Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A25118
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An Account of the doctrine and discipline of Mr. Richard Davis of Rothwell, in the county of Northampton, and those of his separation with the canons of George Fox, appointed to be read in all the Quakers meetings.
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Fox, George, 1624-1691.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing A280; ESTC R12424
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28,976
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34
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Souls as they that must give an Account that they may do it with joy and not with grief l 〈◊〉 13.7 8.17.18 〈◊〉 5.12 and also pray for them m 〈◊〉 4.3 1 Thes â— 25 2 Thes 3.1 We do now in the presence and Grace of our dearest Lord that hath redeem'd us likewise engage as a Church of Christ in all respects to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace n Eph. 4.3 unfeignedly loving the Persons of one another without dissimulation o Râ—m 12.11 1 Pet. 22. even when we bear the greatest Testimony against their sin and as the effects of that endeared brotherly Love to watch p Thes 5.15 over our Brethren and Sisters that they do not decline in their acts of Faith or turn aside from the Faith of the Gospel considering and getting down into one anothers Hearts continually that we may mutually provoke one another to love and to good Works not forsaking the assembling our selves together any manner of way for this good end and purpose q Heb. 10.24.25 Likewise with the assistance of the Spirit of Grace we shall endeavour to be very tender of one anothers good Names a Psal 15.3 Bodies Health Lives b Mat. 5.38.39 and outward Estate c 1 Câ—r 1. ad 11 â—ev 19.17 We shall be ready to assist one another herein to the utmost being concern'd for the particular welfare of each other therein as for our own We no less judge it our Duty not to suffer the least Sin and the least appearance of evil to rest on one another d 1 John 1.6 〈◊〉 10.17 Mâ—t. 18.17 as knowing that Sin resting on a Brother or Sister will mar their present Communion with the Lord Jesus a 1 Joh. 1.6 If the fault be secret we shall with great Secrecy admonish a Brother or Sister and out of due regard to their Reputation forbearing to reveal it to our most intimate Bosom Friend b Mat. 18.15 unless it be to some Officer if the Case be dubious provided we can but gain by our Loving Admonition But if not we shall in the Strength of the Lord take two or three more c Mat. 18.16 as Witnesses and Associates with us farther to warn and beseech them in the Bowels and tender Mercies of God in Christ to repent of their evil yet not presume to publish their Faults to any but those we take with us and if any among us publish the Miscarriage of any Brother or Sister unless it be with a design to take the Parties with them as Witnesses we shall faithfully admonish them for breaking the Rules of Christ in so doing In all the discharge of our Duties hitherto we shall carefully watch against any Prejudice to their Persons by acting and dwelling in the Bowels of Christ and considering them as cloath'd with his Righteousness and clean in God's sight d Cant. 4.6 We also leaning on Christ's Strength to assist us shall endeavour to discharge our Duty with great Faithfulness to them as well as Tenderness contentedly bearing Oppositions from themselves and others in hard Thoughts Speeches Frowns and sinister Constructions out of sincere love to Christ's Glory and the good of their Souls And if we cannot reclaim them by these methods of Mercy and loving Kindness for the Prevention of the farther spreading of their evil without delay acquaint the Church with it e Mat. 18 1â— We with him on Thrones of Judgment in his Name and Power in his Presence and Might and in his render Bowels shall admonish any Brother or Sister thus brought before us f 1 Thes 5.14 or any whose Faults are in their own nature publick g 1 Tim. 5.20 publickly backing our Admonition from his Word and Authority and his Sovereign Grace committed to us If we see one Admonition begin to take place we shall wait for their thorough Repentance till we see occasion And when ever we see our Administration blest for their thorough Humiliation and our Endeavours used in a Spirit of h Gal. 6.1 Meekness succeed we shall be most ready to receive them into the Bosom of our Lord and his Church testifying in his Name his and our declar'd Forgiveness to them Forgiving them with all Readiness and Chearfulness as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us i Eph. 4 32. no Man daring to upbraid them in the least whilst they walk with us in Love and the Laws of Christ But if to the dishonour of the Name of Christ the wounding and hard'ning of their own Souls and our Grief and Shame they continue obstinate and impenitent we having mourned first over them shall in the Name and Power of Christ our King with enflamed Zeal for his Name Rule and House in Tenderness Love and Faithfulness to their Souls cut them off and deliver them to Satan for the Destruction of the Proud Flesh that their Spirit may be saved in the Day of Christ a Mat. 18.17 1 Cor. 5.2 3 4 5 1 Tim. 1.20 2 Tim. 3.5 Tit. 3.10 2 Thes 3.14 and this will we do with the Lord's help in Faith that this Ordinance shall be blest for their recovery in God's time b 1 Cor. 5.5 if they belong to the Election of Grace Nevertheless we shall continue to love their Persons and pray for their recovery not counting them as Enemies but warning them as those that yet may approve themselves to he Brethren c 2 Thes 3.14 when ever we meet them by charging their Evils on them And yet will notwithstanding withdraw all manner of familiarity or Communion with them d 2 Thes 3.5 even that what may be us'd with the most profligate Sinners most conscientiously abstaining from Eating and Drinking with them e 1 Cor. 5.10.11 All this we shall do in the Exercise of the greatest love to their Persons firmly believing these are the greatest Testimonies of love that can be shown them under such Circumstances being assur'd that such Carriages towards them conscientiously practised in Faith and Love will be blest in time to shame reclaim and re-instate them into Fellowship with the Father and the Son and his Children In the conscientious discharge of this Duty towards them as a Church and as Members thereof in our respective private Stations We shall not be affraid of Anger Revilings nor Persecutions from them from Churches Professors or the World but willingly and cheerfully submit to all manner of Sufferings f Luke 17.3.4 2 Cor. 2.7.8.10 upon this Account for Christ's sake When ever God gives them true Repentance we shall with great readiness cheerfulness and tenderheartedness forgive them in the Person Name and Spirit of Christ receiving of them to Communion with the Lord and us with the greatest Demonstrations of Love towards them imaginable g Eph. 4.1.32 not only forgiving but forgetting and never upbraiding them with their faults h Col. 3.13.13 and if
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE OF Mr. Richard Davis of Rothwell in the County of Northampton And those of his SEPARATION With the Canons of George Fox appointed to be Read in all the Quakers Meetings LONDON Printed in the Year 1700. Reader THere have been great Contentions and various Disputes concerning the Doctrine and Proceedings of Mr. R. Davis of Rothwell and those of his Separation and as well the Magistrates and Ministers as the People of England are yet in the dark concerning them Wherefore having in my hands a Copy of their Church Covenant together with the Explanation thereof as it was Printed by their Order in the Year 1694 and delivered to divers whom they stile Church-Officers and others in Fellowship with them I deemed it not amiss to communicate the said Covenant with the Explanation to the end the Nation in general may be acquainted with their Doctrine and manner of Discipline among themselves that for the future they may not lie under any false aspersions nor the People of England under any mistakes with regard to them I would not hereby intimate that every individual Member of this Separation lyeth under the obligation of this Covenant in terminis For I 'm inform'd that very few besides their Church-Officers are acquainted with it and that the new Members are admitted by a shorter Covenant But the Mystery lies here That the People as occasion serves are by the Officers informed of the meaning and design of their entring into Covenant with them from the Contents of this Covenant and Explanation So that it is the same thing in their sense and as the Officers manage the matter as if they had expresly obliged themselves to all and every thing contained therein This is all I think fit to say on that Head Let the Covenant plead its own Cause especially coming into the World with the advantage of so large a Comment from its own Masters You have here likewise an Account of the several particulars of their Discipline wherein I hope and I verily believe I have not injured or misrepresented them in any respect If I have and they please to give publick notice of it I will be obliged to retract all such particulars and to give them publick notice thereof in another Edition For as I design nothing hereby but the service of the Church of God in general and of this Excellent Establish'd Church of England in particular so I could not hope that God would permit me to be instrumental in either respect should I be found in the number of those who wilfully or negligently Slander or Misrepresent their Brethren And if the State of that Separation be indeed such as is set down in the following Account which I take to be the case of the greatest part of the Independent-Congregations throughout the Nation I would humbly propose it to the Reverend the Clergy to consider what Methods are most probable to reconcile this Branch of the Separation to the Communion of our Church and among others whether the present endeavours of forming the Clergy into Societies pursuant to the Advice of His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury may not prove a probable means through the Blessing of Almighty God to secure so great an happiness to this Church and Nation The most effectual way to deal with an Enemy seems to be to turn his Weapons upon himself If these Men secure the interest of their Societies by a mutual Correspondence what hinders but we may do the like Were they dispersed as the Ministers of the Church are or did they neglect to acquaint each other with those things which relate to their common Interest it would be impossible for them to Subsist Indeed the several Sects among us are so many formed Combinations against the Establish'd Church and tho' in many things they differ from each other as much as Light doth from Darkness yet they seem universally agreed to Crush the Church of England If so the consequence is plain You Gentlemen of the Church of England look about you and suffer not your selves to be undone by piece-meal which you must necessarily be without a joint Vnion among your selves Nothing is more confirm'd by Reason and Experience than that every publick Work is best carry'd on by a friendly Vnion and Correspondence among the Vndertakers and certainly the great Work of the Salvation of Souls deserves our Consideration in the Methods of the most prudential Polity God Almighty has distributed his Talents variously among us and the only way to make them all useful is first by frequent and familiar Conferences with each other to discover where they lie and then to employ them as the publick judgment shall determine After the Copies of these Papers were sent to the Press Francis Bugg delivered into my hands a Copy of the Canons of George Fox which are judged proper to be Printed with the Account of the Davisites they being a farther Confirmation of the Agreement of the Sectaries in endeavouring to distress the Church of England and for that reason among many others very obvious I have here presented you with a just view of the said Canons A Church Covenant WE the Members of the Church of the Living God having greatly revolted from our dear Lord in the deep sense of both former and latter Miscarriages against his Love Blood also Honour Crown and Dignity as King of Souls Churches and Nations firmly believing all these blotted out by the Blood of the Lamb and that we have an undoubted Right to our Father's renewed Manifestations of his Pardon and Favour Do now again give up our selves and all ours in a most solemn manner in this our renewed Act of Covenanting unto the Lord to be his for ever solemnly promising and engaging in his awful Presence and his Angels in the presence of Professors and of the World to walk continually in him and with him and for him maintaining every manner of way the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints as to Act and Doctrine against all Opposition and Opposers whatsoever And we will in the strength of Christ endeavour that all our Holiness shall flow from Faith in Exercise working by Love And thus we subject to him as King of Souls We also solemly Promise in the strength of Christ to observe all the Forms Fashions Statutes Laws and Ordinances of his House especially the great Law of Love to our Lord and to his Members resolving in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus to bear a becoming Evangelical Testimony against what is contrary to Love or any other particular Form Statute Ordinance or Law of his whatsoever either in our selves or any of our Brethren and Sisters of this Church or any other We farther Covenant with our dear Lord and with one another to discharge all relative Duties in this House of God or in any other Relation we stand in whatsoever And this is our professed Subjection to him as King of Sion Finally We