Eminent Friends of Bristol of both sides and Directed to several Friends of Reading also of both Meetings which contains good Christian Counsel and seasonable Advice and doth well agree with the aforesaid And is as followeth Bristol the 5th of the 1st Month 1686 7. Thomas Curtice William Lambol Leonard Key Abraham Bonnifield Robert Sandilands Robert Payne John Kent John Buy Benjamine Coale c. Dear Friends We dearly and heartily salute you in that Ancient Love of God which did at first reach unto us and gathered us to be a People and which hath often refreshed our Souls and Spirits to our great Consolation and Joy in the Lord and one in another It having pleased the Lord to take away the cruel hand of the Informers and other sufferings that have of late attended us in this City and our Meeting-Houses being again delivered up to us it came into our Hearts and we believe from the Motion of the Spirit of the Lord in us joyntly notwithstanding some misunderstandings and differences had happened amongst us to meet and continue together in the Worship of God as in former times in and through which we have found great refreshment and satisfaction for by our mutual endeavours to bury the extreams that offen'd each other we feel the antient love to arise the more which brings us nearer unto each other wherein we rejoyce and have great Consolation and from thence arises the same true and antient love unto you with prayers unto the Lord and desires unto you that the same endeavours may be amongst you that in the Grave of Oblivion all that hath been hurtful may be buried and utterly forgotten that so as one Family you may again meet together in your antient love and place as formerly then will certainly the true love more and more arise and the hope and faith that will remove Mountains and the peaceable Saviour be more rejoyced in that leads through and over all that which doth offend into Brotherly kindness and forgiveness one unto another wherein you may be one anothers joy and rejoycing in the Lord. May the Lord so tender all our Hearts and lead you and us in the same path are the Prayers and desires of your Dear Friends and Brethren Thomas Gouldney Richard Snead Charles Hartford Thomas Callowhill John Love Charles Joanes Cornelius Sarjant William Ford Thomas Jordan William Smith We send this by our Dear Friend John Osgood whom we have desired to communicate this to you A Friendly Perswasive to Peace or something by way of an Earnest and Seasonable Expostulation with Friends of Reading on both sides to be reconciled to one another and to lay aside all Heats Prejudices Animosities c. with divers Remarkable Testimonies collected to promote the same and some Objections answered which may tend to a general service SECT I. Contains several weighty Motives shewing the great need and necessity of Reconciliation c. I. AS concerning the Proposals for an Accommodation or Composure of Differences c. something already has been said in the Introduction Now as touching the aforesaid tender and healing Epistle from Bristol some Friends on both sides may remember That is was carefully delivered to them by our dear Friend John Osgood who after having imparted it to several he also used his utmost endeavours by perswading them to a Complyance with what was therein recommended and afterwards divers other Friends had the sight and perusal of it II. But alas it appears too plainly that it was not so tenderly regarded at least not Answered so as ought to have been And indeed seeing that to this very day the desired effects thereof are not yet produced must it not be concluded that there was both a great neglect and remissness somewhere and the wholesom Councel and Christian good advice therein given to Friends was neither followed nor favourably intertained so as to be practised Now Friends its left to every one both seriously to consider and also soberly to reflect upon themselves whoever they be that find they are particularly concerned herein and were really the chief cause or occasion thereof III. However it is hoped that it is not as yet too late to amend what has been amiss in this or any other respect and to take an impartial and ponderous review of the abovementioned so as to endeavour to recover whilst there is yet a time and opportunity afforded what has been lost either through carelessness or unwillingness which surely would not appear half so difficult nor uneasie as may seem to some if but once the manly part or that selfish conceited revengeful-like part where any thing of it is yet alive in any were laid aside and subdued and the holy precious Cross truly taken up to all Peevish and Stubborn Wills harsh and sower Inclinations cunning crafty Reasonings and Consultations with Flesh and Blood and to that untoward Disposition of too much justifying every one themselves and as much Judging and too severely Condemning others an Epidemical Distemper which Mankind is too generally and naturally Incident to And if that even sweet moderate Temper Peaceable Lowly and Charitable Frame of Spirit might once so prevail and appear in all so as to remove all all kind of Personal Prejudices Private Enmity Revenge or Hatred IV. Then certainly would not all be as hearty and desirous after a Reconciliation Peace and Friendship one with another again as ever formerly they might be Eager Earnest and Hot after Contention Variance Dissention and Separation from one another neither then would they be content or at quiet till the same should be brought to pass or at least they had used their utmost endeavours for a re-uniting and bringing all together again and it is but what the Lord both requires and expects of every one so to do according to their Power and Capacities V. That so the World and our Enemies on all hands may no longer reproach us and say we are become such enemies one to another that it seems impossible that we will ever agree or be Friends together again and that we are of all People the worst to be Reconciled or that there is not a wise Man amongst us to Compose our Differences or else if there be that we are very ill-natur'd and wholly averse to comply to any Christian and reasonable Terms and hear of no kind of Expedient for a Reconciliation nor yield to any equal Proposals that would tend to a better Accommodation of Matters and that it appears some do delight more in a separation and being divided asunder than to dwell and meet altogether again as Brethren of one Heavenly Father and belonging all to one Family in true Love and Friendship VI. O Friends is not the one that is the former as comely and as amiable a sight as can be seen amongst the Children of Men as it s expressed very fully and excellently in the 133 Psalm 1 2 3. vers Behold saith he How good and how pleasant it is
and Uncharitableness if Wrath and Envy if Animosities and Contentions were but the marks of true Christians Diogenes need never light his Lamp at Noon to find out such among us but if a Spirit of Meekness Gentleness and Condescension if a stooping to the weaknesses and infirmities of one another if pursuit after Peace when it flies from us be the Indispensible Duties and Characteristical Notes of Christians it may possibly be a difficult Inquest to find out such for the crouds of those that shelter themselves under that Glorious Name V. Tertullian that Famour and Learned Apologist published his Apology or Defence of the Christians against the accusations of the Gentiles in the 10th Year of the Empire of Severus in the Year of our Lord 204. Among many other excellent sayings therein take these few It is equally forbidden us to wish to do evil Chap. 36. or to speak evil of our Neighbours c. and in Chap. 39. But it is a strange thing that this Charity among us gives occasion to some to blame us See saith he how they Love one another This astonisheth them because they hate one another See say they how they are ready to Die one for another But as for them they are ready to Kill one another It must not seem strange to you if we call one another Brethren seeing we are all your Brethren by the right of Nature which is Mother to us all we have the same Principles as you but you Renounce the Humanity common to to us because you are evil Brethren to us But with how much more reason are they called and esteemed Brethren who acknowledge one and the same Father to wit the living God that have received the same Spirit of Sanctity c. But alas it was not long when they degenerated from both that Purity and Charity that appeared among them for the 1st 2d or 300. Years and gave occasion to Heathens both to see and say how they Hated Tear'd Devour'd and did Bite and Persecute one another how they Killed and Destroyed one another and how they imposed upon and insulted over each other according as they had the Civil Powers on their sides and being unhappily once broken into pieces and divided into separate Parties and distinct Societies then each side did strive to suppress others and maintain their own Interests right or wrong as might be largely Instanced from the Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius Socrates c. And alas has it been much better of late Years amongst Professors of Christianity And how happy would it be for Christendom it were not so still even in our days VI. In the aforesaid History of Eusebius l. 8. Chap. 1. is declared both the happiness of the Primitive Christians while they kept in Love and Unity together as also what miserable condition they were brought to by their mutual hatred c. thus expressed These thigns having thus prevailed says he and daily increased viz. Favour and Reverence they had amongst all sorts of Men far and near so that no Malice could intercept no spiteful Fiend bewitch c. as long as the Divine and heavenly hand of God upheld and visited his People whom as yet he worthily accepted But after that our affairs through too much Liberty Ease and Security degenerated from the natural rule of piety and after that one pursued another with open Contumely and Hatred and when that we impugned our selves by no other than our selves This was in Ano. Dom. 1301. some time before the 10th great Persecution raised by Dioclesian with the Armour of Spight and sharp Spears Opprobrious words so that Bishops against Bishops and People against People raised Sedition Last of all when that cursed Hypocrisy and Dissimulation had swum over even to the brim of malice the heavy hand of Gods high Judgment after his wonted manner began softly a little and little to visit us so that the Persecution that was raised against us took his first original from the Brethren which were under Banner in Camp whereas we were touched with no sense or feeling thereof neither went about to pacifie God we heaped Sin upon Sin thinking like careless Epicures that God neither cared neither would visit our sins And they which seemed our Shepherds laying aside the rule of Piety practised Contention and Schism among themselves whilst they heaped these things that is Contention Threatnings mutual hatred and enmity and every one proceeded in Ambition much like Tiranny it self Then I say Then the Lord according to the saying of Jeremiah Lam. 2. made the Daughter of Sion obscure and overthrew from above the glory of Israel c. VII But O Friends how contrary and directly opposite are such Fractions Divisions Contentions Discords c. amongst those who declared themselves to be Children of one Father and followers of the same Lord Jesus to that solemn and most fervent prayer in John 17. which our blessed Master offered up to his Father in the Days of his External blessed appearance in that Holy Body of Flesh and which he poured out but a little before his Death With what fervency of Spirit doth he pray for Unity among his Disciples and all his People that should believe on him It s remarkable that no less than four times doth he repeat the same Supplication and every time rises higher and higher and more and more earnest for it First that they might be one Secondly that they may be one in us Thirdly that they may be one even as we are one And Lastly that they may be made perfect in one and that the World may know that thou hast sent me c. And how much and how often he recommends and commands loving one another none can be ignorant who have read any of the Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John called the four Evangelists VIII It was well observed by one that our Saviour has made the Doctrins of Meekness and Charity such ingredients in his Gospel that he has made them the Characters by which his Disciples may be every where known and this Spirit of love is so diffused through the writings of the New Testament that how hard soever it may be to understand some of the other passages that are in them yet there is no Ambiguity at all in those that set this forth There are some of the Epistles that do not mention several of the Duties incumbent on Christians yet there is not one how short soever in which this of love is not proposed in Terms that are both strong and tender And while the Church of Corinth was almost rent asunder by variety of Opinions and by the different parties that followed several Teachers that had been among them The Apostle does not enter much into the grounds of their Disputes but recommends Love and Charity to them The Apostle John lived so long as to see a great deal of the first fervour of the Christian Religion slacken but when he wrote to revive that
Men liberally and upbraideth not and we are to overcome evil with good A soft answer Prov. 15.19.11 saith Solomon turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger The discretion of a Man deferreth his anger and it is his glory to pass over a transgression Hard to hard says one never does well a gentle Rain will allay a Boisterous Wind as its unnatural to hate them that love us so its natural to love them that love us but its supernatural to love them that hate us for we are injoyned by Christ not only to love or salute our Friends but even our Enemies also and those of our Friends whom we esteem as our Enemies we ought so to love them as to forgive them and be likewise reconciled to them if possible at least to use our utmost endeavours for the same that if it be not effected the fault may be theirs Plut. in vita Alexandri and not ours It is a Kingly thing saith a great King to bear evil when thou dost good O Friends let us all in the love of God and for his sake and the truths sake which we all jointly profess delay no longer being at Peace one with another and Cordially reconciled together We can none of us be insensible how many disadvantages we all lie under and what grievous Censures and Reflections we are all exposed to both by professors and prophane how those common Enemies both to Truth and us all rejoyce at our Divisions expecting as 〈…〉 they may conjecture and conclude the dismal Consequence may be next to hear of our downfall O how do they warm their Hands at the Fire of our Contentions and say ha ha so we would have it I. Let us also seriously consider how highly provoking these things are in the sight of the Lord. Ob◠Let love be without dissimulation Rom. 12.9 and let us not live in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 John 3.18 And that it is a great evil that so much of Love and Tenderness Charity Humility Patience Long-suffering c. is professed pretended to and talkt of by many and yet in the mean time so very little of these in truth and in deed is practised and brought forth in real Fruits of love c. but a great deal of the Contrary It may not be long before God who greatly abhors all such Hypocrisy and Dissimulation take his Rod as well as shake it as he has often and especially of late given us both loud 〈◊〉 and frequent Warnings and severely correct and punish for these things Doth a Fountain send forth at the same place sweet Water and bitter Can the Fig tree my Brethren bear Olive-berries Either a Vine Figs So can no Fountain both yield salt Water and fresh Ja. 3.11 12. So that as their Faith is dead and like the Body without the Soul that hath no motion which is without works even so is their Charity c. but cold and faint without its Demonstrative effects and Fruits and still we may rationally conclude whether the Fountain be bitter or sweet tho' its easy for many to put the one for the other as they may imagine by its streams which flow from it And hath not the just God in all ages manifested his soar displeasure because of such Divisions c. It s no wonder says one if a Father after a long patience be at last provoked to turn all his Children out of Doors when they cannot be quiet nor agree together so it was heretofore when there was such siding one against another Bishop against Bishop some engaged in one Faction some in another till as one observes the Brethren of the Camp brought Dioclesians persecution which devoured them all It s a common observation among Shepherds that when the Sheep push at one another a storm speedily ensues and when that comes it drives them altogether whereas before they might be scattered asunder some feeding in one place and some in another II. Moreover to be plain Do not these Animosities Divisions and Contentions egregiously reflect upon our selves bespeaking us too plainly to be such as the Apostle complained of in his time who were divided amongst themselves For 1 Cor. 1.11 12 13. saith he it hath been declared unto me of you my brethren how gently doth he treat them that there are contentions amongst you That every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ Is Christ divided c. Chap. 3.3 4. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not Carnal and walk as Men And this he repeats to them three times and in one of them says positively that they were as yet Carnal and to draw them off from admiring and following one person more than another to the breach of Concord he tells them who then is Paul and who is Apollos But Ministers in whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every Man I have Planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase and so goes on further upon this in the 7 8 9. c. vers And tho' the Galatians we find were once very zealous in affecting Paul yet saith he to them am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth What Turn-coats observes one upon this were these But a while since they would have pulled out their own Eyes and given them to Paul and now they would have as it were pulled out his Eyes who told them the truth III. And Friends amongst many of the disadvantages which do attend this unhappy Division and Separation this one is not the least viz. that as many simple honest-hearted Friends on the one Hand are disappointed of the benefit and comforts of the Labours and Testimonies of those that are sent amongst us and in the Universal Love of God are moved to visit us so on the other hand many of the Servants of the Lord have been straitned to come amongst us because they have not that full opportunity of clearing themselves and imparting of their spiritual gifts to all as in other parts so that in this respect we among our selves and many others are useless and as it were dead to one another while alive O how comfortable is it for the Lords People to meet often together in Love Peace and Quietness and open their Hearts freely one to another and tell their experiences one to each other what the Lord hath done for their Souls Thus it was once amongst Friends in this Town and it s hoped it will be so again one time or other After this manner some say the Art of Medicine was first found out as any one met with a Herb and discovered the Virtue of it by an accident he was to Post it up and so the Physicians still were perfected by a Collection of those Posted Experiments But alas some and too many there are who are ready to Post up and