INNER LIGHT

also called Inward Light, the distinctive theme of the Society of Friends (Quakers), the direct awareness of God that allows a person to know God's will for him. It was expressed in the 17th century in the teachings of George Fox, founder of the Friends, who had failed to find spiritual truth in the English churches and who finally experienced a voice saying, There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition. A phrase used by Fox, that of God in every man, has often been used to describe the Inner Light. Robert Barclay, Scottish author of the influential systematic statement of the doctrines of the Friends, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1678), stated that the Inner Light is never separated from God nor Christ; but wherever it is, God and Christ are as wrapped up therein. Most Friends believe, however, that the Inner Light should not simply be a mystical experience but should result in a person's working for the good of others.