A second letter to a dissenter, upon occasion of His Majesties late gracious Declaration of indulgence Lobb, Stephen, d. 1699. 1687 Approx. 35 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48867 Wing L2729A ESTC R202494 99834752 99834752 39263 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48867) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 39263) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1814:02) A second letter to a dissenter, upon occasion of His Majesties late gracious Declaration of indulgence Lobb, Stephen, d. 1699. Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of, 1633-1695, attributed name. [2], 18 p. printed for John Harris, at the Harrow against the Church in the Poultrey, London : 1687. By Stephen Lobb. Sometimes also attributed to George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. Reproduction of the original at the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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LONDON : Printed for Iohn Harris , at the Harrow against the Church in the Poultrey . 1687. A Second Letter to a Dissenter , &c. WE are subject to nothing more than forgetfulness of Blessings , unthankfulness for Mercies , or to abuse or misuse them . When Israel was delivered from Egyptian Slavery , they sang Gods Praise , but soon forgot his great Goodness to them ; in their distress they cried unto God , but when he delivered them from their Oppressors and Oppressions , they kicked against him ; when beyond their Faith or Hope they were freed from their Captive state in Babylon , most of them contemned that Mercy , and chose to continue under Servitude , and only a few embraced that Liberty . I hope none of you will be found to imitate them in that ungrateful Obstinacy . That the Obligations God by his late merciful Providence of the like kind hath laid upon you , and the sence thereof , and of the Blessing you have received by his Majesties most Gracious Declaration , may remain upon you , and that you may consider what your Sufferings were , and what you are delivered from , this seasonable Advice is given to you , by one of your own Number , that now is , and for about forty years hath been , a Member of a Congregational Church , and purposeth so to continue unto his death . Your Deliverance was from the Jaws of Destruction ; you are brought from Slavery , to a state of Liberty ; the Shackles of Conscience , and Bolts of your Prisons , are knocked off , and you left free to Worship God in Truth , without Fear ; your Houses are no more rifled , nor your Goods plundered , seized , or sold , nor your Persons , Wives , Children , Relations , and Friends , crowded into nasty Goals , on the Perjuries and false Informations of the Dregs of the People , such who by Debaucheries violated all Bonds of Conscience , and whose Trade it was to spoil you ; Men as compassionate as Ravenous Wolves , to whose insatiate Avarice there were no bounds . You were not suffered to plead your own Cause , ( the Press being shut against you ) a favour Heathens always allowed ; you were forced to bear all Injuries , though innocent : If you complained , it increased your Punishment ; if silent , you were sullen ; condemned , fined , and imprisoned , without being heard , or knowing your Accusers , and that too many times for supposed Crimes you were not guilty of ; ruined , banished , and destroyed , because you were unwilling to be damned for violating your Consciences ; your worshipping of God as you judged according to his own appointment , was accounted a greater Iniquity than Adultery , Perjury , Atheism , or Blasphemy . These were easily expiated ; but no Attonement for Non - Conformity , or for not coming to Church ; though in many Parishes in and about London , the Churches would not hold one third part of the Parishioners . These Proceedings were accounted Legal , and your not conforming reckoned Obstinacy , and such as deserved no pity ; nothing would evince the contrary , or that Conscience was concerned therein ; loss of all the Comforts of this Life would not do it , and further Evidence you could not give . This was your State and Condition , as to your Sufferings and Persecutions , from which your Deliverance was extraordinary and unexpected ; whereby you are at once engaged under many Obligations , which if you fail to answer , will lie as a Brand of Infamy upon you . 1. You are therefore to bless and adore God , for this his great goodness and deliverance , the effect only of his merciful bounty , to whom the praise is due , and to be exprest in a godly , peaceable , meek , circumspect , humble , and fruitful conversation , That will bring Glory , not only to his Name and Truth , but also to your Profession , and establish in the Consciences of your Oppressors a Conviction , That without any cause they unjustly persecuted you ; be not therefore wanting herein , least you provoke the Lord thereby again to take this Blessing from you . 2. Thankfully to acknowledge the Kings Benignity and Compassion ; his Grace was free , and that too after many great provocations ; nor were there wanting those that so Misrepresented His Majesty , ( which you too readily credited ) as if he had been another Nero , or Caligula , that nothing but Blood and Cruelty was in his Nature and designed by him ; and at the same time you were Represented as his most Implacable and Irreconcileable Enemies , drest up in Bears Skins to be baited ; and yet under these Circumstances , without Petition or Intreaty , of his own Innate Goodness and Clemency , he both pardoned , and freed you from Merciless Oppressors , and from those Cruel Laws , the Engins made use of to debauch your Consciences , deprieve you of your Communion with God , and to make your Lives bitter ; a more seasonable mercy could not be given , and if you are wanting in Thankfulness , Love , and Subjection to His Majesty , you will justly be branded as the most ungratefull and perfidious . 3. 'T is Incumbent on you also as men and Christians , to use your utmost Endeavours by all Lawful Ways and Means to Extirpate all those Laws and Tests , that deprieve you of this Freedom , or lay any Restraint on Conscience in matters of Religion , you accounted it your duty ( as Daniel did ) to break these Laws , when their keenest edge was turned against you , judging it better to obey God then Men ; and shall there now be the least hesitation in your minds , as to the vacating of them ? Can you desire again to be in bondage , even whilst your Wounds are bleeding fresh , and your Backs soar with the Lashes you received from them ? Will not all men brand your folly , that when you have an opportunity to be free , and nothing but your own remiss Inadvertancy can continue or renew your bondage , you should be wanting to your selves herein ? Who will then pity you , if your Bonds are again repeated ; and can you expect otherwise , so long as these Laws and Tests are in force , for they have not lost their Sting , nor your Persecutors their Malice , Prejudice , and Revenge ; are they not the Children of their Fathers , that formerly drove Thousands into the American Wilderness for their Consciences ? are your Sufferings the first persecution by these Laws ? what then means the many Petitions and Apologies against them , made by Dissenters in each Kings Reign since they were first Enacted ? Were there no Ministers Silenced , nor persons Executed , Banished , or Imprisoned before your days ? and if so , by what Laws ? and who were the Authors or Actors therein ? And will you suppose they will do so no more ? and that too when those very men whose pleasure was in your Ruine , do still rage like a Bear bereaved of her Whelps , and curse you with bitter Execrations , because restrained from their Cruelty , and deprieved of their Felicity , which with their debauchery , issued in your destruction , whose wrath is so boyled into Envie , that they cannot forbear their Threats , but set their Tongues on mischief , even to the most undecent expressions of His Majesty himself , for his Fatherly Compassions to you . 4. Consider that when His Majesties Declaration of Indulgence could no longer be prevented , but was published , how many Stratagems and Contrivances were used , and endeavours to deprieve you of the blessing and mercy thereof ; those that first Addrest His Majesty with Thanks for his Grace and Clemency therein , were ( to deter others from the like ) stigmatized as the unworthiest of Men , Betrayers of the Liberties of the Nation ; as if to accept Liberty on the Kings Declaration , was to destroy all Law and Property at once , when yet nothing was done therein but what all Ages have Recognized , as His Majesties most undoubted Right ( which also in a little time will beyond contradiction be made most apparent ) as to his Power in Dispensing with all these Laws and Tests . When these Endeavours failed , and many followed that good Example of Addressing His Majesty with Thanks for His Declaration , and openly met in their Congregations to Bless God for their Liberty , and Worshipped Him according to their Consciences ; Praying most heartily for all Blessings for his Majesty : Then it was more than whispered , That there were Snakes in the Grass ; their Indulgence would be like the Morning-Dew ; it was but a Scaffold to be taken down so soon as the Building of Popery was Errected . The Provoked Church of England would turn their Rods into Scorpions to all that accepted this Liberty , of whom Lists were taken : that it was not their Disposition to Persecute , but they were necessitated thereunto , to comply with the Government , and so could not help it ; that they would do so no more ; that it was not safe to take away the Penal Laws and Tests , for thereby the Papists would be let into Parliament , and would make what Laws they pleased to ruine the Church of England , the Bull-work of the Protestant Religion ; that those Restraints and Penalties being removed , a great part of the Nation would turn Roman Catholicks , and could serve in all Employments with Impunity ; and Idoliters would be Tollerated , &c. For propagating these Jealousies , specious and invective Reasons were drawn up and dispersed ; with a report , that Priests and Jesuits Preached in your Meetings ( without instancing where or when , or the Names of such Preachers ) ; supposing these endeavours might again be successful as they had been in preventing the Dissenters Petitioning his Majesty for their Liberty ; and in King Charles the Il's time , to the Rejecting his Declaration of Indulgence ; which gave him such provocation , as that it became an occasion of his withdrawing his Tenderness and Clemency to Dissenters , in that they were not true and steady to their Interest , and not be trusted , but consented to be as a Cats paw to gratifie the humour and designs of those that sought their ruine . 5. All these suggestions , insinuations , and aspersion are manifestly groundless and absurd ; for if these Laws and Tests be taken away , What then can abridge your Liberties ? Men may ( as you must expect they will ) be angry but they cannot hurt you : The Snake in the Grass , viz. A Spirit of Persecution , may Hiss , but not Bite . The Building will endure and stand as firm as a Rock , and the Protestant Religion not shaken ; all ( but such as delight in Mischief and Oppression ) will rejoyce : See the Blessing and Benefit of Liberty of Conscience ! the Peace and Concord , the Increase of Trade , and Prosperity to the whole Nation . That the Foundation of the Government it self will as soon be taken , as your Liberty infringed ; so that you need not fear the rage of any , or their threats of Scorpions . What danger can there be of Papists , or any other in Parliament , when all Interests will be engaged against such as shall attempt to Invade this Liberty ? Besides , who shall Elect such great numbers of Papists , and where will they be Chosen ? If it be supposed that they may sit by undue Returns ; that may also be prevented by the very Act of Parliament that Repeals those Tests and Penal Statutes , and such security provided for therein , as that it shall not be in the power of any to infringe the Liberties of the Nation , or of any sort of People therein ; and that too by more justifiable and safer methods than those Tests and Penal Statutes that have been the Burthen and Oppression of the Nation ; shutting out of Parliament and all places of Trust , not only the Papists , but also all others , which are not a few , that cannot conform to the Ceremonies of the Church of England ; and is it your Interest to be shut out of all Trusts , and rendered useless ( however otherwise quallified ) or that all Honours , Places , and Profits , should be distributed only amongst one sort of men , many of whom have been your Oppressors , and are not a little provoked at your Liberty , and such as please themselves with the hopes of Revenge ? The Allegation , that their Persecuting was to comply with the Government , and that they could not help it , is manifestly absurd to all that knew his late Majesties Temper , who , did he brow-beat for his Clemency , was he passive , 't was to please the men of the Church of England ; did he at any time give Directions for it , 't was at the pressing instance of their many-repeated irretating Addresses , and false Representations made of the Dissenters . And his present Majesty on his first access to his Government , proposed the Indulgence granted by his Gracious Declaration , in which he was opposed by the men of that Perswasion and Practice : However , they were not necessitated thereunto , but acted therein freely , either out of Principle , or against Conscience ; and in neither Case are they again to be trusted : for the same men will re-act the same thing on the like occasion , if those Laws and Tests continue in force . 6. That Liberty of Conscience should bring in Popery , is a Paradox not to be understood by any thinking man. If Popery be the effect of preaching the Gospel , let Popery come in : and if the Learning and Piety of the Church of England , with their Dignities , Honours , Livings , and Fat of the Land , will not preserve it , and maintain those Bulworks , without Tests and Penal Statutes , her Canons of Crueltie and Destruction domineering over other mens Consciences , and inslaving the Nation to their Pride and Avarice , let that Church fall , and no more pretend to be such an Impregnable Fortress . 7. That the Papists should be so increased by taking away the Tests and Penalties of the Law in matters of Religion , is not very probable , since hope of Preferment , and the Princes Favour , doth not now so prevail with many , though men of that Perswasion serve in their Employments with Impunity ; but if it should have such effect , yet the Church of England are no Losers , since thereby they are only freed of such as would never be serviceable to them nor their Interest , and at best but deceitful Friends , a noxious humour in the Body , fit to be purged out . 8. By tolerating Idolaters , I suppose is intended the Roman Catholicks , who now dwell amongst us , have by Law equal Right with others to Protection and their Birth-rights , bound by common Interest , as English-men , to desire , wish , and endeavour the Welfare of the Nation : and after all this , must their Throats be cut , or they banished , because of their different Sentiments in matters of Religion ? Will not such usage justifie the Persecution of Protestants in other Countries , since there is no more difference betwixt a Papist and a Protestant , than there is betwixt a Protestant and a Papist ? We cannot here practise and justifie it our selves , and yet condemn the same thing as wicked and cruel in others ; nor can any suppose any Popish Opinion worse than the Jews Execrations and Blasphemies of our Saviour , and yet there 's no scruple of tolerating them : They are at worst but Tares , and by Christs directions such are to grow with the Wheat , until the Harvest ; besides , it 's the Angels , not men , that must weed them out . 9. Be true therefore to your own Interest ; spare neither Root nor Branch of those Tests nor Penal Statutes , they are and always have been Snares , in which only consciencious men , such as scrupled Impositions and humane Inventions in the Worship of God , have been catched ; when Atheists , and men of debauched Consciences , have not been bound by them . The Uniformity in Religion inforced by them , hath ruined many thousands . Let them do no more such Mischief , since the Church of Christ needs no such Auxiliaries for its preservation ; and Truth is stronger than Error , without such Coertion : Therefore let not designing Surmises and Insinuations of Dangers , where there are none , amuse your heads , nor weaken your hands . Remember , that had Nehemiah been discouraged by the like Threats and Surmises of Sambullat and Tobiah , he had never freed they Jews from their Oppression , nor provided for their Safety , by finishing his building of the Walks and City of Ierusalem . There remains one Suggestion more , which is commonly prest as unanswerable , viz. That considering the King's Principles , 't is folly to suppose he granted his Indulgence to Dissenters out of kindness , 't was only to make Tools of them ; nor can they trust his Word , since 't is a Maxim amongst the Roman Catholicks , That Faith 's not to be kept with Hereticks ; and such they account all Protestants and Dissenters . This will require a more distinct Answer than was given to any other Suggestion ; and therefore I shall be more particular therein . Admitting this to be the Case , yet his Majesties Indulgence is such a Blessing , as calls for Thankfulness to God and to the King ; for thereby you have your present Liberty and Freedom from all the Slavery and Oppression before-mentioned : a Reprieve to a condemned man , present Ease from accute Pains of Stone of Gout , are Mercies for which men are thankful to God , and the Instrument by which they obtain such Favors and Blessings ( and surely your Liberty is not of less value . ) Will a condemned man reject his Reprieve , because it 's not yet a full Pardon , or any one a present Relief , on supposition that the Stone or Gout may 12 months after return upon him ? This is the worst that can be imagin'd of your Case , as to your present Liberty . But suppose his Majesty granted this Indulgence out of Design , and not out of Love to you , yet your Condition thereby is not worse than it was ; you are sure , by woful experience , that your Persecutors hated you , and causelesly sought your Ruine , the other can do no more ; or is it less grievous to be ruined by cruel merciless Protestant Persecutors , than 't is by Papists ? Nor is this Suggestion made out of Kindness or Friendship , but of Hatred , Mischief , and Design , viz. That since they can no longer turn the Edge of those Penal Laws against you to your Ruine , they create Fears and Jealousies , to the end that thereby you may become so Useless and Ungrateful , as to turn the King's Favour into Displeasure ; and if this can be done , they have gained their Point effectually , with an opportunity , according to their Threats , to turn their Rods into Scorpions . Do not too easily credit this Suggestion ; yet make a good and profitable use of it , make the best construction , and take it as real , and carry it to his Majesty : accordingly be not wanting in your Thankfulness , Love and dutiful Subjection and Obedience to him , that so his Majesty may have a full satisfaction that his Favours are not bestowed on an Ungrateful and Obstinate People . And let this Suggestion become an Incitation to more Circumspection : Hereby you will disappoint the Designs of your Enemies , and so prevail on his Majesty , that if it could be supposed that he was not yet real to you , he would become so ; for he is not impenitrable , nor is he uncapable of understanding his own Interest : and if he finds you men useful and serviceable to a common Interest , and fit to be trusted , you need not fear being made Tools of . But since the Suggestion is made , if there 's any Truth therein , it becomes absolutely necessary , according to the Advice already given , to take your first opportunity to root out those Penal Statutes and Tests ; that so they may be no more the Instruments of Destruction , either in the hand of the King , or any other that desires your Ruine ; until then , you are ruined by Law ; and your Persecutors justified therein : but when these Laws and Tests are abrogated , they will be as cautious therein , as they are in the breach of any other Law , as to Theft or Murther . So that your Security and Liberty is to be established in , and by the vacating these Laws and Tests . For that part of the Suggestion , That there 's no Trust to be put in the King's Word , since Faith is not to be kept with Heriticks : You have much more than His Majesty's bare Word for your Liberty ; Hath he not by his Declaration removed your Fears , and to his own satisfaction , thereby errect his Throne in your Hearts ? What else means his Gracious Acceptance of the many Addresses of Thanks presented to Him , for his Gracious Declaration ; and his Condescending , Obliging , and Gracious Answers thereunto ; his Dismissing out of his Service ( how useful soever ) such as would not by any means be Reconciled thereunto ; and Trusting and Imploying those that are for Establishing by Law , this Liberty ; and Encouraging all to concur with him therein ; he desires and designs you should not onely have his Word , but a Magna Charta for security of Liberty of Conscience , as well as you have for your Properties ? If his Majesty did not intend as real , and as high a security for your Liberty , as he can give ; he hath acted most impolitickly : What need was there then of publishing , in his Declaration , the Grounds and Reasons on which he Granted his Indulgence ? Which are so weighty , and such as will abide the severest Test. Hath he not thereby exposed Himself , his Honour , and Glory , to the highest sensure and obliquie , both at home and in all Nations , if he Violates his Word ? hath he not laid the greatest Obligations on Himself , to assure the whole World that he will be true and steady thereunto ? what need else was there of publishing those Reasons , since a bare Indulgence without them , might have served a Turn ? or what reason is there for his frequent solemn Promises to make it good ? why else is it a pleasing and delightful subject to him to be commonly talking and discoursing of , and of the benefits and blessings that will accrue thereby to the Nation ? These things , if not real , are inconsistent with a Prudent Politick Prince , and below the common sentiments of an ordinary man. Before we can imagine his Majesty is not fully resolved to make good his Declaration , we must suppose him to be a man that hath no Zeal for , nor Sense of his Religion , nor for the men of his own Perswasion : And this cannot be supposed by any that knows him , and how constant he is at his Devotions , and how he adventured three Kingdoms for his Religion , when Wind and Tide ran most violently against him : Would he but have Dissembled his Religion , or quitted it or his Party , he might have been the Darling of those Times ; but he chose to run the greatest risks and dangers , rather than not to appear what he was . And shall we , after this , imagine he will have no regard to his Word , nor provide for the safety of his Party , which else so soon as he Dies , must be exposed to the uttermost Ruine , and to the Rage and Fury of these Laws and Tests . We have also besides his Majesties Word , the highest Security he can give for our Liberties ; we have not onely the particulars before mentioned , but also with his Word , we have his Interest , which will not Lye : So that if his Word were of no force , yet he is bound by Interest to make it good . Doth not his Majesty know , that the Dissenters are not a sort of Treacherous Cowardly Men ; Where 's the instance that any of them ever betrayed their Trust , or refused any Service they undertook , or were called unto , how perilous so ever ? Are they Droans that live by the sweat of other mens Brows ; or rather , are they not painful and industrious , addicted to Trade and Manufactories ? Is not a great part of the Trade of the Nation managed by them , whereby the Poor are imployed , His Majesties Customs and Revenues increased ? Nor are they an inconsiderable number of his Majesties Subjects ; so that to part with them , he must part with a great part of his Strength and Treasure , in which his Glory and Security consists : which happily was no small Consideration with his Majesty , when he published his Declaration . And this remains as an additional security unto his Majesties Word ; and so much the rather , because he hath Aspiring Neighbours who will readily embrace all opportunities of increasing their numbers , especially such as bring Wealth , Trade , and Manufactories with them : of which they were in hopes , and so blew the Coals of our late Persecution , until his Majesty happily extinguished them by his Healing Declaration , and thereby called home many that on great incouragements were setling amongst them . Though some of the Roman Catholicks have asserted that Maxim , That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks ; yet God forbid there should not be a Man of Truth found amongst them ; or that the Opinion of some should be charged on all : What Principle or Party of men , can then be Trusted ? Are all the Church of England cruel merciless Persecutors , because some of them are so ( and that not a few of them neither ) ? Are they all Socinians ? And yet they are greatly Belyed if there are not some such amongst them . Are they all Debauched , or guilty of Adultery , Atheism , Blasphemy , and Murther ? And yet there are such to be found in that Church . Besides , His Majesty is not onely willing , but most desirous to put it beyond his power to break the Word and Faith of his Declaration : What can he do ( or is not ready and willing to do ) to give farther satisfaction herein ? Let any man rationally propound it , and let his Majesty refuse the same , before this , or such like surmises be credited . Is he not willing and desirous that an equal Liberty to all should grow up with , and be twisted in his Government ? doth he not establish his Throne on that Basis ? hath he made any Limitations or Restrictions therein , to exclude any for their Religious Sentiments ? hath he ever solicited any man to change his Opinion and become Roman Catholique , to increase his Party ? who , or where is the instance of this kind ? hath he ever Brow-beaten any man for his Opinion ? And I am confident he will most readily concur with his Parliament on the largest and comprehensivest Terms for securing this Liberty : and then it will not be in His , nor any other Man's power to break this Faith , any more than it is to subvert the Government it self : Shall all men be trusted on their bare Word ; and shall His Majesties solemn repeated Word and Promise ( that ought to be accounted Sacred ) be no security , thô real instances , strong and most weighty obligations are conjoyned therewith . Where is that person of any Note or Figure in the World , that would be so used for his kindness and benignity ? The persons that make these , and such like Suggestions , are unworthy of his Majesties Goodness ; nor are there any but Ignorant , Wicked , and Malitious Men that will give them Entertainment . You have other Work incumbent on you , viz. Since you have now full Liberty to Worship God without any imposition on your Consciences , make Conscience to be found in the constant Practice of his Worship ; live not in the neglect thereof , for that 's a Contempt of the Mercy God hath given you : Was the Truth and Religious Worship , worth the adventuring all you had for ? 'T is not of less Value because it now comes to you at a cheaper Rate : Do not turn Scepticks , nor grow remiss in Religion ; that 's the way to loose the Blessing of your Mercies ; but whilst you have Seasons and Opportunities , make Conscience to improve them diligently . Hearken not to any Councels , nor give way to any Passions that tend to stir up Quarrels , Contentions , or Divisions ; this will deprive you of this Liberty , or of its Blessing , to the gratifying of the Devil and your Adversaries ; who for carrying on such designs , will take on them new Shapes , and deal by you , as the Samaritans did with the Iews ; cover their designed Malice with a Cloak of pretended Charity and Friendship ; your strength is in Concord , and whilst you mind a Common Interest , your Enemies cannot hurt you . Let not an Imposing Spirit or Principle be found amongst you ; for that 's a Persecution in its kind , as well as Mulcts , Prisons , and Blood , but bear with , and forbear each other , notwithstanding differences in Judgments , or Incitations to the contrary ; this is the Spirit of Christ , and of his Gospel , to which you ought to be Reconciled ; for you profess to walk by Christ's Rule , To do to others , as you would be done by ; and not to censure and judge others for differing sentiments ; which will always be , until we come to the same degree and measure of Knowledge ; a State not to be expected on this side Heaven : Till then let Charity ( which is the Bond of your Perfection here ) knit you together in the pursuit of Holiness and Concord . Remembring always , That the Bond of Conscience binds all other Men as well as yours binds you : And if it were grievous to you to be opprest herein by Enemies ; can it be easie to another to be in any respect so opprest by you , that ought to be Friends ? Will you contradict your own professed Principles , to gratifie your Enemies and your Lusts ; and grieve your Friends to the prejudice of your own Interests ? When haply the matters contended for , may be some obstruse Notions , not determinable by the ablest and most learned . Consider that since Conscience ( though erronious ) binds both to Principles and Practice ; and acting contrary thereunto , is Sinful : it s not possible that one Man's Conscience can be affected or polluted simply by another Man's Principle or Practice ; otherwise to avoid Sin , we must sin against our own Consciences , or by our Dictates , force other mens Consciences ; or sin wilfully to avoid the supposed guilt of another Man's : let therefore that noble Principle be maintained , and not in the least infringed . 11. Consider that an Imposing Spirit , under which we lately groaned , is the very Spawn and Spirit of Antichrist , the Sourse of all Impiety and Cruelty ; to which appertains the Iniquity and Guilt of all the Bloud of the Prophets , Apostles , Martyrs , and Millions of Christ's Servants ; What Wars , Confusions , and Disolations hath this Spirit always made in the World ? Robing it of its Peace and Tranquility , bringing glorious Churches into confusion , wasting and impoverishing mighty Monarchs and Kingdoms ; when , on the contrary , poor and contemptible States , by cherishing this Principle of Liberty of Conscience , have continued their Peace , and grown to greatness of Power and Wealth . Shall we , that have wofully experienced the verity hereof , approve the contrary , or in any measure contract this Guilt ? Is that lawful , commendable , or a Vertue in you , which is hateful , wicked , and abominable in others ? Do not justifie your Adversaries in all their Cruelties and Inhumanities , by making and imposing your Understanding and Practice as a Guide or Measure for other men ; for thereby every one becomes a Dictator , for what 's lawful for one , is lawful for every man. Do not therefore , on pretence of Conscience , multiply nor streighten the Terms of Communion , nor make new Articles of Faith and Communion ; let those Christ hath left in his Word suffice , lest out of blind Zeal you turn , and keep out of the way , those that Christ would have gathered and cherished . 12. Finally , do not studie Revenge , for that appertains to God ; let not your Spirits boil up into Prejudice against those that have injured you ; give no opprobrious provoking Expressions , that 's uncomly for Christians ; remember your Lord and Master reviled not again , but meekly and patiently endured the Contradiction of Sinners ; walk as you have him for your Example ; pray for your Persecutors , as Christ did ; forgive your wrongs ; walk holily to God , and righteously to men ; live up to your Profession : Hereby you will stop the mouth of Envy , and possess the Blessing of this day of your Liberty , and God will continue your Tranquility . Amen . POSTSCRIPT . IT 's not my Province , to enquire into the Times , Occasions , or Reasons , on which the Penal Laws and Tests were made , nor whether they are not ( especially the Tests ) against Gods Word , the indispencible , immutable , and moral Law of God , common Right , Iustice , Equity , and Law of the Land ( though this will be enquired into , and published ; ) only this is most apparent , that by the Act by which the Test is established , the Sacrament ( the most sacred Gospel Ordinance of Christ ) is profanely made subservient to Carnal and Secular ends and purposes , and designed to incapasitate his Majesty from having any Servant about him ( how useful or necessary soever ) but such as either in reality or hypocrisie conforms to the Ceremonies of the Church of England ; or to reward any other for any Service , though it should be the preservation of his Life , Crown , or Kingdom ; or to employ them in any Service , how fit or important soever : whereby , in effect , he is rendered to be King only of some part of his Subjects , and haply not of the greatest part of them neither ; nor can he advise in Council , for his own Preservation , or common Good and Safety of his Kingdom , with any other sort of men , nor dispense the Iustice of the Nation by any other hands ; whereby also it 's in their power , at any time , without comptrole , to impose what Terms and Inconveniencies they please on the King and Kingdom , and to make both his Majesty and all others truckle to them . On this consideration , many are content to part with all the Penal Laws , but struggle for the Test , as knowing that it capacitates them at any time to revive again those Laws , or to make worse , if worse can be made , and to subject all men to what state and condition they please : Therefore never account the Nation free , but subjected to an Iron Yoke , and your selves to be lashed with Scorpions for your Consciences , until these Tests and Penal Statutes are abrogated , and thereby both his Majesty and every body else absolutely freed from them . The END .