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    rc asou to like best what they understand the least . Such men may use the Apostle John as they please ; but I have that honour for him as to believe that he wrote good sense ; and , therefore , take that sense to be his which is the best ; especially since I am defended in it by so great authority . " * That authority , in the present instance , I conceive to be St . John ' s own language in the opening of his first epistle ; the fact that no other

    sense attributed to o Aoyoqy the Word , is confirmed by other clear instances of scriptural usage , whereas that proposed by Dr . Jebb is the current sense , and the undoubted meaning in hundreds of examples ; and , though last not least , the consideration that the sense of this

    passage , as he has given it , harmonizes completely with the phraseology and doctrine of the New Testament , and places no stumbling-block in the way of faith , but by rendering religion more rational , renders it more credible . " + REVIEWER OF UPHAM .

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    Protest against the Marriage Service . To the Editor . Sir , Being told by several friends , on whose ingenuous candour , T trust , I may rely , that the documents incorporated

    in and accompanying this letter would be gratifying to many of your readers , 1 transcribe them ; and , begging a little space for preface and remark , leave the whole to be disposed of as you may think proper .

    I am aware that there are those , among the liberal and enlightened of your readers , who , fully sensible Of the evil complained of , yet would refrain from publicly protecting against it from a feeling of delicacy towards those ministers of the establishment who might be called upon to officiate in the marriage

    service . There are also others who , from the improvement they see taking place in public opinion , as well as from intimations lately given by ministers of state , expect , as well as hope , for a very favourable alteration in the laws relative to marriage ^ in the ensuiug session of Parliament . But 1 may be allowed to

    * Letters to Le Clerc . t See Dr . Paley's Dedication of his Moral Philosophy to Bishop Law . f respectfully submit the paragraph from which I have quoted to the attention of T . F . B .

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    question whether the most sanguine have any well-founded expectation that such an alteration will really be effected as would afford adequate relief , either to Christians who reject all legislative interference in whatever relates to religion , or to virtuous and consistent unbelievers .

    For always considering marriage a civil contract , and , like every contract , strictly binding on the parties , I really cannot view such union as necessarily connected with the Christian or any other religious system . The Deist or the Atheist have assuredly an equal claim with the

    religious man to its enjoyment ; and there is not a shadow of right to deprive him of the smallest particle of social pleasure . Enough they lose who possess not the privileges of 'Christian hopes and motives , without the infliction of any further evil .

    Well satisfied and firmly fixed in these principles , we could not but feel an aversion to shew , what might be construed , a willing acquiescence iu the established matrimonial service . Still we were most desirous not to offend by an abrupt or indecorous exhibition of our scruples . 1 therefore waited upon the clergyman expected to officiate , ( Mr . Turner being in London , ) at his house , to state our

    objections ; and , at the same time , to intimate that we should , when at the altar , deliver to him a written declara * tion and protest against the statute which prescribes the marriage ceremony . That gentleman received me with much politeness , and , during the interview , kindly said that he perceived and felt our difficulties ; candidly observing that he had no choice—his course was marked out , and he must fulfil his duty .

    It would appear , however , from common practice , whatever course may be marked out in the rubrick , that " it is optional with the clergy to use or to omit a part of the ceremony" And I find , by his speech in the House of Lords , in a debate on the Unitarian Marriage Bill , ( as reported in the Times newspaper , ) the Bishop of Worcester emphatically laying down the same doctrine , - *— " for , " said his Lordship , " does not every

    BODY KNOW THAT IN LARGE AND POPULOUS PARISHES THE MARRIAGE SERVICE IS NOW CONSIDERABLY ABRIDGED ? " And I would boldly ask , is there ever a marriage celebrated in which the whole of the service , as it stands in the " Liturgy of the Established Church / ' is read ? Is it then to be supposed that omi * - sions of a considerable part qf the ser vice are made for convenience , and that similar emissions are not to be made

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    Miscellaneous Correspondence . 679

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 579, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/59/