his way persecution became general throughout
Europe. It was the universal opinion that one religion must be established
by law; and that all who differed in their religious opinions, must suffer
the vengeance of persecution. In pursuance of this opinion, when popery
was abolished in England, and the Church of England was established in its
stead, severe penalties were inflicted upon all who dissented from the
established church. In the time of the civil wars, in the reign of Charles
I., the presbyterians got the upper hand, and inflicted legal penalties
upon all who differed from them in their sentiments respecting religious
doctrines and discipline. When Charles II. was restored, the Church of
England was likewise restored, and the presbyterians and other dissenters
were laid under legal penalties and incapacities. It was in this reign,
that a religious test was established as a qualification for office; that
is, a law was made requiring all officers civil and military (among other
things) to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the
usage of the Church of England, written [within?] six months after their
admission to office under the penalty of 500L and disability to hold the
office. And by another statute of the same reign, no person was capable of
being elected to any office relating to the government of any city or
corporation, unless, within a twelvemonth before, he had received the
sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. The pretence
for making these severe laws, by which all but churchmen were made
incapable of any office civil or military, was to exclude the papists; but
the real design was to exclude the protestant dissenters. From this
account of test-laws, there arises an unfavorable presumption against
them. But if we consider the nature of them and the effects which they are
calculated to produce, we shall find that they are useless, tyrannical,
and peculiarly unfit for the people of this country.

A religious test is an act to be done, or profession to be made, relating
to religion (such as partaking of the sacrament according to certain rites
and forms, or declaring one's belief of certain doctrines,) for the
purpose of determining whether his religious opinions are such, that he is
admissable to a publick office. A test in favour of any one denomination
of Christians would be to the last degree absurd in the United States. If
it were in favour of either congregationa