Page:Lettersconcerni01conggoog.djvu/47

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22
Letters concerning

The Quakers were several times persecuted under Charles the second, not upon a religious account, but for refusing to pay the tythes, for Thee-ing and Thou-ing the magistrates, and for refusing to take the oaths enacted by the laws.

At last Robert Barclay, a native of Scotland, presented to the king in 1675, his apology for the Quakers, a work as well drawn up as the subject cou'd possibly admit. The dedication to Charles the second is not fill'd with mean, flattering encomiums; but abounds with bold touches in favour of truth, and with the wisest counsels. "Thou hast tasted," says he to the king at the close of his epistle dedicatory, "of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country; to be over-rul'd as well as to rule, and sit upon the throne; and being oppressed, thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy

" heart;