WHICH he thus proves,

I.

1. By the ordinary Way, fays he, of God's < Providence in dealing with the Children of Men in order to their Salvation, I understand, according to the Teftimony of Scripture, Christ himself, the true Light, John i. 9. and quickening Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45. of whofe Fulness have • all we received and Grace for Grace. John. i. 16. • and who teftified, faying, I am the Way, John xiv. 6. I am the Light of the World, John viii. 12.' He, I fay, is God's ordinary Way; for he enlightens all, John i. 9. and reproves all by his Spirit, in order to their Conviction, Converfion, and Salvation, John xvi. 8. God hath fet him to be a Light to the Gentiles, and to be for his Sal•vation unto the Ends of the Earth, Acts xiii. 47. • Neither is there Salvation in any other. For there is • none other Name given (n) in Men, whereby we must be faved. Acts iv. 12. He is a common and • univerfal Saviour, for he died for all, 2 Cor. v.15. Gave himself a Ransom for all, 1 Tim. ii. 6. The Saviour of the World, 1 John. iv. 14. The Propitiation, not for our Sins only, but also for the Sins of the (0) whole World, 1 John ii 2. Is preached (p) in the Gentiles, 1 Tim. iii. 16. (q) In every Creature under Heaven, Col. i. 23. Is the good Will of God (r) in Men, See Luke ii. 14, The riches of the Glory of the Mystery (s) in the Gentiles. Col. i. 27. and is (t) in all. Col. iii. 11. and therefore being, as thefe Places, and many more that might be mentioned, do teftify, a common and univerfal Saviour, he is confeC 3 quently

I

(η) Εν ανθρώποις» (0) Ολο το κόσμο.

(4) Ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει. (r) Ἐν ἀνθρώποις. ἔθνεσιν. (τ) Εν πᾶσι χρίσος.

(β) Εν ἔθνεσιν.

(5) Εν τοις

3

quently God's ordinary Way for the Salvation of all Men, whether Greek or Jew, Circumcifion or Uncircumcifion, Barbarian, Scythian, Bond or Free, as they are faithful to him, in those Discoveries he is pleased to make of himfelf unto them.'

For

2. FROM henee it follows, by undeniable Confequence, That God doth afford unto all Men, even in the ordinary Way of his Providence, fuch a Manifeftation of his Light and Spirit, as is fufficient to lead and guide the Faithful into all Truth, neceffary to their Salvation, without the holy Scriptures. Chrift being, as hath been proved, God's ordinary Way of Salvation, a common and univerfal Saviour, and able, as the Author to the • Hebrews hath teftified, To fave them to the utmost • that come unto God by him, feeing he ever liveth • to make Interceffion for them. Heb. 7. 25. it must be granted, that the Light or Spirit, a Manifestation whereof is given to every Man to profit withal, 1 Cor. xii. 7. is fufficient to the • End aforementioned, without the Holy Scripture. For The Light is God, and Christ, the eter•nal Word, See John i. And that certainly is fuf•ficient of it felf. For it was fo before any Scripture was extant, and why not now? Doth the Being of Scripture detract from the Sufficiency of God? Or is his Arm shortned that it cannot fave without it? No, God is unchangeable in himfelf and in all his Attributes. He is the fame from Generation to Generation, and his Years fhall not fail.

THE foregoing Proofs of the Univerfality, Divinity, and Sufficiency of the Light or Spirit of Chrift in Men standing unanswered, our Oppo

nent's

nent's Difcourfe in his 12, 13 and 14 Pages about the different Kinds of Light wherewith Chrift enlightens Men is of no Force, fince the Quakers intend not, by afferting that the Light of the Sun is fufficient, to deny that the Moon or Stars have any. But they think, this Author, in his Way of Arguing, that because the Apostles, being divinely enlightned, became by their Preachings and Writings inftrumental to enlighten others, therefore the Light which enlightned them is no more univerfal or fufficient, is equally abfurd, as a Man would be, who having lighted fome Torches at the Beams of the Sun, fhould tell the World that these were now the only Lights, and that the Sun itself was become infufficient without them

Is not every

As to his Question, P. 23. • Man that cometh into the World, every indi⚫vidual Man in the World?' To which he an. fwers No. Let him fhew us an individual Man in the World, that comes not into it.

Page 14. He cites the Apoftle to the Coloffians, faying, That the Gospel was preached then to [or in] every Creature under Heaven,' adding to the Text the Word then, as being to his Purpofe of limiting it to that time of the Apostle's Preaching. He then fuggefts, that that Text ⚫ cannot be meant of every individual Man under Heaven,' but prefently after contradicts himself, by faying, It was preached to every Man indifferently, and without Exception.' The which yet he would afterward evade by rendering the Term, in every Creature, in the whole Creation,' and reftricting that, to the • then known Parts of the World,' and that again, to whitherfoever the Apostles or Evan

C 4

gelifts

gelifts came.' This confufed Way of Talking carries with it its own Confutation.

Page 15. HE afferts, as Matter of Fact, concerning the Quakers being made fuch by hearing or reading, that which he can have no certain Knowledge of, it depending altogether on their own Experience.

His Inftance of Cornelius, P. 16. affects us not; for it was the immediate Operation of the Light or Spirit of God on the Heart of Cornelius, that prepared him to receive the Truth preached by Peter, before which he was a just Man, one that feared God and was accepted of him as is plain from the Text. Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God, Acts

X. 4.

THE Cafe of the Rich Man, P. 17. is mifapplied: It fhews indeed, that he, who had lived in Difobedience to the Light within him, had much Dependence on outward Means, and therefore defired that Lazarus might be fent from the Dead to his Brethren on Earth. To which he received an apt Anfwer, implying, that they had outward Means enough already. But this Author is too free with the Text, when he fays, that the Rich Man defired of Abraham, that fome might be fent from the Dead,' fince there is mention of Lazarus only, Luke xvi. 19.

He tells us, P. 17. That 'tis of dangerous • Confequence to fay, that Chrift enlightens every Man inwardly with a Measure of Light

within him fufficient to teach him all the Effentials of Christianity without any outward teachingand that it would follow from thence,

that

that there was no need of Chrift's outward Teaching, nor of his fending his Apostles to teach all Nations, nor of their Writing the Scrip<tures.' We fee no dangerous Confequence in it, unless to those who, unfent of Chrift, pretend to be his Minifters, whom his Light, if duly heeded, will discover. But 'tis fo far from making the outward Teaching of Chrift and his Apoftles unneceffary, that one great End of their Teaching was, by renewed Precepts, to bring Mankind back again to an Obedience to that Light which they had generally fwerved from, and to a ftrict Obfervation of thofe effential Duties of Morality and Righteousness, which thro' Difobedience to its Teachings, they had grievoufly neglected: Agreeable to this is the Saying of Chrift, I came not to call the Righteous, but Sinners to Repentance, Mark ii. 17. And indeed our Opponent's Affertion in this Point is oppofite to Reason, which tells us, That fince preachings and Writings have been, and are, Means of conveying falfe Doctrine, as well as true, hearing and reading were to little Purpose, unlefs Men had in themselves a Light fufficient to difcern the one from the other.

BUT he apprehends alfo that it would follow that there never were, nor could be, any Sins of Ignorance, but that all would be committed against Light and Knowledge. A Confequence which we are not afraid of, for Sin is a Breach or Neglect of known Duty, in the Senfe of the New Testament Writers, who use not his Phrase, Sins of Ignorance, a Term that contradicts the Saying of Chrift, If ye were blind ye should have no Sin, John ix. 4, 5. Nor is it only contrary to Scripture, but to common Senfe and Experience, for there can be no Senfe or Experience of Sin

where