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daughter, Louisa, married to Ernest, reigning Duke of Saxe Coburg, who has inherited the vivacity of her father and the loveliness of her mother. 2. To Caroline, daughter of William, the late Elector of Hesse, with whom he lived on terms of cordial affection, and who now survives him. Having left no male issue, he is succeeded as Duke of Saxe Gotha and Altenburg by his only brother Frederick (V., who is unmarried; and in case of his demise without heirs male, the territory will be divided between the Dukes of Saxe Meiningen, Hildburghausen, and Coburg-Saalfeld, being the remaining de scendants of Ernest the Pious, who died in 1675, and left his dominions to his seven sons.-Morn. Chron.

"Death of BRUJA-MOHUNA.-We are deeply concerned to state, that BRUJAMOHUNA, the author of an excellent Treatise against Idolatry, died about two months ago. This information we obtain from the preface to a Translation of this valuable work, by our esteemed friend the Rev. Deocar Smith, which we lay before our readers in his own words.

"Bruja-mohuna's father was a person of respectability, and was once employed as Dewan by Mr. Middleton, one of the late residents at the Court of Lucknow.

Bruja-mohuna was a good Bergalee scholar, and had some knowledge of Sungskrita. He had made considerable progress in the study of the English language, and was also well versed in astronomy; and at the time of his death was engaged in translating Fergusson's Astronomy into Bengalee, for the School-Book Society. He was a follower of the Vedanta doctrine, in so far as to believe God to be a pure spirit; but he denied that the human soul was an emanation from God; and he admired very much the morality of the New Testament. Being suddenly taken ill of a bilious fever on the 6th of April last, he begged his friend Ram-mohuna-raya to procure him the aid of a European physician, which request was immediately complied with; but it was too late-the medicine administered did not produce the desired effect, and he died the very same night, aged 37 years.

"While all who are engaged in promoting the true welfare of India must deplore the apparently premature death of this valuable labourer in the same cause, we cannot but be thankful to Divine Providence that he was spared to publish this tract, which is so admirably calculated to subserve the interests of truth.'--Friend of India."-(Calcutta Journal, No. 208, Aug. 1, 1821.)

REGISTER OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOCUMENTS.

British Catholic Board.

Ar a meeting of the General Board of British Catholics, held in London, on the 22d of June, 1822, the following Resolutions, proposed by the Right Hon. Lord STOURTON, and seconded by P. E. TOWNELY, of Townely, Esq., were una nimously adopted.

His Grace the Duke of NORFOLK, E. M., in the Chair.

I. That we have beheld with feelings of the deepest regret the rejection, by the House of Lords, of two bills during the present and last Sessions of Parliament: the one directly affecting the happiness and interests of many millions of his Majesty's subjects; the other restoring six most ancient Peers of the realm to their seats in Parliament, which restoration would have afforded hope, confidence and satisfaction, to a large portion of the United Empire.

II. That, in the midst of this gloom, our first duty is to offer our most grateful and sincere acknowledgements to the movers and seconders of these Bills in both Houses of Parliament, and publicly

to entreat every Member who voted for these generous and liberal measures to accept our warmest and most affectionate thanks.

III. That, firmly attached, as we are, to the great principles of religious freedom, (without which all civil liberty is imperfect,) and maintaining, as we do, that liberty of conscience is the unalienable right of all men, and detesting every principle or law which persecutes or deprives, on account of his religion, any person whomsoever, of any right or franchise, whether enacted by Protestant or Catholic, we declare publicly before the world, that we will continue to use every legal exertion in our power, to obtain a repeal of those laws by which, for conscience' sake, we are hourly degraded in society, and constantly deprived, though equally taxed, of every political privilege of the constitution.

IV. That we have seen with sentiments of peculiar satisfaction the noble exertions made by a large portion of the press in favour of religious freedom, and have heard it with surprise imputed to us, that we are enemies to the general diffusion of

Intelligence.-Unitarian Fund Report.

knowledge. Now, we do most publicly declare, that we are most anxious to see the blessings of education extended throughout the world, towards which, in our respective stations, we largely contribute; convinced as we are, that human happiness will be increased in proportion as the principles of education are engrafted on morality and religion, and in proportion as the governments of nations are just towards their people.

V. That, assembled for the first time since the lamented death of our Secretary, EDWARD JERNINGHAM, Esq., we

437

seize the opportunity, penetrated with sentiments of the deepest grief for his loss, to record our opinion of the many and essential services rendered by him to his fellow-subjects the Catholics of Great Britain. NORFOLK.

His Grace having left the Chair, the unanimous thanks of the Meeting were voted to him, for his able and impartial conduct therein; and the above Resolutions were ordered to be published.

INTELLIGENCE.

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Rever. W. J. Fox, Dalston, near London; vel Rev. R. Aspland, Hackney, near London. Per Viennam, Parisios, Londinum, medio postæ publicæ. Reverendissime verbi divini Minister!

ÆSTIMATISSIMAS et gratissimas litteras, de dato Londini, prid. Kal. Maii, MDCCCXXI. typis vulgatas, Professori Theologia Socinianorum Claudiopolitano intitulari dignatas, medio postæ publicæ Viennensis, obsigillatè et accuratè allatas, Theologia Unitariæ (quæ nominatio Patriæ legibus stabilita, in Transylvania apud quoslibet Religionis asseclas ita in usu est, ut aliter, videlicet Socinianos, Servetianos, &c., compellari nec placeat) Professor in Collegio Unitariorum Claadiopolitano Publicus, qui et Generalis Consistorii Unitariorum commembrum atque Pastor Claudiopolitanus, pridie Kalend. Septembris MDCCCXXI. humillimè et summa cum voluptate accepit et perlegit, aliisque communicavit; abhinc quoque est communicaturus. Eundem Professorem quantocyus Reverentiæ vestræ, medio postæ publicæ, ex mente et consilio Primariorum Unitariorum, similem informationem de Unitariis Transylvanis submissurum plenè confido.

Interea ego infrascriptus Transylvanus Hungarus Unitarius (apud solos enim Hungaros, exceptis paucis Saxonibus et Polonis, jam Hungaris factis eorum successoribus, floruit ab initio, floretque hodie in 120 Ecclesiis 40,000, id est, quadraginta mille animas purè Hungaras constituentibus, sacra Religio toto orbe

terrarum rectissimè Unitaria nominata) de ortu et progressu, vicissitudinibus statuque moderno in hoc Principatu (nam in regno Hungariæ nulla Ecclesia UnitaAnglicana Ecclesiæ Unitaria scitu digría) brevem aliqualem informationem, nam, hisce submittere sustineo.

Post fatum Geneva Michaelis Serveti, sæculo decimo quinto, ex Polonia et a nonnullis Italis, summopere Georgio Blandrata medico et consiliario aulico, in Transylvaniam Religio Unitaria circa annum MDLXII. fuit introducta; per Faustum Socinum viriliter defensa; et e multifariis Principatus Nationum inhabitatoribus inter Hungaros accolas propagata; adeo ut bini Principatus hujus regnantes Hungari Principes, primum Joannes Zapollya Secundus, rex et princeps, mox serius Moses Siculus Nationalis Electus regnans Princeps, utrique cum multis primoribus et consiliariis ministrisque principum præfatam Religionem amplexi fuerint; sed neve subsequis temporibus aliquod impedimentum a cœteris tribus Religionibus earumque profitentibus, Romano-Catholica, Reformata Calviniana, et Augustana Lutherana, jam tum in hocce Principatu receptis et diffusis, in libero exercitio et Principatus publicis beneficiis, officiis Unitariis infe

ratur:

Statibus et Ordinibus potestate legislativa cum iisdem trium Religionum cum Unitariis æquali jure gaudentibus, consensu multorum principum regnantium Regni Statuum et Ordinum, lege publica in conventibus publicis, dictis universorum Religionem Unitariam Status religionem liis, asseruerunt: et formata legali et quartam receptam mutuis votis et consiamicabili unione inter fatas quatuor religiones, strictissimo juramento ad manutentionem Diplomaticam Religionis Unitariæ aliarumque nominatarum trium religionum, universi cujuscunque religionis status et ordines sese obstrinxeQuale juramentum hodie quoque,

runt.

tempore mortis et mutatione Imperatorum Austriacorum et directorum Principum Transylvaniæ, non solum a Statibus et Ordinibus Legislatoribus, sed a quibus libet religionis cujuscunque receptæ et non receptæ (sunt enim, uti Judaica, Græci ritus Orientalis, &c, non receptame lege, sed tantum toleratæ) asseclis, toties quoties repetitur. Juxta leges fundamentales patriae nostra, Principatus Transylvania, Religio Unitaria æquali jure et prærogativa gaudet cum tribus aliis Religionibus, in omnibus Principum, Regui, beneficiis publicis et quibuslibet Cardinalibus Officiis gerendis, in libero quatuor religionum lege receptarum (quarum quarta est Unitaria) exercitio; imo, quoad solum toleratas quoque, (gratia Deo Maximo!) nullum impedimentum, nulla coarctatio; templa, turres, academias, collegia, gymnasia, scholas, propriis sumptibus, extruere, sicut aliis cujuscunque confessoribus, licitè liberum est; nulla fidei fidemque Unitariam confitentium, sub moderno gloriosissimo imperio, persecu tio; laudanda in harmonia et mutua tolerantia vivimus, et vivunt nobiscum quilibet Dissentientes.

Confessio, Catechesis, necnon liber Summa Universæ Theologiæ Unitariorum, lingua Latina typis vulgati, qui pro Cynosura Religionis manibus versantur in Transylvania Unitariorum, aliqua occasione saltem in uno exemplari maximè mererentur Angliam transportari pro usu et scitu Anglorum Unitariorum. Administratio Ecclesiastica et Directio Ecclesiasticorum inter Unitarios in Transylvania peragitur per Supremum ac Generale Consistorium, cujus duo Supremi Curatores Sæculares, unus Superintendens Ecclesiasticus, Claudiopoli residens, Septem Diocesani seu Tractuales Archidiaconi, vulgo Seniores Pastorum nominati; Assessores Consistoriales plurimi, partim, a parte Cleri, et partim e Sæcularibus. In 120 Hungaris Ecclesiis singulis sunt Pastores, Ludimagistri, Scholæ triviales, Templa, Turres, Campanæ, Ædificia Ecclesiastica, Fundi interni, externi. Verbi divini ministros Unitarios nec regnantes Principes nec Regni Status et Ordines, sed ipsi Unitarii soli salario, capetiis, et frumentis alunt. Collegium Generale Claudiopoli, ubi bene juvenes erudiuntur; Gymnasia duobus in oppidis; Scholæ in pagis; publicis, Principum, et Regni dotationibus destituuntur; ex fidelium gratuitis beneficiis extructa, erecta sunt, conservanturque hodie. Studentes subsidium habent nullum; propriis patrimoniis in locis studiorum sese sustentant. Ritus, preces, adoratio, invocatio Divini Numinis, quotidie mane et vesperi in Templis publicis, præmisso cantu e Psalmis Sancti Davidis et Manuali Nationali Cantuali, fit per Parochos, sine charta recitanda

precatione: et diebus Dominicis binæ Conciones matutinæ et vespertinæ per Parochos dici solita. Preces, conciones, cantus, omnes adorationes, invocationes, lingua nativa Hungarica peraguntur.

Cæterum gratissimam nobis Religionis Unitariae Anglicanae notificationem, peramicè et humillimè exosculans, cordicitùs voveo ut Deus omnipotens Reverentiam vestram cum suæ fidei consortibus, diu filicissimè salvum beatum conservet: dehinc quoque relationes nobis Unitariis Transylvanis de statu et progressu Religionum in Anglicanis ditionibus, transmittendas humillimè exorans,

Summa cum devotione permaneo

Reverendæ Dominationis vestræ
Servus et in Christo Frater,
LAZARUS NAGY,
Consessor Unitarius.
Transylvania, Claudiopoli,

Prid. Kulend. Septembris, MDCCCXXI.

Unitarian Association.

MARRIAGE-ACT.

UNDER the superintendence of the Committee the following Bill has been substituted for the one originally proposed, on account of the objections which it was found were entertained to that mode of proceeding.

The present Bill will of course stand over to next Session. In the mean time it is desirable to give it every publicity, and the Committee will readily receive any suggestions that may be made on the subject.

A Bill to alter and amend certain parts of

an Act of His late Majesty King George the Second, entitled "An Act for the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages," relating to the due Solemnization of Matrimony.

WHEREAS, by an Act passed in the 26th year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, entitled "An Act for the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages," it was among other things enacted, that "all the rules prescribed by the Rubric in the Book of Common Prayer concerning the solemnization of matrimony, and not altered by the same Act, should be duly observed;" and that "in all cases where banns should have been published, the marriage should be solemnized in one of the parish churches or chapels where such banns had been published, and in no other place whatsoever;" and "that no licence of marriage should, from and after the 25th day of March 1754, be granted by any archbishop, bishop, or other ordinary, or person having authority to grant such licences, to solemnize any marriage in any other church or chapel, than in the parish

Intelligence.-Unitarian Association: Marriage-Act.

church or public chapel of or belonging to the parish or chapelry within which, the usual place of abode of one of the persons to be married should have been for the space of four weeks immediately before the granting of such licence; or where both or either of the parties to be married should dwell in any extra-parochial place having no church or chapel wherein banns had been usually published, then in the parish church or chapel belonging to some parish or chapelry adjoining to such extra-parochial place, and in no other place whatever;" and certain penalties were by the same Act imposed on the solemnization of matrimony in any other place than a church or public chapel where banns had been usually published, unless by special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury; and all marriages solemnized elsewhere, except those of Quakers and Jews, or marriages solemnized beyond sea, were by the said Act declared to be null and void:

And whereas many of his Majesty's good and faithful subjects, who conscientiously dissent from the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England as by law established, regard the necessity of solemnizing matrimony in a parish or chapel, and according to the rules prescribed by the Rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, as a grievance repugnant to their religious feelings, and have at various times petitioned Parliament to be relieved therefrom:

And whereas it is expedient to grant ease to scrupulous consciences in this respect, without infringing on the general policy of the aforesaid Act:

Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by aud with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That at any time from and after the passing of this Act it shall and may be lawful to and for the occupier of any place which now is or hereafter may be registered or recorded according to law, as and for a place of religious worship, to cause the same to be registered in the court of the archbishop, bishop, or other ordinary having authority to grant marriage licences, within whose local jurisdiction the said place is situated, as and for a place for the solemnization of marriages under this Act; and the registrar of such court is hereby required to register and record the same accordingly, and to give a certificate of such registry to the person or persons requesting the same, for which registration and certificate there shall be no greater fee or reward taken than shillings: And that from and after the expiration of [one year] from such registration,

439

it shall and may be lawful to solemnize
marriages in every such place, provided
that the same be publicly solemnized with
open doors, in the presence of two or
more credible witnesses, between the hours
of eight and twelve in the forenoon, and
likewise subject to the further provisions
of this Act: And that such certificate
shall be given upon parchment or vellum,
and shall or may be in the form or to the
effect following, with such variations as
the case may require (that is to say)

Court of the Archbishop [bishop or arch-
"I, A B, registrar of the
deacon] of do hereby certify that a
certain house or tenement, situate in
street, in the town of
parish of

after the

and in the within the diocese [or and which hath

archdeaconry] of
been duly registered as a place of religi.
gious worship, was on the
day of
1822, duly registered in the
abovementioned court as a place for the
solemnization of marriages, at any time
day of
1823, under
the provisions of an Act of Parliament
passed in the third year of his present
Majesty's reign, intituled [here set forth
the title of this Act]. As witness my
hand this
1822.
day of
"A B, Registrar."

And be it further enacted, That if, at any time after the expiration of [one year] from the passing of this Act, the banns of marriage shall have been duly published three several Sundays in the proper church or churches, chapel or chapels, without any declaration of just cause or impediment to the marriage proclaimed, between any two parties, either of whom shall be a Dissenter from the Church of England, and shall entertain conscientious objections to the use of the office of matrimony contained in the Book of Common Prayer; then and in such case it shall and may be lawful to and for any such Dissenter, upon presenting a declaration in writing to that effect, which shall be deemed and accepted as conclusive evidence of such dissent, to demand from the officiating minister of each and every parish, chapelry, or ecclesiastical district in which such banns shall have been proclaimed, a certificate in writing under the said minister's hand, specifying the time of each publication, and certifying also that no cause or just impediment had then and there been declared why the parties so proclaimed should not be joined together in holy matrimony; which certificate each and every such minister is hereby authorized and required to give to the party so demanding it, on the payment of one shilling and no more. And no person or persons shall solemnize matrimony between any man

and woman in a place registered for that purpose under this Act, unless it shall plainly appear to him or them, by the exhibition of such certificate or certificates, that the said banns have been duly published according to law in some church or chapel within five statute miles of the said registered place of marriage, and that no just impediinent to the said intended marriage hath been declared; or unless a licence for the solemnization of such marriage without previous publication of banns, from some person having authority to grant the same, shall have been exhibited to him or them; nor shall any such marriage be proceeded in, if at the time of solemnization any person present shall declare a just and lawful impediment to the same, and shall be bound with sufficient sureties to prove the same. And be it further enacted, That from and after the expiration of [one year] from the registration of any place as a place for the solemnization of marriages under this Act, it shall and may be law ful to and for any person to pray a licence from the ordinary in whose court the registration has been made, to solemnize a marriage in such registered place, without previous publication of banns, provided that the party so applying do and shall sign a written declaration that the parties proposing to be married are Dissenters, or that one of them is a Dissenter from the Church of England as by law established, and that they are desirous of taking the benefit of this Act; and provided also that the party so applying do and shall truly declare upon oath the state and degree of himself (or herself) and of the person with whom he (or she) intendeth to marry, and likewise the parish or parishes to which they respectively belong, and whether either of them, not being a widower or widow, is under the age of twenty-one years, and that he (or she) the said applicant knoweth of no lawful impediment by reason of any pre-contract, consanguinity, affinity, or any other means whatsoever, to hinder the said intended marriage; and that the usual place of abode of him (or her) the said applicant (or of the other party to the intended marriage, or of both, as the case may be) has been within five statute miles of the registered place where the marriage is prayed to be solemnized, for the space of four weeks next preceding the date of such affidavit. And that it shall and may be lawful to and for any archbishop, bishop, or other ordinary, or person having authority for the granting of marriage licences, and he is hereby authorized, upon the exhibition to him of such a written declaration, and also of such an affidavit as is hereinbefore described, and upon satisfying himself of

the truth of such affidavit, and also upon due proof of the consent of every parent or parents, guardian or guardians, whose consent may be required by law to the validity of the intended marriage, to grant a licence for the solemnization of the same at the place desired, on any day within three calendar months from and after the date of the said licence, without any previous publication of banns, and without requiring that the said marriage shall be solemnized by a minister of the Church of England, or according to the rites of the Book of Common Prayer: Provided always, that if any fraud shall have been suggested or truth suppressed at the time of obtaining the licence, then such licence to be void and of no effect in the law, as if the same had never been granted: And that it shall and may be lawful for the person granting the licence to take boud from the person praying the same, for the due execution thereof, in the sum of two hundred pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain; and that no greater fee or reward shall be demanded or received from any person on account of the said affidavit, licence, or boud, than now is, or hereafter may be, legally demanded and taken from a person of the like degree or estate, in the case of a licence to marry in a parish church, and according to the rites of the Book of Common Prayer.

And whereas, in order to preserve the evidence of marriages, and to make the proof thereof more certain and easy, it is among other things enacted by the aforesaid Act of his late Majesty King George the Second, "That on or before the 25th day of March 1754, and from time to time afterwards, as there shall be occasion, the church-wardens and chapel-wardens of every parish or chapelry shall provide proper books of vellum, or good and durable paper, in which all marriages and banns of marriage respectively there published or solemnized shall be registered; and every page thereof shall be marked at the top with the figure of the number of every such page, beginning at the second leaf with number one; and every leaf or page so numbered shall be ruled with lines at proper and equal distances from each other, or as near as may be; and all banns and marriages published or celebrated in any church or chapel, or within any such parish or chapelry, shall be respectively entered, registered, printed, or written upon, or as near as conveniently may be, to such ruled lines; and shall be signed by the parson, vicar, minister, or curate, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction :" and certain other directions for the making such entries are given in the said Act: And whereas the preservation of the

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