A26854:130
Richard Baxter his account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the…
Richard Baxter his account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the causes of his being forbidden by the Bishop of Worcester to preach within his diocese with the Bishop of Worcester's letter in answer thereunto : and some short animadversions upon the said bishops letter.Richard Baxter his account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the causes of his being forbidden by the Bishop of Worcester to preach within his diocess with the Bishop of Worcester's letter in answer thereunto : and some short animadversions upon the said bishops letter.
London printed : s.n., 1662
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I must confess Sir, I am very tender of the Bishops Reputation, and there is yet a possibility for him to recover his Credit again; For though he be a little Angry, yet the World must needs acknowledge, that he is a plain dealing man; since his Dudgeon phrase of1 this is the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, with such kind of Home-spun. Harmless Elegancies that are scattered in his Letter, Savour very much of the old English Breeding, and call to mind the Trunk-Breeches, and Wooden Daggers of our Ancestors; who I believe, spake all in the same uncounterfeit stile, which it well becomes a Bishop who loves Antiquity, to imitate: But for him now to grow weary of this Primitive simplicity, to suspect his own strength, and to entrust Monsieur Le Frisk the Morris-dancer to undertake his Quarrel; To choose one for his Champion, who hath been a Fiddler in all Governments▪ and would have been a Fiddler to the worst of them (for which end he knows how many pitiful Begs and Faces he made, to scrape acquaintance with the Tyrant Oliver) for him now to be suddenly advanced so much beyond his Art, will run the poor man into a dangerous Vertigo; and in the mean while much discredit the Bishops Cause, as if he could get none to maintain it but this common Barreter, this Mercenary Songster, that for two Crowns more will change his Note, and rail against his Patron.
I must confess Sir, I am very tender of the Bishops Reputation, and there is yet a possibility for him to recover his Credit again; For though he be a little Angry, yet the World must needs acknowledge, that he is a plain dealing man; since his Dudgeon phrase of1 this is the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, with such kind of Home-spun. Harmless Elegancies that are scattered in his Letter, Savour very much of the old English Breeding, and call to mind the Trunk-Breeches, and Wooden Daggers of our Ancestors; who I believe, spake all in the same uncounterfeit stile, which it well becomes a Bishop who loves Antiquity, to imitate: But for him now to grow weary of this Primitive simplicity, to suspect his own strength, and to entrust Mounsieur Le Friske the Morice-dancer to undertake his Quarrel; To chuse one for his Champion, who hath been a Fidler in all Governments▪ and would have been a Fidler to the worst of them (for which end he knows how many pitiful Begs and Faces he made, to scrape acquaintance with the Tyrant Oliver) for him now to be suddenly advanced so much beyond his Art, will run the poor man into a dangerous Vertigo; and in the mean while much discredit the Bishops Cause, as if he could get none to maintain it but this common Barreter, this Mercenary Songster, that for two Crowns more will change his Note, and rail against his Patron.