very Foundation of Quakerifm, and their great and Fundamental Error, that has led them into fo many more, by their taking their own • vain Imaginations for the Teachings of Chrift the Word, as the Light within them; whereas it is not faiḍ, That Chrift the Word was a C Light in every Man; nor can it be inferr'd from his being the true Light that lighteth • every Man, that he therefore inwardly enlightens every Man with a divine spiritual and fupernatural Light within him, fufficient to teach him all the Neceffary and Effential Truths of Christianity without any outward Teaching."

To this we Answer,

(m) That which the People call'd Quakers lay down as a main Fundamental in Religion, is this, That God through Chrift, hath placed a Principle in every Man, to inform him of his Duty, and to enable him to do it; and that ⚫ those that live up to this Principle, are the People of God; and those that live in Difobedience to it are not God's People, whatever Name they may bear, or Profeffion they may make of Religion'.

This Principle they call the Light of Chrift within Man, or Light within:

THIS Light, they fay, is the fame spokeno f in the ft Chapter of John, and thus reason in Proof of it's Divinity.

FROM the Words of that Evangelift,

1. In him [the Word] was Life and the Life was

the

(m) W. P's. Works. Vol. 2. p. 855.

the Light of Men. Job. i. 4. The Life of the Word which was God, is divine fpiritual and fupernatural; hat Life was the Light of Men, therefore a divine spiritual and fupernatural Light.

2. THAT was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World. v. 9. confequently every Man that cometh into the World. is enlightened with a divine fpiritual and fupernatural Light.

3. IF Chrift the Word be by his divine Effence every where in all Things, and in all Men, as this Writer grants p. 10. then the Life of Christ, the Word, is in all Men, which Life being the Light of every Man, it Neceffarily follows that the Light is within every Man.

THIS Light of Chrift, they affirm, is the fame with the Spirit of God, in proof whereof W. P. fays,

.

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(n) IF it appear that the properties afcribed to the Light within, are the fame that are given to the Holy Spirit or Grace of God; and that thefe feveral Terms or Epithets, are only to exprefs the divers Manifeftations and Operations of one and the fame Principle, then it will not, it ⚫ cannot be denied, but this Light within is Divine and Efficacious, as we have afferted it. Now, that it is of the fame Nature with the Spirit and Grace of God, let the Properties of the Light be compared with thofe of the Spirit and Grace of God. I fay, they are the fame, in that, First, The Light proceeds from the One Word, and One Life of that one Word, which was C. • with

(n) Works p. 861

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• with God, and was God, John i. 4, 9, Secondly, It is Univerfal, it lighteth every Man, John i. 9. Thirdly, It giveth the Knowledge of God and Fellowship with him, Rom. i. 19. John iii. 21. John i. 5, 6. Fourthly. It manifefteth and reproveth Evil, John iii. 20. Ephef. v. 13. Fifthly, It is made the Rule and Guide of Chri• ftian Walking, Pfal. xliii. 3. John viii 12. Ephef. v. 13, 15. Sixthly. It is the Path for • God's People to go in, Pfal. cxix. 105. Prov. iv. 18. Ifa. ii. 5. 1 John i. 7. Rev xxi. 4. And the Nations of them that are faved fhall walk in the Light of the (Lamb.) Laftly, It is the Armour of the Children of God againft • Satan, Pfal xxvii. 1. The Lord is my Light whom shall I fear? Rom. xiii. 12. Let us put on the Armour of Light.

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• Now let all this be compared with the properties of the Holy Spirit, and their Agreement will be very manifeft. Firft, It proceedeth from God, because it is the Spirit of God, Rom. vi. II. Secondly, It is Univerfal. It ftrove with the Old World, Gen. vi. 3.. Then to be fure with the New One. Every one bath a Measure of it given to Profit withal, 1 Cor. xii. 7. Thirdly. It revealeth God, Job xxxii. 8. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. Fourthly. It reproveth Sin, John xvi. 8. Fifthly. It is a Rule and Guide ⚫ for the Children of God to walk by, Rom. viii. 14. Sixthly, It is alfo the Path they are to walk in, Rom. viii. 1. Gal. v. 16. Walk in the Spirit. Laftly, This is not all. It is likewise the fpiritual Weapon of a True Chriftian. Eph. vi. Take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. After this, I hope none will deny that this Light and the Spirit, must be of one ⚫ and the same Nature, that they work one and the

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17.

the fame Effect, and tend evidently to one and the fame holy End.

They also say,

THAT this Light or Spirit is fufficient of it felf even without the Holy Scriptures to lead and "guide the Faithful into all neceffary Truth. To deny this, is to leave the Heathens and Mahometans in an inevitable State of Perdition, merely for want of that, which God in his Providence hath withheld from them, which would impeach his Wifdom, Mercy, Juftice and Goodness, and even call in Question his Omnipotence, as tho' God was not the fame now, fince the giving forth of Scripture, that he was before it was extant, when his Light or Spirit did of of itself without Scripture, lead and guide the Faithful into all Truth ne-. ceffary to their Salvation, as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Ffaac and Jacob, and all the Righteous from the Creation unto the Days of Mofes which was according to Scripture Chronc logy 2500 Years; or elfe, as if God had fo limited himself by Scripture, fince the giving of it forth, that he had made the Salvation of all Men utterly impoffible without it.

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To avoid this plain Confequence, this Writer falls to distinguishing, For (fays he) tho • Chrift the Word is by his divine Effence every where, in all Things, and in all Men, and fufficient or able, in an Extraordinary way, inwardly to teach Men all the Effentials of Chriftianity, without any outward Teaching; yet that in his ordinary way with Men, he does it, is contrary both to Scripture and Reafon, and the general Experience of Mankind, who have not (as the Quakers themselves own) the outward Knowledge of Chrift, or of Chrift's outward Manhood, and outward Birth, and Death, • and

€ 2.

Sect. II. and Sufferings in the Flesh, but from the Scripture and outward Teaching. And yet these are fuch effential Truths of Chriftianity, that the whole Chriftian Faith and Religion, as it is distinguished from natural Religion depends thereupon.

To prove which he perverts the Text, Matt. xvi, 16,&c. by leaving out, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for Flefb and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father wich is in Heaven. Which Words plainly fhew that those of Chrift next following, Upon this Rock will I build my Church,

had Relation to that divine Revelation on which Peter's Faith was grounded.

We have fhewn in the foregoing Section, that the outward Knowledge of Chrift's Birth, &c. is not fuch an effential Part of Chriftianity as that it cannot confift without it; and therefore need not repeat it here.

HIS Diftinction between Chrift's Extraordinary-and Ordinary way of Teaching, is not in Scripture Terms; but we find that George Keith after his Apoftacy from the Quakers, made a Diftinction not unlike it, in Anfwer to whom Richard Claridge afferts,

THAT, God doth afford unto all Men, even in the ordinary Way of his Providence, fuch a Manifestation of his Light or Spirit, as is fufficient to lead and guide the Faithful into all Truth neceffary to their Salvation, without the Holy Scripture,

WHICH