[ The documents brought forward under this division of the work, are almost wholly of dates antecedent to the records of the established meetings of the Society at large, held in London: they will be found to possess much interest and value, - evincing the earnest concern and holy care of our Early Friends, in the first establishment of the Christian Discipline of the Society. It is remarkable how large a portion of the subjects of advice or of regulation, set forth in these early documents, have continued to this day to be acknowledged or maintained amongst us as a religious body: - the wisdom of Truth, it is believed, was at the outset closely sought after, in the building up of the edifice, the only true foundation of which, was often testified, and reverently owned, to be Christ, - the head of the {Page 276} church; and His Spirit the cementing bond of union, of edification, and the only right authority therein. In some matters of disciplinary regulation, variations or modifications are observable, (as would be expected, ) when compared with the regulations of after times; but the directing principle of Truth, it is believed, was the warrant with our Early Friends for those subsequent modifications: the changes, however, were but few and comparatively slight, after the more general settlement of the several meetings for discipline, including those of Women Friends and of Ministers and Elders, throughout the Society, towards the close of the seventeenth century, or between the years 1670 and 1690. ]
[Source: Letters, &c., of Early Friends; Illustrative of the History of the Society, From Nearly it’s Origin, to about the Period of George Fox’s Decease; with Documents Respecting It’s Early Discipline, also Epistles of Counsel and Exhortation, &c. London: Harvey And Dayton, Gracechurch Street, 1841 pages 275,276]
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