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Untitled Article
Butler ) 3 caricature of Presbyterian equivocation , it is Co be hdped that none of us are prepared to adopt it . With regard to the test in question , we have been told that it is " a mere matter of form / ' that " it deceives nobody , " and that " those who take
it are often professed unbelievers , " &c . I doubt whether a man is justified in professing a falsehood where it is " a matter of form , " but in this case it most clearly is not . Suppose an estate bequeathed for the sustenance of poor men , and limited by the will of the donor to such as have never
been married . The trustees , it may be , grow careless ; not being Malthusians they may neglect to make any inquiries ; or by the terni 3 of the will they may be bound to receive such as declare they have not been married .
Here , then , is a case precisely in point . A man may live openly with his wife , he may boast of his children in the hall where the trustees are assembled , but if lie receive the stipend upon his own declaration that he has never been
married , he lies . Is this or is it not a mere matter of form ? " But , " says the quibbler , * ' I am a member of the Established Church—we are all members of the Church by law just as we are of the State . " Here , then , is a
test that can never exclude ! And a man may be at once a Mahometan and a member of the Church of England ! It is needless to argue that this was not the sense in which the test was meant to be taken . ' * Nav , "
says the sophist again , * ' if I speak the truth , I have nothing to do with other meanings which may be affixed to my words . " " When you take a test , " I reply , " you are to speak the language of the imposer , ( what the words mean in any other is not to the
purpose , ) and if you have found in English an interpretation , which it is evident he never thought of , it will justify you . no more than the modern Greek Nai , when you are denying a truth . " "Do you believe so ? " " Nay ; that is , Yes , because I am talking Ro-3
maic . * Such reasoriers , however , are none of ours ; heaven knows they would never dissent . If our Catholic brethren were like them we should have heard no complaints of their incapacity to sit in Parliament , or on the throne . One more evasion 1 i
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notice , and then * I have done , " A member * ' of the Church of England hafe sometimes been considered as synonymous with a " communicant , " and it mav have been thus defined a
century ago , when men were more bigoted ( if not more scrupulous ) than we find them at present . It was at that time taken for granted , that no man would communicate with a church to which he did not belong , and the participation of the Sacrament was itself a test of agreement . The act of . communion did not constitute a
man a member of the Church , but it proved or proclaimed that he was so . The case then stands thus : If the Sacrament be a test , a Dissenter cannot take it without committing an aet of solemn and deliberate perjury ( and that too under the semblance of
worshiping his Maker ) : if it be not a test , he may take it if he please , but it can never constitute him a member of the Church . The lie must rest somewhere 9 —and a lie thus wilfully told , with the sanction of numbers , and the encouragement of parental authority , is no
trivial slip—no occasional deviationit is not an error to be repented of , and ( as we trust ) forgiven ; but it is the first step into the by-path of sophistry—it is a pledge to defend an imperfect system of morals , and a precedent to recur to , whenever falsehood can favour our views . Surely a
parent will own that University-triumphs are too dearly bought at this price ! Some will , perhaps , say that their sons meiy not be tempted ; that few men gain honours at College , and so forth ; but do they not wish for these honours ? And do they not intend the test to be taken when it is
required > If such is their meaning , they are only shutting their eyes on the crime till it is too late to retract ; and if this is not their feeling , if they merely desire to provide their sons with a liberal education , why send them to Oxford or Cambridge ? The merits of our sister-universities I am
not prepared to discuss ( nor could the subject be fairly treated ^ within the bounds of a letter ) , but I believe if the glittering baits were removed , their venerable and orthodox walls would not low * " continue thus thronged . A .. E . R
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On sending Dissenting * Youths to the Universities . 2 f 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 275, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/19/
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