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    as a token and pitoof that he wno complies is a bond fide member of the Chnrch t > f England , and " well-affected to all its doctrine and ^ iscipliue . This was the precise growud taken by those that o £ » - * pOsed the repeal of the Bill to prevent Occasional Conformity , in the year 1719 .

    — " The bare receiving of the Holy Eucharist" ( said one nolile speaker on that occasion *) " con Id never be intended simply as a qualification for an office ; but is an open declaration , an indubitable proof , of being and remaining a sincere member of the Church .

    Whoever presumes to receive it with any other view profanes it ; and may be said to seek his promotion in this world , by eating and drinking his own damnation in the next . " Whilst , therefore , we feel the injustice of the proscription under which we lie , as Protestant Dissenters , by the Test

    Laws , we feel more deeply the dishonour which they put upon the religion of our Lord and Saviour ; and thus feeling , we say , ( as was said with a noble and Christian fervour , when this question was last brought before the Legislature , t ) " If injustice must be practised , let it not be in the name of God and Christ ! Let

    not God and Christ be summoned to be instrumental thereto !" As Protestant Dissenters we have karnqd , and , as Protestant Dissenting Ministers we teach , that a practice which is not warranted by the Holy Scriptures , and much more one which is in opposition to them , can derive no religious

    authority or sanction whatsoever from antiquity or custom ; but we cannot refrain from observing with regard to the practice in question , that it is of recent origin and peculiar to England , a land of Protestants , —and further , that we know of no similar abuse of a Christian rite in

    any one of the churches of Christendom . To our own nation belongs the unhappy distinction of desecrating the solemn ordiuance of the Lord ' s Supper by applying it to secular and political uses ; and this humbling consideration should surely arouse both our patriotic and our Chrirttian zeal to roll away the reproach from our beloved country . * The then Lord Lansdown . See Lords' Debates .

    f See ' * The Dissenters' Plea , or Appeal to the Justice , the Honour , aud the Religion of the Kingdom , against the Teat : Laws . Published at the Request of the Committee of Protestant Dissenters of the Midland District . By George Walker . " tfvo . p . 3 tf .

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    The operation of the Test Laws upon the Protestant Dissenting Interest has been , as far as our observation and know * Ledge extend , not a little unfavourable . Ff the Dissenter comply with them , his conformity is a scandal and a stumblingblock to his brethren , towards whom his Christian relation is changed , to the

    disadvantage of both parties ; and either his own conscience is wounded , or he falls into a habit of indifference , which prepares the way for other worldly . compliances , and , in the end , he aud his family cease to be effective supporters of our cause : —if he refuse compliance , either he takes place or office with a violation of the law , and is at the mercy

    of the common informer , and may be long harassed , and , at last , heavily fined , unless he can take shelter under the Annual Indemnity Acts , which are , as was before stated , a doubtful protection , iuid may or may not be passed , at the option of the Legislature , —or , he is debarred from offices , emoluments and honours to which he may be entitled by his services

    aud talents and the good opinion of his fellow-citizens , and is thus punished for his conscientiousness ; his family suffer * iug with him for that which h their truest honour , and the public being defrauded of the contribution of good service , which a gifted and patriotic member of the community would bring to the commonwealth .

    But although we feel and reason in this manner , as Protestant Dissenters , we are eager to acknowledge that there is a still higher interest than that of Dissent , the interest of Religion , pure and undented ; with a reverential view to which we declare , most sincerely and solemnly , that were the Test Laws as serviceable , as we belieye them to be injurious , to our cause , we should deprecate them , with equal earnestness as an offence against our common

    Christianity * We rejoice to find that many of our Scottish brethren participate with us iu these sentiments ; and we are prompted by this encouraging circumstance to express the hope that the Church of Scotland itself will at length be , awakened to a sense of the importance of this question , and will come forward to pray the Legislature to abolish laws which are as oppressive to the conscientious members of lhat communion , residing in England , as to the Protestant Dissenters . The act

    of conformity required of them on taking place or entering into office ^ in this coun * try , is unquestionably at variance with the puiUy of the Presbyterian faitfr and

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    $ 4 Jntellig&nce . —Test and Corporation Acts .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 64, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/64/