will admit that the
in this
parish-
ioner,,
aofuneit
,hr stp
theirs,
Wu:l:thy:so bearldairen never been
and in every diocese, who possibly through no neglect
Ito afilrm or prove the fact of their baptiam. I beg,
hu.4l,pasiwinshaligtoull bil'e.pitolheaarerelirenwijfitiosupoht.
lawtahetrefheore , tarhahect:dynogubrtyh
islmordsc.:
undue delay. to give such authoritative interpretation
sciesoßrednwtmeir2analelajfaneeaPadaynhemSuar"tlerie'to hope, that thati:tnheloy s°°halnl.
not longer be debarred from the marriage service of the
ehureh.—l am, my lord, your lordship's obedient
servant, GEORGE C. SMITH.
Bere Regis, Dorset, Sept, 8, 1868.
Palace, Salisbury, Sept. 14, 1888.
My dear Sir,—Owing to ciretunstaneee your letter of
the Bth did not reach Inc until the 11th inst., and since
then I have been too ill to attend to business. I have no
power to give, in a summary way, any authoritative
interpretation of the law upon the ease you put.
Before I heard from you Mr. Warre had written to
.1 me, and I bad answered his lett/T.—Yowl faithfully,
G. C. Smith, Esq. W. K. 8.1.2.11 M.

To the Right Rewrote, Lord Bishop of &sleeker,.
My Lord,—l have delayed asknowledgiag your
lordship's letter of the 14th., having the hope that the
View of the Parish, the Rev. F. Wane, who had been
in eorreapondence with your lordship, would, on his
return from hie vacation, revise and modify, or reverse
the decision of his curate, Mr. Dodington, in the matte;
of the postponed marriage between Joseph Brewer and
Jane Payne Butler. Disappointed in this hope. I now
venture to re-open the queatioo, and to express my our-
Print tint regret that tour lordship's eustribribution to.
the solving of it, should amount to only this.—"l Imes,
no power to give, in a summary way, any authoritative
interpretation of the law upon the case you put.'"
Proverbially, the word that issues from the palace
is clothed with power, and has the fume of
"mandanins" within the dioowe. I can only suppose.
therefore, Old your Lordship shrinks from giving
"snmetary ' judgment upon the owe, and WAS it
for faller evidence, in order that the decision
about to be given may be deliberate and unassailable.
It rosy be helpful to your lordship to he made striae,
or to be reminded, that Mr. Dodington, in hie refusal
to perform the marriage ceremony in this ease,eonsiders
himself more or or lem shielded by an het, passed in
the reign of George IV., which requires candidate' for
matrimony to give in a written notice, containing their
true Chritian iscieses,and argue" that, whatever interpre.
tation lawyers may pot on true Christian 1.4151411, is is
evident that the church does not contemplate any..
such but those given at baptism. Jane Payne Huth r
Dover having been baptised, it is held that she has am
true Christian name, and that there is jest cause ant
impediment to her being admitted to holy matrieneey
in4the church. With Mr. Dodington's plea in hand, a
high legal authority has carefully rued, Act 4, George
IV., cap. 76. and has ruled that th, re is nothing there
whatever to justify the position assumed, and that it
is the first time that a elenaman has taken his stand on
the church but not the legal meaning of " trio.
Christine name," In support 0 the withholding of the
rite of baptism for a period of three months, it has been
pleaded that the clergyman is bound to take due care
Bost the candidate is examined and 40 ffleieritly instructed
in the principles of the Christina religion. But Jane
Payne Butler declines the offer of a long course of
spiritual instructuon, on the ressoeable ground that
such a course would seriously interfere with her daily
work, shortening her houn of labour, and involving
many journey to and from her pleas of service, in •
I remote part of the parish ; and on the highergroand that,
however faith( ully and zealously she might be instructed.
' no guarantee could be given that at the end of three or
any number of mouth., she would be found in a state.
of greater spiritual fitness for baptism than now, and
that a muse of the injustice done to her might so.
embitter her spirit SA SO 111141.0 her an unproitnble
catedhumea, or tempt her to assume, as speedily as
poesible,• hypocritical preparedness for the solemnisation
of the Christian rite. It may b. sail—indeed, I now
quote Mr. Dodiegton's words, " It is a case which I do
not think would often oecur, unless a claimants has the
right of always demanding a certificate of baptism. It
is generally taken for granted in a Christian country
that all have been baptized. olden, it is known to the
contrary, as in this case." But, my lord, if baptism is
held to be so vital and fundamental in church life, as
the stand made in this coke assume" it to be, ought it to
be quietly taken for granted that all have been baptised!
Is not every clergyman morally bound, if be would
preserve tenderness of conscience, and maintain the
spirituality of Christian ordinanees, to exercise godly
jealously that the fact of baptism or nocobaptiam, in
the ease of candidates for matrimony, be indubitably
ascertained' Is it right that • matter, reported to be
so vital, should be calmly and carelessly assumed !
Your lordship will, I trust, bear with me while I
eeprers the conviction that the question cannot
remain unsolved. If it be affirmed, as is now
done in this parish, that baptism is an essential
pre.requisite to marriage, the affirmation, if un-
challenged. painfully unsettles the past, and
adjudges as still unmarried not a few heads of
who hitherto have supposed themselves laefully
joined together in holy matrimony, but are now pub-
licly told that the ceremony in their case was informal
and void, the lack of an essential qualification in one
or both of the contracting parties, making the covenant
of none effect the question, although at this moment
it is quickly stated, and as qpiickly and so.newhat
inlignantly solved in the homes of mamy Dursetshire
cottager' and )eoinen, must have, to one charged with
the responsibility of the episcopal office, a perplexing
aspect. While civil law threatens to compel. con-
scientiously recusant clergyman, your lordship, dis-
tinguished for bold assertion of religious liberty, may
hesitate to counsel submission to the compelling power.
In this respect, my sympathies are with your lord-
ship, and with all other Nonconformists, who resent
State interference with personal convictions on matter"
of faith and church order; but I fear that, not with
impunity can • clergyman of the Church of England
exercise the liberty that is enjoyed in Christian churches
that are free from State control.—l am, my lord, your
lordship's obedient servant,
GEORGE C. SMITH.
Here Regis. Dorset, Sept. 2.2, 1860.

Since the above correspondence, we bare learned that
Jane Payne Butler is submitting to a course of instrue
tion by the clergyman preparatory to baptiam, but that
the term of three months has been commuted to 14
diTh