8 1 8 Dispute adjusted about the proper time of applying for a repeal of the corporation and test acts By Edmund Gibson :>ft -^,>.-:s. :C •4**t5 THE DISPUTE ADJUSTED, ABOUT THE PROPER TIME OF APPLYING FOR A REPEAL OF THE CORPORATION AND TEST ACTS: BY SHEWING, THAT NO "TIME IS PROPER. FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1732 ; AGAIN IN 1736; NOW REPUBLISHED AT THE CLARENDON PRISS, OXFORD: SOLD BY D. PRINCE AND J. COOKE; J. F. AND C. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL's CHURCH YARD? AND P. ELMSLY, the STRAND, LONDON. MDCCXC. [Price Three-pence.] / > i 3 ] ^'"-^ \ *^*#^^^A^ife'5?f****'i^*tS"S!irife^^Aiife ^ THE DISPUTE. ADJUSTED, I— ^ ABOUT cr CO (73 THE PROPER TIME, ^c. I A 1 A H E R E is now a warm Controverfy 1 among the DilTenters, about the moft: Proper Time to attempt a Repeal of the Corporation and Teft Adls ; whether at the Conclufion of an old Parliament, or the Beginning of a new. I leave them to debate and determine that Point among themfelves; but as the Caufe is ftill depending, I beg Leave to make myfelf fo far a Party to it, as to offer a few Reafons why I think No 'Time at all is proper. A 2 It [ 4- ] It will not be denied by either of the con- tending Parties, that thofe two AcSts were de- figned for the Security and Support of the Eftabhfh'd Conftitution in Church and State. The Corporation-A(^, in particular, was le- velled wholly againft the Diflentefs ; and though the Teft Adt had a more immediate Eye to the Papiils, and the Diflenters infift upon it as great Merit on their Part that they did not oppofe it j upon fome Encou- ragement given, as they pretend, to be relieved from the Penalties of it one Time or ano- ther ; yet when their Cafe came under a fo- lemn Deliberation in Parliament immediately after the Revolution, and a Toleration was granted them, the Legillature was fo far from Exemptingy that they exprefsly Included them in the Difabilities and Penalties of the Teft A(5l. This appears from the Ad: of Tolera- tion; which having enumerated feveral Laws againft Papifts that iball not thenceforth be conftrucd to extend to Diflenters -, adds. Nor any other Law or Statute of this Realm made iigamjl FapijU or Popijk Rccufants, EXCEPT the [ 5 ] the Statute made in the five and twentieth Tear of King Charles the Second^ entltuled. An A6i for preventing Dangers ijohich may hap- pen from Popijh Recufants ; the fame that we commonly call the 7'efi A(5t. In the latter End of Queen Anne\ Reign, An Ad: was paffed again ft Occaftonal Con- formifis ', by which DilTenters who fliould qualify themfelves for Offices according to the Teft Ad:, were retrained from going to Conventicles as long as they continued in thofe Offices. But this was repealed in the Beginning of the next Reign, upon thefe Confiderations (^as we may fuppofe) among others. That by receiving the Sacrament according to the Church of England, they did all that the Teft Ad requires ; That fuch receiving it was an Evidence that though they liked their own Way better, they did not think our*s unlawful ; That the Ad of Toleration could not be fuppofed to leave them in a worfe Condition, in any Refped, than it found them j and That they might h»ve [ 6 ] have no pretence to fay, that they did not enjoy their Toleration to the full. Whereas the prefent Attempt to repeal the Corporation and Tefl Ads, is to let thofe into Places of Power and Truft, who think the Service of the Church of England to be Jinful -, and who, in Confequence have not only a rooted Averlion to it, but think themfelves bound in Confcience to do all that is in their Power to abolifli it. It has been made Matter of Complaint on this Occafion, that thofe among the DifTenters who are moft JlriBly Cojifcientious (meaning the laft Sort) fliould be worft ufed ; and it would be pity it fhould be fo, if one Part of that Confcience, were not to deftroy the eftabliflied Worfliip and Government, as foon as they can. Much has been faid about the Propriety or Impropriety of making the Sacrament a Tefl in Civil Affairs ; a Point, that was fully difcuiTed fome Years fince by two Combat- ants of great Note, v/ho have now the Ho- nour to lit upon theBijQiops Bench, and be- tween [ 7 ] tween whom I leave It. Only with thefe' Obfervations, i. That it is incumbent upon thofe DilTenters (if any fuch there be) who it^Jingly upon that Objecflion -, to find fome other Tefl that will effedlually keep out both Papifts and DilTenters. 2. That thole Friends of the DilTenters who offer'd a Claufe in Parliament prefently after the Revolution, that the Receiving the Sacrament in their own Meetings and a Certificate thereof, Ihould be a fufficient Qualification, could not but fee, that the Objedtion was altogether as ftrong againll a Sacrame?2tal Tell in a Con'vcnticlei as in a Church. 3. That the dwelling upon this Head is an artful way of drawing the Atten- tion of the Readers from the main Point, which is not. What kind of Tell is moll proper and effe6tual, but whether or no there ought to be any Telt at all ? There is one Thing obfervable in the Tell-Ad;, which has not been commonly attended to, though of fome Importance in the prefcnt Cafe. The DilTenters plead, that there [ 8 ] there was no Defire or Intention in the Le- giflature to include them in the Difabilities and Penahies of that Ad. Be it fo. I would then aik. Why, befides the Oaths of Alle- giance and Supremacy, and the Declaration againfl: Tranfubflantiation, (all which are re- quired by that very Ad) did the Legiflature think fit to require the Sacramental T^ejl^ which is the only Thing in it that affedts the Diflenters ? The Anfwer of a Diffenter muft be. That the Legiflature thought they could not elfedually exclude the Papifts without that Teft. From whence the Confequence is, that if they did not de- fire to exclude the DiiTenters from Offices, they muft believe that a Sacramental Teft was abfolutely neceflary to exclude the Pa- pifts. Upon which another Queftion arifes. What then ihall exclude the Papifts, if the Sacramental Teft be aboli/lied ? Not Oaths, nor Declarations, which it is plain the Legiflature at that Time looked upon as difpenfable Matters, and fuch Securities as mij^ht be broke throu9:h for the Good of the Catholick [ 9 ] Catholick Caufe. But their joining with the Church of England in the moft folemn Adt of Chriflian Worfhip, is a Bar of the ftrongeft Kind; it is an open and publick Acknow- ledgement, that our Church is a true Church, and our Miniftry a true Miniftry, and We true Members of the Catholick Church of Chrift; notwithftanding cur Separation from the Church of Rome. In the Books which have been written upon this Subje(Sl, in Favour of the DifTen- ters, we have heard much o^ Natural Rights, and the unjuil: Invafion of thofc Rights by the Corporation and Tefl A<^s. But is not Society and Government itfelf founded in an Abridgment of Natural Rights, in fuch Inftances and fuch Degrees, as in the Judg- ment of the Legiflature the Safety and Wel- fare of the PFhole requires ? Look into the prefent Conftltutlon of Parliament, and fee how Natural Rights ftand there. Can any Right be more natural, than that they, whole Property is to bedifpofed of, ihould have a Vote [ lo ] Vote in returning thofe who are difpofe of it j and yet what Numbers are excluded from voting, whofe Property is equally affedted with that of their Fellow- Subje6ts ? Has not every one a natural Right to a Capacity of reprefenting his Country in Parliament, and every Eledlor as good a Right to chufe the Perfon whom he thinks moft fit to be truft- ed, and beft qualified for the Service ; and yet, what Numbers are now excluded from receiving that Truft, how well foever quali- fied in all other Refpeds, if they be not pof- feffed of Eftates to a certain Value, as Pled- ges of a fincere and Heady Concern for the Intereft of their Country. Juft fo it is, and no otherwife, in the Cafe of the Corporation and Teft A6ls. The Legiflature of the Kingdom has thought fit to eftablifli a Nati- onal Church, as the befl Means of promoting Religion, and preferving Peace and Order in the State ; and now they fland accufed by thefe Men of an unjufl Ufurpation upon Na- tural Rights, becaufe they have taken Care that none be admitted to Offices of Power and [ " ] and Truft, who do not think Communion according to that Church to be at lead law^ ful; or, in other Words, becaufe they have ablblutely excluded thole, who judging it unlawful^ as in \iiz\i Jinfuly are obhged in Confcience to deflroy it as foon as they can. The Truth of the Cafe is this ; many of thofe who are moft zealous for abolishing thofe Ads as Infringements of Natural Right, are alfo in Principle againft any Church-Eftablifhment at all ; and look up- on all Interpofitions of the Civil Power, in cftablhhing and maintaining a National Re- ligion, to be as much Ufurpations upon the Rights and Liberties of Mankind, as the Laws they have made for the Defence of that Eftablifhment. And in this they argue conliftently, and both they and we are regular in drawing our CGnclujionSy though from dif- ferent Principles. If there ought to be no Church-Ellablifliment, there ought to be no exclufive Laws to preferve that in being, which ou^ht not to be at all ; and if tiicre oui^hc [ 12 ] ought to be a Church-EftabliHiment, cer- tainly Power ought to be kept out of thofc Hands,' whofe Principle it is to deflroy it : So that the true State of the Cafe between the Church and the DilTenters in this Matter of the Toleration and Teft Ads, is. Whether or no the Civil Power can eftablifh a Natio- nal Church j and, if they can, whether it is or is not conducive to the Ends of Religion and of publick Peace and Order, that fuch a Church be eflabliflied ; and after the Efta- blifhment, that it be maintained and prefer- ved. When thefe Points are fettled, the Confequejices on either Side will admit of no Difpute; and whatever Reafonings do not take their Rife from hente (as the Suggefti- ons of Natural Right, Ability to ferve, Af- fedion to the Government in the State, and the like) are really no better than Declama- tion and Amufement. It might be expeded, that the DifTenters fhould llrengthen this Argument of Natural Right, by Inftances fetched from other Coun- f [ ^3 ] Countries, where they could alledge, that Civil Offices are beftowed without any Re- gard to AfFedion or DifafFedion to the Na- tional Religion. But if no fuch Inflances are to be found, methinks it fliould give a Check to the Declamations upon that Head; and one would hope, that common Modefty fhould reftrain People from fuppofing, that all Countries (even Holland itfelf, fo famed for Liberty) could go on without Remorfe, in a Pradice fo unjuft and abominable as this has been reprefented in fome late Writings. Upon the whole, if I might be thought worthy to advife the DifTenters, they fhould not take their Meafures of Fitnefs or Un- fitnefs for the Attempt, either from an old or new Parliament 3 but they fhould wait till they have wrought the Body of the Na- tion into a Belief, that there ought to be no Church-Eftablifhment at all, or into a tho- rough Diilike of the prefent Eftablifliment, or at lead into a greater Difpofition to give it up, or to fee it hurt, than hitherto appears cither [ 14- ] cither among Clergy or People. And to pro- ceed regularly in the Work, they fhould alfo wait till they have feen they have convinced the Crown that an Epifcopal Church is not fo well adapted to the Support of Monarchy, as the Prefbyterian or Independent Model; or that the Services which the Bifhops and Clergy, and the Friends of the eftablifh'd Church can perform to the Monarch upon the Throne, are not confiderable enough to be put into the Balance againfl thofe which He may ex- ped; from the DifTenters and their well- Wifhers; or that among thofe who are wil- Img to give all the Pledges which the Law requires for the Church and State, there are not Numbers or Abilities fufficient for the Adminiftration of Offices, Civil and Mili- tary. And there is one Difficulty more which feems to lie in their Way j That by the Ad: of Union in the Sixth of Queen Anne, All and Jingular ABs of Parliament then in Force, for the EJiabliJljmefit and Prefervation of the Church ^England, a?2d the Dodfrine, JFcrfJoip, Difcipline and Government thereof Jhall remain and [ ^5 ] and be in full Force for ever : And this A(fl is alio declared to he an ejfential and funda- mental Fart of the Union between the two Kingdoms. When the Way Is thus prepared, they will eafily attain their End ; but this will be a Work of Time ; and I am apt to think, they will find it difficult to perfuade confide- rate and impartial Men, that the Bounds be- tween the Church and the DiiTenters can be more wifely adjufted, than is already done in the Settlement made by the Legiflature Im- mediately after the Revolution; when that Matter was maturely ccnlidered by as able Heads as any Age has produced, and at a Time when the DifTenters cannot pretend, that there was not a Difpoiition to Confider their Cafe in the moft favourable Light that the Conflitution in Church and State would fairly admit. We have had long Experience of the good Effeds of what was then fettled ; and one may venture to foretell, without the Spirit of Prophecy, that whenever that Foun- dation C i6 ] datlon is altered, (whenever the Church £hall break in upon the Toleration, or the Toleration upon the Church) the Peace of this Country is at an End. FINIS. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ED IICPDtP-ORI uw msQ SE K •WLl 7 1985 10m-7,'71 (P6348s8)— Z-53 L W \ '^i<#S«.; '-^1 r\i