3. Who this he or they are, that obey this light; and, in obeying, attain falvation?

I. By falvation, we understand, as by fcripture is delivered to us, Man's being faved from fin here, ' and the wages of it,' which is wrath to come. Whereby we are taught, utterly to renounce and reject the common acceptation of it, as the full and complete force of the word, viz. barely to be faved from punishment hereafter: in which fecurity, through a vain expectation of falvation, whilft not really and actually faved from the power of fin, through the invifible power of Chrift, thousands die. In fhort, we call falvation, Chrift's making an end of fin; deftroying the works of the devil; finishing of trans'greffion; binding the ftrong man, and fpoiling of his goods in the hearts and confciences of men and women; and bringing in his everlasting righteouf'ness into the foul, whereby to cleanse, wash, rege'nerate, renew and refresh the foul;' in one fcripturephrafe," to fave his people from their fins."

These are the times of refreshment, and this is the day of reftitution; and thus is he King, to reign; Prophet, to give vifion; and High Priest, to anoint with the holy unction, that leadeth his people into all truth, whofe lips alone preserve knowledge; and therefore it is the unchangeable gofpel-rule to believers : and those who are thus freed, or faved here, from the power, nature, and defilement of fin, are the alone perfons that are or fhall be hereafter faved from eternal wrath and vengeance; the heavy recompence of fin. All this we understand by that word falvation; and in this center the great and glorious prophecies and performances of Chrift.

CHA P. II.

The fecond question ftated: particularly what is meant by light. It is a principle that discovers the ftate of man, and leads to bleffedness.

TH

HE fecond queftion runs thus: what is that light which leadeth to falvation, and how doth it lead to falvation?

By light, I understand not the metaphorical ufe of the word; as when Chrift faid to his difciples, «Ye "are the lights of the world;" or, as the apostle speaks, "Now are ye light in the Lord;" nor yet the mere fpirit or reafon of man; but Chrift, that glorious Sun of righteoufnefs, and heavenly luminary of the intellectual or invifible world; reprefented, of all outward refemblances, moft exactly by the great fun of this fenfible and visible world: that as this natural light arifeth upon all, and gives light to all, about the affairs of this life; fo that divine light arifeth upon all, and gives light to all that will receive the manifeftations of it, about the concerns of the other life. Such a light I mean by " that light which light"eth every man that cometh into the world," and that leadeth thofe that obey it to eternal falvation.

The feripture fays no lefs, John i. 4, 9. << In the "Word of God was life, and that (very) life was "the light of men, that enlighteneth every man that "cometh into the world."

But to demonstrate it the most obviously that I can, to the lowest capacities, I fhall evidence the nature and virtue of this principle, light, by the holy effects of it, which is the how, or the which way, it leadeth to falvation. This is fo neceffary in order to explicate the other, that as the tree is known by its fruits, fo is the true Saviour by his falvation. If then I can make it appear, that the light, as obeyed in all its discoveries and requirings, is fufficient to falvation; all must yield to the efficacy of the light within.

I fhall

I shall then, by the properties of this light, prove it faving: in order to which, I fhall begin with the firft ftep towards falvation, viz. a fight of the cause of damnation; and that this is given us by the light within, the fcripture is very plain, which is the great record of faving truth, and of that bleffed teftimony Chrift has left to his flock.

CHA P. III.

That the light within manifefts fin; yea, all fin. That apoftacy, or fin in any, is no argument against the light. That the fervices of the Jews fhew no imperfection in the light, but in the people, whose minds were abroad. If infufficiency against the light fhould be admitted, because of the wickedness of men; the fame may be objected against the scriptures; which overthrows our adverfary's affertion concerning their fufficiency.

HE light, with which Chrift lighteth all men, << For

T manifefts fin, as these words import;

every one that doth evil, hateth the light, neither "cometh to the light, left his deeds fhould be re"proved:"" implying, that if they would have brought their deeds to the light, the light would have detected them, and tried them; which makes the light the touchftone, rule, and judge of conversation and practice. To which the apostle Paul bears exprefs teftimony, in his epistle to the Ephefians, "that whatsoever is "reproved, is made manifest by the light; for what

foever makes manifeft, is light:" where the univerfality of the apoftle's affertion fhews, that nothing that is reproved, as all fin is, is or can be excluded from the search or knowledge of this light: which takes in as well thoughts, as words and deeds. So that nothing being reproved, which the light doth

* John îii, 20.

Eph. v. 13.
U 3

not

not first manifeft, how obvious is it to every underftanding, that the light must needs have been, and be in all men, in order to fuch manifestation and conviction, or man could not have known fin.

It is as much as if the apoftle had faid, Sin is that which damns all men; now it could not damn, if it were not reproveable; and it could never be reproveable, if the light did not manifeft and condemn it as fuch."' So that our adverfaries affirming the light not to be fufficient to difcern all fin, is a flat repugnancy, and a downright giving of the lie to the apoftle. For, fays the apostle, "all things that are "reproved, are made manifeft by the light." But, fay they, all things that are reproved, are not made manifeft by the light. Sober reader, dwell here a while, and after a little paufe tell me, who deals most unworthily with the apoftle, and the holy fcriptures of truth, they or the Quakers?

Obj. But it is objected, If there be that light in all men, how comes it, that all men are not convicted of their disobedience and duty, as the heathens of old, and many infidels at this day? Did the light in Saul reprove him for perfecuting the church?

I answer, That this objection does no way impugn or leffen the efficacy of the light, although it greatly aggravates their evil that fo rebelled against it. But that there were heathens, who became a law unto themselves, through the degree of light they had, by which they did the things contained in the law, and were preferred far before the circumcifion that kept not the law; the apostle Paul himself is very exprefs in that known paffage to the Romans, ch. ii. Nor are other hiftories filent, but loud in their acknowledgment of very divine attainments, which, by this light, feveral famous Gentiles arrived at; who, for their belief of One Eternal Being, his communication

That is the cause.

of

of divine light to men, the neceffity of holy living, and of an immortality, with their ftrict manners, are left with honour upon record by credible writers, and their praises not a little augmented by after-ages, even of thofe called Chriftians too. Such were, Pythagoras, Timæus, Solon, Bias, Chilon, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Plato, Plotin, Antifthenes, Xenocrates, Zeno, Antipater, Seneca, Epictetus, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and others.

But what if Jews and Gentiles at any time did apoftatize; and, particularly, what if Saul perfecuted the church of God, putting difobedience for duty, murder for fervice, will it follow, that the light was infufficient? By no means, but rather that Saul was rebellious, ftiff-necked, refifting the Holy Ghoft; as did his fathers, fo did he and thus much the words themselves fhew; for it is faid by the text, "he "kicked against the pricks." Then it feems there were pricks and were where they, if not in his confcience? And what were they, if not the convictions of the light of Chrift within him, which manifefts evil, and reproves the deeds thereof? otherwise called the Son of God, which to the Galatians he faid, "it "had pleased God to reveal to him": though Paul knew him not, nor his voice of a long time, his eye being darkened, and ear stopped by the god of this world, who had crept into the outward forms of religion, then, as now, and therein employed many emiffaries to decry that pure, heavenly, and invisible life of truth and righteoufnefs, which was then, and is now, begotten in the hearts of many, not only to confound the idolatries of the Gentiles, but to end the formality and outward fervices of both Jews and carnal Chriftians.

And I affirm on God's behalf, and with the reason of a man, that it is moft abfurd for any to charge the rebellion of men to the infufficiency of the light: for if men are wicked, is it not against knowledge? And

• Gal. i. 16.