The Path of the Seeker

Quakerism is, at its core, a mystical tradition that proclaims our direct access to that Light which brings awareness to the world without end. In essence, a Quaker, or Friend of the Truth, is one who seeks and comes to find the one eternal Light or Spirit within themself, so that they may come to realize that Light throughout all the world. This realization is an ongoing and perpetual task, but each person is asked only to do that which is within their heart to do, placed there by the Spirit. The Friends' community serves the role of lending support and direction to its members as we fulfill this inwardly-given calling from the Spirit. In the form of silent meetings for worship, Friends practice supporting each other in our seeking for and resting in awareness of our ever-present union with the inward Light. When mindful union with this Light is outwardly realized, then the Quaker community comes to serve the larger community with selfless love.
There is a path of spiritual self-realization that is not uniquely Quaker, but rather is one shared by all mystics, regardless of their religious affiliation. The path of the spiritual seeker is one that requires the greatest devotion towards the Light of Truth, even unto the ultimate self-sacrifice of the false identity as anything besides being one in unity with the Divine. The fullness of God may only be experienced due to the emptiness of self. What allows us to experience God directly is the effacement of our ego, being the abandonment of the false narrative of personal control, and the surrender to and acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God's loving will alone. We may partake in this any time by simply letting go of any perceived separate desires, and giving over our will to Christ in pure faith of God's Infinite and omnipresent Love. Upon its completion, this path of surrender is realized to have been undertaken and completed as an act of God's Grace, bestowed upon its sojourners by the inward Light of Christ, even before it had come to be known to them. Historically, Quakerism was inherently Christian and inherently universal in its doctrine of the Light of Christ, and so we recognize that it is Christ that is revealed as universal, and the universal Christ is the Christ revealed in Jesus. This is the truth of Quakerism now, as it was in the past; having no idols, no rites, no creeds, but only the yoke and freedom of the Spirit given by Christ, the Pure Being within all people.

"Every religious system has its ‘Quakers’—those who turn from the outward and the legal and the institutional and focus their attention on the Divine that is within. -Gerald Hibbert, Quaker

The Mystic's Path

The Universal Spiritual Journey

- 1. Be earnest and serious - (Divine Calling)
  - 1. God sparks a focus of attention on important matters.
      - Become aware of spiritual concerns.
      - Courageously follow spiritual leadings.
- 2. Become disillusioned with and weary of the world - (Disillusionment)
  - 1. Find lessened or no joy in worldly activities.
      - Become dissatisfied with seeking fulfillment in worldly things.
      - Feel anxious, frustrated, forlorn, or listless.
    2. Doubt externally-received religious teachings.
      - Seek personal understanding of spiritual matters.
- 3. Wander and seek Salvation outwardly - (Seeking)
  - 1. Consult with the religiously-learned.
      - Speak with clergy and philosophers.
      - Read holy writings.
    2. Engage in outward religious practices.
      - Visit Temples, spiritual landmarks and/or shrines.
      - Take part in ceremonies, rituals, and/or rites.
    3. Resist temptations.
      - Rebuke external influences that oppose what is felt as right.
      - Remain steadfast in seeking along the path.
- 4. Give up and surrender - (Surrender)
  - 1. Find solitude.
      - Visit lonely or quiet places.
      - Privately contemplate spiritual matters.
    2. Renounce the world.
      - Give up seeking outwardly for spiritual understanding.
      - Reject or ignore all outward spiritual authorities.
    3. Let go of the illusion of self-will.
      - Give up acting under the pretense of personal desire.
    4. Look Within.
      - Be still and silence the mind.
      - Patiently wait and search inwardly.
- 5. Realize the Inward Light - (Awakening to the Light)
  - 1. Realize unconditional Love as Christ - the Light or Inward Teacher.
      - Release fear, doubt, and craving, and follow Love.
    2. See that of God in everyone, as the Seed is already present within.
      - Accept Perfection as manifested within the world through Christ
    3. Carry Inner Peace joyfully throughout the world.
      - Love God, and others as ourself, even amid personal suffering.
    4. Give up one's own willing when it conflicts with divine Love and Truth.
      - Submit to the Light, obeying only the Inward Teacher.
    5. Allow the Seed to grow and spread within.
      - Be sanctified and renewed in the image of God.
    6. Become increasingly perfected in Love - in union with God.
      - Allow the divine Life to bear its own fruits of the Spirit.

Releasement by Georg Gichtel

A Quaker Example of the Mystic's Path

In the Footsteps of George Fox

The following outline is an exemplification of the Mystic's Path from the life of the principal founder of Quakerism, George Fox, as recorded in his own words. It is important to note that the specific circumstances of neither his nor any man's worldly path need be perfectly imitated in order to reach Salvation through the Inward Light, but rather these are only the specifics of their personal spiritual journey while living in the world, dependent upon their own time and place of living.
George Fox experienced profound spiritual distress during his years of seclusion, before undergoing a radical shift of consciousness, or spiritual rebirth, following his realization that nothing of the world may offer him Salvation or Peace, but only the eternal Light of Christ or Divine Awareness within himself. Various events or practices may provide gateways to this type of spiritual experience - some more traumatic, some more gentle, some more immediate, some more gradual - allowing for a wider range of seekers of Salvation to walk the path than would be able to experience it otherwise, if only one means of awakening to the Truth were possible. It is ultimately not the means of realizing the inward Light that matter, but rather that Light itself, and the fruit its realization produces through the life of the one who has received this Light.

- 1. Be earnest and serious. - (Divine Calling)
  - 'In my very young years I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and spirit not usual in children; insomuch that when I saw old men behave lightly and wantonly towards each other, I had a dislike thereof raised in my heart, and said within myself, “If ever I come to be a man, surely I shall not do so, nor be so wanton.” ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things, and to act faithfully two ways, viz., inwardly, to God, and outwardly, to man; and to keep to Yea and Nay in all things. For the Lord showed me that, though the people of the world have mouths full of deceit, and changeable affords, yet I was to keep to Yea and Nay in all things; and that my words should lie few and savory, seasoned with grace; and that I might not eat and drink to make myself wanton, but for health, using the creatures in their service, as servants in their places, to the glory of Him that created them.' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'When boys and rude persons would laugh at me, I let them alone and went my way; but people had generally a love to me for my innocency and honesty. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1

- 2. Become disillusioned with and weary of the world. - (Disillusionment)
  - 'When I came towards nineteen years of age, being upon business at a fair, one of my cousins, whose name was Bradford, having another professor with him, came and asked me to drink part of a jug of beer with them. I, being thirsty, went in with them, for I loved any who had a sense of good, or that sought after the Lord. When we had drunk a glass apiece, they began to drink healths, and called for more drink, agreeing together that he that would not drink should pay all. I was grieved that any who made profession of religion should offer to do so. They grieved me very much, having never had such a thing put to me before by any sort of people. Wherefore I rose up, and, putting my hand in my pocket, took out a groat, and laid it upon the table before them, saying, “If it be so, I will leave you.” So I went away; and when I had done my business returned home; but did not go to bed that night, nor could I sleep, but sometimes walked up and down, and sometimes prayed and cried to the Lord, who said unto me: “Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth; thou must forsake all, young and old, keep out of all, and be as a stranger unto all.”' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1

- 3. Wander and seek Salvation outwardly. - (Seeking)
  - 'Age 19, then, at the command of God, the ninth of the Seventh month, 1643, I left my relations, and broke off all familiarity or fellowship with young or old.' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'As I thus traveled through the country, professors took notice of me, and sought to be acquainted with me; but I was afraid of them, for I was sensible they did not possess what they professed.' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'During the time I was at Barnet a strong temptation to despair came upon me. I then saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I was in. Sometimes I kept myself retired to my chamber, and often walked solitary in the Chase to wait upon the Lord. I wondered why these things should come to me. I looked upon myself, and said, “Was I ever so before?” Then I thought, because I had forsaken my relations I had done amiss against them. So I was brought to call to mind all my time that I had spent, and to consider whether I had wronged any; but Temptations grew more and more, and I was tempted almost to despair; and when Satan could not effect his design upon me that way, he laid snares and baits to draw me to commit some sin, whereof he might take advantage to bring me to despair. I was about twenty years of age when these exercises came upon me; and some years I continued in that condition, in great trouble; and fain I would have put it from me. I went to many a priest to look for comfort, but found no comfort from them.' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'Now, though I had great openings, yet great trouble and temptation came many times upon me; so that when it was day I wished for night, and when it was night I wished for day; and by reason of the openings I had in my troubles, I could say as David said, “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” When I had openings they answered one another and answered the Scriptures; for I had great openings of the Scriptures: and when I was in troubles, one trouble also answered to another. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1

- 4. Give up and surrender. - (Surrender)
  - 'I fasted much, walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible, and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by myself; for I was a man of sorrows in the time of the first workings of the Lord in me. During all this time I was never joined in profession of Religion with any, but gave up myself to the Lord, having forsaken all evil company, taken leave of father and mother, and all other relations, and traveled up and down as a stranger in the earth, which way the Lord inclined my heart; taking a chamber to myself in the town where I came, and tarrying, sometimes more, sometimes less, in a place. For I durst not stay long in a place, being afraid both of professor and profane, lest, being a tender young man, I should be hurt by conversing much with either. For this reason I kept much as a stranger, seeking heavenly wisdom and getting knowledge from the Lord, and was brought off from outward things to rely on the Lord alone. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'But as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the separate preachers also, and those esteemed the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. When all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do, then, oh, then, I heard a voice which said, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition”; and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give Him all the glory. For all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief, as I had been; that Jesus Christ might have the preeminence who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall hinder it? and this I knew experimentally. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1

- 5. Realize the Inward Light. - (Awakening to Christ Within)
  - 'My desire after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spoke of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son by His Spirit. Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see His love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can obtain from history or books; and that love let me see myself, as I was without Him. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'I found that there were two thirsts in me--the one after the creatures, to get help and strength there, and the other after the Lord, the Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ. I saw all the world could do me no good; if I had had a king’s diet, palace, and attendance, all would have been as nothing; for nothing gave me comfort but the Lord by His power. At another time I saw the great love of God, and was filled with admiration at the infiniteness of it. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'One day, when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come home, I was taken up in the love of God, so that I could not but admire the greatness of His love; and while l was in that condition, it was opened unto me by the eternal light and power, and I therein clearly saw that all was done and to be done in and by Christ, and how He conquers and destroys this tempter the devil, and all his works, and is atop of him; and that all these troubles were good for me, and temptations for the trial of my faith, which Christ had given me. ' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1
  - 'Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword into the paradise of God. All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus, so that I say I was come up to the state of Adam which he was in before he fell. The creation was opened to me, and it was showed me how all things had their names given them according to their nature and virtue... Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto me, beyond what can by words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the Word of wisdom, that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.' -Journal of George Fox, Chapter 2
    - 'According to the spirit I am the son of God, and according to the flesh I am the seed of Abraham, which seed is Christ, which seed is but one in all his saints, and the promise is to the seed, which seed is not many but one, which seed is Christ and Christ in you. The mystery which hath been hid from ages, but now is made manifest, which seed, though there be ten thousand, yet are all one... Christ is all and in all, and the promise of God here is fulfilled; according to the spirit I am the son of God before Abraham was, before Jerusalem was, the same which does descend, the same does ascend, and all the promises of God are yea, come out of time from God, into time to that which is captivated in the earth in time, and to it the seed which is Christ, they are all yea and amen, fetched up out of him, where there is no time... and as many received the word, I say unto you: "ye are gods", as it is written in your law... Now wait all to have these things fulfilled in you, if it never be so little a measure, wait in it, that you may grow to a perfect man in Christ Jesus.”'- George Fox, 1653, epistle to Margaret Fell and other discerning Friends, Swarthmore Manuscripts.
    - 'I directed all to the Spirit of God in themselves; that they might be turned from darkness to Light, and believe in it; that they might become the children of it, and might be turned from the power of Satan unto God, and by the Spirit of truth might be led into all truth, and sensibly understand the words of the prophets, of Christ, and of the apostles; and might all come to know Christ to be their teacher to instruct them, their counsellor to direct them, their shepherd to feed them, their bishop to oversee them, and their prophet to open divine mysteries to them; and might know their bodies to be prepared, sanctified, and made fit temples for God and Christ to dwell in. In the openings of heavenly life I explained unto them the prophets, and the figures and shadows, and directed them to Christ, the substance. Then I opened the parables and sayings of Christ, and things that had been long hid.' - Journal of George Fox, Chapter 6

As detailed above, through his complete personal surrender to the Light of Truth, who is Christ Jesus, George Fox underwent a significant alteration in his state of consciousness, and became self-aware of this striking change. Waiting in stillness and silence upon the Spirit is one way that others may gradually come to such a radical shift in or expansion of awareness, and this is the way that Fox advocated for Friends, but in truth it does not matter in what way this expansion of consciousness of the Light occurs. Contemporary Quakers, while many of whom still hold to Fox’s original prescribed method of silent meeting, have come to accept and even sometimes practice additional or alternative methods of accessing the Inner Light, all the while remaining true to Fox’s veritable foundational teaching that there is that of God in everyone, and that Christ, being universal, and one with the Light, has come to teach His people Himself.

George Fox on the Mount of Vision by Violet Oakley

Other Friends' Writings Concerning the Path

The giving over or laying down of one's own desires or will is a universally described requisite for experiencing inward awareness of the Spirit, and this is known as contemplation, within Quakerism. This process of releasement, or dying to one's self, is what allows the Inward Light to shine forth clearly in our perception, so that we may come to discern God's Will for us, and eventually come to realize our union with the Divine. As time goes on, and this releasement unto Love continues, in accordance with our faith, through God's Grace, the inward stillness and silence that it facilitates begins to pervade all aspects of our life, our grasping, searching, and anxiety decreases, and we come to trust more and more in the Light of Being. Thus is the path of the seeker at an end, and one who is a Friend of the Truth need now only center down into stillness and silence, and wait upon the Spirit to direct them. Otherwise, unending searching keeps us from finding, and following others keeps us from discovering ourselves; for we have never been lost but in our own minds. All that we must do is practice those means which allow us to realize this. The Kingdom of God is wherever we are, here and now, at hand. We are all the Children of God, inseparable from Him, no matter what, for God is truly One, and letting go as deeply as we are able, however this may be done, is what is required of us to realize this.
The writings of early Friends can be understood as expressing a profoundly nondual mystical vision, even though they articulated it within a distinctly Christian framework. Friends such as George Fox and Isaac Penington spoke of Christ as an inward, living presence; of the Light dwelling within; of dying to self-will; and of entering into union with God and the “Pure Being itself.” Their writings do not necessarily teach philosophical nondualism in the sense that God and creation are simply identical or that individual existence is unreal, but they repeatedly describe the overcoming of the felt separation between God and the human being through the inward work of Christ. In this sense, early Quakerism can be understood as a form of Christian mystical nondualism: the realization that the divine Life is present within us, that the separate self must yield to it, and that as we surrender to the Light, we come to participate ever more fully in the one divine Life and Love.

"Art thou in darkness? mind it not, for if thou do it will fill thee more, but stand still and act not, and wait in patience till light arise out of darkness to lead thee.""There is a spirit which I feel, that delights to do no evil, nor to avenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other: if it be betrayed, it bears it; for its ground and spring are the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned, and takes its kingdom with entreaty, and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief, and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens, and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection, and eternal holy life.""Sinking down into this meekness and steadfast lowliness, you will come to feel the plant of God that brings forth this meekness and holiness, and springs of living virtue; and there will you meet the Lord in his kingdom on earth, where he delights to walk as in a garden.""Christ in his wants and wanderings, hunger and nakedness, mocking, buffeting, stocking, stoning, prisonings, in his temptings, fasting, whippings, banishings out of towns and cities, and countries, as a sign to be spoken against everywhere, a stumbling stone and rock of offence to all sorts of professions, especially to the wisest, as the offscouring, scum, and filth of the world, and a gazing-stock wherever he comes in the flesh; so he is to this day who suffers the opposition of all the wicked; this is his glory, and this is his joy in this world, wherein we rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer with him.""I came to see the begotten of the father manifest in measure in me in the pure image of a holy child... Christ formed in me as the scriptures witness... I was made to endure the loss of all things, and to deny all things that ever this holy spirit did war against in me, which miqht in any way oppress this holy plant, or hinder its growth, owning his judgment in the light, upon whatever was in my heart or affections but him alone..."-James Nayler, Quaker

"Now, with the Light, which is eternal, which searches, and tries, and examines, and weighs, and makes all things manifest, of what sort it is. Let this search and try you, how you grow up in the eternal and immortal birth, and do not deceive your souls. For except you are born again, of water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter. Now see whether you can read this in the Light; and whether you know, and see, and witness this in your own particulars, yes or no; and see whether you are not like Nicodemus, who said, How can these things be? and whether you are not ignorant of this. Therefore, all come down to the witness of God, and deal plainly with your own souls; and let the judge, which stands at the door, pass sentence upon you. Let the time past suffice, that you have hidden the talent in the earth, which you have received from the Lord to benefit all. Now, Friends, deal plainly with yourselves, and let the eternal Light search you, and try you, for the good of your souls. For this will deal plainly with you. It will rip you up, and lay you open, and make all manifest which lodges in you; the secret subtlety of the enemy of your souls, this eternal searcher and trier will make manifest. Therefore all to this come, and by this be searched, and judged, and led and guided. For to this you must stand or fall... Consider one another, and provoke one another to Love and to good works, not forsaking the Assembling of yourselves, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. And dwell in love and unity, in the pure eternal Light; there is your fellowship, there is your cleansing and washing. Here is the mystery to all the disobedient ones. And the everlasting God, of everlasting Light, and everlasting life and power, keep you all here faithful to your own measure; that so the resurrection and the life you may witness, and the living bread you may feed on, which, whosoever eats of, shall never die. So God Almighty be with you, and preserve you all faithful in Christ Jesus." -Margaret Fell, Quaker
“Give over thine own willing, give over thine own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God sows in thy heart, and let that grow in thee, and be in thee, and breathe in thee, and act in thee.” “God is the fountain of beings and natures, the inward substance of all that appears... As the soul is more emptied of the strength and riches it received from God, so it is more prepared to enter into, and live in, the Pure Being itself. For nothing can live there which veils. In the life God was, and is, and is to be all in all forever. Therefore, that which enters there, and lives and abides there, must be poor, empty, naked, nothing, and remain nothing forever. But as it gathers anything from the fullness, and becomes anything in itself, it is thereby shut out.""...but there must be a season of desolation, of stripping, of nakedness, of being unclothed of all the purple and scarlet dye of Babylon. A pulling off of the ornaments of all the knowledge worship, ordinances, duties, experiences &c., which are held and practised out of the pure life. And in this state of misery and sore distress, the Lord lays the foundations of the new heavens, and of the new earth, in the spirits of his people; which, when it is finished, then at length he saith to Sion, 'Thou art my people.'""I was in a poor, low condition, when the Lord formerly visited me. I was as lost, as undone, as miserable as any. Whatever knowledge, whatever life, whatever precious virtue I then received was from God’s grace; but it was still his own, and I found that he could call for it at his pleasure. And surely, he who has received from the fountain ought to trust and to give back again to the fountain when he calls for it, and then to remain empty, naked, desolate, until he be again freely visited. This is a hard lesson, who can learn it? Who can trust his life to the fountain and lie open to whatever follows? Yet this did the Lord require of me. And since my heart was not willing to part with my life, but rather strove to retain it and to grow in this first experience of grace unto perfection, he broke it after an unutterable manner, and brought such misery and desolation upon me as I could not possibly have suspected. And now he is teaching me to live more fully upon his grace, or rather upon the spring, where I am nothing, where I can be nothing forever, but he is and will be what he will be, and when he will be. And now nothing in me can be satisfied with him, except what is of him, and lives in him. And here all that I have known, or formerly tasted of him, springs up again at his pleasure; and I drink of the old wine, and also of the new, but I have nothing at my own disposal. And when I cling to anything, or seek to be anything, I lose the spring, and am corrected for my backsliding and adultery of spirit. But then I am again visited with fresh love, and the springing up of fresh power and life, and fresh visitations of the rich mercy and grace which the everlasting fountain naturally opens in its own. The pearl is exceedingly rich, the treasure of life unutterable. He that will possess it must sell all for it, even all his lusts and corruptions, indeed all the riches of his nature (the best of his will, the best of his wisdom most refined). Not only this, but all the riches of his spirit, all that he has held or can hold outside of the life. Then, when he is poor in spirit, and has nothing in himself but emptiness, nothing so much as to receive or retain the life except what is formed, grows up in, and is preserved in the life, according to its own mere will and good pleasure, then only is he fit to be comprehended and brought forth in the eternal spring. Perfectly happy is he who is perfectly possessed by the spring; yet he is not without a proportion of blessedness also who is mourning after it and traveling towards it. This can never be attained by the natural part retaining the letter of any spiritual revelation or knowledge; but only by beginning in the eternal virtue, abiding in it, and traveling from death to death, and from life to life, until all be slain which is to die and perish in the way, and all be raised and perfected which is to receive and live in the kingdom and crown of life forever. This crown the Lord lays before all to run after, but none but the spiritual seed (begotten of and abiding in the Spirit) can obtain it.""Seek not ease in the flesh, no, not in the least; but take up the cross every day, in everything, till the earthly be slain; until the wisdom and strength of the flesh be wholly subdued, and then the wisdom and power of God will become natural.""Keep to the sense, feeling, and experience, and beware of the understanding, the imagining and conceiving mind. The mind cannot be useful to God, nor bring forth anything for God, until it be newly cast, and newly molded.""The light came from the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures; it is of the same nature with the light that shone in them that gave forth Scriptures. It speaks the same thing as Scriptures, it leads to the same thing, and it opens and witnesses to the words which the Scriptures speak. Therefore, the light brings the Scriptures (which have long been abused) into their true use. Indeed it puts an end to the corrupt use of Scriptures, and to man’s inventing and forming things out of them, and brings them into their true use and service. It takes the Scriptures out of man’s hand, who has slain the life by his use of them. It puts the Scriptures into the hands of the Spirit, who makes the words again pure and quick and living; purging away man’s defiled and dead conceivings and interpretations of them. A man must know the Spirit, come to the Spirit, be joined to, and be in union with the Spirit, before he can have the true understanding of the Scriptures. The Scriptures indeed are the words of God, or various expressions of his mind. Now the man who searches these before he has the Spirit cannot know the truth, but can only guess and imagine. And it is from here that so many sects and denominations are sprung up in the world, according to the variety of their imaginations. One sort of men cry, ‘This is the way, this is the truth, this is the church, this is the worship.’ Another sort cry, ‘That is not it; that is superstition and error; but this is it!’ And so a third and fourth, etc. It is the same with the Scriptures. One says this is the meaning; another says it is not so, but this is the meaning. They let their own reasonings and imaginations loose, and there is no foundation of certainty. But if they had waited for the Spirit to begin with, and gone on no further than he opened to them, all these doubts and dissensions would have been choked... He that begins with the Spirit of God, giving himself up to the light which comes from him, comes to true union with God, and to the experience of the life. This one finds a true growth and knowledge of the Spirit of God, whereby he comes to know and understand the Scriptures, which came from the same Spirit. In this way he also comes to be able to measure the deceit of his own spirit, which formerly led him astray, and also to see and measure the spirits of deceivers. But he that is in the deceit, in the imaginations, outside of the true knowledge, he cannot know the deceit of his own spirit, or the spirits of deceivers.""The Lamb in his appearances this day is very hidden and retired, and none can see his paths and follow him, but such as receive of his present ointment, and feel the guidance of the opening of his eye in them." "This then is the way of redemption; to wait to feel the appearance of the light of the Spirit in the heart; and, at its least or lowest appearance, to be turned from the darkness towards it."-Isaac Penington, Quaker
"As there can be nothing more opposite to the natural will and wisdom of man than this silent waiting upon God, so neither can it be obtained nor rightly comprehended by man but as he layeth down his own wisdom and will so as to be content to be thoroughly subject to God. And therefore it was not preached, nor can be so practised, but by such as find no outward ceremony, no observations, no words, yea not the best and purest words, even the words of Scripture, able to satisfy their weary and afflicted souls; because where all these may be, the life, power, and virtue which make such things effectual may be wanting. Such, I say, were necessitated to cease from all outwards and to be silent before the Lord, and being directed to that inward principle of Life and Light in themselves as the most excellent teacher, which 'can never be removed into a corner,' came thereby to be learned to wait upon God in the measure of life and grace received from him, and to cease from their own forward words and actings in the natural willing and comprehension and feel after this inward Seed of Life; that, as it moveth, they may move with it and be acted by its power and influenced, whether to pray, preach or sing. And so from this principle of man's being silent and not acting in the things of God of himself until thus acted by God's Light and Grace in the heart, did naturally spring that manner of sitting silent together and waiting together upon the Lord. For many thus principled, meeting together in the pure fear of the Lord, did not apply themselves presently to speak, pray, or sing, &c., being afraid to be found acting forwardly in their own wills, but each made it their work to retire inwardly to the measure of Grace in themselves, not only being silent as to words but even abstaining from all their own thoughts, imaginations and desires, so watching in a holy dependence upon the Lord thus his Name comes to be one in all, and his glory breaks forth and covers all; and there is such a holy awe and reverence upon every soul that if the natural part should arise in any, or the wise part, or what is not one with the Life, it would presently be chained down and judged out.""And therefore, when the soul comes to this silence, and, as it were, is brought to nothingness, as to her own workings, then the devil is shut out; for the pure presence of God and shining of his Light he cannot abide, because so long as a man is thinking and meditating as of himself, he cannot be sure but the devil is influencing him therein, but when he comes wholly to be silent, as the pure Light of God shines in upon him, then he is sure that the devil is shut out, for beyond the imaginations he cannot go, which we often find by sensible experience.""Inward prayer is the secret turning of the mind toward God whereby, being secretly touched and awakened by the Light of Christ in the conscience, and so bowed down under the sense of its iniquities, unworthiness, and misery, it looks up to God, and joining issue with the secret shinings of the Seed of God it breathes toward him and is constantly breathing forth some secret desires and aspirations towards him. It is in this sense that we are so frequently commanded in scripture to "pray continually", which cannot be understood of outward prayer, because it were impossible that men should be always upon their knees, expressing words of prayer; and this would hinder them from the exercise of those duties, no less positively commanded."-Robert Barclay, Quaker
"Look not out, but within… Remember it is a still voice that speaks to us in this day, and that it is not to be heard in the noises and hurries of the mind; but it is distinctly understood in a retired frame.""The way, like the cross, is spiritual: that is an inward submission of the soul to the will of God, as it is manifested by the light of Christ in the consciences of men, though it be contrary to their own inclinations."-William Penn, Quaker
“O Lord my God! The amazing horrors of darkness were gathered round me, and covered me all over, and I saw no way to go forth... In the depths of misery, O Lord, I remembered that thou art omnipotent; that I had called thee Father; and I felt that I loved thee; and I was made quiet in thy will, and I waited for deliverance from thee.”"...as I was thus humbled and disciplined under the cross, my understanding became more strengthened to distinguish the language of the pure spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart, and taught me to wait in silence sometimes many weeks together, until I felt that rise which prepares the creature to stand like a trumpet, through which the Lord speaks to his flock."-John Woolman, Quaker
"O! make room for Christ in your hearts, or else He is never like to dwell with you; He loves to dwell with the poor and humble and contrite spirit, He abhors the proud, He will empty your souls, that He may fill them." -William Dewsbury, Quaker
“Center down into abasement and nothingness. … This is what I labored after: to be empty, to know nothing, to call for nothing, and to desire to do nothing.” "For it is God that worketh in the willing and obedient soul, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure; but this can only be witnessed by such as experience their own wills to be mortified and slain by the power of the cross inwardly revealed, whereby the true spiritual atonement is made."“For true Christianity is nothing else but a real and complete mortification of our own will, and a full and final annihilation of all self-exaltation.” "And it is a great thing when ministers keep in remembrance that necessary caution of the divine Master, not to premeditate what they shall say; but carefully to wait in the nothingness and emptiness of self, that what they speak may be only what the Holy Spirit speaketh in them; then will they not only speak the truth, but the truth, accompanied with power, and thereby profit the hearers."“For if thou willingly surrenders thyself as an offering to God – to do his will, as by the Light in thy own heart and conscience he is pleased to manifest it to thee – thy understanding will be more and more opened into those things that concern thy present and everlasting peace.” -Elias Hicks , Quaker
"There is no way to find yourself until you discover how utterly to lose yourself."-Rufus Jones, Quaker

Paradiso Canto 31 by Gustave Dore

George Fox’s Commission

With Exhortations by Isaac Penington and Supporting Excerpts from Robert Barclay and William Penn

Once the seeker has realized or come into union with the Light or the Divine Will, they are no longer a seeker, but a Friend of the Truth, and are commissioned to perform those tasks revealed unto them by the Inward Light, which are placed in their heart by the Spirit. In general, Friends have found their commission, as George Fox said, to “be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the earth, answering to that of God in everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make witness of God in them to bless you”, but the particulars of doing this manifest differently in each person, according to their own unique nature.
The following excerpt describes George Fox's personal commission, as revealed to him by the Inward Light, and it is recounted here not to be declared as a universal charge for all Friends to follow, but rather as a clear example of a personal directive which one particular Friend was called to undertake in his own life. In the following passages, rather than issuing a flat, immediate, and universal condemnation of these things, George Fox is describing an alternative to outward, worldly religious practices, and his own commitment to sharing his conviction of such with all people. Fox found that God's Will is to tear down the walls that we have built which falsely separate ourselves from each other, from God, and is instead to keep us in a perpetual state of openness, potentiality, tenderness, flexibility, humility, meekness, adaptability, flowingness, patience, and kindness; being the workings of Love. However, regardless of Fox's leadings, let us remember to always attend to what the Spirit has called us to do in our own hearts, in accordance with what the Light of Christ has personally revealed there. notwithstanding of any seemingly contradictory outside influences - including even those of other Friends, when necessary.
Friends generally reject both the absolute, universal necessity of prescribed outward sacraments, rituals, or rites, and the prohibition of any such practices which the Spirit has prompted one to personally receive or take part in. No rite is universally necessary in itself. Yet if the Spirit leads an individual to a particular outward practice as a means of remembering, surrendering to, or experiencing the Light, the practice may be received gratefully, for a time, without making it a universal requirement for anyone else. If the Spirit uses a particular outward practice as part of bringing someone to the Light, that practice cannot be condemned merely because it is an outward rite. No outward form is universally necessary to realize Christ, yet no outward form is necessarily excluded from doing so. If Christ works through people embedded in non-Christian religious cultures, we cannot establish a universal rule that a religious practice is disqualified merely because of its cultural or ritual form. What matters ultimately is whether the person is being led by Christ through it. God may employ an outward practice as an instrument of inward grace without thereby endorsing it as a universal Christian ordinance. The rite is not the source. Christ is the source. The Spirit is the guide. The fruits born in one's life are the test.
A person may sincerely practice an outward ceremony, and God may meet them through it, even if that practice is later found unnecessary. Therefore, an outward rite may be acceptable as a personal means of responding to God when it is genuinely undertaken in obedience to the Spirit, does not violate the person's conscience or the love of God and neighbor, does not become an imposed universal requirement, and bears good spiritual fruit: compassion, patience, humility, love, peace, truth, and surrender. No outward rite is universally necessary, but neither is one universally forbidden. If a person, in genuine conscience before God, is led by the Spirit to a particular practice, and that practice bears the fruits of the Spirit while remaining subordinate to the inward Light, there is no necessary Quaker principle by which the form itself must be rejected. God does not necessarily require a person to abandon every form before meeting them through it. God can meet them through the form and, when the time is right, lead them beyond it.
Additionally included here an exhortation by Isaac Penington and excerpts from the writings of Robert Barclay and William Penn, which echo Fox's views below. This conscious paring-down of any extraneous personal religious practices which are derivative rather than authentic, being influenced by the world rather than from the Spirit within each person, is a defining aspect of Quakerism. Many Quakers believe that the only thing universally necessary for salvation is to realize God within. This is not to say that other means of bringing attention to God within us are not individually necessary, but rather that the only thing necessary for all people is to look inwardly.

George Fox

"Some time after, the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the world which was like a briery, thorny wilderness. When I came, in the Lord’s mighty power, with the word of life into world, the world swelled and made a noise like the great raging waves of the sea. Priests and professors, magistrates and people, were all like a sea, when I came to proclaim the day of the Lord amongst them, and to preach repentance to them.
I was sent to turn people from darkness to the light, that they might receive Christ Jesus; for to as many as should receive him in his light, I saw he would give power to become the sons of God ; which I had obtained by receiving Christ. I was to direct people to the spirit, that gave forth the scriptures, by which they might be led into all truth, and so up to Christ and God, as those had been who gave them forth. I was to turn them to the grace of God, and to the truth in the heart, which came by Jesus; that by this grace they might be taught, which would bring them salvation, that their hearts might be established by it, their words might be seasoned, and all might come to know their salvation nigh. For I saw that Christ had died for all men, was a propitiation for all, and had enlightened all men and women with his divine and saving light; and that none could be true believers, but those that believed in it. I saw that the grace of God, which brings salvation, had appeared to all men, and that the manifestation of the spirit of God was given to every man, to profit withal. These things I did not see by the help of man, nor by the letter, though they are written in the letter; but I saw them in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his immediate spirit and power, as did the holy men of God by whom the holy scriptures were written. Yet I had no slight esteem of the holy scriptures, they were very precious to me ; for I was in that spirit by which they were given forth ; and what the Lord opened in me, I afterwards found was agreeable to them. I could speak much of these things, and many volumes might be written ; but all would prove too short to set forth the infinite love, wisdom, and power of God, in preparing, fitting, and furnishing me for the service he had appointed me to; letting me see the depths of satan, on the one hand, and opening to me, on the other hand, the divine mysteries of his own everlasting kingdom.
When the Lord God and his son Jesus Christ sent me forth into the world to preach his everlasting gospel and kingdom, I was glad that I was commanded to turn people to that inward light, spirit, and grace, by which all might know their salvation and their way to God; even that divine spirit which would lead them into all truth, and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any.
But with and by this divine power and spirit of God, and the light of Jesus, I was to bring people off from all their own ways, to Christ the new and living way; from their churches, which men had made and gathered, to the church in God, the general assembly written in heaven, which Christ is the head of; and off from the world’s teachers made by men, to learn of Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, of whom the Father said, 'This is my beloved son, hear ye him;’ and off from all the world’s worships, to know the spirit of truth in the inward parts, and to be led thereby, that in it they might worship the Father of spirits, who seeks such to worship him; which spirit they that worshipped not in, knew not what they worshipped. I was to bring people off from all the world’s religions, which are in vain; that they might know the pure religion, might visit the fatherless, the widows, and the strangers, and keep themselves from the spots of the world: then there would not be so many beggars; the sight of whom often grieved my heart, as it denoted so much hardheartedness amongst those that professed the name of Christ. I was to bring them off from all the world’s fellowships, prayings, and singings, which stood in forms without power, that their fellowship might be in the holy ghost, the eternal spirit of God; that they might pray in the holy ghost, sing in the spirit, and with the grace that comes by Jesus; making melody in their hearts to the Lord, who hath sent his beloved son to be their saviour, caused his heavenly sun to shine upon all the world, and through them all; and his heavenly rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, (as his outward rain doth fall, and his outward sun doth shine on all,) which is God’s unspeakable love to the world. I was to bring people off from Jewish ceremonies, from heathenish fables, from men’s inventions and windy doctrines, by which they blowed the people about, this way and the other way, from sect to sect; and from all their beggarly rudiments, with their schools and colleges, for making ministers of Christ, who are indeed ministers of their own making, but not of Christ’s; and from all their images, crosses, and sprinkling of infants, with all their holy-days, (so called.) and all their vain traditions, which they had got up since the apostles’ days, which the Lord’s power was against. In the dread and authority thereof was I moved to declare against them all, and against all that preached and not freely, as being such who had not received freely from Christ."
"Those of us who are living in the Spirit of Christ must work to liberate this Spirit where it is imprisoned in other people, so that they can live in right relationship with God and with others and come to fulfil the true meaning of the Scriptures."
"I declared Truth amongst them, and directed them to the light of Christ in them; testifying unto them that God was come to teach His people Himself, whether they would hear or forbear. I directed the people to their inward Teacher, Christ Jesus, who would turn them from darkness to the light. Therefore I exhorted the people to come off all these things, and directed them to the spirit and grace of God in themselves, and to the light of Jesus in their own hearts, that they might come to know Christ, their free Teacher, to bring them salvation, and to open the Scriptures to them."

Isaac Penington

"Idolatry is the worshiping of God without his Spirit (this is the plain, naked truth of the thing). To invent things from the carnal mind, or to imitate things which others who had the Spirit did in the Spirit, by the command of the Spirit, this is idolatry. An invented or imitated church, ministry, or worship, without the life, without the Spirit, these are the work of men’s hands and are idols, and all that is performed herein is idolatry. (Rev. 9:20.) This is a religion without life, a worship without life. For the living God, the Lord God of endless life and power, is alone worshiped by his Spirit, and in the truth of that life which he begets in the heart. All other worship, however spiritual it may seem, is idolatrous. This is a standing truth: whatever is not of the Spirit of God in religion and worship is of the spirit of antichrist. Whatever the spirit of man has invented or imitated is not the thing itself, is not the true worship. For the true worship is only and continually in the Spirit and never out of the Spirit. The true praying is in the Spirit; the true singing, in the Spirit; the true preaching, in the Spirit: whatsoever is out of it is of antichrist in man. Now therefore give up all your religion, your knowledge, your worship, your practices, which are outside of the Spirit. Return unto the Lord, and wait for his raising of that seed in you which once began to spring, but is now slain, and lies in death and captivity under all these. Therefore, those who dwell in Babylon, put away all your images and likenesses of truth. Put away your false faith (which can never overcome the worldly nature and spirit in you), and your false hope (which can never purify your hearts), and your feigned humility, and self-willed fasts (which can never bring down the lofty, exalted nature in you), and your false love (wherewith you can never love the brethren in the truth) and your false zeal, meekness, holiness, etc. For all of this springs and grows up from the wrong seed. Put away all your praying, reading, and preaching which you have taken up and do practice in your own wills, which will should be crucified; and with which no service, worship, or performance can be pleasing to God. Wait for the raising of the true seed of life, in the true simplicity, whereby you may serve God acceptably here, and be saved hereafter. And be not mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for the destruction is determined against you by that Spirit of life whose breath will waste you. All flesh is grass, and the glory thereof is as the flower of the field! Surely this people is grass, and their zeal and profession of God is like the fading flower."
"And this is the thing which the Lord hath determined to do, both particularly in persons, and generally throughout the earth; namely, to pull down the mighty from their seats, and to exalt the humble and meek (who are made such by the presence and power of his life in them) that he alone may be exalted in the spirits of his people, and throughout the earth. And this work hath the Lord begun already; for his great and notable Day hath appeared, and breaketh forth apace, though the eye which is closed cannot see it, nor the benumbed sense feel it ."
"Therefore, the main thing in religion is to keep the conscience pure to the Lord, to know the guide, to follow the guide, to receive from him the light whereby I am to walk. I must never take things for truths because others see them to be truths, but rather wait till the Spirit makes them manifest to me. Nor should I run into worships, duties performances, or practices because others are led there, but rather wait til the Spirit lead me there."

Robert Barclay

“Lastly, if any now at this day, from a true tenderness of spirit, and with real conscience towards God, did practise this ceremony [(the Eucharist)] in the same way, method, and manner, as did the primitive Christians recorded in scripture, I should not doubt to affirm but they might be indulged in it, and the Lord might regard them, and for a season appear to them in the use of these things, as many of us have known him to do to us in the time of our ignorance; providing always they did not seek to obtrude them upon others, nor judge such as found themselves delivered from them, or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them.” “For we certainly know that the day is dawned, in which God hath arisen, and hath dismissed all those ceremonies and rites, and is only to be worshipped in Spirit, and that he appears to them who wait upon him..."

William Penn

"Now, the poor in spirit, the meek, the true mourners, the hungry and thirsty after righteousness, the peace-makers, the pure in heart, the merciful, and the persecuted, came more especially in remembrance before the Lord, and were sought out and blessed by Israel’s true Shepherd. Old Jerusalem with her children grew out of date, and the New Jerusalem into request, the mother of the sons of the gospel day. Wherefore no more at Old Jerusalem, nor at the mountain of Samaria, will God be worshipped, above other places; for, behold, he is declared and preached a Spirit, and he will be known as such, and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth. He will come nearer than of old time, and he will write his law in the heart, and put his fear and Spirit in the inward parts, according to his promise. Then signs, types, and shadows flew away, the day having discovered their insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the cup, to the cleansing of the conscience; and all elementary services were expired in and by Him that is the substance of all."
"The glory of this day is the revelation of Christ in us... People have been long gathering the shells of religion, and have ignored the kernel."

The last idol is truly the belief in the existence of anything, including a self, that is separate from God. The belief in such is the sin which causes all suffering, but its remission through metanoia/repentence (transformation of the soul/psyche) results in eternal peace. What we find in the silence and stillness is the radical acceptance of Ultimate Reality as the One True Being, which is expressed as Love. With this in mind, the Gospel is revealed as this: we are already complete, the promise is fulfilled, all striving is finished, and we simply must believe this for it to be true. The Kingdom of God is in our midst, and all is ever perfect, if only we accept God’s Will as our own. All that we must ever do is Love, and be at peace.

Woe to the Bloody City of Lichfield, depicting George Fox, by Robert Spence

Interpretation of Spiritual Texts

According to Early Friends

Early Friends were often accused of not regarding the Bible with the proper respect, but it is clear from their writings that this was not the case at all. Rather, it was the the Living Word within all people was given preference, not because it was more important than the words of the Bible, but because it was present, immediate, personal, and indwelling, and thus its teachings and directions were less easily misinterpreted, abused, or misconstrued. The same God, the same Spirit which anointed Christ Jesus in the Bible, and which is written about extensively there, before, during, and after His ministry, is the same Spirit that is with Friends today, and that which allows the words of the Bible and other spiritual texts to be properly understood by one who has realized this Spirit within them.

George Fox

"Keep within. And when they shall say 'lo here' or 'lo there is Christ', go not forth, for Christ is within vou, and there are seducers and antichrists which draw your mind out from the teaching within vou. For the measure is within. and the pearl is within you, which is hid; and the word of God is within you, and ye are the temples of God."
"I saw the state of those, both priests and people, who, in reading the scriptures, cry out much against Cain, Esau, Judas, and other wicked men of former times, mentioned in the holy scriptures; but do not see the nature of Cain, of Esau, of Judas, and those others, in themselves. These said, it was they, they, they, that were the bad people; putting it off from themselves; but when some of these came, with the light and spirit of Truth, to see into themselves, then they came to say I, I, I, it is I myself, that have been the Ishmael, the Esau, &c. For then they saw the nature of wild Ishmael in themselves; the nature of Cain, Easu, Corah, Balaam, and of the son of perdition in themselves, sitting about all that is called God in them.
So I saw, it was the fallen man that was got up into the scriptures, and was finding fault with those before mentioned; and with the backsliding Jews, calling them the sturdy oaks, tall cedars, fat bulls of Bashan, wild heifers, vipers, serpents, &c. and charging them, that it was they that closed their eyes, stopped their ears, hardened their hearts, and were dull of hearing; that it was they that hated the light, rebelled against it, quenched the spirit, vexed and grieved it, walked despitefully against the spirit of grace, and turned the grace of God into wantonness; that it was they that resisted the holy ghost, got the form of godliness, and turned against the power; and that they were the inwardly ravening wolves who had got the sheep's clothing; and that they were the wells without water, clouds without rain, trees without fruit, &c. But when these, who were so much taken up with finding fault in others, and thought themselves clear from these things, came to look into themselves, and with the light of Christ thoroughly to look into themselves, and with the light of Christ thoroughly to search themselves, they might see enough of this in themselves; then the cry could not be, it is he or they, but I and we are found in these conditions.
I saw also how people read the scriptures without a right sense of them, and without duly applying them to their own states. For when they read, that death reigned from Adam to Moses; that the law and the prophets were until John; and that the least in the kingdom is greater than John; they read these things without them, and applied them to others, (and the things were true of others,) but they did not turn in to find the truth of these things in themselves. As these things were opened in me, I saw death reigned over them from Adam to Moses; from the entrance into transgression, till they came to the ministration of condemnation, which restrains people from sin that brings death. When the ministration of Moses is passed through, the ministry of the prophets comes to be read and understood, which reaches through the figures, types, and shadows into John, the greatest prophet born of a woman; whose ministration prepares the way of the Lord, by bringing down the exalted mountains, and making straight paths. As this ministration is passed through, an entrance comes to be known into the everlasting kingdom.
I saw plainly, that none could read Moses aright without Moses's spirit, by which he saw how man was in the image of God in paradise, how he fell, how death came over him, and how all men have been under this death. I saw how Moses received the pure law, that went over all transgressors; and how the clean beasts, which were the figures and types, were offered up, when the people were come into the righteous law that went over the first transgression.
I saw that none could read John's words aright, and with a true understanding of them, but in and with the same divine spirit by which John spake them; and by his burning, shining light which is sent from God. For by that spirit their crooked natures might be made straight, their rough natures, smooth, and the exacter and violent doer in them might be cast out; and those that had been hypocrites might come to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and their mountain of sin and earthliness might be laid low, and their valley exalted in them, that there might be a way prepared for the Lord in them: and then the least in the kingdom is greater than John. But all must first know the wilderness in their hearts, which through transgression were to become a wilderness. Thus I saw it was an easy matter to say, death reigned from Adam to Moses; and that the law and the prophets were until John; and that the least in the kingdom is greater than John; but none could know how death reigned from Adam to Moses &c. but by the same holy spirit which Moses, the prophets, and John were in.
They could not know the spiritual meaning of Moses, the prophets, and John's words, nor see their path and travels, much less to see through them, and to the end of them into the kingdom, unless they had the spirit and light of Jesus; nor could they know the words of Christ and his apostles without his spirit. But as man comes through by the spirit and power of God to Christ, (who fulfils the types, figures, shadows, promises, and prophecies that were of him,) and is led by the holy ghost into the truth and substance of the scriptures, sitting down in him who is the author and end of them, then they are read and understood with profit and delight."
"And so we say, that the word of God is the original, which doth fulfil the scriptures; and the word is it which makes a divine, which is called a hammer , but it is a living hammer; and is called a sword and fire [Jer 23:29], but it is a living sword [Heb 4:12], and a living fire, to hammer, and cut down, and burn up that which separated and kept man from God; by which word man is reconciled again to God, which is called the word of reconciliation [2 Cor 5:19]; by this word are men and women sanctified and made clean.
And this is the word that makes both men and women divine, and brings them into the divine nature, which hammers and cuts down that which corrupted their nature; and by this word are they brought into a divine <291> wisdom, understanding, knowledge [1 Cor 12:8], spirit, and power. And this is the word that lives, and abides, and endures for ever, by which the saints are born again of the immortal seed [1 Pet 1:23] and word of God, (who feed upon the milk of the word [1 Pet 2:2],) up into a divine life, wisdom, and understanding, and divine nature.
And by this word they do see all flesh to be as grass, and as the flower of the field that fadeth [Isa 40:6-8]; and the word of God that lives, and abides, and endures for ever, is Christ, whose name is called the word of God."
"For you may have the history of Christ, and the prophets, and the apostles, and yet be without the life... And if you have not the same spirit that they had, you cannot know their words, nor Christ, nor God."

Isaac Penington

"The Scriptures (or any words spoken or written) are not the light itself, but testimonies concerning the light."
"A man must know the Spirit, come to the Spirit, be joined to, and be in union with the Spirit, before he can have the true understanding of the Scriptures. The Scriptures indeed are the words of God, or various expressions of his mind. Now the man who searches these before he has the Spirit cannot know the truth, but can only guess and imagine. And it is from here that so many sects and denominations are sprung up in the world, according to the variety of their imaginations. One sort of men cry, ‘This is the way, this is the truth, this is the church, this is the worship.’ Another sort cry, ‘That is not it; that is superstition and error; but this is it!’ And so a third and fourth, etc. It is the same with the Scriptures. One says this is the meaning; another says it is not so, but this is the meaning. They let their own reasonings and imaginations loose, and there is no foundation of certainty. But if they had waited for the Spirit to begin with, and gone on no further than he opened to them, all these doubts and dissensions would have been choked... He that begins with the Spirit of God, giving himself up to the light which comes from him, comes to true union with God, and to the experience of the life. This one finds a true growth and knowledge of the Spirit of God, whereby he comes to know and understand the Scriptures, which came from the same Spirit."
"Those who are unlearned and unstable in the mystery of truth, are wresters of Scripture. They cannot understand things as they are, not having the key; and so they wrest them, and strive to make them speak, as they apprehend and would have them."
"The Lamb in his appearances this day is very hidden and retired, and none can see his paths and follow him, but such as receive of his present ointment, and feel the guidance of the opening of his eye in them."

Robert Barclay

"The history is profitable and comfortable with the mystery, and never separated from it; but the mystery is strictly necessary... a man may be saved by the virtue of the Light within, though he be ignorant of the history."
"...it is the inward Work, and not the outward History and Scripture, that gives the true Knowledge; and by this inward Light many of the Heathen Philosophers … Plato … Pythagoras … Plotinus … had a Knowledge and Discovery of Jesus Christ inwardly, as a Remedy in them, to deliver them from that evil Seed, and the evil Inclinations of their own Hearts, though not under that particular Denomination. Some called Him an Holy Spirit, as Seneca … Cicero calleth it an innate Light … Plotinus also calls Him Light, saying ... that it behooveth Man to come to Purity of Heart before he could know God; calling him also Wisdom [(Sophia)] …where Wisdom is said to cry, entreat, and invite all to come unto her, and learn of her: And what is this Wisdom but Christ? Hence, such as came among the Heathen, to forsake Evil and cleave to Righteousness, were called Philosophers, that is, Lovers of Wisdom. They knew this Wisdom was nigh unto them, and that the best Knowledge of God, and divine Mysteries, was by the Inspiration of the Wisdom of God. Phocylides affirmed, that the Word of the Wisdom of God was best … And much more of this Kind might be instanced, by which it appears they knew Christ; and by his working in them, were brought from Unrighteousness to Righteousness, and to love that Power by which they felt themselves redeemed; so that, as saith the Apostle, They show the Work of the Law written in their Hearts, and did the things contained in the Law; and therefore, as all Doers of the Law are, were no doubt justified, and saved thus by the Power of Christ in them … all such as lived according to the divine Word in them, which was in all Men, were Christians, such as Socrates and Heraclitus, and others among the Greeks, &c. That such as live with the Word, are Christians without Fear or Anxiety."

William Penn

“A man may read the Scriptures, and yet never know Christ with the Spirit that gave them forth… for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”
“True religion is an inward, free, and feeling thing, not a form, nor a notion. It is Christ in the soul, the hope of glory; a principle in man, working godliness, righteousness, holiness.”

Critics of Friends produced such images because they did not agree with Quakers' interpretations of the Bible, despite Friends' proclaimed reverence for its teachings.

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