I. IF the just Apprehensions of the Danger of Popery gave the Birth to the two Laws for the two Tests , the one with relation to all Publick Employments in 73. and the other with relation to the Constitution of our Parliaments for the future , in 78. the present Time and Conjuncture does not seem so proper for repealing them ; unless it can be imagined , that the danger of Popery is now so much less than it was formerly , that we need be no more on our guard against it . We had a King , when these Laws were enacted , who as he declared himself to be of the Church of England , by receiving the Sacrament four times a Year in it , so in all his Speeches to his Parliaments , and in all his Declarations to his Subjects , he repeated the Assurances of his Firmness to the Protestant Religion , so solemnly and frequently , that if the saying a thing often gives just reason to believe it , we had as much reason as ever People had to depend upon him : and yet for all that , it was thought necessary to fortifie those Assurances with Laws : and it is not easie to imagine , why we should throw away those , when we have a Prince that is not only of another Religion himself , but that has expressed so much steadiness in it , and so much zeal for it , that one would think we should rather now seek a further Security , than throw away that which we already have .

II. Our King has given such Testimonies of his Zeal for his Religion , that we see among all his other Royal Qualities , there is none for which he desires and deserves to be so much admired . Since even the Passion of Glory , of making himself the Terrour of all Europe , and the Arbiter of Christendom , ( which , as it is natural to all Princes , so must it be most particularly so to one of his Martial and Noble Temper ) yields to his Zeal for his Church ; and that he , in whom we might have hoped to see our Edward the Third , or our Henry the Fifth revived , chuses rather to merit the heightning his degree of Glory in another World , than to acquire all the Lawrels and Conquests that this low and vile World can give him : and that , in stead of making himself a Terrour to all his Neighbours , he is contented with the humble Glory of being a Terrour to his own People ; so that in stead of the great Figure which this Reign might make in the World , all the News of England is now only concerning the Practices on some fearful Mercenaries . These things shew , that his Majesty is so possessed with his Religion , that this cannot suffer us to think , that there is at present no danger from Popery .

III. It does not appear , by what we see , either abroad or at home , that Popery has so changed its nature , that we have less reason to be afraid of it at present , than we had in former times . It might be thought ill nature to go so far back , as to the Councils of the Lateran , that decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks , with severe Sanctions on those Princes that failed in their Duty , of being the Hangmen of the Inquisitors ; or to the Council of Constance , that decreed , That Princes were not bound to keep their Faith to Hereticks ; tho' it must be acknowledged , that we have extraordinary Memories if we can forget such things , and more extraordinary Understandings if we do not make some Inferences from them . I will not stand upon such inconsiderable Trifles as the Gunpowder-Plot , or the Massacre of Ireland ; but I will take the liberty to reflect a little on what that Church has done since those Laws were made , to give us kinder and softer thoughts of them , and to make us the less apprehensive of them . We see before our eyes what they have done , and are still doing in France ; and what feeble things Edicts , Coronation Oaths , Laws , and Promises , repeated over and over again , prove to be , where that Religion prevails ; and Louis le Grand makes not so contemptible a Figure in that Church , or in our Court , as to make us think , that his Example may not be proposed as a Pattern , as well as his Aid may be offered for an Encouragement , to act the same things in England , that he is now doing with so much applause in France : and it may be perhaps the rather desired from hence to put him a little in countenance , when so great a King as ours is willing to forget himself so far as to copy after him , and to depend upon him : so that as the Doctrine and Principles of that Church must be still the same in all Ages and Places , since its chief pretention is , that it is infallible , it is no unreasonable thing for us to be afraid of those , who will be easily induced to burn us a little here , when they are told , that such fervent Zeal will save them a more lasting burning hereafter , and will perhaps quit all scores so entirely , that they may hope scarce to endure a Singing in Purgatory for all their other Sins .

IV. If the severest Order of the Church of Rome , that has breathed out nothing but Fire and Blood since its first formation , and that is even decried at Rome it self for its Violence , is in such credit here ; I do not see any inducement from thence to persuade us to look on the Councils that are directed by that Society , as such harmless and inoffensive things , that we need be no more on our guard against them . I know not why we may not apprehend as much from Father Petre , as the French have felt from Pere de la Chaise , since all the difference that is observed to be between them , is , that the English Jesuit has much more Fire and Passion , and much less Conduct and Judgment than the French has . And when Rome has expressed so great a Jealousie of the Interest that that Order had in our Councils , that F. Morgan , who was thought to influence our Ambassadour , was ordered to leave Rome ; I do not see why England should look so tamely on them . No reason can be given why Card. Howard should be shut out of all their Councils , unless it be , that the Nobleness of his Birth , and the Gentleness of his Temper , are too hard even for his Religion and his Purple , to be mastered by them . And it is a Contradiction , that nothing but a Belief capable of receiving Transubstantiation can reconcile , to see Men pretend to observe Law , and yet to find at the same time an Ambassadour from England at Rome , when there are so many Laws in our Book of Statutes , never yet repealed , that have declared over and over again all Commerce with the Court and See of Rome to be High Treason .

V. The late famous Judgment of our Judges , who knowing no other way to make their Names immortal , have found an effectual one to preserve them from being ever forgot , seems to call for another Method of Proceeding . The President they have set must be fatal either to them or us . For if twelve Men , that get into Scarlet and Furs , have an Authority to dissolve all our Laws , the English Government is to be hereafter lookt at with as much scorn , as it has hitherto drawn admiration . That doubtful Words of Laws , made so long ago , that the Intention of the Lawgivers is not certainly known , must be expounded by the Judges , is not to be questioned : but to infer from thence , that the plain Words of a Law , so lately made , and that was so vigorously asserted by the present Parliament , may be made void by a Decision of theirs , after so much Practice upon them , is just as reasonable a way of arguing , as theirs is , who because the Church of England acknowledges , that the Chuurch has a Power in Matters of Rites and Ceremonies , will from thence conclude , that this Power must go so far , that tho' Christ has said of the Cup , Drink ye all of it , we must obey the Church when she decrees , that we shall not drink of it . Our Judges , for the greater part , were Men that had past their Lives in so much Retirement , that from thence one might have hoped , that they had studied our Law well , since the Bar had called them so seldom from their Studies : and if Practice is thought often hurtful to Speculation , as that which disorders and hurries the Judgment , they who had practised so little in our Law , had no byass on their Understandings : and if the habit of taking Money as a Lawyer , is a dangerous Preparation for one that is to be an incorrupt Judge , they should have been incorruptible , since it is not thought , that the greater part of them got ever so much Money by their Profession , as paid for their Furs . In short , we now see how they have merited their Preferment , and they may yet expect a further Exaltation , when the Justice and the Laws of England come to be in Hands , that will be as careful to preserve them , as they have been to destroy them . But what an Infamy will it lay upon the Name of an English Parliament , if instead of calling those Betrayers of their Country to an account , they should go by an after-game to confirm what these Fellows have done ?

VI. The late Conferences with so many Members of both Houses , will give such an ill-natured piece of Jealousie against them , that of all Persons living , that are the most concern'd to take care how they give their Votes , the World will believe , that Threatnings and Promises had as large a share in those secret Conversations , as Reasoning or Persuasion : and it must be a more than ordinary degree of Zeal and Courage in them , that must take off the Blot , of being sent for , and spoke to , on such a Subject , and in such a manner . The worthy Behaviour of the Members in the last Session , had made the Nation unwilling to remember the Errors committed in the first Election : and it is to be hoped , that they will not give any cause for the future to call that to mind . For if a Parliament , that had so many Flaws in its first Conception , goes to repeal Laws , that we are sure were made by Legal Parliaments , it will put the Nation on an Enquiry that nothing but necessity will drive them to . For a Nation may be laid asleep , and be a little cheated ; but when it is awakened , and sees its danger , it will not look on and see a Rape made on its Religion and Liberties , without examining , From whence have these Men this Authority ? They will hardly find that it is of Men ; and they will not believe that it is of God. But it is to be hoped , that there will be no occasion given for this angry Question , which is much easier made than answered .

VII . If all that were now asked in favour of Popery , were only some Gentleness towards the Papists , there were some reason to entertain the Debate , when the Demand were a little more modest : If Men were to be attainted of Treason , for being reconciled to the Church of Rome , or for reconciling others to it ; If Priests were demanded to be hanged , for taking Orders in the Church of Rome ; and if the two thirds of the Papists Estates were offered to be levied , it were a very natural thing to see them uneasie and restless : but now the matter is more barefaced ; they are not contented to live at ease , and enjoy their Estates ; but they must carry all before them : and F. Petre cannot be at quiet , unless he makes as great a Figure in our Court , as Pere de la Chaise does at Versailles .

A Cessation of all Severities against them , is that to which the Nation would more easily submit ; but it is their Behaviour that must create them the continuance of the like Compassion in another Reign . If a restless and a persecuting Spirit were not inherent in that Order , that has now the Ascendant , they would have behaved themselves so decently under their present Advantages , as to have made our Divines , that have charged them so heavily , look a little out of countenance : and this would have wrought more on the good Nature of the Nation , and the Princely Nobleness of the Successors whom we have in view , than those Arts of Craft and Violence , to which we see their Tempers carry them even so early , before it is yet time to shew themselves . The Temper of the English Nation , the Heroical Vertues of those whom we have in our Eyes , but above all , our most holy Religion , which instead of Revenge and Cruelty , inspires us with Charity and Mercy , even for Enemies , are all such things , as may take from the Gentlemen of that Religion all sad Apprehensions , unless they raise a Storm against themselves , and provoke the Justice of the Nation to such a degree , that the Successors may find it necessary to be just , even when their own Inclinations would rather carry them to shew Mercy . In short , they need fear nothing but what they create to themselves : so that all this stir that they keep for their own Safety , looks too like the securing to themselves Pardons for the Crimes that they intend to commit .

VIII . I know it is objected as no small Prejudice against these Laws , That the very making of them discovered a particular Malignity against His Majesty , and therefore it is ill Manners to speak for them . The first had perhaps an Eye at his being then Admiral : and the last was possibly levelled at him : tho' when that was discovered , he was excepted out of it by a special Proviso . And as for that which past in 73 , I hope it is not forgot , that it was enacted by that Loyal Parliament , that had setled both the Prerogative of the Crown and the Rites of the Church , and that had given the King more Money than all the Parliaments of England had ever done in all former Times . A Parliament that had indeed some Disputes with the King , but upon the first Step that he made with relation to Religion or Safety , they shewed how ready they were to forget all that was past : as appeared by their Behaviour after the Triple Alliance . And in 73 , tho' they had great cause given them to dislike the Dutch War , especially the strange beginning of it upon the Smyrna Fleet ; and the stopping the Exchequer , the Declaration for Toleration , and the Writs for the Members of the House , were Matters of hard Digestion ; yet no sooner did the King give them this new Assurance for their Religion then , tho' they had very great Reasons given them to be jealous of the War , yet since the King was engaged , they gave him 1200000 Pounds for carrying it on ; and they thought they had no ill Peniworths for their Money , when they carried home with them to their Countries this new Security for their Religion , which we are desired now to throw up , and which the Reverend Judges have already thrown out , as a Law out of date . If this had carried in it any new piece of Severity , their Complaints might be just ; but they are extream tender , if they are so uneasie under a Law that only gives them Leisure and Opportunities to live at home . And the last Test , which was intended only for shutting them out from a share in the Legislative Body , appears to be so just , that one is rather amased to find that it was so long a doing , than that it was done at last : and since it is done , it is a great presumption on our Understandings to think , that we should be willing to part with it . If it was not sooner done , it was because there was not such cause given for Jealousie to work upon : but what has appeared since that time , and what has been printed in his late Majesty's Name , shews the World now , that the Jealousies which occasioned those Laws , were not so ill grounded , as some well-meaning Men perhaps then believed them to be . But there are some Times in which all Mens Eyes come to be opened .