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A54215
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Som free reflections upon occasion of the public discourse about liberty of conscience and the consequences thereof in this present conjuncture in a letter to a friend / by one who cordially imbraces whatsoever there is of tru religion in al professions, and hates every thing which makes any of them hate or hurt one another.
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing P1366; ESTC R40051
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12,299
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21
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on the contrary what discontent and murmuring what contests and factions they have raised and fomented among us I say if this be considered methinks the ground of mens present apprehensions should in a great measure be taken away What good is it in truth that those Laws have don us They have not hindred the spreading of any fanciful Opinions among the different Sects into which we ar divided But they have rendred al those Sectaries discontented inclined them to Sedition and Rebellion and therby made the Government it self uneasy and unsecure This is plain matter of fact most evidently visible to every one that dos not wilfully blinde himself Why therfore should any one be alarumed at the change of those Laws which we have experienced to be so insignificant not to say so contrary unto the very ends for which they were Established And why should not we al much rather rejoyce at the prospect of this new Experiment of Liberty which affords more lively hopes of stable Comfort Truly the design appears to me so plausible that I cannot conceiv any thing but Interest capable to blinde mens mindes in the consideration of it But to that supposition of mine it may perhaps be here replyed with confidence That it is indeed Interest which causes the reluctancy we ar speaking of and that their Interest being such it is fitting men should maintain it and oppose al innovations contrary therunto For this they think sufficiently authorized by that Fundamental Maxim of Saluâ— Populi c. which affirms the Peoples Interest to be the supremest Law. This Maxim indeed I allow to be unquestionably just and if their application of it to this case be so too we must acknowledg they have reason and joyn with them But if on the contrary the continuance of the Test and Penalties be only the Interest of a very smal part of the Nation and that the general Interest of the whole lys in the Liberty now designed then wil the force of their main Artillery be found pointed against themselves and their Argument easily destroyed It is necessary therfore to consider whose Interest it is to introduce this Liberty and whose to oppose it that we may judg which of the two is the most general But that judgment is so easy that no man can be long in suspense about it The whole Body of Dissenters from the Church of England however subdivided and distinguished in other things ar al united comprehended in that common Cause They have al been straitned persecuted and oppressed and therfore nothing can be more natural than for them to desire Liberty and Ease Now this collective Body of the several Dissenters is manifestly greater than the Church of England alone But besides these it is also evident that a great part of the Church of England it self I dar boldly say the best part of it those Learned and Rational Divines I mean who have somtimes by opprobry been termed Latitudinarians tho in truth the word sound nothing but honorable Those have always declared themselvs of moderate Principles their Interest lys also evidently in Moderation and Forbearance because they ar no less hated by the severer sort of their own Brethren than even the Disienters themselvs and the People that have been influenced by their Doctrin is so numerous that the remaining strict and narrow-spirited Church-of England-men whose Interest ingages them to maintain their own Priviledges by infringing the just Rights of their Neighbours this remaining number I say is so smal in comparison of the whole Body of the Nation that it is even ridiculous for them to build their pretences upon the forementioned Maxim which in effect is directly contrary therunto Now if this be so indeed that Liberty of Conscience is not only the Right of every particular Man but also the general Interest of the whole Nation methinks no Man ought any longer to be a shamed of or alarumed at the project of it but rather every honest Man ought to contribute his Endeavours that it may succeed Yes may somday if it were only Liberty of Conscience that were pretended to there could be little objected against it Nay it must be confest that the bent of the Nation that way is now so strong that the most part would freely enough consent to the abolishing of those Penal Laws which have hitherto restrained it But say they that is not al. Those that design the abolishing of the Penal Laws do at the same time design to take away the Test and therby not onely to permit the Exercise of the Roman Catholic Religion but also to admit Roman Catholics into a share of our Government which they ad is a Consideration wholly of a different Nature from that of meer Liberty of Conscience and the Practice wherof would be very unpolitic This is the Objection that makes the great Cry in this Conjuncture Those that endeavour to introduce Liberty of Conscience aim also to take away the Test Those that would take away the Test ar secret if not open Papists And both the one and the other under pretence of Liberty of Conscience ar Betrayers of the tru Libertys and fundamental Laws of their Country With this Cry many modest and honest Men ar born down and silenced And indeed it requires more than ordinary Courage and Strength to bear up against so impetuous a Torrent But when all is don Truth and Reason ar able to bear up against any thing And therefore I will now examin impartially whether they be found on the side of these Objectors or of the forementioned Patrons of Liberty Two things especially ar here to be inquired into First whether the Test as it is by Law imposed upon Roman Catholics be really an Intrenchment upon the natural and just Liberty of their Consciences or whether indeed it be a meer political thing of a different Nature without any Relation therunto And in the next place whether the taking away of that Test may probably prove advantagious or prejudicial to the general Interest of the Nation Upon these two Considerations lys the Stress of this whole Debate Now to the first I must needs affirm that in my Opinion the imposing of that Test is a thing of a mixt Nature It is indeed political because the design of it is to exclude the Roman Catholics from public Imployment But it is also Religious because it makes their Opinion in Religion the Condition of that Exclusion And therefore it can in no wise be said to be of so different a Nature from the Liberty of Conscience we are speaking of as to have no Relation at al therunto On the contrary I conceiv not how any one can doubt it to be an infringement of that Liberty For those Imployments being not hereditary the way to them is by Nature open to every Man according as his Capacity and other Circumstances may fit him for them Now if a Person otherwise duly qualified for such an Imployment which might
writ I cannot but suspect that a Prejudice may arise against me in some Mens Mindes from the Disinteressedness I have shewn in respect of the different Sects of Protestants as if I were my self a Papist and designed wholly to favorize that Party To obviate that Prejudice I therfore desire the World may know that I am so far from being ingaged in any Party that I sincerely desire the Distinctions of all Parties may be obliterated amongst Mankind and that al the Ends of the Earth may be brought into Subjection and Obedience unto the Gospel of the Holy Jesus and own no other Name or Profession but that of Christianity Oh what glorious Days Oh what transporting Comforts and solid Happiness would that Temper of Spirit bring into the World Then would the Root of Contention be cut up when al Men were engaged in the same Cause Disputes would surely cease when Men came to know that the Religion which Jesus Christ came to institute upon Earth consists not in any airy Speculations nor shadowy Ceremonys but wholly and solely in actual Obedience to his Holy Precepts They would then easily infer from such a Foundation that Notions and Doctrins and much more outward Cults ar only so far necessary unto Salvation as they ar proper to influence Mens Lives They would then know that the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto al Men and that therfore it doth not ly hid in Difficultys and Obscuritys which few or none do comprehend but that the Rules it prescribes us ar plain even to the meanest Capacitys teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should liv soberly righteously and Godlily in this present World. This would make al Men more intent upon then Duty upon the strict Observance of the Rules of Justice of Truth and of universal Charity and Good-wil towards one another which is the choicest Flower in al the Garland of Christian Vertues And in the same Proportion as those Vertues increased stil further Knowledg and a sound Judgment in Divine Truths would increase with them and the Seeds of Discord would at the same time be destroyed We should then turn our Swords into Plow-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks we should not learn War any more but rest Fearless under our own Vines and our own Fig-trees and every Man walking in the Name of his God. Princes would not then press Uniformity in things of smal Consequence with a Violence only tolerable in Occasions of the most fundamental and greatest Importance Subjects would not refuse Conformity in things indifferent with a Headstrongness only excusable in Points most essential Nor would either the one or the other mistake those fundamental and essential Points when al were agreed that they consisted only in Piety Sobriety and Vertu An Authority tempered with Sweetness and a Subjection mixed with Lov would make al Estates of Men as happy as our frail Condition of Mortality can admit This Thought you see has a little warmed me and no wonder it should For indeed it is the only Fire that heats my Zeal the only Spring that gives Motion to my sluggish and indifferent Temper God grant that it may kindle som Measures of a like Flame nay a higher Measure I beseech him in those that read it Then should I hope daily to see more and more considerable Advancements in the Work that Providence seems to be now acting in the World. Shal I explain my Meaning Why not I am sure it tends not to the Injury of any Man and therfore it can not be reputed Criminal Wel 't is this The Persecution we have heard of in France I am wel informed has inspir'd a strange Spirit of Reformation into the Romish Clergy themselvs They acknowledg the Abuses that ar in their Church as far as ever its outward Oeconomy and public Authority wil admit They preach openly at Paris against al manner of Superstition and Idolatry They instruct their Auditors in a spiritual Adoration of the supreme Deity They do not rack the Consciences of their Penitents with any strict Determination in Points incomprehensible but they turn them wholly to the Essential Dutys of Life And in this Manner they endeavor to produce and maintain Vnity between themselvs and their New Converts as they cal them in the Bond of Peace This appears to me an Antiperistasis to the Designs of the Authors of that Persecution a Rebound guided by Providence which produces a far different Effect from the direct Blow But this is not al. We have heard of somthing like it in Italy and in Spain which has already made som Noise and a very considerable Progress in those Countrys Perhaps indeed these things may be censured by som Doctors of that Communion who ar as much wedded to their old-fashioned Popery as the narrower sort of Church-of-England-Men amongst Protestants ar wedded to their liturgical Rites and Ceremonys But however it is one Step nay a great Advancement towards a general inlightning of Mens Minds in tru Religion which I strongly hope wil be conducted by Providence to a happy Issu And as I contemplate the Prospect of our English Liberty as a Dispensation of Gods own Direction extended unto us by a Hand from whence we least expected it as an Instrument more exactly fitted by him for the Atchievment of this great Work than those others aforementioned so I heartily wish that al tru-hearted Englishmen would put their Hands unto this Work that we may be al found diligent Laborers in the Vineyard where we ar placed faithful Servants in the Improvement of the Talent committed unto us and by no means barren and unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ unto which we have so much pretended Pardon I intreat you this Excursion It is now time for me to return to my first Theme and draw towards a Conclusion of this tedious Letter Those that read it with unprejudiced Eys wil easily discern that I write it not to serve the Interest of any one Party further than that Interest tends to the general Good And that I despise the Censures of al Partys in comparison to the Satisfaction I propound unto my self in contributing towards that Good. My Rule is streight Let others make theirs so too and we shal al infallibly arrive at that happy Rest which we al breath after I wil sum up what I have said or supply what I have omitted in a few Words Liberty of Conscience is the natural Right of Mankind and the general Interest of England Penal Laws and Tests ar direct Infringements of that Right and they tend evidently to the ruin of that Interest Wil we therfore acquit our selves like honest and prudent Men let us settle our selves in that our natural Priviledg and let us abolish every thing that is opposite therunto Let us abolish those things I say we that ar private Persons in perswading every Man his Neighbor to that Disposition And when we shal be called to it let us elect such Members to serv in Parliament as shal be disposed to consent unto the abolishing of them by Law. That is the surest Means to ingage the King unto us and to ingage us al unto one another His Government wil be so much the more easy as he finds his People the more compliant with his just Desires And our Security wil be so much the greater nay it wil be intire when our Propertys our Libertys and our Religion shal be defended by the common Union of al Partys against our onely public Enemies al turbulent and ambitious Innovators I am Dear Sir Yours c. FINIS