Emperors embracing the Christian Profession they changed what they could the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this World into a Worldly Kingdom or at least stiled the Worldly Kingdom that was in their Hands the Kingdom of Christ and so they became Worldly and not true Christians Then Humane Inventions and Novelties both in Doctrine and worship crouded fast into the Church a Door being opened thereunto by the Grossness and Carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians who had long since left the Guidance of God's meek and heavenly Spirit and given themselves up to Superstition Will-worship and Voluntary Humility And as Superstition is Blind so it is Heady and Furious for all must stoop to its blind and boundless Zeal or Perish by it In the Name of the Spirit persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others and opposing that in others which they resisted in themselves viz. the Light Groce and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ But always under the Notion of Innovation Heresie Schism or some such plausible Name Though Christianity allows of no Name or Pretence whatever for persecuting of any Man for matters of meer Religion being in its very Nature Meek Gentle and Forbearing and consists of Faith Hope and Charity which no Persecutor can have whilst he remains a Persecutor in that a Man cannot believe well or hope well or have a Charitable or tender regard to another whilst he would violate his mind or persecute his Body for matters of Faith or Worship towards his God Thus the False Church sprang up and mounted the Chair But though she lost her Nature she would needs keep her good Name of the Lambs-bride the True Church and Mother of the Faithful Constraining all to receive her Mark either in their Forehead or Right hand that is publickly or privately But Indeed and in Truth she was Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots Mother of those that with all their show and outside of Religion were adulterated and gone from the Spirit Nature and Life of Christ and grown Vain Worldly Ambitious Covetous Cruel c. which are the Fruits of the Flesh and not of the Spirit Now it was that the True Church fled into the Wilderness That is from Superstition and Violence to a Retired Solitary and Lonely State hidden and as it were out of Sight of Men though not out of the World Which shows that her wonted Visibility was not Essential to the being of a True Church in the Judgment of the Holy Ghost she being as True a Church in the Wilderness though not as Visible and Lustrious as when she was in her former Splendor of Profession In this State many Attempts She made to return but the Waters were yet too High and her way blocked up and many of her excellent Children in several Nations and Centuries fell by the Cruelty of Superstition because they would not fall from their Faithfulness to the Truth The last Age did set some steps towards it both as to Doctrine Worship and Practice But Practice quickly failed for Wickedness flowed in a little time as well among the Professors of the Reformation as those they reformed from so that by the Fruits of Conversation they were not to be distinguished And the Children of the Reformers if not the Reformers themselves betook themselves very early to Earthly Policy and Power to uphold and carry on their Reformation that had been begun with Spiritual Weapons which I have often thought has been one of the greatest reasons the Reformation made no better Progress as to the Life and Soul of Religion For whilst the Reformers were Lowly and Spiritually Minded and trusted in God and lookt to Him and lived in his Fear and consulted not with Flesh and Blood nor sought Deliverance in their own way there were daily added to the Church such as one might reasonably say should be saved For they were not so careful to be safe from Persecution as to be Faithful and Inoffensive under it Being more concerned to spread the Truth by their Faith and Patience in Tribulation than to get the worldly Power out of their Hands that inflicted those Sufferings upon them And it will be well if the Lord suffer them not to fall by the very same way they took to stand In Doctrine they were in some things short in other things to avoid one extream they run into another And for Worship there was for the generality more of man in it than of God They owned the Spirit Inspiration and Revelation indeed and grounded their Separation and Reformation upon the Sence and Vnderstanding they received from it in the Reading of the Scriptures of Truth And this was their Plea The Scripture is the Text the Spirit the Interpreter and that to every one for himself But yet there was too much of humane Invention Tradition and Art that remained both in Praying and Preaching and of worldly Authority and worldly Greatness in their Ministers especially in this Kingdom Sweden Denmark and some Parts of Germany God was therefore pleased in England to shift us from Vessel to Vessel And the next remove humbled the Ministry so that they were more Strict in Preaching Devout in Praying and Zealous for keeping the Lord's Day and Catechizing of Children and Servants and Repeating at Home in their Families what they had heard in publick But even as these grew into Power they were not only for Whipping some out but others into the Temple And they appeared Rigid in their Spirits rather than Severe in their Lives and more for a Party than for Piety Which brought forth another People that were yet more retired and select They would not communicate at Large or in common with others but formed Churches among themselves of such as could give some account of their Conversion at least of very promising experiences of the Work of God's Grace upon their Hearts and under mutual Agreements and Covenants of fellowship they kept together These People were somewhat of a Softer Temper and seemed to recommend Religion by the Charms of its Love Mercy and Goodness rather than by the Terrours of its Judgments and Punishment by which the former Party would have awed People into Religion They also allowed greater liberty to Prophecy than those before them for they admitted any Member to Speak or Pray as well as their Pastor whom they always Chose and not the Civil Magistrate If such found any thing pressing upon them to either Duty even without the Distinction of Clergy or Laity Persons of any Trade had their Liberty be it never so Low and Mechanical But alas even these People suffered great loss For tasting of Worldly Empire and the favour of Princes and the Gain that ensued they degenerated but too much For though they had cryed down National Churches and Ministry and Maintenance too some of them when it was their own turn to be Tryed fell under the Weight of Worldly Honour and Advantage got
the great Alteration it made and their stricter Course of Life and more Godly Conversation that immediately followed upon it II. They went not forth or Preached in their own Time or Will but in the Will of God and Spoke not their own studied Matter but as they were opened and moved of his Spirit with which they were well acquainted in their own Conversion Which cannot be expresed to Carnal Men so as to give them any intelligible account for to such it is as Christ said like the blowing of the Wind which no man knows whence it cometh or whither it goeth Yet this Proof and Seal went along with their Ministry that many were turned from their Life-less Professions and the Evil of their Ways to an inward and experimental knowledge of God and an Holy Life as thousands can witness And as they Freely received what they had to say from the Lord so they Freely administer'd it to others III. The Bent and Stress of their Ministry was Conversion to God Regeneration and Holiness Not Schemes of Doctrines and Verbal Creeds or new Forms of Worship But a leaving off in Religion the Superfluous and reducing the Ceremonious and Formal part and pressing earnestly the Substantial the Necessary and Profitable part to the Soul as all upon a serious Reflection must and do accknowledge IV. They directed People to a Principle in themselves tho' not of themselves by which all that they asserted Preached and Exhorted others to might be wrought in them and known to them through Experience to be true Which is a high and distinguishing Mark of the Truth of their Ministry both that they knew what they said and were not afraid of coming to the Test For as they were bold from Certainty so they required Conformity upon no Humane Authority but upon Conviction and the Conviction of This Principle which they asserted was in them that they Preached unto and unto that they directed them that they might examine and prove the Reality of those things which they had affirmed of it as to its Manifestation and Work in Man And this is more than the many Ministries in the World pretended to They declare of Religion say many things true in words of God Christ and the Spirit of Holiness and Heaven that all Men should Repent and mend their Lives or they will go to Hell c. But which of them all pretend to speak of their own Knowledge and Experience Or ever directed Men to a Divine Principle or Agent placed of God in Man to help him and how to know it and wait to feel its Power to work that good and acceptable Will of God in them Some of them indeed have Spoke of the Spirit and the Operations of it to Sanctification and Performance of Worship to God but Where and How to find it and wait in it to perform our duty to God was yet as a Mystery to be declared by this further degree of Reformation So that this People did not only in words more than equally press Repentance Conversion and Holiness but did it knowingly and experimentally and directed those to whom they preach'd to a sufficient Principle and told them where it was and by what Tokens they might know it and which way they might experience the Power and Efficacy of it to their Soul's Happiness Which is more than Theory and Speculation upon which most other Ministries depend For here is certainty a Bottom upon which Man may boldly appear before God in the great Day of Account V. They reached to the Inward State and Condition of People which is an Evidence of the Virtue of their Principle and of their Ministring from it and not from their own Imaginations Glosses or Comments upon Scripture For nothing reaches the Heart but what is from the Heart or pierces the Conscience but what comes from a living Conscience Insomuch as it hath often happened where People have under Secrecy revealed their State or condition to some choice Friends for Advice or Ease they have been so particularly directed in the Ministry of this People that they have challenged their Friends with discovering their Secrets and telling the Preachers their Cases to whom a word had not been spoken Yea the very Thoughts and Purposes of the hearts of many have been so plainly detected that they have like Nathanael cryed out of this inward appearance of Christ Thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel And those that have embraced this Divine Principle have found this Mark of its Truth and Divinity that the Woman of Samaria did of Christ when in the Flesh to be the Messiah viz. It had told them all that ever they had done showed them their insides the most inward secrets of their Hearts and laid Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet of which Thousands can at this day give in their Witness So that nothing has been affirmed by this People of the Power and Virtue of this Heavenly Principle that such as have turned to it have not found true and more and that one half had not been told to them of what they have seen of the Power Purity Wisdom and Goodness of God therein VI. The Accomplishments with which this Principle fitted even some of the meanest of this People for their Work and Service Furnishing some of them with an Extraordinary Understanding in Divine Things and an admirable Fluency and Taking way of Expression which gave occasion to some to wonder saying of them as of their Master Is not this such a Mechanick's Son how came he by this Learning As from thence others took occasion to suspect and insinuate they were Jesuites in Disguise who have had the Reputation of Learned Men for an Age past though there was not the least ground of Truth for any such Reflection In that their Ministers are known the places of their Abode their Kindred and Education VII That they rise Low and Despised and Hated as the Primitive Christians did and not by the help of Worldly Wisdom or Power as former Reformations in part have done But in all things it may be said this People were brought forth in the Cross in a Contradiction to the Ways Worship Fashions and Customs of this World yea against Wind and Tide that so no Flesh might Glory before God VIII They could have no design to themselves in this Work thus to expose themselves to Scorn and Abuse to spend and be spent Leaving Wife and Children House and Land and all that can be accounted dear to Men with their lives in their Hands being daily in Jeopardy to declare this Primitive Message revived in their Spirits by the good Spirit and Power of God viz. That God is Light and in him is no darkness at all and that he has sent his Son a Light into the World to enlighten all Men in order to Salvation and that they that say they have Fellowship with God and are his Children and People and yet walk
for not doing more for others than they can do for themselves And Christianity set aside if the Costs and Fruits of War were well considered Peace with all its Inconveniencies is generally Preferrable But tho' they were not for Fighting they were for submitting to Government and that not only for Fear but for Conscience Sake where Government doth not interfere with Conscience Believing it to be an Ordinance of God and where it is justly administred a great Benefit to Mankind Tho' it has been their Lot through blind Zeal in some and Interest in others to have felt the Strokes of it with greater Weight and Rigour than any other Perswasion in this Age whilst they of all others Religion set aside have given the Civil Magistrate the least occasion of Trouble in the Discharge of his Office V. Another part of the Character of this People was and is They refuse to pay Tythes or Maintenance to a National Ministry and that for two Reasons The one is They believe all compelled Maintenance even to Gospel Ministers to be Unlawful because expresly contrary to Christ's Command who said Freely you have received freely give At least that the Maintenance of Gospel Ministers should be free and not forced The other Reason of their Refusal is Because those Ministers are not Gospel Ones in that the Holy Ghost is not their Foundation but Humane Arts and Parts So that it is not matter of Humour or Sullenness but Pure Conscience towards God that they cannot help to support National Ministries where they dwell which are but too much and too visibly become ways of Worldly Advantage and Preferment VI. Not to respect Persons was and is another of their Doctrines and Practices for which they were often Buffetted and Abused They Affirmed it to be sinful to give Flattering Titles or to use Vain Gestures and Complements of Respect Tho' to Virtue and Authority they ever made a Difference but after their Plain and Homely Manner yet sincere and substantial way Well remembering the Examples of Mordecai and Elihu but more especially the Command of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ who forbad his Followers to call Men Rabbi which implies Lord or Master also the fashionable Greetings and Salutations of those Times that so Self-love and Honour to which the proud Mind of Man is incident in his fallen Estate might not be Indulged but Rebuked And tho' this render'd their Conversation disagreeable yet they that will remember what Christ said to the Jews How can ye believe in me who receive honour one of another will abate of their resentment if his Doctrine has any Credit with them VI. They also used the Plain Language of Thou and Thee to a single Person whatever was his Degree among Men. And indeed the Wisdom of God was much seen in bringing forth this People in so Plain an Appearance For it was a Close and Distinguishing Test upon the Spirits of those they came among shewing their Insides and what predominated notwithstanding their High and Great Profession of Religion This among the rest sounded so harsh to many of them and they took it so ill that they would say Thou me Thou my Dog If thou Thouest me I 'll thou thy Teeth down thy Throat forgetting the Language they use to God in their own Prayers and the common Stile of the Scriptures and that it is an absolute and essential Propriety of Speech And what good alas had their Religion done them who were so sensibly toucht with Indignation for the use of this Plain Honest and True Speech VII They recommended Silence by their Example having very few words upon all Occasions They were at a Word in Dealing Nor could their customers many Words tempt them from it having more regard for Truth than Custom to Example than Gain They sought Solitude but when in Company they would neither use nor willingly hear Vnnecessary as well as Vnlawful Discourses Whereby they preserved their Minds pure and undisturbed from unprofitable Thoughts and Diversions Nor could they humour the Custom of Good Night Good Morrow God Speed for they knew the Night was Good and the Day was Good without wishing of either and that in the other Expression the Holy Name of God was too lightly and unthinkingly used and therefore taken in Vain Besides they were Words and Wishes of Course and are usually as little meant as are Love and Service in the Custom of Cap and Knee and superfluity in those as well as in other things was Burthensom to them And therefore They did not only decline to use them but found themselves often press'd to reprove the Practice VIII For the same reason they forbore Drinking to People or Pledging of them as the manner of the World is A Practice that is not only Unnecessary but they thought Evil in the Tendencies of it being a Provocation to Drink more than did People good as well as that it was in it self Vain and Heathenish IX Their way of Marriage is peculiar to them and shews a distinguishing Care above other Societies professing Christianity They say that Marriage is an Ordinance of God and that God only can rightly joyn Man and Woman in Marriage Therefore they use neither Priest nor Magistrate but the Man and Woman concern'd take each other as Husband and Wife in the presence of divers Credible Witnesses promising unto each other with God's Assistance to be Loving and Faithful in that Relation till Death shall separate them But antecedent to all this They first present themselves to the Monthly Meeting for the Affairs of the Church where they reside there declaring their Intentions to take one another as Husband and Wife if the said Meeting have nothing material to object against it They are constantly askt the necessary Questions as in Case of Parents or Guardians if they have acquainted them with their Intention and have their Consent c. The Method of the Meeting is to take a Minute thereof and to appoint Proper Persons to enquire of their Conversation and Clearness from all others and whether they have discharged their Duty to their Parents or Guardians and make report thereof to the next Monthly Meeting where the same Parties are desired to give their Attendance In case it appears they have proceeded Orderly the Meeting Passes their Proposal and so Records it in their Meeting Book And in Case the Woman be a Widow and hath Children due care is there taken that Provision also be made by her for the Orphans before the Meeting pass the Proposal of Marriage Advising the Parties concerned to appoint a convenient Time and place and to give fitting Notice to their Relations and such Friends and Neighbours as they desire should be the Witnesses of their Marriage Where they take one another by the Hand and by Name promise Reciprocally Love and Fidelity after the manner before expressed Of all which Proceedings a Narrative in a way of Certificate is made to which the said Parties first set