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A65862 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. Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723. 1692 (1692) Wing W1924; ESTC R220968 14,045 25

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think contradicts the foregoing Supposition Only it seems to be qualified with thy meaning no more than that this the Light is that whereby I perform acts of Reason and acts of Conscience May not R. B. be as easily reconciled about the Light and the Spiritual Body of Christ thinkest thou 3. Thy supposing that neither the Soul of Jesus Christ nor his Spiritual Body can ever be a Light to the Mind of Man p. 23. Tr. 2. In these three Suppositions may not I suppose thou leavest no room for Jesus Christ as Mediator in any degree in Men Or hast thou not only said as much herein as one called a Deist may say without relation to Jesus Christ as manifest in several degrees appearances and operations in Man as we truly feel him and confess him Yet I still confess thou hast suppos'd and profest many general Truths in thy Books in respect to the Divine Light within As That to be actually enlighten'd by this Light is the Universal Benefit of all Men yea of all the Intelligent Creation p. 23. That 't is the Essential Truth of God yet that it does not formally enlighten or instruct me but when I attend to it and consult it c. p. 24. That in thy account it the Divine Light is the very Essence and Substance of the Deity exhibitive of All Truth p. 36. On Joh. 1. 4. In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men that if the Proposition be understood formally then it proves that 't is not only a Substance but also a Divine Substance strictly speaking even the very Essence of the Deity c. p. 40. Not that I would be thought to deny the Divine Light to be Grace as to the certain degrees of it so far from that that I think it to be the greatest Grace of God that is with respect to the degrees of it c. p. 46. I in this very Book 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 c. p. 53 54. Thus far thou J. N. with much more of the same import Now Friend J. N. Hadst thou only insisted on these Truths and let the People of God called Quakers alone and not reproacht them with Grossness Confusion c. it had saved both thy self and us farther trouble I would not have thee reproach or vilifie us any further but seriously with the Light of Truth consult and consisider what will make most for thy own inward Peace and quiet Life and if thou art reflected on by any of thy Brethren or Society for confessing the true Light let not that be a Temptation to thee to evade Truth or reproach us Many of thy Brethren of the Clergy might see and confess more of the Divine Light in Man than they do if Avarice Preaching for Hire Filthy Lucre Great Livings and Worldly Preferments did not blind their Eyes cloud their Understandings and choak the Good Seed in them therefore have a care thereof Our Testimony for the Divine Light may be farther seen in many of our ancient Friends Writings as Samuel Fisher's large Book Entituled Rustious ad Academicos and many of Geo. Fox's Books and William Dewsbery's Works with divers others to which I refer thee but chiefly to the Divine Light confess'd in thy self for Information and a right Understanding Which I desire the Lord to give thee Who am A real Friend to thy Soul and a Well-wisher to thee and all Men G. Whitehead London the 22d 7 Mo. 1692. BOOKS Printed for Tho. Northcott in George-yard in Lombard-street RObert Barclay's Works Collected into one Volume Price bound 13 s. John Burnyat's Works 2 s 6 d. G. Keith's Answer to the Presbyterians in New England 1 s. 6 d. His Way to the City of God 1 s. His Fundamental Truths of Christianity 8 d. * That is as to his own distinct intire Essence purely considered without relation to Man or to the Suffering Nature or Spirit of the Man Christ Jesus who suffered as Man but not as God 1. Pray what is it then in Man that is or may be so bruised wounded pressed down c. as R. B. saith 2 Can J. N. say 't is the Proper Essence of God precisely taken 3 What is the Seed the Son of Man sows in Mens hearts Matt. 13. 4. And is nothing of the heavenly Man Christ in it ● Pray consider
38. 1st Treat viz. Whether there be any such thing as 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 p. 38. 1st Treat And to the same purpose he writes more fully and ingeniously in his second Treatise p. 17. Which therefore I may here recite in his own words viz. And here in the first place I shall be so free and ingenuous as to declare that I shall not stand with them concerning any of the Five first Propositions which may be all true for ought I know to the contrary Particularly I shall not stand with them concerning the Spiritual Body of Christ as distinct from that Natural Body wherein he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary There may be such a thing for ought I know or am able to shew to the contrary and I know that several among the Ancients have been of this opinion alledging for its foundation the sixth Chapter of St. John which to confess the truth seems to favour it not a little And this Hypothesis has been of late to the great surprise and amusement of the stiffer and severer sort of Divines re-advanced by a person of singular Note and Eminence in our Church who makes use of it to salve and maintain the Doctrin of the Real Presence supposing that while the Bodies of the Communicants feed upon the grosser Elements of Bread and Wine their Souls as many of them as are fitly disposed do take in and feed upon this Divine and Spiritual Body of Christ which strengthens and nourishes their Inner Man and becomes to them a Principle of Regeneration and Spiritual Life as you may see more fully deduced in his Discourse of the Real Presence particularly in the first and sixth Chapters of that Treatise I shall not therefore I say contend with them concerning the Spiritual Body of Christ either as to its Existence or as to this its Use whether there be such thing or whether it be the Principle of Regeneration and Spiritual Life to the Saints They may be both true for ought I know I see nothing absurd or so much as improbable in them and as I do not surrender up my full assent to what I cannot demonstrate to be true so neither do I care to run down and condemn such Principles which I cannot prove to be false Thus far J. N. It may not be amiss here to insert those 5 first Propositions before mentioned which he has supposed from our friend R. B. c. and which he declared he shall not stand with us concerning any of them for that they may be all true for ought he knows to the contrary Prop. 1. p. 14 15. They meaning the Quakers suppose that the Spiritual Life or the Life of Holiness and Grace is a Substantial Life even as the Life of Vegetation the Life of Sensation and the Life of Reason are all substantial 2. They suppose that this Substantial Life is by the Vital Union of the Soul with some body or other 3. They suppose that this Body in the Vital Union of the Soul with which Spiritual Life does consist is a certain Divine or Celestial Body even as the Natural Life does consist in the Vital Union of the Soul with a Natural or Terrestrial Body of the common Elementary Consistence 4. They suppose that Christ had two Bodies of a distinct Original and of a different Contexture c. a Body which he took from the Virgin Mary and a Body in which his Soul existed long before he took flesh of the Virgin These are the very words of Mr. Barclay To the Question of his adversary Had Christ two Bodies He answers Yes and let him deny it if he dare without contradicting the Scripture Joh. 6. 58. Christ speaks of his flesh which came down from Heaven but this was not the Flesh he took from the Virgin Mary for that came not down from Heaven but he had a Spiritual Body in which his Soul existed long before he took Flesh of the Virgin 5. They suppose that this latter the Spiritual Body of Christ is that Divine or Celestial Body in the Vital Union of the Soul with which our Spiritual Life or our Life of Grace does consist c. That this is that heavenly Manna that living Bread discoursed of in the 6th of St. John that Divine Aliment upon which the Saints do feed and whereby they are nourished unto Everlasting Life Obj. The premises of the whole foregoing matters seriously considered and compared where 's the great difference between J. N. and R. B. 1. The one confesseth the Divine Substantial Essence and Nature of the Deity to be that Light which is in Men. The other confesseth God as Father Son and Spirit to be the Light in Men and to be in that Seed Principle or Spiritual Body of Christ which is in some degree in all Men. 2. The one confesseth the Divine Light of the Word that was with God to be in all Men. The other confesseth Christ who is that Word to be in all Men in some measure 3. The one confesseth the Spiritual Body of Christ consequently Christ's being in that Body The other cannot deny it but rather assents to it 4. Both confess the Light of Christ within to be a Divine Substantial Light and Truth 5. They differ not about the Divine Essence of the Light as being of the Nature and Being of God and Christ as he is the Divine Word or Logos but somewhat about the mode or manner of its Being Discovery and Reception as in Man The one supposeth the very Essence and Substance of the Deity to be intimately united to our Minds And the other that 't is in us as in a Medium i. e. in the Spiritual Body of Christ which is rather assented unto than opposed or in and through Christ as Mediator for therein he is God's Servant most eminent and our Saviour See Isai. 42. 1 6 7. ch 49. 6. ch 52. 13. 53. 11. Zech. 3. 8. 6. But the main difference is That J. N. dislikes and condemns is in R. B. and G. K. their making the Spiritual Body of Christ to be the Light within p. 18. Treat 2d Concerning which and his saying That not even the Soul of Jesus Christ much less his Spiritual Body can ever be a Light to the Mind of Man p. 23. Treat 2d I ask him if any spiritual part of Jesus Christ wherein he is received and knowable in Man can be truly said to be no Light to the Mind or Soul of Man How then says Christ himself I am the Light of the World I am the Way the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by me Joh. 14. I could draw strange consequences on J. N. in this matter but chuse at present to be sparing To