a 1, for preventing and suppressing sedi tious conventicles, punished every person above the age of sixteen who was present at a conventicle by a fine of five shillings for the first, and of ten shillings for every subsequent offence ; and the penalty for teaching or preaching in a conventicle was made 20/. for the first, and 40/. for each subsequent offence. Persons who suffered conventicles to be held in their houses were made liable under this act to a fine of 20/., and justices of the peace were empowered to break open doors where they were informed conventicles were held, and take the offenders into custody.
In the reign of William III. the Tolera tion Act (1 Win. III. c. 18) gave immu nity to all Protestant dissenters, except those who denied the Trinity, from the pe nal laws to which they had been subjected. The preamble alleges that " Forasmuch as some ease to scrupulous consveuces in the exercise of religion may be an effec tual means to unite their majesties' Pro testant subjects in interest and affection," be it enacted th a none of the following statutes : 23 Eliz. C. 1 ; 29 Elia. c. 6 ; 1 Elia. c. 2, § 14 ; 3 Jac. 0. 4 ; 3 Jac.
c. 5; nor any other law or statute of this realm made against papists or popish re cusants (except the 25 Car. II. c. 2, and the 30 Car. II. et. 2, c. 1), shall be con strued to extend to any person dissenting from the Church of England that shall; take the oaths of allegiance and supre macy and make and subscribe the de claration against popery required by 30 Car. IL ; and such persons shall not be liable to any pains or penalties or for feitures mentioned in 35 Eliz. c. 1, and 22 Car. 11. c. 1. But if any assembly of persons who dissented from the Church of England were held in any place for religious worship with the doors locked during any time of their meeting, they were liable to the penalties of all the foregoing laws recited in the act. By § 8 it was provided that " no person dis senting from the Church of England, in holy orders, or pretended holy orders, or pretending to holy orders, nor any teacher or preacher of any congregation of dis sentinif Protestants, that shall make and subscribe the declaration aforesaid and take the said oaths," "and shall also de clare his approbation of and subscribe the articles of religion mentioned in the statute of 13 Elia. c. 1 (except the 34th, 35th, and 36th, and these words of the 20th article, viz. the church hath power to decree rights or ceremonies, and au thority in controversies of faith, and yet'), shall be liable to any of the pains and penalties of the 17 Car. IL c. 2, or the penalties mentioned in the said act of 22 Car. IL c. 1, by reason of preaching at any exercise of religion, nor to the pe nalty of 1001. by 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4, for officiating in any congregation for the exercise of religion permitted and allowed by this act." The benefits conferred by the Tolera tion Act were subsequently much abridged by the Occasional Communion Bill, which excluded from civil offices those Noncon formists who, by communion at the altars of the Church, were by the provisions of the Test Act qualified to hold them ; and by the Schism Bill (repealed by 19 Geo.
III. c. 24), which restricted the work of education to certificated churchmen. By 5 Geo. II. c. 4, it was enacted that if any "mayor, bailiff, or other magistrate" should go in his gown or attended by the ensigns of his office to any public meet ing for religious worship, he should be disabled not only from holding such office, but any public office or employment whatsoever. By the repeal of the Cor poration and Test Acts in 1828 (9 Geo.
IV. c. 17) [ESTABLISHED CHURCH, p. 851], and by the passing of the acts re lating to registration and marriage dissen tem have been allowed the peaceable en joyment of their religion.
By the act 52 Geo. III. cap. 155, it is .
provided that any congregation of Pro testants amounting to twenty shall be registered in the Diocesan's court and at the quarter-sessions of the peace, under a penalty not exceeding 201. nor less than 208. The cost of registering at the quer- , ter -sessions is two guineas. Noncon formist places of worship may be regis tered for the solemnization of marriages on application to the register-general by certificate, which must be signed by twenty householders who have used such place of worship for one year. (6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 85, § 18.) Persons who preach or teach religion in a noncon formist place of worship shall, when re quired by a magistrate, take the oath and make the declaration specified in 19 Geo. III., professing themselves to be Chris tians and Protestants, and that they be lieve the Scriptures to contain the revealed will of God, and to be the rule of doctrine and practice. A nonconformist preacher or teacher may require a magistrate to administer the above-mentioned oath and to give him a certificate thereof. This certificate exempts him from serving in the militia and certain civil offices, in case he follows no other secular occupa tion except that of schoolmaster. No congregation is allowed to meet with the door locked or otherwise fastened, under penalty of a sum not exceeding 20/. nor less than 40s. When the place of wor ship is duly registered and the preacher or teacher has obtained a certificate in the manner already mentioned, any per son who wilfully disturbs the minister or any one of the congregation, is liable, on conviction at the quarter-sessions, to a penalty of 40/. Dissenters from the church are now in some aspects in a better position than those who belong to it, for members of the established church are not within the benefit of the Tolera tion Acts. [LAW, CRIMINAL, p. 2171 It would be a task of some difficulty to enumerate the various sects which may be classed under the general head of Non conformists. The chief denominations are the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan and Calvinistic Methodists, and Quakers. Most of the minor sects of dissenters may be considered as only subdivisions of or included in the above denominations. The entire number of Protestant dissenters in England and Wales has been estimated at 2,500,100, including the Methodists, who may amount to about 1,200,000. The number of mar riages which are not celebrated in con formity with the rites of the Established Church represent a population of about