Adoration for his Saviour and yet contrary to the Dictates of Heaven and the Doctrine of the Blessed Jesus make it his business to speak evil of Dignities and disturb the Peace of the Kingdom in which he lives II. I Proceed to shew that we owe a strict obedience to the Higher Powers of this Realm Which is easily evinc'd because they are such Powers which are Sovereign and as they are absolutely Supream so ought we to be absolutely obedient The Kings of this Realm are said crimine vacare because they owe an account of their Offences only to Heaven They are said to be Laws to themselves because tho in the Court of their own Consciences they are oblig'd to reign according to Law yet they are absolv'd of all Laws in relation to an earthly Tribunal The Kings of this Realm like those of the Jews may do whatsoever they think fit without Controlment from the Subject For since they are Gods Lieutenants can they be accountable to any but their Almighty Captain Since they are Heads of the Common-wealth what Member shall call them to Question and since they have the sole power of the Sword what hand can justly draw it without their Commission The Kings of this Realm by vertue their Prerogatives when Laws become sharp may soften them as they please and when too cruel totally pro tempore suspend them To the Prerogative we owe the calling of Parliaments the proroguing of the good and the dissolution of the bad To the merciful exercise of the Prerogative we owe that we our selves sit every Man under his own Vine and drink the waters of his own Cistern For by the same undoubted Rights of Soveraignty that the King in dispensing with the Laws shews the light of his Countenance to some of his Subjects by the same he may if he please become a Cloud and darkness to the rest For by the Rights of Supremacy he may do all things without Controlment and Coertion And altho he at any time act as he may do contrary to the Laws which himself or his Ancestors have ratified yet at the same time he Acts but according to the natural Laws and Rights of his Prerogative And indeed if we consider the Natural Laws and Rights of Soveraignty no Law can be made by a Soveraign but there must be this tacit Reserve in 't viz. That it shall continue in force only so long as the Supreme Power thinks it necessary and convenient And thus since the Kings of this Realm are Supreme we ought strictly to pay them such an humble Obedience as may be answerable to the greatness of their Power III. I come now to shew the reasonableness of our Obedience to the King in this present juncture of Affairs that is why we ought to comply and cooperate with his Majesty in the repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws and setling a lasting Indulgence in relation to Conscience for Matters of meer Religion And this I shall evince from these Eight following considerations 1. From the Nature of Conscience as to Matters of meer Religion 2. From the Genius of the Christian Religion consider'd in its first Planting and Propagation 3. From the ill consequence of Force and the happy Effects of Clemency in affairs of Religion 4. From the Allegiance and Gratitude we owe-to His Majesty 5. From the Liberty that is due to the Subject 6. From the Consideration of the Interest of the Church 7. From the Duties we owe toour Neighbours 8. From the Kindness that is due to our Country First From the Nature of Conscience as to Matters of meer Religion Now Conscience in relation to Matters of meer Religion in the present case is a Conclusion of the reason ableness or unreasonableness of our Belief drawn from Scriptures Thus when Men say they cannot believe such a particular point of Divinity or they must dissent from any parricular way of Divine Worship 't is as much as to say that their understanding tells them that such a point of Faith or such a way of Worship is not consentaneous to the Scripture And when Men say they Believe and Worship according to their Consciences 't is as much as to say that they do both because their understanding concludes that they act according to Gods Word Thus Conscience in Matters of Belief is purely an act of the Soul and since 't is so 't is impossible it should be forc'd and the impossibility of it ought to supersede all endeavonrs towards it Nay Conscience in relation to matters of Worship which is the effect only of the former tho you may obstruct its publick Exercise yet without converting Men into Statues you can never hinder its private and therefore when the Peace of the Kingdom is concern'd it ought to be permitted Besides let us consider that every Soul is only the Empire of Heaven God Almighty has set Conscience there as he has plac'd particular Kings in their respective Kingdoms that is as his sole Vice gerent Whosoever therefore violently Fights against Conscience fights against Heaven because he endeavours by undue means to subject Gods immediate Minister And tho Conscience like some Heathen Kings prove many times erroneous because it draws undue conclusions from Gods sacred word yet it is like those Emperors only answerable to Heaven for such Errors If it be here Objected That men justly ought to be punished if they will not believe when Scripture is rightly Interpreted I answer That I should have thought that the Eye of Faith is only the Gift of the Lord of Light and he only can incline the Heart who made it and therefore to pretend to bestow the Gift of God is to usurp the Prerogative of Heaven No this Gift of God can no more be conferr'd by Penal Laws and taking away Money than that which Simon hop'd to enjoy by giving money Heaven never opens the understanding by unlocking the Chest nor does it prick and wound the Conscience by mangling an Estate and ruining the possessor But some say Dissenters are not punish'd as religious and conscientious but for their disobedience to the Laws of the Nation But this Fallacy is so palpable that 't is easily solv'd by asking one plain Question viz. Why were those Laws made And the answer must be that the Spring which first mov'd their debate was Religion and the end for which they were made was that a religious Uniformity might be observ'd by all the Subjects of this Realm so that whosoever is punished by the force of those Laws whose source is from and whose ends are for Religion is really punish'd as religious and if he suffer not besides as an evil doer his punishment is unjust For in such a Punishment the Body suffers because the Soul is not of the same stamp with that of his Neighbour and for the same reason a Man may be lash'd because he has not as an agreeable a Face as those that liv'd around him for neither his
with him there is no respect of Persons but every one of every profession that feareth God is accepted with him I he fatal consequence of the contrary to this no man can be ignorant of but must know that oppressed Parties have grown closer by the weight of their Affliction and and their Stripes have been able to beat 'em into the solid consistence of a confederacy For many Men tho never so dastardly before yet when press'd and coop'd up have been apt to turn again upon the Government and when they have been run as it were to the Wall they have thought it extreamly lawful to draw upon the adverse Party Whereas give but their religious Zeal room enough tho never so fiery like Lightning in open Air it does no harm but stopp'd it melts the obstructing Sword and shatters the opposing Oak and that current of Conscience which at liberty calmly slides along when 't is once damn'd up has grown impatient ruin'd its Bars and delug'd the adjoyning guiltless Neighbour-hood So that as those undue restrictions have overturn'd Governments their Relaxation is most likely to set 'em upright and preserve 'em For if a Kingdom be compar'd to a Ship we may conclude that by taking in an over-ballast of Tests she may probably sink and insisting too much on Penal Laws she may easily over-set And therefore let us comply with His Sacred Majesty in taking 'em away and not let our Eyes be so dazled with the false Lustre of private Interest as not to see or our Faces so exalted with Pride as to over-look in this our Day the things that belong to our Nations Peace By such a Lenity Faction will be ruin'd and one mighty advantage that such a Liberty will moreover procure is the Separation of the Sheep from the Goats the distinction of the unconvertible Rebel from the Honest Man for when all have Liberty to separate like consistent Heterogeneous Bodies in a large quantity of Liquor every one will take his natural place and he that runs may read who are Dissenters for Rebellion and who the well meaning Separatist for Conscience sake Fourthly From the consideration of the Allegiance and Gratitude we owe to His Majesty we ought to comply with the King in the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws The King who is the Supream Law is so gracious as to endeavour to have all uneasie Laws made void whosoever therefore is so turbulent as to obstruct the Halcion-days designed may be esteemed little less than doubly rebellious for he not only contradicts his Majesties inclinations which should have with all Loyal Subjects the force of Commands but he likewise so far encroacheth upon the Prerogative of Heaven it self as to pursue the supposed Transgressions of his Fellow Subjects ev'n beyond the Third and Fourth Generation for of such an extent is the designed severity of the Penal Laws and Tests Nor let any man say that he does not obstruct his Majestie 's Inclination because he takes up no Arms against him For if Adultery may be committed in the Heart Rebellion may be so too You may Stab your Prince with a Traiterous Thought 't is possible to be a Regicide by the Two-edged Sword which proceeds out of a Malicious Mouth yea a Smile and Complaisant Carriage at the hearing of a Seditious Discourse is no less then Treason in the sight of God-Almighty And to pray for the Destruction of my Prince is not only to Levy War upon Earth but to endeavour to Arm Heaven against him too and to instruct the great Creator in that Vengeance which is alone his Perogative as well how and when as where and of whom to take And thus he that even for Religions sake shoots out his Arrows even bitter Words is as disobedient as he that throws a Javelin and to unsheath a Pen against his Prince makes a Man in common Sence as great Rebel as he that draws his Sword. And therefore since to think write or speak disloyally upon the account of our Relion is certainly resistance for it and since resistance for it is equally as damning as the denyal of it Let every Man conclude that he can't lift up even his Soul against his Prince but 't is in God's account the same thing as listing up his Hand against him and against Heaven it self too for which without sound Repentance he must expect certain Damnation Let none therefore by disloyal Zeal force up the ill Seeds of unquietness and dissatisfaction Let none sit sullenly in close Cabals to Hatch the Cockatrice of Jealousies and Fears nor let their Blood boyl up in Passion against the approaching Peace of their Fellow Subjects For whosoever do so will declare themselves to be no less than Antichristians Friends of the Father of Lies and to owe their Sanguinary Cruelty to him only who was a Murtherer from the Beginning But can we be disloyal say some if we are for keeping up the Laws and the Government by Law Establish'd Yes certainly I answer for you cannot be Loyal unless you pay true Allegiance which is not payed unless you obey your King and that actively in all those his commands and desires which are not contradictory to the will of God. Now when the King desires you to send such men to Parliament that may repeal the Penal Laws and Tests He desires nothing but what is the Duty of every Free-holder to do who ought to choose such men that may as well repeal Old Laws that are become grievous as contribute to the making of New Ones that may be more easie The Government by Law Establish'd is so Establish'd pro tempore for the bene esse of the Kingdom and when it ceases to be so all ought to concurr that by another Law the grievous Statutes might be dis-established for such Statutes are and ought to be mutable according to the various Face of Affairs The same Remedy even for the same Distemper will not alway prove effectual I say therefore to those who insist so much upon the Law that 't is possible that those Laws which were made for us and pleas'd us one Year may not be for us but dissatisfie us the next and miserable surely would it be for this Kingdom if the Supream Power were not upon all occasions a Dispensing one too I might urge against the Validity of the Test that the Kings Concurrence being rather forc'd than voluntarily had it must necessarily want the Essential Form of a Law. But 't is certain that such Acts as tend to lessen the Kings Pretogative are adjudg'd void in themselves tho made by the Kings consent And what can be more against His Prerogative than those Tests which would deprive him of that Liberty which even ev'ry Country Farmer enjoys viz. the Power of choosing his Servants and his Counsellors To alot a Prince his Counsellors is like assigning him Tutors and little less than to pretend to Govern him To preserve his person by such means looks like its
Imprisonment and to exclude all but our selves from being rais'd by him what is it but unjustly to defraud our honest English Neighbour to exalt our selves against our Brethren and Lavishly to impose upon the Royal Prerogative If by former Acts of Parliament none ought to have a Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm what shall we think of those who endeavour their utmost to make His Majesty do what they please If to be adherent to the Kings Enemies to give 'em aid and comfort be Treason what are those Men who adhere to them whom His Majesty esteems his Enemies aid 'em with invectives against those he accounts his Friends and comfort them with the hopes and prospect of a sudden Revolution By which they must tacitly own that it is lawful to be Rebellious in present that they may be Loyal in Reversion If to remove the Kings Counsellors to assign His Majesty Methods for the disposition of his Forces of which he had the sole Supream Government Command and Disposition be like Overtures to Rebellion the Test cannot be altogether guiltless which aims at the same things And whatsoever may be Harang'd the contrary to abridge the Kings power in granting Commissions and choosing his Counsellours is no less than to cut short the Prerogative Fifthly We ought to comply with his Majesty in the repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws if we consider the Liberty of the Subject As we are Born English Men we are born Subjects to the lawful Kings of this Realm and being so we are born to all the Priviledges of Subjects too and have a right to all the Liberty and Property which Subjects in our stations are capable of and no Act of Parliament for meer Religion ought to abridge us of those Native Rights nor can any Law justly take 'em from us till we forfeit 'em by the Transgression of the Laws of Nature and those other primitive constitutions of the Government For the Rights of the Members of Civil Government were unalterably such before the Faith of our Saviour was receiv'd in the World and therefore unless God had revealed it to the contrary 't is impossible such rights should be destroyed by the Reception of out Saviours Religion and there being no such Revelation they must stand still inviolable and so stand that neither the Christian Religion should have any direct influence upon them nor they on the contrary upon the Christians as such since they originally were and ought still to be harmlesly apart And hence 't is possible for a Turk or a Jew to be a good Subject to a Christian King. Now therefore if Religion be so different from the Civil Government as it ought not upon its own account to Rob the Members of such Government of their Civil Rights and Priviledges 't will then follow That the Tests are very unreasonable which upon the account of meer Religion rob the Subjects of those Liberties and Rights For my Right as an English Free holder enables me to choose whom I think fit to represent me in Parliament but the Test disables me from it and tells me that unless I choose whom it self only thinks fit 't will make my choice vain The Laws tell me tho a Man can't be apparently Born to the Bar or Pulpit yet he may be so Born to the Rights of Peerage and if not Born he may be made a Peer and either way have a sufficient Title to those Priviledges But the Casuistical Test says No Rights of Peerage without Protestanoy No Rights of Blood without rightly believing that of our Saviour nor any Seat in the House of Lords if I adhere to the Chair of Rome My Birth-right tells me I 'm Born in a Capacity of my Soveraign's Favour of meriting Rewards from his Hand and so consequently in a possibility of advancing my Station But the predestinating Test saith gruffly and severely No There is an irresistable Decree of Reprobation gone out against you Red Letters have certainly mark'd you for bloody Perdition in this World and deprives the Papist even of Ability of doing a good Work or if 't is possible for him to do Ten Millions yet the vast heap shall not be able to make the least Step to advance him one Inch towards the happiness of this Life The Test savagely determines tho the Papist has the Fidelity of an unfall'n Angel the King shall never trust him tho the Valour of Achilles his Prince shan't give him a Commission and tho' he had the Wisdom of Solomon yet he shan't come near to advise him What can be more inhumane what more barbarous than to rob our Brethren at once of their Birthright and their Blessing and to ruine them on Earth because they take another way of going to Heaven As if the Sacramental Bread were design'd to rob Men of their vital Morsel As if the Cup of Blessing in order to the next Life was instituted for Mankinds Curse in this and the Blood of the Blessed Jesus flow'd to destroy those whom 't was mercifully shed to save What makes the vast difference between the Papist and other Dissenters and us Are some of us Loyal So are some of them Are we able to advise His Majesty They have an equal if not a transcendent Talent that way Do we deserve Preferment and not they It lies in the King's Breast which Party merits most Have some of us been conspicuous for our Allegiance They are our Equals Have some of their Religion been fatal to Kings So have some of ours Have they been Plotters So have we Have we been instrumental in preserving this King They were so for the Safety of the last Did Men of another Communion bring the Royal Martyr to the Block Many of our Church began the fatal Quarrel Have they been sanguineously cruel of late Lo by keeping up the Tests we are so now Our Reputation is checker'd as well as theirs the Proportion of the Black and the White of Vice and Vertue stands equal in either we have all been faulty we have all gone out of the way Let us then return by being charitable to each other and obedient to His Majesty If it be here objected That the Dissenters Principles are inconsistent with Government Who is better able to judge of that than He that sits at the Helm If it be said That their Religion is inconsistent with the true Worship of God Charity would believe were they convinc'd of it they would soon retract their Error And since every one of us aims at one eternal End since we all own one God and one Lord Jesus Christ Charity would believe a possibility of attaining the End tho' in the use of different Ways The Arrow that is shot Compass may as certainly hit the White as that which is directed straight The same City may be as surely entred by him that walks o're a Mountain or through a Desert or a Wood to it as by another that trave's o're