them, and successfully fought the battles of our Constitution. For this gallant behaviour all the retribution they ever obtained was an Act of Indemnity-a pardon for doing their duty, as good citizens, in rescuing their country in the hour of danger and distress! Such were the absurdities of the laws framed on the monstrous principles of persecution, which extend equally to the commissioned officers of the army and navy of the established church of Scotland."

I wish to meet even the prejudices of those Members of the Court who attach either dignity or safety to the church from these Acts,-Let me ask, have any practical ill effects resulted from not enforcing the Test in this Court. Has there ever arisen a Church question in which the Dissenters acted against it? I remember one only in my time. The question of tithes, which has been entirely carried on by members of the Church of England, Dissenters merely assisted them.

Where is the safety arising from these Acts, when the Government takes away their sting by an Act of Indemnity, and by this means nullifies them? If they are so construed, what advantages do the Church derive from them? and if not so construed, they are a mere trap.

Dr. Sykes, a Clergyman, has said "The Government of the Bishops is the same, and so it was long before this Act passed, and so it was long before the Test Act was made. The repeal of it does not destroy their seats in Parliament, nor take away their Baronies, nor deprive them of their jurisdictions, nor any way affect them in their powers, or properties, or persons. By the Church Canons (1663), persons are excluded from the sacrament who offend their brethren either by adultery, whoredom, incest, or drunkenness; or by swearing, rioaldry, or usury, or by any other uncleanness or wickedness of life. They are left exactly in the same state as they were before this Act was passed, and which they have been in ever since this Act has existed. The inferior Clergy are exactly the same; no ways touched in their persons, privileges, or properties. The Church laity are the same, excepting they will not be obliged to turn the sacrament of the Lord's Supper into any political tool, or make it an instrument applicable to uses for which our Lord and Saviour never intended it."

He considers the Test as of no importance either to Church or State, but a prejudice to Christianity, and especially to the Church of England.

Can it confer dignity on that church to have the meanest officer who accepts a place, go to the altar, not to com. memorate the death of Christ, but to record his own qualification? Surely this is

any thing but dignity. It has been the scorn of infidels, and the lamentation of all good men.

Of all the rites which Christianity has instituted, none has been guarded bymore, solemn denunciation against those who receive it unworthily than the Lord's Supper. He who presumes to eat of that bread and to drink of that cup unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damnation, and he is guilty of the body and blood of Christ; and the Church have added, and provokes the Almighty to plague him with divers diseases and with sundry kinds of death.

It has been said, that if the Minister knows of profligacy in the conduct of the proposed recipient, and is supported by all the circumstances which constitute legal proof, he may lawfully refuse the Sacrament. The truth of this opinion is doubtful; but there can be no doubt that, if he should fail in his proof, his ruin is inevitable,

Such is the task which the Test Act has imposed on the very men whose particular duty it is to guard their fellow creatures from perdition, to instruct them in the way of salvation, and to lead them to everlasting happiness.

If, in the records of human extravagance, there can be found a law more completely destructive of all respect for the Church, and of all reverence for religion, I will give up the cause.

If Dissenters are to be excluded from the rights of citizenship, let it be done by other means.

The Common Council of this city, in June, 1689, petitioned the House of Commons in these words: "That our most gracious king may be freed from all restraints of using his Protestant subjects indifferently in his military or civil service, according to the several qualities and abilities wherewith God Almighty, nature, education, and experience, have endowed them, to the very end that they might be useful to their king and country, and therein serve God in their generation,"

Mr. Favell concluded with the following extract from Dr. Gibbon's life of Dr.Watts, in order to prove how much the House of Brunswick owes to a Dissenter.

"In the latter end of King William's reign the Tory party was so strong in the House of Commons, it was almost certain that the Pretender would succeed to the throne.

"Sir Thomas Abney was a Dissenter, and at the time Lord Mayor of London. He had, with great effort against the opinions of the Aldermen, carried an address to the King from the Common Council, containing strong expressions of their attachment to the principles which brought King William to the throne. This address was followed by the principal Corporations

in England, and its immediate effect was to bring King William from Germany. He dissolved the Parliament, and obtained a Whig majority, who passed the Act of settlement which secured the Crown of England to the present Royal Family, and King William signed the Act a few days before his death."

Mr. Favell closed by moving the following Resolutions :-

That this Court is deeply impressed with the injustice and impolicy of the Corporation and Test Acts, which were passed in times when almost all parties were opposed to the rights of conscience, and to the principles of religious liberty. "That they inflict on persons who do not qualify under them, the most severe penalties. Besides the fine of £500. they are rendered incapable of prosecuting any action or suit in law or equity--from being guardian of any child, or acting as executor or administrator of any person, or from receiving any legacy or deed of gift, or bearing any office within the realm of England; and all these punishments apply to persons who enter Corporations or Chartered Companies, or take certain offices or commissions appointed by the Crown, without first receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the rites of the Church of England.

"That while they limit the prerogative of the Crown in rewarding merit, they convey imputations of disloyalty upon those classes of his Majesty's subjects among nonconformists, who have been at all times amongst the most zealous supporters of the House of Brunswick, and of the principles of the British Constitu

tion.

"That if these Acts had been enforced during the late war, a very large proportion of the Volunteer Officers would have been subjected to the most ruinous penalties.

∴ That all persons born and educated in Scotland, under the Presbyterian religion, established by law, are required to conform to these laws, when they accept of offices in England, or enter into his Majesty's

army or navy.

"That in Ireland, where the Members of the Church of England are in a minority, the Corporation Act has never existed, and the Test Act has been long since repealed. "That the disabilities under these Acts are so numerous, that if enforced they would unsettle questions of property throughout the kingdom, which has doubt less induced the Government to pass an Act of Indemnity every year, allowing further time for qualifying, exhibiting the most extraordinary anomaly in the history of legislation, by which laws are retained upon the Statute Book, and constantly nullified as unfit to operate in society.

، That they are contrary to the inte

rests and privileges of this Corporation, by enabling many persons, in other respects duly qualified, to decline the highest offices of the magistracy in this city without being liable to those fines which are levied upon their fellow citizens.

"That many of the members of the Church of England, as well as Dissenters, consider these Acts as a violation of the sacred ordinance of the Lord's Supper, when applied as a test for civil purposes, and as totally contrary to the spirit of the institution, the object of which our Saviour declared, by saying, 'Do this in remembrance of me.'

"That, anxious as this Court must ever feel to evince its attachment to the political and religious institutions of the country, it cannot better discharge that duty than by recommending measures of peace and liberality, that all parties may unite in the service of their country; and being, above all, anxious, for the sake of religion and piety, to promote the repeal of enactments which turn the holiest ordinance of religion iuto a qualification and passport for power, and impose restraints on the Church itself, in the free administration of its religious service, and invite men to its communion with far other feelings than such as tend to purify the heart or amend the life.

،، That we agree with the excellent sentiments of the late Lord Mansfield, which were delivered in the House of Lords, upon the case of the City against Allen Evans, where he said, 'What bloodshed and confusion have been occasioned, from the reign of Henry IV. when the first penal statutes were enacted, down to the Revolution in this kingdom, by laws made to force conscience!'

"There is nothing certainly more unreasonable, more inconsistent with the rights of human nature, more contrary to the spirit and precepts of the Christian Religion, more iniquitous and unjust, more impolitic, than persecution; it is against natural religion, revealed religion, and sound policy.'

"

Mr. Pocock seconded the motion. Mr. DIXON moved the previous question, which Mr. SAVAGE seconded.

Mr. Alderman Wood supported the resolutions, but thought that the Court ought not to delay petitioning Parliament on this subject. Although the Prime Minister bad avowed his determination to oppose the repeal of these acts, and the question of reform, yet he was now surrounded by a large number of men who were pledged to support these measures, and, consequently, be conceived the present to be a favourable moment for bringing forward their petition.

Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN agreed with his Hon. Colleague that these acts were a disgrace to the statute book, and ought

to be repealed; but then the friends of such a measure ought to choose their own time for bringing it forward, and not suffer their enemies to choose it for them. He therefore supported the resolutions. Several other Gentlemen expressed their sentiments, all condemnatory of these

acts.

The question was then put, and the original resolutions were carried by a large majority.

PROTESTANT SOCIETY FOR THE PROTEC

TION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

The Sixteenth Anniversary meeting of this important Society was held on Saturday, the 12th of May, at the City of London Tavern. The great room was filled to excess by a most respectable assemblage of ministers and gentlemen, many of whom came expressly from distant parts of the country, in order to participate in the business of the day. On this occasion, Viscount Milton, M. P., presided.

Mr. J. WILKS rose and said, that instead of occupying the attention of the meeting with the usual anniversary address, he would have the honour of reading to them a Report prepared by the Committee.

The learned gentleman then read the Report, from which we give the following

extracts :

"With regret the Committee announce that the number of the cases that have invited notice has not decreased: that from every denomination of religionists, applications have been received: and that Pres byterians, Independents, Baptists, as well general as particular, Unitarians, and Methodists, Calvinistic and Wesleyan, in England and Wales; as well as the numerous bodies who have separated from the Wesleyan Methodists, have all invited that assistance which the Committee have been pleased to afford. And that they fear while in the present day, liberality is often on the lip, its sentiment, in many circles, enters not the heart.

"To the last Annual Meeting, the Committee mentioned a case in which they had resolved to interfere on behalf of William Gibbs, an Arminian Methodist, connected with William O'Bryan, and who had been apprehended and committed to prison at Winchester, for preaching out of doors, on a piece of vacant ground within that ancient city. At considerable expense they relieved him from the gaol by Habcas Corpus, brought him to London, and obtained his discharge. They then directed an action to be brought against the Alderman of the City who had committed him to prison, and the result of the action was an offer by the Magistrate to express his regret, to pay all the charges, amoun

"As to Claims of Poors' Rates.-These vexatious charges have been, in many places, made or revived. In all these cases the Committee wish that attention would be paid to the instructions they so frequently have given. Often have they stated, that appeals must be made to the next Quarter Sessions after the making of a poors' rate, or that the validity of the assessment, and the liability of the person charged, are admitted by the neglect; and that, therefore, persons expecting such charges should attend the vestry, and remonstrate against the charge; and if that effort be without avail, then should watch the publication of the rate, apply for an extract or a copy of the rate, and give an early and regular notice of appeal. Inattention to this advice has in several cases enabled parish officers to require and compel assessments, which, if appeals had been duly preferred, must have certainly failed. Of those cases the two last have been peculiarly vexatious. At Chertsey, the goods of an individual (who was assessed for a small meeting-house to which he was only a contributor, and from which there was no pretence to maintain that any profit was derived), were seized in his own dwelling-house." But as he had omitted to appeal, no remedy could be prescribed. At Alresford, where a chapel has been erected by subscription, where an intelligent minister labours for a very small stipend, which is partly contributed by the county association, a levy has been made on the candlesticks, and property in the chapel, as if belonging to him; property of the value of £10. was taken for a rate of 8s. 6d.; the property so seized was carried in triumphal procession, and various offensive, as well as illegal, measures pursued. In that case the Committee are about to interfere, at the request of the County Association; and as to the past, will institute proceedings for a trespass on the part of the trustees of the chapel to whom the property seized must belong, and who were not named in the rate and as to the future, the exemption from assessment will be obtained by an early and well-conducted appeal. Such proceedings, however, excite regret at the failure of the measure introduced to Parliament by Lord Bexley, under the sanction of Lord Liverpool, for exempting all places of religious worship from poor's

rates, and which, as its great opponents are removed from power, the Committee think it may now be wise to revive.

"Mortuary Fees have been required for a lady interred at Lancaster, in the burial ground of the Dissenting Meeting-house, and her respectable relatives have been advised that such claim must depend upon custom, and that the fee can only be recovered in parishes where the fee was paid at a period so remote as the 21st year of the reign of Henry VIII, and that the proof of the custom must devolve on the incumbent by whom the claim is enforced. At Putney, and at Sunderland, burial fees were claimed illegally by clergymen in respect of persons who were interred in Dissenting burial-grounds, or removed from their parishes for interment ; and the claims were repelled with success.

"As to out of door preaching, also, some violent conduct has been pursued. On Arreton Down, in the Isle of Wight, a clergyman and magistrate improperly interrupted the preacher, and apprehended him, had him dragged on the Sunday afternoon, two miles, to Newport, and had the people dispersed. At Stoneleigh, in the county of Warwick, the Rev. J. Sibree, of Coventry, had to encounter tremendous outrages and assaults, which some students in theology, educating at the parsonage. house, were seen to excite. In all these cases the Committee have been required to afford either assistance or advice, and the applications to them have not been in vain.

"Again have the Committee to advert to cases in which parochial authority and the system of the poor laws have been harshly abused. At Buckfastleigh, in the county of Devon; at Staplehurst, in Kent; at East Mersea, in Essex; and in the Isle of Mersea, in the same county, relief has been withheld from the deserving poor, because they attended Dissenting worship, and would spend their evenings occasionally, not in tippling, but at meetings for prayer. As to these cases, which awakened deep interest in the Committee, who recollect that of the poor often is the kingdom of heaven, and that the poor in worldly wealth may yet be rich in faith, the Committee have learnt with satisfaction that their interpositions have produced the most satisfactory and grateful results.

"Obedient to the repeated injunctions received, and meeting the wishes that were loudly, widely, and rightly expressed, the Committee have taken measures to obtain a general application for relief from the TEST and CORPORATION ACTS. They have prepared and distributed the resolutions generally known, and receive from all parts of England and Wales testimonies of warm approval and of zealous support. And in this cause, the Committee are most happy to state, that they claim not exclu

sively the merit of the attempt. The truly venerable body of metropolitan ministers of the three denominations, and the respectable body of deputies from the London congregations, as well as other associations, have also adopted proceedings-have manifested honourable zeal--and have entitled themselves to gratitude and praise. Your Committee are also happy to learn, that not only was the measure sanctioned by several noble lords and eminent patriotic statesmen, members of the Commons House of Parliament, but that in the country many clergymen kindly co-operate in the attempt, and sign and promote petitions with an alacrity worthy of patriot judgments and Christian hearts.

But

"Of immediate success the Committee never ventured to entertain any sanguine hope; and now that the first lord of the treasury has avowed his intention to resist the attempt, their faint hope has declined. After that public avowal, and under the new circumstances that have occurred since the measure was taken up during the present year, the Committee have hesitated whether they should at present proceed. progress they have finally resolved to recommend. They have certainly no eager appetite for defeat, and wish at all times not to embarrass any Administration entrusted by their Sovereign with public affairs, and especially an Administration which may include some of their most respected advocates and friends. But as the measure had been previously taken up; as the letters were sent, and many petitions prepared; as notice of the motion for June 7th had been publicly given by Lord John Russell to the House and to the world; as the attempt has been so long and improperly deferred; as discussion and explanations must produce benignant effects; as delay might be indefinite, and similar motives for postponement might not only continue, but increase; the Committee are of opinion, that honour and duty require they should now persevere; and they therefore hope, that the members of their Society, and all friends to religious freedom and Christian liberty, will assist and encourage exertions that should be temperate, but firm, and which should increase in energy and spirit, in proportion as those difficulties increase, that must be overcome."

The Rev. Mr. HILLYARD (of Bedford), proposed the first resolution for the approval of the Meeting.--" That this meeting deem it their duty to renew the avowal of the principles they have often promulgated, and to which they adhere; that it is the unalienable right of every man to worship God as his judgment and his heart direct; that neither legislatures nor societies are entitled to restrict that right; that its infringement, if attempted, may convert unworthy men into hypocrites,

and good men into martyrs, but can never produce a beneficent result; and that such infringement is attempted, and persecution introduced, whenever peculiar honours, wealth, and rewards, are distributed by a state to the upholders of certain doctrines and forms, while exclusion and inconve nience inflict practical punishment on those, who to those doctrines and forms conscientiously refuse to conform." This resolution was put from the chair, and carried unanimously.

The Rev. THOMAS JACKSON (of Stockwell), moved the second resolution:"That this Mecting regret that in England, at the present period, so many cases connected with the undoubted rights of Protestant Dissenters, even under a mere system of toleration, still annually require the attention of this Society--and that riots--and disturbances of worship--assessments to the poor's rate--claims of turnpike tolls--refusals of marriage and interment--illegal pecuniary demands--and many acts of intolerance and oppression, should yet demonstrate the utility of the Institution, and require its continued support."--Unanimously carried.

The Rev. Mr. ALLIOTT (of Nottingham) proposed the following resolution:--"That this Meeting learn with sorrow that the lamented indisposition of the Earl of Liverpool, and various political events, during the present session of Parliament, have prevented those strenuous efforts for the relief of the numerous and respectable members of the Baptist denomination from various special evils to which they are exposed, and for the establishment of a new system of registration of births, which the imperfection and injustice of the existing laws 'clearly require: and, that the Committee be instructed to take the earliest fit opportunity to obtain for these matters that attention, from the legislature and government, which they truly deserve."

The Rev. Mr. SCALES (of Leeds), in moving the fourth resolution, observed, that it afforded him peculiar pleasure, he might almost say a proud satisfaction as a Yorkshireman, to see the Noble Viscount in the chair, to hear the representative of his native county, advocating, with sincerity and devotion, the cause of civil and religious liberty. He well recollected that during the last election in that county, the chair of the Noble Lord was canopied with a banner, on which these memorable words were written,-"The repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts." Nor could he forget that the sentiment was avowed by him publicly and repeatedly in the course of the recent canvass for the honourable station he now occupied. They were not avowed ad captandum, for such hypocrisy was foreign to the free, frank, and honourable conduct of the

Noble Viscount, and to the whole course of his public and parliamentary career; they sprung from the heart of integrity, and breathed the vigour of truth. It must now be a source of high gratification to the friends of civil and religious liberty, to see their Noble Chairman carrying out publicly those sentiments which he had avowed in so gratifying a manner. The Noble Lord did not perhaps forget the concluding words of the eloquent address of an esteemed friend of his (Mr. Scales), delivered at a County Meeting, at which the Noble Lord had presided::-" A speedy death and decent burial to the Test and Corporation Acts." He hoped to see petitions presented to Parliament, echoing the sentiments spoken at the various Meetings in the metropolis and the counties; because he was convinced, that even if the Dissenters did not gain their point by these addresses, they would excite discussions, and advance their claims. Their cause, he did not hesitate to say, had been grievously injured by the silence and apathy of its friends. He, for one, could not sympathise with the delicacy and disinterestedness which seemed to actuate many of its advocates; for although such conduct had gained the approbation and good opinion of some; yet, on the whole, religious liberty had suffered through the operation of those feelings and sentiments. As measures of prudence had now been taken, as a general feeling had been excited towards the subject, and as the friends of the cause had been roused throughout the country, let us not (said he) throw away the advantage which these opportunities had offered; and let this deeply-important question, affecting the happiness and well-being of a numerous and deserving body of men, be now brought before the public in such a manner that success may reward our labours and realise our hopes. The Rev. Gentleman then moved the fourth resolution:-"That, interested in the general welfare of the world, they partake the sorrow felt by those who perceive still in Spain, and even in some Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, an intolerant and persecuting spirit:--but are cheered by the successful resistance made in France to attempts at its revival in that country --and rejoice that in the vast continent of America, the principles of religious liberty appear to be understood and upheld-and hope that their universal influence throughout the earth will, ere long and every where, promote the piety and purity--the honour and happiness of man.'

JOHN EASTHOPE, Esq. M. P. for St. Albans, rose and said, he felt considerable reluctance in trespassing on the attention of so large and respectable a Meeting, from a deep consciousness of his imperfect acquaintance with the great subject on