Judge any more incapacitated for the administration of Justice than another man Moreover in a Kingdom where their Number is so truly inconsiderable as scarce the two hundredth man in the Nation if they have hopes of making any Converts or any endeavours that way it can only be done by holding the Scale of Justice upright and in all Posts of Trust by keeping up the steddiest Standard of Right and Equity as the only means thereby to recommend and endear themselves to the World and wipe off those blemishes that the mistaken Jealousies and popular Misapprehensions have so long so unkindly cast upon them And this and this only they are very sensible is their Chart to steer by and their great Pilot their Royal Master the best read Student in the Arts of Empire that possibly ever graced a Throne equally knows to be his only course and undoubtedly as sacredly resolves to make it so And if the Judges of the Land suppose of the Romish Religion besides their Oaths that bind 'em and His Majesties Honour that shall influence them to it have these Obligations more and above even of Interest to their very Religion it self to move in so regular a Sphere of Justice where lies our Danger And if this higher station will be so inoffensive What can the poorer Justices of the Peace or the inferiour Subministration of the Government signifie in Popish or not Popish hands But in this Case I have heard some people say Alas What stretch of the Laws will not such Judges make Perhaps for instance pick a hole in the Abby-Lands and start some dormient Title or other to revert them to the Church of Rome a Patrimony that will not a little enrich the Romanists and advance their Cause This idle Objection was scarce worth naming as if the stretching of our Laws in that point was not as notorious and arbitrary as a total violation of the Subjects Right and rending the whole Frame of the Laws in sunder But to check this idle surmise if a Romish Parliament it self in the Reign of Queen Mary with the very Restauration of the Romish Religion and Papal Supremacy into the Saddle never so much as attempted to revert those Lands Nay on the contrary their whole Title was confirmed to the present Possessors by a Decretal from Rome it self as was then so solemnly done by Cardinal Poole the then Pope's Legate How groundless must the fear be of any thought or attempt of reverting them now Or Why must the Romish Judges in any kind subvert or undermine the Laws contrary to all their best Politicks in the present state of England to no true advantage either to themselves or their Church and possibly to be answerable for it with their Heads if they live to the next Protestant Prince To come next to the Officers of His Majesties Houshold c. to have those Posts too barricaded with Tests and the Imperial Dignity so shackled as to be debarr'd the choice of its own Menials nay even of its Conversation it self is an Insolence put upon Majesty as had been scarce tolerable from an Ordinance of Forty Eight much less an Act of Parliament But for our less Wonder at it we are to consider 't was hatch'd in the same Republick Nest for no less than the great old Patriot of three Names sate sor the brooding of it I think I need not raise Arguments to prove how little those Gentlemen of Honour the Courtiers I mean of any Religion whatsoever in that innocent Station are or can be concerned in shaking either Church or State. It 's enough to say that greater Indignity under the Sanction of a Law was never imposed upon a Crown'd Head. The meanest Gentleman in England whilst this Test keeps footing has a Prerogative above the KING For the choice of His Steward Bayliff Attorney or Sollititor c. are in His own free Election but these were Priviledges thought too large for a KING and therefore He is stinted and bounded to such Elections as the more Imperial Wisdom of His then great Counsellors in Parliament judged fittest for Him. Monarchical Rule is said to be like that of Heaven where the Primum Mobile acts altogether by inferiour Spheres and Second Causes And so Majesty by its Officers and Ministers as so many Vehicles by which the Influences of the Royal Power are conveyed But truly this Ascendency the Late Law makers judged too Great for the King of England and therefore they found an Expedient to render the Monarchy little more than precarious making the whole Ministers of the State the Creatures of the Test and not of the KING Now I desire to know how in reason we can imagine That a KING in Himself the Fountain of Honour and Original of Power though in His Nature the mildest and best temper'd of Princes though without the least thought of Unhinging the Frame of the Government or disturbing the Settled Church of His Kingdom to blast His Own Glory and lose His Subjects Hearts for that would be all the Crop 't would yield Him I wonder I say how we can imagine that the Best and most Gracious of Princes though without the forementioned Designs could nevertheless brook so Imprincely a Yoke as the Test And truly to justifie His Majesties heartiest endeavours against both Penal Laws and Test in not labouring to Abrogate the first as they stand in force against the Lives and Liberties and how unjustly has been proved before of the Members of his own Communion he would be the most unnatural of men and in not labouring to repeal the last as standing so egregiously in force against the Right and Prerogative of His Crown and indeed originally forged in affront to Himself he should be the most dishonourable of Princes Nor will it serve to object That His late Majesty whatever Diminution to the Prerogative it might be by passing it into a Law has alâ—enated that Power from the CROWN For to answer that Argument we are assured that whatever alienations of that kind the Easiness of the present Pâ—ssâ—ssor of the Crown or any other Reasons may induce him to make are no waies truly binding to the Successor Now the Reasons inclining His Majesty so zealously to endeavour the Repeal of the Test in these foremention'd stations under him are by himself declared viz. That the Service of all his Subjects is inseparably annex'd to and iâ—herâ—nt in the Crown being indeed so fundamental a Right so unalterable to his Prerogative and in its own nature so far above the Cognizance of Parliaments that a Crown'd Head ought less to be wonder'd at for endeavouring to recover so rightful a part of his Royal â—atrimoney than the â—eanesâ— of his Subjects for seeking a Redress against the highest oppression and injury suffer'd in the nearest and tenderest part of their Property Estate or Liberty that they hold by Common Law or Magna Charta it self And besides the Justice and Equity that prompt His Majesty to seek so
then her self more especially in those Professions that found their Dissenting Points of Doctrine upon her own Baâ—s the Scripture To speak a little further to this Point What was our separation from the Romish Communion and consequently our whole Reformation any more then disclaiming the erroneous Doctrines of the Romish Church and retrenching her uselesâ— or â—uperâ—â—itious Ceremonies and as several of the Dissâ—nters intirely concur with us in disclaiming the same erroneous Opinions only diâ—â—ering from us in reforming more of their Ceremonies than our selves I desire to be informed by what Light unless by an infaâ—â—iâ—le Spirit our Church can say Roform thus far and no further The Reformation in this very bound is Holy and Sacred and one step beyond it or varation from it is Offence and Sin. And that a farther Reform may not look altogether so impardenable King Edward the Sixth was pleased to tell the World in his Common Prayer Book That the Reforms then made in the Publick Lâ—turgy were not compleat He having at present no further Reformed the then time then would bear and that a farther Reform was intended to be made by him But since that short Raigned Prince lived not to the performance of the Promise pray have his Protestant Successors made that further Reform for him truly I am afraid none or next to none the Liturgy and what else remaining almost entire if not more exceptionable as He left it Now here will several odd Debates arise as first either that pious Prince and our Original Reformers had they finished that Reform so tender are our Laws even in the least syllable of our present Liturgy must have out gone the due bounds of Reformation and by so hainicous an Error have pulled down upon themselves the scandal of Sâ—stâ—ries or else our present Sectaries so called in endeavoring to follow so Pious and Royal a Leader possibly may not deserve all the hard Names and harder Fates our Penal Laws have bestowed upon them So that upon the Issue not only that Young King and our Primitive Doctors must be in the wrong for intending any such further Reform or our present Reformers in the wrong for so loudly quarreling the least attempt of such a Reform as so guilty and so black an Apostacy I cannot tell what Equity wiser Heads may find out for the Ordination of Penal Laws but truly in my opinion the great Prince of Peace that reprimanded the drawing of that Sword that cut off but the Ear of the High-Priests Servant tho in his own immediate Cause very little intended the raising his Church or the propagation of his Gospel by either Axes or Gibbets or Gaols or Dungeons And He that left us the Standard of Christianity in the Innocency of Doves never commissioned us the Rapine of Vultures and tho we are conceded the Subtilty of Serpents I know no Warrant that He gave us either for the Stings or the Poysâ—â— of them when the Prophesie of the Gospel was That the Church should learn War no more And tho my Zeal for Truth makes me thus plain in detecting the only shame and fraiâ—ty of the Reformed Church I hope she has Goodness enough to forgive the Boldness of a blushing Son who is no otherwise solicitous then for her covering her own Nakedness And that I may truly term it such the Reformation that otherwise may boast her Purity and Principles only founded on Holy Writ and all the rest of her Doctrines and Practices derived from those Sacred Oracles will be only found tripping here and in all her support of Spiritual Records in all other Points I am afraid must have recourse even to the exploded Authority of unwritten Tradition only for her Penal Laws For I shrewdly suspect that Lollards Towers and Inquisition Houses let her mince it as she will will be found the only Precedents for the Estates she has Coâ—iscated the Families she has Beggar'd the Goails she has Filled besides her sometimes loading of Gibbets and ripping up the Bowels even of her own Co-Disciples because dissenting Professors of Christ and all by her Penal Laws Nor will it suffice for an excuse to insinuate that the Establishment of Religion and Conformity of Worship on one side and 〈◊〉 Preservation of Peace and Tranquility of the State on the other side exact the necessity of such rigid Laws tho by the by the Peace of States is rather destroyed then upheld by such Laws for what Civil War in almost all the Christian World that directly or indirectly has not had the Oppression of some Religious Party its greatest back if not only incentive No to gain the first of these great Ends let the Teachers and Professors of our Established Church live up to the height of their Profession and recal the Wanderers and reduce the Strays into the â—old by their own convincing Examples of 〈◊〉 â—iety a much more commendable way of making Proselâ—â—s than the forementioned rigid Acts of Compliance And for the second great End the Governments Security if her Temporal â—ences are not strong enough let her make stronger and iâ— any of her Dissenters are the dâ—â—urbers of her Peace let her single out the Guilty from the Innocent and wreak her jâ—st Vengeance where 't is deserved and not punish whole Parties or the Dissent it self which aâ— being meer matter of Religion is wholly uncapable of such Crime for the sake of any corrupted Members that 〈◊〉 are of or herd under the covert of such or such a Congregation of Christians For to do that Work by the undistinguishing merciless Hand of her Penal Statutes is so little conformable to the Evangelical Precepts that I am afraid the doing such notorious Ills that Good may come of it in Punishing the Innocent with the Nocent whatever Religious Security or Gospel Propagation may be intended by them these Penal Laws I say that can swallow the Estates Fortunes Liberties and â—ives of their weaker Brethren and fellow Christians instead of being either Christian or Just or any ways related to 'em will at last appear much nearer of kin to that Famous Rover that wanders round the World to seek whom he may Devour insomuch that their Ordination will be â—ound little less then borrowing Engines from Hell to help to set up Heaven Now to the Case of the Church of England if these are her Penal Laws for I shall not trouble my self with a tedious recital of the several Statutes of that Nature as being all out Scions from the same Root I would gladly know what Beauties or rather invisible Charms the Church of England can find in these Statutes to be in the least solicitous for their Preservation For alas Maâ—gre all her Volums written upon the Unreasonableness of Separation from her Communion and her Justification of her Zealous Endeavours for Conformity unless the Means and Methods used to obtain it as these Laws were intended for such be equally justifiable her whole Pretentions fall to the ground Nor
as wise as himself make a Court of Judicature and Record to convict a Dissenter and that too in no less a Cause then Where his very Loyalty if the Statute tels Truth is concern'd and all this from the Mouth of two Witnessâ—s generally known by the name of Informers Persons that sometimes have mounted Pillories a sort of Men not always of the most substantial unshaken veracity especially considering the Temptation of 〈◊〉 third Snip in the Fineâ— which in Twenty Pounds and Forâ— Pounds at a Fine from the Preacher besides the lesser â—ulcts from all the whole Auditory may with good management rise to a Sun. Take these Penal Laws all together I cannot tell what greater or more glorious Design his Gracious Majesty can undertake then by repairing so deep a Breach wrought through the very Fundamentals of His Peoples Orriginal Freedom and Birthrights nor is thâ—â—e or has been a greater Friend or Patron of the Church of England than His present Majesty who Himself alone tenders her the means and oppertunity to wash off those Stains and Blots which either the Petulance or Remisness of her Protestant Defenders of her Faith through these Penal Statutes have east or left upon her and so to restore and maintain her Whiteness and Innocency Having made this fair inquest into the Penal Laws I shall take a little scearch into the Test and lay down those Reasons that equally oblige us to concur with his Majesty in a Repeal of that too In order to which it behoves us first to sum up all the great and popular Arguments if I may so call 'em thâ— in reality rather the Language of Fears and Jealâ—â—â—es than the Voice of right Reason daily urged for the Preservation of the Test viz. That the whole Defence of the Protestant Religion relyes on that Basis If the Test were once abrogated the Church of England would soon be blown up when all Offices both Ecclesiastical and Civil and all Power and Authority both in Church and State shall be lodged in Roman Catholicks and what not To answer which hideous and formidable Out-cry we 'll begin first with the pretended Dangers threatned the Church of England by Repeal of the Test Not to insist upon his Majesties reiterated Word and Honour his inviolable Engagements to maintain the Church of England as now by Law Establisht in her uninterrupted Rights and Priviledges all her Churches and Church-Livings whatever thereunto belonging c. in it self alone â—o little Security But waving that Plea the Ecclesiastical Government and the Church of England neither are nor can be shaken or touchâ— by the abrogation of the Test the Test being indeed no part of her Defence For first the vâ—ry taking off the Test is no part of the Qualification of any of the Clergy of England nor was ever so much as mentioned or thought upon to be impoted or tendred to the Clergy as such the tnedring the Test to the Bishops relating only to their Peerage as Members of the House of Lords No as Jealous the Founders of that Test were or pretended to be of the danger of Pâ—pery and as Zealous as they could be for the Security of the Protestant Religion they very well knew the Church of â—England had two impregnable Bulwarks the two great Acts of Uniformity that themselves alone sufficiently establish'd guarded and preserved the Church of England in all points without any Fortification from the Test nor indeed was the Test wanted in the Ecclesiastick Administration those very Statutes being a greater and stronger Test before For by those Statutes is the whole Liturgy the Administration of the Sacraments and indeed all the Canons and Articles of the Church supported for by the Pence of those Laws first no Romanist can be admitted into the Clergy unless under the most damnable Hypocrisie which no humane Test can discover an Hypocrisie too no waies beneficial to the Romish Cause whilst tied up to the Divine Service as now by Law establisht Secondly No other Divine Service as the Mass or the like can be introduced into our Churches already constituted or assigned for the Divine Service of the Church of England The strength of these two Laws His Majesty very well knows and is so far even from the thought of hurting or infringing the least Particle of either of those Laws or the Security our Church has does or can receive from them by abrogating any Penal Laws or Tests whatsoever that on the contrary there is not undoubtedly that farther Confirmation of those Laws and the Religious Observance of them or any thing conducing thereunto that may or shall be offer'd to His Majesty in Parliament that His Majesty shall not readily assent to and as inviolably maintain And that in all and every Part and Particle of those Laws that relates to the Orthodox Qualâ—fication of our Clergy the Establishment of our Liturgy Rites and Ceremonies and the securing all other the Regalia of our Church as now by Law establisht Her Tormenta and Flagella only excepted And indeed His Majesty has instanced His peculiar Aversion to any Invasion of our Church's Right in that point that He has not so much as taken a Chappel of Ease from them witness the Late establish'd Lord Mayors Chappel lying shâ—t up rather thâ—n invade our Church by the admission of a Dissenter only pro temâ—â—re Iâ— then the Church of England Her Administration and Government as 't is plain stand of themselves alone secure and firm without any borrow'd prop or support from the Test whâ—â—ever the Test therefore is only a Buttrice or at least so intended to the Civil Magistracy as first excluding all Roman Catholicks from all Offices of Trust in the State secondly from all Domestick Services near the Person of the KING and thirdly from all Right to Session in Parliament These three Incapacities are by the Test thrown upon the Romanists and for confuting all suspicions and jealousies let us examine where how far and what part of the Test His Majesty desires to have repealed what Reasons induce him to desire it and lastly what Influence such a Repeal can have over the present Estabisht Church of England In the first place as to the Civil Government What Office in the State can a Roman-Catholick hold any waies impowering him to prejudice the Church of England Suppose even in the Courts of Judicature for if any apparition of any such power 't is there were 〈◊〉 imagine in all those Offices Why 〈◊〉 not a Sir Thomas Moore be as honâ—â— as a Lord Chief Justice Hales and execute his Office with as great Inteâ—rity and Justiceâ— Why not men of equal abilities he of equal uprightness in all Religions Besides the distribution of mâ—um and 〈◊〉 more especially when Liberty of 〈◊〉 shall be past into a perpetual Law and all Penal Inflictions for Matter of 〈◊〉 thrown out of their Jurisdictions will then be the whole business that lies before them And wherein is a Roman-Catholick