Second Test Act (1678)

An act for the more effectual preserving the king's person and government, by disabling papists from sitting in either house of parliament. Forasmuch as divers good laws have been made for preventing the increase and danger of popery in this kingdom, which have not had the desired effects, by reason of the free access which popish recusants have had to his majesty's court, and by reason of the liberty which of late some of the recusants have had and taken to sit and vote in parliament: wherefore, and for the safety of his majesty's royal person and government, be it enacted ... that ... no person that now is or hereafter shall be a peer of this realm, or member of the house of peers, shall vote or make his proxy in the house of peers, or sit there during any debate in the said house of peers - nor any person that now is or hereafter shall be a member of the house of commons shall vote in the house of commons or sit there during any debate in the said house of commons after their speaker is chosen - until such peer or member shall from time to time respectively, and in manner following, first take the several oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and make, subscribe, and audibly repeat this declaration following: "I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I do believe that in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other saint and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I do make this declaration and every part thereof in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by English Protestants; without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever; and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the pope or any other authority or person whatsoever; or without any hope of any such dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever; or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the pope, or any other person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null or void from the beginning."