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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	authority_n	holy_a	scripture_n	4,860	5	5.8272	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B01449	The defence of the people called Quakers: being a reply, to a book lately published by certain priests of the county of Norfolk, under the pretended title of The Quakers challenge. And containing, some brief and modest animadversions upon the book it self. Several certificates, which detect the errors in those of West-Dereham, and clear the people called Quakers of the said challenge. The letters that passed between them and the priests.	Ashby, Richard, 1663?-1734.	1699 (1699)	Wing A3939; Interim Tract Supplement Guide 4152.f.20[18]; ESTC R1295	32,665	56

of your Terms Yet they proceeded according to what they wrote in their Letter dated the 16th of November in these words Pray trouble us no more with your Letters for our Measures are fix'd and you may chuse whether you will meet us upon the Terms resolved upon or no. Rel. p. 1. And our Charge according to their desire sent to them as appears by our first Letter Animad They sent us a Charge indeed but not according to our Desire for we Desired a Particular of the Blasphemies they Charged us with together with the Authors Names Titles of the Books and Pages as may be seen by the Three last of our Letters But this they constantly Denied us In our first Letter we were not so express as we were afterwards when we saw in what General Terms they Charged us but we Thought it had been enough to let them know our Freedom to take their Charge and stand a Publick Trial desiring only the Common Priviledges to such Occasions belonging Now what are these Common Priviledges but a Particular of their Charge with Author Title Book and Page considering they told us in their Letter dated the 3 d. of November 1698. We intend to Charge you with Blasphemy out of your own Books Rel. p. 1. And on the day appointed viz. December the 8th 1698. the Quakers and We met in West-Dereham-Church in the County aforesaid and took our Places before prepared We first read the Service of the Day near the Beginning of which they coming in staid it out not to joyn in the Duty but rather to affront it carrying themselves Irreverently all the Time Animad 'T is true We met them on the 8th of the 10th Month 1698. in West-Dereham Steeple-House but We neither appointed the Day nor the Place nor agreed to their Terms for we looked upon their Terms as Unreasonable And therefore our Appearing there was not to joyn Issue with them and to Answer their pretended Charge but to demand at this Meeting what we had so often in our Letters Insisted upon before and they had Refused us namely a Copy of their Charge and to acquaint the People whom the Priests had Misinformed that we were not the first Challengers Our coming in while they were at their Service was by the Direction of their Warden and a Watch-man sent as we Suppose for that Purpose And when we were come in tho' we did not joyn with them yet we offered no Affront nor carried our selves Irreverently unless a Silent and Serious Deportment all the Time of their Service may bring us under that Imputation Rel. p. 1. As soon as our Service was ended one of their Speakers began to Pray whereupon all of them immediatly pulled off their Hats and carried themselves as at a Religious Worship Animad We hope that was no Offence and if they could say in Truth they were for that Time Sober and Quiet as we were during their Service as they rightly call it we think it would have been more to their Reputation than to Cry out A Conventicle a Conventicle a Thing strange to hear of in a Steeple-House while our Friend was on his knees Praying to Almighty God as if there was a Law against Praying to Him which we know nothing of and besides it 's Allowed by their Liturgy Rel. p. 1. We insisted that they were our Challengers and repeated to them their own Letter of Challenge They told us they were provoked by certain Carriages of ours to write that Letter Animad True it is we did and do deny that we were the Aggressors and first Challengers and we Proffered several Testimonies to Clear up that Matter but being then Obstructed by our Adversaries We have now Printed them and leave the Judgment and Decision thereof to the Impartial Rel. p. 1 2. And after many long Harangues of several of their Speakers they desired that all the Letters which passed between us might be read to the Auditory not as if they could get any Advantage by reading them but as appeared to us afterwards meerly to divert us an Hour or more from prosecuting our Charge Animad It was very reasonable the Letters should be read that the People might understand First that they were the first Challengers and Chargers which they now grant by Complaining they were Diverted from prosecuting their Charge Secondly That we had several Times Requested the Authors Names the Titles and Pages of the Books out of which they did intend to Charge us that we might have been duly Prepared to Meet them and Give proper Answers to their several Charges For there is a common Justice due to every Man that he should have the Liberty to Explain his own Words and if the Author was Dead or could not be there that his Meaning by other Words or Sentences relating to the same Subject might be Explained and if they could not then it was Time enough to Disown those Words and Sentences but not without due Examination for otherwise we should be Unjust to our Friends and Injurious to our Selves Rel. p. 2. We answered we had Law and Equity against such an Unreasonable Demand We told them the Law was their own 't was from Edward Burroughs who was a Son of Thunder and spoke all from the Mouth of the Lord whose Book used to be with them of as much Authority as the Bible Animad Our Demand was a more Particular Account than a General Charge But was this Unreasonable Or is there either Law or Equity that forbids it We know of none that doth but do Conceive we have both on our Side Their Allegation out of Edward Burroughs doth not reach the Case nor could his Authority Settle the Preliminaries of the Conference For he hath been dead about 35 Years and this was Published about 5 Years before that therefore what is a Challenge of near 40 Years Standing and by a Friend so long since dead to us Is it Reasonable that that should Affect us and Set us such Measures as these Partial Judges Pitch'd and Resolv'd upon Besides E. B. tho' he made an ample Offer to the Priests of that Day saying Let them appoint Time Place and proffer Terms at their own Pleasure Yet he did not thereby Oblige us by any Express Word or Consequence That he was Boanerges or a Son of Thunder and did Speak from the Mouth of the Lord we humbly Acknowledge and Bless God for Raising up and Sending forth so Eminent and Able an Instrument to Preach the Everlasting Gospel His Memory is Precious among Us and his Books of Esteem but not of Equal Authority with the Bible For though he had received a Measure of the same Spirit which was in the Holy Pen-men yet Dispensations Vary according to the manifold Wisdom of God and therefore we prefer the Bible before E. B's Books and all other Writings Extant whatsoever We do not Plead for any New Gospel Faith or Doctrine different from that which Christ and his Holy Prophets and

made in the Year 1562. by another Convocation which declares The Church hath Authority in Controversies of Faith If they will own it then whether the Sin against God be the Sin against the Holy Ghost or no We do not see how they can Quit themselves of the Blasphemy the Article speaks of For do they not of Malice Rail upon the Truth of God's Word manifestly perceived and as Enemies thereunto Persecute the same in Charging so many Blasphemies upon the Light within as taught by the Quakers For the Light within is Christ and Christ is the Truth of God's Word The Way the Truth and the Life John 14. 6. The Word that was in the beginning with God and was God Chap. 1. 1. The Sum and Substance of the Gospel and that which the Holy Scriptures give Testimony of and we Believe and Teach But whether the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be Unpardonable we shall not Determine A great Doctor of their own Communion was of the Opinion it was not see Hammond's Annot. upon Mat. 12. If they Print again we intreat them to be Plain and Open and not Talk great Words in the Dark to Endeavour to Fright People and to Exasperate them against us without any just Cause or Provocation Rel. p. 5. And now we began to Charge them with Blasphemy against God Animad Whom did they begin to Charge Not the Quakers of this present Generation for they were then acknowledged Orthodox and yet at first all were by them Charged to be Blasphemers see their Contradiction Rel. p. 5. And as soon as we began to prosecute our Charge one gets upon a Form and Bawls aloud to the People c. Animad It 's true one got up on a Form and made a Solemn Confession of Faith in Scripture-Terms yet did not Bawl but in words of Sobriety Declared to this Effect We Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only Begotten Son our Lord and Saviour who was Born of the Virgin Mary whom the Holy Ghost overshadowed who appeared in the World in that Body prepared for him who died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification And we Believe in the Holy Spirit and own the Three that bear Record in Heaven and that these Three are One. We Own the Holy Scriptures of Truth and Believe they were given forth by Divine Inspiration and that they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness and are able to make the Man of God wise to Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus And We Esteem the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the best Book in all the World and could be glad that People did spend more of their time in Reading of them And the Ordinances of Jesus Christ his Baptism and Supper according to the Holy Scriptures and that we neither Preach Teach nor Believe in any other Light than the Life of that Word which was in the beginning with God and was God And therefore this Light as taught by us could not expose us to Error or Blasphemy And we own Magistracy to be the Ordinance of God for the Punishment of Evil-doers and Praise of them that do well Rel. p. 5. This Disorder hindred us from Prosecuting our design to any Purpose tho' we permitted every one of them from London or from Rome if they pleased to have free Liberty to Dispute if they will do it fairly without Noise or Clamour Animad Whatever their Design was it seems they did not Prosecute it to any Purpose But what an unjust and unkind Insinuation is this from London or Rome As tho' we had Romish Emissaries among us who Blessed be our God do equally Renounce all the Corrupt Doctrines Anti-Christian Spirit Lord-like Power and Grandeur Idolatrous Worship Superstitious Ceremonies and Wicked Practices both of Pope and all Others who Persecute for Religion and Conscience towards God it being Romish And this we Testifie and Declare that Whoever they are that promote Persecution upon any Pretence whatsoever they are Friends to Rome and not to England being Profest Enemies to Christian Liberty and Property and Publick Disturbers of the Peace of their Native Country Rel. p. 5. And whereas we brought a great Number of the Quakers Books both Old and New and all of them of their most Celebrated Authors they cried no Books no Arguments which occasioned great Laughter and Shouting among the People Animad Who said so We would willingly have discoursed upon Books Regularly but when we demanded a Copy of their Charge which was but Justice then the Managers of the Conference who should have been Examples to the People of Gravity and Soberness did turn it off to Laughter and Shouting with a Company of vain Persons there present to Joyn them therein Rel. p. 6. And ever and anon they would have been Charging us Insolently urging us to prove our selves Christians Animad They gave us great Occasion to Question their Christianity by reason of their frequent Hissing and Hollowing which made us take Notice of it to the Auditory that they might Observe what Fruits some of them brought forth Rel. p. 6. And by and By we must prove our selves Ministers of Christ which was answered Animad We do not remember that any of them did but if they did Why did not they Insert it here that we might have seen it They gave the Occasion by their frequent Examining our Friends whereupon One of them said If they would prove themselves Ministers of Christ he would be Chatechized by them but they Declined the Proof of that and when one in the Pulpit made an Essay towards it they discountenanced him saying He was a Young Man and not concerned with them in this Affair or to that Effect yet we Acknowledge he Behaved himself more gravely then most of them Rel. p. 6. And it was a Cunning Design of theirs to divert us from our Charge so much dreaded by them Animad It rather seems they were upon Cunning Designs and afraid to give their Charge than that we were affraid to take it For we offered to pay for the Writing if we might have had it and once we had a promise from Dr. Beckham but were afterward denied by Rector Meriton Now being thus imposed upon and denied just Measures we told the Auditory that seeing these Persons had refused us Justice we Appealed to the Lord of Heaven and Earth the Judge of All and in His Name and Fear we made our Confession of Faith in Opposition to their Charges and then some of them Laughed Hissed and Hollowed and one of them called for the Stocks and a Watch-man came near the Scaffold which we were upon and held up his Bill at us And they appearing with such seeming Threatning and Violence and we could not be heard some of our Friends took Occasion to disperse certain Books called The Christianity of the People called Quakers

is not long since your Address to them was in that Tinkerly Language Greedy Doggs Babylon's Merchants Devil-driven dungy Gods Witches Bloodhounds Sodomites Gimcracks Wheelbarrows Tatterdemallions which you have now Exchanged for more familiar and kind Expressions to call us Friends tho' your former Carriage hath been as Divinely Authorized as your present Blasphemies Your very Railings have been as you have pretended by Inspiration We hope since you have begun to draw from that Old Filthy Spirit that dwelt in your Ancestors you will at last totally Abandon them seeing you have Abandoned them in lesser Matters and why not in their Blasphemies Friends pray trouble us no more with your Letters for our Measures are fix'd and you may Chuse whether you will meet us upon the Terms resolved upon or no. No more from those who are resolved to continue your real Friends whether you will or no. Hen. Meriton John Meriton Lau. Parke The last Letter to the Priests dated the 23 d of the 9th Month 1698. To which they returned no Answer Friends YOURS of the 16th Instant We have received the Tenor of it declares Your purpose still to Evade our Just Demand as is set forth in our Second and Third Letters to you we shall now give you a brief Reply because we perceive our Letters are troublesome to you First if you were as Real as you pretend Friendship towards us the Moderation of Friendship questionless would prevent your being Astonished at our denial of the Term Challenge in our first Letter to you For then it had been our place to have Charged you so we should have made our selves Plaintiffs and you had been Defendants We doubt not but upon more mature Thoughts your Astonishment will vanish away 2dly We still Insist upon our former Demands as just and reasonable for how can you or any Man whatsoever think that we or any others for us can make Answers to Matters thus hiddenly Charged upon us whilst you refuse us the Knowledge of them as you say they stand in our Books Pray be plain with us and if there be such Rank Blasphemy as you say bring it forth do not be shy Give us Author Title Book and Page and if you please tell us in the first place what is Blasphemy 2dly Wherein do you Charge us with Blasphemy against God and against Jesus Christ and against the Holy Scriptures What are the Words of those several Blasphemies Your direct answer to those Particulars 3dly We think it not worth while to follow you through all the Parts of your Letter it being a great part of it Rattle and Noise besides our present business 4thly You Evade our Instance of the Common Law We distinguish between Matter of Fact and a Right to Judge You have Charged us with Matter of Fact We Demand a Copy of your Charge that we may prepare true Answer to make As a Point of Justice allowed by the Common Law to Malefactors We deny your having any Jurisdiction over us as Judges and before we Submit we will have full Proof of your Commission Temporal Judges you are not and to be Spiritually Qualified you must prove before we acknowledge you as such 5thly Seeing your resolutely Refuse our Just Demand we do not look upon our selves obliged to Meet you under the Limitation of your Terms We stand to our former Offer and by the Terms we have offered to Qualifie yours and if you refuse it shews for all your Pretence of Friendship a contrary Design upon us we cannot look upon your Resolution to Friendship any thing else but an empty Pretence until as a Proof that it is otherwise you give us the Instances of your Charge in Form and Manner aforesaid which is not as you say to send us your Arguments before hand but the Matter of Fact you Charge us with This as a Point of Justice from you we seek not your Mercy make your Arguments as strong as you will But while you thus put us off we look upon it no other than a Shift and Evasion on your Parts and a Design to Over-rule us We leave it with you as a Test upon your Resolute Friendship Give us our Just Demand of Author Title Book and Page with convenient time as set forth in our last to you to prepare to make Answer which if you still deny we look upon your Pretence of Friendship to be a meer Complement and Decoy and a Design of much Evil to us Couch'd under 't Notwithstanding we are your Friends and desire you would mind the Witness of God in your Consciences that admits of no Deceit and will if minded lead you to deal Plainly To which you must Stand or Fall one Day Richard Ashby John Hubbard Dan. Phillips Richard Case c. P. S. SEeing you have rejected our Terms as aforesaid and we have refused to be Imposed upon by some of your Limitations we therefore shall take our Liberty either to Meet or not Meet you And if we Meet you to have others of our Friends present with us who are not Inhabitants within this Diocess if we see Cause and if they have Freedom thereto An Answer to the Certificate of the Inhabitants of West-Dereham and other Parishes Adjacent c. WHereas they say That West-Dereham is an exceeding Small Salary for a Minister which discouraged most Men from supplying the Cure c. Let it be Observ'd that had the Salary been Greater it is likely it had not wanted a supply to the Cure So that a greater Salary a greater Inducement a little Salary a little Inducement and no Salary no Inducement at all According to the Old Proverb No Mony no Cure Or No Penny no Pater Noster But is this a Mark of a True Minister Or is it not directly contrary to Christ's Words and Commands Matth. 10. 7 8. And that Whereas Laurence Parke came not to the Cure until June 1691. as they say 't is Observable there was but one Person and his Wife in that Town that did go then to the Meetings of the People call'd Quakers But after the said Laurence Parke came to Preach there he made it much of his Business at several times to Preach against the said People and that in very Harsh Terms and Expressions which caus'd a Dissatisfaction in several of his Hearers who thought the said People deserved not to be so much preached against and those his Sermons caused some of them to desire to be fully satisfied concerning the said People and those things which the said Laurence Parke so frequently did Preach against to his Auditory in the said Parish of West-Dereham and this caused them to go to some of their Meetings where they were satisfied that the said Laurence Parke had given a false Report concerning them and their Principles and had much mis-represented them to the People and some of them have since left going to hear him being fully satisfied in themselves for so doing So that instead of keeping his Hearers

Apostles taught and is Recorded in the Scriptures of Truth but for the Revelation of that which they Taught and is therein Recorded Wherefore as the Apostle says There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of Operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all But the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6 7. So say we viz. That there is a Measure of the same Spirit in us which was in the Holy Prophets and Apostles so that 't is not an Equality of any Writings with theirs but a Measure of the same Spirit of Revelation which they had that we Contend for Rel. p. 3. For the nature of the Blasphemy we Charge them with should be so Plain and Obvious that every Christian shall be able to Understand it to be so upon the Reading it to them Animad If the Nature of the Blasphemy be so Plain and Obvious as these Men pretend why did they Refuse at the Conference to give us a Particular Account of it For their Charging us with Blasphemy of so Plain a Nature and yet Denying us a Copy after so many Demands gives us just Cause to Suspect they are Conscious of the Invalidity of their Proofs and therefore of the Charge it self but that Envy link'd with Interest Prompts them to Calumniate Loudly that Some might be Frighted from Coming near us and Others Irritated to Hate Malign and Persecute us Rel. p. 3. But should we tell them the Names of our Books Page and Line before-hand we had deserv'd rather to be laghed at as Fools than looked on as Disputants for this would be to send them our Arguments before the Disputation Animad Here they make a Poor Excuse for Denying our Just Demands and then give as Weak a Reason for it But has the Hiding the Names of their Books Page and Line from us Secured their Reputation among Men of Wisdom Or only got them the blind Applauses of the Ignorant We know that Justice and True Wisdom are Inseparable and therefore seeing they have Positively Refused us Justice their Ambition of being accounted Disputants when they themselves know 't was no Disputation as it cannot Cover them from the Imputation of Folly so can it not Acquit them of the Guilt of Injustice Did ever Men Apologize to less Advantage than these have done We never desired their Arguments but their Quotations that we might know where to find the Blasphemies if any Such there were in our Friends Books and make Preparation for our Answer And ye there they talk of their Arguments as though we Solicited for them before hand For we told them they might Reserve their Arguments till they Needed them and yet might Reasonably Give us the Quotations they Pretended to Argue upon That they had a great Mind to be looked on as Disputants and were willing to seem furnished with Arguments to prove their Charge we do not Deny if Clamourous Harangues and Tricking Attempts be any Evidence of it For they would Fain have Drawn us into this Snare namely To have Condemned our Friends of Blasphemy before we had Examined what that was which they Called so Which Vain Effort whether it Proclaims their Folly or Speaks their Honesty and Fairness in Arguing the Impartial Reader though but of a Common Capacity may easily Determine Priest Archer of Milden-Hall confessed indeed that the Quakers of this Generation were Orthodox and the Confession of an Adversary is very considerable But he would have had us Condemn our Friends Books before we either Heard or Saw or Knew that there was any Blasphemy in them But we conceive it would have been as unjust in us to have Condemned the Evidence before we Heard them as it was and is in our Enemies to Conceal them from us Rel. p. 4. We told them the Evidence we should bring was not from Ours but from their Own Books and it was not fit we should tell them the Names of our Witnesses before hand that they might have time to tamper with them and make them speak what they never intended Animad It Looks as if these Men were somewhat Confused for in p. 3. they say Our Books Page and Line here forgetting what they Said but six Lines before they say Not from Ours but from their Own Books Again how Loosely and Idly do they Discourse in the latter Part of this Paragraph about our Tampering with their Witnesses Was it possible for us to Tamper as they Phrase it with them viz. Printed Books which were in their own Hands and in the Hands of many Others Or could we make them Speak otherwise than they do Surely the Weakness of this Argument as well as the Disparity between Books and Men shews little Wisdom in these Learned Rectors and rather bespeaks their Shortness than their Sharpness Rel. p 4. When a Time of Disputation with an Adversary is set and I have sent him the Questions to be Disputed on was it ever expected that I should before the Time send him all my Proofs The Question you know betwixt us is whether they are Blasphemers or no Animad Here is another Blunder hardly tolerable in any but in such Disputants Sometimes 't is I sometimes 't is We or Vs Singular and Plural One and More as their Fancy leads them But leaving this Confused Variation of Numbers let us Attend to what they say next The Question say they you know betwixt us is whether they are Blasphemers or no This is another Effluvium from a cloudy Intellect They never till now put it in the Form of a Qustion whether we were Blasphemers or no But Charg'd us with Express and Down-right Blasphemy Therefore they are gone from their former Mode of Expression and have brought it now to Terms of a Disputable Nature Rel. p. 4. Presently they cry'd out We Reproach the Parliament who have owned them to be Dissenting Protestants whilst we would prove them to be Blasphemers and indeed they did strut exceedingly for the Honour the Parliametn hath done them to Recognize them as Protestants as if under the Protection of the Act of Parliament they might Blaspheme cum Privilegio and no Body must be so bold as to ask them Why do you so Animad We Received not our Religion of Man nor were we Taught it after a Traditional Manner but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ whom the Lord God hath laid in Zion for a sure Foundation Isa 28. 16. Even the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2. 20. and of all the Righteous in every Generation And He that is our Foundation the same is our Defence and Protection For he is our King the Lord God Omnipotent and the Head of the true Church which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thess 1. 1. and against which the Gates of Hell shall never be able