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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Three Original Letters of Wi i ^ ia ^ c Pjbnn ' s to Richard Baxter . r TtiisSE letters , copied from the JL originals in Dr . Williams ' s Library , relate to a public disputation
between Penn and Baxter , They will be rendered more intelligible to jthe reader , by the following account of the controversy given by Mr . ClarksoA in his Life of Penn , I . 158—161 :
" In the year 1675 we find him still living * at Rick mans worth , where , as well as in other places , he became eminent as a minister of the gospel . In his own neighbourhood , indeed , he had converted many ; and from thin cause , as well as from a desire which
others Of bis own Society had toHve near hitty , the country about Riekmansworth began to abound with Quakers . This latter' circumstance occasioned him , oddly enough , to be
brought forward again as a public disputant ; for the celebrated Richard Baxter , who was then passing that way , when he saw so many of the inhabitants of this description , began to be alarmed for their situation . He
considered them as little better than lost people , and was , therefore , desirous of preaching to them , in order , to use his own words , ' that they might once hear what was to be said for their
recovery . ' This coming to the ears of William Penn , he wrote to Baxter , and one letter followed another , till at length it was mutuall y agreed , that they should hold a public controversy on some of the more essential articles
of the Quaker faith . What these were I could never learn . It is certain , however , that the parties met , and that they met at Rickrtiansworth . It is known also , that the controversy
began at ten in the morning and lasted till five in the afternoon , and that the disputants addressed themselves , each in turn , to two rodms filled with people , among whom were counted one
lord , two knights , and foilr eonformalord , two knights , and four conformable ministers , thjat is , clergymen of the Established Church . < c Of the isaue of this controversy I can find no record . Richard Baxter
seema to haVe beeii Satisfied with himself on the occasion , for he sfcys , in allusion to tt , * that the success of it gave h 3 , m cause to believe that it was not labour lost / William Penn , on
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the othqr hand , spoke of it with some confidence ; for * in . a letter which be addressed to Richard Baxter soon a £ - tervvards , he stated , c that if he had taken advantage of him , he could have rendered him more ridiculous than he feared his principles of love wotaM have borne / From the same letter to
we have reasoi ^ thinly that the meeting was not a well-conducted one ; for William Pean says ; that c if hfe should be informed , when Richard Baxter ' s occasions would permit •* debate more methodically , and like
true disputation , ( which he judged more suitable before the same audience , ) he would endeavour to comply , though he was not without weighty affairs almost continually on his hands , to furnish him with an excuse . * ,
" This letter , and the pubBe dispute preceding it , gave rise to a correspondence between the parties , in whick three or four other , letters were ex * - changed . Of the contents of those written by Richard Baxter I can find nothing , except what may be inferred from those which are extant of . William
Penn . I shaH , therefore , pass both of them over , observing only , that . William Penn ' s last letter manifested a spirit of forgiveness , which ejcalted his character , and a spirit , by which it was apparent that , whatever he-might think of the doctrine or temper of his opponent , he believed in the soundsness of his heart . The conclusion of
it was this :. * in which dear ldve ^ of God , Richard Baxter , I do forgive thee , and desire thy good and felicity . And when I read tiiy letter , tire many severities therein could not deter me
from saying that I could freely give thee an apartment in my house , and liberty therein ; that I could visit , and yet discourse thee in much tender love , notwithstanding this hard ententainrpent from thee . I am , without harder words , , >
" ' Thy sincere and loving Friend , " * WILLIiVM PENN / The letters now printed , it is he # - lieVed for the first time , shew that the first conference was succeeded by a second , and that % he irritation
paraduced on the former occasion , tvas mollified on the latter . The temper Of both disputants appeal * to haw boen exhibited . Uttte to their advan-
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Titre * Ortgintxt Letters $ f William Pemfs t& Richard Bawifr . 137
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vot .. xvm . t
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1823, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1782/page/9/
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