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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	abuse_v	earth_n	great_a	31	3	2.0729	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34436	The Quakers cleared from being apostates, ok [sic], The hammerer defeated and proved an impostor being an answer to a scurrilous pamphlet falsly intituled William Penn and the Quakers either apostates or impostors, subscribed Trepidantium Malleus : with a postscript containing some reflections on a pamphlet intituled The spirit of Quakerism and the danger of their divine revelation, laid open / by B.C.	Coole, Benjamin, d. 1717.	1696 (1696)	Wing C6047; ESTC R29716	43,852	97

for being in a perfect Estate but acknowledged he was not so But in another place if you will believe him he tells you We don't think of any Imperfection in us or desire of Forgiveness or to that effect But now L. S. don't pretend to it but wisht he was so Who will Credit such a Sayer and Unsayer But as we are exhorted to Confess our Faults one to another and not to hide our Sins for then we shall not prosper but confess and forsake and we shall find Mercy so the Quakers believe and also practice And if he is Ignorant hereof it 's his Fault and not ours In short Confession we own and know it to be our Indispensible Duty To God for every Sin against him either in Thought Word or Action To Man wherein we have Trespassed against him To the Church wherein we have offended her And when the Lord is pleased by his Spirit to draw forth any of his Servants and Ministers into either an Acknowledgment of Sins past or Desire of Forgiveness or both in the exercise of their Gifts amongst the People they represent and on whose Behalf their Petitions are put up we are so far from disapproving hereof or thinking our selves above it that it is exceeding Comfortable and Edifying to us But this we shall never deny that those inward Pangs of a Penitent Soul those Sighs and Groans as well as Words that arise from a wounded Spirit are more acceptable to God than such a Customary Formal crying out Lord the best of our Performances are Sin yea our Holy Duties are Sin but do thou be merciful to us miserable Sinners and so go and so come from Year to Year as if after such a Confession God Almighty was obliged to forgive not considering that 't is those only that Confess and Forsake that shall find Mercy Then again How often are we scofft and mockt at and compared to the Pope because we assert That Men ought to be Infallibly assured of their Duty to God and that the Spirit of God a measure of which is given to every Man to profit withal is Infallible and if minded will so Infallibly assure them that they shall be beyond doubt which is a tossed but not Comfortable Estate From this 't is common with our Adversaries to say That the Quakers pretend to Infallibility and when once turn'd Quakers are Infallible Now that we pretend to Infallibility is true but 't is as before expressed not placing it in Persons or Opinion but the Spirit of God which they themselves can't deny to be Infallible And as Man is governed by that Spirit he will Infallibly be led out of all that which is Fallible and Erroneous both in Faith and Life Yea they themselves will I hope allow the Scripture to be an Infallible Rule and if so the Spirit of God must be yet much more so since from it the Scripture came For Holy Men of Old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But for my part I would not give a Rush for that Religion that is only Certain in Vncertainty which is the state of all that hath not an Infallible Rule to walk by Again about the Holy Scriptures how abominably have our Adversaries abused us particularly this Hammerer saying 'T is no Rule to us and that we have Cursed more than a Thousand times those that call the Scriptures the Word of God This needs no Confutation from me since every Body that know the Quakers know also that they use Cursing no more than Swearing yet this is the Man that if he don't speak Truth of us Desires to be Esteemed a Persecutor or the greatest Defamer on Earth c. Now although we do not commonly call the Scriptures the Word of God because we distinguish between them and Jesus Christ who is called in Scripture the Word of God yet it is not in the least to derogate from the Honour and Dignity that is due thereto but because it is an Attribute peculiar to Jesus Christ the Word although as they declare the Mind of God with respect to us and are his Commands to us they may in that respect be called the Word or Command of God and so the Quakers Own and Esteem them and Rejoice in them since they afford such a Comfortable History of the Dealings of the Lord with his People through many Generations and of the Coming of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ his Birth Works Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascention Glorification and present Mediation and of his Coming at the End of the World to Judge both Quick and Dead of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust with many more Precious and Comfortable Doctrines all which are contained in the Holy Scripture and Writ for our Learning that by Faith in Christ the Man of God through them may be thoroughly furnisht to every good Word and Work And to that end we may have the true and right use of them it is requisite Men apply themselves to the Spirit of God in the reading thereof which never Contradicts its own Testimony in the Scripture but Corroborates it and makes it much more Effectual for Edification and Comfort as said the Prophet I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my judgments c. and to this end we have direc 〈…〉 People to the Spirit of God within them For without the Assistance thereof the Reader hath not the true Comfort of them and therefore it 's false in Fact that the Quakers deny the Holy Scriptures and esteem them but Dirt Serpents Meat Death and Dead Letter as this Hammerer the Snake in the Grass Crisp Bugg c. saith For we sincerely believe the Scripture in it self is very good and profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works But the Best Instruments in the World put into the Hands of a Fool or one of no Capacity is no more to him than those which are worse unless to do Mischief with but in the Hand of an Artist the Work is excellently done Even so the Capacity for the right use of the Scripture is the Qualification of the Spirit without which the Scripture is not of that advantage though otherways very excellent in it self Now as some part of the Scripture is Allegorically to be understood as well as some other Literally and some both as our Adversaries confess so to turn that to an Allegory which is to be understood Literally is equally Foolish with taking that Literally that is to be understood Allegorically For the right understanding hereof can there be any better Method proposed than for Men to have recourse to that Spirit from whence it did at first flow And in that Gift of the Spirit to wait with patience until the Matter is clearly opened to them and not be hasty to conclude

proceed to examine his Book To pass by his Humoursome Preface to his Humoursome Brethren as he calls his Readers I found a long and tedious Rattle as full of Noise Scoffing and Envy as empty of Truth and common Sence until I got to page 62. where he expresseth himself thus Either what I have charged them with is true or false if it be false let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to record it is and can justifie before God and Man I do say it upon mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind that Penn and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates This I took to be the most sensible since it was if you believe him the result of mature Consideration and great Composure of Mind which the rest wanted and Rational though Malicious Sentence in all his whole Book and that led me more seriously to consider Whether what he had Charged the Quakers with was or could be proved against them since if it could not he so freely at one Cast Condemned himself for the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor c. Let us therefore now take a view of his Charges and see whether they be true or not Page 6. His first is against Lawrence Steel for being lifted up with Pride and falling into the Condemnation of the Devil A great Charge But wherein was his Pride c The Reason he assigns for it was his saying Not that I am perfect would I were As if to be sensible of Imperfection and to wish to be freed from it were to be lifted up with Pride But to this I shall say more elsewhere Page 7. His next is by way of Query Whether George Bishop of the City of Bristol a Scholar was not a most deceitful Writer Ans He was not for any thing that he hath proved against him but that he himself has cleared him from being so is most evident from his acknowledging that G. B. has given a true account out of these Authors viz. Eusebius Socrates c and that Jerom and others were against taking Oaths as well as the Quakers to prove which was one of the grand Designs of that Book And that the Quakers were like them for Suffering he also grants But so says he were the Protestants in Queen Mary 's Days Now what is this but to eclipse if possible the Glory of those Martyrs But he adds So were the Papists in Queen Elizabeth 's Days and the Nonconformists in King Charles the Second's That the Protestants suffered in Queen Mary's Days is true and that they were Crowned with Martyrdom is equally true As also it is that the Quakers were the Objects of his Brethrens hatred who when they had the Power in their Hands exercised so much Cruelty that it cost many of them their Lives as also that they were exposed after their Joshua was turned out and King Charles came in to very great and terrible Persecutions as Imprisonments c. But that any of the Nonconformists suffered at that time was rare I will not say none did but it was very few for they found the same way for themselves that the Pope found for the Papists under Queen Elizabeth which was that though they did Conform to the Church of England in outward appearance yet they should keep their Hearts fixed on him and the Catholick Church which was the exact practice of our Conforming Nonconformists Thus Papists and such Noncons agree upon one and the same way to dissemble with God Almighty and to Cheat the World till the first could furnish themselves with Tools to Blow up the King and Parliament and the latter to Murder their King Remember Rye-house But that he is so angry with Geo. Bishop I do not wonder seeing he has so effectually laid open the Horrid Barbarity and Murther committed by those beloved Brethren in New-England upon the Persons of many of the People called Quakers Page 9. He Queries Whether the Quakers leaving their places of publick Worship for fear of Confiscation of Goods Imprisonment c. were not either Notorious Impostors or Apostates Asserting in their Printed Books that it was unlawful to leave their publick Worship for any Persecution whatsoever adding page 10. That they lived in the sinful omission of open Duties for many Years I Answer Such Books and the Quakers practice in the late Suffering Times abundantly proved their Unanimity and whoever is Ignorant of it must have lived farther off than Moorfields or Box either unless Infants Deaf Dumb or Idiots But perhaps he expects that the Quakers to purge themselves from this Calumny that he has so unreasonably formed against them should produce a Catalogue of their Sufferings but that cannot be done without gratifying him and his Party by reflecting on the Instruments of that Work that he may have the Satisfaction to see them upon all Occasions stand Indicted Against whom as well as the Quakers he already hath not omitted to throw some of his envious Darts but in this he is not like to be gratified nor is it in any wise needful seeing their Sufferings are too fresh in the Memories of most staid Persons to require the Trouble to enumerate them or any proofs to perswade their Truth And besides that to recount but a small proportion of what they underwent for their constant maintaining and openly owning in the hottest Rage of Persecution what they were called to profess far contrary to what he would falsly suggest would swell this piece too much beyond its designed Bulk Or another Reason that might induce him to urge so unjust a Charge against us might be a desire to alleviate that just one brought against themselves of being Deserters of their Cause in Times of Danger by bringing the Quakers a People well known to exceed others for stedfastness in such Cases upon the level for Cowardice with himself and Brethren and so render them as fearful and from thence as guilty as they whose Principles and avowed Practice has been to shift from Corner to Corner in Woods remote and obscure Places or any where to save their Bacon supposing themselves not to be called to Suffer though to Believe so that this Charge of omitting open Duties for many Years together he seems to have aimed at us but directly hits at the Heads of his own Fraternity for it touches not the Quakers notwithstanding his unheard of Impudence in bringing it against them and that for several Years too though when and what Years there 's not one word nor in what particular place neither but generally all England over it seems which is so very false that almost every Parish where any Quakers lived can give him the Lie And for Bristol the place he so often with Indignation mentions it is Notorious that when the Men and Women that constituted the Meetings were taken up and committed to Prison the very Children by their

either with or against the Resolves of Councils and Synods c. but being truly exercised in the Gift of the Spirit in Waiting and Attention on it as well as Prayer and Supplication it 's most certain the Matter will be cleared up and the Doubts resolved as it shall conduce to their Spiritual Advantage In short it 's not so much about plain Scripture Authority we differ but about the Authority of those Councils Synods and Assemblies of Divines so called that have undertaken to Expound Scriptures and Decree Articles of Faith For all our Confessions of Faith and Acknowledgment to the Truth of Christianity in plain Scripture Terms is little with them but Cant unless it be in the Terms of the several Councils or Westminster Divines c. and yet they are the People that cry up the Scripture for their Rule though they make it a meer Nose of Wax to turn to every thing that either Humour or Interest trumps up Thus one Council hath Contradicted what the other hath Determined And another thing in which 't is common for these People to Abuse and Belie us in is about our Lord Jesus Christ which this Adversary saith page 80. That he was the Anointings of God and when Dead his Body turned to Dust and that afterwards the same Anointings were in others But who or when any Quaker said so he mentions not a word and in Answer to it I say he would have as truly represented the Presbyterians as he hath done tho Quakers If he said of them that they held Universal Grace and that there was never any such thing in the World as the Solemn League and Covenant and no such Man as the Bishop of St. Andrews Murthered or that King Charles the First cut off his own Head or that they never Hanged Men only for being Quakers or that their Brethren in Scotland were for Universal Liberty notwithstanding their Barbarity to the Episcopal Clergy and their Design to Excommunicate the last Year all Persons that should Buy or Sell with or Entertain a Quaker which had took effect had not the Clemency of the King interposed to break their Mischievous Designs I say as the Matters and Things abovementioned lye are as true the one as the other so I Charge him for a Notorious Impostor thus to abuse and deceive his Reader and under the specious pretences of speaking Truth to vent such apparent Fals-hoods Now although I positively deny what Anonymus affirms and put him upon the proof which I am sure he can never do yet for the sakes of others that may be deceived by this Lying Spirit I shall freely express our Faith herein since that is the part which affords me the greatest Satisfaction in this Undertaking But if I should not do it in the Terms of the Schools though in never so plain Scripture Terms perhaps it will find but little Credit with our Adversaries notwithstanding the great Talk and Boast they make about the Authority of the Scripture But however let them do as they please I hope we shall not receed from the Testimony of Holy Scripture As to the Heresies of the Socinians and Sabelleans which he endeavours to fix on the Quakers since so much has been said already in Confutation thereof so to reassume the Argument and give it a fresh Confutation would swell this beyond my Intentions but besides many others that has done it I shall refer to one that in this Author's Esteem is both Honest and Ingenuous whose word I hope then he will not question and that is G. K. in his Way Cast up which was Written in Defence of us and our Principles to which I refer the Reader for though G. K. hath changed his Mind since that time the Quakers have not and therefore his Arguments in Defence of our Principles are as much in force against our Adversaries as ever since we did then and do now approve of them whate'er we may do by the Man for many a Man has declared the Truth and turned from it afterwards but Truth is not to be denied because of that In short besides G. K. and the many Quakers that has Writ on that Subject the Quakers believe the Substance of the Nicene Creed as truly as any of their Adversaries which cuts up all this Hammerers Allegations at the Roots as it is reported by Socrates Scholasticus in his first Book of the Ecclesiastical History Chap. 5. Page 222. which I shall insert the Substance of save also the Curse at the latter end of it upon them that held contrary Opinions WE Believe in One God the Father Almighty Maker of all things visible and Invisible and in One Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God the Only Begotten Son of the Father that is of the Substance of the Father by whom all things were made both the things in Heaven and the things in Earth Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down and was Incarnate He was made Man He Suffered and Rose the third Day He ascended into the Heavens He shall come to Judge both the Quick and the Dead And we Believe in the Holy Ghost Now though we chuse rather to express our Faith in plain Scripture Terms than in the Terms of any Council whatever yet where Matters of Faith are laid down in plain Scripture Terms by them we never were so cross-grained to refuse an Assent because it was the Determination of a Council But though the above abundantly clears us from his false and wicked Charges of denying the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and the Trinity yet we have more to say for the sakes of those whose Innocency has been destroyed by such Impostors as this Adversary Know then that as the Holy Scripture declared the Divinity of Christ so we as Faithfully believe it according to Micah But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little amongst the Thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel Whose going forth have been from of old from Everlasting or the Days of Eternity Again In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the Beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Again Who is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature Again for by him were all things Created c. Who was the Root and Off-spring of David the Bright and Morning-Star The Heir of all things the Brightness of God's Glory and the Express Image of his Substance who upholds all things by the Word of his Power And by whom also all things were Created And for his Humanity according to the Hebrews Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that