Francis Howgill

Some of the Mysteries of God's Kingdom Declared Francis Howgill

Francis Howgill (1618 - 1668) was a prominent early member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England. The collected works of Howgill were first published in 1676, eight years after his death, in a large volume entitled, "The Dawnings of the Gospel Day, and its Light and Glory Discovered." A significant abridgment of this lengthy volume was published in 1832 by James Backhouse, which contained, among other writings, an abridged version of the essay entitled,"Some of the Mysteries of God's Kingdom Declared, etc." The document you are about to read is not the Backhouse version of this essay, but rather a less abridged version that I transcribed from a photocopy of the original 1676 publication. Because the style, punctuation, and spelling used in early modern English differs considerably from the English of today, some editing was unavoidable in preparing a readable manuscript. Nevertheless, I believe this publication represents a more accurate and complete rendering of Howgill's original essay than any other currently available.