unanimously agreed upon this following Explanation to declare and witnesse to the world the perfect consistency of their Religion both with civil Government and civill society joyning also in the same Paper the like expressions of their Belief concerning some few other points which they were informed to be more obnoxious to exception than the rest As the undervaluing of holy Scripture and over-valuing the authority of the Church Invocation of Saints and Angels and worship of Images and above all the proud opinion of Merits This Paper they drew up as a preparatory to a more full and perfect clearing of their Faith from those prejudices and misunderstandings which ordinarily men of different perswasion entertain especially in Controversies about matters of Religion The Paper containing certain Doctrines of the Papists and by them delivered to divers persons of quality for their particular satisfaction WE believe the holy Scriptures to be of divine inspiration and infallible Authority and whatsoever is therein contained we firmly assent unto as to the word of God the Author of all Truth But since in the holy Scriptures there are some things hard to be understood which the ignorant and unstable wrest to their own destruction we therefore professe for the ending of controversies in our Religion and setling of peace in our Consciences to submit our private judgments to the Iudgment of the Church represented in a free Generall Council 2. We humbly believe the sacred Mystery of the the Blessed Trinity one Eternal Almighty and Incomprehensible God whom only we adore and worship as alone having Sovereign Dominion over all things to whom only we acknowledge as due from men and Angles all glory service and obedience abhorring from our hearts as a most detestable Sacrilege to give our Creators honour to any creature whatsoever And therefore we solemnly protest that by the prayers we addresse to Angels and Saints we intend no other than humbly to solliciâ—e their assistance before the Throne of God as we desire the prayers of one another here upon earth not that we hope any thing from them as original Authors thereof but from God the Fountain of all Goodnesse through Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Redeemer Neither doe we believe any divinity or vertue to be in Images for which they ought to be worship'd as the Gentiles did their Idols but we retain them with due and decent respect in our Churches as instruments which we find by experience do often assist our memories and excite our affections 3. We firmly believe that no force of nature nor dignity of our best works can merit our Justification but we are justified freely by grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ And although we should by the grace of God persevere unto the end in a godly life and holy obedience to the Commandements yet are our hopes of eternall glory still built upon the mercy of God and the merits of Christ Jesus All other merits according to our sense of that word signifie no more than Actions done by the assistance of Gods grace to which it has pleased his goodnesse to promise a reward a Doctrine so far from being unsuitable to the sense of the holy Scriptures that it is their principal design to invite and provoke us to a diligent observance of the Commandements by promising heaven as the reward of our obedience 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godlinesse is profitable to all things having the promise of this life and of that which is to come And Rom. 2. 6. God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient confidence in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortalitie eternall life And again Rom. 8. 13. If you live after the flesh you shall die but if through the spirit you mortifie the deeds of the body you shall live And Heb. 6. 10. God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love which you have shewed for his name c. Nothing being so frequently repeated in the Word of God as his gracious promises to recompense with everlasting glory the saith and obedience of his servants Nor is the bounty of God barely according to our works but high and plentifull even beyond our capacities giving full measure heaped up pressed down and running over into the bosomes of all that love him Thus we believe the merit or rewardablenesse of holy living both which signifie the same thing with us arises not from the self-valuâ— even of our best actions as they are ours but from the Grace and Bounty of God and for our selves we sincerely professe when we have done all those things which are commanded us we are unprofiâ—able servants having done nothing but that which was our duty So that our â—oasting is not in our selves but all our glorying is in Christ 4. We firmly believe and highly reverence the Moral Law being so solemnly delivered to Moses upon the Mount so expresly confirmed by our Saviour in the Gospel and containing in it self so perfect an Abridgement of our whole duty both to God and man Which Moral Law we believe obliges all men to proceed with faithfulness and sincerity in their mutual contracts one towards another and therefore our constant profession is that we are most strictly and absolutely bound to the exact entire performance of our promises made to any person of what Religion soever much more to the Magistrates and Civil Powers under whose protection we live whom we are taught by the Word of God to obey not only for fear but conscience sake and to whom we will most faithfully observe our promises of duty and obedience notwithstanding any dispensation absolution or other proceedings of any forein Power or Authority whatsoever Wherefore we utterly deny and renounce that false and scandalous Position that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as most uncharitaly imputed to our practices and most unjustly pinned upon our Religion These we sincerely and solemnly professe as in the sight of God the searcher of all hearts taking the words plainly and simply in their usuall and familiar sense without any Equivocation or Mentall Reservation whatsoever THese expressions concerning four of the most offensive points wherein the Papists differ from us have I confesse given me a great and unexpected satisfaction And though I remain in the same mind as to the erroneousnesse of many of their Tenets yet I see we may easily be too passionate in the degree of detesting any different opinion since every errour is not presently to be censured as an unsufferable abhomination and too severe in the degree of persecuting the dissenters from our own judgements as if they were unworthy to breath the same ayr with our selves Certainly many Protestants who quietly enjoy a just and unmolested freedom approach very neer to the first assertion of the Papists whilst some both Writers and Discoursers professe to submit their private judgements unappealably to a truly-free Generall
benefit by teaching To believe what appears untrue seems to me impossible to professe what we believe untrue I am sure is damnable 6. As it is certain whosoever swerves from the dictate of his Conscience commits a grievous sin Rom. 14. So without question they that endeavour by force or artifice to draw any man to professe or act contrary to what his foul believes are as deeply guilty of the same crime When you wound the weak consciences of your brethren you sin against Christ 1 Cor. 8. 12. How dangerously then do they expose themâ—elves to the just indignation of God who by Oaths Imprisonments Forfeitures c. both drive others and fall themselves into eternal perdition How desperately do they attempt to extinguish the light of Nature which indispensably obliges all men to deal with others as they would be dealt with themâ—elves a light placed by God in clear and candid souls to shine and guide them but in black ones to condemn and burn them I shall close this discourse with the advice of the Apostle Rom. 14. 13. Let us therefore use our judgement rather in this that no man put a stumbling block before his Brother 2. Vnanswerable Texts of Scripture against coercency in Religion NOr are these so excellent and important truths built only upon the firm foundation of solid reason but also upon the infallible authority of evident Scripture 2 Tim. 2. 24. c. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach forbearing in meekness instructing those that are contrary-minded if God per adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will And another Apostle forbidding us to condemn one another saith Iames 4. 12. There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy who art thou that judgest another And in Paul to the Romans 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest anothers servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand one man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind hast thou faith have it to thy self before God happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth that is whose conscience inwardly accuseth not his outward profession The same most zealous Preacher of the Gospel returns so condescending and moderate an answer to a case of a far harder sound than we undertake to maintain that it sufficiently proves he took his gentle pen from the soft wing of the Dove 1 Cor. 7. 12. c. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him let him not put her away and the woman that hath a husband that believeth not he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him but if the unbelieving depart let him depart a brother or a sister is not in bondage in such cases but God hath called us to peace for what knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband and what knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife as God hath distributed to every man as the Lord hath called every one so let him walk and so ordain I in all Churches What can be said more efficaciously to oblige Christians in charity and meeknesse to forbear one another than so expresse an Injunction of so great an Apostle to live peaceably even with an Infidel And again 2 Cor. 1. 24. He denies that even the Apostles themselves have any soveraignty over the Conscience but only Commissions to assist the conscientious not that we have sayes he to the Corinthians Dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy therein exactly observing the Orders which Christ gave to his Apostles Goe and teach not compell and if any one receive you not shake off the dust of your feet not trample upon them as dust under feet Mat. 10. 14. Constaut to which Doctrine of Meeknesse our Saviour thus instructs his Disciples Mat. 23. 9. Be not called Rabbi that is Masters in spiritual matters for one is your Master even Christ and all you are brethren To this belongs the patient forbearing the tares and letting them grow together with the wheat till the time of harvest as also that admirable president of mildnesse towards the Samaritans who refused to receive even Christ himself whereupon the Disciples Iames Iohn would immediately command fire from heaven to consume them as in the days of Elias but our merciful Lord rebuked their zeal with this sweet tender reply You know not what manner of spirit you are of the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Luk. 9. 54. which one example abundantly satisfies al objections drawn from the practice of Elias Iehu the sons of Levi c. in the Old Testament for as they had an expresse command from God to warrant their Zeal we have an expresse warrant from Christ to command us mecknesse If any one shall shuffle in a suspition that this moderate temper was meant only for the times of persecution when the Christians had no temporall Power let him first confesse that those were the best and purest times and then shew a Warrant dormant under our Saviours hand that is in his Gospel to Commissionate his Disciples as soon as they should get the sword into their hands to cut the throats of all disobeyers and I submit but if they can cite no such authority let them freely acknowledge that persecution for Conscience is an unwarrantable tyranny over the just privileges and liberty of a Christian 3. Our own Priuciples against constraint upon the Conscience COnsonant to these reasons and clear Texts of Scripture are the Principles of all the godly and well-affected of this Nation to begin with them to whom we ow this liberty of discoursing the unparellel'd Army in all whose proceedings and Declarations especially since managed by the prodigiously successefull hands of the two later Generals their Motto has been Liberty to all tender and oppressed Consciences the glory of which so dazles the eyes of our enemies and encourages the hearts of our friends that notwithstanding whatever other disadvantage we still find the Author of our Victory mindfull of the word which himself gave to our Army The meek shall inherit the Land of which short Texts written in our Ensigns we may read a clear and perfect Commentary in the Proposals of the same still-triumphing Army 1 Aug. 1647. when penetrating exactly into the true state of the Question they prudently distinguish between quiet exercisers of their Consciences and active prejudicers of the Common-wealth and thereupon offer their earnest desires that all coâ—rcive power and all civill penalties for non-conformity be wholly repealed and some other provision made against
principles publickly received is a course that must needs beget over all the world a strong suspition and prejudice against the honour and reputation of that State which at the same time can practise such manifest contradâ—ctions To this deplorable condition said he almost weeping are the English Catholiques now reduced yet they hear all not only with patience but even silence for amongst the printed complaints so frequent in these times never any thing hath been seen to proceed from them though alwayes the chief and now the sole sufferers for their Consciences except not to be altogether wanting to themselves some modest Petitions humbly addressed to the Parliament though such hath been their unhappinesse that more weighty affairs have still disappointed their being taken into consideration else were they admitted to clear themselves of the mistakes and scandals unjustly imputed to them they would not doubt fully to satisfie all ingenuous and unpassionate men nay even whomsoever that were but moderatly prejudiced against them To this I answered that as every one sees the severity of the Penalties which Papists suffer so for my self I believe the tendernesse of their Consciences because they suffer and upon this ground we see our Judges and Committee-men allow Deeds where they find clear proof of a valuable consideration But Idolatry and the destructive Principles concerning Civill Government seem to mee the two points that are onely and altogether intolerable in that Religion Whether Papists be guilty of Idolatry in the Question of Angels Saints and Pictures THe Papist here first took for granted which indeed I could not deny that if any Opinion be probably true persecution in that case is certainly unlawfull because otherwise both sides for both are probable if one be might justifiably persecute one another to the utter destruction of all Society and after returned this answer to my first objection We reverence indeed saies he the Angels and blessed Saints with a respect far more than we use to men because far above their Dignity but infinitely below the adoration we give to GOD because infinitely below his excellency All the mistakes in this controversie arising from hence that the language of men hath more distinctivenesse and variety than the gestures of their bodies and yet is far lesse copious than the thoughts of their minds whence it is they so frequently apply to most different conceptions the self-same words and postures of body as the titles of sacred Majesty most High most Mighty given to Kings and States the stile of Grace to Dukes and Archbishops of Lord to Noblemen Generals Ambassadors c. of Worship to Gentlemen of quality and such as bear any considerable Office in the Commonwealth so kneeliug to Parents standing bare to the Parliament and other Courts bowing to one another c. All these very expressions are the same we use towards God himself and passe innocently when rightly understood but to a scrupulous and wilfull spirit how offensive would this one word Worshipfull be if it be reflected with a little rigor and frowardnesse upon it Now as every old woman has capacity enough to make a different apprehension betwixt going to speak with one at the Lion in Cheapside and going to see the Lion in the Tower so may any the most simple Catholique in the world by a very little teaching learn to distinguish the Crucifix which he sees in the Church from Christ whom he believes to be in Heaven and consequently in no more danger of committing Idolatry to that Picture than the other of fearing to be torn in peeces by the Sign Upon this Argument of the Papist I call'd to mind what I had read my self in Scripture how the Prophet Balaam fell flat upon the ground and adored an Angel Num. 22. 31. and Ioshua gave the same honour to another that stiled himself Captain of the Lords Host and therefore could not be the Lord Ios. 5. 13. nay he was commanded yet further to put off his shooes because the ground was holy by the presence of an Angel these examples I confesse being related in the Bible without the least note of reproof enforce us to admit severall degrees of worship infinitely differing in the intention of the mind though very little in outward expressions now by whatsoever names we Protestants shall agree to call this behavior of Balaam Ioshua and even all the Jews before the Ark and Cherubins I see plainly will fully expresse and shrewdly justifie at least from Idolatry all the approved practices of the Papists which truly cast up as far as I can discern amouut to no more than a reverence towards Saints and Angels suitable to the excellency of their State and for Churches Altars Pictures c. only to an Ecclesiasticall kind of good manners And by the Light of Nature thus for seems to me evident that all honor or dishonor done to the Image reflects upon the Principall since not one amongst us but would condemn him for a Malignant that should shoot at my Lord Generals Picture without Temple-Bar and if any should reprove him for his temerity we would presently conclude such person wel-affected to the present Government and not at all sequestrable for Idolatry unlesse we could prove that the abused and doting people superstitiously adored the painted cloth which kind of worship I am satisfied no Recusant gives even to the Picture of our Saviour Lastly I think it probable not certain as the Papists do that the second Commandement intends not to forbid any such inferiour spirituall civilities because wise Governors contrive their Laws against those vices to which they see their Subjects particularly inclined and therefore down-right Idolatry by offering Sacrifice to Gods made with hands and reposing confidence in their assistance being the common sins of those times 't is probable we ought to interpret this Precept as a provision against Heathenish Idolatry not against such kind of reverences as the Jewes by Gods own appointment used before the Ark and Cheruoins Agreeable to this is the Opinion of the learned Master Hobs in his Leviathan where fol. 360. he affirms that to worship God in some peculiar place or turning a mans face towards an Image is not to worship the place or Image but to acknowledge them holy that is to say set apart from common use for that is the meaning of the word holy which implies no new quality in the place or Image but only a new relation by appropriation to God and therefore is not Idolatry But to worship God as inanimating or inhabiting such place or Image is Idolatry as also to worship God not as in animating or present in the place or Image but to the end to be put in mind of him or some of his works in case the place or Image be dedicated or set up by private authority and not by the Authority of them that are our Soveraign Pastors is Idolatry For the Commandement is THOV SHALT NOT MAKE TO THY SELF ANY
Council that we might once have an end of all strife and contention about matters of Religion others refer themselves without further instance to a Provinciall Assembly of Divines and very few but will prefer the judgment of the supreme Authority of this Nation before their own particular sense readily conforming to that Declaration which the Parliament shall hold forth to be the true meaning of the Scripture So that almost every one agrees in the acknowledgment of an external Authority to decide such Controversies as arise out of the different interpretation of Gods word which is the main exception against the Papists in that they pin their Faith upon the Churches sleeve and yield a blind obedience that is without appealing any further to her determinations And for the second branch I am sure many Protestants continue still those old customs of baring their heads when they come into a Church nay of bowing at the name of Iesus Practices that ly open to the greatest part of those objections whichour more godly and conscientious penns make against the Papists in the question of Pictures yet I hope there will never be the least thought entertained of imposing penalties upon the private and unscandalous use of any such Ceremonies rather let us apply our endeavours to open their eyes with a mild and gentle hand than beat them out with the club-fist of the Law But when I reflect upon the third conclusion in the Recusants paper I am astonisht to consider how education with a little mixture of Passion or interest makes every slight distemper amongst Christians so desperate that it often becomes irrecoverable and endangers both the health and life of Christianity Surely in many things we strangely mistake one another I professe sincerely I should be so far from seizing on the Estate of a Papist for refusing that part of the Oath of Abjuration wherein he is compelled to renounce the Doctrine of Merits that I am resolved to suffer a thousand deaths rather than abjure so great and manifest a truth according to the sense wherein they explain themselves or affirm so great and manifest an Errour according to the sense wherein we explain our selves For when we censure the doctrin of Merits we understand by that word our Deserts as they exclude the merits of Christ and abstracting from the Covenant God hath been pleased to make with us in his Son and in that sense we justly condemn all opinions of Merit even of the best works as presumptuous and Luciferian but I now see when the Papists affirm that good works are meritorious they include both the promise of God and the merits of Christ Iesus and in effect when all is summed up it amounts only to this that God hath graciously promised and will faithfully keep his word to reward all those with eternall life that believe in him and obey his commandements In this sense the Papists hold mercifullnesse to be meritorious or avaylable to salvation because the Scripture sayes Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy Mat. 5. 7. In this sense the Papists hold patience in affliction to be meritorious or avaylable to salvation because the Scripture sayes Blessed are they who are persecuted for Righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 10. And this as I am informed by very understanding men amongst them is the reall truth of their Doctrine concerning Good works which in my judgment differs nothing from ours but only in the unsavory proud sounding word Merit The last Clause of the Papists Noat which I have transcribed is so full and satisfactory that if they will be as good as their words I shall neither fear to have such neighbors or need any Magistrat fear to have such subjects And to prove their trustinesse and fidelity in the observance of their Oathes I cannot imagin a more evident demonstration than that they make a conscience of what Oathes they take he that swears any thing without distinction may justly be suspected to be as false to men as he is fearlesse of God whereas no cleerer argument can be alleged in the behalf of any that they intend to keep all the Oathes they take than this that they will not take all the Oaths you offer surely if either the Pope or their own Consciences could give them this extravagant privilege to be bound by no Oath they might without difficulty take any and if they were allowed by their Religion to swear any thing certainly they are all worse than mad if they do not immediately post away to Haberdâ—shers-hall call for the Oath of Abjuration swallow it down quickly without any chewing and so save at least 50000 l. a year in a morning In the late Kings dayes many Papists were smartly punished for not taking the Oath of Allegiance none for observing it nay I have heard some Papist Dâ—linquents argue for themselves that the utter ruine which now endangers their whole estates proceeds solely from their performing to the late King that service which he called Allegiance and this is yet a higher proof of their fidelity in their promises since they adventured with so much hazard to keep that Oath in substance which they refused with almost as much hazard to take because against their Conscience in some circumstance And now let any one judge indifferently whether they that firmly believe all the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament worship and adore only one God rely upon Iesus Christ for their sole Mediator and professe it their duty to observe the Commandements of the Morall Law may not reasonably be suffered to live in their native Country with the peaceable enjoyment of their Consciences in their private houses especially those who will quietly submit to such cautions and restrictions as the Common-wealth shall require for prevention of scandall or disturbance of the publick peace Besides I am perswaded a farre lesse liberty will oblige the Papists than content any other because hitherto all liberty has been wholly denyed to them and wholly allowed to every one else So that they will gladly receive as a mercy and favour what others challenge as a right and their affections being once purchased at so cheap a price as a little private exercise of their Conscience free from the fright and smart of penalties I am confident they will neither be such fools as to forfeit their liberty nor so ungratefull as to forget them that gave it since out of all our Histories not one example can be assigned that they ever offered to move the least sedition in a time when they enjoyed but half the liberties of free-born English-men Therefore I shall close my thoughts upon this paper with a short and free conclusion which I conceive abridges in few words the whole difficulty betwixt subject and superiour The Magistrate that protects any sort of people in his dominions may justly require their service and safely rely upon their obedience but if he
propagation of the Gospell but being called into the Country by an urgent and importunate occasion I am disabled to give any farther account concerning their Proposalls not knowing either how they were accepted or indeed whether they were actually offered and therefore can onely furnish you with a faithfull Copy of the Paper it selfe To the Honourable the Committee for Propagation of the Gospell The humble Proposals of the Roman Catholicks 1. SInce all compulsion upon the Conscience is clearly against the Principles both of Parliament and Army as appearâ—â— by the Parliamentâ—Declaration in Answer to the Scotch Commissioners 17. Feb. 1648. in these words As for the truth and power of Religion it being a thing intrinsecall betweene God and the Soule and the matters of Faith in the Gospell such as no naturall light can reach wee conceive there is no humane Power of coercion thereunto nor to restraine men from believing what God suffers their judgement to bee perswaded of Among the Proposals of the Army 1. Aug. 1647. This was one That all coercive power and all civill penalties for non-formity be wholly repealed and some other provision made against such Papists as should disturb the publick Peace And since by the Experience of Germany Poland Switzerland Holland France c. The Consistency of diverse Religions under one Government is evidently proved aswell where the Protestant commands the Roman Catholick as where the Roman Catholick commands the Protestant It is humbly offered That no penalty be imposed upon any professing the Gospell of CHRIST meerly for dâ—fference of judgement in matters of Religion 2. The publike use of all Churches and the entire benefit of Church-endowments being wholly submitted to the disposure of the State It is humbly offered That no person believing in Christ Jesus and living peaceably and unoffensively be by any penalty restrained from the quiet exercise of his Conscience in his private House observing therein such Rules as the State shall think fit to appoint for preservation of the publike Peace A practice which by long experience in Holland is found both satisfactory to the people and secure to the Governours of the Common wealth 3. Since the Law of God is so far from allowing any penall sentence to be grounded upon the enforced Oath of the party that it expresly forbids any offence whatsoever to be tryed by the single testimony of one witness Deut. 19. 15. Mat. 18. 16. It is humbly proposed That an Oath be exacted of any person compelling him under forfeiture of Life Liberty or Estate to swear against his Conscience or to accuse and condemn himself especially in matters that concrn his inward belief 4. Since in all Religions there are still found some scandalous livers and that our Saviour pronounces the Woe against him only by whom the scandall comes Mat. 18. 7. Luke 17. 1. It is humbly proposed That whoever shall offend against the Order of so mild and Christian a settlement may be severely censured but that others though of the same judgement in Religion be no farther made subject to the punishment than proved guilty of the crime In stead of my opinion concerning these foure Proposalls of the Papists because to my sense they carry in themselves both their owne evidence and justification I shall beg the Readers permission to set down a particular conceit which I have often observed to be very well relisht by all that have examined it That doubtles there is no way more suitable to the first Principles of all Reformed Churches no way so probable to satisfie all Consciences as not to impose any other Obligation for proof of conformity than this profession to believe the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God and to live according to the Precepts plainly contained therein this acknowledgement to bee exprest in generall tearms without descending minutely to particular questions which have certainly been the chiefe cause of so many Controversies and Divisions in the World And now I humbly appeale to the honorable and religious Committee for propagation of the Gospell Whether the sweet Spirit of the Lord Christ who gave his Apostles no further power than to relinquish such as refused to heare them be reconcilable to the former practices of the high Commissioners or the present practices of our Sequestrators Whether when the great Apostle Paul prescribes the Servants of the Lord to forbear and in meeknesse instruct those that are contrary minded hee should bee thus cros-interpreted that the Estates of those who are contrary minded be first secured or forborne and then after a time quite taken away to instruct them in meeknesse or how to bear patiently the losse of the vain and transitory riches of this World And now I humbly appeale to the honorable and learned Committee for regulation of the Law whether since all those penalties which the rigorous humours of former Ages have under pretence of zeal imposed upon the Conscience are either by disuse forgotten or by express Act of Parliament revoked the Papists alone should still be continued under the same severities nay their burthens encreased by the strange method of the new proceedings towards them their Consciences being now not onely punishable in the Common way of indictment but compellable even to accuse themselves by the new Presbyterian Oath of Abjuration against the known Principles of the ancient and reverend Laws of this Land And now with an humble confidence I appeale to the renowned Parliament of the Common-wealth of England whether in this generall Goal-delivery of the Conscience from the tyranny and oppression of the Prelates the consciences of Papists alone ought still to be kept in prison Whether when all the fetters which the Rigid Kirkesmen had bought up in Scotland are broken in pieces just as they were locking them fast about our Consciences in England the Consciences of Papists alone ought still to bee continued in chains Whether when all the Societies professing Christ Iesus and living obediently to the Magistrate and peaceably one with another are protected in the quiet and unoffensive exercise of their Consciences the Papists alone should be forced under the penalty of so great a ruine not only to professe but swear against their Consciences A course that in a short time will unavoidably bring them either to absolute beggery or which is worse to hypocrisie or which is worst of all to perjury All the people of this Nation look upon you as their common Father all promise themselves liberty and protection under your Government though some may justly be excluded from sharing in the Government Were there in my Family one child that profest to finde satisfaction in the way of the Papists and lived dutifully to mee and lovingly with his Brethren I should account it a great unnaturalnes to deprive him altogether of his portion much more of that which hee has received from the bounty of any collaterall Kinsman or acquired by his own particular