Some account of the dissenters and their management with regard to the Corporation and Test acts : in a letter to a friend

^2

speciAL
coLLecrloNS

t)OUQLAS
LifeRAKy

queeN's UNiveusiiy
AT kiNQsroN

kiNQSTON ONTARIO CANADA

SOME

ACCOUNT

O F T H E

DISSENTERS, af^.

Price Three-pence.

speciAL
coLLecrioNs

t)OUQLAS
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queer's UNiveRsiry

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SOME

ACCOUNT

O F T H E

DISSENTERS

AND THEIR

MANAGEMENT

With regard to the

Corporation andTeJl ^&s.

In a Letter to a Friend,

LONDON:

Printed for J. Roberts, near the Ox^
ford-Jrms in Warwick-Lane. 1732,

[5]

London, Dec. 1732.

Dear S i r,

^^ HE great Talk at prefent
in this Place is about the
Corporation and Teit
Ads. The DifTcntcrs
fecm relblv'd to pulh for
the Repeal of them this
next Seilions ; and they arc confulting
all the Meafures, and making all the
Friends they can for the cfFeccing of it.
Whether they will fucceed or not, I find
differently believed. What I hear faid
of the Matter, and my own Opini-
on about it, I fend you in the following
Sheets.

It

[6]

It is faid, and many fpecious Ha-
rangues have been made upon that Head,
that the Teft itfelf is a very improper
one ; as it may be, and often is, the Oc-
cafion of giving Scandal to our Holy
Religion. It is true, the taking the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper merely
for a Qualification to fome lecular Em-
ployment, is a great, and hardly to be
pardon'd, Profanation of that holy
Rite: becaufe, as the Motives thereto
are very unworthy, and confequently
muft render the Receiver unworthy ;
ib the End of fuch receiving is quite
foreign, and very different from that
which our bleffed Lord ordain'd when
he inftituted that holy Sacrament. So
far is very certain, and agreed on all
Sides. But then let us ask, and fairly
fix the Charge where of right it be-
longs: Who it is that is properly guilty
of that Profanation, the Legiflator or
the Receiver? The latter certainly; he
whofe own Ad it is, he is highly guil-
ty of it. And if the DifTenters any of
them, notwithftanding the known Sa-
crednefs of that divine Inftitution, and
the Danger of abufing it, will yet ven-
ture

[7 ]

ture upon it, with no otlier View but
that of a Qualification, they, of all
Men, have the leaft Rcafon to charge
others with the Proftitution, or the
Profanation of it. The Defign of the
Legiflator was not to alter or to add
to the End for which Chrift himfclf or-
dained that Sacrament ; but only there-
by to diftinguilh the true Friends of
the Eftablifh'd Church, and to be a Bar
againft any who were not of her Com-
munion, and in her Intereft. This was
all that was intended by the Lcgiflator
in the Cafe. And if thofe very People,
whom that Act was on purpofe calcu-
lated to keep out from ever being able
to hurt the Church *, if thole People
will pervert the Intention of that Act,
and from either wrong or wicked Mo-
tives demand, as it were, that holy
Sacrament to be deliver'd to them ; as
nothing can be more impious, or give
greater Scandal to our holy Religion,
fo the Sin thereof will be chiefly at
their doors.

It is true, our blefTed Lord charges
his Difciples, /. e. the Minifters of hi$
Word, that they give not that which is

holy

[8]

holy unto dogs^ nor caft their pearls before
Jw'ine'^ lejiy as his Reafon is, they turn
again and rend you *. The Realbn, I
think, is not unworthy our Attention
in the prefent Cafe \ and as no Power
ought to interpofe, where thofe Di-
redions are duly obferv'd, fo the due
Oblervation of them might be a Means
of preventing, in great meafure, that
horrid Proftitution of the Sacrament fb
much complained of, tho' often caused,
by the DilTcnters.

Upon the whole ; I think the re-
ceiving the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, as our Law requires, and after
the Manner of the Church of England^
to be a very proper Teft, and fuch
which (as long as that Part of our
Eihiblifhrient lafts) ought to be given
by all Vv'ho have any publick Power or
Truft committed to them. If for the
fake of any fuch Power or TrUft, any
fhall dare to profane it, let them look
well to it : they are Volunteers in the
Guilt, and their Condemnation mull
be certain.

* Mstth. vii. (^.

Others

[9]

Others of the DifTenters, whofe Prin-
ciple will not lufFer them to give this
Teft, are angry with it, becaute with-
out it they can have no Share in the Ad-
miniftration of Things, and the Places
of Profit and Truit among us. Here
they inveigh bitterly, and with great
Indignation : For hereby, lay they, we
are perfecuted for Confcience fake, and
deprived of all thofe civil Rights, which,
as Subjeds in general, and as good Sab-
jects in particular, naturally belong to
us.

But this CompJaint too is both ground-
lefs and unrcaibnable. As Subjeds in
general, they have all the Indulgence,
and all the Enjoyment both in their
Civil and Religious Rights, which in.
Wifdom ought to be allow-'d them,
and which in Juftice and Reaibn they
ought to claim.

As to their Religious Rights, they
are fully tolerated both in the Frofefli-
cn, and in the Exercile of them. They
are not only fuiTer'd to convene publick-
ly, and to ierve God in their own Way ;
B but

}

but the Law alfo has provided Remedies
againft any, who ihall interrupt or di-
fturb them therein. And if in modefty
they would but confider, that theirs
is not the eftablifh'd Religion of the
Country they live in, they ought fure-
ly to be well contented, if not very thank-
ful for the Liberty and the Privilege
which by the Favour of the Legiflature
is allow'd them.

In other Countries and where other
Religions prevail, all the Indulgence
which the DifTenters meet with here is
not to be found : And fince theirs ts not^
nor likely to he^ they may be very thank-
full that the Religion eftablifh'd is the
eftablifh'd Religion. As the Cafe at
prefent ftands, and with regard to their
Religious Rights, I fee no Difference be-
tween the Dilfenters and us ; but that
ours is the Religion eflahVijloed by Law,
theirs tolerated by Law.

Then again as to their Civil Rights,
where is there any Difference between
a Churchman and a Diffenter ? What
a Diffenter is born to, what is bequeathed
to him, or what he acquires himfelf,

he

[II]

he has as good a Right to, and is as
fccure in, as any other Subjecl whatever :
He has the lame Accefs to the Laws
of the Land, and he may defend him-
lelf by them in any juft Claim which he
has. Where then is the Greivance fo
mightily complained of? Why, as good
and faithful Subjects to the Government,
they fay that they ought to have an e-
qual Share in the publick Adminiftrati-
on of Things, and that as fuch, they
have a natural Right to it.

But this Claim of a natural Right,
as they call it, I hope will never be al-
low'd them ^ bccaufe, as the Cafe now
is, they can have no Pretence to it.
They boaft indeed not only that they
are Subjeds in common, but that they
are the beft and mod faithful Subjects
His Majefty has; in the fame manner
as their Forefathers boafted, that they
were the only Righteous, the only Men
of God. And as thefe would have en-
grofs'd all the Merit of Rightcoufnefs,
and all the Favour of God to them-
felves; fo our modern Presbyterians
would fain extol and prefer their Loy-
alty into the greateft Merit from His
B 2 prefent

[ 12 ]

prefcnt Majefty, and the whole Houfe
of Hcwover. Now fippojing all this
that they fay, (not that I grant it by
any means; becaufe His Majefty has a
great many, and thofe in all refpeds
his Beft Friends and his Beft Subjeds,
in the Church of which he himfelf is
the Head : ) I fay, fuppofing the Dil^
fenters to be the good Subjefts they
boaft ! And what of all that? Or how
do they derive from thence a natural
Right to the fame Share in all publick
Diftributions with thofe of the Efta-
bllfh'd Religion? Their being good Sub-
jeds is no more than what His Majefty,
fo indulgent as He is to them, dejerves
and may claim from them : And it is
not only their Duty, but it is their In-
tcreft, as well as it is ours of the Church
of Enghwdy to be in a particular man-
ner fo to His prefent Majefty \ fmce in
Him only it is, and in His Royal Fa-
mily, that both they and we are fecure
from a Power, which if once it ftiou'd
prevail, wou'd undo both them and us.
What then have both they and we to
do, but to be as loyal and as dutiful
Subjects to Him as poffibly we can? —
But to fay that upon that account, and

merely

[ 13 1

merely as fuch, the DifTenters have a
natural Right to the fame Favonr, and
the fame Trufts with thofe of the Efta-
blilh'd Church ; and in a manner fo in-
folent and threatning as they have done,
to demand it (as it were) of the Govern-
ment; this, 1 think, is going a great
way farther than either Decency or
good Politicks can juftify.

The Government, let them obfervc,
is in fuch Hands, and ib fecure in thofe
Hands, that they who hold it are ap
leajl not to be bully'd into any Mea-
fures, which may be detrimental to the
prefent Conftitution : and His Majefty
is wife enough to diftinguifh between
thofe who are of the whole Conftitu-
tion, and thofe who comply with but
a Part of it. And therefore, as there
can be ao Difpute who are hisbeftSub-
je£ls, and confequently defervc bcft of
him ; thofe who go along with him in
every Part of that Conftitution over
which He prefides, and which He has
cngag'd to defend ; and thofe who dif-
fcnt wholly from it, or comply but in
Part ; fo a Pretence to an equal Share
in His Favour, and in the AdmTniftra-

tion

[14]

tion of things under Him, is altoge-
ther unreafonable to be ask'd, impoli-
tick to be granted, and what they can-
not have a Right to. For my own
part, I think the Diffenters of all De-
nominations are pretty much upon a
Level, as to this natural Right fo much
talked of j and the Man who has not
taken the Oaths to the Civil Govern-
ment, but is a profefs'd Member of the
Church, may, in like manner, put in
his Claim to it, and has not much lefs
to lay for himfelf upon it. In ihort,
the Laws in the prefent Cafe fo much
complained of, were made for the Se-
curity of the Church, as it now ftands
eftabiilh'd amongft us; well feeing that
the Security of that Church would be
the bell Security to the State. But
farther :

The Diffenters think themfelves, or
wou'd perfuade us to think, that they
are a numerous, a weighty, and a very
powerful Body of Men in the Nation.
Hence they wou^d have us believe, that
they may have a great Stroke in our
Eledions ; and becaufe the prefent Par-
liament is drawing to an End, they

think

[ t5l

think this a proper Time to declare
what maft be expecled from them, if
they are difappointed in their Attempt.
But, alas ! they are ill-advis'd ^ and
while they fufFer themielves, without
confulting whether this be a proper
Time for others, as well as for them-
felves, and difregarding all Conient of
thofc Pcrfons in Power, who are heft
able to judge for, to aflift, or to oppole
them: I lay, while the DiflTentcrs do
thus fufFer themfelves to be hurried on,
even in Oppofition, as it appears, to
thofe very Perfons, (who, as they are
principally concern'd, fo they ought
principally to be confulted in all publick
Cafes of this Nature : ) They only be-
come thereby the mere Tools of Ibme
difcontented or ambitious Men, who
have their own, not the Intereft of the
DifTenters to ferve in it.

As to the Diflenters being fo great
and fo powerful a Body as they pre-
tend ^ that, I think, need not alter any
of our Laws, nor will hurt us any
thing in our Elections. Thofe who are
Friends to the Church are knownFriends
to His Majefly ; and there are Church-
men

[ i6]

men enough throughout the Kingdom
to chufe a Church-Parliament, which
will beft preferve His, and the Rights
of His People, both in Church and
State. And I will venture to fay, as
to the Miniihy, That if they had Rea-
Ibn to apprehend the difobliging any of
their Friends, the difobliging their
Friends of the Church Eftablifh'd,
wou'd be of worfe Confequence than
any that is threatened from what other
Quarter foever. But the Miniftry has
not, nor needs to have any Apprehen-
lions of this kind. Whilll the Mini-
ftty is a Friend to the Church, the
Church will be a Friend to the Mini-
ftry ; and lb long as there is that Har-
mony between them, they will mutu-
ally and necefTarily be the Support of
each other. We have feen the Church
in great Danger, when the Enemies of
curConilitution in the State have been
in Power : and the State has greatly
fufFer'd, when the Enemies of our
Church have prevail'd. We want not
Initances for cither of thefe Proofs, and
it Js to be hop'd no new Experiment
will be made in the one or the other.

The

[ 17]

The Church of England^ let it be
confider'd, is not only one Part, and a
principal Part of our Conftitution j but
the Members of that Church are by-
much the Majority of the People. And
therefore, as every repealing of thofe
wholefome A<fts and Laws, which at
prefent fubfift for the Prefervation of
that Church, muft necellarily be fuipecl-
ed as fo many Inlets upon, and be de-
trimental to Her^ fo confequently a
greater Number of the good People
and good Subjeds of the Land would
be oiFended and difobliged thereby.

This is too plain to be infiftcd upon.
And thus have Igivenyoulbme

Ihort Hints of the Cafe, as it ftands at
prefent, with regard to the Diflenters,
and the Teft Ad. And I have great
Hopes, that as the Members of the
Church o^ Efiglcind 2.XC both by Principle
and Intereft the trueft and beft Friends
to the Government ; and likewH'e an
overbalance in Number to any, I may
fay, to all the DifiTcnters from it; and
farther, as we have a King upon the
Throne, who is Himfelf a true Member
of that Church, and under Chrift the
G Head

C i8 ]

Head over /V, as well as us ; fo I cannot
doubt, but that all thole Laws which
the WilHom of our Legiflator has pro-
vided for the Security of theEftablifh'd
Religion, will continue in their full
Force; that as his Majefty found us,
fo he will leave us ; fo his Royal Succef-
fors continue us; and fowe fhall remain
till our Church Militant here on Earth
is tranflated to the Church Triumphant
above. Which as it ought to be the
Prayer of every true Churchman and
of every fincere Lover of Liberty, fo
in particular it is of,

Tour Friend and Servant,

A. B.