He instanced only in this, where I had said Phebe was a Minister of the Church ; he said, "She was not a Minister, but a Servant, as appears by the Text itself in that Place ; and it will not bear to be translated Minister, as you say."
I replied, "Servant and Minister are synonymous Terms, and the Word there used may be better translated Minister : And if she was a Servant, in what other respect to the Church, if not in a publick Ministry, as a Preacher? For Theodore Beza, in his Latin Translation from the Greek, (from which our English Translations are made) hath it Minister, and not Servant, Ministra Ecclesiœ Cencreensis ; and, in the Greek Testament, it is Διαχονον ; that is, Minister, or Servant." And I asked him before the People, "If he would say, upon his Reputation as a Minister, as he professed himself to be, that it might not be properly rendered Minister;" which he refused: and then, in Abundance of Assurance, said openly, "That I was no Quaker ;" but, in a flattering Way, added, "I had more Sense than to be a Quaker ; for I had an ingenious Countenance, and a Mein importing a better Education." I rejected his Flattery, and replied, "That he might have had better Education, and ought to have had more Justice, than falsely to accuse one whom he never saw before ;" and put him upon his Proof in that and several other Things, in which he had overshot himself, in the Apprehension of most of the People who heard him.
And I observed to the People, who did not generally understand the Meaning of the Word Emissary, that as it was unduly applied by him, it imported a very high, as well as false Charge ; and, as such, I return'd it upon him. Then he began to charge Jonathan Taylor (then in England) with being a Jesuit (he having been in that Country seven Years before, and instrumental to convince many in those Parts ; and thereby had greatly enraged the Priests, and their envious Company, against him ; which they had not forgot :) And there stood up likewise another Man, and said, The Charge was true : But I opposed them, telling the People, "I very well knew Jonathan Taylor; and that he was no Jesuit, nor any Thing like one in any respect ;" putting the Priest in mind of what dangerous Consequence it might be to himself to charge me, or any other innocent Person, in that Manner ; since, by Law, it touched the Life of the Accused, and was highly punishable in the Accuser, if not legally proved : Then he, wheeling his Horse about, said, "He could not stay any longer ;" and, in the turning of his Horse, he prov'd resty, and ran back upon a Log, and his hinder Parts fell
