‘Gentlemen,
‘I thank you heartily for your address. Some of you know, I am sure you do, Mr. Penn, that it was always my principle that conscience ought not to be forced; and that all men ought to have the liberty of their consciences. And what I have promised in my declaration, I will continue to perform as long as I live; and I hope before I die, to settle it so, that after-ages shall have no reason to alter it.’
Here we see what the king declared to be his intention; but perhaps that prince did not consider, that if such a general liberty had been procured, he should not have been able to make it continue longer than the Popish clergy would have thought it convenient. For who is ignorant what an unlimited power the Roman prelates have usurped, not only in the ecclesiastical, but also in the political part? Insomuch, that though the king’s intention might have been really sincere, yet it is like it would have been thwarted, though he might have been willing that it should be otherwise. That his meaning was sincere, several I know that were not of his persuasion, have believed, and among these there were such, who thought that liberty of conscience might have been so established, that it should not have been in the power of the Papists to break it. But time hath shown that king James was not to be the instrument for settling such a liberty of conscience; and that the repealing of the penal laws was reserved for another prince. Yet the king was by some thought to do what he could to stop rapacious persecutors, and to restrain their power, with respect to imposing of oaths. It is true it was said, that the king might not do so; for by granting this liberty to the Quakers, he opened a door for the Romanists to bear offices, without taking the required oaths. Now that he discharged the Quakers from these oaths, may appear by the following order to the lord mayor of London:
‘Whitehall, Nov. 6, 1687.
‘My Lord,
‘The king being informed, that Edward Brooker, Henry Jefferson, and Joseph Tomlinson, being Quakers, are by Mr. Barker, steward of Southwark, put upon several offices, as constables and the like, which they are willing to do; but the oaths being tendered to them, from which they think themselves exempted by the king’s declaration for liberty of conscience, they are threatened to be fined and otherwise molested, for their refusal to take them; his majesty commands me to let your lordship know, that his pleasure is, that the said Edward Brooker, Henry Jefferson, and Joseph Tomlinson, and all other Quakers, should now, and for the future, either be allowed to serve the said offices, without taking any oaths, or else that they be not fined or otherwise molested upon that account; and his majesty would have you give order therein accordingly.
I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s most humble servant,
SUNDERLAND.’
Now whereas in some places goods taken from the Quakers lay still unsold, the king ordered those goods to be restored to them, as may appear by the following letter, written to the mayor and aldermen of Leeds, in Yorkshire:
‘Whitehall, Dec. 14, 1687.