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A54146 The great case of liberty of conscience once more briefly debated & defended ... which may serve the place of a general reply to such late discourses as have oppos'd a tolleration / the authour W.P. Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1670 (1670) Wing P1299; ESTC R2871 31,701 62

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English of Liberty of Conscience we would be understood to mean is this namely The Free and Uninterrupted Exercise of our Consciences in that Way of Worship we are most clearly perswaded God requires us to serve him in without endangering our undoubted Birth-right of English Freedoms which being matter of FAITH we Sin if we omit and they can't do less that shall endeavour it To tell us we are Obstinate and Enemies to Government are but those Groundless Phrases the first Reformers were not a little pestered with but as they said so say we The being call'd this or that does not conclude us so and hitherto we have not been detected of that Fact which only justifies such Criminations But however free we can approve our selves of Actions prejudicial of the Civil Government 't is most certain we have not suffered a little as Criminals and therefore have been far from being free from Sufferings indeed in some respect Horrid Plunders Widdows have lost their Cows Orphans their Beds and Labourers their Tools A Tragedy so said that methinks it should obliege them to do in England as they did at Athens when they had sacrificed their Divine Socrates to the sottish fury of their lewd and commical Multitude they so regreeted their hasty Murder that not only the Memorial of Socrates was most venerable with them but his Enemies they esteemed so much theirs that none would Trade or hold the least Commere with them for which some turned their own Executioners and without any other Warrant then their own Guilt Hang'd themselves How neer a kin the wretched Mercenary Informers of our Age are to those the great resemblance that is betwixt their Actions manifestly shews And we are bold to say the grand Fomenters of Persecution are no better Friends to the English State then were Anytus and Aristophanes of old to that of Athens the Case being so nearly the same as that they did not more bitterly envy the Reputation of Socrates amongst the Athenians for his grave and religious Lectures thereby giving the Youth a diversion from frequenting their Plays then some now emulate the true Dissenter for his Pious Life and great Industry And as that famous Commonwealth was noted to decline and the most observing Persons of it dated its decay from that illegal and ingrateful Carriage towards Socrates witness their dreadful Plagues with other multiply'd Disasters So is it not less worthy Observation that Heaven hath not been wholly wanting to scourge this Land for as well as their Cruelty to the Conscientious as their other multiply'd Provocations And when we seriously consider the dreadful Judgments that now impend the Nation by reason of the Robbery Violence and unwonted Oppression that almost everywhere have not only been committed upon the Poor the Widdow and the Fatherless but most tenaciously justified and the Actors manifestly encourag'd in meer pitty and concern for the everlasting welfare of such as have not quite sinn'd away their Visitation for some have we once more bring to publique view our Reasons against Persecution backt with the plainest Instances both of Scripture and Antiquity If but one may be perswaded to desist from making any farther progress in such an Anti-protestant and truly Anti-christian Path as that of persecuting honest and vertuous English men for only worshipping the God that made them in the Way they judge most acceptable with him But if those who ought to think themselves oblieg'd to weigh these affairs with the greatest deliberation will obstinately close their Eyes to these last Remonstrances and slightly over-look the pinching Case of so many thousand Families that are by these Severities expos'd for Prey to the unsatiable appetites of a Villanous Crew of broken Informers doubing themselves with that deluding Apprehension of pleasing God or at least of profiting the Country whilst they greatly displease the one and evidently ruin the other as certain as ever the Lord God Almighty destroy'd Sodom and lay'd waste Gomorah by the consuming Flames of his just Indignation will he hasten to make desolate this wanton Land and not leave an Hiding-place for the Oppressor Let no man therefore think himself too bigg to be admonish'd nor put too slight a value upon the Lives Liberties and Properties of so many thousand free-born English Families Embarqu't in that one concern of Liberty of Conscience It will become him better to reflect upon his own Mortality and not forget his Breath is in his Nostrils and that every Action of his Life the everlasting God will bring to Judgment and him for them The CONTENTS CHAPTER I. WHat is meant by Liberty of Conscience What by Persecution c. The Question Stated That Gods Prerogative is Invaded by Imposition Restraint and Persecution 1. They robb God of his Right of Creation 2. They suppose infallibility in man contrary to Protestant●Principles 3. They attribute all to Man and take Gods share and his own too 4. They defeat the Work of his Grace 5. They assume the Judgment Seat CHAP. II. They overturn the Christian Religion 1. In the Nature of it which is Meekness 2. In the Practice of it which is Suffering 3. In the Promotion of it since all further Discoveries are prohibited 4. In the Rewards of it which are Eternal CHAP. III. They oppose the plainest Testimonies of Divine Writ that can be which condemn all Force upon Conscience CHAP. VI. They are Enemies to the Priviledge of Nature 1. as rendring Some more and Others less then Men 2. as subverting the universal Good that is Gods Gift to men 3. as destroying all natural Affection Next they are Enemies to the noble Principle of Reason as appears in eight great Instances CHAP. V. They carry a Contradiction to Government 1. In the Nature of it which is Justice 2. In the Execution of it which is Prudence 3. In the End of it which is Felicity Seven Common but Grand Objections fairly stated and briefly answered CHAP. VI. They reflect upon the sense and practice of the Wisest Greatest Best States and Persons of Ancient and Modern Times as of the Jews Romans Aegyptians Germans French Hollanders nay Turks and Persians too And Cat● Livy Tacitus Justin Martyr Tertullian Jovianus Chaucer Dominicus Soto Malvetzy Grotius Raleigh Doctor and Student French and Duch Protestants in England Dr. Hamond Dr. Tayler A nameless but great Person Lactantius Hillary Jerome Chrysostom Polish and Bohemian Kings King James and King Charles the first A Postscript to the whole explaining the tearms of the Act and vindicating peaceable Meetings from Sedition c. CHAP. I. That Imposition Restraint and Persecution for Conscience sake highly Invade divine Prerogative and Divest the Almighty of a Right due to none beside himself and that in five eminent Particulars THe great Case of Liberty of Conscience so often Debated and Defended however dissatisfactorily to such as have so little Conscience as to Persecute for it is once more brought to publique view by a late Act against Dissenters
it was imprudence before to give it and such little deserve it that think so 3. Thirdly Dissenters not being conscious to themselves of any just Forfeiture of that Favour are as well griev'd in their Resentments of this Alteration as the contrary did oblige them to very gratefull Acknowledgments 4. Fourthly this must be done to gratifie all or the greatest Part or but some few only it is a demonstration all are pleased with it that the greatest Number is not the empty publick Auditories will speak In short how should either be when six Parties are sacrificed to the seventh that this cannot be Prudence common Maxims and Observations prove 5. Fifthly It strikes fatally at Protestant-sincerity for will the Papists say Did Protestants exclaim against us for Persecutors and are they now the Men themselves Was it an Instance of Weakness in our Religion and is 't become a Demonstration in theirs Have they transmuted it from Antichristian in us to Christian in themselves Let Persecutors answer 6. Sixthly It is not only an Example but an Incentive to the Romanists to Persecute the Reformed Religion abroad for when they see their Actions once void of all Excuse now defended by the Example of Protestants that once accus'd them but now themselves doubtless they will revive their Cruelty 7. Seventhly It overturns the very Ground of the Protestants Retreat from Rome for if men must be Restrain'd upon pretended Prudential Considerations for the Exercise of their Conscience in England why not the same in France Holland Germany Constantinople c. where matters of State may equally be pleaded This makes Religion State-pollicy and Faith and Worship subservient to the Humors and Interests of Superiors Such Doctrine would have prevented our Ancestors Retreat and We wish it be not the beginning of a Back-march for Some think it shrewdly to be suspected where Religion is suited to the Government and Conscience to it's Conveniency 8. Eighthly Vice is incourag'd for if Licentious Persons see Men of Vertue molested for Assembling with a Religious Purpose to Reverence and Worship God and That are otherwise most serviceable to the Common-Wealth they may and will inferr it is better for them to be as they are since not to be demur as they call it is half way to that kind of Accomplishment which procures Preferment 9. Ninthly For such persons as are so poor spirited as to truckle under such Restraints What Conquest is there over them that before were Conscientious men and now Hypocrites who so forward to be aveng●● of them that brought this Guilt upon them as they themselves And how can the Imposers be secure of their Friendship whom they have taught to change with the Times 10. Tenthly Such Laws are so far from benefiting the Country that the Execution of them will be the assured ruin of it in the Revenues and consequently in the Power of it For where there is a decay of Families there will be of Trade so of Wealth and in the end of Strength and Power and if both kinds of Relief fail Men the Prop of Republiques Money the Stay of Monarchies this as requiring Mercenaries that as needing Freemen farewell the Interest of England 't is true the Priests get though that 's but for a time but the King and People lose as the event will shew 11. Eleventhly It ever was the prudence of wise Magistrates of Obliege their people but what comes shorter of of it then Persecution What 's dearer to them then the Liberty of their Conscience What cannot they better spare then it Their Peace consists in the enjoyment of it And he that by Compliance has lost it carries his Penalty with him and is his own Prison Surely such Practices must render the Government Uneasie and beget a great Disrespect to the Governours in the Hearts of the people 12. Twelfthly But that which concludes our prudential part shall be this That after all their Pains and Good-will to stretch men to their Measure they never will be able to accomplish their End And if he be an unwise Man hat provides Means where he designs no End how neer is be kin to him that proposes an end inobtainable Experience has told us 1. How Invective it has made the Impos'd 2. What Distractions have insued such Attempts 3. What Reproach has follow'd to the Christian Religion when the Professors of it have us'd a coercive Power upon Conscience And lastly That Force never yet made either a Good Christian or a Good Subject 3. Thirdly and Lastly Since the proceedings we argue against are prov'd so destructive to the Justice and Prudence of Government we ought the less to wonder that they should hold the same malignity against the End of it which is Felicity since the Wonder would be to find it otherwise and this is evident from these three brief Considerations 1. First Peace the End of War and Government and its great Happiness too has been is and yet will be broken by the frequent Tumultuary Disturbances that ensue the Disquieting our Meetings and the Estreeting Fines upon our Goods and Estates And what these things may issue in concerneth the Civil Magistrate to consider 2. Secondly Plenty another great End of Government will be converted into Poverty by the Destruction of so many thousand Families as refuse Compliance and Conformity and that not only to the Sufferers but influentially to all the rest a Demonstration of which we have in all those Places where the late Act has been any thing considerably put in Execution Besides how great Provocation such Incharity and Cruel Usage as stripping Widdows Fatherless and Poor of their very Necessaries for human Life meerly upon an account of Faith or Worship must needs be to the Just and Righteous Lord of Heaven and Earth Scriptures and plenty of other Stories plainly shew us 3. Thirdly Unity not the least but greatest End of Government is lost for by seeking an Unity of Opinion by the wayes intended the Unity requisit to uphold us as a Civil Society will be quite destroy'd And such as relinquish that to get the other besides that they are Unwise will infallibly lose both in the end In short We say that 't is unreasonable we should not he entertain'd as men because some think we are not as Good Christians as they pretend to wish us or that we should be depriv'd of our Liberties and Properties who never broke the Laws that gave them to us What can be harder then to take that from us by a Law which the great indulgence and solicitude of our Ancestors took so much pains to intail upon us by Law An. 18 Ed. 3. stat 3. also stat 20. Ed. 3. cap. 1. again Petition of Right An. 3. Car. and more fully in Magna Charta further peruse 37 Ed. 5. cap. 8. 28. 42 Ed. 3. cap. 3. 28 Hen. cap. 7. And we are perswaded that no Temporary Subsequential Law whatever to our Fundamental Rights as this of Force on