By William Law

 

Original Printing was accomplished in the year of our Lord 1749 'England'

 

The Fourth edition, was revised and corrected by the author 1758  'England'

 

This Fifth edition, was revised and printed in the year of our Lord 2004 by the

 

Old Truth Publishing Company

38 Borck Lane

Lebanon, TN 37090

United States Of America

Table Of Contents

Part 1

Chapter 1   Treating of Some Matters Preparatory To The Spirit of Prayer

Chapter 2   Discovering The True Way Of Turning To God, And Of Finding The Kingdom Of Heaven, The Riches Of Eternity In Our Souls

Part 2

Chapter 3  The First Dialogue, Being several Dialogues between Robert, Allen, and Henry. At which Harold was present.

Chapter 4  The Second Dialogue between Robert, Allen, and Henry.

Chapter 5  The Third Dialogue between Robert, Allen, and Henry.

 

Part 1 

Chapter 1

Considering Things Preparatory To The Spirit Of Prayer

The greatest part of mankind, no, of Christians, may be said to be asleep; and that particular way of life, which takes up each man's mind, thoughts, and actions, may very well be called his particular dream. This degree of vanity is equally visible in every form and order of life. The learned and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, are all in the same state of slumber, each passing away a short life in a different kind of dream. But why is this so? It is because man has an eternity within him, and is born into this world, not for the sake of living here, nor for anything that this world can offer him, but only to have a time and place, to become either an eternal partaker of a Divine life with God, or to have an hellish eternity among fallen Angels: Therefore, every man who does not have his eyes, his heart, and his hands, continually governed by this two-fold eternity, may justly be said to be fast asleep, to have no awakened sensibility of himself. And a life devoted to the interests and enjoyments of this world, spent and wasted in the slavery of earthly desires, may be truly called a dream; as having all the shortness, vanity, and delusion of a dream; but with this one great difference, that when a dream is over, nothing is lost but fictions and fantasies; but when the dream of life is ended, and it ends only by death, all  eternity is lost for which we were brought into being. Now there is no misery in this world, nothing that makes either the life or death of a man to be full of calamity, but this blindness and insensibility of his state, into which he so willingly, no, obstinately plunges himself. Everything that has the nature of evil and distress in it ascends from this. Suppose a man to know himself, to know that he comes into this world on no other errand, but to rise out of the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. Suppose him to govern his inward thoughts and outward actions by this view of himself, and then to him everyday has lost all of its evil; prosperity and adversity have no difference, because he receives, and uses them both in the same spirit; life and death are equally welcome, because both are equally parts of his path to eternity. For poor and miserable as this life is, we all have free access to all that is great, good, and happy, and carry within ourselves a key to all the treasures that Heaven has to bestow upon us.

We Are Void Of That Spirit Of Prayer

We starve in the midst of plenty, groan under infirmities, and all the time with the remedy in our own hand; we live and die without knowing and feeling anything of the one, and only good, while we have it in our power to know and enjoy it in as great a reality, as we know and feel the power of this world over us: For Heaven is as near to our souls, as this world is to our bodies; and we are created, we are redeemed, to have our life in it. God, is the only Good of all intelligent natures, He is not an absent or distant God, but is more present in and to our souls, than our own bodies are. We are strangers to Heaven, and without God in the world, for this reason only, because we are void of that Spirit of prayer, which alone can, and never fails, to unite us with the one, and only good, and to open Heaven, and the Kingdom of God within us. A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun, air, and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be, whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready, and infinitely desirous to give him. For the sun does not meet the springing bud that stretches towards it with half as much certainty, as God, who is the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.

All of us are by birth, the offspring of God, and more nearly related to Him than we are to one another; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. The first man that was brought forth from God had the breath and Spirit of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, breathed into him, and so he became a living soul. As a result, our first father Adam, was born of God, descended from Him, and stood in paradise in the image and likeness of God. He was the image and likeness of God, not with any respect to his outward shape or form, for no shape has any likeness to God; but he was in the image and likeness of God, because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had breathed their own nature and Spirit into him. And as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are always in heaven, and make heaven to be everywhere, so this Spirit, breathed by them into man, brought heaven into man along with it; and so man was in heaven, as well as on earth, that is, in paradise, which signifies an heavenly state, or birth of life.

Adam had all that Divine Nature, both as to a heavenly Spirit, and heavenly body, which the Angels have. But as he was brought forth to be a lord and ruler of a new world, created out of the chaos or ruins of the kingdom of fallen Angels; so it was necessary that he should also have the nature of this new created world in himself, both as to its Spirit and substance. For this reason it was, that he had a body taken from this new created earth, not such a dead earth as we now make bricks of, but the blessed earth of paradise, that had the powers of Heaven in it, out of which the tree of life itself could grow. Into the nostrils of this outward body, was the breath or spirit of this world breathed; and in this spirit and body of this world, did the inward celestial spirit and body of Adam dwell: it was the medium or means through which he was to have communication with this world, to become visible to its creatures, and rule over them. Thus stood our first father; an Angel both as to body and spirit (as he will be again after the resurrection) yet dwelling in a body and spirit taken from this newly created world, which was as inferior, and subject to him, as the earth and all its creatures were. It was no more alive in him, nor did it bring forth its nature within him, than Satan and the serpent were alive in him at his first creation. And herein is the ground of Adam's ignorance of good and evil; it was because his outward body, and the outward world (in which alone was good and evil) could not open their own life within him, but were kept inactive by the power and life of the celestial man within it. And this was man's first and great trial; a trial not imposed upon him by the will of God, or by way of experiment; but a trial necessarily implied in the nature of his state: He was created an Angel, both as to body and spirit; and this Angel stood in an outward body, of the nature of the outward world; and therefore, by the nature of his state, he had his trial, or power of choosing, whether he would live as an Angel, using his outward body only as a means of opening the wonders of the outward world to the glory of his Creator; or whether he would turn his desire to the opening of the bestial life of the outward world in himself, for the sake of knowing the good and evil that was in it. This fact is certain, that he lusted after the knowledge of this good and evil, and made use of the means available to obtain it. No sooner had he receive this knowledge, by the opening of the bestial life and sensibility within himself, but in that day, no, in that instant, he died; that is his heavenly Spirit with its heavenly body were extinguished in him; but his soul, an immortal fire that could not die, became a poor slave in the prison of bestial flesh and blood. See in this, the nature and necessity of our redemption; it is to redeem the first Angelic nature that had departed from Adam; it is to make that heavenly Spirit and body which Adam lost, to come alive again in our human nature; and this is called regeneration. See also the true reason why only the Son, or Eternal Word of God, could be our Redeemer; it is because He alone, by whom all things were at first made, was able to bring to life again that celestial Spirit and body which had departed from Adam. Understand also why our blessed Redeemer said,

"Except a Man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."

He must be born again of the Spirit, because Adam's first heavenly Spirit was lost: he must be born again of water, because that heavenly body which Adam lost, was formed out of the heavenly materiality, which is called water. Therefore, in the Revelation of John, the heavenly materiality, out of which the bodies of Angels and also of Adam were formed, is called a glassy Sea, as being the nearest and truest representation of it that can be made to our minds. The necessity of our regaining our first heavenly body, is the necessity of our eating the body and blood of Christ. The necessity of receiving again our first heavenly Spirit, is declared by the necessity of our being baptized by the Holy Ghost. Our fall is nothing else, but the falling of our soul from this celestial body and spirit into a bestial body and spirit of this world. Our rising out of our fallen state, or redemption, is nothing else but the regaining of our first Angelic spirit and body, which in Scripture is called our inward, or new man, created again in Christ Jesus. See here, lastly, the true ground of all the degradations of flesh and blood, required in the Gospel; it is because this bestial Life of this outward world should not have been opened in man; it is his separation from God, and death to the Kingdom of Heaven; and therefore, all its workings, appetites, and desires, are to be restrained and kept under, that the first heavenly life, to which Adam died, may have room to rise up in us.

But to return. That Adam was an Angel at his first Creation, dwelling in an outward body and outward world, incapable of receiving any impressions from them, and able to rule them at his pleasure. That all outward nature was a state of life below him, in subjection to him; that neither sun, nor stars, nor fire, nor water, nor earth, nor stones, could act upon him, or hurt him, is undeniably plain for this reason; because his first and great sin, which cost him his Angelic life, and took from him his crown of glory, consisted in this, that he lusted to know, and took the means of knowing, what good and evil are in the bestial life of this world: For this plainly demonstrates, that before his sin, while he stood in the first state of his creation, that he was an Angel in nature and power, that neither his own outward body, nor any part of outward nature, had any power in him or upon him; for had his own outward body, or any element of outward nature, had any power to act upon him, to make any impressions, or raise any sensations in him, he could not have been ignorant of good and evil in this world. Therefore, seeing that his eating of the forbidden tree, was that which opened this knowledge in him, it is a demonstration, that in his first state he was in this world as an Angel, who was put into the possession of it only to rule as a superior being over it; that he was to have no share of its life and nature, no feeling of good or evil from it, but was to act in it as a heavenly artist, that had power and skill to open the wonders of God in every part of outward nature. An Angel, we read, was accustomed at a certain time to come down into a pool at Jerusalem; the water stirred by the Angel gave forth its virtues, but the Angel felt no impressions of weight, or cold from the water. This is an Image of Adam's first freedom from, and power over all outward nature. He could wherever he went, do as this Angel did, make every element, and elementary thing, discover all the riches of God that were hidden in it, without feeling any impressions, of any kind from it. This was to have been the work both of Adam, and his offspring, to make all the creation show forth the glory of God, to spread paradise over all the earth, until the time came, that all the good in this world was to be called back to its first state, and all the evil in every part left to be possessed by the Devil and his fallen Angels. But since he fell from this first state into the animalistic life of this world, his work is changed, and he must now labor with sweat to “till” this cursed earth, both for himself and the beasts upon it.

Let us now consider some simple, but important truths, that follow from a result of what has been said above.

First, it is plain that the sin and fall of Adam did not consist in this, that he had only committed a single act of disobedience, and so might have been just as he was before, if God had been pleased to overlook this single act of disobedience, and not to have brought a curse upon him and his posterity for it. None of this is true, either on the part of God, or on the part of man.

Secondly, it is simple also to see, that the command of God, not to lust after, and eat of the forbidden tree, was not an arbitrary command of God, given at His pleasure, or as a mere trial of man's obedience; but was a most kind and loving piece of information given by the God of love to his newborn offspring. This information concerned the state he was in, with regard to the outward world: warning him to withdraw all desire of entering into a sensibility of its good and evil; because such sensibility could not be had, without his immediately dying to that Divine and heavenly life which he then enjoyed. "You shall not eat," says the God of love, "Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat thereof you will surely die."

As if God had said, "I have brought you into this paradise, with such a nature as the Angels have in Heaven. By the order and dignity of your creation, everything that lives and moves in this world is made subject to you, you are their ruler. I have made you in your outward body, of this world, to be for a time a little lower than the Angels, until you have brought forth a many offspring. The world around you, and the life which is newly awakened in it, is much lower than you are; it is of a nature quite inferior to yours. It is a disgusting, corruptible state of things, that cannot remain long before me; but must for a while bear the marks of those creatures, which first made evil to be known in the creation. The Angels, that first inhabited this region, where you are to bring forth a new order of beings, were great and powerful spirits, highly endowed with the riches and powers of their Creator. While they stood in meekness and resignation as the order of creation requires, under their Creator, nothing was impossible to them; there was no end of their glorious powers throughout their whole kingdom. Perpetual scenes of light, and glory, and beauty, were rising and changing through all the height and depth of their glassy sea, simply at their will and pleasure. But finding what wonders of light and glory they could perpetually bring forth; how all the powers of eternity, treasured up in their glassy sea, unfolded themselves, and broke forth in ravishing forms of wonder and delight, merely in obedience to their call; they began to admire and even adore themselves, and to fancy that there was some infinity of power hidden in themselves, which they supposed was suppressed, by that meekness, and subjection to God, and so they acted. Fired and intoxicated with this proud imagination, they boldly resolved, with all their eternal energy and strength, to take their kingdom, with all its glories, to themselves, by eternally walking away from all meekness and submission to God. No sooner did their eternal potent desires fly in this direction in a revolt to God, but in the swiftness of a thought, heaven was lost; and they found themselves dark spirits, stripped of all their light and glory. Instead of rising up above God (as they had hoped) by breaking off from Him, there was no end of their eternal sinking into new depths of slavery, under their own self-tormenting natures. As a wheel going down a mountain, that has no bottom, must continually keep on  turning, so are they whirled down by the impulsiveness of their own wrong turned wills, in a continual descent from the fountain of all glory, into the bottomless depths of their own dark, fiery, working powers. In no hell, but what their own natural strength had awakened; bound in no chains, but their own unbending, hardened spirits; made such, by their renouncing, with all their eternal strength, all meekness, and subjection to God. In that moment, the beautiful material of their kingdom, their glassy sea in which they dwelt, was by the wrathful rebellious workings of these fallen spirits, broken into pieces, and became a black lake, a horrible chaos of fire and wrath, thickness and darkness, a height and depth of the confused, divided, fighting properties of nature. My creating command stopped the workings of these rebellious spirits, by dividing the ruins of their wasted kingdom, into a earth, sun, stars, and separated elements. Had not this revolt of Angels brought forth that disordered chaos, no such material as this outward world is made up of, would have ever been known. Compacted earth, stones, rocks, wrathful fire here, dead water there, fighting elements, with all their unpleasant vegetation and animals, these are things not known in eternity, and will be only seen in time, until the great designs are finished, for which you are brought forth in paradise. And then, as a fire awakened by the rebel creature, began all the disorders of nature, and turned that glassy sea into a chaos, so a last fire, kindled at My word, shall thoroughly purge the floor of this world. In those purifying flames, the sun, the stars, the air, the earth and water, shall part with all their deadness, and division, and all will become again that first, heavenly material, a glassy sea of everlasting light and glory, in which you and your offspring shall sing hallelujahs through all eternity. Therefore do not look, you child of paradise, you son of eternity, do not look with a longing eye after anything in this outward world. It has the remains of the fallen Angels in it; You have nothing to do in it, but to be a ruler over it. It stands before you, as a mystery, big and wondrous; and you, while an Angel in paradise, have power to open and display them all. It does not stand in your sphere of existence; it is, as it were, but a picture, and transitory form of things; for all that is not eternal, is but as an image in a glass, that seems to have a reality, which it does not have. The life which springs up in this form of a world, in such an infinite variety of kinds and degrees, is but a shadow; it is a life of such days and years, as in eternity will have no distinction from a moment of time. It is a life of such animals and insects, which are without any Divine sense, capacity, or feeling. Their natures have nothing in them, but what I commanded this chaos, this order of stars and fighting elements, to bring forth.

Now Adam, observe, I will open up a great mystery to you. The heavenly materiality of the Angel’s kingdom before their revolt was a glassy sea, a mirror of beautiful forms, figures, virtues, powers, color, and sounds, which were perpetually springing up, appearing and changing in an infinite variety, to the manifestation of the wonders of the Divine nature, and to the joy of all the Angelical kingdom. This heavenly materiality had its fruits and vegetables, much more real than any that grow in time, but as different from the grossness of the fruits of this world, as the heavenly body of an Angel is different from the body of the grossest beast upon earth. In this Angelical kingdom, the one element (which is now in four parts) was then a fruitful mother of wonders, continually bringing forth new forms and figures of life; not animals, beasts, or insects, but beautiful figures, and ideal forms of the endless divisibility, and degrees of life, which only broke forth as delightful wonders of the depth of the riches of the Divine nature, and to tune the voices of Angels with songs of praise to the infinite source of life. And therefore, Adam, exists that endless infinite variety both of the animal and vegetable life in this perishable world. For no fruits or vegetables could have sprung up in the divided elements, but because they are the divided parts of that one heavenly materiality, or glassy sea, in which Angelical fruits had formerly come forth. No animal life could have arisen from stars, air, and water, but only because they are all the gross remains of that one element, in which the figures and images of life had once risen up in such an infinite variety of degrees and kinds. Consequently it was, that when the creating fiat[1] of God spoke to these new stars, and elements, and bid life awake in them all according to its kind, they all obeyed His word, and every property of nature strove to bring forth, after the kind and manner as it had done in the region of eternity. This, is the source and origin of all that infinite variety, and degrees of life, both of animals and vegetables, in this world. It is because all outward nature, being fallen from heaven, must yet, as well as it can, do and work as it had in heaven.

In Heaven, all births, all figures and spiritual forms of life, though infinite in variety, yet are all of an heavenly kind, and only so many manifestations of the goodness, wisdom, beauty, and riches of the Divine nature. But in this new chaos, where the disorders that were raised by Lucifer are not wholly removed, but evil and good must stand in strife, until the last purifying fire, here every kind and degree of life, like the world from which it springs, is a mixture of good and evil in its birth.

Therefore, be content with your Angelical nature, be content, as an Angel in paradise, to eat Angel’s food, and to rule over this mixed, imperfect, and perishing world, without partaking of its corruptible, impure, and perishing nature. Do not desire to know how the animals feel the evil and good which this life affords them; for if you could feel what they feel, you must be as they are; you cannot have their sensibility, unless you have their nature: you cannot at the same time be an Angel and an earthly animal. If the bestial life is raised up in you, in that same instant, the heavenly birth of your nature must die in you. Therefore turn your lust and imagination away from a tree, that can only help you to the knowledge of such good and evil, as belongs to the animals of this outward world; for nothing but the bestial nature can receive good or evil from the stars and elements; they have no power, but over that life which proceeds from them. Eat therefore only the food of paradise; be content with Angel’s bread; for if you eat of the tree of good and evil, it will unavoidably awaken and open the bestial life within you; and in that moment, all that is heavenly must die, and it will cease to have any power in you. And you must fall into a slavery for life, under the divided fighting powers of stars and elements. Stripped of your Angelical garment, that hid your outward body under its glory, you will become more naked than any beast upon earth, and be forced to seek from beasts a covering, to hide you from the different sights of your own eyes, a shameful, fearful, sickly, wanting, suffering, and distressed heir of the same speedy death in the dust of the earth, as the poor beasts, whom you will have made to be your brethren."

This paraphrase I leave to the reflection of the reader, and proceed to show Thirdly, that the misery, distressed, and woeful condition, which Adam by his transgression brought upon himself, and all his posterity, was not the effect of any severe vindictive wrath in God, calling for justice to His offended sovereignty, and inflicting pains and punishments suitable to the greatness of His just indignation, and anger at the disobedient creature. If Adam, contrary to the will of God, and for the sake of some new-fancied knowledge, had broken both his own legs, and put out both his eyes, could it with any show of truth and reason have been said, that God, in the severity of his wrath at so heinous an offense, had punished Adam with lameness and blindness? And if it is further supposed, that God seeing Adam lying in this lame and blind condition, came and spoke kindly to him, informing him of a secret of love, which He had in heaven, which He promised to send him immediately by his highest messenger of love; assuring him, that by the use of this heavenly secret or Divine power, his legs and eyes should, in some course of time, be restored to him, even in a better state than they were in at the first; must it not be still more unreasonable and absurd, to charge anything of this lameness and blindness upon a wrath in God against Adam? No, is it not clear, in the highest degree, that in all this matter, Adam had nothing from God, but the overflowing of love and goodness, and that he had no lameness and blindness, but from his own voluntary acts upon himself?

This is a simple, but clear representation of the case, this is how matters stood between God and our first father, when by his own act and deed he extinguished that Divine life, in which God had created him. Adam had no more hurt, or more evil done to him, at his fall, than the very nature of his own action brought upon him. He lusted to have the sensibility of that good and evil, which the beasts of this world have. He was told, that it could not be had without the loss of his heavenly life; because such loss was as necessarily implied in the nature of the thing itself, as blindness is implied in the extinction of the eyes. However, he ventured to make the trial, and chose to eat of that, which could, and did open his sensibility of earthly good and evil in himself. No sooner was this sensibility opened in himself, but that he found it to be a subjection and slavery to all outward nature, to heat and cold, to pains and sickness, horror of mind, disturbed passions, misery, and fears of death. Which is in other words only saying, that he found it to be an extinction of that Divine, Angelical nature, which until then had kept him insensible and incapable of any hurtful impressions, from any of the powers of this world. Therefore, to charge his miserable state, as a punishment inflicted upon him by the severe wrath of an incensed God, is the same absurdity as in the former example of supposed lameness and blindness.

Because the whole nature of all that miserable change, both as to his body and soul, which came upon him, was neither more, nor less, than what was necessarily implied in that which he chose to do to himself. And therefore it had nothing of the nature of a punishment inflicted from without, but was only that which his own action had done to himself: just as the man that puts out his own eyes, has only that darkness and blindness, which his own action has brought forth in himself.

From this short, yet true account of this matter, we are at once delivered from a load of difficulties that have been raised about the fall of man, and original sin. It has been a great question, how the goodness of God could punish such a small and single act of disobedience in Adam, with so great a punishment? Here the sovereignty of God has been appealed to, and has set the matter right; and from this sovereignty, came forth the different systems of absolute election, and absolute reprobation. But for our comfort it appears, that the question asked here, concerns neither God nor man, that it relates not at all to the matter, which has no existence, but in the brains of those that formed it. For the action in which Adam's sin consisted, was such an act, as to cause all that miserable change that came upon him, and so was not a small, or single act of disobedience, nor had the least punishment, of any kind, inflicted by God upon it. All that God did on this transgression was to love them, show compassion, and give relief to them. All the sovereignty that God showed here, was a sovereignty of love to the fallen creature. So that all the volumes on this question may be laid aside, as quite ridicules.

Another question, and the greatest question of all, of which preachers and theologians of all sorts have been forever trying to solve, and yet have never solved, is this: How it can consist with the goodness of God, to impute the sin of Adam to all his posterity? But here, to our comfort again, it may be said, that this question is equally as vain an illusion as the other, and has nothing to do with the procedure of God towards mankind. For there is no imputation of the sin of Adam to his posterity, and so no foundation for a dispute upon it. How absurd would it be to say, that God imputes the nature, or the body and soul of Adam to his posterity? For have they not the nature of Adam by a natural birth from him, and not by imputation from God? Now this is all the sin that Adam's posterity have from him, they have only their flesh and blood, their body and soul from him, by a birth from him, and not imputed to them from God. Instead of the former question, which is quite beside the point, it should have been asked, how it was consistent with the goodness of God, that Adam could not generate children of a nature and kind quite superior to himself? This is the only question that can be asked with relation to God; and yet it is a question whose absurdity proves itself to be wrong. For the only reason why sin is found in all the sons of Adam, is this, it is because Adam of earthly flesh and blood, cannot bring forth a holy Angel out of himself, but must produce children of the same nature and condition with himself. And here again it may be truly said, that all the laborious volumes on God's imputing Adam's sin to his posterity, ought to be considered as wasted paper! 

But further, as it is thus evident from the nature of Adam's transgression, that all his misery came from the nature of his own action, and that nothing was inflicted upon him, from a wrath or anger in God directed toward him, so it is still much more so, from a consideration of the Divine nature. For it is a glorious and joyful truth, (however suppressed in various systems of denominations) that from eternity to eternity, no spark of wrath ever was, or ever will be in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If a wrath of God was anywhere, it must be everywhere, if it burned once, it must burn to all eternity. For everything that is in God Himself is boundless, incapable of any increase or reduction, without beginning, and without end. It is as good sense, and as consistent with the Divine nature, to say that God, moved by a wrath in and from Himself, began the creation, as that a wrath in God ever punished any part of it. Nature and creature is the only source from which, wrath, pain, and vexation can dwell. Nor can they ever break forth either in nature or creature, but so far as either this thing, or that, has lost its state in God. This is as certain, as that storms and tempests, thunder and lightning, have no existence in heaven. God, is as infinitely separate from all possibility of doing hurt, or willing pain to any creature, as He is from a possibility of suffering pain or hurt from the hand of a man. And this is so, for this reason, because He is in Himself, in the God Head, nothing else but the boundless abyss of all that is good, and sweet, and amiable, and therefore stands in the utmost contrariety to everything that is not a blessing, and it is an eternal impossibility for God to will or intend a moment's pain or hurt to any creature. For from this un-bounding source of goodness and perfection, nothing but infinite streams of blessing are perpetually flowing forth upon all nature and creature, in a never-ending abundance, more so than rays of light stream from the sun. And as the sun has only one nature, and can give forth nothing but the blessings of light, and heat, so our Holy Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has but one nature and intent towards all the creation, which is, to pour forth the riches and sweetness of His Divine perfections, upon everything that is capable of them, and according to its capacity to receive them.

The goodness of God breaking forth into a desire to communicate good, was the cause and the beginning of the creation. Therefore it follows, that to all eternity, God can have no thought, or intent towards the creature, but to communicate good; because He made the creature for this sole end, to receive good. The first motive towards the creature is unchangeable; it takes its rise from God's desire to communicate good; and it is an eternal impossibility, that anything can ever come from God, as His will and purpose towards the creature, but that same love and goodness which first created it: He must always will that to it, which he willed at the creation of it. This is the friendly nature of God, he is the good, the unchangeable, overflowing fountain of good, that sends forth nothing but good throughout all eternity. He is love itself, the unmixed, immeasurable love, and does nothing, but from love, giving nothing but gifts of love, to everything that He has made; requiring nothing of all his creatures, but the spirit and fruits of that love, which brought them into being. Oh, how sweet is this contemplation of the height and depth of the riches of Divine love! With what attraction must it draw every thoughtful man, to return love for love to this overflowing fountain of boundless goodness? What charms has that religion, which discovers to us our existence in, relation to, and dependence upon this ocean of Divine love! View every part of our redemption, from Adam's first sin, to the resurrection of the dead, and you will find nothing but successive mysteries of that first love, which created Angels and men. All the mysteries of the gospel are only so many marks and proofs of God's desiring to make His love triumph, in the removal of sin and disorder from all nature and creature.

But to return, and consider further the nature of Adam's fall, we have seen that it didn’t consisted of an arbitrary punishment inflicted on him by a wrath raised in God, but was only such a state of misery, as his own action necessarily brought upon him. Let us now see what happened to his soul, a little more distinctly, and how it differed from what it was before his fall, in its heavenly state.

The Angels that kept their state, and those that fell from it, were at first, of the same nature; the Angels that fell, did not lose all their nature, for then they must have fallen into nothing; they only lost the heavenly and Divine part of it, and therefore there is something still remaining in them, that is also in the holy Angels, and which is common to both of them. Now this which they did not lose, because it cannot be lost, is the root of life, or ground of their existence, which when once in being, cannot be broken, and in which the unceasing eternity, or immortality of their nature consists, a root or first ground of life, equally capable of an heavenly birth, or of a birth and growth into hell. Now that there is this root of life in Angels, and that it is something quite distinct from their heavenly nature, becomes very plain from this, that the devils have lost their heavenly, and yet have kept their eternal and immortal nature; therefore that in which their eternity and immortality consists, must be something entirely distinct from their heavenly nature, and must be also the same as that, in which the eternity and immortality of the holy Angels consists. For the fallen Angels have no other eternal root in them, but that which they had before their fall, and which they brought from heaven; and therefore that which is, and must be eternal and undying in their nature, is the same eternal root of life, which is in the Angels that kept their state. And consequently, the only difference between an Angel and a devil, is this, that in the Angel its eternal root of life generates a birth of the light and Holy Spirit of God in it; and in a devil, this eternal root of life has lost this birth, and the power of bringing it forth again. Now here you can truly see the real difference between the soul of Adam, before and after his fall. Before his fall, it had the nature of an Angel of God, in which the Divine birth of the light and Holy Spirit of God sprung up, but when contrary to the will, and command of God, a bestial life was awakened in him, the heavenly life was extinguished, just as God had warned. The soul therefore having lost that heavenly birth which made it like an Angel of God, had nothing remaining in it, but that eternal and immortal root of life, which is the very essence of a fallen Angel. But here we must observe a great and happy difference, between the soul of Adam, though dead to all that was heavenly, and the soul of a devil.

The Angels that extinguished the birth of heaven in themselves, fell directly into the horrible depths of their own strong self-tormenting nature, or their own hell, for these two reasons.

First, because there was nothing else for them to fall into, but into this tormenting sensibility of their own fiery, wrathful, darkened nature.

Secondly, because their revolt from God was an attempt, and intent to be higher and greater by awakening, and trusting to their own natural powers, up until now they had been in submission to God. Now they wanted to have a greatness that sprung only from themselves, and therefore they found that which they sought, they found themselves left to all the greatness that was in themselves, and that was their hell, i.e., a fiery strength of a self-tormenting nature, because they had separated from the one source of light and love, of peace and joy.

But Adam, though his soul was as entirely dead to heaven, as the souls of the Devils were, yet he did not fall into their hell, for these two reasons.

First, because his Angelical man dwelt in a body taken from this outward world, and that body did not die at his transgression, therefore his soul that had lost its heavenly light, did not fall directly into the Devil's Hell, but it fell into a body of earthly flesh and blood, which being capable of the enjoyments and satisfactions of this life, and could, while it lasted, keep the soul insensible of its own fallen state, and hellish condition.

Secondly, because Adam did not aspire to be above, or without God by his own proud strength, but only lusted to enter into a sensibility of the good and evil of the bestial life of this world, and he found that which he sought, and fell into that state or misery, his own bestial life, which his own actions and desires had opened in him. And therefore this outward world stood him in great stead, it prevented his immediate falling into the same state of the fallen Angels. But then, as there was nothing that kept him out of the hell of fallen Angels, but his body of earthly flesh and blood, and as this was now mortal in him, as it was in the beasts, and lay at the mercy of a thousand accidents, that could at any moment take it from him, so he was in his fallen state, standing as it were on the brink of hell, liable every moment to be pushed into it. See here the deep foundation and absolute necessity of receiving the new birth, of the Word, Son, and Spirit of God, which the scripture speaks so much of. It is because our soul, as fallen, is quite dead to, and separate from the kingdom of heaven, by having lost the light and Spirit of God in itself; and therefore it is, and must be incapable of entering into heaven, until by this new birth, the soul receives again its first heavenly nature. If you have nothing of this heavenly birth when your body dies, then you have only that root of life in you, which the devils have, you are as far from heaven, and as incapable of it, as they are; your nature is their nature, and therefore their habitation must be yours. For nothing can possibly hinder your union with fallen Angels, when you die, but a birth of that in your soul, which the fallen Angels had lost. How pitiable, therefore, or rather how hurtful is that Bible school learning, which uses all its skill of words, to avoid and suffer loss of the true sense of our Savior's doctrine concerning the new birth, which is necessary to fallen man. By holding, that the passages asserting the new birth, are only a figurative, form of words concerning something, that is not really a birth, or growth of a new nature, but may, according to the best rules of criticism, signify, our entrance into the society of Christians.

Now let it be observed here, that no Passage of Scripture is to be called, or esteemed as a figurative expression, but where the literal meaning cannot be allowed, as implying something that is either bad in itself, or impossible, or inconsistent with some plain and undeniable doctrines of Scripture. Now this is not the case here, and this is very evident. For who will write of baptism, or such a new relation, as a scholar may have with his master, who by a conformity to the terms of union, or by copying his ways and manners, may, by a figure of speech, be said to be born again of him.

Why would men presume to say, that for the soul of fallen man to be born again of the Son, or light, and Holy Spirit of God, is in the literal sense of the words, a thing bad in itself, or impossible, or inconsistent with any plain and undeniable doctrines of scripture? The critics therefore, who, in this matter, leave the literal meaning of the words, and take recourse to a figurative sense, are without excuse, and have nothing they can recommend as a reason for so doing, but their own skill in words. But it may be further added as a just charge against these critics, that their setting up these passages in a figurative sense, is not only without any reason, but is actually a bad meaning, impossible to be true, and utterly inconsistent with the fundamental doctrines of scripture. Now that this is the case here, and can in part be seen by the following instance.

Let it be supposed, that a human body had lost the light, and air of this world, and was in a state of death, because both these were quite extinguished in it. Must it not be said, that this human body cannot see, or enter again into the life of this world, unless the light and air of this world get again a new birth in it: is there here any occasion, or any room to form a doubt, how these words are to be understood, or any possibility to mistake the meaning of them? What a philosopher he would be, who for fear of being called a fanatic, should here deny the literal meaning of a new birth of light and air, and think himself sufficiently justified in flying from it, because in his great reading, he had seen the words, birth, light and air, sometimes, and upon some occasions, used only in a figurative sense? Now this is exactly the case of the soul, fallen, and lying in the same state of death to the kingdom of God, until a new birth of the light and Spirit of God be brought again into it. And therefore the necessity of understanding these words in their literal meaning, the absurdity of flying to a figurative sense of the new birth, and the impossibility of that being the true one, is equally plain, and certain in both these cases.

Now the fact that the soul, as fallen, is in this real state of death, is a doctrine not only plain from the whole sense of scripture, but affirmed in all systems of divinity. For all believe, and teach, that man unredeemed, must at the death of his body fall into a state of misery, like that of the fallen Angels. But how can this be true, unless it is true, that the life of heaven was extinguished in the soul, and that man had really lost that light, and Spirit of God, which alone can make any being capable of living in heaven? All therefore that I have here, and elsewhere said, concerning the death of the soul by its fall, and its needing a “real” new birth of the Son, and Holy Spirit of God in it, in order for it’s  salvation to take place, cannot be denied, but by giving up this great, fundamental doctrine, namely, "That man in his fallen, and unredeemed state, must be eternally lost." For it cannot be true, that the fall of man unredeemed, would have kept him forever out of heaven, but because of this reason, that his fall had absolutely put an end to the life of heaven in his soul. On the other hand, it cannot be true that Jesus Christ is his Redeemer, and does deliver him from his fallen state, unless it is true, that Jesus Christ helps him to a new birth of that light and Spirit of God, which was extinguished by his fall. For nothing could possibly be the redemption, or recovery of man, but regeneration alone. His misery was his having lost the life and light of heaven from his soul, and therefore nothing in all the universe of nature, but a new birth of that which he had lost, could be his deliverance from his fallen state. Therefore if Angel after Angel had come down from heaven to assure him, that God had no anger toward him, he would still have been in the same helpless state; in fact, had they told him, that God had pity and compassion towards him, he would still be without help; because in the nature of the thing, nothing could make so much as a beginning of his deliverance, but that which made a beginning of a new birth in him. Nothing could fully effect his recovery, but that which perfectly finished the new birth of all the heavenly life which he had lost.

The gospel tells us of a certain man who fell among thieves, who stripped him, wounded him, and left him half dead; that first a priest, then a Levite, coming that way, both avoided the poor man, by passing on the other side. Here it is made plain that this priest and Levite left the poor man in the same helpless state in which they found him. Let it now be supposed, that instead of going on the other side of the road, they had come up to him, and poured oil and wine into his wounds, only in a figurative sense of the words, that is, that they had spoken such words to him, words so soft, so oily, and reviving, that in a just figure of speech, they might be called a pouring of wine and oil into his wounds. Now had they done this, must it not still be said, that the poor man's wounds and nakedness were still left as they were at the first? And all because of this reason, because the poor man was naked, and wounded, not in a figurative sense of the words, but really and truly naked, and really and truly wounded, therefore could not receive any help or benefit, but only from real oil and wine actually poured into his wounds. For this selfsame reason, the fallen soul, really dead to the kingdom of heaven, can have no help, but by a new birth of the light and Spirit of heaven, actually brought forth again in it. When Adam lay in his death wounds to the kingdom of God, if the highest order of archangels, come by that way, they could only have done as the priest and Levite did, go on the other side; or if they had come up to him, and done all they could for him, it could only be of the same relief to him, as if they had  said to him “be warmed and filled.” For as Adam had extinguished the light and Spirit of God in himself, so it is that no one could be the good Samaritan to him, or pour that wine and oil into his wounds, which was needed, but He who was the author and source of light and life to every being that lives in heaven. One would wonder how any persons, that believe the great mystery of our redemption, who adore the depths of the Divine goodness, in that the Son of God, the second person in the Godhead, who became a man Himself, in order to make it possible for man by a birth from Him to enter again into the kingdom of God, should yet seek to, and contend for, not a real, but a figurative sense of a new birth in Jesus Christ. Is there anything more inconsistent than this? Or can anything strike more directly at the heart of the whole nature of our redemption? God became man, and took upon Him a birth from the fallen nature, but why was this done? Or wherein lies the adorable depth of this mystery? How does all this manifest the infinity of the Divine love towards man? It is because nothing less than this mysterious incarnation (which astonished the Angels) could open a way, or begin a possibility, for fallen man to be born again from above, and made again a partaker of the Divine nature. It was because man had become so dead to the kingdom of heaven, that there was no help for him through all nature. No powers, no abilities of the highest order of creatures, could kindle the least spark of life in him, or help him to the least glimpse of that heavenly light which he had lost. Now when all nature and creature stood round about Adam, as unable to help him, as he was to help himself. All of them were unable to help him, for this reason, because that which he had lost, was the life and light of heaven. How glorious, how adorable is that mystery, which enables us to say, that when man was in this state, incapable of any relief from all the powers and possibilities of nature, that then the Son, the Word of God, entered by a birth into this fallen nature, that by this mysterious incarnation all fallen nature might be born again of Him according to the Spirit, in the same reality, as they were born of Adam according to the flesh? Look at this mystery in this true light, in this plain sense of scripture, and then you must be forced to fall down before it, in adoration of it. For all that is great and astonishing in the goodness of God, all that is glorious and happy with regard to man, is manifestly contained in it. But tell me, what becomes of all this, what is there left in any part of this mystery, if this new birth, for the sake of which God became man, is not really a new birth in man himself, is not, as the scripture affirms, a real birth of the son and the Spirit of God in the soul, but something or other, which the critics say, may be called a new birth, by a figure of speech? Is not this to give up all our redemption at once, and turning all the mysteries of our salvation into mere empty, unmeaning terms of speech? He who makes this criticism, had said that it need not signify a real coming out of a state of natural death, that it is all right to deny the reality of the resurrection, has missed the entire point of the Gospel! For this new birth is not a part, but the whole of our salvation. Everything in religion, from the beginning to the end of time, is only for the sake of it. Nothing does us any good, but only as it helps forward our regeneration, or, as it is a true fruit or effect of it.

All the glad tidings of the Gospel, all the benefits of our Savior, however variously expressed in scripture, all center in this one point, that He has become our light, our life, our resurrection, our holiness and salvation; that we are in Him, new creatures, created again unto righteousness, born again of Him, from above, of the Spirit of God. Everything in the gospel is for the sake of this new creature, this new man in Christ Jesus, and nothing is regarded without it. Therefore what excuse can be made for that teaching, which, robbing us of the true fruits of the tree of life, leaves us nothing to feed upon, but the dry dust of words? “I am the vine, you are the branches." Here Christ, our second Adam, uses this similitude to teach us, that the new birth that we are to have from Him is real, in the most strict and literal sense of the words. That there is the same nearness of relation, between Him and His true disciples, that there is between the vine and its branches, and that He does all that in us, and for us, which the vine does for its branches. Now the life of the vine must be really derived into the branches, they cannot be branches, until the birth of the vine is brought forth in them. And therefore, as sure as the birth of the vine must be brought forth in the branches, so sure is it, that we must be born again of our second Adam. And that unless the life of the holy Jesus be in us by a birth from God, we are as dead to Him and the kingdom of God, as the branch is dead to the vine from which it is broken off. Again our blessed Savior says, "Without me, you can do nothing." The question is, when, or how a man may be said to be without Christ? Consider again the vine and its branches: a branch can then only be said to be without its vine, when the vegetable life of the vine is no longer in it. This is the only sense, in which he can be said to be without Christ; when He is no longer in us as a principle of a heavenly life; we are then without Him, and so can do nothing, that is, nothing that is good or holy. A Christ not in us, is the same thing as a Christ not ours. If we have gone only as far with Christ, as to  receive the history of His birth, person, and character, and say that we believe it, if this is all that we have of Him, we are as much without Him, as much left to ourselves, as little helped by Him, as those evil spirits which cried out, "We know You, who you are, the Holy One of God." For those evil spirits, and all of the fallen Angels, are totally without Christ, and have no benefit from Him, for this reason, because Christ is not in them; nothing of the Son of God is generated, or born in them. Therefore every son of Adam, that does not have the Son of God generated, or born within Him, is as much without Christ, as destitute of all help from Him, as those evil spirits who could only make an outward confession of Him. It is the language of scripture, that Christ in us is our hope of glory; that Christ formed in us, living, growing, and raising His own life and Spirit in us, is our only salvation. And indeed all this is plain from the nature of the thing; for since the serpent, sin, death and hell, are all essentially within us, the very growth of our nature, must not our redemption be equally inward, an inward essential death to this state of our souls, and an inward growth of a contrary life within us? If Adam was only an outward person, if his whole nature was not our nature, born in us, and derived from him into us, it would be nonsense to say, that his fall is our fall. So in like manner, if Christ, our second Adam, was only an outward person, if He entered not as deeply into our nature as the first Adam did, if we do not have from Him a new inward, spiritual man, as we have outward flesh and blood from Adam, what ground could there be to say, that our Righteousness is from Him, as our Sin is from Adam? Let no one think to charge me with disregard to the holy Jesus, who was born of the virgin Mary, or with setting up an inward Savior in opposition to the outward Christ, whose history is recorded in the Gospel. No, it is with the utmost fullness of faith and assurance, that I ascribe all our redemption to that blessed and mysterious person, that was then born of the virgin Mary, and will assert no inward redemption but which wholly proceeds from, and is effected by that life-giving Redeemer, who died on the cross for our redemption.

If I were to say, that a plant or vegetable must have the sun within it, must have the life, light, and virtues of the sun incorporated in it, that it has no benefit from the sun, until the sun is inwardly forming, generating, quickening, and raising up a life of the sun's virtues in it, would this be setting up an inward sun, in opposition to the outward one? Could anything be more ridiculous than such a charge? For, is not all that is here said of an inward sun in the vegetable, so much said of a power and virtue derived from the sun in the firmament? So in like manner, all that is said of an inward Christ, inwardly formed, and generated in the root of the soul, is only so much said of an inward life, brought forth by the power and efficacy[2] of that blessed Christ, that was born of the virgin Mary.

Chapter 2

Discovering The True Way Of Turning To God, And Of Finding The Kingdom Of Heaven, The Riches Of Eternity In Our Souls.

You have seen, dear reader, the nature and necessity of regeneration, be persuaded therefore fully to believe, and firmly to settle in your mind this most certain truth, that all our salvation consists in the manifestation of the nature, life, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in our inward new man. This alone is Christian redemption, this alone delivers from the guilt and power of sin, this alone redeems, renews, and regains the first life of God in the soul of man.

Everything besides this, is self, or fiction, know as self-will, and however colored, is only your old man, with all his deeds. Enter therefore with all your Heart into this truth, let your eye be always upon it, do everything in view of it, try everything by the truth of it, love nothing but for the sake of it. Wherever you go, whatever you do, at home, at work, or at church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in imitation of His temperament and inclinations, and look upon all as worthless, but that which exercises, and increases the Spirit and life of Christ in your soul. From morning to night keep Jesus in your heart, long for nothing, desire nothing, hope for nothing, but to have all that is within you changed into the Spirit and temper of the holy Jesus. Let this be your Christianity, your church, and your religion. For this new birth in Christ firmly believed, and continually desired, will do everything that you want to have done in you, it will dry up all the springs of vice, it will stop all the workings of evil in your nature, it will bring all that is good into you, it will open all the Gospel within you, and you will know what it is to be taught of God. This longing desire of your heart to be one with Christ will soon put a stop to all the vanity of your life, and nothing will be admitted to enter into your heart, or proceed from it, but that which comes from God and returns to God: you will soon be, as it were, tied and bound in the chains of all holy affections and desires, your mouth will have a watch set upon it, your ears will hear nothing willingly that does not have a propensity to God, nor your eyes to be open, but to see, and find occasions of doing good. In a word, when this faith has got both your head and your heart, it will then be with you, as it was with the merchant who found the pearl of great price, it will make you glad to sell all that you have, to buy it. For all that had seized and possessed the heart of any man, whatever the merchants of this world had to offer, whether of riches, power, honor, learning, or reputation, it loses all its value, is counted as garbage, and willingly parted with, as soon as this glorious pearl, the new birth in Christ Jesus, is discovered and found by him.

This therefore may serve as a standard, whereby every one may try the truth of his state; if the old man is still a merchant within you, trading in all sorts of worldly honor, power, or learning, if the wisdom of this world is not foolishness to you, if earthly interests, and sensual pleasures, are still the desire of your heart, and only partially hidden under a form of Godliness, a cloak of creeds, observances, and institutions of religion, you may be assured, that the pearl of great price has not yet been found by you. For where Christ is born, or His Spirit rises up in the soul, there, all self is denied; there, all carnal wisdom, skill of advancement, with every pride and glory of this life, are as so many heathen idols all willingly renounced, and the man is not only content, but rejoices to say, that his kingdom is not of this world. But you will perhaps say, how shall this great work, the birth of Christ, be brought about in me? It might rather be said, since Christ has an infinite power, and also an infinite desire to save mankind, how can anyone miss this salvation, but through his own unwillingness to be saved by the Christ of God? Consider, how it came about that the lame and blind, the lunatic and leper, the publican and sinner, found Christ to be their Savior, and to do all that for them, which they wanted to have done to them? Was because they had a real desire of having that which they asked for, and therefore in true faith and prayer they applied to Christ, that His Spirit and power might enter into them, and heal that which needed to be healed in them. Everyone of these said in faith and desire, "Lord, if you will, you can make me whole." And the Answer was always this, "According to your faith, so be it done to you." This is Christ's answer now, and so it is done to every one of us today, as our faith is, so is it done to us. And here lies the whole reason of our falling short of the salvation of Christ, it is because we have no real desire to have it.

But you will say, Do not all Christians desire to have Christ to be their Savior? Yes. But here is the deceit; all would have Christ to be their Savior in the next world, and to help them into Heaven when they die, by His power, and merits with God. But this is not willing Christ to be your Savior; for His salvation, if it is to be had, must be had in this world; if He saves you, it must be done in this life, by changing and altering all that is within you, by helping you to a new heart, as He helped the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dumb to speak. For to have salvation from Christ, is nothing else but to be made like Him; it is to have His humility and meekness, His mortification and self-denial, His renunciation of the spirit, wisdom, and honors of this world, His love of God, His desire of doing God's will, and seeking only His honor. To have these tempers formed in your heart, is to have salvation from Christ. But if you do not will to have these tempers brought forth in you, if your faith and desire does not seek, and cry to Christ for them in the same reality, as the lame asked to walk, and the blind to see, then it is true in you, that you are unwilling to have Christ to be your Savior.

“They Did Not Want To Have Their Pride And Self-Love Dethroned”

Again, consider, how it was, that the carnal Jew, the well-read scribe, the learned rabbi, the religious Pharisee, not only did not receive, but crucified their Savior? It was because they willed, and desired no such Savior as He was, no such inward salvation as He offered to them. They desired no change of their own nature, no inward destruction of their own natural temperament, no deliverance from the love of self, and the enjoyments of their passions; they liked their state, and the gratifications of their old man, their long robes, their broad phylacteries, and greetings in the markets. They did not want to have their pride and self-love dethroned, their covetousness and sensuality to be subdued by a new nature from Heaven derived into them. Their only desire was the success of Judaism, to have an outward Savior, a temporal prince, that could establish their law and ceremonies over all the earth. And therefore they crucified their dear Redeemer, and would not have His salvation, because it all consisted in a change of their nature, in a new birth from above, and a kingdom of heaven to be opened within them by the Spirit of God.

Oh Christendom, do not look at the old Jews, but see yourself in this mirror. For this, a birth of His own nature. A Christ within us, an inward Savior, (oh, sad truth to be told!) is rejected as fanaticism. The learned Rabbi’s take counsel against it. The propagation of popery, the propagation of Protestantism, the success of some particular denomination, is the salvation which priests and ministers are chiefly concerned about.

But to return. It is obvious, that no one can fail of the benefit of Christ's salvation, but through an unwillingness to have it, and from the same Spirit and tempers which made the Jews unwilling to receive it. But if you would like to know more about how this great work, the birth of Christ, is to be effected in you, then let this joyful truth be known to you, that this great work is already begun in every one of us. For this Holy Jesus, that is to be formed in you, that is to be the Savior and new Life of your soul, that is to raise you out of the darkness of death, into the light of life, and give you power to become a son of God, is already within you, living, stirring, calling, knocking at the door of your heart, and wanting nothing but your own faith and good will, to have as real a birth in you, as He had in the virgin Mary. For the eternal word, or Son of God, did not then first begin to be the Savior of the world, when He was born in Bethlehem of Judea; but that word which became man in the virgin Mary, did, from the beginning of the world, enter as a word of life, a seed of salvation, into the first father of mankind, was in-spoken into him, as an in-grafted Word, under the name and character of a bruiser of the serpent's head. Hence it is, that Christ said to His disciples, "The Kingdom of God is within you"; that is, the Divine nature is within you, given to your first father, into the light of his life, and from him, rising up in the life of every son of Adam. Therefore the holy Jesus is said to be the "light, which lights every man that comes into the world." Not as He was born at Bethlehem, not as He had a human form upon earth; in these respects He could not be said to have been the light of every man that comes into the world; but as He was that eternal Word, by which all things were created, which was the life and light of all things, and which had as a second Creator that entered again into fallen man, as a bruiser of the serpent; in this respect it was truly said of our Lord, when on earth, that "He was that light which lights every man, that comes into the world." For he was really and truly all this, as He was the Emmanuel, the God with us, given to Adam, and in him, to all his offspring. See here, the beginning and glorious extent of the universal Church of Christ, it takes in all the World. It is God's unlimited, universal mercy to all mankind; and every human creature, as sure as he is born of Adam, has a birth of the bruiser of the serpent within him, and so is unfailingly in covenant with God through Jesus Christ. For this reason also it is, that the Holy Jesus is appointed to be judge of all the world, it is because all mankind, all nations and languages have in Him, and through Him, been put into covenant with God, and made capable of resisting the evil of their fallen nature.

When our blessed Lord conversed with the woman at Jacob's well, He said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that talks with you, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water." How happy (may anyone well say) was this woman of Samaria, to stand so near this gift of God, from whom she might have received living water, had she but asked for it! But, dear Christian, this happiness is yours; for this Holy Jesus, the gift of God, first given into Adam, and in him to all that are descended from him, is the gift of God to you. As sure as you are born of Adam, even though you don’t as of  yet own Him, and even though you are as far as the prodigal son is from his Father's house, yet He is still with you, He is the gift of God to you. If you will but turn to Him, and ask of Him, He has living water for you.

Poor sinner! Consider the treasure you have within you, the Savior of the world, the eternal Word of God lies hid in you, as a spark of the Divine nature, which is to overcome sin, death, and hell within you, and generate the life of heaven again in your soul. Turn to your heart, and your heart will find its Savior, its God within itself. You see, hear, and feel nothing of God, because you seek for Him outside with your outward eyes, you seek for Him in books, in controversies, in the Church, and outward exercises, but there you will not find Him, until you have first found Him in your heart. Seek for Him in your heart, and you will never seek in vain, for there He dwells, there is the seat of His light and Holy Spirit. For this turning to the light and Spirit of God within you, is your only true turning to God, there is no other way of finding Him, but in that place where he dwells, and that is, in you. For though God be everywhere present, yet He is only present to you in the deepest, and most central part of your soul. Your natural senses cannot possess God, or unite you to Him, no, your inward faculties of understanding, will, and memory, can only reach after God, but cannot be the place of His habitation in you. But there is a root, or depth in you, where all these faculties come forth, as lines from a center, or as branches from the body of the tree. This depth is called the center, the bottom of the soul. This depth is the unity, the eternity, I had almost said, the infinity of your soul; for it is so infinite, that nothing can satisfy it, or give it any rest, but the infinity of God. In this depth of the soul, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit brought forth its own living Image in the first created man, bearing in him a living representation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and this was his dwelling in God and God in him. This was the kingdom of God within him, that was made paradise. But the day that Adam eat of the forbidden earthly tree, in that day he absolutely died to this kingdom of God within himself. This depth or center of his soul having lost its God, was shut up in death and darkness, and became a prisoner in an earthly animal, that only excelled its brethren, the beasts, in an upright form and serpentine subtlety, and consequently ended in the fall of man. But from that moment the God of mercy spoke into Adam the bruiser of the serpent, from that moment all the riches and treasures of the Divine nature came again into man, as a seed of salvation sown into the center of the soul, and lies hidden in every man, until he desires to rise from his fallen state, and be born again from above. Awake then, you that sleep, and Christ, who from all eternity has been espoused to your soul, shall give you light. Begin to search and dig in your own field for this pearl of eternity, that lies hidden in you; it cannot cost you too much, nor can the cost be too dear, for it is everything, and when you have found it, you will know, that all that which you have sold or given away for it, is absolutely nothing, it is only a bubble upon the water. But if you turn from this heavenly pearl, or trample it under your feet, for the sake of being rich, or great, either in the Church or state, if death finds you in this “success”, you cannot say then, that though the pearl is lost, yet something has been gained instead of it. For in that parting moment, the things, and the sounds of this world, will be exactly alike; to have had an estate, or only to have heard of it, to have lived in a castle twenty years, or only have twenty times passed by the palace, it will be the same good, or the same nothing to you.

But I will now show a little more distinctly, what this pearl of eternity is. First, it is the light and Spirit of God within you, which has up until now done you very little good, because all the desires of your heart, have been after the light and spirit of this world. Your reason, and senses, your heart and passions, have turned all their attention to the worthless concerns of this life, and therefore you are a stranger to this principle of heaven, these riches of eternity within you. For as God can not be truly found by any worshippers, but those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth, so this light and Spirit, though always within us, is not, and cannot, be found, felt, or enjoyed, but by those whose whole spirit is turned to it.

When man first came into being, and stood before God as His own image and likeness, this light and Spirit of God was as natural to him, as truly the light of his nature, as the light and air of this world is natural to the creatures that have their birth in it. But when man, not content with the food of eternity, ate of the earthly tree, this light and Spirit of heaven was no longer natural to him, it no longer rose up as a birth of his nature, but instead, he was left solely to the light and spirit of this world. And this is that death, which God told Adam, he would surely die, in the day that he ate of the forbidden tree. But the goodness of God would not leave man in this condition. A redemption from it was immediately granted, and the bruiser of the serpent brought the light and Spirit of heaven once more into the human nature, not as it was in its first state, when man was in paradise, but as a treasure hidden in the center of our souls, which he could discover, and open by degrees, in such proportion, as the faith and desires of our hearts were turned to it. This light and Spirit of God freely restored again to the soul, and lying in it as a secret source of heaven, is called grace, free grace, or the supernatural gift, or power of God in the soul, because it was something that the natural powers of the soul could not obtain. Hence it is, that in the greatest truth, and highest reality, every stirring of the soul, every tendency of the heart towards God and goodness, is justly and necessarily ascribed to the Holy Spirit, or the grace of God. It is because this first seed of life, which is sown into the soul, as the gift or grace of God to fallen man, is itself the light and Spirit of God. Therefore every stirring, or opening of this seed of life, every awakened thought or desire that arises from it, must be called the moving, or the quickening of the Spirit of God; and therefore that new man which arises from it, must of all necessity be said to be solely the work and operation of God.

For this reason we have an easy and plain declaration of the true meaning, and certain truth, of all those scriptures, which speak of the inspiration of God, the operation of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Divine Light, as the sole and necessary agents in the renewal and sanctification of our souls, and also as being things common to all men. It is because this seed of life, or bruiser of the serpent, is common to all men, and has in all men a degree of life, which is in itself so much of the life of God, the Spirit of God, and the light of God, which is in every soul, and is its power of becoming born again of God. Hence also it is, that all men are exhorted not to quench, or resist, or grieve the Spirit, that is, this seed of the Spirit and Light of God that is in all men, as the only source of good. Again, the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. By the flesh and its lusting, it is meant mere human nature, or the natural man, as he is by the fall; by the Spirit it is meant the bruiser of the serpent, that seed of the Light and Spirit of God, which lies as a treasure hid in the soul, in order to bring forth the life that was lost in Adam. Now as the flesh has its life, its lusting, where all sorts of evil are truly said to be inspired, quickened, and stirred up in us, so the Spirit being a living principle within us, has its inspiration, its breathing, its moving, its quickening, from which alone the Divine life, or the Angel that died in Adam, can be born in us.

When Are We Truly Born Again?

When this seed of the spirit, common to all men, is not resisted, grieved, and quenched, but its inspirations and motions are allowed to grow and increase in us, to unite with God, and have power over all the lusts of the flesh, then we are born again. The nature, Spirit, and tempers of Jesus Christ are opened in our souls, the kingdom of God is come, and is found within us. On the other hand, when the flesh, or the natural man has resisted and quenched this Spirit or seed of life within us, then the works of the flesh, adultery, fornication, murders, lying, hatred, envy, wrath, pride, foolishness, worldly wisdom, worry, false religion, hypocritical holiness, and serpentine subtlety, have set up their kingdom within us. See here in short, the state of man as redeemed. He has a spark of the light and Spirit of God, as a supernatural gift of God given into the birth of his soul, to bring forth by degrees a new birth of that life which was lost in paradise. This holy spark of the Divine nature within him, has a natural, strong and almost infinite tendency, or reaching after that eternal light and Spirit of God, from the very source it came forth. It came forth from God, it came out of God, it partakes of the Divine nature, and therefore it is always in a state of tendency and return to God. And all this is called the breathing, the moving, the quickening of the Holy Spirit within us, which are so many operations of this spark of life tending towards God. On the other hand, God as considered in Himself, and outside the soul of man, has an infinite, unchangeable tendency of love, and desire towards the soul of man, to unite and communicate its own riches and glories to it, just as the spirit of the air outside of man, unites and communicates its riches and virtues to the spirit of the air that is inside of him.

This love, or desire of God towards the soul of man, is so great, that He gave his only begotten Son, the brightness of His glory, to take the human nature upon Him, in its fallen state, that by this mysterious union of God and man, all the enemies of the soul of man might be overcome, and every human creature might have a power of being born again according to that image of God, in which he was first created. The gospel is the history of this love of God to man. Inwardly he has a seed of the Divine life given into the birth of his soul, a seed that has all the riches of eternity in it, and is always wanting to come to birth in him, and be alive in God. Outwardly he has Jesus Christ, who as a son of righteousness, is always casting forth His enlivening beams on this inward seed, to kindle and call it forth to the birth, doing that to this seed of heaven in man, which the sun in the firmament is always doing to the vegetable seeds in the earth. Consider this matter in the following similitude. A grain of wheat has the air and light of this world enclosed, or incorporated in it: This is the mystery of its life, this is its power of growing, by this it has a strong continual tendency of uniting again with that ocean of light and air, from which it originally came forth, and so it helps to kindle its own vegetable life.

On the other hand, that great ocean of light and air, having its own offspring hidden in the heart of the grain, has a perpetual and strong tendency to unite, and communicate with it again. From this desire of union on both sides, the vegetable life arises, and all the virtues and powers contained in it. But here let it be well observed, that this desire on both sides cannot have its effect, until the husk of the grain falls into a state of corruption and death, until this begins, the mystery of life hidden in it, cannot come forth. The application here may be left to the reader. I shall only observe, that we may see in this the true foundation, and absolute necessity, of  dying to ourselves, and to the world, to which our blessed Lord so constantly calls all His followers. A universal self-denial, a perpetual degradation of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not a thing imposed upon us simply by the will of God, but has its foundation and reason in the nature of the thing. Self-denial is absolutely necessary to make way for the new birth, as the death of the husk of the grain, is necessary to make way for its vegetable life.

But secondly, this pearl of eternity is the wisdom and love of God within you. In this pearl of your serpent bruiser, all the holy nature, spirit, tempers, and inclinations of Christ, lie as in a seed in the center of your soul, and Divine wisdom and heavenly love will grow up in you, if you give true attention to God present in your soul. On the other hand, there is hidden also in the depth of your nature the root, or possibility of all the hellish nature, spirit, and tempers of the fallen angels. For heaven and hell, each of them have their foundation within us, they do not come into us from outside, but spring up from within us, according as our will and heart is turned either to the light of God, or the kingdom of darkness. But when this life, which is in the midst of these two eternities, is at an end, either an Angel, or a devil will be found to have a birth in us. You do not have to run here, or there, saying, where is Christ? You need not say, who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring down Christ from above? Or who shall descend into the deep, to bring Christ from the dead? For behold the Word, which is the wisdom of God, is in your heart, it is there as a bruiser of your serpent, as a light to your feet and lantern to your paths. It is there as an holy oil, to soften and overcome the wrathful fiery properties of your nature, and change them into the humble meekness of light and love. It is there as a speaking word of God in your soul; and as soon as you are ready to hear, this eternal speaking word will speak wisdom and love in your inward parts, and bring forth the birth of Christ, with all His holy nature, Spirit, and temperaments, within you. Hence it was  from this principle of heaven, or Christ in the soul. This is way so many eminent spirits, partakers of a Divine life, have appeared in so many parts of the heathen world; glorious names, sons of wisdom, that shone forth, as lights hung out by God, in the midst of idolatrous darkness. These were the apostles of a Christ within, that were awakened and commissioned by the inward bruiser of the serpent, to call mankind from the blind pursuits of flesh and blood, to know themselves, the dignity of their nature, the immortality of their souls, and the necessity of virtue to avoid eternal shame and misery. These apostles, though they did not have the law, or written gospel to urge upon their hearers, yet having turned to God, they found, and preached the gospel, that was written in their hearts. Consequently one of them could say this Divine truth, i.e., “That such only are true ministers and prophets, who have God in themselves.” And it is for this reason, that in the Christian church, there have been in all ages, amongst the most illiterate, both men and women, who have attained to a deep understanding of the mysteries of the wisdom and love of God in Christ Jesus. And what wonder? Since it is not ability or science, or skill in grammar or logic, but the opening of the Divine life in the soul, that can give true understanding of the things of God. (1John 2:27) This life of God in the soul, which is small at first, but has a capacity for great growth, is by our Lord compared to a grain of mustard seed, and may be, and all too often generally is suppressed and kept under, either by worldly cares, or pleasures, by useless learning, sensuality, or ambition. And all the while, whatever church, or profession any man is of, he is a mere natural man, unregenerate, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, because this seed of heaven is choked, and not allowed to grow up in him. And therefore his religion is no more from heaven than his breeding; his concerns have no more goodness in them than his pleasures; his love is worth no more than his hatred; his zeal for this, or against that form of religion, has only the nature of any other worldly contention in it. And so it is, and must be with every mere natural man, no matter what appearances he may put on. He may, if he pleases, know himself to be the slave, and machine of his own corrupt tempers and inclinations, to be enlightened, inspired, quickened and animated by self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, which is the only life, and spirit of the natural man, whether he professes to be a heathen, Jew, or Christian. On the other hand, wherever this seed of heaven is allowed to take root, to get life and breath into the soul, whether it be in man, or woman, young or old, there this new born inward man is justly said to be inspired, enlightened, and moved by the Spirit of God, because his whole birth and life is a birth from above, of the light and Spirit of God; and therefore all that is in him, has the nature, spirit, and tempers of heaven in it. As this regenerate life grows up in any man, so there grows up a true and real knowledge of the whole mystery of godliness in himself. All that the gospel teaches of sin and grace, of life and death, of heaven and hell, of the new and old man, of the light and Spirit of God, are things not received by information or education, but inwardly known, felt, and experienced in the growth of his own new born life. He has then an unction from above which teaches him all things, a spirit that knows what it ought to pray for, a spirit that prays without ceasing, that is risen with Christ from the dead, and has all its manner of life in heaven, a spirit that has groans and sighs that cannot be uttered, that travails and groans with the whole creation, to be delivered from vanity, and have its glorious liberty in that God, from whom it came forth. 

Thirdly, this pearl of eternity is the church, or temple of God within you, the consecrated place of Divine worship, where alone you can worship God in spirit, and in truth. In spirit, because your spirit is that alone in you, which can unite, and hold on to God, and receive the workings of His Divine Spirit in you. In truth, because this adoration in spirit, is that truth and reality, of which all outward forms and rites, though instituted by God, are only a figure for a time, but this worship is eternal.

Accustom yourself to the holy service of this inward temple. In the midst of it is the fountain of living water, of which you may drink, and live forever. There the mysteries of your redemption are celebrated, or rather opened in life and power. There the supper of the lamb is kept; the bread that came down from heaven, that gives life to the world, is your true nourishment: all is done, and known in real experience, in a living sensibility of the work of God on the soul. There the birth, the life, the sufferings, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, are not merely remembered, but inwardly found, and enjoyed as the real states of your soul, which has followed Christ in the regeneration. When once you are well grounded in this inward worship, you will have learned to live unto God above time, and place. For everyday will be worship day to you, and wherever you go, you will have a minister, a church, and an altar along with you. For when God has all that He should have of your heart, when renouncing the will, judgment, temperament, and inclinations of your old man, you are wholly given up to the obedience of the light and Spirit of God within you, to will only His will, to love only in His love, to be wise only in His wisdom, then it is, that everything you do is as a song of praise. The common business of your life is conforming to God's will on earth, as Angels do in heaven.

Fourthly, and lastly, this pearl of eternity is the peace and joy of God within you, but can only be found by the manifestation of the life and power of Jesus Christ in your soul. But Christ cannot be your power and your life, until in obedience to His call, you deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him, in the regeneration. This is unconditional, it admits of no reserve or evasion, it is the one way to Christ and eternal life. But be where you will, either here, or at Rome, if self is un-denied, if you live to your own will, to the pleasures of your own natural lust and appetites, senses and passions, and in conformity to the vain customs, and spirit of this world, you are dead yet while you live. The seed of the woman is crucified within you, Christ can profit you nothing, you are a stranger to all that is holy and heavenly within you, and utterly incapable of finding the peace and joy of God in your soul. And thus you are poor, and blind, and naked, and empty, and live a miserable life in the vanity of time; while all the riches of eternity, the light and spirit, the wisdom and love, the peace and joy of God are within you, and you do not know them! Thus it will always be with you, there is no remedy, go where you will, do what you will, all is shut up, there is no open door of salvation, no awakening out of the sleep of sin, no deliverance from the power of your corrupt nature, no overcoming of the world, no revelation of Jesus Christ, no Joy of the new birth from above, until dying to yourself and the world, you turn to the light, spirit, and power of God in your soul. All is fruitless, and insignificant, all the means of your redemption are at a standstill, all outward forms of religion are but a dead formality, until this fountain of living water is found within you. But you will perhaps say, how shall I discover the riches of eternity, this light, and spirit, and wisdom, and peace of God, treasured up within me? Your first thought of repentance, or desire of turning to God, is your first discovery of this light and Spirit of God within you. It is the voice and language of the Word of God within you, although you don’t know it. It is the bruiser of your serpent's head, your dear Emmanuel, who is beginning to preach within you, that same which He first preached in public, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." When therefore the smallest instinct or desire of your heart calls you towards God, and a newness of life, give it time and permission to speak; and take care you do not refuse Him who speaks. For it is not an Angel from heaven that speaks to you, but it is the eternal speaking word of God in your heart, that word which at first created you, it is beginning to create you a second time unto righteousness, that a new man may be formed in you, in the image and likeness of God. But above all things, beware of taking this desire of repentance to be the effect of your own natural sense and reason, for in so doing you lose the key of all the heavenly treasure that is in you, you shut the door against God, and turn away from Him, and your repentance (if you have any) will be only a vain, unprofitable work of your own hands, that will do you no more good, than a well that is without water. But if you take this awakened desire of turning to God, to be, as in truth it is, the coming of Christ in your soul, the working, redeeming power of the light and Spirit of the holy Jesus within you, if you  reverence and adhere to it, as such, this faith will save you, and will make you whole; and by believing in this way in the living Christ, though you were dead, yet shall you live. Now all depends on your right submission and obedience to this “speaking of God” in your soul. Therefore stop all this self-activity, do not listen to the suggestions of your own reason, do not run on, in your own will, but be retired, silent, passive, and humbly, attentive to this new risen light within you. Open your heart, your eyes, and ears, to all its impressions. Let it enlighten, teach, frighten, torment, judge, and condemn you, as it pleases, do not turn away from it, hear all it has to say, do not seek for relief from it, do not consult with flesh and blood, but with a heart full of faith and resignation to God, pray only this prayer, that God's Kingdom may come, and His will be done in your soul. Stand faithfully in this state of preparation, given up to the Spirit of God, and then the work of your repentance will be wrought in God, and you will soon find, that He that is in you, is much greater than all that are against you. But that you may do all this better, and be more firmly assured, that this resignation to, and dependence upon the working of God's Spirit within you, is right and sound, I shall lay before you two great, infallible, and fundamental truths, which will be as a rock for your faith to stand upon.

The Two Great, Infallible, And Fundamental Truths

First, that through all of the nature of things, nothing can do, or be, a real good to your soul, but the operation of God upon it.

Secondly, that all the dispensations of God to mankind, from the fall of Adam, to the preaching of the gospel, were only for this one purpose, to make proper, prepare, and arrange the soul for the operation of the Spirit of God upon it.

These two great truths well and deeply apprehended, put the soul in its right state, which is, in a continual dependence upon God, in a readiness to receive all good from Him, and will be a continual source of light to your mind. These two great truths will keep you safe from all errors, and false zeal in things, and forms of religion, from a sectarian spirit, from bigotry, and superstition; they will teach you the true difference between the means and end of religion; and the regard you show to the shell, will be only so far, as the kernel is to be found in it. Man, by his fall, has broken off from his true center, which is his proper place in God, and therefore the life and operation of God was not found in him anymore. He was fallen from a life in God into a life of self, into an animal life of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking in the poor, worthless, perishing enjoyments of this world. This was the natural state of man by the fall. He was an apostate from God, and his natural life was all idolatry, where self was the great idol that was worshipped instead of God. Understand in this, the whole truth quickly, all sin, death, damnation, and hell is nothing else but this kingdom of self, or the various operations of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, which separate the soul from God, and end in eternal death and hell. On the other hand, all that is grace, redemption, salvation, sanctification, spiritual life, and the new birth, is nothing else but so much of the life and operation of God ruling again in the soul. It is man come back again into his center, or place in God, from which he had broken off. The beginning again of the life of God in the soul, was first made, when the mercy of God spoke into Adam a seed of the Divine life, which should bruise the head of the serpent, which had formed itself in human nature. Here the kingdom of God was again within us, though only as a seed, and yet small as it was, it was still a degree of the Divine life, which if rightly cultivated, would overcome all the evil that was in us, and make of every fallen man a newborn son of God.

All the sacrifices and institutions of the ancient patriarchs, the law of Moses, with all its types, and rites, and ceremonies, had this one purpose; they were the methods of Divine wisdom for a time, to keep the hearts of men from the wanderings of idolatry, in a state of holy expectation upon God. They were to keep the first seed of life in a state of growth, and make way for the further operation of God upon the soul; or, as the apostle speaks, to be as a schoolmaster unto Christ, that is, until the birth, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, should conquer death and hell, and open a new dispensation of God, and baptize mankind afresh with the Holy Ghost, and fire of heaven. Then, that is, on the day of Pentecost, a new dispensation of God came forth; which on God's part, was the operation of the Holy Spirit in gifts and graces upon the whole church; and on man's part, it was the adoration of God in Spirit and in truth. Consequently all that was done by God, from the bruiser of the serpent given to Adam, to Christ's sitting down on the right hand of God, was all for this purpose, to remove all that stood between God and man, and to make way for the immediate and continual operation of God upon the soul, therefore man, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and born again from above, should absolutely renounce self, and wholly give up his soul to the operation of God's Spirit, to know, to love, to will, to pray, to worship, to preach, to exhort, to use all the faculties of his mind, and all the outward things of this world, as enlightened, inspired, moved and guided by the Holy Ghost, who by this last dispensation of God, was given to be a comforter, a teacher, and guide to the church, who should abide with it forever. This is Christianity, a spiritual society, not because it has no worldly concerns, but because all its members, as such, are born of the Spirit, kept alive, animated and governed by the Spirit of God. It is called by our Lord, the kingdom of God, or heaven, because all its ministry and service, all that is done in it, is done in obedience and subjection to that Spirit, by which Angels live, and are governed in heaven. Therefore our blessed Lord taught His disciples to pray, that this kingdom might come, so that God's will might be done on earth, as it is in heaven; which could not be, but by that same Spirit, by which it is done in heaven. The short of it is this: the kingdom of self is the fall of man, or the great apostasy from the life of God in the soul; and everyone wherever he is, that lives to self, is still under the fall and great apostasy from God. The kingdom of Christ is the Spirit and power of God dwelling and manifesting itself in the birth of the new inward man; and no one is a member of this kingdom, but only so far as a true birth of the Spirit is brought forth in him. These two kingdoms take in all mankind, he that is not of one, is certainly in the other; dying to one is living to the other. Therefore we may gather these following truths: first, here is shown the true foundation and reason of what was said above, namely, that when the call of God to repentance first arises in your soul, you are to be retired, silent, passive, and humbly attentive to this new risen light within you, by wholly stopping, or disregarding the workings of your own will, reason, and judgment. It is because all these, the working of your own will, reason, and judgment are false counselors, the sworn servants, bribed slaves of your fallen nature, they are all born and bred in your kingdom of self; and therefore if a new kingdom is to be set up in you, if the operation of God is to have its effect in you, all these natural powers of self are to be silenced and suppressed, until they have learned obedience and subjection to the Spirit of God. Now this is not requiring you to become a fool, or to give up your claim to sense and reason, but is the shortest way to have your sense and reason delivered from folly, and your whole rational nature strengthened, enlightened, and guided by that true light, which is wisdom itself.

A child that obediently denies his own will, and own reason, to be guided by the will and reason of a truly wise and understanding father, cannot be said to make himself a fool, and give up the benefit of his rational nature, but instead, to have taken the shortest way to have his own will and reason made truly a blessing to himself.

Secondly, you can see the true ground and necessity of that universal degradation and self-denial with regard to all our senses, appetites, tempers, passions and judgments. It is because our whole nature, as fallen from the life of God, is in a state of contrariety to the order and end of our creation, a continual source of disorderly appetites, corrupt tempers, and false judgments. And therefore every motion of it is to be mortified, changed and purified from its natural state, before we can enter into the kingdom of God. Thus when our Lord says, "Except a man hate his father and mother, yes, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple"; it is because our best tempers are yet carnal, and full of the imperfections of our fallen nature. The doctrine is just and good; not as if father and mother were to be hated; but that love, which an unregenerate person, or natural man, has towards them, is to be hated, as being a blind self-love, full of all the weakness and partiality, with which fallen man loves, honors, esteems, and cleaves to himself. This love, born from corrupt flesh and blood, and polluted with self, is to be hated and parted with, that we may love them with a love born of God, with such a love, and on such a motive, as Christ has loved us. The true disciples of Christ far exceeds all others in the love of parents. Again, our own life is to be hated; and the reason is plain, it is because there is nothing lovely in it. It is a legion of evil, a monstrous birth of the serpent, the world, and the flesh; it is an apostasy from the life and of power of God in the soul, a life that is dead to heaven, that is pure unmixed idolatry, that lives wholly to self, and not to God; and therefore all this “own life” is to be absolutely hated, all this self is to be denied and mortified, if the nature, spirit, tempers and inclinations of Christ are to be brought to life in us. For it is as impossible to live to both of these lives at once, as it would be for a body to move in two different directions at the same time. And therefore all these degradations and self-denials have an absolute necessity in the nature of the thing itself. Thus when our Lord further says, unless a man forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple; the reason is simple, and the necessity absolute. It is because all that the natural man has, is in the possession of self-love, and therefore this possession is to be absolutely forsaken, and parted with. All that he has, is to be put into other hands, to be given to Divine love, or this natural man cannot be changed into a disciple of Christ. For self-love in all that it has, is earthly, sensual, and devilish, and therefore must have everything taken away from it; and then to the natural man all is lost, he has nothing left, all is laid down at the feet of Jesus, then all things are common, as soon as self-love has lost the possession of them. The disciple of Christ, though having nothing, yet possess all things, all that the natural man has forsaken, is restored to the disciple of Christ an hundred-fold. For self-love, the greatest of all thieves, being now cast out, and having all that he had stolen and hidden thus taken from him, and put into the hands of Divine love, every penny becomes a large treasure, and mammon opens the door into everlasting habitations. This was the Spirit of the first Christian church at Jerusalem, a church made truly after the pattern of heaven, where the love that reigns in heaven reigned in it, where Divine love broke down all the selfish fences, the locks and bolts of the great me, mine, my own, etc., and laid all things common to the members of this new kingdom of God on earth. Now though many years did not pass after the age of the apostles, before Satan and self got footing in the church, and set up merchandise in the church, yet this one heart, and one spirit, which then first appeared in the Jerusalem church, is that one heart and Spirit of Divine love, to which all are called, that would be true disciples of Christ. And though the practice of it is lost as to the church in general, yet it ought not to have been lost; and therefore every Christian ought to make it his great care and prayer, to have it restored in himself. And then, though born in the dregs of time, or living in Babylon, he will be as truly a member of the first heavenly church at Jerusalem, as if he had lived in it, in the days of the apostles. This Spirit of love, born of that Heavenly fire, with which Christ baptizes His true disciples, is alone that Spirit, which can enter into heaven, and therefore is that Spirit which is to be born in us, while we are on earth. For no one can enter into heaven, until he is made heavenly, until the Spirit of heaven has entered into him. And therefore all that our Lord has said of denying and dying to self, and of our parting with all that we have, are practices absolutely necessary from the nature of the thing.

Remember, all turning to self, is turning from God, and so much as we have of self-love, so much we have of a hellish, earthly weight, that must be taken off, or there can be no ascension into heaven. But you will perhaps say, If all self-love is to be renounced, then all love of our neighbor is renounced along with it, because the commandment is, only to love our neighbor as ourselves. The answer here is easy, and yet no quarter given to self-love. There is only one love in heaven, and yet the Angels of God love one another in the same manner, as they love themselves. It is like this: the one supreme, unchangeable rule of love, which is a law to all intelligent beings of all worlds, and will be a law to all eternity, is this, i.e., that God alone is to be loved for Himself, and all other beings only in Him, and for Him. Whatever intelligent creature does not live under this rule of love, is fallen from the order of his creation, and is, until He returns to this eternal law of love, is an apostate from God, and incapable of the kingdom of heaven. Now if God alone is to be loved for Himself, then no creature is to be loved for itself; and so all self-love in every creature is absolutely condemned. And if all created beings are only to be loved in, and for God, then my neighbor is to be loved, as I love myself, and I am only to love myself, as I love my neighbor, or any other created being, that is only in and for God. And thus the command of loving our neighbor as ourselves, stands firm, and yet all self-love is plucked up by the roots. But what is loving any creature, only in, and for God? It is when we love them only as they are God's work, image, and delight, when we love them merely as they are God's, and belong to Him, this is loving them in God, and when all that we wish, intend, or do to them, is done from a love of God, for the honor of God, and in conformity to the will of God, this is loving them for God. This is the one love that is, and must be the spirit of all creatures that live united to God. Now this is no speculative refinement, or invention of the brain, but the simple truth, and a first law of nature, and a necessary band of union between God and the creature. The creature who is not in God, is a stranger to Him, and has lost the life of God in itself, this is true whenever its love does not begin and end in God.

The loss of this love, was the fall of man, as it opened in him a kingdom of self, in which Satan, the world, and the flesh, could all bring forth their own works. If therefore man is to rise from his fall, and return to his life in God, there is an absolute necessity that self, with all it’s brood of un-Godly affections, be thrown out, so that his first love in, and for which he was created, may be born again in him. Christ came into the world to save sinners, to destroy the works of the Devil. Now self is not only the seat and habitation, but the very life of sin. The works of the devil are all wrought in self, it is his personal workhouse, and therefore Christ is not come as a Savior from sin, as a destroyer of the works of the devil in any of us, but only so far as self is beaten down, and overcome in us. If it is literally true, what our Lord said, that his kingdom was not of this world, then it is a truth of the same certainty, that no one is a member of this kingdom, but he alone that in the literal sense of the words, renounces the spirit of this world. Christians might as well part with half the articles of their creed, or only half believe them, as really to enter into these self-denials, only half way. For all that is in the creed, is only to bring forth this dying and death to all and every part of the old man, that the life and Spirit of Christ may be formed in us. Our redemption is this new birth; if this is not done in us, we are still unredeemed. And though the Savior of the world has come, He has not come in us, He is not received by us, He is a stranger to us, He is not ours, if His life is not within us. His life is not, and cannot be within us, but only as far as the spirit of this world, self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are renounced, and driven out of us.

Self-denial has no good in itself, but it can open an entrance for the only good which is, “the light of God,” to operate upon us.

Thirdly, we must also learn the true nature and worth of all self-denials and degradations. As to their nature, considered in themselves, they have nothing of goodness or holiness, nor are they any real part of our sanctification, they are not the true food or nourishment of Divine life in our souls, they have no life giving, sanctifying power in them; their only worth consists in this, that they remove the impediments of holiness, break down that which stands between God and us, and make way for the life giving, sanctifying Spirit of God to operate on our souls. The operation of God is the only thing that can raise the Divine life in the soul, or help it to the smallest degree of real holiness, or spiritual life. As in our creation, we have only that degree of Divine life, which the power of God has derived into us; as before the fall, all that we had, and were, was the sole operation of God in the creation of us; so in our redemption, or regaining of that first perfection, which we have lost, all must be again the operation of God; every degree of the Divine life restored in us, no matter how small, must and can be nothing else, but so much of the life and operation of God found again in the soul. All the activity of man in the works of self-denial has no good in itself, but is only to open an entrance for the only good, the light of God, to operate upon us.

We may learn the reason, why many people not only lose the benefit, but are even worse for all their self-denials. It is because they mistake the whole nature and worth of them. They practice them for their own sakes, as things good in themselves, they think them to be real parts of holiness, and so rest in them, and look no further, but grow full of self-esteem, and self-admiration, because of them. This makes them self-sufficient, depressed, severe judges of all those that fall short of their degree of self-denial. And thus their self-denials do only that for them, which indulgences do for other people, they withstand and hinder the operation of God upon their souls, and instead of being really “self-denials,” they strengthen and cause the kingdom of self to grow. There is no avoiding this fatal error, but by deeply entering into this great truth, that all our own activity and working has no good in it, and can do no good to us, but as it leads, and turns us in the best manner to the light and Spirit of God, which alone brings life and salvation into the soul. Stretch forth your hand, said our Lord to the man that had a withered hand; he did so, and it was immediately made as whole as the other. Now did this man have any basis for pride, or a high opinion of himself, for the share he had in the restoration of his hand? Yet just such is our share in the raising up of the spiritual life within us. All that we can do by our own activity, is only like this man's stretching out of his hand; the rest is the work of Christ, the only giver of life to the withered hand, or the dead soul. We can only then do living works, when we are born again, and like the apostle say, "Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me."

But to return, and further show, how the soul that feels the call of God to repentance is to behave under it, so that this stirring of the Divine power in the soul may have its full effect, and bring forth the birth of the new man in Christ Jesus. We are to consider it (as in truth it is) as the seed of the Divine nature within us, that can only grow by its own strength and union with God. It is a Divine life, and therefore can grow from nothing but Divine power. When the virgin Mary conceived the birth of the holy Jesus, all that she did towards it herself, was only this single act of faith and resignation to God; "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word." This is all that we can do towards the conception of that new man that is to be born in ourselves. Now this truth is easily consented to, and a man thinks he believes it, because he consents to it, or rather, does not deny, or fight against it. But this is not enough, it is to be apprehended in a deep, full, and practical assurance, in such a manner as a man knows and believes that he did not create the stars, or cause life to rise up in himself. Then it is a belief, that puts the soul into a right state, and makes room for the operation of God upon it. His light then enters with full power into the soul, and his Holy Spirit moves and directs all that is done in it, and so man lives again in God as a new creature. for this truth firmly believed, will have these two outstanding effects.

First, it will keep the soul fixed, and continually turned towards God, in faith, prayer, desire, confidence, and resignation to Him, for all that it wants to have done in it, and to it; which will be a continual source of all Divine virtues and graces. The soul turned to God must be always receiving from God. It stands at the true door of all Divine communications, and the light of God as freely enters into it, as the light of the sun enters into the air.

Secondly, It will fix and ground the soul in a true, and lasting self-denial. For by knowing and owning our own nothingness and inability, that we have no other capacity for good, but that of receiving it from God alone, then self is wholly denied, its kingdom is destroyed; no room is left for spiritual pride and self-esteem; we are saved from a Pharisaical holiness, from wrong opinions of our own works and good deeds, and from a multitude of errors, most dangerous to our souls, all which arise from the something that we take ourselves to be, either in nature or grace. But when we once apprehend in some good degree, the “all of God,” and the nothingness of ourselves, we have received a truth, whose usefulness and benefit, no words can express. It brings a kind of infallibility into the soul in which it dwells; all that is vain, and false, and deceitful, is forced to vanish and fly before it. When our religion is founded on this rock, it has the firmness of a rock, and its height reaches to heaven. The world, the flesh, and the devil, can not hurt it; all enemies are known, and  disarmed by this great truth dwelling in our souls. It is the knowledge of the “all of God,” that makes cherubims and seraphims to be flames of Divine love. For where this “all of God” is truly known, and felt in any creature, there its whole breath and spirit is a fire of love, nothing but a pure disinterested love can rise up in it, or come from it, a love that begins and ends in God. And where this love is born in any creature, there a Divine life is born along with it. For this pure love introduces the creature into the “all of God;” all that is in God, is opened in the creature, it is united with God, and has the life of God manifested in it.

God’s One Design

There is but one salvation for all mankind, and that is the life of God in the soul. or intent towards all mankind, and that is to introduce or generate His own life, light, and spirit in them, that all may be as so many images, temples, and habitations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is God's good will to all Christians, Jews, and heathens. They are all equally the desire of His heart, His light continually waits for an entrance into all of them, His wisdom cries, it puts forth it’s voice, not here, or there, but everywhere, in all the streets of all the world. Now there is but one possible way for man to attain this salvation, or life of God in the soul. There is not one for the Jew, another for a Christian, and a third for the heathen. No; God is one, and human nature is one, salvation is one, and the way to it is one; and that is this, the desire of the soul turned to God. When this desire is alive and breaks forth in any creature under heaven, then the lost sheep is found, and the Shepherd has it upon His shoulders. Through this desire the poor prodigal son leaves his husks and swine, to return to his Father: it is because of this desire, that the Father sees the son, while yet afar off, that he runs out to meet him, falls on his neck, and kisses him. See here how plainly we are taught, that no sooner does this desire rise, and is in motion towards God, but that the operation of God's Spirit answers it, cherishes and welcomes its first beginnings, signified by the Father's seeing, and having compassion on His son, while yet afar off, that is, in the first beginnings of His desire. Thus does this desire do all, it brings the soul to God, and God into the soul, it unites with God, it co-operates with God, and is one life with God. Suppose this desire was not alive, was not in motion either in a Jew, or a Christian, and then all the sacrifices, the service, the worship either of the law, or the gospel, are but dead works, that bring no life into the soul, nor begins any union between God and it. Suppose this desire to be awakened, and fixed upon God, (even in souls that never heard either of the law or the gospel,) and then the Divine life, or operation of God, enters into them, and the new birth in Christ is formed in those who never heard of His name. And these are they "That shall come from the East, and from the West and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, in the kingdom of God." Oh my God, just and good, how great is your love and mercy to mankind, that heaven is everywhere open, and Christ is the common Savior to all that turn the desire of their hearts to you! Oh sweet power of the bruiser of the serpent, born in every son of man, that stirs and works in every man, and gives every man a power, and desire, to find his happiness in God! oh holy Jesus, heavenly light, that lights every man that comes into the world, that redeems every soul that follows your light, which is always within him! Oh Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, immense ocean of Divine love in which all mankind live, and move, and have their being! As soon as their heart is turned to You, none are separated from You, none live out of Your love, but all are embraced in the arms of Your mercy, all are partakers of your Divine life, the operation of Your Holy Spirit. How plain, easy, and simple this way of salvation is, not needing subtleness of skill, or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all is done by the simple natural motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. For no sooner is the finite desire of the creature in motion towards God, but that the infinite desire of God is united with it, and co-operates with it. And in this united desire of God and the creature, is the salvation and life of the soul brought forth. For the soul is shut out of God, and imprisoned in its own dark workings of flesh and blood, merely and solely, because it desires to live to the vanity of this world. This desire is its darkness, its death, its imprisonment, and separation from God.

As soon as the first spark of a desire after God rises up in your soul, cherish it with all your heart, give all your heart to it, it is nothing less than a touch of the Divine Spirit of God, it will draw you out of the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. Rise up and follow it as gladly, as the wise men of the east followed the star from heaven that appeared to them. It will do for you, the same as that star did for them, it will lead you to the birth of Jesus, not in a stable at Bethlehem in Judea, but to the birth of Jesus in the dark center of your own fallen soul. I shall conclude this first part, with the words of the heavenly illuminated, and blessed Jacob Behmen. "It is much to be lamented, that we are so blindly led, and the truth withheld from us through imaginary thoughts; for if the Divine power in the inward foundation of the soul is manifest, and working in us, then is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit present in the life and will of the soul, and heaven where God dwells, is opened in the soul, and there, in the soul, is the place where the Father brings to birth His Son, and where the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. Christ says, “I am the light of the world, he that follows Me, walks not in darkness”. He directs us only to Himself, He is the Morning Star, and is generated and rises in us, and shines in the darkness of our nature. Oh how great a triumph is there in the soul, when Christ arises in it!  Then a man knows, as he never knew before, that he is a stranger in a foreign land."

Part 2

Chapter 3

The First Dialogue

A Conversation between Robert, Allen, and Henry, at which Harold was present.

Robert- I want to learn more about the Spirit of Prayer. 

Allen- I have often told you, Robert, that I am amazed at your eagerness and impatience to understand more of this matter. As for me, I have no such thirst within me, and would make no complaint, if I never learned more about it.

Robert- Allen, it is only because that you can’t read[3], that you are not in my state of impatience, to see another book.

Allen- Indeed, Robert, you are quite mistaken about the matter. The first part of the book, Spirit of prayer you have read to me about three or four times, and that is the reason, why I am not eager to learn anymore. I have found in the first part, all that I need to know of God, of Christ, of myself, of heaven, of hell, of sin, of grace, of death, and of salvation: That all these things have their being, their life, and their working, in my own heart. That God is always in me, that Christ is always within me; that He is the inward light and life of my soul, a bread from heaven, of which I may always eat; a water of eternal life springing up in my soul, of which I may always drink. Oh my friend, these truths have opened a new life in my soul: I am brought home to myself; the veil is taken off from my heart; I have found my God; I know that His dwelling-place, His kingdom, is within me. Why would we need to read another book written with pen and ink, when such a book as this, so full of wonders, has been opened in our hearts? My eyes, my ears, my thoughts, are all turned inwards, because all that God, and Christ, and grace, are doing for me, all that the devil, the world, and the flesh, are working against me, are only to be known, and found within. What need do we have to learn more, since all that concerns either life or death, are all transacted, and all at work, within me?

How could I be said to have felt these great truths, to be sensible of these riches of eternity treasured up in my soul, to know what a great good the Divine nature is in me, and to me, if, instead of turning all the desire and delight of my heart towards them, I only felt a longing and desire to read more concerning the Spirit of prayer? No, Robert, there is another, a better fire kindled within me; my heart is in motion, and all that is within me tends towards God; and I find that nothing concerns me more, than to keep my heart from wandering after anything else. I now know to what it is that I am daily to die, and to what it is, that I am daily to live; and therefore look upon every day as lost, that does not help forward both this death, and this life, in me. I have not yet accomplished half, of what the first part of the Spirit of prayer directs me to do; and therefore I don’t want to start a second book.

Henry- Indeed, Robert, I must admit, that Allen, has spoken well. Your education has so accustomed you to the pleasure of reading a variety of books, that you hardly propose any other end in reading, than the entertainment of your mind: Thus the Spirit of prayer has only awakened in you a desire to see another book on the same subject. This fault is very common to others, as well as scholars, and even to those who only delight in reading good books. Phil has been, for the last twenty years, collecting and reading all of the spiritual books he can find. He reads them, as the critics read commentators and lexicons, to be nice and exact in telling you the style, spirit, and intent of this or that spiritual writer, how one is more accurate in this, and the other in that. Phil will ride with you forty miles in the winter to have a conversation about spiritual books, or to see a collection larger than his own. Phil is amazed at the deadness and insensibility of the Christian world, that they are such strangers to the inward life and spiritual nature of the Christian salvation; he wonders how they can be so zealous for the outward letter and form of ordinances, and so averse to that spiritual life, that they all point at, as the one thing needful. But Phil never thinks how unusual it is, that a man who knows that regeneration is everything, should yet content himself with the love of books upon the new birth, instead of being born again himself. For all that is changed in Phil, is his taste for books. He is no more dead to the world, no more delivered from himself, he is as fearful of adversity, as fond of prosperity, as easily provoked, and pleased with trifles, as much governed by his own will, tempers, and passions, as unwilling to deny his appetites, or enter into war with himself, as he was thirty years ago. Yet all is well with Phil; he has no suspicion of himself; he dates the newness of his life, and the fullness of his light, from the time that he discovered the pearl of great price in spiritual authors. All this, Robert, is said on your account, that you may not lose the benefit of this spark of the Divine life that is kindled in your soul, but may conform yourself suitably to so great a gift of God. It demands at present an eagerness of another kind, you do not need to do a great deal of reading, even about the most spiritual matters.

Robert- I thank you, Henry, for your good will towards me; but I did not imagine that my eagerness after such books was so dangerous a mistake. And if I do not yet entirely give in to what you say, it is because a friend of yours has told us that he has been a diligent reader of all the spiritual authors, from the apostolical Dionysius down to the illuminated Guion, and celebrated Fenelon of Cambray. And therefore it would never have come into my head, to suspect it to be a fault, or dangerous, to follow his example.

Henry- I have said nothing, my friend, with a design of hindering your acquaintance with all the truly spiritual writers. I would rather in a right way help you to a true intimacy with them: For they are friends of God, entrusted with His secrets, and partakers of the Divine nature: and he that converses rightly with them, has a happiness, that can hardly be over-valued.

My intention is only to abate, for a time, a spirit of eagerness after reading a great number of books, which in your state has more of the natural man, than grace in it; nature seeks delight in a variety of new ideas, and likes to gratify curiosity, rather than have the heart reformed. Suppose you had seen an Angel from heaven, who had allowed you to see a glimpse of its own internal brightness, and of that glorious union in which it lived with God, opening more of itself to the inward sight of your mind, than you could either forget or relate. Suppose it had told you with a piercing word, and living impression, that all its own Angelic and heavenly brightness was hid in you, concealed from you under a bestial covering of flesh and blood; that this flesh and blood has become the master of it, and would not allow it to breathe, or stir, or come to life in you. Suppose it had told you, that all your life had been spent in helping this flesh and blood to have more and more power over you, to hinder you from knowing and feeling this Divine life within yourself. Suppose it had told you, that to this day you had lived in the grossest self-idolatry, loving, serving, honoring, and adoring yourself instead of loving, serving, and adoring God with all your heart, soul, and spirit: That all your intentions, projects, cares, pleasures, and indulgences, had been only so much labor to bring you to the grave in a total ignorance of that great work, for which alone, you were born into the world to accomplish. Suppose it had told you, that all this blindness and insensibility of your state, was obstinately and willfully brought on by yourself, because you had boldly slighted and resisted all the daily inward and outward calls of God to your soul, all the teachings, doings, and sufferings, of a son of God to redeem you. Suppose it left you with this farewell, "Oh man awake; you have a great amount of work, your time is short, I am your last trumpet; the grave calls for your flesh and blood, your soul must enter into a new lodging. You must be born again: and if you are not born again you will become a devil."  Tell me now, Robert, what would you expect from a man who had been awakened like this, and pierced by the voice of an Angel? Could you believe that he had any sense left, if he was not cast into the deepest depth of humility, self-dejection, and self-abhorrence? Casting himself, with a broken heart, at the feet of God’s Divine mercy, desiring nothing else, from that very time, that every moment of his life might be given to God, in the most perfect denial of every temper, will, and inclination, that nourished the corruption of his nature: Wishing and praying from the bottom of his heart, that God would lead him into and through everything inwardly and outwardly, that might destroy the evil workings of his nature, and awaken all that was holy and heavenly within him; that the seed of eternity, the spark of life, that he had so long quenched and smothered under earthly rubbish, might breathe, and come to life, in him. Or would you think he was enough affected with this Angelic visit, if all that the talk had awakened in him, was only a desire to hear the same things said again, or have another Angel talk to him again?

Robert- Henry, you have spoken correctly: For all that is within me consents to the truth and justness of what you have said. I now feel in the strongest manner, that I have been more amused, than edified, by what I have read.

To Trust Or Pray For Anything, But The Life Of God, Or A Birth Of Heaven, In Our Souls, Is As Useless To Us, As Placing Our Hope And Trust In A Graven Image.

Henry-  A truly spiritual book, Robert, is a call to a total death to the life of corrupt nature, as the death that Adam died in paradise, was to the life of heaven. He indeed died at once totally to the Divine life in which he was created: But as our body of earth is to last to the end of our lives on earth; so to the end of our earthly life, every step we take, every inch of our road, is to be made up of denial, and dying to ourselves; because all our redemption consists in our regaining that first life of heaven in the soul, to which Adam died in paradise. And therefore the one single work of redemption, is the one single work of regeneration, or the raising up of a life, and spirit, and tempers, and inclinations, contrary to that life and spirit which we derive from our earthly fallen parents. To think therefore of anything, but the continual, total denial of our earthly nature, is to overlook the very thing on which all depends. And to hope for anything, to trust or pray for anything, but the life of God, or a birth of heaven, in our souls, is as useless to us, as placing our hope and trust in a graven image. Accordingly says the Christ of God the one pattern, and author of our salvation: "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, hate his own life, take up his daily cross, and follow me." And again: "Unless a Man be born again from above, of water and the spirit, he cannot see, or enter into, the kingdom of God."  Now is your time, Robert, to enter deeply into this great truth. You have just come out of the slumber of life, and have started to see with new eyes the nature of your salvation. You are charmed with the discovery of a kingdom of heaven hidden within you, and long to be entertained more and more with the nature, progress, and perfection of the new birth, or the opening of the kingdom of God in your soul. But my Friend, stop a while. It is indeed great joy, that the pearl of great price is found; but take notice, that it is not yours, you can have no possession of it, until as the merchant did, you sell all that you have, and buy it. Now self is all that you have, it is your sole possession; you have no goods of your own, nothing is yours but this self. The riches of self are your own riches; but all this self is to be parted with before the pearl of great price can be yours. Think of a lower price, or be unwilling to give this price for it, plead with your excuse, that you keep the commandments, and then you have become that very rich young man in the gospel, who went away sorrowful from our Lord, when He had said, "If you will be perfect," that is, if you will obtain the pearl, "Sell all that you have, and give to the poor"; that is, die to all your possession of self, and then you have given all that you have to the poor: all that you have is devoted and used for the love of God and your neighbor. This selling all, Robert, is the measure of your dying to self; all of it is to be given up; it is an apostate nature, a stolen life, brought forth in rebellion against God: it is a continual departure from Him. It corrupts everything it touches; it defiles everything it receives; it turns all the gifts and blessings of God into covetousness, partiality, pride, hatred, and envy. All these tempers are born, and bred, and nourished, in self; they have no other place to live, no possibility of existence, but in that creature which is fallen from a life in God, into a life in self.

Robert- Please, tell me more, explain what this self is, since so much depends upon it.

Henry-  It is hell, it is the devil, it is darkness, pain, and unrest. It is the one and only enemy of Christ, the great antichrist. It is the scarlet whore, the fiery Dragon, the old Serpent, the devouring Beast, that is mentioned in the Revelation of John.

Robert- You terrify me with this description!

Henry-  It is indeed a very frightful matter; it contains everything that man has to dread and hate, to resist and avoid. Yet be assured, my friend, that, careless and merry as the world is, every man that is born into it, has all these enemies to overcome within himself. And every man, until he is in the way of regeneration, is more or less governed by them. No hell in any remote place, no devil that is separate from you, no darkness or pain that is not within you, no antichrist either at Rome or England, no furious beast, no fiery dragons, apart from you, can do you any hurt. It is your own hell, your own devil, your own beast, your own antichrist, your own dragon, that lives in your own heart's blood, and that alone can hurt you! Die to this self, to this inward nature; and then all outward enemies are overcome. Live to this self, and then, when this life is out, all that is within you, and all that is outside of you, will be nothing else but the seeing and feeling of this hell, serpent, beast, and fiery dragon. Observe Robert, the twofold nature of every man. He has within him a redeeming power, the meekness of the heavenly life, called the Lamb of God. This seed is encompassed, with the beast of fleshly lusts, the serpent of guile and subtlety, and the dragon of fiery wrath. This is the great trial, or strife of human life, whether a man will live to the lusts of the beast, the guile of the serpent, the pride and wrath of the fiery dragon, or give himself up to the meekness, patience, the sweetness, the simplicity, the humility, of the Lamb of God. This is the whole of the matter between God and the creature. On one side, fire and wrath, awakened first by the rebellious Angels; and on the other side, the meekness of the Lamb of God, the patience of Divine love coming down from heaven, to stop and overcome the fire and wrath that is broken out in nature and creature. Your father Adam has introduced you into the fire and wrath of the fallen Angels, into a world from which paradise is departed. Your flesh and blood is aroused in that sin, which first brought forth a murdering Cain. But, dear soul, be of good comfort, for the meekness, the love, the patience, the Lamb of God, has become man, and has set Himself in the birth of your own life, that in Him, and with Him, and by a birth from Him, heaven and paradise may be again opened within you, not for a time, but to all eternity.  Every man in this world stands essentially in heaven, and in hell, both as to that which is within him and that which is outside of him: For man and the world are both in the same fallen state. The curse in the earth is that same thing in outward nature, that the loss of the Divine life was to the soul of Adam. The whole world, in all its nature, is nothing else but a mixture of heaven and hell. The sun and water of this world, is that which overcomes the darkness, wrath, and fire of hell, and carries on the vegetable and animal life that is in it. The light of the sun blesses all the workings of the elements, and the cool softening essence of the water, keeps overcoming the fire and wrath of nature. In all animal creatures, the birth of light in their own life, and the water of their own blood, both produced by the light of the sun, and the water of outward nature, bring forth an order of earthly creatures, that can enjoy the good that is in this world in spite of the wrath of hell, and the malice of devils.  But man has more than all this; for he was at first created as an Angel, and the intention of the mercy of God is for him to be an Angel again, he has the light of heaven, and the water of eternal life, both given to Adam in that seed of the woman, which was to bruise the head of the serpent that is, to overcome the curse, the fire, and wrath, or hell, that was awakened in the fallen soul. So that man has not only, in common with the other animals, the light and water of outward nature, to quench the wrath of his own life in this mixed world, but he has the meekness, the light, the love, and the humility of the holy Jesus, as a seed of life born in his soul, to bring forth that first image of God, in which Adam was created. This, my friend, is the true foundation of all true religion: It means nothing, it intends nothing, but to overcome that earthly life, which overcame Adam in the fall, that made him a prisoner of hell, and a slave to the corrupt workings of earthly flesh and blood. And therefore you may see, and know with a mathematical certainty, that the one thing necessary for every fallen soul, is to die to all the life that we have from this world, so that the life of heaven may be born again in us. The life of this world is the life of the Beast, the Scarlet Whore, the old Serpent and the fiery Dragon.

“They Have Turned To God Without Turning From Themselves; They Would Be Alive In God, Before They Were Dead To Their Own Nature”

Consequently, sin rides in triumph over church and state, and from the court to the cottage all is over-run with sensuality, guile, falseness, pride, wrath, envy, selfishness, and every form of corruption. Everyone swims in this torrent, but he who hears and attends to the voice of the Son of God within him, calling him to die to this life, to take up his cross, and follow Him. Much learned effort and pains have been taken to prove Rome, or Constantinople, to be the seat of the beast, the antichrist, the scarlet whore, etc. But, alas! They are not as far from us, as this, they are the properties of fallen human nature, and they are all alive in our own selves, until we are dead or dying to all the spirit and tempers of this world. They are everywhere, in every soul, where heavenly nature, and the Spirit of the holy Jesus is not present. But when the human soul turns from itself, and turns to God, and dies to itself, and lives to God in the spirit, tempers, and inclinations of the holy Jesus, loving, pitying, suffering, and praying for all its enemies, and overcoming all evil with good, as this Christ of God did; but not until then, are these monsters separated from it. For covetousness and sensuality of all kinds, are the devouring beast; religion governed by a worldly spirit, and gratifying the partial interest of flesh and blood, this is nothing else but the scarlet whore; guile, and craft, and cunning, are the very essence of the old Serpent; self-interest and self-exaltation are the whole nature of antichrist. Pride, persecution, wrath, hatred and envy, are the very essence of the fiery Dragon. This, Robert, is fallen human nature, and this is the old man, which is alive in every one, though in different ways, until that person is born again from above. To think of anything in religion, or to pretend to real holiness, without totally dying to this old man, is building castles in the air, and can bring forth nothing, but Satan in the form of an Angel of light. Would you like to know, Robert, why it is, that so many false spirits have appeared in the world, who have deceived themselves and others with false fire, and false light, laying claim to inspirations, illuminations, and openings of the Divine life, pretending to do wonders under extraordinary calls from God? It is this; they have turned to God without turning from themselves; they want to be alive in God, before they are dead to their own nature; a thing as impossible in itself, as it is for a grain of wheat to start growing before it dies.

Now religion in the hands of self, or corrupt nature, serves only to discover vices of a worse kind, than is found in nature left to itself. Hence are all the disorderly passions of religious men, which burn in a worse flame than passions only employed about worldly matters: pride, self-exaltation, hatred and persecution, under a cloak of religious zeal, will sanctify actions, which nature, left to itself, would be ashamed to have. You may now see, Robert, the real reason I have called you, at your first setting out, to this great point, the total dying to self, this is the only foundation of a solid piety. All the fine things you hear or read of about of an inward spiritual life in God, all your expectations of the light and Holy Spirit of God, will become a false food to your soul, until you only seek for them through death to self. Observe,  the difference which clothes make in those, who have it in their power to dress as they please: Some are all for show, color, and glitter; others have a grave and solemn appearance; others are quite simple and plain in the way they dress. Now all this difference of dress, is only an outward difference, that covers the same poor carcass, and leaves it full of all its own infirmities. All the truths of the gospel, when only embraced and possessed by the old man, make the same such superficial difference, as the clothes made. Some put on a solemn, formal, prudent, outside carriage; others appear in all the glitter and show of religious coloring, and spiritual attainments; but under all this outside difference, there lies the poor fallen soul, imprisoned, un-helped, in its own fallen state. And it remains like this, for it is not possible for it to be otherwise, until the spiritual life begins at the true root, and grows out of death, is born in a broken heart, a heart broken off from all its own natural life. Then self-hatred, self-contempt, and self-denial, are as suitable to this new-born spirit, as self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are to the unregenerate man. Let me, therefore, my friend, summon you, not to look forward, or cast about for spiritual advancement, until you have rightly taken this first step in the spiritual life. All your future progress depends upon it: For this depth of religion goes no deeper than the depth of your problem: For sin has its root in the bottom of your soul, it comes to life with your flesh and blood, and breathes in the breath of your natural life;  therefore, until you die to nature, you live to sin; and while this root of sin is alive in you, all the virtues you put on, are only like fine painted fruit hung upon a bad tree.

Robert. Indeed, Henry, you have made the difference between true and false religion as plain to me, as the difference between light and darkness. But all that you have said, at the same time, is as new to me, as if I had lived in a land, where religion had never been named. But please, tell me how I am to take this first step, which you so much insist upon.

The proper attitude

Henry- You are to turn wholly from yourself, and to give up yourself wholly unto God, your heart must have these words or others that are similar:  "Oh my God, with all the strength of my soul, assisted by your grace, I desire and resolve to resist and deny all my own will, earthly tempers, selfish views, and inclinations; everything that the spirit of this world, and the vanity of fallen nature, prompts me to. I give myself up wholly and solely unto you, to be all yours, to have, and do, and be, inwardly and outwardly, according to your good pleasure. I desire to live for no other end, with no other designs, but to accomplish the work which you require of me, an humble, obedient, faithful, thankful instrument in your hands to be used as you please."

You are not to content yourself, my friend, with now and then, or even making this sacrifice of yourself to God many times; it must be the daily, the hourly exercise of your mind; until it is shaped into your very nature, and becomes an essential state and habit of your mind, until you feel yourself as habitually turned from all your own will, selfish ends, and earthly desires, as you are from stealing and murder; until the whole turn of your spirit points as constantly to God, as the needle of a compass points to north. This, is your first and necessary step in the spiritual life; this is the key to all the treasures of heaven; this unlocks the sealed book of your soul, and makes room for the light and Spirit of God to arise up in it. Without this, the spiritual life is but spiritual talk, and only assists nature to be pleased with an holiness that it does not own.  The necessity of this first step, and the folly of pretending to succeed without it, is thus represented by our blessed Lord: “What man intending to build a house.” All our ability and preparation to succeed in this great affair, lies in this first step. You may perhaps think this is a hard saying. But do not go away sorrowful, like the young man in the gospel, because he had great possessions. For, my friend, you think but little of what a deliverance you will have from all hardships, and what a flow of happiness is found even in this life, as soon as the soul is dead to self, freed from its own passions, and wholly given up to God; of which I shall speak to you later. I have told you the price of the new birth. I shall now let you consider, whether you will be so wise a merchant, as to give up all the wealth of the old man for this heavenly pearl. I do not expect your answer now, but will ask for it later. But gentlemen, who is this Harold? I do not remember seeing him before; He seems to be unwilling to speak, and yet he often bites his lips at what is being said.

Allen- Harold, is my neighbor; but so ignorant of the nature of the gospel, that he often tries to persuade me to not believe. I say ignorant (though he is an educated man) because I am well assured, that no man ever did, or can oppose the gospel, but through a total ignorance of what it is; for the gospel, when rightly understood, is irresistible; it brings more good news to  human nature, than sight does to the blind, limbs to the lame, health to the sick, or liberty to the condemned slave. But this neighbor of mine has never heard the truth, as it is in the gospel; he knows nothing of the foundation and reason of it, he only knows what he has picked up out of books, that have been written against it, and for it. He often makes use of one maxim of the gospel, to overthrow it, and wonders why so plain a man as I am, will not submit to it. He says, if it is a truth, as the gospel says, that the tree must be known by its fruit, and that a good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, we need only look at the lives of Christians, the craft of priests, the wars, contentions, hatreds, sects, parties, heresies, divisions, outrages, and persecutions, which Christianity has brought forth, we need only look at this, to have all our senses and reason assure us, that the gospel must be a bad tree.

But this is enough concerning the man. It was his own earnest desire to comes with me, this desire has just lately seized him, and he has promised, not to interrupt our conversation; but to be a silent hearer, until it is all over. Therefore, if you please, allow our conversation to turn to the chief points asserted in the book the Spirit of prayer, for these two reasons; first, that Robert may see what reasons I had for saying, that book has given me sufficient instruction; and also that Harold, hearing these great points, may hear the whole foundation and nature, the necessity and blessedness of Christian redemption, set forth in such a degree of light, and truth, as he could not even realize.

Henry- Your neighbor is welcome, and I pray God to give him a heart attentive to those truths, which have made such a good impression on you. The first point that you want us to speak about, concerns the origin of this temporal world. How God was moved to create it, upon the fall of a some of the host of Angels, who, by their revolt from God, lost the Divine light, and awakened in themselves, and the region in which they dwelt, the dark, wrathful fire of hell: for hell is nothing else, but nature departed, or excluded, from the beams of Divine light. The materiality of their kingdom was spiritual, and the light that glanced through it, that filled its transparency with an infinity of glorious wonders, was the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory. The Spirit that animated the inward Life of those glorious Angels, and that moved with its sweet breath, through all this glassy sea, opening and changing new scenes in the mirror of Divine wisdom, was the Holy Spirit of God, that eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. Thus did these celestial spirits live, move, and have their being, in God. All was heaven, and they all were, so many created angels, eternally sinking down, and rising up, into new heights and depths of the riches of the Divine nature. With this degree of glory and happiness, was the whole extent of the place of this world filled, before the Angels fell. And to this degree of happiness, and heavenly glory, will the whole place of this world be raised again, when the love of God shall have finished the great work of the redemption of mankind. Heaven again, and Angels again, raised out of the misery of time, to sing eternal praises to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to the Lamb that has overcome sin, and death, and hell, and turned all the wrath, and misery and darkness of this world, into an heaven, never more to be changed. Allen, what sentiments do these thoughts raise in you?

Allen- Indeed, sir, they almost make me forget, that I am in the body. You have set me upon a mountain, from which, whether I look backwards, or forwards, or downwards, all is equally surprising: backwards, a breach made in heaven, the first opening of hell and darkness, and a new creation out of the ruins of the fallen Angels; forwards, time and all temporal nature rising again into its first eternity; downwards, a globe of earth, the seat of war between heaven and hell, where men are born to partake of the dreadful strife, and have only the little span of this life, either to overcome with God, or to be overcome by the Devil. what great things are these? I wish that all the world, as well as my neighbor Harold, were forced to be silent hearers of them. But please, go on.

Henry- When God saw the darkness that was upon the face of the deep, and the whole Angelic habitation become a chaos of confusion, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; that is, the Spirit of God began to operate again in this outward darkness, that covered this once transparent glassy sea; for from a glassy sea it had become a deep, covered with darkness, which was soon to take on another nature; to have its fire and wrath converted into sun and stars; its dross and darkness into a globe of earth; its mobility and moisture into air and water; when the Spirit of God began to move and operate in it. But before this chaos had entered into this new order, God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. This light, my friend, was not the present light of this world, which now governs the night and the day; for the sun, the moon, and stars, were not created until the fourth day. But the light which God then spoke forth, was a degree of heaven, that was commanded to glance into the darkened deep, which penetrated through all the depth of the chaos, and intermixed itself through every part; not turning the whole into a region of light, but only by its quickening virtue fitting, disposing, and preparing every part to take that change, which every following day of the creation was to bring forth, in and out of this darkened deep: For darkness is death, and light is life.

This was the nature and work of that first light, which God called forth on the first day: It was God's baptizing the dead chaos with the Spirit of life, that it might be capable of a resurrection into a new creation. Look at the uniformity of the Divine procedure, with regard both to fallen nature and creature. When the creature (man) was fallen, his redemption was begun by God's speaking a seed of light, called the seed of the woman, into the birth of his life. This alone could qualify him for the new creation in Christ Jesus. When nature was fallen, its restoration was begun in the same manner: Light was commanded to enter into it, or rather to rise up in it: this was its power or possibility of coming out of its fallen state. Do not marvel, Allen, that I call this first light of the first day, a degree of heaven: For Light is natural, essential, and inseparable from heaven; it belongs only to heaven; and wherever else it is, it is only there as a gift from heaven. And therefore, so much light as there is in this world, so much there is of heaven in it. Darkness is natural, essential, and inseparable from hell; and can be nowhere else, but where hell can in some degree open and display itself. And wherever, and in what degree, darkness can show itself; there, and in the same degree, is the nature of hell known and felt. This world is made up of light and darkness, not only as it consists of day and night, but because every earthly thing is itself a mixture of light and darkness. The darkness is the evil, and the light is the good, that is in everything. If the darkness was predominant in vegetables, they would all be poison; if in animals, they would all be as so many wrathful venomous serpents of hell. If the light suppressed all of the darkness in vegetables, they would be like the fruits which were to have been man's food in paradise.

Allen- These things, Henry, strike a most amazing light into all the mysteries both of nature and grace. But they do not enlighten, more than they edify the mind. They are all reforming truths; they have the nature of alternatives, they purge the heart of all its dross; they force it to drop all its pretensions to earthly things, as the poor deceitful temptations of fallen nature; and to long for nothing, but to have heaven and life in God, for which the Angels and men were created. But I want to show to my friend Harold, in one view, that chain of truths, which follows what you have said: Though I would rather have you do it.

Henry-  OK: I will set them in order like this.

1- The place of this world is the very place, or region, which belonged to Lucifer, and his Angels.

2- Everything that we see in this world, all its elements, the stars, the firmament, etc., are nothing else but the invisible things of the fallen world, that were made visible in a new and lower state of existence.

3- That before the rebellion of the Angels there was nothing but God, and heaven, and heavenly beings. Light, and love, and joy, and glory, with all the wonders thereof, these were the only things seen and felt by the Angels. Darkness and fire, with all of its quality, were absolutely unknown to the Angels; they had no more suspicion of them, than of the possibility of sickness, pains, heat, and cold. All they aimed at, was at being higher in the glories, and powers, and light, of that heaven in which they lived. But their turning to their own strength to effect this, was their whole turning from God, and falling into nature without God, which was the first discovery of darkness, wrath, fire, pain, and torment.

4- Therefore it appears, that darkness is the foundation of the substance, or materiality of nature; fire is its life; and light is its glorious transmutation into the kingdom of heaven; and Spirit is the opener of all its wonders. All that can be conceived, is either God, nature, or creature; God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit without, or before nature; but nature is the manifestation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a triune life of fire, light, and spirit.

5- Here we see the true origin of all evil, without any perplexity, or imputation upon God: That evil is nothing else but the wrath, and fire, and darkness of nature, broken off from God: That the punishment, the pain, or the hell of sin, was not intended, nor was it an arbitrary penalty inflicted by God, but it is the natural and necessary state of the creature, that leaves, or turns from God.

6- That the will of the creature is the only “introduction” of all evil or good in the creature; the will stands between God and nature, and must in all its workings unite either with God, or nature: the will totally resigned, and given up to God, is one Spirit with God, and God dwells in it; the will turned from God, is taken prisoner in the wrath, fire, and darkness of nature.

7- Here we see, how, and why a creature can lose, and die to all its happiness and perfection, and, from a beautiful Angel, to became a deformed devil. It is because nature has no beauty, happiness, or perfection, but solely from the manifestation, or birth of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in it. God manifested in nature, is the only blessing, happiness, and perfection of nature. Therefore the creature, that by the choice of its will, turns away from God, must have as great a change brought forth in it, as that of heaven into hell, forced to live, but to have no other life, but that of its own gnawing worm left to itself.

8- Hence we see the foundation, and the absolute necessity, of  Christian redemption, to have a birth from above, of the light and Spirit of God, this is demonstrated in the most absolute degree of certainty. It is because all nature is in itself nothing, but an hungry, wrathful fire of life, a tormenting darkness, unless the light and Spirit of God starting up in it, brings it into a kingdom of heaven. And therefore the fallen soul can have no possible relief, or redemption, it must be, to all eternity, a hungry, dark, fiery, tormenting spirit of life, unless the light, or Son, and Spirit of God, is born again in it. Therefore it follows, that in all the possibility of things, there is, and can be but one happiness, and one misery. The one misery, is nature and creature left to itself; the one happiness, is the life, the light, and Spirit of God, manifested in nature and creature. This is the true meaning of those words of our Lord, "There is but one that is good, and that is God."

9- For this reason it can also be seen, that there is and can be but one true religion for the fallen soul, and that is, the dying to self, to nature and creature; and turning with all the will, the desire, and delight of the soul to God. Sacrifices, offerings, prayers, praises, rites, and ceremonies, without this are but as sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals. No, zeal, and constancy, warmth, and fervor, in the performance of these religious practices, is a proof of God in the soul; for nature and self-love can do all this, aside from God. But these religious practices are then only parts of true religion, when they mean nothing, and seek nothing, but only this, the keeping up of a continual dying to self, and dying to all worldly things, and turn all of the will, desire, and delight of the soul to God alone.

Lastly, there is and can be only one salvation for the fallen soul, and that is heaven opened again in the soul, by the birth of such a life, light, and spirit, as is born in Angels. For Adam was created to possess that heaven from which the Angels fell; but nothing can enter into heaven, but the Angelic life, which is born of heaven. The loss of this Angelic life was the fall of Adam, or that death which he died, on the day that he ate of the earthly fruit; therefore the regeneration, or new birth of his first Angelic life, is the only salvation of the fallen soul. Ask not therefore, whether we are saved by faith, or by works? For we are saved by neither of them. Faith and works are at first only preparatory to the new birth; afterwards they are the true genuine fruits and effects of it. But the new birth, a life from heaven, the new creature, called Christ in us, is the one only salvation of the fallen soul. Nothing can enter into heaven, but this life which is born of, and comes from heaven.

Allen- I thank you, Henry, for setting these awakening truths in so strong a light. And I think that it is not possible for my friend Harold not to be affected by them. They must open in him a new way of thinking about religion, and show him the solid foundation of the absolute necessity of Christian redemption, and incline him to be a willing hearer of that which follows.

Henry- I hope it will be so, Allen; and what I would like to call attention to now, for your friend Harold to observe, is this: That the Christian religion is the only true religion of nature, founded in the nature of things; that its doctrines are not founded in an arbitrary appointment of God, but have their natural and necessary reasons, why they cannot be otherwise, as has already been shown in the one great point of regeneration, which is the whole of man's salvation, and the only thing intended by all revelation, from the fall of man to the end of the world. Now the true foundation of the one true religion of nature cannot be known, or seen, but by going back to the beginning of things, and showing how they came into their present state. We must find out, why and how religion came to be necessary, and on what its necessity is founded. This cannot be done, unless we find out, what sin, evil, death, and darkness are in themselves; and how they came into nature and creature. For this alone can show us, which religion is true, is natural, is necessary, and alone is sufficient to remove all evil, sin, and disorder, out of the creation. For this reason, we began with the foundation and reasons of the creation of this world, showing how it came to be as it is. But this could not be done, but by going all the way back to the fall of the Angels. For it was their revolting from God, that brought wrath, fire, thickness, darkness, and death, into nature and creature; and so gave occasion to this new creation, and as for its being in such a state, and of such a nature, as it is. For who does not see, that this first deadness, thickness, wrath, fire, and darkness, caused by the Angel’s sin, are the very materials out of which this world is made? For are not the fire, the air, the water, the earth, the rocks and stones of this world, the rage of heat and cold, the succession of day and night, the wrath of storms and tempests, an undeniable and daily proof of all this? Now when we see what sin, evil, death, and darkness are in nature, and how they came into it, then we see also, how and what they are, and how they came into the creature; because the creature has its form, its being, out of nature. They came into nature, or rose up in it, because nature was broken off from God, and so losing the light and Spirit of God, which made it to be a kingdom of heaven. We can see also, that when this disordered nature was to be taken out of its fallen state by a new creation, that, to do this, the Spirit of God moved, or entered again into the darkness of the waters, and the light of God was called into it. A clear proof, that the difficulty of nature, was nothing else, but its loss of the light and Spirit of God working in it. This also shows us, that the fallen creature is to be restored, or put on the road to recovery, in the same way as fallen nature; i.e., by the Spirit, and light of God entering again into it, and bringing forth a new birth, or creation in Christ Jesus. Just as the spirit and light entering into the chaos, created or turned the Angel’s ruined kingdom into a paradise on earth. God help him, who can not see any light, or truth here! Your friend Harold lays claim to a religion of nature and reason: I join with him, with all my heart. No other religion can be right, but that which has its foundation in nature. For the God of nature can require nothing of His creatures, but that which the state of their nature calls them to. Nature is His great law, that speaks His entire will both in heaven and on earth; and to obey nature, is to obey the God of nature, to please Him, and live to Him, in the highest perfection. God indeed has many after- the-fact-laws; but they were made after His creatures had fallen from nature, and lost its perfection. But all these after-the-fact-laws have no other end or intention, but to repair nature, and bring men back to their first natural state of perfection. What do you say to this, Robert?

Robert- You, and Allen, the both of you know, how these matters have affected me, ever since I read the book called the “Appeal” to All that Doubt, etc. From that time, I have stood upon new ground; I have seen things in such a newness of light and reality, and it makes me believe that my former knowledge about God was only a dream. A dream I may justly say, since all my labor was taken up in searching into almost two century’s of  doctrines, disputes, decrees, heresies, schisms, and sects, wherever they were to be found, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. From this heap of information crowded into my mind, I have been settling matters between all the present Christian divisions both at home and abroad, according to the best rules of criticism; having little or no other idea of a religious man, other than that of a debater of certain points against or for, all those doctrines. And in this respect, I believe I may say, that I was only swimming in the common torrent. And in this laborious dream, I might have in all likelihood ended my days, had not that book, and some others of a similar kind, shown me, that religion lay nearer home, was not to be dug out of disputes, but lay hid in myself, like a seed, which, for need of its proper nourishment, could not come to birth. But however, though matters stand with myself, and I seem to be entering into a region of light, yet I must not hesitate to tell you, what some of my learned friends object to in all of this. They say, that in those books, there are many things asserted, which do not have the letter of scripture to support them; and therefore men of sober learning, are cautious of giving opinions, not strictly grounded on the letter of scripture, however fine and plausible they may seem to be.

Henry- Is there not some reason, Robert, to take this objection of your learned friends to be a mere pretence? For what is more fully grounded upon the word of God, than the doctrine of a real regeneration, a new birth of the Word, the Son, and Holy Spirit of God, truly brought forth in the soul? And yet the word of God, upon the most important of all points, the very life, and essence, and whole nature of our redemption, is not only overlooked, but openly opposed, by most of the men that went to Bible school or seminary . But this point, not only is taught in the Bible, but what the teaching of the Bible asserts, is absolutely required by the whole spirit and tenor of the New Testament. All of the epistles of the apostles proceed upon the supposed certainty of this one great point. A Son of God, united with, and born in our nature, that His nature may have a birth in us; the Holy Spirit, breathing in the birth and life of our souls, bringing back to life, the dead life of fallen Adam, this is the teaching and spirit of the apostle's writings; grounded upon our Lord's own words, that unless “We are born again from above, of the Son, word, water, and Spirit of God, we cannot enter, or see the kingdom of heaven.”

Again: Is it not the plain teaching of scripture, that Adam died the day that he ate of the earthly tree of knowledge of good and evil? Here we have the most solemn declaration from God for the truth of this? Was not the change which Adam found in himself a demonstration of the truth of this fact? Instead of the image and likeness of God in which he was created, and the beauty of paradise, he was stripped of all his glory, confounded at the shameful deformity of his own body, afraid of being seen, and unable to see himself uncovered; he was delivered up as a slave to the rage of all the stars and elements of this world, not knowing which way to look, or what to do in a world, where he was dead to all that he formerly felt, and alive only to a new and dreadful feeling of heat and cold, shame and fear, and a horrible remorse of mind, at his sad entrance in a world, from which paradise, God, and his own glory, had departed. Death enough, certainly!  Death in its highest reality, much greater in its change, than when an animal of earthly flesh and blood is only changed into a cold lifeless carcass. A death, that in all nature has nothing like it can be found, nothing is equal to it, nothing is of the same nature with it, but that death which the Angels died, when, from Angels of God, they became living devils, serpentine, hideous forms, and slaves to darkness. If you say that the Angels didn’t lose their life, that they did not die a real death, because they are yet alive in the horrors of darkness, and then you may say, with the same truth, that Adam did not die, when he lost God, and paradise, and the first glory of his creation, because he afterwards lived and breathed in a world which was outwardly, in all its parts, full of the same curse that he had within himself. But further, not only the clear teachings of the Bible, and the change of state, which Adam found in himself, demonstrated a real death to his former state; but the whole tenor of scripture absolutely requires it; all the system of our redemption proceeds upon it. For tell me, what need do we have of a redemption, if Adam had not lost his first state of life? Why do we need  God to enter again into our human nature, not only as an acting power, but actually taking a birth in us? What need of all this mysterious method, to bring the life from above again into man, if the life from above had not truly been lost? Say that Adam did not die, and then tell me, what sense or reason is there in saying, that the Son of God became man, and died on the cross to restore to man the life that he had lost? It is true indeed, that Adam, in his death to the Divine life, was left in the possession of an earthly life. And the reason is plain why it was so: For his great sin consisted in his desire and longing to enter into the life of this world, to know its good and evil, as the animals of this world know it; it was his choosing to have a life of this world after this new manner, and his entering upon the means of attaining it, that was his death to the Divine life. And therefore it is no wonder, that after his death to heaven and paradise, he found himself still alive as an earthly animal. For the desire of this earthly life was his great sin, and the possession of this earthly life was his natural and proper punishment and misery, that logically, and naturally resulted from his sin; and therefore it is no wonder that, that life, which was the proper punishment, and real discovery of the fruits of his sin, should continue on, after his sin had put an end to the life of paradise and God in him. But as amazing as it is to such a degree, that any man should imagine, that Adam did not die on the day of his sin, because he had as good a life left in him, as the beasts of the field have. For is this the life, or is this the death, that such animals die, the life and death with which our redemption is concerned? Are not all the scriptures full of a life and death of a much higher kind and nature? And do not the scriptures make man the perpetual subject to whom this higher life and death belong? What reason can there be to think of the death of an animal of this world, when we read of the death, that Adam was assuredly to die the day of his sin? For does not all that befell him on the day of his sin, show that he lost a much greater life, allowed a more dreadful change, than that of giving up the breath of this world? For in the day of his sin, this Angel of paradise, this lord of the new Creation, fell from the throne of his glory (like Lucifer from heaven) into the state of a poor, darkened, naked, distressed animal of gross flesh and blood, unable to bear the odious sight of that which his newly opened eyes forced him to see; inwardly and outwardly feeling the curse awakened in himself, and in all the creation, and reduced to having only the faith of devils, to believe and tremble. Proof enough, surely, that Adam was dead to the life, light, and Spirit of God; and that, with this death, all that was Divine and heavenly in his soul, his body, his eyes, his mind, and thoughts, was quite at an end. Now this life to which Adam had died, is that life which all his posterity are in need of, and cannot come out of the state of that death into which he fell, but only by having this first life of heaven born again in them. Now is there any reason to say, that mankind, in their natural state, are not dead to that first life in which Adam was created, because they are alive to this world? Yet this is as well as to say, that Adam did not die a real death, because he had afterwards an earthly life in him. Why did our Lord say, that unless you eat the flesh, and drink the blood, of the son of man, you have no life in you? Did he mean, you have no earthly Life in you? Why did the apostle say, He that has the son of God has life, but he that has not the son of God has not life? Does he mean the life of this world? No. But both Christ and His apostle assert this great truth, that all mankind are in the state of Adam's first death, until they are made alive again, by a birth of the son, and the Holy Spirit of God brought forth in them. So plain is it, both from the express letter, and Spirit of scripture, that Adam died a real death to the kingdom of God in the day of his sin. Take away this death, and all the scheme of our redemption has no foundation left to stand upon.

Judge now, Robert, who leaves the letter of scripture, your learned friends, or the author of the “Appeal” to all that doubt? They leave it, they oppose it, in the very thing which is the life of Christianity. For without the reality of a new birth, founded on the certainty of a real death in the fall of Adam, the Christian scheme is but a skeleton of empty words, a detail of strange mysteries between God and man that do nothing. On the other hand, look now at the things set forth in the “Appeal to all that doubt,” concerning the fall of Angels, the nature and effects of their revolt, and the creation of this world as deduced from that. They neither leave, nor oppose any letter, or doctrine of scripture. They add nothing to religion, but the full proof of all its articles; they intend nothing but to open the original ground, and true reason, of the Christian redemption, and the absolute necessity of its being such, as the gospel declares.

Now the letter of scripture does not do this in open words; it does not tell us “the why,” and “how” things are the way they are, either in nature or grace; it does not teach the ground or philosophy of the Christian faith; it satisfies itself with bare facts and doctrines, and calls for simple faith and obedience. It is no wonder, that when the natural and necessary ground of the Christian redemption is opened, that the letter of scripture is not step by step appealed to, for everything that is said, and yet many things may be sufficiently grounded on scripture, that are not so expressed said in the letter. The Sadducees denied, that there was any resurrection at all; and this they did, because they could not find it in the express letter of the first five books of Moses. And yet it seems, that the resurrection was plainly and strongly taught there: For our Lord said, that “The dead shall rise again,” Moses showed at the bush, when he said, "The Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac, etc. For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living."{Luke 20:37-38} This shows us that a thing may be fully and sufficiently proved from scripture, which is not plainly expressed in the letter. And thus the matter stands with regard to those great, and edifying truths set forth in the appeal. They are truly scriptural, they have their foundation and authority from scripture, though not so openly expressed in the letter, as matters of faith and doctrine are. For is not the fall of Angels a scriptural-truth? Is not the desolation which their fall brought into nature, and the very place of this world a scripture-truth? What else can be meant by darkness upon the face of the deep? What darkness, or what deep, but in the place of this world? What darkness, or state of the deep, but that, which God was about to raise out of its disordered state? And does not the letter of scripture show, that out of this darkness and waters, and state of the deep, the Spirit and light of God entering into them, brought forth the earth, the stars, the sun, and all the elements, into a form of a new world? To ask for a particular text of scripture, saying in so many express words, that the place of this world is the very place and extent of the kingdom of the fallen Angels, is quite ridiculous, and without the least bit of reason, as is enough shown in the “Appeal to all that doubt.” For does not our Lord expressly call the Devil, a prince of this world? But how could this name belong to him, but because he is here in his own first region and territories, and still has some power, until all the evil that he has raised in it, shall be entirely separated from it? For was not this world raised out of the materials of the fallen Angel’s kingdom, and was not the wrath, and fire, and darkness of their fall, still in some degree remaining in every part of this world, they could have no more power in it, than they have in heaven; they must be as entirely incapable of seeing or entering into it, as they are of seeing or entering into the kingdom of heaven: For they have nothing but evil in their nature; they can touch nothing, move nothing, see nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, act in nothing, but that very evil, darkness, fire, and wrath, and disorder, which they first awakened both in themselves, and their kingdom. And therefore it is a truth of the utmost certainty, that they can be nowhere, but where there is something of that evil still subsisting which they brought forth. And this may pass for a demonstration (if there is any such thing) that the scriptures themselves demonstrate the place of this world, to be the very place and region in which the Angels fell. And they are still here, because their kingdom is not wholly delivered from all the evil that they had raised in it, but is to stand for a time, only in a state of recovery, where they themselves must see, in spite of all the rage and malice of their fiery darts, that the mystery of the lamb of God, born upon earth, will raise creatures of flesh and blood, amidst the ruins of their spoiled kingdom, to be an host of Angels in heaven, so that all may be restored, and they, themselves plunged into hell, and then they will be cut off from everything, but their own wrath, fire, and darkness. And all this, Robert, to make it known through all the regions of eternity, that pride can degrade the highest Angels into devils, and humility can raise fallen flesh and blood to the thrones of Angels. This, is the great end of God's raising a new creation, out of a fallen kingdom of Angels; for to this end it stands in its state of war, a war between the fire and pride of fallen Angels, and the meekness and humility of the lamb of God: It stands its thousands of years in this strife, that the last trumpet may sound this great truth, through all the heights and depths of eternity, "That evil can have no beginning, but from pride; nor any end, but from humility."

Oh Robert, what a blindness there is in the world! What a stir is there amongst mankind about religion, and yet almost all seem to be afraid of that in which alone is salvation! 

“Pride Must Die In You, Or Nothing Of Heaven Can Live In You.”

Poor mortals! What is the one wish and desire of your hearts? What is it that you call happiness, and rejoicing? Is it not when everything about you helps you to stand upon higher ground, and gives full nourishment to self-esteem, and gratifies every pride of life? And yet life itself is the loss of everything, unless pride is overcome. Oh stop for a while in contemplation of this great truth. It is a truth as unchangeable as God; it is written and spoken through all nature; heaven and earth, fallen Angels, and redeemed men, all bear witness to it. The truth is: pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Under the banner of this truth, give yourselves up to the meek and humble Spirit of the Holy Jesus, the over-comer of all fire, and pride, and wrath. This is the one way, the one truth, and the one life. There is no other open door into the sheepfold of God. Everything else is the working of the Devil in the fallen nature of man. Humility must sow the seed, or there can be no reaping in heaven. Do not look at pride as only an unbecoming temper; nor look only at humility as a nice virtue; for the one is death, and the other is life; the one is all hell, and the other is all heaven. So much of pride that you have, so much you have of the fallen Angel, alive and ruling in you. So much of true humility that you possess; so much you have of the lamb of God within you. If you could see with your eyes what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of everything you meet, to tear the viper of pride from you, even though it cost you the loss of a hand, or an eye. If you could see what a sweet, Divine, transforming power there is in humility, what an heavenly water of life it gives to the fiery breath of your soul, how it expels the poison of your fallen nature, and makes room for the Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather wish to be the footstool of all the world, than to want the smallest degree of pride. Excuse, this little digression, for the subject we were upon, forced me into it.

Robert- Indeed, the lesson you have given here, is the same that the whole nature of the fall of Angels, and the whole nature of the redemption of man, daily tells to every creature; and he, who alone can redeem the world, has plainly shown us, wherein the life and Spirit of our redemption must consist, when he says, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. Now if this lesson is unlearned, we must be said to have left our master, as those disciples did, who went back, and walked no more with him. 

Henry- Allow me to mention one other point, to show you still further, how unreasonably it is for your friends to object to the book “appeal.” Now let it be supposed, that the account of the fall of Angels, the creation, etc., given in the “Appeal,” does not contain enough scripture; Take then the contrary opinion, which your friends take; i.e., That all worlds, and all things, are created out of nothing. Now show me scripture, Robert, that has the least hint, of what they are trying to teach, even if they use great skills of interpretation. It is a large fiction, with the grossest absurdities, and is contrary to everything that we know, either from nature or scripture, concerning the rise and birth, and nature of the things, that have begun to be. Adam was not created out of nothing; for the letter of Moses tells us in the plainest words, out of what he was created or formed, both as to his inward, and his outward nature. Moses tells us exactly what Adam was made from. Eve, the next creature, was also created from something. And from the time of Adam and Eve, the Creation of every human creature has a birth out of its parents' body and soul, or whole nature. And to show us how all things, or worlds, as well as all living creatures, are not created out of nothing, Paul appeals to this very account, that Moses gives of the woman's being formed out of the man; but "all things" (says he) "are out of God." (I Cor. 9:12) Here this fiction of a creation out of nothing, is by the plain and open letter of scripture, absolutely removed from the whole system of created things, or things which begin to be; for Paul's doctrine is, that all things come into being, out of God, in the same reality, as the woman was formed or created out of man. So again, "There is to us but one God, out of whom are all things" {I Cor. 8:6} ; for so you know the Greek should be translated, not "of," but "out of" God; not "of," but "out of" the man. The fiction therefore, which I speak of, is not only without, but expressly contrary to, the plain teaching of scripture. For everything that we see, every creature that has life, is by the scripture-account a birth from something else. And here, you are to take notice of a maxim that is not deniable, that the reason why anything proceeds from a birth, is the reason why everything must do so. For a birth would not be in nature, but because birth is the only procedure of nature. Nature itself is a birth from God, the first manifestation of the hidden, inconceivable God, and is so far from being out of nothing, that it is the manifestation of all that, in God, which was before un-manifest. As nature is the first birth, or manifestation of God, or discovery of the Divine powers, so all creatures are the manifestation of the powers of nature, brought into a variety of births, by the will of God, out of nature. The first creatures that are the nearest to the deity, are out of the highest powers of nature, by the will of God, willing that nature should be manifested in the rise and birth of creatures out of it. Nature, directed and governed by the wisdom of God, goes on in the birth of one thing, out of another. After things have stood in this state their appointed time, the last purifying fire, kindled by God, will take away all thickness, hardness, and darkness, and bring all the divided things and elements of this world back again, to be that first glassy sea, or heavenly materiality, in which the throne of God is set, as was seen by John, in the Revelation made to him. But the fiction of the creation out of nothing, is not only contrary to the letter and Spirit of the scripture account of the rise and birth of things, but is in itself full of the grossest absurdities, and horrid consequences. It separates everything from God, it leaves no relation between God and the creature, nor any possibility for any power, virtue, quality, or perfection of God, to be in the creature: for if it is created out of nothing, it cannot have something of God in it. But I will stop here: For, as you know, we have agreed, if God permits, to devote one entire day to conversation on the nature and end of the writings of Jacob Behmen, and the right use and way of reading them; and all that, as preparatory to a more correct English edition of his works, so this and some other points shall be put off to that time. In the Afternoon, we will proceed on with such matters, as may further set the Christian redemption in its true and proper light before your friend Harold.

Robert- I am very glad, Henry, that I have mentioned these objections to you, though they were of no significance with me, since you have had an occasion of giving so full and complete an answer to them. The matter stands now in this plain and easy point of light. In the book “The Appeal” we have a system of uniform truths, concerning the fall of Angels, their spoiled and darkened kingdom, and the creation of this world that was raised out of it. We have the creation and fall of man, his regeneration, and the manner of it, all opened and explained according to the letter and tenor of scripture, from their deepest ground, in such a manner, as to give light and clearness into all the articles of the Christian Faith; to expel all difficulties and absurdities that have crept into it; and the whole scheme of our redemption proved to be absolutely necessary, both from scripture, and all that is seen and known in nature and creature. On the other hand, the opinion which is, and must be received, if the account in the “The Appeal” is rejected, appears to be a fiction, that has no sense, no reason, no fact, no appearance in nature, nor one single letter of scripture, to support it, but stands in the utmost contrariety to all that the scripture says of the creation of everything, and is in itself full of the grossest absurdities, raising darkness and difficulties in all parts of religion, that can never be removed from it. For a creation that has nothing of God in it, can explain nothing that relates to God: For a creation out of nothing, has no better sense in it, than a creation into nothing. My friends, for this time, adieu.

Chapter 4

The Second Dialogue

Henry- Let us now speak of Adam in his first perfection, created by God to be a Lord and ruler of this newly created world, to populate it with a host of Angelic men, until time had finished its course, and all things were fitted to be restored to that state, from which they had fallen by the revolt of Angels. For the restoration of all things to their first glorious state, to make the good, overcome the evil, was the design, which God had proposed for the state and manner of this new creation. Adam was the chosen Instrument of God, to conduct this whole affair, to keep up this newly created world in the state in which God had made it, not to” till the earth,” which we now must plough, because of the curse that is now in the earth, the original paradise in which man was created, has been covered, and hid. For this reason, man was created with a twofold nature, of the powers of Heaven, and the powers of this world. Inwardly, he had the celestial body and soul of an Angel, and he had this Angelic nature united to a life and body taken from the stars and elements of this outward world. As Paradise overcame, and concealed all the wrath of the stars and elements, and kept that evil, which is called the curse, from being known or felt, so Adam's Angelic, heavenly nature, which was the paradise of God within him, kept him quite ignorant of the properties of that earthly nature that was under it. He knew, saw, and felt nothing in himself, but a birth of paradise, which is, a life, light, and Spirit of Heaven: for he could not feel, sense or see any difference in his life from that of any of the Angels in Heaven, because the paradise of God had hid it from him, and this world was joined to him, and put under his feet. This was done, because he was created by God to be the restoring Angel, to do all that in this outward world, which God would want to have done in it, so that it could be restored to its first state. And therefore he must have the nature of all this world in himself, because he was to act in it, and upon it, as its restoring Angel; and yet with such distinction from it, with such power over it, as the light has over the darkness. Does not the whole Spirit of the Scriptures consent to this account of Adam's first perfection? Do not all the chief points of our redemption demand this perfection in Adam un-fallen? How else could his fall bring on the necessity of the gospel-redemption, of a new birth from above, of the word and Holy Spirit of God? For had he not had this perfection of nature at the first, his redemption could not have consisted in the revival of this birth and perfection in him. For had it been something less than the loss of an Angelic and heavenly life, that had happened to him by his fall, had it been only some evil, that related to a life of this world, nothing else but some remedy from this world, could have been his redemption. But since it is the corner-stone of the Gospel, that nothing less than the eternal word, which was man's Creator, could be his redeemer, and that by a new birth from above, it is a demonstration, that he was at first created an Angel, born from above, and a partaker of the Divine Life, as the Angels are now; and that his fall was the real death of his Angelic life. Now the words of Moses express this first perfection of Adam. God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness." how different is this from the creation of the animals of this world? What can you think or say higher of an Angel? Or what perfection can an Angel have, but that of being in the image and after the likeness of God? But now what an absurdity it would be, to hold that Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, and yet did not have as much of the Divine in him as the image and likeness of an Angel? Again, was not paradise lost, was not evil and the curse awakened in all the elements, as soon as Adam fell? And does this not prove, beyond all contradiction, that Adam was created by God, as I said above, to be the restoring Angel; to have power over all the outward world; to keep all its evil from being known or felt; until the fall of Angels from Heaven had been repaired by a race of Angelic men born on earth? But how could he do, and be all this, for which he was created by God, how could he keep up the life of Heaven and paradise within himself, and this new world, unless the life of Heaven had been his own life? Or how could he be the father of an offspring that were to have no evil, nor so much as the knowledge of what was good and evil in this world? Could anything but a heavenly man bring forth an heavenly offspring? Or could he be said to have the life of this world opened up to himself, in his creation, who was to bring forth a race of beings, insensible of the good and evil in this world? For everything that has the life of this world opened in it, is under an absolute necessity of knowing and feeling its good and evil.

Secondly, that Adam, when he first entered into the world, had the nature and perfection of an Angel, is made further plain from Moses, who tells us, that he was made at first both male and female in one person; and that Eve, or the female part of him, was afterwards taken out of him. Now this union of the male and female in him, was the purity, or virgin perfection of his life, and is the very perfection of the Angelic nature. This we are assured of from our Lord himself, who, in answer to the question of the Sadducees, said unto them, "You  do err, not knowing the scriptures, and the power of God; for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels in heaven."{Matt. 22: 29,30} Here we have a Scripture proof of the Angelic perfection of Adam: (1) Because we are told, that that state in which he was created, neither male nor female, but with both natures in his one person, this is the very nature and perfection of the Angels of God in Heaven. (2) Because everyone who shall have a part in this resurrection, shall then have this Angelic perfection again; to be no more male or female, or a part of the humanity, but such perfect, complete, undivided creatures, as the Angels of God are. But this perfection could not belong to humanity after the resurrection, but only because it belonged to the first man, Adam, before his fall: for nothing will be restored, but that which was first lost; nothing will rise again, but that which should not have died; nor anything be united, but that which should not have been parted. The short of it is this: man is at last to have a nature equal to that of the Angels. This equality consists in this, that as they have, so humanity will have, both male and female natures in one person. For humanity was created at first, male and female in one person, therefore humanity had at first a nature and perfection equal to that of the Angels. Consequently, the letter of Moses makes it very plain, about the Angelic perfection of Adam in his creation; and we have our Lord's word for it, that Moses sufficiently proved the resurrection of the dead. What do you think, Robert, about this matter?

Robert- I will just mention what my good old tutor says: The author of the “The Appeal,” says, he found all his scheme of regeneration or redemption on a supposed threefold life, in which Adam was created. His sole proof of this threefold life is taken from this text of Moses: "God breathed into man the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." From this phrase, the breath of lives, the “Appeal,” without any authority from the text, observes thus; "Here the highest, and most Divine origin is not obscure, but openly, absolutely, and in the strongest form of expression, ascribed to the soul," etc. A vain assertion, says my tutor; for the breath of life, or lives is used by Moses only as a phrase for animal life. This is plainly seen, Gen. 7:21. "And all flesh died, all in whose nostrils was the breath of lives." Behold, says he, the very phrase, which the “appeal” takes to be so full a proof of the high dignity, and threefold life of God in the soul, here made use of to denote the life of every kind of animal. And therefore, says he, if this phrase proves the soul of Adam to be a mirror of the Father, son, and Holy Spirit, it proves the same of every breath in the nostrils of every creature.

Henry- To make short work of it, Robert, with your tutor's repudiation, as he thinks, of the main doctrine of the “appeal,” I shall quote the whole part, as it is stated in the appeal. "God breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul. Here," says the “appeal,” "The notion of a soul, created out of nothing, is in the strongest manner, rejected by the written word of God; and no Jew or Christian can have the least excuse for falling into such an error: Here the highest and most Divine origin is not obscure, but openly, and absolutely ascribed to the soul. It came forth as a breath of life, or lives, out of, and from the mouth of God; and therefore did not come out of the womb of nothing, but is what it is, and has what it has in itself, from, the first and highest of all beings." Here, Robert, you may behold the falseness and weakness of your tutor's observation. The “appeal,” you plainly see, proves only from the text of Moses, the high origin of the soul; and only for this reason, because it is the breath of God, breathed into man. The “Appeal” makes no use of the expression, breath of lives, construes nothing from it, but solely considers the act of God, as breathing the Spirit of the soul from Himself; and from this act of God, the high birth and dignity of the soul is most justly affirmed. And the “Appeal” makes this observation solely to prove, that the soul is not created out of nothing. This is the declared intent of the “Appeal.” The matter is plainly this; the author of the “Appeal” looks wholly to the action of God, breathing his own Spirit into Adam; and from this breathing, he justly affirms the Divine nature of the soul; all his argument is deduced from this. Now if anyone, could show, that God breathed His own Spirit into every animal, and with this intent, that it might come forth in His own image and likeness, then the distinction and high birth of the soul, pleaded for by the “Appeal,” would indeed be lost. But until then, the “Appeal” will forever stand un-refuted in its assertion of the dignity and Divine birth of the soul. Again; behold, Robert, a still further weakness chargeable upon your tutor. You have seen, that his reasoning upon the breath of lives, is meddling with something that the “Appeal” did not meddle with, and makes no account of, but your tutor has conjured it up for his own use; and yet see what a poor use he makes of it. He affirms that Moses uses only the breath of lives, as a phrase for animal life. How does he prove this? Why, truly from this reason, because Moses uses the same phrase when he speaks of the lives of all animals. Now does not every Englishman know, that we make use of the same four Letters of the alphabet, when we say the life of a man, the life of a beast, and the life of a plant? That we use the same five letters, when we say the death of a man, the death of a beast, and the death of a plant? But will it then follow, that the life and death of men, and beasts, and plants, are of the same nature and degree, and have the same good and evil in them? Yet this is full as well, as to conclude, that the breath of life in man, and the breath of life in animals, is of the same nature and degree, has the same goodness and excellence in it, because the same words, made up of the same letters, express both of them. Your tutor therefore, and not the author of the “Appeal,” is the person that reasons weakly from the phrase of the breath of lives: His proof of the threefold life of God in the soul, so far as it is deduced from the text of Moses, lies wholly in this; that it is the breath and Spirit of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, breathed forth from  God into man. This, is not a “small” proof of its having the nature of God in it. And this threefold life of the soul, plainly deducible from the letter of Moses, is shown to be absolutely certain, from every chief doctrine and institution, no, from the whole nature of our redemption: and all the gospel is shown to set its seal to this great truth, the threefold life of God in the soul. No, everything in nature, fire, and light, and air; everything that we know of Angels, devils, or the animal life of this world; are all in the plainest and strongest manner, from the beginning to the end of the “Appeal,” you will find many proofs of the threefold life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the soul. Consequently the appeal says; no omnipotence can make you a partaker of the life of this outward world, without having the life of this outward world born in your own creaturely being; the fire, and light, and air of this world, must have their birth in your own creaturely being, or you cannot possibly live in, or have a life from the outward nature. And therefore no omnipotence can make you a partaker of the Divine life, or presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, unless that life stands in the same triune state within you. Again: Search to eternity, says the “Appeal,” why no devil or beast can possibly enter into heaven, and there can only be this one reason assigned to it, because neither of them have the triune holy life of God in them. But enough of this mistake of your tutor.

Allen - Truly, sir, I do not know what to make of these great scholars; they seem to have more love for the shadow of an objection, than for the most substantial truths. I think I see a great reason, why our Savior chose poor and illiterate fishermen to be his apostles. Paul was just about the only one that had been educated, and he was a persecutor of Christ, until such time as God made the scales fall from his eyes; and then he became a powerful apostle. But let us return to your account of the first created perfection of man, and the degree of his falling from it. It is one of the best doctrines that I have ever heard in my life. It not only stirs up everything that is good, and makes me hate everything that is evil, in me; but it gives so good a sense, and so sound a meaning to every mystery of the gospel, that it makes everything our Savior has done for us, and everything he requires of us, to be equally necessary and beneficial to us. But suppose now that our fall was not a change of nature, not a death to our first life, but only a single sin or mistake in the first man; What a difficulty there is in supposing so great a scheme of redemption to set right a single mistake in just one single creature? Again, what could man have to do with Angels and heaven, if he had not, at his creation, had the nature of heaven and Angels in him? But now please, begin again just where you left off.

Henry- I was indeed, at that time just going to say, that Adam had lost much of his first perfection before his Eve was taken out of him; which was done to prevent worse effects of his fall, and to prepare a means for his recovery, when his fall should become total, as it afterwards was, upon the eating of the earthly tree of good and evil. "It is not good that man should be alone," says the Scripture: This shows, that Adam had altered his first state, had brought some beginning of evil into it, and had made that not to be good, which God saw to be good, when he created him. And therefore as a less evil, and to prevent a greater evil, God divided the first perfect human nature into two parts, into a male and a female creature; and this, as you shall see later, was a wonderful instance of the love and care of God towards this new humanity. It was at first, the total humanity in one creature, who should in that state of perfection, have brought forth his own likeness out of himself, in such purity of love, and such Divine power, as he himself was brought forth by God: The manner of his own birth from God, was the manner that his own offspring should have had their birth from him; all done by the pure power of a Divine love. Man no longer stood in the perfection of his first state, as a birth of Divine love, when he began to love himself more than he loved God. If he had maintained this purity of love, and delight in the image of God, it would have carried on the birth of all humanity, in the same manner, and by the same Divine power, as the Adam was brought forth: For it was only a continuation of the same generating love that gave birth to the first man. But Adam turned away his love from the Divine image, which he should have only loved. He gazed upon this outward world, and let an adulterate love into his heart, which started as a desired to know the life that was in this world. This impure desire brought the nature of this world into himself. His first love and Divine power, no longer had any strength left in it; it was no longer a power of bringing forth a Divine birth from himself. His first virginity was lost by an adulterate love, which had turned its desire to this world. This state of inability, is that which is called his falling into a deep sleep: And in this sleep, God divided this overcome humanity into a male and female. The first step towards the redemption or recovery of man, when he was beginning to fall, was the taking of his Eve out of him, so that he might have a second trial in paradise; in which if he failed, another effectual redeemer might arise out of the seed of the woman. My friends, what a wonderful procedure there is to be seen in the Divine providence, turning all evil, as soon as it appears, into a further display and opening of new wonders of the wisdom and love of God! Look back to the first evil, which the fall of Angels brought forth. The darkness, wrath, and fire, of fallen nature, were immediately taken from them, and turned into a new creation, where those apostate Angels were to see all the evil that they had raised in their kingdom, turned against them, and made the ground of a new race of beings, which were to possess those thrones which they had lost. Look now at Adam brought into the world in such an Angelic nature, as he, and all his redeemed sons, will have after the resurrection; an Angel at first, and an Angel at last; with time, and misery, and sin, and death, and hell, all of them felt, and all overcome between the two glorious extremes. When this first human Angel, through a false, impure love, lost the Divine power of generating his own likeness out of himself, God took part of his nature from him, so that the eye of his desire, which was turned to the life of this world, might be directed to that part of his nature which was taken from him. And this is the reason for my saying before, that this was chosen as a lesser evil, and to avoid a greater; for it was a less degree of falling from his first perfection, to love the female part of his own divided nature, than to turn his love towards that, which was so much lower than his own nature. And thus, at that time, Eve was truly a help, that was properly met his needs, since he had lost his first power of being the parent of an Angelic offspring, and stood with a longing eye, looking towards the life of this world. But the most glorious effect of this division into male and female is yet to come. For when Adam and Eve had joined in the eating of the tree of good and evil, and so were totally fallen from God and paradise, into the misery and slavery of the bestial life of this world; when this greatest of all evils had happened to these two divided parts of the humanity; when all the Angel was lost, and nothing but a shameful, frightened animal of this world, was left to be seen in this divided male and female; then in, and by, and through this division, God open and establish the glorious scheme of a universal redemption to these fallen creatures, and all their offspring, by the mysterious seed of the woman. Had Adam stood in his first state of perfection, as a birth of Divine love, and loving only the Divine image and likeness in himself, this love would have been itself the fruitful parent of holy offspring; no Eve would have been taken out of him, nor any male or female ever known in human nature: All his posterity would have been in him secured, and the earthly tree of good and evil would have never been seen in paradise. But though he lost this first generating power of Divine love, and stood as a barren tree, yet seeing God's purpose of raising an offspring from Adam, to possess the thrones of fallen Angels must go on and succeed, so that, Adam might yet have an offspring, God took from him that, which is called the female part of his nature, so that by this means, both a posterity, and a Savior, might proceed from him: For through this division of man, God would, in a wonderful manner, do that which Adam should have done, before he was divided. For out of this female part, and after the fall, God would raise, without the help of Adam, that same glorious Angelic man, which Adam should have brought forth before, and without his Eve; this new glorious man is called the second Adam.

The second Adam:

1.     As having in his humanity that very perfection, which the first Adam had in his creation.

2.     Because he was to do all that for mankind, by a birth of redemption from him, which they should have had by a birth of nature from Adam, had he kept his first state of perfection.

What do you think about this, Robert?  777

Robert- Truly, there seems to be so much light, and truth, and scripture, for all this account that you have given of these matters, as must force one to consent to it. But then all our systems of divinity, to which learned men are chained, are quite silent of these matters. I have never heard of this gradual fall of Adam, nor this Angelic state of his first creation, and his power of bringing forth his own offspring, and therefore can hardly believe it so strongly as I would, and as the truth seems to demand of me.

Allen- Pray, sir, let me speak to Robert: He seems to be so hampered with learning, that I can’t be sorry, that I am not a great scholar. Can anything be more punctually related in scripture than the gradual fall of Adam? Do you not see, that he was created first with both natures in him? Is it not expressly told you, that Eve was not taken out of him, until such time as it was not good for him to be as he then was, and yet God saw that it was good when he created him? Is it not plain therefore, that he had fallen from the goodness of his first creation, and therefore his fall was not at once, nor total, until his eating of the earthly tree? Again, as to his being an Angel at his first creation, because of both natures in him, is it not sufficiently plain from his being declared to be an Angel of the same nature at last, in the resurrection? For this is an axiom that cannot be shaken, that nothing can rise higher, than its first created nature; and therefore an Angel at last, must have been an Angel at first. Do you think it possible for an ox in the tract of time to be changed into a philosopher? Yet this is as possible, as for a man that has only by his creation the life of this world in him, to be changed into an Angel of heaven. The life of this world can reach no further than this world; no omnipotence of God can carry it further; and therefore, if man is to be an Angel at the last, and have the life of heaven in him, he must of all necessity, in his creation, have been created an Angel, and had his life kindled from heaven; because no creature can possibly have any other life, or higher degree of life, than that which his creation brought forth in him.

Henry- Marvel not, Robert, at that which has been said of the first power of Adam, to generate in a Divine manner an holy offspring, by the power of that Divine love which gave birth to himself; for he was born of that love for no other end, than to multiply births of it; and while his love continued to be one with that love, which brought him into being, nothing was impossible to it. For love is the great creating fiat that brought forth everything, that is distinct from God, and is the only working principle that stirs, and effects everything that is done in nature and creature. Love is the principle of generation from the highest to the lowest of creatures; it is the first beginning of every seed of life; everything has its form from it; everything that is born is born in the likeness, and with the fruitfulness, of that same love that generates and bears it; and this is its own seed of love within itself, and is its power of bearing fruit of its own kind. Love is the holy, heavenly, magic power of God, the first fiat of God; and all Angels, and eternal beings, are the first births of it. God delights in beholding the ideal images, which rise up and appear in the mirror of His own eternal wisdom. This delight becomes a loving desire to have living creatures in the form of these ideas; and this loving desire is the generating heavenly parent, out of which Angels, and all eternal beings are born. Every birth in nature is a consequence of this first prolific love of God, and generates from that which began the first birth. Hence it is, that through all the scale of beings, from the top to the bottom of nature, love is the one principle of generation of every life; and everything generates from the same principle, and by the same power, by which it was generated. Marvel not therefore, my friend, that Adam, standing in the power of his first birth, should have a Divine power of bringing forth his own likeness. But I must now tell you, that the greatest proof of this glorious truth is yet to come: for I will show you that all the gospel bears witness to that heavenly birth, which we should have had from Adam alone. This birth from Adam is still the one purpose of God, and must be the one way of all those, that are to rise with Christ to an equality with the Angels of God. All must be children of Adam; for all that are born of man and woman, must lay aside this polluted birth, and be born again of a second Adam, in that same perfection of an holy Angelic nature, which they should have had from the first Adam, before his Eve was separated from him. For it is an undeniable truth of the gospel, that we are called to a new birth, different in its whole nature, from that which we have from man and woman, or there is no salvation; and therefore it is certain from the gospel, that the birth which we have from Adam, divided into male and female, is not the birth that we should have had, because it is the one reason, why we are under a necessity of being born again of a birth from a second Adam, who is to generate us again in that purity and Divine power, in and by which we should have been born of the first Angelic Adam. A Divine love in the first pure and holy Adam, united with the love of God, willing him to be the father of an holy offspring, was to have given birth to a race of creatures from him. But Adam did not fulfill this purpose of God; he awakened in himself a false love, and so all his offspring were forced to be born of man and woman, and thereby to have such impure flesh and blood that, they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Is this not proof enough, that this birth from Adam and Eve is not the first birth that we should have had? Will anyone say, how could Adam have such a power to bring forth a birth in such a spiritual way, and so contrary to the present state of nature? The whole nature of the gospel is a full answer to this question. For are we not all to be born again in the same spiritual way, and are we not, by a spiritual power alone, to have a birth of heavenly flesh and blood? The strangeness of such a power in the first Adam, is only just so strange, and hard to be believed, as the same power in the second Adam; who is called the second Adam for no other reason, but because he stands in the place of the first, and is to do that, which the first should have done. And therefore our having from Him a new heavenly flesh and blood raised in us by a spiritual power, superior to the common way of birth in this world, is the strongest of proofs, that we could have been born of Adam in the same spiritual power, and so contrary to the birth of animals into this world. For all that we have from the second Adam, is a proof that we should have had the same from the first Adam: A Divine love in the first Adam, was to have brought forth an holy offspring. A Divine faith now takes its place, in the second birth, and is to generate a new birth from the second Adam, is to eat his flesh, and drink his blood, by the same Divine power, by which we should have had a birth of the Angelic flesh and blood of our first parent. Thus, Robert, is this birth from Adam alone no fiction, or fine-spun notion, but the very birth that the gospel requires, as the substance of our redemption. There is no room to deny it, without denying the whole nature of our redemption. On the other hand, the birth that we have from Adam divided into male and female, is through all scripture declared to be the birth of misery, of shame, of pollution, of sinful flesh and blood; and is only a foundation, and the reason, why we must be born again of other flesh and blood, before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven. This truth therefore, that we were to have had an heavenly birth from Adam, depends not upon this, or that particular text of scripture, but is affirmed by the whole nature of our redemption, and the whole Spirit of scripture, representing our birth from this world as shameful, as that of the wild donkey’s colt, and calling for a new birth from above, as absolutely necessary, if man is to have a place amongst the Angels of God. And therefore it may be affirmed, that so sure as it is from scripture, that Christ is become our second Adam, to help us to such a birth, so sure is it from scripture, that we should have had the same birth from our first parent, who, if not fallen, would have needed no such redeemer of his offspring, and therefore must have brought forth that same birth, which we have from Christ, but could not have from the birth of man and woman.

Robert- I am fully satisfied, Henry, with the account you have given of the first perfection, and Divine state of our first parent. And I think nothing can be plainer, than that we were to have been born of him to the same heavenly birth, which we now are to receive from Christ, our second Adam. But I must still say, that I am afraid, your critical adversaries will find in this some pretense, to charge you with a tendency, at least, to that heresy, which held marriage to be unlawful, since you hold that it came in by Adam's falling from his first perfection.

Henry- I admit, my friend, that there is no knowing when one is safe from men of that type. But as for me, my eye is only upon truth; and wherever that leads, there I follow; they, if they please, may persecute it with objections. Here in what I have said there is not the least pretense for the charge you speak of: for here there is no more condemnation of marriage, or accusation as to it being unlawful, than there is a condemnation of God, for keeping up the state, and life of this world. The continuation of the world, though fallen, is a glorious proof and instance of the goodness of God, that so a race of new-born Angels may be brought forth in it. Happy therefore is it, that we have such a world as this to be born into, since we are only born, to be born again to the life of heaven. Now marriage has the nature of this fallen world; but it is God's appointed means of raising the seed of Adam to its full number. Honorable therefore is marriage in our fallen state, and happy is it for man to derive his life from it, as it helps him to a power of being eternally a son of God. Nor does this origin of marriage cast the smallest reflection upon the sex, as if they brought all, or any impurity into the human nature. No, by no means. The impurity lies in the division, and that which caused it, and not in either of the divided parts. And the female part has this distinction, though not to boast of, yet to take comfort in, that the Savior of the world is called the seed of the woman, and had his birth only from the female part of our divided nature. But Allen, I see, wants to speak.

Allen- Indeed, I do. But it is only to make this comment to you, what a system of solid, harmonious, and great truths are here opened to our view, by this consideration of the first Angelic state of Adam, and his falling from it into an earthly animal life that of this world; created at first an human Angel, with an host of Angels in his loins, and then falling from this state, with this particular circumstance, that he had not only undone himself, but had also involved an innocent, and almost numberless posterity in the same misery, who now must all be born of him in his fallen condition. Thus looking at this creation of so noble and high a creature, and his fall, as introducing so extensive a train of misery, how becoming to a love and wisdom that is so very infinite, does all the stupendous mystery of our redemption appear! It was to restore an Angel, with an Angelic offspring, an Angel that God had created to carry on the great work of his new creation, to bring time with all its conquests back into eternity, an Angel in whom, and with whom, had fallen an innocent, numberless posterity, that had not yet begun to breathe. What a sense and reasonableness does this state of things give to all those passages of scripture, which bring a God incarnate from heaven, to remedy this sad scene of misery, that was opened on earth! Who other than God could awaken again the dead Angelic life! What less than God's entering into the human birth itself, and becoming one with it, could generate again the life of God in every human birth? The Scripture says, "God so loved the World"; "God spared not his only son"; "Christ laid down his life for us"; etc. How glorious a sense is there in all these sayings, when it is considered, that all this was done for so high and Divine a creature, created by God for such great ends, and full of a posterity, that was to have filled and restored heaven? In this light, every part of our redemption gives a glory, a wisdom, and goodness to God, which far surpasses every other view we can possibly take of them: If you lessen this Angelic dignity of the first man, if you suppose his fall to be less than that of falling, with all his posterity, from an Angelic life, into the earthly, animal life of this world, and becoming slaves to sin and misery, all the fabric of our redemption is full of such wonders, as can only be wondered at. Therefore, if you consider this world, and man its highest inhabitant made out of nothing, and with only the breath of this earthly life breathed into his nostrils, what is there to call for this great redemption from heaven? Again, if you consider the fall of man, only as a single act of disobedience to a positive, arbitrary command of God, this is to make all the consequences of his fall un-explicable. For had the first sin been only a single act of disobedience, it would have been more worthy of pardon, than any other sin, merely because it was the first, and by a creature that had as yet no experience. But to make the first single act of disobedience, not only unpardonable, but the cause of such a curse and variety of misery entailed upon all his posterity, from the beginning to the end of time; and to suppose, that so much wrath was raised in God at this single act of disobedience, that nothing could make an atonement for it, but the stupendous mystery of the birth, sufferings, and death, of the Son of God; is yet further impossible to be accounted for. In this case, the supposed wrath, and goodness of God, are equally inexplicable. And from this alone, have sprung up the detestable doctrines, about the guilt and imputation of the first sin, and several sorts of partial, absolute elections, and reprobation, of some to eternal happiness, and others to be firebrands of hell to all eternity. Detestable may they well be called, since if Lucifer could truly say, that God from all eternity determined, and created him to be that wicked hellish creature that he is, he might then add, not unto him, but unto his creator, must all his wickedness be ascribed. How innocent, how tolerable is the error of transubstantiation, when compared with this absolute election and reprobation! It indeed cannot be reconciled to our senses and reason, but then it leaves God, and heaven, possessed of all that is holy and good; but this reprobation-doctrine, not only overlooks all sense and reason, and confounds heaven and hell, takes all goodness from our God, and leaves us nothing to detest in the sinner, but God's eternal irresistible contrivance to make him to be such. But now, when we take this matter of the creation, and fall of man, as truth, and fact, as scripture, plainly represent it, everything that can awaken in ourselves a love, and desire to be like unto God, is to be found in it. While man stood in his first perfection, before he turned from God, this world was under his feet; paradise was the element in which he lived; the Spirit of God was his life; the son of God was his light; he was in the world, but above it, and with as full a distinction from it, as incapable of being hurt by it, as an Angel, that only comes with a Divine commission into it. The whole world was a gift, put into his hands; the standing, or fall of it was left to him; as his will and mind should work, so should either paradise, or a cursed earth take over. God, by this new creation, had so altered the wrathful state of Lucifer's fallen kingdom, that the evil that had been raised in it, was hid and overcome by the good. It was thus created, and put into this new state, for this sole end, that a human Angel might keep paradise alive, and bring forth a paradisiacal host of Angels, in the very place, where the fallen Angels had brought forth their evil. But all these great things, depended upon Adam's conforming to the designs of God, and living in this world in such a state, as God had created him in. He could not conform to the designs of God any other way, than by the integrity of his will, willing that which God willed, both in the creation of him, and the world.

While his will stood so inclined, the new creation was preserved; he himself was like an Angel, and the world a paradise. No Evil would have been known either in plant, fruit, or animal, nor could have been known, but by the declining will, and desire of man calling it forth. His first longing look towards the knowledge of the life of this world was the first loosening of the reins of evil. It began to have life, and a power of stirring, as soon as his desire began to be earthly; hence the curse, or evil, hid in the earth, could begin to show itself, and received a power of giving forth the evil tree, whose fruit was the key to the knowledge of good and evil; a tree which could not have grown, had he willed nothing, but that which God willed in the creation of him.  He was not the creator of this bad tree, no more than he was the creator of the good trees, that grew in paradise. But as the heavenly integrity of his will kept up the heavenly powers of paradise in the earth, so when his will began to be earthly, it opened a passage for the natural evil; that was hid in the earth, to bring forth a tree in its own likeness. The earth as now, had then a natural power of bringing forth a tree of its own nature, i.e., good and evil, but paradise was that heavenly power, which hindered it from bringing forth such productions: when the keeper of paradise desired something that was not from God, and paradise, and after a bad knowledge, then paradise lost some of its power, and the curse, or evil, hid in the earth, could give forth a bad tree. But see now the goodness, and compassion of God towards this mistaken creature; for no sooner had Adam, by the abuse of his power and freedom, given occasion to the birth of this evil tree, but the God of love informs him of the dreadful nature of it, and commands him not to eat of it, assuring him, that death was hid in it, that death to his Angelic life, would be found in the day that he should eat of it. A plain proof, if anything can be plain, that this tree did not come from God, and was not according to His own will and purpose towards Adam, but was from such a natural power in the earth, as could not show itself, until the strong will and desire of Adam, beginning to be earthly, worked with that, which was the evil hid in the earth. Henry, do you now wish to say something.

Henry- The short of the matter then, my friend, is this: neither Adam, nor any other creature, has at its creation, or entrance into life, any arbitrary trial imposed upon it by God. The natural state of every intelligent creature is its one and only trial; and it cannot sin, but by departing from that nature, or falling from that state in which it was created. Adam was created as an human Angel in paradise, and he had no other trial but this, whether he would live in paradise, as an Angel of God, insensible of the life, of the good and evil of this earthly world. This was the tree of life, and the tree of death, that must stand before him; and the necessity of his choosing either the one, or the other, was a necessity, founded in his own happy nature.

The true account therefore of the fall of Adam, is a gradual declension, or tendency of his will, from the life of paradise into the life of this world, until he was at last wholly fallen into it, and swallowed up by it. The first beginning of his lust towards this world, was the first beginning of his fall, or departure from the life of heaven and paradise; and his eating of the earthly tree, was his last and finishing step of his entrance into, and being under the full power of this world. This was the true nature of his fall. On the other hand, all that we see on the part of God, is a gradual help, administered by God to this falling creature, suitable to every degree of his falling, until at last, in the fullness of his fall, God become a universal redeemer of him, and his posterity, which was to be given by a second Adam, to regenerate again the whole seed of the first Adam. Thus, the first degree of his lust towards this world had some obstruction in it, when God took Eve out of him; so that his desire for the life of this world might be in some measure lessened. When his lust into this world still went on, and gave occasion for the birth of the evil tree, a suitable remedy was here given by God; for God laid a prohibition upon it, and declared the death that was hidden in it, and must be received from it. When he was further overcome by his lusting desire, as to eat of the tree that had the nature of this world in it, and so lost his first life, and Angelic clothing, then God, even then all goodness and mercy to him, only told him of the curse and misery that was opened in nature; that he himself and his posterity must be sweating, laboring animals, in a fallen world, with their sickly, shameful, naked, newly received bodies mixed and molded in the corruption of this earth, and whose fruits they had chosen to know, instead of those of paradise.

Now all this is nothing of a penalty wrathfully inflicted by God, but was the natural state of Adam, as soon as his own lust had led him out of the heavenly paradise, into the earthly life of this world. God did not bring any misery upon him, but only shows the misery that he had opened in himself, by not keeping to the state in which he was created. And no sooner had God informed this miserable pair of the state they had brought upon themselves, but, in that moment, his eternal love begins a covenant of redemption, that was to begin in them, and in and through them, extend itself to all their posterity. A beginning of a new birth, called the seed of the woman, was, like the first breath of life, breathed or in-spoken again into the light of their life, which, as an Emmanuel, or God with them, should be born in all their posterity, and be their power of becoming again such sons of God, as should fulfill the first designs of the creation of Adam, and fill heaven again with that host of Angels which it had lost. Thus from the creation of Adam, through all the degrees of his fall to the mystery of his redemption, everything tells you, that God is love. The very possibility of his having so great a fall, gives great glory to the goodness, and love of God towards him. He was created an Angel, and therefore had the highest perfection of an Angel, which is a freedom of willing. Secondly. He was created to be the restoring Angel of this new creation. Now these two things, which were his highest glory, and greatest marks of the Divine favor, were the only possibility of his falling. Had he not had an Angelic freedom of will, he could not have had a false will; had he not had all power given to him over this world, he could not have fallen into it? It was this Divine and high power over it, that opened a way for his entrance, or falling into it. Thus, Robert, from this view of man, we come to the utmost certainty of a threefold nature or life in him.

1)     He is the son of a fallen Angel.

2)     He is the son of a male and female of this bestial world.

3)     He is a son of the Lamb of God, and has a birth of heaven again in his soul.

Hence we see, that all that we have to fear, to hate, and renounce; all that we have to love, to desire, and pray for; is all within ourselves. No man can be miserable, but by failing to sacrifice his own inward passions and tempers; nor anyone happy, but by overcoming himself. How ridiculous would a man seem to you, who should torment himself, because the land in Asia was not well tilled? Now everything that is not within you, that does not have its birth and growth in your own life, is at the same distance from you, as foreign to your own happiness or misery, as anything can be. Your life is all that you have; and nothing is a part of it, or makes any alteration in it, but the good or evil that is in the workings of your own life. Hence you may see why our Savior, who, though he had all wisdom, and came to be the light of the world, is yet so short in His instructions, and gives so small a number of doctrines to mankind, while every moral teacher, writes volumes upon every single virtue. It is because He knew that which they did not know, that our whole malady lies in this, that the will of our mind, the lust of our life, is turned to this world; and that nothing can relieve us, or set us right, but the turning of the will of our mind, and the desire of our hearts to God, and the heaven which we had lost. And therefore it is, that he calls us to nothing, but a total denial of ourselves, and the life of this world, and to a faith in Him, as the worker of a new birth and life in us. If we would but receive his short instructions with true faith, and simplicity of heart, as the truth of God, we would not need anyone to comment or enlarge upon them. A traveler that has taken a wrong road, does not want an orator to discourse with him on the nature of roads, but to be told, in short, which is the right way. Now this is our case; it was not a number of things that brought about our fall; Adam only took up a wrong will; and that will brought him, and us into our present state, or road of life; and therefore our Savior does not use a number of instructions to set us right; he only tells us to renounce the false will, which brought Adam into the life of this world, and to take up that will, which should have kept him in paradise. Observe now, my friend, the great benefit that we have from the foregoing account of man's original perfection, and the nature of his fall. It opens the true ground of our religion, and the absolute necessity of it; it forces us to know, that our whole natural life is a mistaken road, and that Christ alone is our true guide out of it. It teaches us every reason for renouncing ourselves, and loving the whole nature of our redemption, as the greatest joy and desire of our hearts.

The Spirit Of Prayer, Or The Longing Desire Of The Heart After Christ, God, And Heaven, Breaks All Our Bonds Asunder!

We are not only compelled, as it were, to hunger after it, to run with eagerness into its arms, but we are also delivered from all mistakes about it, from all the difficulties and perplexities, which divided denominations and churches have brought into it. For, from this view of things, we see, not uncertainly, but with the fullest assurance, that our will, and our heart is all, that nothing else either finds or loses God; and that all our religion is only the religion of the heart. We see with open eyes, that as a spirit of longing after the life of this world, made Adam and us to be the poor pilgrims on earth that we are, so the Spirit of prayer, or the longing desire of the heart, after Christ, God, and heaven, breaks all our bonds asunder, casts all our cords from us, and raises us out of the miseries of time, into the riches of eternity. Thus seeing and knowing our first and our present state, everything calls us to prayer; and the desire of our heart becomes the Spirit of prayer. And when the Spirit of prayer is born in us, then prayer is no longer considered, as only the business of this or that hour of the day, but is the continual panting or breathing of the heart after God. Its petitions are not picked out of manuals of devotion; it loves its own language, it speaks most when it says least. If you ask what its words are, they are spirit, they are life, they are love, that unite with God.

Robert- I apprehend, that what you are here saying of the Spirit of prayer, will be taken by some people for a censure upon hours and forms of prayer; though I know you have no such meaning.

Allen- Pray let me speak again to Robert: His learning seems to be always upon the watch, to find out some excuse for not receiving the whole truth. Does not Henry here speak of the Spirit of prayer, as a state of the heart, which is become the governing principle of the soul's life? And if it is a living state of the heart, must it not have its life in itself, independent of every outward time and occasion? And yet must it not, at the same time, be that alone which disposes and fits the heart to rejoice and delight in hours, and times, and occasions of prayer? Suppose he had said, that honesty is an inward living principle of the heart, a rectitude of the mind, that has all its life and strength within itself: Could this be thought to censure all times and occasions of performing outward acts of honesty? Now the Spirit of prayer differs from all outward acts and forms of prayer, just as the honesty of the heart, or a living rectitude of mind, differs from outward and occasional acts of honesty. And yet should a man overlook, or disregard times and occasions of outward acts of honesty, on pretence that true honesty was an inward living principle of the heart, who would not see that such a one had as little of the inward spirit, as of the outward acts of honesty? The Apostle said, "If any man has this world's goods, and sees his brother has need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion to him, how dwells the love of God in him?" Just so, and with the same truth, it may be said, if a man overlooks, neglects, or refuses, times and hours of prayer, how dwells the Spirit of prayer in him? And yet, its own life and spirit is vastly superior to, and independent of, and does not pray for any particular number of hours, or use any particular form of words. And in this sense it is truly said, that it has its own language, that it does not need to pick words out of manuals of devotion, but is always speaking forth spirit and life, and love towards God. But pray, Henry, continue, as you intended.

Henry- I shall only add, before we pass on to another point, that, from what has been said of the first state and fall of man, it plainly follows, that the sin of all sins, or the heresy of all heresies, is a worldly spirit. We are apt to consider this temper only as an infirmity, or pardonable failure; but it is indeed the great apostasy from God and the Divine life. It is not a single sin, but the whole nature of all sin, that leaves no possibility of coming out of our fallen state, until it is totally renounced with all the strength of our hearts. Every sin, no matter what kind it is, is only a branch of the worldly spirit that lives in us. There is but one that is good, says our Lord, and that is God. In the same strictness of expression it must be said, there is but one life that is good, and that is the life of God and heaven. Depart in the least degree from the goodness of God, and you depart into evil; because nothing is good but his goodness. Choose any life, but the life of God and heaven, and you choose death; for death is nothing else but the loss of the life of God. The creatures of this world have but one life, and that is the life of this world: this is their one life, and one good. Eternal beings have but one life, and one good, and that is the life of God. The spirit of the soul is in itself nothing else but a spirit breathed forth from the life of God, and for this end only, that the life of God, the nature of God, the working of God, the tempers of God, might be manifested in it. God could not create man to have a will of his own, and a life of his own, different from the life and will that is in Himself; this is more impossible than for a good tree to bring forth corrupt fruit. God can only delight in His own life, His own goodness, and His own perfection; and therefore cannot love or delight, or dwell, in any creatures, but where His own goodness and perfection’s are to be found. Like can only unite with like, heaven with heaven, and hell with hell; and therefore the life of God must be the life of the soul, if the soul is to unite with God. That's why it is, that all the religion of fallen man, all the methods of our redemption, have only this one end, to take from us that strange and earthly life we have received from the fall, and to kindle again the life of God and heaven in our souls; Not to deliver us from that gross and sordid vice called covetousness, which heathens can condemn, but to take the whole spirit of this world entirely from us, and for this very necessary reason, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, that is, is not that life, or Spirit of life, which we had from God by our creation, but is of this world, {1 John 2:16} is brought into us by our fall from God into the life of this world. And therefore a worldly spirit is not to be considered, as a single sin, or as something that may consist with some real degree of Christian goodness, but as a state of actual death to the kingdom and life of God in our souls. Management, prudence, or trying to have a balance between God and mammon, are all in vain; it is not only the grossness of an outward, visible, worldly behavior, but the spirit, the prudence, the subtlety, and the wisdom of this world, that is our separation from the life of God. Hold to this therefore, Robert, as a certain truth, that the heresy of all heresies is a worldly spirit. It is the whole nature and misery of our fall; it keeps up the death of our souls, and, so long as it lasts, makes it impossible for us to be born again from above. It is the greatest blindness and darkness of our nature, and keeps us in the grossest ignorance both of heaven and hell. For though they are both within us, yet we feel neither one, nor the other, so long as the spirit of this world reigns in us. Light and truth, and the gospel, so far as they concern eternity, are all empty sounds to the worldly spirit. His own good, and his own evil, govern all his hopes and fears; and therefore he can have no religion, or be further concerned in it, than so far as it can be made serviceable to the life of this world. Publicans and harlots are all born of the spirit of this world; but its highest birth, are the scribes, and Pharisees, and hypocrites, who turn Godliness into gain, and serve God for the sake of gaining riches; these live, and move, and have their being, in and from the spirit of this world. Of all things therefore, my friend, detest the spirit of this world, or there is no help; you must live and die an utter stranger to all that is Divine and heavenly. You will go out of the world in the same poverty and death to the Divine life, in which you entered it. For a worldly, earthly spirit can know nothing of God; it can know nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, delight in nothing, but with earthly senses, and after an earthly manner. The natural man, says the apostle, receives not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him. He cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned; that is, they can only be discerned by that Spirit, which he does not have. Now the true reason, the very foundation of this, and the absolute impossibility for the natural man to receive and know them, no matter how polite, and learned, and acute whoever he be, is this; it is because all real knowledge is life, or a living sensibility of the thing that is known. There is no light in the mind, but that which is the light of life; so far as our life reaches, so far we may understand, and feel, and know, and no further. All that comes after this, is only the play of our imagination, amusing itself with the dead pictures of its own ideas. Now this is all that the natural man, who does not have the life of God in himself, can possibly do with the things of God. He can only contemplate them, as things foreign to himself, as many dead ideas, that he receives from books, or people; so that he can learnedly dispute and quarrel about them, and laugh at those as enthusiasts, who have a living sensibility of them. He is only the worse for this knowledge, the dead ideas of Divine truths; they become a bad nourishment of all his natural tempers: He is proud of his ability to discourse about them, and loses all humility, all love of God and man, by arguing about them in a vain and haughty way. His zeal for religion is envy and wrath; his orthodoxy is pride and obstinacy; his love of the truth is hatred and ill-will to those who dare to disagree with him. This is the constant effect of the religion of the natural man, who is under the dominion of the spirit of this world. He cannot know more of religion, nor make a better use of his knowledge, than this; and all because he stands at the same distance from a living sensibility of the truth, as the man that is born blind, does from a living sensibility of light. Light must first be the birth of his own life, before he can enter into a real knowledge of it. Yet so ignorant is the natural man with all his learned acuteness, that he does not so much as know, that there is, and must be, this great difference between real knowledge, and dead ideas of things; and that a man cannot know anything, any further than as his own life opens the knowledge of it in himself. The measure of our life is the measure of our knowledge; and as the spirit of our life works, so the spirit of our understanding conceives. If our will works with God, though our natural capacity is limited, and narrow, we receive a real knowledge of God, and heavenly truths; for everything must feel that in which it lives. But if our will works with Satan, and the spirit of this world, let our ability be ever so bright, our imaginations ever so soaring, yet all our living knowledge, or real sensibility, can go no higher or deeper, than the mysteries of iniquity, and the lusts of flesh. For where our life is, there, and there only, is our understanding; and it is must be for this reason, because as life is the beginning of all sensibility, so it is and must be the boundaries of it; and no sensibility can go any further than the life goes, or have any other manner of knowledge, than as the manner of its life is. If you ask what life is, or what is to be understood by it? It is in itself nothing else but a working will; and no life could be either good or evil, but for this reason, because it is a working will: Every life, from the highest Angel to the lowest animal, consists in a working will; and therefore as the will works, every creature has its degree, kind, and manner of life; and consequently as the will of its life works, so it has its degree, kind, and manner of conceiving and understanding, of liking and disliking. For nothing feels, or tastes, or understands, or likes, or dislikes, but the life that is in us. The spirit that leads our life, is the spirit that forms our understanding. The mind is our eye, and all the faculties of the mind see everything according to the state, the mind is in. If selfish pride is the spirit of our life, everything is only seen, and felt, and known, through this glass. Everything is dark, senseless, and absurd to the proud man, but that which brings food to this spirit. He understands nothing, he feels nothing, he tastes nothing, but as his pride is made sensible of it, or capable of being affected with it. His working will, which is the life of his soul, lives and works only in the element of pride; and therefore what suits his pride, is his only good; and what contradicts his pride, is all the evil that he can feel or know. His wit, his ability, his learning, his advancement, his friends, his admirers, his successes, his conquests, all these are the only god, and heaven, that he has any living sensibility of. He indeed can talk of a scripture-God, a scripture-Christ, and heaven; but these are only the ornamental furniture of his brain, while pride is the god of his heart. We are told, that God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. This is not to be understood, as if God, by an arbitrary will, only chose to deal thus with the proud, and humble man. Oh no. The true ground is this; the resistance is on the part of man. Pride resists God, it rejects him, it turns from Him, and chooses to worship and adore something else instead of Him; whereas humility leaves all for God, falls down before Him, and opens all the doors of the heart for His entrance into it. This is the only sense, in which God resists the proud, and gives grace to humble. And thus it is in the true ground and reason of every good and evil that rises up in us; we have neither good nor evil, but as it is the natural effect of the workings of our own will, either with, or against God; and God only interposes with His threatening and instructions, to direct us to the right use of our wills, that we may not blindly work ourselves into death, instead of life. But take now another instance like that already mentioned. Look at a man whose working will is under the power of wrath. He sees, and hears, and feels, and understands, and talks wholly from the light and sense of wrath. All his faculties are only so many faculties of wrath; and he knows of no sense or reason, but that which his enlightened wrath discovers to him. I have appealed, Robert, to these instances, only to illustrate and confirm that great truth, which I before asserted, namely, that the working of our will, or the state of our life, governs the state of our mind, and forms the degree and manner of our understanding and knowledge; and as the fire of our life burns, so is the light of our life kindled: and all this is only to show you the utter impossibility of knowing God, and Divine truths, until your life is Divine, and wholly dead to the life and spirit of this world; since our light and knowledge can be no better, or higher, than the state of our life and heart is. Tell me now, do you feel the truth of all this? I say feel, because no truth is possessed, until you have a feeling and living sensibility of it.

Robert- You have touched every string of my heart; and I now wish, with the Psalmist, that I had the wings of a dove, that I might fly away, and be at rest; fly away from the spirit of this world, to be at rest in the sweet tranquility of a life born again of God. You know, that in the morning you told me of a certain first step, that of all necessity must be the beginning of a spiritual life; you gave me until tomorrow to speak my mind and resolution about it. But you have now extracted my answer from me, I cannot stay a moment longer: With all the strength that I have, I turn from everything that is not God, and His holy will; with all the desire, delight, and longing of my heart, I give up myself wholly to the life, light, and Holy Spirit of God; pleased with nothing in this world, but as it gives time, place, and occasions, of doing and being that, which my heavenly Father would have me to do, and be; seeking for no happiness from this earthly fallen life, but that of overcoming all its spirit and tempers. But I believe, Henry, that you had something further to say.

Henry- Indeed, Robert, there is hardly any way of knowing, when one has said enough of the evil effects of a worldly spirit. It is the canker that eats up all the fruits of our other good tempers; it leaves no degree of goodness in them, but transforms all that we are, or do, into its own earthly nature. The philosophers of old, began all their virtue in a total renunciation of the spirit of this world. They saw with the eyes of heaven, that darkness was not more contrary to light, than the wisdom of this world was contrary to the spirit of virtue; therefore they do not allow any progress in virtue, but so far as a man has overcome himself, and the spirit of this world. This gave a Divine solidity to all their instructions, and proved them to be masters of true wisdom. But the doctrine of the cross of Christ, the last, the highest, the most finishing stroke given to the spirit of this world, that speaks more in one word than all the philosophy of voluminous writers, is yet professed by those, who are in more friendship with the world, than any of the disciples of Pythagoras ,or Epictetus were allowed. No, if those ancient sages were to start up amongst us with their Divine wisdom, they would say of the sons of the gospel, and even to some of the fathers of the church, that they were dreaming fanatics. But, Robert, this is a standing truth, the world can only love its own, and wisdom can only be justified of her children. The heaven-born Epictetus told one of his scholars, that he could not look upon himself, as having made any true proficiency in virtue, but only when the world took him for a fool; this oracle, in essence said, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. If you were to ask me, what is the apostasy of these last times, or where is all the degeneracy of the present Christian church? I should place it all in a worldly spirit. If here you see open wickedness, and there only forms of godliness; if here superficial holiness, political piety, crafty prudence, there haughty sanctity, partial zeal, envious orthodoxy; if almost everywhere you see a Jewish blindness, and hardness of heart, and the church trading with the gospel, as visibly, as the old Jews bought and sold beasts in their temple; all these are only so many forms and proper fruits of a worldly spirit. This is the great net, with which the Devil becomes a fisher of men; and be assured of this, my friend, that every son of man is in this net, until through and by the Spirit of Christ, he breaks out of it. I say the Spirit of Christ, for nothing else can deliver him from it. Trust now to any type, or form of religious observances, to any number of the most plausible virtues, to any kinds of learning, or efforts of human prudence, and then I will tell you what your case will be like; you will overcome one temper of the world, only by cleaving to another. For nothing leaves the world, nothing renounces it, nothing can possibly overcome it, but singly and solely the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is, that many learned men, with all the rich furniture of their brain, live and die slaves to the spirit of this world; and can only differ from worldlings, as the Scribes and Pharisees differ from publicans and sinners: It is because the Spirit of Christ, is not the only thing that is the desire of their hearts; and therefore their learning only works in, and with the spirit of this world, and grows to be, a part of the vanity of vanities. If you would really like to know, the evil nature and effects of a worldly spirit, you need only look at the blessed power and effects of the Spirit of prayer; for the one goes downwards with the same strength, as the other goes upwards; the one betroths and weds you to an earthly nature, with the same certainty, as the other espouses, and unites you to Christ, and God, and heaven. The Spirit of prayer, is a pressing forth of the soul out of this earthly life; it is a stretching with all its desire after the life of God; it is a leaving, as far as it can, all its own spirit, to receive a Spirit from above, to be one life, one love, one Spirit with Christ in God. This prayer, which is an emptying of itself of all its own lusts, and natural tempers, and an opening of itself to the light and love of God for the purpose of entering into it, it is a life that has become a continual prayer in the name of Christ. For the love which God bears to the soul, His eternal, never ceasing desire to enter into it, to dwell in it, and open the birth of His Holy Word, and Spirit in it. For nothing does, or can keep God out of the soul, or hinder His holy union with it, but the desire of the heart turned away from Him. And the reason is this; it is because the life of the soul is in itself nothing else but a working will; and therefore wherever the will works or goes, there, and there only, the soul lives, whether it be in God, or in the creature. Whatever it desires, that becomes the fuel of its fire; and as its fuel is, so is the flame of its life. A will, given up to earthly goods, is as grass with Nebuchadnezzar, and has one life with the beasts of the field: For earthly desires keeps up the same life in a man as in it does in an ox. The reason, why the animals of this world have no sense or knowledge of God, is this; it is because they cannot form any other than earthly desires, and so can only have an earthly life. When therefore a man wholly turns his working will to earthly desires, he dies to the excellence of his natural state, and may be said only to live, and move, and have his being, in the life of this world, as the beasts have. Earthly food, etc., things only desired and used for the support of the earthly body, these things are suitable to man's present condition, and the order of nature: When the desire, the delight, and longing of the soul is set upon earthly things, then the humanity is degraded, it is fallen from God; and the life of the soul is made as earthly and bestial, as the life of the body: For the creature can be neither higher nor lower, neither better nor worse, than as the will works: For you are to observe, that the will has a Divine and magic power; what it desires, that it takes, and of that it eats and lives. Wherever, and in whatever, the working will chooses to dwell and delight, that becomes the soul's food, its condition, its body, its clothing, and habitation: For all these are the true and certain effects and powers of the working will.

Nothing does, or can go with a man into heaven, nothing follows into hell, but that in which the will dwelt, with which it was fed, nourished, and clothed, in this life. And this is to be noted well, that death can make no alteration of this state of the will; it only takes off the outward, worldly covering of flesh and blood, and forces the soul to see, and feel, and know, what a life, what a state, food, body, and habitation, its own working will has brought forth for it. Robert, stop a while, and let your hearing be turned into feeling. Tell me, is there anything in life that deserves a thought, but how to keep this working of our will in a right state, and to get that purity of heart, which alone can see, and know, and find, and possess God? Is there anything so frightful as this worldly spirit, which turns the soul from God, makes it a house of darkness, and feeds it with the food of time, at the expense of all the riches of eternity? On the other hand, what can be so desirable and good as the Spirit of prayer, which empties the soul of all its own evil, separates death and darkness from it, leaves self, time, and the world, and becomes one life, one light, one love, one Spirit with Christ, and God, and heaven? Think, my friends, of these things, with something more than thoughts; let your hungry souls eat of the nourishment of them as a bread, come down from heaven; and desire only to live, so that with all the working of your will, and the whole spirit of your mind, you may live and die united to God: and thus let this conversation end, until God gives us another meeting.

 

Chapter 5

The Third Dialogue

Allen- I have brought again with me, gentlemen, my friend who prefers to remain silent, Harold, but though his silence is the same, yet he is quite altered. For the last  twenty years, I have known him to be of an even and cheerful temper, full of good-nature, and even quite calm and dispassionate in his attacks upon Christianity, never provoked by what was said either against his infidelity, or in defense of the gospel. He used to boast of his being free from those four passions and resentments, which, he said, were so easy to be seen, in many or most defenders of gospel-meekness. But now he is depressed, irritable, and full of distress, and seems to be as uneasy with himself, as with everybody else: whatever he says, is rash, satirical, and wrathful. I tell him, but he won’t believe it, that his case is this: the truth has touched him; but it is only so far, as to be his tormentor. It is only as welcome to him, as a thief that has taken from him all his riches, goods, and armor, wherein he trusted. The Christianity he used to oppose is vanished; and therefore all the weapons he had against it, have dropped out of his hands. Christianity now appears to stand upon another ground, to have a deeper foundation, and better characteristics, than what he imagined; and therefore he, and his scheme of infidelity, are quite disconcerted. But though his arguments have lost all their strength, yet his heart is left in the same state as it was; it stands in the same opposition to Christianity as it did before, and yet without any ideas floating around in his brain to support it. And this is his present state of mind. He has nothing now to subsist upon, but the resolute hardness of his heart, his pride, and obstinacy. These he cannot give up by the force of his reason; his heart cannot bear the thoughts of such a sacrifice; and yet he feels and knows, that he has no strength left, but in a settled hardness, pride and obstinacy, to continue as he is. This, I know, is a severe way of stating the facts of his present condition: but, severe as it is, I am sure Harold knows, that they proceed from the softness and affection of my heart towards him, from a compassionate zeal to show him where his difficulty lies, and the necessity of overcoming himself, before he can have the blessing of light, and truth, and peace. Though it is with some reluctance, yet I have chosen to make my neighbor known both to himself, and to you, that you may speak of such matters as may give the best relief to the state he is in.

Henry- Indeed, Allen, I approve of the spirit you have shown here, with regard to your friend, and hope he will take in a good part of all that you have said. As for me, I embrace him with the utmost tenderness of affection. I feel His compassionate heart, and have only this one wish, that I could pour the heavenly water of meekness, and the oil of Divine love, into it. Let us force him to know, that we are the messengers of Divine love to him; that we do not seek something for ourselves, nor to gain a victory, but only wish to make him victorious over his own evil, and become possessed of a new life in God. His trial is the greatest and hardest that belongs to human nature: and yet it is absolutely necessary for him to go through it.

Nature must become a torment and burden to itself, before it can willingly give itself up to that death, through which alone it can pass into life. There is no true, no real conversion, whether it be from infidelity, or any other life of sin, until a man comes to know, and feel, that nothing less than his whole nature is to be parted with, and yet all the while, he finds in himself no possibility of doing it. This is the inability that can bring us at last to say, with the Apostle, when I am weak, then am I strong. This is the distress that stands near to the gate of life; this is the despair by which we lose all our own life, to find a new one in God. For here, in this place it is, that faith, and hope, and true seeking to God and Christ, are born. But until all is despaired of in ourselves, until all that we had any trust in is lost, as being our own; until then, faith and hope, and turning to God in prayer, are only things learned and practiced by rule and method; but they are not born in us, are not living qualities of a new birth, until we quit having any trust or confidence in ourselves. Happy therefore is it for your friend Harold, that he has come this far, that everything is taken from him on which he trusted, and found contentment in himself. In this state, one sigh or look, or the least turning of his heart to God for help, would be the beginning of his salvation. Let us therefore try to improve this happy moment for him, not so much by arguments of reason, as by the arrows of that Divine love which overflows all nature and creature. For Harold, though up until now, is without Christ, he is still within the reach of Divine love: He belongs to God; God created him for Himself, to be an habitation of His own life, light, and Holy Spirit; and God has brought him and us together, that the lost sheep may be found, and brought back to its heavenly shepherd. Oh Harold, Love is the bait; you must be caught by it; it will put its hook into your heart, and force you to know, that of all strong things, nothing is so strong, so irresistible, as Divine love. It brought forth all the creation; it kindles all the life of Heaven; it is the song of all the Angels of God. It can redeem all the world; it seeks for every sinner upon earth; it embraces all the enemies of God; and from the beginning to the end of time, the one work of providence, is the one work of love. Moses and the prophets, Christ and His Apostles, were all of them messengers of Divine love. They came to kindle a fire on earth, and that fire was the love which burns in Heaven. Ask what God is? His name is love; He is the good, the perfection, the peace, the joy, the glory, and blessing, of every life. Ask what Christ is? He is the universal remedy of all evil, that has broken forth in nature and creature. He is the destruction of misery, sin, darkness, death, and hell. He is the resurrection and life of all fallen nature. He is the unwearied compassion, the long-suffering pity, the never ceasing mercifulness of God to every want and infirmity of human nature. He is the breathing forth of the heart, life, and Spirit of God, into all the dead race of Adam. He is the seeker, the finder, the restorer, of all that was lost and dead to the life of God. He is the love, that, from Cain to the end of time, prays for all its murderers; the love that willingly suffers and dies among thieves, that thieves may have a life with Him in paradise; the love that visits publicans, harlots, and sinners, that wants and seeks to forgive, where most is to be forgiven.

Oh, my friends, let us surround and encompass Harold with these flames of love, until he cannot make his escape from them, but must become a willing victim to their power. For the universal God is universal love; all is love, but that which is hellish and earthly. All religion is the Spirit of love; all its gifts and graces are the gifts and graces of love; it has no breath, no life, but the life of love. Nothing exalts, nothing purifies, but the fire of love; nothing changes death into life, earth into heaven, men into Angels, but love alone. Love breathes the Spirit of God; its words and works are the inspiration of God. It speaks not of itself, but the word, the eternal word of God speaks in it; for all that love speaks, God speaks, because love is God. Love is heaven revealed in the soul; it is light, and truth; it is infallible; it has no errors, for all errors are the lack of love. Love has no more of pride, than light has of darkness; it stands and bears all its fruits from a depth, and root of humility. Love is of no denomination or sect; it neither makes, nor admits of any bounds; you may as easily enclose the light, or try to confine the air of the world into one place, as confine love to a denomination or sect. It lives in the liberty, the universality, the impartiality of heaven. It believes in one, holy, universal God, the God of all spirits; it unites and joins with the universal  Spirit of the one God, who unites with all that is good, and is meek, patient, well-wishing, and long-suffering over all the evil that is in nature and creature. Love, like the Spirit of God, rides upon the wings of the wind; and is in union and communion with all the saints that are in heaven and on earth. Love is quite pure; it has no end; it seeks not its own; it has but one will, and that is, to give itself into everything, and overcomes all evil with good. Lastly, love is the Christ of God; it comes down from heaven; it regenerates the soul from above; it blots out all transgressions; it takes from death its sting, from the Devil his power, and from the serpent his poison. It heals all the Infirmities of our earthly birth; it gives eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and makes the dumb to speak; it cleanses the lepers, and casts out devils, and puts man in paradise before he dies. It lives wholly to the will of Him, of whom it is born; its meat and drink is, to do the will of God. It is the resurrection and life of every Divine virtue, a fruitful mother of true humility, boundless benevolence, unwearied patience, and bowels of compassion. This, Allen, is the Christ, the salvation, the religion of Divine love, the true church of God, where the life of God is found, and lived, and to which your friend Harold is called by us. We direct him to nothing but the inward life of Christ, to the working of the Holy Spirit of God, which alone can deliver him from the evil that is in his own nature, and give him a power to become a Son of God.

Allen- My neighbor has infinite reason to thank you, for this lovely drink you have given of the spirit of religion; he cannot avoid being affected with it. But please let us now hear how we are to enter into this religion of Divine love, or rather what God has done to introduce us into it, and make us partakers again of His Divine nature.

Henry- The first work, or beginning of this redeeming love of God, is in that Emmanuel, or God with us, given to the first Adam, as the seed of the woman, which in him, and all his posterity, should bruise the head, and overcome the life of the serpent in our fallen nature. This is love indeed, because it is universal, and reaches every branch of the human tree, from the first to the last man, that grows from it. Miserably as mankind is divided, and almost always at war with one another, everyone appropriating God to themselves, yet they all have but one God, who is the Spirit of all, the life of all, and the lover of all. Men may divide themselves, to have God to themselves; they may hate and persecute one another for God's sake; but this is a blessed truth, that neither the hater, nor the hated, can be divided from the one, holy, universal God, who with an unalterable meekness, sweetness, patience, and good-will towards all, waits for all, calls all of them, redeems all of them, and comprehends all in the outstretched arms of His universal love. Ask not therefore how we shall enter into this religion of love and salvation; for it is itself already entered into us, it has taken possession of us from the very beginning. It is the Emmanuel in every human soul; it lies as a treasure of heaven, and eternity in us; it cannot be divided from us by the power of man; we cannot lose it ourselves; it will never leave us nor forsake us, until with our last breath we die in the refusal of it. This is the open gate of our redemption; we have not far to go to find it. It is every man's own treasure; it is a root of heaven, a seed of God, sown into our souls by the Word of God; and, like a small grain of mustard-seed, has a power of growing to be a tree of life. Here, my friend, you should, once for all, mark and observe, where and what the true nature of religion is; for here it is plainly shown you, that its place is within; its work and effect is within; its glory, its life, its perfection, is all within; it is merely and solely the raising of a new life, new love, and a new birth, in the inward spirit of our hearts. Religion (which is solely to restore man to his first and right state in God) had its beginning, and first power, from the seed of the woman, the treader on the serpent's head; and therefore all its progress, from its beginning to its last finished work, is, and can be nothing else, but the growing power and victory of the seed of the woman, over all the evil brought by the serpent into human nature. For the seed of the woman is the spirit, and power, and life of God, given or breathed again into man, to be the raiser and redeemer of that first life, which he had lost. This was the spiritual nature of religion in its first beginning, and this alone is its whole nature to the end of time; it is nothing else, but the power, and life, and Spirit of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, working, creating, and reviving Life in the fallen soul, and driving all its evil out of it. This is the true rock, on which the church of Christ is built; this is the one church without which there is no salvation, and against which the gates of hell can never prevail. Here therefore we have come to this firm conclusion, that let religion have ever so many shapes, forms, or reformations, it can’t be a true Divine service, nor a proper worship of God, it can’t have any good in it, can do no good to man, it can’t remove evil out of him, nor can it raise Divine life in him, but so far as it serves, worships, conforms, and gives itself up to this operation of the holy, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as living and dwelling in the soul. Keep close to this idea of religion, as an inward, spiritual life in the soul; observe all its works within you, the death and life that are found there; seek for no good, no comfort, but in the inward awakening of all that is holy and heavenly in your heart; and then, so much as you have of this inward religion, so much you have of a real salvation. For salvation is only a victory over nature; so far as you resist and renounce your own vain, selfish, and earthly nature, so far as you overcome all your own natural tempers of the old man, so far God enters into you, lives, and operates in you, He is in you the light, the life, and the spirit, of your soul; and you are in Him that new creature, that worships Him in spirit, and in truth. For Divine worship or service is, and can be only performed by being like-minded with Christ; nothing worships God, but the Spirit of Christ His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. This is as true, as that “No man has known the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son reveals Him.” Look now at anything as religion, or Divine service, but a strict, unerring conformity to the life and Spirit of Christ, and then, though everyday was full of burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, yet you would be only like those religionists, who “Drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him.” For, the heart is always far from God, unless the Spirit of Christ is alive in it. But no one has the living Spirit of Christ, but he who in all his ways, walks, as he walked. Consider these words of the apostle, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you.” This is the sum total of all, and, if this is missing, all is missing. Again, He said, “He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly.” “Circumcision is nothing, and un-circumcision is nothing, but the new creature is all.” No, see how much further He carries this point, in the following words: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels, though I have the gift of prophecy, though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, etc. and have not love” (that is, have not the Spirit of Christ) “It profits me nothing.” For by charity here, the apostle means neither more nor less, but strictly that same thing, which, in other places, he calls the new creature, Christ formed in us, and our being led by the Spirit of Christ. According to the apostle, nothing avails but the new creature, nothing avails but the spirit of love here described; therefore this love, and the new creature, are only two different expressions of one and the same thing, i.e., The birth, and formation of Christ in us. Therefore he says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His;” no, though he could say of himself (as our Lord says many will) “Have I not prophesied in the name of Christ, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works?” Yet such a one, not being led by the Spirit of Christ, is that very man, whose high state the apostle makes to be a mere nothing, because he has not that spirit of love, which is the Spirit of Christ. Again, “There is no condemnation to those, who are in Christ Jesus;” therefore to be in Christ Jesus, is to have that spirit of love, which is the spirit, and life, and goodness of all virtues. Now here you are to observe, that the apostle does not reject all outward religion, when he says circumcision is nothing, than he rejects prophesying, and faith, and alms-giving, when he says they profit nothing; he only teaches this solid truth, that the kingdom of God is within us, and that it all consists in the state of our heart; and that therefore all outward observances, all the false virtues, profit nothing, are of no value, unless the hidden man of the heart, the new creature, led by the Spirit of Christ, is the doer of them. Thus, says he, “They who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God.” And therefore none else, no matter who, or where, or what they are, clergy, or not, none are, or can be, sons of God, but they who give up themselves entirely to the leading and guidance of, the Spirit of God, desiring to be moved, inspired, and governed solely by it.

Again, “We are of the circumcision, who worship God in Spirit;” and to show, that this is not a vain pretence, he says in another place, “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” Therefore no profit from anything else; all preaching and hearing is vain, and all preachers and hearers stand chargeable with the vanity of their religious performances, who think of preaching, or hearing to be profitably, any other way, or by any other power, than in and by the Holy Spirit of God dwelling and working in them. Therefore again, “If the Spirit of Him, who raised Jesus from the Dead, dwell in you, He also shall quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit, which dwells in you.” In vain therefore is life expected, either for body or soul, but by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Again, “Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father;” therefore this one Spirit is the one and only way to God, and salvation. Thus does all the scripture bring us to this conclusion, that all religion is but a dead work, unless it be the work of the Spirit of God; and that the Lord’s supper, prayers, singing, preaching, hearing, are only so many ways of being fervent in the Spirit, and of giving up ourselves more and more to the inward working, enlightening, quickening, sanctifying Spirit of God within us; and all for this end, that the curse of the fall may be taken from us, that death may be swallowed up in victory, and a true, real, Christ like nature formed in us, by the same Spirit, by which it was formed in the holy Mary. Now for the true ground, and absolute necessity, of this turning wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, you need only know this plain truth; namely, that the Spirit of God, the spirit of Satan, or the spirit of this world, are, and must be, one or the other of them, continual leading, guiding, and inspiring, everything that lives in nature. There is no going out from anyone of these; the moment you cease to be moved, quickened, and inspired by God, you are infallibly moved and directed by the spirit of Satan, and the world, both of them. And the reason is, because the soul of man is a spirit, and a life, that in its whole being is nothing else but a birth both of God and nature; and therefore, every moment of its life, it must live in some union and conjunction, either with the Spirit of God governing nature, or with the spirit of nature fallen from God, and working in itself. As creatures therefore, we are under an absolute necessity of being under the motion, guidance, and inspiration of some spirit, that is greater than our own. All that is put in our own power, is merely the choice of our leader; but led and moved we must be, and by that spirit, to which we give ourselves up, whether it be to the Spirit of God, or the spirit of fallen nature. To seek therefore to be always under the inspiration and guidance of God's Holy Spirit, and to act by an immediate power from it, is not proud fanaticism, but as sober and humble a thought, as suitable to our state, as to think of renouncing the world, and the Devil: For they never are, nor can be, renounced by us, but so far as the Spirit of God is living, breathing, and moving in us: And for this reason, because nothing is contrary to the spirit of Satan, and the world, nothing works, or can work, contrary to it, but the Spirit of heaven. Hence our Lord said, “He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gather not with me, scatter;” plainly declaring, that not to be with Him, and led by His Spirit is to be led by the spirit of Satan, and the world. Ask now, what hell is? It is nature destitute of the light and Spirit of God, and full, only of its own darkness; nothing else can make it to be hell. Ask what heaven is? It is nature quickened, enlightened, blessed, and glorified, by the light and Spirit of God dwelling in it. What possibility therefore can there be, of our dividing from hell, or parting with all that is hellish in us, but by having the life, light, and Spirit of God living and working in us? And here again, my friends, you may see in the greatest clearness, why nothing is available, nothing is salvation, but the new birth of a Christ-like nature; it is because everything else but this birth, and life of the Spirit, is only the spirit of Satan, or the spirit of this world. Have you anything to object to these things?

Robert- Truly, I have no further objections; you have taken from me every difficulty, every perplexity that I had, either about religion, or the providence of God. I can now look back into the origin of things with satisfaction: I have seen how the world and man began to be, very worried about God's Divine wisdom, and how they both came into their present condition, and how they both are to rise out of it, and return back to their first state in a glorious eternity. It now appears to me with the utmost clearness, that to look for salvation in anything else, but the light of God within us, the Spirit of God working in us, the birth of Christ really brought forth in us, is to be as carnally minded, as ignorant of God, and man, and salvation, as the Jews were, when their hearts were wholly set upon the glory of their temple-service, and a temporal Savior to defend it, by a temporal power. For everything but the light and Spirit of God bringing forth a birth of Christ in the soul, everything else, no matter what it is, has and can have, no more of salvation in it, than a temporal fighting savior. For what is said of the impossibility of the blood of bulls, and of goats, to take away sins, must with the same truth be said of all other outward creaturely things; they are all at the same distance from being the salvation of the soul, and in the same degree of inability to take away sins, as the blood of bulls and goats. And all this, for this simple reason, because the soul is a spirit breathed forth from God Himself, which therefore cannot be blessed but by having the life of God in it; and nothing can bring the life of God into it, but only the light and Spirit of God. Upon this ground I stand in the utmost certainty, looking wholly to the light and Spirit of God for an inward redemption from all the inward evil that is in my fallen nature. All that I now want to know is this, what I am to do, to procure this continual operation of the Spirit of God within me. For I seem to myself, not certain enough about this subject; and I am also afraid of certain delusions, which I have heard many have fallen into, under pretences of being led by the Spirit of God. Therefore, Henry, give me some Instructions about this.

Allen- Gentlemen, let an unlearned man speak a word here. Suppose, Robert, you had a longing earnest desire, to be governed by a spirit of plainness and sincerity in your whole conversation. Would this cause you to ask for instructions, and rules, and methods, or to consult some learned man, or book, to direct you, and keep you from delusion? Would you not know and feel in yourself, that your own earnest desire, and love of sincerity and plainness, and your own inward aversion to everything that was contrary to it, must be the one and only possible way of attaining it, and that you must have it in that degree, as you loved to act by it? Now there is no more of talent, or any secret, required to bring, and keep you under the direction of the Spirit of God, than under the spirit of plainness and sincerity. The longing earnest desire of the heart, will bring you into the safe possession of the one, as it does of the other. For it has been proved, that the Spirit of prayer forms the spirit of our lives, and every man lives as the Spirit of prayer leads him. Not every prayer for the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit itself praying in you. For nothing can turn to God, and desire to be united to Him, and governed by Him, but the Spirit of God. The impossibility of praying for the Spirit of God in vain, is shown by our blessed Lord: “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask for it?” But here I stop.

Robert- I don’t understand what Allen has just said. For do not all Christians pray daily for the Spirit of God? Yet how few are led by it? Henry, please explain.

Henry- People may be daily at the service of the church, and read long prayers at home, in which are many petitions for the Holy Spirit, and yet live and die, led and governed by the spirit of the world; because all these prayers, whether we hear them read by others, or have prayed them ourselves, may be done in compliance only to duties, rules, and forms of religion, as things we are taught not to neglect; but, being only done in this way, they are not the true, real workings of the spirit of the heart, nor can they make any real alteration in it. But you are to observe, that Allen spoke of the Spirit of prayer, which is the heart's own prayer, and which has all the strength of the heart in it. And this is the prayer that must be affirmed to be always effectual; it never returns empty; it eats and drinks that, after which it hungers and thirsts; and nothing can possibly hinder it from having that, which it prays for. This we are assured of from these words of truth itself; “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” But this blessedness could not belong to the hungering, if the truly hungry and thirsty ones, could ever be sent away empty. Every spirit necessarily reaps that which it sows, it cannot possibly be otherwise, it is the unalterable procedure of nature. Spirit is the first power of nature, everything proceeds from it, is born of it, yields to it, and is governed by it. If the spirit sows to the flesh, it reaps that corruption which belongs to the flesh; if it sows to the Spirit, it reaps the fruits of the Spirit, which are eternal life. The Spirit of prayer therefore is the opener of all that is good within us, and the receiver of all that is good outside of us; it unites with God, it is one power with Him; it works with Him, and drives all that is not God, out of the soul. The soul is no longer a slave to its natural impurity and corruption, no longer imprisoned in its own death and darkness, but only until the fire from heaven, the Spirit of prayer is kindled in it. Then begins the resurrection, and the life; and all that which died in Adam comes to life in Christ. Do not ask therefore, Robert, what you are to do to obtain the Spirit of God, to live in it, and be led by it; for your power of having it, and your measure of receiving it, are exactly according to that faith and earnestness with which you desire to be led by it. For the hungry Spirit of prayer is that faith, to which all things are possible, to which all nature, though as high as mountains, and as stiff as oaks, must yield and obey. It heals all diseases, breaks the bands of death, and calls the dead out of their graves. Look at the small seeds of plants, shut up in their own dead husks, and covered with thick earth, and see how they grow. What do they do? They hunger and thirst after the light and air of this world. Their hunger eats that which they hunger after, and this is their vegetation. If the plant ceases to hunger, it withers and dies, though surrounded with the air and light of this world.

This is the true nature of the spiritual life; it is as truly a growth or vegetation, as that of plants; and nothing but its own hunger can help it to the true food of its life. If this hunger of the soul ceases, it withers and dies, though in the midst of Divine plenty. Our Lord, to show us that the new birth is really a state of spiritual vegetation, compares it to a small grain of mustard-seed, from which a great plant arises. Now every seed has a life in itself, or else it could not grow. What is this life? It is nothing else but a hunger in the seed, after the air and light of this world; which hunger, being met and fed by the light and air of nature, changes the seed into a living plant. Thus it is with the seed of heaven in the soul. It has a life in itself, or else no life could arise from it. What is this life? It is nothing else but faith, or a hunger after God and heaven; which no sooner stirs, or is allowed to stir, but it is met, embraced, and made alive, by the light and Spirit of God and heaven; and so a new man in Christ, is formed from the seed of heaven, as a new plant from a seed in the earth. Let us suppose now, that the seed of a plant had sense and reason, and that, instead of continually hungering after, and drawing in the virtue of the light and air of our outward nature, it should ponder, and content its hunger with reasoning about the nature of hunger, and the different powers and virtues of light and air; must not such a seed of all necessity wither away, without ever becoming a living plant? Now this is not a false similitude of the seed of life in man: man has a power of drawing all the virtue of heaven into himself, because the seed of heaven is the gift of God in his soul, which needs the light and Spirit of God to bring it to the birth, just as the seed of the plant needs the light and air of this world; it cannot possibly grow up in God, but by taking in this light, life, and Spirit from heaven, as the creatures of time take in the light, and life, and spirit of this world. If therefore the soul, instead of hungering after heaven, instead of eating the flesh and blood of the Christ of God, contents and engrosses this seed of life with ideas, and notions, and sounds, must not such a soul of necessity wither, and die, without ever becoming a living creature of heaven? Wonder not therefore, that all the work of our salvation and regeneration is, by the scripture, wholly confined to the operation of the light and Spirit of God, living and working in us. It is for the same reason, and on the same necessity, that the life and growth of the creatures of this world, must be wholly ascribed to the powers of this world, living and working in them. Nor does all this, in the least degree, make a man a machine, or without any power with regard to his salvation. He must grow in God, as the plants grow in this world, from a power that is not his own, as they grow from the powers of outward nature. But he differs entirely from the plants in this, that an uncontrollable will, which is his own, must be the leader and beginner of his growth either in God, or nature. It is strictly true, that all of man's salvation depends upon himself; and it is as strictly true, that all the work of his salvation, is solely the work of God in his soul. All his salvation depends upon himself, because his will-spirit has its power of motion in itself. As a will, it can only receive that which it wills; everything else is absolutely shut out of it. For it is the unalterable nature of the will, that it cannot possibly receive anything into it, but that which it wills; its willing is its only power of receiving; and therefore there can be no possible entrance for God or heaven into the soul, until the will-spirit of the soul desires it; and thus all man's salvation depends upon himself. On the other hand, nothing can create, effect, or bring forth, a birth or growth of the Divine life in the soul, but that light and Spirit of God, which brings forth the Divine life in heaven, and all heavenly beings. And thus the work of our salvation is wholly and solely the work of the light and Spirit of God, dwelling and operating in us. Therefore, you can see that God is all; that nothing but His life and working power in us, can be our salvation; and yet that nothing but the Spirit of prayer can make it possible for us to have it, or be capable of it. And therefore neither you, nor any other human soul, can be without the operation of the light and Spirit of God in themselves, but because your will-spirit, or your Spirit of prayer, is turned towards something else; for we are always in union with that, with which our will is united. Again: look, Robert, at the light and air of this world, you see with what a freedom of communication they overflow, enrich, and enliven every thing; they enter everywhere, if not hindered by something that withstands their entrance. This may represent to you the ever-overflowing free communication of the light and Spirit of God, to every human soul. They are everywhere; we are encompassed with them; our souls are as near to them, as our bodies are to the light and air of this world; nothing shuts them out of us, but the will and desire of our souls, turned from them, and praying for something else. I say, praying for something else; for you are to notice this, as a certain truth, that every man's life is a continual state of prayer; he is at no moment free from it, nor can possibly be so. For all our natural tempers, be they what they will, ambition, covetousness, selfishness, worldly-mindedness, pride, envy, hatred, malice, or any other lust whatever, are all of them in reality, only so many different kinds, and forms of a spirit of prayer, which is as inseparable from the heart, as weight is from the body. For every natural temper is nothing else, but a manifestation of the desire and prayer of the heart, and shows us, how it works and wills. And as the heart works, and wills, such, and no other, is its prayer. All else is only a form,  fiction, and empty beating of the air. If therefore the working desire of the heart is not habitually turned towards God, if this is not our Spirit of prayer, we are necessarily in a state of prayer towards something else, that carries us from God, and brings all kind of evil into us. For this is the necessity of our nature; pray we must, as sure as our heart is alive; and therefore when the state of our heart is not a spirit of prayer to God, we pray without ceasing for this or that, or for some other part of the creation. The man whose heart habitually tends towards the riches, honors, powers, or pleasures of this life, is in a continual state of prayer towards all these things. His Spirit stands always bent towards them; they have his hope, his love, his faith, and are the many Gods that he worships: And though when he is upon his knees, and uses forms of prayer, and he directs them to the God of heaven; yet these are in reality the God of his heart, and, in a sad sense of the words, he really worships them in spirit, and in truth. Hence you may see, Robert, how it comes to pass, that there is so much praying, and yet so little of true piety amongst us. The bells are daily calling us to church, our closets abound with manuals of devotion, yet how little fruit! It is all for this reason, because our prayers to God, are not our own; they are not the abundance of our own heart; they are not found and felt within us, as we feel our own hunger and thirst; but are only so many borrowed forms of speech, which we use at certain times and occasions. And therefore it is no wonder that little good comes of it. What benefit could it have been to the Pharisee, if, with an heart inwardly full of its own pride and self-exaltation, he had outwardly hung down his head, smote upon his breast, and borrowed the publican's words, God be merciful to me a sinner? What greater good can be expected from our praying in the words of David, or singing his Psalms seven times a day, if our heart has no more of the spirit of David in it, than the heart of the Pharisee had of the spirit of the humble publican?

Robert- Truth and reason force me to consent to what you say; and yet I am afraid of following you: For you seem to condemn forms of prayer and devotion in public, and in private. What will become of religion, if these are set aside or disregarded?

Henry- Robert, can you think, that I am against your praying in the words of David, or breathing his spirit in your prayers, or that I would censure your singing his Psalms seven times a day? Remember how very lately I put into your hands the book called, A Serious Call to a Devout Life etc., and then think how unlikely it is, that I should be against times and methods of devotion. At three different times, we are told, our Lord prayed; and therefore a set form of words are not only consistent with, but may be highly suitable to, the most Divine Spirit of prayer. If your own heart, for days and weeks, was unable to alter, or break off from inwardly thinking and saying, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done; if at other times, for weeks and months, it stood always inwardly in another form of prayer, unable to vary, or depart from saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, with all your holy nature, spirit, and tempers, into my soul, that I may be born again of you, a new creature"; I who be so far from censuring such a formality of prayer, that I should say, blessed and happy are they, whose hearts are tied to such a form of words. It is not therefore, sir, a set form of words that is spoken against, but a heartless form, a form that has no relation to, or correspondence with, the state of the heart that uses it. All that I have said is only to teach you the true nature of prayer, that it is only the work of the heart, and that the heart only prays in reality (whatever its words are) for that which it habitually wills, likes, loves, and longs to have. It is not therefore using the words of David, or any other saint, in your prayers, that is censured, but using them without having the same state of heart, which first spoke them forth, and trusting in them, because they are a good form, though in our hearts we have nothing that is like them. It would be good to say incessantly with holy David, My heart is athirst for God. As the deer desires the water, so my soul longs after you, oh God. But there is no goodness in water brooks, saying daily these words, if no such thirst is felt, or desired in the heart. and, my friend, you may easily know, that dead forms of religion, and numbers of repeated prayers, keep men content with their state of devotion, because they make use of such holy prayers; though their hearts, from morning to night, are in a state quite contrary to them, and join no further in them, than in liking to use them at certain times.

Robert- I acquiesce, Henry, to the truth of what you have said, and plainly see the necessity of condemning what you have condemned; which is not the form, but the heartless form. But still I have a misgiving: I shall be almost afraid of going to church, where there are so many good prayers offered up to God, as suspecting they may not be the prayers or language of my own heart, and so become only a lip-service, or, what is worse, hypocrisy before God.

The True Spirit Of Prayer

Henry- I do not, dislike your misgiving at all; for you do well to be afraid of saying anything of yourself, or to God, in your prayers, which your heart does not truly say. It is also good for you to think, that many of the prayers of the church may go faster, and higher, than your heart can in truth go. For this will put you upon a right care over yourself, and so to live, that, as a true son of your mother the church, your heart may be able to speak her language, conform to her service, and find the delight of your soul in the spirit of her prayers. But this will only then come to pass, when the Spirit of prayer is the spirit of your heart; then every good word, whether in a form, whether heard, or read, or thought, will be as suitable to your heart, as gratifying to it, as food is to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty soul. But until the spirit of the heart is accordingly renewed, until it is emptied of all earthly desires, and stands in an habitual hunger and thirst after God (which is the true Spirit of prayer) until then, all our forms of prayer will be, more or less, too much like lessons that are given to scholars; and we shall mostly say them, only because we dare not neglect them. But don’t be discouraged, Robert; take the following advice, and then you may go to church without any danger of a mere lip-service or hypocrisy, although there should be an hymn, or a psalm, or a prayer, whose language is higher than that of your own heart. Do this: Go to the church, as the publican went into the temple; stand inwardly in the spirit of your mind, in that form which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes, and smote upon his breast, and could only say, God be merciful to me a sinner! Stand unchangeably (at least in your desire) in this form and state of heart; it will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth; and when anything is read, or sung, or prayed, that is more exalted and fervent than your heart is, if you make this an occasion of a further sinking down in the spirit of the publican, you will then be helped, and highly blessed, by those prayers and praises, which seem only to fit, and belong to, a better heart than yours. This, my friend, is a secret of secrets; it will help you to reap where you have not sown, and have a continual source of grace in your soul. This will not only help you to receive good from those prayers, which seem too good for the state of your heart, but will help you to find good from everything else: for everything that inwardly stirs in you, or outwardly happens to you, becomes a real good to you, if it either finds or excites in you this humble form of mind: For nothing is in vain, or without profit, to the humble soul; like the bee, it takes its honey even from bitter herbs; it stands always in a state of Divine growth; and everything that falls upon it, is like the dew of heaven to it. Shut up yourself therefore in this form of humility, all good is enclosed in it; it is the water of heaven, that turns the fire of the fallen soul, into the meekness of the Divine life, and creates that oil, out of which the love to God and man obtains its flame. Be enclosed therefore always in it; let it be as a garment with which you are always covered, and the girdle with which you are girt; breathe nothing but in and from its spirit; see nothing but with its eyes; hear nothing but with its ears; and then, whether you are in the church, or out of the church; hearing the praises of God, or receiving wrongs from men, and the world, all will be edification, and everything will help forward your growth in the life of God.

Robert- Indeed, Henry, this answer to my misgiving is excellent: I not only like it, but I love it much: it gives great unction to my heart, as a light to my mind. All my desire is now, to live no longer to the world, to myself, or to my own natural tempers and passions, but wholly to the will of the blessed and adorable God, moved and guided by His Holy Spirit.

Henry- This resolution, Robert, only shows that you have just come to yourself; for everything short of this earnest desire to live wholly unto God, may be called a most dreadful infatuation or madness, an insensibility that cannot be described. For what else is our life, but a trial for the greatest evil, or good, that an eternity can give us? What can be so dreadful, as to die possessed of a wicked immortal nature, or to go out of this world with tempers, that must keep us forever burning in our own fire, and brimstone? What has God not done to prevent this? His redeeming love began with our fall, and kindles itself as a spark of heaven in every fallen soul. It calls every man to salvation, and every man is forced to hear, though he will not obey God’s voice. God has so loved the world, that His only son hung and died, bleeding on the cross, not to atone His own wrath against us, but to extinguish our own hell within us, to pour His heavenly love into us, to show us that meekness, suffering, and dying to our own fallen nature, is the one and only possible way, for fallen man to be alive again in God. Are we yet sons of pride, and led away with vanity? Do the powers of darkness rule over us? Do impure evil spirits possess and drive our lives on? Has sin lost all its power of frightening us? Is remorse of conscience no longer felt? Are falsehood, guile, debauchery, profaneness, perjury, bribery, corruption, and adultery, no longer seeking to hide themselves in the corners of our minds, but openly enter all our high places, giving battle to every virtue, and laying claim to the government of the world? Are we this near being swallowed up by a deluge of vice and impiety? All this is not come upon us, because God has left us without help from heaven, or has allowed us to be too much exposed to the powers of hell; but it is because we have rejected and despised the whole mystery of our salvation, and trampled under foot the precious blood of Christ, which alone has that omnipotence, that can bring heaven into us, and drive hell out of us. Oh America, America, hear the Son of God say to you, as he said, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." And now let me say, what ails you, Oh American earth, that you quake, and the foundations of your churches totter? Just the same ails you, as ailed Judah's earth, when the Divine Savior of the world, dying on the cross, was reviled, scorned, and mocked, by the inhabitants of Jerusalem; then the earth quaked, the rocks rent, and the sun refused to give its light. Nature again declares for God; the earth, and the elements can no longer bear our sins: Jerusalem's doom for Jerusalem's sin, may well be feared by us. Oh you miserable pens dipped in Satan's ink, that dare to publish the folly of not trusting wholly in Jesus Christ, where will you hide your guilty heads, when nature dissolved, shall show you the rainbow, on which the crucified Savior shall sit in judgment, and every work receive its reward? Tremble! You apostate sons that come out of the schools of Christ, to fight Lucifer's battles, and do that for him, which neither he, nor his legions of demons can do for themselves. Their inward pride, spite, wrath, malice and rage against God, and Christ, and human nature, have no pens but yours, no apostles but you. They must be forced to work in the dark, to steal privately into impure hearts, could they not beguile you into a fond belief, that you are lovers of truth, friends of reason, detectors of fraud, great geniuses, and moral philosophers, merely and solely, because you blaspheme Christ, and the Gospel of God. Poor deluded souls, rescued from hell by the blood of Christ, called by God to possess the thrones of fallen Angels, permitted to live only by the mercy of God, so that you may be born again from above! My heart bleeds for you. Think, I beg of you, in time, what mercies you are trampling under your feet. Do not say that reason, and your intellectual faculties, stand in your way; that these are the best gifts, that God has given you, and that these do not allow you to come to Christ. For all this is as vain a pretense, and as gross a mistake, as if you were to say, that you had nothing but your feet to carry you to heaven. For your heart is the best and greatest gift of God to you; it is the highest, greatest, strongest, and noblest power of your nature; it forms your whole life, no matter what else happens; all evil, and all good, comes from it; your heart alone has the key of life and death; it does all that it wills; Reason is but its plaything, and whether in time or eternity, can only be a mere beholder of the wonders of happiness, or forms of misery, which the right, or wrong working of the heart is entered into.

The Test

I will here give you an infallible test, a test that will try all with the truth. It is this: Retire from the world, and all conversations, only for one month; neither write, nor read, nor debate anything in private with yourself; stop all the former workings of your heart and mind; and, with all the strength of your heart, stand all this month as continually as you can, in this following form of prayer to God. Offer it frequently on your knees; but, whether sitting, standing, or walking, be always inwardly longing, and earnestly praying this one prayer to God: "That, of His great goodness, he would make known to you and take from your heart, every kind, and form, and degree of pride, whether it be from evil spirits, or your own corrupt nature; and that He would awaken in you the deepest depth and truth of all that humility, which can make you capable of His light, and Holy Spirit."

Reject every thought, but that of wishing, and praying in this manner from the bottom of your heart, with such truth and earnestness, as people in torment, wish and pray to be delivered from it. Now if you dare not, if your heart will not, cannot give itself up in this manner to the Spirit of this prayer, then the test has done its work, and you may be as fully assured, both of what your infidelity is, and from what it proceeds, as you can be of the plainest truth in nature. This will show you, how vainly you “Appeal” to your reason, and speculation, as the cause of your infidelity; that it is as absurd, as if thieves and adulterers should say, that their theft and adultery was entirely owing to their bodily eyes, which showed them external objects, and not to anything that was wrong or bad in their hearts. On the other hand, if you can, and will give yourselves up in truth and sincerity to this Spirit of prayer, I will venture to affirm, that if you had twice as many evil spirits in you, as Mary Magdalene had, they will all be cast out of you, and you will be forced with her, to weep with tears of love, at the feet of the holy Jesus. But here, my friends, I stop, that we may return to the matter we had in hand.

Allen- You have not made any digression, Henry, from our main point, which was to recommend Christianity to poor Harold. He must, I am sure, have felt the death-blows, that you have here given to the infidel scheme. Their idol of reason, which is the vain god, that they worship in vain, is here like Dagon fallen to the ground, never to rise up again. Harold is caught by your bait of love, and I dare say he wants only to have this conversation ended, that he may try himself to the truth, by this Divine test, which you have put into his hands.

Robert. Allow me, gentlemen, to add one word to this matter. Henry has pretty well pulled reason out of its usurped throne, and shown it to be a powerless, idle toy, when compared to the royal strength of the heart, which is the kingly power, that has all the government of life in its hands. But if Harold, or anyone else, would see reason fully maintained in all its just rights, and yet entirely disarmed of all its pretenses to a religion of its own, and the truth of the gospel fully proved to every man, learned, or unlearned, from the known state of his own heart; if he would see all this set forth in the strongest, clearest light, he need only read about a hundred pages of a book {A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a Late Book called A Plain Account of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper} published about twelve years ago[4] to which no answer has, nor, as it may be, ever will be given by any patron of reason, and infidelity. And if part of that book (as I have often wished) beginning at page 70 to 117, was printed by itself, and known and read in every part of the kingdom, all Christians, though not scholars, would have learning enough both to see the deep, true, and comfortable foundation of their gospel faith, and the miserable folly, and ignorance of those, who would set up a religion of human reason instead of it. But now, Henry, I beg, may we return to that very point concerning prayer, where we left off. I think my heart is entirely devoted to God, and that I desire nothing but to live in such a state of prayer, as may best keep me under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. Assist me therefore, my dear friend, in this important matter; give me the fullest directions that you can; and if you have any manual of devotion, that you prefer, or any method that you would put me in, pray let me know it.

Allen- I would like to speak a word to Robert. I am glad to see this fire of heaven, burning in your soul; but I am wondering why you want to know how you are to keep its flame burning, which is like wanting to know how you are to love and desire that, which you do love and desire. Does a blind, sick, or lame man want to know, how he shall wish and desire sight, health, and limbs? Or would he be at a loss, until some form of words taught him how to long for them? Now you can have no desire or prayer for any grace, or help from God, until you in some degree feel the need of them, and desire the good of them, as the sick man feels the need, and desires good of health. But when this is your case, you do not need to be told how to pray, any more than the thirsty man needs to be told what he should ask for. Have you not fully consented to this truth, that the heart can only pray, and that it prays for nothing but that, which it loves, wills, and wants to have? But does love or desire need skill, or method, to teach it to be, that which it is? If from the bottom of your heart you have a sincere, warm love for your most valuable friend, would you need to buy a book, to tell you, what sentiments you feel in your heart towards this friend, what comfort, what joy, what gratitude, what trust, what honor, what confidence, what faith, are all alive, and stirring in your heart towards him? Do not ask therefore, Robert, for a book of prayers; but ask your heart what is within it, what it feels, how it stirs, what it wants, what it would have altered, what it desires? And then, instead of calling upon Henry for assistance, stand in the same form of petition to God. For this turning to God according to the inward feelings, wants, and motion of your own heart, in love, in trust, in faith of having from Him all that you need, and wish to have, turning in this way to God, whether it be with, or without words, is the best form of prayer in the world. Now no man can be ignorant of the state of his own heart, or a stranger to those temperaments, that are alive and stirring in him, and therefore no man needs a form of prayer; for what should be the form of his prayer, but that which the condition and state of his heart demands? If you know of no trouble, feel no burden, want nothing to be altered, or removed, nothing to be increased or strengthened in you, how can you pray for anything of this nature? But if your heart knows its own plague, feels its inward evil, knows what it wants to have removed, will you not let your distress form the manner of your prayer? Or will you pray in a form of words, that have no more agreement with your state, than if a man walking above-ground, should beg every man he met, to pull him out of a deep pit. For prayers not formed according to the real state of your heart, are like a prayer to be pulled out of a deep well, when you are not in it. Hence you may see, how unreasonable it is to make a mystery of prayer, to want instruction; since every man is, and only can be, directed by his own inward state and condition, when, and how, and what he is to pray for, as every man's outward state shows him what he outwardly needs.

Robert- I did not imagine, that you would have come so openly against a manual of prayer, since you must know, that not only the most learned, but the most pious doctors of the church, consider them as very necessary helps to devotion.

Allen- If you, Robert, were obliged to go on a long journey on foot, and yet through a weakness in your legs could not set one foot before another, you would do well to get the best set of crutches that you could. But if, with sound and good legs, you would not take one step, until you had crutches to hop with, surely a man might show you the folly of not walking with your own legs, without being thought an enemy to crutches, or the makers of them. Now a manual of prayer is not as good a help, as crutches, and yet you see crutches are only proper, when our legs cannot do their function. It is, I say, not so good a help as crutches, because that which you do with crutches, is the very same thing, that you should have done with your legs; you travel; but when the heart cannot take one step in prayer, and you read your manual, you do not do the very same thing, which your heart should have done, that is, pray. A fine manual therefore is not to be considered as a means of praying, or as something that puts you in a state of prayer, as crutches help you to walk; but its chief use, is as a book of prayers to a dead and hardened heart that has no prayer of its own, to show it, what a state and Spirit of prayer it needs, and at what a sad distance it is from feeling all that variety of humble, penitent, grateful, fervent, resigned, and loving sentiments, which are described in the manual, that so, being touched with a view of its own miserable state, it may begin its own prayer to God for help. But I have finished. Henry may now answer your earnest request.

Henry-Your earnest desire, Robert, to live in the Spirit of prayer, and be truly governed by it, is a most excellent desire; for to be a man of prayer is that which the apostle means by living in the Spirit, and having our conversation in heaven. It is to be done, not only with the confessed vices, but with the allowed follies and vanities of this world. To tell such a soul of the innocence of levity, that it does not need to run away from idle discourse, vain gaiety, and trifling mirth, as being, the harmless relief of our heavy natures, is like telling the flame, that it does not need to always be ascending upwards. But here you are to observe, that this Spirit of prayer is not to be taught to you by a book, or brought into you by some form of skill from without, but must be an inward birth, that must arise from your own fire and light within you, as the air arises from the fire and light of this world. For the spirit of every being, no matter what it wills, is only the breath or spirit that proceeds from its own fire and light. In sensitive, and intellectual creatures, it is all in the same manner; spirit is the third form of its life, and is the birth that proceeds from the other two; and is the manifestation of their nature and qualities. For such as the fire and light are, such and no other, neither higher nor lower, neither better nor worse, is the spirit that proceeds from them. Now the reason why every life does, and must stand in this form, is wholly and only this, because the deity, the one source and fountain of all life, is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose third form is, and is called, the Spirit of God, proceeding from the Father, and the Son. The painful sense and feeling of what you are, kindled into a working state of sensibility by the light of God within you, is the fire and light from which your spirit of prayer proceeds. In its first awakening, nothing is found or felt, but pain, wrath, and darkness, as is to be seen in the first awakening of every heat or fire. And therefore its first prayer is nothing else but a sense of penitence, self-condemnation, confession, and humility. It feels nothing but its own misery, and so all is humility. This prayer of humility is met by Divine love, the mercifulness of God embraces it; and then its prayer is changed into hymns, and songs, and thanksgivings. When this state of fervor has done its work, has melted away all earthly passions and affections, and left no inclination in the soul, but to delight in God alone, then its prayer changes again. It  now comes so near to God, and has found such union with Him, that it does not so much pray, as it lives in God. Its prayer is not any particular action, is not the work of any particular faculty, not confined to times, or words, or place, but is the work of his whole being, which continually stands in the fullness of faith, in purity of love, in absolute resignation, to do and be, what and how his beloved pleases. This is the last state of the Spirit of prayer, and is its highest union with God in this life. Each of these foregoing states has its time, its variety of workings, its trials, temptations, and purifications, which can only be known by experience in the passage through them. The one and only infallible way to go safely through all the difficulties, trials, temptations, dryness, or opposition, of our own evil tempers, is this: to expect nothing from ourselves, to trust to nothing in ourselves, but in everything expect, and depend upon God for relief. Hold fast to this thread, and then let your way be what it will, darkness, temptation, or the rebellion of nature, you will be led through all, to a union with God: For nothing hurts us in any state, but an expectation of something in us, and from us, which we should only expect from God. We are looking for our own virtue, our own piety, our own goodness, and so live on and on in our own poverty and weakness; Today pleased and comforted with the seeming strength and firmness of our own pious tempers, and fancying ourselves to be something; Tomorrow, fallen into our own mire, we are dejected, but not humbled; we grieve, but it is only the grief of pride, at seeing our perfection not to be such as we vainly imagined it to be. And therefore it will be, until the whole turn of our minds is so changed, that we as fully see and know our inability to have any goodness of our own, as to have a life of our own. For since nothing is, or can be, good in us, but the life of God manifested in us, how can this be had but from God alone? When we are happily brought to this conviction, then we are finished with all thought of being our own builders; the whole spirit of our mind is become a mere faith, and hope, and trust in the sole operation of God's Spirit, looking no more to any other power, to be formed in Christ new creatures, than we look to any other power for the resurrection of our bodies at the last day. For this reason it may be seen, that the trials of every state are its greatest blessings; they do that for us, which we most of all want to have done, they force us to know our own nothingness, and the “all of God.” People who have long dwelt in the fervors of devotion, in a high sensibility of Divine affections, practicing every virtue with a kind of greediness, are frightened, when coldness seizes upon them, when their hymns give no transport, and their hearts, instead of flaming with the love of every virtue, seem ready to be overcome by every vice. But here, hold fast to the thread I mentioned before, and all is well. For this coldness is the Divine offspring, or genuine birth, of the former fervor; comes from it, as a good fruit, and brings the soul nearer to God, than the fervor did. The fervor was good, and did a good work in the soul; it overcame the earthly nature, and made the soul delight in God, and spiritual things; but its delight was too much its own delight, a fancied self-holiness, and occasioned rest and satisfaction in self, which if it had continued uninterrupted, undiscovered, an earthly self would have only been changed into a spiritual self. Therefore I called this coldness, or loss of fervor, its Divine offspring, because it brings a Divine effect, or more fruitful progress in the Divine life. For this coldness overcomes, and delivers us from spiritual self, as fervor overcame the earthly nature. It does the work that fervor did, but in an higher degree, because it gives up more, sacrifices more, and brings forth more resignation to God, than fervor did; and therefore it is more in God, and receives more from Him. The devout soul therefore is always safe in every state, if it makes everything an occasion either of rising up, or falling down into the hands of God, and exercising faith, and trust, and resignation to Him. Fervor is good, and ought to be loved; but tribulation, distress, and coldness, in their season are better, because they give the means and power of exercising a higher faith, a purer love, and more perfect resignation to God, which are the best states of the soul. And therefore the pious soul that eyes only God, that means to be nothing but His alone, can have no stop put to its progress; light and darkness equally assist him; in the light he looks up to God; in the darkness he lays hold on God; and so they both do him the same good.

This little illustration, Robert, of the nature and progress of the Spirit of prayer, may show you, that a manual of prayer is not as great a matter as you imagined. The best instruction that I can give you, as helpful, or preparatory to the Spirit of prayer, has already been given, where we have set forth the original perfection, the miserable fall, and the glorious redemption of man. It is the true knowledge of these great things that can do all for you, which human instruction can do. These things must fill you with a dislike of your present state, drive all earthly desires out of your soul, and create an earnest longing after your first perfection. For prayer cannot be taught you, by giving you a book of prayers, but by awakening in you a true sense and knowledge of what you are, and what you should be; so that you may see, and know, and feel, what things you need, and should pray for. For a man does not, nor cannot pray for anything, because the words of a prayer for it, is put into his hands, but only because his own condition is a reason and motive for his asking for it. And therefore it is that the Spirit of prayer, in the first part, began with a full discovery and proof of these high and important matters, at the sight of which the world, and all that is in it, shrinks into nothing, and everything past, present, and to come, awakens in our hearts a continual prayer, and longing desire, after God, Christ, and eternity.

Robert- I perceive then, Henry, that you direct me entirely to my own prayer in my private devotions, and not to the use of any book. But surely you do not take this to be right in general, that the common people, who are unlearned, and mostly of poor understandings, should kneel down in private, without any borrowed form of prayer, saying only what comes into their own heads.

Henry- It would be very wrong, Robert, to condemn a manual as such, or to tell any people, learned or unlearned, that they ought not to make any use of it. But it cannot be wrong, or hurtful to anybody, to show, that prayer is the natural language of the heart, and, as such, does not need any form, or borrowed words. Now all that has been said of manuals of prayers, only amounts to this; that they are not necessary, nor are they the most natural and excellent way of praying. If they happen to be necessary to any person, or to be his most excellent way, it is because the natural, real prayer of his heart is already engaged, loving, wishing, and longing after, the things of this life; which makes him so insensible of his spiritual needs, so blind and dead as to the things of God, that he cannot pray for them, but so far as the words of other people are put into his mouth. If a Man is blind, and does not know it, he may be told to pray for sight; if he is sick, and knows nothing of it, he may be told to pray for health: So if the soul is in this state, with regard to its spiritual wants, a manual may be of good use to it, not so much by helping it to pray, as by showing it, at what a miserable distance it is from those tempers which belong to prayer.

But when a man has had so much benefit from the gospel, as to know his own misery, his need of a redeemer, who his redeemer is, and how he is to be found; then everything seems to be done, both to awaken and direct his prayer, and make it a true praying in and by the Spirit. For when the heart really longs after God, his prayer is moved and animated by the Spirit of God; it is the breath or inspiration of God, stirring, moving and opening itself in the heart. For though the earthly nature, our old man, can oblige or accustom himself to take heavenly words at times into his mouth, yet this is a certain truth, that nothing ever did, or can, have the least desire or tendency to ascend to heaven, but that which came down from heaven; and therefore nothing in the heart can pray, aspire, and long after God, but the Spirit of God moving and stirring in it.

One secret about prayer

Every breath therefore of the true Spirit of prayer, can be nothing else but the breath of the Spirit of God, breathing, inspiring, and moving the heart, in all its variety of motions and affections, towards God. And therefore every time a good desire stirs in the heart, a good prayer goes out of it, a prayer that reaches God as being the fruit and work of His Holy Spirit. When any man, feeling his corruption, and the power of sin in his soul, looks up to God, with true earnestness of faith and desire to be delivered from it, whether with words, or without words, how can anyone pray better? What need of any change of thoughts, or words, or any variety of expressions, when the one faith and desire of his heart made known to God, and continued in, is not only all, but the most perfect prayer he can make? Again suppose the soul to be in another state, feeling with joy, its offered redeemer, and opening its heart for the full reception of Him; if it stands in this state of wishing and longing for the birth of Christ, how can its prayer be in a higher degree of request? Or if it breaks out frequently in these words, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, with all your holy nature, spirit, and temperament into my soul,” is there any occasion to enlarge, or alter these words into another form of expression? Can he do better, or pray more, than by continually standing from time to time in this state of wishing to have Christ formed in him? No, is it not more likely, that his heart should be more divided and dissipated by numerous changes of expressions, than by keeping united to one expression that sets forth all that he wants? For it is the reality, the steadiness, and continuity of desire, that is the goodness of prayer, and its qualification to receive all that it wants. Our Lord said to one that came to Him, “What will you that I should do for you?” He answered, “Lord, that I may receive my sight:” And he received it. Another said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And he was cleansed. Tell me what learning is required to make such prayers as these? And yet what wonders of relief are recorded in the scripture, of such short prayers as these! Or tell me what blessing of prayer, or faith, or love, may not now be obtained in the same way, and with as few words, as was done then? Every man therefore that has any feeling of the weight of his sin, or any true desire to be delivered from it by Christ, has learning and capacity enough to make his own prayer. For praying is not speaking forth eloquently, but simply, the true desire of the heart; and the heart, simple and plain in good desires, is in the truest state of preparation for all the gifts and graces of God. And this I must tell you, that the simplest of souls, that have accustomed themselves to speak their own desires and wants to God, in such short, but true breathings of their hearts to Him, will soon know more of prayer, and the mysteries of prayer, than any person who only has a knowledge derived from learning, and books.

Robert- You seem to me, Henry, to have much truth in what you say, and now I will show even more fault against those, who make so much about what they call a “gifted man,” and make that to be the one true gift of prayer, when any one is able to pray with his own words, for an hour or two at a time.

Henry- Robert, I have shown you, that prayer is purely the desire of the heart; it is not a true prayer, but only so far as it is the true language of the heart. I have shown you the great benefit that all people must receive from this true prayer of the heart. And to remove all pretence of the need of special ability, even an uneducated person , can pray  from his own hearts, I have also shown, that the most simple, short petitions, when truly spoken by the heart, have all the perfection that prayer can have. But mark me well, and understand the reason why I ascribe this perfection to it. It is when the heart stands continually in this state of wishing to have that, which is expressed in so few words. It is then, that I said, there was no occasion to enlarge, or alter the words into a longer prayer, because the reality, the steadiness, and the continuity of the desire, is the goodness and perfection of the prayer. Now, let us suppose two men; the one prays frequently an hour, or two, or sometimes a whole night, on his knees, in silent prayer, in high acts of love, and faith, and resignation to God, not outwardly spoken by his mouth; the other is as long a time pouring forth the devotion of his heart in a variety of fervent expressions. May not both these men justly “appeal” to me, not only as not condemning, but as asserting, the goodness of their length and manner of prayer, since I make a short simple petition to be a good prayer, when it proceeds from a steady, continued desire of the heart? It is not therefore the silence, or a simple petition, or a great variety of outward expressions, that alters the nature of prayer, or makes it to be good, or better, but only the reality, steadiness, and continuity of the desire; and therefore whether a man offers this desire to God in the silent longing of his heart, or in simple short petitions, or in a great variety of words, it is of no consequence; but all of them are equally good, when the true and right state of the heart is with them.

Thus you see, Robert, that I am with every man in every way, whose heart stands right towards God. But if you would know what I would call a true and great gift of prayer, and what I most of all wish for myself, it is a good heart, that stands continually inclined towards God.

Robert- I am not sorry, Henry, that I have made so unreasonable an observation upon what you said, since it has occasioned you to give a good and just answer to it. But yet this silent prayer you speak of, is something that I have never read of, nor heard anything of before; and it seems to me like ceasing to pray; and yet you seem to like it, as well as any other way of praying.

Henry- All that I have said of prayer, Robert, has been only to this end, to show you its true and real nature, where it is to arise, where it is to be found, and how you are to begin, and become truly proficient in it. If, therefore, you were at present to look no farther, than how to put yourself in a state of beginning to practice a prayer proceeding from your own heart, and continuing in it, walking away from all that you already know of prayer, and this is to be known in its own time by experience, which alone can open any true knowledge in you, this would be much better for you, than to be asking beforehand about such things, as are not your immediate concern. Begin to be a man of prayer, in this simple, easy, and natural manner, that has been set before you; and when you are faithful to this method, you will then need no other instructor in the art of prayer. Your own heart turned to God, will need no one to tell it, when it should be simple in its petitions, or various in its expressions, or prostrate itself in silence before God. But this anxiousness of knowing things, before they become our concern, or belong to us, is very common. And so it is with a man that has just entered upon the reformation of his life, he will want to read or hear a discourse upon perfection, and whether or not it is attainable; and shall be more eager in hearing about the matter, even though it is at such a distance from himself, than he is eager about such things as concerns the next step that he is to take in his own proper state.

You, my friend, have already rightly taken the first step in the spiritual life; you have devoted yourself absolutely to God, to live wholly to His will, under the light and guidance of His Holy Spirit, intending, and seeking nothing in this world, but such a passage through it, as may tend to the glory of God, and the recovery of your own fallen soul. Your next step is this, it is a looking to the continuance of this first resolution, and donation of yourself to God, to see that it is kept alive, and that everything you do may be animated and directed by it, and all the occurrences of every day, from morning to night, be received by you, as becomes a spirit that is devoted to God. Now this second step cannot be taken, but purely by prayer; nothing else has the least power here but prayer: The prayer I mean, and which you must practice, if you would take this second step in the spiritual life, is the prayer of the heart, or a prayer of your own, proceeding from the state of your heart, and its own tendency to God. Of all things therefore look to this prayer of the heart; consider it as your infallible guide to heaven; turn from everything that is an hindrance of it, that quenches or abates its fervor; love and like nothing but that which is suitable to it; and let every day begin, go on, and end, in the spirit of it. Consider yourself as always wrong, as having gone aside, and having lost your right path, when any delight, desire, or trouble, is allowed to live in you, that cannot be made a part of this prayer of the heart to God. For nothing so infallibly shows us the true state of our heart, as that which gives us either delight or trouble; for as our delight and trouble is, so is the state of our heart: If therefore you are carried away with any trouble or delight, that does not have an immediate relation to your progress in the Divine life, you may be assured your heart is not in its right state of prayer to God. Look at a man who is devoted to only one thing, or has some one great worldly matter at heart, he stands turned from everything that does not have some relation to it; he has no joy or trouble but what arises from it; he has no eyes nor ears, but to see or hear something about it. All else is a trifle, but that which in some way or other concerns this great matter. You need not tell him of any rules to keep it in his thoughts; it goes with him everywhere he goes; it has his first thoughts in the morning; and everyday is good or bad, as this great matter seems to succeed or fail. This may show you how easily, how naturally, and how constantly, our heart will carry on its own state of prayer, as soon as God is its great object, or it is wholly given up to Him, as its one great good. This may also show you, that the heart cannot enter into a state of the Spirit of prayer to God, until that which I called the first step in the spiritual life is taken, which is the taking of God for its all, or the giving itself up wholly to God. But when this foundation is laid, the seed of prayer is sown, and the heart is in a continual state of leaning on God; having no other delight or trouble in things of any kind, but as they help or hinder its union with God. Therefore, Robert, the way to be a man of prayer, and be governed by its spirit, is not to get a book full of prayers; but the best help you can have from a book, is to read one full of such truths, instructions, and awakening information, as force you to see and know who, and what, and where, you are; that God is your all; and that all is misery, but a heart and life devoted to Him. This is the best outward prayer-book that you can have, as it will turn you to an inward Spirit of prayer in your heart, which is a continual longing desire of the heart after God, His Divine life, and Holy Spirit. When, for the sake of this inward prayer, you go into your “prayer closet” at any time of the day, never begin until you know and feel, why you are going to pray; and let this why and wherefore, form and direct everything that comes from you, whether it be in thought or in word. As you must know your own state, so it is the easiest thing in the world to look up to God, with such desires as suit the state you are in; and praying in this manner, whether it be in one, or more, or no words, your prayer will always be sincere, and good, and highly beneficial to you. Praying like this, you will never pray in vain; but one month in the practice of it, will do you more good, make a greater change in your soul, than twenty years of prayer that comes from books, and forms of other peoples making. No vice can harbor in you, no infirmity take any root, no good desire can languish, when once your heart is in this method of prayer; never beginning to pray, until you first see how matters stand with you; asking your heart what it wants, and having nothing in your prayers, but what the known state of your heart leads you into, demanding, saying, or offering, to God. A quarter of an hour of this prayer, brings you out of your closet a new man; your heart feels the good of it; and every return of such a prayer, gives new life and growth to all your virtues, with more certainty, than the dew refreshes the herbs of the field: whereas, overlooking this true prayer of your own heart, and only at certain times taking a prayer that you find in a book, you have nothing to wonder at, if you are everyday praying, and yet everyday sinking farther and farther under all your infirmities. For your heart is your life, and your life can only be altered by that which is the real working of your heart. And if your prayer is only a form of words, made by the skill of other people, such a prayer can not change you into a good man, anymore than an actor upon the stage, who plays the part of a king, is made to be a real king: while one thought, or word, or look, towards God, proceeding from your own heart, can never be without its proper fruit, or fail of doing a real good to your soul. Again, another great and infallible benefit of this kind of prayer is this; it is the only way to be delivered from the deceitfulness of your own hearts. Our hearts deceive us, because we leave them to themselves, we are absent from them, and taken up in outward things, in outward rules and forms of living and praying. But this kind of praying, which takes all its thoughts and words only from the state of our hearts, makes it impossible for us to be strangers to ourselves. The strength of every sin, the power of every evil temper, the most secret workings of our hearts, the weakness of any or all of our virtues, breaks out with noonday clearness and we are forced to see them, as soon as the heart is made our prayer-book, and we pray nothing, but according to what we read, and find in our heart.

Robert- Henry, you have shown me, that it is almost as easy a thing to pray, as to breathe; and that the best prayer in the world, is that which the heart can as easily send forth from itself, untaught by anything, but its own sense of God and itself. And yet I am almost afraid of loving this kind of prayer too much. I am not free from suspicions about it: I apprehend it to be that very praying by the Spirit, or as moved by the Spirit, or from a light within, which is condemned as Quakerism.

Henry- There is but one good prayer that you can possibly make, and that is a prayer in and from, the Spirit of God as He moves you to it. This, and this alone, is a Divine prayer; no other prayer has, or can possibly have any communion with God. Take the matter thus: man is a threefold being; he has three natures; he partakes of the Divine, the elementary, and the diabolical nature. Had he not all of these three natures in a certain degree in him, he could not have communion with God, he could not enjoy the elements, nor could evil spirits have the least power of access to him. Now the elementary nature of man, in this world, cannot have a longing after the pure Deity; it cannot hunger, and thirst after the Divine image, nor desire to be perfect as God is perfect; this is as impossible, as for the beasts of the field to long to be Angels. Therefore flesh and blood in us, can not make a Divine prayer, anymore than it could in any other animal of this world. The diabolical nature which is in us, can do nothing but that which the devils do: it can only rise up in its own pride, envy, and self-exaltation, and only hate all the goodness that is either in heaven, or on earth. And therefore it is a truth of the greatest certainty, that no man ever did, nor could send up a Divine and heavenly prayer to God, or such a prayer as can reach God, but in and by the Spirit of God in him. Our astral, elementary man, and our proud, subtle, serpentine nature, can read, or say a prayer full of good words and wishes, as easily as Satan can use scripture-language when he tempted Christ; but nothing can wish to be like God, or to unite with His goodness and holiness, but that Spirit in us, which partakes of His Divine nature. Therefore to ridicule praying by the Spirit, or praying as moved by the Spirit, is ridiculing the only prayer that is Divine, or can do us any Divine good; and to reject and oppose it, is to quench, and suppress all that is holy, heavenly, and Divine, within us. For if this Holy Spirit does not live, and move in us, and bring forth all the praying affections of our souls, we may as well think of reaching heaven with our hands, as with our prayers.

Robert- I do not know how to deny anything that you have said: Yet this account seems to make no distinction between our own good spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God, I took the inspirations, and graces of the Holy Spirit to be something, that came into us from without, and to be as distinct from our own spirit, as God is distinct from the creature.

Henry- The Holy Spirit of God is as necessary to our Divine life, or the life of grace, as the air of this world is necessary to our animal life; and is as distinct from us, and as much outside us, as the air of this world is distinct from, and outside the creatures that live in it. And yet our own good spirit is the very Spirit of God, moving and stirring in us. No animal can unite with, or breathe the air of this world, until it has first the air of this world brought forth, as the true birth of its own life in itself; this is its only capacity to live in the spirit of this world; and the breath or spirit that arises in its own life, is the very same breath, that is in outward nature, in which it lives. It is like this, with the Spirit of God in our souls; it must first have a birth within us, arising from the life of our souls, and as such, becomes our only capacity to have life, and live in the Spirit of God Himself, and is the very breath of the Spirit of God, who is yet as distinct from us, as the breath of our animal life, that arises from our own fire, is distinct from the air of the world in which it lives. And so, Robert, our own good spirit is the very spirit of the Deity, and yet not God, but the Spirit of God breathed into a creaturely form; and this good spirit, Divine in its origin, and Divine in its nature, is that alone in us, that can reach God, unite with Him, and cooperate with Him, be moved, and blessed by Him, as our earthly spirit is, by the outward spirit of this elementary world.

Robert- Indeed, Henry, you have, in just a few words, gotten to the bottom of this matter, that nothing is left either for any further doubt. My own good spirit is the breath of God in me, and so related to God, as the breath of my animal life is related to the air, or spirit of this outward world. It is from God, and has the nature, the eternity, the spirituality of God, as the breath of my flesh and blood, has the grossness, the earthly, transitory nature of the spirit of this world. And as all my communication with this world arises from the breath of this world, kindled in my own life, so all my possibility of communication with God, arises solely from the breath of His Holy Spirit brought forth in the life of my soul; and I can only live in God, by His Spirit having a birth in me, as I can only live in this world, by having its spirit born in me. This plain truth sets all the scripture-doctrine, concerning the necessity, power, and operation of the Holy Spirit, in the greatest degree of clearness. Consequently, what can be a plainer, and more absolute truth, than when the apostle says, “they only are the sons of God, who are led by the Spirit of God?” It is only like saying, that those creatures only belong to this world, who live in, and by its spirit. I shall here, only add, that my gospel-faith stands now upon a most solid, and comfortable foundation; my heart is all delight, and devotion to God, when I consider, first, that Christ my Redeemer is the first seed of the woman, or power of salvation in-spoken into fallen Adam; the Emmanuel; the God within every man; the light that lights every man that comes into the world. Secondly, that the Holy Spirit of God, the breath of eternity, has also its seed of life in my soul; for where the Word, or Son of God is, there is the Spirit of God in the same state; if one is only a seed of life, a spark of heaven, the other is so also; and these two, thus considered, are the glorious pearls of eternity, hidden in every man's soul, and so often spoken of before. And so we can understand, how the whole of our redemption (according to the plain language of scripture) is inwardly and outwardly solely the work of the light and Spirit of God, a kingdom of God both within and without us, and to which we do not, and cannot live, but so far as we are inspired, moved, and led, by the Spirit of God. Earnest, therefore, to pray, humbly to hope, and faithfully to expect, to be continually inspired, and animated by the Holy Spirit of God has no more of vanity, fanaticism, or enthusiastic wildness in it, than to hope and pray, to act in everything from and by a good spirit. For as sure as the lips of truth have told us, that there is but one that is good, so sure is it, that not a spark of goodness, nor a breath of piety, can be in any creature, either in heaven, or on earth, but by that Divine Spirit, which is the breath of God, breathed from Himself into the creature. The matter is not about appearances of goodness, forms of virtue, rules of religion, or a prudential piety, suited to time, and place, and character; all these are degrees of goodness, that our old man can as easily trade in, as in any other matters of this world. But so much as we have of a heavenly and Divine goodness, or of a goodness that belongs to heaven, and has the nature of heaven in it, so much we must have of a Divine inspiration in us. For as nothing can fall to the earth, but because it has the nature of the earth in it; so it is a truth of the utmost certainty, that nothing can ascend towards heaven, or have the least power to unite with it, but that very Spirit which came down from heaven, and has the nature of heaven in it. This truth, therefore, that the kingdom of God is within us, that its light is solely the Lamb of God, its spirit solely the Spirit of God, stands upon a rock, against which all attempts are in vain. All that I now further desire to know, is this; how I may keep free from all delusions in this matter, and not take my own natural abilities, tempers, and passions, or the suggestions of evil spirits, to be the working of the Spirit of God in me. Please, sir, tell me how I shall safely know when, and how far, I am led and governed by the Spirit of God?

Henry- You may know this, Robert, just as you know, when you are governed by the spirit of wrath, envy, guile, craft, or covetousness. Every man knows this of himself, as easily, and as certainly as he knows when he is hungry, pleased, or displeased. Now it is the same thing with regard to the Spirit of God; the knowledge of it is as perceptible in yourself, and liable to no more delusion. For the Spirit of God is more distinguishable from all other spirits and tempers, than any of your natural affections or tempers are, from one another; as I will here plainly show you. God is un-ending patience, a meekness that cannot be provoked; He is an ever-enduring mercifulness; He is unmixed goodness, impartial, universal love; His delight is in the communication of Himself, His own happiness, to everything, according to its capacity. He does everything that is good, righteous and lovely, for its own sake, because it is good, righteous, and lovely. He is the good from which nothing but good comes, and resists all evil, only with goodness." This, my friend, is the nature and Spirit of God, and here you have your infallible proof, whether you are moved, and led by the Spirit of God. Here is a proof that never can fail you; is always at hand; and will not lead to mistake or delusion. If it is the earnest desire, and longing of your heart, to be merciful as He is merciful; to be full of His unwearied patience, to dwell in His unalterable meekness; if you long to be like Him in universal, impartial love; if you desire to communicate every good, to every creature that you are able; if you love and practice everything that is good, righteous, and lovely, for its own sake, because it is good, righteous, and lovely; and never resist evil, except with goodness; then you have the utmost certainty, that the Spirit of God lives, dwells, and governs in you. Now all these tempers are as knowable to every man, as his own love and hatred; and therefore no man can be deceived as to the possession of them, but he that chooses to deceive himself. Now if you lack any of these tempers, if the whole bent of your heart and mind is not set upon them, all pretenses to an immediate inspiration, and continual operation of the Spirit of God in your Soul, is vain and groundless. For the Spirit of God is that which I have here described; and where His Spirit dwells and governs, there all these tempers are brought forth, or springing up, as the certain fruits of it. What room is there therefore, Robert, for so much uncertainty, or fear of delusion, in this matter? Keep within the bounds that are here set for you; call nothing a proof of the Spirit or work of God in your soul, but this disposition, and the works which they produce; and then, but not until then, you may safely and infallibly say, with John, Hereby we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he has given us.

Robert- Indeed, Henry, you have given me a short, but very full and satisfactory answer to my question. I now recognize, that, as a spiritual man, or one devoted to the Spirit of God, I am not to look after any extraordinariness, any new openings, illuminations, visions, or voices, inward or outward, from God, as proofs of the Spirit of God dwelling and working in me; but that all my proof and security of being governed by the Spirit of God, is to have its foundation on other matters: That the boundless humility and resignation of the Holy Jesus; the unwearied patience, the unalterable meekness, the impartial, universal love of God, manifested in my soul; are its only proofs, that God is in me of a truth. Thus far all is right and good. But yet, surely it must be said with truth, that the Spirit of God often discovers itself, and operates in good souls in very extraordinary ways, in uncommon illuminations, and openings of Divine light and knowledge, in the revelation of mysteries, in strong impulses and with wonderful zeal, full of the highest gifts and graces of God: and that these have frequently been God's gracious methods of awakening a sinful world.

Henry- What you have said, is true; and almost every age of the church is a sufficient proof of it. By the goodness of God, the church has always had its extraordinary persons, highly gifted from above, made burning, and shining lights, and carried as uncommon ways of life, by the same Spirit, and for the same ends, as John the Baptist was; and as different from common Christians, as he was from the common Jews. But, my friend, these extraordinary operations of God's Holy Spirit, and the wonders of His gifts and graces showing themselves at certain times, and upon certain persons, through all the ages of the church, are not matters of common instruction; they do not  belong to our subject; it would be ignorance and vanity in me, to pretend to let you into the secret of them; it would be the same thing in you, to think yourself ready for it. Would you know the sublime, the exalted, the Angelic, in the Christian life, see what the Son of God says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself. On these two, says he, hang all the law and the prophets. And without these two things, no good light ever can arise, or enter into your soul. Take all the sciences, shine in all the accomplishments of the lettered world, they will only lead you from one vain passion to another; everything you send out from within you is selfish, vain, and bad; everything you see or perceive from without, will be received with a bad spirit; until these two heavenly tempers have overcome the natural perverseness of fallen nature. Until then, nothing pure can proceed from within, nor anything be received in purity from without. Think yourself therefore unfit, incapable of judging rightly, or acting virtuously, until these two tempers have the government of your heart. Then every truth will meet you; no hurtful error can get entrance into your heart; you will neither deceive, nor be deceived; but will have a better knowledge of all Divine matters, than all the human learning in the world can help you to. Would you know what it is to love God with all your heart and soul, etc., you need only look back to that, which has been said of the nature and Spirit of God. For when with all your heart and soul you love, and long to have, that nature and Spirit, to be wholly united to it, possessed and governed by it, then you love God with all your heart and soul, etc. And then you are first capable of loving yourself and your neighbor rightly. For so much as you have of the Divine nature and Spirit in you, just so much power have you of loving yourself and your neighbor aright; that is, of loving only and equally, that in yourself and your neighbor, which the Deity only and equally loves, both in you, and Himself. But it is time to part, when we have only told our silent friend, Harold, that if we live to meet again, we shall, with all our hearts, receive him as a speaker amongst us. And so, gentlemen, once more, adieu.

FINIS.

 

 

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