“ That the existing act of 52 George III., c.146, for the better regulation and preservation of parochial and other registers of births, baptisms, marriages, and burials in England, &c. is no improvement upon the preceding one, no one will venture to deny, but it was not called for by the clergy, but was imposed upon them. In the case of baptisms, there is no other pedigree, authorized than that of the parents, and any further entry, it is presumed, would be extraneous; and there is no column for the entry of births at all. ”

“ And it is presumed that, independently of his spiritual services, a resident painstaking clergyman, distributing (as required) , nearly all such an income in charities, and devoting himself entirely to the duties of his profession, especially among the poor, the care of whom devolves exclusively on him, has no small effect on a manufacturing population, especially in times of excitement. ”

“ Let any alteration take place in the Marriage Act which may, as the great body of religionists in the kingdom, the Unitarians excepted, are satisfied with it, the change of some expressions alone excluded, it should continue a religious service, as well as a civil, and the record should be periodically added, as before stated, to the existing marriage records. ”