to the Slaughter and as a People killed all the Day long It were fitter for a Volumn than a Preface but so much as to repeat the Contents of their cruel Sufferings from Professors as well as from Prophaine 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 Tears bearing Testimony to the Precious Seed 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 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 Quickning 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 Ministrys 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 briefly toucht upon 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 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 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 Sense and Godly Sorrow for it 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 Amentment 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 which is justification in the compleat Sense of that Word comprehending both justification from the Guilt of the Sins that are past as if they had never been commited through the Love and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus and the Creatures being made inwardly just through the Cleansing and Sanctifying Power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the Soul which is commonly called Sanctification From hence sprang a Second Doctrine they were led to declare as the Mark of the Price of the High Calling of 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 given 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 Third To an acknowledgment of Eternal Rewards and Punishment 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 then the worst of Men yea as the Refuge 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 that 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 Doctrines and out of them 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 Patience to overcome all Injustice and Oppression and Preaching this Doctrine as Christian for others to follow III. The Sufficiency of Truth speaking according to Christ's own form of 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 both 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 But offering at the same time to be punnisht to the full for false Speaking as others for Perjury if ever
their Conversation and Clearness from all others and whether they have discharged their Duty to their Parents or Guardians and make report thereof the next Monthly Meeting where the same Parties are desired to give their Attendance In case it appears they proceeded Orderly the Meeting passes their Proposal and so Records it in their Meeting Book and in Case the Woman be a Widow and hath Children due care is there taken that Provision also be made by her for the Orphans before the said Marriage advising the Parties concerned to appoint a convenient Time and place and to give fitting Notice to their Relations and such Friends and Neighbours as they desire should be the Witnesses of their Marriage Where they take one another by the Hand and by Name promising Reciprocally after the Manner before expressed Of all which Proceedings a Narative in a way of Certificate is made to which the said Parties first set their Hands thereby making it their Act and Deed and then divers of the Relations Spectators and Auditors set their Names as Witnesses of what they Said and Signed Which Certificate is afterward Registred in the Record belonging to the Meeting where the Marriage is Solemnized Which Regular Method has been as it deserves adjudged in Courts of Law a good Marriage where it has been Disputed and Contested for want of the accustomed Formality of Priest and Ring c. which Ceremonies they have Refused not out of Humour but Conscience reasonably grounded in as much as no Scripture Example tells us that the Priest had any other part of Old Time than that of a Witness among the rest before whom the Jews used to take one another And therefore this People look upon it as an Imposion to advance the Power and Profits of the Clergy And for the use of the Ring it is enough to say that it was an Heathen and vain Custom and never in Practice among the People of God Jews or Primitive Christans The words of the Usual form as With my Body I thee Worship c. are hardly defensible In short they are more Careful Exact and Regular than any Form now used and it is Free of the inconveniencies other Methods are attended with Their Care and Checks being so many and such as no Clandestine Marriages can be perform'd among them VIII It may not be unfit to say something here of their Births and Burials which make up so much of the Pomp and Solemnity of too many called Christians For Births the Parents Name their own Children which is usually some days after they are Born in the presence of the Midwife if she can be there and those that were at the Birth c. who afterward sign a Certificate for that purpose prepared of the Birth and Name of the Child or Children which is Recorded in a proper Book in the Monthly Meeting to which the Parents belong avoiding the accustomed Cerimonies and Feastivals IX Their Burials are performed with the same Simplicity If the Corps of the Deceased be near any publick Meeting Place it is usually carried thither for the more convenient Reception of those that Accompany it to the Ground they Bury in and it so falls out sometimes that while the Meeting is gathering for the Burial some or other have a Word of Exhortation for the sake of the People there met together After which the Body is borne away by the Young Men or those that are of their Neighbourhood or that were most of the Intimacy of the Deceased Party The Corps being in a plain Coffin without any Covering or Furniture upon it At the Ground they pause some time before they put the Body into its Grave that if any one there should have any thing upon them to exhort the People they may not be dissappointed and that the Relations may the more Retiredly and Solemnly take their last leave of the Corps of their departed Kindred and the Spectators have a Sense of Mortality by the occasion then given them to reflect upon their own Latter End Otherways they have no set Rites or Ceremonies on those Occasions neither do the Kindred of the Deceased ever wear Mourning they looking upon it as a Wordly Ceremony and piece of Pomp and that what Mourning is fit for a Christian to have at the Departure of a beloved Relation or Friend should be worn in the Mind which is only sensible of the Loss and the Love they had to them and Remembrance of them to be outwardly exprest by a respect to their Advice and care of those they have left behind them and their Love of that they Loved Which Conduct of theirs though unmodish or unfashionable leaves nothing of the Substance of things neglected or undone and as they aim at no more so that simplicity of Life is what they observe with great Satisfaction though it sometimes happens not to be without the Mockeries of the vain World they live in These things gave them a Rough and Disagreeable Appearance with the Generality who thought them Turners of the World upside down as indeed in some Sense they were but in no other than that wherein Paul was so charged viz. To bring things back into their Primitive and right Order again For these and such like Practices of theirs were not the Result of Humour as some have fancied but a Fruit of Inward Sense which God through his Fear had begotten in them They did not consider how to contradict the World or distinguish themselves being none of their Business as it was not their Interest no it was not the Result of Consultation or a framed design to declare or recommend Schism or Novelty But God having given them a sight of themselves they saw the whole World in the same Glass of Truth and sensibly discerned the Affections and Passions of Men and the Rise and Tendency of Things What gratified the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life which are not of the Father but of the World and from thence Sprang in that Night of Darkness and Apostacy which hath been over People through their Degeneration from the Light and Spirit of God these and many other vain Customs which are seen by the Heavenly day of Christ which dawns in the Soul to be either wrong in their Original or by Time and Abuse Hurtful in their Practice And though these things seemed Trivial to some and rendered this People Stingy and conceited in such Persons Opinions there was and is more in them than they were aware of It was not very easie to our Primitive Friends to make themselves Sights and Spectacles and the Scorn and Derision of the World which they easily foresaw must be the Consequence of so Unfashionable a Conversation in it But herein was the Wisdom of God seen in the Foolishness of these things First That they discovered the Satisfaction and Concern that People had in and for the Fashions of this World notwithstanding their Pretences to another
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 Ministrys 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 so 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 tend 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 and for our selves 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 Prophency 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 loose 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 Division 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 to hew out unto themselves Cisterns that will hold no living Waters and by degrees 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 awaken'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 Treasury 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 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
the Saints in Light of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken an Inheritance incorruptible in Eternal Habitations And now as for you that are the Children of God's People a Great Concern is upon my Spirit for your good and often are my Knees Bowed to the God of your Fathers for you that you may come to be partakers of the same Divine Life and Power that has been the Glory of this Day that a Generation you may be to God an Holy Nation and a Peculiar People Zealous of Good Works when all our Heads are laid in the Dust Oh you Young Men and Women let it not suffice you that you are the Children of the People of the Lord you must also be born again if you will inherit the Kingdom of God Your Fathers are but such after the Flesh and could but beget you into the likeness of the first Adam but you must be begotten into the likeness of the second Adam by a Spiritual Generation And therefore look carefully about you Oh ye Children of the Children of God Consider your Standing and see what you are in Relation to this Divine Kindred Family and Birth Have you obeyed the Light and received and walked in the Spirit that is the incorruptible Seed of the Word and Kingdom of God of which you must be born again God is no respecter of Persons The Father cannot save or answer for the Child the Child for the Father but in the Sin thou Sinnest thou shalt die and in the Righteousness thou doest through Christ Jesus thou shalt live for it is the Willing and Obedient that shall eat the Good of the Land Be not deceived God is not mocked such as all Nations and People Sow such they shall reap at the hand of the just God And then your many and great Priviledges above the Children of other People will add weight in the scale against you if you choose not the way of the Lord. For you have had Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept and not only good Doctrine but good Example and which is more you have been turned to and acquainted with a Principle in your selves which others have been ignorant of and you know you may be as Good as you please without the Fear of Frowns and Blows or being turned out of doors and forsaken of Father and Mother for God's Sake and his Holy Religion as has been the Case of some of your Fathers in the day they first entred into this Holy Path And if you after hearing and seeing the Wonders that God has wrought in the deliverance and perservation of them through a Sea of Troubles and the manifold Temporal as well as spiritual Blessings that he has filled them with in the sight of their Enemies you should neglect and turn your backs upon so great and so near a Salvation you would not only be most ungreatful Children to God and them but must expect that God will call the Children of those that knew him not to take the Crown out of your Hands and that your lot will be a dreadful Judgment at the hand of the Lord. But Oh that it may never be so with any of you The Lord forbid saith my Soul Wherefore Oh ye Young Men and Women look to the Rock of your Fathers chuse the God of your Fathers There is no other God but him no other Light but his no other Grace but his nor Spirit but his to Convince you Quicken and Comfort you to Lead Guide and Preserve you to God's Everlasting Kingdom So will you be Possessors as well as Professors of the Truth embracing it not only by Education but Judgment and Conviction from a Sense begotten in your Souls through the operation of the Eternal Spirit and Power of God in your hearts by which you may come to be the Seed of Abraham through Faith and the circumcision not made with Hands and so heirs of the promise made to the Fathers of an Incorruptible Crown That as I said before a Generation you may be to God holding up the Profession of the blessed Truth in the Life and Power of it For Formality in Religion is Nauseous to God and good Men and the more so where any Form or Appearance has been new and peculiar and begun and practised upon a Principle with an Uncommon Zeal and Strictness Therefore I say for you to fall flat and formal and continue the profession without that Salt and Savour by which it is come to obtain a good Report among Men is not to answer God's Love nor your Parents Care nor the mind of Truth in your selves nor in those that are without who tho' they will not obey the Truth have Sight and Sense enough to see if they do that make a Profession of it For where the Divine Virtue of it is not felt in the Soul and waited for and lived in imperfections will quickly break out and shew themselves and detect the Unfaithfulness of such Persons and that their insides are not seasoned with the Nature of that holy Principle which they profess Wherefore Dear Children let met intreat you to shut your Eyes at the Temptations and Allurements of this low and perishing World and not suffer your affections to be captivated by those Lusts and Vanities that your Fathers for Truths Sake long since turned their Backs upon But as you believe it to be the Truth receive it into your Hearts that you may become the Children of God So that it may never be said of you as the Evangelist Writes of the Jews of his time That Christ the true Light came to his own but his own received him not but to as many as received him to them he gave Power to become the Children of God which were born not of 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 So that he by his Light in you may be 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 throughly sensible of the many and great Obligations you lie under to the Lord for his Love and 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
in that any disappointment about them came so very near them that the greatest Honesty Virtue Wisdom and Ability were unwelcom without them Secondly It seasonably and profitably divided Conversation for making their Society uneasie to their Relations and Acquaintance it gave them the opportunity of more Retirement and Solitude wherein they met with better Company even the Lord God their Redeemer and grew strong in his Love Power and Wisdom and were thereby better qualified for his Service and the success abundantly show'd it Blessed be the Name of the Lord. And though they were not Great and Learned in the Esteem of this World for then they had not wanted Followers upon their own Credit and Authority yet they were generally of the most Sober of the several Perswasions they were in and of the most Repute for Religion and many of them of good Capacity Substance and Account among Men. And also some among them neither wanted for Parts Learning nor Estate though then as of Old not many Wife nor 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 Expression 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 God the Father is shed abroad in the Hearts of them that truly Believe Oh! that People did but know this to cleanse them to circumcise them to quicken them and to make them New Creatures indeed Re-created 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 loose 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 Pollations 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 awakned least Jerusalem's Judgments do swiftly overtake thee because of Jerusalems 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 resisteth 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 dispite 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 naught all their Counsel and would have none of their Reproof as thou shouldest have done Their appearance was too Straight and their qualifications were to Mean for thee to receive them who like the Jews of Old that cryed 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 by endeavouring to terrifie them out of their Holy way or distroying 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 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 Scriptures Testify Remember O Nation of great Profession How the Lord has waited upon thee since the Days of Reformation and the many Mercies and Judgments with 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 mid'st of thee and no 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 For 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 the great Alteration it made and their stricter Course of Life and more Godly Conversation that immediately followed upon it II. They went not forth or Preached in their own Time or Will but in the Will of God and Spoke not their own studdied Matter but as they were opened and moved of his Spirit with which they were well acquainted in their own Conversion which cannot be exprest to Carnal Men so as to give them any intelligible account for to such it is as Christ said like the blowing of the Wind which no Man knows whence it cometh or whether it goeth Yet this Proof and Seal went along with their Ministry that many were turned from their Life-less Professions and the Evil of their Ways to the knowledge of God and an Holy Life as thousands can witness And as they Freely received what they had to say from the Lord so they Freely administred it to others III. The Bent and Stress of their Ministry was Conversion to God Regeneration and Holiness not Schemes of Doctrines and Verbal Creeds or new Forms of Worship but a leaving off in Religion the Superfluous and reducing the Ceremonious and Formal part and pressing earnestly the Substantial the Necessary and Proffitable part as all upon a serious Reflection must and do accknowledge IV. They directed People to a Principle by which all that they asserted Preached and Exhorted others to might be wrought in them and known through Experience to them to be true which is a high and distinguishing Mark of the Truth of their Ministry both that they knew what they said and were not afraid of coming to the Test For as they were bold from Certainty so they required Conformity upon no Humane Authority but upon Conviction and the Conviction of this Principle which they asserted was in them that they Preached unto and unto that directed them that they might examine and prove the Reaality of those things which they had affirmed of it and its Manifestation and Work in Man And this is more than the many Ministries in the World pretend to They declare of Religion say many things true in words of God Christ and the Spirit of Holiness and Heaven that all Men should Repent and mend their Lives or they will go to Hell c. but which of them all pretend to speak of their own Knowledge and Experience Or ever directed Men to a Divine Principle or Agent placed of God in Man to help him and how to know it and wait to feel its Power to work that good and acceptable Will of God in them Some of them indeed have Spoke of the Spirit and the Operations of it to Sanctification and Performance of Worship to God but where and how to find it and wait in it to perform was yet as a Mistery reserved for this further degree of Reformation So that this People did not only in words more than equally press Repentance Conversion and Holiness but did it knowingly and experimentally and directed those to whom they preach'd to a sufficient Principle and told them where it is and by what Tokens they might know it and which way they might experience the Power and Efficacy of it to their Soul's Happiness Which is more then Theory and Speculations upon which most other Ministries depend for here is certainly a bottom upon which Man may boldly appear before God in the great Day of Account V. They reached to the Inward State and Condition of People which is an Evidence of the Virtue of their Principle and of their Ministring from it and not their own Imaginations Glosses or Comments upon Scripture For nothing reaches the Heart but what is from the Heart or pierces the Conscience but what comes from a living Conscience Insomuch as it hath often happened where People have under Secrecy revealed their State or Condition to some choice Friends for Advice or Ease they have been so particularly directed in the Ministry of this People that they have challenged their Friends with discovering their Secrets and telling the Preachers their Cases Yea the very Thoughts and Purposes of the hearts of many have been so plainly detected that they have like Nathaniel cryed out of this inward appearance of Christ Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel And those that have embraced this Divine Principle have found this Mark of its Truth and Divinity that the Woman of Samaria did of Christ when in the Flesh to be the Messiah viz. It had told them all that ever they did showed them their insides the most inward secrets of their Hearts and laid Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet of which Thousands can at this day give in their Witness So that nothing has been affirmed by this People of the Power and Virtue of this Heavenly Principle that such as have turned to it have not found true and more and that one half had not been told to them of what they have seen of the Power Purity Wisdom Mercy and Goodness of God herein VI. The Accomplishments with which this Principle fitted even some of the meanest of this People for their Work and Service Furnishing some of them with an Extraordinary Understanding in Divine Things and an admirable Fluency and Taking way of expression which gave occasion to some to wonder saying of them as of their Master is not this such a Mechanick's Son how came he by this Learning As from thence others took occasion to suspect and insinuate they were Jesuites in Disguise who have had the Reputation of learned Men for an Age past though there was not the least ground of Truth for any such Reflection VII That they rise Low and Dispised and Hated as the Primitive Christians did and not by the help of Worldly Wisdom or Power as former Reformations in part did But in all things it may be said this People were brought forth in the Cross in a Contradiction to the Ways Worship Fashion and Customs of this World yea against Wind and Tide that so no Flesh might Glory before God They could have no design to themselves in this Work thus to expose themselves to Scorn and Abuse to spend and be spent Leaving Wife and Children House and Land and all that can be accounted dear to Men with their lives in their Hands being daily
singular Indulgence of Judge Bradshaw and Judge Fell who were wont to go that Circuit in the Infancy of things the Priests were never able to gain the point they laboured for which was to have proceeded to Blood and if possible Herod like by a Cruel exercise of the Civil Power to have cut them off and rooted them out of the Country Especially Judge Fell who was not only a Check to their Rage in the Course of Legal Proceedings but otherwise upon occasion and finally countenanced this People for his Wife receiving the Truth with the First it had that Influence upon his Spirit being a Just and Wise Man and seeing in his own Wife and Family a full Confutation to all the popular Clamours against the Way of Truth that he covered them what he could and freely opened his Doors and gave up his House to his Wife and her Friends not valuing the Reproach of Ignorant or Evil Minded People which I here mention to His and her Honour and which will be I believe an Honour and a Blessing to such of their Name and Family as shall be found in that Tenderness Humility Love and Zeal for the Truth and People of the Lord. That House was for some Years at first till the Truth had opened its way in the Southern parts of this Island an Eminent Receptacle of this People Others of good Note and Substance in those Northern Countrys had also opened their Houses with their Hearts to the many Publishers that in a short time the Lord had raised to declare his Salvation to the People and where Meetings of the Lord's Messengers were frequently held to communicate their Services and Exercises and Comfort and Edify one another in their Blessed Ministry But least this may be thought a Digression having touched upon this before I return to this Excellent Man And for his Personal Qualities both Natural Moral and Divine as they appeared in his Converse with Brethren and in the Church of God take as follows I. He was a Man that God endued with a Clear and Wonderful Depth a discerner of others Spirits and very much a Master of his own And though the side of his Understanding which lay next to the World and especially the Expression of it might sound Uncouth and Unfashionable to Nice Ears his matter was nevertheless very profound and would not only bear to be often considered but the more it was so the more Weighty and Instructing it appeared And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his Sentences would fall from him about Divine Things it is well known they were often as Texts to many fairer Declarations And indeed it showed beyond all Contradiction that God sent him that no Arts or Parts had any share in his matter or manner of his Ministry and that so many Great Excellent and Necessary Truths as he came forth to Preach to Mankind had therefore nothing of Man's Wit or Wisdom to recommend them So that as to Man he was an Original being no Man's Copy And his Ministry and Writings show they are from one that was not Taught of Man nor had Learned what he said by Study Nor were they Notional or Speculative but sensible and Practical Truths tending to Conversion and Regeneration and the setting up the Kingdom of God in the Hearts of Men and the way of it was his Work So that I have many times been overcome in my self and been made to say with my Lord and Master upon the like Occasion I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent of this World and revealed them to Babes For many times hath my Soul bowed in an Humble Thankfulness to the Lord that he did not choose any of the Wise and Learned of this World to be the first Messenger in our Age of his blessed Truth to Men but that he took one that was not of High Degree or Elegant Speech or learned after the way of this World that his Message and Work he sent him to do might come with less Suspicion or Jealousie of Humane Wisdom and Interest and with more Force and Clearness upon the Consciences of those that sincerely Sought the way of Truth in the Love of it I say beholding with the Eye of my mind which the God of Heaven had opened in me the Marks of God's Finger and Hand visibly in this Testimony from the Clearness of the Principle the Power and Efficacy of it in the Exemplary Sobriety Plainness Zeal Steadiness Humility Gravity Punctuality Charity and Circumspect care in the Government of Church Affairs which shined in his and their Life and Testimony that God employed in this Work it greatly confirmed me that it was of God and engaged my Soul in a Deep Love Fear Reverence and Thankfulness for his Love and Mercy therein to Mankind in which Mind I remain and shall I hope to the end of my Daies II. In his Testimony or Ministry he much laboured to open Truth to the Peoples Understandings and to bottom them upon the Principle and Principal Christ Jesus the Light of the World that by bringing them to something that was of God in themselves they might the better know and judge of him and themselves He had an Extraordinary Gift in opening the Scriptures He would go to the Marrow of things and show the Mind Harmony and Fullfilling of them with much Plainness and to great Comfort and Edification The Mistery of the first and second Adam of the Fall and Restoration of the Law and Gospel of Shadows and Substance of the Servant and Sons State and the fullfiling of the Scriptures in Christ and by Christ the True Light in all that are his through the Obedience of Faith were much of the Substance and Drift of his Testimonies In all which he was witnessed to be of God being sensibly felt to speak that which he had received of Christ and was his own Experience in that which never Ers nor Fails But above all he excelled in Prayer The Inwardness and Weight of his Spirit the Reverence and Solemnity of his Address and Behaviour and the Fewness and Fulness of his Words have often struck even Strangers with Admiration as they used to reach others with Consolation The most Awfull Living Reverent Frame I ever Felt or Beheld I must say was his in Prayer And truly it was a Testimony he knew and lived neerer to the Lord than other Men for they that know him most will see most reason to approach him with Reverence and Fear 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
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 Bates 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 Laps You will then see him Distinctly whom you have Pierced him 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 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 that were sent of God in this Excellent Work and Service All which will be more particularly expressed in the Ensuing Annals of the 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 it to the Convincing 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 bloved 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 Souls Friend William Penn. London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle at the Crooked Billet in Holly-well-lane Shoreditch and near the Meeting-House in White-hart-court in Grace-church-street 1694.