THo the Sons of Our Church seem of late somewhat out of Humour as to the Business of Addressing, yet the Obligations You have laid upon Us, cannot but vanquish the most Obstinate. 'Tis true, scarce any of Us could find in our Hearts to Thank the King at all, for the Greatest and most Gracious Favour that ever Prince did or could Vouchsafe to Subjects; And those Few that pretend to do it, have proceeded so Awkwardly in their Acknowledgments, as renders them of very little Value: For to Thank His Majesty not Absolutely for the Main Scope of His Healing Declaration, but only for one Single Expression there­in, relating to our own immediate Interest and Temporal Advantages; and at the same time to press the continuance of those Penal Laws, which diametrically op­pose both the Royal Indulgence, and that Generous, Universal, and most Christian Principle upon which it is grounded, is apt to be construed not only a gross Defect of Charity (as if we regarded no bodies Ease and Happiness but our Own, and minded our Possessions above all other Considerations) but also discovers a deep-rooted Aversion to the Toleration it self, a tacite Reflection on His Majesties Proceedings, and a violent Inclination to be Pashing and Goring, Rending and Tearing, as fiercely as formerly, if ever we can get the opportunity: And what is all this (will our Enemies say) but to Upbraid and Affront the King, whilst we seem to Complement Him?

But whatever Cause His Majesty may have to Resent this Shuffling Conduct, You, Madam, shall not fail of our Sincere Respects, for so Brave an Effort on the Behalf of our Distressed Mother. It must be confessed she was under very deplorable Circum­stances: For tho her Doctrines stood firm as a Rock (for thereon They are grounded) and She enjoyed not only Publique Liberty and Protection, but all the Ecclesiastical Re­venues to boot, yet, alas! She was disarm'd of her Thunderbolts; Her dear Excommu­nicato Capiendo's, her sweet Twenty Pound per Month Penalties, her pretious Thirty-Fifth of Elizabeth, and the like Weapons of her Spiritual Warfare, were all wrested out of her Hands, or render'd Useless: Toleration Discuss'd to her vast disadvantage; The Mis­chief of Seperation prov'd to proceed from the Mischief of Impositions: And not a Man of Sense that would appear on her behalf for the Restitution of this Blessed Artillery. For those Mighty Champions and well-paid Pensioners, who swagger'd so high for her in days of Yore, had no more Ink at her Service, when once the Golden Current was dry'd up; but remain Retir'd and Silent, as Owls at Noon; and like Treacherous Advo­cates, having Exhausted their Clients Purse in a tedious Ʋnnecessary Brangle, desert her, when reduc'd (by their own Ill-management) to Sue in Forma Pauperis.

In this Extremity, you, Madam! are the Pucelle de Dieu, that Joan of Arque, who stept in to Retrieve our Forlorn Affairs, and body up our Sinking Reputation; You [Page]are the brave Semiramis that must Rebuild the Walls of our Babel; You have satisfied all the World by undeniable Demonstrations, That our Church has its Enthusiasts too, as well as the Rankest Phanaticks: And tho you could not (as you Gravely tell us) obtain to be the City's, you shall have our Vote to be the Churches God-Mother; and to Fast too (if you please, since you have got so rare a Knack at it) for all our Re­verend Clergy; because that Meager Exercise may not, perhaps, agree very kindly with many of their Constitutions.

We cannot but with equal Joy and Gratitude, observe how wonderously you have Edified the Tripe-Women, and Convinc'd the Porters, That our Church is the only Church for Loyalty; and that you your self (how light soever) can Weigh down all the rest, in that excellent Qualification. The truth is, whilst the Government takes our Measures, and advances our Interest, we can be very Loyal; huge good Subjects, and Ad­mirers of Prerogative, as long as we are pleas'd; But if our Purposes be cross'd, and Affairs happen to go against the grain of our Humour, we can be as Peevish as our Neighbours, drop the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, and leave Non Resistance to shift for it self; prove as apt as any to murmur and look bowdy; as full of Fears and Jealou­sies (the Swadling-Clouts of Sedition) as the Tribe of Forty One it self; As loud in Cla­mours at the Ministers of State, as busie in Squinting Reflections to mis-represent our Superiors Actions and Intentions, as ready to lick up the Abominated Distinction be­tween the Natural and Politick Capacity, and to set the Law and the Preroga­tive at Daggers-drawing against each other.

But all this notwithstanding, we have your Word for't, That our Church of England (that is, as you Wittily define it, p. 7. Those that are for Common-Prayer and Bishops) desires Nothing Else but to serve God Truly, and the King Rightly; and we Rejoyce we have such an Authentick Evidence in the case; for else the People would suspect, it was rather, To hold our Benefices, Domineer over our Neighbours, and Ruin all that will not Truckle to our Inventions. You have asserted (which amongst Friends passes as well as if you had prov'd it) That all the World (you might decently have Excepted some few, that may happen to be of your Soveraign's contrary Opinion) knows, That they that are for Liberty of Conscience, Never had any Loialty. A bold Stroke! which besides a very course Complement on his Majesty, Brands the Bulk of the Nation for Rebels and Traitors.

For all these your Great and Heroick Atchievements, you may justly expect our Grateful Acknowledgments, and especially for your most Orthodox Hopes, That the King will not satisfy His Own (and the far greater part of His Subjects) Desires, by removing the Test and the Penal Laws, but let them stand as Rods do upon Mantil-trees, to keep Rebellious Children in Subjection. A brave Expedient to continue our Expectati­ons, and feed our Hopes of getting Power once again, to worry our Honest Peaceable Fellow-Subjects! Of whom, even of Protestant Dissenters, by a Modest Calculation, we have (thanks to those Excellent Statutes of our own Procurement) occasioned the untimely Death of above Three-thousand Persons, by their Imprisonment in Noisome Jails, and Ruin'd more than Threescore-thousand Families, within 25 years by past; And all this on the Score of Conscience and Non-Conformity to Ceremonies, which we our selves own'd to be Indifferent.

Yet still we are not without good hopes that your Notable Paper, in Conjunction with our strenuous Endeavours (which are much of the same size, both for Logick and Politicks) may cajole the Easie Nonconformists to abandon their Interest and Only Pre­servative, at this Critical Juncture; And suffer their Actions to give the Lye to all their Addresses, by HERDING with our Party, to Continue those very Plagues, which they have so severely Smarted under, and loudly Complained of. In Requital whereof, we are resolved on the first Opportunity to Scourge them more Canonically then ever, That they may learn by Experience the Truth of that Proverb, The Rod is Reserved for the Back of Fools.

In the mean time, for these, and the rest of your alike Wise and Pious Suggestions, we cannot but return you our most Humble and Hearty Thanks, as becomes the Modern True Sons of the Church of England;