he describes the practice as having 'ever been a Grievance in the Church of God'. He took up the subject again in anonymous contributions to the Old Whig periodical in 1737. Subsequent debates led to the publication of The Case of Subscription to Explanatory Articles of Faith (1748). In a number of works published in the 1730s Chandler challenged the penal laws governing Dissenters, which through various tests and subscriptions barred them from full participation in civic life. In 1732 he supported those petitioning parliament for their repeal with a pamphlet entitled The Dispute Better Adjusted, and in his 1735 sermons against Roman Catholicism earned the censure of several Anglicans for his 'unseasonal' demands for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. This was followed by The Case of the Protestant Dissenters (1736) and an open letter to the Lord Mayor of London in 1738. By the time he published The Case of Subscription Chandler was expressing his disinclination to engage in any further 'publick Debates concerning Party Affairs'. Time had 'softened' his mind on such issues, and establishing a common front against the 'impieties of the present generation' was of more importance. Besides ties of friendship, he shared a common outlook with the Latitudinarian leaders of the Anglican Church, and spoke warmly of his relations with them. In the same year he was engaged in informal discussions with Thomas Herring, Thomas Gooch and Thomas Sherlock about the possibility of an act of comprehension, which would enable Dissenters to enter the Established fold in good conscience. To overcome doctrinal objections he suggested that the church's articles by re-written in scriptural language, and that the Athanasian Creed ought to be discarded. These overly ambitious proposals came to nothing, and Chandler came under fire from fellow Dissenters for acting with presumption. Deism In 'A 'Vindication of the Christian Religion (1725) and Reflections on the Conduct of Modern Deists (1727) he defended the scriptural, revealed basis of Christianity against attacks by deists, particularly Anthony Collins. This focused on the argument from miracles and prophecy. At the same time he upheld his opponents' right of conscience and expression against those calling for their censorship. In 1741 he entered once again into the deist controversy with A Vindication of the History of the Old Testament. This was a response to Thomas Morgan's The Moral Philosopher (1738-1740), whose third volume included a character assassination of