The Key to the Faith and Practice of the Religious Society of Friends states that the Inward Light is “both the historical, living Jesus, and as the Grace of God extended to people that simultaneously makes us conscious of our sins, forgives them, and gives us the strength and the will to overcome them” and “teaches us the difference between right and wrong, truth and falseness, good and evil.” (wikipedia.org)
***
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
John 1:4-5,9 NIV
***
The Light Within, which is the central Quaker idea,
is no abstract phrase.
It is an experience.
It is a type of religion that insists upon
a real and vital experience of God revealed to persons,
to their own souls, in their own personal lives.
Rufus Jones, 1863–1948
***
All that dwell in the light, their habitation is in God,
and they know a hiding place in the day of storm;
and those who dwell in the light,
are built upon the rock, and cannot be moved,
for who are moved or shaken, goes from the light,
and so goes from their strength, and from the power of God,
and loses the peace and the enjoyment of the presence of God.
Edward Burrough, 1634–1663