Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54159
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Just measures in an epistle of peace & love to such professors of truth as are under any dissatisfaction about the present order practis'd in the church of Christ / by a lover of the truth and them, G.P.
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing P1310; ESTC R31762
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7,858
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24
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Society and you have the Returns of in the Benefit and Comfort thereof Do you serve or take care of others that before were free of that Engagement Others also are tryed by the same Rules to serve and be concerned for you that formerly owed you no obligation and if you are under the Notice and Reproof of others as to your personal Conduct they are equally under yours upon occasion so that you lose nothing but what you get nor give nothing but what you receive again and to a right Spirit and a good Mind this mutual Service will appear reasonable christian and requisite And as in no Age the Resister and Gainsayers of Care and Order in any of the Lord 's eminent Servants have passed without the mark of God's Rebuke so those that have contested and opposed the Wisdom of God in his faithful Servants have ever failed of their Purpose and been finally manifested to have been lead by a wrong Spirit And as observable it is that those by whom the Lord has eminently appeared and who were the first Instruments of his several Dispensations to the Sons of Men have alwaies exercised that Authority among the People they have gathered and have been constantly preserved from falling away though some or other have rise against them with that clamour as if they had set up themselves and were gone from what they taught or were and took too much upon them But what have they all come to Read and Judge Nor was it ever heard of in the Dealings of GOD with the Sons of Men that he varied or changed his Dispensations in the Life-time of the Instruments of any of them as some have been ready to imagine nor yet in that Age in which he has brought them forth Which engages me to beseech you in the Bowels of the Love of Christ our only Root of Life and Light and Love and Peace that you be like minded with your Friends and Brethren and see that the Life and the Fellowship of the Truth be preserved in the enjoyment and practice of Fellowship which will be if the love of God which first made us love one another be kept in for that is a sovereign Antidote against all the Poyson of Discontent evil Jealousie and the Divisions that are wont to follow And instead of reproaching our Elders and Brethren whom God has honoured and whom we have honoured and could have laid down our Lives for and who know nothing by themselves but that they are as true to the Lord and in as good a condition in the Truth as ever they were and have done and intended in what they have done as much the Benefit of the Lord's People I say instead of reproaching them with Vsurping Authority and taking too much upon them let us consider that those whom we have received with so much reverent Love and as worthy of double Honour in the greater things are not unworthy to be heard and followed by us in lesser matters Let us regard and value their Care and love them for it So true is that Saying among Men That is well spoken which is well taken that the Bent and Purpose of a Man's Spirit is that which gives the Just reason of acceptance or rejection You have dear Friends judged too much after an outward appearance and you may see not truly there neither Open therefore your Hearts your Souls and Spirits and taste with the divine sense of the tender and meek Truth the aim and end of Brethren Herein be a little more truly free and universal in your Minds and you will perceive this Care has a large and a long Prospect for Good The due exercise of your spiritual Senses will answer all your Objections and satisfie every upright Soul among you but if you look out mistake Liberty mistake Imposition mistake Formality mistake the nature and end of things and the Intention of your ancient Friends and Brethren in them you will judge carnally and be ready to think as it outward Rule and Lordliness were aimed at and a departing from the Truth even whilst our Care in the sight of the Lord is for the Honour of it in reference to the young the weak and such as may be careless and ready to fall asleep for such some yet are and such are yet like to be and for their sakes a Discipline as to Conversation must be as well as that there are natural Infirmities as Sickness Age c. that unavoidably call for it Nor did or can ever any Community subsist without it and the Heats Prejudice and Rents that have arisen about the How or Manner of it shew the Opposition not to be right nor of a good tendency the end of that Order in the Minds and Hands of those from whence we joyfully received the Testimony of the Truth being the Glory of God and Good of his People as a Primitive Christian Society To conclude As this is not a Plea for Imposition nor Forms of Worship but Forms of Discipline as to the Government and Behaviour of our selves in our Converse both with those that are without and those that are within and that there is no visible Communion or Society in this World of Bodies but what is subject to them and must in some sort subsist by them I beseech you that we as becomes a reasonable and modest People and as dear Children may be of one Heart and one mind and walk together as those that have been Partakers of one Life and that have drank into one Spirit for it is a comely thing to see Brethren walk together in Love O Friends let us labour against secret Animosities watchings for Evil Detractation the Sin that flung the Angels out of their Heavenly Station Let us see to our own Spirits how they are if meek lowly humble tender by which the true and preserving Judgment is only known and felt or if not high fierce hard and prejudiced for a man may come to lose a good frame of Spirit upon very Trifles It is not alwaies what the Matter is the Dispute arises upon but how far the thing is espoused and what place a man suffers it to have in his Mind If Jealousie Reputation Revenge or Contradiction prevail Division must follow Some are apt to resent things too soon and carry it too far even to Obstinacy through the Workings of the Evil One in a Mystery so that though the pretence of the Quarrel may be some Fact or other yet that has the least share oftentimes in the Difference it being enflamed and encreased by the mysterious workings of the Spirit of Strife and Variance in the Mind according to an old Saying The greatest Feuds oftentimes arise from the slightest Causes Let me beseech and prevail with you to read and weigh the Bent and Force of the Apostle's Spirit in Rom. 12. also 14. 19. 15. 4 5 6. and especially 16. 16 17 18 19 20 Verse Likewise 1 Cor. 14. 32 33. weighty places indeed 2 Cor. 13. Ephes 4. 1 2 3 4. Phil. 3. 16 17 18. ch 4. 8 9. Col. 3. 12 14 15 16. 1 Thes 5. 12 13 14. 2 Thes 3. 4 5 6. He often commands Order and Obedience to the Apostolick Tradition in this Epistle Tit. 1. 15. ch 2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Heb. 13. 1. And 1 Pet. 4. 8. All which exhort to Peace Brotherly Kindness to be of one mind to study one thing O follow the things that make for Peace and not to contend dispute and strive one with another A blessed Doctrin and it has a blessed Reward The Lord God Almighty dispose your Minds my Friends to a tender returning state and frighten not your selves with Designs of the Brethren that have no Being but in Jealousie and Misapprehension I beseech you in the Lord lay down every Mark or Ensign of Difference or Separation and behold our Arms as open as ever to receive you and let your Heart be as our Heart and then our Meetings your Meetings Let the Fear and Awe of the Lord the becoming love of his precious Truth which is Christ in us the Hope of our Glory who gave himself for us to redeem us from the Enmity Death and Curse Disobedience had laid us under melt and cement us as one lump Flesh of Flesh and Bone of Bone so shall our Joy exceed our Sorrow and Tears be wiped from our Eyes on this occasion and GOD our exceeding Great and Glorious Rewarder be our Crown Portion and Diadem for ever Yours In and for the Truth G. P.