of your Terms Yet they proceeded according to what they wrote in their Letter dated the 16th of November in these words Pray trouble us no more with your Letters for our Measures are fix'd and you may chuse whether you will meet us upon the Terms resolved upon or no. Rel. p. 1. And our Charge according to their desire sent to them as appears by our first Letter Animad They sent us a Charge indeed but not according to our Desire for we Desired a Particular of the Blasphemies they Charged us with together with the Authors Names Titles of the Books and Pages as may be seen by the Three last of our Letters But this they constantly Denied us In our first Letter we were not so express as we were afterwards when we saw in what General Terms they Charged us but we Thought it had been enough to let them know our Freedom to take their Charge and stand a Publick Trial desiring only the Common Priviledges to such Occasions belonging Now what are these Common Priviledges but a Particular of their Charge with Author Title Book and Page considering they told us in their Letter dated the 3 d. of November 1698. We intend to Charge you with Blasphemy out of your own Books Rel. p. 1. And on the day appointed viz. December the 8th 1698. the Quakers and We met in West-Dereham-Church in the County aforesaid and took our Places before prepared We first read the Service of the Day near the Beginning of which they coming in staid it out not to joyn in the Duty but rather to affront it carrying themselves Irreverently all the Time Animad 'T is true We met them on the 8th of the 10th Month 1698. in West-Dereham Steeple-House but We neither appointed the Day nor the Place nor agreed to their Terms for we looked upon their Terms as Unreasonable And therefore our Appearing there was not to joyn Issue with them and to Answer their pretended Charge but to demand at this Meeting what we had so often in our Letters Insisted upon before and they had Refused us namely a Copy of their Charge and to acquaint the People whom the Priests had Misinformed that we were not the first Challengers Our coming in while they were at their Service was by the Direction of their Warden and a Watch-man sent as we Suppose for that Purpose And when we were come in tho' we did not joyn with them yet we offered no Affront nor carried our selves Irreverently unless a Silent and Serious Deportment all the Time of their Service may bring us under that Imputation Rel. p. 1. As soon as our Service was ended one of their Speakers began to Pray whereupon all of them immediatly pulled off their Hats and carried themselves as at a Religious Worship Animad We hope that was no Offence and if they could say in Truth they were for that Time Sober and Quiet as we were during their Service as they rightly call it we think it would have been more to their Reputation than to Cry out A Conventicle a Conventicle a Thing strange to hear of in a Steeple-House while our Friend was on his knees Praying to Almighty God as if there was a Law against Praying to Him which we know nothing of and besides it 's Allowed by their Liturgy Rel. p. 1. We insisted that they were our Challengers and repeated to them their own Letter of Challenge They told us they were provoked by certain Carriages of ours to write that Letter Animad True it is we did and do deny that we were the Aggressors and first Challengers and we Proffered several Testimonies to Clear up that Matter but being then Obstructed by our Adversaries We have now Printed them and leave the Judgment and Decision thereof to the Impartial Rel. p. 1 2. And after many long Harangues of several of their Speakers they desired that all the Letters which passed between us might be read to the Auditory not as if they could get any Advantage by reading them but as appeared to us afterwards meerly to divert us an Hour or more from prosecuting our Charge Animad It was very reasonable the Letters should be read that the People might understand First that they were the first Challengers and Chargers which they now grant by Complaining they were Diverted from prosecuting their Charge Secondly That we had several Times Requested the Authors Names the Titles and Pages of the Books out of which they did intend to Charge us that we might have been duly Prepared to Meet them and Give proper Answers to their several Charges For there is a common Justice due to every Man that he should have the Liberty to Explain his own Words and if the Author was Dead or could not be there that his Meaning by other Words or Sentences relating to the same Subject might be Explained and if they could not then it was Time enough to Disown those Words and Sentences but not without due Examination for otherwise we should be Unjust to our Friends and Injurious to our Selves Rel. p. 2. We answered we had Law and Equity against such an Unreasonable Demand We told them the Law was their own 't was from Edward Burroughs who was a Son of Thunder and spoke all from the Mouth of the Lord whose Book used to be with them of as much Authority as the Bible Animad Our Demand was a more Particular Account than a General Charge But was this Unreasonable Or is there either Law or Equity that forbids it We know of none that doth but do Conceive we have both on our Side Their Allegation out of Edward Burroughs doth not reach the Case nor could his Authority Settle the Preliminaries of the Conference For he hath been dead about 35 Years and this was Published about 5 Years before that therefore what is a Challenge of near 40 Years Standing and by a Friend so long since dead to us Is it Reasonable that that should Affect us and Set us such Measures as these Partial Judges Pitch'd and Resolv'd upon Besides E. B. tho' he made an ample Offer to the Priests of that Day saying Let them appoint Time Place and proffer Terms at their own Pleasure Yet he did not thereby Oblige us by any Express Word or Consequence That he was Boanerges or a Son of Thunder and did Speak from the Mouth of the Lord we humbly Acknowledge and Bless God for Raising up and Sending forth so Eminent and Able an Instrument to Preach the Everlasting Gospel His Memory is Precious among Us and his Books of Esteem but not of Equal Authority with the Bible For though he had received a Measure of the same Spirit which was in the Holy Pen-men yet Dispensations Vary according to the manifold Wisdom of God and therefore we prefer the Bible before E. B's Books and all other Writings Extant whatsoever We do not Plead for any New Gospel Faith or Doctrine different from that which Christ and his Holy Prophets and
John Hubbard John Brown Dan. Phillips Phillip Tassill The Priests Answer to the Foregoing Letter Dated November the 3 d. 1698. Friends WE Observe in your last Dated October the 31st 1698. how apt you are to Catch at every little Escape tho' nothing relating to the Cause the omission of a Date We hope tho' we forgot the 27th of October we shall not forget the 8th of December You are offended we call your first Letter a Challenge to us tho' our betters have thought it the Boldest and Pertest that ever was sent to the whole Host of Israel viz. as you more than once in your Letter term it to us or any of us all and to any of our Cloth and that from the Hands of such whom we never took to be any great Goliahs But all this Anger it seems is because we so Zealously as you think Espouse Francis Bugg's Charge One may see how ready you are to take Fire when so small a Spark will kindle you For one of us was not there when he delivered his Charge Another of us came by meer accident and None of us were any other than as Witnesses to the Delivery of it which any Three of your honest Neigbours we suppose might have been without Offence As to the Books you mention'd to us to be Read which you conceive would have cooled our Zeal for Bugg and his so often as you say baffl'd Charge You may please to know that we have Read them and that Bugg is not Answer'd nor can be Answer'd any other way seeing the Charge is drawn from Quotations out of your own Books but by denying the Truth of Them which your pretended Answerers do not do but betake themselves to their usual Palliating and Painting Tricks to cover over and hide their Deformities We confess we had a better Opinion of your Principles before we saw your Books than now we have for indeed we have received more Satisfaction from your Answers than from the Books they pretend to Answer being confirm'd more in our Belief that they are Unanswerable And if you write in this manner we shall never desire to take the Pen out of your Hands for it will do us no Hurt but for your Gall that is in the Ink. Yet because you say he must be Rejected and you will have it so we have given you your Humour and have accepted of your Challenge without him Friends Your People have been ever ready to say Our Charges have been Lies Forgeries and every where have run with this Cry in their Mouths Lies all Lies because alas they never Read our Books or at least never Compar'd them with your Authors Therefore we perceive that Writing Books will not do but we must bring forth those that you have Written at a Publick Meeting and lay them open before your Deluded Followers and desire them to see with their own Eyes and perhaps they may see such a Frightful Sight as they little expected there You might easily have discerned that our Charge affects the whole Body of your People it relating to Blasphemies so long and so often Printed and yet never Contradicted or Censured but Asserted to be from Persons Infallible Blasphemies so often approved of by your Second Days Meetings where all your Books are Examined and by an Index Expurgatorius Corrected tho' written from the Mouth of the Lord. So that your Church hath owned them and we may justly Charge the Blasphemy of those Books upon it till they Disown them But you seem to be much Concerned for the Restraint we lay upon you so that you may not go out of this Diocess for your assistance But truly Sirs you see we have put the same Restraint upon our selves we will not go out of the Diocess perhaps but a little way from Home for ours we cannot think you can be at a want for help in such a Diocess where there are several Thousands of you Besides if you will have a little Patience the Persons you had probably designed for this Service may have work enough at Home ere long For we are Inclinable to believe that the like Charge to this will go through many Diocesses in this Kingdom So that they may save their Powder and Shot till the Charge comes to their Door Friends tho' we intend to Charge you with Blasphemy out of your own Books yet we cannot think it fit to give you the Authors Names Line and Page for that were to send you our Arguments before the Day we shall use them that you may have time the more cunningly to Elude the Force of them It is enough to let you see we intend to Charge you with Blasphemy as expressed in our last tho' we should not be so Foolishly Generous as to tell you the very Place where we intend to Assault you Besides we our selves have not yet read over some of your Books out of which as we are Reading them there arises every Day new Matter for a Charge and so perhaps there may to the time of our Meeting For we can scarce open a Book of yours but presently we are even Frighted with such Apparition that sends us to our Prayers for a Poor Deluded People that are daily Haunted with them And further we may add that you have their Books as well as we and would you read them over as we do ye your selves could not but see those Blasphemies we Charge you with being too big to escape your sight But you think it is fit the Authors of those Books out of which we extract your Charge should be permitted to speak for themselves You cannot but know that most of those Authors are Dead and as for them that are Alive we have already heard them in your Prints to little purpose However they have no Reason to Challenge it as a peculiar Due to them to be the only Vindicators of their Cause seeing every particular Member of your Church is concern'd in it as well as they So that it is a Charge upon every one of you all as well as upon the Authors of those Books you having Espoused them till they be Disown'd and Condemn'd by you To conclude We cannot see how it can consist with either Justice or Prudence to alter our Method for the Reasons given We therefore think it but a vain thing for you to trouble your selves or us with any more such Letters Poor People that are going Blindfold to Samariah instead of Dothan The Lord open your Eyes to see where you are and whither you are a going is the Prayer of your best of Friends tho' you may possibly think us your greatest Enemies Hen. Meriton John Meriton Lau. Parke To Henry Meriton John Meriton and Laurence Parke a Reply to the foregoing Letter dated November 3. 1698. Friends YOURS of the third Instant we received wherein is the date of your former in Answer to which when we in Friendly Sort told you of that Omission it was not that we did
Apostles taught and is Recorded in the Scriptures of Truth but for the Revelation of that which they Taught and is therein Recorded Wherefore as the Apostle says There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of Operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all But the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6 7. So say we viz. That there is a Measure of the same Spirit in us which was in the Holy Prophets and Apostles so that 't is not an Equality of any Writings with theirs but a Measure of the same Spirit of Revelation which they had that we Contend for Rel. p. 3. For the nature of the Blasphemy we Charge them with should be so Plain and Obvious that every Christian shall be able to Understand it to be so upon the Reading it to them Animad If the Nature of the Blasphemy be so Plain and Obvious as these Men pretend why did they Refuse at the Conference to give us a Particular Account of it For their Charging us with Blasphemy of so Plain a Nature and yet Denying us a Copy after so many Demands gives us just Cause to Suspect they are Conscious of the Invalidity of their Proofs and therefore of the Charge it self but that Envy link'd with Interest Prompts them to Calumniate Loudly that Some might be Frighted from Coming near us and Others Irritated to Hate Malign and Persecute us Rel. p. 3. But should we tell them the Names of our Books Page and Line before-hand we had deserv'd rather to be laghed at as Fools than looked on as Disputants for this would be to send them our Arguments before the Disputation Animad Here they make a Poor Excuse for Denying our Just Demands and then give as Weak a Reason for it But has the Hiding the Names of their Books Page and Line from us Secured their Reputation among Men of Wisdom Or only got them the blind Applauses of the Ignorant We know that Justice and True Wisdom are Inseparable and therefore seeing they have Positively Refused us Justice their Ambition of being accounted Disputants when they themselves know 't was no Disputation as it cannot Cover them from the Imputation of Folly so can it not Acquit them of the Guilt of Injustice Did ever Men Apologize to less Advantage than these have done We never desired their Arguments but their Quotations that we might know where to find the Blasphemies if any Such there were in our Friends Books and make Preparation for our Answer And ye there they talk of their Arguments as though we Solicited for them before hand For we told them they might Reserve their Arguments till they Needed them and yet might Reasonably Give us the Quotations they Pretended to Argue upon That they had a great Mind to be looked on as Disputants and were willing to seem furnished with Arguments to prove their Charge we do not Deny if Clamourous Harangues and Tricking Attempts be any Evidence of it For they would Fain have Drawn us into this Snare namely To have Condemned our Friends of Blasphemy before we had Examined what that was which they Called so Which Vain Effort whether it Proclaims their Folly or Speaks their Honesty and Fairness in Arguing the Impartial Reader though but of a Common Capacity may easily Determine Priest Archer of Milden-Hall confessed indeed that the Quakers of this Generation were Orthodox and the Confession of an Adversary is very considerable But he would have had us Condemn our Friends Books before we either Heard or Saw or Knew that there was any Blasphemy in them But we conceive it would have been as unjust in us to have Condemned the Evidence before we Heard them as it was and is in our Enemies to Conceal them from us Rel. p. 4. We told them the Evidence we should bring was not from Ours but from their Own Books and it was not fit we should tell them the Names of our Witnesses before hand that they might have time to tamper with them and make them speak what they never intended Animad It Looks as if these Men were somewhat Confused for in p. 3. they say Our Books Page and Line here forgetting what they Said but six Lines before they say Not from Ours but from their Own Books Again how Loosely and Idly do they Discourse in the latter Part of this Paragraph about our Tampering with their Witnesses Was it possible for us to Tamper as they Phrase it with them viz. Printed Books which were in their own Hands and in the Hands of many Others Or could we make them Speak otherwise than they do Surely the Weakness of this Argument as well as the Disparity between Books and Men shews little Wisdom in these Learned Rectors and rather bespeaks their Shortness than their Sharpness Rel. p 4. When a Time of Disputation with an Adversary is set and I have sent him the Questions to be Disputed on was it ever expected that I should before the Time send him all my Proofs The Question you know betwixt us is whether they are Blasphemers or no Animad Here is another Blunder hardly tolerable in any but in such Disputants Sometimes 't is I sometimes 't is We or Vs Singular and Plural One and More as their Fancy leads them But leaving this Confused Variation of Numbers let us Attend to what they say next The Question say they you know betwixt us is whether they are Blasphemers or no This is another Effluvium from a cloudy Intellect They never till now put it in the Form of a Qustion whether we were Blasphemers or no But Charg'd us with Express and Down-right Blasphemy Therefore they are gone from their former Mode of Expression and have brought it now to Terms of a Disputable Nature Rel. p. 4. Presently they cry'd out We Reproach the Parliament who have owned them to be Dissenting Protestants whilst we would prove them to be Blasphemers and indeed they did strut exceedingly for the Honour the Parliametn hath done them to Recognize them as Protestants as if under the Protection of the Act of Parliament they might Blaspheme cum Privilegio and no Body must be so bold as to ask them Why do you so Animad We Received not our Religion of Man nor were we Taught it after a Traditional Manner but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ whom the Lord God hath laid in Zion for a sure Foundation Isa 28. 16. Even the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2. 20. and of all the Righteous in every Generation And He that is our Foundation the same is our Defence and Protection For he is our King the Lord God Omnipotent and the Head of the true Church which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thess 1. 1. and against which the Gates of Hell shall never be able
Catch at any little escape of yours which did at least relate to the Letter if not the Cause But to proceed As in our last we Judge the Term Challenge not proper to the Offer we made whatever the Judgment of your Selves or Betters may be concerning it As for its Boldness and Pertness as you are pleased to Term it we take it to be another Escape of your Memories to suppose it herein to exceed any of those as you say which were sent to the whole Host of Israel But such as it is we doubt not to make Good and that in Truth void of Wrath. As to Francis Bugg you did Espouse his Charge Blindfold as appears by your after Inquiry and Reading of our Books and did Espouse it by more Ways than that of Witnessing to the Delivery of the Charge which none of our Honest unprejudicate Neighbours would As for Quotations made by Bugg from our Books you say the petended Answerers deny the Truth of them but betake themselves to their Usual Palliating and Painting Tricks This Assertion we have no Cause to Credit but for the present will say that we know that in several Answers of ours to Books of this sort there is frequently Detected false Quotations and his Apparent Forgeries which if either you have not Read or not Observed it might have been well enough to forbear that Scurrility of Painting and Tricks Now for your Charge you Acknowledge it to be upon the whole Body of us and therefore as in our former we think you are not just in your Limitation nor does your Threat if you will have a little Patience c. fright us from still Insisting on our Exceptions for as our last did declare our Acceptance of such of your Propositions as were Equal and Fair and desired the rest might be agreeable and such as we are Perswaded no Ingenuous or Just Persons would Evade or Deny us So we still insist on them not knowing any Power or Dominion you have over us to over rule what we have so fairly offered to qualifie your Limitations For if you intend to confine us as Respondents only who are within this Diocess it is Reasonable to confine you not to Charge Persons or their Books more Remote or Absent For why should a Man whom you may Charge be obliged to Answer by Proxy when perhaps he can better Defend himself the Justice of the Common Law in this Case much exceeds your pretence of Edification and this being denied by you we take it for granted your Design is to Censure and pass Judgment on Persons Unheard And if your Charge be to be drawn from Books it is as reasonable by the Common Voice of Mankind that their Titles and Pages be given the Authors of which if Living have an undoubted Right to Explain for Themselves or if Dead such Notice is reasonable for our due Preparation to Answer Till which we shall only say that the Living Labours of the Dead have this Justice due to Them viz. that the whole be considered and the Scope and Intent of the Writer be taken and not Rigidly much less Falsly to pervert his Words to a Sense Contrary and Repugnant to the Scope of the whole The refusal hereof will speak a Design Partial Injurious and Precipitant but we hoping on better Consideration you 'l do otherwise do expect as above to be sent us in such convenient Time as we may Examine them which cannot be in less time then Three Weeks at least This Demand it 's true you Laugh at and call it a Foolish Generosity yet it being Reasonable we insist on it For the Frightful Apparitions which by opening our Books you say sent you to your Prayers we doubt your Frights or Feavers have been so great as to prevent your having any true Idea of Them or any loving Concern for Vs therein And not finding our Selves Haunted as you Suggest we rather desire you to speak Truth than offer false Sacrifice For Conclusion to this and to Try your Ingenuity whether your Method be to do as you would be done unto we put these following Questions I. Whether you are willing to be Charged out of all the Old and New Books Pamphlets and Sermons that your Brethen the Clergy have Wrote and Printed to stand and fall by them II. Are you willing we should Publickly Charge you with Errors or Mistakes out of any of the abovementioned and not beforehand give the Particular Instances to you For know ye that we expect Equal Liberty with you to Charge as well as to be Charged III. Will you Personate all your Brethren as above both Dead and Living so as to be Charged out of their Books in their stead Your direct Answer we expect without further Evasion Boast or Menace in the interim conclude Your abused because not sufficiently known Friends Richard Ashby John Hubbard Daniel Phillips Richard Case The Reply dated November the 16th 1698. Friends YOUR last does not a little astonish Us. 1st That you should deny your Challenge which is as plain an one as Words in English can make it and truly very brave to all our Cloth that is to Nine or Ten Thousand of Us. 2ly That you affirm that we espoused Bugg's Cause which you or some of you cannot but know the contrary by one of us For when the last Summer you demanded of Hen. Meriton whether he would Justifie Bugg's Books Written against you he Answer'd They contained Matter of Fact which he was not capable of judging of having not the Books to compare them with Francis Bugg's Writings yet told you that if his Citations were true you see then he made an If of it and therefore did not justifie them he would justifie such Expressions were Blasphemy But you are still offended at our Unreasonable Limitation of you as to the Place whence you are to fetch your Disputants But Friends did not you begin with us Did not you limit us when you rejected Francis Bugg And all others too that were not of our Cloth some of whom you know too well might have been very useful to us in this Service Nay did not you reject Francis Bugg for this Reason because he had been Answered as you pretend over and over again and was unreasonable as if we had nothing to do but Actum agere And may not we say the same of your Hackney Disputants they have trudged so long in that Road and have been Spur'd and Gall'd by us enough already and therefore in reason we ought to turn them off a-while and give them rest till another occasion more plainly they have been Answered over and over already and are unreasonable Besides Your Church which you profess your selves to be so Zealous Members of have owned and approved of those Books we intend to quote and your selves have been known to admire and almost adore them and their Authors And therefore till you disclaim them you are as much concern'd to Vindicate them as the
Authors themselves for by owning them you become joynt Authors and your Plea for them will be the Plea of Parties and not of Proxies But now When your Court of Equity will not Relieve you you Fly to Common Law but if you give us no better Proof of your Skill in it then in this Instance we shall have little Reason to take your Counsel in Law Business Friends 'T is Matter of Fact we Charge you with that we find such and such Blasphemous Expressions in your Books For Matter of Right whether such Expressions are to be esteemed Blasphemy we shall leave it to the Judgment of the Auditors The Matters of Fact your Authors have already owned them at least so much as will make good our Charge And for Matter of Right whether such Expressions be Blasphemous or no we think the Common Law will not allow the Accused Malefactor when he 's accused of the Fact aright to Judge of the Law or whether his Fact hath been a Breach of it Suppose we had Charged some of your Friends with Common Swearing by their Maker and they should not deny Matter of Fact that they have said such words only they excuse them with a great deal of Artifice that they were spoke in Passion that they dropt from them rashly or their Minds did a little run out or truly they do not affect such Speeches or they may see Cause otherwise to word them is there any Law or Equity such Men should be admitted in any Court in the World to Plead and Apologize for Common Swearing If Matter of Fact be prov'd or own'd may not the Judge turn such Men out of the Court and pass the Definitive upon them The Fact is own'd by the Men themselves that such Expressions are in their Books so much at leastwise as will prove the Charge and let the Auditory whom we Appeal to as Judges in this Case Determine whether Blasphemy or no. We dare Affirm it will be easier for the People to Judge that such and such Words are Blasphemy then that such words are Swearing And we are Sorry to see you are so Zealous for such Authors only to give them an an opportunity to excuse Blasphemy At last you direct us to the Golden Rule in Divinity to do as we would be done by and think you have Gravell'd us with Three Questions which you suppose we cannot Answer if we stick to our former Measure without apparent Violation of it Now Sirs what are those hard Measures I pray Why truly after we have Charged some of yours with Blasphemy in some Books Printed Ten Twenty Thirty some Forty Years ago that were never Corrected nor Censured by your Church in your Second Days Meeting Erected on purpose to Examine Books and Licence them but have been Approved and Commended to us and Admired by almost all of you we Demand that you would either Justifie or Disown them Publickly under your Hands And now you ask us very Pertinently Whether we are willing to be Charged with all the Old and New Books and Pamphlets that our Brethren of the Clergy have Written or Printed to stand or fall by them Such an Impertinency as this is would be almost Intolerable but that we are so commonly used to them by your Party Do but Scratch your Heads a little and consider seriously the Force of such a Consequence We are bound to Justifie or Disown all the Books of our Brethren as to every little Error or Mistake because we call upon you only to Justifie or Dosown the Blasphemies of yours We doubt not but there have been some tolerable Errors in ours which are no great Blot to an Author that acknowledges himself to be a Man viz. Fallible but a Mighty Prejudice against the Infallible Club whether at Rome or Grace-Church-street that pretend they cannot Err And we are only obliged to a Charitable Forbearance in such Cases when you will be obliged for every Error you find in yours by reason of such a Pretence to disown them as Cheats But if any of our Authors have Wrote or Printed Blasphemy we are sure such have not been approved or allowed of by our General Meeting our Convocation who have made bold to Censure them without asking the Authors leave or if there be any such that have escaped the Knowledge of the Convocation and therefore not Censured by them perhaps they have been Condemned if not Burnt by Parliaments and Vniversities or if they have escaped such a Censure bring out such Books of ours when you will and you shall see we will either Justifie or Disown them without calling for the Authors to come and plead their Cause To the Second Question we Answer You shall have equal Liberty with us Produce our Books and your Charge against them Supposing it to be of Blasphemy when you will after you have first Answered ours and we will give you leave to reserve your particular Instances to the very Time and Place of Meeting if you please For we are assured that Blasphemy is of so strong and rank a Scent that every Christian that hath not his Nose quite stop'd that as St. Paul says can but exercise his Senses never so little about Good or Evil as soon as ever it 's open'd or discover'd will presently nauseate and turn away from it And we are sorry that so many of you have got such a Stuffing in your Heads as not to perceive it nay you think them sweet Odours sure that you will not be satisfied till you be allowed Advocates to Plead for them as sound and wholsome and therefore to be continued in the best Room of the House the Church The Third Question is Co-incident with the First but we must answer it or you 'll say we dropt it for its Weight for there is no reason we should appear in the Person of all those our Brethren so as to be Charged with every little Error out of their Books in their stead but this we will do bring forth their Books and Blasphemies as we have said before and we will either Justifie them or Disown them without consulting the Authors of them And this is all that we desire of you either to Justifie or Disown Yours and Their Blasphemies under your Hands which we may expect from you by the same Rule you lay before us Do as you would be done by And why may we not expect this of you seeing you have Abandoned your Authors in lesser matters as in their Orders about Ribbonds Lace Slit-wast-Coats Prancing Steeds Costly Habits Fine Clothes Stately Buildings in forbearing to Thee and Thou and Sir your Betters Seeing many of you have opposed their Orders in Paying Tithes Womens Meetings Swearing in Courts of Judicature of carrying no Guns in their Ships or using the Carnal Weapon Last of all We take notice with much joy to see you so much fall off from the former Rude and Rugged Behaviour of those Men whose Cause you Espouse towards the Clergy It
is not long since your Address to them was in that Tinkerly Language Greedy Doggs Babylon's Merchants Devil-driven dungy Gods Witches Bloodhounds Sodomites Gimcracks Wheelbarrows Tatterdemallions which you have now Exchanged for more familiar and kind Expressions to call us Friends tho' your former Carriage hath been as Divinely Authorized as your present Blasphemies Your very Railings have been as you have pretended by Inspiration We hope since you have begun to draw from that Old Filthy Spirit that dwelt in your Ancestors you will at last totally Abandon them seeing you have Abandoned them in lesser Matters and why not in their Blasphemies Friends pray trouble us no more with your Letters for our Measures are fix'd and you may Chuse whether you will meet us upon the Terms resolved upon or no. No more from those who are resolved to continue your real Friends whether you will or no. Hen. Meriton John Meriton Lau. Parke The last Letter to the Priests dated the 23 d of the 9th Month 1698. To which they returned no Answer Friends YOURS of the 16th Instant We have received the Tenor of it declares Your purpose still to Evade our Just Demand as is set forth in our Second and Third Letters to you we shall now give you a brief Reply because we perceive our Letters are troublesome to you First if you were as Real as you pretend Friendship towards us the Moderation of Friendship questionless would prevent your being Astonished at our denial of the Term Challenge in our first Letter to you For then it had been our place to have Charged you so we should have made our selves Plaintiffs and you had been Defendants We doubt not but upon more mature Thoughts your Astonishment will vanish away 2dly We still Insist upon our former Demands as just and reasonable for how can you or any Man whatsoever think that we or any others for us can make Answers to Matters thus hiddenly Charged upon us whilst you refuse us the Knowledge of them as you say they stand in our Books Pray be plain with us and if there be such Rank Blasphemy as you say bring it forth do not be shy Give us Author Title Book and Page and if you please tell us in the first place what is Blasphemy 2dly Wherein do you Charge us with Blasphemy against God and against Jesus Christ and against the Holy Scriptures What are the Words of those several Blasphemies Your direct answer to those Particulars 3dly We think it not worth while to follow you through all the Parts of your Letter it being a great part of it Rattle and Noise besides our present business 4thly You Evade our Instance of the Common Law We distinguish between Matter of Fact and a Right to Judge You have Charged us with Matter of Fact We Demand a Copy of your Charge that we may prepare true Answer to make As a Point of Justice allowed by the Common Law to Malefactors We deny your having any Jurisdiction over us as Judges and before we Submit we will have full Proof of your Commission Temporal Judges you are not and to be Spiritually Qualified you must prove before we acknowledge you as such 5thly Seeing your resolutely Refuse our Just Demand we do not look upon our selves obliged to Meet you under the Limitation of your Terms We stand to our former Offer and by the Terms we have offered to Qualifie yours and if you refuse it shews for all your Pretence of Friendship a contrary Design upon us we cannot look upon your Resolution to Friendship any thing else but an empty Pretence until as a Proof that it is otherwise you give us the Instances of your Charge in Form and Manner aforesaid which is not as you say to send us your Arguments before hand but the Matter of Fact you Charge us with This as a Point of Justice from you we seek not your Mercy make your Arguments as strong as you will But while you thus put us off we look upon it no other than a Shift and Evasion on your Parts and a Design to Over-rule us We leave it with you as a Test upon your Resolute Friendship Give us our Just Demand of Author Title Book and Page with convenient time as set forth in our last to you to prepare to make Answer which if you still deny we look upon your Pretence of Friendship to be a meer Complement and Decoy and a Design of much Evil to us Couch'd under 't Notwithstanding we are your Friends and desire you would mind the Witness of God in your Consciences that admits of no Deceit and will if minded lead you to deal Plainly To which you must Stand or Fall one Day Richard Ashby John Hubbard Dan. Phillips Richard Case c. P. S. SEeing you have rejected our Terms as aforesaid and we have refused to be Imposed upon by some of your Limitations we therefore shall take our Liberty either to Meet or not Meet you And if we Meet you to have others of our Friends present with us who are not Inhabitants within this Diocess if we see Cause and if they have Freedom thereto An Answer to the Certificate of the Inhabitants of West-Dereham and other Parishes Adjacent c. WHereas they say That West-Dereham is an exceeding Small Salary for a Minister which discouraged most Men from supplying the Cure c. Let it be Observ'd that had the Salary been Greater it is likely it had not wanted a supply to the Cure So that a greater Salary a greater Inducement a little Salary a little Inducement and no Salary no Inducement at all According to the Old Proverb No Mony no Cure Or No Penny no Pater Noster But is this a Mark of a True Minister Or is it not directly contrary to Christ's Words and Commands Matth. 10. 7 8. And that Whereas Laurence Parke came not to the Cure until June 1691. as they say 't is Observable there was but one Person and his Wife in that Town that did go then to the Meetings of the People call'd Quakers But after the said Laurence Parke came to Preach there he made it much of his Business at several times to Preach against the said People and that in very Harsh Terms and Expressions which caus'd a Dissatisfaction in several of his Hearers who thought the said People deserved not to be so much preached against and those his Sermons caused some of them to desire to be fully satisfied concerning the said People and those things which the said Laurence Parke so frequently did Preach against to his Auditory in the said Parish of West-Dereham and this caused them to go to some of their Meetings where they were satisfied that the said Laurence Parke had given a false Report concerning them and their Principles and had much mis-represented them to the People and some of them have since left going to hear him being fully satisfied in themselves for so doing So that instead of keeping his Hearers
from the Quakers so call'd his mis-representing and abusing them in his Sermons was one great cause why some left him And whereas they say The Wife of one Becket a Quaker gave her self the trouble of going three Miles to the Ministers House on purpose to vex him with Quakerly Questions in a Quibling Way on Ascention day Morning 1695. To which take her Certificate This is to Certifie that I Mary Becket the Wife of Thomas Becket was much disatisfied in my Mind concerning some Religious Matters which I heard Laurence Parke the Priest of West-Dereham where I dwell preach in his Sermons where he use to preach frequently not only against the Quakers but other Dissenters at several times before I went among the said People called Quakers and for that reason I went to his House in Barton desiring to be satisfied by him touching those Matters they now call Quakerly Questions not designing to disturb him but to be instructed by him he told me he could not then resolve me but would endeavour to satisfie me in some of his Sermons if I would come to Church which I did but instead of being satisfied touching those Matters I grew more dissatisfied in my Mind until I heard some of the People called Quakers and then it pleased the Lord I came to be satisfied concerning those Matters And this was the true reason of my going to his House and not in the least to Vex or Disturb him Witness my hand Mary Becket And whereas they further say They remember the time that Becket the Husband himself watched their Minister in a Lane not far from the Church lined on both sides with People to Dispute him when his Spirits were exhausted with Preaching and his Strength weakened by performing the Duty of the Day Here follows Thomas Becket's Certificate This is to Certifie that I Thomas Becket was accidentally alone in my own Hired Ground which lies next the Steeple-House-Yard in West-Dereham when the Preist and the People were coming from their Worship and I had no intent to speak a Word to Laurence Parke the Priest but before he came near me I being by the Gate next the Road where he came he held up his Hand and said to his Hearers Look yonder stands a Man do not you think he looks as if he had seen God or to that purpose adding The Light is in him and then I replied If the Light be not within thee thou art in a Miserable Condition or Words to that effect When he came nearer he asked me how I did I asked him how he did and wished him to leave telling so many Lyes of the People called Quakers till he had heard the Truth of those Matters he reply'd When there was a Meeting at my House he would come to it and gave me his Hand to it but he never came although he had notice To the Truth hereof I Subscribe my Name Thomas Becket And whereas they further say that One Phillips a Quaker went to disturb their Minister at his own House one Munday in May last to Challenge and Provoke him to Dispute with the Quakers at a Meeting at Stoak that was to be held on the Morrow as himself confessed after he came Home And he and his Friends set abroad the Report some days before to call the Country together and then gave it out the Priest promised but durst not come Now here follows a Certificate of the said Phillips This is to Certifie that I William Phillips of West-Dereham being informed that Laurence Parke was much disturbed at a Meeting that was at our Town the beginning of the Month call'd May last and that he said If he knew where there was another Meeting he would come to it I thought fit to go to his House and let him know there was to be a Meeting the next day at Stoak he answered He could not or should not come for that he was not then ☞ provided but said that in a short time there would be Meetings enough when they had got the Books meaning our Friends Books and more Discourse we had together and he would have me sit down in his House and Drink and I did not think he was offended with me for my friendly going to his House for We parted as good Neighbours and I thought then in good Will to each other Witness my Hand William Phillips And whereas they further say This Phillips together with one Mason and Becket by speaking Profanely of the Ordinances of Christ and setting up a Conventicle contrary to Law c. This is a General and Proofless Charge and deny'd by them and till Prov'd needs no further Reply And whereas they further Certifie that their Minister Laurence Parke had many Provocations and Challenges One above all the rest say they we cannot forget which was given him in Writing when he was in the Pulpit by one Lilly in sight of the whole Congregation In Answer to which take the following Certificates This is to Certifie That about Five or Six Years ago I Phillip Tassill together with John Brown being at the Burial of a Relation at West-Dereham at which time some of the Parishioners being the hearers of Laurence Park told us that their Minister had Preached That the Quakers had not Read in a Bible these Forty Years and that they did not care if all the Bibles were Burn'd Now we hearing the Report of such a very Sad Wicked and most Uncharitable Abuse were concerned knowing our Innocency did therefore write a few Lines to him that he would admit us to a Friendly Conference that he might either Prove his Charge or Clear Vs before the People or to that Effect without Advising with any of our Friends Witness our Hands Phillip Tassill John Brown This is to Certifie That Mr. Park having Preached much against the Quakers and Discoursed that he would Prove them to be No Christians the Report thereof came to some of the said People and one of them gave me a few Lines to give him to desire a Friendly Conference with him about those Matters which I accordingly gave to the said Mr. Park and though I gave him them in the Church it was my own Doing and not by Direction of any one to give him them in that Place And I did not understand that more than One or Two of the said People wrote those Lines or that I might not give him them as Inoffensively in that Place as in any other being one of his Hearers This is about Five or Six Years ago as I remember Witness my Hand John Lilly And whereas they further Certifie That this and nothing but this made them and their Ministers willing to Permit Mr. Bugg to come amongst them to try if he could Conjure down that busie Spirit which possesses the Quakers and is so troublesome to us Reply First We may conclude by the Nature and Grossness of these words that you poor People know not what you have sign'd For you have given a Notable Reflection upon Fra. Bugg Is he indeed turn'd Conjurer But if it be so we know that Spirit the Sincere Quakers are led by has always been too hard for such Conjurers But pray wherefore are you so harsh in Reflections on your Neighbours as though they were led by a Diabolical Spirit This touches not them only but Christ also in whom they have Believed and that Spirit that dwelt in those that Persecuted our Lord dwells too much in you they call'd the Master of the House Beelzebub and also a Blasphemer no Marvel then if his Followers be called so We remember this Caution The Servant is not greater than his Lord we are sorry for your sakes that you should Offer that Injury to your own Souls but do desire you to Repent that God may shew you Mercy for you together with your Minister lie under that Wo spoken of in Isaiah 5. in calling Good Evil and Light Darkness Further whereas you confess That you and your Minister accompanied F. Bugg to one Quakers House and sent one of his Printed Charges in a Letter to Samuel Cater Answ This is a clear Confession here are Eighteen of you and your Minister have Espoused F. Bugg's Challenge and sent it not only to a Quaker's House but to S. Cater of Little Port in the Isle of Ely for him and Five more of his Brethren to come forth and joyn with your Minister and F. Bugg and Four more So now you have done well to be Ingenuous and Confess your Act for now the Challenge lies at your Door Here is a Printed Challenge you sent Dated August 10. 1698. And here is your Minister's Letter Dated August 28. 1698. And here is the 3 d of October fixt for the Day of the Dispute and if we do not Appear we must be judged Insincere and Cowardly And all this on your Part before the Quakers wrote their Friendly Letter Dated September the 7th 1698. ERRATA PAge 7. line 10. for laghed read laughed l. 29. f. ye there r. yet here p. 13. l. 13. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 20. l. 27. f. Office r. Office p. 48. l. 10. f. Preist r. Priest FINIS