WITH RESPECT ΤΟ THE LAWS, WHICH, SINCE THE SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND FROM THE CHURCH OF THE SEE OF ROME,-the laws against them I. 1.THE firft, are thofe, which fubjected them to penalties and punishments for exercising their religious worship;-under which head, may be ranked, the laws refpecting their places of education, and the minifters of their church. By these laws, if any English priest of the church of Rome, born in the dominions of the crown of England, came to England from beyond the feas, or tarried in England three days, without conforming to the church, he was guilty of high treafon; and thofe incurred the guilt of high treafon, who were reconciled to the fee of Rome, or procured others to be reconciled to it. By thefe laws alfo, papifts were totally disabled from giving their children any education in their own religion; for, if they educated their children at home, then, for maintaining the fchoolmafter, if he did not repair to church, or was not allowed by the bishop of the diocefe, they were liable to forfeit £. 10. a month, and the schoolmafter was liable to forfeit forty fhillings a day; and if they fent their children for education education to any fchool of their perfuafion abroad, they were liable to forfeit £.100. and the children fo fent were difabled from inheriting, purchafing or enjoying any lands, profits, goods, debts, duties, legacies, or fums of money.-Saying mafs was punishable by a forfeiture of 200 marks: hearing it, by a forfeiture of 100. See 1 Eliz. ch. 2. 23 Eliz. ch. 1. 27 Eliz. ch. 2. 29 Eliz. ch. 6. 35 Eliz. ch. 2. 2 Jac. 1.ch. 4. 3 Jac. 1. ch. 4, 5 7 Jac. 1. ch. 6. 3 Car. 1. ch. 2. 25 Car. 2. 1 Geo. 1. I. 2. Under the fecond head, were thofe laws, which punished the English communicants with the church of Rome for not conforming to the established church. These are generally called the Statutes of Recufancy. It fhould be obferved, that, abfence from church, alone, and unaccompanied by any other act, constitutes recufancy, in the true sense of that word. Till the ftatute of the 35 Eliz. chap. 2. all nonconformifts were confidered as recufants, and were all equally fubject to the pe nalties of recufancy: that statute was the firft penal ftatute made against popish recufants, by that name, and as diftinguished from other recufants. From that ftatute arose the diftinction between proteftant and popish recufants; the former were fubject to fuch statutes of recufancy, as preceded that of the 35th of queen Elizabeth, and to fome ftatutes against recufancy, made fubfequently to that time; but they were relieved from them all, by 46 contained in that act: by the 3d of king James the 1ft, ch. 4. another oath was pre fcribed to be taken, commonly called the Oathr of Allegiance and Obedience : these oaths were abrogated by the 1ft of king William and queen Mary, feff. 1. ch. 8. and a new oath of allegiance and a new oath of fupremacy were introduced, and required to be taken in their ftead the ftatute made in the 2d feffion of the 1ft year of king George the 1st, ch. 13. contains an oath of fupremacy, in the fame words, as the oath of fupremacy, required to be taken by the 1ft of king William and queen Mary. By that oath, persons are made to fwear, that "no foreign prince, perfon, prelate, ftate or potentate, hath, or "ought to have, any jurifdiction, power, fupremacy, pre-eminence or authority, eccle“fiaftical or fpiritual, within the realm.” It was required to be taken by the perfons therein named; it might be tendered to any perfon, by any two juftices of the peace; and perfons refufing the oath fo tendered were adjudged to be popish recufants convict, and to forfeit and be proceeded against, as fuch. This was the Conftructive Recufancy referred to above. It was not the offence itself of recufancy, which, as we have already obferved, confifted merely in the party's abfenting himfelf from church; it was the offence of not taking the oath of fupremacy, and the other oaths prefcribed by the act of 1 Geo. 1. the refufal of which, was, by that ftatute, placed on the fame footing, as a legal conviction conviction on the ftatutes of recufancy, and fubjected the party refufing to the penalties of thofe ftatutes. This was the moft fevere of all the laws against papists. The punishment of recufancy was penal in the extreme; and the perfons objecting to the oath in queftion, might be fubjected to all the penalties of recufancy, merely by their refusing the oath, when tendered to them. It added to the penal nature of thefe laws, that, the oath. in queftion, might be tendered, at the mere will of two juftices of peace, without any previous information or complaint before a magiftrate, or any other perfon. Thus, by refufing to take the oath of fupremacy, when tendered to them, they became liable to all the penalties of recufancy, and the fame refufal, by 7 & 8 Wm. 3. ch. 4. and 1 Geo. 1. ft. 2. ch. 13. reftrained them from practifing the law as advocates, barrifters, folicitors, attornies, notaries, or proctors, and from voting at elections. I. 4. With respect to receiving the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper: By the 13 Cha. 2. (commonly called the Corporation Act), no perfons can be legally elected to any office, relating to the government of any city or corporation, unless within a twelvemonth before he has received the facrament of the Lord's fupper, according to the rites of the church of England; and he is also enjoined to take the paths of allegiance and fupremacy, at the fame time, that, he takes the oath of office, or, in default B 1 default of either of thefe requifites, fuch elec tion fliall be void. I. 5. As to the Declaration against Tranfubftantiation By the 25th Car. 2. ch. 2. (commonly called the Test Act), all officers, civil and military, are directed to take the oath, and make the declaration against tranfubftantiation, in the court of King's Bench or Chancery, the next term, or at the next quarter feffions, or (by fubfequent ftatutes), within fix months, after their admiffion, and alfo, within the fame time, to receive the facrament of the Lord's fupper, according to the ufage of the church of England, in fome public church, immediately after divine fervice and fermon; and to deliver into court, a certificate thereof, figned by the minifter and churchwarden; and also to prove the fame, by two credible witneffes, upon forfeiture of £500. and difability to hold the office. I. 6. With respect to the declaration against popery: The act paft in the 30th year of Car. 2. ft. 2. ch. 1. contains the declaration, and prescribes it to be made, by members of either houfe of parliament, before they take their feats. By it, they declare their difbelief of the doctrine of transubstantiation, and their belief, that the invocation of faints, and the facrifice of the mafs, are idolatrous. I. 7. With respect to the laws affecting their landed property:-How this was affected by the laws against recufancy, has been already mentioned. By the 11 & 12 W. 3. ch. 4. it |