Excerpt from Toleration Act Explained: An Answer to a Legal Argument on the Toleration Act, Shewing That the Court of Quarter Sessions Have a Judicial Function as to the Administration of Oaths to Persons Offering Themselves for Qualification as Protestant Dissenting Ministers To avoid, however, unnecessary subjects for dis pute, I must premise, that ii in the first of the above positions the term qualyicatiozz, as applied to the party claiming to take the oaths, is meant to involve his fitness, or unfitness to act as a Dis senting Minister I shall not contend that the Magistrates are authorized in that seme, to inquire into his qualification. I think no such power was ever given by the Act; and, from its sound and comprehensive wisdom in other respects, I conclude it never was intended to be given. Indeed with the highest esteem for the noble Lord who has lately stood forward on this subject, in this single respect I thought, with much deference, that the provisions of the bill he introduced were not strictly according to the principles of toleration, or even to those which have hitherto governed the civil power with regard to' the established religion. The fitness, or unfitness of a Minister, is a matter exclusively of religious regulation, to be decided by the rules of discipline ifi'each Society, and, according to those of the Church of England, left entirely to the Dioce san, whom no earthly power can in this respect control. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.