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    breach of chaaty tc > > sa # , that they have none-of the qualifications required by the Christian Scriptures of the partakers of the solemn symbols of tfeeNew-Covenant , ¦—< and some , who are notorious evitliverSj—* and others , who are unbelievers ^ and even profane scoffers !

    Scarcely daring to fallow our feelings to dictate words , Twth regard to this prostitution of the holy ordinance ^ - ^ we choose to quote the language of a member and minister and bishop of the Church of England , in a " { # tter to a Member of Parliament s "— " If you will but seriously and impartially consider this thing ,

    I am sure you will conclude , ( as I have done for many years , ) that the prostitution of the must solemn and sacred Supper ftf our Lord , to secure places of profit or honour to those who , though ever so notoriously wicked , will ( by complying with the said Act ) entitle themselves to be called Churchmen , is a high affront to God , aud a foul blot

    upon any Christian Church that encourages auch a corruption ; of which Church I profess myself an uuwortby member , but oue that mourns for all our imperfections , and would rejoice to see all Christian Churches firmly established and flourish upon the doctrine and practices of the apostles and prophets , Jesus Christ himself ( and no other ) being the chief corner-stone . " *

    In accordance with these sentiments , the Protestant 'Dissenters have always reasoned , "that Religion is wounded in the house of her friends when the Lord ' s Supper is administered and received for any other purposes than those of genuine piety ; that if this ordinance be a Test for any world , it is a Test for another , and not for'this ; that the introduction of the temptation of secular hopes and

    fears to the performance of this act , vitiates its acceptableness , decider not the religion of the eommunicawt , repels the conscientious , invites the unprincipled , -and corrupts the weak ,- —and that , in every view , « it is a prostitution and profanation of holy things /'—TMsU not to eut Jhe LhmPs ' Supper *\* - ^ A * d i we eanuttt but neimiM you , that the ' Chief of fctae Apostles , to whom we have referred , pronounces > a fearful sentence against him that , not diatemlng'the LanPs

    " * " A True Churchman s Reasons for Repealing ' the Corporation and Test Acts / ' by Dr . Hoadly , who , when bishop of Salisbury , gave the MS . df the traet to Dr . Attery , witfa leave to publish it , which the' Doctor did * n the 'year' 1732 . ¦* f 'l'Oor . ' i& ^ D .

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    body , xn'this Supper eatethand drMkethmk worthily , —~ " the sense of which ^ phrase , " ( says the learned and pious Dr . Doddridge , * whose praise is in all our churches , ) " must extend to every manner of receiving contrary to the nature and design of the ordinance ; and con * sequently to the case of doing it merely in a secular view ; which" ( he adds ) u I heartily pray that all concerned in it may seriously consider . "

    The abuse and profanation of the Lord ' s Supper by making it a mere civil or po * litical test , would , in our conscientious judgment , be the same , in whatever manner it was administered . Were the ordinance legally permitted to be received , with this view , in our own churches and with our own forms , we should equally rer mdnstrate against the Sacramental Test ; saying , in effect , with a much-esteemed predecessor in the Christian ministry and in the service of Protestant noBconform

    lty , — " No ! blessed Redeemer ! we will never prostitute the memorials of thy death aud sufferings , to obtain secular advantages . We will stand in awe of thy word which saith , * As often as ye do this , da it in remembrance of m

    make thy tomb the path to earthly pre-t ferment ! "i * We are neither required nor disposed to deliver any opinion upon the practice , once common amongst some Protestant Dissenters , of occasional conformity to the Church of England , in her Communion Service , as a testimony of brotherly charity . In this ? thing , 'Met every man

    be fully persuaded in his own miud . * Our > reinarks apply to the Sacrament only as a civil test ; with regard to which we must be allowed to observe , that it cannot be submitted to by a Protestant Dissenter with the sincerity and good faith ' which ought to accompany every act of life , and especially every public act , and more especially every public act of religion : for it Is evidently designed

    • Fam . Expos , on 1 Cor . xi . 29 . 8 vo . ea . lV . 307 . f See a Sermon published in the year 1790 , by the late Rev . Samuel Pearce > of Birmingham , entitled , " The oppressive , unjust , and profane Nature and Tendency of the Corporation and Test Acts . " Bvo . p . 31 . This valuable discourse is reprinted by " The Uuited Committee , " and may be had , price € <* ., of all the booksellers .

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    Iwt&lligen&e ?* " Te&t and Oomoratim J&et * . $ 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 63, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/63/