method toward introducing his own religion, would be, by taking off the sacramental test, and giving a full liberty of conscience to all religions, I suppose that professed christianity. It seems that the presbyterians in the latter years of king Charles the second, upon account of certain plots (allowed by bishop Burnet to be genuine) had been for a short time forbidden to hold their conventicles. Whereupon these charitable christians, out of perfect resentment against the church, received the gracious offers of king James with the strongest professions of loyalty, and highest acknowledgments for his favour. I have seen several of their addresses, full of thanks and praises, with bitter insinuations of what they had suffered; putting themselves and the papists upon the same foot, as fellow-sufferers for conscience; and with the style of our brethren the Roman catholicks. About this time began the project of closetting, which has since been practised many times with more art and success, where the principal gentlemen of the kingdom were privately catechised by his majesty, to know, whether if a new parliament were called, they would agree to pass an act for repealing the sacramental test, and establishing a general liberty of conscience. But he received so little encouragement, that despairing of success, he had recourse to his dispensing power, which the judges had determined to be part of his prerogative. By colour of this determination, he preferred several presbyterians, and many papists, to civil and military employments. While the king was thus busied, it is well known that monsieur Fagel, the Dutch envoy in London, delivered the opinion of the prince and princess of Orange concerning the repeal of the test: whereof
