Penn, no doubt, misunderstood both Anglicans and Puritans, and in some cases his disputes turned very much upon the meaning of words, yet no one who attentively studies his works, can help seeing that there were real and momentous differences between the Quakers and their fellow Christians. Quakers, absorbed by their inward experiences, did not attach the importance which is due to the historical and dogmatic instructions of the sacred volume. Not that Quakers denied what is historical, but they often, like early mystical expositors--Origen, for example--overlaid it with fanciful meanings. Not that they neglected all dogmatic teaching, but they failed to bring out clearly some of the truths revealed in the New Testament, especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul. The bright side of Quakerism lies in the marked elevation of the moral above the intellectual, of the spiritual above the formal, of the Divine above the human, of the work of God above the work of man: and it is as a corollary from the master principle of the whole system, the principle of the inner light, rather than as a deduction from reason or from expediency, or even from Scripture, that there is contained in Quaker literature such a distinct enunciation of men’s right, universally, to the freedom of religious speech and of religious worship.[505] [Sidenote: QUAKERS.--WILLIAM PENN.] Liberty, in William Penn’s estimation, was identical with Christianity. Persecution he held to be thoroughly anti-Christian. Judging people by their conduct, not by their creed, esteeming meekness and charity as fruits of the Spirit, inseparable from true religion, he looked upon all persecutors, whether Churchmen or Separatists, whether sound or heterodox, as alienated from their Maker, and as enemies to their race.[506] William Penn had an opportunity such as no other person amongst the authors we are now describing ever possessed, of testing his theory of religion and morals.