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Untitled Article
d&te the subject ^ and-which was inserted in . the " Correspondence' ' for the month of July . An opinion so singular and extraordinary irepressed the mind of the presfiit writer , who communicated to
those gentlemen a tew ideas which suggested themselves in reply to the logical arguments of Philo ^ and although the- nature of their publication did not aoinit a prolongation of the argument ,- through
that channel yet the favourable t * pinio , i they were pleased to express of that conaui . uiiicaiiori , to * gather with th <* magnitude of the atiiject to the Christian world in general , has induced him ; in as
concise a manner as possible , to lay before the readers of the Monthly Repository those arguments which appear to militate against the adoption of -lifrch a doctrine .
The belief of the Quakers in the superiority of the " iaward light *' # r fi divine spirit'' over the scriptures , whictrft is the aim of Phila to elucidate and inculcate , is thus
expressed by Barclay . " The spirit , and not thesGjjiptiares is the foundation alud ground of all truth and knowledge ,. and the primary rule of faith and manners / ' To place this matter in n clearer point of
view , Phlio h « u thought fit to bring forward the operation of reason on those laws by which mankind are governed and regulated as analogous to the " inward light' * or ' divine spirit / ' and the scriptures ; aad ia so doing he has perhaps
given as acute an illustration of that peculiar opinion as the nature of the case will admit ; he should however recollect that &s the laws frequently ittwtergo . an Iteration tbsuitfp&ttifcularperiods ' a * ul drcun ^ mceis , ^ frdytoi **** of
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them from a lapse of time become quite obsolete ; this comparison goes in these instances to destroy the infallibility and permanency \) f the scriptures , by making the former subject to a revision by u human reason / ' and the latter *
• CJI * - * lAXVV t M * V . LVOV / ¦ - * A * . % •»* » - ^ ¦ — — v — — to a revision by the " inward light , *' or " divine spirit ; ' * neither does- ' the analogy hold good with respect to the doctrinal parts of Christianity , for thoogh it is true that
" the laws" have their origin in " human reason , '' and by hi ? mail reason are comprehended and applied ? yet it surely will not be contended by Philo , nQr is lt tc ^ fc ^ doct
found in Barclay tiiat ^ the rinal parts of Christianity exi » t inh ^ - r ^ ntly in what the Quakers call the u inward light / ' independent of the scriptures and the information therein contained .
The fairest way of investigating the subject now under discussion , h to consider tire effect which a general assent to this opinion would most probably produce among the
various sects professing Christian nity ; because it not unfrequentljp happens that certain principles may bei advanced and acted upon by a limited number of individuals
whose habits and modes of thinking are adapted thereto , whereas if those principles were brought for-. ward in order to be acted upon generally and universally , they would , from the very nature of thcm , in all probability , fall to thft ground . The Christian world may
perhaps with propriefy be covhm prized under two distinct classes-s the one , and by far the most numerous , are those who fifom eaH ^ t education ^ ( arid even a mong thm Quakers this aprt of horedimryf faith is not unfrequently found-tp * exbt ?> from seriou » iavestSgattonjT
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34 Observation * on the eC Inward Light" of the' Quaker ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1808, page 32, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2388/page/32/
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