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<DATE>2008-05-29</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<STC T="W">C1518</STC>
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<VID>172520</VID>
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<HEAD><HI>William Catons Salutation and Advi&s;e</HI> unto Gods Elect, of what County, Meeting, or Family &s;oever they are; Mercy and Peace, Joy, and Everla&s;ting Refre&s;hment be multiplied among you all.</HEAD>
<P>_DEarly beloved Friends, my Spirit is and hath been un|der a deep &s;ence of your joy and pure rejoycing, of your &s;orrow and &s;ufferings; And in the mid&s;t of it, my heart hath been melted and overcome, with the un|&s;peakable love which hath flowed from my life to you|ward, when I have beheld your glory and beauty, your comline&s;s and purity, your innocency and &s;implicity; And the&s;e things my &s;pirit hath viewed, and I have beheld them <HI>with much de|light,</HI> and my heart hath been &s;o ravi&s;hed with them, even in the night watch, that &s;leep hath vani&s;h't from me; And in&s;tead of being overtaken with that which nature is &s;ubject unto; <HI>My heart hath been filled with joy, my mouth with the high prai&s;e of the Lord upon my bed;</HI> And therein my &s;oul hath Solaced it &s;elf, being abundantly revived with the fre&s;h &s;treames of my fathers love, which from my &s;oul hath flow|ed forth like unto a mighty &s;tream: And though my life hath breath|ed forth prai&s;es <HI>abundantly</HI> unto the Lord, yet my heart is full, and my cup doth overflow, and my &s;oul is poured forth into your bo&s;oms, where my Fathers love and life is &s;hed abroad, in which I do mo&s;t dearly &s;alute you.</P>
<P>Oh friends! your work is <HI>weighty,</HI> your adver&s;aries <HI>many,</HI> and your temptations <HI>not a few,</HI> and the&s;e things my &s;oul have weighed, and &s;eriou&s;ly pondered upon; And I have ob&s;erved how the Nations in the mo&s;t parts where your re&s;idence is, are angry with you, and bends their brows again&s;t you, and great have your &s;ufferings been (in which the Lord hath not left you <HI>comfortle&s;s.</HI>) And &s;o is it with our bre|thren beyond the Seas, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ho&s;e faith and patience the Lord tryeth, by their being exerci&s;ed in manifold Tribulations, but it appeares by their writings that the Lord is exceeding good unto them, and that their con&s;olation by his Spirit <HI>abounds</HI> even in the mid&s;t of them, which tend to the furtherance of the Go&s;pel; And truly I am glad when I con&s;ider how patiently you have &s;uffered <HI>violence</HI> to be done unto you, without doing <HI>violence</HI> to your adver&s;aries, which thing is become of good report among all that feareth the Lord, who have heard of your long &s;uffering and forbearance, which we have learned of our Lord and Ma&s;ter, <HI>who pleads our cau&s;e</HI> and clears our innocen|cy, and te&s;t f<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">th to the faces of your adver&s;aries by his witne&s;s that they have <HI>mea&s;ured that mea&s;ure</HI> to you which they would not have met unto them&s;elves, but when the cup of <HI>trembling</HI> comes to be put into their hands, then &s;hall they with &s;orrow and grief of heart remem|ber what they have done unto you, who have patiently &s;u&s;tained grievous &s;ufferings from them, but without controver&s;ie many of them who have affl<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cted you, mu&s;t drink of that cup of &s;uffering which they have put into your hands, and then &s;hall the <HI>oppre&s;&s;ions</HI> wherewith they have <HI>oppre&s;&s;ed</HI> you, become their exceeding <HI>heavie</HI> burthen; But however friends, if the Lord &s;hould yet &s;uffer your &s;ufferings to be pro|longed and continued for a &s;ea&s;on, <HI>faint not you in your mindes,</HI> but be &s;trong in the power of the Lords might, and be ye tender affectionated one towards another, for an <HI>un&s;peakable nece&s;&s;ity</HI> I &s;ee in the Light of the Lord of your being tender one over another, that you may be a com|fort and a refre&s;hing one to another in the Lord, in your &s;everal <HI>Coun|ties, Meetings</HI> and <HI>Families,</HI> where you are di&s;per&s;ed and &s;cattered abroad in the Nation and Nations, <HI>as lights in the World.</HI></P>
<P>And Friends, beware of giving place to that which would gender &s;trife among your &s;elves, and bring you into varience one with ano|ther, for that &s;pirit is not of God but of the World, and that will not ea&s;ily pa&s;&s;e by <HI>offences,</HI> but will both give them and take them, neither will that bind up breaches, but make them wor&s;e, neither will that edifie the body, but will bring &s;uffering upon it, and the &s;uffering which that &s;pirit brings upon it, is more intollerable for the body then the &s;ufferings that its open adver&s;aries brings upon it, for it will rejoyce in the failings of the weak, and it will be lifted up when the Righteous are ca&s;t down, and will look more at the failings of o|thers, then at its own; Now my advi&s;e to you is, to beware of it and watch vigilently again&s;t it, as again&s;t one of your <HI>greate&s;t and &s;ubtil|e&s;t enemies</HI> of your &s;ouls and eternal peace.</P>
<P>And Friends, you that are di&s;per&s;ed abroad in &s;undry parts of the <HI>Counties,</HI> and it may be, are not above two or three <HI>Families in a Pa|ri&s;h;</HI> and paradventure &s;ome of the family are friends, and &s;ome are not; Therefore you had need to be vigilent and circum&s;pect; and al&s;o beware of letting in the &s;pirits of them that are of another &s;pirit then that which you are of, le&s;t thereby you loo&s;e your <HI>Authority and Dominion</HI> over them, and &s;o bring trouble upon your &s;elves, which may ea&s;ily befal you, if you be too <HI>intimate and familiar</HI> with them.</P>
<P>Again, you had need to watch over one another <HI>in tender love</HI> for good, that if you &s;ee evil appearing in one another, you may betimes minde one another of it, though I know it will be a greater cro&s;s to you to &s;peak to the <HI>party</HI> that is <HI>guilty,</HI> then it would be for you to &s;peak to another of the thing, and when they come to hear of your ac|quainting others, with that which concerned them, and you not mind|ing them of the thing before, hence may <HI>prejudice</HI> ari&s;e.</P>
<P>Which when this is gotten up, they in whom it is &s;eated will &s;trive to beget it in others again&s;t &s;uch as they have prejudice again&s;t, and this will tend rather to the making of <HI>parties</HI> then unto peace; There|fore be <HI>advi&s;ed (Oh! friends)</HI> to take heed of that, and I be&s;eech you in the bowels of love, be per&s;waded to live in love, peace and unity one with another, and be ye good <HI>paterns and examples</HI> one to an|other in all things, lea&s;t that you &s;hould bring <HI>burthens</HI> upon one ano|ther, which <HI>(the Lord knoweth)</HI> you had not need to do, for I know all of you in your &s;everal places wherein you are &s;et, who are truly un|der the yoak have much to bear already, &s;o that there is more nece&s;&s;ity for your bearing <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ne anothers burthen then there is for your adding unto one anothers burthen. Therefore keep t<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> the life in your &s;elves, that in the love which beareth all things you may be comprehended more and more.</P>
<P>And all you who are <HI>Rulers of Families,</HI> who have the over&s;ight both of children and &s;ervants, be ye Paterns of love, of meekne&s;&s;e and wi&s;dom, of diligence and long-&s;uffering, that &s;o your Families may be brought into the&s;e things, to the prai&s;e of God, and to your com|fort; And beware of tollerating any <HI>evil vice</HI> in your families, by gi|ving too much liberty to that which would be <HI>Idle, Wanton,</HI> and <HI>Extra|vagant;</HI> Oh! let not that be nouri&s;hed neither in children nor &s;ervant, but &s;tand you in power of God, that his living witne&s;s may an|&s;wer all your words and actions, and ju&s;tifie you in them all then will you be at errour to that in your families which would <HI>work wick|edne&s;&s;e,</HI> and a <HI>prai&s;e</HI> to that which breaths after the Lord.</P>
<P>And you that have <HI>unbelieving Wives or unbelieving Husbands, unbe|lieving Children,</HI> and &s;uch &s;ervants in your families as are out of the Truth, walk wi&s;ely towards them in all things; And &s;trive not with them in your <HI>wills</HI> in that nature which they are in, lea&s;t you hurt your &s;elves thereby and harden them; And know this, that &s;uch will &s;ooner be won to the truth by your <HI>Loving</HI> and <HI>Courteous behaviour</HI> towards them, then they will by your &s;triving with them in the heat of your &s;pirits; and when you feel indignation ari&s;e in your hearts again&s;t their <HI>&V;ncleanne&s;s, Rudene&s;s,</HI> &amp; <HI>Wantonne&s;&s;e,</HI> and &s;o upon the feel|ing of that may fall a thre&s;hing and judging that in them which the indignation in you ri&s;eth again&s;t; then take heed of a <HI>mixture,</HI> I mean of that which is <HI>ha&s;ty,</HI> and <HI>forward</HI> in your &s;elves, <HI>mixing</HI> it &s;elf with the <HI>godly zeal</HI> in you, and that may kindle a <HI>&s;trange fire</HI> in them, which will not con&s;ume that which the Lords indignation <HI>burns again&s;t,</HI> but will rather <HI>&s;et their whole cour&s;e of nature on fire,</HI> and then you may &s;hew more wi&s;dom in your forbearing to &s;trive with them, till that be &s;omewhat over, then you would by your continuing beating and thre&s;hing that which is not capable of your judgment; for this I have ob&s;er|ved <HI>(to wit)</HI> that the truth of God hath much more place in a man, if it be &s;poken to him when he is <HI>calm, temperate</HI> and <HI>patient,</HI> then it hath if it be declared to him when he is <HI>roufe, boi&s;terous</HI> and <HI>pa&s;&s;ionate,</HI> which naturally many men are &s;ubject to upon provocation, as we our &s;elves heretofore have been, when we were where they are; therefore let us the rather bear with them, con&s;idering how our Lord and Saviour hath born with us, who have <HI>obtained mercy</HI> from him, Glory, Hon|our and Renown be to his Name for ever and ever.</P>
<P>And Oh ye <HI>Children</HI> and <HI>Servants!</HI> be &s;ubject and obedient unto your <HI>Parents</HI> and <HI>Superiours</HI> in the Lord, and be not <HI>froward</HI> and <HI>perver&s;e, wil|ful,</HI> nor <HI>ob&s;tinate,</HI> but <HI>dutiful and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive, tractable and conde&s;cending</HI> to every of their equal and ju&s;t <HI>requirings,</HI> that there may be no varience, &s;trife, emulation nor contention in your families, but that love and peace may abound among you all; And &s;ee that you flee and avoid all <HI>youthful lu&s;ts,</HI> and that you put away <HI>childi&s;hne&s;s,</HI> and become <HI>grave, &s;ober,</HI> and <HI>di&s;creet,</HI> daily provoking one another to love and to good works, and not to lightne&s;s nor wantonne&s;s, nor to folly and vanity which doth not become Saints; And withall be ye per&s;waded and advi&s;ed to dwell together in unity, love and peace, and be ye helpful one to another in what you may; And thereby <HI>ingage</HI> you one another in love to &s;erve one another, and thereby you will come to be indeared one unto another, and &s;o will come to be refre&s;hed to|gether with the &s;weet &s;incere milk of the Word of life from the brea&s;ts of con&s;olation.</P>
<P>Moreover Friends, as touching your meetings, let them be kept duely and orderly <HI>(while you may)</HI> in the Wi&s;dom and Coun&s;el of the Lord, and ob&s;erve the time that is appointed for friends to meet, that it may no longer be ob&s;erved by friends, that it is oftentimes <HI>an hour or two,</HI> after the time appointed before friends be wholly gathered, this ought not to be, for &s;everal inconveniences <HI>attends</HI> this neglect, wherefore from henceforth <HI>(Oh friends!)</HI> be per&s;waded and advi&s;ed to amend it.</P>
<P>The&s;e things were upon me to lay before you, <HI>Oh! my dearly beloved,</HI> to whom my heart is open, and often doth my life extend it &s;elf from Sea to Sea to meet you, and dearly to falute you in the bowels of in|tire love, which <HI>full often yearns</HI> towards you; Oh! you <HI>faire&s;t</HI> and <HI>deare&s;t</HI> of all the Families of the Earth, God Almighty multiply his peace among you, and with his living pre&s;ence <HI>perpetually</HI> accompany you, &s;o &s;hall all Nations call you ble&s;&s;ed; <HI>Farewel</HI> in the Lord from henceforth and for evermore.</P>
<P>Let this be read in your meetings and Fami|lies, when you &s;ee a &s;ervice for it.</P>
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<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Thomas Simmons</HI> at the Signe of the <HI>Bull and Mouth,</HI> neer <HI>Alders-gate.</HI> 1660.</P>
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