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<NAME>Kayla Ondracek</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>AN ANSWER FROM THE COUNTRY, TO A LATE LETTER TO A DISSENTER, Upon Occa&s;ion of His MAJESTIES Late GRACIOUS Declaration of Indulgence.</P>
<P>By a Member of the Church of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>M. R.</HI> in the Year 1687:</P>
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<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>AN ANSWER FROM THE COUNTRY, TO A Late <HI>Letter</HI> Writ to a <HI>Di&s;&s;enter,</HI> &amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IT is the unhappy &s;tate of mankind, that the over-weening Opinions, and Sentiments, which by Education, or Cu&s;tom, we have entertain'd, incline, and warp our minds &s;o to the maintaining of them; that we are as difficultly alter'd, as the Tree is, which bended, when a young &s;appling, is rarely by any Art made &s;traight.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this, the tempers of mo&s;t Mens Souls are &s;uch, that they ea&s;ily divide into Parties, and being li&s;ted, as in a &s;tate of War, they &s;tudy nothing more, than to convince, or &s;ubdue all tho&s;e who differ from them. Yea, we too frequently find, that they make tho&s;e the Object of their aver&s;ion or abhorrence, who &s;tudy to compo&s;e their eager tempers, or direct them to any degree of humanity.</P>
<P>Hence it is, that when National limits are not &s;ufficient cau&s;es of quarrels, the ranks and degrees of Men, the City and Country, Fraternities, Neighborhood, yea, Dome&s;tical Intere&s;ts, crumble us, and ca&s;t us into various figures.</P>
<P>The&s;e Jars, and Ho&s;tilities, are fomented by Intere&s;t, Ambition, and all the cro&s;s-grain'd pa&s;&s;ions of our Souls; and when Religion mixes with our humane concerns, it &s;ublimes all their corro&s;ive &s;pirits, and is the univer&s;al di&s;&s;olvent.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="3">
<P>Every one is apt to think the fire of his own Altar the pure&s;t, and is not content to have liberty to trim his own Hou&s;hold hearth, and warm him&s;elf at his own Faggot, but endeavours, according to his power, to make all gain-&s;ayers Victims and Sacrifices to his Deity; and when no Secular Intere&s;t moves them, the pretended eager Charity to &s;ave their Souls, and the preventing, as they call it, the &s;preading of that Infection, makes them mortify them in their E&s;tates, or &s;end them to the <HI>Pe&s;t-hou&s;e,</HI> or cut them off as gangren'd Members</P>
<P>Hence it is, that the <HI>Roman Catholick Church,</HI> the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and Di&s;&s;enters, according as they have had the favour of the Government, or could exerci&s;e any Authority, have each of them puni&s;hed, or &s;uppre&s;t the other, and have been more or le&s;s &s;evere, according as the Government (judging it to conduce to &s;ecure the publick peace,) was inclin'd to embrace that Religion, or the de&s;ires of Church-men were more or le&s;s pre&s;&s;ing, to bring all to Uniformity in Faith and Di&s;cipline.</P>
<P>Former Ages have experimented this way of proceeding, and it hath been accompanied with the lowd cries of the &s;uffering Par|ties, the decay of Trade, the unpeopling of Countries, and Inte|&s;tine Seditions and Rebellions. Our unhappy I&s;land hath not wanted In&s;tances of the ill effects of arming by <HI>Penal Laws,</HI> Church Com|munities, one again&s;t the other; &s;o that the Governing Parties, under Religious Denomination, have produced almo&s;t as much mi&s;chief, as, in Ancient times, the Wars betwixt the Hou&s;es of <HI>York</HI> and <HI>Lanca&s;ter</HI> occa&s;ioned; and however oppre&s;&s;ive the State-Church of <HI>England</HI> is reputed, yet I think it will not be di&s;own'd, that when tho&s;e called <HI>Di&s;&s;enters</HI> got the Power in their hands, they made greater Ravage and Depredations in Twenty years, upon the <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> and the Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> than had been inflicted on them&s;elves in an Age; witne&s;s the &s;eque&s;tring, decimating, and &s;eizing their E&s;tates, Fining, Im|pri&s;oning, Bani&s;hing, and putting to Death of &s;o many, and &s;elling the Lands of the Bi&s;hops, Deans, and Chapters.</P>
<P>Our Gracious King, revolving therefore in His Princely Mind the Fatalities that have attended this Conduct, and the unfortu|nate and mi&s;chievous Re&s;ults of &s;uch proceedings, (the effects whereof he had felt Him&s;elf,) hath, in His profound Wi&s;dom, re|&s;olved to try the mo&s;t probable expedient, to &s;till and quiet the&s;e &s;o long continued Animo&s;ities, Contrarieties, and Ferments of His Subjects.</P>
<P>Some publick notices of this He gave in the very beginning of His Reign, by Prohibiting in His Courts, and di&s;countenancing pro|ceedings
<PB N="3" REF="3">upon the <HI>Penal Laws.</HI> But that I may di&s;cover the true &s;teps the King made towards it, and the foot upon which the late <HI>Indulgence</HI> &s;tands, and prevent &s;ome Repetitions, I &s;hould o|therwi&s;e be nece&s;&s;iated to u&s;e in my Reply to your Letter; I &s;hall &s;uccinctly touch the Kings Progre&s;s, and the deportment of &s;ome Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and Di&s;&s;enters, before, and &s;ince the <HI>Indulgence.</HI></P>
<P>At the Fir&s;t Council the King held after his coming to the Crown, he expre&s;&s;ed the &s;en&s;e he had of the Church of <HI>Englands</HI> Loyalty, and gave us A&s;&s;urances of His <HI>Defence</HI> and <HI>Support</HI> of it.</P>
<P>This plea&s;ed the Di&s;&s;enters, only &s;o far, as it gave them hopes that the <HI>Prote&s;tant Religion</HI> might be pre&s;erved; but they were afraid, le&s;t the King might remember their former promoting the <HI>Bill</HI> of <HI>Exclu&s;ion,</HI> and that thereby they &s;hould not only continue under the la&s;hes of the Church of <HI>Englands</HI> Di&s;cipline, but of the Kings disfavour; and having yet the <HI>Idea's</HI> which had been in|fu&s;ed into them of a <HI>Popi&s;h Succe&s;&s;or,</HI> and the D. of <HI>Monmouth</HI> giving them an opportunity to make head under the &s;pecious pre|tence of pre&s;erving the Prote&s;tant Religion, as many of them as were near the Scene of Action, and were fool-hardy, joyn'd with him in that Rebellion; and the wi&s;hes for his &s;ucce&s;s were not wanting in mo&s;t of that Party.</P>
<P>But that Rebellion being &s;o &s;peedily, and almo&s;t miraculou&s;ly &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, they fled to the Church of <HI>England</HI> for Protection, flocked to the Churches, per&s;onated a Conformity, and &s;o clo&s;ely mixed, that they now &s;eemed one Body, and one Church.</P>
<P>Some leading Men of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> finding this great acce&s;&s;ion of &s;trength, and being de&s;irous entirely to win the Di&s;&s;enters over, thought it expedient to let them &s;ee, how much they had been mi&s;taken, in thinking them, in the matter of Exclu|&s;ion, to be going over to <HI>Rome,</HI> and being willing to wipe off the Calumny the Di&s;&s;enters had ca&s;t upon them, as being Papi&s;ts in Ma&s;querade, they began in&s;tantly to &s;hew their utmo&s;t Zeal again&s;t the Kings Religion.</P>
<P>When therefore, the King, pur&s;uant to His Royal de&s;ign, before-mentioned, required the taking off the <HI>Te&s;t</HI> and <HI>Penal Laws;</HI> many leading Men of the Church of <HI>England</HI> &s;et them&s;elves to oppo&s;e the King in it, and from that day, the more they found the King pre&s;s it, the more they &s;hewed their reluctance. Suddenly, &s;everal Mini&s;ters, able, or unable, to manage the di&s;pute with the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> began to confirm their Auditors, in the Doctrine of the Prote&s;tant Religion, and to in&s;inuate the danger we were in to lo&s;e it, as &s;oon as the <HI>Te&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Penal Laws</HI> &s;hould be repeal'd; they
<PB N="4" REF="4">murmur'd, and repin'd at every favour &s;hewn to Roman Catho|licks, and none were &s;o much applauded, as tho&s;e who lo&s;t their places, upon their denial to concur with the King in his demands. They animated and encouraged one another to &s;tand the &s;hock, not thinking, perhaps, they had to deal with a more re&s;olved Prince, than &s;ome of His Predece&s;&s;ors; nor apprehending, or not willing to &s;ee, what publick benefit the King de&s;ign'd to the body of His Subjects, by the Repeal; and in fine, began to pur&s;ue all the methods of male-contents, finding this the only way to em|barras the King, hinder all His glorious de&s;igns for the publick, and render u&s;ele&s;s his eminent virtues, in not affording Him the opportunity of appearing like Him&s;elf, or rendring His Reign glorious; becau&s;e, they were unwilling, any thing Great &s;hould be performed by a King, that was not of their Religion.</P>
<P>All this, His Maje&s;ty carefully ob&s;erved, and being unwilling to act any thing, but according to Ju&s;tice, and the Laws of the Land, He wi&s;ely enquir'd into the extent of His legal power. He knew he was by the Statutes declared Supream Head of the Church in His Dominions, had undoubted Prerogatives, He might make u&s;e of, and a Di&s;pen&s;ing Power; and &s;o &s;ettled tho&s;e by judicial Proceedings.</P>
<P>The King having now a&s;&s;erted His Sovereignty, he thought it rea&s;onable, to manife&s;t to all His Subjects, that it was not the ea&s;e only of the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> he aim'd at, but that He intended His Clemency &s;hould be as exten&s;ive as His Empire: Fir&s;t therefore, He publi&s;hed His General Pardon, (excepting &s;ome few per&s;ons) and in the interim, &s;hew'd His di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t tho&s;e who ob|&s;tructed His great de&s;ign of Repeal; and la&s;tly, publi&s;hed this <HI>Indulgence,</HI> wherein He layed open the paternal goodne&s;s, and benignity of His Soul; the method, of enriching His people, and a foundation of their concord during His Reign; and for &s;uc|ceeding Ages, by extirpating the cau&s;es of Animo&s;ities, Heart|burnings, Feuds, and Oppre&s;&s;ions of His people, by any prevail|ing Party; abridging them of nothing u&s;ed in their Religious Wor&s;hip, but only, of the power of compelling any one to Con|formity; and depriving every party of that Authority, of ma|gi&s;terial impo&s;ing &s;uch di&s;tingui&s;hing and Excluding <HI>Te&s;ts,</HI> as incapacitated His Subjects to &s;erve Him, and the Government, ac|cording to their Allegiance, and every Free-Mans Liberty.</P>
<P>One would rationally have thought, that no party &s;hould have been wanting in their Thanks for &s;o great a Grace and Favour, &s;o much the greater, in that it was be&s;towed by a Prince, from whom no &s;uch large&s;s of Royal Bounty was expected; not the Church
<PB N="5" REF="4">of <HI>England,</HI> &s;ince, in the body of the &s;ame Indulgence, &s;o liberal a Provi&s;ion was made for it; not the Di&s;&s;enters, who had the mo&s;t vi&s;ible benefits; nor any el&s;e, who did not prefer the profits they had by the <HI>Penal</HI> mulcts impo&s;ed, or the plea&s;ure of inflicting puni&s;hments upon tho&s;e who were obnoxious to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Cen|&s;ures, or the Laws for <HI>&V;niformity.</HI></P>
<P>There was then a Party of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> who, owning the Kings Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Supremacy, and His Prerogative, looked upon this as an Act of State, which the King might Exert at plea|&s;ure, for the publick tranquillity of His Dominions; and thought it their duty to be truly thankful, that the King had &s;o gene|rou&s;ly &s;ecured to them the Honors and Emoluments of the Church, and entirely left them the Cathedrals, the Churches, and the pro|fits annexed to them.</P>
<P>Another, and a major part of the &s;ame Church, was vehe|menty moved by the Declaration, murmur'd, that their former &s;erives were &s;lighted; that Di&s;&s;enters, who had unanimou&s;ly op|po&s;ed the Kings Succe&s;&s;ion, and been Rebels as often as they had opportunity, were preferr'd before them; and &s;ugge&s;ted, that this was de&s;ign'd to enlarge the <HI>Roman Catholick Church,</HI> and as a &s;courge to them; and though they never publickly urged it, yet it is mo&s;t manife&s;t, that the depriving them of the coercive power, (though all other parties were as much di&s;armed of that, as They,) grate|fully contributed to their reluctance.</P>
<P>The Conductors of their Affairs pitched upon two Expedients, as mo&s;t effectual to hinder the Kings reaping any benefits to the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> by it. The one was, to &s;ecure the Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> from a complyance, by &s;tiffly oppo&s;ing the <HI>Repeal,</HI> and que&s;tioning the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ing Power:</HI> The &s;econd, by di&s;&s;uading Di&s;&s;enters from &s;eparating from the common intere&s;t (as it is called) of Prote&s;tants; or making any court to the King, in rendring any Tribute of Thanks for His Royal Grace to them.</P>
<P>To E&s;tab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;h this, con&s;ultations are had; leading Men among the Di&s;&s;enters are treated with, great promi&s;es are made, that Per&s;ecution again&s;t them &s;hall cea&s;e, if ever the Church of <HI>Eng|land</HI> return again to its former &s;un-&s;hine: Pamphlets from <HI>Holland,</HI> and at home, aggravate the fear of Popery, and of the de&s;truction of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and not only declaim again&s;t the abroga|ting of all <HI>Penal Laws,</HI> but the Di&s;pen&s;ing Power, likewi&s;e, as tending to the &s;haking all other Laws, even tho&s;e of Property; and this &s;eems the de&s;ign of your <HI>Letter,</HI> writ &s;moother than Dr. <HI>Burne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> or the Repre&s;entation, but with as little difference, as to de&s;ign, as there is betwixt a Dagger in a wooden, or &s;ilver Scabbard.
<PB N="6" REF="5">Sir, I mu&s;t own, that the politene&s;s of the Style, the &s;harpne&s;s, and plau&s;iblene&s;s of the Arguments, will contribute more to|wards the e&s;tabli&s;hing &s;uch Mens minds, who have the greate&s;t affection for the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and equal aver&s;ion to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> than any thing Publi&s;hed hitherto. But in my judgement, you have mixed &s;o much Varni&s;h, as a &s;teady eye may ea&s;ily di&s;cover what need you had of it.</P>
<P>When we &s;ee a falling Star, we make no great remarks upon it, becau&s;e it happens &s;o frequently, and how bright &s;o ever it ap|pear'd, we find nothing upon its fall, but a little jelly dropt from the Clouds. But when a Comet appears, it excites the curio&s;ity of the learned, to enquire into its motion, the altitude of it; and by con&s;ulting by-pa&s;t-times, and con&s;idering what events hap|pened when &s;uch appear'd before, to make &s;ome Progno&s;ticks of its effects.</P>
<P>Your <HI>Letter</HI> is not to be looked upon as a &s;hooting Star, or paper Kite, but a blazing Star, therefore de&s;erves a &s;erious con&s;idera|tion; for whatever tho&s;e, formerly reputed meteors, did &s;ig|nifie, yours mo&s;t evidently denotes an unquiet temper in tho&s;e of your per&s;ua&s;ion, a &s;tudious de&s;ire in them to e&s;trange the Hearts of Loyal Subjects from their Sovereign, a que&s;tioning His preroga|tive, and a charging Him with overturning the Laws, and an in|tention to Rule Arbitrarily. This fills peoples minds with doubts, &s;u&s;picions and jealou&s;ies, &s;trows flax all over the Kingdom, ready to be &s;et on fire; when you, by your <HI>enflaming Eloquence,</HI> have pre|pared Undertakers. Therefore, I think it the duty of all that Honour the King, and love their Country's peace, and tranquil|lity, to examine the tendency, and prevent the evil effects of &s;uch an Apparition.</P>
<P>But to leave the Allegory, and con&s;ider the <HI>Letter:</HI> As it is a di&s;|cour&s;e penn'd with Art and Elegance, and beautified with orna|ment of Language, it is delight&s;om to be read; but when the &s;cope of it is weighed, the factiou&s;ne&s;s of it, under the &s;moothne&s;s of the periods, the unrea&s;onable po&s;tulatums, the fictitious &s;uppo&s;itions, and the &s;evere reflections upon the King and His Government; it becomes hone&s;t Men to enquire into tho&s;e poi&s;onous drugs, that are &s;o artificially gilded, and provide Antidotes again&s;t them.</P>
<P>There are many Thou&s;ands of His Maje&s;ties Subjects, both better able, and more at lei&s;ure, and concerned to Animadvert upon your Letter; but upon the fir&s;t reading, I found many incentives to urge me to it, when I &s;aw &s;uch mi&s;-interpretations of his Maje&s;ties Honourable de&s;igns, his conduct &s;o calumniated, &s;uch dangerous innuendo's, &s;uch endeavours to poy&s;on the Mem|bers
<PB N="7" REF="5">of the Church of <HI>England</HI> in their Loyalty; the Arts to make them forfeit their Reputations with His Maje&s;ty and the World, by alluring them to do every thing, that made former Di&s;&s;enters &s;o abnoxious, and leading them in the &s;ame &s;teps, with which they had trod the &s;tage &s;o tragical to them&s;elves, and the Kingdom.</P>
<P>What I have writ was the re&s;ult of my thoughts, e're I had read any An&s;wer, except the fir&s;t two that were made you, but by di&s;tance of place, and other intervening accidents, which hinder the communicating of it hath been &s;topped hirherto; and if the opinion &s;ome have, that it may be yet u&s;eful to &s;ome that may need repeated cautions and admonitions, to beware of being &s;educed by the plau&s;iblene&s;s of your Language, had not prevailed with me, I &s;hould have totally &s;uppre&s;&s;ed it. Now that I may do you all po&s;&s;ible right, I have in&s;erted the Letter entire, according to the different Paragraphs, and &s;ubjoyned mine, and do freely yield, your Column is that of the compo&s;it order, beautiful, though not &s;trong, and I hope that mine may be more &s;olid, like the Dorick rather chu&s;ing to render my An&s;wer, according to my Capacity, (flattering my &s;elf at lea&s;t in the good intention) &s;incere and u&s;eful than florid or fallacious; de&s;iring all along, when I men|tion the Church of <HI>Englands</HI> &s;everity, to be under&s;tood no ways, as cen&s;uring the Church as Author of tho&s;e Laws, nor que&s;tioning the prudence of the State in making Laws, which, according to the temperament of the times, the &s;ecurity of the publick peace, and it may be the de&s;ire of Uniformity upon prudential grounds, our Kings thought fit to Enact. But in this great revolution, when our King thinks fit to try other mea&s;ures, I humbly judge it the intere&s;t of all peaceable &s;pirits, and dutiful Subjects, calmly to weigh His Maje&s;ties Rea&s;ons, and yeild to the Repeal of &s;uch Laws, as cannot now be put in execution; and may, in all human probabi|lity, conduce much to the publick tranquility of the Nation. But I &s;hall take an opportunity to &s;peak to this, after I have di&s;patched what I have to &s;ay to your Letter; wherein I would not be under|&s;tood to plead for the merits of Di&s;&s;enters, but to &s;hew that they have no rea&s;on to quit their right in the Kings favour, tendered to them without their &s;eeking, by any Arguments you have brought; nor that the Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> ought to be &s;o much di&s;quieted, that it is granted to them, &s;ince the Di&s;&s;enters thereby will be without all excu&s;e, if this make them not better Subjects. Nor think I, the Church of <HI>England</HI> hath rea&s;on to be &s;o jealous of being overlaid by them, &s;ince the con&s;titution of the Government of the Church of <HI>England</HI> is better adapted to the Mo|narchy, than either the Cla&s;&s;ical or Congregational way; and that
<PB N="8" REF="6">the Roman Catholicks can &s;o multiply as to ballance both, in my judgement, is to be reckoned among the portents of Nature, and I will &s;ooner believe a grain of the powder of projection can turn a Hundred pound of Lead to pure Gold, than that this can be effect|ed in one Age, without a Divine Miracle; which, when wrought, none will be troubled at, that own an omnipotent Being, to who&s;e guidance they do &s;ubmit them&s;elves.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="opponent's letter and author's reply">
<DIV3 TYPE="letter">
<HEAD>THE <HI>LETTER.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>SInce Addre&s;&s;es are in fa&s;hion, give me leave to make one to You. This is neither the effect of Fear, Inte|re&s;t, or Re&s;entment; there|fore you may be &s;ure it is &s;incere: and for that Rea&s;on it may expect to be kindly received. Whe|ther it will have power enough to Convince, de|pends upon the Rea&s;ons, of which you are to judge; and upon your preparation of Mind, to be per&s;ua|ded by Truth, whenever it appeareth to you. It ought not to be the le&s;s welcom, for coming from a friendly Hand, one who&s;e kindne&s;s to you is not le&s;&s;ened by difference of Opinion, and who will not let his thoughts for the publick be &s;o tyed or confined to this or that &s;ub-divi&s;ion of Prote&s;t|ants, as to &s;tifle the Cha|rity, which, be&s;ides all
<PB N="9" REF="6">other Arguments, is at this time become ne|ce&s;&s;ary to pre&s;erve us.</P>
<P N="b"><HI>(b)</HI> I am neither &s;ur|prized nor provoked to &s;ee, that in the condition you were put into by the Laws, and the ill circum|stances you lay under, by having the Exclu&s;ion and Rebellion laid to your Charge, you were de&s;irous to make your &s;elves le&s;s unea&s;ie and obnoxious to Authority. Men who are &s;ore run to the neare&s;t Re|medy with too much ha&s;t, to con&s;ider all the Con&s;e|quences: Grains of al|lowance are to be given, where Nature gives &s;uch &s;trong Influences. When to Men under Sufferings it offereth Ea&s;e, the pre|&s;ent Pain will hardly allow time to examine the Remedies; and the &s;tronge&s;t rea&s;on can hard|ly gain a fair Audience from our Mind, whil&s;t &s;o po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, till the Smart is a little allayed.</P>
<P N="c"><HI>(c)</HI> I do not know whe|ther the Warmth that na|turally belongeth to New Friend&s;hips, may not make it a harder Task for me to per&s;uade you. It is like telling Lovers, in the beginning of their Joys, that they will in a little time have an End.
<PB N="10" REF="7">Such an unwelcom Style doth not ea&s;ily find cre|dit: but I will &s;uppo&s;e you are not &s;o far gone in your new Pa&s;&s;ion, but that you will <HI>Hear</HI> &s;till; and therefore I am under the le&s;s di&s;couragement, when I offer to your Con|&s;ideration two things.</P>
<P N="d"><HI>(d)</HI> The <HI>fir&s;t</HI> is, the cau&s;e you have to <HI>Su&s;pect</HI> your New-Friends. The <HI>Se|cond,</HI> the Duty incum|bent upon you, in Chri|&s;tianity and Prudence, not to hazard the Publick Safety, neither by de&s;ire of Ea&s;e, nor of Revenge.</P>
<P N="e"><HI>(e)</HI> To the <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> Con|&s;ider that notwith&s;tan|ding the &s;mooth Lan|guage is now put on to engage you, the&s;e New Friends did not make you their Choice, but their Refuge: They have ever made their fir&s;t Court&s;hips to the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and when they were rejected there, they made their Applica|tion to you in the &s;econd place. The in&s;tances of this, might be given in all times. I do not repeat them, becau&s;e what&s;oever's unnece&s;&s;ary, mu&s;t be tedious, the Truth of this A&s;&s;ertion being &s;o plain, as not to admit a Di&s;pute. You cannot
<PB N="11" REF="7">thereforer rea&s;onably flat+ter your &s;elves, that there is an Inclination to you. They never pretended to allow you any Quarter, but to u&s;her in Liberty for them&s;elves under that &s;helter. I refer you to Mr. <HI>Coleman's Letters,</HI> and to the <HI>Journals</HI> of <HI>Parliament,</HI> where you may be convinced, if you can be &s;o mi&s;taken, as to doubt; nay, at this very hour, they can hard|ly forbear, in the height of their Court&s;hip, to let fall hard words of you. So little is Nature to be re&s;trained: it will &s;tart out &s;ometimes, di&s;dain|ing to &s;ubmit to the &V;|&s;urpation of Art, and Interest.</P>
<P N="f">(f) This Alliance, between <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>In|fallibility,</HI> is bringing together the Two mo&s;t contrary things that are in the World. The Church of <HI>Rome</HI> doth not only di&s;like the allowing Li|berty, but by its Princi|ples it cannot do it. Wine is not more expre&s;ly for|bidden to the <HI>Mahome|tans,</HI> than giving Here|ticks Liberty to the <HI>Pa|pi&s;ts:</HI> They are no more
<PB N="12" REF="8">able to make good their Vows to you, then Men married before, and their Wives alive, can confirm their Contract with ano|ther. The continuance of their kindne&s;s, would be a habit of &s;in, of which they are to repent, and their Ab&s;olution is to be had upon no other terms, than their promi&s;e to de&s;troy you. You are therefore to be hugged now, only that you may be the better &s;queezed at another time. There mu&s;t be &s;omething ex|traordinary, when the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> &s;etteth up Bills, and offereth Plai&s;ters for tender Con|&s;ciences: By all that hath hitherto appeared, her skill in Chirurgery lieth chiefly in a quick Hand, to cut off Limbs; but &s;he is the wor&s;t at Healing, of any that ever pretended to it.</P>
<PB N="13" REF="8">
<P N="g">(g) To come &s;o quick from another extream, is &s;uch an unnatural mo|tion, that you ought to be upon your Guard; the other day you were <HI>Sons of Belial,</HI> now you are <HI>Angels of Light.</HI> This is a violent change, and it will be fit for you to pau&s;e upon it, before you believe it: If your fea|tures are not altered, nei|ther is their opinion of you, what ever may be pretended. Do you be|lieve le&s;s than you did, that there is Idolatry in the Church of <HI>Rome?</HI> &s;ure you do not. See then, how they treat both in words and writing, tho&s;e that entertain that Opi|nion. Conclude from hence, how incon&s;i&s;tent their favour is with this &s;ingle Article, except they give you a Di&s;pen&s;ation for this too, and by a <HI>Non Ob&s;tante,</HI> &s;ecure you that they will not think the wor&s;e of you.</P>
<PB N="14" REF="9">
<P N="h">(h) Think a little how dangerous it is to build upon a Foundation of Parodoxes. Popery now is the only friend to Liber|ty, and the known Enemy to Per&s;ecution: The men of <HI>Taunton</HI> and <HI>Tiver|ton,</HI> are above all other Eminent for Loyalty. The <HI>Quakers</HI> from being de|clared by the Papi&s;ts not to be Chri&s;tians, are now made Favourites, and taken into their particu|lar Protection; they are on a &s;udden grown the mo&s;t accompli&s;hed men of the Kingdom in good Breeding, and give thanks with the be&s;t Grace in double refined Language. So that I &s;hould not won|der, though a man of that Per&s;uation: in &s;pite of his Hat, I &s;hould be Ma&s;ter of the Ceremo|nies. Not to &s;ay har&s;her words, the&s;e are &s;uch very new things, that it is impo&s;&s;ible not to &s;u&s;|pend our Belief, till by a little more Experience we may be inform'd whether they are Realities or Ap|paritions: We have been under &s;hameful mi&s;takes if the&s;e Opinions are true; but for the pre&s;ent, we are apt to be incredu|lous, except we could be convinced, that the Prie&s;ts words in this Ca&s;e too,
<PB N="15" REF="9">are able to make &s;uch a &s;udden, and effectual Change; and that their Power is not limited to the Sacrament, but that it extendeth to alter the nature of all other things, as often as they are &s;o di&s;po&s;ed.</P>
<P N="i">(i) Let me now &s;peak of the In&s;truments of your Friend&s;hip, and then leave you to judge, whether they do not afford matter of &s;u&s;picion. No &s;harp|ne&s;s is to be mingled where healing only is in|tended; &s;o nothing will be &s;aid to expo&s;e particu|lar men, how &s;trong &s;o|ever the Temptation may be, or how clear the Proofs to make it out. A word or two in general, for your better Caution, &s;hall &s;uffiee: Suppo&s;e then, for Argument's &s;ake, that the Mediators of this new Alliance, &s;hould be &s;uch as have been former|ly imployed in Treaties of the &s;ame kind, and there detected to have Acted by Order, and to have been Impowered to give Encouragement and Re|wards. Would not this be an Argument to &s;u&s;pect them?</P>
<PB N="16" REF="10">
<P N="k">(k) If they &s;hould plain|ly be under Engagements to one Side, their Argu|ments to the other, ought to be received according|ly; their fair Pretences are to be looked upon as part of their Commi&s;&s;ion, which may not improba|bly give them a Di&s;pen&s;a|tion in the ca&s;e of Truth, when it may bring Preju|dice upon the Service of tho&s;e by whom they are imployed.</P>
<P N="l">(l) If there &s;hould be men who having formerly had Means and Authority to per&s;uade by Secular Argu|ments, have in pur&s;uance of that Power, &s;prinkled Mony among&s;t the Di&s;&s;en|ting Mini&s;ters; and if tho&s;e very Men &s;hould now have the &s;ame Au|thority, practice the &s;ame Methods, and Disbur&s;e, where they cannot other|wi&s;e per&s;uade: It &s;eem|eth to me rather an E|vidence, than a Pre&s;ump|tion of the Deceit.</P>
<P N="m">(m) If there &s;hould be Ministers among&s;t you, who by having fallen un|der Temptations of this kind, are in &s;ome &s;ort engaged to continue their Frailty, by the awe they are in lea&s;t it &s;hould be
<PB N="17" REF="10">expo&s;ed: The Per&s;ua|&s;ions of the&s;e &V;nfortu|nate Men mu&s;t &s;ure have the le&s;s force, and their Arguments, though never &s;o &s;pecious, are to be &s;u&s;|pected, when they come from Men who have Mortgaged them&s;elves to &s;evere Creditors that ex|pect a rigorous ob&s;erva|tion of the Contract, let it be never &s;o unwarran|tabe.</P>
<P N="n">(n) If the&s;e, or any others &s;hould at this time Preach up Anger and Vengeance again&s;t the Church of <HI>England:</HI> may it not, without Inju&s;tice, be Su&s;pected, that a thing &s;o plainly out of &s;ea|&s;on, &s;prings rather from corruption than mi&s;take; and that tho&s;e who act this cholerick part, do not believe them&s;elves, but only pur&s;ue higher Directions, and endea|vour to make good that part of the contract which obligeth them, upon a Forfeiture, to make u&s;e of their inflaming Elo|quence? They might ap|prehend their Wages would be retrenched, if they &s;hould be Moderate: And therefore, whil&s;t Vi|olence is their Intere&s;t, tho&s;e who have not the &s;ame Arguments, have
<PB N="18" REF="11">no rea&s;on to follow &s;uch a Partial Example</P>
<P N="o">(o) If there &s;hould be men who by the load of their Crimes again&s;t the Government, have been bowed down to comply with it again&s;t their Con|&s;cience: who by incurring the want of a Pardon, have drawn upon them|&s;elves the nece&s;&s;ity of a Re&s;ignation: Such men are to be lamented, but not to be believed. Nay, they them&s;elves when they have di&s;charged their &V;nwelcome Task, will be inwardly glad that their forced Endeavours do not &s;ucceed, and are pleas'd when men re&s;i&s;t their In&s;inuations; which are far from being Volun|tary or Sincere, but are Squeezed out of them by the weight of their being &s;o Obnoxious.</P>
<P N="p">(p) If in the height of this great Dearne&s;s by comparing things, it &s;hould happen, That at this in&s;tant, there is much a &s;urer friend|&s;hip with tho&s;e who are &s;o far from allowing Li|berty,
<PB N="19" REF="11">that they allow no Living to a Prote&s;tant under them. Let the Scene lie in what part of the World it will, the Argu|ment will come home, and &s;ure it will afford &s;uffi|cient ground to &s;u&s;pect. Apparent Contradictions mu&s;t &s;trike us: neither Nature nor Rea&s;on can dige&s;t them; Self-Flat|tery, and the de&s;ire to deceive our &s;elves, to gra|tifie a pre&s;ent Appetite, with all their Power, which is Great, cannot get the better of &s;uch broad Conviction, as &s;ome things carry along with them. Will you call the&s;e vain and empty Su&s;pi|tions? have you been at all times &s;o void of Fears and Jealou&s;ies as to ju&s;ti|fie your being &s;o unrea&s;o|nably Valiant, in having none upon this occa&s;ion? Such an extraordinary Courage at this un&s;ea&s;o|nable time, to &s;ay no more, is too dangerous a Vertue to be commended.</P>
<P N="q">(q) If then for the&s;e and a thou&s;and other Rea&s;ons, there is cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect, &s;ure your new Friends are not to Dict|ate to you, or advi&s;e you; for in&s;tance, The Addre&s;&s;es that fly abroad every Week, and Mur|ther us with <HI>another to the &s;ame;</HI> the fir&s;t
<PB N="20" REF="12">Draughts are made by tho&s;e who are not very proper to be Secretaries to the Prote&s;tant Reli|gion; and it is your part only to Write them out fairer again. Strange! that you who have been formerly &s;o much again&s;t <HI>Set forms,</HI> &s;hould now be content the Priests &s;hould Indite for you. The nature of Thanks is an unavoidable con&s;e|quence of being Plea&s;ed or Obliged; they grow in the Heart, and from thence &s;hew them&s;elves either in Looks, Speech, Writing, or Action: No Man was ever thankful becau&s;e he was bid to be &s;o; but becau&s;e he had, or Thought he had &s;ome Rea&s;on for it. If then there is cau&s;e in this <HI>Ca&s;e</HI> to pay &s;uch extra|vagant acknowledgments, they will flow naturally, without taking <HI>&s;uch</HI> pains to procure them; and 'tis unkindly done to tire all the Po&s;t-Hor&s;es with car|rying Circular Letters to Sollicite that which would be done without any Trou|ble or Con&s;traint: If it is really in it &s;elf &s;uch a favour, what needeth &s;o many pre&s;&s;ing men to be thankful, and with &s;uch eager Circum&s;tances, that where per&s;wa&s;ion cannot
<PB N="21" REF="12">delude, Threatnings are imployed to fright them into a compliance? Thanks mu&s;t be Voluntary, not only &V;nconstrained, but &V;n&s;ollicited, el&s;e they are either Trifles or Snares, they either &s;ig|nifie nothing, or a great deal more than is inten|ded by tho&s;e that give them. If an Inference &s;hould be made, That who&s;oever Thanketh the King for His <HI>Declara|tion,</HI> is by that engaged to ju&s;tifie it in point of Law; it is a greater &s;tride than, I pre&s;ume, all tho&s;e care to make who are per&s;uaded to Ad|dre&s;s: If it &s;hall be &s;uppo&s;ed, that all the Thankers &s;hall be the Repealers of the <HI>TEST,</HI> when ever a <HI>Parliament</HI> &s;hall meet. Such an ex|pectation is better pre|vented before, than di&s;|appointed afterwards; and the &s;ure&s;t way to avoid the lying under &s;uch a &s;candal, is not to do any thing that may give a colour to the mi&s;take: The&s;e be&s;poken Thanks are little le&s;s im|proper than Love-Letters that were Sollicitated by the Lady to whom they are to be Directed; &s;o, that be&s;ides the little ground there is to give
<PB N="22" REF="13">them, the manner of getting them, doth ex|treamly le&s;&s;en their Va|lue. It might be wi&s;hed that you would have &s;uppre&s;sed your impati|ence, and have been con|tent for the &s;ake of Reli|gion, to enjoy it within your &s;elves, without the Liberty of a publick Ex|erci&s;e, till a Parliament had allowed it: But &s;ince that could not be, and that the Artifices of &s;ome a|mong&s;t you have made u&s;e of the Well meant Zeal of the Generality to draw them into this mi&s;take; I am &s;o far from blaming you with that &s;harpne&s;s which, per|haps, the matter in &s;trict|ne&s;s would bear, that I am ready to err on the &s;ide of the more gentle con&s;truction.</P>
<P N="r">(r) There is a great dif|ference&punc; between enjoying quietly the advantages of an Act irregularly done by others, and the going about to &s;upport it again&s;t the Laws in being; the Law is &s;o Sacred, that no Tre&s;pa&s;s again&s;t it is to be Defended; yet Frail|ties may in &s;ome mea&s;ure be Excu&s;ed, when they cannot be Ju&s;tified. The de&s;ire of enjoying a Li|berty from which men have been &s;o long re|&s;trained,
<PB N="23" REF="13">may be a Temp|tation that their Rea&s;on is not at all times able to re&s;i&s;t. If in &s;uch a ca&s;e, &s;ome Objections are leapt over, indifferent men will be more inclined to lament the Occa&s;ion, than to fall too hard upon the Fault, whil&s;t it is covered with the Apologie of a good Intention; but where to re&s;cue your &s;elves from the Severity of one Law, you give a blow to all the Laws, by which your Religion and Liberty are to be protected; and in|&s;tead of &s;ilently receiving the benefit of this Indul|gence, you &s;et up for Ad|vocates to &s;upport it, you become voluntary Ag|gre&s;&s;ors, and look like Coun&s;el retained by the Prerogative again&s;t your old friend <HI>Magna Char|ta,</HI> who hath done nothing to de&s;erve her falling thus under your Di&s;plea&s;ure.</P>
<P N="s">(s) If the ca&s;e then &s;hould be, that the Price expected from you for this Liberty, is giving up your Right in the
<PB N="24" REF="14">Laws, &s;ure you will think twice, before you go any further in &s;uch a lo|&s;ing Bargain. After gi|ving Thanks for the breach of one Law, you lo&s;e the Right of Com|plaining of the breach of all the re&s;t; you will not very well know how to defend your &s;elves, when you are pre&s;&s;ed; and ha|ving given up the Que&s;ti|on, when it was for your advantage, you cannot recal it, when it &s;hall be to your prejudice. If you will &s;et up at one time a Power to help you, which at another time by parity of Rea&s;on &s;hall be made u&s;e of to de&s;troy you, you will neither be pitied, nor relieved again&s;t any mi&s;chief you draw upon your &s;elves, by being &s;o unrea&s;onably thankful. It is like calling in Auxili|aries to help, who are &s;trong enough to &s;ubdue you: in &s;uch a ca&s;e your complaints will come too late to be heard, and your &s;ufferings will rai&s;e mirth in&s;tead of Compa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<PB N="25" REF="14">
<P N="t"><HI>(t)</HI> If you think, for your excu&s;e, to expound your Thanks &s;o as to re&s;train them as to this particular ca&s;e; Others, for their end, will extend them further; and in the&s;e differing Interpretation, that which is back'd by Authority will be the mo&s;t likely to prevail; e&s;pe|cially when by the advan|tage you have given them, they have in truth the better of the Argument, and that the inferences from your own Conce&s;&s;ions are very &s;trong, and ex|pre&s;s again&s;t you. This is &s;o far from being a groundle&s;s Suppo&s;ition, and there was a late in|&s;tance
<PB N="26" REF="15">of it, the la&s;t Se&s;&s;ion of Parliament, in the Hou&s;e of Lords, where the fir&s;t Thanks, though things of cour&s;e, were interpreted to be the Approbation of the Kings whole Speech, and a Re|&s;traint never &s;o much di&s;|liked; and it was with difficulty obtained, not to be excluded from the li|berty of objecting to this mighty Prerogative of Di&s;pen&s;ing, meerly by this innocent and u&s;ual piece of good Manners, by which no &s;uch thing could po&s;&s;ibly be intended.</P>
<P N="u"><HI>(u)</HI> This &s;heweth, that &s;ome bounds are to be put to your good Breeding, and that the Con&s;titution of <HI>England</HI> is too valu|able a thing to be ventu|red upon a Complement. Now that you have for &s;ome time enjoyed the benefit of the End, it is time for you to look into the danger of the Means: The &s;ame Rea&s;on that made you de&s;irous to get Liberty, mu&s;t make you Sollicitous to pre&s;erve it; &s;o that the next thought
<PB N="27" REF="15">will naturally be, not to engage your &s;elf beyond Retreat, and to agree &s;o far with Principles of all Religions, as not to relie upon a Death-bed Repen|tance.</P>
<P N="x"><HI>(x)</HI> There are certain Periods of Time, which being once pa&s;t, make all Cautions ineffectual, and all Remedies de&s;perate. Our &V;nder&s;tandings are apt to be hurried on by the fir&s;t Heats; which, if not re&s;trained in time, do not give us leave to look back, till it is too late. Con&s;ider this in the ca&s;e of your Anger again&s;t the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and take warning by their Mi&s;take in the &s;ame kind, when after the late King's Re&s;toration, they pre&s;erved &s;o long the bitter ta&s;t of your rough u&s;age to them in other times, that it made them forget their Intere&s;t, and &s;acrifice it to their Re|venge.</P>
<P N="y"><HI>(y)</HI> Either you will blame this Proceeding in
<PB N="28" REF="16">them, and for that Rea|&s;on not follow it, or if you allow it, you have no rea&s;on to be offended with them; &s;o that you must either di&s;mi&s;s your Anger, or lo&s;e your Ex|cu&s;e; except you &s;hould argue more partially than will be &s;uppo&s;ed of men of your Morality and &V;n|derstanding.</P>
<P N="z"><HI>(z)</HI> If you had now to do with tho&s;e rigid Prelates, who made it matter of Con&s;cience to give you the lea&s;t Indul|gence, but kept you at an uncharitable di&s;tance, and even to your more rea&s;o|nable Scruples continued &s;tiff inexorable, the Ar|gument might be fairer on your &s;ide; but &s;ince the common Danger hath &s;o laid open that Mi&s;take, that all the former Haughtine&s;s towards you is for ever extingui&s;hed, and that it hath turned the Spirit of Per&s;ecution, into a Spirit of a Peace, Charity, and Conde&s;cen|tion; &s;hall this happy Change only affect the Church of <HI>England?</HI> and are you &s;o in love with Separation, as not to be moved by his Exam|ple?
<PB N="29" REF="16">It ought to be fol|lowed, were there no o|ther rea&s;on than that it is a Vertue; but when be&s;ides that, it is become nece&s;&s;ary to your pre&s;er|vation, it is impo&s;&s;ible to fail the having its effect upon you.</P>
<P N="a"><HI>(a)</HI> If it &s;hould be &s;aid that the Church of <HI>Eng|land</HI> is never Humble, but when &s;he is out of Power, and therefore lo&s;eth the Right of being believed when &s;he preten|deth to it; the An&s;wer is, <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> it would be an uncharitable Objection, and very much mi&s;|timed; an un&s;ea&s;onable Triumph, not only unge|nerous, but un&s;afe: So that in the&s;e Re&s;pects it cannot be urged, with|out Scandal, even though it could be &s;aid with Truth. <HI>Secondly,</HI> This is not &s;o in Fact, and the Argument mu&s;t fall, be|ing built upon a fal&s;e Foundation; for what|ever may be told you, at this very hour, and in the heat and glare of your pre&s;ent Sun-&s;hine, the Church of <HI>England</HI> can in a Moment bring Clouds again; and turn the Royal Thunder upon your Heads, blow you off the Stage with a Breath, if &s;he would give but a Smile for a kind Word;
<PB N="30" REF="17">the lea&s;t Glimp&s;e of her Compliance, would throw you back into the &s;tate of Suffering, and draw upon you all the Arrears of Severity, which have ac|crued during the time of this kindne&s;s to you, and yet the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> with all her Faults, will not allow her &s;elf to be re&s;cu'd by &s;uch unju&s;ti|fiable means, but chu&s;eth to bear the weight of power, rather than lie under the burthen of be|ing Criminal.</P>
<P N="b"><HI>(b)</HI> It cannot be &s;aid, that &s;he is &V;nprovoked; Books and Letters come out every day, to call for An&s;wers, yet &s;he will not be &s;tirred. From the
<PB N="31" REF="17">&s;uppo&s;ed Authors, and the &s;tile one would &s;wear they were &V;ndertakers, and had made a Contract to fall out with the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England.</HI> There are La&s;hes in every <HI>Addre&s;s,</HI> Challanges to draw the Pen in every Pamphlet; In &s;hort, the faire&s;t occa&s;ions in the World given to quarrel; but &s;he wi&s;ely di&s;tingui&s;h|eth between the Body of Di&s;&s;enters, whom &s;he will &s;uppo&s;e to Act, as they do, with no ill intent; and the&s;e &s;mall Skir|mi&s;hes pickt and &s;ent out to picqueer, and to begin a Fray among&s;t the Pro|te&s;tants, for the enter|tainment, as well as the advantage of the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P N="c"><HI>(c)</HI> This conduct is &s;o good, that it will be &s;can|dalous not to Applaud it. It is not equal dealing, to blame our Adver&s;aries for doing ills and not commend them when they do well.</P>
<P N="d"><HI>(d)</HI> To hate them becau&s;e they per&s;ecuted, and not to be reconciled to be reconciled to them when they are ready to &s;uffer, rather than receive all the Advantages, that can be
<PB N="32" REF="18">gained by criminal com|pliance, is a Principle no &s;ort of Chri&s;tians can own, &s;ince it would give an Objection to them never to be an&s;wered.</P>
<P N="e"><HI>(e)</HI> Think a little, who they were that promoted your former Per&s;ecutions, and then con&s;ider how it will look to be angry with the In&s;truments, and at the &s;ame time to make a League with the Authors of our Sufferings.</P>
<P N="f"><HI>(f)</HI> Have you enough con&s;idered what will be expected from you? Are you ready to &s;tand in every Borough by Vertue of a <HI>Conge d'e&s;lire,</HI> and in&s;tead of Election, be &s;atisfied if you are Re|turned?</P>
<P N="g"><HI>(g)</HI> Will you in <HI>Par|liament,</HI> ju&s;tifie the Di&s;|pen&s;ing Power, with all its Con&s;equences, and Repeal the <HI>Te&s;t,</HI> by which you will make way for the Repeal of all the Laws, that were made to pre|&s;erve your Religion, and to Enact others that &s;hall De&s;troy it?</P>
<PB N="33" REF="18">
<P N="h">(h) Are you di&s;po&s;ed to change the Liberty of Debate, into the Merit of Obedience, and to be made In&s;truments to Re|peal or Enact Laws, when the <HI>Roman Con&s;i&s;tory,</HI> are <HI>Lords of the Ar|ticles.</HI></P>
<P N="i">(i) Are you &s;o linked with your new Friends, as to reject any <HI>Indul|gence</HI> a <HI>Parliament</HI> &s;hall offer you, if it &s;hall not be &s;o Comprehen&s;ive as to include the Papi&s;ts in it.</P>
<P N="k">(k) Con&s;ider that the implyed Conditions of our new Treaty are no le&s;s, then that you are to do every thing you are de|&s;ired, without examining, and that for this preten|ded <HI>Liberty of Con|&s;cience,</HI> your real Free|dom is to be Sacrificed: Your former Faults hang like Chains &s;till about you, you are let loo&s;e only vpon Bayl; the fir&s;t Act of Non-compliance, &s;en|deth you to Jayl again.</P>
<P N="l"><HI>(l)</HI> You may &s;ee that the Papi&s;ts them&s;elves do not rely upon the Lega|lity of this Power, which you are to Ju&s;tifie, &s;ince the being &s;o very earne&s;t
<PB N="34" REF="19">to get it E&s;tabli&s;hed by a Law, and the doing &s;uch very hard things in order, as they think to obtain it, is a clear Evi|dence, that they do not think that the &s;ingle power of the Crown is in this ca&s;e a good Foundation; e&s;pecially when this is done under a Prince, &s;o very tender of all the Rights of Sovereignty, that he would think it a diminution to his Prero|gative, where he concei|veth it &s;trong enough to go alone, to call in the Legi&s;lative help to &s;trengthen and &s;upport it.</P>
<P N="m"><HI>(m)</HI> You have for|merly blamed the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and not without rea&s;on, for going &s;o far as they did in their compliance; and yet as &s;oon as they &s;topped, you &s;ee they are not only De|&s;erted, but Pro&s;ecuted: Conclude then from this Example, that you mu&s;t either break off your Friend&s;hip, or re&s;olve to have no Bounds in it. If they do not &s;ucceed in their De&s;ign, they will leave you fir&s;t; if they do, you must either leave them, when it will be too late for your Safety, or el&s;e after the &s;quea&s;ines of &s;tartling at a Surplice, you mu&s;t be forced to &s;wallow <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI></P>
<PB N="35" REF="19">
<P N="n"><HI>(n)</HI> Remember that the other day, tho&s;e of the Church of <HI>England</HI> were <HI>Trimmers</HI> for en|during you, and now by a &s;udden Turn, you are become the Favourites; do not deceive your &s;elves, it is not the Nature of la&s;ting Plants thus to &s;hoot up in the Night; you may look gay and green for a little time, but you want a Root to give you a continuance. It is not &s;o long &s;ince, as to be forgotten, that the <HI>Maxim</HI> was, <HI>It is im|po&s;&s;ible for a Di&s;&s;enter, not to be a REBELL.</HI> Con&s;ider at this time in <HI>France,</HI> even the new Converts are &s;o far from being Imployed, that they are Di&s;armed; their &s;ud|den Change maketh them &s;till to be di&s;tru&s;ted, not|with&s;tanding that they are Reconciled: What are you to expect from your dear Friends, to whom, when ever they &s;hall think fit to throw you off again, you have in other times given &s;uch Arguments for their ex|cu&s;e?</P>
<PB N="36" REF="20">
<P N="o"><HI>(o)</HI> Be&s;ides all this, you Act very unskilfully again&s;t your vi&s;ible Inte|rest, if you throw away the Advantages, of which you can hardly fail in the next probable Revolution. Things tend naturally to what you would have, if you would let them alone, and not by an un&s;ea&s;ona|ble Activity lo&s;e the In|fluences of your good Star, which promi&s;eth every thing that is pro&s;perous.</P>
<P N="p"><HI>(p)</HI> The Church of <HI>England</HI> convinced of its Errour in being Severe to you; the <HI>Parliament,</HI> whenever it meeteth, is &s;ure to be Gentle to you; the next Heir bred in the Country which you have &s;o often Quoted for a Pattern of Indulgence; a general Agreement of all thinking Men, that we mu&s;t no more cut our &s;elves off from the Pro|te&s;tants abroad, but ra|ther inlarge the Founda|tions upon which we are to build our De&s;ences a|gain&s;t the Common Ene|my; &s;o that in truth, all things &s;eem to con&s;pire to give you ea&s;e and &s;atis|faction, if by too much ha&s;t to anticipate your good Fortune, you do not de&s;troy it.</P>
<PB N="37" REF="20">
<P N="q"><HI>(q)</HI> The Prote&s;tants have but one Article of Humane Strength, to op|po&s;e the Power which is now again&s;t them, and that is, not to lo&s;e the ad|vantage of their num|bers, by being &s;o unwary as to let them&s;elves be divided.</P>
<P N="r"><HI>(r)</HI> We all agree in our Duty to our Prince, our Octjections to his Belief, do not hinder us from &s;eeing his Virtues; and our not complying with his Religion, hath no effect upon our Alle|giance; we are not to be Laughed out of our Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, and the Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re|&s;i&s;tance,</HI> though even tho&s;e who perhaps owe the best part of their Secu|rity to that Principle, are apt to make a Jest on't.</P>
<PB N="38" REF="21">
<P N="&s;"><HI>(&s;)</HI> So that if we give no Advantage by the fatal Mi&s;take of mi&s;|applying our Anger, by the natural cour&s;e of things, this Danger will pa&s;s away like a &s;hower of Hail; fair weather will &s;ucceed, as lowering as the Sky now looketh, and all by this plain and ea&s;ie Receipt. Let us be &s;till, quiet, and undivi|ded, firm at the &s;ame time to our Religion, our Loyalty, and our Laws, and &s;o long as we conti|nue this Method, it is next to impo&s;&s;ible, that the odds of two hundred to one &s;hould lo&s;e the Bet; except the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> which hath been &s;o long barren of Mira|cles, &s;hould now in her declining Age, be brought to Bed of One that would out-do the best &s;he can brag of in her <HI>Legend.</HI></P>
<P N="t"><HI>(t)</HI> To conclude, the &s;hort Question will be, Whether you will joyn with tho&s;e who mu&s;t in the end run the &s;ame Fate with you. If Pro|te&s;tants of all &s;orts in their behaviour to one another, have been to
<PB N="39" REF="21">blame, they are upon the more equal terms, and for that very rea&s;on it is fitter for them now to be Reconciled. Our Di&s;union is not only a Reproach, but a danger to us; tho&s;e who believe in modern Mira|cles, have more Right, or at least more Excu&s;e, to neglect all Secular Cau|tions; but for us, it is as ju&s;tifiable to have no Re|ligion, as wilfully to throw away the humane Means of pre&s;erving it.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="reply">
<HEAD>THE REPLY.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IT is a mo&s;t undeniable truth, that <HI>fa&s;hionable</HI> Addre&s;&s;es are very little to be regarded; and the temper of the Nation as little to be known by them, as we can know Men to be of one inclination, becau&s;e they were one &s;ort of habit; but when they flow from Gratitude, Duty, and Intere&s;t, and not from <HI>fear</HI> or <HI>re&s;entment,</HI> they are good &s;ymbols of uncon&s;trainedne&s;s, and &s;ince|rity; and to whom &s;oever pre&s;ented, ought to be kindly received.</P>
<P>I own not my &s;elf a Di&s;&s;enter from the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and upon that &s;core, find not my &s;elf concerned in all that you write relating to them; but a&s;&s;ure you, I am one of tho&s;e that have a propen&s;ity of mind, ready to receive any impre&s;&s;ion of Rea&s;on, and who am &s;o &s;en|&s;ible, that a great part of the comforts of humane Life, and Oeconomy of Govern|ment is lo&s;t, to tho&s;e who confine their Charity, good E&s;teem and Candor to tho&s;e, only of their own <HI>Opinion:</HI> That you and I differ mo&s;tly, in that you confine your thoughts for the <HI>publick,</HI> to the <HI>&s;ub|divi&s;ion</HI> of <HI>Prote&s;tants</HI> only; whereas I think, they ought to be enlarged likewi&s;e to all Honourable Virtuous, and Loyal per&s;ons of other denominations; and nei|ther
<PB N="9" REF="6"><HI>Fear</HI> or <HI>Re&s;entment</HI> ought <HI>at this time,</HI> to make us &s;werve from that Golden Rule, of doing to others, as we would have others do to us.</P>
<P N="b"><HI>(b)</HI> It is true, that in &s;mall wounds, in the fle&s;hy parts only, the <HI>&s;ympathetick</HI> way of <HI>Cure,</HI> and clo&s;ing the wound in its own blood with bandage of clean Linnen, will &s;erve; but where <HI>amputations</HI> and <HI>lace|rations</HI> are &s;uch (as Seclu&s;ion and Rebel|lion) &s;overeign, wound, &s;alves are requi|&s;ite. You allow your Di&s;&s;enter to act by natural in&s;tinct, as other Animals do that can lick them&s;elves whole, and you dre&s;s their wounds with &s;o gentle a touch, as if you were unconcerned whether they were cur'd, or not; and lea&s;t they &s;hould <HI>infandum renovare dolorem,</HI> reflect upon the fre&s;h bleeding wounds, you give them a do&s;e of <HI>Opium:</HI> It is true, you blame the Patient for his precipitate|ne&s;s in u&s;ing the <HI>Remedies neare&s;t</HI> at hand, without <HI>examining,</HI> not only the skill and ability, but the good intention of the Chirurgion, and the vertues of his <HI>Reme|dies;</HI> but this is all Artifice, that you may get the Patient to commit him&s;elf to your care, and that you might po&s;&s;e&s;s him with an Opinion, that none el&s;e had the true method of healing, which is not fair practice, to decoy him from u&s;ing the certaine&s;t and mo&s;t a&s;&s;ured help this I&s;land can afford.</P>
<P N="c"><HI>(c)</HI> Here you change the Scene, and transform your Patient into a pa&s;&s;ionate Wooer, who is fallen in love with a <HI>new Friend;</HI> and &s;ince you pre&s;ume it will be an hard task to make him quit his new Amours, for his late coy and &s;cornful Lady; you are contriving a <HI>Fa&s;cination,</HI> and would garni&s;h his <HI>Bridal Feast</HI> with a <HI>Mene Tekel,</HI> a <HI>Memento Mori,</HI> which &s;hows (by your favour) an ill nature in
<PB N="10" REF="7">you, that will not allow a Di&s;&s;enter the joy of his <HI>hony moon.</HI> In this, you are like one that after vows, per&s;uades to Enquires: But I hope e're I have gone through with this di&s;cour&s;e; you will ac|knowledge, though your <HI>Style</HI> is &s;oft and beautiful, yet there is a weakne&s;s in your Rea&s;onings, will not ea&s;ily prevail with a true di&s;&s;enter, who is not &s;o <HI>far gone in his new pa&s;&s;ion,</HI> but that he will <HI>hear,</HI> and an&s;wer too.</P>
<P N="d"><HI>(d)</HI> Since you quit your exhortatory <HI>Preface,</HI> which was penn'd to obtain Audi|ence, and now will let us &s;ee your dexte|rity at Argument. I &s;hall endeavour to follow your method; owning you have cho&s;en the fitte&s;t <HI>mediums,</HI> and if you could make them as convincing as plau|fible, (which is now to be examined) you might expect many Pro&s;elites.</P>
<P N="e"><HI>(e)</HI> The Kings Ju&s;tice and Honour was as con&s;picuous as early, in his prai&s;es of, and promi&s;es to the Church of <HI>England;</HI> and I believe, in the up&s;hot, tho&s;e Politi|cians will be found the wor&s;t enemies to both, who made &s;uch ill con&s;tructions of the Kings de&s;ire of the Repeal. So that whatever the Church of <HI>England</HI> hath, or can &s;uffer, may be a&s;cribed to their taking the matter by the wrong handle. But it is mo&s;t evident, Di&s;&s;enters were then de&s;ign|ed to have a mutual &s;hare of Liberty, &s;ince the King granted, <HI>noli pro&s;equi's, inhibitions,</HI> and other <HI>relexations</HI> to them, as &s;oon as he did to <HI>Roman Catholicks.</HI> How dutiful it was to reject the Kings <HI>Court&s;hip,</HI> I leave to all un-intere&s;&s;ed per&s;ons to judge, and the more the <HI>In&s;tances</HI> can be multiplied, the greater is the demon&s;tration of the Kings de&s;ire to pre&s;erve them in their Duty; and the more faulty, tho&s;e Men who filled peoples minds with the affrightments of the Kings de&s;ign to &s;ettle
<PB N="11" REF="7">Popery, and de&s;troy the Church of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> which they knew morally impo&s;&s;i|ble, and yet continue to make it the only <HI>Helmet Argument.</HI> Tho&s;e who fly to any for <HI>Refuge,</HI> had need u&s;e better Argu|ments than <HI>flattery:</HI> whil&s;t Di&s;&s;enters were Rebells, they could expect no other Quar|ter than the Law pre&s;cribed, if the King had not been mo&s;t merciful; and it is mo&s;t apparent, a greater cau&s;e of the granting <HI>Indulgence,</HI> is to take away all occa&s;ions and pretences of <HI>Rebellion,</HI> rather, than &s;ingly to u&s;her in Liberty to <HI>Ro|man Catholicks,</HI> by that Grace. Neither is it any new inclination in the King to re|lieve Di&s;&s;enters in Communion with the <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> unle&s;s you will give him the lie, who &s;o publickly avows, that it <HI>hath been ever his judgment, that none ought to be Oppre&s;&s;ed and Per&s;ecuted for matters of Religion;</HI> and I think He ought to be be|lieved as &s;oon as any in His Kingdom. Therefore, if any <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> at this time, <HI>let fall hard words</HI> again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, it can be again&s;t none but &s;uch, who they have rea&s;on to &s;u&s;pect, do act by no publick &s;pirit of pre&s;ervation, for any but their own party; and by this &s;how, that they have not changed their Nature, by the favour that is afforded them.</P>
<P N="f"><HI>(f)</HI> After all the &s;earch I can make, I neither find it to be an Article of Faith in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> to deny <HI>Liberty</HI> to, nor that Faith is not to be kept with <HI>Hereticks;</HI> and if any Con&s;titution, or Decree of a Council be found to the con|trary, that obligeth not <HI>Catholicks</HI> in point of <HI>Obedience.</HI> The fallacy of your rea&s;o|ning is ea&s;ily detected, by pulling out one pin the whole Machine flies in pieces. One cannot be a Member in <HI>Communion</HI> with the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> or any other con&s;ti|tuted Church, (whether Fallible, or In|fallible) who is by that Church declared a <HI>Heretick;</HI> &s;o that liberty of Communion, is
<PB N="12" REF="8">only what is incon&s;i&s;tent with the Church of <HI>Rome;</HI> but it no ways follows, that <HI>Schi&s;maticks,</HI> or <HI>Hereticks,</HI> in their &s;en&s;e, ought not to be tollerated to Live; yea, enjoy their Wor&s;hip, by the power of the Prince who grants that <HI>Indulgence</HI> as Father of his Country: For it is no Church Member&s;hip that is required by <HI>Tolleration.</HI> Suppo&s;e any Prince, <HI>(let the Scene be where it will,)</HI> that hath in his Kingdom great numbers of Subjects, of &s;everal per&s;ua&s;ions in Religion; mu&s;t he unpeople his Kingdom of Two Hundred of his Subjects, for every &s;ingle Man of his own Religion, according to your Calculation? Do you judge in good ear|ne&s;t, His Gho&s;tly Father, or his Holy Father the <HI>Pope,</HI> will judge him to be in an habit of &s;in for it, or enjoyn him for a Pennance, to make &s;uch a Carnage? no, &s;urely they will rather let the Tares grow among the Wheat; or if He do not this, mu&s;t he pull ruine upon Him&s;elf, and all tho&s;e of His per&s;ua&s;ion? How <HI>Infallible</HI> &s;oever the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> may judge it &s;elf, yet you mu&s;t allow &s;he is not quite void of Sen&s;e, Prudence, and humane Po|licy, or will not in &s;everal things yield to publick good and nece&s;&s;ity. You mu&s;t &s;up|po&s;e that Church to oblige that King to a <HI>Barbari&s;m,</HI> even impo&s;&s;ible in it &s;elf to be effected, e're you can make good any &s;uch conclu&s;ion from the Premi&s;es. Excommunication is the highe&s;t, and mo&s;t de|&s;tructive Sentence, any Church can pronounce; and it is to avoid Mutulations, Di&s;membring, Inci&s;ions, and Corro&s;ives for Religion our merciful King propo&s;eth this Repeal, &s;ince it hath been by too &s;ad experience found, how Magi&s;trates (Members of other Churches, be&s;ides that of <HI>Rome</HI>) have been guilty of the &s;ame, whether with better <HI>Dexterity, Succe&s;s,</HI> or <HI>Authority,</HI> I now di&s;pute not; but &s;urely all this harangue, tends rather to engage Di&s;&s;enters, at any rate, to purcha&s;e that Sovereign <HI>Panacaea,</HI> which will pre|vent Per&s;ecution from any hand, than to continue in a &s;tate of danger.</P>
<PB N="13" REF="8">
<P N="g"><HI>(g)</HI> Kings as well as others may Time matters, and the <HI>Indulgence</HI> of a Prince makes no quicker a change in a Di&s;&s;enter, than a <HI>Pardon</HI> doth after the Malefactor hath his Irons on, or the Halter about his neck, or the poor Man made in&s;tantly rich, by finding a Trea&s;ure. The&s;e motions are from <HI>extreames</HI> as quick, and as &s;urprizing. Di&s;&s;enters, while under the &s;en&s;e of continual &s;ufferings, might be in&s;tigated to <HI>Rebellion,</HI> and &s;o be <HI>Sons of Belial;</HI> yet this &s;acred Ray (if &s;uch mi&s;ts as you are ca&s;ting before them hinder not) may well transform them to thank|ful and dutiful Subjects, which is all that is expected. It is true, if the Di&s;&s;enters <HI>Features</HI> be not changed, from having a &s;ower, &s;ullen, murmuring, and repining A&s;pect, to that of chearfullne&s;s, and gra|titute; <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> have no rea&s;on to harbour a good Opinion of them: Or if they be &s;uch Bigots, to charge all per&s;ons that are not of their per&s;ua&s;ion, with <HI>Idolatry,</HI> (as you know they have done to the Church of <HI>England,</HI> even by that Churches own Argument,) they are to be in&s;tructed better, but this hinders not the King to do them good, even a|gain&s;t their de&s;erts; and I think it one of the greater Arguments, that you are a mo&s;t Rigid <HI>Calvini&s;t;</HI> or <HI>Browni&s;t,</HI> rather than a Church of <HI>England</HI>-Man, that make u&s;e of this Article, and that you are a mo&s;t undutiful Subject, that will brand your Sovereign with being an <HI>Idolater.</HI> So that if there were no other Rea&s;on; for that &s;ingle inference, every Loyal Subject &s;hould be for Repealing the <HI>Test;</HI> and be &s;o far from di&s;pen&s;ing with any Di&s;&s;enter for broaching this Doctrine, (which might tempt &s;ome judaizing Zealots to &s;tone him) that <HI>non ob&s;tente,</HI> all the <HI>Indulgence;</HI> they &s;hould be proceeded again&s;t as enemies to the Kings Crown and Dignity; and that &s;hould be all you &s;hould get by ridiculing &s;uch words as the Kings Prerogative impowers him to u&s;e.</P>
<PB N="14" REF="9">
<P N="h"><HI>(h)</HI> That &s;elf-pre&s;ervation may cau&s;e agreement of &s;everal intere&s;ts to di&s;arm a common Per&s;ecutor, is no Paradox; or that the men of <HI>Taunton</HI> and <HI>Tiverton</HI> &s;hall become Loyal, when the prime ground of their di&s;loyalty is taken away; nor that in this comprehen&s;ive liberty the <HI>Quakers</HI> (though no <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> with &s;ome, who may object <HI>Antichri&s;tianity</HI> again&s;t others) &s;hould not be con&s;idered. For in the Kings <HI>Indulgence</HI> the Subjects are not con&s;idered, as conforming to Canons and Con&s;titutions of Churches, but as obe|dient, grateful, or u&s;eful and indu&s;tri|ous. Surely in a populous maritine City, we wonder not; nor is it thought inconvenient, that <HI>Turks,</HI> and <HI>Jews, Chi|ne&s;&s;es, Aby&s;&s;ines, Japanners,</HI> or <HI>Per&s;ions, Italians, French,</HI> or <HI>Spaniards,</HI> or any other remote Nations, frequent the <HI>Ex|change,</HI> and exerci&s;e their &s;everal Reli|gions, provided they enrich it by Traf|fick; and it is a much plea&s;inger &s;ight, than to &s;ee the &s;treets thronged with beg|gars in as differently patched Coats, &s;oun|ding one uniform doleful note of want, to cau&s;e pity and compa&s;&s;ion. It is mo&s;t true, that if a <HI>Popi&s;h Succe&s;&s;or</HI> were in reality &s;uch a one, as he was &s;ometimes repre&s;ented, we &s;hould need to <HI>&s;u&s;pend</HI> our <HI>belief</HI> of his Clemency, and that we have been under mo&s;t <HI>&s;hameful,</HI> and <HI>I</HI> may &s;ay of too many, even <HI>wilful mi&s;takes,</HI> concerning our Royal Sovereign, is a mo&s;t demon&s;trable truth; and &s;ince He gives &s;o many Arguments, that it is not for the bringing in of Popery, but for the &s;ecuring, not only His <HI>Roman Catho|licks,</HI> but of all His other Subjects, from the la&s;h of <HI>Penal. Laws,</HI> that he grants this <HI>Indulgence;</HI> whereby all Indu&s;trious peaceable Men, may follow their imploy|ments without being obnoxious to Fines,
<PB N="15" REF="9">Impri&s;onments, or Death, for want of Uniformity: It will not &s;urely be the Que&s;tion, Whether the <HI>Prie&s;ts words</HI> of Con&s;ecration, can Annihilate the Sacra|mental Bread; but whether it be more Kingly, for our Sovereign to feed His whole Family, or &s;tarve &s;ome, whil&s;t others are too much pamper'd. It is not the my&s;tery of the Sacrament, &s;o much troubles &s;ome, as it is, that a <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> King &s;hould have more kindne&s;s for Prote&s;tant Di&s;&s;enters, than tho&s;e who would be e&s;teemed the zealou&s;e&s;t for the Church of <HI>England,</HI> can afford them.</P>
<P N="i"><HI>(i)</HI> Mens heads are much ea&s;ilier la|den with, then unladen of &s;u&s;picions; how light &s;oever they be, they generally Balla&s;t the Ve&s;&s;el; and where ever jealou|&s;ie enters, with it, croud in Legions of evil Spirits. If one had as many eyes as <HI>Pores,</HI> it would fit them all with de&s;tain'd Optick Gla&s;&s;es, or Pri&s;mes, to give de|ceitful Colours to every Object. And that which is mo&s;t trouble&s;om, in this pa&s;&s;ion, is, that it is with great difficulty ma&s;ter'd; e&s;pecially when it is heightned by Intere&s;t. You have a great dexterity to improve this, by Affrightment, Calumny, and Detraction; which you couch in &s;uch General Terms, as it is difficult to get a gra&s;p of them. Therefore, I mu&s;t pa&s;s by what is Common place, and tell you, that a Secretary of the Cabals of the U&s;urpers, or to the famous E. of <HI>Shafts|bury,</HI> could not have given a livelier De|&s;cription of the Imployment of the&s;e Emi&s;&s;aries, than you have done; but you do wifely not to <HI>expo&s;e</HI> per&s;ons, le&s;t we &s;hould know who they are, that are im|ploy'd on the errand, which is only to alienate the Subjects Affections from their Sovereign, and to excite the peoples jealou&s;ie. If any be imploy'd that have been detected, and are now &s;incere, they are fitter to di&s;cover the former methods, for being wedges of the
<PB N="16" REF="10">&s;ame wood, they are fitte&s;t for the work of pinning or cleaving. But to hang a &s;candal in the Air like a Cloud, that none can know where the &s;hower may fall, is not done like a Gentleman of your <HI>Morality</HI> and <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding.</HI></P>
<P N="k"><HI>(k)</HI> This character of a Juggler is &s;o drawn to the life, that one would &s;wear you were looking all the while in the Gla&s;s, while you u&s;ed the Pencil. Di&s;&s;imulation is &s;uch a changling, that it is all Vizard-mask, with &s;everal foyles &s;eperable by &s;leight of hand; &s;o that one may &s;ooner find Faith in an <HI>Affrican,</HI> than in &s;uch a &s;hift-coat. But till you can prove &s;uch are <HI>Commi&s;&s;io|nated</HI> to work Di&s;&s;enters to comply with the King, all the Water runs but by the Mill.</P>
<P N="l"><HI>(l)</HI> That there are mercinary Men, is no &s;uch News, that need be told with &s;uch cumlocution. Tho&s;e that u&s;e &s;uch tools, will find them often need the whetting, and they mu&s;t be vain &s;pend-thrifts, (which I think you cannot &s;ay of our King;) that pour their Mony into a bottomlels pur&s;e. <HI>Oates, Ignoramus Juries,</HI> and pen&s;ionary witne&s;&s;es, were more proper Cattle to be fed with &s;uch Provin|der, than Di&s;&s;enting Mini&s;ters, if I be not mi&s;taken in them. The King neither needs, nor will ever imploy &s;uch In&s;tru|ments. He knows better how to manage his Exchequer, than to wa&s;te it on &s;uch Hirelings, who &s;ell their Con&s;cience and Service by inch of Candle.</P>
<P N="m"><HI>(m)</HI> From Eye-witne&s;&s;es, and Con|tributors them&s;elves; I have heard, that &s;everal <HI>Charities</HI> to <HI>Non-conformi&s;t</HI> Mi|ni&s;ters, were put under their Preaching Cu&s;hions; and I do not much wonder, that the&s;e Benevolences (which were as good as <HI>Glebe</HI> and <HI>Tithe</HI>) enabled them to re&s;i&s;t the Temptation of taking Bene|fices,
<PB N="17" REF="10">with the condition of renouncing the Covenant, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But that there &s;hould be any among them now, who, for &s;uch filthy lucre, de&s;ign to <HI>Morigage</HI> the Pro|te&s;tant Religion, (which you mu&s;t &s;up|po&s;e, or nothing,) I &s;hall never believe upon your bare &s;ugge&s;tion. In former times by keeping up the Schi&s;m, they might hope for &s;ome favourable Revo|lution, whereby they might be capable of liberal Maintenance; but that the <HI>Rigor</HI> of their <HI>Creditors</HI> &s;hall drive them to put on the <HI>Cowl</HI> or <HI>Scapular,</HI> or co-ope|rate with tho&s;e that de&s;ign it, &s;hall be no Article of my Faith.</P>
<P N="n"><HI>(n)</HI> It &s;eems you were &s;en&s;ible of the weakne&s;s of this <HI>Medium,</HI> and now the Di&s;&s;enters mu&s;t Preach the Go&s;pel for envy. The forward Mini&s;ters among&s;t them are much obliged to you, &s;ince it &s;eems they are either <HI>Judas's</HI> to &s;ell the Cau&s;e for Silver, or mu&s;t be branded with one of the Devils Characters, Ac|cu&s;ers of the Brethren; and whether you le&s;&s;en their crimes in &s;aying tho&s;e who act this <HI>Cholerick part, believe not them&s;elves;</HI> but therein &s;in again&s;t their Con&s;ciences, and only <HI>pur&s;ue higher directions;</HI> I leave to others to judge. What wages &s;uch may get here, they be&s;t know: But I think it mu&s;t be a &s;evere puni&s;hment they may expect hereafter. May we not be more charitable to judge, that &s;uch Men are &s;o far from per&s;onating a <HI>Vengeance,</HI> and u&s;ing fiery Tongues and <HI>inflaming Elo|quence,</HI> for that end. That they only expre&s;s their re&s;entment again&s;t tho&s;e, who in their Apprehen&s;ions have too &s;everely Per&s;ecuted them for Con&s;cience-&s;ake. Such a Plea may be as like to gain be|lief, as your too groundle&s;s Accu&s;ation of them; for Indulgence, Charity, and Moderation, are very con&s;i&s;tent. The
<PB N="18" REF="11">King de&s;ires all may enjoy their Religion in peace, and hires none to keep up the &s;trife by recrimination and violence, nor de&s;igns by the taking away of <HI>Penal Laws,</HI> that one Subject &s;hould worry another; and therein gives you, as well as Di&s;&s;enters, a Gracious <HI>Pre&s;ident</HI> and <HI>Example</HI> to follow.</P>
<P N="o"><HI>(o)</HI> Here, in my Opinion, you have expo&s;ed your friends &s;omething di&s;ad|vantagiou&s;ly. It is an unfortunate thing for any to have combin'd again&s;t the Go|vernment, &s;ince it requires much tryal, e're their Repentance can be believ'd. It is true, tho&s;e that have had the Ric|kets, are found often to have a good &s;hare of cunning and wit, but by their <HI>bowed</HI> Legs, or &s;ome other infirm parts, e&s;pecially in the region of their brea&s;t, they are ea&s;ily di&s;tingui&s;hed from tho&s;e of more healthy Con&s;titutions. The old Proverb is as often true, of ha&s;ty Con|verts, as of Pardoned Per&s;ons, <HI>That &s;ave a Thief from the Gallows, and he will be the fir&s;t will do you a mi&s;chief.</HI> But God forbid all &s;hould be cen&s;ur'd for &s;ome Mens double-fac'd Villanies. Such Sycophants &s;hall never find me their Advocate; let every Herring hang by his own Tayl. Let tho&s;e who are <HI>detected,</HI> forfeit their neck, or hang by it in the Pillory, e're I pity them. But what I pray do tho&s;e de|&s;erve, who never wore &s;hackles, or were <HI>bowed down</HI> e're they comply'd, and pro|mi&s;e to their Prince &s;trenuous endeavours for His Service, and that they will not fail to hit the mark; and yet de&s;ignedly &s;hoot &s;hort, or over.</P>
<P N="p"><HI>(p)</HI> It is an unhappy &s;tate of Kings, that when they endeavour by good Me|thods, the ea&s;e and profit of their Sub|jects; yet they mu&s;t be traduced by the in&s;olent Pens of malevolent Subjects. Our Gracious King hath afforded a &s;afe Re|treat, and Liberal Contributions to the Reffugees, whom the great neighbouring
<PB N="19" REF="11">Monarch hath Exiled; and by His Royal Enterpri&s;e, to get the <HI>Penal Laws</HI> Re|peal'd, de&s;igns not only His Dominious to be free from all Per&s;ecution for Reli|gion, but to be a &s;afe harbor for the Di&s;|tre&s;&s;ed; and is thereby taking the mo&s;t contrary mea&s;ures to what that neigh|bouring Prince hath done. With what effrontry therefore, can you charge the King, either with imitating His exam|ple, or corre&s;ponding with him in that de&s;ign? I Appeal to the fled Prote&s;tants, whether they find not as good u&s;age here, as any in their condition do in other Countries? which, methinks carries <HI>con|viction broad enough,</HI> that <HI>you</HI> are a very evil Caluminator. It is true, there was a time, when the belief of Ten Thou&s;and <HI>Pilgrims</HI> and <HI>Black Bills,</HI> were endea|voured to be crammed down our throats; and &s;ome were &s;uch Cowards then, as to be frighted with them. Mu&s;t we therefore be always Impos'd upon, and never re|turn to our &s;en&s;es again. The frequent di&s;coveries of tho&s;e Impo&s;tures, cannot but recruit the mo&s;t timerous Spirits, and re&s;tore them to &s;ome degree of <HI>valour,</HI> though it will de&s;erve no great <HI>Commenda|tion as a Vertue,</HI> &s;ince the thick mi&s;t is &s;o exhaled, which made us take a crop of Thi&s;tles, for a Battalion of Pikes.</P>
<P N="q"><HI>(q)</HI> Among&s;t a Hundred of your florid Sentences, I have not yet found one &s;olid Rea&s;on, why Di&s;&s;enters &s;hould not act as they do in policy, or that they want any Advice or <HI>Dictator,</HI> when they follow the conduct of their own Intere&s;t. They need not go down to tho&s;e &s;ome call Phili&s;tines, to whet their Weapons, which are only prai&s;es and thanks; which the poore&s;t Beggar, without any touch of <HI>good bree|ding,</HI> knows how to pay for a &s;mall Alms.
<PB N="20" REF="12">There was a time, when <HI>Petitions,</HI> (the Elder Brothers of <HI>Addre&s;&s;es</HI>) being formed by the leading Men of the Lower Hou&s;e, were po&s;ted into confiding Hands, to be &s;ent back Ten, or Twenty Thou&s;and &s;trong: Tho&s;e tended to the &s;trengthen|ing the hands of the <HI>Murtherers</HI> of the King; and you would now <HI>&s;tint a &s;pirit</HI> of Obedience and Thankfulne&s;s to our King, which &s;prings and flows from con|tent and obligation, and may be ea&s;ily di&s;cover'd to be &s;incere, in all the Di&s;&s;en|ters Speeches, Writings, and Actions, and are &s;o far from needing to be <HI>bid,</HI> that all your Rhetorick cannot forbid them. Surely you think not their Thanks to &s;pring like Mu&s;hroms without root, and in a Night. And if you will not ad|mit Di&s;&s;enters among the Tribe of think|ing Animals, yet let them have the Re|putation of &s;en&s;itive Plants, that &s;hrink at a rough touch, and erect their Leaves by a warmer Gleam: I &s;ee not therefore, why Di&s;&s;enters, having the &s;en&s;e of former &s;harp u&s;age, &s;hould not perceive their ea&s;e, and whence it comes; and have no rea&s;on to que&s;tion their &s;incerity of thanks, &s;ince they are for a matter of greate&s;t import to them they ever receiv'd from the Crown, &s;ince they &s;ub-divided from the Church of <HI>England.</HI> Yet I believe, there hath been more Indu&s;try us'd to Di&s;per&s;e &s;uch Letters, as yours of <HI>Caution</HI> and <HI>Circum&s;pection,</HI> then ever there was for tho&s;e <HI>Circular</HI> ones of three or four Bi&s;hops, and you are the fir&s;t <HI>Po&s;t</HI> that brings the News of any that were <HI>threatn'd</HI> to joyn with them, or any <HI>affright|ments</HI> us'd to cau&s;e a <HI>compliance,</HI> &s;ince they carry with them all the tokens of <HI>Volun|tarine&s;s, &V;ncon&s;trainedne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>&V;n&s;olicitude|ne&s;s,</HI> that could be expected. Therefore, becau&s;e in good earne&s;t you think they
<PB N="21" REF="12">will &s;ignifie a <HI>great deal,</HI> you are at all this pains. If that which Di&s;&s;enters have &s;o earne&s;tly de&s;n'd, pray'd, yea, fought for, can be called a <HI>Tri&s;te,</HI> you are in the right. I never thought Addre&s;&s;ors &s;o lit|tle acquainted with the <HI>Con&s;titution of the Government,</HI> as to think their Addre&s;&s;es equal to Votes in Parliament, or that they, with the Kings a&s;&s;ent, con&s;tituted the Legi&s;lative; though they may hope, &s;uch Votes out of the Hou&s;e, may beget others in it. I do not think any one, that had a piece of Gold given him, would be &s;o be&s;otted to refu&s;e it, till he had con&s;ulted &s;uch a &s;crupulous Gentleman as you, whether it were all ju&s;t in weight and allay, or that the giver came hone&s;tly by it. I &s;uppo&s;e you are angry the Di&s;&s;en|ters made not their Addre&s;&s;es in this form.</P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Great SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WE would thank You for Your Gracious Declaration; but we know not, whether the Law impowers You to grant it; we have heard indeed of Your Maje&s;ties having the excecutive part of the Laws in Your Royal Per&s;on, and the <HI>Di&s;pen|cing Power;</HI> and that You de&s;ire the <HI>Te&s;t</HI> and <HI>Penal Laws</HI> may be aboli&s;hed by Act of Parliament. But before we return You our Thanks for the ea&s;e You afford us, or that we can re&s;olve to give our Voices for &s;uch Repeal, we de&s;ire to con&s;ult our common Lawyers, and our Elder Brethren the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and then we will give You our Opinion; and we do this the ra|ther, lea&s;t you be mi&s;taken in us. <HI>Sir,</HI> we dare not encourage You to be kind to us; and we mu&s;t &s;tay our Addre&s;&s;es of thanks, le&s;t we give a <HI>Scandal</HI> to our
<PB N="22" REF="13">Brethren or they hereafter puni&s;h us, for this forwardne&s;s.</P>
</LETTER>
<P>I fancy you have the vanity to hope that your <HI>Letter</HI> will prevail with &s;ome to de&s;i&s;t from Addre&s;&s;es, upon tho&s;e mo|tives; otherwi&s;e, what need was there for you to be &s;o urgent with them to <HI>&s;uppre&s;s</HI> their <HI>impatience,</HI> and for the &s;ake of tho&s;e, that are now Abhorrers, to &s;tick clo&s;e to the Act of <HI>&V;niformity,</HI> till the King die, (whom God long pre&s;erve to fini&s;h this great work;) in hopes a Prote&s;tant Parliament, under a Prote|&s;tant King, will grant them better Terms: For I hope, by the word Parliament, you mean not the Two Hou&s;es, like tho&s;e of 41, who Entitled them to the Supream Power. It &s;eems, if Di&s;&s;enters hearken not to you, though at pre&s;ent you are willing to make a <HI>gentle Con&s;truction,</HI> of the <HI>well meant Zeal</HI> of &s;ome, in <HI>drawing others into the Mi&s;take;</HI> yet you threaten them with <HI>Sharpne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Satyr,</HI> becau&s;e in <HI>&s;trict|ne&s;s the matter will bear it,</HI> if we be|lieve you.</P>
<P N="r"><HI>(r)</HI> It &s;eems a Di&s;&s;enter may feed fully, but mu&s;t &s;ay no Grace, or cry Roa&s;t-meat; would you have them pet like froward Children, becau&s;e the Benevolence was not offer'd fir&s;t to them, or in the Cir|cum&s;tances they de&s;ire it. It &s;eems, they may privately thank God for putting it into the Kings Heart, to grant them ea&s;e; yea, they may <HI>enjoy the Advantag e</HI> of it, but without noi&s;e, le&s;t &s;ome Dog catch the Mor&s;el the Cat purs upon. Oh! a publick owning, and de&s;ire to have <HI>Indul|gence</HI> E&s;tabll&s;h'd by Law, is to <HI>&s;upport an Act irregularly done</HI> again&s;t the &s;acred <HI>Laws</HI> of the Land: This is &s;uch a <HI>Tre&s;pa&s;s,</HI> as may no ways be defended; but to ob&s;erve
<PB N="23" REF="13">any rules of good manners or dutifulne&s;s to the King, is a grievous fault. Methinks you ought to have brought very undeni|able Authorities, e're you had pre&s;umed to que&s;tion the judgement of the King, His Privy Council, and the Court of the <HI>Kings-Bench,</HI> as to the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ing Power.</HI> But &s;ince you offer not one Syllable of Argument, I &s;hall remit you to <HI>We&s;tmin|&s;ter-Hall</HI> to defend the point and receive your doom. You endeavour gent<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">y to &s;troke the Di&s;&s;enters, that are under <HI>Tempta|tion</HI> and <HI>Frailties,</HI> which makes them, you &s;ay, <HI>leap over the Objections</HI> may be made, and overlook the &s;ad con&s;equence of gi|ving thanks, not only as an inlet to Po|pery, but the giving a deadly <HI>blow</HI> to all <HI>the Laws,</HI> by which their <HI>Liberty and Re|ligion are to be protected.</HI> This is an heavy Sentence; whereby they are judg'd to &s;ell their Birth-right for a mor&s;el of Bread, or a me&s;s of Pottage. Let us therefore turn the <HI>Optick</HI> Gla&s;s, and you may more &s;urely di&s;cover, that the King de&s;igns no breach of <HI>Magna Charta,</HI> nor to <HI>retain any Coun|cil for the Prerogative</HI> again&s;t it; but on the contrary, to have it confirmed in a much larger extent, than ever it was by His Royal Predece&s;&s;ors: for it is mo&s;t certain, that all <HI>Penal Laws</HI> for Religion are &s;o many infringments of it; and if you would have <HI>Magna Charta</HI> inviolably kept, you know what Church is thereby E&s;tabli&s;h'd. Here therefore you quarrel with the King, for en|deavouring to have a Charter of <HI>Liberties</HI> E&s;tabli&s;h'd, that will be a &s;tandard for all future freedom, and enfranchi&s;ement of Con|&s;cience; and to infer, that the Subjects yielding to this, will put them out of the protection of all the Laws that &s;ecure their <HI>Li|berties,</HI> is no le&s;s an ignorant than &s;editious Sugge&s;tion.</P>
<P N="s"><HI>(s)</HI> We are a mo&s;t happy people, in the &s;ecurity we have by Law to enjoy the <HI>Liberties</HI> the Royal Predece&s;&s;ors of our mo&s;t Gracious King hath granted. But if His Majecty effect His de&s;ire in this
<PB N="24" REF="14">Repeal, He will be the Author of a grea|ter freedom to the Subjects, then they ever yet enjoyed; &s;o that none, in mat|ters of Religion, &s;hall be put upon ever <HI>Complaining</HI> again&s;t, or the giving <HI>up the Que&s;tion;</HI> &s;ince all pretences of <HI>puttng</HI> it, will be thereby prevented. By the ope|rating power of &s;uch an Act, &s;uch a mu|tual a&s;&s;urance, and &s;ecurity would be given, as it would be in no parties power to endevour, or to de&s;ire to <HI>mi&s;chief,</HI> or <HI>destroy</HI> another. I fancy indeed, &s;ome Apparators and Bailifs may &s;uffer a dimi|nution of profit; and &s;ome men of vin|dicative &s;pirits, may want the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>&s;anguinary,</HI> and <HI>Penal Laws,</HI> to revenge them&s;elves by: But the benefit that will redound to the whole, will &s;ufficiently compen&s;ate that lo&s;s. The Kings of <HI>England</HI> will be the gainers, in that they will be no more di&s;quieted with Re|bellions upon the account of Religion. The Parliaments will be ea&s;ed of the tire|&s;om, di&s;quieting, and unplea&s;ing toyl of making Laws, upon every emergence to re&s;train &s;ome party or other from their way of Wor&s;hip; and impo&s;ing <HI>Te&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Oaths,</HI> according as prevailing Parties have power: and when the inte&s;tine &s;truggles of every party, to manacle, and put the &s;hackles and badges of &s;lavery, upon each other, &s;hall be taken away; the Legi&s;lative will be at full liberty to at|tend &s;oly the aggrandizing of our Kings, and re&s;toring them to the power and in|tere&s;t at home and abroad, of the glo|riou&s;e&s;t of their Predece&s;&s;ors: And to make good Laws for the enriching of the body of the people, and by perpetual harmony, unite the Subjects in the common band of Duty and Allegiance to their Sovereign, and mutual love and endearment to one ano|ther. The <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> would have no occa&s;ion to repine, &s;ince they might freely enjoy their Religion, and the Church of <HI>England</HI> would be po&s;&s;e&s;s'd of the Dignities and Benefices they
<PB N="25" REF="14">enjoy; and the Di&s;&s;enters would be &s;atisfied, that they had the freedom of their Tabernacles and Conventicles, and all the con|tent of this would be heightned in the peaceable and durable en|joyment of it; when it would be in no Parties power to invade the Liberties of another. This is the right Scheme of His Maje&s;ties generous de&s;ign; and if Di&s;&s;enters fall not to their old work of &s;tubbing up Epi&s;copacy, root and branch, it may mo&s;t certainly continue. For the obedience of <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> under a Prote|&s;tant Government, we have the mo&s;t near and compleat in&s;tance in the United Provinces, where they live with the free exerci&s;e of their Religion, under a Bi&s;hop of their own, who is Treated ac|cording to his Character by the States, to whom they impart their plea&s;ure; and by his directions the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> obey. So, that when the King of <HI>France</HI> Invaded that Country, none &s;tood firmer than They did. The&s;e pay &s;uch an ab&s;olute Obedience, that if the States, &s;hould for a time interdict them the u&s;e of their Re|ligion, they would yield to it. So that all you urge as con&s;e|quences of the Repeal, vani&s;heth upon the very opening the Kings intentions; which, I dare venture my head, that I have more truly declared, than You by all your &s;mooth Oratory, have made out by &s;u&s;picions.</P>
<P N="t"><HI>(t)</HI> Expounding of the &s;en&s;e, and meaning of Oaths, is generally granted peculiarly to belong to the impo&s;er; and if the taker &s;atisfie his Con&s;cience, and perform all required in the taking of them; the Civil Power enquires no fur|ther. But in the return of thanks, the receivers of the Benefit, are the be&s;t Judges, in what &s;en&s;e they render them; and I know not how they are concern'd in any Inferences, unle&s;s of tho&s;e that &s;cruple their reality. It is true, if Di&s;&s;en|ters only dream'd of an happine&s;s, they might con&s;ult you for the <HI>Interpretations,</HI> but whil&s;t their eyes are open, and they have the full &s;en&s;e of repo&s;e and ea&s;e, they mu&s;t beg you will &s;pare your <HI>Divinations,</HI> being re&s;olv'd to rely upon the kindne&s;s and Authority of the Giver, and will never be afraid of any <HI>Inferences,</HI> when it is &s;o manife&s;t, that His Maje&s;ty de&s;igns common ea&s;e, and a perpetual &s;ettlement
<PB N="26" REF="15">of it, by Act of Parliament, which they think they have all the rea&s;on in the World to <HI>endeavour,</HI> may be effected in His Maje&s;ties Reign, who laid the Foun|dation of &s;uch a Temple of Concord, as none of His Royal Predece&s;&s;ors ever did before. As to the ridiculing &s;ome Loyal per&s;ons Zeal, to have had a favourable &s;en&s;e put upon the thanks return'd for the Kings Gracious <HI>Speech;</HI> if there had been more of the Members of both Hou&s;es, who would have credited the Kings Royal de&s;ire to have been, ju&s;t and equitable, and reflected upon the true Rea&s;ons the King had to in&s;i&s;t upon that point; no doubt they might have had a kind return from the King, and &s;uch a &s;ettlement of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> as they could have de&s;ired, and better than they now may expect. Therefore, &s;ince by your Confe&s;&s;ion, &s;o many never intended to an&s;wer the Kings <HI>Speech</HI> with more than a bare <HI>Complement;</HI> I do not think it was any &s;uch difficulty, to <HI>ob|tain liberty of objecting again&s;t the Prerogative of Di&s;pen&s;ing,</HI> which I &s;uppo&s;e a great many more are now &s;atisfied in the legality of, and when there is occa&s;ion, both the Judges, and other Members of the long Robe, will make clear by Law and Equity.</P>
<P N="u"><HI>(u)</HI> Sure there are numerous parties of all per&s;ua&s;ions, who know how to &s;et a right value on the <HI>Con&s;titution</HI> of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Government; but I will never reckon the&s;e in the number, who are for &s;uch a &s;tipulatory mixt Monarchy, as our old Publicans a&s;&s;erted; who at fir&s;t com|plementing the people, that the Original of the Supream Authority was in them, as &s;oon as they had power, a&s;&s;umed it to them&s;elves, under the notion of Repre|&s;entation. To proceed, the end of the Journey will never be reached, if the Traveller &s;et down his re&s;t in the midway. The King hath been the great <HI>Means</HI> and Author of this Liberty, and I hope it's not that time of the day to Vote Him <HI>dange|rous.</HI>
<PB N="27" REF="15">The way to have that pre&s;erved, which is granted by the King, is to &s;tudy by all thankfulne&s;s to pre&s;erve His Royal Favour, and to pre&s;s forward to obtain its compleat E&s;tabli&s;hment, and never to &s;ound a <HI>Retreat,</HI> till they obtain the full enjoyment of the <HI>Praemium</HI> held out to them; which, if by flagging in the pur&s;uit, they &s;hall only enjoy during His Maje&s;ties Life, they will have cau&s;e to repent <HI>at His Death,</HI> that they got it not better &s;ecured.</P>
<P N="x"><HI>(x)</HI> Thanks for the <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and &s;tre|nuous de&s;ires to have it Parliamentarily Confirm'd, is taking <HI>time</HI> by the fore-top, and &s;triking while the Iron is hot. The Temple of <HI>Janus</HI> was opened in <HI>Augu&s;tus Cae&s;ars</HI> time, as a certain &s;ign that the <HI>Roman</HI> Empire was then at peace: Should not Di&s;&s;enters rejoyce, even to &s;ome exce&s;s, that our <HI>Augustus</HI> hath now open'd it; whereby, through our <HI>Vito,</HI> they may &s;ee what Inte&s;tine jars, what effu&s;ion of blood, the <HI>Penal Laws</HI> have made; and from the other may have the mo&s;t de|lightful Pro&s;pect of large, and long la&s;ting Freedom. By the In&s;tances you bring of the Non-Conformi&s;ts <HI>rough u&s;age</HI> of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> when they had the fleecing of it, and the manner of its retaliation. I &s;hould think you ought to have determined the u&s;efulne&s;s, and nece&s;&s;ity of embracing the Kings favour, whereby, neither party might Tyranize over the other for the future; rather then to decoy the Di&s;&s;enter, by the &s;oft word of <HI>mi&s;take,</HI> as if either Party did &s;uch mi&s;chief to other, by &s;ome Venial Inadvertency only, when all the World knows, that the endeavours to &s;ecure their &s;everal Governments, occa&s;ion'd the &s;ad galling of one another: Yet of the two, it is Demon&s;trable, that the State Church of <HI>England</HI> Men were the favourable&s;t.</P>
<P N="y"><HI>(y)</HI> Here you think to put the Di&s;&s;en|ters upon a <HI>Dilemma,</HI> that if they <HI>blame</HI>
<PB N="28" REF="16">the &s;evere u&s;age of the Church of <HI>Eng|land</HI> again&s;t them, they mu&s;t not now re|turn it by being <HI>angry</HI> with them; or if they allow it they mu&s;t not be <HI>offended</HI> at what they did. What if Di&s;&s;enters &s;hall reply, that by too &s;ad experience they have found, that Per&s;ecution was ruinous to both, and that it is neither <HI>Anger</HI> or <HI>Revenge</HI> again&s;t the Church of <HI>England,</HI> that makes them &s;o thankful to the King, and &s;o de&s;irous that all Tu&s;hes may be filed off, whereby there may be no Tearing or Tyrannizing by any Party for Con&s;cience; but for ea&s;e-&s;ake, the&s;e have rea&s;on to wi&s;h the Rod burnt that felt the la&s;t &s;mart of it; will not this An&s;wer cut of the horned Argument?</P>
<P N="z"><HI>(z)</HI> A Man not well skilled in your cunning, would judge you were owning all this, when you di&s;allow the Methods of the former <HI>Rigid Prelates,</HI> and would make Di&s;&s;enters believe, that the pre&s;ent Bi&s;hops and Clergy of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> by the Sen&s;e of their former <HI>mi&s;taken</HI> Rules, were content to lower their <HI>haughtine&s;s,</HI> and were ready to change the &s;pirit of <HI>Per&s;ecution and bitter|ne&s;s,</HI> for that of <HI>Charity and Conde&s;cen|tion.</HI> But the Inference you make is very contrary and falacious; <HI>viz.</HI> that becau&s;e (if they believe you) the pre&s;ent Con|ductors of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> are of an Uniting Temper; therefore the Di&s;&s;en|ters mu&s;t &s;o far relie upon their good na|ture, that they mu&s;t reject the offers of a mo&s;t Gracious King, who endeavours to &s;ecure them from pre&s;ent and future &s;ufferings, and put it out of all peoples power, when the next favourable revo|lation comes, to have recour&s;e to former &s;evereties. Suppo&s;e the Di&s;&s;enters &s;ay, that they may be ju&s;tly jealous, that if a thou&s;and of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> in this juncture, gave them an a&s;&s;urance
<PB N="29" REF="16">under their Hands and Seals, that they &s;hould never be compelled under a Pro|te&s;tant King, to Conformity, they dur&s;t not relie upon it, much le&s;s on &s;uch a &s;ingle Voucher as your &s;elf; what have you hitherto produced, to con|vince &s;uch unbelievers.</P>
<P N="a"><HI>(a)</HI> Church-men, of all Societies, may be &s;ubject to like pa&s;&s;ions as other men, and I believe them not only <HI>humble&s;t,</HI> but the charitable&s;t, be&s;t natured, and holye&s;t too, when their <HI>power</HI> is not overgrown. But it doth not therefore follow, that the objecting the &s;everity of the Church of <HI>England</HI> again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, when che|ri&s;hed by a Prince of her Communion, is <HI>uncharitable</HI> and <HI>ungenerous,</HI> much le&s;s, that it is <HI>mi&s;-timed:</HI> For if the Members of that Church did not endeavour to hin|der the Repeal of tho&s;e Laws, which only enable them to re-a&s;&s;ume their Rods and Axes; Di&s;&s;enters might hope their kind|ne&s;s was to be relied upon. But &s;ince they &s;ee them &s;o unwilling to part with their offen&s;ive Arms; even at the de&s;ire of their Sovereign, they have ju&s;t rea&s;on to think they &s;candalize them not, in &s;aying, they dare not as yet believe that they intend them any good &s;ecurity that they will not call them to an after-reckoning, or that they will afford them &s;uch an a&s;&s;u|rance of freedom, as they may now have under the Kings broad Seal. But to pa&s;s on; I wonder not &s;o much at your denying the Church of <HI>England</HI> is <HI>never humble but when &s;he wants power,</HI> for you may mean an|other Church than other Mortals do; or by <HI>humble,</HI> you may mean &s;he lea&s;t u&s;eth Church Cen&s;ures, when the Magi&s;trates Inflict the Laws mo&s;t <HI>&s;everely;</HI> which Eva|&s;ion you may, when pre&s;&s;ed, flie to. But the rea&s;on you give for it is more &s;urpri|zing;
<PB N="30" REF="17">that &s;he is even now meek and lowly, when &s;he hath power to confound all Di&s;&s;enters with a <HI>Breath.</HI> This indeed is a brisk flouri&s;h; like a brave Leaders encouragement to his &s;eemingly foyled Party; that he hath one &s;tratagem yet, which will gain the ab&s;olute Victory, if they will credit his Conduct. I pray <HI>Sir,</HI> for all this rattle in the <HI>Clouds,</HI> (which is no more formidable than intelligible) give me leave to ask you, what this <HI>Smile,</HI> this <HI>kind Word,</HI> this <HI>glimps</HI> of <HI>Compliance,</HI> &s;hould be, that can work &s;uch wonders. There was a time, at, or before &s;ome Men were put to the <HI>Test,</HI> when a com|pliance with the Kings de&s;ires of Repeal, would have continued &s;everal Eminent Men in their Stations, and they would have felt many effects of His Maje&s;ties Royal Favour. But all <HI>that</HI> would have been as a reward of their publick &s;plritedne&s;s, and concurrence with the King, in the truly <HI>Catholick</HI> de&s;ign of making all His Subjects ea&s;ie as to their Religious Concerns. But it looks like Pre&s;umption, yea, in&s;olence in you, to a&s;&s;ert, that when &s;uch have lo&s;t the opportunity of pre&s;erving them&s;elves in the Kings good Opinion, He &s;hould take them into His Throne, and permit them to guide His Arm, to dart His <HI>Thunder</HI> where they plea&s;e. No, if they &s;hould offer all compliance, for the future &s;ecuring <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> provided they might execute <HI>Penal Laws</HI> again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, yet this would have no power to encline a Prince, &s;o &s;teady to His Re&s;olutions, and the publick Declaration of His Judgement, to alter in the lea&s;t His Royal purpo&s;e, of granting Univer&s;al <HI>Liberty of Con&s;cience,</HI> to &s;uch as would live peaceably, and give no di&s;turbance to the Civil Government. Much le&s;s can tho&s;e hope to prevail, who declare all <HI>Compliance</HI> with the Kings de&s;ires &s;o <HI>Criminal</HI> and <HI>&V;nju&s;tifiable,</HI> that they will rather choo&s;e to &s;tand mute, and be pre&s;s'd to Death, in hopes to pre&s;erve their E&s;tates for the next Heir, then to quit their beloved <HI>Te&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="b"><HI>(b)</HI> As to <HI>Provocation,</HI> while you write, you commit the fault you &s;o &s;e|verely complain of. As to tho&s;e Books, writ upon the &s;ubject of Religion; every one may ob&s;erve, that tho&s;e, in defence of the Prote&s;tant Doctrine, have been
<PB N="31" REF="17">throngly cryed about the &s;treets, with the Empha&s;is of being Vindications of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and the Licen&s;es of the Arch-bi&s;hop of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> or Bi&s;hop of <HI>London;</HI> whereas, <HI>Roman Ca|tholick</HI> Books, except &s;ome few Sermons of the Fathers, have been di&s;pers'd with|out the pomp of a publick Cryer. Only &s;ome Di&s;&s;enters, concern'd to give pub|lick Te&s;timonies of their gratitude to the King, have enlarged the Gazets, and &s;et &s;ome Printing Pre&s;&s;es on work. But that any &s;uch Writers are <HI>&V;ndertakers,</HI> or have made any Contracts with the <HI>Roma|ni&s;ts</HI> to begin a <HI>Fray</HI> among <HI>Prote&s;tants for the &s;port or advantage</HI> of the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> I &s;ee no &s;hadow of Rea&s;on. Since the Intere&s;t they have to own the ea&s;e they find by His Maje&s;ties <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and the Oppo&s;ition they find from &s;ome Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> to it, are &s;ufficient Motives to them to write and &s;peak all they have hitherto done. And your entring the Li&s;ts with &s;o many fine devices on your Helm and Shield, and all over your whole Armour, cannot but Excite many Combitants to engage &s;o gaudy a Challenger.</P>
<P N="c"><HI>(c)</HI> What you expect to be <HI>applauded</HI> or <HI>commended</HI> in this <HI>conduct,</HI> I cannot tell! Per&s;ecution for Con&s;cience you own to be ill, yet you would not have it <HI>equal dealing</HI> to <HI>blame</HI> &s;uch who op|po&s;e the Repeal of &s;uch Laws, as only arm Per&s;ecutors, which is dancing in a Circle.</P>
<P N="d"><HI>(d)</HI> To hate the cau&s;ers of our Tor|ments, is very natural in tho&s;e, who have not learnt to pray for their Enemies; but for the <HI>Per&s;ecuted</HI> to court and love the Per&s;ecutors, who judge it Criminal, and are <HI>ready to &s;uffer</HI> them&s;elves, rather than yield up the wheels, racks, and
<PB N="32" REF="18">&s;trapado's, fetters and chains, and the cruel in&s;truments of Per&s;ecution, when the Supream Magi&s;trate forbids it, is a <HI>Principle,</HI> neither <HI>Heathen</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;tian can own:</HI> So that I will not trouble my head to Divine what the <HI>Objection</HI> &s;hould be that you acquaint us not with, and yet you &s;ay is <HI>un-an&s;werable.</HI></P>
<P N="e"><HI>(e)</HI> I have heard it accounted as &s;ome &s;olace, to have Companions in mi&s;ery; but never that any took delight in pro|curing Torments to others, that they might have more &s;tripes them&s;elves. How the Papi&s;ts &s;hould promote the <HI>Penal Laws</HI> again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, is a Ridle: How|ever, it is not dutifully done, to make the Church of <HI>England</HI> the Lictors and Bedels of the Church of <HI>Rome;</HI> but &s;ome will lo&s;e their Friend, e're they lo&s;e their Je&s;t, or fal&s;e Sug|ge&s;tion.</P>
<P N="f"><HI>(f)</HI> This Paragraph ought to be ac|counted for at <HI>We&s;tminster-Hall.</HI> Before there can be any &s;en&s;e made of it; it mu&s;t be mo&s;t &s;candalou&s;ly &s;uppos'd, that the King is about to alter the <HI>Con&s;titution</HI> of the <HI>Election</HI> of <HI>Knights</HI> and <HI>Burge&s;&s;es,</HI> and to de&s;ign another, <HI>Prai&s;e God Barebone</HI> Parliament; then which, no reflection can be more odious.</P>
<P N="g"><HI>(g)</HI> When-ever the Di&s;pen&s;ing Power is argu'd, I doubt not but many more Members in Parliament will allow it, than did before the point had been &s;o cleared as now; and in duty we ought to believe the King, by the Repeal, in|tends no more than what He expre&s;&s;es in His Royal Declaration, notwith&s;tan|ding the <HI>Indulgence</HI> to &s;ecure the Church of <HI>England</HI> in her rights and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Honours and Revenues, and Liberty both to it and Di&s;&s;enters; which being done, there will be no room for tho&s;e unrea&s;onable Surmi&s;es.</P>
<PB N="33" REF="18">
<P N="h"><HI>(h)</HI> The great <HI>Talbots</HI> Name was long after his Death us'd to affright the Children of <HI>France</HI> with. Is it fit that a &s;e|rious Gentleman &s;hould judge all Di&s;&s;en|ters &s;uch Children, as to be affrighted with the Name of <HI>Roman Con&s;i&s;tory.</HI> Our Lawful Sovereign is the only <HI>Lord of the Articles,</HI> who will propo&s;e the Que&s;tion, and Obedience in this ca&s;e may be more beneficial, than to be always made Sacrifices by &s;evere <HI>Penal Laws.</HI></P>
<P N="i"><HI>(i)</HI> Is it a <HI>Parliament</HI> of two Hou&s;es you mean, &s;hall offer this <HI>Indulgence</HI> to Di&s;&s;enters? or would you have them &s;tay to the next Ages? If the fir&s;t, you de&s;erve the doom of a Traitor, &s;ince you mu&s;t Exclude the King, unle&s;s <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> be included; if the latter, you mu&s;t fit the Di&s;&s;enters with Iron Shooes.</P>
<P N="k"><HI>(k)</HI> You Write as if you were one of the Plenipotentiaries at a <HI>Treaty</HI> betwixt <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> and Di&s;&s;enters, and were well acquainted with the &s;ecret <HI>Articles.</HI> All the World hath judged Di&s;&s;enters to have a great aver&s;ion to implicit Faith and blind Obedience; but they mu&s;t all be the mo&s;t ab&s;olute Re&s;igners of their Rea&s;on and Religion, to the guidance of <HI>Roman Catholicks:</HI> If for this pretended Liberty of Con&s;cience, as you call it, they mu&s;t Sacrifice their real Freedom. I be|lieve rather that the weight and galling of their late Chains, are &s;o much felt, that they will be very unwilling to have them put on again by &s;ome Members of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> and the confidence to be ever freed from them, makes them &s;o ready to embrace this Jayl-Delivery.</P>
<P N="l"><HI>(l)</HI> To what degree &s;oever either <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> or Di&s;&s;enters may judge valid the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ing Power;</HI> yet, that no ways &s;hould hinder them, from de&s;iring the <HI>Indulgence</HI> may be E&s;tabli&s;hed by Law, to perpetuate that favour which they, at
<PB N="34" REF="19">pre&s;ent, are only &s;ecure of during the Kings Life: And as all Gracious and ju&s;t Princes, de&s;ire their Honour and good Fame may long out-live them; &s;o they wi&s;h, that the benefits they intend for their people, may be extended to future Ages. Therefore, however His Maje&s;ty may be &s;atisfied in the rights of His So|vereignty, yet for the tender regard of the future Repo&s;e of His Subjects: It is a mo&s;t Gracious Act in Him, to endea|vour the concurrence of His Two Hou&s;es, which by an impropriety of Speech you call the <HI>Legi&s;lative;</HI> when it is well known, that without the Royal concurrence, the Two Hou&s;es are only the <HI>Legi&s;preparative.</HI></P>
<P N="m"><HI>(m)</HI> By tho&s;e words, <HI>and not without Rea&s;on,</HI> you di&s;cover your &s;elf to have been a Seclu&s;ioni&s;t; and yet want the candor of an ingenuous Di&s;&s;enter, who is not angry that tho&s;e Members of the Church of <HI>England complied</HI> &s;o far; &s;ince it hath given them the opportunity of experiencing the Kings &s;urprizing Cle|mency, and condemning the groundle&s;s jealou&s;ie they had of Him, which prompted to that Reluctancy again&s;t His Rightful Succe&s;&s;ion; and the Di&s;&s;enters have no rea&s;on to be &s;orry, that the&s;e Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> made no fur|ther Progre&s;s after the King came to the Crown. Since that <HI>&s;top</HI> of theirs made the Wheel move fa&s;ter towards the <HI>Indul|gence,</HI> the benefit whereof lea&s;t they &s;hould be in danger to lo&s;e, they will with all &s;edulity endeavour to promote, though I pre&s;ume, by no indirect means, but &s;uch as may be agreeable to the duty of their Allegiance and Thankfulne&s;s, they owe to the King for it. Then the &s;crupulous nicene&s;s concerning &s;ignificant Ceremo|nies
<PB N="35" REF="19">will cea&s;e, becau&s;e none will be obliged to u&s;e the Cope, Sur|plice, or long Cloak, but &s;uch as like them; only I hope it will be always prohibited to Preach in Buff-coats, and mingle Blood with their Oblations.</P>
<P N="n"><HI>(n)</HI> Nothing is more common, than to find Names affixed according to peo|ples fancies, and after a while one word &s;erves for De&s;cription, Definition, and Character. If <HI>Liberty of Con&s;cience</HI> once be made practicable, and in the vogue, Tho&s;e di&s;criminating Cyphers will be u&s;ele&s;s, and all Subjects will be con&s;idered in their morality, or immorality, obe|dience, or di&s;obedience, rather than by the Cognizance of their Religion: It is no &s;trange thing in Nature, that by &s;ome influence of the Heavens, and aptne&s;s of Soyl, &s;ome Plants may <HI>&s;hoot</HI> up more in a Night than others, backned by &s;evere Fro&s;ts, do in a Month; and why the rare Plant of <HI>Liberty</HI> in Religious Wor&s;hip, may not be as perennial as the Thi&s;tle of Per&s;ecution, I &s;ee no great Rea&s;on, if Cultivated with common care. If the pro&s;pect of continual &s;uffe|ring, and the want of Chri&s;tian Liberty, made Di&s;&s;enters <HI>Factious and Rebellious;</HI> it is to be pre&s;umed, that the Fundimental In&s;tigation being removed, the Witch|craft will no longer prevail. It is the concernment of all Governments, to &s;ee that Men be true to it e're they be tru&s;ted; and when Princes lay by their co-active Laws, it is the intere&s;t of the Subjects to lay a&s;ide their Animo&s;ities, and when all Parties quit their Fire-Arms, and offen|&s;ive Weapons, I &s;ee no rea&s;on to de&s;pair of Harmony and Accord in the duty of Chri&s;tians and Subjects; and thus being <HI>linked in</HI> the common bond of freedom, I &s;ee no occa&s;ion to throw one another <HI>off again.</HI></P>
<PB N="36" REF="20">
<P N="o"><HI>(o)</HI> If things now tend <HI>naturally</HI> to the <HI>ea&s;e</HI> of Di&s;&s;enters, they have rea&s;on to be mo&s;t thankful to the King, as the &s;ole be&s;tower of it; and I &s;ee no Rea&s;on they &s;hould let go the Bird in hand, in hopes to catch another in the Bu&s;h. I &s;hould think they acted with le&s;s circum|&s;pection than they have wonted to do; if they &s;lip the opportunity of that ten|der made them, in expectation of en|joying any thing like it, when the Church of <HI>England</HI> &s;hall be in a flouri&s;hing condi|tion. Be&s;ides, it may be a Que&s;tion, whe|ther a Toleration after the patern of the Low Countries, may not be more preju|dicial to the Church of <HI>England,</HI> than &s;uch one as may be now adju&s;ted.</P>
<P N="p"><HI>(p)</HI> Here you are very Magi&s;terial, and have undertaken far more than your Credit will go for. To &s;ay a Church is convinced of an Errour, befits none but the Prolocutor of a Convocation, when &s;uch a Vote was pa&s;&s;ed with a <HI>Nemine Contradicente,</HI> and to en&s;ure for a Parlia|ments Votes, is more than any Ten Mem|bers of it can do. But I pre&s;ume you &s;peak by Figure here, that if Di&s;&s;enters will not joyn with <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> to be thankful for the <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and will &s;tick clo&s;e to the Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> that oppo&s;e it; then the Parli|ament under a <HI>Protestant</HI> Succe&s;&s;or, and a Convocation will &s;et &s;uch a value upon that &s;ervice, that they will be gen|tile to them, and e&s;tabli&s;h &s;ome Bill of comprehen&s;ion, which the Governours of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> could never hi|therto be brought to yield to. All this looks &s;o like decoy, that the Di&s;&s;enter of the lowe&s;t form will perceive it. But what ever they do, all thinking Men, mu&s;t judge the de&s;ign of this is to animate all Prote&s;tants to weather out the point, and
<PB N="37" REF="20">heighten their oppo&s;ition to the King, which in former times would have been &s;til'd Sedition. As to that excellent Prince&s;s, I &s;uppo&s;e you mean, few Prince&s;&s;es in <HI>Europe</HI> are known to Excell Her in the Accompli&s;hments of Body or Mind; and as Her Royal Father is as Indulgent to Her Highne&s;s, as any Prince can be; &s;o She is as Dutiful; and whatever the King E&s;tabli&s;heth in His time for the publick Good and Tranquility of His Kingdoms, if She over|live Him, I pre&s;ume it may be Her de&s;ire, if not Her Intere&s;t to <HI>ratifie;</HI> and to what perfection &s;oever His Maje&s;ty may bring this Pantheon, there may &s;till remain beautifying, and adorning for His Succe&s;&s;or, and room enough to enlarge the <HI>Foundations,</HI> and build &s;tronger Defences again&s;t the <HI>common</HI> Enemy of Per&s;ecution, if this con&s;piring again&s;t a work, which You own Di&s;&s;enters need, and de&s;erve, do not <HI>de&s;troy</HI> it.</P>
<P N="q"><HI>(q)</HI> In this Paragraph you are numbe|ring the people, and examining Your &s;trength by the Mu&s;ter-roll; and the head of tho&s;e Powers you de&s;ign to Op|po&s;e, is manife&s;tly the King, which is not very agreeable to the Church of <HI>Eng|lands</HI> Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re&s;i&s;tance.</HI></P>
<P N="r"><HI>(r)</HI> Good words butter no Par&s;nips; if the Expre&s;&s;ions of Duty were not tainted and hollow, and in your Opinion His Maje&s;ties Religion did not only &s;hade, but totally Eclip&s;e His Vertues: Your Alle|giance would not look, as it doth, more like a Submi&s;&s;ion than a Duty; nor would You adventure upon that Bravado, that &s;ome own their be&s;t &s;ecurity to Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, and the Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re&s;i&s;tance,</HI> which look very like bid|ding <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> beware lea&s;t they rou&s;e a &s;leeping Lyon: For I know not who they are that Laugh at the commen|dable Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re&s;i&s;tance;</HI> but when I &s;ee Men fomenting jealou&s;ies again&s;t their Sovereign, ridiculing His Conduct, endeavouring to Repre&s;ent Him as acting again&s;t the Laws, a&s;&s;uming an Arbitrary Power, denying Him the &s;ervice of all His Subjects, and by all po&s;&s;ible Arts, endea|vour to withdraw the Affections of the people from Him &s;olely,
<PB N="38" REF="21">becau&s;e of His Religion; I cannot judge &s;uch to be true practicers of that Doctrine.</P>
<P N="&s;"><HI>(&s;)</HI> Here you give a touch of your A&s;trology, and it being cu&s;tomary for the pretenders to that Art, to attempt by Horary Que&s;tions to know Di&s;ea&s;es, and after a while to &s;et up for Empericks: So you give us a pretty Receipt to clear a lowring Sky; the Sen&s;e of which is, for all Prote&s;tants to lye in of the &s;ullen, keep their beds, and there u&s;e &s;ome kind of rea&s;onable Devotion, and entertain their Vi&s;itants with di&s;cour&s;es of their Loyalty, and their adhering to the Laws, and it will be twenty to one but they will be freed from the Hail-&s;torm, and e&s;cape the danger of the Infectious Air. But le&s;t any &s;hould object that, <HI>Bed-zid</HI> Prote&s;tants are not like to keep out <HI>Popery,</HI> you have a mo&s;t Infallible <HI>Elixir</HI> in your Repo&s;i|tory, which is, that neither the Church of <HI>England,</HI> or <HI>Prote&s;tant</HI> Di&s;&s;enters ought to be affrighted with any fear that the <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> Religion can be E&s;ta|bli&s;hed by a Toleration (&s;ince the ods is two hundred to one) without a greater <HI>Miracle</HI> than any we read of in any <HI>Le|gend,</HI> e&s;pecially in the <HI>old Age</HI> of a Church, which hath been <HI>&s;o long barren</HI> of them. For &s;hame therefore give over your fal&s;e Ala|rums; amu&s;e the Di&s;&s;enters no more to &s;uch circum&s;pect &s;tanding upon their guard, to keep out <HI>Popery,</HI> &s;ince in our days there is no feeding Five hundred with <HI>Five Loves and two Fi&s;hes.</HI></P>
<P N="t"><HI>(t)</HI> The conclu&s;ion is agreeable to your <HI>premi&s;es,</HI> an Exhortation to an A&s;&s;ociation a gain&s;t the King, and all of His judge|ment in the matters of the <HI>Te&s;t;</HI> and the motives to it are pretty odd, that &s;ince both Parties have been too blame, in Per|&s;ecuting one another, therefore they &s;hould be reconciled, and combine in oppo&s;ing the <HI>Indulgence,</HI> which is mo&s;t
<PB N="39" REF="21">likely to put an end to all rancor and malice. One would have thought, that the Inference more naturally &s;hould have been, that &s;ince they both had experienced the mi&s;chiefs of Per&s;ecution, and neither of them bettered their condition by it, therefore, they &s;hould both have joyned in the promoting the general <HI>Indulgence,</HI> that there might be no more &s;trife among them, &s;ince they were Brethren; I am &s;ure this had more truly re&s;olved the Que&s;tion. But in&s;tead of this, you tell the Di&s;&s;enters, (without giving any Rea|&s;on for it) that di&s;-union is not only a <HI>Reproach,</HI> but a <HI>danger</HI> to both. This I own to be true, if the Union you de&s;ire were for the publick good of both, but if the Union be to combine you and them in equal undutifulne&s;s and ingratefulne&s;s to the King; if this Union be de&s;ired to hinder the Kings Progre&s;s in His laudable purpo&s;es; if this Union be but to while the bu&s;ine&s;s with a <HI>Shall I, Shall I,</HI> to tire the Kings Patience, and di&s;appoint His expectation, it will redound to both the Di&s;&s;enters and your <HI>Danger,</HI> if not <HI>Reproach.</HI> To per&s;uade to &s;uch an Union as this, is the whole drift of your di&s;cour&s;e, and &s;omething you mu&s;t mean more than Pa&s;&s;ive Obedience, when you rivet the Nail you have all this while been driving in, telling your <HI>Reader,</HI> that it is as <HI>unju&s;tifiable to have no Religion, as wilfully to throw away the means of pre&s;erving it.</HI> This looks like a &s;econd &s;ound to Hor&s;e; and you have a pretty &s;light in your Mouth, to per&s;uade <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> (becau&s;e you think them &s;o credulous of Mira|cles) to neglect all <HI>Cautions</HI> or means to pre&s;erve them&s;elves, but to relie upon a Supernatural Power: But tho&s;e of your Principles mu&s;t u&s;e the <HI>Humane Means</HI> of pre&s;erving it, and of how many Battalions the&s;e mu&s;t con&s;i&s;t, though you have rea&s;on to conceal the Intimation from the World; yet you give a &s;ufficient <HI>Item,</HI> what may be expected, and thereby <HI>caution</HI> the Government to have more Circum&s;pection over your Sayings and Actions.</P>
<P>Thus <HI>Sir,</HI> I have now fini&s;hed my Ob&s;ervations upon your <HI>Letter;</HI> I &s;hall &s;ubjoyn &s;omething the &s;ubject matter induceth me to offer to the con&s;ideration of all Chri&s;tian Dutiful Subjects, and then clo&s;e the whole.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="excursus">
<PB N="40" REF="22">
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I have hitherto follow'd the train you have lead me, and endea|voured to give a rea&s;onable An&s;wer to the mo&s;t material parts of your <HI>Letter.</HI> What was bare &s;uppo&s;al, and groundle&s;s &s;u&s;picion I have not much concerned my &s;elf with. Tho&s;e being but like the Feathering of unpiled Arrows, which help their flight, but en|force them little to do harm, where-ever they fall. Neither have I attempted to reach the Towring Flights of your Oratory, which how Ornimental &s;oever, are but like mounting Bubbles, which break and vani&s;h when at the utmo&s;t &s;tretch. Your affrightments, when well con&s;idered, are but like the &s;parks in a Smiths-&s;hop, which upon a brisk heat and &s;troak, fills all with &s;eeming liquid fire, yet it is as &s;oon extingui&s;hed as the Iron cools, or the labour|ing &s;troke cea&s;eth. What was Seditious, and tending to in&s;ti|gate the Subjects to jealou&s;ies and di&s;loyal Opinions of their Sove|reign, I have endeavoured to Di&s;prove, and Repre&s;s. What was Calumny, I have gently wiped off; unle&s;s when it was couched in &s;uch general Terms, as placed it beyond all reach of the Spung. Rebells in open Ho&s;tility, are not &s;o dangerous to a Prince, and His Governmet, though the &s;evere&s;t Puni&s;hments are inflicted on them when ma&s;tered; as tho&s;e are, who by &s;ly Arts, Detraction, evil Surmi&s;es and Con&s;tructions, render their Prince &s;u&s;pected of Ruling Arbitrarily, and altering Religion and Laws; and thereby bla&s;t His Credit with His people: For tho&s;e are the Men that make the whole Reigns of Princes trouble&s;om, and unfortunate to Them&s;elves and their Subjects. The&s;e Li&s;t the Men, provide Magazines and Arms, and prepare all things in readine&s;s again&s;t the &s;ound of the Trumpet, and do not only Mu&s;ter the Rebels, but they do, as much as in them lyes, to enfeeble or taint the Allegi|ance of the remainder.</P>
<P>You have contributed all you po&s;&s;ibly can to effect the&s;e things, and expo&s;ed your <HI>Letter</HI> as a Banner to invite to jealou&s;ies and fears, which are the very <HI>Avant-couriers</HI> of Sedition and Rebellion; and this in you that pretend to be a Son of the Church of <HI>England</HI> is &s;o much the wor&s;e, in that you know how &s;trictly it enjoyns Obe|dience to the Lawful Sovereign, and how much the Doctrine of <HI>Non-Re&s;i&s;tance</HI> hath been taught and practi&s;ed by its Members.</P>
<P>If the Kings Intentions to &s;ettle the <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> Religion by force, (which you &s;urely cannot in good earne&s;t believe practica|ble) were much more apparent than it is: If the inevitable ruine of the <HI>Prote&s;tant Religion</HI> here, &s;hould be the con&s;equence of the
<PB N="41" REF="22"><HI>Repeal;</HI> and if the exerci&s;e of His Prerogative and Di&s;pen&s;ing Power, were the certain ruine of all Mens Properties, you and others who own no other Loyalty to their Sovereign, than what is con&s;i&s;tent with their &s;uppo&s;ed Intere&s;t, could not invent more provoking Reflections upon the King, or mi&s;-interpret His Actions wor&s;e than you do.</P>
<P>But how unrea&s;onably undutiful is it in Subjects, and tho&s;e who would be reputed the zealou&s;e&s;t for our Church, to charge the King with Intrigue and Hypocri&s;y, or breach of promi&s;e; who of all Princes living dete&s;ts mear tricks, and to prevaricate with any: To whom Di&s;&s;imulation is the odiou&s;e&s;t of Vices, and who&s;e very In-bred, Natural, and Heroick courage, places Him as much above all low Arts, as His Dignity doth above His Subjects.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides all the un-an&s;werable Arguments which have been pro|duced, why the taking off the <HI>Te&s;t</HI> and <HI>Penal Laws</HI> cannot work &s;uch a change in our Religion; you may con&s;ider, that at the &s;ame time the Church of <HI>England</HI> may be In&s;ured by Laws of greate&s;t caution. Furthermore we have mo&s;t &s;olemn and publick promi&s;es, <HI>That His Maje&s;ty will Protect and Maintain the Church of</HI> England <HI>in the free exerci&s;e of its Religion, as by Law E&s;tabli&s;hed, and in the quiet and full enjoyment of all Her Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, without any mole&s;tation or di&s;|turbance,</HI> which He will inviolably ob&s;erve; If by a &s;tubborne&s;s, that &s;hall be unpardonable in the judgement of all Impartial Men, we forfeit not a Clemency &s;o rarely to be parallel'd. To all which may be added, the univer&s;al aver&s;ion of the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonality to the <HI>Roman Catholick Religion,</HI> occa&s;ioned even by the deepe&s;t Impre&s;&s;ion that Education, Cu&s;tom, and an Opi|nion of the Purity, and Primativene&s;s of it, hath made.</P>
<P>If none of the&s;e Arguments will prevail with you to change your evil Opinion of the Kings de&s;igns by the <HI>Repeal;</HI> con&s;ider delibe|rately, I pray you, how the King mu&s;t overthrow the very Foun|dation upon which the great Enterprize of Univer&s;al Liberty, and con&s;equently of all the Benefits to His people, by enriching them, and keeping them in peace, and &s;ecuring the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> in future times in any tollerable &s;tate, if He ever give way to inve&s;t any one Church-Community with a Coercive Power.</P>
<P>But I know it is Objected, that if a Toleration only were inten|ded, how comes it to pa&s;s, that &s;o many Loyal Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> even of tho&s;e who &s;o couragiou&s;ly adhered to the Crown in its utmo&s;t danger, are now di&s;placed, and the <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> or Di&s;&s;enters, even &s;uch of the la&s;t, as have mo&s;t vio|lently oppo&s;ed His Maje&s;ties Succe&s;&s;ion, are &s;ub&s;tituted in their Rooms?</P>
<PB N="42" REF="23">
<P>In an&s;wer to this, It is well known, that the number of <HI>Prote|&s;tants</HI> of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> Employed by the King in His Court, in His Council, in His Courts of <HI>Judicature,</HI> in Camp, and all Places of publick Employments, almo&s;t as far exceed the <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> as our Clergy do theirs; and yet we make &s;o hideous a noi&s;e at the Conferring Places and Honours upon &s;ome de&s;erving and Loyal <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> and two or three Ma&s;ters, and a few Fellows of Colleges being Preferr'd; which are but the effects of common di&s;tributive Ju&s;tice, and con&s;entaneous to the Paternal care of &s;uch a Prince, who would &s;how &s;ome marks of favour to tho&s;e few of His own Religion, who are not now &s;urely to be wholly Excluded. Therefore, in my judgement, it &s;hows a very ill Nature in tho&s;e who own His Maje&s;ty to be their Lawful King, and that He may at His Plea&s;ure u&s;e the &s;ervice of which of His Subjects He plea&s;es, to grudge His intermixing &s;o few of His own Religion with others.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this, you cannot be ignorant, that it never was the practice of any Prince, or Government, what Religion &s;oever, to imploy Subjects in Places of Tru&s;t, who &s;et them&s;elves directly to oppo&s;e, what by prudent foreca&s;t for the publick good, they determined to E&s;tabli&s;h. Now &s;ince the King, for the Rea&s;ons publi&s;hed in His <HI>Gracious Declaration,</HI> is &s;o intent upon compleating this great work of General Freedom, and &s;ecuring tho&s;e of His own Religion, in common with the re&s;t. It cannot be thought rea&s;onable, or expedient, that He &s;hould cheri&s;h and countenance tho&s;e, who &s;o bitterly oppo&s;e him in it: E&s;pecially &s;ince it is &s;o apparent, that even &s;uch, who have &s;hown great zeal for the &s;up|port of the Crown upon the Heads of their Prote&s;tant Sovereigns, now manife&s;t, not only an indifference, and coldne&s;s, but an un|becoming way wardne&s;s to the Kings Service: In &s;o much, that &s;ome decline &s;itting in Commi&s;&s;ion with <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> Ju&s;tices of the Peace, and others think it honourable to quit their places, rather than to make one &s;tep towards the <HI>Repeal;</HI> &s;o that even the Badges and Livery of Loyalty are changed, from that to the King, to that of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> and tho&s;e who make the grea|te&s;t complaint of hard u&s;age, have them&s;elves turned the Tables.</P>
<P>As to Di&s;&s;enters, it is their Intere&s;t to clo&s;e with the Crown &s;ide for Protection, and &s;ince they can derive this unlooked for favour from none but the King, they &s;hould be the mo&s;t ungrateful of Men, if with chearfulne&s;s, and &s;incerity, they did not pay all po&s;&s;ible Acknowledgments to His Maje&s;ties Bounty for it. So that I do not wonder to hear them, with great A&s;&s;everation &s;ay, it was not for a <HI>Commonwealth</HI> they fought, and were continually &s;triving again&s;t
<PB N="43" REF="23">the &s;tream, but it was to get the Weather-gage of Per&s;ecution: It was to obtain this <HI>Liberty of Con&s;cience,</HI> which they never could expect from former Governments, that provoked them to commit &s;uch Hainous things they now are a&s;hamed of; and which, indeed they ought to Attone for in another manner than they have hitherto done. They now declare, that if they might have had the Tenth of that Liberty the Church of <HI>England</HI> now enjoys, under our Gra|cious King, they would never have lifted up an hand, or opened a Mouth again&s;t the late Kings of ble&s;&s;ed Memories, and I think they are the rather to be believed, becau&s;e neither the Doctrine, nor the Ceremonies of the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> are &s;o much declaim'd again&s;t by them now, as tho&s;e of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> which they formerly reputed Idolatrous: They now think them&s;elves ju&s;tified in their E&s;pou&s;ing the Parliaments &s;ide, from whom they expected, and had <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and plea&s;e them&s;elves to find ano|ther kind of <HI>non Addre&s;&s;ors,</HI> and as zealous per&s;ons to hinder the <HI>Repeal</HI> of <HI>Penal Laws,</HI> again&s;t their Sovereigns declared de&s;ire, as they were formerly for it. Yet, though the Scene be thus changed, I hope there are &s;ufficient numbers of &s;uch, whom the Church of <HI>England</HI> will own to be her Children, that will let no Di&s;&s;enters out-goe them in Loyalty, and Dutifulne&s;s to their Sovereign; and who are well a&s;&s;ured, the King will have as great regard to them, and our Church for their &s;akes; and as freely permit them the enjoyment of the Exerci&s;e of their Religion and Benefices, as to any, provided they will concur with Him in the <HI>Repeal,</HI> and be content to let their Fellow-Subjects, of different Per&s;ua&s;ions, enjoy likewi&s;e their <HI>Liberty.</HI></P>
<P>That the Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> ought to yield this in common prudence, and even for the Pre&s;ervation of their own Religion, I think there are many Rea&s;ons; e&s;pecially this, that as yet the time is not clap&s;ed, but that when His Maje&s;ty convenes His Parliament, &s;ufficient Security may be obtained, that the Church of <HI>England</HI> &s;hall enjoy all the King hath promi&s;ed; and when, by the Wi&s;dom of the Hou&s;es, &s;uch an Act is contrived, as will an&s;wer the Kings de&s;ires of the Univer&s;al ea&s;e of His Sub|ject, the Church of <HI>England</HI> will feel as great effects of the Kings kindne&s;s, as &s;he can expect, or de&s;ire; and by the freedom all will enjoy, there will be no more conte&s;ts; but who &s;hall <HI>approve</HI> them|&s;elves mo&s;t dutiful and de&s;erving of His Maje&s;ties Clemency, and Kindne&s;s. Upon &s;uch a clo&s;ure, the <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> and Di&s;&s;en|ters will freely yield to the mutual &s;ecurity of the Church of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> and that Church will regain its Reputation of Loyalty, and confirm what you promi&s;e in her name, of being kind to Di&s;&s;enters,
<PB N="44" REF="24">and a <HI>Prote&s;tant Prince</HI> &s;ucceeding, and finding things thus Ami|cably Compo&s;ed, will reap the benefit, as the whole Kingdom will do, of this happy undertaking of the King.</P>
<P>But on the contrary, if the Majority of the Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> in Parliament, ob&s;tinately <HI>oppo&s;e</HI> the Kings de&s;ires, they will oblige His Maje&s;ty to pur&s;ue other Methods, and it will give occa&s;ion to all &s;uch as are no great well-wi&s;hers to our Church, to urge its uncharitablene&s;s; that rather than it will permit the King to exerci&s;e His Prerogative, of being &s;erved with all His Subjects, of what denomination &s;oever He plea&s;es to make u&s;e of, and that Men of different Profe&s;&s;ions in Religion, may enjoy the favour of the Kings <HI>Indulgence,</HI> they will put them&s;elves out of His Royal Protection, and ab&s;olve Him from His promi&s;e therein; and the up&s;hot of all will be, that by His Maje&s;ties &s;teady pur&s;uit of this great work, which He firmly believes will conduce &s;o much to the univer&s;al good of His Subjects; In a few years, by &s;uch &s;edulous countenancing all tho&s;e, who will &s;trenu|ou&s;ly co-operate with Him to effect it, the Di&s;&s;enters will obtain the Majority of Voices in Parliament, which if once effected, tho&s;e Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> who have Ob&s;tructed the <HI>Repeal,</HI> will be at the mercy of Di&s;&s;enters; and if the King be not their be&s;t Friend, may fall &s;hort of what they may now &s;o effectually obtain.</P>
<P>I &s;hall conclude with a &s;hort Paraphra&s;e upon the Words His Maje&s;ty, u&s;ed to His Privy Council <HI>March</HI> the 8th. 1686. concer|ning this <HI>Indulgence,</HI> in which the &s;ub&s;tance of what need be &s;aid, in ju&s;tifying the Kings granting it, are clearly laid down.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, His Maje&s;ty &s;hows the practice of former Ages, and the &s;ucce&s;s of them; That <HI>although an &V;niformity in the Religious Wor&s;hip had been Endeavoured to be E&s;tabli&s;hed within this Kingdom, in the &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ive Reigns of Four of His Majesties Royal Predece&s;&s;ors, a&s;&s;i&s;ted by their re&s;pective Parliaments; yet it hath proved altogether in|effectual.</HI></P>
<P>This is obvious to every one that reads the Hi&s;tory of tho&s;e times, and well know to tho&s;e that lived in the beginning of the Rebellion; for Di&s;&s;enters were then &s;o encrea&s;ed, that they were numerous, and powerful enough to overthrow, not only the Church of <HI>England,</HI> but the Monarchy that defended it. The Kings Words are, <HI>That the Re&s;traint upon the Con&s;ciences of Di&s;&s;en|ters, in order thereunto, viz.</HI> to Conformity, <HI>had been very prejudicial to this Nation, as was &s;adly experienced in the horrid Rebellion, in the time of His Maje&s;ties Royal Father.</HI> The King then pitcheth upon the true and principal cau&s;e of all tho&s;e <HI>Calamities</HI> that befel the
<PB N="45" REF="24">ble&s;&s;ed Martyr, and were fre&s;hly commencing again in the later time of His Maje&s;ties Royal Brothers Reign, which are be&s;t ex|pre&s;&s;ed in the Kings own Words, <HI>That the many</HI> Penal Laws <HI>made again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, in all the foregoing Reigns, and e&s;pecially in the time of the late King, had rather increa&s;ed than le&s;&s;ened them.</HI></P>
<P>If therefore our Gracious King, out of an exce&s;s of love and Paternal care, did not &s;tudy the Univer&s;al benefit, ea&s;e, profit, and enriching of His people, He might have pur&s;ued former Pre|cedents: But as a Wi&s;e and Compa&s;&s;ionate Prince, He &s;earcheth diligently for the true Cau&s;es; and while too many are bu&s;ying them&s;elves in Traducing His zeal for His Religion, as if it were the only concern of His Royal Cares. He Demon&s;trates to all His Subjects, how much more &s;ollicitous He is to find &s;ome better Method, whereby at once He may E&s;tabli&s;h His Throne, and tho&s;e of His Succe&s;&s;ors, in a &s;table peace and &s;ecurity, and give Ea&s;e, Freedom, and Riches, to all His People, of what Per&s;ua&s;tion &s;o|ever: Therefore declares, <HI>That nothing can more conduce to the peace and quiet of His Kingdom, and the increa&s;e of the Numbers, as well as the Trade of the Subjects, (wherein the greatne&s;s of a Prince does more con&s;i&s;t, than in the extent of His Teritories) than an entire Liberty of Con&s;cience.</HI> That His Maje&s;ty may likewi&s;e obviate all the great &s;cruple &s;uch as you rai&s;e as if He did this for any private ends; you have His Royal Word to the con|trary, when He tells all His Subjects, <HI>That it hath been His Opinion, as mo&s;t &s;uitable to the Principles of Chri&s;tianity, that no Man &s;hould be Per&s;ecuted for Con&s;cience &s;ake, which His Maje&s;ty thinks is not to be forced.</HI> By this His Maje&s;ty &s;hows, that He grounds not His judgement upon the agreeablene&s;s, or ungreeablene&s;s of it to the intere&s;t of any Church; but as it is &s;uitable to the uery Principles of Chri&s;tian Religion, and having by this &s;hown His Royal Inten|tions how to proceed upon that bottom, during His own Reign, out of a well grounded Confidence, that it may be a rule and &s;tandard to His Royal Succe&s;&s;ors, He clo&s;eth all with this Maxim, <HI>That it can never be the true Intere&s;t of a King of</HI> England, <HI>to endea|vour to force Con&s;cience.</HI></P>
<P>Have not all Men from hence, and all His Maje&s;ties Actions, rea&s;on to think, there is a Clemency, Benignity, and tenderne&s;s in the King to His Subjects, flowing in His Princely Blood from His Royal Ance&s;tors, and peculiar to the family, which His Re|ligion can never alter; &s;o that where the nece&s;&s;ity of His people, rather han His own &s;afety, does not oblige Him to &s;everity, We &s;ee daily in&s;tances of a Mercifulne&s;s beyond all expectation, and even to the envy of others, &s;ome of which have been very
<PB N="46" REF="25">late: and if this difficulty of the <HI>Repeal</HI> were once over, all His Subjects would know, that He would de&s;erve the <HI>Epethites</HI> of Ju&s;t, Merciful, and Pacifick, as well as any of His Royal Predece&s;&s;ors; having that per&s;onal Courage, and Fortitude, over and above what is to be found in few Crowned Heads; &s;o that <HI>&s;atis e&s;t pro&s;tra&s;&s;e,</HI> mu&s;t be owned by all His Maje&s;ties ill-willers, as pecu|liar to His Genero&s;ity.</P>
<P>I &s;hould here have clo&s;ed this Di&s;cour&s;e, but that I find His Maje&s;ties late <HI>Speech</HI> to the LORD MAYOR and <HI>Aldermen</HI> of <HI>London,</HI> when they Pre&s;ented Him with their late <HI>Addre&s;s,</HI> hath occa&s;ioned a new Mi&s;repre&s;entation; becau&s;e His Maje&s;ty mentioned the advantages would redound to the Subjects by a general <HI>Naturalization</HI> and publick <HI>Regi&s;ter,</HI> which tho&s;e who &s;uck poi&s;on out of every flower, cen&s;ure as manife&s;t tokens, that if the&s;e be effected, the growth of Popery will be promoted, which they thus prove.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> that <HI>Naturilization</HI> will open a door, to let in from foreign parts, &s;uch &s;holes of <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> that the <HI>Prote&s;tants</HI> &s;hall &s;oon be out-numbered. <HI>Secondly,</HI> that a publick Regi&s;ter will &s;o di&s;cover all Mens E&s;tates, that the King may ea&s;ily di&s;po&s;e of them, when the Laws of <HI>Property</HI> &s;hall be, as now we &s;ee <HI>Penal Laws</HI> are di&s;pen&s;ed with.</P>
<P>As to the fir&s;t of the&s;e malicious In&s;inuations, I de&s;ire all think|ing Men to con&s;ider, that it is a very known Maxim, that not only the power of any Prince, but the Riches of every Kingdom con|&s;i&s;ts in the multitude of the people well Governed. Let us now therefore con&s;ider who they are, that are likelie&s;t to flock hither, if an Act of general <HI>Naturilization</HI> &s;hould pa&s;s. There are none that leave their own Country, to Tran&s;plant them&s;elves into ano|ther Soil, but &s;uch as have a Pro&s;pect to live more at ea&s;e abroad, than in their own Country, and &s;uch mu&s;t be principally tho&s;e, who retire to avoid Per&s;ecution for their Religion, or are obnoxious to the Laws, for &s;ome notorious Tre&s;pa&s;&s;es again&s;t them, or &s;uch who dare not &s;how their Heads for Debt; or la&s;tly, tho&s;e who in the way of Traffick think to better their Fortunes. For it is ridicu|lous to imagine, that <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> Princes will unpeople their Countries, to &s;end Colonies abroad, unle&s;s it were to make War; and to &s;uch, I pre&s;ume, no Law of <HI>Naturilization</HI> will extend.</P>
<P>I &s;uppo&s;e then, no Objections will be made to the incoming of <HI>Aliens,</HI> but &s;uch as do it upon a Religious account. Let us there|fore con&s;ider, who they are that can flock hither, becau&s;e they want the freedom of their Religion in their own Countries? and
<PB N="47" REF="25">&s;urely in <HI>Europe</HI> we can find none, except they are <HI>Prote&s;tants,</HI> that are in &s;uch a &s;tate under <HI>Catholick Princes;</HI> and it will be very diffi|cult to believe, they will fly Per&s;ecution at home, to turn <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> here.</P>
<P>Therefore it appears mo&s;t manife&s;t, that the only effect &s;uch a Law can have, will be to bring from <HI>Poland,</HI> &s;ome parts of <HI>Ger|many, Denmark, Sweden,</HI> or <HI>Holland,</HI> the <HI>French</HI> Refugees, &s;ince <HI>England</HI> is known to be a place of more comfortable Retreat than tho&s;e Countries are; and if &s;uch <HI>French,</HI> or any other <HI>Aliens,</HI> were Di&s;per&s;ed, in &s;ome proportion, through the Kingdom, and not &s;uffered all to &s;ettle in the Populous City of <HI>London;</HI> there might be hopes, that by their Indu&s;try, and Trades, as well as the con&s;umption of the growth of the Country, there would be advantage to the Kingdom by their numbers.</P>
<P>Thus I hope I have made it appear, how directly contrary an effect, to what is &s;ugge&s;ted, would naturally follow upon a Bill of <HI>Naturalization, viz.</HI> the increa&s;e of <HI>Protestants,</HI> if of any.</P>
<P>As to the publick <HI>Regi&s;ter,</HI> it is notoriou&s;ly known, how attempts have been made in former Ages to have effected this, and it is &s;o far from enabling any Prince to invade thereby the Property of any Subject, that it is the greate&s;t &s;ecurity to them: For by &s;uch &s;peedy Transferring E&s;tates, as may be done by a publick Regi&s;ter, even Forfeitures to the Crown may be prevented, when every one, in &s;ome few hours, may pa&s;s their E&s;tates, Real, or Per&s;onal, into what &s;ecure hands they plea&s;e.</P>
<P>It is likewi&s;e obvious, how many frauds would be prevented by it, and how much more plentiful Mony would be, when none would be in danger of loo&s;ing either Purcha&s;e or Lent-mony, by Pre-Engagements; &s;ince fewer &s;hifts could be u&s;ed, to deceive any moderately circum&s;pect per&s;on. The Proceedings likewi&s;e in Law-Suits, would be le&s;s tedious and intricate, and yet many Hundreds of Clerks would find Imployment in Regi&s;tring, in every County and Corporate Town; and when mony Men could have &s;uch &s;uch clear Security, not haunted with the Spirit of Forgery, the middle &s;ort of Traders, the Husbandman, Farmers, and all &s;ort of Men, who had hone&s;t occa&s;ions for ready Mony, might be furni&s;hed without &s;o great &s;cruple, which the doubtfulne&s;s of Security now occa&s;ions.</P>
<P>But the&s;e being matters to be Tran&s;acted in Parliament, need no further di&s;cu&s;&s;ing here: Only I thought it nece&s;&s;ary to hint the&s;e things, that all Ingenuous Men might &s;ee, how unrea&s;onable &s;ome Mens &s;u&s;picions are, and what &s;ini&s;ter Interpretations, Malice, and Envy, will make, of what is mo&s;t apparently de&s;ign'd for a quite different end.</P>
<PB N="48" REF="26">
<P><HI>In fine,</HI> Would we enjoy the free exerci&s;e of the <HI>Prote&s;tant Re|ligion?</HI> We have the Kings Sacred Promi&s;e for it; and upon the taking off the <HI>Penal Laws</HI> and <HI>Te&s;t,</HI> we may have it firmly E&s;ta|bli&s;hed: Would Di&s;&s;enters have Ea&s;e, they have it freely granted without Terms. Would we enjoy all the advantages of Wealth, Honour, Peace, Plenty, and the Benefits which a Gracious, Valiant, and Wi&s;e Prince may afford Us? We may to the height of our Wi&s;hes have them; yielding only, that our Fellow-Subjects in general, and tho&s;e of His Maje&s;ties Religion in particular, may be all alike freed from any Force put upon their Con&s;cience for matters of their Religion, at pre&s;ent, and for time to come; while in all other Re&s;pects they approve them&s;elves Dutiful Subjects.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P><HI>PAge</HI> 4. <HI>line</HI> 23. <HI>for</HI> rea&s;onable <HI>read</HI> &s;ea&s;onable. <HI>P.</HI> 5. <HI>l.</HI> 23. <HI>for</HI> gratefully, <HI>r.</HI> greatly. <HI>P.</HI> 7. <HI>l.</HI> 8. <HI>for</HI> hinder <HI>r.</HI> hindred. <HI>ibid. l.</HI> 39. <HI>dele</HI> of <HI>P.</HI> 9 <HI>l.</HI> 10. <HI>for</HI> &s;uch (as Seclu&s;ion <HI>r.</HI> (&s;uch as Seclu&s;ion. <HI>P.</HI> 11. <HI>l.</HI> 16. <HI>for</HI> Communion <HI>r.</HI> common&punc; <HI>P.</HI> 16. <HI>l.</HI> 29. <HI>for</HI> cumlocution <HI>r.</HI> circumlocution.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
