Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	apostle_n	holy_a	scripture_n	3,055	5	5.5132	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41273	A defence of An apology for the people called Quakers being in answer to a book entituled Quakerism exposed, or, Some papers deliver'd to the King and Parliament / by John Field.	Field, John, 1652-1723.; Bugg, Francis, 1640-1724? Quakerism exposed.; Field, John, 1652-1723. An apology for the people called Quakers.	1699 (1699)	Wing F863; ESTC R29523	23,207	40

Practice is as I have before affirmed to Pray for all Men for Kings and those in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty and if we do not in our Prayers to Almighty God recite the Names of Kings or of the King of the Nation wherein we live he cannot prove that such an Omission is contrary to the Holy Scriptures and the Example of the Apostles Besides our peaceable Lives and due Subjection unto those in Authority evidently manifest to them who have impartially observed us that we own the Powers that are to be ordained of God Apology p. 7. And although in some things they have seemed to differ from those of other Perswasions yet who can convict them of Error in any Fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Religion Or of their not holding that which is truly Essential to Salvation and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures Which Holy Records however they have been Misrepresented or falsly Accused as Slighters and Contemners of them I do declare on their behalf they have always had and still have a high Esteem and true Value for them above all other Writings or Books And their frequent use of them and pressing their Children and Servants to the reading therein may sufficiently Demonstrate to those that know them the Innocency of this abused People This F. Bugg saith is false with a Witness and so you must give me leave to whip this John Field for his deep Hypocrisie and Deceit and I wish it may do him good What to pretend that the Quakers value the Bible above all Books then consequently above their own This is such a Lye that it stabs it self Reply This I am a Witness is true although F. Bugg saith it is false with a Witness for which confident Assertion he hath produced no other proof but his own Ipse dixit which with sober and moderate Men is of no Moment or Validity seeing he hath assumed to himself that Extravagant Liberty of writing what Malice and Envy prompt him to And therefore I do affirm that the Quakers always had and still have an high Esteem of and true Value for the Holy Scriptures as they contain the Revealed Will of God speaking to us either through his Holy Prophets or Apostles or by Jesus Christ his only Begotten Son our Lord and Saviour In this Sense we do and ever did value them above all other Writings and Books c. yet as they consist of Ink Paper and various Characters they are Corruptible and will return to Dust from whence they came And if F. Bugg can deny it let him And when I said that I esteemed them viz. the Holy Scriptures above all other Writings or Books c. I spake of them with respect to the Holy Doctrines contained therein Now what cause F. B. hath to call me Lyar and Hypocrite c. let the impartial Reader judge And if where G. F. or any of our Friends speak of them in the same Sense that I did our Adversaries will pervert their Meaning and wrest it to another quite contrary to what they intended thereby rendering them as Persons that undervalue their Evidence it is their own Fault for it 's evident from our Friends quoting them in their Writings and bringing them as Evidences for Proof of their Doctrines that they have an high Esteem and Value for them for who can be supposed to undervalue that which they bring for Evidence and Confirmation of what they deliver And for my own part I can truly say that ever since I knew the difference of Writings and was capable to Judge between them I preferred the Holy Scriptures to all other extant and that I wrote not this to serve a Present Turn as F. B. falsly suggests For I have done it many Years since in my Friendly Advice p. 12. wherein is a Chapter in which I exhort Children to avoid telling Idle Tales and to read and learn the Holy Scriptures according to the Examples of Ancient Protestants and Quoted Instances And therefore I may justly revert his own Words upon him and say This is such a Ly that it stabs it self or rather him that told it F. B. But as he quotes G. Whitehead who long before on behalf of the People called Quakers declared to the King We are free to Vindicate any Principle we hold according to Scripture So it shews we give it the Preference to all other Books Again F. B's Quotation out of Edw. Burroughs's Works but not mentioning the Page is as little to his purpose as his Citing G. W. viz. And so gladly would we be made manifest to all the World that if any especially the Heads and Rulers have any doubt concerning us for that End let any Propound that we with Consent of Authority mark E. B. had Regard to Authority meet c. Reply For this Proposal was made by E. B. to shew how ready they were with Submission to Authority to satisfie the Doubts of those Rulers and Heads in Authority or any else to whom by some prejudiced Priests and otherr this Innocent People were then as much Misrepresented as they are now And this Proposal of E. B's was Impertinently Urged by Doctor Beckham at West-Dereham in Norfolk to settle the Preliminaries of that Particular Conference with respect to which our Friends were then met pursuant to the time prefixt by those very Priests in Norfolk that with F. Bugg had Challenged and Charged them with many Blasphemies upon which our Friends perceiving their Deceit in pretending by that which was written above 35 Years since to settle the Preliminaries of that Particular Conference said How should that which was written so long since answer the End it 's urged to be read for Or what 's this to a Copy of your Charge or to an Account of Books Titles and Pages out of which ye pretend to Charge us Give us that and let us mutually Agree to Time and Place and then settle Preliminaries But this we could not get them to tho' we proffered to pay for it and now F. B's offended and saith These were no Arguments since you pretend to write from the Lord moved thereto by the Holy Ghost Reply If it be a Fault to write from the Mouth of the Lord moved thereto by the Holy Ghost I conclude F. B. is not guilty But if none as is falsly suggested are moved by the Holy Ghost to write from the Mouth of the Lord what are they moved by Or from whose Mouth do they write who Scribble against us and Trouble the King and Parliament with their Lies and Slanders Let him tell in his next But this your Shuffle saith F. B. shewed the Justices of Peace the Gentry and Clergy as well as the Protestant Dissenters that your Principles are so destructive to Common Christianity And this yea only this so far as I know put them upon a Petition to the House of Commons Reply I deny and let him prove if he

on the behalf of the said People and an Appeal to the Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk c. One Francis Bugg hath taken Occasion to carp at some Passages therein which he hath pick'd out and patch'd together for after mentioning part of the Title he takes a Sentence out of the 9th Page then he goes back to the 5th then forward to the 7th and back again to the 1st And therefore I shall cite the Paragraphs as they lie in the Apology and put the words he hath pick'd out in Black that the Reader may be the better capable to make a Judgment of his Disingenuous Dealing by me beginning with the last first because it 's in the 1st Page and is as followeth Suffer me to Expostulate with you on behalf of these Abused People in your Counties that have of late been render'd Blasphemers and to Apologize a little for them whom some among you have lately often Assembled and Consulted together how they might by Subtilty and Misrepresentation Incense you and by you those in Authority against these Innocent People and your Peaceable Country-Men and Neighbours that the Monster of Persecution might be again raised and let loose on them to suppress them Reply Now what just Occasion hath this Man to be angry with me for terming this People for whom I Apologize an Innocent People and Peaceable Neighbours Have they not in their Lives and Conversations in and under the various Sorts of Government wherein they have lived so demeaned themselves I leave this to the Just Principle which God hath placed in every Man that hath known them to answer Why is this Man so angry Had he rather they should be Nocent than Innocent If they were indeed a People that Fired Houses and Poisoned Rivers as he mentions and were duely convicted thereof though they should pretend they followed the Light of Christ within which Light never leads any into such Practices then the Law which is made for Transgressors and Magistrates which should not bear the Sword in vain might justly punish them for their Evil Doings But surely it doth not therefore follow that those who truly Believe in Christ Jesus and follow the True Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World must Suffer for their Faith in him and abiding in his Doctrine For this under what pretence so ever it may be would be Persecution which surely I might as well term the Monster of Persecution as F. Bugg a Badge of a False Church for he declares in his Postscript thus I do profess my self a Member of the Church of England I have often and do now again tell you that I am against Persecution and will add that Persecution for Righteousness sake is a Badge of a false Church And yet in the latter part of King Charles the 2d's Reign there were 1460 of these People Prisoners only for their Abiding in the Doctrine of Christ and peaceably Meeting together to Worship him in Spirit and in Truth and great Spoil and Havock were also made upon the Goods and Estates of these Innocent People for the same And many were Prosecuted for not going to their Parish Churches so called when they were Prisoners upon other Accounts as well as for Meeting viz. on Writs De Excommunicato capiendo and as Popish Recusants for 20 l. per Month and â…” of their Estates And by Law many of these People might have been Burnt at the Stake if the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo had not been Repealed I do heartily wish that no People professing Christianity may ever wear this Badge more nor raise the Monster of Persecution in this Nation again But that Liberty of Conscience may for ever be continued to all that Live Peaceably under the Government It being most agreeable to the Nature of True Christianity and to the whole Tenor of the Doctrine and Practice of Christ and his Apostles Apology p. 9. And if these People must be accounted Blasphemers if they disown not those Books or their Friends that writ them without seeing the Books or what 's in them how can they be either Just to their Friends or True to Themselves For ought any Man to condemn another without full Hearing and due Examination Or would those Clergy-Men account it Just that any should Charge them as the highest of Criminals and Condemn and Sentence them but he hath put Censure ' as such for what some of their Brethren have Writ in Books which they never saw nor read nor knew If not why should the Quakers without seeing the Books and examining the Contents be obliged to condemn their Friends for Publishers of Blasphemy or be esteemed Blasphemers Consider this I beseech you and examine whether it agrees with Christ's Doctrine All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Or whether there is any ground to conclude that the Chargers would ever have refused to have given the account desired by the Quakers if they had been well assured that by the express words of these Books out of which they pretend to prove their Charge it would be clearly and evidently proved Now to the words that are in Black F. Bugg saith they are both Charged and Condemned just or unjust at the Quakers Bar and therein the Quakers are Gross Hypocrites and Dissemblers with God and Man Reply An high Charge but not proved That the Quakers just or unjust have Condemned and Sentenced those Clergy-Men so called without full Hearing and due Examination for what some of their Brethren have writ in Books which they never saw or read or knew the Contents of Oh Injurious Man To suggest such a Gross Falshood and then call the Quakers Gross Hypocrites and Dissemblers and render them such as do not as they would be done by But what other can we expect from such an Vnfair Adversary Apology p. 5. Out of this Paragraph which I shall recite at large F. Bugg hath pick'd a few words which I shall distinguish again by Black Characters But these People for whom I Apologize and Appeal to you how ever they are or may be Rendered and Represented by Men of Evil Designs and Persecuting Spirits Have Do and by the Lord's Assistance are Resolved to Continue Quiet in the Land and in their Christian Duty and Practice of making Supplications Prayers he saith Pray Intercessions and giving of Thanks for all Men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the Knowledge of the Truth This F. Bugg saith is so false and fallacious that I Challenge the whole World to prove one Instance of your Praying for King William or any King A Bold Challenge but as False as Bold For our Principle leads us and our