should the Papist, with his seven sacraments, be worse than a Quaker, with no sacrament at all? Why should religious houses be more intolerable than meeting—houses? What with Popery on the one hand, and schismatics on the other, the Church of England had been crucified between two thieves. Now, let the thieves be crucified, and let the foundations of the Church be established on the destruction of her enemies. Such is the substance of Defoe’s notorious pamphlet. For a time, and to some extent, the High Church party believed it to be a genuine production; and one of them, in a letter, declared that, next to the Holy Bible and Sacred Comments, it was the most valuable thing that his library contained, and he earnestly prayed that God would put it into the heart of Queen Anne to carry its proposals into execution.[179] It is certain that there was nothing in Defoe’s pamphlet but what had been substantially enunciated from scores of High Church pulpits; but now that it was published, and a national commotion was created, and especially, as soon as it was suspected that the writer was not a Churchman, but a despicable Dissenter, there was a pretence of the most terrible indignation, and threats of the severest punishment to be inflicted upon the audacious author. ----- Footnote 179: Defoe’s _Dissenters’ Answer_. ----- Defoe was suspected, and had to flee for safety. He was advertised in the _London Gazette_, and £50 was offered by Government for his apprehension. The advertisement describes him as “a middle—sized, spare man, about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and dark—brown coloured hair, but wears a wig; has a hooked nose, a sharp chin, gray eyes, and a large mole near his mouth.” This advertisement is dated January 10, 1703, the year in which Wesley’s letter was published. Six weeks after, the House of Commons passed a resolution, “That this book (Defoe’s) being full of false and scandalous reflections on parliament, and tending to promote sedition, be burnt by the hands of the common hangman in New Palace Yard.” Meantime, Defoe was arrested, and, in July 1703, was brought to trial. His sentence was to pay a fine to the Queen of two hundred marks; to stand three times in the pillory; to be imprisoned during the Queen’s pleasure, and to find sureties for his good behaviour for seven years. In accordance with this sentence, on July 29, Defoe was placed in the pillory before the Royal Exchange; on July 30, near the Conduit in Cheapside; and on July 31, at Temple Bar. Such pillory exhibitions had seldom been witnessed. On each of the three days, thousands of sympathisers accompanied the condemned scribe from Newgate prison to his place of shame, to protect him from hurt or insult, whilst his very pillory was hung with garlands woven by the fingers of his friends.