The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-04-03 00:00:00

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A divi..iop then took plate.
Cootcats - 21 f Not-contents
- I t Proxko

edam • man was about to violet: a principle, he atoned by an-
tictpation for it, in loud and apparently zealous praises of that very
principle. Jost like a man about to seduce the affections of a young
'girl, be first lured her en to destruction by high er.eoinimns on
ha beauty, ;us the sorest means of effecting his improper object.
The Learned Prelate said, that he was early impertsed with • sense
of the necessity of toleration ,r butt I ask hung when 'ltch omega
love of toleration funsemes his breast, how is it that herthnetflts:
• steady decline the particular appbcation of his ger.eral doctrine ?
A Learned rrelate said, that the scruples of the Unitarians ought
be respected, ether they were such as other men might Os.
Feet reilly to exist. Doti aek who ought to he the hat judges of
a man's 'copies, but,* man himself ? Who has a rilist to say,
that a man espy. 'sing a scruple is no sincere to that t xpra-
Oaf ? Prery meta was lobe hedged by hth own actions and yen,
11/411, and not by the iligeMeos reasoning of others upon either.
It nth said that the Unitari an. had nothing improper to subscribe
te In the marrthge ,threniony, as .pertinmed in the Protestant
tUartik. that ',nog " in the name of the Father, Son, end linty
Must;" and the Unitarian Metall commeneing other ceremonies
di the same way, lies io this case I think many distinctions are
to be taken. In. baptism, the Unitarian certainly repeated these
because he said (hid himself had so used them ; but he did
pu't think so as to the performance of the marriage ceremony, and
hence he dissented front their use. In baptiam the Unitarian
repeated these worth' before his Minister, and those who
-greed with him in the interpretation they pia upon them ;
trot not conceiving marriage to be enjoined in so formal a
to manner, be objectth to their one. The Learned Prelate( the Bishop
tit Laudon) wished the Unitarian to repeat dor.- wools as the
:I„%urch of England meant theta; but I think the Unitarian more
sisters when he says ~•• I have tin objection partinilarly to the
words, but 1 have ovary objection to rectal what is dictated to me,
tog' further, to repeat them with the 'nearing of another person at-
tached to them. from which 1 altogether dater." That was manly
and sireere. The Learned ratite asked, what harm entthl the
nit of these words be .to the Unitarian ? Good tiod ! What
.therveld • Learned .Prelate say, who, on taking his place in this
'House, swore against the sultans Illinctity of the Virgin Mary and
the I:woes:lona Saints, that illation believing in both of there
present tutu d not have his conscience wounded by such a con-
duct ? Would it not be painful, on the contrary, to the Learned
Prelate to hear the averse sworn to and believed, and its not allow.
in., the same ea between him and the Unitarian ? It was said
again that the l'nitaians never felt that they were partiailatly
galled the 9th or Nth of William was repealed, and the No.
ble a II Learned Lord on the Woolsack veer indul;ied in • skit at
them 1:r that. The Noble and Learned Lord had some sin.
guise ne.ions en that Act, which he dues not fully esplain.
He has doubts not yet resolved, and I ask the Noble and
Learned Lard, long as he has beam the first judicial officer
he this country, if a Unitarian. as such, could appear at the bar of
'ado Wane, if it were rot dist for the passive of that Act, until
we came to the 4311 or George the Third :r The Noble Lorduknos s
the Unitarian dare not —he has even hinted that if he di,' PO, he
would be guilty of a criminal art. I ask the Noble Lord is that
is amsauction of the 9th and 19th of William ? Let him spe..k
nut. The Noble Lord would express no po.it:ve opinion: hut it
any Man more than another is bound to explain the common law
ut that point, 1 say that Noble and Learned Lord is the person.
'M Noble Lord contented himself with some 'nigh sounding and
unintelligible expressions—
" Spargere vacs in vague tor.biguas."

Irby, if tlnt law is not so, insinuate that a moral set of men are at
this day to be brarded as criminals, for the temperate expreiotion of
canseientious scruples? The Noble Lord cm attach any two
inoaniiigs to that Act, one of which I can atlirm is of no avail
against tiiis and the other is a compound of such strange
Loctrines, aid soils illogical inferences, as are fraught with into-
iinanec and I ,ire now to know, if the denial of
the Trinity be as oficioe at common law? NVltcn I reiailect
all that has beou said in this House on the subject of

...bun toleration--when I recollect the many debates we hare
bad on that all-important subject, I am surprised at the in-
sinuations which 1 hart to-night heard thrown out. When I
recollect that Noble and beamed Lord to have so often quoted
Locke, Tillotson, and others, in support of his opinions, I
ion utterly at a loss to conceive how he has been so forgetful
of Ahem this evening. I am surprised that on a subject in
which the Noble Lord has the mortification to r:ilfer with so many
cf his eolleagites--I am, I may say, quite matoris:ied, that he has
not called Locke And Tillotson again to his assistance. I ask
die Noble Lord if he does not know that Locke's opinion
decidedly was, that enough had DM been done for the Unita-
rians; by the Act of Toleration? I ask the Noble Lord if he
41a opt know tr. certain manuscript corrections of Locke, in
which he says of this class of Christians, that they did not ob.
etia all they deserved and wished—" erleri iri Anal., *or ophs.
e.tot are.,." It has been stated that Christianity is " a part and
pArcel of the law of the land," and the first mention I can find
made of that being so is in Coke and Lord Raymond, as laid down
In the tsar of the King v. Woolston. In that owe the Judges would
rot allow the question to be debated; but then they said, that
Christianity generally was a part and pared of the law of the
-4ind, and not any particular sect of Christianity. Let us then,
i ask, bear from the Noble and Learned Lord, what is Chris-
tianity in the legal sense of the word? Is Christianity the
whole of the Sacred Scriptures, or the explanation given of.
there by one particular sect ? 11 the whole of the Scriptures I
sonstltute Christianity, then the Unitarians are safe, for they be.'
ben the Divinity of the Scriptures; if only their interpretation of
clan, there again they are safe, for that is the only point they seek
to sate, suit not so much. What way are we to take the doctrines
sd rite Noble and Learned Lord? If the whole of the sacred Scrip-
tuziaconatieJte the legal sense of Christi/mit', then Henry VIII.,
itt sweeping away certain superstitions, also swept away a part of
tbe common law, for be changed it horn whet it was, and now it
appears it is changed again. In conclusion, Lord Holland ex.
piped a sincere said ardent wish that the Noble and Learned Lord
ha. offend some explanation on that most important subject. The
next thing, to be noticed was the-assertion, that by this measure
the church would be made auxiliary to the Unitarians; but he
*eked their Lordships to look at the case as with respect to the
Church of Ireland, where Catholic marriages took place as the
Unitariars now claimed. All foreign marriages, Recording to the
him of their diftMent churclice, were good whether celebrated by
Catholic or Protestant clergymen. A. Learned Prelate patheti-
Gaily lamented the drawback this Bill would make against the
leonine and the importance of the Protestant clergyman ; but he
5c
, gbt the Unitarians would not be the less incliner! to give the
ynianasvoluotary fee., because he was freed from a ceremony
w kii be telt to gall his conscience. He thought the Dissenters
hatdly.rleul• with. IVlien they asked for relief they were opposed
by the Nebl: and Learned Lord. When a general measure tor the
relief of ell MI6 denionded, that was also opposed by him; and they
ware staked where they would next go ? In fact, there was no meeting
the Noble and Learned Lord, either in the particular or the genera
-int! ------ thin be deferred till H 1

cue; sod every thing was to ....erred till nest session. lie con.
surveil with the princtples of ibis Bill, and believed that the mode it
Proposed of carrying the abject into effect the best that could be
dere ed. If, Wives., alteration were nee it could be made,
and would meet with his app essary,roval. Ha held himself the right of
private judgments and be would rot deny its exercise to others.
Ile wished all registries of marriage to be kept by a magistrate
tether than'," clergyman; but it was a duty devolved upon the latter
by lew, •Init rot at all connected with his ecclesiastical functions.
He objected to the licensieg clause in this Bill ; but, purged of
that, be thought the niessute eclodated to do so much good, that
it had his most cordial rapport. He thought that persons believing
the Uo!y Scriptures wire to be proteeted by the law, let individuals
Itewevtr hi:Toed. put what interpretations upon them they might.
Every 0.-vi had an equat,le to expound the Scriptures ; it formed
t it vi.ry la 1i-.tone and foundation of protestantism and of the law..
1: is evilly 'thrust blasphemous to say that the Scriptures, the
Abanntion of the Deice., formed part and parcel of the.lsw of the
land. lie thought the a good sad moral people. who
had a r:ght to their belief, and Its unrestricted exercise, whilst it
was founded on the Holy Seeiptures.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in explanation, stated that the
Judges of this country had given their opinions, that to dispute
the truth of Christianity (by that meaning a belief in the Trinity)
was blasphemy ; and that (lbristianity, as he had now stated it,
way pert and parcel of law of the land. He himself con-
scientiously thought, if Bill reseed i: would be the greatest
litow ever aimed at the eat ished church; and if it passed, he did
rot koow bowel! other DissAstere were not tote relieved in matters
which they might allege pressed upon their consciences. lie did
f•O, pretend to the gift of prophecy, but he would say, if this
Bill_ passed, the Clergy would no more get their fees thau they
would lei p their l'iotestants.
Lord LAN/SHOWN observed, that the clause alluded to as op
tared by a Noble Lord (Liverpool) iiow absent, who said that he
would decidedly oppose it in the Committee, in reply observed,
that after all be had heard he coneidered the Unitarians proccted
iby t e Toleration Act, and that they were not guilty of any offence
e
at 'intoclaw by the profession of that doctrine; and in that
std nle woo fortified by the able and midispmcd opinion of ;Ir.
Afie tinter. They were also protected by the provisions of
tad Geo. In.: and If the common law were what it was now
stated to be by the Learned herd, he was called upon to say why
4y. bdd agreed, orb s;lentlo, to that Act. It was high time to Its !
the llbrld and the church know how the Act of the NH Geo. lU.
r ' y operated. This House and the country were entitled to some
' *nation on so very important a subject. The public were
.41
en; ely interested in the regisiong the publication of basins, and ;
this 11111 only called on the members of the Established Church
to perform an act of civil duty. No indignity was intended
ur ofiered to the church : it was only called on to act fee i
dal bench: of the church itself, but without enabling her to force'
opinions against conscience. and to wound feelings without can.!
:clueing the judgment. The violation of conscience mum injure
dui church, particularly in the performance of contract'', on which so i
estlch of the happiness of life depended. Clandestine marrieges
should as much as possible be prevented, and he would du all lie
mrold to farther that object. The Unitarians sought nothing
agaieet the interests of the church ; they only sought the free czar- ,
sue of thfir coning:minus opinions, without injury to any interim I
or any body df men in the State. At this late hour of the evening i
lieldid nof feel disposed to occupy the attention of their Lordships
at efilICT length ; but be hoped he had said enough to convince,
thael,ordships of the propriety of allowing the 11111 to be read a i
secood time, subject to such altetatious as a Committee might be
diaposed to make to its provisions.
• • I

- 20
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3iajs; ity fur the Second Reading - - 2
then read a second time, and entered to be, con-

ormed, to vim'.•, at IDWllast Ten

The gdi wr.• then read a
od•ahril. ~ilia .16se londtabn,ny.
T
&Clock.
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