Teschenniacher, Wkiinkr, a minister of the Re- formed Church in Juliers-Cleves-Berg, and a writer of some prominence in ecclesiastical and political literature, was born at Elberfeld in September, 1589. He was ed- ucated at Herborn and Heidelberg, and afterwards served the Church from ItilO or 1611 until 1633 in her pulpits, where he gained the reputation of an eloquent and able preacher of the Word. His services were much in re- quest by the churches, EHicrfeld, Cleves, and Emmerich, at that time the seat of the Brandenburg government, being his jirincipal fields of labor. He was also greatly esteemed for his fine tact and skill in diplomacy, quali- ties that led to his selection for the conduct of many affairs in which the preservation and w-elfare of the Protestant churches of the duchy were at stake during that stormy period of religious wars. He was, however, of hasty temperament and exceedingly self-willed, so that he frequently came into conflict with other clergy- men, and occasioned the government, which wished him well, considerable trouble in the effort to sustain him. His retireirient from the pulpit was the result of a col- lision with Stover, a newly appointed colleague to his charge. He removed to Xanten and gave himself to literary labors until his death, on Good-Friday, April 2. 1638. Teschenmacher's writings are chiefly historical in character, and of brief extent. They are, Repetilio Brevis Cathol. et Orthodox. Bel., quee jSim/vldris Dei Be- iiejicio ante Seeculum a Papatii lieform. in Clirife, .Julier, Montium Ducatibus, etc. (Veselise, 1635, 43 pp.): — An- nates Eccles. Reformationis Kcclesiinum Clirire, etc. (1633) : — Annales Clivier, etc. (1638; 2d ed. by Dithmar. Frank f.-on-t he-Oder, 1721), a political work which is still valuable. Works in MS.: Sermons: — A Commiiituri/ on the Epistles to the Co?-inthi(tvs, in Latin: — Annalium. Keel. Ejjitome in qua preecipue Gravissima Qucestio ex- plieatur de Successione et Statu Eccl. Christ, etc. An autolnograjihy in exienso, and a biography by P. Tesch- enmacher, are both lost. — Herzog, Real-Eiiri/klop. s. v.
Tesseree (toh'us). The early Christians, when com- pelled to travel, were careful to secure a recognition by their fellow-Christians wherever they went. They were always provided with letters of recommendation; and when arriving in a strange town had only to inquire for the church, and to produce these letters, when tliev were received as brethren, and provided with every ac- commodation during their stay. — Faitsxr, Eccles. Diet.
TEST
291 TESTAMENTS, PATRIARCHAL
Test, the imposition of an oath, or any other act by which the reUgious principles of any individual are jitit to proof. Tests and disabilities are distinct from pen- alties jiroperly so called : it would be absurd to talk of 2>Hiiishiii(i any one for being a woman, a minor, a per- son destitute of natural capacity, or opportunities of ed- ucation, etc., on the grounil that these are excluded as untit for certain othces and privileges. Yet test laws do operate as a punishment; not because they are cause of pain, but inasmuch as they tend to produce that .change of conduct which punishment is designed to produce.
Test Acts, also called Couporatiox Acts, the -popular name given to two English statutes imposing certain oaths on the holders of public olHces. Act 18 Charles IF, c. 2, directs that all magistrates shall take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, as well as an oath renouncing the doctrine that it is lawful to take arms against the king; and provides that they must re- ceive the communion according to the rites of the Church of England within a year before election. Act 25 Charles II. c. 1, imposed the like conditions on the holders of all public offices, civil and military, and obliged them, in addition, to abjure all belief in the doc- trine of transubstantiation. These acts, which were practically evaded to a large extent by means of an act ■of indemnity passed every year, were repealed by 9 (ieorge IV, c. 17, in so far as regarded the administra- tion of the sacrament, for which a declaration set forth in that act was substituted. A statute of William IV substituted a declaration for an oath in most govern- ment offices. A new form of oath has been substituted for the oaths of supretnacy, allegiance, and abjuration by 21 and 22 Victoria, c. 48. — Chambers's Enajclop. s. v.; see Skeats, Hist, of Free Churches of Eiifjlaiid (see In- dex).
Testament is the frequent rendering, in the New Test., of tlie (ireek CiaSri'jKi] (literally a disposal), and both are used in two distinct senses (see Cremer, Lex. ofN.-T. Greek, p. 57G sq.).
1. The natural, and in classical Greek, as in ordinar\' English, the oidy, signification is a devisement by will or legacy (Plutarch, De Adnlat. 28; Flato, Lefig. 922; Demosth. 1136, 12), and in this sense the word occurs ill Heb. ix, 10, 17. See Inhekitasck.
2. But the more common signification in the New Test, is one that has come over from the Sept., which often uses Cia^t'jKi] as a rendering of the Heb. rii"l3, or covenant; and in this sense '-testament" is the render- ing in the A. V. of the Greek word in Heb. vii,22; ix, 20: Kev. xi, 19; and especially in the phrase the new testament (Matt, xxvi, 28; Mark xiv, 24; Luke xxii, 20; 1 Cor. iii. 6; Heb. ix, 15 [i. e. "new covenant," as in Heb. viii, 8 ; xii, 24] ), which has gained currency as the title of the Christian Scriptures as a whole. See New-Enr/lander, May, 1857, Lond. (Wesleyan) Quur. Rev. Jul}', 1857. See Covenant.