Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	answer_n	letter_n	receive_v	778	5	5.2253	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B01449	The defence of the people called Quakers: being a reply, to a book lately published by certain priests of the county of Norfolk, under the pretended title of The Quakers challenge. And containing, some brief and modest animadversions upon the book it self. Several certificates, which detect the errors in those of West-Dereham, and clear the people called Quakers of the said challenge. The letters that passed between them and the priests.	Ashby, Richard, 1663?-1734.	1699 (1699)	Wing A3939; Interim Tract Supplement Guide 4152.f.20[18]; ESTC R1295	32,665	56

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

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

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