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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A54211 A second letter from a gentleman in the country to his friends in London upon the subject of the penal laws and tests. Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1687 (1687) Wing P1361; ESTC R38198 7,974 20

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A Second LETTER From a Gentleman in the COUNTRY To his Friends in LONDON Upon the Subject of the Penal Laws and Tests Licensed April the 11th 1687. LONDON Printed for J.H. and T.S. and to be had of most Booksellers in London and Westminster 1687. Gentlemen I Am not much lifted up or cast down at the news you send me for that my Letter should be liked by some and as ill taken by others is but the fate of all things offer'd to publick censure tho without vanity the reasons are unequal But before I enter upon that you 'l give me leave to observe the humor of the Party in the Proverbs you sent me that methinks looks so much like a Green Ribband that it hardly becomes the fall of the leaf they conceit they are under You say the usual answer to the Letter is this There is a Snake in the Grass All is well that ends well That a more moderate sort allow it both witt and truth but ill timed considering the Melancholy circumstances the Church of England is under To all this you have here my answer which I beseech you to communicate with that Cander that you know has alwayes been the companion of my Life And for the Proverbs I must say first that a wise Sentence may be sillily apply'd and next I am apt to think that these are so for pray what is the Snake and where doe's it lie A Snake without a Sting hurts no body let it lie where it will and a Snake with a Sting is dangerous every where Now to find out who is the Snake let 's consider what 's the Sting The Penal Laws certainly and you are not ignorant who 's Tayle they belong to But to be sure they Sting all that won't come to Church and that every where For a man can't walk in his own Land mow his own Grass enjoy his own Shop Barn Chamber Closet Chest or Cubbard no not his Pot Pan or Skillet but the Snake will get into it and when it has swept his Fields and House clean with its Tayle by the Teeth it draws him to its dark Holes and Dungeons for a further Prey The History of this Snake out-does all the Giants of the old World and it had been happy it had perish't with it Wherefore Liberty of Conscience is so far from being the Snake in the Grass that there is in it neither Snake Teeth Sting or Grass to hide them On the contrary it spies out the Snake cuts the Grass ketches it and pulls out the Sting that it may do no more mischief 'T is upon this Principle that one Party cannot hurt ' tother And for the other Proverb 't is certain All 's well that ends well but for that reason all will end ill that begins so without Repentance And such beginnings I call Penal Laws for Religion let who will make them or use them And I beseech God to touch the Hearts of the Church of England with a sence of this for his Justice we can't Corrupt All Parties as well as private Persons will meet with their own from him 't is a Decree as old as the World stamp't in our Natures and prov'd by the Records of all time and God knows but too plainly in ours But since these Gentlemen are upon their Proverbs with their leave I will oppose a couple to them and I hope a little better suited Let every Tub stand upon its own Bottom and A Bird in the Hand is worth two in the Bush These are the Texts I 'le now give you the Comment By the first I mean that the Government should stand upon its own Legs and the Church upon hers The Legs of the civil Government is the civil Interest of the Government which is that of all the People under it so that the Government is obleiged to secure all because all are for their own Interest bound to secure it For the Church in Question of which all the People are not Members nor yet the greatest part is a thing of another Nature and relates to another World and Christ has provided her another Bottom if she really makes his Law the rule of her Actions and Authority Let every one walk as he is perswaded was divine Doctrine in St Paul's time and our Glo●ying was to be in our selves and not in another and we were to stand and fall to our own Masters and not Judge much less Persecute others no not Tares for they were to grow with the Wheat tho never like to change their Nature till the Harvest which our Saviour Interprets the end of the World And the Apostle tells us Every One must appear before God and give an Account for the Deeds done in the Body so that you see the Proverb is true that every Tub ought to stand upon its own bottom For the other 't is as obvious reasonable in this case for why should it be taken ill that the Poor Fanaticks accept the Liberty the Church of England refus'd and has driven them to such extreamities for She would have them to stay till she can give what she would not when she had power to do it Nay she has it still yet will not for a reason that exposes them more then before But which way can she ensure it to them First Can they with Honour or Conscience refuse what they have sought or reject that by Declaration the Church of England will not allow by Law Secondly How are they assurd while the Church of England is by Law secured that by those very Laws they shall not be ruin'd in the mean time Is it not natural enough to expect at the hand of the King that they will not shall not have Liberty of Conscience and that at any rate they shall conform thorowly that will not at an other time conform at all When they do it now only to bob the Goverment But what is Faction if this be not If conform why just now If now why not before If not before why then now if things are the same why are not they and if they are that is if their opinion of the Discipline and Ceremonies of the Church be what it was they can't be honest men and conform They may set up for men of Art and Managers that have given by their own Consciences such a proof of their skill but I should lament extreamly any Dissenter in England should have so little wit or truth And to be free it would not look Candid in the Church of England that gives her fear of Poperies having the Power to destroy others for the reason of her keeping the Penal Laws on foot if she takes it ill that the Dissenters are for the same reason for their repeal for she can't but think that Popery actually has that Power over them by the Oppertunity of the Laws she will manintain to secure herself So that light and darkness are not more opposite then the safety of the Dissenters and the