John Wilbur
Wilbur, John. A Narrative and Exposition of the Late Proceedings of New England Yearly Meeting, With Some of its Subordinate Meetings & Their committees, in Relation to the Doctrinal Controversy Now Existing in the Society of Friends: Prefaced by a Concise View of the Church, Showing the Occasion of its Apostacy, both Under the Former and Present Dispensations, With an Appendix. Edited from Record Kept, From Time to Time, of Those Proceedings, and Interspersed With Occasional Remarks and Observations. Addressed to the Members of the Said Yearly Meeting. New York: Piercy & Reed, Printers, 1854, pages 277-325.
(All italics added by J.W. for emphasis. All words supplied in
[Square Brackets] by J.W.
Page numbers from original publication by -pds in {Set Brackets.}
This Document is on The Quaker Writings Home Page.
Contrast the above with
George Fox (Journal, Vol. I. p. 112): "I saw that Christ died
for all men, and was a propitiation for all; and enlightened all men and
women with his divine and saving light, and that none could be a true believer,
but who believed in it. I saw that the grace of God, which brings salvation,
had appeared to all men, and that the manifestation of the Spirit of God
was given to every man to profit withal."
(p. 224:) "I declared to them, that every one that cometh into the
world, was enlightenedby Christ the life; by which light they might
see their sins, and Christ, who was come to save them from their sins,
and died for them."
(p. 420.) "Now I was speaking of the heavenly, divine light of Christ,
with which he enlightens every one that cometh into the world, to give
them the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus their
Saviour."
Robert Barclay (Apol. Prop. V. & VI.): "And this light
enlighteneth the hearts of all for a time, in order to salvation; and this
is it which reproves the sin of all individuals, and would work out
the salvation of all, if not resisted. Nor is it less universal than
the seed of sin, being the purchase of his death, who tasted death for
every man, &c. For as hence it well follows that some of the old philosophers
might have been saved, so also may some, who by Providence are cast into
those remote parts of the world where the knowledge of the history is wanting,
be made partakers of the {p. 288} divine mystery, if they receive and resist
not that grace, a manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit
withal. This most certain doctrine being then received, that there is an
evangelical
and saving light and grace in all, the universality of the love and
mercy of God towards mankind, both in the death of his beloved Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and in the manifestation of tho Light in the heart,
is established and confirmed, against all the objections of such as deny
it. Therefore, Christ hath tasted death for every man; not only
for all kinds of men, as some vainly talk, but for every man of all kinds;
the benefit of whose offering is notonly extended to such who have the
distinct outward knowledge of His death and sufferings as the same is declared
in the Scriptures, but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from
the beliefit of this knowledge by some inevitable accident; which knowledge
we willingly confess to be very profitable and comfortable, but not absolutely
needful unto such fi'om whom God himself hath withheld it; yet they may
be made partakers of the mystery of His death, though ignorant of the history,
if they suffer his seed and light, enlightening their hearts, to take place,
in which light, communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyed," &c.