Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A28169
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Tender counsel and advice to the flock of God everywhere by a lover of truth and righteousness, William Bingley.
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Bingley, William, 1651-1715.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing B2923; ESTC R18478
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19,834
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66
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the Lord. And as there is a Care and Duty that ought to be upon Parents to Educate their Children in the Fear of the Lord so there is a Duty upon Children to Parents to have an Aweful Regard to them and to Love them and be subject to them not to be Stubborn Self-will'd Heady High-minded or Perverse but to be Meek and Gentle willing to be Advised Tender Condescending and Affectionate Considering the great Care and Pains Parents have taken for them many ways and therefore ought not to be Rewarded with Unnaturalness Disobedience and Contempt but with a Meek Condescending Compliance in all Honest and Lawful things and this brings Parents and Children to have Comfort one in another and a Blessing from God upon both And also as touching Servants there ought to be a Care upon Masters and Mistresses so to walk towards their Servants as that they may answer the Witness of God in them and yet keep that Authority as in their Places in the Truth not in a Lordly Spirit nor a High Severe Cruel Mind but in the Savouryness of the Truth not giving way upon Provocations that may be given tho' it may be a Fault in them that gives them to fly out into Rage and Passion and consequently into Rash and Unsavoury Words as calling Uncomly and Unproper Names and Threatning Expressions for when Passion exceeds the Bounds of Reason then the Tongue is at Liberty to express that which is Unsavoury and afterwards has cause many times to Repent but where Fults are Committed let such Reproof be given in a good Temper of Mind as carries a Convinceing Authority along with it this is the way to answer the good in them and keep down that which is contrary in our selves and as it is just and equal for Masters to expect and require of Servants a diligent Performance of their Service and Work for which they take Wages so on the other hand Servants ought not to be Cruelly Used nor Oppressed in their Service but that Moderation which Truth leads into used and lived in on both hands and then they that are served will have quiet and content in them that Serve and Servants will have Comfort in their Services and thereby the Truth and Reputation of it will be Promoted and Love and Concord Increase And Servants ought also to behave themselves in their places Justly and Faithfully in a considering Mind with due Respect to those they serve in all Quietness and Diligence not as (k) Eph. 6. 6. Col. 3. 22 23. Eye-Servants but Conscienciously Performing their Service as in the sight of God and where any are Servants to those that know not the Blessed Truth you may by your Savoury Lives and Honest Endeavours and Conversations in your places be Instruments in the Hand of the Lord to reach to the Good in them and they thereby brought to Love and Embrace the Truth that so you in your places may Shine as Lights upon an Hill that they seeing your Conscientiousness and Justice in what you are Intrusted in may have cause to Glorifie God on your behalfs and be Careful not to give way to a Froward and Perverse Mind nor to give any Just Cause of Provocation nor to let in a Spirit of Scorn and Contempt towards those you serve nor to give way to Whispering nor Tale-bearing for that many times breeds Disturbances in Families and many times occasions Differences between Friends it is of a very ill Tendency and ought be watch'd against and condemned that so the Blessed Truth may Flourish and both Servants and Masters in their places may be Instruments in the Hand of the Lord by their Just and Good Conversation for the Inlarging the borders of Truth and Righteousness in the Earth to God's Glory and the Mutual Comfort one of another And Friends be Careful in all things to preserve Love and Peace and Concord amongst the Flock and Heritage of God and to shun every thing that would lessen it or any ways undermine the Foundation of True Society one with another which is Love and Fervent Charity Therefore beware of Evil-Speakings and Surmisings one against another and also of Whisperings Backbitings and (l) Prov. 18. 8. and 11. 13. and 19. 20. and 16. 28. Tale-bearing and do not encourage give ear to or receive any such things from others but rather reprove and discourage it where-ever it appears nor none Act as busie Bodies in other Peoples Matters where we are not for Truth and its sake Concerned for where these things are given way to they beget Grudgings Heart-burnings and Jealousies against one another and this is the way to break Uuity lay waste Society and put all things into Confusion and therefore let us watch against all such things and Live in Peace and Charity one with another bearing one with anothr and so fulfil (m) Gal. 6. 2. the Law of Christ that the World may see we are the Disciples of our Lord whom we Profess and that we are Lovers of Him and his Word who gave himself a Ransom for us and that the Promotion of his Name and Truth is more to us than any Worldly End or Interest whatsoever that his Glory may be Exalted over all by us and through us in all things and the Glory of his Name may Shine upon us and we Beautified therewith For he will Beautifie the (n) Psal 149. 4. Meek with Salvation and he makes them to Inherit the Earth for he teacheth the Humble of his Ways and the Meek (o) Psal 25. 9. he guides in Judgment He is not wanting to them that Fear him nor his Hand shut up to them that depend upon him but he is an open Fountain and as a place of (p) Isa 33. 21. Broad Rivers and Streams of Refreshment to those whose Souls thirst after him and he will fill them with his Goodness and they shall be Satisfied he will break (q) Psal 22. 26. Bread to the hungring Soul and will give Water of Life to the thirsty his Name will be a strong (r) Prov. 18. 10. Tower for them where they shall find Safety in the time of Storms Oh Friends Feel your Minds thus gathered to the Lord and to his Power and Goodness that his Arm may be our Strength and Support whatever may be met with in this World and that in that Strength we receive by a diligent waiting upon him we may Serve and Glorifie our God in our Day and Serve one another in Brothely Love and may be one anothers Joy and Comfort in the Lord that he who is the Fountain and Well-spring of all our Living Mercies and Comforts and hath made us what we are in his Beloved Son may have the Honour and Glory of all over all who alone is worthy for evermore saith my Soul Who am a Lover of all Mankind but more especially of those who Love the Lord Jesus Christ W. B. THE END
the Lord which is a (v) Prov. 14. 27. Fountain of Life to depart from these and all the Snares of Death and to take heed to the divine Instruction of the Grace of God in their own Hearts which teacheth to deny all these things and not only to deny Evil but to (w) Tit. 2. 12. live a Holy Sober and Godly Life in this present evil World and consider in seriousness when a temptation presents to the jollity and liberty of this World either from an Inclination in our selves or by others to draw us into it will this be pleasiing to God ought I to take this liberty will it not gender to bondage or shall I hereby answer the great love of God towards me shall I be an Instrument to civilize those among whom I am or shall I not rather be an evil Instrument to strengthen them in that liberty which will keep them in bondage to Sin and Satan I entreat in the Love of God every one consider these things and also that we are not our own we are bought (x) 1 Cor. 6. 20. and 7. 23. 1 Pet 1. 19. with a Price and this Price with which we are bought is no less than the Precious Blood of the Son of God and being thus bought we ought not to live to our selves or gratify our own Hearts lusts and minds but to live to him that hath bought us And as the Apostle saith to Glorify God in our Bodies and Spirits which are the Lord 's And as to the general we are a Body and Society whom God in some measure has brought into a good and wholsom discipline that we watch over one another in Love not with an evil Eye nor in Sowerness and Prejudice and in that go about to reprove for that will never do good but in a Holy concern for God and the good of Souls first knowing our own consciences clear in God's sight to Counsel Admonish Reprove and Rebuke not sparing any things that are reproveable in any nor overlooking through Favour or Afection for that weakens our discipline gives advantage to the Enemy of the Blessed Truth and is hurtful to those to whom Reproof and Rebuke is due therefore that that which is wrong may be kept down by the authority of the Truth and we kept in Wisdom and Councel of the Lord and Holy Zeal for his Name and Truth whereby Truth will grow our adversary the Devil who lies in wait to beguile and defile those whom God has Visited and begun his work in will be disappointed and with those that are ensnared we shall labour in a Spirit of (y) Gal. 6. 1. Meekness and in Bowels of Compassion to bring them to a sence of their out-goings and to recover them to the Fold from whence they have strayed so will Truth prosper and spread and its Reputation increase and many gathered to the Name of the Lord whereby the borders of Gods Sanctuary being enlarged Righteousness will Flourish in the Earth And Friends as by the Arm and Power of the Almighty we were gathered to be a People and by Vertue of the Life of Jesus Christ our Lord are united and knit together to be a Society and Body of which the Lord Jesus is the Head as such a Body we have affairs to manage and to look after for the Glory of the Name of the Lord and for the preservation of our Peace this I entreat of all that all things may be managed in Love and Brotherly kindness in a Meek and Quiet Spirit none striving for Mastery for there is to be no (z) 1 Pet. 5. 3. Lording over one another amongst us for we are Brethren having one Lord and Master Christ Jesus And as there is an abiding here one Brother or Member cannot say to another I have no need of thee if they are really Members but it is to be observed that none can be Members of this Body nor have any Service there acceptable to God but as they are in that life which makes them so and that Life is Meek Gentle not Stuborn Wilful Heady and High-minded for that where-ever it appears has another Head than Christ Jesus viz. He that would lay waste our Society is their Head and as it is unnatural for the Members of our outward Bodies to tear hurt and abuse one another so much more for the Members in this Spiritual Fellowship and Body whereof Christ is Head But on the contrary Oh the Care Tenderness and Sympathy that is there one with and towards another whether in Suffering or in Joy and here all being kept in our proper Places and Stations we shall all be Subject to our Head and the Life of our Head Christ Jesus will flow through all its Members and preserve a due Subjection And Dear Friends in all matters that we are Concerned in to Manage for the good of this Body let Strife and Contention be avoided the way to prevent the occasion whereof is by every ones keeping close to the Truth and to seek to promote that only for where Truth only is Promoted there is no occasion of Strife but when Men through Favour or Affection will Espouse that which is wrong and by Craft and Parts not Subject to the Truth will Uphold and Vindicate it and force things upon others which they ought not this lays a Foundation for Strife and Contention and this may be opposed in a wrong Mind and Spirit for where the Mans Part gets up to Contend though against a wrong thing this never does good for the more it is given way to the higher the Flame of Contention will rise and though this may and does too often happen yet they that in a Cool and Meek Spirit and in a Concern for God without any particular End to themselves or others do oppose what is wrong are not the Cause of Contention for there is a Distinction to be made between them that in Meekness Contend against what is wrong and those that would bring in that which should not be brought in and thereby cause Contention For I observe the Apostle adviseth to Mark them that Cause Division so that the Cause is to be watched against and that being removed the Effects will cease My Earnest Desire is therefore in the Love of God That nothing be Encouraged or taken hold of that would Cause Strife and Contention but that we may be all of one (a) Rom. 12. 16. 15. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Mind and may speak the same thing by keeping to the Truth and shutting out all that is contrary to it so shall we be more and more United in One and kept in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of our Peace and hereby Satan's designs and the designs of his Agents will be Disappointed and the Peace of the Church kept Inviolable and we shall Shine forth in that Comliness which God ever did and will put upon his Chosen Ones this is the Beautiful Garment that