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
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
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
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
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
the nearest and most exercising Nature and that by Night and by Day by Sea and by Land in this and in Foreign Countries And I can say I never saw him out of his Place or not a Match for every Service or Occasion For in all things he acquitted himself like a Man yea a strong Man a New and Heavenly-minded Man A Divine and a Naturalist and all of God Almighty's making I have been surprised at his Questions and Answers in Natural things That whilst he was Ignorant of useless and Sophistical Science he had in him the Grounds of useful and commendable Knowledge and cherisht it every where Civil beyond all Forms of Breeding in his Behaviour Very Temperate Eating Little and Sleeping Less though a Bulky Person Thus he Lived and Sojourned among us And as he lived so he died feeling the same Eternal Power that had raised and preserved him in his last Moments So full of Assurance was he that he Triumpht over Death and so even in his Spirit to the last as if Death were hardly worth Notice or a mention Recommending to some of us with him the Dispatch and Dispersion of an Epistle just before given forth by him to the Churches of Christ throughout the World and his own Books But above all Friends and of all Friends those in Ireland and America twice over Saying Mind poor Friends in Ireland and America And to some that came in and enquired how he found himself he answered Never heed the Lord's Power is over all Weakness and Death the Seed reigns Blessed be the Lord Which was about Four or Five Hours before his Departure out of this World He was at the great Meeting near Lombard-street on the First Day of the Week and it was the Third following about Ten at Night When he left us being at the House of H. Goldney in the same Court. In a good Old Age he went after having lived to see his Childrens Children to many Generations in the Truth He had the Comfort of a short Illness and the Blessing of a clear Sense to the last And we may truly say with a Man of God of Old that being Dead he yet Speaketh And though now absent in Body he is Present in Spirit Neither Time nor Place being able to interrupt the Communion of Saints or dissolve the Fellowships of the Spirits of the Just His Works praise him because they are to the praise of him that worked by him for which his Memorial is and shall be blessed I have done as to this part of my Preface when I have left this short Epitaph to his Name Many Sons have done virtuously in this Day but Dear George thou Excellest them All. CHAP. VI. Containing Five several Exhortations First General reminding this People of their Primitive Inâ—egrity 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 Presace 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 AND now Friends you that profess to walk in the way that this Blessed Man was sent of God to turn us into suffer I beseech you the word of Exhortation as well Fathers as Children and Elders as Young Men. The Glory of this Day and Foundation of the Hope that has not made us ashamed since we were a People you know is that Blessed Principle of Light and Life of Christ which we profess and Direct all people to as the great and Divine Instrument and Agent of Man's Conversion to God It was by this that we were first Touched and effectually enlightned as to our Inward State which put us upon the Consideration of our Latter End causing us to set the Lord before our Eyes and to Number our Days that we might apply our Hearts to Wisdom In that Day we judged not after the Sight of the Eye or after the Hearing of the Ear but according to the Light and Sense this Blessed Principle gave us so we judged and acted in reference to Things and Persons our selves and others yea towards God our Maker For being quickned by it in our Inward Man we could easily discern the difference of things and feel what was Right and what was Wrong and what was Fit and what not both in reference to Religious and Civil Concerns That being the ground of the Fellowship of all Saints it was in That our Fellowship stood In this we desired to have a Sense one of another acted towards one another and all Men in Love Faithfulness and Fear In the feeling of the Stirrings and Motions of this Principle in our Hearts we drew near to the Lord and waited to be prepared by it that we might feel Drawings and Movings before we approached the Lord in Prayer or open'd our Mouths in Ministry And in our Beginning and Ending with This stood our Comfort Service and Edification And as we ran faster or fell short we made Burthens for our selves to bear our Services finding in our selves a Rebuke instead of an Acceptance and in lieu of Well done who has required this at your hands In that day we were an Exercised People our very Countenances and Deportment declared it Care for others was then much upon us as well as for our selves especially of the Young Convinced Often had we the Burthen of the Word of the Lord to our Neighbours Relations and Acquaintance and sometimes Strangers also We were in Travail likewise for one anothers Preservation Not seeking but shuning Occasions of any Coldness or Misunderstanding treating one another as those that believed and felt God present Which kept our Conversation Innocent Serious and Weighty guarding our selves against the Cares and Friendships of the World We held the Truth in the Spirit of it and not in our own Spirits or after our own Wills and Affections They were bowed and brought into Subjection in so much that it was visible to them that knew us we did not think our selves at our own Dispose to go where we List or say or do what we List or when we List Our Liberty stood in the Liberty of the Spirit of Truth and no Pleasure no Profit no Fear no Favour could draw us from this retired strict and watchful Frame We were so far from seeking occasions of Company that we avoided them what we could pursuing our own Business with Moderation instead of medling with other Peoples Unnecessarily Our Words were Few and Savoury our Looks Composed and Weighty and our whole Deportment very Observable True it is that this Retired and strict sort of Life from the Liberty of the Conversation of the World exposed us to the Censures of many as Humourists Conceited and Self-righteous Persons c. But it was our Preservation from many Snares
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