A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume II (of 3) by Thomas Clarkson

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Dr. Hammond, in his paraphrase and annotations on the New Testament,
observes, that "he who hath been born of God, is literally he who hath
had such a blessed change wrought in him by the operation of God's
spirit in his heart, as to be translated from the power of darkness into
the kingdom of his dear Son."

"As Christ in the flesh, says the great and venerable Locke, was wholly
exempt from all taint and sin, so we, by that spirit which was in him,
shall be exempt from the dominion of carnal lusts, if we make it our
choice, and endeavour to live after the spirit."

"Here the apostle, says Locke, shows that Christians are delivered from
the dominion of their carnal lusts by the spirit of God that is given to
them, and dwells in them, as a new quickening principle and power, by
which they are put into the state of a spiritual life, wherein their
members are made capable of becoming the instruments of righteousness."

And this spirit of God, which thus redeems from the pollutions of the
world, and puts a new heart as it were into man, is considered by the
Quakers as so powerful in its operations, as to be able to lead him to
perfection. By this the Quakers do not mean to say, that the perfection
of man is at all like the perfection of God; because the perfection of
the former is capable of growth. They believe, however, that, in his
renewed state, he may be brought to be so perfect, as to be able to keep
those commandments of God which are enjoined him. In this sense they
believe it is, that Noah is called by Moses [53]a just and perfect man
in his generation; and that Job is described [54]as a perfect and an
upright man; and that the evangelist Luke speaks of Zacharias and
Elizabeth in these words--[55] "They were both righteous before God, and
walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

[Footnote 53: Gen. 6. 9.]

[Footnote 54: Job 1. 3.]

[Footnote 55: Luke 1. 6.]

That man, who is renewed in heart, can attain this degree of perfection,
the Quakers think it but reasonable to suppose. For to think that God
has given man any law to keep, which it is impossible for him, when
aided by his Holy Spirit, to keep, or to think that the power of Satan
can be stronger in man than the power of Christ, is to think very
inadequately of the Almighty, and to cast a dishonourable reflection on
his goodness, his justice, and his power. Add to which, that there would
not have been such expressions in the New Testament, as those of Jesus
Christ--"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
Heaven is perfect"--Nor would there have been other expressions of the
Apostles of a similar meaning, if the renewed man had not possessed the
power of doing the will of God.

This doctrine of perfection brought the Quakers into disputes with
persons of other religions denominations, at the time of their
establishment. But, however it might be disapproved of, it was not new
in these times; nor was it originally introduced by them. Some of the
fathers of the church, and many estimable divines of different
countries, had adopted it. And here it may be noticed, that the doctrine
had been received also by several of the religious in our own.

In the golden remains of the ever memorable John Hales, we find, that
"through the grace of Him that doth enable as, we are stronger than
Satan, and the policy of Christian warfare hath as many means to keep
back and defend, as the deepest reach of Satan hath to give the onset."

"St. Augustine, says this amiable writer, was of opinion, that it was
possible for us even in this natural life, seconded by the grace of God,
perfectly to accomplish what the law requires at our hands." In the
Golden Remains, many sentiments are to be found of the same tenour.

Bacon, who collected and published Dr. Robert Gell's remains, says in
his preface, that Dr. Gell preached before King Charles the first on
Ephesians 4. 10. at New-Market, in the year 1631, a bold discourse, yet
becoming him, testifying before the King that doctrine he taught to his
life's end, "the possibility, through grace, of keeping the law of God
in this life." Whoever reads these venerable Remains, will find this
doctrine inculcated in them.

Monro, who lived some time after Dr. Gell, continued the same doctrine:
So great, says he, in his just measures, is the goodness and benignity
of God, and so perfect is the justice of his nature, that he will not,
cannot command impossibilities. Whatever he requires of mankind by way
of duty, he enables them to perform it--His grace goes before and
assists their endeavours; so that when they do not comply with his
injunctions, it is because they will not employ the power that he has
given them, and which he is ready to increase and heighten, upon their
dutiful improvement of what they have already received, and their
serious application to him for more.

Again--"Though of ourselves, and without Christ, we can do nothing; yet
with him we can do all things: and then, he adds a little lower, why
should any duties frighten us, or seem impossible to us?"

Having now stated it to be the belief of the Quakers, that the spirit of
God acts as an inward redeemer to man, and that its powers are such that
it may lead him to perfection in the way explained, it remains for me to
observe, that it is their belief also, that this spirit has been given
for these purposes, without any exception, to all of the human race: or
in the same manner as it was given as an universal teacher, so it has
been given as an universal redeemer to man, and that it acts in this
capacity, and fulfils its office to all those who attend to its inward
strivings, and encourage its influence on their hearts.

That it was given to all for this purpose, they believe to be manifest
from the Apostle Paul:[56] "for the grace of God, says he, which bringeth
salvation, hath appeared unto all men." He says again,[57] that "the
Gospel was preached unto every creature which is under Heaven." He
defines the Gospel to be[58] "the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth." He means therefore that this power of inward
redemption was afforded to all. For the outward Gospel had not been
preached to all in the time of the apostle; nor has it been preached to
all even at the present day. But these passages are of universal import.
They imply no exception. They comprehend every individual of the human
race.

[Footnote 56: Titus 2.11.]

[Footnote 57: Coloss. 1.23.]

[Footnote 58: Rom. 1.16.]

That this spirit was also given to all for these purposes, the Quakers
believe, when they consider other passages in the scriptures, which
appear to them to belong to this subject. For they consider this spirit
to have begun its office as an inward redeemer[59] with the fall of the
first man, and to have continued it through the patriarchal ages to the
time of the outward Gospel, when there was to be no other inward
redemption but by the same means. Thus by the promise which was given to
Adam, there was to be perpetual enmity between the seed of the serpent
and the seed of the woman, though the latter was to vanquish, or as, the
Quakers interpret it, between the spirit of sin and the spirit of God,
that was placed in man. This promise was fully accomplished by Jesus,
(who came from the woman) after he had received immeasurably the spirit
of God, or after he had become the Christ. But the Quakers consider it
to have bean partially accomplished by many from the time of Adam; for
they believe that many, who have attended to the seed of God, or, which
is the same thing,[60] to the portion of the spirit of God within them,
have witnessed the enmity alluded to, and have bruised, in a great
degree, the power of sin within their own hearts, or have experienced in
these early times the redeeming power of the spirit of God. And except
this be the case, the Quakers conceive some of the passages, which they
suppose to relate to this subject, not to be so satisfactorily
explicable as they might be rendered. For it is said of Abraham, that he
saw Christ's day. But as Abraham died long before the visible appearance
of Christ in the flesh, he could neither have seen Christ outwardly, nor
his day. It is still affirmed that he saw Christ's day. And the Quakers
say they believe he saw him inwardly, for he witnessed in his own
spirit, which is the same thing, the redeeming power of the spirit of
God. For as the world was made by the spirit, or by the word, which is
frequently interpreted to be Christ, so these terms are synonimous, and
often used the one for the other. The Quakers therefore believe Abraham
to have experienced in a very high degree the power[61] of this inward
redemption. They believe also that Job experienced it in an
extraordinary manner. For he asserted that he knew "that his redeemer
lived." But Job could never have said this, except be had alluded to the
powerful influence within him, which had purified his heart from the
pollutions of sin. For being as early as the time of Moses, he could
never have seen any of the sacred writings which mentioned Jesus Christ
as a redeemer, or the person of Jesus Christ.

[Footnote 59: In the same manner Jesus Christ having tasted death for
every man, the sacrifice, or outward redemption, looks backwards and
forwards, as well to Adam as to those who lived after the Gospel times.]

[Footnote 60: 1 John. 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit
sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God.]

[Footnote 61: The Quakers do not deny, that Abraham might have seen
Christ prophetically, but they believe he saw him particularly in the
way described.]

The Quakers also consider David, from the numerous expressions to be
found in the Psalms, as having experienced this inward redemption also,
and in the same manner as they conceive this spirit to have striven with
Abraham, and Job, and David, so they conceive it to have striven with
others of the same nation for their inward redemption to the time of
Jesus Christ. They believe again, that it has striven with all the
Heathen nations, from the foundation of the world to the same period.
And they believe also, that it has continued its office of a redeemer to
all people, whether Jews, Heathens, or Christians, from the time of
Jesus Christ to the present day.

SECT. IV.

_Proposition of the new birth and perfection, as hitherto explained in
the ordinary way--New view of the subject from a more particular detail
of the views and expressions of the Quakers concerning it--A new
spiritual birth as real from the spiritual seed of the kingdom, as that
of plants or vegetables from their seeds in the natural world--And the
new birth proceeds really in the same progressive manner, to maturity or
perfection--Result of this new view the same as that in the former
section._

I stated in the last section that the spirit of God is considered by
the Quakers as an inward redeemer to men, and that, in this office, it
has the power of producing a new birth in them, and of leading them to
perfection in the way described. This proposition, however, I explained
only in the ordinary way. But as the Quakers have a particular way of
viewing and expressing it, and as they deem it one of the most
important of their religious propositions, I trust I shall, be excused
by the reader, if I allot one other section to this subject.

Jesus Christ states, as was said before, in the most clear and positive
terms, that [62] "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of heaven."

[Footnote 62: John 3. 3.]

Now the great work of religion is salvation or redemption. Without this
no man can see God; and therefore the meaning of the words of Jesus
Christ will be this, that, except a man be born again, he cannot
experience that inward redemption which shall enable him to see the
kingdom of heaven.

Redemption then is necessary to qualify for a participation of the
heavenly joys, and it is stated to take place by means of the new birth.

The particular ideas then, which the Quakers have relative to the new
birth and perfection, are the following. In the same manner as the
Divine Being has scattered the seeds of plants and vegetables in the
body of the earth, so he has implanted a portion of his own
incorruptible seed, or of that which, in scripture language, is called
the "Seed of the Kingdom," in the soul of every individual of the human
race. As the sun by its genial influence quickens the vegetable seed, so
it is the office of the Holy Spirit, in whom is life, and who resides in
the temple of man, to quicken that which is heavenly. And in the same
manner as the vegetable seed conceives and brings forth a plant, or a
tree with stem and branches; so if the soul, in which the seed of the
kingdom is placed, be willing to receive the influence of the Holy
Spirit upon it, this seed is quickened and a spiritual offspring is
produced. Now this offspring is as real a birth from the seed in the
soul by means of the spirit, as the plant from its own seed by means of
the influence of the sun. "The seed of the kingdom, says Isaac
Pennington, consists not in words or notions of mind, but is an inward
thing, an inward spiritual substance in the heart, as real inwardly in
its kind, as other seeds are outwardly in their kind. And being received
by faith, and taking root in man, (his heart, his earth, being ploughed
up and prepared for it,) it groweth up inwardly, as truly and really, as
any outward seed doth outwardly."

With respect to the offspring thus produced in the soul of man, it maybe
variously named. As it comes from the incorruptible seed of God, it may
be called a birth of the divine nature or life. As it comes by the
agency of the spirit, it may be called the life of the spirit. As it is
new, it may be called the new man or creature: or it may have the
appellation of a child of God: or it is that spiritual life and light,
or that spiritual, principle and power within us, which may be called
the Anointed, or Christ within.

"As this seed, says Barclay, is received in the heart and suffered to
bring forth its natural and proper effect, Christ comes to be formed and
raised, called in scripture the new man, Christ within us, the hope of
glory. Yet herein they (the Quakers) do not equal themselves with the
holy man, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the fulness of the Godhead
dwelt bodily, neither destroy his present existence. For though they
affirm Christ dwells in them, yet not immediately, but mediately, as he
is in that seed which is in them."

Of the same opinion was the learned Cudworth. "We all, says he, receive
of his fulness grace for grace, as all the stars in heaven are said to
light their candles at the sun's flame. For though his body be withdrawn
from us, yet by the lively and virtual contact of his spirit, he is
always kindling, cheering, quickening, warming, and enlivening hearts.
Nay, this divine life begun and kindled in any heart, wheresoever it be,
is something of God in flesh, and in a sober and qualified sense,
divinity incarnate; and all particular Christians, that are really
possessed of it, are so many mystical Christs."

Again--"Never was any tender infant so dear to those bowels that begat
it, as an infant newborn Christ, formed in the heart of any true
believer, to God the Father of it."

This account relative to the new birth the Quakers conceive to be
strictly deducible from the Holy Scriptures. It is true, they conceive,
as far as the new birth relates to God and to the seed, and to the
spirit, from the following passages: [63] "Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him." [64] "Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God."
[65] "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." It is
considered to be true again, as far as the new birth relates to the
creature born and to the name which it may bear, from these different
expressions: [66] "Of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be
formed in you." [68] "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me." [69] "But ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry
Abba, Father." [70] "But as many as received him, that is, the spirit or
word, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." [71] "For as many
as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And as
parents and children resemble one another, so believers are made [72]
"conformable to the image of his son," "who is the image of the invisible
God."

[Footnote 63: 1 John 3. 9.]

[Footnote 64: 1 Peter 1. 23.]

[Footnote 65: James 1. 18.]

[Footnote 66: Gal. 4. 19.]

[Footnote 67: Gal. 2.20.]

[Footnote 68: Rom. 8.15.]

[Footnote 69: John 1. 12.]

[Footnote 70: Rom. 3. 14.]

[Footnote 71: Rom. 8. 29.]

[Footnote 72: Coloss. 1. 15.]

Having explained in what the new birth consists, or having shown,
according to Barclay, [73] "that the seed is a real spiritual
substance, which the soul of man is capable of feeling and apprehending,
from which that real spiritual inward birth arises, called the new
creature or the new man in the heart," it remains to show how believers,
or those in whose souls Christ is thus produced, may be said to grow up
to perfection; for by this real birth or geniture in them they come to
have those spiritual senses raised, by which they are made capable of
tasting, smelling, seeing, and handling, the things of God.

[Footnote 73: P. 139. Ed. 8.]

It may be observed then, that in the new birth a progress is
experienced from infancy to youth, and from youth to manhood. As it is
only by submission to the operation of the spirit that this birth can
take place, so it is only by a like submission, that any progress or
growth from one stature to another will be experienced in it; neither
can the regenerated become instrumental in the redemption of others, any
farther or otherwise than as Christ or the anointing dwells and operates
in them, teaching them all truths necessary to be known, and
strengthening them to perform every act necessary to be done for this
purpose. He must be their only means and [74] "hope of glory." It will
then be that the [75] "creature which waiteth in earnest expectation for
the manifestation of the sons of God, will be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." For
[76] "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new, and all things of God."

[Footnote 74: Coloss. 1. 27.]

[Footnote 75: Rom. 8. 19, 21.]

[Footnote 76: Cor. 5. 17, 18.]

They who are the babes of the regeneration begin to see spiritual
things. The natural man, the mere creature, never saw God. But the
babes, who cry Abba, Father, begin to see and to know him. Though as yet
unskilful in the word of righteousness, [77] "they desire the sincere
milk of the word, that they may grow thereby." And [78] "their sins are
forgiven them."

[Footnote 77: 1 Pet 2. 2.]

[Footnote 78: 1 John 2. 12.]

They, who are considered as the young men in this state, are said to be
[79] "spiritually strong, and the word of God abiding in them, to have
overcome the wicked one."

[Footnote 79: 1 John 2. 14.]

They, who have attained a state of manhood, are called fathers, or are
said to be of full age, and to be capable of taking strong meat.
[80] "They come, in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ. They arrive at such a state of stability, that they are no
more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine; but speaking the truth in love, grow up unto him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ." [81] "The old man with his deeds
being put off, they have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him." [82] "They are
washed, they are sanctified, they are justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and in the spirit of our God." The new creation is thus
completed, and the sabbath wherein man ceases from his own works,
commences; so that every believer can then say with the apostle, [83] "I
am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life, which I now live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

[Footnote 80: Eph. 4. 13.14.15.]

[Footnote 81: Col. 3.9.10.]

[Footnote 82: 1 Cor. 6.11.]

[Footnote 83: Gal. 2.20.]

But this state of manhood, [84] "by which the man of God may be made
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, does not take place,
until Christ be fully formed in the souls of believers, or till they are
brought wholly under his rule and government. He must be substantially
formed in them. He must actually be their life, and their hope of glory.
He must be their head and governor. As the head, and the body, and the
members are one, according to the apostle, but the head directs; so
Christ, and, believers in whom Christ is born and formed, are one
spiritual body, which he himself must direct also. Thus Christ, where he
is fully formed in man, or where believers are grown up to the measure
of the stature and fulness of sonship, is the head of every man, and God
is the head of Christ. Thus Christ the begotten entirely governs the
whole man, as the head directs and governs all the members of the body;
and God the Father, as the head of Christ, entirely guides and governs
the begotten. Hence, believers [85] 'are Christ's, and Christ is God's;'
so that ultimately God is all in all."

[Footnote 84: 2 Tim. 9.17.]

[Footnote 85: Cor. 9.23.]

Having given this new view of the subject, I shall only observe farther
upon it, that the substance of this chapter turns out to be the same as
that of the preceding, or according to the notions of the Quakers, that
inward redemption cannot be effected but through the medium of the
spirit of God. For Christ, according to the ideas now held out, must be
formed in man, and he must rule them before they can experience full
inward redemption; or, in other words, they cannot experience this
inward redemption, except they can truly say that he governs them, or
except they can truly call him Governor, or Lord. But no person can say
that Christ rules in him, except he undergoes the spiritual process of
regeneration which has been described, or to use the words of the
Apostle, [86] "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Spirit.[87]"

[Footnote 86: 1 Cor. 12.6]

[Footnote 87: The reader will easily discern from this new view of the
new birth, how men, according to the Quakers, become partakers of the
divine nature, and how the Quakers make it out, that Abraham and others
saw Christ's day, as I mentioned in a former chapter.]

CHAP. VIII.

SECT. I.

_Quakers believe from the foregoing accounts, that redemption is
possible to all--Hence they deny the doctrine of election and
reprobation--do not deny the texts on which it is founded, but the
interpretation of them--as contrary to the doctrines of Jesus Christ and
the Apostles--as making his mission unnecessary--as rendering many
precepts useless--and as casting a stain on the character and attributes
of God._

It will appear from the foregoing observations, that it Is the belief of
the Quakers, that every man has the power of inward redemption within
himself, who attends to the strivings of the Holy Spirit, and that as
outward redemption by the sufferings of Jesus Christ extends to all,
where the inward has taken place, so redemption or salvation, in its
full extent, is possible to every individual of the human race.

This position, however, is denied by those Christians, who have
pronounced in favour of the doctrine of election and reprobation;
because, if they believe some predestined from all eternity to eternal
happiness, and the rest to eternal misery, they must then believe that
salvation is not possible to all, and that it was not intended to be
universal.

The Quakers have attempted to answer the objections, which have been
thus made to their theory of redemption; and as the reader will probably
expect that I should notice what they have said upon this subject, I
have reserved the answers they have given for the present place.

The Quakers do not deny the genuineness of any of those texts, which are
usually advanced against them. Of all people, they fly the least to the
cover of interpolation or mutilation of scripture to shield themselves
from the strokes of their opponents. They believe, however, that there
are passages in the sacred writings, which will admit of an
interpretation different from that which has been assigned them by many,
and upon this they principally rely in the present case. If there are
passages, to which two meanings may be annexed, and if for one there is
equal authority as for the other, yet if one meaning should destroy all
the most glorious attributes of the supreme being, and the other should
preserve them as recognized in the other parts of the scripture, they
think they are bound to receive that which favours the justice, mercy,
and wisdom of God, rather than that which makes him appear both unjust
and cruel.

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