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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	proper_a	sense_n	signification_n	2,806	5	9.7840	5	false

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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

to prevail Mat. 16. 18. As we Received not our Religion from Man so Man cannot Continue it to us nor Take it from us Yet we did and do Gratefully Acknowledge the Favour of the Government and do Desire to Bless Almighty God for it by whom Kings reign and Princes decree Justice Prov. 8. 15. And so far were we from Abusing this Favour that we Commended the Reason they Assigned for it namely The Vniting of the King's Protestant Subjects in Interest and Affection and Earnestly Pressed the Prosecution of it For we Heartily Desire the Well-fare of our Country and Actually Endeavour it according to what we have Received wheresoever our Lot is Providentially Cast But it never was in our Hearts to conceive that we had thereby a Priviledge to Blaspheme God or Contemn Authority though these Priests have Misrepresented us both to our Neighbours and the Nation to be Persons that Blaspheme under the Protection of an Act of Parliament O Unchristian Practice Are these the Teachers of the People Are these Ministers of Christ If the Tree is to be known by its Fruit their Works do apparently Discover that they are not As to the Demeaning our Selves under the Government We Hope We have had our Conversation Honest in the Sight of all Men and have led quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty Not only Doing unto others what we would have them Do unto us but we have Patiently Born many Injuries and Undergone great Sufferings for Truth and Righteousness sake And in this Temper and Evenness of Spirit have we been Preserved by the Power of our God under All and through All our Exercises to this very Day And we have not only a Testimony in our Selves but many Witnesses without us how contrary to that Strutting Carriage our Adversaries falsly Speak of we Behaved our selves at this Conference Rel. p. 4. They told us we are going about most uncharitably to Damn them all Animad And so they were but that neither was nor is in their Power to do Thanks be to God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ They have indeed Invaded the Regal Power of Christ and Taken upon them to Bind and Loose as though they were the Successors of Peter but wherein do they truly Succeed him Is it not rather in Denying of his Master than in Owning of him For they neither Follow him in Faith Doctrine Humility Patience nor in any other Characters of that Penitent and Self-denying Apostle and Minister of Christ Rel. p. 4. We told them they may Repent of their Blasphemies and be saved For Paul was once one of their Companions in Blaspheming the Name of Jesus Christ Animad We replied That ever since we have been a People Gathered by the Power and Spirit of God we have sincerely Believed and do still Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the holy Scriptures do Declare of him and do not only plainly Say but also firmly Believe That there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby Man can be saved neither is there Salvation in any other Name And this we hope is no Blasphemy Whereas they say Paul was once One of our Companions in Blaspheming the Name of Jesus Christ We Absolutely Deny that ever we Blasphemed that Sacred Name whereby we are called and which we Put our whole Trust and Confidence in and Prefer above every other Name And if they mean by Paul the Apostle Paul they have shewn great Ignorance in not Distinguishing between Saul the Pharisee and Paul the Apostle While he went under the First Denomination he was a Blasphemer and not under the Second For waving the Conjectures of others about his having two Names at his Circumcision Saul a Jewish and Paul a Roman Name We never Read in all the Holy Scriptures that he was called Paul till after his Conversion see Acts 13. 9. where 't is said He was filled with the Holy Ghost and then surely no Blasphemer So that their Simile though Designed to our Reproach Tends greatly to our Honour Paul the Apostle is our Companion in the Faith and Patience of Jesus Christ but not Saul the Persecutor and Blasphemer Rel. p. 5. They told us Blasphemy against God was the Sin against the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost was God We told them we were Sorry it was so for their sakes but for their Comfort we hope for to make it Appear it was not that Unpardonable Sin So from the 12th of St. Matthew we explained to them the Nature of that Sin and so Stop'd their Mouths Animad They hoped to make it Appear That Blasphemy against God was not that Vnpardonable Sin mentioned in the 12th of Matthew but have not done it neither have they Defined that unpardonable Sin or Proved that Blasphemy against God is not Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost If they had explained to us the Nature of that Sin they should first have given the Etymology and Proper Signification of the word Blasphemy for how should the People Understand what Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is before they are Informed what Blasphemy it self Signifieth So that not Acquainting the People with the proper Sense of the Word they were Barbarians to the Major Part of the Auditory and fill'd their Ears only with Frightful and Unintelligible Sounds 'T will therefore be Convenient since these Learned Rectors have not done it to Explain the word Blasphemy and make it Obvious to the Capacity and Understanding of the People The Word then is of Greek Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blasphemy often rendered so by our Translators Lexicographers generally Derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Calumniate Speak Evil or Reproach the good Name of another And this according to Beza in his Notes upon Mat. 9. 3. is the common Acceptation of it among the more Elegant Greek Writers Blasphemy then in True and Proper English is Evil Speaking and so 't is Translated Eph. 4. 31. Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Evil-speaking be put away from you with all Malice And having given the genuine Sense of the Word we will in the next Place for the Benefit both of Priests and People Acquaint them with what their own Church says of Evil-speaking against the Holy Ghost They may find it in Anthony Sparrow's Collection of Articles c. p. 44. and it is this Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is when a Man of Malice and Stubbornness of Mind doth rail upon the Truth of God's Word manifestly perceived and being Enemy thereto Persecuteth the same 'T is the 17th of the Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and others in the Convocation at London in the Year 1552. and Published by the Authority of King Edward VI. in the Year 1553. We do not say That we Agree to this Definition but it being the Account their Convocation gives of it we conceive the Priests should either Own it or Reject that Article

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