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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54196	Primitive Christianity revived in the faith and practice of the people called Quakers written, in testimony to the present dispensation of God, through them, to the world, that prejudices may be removed, the simple informed, the well-enclined encouraged, and the truth and its innocent Friends, rightly represented / by William Penn.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1696 (1696)	Wing P1342; ESTC R15209	43,826	145

cannot subsist without it Which made David break forth in his Expostulations with God Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence Psalm 139. 7 8 9 10. Implying it was every where though not every where nor at every time alike If I go to Heaven to Hell or beyond the Seas even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy Right Hand shall hold me That is there will this Divine Word this Light of Men this Spirit of God find me lead me help me and comfort me For it is with me where ever I am and where ever I go in one respect or other Prov. 6. 22. When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee And I can no more get rid of it if I would then of my self or my own Nature so present it is with me and so close it sticks unto me Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the Waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the Fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the Flame kindle upon thee David knew it and therefore had a great value for it In thy Light shall we see Light or we shall be enlightned by thy Light Thou wilt Light my Candle the Lord my God will lighten my Darkness Again The Lord is my Light whom shall I fear It was his Armour against all Danger It took Fear away from him and he was undaunted because he was safe in the way of it Of the same blessed Word he says elsewhere It is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Lanthorn to my Paths In short a Light to him in his way to Blessedness § 3. Obj. But if the Jews had this Light it does not follow that the Gentiles had it also but by your Doctrine all have it Answ Yes and it is the Glory of this Doctrine which we profess that Gods Love is therein held forth to All. And besides the Texts cited in general and that are as Full and Positive as can be exprest the Apostle is very Particular in the second Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans That the Gentiles having not the Law did by Nature the things contained in the Law and were a Law unto themselves That is they had not an outward Law circumstanced as the Jews had but they had the Works of the Law written in their Hearts and therefore might well be a Law to themselves that had the Law in themselves And so had the Jews too but then they had greater outward helps to quicken their Obedience to it such as God afforded not unto any other Nation And therefore the Obedience of the Gentiles or Vncircumcision is said to be by Nature or Naturally because it was without those Additional External and extraordinary Ministries and Helps which the Jews had to provoke them to their Duty Which is so far from lessening the obedient Gentiles that it exalts them in the Apostles Judgment because though they had less Advantages then the Jews yet the Work of the Law written in their Hearts was made so much the more evident by the good Life they lived in the World He adds their Consciences bearing Witness or as it may be rendred witnessing with them and their Thoughts mean while accusing or else excusing one another in the Day when God shall judge the secrets of all Hearts by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel Which presents us with four things to our Point and worth our serious Reflection First That the Gentiles had the Law written in their Hearts Secondly That their Conscience was an allowed Witness or Evidence about Duty Thirdly That the Judgment made thereby shall be confirmed by the Apostles Gospel at the great Day and therefore Valid and Irreversible Fourthly That this could not be if the Light of this Conscience were not a Divine and Sufficient Light For Conscience truly speaking is no other then the Sence a Man hath or Judgement he maketh of his Duty to God according to the Vnderstanding God gives him of his Will And that no ill but a true and scriptural Use may be made of this Word Conscience I limit it to Duty and that to a Virtuous and Holy Life as the Apostle evidently doth about which we cannot miss or dispute read verse 7 8 and 9. It was to that therefore the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ desired to be made manifest for they dared to stand the Judgment of Conscience in reference to the Doctrine they preach'd and prest upon Men. The Beloved Disciple also makes it a Judge of Man's present and future State under the Term Heart For if our Heart condemn us God is greater then our Heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God Plain and strong Words And what were they about but whether we Love God in Deed and in Truth And how must that appear VVhy in keeping his Commandments which is living up to what we know And if any desire to satisfie themselves farther of the Divinity of the Gentiles let them read Plato Seneca Plutarch Epictetus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and the like Gentile VVriters They will also find many of their sayings collected in the first Part of a Book called the Christian Quaker and compared with the Testimonies of Scripture not for their Authority but agreeableness In them they may discern many Excellent Truths and taste great Love and Devotion to Virtue A fruit that grows upon no Tree but that of Life in no Age or Nation Some of the most Eminent VVriters of the first Ages such as Justin Martyr Origen Clemens Alexandrinus c. bore them great Respect and thought it no lessening to the Reputation of Christianity that it was defended in many Gentile Authors as well as that they used and urged them to engage their Followers to the Faith as Paul did the Athenians with their own Poets CHAP. VII Sect. 1. An Objection Answer'd about the various Dispensations of God The Principle the same Sect. 2. God's Work of a Piece and Truth the same under divers Shapes Sect. 3. The Reason of the prevalency of Idolatry Sect. 4. The Quakers Testimony the best Antidote against it viz. walking by a Divine Principle in Man Sect. 5. It was God's End in all his Manifestations that Man might be God's Image and Delight § 1. Obj. BUt it may be said If it were one Principle why so many Modes and Shapes of Religion since the World began For the Patriarchal Mosaical and Christian have their great differences to say nothing of what has befallen the Christian since the Publication of it to the World Answ I know not properly they may be called divers Religions that assert the true God for the Object of Worship the Lord Jesus Christ for the only Saviour and the Light or Spirit of Christ for the

Primitive Christianity REVIVED IN THE Faith and Practice Of the PEOPLE called QUAKERS Written in Testimony to the present Dispensation of God through Them to the World That Prejudices may be removed the Simple informed the Well-enclined Encouraged and the Truth and its Innocent Friends Rightly Represented By William Penn. This People have I formed for my self They shall shew forth my Praise Isa 43. 21. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street near the Market 1696. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader BY this short Ens●●ing Treatise 〈…〉 perceive the Subject of it viz. The Light of Christ in Man as the Manifestation of Gods Love for Mans Happiness Now for as much as this is the Peculiar Testimony and Characteristick of the People called Quakers their great Fundamental in Religion That by which they have been distinguished from other Professors of Christianity in their Time and to which they refer all People about Faith Worship and Practice both in their Ministry and Writings That as the Fingers shute out of the Hand and the Branches from the Body of the Tree so true Religion in all the Parts and Articles of it Springs from this Divine Principle in Man And because the Prejudices of some are very great against this People and their Way and that others who Love their Seriousness and commend their good Life are yet through Mistakes or want of Inquiry under Jealousie of their Vnsoundness in some Points of Faith and that there are not a few in all Perswasions which desire earnestly to know and enjoy God in that sensible Manner this People speak of and who seem to long after a State of Holiness and Acceptance with God but are under Doubts and Dispondings of attaining it from the want they find in themselves of inward Power to enable them and are unacquainted with this Efficacious Agent which God hath given and appointed for their Supply For these Reasons and Motives know Reader I and so often trod upon and treated as the Off-scouring of the Earth are the People of God and Children of the most High Bear with me Reader I know what I say and am not high minded but fear For I write with Humility towards God though with Confidence towards thee Not that thou shouldst believe upon my Authority nothing less for that 's not Act upon Knowledge but Trust But that thou shouldst try and prove what I write For that is all I ask as well as all I need for thy Conviction and my own Justification The whole indeed being but a spiritual Experiment upon the Soul and therefore seeks for no implicite Credit because it is Self-evident to them that will uprightly try it And when thou Reader shalt come to be acquainted with this Principle and the plain and happy Teachings of it thou wilt with us admire thou shouldst live so long a Stranger to that which was so near thee and as much wonder that other Folks should be so blind as not to see it as formerly thou thoughtest us singular for obeying it The Day I believe is at hand that will declare this with an uncontroulable Authority because it will be with an unquestionable Evidence I have done Reader with this Preface when I have told thee First That I have stated the Principle and opened as God has enabled me the Nature and Virtue of it in Religion Wherein the common Doctrines and Articles of the Christian Religion are delivered and improved and in which I have endeavoured to express my self in Plain and Proper Terms and not in Figurative Allegorical or Doubtful Phrases that so I may leave no room for an Equivocal or Double Sence but that the Truth of the Subject I treat upon may appear Easily and Evidently to every common Vnderstanding Next I have confirmed what I have writ by Scripture Reason and the Effects of it upon so great a People whose uniform concurrence in the Experience and Practice thereof through all Times and Sufferings since a People challenge the Notice and Regard of every serious Reader Thirdly I have written briefly that so it might be every ones Mony and Reading And much in a little is best when we see daily that the Richer People grow the less Mony or Time they have for God and Religion And perhaps those that would not buy a large Book may find in their Hearts to give away some of these for their Neighbours Good being little and Cheap Be serious Reader be Impartial and then be as Inquisitive as thou canst and that for thine own Soul as well as the Credit of this most misunderstood and abused People And the God and Father of Lights and Spirits so bless thine in the Perusal of this short Treatise that thou mayst receive real Benefit by it to his Glory and thine own Comfort Which is the Desire and End of him that wrote it who is in the Bonds of Christian Charity very much and very ardently Thy Real Friend William Penn. CHAP. I. Sect. 1. Their Fundamental Principle Sect. 2. The Nature of it Sect. 3. Called by several Names Sect. 4. They refer all to this as to Faith and Practice Ministry and Worship § 1. THat which the People called Quakers lay down as a main Fundamental in Religion is this That God through Christ hath placed a Principle in every Man to inform him of his Duty and to enable him to do it and that those that live up to this Principle are the People of God and those that live in Disobedience to it are not God's People what ever Name they may bear or Profession they may make of Religion This is their Ancient First and Standing Testimony With this they began and this they bore and do bare to the World § 2. By this Principle they understand something that is Divine and though in Man yet not of Man but of God that came from him and leads to him all those that will be lead by it § 3. There are divers ways of speaking they have been led to use by which they declare and express what this Principle is about which I think fit to Precaution the Reader viz. They call it the Light of Christ within Man or Light within which is their Ancient and most General and Familiar Phrase also the Manifestation or Appearance of Christ the Witness of God the Seed of God the Seed of the Kingdom Wisdom the Word in the Heart the Grace that appears to all men the Spirit given to every Man to profit with the Truth in the inward Parts The spiritual Leaven that Leavens the whole Lump of Man Which are many of them Figurative Expressions but all of them such as the Holy Ghost hath used and which will be used in this Treatise as they are most frequently in the Writings and Ministry of this People But that this Variety and Manner of Expression may

not occasion any Misapprehension or Confusion in the Understanding of the Reader I would have him know that they always mean by those Terms or Denominations not an other but the same Principle before mentioned Which as I said though it be in Man is not of Man but of God and therefore Divine And one in it self though diversly expressed by the Holy Men according to the various Manifestations and Operations thereof § 4. It is to This Principle of Light Life and Grace that this People refer all For they say it is the great Agent in Religion That without which there is no Conviction so no Conversion or Regeneration and consequently no entring into the Kingdom of God That is to say there can be no true sight of Sin nor sorrow for it and therefore no forsaking or overcoming of it or Remission or Justification from it A necessary and powerful Principle indeed when neither Sanctification nor Justification can be had without it In short there is no becoming Virtuous Holy and Good without this Principle no acceptance with God nor Peace of Soul but through it But on the contrary that the Reason of so much Irreligion among Christians so much Superstition instead of Devotion and so much Profession without Injoyment and so little Heart-Reformation is because People in Religion Over-look this Principle and leave it behind them They will be Religious without it and Christians without it though this be the only means of making them so indeed So natural it is to Man in his degenerate Estate to prefer Sacrifice before Obedience and to make Prayers go for Practice and so flatter himself to Hope by Ceremonial and Bodily Services to excuse himself with God from the stricter Discipline of this Principle in the Soul which leads Man to take up the Cross deny self and do that which God requires of him And that is every Mans true Religion and every such Man is truly Religious That is he is Holy Humble Patient Meek Merciful Just Kind and Charitable which they say no Man can make himself but that this Principle will make all them so that will embrace the Convictions and Teachings of it being the Root of all true Religion in Man and the Good-Seed from whence all Good Fruits proceed To summ up what they say upon the Nature and Virtue of it as Contents of that which follows they declare that this Principle is First Divine Secondly Vniversal Thirdly Efficacious In that it gives Man First The Knowledge of God and of himself and therein a sight of his Duty and Disobedience to it Secondly It begets a true Sence and Sorrow for Sin in those that seriously regard the Convictions of it Thirdly It enables them to forsake Sin and Sanctifies from it Fourthly It applies Gods Mercies in Christ for the forgiveness of Sins that are past unto Justification upon such Sincere Repentance and Obedience Fifthly It gives the Faithful Perseverance unto a Perfect Man and the Assurance of Blessedness World without End To the Truth of all which they call in a Threefold Evidence First The Scriptures which give an ample Witness especially those of the New and better Testament Secondly The Reasonableness of it in it self And Lastly A General Experience in great Measure But particularly their Own made credible by the good Fruits they have brought forth and the Answer God has given to their Ministry Which to impartial Observers have commended the Principle and gives me Occasion to abstract their History in divers Particulars for a Conclusion to this little Treatise CHAP. II. Sect. 1. The Evidence of Scripture for that Principle John 1. 4 9. Sect. 2. It s Divinity Sect. 3. All things created by it Sect. 4. What it is to Man as to Salvation § 1. I Shall begin with the Evidence of the blessed Scriptures of Truth for this Divine Principle and that under the Name of Light the first and most common Word used by them to express and denominate this Principle by as well as most apt and proper in this dark State of the World John 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Ver. 3. All things were made by him Ver. 4. In him was Life and that Life was the Light of Men. Ver. 9. That was the true Light which Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World § 2. I have begun with him that begun his History with the beginning of the Creation of God the most beloved Disciple and longest Liver of all the Apostles and he that for his excelling Knowledge and Wisdom in heavenly Things is justly entituled John the Divine He tells us first what he was in the Beginning viz. The Word In the beginning was the Word And though that shews what the Word must be yet he adds and explains that the Word was with God and was God lest any should doubt of the Divinity of the Word or have lower Thoughts of him than he deserved The Word then is Divine and an apt Term it is that the Evangelist stiles him by since it is so great an Expression of the Wisdom and Power of God to Men. § 3. All things were made by him If so he wants no Power And if we were made by him we must be new made by him too or we can never enjoy God His Power shews his Dignity and that nothing can be too hard for such a sufficiency as made all things and without which nothing was made that was made As Man's Maker must be his Husband so his Creator must be his Redeemer also § 4. In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men. This is ou● Point The Evangelist first begins with the Nature and Being of the Word From thence he descends to the Works of the Word And lastly then he tells us what the Word is with respect to Man above the rest of the Creation viz. The Word was Life and the Life was the Light of Men. The Relation must be very near and intimate when the very Life of the Word that was with God and was God is the Light of Men As if Man were next to the Word and above all the rest of his Works for it is not said so of any other Creature Man cannot want Light then no not a Divine Light For if this be not Divine that is the Life of the Divine Word there can be no such thing at all as Divine or Supernatural Light and Life And the Text does not only prove the Divinity of the Light but the Vniversality of it also because the Man mentioned in it is Mankind Which is yet more distinctly express'd in the 9th verse That was the True Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Implying that he that lighteth not Mankind is not that True Light and therefore John was not that Light but bore witness of him that was who lighted every Man to wit the Word that took Flesh So that both