REASON'S WHY THE Church of England, As well as DISSENTERS, Should make Their ADDRESS of THANKS TO THE King's Majesty, For His late Gracious DECLARATION FOR Liberty of Conscience.  
Published with Allowance.  
LONDON, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for His Household and Chapel. 1687.   

REASON'S WHY THE Church of England, As well as DISSENTERS, Should make their Address of Thanks to the King's Majesty, for His late Gracious Declaration for Liberty of Conscience.  
SIR,  
THE Declaration of Indulgence was received by us with all imaginable Expressions of Joy and Thankfulness; for we are well assured, that by it Relief is given to the Body of the Nation, which of late Years has been exposed to several sorts of Misery: And therefore we cannot but be amazed to hear, That any of our Clergy (as you writ) have expressed themselves indecently about his Majesty's granting it, and reproachfully of the Dissenters thankful receiving it.  
When in the Declaration, we observed his Majesty in the First place, to publish to the whole Kingdom his Royal Resolution to protect and maintain the Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy, and all others of the Church of England, in the free Exercise of their Religion as by Law Established, and in the Quiet and full Enjoyment of all their Possessions, without any Molestation or Disturbance whatsoever, we doubted not but that our Clergy, as in Duty bound, would have made it their Work to possess the People with the Greatness and Transcendency of His Majesty's Grace towards them, and of the necessity of their rendering to his Majesty their humblest and most hearty Thanks; for it might be reasonably expected, that as Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth, on their ascending the Throne, did immediately suspend the Execution of those Penal Laws that were against Men of their own Religion, and made all the haste they could to Establish the Church of England: So His present Majesty might not only give an Indulgence to the Roman Catholic, but with the same speed make that Religion the established Religion of the Nation.  
But the King, as many of His Royal Predecessors of the same Communion with him, being greatly concerned for the Welfare of all his People, is resolved to do his utmost that they may live at Ease and Quiet under Him. And having the Advantage of making his Reflections on the Conduct of the Four last Reigns, he finds no means more likely to obtain this End, than an entire Liberty of Conscience. And although our Clergy are so disturbed at the Thoughts of the Dissenters Ease, yet, if they would impartially consider it, they must needs see, that the King in giving Liberty to all, proceeds on the only Principle, by which he can give it them. For had it not been His Majesty's Sense and Opinion, That Conscience ought not to be constrained, nor People forced in Matters of mere Religion, His Majesty must necessarily Judge it His Duty to Almighty God to endeavour an Establishment of the Roman Catholic Religion, to the Subversion of the Church of England. To this Principle then, viz. That Conscience ought not to be constrained, are the Church of England owing for this Protection His Majesty is pleased to give 'em, and this Principle is of such a kind, as extends itself to every Man of Conscience throughout the Kingdom: So that the Matter will at last issue here, The Clergy must Thank His Majesty for His Granting to all His Subjects Liberty of Conscience, or, by their not doing it, plainly intimate, That Conscience ought to be constrained, and consequently, that it's the King's Duty to alter His Resolution of Protecting the Church of England, which in His Majesty's Opinion is almost, if not altogether so Heretical, as the fanatics are.  
Besides, it may not be amiss to observe, that the Church of England herself dares not descent from His Majesty touching Liberty of Conscience: For as King James, and Sir Edward Coke, affirm, the Papists were never punished for their Religion; nor, as others say, have the fanatics, since 1662. suffered for their Consciences; so that though the Religion of the One Party has been made the Overt-act of Treason, and that of the other of Sedition, yet none are punished for Matters of mere Religion, whereby the Principle, that Conscience ought not to be compelled, is yielded; and so long as the divers Religions in the Kingdom do not encourage, nor countenance a practising on the Civil Government, no Man ought to suffer for his Religion. And Experience assures us, that it's not Liberty, but Restraints laid on Conscience, that has been most prejudicial to the Nation and its Government. And if we do compare the Reigns of those Princes that have been on the Throne since the Dissenters have been numerous, with the Reigns of those that have been long before, we may see Reasons strong enough to conclude, that the indulging Dissenters from the established Hierarchy, is become an effectual Mean to keep the Mitre in Subjection to the Crown. It's well known, that anciently the Interest of Six and Twenty Bishops in this Nation was so very great, that they were a Terror unto Kings. The Barons were not then so Potent, but the Bishops made as great a Figure; and as the Barons then having many Tenants, who all swore Homage to their Lords, did oft raise sturdy Rebellions; in like manner so the Bishops, to whom all the Inferior Clergy swore Obedience. But 'tis the Alteration made on the Baronies that hath put an end to Baronwars; and seeing no Alteration hath been yet made on the Hierarchy, what, unless a great Part of the Clergy (now called Nonconformists) had withdrawn their Obedience from the Bishops, thereby making it the Interest of the Bishops to Submit unto their Prince, as well as by weakening 'em, put 'em out of a Capacity of Resisting, what else has put a check to Prelatic Insolence? For the conformable Clergy are as much obliged now to swear Obedience to their Bishops, as heretofore; and had there not been Dissenters from the Established Hierarchy, Six and Twenty Bishops, by the Help of their Inferior Clergy, and the Aid of their Attendants and other Adherents, might have been as able, and no doubt as willing, not only to confront the Nobility, but even to Insult over their Prince.  
And why must the Fanatic, of all Men in the World, be guilty of that Ingratitude that's worse than Brutism? Has not the King, by His Indulgence, brought 'em out of a Fiery Furnace, and made 'em Partakers of the Comforts of sitting down under their own Vines? Let's but consider the Usage they have had from the Church of England since Sixty Two, and see whether they have not reason to rejoice and be thankful for what the King has done for them.  
You cannot but remember, that when we returned with His late Majesty, how severe some of the Clergy were against the fanatics, assuring us, that they were but few, and these very illiterate, inconsiderable, and obstinate; though since we find 'em to be Men of some Sense, Moderation, and Candour, and, in good earnest, the Trading part of the Nation. However, we being possessed with an Idea of their being unworthy of the least Favour of the Government, the Terms of their Communion with our Church were made so very strict, that such as would at first have submitted unto most of our Ceremonies, and to our Bishops too, as the King's Ministers, were necessitated to become Nonconformists, for not subscribing Assent and Consent to the Divine Right of Episcopacy; a thing our Nobility and Gentry never liked: And because they could not absolve those, who voluntarily took the Covenant, and still think themselves obliged in Conscience by it, from the Obligation of that Oath, which no doubt was enjoined the Clergy, not so much to secure our Church, as to make fanatics; for, 'twas exacted but for Twenty Years, and our Church, ever since that time expired, firmly enough established.  
And whereas these Nonconforming Ministers, either because they judged themselves consecrated to that Holy Function, or because they being deprived of all their Promotions, had no other way to preserve their Families from perishing, continued to preach; an Act was made against their Conventicling, in which that Sanguinary Law of the Thirty Fifth of Eliz. was declared to be in force against them, and on the Third Conviction for Preaching at a Conventicle, they were to be banished: And by the Oxford-Act these Ministers were actually banished from all Cities and Towns Corporate; ay, and from the Houses of their Friends or Relations, as well as their own Families, if convicted for Preaching in either of those Places, and could not take that Test, which since has been cast out of the House of Lords, when brought in with a Design of being more universally imposed. Besides, the 22 Car. 2. by which one Man suffers for another's Fault, according unto which, Men have been convicted, disseised of their Property, and impoverished without a Jury, or their being called forth to speak for themselves. For, on these clandestine Convictions, Warrants have been granted out for Six, Eight, Ten, or Fourteen Conventicles at a time; so that many, before they could in the least imagine, that they lay exposed to the Penalty of the Law, have had their Houses broken open by the Informers, Constables, and other Officers, who, like so many Dragoons, have for a long time kept the Possession, plundering and stealing, as well as distreining their Goods, And what was taken under colour of Law, though of greater value than the Fine amounted to, yet no return has been made of the Overplus, nor were any by the Statute required to do it. And after the Clergy had by their many Pulpit-Invectives instigated the Inferior Magistrate to Severity, this Statute is judged too mild, and the Meetings of the fanatics, when only for a Civil Visit, are by an Innuendo made to be with an intention to worship God, and that Intention interpreted to be an unlawful Act at Common Law, and adjudged to be a Rout or Riot, which has been contrary to what the Learned in the Laws have with much boldness affirmed, who say, That to worship God, is no Fault at Common Law; it is but malum prohibitum, and therefore cannot be made Routs or Riots. But this is not the whole of these men's Misery; for so common were the manifest Perjuries of Informers, and so great the Reputation given 'em, that when the Dissenters have been in a Journey from home, they have been convicted for being at Routs or Riots several Miles distant. To all which let's add the many Desolations that have proceeded from the prosecuting 'em on the 23 Eliz. under the Lash of which, as many worthy Lawyers declared, they fell not, and (what must not escape our Observation) when several great Lawyers were prepared to argue on the Dissenters behalf, they were denied it, because one of the Justices then on the King's Bench told 'em, That he had seen an old Queen Elizabeth's Proclamation that had fully decided the Case, and so without an Hearing were overruled. And though by this Law they were condemned to no less ●han 20 l. per Mensem for not coming to the Common-Prayer, this was too little; the Doctor's Commons Gentlemen therefore must have an Hand too in this Matter, who exceeding all Bounds, have been the Ruin of many Families. But these Methods not ridding the Land of 'em, the 35 of Eliz. which issues either in the Death or Banishment of all those who were convicted for being at a Conventicle that Month in which they went not to Church, (notwithstanding the great Doubts that many have of its being in force) is put afresh into Execution, and on it many are Indicted, and some Banished.  
Time would fail us to tell you of the many cast into Newgate in the Visitation time, when the Contagion was within those Walls; that there perished; of the several Hundreds, that in this and several other Gaols, have since miserably ended their Days; as also to acquaint you with the Endeavours that our Clergy have used to increase their Bonds; and when some in Parliament were disposed to favour 'em, what Methods were taken to hinder a Bill of Comprehension and Indulgence. To write an History of the Practices of some of our Zealots, the fair Promises they made to ensnare the Presbyterian Parliament-men to a Compliance with them, in opposing His late Majesty's Gracious Indulgence, and their forsaking 'em as soon as the Declaration was recalled, the Crafts used to cajole the poor Fanatic the last Parliament that was at Westminster in the late King's Reign, by those who in the House, would speak as if their very Souls were for the Relief of Tender Consciences, but yet would Boat it over to Lambeth to consult how to spoil all: Even Shaftsbury himself was such an Enemy to the Dissenters, that when he was desired by a Gentleman of that Parliament, and from whom I had it, not to postpone the Bill of Comprehension and Indulgence to that of Exclusion, his Reply was, Let the Fanatic alone, what need we concern ourselves so much for them? For if we first indulge them, they'll most undoubtedly relinquish us, and we shall hear no more of their being for the Secluding Bill. To write a full History of all this, would require more Paper than is now allotted us; and seeing these Hints are enough to show the Misery the Fanatic has been exposed unto, we may with the less regret wave it, and immediately draw to this Conclusion, That A Deliverance from all these Miseries deserves the greatest Thanks. What less can the Dissenters do? In a word, if they accept of His Majesty's Grace, are they not worse than Brutes if they present not their Address of Thanks? And, unless they accept of His Majesty's Grace, they must resolve to be fond of Misery. They must not only submit to Church of England Severity, but must scorn and despise all offered Relief, and be wheedled by one part of the Church of England into the Sin of Unthankfulness, that the other part may have just cause of Complaint against them to His Majesty; that, if possibly, while in this Life, they may put themselves out of all hopes of Ease. Have they not sufficiently felt, in His late Majesty's Reign, what 'tis to reject Royal Grace, that they must make a fresh Experiment of it once more? If not, why trouble you them with the noise of the Law, the Law? Must they all be good Lawyers, before they can be good Christians, or good Men? Some of 'em remember, that within a few Years, some Noble Lords, no Friends to Arbitrary Government, were for petitioning the King to Suspend Penal Laws, rather than Repeal 'em; and, they have met with a Vote of a late Parliament, That the Penal Laws ought not to be put in Execution against Dissenters; and, for aught they know, on very good Reasons of State: And, if they must be Suspended, who must do it, the King, or a Justice of Peace? Think on these things, and consider them well, and we doubt not but you'll be of our Mind.  
VALE.  
FINIS.