Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A30635
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Prudential reasons for repealing the penal laws against all recusants and for a general toleration penn'd by a Protestant person of quality.
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Burthogge, Richard, 1638?-ca. 1700.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing B6155; ESTC R4360
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8,141
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15
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the Fire thus kindled quickly went out for want of Fewel I mean there was none ever after that avowed these Heretical Doctrines only a Spanish Arian who condemn'd to die was notwithstanding suffered to linger out his life in Newgate where he ended the same Indeed such burning of Heretics much startled common People pitying all in pain and prone to asperse Iustice it self with Cruelty because of the novelty and hideousness of the Punishment And the Purblind Eyes of Vulgar Judgments looked only on what was next to them the Suffering it self which they beheld with compassion not minding the demerit of the guilt which deserved the same Besides such being unable to distinguish betwixt Constancy and Obstinacy were ready to entertain good thoughts even of the Opinions of those Heretics who sealed them so manfully with their Blood Wherefore King James politicly preferr'd that Heretics hereafter tho' condemn'd should silently and privately waste themselves away in the Prison rather than to grace them and amuse others with the solemnity of a public Execution which in Popular Judgment usurped the Honor of a Persecution Thus he But to return The only proper Method then in case Religious Perswasions have taken Root and are so largely diffus'd among the People that they cannot be eradicated but by Barbarous Cruelty and with extream scandal as by Massacres and Assassinates I say the only proper Method in this Case is that which is Lenitive the method of Toleration and Indulgence but with due Regulations For in this Method altho' Recusants are permitted to continue such still as to the Church yet they cannot but become entirely the Friends of the State which by giving them such Reasonable Satisfaction do's as well deprive them of just occasions of complaint as take away from the Multitude all occasions of Compassion and Pity And in this state of things should any Recusants be still contriving and intriguing it will be manifest to all that it is not Conscience but a Lust of Power and Rule that Acts them the very suspition of which will lose them the People so that they may be punish'd by the Hand of Justice not only without Murmur but even with general Applause Tho' many will hear them that say We preach our selves your Servants for Christs sake but few will indure such as shall say but in effect We Preach our selves your Lords and you our Servants for our own sakes It may be added that Restraint doth whet the Appetite and therefore that Indulgence and Liberty will abate it Men will not care so much to hear Recusants when they are not restrain'd from hearing them Prudential Reasons for Repealing the Penal Laws against the Roman-Catholics particularly 1. FIRST that his Majesty having profess'd himself of the Roman-Catholic Perswasion it is but a just expectation not only in those of his own Profession but in all the World that he should procure a Legal Freedom of Exercise for that Religion which should he be unable to effect with the Consent of his People in Parliament it would much obscure and eclipse the Glory of his Character abroad it being impossible that he should appear as a King of Great Figure to the World abroad if he shall appear to make as then he will but a little one at home Whereas it is for the Interest and Safety as well as for the Honor of the Kingdom that the King should make as Great and as Illustrious a Figure abroad as is possible seeing the Strength and Power of the Kingdom the Reputation of which is its Safety appears not to the World but in the Greatness of the King and in His Power with His People 2. A Continuation of the Penal Laws against Roman-Catholics when the King professes Himself to be One must needs have a particular Ill Reflection upon Him even in other Respects For who can think or say of Catholics that they are so Criminal and Ill a sort of Men and of Principles so very Bad that the utmost Severity against them is but little enough but withal he must abate of Regard and Veneration for the King who acknowledges Himself a Roman-Catholic which how it can consist with that Proportion of Duty Love and Allegiance that we owe unto Him as our Sovereign Lord is too hard a Point for me to conceive 3. I am very confident that many Examples if any can't be given in All History of Governments in which the Prince was of a Religion the Exercise whereof Himself did punish in His Subjects by His Laws and Judges and indeed it cannot be but a Solecism in State to admit it For that a King should punish in others what yet He publicly avows and owns and approves in Himself is very odd and a Self-condemnation I know the Case of Sigismond the Third King of Poland and King of Sweden but I suppose it will not be urg'd as an Instance against me Prudential Reasons for Tolerating other Recusants as well as and together with the Roman-Catholics 1. NOt to give a Toleration and Indulgence unto Protestant Recusants when it is given to Roman-Catholics if at any time it shall be given would make the Toleration of These how Just soever to become Invidious and a Subject of Clamor and general Scandal and so a Matter of Disquiet and Trouble to the Government 2. Ay! And the Roman-Catholics cannot hope to hold and enjoy a Toleration that should be giv'n them by Act of Parliament if other Recusants be not also joyn'd with them therein longer than they may be sure of a Toleration without such an Act only by the Royal Prerogative and Clemency Whereas if the Toleration is General and All Recusants as well the Protestant as Roman-Catholic equally comprehended in the Grant thereof in one Act and upon one Bottom a Consideration of the Quality the Number and the Interests of the Parties so joyn'd together in the Liberty will secure the Possession of it in Future For then it will not be Wisdom to go about to disturb it 3. Trade is the Interest of England and Liberty of Conscience the Interest of Trade it being beyond Dispute to all considering Men that the Body of the Industrious Trading Part of the Nation are either themselves Dissenters or Favourers of those that are such And it is as evident that Trade which before lay ev'n gasping for Life since His Majesties Gracious Intentions are known to lean towards Liberty of Conscience and that He has Extended His Dispensations from the Penal Laws in Matters of Religion is Recover'd to a wonder and grown Brisk and Quick and that too so much to general satisfaction that we hear no more Now as Before the Idle Stories of Prophecies Prodigies Complaints and Murmurs those certain Symptoms of a Diseas'd and Crazy State but All is Quiet and Still 4. It is for the Interest of those that do Profess themselves the true Sons of the Church of England as by Law establish'd if really they are Lovers of the Reformation more than of their Passions and Humors that All Recusants as well the Protestant as the Roman-Catholic should be Equal Sharers in the Grant of Liberty if any is made For seeing it is impossible that these two should agree but in things in which their Interest joyns them and as impossible that it should be the Interest of either one of these any more than it can be the Kingdoms to suffer the other to get uppermost one of them will always Ballance the other and consequently both must be contented with Liberty without aspiring to Power and Rule And thus the Church will always remain undisturbed as well as the State 5. But if the Church of England will have security in the Possession of the Establishment they have or may have by Law upon their own Bottom without the Assistance of Ballancing and Policy to support it they must resolve to enlarge that Bottom which indeed is their true Interest by parting with things to them indifferent but not indifferent to others For if some Men resolve to be always stiff and inflexible and not to condescend in the least to any Abatements for the Love of Peace and of Unity one may adventure to foretel without pretending to Prophecy that sooner or later they will find themselves in his Folly who rather than cast the worst of the Loading Over-board to save the Ship will sink with it 6. To conclude It is certainly for the Interest of the Royal Family as well as for the Kingdoms Interest that such a Settlement should be well deliberated and be surely establish'd as to the Business of Religion that whether the Crown hereafter shall descend on the Head of a Roman-Catholic or of a Protestant for it may again as has already sometimes descend upon the one and sometimes upon the other that That Descent should make no Change and Alteration in the Law or the State of Things in the Government Preventive Wisdom is the best Wisdom and such a Settlement will Prevent Convulsions and Difficulties which else on every Demise of the Crown the State will be subject unto But such a Settlement I doubt can never be effected without Resolving that the Religion already Establish'd shall be the Religion of the State and that those who dissent from it shall yet have Toleration and Indulgence but under due Regulations and Qualifications For my own part I admire the World is so fond of Uniformity in the Externals of Religion that in most things else prefers Convenience before It. The World it self is Elemented of Contraries diversly proportion'd and the Variety in it is of the Being and for the Beauty and the Ornament of it FINIS