A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral-Church OF WORCESTER, AT The Lent Assize, April 7 th'. 1688.  
BY DANIEL KENRICK, Master of Arts, and Vicar OF KEMSEY IN WORCESTERSHIRE  
Allowed to be Published this 19 th'. Day of June, 1688.  
LONDON: Printed by David Mallet, next door to the Star between Fleet-bridge and Bridewel-bridge. 1688.   

To the Right Worshipful, Sir Walter Kirkham Blount, of Soddington, Baronet.  
SIR,  
IF the Honour conferred upon me, in selecting me particularly from my Brethren, for the Preaching of this Sermon, were not a sufficient Reason for the present Dedication, yet the likeness of the Subject to your Virtues, would make the Discourse tend naturally towards you: For it's chief import is concerning those best Qualifications, which are your great Ornaments (viz.) Religion and Loyalty. And, though it may possibly want Cultivation, yet I'm sure 'tis not destitute of Charity and Honesty; which alone will be prevalent enough to make it grateful to Sir Walter Blount, whose kind and upright Conversation has obliged all to whom it has extended; It has created an extraordinary Love to your Person, where there has been a Disesteem for your Religion, and forced even the prejudiced Mobile to confess, that 'tis possible to be at once a Roman Catholic, and an Honest Man. I must confess, such has been the Rude Insolence even of my Brethren, and those of my own Communion, towards me, upon my Preaching of this Sermon, that I may be judged by some to want rather a Regiment, than a private Person for my Patron; and to lie under a high Obligation of my giving God Thanks, that there is the force of an active Power to obviate the Outrages of Passive Obedience. But Truth, which is its own Defence, is able, when it only shines, like the Light which Converted St. Paul, to strike its Enemies to the Earth; and as I never did: so with God's help, I am sure I never shall want Courage to Act honestly. And therefore I will contemn their Frowns and their Threaten; and more especially because, Sir, I am under the Influence of such a Patron, who, like your Royal Master, never disregarded your Friends, nor deserted your Servants; and whose Countenance alone, like that of Caesar to his Soldiers, is able to inspire an undaunted Resolution into him who is, Sir,  
Your very Faithful, and Humble Servant, Daniel Kenrick.   

ROM. 13.1. 
Let every Soul be Subject to the Higher Powers.   

IF This Text, and its import were not sufficiently known, and almost every day Discoursed upon, I might minutely insist upon its Coherence and Explication; discourse more largely upon the Origine, and necessity of Government; distinguish it into its kinds, and set down some Rules, by which inferior Governors, both Ecclesiastical and Civil aught to go: But as this would not be altogether so pertinent to such an Audience, so would it rob me of that time, which I hope more usefully to employ in this place. And therefore without any such farther Disquisition, I shall briefly and generally Discourse, 

I. Of the Necessity of our Subjection to the Higher Powers: And then more particularly.  
II. Of the strike Obedience we own to the higher Powers, or the Kings of this Realm.  
III. Of the Reasonableness of our Obedience to the King in the present juncture of Affairs.     

I. There is a Necessity of Subjection to the higher Powers, because such a Subjection to Man is the Effect of our Obedience we own to God. For God-Almighty has so far secured our subjection, to lawful higher Powers, that we are not only peremptorily forbidden to do 'em Violence, or to speak Evil of 'em; but we have Injunctions moreover from Heaven, not so much as to have a disrespectful thought of 'em, and not to Curse them even in our private Resentments. And indeed, since the Higher Powers are constituted by God's Designation, and subjected immediately to the Great Creator, it will not appear reasonable for any Man by Rebellion, to endeavour the subjection of God's immediate Minister, and to pull down beneath ourselves, what Heaven has set up next to its Divine Majesty.  
And though perhaps a Supreme Power can show no just Grounds for some of its actions, yet the height of the Seat, in which 'tis enthroned by God Almighty, privileges it from being called to an account for such actions by any of its Subjects. And therefore David, after all his injuries to Vriah, saith, Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy Sight. And this he says, because God-Almighty, who was only above him, had a Rightful Power alone of exacting a Punishment of him.  
And this was a Duty men owed to God, not only before the Advent of our Saviour; but since his coming 'tis an obligation upon them: For our Saviour, his Apostles, and the Primitive Christians taught it at once and practised it. Their Doctrine was absolute obedience to the Higher Powers, and their Menaces for rebellion and resistance, were no less than Threats of Damnation. And, moreover, that all future Christians should not think the Doctrine of Subjection Trivial, or Temporary, the Apostles submitted even to those higher Powers, who were foretold to be Persecutors of them and their Religion.  
The Primitive Christians obeyed the Sentence of Death, even when they might have made a prevalent resistance, and Sealed the horrid unlawfulness of shedding the Blood of Kings, by patiently permitting the Spilling of their own. And therefore 'tis impossible, that a Rebel to his Prince should ever be a good Disciple to his Saviour, and that because he wants one of the great Virtues of Christianity, which is meekness of Spirit in subjection to the higher Powers. And therefore, by the way, we may remark, That when Rebellion is stirred up upon the account of Religion, Religion cannot be the true and just Ground, but only the pretended cause of such a Rebellion. and it thus frequently comes to pass, when the Ambitious Statesman is defeated of his extravagant aims, either by his own ill menage of his affairs, or by the Wisdom of the Prince, he presently grows enraged and discontented, and being unable to satisfy his revenge, or retrieve his Interest but by Rebellion, or too proud to do it by a just Submission, he presently contrives how to make a Powerful disturbance in the Kingdom, and finds no way more likely to succeed, than a pretence of Religion. And thus like the Man who finding himself not able to Sleep, resolved his Nighbours should take as little rest as himself, which he effected by running about the Streets at Midnight, and crying Fire; Thus, I say, the discontented and restless Statesman, rouzes the unintelligent Rabble with a Clamour of Religion, and half Frantic himself by some precedent disappointment, provokes the People to madness too. Religion is still the specious Cry, when alas all his Religion is either Pride, Interest, Revenge for lost Honour, or a wild humour for innovation. For 'tis utterly impossible that any Man can have a serious awe of his Maker, or a Love and Adoration for his Saviour, and yet, contrary to the Dictates of Heaven, and the Doctrine of the Blessed Jesus, make it his business to speak evil of Dignities, and disturb the Peace of the Kingdom in which he lives.   

II. I Proceed to show, that we own a strict obedience to the Higher Powers of this Realm. Which is easily evinced, because they are such Powers which are Sovereign, and as they are absolutely Supreme, so ought we to be absolutely obedient.  
The Kings of this Realm are said crimine vacare, because they own an account of their Offences only to Heaven. They are said to be Laws to themselves; because, though in the Court of their own Consciences they are obliged to reign according to Law, yet they are absolved of all Laws in relation to an earthly Tribunal. The Kings of this Realm like those of the Jews may do whatsoever they think fit without Controlment from the Subject: For since they are Gods Lieutenants, can they be accountable to any but their Almighty Captain? Since they are Heads of the Commonwealth, what Member shall call them to Question? and since they have the sole power of the Sword, what hand can justly draw it without their Commission. The Kings of this Realm by virtue their Prerogatives, when Laws become sharp may soften them as they please, and when too cruel totally, pro tempore, suspend them. To the Prerogative we own the calling of Parliaments, the proroguing of the good, and the dissolution of the bad. To the merciful exercise of the Prerogative we own, that we ourselves sit every Man under his own Vine, and drink the waters of his own Cistern: For by the same undoubted Rights of Sovereignty, that the King in dispensing with the Laws shows the light of his Countenance to some of his Subjects, by the same he may, if he please, become a Cloud, and darkness to the rest: For by the Rights of Supremacy he may do all things without Controlment and Coercion: And although he at any time act, as he may do, contrary to the Laws, which himself, or his Ancestors have ratified, yet at the same time he Acts but according to the natural Laws and Rights of his Prerogative. And indeed if we consider the Natural Laws and Rights of Sovereignty, no Law can be made by a Sovereign, but there must be this tacit Reserve in't, viz. That it shall continue in force only so long as the Supreme Power thinks it necessary and convenient. And thus since the Kings of this Realm are Supreme, we ought strictly to pay them such an humble Obedience, as may be answerable to the greatness of their Power.   

III. I come now to show the reasonableness of our Obedience to the King in this present juncture of Affairs, that is, why we ought to comply, and cooperate with his Majesty in the repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws, and settling a lasting Indulgence in relation to Conscience, for Matters of mere Religion. And this I shall evince from these Eight following considerations.  

1. From the Nature of Conscience as to Matters of mere Religion.  
2. From the Genius of the Christian Religion, considered in its first Planting and Propagation.  
3. From the ill consequence of Force, and the happy Effects of Clemency in affairs of Religion.  
4. From the Allegiance and Gratitude we oweto His Majesty.  
5. From the Liberty that is due to the Subject.  
6. From the Consideration of the Interest of the Church.  
7. From the Duties we own toour Neighbours.  
8. From the Kindness that is due to our Country.   
First, From the Nature of Conscience, as to Matters of mere Religion.  
Now Conscience in relation to Matters of mere Religion in the present case, is a Conclusion of the reason. ableness or unreasonableness of our Belief drawn from Scriptures. Thus when Men say they cannot believe such a particular point of Divinity, or they must descent from any parricular way of Divine Worship; 'tis as much as to say, that their understanding tells them, that such a point of Faith, or such a way of Worship, is not consentaneous to the Scripture. And when Men say, they Believe and Worship according to their Consciences, 'tis as much as to say, that they do both, because their understanding concludes, that they act according to God's Word. Thus Conscience in Matters of Belief, is purely an act of the Soul, and since 'tis so, 'tis impossible it should be forced, and the impossibility of it ought to supersede all endeavonrs towards it. Nay, Conscience in relation to matters of Worship, which is the effect only of the former, though you may obstruct its public Exercise, yet without converting Men into Statues, you can never hinder its private; and therefore when the Peace of the Kingdom is concerned, it ought to be permitted.  
Besides, let us consider, that every Soul is only the Empire of Heaven, & God Almighty has set Conscience there, as he has placed particular Kings in their respective Kingdoms, & that is, as his sole Vice gerent. Whosoever therefore, violently Fights against Conscience, fights against Heaven, because he endeavours by undue means to subject Gods immediate Minister. And though Conscience, like some Heathen Kings, prove many times erroneous, because it draws undue conclusions from Gods sacred word; yet it is, like those Emperors, only answerable to Heaven for such Errors. If it be here Objected, That men justly aught to be punished, if they will not believe when Scripture is rightly Interpreted: I answer, That I should have thought, that the Eye of Faith is only the Gift of the Lord of Light, and he only can incline the Heart who made it; and therefore to pretend to bestow the Gift of God, is to usurp the Prerogative of Heaven. No, this Gift of God can no more be conferred by Penal Laws, and taking away Money, than that which Simon hoped to enjoy by giving money; Heaven never opens the understanding by unlocking the Chest: nor does it prick and wound the Conscience by mangling an Estate and ruining the possessor. But, some say, Dissenters are not punished as religious and conscientious, but for their disobedience to the Laws of the Nation: But this Fallacy is so palpable, that 'tis easily solved by ask one plain Question, viz. Why were those Laws made? And the answer must be, that the Spring which first moved their debate, was Religion, and the end for which they were made, was, that a religious Uniformity might be observed by all the Subjects of this Realm; so that whosoever is punished by the force of those Laws, whose source is from, and whose ends are for Religion, is really punished as religious, and if he suffer not besides as an evil doer, his punishment is unjust. For in such a Punishment the Body suffers, because the Soul is not of the same stamp with that of his Neighbour; and for the same reason a Man may be lashed, because he has not as an agreeable a Face as those that lived around him: for neither his Face nor his Soul were of his own fashioning. Thus force is most improper in relation to Conscience, not only because it ought not, but because it cannot effect what is designed by it. Force applied for the Errors of the Mind, is like pulling a String for the untying of a Knot, your stress only serves to make it the faster. By undue pressure, you shut the Box closer, which you design to open; and too much heat contracts the thing it should dilate. And therefore since Violence has been ineffectual, the King is pleased to propose a softer method for the Peace of his Subjects. Since Conscience can't conform to the Laws already made, His Majesty proposes Laws that may conform to the Conscience. And since a King's Proposals are Virtually his Commands, every good Subject will not only be obliged by his reason, but by his allegiance, to contribute what in him lies towards the repealing of those Laws, which are so uneasy to the King, and the Burden of the Kingdom.  
Secondly, 'Twill appear reasonable to comply with His Majesty in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws, from the Genius of the Christian Religion, and that considered in its first planting or its propagation.  
Our Saviour chose rather to make his approach to Mankind in the Form of a Servant, than of a Triumphant Monarch: and the reason may be assigned, Because if the Christian religion had assaulted Men with violent Power, it had persuaded them that it contained some secret weakness, and the World would have conjectured that That Piety was a mere imposture which required so much Tyranny for its Establishment, By force, indeed, Christ might have Conquered, but not with that only have converted the World; and his rigour might have regulated the Body, but never put any influence upon the Soul. He therefore chose to plant his religion rather by Doctrine, than by the Sword; by his own meek Mouth, rather than by loud Clamours of War, and to give life to those who were dead in Trespasses and Sins, by living and dying innocently himself. And by this gentle Method as the Church was planted; so by the same only it thrived, it grew when it was moistened with the Blood of its Members, but fell when itself shed the Blood of Dissenters; it increased when its Votaries fell a Sacrifice to the Heathen Penal Statutes, but decayed apace, when by virtue of her own Penal Laws she turned the Sacrificer, and the Ecclesiastic Ark that sailed secure when storms were raised for ruin by Pagan Persecutors, was always wracked, and that without pity, when itself had raised the Hurricane for Persecution: For when all around cry Peace, Peace, a Lasting Peace, none scarcely will compassionate the defeat, if, in spite of all, a Man makes himself ready for Battle; especially when by love & peace only as the Victory may, so it ought to be obtained. And indeed whosoever endeaveurs to get it by other means, are still suspected to be in the wrong, and all conclude, that the best deciding Argument for what they profess, is only the sharp Sword which they draw.  
And moreover, suppose the suffering Parties to be what you will, yet the Sanguinary Method must be unreasonable. For if they should be in the right, they suffer as Martyrs, and you are guilty of their Blood; if in the wrong, your Violence makes them esteem their wrong just, and so they die to go to Hell, who might have lived by a gentle way of Demonstration, have seen their Errors, and rise at last to Heaven. If then we consider the Genius of Christianity, we must not take up the Tests and Penal Laws, but the meekness of the Cross, to be the true followers of our Lord and Master; For whosoever pretends otherwise to follow the Lamb, follows him only as a roaring Lion, and endeavours to tear and devour that Flock which he died to protect.  
But suppose, say some, that Men Blaspheme; have their Hands in Blood, Vitiate the Virgin, Ravish the Wife, and commit all Villainy, and that out of Principles of Religion, should not Penal Laws be made and Executed against such? I Answer, Yes, by all means, let all such be severely punished. He that sheds Man's Blood out of a Principle of Religion, by Man let his Blood be shed. Let the Sword cut off those who sin against the Unwritten Laws of God, and let the Darkness of Death be a Recompense for those who dare to Transgress against Nature's apparent Light. But, in the mean time, let no Man forfeit his Head for the Frail Error of his Brain, let no Man's Breath be stopped by Law, because he does not rightly open a Text in the Gospel, and since no man shall be Damned for his mere opinion in the next World, let him not be made miserable for it in this.  
But for the Sake of Christ's Religion, must not Error be Penally punished, the false Religion chastised, and Antichrist unseated? I Answer, By the same Rule every Church must fall foul upon her Sister, and because she would think herself a Rachel, not only conclude, but endeavour to make her Neighbour the Blear-eyed Leah: For every particular one is apt to Stigmatize the rest by the Name of Antichrist, to declare it in the wrong, and avow itself only in the right; it thinks like some imperious Schoolmaster, it ought to have the sole power of the Rod, and triumphantly above all others to be exempted from the Terror of the Lash. And so consequently the pulling down Antichrist, must dethrone Kings, depopulate Nations, and ruin the Christian World. If we pretend to be inspired with the true Genius of Christianity, let us not pretend to fear Fire and Faggot ourselves, and at the same time heap Coals of Fire upon the Heads of our Brethren; let us not seem ro dread the Rubric of a Massacre to our own Persons, and at the same time take all imaginable care for the Slaughter of others; nor let us, lest Smithfield should be in a Blaze by Popery, set the whole Nation in a Flame by Protestancy: For this is, whilst we condemn the Crimson Dye in others, to wear the Bloody Colours ourselves, and whilst we blame the Dissenter for not being as white as Snow, 'tis at the same instant to put on the guilty Blush of the Scarlet No, let the cool sedateness of primitive Christianity control the growing heats of Sedition; instead of Halters, let us meditate only the gentle Bonds of Peace; instead of Imprisoning our Neighbours, let us put religious restraints upon our imperious desires, instead of Levying Fines for Religion's sake on Earth, let us by Acts of Love secure a Treasure in Heaven; And let Charity be what it really aught to be, the true and a chief Test of the Christian Religion. Such was the Spirit of pure Christianity, when all Pride, Envy, and Interest were Sacrificed to the Christian Peace; Then, when St. Chrysostom would rather part with an Archbishopric, then ruin the Tranquillity of the Church, when one Father relinquished the See of Constantinople; to avoid an approaching division, when Clemens Romanus forsook the Wealth and Honour of the Chair of Rome, rather than foment arising Differences, when Exile was more Eligible with Peace, than shining greatness without it, when private interest and safety threw 'em selves away, like Jonah, to prevent a public ruin, and when Christians like that Prophet were more ready to endure the storm themselves, than to maintain it, though with their own security, to the Detriment of others.  
Thirdly, 'Twill appear reasonable to comply with the King in the repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws, from the consideration of the ill consequence of force, and the happy Effects of Clemency in Matters of Religion.  
1. We have known that the Fights for Religion were in the late time but so many Battles against it. Atheism and Schism sprang up with a greater Luxuriancy, and Faction grew double like an Hydras' Head, by cutting off of the Conscientious. The force that has been used in former Ages against Persons for Conscience and mere Religion, hath been so sinistrously prevalent, as to shake Established Kingdoms, to Degrade Royal Palaces into Recesses of Murderers, and Conver● God's House of Prayer into a Den of Thiefs. What confusion has not force for Religion introduced? A Throne has been changed into a Scaffold, a Royal Court into a Slaughter-house, and the ignoble Shrub exalted into the place of the Heavenly Cedar. Hath not the Veil of our Temple been Rent from the Top to the Bottom, our Churches rendered as poor as the Beggars which usually attend their Gates, and the Altar itself made a Sacrilegious Sacrifice? Our Mountains have been made to resemble Calvary; each Field almost has been turned into an Aceldama, and our Rivers like those of Egypt convertrd into Blood. Nor have the very Dead been spared, Graves have been rifled, Sepulchers despoiled, and Tombs stripped and ruined, as if the deceased had been guilty of Ceremonies, because they were adorned with an Escutcheon and a Monument. Have not our Rocks resounded with the dying Groans of the Wounded? Have not our Houses Echoed with Widows sighs, and bereft Parents Moans? And hath not every Pavement almost flowed with the Tears of the Weeping Virgin, and the distressed Orphan? And did not the Church of England expire with the loss and death of her Martyred Head? Nor hath severity for matters of mere Religion had any good success since the Restauration of his Late Majesty. For 'tis too well known that the Penal Laws destroyed that very Unity and Uniformity which they were designed to preserve; They drove whole Multitudes from that Church to which they should have drawn 'em, and the Excommunication from the Congregation very often proved an Extermination out of the Kingdom. Nor can it be otherwise, for (as I intimated before) Divine Love is no more obtainable by force, than humane Affection: The Conscience, like Wax, grows still more stubborn by the coldness of its usage, and nothing can so well bend the Spirit of Man, as the soft Whispers of the Holy Ghost.  
Since His Majesty therefore has been pleased to Grant an Indulgence, let us, like the good Samaritan, instead of the Corrosive Method, pour Oil and Wine into the Wounds of our bleeding Neighbours. Let me not be the unfriendly Priest, or uncharitable Levite, to pass regardless by my Brethren, who like the Man going from Jerusalem to Jericho are fallen among Thiefs, stripped and left half dead. No, let us have compassion on them, bind up their gaping Wounds, and instead of Levying Money for their ruin, contribute a far greater Sum than the Samaritans Two pence for their recovery. This way our Blessed Saviour, this the Apostles, this the Primitive Christians took; by meekness and suffering for Religion, they won the Hearts of the World to it; they used no Sword but that of the Spirit, but broke the Flinty Hearts of the Heathen by the soft and downy Methods of the Gospel. Can we imagine that the way for our Brethren to hear our winning Arguments, is to banish 'em our Conversation, to give occasion of a Voluntary Exile that they may become good Subjects, and to exalt ourselves against them, that they may see our meekness in Christ? No; the Bonds which bind the Dissenter serve too but to confirm his dissension: stripes, indeed, may soften his Flesh, but never mollify his Spirit, and the Penal Laws, which violently open his Purse, will serve but more closely to tie him up, and oblige him to stick to his opinion. The way to convice the Papist, that there is no Transubstantiation in the Eucharist, is not to force him to experience a fatal change in his Estate; the way to demonstrate that there is only a bare possibility for him of going to Heaven, is not to compel him to feel that 'tis impossible he should live upon Earth; nor is the tying him up from serving his King any good Method to evince, that he does not rightly worship his Maker. The light of the Spirit grew still more hot and zealous by being Dark-lanthorned in a Dungeon; the Goal that redueed the Nonconformist almost to rottenness, could never yet mellow him into compliance, and the reduction of a Conventicler to a Morsel of Bread, never made him one jot the less in love with the Barn. 'Tis not difference in, but the Penalties for opinion, that infringes the Christian Love and Charity: The Person suffering envies his Neighbour that lives at ease, hates the insulting Party, and murmurs against the Fountain of his pressure. For Love and Stripes are consistent to no Nature but of a Spaniel, and though an  force may procure quiet, yet it never can beget a lasting peace. Most men like Steel springs, though they violently stand bend, yet they have a strong aptitude of coming into their places, like Bows they will break the string that crooks 'em, and will be humble no longer than the pressure of their Chains make 'em so.  
But now kindness smooths the Furrows which the Iron Tests and Penal Laws had deeply ploughed, sweetens the Vinegar and Gall which harsh mulcts, fines and confiscations had gencrated, and wins so upon all those who have the least Generosity in their Natures, that they who would passively have died under an oppressor, will die for him when he appears and becomes merciful. Clemency makes the Loyal Cement stick, which the roughness of severity would probably have fretted off; 'tis the great Elixir of a State, which must probably Transmute every Subject into the golden temper of Loyalty, and ferment the whole Nation into the decent Crasis of a willing obedience: For all true Sons of the Commonwealth must surely be pleased, when they perceive the King is not at all confined to one Party, that he has Blessings in store for more than one of his Children, that he will suffer no rapacious Excrescence in the Body Politic, to draw the whole Nutriment from the useful Members, but that God's Vicegerent is such, that, like God himself, with him there is no respect of Persons, but every one of every profession that feareth God is accepted with him.  
I he fatal consequence of the contrary to this, no man can be ignorant of, but must know that oppressed Parties have grown closer by the weight of their Affliction, and and their Stripes have been able to beat 'em into the solid consistence of a confederacy: For many Men, though never so dastardly before, yet when pressed and cooped up, have been apt to turn again upon the Government, and when they have been run as it were to the Wall, they have thought it extremely lawful to draw upon the adverse Party. Whereas give but their religious Zeal room enough, though never so fiery, like Lightning in open Air, it does no harm, but stopped, it melts the obstructing Sword, and shatters the opposing Oak; and that current of Conscience, which at liberty calmly slides along, when 'tis once damned up, has grown impatient, ruined its Bars, and deluged the adjoining guiltless Neighbourhood. So that as those undue restrictions have overturned Governments, their Relaxation is most likely to set 'em upright and preserve 'em: For if a Kingdom be compared to a Ship, we may conclude, that by taking in an over-ballast of Tests she may probably sink, and insisting too much on Penal Laws, she may easily over-set. And therefore let us comply with His Sacred Majesty in taking 'em away, and not let our Eyes be so dazzled with the false Lustre of private Interest, as not to see, or our Faces so exalted with Pride, as to overlook in this our Day the things that belong to our Nation's Peace. By such a Lenity Faction will be ruined; and one mighty advantage that such a Liberty will moreover procure, is the Separation of the Sheep from the Goats, the distinction of the unconvertible Rebel from the Honest Man; for when all have Liberty to separate like consistent Heterogeneous Bodies in a large quantity of Liquor, every one will take his natural place, and he that runs may read, who are Dissenters for Rebellion, and who the well meaning Separatist for Conscience sake.  
Fourthly, From the consideration of the Allegiance and Gratitude we own to His Majesty, we ought to comply with the King in the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws.  
The King, who is the Supreme Law, is so gracious as to endeavour to have all uneasy Laws made void; whosoever therefore is so turbulent as to obstruct the Halcion-days designed, may be esteemed little less than doubly rebellious; for he not only contradicts his Majesty's inclinations, which should have with all Loyal Subjects the force of Commands, but he likewise so far encroacheth upon the Prerogative of Heaven itself, as to pursue the supposed Transgressions of his Fellow Subjects, even beyond the Third and Fourth Generation, for of such an extent is the designed severity of the Penal Laws and Tests.  
Nor let any man say, that he does not obstruct his majesty's Inclination, because he takes up no Arms against him: For if Adultery may be committed in the Heart, Rebellion may be so too. You may Stab your Prince with a Traitorous Thought; 'tis possible to be a Regicide by the Two-edged Sword which proceeds out of a Malicious Mouth; yea, a Smile and Complaisant Carriage, at the hearing of a Seditious Discourse, is no less than Treason in the sight of God-Almighty: And to pray for the Destruction of my Prince, is not only to Levy War upon Earth, but to endeavour to Arm Heaven against him too, and to instruct the great Creator in that Vengeance which is alone his Prerogative, as well how and when, as where and of whom to take. And thus he that even for Religion's sake shoots out his Arrows, even bitter Words, is as disobedient, as he that throws a Javelin; and to unsheathe a Pen against his Prince, makes a Man in common Sense as great Rebel, as he that draws his Sword. And therefore since to think write or speak disloyally upon the account of our Relion, is certainly resistance for it, and since resistance for it is equally as damning as the denial of it: Let every Man conclude, that he can't lift up even his Soul against his Prince, but 'tis in God's account the same thing as listing up his Hand against him, and against Heaven itself too, for which, without sound Repentance, he must expect certain Damnation. Let none therefore by disloyal Zeal force up the ill Seeds of unquietness and dissatisfaction: Let none sit sullenly in close Cabals, to Hatch the Cockatrice of Jealousies and Fears; nor let their Blood boil up in Passion against the approaching Peace of their Fellow Subjects: For whosoever do so, will declare themselves to be no less than Antichristians, Friends of the Father of Lies, and to owe their Sanguinary Cruelty to him only, who was a Murderer from the Beginning.  
But can we be disloyal, say some, if we are for keeping up the Laws and the Government by Law Established? Yes certainly, I answer, for you cannot be Loyal, unless you pay true Allegiance, which is not paid unless you obey your King, and that actively, in all those his commands and desires, which are not contradictory to the will of God. Now when the King desires you to send such men to Parliament, that may repeal the Penal Laws and Tests, He desires nothing but what is the Duty of every Freeholder to do; who ought to choose such men that may as well repeal Old Laws that are become grievous, as contribute to the making of New Ones, that may be more easy. The Government by Law Established, is so Established pro tempore, for the bene esse of the Kingdom; and when it ceases to be so, all aught to concur, that by another Law the grievous Statutes might be dis-established; for such Statutes are and aught to be mutable according to the various Face of Affairs. The same Remedy even for the same Distemper, will not always prove effectual. I say therefore, to those who insist so much upon the Law, that 'tis possible that those Laws which were made for us, and pleased us one Year, may not be for us but dissatisfy us the next; and miserable surely would it be for this Kingdom, if the Supreme Power were not upon all occasions a Dispensing one too.  
I might urge against the Validity of the Test, that the King's Concurrence being rather forced than voluntarily had, it must necessarily want the Essential Form of a Law. But 'tis certain, that such Acts as tend to lessen the King's Pretogative, are adjudged void in themselves, though made by the King's consent. And what can be more against His Prerogative, than those Tests which would deprive him of that Liberty, which even every Country Farmer enjoys, viz. the Power of choosing his Servants and his Counsellors? To allot a Prince his Counsellors, is like assigning him Tutors, and little less than to pretend to Govern him. To preserve his person by such means, looks like its Imprisonment; and to exclude all but ourselves from being raised by him, what is it but unjustly to defraud our honest English Neighbour, to exalt ourselves against our Brethren, and Lavishly to impose upon the Royal Prerogative? If by former Acts of Parliament, none ought to have a Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm, what shall we think of those, who endeavour their utmost to make His Majesty do what they please? If to be adherent to the King's Enemies, to give 'em aid and comfort, be Treason; what are those Men who adhere to them whom His Majesty esteems his Enemies, aid 'em with invectives against those he accounts his Friends, and comfort them with the hopes and prospect of a sudden Revolution? By which they must tacitly own, that it is lawful to be Rebellious in present, that they may be Loyal in Reversion. If to remove the King's Counsellors, to assign His Majesty Methods for the disposition of his Forces, of which he had the sole Supreme Government, Command and Disposition, be like Overtures to Rebellion; the Test cannot be altogether guiltless, which aims at the same things. And whatsoever may be Haranged, the contrary to abridge the King's power in granting Commissions, and choosing his Counselors, is no less than to cut short the Prerogative.  
Fifthly, We ought to comply with his Majesty in the repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws, if we consider the Liberty of the Subject.  
As we are Born English Men, we are born Subjects to the lawful Kings of this Realm, and being so, we are born to all the Privileges of Subjects too, and have a right to all the Liberty and Property which Subjects in our stations are capable of, and no Act of Parliament for mere Religion ought to abridge us of those Native Rights, nor can any Law justly take 'em from us, till we forfeit 'em by the Transgression of the Laws of Nature, and those other primitive constitutions of the Government. For the Rights of the Members of Civil Government were unalterably such before the Faith of our Saviour was received in the World, and therefore unless God had revealed it to the contrary, 'tis impossible such rights should be destroyed by the Reception of out Saviour's Religion, and there being no such Revelation, they must stand still inviolable; and so stand, that neither the Christian Religion should have any direct influence upon them, nor they on the contrary upon the Christians as such, since they originally were and aught still to be harmlessly apart. And hence 'tis possible for a Turk or a Jew to be a good Subject to a Christian King.  
Now therefore, if Religion be so different from the Civil Government, as it ought not upon its own account to Rob the Members of such Government of their Civil Rights and Privileges; 'twill then follow, That the Tests are very unreasonable, which upon the account of mere Religion, rob the Subjects of those Liberties and Rights: For my Right as an English Free holder enables me to choose whom I think fit to represent me in Parliament, but the Test disables me from it, and tells me, that unless I choose whom itself only thinks fit, 'twill make my choice vain. The Laws tell me, though a Man can't be apparently Born to the Bar or Pulpit, yet he may be so Born to the Rights of Peerage, and if not Born, he may be made a Peer, and either way have a sufficient Title to those Privileges: But the Casuistical Test says, No Rights of Peerage without Protestanoy, No Rights of Blood without rightly believing that of our Saviour; nor any Seat in the House of Lords, if I adhere to the Chair of Rome. My Birthright tells me. I'm Born in a Capacity of my Sovereign's Favour, of meriting Rewards from his Hand, and so consequently in a possibility of advancing my Station; But the predestinating Test saith gruffly and severely, No; There is an  Decree of Reprobation gone out against you, Red Letters have certainly marked you for bloody Perdition in this World; and deprives the Papist even of Ability of doing a good Work; or if 'tis possible for him to do Ten Millions, yet the vast heap shall not be able to make the least Step to advance him one Inch towards the happiness of this Life. The Test savagely determines, though the Papist has the Fidelity of an unfall'n Angel, the King shall never trust him; though the Valour of Achilles, his Prince shan't give him a Commission; and tho' he had the Wisdom of Solomon, yet he shan't come near to advise him. What can be more inhuman, what more barbarous, than to rob our Brethren at once of their Birthright and their Blessing, and to ruin them on Earth, because they take another way of going to Heaven? As if the Sacramental Bread were designed to rob Men of their vital Morsel: As if the Cup of Blessing in order to the next Life, was instituted for Mankind's Curse in this, and the Blood of the Blessed Jesus flowed to destroy those whom 'twas mercifully shed to save!  
What makes the vast difference between the Papist and other Dissenters, and us? Are some of us Loyal? So are some of them. Are we able to advise His Majesty? They have an equal, if not a transcendent Talon that way: Do we deserve Preferment, and not they? It lies in the King's Breast which Party merits most. Have some of us been conspicuous for our Allegiance? They are our Equals. Have some of their Religion been fatal to Kings? So have some of ours. Have they been Plotters? So have we. Have we been instrumental in preserving this King? They were so for the Safety of the last. Did Men of another Communion bring the Royal Martyr to the Block? Many of our Church began the fatal Quarrel. Have they been sanguineously cruel of late? Lo! by keeping up the Tests we are so now. Our Reputation is chequered, as well as theirs; the Proportion of the Black and the White of Vice and Virtue stands equal in either: we have all been faulty, we have all gone out of the way. Let us then return, by being charitable to each other, and obedient to His Majesty.  
If it be here objected, That the Dissenters Principles are inconsistent with Government: Who is better able to judge of that, than He that sits at the Helm? If it be said, That their Religion is inconsistent with the true Worship of God: Charity would believe, were they convinced of it, they would soon retract their Error, And since every one of us aims at one eternal End, since we all own one God and one Lord Jesus Christ, Charity would believe a possibility of attaining the End, tho' in the use of different Ways. The Arrow that is shot Compass may as certainly hit the White, as that which is directed strait. The same City may be as surely entered by him that walks o'er a Mountain, or through a Desert or a Wood to it, as by another that traves o'er the strait and even Valley. And Charity would believe, that the Crown of Heaven might possibly be obtained by the roundabout Runner, as surely as by him that thinks he more advantageously casts his Ground; especially if we believe a possibility of the Salvation of the Apostles before they believed the Doctrine of the Resurrection.  
But suppose the Errors of our Brethren were never so inconsistent with Government; once more I must observe, That a rough Method is not probable to convert 'em: For Conversion is usually wrought by the softest means: The Mildness of the Converter is most apt to melt the Soul of the Erroneous; he must be softened before he can take a new Impression; and by the gentle warmth of Love be made to relent, before he can be in a capacity of being cast into a new Form: And therefore the Frost and Horror of the Test must be very unsuitable for this purpose.  
Sixthly, We ought ot comply with the King in the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws, if we consider the Interest of the Church.  
There are none that are truly of the Church of England, but are for the Doctrine of Passive Obedience; and if so, they must grant, that the National established Church can be no longer such than the Supreme Power will have it so: And therefore the Church of England ought to please the King, if she would herself be longer pleased in her Establishment. She ought not imperiously to think her Station infallibly unprecarious, nor rudely to question the King's Word, but reverently to obey his just Desires. How extremely ill does it look to question the Word of a King, and of such a King too? I'm sure, if she had given her Word for the performance of any thing, and its Veracity should be doubted, she would think she had good reason to be desparately displeased. And therefore she not doing in this Particular as she would be done by, she may give occasion to be rewarded by her own Measures; and if she persists to question the King's Word, the King may justly suspect her Loyalty. When the King has given his Royal Word for my Security, if I than should doubt my Safety, I may be adjudged by no means to deserve it. Not to rely upon my Prince's Promise, is to forfeit the expected Support; and whosoever scoffingly calls His Majesty's merciful Indulgence only a Scaffolding, may perhaps very soon come to deserve a more dishonourable Death than is usually executed upon the Fabric he mentions. And therefore if the Church of England would be secure in her own Liberty, 'tis not only her Duty, but her Interest, to promote and confirm that of others. I know we pretend to merit much, by obstructing the Bill of Exclusion: Let us not then destroy our former Desert by our present Errors; for 'tis possible that our Righteousness may be forgot, and in the Sin that we sin we may die.  
None certainly can be against the King's Inclinations now, but those who would be now for His Exclusion; for he that contradicts his Prince's Inclinations even in things Indifferent, tacitly insinuates; that he would not have such a Man to ruse over him; and he that contradicts what by His Majesty and His wise Council is adjudged to be for the Strength and Peace of the Nation, is no longer a Friend, but a stubborn Enemy to the Government: For his Eye must necessarily be evil because the King's is good. Common Gratitude methinks should oblige our Obedience, not only in this, but in all other Affairs. His Majesty has graciously confirmed to us all that we possess; and shall we, like Jesurun, when we remain fat, kick against him that makes us so, and in the height of our Plenty envy our poor Brethren the small Crumbs which fall from our Table? Many of our Church have writ, spoke, and inveighed against what His Majesty would have done; yet He daily forgives us: And when our Lord and Master hath forgiven us, should we in return take our Fellow-subjects by the Throats; and when he is merciful to us, resolve to be cruel to the rest of his Servants? His Majesty has promised to be our Defence, if we please; and shall we foolishly and ungratefully reject His Safeguard? Shall we refuse His Protection, but desire one Attribute of the Prerogative, viz. the Supreme Power of the Sword, that we may destroy others, whilst we protect ourselves? And when He has promised to be our Shepherd, shall we refuse to be harmless Sheep, but expect to be made Porcupines, and covered all o'er with Armour?  
Let it not be recorded in our Annals, That we were lowly then only when we were oppressed, inclined to Pity but in those days only when we could not strike; and that the established Church, when it could not wound others, was Felo de se, and turned militant against itself. For 'tis certain, that whilst we stand up for an Arbitrary Safety, we seek and pursue our own Ruin; since a common Understanding may easily foretell, that no such Pride can continue long without the attendance of a Fall; and that by obstinate Methods taken for our Safety, to the pity of our Friends, and the triumph of our Enemies, we shall find our Security at last in the worst sense, and experience our Church to be sure and safe, by being dead and gone.  
Let it not be said of us who are for Passive Obedience, That we intent passively to obey the King only so long as he would permit us actively to afflict our Fellow-Subjects; That we would accept him with his Throne and dreadful Sceptre, but not with the soft Plumes of his Mercy-seat; That we approved of Majesty, not when 'twas clothed with its Forgiveness, but its Terror; and desired it to approach the rest of the Nation as Jupiter did Semele, with that Thunder which is certain to make its Peace an Abort. Let no Sons of the Church of England presume henceforth with a Confessorian Boldness to call His Sacred Majesty, who is a zealous Worshipper of the True God, an Idolater: Let none dare impiously to name the King, who adores his Saviour, a Wafer-worshipper: For this is to treat a Prince with less Civility than is given to his Subjects; 'tis no less than to spit rudely in the Face of Majesty, to endeavour to justle the King out of the Affections of his People, and to give ourselves the Lie, when we do these things, and yet declare ourselves to be of the Church of England, which obliges us to the Obedience of Words and Thoughts, as well as of Actions. And well it is for such a sort of Men, that they lived not in Queen Elizabeth's time. Let no Sons of the Church of England irrationally and uncharitably believe a Popish Prince uncapable of Repentance, and be tempted to pray for his Destruction; for 'tis expressly contrary to the Doctrine of the Blessed Jesus: It might provoke a Prince to put a Regulator to such Devotions, since, when such Men come to the Public Congregations, they must seem to pray for the King, when they pray against him; and I declare, upon a Supposition position of their incapacity of Repentance too, and that there were no Laws in force to punish such treasonable Overtures, it might tempt all honest and loyal Men, for the good of the Church and State, to wish that such a kind of Church-Votaries would exactly copy all the Actions of the wretched Judas, after he had barbarously betrayed his gracious Lord and Master. For, with such Men, to love and honour the King, is to be an Apostate; to love and be kind to our Neighbour, is to be highly irreligious; and to endeavour to confirm the Reconciliation of the King to His Subjects, and to create a lasting Friendship of the King's Subjects among themselves, is to be an Enemy to true Peace. With such, a morose Stubbornness against, is to be Loyal to His Majesty: Saucily to affront the King, is to be a True Protestant; and Disobedience to the Father of our Country, is a manifestation of being a true Son of the Mother-Church. But let all those who are truly Religious and Loyal, encourage themselves in the God of Peace, and in our merciful Saviour who is the Prince of Peace, and in His Sacred Majesty who is truly a King of Peace; and being so encouraged, let 'em go about the great Work of Peace; and if they are pointed at for being Loyal, let 'em know, that 'tis a Mark of Favour. To be stigmatised for being thus peaceable, is to wear the Character of Heaven; and though they fail of the designed End in this World, they cannot miss the Reward of the Peacemaker in the next.  
Seventhly, We ought to obey the King in the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws, if we consider the Duties we own to our Neighbours.  
'Tis at once ungenerons and unjust, to monopolise the Common Good, to engross the King to ourselves, and to repine that all the Vital Spirit flows not from the Sacred-Head to one particular Member; since Judah ought to have a proportionable Share in her David, as well as contending Israel.  
Where is the Kindness to our Neighbour, when we desire to give Life to those Laws which are certain Death to our Brethren? The King, like Heaven, designs that His Sun shine shall be darted on all, the Just as the Unjust; shall we then raise a Storm to obstruct the refreshing Beams? Or shall the Church assume the Nature of a Burning-glass, and so contract the extended Rays, as to transmit 'em to the Conflagration of Dissenters? The King, like Heaven, designs His Drops of Mercy shall fall on all around; let none therefore show themselves so enviously covetous, as to wish the fruitful Moisture were all confined to his own Channel. No; let us consider, that even those whom we think Prodigals may expect the fatted Calf from the merciful Father of their Country, as well as we, who too haughtily imagine that we never went astray. Let us not curse whom the King designs to bless, nor call for Fire from Heaven to consume whom He graciously means to warm: And when, like His Saviour, He comes to save men's Lives, far be it from us to seek to destroy 'em, and that by those Laws and Tests which some have very ill compared to Samson's Hair; but they may very well, in time, be resembled to Samson's Lion, out of which no Sweetness can be expected till they lay down their Terror and are dead.  
If we would do as we would be done by, we should not lad Men with Burdens which we are not willing to bear ourselves. When we are well clothed, why should we desire to strip our thread bare Brethren? Or why should we think it reasonable to desire our Neighbours to lie still, that they may be the more conveniently beaten?  
Let it no more be said, That whilst Rome, like Saul, has slain its thousands, the Church of England has extinguished its ten thousands. Let it no more be said ●…at we have separated the Inhabitants from their Native Country; separated earning Parents from their weeping Offspring, the loving Husband from the lamenting Wife, the Orphan's Morsel from his hungry Stomach, and divided the poor Widow from her little Handful and her remaining Cruise. Let it not be said, That we endeavour to outdo the Miseries of France: For the Unhappiness of the Hugonots was finished in short; but that of the Dissenters, by keeping up the Tests and Penal Laws, must be endless. Let it not be said, That 'tis not so much the Union as the Undoing of our Neighbours, that we seek after; that 'tis not Diana, but her Shrines, that we regard; and consequently, that we ourselves are the Buyers and Sellers who deserve the Whip for the clearing of the Temple.  
Eighthly, We ought to concur for the Repealing of the Tests and Penal Laws, if we would be kind to our Country.  
'Tis not the diversity of Religious Professions in a Kingdom that make a Nation unhappy, as I observed before; but the Sanguinary Cruelty for such a Variety. 'Twas not the nature of Joseph's many-coloured Coat, but the Malice of his Brethren, that separated him from his lamenting Father. And when a Nation is separated from her Common Father, such a Division is not caused by the various Complexion of her Religion, but by the Disobedience and Ingratitude of her Sons: For we are assured from History, and our own Experience, that where the Complexion of Religion is as various as that of the Rainbow, like a Sacred Rainbow too, it keeps the World there from a Deluge of Blood, and an Inundation of Poverty: For nothing depopulates a Country like the severe Endeavour for the Uniformity of its Inhabitants. When pressed by the Heat of Penal Laws, they quickly fly away like Mercury, and such a Mercury too, which carries along the radiant Metal and gaudy Wealth in its departure; or if they be hindered from flight, for want of Vent they commonly burst the Vessel, and rend by Discord the Kingdom which contains 'em.  
But, say some, if the Tests and Penal Laws be taken off, they may be renewed against ourselves, and so our own Cannon will be turned upon us.  
To this I answer, If a Security be possible to be made by King and Parliament, we have the Royal Word it shall be done. The King of Himself might give His People this Blessing of Peace for His Life, and very much longer; yet when He designs a more lasting Happiness, He will not effect it without our helping Hands, and, like Heaven itself, resolves not to save us without our own Concurrence. By which general Concurrence, the general Security must be strong: For when the Papist, the Church of England, and all Dissenters are jointly and equally concerned, like so many Stones contributing to an Arch, the Fabric must be sure. One will balance the other, and so evenly, that, like a known Example in Mathematics, Where three Pieces are put together, 'tis impossible that one without the rest should fall.  
There are some who are for nulling the Penal Laws in relation to some Dissenters only: But the Partiality is unreasonable; for 'tis to be easy to some, that the Severity might fall with a greater weight on the rest.  
There are others that are for the taking away both Tests and Penal Laws; but they would only have it for the present Reign. To such I answer; Besides the taking notice of the Impertinence of the Concession, since the King of himself has Power to do it, there is an horrid Uncharitableness in it; for, to take away the Tests but pro tempore, is only so to take 'em away, that they may certainly return; and to plant 'em as it were underground, that they may spring up in the expected time with a greater exuberancy: And then where is my sincere Charity to my Neighbour, when I design to ruin him hereafter, though my Hands must be discreetly tied up for the present? Where is my Charity, when I forbear to set Fire to the fatal Train now, but leave it ready, that I may the more securely blow him up in the days to come? And where is my Christian Temper, when I consent to let the Lion sleep in this King's Reign, that he may rouse more strongly and devour the Innocent in the next? No; let us not rob our Countrymen of their Rights in this World, because we think their Opinions in the wrong for the next. Let us not imagine that they cannot be good Subjects to the King in Temporals, because some of them own another Supreme in Spirituals: Nor let us, against all Experience and Reason, conclude, That France and Spain have no good Subjects, nor Absolute Monarches, because we know they are perfect and professed Catholics.  
To draw towards a Conclusion therefore. If we would be grateful to the King, let us divest ourselves of all morose Roughness, and, like polished Bodies, reflect back those Beams of Clemency which He daily sheds upon us. If we would be merciful to our Neighbours, let us cut the cruel Knots which our own Hands have kept too long tied. If we would be kind to ourselves, let us not provoke His Majesty to take away that Ease from us which we refuse to allow others.  
Are we afraid of Popery? The King assures us, 'Tis possible to be happy, without being pernicious. Ought the King to be afraid of Popish Recusants? He must then be afraid of himself and his faithful Friends. Are the Laws that ought to be repealed wholesome and rational? What can be more cruel and absurd, than to oblige a Prince to prosecute his Friends for Traitors, to suppose him a Foe to the Sceptre he sways, and his Head an Offender against the Crown it wears? Is the Test fit to live? It is concluded to have owed its Life to the Breath of Perjury, to have grown by Currents of guiltless Blood, to be designed against our Sovereign, and can only be preserved from death by those who must err in their Charity and their Understandings.  
Is His Majesty not to be believed? He has given the greatest Demonstrations of his Veracity imaginable; and those who distrust him, after all, may justly expect the Merits of a stubborn Unbelief. Is it impossible to have an agreeable Prospect of Affairs, if the Tests be repealed? Set but aside the Mists of Pride, Interest, and Malice, and all will be fair as the serene Peace which we seek. Are Popery and Protestancy inconsistent in a Nation? Experience attests the contrary; and if as different as Jacob and Esau, yet, like those Twins, they might be nourished in a very narrow compass. Would we grant as much Liberty as is in the Low-Countries? Then let the Tests be repealed, which deprive Men of the Honour of the Court; and the Profit of Employments.  
Can't the Church and State be preserved without Tests and Penal Laws? How were they maintained before their Making, and how have they flourished since their Dispensation? Ought the Laws already made to remain? No Laws ought longer to remain, than they are for the support of that Peace for which they were designed: But they ought rather to expire, when their Establishment threatens the Destruction of our Peace and our Loyalty.  
Does the Papist enjoy Toleration and Preferment from his Prince, and therefore needs no further Security? May not the Catholics ask you then, If you are secured of your Life to day, what need you an Assurance for to morrow? Or, If you are secured of your own Life, what need there be a care for your dear Posterity? Finally, Tho seeming Clouds appear, let our Fears and Jealousies be laid aside, and fear no Darkness, since God and the King say, Let there be Light. When the King sends out the pleaceful Dove let out turbulent Waters abate, and let the Olive branch be returned to the Sacred Pilot. Like the Son in the Gospel, who retused to do his Father's Will at first, but afterwards repent and went about it, let our Eyes after all be so opened, as to obey his Majesty; that those Laws which owed their forced Generations to preternatural Heats and Mistake, may be speedily destroyed by a cool and sedate Understanding.   

And now I expect for this Public Discourse to be call●… what I have often been styled for the Loyalty of my Pr●vate Converse to wit, A Papist. But if to love and honour my God; and to preach the Practice and Doctrine 〈◊〉 my Saviour, be to be a Papist, I am one. If to preach Allegiance to my Prince, and Peace to my Brethren, be to 〈◊〉 a Papist, I am one. Or if to entreat the Church of England to love herself, and to act according to her own Principles, be to be of the Church of Rome, I confess I am 〈◊〉 For I declare, in what I have said, I have only 〈◊〉 discharged my Conscience, which would never suffer 〈◊〉 through the whole Course of my Life to be obstinately Irreligious towards my Maker, to be indecently Irreverent to my Saviour, to be in the least Disloyal to my King, or Uncharitable to my Neighbour. For the preservation of which Conscience, I here declare, I will be content to be a Beggar, or even Nothing upon the face of the Earth, rather than by its Vastation to become the greatest Subject in the World. And all who know me, (and I have the happiness of speaking to a great number who do) know that I sincerely speak the Truth: By which, if, with the Apostle, I am become any Man's Enemy, I must be forced to tell him, That True Religion, and its Consequent True Loyalty, are far too precious to be expended for the Purchase of a Seditious Friendship.   
FINIS.