A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers

In 1694, William Penn sat down to write a preface for the posthumous journal of his friend George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement. What emerged was far more than a preface. It was a sweeping history of God’s dealings with humanity, an explanation of Quaker beliefs and practices, a tribute to Fox’s extraordinary character, and a passionate appeal to the world — all in six tightly argued chapters that became one of the most widely read Quaker texts of the eighteenth century.

Penn traces the story from creation itself through the patriarchs, the prophets, Christ and the apostles, and the long corruption of medieval Christendom, arguing that the true church went into hiding during centuries of spiritual decline. The Protestant reformers made progress but remained incomplete. Into this gap, God raised up a despised people who recovered what had been lost: worship in the Spirit, ministry from divine life rather than human learning, and the revolutionary conviction that Christ himself — the Inner Light — is present in every human heart as teacher, guide, and savior.

Whether you come to this book as a student of history, a seeker after spiritual truth, or simply a reader curious about one of the most remarkable religious movements in Western civilization, Penn has something to offer. His closing cry — “Turn in, turn in, I urge you” — has rung through three centuries as one of the great invitations in Christian literature.