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<DATE>2014-05-30</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140415.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A LETTER From a DISSENTER To the Petitioning Bi&s;hops.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Lords.</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>HAving &s;een a Paper that goes under the name of your <HI>Petition to His Maje&s;ty for not in&s;i&s;ting upon his Order for Reading his mo&s;t Gracious Declaration in your Publick A&s;&s;emblies.</HI> I confe&s;s I was not a little &s;tartled at it, that Men &s;o long, and &s;o much profe&s;&s;ing Loyalty &s;hould appear &s;o mi&s;erably defective in that point. I challenge you (after all your exclaiming again&s;t the poor Di&s;&s;enters as Factious and Rebellious) to give an in&s;tance of their Di&s;obeying their Prince's Command in any &s;uch matter, what they &s;tuck at was purely for Con&s;cience &s;ake, which you have not to Plead in this thing; here was no a&s;&s;ent nor con&s;ent requir'd, no interfering with any Law of God, but only a Publication of His Maje&s;ties mo&s;t Pious de&s;ign to &s;et all his Subjects at liberty from that Bondage they &s;o dolefully groan'd under. Now as <HI>Samuel</HI> Rea&s;oned with <HI>I&s;rael</HI> about their affairs then, pray my Lords give me leave to rea&s;on with you about this important affair now; you are Men of Worth and Learning, you are Profe&s;&s;ors of the Go&s;pel of Peace and Love, and it might therefore be well expected from you, that you &s;hould have put the King upon it before he did it, and improv'd your great Intere&s;t in his Maje&s;ty on the behalf of the &s;ore oppre&s;&s;ed and horridly abu&s;ed <HI>Di&s;&s;en|ters;</HI> but ala&s;s <HI>altum &s;ilentium</HI> to &s;ay no more, what provoking and incen&s;ing the King there was again&s;t them you be&s;t know; However after Heaven had in&s;pir'd his Maje&s;ty with this Glorious Project we expected your rejoycing at it, your thanking the King for it, and hearty clo&s;ing with him in it. But who could imagine the murmering, the grumbling, the di&s;content this Great Act of Goodne&s;s and Grace has rai&s;ed among you, e&s;pecially the unmannerly (pardon the expre&s;&s;ion) refu&s;ing to make it known to the People, though the King &s;o ab&s;olutely commanded it. Pray my Lords let me ask you a Que&s;tion. Suppo&s;e the King in&s;tead of his Declaration had i&s;&s;ued out a Proclamation commanding Ju&s;tices of the Peace, Cun&s;tables, Informers, and all other per|&s;ons to be more rigorous (if po&s;&s;ible) again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, and doe their utmo&s;t to the perfect quelling and di&s;troying them, and had order'd this to be read in your Churches in the time of Divine Service, would you have made any &s;cruple of that? Ah! no, Methinks I &s;ee your Chirping Par&s;ons how brisk they look in the Desk with &s;uch a Paper in their hands as the &s;econd cour&s;e
<PB REF="2">after the fir&s;t me&s;s of Prayers is over, being a Di&s;h more dainty than the re&s;t, and how the Paraphra&s;e upon it would furni&s;h them with matter all the day after without being beholden to the Bible for any other Text.</P>
<P>Good my Lords con&s;ider, what can we or the whole World think of you, who are &s;o aver&s;e to Mercy, and &s;o eager to any thing of Rigour. You inti|mate in your Paper that <HI>you want no tenderne&s;s to Di&s;&s;enters,</HI> &s;trange and won|derful News if true, but pray my Lords tell us the meaning of this expre&s;&s;ion in plain Engli&s;h, for it is more intricate to us than <HI>Samp&s;on</HI>'s Riddle was to the <HI>Phili&s;tins;</HI> an Interpreter the other day undertook to expound it thus, <HI>that your Lord&s;hips want no tenderne&s;s to Di&s;&s;enters, becau&s;e you never judg'd tender|ne&s;s a thing fit for them;</HI> and it mu&s;t be carried &s;ome &s;uch way, for to take it in the literal &s;en&s;e, 'tis a great untruth (which we cannot &s;uppo&s;e your Lord|&s;hips guilty of) to &s;ay <HI>you want no tenderne&s;s to Di&s;&s;enters,</HI> when the whole Land knows you never &s;hew'd any. How many &s;cores of Pri&s;ons were fill'd with Di&s;&s;enters not many Ages pa&s;t and their Families &s;uffering at home, nor did your Lord&s;hips out of your great Revenues ever &s;end a Peny to relieve them, here would have been a notable proof of your <HI>tenderne&s;s,</HI> and to have been a Te&s;timony again&s;t (or at lea&s;t u&s;ing endeavours to prevent) the horrible wrongs, oppre&s;&s;ions, and abu&s;es pu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> upon them even to the ruining their Fa|milies. Something of this nature (my Lords) would have convinc'd this un|believing Generation of your <HI>Tenderne&s;s.</HI> But <HI>hujus contrarium mi&s;erimum e&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>My Lords, the de&s;ign of this Letter is to offer you good and &s;ea&s;onable ad|vice, and pray be not angry with me for my good will, I am a per&s;on that has &s;uffer'd much, very much by the fury of that Church you &s;it at helm to guide, and yet God is my witne&s;s, I de&s;ire not an hair of your head &s;hould fall to the ground, &s;o far am I from revenge; and therefore pray <HI>my Lords</HI> for your own &s;ake, for your Churches &s;ake, for <HI>England</HI>'s &s;ake, and if all this will not do, then for God's &s;ake debate the matter well you are now in hand with, weigh every thing in a right ballance, and con&s;ider thoroughly whether flying in your Sovereign's Face, and di&s;obeying his mo&s;t ju&s;t command be a cau&s;e will bear you out in &s;uffering. My Lords I pity you, and am really concern'd for you, retract, retract before it be too late, ask God and the King Pardon for your oppo&s;ing the be&s;t of works, and give us (who would fain have) &s;ome ground to believe you inclinable to heal, as you have been to de&s;troy. I think you have it in your Liturgy, <HI>From Pride, vain Glory and Hypocri&s;ie,</HI> &amp;c. A good Prayer, I pray God keep you all from it. My Lords, believe me if you can (I am &s;ure you may) that I am</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your well-wi&s;hing Servant</SIGNED> <DATELINE>London, <DATE>June 1&s;t. 1688.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<P>With Allowance,</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>June 2d. 1688.</DATE> </DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>N.D.</HI> 1688.</P>
</DIV1>
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