The Online Library of Liberty

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• To the Right Honourable the Lord Pagett.
• The Independent Whig.
• Number Lv.: of Blasphemy.
• Number Lvi.: of Mutual Charity and Forbearance.
• Number Lvii.: the Vanity As Well As Wickedness of Persecution.
• Number Lviii.: a Dialogue Between Monsieur Jurieu, and a Burgomaster of Rotterdam.
• Number Lix.: Dialogue Between Mr. Jurieu, and a Burgomaster, Continued.
• Number Lx.: Conclusion of the Dialogue Between Mr. Jurieu and a Burgomaster.
• Number Lxi.: Force and Fraud, How Opposite to the Spirit of Religion. the Very Different Effects of Religious Liberty, and False Zeal.
• Number Lxii.: Power and Imposition, In Matters of Religion, Tend Rather to Abolish Religion, Than to Improve It. the Light of Nature, and the Practice of Heathens, Furnish Reproof to Persecuting Christians.
• Number Lxiii.: the Consuming Nature of Persecution. Persecutors Generally Religious Mad-men. Their Egregious Want of Shame, and Utter Unfitness to Make Converts.
• Number Lxiv.: Mutual Bitterness and Persecution Amongst Christians, How Repugnant to the Gospel, and How Shocking to a Rational Pagan.
• Number Lxv.: of the Strange Force of Education, Especially In Matters of Religion.
• Number Lxvi.: the Extravagant Notions and Practice of Penance, How Generally Prevailing As a Necessary Part of Religion, Even Amongst Such As Know Not, Or Neglect, All the Other and Real Penalties.
• Number Lxvii.: the Principle and Practice of Penance; Its Extravagance and Ill Tendency Further Considered.
• Number Lxviii.: the Teachers of All Sects ( Who Lay Claim to Power and Submission ) How Apt to Reproach, Yet How Much Resembling Each Other.
• Number Lxix.: the Hierarchy of Rome, How Like That of Japan. the Obvious Danger to a State From Popish Missionaries.
• Number Lxx.: Dialogue Between a Country Clergyman and a Quaker.
• Number Lxxi.: Dialogue Between a Country Clergyman and a Quaker Continued.
• Number Lxxii.: Dialogue Between a Country Clergyman and a Quaker Continued.
• Number Lxxiii.: Dialogue Between a Country Clergyman and a Quaker, Continued.
• Number Lxxiv.: of the Character and Capacity of the Fathers of the Church.
• A Letter to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury; Proving, That His Grace Cannot Be the Author of the Letter to an Eminent Presbyterian Clergyman In Switzerland; In Which Letter the Present State of Religion In England Is Blackened and Exposed.
• An Examination of the Facts and Reasonings In the Lord Bishop of Chichester ’ S Sermon, Preached Before the House of Lords, On the 30 Th of Jan. 1731. Humbly Addressed to His Lordship.
• A Sermon Preached Before the Learned Society of Lincoln’s-inn, On Jan. 30. 1732. From Job XXXIV. 30. That the Hypocrite Reign Not, Lest the People Be Ensnared.
• A Supplement to the Sermon Preached At Lincoln’s-inn, On Jan. 30, 1732. By a Layman. Addressed to a Very Important and Most Solemn Churchman, Solicitor-general For Causes Ecclesiastical.

Number LXXIII.

Dialogue between a Country Clergyman and a Quaker, continued.

Clergyman.

DOES the Light within teach you all this?

Quaker.

My natural Light, which thou callest Reason, sufficeth to confute thee. The other Light seemeth to be with-held from thee, and therefore thou mockest it; it better becomes a Christian to pray for it.

Cler.

You are an impudent Man. Is it from your inward Light that you reproach me, as if I were not a Christian?

Qua.

Thou art very tender. I do not reproach thee with any such Thing; but I am sure, that Christianity teacheth no Man to deny the inward Light, and to wax angry and revile.

Cler.

I do not deny that there is such a thing as the Light of the Spirit, but I deny that you have it.

Qua.

Thy Censure is rash. How knowest thou what is within me?

Cler.

By what comes out of you.

Qua.

I judge not of thee by the same Rule; I hope thou hast Charity, though I see it not. But I will abide by thy Rule in relation to myself. What hast thou heard me utter but the Words of Truth and Soberness?

Cler.

Not a Word of the Spirit, I am sure.

Qua.

Knowest thou him? If thou dost, thou must know that he is the Author of Truth.

Cler.

But not of Sauciness and Schism.

Qua.

True, Doctor; and therefore the Quakers do not faucily insult, nor uncharitably damn, all those, or any of those, who differ from them. That is the only Antichristian Schism, which damneth all Men as Schismatics, except its own cruel Club.

Cler.

A smart Casuist, I’ll assure you, to vindicate the Quakers from Schism!

Qua.

I wish thou couldst vindicate thyself as well, upon the same pious and benevolent Principle.

Cler.

What, do you charge the established Church with Schism?

Qua.

God forbid! I only wish thee, and such as are like thee, a more peaceable and more merciful Spirit. Thou art not the established Church.

Cler.

And dare you say that the Quakers are not Schismatics?

Qua.

Yes, certainly; I think that all good Men, of all Professions, will be saved. This is Charity; I separate from no Church out of Pride or Interest, and am therefore no Schismatic.

Cler.

And herein, I suppose, the Spirit is your Voucher.

Qua.

I desire no other, and can have no other for the Thoughts of my Heart.

Cler.

For which we are to take your Word; for I think you never take Oaths.

Qua.

The Scripture forbiddeth us to swear at all.

Cler.

It forbids profane Cursing and Swearing.

Qua.

Doctor, it forbids all Swearing.

Cler.

But the Solemnity of an Oath in the Presence of God is an Act of Religion.

Qua.

All Speaking is in the Presence of God, and speaking the Truth is an Act of Religion. When we are called upon to give our Testimony to the Truth, we never refuse it.

Cler.

I should be sorry to have my Property depend upon your Affirmation.

Qua.

If I am a good Man, thou needest not distrust me; if I am a bad Man, my Oath will not secure thee.

Cler.

I believe, indeed, the Affirmation and Oath of a Quaker are much alike.

Qua.

They ought to be alike amongst all Christians, and all moral Men; and therefore let thy Meaning be ever so bitter, thou givest an honourable Testimony to Friends. I hope thou findest the same Faithfulness and Sincerity amongst thine. Is not the Word of a Churchman as good as his Oath?

Cler.

I hope better than a Quaker’s, at least.

Qua.

Not if a Quaker speaketh the Truth.

Cler.

That If was well put in.

Qua.

Be it so; though thou mightest have spared thy Reproach, by which thou wo’t gain nothing. None of us have been accused of false Evidence, and doubtless thou hast heard of many Churchmen punished with public Infamy for Perjury.

Cler.

I suppose you do the Thing more flily.

Qua.

I thank thee for allowing us to have more Discretion than thy Disciples: If they have, at least, as few Restraints, and more Folly, than we have, how are they bettered by thy Teaching? and how is their Oath better than our Affirmation?

Cler.

I cannot answer for Profligates.

Qua.

Nor oughtest thou to suspect us for Profligates without Cause.

Cler.

I must beg Leave not to value a Quaker’s Affirmation so much as a Churchman’s Oath.

Qua.

I will value it as much without Leave. Friend, are thy Brethren more loyal by taking Oaths, than Men of our Persuasion are without taking any?

Cler.

I’ll take my Oath, that thou art a saucy Fellow.

Qua.

I am not so the more for that.—But is that thy best Answer? I could easily have given thee the same, had it been suitable to good Manners.

Cler.

Manners! O my Sides! Why, you are the most unmannerly of all Sects: So unmannerly, that there is no living with you; and all that do, despise you.

Qua.

Friend, I in particular have given thee no Cause for thy Accusation, nor for thy Contempt; and what thou sayest of us in general, thou sayest passionately; and it comes from Prejudice, or ill Information. In Pensylvania, where we have the Power, we do not molest nor revile any Man of any Religion; and thou thyself, for all thy intemperate Spirit, mightest live there with full Freedom.

Cler.

I live amongst you! I live amongst Fanatics!

Qua.

I do not invite thee. There are no Tythes there to allure, but there are Indians to convert. How likest thou the Employment, and the Terms thereof?

Cler.

Sir, I have no Call there; I have Employment in my own Parish.

Qua.

I hope thou hadst a Call thither.

Cler.

Yes, Mr. Pert, to preserve Peace and religious Order; though you are an Enemy to all Order.

Qua.

Thou hast not a more orderly Man in thy Parish: And many of thy Flock are very disorderly, especially upon Holidays, which, I think, are part of your Order, and celebrated with Drunkenness, and with breaking my Windows.

Cler.

Did I exhort them to it?

Qua.

No; thou didst only paint out Quakers to them, as a People not fit to live amongst Christians.

Cler.

I preached what I thought it my Duty to preach.

Qua.

And they practised what they thought thou hadst taught them to practise.

Cler.

If you would wisely remove to Pensilvania, you might live there with Freedom, you know.

Qua.

So I would, if my Affairs would let me; as I might here, under the Protection of the Law, if thou wouldst let me. Let me tell thee, Friend, for the Credit of the Quakers Government in Pensilvania, there is not a more thriving Colony in America. They encourage and protect all Men, and persecute none: They are friendly to the savage Indians, who come freely into their Houses by Day, and by Night; and any Man in a Quaker’s Habit may travel safely and singly through all the Nations of North America, who will be ready to receive and assist him.

Cler.

The Quakers are obliged to live peaceably with their Neighbours: You know they must not fight.

Qua.

Knowest thou any better way to avoid fighting, than a peaceable Spirit? And ought not all Men to avoid fighting? The Quakers, since their first Establishment there, have had no Wars: It is not so in New-England, where Men, like thee, are for spiritual Dominion, and trust to the Sword. There they use the poor Natives ill, who therefore make frequent Incursions upon them. Men who will take away by Violence the Lands and Goods of others, and domineer over them, must fight to defend what they do. The Quakers have hurt no Man, and no Man offers to hurt them.

Cler.

Commend me to their human Prudence! The Quakers will make no Man their Enemy, by their Zeal for Christianity.

Qua.

Friend, thy Abuse ends in Praise. The Quakers use no Man as an Enemy for his Religion; and they who do, have not Zeal, but Fury and Fanaticism. Our Saviour and his Apostles had no such Zeal. Ill Usage, Fierceness, and Barbarity, convince no Man; nor is any Man made a Christian by Rage and Power.

Cler.

It would be great Pity, that such as you should make any. A Pagan converted into a Quaker, makes but a sorry Exchange.

Qua.

Those Words would fit the Mouth of a Pagan better than thine; and a Quaker is better qualified to reason with a Pagan, than thou art. We have nothing to desire of him but to be a Christian, and we gain neither Money nor Authority by his Conversion. But with what Face can such as thou art tell a Nation of Heathens? “Gentlemen, be of my Religion, and in Requital I will be your Lord and Master, and take the Tenth of all you have, and all else that I can get: None of which can ever return to you again, let me use it, or abuse you, how I will.” And yet can Men of thy Spirit and Pretensions reason in Sincerity at any other Rate with any Set of Men in the World?

Cler.

The Man raves.---Can People pay too much for their Souls?

Qua.

They ought to pay nothing: The Blood of Christ is already paid. Is not that sufficient? And dost thou really confess, that thou wouldst not save Souls without Payment?

Cler.

I will bear no more.---This is audacious beyond human Patience.

Qua.

Doctor, Nothing is beyond christian Patience.

Cler.

Too much Liberty makes you insolent.---We shall find some other Way of confuting you.

Qua.

Thou meanest Force, which is the Champion of bad Reasoning, and a bad Cause.

Cler.

Hold your Tongue, Prater.

Qua.

I have Liberty of Speech from Christ and the Law.---Wouldst thou restrain it by thy Breath?

Cler.

It is pity thy Breath were not restrained.

Qua.

Friend, may God of his great Mercy forgive thee! Farewel.