William Roger writes in Part One of his Christian Quaker (1680) on pages 24-26:

'Tis well known, that it pleased the Lord, to reach unto many of our Consciences at the beginning of this latter Day, that hath dawned amongst us; whereby we came to Believe in the Everlasting Light of the Lord; and as others held forth the Visible Orders, and Written Faiths of a Visible Church to be as a lantern to their Paths, and as a Ground of their Faith, so this…

Where there is no outward tradition, Where there is no outward Family, Where is no outward creed or doctrine, Where there is no outward institution, Where there is no outward community, Where there is no outward nation, Where this is no outward government, Where there is no outward practice, Where there is no outward religion; enter that empty space and patiently wait for the re-cognition of eternal human being independent of outward forms and professors of form. In patient waiting, without…

Around 26 years after a spiritual impulse, that changed the very nature of their conscious and conscience, manifested within a group of individuals (who called themselves Children of Light) in England a disunity happened among them over whether there was a role for the establishment of outward doctrine, tradition, and institutional structure. Some in the gathering affirmed a role and others in the gathering did not.

It is compelling that for at least around 30 years there existed a…