A letter from Edmund Ellis, a minister of the Church of England to John Norris, another minister of the same church in vindication of the Quakers from the charge of being Socinians. Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707. 1693 Approx. 6 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A39354 Wing E676 ESTC R41116 19637058 ocm 19637058 109232 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A39354) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 109232) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1685:38) A letter from Edmund Ellis, a minister of the Church of England to John Norris, another minister of the same church in vindication of the Quakers from the charge of being Socinians. Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707. Norris, John, 1657-1711. 4 p. s.n., [London : 1693] Caption title. Dated: August 4, 1693--P. 4. Imprint suggested by Wing. Reproduction of original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Socinianism. Society of Friends -- Apologetic works. 2002-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-08 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-08 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER FROM EDMUND ELLIS A MINISTER of the Church of England TO JOHN NORRIS Another Minister of the same Church In Vindication of the QUAKERS from the Charge of being SOCINIANS . SIR , HAving been lately informed , that a French Minister now in London , being found Guilty of Spreading the Doctrine of the SOCINIANS , is said to pretend to be a Quaker ; and having a long time thought it my Duty to do what in me Lies , to take off that harmless sort of Men , that are call'd Quakers from that Popular Odium , which by some Persons they have been most Unjustly exposed unto , I make this Address to you , being known to have Writ against them , but a Person of more Learning and Candor than any other that I have yet known to have Written against them ; most earnestly Entreating you by the Love we owe to all Mankind , that you would be pleased to concur with me in my present Endeavours to vindicate these Men , from that unjust Imputation , viz. That they are SOCINIANS . You know R. Barkley , in his Apology , P. 84. says expresly . If ( the Doctrine Concerning the Light within contradicts , overturns , and enervates the false Doctrine of the Pelagians , Semi-pelagians , SOCINIANS and others , who exalt the Light of Nature , [ and ] the Liberty of Mans Will , in that it wholly excludes the Natural man from having any place , or portion in his own Salvation , by any Acting , Working , or moving of his own , untill he be first quickned , raised up , and acted by Gods Spirit . Clement Lake ( one of those they call Quakers ) in one of his Letters ( lately Publisht ) to John Flavel an Independent Preacher has these Words , in Answer to Flavels Charge , That the Quakers lead men to Obedience to the Light within for Salvation : We press Obedience to the Light within , we own who is Jesus Christ the Light of Israel the Light of the World , who is given to be a Covenant to the People , and a Light to the Gentiles , to open the blind eyes Esa 42. 6 , 7. This was Davids Light to his Feet , and Lanthorn to his Paths , Ps. 119. 115. And this Word , or Light , or Jesus was in the beginning , and in him was life , and the life was the Light of men , John 1. 8. Can those Men be SOCINIANS , who acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the True Light In every Man , which he could not be , if he were not Infinite ? I must bear my Testimony to this Crooked and Perverse Generation , That Jesus Christ being the True , and Eternal GOD is IN every Man , Converting or Convincing him in order to his Conversion , or ( in proportion to the Repugnancy he makes against the Divine Illumination ) Tormenting him : I say Tormenting him , not Directly but Consequentially , as the Torment or Vexation of a Spirit , or Rational Soul , is the Natural Result of all Repugnancy to THE TRUE LIGHT , which is the INFINITY of Goodness . I further Testify , and shall be ever ready , by the Grace of God to maintain the Assertion ( which I hope by you will not be denied ) that 't is possible for any man ( that has not made up the full Measure of Iniquity ) at all times , and in all places , by a Sincere Dependance upon the Power and Virtue of the LIGHT WITHIN , MANIFESTING any Action to be Sinful , to conceive an Aversion to it . I desire your Candid Reflections on the Answer I shall here give to one Passage in your First Treatise Concerning the Divine Light , p. 65. I had no Reason to confine it ( as the Quakers do ) to Divine and Spiritual Truths , but to extend it to all Truth without Exception , which I suppose to be equally perceivable in this Divine Light , which as being the very Essence of God , must be equally exhibitive of all . To this I answer , First that the Quakers speaks of the LIGHT with reference to his being INCARNATE , And so 't is mani est , whatsoever Influence he has upon the Souls of Men , it is in Order to their Sanctification , it shews nothing else but Sanctifying Truth . Secondly , I assert , that all Truth is Divine , Sanctifying Truth , which being Rightly apprehended , will most certainly carry the Soul to GOD , the PRIME VERITY , the Fountain of all Being . You say , you suppose all Truth to be equally Perceivable in this Divine Light. We grant that all such Truth , the Consideration whereof is for the Pesent Necessane to our Sanctification , is Perceivable in this Divine Light. There are many things in your Publisht Writings that deserve the thanks of all Men , particularly your Confutation of Mr. Locks Conceit that we have no Innate Idea of God ; For whose sake I beseech you to own the Truth , wheresoever your find it , and I shall ever remain Your Faithful Servant in the love of all Truth , EDMUND ELYS . Totness in Devon. August 4. 1693.