I Suppose you are very busie about the Choice of Parliament-Men , and all hands are at work to Elect such Members as may comply with the great Design to Repeal the Penal Laws , and the Test . The pretence I confess is very plausible ; for all Men are fond of Liberty of Conscience , who dissent from the Established Religion ; but you and I have liv'd long enough in the World to observe that the most pernicious Designs have been carried on , under the most plausible Pretences ; and that is Reason enough to enquire whether there be no danger of it now . I shall not say one word against Liberty of Conscience , nor for Penal Laws and Tests : Imagine the best things you possibly can of the one , and declame as much as you please against the other . For I do not see that either of them are concerned in the present Dispute ; but only made use of to wheadle unthinking people , and to catch them with a very inviting Bait : and therefore before You engage too warmly in this Cause , I would offer some few things to your calm and deliberate Thoughts .

The great Pretence is Liberty of Conscience ; and if this were the true state of the Case , the Dispute would be more doubtful and perplexed : for that is an Argument a Man may talk of without end , and it is not to be expected that Men who feel the want of Liberty , or taste the sweetness of it , should be persuaded by any Arguments to forgo it when it may be had . But now , if Liberty of Conscience may be had without the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws ; if it be apparent to Men who will open their eyes , that the true spring of all this zeal for Repealing the Test and Penal Laws is not Liberty of Conscience ; if there be great danger that by consenting to this Repeal , we shall forfeit both the Liberty of our Consciences and our Civil Liberties into the Bargain ; then I presume You will readily grant that Liberty of Conscience as good a thing as it is , is no Reason for such a Repeal .

I. As for the first , it is a very plain case ; For you enjoy Liberty of Conscience Now , and yet the Penal Laws and Test are not Repealed . What greater Liberty do you desire than you now have ? What can the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test do for you which the Kings Declaration hath not done ? You have his repeated Promises , his avow'd Principle that Conscience is not to be forc'd ; and that no man ought to suffer meerly for his Religion ; though the Penal Laws are not repealed , yet they are suspended ; they are not executed either against Papists or Dissenters , and you have the security of the Kings Declaration for it .

If you say , that the King can quickly recall his Declaration , and reinforce the Penal Laws , if he find you obstinate against Repealing them ; I Answer first , It is very dishonorable to imagine such a thing of the King , after such a Declaration as this , which he hath repeated the second time with all possible assurances of his Resolutions to stand to it : and that not as a meer Act of grace and favour , but as his own avowed Principle , that Conscience ought not to be forced . If you Reply that the King may very Honourably recal this Liberty of Conscience , when you will not have it , but resolve to keep these persecuting Laws ; I answer , Not , if it be against the Principles of his own Conscience to Persecute . Meer favours may be withdrawn when they are slighted ; bu● no man will violate his own Conscience , to be revenged of such ingratitude . And yet this is not the case : You do not slight the grace and favor of his Declaration , but gladly accept the Liberty he gives ; and all the World sees that You use it too : but instead of Repealing these Penal Laws , You chuse to rely upon his Royal Word and Dispensing Power ; which argues so great a Confidence in him , and attributes such Authority to him , that it cannot possibly displease him . This is a plain sign , that you think your selves secure in his Reign ; and can you think the King will persecute you in his own Reign , because you are contented to trust his Successors too ? which would be a very odd kind of passion for Liberty of Conscience ?

To imagine the King should reinforce the Penal Laws upon your refusal to Repeal them , is to suspect that this great Zeal is not for Liberty of Conscience , but for the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test ; that is , that Liberty of Conscience is granted for the sake of Repealing the Penal Laws and Tests , not the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Tests , desired for the sake of Liberty of Conscience ; and then who knows what will become of Liberty of Conscience , when the Penal Laws and Test are Repealed ? If you suspect any such thing which never ought to be suspected of so just and indulgent a Prince , it is better to make the Experiment before , than after such a Repeal .

Suppose the King should withdraw his Declaration upon Your refusal to comply . Who would put the Laws in Execution against you ? They must either be Dissenters or Papists or the Church of England : I presume you do not fear that you should execute the Laws against Your selves ; and as for Papists it were worth trying whether they who are so obnoxious to the Laws themselves , would put them in Execution against Dissenters , especially after all their Clamors against them : and as for the Church of England , when they have been so reproached by Papist● for Executing these Laws already , though more at the instance of the Court than from their own inclination , they will no longer be made the instruments of such executions , only to serve the turn of them that will reproach them : So that if the Declaration were recalled , You have a moral certainty that the Penal Laws cannot be Executed in this Kings reign , because there is no body to execute them .

As for the Test , You cannot pretend that Liberty of Conscience is concern'd in the Repeal of that . You may go to Conventicles , and the Papists may go to Mass without any disturbance though the Test be never repealed : and therefore the only design of repealing that must be to give a legal Qualification to Papists to possess all places of Honour , Profit and Trust in the Nation ; that is , to put your Lives and Liberties into their hands ; which I confess is a great Complement to a Roman Catholick Prince ; but a Complement may sometimes be overstrained . And yet it is such a Complement as they need not . For we see they are qualified by the Dispensing Power , without the Repeal of the Test ; which hath made me often wonder why they are so zealous to have it repealed . Do they still question the Kings Dispensing Power ? And desire some better security ? Let them say so then , and give up that point , and then we 'll talk with them about repealing the Test : but there is no need of repealing this Law , since the King it seems hath power to dispense with it in his reign ; and they are very sanguine men , if they hope to have any occasion for it in another ! And if after all their boasts of a Dispensing Power , the Law still keeps them in aw , can it be the interest of Protestants to take off these restraints ? Are they not insolent enough already , while these threatning Laws hang over their heads ? Or do we hope that their modesty and good Nature will increase with their Power ? For my part I desire that all Men whom I fear may lie under a legal incapacity : for though their Force and Power may be the same , yet there is some difference , in point of Authority and Self-defence .

II . There are many things which would make a wise man suspect that there is some farther Design than Liberty of Conscience in all this zeal for repealing the Penal Laws and Test . For it would be very surprising to find a Roman Catholick Prince whose Conscience is directed by a Jesuit , to be really zealous for Liberty of Conscience ; to see so many Popish pens imploy'd in pleading for Liberty of Conscience , and declaiming against Sanguinary Laws , when all the world knows what Opinion the Church of Rome has about Liberty of Conscience , what great friends the Jesuits are to it ; how they abhor persecuting men for their Religion : witness the mild and gentle usage of the French Protestants by a King whose Conscience is directed by a tender hearted Jesuit . And if a Princes zeal for his Religion be much greater than for Liberty of Conscience ; it would make one suspect that his chief design is to serve his Religion by it ; and this is no new invention , but as old as the days of the Apostate Julian , when the same method was taken to reinforce Paganism by Liberty of Conscience . This was the last effort of dying Paganism ; may it be so of Popery too .

We know there was no talk of Liberty of Conscience , till the Nobility and Gentry of the Church of England refused to take off the Test : and then there was no other way left , but to buy off the Penal Laws and Test with Liberty of Conscience , which demonstrates that Liberty of Conscience is not the last End , but only a Means in order to some further End ; and the Means is seldom valued when the End is obtained . Men who can offer so much violence to their own Nature and the Principles of their Religion , as to grant Liberty of Conscience which of all things they hate , to procure a Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws ; when that is done , can easily find some occasion to pretend a forfeiture of this Liberty , and to salve their Conscience and Honour together . Penal Laws to keep men from damning themselves will be thought more merciful than Liberty of Conscience ; and the softness and tenderness of Nature , must give place to a Bigotry in Religion ; and then we shall in vain wish for our old Penal Laws and Test again , when we feel the more terrible smart of new ones .

Though it be told us , that it hath always been his Majesties Persuasion that Conscience ought not to be forced , I think that is no security ; because though this has always been his Principle , yet it hath not always operated . We know whose hand was most concern'd both in making and executing Penal Laws in the last Reign ; and if our Dissenters suffer'd so much then , as they now complain of , they know what they may suffer again , notwithstanding these Principles for Liberty of Conscience ; for the same Principles obtain'd then , as do now . Upon the last withdrawing into Scotland , notwithstanding those Principles the poor Scotch felt the severity of those Penal Laws with a witness ; and methinks it is not safe trusting to such Principles as so often act by way of Antiperistasis , and produce Effects quite contrary to their own Natures : and however the Church of Rome may indulge such Principles now they are convenient to serve a present turn , if the Scene ever alter , this private Conscience will be thought as great Heresie as a private Judgment ; and whosoever now may own it must then be guided by the publick Conscience of the Church , as well as by their Faith .

There are so many surprising Circumstances in this whole matter , as cannot but amaze a thinking Man : that so fierce a Zeal should be now kindled for a Liberty of Conscience , that a Liberty of Judgment will not be allowed , but who ever will not concurr in this Opinion must undergo the high displeasure ; whereas there can be no Liberty of Conscience without Liberty of Judgment : And to be mortally angry with every man who is not of my Opinion , is no good Preface to granting every man a Liberty to think and act , as he pleases .

If a Potentate should be so Zealous for Liberty of Conscience , as to change all his old Antipathies and Friendships , to receive his profess'd Enemies and Rebels into his bosom , and cast off his tried and experienced Friends ; that he should forget all injuries and all kindnesses together , this would be such an effect of a great passion for Liberty of Conscience as was never known before : and when Causes do not work naturally , we suspect some preternatural ingredients mixed with them .

That a Zeal against the Test and Penal Laws , should be made a Test to the whole Nation ; and that not without severe Penalties too , viz. The forfeiture of our Princes favour , of all Places of Trust and Honour , and incapacity to serve in Parliaments if they can prevent it , or to be Members of any little Corporation .

That for the sake of Liberty of Conscience , the whole Clergy must be forced to Publish the Declaration , though they declare it to be against their Consciences : That the Archbishop and six of his Suffragans must be sent to the Tower , for Petitioning for their own Liberty of Conscience ; and whither they must have gone next God knows , unless they had been rescu'd by an honest Iury : That all those who did not Read the Declaration are still threatned with Suspensions , and Deprivations : Archdeacons and Chancellors commanded to turn Informers , though almost all of them must inform against themselves for not reading , or not sending the Declaration : and all this while the Laws are on their side . It is like to be a very terrible Liberty of Conscience , when it is grown up into the Maturity and strength of a Law , which like another Hercules can strangle all Laws and Liberties in its Cradle . These things make me apt to suspect that the best way to preserve Liberty of Conscience is to keep the Test and Penal Laws .

III . For Thirdly , If there be any reason to suspect any other design than Liberty of Conscience , as suppose to promote Popery , and by degrees to make it the Established Religion of the Nation , ( which certainly is the Design , unless you can imagine , that Priests and Jesuits , and One who hath given up his Understanding and Conscience to them , can ever be without this Design , ) You will easily be convinced that there is infinite hazzard in repealing the Test and the Penal Laws .

This sets Papists upon an equal level with Protestants , and then the Favour of the Prince will set them above them : and when the whole power of the Nation , and the whole administration of Justice is in Popish hands , there will need no Penal Laws to persecute Protestants . If you say this is done in a great many instances now before such a Repeal ; I answer , then You may certainly guess what will be done when those incapacitating Laws are repealed : And yet the Difference is very great ; For while they are under such a legal Incapacity , the distrust of their power will make them more modest , which is the only thing that can plead their excuse hereafter ; but when they have legal authority , they will shew their Nature without restraint . Men who have any thing to lose will act cautiously in prospect of an After-reckoning , or while these legal incapacities continue will be afraid to act ; but when the Legal Authority and Power is in their hands . Protestant Subjects will quickly find what a Popish Liberty of Conscience means .

While these Laws continue , some professed Protestants whose Consciences are governed by their Interest are afraid to declare ; and by these means Popery wants hands and numbers to do its work : But when these Laws are removed , hopes of preferment will prevail on some , and fear on others ; and when this frozen Adder begins to grow warm , and recover its blood and spirits , it will find its sting too .

This would certainly overthrow the Constitution of the Church of England , which is the most effectual way to let in Popery : For when all Incapacities are removed , Papists are as well qualified for Church-Preferments as Protestants , and it will be an easie matter to find pretences , to remove the best Men to make way for them .

We have four Catholick Bishops ( as they vainly call themselves ) already prepared to fill vacant Sees ; and if such Men have the impudence to publish their Pastoral Letter , and make their publick Visitations while all the Laws against them are in force , judge what they will do when they are repealed . Thus our Parishes may be filled with Roman Priests , and they indeed are the fittest to serve under Roman Bishops . And if one Colledge be already seized into Popish hands , and the Protestant possessors turned out of their Freehold ; when those Laws are Repealed , we may quickly see more follow them ; and judge whether this be not a fair and easie step to Popery .

Nay , I have heard some good Lawyers say , That when the Penal Laws are repealed , Popery is the Established Religion of the Nation : That when a repealing Law is repealed , the repealed Law revives : I am not so good a Lawyer as to judge of this , but I think it is worth your Confidering .

But who knows , when all the Ecclesiastical Laws are Repealed , what the Kings Supremacy and his Ecclesiastical Commission may do ? There have been great and big words said of it of late ; and I believe You had better keep your Penal Laws , than fall under the lash of a Popish Supremacy .

I know there hath been a great talk of an Equivalent , but I would gladly know what that Equivalent should be . Shall it incapacitate all Papists for any Office either in Church or State ? That must not be , for fear of depriving the King of the natural right he has to the service of his Subjects ; and then I am sure there can be no Equivalent for the repeal of the incapacitating Laws .

But you say there shall be a New Charter for the Church of England , the Protestant Religion and Liberty of Conscience . Now shall this be with a Penalty or without one ? If with a penalty , then you do not repeal , but only exchange your Penal Laws ; and if Penal Laws are not such Unchristian things , but they may be allowed , we cannot have better for the security of our Religion than we have ; and therefore we had best keep these . Is there any other fault in our Penal Laws , ( especially when they are not executed ) but that they are too great a security to the Church of England , and the Protestant Inte●est ? And if this be a reason for Protestants at this time to repeal them , I have done . But if this new Establishment be without a penalty , what is it good for ?

When these Penal Laws are removed , Papists are qualified to sit in both Houses of Parliament : and who knows whether Closetting and Reforming of Corporations , and such other Arts may not quickly make a Popish Parliament ? And then Good Night to Your New Establishment and Liberty of Conscience .

These things I hope Sir , You will consider in your Choice of Members for Parliament ; and not be cheated with the Popular cry of Liberty of Conscience , into the vilest and most despicable Slavery both of Soul and Body .