Soul for what People under the Cope of Heaven are more tender of Liberty and Property than the English And I am sure that the other day a great Lawyer express'd himself very freely touching the Subjects Rights affirming That as Kings have their Prerogatives too great for an Act of Parliament to bound or limit and as the next Heir to the Crown has so firm a Right to the Succession that no Consideration of Religion no nor that of Treason it self can be made a Bar to exclude him for Jura Sanguinis nullo jure Civili dirimi possunt So Subjects have their various and different Rights either by Inheritance Creation or Election answerable to their several Qualities which no Act of Parliament can divest them of insomuch that if a Statute be de facto made contrary to a Fundamental Right of the Subject it 's void and null and if any one in pursuance of such a Statute ravish from the Subject his Liberty and Property in one King's Reign he may as it has been heretofore suffer for it in the Reign of another I insist not nevertheless at this time on this Great Man's Opinion any farther than to offer it to the Consideration of the Learned in the Law that if possibly I may do it they may be provok'd to an Enquiry and to give the People some farther Satisfaction than he did when he only told me it was so plain that instead of confirming it by Authorities he must defere to the known Rule viz. In rebus manifestis errat qui authoritates Legum allegat quia perspicuè vera non sunt probanda For let this Opinion be clear'd 't will contribute extreamly towards the ending the present Controversie especially if the other thing he mention'd also which indeed concludes our whole Argument be made out viz. That amongst the Inalienable Rights of the Subjects we must reckon this That no Free-Man may be depriv'd of his Liberty or Property or any other Civil Right or Privilege for the sake of his Religion so long as his Religion has no influence on the Government Let this I say be made good 't will unavoidably follow that all the Penal Laws for meer Religion and the Securing the Tests must appear to be ab initio void and null and a Great Charter Declaratory of so much will put a stop to Persecution for evermore for Conscience sake and answer all the Objections that can be brought against the Taking away the Tests But to return It 's my part to enquire more particularly Whether the Damning or Establishing the Tests be most agreeable to what I have declared the Ancient Constitution of our Government to be And the Solution is easie for from the Contexture of the foregoing Discourse we must conclude for the Taking them off because they twist the Religion of one part of the People so closely with the Government as to deprive the Body of the Nation of their Civil Rights Liberty and Property for the sake of an Opinion that hurts no Body but its Owner There are three or four Tests which do twist Religion and the Civil Government so unluckily together that whoever scruples the Religious part of the Test is immediately esteem'd an Enemy to the Government The First requires that they who take it do declare that they 'll never endeavor any Alteration of Government in the Church The Second obliges all in Office to Receive the Lord's Supper according to the Church of England and declare in these Words I A. B. do declare 25 Car. 2. cap. 2. That I do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation 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 The Last imposed both on the Nobility and Commons chosen to Sit in Parliament runs thus 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 us'd in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous These being the several Tests impos'd on the Subjects of this Realm there are these several Arguments which occur to my Thoughts against their continu'd Establishment I. It 's contrary to the Liberty of the Subject who without just cause is hereby depriv'd of his Rights as an Englishman It is the Right of a Freeholder in the County My Lord Chief-Justice Coke positively affirms That the Barons ought to have a Writ of Summons ex debito Justitiae to Sit in Parliament and it s most manifest that their Summons must be either of Grace or ex debito If the former it lies in the Breast of the King to call whom of the Lords he will and so never want an House of Lords for his Purpose If the latter then my Argument abides in its strength and it 's the Barons Right to be Call'd and Sit in Parliament and of a Free-man of any City or Town Corporate to choose his Representative in Parliament and the Right of those freely chosen if good Subjects which they may be tho' of a Religion different from that of the State to Sit in Parliament and it 's the Birthright of our Ancient Nobility and the most undoubted Right of every Peer of the Land tho created a Peer but yesterday to Sit in the Higher House of Parliament and Advise and Consent to the Enacting Laws And it 's a known Case that tho' a Man be Excommunicate yet he is not thereby divested of his Right to choose his Representative and why but because a Man may remain a good Subject and a good English-man altho' thrown out of the Church and therefore ought to enjoy the Privilege of an English-man And why shall not the Persons chosen and the Nobility so long as they sufficiently demonstrate to the World that they are true English-men and good Subjects enjoy their undoubted Rights and Privileges What belongs to a good Subject as such belongs to every good Subject and it 's a Wrong to rob him of it Let there then be such a Test impos'd I mean a CIVIL TEST which Characterizes a good Subject and which a good Subject cannot refuse to take and let that be all for that surely may be made sufficient and unscrupulous to secure the just Prerogatives of the King and the Liberty and Property of the Subject which is the whole Concern in it that a true Englishman as such is bound to look after II. The Imposition of a Religious Test on the Subject excluding the Refusers from having any Advancement in Places of Trust is a Branch of that Doctrin on which all Penal Laws for Religion
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
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
intermedling of any Exterior Person or Persons to declare and determine all such Doubts and to administer all such Offices and Duties as to their Rooms Spiritual doth appertain So far the Statute 24. Hen. 8. c. 12. From which I infer That as the English Papists differ from Foreign Papists so the reason they give for what they hold in contradistinction to Foreign Papists is very cogent and powerful They need not apply themselves to any Foreign Power because they have always had at home persons every way qualified to determine all their Doubts And this was not only the Judgment of the Papists at this time but as they declare this has been the sense of their Forefathers for say they it has been always reputed it has been always found it has been always thought heretofore as well as at this hour and whoever will look back to the first words of the Statute may see cause to conclude that thus much they gathered out of the divers Authentic Histories and Chronicles which they consulted And that this must be esteemed especially by the Church of England to be the sense of the English Papist is manifest from the whole scope of Archbishop Bramhall's arguing against the Papists in Vindication of the Church of England when he charges the Papists for making the first Separation from Rome The first Separation saith he was not made by Protestants but by Papists and he endeavors to justifie the Separation by proving that always the English Papists esteem'd themselves a Church that did ever renounce the Pope's Supremacy and that what Henry VIII did was no more than an acting in pursuance of the ancient Law of the Land. To this of the Archbishop's I add That if the first Separation from the Church of Rome was made by Papists then it 's the Judgment of English Papists that they do not stand oblig'd to any Foreign Councils 't is their Judgment that tho' they grant the Pope a Primacy of Order yet that he ought not to have a Supremacy of Jurisdiction for the Crown of England is Imperial and the English Bishops are sufficiently qualified to determine all matters of doubt within themselves And this has been always their Judgment and is so at this time for our King by a continued Exercise of his Ecclesiastical Supremacy asserts it to be a Jewel inherent in his Crown and not to be parted with This then being the avowed Principle of the English Papists the mentioning the Decree of the Council of Lateran as what obliges them before it is prov'd to have been received amongst our Laws cannot affect us for until it be taken in amongst our Laws it obliges not an English Papist nor are they bound to take in this Decree amongst our Laws any more than they were anciently obliged to receive the Canon about Bastardy Furthermore whoever will look into this Objection he must needs see it to be ill as well as weak in the Foundation For to give strength to their Argument it must be presumed That either the Body of the People will turn Papist as soon as the Tests are taken off and choose none but Papists to sit in the following Parliament for to say some few may for Preferment does not reach the Case or a Parliament contrary to all Laws shall be imposed upon us To presume the former is to insinuate without the least colour of Reason that the Body of the Kingdom have nothing to say for their being Protestants but this That their Religion is uppermost and established by Law and that there are such Tests imposed on those who sit in Parliament that Popery is like never to be established But whatever may be said of the Church of England of whom yet I have better thoughts the world knows that a great part of the Nation notwithstanding the severity of the Penal Laws could not be persuaded to close with the Church of England because there was so much Popery in it and it 's to be supposed they 'll abide so firm to the Protestant Religion when they are in no danger of Sufferings as they did when they suffer'd so very much And it must be further considered That these Dissenters when Penal Laws hung over their heads and they were in constant danger of being immediately destroyed by them did even then appear so vigorously in the choosing their Representatives as to carry it for three Parliaments successively against the Papist and Church of England too and it 's not to be doubted but that when the Penal Laws are taken off they 'll not be less Able nor less Industrious to choose such to sit in Parliament as shall be far from introducing the Lateran Decree into their Laws for extirpating the Protestant Religion If on the other hand it shall be urged That a Parliament contrary to the Fundamentals of our Constitution shall be imposed on us by Regal Authority which is a thing the thoughts whereof should be abhorr'd by every good Subject it cannot be apprehended to be more Legal hereafter than such a Parliament presently chosen made up of whomsoever He pleases without taking the Test And considering that our King is aged if such a thing were design'd would it not be the Papists Interest to take that course immediately And seeing they take it not now may we not conclude rationally that they 'll not do it hereafter And yet farther if this were supposed as to the House of Commons the House of Lords for all that are so many of 'em Protestant and out-ballancing the Papists that unless we will reflect on our Nobility as well as on His Majesty and the Body of the Nation and say That as soon as the Tests are taken off they 'll be all Papists also there is no fear of such a matter Again the Papists also must be presum'd to be all fallen under the most strange deliration and madness imaginable seeing otherwise they must know that if they declare themselves to be for violent Methods or make any such attempt it must be with the greatest disadvantages to themselves for it is as if Five men would encounter a Thousand And they must consider how much such an Attempt would enrage the whole Kingdom and how uncertain they are of compassing their end in this King's Reign and how easie is it for the Protestants under a Successor of their Religion to destroy the Papists So that the very Attempt would but prepare their Families and Posterity for a Sacrifice under a Protestant Successor If then there be any wise men of Estates among them that can influence they 'll see it their Interest and make it their Endeavor if possible to Establish Liberty of Conscience on a Rock that can never be moved And altho' some may say that the Priests and Jesuits are a Fiery-spirited People who are for pushing on to violence yet it 's manifest that our Popish Gentry heretofore were never so Priest-ridden as to regard the Priests Humor more than their own