nothing else would do but Christ himself the Light of his Countenance a Touch of his Garment and Help from his Hand who cured the poor Womans Issue raised the Centurion's Servant the Widow's Son the Ruler's Daughter and Peter's Mother And like Her they no sooner felt his Power and Efficacy upon their Souls but they gave up to obey him in a Testimony to his Power and that with resigned Wills and faithful Hearts through all Mockings Contradictions Confiscations Beatings Prisons and many other Jeorpardies that attended them for his Blessed Name 's Sake And truly they were very many and very Great so that in all Humane Probability they must have been swallowed up Quick of the Proud and Boisterous Waves that swelled and beat against them but that the God of all their tender Mercies was with them in his Glorious Authority so that the Hills often Fled and the Mountains Melted before the Power that filled them working mightily for them as well as in them one ever following the other By which they saw plainly to their exceeding great Confirmation and Comfort that all things were possible with him with whom they had to do And that the more that which God required seemed to cross Man's Wisdom and expose them to Man's Wrath the more God appeared to help and carry them through all to his Glory Insomuch that if ever any People could say in Truth Thou art our Sun and our Shield our Rock and Sanctuary and by thee we have leaped over a Wall and by thee we have run through a Troop and by thee we have put the Armies of the Aliens to Flight these People had Right to say it And as God had delivered their Souls of the wearisom Burthens of Sin and Vanity and enriched their poverty of Spirit and satisfied their great Hunger and Thirst after Eternal Righteousness and filled them with the Good Things of his own House and made them Stewards of his Manifold Gifts so they went forth to all Quarters of these Nations to declare to the Inhabitants thereof what God had done for them what they had found and where and how they had found it viz. The way to Peace with God Inviting all to come and see and taste for themselves the Truth of what they Declared unto them And as their Testimony was to the Principle of God in Man the Precious Pearl and Leaven of the Kingdom as the only blessed means appointed of God to Quicken Convince and Sanctifie Man so they opened to them what it was in it self and what it was given to them for How they might know it from their own Spirit and that of the Subtil appearance of the Evil one and what it would do for all those whose minds Should be turned off from the Vanity of the World and its Lifeless ways and Teachers and ad-here to this blessed Light in themselves which discovers and condemns Sin in all its appearances and shows how to overcome it if minded and obeyed in its holy Manifestations and Convictions Giving Power to such to Avoid and Resist those things that do not please God and to grow strong in Love Faith and Good Works That so Man whom Sin hath made as a Wilderness over-run with Briars and Thorns might become as the Garden of God cultivated by his divine Power and replenisht with the most Virtuous and Beautiful Plants of God's own Right Hand Planting to his Eternal Praise But these Experimental Preachers of Glad Tydings of God's Truth and Kingdom could not run when they List or Pray or Preach when they Pleased But as Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own Blessed Spirit for which they waited in their Services and Meetings and Spoke as that gave them utterance and which was as those having Authority and not like the Dreaming Dry and Formal Pharisees And so it plainly appeared to the serious Minded whose Spiritual Eye the Lord Jesus had in any measure opened So that to one was given the Word of Exhortation to another the Word of Reproof to another the Word of Consolation and all by the same Spirit and in the good Order thereof to the Convincing and Edifying of many And truly they waxed Strong and Bold through Faithfulness and by the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very Fruitful thousands in a short time being turned to the Truth in the inward parts through their Testimony in Ministry and Sufferings Insomuch as in most Counties and many of the considerable Towns of England Meetings were settled and daily there were added such as should be saved For they were Diligent to Plant and to Water and the Lord blessed their Labours with an Exceeding great Increase notwithstanding all the opposition made to their blessed Progress by false Rumors Calumnies and bitter Persecutions not only from the Powers of the Earth but from every one that listed to injure and abuse them So that they seemed indeed to be as poor Sheep appointed to the Slaughter and as a People killed all the Day long It were fitter for a Volume than a Preface but so much as to repeat the Contents of their cruel Sufferings from Professors as well as from Prophane and from Magistrates as well as the Rabble That it may well be said of this abused and despised People they went forth Weeping and sowed in Teares bearing Testimony to the Precious Seed even the Seed of the Kingdom which stands not in Words the Finest the Highest that Man's Wit can use but in Power The Power of Christ Jesus to whom God the Father hath given all Power in Heaven and in Earth that he might rule Angels above and Men below Who impowred them as their Work witnesseth by the many that were turned through their Ministry from Darkness to the Light and out of the Broad into the Narrow Way of Life and Peace bringing People to a Weighty Serious and God-like Conversation the Practice of that Doctrine which they Taught And as without this Secret Divine Power there is no Quickening and Regenerating of dead Souls so the want of this Generating and Begetting Power and Life is the Cause of the little Fruit that the many Ministries that have been and are in the World bring forth O that both Ministers and People were sensible of this My Soul is often troubled for them and Sorrow and Mourning compass me about for their Sakes O that they were Wise O that they would consider and lay to Heart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting Peace Two things are to be considered the Doctrine they Taught and the Example they lead among all People I have already toucht upon their Fundamental Principle which is as the Corner stone of their Fabrick And indeed to speak eminently and properly their Characteristick or main distinguishing Point or Principle viz. the Light of Christ within as God's Gift for Man's Salvation This I say is as the Root of the goodly Tree of Doctrines that grew and branched out from
deliver Man from his Power And which in a signal manner by the Dispensation of the Son of God in the Flesh in the fullness of Time was Personally and Fully accomplished by him and in him as Man's Saviour and Redeemer But his Power was not limitted in the Manifestation of it to that time for both before and since his blessed Manifestation in the Flesh he has been the Light and Life the Rock and Strength of all that ever feared God Was present with them in their Temptations followed them in their Travels and Afflictions and supported and carried them through and over the Difficulties that have attended them in their Earthly Pilgrimage By this Abel's heart excelled Cain's and Seth obtained the preheminence and Enoch walked with God It was this that strove with the Old World and which they rebelled against and which sanctified and instructed Noah to Salvation But the outward Dispensation that followed the benighted State of Man after his Fall especially among the Patriarchs was generally that of Angels as the Scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places express as to Abraham Jacob c. The next was that of the Law by Moses which was also delivered by Angels as the Apostle tells us This Dispensation was much outward and suited to a low and servile State called therefore by the Apostle Paul that of a School-Master which was to point out and prepare that People to look and long for the Messiah who would deliver them from the servitude of a Ceremonious and imperfect Dispensation by knowing the Realities of those Mysterious Representations in themselves In this time the Law was written on Stone the Temple built with Hands attended with an Outward Priesthood and External Rites and Ceremonies that were Shadows of the Good Things that were to come and were only to serve till the Seed came or the more excellent and general manifestation of Christ to whom was the Promise and to all Men only in him in whom it was Yea and Amen even Life from Death Immortality and Eternal Life This the Prophets foresaw and comforted the believing Jews in the certainty of it which was the Top of the Mosaical Dispensation and which ended in John's Ministry the Forerunner of the Messiah as John's was finished in him the Fullness of all And then God that at sundry Times and in divers manners had spoken to the Fathers by his Servants the Prophets Spoke to Men by his Son Christ Jesus Who is Heir of all things being the Gospel-day which is the Dispensation of Sonship Bringing in thereby a nearer Testament and a better hope even the Beginning of the Glory of the latter days and of the Restitution of all things yea the Restoration of the Kingdom unto Israel Now the Spirit that was more sparingly communicated in former Dispensations began to be Poured forth upon all Flesh according to the Prophet Joel and the Light that shined in Darkness or but dimly before the most gracious God caused to Shine out of Darkness and the Day-star began to arise in the Hearts of Believers giving unto them the knowledge of God in the Face or Appearance of his Son Christ Jesus Now the Poor in Spirit the Meek the true Mourners the Hungry and Thirsty after Righteousness the Peace-makers the Pure in Heart the Merciful and Persecuted came more especially in Remembrance before the Lord and were sought out and blessed by Israel's True Shepherd Old Jerusalem with her Children grew out of Date and the New Jerusalem into Request the Mother of the Sons of the Gospel-Day Wherefore no more at Old Jerusalem nor at the Mountain of Samaria will God be worshipped above other places for behold he is by his own Son declared and preached a Spirit and that he will be known as such and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth He will now come nearer than of old time and he will write his Law in the Heart and put his Fear and Spirit in the inward parts according to his promise Then Signs Types and Shadows flew away the Day having discovered their Insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the Cup to the cleansing of the Conscience and all Elementary services were expired in and by him that is the substance of all And to this Great and Blessed End of the Dispensation of the Son of God did the Apostles Testifie whom he had chosen and anointed by his Spirit to turn the Jews from their Prejudice and Superstition and the Gentiles from their Vanity and Idolatry to Christ's Light and Spirit that shined in them that they might be quickned from the Sins and Trespasses in which they were Dead to serve the Living God in the Newness of the Spirit of Life and walk as Children of the Light and of the Day even the Day of Holiness For such put on Christ the Light of the World and make no more Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof So that the Light Spirit and Grace that come by Christ and appear in Man were that divine Principle the Apostles ministred from and turned Peoples Minds unto and in which they gathered and built up the Churches of Christ in their Day For which cause they advise them not to quench the Spirit but to wait for the Spirit and Speak by the Spirit and Pray by the Spirit and Walk in the Spirit too as that which approved them the truly begotten Children of God Born not of Flesh and Blood or of the will of Man but of the will of God by doing his will and denying their own by drinking of Christ's Cup and being Baptized with his Baptism of Self-denial the Way and Path that all the Heirs of Life have ever trod to Blessedness But alas even in the Apostles Days those bright Stars of the first Magnitude of the Gospel-Light some Clouds foretelling an Eclipse of this Primitive Glory began to appear and several of them gave early Caution of it to the Christians of their Time that even then there was and yet would be more and more a falling away from the Power of Godliness and the Purity of that Spiritual Dispensation by such as sought to make a fair shew in the Flesh but with whom the offence of the Cross ceased Yet with this comfortable Conclusion that they saw beyond it a more glorious Time than ever to the true Church Their sight was true and what they foretold to the Churches gathered by them in the Name and Power of Jesus came to pass For Christians degenerated a-pace into outsides as Days and Meats and divers other Ceremonies And which was worse they fell into Strife and Contention about them separating one from another then Envying and as they had Power Persecuting one another to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity and grievous stumbling and offence of the Heathen among whom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them And having got at last the Worldly Power into their Hands by Kings and
Emperors embracing the Christian Profession they changed what they could the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this World into a Worldly Kingdom or at least stiled the Worldly Kingdom that was in their Hands the Kingdom of Christ and so they became Worldly and not true Christians Then Humane Inventions and Novelties both in Doctrine and worship crouded fast into the Church a Door being opened thereunto by the Grossness and Carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians who had long since left the Guidance of God's meek and heavenly Spirit and given themselves up to Superstition Will-worship and Voluntary Humility And as Superstition is Blind so it is Heady and Furious for all must stoop to its blind and boundless Zeal or Perish by it In the Name of the Spirit persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others and opposing that in others which they resisted in themselves viz. the Light Groce and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ But always under the Notion of Innovation Heresie Schism or some such plausible Name Though Christianity allows of no Name or Pretence whatever for persecuting of any Man for matters of meer Religion being in its very Nature Meek Gentle and Forbearing and consists of Faith Hope and Charity which no Persecutor can have whilst he remains a Persecutor in that a Man cannot believe well or hope well or have a Charitable or tender regard to another whilst he would violate his mind or persecute his Body for matters of Faith or Worship towards his God Thus the False Church sprang up and mounted the Chair But though she lost her Nature she would needs keep her good Name of the Lambs-bride the True Church and Mother of the Faithful Constraining all to receive her Mark either in their Forehead or Right hand that is publickly or privately But Indeed and in Truth she was Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots Mother of those that with all their show and outside of Religion were adulterated and gone from the Spirit Nature and Life of Christ and grown Vain Worldly Ambitious Covetous Cruel c. which are the Fruits of the Flesh and not of the Spirit Now it was that the True Church fled into the Wilderness That is from Superstition and Violence to a Retired Solitary and Lonely State hidden and as it were out of Sight of Men though not out of the World Which shows that her wonted Visibility was not Essential to the being of a True Church in the Judgment of the Holy Ghost she being as True a Church in the Wilderness though not as Visible and Lustrious as when she was in her former Splendor of Profession In this State many Attempts She made to return but the Waters were yet too High and her way blocked up and many of her excellent Children in several Nations and Centuries fell by the Cruelty of Superstition because they would not fall from their Faithfulness to the Truth The last Age did set some steps towards it both as to Doctrine Worship and Practice But Practice quickly failed for Wickedness flowed in a little time as well among the Professors of the Reformation as those they reformed from so that by the Fruits of Conversation they were not to be distinguished And the Children of the Reformers if not the Reformers themselves betook themselves very early to Earthly Policy and Power to uphold and carry on their Reformation that had been begun with Spiritual Weapons which I have often thought has been one of the greatest reasons the Reformation made no better Progress as to the Life and Soul of Religion For whilst the Reformers were Lowly and Spiritually Minded and trusted in God and lookt to Him and lived in his Fear and consulted not with Flesh and Blood nor sought Deliverance in their own way there were daily added to the Church such as one might reasonably say should be saved For they were not so careful to be safe from Persecution as to be Faithful and Inoffensive under it Being more concerned to spread the Truth by their Faith and Patience in Tribulation than to get the worldly Power out of their Hands that inflicted those Sufferings upon them And it will be well if the Lord suffer them not to fall by the very same way they took to stand In Doctrine they were in some things short in other things to avoid one extream they run into another And for Worship there was for the generality more of man in it than of God They owned the Spirit Inspiration and Revelation indeed and grounded their Separation and Reformation upon the Sence and Vnderstanding they received from it in the Reading of the Scriptures of Truth And this was their Plea The Scripture is the Text the Spirit the Interpreter and that to every one for himself But yet there was too much of humane Invention Tradition and Art that remained both in Praying and Preaching and of worldly Authority and worldly Greatness in their Ministers especially in this Kingdom Sweden Denmark and some Parts of Germany God was therefore pleased in England to shift us from Vessel to Vessel And the next remove humbled the Ministry so that they were more Strict in Preaching Devout in Praying and Zealous for keeping the Lord's Day and Catechizing of Children and Servants and Repeating at Home in their Families what they had heard in publick But even as these grew into Power they were not only for Whipping some out but others into the Temple And they appeared Rigid in their Spirits rather than Severe in their Lives and more for a Party than for Piety Which brought forth another People that were yet more retired and select They would not communicate at Large or in common with others but formed Churches among themselves of such as could give some account of their Conversion at least of very promising experiences of the Work of God's Grace upon their Hearts and under mutual Agreements and Covenants of fellowship they kept together These People were somewhat of a Softer Temper and seemed to recommend Religion by the Charms of its Love Mercy and Goodness rather than by the Terrours of its Judgments and Punishment by which the former Party would have awed People into Religion They also allowed greater liberty to Prophecy than those before them for they admitted any Member to Speak or Pray as well as their Pastor whom they always Chose and not the Civil Magistrate If such found any thing pressing upon them to either Duty even without the Distinction of Clergy or Laity Persons of any Trade had their Liberty be it never so Low and Mechanical But alas even these People suffered great loss For tasting of Worldly Empire and the favour of Princes and the Gain that ensued they degenerated but too much For though they had cryed down National Churches and Ministry and Maintenance too some of them when it was their own turn to be Tryed fell under the Weight of Worldly Honour and Advantage got
it which I shall now mention in their Natural and Experimental Order First Repentance from dead Works to serve the Living God Which comprehends three Operations First a sight of Sin Secondly A Sence and Godly Sorrow for Sin Thirdly An Amendment for the Time to come This was the Repentance they preached and pressed and a Natural result from the Principle they turned all People unto For of Light came Sight and of Sight came Sense and Sorrow and of Sense and Sorrow came Amendment of Life Which Doctrine of Repentance leads to Justification that is Forgiveness of the Sins that are past through Christ the alone Propitiation and the Sanctification or Purgation of the Soul from the defiling Nature and Habits of Sin Present by the Spirit of Christ in the Soul Which is Justification in the compleat Sence of that Word Comprehending both justification from the Guilt of the Sins that are past as if they had never been committed through the Love and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus and the Creatures being made inwardly just through the Cleansing and Sanctfiying Power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the Soul which is commonly called Sanctification But that none can come to know Christ to be their Sacrifice that Reject him as their Sanctifier The End of his coming being to save his People from the Nature and Defilement as well as Guilt of Sin and that therefore those that resist his Light and Spirit make his coming an offering of none effect to them From hence sprang a Second Doctrine they were led to declare as the Mark of the Price of the High Calling to all true Christians viz. Perfection from Sin according to the Scriptures of truth which testifie it to be the End of Christ's coming and the Nature of his Kingdom and for which his Spirit was and is given viz. to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect and Holy because God is Holy And this the Apostles laboured for that the Christians should be Sanctified Through-out in Body Soul and Spirit But they never held a Perfection in Wisdom and Glory in this Life or from Natural Infirmities or Death as some have with a weak or ill mind imagined and insinuated against them This they called a Redeemed State Regeneration or the New-Birth Teaching every where according to their Foundation that without this Work were known there was no inheriting the Kingdom of God Thirdly This leads to an acknowledgment of Eternal Rewards and Punishments as they have good Reason for else of all People certainly they must be the most Miserable Who for about Forty Years have been exceeding great Sufferers for their Profession and in some Cases treated worse than the worst of Men yea as the Refuse and Off-scowering of all things This was the Purport of their Doctrine and Ministry which for the most part is what other Professors of Christianity pretend to hold in Words and Forms but not in the Power of Godliness which generally speaking has been long lost by Mens departing from that Principle and Seed of Life that is in Man and which Man has not regarded but lost the Sense of and in and by which he can only be quickned in his Mind to serve the living God in Newness of Life For as the Life of Religion was lost and the generality lived and Worshipped God after their own Wills and not after the Will of God nor the mind of Christ which stood in the Works and Fruits of the Holy Spirit so that which they prest was not Notion but Experience no Formality but Godliness as being sensible in themselves through the Work of God's Righteous Judgments that without Holiness no Man should ever see the Lord with Comfort Besides these General Doctrines as the larger Branches there sprang forth several particular Doctrines that did exemplifie and further explain the Truth and Efficacy of the General Doctrine before observed in their Lives and Examples As I. Communion and loving one another This is a noted Mark in the Mouth of all sorts of People concerning them They will meet They will help and stick one to another Whence it is common to hear some say Look how the Quakers love and take care of one another Others less Moderate will say The Quakers love none but themselves And if loving one another and having an Intimate Communion in Religion and constant care to meet to Worship God and help one another be any Mark of Primitive Christianity they had it Blessed be the Lord in an ample manner II. To love Enemies This they both Taught and Practised For they did not only refuse to be revenged for Injuries done them and condemned it as of an Unchristian Spirit but they did freely Forgive yea Help and Relieve those that had been Cruel to them when it was in their Power to have been even with them Of which many and singular Instances might be given Endeavouring through Faith and Patience to overcome all Injustice and Oppression and Preaching this Doctrine as Christian for others to follow III. Another was The Sufficiency of Truth speaking according to Christ's own form of sound Words of Yea Yea and Nay Nay among Christians without Swearing both from Christ's express Prohibition to Swear at all Mat. 5. and for that they being under the Tye and Bond of Truth in themselves there was no Necessity for an Oath and it would be a Reproach to their Christian Veracity to Assure their Truth by such an Extraordinary way of Speaking simple and uncompounded Answers as Yea and Nay without Asseverations Attestations or Super-natural Vouchers being most suitable to Evangelical Righteousness But offering at the same time to be punisht to the full for False-Speaking as others for Perjury if ever guilty of it And hereby they exclude with all True all False and Prophane Swearing for which the Land did and doth Mourn and the great God was and is not a little offended with it IV. Not Fighting but Suffering is another Testimony peculiar to this People They affirm that Christianity teacheth People To beat their Swords into Plough-Shares and their Spears into Pruning-Hooks and to learn War no more that so the Wolf may lie down with the Lamb and the Lion with the Calf and nothing that destroys be entertained in the Hearts of People Exhorting them to employ their Zeal against Sin and turn their Anger against Satan and no longer War one against another because all Wars and Fightings come of Mens own Hearts Lusts according to the Apostle James and not of the Meek Spirit of Christ Jesus who is Captain of another Warfare and which is carried on with other Weapons Thus as Truth speaking succeeded Swearing so Faith and Patience succeeded Fighting in the Doctrine and Practice of this People Nor ought they for this to be obnoxious to Civil Government since if they cannot Fight for it neither can they Fight against it which is no mean security to any State Nor is it reasonable that People should be blamed
and of the most Repute for Religion and many of them of good Capacity Substance and Account among Men. And also some among them wanted not for Parts Learning or Estate though then as of Old not many Wise or Noble c. were called or at least received the Heavenly Call because of the Cross that attended the Profession of it in Sincerity But neither do Parts or Learning make Men the better Christians though the better Orators and Disputants and it is the Ignorance of People about the Divine Gift that causes that vulgar and mischievous mistake Theory and Practice Speculation and Enjoyment Words and Life are two things Oh 't is the Penitent the Reformed the Lowly the Watchful the Self-denying and Holy Soul that is the Christian And that Frame is the Fruit and Work of the Spirit which is the Life of Jesus Whose Life though hid in the fulness of it in God the Father is shed abroad in the Hearts of them that truly Believe according to their Capacity Oh that People did but know this to Cleanse them to Circumcise them to Quicken them and to make them New Creatures indeed Recreated or Regenerated after Christ Jesus unto good Works that they might live to God and not to themselves and offer up living Prayers and living Praises to the living God through his own living Spirit in which he is only to be Worshipped in this Gospel Day Oh that they that read me could but feel me For my Heart is affected with this Merciful Visitation of the Father of Lights and Spirits to this poor Nation and the whole World through the same Testimony Why should the Inhabitants thereof reject it Why should they lose the Blessed Benefit of it Why should they not turn to the Lord with all their Hearts and say from the Heart Speak Lord for now thy poor Servants hear Oh that thy Will may be done thy Great thy Good and Holy Will in Earth as it is in Heaven Do it in us do it upon us do what thou wilt with us for we are thine and desire to glorifie thee our Creator both for that and because thou art our Redeemer for thou art redeeming us from the Earth from the Vanities and Pollutions of it to be a Peculiar People unto thee Oh this were a Brave Day for England if so she could say in Truth But alas the Case is otherwise for which some of thine Inhabitants O Land of my Nativity have mourned over thee with bitter Wailing and Lamentation Their Heads have been indeed as Waters and their Eyes as Fountains of Tears because of thy Transgression and Stiffneckedness because thou wilt not Hear and Fear and Return to the Rock even thy Rock O England from whence thou wert Hewen But be thou warned O Land of great Profession to receive him into thy Heart Behold at That Door it is he hath stood so long Knocking but thou wilt yet have none of him Oh be thou awakened lest Jerusalem's Judgments do swiftly overtake thee because of Jerusalem's Sins that abound in thee For she abounded in Formality but made void the Weighty things of God's Law as thou daily doest She withstood the Son of God in the Flesh and thou resistest the Son of God in the Spirit He would have gathered her as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and she would not so would he have gathered thee out of thy Life-less Profession and have brought thee to inherit Substance to have known his Power and Kingdom For which he often knockt within by his Grace and Spirit and without by his Servants and Witnesses But thou wouldest not be gathered But on the Contrary as Jerusalem of old Persecuted the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh and Crucified him and Whipt and Imprisoned his Servants so hast thou O Land Crucified to thy self afresh the Lord of Life and Glory and done despite to his Spirit of Grace slighting the Fatherly Visitation and Persecuting the blessed Dispensers of it by thy Laws and Magistrates Though they have Early and Late pleaded with thee in the Power and Spirit of the Lord in Love and Meekness that thou mightest know the Lord and serve him and become the Glory of all Lands But thou hast Evilly entreated and requited them Thou hast set at nought all their Counsel and would have none of their Reproof as thou shouldest have done Their Appearance was too Straight and their Qualifications were too Mean for thee to receive them like the Jews of Old that cried Is not this the Carpenters Son and are not his Brethren among us which of the Scribes of the Learned the Orthodox believe in him Prophesying their Fall in a Year or two and making and executing of severe Laws to bring it to pass Endeavouring to terrifie them out of their Holy way or destroy them for abiding Faithful to it But thou hast seen how many Governments that rise against them and determined their Downfal have been overturned and extinguished and that they are still preserved and become a great and a considerable People among the Middle sort of thy numerous Inhabitants And notwithstanding the many difficulties Without and Within which they have Laboured under since the Lord God Eternal first gathered them they are an Encreasing People the Lord still adding unto them in divers Parts such as shall be saved if they persevere to the End And to Thee O England were they and are they lifted up as a Standard and as a City set upon a Hill and to the Nations round about thee that in their Light thou may'st come to see Light even in Christ Jesus the Light of the World and therefore thy Light and Life too if thou wouldst but turn from thy many evil ways and receive and obey it For in the Light of the Lamb must the Nations of them that are saved walk as the Scripture Testifies Remember O Nation of great Profession How the Lord has waited upon thee since the Dawnings of Reformation and the many Mercies and Judgments by which he has pleaded with Thee and Awake and Arise out of thy deep Sleep and yet hear his Word in thy Heart that thou may'st live Let not this thy day of Visitation pass over thy Head nor neglect thou so great Salvation as is This which is come to thy House Oh England For why should'st thou die Oh Land that God desires to Bless Be assured it is He that has been in the mid'st of This People in the midst of Thee and not a Delusion as thy mistaken Teachers have made Thee believe And this thou shalt find by their Marks and Fruits if thou wilt consider them in the Spirit of Moderation CHAP. III. Of the Qualifications of their Ministry Eleven Marks that it is Christian I. THey were changed Men themselves before they went about to change others Their Hearts were Rent as well as their Garments and they knew the Power and Work of God upon them And this was seen by
or think that we may take less Care and more liberty in speaking than formerly and that where we do not feel the Lord by his Power to open us and enlarge us whatever be the Expectation of the People or has been our Customary Supply and Character we may not exceed or fill up the time with our own I hope we shall ever Remember who it was that said Of your selves you can do nothing Our sufficiency is in him And if we are not to speak our own Words or take Thought what we should say to Men in our defence when exposed for our Testimony surely we ought to speak none of our own Words or take Thought what we shall say in our Testimony and Ministry in the Name of the Lord to the Souls of the People for then of all Times and of all other Occasions should it be fulfilled in us for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you And indeed the Ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its Analogy and Agreement with the Birth of the Spirit that as no Man can Inherit the Kingdom of God unless he be born of the Spirit so no Ministery can beget a Soul to God but that which is from the Spirit For this as I said before the Disciples waited before they went forth and in this our Elder Brethren and Messengers of God in our Day waited visited and reached to us And having begun in the Spirit let none ever hope or seek to be made perfect in the Flesh For what is the Flesh to the Spirit or the Chaff to the Wheat And if we keep in the Spirit we shall keep in the Vnity of it which is the ground of true Fellowship For by Drinking into that one Spirit we are made one People to God and by it we are continued in the Unity of the Faith and the Bond of Peace No Envying no Bitterness no Strife can have place with us We shall watch always for Good and not for Evil over one another and rejoice exceedingly and not begrudge at one anothers increase in the Riches of the Grace with which God replenisheth his Faithful Servants And Brethren as to you is committed the Dispensation of the Oracles of God which give you frequent Opportunities and great Place with the People among whom you Travail I beseech you that you would not think it sufficient to declare the Word of Life in their Assemblies however Edifying and Comfortable such opportunities may be to you and them But as was the Practice of the Man of God before mentioned in great Measure when among us inquire the State of the several Churches you Visit who among them are Afflicted or Sick who are Tempted and if any are Vnfaithful or Obstinate and endeavour to Issue those things in the Wisdom and Power of God which will be a glorious Crown upon your Ministry As that prepares your way in the Hearts of the People to receive you as Men of God so it gives you Credit with them to do them good by your Advice in other Respects The Afflicted will be Comforted by you the Tempted Strengthened the Sick Refreshed the unfaithful Convicted and Restored and such as are Obstinate Softned and fitted for Reconciliation which is Clenching the Nail and applying and Fastning the general Testimony by this particular Care of the several Branches of it in reference to them more immediately concerned in it For though Good and Wise Men and Elders too may reside in such places who are of Worth and Importance in the general and in other Places yet it does not always follow that they may have the Room they deserve in the Hearts of the People they live among or some particular occasion may make it unfit for him or them to use that Authority But you that Travail as God's Messengers if they Receive you in the Greater shall they refuse you in the Less And if they own the general Testimony can they withstand the particular Application of it in their own Cases Thus ye will shew your selves Workmen indeed and carry your Business before you to the praise of his Name that hath called you from Darkness to Light that you might turn others from Satan's Power unto God and his Kingdom which is within And Oh that there were more of such Faithful Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord Never more need since the day of God Wherefore I cannot but Cry and Call aloud to you that have been long Professors of the Truth and know the Truth in the convincing Power of it and have had a sober Conversation among Men yet content your selves only to know Truth for your selves to go to Meetings and Exercise an ordinary Charity in the Church and an honest Behaviour in the World and limit your selves within those Bounds feeling ttle or no concern upon your Spirits for the Glory of the Lord in the Prosperity of his Truth in the Earth more than to be glad that others succeed in such Service Arise Ye in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus Behold how white the Fields are unto Harvest in this and other Nations and how few Able and Faithful Labourers there are to work therein Your Country-Folks Neighbours and Kindred want to know the Lord and his Truth and to Walk in it Does nothing lie at your Door upon their Account Search and see and lose no time I beseech you for the Lord is at Hand I do not Judge you there is one that Judgeth all Men and his Judgment is true You have mightily increased in your outward Substance May you equally increase in your inward Riches and do good with both while you have a day to do Good Your Enemies would once have taken what you had from you for his Name Sake in whom you have believed wherefore he has given you much of the World in the Face of your Enemies But Oh let it be your Servant and not your Master your Diversion rather than your Business Let the Lord be chiefly in your Eye and ponder your Ways and see if God has nothing more for you to do And if you find your selves short in your Account with him then wait for his Preparation and be ready to receive the word of Command and be not weary of well doing when you have put your Hand to the Plow and assuredly you shall Reap if you faint not the Fruit of your Heavenly Labour in God's Everlasting Kingdom And You Young Convinced Ones be you Entreated and Exhorted to a Diligent and Chast waiting upon God in the way of his Blessed Manifestation and appearance of himself to you Look not out but within Let not anothers Liberty be your Snare Neither Act by Imitation but Sense and Feeling of God's Power in your selves Crush not the tender Buddings of it in your Souls nor over-run in your desires and warmness of Affections the Holy and Gentle Motions of it Remember it is a still Voice that Speaks to
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE Rise and Progress Of the People called QUAKERS IN Which their Fundamental Principle Doctrines Worship Ministry and Discipline are Plainly Declared to prevent the Mistakes and Perversions that Ignorance and Prejudice may make to abuse the Credulous With a Summary Relation of the former Dispensations of God in the World by way of Introduction As unknown and yet well known 2 Cor. 6.9 By W. Penn. London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Grace-Church-Street and at the Crooked-Billet in Holy-well-lane near Shore-ditch 1694. AN EPISTLE TO THE READER READER this Following Account of the People called Quakers c. was writ in the Fear and Love of God First as a standing Testimony to that ever Blessed Truth in the inward Parts with which God in my Youthful time visited my Soul and for the Sense and Love of which I was made willing in no ordinary Way to relinquish the Honours and Interests of the World Secondly as a Testimony for that Despised People that God has in his Great mercy gathered and united by his one blessed Spirit in the Holy Profession of it whose Fellowship I value above all Worldly Greatness Thirdly in Love and Honour to the Memory of that Worthy Servant of God G. Fox the First Instrument thereof and therefore styled by me the Great and Blessed Apostle of our Day As this gave Birth to what is here presented to thy view in the first Edition of it by way of Preface to G. F's excellent Journal so the Consideration of the present usefulness of the following Account of the People called Quakers by reason of the unjust Reflections of some Adversaries that once walked under the Profession of Friends and the Exhortations that conclude it prevailed with me to consent that it should be republisht in a smaller Volume knowing also full well that Great Books especially in these days grow Burthensome both to the Pockets and Minds of too many and that there are not a few that desire so it be at an easie rate to be inform'd about this People that have been so much every where spoken against But blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ it is upon no worse Ground than it was said of old time of the Primitive Christians as I hope will appear to every Sober and Considerate Reader Our Business after all the ill usage we have met with being the Realities of Religion an effectual change before our last great change That all may come to an Inward Sensible and Experimental knowledge of God through the Convictions and Operations of the Light and Spirit of Christ in themselves the sufficient and blessed means given to all that thereby all may come savingly to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to Enlighten and Redeem the World Which knowledge is indeed Eternal Life And that thou Reader mayst obtain it is the earnest desire of him that is ever Thine in so good a Work W.P. THE CONTENTS Chap. I. Containing a brief Account of divers Dispensations of God in the World to the time he was pleased to raise this despised People called Quakers Chap. II. Of the Rise of this People their Fundamental Principle and Doctrines and Practice in twelve Points resulting from it their Progress and Sufferings An Expostulation with England thereupon Chap. III. Of the Qualifications of their Ministry Eleven Marks that it is Christian Chap. IV. Of the Discipline and Practice of this People as a Religious Society The Power Church they own and exercise and that which they reject and Condemn With the Method of their Proceedings against Erring and Disordering Persons Chap. V. Of the First Instrument or Person by whom God was pleased to gather this People into the way they Profess His Name G. Fox his many excellent Qualifications showing a Divine and not a Human Power to have been their Original in him His Troubles and Sufferings both from without and within His End and Triumph at it Chap. VI. Containing Five several Exhortations First General reminding this People of their Primitive Integrity and Simplicity Secondly in Particular to the Ministry Thirdly to the Young convinced Fourthly to the Children of Friends Fifthly to those that are yet Strangers to this People and Way to whom this Book and that it was Preface to in its former Edition may come All the several Exhortations accommodated to their several States and Conditions that all may answer the end of God's love to them viz. God's Glory and their own Salvation A BRIEF ACCOUNT c. CHAP I. Containing a brief Account of divers Dispensations of God in the World to the time he was pleased to raise this Despised People called Quakers DIVERS have been the Dispensations of God since the Creation of the World unto the Sons of Men But the Great End of all of them has been the Renown of his own Excellent Name in the Creation and Restauration of Man Man the Emblem of himself as a God on Earth and the Glory of all his Works The World began with Innocency All was then good that the good God had made And as he blessed the Works of his Hands so their Natures and Harmony magnified Him their Creator Then the Morning Stars Sang together for Joy and all parts of his Works said Amen to his Law Not a Jarr in the whole Frame but Man in Paradise the Beasts in the Field the Fowl in the Air the Fish in the Sea the Lights in the Heavens the Fruits of the Earth yea the Air the Earth the Water and Fire Worshipped praised and exalted his Power Wisdom and Goodness O Holy Sabbath O Holy Day to the Lord But this Happy State lasted not long For Man the Crown and Glory of the Whole being tempted to aspire above his place unhappily yielded against Command and Duty as well as Interest and Felicity and so fell below it lost the Divine Image the Wisdom Power and Purity he was made in By which being no longer fit for Paradise he was expelled that Garden of God his proper Dwelling and Residence and was driven out as a poor Vagabond from the presence of the Lord to wander in the Earth the Habitation of Beasts Yet God that made him had pity on him for He seeing Man was deceived and that it was not of Malice or an Original Presumption in him but through the Subtilty of the Serpent who had first fallen from his own State and by the Mediation of the Woman Man 's own Nature and Companion whom the Serpent had first deluded in his infinite Goodness and Wisdom found out a way to Repair the Breach Recover the Loss and Restore fallen Man again by a Nobler and more Excellent Adam promised to be born of a Woman that as by means of a Woman the evil one had prevailed upon Man by a Woman also He should come into the World who would prevail against him and bruise his Head and
most reason to approach him with Reverence and Fear VI. He was of an Innocent Life no Busie-body nor Self-seeker neither Touchy nor Critical What fell from him was very Inoffensive if not very Edifying So Meek Contented Modest Easie Steady Tender it was a pleasure to be in his Company He exercised no Authority but over Evil and that every where and in all but with Love Compassion and Long-suffering A most Merciful Man as ready to Forgive as unapt to take or give an Offence Thousands can truly say he was of an Excellent Spirit and Savour among them and because thereof of the most Excellent Spirits loved him with an unfained and unfading Love VII He was an Incessant Labourer For in his Younger time before his many great and deep Sufferings and Travels had enfeebled his Body for Itinerant Services he laboured much in the Word and Doctrine and Discipline in England Scotland and Ireland turning many to God and confirming those that were convinced of the Truth and setling Good Order as to Church Affairs among them And towards the Conclusion of his Travelling Services between the Years Seventy One and Seventy Seven he Visited the Churches of Christ in the Plantations in America and in the Vnited Provinces and Germany as his Journal Relates to the Convincement and Consolation of many After that time he chiefly resided in and about the City of London and besides his Labour in the Ministry which was Frequent and Serviceable He writ much both to them that are within and those that are without the Communion But the care he took of the Affairs of the Church in General was very great VIII He was often where the Records of the Business of the Church are kept and where the Letters from the many Meetings of God's People over all the World use to come Which Letters he had read to him and Communicated them to the Meeting that is Weekly held there for such Services and he would be sure to stir them up to answer them especially in Suffering Cases Showing great Sympathy and Compassion upon all such Occasions carefully looking into the Respective Cases and endeavouring Speedy Relief according to the Nature of them So that the Churches or any of the Suffering Members thereof were sure not to be forgotten or delayed in their Desires if he were there IX As he was Unwearied so he was Vndaunted in his Services for God and his people He was no more to be moved to Fear than to Wrath. His Behaviour at Darby Litchfield Appleby before Oliver Cromwell at Launston Scarborough Worcester and Westminster-Hall with many other places and Exercises did abundantly evidence it to his Enemies as well as his Friends But as in the Primitive Times some rise up against the blessed Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ even from among those that they had turned to the Hope of the Gospel and they became their greatest Trouble so this Man of God had his share of Suffering from some that were convinced by him who through prejudice or mistake ran against him as one that sought Dominion over Conscience because he prest by his presence or Epistles a ready and zealous compliance with such good and wholesome things as tended to an Orderly Conversation about the Affairs of the Church and in their walking before men That which contributed much to this ill Work was in some a begrudging of this Meek Man the love and esteem he had and deserved in the Hearts of the people and weakness in others that were taken with their groundless Suggestions of Imposition and blind Obedience They would have had every man Independent that as he had the Principle in himself he should only stand and fall to that and no Body else Not considering that the Principle is One in all and though the measure of Light or Grace might differ yet the Nature of it was the same and being so they struck at the Spiritual Vnity which a people guided by the same Principle are naturally led into So that what is an evil to One is so to All and what is Vertuous Honest and of good Repute to One is so to All from the Sense and Savour of the One Vniversal Principle which is common to all and which the disaffected also profess to be the Root of all True Christian Fellowship and that Spirit into which the people of God drink and come to be Spiritually-minded and of one Heart and one Soul Some weakly mistook good Order in the Government of Church Affairs for Discipline in Worship and that it was so prest or recommended by Him and other Brethren And thereupon they were ready to reflect the same things that Dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the National Churches that have coercively pressed Conformity to their Respective Creeds and Worships Whereas these things related wholly to Conversation and the Outward and as I may say Civil part of the Church that men should walk up to the Principles of their Belief and not be wanting in Care and Charity But though some have stumbled and fallen through mistakes and an unreasonable Obstinancy even to a Prejudice yet blessed be God the Generality have returned to their First Love and seen the Work of the Enemy that loses no Opportunity or Advantage by which he may check or hinder the Work of God and disquiet the Peace of his Church and chill the Love of his people to the Truth and one to another And there is hope of divers of the few that yet are at a Distance In all these Occasions though there was no Person the Discontented struck so sharply at as this Good Man he bore all their Weakness and Prejudice and returned not Reflection for Reflection but forgave them their weak and bitter Speeches praying for them that they might have a Sense of their hurt and see the Subtilty of the Enemy to Rend and Divide and return into their First Love that thought no Ill. And truly I must say that though God had visibly cloathed him with a Divine Preference and Authority and indeed his very presence exprest a Religious Majesty yet he never abused it but held his place in the Church of God with great Meekness and a most engaging Humility and Moderation For upon all Occasions like his blessed Master he was a Servant to all holding and exercising his Eldership in the Invisible Power that had gathered them with Reverence to the Head and Care over the Body And was received only in that Spirit and Power of Christ as the First and Chief Elder in this Age Who as he was therefore worthy of double Honour so for the same Reason it was given by the Faithful of this day because his Authority was inward and not outward and that he got it and kept it by the Love of God and Power of an Endless Life I write my Knowledge and not Report and my Witness is True having been with him for Weeks and Months together on divers Occasions and those of
to which others were continually exposed by the prevalency of the lust of the Eye the lust of the Flesh and the pride of Life that wanted no Occasions or Temptations to excite them abroad in the Converse of the World I cannot forget the Humility and Chaste Zeal of that Day Oh how Constant at Meetings how Retired in them how firm to Truth 's Life as well as Truth 's Principles And how Entire and United in our Communion as indeed became those that profess One Head even Christ Jesus the Lord. This being the Testimony and Example the Man of God before-mentioned was sent to Declare and Leave amongst us and we having Embraced the same as the Merciful Visitation of God to us the Word of Exhortation at this time is That we continue to be found in the Way of this Testimony with all Zeal and Integrity and so much the more by how much the Day draweth near And First as to you my Beloved and much Honoured Brethren in Christ that are in the Exercise of the Ministry Oh feel Life in your Ministry Let Life be your Commission your Well-spring and Treasury in all such Occasions else you well know there can be no begetting to God since nothing can quicken or make People alive to God but the Life of God And it must be a Ministry in and from Life that enlivens any People to God We have seen the Fruit of all other Ministries by the few that are turned from the Evil of their Ways It is not our Parts or Memory the repetition of former Openings in our own will and time that will do God's Work A dry Doctrinal Ministry however sound in Words can reach but the Ear and is but a Dream at the Best There is another Soundness that is soundest of all viz. Christ the power of God This is the Key of David that Opens and none Shuts and Shuts and none can Open As the Oil to the Lamp and the Soul to the Body so is that to the best of Words Which made Christ to say My Words they are Spirit and they are Life that is they are from Life and therefore they make you alive that receive them If the Disciples that had lived with Jesus were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it much more must we wait to receive before we Minister if we will turn People from Darkness to Light and from Satan's power to God I fervently bow my Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may always be like minded that you may ever wait Reverently for the coming and opening of the Word of Life and attend upon it in your Ministry and Service that you may serve God in his Spirit And be it little or be it much it is well for much is not too much and the least is enough if from the motion of God's Spirit and without it verily never so little is too much because to no profit For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately or through the Ministry of his Servants that teacheth his People to profit and to be sure so far as we take him along with us in our Services so far we are profitable and no farther For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us for our own Salvation much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the Conversion of others If therefore it was once a Cross to us to Speak though the Lord required it at our Hands let it never be so to be silent when he does not It is one of the most dreadful Sayings in the Book of God That he that adds to the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God will add the Plagues written in this Book To keep back the Counsel of God is as Terrible for he that takes away from the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life And truly it has great Caution in it to those that use the Name of the Lord to be well assured the Lord Speaks that they may not be found of the Number of those that add to the Words of the Testimony of Prophecy which the Lord giveth them to bear nor yet to mince or diminish the same both being so very offensive to God Wherefore Brethren let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide nor yet loiter behind Him since he that makes Haste may miss his Way and he that stays behind lose his Guide For even those that have Received the Word of the Lord had need wait for Wisdom that they may see how to divide the Word aright Which plainly implieth that it is possible for one that hath received the Word of the Lord to miss in the Dividing and Application of it which must come from an Impatiency of Spirit and a Self-working which makes an unsound and dangerous Mixture and will hardly beget a right minded living People to God I am earnest in this above all other Considerations as to Publick Brethren well knowing how much it concerns the present and future State and preservation of the Church of Christ Jesus that has been gathered and built up by a Living and Powerful Ministry that the Ministry be held preserved and continued in the Manifestations Motions and Supplies of the same Life and Power from time to time And where ever it is observed that any one does Minister more from Gifts and Parts than Life and Power though they have an Inlightned and Doctrinal Understanding let them in time be advised and admonished for their Preservation because insensibly such will come to depend upon a Self-sufficiency to forsake Christ the living Fountain and hew out unto themselves Cisterns that will hold no living waters And by degrees such will come to draw others from waiting upon the Gift of God in themselves and to feel it in others in order to their strength and Refreshment to wait upon them and to turn from God to Man again and so to make Shipwrack of the Faith once delivered to the Saints and of a good Conscience towards God which are only kept by that Divine Gift of Life that begat the one and awakn'd and sanctified the other in the beginning Nor is it enough that we have known the Divine Gift and in it have reached to the Spirits in Prison and been the Instruments of the Convincing of others of the way of God if we keep not as low and poor in our selves and as depending upon the Lord as ever Since no Memory no Repetitions of former Openings Revelations or Enjoyments will bring a Soul to God or afford Bread to the Hungry or Water to the Thirsty unless Life go with what we say and that must be waited for O that we may have no other Fountain Treasure or Dependence That none may presume at any rate to Act of themselves for God because they have long Acted from God that we may not supply want of waiting with our own Wisdom
Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God A most close and comprehensive Passage to this occasion You exactly and peculiarly answer to those professing Jews in that you bear the Name of God's People by being the Children and wearing of the Form of God's People And He by his Light in you may be very well said to come to his own and if you obey it not but turn your Back upon it and walk after the Vanities of your Minds you will be of Those that receive him not which I pray God may never be your Case and Judgment But that you may be thoroughly sensible of the many and great Obligations you lie under to the Lord for his Love and to your Parents for their Care And with all your Heart and all your Soul and all your Strength turn to the Lord to his Gift and Spirit in you and hear his Voice and obey it that you may Seal to the Testimony of your Fathers by the Truth and Evidence of your own Experience that your Childrens Children may bless you and the Lord for you as those that delivered a faithful Example as well as Record of the Truth of God unto them So will the Gray Hairs of your Dear Parents yet alive go down to the Grave with Joy to see you the posterity of Truth as well as theirs and that not only their Natures but Spirit shall live in you when they are gone I shall conclude this Account with a few Words to those that are not of our Communion into whose hands this may come especially those of our own Nation Friends As you are the Sons and Daughters of Adam and my Brethren after the Flesh often and earnest have been my Desires and Prayers to God on your behalf that you may come to know your Creator to be your Redeemer and Restorer to the Holy Image that through Sin you have lost by the power and Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ whom he hath given for the Light and Life of the World And Oh that you who are called Christians would receive him into your Heart For there it is you want him and at that Door he stands knocking that you might let him in but you do not open to him You are full of other Guests so that a Manger is his Lot among you Now as well as of Old Yet you are full of Profession as were the Jews when he came among them who knew him not but rejected and evilly intreated him So that if you come not to the Possession and Experience of what you profess all your Formality in Religion will stand you in no stead in the Day of God's Judgment I beseech you ponder with your selves your Eternal Condition and see what Title what Ground and Foundation you have for your Christianity If more than a Profession and an Historical Belief of the Gospel Have you known the Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost and the Fan of Christ that winnows away the Chaff in your minds the Carnal Lusts and Affections That Divine Leven of the Kingdom that being received Levens the whole Lump of Man sanctifying him throughout in Body Soul and Spirit If this be not the Ground of your Confidence you are in a Miserable Estate You will say perhaps that though you are Sinners and live in the daily Commission of Sin and are not Sanctified as I have been speaking yet you have Faith in Christ who has born the Curse for you and in him you are Compleat by Faith his Righteousness being imputed to you But my Friends let me intreat you not to deceive your selves in so Important a Point as is that of your Immortal Souls If you have true Faith in Christ your Faith will make you Clean it will Sanctifie you For the Saints Faith was their Victory of old By this they overcame Sin within and Sinful Men without And if thou art in Christ thou walkest not after the Flesh but after the Spirit whose Fruits are Manifest Yea thou art a New Creature New Made New Fashioned after God's Will and Mould Old things are done away and behold all things are become New New Love Desires Will Affections and Practices It is not any longer Thou that livest Thou Disobedient Carnal Worldly One but it is Christ that liveth in thee and to live is Christ and to die is thy Eternal Gain Because thou art assured That thy Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and thy Mortal Immortality and that thou hast a Glorious House Eternal in the Heavens that will never wax Old or pass away All this follows being in Christ as Heat follows Fire and Light the Sun Therefore have a Care how you presume to Rely upon such a Notion as that you are in Christ whilst in your old fallen Nature For what Communion hath Light with Darkness or Christ with Beial Hear what the beloved Disciple tells you If we say we have fellowship with God and walk in Darkness we lie and do not the Truth That is if we go on in a Sinful way are Captivated by our Carnal Affections and are not Converted to God we walk in Darkness and cannot possibly in that state have any Fellowship with God Christ Cloths them with his Righteousness that receive his Grace in their Hearts and deny themselves and take up his Cross daily and follow him Christ's Righteousness makes Men inwardly Holy of Holy Minds Wills and Practices It is never the less Christs because we have it for it is ours not by Nature but by Faith and Adoption It is the Gift of God But still tho' not ours as of or from our selves for in that Sense it is Christ's for it is of and from him yet it is ours and must be ours in Possession Efficacy and Enjoyment to do us any good or Christ's Righteousness will profit us nothing It was after this manner that he was made to the Primitive Christians Righteousness Sanctification Justification and Redemption and if ever you will have the Comfort Kernel and Marrow of the Christian Religion thus you must come to learn and obtain it Now my Friends by what you have Read and will Read in what Follows you may perceive that God has visited a Poor People among you with this saving Knowledge and Testimony Whom he has upheld and encreased to this Day notwithstanding the fierce opposition they have met withal Despise not the Meanness of this Appearance It was and yet is we know a day of small things and of small Account with too many and many hard and ill Names are given to it But it is of God it came from him because it leads to him This we know but we cannot make another know it as we know it unless he will take the same way to know it that we took The World talks of God but what do they do They pray for Power but reject the Principle in which it is If you would know God and Worship and serve
God as you should do you must come to the means he has ordained and given for that purpose Some seek it in Books some in Learned Men but what they look for is in themselves though not of themselves but they overlook it The Voice is too still the Seed too small and the Light shineth in Darkness They are abroad and so cannot divide the Spoil But the Woman that lost her Silver found it at Home after she had lighted her Candle and swept her House Do you so too and you shall find what Pilate wanted to know viz. Truth Truth in the Inward Parts so valuable in the sight of God The light of Christ within who is the Light of the World and so a Light to you that tells you the Truth of your Condition leads all that take heed unto it out of Darkness into God's marvellous Light For Light grows upon the Obedient It is sown for the Righteous and their way is a shining Light that shines forth more and more to the perfect day Wherefore O Friends Turn in Turn in I beseech you Where is the Poison There is the Antidote There you want Christ and There you must find him and blessed be God There you may find him Seek and you shall find I testifie for God But then you must seek aright with your whole Heart as Men that seek for their Lives yea for their Eternal Lives Diligently Humbly Patiently as those that can taste no Pleasure Comfort or Satisfaction in any thing else unless you find him whom your Souls want and desire to know and love above all O it is a Travail a Spiritual Travail Let the Carnal Profane World think and say as it will And through This Path you must walk to the City of God that has Eternal Foundations if ever you will come there Well! And what does this blessed Light do for you Why 1. It sets all your Sins in order before you It detects the Spirit of this World in all its Baits and Allurements and shews how Man came to fall from God and the fallen Estate he is in 2. It begets a Sense and Sorrow in such as believe in it for this fearful Lapse You will then see him Distinctly whom you have Pierced and all the Blows and Wounds you have given him by your Disobedience and how you have made him to serve with your Sins and you will Weep and Mourn for it and your Sorrow will be a Godly Sorrow 3. After this it will bring you to the Holy Watch to take Care that you do so no more and that the Enemy surprise you not again Then Thoughts as well as Words and Works will come to Judgment which is the way of Holiness in which the Redeemed of the Lord do walk Here you will come to love God above all and your Neighbours as your selves Nothing Hurts Nothing Harms Nothing makes Afraid on this Holy Mountain Now you come to be Christ's indeed for you are his in Nature and Spirit and not your own And when you are Thus Christ's then Christ is yours and not before And here Communion with the Father and with the Son you will know and the Efficacy of the Blood of Cleansing even the Blood of Jesus Christ that Immaculate Lamb which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel and which cleanseth from all Sin the Consciences of those that through the living Faith come to be sprinkled with it from dead Works to serve the living God To Conclude Behold the Testimony and Doctrine of the People called Quakers Behold their Practice and Discipline And behold the blessed Man and Men at least many of them that were sent of God in this Excellent Work and Service All which is more particularly expressed in the Annals of that Man of God Which I do heartily recommend to my Readers most serious Perusal and beseech Almighty God that his Blessing may go along with both to the Convincement of many as yet Strangers to this Holy Dispensation and also to the Edification of the Church of God in General Who for his manifold and repeated Mercies and Blessings to his People in this day of his great Love is worthy ever to have the Glory Honour Thanksgiving and Renown and be it rendred and ascribed with Fear and Reverence through him in whom he is well pleased his Beloved Son and Lamb our Light and Life that sits with him upon the Throne World without End Amen Says One that God has long since Mercifully favoured with his Fatherly Visitation and who was not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision and Call to whom the Way of Truth is more Lovely and Precious than ever and that knowing the Beauty and Benefit of it above all Worldly Treasure has chosen it for his Chiefest Joy and therefore recommends it to thy Love and Choice because he is with great Sincerity and Affection thy Soul's Friend William Penn. The END