A letter from a country curate to Mr. Henry Care, in defence of the seven bishops Licensed July 18. 1688. Country Curate. 1688 Approx. 8 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A47977 Wing L1371 ESTC R15265 99825042 99825042 29410 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A47977) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 29410) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2173:07) A letter from a country curate to Mr. Henry Care, in defence of the seven bishops Licensed July 18. 1688. Country Curate. Care, Henry, 1646-1688, recipient. 4 p. printed, and are to be sold by Randal Taylor, [London : MDCLXXXVIII. [1688]] Caption title. Imprint from colophon. Copy stained with print show-through. Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Church of England -- Bishops -- Early works to 1800. Church and state -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century. Liberty of conscience -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- History -- James II, 1685-1688 -- Early works to 1800. 2006-08 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-09 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-10 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-10 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER FROM A COUNTRY CURATE TO Mr. Henry Care , In Defence of the SEVEN BISHOPS . Licensed July 18. 1688. SIR , THO' I know not your Person , I am to my Cost acquainted with your Pen ; and , to be plain with you , begin to discover you are a sort of I cannot tell what , nor knows a Man where to have you : So in fine , do you see , it will be hardly worth while to pay a Peny and Postage any longer for your Weekly Paper , especially for a Man in my Circumstances , who am but a Country Curate at Twenty Nobles a year Sallary . 'T is true , I serve in a large Parish , but to my sorrow situated in such a wholsom Air , that the People are in a manner Immortal ; so that a Tale of a Funeral amongst them begins with , Once upon a time there was such a Man , who died , &c. Then for their Children , they seldom or never make them Christians , not so much for Conscience-sake , as to hinder me of my Dues . And for Weddings , the Commissaries have all the Custom ; wherefore my Perquisites consisting totally in telling News at several Tables for my Dinner , I am horribly defeated of late by your Proceedings : for , to be plain with you , I had thoughts your Verity and good Style had kept company : and tho' you were a little sharp upon Topping Tories , and laid about you mightily for Liberty of Conscience , I that have so little to lose or get by that Matter , did not much regard the Consequence . Besides , being a Bachelor , and can speak Latin , I know the worst on 't at last ; but to be abus'd with false News undo's me , and , as the Proverb has it , Puts Water in my Pottage . For , to be plain with you , deluded , as it seems , by yours and other Prints , I did verily believe that the Seven Bishops had given his Majesty a certain Petition or Paper about Reading the Declaration , which had made him angry , and that they were sent to the Tower for Publishing it , and refusing to give Recognizance to Appear at the Term for so doing . This Matter I told positively for Truth , and shew'd a Copy of it in Print , and was heartily welcom to many a good Meal for my News . And I must tell you , there is no Man , tho' I say it , in these Parts keeps such a constant Correspondence for Public Prints as I do , my Name being so famous , that when I was quoted in Matters of that nature , it silenced all Pretenders to Intelligence with an Ipse dixit : But now , Monstrum horrendum ! what I say will go for nothing , since those Reverend , Pious , and Prudent Bishops , did on their Trials deny the whole Story , nor could it be proved upon them ; for which cause the Loyal Jury acquitted them , and the ever Well-meaning , Honest , Godly , and Understanding Rabble , Congratulated their Escape with Huzza's , Bonfires , Curses , Oaths , Healths , Drunkenness , Tumults and Roring , receiving in return from those Peace-making Prelates , Thanks , Smiles , Prayers and Blessings , to the great improvement of good Manners and Duty in the Nation , no doubt of it : Besides , it is likely more strongly to unite the Mobile into a practicable Interpretation of those mysterious Doctrins of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience . Thus wonderful are the ways of the Wise and Great in our Church , being much above the reach of us little Ecclesiastics : For , to my vulgar Head , this way of Triumphing in the Face of his Majesty , might probably induce him to suspect the Integrity of our Principles , and cause him to doubt what use may in time be made of the unintelligible Method we take to express our unquestionable Loyalty . But indeed , Mr. Care , all the Reflections on the Consequence of the Bishops Applause against the King's Authority , cannot make me forget or forgive the Abuse put on both me and the Public , by yours as well as other Prints : And I do positively aver , since such Apostolic Persons dare not own it , that so Malicious , Seditious , and Unmannerly a Writing , could never come into the thoughts of any good or honest Man , much less of a Christian , and least of all of Christian Bishops : No , no , Shaftsbury and his Gang of Petitioners never were Impudent enough to tell their King to his Face , he Acted Illegally , as this Paper pretends to do ; and yet , Fool as I am , I was made to believe it . But what a dull Ass was I , not to reflect , that amongst the whole number of Bishops , there could be none found had received such Personal Obligations from his Majesty , as those Seven , not a Ma● of them but owing much more to his Favor for their Advancement , than to all other Means in the World. Therefore it being impossible that Ingratitude and Disobedience could ever joyn but in an Infernal Nature , I might have been confident no vulgar Report could have provoked such Blessed Men , to wipe off the Imputation of Popery by Diabolical Crimes . Besides , had I known then that Eleven other Bishops had obey'd the King , and comply'd with their Duty , in commanding their Clergy to Read his Declaration , how could I have suspected those Seven should have been guilty of a Schism so Gross , so Undutiful , and so Unmannerly as that would have been ? Yet this improbable Error have you made me guilty of , sweet Mr. Care , and for the future I shall regard you accordingly , I 'll assure you . Nay who can blame me , you having made me suspect Men of their Parts and Piety , some being , as is thought , so emulous of Martyrdom , that they wish'd the Bonfires for their Deliverance , had been the Faggots for their Suffering , tho' at the same time in seeming compliance with Natures Frailty , one , the most perfect , boasted out a Farewel Sermon on the Text , Lord let this Cup pass from me , &c. Therefore , I say , had such Exemplary Sufferers Delivered or Published that pretended Paper , they would have Gloried in it as a good and laudable Action , and never have put the Matter of Fact upon Proof , and got clear of the Business that way . But having done so , I defie all them that led me into the Error , and amongst the rest , thou Harry Care , with all thy Wit ; and from henceforth must declare , that the Libel was the Production of some Traiterous Head , and Enemy to the Nations Repose , and the Glory of that King , whose Word for our Security may be entirely depended on , being a Prince too Intrepid and Brave , to have recourse to Falshood for his Support . And this too will be my Everlasting Comfort , that not an honest Man , which impartially observes the whole Proceeding , but will be of my Opinion . And so , Mr. Care , if you , or any of your Dissenting Companions , invented the Paper , to Divide and Disgrace our Church , you may take my good Opinion of you for your pains ; for this is the last Letter you are ever like to have from , &c. LONDON , Printed , and are to be sold by Randal Taylor . MDCLXXXVIII .