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General
Advice.

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Humility and

LOVE AND UNITY.

ADVISED, that friends be tender to the principle of God in all, and shun the occasion of vain disputes and janglings, both among themselves and others: for this many times is like a blustering wind, that hurts and bruises the tender buds of plants. 1676.

Seeing our comfort as a people depends upon our care to maintain condescension peace and fellowship amongst brethren, in all our services, we earnestly recommended recommend an humble and condescending frame of spirit unto all; that with godly fear, wisdom, and meekness, we may be so ordered in all our respective services, that every high and rough thing may be laid low, that all occasions of striving may be prevented, and the peace of the church of Christ preserved and increased amongst us.

3

True Christian charity

concord.

And to this purpose it is tenderly advised, that we diligently and carefully observe the comely and blessed gospel order, so long known and in practice amongst us, in the spirit of meekness and of a sound. mind; which is the way to crush all differences in their infancy, and suppress the rise, as well as stop the progress, of every thing that is unseemly, and inconsistent with the testimony of the precious truth. 1699. P. E.

It is our earnest desire, that, above all, friends hold fervent charity in the body, that will keep the members together in a blessed concord the ground of and communion; which is esteemed by the apostle the more excellent way, excelling other gifts, which pass away: but charity (that is the love of God, from which our Christian and brotherly affection springs) shall endure for ever. This envieth not, vaunteth not, boasteth not itself, and seeketh not its own; but is patient, beareth all things, suf

fereth all things, and watcheth not with an evil eye, no, nor thinketh ill, but is kind. In which blessed love, dear friends, hold your fellowship one with another, which was the character of the primitive Christians. 1705. P. E.

4

The peace

church de

pendant upon the preservation of love.

Among the gospel precepts, we find not any thing more strongly and frequently recommended by our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles and prosperito the primitive believers, than that they should love one another; and ty of the as we are sensible, that nothing will more contribute to the peace and prosperity of the church, than due regard to this advice, so we earnestly desire that it may be the care and concern of all friends to dwell therein; and, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to maintain love, concord, and peace, in and among all the churches of Christ.

1730. P. E.

It is our earnest desire that a spirit of love and humility may more and more diffuse itself among us, and influence the hearts of all, so that every one may come to seek peace, and pursue it; and that none be apt to take offence; but each, in his own particular, be more careful to rectify his own failings and imperfections, than curious in observing, censuring, and aggravating those of others. This will lead to the exercise of mutual forbearance and forgiveness one of another; by which the occasions of contention will be avoided, and the churches preserved in a state of peace and tranquillity. 1736. P. E.

By accounts received it appears, that in general love and concord are maintained, and that friends in divers places are under an earnest concern for the promotion of peace, and for suppressing and guarding against every occasion of strife and discord, tending to divide and scatter the flock of Christ. For strengthening this concern, and promoting this Christian disposition of love, wheresoever it appears, we remind you of the benefits thereof, expressed in Psalm cxxxiii. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the moun

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Christian humility the

true ground of love.

8

No degree of resentment can consist with Christian love.

tains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." Be ye also mindful of the saying of our blessed Lord himself: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."" 1752. P. E.

Friends, seek peace and pursue it. Ye are called to love. O that the smallest germ of enmity might be eradicated from our inclosure! And verily there is a soil in which it cannot live, but naturally withers and dies. This soil is Christian humility: a state highly becoming and indispensable, for a being who depends continually on the favour of his Lord; a state in which of all others he can most acceptably approach his presence; and a state which naturally conducts frail man to love and compassion, for the companions of his frailty and poverty, yet his fellow-partakers of the offered riches of the gospel.

1805. P. E.

Let love-pure, unconquerable love, reign in our hearts. We have often expatiated on this topic; but yet we must violate our feelings, if we suppress some further observations on it at this time. Friends, remember, that to be "made perfect in love," is a high state of Christian excellence, and not attainable but by the sacrifice of selfish passions. No degree of resentment can consist with this state. < Some persons are apt to profess that they can forgive those whom they suppose to have injured them, when such are brought to know, and acknowledge their fault. But that is little else than a disguised pride, seeking for superiority. The love which Christ commanded to his church, goes further than that. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. And how did the Lord love the world? Let the apostle answer: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And, friends, mark and remember his gracious dying words, when, praying for his very persecutors, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know

992

not what they do." And shall we expect access for our feeble prayers, at the throne of grace, if we harbour any ill will to our fellow-travellers towards immortality? Let us hear again the Saviour of men: "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any." He doth not allow time for seeing the injuring person become submissive; but,-Standing, forgive: for, "If ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses O, the excellence of Christian love and the temper of forgiveness! 1806. P. E.

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Exhortation

tenance of

love.

Our concern for the preservation of brotherly love remains strong and unabated. When assembled in this meeting we have special to the maincause to know the invigorating, uniting effects of it. Therefore were brotherly there no other inducement, we should still be disposed, from time to time, to renew our earnest and pressing exhortation, that it may abound and flourish amongst our dear brethren in religious profession. Enmity, even in a small degree, pollutes the mind, and renders it unfit to approach with acceptance that pure and holy Being, of whom the beloved disciple thus emphatically testifies, " God is love."3 Do we not peculiarly lament the wide spread of distress, which the spirit of contention is, even now, occasioning to suffering humanity? This, though it differs in degree, springs from the same root as private ill will. Therefore a people abhorrent of war, if they are consistent, will watch against the smallest bud of enmity, as it is conceived, on any occasion, in the heart. And the man who, in the school of Christ, hath learned the useful lesson of self-denial, will often make a sacrifice of his own will and opinion, though he may esteem them to be right, rather than persist in them, at the expense of Christian fellowship. 1808. P. E.

10

Advice to in

Seeing therefore the infinite value of love, that indispensable qualification of a true disciple, we are desirous of pressing it on every dividual selfindividual, to examine impartially how far he feels it to flourish in his own mind, and to influence all his actions. And we believe that

examination as to the prevalence of love.

Friends encouraged to accept the office of

nothing will be so favourable to the preservation of this holy disposition as humility of heart, a temper in which we constantly see ourselves unworthy of the least of the Lord's mercies, and dependent only on his compassion for our final acceptance. Seeing also that no awakened mind can be without a view to a better and an enduring state, and that no one knows how soon he may be called to put off mutability; let us bear in perpetual recollection that, in the state to which we aspire, there is nothing but eternal love, joy, and adoration, in the presence of Him through whose love we were first awakened.

In contemplating this copious subject, we feel disposed afresh to encourage friends to be prompt in undertaking, and prudent in exepeace-maker. cuting, the blessed office of peace-maker. And we believe the patient endeavours of faithful friends will be generally crowned with success, in proportion as their own minds are seeking to Jesus, for assistance in performing an office on which He has pronounced his blessing; and in endeavouring to lead the minds of any contending persons, to a sense of the absolute necessity for all true disciples to live in peace one with another, and to forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven them.1 1812. P. E.

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Effects of

charity.

One of the blessed effects of aspiring after holiness of life, is an intrue love and crease of true love. This Christian virtue so expands and gladdens the heart, that its possessor having known its value, will be on the watch against any thing that may tend to disturb it: he will strive to yield to heavenly love, when causes of irritation present themselves. Even when he deems himself injured, he will be the more prepared to display the beauty of condescension, and, for the preservation of love and harmony, to relinquish his own right, and to refrain from insisting on his own views. He will be so guarded in his conversation as not to take pleasure in discoursing on the errors of his neighbour. Instead of thus contributing to kindle the flame of dissension and variance, he will be vigilant in his attempts to extinguish the sparks, by the power of persuasion and love. 1821. P. E.

Eph. iv. 32.