In 1828 Lord Russell, the leader of
the Reform party, effected the abrogation of the Test Act,--a law which
required all officers, civil and military, to receive the sacrament
according to the usage of the Established church, and to take an oath
against transubstantiation within six months after their entrance into
office. The repeal immediately placed Dissenters and Catholics upon the
same footing with members of the Established church, and was in itself
sufficient to provoke opposition on the part of all who had not united
in the evangelical movement. But the antagonism became still more
decided when Parliament passed the Irish Church Property Act, in 1833,
in spite of the determined remonstrances of the bishops. One half of the
Irish bishoprics were thereby abrogated, Parliament assuming
ecclesiastical authority. The people supported the Parliament, and in
some instances public indignation was hurled at the bishops themselves.
The Low Church has always been on the side of popular reform. Not
forgetful of its lineal descent from that evangelical spirit which
animated Wilberforce, Stephen, Thornton, and Buxton, in their
philanthropic labors, it has sought out the population of the factories
and mines of England, and addressed itself to the relief of their
cramped and stifled inmates.
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