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<DATE>9-13-10</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="W">H1756A</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">45789341</BIBNO>
<VID>172651</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A FRIENDLY PERSWATION,
AND
Chri&s;tian Exhortation</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>To all who profe&s;s the Guidance of the Spirit of Chri&s;t and Chri&s;tianity, to keep out of Fal&s;e-Reports, Whi&s;perings,
and Backbitings which di&s;turbs the Peace of the Church, and are the occa&s;ion of Offences.</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>OFten it hath been on my heart the Con&s;ideration of the great Love
of God who vi&s;ited me in my tender Youthful days, for then was
I earne&s;tly &s;eeking after the Knowledge of God and Life Eternal
in &s;olitary Places where I might be alone; there did I often Mourn,
Cry, and Travel in the Bitterne&s;s and Angui&s;h of my Soul; till he
appeared who gives relief to the Oppre&s;&s;ed and Needy: And ble&s;|&s;ed
be the God of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> who took pity of me in my di&s;tre&s;&s;ed &s;tate, and did for
the Cry of the Poor, and Sighing of the Needy, ari&s;e in an acceptable day to give
my Soul relief from tho&s;e di&s;quietings and di&s;&s;atisfactions I was then under, while
I was among&s;t the Profe&s;&s;ors of God in that day. Now &s;ince Gods ble&s;&s;ed day
hath dawned, and his Arm of Salvation hath reached unto me, I can &s;ay it hath
been a great Care upon my Spirit to keep to that Sure Rock, Foundation, Habita|tion
and quiet peacable Dwelling which he hath in &s;ome mea&s;ure given me a po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion
of, and an Inheritance in that Eternal Life that is with the Father External,
prai&s;e to his Name for ever.</P>
<P>Now Friends, the intent of this Paper is earne&s;tly to per&s;wade all, who profe&s;s
the Truth, to keep out of tho&s;e very hurtful Evils of Strife, Debate, and Divi&s;ion
that are too commonly agravated and heightned, by letting in Jealou&s;ie, Fal&s;e Re|ports,
<HI>Whi&s;pering</HI> and <HI>Backbiting.</HI> This I have &s;een with grief of Spirit in the light
of the Lord hath been the means by which the Enemy, the evil Seeds-man, the
Devil, the Common Enemy of mans temporal and eternal Good hath wrought to
break that Sweet Unity and Heavenly Conver&s;ation among&s;t Brethren: The Apo&s;tle
<HI>Paul</HI> in the 1&s;t <HI>Romans</HI> 29. had a &s;ight of the&s;e evils, and declares them as his
Judgement, to be tokens of a deelining and reprobate mind: when they did
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate
mind to do tho&s;e things which are not convenient, being filled with <HI>envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity, Whi&s;pering</HI> and <HI>Backbiting.</HI></P>
<P>1&s;t. Whi&s;pering, Backbiting and Fal&s;e Reports are the common Enemies of Ci|vil
and Spiritual Society, it hath a Secret and Clo&s;e way of &s;miting in the dark, and
goes about from one to another, and privately vents its &s;lander, not with an intent
to make it le&s;s publick: it's a Malitious Enemy, this way the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> hath to deli|ver
fal&s;e reports, that thereby he may make them the more believed and &s;poken of
too for that per&s;on that receives a fal&s;e report as a &s;ecret from one, thinks to plea&s;e
&s;ome body el&s;e by delivering it as a &s;ecret to others al&s;o; &s;o it pa&s;&s;es from one to a|nother
till at la&s;t it &s;preads over City, Town, and Country. This thing, whoever
thou art that is guilty herein, proves very injurious to thy Neighbour, therefore I
earne&s;tly warn all to watch again&s;t this growing evil, for mark you, in more pub|lick
Accu&s;ations the per&s;on grieved may have remedies to clear him&s;elf, and detect
his Adver&s;ary: but here again&s;t the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> there is no po&s;&s;ibility of that, becau&s;e
the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> and <HI>Backbiter</HI> &s;mites in the dark and we know not who it is, till at
length his Whi&s;pers break out. Ah, the Tongue is a little Member, but doth much
mi&s;chief, and is u&s;ed oftentimes as a &s;word that wounds the reputation of innocent
per&s;ons by fal&s;e reports, <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaks of it in 18 <HI>Proverbs,</HI> A <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> &s;eparates
Chief Friends.</P>
<P>2ly. I beg of you to watch again&s;t the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> and <HI>Fal&s;e Reporter,</HI> as neither to
give way to or to be an encourager of tho&s;e that come with &s;landers, for they that
entertain them give encouragement to them that practi&s;e it: we have a Proverb in
<HI>England,</HI> That if therewere no Receivers there would be no Thieves, &s;o if there were
none that would give an Ear to Tales there would be no Tale-bearers; if we are &s;ub|ject
to give too ea&s;ie credit to them, this encourages the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> and <HI>Backbiter,</HI>
and &s;o begets an ill opinion of the per&s;on, which is a great evil to believe ill with|out
a ju&s;t ground: when the Enemy hath thus far gained his end upon any to re|ceive
the accu&s;ation, then the next thing is to report it to others, and &s;o become
a Companion with the <HI>Whi&s;perer</HI> and <HI>Backbiter,</HI> and after he hath unju&s;tly with|drawn
thy own good opinion of thy Neighbour, endeavoure&s;t to rob him of
that with others al&s;o; for he that can take delight to hear his Neighbour re|proached,
may well be pre&s;umed to give us to believe, will not &s;tick to &s;pread the
&s;lander.</P>
<P>Therefore Friends take my Chri&s;tian Advice to keep in innocency in this matter,
and not in the lea&s;t to encourage any that are given to fal&s;e Reports, by which the
Sweet Conver&s;ation and Unity comes to be broken.</P>
<P>3ly. This &s;in of <HI>Whi&s;pering, Backbiting</HI> and <HI>Fal&s;e Reports</HI> is a mi&s;chievous Enemy
that le&s;&s;ens if not wholly de&s;troys the Credit of man, not only in Spiritual things
but Natural. 1&s;t. Con&s;ider the thing he is robbed of: 2ly. The difficulty of making
&s;atisfaction; a good name is better than Riches, a thing to be accounted in great
e&s;teem to every innocent man, very near to a mans life: now the making of Repa|ration
for the injury done in this ca&s;e of Defamation is very hard, nay, it &s;eems all|mo&s;t
impo&s;&s;ible, for mind you, when men are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with an ill opinion of a man,
it is no ea&s;ie matter to remove it out of their minds: Therefore the&s;e things be|ing
con&s;idered, how wary, how careful, and how con&s;cientious &s;hould we be in this
matter, how we &s;peak of, or give entertainment to &s;uch as are <HI>Tale-bearers, Whi&s;pe|rers</HI>
and <HI>Fal&s;e-reporters,</HI> that do &s;uch great mi&s;chiefs to men.</P>
<P>4ly. In your common conver&s;ation or vi&s;iting one another, keep out of the&s;e re|ports,
and rather let it be in the love of God, &s;tirring up one another to Love, and
Charity, and Good Works, according to the gift that is in you that your vi&s;its
may be in the edifying and building up one another in the mo&s;t holy faith, telling
one another of your experiences, and what the Lord hath done for our &s;ouls, who
is watering daily his plea&s;ant plants, and cau&s;ing them to grow as fruitful plants, to
the prai&s;e of the good Husbandman, and here as we are opened one to another we
&s;hall be kept fre&s;h, and green, and tender in the Love of God, here none will be
hurt, but rather if any are gone out of the way or have &s;lipt, to re&s;tore &s;uch
with the &s;pirit of meekne&s;s and tenderne&s;s, this will be far from loading any with
&s;corn and calumny, which doth but drive farther from God, and from Unity with
the Brethren: read the 14th <HI>Ephe&s;. 31, 32. Let all bitterne&s;s, and wrath, and anger,
and clamour, and evil-&s;peaking be put away from among&s;t you with all malice, and be you
kind one to another, and tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Chri&s;ts &s;ake
forgave you.</HI></P>
<P>5ly. Take not up an occa&s;ion again&s;t any from bare report without certain te&s;ti|mony
or knowledge of matter of fact again&s;t the per&s;on, and whoever thou art that
reproves another for any thing that is wrong, had need be innocent in thy conver&s;a|tion,
and clear of tho&s;e things thou reprove&s;t others for, otherwi&s;e it may be &s;aid
of thee as Chri&s;t taught in the 7th of <HI>Matthew, Judge not, lea&s;t thou be judged, for
with what judgement ye judge ye &s;hall be judged, and with what mea&s;ure ye meet, it &s;hall
be mea&s;ured to you again: and why beholde&s;t thou the mote that is in thy Brothers eye,
and con&s;idere&s;t not the beam that is in thy own eye; thou hypocrite, fir&s;t ca&s;t out the beam
out of thine own eye, and then &s;halt thou &s;ee clearly to ca&s;t out the mote out of thy Brothers
eye:</HI> mo&s;t certain it is without this rule be ob&s;erved thou wilt certainly pull down
more than thou can&s;t build up by all the be&s;t words in the world.</P>
<P>6ly. And la&s;tly I &s;hall give the&s;e directions as the proper means to &s;top and
prevent the currant of tho&s;e growing evils of &s;trife, debate, divi&s;ion, whi&s;pering,
backbiting and fal&s;e-reports; you know it is the part of a good Phy&s;itian not on|ly
to &s;hew what the grief and di&s;temper is, but to apply &s;uch proper means as
may be mo&s;t &s;utable for the perfecting the Cure. The di&s;ea&s;e is the &s;ubject which
this Te&s;timony is again&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> backbitings and whi&s;perings: the Infallible cure for
it, is our clo&s;e walking and abiding in Chri&s;t who is the peaceable Saviour, and
Prince of everla&s;ting peace; for mo&s;t certain and without all controver&s;ie if we
keep in the Love and Life that is in him, we &s;hall keep out of all that's evil, and
all that offends, for mark you in Chri&s;t Je&s;us there is neither giving offence cau&s;e
le&s;ly nor taking offence, but a dwelling in Love that is the fulfilling of the Law
2ly, Put on Charity, it is the bond of perfectne&s;s, and hath the&s;e &s;everal effects: It will
certainly keep the mind in a peaceable and meek temper, &s;o far from &s;eeking occa|&s;ion
of contention that no provocation &s;hall draw us to it; Charity is not ea&s;il<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">
provoked, &s;o that who&s;oever is uncharitable &s;hews his heart is far from a Chri&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">
Temper; and it is to be con&s;idered the nature of this Charity is &s;uch, that it <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 word">
mo&s;t certainly cau&s;e a tender compa&s;&s;ion towards all the mi&s;eries of others w<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">
have erred or gone out of the way, to lend a hand to re&s;tore them back aga<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters"></P>
<P>To clo&s;e up this my Friendly Per&s;wa&s;ion I commend you to read weightily, and
practice &s;incerely the&s;e directions of Chri&s;t and the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> gives in this ca&s;e of
Charity one towards another, which if truly ob&s;erved will put an end to the&s;e
Controver&s;ies among&s;t profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity, Mat. 18. 15. <HI>If thy Brother &s;hall
tre&s;pa&s;s again&s;t thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him; if he &s;hall hear thee,
thou ha&s;t gained thy Brother.</HI> Rom. 14. <HI>Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but
not to doubtful di&s;putations.</HI> Rom. 14. 19. <HI>Let us follow after the things that make for
peace, and things wherewith you may edifie one another.</HI> Now the God of peace that
brought again our Lord Je&s;us from the dead, that great Shepheard of the
&s;heep, through the blood of the Everla&s;ting Covenant make you perfect in every
good work to do his Will, working in you that which is well-plea&s;ing in his &s;ight,
through Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to whom be glory for ever, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>London <DATE>25. 12. Month 1683/4.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>By one that wi&s;hes well to Sion, and that &s;he may abundantly pro&s;per, <HI>John Heywood.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<P>London, <HI>Printed for</HI> Thomas Howkins <HI>in</HI> George-yard <HI>in</HI> Lumbard&s;treet. 1684.</P>
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