| OCR Text |
Show 'l'be AuT a oR's LIFE. Vo.L:•[ 0 .rr. d free for fucb Moderation will be t<ell· Burdens and. Itt tbe 'PPTCJJe go , ' ' pleajing both ro G 0 D and Good 't:u."' e , 01 Newgate (for C<Jnfcience-Sak~) Fro: ';b:'&b;[r~[mou/ }~:es, and all our Suffuing Fr.zends m Hi# Letter ro tit s!t,/fft •f London. England, f3 c. W. Penn, and jeveral others; Newgate, Second Month, 1671. 1 · h' T"me very abufive to the lf_aalurs The Keepers of Newgau bemg att. 15• 1 lefs Grift t<> the Jailor's Mill, there imprifon'd (for honeft Mhn d~~·~~~~ome Guefts) he writ a Letter by than Riotous D.e!>aucheesh, arSeb aiffir who that Year were Men of Good Way of Comptamt to t e en r, ' ' Temper and Moderation, being as follows, To the SHERIFFS of Lontlon. F&rENos, .. , ·u a · .< T HO' we lll"t" People the Plainnefs of wbofe PnnctpttJ tot not a G't ~J Vain Complements, yet are f/Jt by tbem _req~ired to expreft our r~t;tude, and tDt mU_fl confifr that fince your bemg tn O~ce, we have recetv d many In fiances of your Kindnefs, for which'Jou never wzll be condemn~ t God or Virtuom Men, a1 o;ell as that 'CD& ftn you hy the Bearer our c now· led~eJ~~e, we think /it to Jet.youknow, tbat tbtl tD; a;e in a diftina Haufe; ct 7101 ;11 a diftinEt Capac\ty wztb meer Felons, unle_Js rt be, that they ~ave a ).ree Prifon ttnd we have none; for tbe Kee~er n. Jo far from fhewmg Ill that Common Refpe8:, or we enjoy t~ttt o;hub differenced rH from Malefaa: ors that we are not lefs refiraiTid, if not Jo much ah.ujed, for on,e of ~K Jejiring Liberty to fetchfome Beer, the Turnkey thruft hzm back, ca!Jmg bun Lo erhead Puppy, Rogue, f.!Jc. and that to froeral others. fi foort 'we are not willing to be Bondfmen nt our own Cofl (not for t~e Value ofou; Houfe-Rent, with other additional ~xpences) but f or our ~elh· · ifl the infulting Menaces and Extoruons of fome of the J:lllers, :b:~:~Jdncajl 11s into the Common Stinking Jail, and therefore arc refolv~d to undergo that Severity, which U all at p~ejtn.t from theft that have wrong d 110 Man, but fear God, and have Pence wttb b1111, Newgate, Third Month, 1671. Your True Friends, w: P. &c. .I About this Time alfo a certain Roman Catbolick having expreffed in a Letter to him much Heat and Refentment, on Account of fol!lewhat he h3d written againft the Doflrine.r of their Church, he returned him. the fo1low· . ing Anfwer, Hil .AnfrtJerto My ingeniom Friend, ft ,. Roman ca .. ' } Am perf waded I was cooler when I read thy Let.ter,. than thou wa aholick. ' When thou writ'jl it, ifl may have fo much Credit With thee, and you ' Catbolicks are famous for Believing (tho' it be yo~ know not what) I do ' declare my End of animadverting upon that palba~ed Confeffion, was no ' other than of prefentinl:l ~o the World, the Catholuk True Creed, and I ' (hall avouch the .dutborztres. ' My Ignorance in that Matter, will be heft . fl10wn b~ the Temper. a?d • better Renfons and ~uotation.r of fome Romanlfl.r; but 1t was 1ll offerd, ' and a Token of more Indifcretion than I thought thee capable of, to fhew ' fo much He.at and Difplenfure in rebuking mine\ ~ut, abov: a11, to affirm ' my Ignorance invincible, and ye~ to ?ffer me a F~tc.nd of thme to help to ' re<lify my miftaken Underftandrnt, IS a Contradtflron that may need my - ! Cbafll)'· VoL. I. The AUTHOR's LIF'j<:; ' Charity. However, methinks there can be no Reafon in the Wotld, why ' thou fhouldft exprefs fo much UnR.indnef.r in thy Letter, fince my Igno' ranee hath been fo beneficial to the Ron:nn Caujt ; (but if mine han'r, ' there's one hath.) Scolding I utterly abhor, and have been ever bred a ' Step above fo great Rudenefs, but I perceive fome Men efteem it Spleen ' to divulge theirs. I can only fay, that the Romifo I meant I did not in· ' tend to proclaim to be my Friend L--, and am forry his Concern ' fhould do it: It was the Glllld Horje that was ever moft apt to wince. ' I am fo far from baulking an Encoumer with any of thy Friend.r, that, if ' thou pleafeft, I defire he may be either Priefl, or Jefuit, 'tis my Choice; ' by which thou mayit underftand, I am not Confciom to myfelf, either of ' Fear or Ignorance, though thou or thy Friend Chews no lefs, that dares ' not confer in a Free Auditory: For my own Part, I have no Reafon to em· ' brace fo unreafonable a Propofition, till my Religion can furnHh me with ' all the Revenge that a Roman Catbolick's can; if he pleafe to come, eaclt ' having One or Two Hearers on his own Side, I !halt frankly accept his ' Vifit, and believe it, that every one that comes from thee, fhall find a ' very Candid Reception. By a Proteflant, I mean that Man who denies the ' Common Errors charg'd, and juftly too, upon the Romijh Church: Nex.t, ' I claim a Share in that Notion, Negatively, not as confeffing all that fame ' Proteftants, vulgarly fo called, hold, but denying with them the .A.utbo- ' rity, itntiquity, and Ortbodoxality of the &mijh Church, and by this in .~ lhort thou mayft receive an Account of the Two Things. ' If I did not proceed upon fame Undeniable Principles, I fuppofe I may ' collect thus much, that I proceeded upon feme Deniable Prmciple.r, as it ' is a greJt Truth, for I Went upon a Difcove~ of a Romijh One's coucltt ' under the dubioiiS Pbrafe.r of a Mongrel Prole ant. 'Twas too uncharica-' hie to expeaall that might befaid Methodica ly from fo fhort a Difcourfe; ' and when led from it by the Plllllphler anfwered. I know not what Old ' Fajhion'd Stuff that is I am €harg'd to have reviv'd; but it is not unknown ' to thee, I am no Lover of that New Fajhion, and am as great a Lover of ' that deferted Old One. I grant that Proteftants (i• they call themfelves) ' have much quitted their former Way of arguing with thofe of the Romijh ·' Faith, bur wouldft thou know the Reafon of it ; not beca.ufe that was ' lefs invincible, or unveiling, but becaufe they would expofe themfelves too ' much to other Separarijl.r, that might employ their own Arguments a· ' '. gainft you, againft them: But this doth no Way render me Culpahlc, but ' the more plain and ingenious to abet the Proreflnnt Religion upon the firft ' Bafi.r: And fftand amaz'd to think, that fo ingenious a Perfon as thy ' felf, fhould ever play the Bigot fat a Religion that never yet dare ftand ' the Tefl of being read in known, I mean in Vulgar Languages. I am fo far ' from thinking this enough, that I am but the more warmly refolved to ' profecute my Defign of publilbing my larger TraU, and the rathpr that ' thou mayft read Principles, and I hope fure Footing too. Indeed. I am ' forry that afrer I have defended myfelfagainft that .di/Jrehenfion o~lncen· ' fing .:1ny againfi you, thou fhouldfi exprefs fo much P"erfecution in 3. Let~ ter, that I Look upon it as an Earnefl of a Romifo Smithfield Bargain . ' Take this abrupt Jhifwcr, and believe that I am by my Principle, 1p ~ write as well for Toleration for the Romanijl.r, as for thy Tr11e Fri(1Jd, ToR. Lany, W. P~ Ncwgnte, 1671. . His Six Months Imprifonment in }{ewgate being expired, he was fet at Hil 1Ji(rHrg4 Ltberty, and !hartly after went over into Holland and Germany; of his 1'1111 New: Miniftry and Services at this Time in thofe Countries, fome Account is ga.ce. given by ~imfelf !• the Beginning of his S•bfequenr Tw,rls into thofe Parts, heretn after mferted. G '!. On |
