REASONS FOR THE REPEAL OF THE TESTS. In a Letter to a Friend in the Country.  
With Allowance.  
SIR.  
THE King's late gracious Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, having been most thankfully received throughout the Kingdom, it is with some surprise, that I red in your Letter, That many of the Clergy of the established Church, bandy against it, and are inciting the Gentlemen of your Neighbourhood, to a Dislike of his Majesties Resolutio● to recommend to his Parliament, the Repeal of the destructive P●●al Laws, and ensnaring Tests; and that they are, at the same time, slily insinuating a suspicion into Protestant Dissenters, of a Snake in the Grass, and by that Art, working them into their Faction, for upholding t●ose Engines of Mischief, in opposition to his Majesties declared Pleasure, and against the Inclination, and undoubted Interest of the Bulk of his People: I say, I am surprised at your News, for those very Clergymen you tell me are playing this Game, did of late make such a high Pretence to inimitable Loyalty, that a Man could not, with common Charity suspect, that Persecution itself would provoke them, to start from it, either in Principle or practise; wherefore I( being as it seems too easy) concluded that the Churches grandeur and Wealth, together with her Religion, being secured, the Example of her Sons would have raised the Peoples Esteem of the King's Grace, but finding my Mistake, and that I did not rightly comprehend those Gentlemen, allow me to add to my last, which  told you my Thoughts of the Penal Laws, the Reasons which occur to me, for the taking off the Tests, and therein I doubt not of convincing you, that they were framed to serve a Turn, and that a very wicked one, that of the Seclusion of our present sovereign, and the Providence of God having in a very eminent manner appeared against it, you will then agree with me, that every Step towards it, is to be abhorred.  
I shall in the first place take notice, what the Tests are, because I conclude many of our Neighbours to whom this Letter may be imparted know little more of them, than the Name.  
We have the first Test in the Act of 1673. entitled, An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants.  
That Act disables all Persons to bear Office, Civil or Military, or to have Command, or Place of Trust under the King, or to be of his Household, or in his Service, who shall not take the Oaths of Supremacy, and Allegiance, and receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, according to the Church of England, and make and subscribe this Declaration.  
I A. B. do declare that I believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, or in the Elements of Bread and Wine, at or after the Consecration thereof, by any Person whatsoever.  
And the Refuser, is by that Act made incapable of any Office, or to prosecute any svit at Law, or in Equity, or to be a Guardian, Executor, or Administrater, or to be capable of a Legacy, or dead of Gift, and shall forfeit Five hundred Pounds.  
The Second Test, is in the Statute( in the memorable Year 1678.( when we were warm, almost to the Degree of Madness) entitled, An Act for the more effectual Preserving the King's Person and Government, by d●sab●ing Papists, from sitting in either House of Parliament o● There, after a flattering Preamble, it is enacted, That Peers, and Commons, before they sit in Parliament, shall take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and make and subscribe this Declaration. I A. B. do solemnly and sincerely in the Presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, That I do believe, that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, there is not any Transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ, at, or after the Consecration thereof, by any Person whatsoever; and that the Invocation, or Adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and Idolatrous.  
And it enacts, That no Peer of any of the three Kingdoms, nor convict Recusant, who takes not the Oaths, and subscribes the Declaration, shall come into the Presence of the King or Queen, or into the Houses where either of them Reside, &c.  
The Offender is judged a Popish Recusant, and to suffer as such, and disabled to hold any Office or Place of Trust, or to fit or vote in Parliament, or to have the Benefit of the Law, and shall forfeit 500 l.  
The sworn Servants of the King, not having conformed to the Act of 1673, shall comform to this Act, or be disabled to hold their Places, and be subject to the aforesaid Penalties; Notwithstanding the Proviso in the Act, that it should not extend to his Royal Highness, the Duke of York, it is well known to all who remember the Transaction of that Bill, in the Two Houses, that it was chiefly intended against his now Majesty, and that when the Proviso was brought in, it was stiffly opposed, and when carried, which was with Difficulty, the active Men who framed and promoted the Bill, did acknowledge, That what they mainly aimed at, was eluded by the Proviso, which was ( in order to the grand Exclusion) the Excluding his Royal Highness from the Lord's House, and from the Presence of his then Majesty. But to keep to my Word, I proceed to the Reasons for the Repeal of both the Tests.  
They ought to be taken away, because they are unreasonable, and unjust( Circumstances are altered, and we cannot now expect, That they should be put in Execution; nay, it is altogether impracticable to do it.)  
The King must be served, can it be thought Reasonable that it should be done, by such Persons only, who reject the Doctrines of his Majesty's own Faith? And to have it to be an absolutely necessary Qualification, for the King's Service, to renounce his Religion? Sure there is little of Reason, less of Decency, and good Manners, in pretending so to impose upon his Majesty, that no Person may approach his presence, come into his Court, or be admitted to the Honour of his Service, but that therefore, he shall be deemed as an Out-law, deprived of the Benefit of prosecuting his civil Right, rendered incapable of any Trust under the King, and of receiving a Gift, or Legacy from Father, Mother, or Friend, but upon the terms of declaring the King an Idolater. But methinks I hear some Sticklers in the Point in question, beginning to say, let the King, in God's Name, be served by whom he pleases, we will concede to the repealing the Test of 1673. which puts a rude and unreasonable Qualification upon his Majesty's Servants, but what need of Roman catholics in Parliament? We will retain the Test of 1678. I shall therefore show you, why I do think we ought to labour earnestly the sending both Tests together.  
The Test of 1678, is very unjust, in that it deprives Peers of their Birth-right, for matters of Opinion in things merely Religious, they are Conciliarii nati; and as such, have an indisputable Right, to sit in the Lords House of Parliament: This Test then, tho it contains only Controversies in Faith, is an high Violation of the great Right, and privilege of the Peers, in excluding them from sitting, and serving the King, and Kingdom, in the supreme Judicature.  
I am sure in the time of the late Usurpation, we called out for freedom of Parliamnets( which is destroyed by this Test) and decried their Seclusion of Members, who were not so, and so qualified; let us then, as lovers of Parliaments, be steady to that Principle, and use our best Endeavours, in our Spheres, for the abolishing the Tests, which alter the Constitution of the Government; and the rather, for that the Causes, or Pretences for these Tests, are ceased; if we do believe the King and his Government, not to be in danger from the Roman catholics.  
Designing and intriguing Men, have been long at this testy, testing Work, you remember the Church-men catched the Non comforming Ministers, by a Test in 1665. in the Act we best know, by the Name of the Oxford Act.  
Some time after ( viz.) in the Year 1675. the same Test was set on Foot in Parliament, by the Test-Mongers, with design to have made it more Extensive, than to the Non-Conformist Preachers residing in a Corporation, for it incapacitated the Peers to sit in Parliament, without the qualification of that Test: It was carried in the Lords House, by Vote, after, and against such Debates, as it may be, no one Point ever had there: It appears, by the Journal of that House, that many Lords( of whom there are yet alive, the marquis of Winchester, the Earls of Bedford, Hallifax, Clarendon, Lord Grey of Rolleston, and Lord Wharton) by their Protest, declared their Dissent; for that, the imposing an Oath, and that the Refusal should incapacitate them from sitting, and voting in the House, was unprecedented, and the highest Invasion of the Liberties and privileges of the Peerage, and most destructive of the Freedom of Parliament, because the privilege of sitting and voting in Parliament, is an Honour they have by Birth, and so inherent a Right, and inseparable from them, that nothing can take it away, but what by Law, must withal take away their Lives, and corrupt their Blood.  
Was this sound Doctrine at that Day?( yes, it was, and as such prevailed, and the Test fell to the Ground) then it must always be so; Truth will be Truth, let men change never so often; and I must believe that this Position will weigh, with our stickling Sons of the Church, who seem over fond of the Tests, when they see the Opinion of such great men, whose Names are celebrated, for Wisdom and Integrity, and to whom they pay so great a Deference; but to proceed.  
It is highly necessary that these Tests be abrogated; this appears in that the King desires it, the Papists crave it, and the Interest of the whole Nation requires it: We are all then in Prudence to consent thereto; the retaining the Test is in Truth a denial of Liberty of Conscience, for it requires men, under Penalties, to declare themselves in matters of Faith, otherwise then they are persuaded, and so infringes this Liberty. His Majesty imposes not his Religion upon us, let us not then pretend to impose upon his Religion, and those who hold it, nor to burden their Consciences. He appears to consult the Ease and Happiness of all his Subjects, and would bury the dividing Occasions of our Heats and Animosities, which have too long disturbed and interrupted our Peace and tranquillity, Let us consider the Consequences of things, and not provoke the King, by a peevish and splenetic Dissent. We believe the King has a Conscience, we must esteem it an odd one, to think he can approve our holding the Romanists under these discriminating Tests; we may not so mistake him, he desires, and intends not to be denied, their Ease and Security, let us not break with him, in refusing it.  
We have been taught to entertain very hard Thoughts of their Religion, and as we learnt to speak, we stammered out no Papist, no Popery; whence sprung this Aversion? Mainly, I am sure, from our Apprehension that Blood and Cruelty attended it; the Roman catholics, tho sure of the King, are willing to concert and accommodate matters with us, and to deliver us from what we have so dreaded, their Persecution; upon the most reasonable and equal Terms, of being freed from the Danger of ours; I hope our established Church will be think her self, and better consider things, than, by her stubborn Adhesion, to her Laws of Severity and Force, to incline us to love Popery, when we find it gentle and easy to be entreated. I profess I am too short sighted, to discern why the Church of England, doth so bestir her self to uphold the Penal Laws and Tests. Is she not in the Chair, and safe? I am very certain she thought her self so, after she knew she had lost the King, and jogged on very jocundly, whilst she was permitted to annoy her Neighbours, by giving them the only Choice of Conformity or Ruin. The King promised to maintain her, so he doth, and will undoubtedly persevere to do, if she runs not her self into a Forfeiture of that Royal Grace. She seemed entirely to confided in the King's Word; it will be her Wisdom to do so still; She enjoys the Churches, and their ample Revenues, what wants she? What would she have? She loses nothing by repealing the Laws, but the Power of Persecuting, which she condemns in others. Could she with any regard to Justice, or pretence to Sense, conceive, that the King's Promise should mean, or be extended to maintain her persecuting tyranizing Power over Conscience, which by the Declarations of God, and the King, is to be free; surely she forgot his Majesty to be amongst the Number of her Non-Conformists, when she dreamed the King would continue to her, a Power to extirpate Dissenters. Let her cease to be angry, and rebuk her Son's very unmannerly sitting in judgement upon, and censuring the King's Proceedings: Let her, I say, be wise, and know her Duty, and Interest. The advice is requisite, sh● being at this day tampering to draw the Fanaticks into an Association, against the King's most gracious Purpose to them, and all his People; therefore, leaving her to weigh her present Methods with sedateness, if she pleases, I address myself to the Dissenters, admonishing and beseeching them, not to be seduced into the Sin, of Disingenuity and Ingratitude to the King They are in his Power, in effect, for Life or Death. For should he deliver them up to the Church( armed with what she so hotly contends to uphold, the Penal Laws) they have little else but Ruin in prospect, their Dissent renders their Liberties, and Estates forfeitable by her Law: Can they imagine the King should preserve them, from her Power of Compelling, which they esteem unreasonable and wicked, if they are found in Confederacy with tho●e, who pers●cute him in his Religion? They cannot hope it, let them therefore improve this present Conjuncture, for the abolishing the mischieving Church-Tyranny, they like and long for the thing, they see the way of effecting it, let them give ease to all, and they make sure of their own; the Terms are those of the Gospel( which always exploded Force) they have no Safety but in accepting them, therefore let them do it now, and be careful not to exasperate the King, by concurring in an indiscreet and spiteful Opposition, to the Being, and well Being of those of his persuasion: But it seems the Church allures the Dissenters with specious Promises; surely they are not to be so decoyed, they could never get Terms of Peace, when she had Power to make War upon them, hath she not held them under the Discipline of the Rod, and that without the intermission of Ease, or respite ( save what the Interposi●●●● the Crown afforded) ever since 1660. she never restend, till, by her uneasiness to the late King, and her caressing, but deceitful Promises to the Fanaticks, she obtained the canceling his late Majesties Declaration of Indulgence, then she set again to her pleasant Work ( tho' with God a strange W●rk) the rigorous execution of her Laws, and if she did not her worst, she was pursuing it to the Day of his Majesties Declaration, which checking her, she is become sullen and malcontent.  
The Church men( zealous to uphold the Tests) argue further with the Dissenters ( for without them they are conscious their Point is lost) that if the Tests are taken off, the Papists will run away with all; that both religious and civil Liberties will be lost, by their getting a Parliament of their own Religion: By the way, this Suggestion is not attended with the accustomend Decency of the Church of England, to God and the King, but such Dissenters as have been compelled to come in, and have heard these Gentlemen preaching say, That we are not to do Evil, that Good may come of it; we are to trust God, and do our Duty; may tell them, that they believe, and therefore will practise those Truths: But,  
I would demand of those Gentlemen, who will believe that all Faith and Laws may be violated, how they will prove our Security to lie in the single Act, which excludes Romanists from Parliament, it may without Controversy, be made as Difficult, to elude such Laws as may be proposed ( in exchange for this) for our S●curity, and for quieting of our Fears, as 'tis to break through this Law: But to be brief with these Gentlemen, before I can believe, and fear to the Degree they seem to do, they must show me where the Popish Gentlemen live, who shall constitute this dreaded House of Commons( for we choose not the Lords) and by what art they shall get themselves elected and returned; for my part, it cannot enter my Head, that the thing is practicable; I know some Counties which cannot furnish two Roman catholic Gentlemen, to this purpose, nor so many Scores to vote for their Election, if they had such men: Indeed there are many of that Religion of great Quality, and large Estates, therein we may rationally conclude we have our Safety, not our Danger, for they ( kno●ing that vicissitude always did, and will attend human Affairs) desire a legal Security for themselves and their Estates. We have inbred Prejudices against their doctrines, sufficient to prevent their making a Majority in Parliament: But it is insinuated that undu● and false Returns may be made; yes, we did once behold an upper House so packed, and we know who did it, and to come ●earer home, we do remember the Day, when a great Church Mans Minions in the House of Commons, did not only countenance false Returns, but choose who should sit with them, and to bring in a fit Member to serve a Turn did by Vote declare Thirteen to be more than three and Twenty, ay, and to my knowledge they gloried in it; that Trick was like him that contrived, and them that played it: But surely there lives not a man out of the Pale of the Church, we are talking of, so wicked, as to think the King, doth not detest the thought of so base a practise: He that whispers a thing so greatly below the King will, for ought I know, suggest, That to Morrow, his Majesty will return us an House of Commons from Hownslow Heath: Discourses of this kind may not be heard, but in Bedlam, or Newgate; therefore, adjourning them thither, for Cure or Correction; let us not think evil, or dishonourably of the King; and let our Temper and Moderation to Roman catholics be such, that we may never feel the ill Consequences of leaving them under a suspicion, that we way-lay them for Destruction; let us yield them Security, and we shall be safe: His Majesty's Faith is pledged for Liberty of Conscience, during his Life, he desires to establish it by Parliament, and in the same way, to set the minds of all his Subjects free, by placing their Persons and Estates out of the reach of future Suffering, for Conscience sake. Let us all then be persuaded to meet the King cheerfully, in this so great, and so good a Work; and as we desire to have our own Cons●iences disentangled, let us set every mans free; and let it be our Care to live together in Charity and Peace, as the Children of one Family, that, as we are happy beyond our Hopes, and in despite of our Fears, in amost gracious King, he may see his own Happiness, in a dutiful, loyal, and loving People, and let us with Ezra( when the great King Artaxerxes, decreed the Jews liberty, to do whatsoever should seem good to them after the Will of their God) say, Blessed be the Lord God of our Fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the King's Heart. I am, as before,  
Your Servant.   

LONDON, Printed, and sold, by Andrew soul, at the Croocked-Billet in Holl●way-Lane in Shoreditch, and at the Three Keys in Nags-Head-Court in Grace-Church-S●reet, overagainst the Conduit, 1687.