A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the HAGUE, Concerning the Penal Laws and the Test; knowing that the Popular Plea for Liberty of Conscience is not concerned in that Question.  
SIR,  
I Suppose you are very busy about the Choice of Parliament-Men, and all hands are at work to Elect such Members as may comply with the great Design to Repeal the Penal Laws, and the Test. The pretence I confess is very plausible; for all Men are fond of Liberty of Conscience, who dissent from the Established Religion; but you and I have lived long enough in the World to observe that the most pernicious Designs have been carried on, under the most plausible Pretences; and that is Reason enough to inquire whether there be no danger of it now. I shall not say one word against Liberty of Conscience, nor for Penal Laws and Tests: Imagine the best things you possibly can of the one, and declaim as much as you please against the other. For I do not see that either of them are concerned in the present Dispute; but only made use of to wheadle unthinking people, and to catch them with a very inviting Bait: and therefore before You engage too warmly in this Cause, I would offer some few things to your calm and deliberate Thoughts.  
The great Pretence is Liberty of Conscience; and if this were the true state of the Case, the Dispute would be more doubtful and perplexed: for that is an Argument a Man may talk of without end, and it is not to be expected that Men who feel the want of Liberty, or taste the sweetness of it, should be persuaded by any Arguments to forego it when it may be had. But now, if Liberty of Conscience may be had without the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws; if it be apparent to Men who will open their eyes, that the true spring of all this zeal for Repealing the Test and Penal Laws is not Liberty of Conscience; if there be great danger that by consenting to this Repeal, we shall forfeit both the Liberty of our Consciences and our Civil Liberties into the Bargain; then I presume You will readily grant that Liberty of Conscience as good a thing as it is, is no Reason for such a Repeal.  
I. As for the first, it is a very plain case; For you enjoy Liberty of Conscience Now, and yet the Penal Laws and Test are not Repealed. What greater Liberty do you desire than you now have? What can the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test do for you which the Kings Declaration hath not done? You have his repeated Promises, his avowed Principle that Conscience is not to be forced; and that no man ought to suffer merely for his Religion; though the Penal Laws are not repealed, yet they are suspended; they are not executed either against Papists or Dissenters, and you have the security of the Kings Declaration for it.  
If you say, that the King can quickly recall his Declaration, and reinforce the Penal Laws, if he find you obstinate against Repealing them; I Answer first, It is very dishonourable to imagine such a thing of the King, after such a Declaration as this, which he hath repeated the second time with all possible assurances of his Resolutions to stand to it: and that not as a mere Act of grace and favour, but as his own avowed Principle, that Conscience ought not to be forced. If you Reply that the King may very Honourably recall this Liberty of Conscience, when you will not have it, but resolve to keep these persecuting Laws; I answer, Not, if it be against the Principles of his own Conscience to Persecute. mere favours may be withdrawn when they are slighted; bu● no man will violate his own Conscience, to be revenged of such ingratitude. And yet this is not the case: You do not slight the grace and favour of his Declaration, but gladly accept the Liberty he gives; and all the World sees that You use it too: but instead of Repealing these Penal Laws, You choose to rely upon his Royal Word and Dispensing Power; which argues so great a Confidence in him, and attributes such Authority to him, that it cannot possibly displease him. This is a plain sign, that you think yourselves secure in his Reign; and can you think the King will persecute you in his own Reign, because you are contented to trust his Successors too? which would be a very odd kind of passion for Liberty of Conscience?  
To imagine the King should reinforce the Penal Laws upon your refusal to Repeal them, is to suspect that this great Zeal is not for Liberty of Conscience, but for the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test; that is, that Liberty of Conscience is granted for the sake of Repealing the Penal Laws and Tests, not the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Tests, desired for the sake of Liberty of Conscience; and then who knows what will become of Liberty of Conscience, when the Penal Laws and Test are Repealed? If you suspect any such thing which never ought to be suspected of so just and indulgent a Prince, it is better to make the Experiment before, than after such a Repeal.  
Suppose the King should withdraw his Declaration upon Your refusal to comply. Who would put the Laws in Execution against you? They must either be Dissenters or Papists or the Church of England: I presume you do not fear that you should execute the Laws against yourselves; and as for Papists it were worth trying whether they who are so obnoxious to the Laws themselves, would put them in Execution against Dissenters, especially after all their clamours against them: and as for the Church of England, when they have been so reproached by Papist● for Executing these Laws already, though more at the instance of the Court than from their own inclination, they will no longer be made the instruments of such executions, only to serve the turn of them that will reproach them: So that if the Declaration were recalled, You have a moral certainty that the Penal news cannot be Executed in this Kings reign, because there is no body to execute them.  
As for the Test, You cannot pretend that Liberty of Conscience is concerned in the Repeal of that. You may go to Conventicles, and the Papists may go to Mass without any disturbance though the Test be never repealed: and therefore the only design of repealing that must be to give a legal Qualification to Papists to possess all places of Honour, Profit and Trust in the Nation; that is, to put your Lives and Liberties into their hands; which I confess is a great compliment to a Roman catholic Prince; but a compliment may sometimes be overstrained. And yet it is such a compliment as they need not. For we see they are qualified by the Dispensing Power, without the Repeal of the Test; which hath made me often wonder why they are so zealous to have it repealed. Do they still question the Kings Dispensing Power? And desire some better security? Let them say so then, and give up that point, and then we'll talk with them about repealing the Test: but there is no need of repealing this Law, since the King it seems hath power to dispense with it in his reign; and they are very sanguine men, if they hope to have any occasion for it in another! And if after all their boasts of a Dispensing Power, the Law still keeps them in aw, can it be the interest of Protestants to take off these restraints? Are they not insolent enough already, while these threatening news hang over their heads? Or do we hope that their modesty and good Nature will increase with their Power? For my part I desire that all Men whom I fear may lye under a legal incapacity: for though their Force and Power may be the same, yet there is some difference, in point of Authority and Self-defence.  
II. There are many things which would make a wise man suspect that there is some farther Design than Liberty of Conscience in all this zeal for repealing the Penal Laws and Test. For it would be very surprising to find a Roman catholic Prince whose Conscience is directed by a Jesuit, to be really zealous for Liberty of Conscience; to see so many Popish pens employed in pleading for Liberty of Conscience, and declaiming against Sanguinary Laws, when all the world knows what Opinion the Church of Rome has about Liberty of Conscience, what great friends the Jesuits are to it; how they abhor persecuting men for their Religion: witness the mildred and gentle usage of the French Protestants by a King whose Conscience is directed by a tender hearted Jesuit. And if a Princes zeal for his Religion be much greater than for Liberty of Conscience; it would make one suspect that his chief design is to serve his Religion by it; and this is no new invention, but as old as the days of the Apostate Julian, when the same method was taken to reinforce Paganism by Liberty of Conscience. This was the last effort of dying Paganism; may it be so of Popery too.  
We know there was no talk of Liberty of Conscience, till the Nobility and Gentry of the Church of England refused to take off the Test: and then there was no other way left, but to buy off the Penal Laws and Test with Liberty of Conscience, which demonstrates that Liberty of Conscience is not the last End, but only a Means in order to some further End; and the Means is seldom valued when the End is obtained. Men who can offer so much violence to their own Nature and the Principles of their Religion, as to grant Liberty of Conscience which of all things they hate, to procure a Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws; when that is done, can easily find some occasion to pretend a forfeiture of this Liberty, and to salue their Conscience and Honour together. Penal Laws to keep men from damning themselves will be thought more merciful than Liberty of Conscience; and the softness and tenderness of Nature, must give place to a Bigotry in Religion; and then we shall in vain wish for our old Penal Laws and Test again, when we feel the more terrible smart of new ones.  
Though it be  told us, that it hath always been his Majesties Persuasion that Conscience ought not to be forced, I think that is no security; because though this has always been his Principle, yet it hath not always operated. We know whose hand was most concerned both in making and executing Penal Laws in the last Reign; and if our Dissenters suffered so much then, as they now complain of, they know what they may suffer again, notwithstanding these Principles for Liberty of Conscience; for the same Principles obtained then, as do now. Upon the last withdrawing into Scotland, notwithstanding those Principles the poor Scotch felt the severity of those Penal Laws with a witness; and methinks it is not safe trusting to such Principles as so often act by way of Antiperistasis, and produce Effects quiter contrary to their own Natures: and however the Church of Rome may indulge such Principles now they are convenient to serve a present turn, if the Scene ever alter, this private Conscience will be thought as great heresy as a private judgement; and whosoever now may own it must then be guided by the public Conscience of the Church, as well as by their Faith.  
There are so many surprising Circumstances in this whole matter, as cannot but amaze a thinking Man: that so fierce a Zeal should be now kindled for a Liberty of Conscience, that a Liberty of judgement will not be allowed, but who ever will not concur in this Opinion must undergo the high displeasure; whereas there can be no Liberty of Conscience without Liberty of judgement: And to be mortally angry with every man who is not of my Opinion, is no good Preface to granting every man a Liberty to think and act, as he pleases.  
If a Potentate should be so Zealous for Liberty of Conscience, as to change all his old Antipathies and Friendships, to receive his professed Enemies and Rebels into his bosom, and cast off his tried and experienced Friends; that he should forget all injuries and all kindnesses together, this would be such an effect of a great passion for Liberty of Conscience as was never known before: and when Causes do not work naturally, we suspect some preternatural ingredients mixed with them.  
That a Zeal against the Test and Penal Laws, should be made a Test to the whole Nation; and that not without severe Penalties too, viz. The forfeiture of our Princes favour, of all Places of Trust and Honour, and incapacity to serve in Parliaments if they can prevent it, or to be Members of any little Corporation.  
That for the sake of Liberty of Conscience, the whole Clergy must be forced to Publish the Declaration, though they declare it to be against their Consciences: That the Archbishop and six of his Suffragans must be sent to the coheir, for Petitioning for their own Liberty of Conscience; and whither they must have gone next God knows, unless they had been rescued by an honest jury: That all those who did not red the Declaration are still threatened with Suspensions, and Deprivations: Archdeacons and Chancellors commanded to turn Informers, though almost all of them must inform against themselves for not reading, or not sending the Declaration: and all this while the Laws are on their side. It is like to be a very terrible Liberty of Conscience, when it is grown up into the Maturity and strength of a Law, which like another Hercules can strangle all Laws and Liberties in its Cradle. These things make me apt to suspect that the best way to preserve Liberty of Conscience is to keep the Test and Penal Laws.  
III. For Thirdly, If there be any reason to suspect any other design than Liberty of Conscience, as suppose to promote Popery, and by degrees to make it the Established Religion of the Nation,( which certainly is the Design, unless you can imagine, that Priests and Jesuits, and One who hath given up his Understanding and Conscience to them, can ever be without this Design,) You will easily be convinced that there is infinite hazard in repealing the Test and the Penal Laws.  
This sets Papists upon an equal level with Protestants, and then the Favour of the Prince will set them above them: and when the whole power of the Nation, and the whole administration of Justice is in Popish hands, there will need no Penal Laws to persecute Protestants. If you say this is done in a great many instances now before such a Repeal; I answer, then You may certainly guess what will be done when those incapacitating Laws are repealed: And yet the Difference is very great; For while they are under such a legal Incapacity, the distrust of their power will make them more modest, which is the only thing that can pled their excuse hereafter; but when they have legal authority, they will show their Nature without restraint. Men who have any thing to lose will act cautiously in prospect of an After-reckoning, or while these legal incapacities continue will be afraid to act; but when the Legal Authority and Power is in their hands. Protestant Subjects will quickly find what a Popish Liberty of Conscience means.  
While these Laws continue, some professed Protestants whose Consciences are governed by their Interest are afraid to declare; and by these means Popery wants hands and numbers to do its work: But when these Laws are removed, hopes of preferment will prevail on some, and fear on others; and when this frozen Adder begins to grow warm, and recover its blood and spirits, it will find its sting too.  
This would certainly overthrow the Constitution of the Church of England, which is the most effectual way to let in Popery: For when all Incapacities are removed, Papists are as well qualified for Church-Preferments as Protestants, and it will be an easy matter to find pretences, to remove the best Men to make way for them.  
We have four catholic Bishops( as they vainly call themselves) already prepared to fill vacant Sees; and if such Men have the impudence to publish their Pastoral Letter, and make their public Visitations while all the news against them are in force, judge what they will do when they are repealed. Thus our Parishes may be filled with Roman Priests, and they indeed are the fittest to serve under Roman Bishops. And if one college be already seized into Popish hands, and the Protestant possessors turned out of their Freehold; when those news are Repealed, we may quickly see more follow them; and judge whether this be not a fair and easy step to Popery.  
Nay, I have heard some good Lawyers say, That when the Penal Laws are repealed, Popery is the Established Religion of the Nation: That when a repealing Law is repealed, the repealed Law revives: I am not so good a Lawyer as to judge of this, but I think it is worth your Confidering.  
But who knows, when all the Ecclesiastical Laws are Repealed, what the Kings Supremacy and his Ecclesiastical Commission may do? There have been great and big words said of it of late; and I believe You had better keep your Penal Laws, than fall under the lash of a Popish Supremacy.  
I know there hath been a great talk of an Equivalent, but I would gladly know what that Equivalent should be. Shall it incapacitate all Papists for any Office either in Church or State? That must not be, for fear of depriving the King of the natural right he has to the service of his Subjects; and then I am sure there can be no Equivalent for the repeal of the incapacitating Laws.  
But you say there shall be a New Charter for the Church of England, the Protestant Religion and Liberty of Conscience. Now shall this be with a Penalty or without one? If with a penalty, then you do not repeal, but only exchange your Penal Laws; and if Penal Laws are not such Unchristian things, but they may be allowed, we cannot have better for the security of our Religion than we have; and therefore we had best keep these. Is there any other fault in our Penal Laws,( especially when they are not executed) but that they are too great a security to the Church of England, and the Protestant Inte●est? And if this be a reason for Protestants at this time to repeal them, I have done. But if this new Establishment be without a penalty, what is it good for?  
When these Penal news are removed, Papists are qualified to sit in both Houses of Parliament: and who knows whether Closetting and Reforming of Corporations, and such other Arts may not quickly make a Popish Parliament? And then Good Night to Your New Establishment and Liberty of Conscience.  
These things I hope Sir, You will consider in your Choice of Members for Parliament; and not be cheated with the Popular cry of Liberty of Conscience, into the vilest and most despicable Slavery both of Soul and Body.  
I am SIR, Your very Cordial Friend, and faithful Monitor.   

Tot de Hague, gedruckt door Hans Verdraeght, 1688.