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Show sr' !673· I.FY~ Chap. V. The Chriftian Quaker; and hi-s VoL. I. CHAP. V. .An OhjeOion againfl the Ligbt't.Anttctdet;ty to Cbrijr.r Coming. The Lit.br Saving from Adam's Day, through the Holy Patn'arcb.r and Prophets Tln:e down to Cbrijl'.r, proved/rom Scripture. ' Tit. 2. HAving then plainly {hoWn from the Scripture, (1.) That the Lighr is lohn 14. 6. Saving, fi~ce r.he Tim~ ofChrift; begi~mng ~ith it's firft Appe:uance John t. t, 2, rn Man, Js m::tm(efrmgofSm. (2.) Candemmng oftr. (3.) Redeeming thofe i'~t~s from Sin, that obey it: And that the fatne Principle which is called Lighr 4~. 4;,a·1• iS the Seed Grace, Truth, W?rd, Spirit, Power, Unction, \Vater, Way: 24. Life, Fle(h, and Blood, My!hc:1l; and therefore not another Being, than 1 J:hn ;· 2,. that, which, all th!lt own plain Scripture muft confefs, doth fave · I call f~hn~6 's'1' ' it the Light of Sa/vnti011, or that icttds to Sa!vntion. ' s1, 'B: ' . But there remains yet f~veral Objdli011t to be anHvered, which done we fbatl immediately proceed to give Judgment upon the Qpeftion, Who' or What this Light is, with Rerpea to all our Adverfaries Cavils. ' bbj. Tboug1J the Univerfa!ity of a Stzving Light, from the Scriptura Jince Cbrifl's ~ife, Death, RefurreOion and .Aften(ion, be proved dltd dow~ eJ, yet the Putcb of the Controverjie will be this, Where t»itl this Light be· fore? Had any tM Saving Lighr, (they had a Light) be(or. rlu Coming ofChri}l in the Flejh, tU they muj/, if your Do[lrine of the (ightbe true! Re'!'ron~hich I !hall give my Anfwer, both from Scripture, Hiftory and I. The firft Scripture 1 !hall quote, is ln the firft of Genefh : So God m· Gen. 1 , 27, ated Man in hi5 Ofl'n Image, in the Image of God created be /Jim. From whence I dtlw this Argument, That if Man was tnade in God's I· .Jnage, th~!l becaufel God is Light, Adam ·muft necefTarily have had of the :Divine Light ln Hmt, and have been che Image of this Light fo long as )le walked in it; becaufe 110 Man walks. in the Light, but he becomes the Child of Lijlht. And as rhe Apoftle p,,.J expreiTerh it, of lbih ad were converted to. tha! Light 'they had o~ce erreti from, :re were Darkneft, biWnptJJ a~e ye itghti,RJhe Lo:d. Thaus, .throUgh Ohed1ence to · tlie Light' of the ~ord Jefus, wnh which he h:uh hghtetl you, you are become Ligbr In the Lord, ~nd Lights in your Generation. Fdr a1ty ·Man then to fay .Ad1tm h:~d . .n9~ Light, were to 1Uppofe his innocent 'S~ate to be that 6f D~rknefs and )"i1fteadof t:iein'g God'rlmage, who iS, a~d everWls, and always win be ~'iftht, . he Would have been wholly ignorant of him, in whofe Image he is f;ud to ha 1/e been cre~aed. · , I!. This Moftr direE\ed tbe Children of Ifrael to when he in God's .~~te:id, rec8p,-men.d.ed, and earoeftly pre'lfed the keept'ng or rhe C:om'!'nand; fneots, and Word zn the Heart, as we read in Deuter'(JniJnJy. Forth# Com~ nJandment rJbicb I command tbeeTbis Dny, H not bidden frdm rbee neither . . is it far ojf, ... It i~no! in. Heaven, that tboujhou!dfl[ay, Whojhallgo dp {or tR D.ut. 3c. u, :!!"!. l1eavep, and br,ng 11 unto m, rbltr{t)e may bear it and do it? Butt be !~: •3, 14• wo;d is ~ery nigh unto thee, in thy MOnth, and in ~try Hearr, th11t t/)01~ irfcf~:U.u. See, I have fa befure thee this Day, Life a-nd Good, and Death, .. From whence I cannot' but obferve'thefe three Thit'tgs. 1. That t'he Command»Jtnt and the Word, are fo called by \Vay ofExce~ lency, and Pr.eeminenCe, to a\\ Wriuen Commandments or V/ords. • 2. That thiS Commandment or Word is nigh, even in the Heart of Man })ff~~~d~c~~ need or o11ght to plead Diltance or Ignorance, ro exc·ufc their 3· That the Setting of Life, and Good, Death :md Evil befor.e them, . ~a~ and could IJhly be in ilnd through the 5biningt of the Light wit~~~ VoL. I. Teftimony Stated and Vindic1Jter1. 1673. ~ Chap. V. elfe how could they have feen Good and Evil fer before them. ,And that !t w:.as ~n thetr Hearts, the Lo1d ,fer thofe States before them, the Verfe tmmediatcly follows rhar, wherc10 the WoJd is by Mtift"J' argumenrative)y proved, as well as affiJmed, to be in the Htif[t of Man. Now I hope, -it ~hall nor be c.harged upon me ~s a Faulc! and I know who will bear me our, 1fl fay, Th1s Commandment IS that whtch. David fpoke of when hefaid Pral. 19• s. The Commandment f/ the Lord~$ pure, Cf!ligbtning tbe E;·e.r: and this holY 119. tos. Wo~d, thefam~ Wlth that~ whtch.he_ fat.d, was a Lamp unto hi.r Feet, arid 119. 11. a Lrghtunto hu Path, rohrcb he bul 1n bu Heart and bybear-jming to which 119· 11• the yMng Man ckanf~lh bi.r ~ay: And nor another Word, than what Pa~tl ~m.-.Io. licalled the Wor~ of Fa11h, which he preached, by which the juft live, con· feque~rly a fav1og C?mmandm,ent, Word and Light it was, and is, to fuch as believe and obey 1t. III. The next Scripture I will urge !hall be this :for rbou ort my Lamf Sam· 2 , 0 Lord, for tbe Lord will li&bten my DarlmeJ.r, Now if God was the Light' ~!P· • 2; and Lamp ~f that Day, as certainly then they had a Light, and fuch an one as was._Savmg to.o; uolefs w7 tbould blafphe~ou_Jly deny God to be Light, or S:tvlng, ':Vho )S moft certai~ly ~oth. And tf It fhould befaid, this was a AietopbomaiWay of Speakmg m the Royal Prophet I anfwer be it fq' it was to fhew, that they had fomething t~ manifeft' to them, 'the W;J.~ God would _have them to v.:alk in, or a difcoverlng Power, , tflat attendeJ ~heeray.. by whtch ro walk upnghdy, and fafely, to Glory; and this is what IV. VVicked ~en were not without Light to condemn them, as Good Men ::ver had L1ghr to preferve them. The; are of tbofe that rebel agairt.J! tb~ Lrgbt, tbey~now not t~e !f"ay.r tber~o], nor abide in tl!e Paths thereof, Jo6. 24- tj} fa1d ]o~. I~ whtch Pa1Tage 1t 1s very obvtous, that wicked Men have Light, oth~rwtfe It would have been unerly itnpoffible for them to have rebelled agamft it :. Nay, ag6inf! the _Ligbt, implies, That it is the fame Light in Nature. wuh t~at, whtch .nghteous Men are guided by; anfwerable w a-not~ er Emphatical Pa!fage tn the fame ~oo~ of J.ob, Is there any Number job. 2S· 3~ of fm !lrmu:s, and upon whom doth not hu Ltgbt arife? Certainly, this Uni-verfahty 1\rongly pleads on the Behalf of our Belief. of the Light: And if ' 'People; would but ven~ure to let n come clofe to theu Confciences, I can-not be fo Un~harit~ble a~ to think they !hould nor make fome Acknow,... led~ment to tts Umv.erfaltty, ~nrecedent to the Coming of Chiill. I {hall omit t? fay much of us Eflicac10ufnefs at that Time (tho' one would think' that Ltght always fhows us a ~ood Way from a Bad one) referring it to a-nother ~lac~: Only I fhaB obierv~, .h.ow tbilt Job exprc!fed himfelf, when l1e was tn hts deep Troubles of Spmt: 0 that I were as in Months pa.P in 16& 2 ~ the Days wbe'! G~d preftroed.me, when his Candle fhined upon my HtoJ, ' 9' and whe11 bl._ hu l_tght I rJ?alked tkrougb D11rl:nefs; where it is moft appa-rent, that job atmbutes hts Salvation from the Darknefs(which ftands both for Sm an~ .A.ffii8ion)unto the Light? wherewith God hath enlightned him, And cenatnly, It had been utterly tmpoffible for divers weighty Things that are delivered in that Book of Job, to have been known and filid f~ lively, had they not been feen by the Light, and Candle of the Lord· For in all the whole Book !find not one Verfe cited out of any other ScriPture lt feern1 .an Original, and doubtlefs very early. • ; V. To this Doctrine David ~as no Scranger, who fo very often commemorates the Light, and the D1vine Excellencies of it: Some few Places I fb:1ll mention of thofe many that l might offer. The Lord is my L~(bt and my Sit/Vat ion, tvhomfoa/J I [tar? The Lard i.r Pfal. ~7· if the S~rengtb of my Lije, of whflm foal/ I he af~aid? .This weighty Paffage of the Prpphet is a lively Teftim~ny to the True Lrght, wherein David confefTeth to what the Beloved Difciple call'd his ~va~gelical Me«:age, vi::. That God is Light. Nexr, that not only God Js Light, hut whtch doubtlefs W3S moft of ~11 to his Comfort, His Light; !he Lord is My I,i~ht, and My Salvatiop: ,As m¥ch a• if he had faid, Be· cauro: |
