A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

Christ is the true inward light, which enlightens all men. This is performed by an immediate inspiration, and not by the outward doctrine of the gospel, which Christ has preached to men as a rule of their belief and practice; which outward preaching of evangelical truths is not the usual and ordinary method used by God to enlighten mankind; but he sends to each person interior inspirations. This interior light is the true gospel; it is to be adored, as being Christ himself and God himself.

Scripture is not the true rule, the real guide of Christian faith and moral doctrine; this is a prerogative belonging only to the inward light, which each has within himself, or which breaks forth in the assemblies of the brethren or friends. The dead letter of the sacred writings is not of so great authority as the preaching of the authors of them: the particular books which make up the Scripture, were directed to private churches or persons, and we are not interested them.

The chief rule of our faith is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who interiorly teaches us; and the Scripture is only a rule subordinate to that Spirit. An immediate inspiration is as necessary to us as to the apostles: it teaches us whatever is necessary to salvation. The promise which Christ made to his apostles, to teach them all truth by his Spirit, and that the Holy Ghost should always remain with them, was not confined to the apostles only, it belongs to all the faithful; and it is said of them all, that the unction shall teach them all things.

All true ministers of Christ are as infallible in what they teach, as the prophets and apostles were; otherwise the Spirit of Christ would not be infallible. All those who are filled with the gifts of the Spirit are equally infallible, without which the infallibility of the Holy Ghost must be divided; there is no exterior way of teaching, which may help one to judge of the truth of the doctrine which he preaches. The immediate inspiration is sufficient to enable a minister to preach without Scripture, or any other exterior helps. Without this particular inspiration all those who pretend to argue upon or explain the words of Christ, are false prophets and deceivers. The Church ought to have no other ministers, but those who are called by an immediate inspiration, which is best proved by interior miracles, of which the outward signs were only a representation or figure. The Quakers do not preach a new gospel, and therefore need not work miracles to prove their doctrine; a visible succession of ministers, ordained or otherwise established, is likewise of no use. Whoever is inwardly called to the ministerial functions, is sufficiently qualified for that post; inward sanctity is as essentially requisite in a true minister, as in a true member of the Church.

Women may preach with as much authority as men, and be ministers of the Church; for in Christ there is no distinction of male and female, and the prophet Joel has foretold that women should have the gift of prophecy as well as men.

The Scripture nowhere says, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are three persons; there are three several manifestations; but three persons would in reality be three Gods. The Scripture being silent as to the manner of the unity and of the distinction in the Trinity, it is a great rashness in the Christian Churches to meddle with deciding such intricate points. The distinction of persons in the Godhead is a speculative subtlety, not calculated to mend our lives, and very prejudicial to Christian peace and charity. To draw up an exact profession of faith, it is necessary to adhere closely to the expressions used in Scripture.

The true Christ is he who existed before he was manifested in the flesh, and who has never been seen with the eyes of the flesh. Jesus Christ, as God, has a heavenly humanity, of which the earthly one is but the outward garment, the type or figure. Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, did not personally unite himself to our human nature; he only took it as a suit of clothes, which he was to put on for a while. This human nature was inspired, as other men, but in a superior and more particular degree. Christ could not be united to a corrupt nature; his interior birth within men, is a greater mystery than his outward nativity. The faith in and the knowledge of Christ, according to the flesh, and of his mysteries, were but the first elements fit for the infancy of Christianity, which being over, those rudiments become useless: we now have learned to be in Christ, to become new creatures, to let old things pass away in order to make room for the new.

The expiation of our sins has not been merited by the outward spilling of Christ’s blood, which was not more precious than that of any other saint: neither has the Church been redeemed by it; but by an inward and spiritual blood, which purifies our hearts and consciences, of which the Scripture says, it was spilt for our justification; lastly, of which Christ himself says, that he who does not drink his blood shall not have life in him.

The Scripture does not say that Christ satisfied the justice of God for our sins. As God may without any injustice forgive our sins without such a satisfaction, it was not necessary, neither can it be reconciled with the gratuitous remission of our sins: and moreover, God’s punishing his own Son, who was innocent, is contrary to Divine justice.

Christ did not go up to heaven with the body which he had on earth, which is not now in heaven at the right hand of God. It is an erroneous opinion to think or believe that the body of Christ, which is in heaven, occupies and fills any particular limited place: the body of Christ is wherever his Spirit is; and it cannot save us, if distance of place separates it from us: whoever preaches a doctrine opposite to these propositions, is a false minister, and deceitful teacher: the same gift of discernment in the examination of spirits, which was bestowed on the apostles, remains still in the Church.