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Title: Spiritual Reformers in the 16th & 17th Centuries

Author: Rufus M. Jones

Release Date: March 28, 2008 [eBook #24934]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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SPIRITUAL REFORMERS IN THE 16TH & 17TH CENTURIES

by

RUFUS M. JONES, M.A., D.Litt.

Professor Of Philosophy, Haverford College, U.S.A.

MacMillan and Co., Limited
St. Martin's Street, London
1914

Copyright

_OTHER VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES_

_EDITED By RUFUS M. JONES_

STUDIES IN MYSTICAL RELIGION. (1908.)
By Rufus M. Jones.

THE QUAKERS IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES. (1911).
By Rufus M. Jones, assisted by Isaac Sharpless and Amelia M. Gummere.

THE BEGINNINGS OF QUAKERISM. (1912.)
By William Charles Braithwaite.

THE SECOND PERIOD OF QUAKERISM. (_In preparation._)
By William Charles Braithwaite.

THE LATER PERIODS OF QUAKERISM. (_In preparation._)
By Rufus M. Jones.

{v}

PREFACE

In my _Quakers in the American Colonies_ I announced the preparation of
a volume to be devoted mainly to Jacob Boehme and his influence. I
soon found, however, as my work of research proceeded, that Boehme was
no isolated prophet who discovered in solitude a fresh way of approach
to the supreme problems of the soul. I came upon very clear evidence
that he was an organic part of a far-reaching and significant
historical movement--a movement which consciously aimed, throughout its
long period of travail, to carry the Reformation to its legitimate
terminus, the restoration of apostolic Christianity. The men who
originated the movement, so far as anything historical can be said to
be "originated," were often scornfully called "Spirituals" by their
opponents, while they thought of themselves as div