to see what publick benefit the King design'd to the body of His Subjects by the Repeal and in fine began to pursue all the methods of male-contents finding this the only way to embarras the King hinder all His glorious designs for the publick and render useless his eminent virtues in not affording Him the opportunity of appearing like Himself or rendring His Reign glorious because they were unwilling any thing Great should be performed by a King that was not of their Religion All this His Majesty carefully observed and being unwilling to act any thing but according to Justice and the Laws of the Land He wisely 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 use of and a Dispensing Power and so settled those by judicial Proceedings The King having now asserted His Sovereignty he thought it reasonable to manifest to all His Subjects that it was not the ease only of the Roman Catholicks he aim'd at but that He intended His Clemency should be as extensive as His Empire First therefore He published His General Pardon excepting some few persons and in the interim shew'd His displeasure against those who obstructed His great design of Repeal and lastly published this Indulgence wherein He layed open the paternal goodness and benignity of His Soul the method of enriching His people and a foundation of their concord during His Reign and for succeeding Ages by extirpating the causes of Animosities Heart-burnings Feuds and Oppressions of His people by any prevailing Party abridging them of nothing used in their Religious Worship but only of the power of compelling any one to Conformity and depriving every party of that Authority of magisterial imposing such distinguishing and Excluding Tests as incapacitated His Subjects to serve Him and the Government according to their Allegiance and every Free-Mans Liberty One would rationally have thought that no party should have been wanting in their Thanks for so great a Grace and Favour so much the greater in that it was bestowed by a Prince from whom no such largess of Royal Bounty was expected not the Church of England since in the body of the same Indulgence so liberal a Provision was made for it not the Dissenters who had the most visible benefits nor any else who did not prefer the profits they had by the Penal mulcts imposed or the pleasure of inflicting punishments upon those who were obnoxious to Ecclesiastical Censures or the Laws for Vniformity There was then a Party of the Church of England who owning the Kings Ecclesiastical Supremacy and His Prerogative looked upon this as an Act of State which the King might Exert at pleasure for the publick tranquillity of His Dominions and thought it their duty to be truly thankful that the King had so generously secured to them the Honors and Emoluments of the Church and entirely left them the Cathedrals the Churches and the profits annexed to them Another and a major part of the same Church was vehementy moved by the Declaration murmur'd that their former serives were slighted that Dissenters who had unanimously opposed the Kings Succession and been Rebels as often as they had opportunity were preferr'd before them and suggested that this was design'd to enlarge the Roman Catholick Church and as a scourge to them and though they never publickly urged it yet it is most manifest that the depriving them of the coercive power though all other parties were as much disarmed of that as They gratefully contributed to their reluctance The Conductors of their Affairs pitched upon two Expedients as most effectual to hinder the Kings reaping any benefits to the Roman Catholicks by it The one was to secure the Members of the Church of England from a complyance by stiffly opposing the Repeal and questioning the Dispensing Power The second by dissuading Dissenters from separating from the common interest as it is called of Protestants or making any court to the King in rendring any Tribute of Thanks for His Royal Grace to them To Estabâ—ish this consultations are had leading Men among the Dissenters are treated with great promises are made that Persecution against them shall cease if ever the Church of England return again to its former sun-shine Pamphlets from Holland and at home aggravate the fear of Popery and of the destruction of the Church of England and not only declaim against the abrogating of all Penal Laws but the Dispensing Power likewise as tending to the shaking all other Laws even those of Property and this seems the design of your Letter writ smoother than Dr. Burneâ—s or the Representation but with as little difference as to design as there is betwixt a Dagger in a wooden or silver Scabbard Sir I must own that the politeness of the Style the sharpness and plausibleness of the Arguments will contribute more towards the establishing such Mens minds who have the greatest affection for the Church of England and equal aversion to the Church of Rome than any thing Published hitherto But in my judgement you have mixed so much Varnish as a steady eye may easily discover what need you had of it When we see a falling Star we make no great remarks upon it because it happens so frequently and how bright so ever it appear'd we find nothing upon its fall but a little jelly dropt from the Clouds But when a Comet appears it excites the curiosity of the learned to enquire into its motion the altitude of it and by consulting by-past-times and considering what events happened when such appear'd before to make some Prognosticks of its effects Your Letter is not to be looked upon as a shooting Star or paper Kite but a blazing Star therefore deserves a serious consideration for whatever those formerly reputed meteors did signifie yours most evidently denotes an unquiet temper in those of your persuasion a studious desire in them to estrange the Hearts of Loyal Subjects from their Sovereign a questioning His prerogative and a charging Him with overturning the Laws and an intention to Rule Arbitrarily This fills peoples minds with doubts suspicions and jealousies strows flax all over the Kingdom ready to be set on fire when you by your enflaming Eloquence have prepared Undertakers Therefore I think it the duty of all that Honour the King and love their Country's peace and tranquillity to examine the tendency and prevent the evil effects of such an Apparition But to leave the Allegory and consider the Letter As it is a discourse penn'd with Art and Elegance and beautified with ornament of Language it is delightsom to be read but when the scope of it is weighed the factiousness of it under the smoothness of the periods the unreasonable postulatums the fictitious suppositions and the severe reflections upon the King and His Government it becomes honest Men to enquire into those poisonous drugs that are so artificially gilded and provide
AN ANSWER FROM THE COUNTRY TO A LATE LETTER TO A DISSENTER Upon Occasion of His MAJESTIES Late GRACIOUS Declaration of Indulgence By a Member of the Church of England LONDON Printed for M. R. in the Year 1687 AN ANSWER FROM THE COUNTRY TO A Late Letter Writ to a Dissenter c. SIR IT is the unhappy state of mankind that the over-weening Opinions and Sentiments which by Education or Custom we have entertain'd incline and warp our minds so to the maintaining of them that we are as difficultly alter'd as the Tree is which bended when a young sappling is rarely by any Art made straight Besides this the tempers of most Mens Souls are such that they easily divide into Parties and being listed as in a state of War they study nothing more than to convince or subdue all those who differ from them Yea we too frequently find that they make those the Object of their aversion or abhorrence who study to compose their eager tempers or direct them to any degree of humanity Hence it is that when National limits are not sufficient causes of quarrels the ranks and degrees of Men the City and Country Fraternities Neighborhood yea Domestical Interests crumble us and cast us into various figures These Jars and Hostilities are fomented by Interest Ambition and all the cross-grain'd passions of our Souls and when Religion mixes with our humane concerns it sublimes all their corrosive spirits and is the universal dissolvent Every one is apt to think the fire of his own Altar the purest and is not content to have liberty to trim his own Houshold hearth and warm himself at his own Faggot but endeavours according to his power to make all gain-sayers Victims and Sacrifices to his Deity and when no Secular Interest moves them the pretended eager Charity to save their Souls and the preventing as they call it the spreading of that Infection makes them mortify them in their Estates or send them to the Pest-house or cut them off as gangren'd Members Hence it is that the Roman Catholick Church the Church of England and Dissenters according as they have had the favour of the Government or could exercise any Authority have each of them punished or supprest the other and have been more or less severe according as the Government judging it to conduce to secure the publick peace was inclin'd to embrace that Religion or the desires of Church-men were more or less pressing to bring all to Uniformity in Faith and Discipline Former Ages have experimented this way of proceeding and it hath been accompanied with the lowd cries of the suffering Parties the decay of Trade the unpeopling of Countries and Intestine Seditions and Rebellions Our unhappy Island hath not wanted Instances of the ill effects of arming by Penal Laws Church Communities one against the other so that the Governing Parties under Religious Denomination have produced almost as much mischief as in Ancient times the Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster occasioned and however oppressive the State-Church of England is reputed yet I think it will not be disown'd that when those called Dissenters got the Power in their hands they made greater Ravage and Depredations in Twenty years upon the Roman Catholicks and the Members of the Church of England than had been inflicted on themselves in an Age witness the sequestring decimating and seizing their Estates Fining Imprisoning Banishing and putting to Death of so many and selling the Lands of the Bishops Deans and Chapters Our Gracious King revolving therefore in His Princely Mind the Fatalities that have attended this Conduct and the unfortunate and mischievous Results of such proceedings the effects whereof he had felt Himself hath in His profound Wisdom resolved to try the most probable expedient to still and quiet these so long continued Animosities Contrarieties and Ferments of His Subjects Some publick notices of this He gave in the very beginning of His Reign by Prohibiting in His Courts and discountenancing proceedings upon the Penal Laws But that I may discover the true steps the King made towards it and the foot upon which the late Indulgence stands and prevent some Repetitions I should otherwise be necessiated to use in my Reply to your Letter I shall succinctly touch the Kings Progress and the deportment of some Members of the Church of England and Dissenters before and since the Indulgence At the First Council the King held after his coming to the Crown he expressed the sense he had of the Church of Englands Loyalty and gave us Assurances of His Defence and Support of it This pleased the Dissenters only so far as it gave them hopes that the Protestant Religion might be preserved but they were afraid lest the King might remember their former promoting the Bill of Exclusion and that thereby they should not only continue under the lashes of the Church of Englands Discipline but of the Kings disfavour and having yet the Idea's which had been infused into them of a Popish Successor and the D. of Monmouth giving them an opportunity to make head under the specious pretence of preserving the Protestant 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 wishes for his success were not wanting in most of that Party But that Rebellion being so speedily and almost miraculously suppressed they fled to the Church of England for Protection flocked to the Churches personated a Conformity and so closely mixed that they now seemed one Body and one Church Some leading Men of the Church of England finding this great accession of strength and being desirous entirely to win the Dissenters over thought it expedient to let them see how much they had been mistaken in thinking them in the matter of Exclusion to be going over to Rome and being willing to wipe off the Calumny the Dissenters had cast upon them as being Papists in Masquerade they began instantly to shew their utmost Zeal against the Kings Religion When therefore the King pursuant to His Royal design before-mentioned required the taking off the Test and Penal Laws many leading Men of the Church of England set themselves to oppose the King in it and from that day the more they found the King press it the more they shewed their reluctance Suddenly several Ministers able or unable to manage the dispute with the Church of Rome began to confirm their Auditors in the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion and to insinuate the danger we were in to lose it as soon as the Test and Penal Laws should be repeal'd they murmur'd and repin'd at every favour shewn to Roman Catholicks and none were so much applauded as those who lost their places upon their denial to concur with the King in his demands They animated and encouraged one another to stand the shock not thinking perhaps they had to deal with a more resolved Prince than some of His Predecessors nor apprehending or not willing
Sir we dare not encourage You to be kind to us and we must stay our Addresses of thanks lest we give a Scandal to our Brethren or they hereafter punish us for this forwardness I fancy you have the vanity to hope that your Letter will prevail with some to desist from Addresses upon those motives otherwise what need was there for you to be so urgent with them to suppress their impatience and for the sake of those that are now Abhorrers to stick close to the Act of Vniformity till the King die whom God long preserve to finish this great work in hopes a Protestant Parliament under a Protestant King will grant them better Terms For I hope by the word Parliament you mean not the Two Houses like those of 41 who Entitled them to the Supream Power It seems if Dissenters hearken not to you though at present you are willing to make a gentle Construction of the well meant Zeal of some in drawing others into the Mistake yet you threaten them with Sharpness and Satyr because in strictness the matter will bear it if we believe you r It seems a Dissenter may feed fully but must say no Grace or cry Roast-meat would you have them pet like froward Children because the Benevolence was not offer'd first to them or in the Circumstances they desire it It seems they may privately thank God for putting it into the Kings Heart to grant them ease yea they may enjoy the Advantag e of it but without noise lest some Dog catch the Morsel the Cat purs upon Oh! a publick owning and desire to have Indulgence Establlsh'd by Law is to support an Act irregularly done against the sacred Laws of the Land This is such a Trespass as may no ways be defended but to observe any rules of good manners or dutifulness to the King is a grievous fault Methinks you ought to have brought very undeniable Authorities e're you had presumed to question the judgement of the King His Privy Council and the Court of the Kings-Bench as to the Dispensing Power But since you offer not one Syllable of Argument I shall remit you to Westminster-Hall to defend the point and receive your doom You endeavour gentâ—y to stroke the Dissenters that are under Temptation and Frailties which makes them you say leap over the Objections may be made and overlook the sad consequence of giving thanks not only as an inlet to Popery but the giving a deadly blow to all the Laws by which their Liberty and Religion are to be protected This is an heavy Sentence whereby they are judg'd to sell their Birth-right for a morsel of Bread or a mess of Pottage Let us therefore turn the Optick Glass and you may more surely discover that the King designs no breach of Magna Charta nor to retain any Council for the Prerogative against it but on the contrary to have it confirmed in a much larger extent than ever it was by His Royal Predecessors for it is most certain that all Penal Laws for Religion are so many infringments of it and if you would have Magna Charta inviolably kept you know what Church is thereby Establish'd Here therefore you quarrel with the King for endeavouring to have a Charter of Liberties Establish'd that will be a standard for all future freedom and enfranchisement of Conscience and to infer that the Subjects yielding to this will put them out of the protection of all the Laws that secure their Liberties is no less an ignorant than seditious Suggestion s We are a most happy people in the security we have by Law to enjoy the Liberties the Royal Predecessors of our most Gracious King hath granted But if His Majecty effect His desire in this Repeal He will be the Author of a greater freedom to the Subjects then they ever yet enjoyed so that none in matters of Religion shall be put upon ever Complaining against or the giving up the Question since all pretences of puttng it will be thereby prevented By the operating power of such an Act such a mutual assurance and security would be given as it would be in no parties power to endevour or to desire to mischief or destroy another I fancy indeed some Apparators and Bailifs may suffer a diminution of profit and some men of vindicative spirits may want the assistance of sanguinary and Penal Laws to revenge themselves by But the benefit that will redound to the whole will sufficiently compensate that loss The Kings of England will be the gainers in that they will be no more disquieted with Rebellions upon the account of Religion The Parliaments will be eased of the tiresom disquieting and unpleasing toyl of making Laws upon every emergence to restrain some party or other from their way of Worship and imposing Tests and Oaths according as prevailing Parties have power and when the intestine struggles of every party to manacle and put the shackles and badges of slavery upon each other shall be taken away the Legislative will be at full liberty to attend soly the aggrandizing of our Kings and restoring them to the power and interest at home and abroad of the gloriousest of their Predecessors 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 another The Roman Catholicks would have no occasion to repine since they might freely enjoy their Religion and the Church of England would be possess'd of the Dignities and Benefices they enjoy and the Dissenters would be satisfied that they had the freedom of their Tabernacles and Conventicles and all the content of this would be heightned in the peaceable and durable enjoyment of it when it would be in no Parties power to invade the Liberties of another This is the right Scheme of His Majesties generous design and if Dissenters fall not to their old work of stubbing up Episcopacy root and branch it may most certainly continue For the obedience of Roman Catholicks under a Protestant Government we have the most near and compleat instance in the United Provinces where they live with the free exercise of their Religion under a Bishop of their own who is Treated according to his Character by the States to whom they impart their pleasure and by his directions the Roman Catholicks obey So that when the King of France Invaded that Country none stood firmer than They did These pay such an absolute Obedience that if the States should for a time interdict them the use of their Religion they would yield to it So that all you urge as consequences of the Repeal vanisheth upon the very opening the Kings intentions which I dare venture my head that I have more truly declared than You by all your smooth Oratory have made out by suspicions t Expounding of the sense and meaning of Oaths is generally granted peculiarly to belong to the