Enemy is at work to scatter the Minds of Friends by that Loose Plea What-hast thou to do with me leave me to my Freedom and to the Grace of God in my self and the like but this Proposition and Expression as now understood and alledged is a Deviation from and a Perversion of the Antient Principle of Truth for this is the plain Consequence of this Plea if any one especially if they are but lately convinced shall say I see no Evil in paying Tythes to Hireling Priests in that they are not claimed by Divine Right but by the Civil Laws of the Land I see no Evil in Marrying by the Priest for he is but a Witness Furthermore I see no Evil in declining a publick Testimony in Suffering times or hiding in times of Persecution for I have Christ ' s and Paul ' s Examples I see no Evil in Worshipping and Respecting the Persons of Men for whatever others do I intend a sincere Notice that I take of those I know and have a good Esteem for Lastly I see no Evil in keeping my Shop shut upon the Worlds Holy-days and Mass-days as they call them though they are rather Lewdly and Superstitiously than Religiously kept for I would not willingly give any Offence to my Neighbours And since your Testimony is against Imposition and for leaving every one to the Measure of the Grace which God hath given him not only No man hath Power to reprove or judge me but I may be as good a Friend as any of you according to my Measure And now here is Measure set up against Measure which is Confusion it self Babel indeed This is that very Rock both Professors and Prophane would long since have run us upon namely That a way is hereby opened to all the Worlds Libertines to plead the Light within for their Excesses Which indeed grieves the Spirit of God was severely judged by our Friends in the beginning and is still reproved by them that keep their Habitation though some are become as wandering Stars through their own Pride and the Prevalency of the hour of Temptation that hath overtaken them whereas had they kept in the Channel of Love and Life in the Orbe and Order of the Celestial Power they had shined as fixed Stars in the Firmament of God forever And from the deep Sense that I have of the working of the Enemy of Zions Peace to rend and divide the Heritage of God who under the pretence of crying down Man Forms and Prescriptions is crying down the Heavenly Man Christ Jesus his blessed Order and Government which he hath brought forth by his own Revelation and Power through his faithful Witnesses This I further testifie First That the Enemy by these fair Pretences strikes at the Godly Care and Travail that dwells upon the Spirits of many faithful Brethren that all things might be preserved Sweet Comely Virtuous and of good Report in the Church of God Secondly That there never was greater necessity of this Godly Care than at this day since we were a People wherein the Cross by too many is not so closely kept to as in dayes past and in which there is not only a great Convincement but a Young Generation descended of Friends who though they retain the Form their Education hath led them into yet many of them adorn not the Gospel with that sensible weighty and heavenly Conversation as becomes the Children of the Undefiled Religion and the Seed of that precious Faith which works by the Love that Overcomes the World And the Lord God of Heaven and Earth that hath sent his Son Christ Jesus a Light into our Hearts and Consciences to whose Search and Judgment all ought to and must bring their Deeds render up their Account beareth holy Record that for this end hath he moved upon the Spirits of his Servants and for this good end only have his Servants given forth recommended and put in Practice those things that are now in Godly Use among his People whether in this or other Nations relating to Men and Womens Meetings and their divers and weighty Services And further in the fear of the Almighty God I shall add That heavenly Peace and Prosperity dwell with those who are found in a holy and zealous Practice of them wherefore I warn all that they take heed of a slight and obstinate Mind and that they have a care how they give way to the Outcry of some faisly entituled Liberty of Conscience against Imposition c. for the end thereof is to lead back again and give ease to the Carnal Mind which at last will bring Death again upon the Soul to God and the living Society of his Children And indeed it is a great shame that any who have ever known the Truth of God in the inward Parts and the sweet Society of Brethren especially those who were early in the Work of this blessed Day and heavenly Dispensation should so far depart from the Fear and Awe of the Lord as to use such Unsavoury as well as Untrue Expressions this is very far from that Meek Spirit of Jesus and the first Love which they pretend to have so singularly kept in which beareth all things suffereth all things and endureth all things and teacheth to keep the Word of Patience in the Hour of Tribulation Nay but this is judging of Spiritual things with a Carnal and Prejudiced Mind stumbling at the Matter for the sake of the Persons through whom it comes not eying nor weighing the Spirit the thing arises from but the Person by whom it is spoken which darkens the Eye of the Understanding and blinds by Prejudice the Mind that should discern taste and judge from whence many Mischiefs have sprung to the Courch of Christ in divers Ages Nor is it the least Evil this Spirit of Strife is guilty of even at this day that it useth the words Liberty of Conscience and Imposition against the Brethren in the same manner as our suffering Friends have been alwayes accustomed to intend them against the persecuting Priests and Powers of the Earth as if it were the same thing to admonish and reprove Conceited High-minded Loose or Contentious Persons in the Church as to compel Conformity in matters of Faith and Worship by Worldly Violence upon the Persons and Estates of Conscientious Dissenters O such Iniquity God will not leave unreproved This Dear Friends I send amongst you as a token of my true Love in the Revelation of the free Spirit of our God and Father who have ever been a Friend to true Liberty as in the State according to Law so in the Church according to Scripture and as it standeth in the Truth of Jesus that makes them who love it Free indeed Let us all keep low and remember the Rock from whence we were hewn and dwell in a tender and reverent Sense of the daily Mercies and Providences of the Lord looking well to our own Growth and Prosperity in his heavenly Way and Work then shall the Desire of our Hearts be more and more after him and the remembrance of his Name and with our Love to God will our Love encrease one towards another helping and aiding one another And I no ways doubt but God that has brought us out of the Land of Aegypt and out of the House of Bondage and delivered us from the Mouth of the Lyon and the Paw of the Bare will preserve his People from this Uncircumcised Spirit that is not in Covenant with God nor under the Yoke of his Holy Royal Law of True Spiritual Liberty for they that keep and walk in the Light of Jesus are fenced from the Power of this Crooked Serpent that seeks whom he may betray nor are any stung by him but the Unwatchful the Lisseners and Hearkeners after his jealous Whispers and detracting Insinnations They are such as make their Dwelling in the Earth where his Region is and where he creeps and twists who is Earthly Sensual and Devilish and so is all the Wisdom that comes from him My dear Friends Keep I pray you in the Simplicity of the Truth and Cross of Jesus and wait for your daily Bread and to be daily renewed from the Lord look to your Increase about Eternal Riches and be sure to lay up Treasure in Heaven that fadeth not away that your Faith and Hope may have Eternal Foundations which the cross Occurrences of Time and fears of Mortality cannot move and beware of that Loose and Irreverent Spirit which has not those in high esteem among you that are faithful in the Lords Work and that labour in his blessed Word and Doctrine I plainly see a coldness and a shortness on this hand and be the pretence as it will it is not pleasing to the Lord They that love Christ his Servants are dear to them and they bear a tender Regard to their Tryals Travails Spendings and Sufferings who seek not yours but you that you may all be presented Blameless at the Coming of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that so the Gospel Ministry and Testimony may be held up with holy fervent Love and Godly Esteem to the keeping under every raw and exalted Mind and whatever may slight and turn against it lest God that has Richly visited us with his Fatherly Visitations and Day springing from on High should remove his Blessing from amongst us and place his Candlestick amidst another People Be wise therefore O Friends for behold he is at the Door that must have an Account of your Stewardship Be watchful keep to your first Love and Works that so you may endure to the End and be saved And having Overcome you may have right to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God The God of Peace who hath brought our dear Lord Jesus from the dead and Vs with him more abundantly enrich you all with Wisdom and Knowledge in the Revelation of himself through Faith in his Son by whom in these last dayes he hath spoken to us who is the blessed and only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath Immortality to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen Your Friend and Brother in the Tribulation and Salvation of the enduring Kingdom of our God William Penn. Warninghurst in Sussex the 20th of the 9th Moneth 1681.
A Brief Examination and State OF Liberty Spiritual BOTH With Respect to Persons in their Private Capacity and in their Church Society and Communion Written for the Establishment of the Faithful Information of the Simple-Hearted and Reproof of the Arrogant and High Minded by a Lover of True Liberty as it is in Jesus William Penn. To go amongst the People of the Lord called Quakers If the Truth make ye Free then are ye Free indeed If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin 1 John 8. London Printed by Andrew Sowle and sold at his Shop in Devonshire Buildings without Bishops-Gate 1681. To the People of the Lord called QUAKERS Dear Friends and Brethren IT hath of long time rested with some pressure upon my Spirit for Zion's sake and the Peace of Jerusalem to write something of the Nature of True Spiritual Liberty Liberty one of the most Glorious Words and Things in the World but little understood and frequently abused by many I beseech Almighty God to preserve you his People in the right Knowledge Use of that Liberty which Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation hath purchased for us and is redeeming us into who hath led Captivity captive and is giving Gifts to them that truly believe in his Name Christ's Liberty is obtain'd through Christ's Cross they that would be his Free-men must be his Bonds-men and wear his blessed Yoke His Liberty is from Sin not to Sin to do his Will and not our own no not to speak an Idle Word 'T is not I that live saith the Apostle but Christ that liveth in me who had set him Free from the Power of Sin and brought Immortality to Light in him whence he learned thus to triumph O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory This is the Personal Freedom that comes by Jesus Christ to as many as receive him in the Way and for the End for which God hath given him to wit to be a Saviour and a Leader to save us from our Corruptions and guide us in the Narrow Way of his holy Cross and through the strait Gate of Self-denyal which lead to Eternal Life And as many as have entered at this Door are come to have Vnity with God and one with another To love him above all and their Neighbours as themselves yea to prefer each other before themselves Such will not violate the great Law of their Lord and Master Love one another the New and yet the Old Commandment These dwell in Love and so they dwell in God for God is Love 'T was the beloved Disciples Testimony and it comes up to what another man of God hath said namely The Church that dwells in God if she dwells in God then in Love consequently her Members are in Vnion of one Mind in Church Matters since she has but one Head to Rule her Peruse this brief Discourse in this Love and it may be to Edification My aim is to assert the Truth detect Error and point in true Brotherly Kindness at those Shoals and Sands some by Mistake or Over-boldness have and may run upon O Friends I greatly desire that the Spirit of Love Wisdom and a sound Vnderstanding of Meekness Judgment and Mercy may ever rest upon you that blamelesly you may be kept an holy Family at Unity with it self to the Lord God your Redeemer that he over all may in you through you and by you be Exalted Honoured and Praised who is worthy and blessed forever A Brief Examination and State OF Liberty Spiritual c. Question VVHat is Spiritual Liberty Answer It is twofold there is a true and a false Liberty as a true and false Spirit the right discerning of which concerns every ones Eternal Well-beeing Qu. What is true Spiritual Liberty Answ Deliverance from Sin by the Perfect Law in the Heart The Perfect Law of Liberty James 2. otherwise called The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that makes Free from the Law of Sin and Death else-where stiled The Law of Truth writ in the Heart which makes Free indeed as saith Christ If the Truth make you Free then are you Free indeed So that the Liberty of Gods People stands in the Truth and their Communion in it and in the Perfect Spiritual Law of Christ Jesus which delivers and preserves them from every Evil Thing that doth or would embondage In this blessed Liberty it is not the Will nor Wisdom of man neither the vain Affections and Lusts that rule or give Law to the Soul for the Minds of all such as are made Free by the Truth are by the Truth conducted in doing and suffering through their Earthly Pilgrimage Qu. What is False Liberty Answ A Departing from this blessed Spirit of Truth and a Rebelling against this Perfect Law of Liberty in the Heart and being at Liberty to do our own Wills upon which cometh Reproof and Judgment Qu. But are there not some things wherein we ought to be left to our own freedom Answ We are not our own for we are bought with a Price and in all things ought we to glorifie God with our Bodies Souls and Spirits which are the Lords Qu. But must we have a Motion or Command from the Spirit of Truth for all things that we do Answ That may be according to the Truth which may not be by the immediate Motion or Command of the Truth for that is according to the Truth that is not against the Mind of the Truth either particularly or generally exprest The Truth commands me to do all to the Praise and Glory of God but not that I should wait for a Motion to do every particular thing For Example The variety of Actions in Trading Commerce and Husbandry the variety of Flesh Fish and Fowl for Food with more of the same Nature in all which there is a Choice and Liberty but still according to the Truth and within the holy Bounds and Limits of it Qu. Then it seems there are some things left to our Freedom Answ Yes but it must still be according to the Mind of Gods Truth There are things enjoyned such as relate to our Duty to God to our Superiours to the Houshold of Faith and to all Men and Creatures these are Indispensible There are also things that may be done or left undone which may be called Indifferent as what sort of Meat I will eat to day whether I will eat Flesh Fish or Herbs or what Hours I will eat my Meals at with many such outward things of Life and Converse yet even in these cases I ought to act according to the Truth in the Temperance and Wisdom of it Qu. But doth not Freedom extend farther than this for since God hath given me a Manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal and that I have the Gift of God in my self should I not
be left to act according as I am free and perswaded in my own Mind in the things that relate to God lest looking upon my self as obliged by what is revealed unto another though it be not revealed unto me I should be led out of my own Measure and act upon anothers Motion and so offer a blind Sacrifice to God Answ This is true in a sence that is if thou art such an one that canst do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth then mayst thou safely be left to thy freedom in the things of God and the Reason is plain Because thy Freedom stands in the Perfect Law of Liberty in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and in the Truth which is Christ Jesus which makes thee Free indeed that is Perfectly Free from all that is Bad and perfectly Free to all that is Holy Just Lovely Honest Comely and of good Report but if thou pleadest thy Freedom against such things yea obstructest and slightest such Good Wholesome and Requisit Things thy Freedom is Naught Dark Perverse out of the Truth and against the perfect Law of Love and Liberty Qu. But must I conform to things whether I can receive them or no Ought I not to be left to the Grace and Spirit of God in my own Heart Answ To the first part of the Question Nay to the last Yea. But now let us consider what is the Reason thou canst not receive them Is the fault in the things themselves Are they inconsistent with Truth or will not the Truth own or assent unto them or is the fault in thee that is to say Is it thy Weakness or thy Carelesness If thy Weakness it is to be born with and to be informed if thy Carelesness thou oughtst to be admonished for it is a dangerous Principle and pernicious to true Religion and which is worse it is the Root of Ranterism to assert That nothing is a Duty incumbent upon thee but what thou art perswaded is thy Duty for the Seared Conscience pleads his Liberty against all Duty the Dark Conscience is here unconcerned the Dead Conscience is here uncondemned unless this Distinction be allowed of that there may be an Ignorance or an Insensibility from Inability or Incapacity or a Dark Education and an Ignorance and Insensibility from Carelesness Disobedience Prejudice c. So that though thou art not to conform to a thing ignorantly yet thou art seriously to consider why thou art ignorant and what the cause of such Ignorance may be certainly it can't be in God nor in his Gift to thee it must then needs be in thy self who hast not yet received a Sense for or against the Matter about which thou art in doubt To the second part of the Question Ought I not to be left to the Grace of God in my own Heart Ans That is of all things most desirable since they are well left that are there left for there is no fear of want of Unity where all are left with the one Spirit of Truth they must be of one Mind they can't be otherwise So that to plead this against Unity is to abuse the very Plea and to commit the greatest Contradiction to that very Doctrine of Scripture viz. That all should be guided by the Grace and Spirit of God in themselves for the end of that Doctrine is certainty They shall all know me saith the Lord from the least to the greatest And I will give them one Heart and one Way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their Children after them Jer. 32. 39. And I will give them one Heart and I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take the Stony Heart out of their Flesh and will give them an Heart of Flesh Ezekiel 11. 19. And the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul Acts 4. 32. Is not this Unity too I will restore unto you a pure Language they shall be of one Heart and of one Mind and great shall be their Peace Therefore I must say to thee Friend What if thou wilt not be left with the Grace and Spirit of God in thy self nor wait for its Mind nor be watchful to its Revelations nor humble and quiet till thou hast received such necessary Manifestations but pleadest against the Counsel of the Spirit of the Lord in other faithful Persons under the pretence of being left to his Spirit in thy self by which means thou opposest the Spirit to the Spirit and pleadest for Dis-unity under the Name of Liberty I ask thee May not I exhort thee to the Practice of that I am moved to press thee to the Practice of If not thou art the Imposer by restraining me from my Christian Liberty and not only so but away goeth Preaching and with it the Scriptures that are both appointed of God for Exhortation Reproof and Instruction Qu. But are there not various Measures diversities of Gifts and several Offices in the Body Answ True but therefore are not the Members of one Mind one Will and one Judgment in common and universal Matters especially relating to the Family and Church of God And indeed there can't be a falser Reasoning than to conclude Discord from Diversity Contrariety from Variety Is there Contrariety of Bloods Lifes Feelings Seeings Hearings Tastings Smellings in one and the same Body at one and the same time No such matter Experience is a Demonstration against all such Insinuations So that though it be granted that there is Diversity of Gifts yet there is no Disagreement in Sense and though Variety of Offices yet no Contrariety in Judgment concerning those Offices Well saith the holy Scriptures of Truth there is but One God the Lord our God is but One Lord there is but One God and Father of all things that are good and there is but One Lord One Faith and One Baptism and his Light Life and Spirit is at Unity with it self in all what comes from the Light Life or Spirit in one it is the same in Truth and Unity to the rest as if it rise in themselves This is seen in our Assemblies every day and will be throughout all Generations in the Church of God among those that live in the lowly Truth in which the pure Sense and sound Judgment stands God is not the God of Confusion but Order Every one in his Order is satisfied hath Unity and true Fellowship with whatever comes from the Life of God in another for this precious Life reacheth throughout the Heritage of God and is the common Life that giveth the common Feeling and Sense to the Heritage of God Degree or Measure in the same Life can never contradict or obstruct that which is from the same Life for the common Benefit of the Family of God The Lord is the Vnmeasurable and Incomprehensible Glorious being of Life yet have we Unity with him in all his Works who are come to his
great Orderer of his Church And if I will not comply with him that God hath made an Eye because I am not that Eye or an Hand because I am not that Member my self nor a Party to the Action or Performance of that Member I resist the Lord though under pretence of resisting man for the Lords sake And truly this is the Rock that some of our own time as well as Persons of former Ages have split upon they have not been contented with their own Station in the Body they have not kept to their own Gift nor been taken up with the Duty of their own place in the Church If he that is a Foot would be an Hand and the Hand covets to be an Eye envying others their allotted Station through highth of Mind and walking loose from the holy Cross there can be no such thing as Concord and Fellowship in the Church of Christ Furthermore since the Spirit of the Lord is one in all it ought to be obeyed through another as well as in ones self and this I affirm to you That the same lowly frame of Mind that receives and answers the Mind of the Spirit of the Lord in a mans self will receive and have Unity with the Mind of the same Spirit through another and the Reason is plain Because the same Self-evidencing Power and Virtue that ariseth from the Measure of the Spirit of Truth in ones self and that convinceth a man in his own Heart doth also attend the Discovery of the Mind of the same Spirit when delivered by another for the words of the Second Adam the quickning Spirit through another are Spirit and Life as well as in thy own particular this is discerned by the Spiritual Man that judgeth all things although the Carnal Man pleadeth Being left to his Freedom and it may be talks of being left to the Spirit in himself too the better to escape the Sense and Judgment of the Spiritual Man It is my earnest Desire that all that have any Knowledge of the Lord would have a tender care how they use that Plea against their faithful Brethren that God put into their Mouthes against the persecuting Priests and Hirelings of the World namely I must mind the Spirit of God in my self for though it be a great Truth that all are to be thereunto left yet it is as true that he whose Soul is left with the Spirit of Truth in himself differs not from his Brethren that are in the same Spirit and as true it is that those who err from the Spirit of Truth may plead being left to the Spirit in themselves against the Motion and Command of the Spirit through another when it pleaseth not his or her high Mind and perverse Will for a Saying may be true or false according to the subject Matters it is spoken upon or applyed to We own the Assertion we deny the Application There lies the Snare 'T is true the People of God ought to be left to the Guidings of the Spirit of God in themselves but for this to be so applied as to disregard the Preachings or Writings of Christ's enlightned Servants because by them applied properly to the Preaching or Writing of false Prophets and Seducers will by no means follow I say the Doctrine is true but not exclusively of all external Counsel or Direction therefore false in application where men are allowed to have had the fear of God and the mind of his Spirit and are not proved to have acted in their own Wills and Wisdom or without the guidance of the Spirit of God about the things of his Church and Kingdom Qu. But though this be true which hath been alledged for heavenly Concord yet what if I do not presently see that Service in a thing that the rest of my Brethren agree in in this case what is my Duty and theirs Answ It is thy Duty to wait upon God in Silence and Patience out of all fleshly Consultations and as thou abidest in the Simplicity of the Truth thou wilt receive an Understanding with the rest of thy Brethren about the thing doubted And it is their Duty whilst thou behavest thy self in Meekness and Humility to bear with thee and carry themselves tenderly and lovingly towards thee but if on the contrary thou disturbest their Godly Care and Practice and growest Contentious and exalts thy Judgment against them they have Power from God to Exhort Admonish and Reprove thee and if thou perseverest therein in his Name to refuse any further Fellowship with thee till thou repentest of thy Evil. Qu. But lest I should mistake when thou speakest of true Liberty that it stands in being made Free by the Truth from all Vnrighteousness dost thou mean That no other Persons ought to have the Liberty of Exercising their Dissenting Consciences but that Force may be lawful to reduce such as are reputed Erroniously Conscientious Answ By no means It were a great Wickedness against God who is Lord of the Souls and Spirits of men and ought to preside in all Consciences who as the Apostle saith is the only Potentate and hath Immortalety For though I give the true Liberty of Soul and Conscience to those only that are set free by the Power of Christ from the Bondage of Sin and Captivity of Death yet do I not intend that any Person or Persons should be in the least harm'd for the external Exercise of their Dissenting Consciences in Worship to God though Erronious for though their Consciences be blind yet they are not to be forced such Compulsion giveth no sight neither do Corporal Punishments produce Conviction This we above all People in our Day have withstood in Speaking Writing and Suffering and blessed be God continue so to do with faithlness For Faith is the Gift of God and forced Sacrifices are not pleasing to the Lord. Qu. But according to thy Argument it may be my Fault that I have not the Gift of Faith and upon this Presumption it may be thou wilt inflict some Temporal Penalties upon me Answ No such matter for such kind of Faults are not to be punished with Temporal or Worldly Penalties for whether the Errors be through Weakness or Willfulness not relating to Moral Practice all External Coertion and Corporal Punishment is excluded For the Weapons of our Warfair are not Carnal but Spiritual Qu. But what then is the Extent of the Power of the Church of Christ in case of Schism or Heresie Answ The Power that Christ gave to his Church was this That Offenders after the first and second Admonition not Repenting should be Rejected Not imprisoned Plundered Banished or put to Death this belongs to the Whore and false Prophet Oh! all these things have come to pass for want of Humility for want of the antient Fear and keeping in the quiet Habitation of the Just The Truth in you all shall answer me And this I affirm from the Understanding I have received of God not only that the