A SECOND DIALOGUE BETWEEN Simeon and Levi, CONCERNING The Difference Of PROFESSORS from the METROPOLITAN sort, to all others of the lesser Form.  
WITH Respect to their Carriage and Behaviour, In a Time Of PERSECUTION.  Malach. 3.16.17.18. 
Then they that feared the Lord, speak often one to another: and the Lord hearkned and heard it, and a Book of Remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name; And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him. Then shall ye Return and discern between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.  
Tempora mutantur, nos & mutamur in illis.  
Airy Dissenters in a time of Peace,  
Prove strictest Church men when those times do cease,  
Change times again, such Church-men then will Swear,  
They are the best Dissenters ever were.  

With Allowance.   
LONDON, Printed by G. C. in Thames-street, 1688.   

A SECOND DIALOGUE BETWEEN Simeon and Levi, CONCERNING The Difference Of PROFESSORS from the METROPOLITAN sort, to all others of the lesser Form, Viz.  Sim. 
GOodmorrow Brother Levi, you are here before me.  Levi. 
I was taking a melancholy Walk, musing upon our last Discourse, and it a little affects Me.  Sim, 
What's the Matter?  Levi, 
We have not carried ourselves( in the late Troubles,) as became the Gospel we so long professed and Preached, and the Mischief is the World knows it.  Sim. 
Ah! Brother! had either of us submitted to mortifying Grace, and appeared in the first opening our Synagogues, as truly Penitent, for the public Scandal we have given to Religion, for the grief we have exposed the Godly to, for the Laughter we have filled the wicked with, by our ignominious Tergiversation; we might be under far better Circumstances than now we are, but since we have Strutted and Vapoured before the face of Multitudes, as though we had done nothing amiss; amiss do I say, nay as though we had been the only Saints of the Times, we can expect no better Treatment than the Just censures of the Sober and Conscientious Part of Mankind, of what persuasion soever. But pray how was it with our Brethren of the Congregational way, with the rest of the Dissenters.  Levi, 
I profess they have gained a great deal of Ground of us.  Sim. 
How so?  Levi. 
Bearing up so bravely under the greatest Pressures of sufferings, and the not forsaking the assembling themselves together( as the manner of some was) notwithstanding the horrid discouragements they met with, whereby they mightily convinced the Atheistical World of the Power and Glory of Religion, shamed our( Proteus like) turning and winding, shuffling and shifting, and gained to themselves a never fading Crown of Honour.  Sim, 
Was there none such among us?  Levi, 
Yes, there was a firm Oak that sprung from a better soil than ever you or I grew in, who never cracked or bended in the hottest of the Times, we had another, who by his Courage and unfoil'd Magnanimity, seemed to be prepared for a day of Slater, as also a brisk Frank Soul, who bare a worthy unshaken Testimony before the fiercest Wolves who sufficiently witnessed by his repeated Imprisonments and manifold sufferings, he was not ashamed to own, nor afraid to assert the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Neither must we forget( for we may admire though we could not imitate) Him that is the Honour of our Way, the Glory of Learning, and indeed( in despite of any Hyperbole) the nearest Instance in this Age of created Perfections.  Sim. 
How?  Levi, 
But where shall we pick up any more,  
For 'mong the rest scarce could be found a man  
But look't as pail and volatile as Bran,  Sim. 
Did none of the other sort Flinch.  Levi, 
Hardly any, it may be one was MEAD to go away, another forced to hid in LOB'S Corner, yet not from any declining their Work, or with design basely to cringe to the Humour of the times, but through the malevolent influence of some Stars then on the ascendant, they were compelled to draw aside a little behind the Curtain, yet in their greatest recluse they took care of their poor Flocks, sent to them, writ to them( which we never did) and rejoiced to hear they were provided for by other Preachers( which we were always mad at) It grieved our hearts that any Interlopers( for so we counted them) should come near our Folds, for though we had forgot feeding we, had still a Months mind to Fleecing, and therefore we were willing our sheep should keep their wool though they wanted Pasture. But to return, as soon as these but now mentioned, were restored to Freedom and safety by the Darting in the Beams of Royal favour, Oh! with what Honour, Credit, and Renown, did they come again to their beloved People, and now they may expect a Blessing upon their constant and sincere Labours, and therefore the Case if those Worthy Persons and ours, is in all manner of ways hugely differing Moreover if we look into the rest of the Congregations of that way, or look into those of other ways, as the People called Anabaptists, Nay if we Consider the( by us esteemed) poor and sorry People called Quakers, we cannot( unless our Foreheads be hard indeed) but blushy to think how they have out-done us. How Zealous were they of a precious thing called Faithfulness( which you and I never made an Idol of) how cheerfully did they embrace sufferings, how joyfully did they take the spoiling of their Goods, how constantly and publicly did they meet, notwithstanding the Fury of their Oppressors.  Sim. 
What is the Application of all this?  Levi, 
Truly very black upon us, as First, Had it not been for other Dissenters, the whole of the Dissenting Cause had been lost and swallowed up in the late Persecution, and all the World would have looked upon the Dissenters in England, as a company of Horrid Impostors, in making such a noise about a thing they had no courage to stand by. Secondly, we have for ever lost the magnified Titles of the Dissenters rabbis, or the great Doctors of the Reformmed Religion; Whoever heretofore thought us so, will have other kind of thoughts now they have discerned our Nakedness, seen our Rottenness, and beholded the piteous effects of our lamentable Feebleness. Thirdly, We have brought ourselves into an inextricable Labyrinth, beyond the Art and Sophistry of the cunningest Men to help us out, for either we must own ourselves gross Hypocrites( in the late times) in complying with that which we thought evil or Notorious schismatics( at this time) in departing from what we think good. If going to Church, and comforming to the Ceremonies be an evil thing, Why did I, and a great many other Dons, sanctuary ourselves under the shade of this Evil, from suffering in the Flesh, when we were called of God to bear a Testimony( by suffering) against the evil of it? On the other hand, if going to Church, and comforming to the Ceremonies, be a good thing, a warrantable thing; Why do I( for I must put myself first) and they make such a rent and Division in a Protestant Church, by refusing to do it? Now meeting in separate Congregations, and drawing shoals of People from a More Excellent way. Ah! Brother, what can we say to these things. Lastly, if there had been no better Dissenters than we, the opening the Box of His MAJESTIES unparalelled Goodness in His Most gracious Declaration, could not have cast such a Fragrant and odiferous savour in every Corner of the Land as it has done. News of Liberty is but dull music, to such as never were in Bonds, Freedom to worship God in their own way, is a small thing with those, whose Wash-Leather Consciences( such as ours) can stretch wide enough to worship him in any way. And in truth this is the Reason the Gentlemen of our Tribe are so could about abolishing the Penal Laws and Tests. They Compassionately argue thus, Why should we be so cruel as to cut down and Mortify these poor innocent Laws that never did( nor ever shall) do us any Harm? But more of this at our next Meeting.  Sim, 
Very good, farewell for this Time.  
FINIS.