Advice he makes this harsh and rugged Observation The greatest piece of Folly says he Weakness and ridiculous Nonsense I think that ever any Man was injoined Would one not think this Man Mad not only to call beseeching injoining but to call it the greatest piece of Folly Weakness and ridiculous Nonsense to beseech a Man in Bowels of Love to wait in humility and quietness â—â—on the Lord that in his meek and lowly Spirit he may come to be reconciled this Brethren Yet he sticks not at this nor stops here but adds and it is so diculous the Case considered that it rather bespeaks the scorn and detestation of all than any notice to be taken of it by all that cannot be thus beseeched and bowelled out their Wits and right Senses the Matter in charge considered which is True and no 〈◊〉 What a passionate Spirit is this What to say it bespeaks the scorn and â—â—â—estation of all to but beseech one in Bowels of Love to wait in humility and qâ—â—â—â—ness upon the Lord that in his meek and lowly Spirit he may come to be recâ—â—iled to his Brethren and to reckon them out of their Wits and right Senses 〈◊〉 will take any notice of it Then he goes on Was ever the like false corrupt 〈◊〉 injurious Judgment Injunctions c. given forth against or injoined any Man 〈◊〉 Here he stops and says And this I think sufficient at present because I shâ—â—â—â—ve occasion to infer further upon the same under the several other Heads yet according to his usual instability and uncertainty he runs on again adding to the same Observation thus And would not the Papists themselves as much tender bowel and beseech to make a Man turn Hypocrite Lie and Betray the Truth c. And may it not as truly be said of you as formerly viz. That your tender Mercies Bovels and Beseechings is Hardheartedness Severity and Cruelty Judge now Reader whether the words he cited out of our Paper as our tender Advice to him deserved such an Observation as this he hath made upon them And by this thou may'st also guess at the rest for they are much-what after the same strain In his 7th Observation p. 29. he Cavils at our delivering our Sense that until he be reconciled to his Brethren he ought not to offer his Gift upon God's Altar Here he carps at the words God 's Altar and says If I must not offer it upon God's Altar and Christ Jesus be that Altar then I pray you upon what other Altar ought I to offer it Answer Upon none while in such an unreconciled state but seek Reconciliation first I hope says he you cannot barr up Heaven c. Answer 'T is his own Quarrelsome Spirit that hath barred up Heaven to him and his Offerings while he remains in that unreconciled State He adds I am ready to believe it is the first time that ever any Man was forbidden the Offering his Gift upon God's Altar Hath he never read or had he forgot what Christ said on that subject in his Sermon on the Mount Mat. 5.23 24. Therefore if thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there rememberest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Was not this God's Altar that they were then to offer upon And were they not here positively forbidden to offer their Gifts upon God's Altar unless they were first reconciled to their Brother How came he then so readily to believe that it is the first time that ever any Man was forbidden the offering his Gift upon God's Altar Surely what Christ said to some other Cavillers might not unjustly be applied to him Ye err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God Mat. 22.29 Had he known and considered this aright he would not have taunted us as he doth saying I pray you from whence derived you or any Man on Earth any such Authority except from Rome to so limit and enjoin me to silence whose Mouth the Lord-hath opened especially under these or such Circumstances or to thus endeavour to limit or quench the Spirit of God in me c. For he might have seen that this Authority if he will needs have it so though we exercised no Authority over him but besought him in Love was derived higher than from Rome or any Earthly Man even from the Heavenly Man Christ Jesus Nor is it the Mouth which the Lord hath opened that we would have shut or silenced but that Mouth of his which the Enemy hath opened to reproach revile and speak evil of the Faithful Servants of the Lord neither did we endeavour to limit or quench the Spirit of God in him But we desired he would endeavour to limit and quench that Spirit which lusted in him to Envy Jam. 4.5 by joining with which he had before grieved and in a great measure quenched the Spirit of God in himself But to set this more home upon him since he says he is ready to believe it is the first time that ever any Man was forbidden the offering his Gift upon God's Altar I will remind him that in a Letter of his own to W. L. and J. B. dated the 23d of the 6th Month 1690. he puts the same thing upon them thus viz. I desire of you in the mean time that according to the good Advice of our Lord Jesus and Order of the Holy Truth professed by us that ye forbear the further offering of your Gifts until you have made Satisfaction to your Brother Was he for barring up Heaven then The greatest part of the remainder of his Book after these Observations of his is levelled more particularly against me though he has not been sparing to cast his Envious Darts at me throughout the whole yet because in many places of his Book and particularly in these Observations he speaks so much and so often of his Charges against W. L. and J. B. aggravating them with high Terms and laying much weight upon them I think fit before I enter upon my own particular Defence to speak briefly to them that the Reader may see how causless his so great Complaints and Clamours are He hath divided them into Ten Articles of which the first is Their Arbitrary-like Over-ruling of Monthly Meetings His Proof for this is That they positively affirmed that a Matter under Debate at a Monthly Meeting in the first Month 1690. should not be the act of the Meeting And although when so made and recorded that afterwards they still as apparently denied it to be the act of the Meeting This was it seems about treating with I. C. about opening the Meeting-house Doors which T. C. and the rest of the Separates had wrongfully shut up and A. B. in a forward busie mind having got a few others to join with him therein would needs be tampering as I understand with T. C. about opening them and
with the Quarterly Meeting for not letting him Read his Complaint in the open Meeting and thereupon refuses tryal and nothing will serve him but to Appeal to the Yearly Meeting Judge now Reader whether this Man seeks Peace or no and studies to be quiet or whether he does not rather bend all his Wits and Force to create and continue Contention and Strife that no end may be put to Differences When we saw he was obstinately bent to answer his own Will and would not be perswaded to yield to Truth and Reason we told him to this effect That we held our selves obliged for Truth sake and in discharge of that Trust committed to us by the Quarterly Meeting to do what we could to stop the further spreading of those Contentions among them and should endeavour to find out by enquiry amongst the Friends of the Town the true state of the Difference that we might make a more certain Report thereof to the Quarterly Meeting which had imployed us And this being in the Forenoon we desired another Meeting in the Afternoon of the same Day with the Friends of the Town This was not only proposed openly but A. B. was desired to bring with him what Friends he pleased What could be fairer than this Would any but a guilty Man have found fault with it Yet against this A. B. exclaims grievously and against us for it as if never had the like Injury been done Thus he sets it forth It 's to be noted that when O. S. with the 〈◊〉 of the Seven saw that I was not satisfied to leave the Matter to them though haâ—ing as I thought given them sufficient Reason for it that he with the rest did immediately the same Day of their own accord without either the Knowledge Approbation Consent or Agreement of the Quarterly Meeting appoint another Meeting the latter part of the same Day both contrary to all Methods Order Practice or President in the Case ever heard of or used that I know of amongst us before c. Is not this a Ridiculous Exception for any one to make especially for one that fain would pass for a Wise Man Would he have had us to have staid near Three Months to have asked the Quarterly Meeting which had left the whole Matter to us whether if one Meeting about it would not suffice we might appoint two And whether if we were not satisfied in the Forenoon we might not meet again in the Afternoon He carries on his Cavil further blaming us for inviting both Men and Women and they too only such as we best liked and approved of To the first I say both Men and Women were proper to be present for he had complained on behalf of others as well as himself who might be Women as well as Men for ought we knew and he would not tell us who or what they were To the latter I say we shut out no Friends but desired the Company of such especially as were most sensible of Truth 's Concerns Accordingly the greater part of the Friends those especially that were most sensible of the hurt and mischief of these Dissentions met with us and when we had sate together some time waiting on the Lord in his Holy Fear we desired the Parties who were the Accusers and them also who were Accused to withdraw that we might enquire of the Friends concerning the state of the Differences that were among them and they might inform us the more freely Accordingly W. L. and J. B. who were the Accused did withdraw But the Accusers viz. A. B. and R. S. refused to withdraw but continuing among us did strive with much vehemency to hinder the Friends from giving us an account of the Differences and by whom the Offences had entered and were continued amongst them for that we desired to know according to the Knowledge and Sense they had thereof And this one would think he had he been in the Truth that is plain and innocent would have been desirous we should know But being guilty this pinched him and angered him and in p. 4. of his Book he complains that we did then and there propose unto them this following intricate improper and impertinent Question viz. Whether W. L. and J. B. or A. B. himself were the Cause of the Disturbance that had happened in their Meetings Was this an intricate Question Was it improper or impertinent to be known or asked What Question could have been more plain What more proper and pertinent to be asked than this But I perceive now he would have had us have asked another sort of Question viz. Whether those Articles and Charges that he had drawn up against W. L. and J. B. were in the Thoughts of those Friends true or false Had that been a proper or pertinent Question I pray when the Monthly Meeting before which he had laid those Articles and Charges had not examined or enquired into them but to free themselves from the trouble and difficulty thereof had referred them to the Quarterly Meeting Nay had it not been both improper and absurd for us to have put that Question to the Friends much more to have concluded any thing upon their Thoughts concerning the truth or falshood of those particular Articles and Charges when as A. B. who was the Author of them refused to submit them to us or let us have the examining of them Yet the Friends did severally according to the Experience they had the Observations they had made and the Sense God had given unto them declare That A. Bonifield himself was the man that had frequently broken the Peace of the Publick Meetings by smiting at honest Friends which had brought great Grief and Burden upon many tender Hearted ones And that they did believe that W. L. and J. B. were not such men as he had represented them to be viz. to seek to Exercise Lordship over their Brethren But that by long Experience they had found them to be faithful Consciencious Serviceable Friends After we had received this Account from the Friends of the place A. B. having utterly refused to bring the particular matters to an hearing before us in order to be ended by us we who were appointed by the Quarterly Meeting withdrew among our selves to confer together about the matter and to draw up a Report thereof to be made to the next Quarterly Meeting And before we went away it arose in our Hearts in the Love of God to write a few Lines tenderly to A. B. to persuade him to be quiet which we did as followeth Abraham Bonifield IN the tender Love of God desiring the Peace and Welfare of thy Soul and of all the Called of God do we send these Lines to thee to entreat and beseech thee to study to be quiet and keep low to the measure of God's Spirit given to thee to profit withal and to forbear any more smiting at thy Fellow Servants and disturbing the Peace of the Meetings of God's People to the
grief of many tender hearted Friends as hath evidently been manifested to us this day before thy Face Wherefore we earnestly desire thee to be advised and labour to amend what hath been amiss that thou mayest be reconciled to thy Brethren before it be too late We are thy Friends heartily wishing thy Welfare William Austel John Gidding Edmond Orpwood Rich. Vokins Jun. Oliver Sansom James Potter William Cooper Reading the 24th of the 7th Month 1690. Besides this the Friends of Reading also having a great weight and burden upon their Spirits with respect to A. Bonifield's deportment amongst them did between this time and till next Quarterly Meeting send their Sense in Writing to A. B. as followeth Reading the 25th of the 10th Month 1690. Friend Abraham Bonifield WE whose Names are under-written being sorely grieved and having long born the burden of that wrong Mind and Spirit in which thou hast been smiting thy Fellow Servants in our Publick Meetings to the great grief of our Souls and likewise to the dishonour of the Blessed Truth and the Profession of it We say we have long born in Patience that which is very hard for us to bear hoping that the Labours Advice and Endeavours of many Faithful Friends might have had some place in thee But to our Sorrow we see thou lightly regardest it still persisting in that wrong Mind of disturbing our Peaceable Meetings Oh Friend we are troubled for thy sake and for the Honour of Truths sake we do intreat thee to observe that Doctrine thou so often repeatest that is to be reconciled to thy Brethren before thou offer thy Gift and so come to be reconciled in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace And this is earnestly desired by thy Friends who desires thy Welfare This was Signed by William Speakman and 21 Friends more of Reading Meeting The next Quarterly Meeting was holden at Newberry on the 5th of the 11th Month 1690. At which an Account being called for of the matter committed by the last Quarterly Meeting to us even relating to A. B. c. Report was made thereof according as we had found it which the Meeting taking notice of and being concerned both for the Honour of Truth the Peace of the Church and the recovery if possible of the Man did agree to send two Friends of the Meeting to visit him and endeavour to make him sensible of his Miscarriage and the hurt he had done thereby Accordingly a Minute of the Meeting 's Agreement thereupon was entered in the Meeting Book as followeth Newberry the 5th of the 11th Month 1690. WHereas there was something offered to the last Meeting by Abraham Bonifield of his dissatisfaction with some Proceedings of some Friends of their Monthly Meeting at Reading and the Meeting judging it most convenient did agree and make choice of some Friends to hear and determine the matter who accordingly did meet at Reading at the time appointed about it accordingly an Account is now given by the Friends concerned that when they were so met on the account of that Service Abraham Bonifield instead of bringing forth his Charge or Complaint did read a Paper of Excuses to shew cause why he would not commit his Case or give it up to the Friends as appointed by the Quarterly Meeting and agreed to by himself And judged the Quarterly Meeting to be Unjust Uncharitable and Immoral in their Proceedings herein and so refused to give up his Case to be ended by them Wherefore it is now the Judgment of this Meeting That his Carriage herein in slighting the Quarterly Meeting 's Judgment and breaking his own Agreement is contrary to the Truth And John May and James Mathew are desired to speak with him in order to admonish him to acknowledge his Miscarriage herein and to give satisfaction to the Quarterly Meeting and come into Unity with Friends At the next Quarterly Meeting which was holden at Reading on the 4th of the 3d Month 1691. John May and James Mathew gave an Account that according to the desire of the last Meeting they had spoken with A. Bonifield and that he did fignifie to them That he was troubled that it had so come to pass that the Friends appointed before had made a Journey in vain through his occasion And A. B. himself being then present did signifie the same to the Meeting adding That if Friends would accept of it he would be content to bear the Charge of their Journey or to that effect And after some Discourse about the Differences A. Bonifield did offer it up again to the Meeting to be ended by the same Friends before appointed who being all present except one and Benjamin Antrobus of London happening to be there A. Bonifield desired that he might be put in the room or stead of that other Friend that was absent To which the Meeting with A. B's consent did agree And thereupon after the Quarterly Meeting was ended we seven who were appointed for that Service did meet the same day about it and had a full hearing of the matters in difference A. B. reading several large Writings containing Charges against W. L. and J. B. all which being attentively heard duly weighed and well considered of in the Fear and Counsel of the Lord we gave our Sense and Judgment upon the whole matter according to the Understanding we had received from God therein Which Judgment being drawn up in Writing and Subscribed with all our Names we sent a Copy thereof to A. Bonifield which is as followeth VVHereas we whose Names are hereunto Subscribed at the request of Abraham Bonifield and by the consent of the Quarterly Meeting held at Reading the 4th of the 3d Month 1691. were to hear the Complaints and Grievances of the said Abraham Bonifield and others against W. L. and J. B. and to put an end to all differences between them and accordingly after a deliberate Hearing and Examining the many Articles Complaints and Charges fully and impartially of the said A. B. against the others which being measured by the Line of Truth and weighed in the right Ballance there appeared little of Substance in them and after a serious consideration thereof and waiting in the Light of Christ our Lord the Sense and Judgment we have received is on this wise That A. B. hath not herein been Exercised in the pure peaceable Wisdom that is from above but in the Earthly Sensual Wisdom hath been watching over his Brethren with an Evil Eye and seeking occasions against them and hereby hath much darkened and hurt himself for which our Souls are grieved Therefore our tender Advice is again renewed to beseech him in Bowels of Love to wait in Humility and Quietness upon the Lord that in his meek and lowly Spirit he may come to be reconciled to his Brethren For our farther Sense is That until this be witnessed he ought not to offer his Gift upon God's Altar Also our Sense and Judgment is That he ought to
content to joyn Issue with him upon all his Three Appeals and to abide the Judgment both of God's Witness in the Hearts of his People at present and of Christ himself hereafter at the great day nor do I fear the Censure of any who have Eyes of their own and dare and will use them aright And had not Abraham Bonifield called his Book A True and Impartial Account of Vnchristian Forcing Severe Ways Arbitrary and Indirect Methods c. I should not perhaps have so much regarded his Personal Reflections upon my self though they are very Foul and False as to have bestowed an Answer on him But for the Honour of Truth and clearing of other Friends concerned therein as well as my self and to prevent his Deceiving and Misleading any who do not so well know him I think fit to lay open and unravel his Spiders Web which is his own Phrase p. 26 not doubting to manifest to the indifferent Reader that his Account which he calls True and Impartial is Vntrue and Partial that his Cry of Oppression by Vnchristian Forcing Severe Ways c. is as Causeless as he is Clamorous and that he hath knowingly wronged me in those Wicked Reports he hath Published concerning me Yet before I enter upon his Book it self his Epistle to the Reader lying in my way and being so bulky as to take up ten pages it may be thought much if I should wholly pass over it without taking any notice of it Some few Observations therefore I think fit to make on some few Passages in it He begins with as much Smoothness as he can to insinuate himself into his Reader pretending much to Truth and Plainness but he cannot hold to that long He quickly falls into Heat Anger Railing and bitter Language and in that heat runs into a sort of Prophetick Strain denouncing Judgments against others and undertaking after his manner to foretel what shall befal them whom he calls Proud and Haughty Minded But galloping on too fast without true Sense or due Cosinderation he Stumbles Falls and Foyls himself most shamefully for speaking of those whom he calls Proud and Haughty Minded he says They have digressed from the Truth and too far played the Harlot thereby with the Lord the ancient Rock of their Salvation Did ever any Man of sober Sense drop such an Expression as this The Prophets of God did often reprove backsliding Israel of old for going a Whoring from God Hosea 4.12 and chap. 9.1 And playing the Harlot with others Ezek. 16.28 Jer. 3.1 But whoever heard before of playing the Harlot with the Lord By this the Reader may taste and see how far A. Bonifield is Digressed or gone aside from Truth and what Spirit guided him in Writing his Book which hath led him to use such a gross and unsound Expression This is in the 5th page of his Epistle And in the same he gives his Reader to understand whereby the Reader may see and observe what a Quarrelsome Man he has been that this is not the first Difference no not by several that he has been concerned in with Friends in that Town of Reading And as if he Gloried in this which he might rather be ashamed of he divides them into Small or Pettyones and more General or most Capital ones It seems Small or Petty matters will serve for a ground or occasion of difference with such a Pettish Spirit as he is of But he need not boast of that For it is not for his Honour And indeed if he had had any real regard for the Honour of Truth and the Reputation of that Christian Society which he once professed himself a Member of and is now without just cause become an Enemy to it would have restrained him from Publishing Differences long since past and gone especially wherein he himself was so deeply concerned and thereby to expose both the one and the other to the Scorn and Contempt of such prophane Readers as his Book may go amongst But he must gratifie his Envy though he wound himself in endeavouring to wound others Three Differences therefore he here sets forth which he calls more General or most Capital ones The first he says was referred to be heard and ended by Jo. Osgood and John Kilborne wherein several others he says were likewise concerned as well as himself Those words several others are a common Shelter for him to hide himself under when he would make his Reader believe that other Friends took part with him in his Quarrels but how false he is in that I shall shew anon when I come to Examine his Book it self What that Difference was about he has not told his Reader Generals serve Slanderers best to lurk under In general therefore he says Several Charges were drawn up stated and given against W. L. and were most of them such too says he as I think searce ever the like in the Nature and Degree of them as with respect to W. L. his Arrogance and Pride hath at any time come before Friends since they were a People Is not this set out at an high rate From this general Account what could the Reader conceive but that W. L. was the height of Pride and Arrogance Whereas they that know him know him to be no such Man and it 's more applicable unto A. Bonifield himself 'T is true he had drawn up many Charges and written many Scandalous Papers against W. L. tending to defame him But when the matters came to be looked into and examined the Friends to whom it was referred did not judge W. L. to be guilty of that which A. B. had charged him with But A. B. thereupon burned his own Papers himself that same Evening at John Buys Kiln-fire and whether this was not a Testimony against what he had written let the Reader judge And was it not then agreed that whoever revived the said Difference again should be deemed the offending Person He goes on saying And the Remarks of the aforesaid made upon both his Charges Person Qualifications W. L. may happily still remember Whom does he mean by the aforesaid He must mean either J. O. and J. K. to whom he says the Difference was referred or himself and his several others who he says were concerned in it as well as himself If he means those two Friends J. O. and J. K. W. L. doth not at all remember that they made any Remarks upon his Charges Person or Qualifications And he believes they were Honester and Wiser Men than to make Remarks upon his Person or Qualifications But if by the aforesaid he means himself and his pretended several others concerned with him it shews what Cavilling Spirits he and they were of and what Quarrelsome Qualifications they had that would go to make Remarks upon W. L's Person and Qualifications What Persons or Qualifications A. B's several others were of I know not but A. B. I think might very well have let W. L's Person and Qualifications alone And notwithstanding
set himself in Judgment over Honest Friends and many things of this kind and nature As for our parts we see no such Practice or Spirit appear in either J. B. or W. L. This we thought fit to signifie to you in the behalf of the Blessed Truth and our Antient Friends with the Salutation of our Dear Love in the Unchangeable Truth remain your Friends This was Signed by William Speakman and 20 Friends more This was not Read at that said Meeting because A. B's Complaint was not openly Read but at another Quarterly Meeting afterwards it was Read But now it is worth the Reader 's noting in order to have a better understanding of A. B. how falsly he who pretends to be in the Truth that is plain and innocent and void of the beguiling Crafts of Men dealt with the Monthly Meeting in this Case He had Exhibited to the Monthly Meeting a Paper of Charges by way of Complaint against W. L. and J. B. and he acknowledges he had the liberty granted him to Read the same in the Meeting The Meeting also he says Unanimously concluded to refer it to the Quarterly Meeting to end it And to this Reference both Parties viz. A. B. himself as well as W. L. and J. B. did agree Observe now how well he prosecuted his Charge against W. L. and J. B. before the Quarterly Meeting for he never carried it thither at all which was his part to have done he confesses so himself in his 3d page thus It is to be observed says he that it was only the foregoing Paper of Complaint containing the Grievances of several Friends belonging to the Monthly Meeting at Reading that was delivered by me to the Quarterly Meeting at Ore the 7th Month 1690. but not one jot or tittle in particular as from my self or concerning or relating to the sever as Articles I had in Charge against W. L. and J. B. But he letting that drop frames a new Complaint only against W. L. pretending as if several other Friends were concerned in it and that he signed it on their Behalf though we could find none to own it but R. S. and himself But to proceed On the 15th of the 7th Month 1690. A. Bonifield delivered his new Complaint to the Quarterly Meeting at Ore which the Meeting took but understanding it to be but a private Paper not coming from the Monthly Meeting nor the same that was by the Monthly Meeting 's Consent referred thither did not think fit to trouble the whole Quarterly Meeting with private Quarrels or particular Jangles but committed it to Eight Friends of the Meeting whom the Meeting nominated and chose to hear and determine that and all other Differences between A. B. or any others that joined with him and W. L. and J. B. And when the Meeting had concluded on this way A. B. was called in and the Agreement of the Meeting Read to him with the Names of the Eight Friends to whom it was referred He excepted against one of them who was therepon left out and the Matter left to the other Seven with which A. B. seemed satisfied and contented asking the Meeting whether it was intended that those Seven Friends should hear and end only the Matter contained in that Complaint or all other Differences depending between W. L. J. B. and him To which the Meeting answered that those Seven Friends were appointed to hear and end all Differences whatsoever between him W. L. and J. B. and others concerned therein He was very desirous to have had his Complaint Read in the open Meeting But the Meeting for divers Reasons did not think it proper Of the Seven Friends to whom this Service was by the Quarterly Meeting committed I was one And though A. Bonifield is so violently set and inveighs so bitterly against me now I suppose I stood fairer in his Opinion then otherwise he having the liberty of Exception allowed him and making use of it as he did to exclude one he might have also excepted against me and thereby have faved me a great deal of trouble and himself the pains of railing at me as he hath since done However we undertook this Service I can truly say for my self and believe I may safely say it for the rest of my Friends concerned with a Consciencious regard to the Honour of God the Prosperity of Truth and the Peace of the Church in that Place And accordingly on the 23d day of the same 7th Month 1690. we met at Reading and being gathered together waiting on the Lord in a weighty Sense of his Living Power and Presence with us after some time we desired A. B. who was present among us to bring forth what he had to offer to our Consideration whereupon he stood up and made a Speech telling us he was dissatisfied with the proceedings of the Quarterly Meeting because they refused to let him read his Paper openly in the Meeting And instead of giving us his Charges against W. L. and J. B. he Read to us a Writing containing something which he called Reasons why he refused to bring his Cause before us in which he reflected foully on the Quarterly Meeting 's Proceedings as Unjust Uncharitable and Immoral and said he would Appeal to the next Yearly Meeting where he hoped to have more Just and Impartial Proceedings to Redress his Grievances We earnestly desired and laboured to perswade him to bring forth his Grievances before us that if there were any Cause we might Redress them according to the Order of the Quarterly Meeting to which himself had agreed but all that we could say to him did not at all prevail with him to give up the Matter in question or Difference to be heard by us Yet at length he did bring forth that Paper of Complaint against W. L. which he had before offered to the Quarterly Meeting and Read it to us but when he had done he would neither refer the Matters therein complained of to us nor let us have the Paper of Complaint See now Reader the crooked steps he made in this Business thus far First he brought a Paper of Charges to the Monthly Meeting against W. L. and J. B. and got that referred to the Quarterly Meeting When the Quarterly Meeting came where it behoved him to have made good those Charges he let them quite drop never prosecuted them at all there though referred thither by his own consent but instead of them exhibits a new Complaint at the Quarterly Meeting against W. L. This together with the former the Quarterly Meeting referred to Seven Friends to hear and end and to this he consented at least as himself confesses condescended when these Seven met as above about it he had found a new starting-hole to slip out at and instead of prosecuting his Charges against W. L. and J. B. referred from the Monthly Meeting or his Complaint against W. L. only exhibited by himself at the Quarterly Meeting he lets them both fall picks a new quarrel
which is thus A. B. it seems was imployed to buy certain Goods for some Friends that were Prisoners in Newgate for them to sell again by retail and he thinking I suppose that I had more Knowledge therein than himself desired me to buy them I being at that time a Prisoner my self in Reading but having some liberty to walk in the Town accordingly I did buy the Goods as carefully and faithfully as I could but herein it seems was my oversight and that which gave so great an offence namely that I did not buy those Goods of that Person whom A. B. hath since said he intended I should but had them of another but whether this was my mistake in receiving my Errand or A. B's in giving it me I know not However I know of no wrong or disadvantage that came to the Prisoners thereby nor of any gain or advantage that did accrue to me by it Therefore in his saying I did it for my own Ends and Interest as well as to the disadvantage of the Friends the Prisoners he hath therein spoken a double untruth and as for his railing and bitter language expressed towards the close of that Paragraph let the Lord rebuke him He shoots another of his Bolts at me in p. 42. about my Brother's Widow which he brings in thus And again as to his Treachery Hard-heartedness c. what need I so trouble my self or have fetcht such a circuit round to prove this Man O. S Treacherous Hard-hearted and without Natural affection to others when seen found and known to be so at home as I may say even to his own Relations as witness his hardy sower and moross carriage towards his own Brother's Wife In this as well as in the rest he runs himself aground and bewrays his own Folly He charges me with Treachery and Hard-heartedness toward my Brother's Widow and for Proof thereof alledges that my carriage towards her was hardy sower and moross now if this were as true as it is false yet doth hardy sower moross carriage prove a Man to be Treacherous O then most Treacherous A. Bonifield for who more sower and moross than he as this his Book shews But if that be not a proof of Treachery which none but such a Wise Man as himself will say it is his bringing it here for a proof thereof is a sufficient proof his own Envy and Folly But as to my Brother's Widow and my carriage towards her I can truly say I had a compassionate love to her and did from my Heart wish her well every way And I do not know that my carriage towards her was either hardy sower or moross or other than became the Profession of Truth and the Relation that was between us Yet I had cause sometimes to speak plain and that which it is possible might not be pleasing to her but she well knew that my end therein was only and alone on behalf of my said Brother's Children which he had by a former Wife the Care of whom lay somewhat upon me not only as a near Relation but by my Father's Will appointed an Overseer to see and endeavour that they might not be deprived of certain Legacies which in and by the said Will was bequeathed to them which if I had not endeavoured A. B. might then have charged me and that truly with what he now doth falsly Treachery I have now gone through his Book so as to answer whatsoever seemed to have any appearance of weight in it and I hope to the Reader 's satisfaction But for his confused Clamours with which his Book abounds especially the latter part of it vented in a Stile of Billingsgate Rhetorick I do not think it worth my while to trouble my self or my Reader any further about it but I shall subjoyn a Testimony from the Friends of the Monthly Mens Meeting of Farringdonside and there-a-ways which of it self might I suppose have been sufficient to have clear'd my Reputation in the Judgment of the Impartial from the Muck and Dirt which in his Book he has endeavoured to cast upon it and then come to a Conclusion The said Testimony is as followeth WHereas there is a Book lately Published by Abraham Bonifield Entituled The Cry of the Oppressed c. tending to the dishonour of the Name of the Lord and to the defaming of many Ancient Friends who have long been known and approved by their faithful Testimony and Sufferings for the Truth and also by their diligent Exercise in serving the Church of Christ And more particularly our dear Friend Oliver Sansom who is a Member of this Meeting is greatly wronged and abused by the said A. B. in his foresaid Book which in two remarkable Matters that have been fully and fairly heard and determined in our Monthly Meetings viz. the business of N. Hall and his Wife and that of the Widow Bunce we do hereby declare that within our own Knowledge the Accusations which A. B. from thence would fasten upon O. S. are utterly false And we being Witnesses of his Christian Conversation on all accounts among us all along are also fully satisfied that all his other Allegations against the aforesaid are also false which by the Spirit of Envy in A. B. are forged and brought forth for no other end but to bring him the said O. S. undeservedly into contempt Wherefore we do look upon our selves concerned for the Honour of the Holy Truth and for the Reputation of him and other our dear Friends and Brethren who have been from the beginning both diligent faithful and constant in the Work and Service of the Lord to give forth this our Testimony against the injurious attempts of this Envious Apostate Adversary Given forth at a Monthly Mens Meeting held at West Chawlow in the Vale of White-Horse in the County of Berks the 27th of the 12th Month 1695. And by Appointment and on Behalf of the said Meeting Signed by Richard Vokins Sen. Daniel Bunce Sen. Edw. Lockey Adam Lawrence After he had brought his Book to an end and had set to it The End he hath added four pages more shewing himself to be confused and whimsical in the manner as well as in the matter of it and that he calls a short Addition having a Postscript before and in that which he calls a short Addition p. 45. He says thus Neither this nor any other Difference of any Nature or Kind whatsoever is or can in Truth be said to be ended until the Reconciliation be wrought and Peace made between the Parties that differed and this he says one would think is so plain and clear that no Capacity tho' never so weak or small but must needs discern believe and see it If his Capacity had not been of the smallest size he might have discerned what a foundation he has here laid should it be allowed to perpetuate Differences and render them impossible ever to be ended for it is too frequently seen in such cases that one or both