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THE

PREFACE.

To the NOBLE BEREANS of this AGE.

W

HEN our dear Lord Jefus Chrift, the bleffed author of the Chriftian religion, firft fent forth his difciples, to proclaim the happy approach of the heavenly kingdom, among feveral other things that he gave them in charge, it pleased him to make this one of their inftructions; "Into whatsoever city or "town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy;" foreseeing the ill use unworthy perfons would make of that meffage, and with what unwearinefs the implacable pharifee, and fubtle scribe, would endeavour to pervert the right way of the Lord, and thereby prejudice the fimple against the reception of that excellent teftimony.

This being the cafe of the people called Quakers, who above every tribe of men are moft maliciously reprefented, bitterly envied, and furioufly oppugned by many of the fcribes and pharifees of our time, for as impious wretches as those of that time reputed our bleffed Saviour and his constant followers to be; it becometh us, in a condition fo defperate, to provide ourfelves with some worthy readers, men that dare trust their reafon above reports, and be impartial in an age as biaffed as this we live in; whofe determinations fhall not wait upon the fentence of ignorance nor intereft, but a fincere and punctual examination of the

matter.

And fince there are none recorded in facred writ, on whom the Holy Ghoft conferred fo honourable a character,

character, but the Bereans of that age (for that they both fearched after truth impartially, and when they found it, embraced it readily, for which they were entitled noble); therefore it is that to you, the offfpring of that worthy ftock, and noble Bereans of our age, I, in behalf of the fo much calumniated abettors of the cause of truth, chose to dedicate this defence of our holy profeffion from the injurious practices of a fort of men, who, not unlike to the Jews of Theffalonica, that, envying the profperity of the gofpel among your ancestors, made it their bufinefs to ftir up the multitude against the zealous promoters of it. And no matter what it be, provided they can but obtain their end of fixing an odium upon the Quakers: they do not only boldly condemn what they esteem worst in us (how defervedly we will not now fay) but infinuate what is beft to be criminal.

The fobriety of our lives, they call a cheat for custom; and our inceffant preachings and holy living, a decoy to advance our party: if we fay nothing to them when they interrogate us, it is fullennefs or inability; if we fay fomething to them, it is impertinency, or equivocation. We must not believe as we do believe, but as they would have us believe, which they are fure to make obnoxious enough, that they may the more fecurely inveigh against us. Nor must our writings mean what we fay we mean by them, but what they will have them to mean, left they should want proofs for their charges. It was our very cafe that put David upon that complaint, Every day "they wreft my words: all their thoughts are against << for evil." But to David's God we commit our flandered caufe, and to you the Bereans of our age.

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Degenerate not from the example of your progenitors; if you do, you are no longer true Bereans, and to fuch we infcribe this work: if you do not, we may affure ourselves of the juftice of a fair enquiry and an equal judgment.

The

The God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift augment your defire after truth, give you clearer difcerning of the truth, and enable you both more readily to receive, and with greater refolution to maintain the truth. I am

A Chriftian Quaker, and

Your Chriftian friend,

WILLIAM PEN N.

VOL. I.

THE

THE

CHRISTIAN QUAKER, &c.

CHAP. I.

The introduction. Three queftions propofed, ftating the matter to be treated upon. First, what is falvation? Anf. To be faved from fin, as well as from wrath; and not from wrath without fin.

BE

EING to write of the light of Chrift within, the great principle of God in man, the root and fpring of divine life and knowledge in the foul; that by which falvation is effected for man, and which is the characteristick of the people called Quakers, their faith and teftimony to the world; I choofe to confider it under these three following queftions, as ftated by none of the meaneft of our adverfaries, being comprehenfive of the principle, its force, and friends; wherein I endeavour to folve thofe objections, as they naturally arife, which either have been, or may be, advanced against what is afferted by us, in favour of this divine principle, and its effects upon mankind: which I recommend to my readers ferious confideration; defiring that patience and impartiality may keep them company in the perufal thereof; it being writ for their advantage, as well as our vindication, that they may have a nearer and clearer profpect of that way the bleffed ever trod to glory.

1. What is that falvation, which the light leads to? 2. What is this light, and how does this light lead to it? And,

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