Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n
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A65862
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The divine light of Christ in man, and his mediation truly confessed by the people called Quakers. In a brief and gentle examination of John Norris his two treatises concerning the divine light. Intended to wipe off his undue reflection of grossness and confusion on the Quakers notion of the light within. With a postscript to J. N. By G. W. a servant of Christ.
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Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W1924; ESTC R220968
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14,045
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truly as the Saints be the light of the World instrumentally or Light in the Lord who enlightens them Is not Christ intirely in all respects a Light as well as all other Spiritual Good to the Soul For Christ is not divided Ans. 2. 'T is certain that God is Light even the Fountain and Fulness of all true Divine Light and in him is no darkness at all and he hath shined in our hearts to give us the light of the Knowledge of his Glory in the Face of Christ Jesus our Mediator and Way to the Father God is our Light and Salvation in Christ. Therefore for any to suppose R. B. or the Quakers to hold or intend that the Divine Logos Word or true Light which enlightens all Men Joh. 1. is not the Divine Essence or not of the Being or Substance of God is wrongfully to suppose that they oppose or deny the plain Testimony of John the Evangelist which expresly saith In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God the same was in the Beginning with God and that In it was Life and the Life was the Light of Men Joh. 1. Which Light therefore was of the very Essence and Substance of the Deity 'T is certain that Jesus Christ as God enlightens all Men and as he is God and the heavenly Man he enlivens and quickens the true Believers and regenerates them into his own heavenly Image 1 Cor. 15. 45. Psal. 119. 25 37 40 50 88 93 147 154 Verses And I am sure R. B. and the People called Quakers are so far from opposing or denying this Gospel-truth that both they and he do sincerely own believe and confess it See R. B.'s own Testimony in his Works quoted fol. 11. where he expresly saith Christ is near unto every one for in him we live and move and have our being and this nearness of his unto all Men in a day is more i. e. to them than the general presence in respect whereof he abides with all the works of his hands forasmuch as he is in them to enlighten them that they may believe John 1. 9 c. Whence 't is plain that here he owns Christ and even as God also to be that true Light in all Men. And likewise in fol. 63. R. B. owns even what his opposer grants namely That the Light is in all Men and that Christ is in all Men in so far as his Light is in all Men confessing Christ's Light to be in all Men even in such as are not in Union with him adding That where the Light is there is Christ the Donator of it which is all we say Thus far R. B. And in fol. 64. he confesseth An universal manifestation of the Holy Spirit in every one and that he that believeth in the Light believeth in Christ for where the Light of Christ is there is Christ himself compared with fol. 66. Thus far R. B. Wherein I hope J. N. and he are agreed viz. That this Divine Light in Man is of the very Nature Substance and Essence of God and his dear and only begotten Son Jesus Christ. And therefore I wish J. N. would be so charitable and tender as not to study either to make or widen Differences or Breaches in point of Judgment where they are not in reality if Matters be impartially and truly lookt into and compared 3. But R. B. supposes a Spiritual Body of Christ or Principle which says he we call Vehiculum Dei wherein God as Father Son and Spirit dwells or appear in Man as he understands and what then is this either to deny God or a Light of his Divine Essence to be in Man when it grants God both as Father Son and Spirit to be in such a Divine Principle as is in Man yea that Christ the Eternal Word which was with God and was God thus dwells in us fol. 334. which R. B. adds to the words before cited by J. N. against him wherein he truly supposes that Christ as in a Seed or in such a Love or Mediatory appearance in Men may be pressed crucified and slain as to them who are said to crucifie the Lord of Life afresh unto themselves yet not as to his own intire Existence or Being nor as he is the Omnipotent God for tho' Christ be a Lamb and aspersed and crucified to many by their Iniquities he is also a Lion and hath power to stir up his strength even in Man when he pleases And for the Seed of Eternal Life to be sown in us and that the Lord would raise up his Power in us these are not new nor uncouth Expressions but prayed for even in the Liturgy of the Church of England As to his words which we call Vehiculum Dei speaking of the Spiritual Body of Christ I conceive he speaks in condescention in the Person of some of the learned Writers or Philosophers who have used those Terms and not in the Person of the People called Quakers who are not only esteem'd an illiterate People but are a plain simple innocent People who most affect plain Scripture-Language without any School Glosses or Nice Distinctions to deck adorn or illustrate their Christian Profession of Christ or of his Divine Light within and many Thousands may not understand the terms Vehiculum Dei Intermediate Being nor the word Idea's so much used by J. N. Nor is Jesus Christ Preacht among us under those terms but in Scripture-terms both as he is truly God and as he is the one Mediator between God and Men even the Man Christ Jesus as having an inward sight sense and knowledge of him by his Divine Light Spirit Life and Power so as we shall not need to fall out about the Names thereof but prize the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord above all the World's Wisdom natural and acquired Knowledge and Learning for in him are all the hidden Treasures of true Wisdom and Knowledge We who are a plain simple-hearted People who are content with what God has bestowed upon us are not willing to trouble our heads with curious Notions nor with intricate school Definitions and Distinctions about Words and Names having an inward feeling of the principal thing the root of the matter intended 5. Concerning R. B.'s speaking of the Spiritual Body of Christ as a heavenly invisible and Divine Principle and believing God as Father Son and Spirit dwells therein and are to be known and received therein I think J. N. has no great reason to differ with him therein much less to suppose thence that he or we conclude the Divine Light or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mention'd Joh. 1. but a meer Creature And considering that Doctrin of the Spiritual Body of Christ is that which R. B. intends in all his Discourse of that Subject J. Norris himself cannot oppose but rather grants the probability thereof and then where 's the Controversie For which take a view of his own words p.
conclude this Comparison for reconcilement Although R. B. and J. N. acknowledge Christ the Divine Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the Light within even that Light which enlightens all Men the one supposeth 't is as in the spiritual Body of Christ and the other cannot tell he knows not but there may be such a thing However both confess the Light to be a substantial Light of the Divine Essence and Nature of the Deity I think in the main the difference is not very great not so great as to deserve such severe Reflections and Reproach from J. Norris As That the 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 p. 3 4. Treat 2. But I must take leave to tell him I cannot believe this his Reproach and Contempt which he hath cast on us and our Notion as he calls it nor that it can any ways become his Profession either thus to gratifie Scorners and Contemners or thus to teach the wicked their way who scorn and contemn Religion and Truth but rather I take it that he writ this scornful and contemning Passage against us very inconsiderately and from a groundless Passion of which the Lord make him truly sensible and forgive him And also of his undue censorious and scurrilous detraction viz. That the Quakers only Cant in some loose and general Expression about the Light which they confirm with the Authority of St. John ' s Gospel tho' they understand neither one nor t'other p. 24. Herein he was too censorious we know in whom we have believed we thank God and what inward sense and experience we have of his Light and Grace in our Hearts for Life and Salvation from Sin and Death and what real change and reformation it has wrought and brought forth in us in Life and Conversation◠Blessed be the Lord our God for ever Yea we can sincerely say Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And seeing J. N. saith That to the like purpose Mr. Keith another of their most considerable Writers speaking of the Seed of God saith c. By his words to the like purpose he means like as R. B. hath declared about the Spiritual Body of Christ c. To which I say then what has been said for R. B. in the case may serve for Answer to him about G. K. Howbeit that Faithful Man R. B. being gone to his rest and not here to answer for himself I was the more concerned to take notice of him and of his own Explications in this Matter It may be R. Vickeris or some else may find cause to answer J. N.'s two Treatises more particularly and fully for themselves but that I leave What J. N. saith That to be a Light to the Mind of Man is to be to it the Principle of Understanding to furnish it with Idea's and to be the immediate Object of its Conception immediately present to the Mind and to have the whole perfection of being the Idea's of all things and to be an Universal Representative which conditions especially the last no creature either has or can possibly have and therefore no creature is able to be a Light to the Soul of Man p. 23. Treat 2. These Propositions we shall not need to dispute nor oppose the Inference which affects not our Principle of the Divine and increated Light of God and Christ in Man and therefore shall not need to examine J. N.'s large Philosophical Demonstrations of the same Propositions being not denied but the same in effect asserted by R. B. In his concluding it A meer Calumny for any one to say That the Quakers Exhort People to believe in a meer Creature Apol. 798. Besides where such Creatures as the Saints in Christ were called the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth and those that were sometimes Darkness were become Light in the Lord when converted they were such not of themselves nor as meer Creatures but as joined and united unto and made partakers of Christ Jesus and to God in him who was their Light their Life and Salvation and that heavelily Salt that seasoned and sanctified them And if they were Light in the Lord who was their Light much more Christ Jesus who is the Fountain of Divine Light and Universal Illumination in whose Light and not as in a Creature Men ought to believe that they may be Children of the Light And although we believe in God through Jesus Christ and 't is through him as our Mediator that our Faith is truly in God and not without respect to Christ and living Faith in him he being the Author of our Living and Divine Faith who said Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14. 1. 'T is evident that accordingly R. B. testifies unto Jesus Christ the Son of God both as God and Man Creator and Mediator saying Apol. p. 274 275. 1. That Word that was in the Beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made c. and that this is that Jesus Christ by whom God created all things by whom and for whom all things were created that are in Heaven and Earth c. Col. 1. 16. Who therefore is called the First-born of every Creature Col. 1. 15. As then that infinite and incomprehensible Fountain of Life and Motion appeareth in the Creatures by his own Eternal Word and Power 2. So no Creature has access again unto him but in and by the Son according to his own express words See Matt. 11. 27. Luke 10. 22. Joh. 14. 6. Hence he is fitly called the Mediator betwixt God and Man c. And that there is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son and that he is the only Mediator p. 368. POSTSCRIPT Friend John Norris ON the serious perusal of the Controversie 1. I do not find that thou hast exalted the Divine Light of God and his dear Son more than the People called Quakers yet am glad thou hast exalted it so much as thou hast done beyond many if not most of thy Brethren and I truly wish thy mind may be turned into it and kept in it out of all fleshly Wisdom and Imaginations that thou mayest feel true Divine Life Power and Wisdom in it as well as have a Notion of it 2. I do not see but our Friends exalt Jesus Christ as Mediator betwixt God and Men more than thy self For which please to consider 1. Thy supposing the very Essence and Substance of the Deity to be so intimately united to our Minds as that there can be no Medium between God and the Creature p. 22. Treat 1. p. 8. Treat 2. 2. Thy supposing the Light within to be a Man's natural and ordinary way of Vnderstanding and saying This is Reason this is Conscience speaking of the Light p. 22. 55. Tr. 1. This I