his life within him; that this spirit furnished him with divine knowledge; and that it often impelled him to address and exhort the people.”  Justin the Martyr had no scruple in calling both Socrates and Heraclitus Christians, though they lived long before Christ; “for all such as these, says he, who lived according to the divine word within them, and which word was in all men, were Christians.”  Hence also, since the introduction of Christianity, many of our own countrymen have been Quakers, though undistinguished by the exterior marks of dress or language.  Among these we may reckon the great and venerable Milton.  His works are full of the sentiments of[32] Quakerism.  And hence, in other countries and in other ages, there have been men, who might be called Quakers, though the word Quakerism was unknown.

[Footnote 32:  Milton not only considered the Spirit of God as a divine teacher, but that the scriptures were not to be spiritually understood but by the means of this spirit.  He believed also, that human learning was not necessary for the qualification of a minister of the Gospel.  And he wrote an essay against tithes.]

But independently of the agency of the Spirit of God, which the Quakers thus consider to be the purest cause of a good life and character, we may reckon a subordinate cause, which may be artificial, and within the contrivance and wisdom of man.  When the early Quakers met together as a religious body, though they consisted of spiritually minded men, they resolved on a system of discipline, which should be followed by those who became members of the society.  This discipline we have already seen.  We have seen how it attempts to secure obedience to Christian precepts.  How it marks its offences.  How it takes cognizance of them when committed.  How it tries to reclaim and save.  How, in short, by endeavouring to keep up the members of the society to a good life, it becomes instrumental in the production or preservation of a good character.

From hence it will appear, that the virtue of the Quakers, and of course that their character may be distinguished into two kinds, as arising from two sources.  It may arise from spiritual knowledge on the one hand, or from their discipline on the other.  That which arises from the first, will be a perfect virtue.  It will produce activity in excellence.  That which arises from the second, will be inferior and sluggish.  But, however it may be subject to this lower estimation, it will always be able to produce for those who have it, a certain degree of moral reputation in the opinion of the world.