СНАРТ. Shewing that the Quakers joyn the very Worst of Pa- Ibid. Ibid. TO TO THE QUAKERS In and About Banbury in the County of Oxon: And more particularly To Mr. Richard Vivers, a Principal Speaker amongst Them. SIRS, F Orafmuch as thefe Papers are chiefly ow ing to you, as the main Caufe of their Penning, I thought my felf Obliged to give you this short Account, how, and by what means, it came to be so. Upon the Twenty First Day of September 1702. I expected to have met you at Banbury, to have then, and there defended your felves against the fixfold Charge, with which you stood Charged by Mr. Francis Bugg, and which you were bound in Honour and in Confcience, either to disown, or juftifie. In doing whereof, you would have met with the faireft treat ment imaginable. But withall as you wifely forefaw) with the greatest Morti fication to your Caufe, and Credit. For you well knew, that had you appeared, and the Goliah of your Party had undertaken that Com B bate, bate, all the rambling noifie People there, (as you in your great modefty, are pleafed to call the Magiftrates of your Town, and the Gentlemen of your Neighbourhood, and feveral of the defpifed Clergy) I fay all thefe (together with the tender Lambs of your own Fold) would have feen your Champions Head took off, with his own Sword. I mean him, and with him, your whole Party, miserably baffled with your own Printed Writings, which would have prov'd a Spectacle fo mortifying, that I cannot blame you, that your tender Natures could by no means endure it. The truth is, you then languished (or rather lay a gafping) under a Dilemma, not much unlike that which fo mortally wounded the Pharisees, Mark 11. 31, 32.. For had you difowned the Charge, (which you knew would be fo clearly proved againft you) then all men there prefent, would have cryed out against your Shameless Impudence; and have Voted you to be Knowing, Wilfull, Obftinate, Incorrigible Impostors. And then again, on the other hand, had you owned those Articles, you then feared the People; of whom you might readily conclude, that they could not endure fuch horrid Blafphemies, against the whole facred Trinity, against their dear Saviour and Redeemer, against the Holy Scriptures (the Blessed Food of their Souls) and fuch like : Much less could they endure that these fhould be fo Publickly owned; to the Dishonour of Almighty God, to the Vilifying of Chrift Jefus, and his moft Glorious Sufferings, to the overturning all the Doctrines of the Gofpel; yea, to the utter overthrow of the whole Christian Religion: And all this too, before their very Faces, who looked upon themselves as bound in Honour, and Confcience, to to teftifie their dislike, and utter abhorrence of fuch Impudent Blafphemies. Nor would this Evil have come unto you Single, and Alone, but it would have drawn Two more after it. To prevent both which, was your main defign. Firft had you then owned them, this would have infallibly engaged you in the Defence of them; which you well knew, was utterly beyond your power, and skill to perform; and had it been attempted, wouldhave proved fatal to you. For, Secondly, It would not only have Scandalized the Members of our Church, who would many of them have stoped their Ears against fuch Hellish Impudence, but it would have alfo Scandalized many of your own Weak Friends too, whofe Stomachs were not yet Strong enough, to digeft fuch damnable Herefies; And who (before that time) could not have believed, that you, or any of your party could be Guilty of them; and now upon fo Publick adiscovery, might poffibly be in danger to relinquifh, and for fake you. Thefe things duly weighed by you, you pitched upon the fafest course, both for your own Credits, and for that of your Canfe too, which was, not to ap pear at all: And thereby cunningly to free your felves from that ratal neceffity of either owning, or difowning, any thing in that Impeachment. But then how to falve your Credits (which you knew would extreamly fuffer thereby) was your next greatest Care, and Study. And for this end, having fo long a time as from the last day of July to the Twenty First day of September, to confult on this dangerous affair, I doubt not, but that the Opinions of your Gran dees were (in that interval) fought for, and obtains ed. The refult whereof was, that all fuch dangerons Appearances of that Nature, must be warily avoided by you. Alas the burnt Child dreads the Fire. This Experiment had coft your Party dear enough already, and therefore it would be no Wisdom to try it over again. No,no,a Letter of excufe would be far the fafeft. Let that be framed: Let Mr. Fivers write it, and fufcribe it, on his behalf, and on the behalf of Friends. Which was done accordingly; And fent to the moft publick Places and principal Perfons in Banbury, to let them all know how little the Quakers efteemed Mr. Bugg: and (to their credit be it spoken) his impeachment alfo. Thô by the way (let me tell you) that impeachment was for the most deteftable and devilish blafphemies, that the vileft of Hereticks (fince Simon Magus) ever taught, practifed or defended. Well, but ftill all the defence against all this, must be the Letter only which, tho written in a stile above the flight of Mr. Vivers's fancy, muft yet be called his, and his friends apology. I write not this, because I think any thing in that Letter fo nervous. No fuch matter, I affure you. That has been fufficiently tried by Mr. Loveling, and by him fufficiently, confuted, and expofed. But I write this, because I am more tender of your reputations, than the Author of that letter (whoever he was) has fhewed himself to be. For furely, it is to be hoped, that both Mr. V1vers, and the rest of you, are men of a better temper, and Spirit, than to be guilty of half that rudenefs, and Pharifaical Cenforioufness, that paper is naufeously ftuffed with. How ever, I hope you will not be offended with me, for telling the World, I have fo charitable an opinion of you: Which if it fall prove to be better than you do deferve, I fhall |