and agree about Visiting the Sick and Lying-in Women that are poor and to help young Maids to Services and all such Works of Charity These Works are Ordinances of God although Men and Women are his Instruments to perform them But in some places where we are but few and can do that Service without a distinct Womens Meeting and in divers Monthly Meetings the Men and Women meet together for the Care of the Poor and other Services needful and not meerly for Formality sake as F. Bugg would make the World believe we do some things F. Bugg makes a great noise in divers of his Books of the Quakers Address to King James for granting liberty in the exercise of Religion and he says we have made no Address to King William our Address to King James is as justifiable as any other Perswasion whatsoever in the 3 d. Month called May 1687. in a Gazette I find the Bishop of Durham presented an Address to the King in the behalf of the City of Durham and the Bishop of Chester also another Address in the behalf of himself and the Clergy in general belonging to his Diocess also the Independants and Anabaptists of the City of Bristol and the Presbyterians also of the same City and it is likely there was more for I find all these before-mentioned in one Gazette and all these Addresses were concerning liberty in the Exercise of Religion In my Judgment they did well to incourage the King to keep his promise for Liberty in the Exercise of Religion is a good thing and whatsoever is good in it self comes from God altho King James was Instrumental to procure it yet it stands to this day and there was no doubt but that King William would confirm it coming out of a Country where Liberty is allowed and hath been so beneficial to that Government there was no need to incourage King William in this concern I have not seen any Address made to him by any Dissenters yet I believe they are all thankful for their Liberty F. Bugg says in Page 7. That Quakerism is such a Sandy Foundation that they are not able to produce the Articles of their Faith they pretend to The Quakers are no Faith makers they say that true Faith is the Gift of God Only This shews what a Quaker he was when he was amongst us altho ' the Quakers are no Faith makers yet they have the Principles of their Religion contained in a small Book about three Sheets of Paper entituled Truth 's Principles Or those things about Doctrine and Worship which are most assuredly believed and received amongst the People of God called Quakers And other Books also these are our Ancient Principles and hath been reprinted three or four times since I came amongst the Quakers which is above 35 Years I bought a dozen of them at one time and gave them amongst the most Eminent of the Clergy whereof Doctor Gunning afterward Bishop of Ely was one of them I desired an answer of him and others also but never received one from any of them at last a Clergy-man came to my House that was related to my Husband I desired him to answer them he promised me before he read them that he would but when he had read them he said that I should have no other answer than this that he did not intend to be a Fool in Print these Principles declares that our Faith is not a Man-made Faith Also they treat of the Substance of true Religion in General I believe there are but few Magistrates that are not Priest-ridden but may understand so much of the Priciples of our Religion as to clear us of those Aspersions that F. Bugg has cast upon us in divers of his Books upon the account of our Religion he charges the Quakers with preferring their own Books above the Scriptures this is as false as any thing can be for the Scriptures are often quoted and expounded in our Meetings as most People that comes to our Meetings can witness but for our Books they are never quoted nor mentioned in our Meetings by our Ministers in Preaching that I know But F. Bugg pleads that we read Epistles from our Ministers and never read a Chapter in the Bible these Epistles are read after our Meetings for Worship are over at the end of the Meeting and that not once in a Year scarcely In Page the 25 th F. Bugg says I have a Letter by me which my Cousen Ann Docwra Widdow of Cambridge sent me dated the 26 th of the 12 th Month viz. G. Whitehead hath sent me one of his Books for me to read and there is the old Mony-Story in it with I know not what besides I was asked by an honest Friend if he was not a Jesuit I answered nay it is not solid enough for them to own especially when they write to a solid People there is pretty much airy conceited Stuff in it This Letter is a meer forged thing I can truly say I never writ any such Letter to him neither did G. Whitehead send me any Book to read with a Mony Story in it or without one I was not so well acquainted with him then as for him to send me Books to read But I remember F. Bugg came to my House about that time this Letter was dated and complained of G. Whitehead very much and of a Book he had writ that concerned him I remember'd I had seen such a Book in our Booksellers hands but I read but little of it because I did not buy it but what is in this forged Letter he spoke to me then by word of Mouth and not I to him he calls me Cousin there is no reason for that I am sure he is nothing a-Kin to me neither can he make it appear that he is Kin to my Husband I have seen my Husbands Pedegree and there is not the name of F. Bugg in it I will now take notice of something of Concernment in his Book Page 58. he says that the Preachers take Mony for Preaching This is a strange Story to me that such a thing should be amongst us and I not know it which have been above 35 Years amongst Them and never heard any Body say so but F. Bugg a pritty many Years ago I asked him who paid them He answered They were George Fox ' s Pensioners This shews that F. Bugg gave them no Mony for if he had he would have printed it and the Sum also in some of his Books I can truly say I never gave any Mony upon that account of Preaching neither was I ever asked for any only upon the account of a great loss a Preacher had by Fire I gave Mony upon that account But if Preachers be Poor they ought to be relieved I know no honest Friend that will see them want or grudge what they do upon that account but to my knowledge some Apostate Quakers have done so In Page 34. F. Bugg says That his
AN Apostate-Conscience EXPOSED AND THE Miserable Consequences thereof DISCLOSED FOR Information and Caution By an Ancient Woman and Lover of Truth and the sincere Friends thereof A. D. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaâ—â—…-Hall-Street 1699. AN Apostate-Conscience EXPOSED c. IT is not unknown to many of you what Contests have been about Religious Concerns in this Nation and what Unmerciful Means have been used to bring all Protestant Dissenters to the Church of England and altho' the Penal Statutes allowed both a lawful and reasonable Excuse that would not be allowed but some of the most sottish and busie Men of the Clergy always obstructed it under pretence that no Law was to be allowed but in case of Old Age or Infirmities of Body by which means the Magistrates that were most ignorant and busie were meer drudges to those Clergy-men of the immoderate sort and would hear nothing of Reason many times nor suffer Consciencious Dissenters to speak for themselves But our Merciful God looking upon the Afflictions of his People moved in the Heart of the King and Civil Magistrates to grant Tole in a do the Protestant Dissenting Subjects of this ation for which we are truly thankful and I do really believe that God hath a Blessing in store for all Kings that are so well disposed as to grant Liberty in the Exercise of Religion to Dissenting Subjects although of different Persuasions in matters of Religion 't is of greater concern than any worldly Interest or Profit and will be a great means to root Hypocrisie out of this Nation for forced Conformity makes Hypocrites but never makes good Christians or Subjects to any Prince Now Liberty is granted there can be no pretence of quarrelling with the Government that is kind to them whatsoever some have lately pretended to the contrary which hath been some cause of my undertaking this Work to Vindicate my Self and some Others that are unjustly charged with matter of Fact Some of the Clergy I Charge not all either being uneasie under the Liberty granted to the People called Quakers or by reason of their Ignorance of the Principles of their Religion have of late Years entertained a Poor Indegent Person viz. Francis Bugg of Milden-Hall in the County of Suffolk to abuse and clamour against the said People in Print but Lam persuaded it will not be for their Credit iâ— the Civil Magistrate would be so kind as to bear both Parties in their Book Impâ—â—â—â—â—â— Michael Dalton in his Book call'd Thâ—â—â—â—â—try Justice Printed Cum Privilegio 1630. exhorts the Magistrates to hear both Parties and brings several places of Scriptures for it one more remarkable than the rest in the Eighth Page Where God Almighty gives you an Example exprest in these Words Gen. 18. 21. in the case of Sodom I will now go down and see if it be altogether according to the Cry that is come up unto me Thus he shews the Magistrate how to perform his Office in true Justice in the ordering the affairs of the Nation Now because the said Francis Bugg hath accused us of matter of Fact high Crimes and Misdemeanors against the Government It belongeth to the Civil Magistrate to take notice of such things and we do desire it that they would read our Answers to his Aspersions that our Innocency may be cleared of what we are accused off This Francis Bugg says that he was a Quaker 25 Years He was but a Poor Man when he came first among us and Suffered Imprisonment several times upon the account of his Religion when he was Poor afterward he grew Rich and increased in Wealth very much his Father Died and there fell to him near 30 l. a Year by Relation he also purchased an Estate at Milden-Hall aforesaid with a fair Brick House upon it Built by a Knight Baronet for himself to dwell in for his Pleasure because his Estate lay in a durty Country I knew the Person that Built it he was my near Relation This F. Bugg had also a great Stock he was a Wool-man and used the Wool-Trade and a Shop besides of Cloaths and Stuffs and divers other things and an Adventure at Sea in a Coal Ship at Ipswich which he withdrew because of the smallness of the Profit he received by it this shews he was a Rich fore-handed-man and now Poor and blames the Quakers of being the chief cause of it which may be easily proved to the contrary neither was his Sufferings more than other Rich Men but still continued Rich so long as he was amongst us but being uneasie under his Sufferings he begun to contrive how to avoid them by subtle indirect means he writ two contentious Books against us before he conformed to the Church of England and when he was in danger of having the Statute of 20 l. a Month put in Execution against him he conformed to the Church of England and went on Writing against the Quakers until he had scribled away his Estate and run many Hundred Pounds in Debt and now goes about a Begging with a Certificate from the Bishop of Norwich About the Year 1682. he came to my House at Cambridge and made great complaint of George Fox that he had brought in Innovations into the Church about Marriages that all Marriages must be published at twice in the Men and Womens Meetings whereas they used to be published but once formerly I heard him but did not give my Judgment in this concern but let it rest until I had inquired further of it at last I understood it was an Order of Marriage of his own Recording in the Quakers Meeting Book in the Isle of Ely and partly of his own making as I understood by John Ainslo of Over in the County of Cambridge he also told me that F. Bugg was quarrelsome and that he see no way to prevent it he was so given to Contention This I can prove by his first Book he writ against the Quakers that he began the Quarrel and hath continued it to this Day F. Bugg came again to me and renewed his complaints against George Fox and George Whitehead that they were the cause of bringing Innovations into the Church he also brought a Book to me of his own Writing which he had got Printed I bought it of him the Title Page was Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Ground This Book Doctor Gunning Bishop of Ely read and said that it was an Envious Thing but the chief matter which was the Grounds of his Contention was that he would have been a Ruler over the Quakers to make Laws for them that all Preachers should tell their Names when Informers came into a Meeting to convict it whether they were asked their Names or no and pay their 20 l. Fines themselves if they were able if Poor then Money should be gathered at the Meetings for that purpose if he were fined for a Preacher that he might pay
only his own Fine that did not exceed 10 s. this may be proved out of his own second Book intituled The Painted Harlot c. no Quaker that I knew would consent to this F. Bugg might have kept from the Meetings if he was not free to suffer what Fines the Magistrate laid upon him for his complaints concerning the due order of Marriages that was but a Cavil to cover these designs but after we were Rid of him we have had no Contention about that or any matter in this County or the Isle of Ely But when he see he was slighted by his Friends in these parts he travelled about into other places to make Division amongst the Quakers in other parts of the Nation and so went on Writing until he had Written 20 Books against the Quakers first and last some of them are above 300 Pages which must needs be a great Charge the Printing besides his neglecting his Trade and giving himself wholly to Contention and Travelling about upon that account until he was forc'd to fly to the Clergy for relief The Bishop of Norwich hath so far taken him under his special Care as to give him his charitable Recommendation and he and those Clergy-men that have incouraged him in his Writing Books ought to pay his Debts and provide for his Livelihood if they do not they must needs come of with some Disgrace in this Business At that time when F. Bugg brought me his first Book I knew nothing of the grounds of his Quarrel I had not inquired into the whole business and knowing nothing to the contrary but that he was morally Honest he being at my House with his usual Complaints against G. Fox and G. Whitehead I told him That I had not been at London many Years but I did intend to go thither in the Spring and examine the cause of his Complaints One of my Sisters hearing of my Intention sent to me to take up her Lodgings but they were to remote from my business In the beginning of the Month called April 1683. I took my Journey to London in the Stage-Coach a Maid Servant with me when I came at my Inn there met me a Woman in a Coach to conduct me to my Lodging she was a Stranger to me but very Civil and Kind to me she told me That F. Bugg had provided me Lodgings at her House I went along with her it was a Whole-Sale Mercer's House I shall forbear to name him at length but by T. C. I was very kindly used by him in all respects but he was something reserved about the Differences between G. Fox G. Whitehead and F. Bugg but he referred me to a Manuscript that lay in his Ware-House in Folio of a verry large Vollume I read in it divers times when I was at leasure and looked over some of it the greatest part of what I read was about the Controversies between the Quakers and the Clergy of the late Professing Times called Oliver's Days and something concerning the Magistrates also I told T. C. that it did little concern the present Differences that was now in Controversie which might be written in a very small Vollume he told me he had some thoughts of Printing a few of them I was unwilling he should be at so unnecessary a Charge which signified little or nothing I disswaded him from it I saw that it would not quit Cost to satisfie any Party whatsoever F. Bugg's Charges and Arguments I take to be mostly in that Manuscript that he hath writ against the Quakers and not proceeding from his own Genius except it be some of his Fantastical Whimsies and Perversions that he hath added to the Work I had never seen George Fox before this Journey to London nor George Whitehead but once and that but a very short time I went to his House where I met with George Fox I had but little Discourse with them the Woman of the House was Sick at that time but G. Fox directed me to the Meeting-Chamber for Business and the Clerk that kept the Chamber would satisfie me in any business I desired when I came there he shewed me some Books one was writ against F. Bugg and some others I looked into it and perceived the Differences were too wide for me to Compose I stay'd a Month in Town in that time I writ an Epistle of Love and Good-will to my old Friends and Fellow-Sufferers in the late Times the old Royalists and their Posterity c. and carried it to G. Whitehead who got it Printed for me When I had finished my Concerns at London I paid T. C. what he asked for my Bord and he was very reasonable then I returned home to Cambrige Soon after I came home I writ a Paper of the most material Passages of the Controversie that hapned in those parts where I dwelt I sent it to T. C. aforesaid to be Printed it was Printed upon a Sheet of Paper upon one side only with no Person 's Name in it T. C. sent me down about a Quire of them and disposed of the rest himself about a Month after he sent me this Paper I received from him the same Paper Reprinted in half a Sheet printed on all sides with an Addition of Characters and Names in it viz. G. F's party G. Whitehead and T. Ellwood with my name to the Paper I complained in a Letter to T. C. that I was abused in Printing that Paper without my Consent or Knowledge and to set my name to it T. C. writ me word That if I would not own it I might put out a short Advertisement in Print to disown it and he would get it printed for me and it should cost me no more than a Burying-Ticket which was Five Shillings I soon sent up a quarter of a Sheet of Paper with a short Advertisement in it the substance of it was That I did disown the half Sheet with the Characters and Names in it and what I writ in my whole Sheet was not against Parties nor Persons but against the wrong Spirit when he had received this small Paper and the 5 s. he soon got it printed and sent me down some of them and writ me word that he had carried the rest to the Meeting Chamber for Business and delivered them to the Clerk therein T. C. did honestly and shewed me kindness but F. Bugg I always found to the contrary as may be seen hereafter When I went next to London I made inquiry who was the cause of the putting out the aforesaid half Sheet T. C. would tell me nothing I was acquainted with none of F. Bugg's Friends but old John Penniman I went to him to know if he had a hand in the Printing the half Sheet he said he had seen it but he scorned to do such an unjust thing the next time I see F. Bugg I examined him if he had a hand in that piece of Deceit the half Sheet that was printed without my knowledge and my
most-rambling Stuff not worth the regarding had not some of the Clergy Countenanced him and owned his Books which gives us occasion to take notice of them to clear our selves of what we are wrongfully Accused of In his 18th Book page 60. F. Bugg says That there was a Rumour in the Country in the Year 1663 or 1664. that George Fox had in one Nights time 24 Languages given to him by Divine Inspiration and I did believe says F. Bugg and divers others for Twenty Years That he did believe it this I know to be true but for divers more I never heard of but one and he was accounted a Shatter-headed Man by all that knew him I heard this Story many Years ago and took notice of it and spoke of it to my Brother G. Barnadistone of Clare in the County of Suffolk a Man well known to be a Wise and Honest Man I told him that we had some Shatter-brained People amongst us and if they went on so we should want a Religious Bedlam for such Mad Folks my Brother Replied that it was true there was some Shatter-headed People amongst us and the best way was to use them kindly so long as they were morally Honest for some had recovered being sincerely Honest but they were not to be disturbed for that would make them worse I I always used F. Bugg kindly for I saw nothing to the contrary but that he was morally Honest for divers Years after this only I perceived he had some Freaks and Whimsies at times which I took no notice of to him I saw he was a Man capable of managing his own Concerns well enough and some other Peoples business if he undertook it In his 18th Book the Second Part page 148 149 and 150. there is a Letter concerning a Common Bank this Letter hath no Name to it in that Book but in his 19th Book he chargeth this Letter upon me I read over his 18th Book twice and did not in the least suspect it to be mine it was so Metamorphosed but I do not charge F. Bugg with the false Transcribing it the Man is dead I writ to concernig a Common Bank and I suppose it came into F. Bugg's hands of late Years since the Man died for if he had had it sooner I suppose that it would have been Printed before the Year 1697. which is the Date of his 18th Book the Date of the Letter is 1684. After I understood he charged me with this Printed Letter I sent for a Cambridge Man that I used to imply to send Letters into Harfordshire for me that was acquainted with some of my Concerns I shewed him a Copy of a Letter concerning a Common Bank he remembred the Letter very well for I read it to him before I sealed it because he was concerned in this Letter as well as my self and sent it by him he since gave me a Certificate of the whole sum of the Letter which is as followeth WHereas Francis Bugg hath accused the People called Quakers of having a common Bank in several of his Books printed 1697 and 1698. by reason of a Letter he has printed that concerns Ann Docwra and my self bearing date the 11 th Month 1684. This is to Certifie those that desire to know the Truth of this concern that about Twenty Years ago a Warehouse in Roystone was robbed wherein I had above 30 l. worth of Goods which I lost then soon after this loss my Friends in Hertfordshire at a Meeting gathered 10 l. and sent it to me towards my loss I knowing nothing of it until the Mony was brought me for I did neither desire nor expect any Mony from them their Mony remained in my Hands about six Years until my eldest Son was about taking a Wife which was obstructed by one of the separate Quakers then a Prisoner at Hertford and the aforesaid 10 l. was demanded by him pretending it was but lent me there was at that time in the Prison about 13 more of my honest Friends they all declared that the Mony was given by them and some other honest Friends Ann Docwra understanding by me how I was dealt with by the Man that claimed the Mony did bid me ask him what he would do with it his answer was he would put it into a common Bank She soon after writ a Letter to him which she read to me and gave it me to send it to him which I did in that Letter she charged him with a common Bank and none else besides him for all the rest of the Friends in the Prison disowned his common Bank nevertheless lest he should make a noise for the Mony and use further means to obstruct my Son's Marriage I sent him the 10 l. Some Months after he had a great loss by Fire so that he said he could not subsist without some help then some Friends told him that it was a just Judgment from God upon him for defrauding me of my Mony and setting up a common Bank This is a real Truth I herein Testifie Cambrige the 17 th Day of the 8 th Month call'd October 1698. Witness my Hand John Clement MEmorandum That Whereas Francis Bugg saith in his Book called A Sober Expostulation c. in the name of John Peacock c. We have told the Bookseller at St. Ives that if he Sells any of Francis Bugg ' s Books he shall lose his Trade with us I do hereby declare that neither John Peacock nor any other Person called a Quaker forbid me Selling or spake to me not to Sell Francis Bugg's Books nor any thing tending to that purpose Witness my hand this 19th of December 1698. Thomas Stockre Sign'd in the Presence of Chistopher Kay John Rogers In his 19 th Book entituled A Sober Expostulation c. in Page 10. F. Bugg writes to John Peacock of St. Ives Draper viz. Why do you suffer your She-Prelate i. e. Ann Dockwra to tell solemn lyes to the Magistrate to serve a turn which being by the Magistrate asked whether the Quakers had a common Purse or Bank she answered No which said she in her letter to me gave them great Satisfaction yet in the same letter to me confesses to me that you have a Bank or common Fund and that it would never be well whilst the Quakers put away their Dagon as at large in her letter to me printed in The Picture of Quakerism c. p. 148 to 150. This is such a piece of Forgery as is seldom heard of that I should write to him about a common Bank after he had conformed to the Church of England and charge him with those things in that letter this is the true liberty of an Apostate-Conscience to Forge lyes of me that always used him kindly and never disobliged him until after he had printed these things and then I reproved him sharply I have dwelt above 18 Years in Cambridge and I can truly say that no Magistrate asked me such a Question whether we had
Charges were greater to the Quakers Preachers in three Months than the Church of England Ministers have been in 15 Years I know no reason that the Church of England Preachers should lye upon F. Bugg more than upon others they want it not they have the Tenth Part of the increase of the greatest part of the Lands in the Nation and of the Labour and Industry of the Husband-man and several other Incomes that I could reckon I partly know the Charge he hath been at for the Quakers Preachers which was sometimes a Nights Entertainment for them and their Horses and that not without some Invitation on F. Bugg's part but this i know by what he said to me upon that account that the grudged their entertainment although he invited them to his House he divers times told me that the Quakers were chargeable to him I told him it was his own fault to give them entertainment and then grudge it After the decease of my Husband I kept a publick Meeting at my House in the Country about three Miles from Cambrige for about seven Years and entertained all Travelling Preachers and some others also I did not find it so chargeable as F. Bugg speaks of I do not think I was the Poorer upon that account of entertaining Preachers what I lost was upon the account of the Magistrate in the Year 1673. who plunder'd me for keeping Meetings at my House at a time when the King by Proclamation had granted Liberty of Conscience in matters of Religion nevertheless I kept up the Meeting at my House for above Six Years after that until a publick Meeting-House was provided on that side of the Country where I dwelt and then there was no need of my House so I removed to Cambrige F. Bugg knows this he hath been at some Meetings at my House and lain at my House also In Page 62. F. Bugg says if we look into Fox's Order for Marriages you may observe that he points to have the matter laid before the Ministers and therefore I shall shew you a brief Testimony of one of their Female Preachers a Woman of Note amongst them in a Letter I have by me c. in the Margent he quotes Ann Docwra's Letter This Letter I have disowned before with a Certificate to prove it false towards the beginning of this Book it mostly concerns a Common Bank and obstructing a Lawful Marriage by an Apostate-Quaker one that went about to make Devisions amongst us as F. Bugg did and to his report that I am a She-Preacher that he cannot prove that I ever Preached in a publick Meeting I have dwelt above 18 Years at Cambrige and he cannot prove this to be true That is not the Office in the Church that God hath called me to I have no Commission from God to Preach in a Meeting our Preachers have a Commission from God and they speak what he requires of them they know when to speak and when to be silent And when God requires me to speak or write I will not be silent as I am not at this time to reprove F. Bugg in writing for abusing so many honest Persons as he hath done in this wicked Book I suppose that F. Bugg was not the Author of some part of this Book called the 20 th Book for divers reasons for I heard that he was 16 weeks from home when this Book was written only he came home some times for a night or two least his Family should be at a loss for him and think he was come to some Misfortune Secondly he was seen at Oxford at the same time when this Book was about writing Thirdly it is written somthing in a better Form than his former Books are yet there is much of F. Bugg's Whimsies in divers places in it but more particularly in the Front under his Picture he was first courted by the Library-keeper of Bodleian Library at Oxford See his 19 th Book called the Picture of Quakerism the Second Part Page 164. there is a Letter from the Library-keeper to F. Bugg which begins thus Mr. Bugg you must needs think it strange to receive a Letter from a Man so utterly unknown to you c. It is matter of Admiration that University-Men should take his Books for Truth upon the Credit and Relation of F. Bugg being a stranger to them and an Apostate-Quaker which was never accounted good by any Rational Honest Men of what Persuasion soever I have read his three last Books lately and do affirm that there are as many repetitions of Lyes as there are Leaves in those Books only they are the same Lyes written over and over again very many times But F. Bugg met with Credulous Persons for his purpose to make a Market on to get his Debts paid For F. Bugg says in his last Book that ☞ Oxford exceeded Cambrige in their bounty to him It is worth the observing and a Mercy to us also that now they have entertained F. Bugg for their Informer against the Quakers they are obliged to pay him out of their own Purses formerly the Informers were paid out of our Estates by the spoil of our Goods I now come to answer something more that concerns my self and some others page 64 65. there are Verses F. Bugg says I writ of G. Fox this is False and that he knows in his own Conscience that I have told him divers times to the contrary in former Years and lately also a little before he writ this last Book The Verses I writ had a short Declaration at the beginning wherein a Preacher is mentioned but not G. Fox nor any other Man by Name I always told him that whatsoever I writ it was not against G. Fox these Printed Verses are partly mine and partly his own there is both adding and diminishing from mine in several places of them and mis-placing divers of them and making them hobble like his own in the very beginning by adding John Story 's Name in them the Man that these Verses did concern was dead some Years before G. Fox's decease But F. Bugg says he hath the Manuscript by him That may be forged I writ a plain hand easie to be Counterfeited I have several of the Copies of my Verses by me and can prove that those Printed Verses differs from mine in divers places I have something to say of some of our Preachers which F. Bugg hath abused much in Print The first two are Thomas Green and Samuel Cater my Brother G. Barnardiston's Companions in his Travels beyond the Seas in the Service of Truth to spread the Gospel in Forreign Nations F. Bugg says that Thomas Green was a poor Mason and now worth many Thousands But he does not say of what if he means Pounds I believe he does not say true T. Green hath neither House nor Land that ever I heard of upon enquiry his Wife Ellen Green had several Hundred Pounds given her by some of her Relations as I have often heard which
with that Child that G. Smith owned but it was put by then by her self or some other Persons but she happened to be with Child again and then the same Man Married her that would have Married her when she was with Child before but the common Report goes that the Child she was withal when she Married was neither G. Smith's nor the Man's she Married but the Woman was Rich and that preferr'd her to a Husband It is said that she lives honestly and soberly with the Man that she is now Married to they are no Quakers so called neither the Man nor the Woman After I read this Story of F. Bugg's I made strict inquiry by credible Persons and have made a true Relation according to the Account I received although I knew most of it before This G. Smith I am acquainted with and will give this Character of him as most understanding Men in Little Port do say That he is a Man of excellent Parts to manage any Business concerning Estates he has been Guardian to many Orphans and their Estates not only Quakers Children but People of other Perswasions have made him Guardian to their Children's Estates also and he hath performed his Trust with so much Honesty and Industry for the advantage of the Orphans that he hath gained great Reputation in the Town where he dwells and Country thereabouts I will Vindicate him further by a Warrantable Example of David's Sin and Repentance For if there had been no more Recorded in the Holy Scriptures of David but his Adultery he would have been esteemed a worse Man than G. Smith because of the known Murder but true Repentance wipes away the Reproach of Man's Sin out of the Sight of God and Good Men. But F. Bugg says The Boy the Widow had is like G. Smith which he does not own It may be never the more so for Bugg's say so and if it were supposedly so that is no certain Rule There may be a secondary cause of likeness after a Child is begotten whosoever reads F. Malebranch that Famous French Man in his Search after Truth which is the Title of his Book may find therein many excellent Things both Divine and Natural but I do not justifie all that is in that Book but do approve of many things in it he hath a pretty large Discourse of the Accidents that happens to a Child in the Womb of a Woman after it is Begotten in producing different likeness with remarkable Arguments upon this subject That which makes me the larger upon this subject is to shew F. Bugg's Malice to so near a Relation as G. Smith is to him they are Cousin Garmans own Sisters Children This shews F. Bugg's ill Nature and Folly in making such a Noise to render so near a Relation rediculous but some cause of it is plainly to be seen in his Malice against G. Whitehead because he said that G. Smith was a well-meaning Man one that hath lived uprightly ever since he came amongst us F. Bugg can prove nothing to the contrary when G. Whitehead writ this Relation of him nor any Body else that I know of but it is really believed he was really so then this that G. W. hath written was some Years before G. Smith's failing and we doubt not but that his Repentance will shew forth that he hath a real Principle of Sincerity towards God and Man at this Day In Bugg's Picture of Quakerism the second Part Page 164. the University Library-keeper of Oxford promised F. Bugg That his Books shall be received into the University Library at Oxford and there be preserved and his Donation shall be particularly registred amongst other Benefactors If it may be permitted the Book called The Cobler of Glocester may be registred also That Book shews the Vices of many of the Clergy and points at them naming their Names and Habitations which those Clergy-men mentioned therein never refuted or took notice of nor any Body else for them that ever I heard of F. Bugg in his Pilgrims Progress Page 154. in the Margent says About four Years thereof I was in their Community labouring for a Reformation His Book called The Painted Harlot c. shews that his Labour was to get Mony when he was fined for any Preacher of whomsoever he could get it amongst us he got 15 l. of his Cousin G. Smith aforesaid by Fraud upon that account that was no Preacher this I know to be true he hath confessed it to me and Printed it also and covered it with bold Excuses as much as he could F. Bugg was fined for a Preacher 15 l. and got it by Fraud of his Kinsman aforesaid the Justice that fined him gave him 5 l. of the Mony back again this he concealed divers Years until Edward Swanton the Priest of the Town where the Meeting was fined discovered it and gave a Certificate under his Hand that the Justice told him that he gave F. Bugg 5 l. of the Mony again that he was fined for at that Meeting at Lacking-Heath in Suffolk but F. Bugg says That Edward Swanton the Priest was a bad Man and not to be believed And that the Justice gave him the 5 l. upon another account I have heard that the Justice was Dead before this Controversie was on foot F. Bugg is now in the Church of England and would have the Priests believed in the Pulpit but not out of the Pulpit except it is for his Interest It is likely that this Edward Swanton did give this Certificate meerly out of Conscience when he heard that F. Bugg had defrauded his Kinsman of the whole 15 l. upon the account of that Meeting and had concealed the 5 l. that the Justice gave him back a short time after the Justice had the 15 l. in his Hand In Pag. 155. F. Bugg brings divers Certificates to clear himself of several things whereof one is as followeth viz. That F. Bugg neither is nor ever was distracted nor discomposed since any of us can remember him or that ever we heard of This is the worst Character of him that his Friends could give But if he be not shatter-headed and discomposed in his Mind He is one of the greatest Deceivers and Lyers that this Age hath produced But my Judgment is more favourable I know by the Discourse I have had with him lately that he is disturbed in his Mind beyond all Reason if he be crossed in any Discourse or Writing against him and then he knows not when he speaks Truth and when he Lyes When he first writ against us some Friends told him that he writ Lyes His Answer was That his Pen would run too quick sometimes and now lately I told him of some Passages in his Books that he had made false Quotations out of our Books and mentioned one to him out of Edward Burrough his Works where he had rambled above a hundred Pages and gathered up Words and made one intire Paragraph of them His Answer was that
time he was Indepted many Hundred Pounds more than he was worth He also gave Bond to make his Wife a Jointure of some part of his Estate which he hath since Sold to his Son These things he has confessed to me and others And a few Months after the aforesaid Marriage of his Daughter he broke and was sculking about in the Isle of Ely He then writ to me to conveigh a Paper-parcel to Milden-Hall for him the Letter bears Date as followeth June Saturday the 19 th or 20 th Day 1697. When I received this Letter I was much surprised that F. Bugg should make such a Request to me which had held no Correspondence with him for above Twelve Years nor so much as read any of his Books in that time only I had seen the Answers to them This Request to me I looked upon as a Trapan that he might have some Colour to pretend that I was one of his Party in Print I did not intend to concern my self with any of his Paper-parcels if they had been brought to me and I writ to him an answer to that purpose And in my Letter I reproved him for his Apostacy also So I cleared my self of his Concerns at that time These aforementioned things concerning his Daughter's Marriage his Defrauding his Wife of her Jointure and Scribling away that which should have pay'd his Debts shews that the Bishop lies under a great mistake as to F. Bugg ' s Honesty and Industry The Bishop in his Certificate further says That F. Bugg took great Pains to Undeceive and Convert the Quakers by publishing Useful Books and that not without Success This is a Matter of great Concernment if it were true I and many more can Witness that he neither proved us in Error neither were we so far Influenced by F. Bugg as to give Credit to what he writ although F. Bugg counted me to be one of his Proselytes in his 20th Book Pag. 133. where he says That I opposed G. Fox ' s Tyranny I never had any Controversie with G. Fox from the time I was first acquainted with him to the time of his Decease And when I had heard the Controversie on both sides I found that there was many Lyes Forged of him which made me pitty him and have the better esteem of him I never heard any of the Separate Quakers that opposed him except F. Bugg say that he was a Tyrant But some of them have said to me that now in his old Age he was Childish and Wilful I did not perceive any Childishness in him after that but I pleaded that G. Fox had done much Service for Truth and if I had a Dog that had done me good Service I would not hang him in his old Age nor use him ill when his Service was at an end that shewed an ill Nature to do so But to return to my former Discourse of what Proselytes F. Bugg hath made amongst the Quakers I have as good Intelligence as the Bishop in our own Concerns and I hear of none that owned F. Bugg or his Books except he counts those that Conformed to the Church of England in the time of the Persecution to save their Estates and they may be more properly accounted the Persecuting Magistrates and the Bishop's Proselytes than F. Bugg's yet I never heard that those People owned F. Bugg's Books But F. Bugg may plead That there are some Separate Quakers that own him and his Books that was before he conformed to the Church of England that many of them did own his first Book and his second Book was owned by some of them which occasioned me to write to one of them of my Acquaintance That F. Bugg had written Lyes in his second Book to give the Separatists warning of him I believe it will be hard for the Bishop and F. Bugg to produce five Persons that ever was Quakers that do own any of his Books that have been written for these last seven Years and more even those that were called Separate Quakers It is true that he spent his Time and Estate in making Divisions amonst us and a Separate Meeting was set up in London which continued divers Years called Harp-Lane Meeting but have been disolved about two Years and those People excepting a very few comes now to our Meetings as I understand There are divers honest People amongst them they might see the inconveniency of Separate Meetings and withdraw from it which might happen by George Keith and some others making Divisions amongst them by rasing new Notions of Religion which was not entertained amongst most of them but they held the same Principles as to Religion and Worship as we do although F. Bugg says to the contrary but he does not say true for I was at one of their Meetings and there was two Preachers and they preached the same Doctrine that all other Quakers do the Differences that F. Bugg raised at first was about some particular Men that was owned by some and dis-owned by others about Church Government F. Bugg and some others were for Liberty without true Measure this was Rantisnt as appears by F. Bugg's own Books there came down from London some Orders for Church Government that were friendly recommended to us about several things But that which was made a Controversie of in these Parts Was an Order to prevent Clandestine Marriages and some other necessary Things Also Men and Women's Meetings that should take care for the Poor This was all the principal Matter of F. Bugg's Quarrels and not about any of our Principles of Religion I heard his complaints often and they were only these things I have here inserted I did not contradict him lest I should disturb his Head and set him a scribling against me at a time when I was not willing to enter into Controversie with him to put him to Charges it concerned others at that time that he had much abused in Print to take him in Hand And although I declined him then yet there is now a Bishop and some part of the Clergy that have not only countenanced him but incouraged him also which hath imboldened him to be so insolent as to Charge us in General and me in Particular with Crimes that are meerly his own Invention which will not stand with his Bishop or Clergy's Reputation if things be rightly understood See his Pilgrims Progress Page 59. in the Margent where F. Bugg says I told a Lye to the Magistate with design to Deceive as bad as Perjury Altho' I have cleared my self and my Friends as to matter of Fact in this case in the fore-part of my Book yet there remains a further Consideration in this point that we may have some Satisfaction from F. Bugg's Bishop and Clergy if they do not make good F. Bugg's Charge against me and others by credible Witnesses which is no less than the Laws of the Land requires It is a disparagment to my Friends and Relations to have one of them