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    must say that we are satisfied that one less objectionable , imposed as it is on all classes of the community without distinction , could not easily be expected to emanate from the parties who proposed it . We are not sure that the course of conduct which ( iu the sense its proposers have affixed to it ) it prescribes , is not one which Dissenters have beefi in the practice of adopting , and which a sense of propriety and of their duty as peaceable members of the community would of itself dictate . We have our

    opinions as to the right , the justice , and policy of some of our institutions , particularly religious ; but we confess we do not see our way clear to the proposition that while those institutions are sanctioned and supported by the laws of the state , it is justifiable in anyone intrusted with a portion of its authority , to exert it to its prejudice or in the furtherance of his particular views of religion or

    policy . The Dissenter may most safely and properly , in our judgment , give a pledge which reason aud the interest of the community seem to justify ; and it is obvious that the principle is one which , if fully acted upon by all religious denominations , would make religion what it ought to be , by abolishing the exertion of political authority or influence in favour of onet sect against another .

    But it has been feared that the declaration might be construed so as to fetter the ordinary modes of legal and constitutional discussion , investigation , and re * form of religious or political institutions . To this it may be replied , 1 st , that such a construction has been in the amplest manner disavowed ; and , 2 d , that the imposition of the declaration on all persons renders such a construction impossible . The Dissenter and the Churchman enter

    into no different engagement , aud to consider it as a fetter on any lawful and legitimate discussion or constitutional mode of proceeding , would be to say , that henceforth the church must be ' tabou / ' —holy ground , on which the unhallowed foot of the inquirer or the reformer must never tread : it would be to say , that commutations of tithes , equalizations of livings , abolition of

    pluraciee , &c , &c , must never more be considered , because Churchmen and Dissenters had forsworn the discussion . In a country like ours , the church , in common with every other institution , holds its rights and properties by a tenure which implies rights in others , and renders them subject to various modes of discussion , investigation , reform , and disposition . The right * and properties

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    of the church are subject ta and involve this liability . No person , no body of persons , is , or can be , exempt from its > operation ; and the exercise of it can never in a free state be held to be an infringement on the privileges of any one . The alteration made by the Lords inf the commencement of the declaration

    has excited more attention , though it has no practical operation on Dissenters . It arose in this manner . A strong party pressed for the conversion of the declaration into an oath , which they advocated on the specious principle , that the taking of an oath on the Evangelists would at least imply a persistence in the

    legal doctrine of the connexion between the State and Christianity , and would assume that the person taking it was a Christian . On the other haud , a great repugnance was felt by many to increase the number of political oaths j and to meet the views of each party , some one suggested adding to the declaration the words " on the true faith of a

    Christian , " as words which would give the implication wished for by the advocates of the oath , and would impose nothing new , because the same words already stand in the oath of abjuration , which must in ordinary practice be taken immediately before the declaration . The declarant , therefore , will be asked to do nothing but what in fact he must have done only a few moments before .

    To be sure , his having so done was an equal reason against the necessity of making him do it again ; but as the proposal seemed to please all , and to throw on one side a more obnoxious proposition which was gaining advocates , it was acceded to , and the words were added without a division , but under the protest of Lord Holland against so far recognizing and confirming one branch , however minute , of the principle of religious exclusion .

    All that can be said , therefore , is , that a Dissenter will now use these words twice on taking office , instead of once ; and the fact of their having been long the form in use , is ail answer to the inquiry made by some , whether they do not imply a profession of " true faith" or doctrine in the sense of the establishment .

    Such a construction could never / airly be put on the words ; but the fact of their formal prescription by law , for all classes of Christians , and even expressly for Catholics , phews that no such idea was ever conceived by the legislature . It does not appear to us , therefore , to have been in any way incumbent on Dissenters to make a resistance to the introduction of

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    Intelligence . —Corporation ana Test'Actsv

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 428, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/68/