A LETTER To a FRIEND, In Answer to A Letter to a Dissenter, Upon occasion of His Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence. SIR, I Am not a little surprised to find you so Urgent upon me, to give you my Sense of a late Pamphlet, entitled, A Letter to a Dissenter, &c. You know there is no Man more Averse from the humour of scribbling than myself; and you know too, That some Returns have been made to that Paper already, and more are like to follow. I can't be of the honest Man's mind, that told me, Peoples talk of Five Senses, was but an idle Story; there was but One, and that was Feeling: But really Sir, If Men will not trust the Sense of Feeling, I know not which they will abide by, and if we forego the Evidence of All Sense, we may, for ought I see, give up one good Argument against Transubstantiation: And yet, I must freely tell you, I should have been tempted to think the Dissenters such stupid Creatures, as wanted even the Sense of Feeling, if they had not by all possible means expressed their Thankfulness to His Majesty, for His Gracious Declaration of Indulgence, which at once relieved them from burdens, as Innumerable, as Insupportable. If I had not found by the Close of yours, That you lay some weight upon the Insinuations of Indirect Means, used to procure the late Addresses; I should have thought it Answer enough to your general Demand, to have told you, I have no Opinion of the Discourse, you say is so much admired by others; for I am not able to resolve you whether it was designed for a Libel upon the Government, or upon Dissenters; the Reproach of both being carried on with so even a Thread thro' the whole. But this I must tell you, I know the World too well, to be Trick't out of my Senses by the charms of handsome Metaphors, and laboured Sentences. I will puzzle the best orator( without the assistance of penal Laws) to make a Man believe the Crow is White: And yet, I take not that Task to be so difficult, as to persuade the Dissenters, That all the former Haughtiness of the Church of England towards them, is for ever extinguished; when they are told in the next Paragraph, That this Potent Governess, can darken the Heavens when she pleases, Turn the Royal Thunder upon their Heads, and blow them off the Stage with a Breath; and all this with no more trouble than a Smile, or a kind Word bestowed on some-body. 'Tis pitty her untimely Kindness for Dissenters, will not allow her so much as a good look towards her sovereign, nor her boasted Loyalty incline her to one Glimpse of compliance, with the princes Design to make all his Subjects easy! But the Dissenters will readily tell her, for all her Threats; they can safely trust the Royal Word, and despise her Attempts, to obtain the Violation of it. I have observed some to red that Passage with a scornful Smile, and say, That Danger's past already, for there has been no ston left unturned, to bring about what they now Threaten: But all Attempts have proved Vain; and they can no more persuade His Majesty to Violate His Sacred Promise, than they can us, that themselves will become good natured, if they have Power left them to do Mischief. You see, when ones Hand is in, 'tis hard to forbear more Animadversions upon a Criminal Paper, then perhaps you expect from me; for I perceive by what is marked in that you sent, you designed me no other Task, than to reflect on those Passages which you think may touch the Reputation of myself, and some of my Friends: You say, many think that divers of the Addressers( especially the first of them) were employed and managed by Court-Agents, and as they were directed, drew in other well-meaning People, to do as they had done, and were well paid too for their Pains: And now this passes for Current News, since such a Gentleman hath intimated to the World, That the Mediators of this New Alliance, are such as have been formerly employed in Treaties of the same kind, and there detected to Act by Order, and to have been empowered to give Encouragements and Rewards, &c. And how if those very Men that have formerly sprinkled Money among the Dissenting Ministers, should now have the same Authority, practise the same Methods, and disburse where they cannot otherwise persuade; and the Ministers that are once fallen under this Temptation, are in some sort engaged to continue their Frailty, by the awe they are in, least it should be exposed, &c. And you say, this Suggestion takes the more, because the first Addressers were Anabaptists. Indeed Sir, if these Passages had not been marked with your Pen, I should have esteemed them more worthy of Contempt then any Reply. Innocence you know is always Bold, and renders Men regardless of the sly Insinuations of Malevolent Tongues: But seeing you are pleased to point me to them, because( as you say) I was one of the First, that had my Hand in Addressing, and can best tell what Truth there may be in them: I beseech you( if you can find him) give my Service to our New-Addresser, and tell him he will mightily Oblige me, by a particular account of the Mediators of this New-Allyance, and of the Persons among whom they have sprinkled the Money, allowed for this good Service: For I'll assure you( if what he says be true) I am cheated of my Part, to this Day. But to be serious: The whole of these Insinuations, makes up but one Putid Calumny. You know I was one that Presented the ●irst Address to His Majesty, and I know full well, all the Persons concerned in, and the whole manage of that Affair: And I Challenge the Author of this Libel, to make good his Charge against us, or any other, concerned in like Dutiful Return of Thanks to His Majesty: Let him expose us if he can: Let him produce but some shadow of likelihood( I will not say Proof) that we were either Solicited or bribed, to do what we did, and it shall excuse him; or else he cannot but Fall under the foul Disgrace of a Slanderer. And as I certainly know his Intimations of us to be False; so I have Reason to Believe his Suggestions of like practices in former Times, to be Malicious and Untrue. does he think the Dissenters have no sense of Royal Bounty, to quicken them to their Duty? Or that they can Receive a new Life from their Prince, and not Thank Him for it, without a Reward? If some Men can hardly be induced to Thank the King for their Possessions, unless they had their former Freedom to Address Him for the Utter Extirpation of fanatics, must other Mens Corn, be measured by their Bushel? No! I can assure him our Hearts were too full of Joy, upon the first Notice of the King's Mercy towards us, to admit our waiting for any Invitations unto Gratitude. But it seems our Friend is concerned, that we can more readily Comply with prescribed Forms of Addressing, than a Form of Prayer. Verily, as the sense of our former Misery, under the Late Persecutions, taught us to pray without a liturgy, 〈…〉 them: So the abounding Grace of His Majesties Indulgence, 〈…〉 Thanks for it, both to God and Him, Sine monitore quia ex anime. 〈…〉 him again, to give the Instance of one Address, framed for the 〈…〉 upon them by other Hands. Let him assign ●he Place where the Tired Post-Horses, arrived 〈…〉 Letters to solicit Addresses, and Name the Persons that were either 〈…〉 or Frighted into a Compliance with them; or else all his Florid Language can never excuse him, from the Guilt of the most ill-natured Calumny. If you think ●y Expressions too Tart, you must remember, That a Man's good Name is as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye; yet I could not have been moved to this Roughness, if these Intimations had not reflected as much upon the King and His Ministers, as upon ourselves. Perhaps the Gentleman's Design in part, may be to frighten all Dissenters from entering into any kind of Employment under His majesty, least they should be Brand●d as Mercenary Tools, by him, for enjoying His Majesties Favour: But as they stand in this respect, on equal ground with their Fellow-Subjects, and may be as capable of Business as their Neighbors; I hope none of them will be so silly as to think, That their being Joynt-Partakers with others, in their princes good Opinion, can make them Criminal. I dare say they envy not the Favours, that Royal Bounty hath heaped upon any: Long may they enjoy them; and never may Dissenters have any share with them, if they suffer themselves to be fooled out of their Interest, or withdrawn from their Duty, by any Artifice whatsoever. I have now done, and you must thank yourself for forcing me to give you this Trouble: You need not be shie of Importing this where you think it fit, for I have only sent you a Brief View of what shall be further enforced, if you shall require it from SIR, Your very Humble Servant London, Printed for J. Harris, at the Harrow against the Church in the poultry, 1687.