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    Con troversy on a Marriage Protest of " Freethinking Christians . " [ This controversy escaped our notice at the time it was carried on ; but it is so important , as a part of the

    religious history of the day , and is so intimately connected with the subject of the Unitarian Marriage Bill , which i 3 likely to engage still more of the public attention , that we think it right to record it at length . Our account of it is taken verbatim from " The

    Freethinking Christians' Quarterly Renter , " No . VIIL , for July , 1824 , ( described in the Preface to be the last Number , " at least for the present , ") : ) p . 325—335 . Widely as we differ in opinion from the persons by whom this work has been conducted , and

    jjiucL as we have been surprised at the spirit which they have occasionally manifested towards other Christians and Unitarians , we must do them the

    justice to say , that they have acted a consistent , manly and Christian part with regard to the Marriage Service , and that if the Unitarians in general obtain relief in this respect , it will be mainly owing to the bold and steady resistance to the established ritual

    shewn by this small portion of their body . Ed . ] ON the 5 th of December , 1824 , two of the members of our church were married at the Church of St . Stephen ' s , Coleman Street , and , on the following day , there appeared in the Times and Chronicle , daily papers > the following statement of particulars :

    Yesterday morning was married , at the parish Church of St . Stephen , Colemati Street , Mr . William Woods to Miss Sophia Hodges . This was the first instance of presenting a protest against the Marriage Ceremony of the Church since tne rejection of the Marquis of Lansdowu ' s bill for granting relief to Protestant Dissenters entertaining ' scruples with

    j egard to the established ceremony , and the following scene took place : — Hie parties being assembled in the ^ stry . room , the minister inquired of the ^ degroom if he intended to present a i ' © test against the ceremony . Upon « T * Nwwered in the affirmative , he said , mir on ? t marry y ° - ! sha ] 1 not vary you if a protest is preaented . » thp m- parties assembled then ashed ieL ?? 1 Ster if U was Ms intention to Il » se to marry the party ? When he

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    replied , " I have nothing to say to you , Sir ; if you interrupt , I shall commit you to the custody of a constable . " Upon which the party answered that he was not guilty of any interruption ; his presence as a friend and neighbour of the party being recognized by the rubric , and consistent with the law of the land .

    When at the altar the bridegroom presqnted a written protest , which the minister , who was accompanied by the churchwardens , declared he would not receive ; repeatirig that a constable was in attendance to take into custody any party who should interrupt the ceremony ..

    The minister having on this occasion read the whole of the service , on their return to the vestry-room , the gentleman who had given away the bride , addressed the minister as follows : — " May I now , Sir , say a few words to you ? Did we not wait on you on Friday last , to explain to

    you that the parties had conscientious scruples with regard to the marriage ceremony ? " " You did . " " Did we not inform you that they would present a protest against that ceremony ? " " You did . " " Did you not state that you would receive that protest ? " " I did . " When the gentleman exclaimed , " Then , Sir ,

    before what you esteem the altar of God , you have broken your promise . " In reply to which the minister pleaded that he had since changed his mind . One of the parties present having exclaimed , " What ! a minister of the church change his mind after having given a solemn promise

    ?"—the party , who had previously spoken , holding a Bible in his hand , asked the minister if he respected that book , emphatically reading aloud the following passage from the Psalms , ( ci . 7 , ) ' He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within

    my house \ he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight . " After some strong remarks upon the threat which had been used of meeting conscientious scruples by an appeal to a constable , the whole party retired . The following lias been handed to us as a copy of the protest delivered on this

    occasion : " The undersigned members of the church of God meeting in London , being Protestant Dissenters , and commonly known by the name of Freethinking Christians , in obedience to the dictates of their own consciences , and in accordance with the instructions of the church to

    that effect , hereby protest , as well on the part of the church as on their own part , against the use , in their instance , of the marriage ceremony as contained in the Book of Common Prayer , to which ceremony , though the same be contrary to their belief , they are compelled to sub-

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    Controversy on a Marriage Protest of " Freethinking Christians . * 467

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1825, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2539/page/15/