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    The circumstances of the times hare been unfavourable , especially in manufacturing and commercial districts ; they have entirely changed the worldly condition of some , and involved others in perplexity and trouble : whatever allowance may be made for those who have suffered in this

    way , those who have become more prosperous ought to abound in the work of the Lord , in proportion to their increased means and growing- prosperity . Whatever defects I have observed among : my brethren in Scotland , I have seen much more to praise than to blame : their friendship and hospitality ; the Christian

    fellowship and pleasing intercourse I had with them y ' the readiness with which they received the word , and attended to what I thought it prudent to suggest for their consideration , and their affectionate conduct during my sojourning among them , I shall long remember with heartfelt satisfaction .

    May the God of all grace enrich them with every blessing , send prosperity to their churches , and give success to all their efforts for his glory and the good of their fellow-creatures . Amen .

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    ——^—Unitarian Association . MABRIAGB LAW . - The Committee having had occasion to re-consider the draft of a petition on the subject of the Marriage Law . as published

    in the last Repository , [ p . 125 , ] have , in compliance with the suggestions of some friends to the cause , and to obviate possible objections , altered it in some respects , as will be seen by the subjoined copy . The public will now have both before them , and will adopt the one that appears best .

    It has appeared desirable to the Committee , that the question should be agitated in the present session , and persons desirous of petitioning , are therefore recommended to proceed in getting their petitions ready for presentment ; the ultimate use of all or any part being , of course , best left to circumstances , in the discretion of those who will be entrusted with advocating * their

    cause . It need hardly he added , that two petitions , copied on parchment , should be signed by each set of petitioners , one to each house of Parliament . To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled ;

    or , To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled . The humble petition of the undersigned Shewetli ,

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    That your petitioners are Protestant Dissenters differing from the Established Church with regard to the doctrine «> f the Trinity , [ and resident at or near 3 or [ usually assembling at for the purpose of religious worship } .

    Thai the marriage service , required by the existing law , is inconsistent in several points with the religious belief which your petitioners conscientiously entertain . That by the municipal laws of many Christian states , as well as of this kingdom prior to the Act of 26 Geo . II ., c . 33 , commonly called the Marriage Act , the matrimonial contract has been considered

    as essentially of a civil natnre , although usually consecrated by some religions ceremony . That , accordingly , the marriages of Dissenters , celebrated in the face of their own

    congregations , after the date " of the Toleration Act , were considered valid by our courts of law , although some attempts made to disturb such marriages in the Ecclesiastial Courts , served to dispose the majority of Dissenters ( between whom and the Established Church there was then no

    essential difference in points of doctrine ) to conform in that particular to the ritual of the Church . That whilst your petitioners are far from wishing to impugn the policy of the Marriage Act , considered as a measure of civil regulation , they beg leave to suggest , that in its operation , in connexion with

    the present Church service , it imposes a burthen on conscience , which they humbly conceive was not intended by the legislature , as may he fairly inferred from the exemption in the act of the two classes of persons , against whose religious feelings and discipline it seemed particularly to militate .

    That the just and liberal disposition of the legislature , manifested towards your petitioners , by the act passed in the 534 year of the reign of his present Majesty , c . 160 , has encouraged them to hope that their religious opinions present no sufficient objection to the extension in their

    favour of the recognized principles of toleration ; but they humbly submit , that such toleration is in their case necessarily incomplete , while they are obliged , by the marriage law , to join in a service repugnant in many parts to their religious feelings and principles . Your petitioners , therefore , humbly pray that your [ Right ] Honourable House will take their case into your serioii * consideration , and afford them suich relief in the premises , as in your wisdom shall seem meet . - And your petitioners shall ever pray , jjgec .

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    1 £ ) S Intelligence—Unitarian Association .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/60/