Glossary

Abdicate: to renounce, or give up, one’s throne or title to something

Abridged: deprived

Afflictions: distress, pain and suffering

American Theatre: America

Animosity: hostility

Appease: to pacify someone by agreeing to their demands

Ardent: intensely devoted, eager, or enthusiastic

Ardently: ardent; having or showing very strong feelings

Assuage: to make an unpleasant feeling less intense

Assault: a sudden, violent attack

Author: another term for God

Baptist: A Protestant Christian denomination that has grown to become the largest Protestant denomination in America today. Roger Williams is credited with starting the Baptists in America; after he was persecuted, he fled to Rhode Island and found the first Baptist Church in America in Providence, RI. The Baptists were known for fighting for religious liberty and separation of church and state.

 

Beneficence: the quality or state of being beneficent; doing or producing good; performing acts of kindness and charity

Beseech: to beg for something, ask in a serious and emotional way

Bigotry – intolerance towards others who hold different opinions from oneself

Boughs: branches of a tree

Brethren: fellow members

Calamities: a great misfortune or disaster

Chastising: to inflict punishment on (as by whipping)

Cognizance- knowledge, awareness, or notice

Commence: to begin, start

Constitution: a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed

Contrite: feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming

Convivial: of or relating to social events where people can eat, drink and talk in a friendly way with others

Cumbereth: create a burden with something useless, reference to Luke 13:7 – cut down the fig tree that isn’t producing any fruit rather than attempting to re-cultivate it.

Danbury Baptists: A Baptist Association formed in 1790 and located in Connecticut. They wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to ask him for support in establishing religious liberty across the United States.

Darling attribute: favorite; an inherent characteristic

Deism: A religion which believes in the moral practices of Christianity without the supernatural elements. Deists believe that Jesus Christ was a good role model but do not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God.

Deluged: anything that overwhelms like a flood

Depository: a place where things are stored

Deprecating: to pray against; to seek to avert

Desolation: devastation, ruin

Discerned: distinguished mentally

Dispensations: permission to break a law or an official promise you have made

Dispositions: the usual attitude or mood of a person or animal; characteristic attitudes

Dissipation: the act of using all or a lot of money, time, etc., in a foolish way

Dissolve: to close down or dismiss an assembly or official body

Dreary: causing sadness or gloom

Ecclesiastical: relating to the Church

Effusion: an unrestrained expression, as of feelings

Endeavour: to seriously or continually try to do (something); to strive to achieve or reach

Endow: to provide with a quality, ability, or asset

Fallacies – mistaken beliefs

Filial: pertaining to a son or daughter

First Amendment: One of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights for the US Constitution. It prohibits any laws from being created that would establish a religion or infringe on freedoms of religion, speech, or press. It also allows for peaceful assembly and petitions to redress grievances.

Fleet: unit of naval ships

Forbearance: restraint, self-control

Gaiety: state of being cheerful

Great Awakening: A religious revival that occurred in Great Britain and America in the 1730s and 1740s. It was led by evangelicals such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. The Great Awakening promoted individual spiritual experiences and deemphasized church doctrines, which allowed for smaller or new denominations, such as the Baptists, to grow.

Gross: flagrant and extreme

Heavenly Tempers: to cause God to be well disposed

Helm: a wheel that steers a ship

Hitherto: until now

Homage: respect of reverence paid or rendered

Idle: lacking worth or basis; not having any real purpose or value

Idolatry: worship of idols

Impartially: not biased; fair, just

Inculcate: to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions

Incurring: experiencing something unpleasant; acquiring burden

Indolence: laziness

Infliction: imposition

Innate: natural

Insurrection: a violent uprising against an authority or government

Interpose: to place between two or more things

Interposition: intervention, to insert between

Irradiate: to illuminate, brighten

Jeffersonian Democracy: A sect of the Republican-Democratic political party in the 18th century. Used to describe Jefferson’s own political beliefs, consisting of a small central government and emphasis on the will of the majority.

Lament: to feel or express sorrow or regret for

Languors: languor; weakness or weariness of body or mind

Levy: to impose war, or a tax, fee or fine; to enlist someone for military service

Lustre: glory or distinction, soft glow

Magistrates: an official entrusted with administration of the laws

Memorial- a written statement of facts presented to a sovereign, a legislative body, etc. as the ground of, or expressed in the form of, a petition or remonstrance; declaration of reasons

Mercenary: a person primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics; a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army

Merciless: pitiless, cruel

Mirth: happiness and laughter

Old World: countries known to the Europeans before the discovery of the Americas

Omnipotent: almighty or infinite in power, as God

Opulence: wealth, riches, affluence

Overweening: overly conceited, overconfident, or proud

Passions: object of enthusiasm, object of desire or deep interest (in this case, wealth and prosperity)

Penitence: regret for one’s wrongdoing or sinning

Perfidy: deceitfulness; untrustworthiness

Piety: reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations

Pious: deeply religious: devoted to a particular religion

Preeminence: high status importance owing to a marked superiority

Pretension- claim

Propagating: spreading

Proscribe- to forbid

Prospect: the outlook for the future

Proselyte: a person who has changed from one opinion, religious belief, sect, or the like, to another; convert

Prostrate: lying on the ground

Prudence: care and thought for the future

Quartering: the provision of accommodations or lodgings, especially for troops

Rear-ward: chronological reference; the righteousness of the people will lead and God’s grace and providence will take up the rear and follow in behind them; Duché is paraphrasing Isaiah 58:8 which uses “reward”.

Remonstrance: a protest, objection, or disapproval

Remote: distant, far away

Repose: peace, tranquility, calm

Requisite: something that is necessary

Salutary: producing good effects; beneficial

Secular Arm: the government

Separation of church and state: The political ideal that government should not pass legislation on religion. This ideal is highly debated, especially when concerning the extent to which religion should be separated from government.

Servility: excessive willingness to serve or please

Social Contract: a theory developed during the Enlightenment that the government should be a contract between the people and the governing body

Sober: quiet or reserved in demeanor

Solemnity: a ceremonial proceeding

Sovereign Wisdom: God controlling wisdom

Subservient: serving or acting in a subordinate capacity; subordinate

Suffice: to meet or satisfy a need

Superstructure: an entity, concept, or complex based on a more fundamental one; social institutions that are in Marxist theory erected upon the economic base.

Supplication: to ask humbly and earnestly of; to pray to God

Supplicatory: in a humble, prayerful way

Syren/Siren: any of a group of female and partly human creatures in Greek mythology that lured mariners to destruction by their singing

Temporal: of or relating to earthly life; enduring for a time

Tenure: the conditions under which an office is held or occupied; the holding of an office

Thomas Jefferson: Author of the Declaration of Independence and the Danbury letter. Originator of the term “Wall of Separation” between church and state.

Thrice: three times

Torrent: a fast moving stream of water or another liquid

Transgression: infringement or violation of a law, command or duty

Transient: lasting only for a short time; impermanent

Tumult: violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob

Unalienable: unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor

Unhallowed: wicked or sinful

Unmerited: undeserved

Usurpers: those who seize and hold (as office, place, or powers) in possession by force or without right

Valour: boldness or determination in facing great danger

Vice: moral depravity or corruption

Vicegerents: people exercising delegated power on behalf of a sovereign or ruler

“Wall of Separation”: A phrase used in Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists. A controversial phrase believed by many to mean that religion and government should be completely separate, as if they had a wall between them, but whose meaning is still debated today.

Wherewithal: wherewith; with what

Zealous: extremely active, devoted, or diligent