TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS.
During the debates on the anti-subscription petition, many members on both sides of the house had acknowledged, that though it was just and reasonable to require subscription from persons entering the established church, it was nevertheless hard to demand it from dissenters and schoolmasters. Later in the season Sir Henry Houghton made a motion to relieve these from subscription, and from the operation of penal laws: in other words, for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. This was strongly opposed by the high church party, who argued that such an exemption would open a road to heresy and infidelity, encourage schism, and tend to the overthrow of the church of England. The bill, however, was carried in the house of commons by a large majority; but it was thrown out in the lords, where it encountered the most violent opposition of the bench of bishops and the ministry.