A Letter from a minister of the Church of England communicated to the right honourable the lord mayor, relating to Thomas White, alias Whitebread, who was lately executed for high-treason.

A Letter from a minister of the Church of England communicated to the right honourable the lord mayor, relating to Thomas White, alias Whitebread, who was lately executed for high-treason.

Table of contents

A LETTER From a MINISTER of the CHURCH of ENGLAND, Communicated to the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR RELATING TO Thomas White, alias Whitebread, Who was lately Executed for HIGH-TREASON.

A LETTER From a MINISTER of the CHURCH of ENGLAND, Communicated to the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR RELATING TO Thomas White, alias Whitebread, Who was lately Executed for HIGH-TREASON.

[Page]

SIR,

IN Anſwer to your Requeſt in two ſeveral Letters of yours to your Brother, that Gentleman you mentioned viz White, alias Whitebread (more than twenty years ago)came to Oxford under pretence of a Jew converted by ſome Eminent Divine of the Presbyterian way in London. But in Oxford he pretended a farther light by joyning with, and hearing at the ſeveral Churches and Sermons of Dr.Thomas Goodwin, Dr. Owen, and ſome others of the Independent or Congregational way; but not ſredfaſt there long, (pretending the Apoſtles; Rule to try all things), he fell to the Anabaptiſts, and then to the Quakers, amongſt whom he challenges Dr. Owen, and ſeveral others for their Principles, in a Letter written in ſeveral Languages, ſo Learnedly, that it was thought worthy of conſideration of the Learned Convocation there, by whom he was cenſured as a Jeſuit, or ſome other Popiſh Seminariſt; and thereupon Impriſoned in the Caſtle-Priſon there, where he pretended a Diſtraction, and perſonated the Mad-man ſo exactly, that in few days ſome Friends of his procured his Liberty. I ſaw him ſeveral times running up and down the Streets, with his Hat under his Arm full of Stones, throwing at every ſmall Bird he ſaw; but ere long I met him at a Papiſt-houſe, where I heard him diſcourſe very gravely, learndly, and diſcreetly, where I got not only an acquaintance with him, but familiarity, inſomuch that ſeveral times in change of Habit he came to viſit me, and ſeveral other young Scholars in Magdalon-Colledg: but at length being again ſuſpected and like to be apprehended, he got privately away for London; I brought him five Miles of his way, and ſo left him to his deſigns. In ſix Months after, buſineſs called me to London, where after a day or two I heard a Report of a famous Preacher amongſt the Quakers, near Charing-Croſs and the ſame day met the ſame Gentleman (then ſo much famed) going to ſpeak, in an old-faſhioned Pincked Fuſtian-Jerkin, and clouted ſhooes, and Breeches faced with leather, and a Carters Whip in his hand, altogether diſguiſed from my knowledg of him, but he knew me, and ſpake with me, and renewed our acquaintance. At preſent he went about his intended work, and the next day came to my Quarters in a neat habit of a London-Miniſter, and carried me to his Lodgings within the Precincts of the Middle-Temple, where I had a good Entertainment, and a view of ſeveral ſtrange Habits, in which he diſguiſed himſelf to the ſeveral ſorts of people he inſinuated himſelf into; I ſaw alſo his Orders from the Roman Court, and an Inſtrument wherein he was aſſured of, and ordered to receive of certain Merchants a Hundred Pound Per Annum, beſides an yearly Penſion of Eighty Pound Per Annum from his Father. I am ſure he pretended he was born at Wittenberg, his Father name John White, and in his Writing he himſelf was ſtiled Johannes de Albo by the Court of Rome. He was both Jeſuit and Prieſt in Orders; I went with him by Water and viſited ſome Ships; and in one houſe in Southwark he Celebrated the Maſs in the Popiſh mode to more than forty ; the ſame day we viſited ſeveral Presbyterians and others, and I continued in his Company by the ſpace of a Month, when he was apprehended, and by a ſpeci;al Order from the then Protector Impriſoned in the Tower of London, where I endeavoured, but was not admitted to viſit him. Two years after I understood by a friend of mine and his, that he was freed from his durance, within the ſpace of ſix Months, and within theſe four or five years (as far as my friend and I could judg) tampering much with Independents in and about London; and was ſeen ſeveral times by a friend of mine at Dr. Manton's private Lectures in or near the Lord Wharton's Houſe, ſtill known by the name of John White. He ſpake as good Engliſh as any Native, and knew all Cities, Towns, Villages, Hamlets, (in a manner) in all or moſt part of England.

SIR, This, is the ſum of the Relation I made to your Friend : I bleſs God I was never nooſed in his ſnare, but rather confirmed in our Chriſtian Principl [...]in which I pray God continue ſtedfaſt both you and

Your Loving Friend,

Information about this book

Title statement

A Letter from a minister of the Church of England communicated to the right honourable the lord mayor, relating to Thomas White, alias Whitebread, who was lately executed for high-treason.

Edition statement

1679

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2009-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A48020

ID [STC]

Wing L1415

ID [STC]

ESTC R36253

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

15621946

ID [OCLC]

ocm 15621946

ID [VID]

104225

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48020)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 104225)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1151:38)

Source

— A Letter from a minister of the Church of England communicated to the right honourable the lord mayor, relating to Thomas White, alias Whitebread, who was lately executed for high-treason.,

Extent

1 broadside.

s.n.,. [London? :: 1679?]. (Imprint suggested by Wing.) (Reproduction of original in the Huntington Library.)

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