MY LORD,

AS a member of that body, which cannot feel indifferent to the fate of the question respecting the Test Lane

ERRATA.

In page 15, after posterity, dele note of interrogation.

33, note, for prefidum read perfidum.

33, for statute of Charles taking, read Charles II. in taking. 37, for liberation read liberalism, and for rapidly read fast. 41, for dementat read dementit.

32, for the read these.

the means of its support, it appears to be the duty of all who value civil and religious order, to be on their guard against the reiterated attempts at innovation in those laws framed for the security of the privileges, and the defence of the liberties of the Establishment. I repeat its liberties, since in all questions which relate to the ecclesiastical immunities of this country,

B

MY LORD,

AS a member of that body, which cannot feel indifferent to the fate of the question respecting the Test Laws, now pending in Parliament, and which assuredly involves the peace and permanency of the Establishment, permit me to address to you a few observations on the subject of your speech in the House in favour of the repeal of those laws. In the present age, when a considerable portion of the population is hostile to the interests of the Church, and when an unfortunate difference in sentiment prevails, even among its professed friends, as to the means of its support, it appears to be the duty of all who value civil and religious order, to be on their guard against the reiterated attempts at innovation in those laws framed for the security of the privileges, and the defence of the liberties of the Establishment. I repeat its liberties, since in all questions which relate to the ecclesiastical immunities of this country,

B

it seems to be forgotten, that the members of the Church have an equal title to demand the preservation of the liberties which were purchased by their ancestors, and an equal claim to sue at the doors of Parliament for the concession of that indulgence which you and others so strenuously plead for the Dissenters and the Liberalists.

My Lord, I cannot do you the injustice to suppose, that you can meditate serious injury to the Church from the measure which you are so anxious to introduce. But, with deference, I would suggest, that the first duty of a legislator is watchfulness, "ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat ;" the next, impartiality—that the interests of one part of the community be not advanced at the expence of the institutions of another, nor any radical change introduced in the permanent establishments of the state. The Test Laws are the frame-work of a system that appears to have subsisted for a considerable period of our history, obviously intended as a defence and bulwark to the Church Establishment of this country; therefore urgent reasons must be assigned for their removal, and not

merely a plea founded on the caprice of the Theorist, or the representation of the Reformer.

And

Though the principle of the Test system may, at first view, appear repugnant to our abstract notions of justice, yet on the ground of civil expediency, it must be recognised and acknowledged. Civil society justifies the imposition of restraints, which would not be tolerated in an unsocial and uncivilized state. The Test Laws are a part of that system of restraint necessarily imposed upon some branches of the community for the welfare of the whole. though penal statutes, with a view of exterminating dissent, or of strengthening the established religion, are clearly as inexpedient as they are unjust; yet a Test Law which restricts the possession of power to those only who can give a pledge of their fidelity to the constituted Religion, is certainly as politic as it is just. The existing laws have been moulded into their present shape by the exigencies of the times and the events of our history, and are therefore of too serious a complication "to be put backward and forward," as the great Northern Novelist wittily observed, "like a child's first watch,