Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54211
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A second letter from a gentleman in the country to his friends in London upon the subject of the penal laws and tests.
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing P1361; ESTC R38198
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7,974
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20
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and Serve one another as becomes the Members of the great civil Family of this Kingdom But some you tell me think it had been better The Laws where Repealed in a Proâ—estant King's Reign then in this But can any shew it is not fit in this for that 's the Question Let us suppose ours were a Protestant and they were repealed accordingly How could we assure our selves our next Heir would not turn Ay the Prince in Possession And unless the Principles of Exclusion prevail'd 't is clear the Delemma would be the same because the security upon that notion is uncertain I confess it had been better for us it had been done before his coming to the Crown but since he forgives us that deficiency and offers to supply it in ways the most assuring why it should not be good to do it now I cannot imagine It is to say it is not fit to be done when it is most fit to make us best with him We will have him trust us but we will not trust him where his interest Secures us Well but you add That it is generally agreed the Penal Laws should he repeal'd but not the Tests I must tell you I do not agree with you in that Fact for I hear there are divers Schisms in the Church about it Some for their repeal and keeping of the Tests Some for repealing neither Some for their repeal to Papists only Some for Dissenters only And a few for a general Repeal of both so that the Church is yet unresolved what to do But I will attend the great Question For the Penal Laws no matter if they go but if the Tests be repealed too the Government is lost to the Romanists for they may pack a Parliament of their own Religion that in all Probability will make it national and so Liberty of Conscience will not serve them nor save us You see I am fair in the Objection I le give you my Answer as freely I cannot imagine the Councils that engage them to take a fair way can lead them to be foul in it for that 's giving a pail of Milk and kicking it down with their foot If they had number to chuse or could be returned without it they must naturally search the most durable means of their safety Now that connot be making their Religion national both because they are not the two hundred and fiftieth man and that the attempt would eternally ruin them with the Kingdom whose kindness in a future Raign their discreeter Conduct in this must secure Nor could any thing be so odious faithless and immoral then for them to attempt it for if ever they should teach the Nation that Arithmatick that thirteen is more then three and twenty they will make True Prophets of those they have taken pains to prove False Witnesses But besides their Discretion and Interest the Kings Faith is given us for his whole Raign in his Great and Gratious Declaration that he will not exceed the bounds of Liberty of Conscience By This every Party is secured with his in their Religion and Property and This tyes him against any concurrance with the People representatively contrary to this made to them universally We may assure our selves he is not like to break it in either of those respects since we don't think that will so easily become the Religion of the Kingdom or that whilest the People are of another they will chuse a Representative of the Roman Communion Lastly the Law that shall repeal these Laws may be so drawn as to make it impracticable to return a Parliament that is not chosen as well as I dare say it is below the Glory of our King to use ways so unlike the rest of his Open and Generous Principles My former Argument was ad homenem for what ever the Church of England men think 't is certain the Answer they gave for a Popish Successor we must trust God and do our Duty is still Cogent For if Providence was strong enough to secure us then against our fears of such a Successor can an Act of Parliament be a better Defence to us now I fear such are fallen from their Faith and change their Devotion for carnal securities Let us be all of a piece not hot and then cold one while for relying on Providence and another time jealous to death and beating our Brains for safety as if there were no such thing as God in the World. The Question is not about the King 's imposing his Religion upon us for so I should have almost ador'd the Gentlemen that left their imployments but whether we will not impose our Religion upon the Friends of his Communion and this shows no bigottry in the King that he gives all Parties Liberty to muster exercise themselves according to their own Principles that he knows to be so very contrary to his An odd way of advancing Popery especially by foul play I wish any thing would satifie us And yet after so gratious a Declaration both to Church and Dissenters and that has so decent a regard to the concurrance of a Parliament too Who can be displeased Have we been Hunting Hawking Gaming and Marrying with Roman Catholicks these six and twenty Years and did they engage on the same side for the King's Father help to support the King abroad and labour the Restoration of the Royal Family to their Inheritance and are we now afraid of them for the Religion they had then or that they should have a few Offices with us in the Reign of a Prince of their own way that were the Companions of our sufferings and Pleasures methinks it looks ill natur'd at all times and indiscreet at this since 't is certain we may roundly and securely tell them You are upon your good behaviour Be moderate at your perril You are but a morfel of men and therefore as little feared as loved 'T is in your own power to be well with the Kingdom Know when you have enough and let us see you aim at no more then securing your civil Property and Interest in that of the Nation from any violence on the score of Religion and that meer matters of Faith and Worship of God shall disable no man of his Birth-right This Bottom is broad enough for all the interests of this Kingdom to meet upon and till God from Heaven send us with miracles an higher Principle of Union let us not neglect this lower but sure means of our Peace and Happiness To Conclude let us have a care of the Snake every where in the Grass in the Square in the Coffee-House in the Church ay and in the Meeting-House too for 't is ill company at all times and in all places Let us remember that not only the four but the seven last Raigns have prov'd Penal Laws an Enemy to the Peace and Wealth of the Kingdom and the strictest Tests no Security to the Government of it against the weight of its own miscarriages Let us forgive one another and look forward I am for having the Church of England keep the Chair but let the rest subsist To fix Government upon any Mode of Religion convulses it as often as that changes at least hazards it That which takes in all Interests is the best foundation for any Government because it is least exposed to State Contingencies Let us then bend our thoughts towards such an expedient as may secure Property to all the first reason of civil Government and that which every Party for its own Interest must close with Three things strictly speaking make an English man Ownership Consent in Parliament and Right of Juries We all know what Laws have been made and by whom to destroy these several Capacities that frame an English man amongst which pray let not that against Conventicles go for the least Let us see then what it is that divests us of these Native Priviledges and like true English men Christians let us remove it that in the Raign of a King so ready to disapoint the Enemies of his Glory by repairing the Breaches of his People and of the old true civil Government of his Kingdom we may not be wanting to our selves and our Posterity in another Great Charter to bury all our Prejudices and Establish a lasting Civil union among the Inhabitants of this Ancient and Famous Kingdom Yours more then my own FINIS