A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People Called QuakersPenn, William
Religion
A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers
Penn, William
Society of Friends
For though good and wise men, and elders too, may reside in such places,
who are of worth and importance in the general, and in other places; yet
it does not always follow, that they may have the room they deserve in
the hearts of the people they live among; or some particular occasion may
make it unfit for him or them to use that authority. But you that travel
as God's messengers, if they receive you in the greater, shall they
refuse you in the less? And if they own the general testimony, can they
withstand the particular application of it in their own cases? Thus ye
will show yourselves workmen indeed, and carry your business before you,
to the praise of his name that hath called you from darkness to light,
that you might turn others from satan's power unto God and his kingdom,
which is within. And O that there were more of such faithful labourers
in the vineyard of the Lord!--Never more need since the day of God.
Wherefore I cannot but cry and call aloud to you, that have been long
professors of the truth, and know the truth in the convincing power of
it, and have had a sober conversation among men; yet content yourselves
only to know truth for yourselves, to go to meetings, and exercise an
ordinary charity in the church, and an honest behaviour in the world, and
limit yourselves within those bounds; feeling little or no concern upon
your spirits, for the glory of the Lord in the prosperity of his truth in
the earth, more than to be glad that others succeed in such service.
Arise ye in the name and power of the Lord Jesus! Behold how white the
fields are unto harvest, in this and other nations, and how few able and
faithful labourers there are to work therein! Your country-folks,
neighbours, and kindred, want to know the Lord and his truth, and to walk
in it. Does nothing lie at your door upon their account! Search and
see, and lose no time, I beseech you, for the Lord is at hand.
I do not judge you; there is one that judgeth all men, and his judgment
is true. You have mightily increased in your outward substance, may you
equally increase in your inward riches, and do good with both, while you
have a day to do good. Your enemies would once have taken what you had,
from you, for his name's sake in whom you have believed; wherefore he has
given you much of the world, in the face of your enemies. But O, let it
be your servant, and not your master! your diversion rather than your
business! let the Lord be chiefly in your eye, and ponder your ways, and
see if God has nothing more for you to do: and if you find yourselves
short in your account with him, then wait for his preparation, and be
ready to receive the word of command, and be not weary of well-doing,
when you have put your hand to the plough; and, assuredly, you shall
reap, if you faint not, the fruit of your heavenly labour in God's
everlasting kingdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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