Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	principle_n	quaker_n	1,601	5	10.2010	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52440	Two treatises concerning the divine light the first, being an answer to a letter of a learned Quaker, which he is pleased to call, A just reprehension to John Norris for his unjust reflections on the Quakers, in his book entituled, Reflections upon the conduct of human life, &c., the second, being a discourse concerning the grossness of the Quakers notion of the light within, with their confusion and inconsistency in explaining it / by John Norris ...	Norris, John, 1657-1711.; Norris, John, 1657-1711. Grossness of the Quaker's principle.	1692 (1692)	Wing N1276; ESTC R2996	64,661	150

TWO TREATISES Concerning the Divine Light THE FIRST Being an Answer to a Letter of a Learned Quaker which he is pleased to call A Just Reprehension to John Norris for his Vnjust Reflections on the Quakers in his Book Entituled Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life c. THE SECOND Being a Discourse concerning the Grossness of the Quakers Notion of the Light within with their Confusion and Inconsistency in Explaining it By JOHN NORRIS M. A. Rector of Bemerton near Sarum and late Fellow of All-Souls College in Oxford LONDON Printed for Sam. Manship at the Black Bull in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1692. Licensed April 15. 1692. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THo I have not professedly undertaken in the Two following Treatises to give an express and full Account of the Divine Light but only so far as I have occasion to do it in dealing with my Adversary yet if my Judgment may be taken concerning my own Work I think that even this Occasional Account that occurs up and down in these Papers may be so considerable as to give them a fair Right to the Title of Treatises concerning the Divine Light And tho the direct and professed business of the former of these Treatises be only a Private and Personal Ingagement between me and my Opposer yet that it has been the occasion of my delivering many great and considerable things as well Absolutely as Relatively consider'd and such as if read carefully and judiciously and with a thoroughly Awaken'd Attention may contribute very much to the clearing of many useful Truths and to the Improvement of the Reader in several curious Points of Speculation An Answer to a Letter of a Learned Quaker which he calls A just Reprehension to John Norris of Newton St. Loe for his unjust Reflection on the Quakers in his Book Entituled Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life c. By the Author of those Reflections THO I do not think it any great piece of Ignorance or Defect of Learning not to be rightly acquainted with the Quaker's Principles which if I knew them never so well would add but little either to my Knowledge or to my Opinion of it yet I am withal so sensible of that Right which even the meanest Persons and Parties have to Justice and Fair Dealing that I think I should not be able to justifie my misrepresenting those Principles of which I might be very excusably Ignorant And since this is the thing laid to my Charge and that with a great deal of Passion and angry Resentment not to say Rudeness and Incivility I think I may be allow'd to be so far concerned at the Indictment as to endeavour to acquit my self of it not so much for the Honour of my Judgment which I do not conceive at present to lie much at stake as for the Justification of my Sincerity Which tho I so peculiarly value that I might be allowed to be a little warm in the Vindication of it especially coming after such a provoking and affrouting Adversary yet I hope I shall be able so to temper my Spirit and govern my Pen that the Defence shall not be near so passionate as the Charge I confess indeed I did not expect any great Civility of Address from a Man of this sullen Tribe whose visible Mark and Character is Rusticity and who are generally at as great Defiance with all Courtliness of Style as of Behaviour But yet I thought that the Gentleman and the Scholar for such it seems is the Quality of my Adversary might so far ballance and over-rule the Quaker as to contain him within the Limits of Ordinary Decency and keep him on this side Rudeness and Scurrility To be blunt and down-right is one thing but to be rude and abusive is another And however I might expect the former from him and excuse in him as a Quaker yet of the latter I thought he would not be guilty as a Gentleman Indeed the least that I could expect from a Person of Mr. Vickris his Education and Quality was that he would not be uncivil especially in his first Onset and writing to a Person that was a Stranger to him and who tho he does not look upon himself to be so great as to be above Contradiction may yet justly think himself considerable enough to expect and deserve fair and civil Language But in stead of this he falls foul upon me after such a rude violent and passionate manner as is below the Breeding even of a Water-man and such as a Man of any Temper would be ashamed to be guilty of even in the sudden Heats of common Discourse Which may tempt some unlucky Fancies to imagin that he has exchang'd his Gold quaking Fit for an Hot one and that the Light within is turn'd into a Flame I cannot in Justice deny but that for a Man of his Way my Adversary is pretty considerable for his Sense and Learning notwithstanding that he endeavours to represent me as a Dunce and Blockhead as well as a Knave and I believe he would have shewn more of each and with better Advantage if the Violence of his Passion had not disturb'd the Clearness and Order of his Thoughts and put him often out of his Guard For Passion is the great Contrariety to Reason and will draw a Cloud over the brightest Mind The quiet and sedate Soul is most fit for the Contemplation of Truth as the calmest Weather is commonly the most serene If Love be blind Anger I 'm sure is much more so and there is this remarkable difference between the Wars of the Pen and those of the Sword that tho the Soldier may fight to most Advantage in Hot Blood the Disputant will reason best in Cold. But lest I should appear guilty of a false Charge in this respect as he says I am in some others and be thought to misrepresent the Temper and Behaviour of my Adversary as he says I do his Principles I think it necessary for my own Security to give the Reader some Account of the Passion Rudeness and Abusiveness of this Aggressor before I proceed to consider the Argument of his Paper And here to pass by the Roughness and the Magisterial Ayre of the Title Page where at first Dash he assumes the Office of a Censor and undertakes to Reprehend taxing me with no less than False Representation Confusion and Self-Contradiction which I think might be more properly left to the Judgment of the Reader or bring up the Arrear than be placed in the Front of the Book I appeal for the Truth of this Charge to the following Passages When first says he pag. 3. I perused thy Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life c. I was and still am pleased with all that tends to the Propagation of Original and Necessary Truth but rejoyce where I find it spring from an upright Mind pure Intention and clean Vessel What Reason has he to question or prejudge the Uprightness of my

I think he has given me no small occasion to suspect that this was written not so much for the Clearing of Truth as for the clearing that is the discharging himself and the ridding his Stomach of an uneasie Load which now he is discharg'd of I hope he will sleep in quiet And thus having given the World a View of some of the Rudenesses of this Author for in mercy to the Reader as well as to my Adversary I have not set down all I now dare appeal to the same Judge whether such foul reflecting Expressions as these become either the Breeding of a Gentleman or the Charity of a Christian or the Pretensions of a Quaker I say the Pretensions of a Quaker for tho the Quakers do not pretend to the External Civilities either of Language or of Behaviour but rather seem to distinguish themselves by an opposite Rusticity in each yet 't is well known that they make high Pretensions to Charity particularly to that most Christian part of it that consists in Meekness and Gentleness in Patience and Long-suffering in a quiet and passive temper of Spirit To these as 't is well known their Pretensions run so high as to offer to turn the other Cheek to the Smiter nay even to scruple the Lawfulness of War which it seems is too rough a thing for such calm inoffensive Creatures as they all made up of Love and Sweetness But now let any but a Quaker judg how well Mr. Vickris has maintain'd this Character Had I been never so gross in misrepresenting the Quakers Principle I could not have deserv'd such a Barbarous Treatment from him or if I had yet it would not have been consistent with his so highly Christian Pretensions to give it me No he should have suffer'd rather and have return'd Good for Evil. At least he should have had so much regard to their so greatly pretended Principle of Meekness as not to suffer himself to run into such Intemperances of Passion and Language as he appears now to be guilty of Is this the Charity is this the Meekness of a Quaker If it be then Sit Anima mea Let my Soul be with the Philosophers shall I say Or with the Men of the World or indeed with any Men rather than with such a bitter foul-mouth'd Sect as this What the Temper of this Gentleman is in his Conversation I know not but if he governs his Tongue no better than he does his Pen and 't is strange if he should I think 't would be a Blessing both to himself and others if he were Speechless For the Language of the latter is so very foul that I believe the Arch-Angel in his Dispute with the Devil about the Body of Moses did not only use better to him which would be but a small matter but receiv'd better from him I 'm sure he could not well receive worse And now we are upon Scripture-Allusion I shall beg leave to offer one Text to Mr. Vickris his Consideration in requital to those many severe ones he has set before mine This Gentleman is both by his Principles and by his express Declaration in this Paper a great Despiser of that Wisdom which is from below otherwise by him call'd corrupt Wisdom and a great Pretender to that Wisdom which is from above let him hear then and consider what St. James says The Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle c. With which I conclude this part and so pass on from the Passion to the Argument that is contain'd in this Paper And here if there be any Dependence upon that Saying that Strong Passions produce weak Arguments I may hence take a Presage of a Successful Issue in the present Engagement But however for fear of the worst I think it necessary here in the Entrance to advertize the Reader that the Question now in Debate beween us is not concerning the Truth of the Quakers Principles but concerning the Truth of my Representation of them not whether their Principles are true in themselves but whether they are truly represented by me So that if Mr. Vickris should have the Fortune to win the Stake it would only be a private personal Victory without any Advantage to the Cause of Quakerism which is not concern'd in the Issue of this Dispute This being premised I must further acquaint the Reader that the Book which Mr. Vickris excepts against as guilty of misreporting their Principles is my Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life particularly in the Postscript added to the Second Edition where I undertake to give some Account of the difference between my Notion of the Divine Light and the Quakers Light within And this I do in several Articles distinctly which because of the frequent recourse that we shall have to them in the Sequel it will be a Satisfaction to have here set down They are therefore as follows I. The Quakers usually talk of this Light within as of some Divine Communication or Manifestation only whereas I make it to be the very Essence and Substance of the Deity which I suppose vertually to contain all things in it and to be intimately united to our Minds II. The Quakers represent this Light within as a sort of Extraordinary Inspiration whence they have the Name of Enthysiasts whereas I suppose it to be a Man's Natural and Ordinary way of Understanding III. The Quakers if I mistake not confine their Light within to some certain Objects namely Moral and Spiritual Truths in order only to the direction of Practice and accordingly make it a Suppliment to Scripture which they say is not sufficient without it nor indeed any more than a meer Dead Letter But now I do not appropriate this Divine Light to Moral or Spiritual things but extend it as far as all Truth yea as far as all that is Intelligible which I suppose to be perceiv'd and understood in this Divine Light as I have explain'd it IV. The Quakers make their Light within a special Privilege of a certain Order of Men their own Party Not inded as to the Possibility because they suppose all Men to be indifferently capable of this Divine Illumination as may appear from their contending against Predestination and for Universal Grace But tho they do not make it a special Privilege as to the Possibility yet they do as to the Act making none but those of their own Way to be actually enlighten'd by it Whereas according to my Principles this is no special Privilege but the common and universal Benefit of all Men yea of all the Intelligent Creation who all see and understand in this Light of God without which there would be neither Truth nor Understanding V. The Quakers by their Light within understand some determinate form'd Dictate or Proposition expresly and positively directing and instructing them to do so or so Whereas my Light is only the Essential Truth of God which indeed is always present to my Understanding as

it that he might have something to expose and harangue upon For is it in the least to be imagin'd or does Mr. Vickris in his Conscience seriously think that I who in this very Book and in these very Articles he reflects upon as well as in the whole Course of my other Writings upon this occasion do all along earnestly contend that this Internal Light is no other than the very Essence and Substance of God whose Omniformity is exhibitive of all things and is the immediate Object of our Conception that very Truth which we conceive And that I who make this the ground of Difference between my Principle of the Light and that of the Quakers that they do not make it the Substance of God but only something communicated by or from him whereas I expresly do I say can it be imagin'd that after all this I should so far forget my self as to make this Divine Light to be the very same thing with Human Understanding and so confound as he pretends the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Man's Reason and Conscience Sure I should be fitter to pick Straws in Bedlam than to write Books should I be so senseless as to make Truth and Understanding Object and Faculty God and Creature all one But as this is too gross to be my real Meaning so the Scope and Antithesis of the Article do plainly shew that it was not 'T is plain from thence and no candid Reader would have understood me otherwise that my Meaning tho for Brevity's sake not so explicitly worded was no other than what has been already suggested viz. That whereas the Quakers represent their Light as something extraordinarily superadded to the natural way of Understanding as supposing two distinct Lights in the Soul and so not absolutely necessary to Understanding as such which according to them may be without it I on the contrary making but one way of Understanding in all suppose this Light to be so far from being such an Extraordinary Superaddition that 't is so requisite to the Natural and Ordinary way of Understanding that there is no Understanding without it And so when I say pag. 77. This is Reason this is Conscience 't is plain enough that I mean no more than that this namely the Light is that whereby I perform Acts of Reason and Acts of Conscience not that it is my very reasoning Faculty but that whereby I reason and discourse as furnishing me with Idea's for my Contemplation And if this be the Natural and Necessary Sense of my Words as I believe Mr. Vickris must needs be sensible that it is then his whole following Harangue about my confounding the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Man's Natural Reason and Conscience is quite spoil'd and from a piece of Rhetoric becomes a most trifling Impertinence or to borrow a Stroke of Oratory from him Insignificant and like an Arrow shot at Random Exception against the Third Article IN thy Third Section thou com'st in with a Salvo Errore If I mistake not the Quakers confine their Light within to some certain Objects namely Moral and Spiritual Truths in Order only to the Direction of Practice How shouldst thou do otherwise but mistake the Principles of others seeing thou art so confused about thine own However I must tell thee it is no small Fault at such an Uncertainty to expose Peoples Principles and 't is an Abuse to say that the Quakers confine the Light within It is Divine Supernatural and Uncircumscribable in it are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg Where have the Quakers taught otherwise Have they not testified and declared the Light and the Spirit of Truth are one and the same in being which will guide into all Truth John 16. 13. The Quakers believe this Divine Light to be the Quickner of their Understandings to Know and of their Wills to Love and Practise all Truth and that it assists the Natural Faculties of the Soul in the Attainment of necessary Arts and Sciences as well as capacitates it to Know and Practise Moral and Spiritual Truths Thou may'st read what the Author to the Book of Wisdom says on this Subject in the 9th and 10th Chapters And whereas thou sayst the Quakers make the Light within a Supplement to Scripture which they say is not sufficient without it nor indeed any more than a meer dead Letter I answer These Words Supplement to Scripture are thy own not ours and this seems to be a Composition of thy own Notion of the Quakers Faith concerning the Holy Scripture without any Quotation of their Words or Writings and as 't is an Objection is built upon thy mistake in thy former Section viz. The Quakers represent this Light within as a sort of extraordinary Inspiration Which hath been already Answer'd proving the Universality of the Divine Light in Man which consider'd there is no just Cause for this as an Objection against the Quakers assigning the Scriptures to be insufficient without the Light because the Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures cannot occur to the Understanding without it and the Formal Reason thereof is its Presence and Manifestation The Quakers believe that Christ Jesus by his Divine Light within doth in these Days as in the Days of his Flesh expound fulfil and open to the True Believers the Holy Scriptures which according to the Apostles Exhortation to Timothy Chap. 2. 3 15. are able to make wise unto Salvation Note through Faith which is in Christ Jesus The Word Supplement in this Sense I hope will be found no Error but according to thy Construction of the Quakers representing the Light within as a sort of Extraordinary Inspiration Sect. 2. or special Priviledg of a certain Order of Men their own Party as in Sect. 4. And then making them to say the Scriptures with relation only to the Direction of Practice as thy Lines import Sect. 3. are not sufficient without it nor indeed any more than a meer dead Letter is to render the Quakers not only singular and erroneous in their Principle of the Light which shall be more duly observ'd in its place but also contemptuous of the Holy Scriptures as useless and insufficient to all but themselves which is a great and hainous Abuse of a Society of People without Cause and Provocation and contrary to their Public and Known Assertions both by Word and Writing who believe according to the same Apostle to Timothy Cap. 2. 3 16 17. that all Scripture c. And this shall suffice for an Answer to thy Third Section The Answer IF I deliver'd my self with more than ordinary Caution and Reservedness in this Article it was because of my abundant Concern lest I should injure those whom I was representing by a false Charge tho I think it is too much for Mr. Vickris to condemn me for misrepresenting them and yet to upbraid me with my Tenderness in doing so at the same Time But I find upon further Examination that I needed