on the behalf of the said People and an Appeal to the Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk c. One Francis Bugg hath taken Occasion to carp at some Passages therein which he hath pick'd out and patch'd together for after mentioning part of the Title he takes a Sentence out of the 9th Page then he goes back to the 5th then forward to the 7th and back again to the 1st And therefore I shall cite the Paragraphs as they lie in the Apology and put the words he hath pick'd out in Black that the Reader may be the better capable to make a Judgment of his Disingenuous Dealing by me beginning with the last first because it 's in the 1st Page and is as followeth Suffer me to Expostulate with you on behalf of these Abused People in your Counties that have of late been render'd Blasphemers and to Apologize a little for them whom some among you have lately often Assembled and Consulted together how they might by Subtilty and Misrepresentation Incense you and by you those in Authority against these Innocent People and your Peaceable Country-Men and Neighbours that the Monster of Persecution might be again raised and let loose on them to suppress them Reply Now what just Occasion hath this Man to be angry with me for terming this People for whom I Apologize an Innocent People and Peaceable Neighbours Have they not in their Lives and Conversations in and under the various Sorts of Government wherein they have lived so demeaned themselves I leave this to the Just Principle which God hath placed in every Man that hath known them to answer Why is this Man so angry Had he rather they should be Nocent than Innocent If they were indeed a People that Fired Houses and Poisoned Rivers as he mentions and were duely convicted thereof though they should pretend they followed the Light of Christ within which Light never leads any into such Practices then the Law which is made for Transgressors and Magistrates which should not bear the Sword in vain might justly punish them for their Evil Doings But surely it doth not therefore follow that those who truly Believe in Christ Jesus and follow the True Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World must Suffer for their Faith in him and abiding in his Doctrine For this under what pretence so ever it may be would be Persecution which surely I might as well term the Monster of Persecution as F. Bugg a Badge of a False Church for he declares in his Postscript thus I do profess my self a Member of the Church of England I have often and do now again tell you that I am against Persecution and will add that Persecution for Righteousness sake is a Badge of a false Church And yet in the latter part of King Charles the 2d's Reign there were 1460 of these People Prisoners only for their Abiding in the Doctrine of Christ and peaceably Meeting together to Worship him in Spirit and in Truth and great Spoil and Havock were also made upon the Goods and Estates of these Innocent People for the same And many were Prosecuted for not going to their Parish Churches so called when they were Prisoners upon other Accounts as well as for Meeting viz. on Writs De Excommunicato capiendo and as Popish Recusants for 20 l. per Month and â…” of their Estates And by Law many of these People might have been Burnt at the Stake if the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo had not been Repealed I do heartily wish that no People professing Christianity may ever wear this Badge more nor raise the Monster of Persecution in this Nation again But that Liberty of Conscience may for ever be continued to all that Live Peaceably under the Government It being most agreeable to the Nature of True Christianity and to the whole Tenor of the Doctrine and Practice of Christ and his Apostles Apology p. 9. And if these People must be accounted Blasphemers if they disown not those Books or their Friends that writ them without seeing the Books or what 's in them how can they be either Just to their Friends or True to Themselves For ought any Man to condemn another without full Hearing and due Examination Or would those Clergy-Men account it Just that any should Charge them as the highest of Criminals and Condemn and Sentence them but he hath put Censure ' as such for what some of their Brethren have Writ in Books which they never saw nor read nor knew If not why should the Quakers without seeing the Books and examining the Contents be obliged to condemn their Friends for Publishers of Blasphemy or be esteemed Blasphemers Consider this I beseech you and examine whether it agrees with Christ's Doctrine All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Or whether there is any ground to conclude that the Chargers would ever have refused to have given the account desired by the Quakers if they had been well assured that by the express words of these Books out of which they pretend to prove their Charge it would be clearly and evidently proved Now to the words that are in Black F. Bugg saith they are both Charged and Condemned just or unjust at the Quakers Bar and therein the Quakers are Gross Hypocrites and Dissemblers with God and Man Reply An high Charge but not proved That the Quakers just or unjust have Condemned and Sentenced those Clergy-Men so called without full Hearing and due Examination for what some of their Brethren have writ in Books which they never saw or read or knew the Contents of Oh Injurious Man To suggest such a Gross Falshood and then call the Quakers Gross Hypocrites and Dissemblers and render them such as do not as they would be done by But what other can we expect from such an Vnfair Adversary Apology p. 5. Out of this Paragraph which I shall recite at large F. Bugg hath pick'd a few words which I shall distinguish again by Black Characters But these People for whom I Apologize and Appeal to you how ever they are or may be Rendered and Represented by Men of Evil Designs and Persecuting Spirits Have Do and by the Lord's Assistance are Resolved to Continue Quiet in the Land and in their Christian Duty and Practice of making Supplications Prayers he saith Pray Intercessions and giving of Thanks for all Men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the Knowledge of the Truth This F. Bugg saith is so false and fallacious that I Challenge the whole World to prove one Instance of your Praying for King William or any King A Bold Challenge but as False as Bold For our Principle leads us and our
A DEFENCE OF AN APOLOGY For the People called QUAKERS Being in Answer to a Book Entituled Quakerism Exposed OR Some Papers deliver'd to the King Parliament By JOHN FEILD He that hideth Hatred with lying Lips and he that uttereth a Slander is a Fool Prov. 10 18. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street 1699. TO THE Christian Reader I Here present thee with a Defence of an Apology for that abused and misrepresented People called Quakers and earnestly desire thy serious Perusal and submit it to thy Impartial Judgment Not Doubting thy Acceptance if a true Lover of him in whom Peace and Acceptance with God is known Because whatever Prejudices there may be in some Men one to another there 's none in him neither can it be entertained in any that sincerely Love and Live in Jesus Christ the dear Son of the Father's Love whom God hath sent a Light into the World and is come to destroy the Works of the Devil and all Envy and Malice in those that truly Receive him And to Preserve and Deliver those that are truly his from the Hands of unreasonable Men who are in Confederacy against a People he hath gathered to be the Sheep of his Pasture Remember it was the Chief Priests and Pharisees that gathered together in Council against our Saviour and said What do we if we let him alone all Men will believe in him and the Romans shall come and take away both our Place and Nation And when Satan entered into Judas he went his way and communed with the Chief Priests and Captains how he might betray him and they were glad and covenanted to give him Money And it was Demetrius that cried out and made no small Stir against that Way Paul taught being sensibly touched with an Apprehension the Craft he got his Gain by was in danger And it was proud Haman that informed the King That there was a certain People scattered abroad and dispersed among the People and their Laws were diverse from all People neither keep they the Kings Law 's see Esther 3.8 But the Lord that in every Age was mindful of his Suffering People and in all their Afflictions that by wicked Instruments he suffered to come upon them he was Afflicted and the Angel of his Presence saved them for he knew their Innocency however they were Misrepresented and Reproached by his and their Enemies And therefore he then as now hath supported and been with them in and under all the Reproaches Cruel Mockings and great Sufferings they have hitherto met withal Of which I have in Brief given some Account And it 's the Lord that hath been and is their Light and Salvation whom then shall they fear And he hath been the Strength of their Life of whom then shall they be afraid Surely I may say these have no cause of Fear because they are Innocent And therefore I pray they may be preserved therein and that will be their Defence as it is mine And then the Government under which they Live will have just Cause more to Credit what their Eyes see of their Peaceable Conversations and what they with Thousands have been and are Witnesses of than the false Suggestions and Insinuations of those Men whose Interest and Prejudice is against this People that truly Fear God Honour the King Love all Men Live Honestly Do Justly are Peaceable and Inoffensive to those that do not Offend God And if those that Offend God are offended with them or me I pray God forgive them keep me and incline them to the Practice of that Holy Religion Christ was the Founder of and in that Christian Charity which is the most Excellent Gift and in that Spirit which all that are the Sons of God are led by In which Christian Spirit I desire thou may'st be found and therein duly Weigh and seriously Consider how greatly this Despised People have Suffered in Body Estate Good Name and Christian Reputation by Severity on their Bodies Havock on their Estates Revilings on their Holy Profession false Accusation and Misrepresentations of their Christian Doctrine and Principles All which as they have abode in the Faith and Patience of the Lamb of God they have been enabled to endure and go through hitherto for which they in Humility give Holy Praise to him that hath supported them and have Faith and Confidence in him that he will never leave nor forsake them as they continue in their Christian Duty and abide in Faith Hope and Charity In which I pray that all who Profess that worthy Name may be found then will Pride be abated Envy rooted out Humility spring and Love encrease So be it saith Thy Sincere and Cordial Friend J. F. A DEFENCE OF AN APOLOGY c. THE Peaceable Christians in Days that are past were accounted Hereticks called Movers of Sedition and their Holy Religion was almost every where spoken Evil against Nor could they expect any better Treatment from an untoward Generation than what their Lord and Master Jesus Christ met with who was render'd a Blasphemer by those that pretended great Loyalty to and would own no other King but Caesar And yet it was not long after but they rebelled against him whom they pretended great regard to that they might get their Revenge executed upon Jesus in whom no Cause of Death or any Fault was found as Pilate the Roman Governour who examined him declared And when the Exclaimers against and false Accusers of Christ had their wicked Ends answered they themselves were found to be Rebels to Caesar and the true Disciples and Followers of Christ Peaceable Christians But what related to their Holy Religion their Way and Worship of the great God of Heaven and Earth was then accounted as New Strange and as much spoken against as 't is now and their Testimony and Doctrine struck as much at the High Priests Learned Rabbies and Great Doctors Hierarchy in that Day as many esteem the Quakers Testimony and Doctrine do at those of this Day Nor were the Apostles whom Christ made Choice of and sent forth Men that were brought up in Academical Learning but were for the most part Illiterate Persons of whom the Pharisees contemptuously said John 7.49 This People who knoweth not the Law are cursed And for that reason among others they were then as much Despised Vilified and Ridiculed as those now are whom Christ hath Called Commissionated and Sent forth in his Work and Service in this Day of his Blessed and Glorious Appearance Against whom some that esteem themselves Learned have lately appeared in Print with a Pretended Brief Discovery of some of the Blasphemous and Seditious Principles and Practices of the People called Quakers taken as they say out of their most noted and approved Authors and said to be Humbly Offered to the King and both Houses of Parliament See G. W's Brief Examination in Answer thereunto Now I having written a Brief Apology
Practice is as I have before affirmed to Pray for all Men for Kings and those in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty and if we do not in our Prayers to Almighty God recite the Names of Kings or of the King of the Nation wherein we live he cannot prove that such an Omission is contrary to the Holy Scriptures and the Example of the Apostles Besides our peaceable Lives and due Subjection unto those in Authority evidently manifest to them who have impartially observed us that we own the Powers that are to be ordained of God Apology p. 7. And although in some things they have seemed to differ from those of other Perswasions yet who can convict them of Error in any Fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Religion Or of their not holding that which is truly Essential to Salvation and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures Which Holy Records however they have been Misrepresented or falsly Accused as Slighters and Contemners of them I do declare on their behalf they have always had and still have a high Esteem and true Value for them above all other Writings or Books And their frequent use of them and pressing their Children and Servants to the reading therein may sufficiently Demonstrate to those that know them the Innocency of this abused People This F. Bugg saith is false with a Witness and so you must give me leave to whip this John Field for his deep Hypocrisie and Deceit and I wish it may do him good What to pretend that the Quakers value the Bible above all Books then consequently above their own This is such a Lye that it stabs it self Reply This I am a Witness is true although F. Bugg saith it is false with a Witness for which confident Assertion he hath produced no other proof but his own Ipse dixit which with sober and moderate Men is of no Moment or Validity seeing he hath assumed to himself that Extravagant Liberty of writing what Malice and Envy prompt him to And therefore I do affirm that the Quakers always had and still have an high Esteem of and true Value for the Holy Scriptures as they contain the Revealed Will of God speaking to us either through his Holy Prophets or Apostles or by Jesus Christ his only Begotten Son our Lord and Saviour In this Sense we do and ever did value them above all other Writings and Books c. yet as they consist of Ink Paper and various Characters they are Corruptible and will return to Dust from whence they came And if F. Bugg can deny it let him And when I said that I esteemed them viz. the Holy Scriptures above all other Writings or Books c. I spake of them with respect to the Holy Doctrines contained therein Now what cause F. B. hath to call me Lyar and Hypocrite c. let the impartial Reader judge And if where G. F. or any of our Friends speak of them in the same Sense that I did our Adversaries will pervert their Meaning and wrest it to another quite contrary to what they intended thereby rendering them as Persons that undervalue their Evidence it is their own Fault for it 's evident from our Friends quoting them in their Writings and bringing them as Evidences for Proof of their Doctrines that they have an high Esteem and Value for them for who can be supposed to undervalue that which they bring for Evidence and Confirmation of what they deliver And for my own part I can truly say that ever since I knew the difference of Writings and was capable to Judge between them I preferred the Holy Scriptures to all other extant and that I wrote not this to serve a Present Turn as F. B. falsly suggests For I have done it many Years since in my Friendly Advice p. 12. wherein is a Chapter in which I exhort Children to avoid telling Idle Tales and to read and learn the Holy Scriptures according to the Examples of Ancient Protestants and Quoted Instances And therefore I may justly revert his own Words upon him and say This is such a Ly that it stabs it self or rather him that told it F. B. But as he quotes G. Whitehead who long before on behalf of the People called Quakers declared to the King We are free to Vindicate any Principle we hold according to Scripture So it shews we give it the Preference to all other Books Again F. B's Quotation out of Edw. Burroughs's Works but not mentioning the Page is as little to his purpose as his Citing G. W. viz. And so gladly would we be made manifest to all the World that if any especially the Heads and Rulers have any doubt concerning us for that End let any Propound that we with Consent of Authority mark E. B. had Regard to Authority meet c. Reply For this Proposal was made by E. B. to shew how ready they were with Submission to Authority to satisfie the Doubts of those Rulers and Heads in Authority or any else to whom by some prejudiced Priests and otherr this Innocent People were then as much Misrepresented as they are now And this Proposal of E. B's was Impertinently Urged by Doctor Beckham at West-Dereham in Norfolk to settle the Preliminaries of that Particular Conference with respect to which our Friends were then met pursuant to the time prefixt by those very Priests in Norfolk that with F. Bugg had Challenged and Charged them with many Blasphemies upon which our Friends perceiving their Deceit in pretending by that which was written above 35 Years since to settle the Preliminaries of that Particular Conference said How should that which was written so long since answer the End it 's urged to be read for Or what 's this to a Copy of your Charge or to an Account of Books Titles and Pages out of which ye pretend to Charge us Give us that and let us mutually Agree to Time and Place and then settle Preliminaries But this we could not get them to tho' we proffered to pay for it and now F. B's offended and saith These were no Arguments since you pretend to write from the Lord moved thereto by the Holy Ghost Reply If it be a Fault to write from the Mouth of the Lord moved thereto by the Holy Ghost I conclude F. B. is not guilty But if none as is falsly suggested are moved by the Holy Ghost to write from the Mouth of the Lord what are they moved by Or from whose Mouth do they write who Scribble against us and Trouble the King and Parliament with their Lies and Slanders Let him tell in his next But this your Shuffle saith F. B. shewed the Justices of Peace the Gentry and Clergy as well as the Protestant Dissenters that your Principles are so destructive to Common Christianity And this yea only this so far as I know put them upon a Petition to the House of Commons Reply I deny and let him prove if he
can that this yea only this shewed the Justices of Peace Gentry and Clergy so called and Protestant Dissenters that the Quakers Principles are so destructive to Common Christianity for then the Discovery is but of late Date if this only put them upon a Petition to the Honourable House of Commons Pray let F. Bugg who asserts this as above make it appear to the King and both Houses of Parliament That this only put them upon it and that they are as he confidently tells the King and both Houses of Parliament Unanimous herein For if so there is not one of all the Sorts but what 's consenting thereto or hath been actually concerned in a Petition to the Honourable House of Commons against the Quakers for this yea only this viz. the Quaker's Shuffle as he falsly says at West-Dereham When they met there some Clergy so called that with F. Bugg had Challenged the Quakers and Charged them with Blasphemy against God Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures But if it be not so as many besides my self can Testifie it is not then the Parliament may be hereby informed that he hath not truly Represented themselves For they are included in his General Words viz. the Unanimous Consent of all Protestants as he affirms in his false and envious Sheet delivered to the Parliament Now what Credit is to be given to such a false Asserter as this And let him tell if he can what he means by that Common Christianity which the Quakers Principles are so destructive to and whether he means thereby some Common and Base Professors of it or the Loosness Pride Swearing Cozening Cheating and Debauched Practices or the Lying Envy and Hatred which such Professors are found in that the Quakers Principles are so destructive to or what else it is he intends thereby But F. B. proceeds thus One John Field whom he calls the Quakers Tool compared some called Clergy-Men and one or two Presbyterian Preachers to Herod and Pilate and some Body else he compared to Haman and Judas and said Field Do not blame till you examine Reply Passing by his Scoffing Reflection of the Quakers Tool I grant the Substance of this is true and they that will peruse my Apology p. 4 5 and 7. and not Blame till they have Examined may find these words therein But I did not say that F. Bugg was like Judas or that Haman and Judas's End might be his for I pray God it may not But that he may come if it be the Lord's Will to see his Out-goings Repent of his Evil and Belying of an Innocent People that I am perswaded never designed him any Harm and may find Mercy with God to his poor and never-dying Soul But F. Bugg saith ' This you are deeply sensible of else you would not be so startled and affrighted because of the Petition which nâ—â—ther incites to Persecution nor any Alteration of the Act of Toleration of Protestant Dissenters Answ We are neither sensible of it nor so startled and affrighted as he suggests for we well know what it is to Suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake and have found to our great Comfort that the Lord hath been our Support in and under all our Sufferings Cruel Mockings Spoiling of Goods Sore and Long Imprisonments Evil Treatments and Misrepresentations by our Adversaries who have done what they can to render us Frightful and Dangerous and to account us as they did our blessed Lord and Saviour Blasphemous Enemies to Caesar Dangerous to the Common-Wealth Deceivers Cheats and Impostors In which wicked Work some few Hot and Angry Priests that had more Passion than Prudence in Conjunction with some Envious Deserters and Renegades that have been filled more with Rage than Reason and with Clamours than Solid Arguments have endeavoured to Stir up the Magistrates to be the Executioners of their Wrath and Fury they wanting Power tho not will in themselves to Execute them upon us Yet so seemingly tender is Francis Bugg as to say the Petition neither incites to Persecution nor any Alteration of the Act of Toleration of Protestant Dissenters But only that the Quakers Principles and Practices may be strictly examined and Censured or Suppressed Reply What then may new Rome as he falsly accounts the Quakers and Popish Emissaries which the Petitioners suggest are among them be tolerated and esteemed Protestant Dissenters What a Change is here But saith F. B. the Petition neither incites to Persecution nor any Alteration of the Act of Toleration c. Reply Here he endeavours to put a fair Gloss upon a foul Design and to make his Readers believe that no Persecution was intended by the Petitioners But can any thing be more plain and obvious than that Persecution was the main Purport of that Petition since the Suppressing of the Principles and Practices of the People called Quakers is the concluding Part of their Prayer to the Parliament And is this possible to be effected without exercising great Cruelty on the Persons or Estates of the said People And what is such Cruelty but Persecution Yet This saith F. Bugg is the Substance of what is desired in the Petition which doth so startle you which is a great Sign that you are convicted of Errors in Fundamentals Reply Then it seems the Substance is that under a Pretence they are not for Persecution they pray to have our Principles Examined or Suppressed And because we inform the People of what their Words and Petition import F. Bugg suggests that it startles us and is a great Sign that we are convicted of Errors in Fundamentals But this to me is rather a Sign that his Words are short of Proof when he said I can I have convicted them of Errors in Fundamentals But let not F. B. or any else think his Words are of that Credit to be believed without Proof which he hath not yet made of what he confidently and falsly asserts Again he saith the Clergy of Norfolk which joyned with him to Challenge the Quakers do not go behind your Backs to try judge and condemn you they met you and would have proved their Charge upon you Reply It may be rather said we met them For those Priests declared their Measures were fix'd and we might choose whether we would meet them or not and no Doubt but that would have pleased them better than our meeting of them did And why did not they try judge and condemn us then behind our Backs Was it not because we Appeared to their Faces And so they could not then prove their Charge tho they would if they could But since behind our Backs by Picking Sentences Breaking them in Pieces and Abusing us and the Authors they have assayed towards it Yet how far or fairly they have done it viz. prov'd the People called Quakers Blasphemers I shall leave to the impartial Peruser to enquire and judge by the Brief Examination before referred to Next He quotes Edward Burroughs's Works page 223. being a Book printed 1657
entituled A just and lawful Tryal of the Teachers and professed Ministers of that Age c. And then F. Bugg saith Now Friends do you think this was fair dealing in you to condemn the Clergy of all Ranks at once How can you have the Face to go to the Bishops for Favour Reply If F. Bugg accounts those God's Heritage and Christ's Ministers that turned and kept the Bishops out of their Bishopricks how can he have the Face to own himself a Member of the Church of England and Receive Money from them and their Clergy so called But if not why should he blame Edward Burroughs for writing against those whom neither he nor the Bishops esteemed Ministers of Christ nor truly called to their Office Let him read what Edward Burroughs writes and refute it if he can and consider whether this be fair Dealing in him and whether the Quakers may not with a better Face go to the Bishops for Favour or rather Justice than Francis Bugg for Money Seeing they did not esteem those that drove and kept the Bishops and their Company out of their Rich Bishopricks Large Parsonages and Vicarages to be Ministers of Christ nor were they found in their Spirit and Practice altho F. B. is offended with the Quakers for it and would have them Retract and calls what the Quakers writ against them the Quakers abominable ancient Testimony Now let F. B. consider whether he must not retract this before he gets another Letter from a Bishop in his Commendation to carry about with him to get Money As to what he carps at in Edward Burroughs's Works p. 273. about the Quakers Sufferings it being brought by the Priests and replyed to in the Brief Examination before mentioned and answered at other Times I refer thereunto Only this I may query is a Book to be condemned and the whole Society to which the Author belonged for some Difficulty in it or seeming Inconsistency Seeing Bishop Kidder in the Preface to his Second Volume against the Jews saith in such a Case I hope the Jews do not think that Book meaning the Bible is to be rejected because there is some Difficulty in it for seeming Inconsistencies For then they must reject the Law and the Holy Prophets unless they are able to account for all the difficult Places to be found in them Thus far the Bishop But to proceed F. B. saith Indeed if it be as Edward Burroughs said in the recited Tryal and Condemnation of the Clergy in his Works p. 223 227 234. viz. That they Agree and Concur with all the false Prophets and Deceivers in former Ages that they are Ministers of Antichrist yet have 1500000 l. a Year for their Antichristian Service as his ancient Testimony sets forth printed 1655. then 3 d. a Day is enough nay too much Reply If F. Bugg will insist upon it that those Teachers and Professed Ministers in 1657. for that was the Date of Edward Burroughs's Book not 1655. were what he terms them the Clergy or Heritage of God as that Word signifies I then propose to the impartial Judgment of all Men whether F. B. ought not to prove that the Teachers and professed Ministers of that Age did Agree were according to all the Ministers of Christ in former Ages and did not Concur with any of the false Prophets and Deceivers either in Call Maintenance Doctrine Conversation or Practice And when he goes about to prove this let him consider what Gratuity and Applause he will gain from his new Lords and Masters Now if he prove that those of that Age who entred into a Solemn League and Covenant against Prelacy were God's Heritage and what they did was according to all the Ministers of Christ in former Ages and also that those Sort of Men of that Age Bak. Chron. p. 588. which declared the Kingly Office to be unnecessary and burdensome and that the Lord's House was dangerous and useless and therefore to be laid aside were the Ministers of Christ rightly called of God truly ordained and in their Call Ministry Maintenance Doctrine Conversation and Practice agreeable and according to Scripture altho' they positively declared against the Clergy to use F. B's Phrase in these Words 1. We will to the uttermost of our Powers in our several Capacities oppose the Interest and pretended Right of Charles Stuart Bak. Chron. p. 671. in and to the Government of these Nations or any other Person or Persons pleading or pretending Right or Title by Vertue of his or their Descent from the same Line with him 2. We will not give our Consent unto but will oppose to our utmost Power the setting up of any Single Person whatsoever in the Place of and for the chief Magistrate of these Nations without a Single Person or House of Lords Now I say if those Men who so did and joyn'd therein were the Clergy or Heritage of God the Ministers of Christ rightly Called truly Ordained and in their Call Ministry Maintenance Doctrine Conversation and Practice were not Antichristian nor did act any thing in Agreement with any of the false Prophets and Deceivers in former Ages What then doth F. B. render those that he now pretends to be one of or that Church of which he now declares himself to be a Member For they have made Laws against such Professed Ministers that Edward Burroughs wrote against in 1657. Enacting about three Years after That every Ecclesiastical Person or Ministers ordained by any Ecclesiastical Persons Bak. Cron. p. 724. before December 25. last past being 24 Years of Age having not renounced his Ordination who hath been since January 1642. placed in and in actual Possession of any Ecclesiastical Benefice with Cure of Souls c. is declared Lawful Incumbent By which it seems plain to me they did not esteem any Person or Minister that was 24 Years of Age and was ordained from 1642. to 1660. and had Renounced his Ordination to be rightly Ordained or Lawful Incombent so that it appears they were not truly Ordained and by Edward Burroughs's Examination it also appears they were not rightly Called Again if they were Ministers of Christ and rightly Called and Ordaindained to that Work why were they Silenced Preaching Turned out of their Parsonages Prohibited Living within five Miles of any Corporation and Laws made to suppress their Meetings And if now F. B. shall confess they are not the True Ministers of Christ nor Right in their Call or Ordination c. and that 3d. a day is indeed too much for them how comes he and all those of his Church so called to joyn in an Unanimous Consent with them to have the Quakers Suppressed if what he writes be true Is it from any Consciousness to themselves or Doubt that what Edward Burroughs said of those Teachers or Professed Ministers might as truly be said of some of those he is now joyned with upon due Examination and by Scripture Proof both with respect to their Call Maintenance