It was not, however, until the reign of Charles II that actually receiving communion in the Church of England was made a precondition for holding public office.

[5] One of the immediate reasons that the "Country Party" (proto-Whigs) in Parliament pushed for this was to break up the Cabal ministry — members of the Court Party of powerful statement under Charles II, who had divergent religious interests — the Catholic Lord Clifford could not accept this oath which ran contrary to his beliefs, so resigned his position in government and the Cabal ministry completely unravelled by 1674.

In addition to this, 1673 was also the year that it became public knowledge that James, Duke of York, heir to the throne, had converted to Catholicism.

St. 2),[6] which required that all peers and members of the House of Commons should make a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrificial nature of the Mass.

The Lords deeply resented this interference with their membership; they delayed passage of the act as long as possible, and managed to greatly weaken it by including an exemption for the future James II, effective head of the Catholic nobility, at whom it was largely aimed.

[7] In Scotland, a religious test was imposed immediately after the Reformation, and by a 1567 law no one was to be appointed to a public office or to be a notary who did not profess Calvinism.

All persons were to be free of any oath or test contrary to or inconsistent with the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government.

Provisions requiring the taking of oaths and declarations against transubstantiation were repealed by the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.