Book: A Key

Overview
William Penn’s A Key (1692) is a compact, plain-spoken guide that “opens the way” to understanding the Quaker faith for readers across backgrounds. Written at a time of suspicion toward Friends, it aims to remove prejudice by setting forth their principles in Scripture-friendly, practical terms. Rather than engage in point-scoring controversy, Penn offers a map: how to distinguish the living work of God from mere tradition; how to read the Bible without losing sight of the Spirit that inspired it; and how a life shaped by the inward rule of Christ yields a visible, orderly people.

The Rule and the Word
At the heart of the tract is Penn’s distinction between letter and life. The ultimate rule of Christian faith and practice is the Spirit and Light of Christ inwardly revealed, which God in mercy has given to all. The Scriptures are owned as a true and precious record and a secondary rule, a touchstone that accords with the Spirit’s teaching, not a rival to it. Penn contends that only the same Spirit that inspired the text can rightly interpret it; otherwise people mistake the form for the power. This appeal to the inward witness answers the charge of enthusiasm by insisting on sobriety, consistency with Scripture, and the moral fruits of obedience.

Christ and Salvation
Penn affirms both the historical work of Christ and his inward appearance to the soul. Salvation is not a bare imputation but a living union in which faith works by love, purifies the heart, and brings forth holiness. The daily cross, self-denial to the Light, is the path by which the believer is conformed to Christ. Grace is universal in offer, effectual as it is received; condemnation rests on resisting the Light. Thus Quaker doctrine neither excuses sin under a cloak of profession nor trusts in human merit, but magnifies Christ as the author of both forgiveness and new life.

Worship and the Ordinances
True worship is in Spirit and in truth, not in outward forms devised by men. Friends therefore wait upon God in reverent silence until prayer, ministry, or praise arise from the motion of the Spirit. Penn treats baptism and the supper as inward and spiritual realities: the washing of regeneration and the communion of the body and blood of Christ in the heart. He denies that outward rites are necessary marks of the church under the gospel, yet he refuses contempt for those who observe them conscientiously, urging all to press after the substance.

Ministry and Church Order
Ministry among Friends is free, without hire, and springs from an immediate call of Christ through the Spirit’s gifts. The same principle that gathers the church also orders it: elders and meetings watch over life and doctrine, care for the poor, encourage the diligent, and admonish the disorderly. Women’s gifts are owned because the Spirit is not limited by sex or station. This order is not priestcraft but a gospel discipline that preserves a people in humility, temperance, and good works.

Civil Society and Conscience
Penn upholds civil government as God’s ordinance for punishing evil and protecting the good. Friends submit to just laws, pay their dues, and seek peace. At the same time, conscience is God’s deputy in man: therefore they refuse oaths, choosing plain truth-telling, and decline carnal weapons, committing their cause to the Lord. Their testimonies against swearing, tithes, and war flow from the same evangelical root, loyalty to the kingdom that is not of this world.

Tone, Method, and Aim
The tract speaks in a conciliatory, scriptural key, often gathering propositions and then proving them by appeals to the prophets, Christ, and the apostles. Penn’s method is practical: he measures doctrine by its power to produce righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. His aim is not novelty but primitive Christianity revived, religion as life and virtue rather than speculation and ceremony.

Significance
A Key became an accessible doorway into Quaker thought at a moment of misunderstanding and controversy. By knitting together inward spirituality, biblical fidelity, ethical rigor, and civic peaceableness, Penn offers readers a coherent picture of a people shaped by the living Christ, recognizably Christian, publicly harmless, and zealously devoted to holiness.