And that thou, reader,
mayst obtain it, is the earnest desire of him that is ever thine in so
good a work.
WILLIAM PENN.
CHAP. I.
_Containing a brief account of divers dispensations of God in the world_,
_to the time he was pleased to raise this despised people_, _called
Quakers_.
Divers have been the dispensations of God since the creation of the
world, unto the sons of men; but the great end of all of them, has been
the renown of his own excellent name in the creation and restoration of
man: man, the emblem of himself, as a God on earth, and the glory of all
his works. The world began with innocency; all was then good that the
good God had made: and as he blessed the works of his hands, so their
natures and harmony magnified him their Creator. Then the morning stars
sang together for joy, and all parts of his work said Amen to his law.
Not a jar in the whole frame; but man in paradise, the beasts in the
field, the fowl in the air, the fish in the sea, the lights in the
heavens, the fruits of the earth; yea, the air, the earth, the water, and
fire, worshipped, praised, and exalted his power, wisdom, and goodness.
O holy sabbath! O holy day to the Lord!
But this happy state lasted not long; for man, the crown and glory of the
whole, being tempted to aspire above his place, unhappily yielded,
against command and duty, as well as interest and felicity, and so fell
below it; lost the divine image, the wisdom, power, and purity he was
made in; by which, being no longer fit for paradise, he was expelled that
garden of God, his proper dwelling and residence, and was driven out, as
a poor vagabond, from the presence of the Lord, to wander in the earth,
the habitation of beasts.
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