Universal Liberty of Conscience in Repealing all the Penal Statutes about Religion being their Interest in common with other Dissenters and Interest being a thing that will not lie they may be trusted in this Matter But it is added by the Objector That the Popish Religion consisting in the Decrees of General Councils confirm'd by the Pope and the Council of Lateran having decreed the Extermination of all Heretics we shall soon after the Taking off the Tests have a Popish Parliament trumpt up who to escape Damnation in the next World will be necessitated to destroy all Heretics within their Compass in this And here lieth the strength of the Objection which I shall endeavor with all the clearness I can to enervate and to this end must beseech the Reader in the first place to observe the great Difference there is between the English Papist and those of other Countries for the English would never pay that Respect unto Foreign Councils nor that Homage to the Roman Pontiffs which other Nations have done and consequently that our Country-men of the Romish Communion are not under the like Obligations of submitting unto the Decrees of General Councils which other Papists are Our Histories and Law-Books do furnish us with Instances innumerable that our Forefathers of the Romish Communion boldly asserted the Kingdom of England to be an Absolute Empire and Monarchy consisting of one Head which is the King and of a Body Politic Compact and Compounded of almost Infinite several yet well agreeing Members viz. the Clergy and Laity both of them next and immediately under God Subject and Obedient to the King their Head. And amongst the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor Spelman Conc. p. 622. Rex autem qui Vicaâ—â—us summi Regis st it is declar'd That the King who is the Vicar of the highest King not of the Pope is ordain'd to this End that he should Govern and Rule the Kingdom and People of the Land and above all things the Holy Church And when the Pope would have William the Conquerer recognize his Supremacy the King's Reply was That he could not find that any of his Predecessors did ever part with that Jewel of the Crown and he was therefore resolv'd to keep it And William Rufus his Son and Successor in this Kingdom declar'd That he would rather part with half his Kingdom than with the Supremacy Nor would Henry the First as William Warlestwast elect Bishop of Exeter told the Pope lose the Authority of Investing his Prelates for the Crown of the Realm King Stephen had the Courage to seize into his Hands the Bishop of Salisbury's Castles and Goods and altho' a Synod was call'd by the Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legat and Complaint made to the Synod yet the Clergy were at last compell'd to a Submission to the King. Henry the Third would by no means yield that his Clergy were so much under the Pope's Conduct as not to be Prosecuted by the Secular Powers for Matters Criminal King John also till forsaken by his Nobles was a valiant opposer of the Pope's Power And the several succeeding Princes maintain'd their Supremacy with a like Courage especially Edward the Third and Richard the Second And what is worthy of Observation the severest Laws against Suing unto the Court of Rome without the King's leave were Enacted in the time of Rich. the Second even the Statute of Provisors and Praemunire And that the Statutes made in the Reigns of Henry the Eighth Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth were not Introductory of any New Law but Declaratory of the Ancient Law of the Land viz. That this Kingdom is Imperial is too plain to admit of the least doubt And as our Kings were ever tender in the point of the Supremacy and would never part with it nor pay that regard to Foreign Laws that other Nations have done in like manner it has been adjudged by a Popish Parliament 25 Hen. 8. cap. 23. That no Laws of any Foreign Powers are of force in this Realm unless they have been devised and obtained within it or unless by sufferance of our Kings the People have taken them up at their free liberty and by their own consent let them be used amongst them The words of the Statute run thus Whereas these your Grace's Realms recognizing no Superior under God but only your Grace have been and are free from Subjection to any man's Laws but only to such as have been devised and obtained within this Realm for the Wealth of the same or to such others as by sufferance of your Grace and your Progenitors the People of this your Realm have taken at their free liberty by their own consent to be used amongst them and have bound themselves by long Use and Custom to the Observance of the same not as to the Observance of the Laws of any Foreign Prince Potentate or Prelate but as to the Customed and Ancient Laws of this Realm originally established as Laws of the same by the said Sufferance Consents and Custom and none otherwise So far the Statute declaring the Judgment of Roman Catholics in Henry VIII's days whence I thus argue That no Decrees of any Foreign Powers whether those of a General Council or of the Pope are of force here antecedently to our receiving them And that the saying this is a Decree of Rome or of any General Council confirmed by the Pope is not sufficient to oblige us to conclude that therefore an English Papist must submit unto and act in pursuance of it for until that Canon or Decree be by the Authority of the Land placed amongst our Laws it doth not oblige the Roman Catholic of this Kingdom And that this has been the sense of the English Roman Catholic before Henry VIII is easily evinced out of Sir Edward Coke Part 5. Cawdrey ' s Case who in his Reports declares That by the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church of Rome the Issue born before the Solemnization of Marriage is as lawfully inheritable Marriage following as the Issue born after Marriage But this was never allowed or appointed in England and therefore was never of any force here And this appeareth by the Statute of Merton made in the 20th year of King Henry III. where all the Earls and Barons with one voice declare That they will not change the Laws of England which hitherto have been used and approved Besides it 's further to be observed that in Henry VIII's time it was by the King the Lord 's Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled who were all of the Roman Catholic Religion declared That the Body Spiritual namely the Archbishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Officers resiant within this Kingdom and called the English Church hath always been reputed and also found of that sort that both for Knowledge Integrity and sufficiency of Number it hath been always thought and is also at this hour sufficient and meet of it self without the
are grounded for the excluding a Man from entring on and a turning him out of any Place of Trust and Advantage for the sake of his Religion is as Penal as the taking from him his Liberty and Property for Religion There is no difference in the general Nature of the Penalness of these Laws the difference lies in the particular Kinds of the Penalty the one is meerly Privative and the other Positive the one a Casting 'em out of Heaven the other a Casting 'em into Hell. The Nonconformists therefore judge that the turning 'em out of their Places was a Punishing 'em for their Consciences and they reckon it a great part of their Sufferings for Religion as well as they do their Imprisonments Whoever then is against the continuance of the Penal Laws if he will be consistent with himself must be for the taking away all Religious Tests seeing otherwise some good Subjects may suffer for Conscience sake which is the thing they decry They may suffer the loss of their Civil Rights as most certainly those Lords do who are excluded the House in Parliament-time And how then shall we imagine that any Dissenter that is truly and considerately such can be for the Establishing the Tests For thereby whilst they desire Liberty for themselves they cry for Vengeance on others and whilst they desire a Prince of a Religion different from themselves to ease them they must have Men of the King's Religion continu'd under Persecution than which nothing can be more unreasonable seeing in good earnest if they are for the Persecuting others it 's a thousand to one but that they may tempt the Government to give themselves the worst of it III. This blending and twisting Matters Religious with the State so closely as to make a Mistake in Religion to be enough to demonstrate the Man an Enemy to the Government seems to be a Result grounded on that pernicious Notion That Dominion is founded in Grace For why else must a Man be of the Religion that he may have a Share in or Countenance from the Government If Government be not founded in Grace then Grace or the being Religious is no necessary Step to get up into the Government Besides according to the present Practice of the violent Asserters of Tests be their Principle what it will all the Consequences of that Doctrin Dominion is founded in Grace do naturally issue from their Practice seeing by the same Reason a Church-of England Parliament excludes from the Favor of the Government all but Church-of England Men a Popish Presbyterian Anabaptistical Independent or Quaking Parliament may exclude all from the same but Men of their own Persuasion And what is more considerable the Church of England so long as she is for this Practice that she may defend it must insist either on her being in Possession or on a Right only upon this account because she is of the true Religion If on the former then whoever is in possession may have the same Plea and this is no other than what every Usurper may make But if the later it cannot hold good unless the Government be appropriated to True Religion and that none have a Right to Govern but those of the True Religion and all others be Usurpers and to be Deposed And let this be once granted it will follow That Men of every different Religion judging themselves in the Right there is and can be no Sect among us but they may hereby be equally encourag'd to lay a Claim to to the Government And what would be the Consequence hereof but a turning the whole Nation into a Flame a fostering Sedition and all manner of Traiterous Practices against the Government be it either Roman-Catholic Presbyterian or Episcopal for there will be still some who are of a different Religion from it who must esteem themselves oppress'd while kept out and judge it their Duty to be ever Contriving Conspiring and Consulting how they may be possess'd of their fancy'd Right IV. The joyning Religious Tests with Civil Government has occasion'd much Mischief in the Land these last hundred Years to the impoverishing thousands of Families All the Miseries which the Nonconformists have endur'd in this last Age had their Rise and Continuance from this Practice the mingling Religious Tests with the Civil For of the Three Articles unto which all the Clergy were requir'd to Subscribe and for not Subscribing which the Nonconformists were call'd Factious Seditious and Rebellious when the First touches the Just Power of the King the other Two are about the Ceremonies and Government of the Church Subscription now to the Three was strictly enjoyn'd and tho' the Nonconformists declar'd their good liking of the First yet not Subscribing to the Two last they were Censur'd for refusing to Subscribe the Three Articles and so for disowning the King 's Just Power And that the Laity might also be ensnar'd into the same Calamity if Prosecuted in the Spiritual Courts tho' if griev'd thereby they might Enter their Appeal yet unless they did first Personally Promise and Avow that they would faithfully keep and observe all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and also the Prescript Form of Common-Prayer and likewise Subscribe to the Three Articles formerly specifi'd and declar'd no Judge ad Quem was to admit or allow of his or their Appeals and all that thus refus'd to Subscribe were call'd Factious Appellants Vide Can. 36. 98. The like method being observed in one of the present Tests wherein the Takers are to promise That they 'll not endeavor any alteration of Government in Church and State And altho' they could heartily declare they 'll not endeavor any alteration in the Government of the State yet because they could not say the same with Church-Government they have been represented as Enemies to the State as well as to the Hierarchy and as such expos'd to all manner of Odium Reproach and Ruin. Methinks the Protestant Dissenter should take warning and have a care they be not in the present conjuncture cajol'd by their perfect Enemies to plead for a continuance of this Usage I will in the next place propose what may be urged against the several Tests distinctly and so shew what reasons there are for the taking away all of them The first Test that I shall consider is the Declaration That they will not endeavor any alteration of the Government in Church or State. By this Test besides the above-mention'd Inconvenience all that take it are as much oblig'd to the Ecclesiastical as they are to the Civil Government which brings to my remembrance a passage I have met with in the Writings of a Church of England Divine who speaking of the Power of Parliaments as Whether a Parliament might not change the Government of the Church His Reply was That they might if they could change an Essential of our Constitution As if an Alteration of the Hierarchy had been a Subverting the government of the State
whereas nothing can be more clear than that this particular sort of Ecclesiastical Government under which we now are is but an accidental and a movable Appendage to the Civil Constitution Thus much is known not only to our great Lawyers but to the Nobility and Gentry The Bishops as such who are a constituent part of the Ecclesiastical Government are not God's but the King's Creatures and all their Power as distinguished from their dealings with mens consciences by the Word of God is derived from the King. The words of 37 Hen. 8. c. 17. are That the Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical persons have no manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical but BY UNDER and FROM the King 's Royal Majesty Thus it was in the Judgment of King James I. Queen Eliz. Edward VI. Hen VIII and upward amongst all the Princes of the Roman Communion so far as I can observe But the supposing it so essential to the Government that a Parliament can't Alter it as this Clergy-man insinuates and to oblige the Subject as this Test does solemnly to declare he will never endeavor an Alteration of it as if the Prelatic Power had its Origine from Heaven and not from the King only doth as I humbly apprehend make it necessary for the Government to take off the Test and assert their Power by an exercise of it in this great Instance which I am assur'd is a thing the Nobility and Gentry desire to be at and therefore I need not dwell on it any longer The Second which is impos'd on all that bear Office in the Kingdom viz. The taking the SACRAMENT of the LORD's SVPPER according to the Vsage of the Church of ENGLAND Be the man ever so Ignorant or Debauch'd if called to Office he must receive the Sacrament Altho' Almighty God has ordained it only for the Worthy and most look upon it as the most Solemn and Sacred Ordinance of the Gospel yet must this Pearl be prostitute to Swine this Holy thing profusely given to the vilest of men such as common Drunkards Whoremongers Adulterers and Blasphemers of God and that without scruple for that there are many such amongst the common Soldiers and also in Civil Offices is beyond Controversie Besides let a man be a knowing and pious Christian eminent for Loyalty to his Prince and acknowledged by all to be a good Subject yet if he cannot take it according to the Vsage of the Church of England himself must be deprived of a Place of Advantage and the Government of his Service So that I take this Test to be directly contrary to the Laws of God and the good of the Government and I cannot imagine how any man that has the awe of God upon his Soul and a love to the Government can consent to the establishing of it Especially considering that the Vsage of the Church of England is to receive the Elements kneeling which is a gesture of Adoration and ordained to avoid Profanation even before that Bread which is denied to be God and esteemed only his Image which some think and therefore refuse to take it to be Superstitious and Idolatrous But how fond soever the Church of England may be for the setling this Test yet sure the Protestant Dissenter unless he 'll offer violence to his avowed Principles can't be for it To this there is added the following Declaration which all in any Office Civil or Military must take in these words I A. B. do declare That I do believe that there is not any Transtantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever This TEST being a part of that which the Peers and those who sit in Parliament must take I will only observe in this place how unhappily it 's worded for unless there be some Errata's in my Statute-book a man must declare That in the Elements of Bread and Wine there is no Transubstantiation after the Consecration It 's not said No Transubstantiation into the Body and Blood of Christ but more indefinitely No Transubstantiation at all whereas after the Consecration they are eaten and drunken and after the eating and drinking them there is a Transubstantiation of them into his own Flesh and Blood in like manner as any other thing he eats or drinks is So that this Test being a solemn Declaration which a man is to make of his Faith he ought to be more explicit in the wording of it I presume farther That had it been matter of doubt in Physics whether the Bread be turned into the Flesh of him that eats it yet it 's not so clear that the contrary should be made a matter of Faith and that such as whoever believes it not must be made uncapable of any Office in the State. But this defect being supplied in the Parliamentary Test I will go on to that which is in these words I A. B. do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess testifie and declare That I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever And that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous c. The first part of this TEST I confess is well worded and what a Protestant Dissenter according to his own Principles may safely take tho' not impose but how it can be exacted from every Church of England man to take it or how they can urge the continued Imposition of it on others is beyond me to comprehend My reason in short lies here The Church of England in her first framing after Queen Maries Death did in Obedience to Queen Elizabeth's Command take special care to open her doors so wide that no one for his believing Transubstantiation should be excluded her Communion And if not deprived thereby of the Privileges of the Church why of those of the State The very drift of the Church of England has been to twist the two Interests of Church and State so closely together that none should have any Advantages from the State but those who were of the Communion of their Church and whoever was of the Communion of their Church was the person qualified for the entire enjoyment of all the Privileges of the State and what was not a bar to Church-Communion was none to the being possessed of State-Privileges Tho' they would deprive men of their Civil Liberties for not being of their Communion yet they never denied them to those whom they thought meet to admit to her Communion and indeed unless she will acknowledge that the Terms of her Communion as a Church are too wide I cannot see how she can deny those whom she admits to her
Lollardiae sic dictae à Lolio quia sicut Lolium inficit segetes sic Lollardi multotâ—es inficiunt fideles simplices inter quos conversantur Lindwood Provinc de haeret c. finaliter ver Lollardiae that proves prejudicial to the Wheat as our Lindwood has it it 's past doubt that the Doctrins of Wickliff were called LOLLARDY and whoever embraced them were called Lollars that is whoever held That Images ought not to be worshiped that the Relics of Saints ought not to be adored that after the Consecration in the Mass there remained Bread and that the Natural Body of Christ is not there whoever held these Propositions were LOLLARS Here then lies the Opposition between the Parliamentary Test and the Sheriff's Oath by the former you declare to believe That there is no Transubstantiation and that Invocation of Saints is Superstitious by the other you swear That to the utmost of your power you will endeavor to exterminate all such as do not believe Transubstantiation or do hold that Invocation of Saints or Adoration of the Sacrifice of the Mass is Superstitious So that as the matter is thus stated the Protestant Gentry who carefully consider these things must needs be marvelously perplex'd in their thoughts about it and afraid lest they contract on them the odious Guilt of swearing they will do what they declare they ought not to do There are I confess two ways taken by some to solve this difficult appearance but whoever insists on either will find himself still more and more involv'd Nostro aevoac cipiunt Lollardos pro Institutae Religionis adversantibus eoq vetus Sacramentum Vicecomitum ad prosequendos Lollardos juratorum hodie attrahunt verb. Lollardiae The first is what Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary suggests who tells us That some by LOLLARDY understand any Religion contrary to what is by Law established and consequently the Popish Religion whereby the difficulty is removed for by this Interpretation the Sheriffs do swear they 'll extirpate the Religion of those who believe Transubstantiation and are for the Adoration of the Blessed Virgin But then it must be added that besides the ill tendency the Oath thus interpreted may have on the Government especially with reference to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex within whose Bailiwic His Majesty resides this way of altering the genuine sense of words necessarily introduces and justifies the grossest Equivocations For Lollardy did never in any other Writings heretofore nor at this day signifie any such thing as is here pretended and this sense of the Oath is quite contrary to the natural and genuine import of the words And if Church-of-England-men may take an Oath in a sense so contrary to the true intent and meaning of it why may not the Papists and whil'st they are taking Church of England Tests intend a Popish sense For thus 't is with our Sheriffs they take a Popish Oath in a Church of England sense and whil'st they swear to endeavor the Extirpation of Church of England Doctrins they mean Popery Methinks it's past doubt that if our Popish Gentry had been so profligate as some represent 'em they need not be so much concern'd for the Taking off the Tests were it not sufficient that they could write after this Church of England Copy And as Protestants by Lollardy understand Popery so by Transubstantiation might not our Gentry mean Consubstantiation and by Superstitious and Idolatrous mean what is agreeable to the mind and will of God and then take the Parliamentary Test in the following sense thus I A. B. do declare That I do believe that there is no Consubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome are agreeable to the mind and will of God. For by the same Rule that Lollardy signifies Popery Transubstantiation may signifie Consubstantiation and the words Superstitions and Idolatrous may signifie what is agreeable to the mind and will of God. And if the one may be without an Equivocation so may the other so that this Hypothesis solves not the Phainomenon it only opens the way to make all TESTS of no use and then no matter whether they continue or are taken away We will therefore in the next place consider the other attempt which is made by some to remove this difficulty and it is this That some time after Sir Edward Coke when prick'd for Sheriff scrupled this part of the Oath care was taken to reform it and this passage about Lollardy has been ever since left out and that therefore now there is no inconsistency between the Sheriffs Oath and other Tests And in Answer unto this I must acknowledge That in the year 1625. this Oath was alter'd and this Clause left out But by whose Authority Did any Parliament take this thing into consideration and make this amendment No it was done by the direction of the King's Council How by the King's Council Then by the Regal Power sure which once granted what need we trouble our heads any longer about the Parliaments taking off the Tests For if according to the Constitution of our Government it belongs to the Prerogative to ALTER an Oath by expunging any momentous part of it no doubt it 's as much within the Circle of Prerogative to make an Alteration on Tests too Whence then I thus argue The expunging this part of the Sheriffs Oath is Valid or not If not then it must be restored and all Sheriffs stand bound to swear That they 'll endeavor the Extirpation of those Doctrins they professed to be for when they took the Parliamentary Tests and so must as but now I prov'd be either involv'd in the Guilt of Swearing one thing and Declaring another or must countenance the worst of Equivocations but if Valid then the Regal Power can make alterations on Oaths and so far change the controverted Tests as to divest them of all their supposed strength And if the Subjects will not concur with His Majesty who most graciously designs the setling the Peace and Quiet of the people in a Parliamentary way do they not provoke him to the exercise of his Prerogative And would it not be more agreeable to the Prudence of the Asserters of our Liberty and Property to assure the King That they will endeavor their utmost to choose such to sit in Parliaments as will be for the Establishing Liberty of Conscience on a sure Foundation and secure the Civil Rights and Privileges of the Subject in such a manner that they may not be touched for the sake of Religion Thus I have laid down a Scheme of those Reasonings which in my Opinion are strong for the Taking off the Tests and have I hope with some Clearness evinced that the Continuation of Penal Laws by which good
Subjects are deprived of their Civil Rights for the sake of their Religion and such are the Test-Laws is contrary to the Ancient Constitution of our Government which secures our Civil Rights Liberties and Properties from the Assaults of those who would for Religion divest us of them and that therefore it 's his Majesty's Interest which very much consists in the Ease and Quiet of his Subjects to be for the removal of all those Laws And such are the Principles of Protestant Dissenters sufficiently discover'd by their many Complaints against Persecution for Conscience sake that they cannot be for Penal Laws nor for the Test Laws which are of the same kind with them and indeed such is their Interest that unless they improve the present Overture they may never have the like Opportunity more and so be expos'd to the Curse of their Posterity for entaling on them a lasting Persecution And as for the Church of England if she doth not hold that Dominion is founded on Grace and desire to be delivered from the Odium of abetting so pernicious a Principle or of doing the very thing for which they condemned the old Brownists as Traitors she must be for the Taking off those Tests And now there remains nothing but the Objections against the Contents of this Discourse which are to be set down with fairness and faithfulness that is with that openness and ingenuity which becomes an English Heart and to be Answer'd accordingly These Objections may be drawn together in a little room as they are very happily by the Hand of a Learned and worthy Person that hath sent them me unto whom these Papers have been shewn and because I cannot draw them up more short and full I will give them as I have them In all Laws saith the Gentleman the great or chief Thing which is to be attended is the End of their making or the Intention of the Lawgiver If the End of these Tests were to get all who are concern'd to take them they were the most wicked Laws that could be made for what could be more openly profane than for a Man to renounce the Religion he thinks true But this is not the End of the Law the End is that by the refusing the Test such and such Men may be hindred from such and such Offices and Employments which they could not possess without Danger to the Publick And there can be no Complaint here but of their Grievance in being kept out of those Advantages which else they might enjoy But as for that an Answer is in every Month that this is the Nature of Laws in general to restrain Particular Persons from some Conveniences which were else their Right for the sake of the Community that the Publick Emolument be promoted or Detriment prevented There is no Government could stand but on this Foundation That which is not profitable to the Bee-hive is not good for the Bee as Antoninus has it Now if the Test be Repealed it is supposed we shall in due time have a Parliament trumpt up that may be most Papists and the Popish Religion consisting in the Decrees of General Councils confirm'd by the Pope The Council of Lateran we know hath decreed the Extermination of all Heretics by which Means the Nation being generally Protestants may come to Destruction Popery under Toleration may Strengthen but Popery in Dominion Ruins this Nation And what can be now said to this with any satisfaction I see not seeing really there is but one thing could secure us which is if the King would lodge so much of his Power in the Hands of some Great Men whom He and his People both durst Trust as when an Act for Accommodation shall Pass might capacitate them to be effectual Guardians of it In the mean time this being a thing not likely I apprehend the Condition of the Dissenter to be much at one with that of the Lepers at Samaria If the Penal Laws continue of Force they perish if the Test be Repeal'd they may perish too upon the Account mention'd If they stay in the City the Episcopalian will Famish them if they go out the Papist may knock them on the Head. What they will do God knows it is but being Persecuted to Death whether it be by the one or the other This is the Objection thus set down wherein are these Things to be consider'd Here is one Argument against the Taking off the Tests drawn from the Nature of Human Laws another from the State and Constitution of the Popish Religion with an Insinuation that nothing but one unlikely Expedient can be found out for the securing us against our Fears and in the close a forced Acknowledgment that such are the Circumstances of the Dissenters that whose Interest soever it may be to Resolve on the Establishing the Test Act yet it 's theirs to be for the Repealing it To begin then with what is said in regard to the Nature of Human Laws I grant that in the composing all Laws the good of Private Men is to give place to the good of the Public for it is a Principle at the root of all Politics that Vniversi praesunt singulis singuli universis subduntur But I deny that to be good here which is supposed Here is certainly a Mistake and a dangerous one in the Case The Good supposed is that the King must be thought to intend the Ruin of all his Subjects but they that are or will turn Papists and to prevent this Ruin the Rights of the Lords and Commons which depends on the very Constitution of the Realm must be subverted I will answer therefore that such a Thought of the King as this is a wicked Thought for it is against Charity It is an Injurious Thought for it is against the King's constant Profession both in his Declaration and to every body that he will not have Conscience to be constrained and to say he is not of that Principle which he avouches is to make the most stedfast and faithful Prince to be the deepest Dissembler in the World. It is also a Foolish Thought as if the King had a Purpose like to that in the Apologue of the Sea determining with it's Waves to invade the Trees upon the Hills If the main Body of the Nation were Papists there were some Sense in these Fears but when it is so exceeding contrary in that regard there is no reason for them On the other side it is to be thought rather and verily to be believed that there are many worthy Gentlemen and Lords that are Roman Catholics in the Land and as they are English Subjects they have English Hearts and English Estates who being sensible of the Frailty of Human Life are willing to provide for themselves and their Posterity by doing that to their Fellow-Dissenters now under the Reign of a Catholic King as they would have done to them under the Reign of a Successor who is like to be a Protestant And an Act for