'Like a dog, that is compelled to fight,
Snatch at his master, that doth tarre him on.'
This endeavour to affix a plume to the helmet of faith worn by the church militant is in strange relation to the thanksgiving which proceeded from the Head of the Church, 'I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' This is evidently solely a Churchman's consideration, and does not deserve our further notice; but it is intimately related to the wider question of the influence of this test on morality and religion.
We cannot better preface our concluding remarks on this important bearing of the subject than by quoting the evidence given by the Rev. D. P. Chase and Professor J.B. Lightfoot before the Committee of the House of Lords:—
'286. Lord Rosebery: You say that there are Free-thinkers already amongst the body of fellows at Oxford, who, under the irritation produced by their false positions, express their feelings and opinions with some freedom.'
'Dr. Chase: Yes.
'289. Have you reason to think that these gentlemen deliberately swallow their opinions in order to obtain the advantage of a fellowship?
'I would hardly put it in that way: I think they have persuaded themselves that the imposition of any such test being in itself immoral, they may act in a way in which they would not act towards an obligation which they acknowledged.'
Dr. Chase does not endorse this lax morality, for he says as follows:—
'I have my own impression of the men whom I meet, and of the way in which they obtrude their contempt for religious opinions in general, but I can say nothing more definite than that I allude to people who are already upon foundations.