The Inner Light in the History and Present Problems of the Society of Friends

by Elbert Russell

The doctrine of the Inner Light ... was the recognition and proclamation of the spiritual freedom and autonomy of the individual soul. Calvin had taught that only the elect are given the Spirit by special dispensation, so as to enable them to believe and accept the Gospel; George Fox boldly proclaimed that God has endowed all men [sic] with spiritual capacity for the spiritual life and that each has within himself, quite apart from outward institutions and other human beings, the means of spiritual life, knowledge, guidance and power ... . The great issue is whether these sources of goodness [spiritual energy, life and truth] can come immediately to the individual man [sic], or whether they must be mediated by something external, whether sacrament, priest, Bible or church.