AN ANSWER TO THE Letter to a Dissenter Detecting the many UNJUST INSINUATIONS Which highly Reflect on His Majesty As likewise the many false Charges on the DISSENTERS Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1687. AN ANSWER TO THE LETTER to a DISSENTER SIR THE Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of his Majesty's late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence I have in obedience to your Command carefully perus'd and must assure you that the returning an Answer tho' very easie is yet unpleasant For as its Author has not offer'd any thing that is close and nervous yet he has larded his Discourse with so many unjust Insinuations of what highly reflects on his Majesty and with so many false Charges on the Dissenter that a rehearsal of 'em which is necessary for the Answerer to give cannot well be unless with such smart Repartees as may look over-severe at least to some of the Author's Admirers There is nothing more hateful unto me than the dropping one word in any Concertation that may look hard and finding it impossible to give a full Answer to this Letter without expressing those just Resentments the whole Contexture of his Harangue have made necessary I should have been very glad to have been Dispens'd with But the Consideration of the Service I may do his Majesty and the whole Kingdom by detecting the Vanity and Folly of the Author in connexion with your Injunctions hath emboldned me to Resolve on as calm a Discussion of this Letter as the Subject matter of it will admit The whole of this Letter I find may be reduc'd to these Heads False Charges against the Dissenter Vile Reflections on his Majesty and An Intimation of the Church of Englands Repentance with some little Artifices made use of to inveagle the Dissenter to act contrary to his avow'd Principles and real Interest This I take to be a full Account of the Pamphlet to all which I will give my Replies distinctly To begin with his Charge against the Dissenter as what is of least moment and at which the Pamphleteer would only glance and introduce it by way of Supposition that if possible whenever occasion should make it necessary he might by saying he did not positively affirm it fetch himself off from the reproach of being a False Accuser but this way of reproaching the Innocent is so common that by wise Men the very Insinuation where the Charge cannot be made good is look'd on as very Unjust and Abusive However after this manner the Exclusion and Late Rebellion is laid at the Dissenter's Door and their Ministers suppos'd to have Mony sprinkled amongst them to engage the People first one way and now another and therefore their Reasonings are not to be regarded especially if they preach up Anger and Vengeance against the Church of England That their Addresses don't flow from a Sense of his Majesty's Kindness but from the Persuasions or Threatnings us'd to obtain 'em that tho' the Dissenters are against SET-FORMS of Prayer yet are now content the Priests should indite for them and instead of silently receiving the benefit of Indulgence they set up for Advocates to support it and become voluntary Aggressors and look like Counsel Retain'd by the Prerogative against their old Friend MAGNA CHARTA This is one part of the Gentleman's Letter and these are the chief Reasons he presses the Dissenters with to engage them against an accepting the Liberty his Majesty has most Graciously given them It 's this that is at bottom for saith he It might be wish'd that they would have suppressed their Impatience and have been content for the sake of Religion to enjoy it within themselves without the Liberty of a Public Exercise till a Parliament had allow'd it But I 'll appeal to any considering Man of the Church of England Communion whether the Method this Gentleman has taken to wheedle the Dissenter be either Christian or Prudent For what of Christianity is there in charging the Innocent as being guilty of the most odious Crimes or what of Prudence in railing on those whom they would ensnare into a Compliance with them In the first place the Exclusion is charg'd on the Dissenters and as another Pamphleteer has it it 's the Nonconformists that by their medling in the Matter of the Exclusion drew a new Storm upon themselves And why must the Matter of the Exclusion be charg'd on the Dissenters Was not that thing manag'd in the House of Commons by the Sons of the Church of England Were not the chief Speakers in that House Church of England-men and those who made up that House ten to one of her Communion It has been I confess a common Practice for the Church of England to do a bad thing and throw the Odium on 't on the Dissenter but is this fair or just If going ordinarily to the Common-Prayer and taking the Sacrament according to the Usage of the Church of England be a Test by which we may know one of her Communion the Matter of the Exclusion must lie at her Door And if thus much be not enough to Characterize a Churchman what is She 'll not I hope insist on the Doctrin of Non-resistance as what is peculiar to Men of her Religion lest thereby the new Masters of the Ceremonies that are for a Repeal of the Test-Laws be included within her Pale The same may be said of the Rebellion but the Replier to the Oxford Clergies Reasons against Addressing having fully clear'd up this Matter I will wave it being assur'd that the Church of England hath no reason to Glory as if none of her Sons nor Clergy had any hand in it Ay but the Dissenting Ministers have Moneys given 'em to carry on the Design But where is the Man who has receiv'd one Farthing from the Roman-Catholic for carrying on any Popish Intrigue This looks like an old Story which some Years ago was spread by a Dignifi'd Clergy-man within the Line of Communication who was so bold as to fasten it on a worthy Gentleman now dead but who at that time gave Challenge which was not during his Life nor to this hour taken up And what is it that tempts this sort of Men to talk after the old rate Have they any new Instances that makes 'em so brisk in their Accusations Let them make it out against one Nonconforming Minister or forbear this Invidious way of casting Reproach on the Guiltless However for once let us suppose that some Dissenting Ministers have receiv'd Mony from those in Authority for some Service they did the Government What is this to the promoting a Popish Design Multitudes of the Church of England have been raised to great Preferments for the Services they were supposed to have done the Government but was it in good earnest because they promoted Popery This Letter
imitate such Church-men and flie in his Majesties Face for the Grace he affords ' em If you think they are so like your selves Time will demonstrate your Mistake For to be under a Prince of a Different Religion from themselves is no new thing to them they have known how to suffer under such and how to enjoy Peace and Quiet when it 's their Princes Pleasure to give it 'em and they cannot but pity you to see how you wince and kick assoon as you find your Prince doth in good earnest dislike your Religion and Conduct And how is it that this Gentleman dares to contradict his Sovereign The King declares that it has been a long time his Principle that Conscience ought not to be constrain'd nor Men punished for mâ—er Religion and that it has been against his Royal Inclination to persecute any for their Consciences and also his Resolve that if ever it came into his Power he would put a stop unto it as he now has done and whose Word is to be regarded That of a Prince who knows best his own Heart and whose Word till the Time that he shewed Mercy to the Dissenter has been entirely depended on by the Church of England or this Gentlemans whom we have found to insinuate several Falsities in this very Pamphlet But he saith that in the first place they courted the Church of England And for what Was it not to press them to be willing to take off all Penal Laws and Tests in pursuance of his Majesties most Christian Principle And if your Church of England has been so obstinate in opposing not only so great a Prince but so Christian a Principle must the Dissenter take pett because they were not first Courted No Sir the Church of Englands rejecting the Applications made to her sufficiently discovers her Resolution to abide by her old Doctrin of Persecution and therefore the Dissenters have the greatest Reason in the World to beware lest they lose this Opportunity and fall under the lash of your Penal Laws once more They can't forget how oft you have said that the Papists are much better than the Presbyterians and that you would rather turn Papist than Presbyterian and they are still afraid that your not complying with the King is because you long for another opportunity to persecute afresh 'T is true we know that amongst the Gentry of your Communion there are many Resolv'd to do their utmost for the Ease of the Dissenters and they have as there was occasion express'd their Dislike of violent Methods to convince rational Men but amongst the Clergy there is only a sprinkling here and there and at this very Time many can't forbear their Railing against Dissenters but of this more by and by You in the next place tell us that Papists are no more able to make good their Vows than Men married before and their Wife alive can confirm their Contract with another And is this consistent with your Addresses of Thanks for his Majesties Declaration by which he promised to protect the Church of England What are there no Men of Honor amongst the English Papists What no Regard to be had to the Word of a King if a Papist Is not this a casting dirt in his Majesties Face Were it needful I could give you several Instances of Men of Honor and Truth to their Word amongst Papists and I know of none that ever doubted it when it was for their Interest as it is in this Case But who can without horror consider that wretched Insinuation by which our Prince is linked with another who will not suffer a Protestant to live within his Government Methinks this Liberty which so very much displeases the Gentleman should convince him of his Madness Our Prince is not only of a contrary Principle but has had the Advantage of seeing the mischievous Effects of Persecution not only at home but abroad and therefore takes quite contrary measures and yet he is to be suspected Verily if a Dissenter had said half so much of Charles the Second every Pulpit would have rung on 't and have condemned him for a Traitor a Rebel and what not and that without the Help of Innuendo's They would have said What can more evidently discover the Designs and Purposes of their Hearts when they represent their Sovereign under so black a Character But these very Men think they have a Priviledge and may innocently Revile the Lords Anointed and therefore they go on to tell the World that the Prerogative is retaining Counsel against Magna Charta as if the King intended nothing less than the Ravishing his People of their Civil Rights and Priviledges even because he endeavours strenuously their Restoration and Establishment The King would have all things reduced to the ancient Constitution of our Government therefore would have none of his good Subjects depriv'd of their Civil Rights for the sake of their Religion and would by all means have Liberty and Property to be look'd on as too Sacred to be touch'd for an harmless Opinion and yet because this displeases our persecuting Clergy it must be interpreted a setting up Prerogative against Magna Charta And that the Dissenter may understand the Reason of all this Boldness with their King the Gentleman assures us they have him at their Command He is perfectly a Dependant on them and that because they frown the King runs unto the Dissenter for Refuge but if they would but smile or speak a kind Word 't would be enough to engage Him to forget all his Promises and turn the Royal Thunder against the Dissenter Thus he first represents the King's Religion to be such as rases all Principles of Honor and Truth out of his Royal Heart and then tells us that the King's Case is so desperate and deplorable that tho he is now gone to the Dissenter for Shelter yet if the Church of England will give him one smile he 'l break all the Promises he made them and notwithstanding the King has promised his Pardon for all that is past their smile or a kind word from them would draw upon the Dissenters all the Arrears of Severity But who can read this with less Horror than I am in at the writing it If this be Church of England Loyalty I must make use of this Litany From Church of England Loyalty good Lord deliver me For after what a dismal rate do they paint out our Prince and if our Prince had been such an One in what a calamitous Condition would the English be I dread the Rehearsal of it and therefore I will only apply my self unto the English Gentry who most undoubtedly will discover their Abhorrence of all such scurrilous Pamplets and must beseech them to consider what a plunge this Gentleman would hurry both them and the Dissenters into could he but obtain his aime especially considering how he would perswade us to believe that the King designs to send down his Congè d' Eslire to every County
insinuates as if the Papists also promoted the late Persecution against Dissenters and yet we remember well who Preach'd up Persecution before the Lord Major of this City and who also was made a Dean But was it because he designed Popery Moreover it 's well known that a certain Bishop in the World if one under a suspension still bears that Name who procur'd at least 200 l. to encourage a Church of England Doctor to persecute the Non-conformists and was this for the sake of Popery In a word we give the Challenge to any Man to prove that the Papist did at any time give one Farthing to a Dissenting Minister or that the Dissenters did Receive from the Government the fortieth part that Church of England Ministers have received If any Church of England Men have been sensible of the Miseries they have by their severe Laws expos'd the Dissenters unto and in compassion have given some Relief the Dissenters no doubt will thankfully acknowledge it but then they must add that unless the Church of England Men must be esteemed Papists because of the Alliance there is between their Principles this is not a receiving Mony from Papists But let the Truth be brought to Light and let the Church of England Charity to Dissenting Ministers be discovered and 't will appear that it 's not to be compared with what the Church of England hath taken from ' em Moreover it 's well known that when some Gentlemen on their Dying Reds to express their Affection to Dissenting Ministers have given 'em Legacies they have been depriv'd of ' em And where is the Dissenting Minister who Preaches up Anger and Vengeance against the Church of England Name the Man that we may know who he is and what repute he has amongst the party and 't would be also an Act of Justice in him to direct us to the People who receiv'd their Addresses from a Priest and to the Priest that made ' em If the Gentleman cannot clear up these Points as I presume he cannot how specious soever his pretences may be his untruth won't much advantage the Church of England nor will that Church have much cause to Glory in such an Advocate who doth not only charge her for Persecuting the Dissenter but makes no other Plea but what leans on the â—eeblest Foundation even on Injustice and False Accusations And if this be her best Refuge her Quarrel with the King it 's hop'd cannot hold long for these generally are the last And what is it that provokes the good Man to persuade us that the Dissenters Thanks are Extorted Doth he think that the being deliver'd from a violent Persecution is so inconsiderable a kindness that the Dissenters can't be sensible of it Are grievous Imprisonments the spoiling 'em of their Estates the ruining of their Families such small matters that the Deliverance cannot Merit the Name of a favor Or are the Dissenters so used to such Calamities and made so Brawny that they are not capable of perceiving so much Is it impossible for them to distinguish Ease from Misery If so whose fault is that Is it not the Persecutors that have so ill intreated them It 's true the Church of England did by her Rigour so over-aw them that they durst not Petition the King for ease and after his Majesty most Graciously gave it them the Dread and Confusion they remained under was so very great that the Dissenters could not easily recover themselves and make that hast they should to render the King their humblest thanks But this is not for the Honor of the Church first to frighten the Dissenter and make him move slowly and then reproach him for not making more haste And this is not all for the Dissenters do no sooner Address but they become Voluntary Aggressors and look like Counsel retain'd by the Prerogative against Magna Charta This is a run from one Extream to another they are first charged for not rendring thanks willingly and yet then are made Voluntary Aggressors for rendring such unwilling thanks who look like Counsel retain'd against Magna Charta Are not the Dissenters then in a most deplorable condition If they do not Address they are a People that can never be oblig'd by benefits nor fit to be Tolerated as one Church Doctor assures them if they do Address they are for Prerogative against Magna Charta And why against Magna Charta Is it against the Great Charter of England that a good Subject enjoy his Civil Rights and Properties The Dissenters at least the greatest part of 'em take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and thereby shew themselves to be good Subjects and why then must they be depriv'd of their Civil Rights for the sake of a Religion that hurts not the Government Some say that by the Fundamental Constitution of our Government all Laws against the Law of God are ipso facto void and null and may not the King prevent the Execution of such vacated Laws Others tell us that to be of this or that or the other Religion is not a Crime at Common Law it is but Malum Prohibitum and yet Religious Meetings have been made Routs and Riots even the supposed Intention to serve God hath been thus interpreted which are mala in se And why may not the King prevent these abuses of the Law The Dissenter is also told that 't is against Magna Charta to disseise the Subject of his Free-hold or Liberty but by Lawful Judgment of his Peers and yet by the Conventicle Act and the Oxford Act the Dissenters have been disseised of both without any such Judgment of their Peers and may not the King hinder this There have been also great Lawyers who aver that the 23d of Elizabeth affects not a Protestant Dissenter and yet many have been ruin'd by this Act and may not the King put a stop to this Injustice and Violence on the Subject It 's also told them that 't is against Magna Charta to Amerce a Free-man any other ways than after the manner of the fault saying to him his Contenement and Free-hold and yet Convictions have been unknown to the accus'd party Recorded and Warrants have been granted out for 8 10 12 or 14 Conventicles at once to the Disseising the Free-man of all he has It 's true a great Lawyer declar'd that no Conviction could be Legally Recorded untill the party accused was summoned to shew cause but another yet living was of another Opinion and gave life to Clandestine Convictions as a Justice of Peace and a great Lawyer did grant out Warrants on Prophetic Oaths that a Meeting would be the next Day or Week following But the King has deliver'd them from all these Miseries and yet may they not give thanks unless they set themselves against Magna Charta Furthermore it must not be forgotten how much the Church of England have exalted the Prerogative when they were in hopes of having it employ'd against the Dissenter and