Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	life_n	soul_n	5,160	5	5.5664	4	true

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

hitherto been so barren in Productions of this kind that in stead of having many Intelligent Writers they have had but few that are so much as Intelligible We may therefore well allow the Quakers to swell and plume a little when they have at once so Rare and so Great an Occasion for it For really Sir Mr. Barclay is a very great Man and were it not for that common Prejudice that lies against him as being a Quaker would be as sure not to fail of that Character in the World as any of the finest Wits this Age has produced But to qualify and allay their Joy that they may not be overset with it you suggest to me that it would be convenient if they were now a little taken down and humbled to which I assent as a very proper and seasonable Undertaking and withal as now worthy of the greatest of our Learned Pens For I cannot forbear thinking Quakerism to be now considerable enough to deserve an Opposition and that if any of the Learned would with Credit and Reputation attempt the Confutation of it now is their Time now their loose and scatter'd Notions are reduced to Order and Method and appear under the Form of a Regular and Artificial System with all the Advantages that can be given them from a Scholastical Head and a well-order'd Education Now therefore there would be some Adventure in the Engagement and Honour in the Conquest And thus far Sir I agree with you thinking an Undertaking of this kind to be as proper and seasonable as any that the Juncture of the present Age can afford I only dissent from you in the Choice of the Undertaker who I doubt is not so well qualify'd for such a Work as you who are not so well acquainted with him as I seem to imagin However since you are pleas'd to impose your Commands upon him he is loath wholly to decline them even while he knows himself unable to perform them but does so far prefer his Duty to his Reputation as to be willing to lead the way and to flourish a little upon the Strings in hopes that his aukward and inartificial touching of them may provoke some more Masterly Hand to take up the Instrument By this Sir you may perceive that 't is nor my Design to examin the whole Body of Quakerism which indeed would require more leisure and opportunity than the ordinary Busmess and particular Engagements of my Life will conveniently allow I shall chuse rather to single out one of their most Capital and Fundamental Principles and to expose the Grossness and Absurdity of it and that is their Famous Doctrin of the Light within which you know Sir to be the very Heart of their Cause that Cardinal Point upon which the whole Weight of their System turns the very Life and Soul of Quakerism I know very well nor can you I suppose be ignorant that this Principle of theirs since its first appearance in the World has been all along entertain'd with Laughter and Contempt and tho by themselves the most regarded of any for there is no Point of theirs upon which they lay so much Stress as upon this has yet by others been most of all Vilified and ridiculed and has contributed the most of any one thing to that great and general Contempt they lie under next to the particular Oddness of their Habit and Ayr and the Uncourtliness of their Language and Behaviour Nor is there any thing either strange or amiss thus far For certainly this Notion of the Light within according as the Quakers explain and represent it is really ridiculous enough to make the Patrons of it so and well deserves all the Scorn and Contempt that is cast upon it But that which I particularly observe as blamable in this matter is this that me generality of those who deride the Doctrin of the Light within know not upon what Grounds they do it nay for the most part they do it upon no other Grounds than barely to indulge the humersom Inclinations of a certain light and wanton Spirit that loves to disparage and run down all novel and singular Opinions especially if they carry in them an Ayr of Seriousness or Religion And of those few that proceed by more certain Grounds and Measures of Judgment the greatest part proceed by false and undue ones condemning the Doctrin of the Light within not as 't is held and represented by the Quakers for to my Knowledg very few even of the Learned have given themselves the Curiosity to know how they hold it but in Gross and in General They condemn the Doctrin not as so or so stated but in common and as such in its most direct and immediate Sense thinking it absurd to suppose that there is any other Principle of Light in Man besides his Rational Soul which they will have to be a Light to it self at least as far as concerns Natural and Moral Truths Now herein I confess I am so far from agreeing with these Gentlemen of the Second Order for the former are of no account that I think they do very ill in deriding and ridiculing this Doctrin of the Light within in general and as such and are guilty of more Impiety and Profaneness than they are aware of For upon the deepest Consideration of all the possible ways of Human Understanding I am thoroughly perswaded and have partly shewn the Grounds of this my Perswasion elsewhere that Man cannot be his own Light or a Light to himself in the acquirement of Knowledg and therefore that there must of necessity be some other Principle of Light in him distinct from his own Rational Nature which you know I make to be the Divine Ideas the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Substantial Word and Wisdom of God in whom I suppose Man to perceive all that he perceives I am therefore so far from disallowing or condemning the Doctrin of the Light within that I very earnestly stand and contend for it as for a very true solid and necessary Notion without which there can be no intelligible Account given of the Mode of Understanding I am therefore so far from taxing the Quakers for the general Supposition they go upon that I heartily joyn with them in it supposing as they do that Man cannot be a Light to himself only I adhere more closely to this Supposition than they do For when they make Man uncapable of being a Light to himself they mean not as to Natural things which according to them may be discern'd by a Natural Light but only as to Spiritual things which cannot be discern'd but by an Higher Principle Whereas I acknowledg the Supposition in a greater Latitude supposing Man uncapable of being a Light to himself not only with respect to Spiritual Truths but even as to Natural things all which are discern'd by that one common Light of Man the Divine Light which I make to be necessary not only to the Discernment of Divine and

see if he review the place with the least Attention the Opposition between my Notion of the Divine Light and that of the Quakers is not made to consist in this that they make it to be an Accident and I a Substance but in this that they represent it as something only communicated exhibited or manifested by God whether as an Accident or a Substance I was not then concerned to consider whereas in my Account it is the very Essence and Substance of the Deity exhibitive of all Truth and always presential to our Mind And therefore when 't is said that the Quakers usually talk of the Light within as of some Divine Communication or Manifestation only the Term only is not exclusive of Substance in general but of the Divine Substance or Essence of God I know very well and have no temptation to dissemble it that 't is the express Doctrin of the Quakers that the Divine Light is a Substance not an Accident For they make it the Principle of Regeneration which they all say and Mr. Keith has taken a great deal of Pains to prove it is a Substantial Life as much as the Life of Vegetation Sensation or Reason is and as far as I can apprehend the Notion may be sound and true enough in its self and wants only to be fix'd upon a right Bottom And I know that Mr. Barclay in his Apology lately Printed in Folio with the rest of his Works says expresly We understand not this Seed Light or Grace to be an Accident as most Men ignorantly do but a Real Spiritual Substance which the Soul of Man is capable to Feel and Apprehend from which that Real Spiritual Inward Birth in Believers arises call'd the New Creature the New Man in the Heart But tho it be too plain to be denied that the Quakers make the Light to be a real Substance yet 't is also as plain that they do not make it the very Substance of God By this Seed Grace and Word of God and Light says Mr. Barclay wherewith we say every Man is enlightned and hath a measure of it which strives with them in order to save them and which may by the Stubbornness and Wickedness of Man's Will be quench'd bruised wounded pressed down slain and crucified we understand not the proper Essence and Nature of God precisely taken which is not Divisible into Parts and Measures as being a most pure simple Being void of all Composition or Division and therefore can neither be resisted hurt wounded crucified or slain by all the Efforts and Strength of Men. But we understand a Spiritual Heavenly and Invisible Principle in which God as Father Son and Spirit dwells a measure of which Divine and glorious Life is in all men as a Seed which of its own Nature draws invites and inclines to God And this we call Vehiculum Dei or the Spiritual Body of Christ the Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven of which all the Saints do feed and are thereby nourish'd unto eternal Life Whether there be any such thing as this Vehiculum Dei or Spiritual Body of Christ which is a Notion several Learned Men both before and since the appearance of Quakerism have entertain'd upon the reading the 6th Chapter of St. John I have neither Cause nor Mind at present to dispute But I think 't is plain from this Account Mr. Barclay gives of the Light that tho it be a Substance yet 't is not the same with but really distinct from the Substance or Essence of God For it is not Deus but Vehiculum Dei And to the like purpose Mr. Keith another of their most considerable Writers speaking of the Seed of God which is the same with the Light now in Question says that it is not the Godhead it self but a certain middle Nature Substance or Being betwixt the Godhead and Mankind c. Again says he p. 131. This middle Nature I call a Divine Substance or Essence not as if it were the Godhead it self or a Particle or Portion of it but because of its excellency above all other things next unto the Godhead as on such an Account Men do call other things Divine which are very excellent c. Again says he in the next Paragraph This excellent and intermediate Being may be call'd the Divine Being because the Godhead is most immediately manifest therein and dwelleth in it as in the most Holy Place or Holy of Holies More Testimonies I might but I think need not add it being sufficiently clear from these cited out of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Keith that the Quakers do not hold their Light to be the very Substance and Essence of the Deity though at the same time I think they ought and that they are inconsistent with themselves in that they do not For that Text of St. John In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men which they quote to prove the Light to be a Substantial Principle does not prove so much as that unless the Proposition be understood Formally and if it be then it proves a great deal more viz. That 't is not only a Substance which is all they infer from it but also a Divine Substance strictly speaking even the very Essence of the Deity And indeed what less than that can be a Light to the Soul How can any thing that is not God or that is created be so But 't is not my present Business to consider what the Quakers ought to say but what they do say 'T is plain that they do not make the Divine Light to be the proper Substance of God but a certain middle Nature and 't is as plain that I do which lays a sufficient ground of Difference between us so that my first Distinction is so far from falling to the Ground that it stands upon firmer Ground than ever and if my Adversary has but the Understanding and the Ingenuity of a Man I dare appeal to him whether he be not fairly Answer'd and Confuted as far as concerns this first Particular But whatever his Judgment be I presume the Judicious Reader will be of mine and so give me leave to advance forward to the Exception against the Second Article THY Second is as insignificant and like an Arrow shot at random lights on thy own Head being attended with some contradiction to thy former Thou sayest the Quakers represent this Light within as a sort of extraordinary Inspiration Where learn'st thou this Before it was a Divine Communication and Manifestation only and now an extraordinary Inspiration Thou wouldst have done well to have let the Quakers Principle alone till thou hadst learnt it better and more honestly to represent it Is not Extraordinary more than Common or Communication and Manifestation only Have not the Quakers declared the Light to be Universal as well as Divine in its Gift and Manifestation to the Sons of Men It is certainly true they have and yet I

man at any time when he pleases stir up that Light and Grace but he must wait for it c. Bringing in the Comparison the Lake of Bethesda and the Angel at certain times moving upon the Waters From which Words of Mr. Barclay it plainly appears that no Man tho never so close a Follower of the Light is under the actual Illumination of it at all times and yet the same Author does not deny but every where earnestly contend that the Light is always in Man as well as in every Man and if this be not to abstract the Capacity or Possibility from the Act of Illumination by the Light I despair ever to know what is And why may not the Capacity of Illumination be abstracted from the Act since they are not only in themselves distinct but proceed from different Causes and between which there is according to them no necessary Connection The former depending upon the in-being only of the Divine Light and the latter upon the Soul's Introversion of it self to it without which she will not be enlightned by that Light which she bears According to what Mr. Barclay says upon that Text Rom. 3. 11. There is none that understandeth Why understand they not but because they are not turn'd to the Light that can give them Understanding As to his Comparison taken from seeing which he will not have possible to be abstracted if Light be not separated from the Eye I answer First That if there be any Force in it 't is against themselves as convincing them of Absurdity in Abstracting or Dividing what is not to be divided For the Signification of it must be this That as the Act of Seeing is not to be abstracted from the Capacity when Light is not separated from the Eye so the Act of Illumination is not to be abstracted from the Capacity of it when the Divine Light is not separated from the Soul And why then do they abstract the Act of Illumination from the Possibility when they suppose the Divine Light to be present in the Soul as 't is plain they do when they reach that 't is not in the power of Man to be enlightned when he please tho the Light be really in him If the actual Illumination of the Soul must necessarily follow upon the Presence or Being of the Divine Light in it then why do they abstract it from it by supposing that Man has it not always in his Power to move and stir up the Light as was before noted But indeed whatever Connexion there may be between the Presence of the Divine Light and the actual Illumination of the Soul it does not follow that there is any from the Similitude he here uses in which there is no Force at all the ground of it rightly conceived not being true For Seeing may be either taken in a Material Sense for that Physical Impression made upon the Retina by the Rays of Light that pass in various Refractions through the several Humours of the Eye or else in a Formal Sense for that Sensation of the Soul which ordinarily accompanies that Impression and whereby she is conscious of it If Seeing be taken in the former Sense then indeed it will hardly be possible to abstract the Act of Seeing from the Capacity of it if the Light be not separated from the Eye But if Seeing be taken in the latter way for the Sensation of the Soul whereby she is conscious of that Physical Impression made upon the Organs of Sight which is the most proper acceptation of the Word Seeing then the Act of Seeing may very well and is often abstracted from the Capacity of it and that notwithstanding the Light be not separated from the Eye There being nothing more common than for Men whose Minds are deeply fix'd upon some engaging Objects that call off and divert their Attention another way not to observe what stands just before their Eyes and what Physically and Materially speaking they cannot chuse but see So that this Comparison as prettily as it looks will not serve the purpose for which it is used But I forget my self 't is pity a good Similitude should be spoil'd by being too nicely examin'd And now as to the Contradiction which he pretends to find between the Fourth Article where all Men are supposed to be actually enlightned and the Fifth where the Light is supposed not Formally to enlighten me but when I attend to it and consult it Tho he has so lately spoil'd his Credit with me in this point that I shall not be very forward to take his Word for a Contradiction again yet I shall not scruple to confess that there is at first View some Appearance of Opposition between these two but I think no more than what any Fair and Candid Reader may easily accommodate only by considering and collating together the two different occasions upon which these two seemingly opposite Passages were deliver'd For in the Fourth Section being to oppose my Notion against the Quakers as to the Confinement of the Light to certain Men as to the Act of Illumination there I lay down this Assertion That all Men are actually enlightned And in the Fifth Section being to oppose my self against another Notion of the Quakers in making the Light to be some determinate form'd Dictate or Proposition expresly and positively directive and instructive there I say that it does not formally enlighten me but when I attend to it and consult it as being no Form'd Proposition but only the Essential Truth of God Wherein 't is plain that I do not deny the actual Illumination of all the thing asserted in the former Section but only determin the manner of it that it is not done by any Proposition ready form'd and held forth to the Soul but by the Soul 's consulting the Divine Idea's or Essential Truth of God For when I say it enlightens Men only when they attend to it and consult it I do not suppose that there are any that are not actually enlightned but that those who are enlightned are enlightned by attending supposing at the same time that all Men do in some measure attend to and consult the Divine Light so far at least as is necessary to their common and ordinary way of Understanding and to render them rational and intelligent Beings 'T is true indeed the Quakers do also make the Light to enlighten none but those that convert themselves to it But then there is this material Difference between us that they representing the Light as an extraordinary Accession to the Order of Human Understanding and as a Saving Grace in the whole Kind of it do not suppose it necessary that all should turn themselves to it Whereas I not looking upon it as an Extraordinary Grace as to the whole kind but as an ordinary Requisite to Human Understanding do suppose it necessary for all to turn to it or consult it so far as to render them thinking and understanding Beings