Page "Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury" Paragraph 82

The Commons then passed an address condemning the growth of popery in England.

To shore up the Protestantism of the nation, Parliament passed the Test Act of 1673, which became law on 20 March 1673.

The Test Act required all holders of civil and military office in England to take communion in the Church of England at least once a year and to make a declaration renouncing the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

Shaftesbury supported the Test Act, and, alongside James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, received the sacrament at St Clement Danes, with John Locke serving as the legal witness for each man's conformity with the Test Act.

In March 1673, Shaftesbury supported a bill for easing the plight of the Protestant dissenters in England, but nothing came of this bill.