Brother William Law's Most Important Books
The last Eight books that Bro. Law wrote plus his "Appeal" All have been update to modern English to make it easy for the modern reader to truly understand what this spiritual man has to say.
Click on one of the book titles below to read the book
HIGHLIGHTS FROM BROTHER WILLIAM LAW'S WRITINGS
THE SELF LIFE (a small tract)
An Humble, Earnest, And Affectionate Address to the Clergy
By William Law
This book was originally published in 1761, just after William Law went to be with the Lord. This being William Law's last book, you will find it filled with the goodness of God. And by reading it before the living God with your heart, you will find that it can bring you into a wonderful living relationship with our heavenly Father.
Here is a quote from the historian, Mr. Gibbon: "If Mr. Law finds a spark of piety in a reader's mind, he will soon kindle it into a flame."
The reason for naming this book "An address to the clergy," is not because it touches on things of concern only to the clergy, but chiefly to invite and encourage them, as far as I can, to the serious perusal of it; and because whatever is essential to Christian salvation, if either neglected, overlooked, or mistaken by them, is of the saddest consequence both to themselves and the churches in which they minister. I say essential to salvation, for I would not turn my own thoughts, or call the attention of Christians, to anything but the one thing needful, the one thing essential and available to our rising out of our fallen state, and becoming, as we were at our creation, the holy offspring of God, and real partakers of the Divine nature.
If it is asked, what this one thing is? It is the Spirit of God brought again to His first power of life in us. Nothing else is needed by us, nothing else intended for us, by the law, the prophets, and the gospel. Nothing else is, or can be effectual, to making sinful man become again a Godly creature.
Continual Immediate Divine Inspiration
Everything else, be it what it will, however glorious and Divine in "Outward appearance," everything that angels, men, churches, or reformations, can do for us, is dead and helpless, but only so far as it is the immediate work of the Spirit of God breathing and living in it.
All scripture bears full witness to this truth, and the design and end of all that is written, is only to call us back from the spirit of Satan , the spirit of the flesh, and the spirit of the world, and to be again under the full dependence, and obedience to the Spirit of God, who out of love for our souls, seeks to have His first power of life in us. When this is done, all is done that the scripture can do for us. Read whatever chapter, or doctrine of scripture you like, be ever so delighted with it, it will leave you as poor, and as empty and unreformed as it found you, unless a delight proceeds from it, and turns you wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, and strengthens your union with and dependence upon Him. For love and delight in matters of scriptures, while being a delight that is merely human, however saint-like it may appear, is but the self-love of fallen Adam, and cannot have a better nature, until it proceeds from the inspiration of God, bringing to life His own life and nature within us, which alone can have or give forth a Godly love. For if it is an immutable truth, that "No man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," it must also be a truth equally immutable, that no one can have any Christ-like temper or power of goodness but so far, and in such a degree, as he is immediately led and governed by the Holy Spirit. The reason is as follows.
All possible goodness that can be named, was in God from all eternity, and must to all eternity be inseparable from Him; it can be nowhere but where God is. As therefore before God created anything, it was certainly true that there was but one that was good, so it is just the same truth, after God has created innumerable hosts of blessed and holy, and heavenly beings, that there is but one that is good, and that is God.
All that can be called goodness, holiness, Divine tempers, heavenly affections, etc., in the creatures, are no more their own, or the growth of their created powers, than they were their own before they were created. But all that is called Divine goodness and virtue in the creature is nothing else, but the one goodness of God manifesting a birth and discovery of itself in the creature, according as its created nature is fitted to receive it. This is the unalterable state between God and the creature. Goodness for ever and ever can only belong to God, as essential to Him and inseparable from Him, as His own unity.
God could not make the creature to be great and glorious in itself; this is as impossible, as for God to create beings in a state of independence on Himself. "The heavens," said David, "Declare the glory of God"; and no creature, any more than the heavens, can declare any other glory but that of God. It could as well be said, that the firmament shows forth its own handy work, as that a holy Divine or heavenly creature shows forth its own natural power.
All that is Divine, great, glorious, and happy, in the spirits, tempers, operations, and enjoyments of the creature, is only so much of the greatness, glory, majesty, and blessedness of God, dwelling in it, and giving forth various births of His own triune life, light, and love, in and through the manifold forms and capacities of the creature to receive them. We may perfectly see the true ground and nature of all true religion, and when and how we may be said to fulfill all our religious duty to God. For the creature's true religion, is its rendering to God all that is God's, it is its true continual acknowledging of all that which it is, it has, and enjoys, in and from God. This is the one true religion of all intelligent creatures, whether in heaven, or on earth; for as they all have the same relation to God, though they may be ever so different in their births, states or offices, they all have the same true religion, or right behavior towards God. Now the one relation, which is the ground of all true religion, and is the same between God and all intelligent creatures, is a total unalterable dependence upon God, an immediate and continual receiving of every kind, and degree of goodness, blessing and happiness, that ever was, or can be found in them, from God alone. The highest angel has nothing of its own that it can offer unto God, no more light, love, purity, perfection, and glorious hallelujahs, that spring from itself, or of its own powers, than the poorest creature upon earth.
If the angel could see a spark of wisdom, goodness, or excellence, as coming from, or belonging to itself, its place in heaven would be lost, as sure as Lucifer lost his. They are ever-abiding flames of pure love, always ascending up to and uniting with God, for this reason, because the wisdom, the power, the glory, the majesty, the love, and goodness of God alone, is all that they see, and feel, and know, either within or without themselves. Songs of praise to their heavenly Father are their delight, because they see, and know, and feel, that it is the breath and Spirit of their heavenly Father that sings and rejoices in them. Their adoration in Spirit and in truth never ceases, because they never cease to acknowledge the goodness of God; the all of God in the whole creation. This is the one religion of heaven, and nothing else is the truth of religion on earth.
The matter therefore plainly comes to this, nothing can do, or be, the good of religion to the intelligent creature, but the power and presence of God really and essentially living and working in it. But if this is the unchangeable nature of that goodness and blessedness which is to be had from our religion, then of all necessity, the creature must have all its religious goodness as wholly and solely from God's immediate operation, as it had its first goodness at its creation. And it is the same impossibility for the creature to help itself to that which is good and blessed in religion, by any contrivance, reasoning, or workings of its own natural powers, we can no more do this of ourselves, than we can create ourselves. For the creature, after its creation, can no more take something to itself that belongs to God, than it could take it, before it was created. And if truth forces us to believe, that the natural powers of the creature could only come from the power of God, the same truth should surely in a fuller way, force us to confess, that that which comforts, that which enlightens, that which blesses, which gives peace, joy, goodness, and rest to its natural powers, can be had in no other way, nor by any other thing, but from God's immediate holy operation found in us.
Now the reason why no work of religion, but that which is begun, continued, and carried on by the operation of the living God, can have any truth, goodness, or Divine blessing in it, is because nothing can in truth seek God, but that which comes from God. Nothing can in truth find God as its good, but that which has the nature of God living in it; only like can rejoice in like; and therefore no religious service of the creature can have any truth, goodness, or blessing in it, but that which is done in the creature, in, and through, and by, a principle and power of the Divine nature of God begotten and breathing forth in it all of God's holy tempers, and affections.
All
true religion is, or brings forth, an essential union and communion of the
spirit of the creature with the Spirit of the Creator: God being in it, and
it being in God, one life, one light, one love. The Spirit of God first
gives, or sows the seed of Divine union in the soul of every man; and
religion is that by which it is quickened, raised, and brought forth to a
fullness and growth of a life in God. Take a similitude of this, as follows,
the beginning, or seed of animal breath, must first be born in the creature
from the spirit of this world, and then respiration, so long as it lasts,
keeps up an essential union of the animal life with the breath or spirit of
this world. In like manner, Divine faith, hope, love, and resignation to
God, are in the religious life, its acts of respiration, which, so long as
they are true, unite God and the creature in the same living and essential
manner, as animal respiration unites the breath of the animal with the
breath of this world.
Divine immediate inspiration
Now as no animal could begin to breathe, or unite with the breath of this world, but because it has its beginning to breathe begotten in it from the air of this world, so it is equally certain, that no creature, angel or man, could begin to be religious, or breathe forth the Divine affections of faith, love, and desire towards God, but because a living seed of these Divine affections was by the Spirit of God first begotten in it. And as a tree or plant can only grow and fructify by the same power that first gave birth to the seed; so faith, hope, and love towards God, can only grow and fructify by the same power, that begot the first seed of them in the soul. Therefore Divine immediate inspiration and Divine religion are inseparable in the nature of the thing.
Take
away inspiration, or suppose it to cease, and then no religious acts or
affections can give forth anything that is Godly or Divine. For the creature
can offer, or return nothing to God, but that which it has first received
from Him; therefore, if it is to offer and send up to God affections and
aspirations that are Divine and Godly, it must of all necessity have the
Divine and Godly nature living and breathing in it. Can anything reflect
light, before it has received it? Or any other light, than that which it has
received? Can any creature breathe forth earthly, or diabolical affections,
before it is possessed of an earthly, or diabolical nature? Yet this is as
possible, as for any creature to have Divine affections rising up and
dwelling in it, either before, or any further, than as it partakes of the
Divine nature dwelling and operating in it.
Self-love, self-esteem, self-seeking, and living wholly to self
A religious faith that is uninspired, a hope, or love that does not proceed from the immediate workings of the Divine nature within us, cannot do any Divine good to our souls, or unite us with the goodness of God, any more than an hunger after earthly food can feed us with the immortal bread of heaven. All that the natural or uninspired man does, or can do in the church, has no more of the truth or power of Divine worship in it, than that which he does in the field, or shop, through having a desire of riches. And the reason is this, because all the acts of the natural man, whether relating to matters of religion or the world, must be equally selfish, and there is no possibility of their being otherwise. For self-love, self-esteem, self-seeking, and living wholly to self, are as strictly the whole of all that is, or possibly can be, in the natural man, as in the natural beast; the one can be no better, or act above this nature, than the other. Neither can any creature be in a better, or higher state than this, until something supernatural is born in it; and this supernatural something, called in scripture the word, or Spirit, or inspiration of God, is that alone from which man can have the first good thought about God, or the smallest amount of ability to have heavenly desires in His Spirit.
A religion that is not wholly built upon this supernatural ground, but solely stands upon the powers, reasoning, and conclusions of the natural uninspired man, has not so much as a shadow of true religion in it, but is a mere nothing, in the same sense, as an idol is said to be nothing, because the idol has nothing of that in it, which is pretended by it. For the work of religion has no Divine good in it, but as it brings forth, and keeps up an essential union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God; which essential union cannot be made, but through love on both sides, nor by love, but where the love that works on both sides is of the same nature.
No man therefore can reach God with his love, or have union with Him by it, but he who is inspired with that same Spirit of love, with which God loved Himself from all eternity. Infinite hosts of new created heavenly beings cannot begin a new kind of love of God, nor do they have the least power of beginning to love Him at all, but so far as His own Holy Spirit of love, is brought to life in them. This love, that was then in God alone, can be the only love in creatures that can draw them to God; they can have no power of cleaving to Him, of willing that which He wills, or adoring the Divine nature, but by partaking of that eternal Spirit of love; and therefore the continual immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is the only possible ground of our continually loving God. John says of this inspired love, "He that dwells in love, dwells in God." Suppose it to be any other love, brought forth by any other thing but the Spirit of God breathing His own love in us, and then it cannot be true, that he who dwells in such love, dwells in God.
Divine inspiration was essential to man's first created state. The Spirit of the triune God, breathed into, or brought to life in him, was that alone which made him a holy creature in the image and likeness of God. To have no other mover, to live under no other guide or leader, but the Spirit, was that which constituted all the holiness which the first man could have from God. Had he not been like this at the first, God in him and he in God, brought into the world as a true offspring and real birth of the Holy Spirit, no dispensation of God to fallen man would have directed him to the Holy Spirit. For fallen man could be directed to nothing as his good, but that which he had, and was his good, before he fell. And had not the Holy Spirit been his first life, in and by which he lived, no inspired prophets among the sons of fallen Adam would have ever been heard of. For the thing would have been impossible, no fallen man could have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, but because the first life of man was a true and real birth of it; and also because every fallen man had, by the mercy and free grace of God, a secret remains of his first life preserved in him, though hidden, or rather swallowed up by flesh and blood; which secret remains, signified to Adam by the name of a "bruiser of the serpent," or "seed of the woman," was his only capacity to be called and quickened again into his first life, by new breathings of the Holy Spirit in him.
Therefore it plainly appears that the gospel state could not be God's last dispensation, or the finishing of man's redemption, unless its whole work was a work of the Spirit of God in the spirit of man; that is, unless without all veils, types, and shadows, it brought the thing itself, or the substance of all former types and shadows, into a real enjoyment, so as to be possessed by man in Spirit, and in truth. Now the thing itself, and for the sake of which all of God's dispensations have been, is that first life of God which was essentially born in the soul of the first man, Adam, and of which he died. But now, if the gospel dispensation comes at the end of all types and shadows, to bring forth again in man a true and full birth of that Holy Spirit which he had at first, then it must be plain, that the work of this dispensation must be solely and only the work of the Holy Spirit. For if man could in no other possible way have had a holy nature and Spirit at first, but as an offspring or birth of the Holy Spirit at his creation, it is certain from the nature of the thing, that fallen man, dead to his first holy nature, can have that same holy nature again no other way, but solely by the operation of that same Holy Spirit, from the breath of which he had at first a holy nature and life in God. Therefore immediate inspiration is as necessary to make fallen man alive again unto God, as it was to make man at first a living soul after the image and likeness of God. And continual inspiration is as necessary, as man's continuance in his redeemed state. For this is a certain truth, that that alone which begins, or gives life, must of all necessity be the only continuance or preservation of life. The second step can only be taken by that which gave power to take the first. No life can continue in the goodness of its first created, or redeemed state, but by its continuing under the influence of, and working with that powerful root, or Spirit, which at first created, or redeemed it. Every branch of the tree, though ever so richly brought forth, will wither and die, as soon as it ceases to have continual union with that root, which first brought it forth. And to this truth, our Lord appeals as a proof and full illustration of the necessity of his immediate indwelling, breathing, and operating in the redeemed soul of man, saying, "I am the vine, you are the branches, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no more can you, except you abide in me. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a withered branch; for without me, you can do nothing," John 15.
Now from these words let this conclusion be drawn, That therefore to turn to Christ as a light within us, to expect life from nothing but His holy birth raised up in us, to give ourselves up wholly and solely to the immediate continual influx and operation of His precious Holy Spirit, depending wholly upon it for every kind and degree of goodness and holiness that we need, or can receive, is the very thing God intended!
No one that condemns continual immediate inspiration as fanaticism, can possibly do it with less absurdity, or show himself a wiser, or better man at reasoning, than he that concludes, that because without Christ we can do nothing, therefore we ought not to believe, expect, and depend upon his continual immediate operation in everything that we do. As to the pride charged upon this pretended fanaticism, it is the same absurdity. Christ says, "Without me you can do nothing," this is the same thing as if he had said, as to yourselves, and all that can be called your own, you are merely helpless in sin and misery, and nothing that is good, can come from you, but as it is done by the continual immediate breathing and inspiration of the Spirit, given by God to over-rule your own self-will, to save and deliver you from all your own so-called goodness, your own wisdom, and learning which always has been, and always will be, as corrupt and impure, as earthly and sensual, as your own flesh and blood. Now is there any selfish pride, in fully believing this to be true, and in acting in full conformity to it? If so, then he that confesses he does not have, nor ever can have a single penny, but as it is freely given him from charity, thereby declares himself to be a purse-proud boaster of his own wealth. Such is the spiritual pride of him, who fully acknowledges that he neither has, nor can have the least spark or breathing of goodness, but that which is freely kindled, or breathed into him by the Spirit of God. Again, if it is Spiritual pride to believe, that nothing that we ever think, or say, or do, either in the church, or our prayer closets, can have any truth of goodness in it but that which is wrought solely and immediately by the Spirit of God in us, then it must be said, that in order to have religious humility we must never forget to take some share of our religious virtues to ourselves, and not allow (as Christ has said) that "Without him we can do nothing." It must also be said, that Paul took too much upon himself when he said, "The life that I now live, is not mine, but Christ's that lives in me."
Behold a pride, and a humility, the one as good as the other, and both logically descended from a wisdom, that confesses it does not come from above. For everything in the life, or religion of man, that does not have the Spirit of God for its mover, director, and end, no matter what it is, is only earthly, sensual, or devilish.
The necessity of a continual inspiration of the Spirit of God, both to begin the first, and continue every step of a Divine life in man, is a truth to which every life in nature, as well as all scripture, bears full witness. A natural life, a bestial life, a diabolical life, can subsist no longer, than while they are immediately and continually under the working power of that root or source, from which they sprung. Accordingly it is so with the Divine life in man, it can never be in him, but as a growth of life in and from God. And so it is, that resisting the Spirit, quenching the Spirit, grieving the Spirit, is that alone which gives birth and growth to every evil that reigns in the world, and leaves men, and churches, not only an easy, but a necessary prey for the devil, the world, and the flesh. Nothing but obedience to the Spirit, trusting in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, praying with and for its continual inspiration, can possibly keep either men, or churches, from being sinners, or idolaters, in all that they do. For everything in the life, or religion of man, that does not have the Spirit of God for its mover, director, and end, no matter what it is, is only earthly, sensual, or devilish. The truth and perfection of the gospel state could not show itself, until it became solely a ministration of the Spirit, or a kingdom in which the Holy Spirit of God was doing all that was done in it.
The Apostles, while Christ was with them in the flesh, were instructed in heavenly truths from His mouth, and enabled to work miracles in His name, yet they were not at this time qualified to know and teach the mysteries of His kingdom. After His resurrection, he conversed with them forty days, speaking to them of things pertaining to the kingdom of God; no, though He breathed on them, and said, "Receive you the Holy Ghost," etc., yet this also would not do, they were still unable to preach, or bear witness to the truth, as it is in Jesus. And the reason is this, there was still a higher dispensation to come, which stood in such an opening of the Divine life in their hearts, as could not be done by an outward instruction of Christ Himself. For though He had sufficiently told His disciples the necessity of being born again of the Spirit, yet He left them unborn of it, until He came again in the power of the Spirit. He breathed on them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," yet that which was said and done was not the thing itself, but only a type or outward signification of what they should receive, when He, being glorified, would come again in the fullness and power of the Spirit, breaking open the deadness and darkness of their hearts with light and life from heaven, which light did, and alone could, open and verify in their souls, all that He had said and promised to them while He was with them in the flesh. All this is expressly declared by Christ Himself, when He said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away"; therefore Christ taught them to believe the need, and joyfully to expect the coming of a higher and more blessed state, than that of His bodily presence with them. For He adds, "If I go not away, the comforter will not come"; therefore the comfort and blessing of Christ to His followers could not be had, until something more was done to them, and they were brought into a higher state than they could be by His verbal instruction to them. "But if I go away," He said, "I will send Him to you, and when the Comforter, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; He shall glorify Me" (that is, shall set up My kingdom in its glory, in the power of the Spirit) "For He shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you: I said of mine, because all things that the Father has are mine," John 16..
Now when Christ had told them of the necessity of an higher state than that which they were in, and the necessity of such a comforting illuminating guide, as they could not have until His outward teaching in human language was changed into the inspiration, and operation of His Spirit in their souls, He commands them, not to bear witness of Him to the world, from what they did and could do, only in a human way, His birth His life, doctrines, death, sufferings, resurrection, etc., but to tarry at Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from on high; saying unto them, "You shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And then you shall bear witness to Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and to the utmost parts of the earth."
Here are two very important and fundamental truths fully demonstrated, first, that the truth and perfection of the gospel state could not take place, until Christ was glorified, and His kingdom among men made wholly and solely a continual immediate ministration of the Spirit of God: everything before this was but subservient for a time, and preparatory to this last dispensation, which could not have been the last, had it not carried man above types, figures and shadows, into the real possession and enjoyment of that which is the Spirit and truth of a Divine life. For the end is not come until it has found the beginning; that is, the last dispensation of God to fallen man cannot come, until putting an end to the "Bondage of weak and beggarly elements," Gal. 4:9, it brings man to that dwelling in God, and God in him, which he had at the beginning.
Secondly, that as the Apostles could not, so no man, from their birth to the end of the world, can have any true and real knowledge of the Spiritual blessings of Christ's redemption, or have a Divine call, capacity, or fitness to preach, and bear witness of Him to the world, but solely by that same Divine Spirit opening all the mysteries of the redeeming Christ in their inward parts, as It did in the Apostles, evangelists, and first ministers of the gospel.
For why could not the Apostles, who had been eye-witnesses to the entire process and life of Christ, why could they not with their human apprehension declare and testify the truth of such things, until they "Were baptized with fire, and born again of the Spirit"? It is because the truth of such things, or the mysteries of Christ's process, as knowable by man, are nothing else in themselves, but those very things which are done by this heavenly fire and Spirit of God in our souls. Therefore to know the mysteries of Christ's redemption, and to know the redeeming work of God in our own souls, is the same thing; the one cannot be before, or without the other. Therefore every man, be he who he will, however able in all kinds of human literature, must be an entire stranger to all the mysteries of gospel redemption, and can only talk about them like he would of any other tale he has been told, until they are brought forth, verified, fulfilled, and witnessed to by that, which is found, felt and enjoyed of the whole process of Christ in his soul. For as redemption is in its whole nature an inward Spiritual work, that works only in the altering, changing, and regenerating of the life of the soul, so it must be true, that nothing but the inward state of the soul can bear true witness to the redeeming power of Christ. For as it wholly consists in altering that which is the most radical in the soul, bringing forth a new spiritual death to self, and a new Spiritual life, it must be true, that no one can know or believe the mysteries of Christ's redeeming power, by hearing about them, or rationally consenting to that which is said of Him in written or spoken words, but only and solely by an inward experimental finding, and feeling of the operation of them, in that new death, and new life, both of which must be effected in the soul of man, or Christ is not, nor cannot be found, and known by the soul as its salvation. It must also be equally true, that the redeemed state of the soul, being in itself nothing else but the resurrection of a Divine and holy life in it, must as necessarily from first to last be the sole work of the creating Spirit of God, as the first holy created state of the soul was. And all this, because the mysteries of Christ's redeeming power, which work and bring forth the renewed state of the soul, are not creaturely, finite, outward things, that may be found and enjoyed by verbal descriptions, or formed ideas of them, but are a birth and life, and Spiritual operation, which solely belongs to God alone, as His creating power. For nothing can redeem a soul, but that same power which created the soul. Nothing can bring forth a good thought in it, but that which brought forth the power of thinking. And of every tendency towards goodness, be it ever so small, that same may be truly affirmed of it, which Paul affirmed of his highest state, "Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me."
But if the belief of the necessity and certainty of immediate continual Divine inspiration, in and for everything that can be holy and good in us, be (as its accusers say) blatant fanaticism, then he is the only sober orthodox Christian, who frankly says, in order to avoid fanaticism, my own power, and not Christ's Spirit living and breathing in me, has done this for me. For if all that is good is not done by Christ, then something that is good is done by self. It is in vain to think, that there is a middle way, and that rational Divines have found it out, as Dr. Warburton has done, who though denying immediate continual inspiration, yet allows that the Spirit's "Ordinary influence occasionally assists the faithful." {sermons, vol. 1.}
Now this middle way has neither scripture nor sense in it; for an occasional influence or concurrence is as absurd, as an occasional God, and necessarily supposes such a God. For an occasional influence of the Spirit upon us supposes an occasional absence of the Spirit from us. For there could be no such thing, unless God was sometimes with us, and sometimes not, sometimes doing us good, as the inward God of our life, and sometimes not, but leaving us to be good from ourselves.
Occasional influence necessarily implies all this blasphemous absurdity. Again, this middle way of an occasional influence and assistance necessarily supposes, that there is something of man's own that is good, or the Holy Spirit of God neither would, nor could assist or cooperate with it. But if there was anything good in man for God to assist and cooperate with, besides the seed of His own Divine nature, or His own word of life striving to bruise the serpent's nature within us, it could not be true, that there is only one that is good, and that is God. And were there any goodness in creatures, either in heaven, or on earth, but that one goodness of the Divine nature, living, working, and manifesting itself in them, as its created instruments, then good creatures, both in heaven and on earth, would have something else to adore, besides God. For goodness, no matter where it is found, is adorable for itself, and because it is goodness; if therefore any degree of it belonged to the creature, it ought to have a share of that same adoration that is paid to the Creator. Therefore, if to believe that nothing Godly can be alive in us, but what has all its life from the Spirit of God living and breathing in us, if to look solely to it, and depend wholly upon it, both for the beginning, and growth of every thought and desire that can be holy and good in us, is to be considered fanaticism, then it must be the same fanaticism to believe in only one God. For he that owns more goodness than one, owns more Gods than one. And he that believes he can have any good in himself, but that one goodness of God, manifesting itself in him, and through him, owns more goodness than one. But if it is true, that God and goodness cannot be divided, then it must be a truth for ever and ever, that when so much of good is in man, then we know that so much of God, must be in the creature, for only God can bring about goodness!
Every religious trust or confidence in anything, but the Divine operation of God within us, is but a sort of idol-worship
And here lies the true unchangeable distinction between God, and the natural creature. Nature and creature are only for the outward manifestation of the inward invisible unapproachable powers of God; they can rise no higher, nor be anything else in themselves, but as temples, habitations, or instruments, in which the supernatural God can, and does manifest Himself in various degrees, bringing forth creatures to be good with His own goodness, to love and adore Him with His own Spirit of love, forever singing praises to the Divine nature of which they partake. This is the religion of Divine inspiration, which being interpreted, is Emmanuel or God within us. Everything short of this, is short of that religion which worships God in Spirit and in truth. And every religious trust or confidence in anything, but the Divine operation of God within us, is but a sort of idol-worship, which though it may deny the form, yet retains the power thereof in the heart. And he that places any religious safety in theological decisions, scholastic achievements, in particular doctrines and opinions, that must be held about the scripture doctrines of faith, justification, sanctification, election, and reprobation, so far departs from the true worship of the living God within him, and sets up an idol of "notions" to be worshipped, if not instead of, yet along with Him. And I believe it may be taken for a certain truth, that every society of Christians, whose religion stands upon this ground, however ardent, laborious, and good their zeal may seem to be in such matters, yet in spite of all, sooner or later, it will be found that nature is at the bottom, and that a selfish, earthly, overbearing pride in their own definitions and doctrines of words, will by degrees creep up to the same height, and become that same fleshly wisdom, doing those very same things, which they exclaim against in popes, cardinals, and Jesuits. Nor can it possibly be otherwise. For a letter-learned zeal has but one nature wherever it is, it can only do that for Christians, which it did for Jews. As it anciently brought forth scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, and crucifiers of Christ, as it afterwards brought forth heresies, schisms, popes, papal decrees, images, anathemas, transubstantiations, so in protestant countries it will be doing the same thing, only with other materials; images of wood and clay, will only be given up for images of doctrines; grace and works, imputed sin, and imputed righteousness, election and reprobation, will have their synods of Dort, as truly evangelical, as any council of Trent.
This must be the case of all fallen Christendom, whether it be popish or protestant, until men, and churches, know, confess, and firmly adhere to this one scripture truth, which the blessed Jacob Behmen prefixed as a motto to most of his epistles, "That our salvation is in the life of Jesus Christ in us." And that, because this alone was the Divine perfection of man before he fell, and will be his perfection when he is one with Christ in heaven. Everything besides this, that is not solely aiming at and essentially leading to it, is but mere Babel in all sects and divisions of Christians, living to themselves, and their own old man under a seeming holiness of Christian strife and contention about scripture works. But this truth of truths, fully possessed, and firmly adhered to, brings God and man together, puts an end to every lo here, and lo there, and turns the whole faith of man to a Christ that can in no other way be a Savior to him, but as He is essentially born in the inmost spirit of his soul, nor possible to be born there by any other means, but the immediate inspiration and working power of the Holy Spirit within him. To this man alone, all scripture gives daily edification; the words of Christ and his Apostles fall like a fire into him. And what is it that they kindle there? Not notions, not itching ears, nor rambling desires after new ideas and new expounders of them, but a holy flame of love, to be always with, always attending to, that Christ and His Holy Spirit within him, which alone can make him to be and do all that, which the words of Christ and His Apostles have taught. For there is no possibility of being like-minded with Christ in anything that He taught, or having the truth of one Christian virtue, but by the nature and Spirit of Christ having become essentially living in us. Read all our Savior's Divine sermon on the mount, consent to the goodness of every part of it, and yet the time of practicing it will never come, until you have that new nature from Christ, and are as vitally in Him, and He in you, as the vine is in the branch, and the branch is in the vine. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," is a Divine truth, but will do us no Divine good, unless we receive it as saying neither more nor less, than "Blessed are they that are born again of the Spirit, for they alone can see God." For no blessedness, either of truth or life, can be found either in men or angels, but where the Spirit and life of God is essentially born within them. And all men or churches, not placing their all in the life, light, and guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ, but pretending to act in the name, and for the glory of God, from opinions which their logic and learning have collected from scripture words, or from what a Calvin, an Arminius, a Socinus, or some smaller name, has told them to be right or wrong, all such, are but where the Apostles were, when "By the way there was a strife among them about who should be the greatest." And no matter how much they may say, and boast of their great zeal for truth, and only the glory of God, yet their own open notorious behavior towards one another, is proof enough, that the great strife amongst them is, which shall be the greatest denomination, or have the largest number of followers. A strife, from the same root, and just as useful to Christianity, as that of the carnal apostles, discussing who should be the greatest. For not numbers of men, or kingdoms professing Christianity, but numbers redeemed from the death of Adam to the life of Christ are the glory of the Christian church. And in whatever "Christianity" anything else is meant or sought after, by the profession of the gospel, except a new heavenly life, through the mediatorial nature and Spirit of the eternal Son of God, born in the fallen soul, wherever this Spirituality of the gospel-redemption is denied or overlooked, there the spirit of self, of Satan and worldly subtlety, will be church and priest, and supreme power, in all that is called religion.
Scholastic theology
But to return now to the doctrine of continual inspiration. The natural or unregenerate man, educated in pagan learning, and scholastic theology, seeing the strength of his genius in the search after knowledge, how easily and learnedly he can talk, write, criticize and determine upon all scripture words and facts, he looks at all this as a full proof of his own religious wisdom, power and goodness, and calls immediate inspiration, fanaticism, not considering, that all the woes denounced by Christ against scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, are so many woes now at this day denounced against every appearance and show of religion, that the natural man can practice.
And what is well to be noted, everyone, however high in human literature, is but this very natural man, and can only have the goodness of a carnal secular religion, until he is as empty of all, as a newborn child, the Spirit of God then gets a full birth in him, and becomes the one to inspire and do all that He wills, does, and aims at, in his whole course of religion.
Our Divine master compares the religion of the learned Pharisees to "Whitened sepulchers, outwardly beautiful, but inwardly full of rottenness, stench, and dead men's bones."
Now where was it, that a religion, so serious in its restraints, so beautiful in its outward form and practices, and commanding such reverence from all that beheld it, was yet charged by truth itself with having inwardly such an abominable nature? It was only for this one reason, because it was a religion of self. Therefore, from the beginning to the end of the world, it must be true, that where self is kept alive, and has power, and keeps up its own interests, whether in speaking, writing, teaching or defending the most specious number of scripture doctrines and religious forms, there is that very old Pharisee still alive, whom Christ with so much severity of language constantly condemned. And the reason of such heavy condemnation is, because self is the very root, the sum total of all sin; every sin that can be named is centered in self, and the creature can sin no higher, than he can live to self. For self is the fullness of atheism and idolatry, it is nothing else but the creature broken off from God and Christ; it is the power of Satan living and working in us, and the sad continuance of that first turning from God, which was the whole fall or death of our first father, Adam.
And yet, sad and Satanical as this self is, what is so much cherished and nourished with our daily love, fears, and cares about it? How much worldly wisdom, how much laborious learning, how many subtleties of contrivance, and how many flattering applications and submissions are made to the world, that this apostate self may have its fullness, both of inward joys, and outward glory?
But to all this it must yet be added, that a religion of self, of worldly glory and prosperity carried on under the gospel state, has more of a diabolical nature than that of the Jewish Pharisees. It is the highest and last working of the mystery of iniquity, because it lives to self, Satan, and the world, and at the same time it is making a daily profession of denying and dying to self, of being crucified with Christ, of being led by His Spirit, of being risen from the world, and set with Him in heavenly places.
Let then the writers against continual immediate Divine inspiration take this for a certain truth, that by so doing, they do all they can to draw man from that which is the very truth and perfection of the gospel state, and are, and can be, no better than pitiable advocates for a religion of self, more blamable and abominable now, than that which was of old condemned by Christ. For whatever is pretended to be done in gospel religion, by any other spirit or power, but that of the Holy Ghost bringing it forth, whether it be praying, preaching, or practicing any duties, is all, nothing but the religion of self, and can be nothing else. For all that is born of the flesh, is flesh, and nothing is Spiritual, but that which has its whole birth from the Spirit. But man, not ruled and governed by the Spirit, has only the nature of corrupt flesh, is under the full power and guidance of fallen nature, and is that very natural man, to whom the things of God are foolishness. But man boldly rejecting, and preaching against a continual immediate Divine inspiration, is an anti-apostle, he lays another foundation, than that which Christ has laid, he teaches that Christ needs not, must not, be all in all in us, and preaches the folly of fearing to grieve, quench, and resist the Holy Spirit. For when, where, or how could anyone of us be in danger of grieving, quenching, or resisting the Spirit, unless His holy breathings and inspirations were always within us? Or how could the sin against the Holy Ghost have a more dreadful nature, than that against the Father and the Son, but because the continual immediate guidance and operation of the Spirit, is the last and highest manifestation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the fallen soul of man? It is not because the Holy Ghost is more worthy, or higher in nature than the Father and the Son, but because Father and Son come forth in their own highest power of redeeming love, through the covenant of a continual immediate inspiration of the Spirit, to be always dwelling and working in the soul. Many weak things have been conjectured, and published to the world, about the sin against the Holy Ghost; understand this, the whole nature of it lies here, that it is a sinning, or standing up against the last and highest dispensation of God for the full redemption of man. Christ says, "If I had not come, they would not of had sin," that is, they would not of had such a weight of guilt upon them; therefore the sinning against Christ come into the flesh, was of a more unpardonable nature, than sinning against the Father under the law. So likewise sinning against the Holy Ghost is of a more unpardonable nature than sinning against the Father under the law, or against the Son as come in the flesh, because these two preceding dispensations were but preparatory to the coming, or full ministration of the Spirit. But when Father and Son were come in the power and manifestation of the Spirit, then he that refuses or resists this ministration of the Spirit, resists all that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can do to restore and revive the first life of God in the soul, and so commits the unpardonable sin, which is therefore unpardonable, because there remains no further, or higher power to remove it out of the soul. For no sin is pardonable, because of its own nature: or that which is in itself, but because there is something yet to come that can remove it out of the soul; nor can any sin be unpardonable, but because it has withstood, or turned from that which is the last and best for the removal of it.
The sin of all sins!
Therefore it is, that grieving, quenching, or resisting the Spirit, is the sin of all sins, that most of all stops the work of redemption, and in the highest degree separates man from all union with God. But there could be no such sin, but because the Holy Spirit is always breathing, willing, and working within us. For what Spirit can be grieved by us, but that which has its will within us disobeyed? What Spirit can be quenched by us, but that which is, and ever would be, a holy fire of life within us? What Spirit can be resisted by us, but that which is, and has its working within us? A spirit on the outside of us cannot be the Spirit of God, nor could such a Spirit be any more quenched, or hindered by our spirit, than a man by being indignant at a storm could stop its raging. Now, dreadful as the above mentioned sin is, I would ask all the writers against immediate continual Divine inspiration, how they could more effectually lead men into an habitual state of sinning against the Holy Ghost, than by such a doctrine? For how can we possibly avoid the sin of grieving, quenching, etc., the Spirit, but by continually reverencing His holy presence within us, by continually waiting for, trusting, and solely attending to that which the Spirit of God wills, works, and manifests within us? To turn men from this continual dependence upon the Holy Spirit, is turning them from all true knowledge of God. For without this, there is no possibility of any edifying, saving knowledge of God. For though we have ever so many word pictures, or descriptions of His being, etc., we are without all real knowledge of Him, until He brings to life His Spirit within us, to manifest Himself, as a power of life, light, love, and goodness, essentially found, vitally felt, and adored in our souls. This is the one knowledge of God, which is eternal life, because it is the life of God made manifest in the soul, that knowledge of which Christ says, no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son reveals Him. Therefore this knowledge is only possible to be found in him, who is in Christ a new creature, for so it is that Christ reveals the Father. But if none belong to God, but those who are led by the Spirit of God, if we are reprobate unless the Spirit of Christ is living in us, who needs to be told, that all that we have to trust to, or depend upon, as children of God and Christ, is the continual immediate guidance, unction, and teaching of the Holy Spirit within us? Or how can we more profanely sin against this Spirit and power of God within us, or more expressly call men away from the power of God to Satan, than by ridiculing a faith and hope that looks wholly and solely to His continual immediate breathings and operations, for all that can be holy and good in us?
"When I am lifted up from the earth," says Christ, "I will draw all men unto Me." Therefore the one great power of Christ in and over the souls of men, takes place after He is in heaven; then begins the true full power of His drawing, because it is by His Spirit in man, that He draws. But who can more resist this drawing, or defeat its operation in us, than he that preaches against, and condemns the belief of a continual and immediate inspiration of the Spirit, when Christ's drawing can be in nothing else, nor be powerful any other way?
Now that which we are here taught, is the whole end of all scripture; for all that is said in the scripture, however learnedly read, or studied by Hebrew or Greek skill, fails of its only end, until it leads and brings us to an essential dwelling of God within us, to feel and find all that which the scriptures speak of God, of man, of life and death, of good and evil, of heaven and hell, as essentially verified in our own souls. For all is within man that can be either good or evil to him: God within him, is his Divine life, his Divine light, and his Divine love: Satan within him is his life of self, of earthly wisdom, of diabolical falseness, wrath, pride, and vanity of every kind. There is no middle way between these two. He that is not under the power of the one, is under the power of the other. And the reason is this, man was created in and under the power of the Divine life; so far therefore as he loses, or turns from this life of God, so far he falls under the power of self, which of course really is the power of Satan , and worldly wisdom. When Peter, full of human good and human love towards Christ, advised Him to avoid His sufferings, Christ rejected him with a "Get thee behind me, Satan," and only gave this reason for it, "For you do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that be of men." A plain proof, that whatever is not of and from the Holy Spirit of God in us, however plausible it may outwardly seem to men, to their wisdom, and human goodness, is yet in itself nothing else but the power of Satan within us. And as Paul said truly of himself, "By the grace of God I am what I am"; so every scribe, every disputer of this world, everyone who trusts to the strength of his own rational learning, everyone that is under the power of his own fallen nature, never free from desires of honors and preferment, ever thirsting to be rewarded for his theological abilities, ever fearing to be abased and despised, always thankful to those who flatter him with his distinguished merit, everyone that is such, be he who he will, may as truly say of himself, through my turning and trusting to something other than the grace and inspiration of God's Spirit, I am what I am. For nothing else hinders any professor of Christ from being able truly to say with Paul, "God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross of Christ, by which I am crucified to the world, and the world to me." Nothing makes him incapable of finding that which Paul found, when he said, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me"; nothing hinders all this, but his disregard of a Christ within him, his choosing to have a religion of self, of laborious learning, and worldly greatness, rather than be such a gospel fool for Christ, as to renounce all that which He renounced, and to seek no more earthly honor and praise than He did, and to will nothing, know nothing, seek nothing, but that which the Spirit of God and Christ knows, wills, and seeks in him. Here, and here alone, lies the Christian's full and certain power of overcoming self, the devil, and the world. But Christians, seeking and turning to anything else, but to be led and inspired by the one Spirit of God and Christ, will bring forth a Christendom that in the sight of God will have no other name, than a spiritual Babylon, a spiritual Egypt, and Sodom, a scarlet whore, a devouring beast, and red dragon. For all these names belong to all men, however learned, and to all churches, whether greater or less, in which the spirit of this world has any share of power. This was the fall of the whole church soon after the apostolic ages; and all human reformations, begun by ecclesiastical learning, and supported by civil power, will signify little or nothing, no, it often make things worse, until all churches, dying to their own self-will, all their own wisdom, all their own advancement, seek for no reforming power, but from that Spirit of God which converted sinners, publicans, harlots, Jews, and heathens, into an holy apostolical church at the first, a church which knew they were of God, that they belonged to God, by that Spirit which he had given them, and which worked in them. "You are not in the flesh," says the apostle, "But in the Spirit"; but then he adds, as the only ground of this, "If so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you"; surely he means, if you are moved, guided, and governed by that, which the Spirit wills, works and inspires within you. And then to show the absolute necessity of this life of God in the soul, he adds, "If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And that this is the state to which God has appointed, and called all Christians, he declares, "God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. 4:6. The same thing, most surely, as if he had said, nothing in you can cry or pray to God as its Father, but the Spirit of his Son, Christ come to life in you. Which is also as true of every tendency in the soul towards God or goodness; so much as there is of it, so much there is of the seed of the woman striving to bring forth a full birth of Christ in the soul.
"Lo, I am always with you," says the holy Jesus, "Even to the end of the world." How is He with us? Not outwardly, every illiterate man knows; and many a learned doctor of divinity says, not inwardly, because a Christ within us is gross fanaticism. How then shall the faith of the common Christian find any comfort in these words of Christ's promise, unless the Spirit brings him into a belief, that Christ is truly in him, and with him, as the vine is with and in the branch. Christ says, "Without Me you can do nothing"; and also, "If any man loves Me, My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." Now if without Him we can do nothing, then all the love that a man can possibly have for Christ, must be from the power and life of Christ in him, and from such a love, so begotten, that man has the Father and the Son dwelling and making their abode in him. What higher proof, or fuller certainty can there be, that the whole work of redemption in the soul of man is, and can be nothing else, but the inward, continual, immediate operation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, raising up again their own first life in the soul, to which our first father Adam, died?
Again, Christ, after His glorification in heaven, says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock." He does not say, behold you have Me in the scriptures. Now what is the door at which Christ, at the right-hand of God in heaven, knocks? Surely it is the heart, to which Christ is always present. He goes on, if any man hears My voice; how can he hear, but with the hearing of the heart, or with what voice, but that which is the speaking or sounding of Christ within him; He adds, and opens the door, that is, opens his heart for Me, I will come in to him, that is, will be a living holy nature, and Spirit born within him, and I will sup with him, and he with Me. Behold the last finishing work of a redeeming Jesus, entered into the heart that opens to Him, bringing forth the joy, the blessing, and perfection of that first life of God in the soul, which was lost by the fall, set forth as a supper, or feast of the heavenly Jesus with the soul, and the soul with Him. Can anyone justly call it fanaticism to say, that this supping of the soul with the glorified Christ within it, must mean something more heavenly transacted in the soul than that last supper which He celebrated with His disciples, while He was with them in flesh. For that supper of bread and wine was such, as a Judas could partake of, and was only an outward type or signification of that inward and blessed nourishment, with which the believing soul should feast upon, when the glorified Son of God should as a creating Spirit enter into us, bringing to life, and raising up His own heavenly nature and life within us. Now this continual knocking of Christ at the door of the heart, sets forth the case or nature of a continual immediate Divine inspiration within us; it is always with us, but there must be an opening of the heart to it; and though it is always there, yet it is only felt and found by those, who are attentive to it, depend upon, and humbly wait for it. Now let anyone tell me how he can believe anything of this voice of Christ, how he can listen to it, hear, or obey it, but by such a faith, as keeps him habitually turned to an immediate constant inspiration of the Spirit of Christ within him? Or how any heathenish profane person, can do more damage to this presence and power of Christ in his own soul, or more effectually lead others to neglect it, than the minister, or other professing Christian, who mocks the light within, and openly blasphemes that faith, and hope, and trust, which solely relies upon being moved by the Spirit, as its only power of doing that which is right, and good, and pious, either towards God or man. Let every man, whom this concerns, lay it to heart. Time, and the things of time, will soon have an end; and he that in time trusts to anything, but the Spirit and power of God working in his heart, will be ill-fitted to enter into eternity; God must be all and in all, in us here, or we cannot be His hereafter. Time works only for eternity; and eternal poverty must as certainly follow him, who dies only fully stuffed with human learning, as he who dies only full of worldly riches. The folly of thinking to have any Divine learning, except that which the Holy Spirit teaches, or to make ourselves rich in knowledge towards God, by going to school and crowding our minds with learning, will leave us as dreadfully cheated, as that rich builder of barns in the gospel, to whom it was said, "You fool, this night, shall your soul be required of you. And then, whose shall all these things be?" Luke 12. So is every man that treasures up a religious learning that does not come wholly from the Spirit of God. But to return to this inward constant attention to the continual working of the Holy Spirit within us, the apostle calls us in these words, "See that you refuse not Him that speaks; for if they escaped not, who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn from Him, that speaks from heaven," Heb. 12-25. Now what is this speaking from heaven, which is so dangerous to refuse, or resist? Surely not outward voices from heaven. Or what could the Apostle's advice signify to us, unless it be such a speaking from heaven, as we may and must be always either obeying or refusing? James said, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." What devil? Surely not an outward creature or spirit, that tempts us by an outward power. What better resistance can we make to the devil, but that of inwardly falling away, or turning from the workings of his evil nature and spirit within us? They therefore who tell us to stop waiting for, depending upon, and attending to, the continual secret inspirations and breathings of the Holy Spirit within us, call us to resist God in the same manner as the apostle exhorts us to resist the devil. For God is our only Spiritual good, and the devil our spiritual evil, neither one nor the other can be resisted, or not resisted by us, but so far as their spiritual operations within us are either turned from, or obeyed by us. James having shown us, that resisting the devil is the only way to make him flee from us, that is, to lose his power in us, and immediately adds, how we are to behave towards God, that He may not flee from us, or His holy work be stopped in us. "Draw near," says he, "To God, and God will draw near to you." What is this drawing near? Surely not by any local motion, either in God or us. But the same is meant, as if he had said, resist not God, that is, let His holy will within you have its full work; keep wholly, obediently attentive to that, which He is and has, and does within you, and then God will draw near to you, that is, will more and more manifest the power of His holy presence in you, and make you more and more a partaker of the Divine nature. Further more, what a blindness it is in the aforementioned writers, to charge persons with fanaticism, who hold to the doctrine of continual immediate inspiration, and to attack them as enemies to the established Church, when everybody's eyes see, are taught, and required to believe, and pray for the continual inspiration of the Spirit, as that alone, by which they can have the least good thought, or desire? Thus, "O God, forasmuch as without you, we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts." Is it possible for words more strongly to express the necessity of a continual Divine inspiration? Or can inspiration be higher, or more immediate in prophets and Apostles, than that which directs, that which rules our hearts, not now and then, but in all things? Or can the absolute necessity of this be more fully declared, than by saying, that if it is not in this degree, both of height and continuance in and over our hearts, nothing that is done by us can be pleasing to God?
All holiness is by Divine inspiration
Now the matter is not at all about the different effects or works proceeding from inspiration, as whether by it a man be made a saint in himself, or sent by God with a prophetic message to others, this does not affect the nature and necessity of inspiration, which is just as great, just as necessary in itself to all true goodness, as to all true prophecy. All scripture is of Divine inspiration. But why so? "Because holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now the above scripture, as well as Christ and his Apostles, oblige us in like manner to believe, that all holiness is by Divine inspiration, and that therefore there could have been no holy men of old, or in any latter times, but solely for this reason, because "They lived as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Again, a typical church prayer, prays thus, "O God, from whom all good things come, grant that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by your merciful guiding may perform them." Now, if in any of my writings I have ever said anything higher, or further of the nature and necessity of continual Divine inspiration, than this church-prayer does, I refuse no censure that shall be passed upon me. But if I have, from all that we know of God, of nature, and creature, shown the utter impossibility of any kind, or degree of goodness to be in us, but from the Divine nature living and breathing in us, if I have shown that all scripture, Christ and his Apostles, over and over say the same thing; that our church liturgy is daily praying according to it; what kinder thing can I say of those churchmen who accuse me of fanaticism, than that which Christ said of his blind crucifiers, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
It is to no purpose to object to all of this, that these kingdoms are over-run with enthusiasts of all kinds, and that Moravians with their several divisions, and Methodists of various kinds, are everywhere acting in the wildest manner under the pretense of being called and led by the Spirit. Be it so, or not so, it is a matter that I will not interfere with; nor is the doctrine I am upon in the least affected by it. For what an argument would this be; Fanatics of the present and former ages have made a bad use of the doctrine of being led by the Spirit of God, ergo, He is a Fanatic, or at the very least helps forward fanaticism, who preaches the doctrine of being led by the Spirit of God. Now absurd as this is, were any of my accusers as high in genius, as grand in learning, as Colossus was in stature, he would be at a loss to bring a stronger argument than this, to prove me fanatical, or an abettor of them.
But as I do not begin to doubt the necessity, the truth, and perfection of gospel religion, when told that whole nations and churches have, under a pretense of regard to it, and for the sake of it, done all the bad things that can be charged upon this or that leading fanatic, whether you call those bad things, schism, perjury, rebellion, and hypocrisy. So I do not give up the necessity, the truth, and perfection of looking wholly to the Spirit of God and Christ within me, as my promised inspirer, and only worker of all that can be good in me, I do not give this up, because in this, or any other age, both spiritual pride and fleshly lusts have prospered by it, or because Satan has often led people into all the heights of self-glory, and self-seeking under a pretense of being inspired with gospel humility, and gospel self-denial.
Another charge upon me, equally false, and I may say, more senseless, is that I am a declared enemy to the use of reason in religion. And why? Because in all my writings, I teach that reason is to be denied. I admit, I have not only taught this, but have again and again proved the absolute necessity of it. And this, because Christ has made it absolutely necessary, by saying, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself." For how can a man deny himself, without denying his reason, unless reason is not a part of himself? Or how can a rational creature whose chief distinction from brutes is that of his reason, be called to deny himself in any other way, than by denying that which is peculiar to himself? Let the matter be expressed in this way, man is not to deny his reason. Well, how then? Why, He is only to deny himself. Can there be a greater folly of words? And yet it is their wisdom of words, who allow the denying of self to be good doctrine, but boggle, and cry out at the denying of reason. For how can a man deny himself, but by denying that which is the life, and spirit, and power of self? What makes a man a sinner? Nothing but the power and working of his natural reason. And therefore, if our natural reason is not to be denied, we must keep up and follow that which works every sin that ever was, or can be in us. For we can sin nowhere, or in anything, but where our natural reason or understanding has its power in us. What is meant in all scripture by the flesh and its works? Is it something distinct, and different from the workings of our rational and intelligent nature? No, it is our whole intelligent, rational nature, that constitutes the flesh or the carnal man, who could not be criminally so, any more than the beasts, but because his carnality has all its evil from his intelligent nature or reason, being the life and power of it. And everything which our Lord says of self, is so much said of our natural reason; and all that the scripture says of the flesh and its evil nature, is so much said of the evil state of our natural reason, which therefore is, and ought, and must be denied, in the same manner and degree as self and flesh is denied.
The height of our calling
And here truth obliges me to say, that scholastic divinity is in as great ignorance about the most fundamental truths of the gospel, as I have again and again shown, in regard to the nature of the fall of man, and all the scripture expressions concerning the new birth; and here also concerning the doctrine, of a man's denying himself, which modern learning supposes to be possible without, or different from a man's denying his own natural reason; which is an absurdity of the greatest magnitude. For what is self, but that which a man is, and has in his natural capacity? Or what is the fullness of his natural capacity, but the strength and power of his reason? How then can any man deny himself, but by denying that which gives self its whole nature, name, and power? If man was not a rational creature, he could not be called to deny himself, he would not need, or receive the benefit and goodness of self-denial: no man therefore can obey the precept of denying himself, or have any benefit or goodness from it, but so far as he denies, or dies to his own natural reason, because the self of man, and the natural reason of man, are strictly the same thing. Again, our blessed Lord said in his Agony, "Not my will, but Yours be done." and had not this been the form of His whole life, He would not have lived without sin. Now to deny our own will, that God's will may be done in us, is the height of our calling; and so far as we keep from our own natural will, so far we keep from sin. But now, if our own natural will, as having all sin and evil in it, is to always to be denied, whatever it costs us, I would like to know, how our natural reason can ever escape, or how we can deny our own will, and not deny that rational or intelligent power, in and from which the will has its whole existence and continual direction? Or how there can be always a badness of our own will, which is not the badness of our own natural intellectual power? Therefore it is a truth of the utmost certainty, that as much as we are obliged to deny our own natural will that the will of God may be done in us, so much are we obliged to deny our own natural reason and understanding that our own will may not be done, or followed by us. For whoever lives to his own natural reason, he necessarily lives to his own natural will. For our natural will, in whatever state it is, is nothing else but our natural reason willing this, or willing that.
Self-seeking, self-esteem, and fleshly wisdom
Now hard as this may seem to the unregenerate nature, and yet harder to the natural man that has been highly exalted, and made great with the glory of all that which, wits, poets, orators, critics, and historians have enriched it with, yet true it is, a truth as certain as the fall of man, that this full denial of our own natural will, and our own natural reason, is the only possible way for Divine knowledge, Divine light, and Divine goodness, to have any place or power of birth in us. All other religious knowledge, received in any other way, let it be as great as it will, is only great in vanity, emptiness, and delusion.
For nothing but that which comes from God, can have anything Godly in it, and all that which comes from self, and natural reason, however wonderful it appears on the outside, can have no better a nature within, than self-seeking, self-esteem, and fleshly wisdom, which are those very works of the devil in us, which Christ came into the world to destroy. For the efforts of natural reason, and self-abilities, to be great in religious knowledge from our own particular talents, are as satanical a thing as any we carry about us, and most of all fix us in the highest contrariety to that state, which our Lord affirms to be absolutely necessary. "Except you be converted, and become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Now as sure as this is necessary, so sure is it, that no one can be converted, or come under the good influence of this childlike nature, until natural reason, self, and self-will, are all completely denied. For all the evil and corruption of our fallen nature consists in this, it is an awakened life of our own reason, self-will broken off from God, and so fallen into the selfish workings of its own earthly nature.
Now whether this self broken off from God, reasons, wills, and contends about the difference of scripture words and opinions, or reasons against them, the same evil state of fallen nature, the same loss of life, the same separation from God, the same evil tempers of flesh and blood, will be equally strengthened and inflamed by the one as by the other. Therefore it is, that papists and protestants are hating, fighting, and sometimes killing one another for the sake of their different excellent opinions, and yet, as to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, they are in the best union and communion with one another. And the reason why it must be so, is because bad syllogisms for transubstantiation, and better syllogisms against it, signify no more towards casting Satan out of our souls, than a bad or better taste for paintings.
Hence also it is, that Christendom, full of the nicest decisions about faith, grace, works, merits, satisfactions, heresies, schisms, etc., is full of all those evil tempers which prevailed in the heathen world, when none of these things were ever thought of. A scholar, pitying the blindness and folly of those who live to themselves in the cares and pleasures of this vain life, thinks himself Divinely employed, and to have escaped the pollution's of the world, because he is, day after day, dividing, dissecting, and mending church-opinions, fixing heresies here, schisms there; forgetting all the while, that a carnal self and natural reason have the doing of all that is done by this learned zeal, and are as busy and active in him, as in the reasoning infidel, or worldling. For where self is wholly denied, there nothing can be called heresy, schism, or wickedness, but the need of loving God with our whole heart, and our neighbor as ourselves; nor anything be called truth, life, or salvation, but the Spirit, nature, and power of Christ living and manifesting itself in us, as it did in him. But where self or the natural man is become great in religious learning, there the greater the scholar, the more firmly will they be fixed in their religion, "Whose God is their belly." When Jacob Behmen says "I write not to reason;" The mouth of learning says, fanaticism: and yet Jacob said as sober a truth, as if he had said, I write not to self-will; for natural reason, self and own will, always did, and always must see through the same eyes, and hear through the same ears. Now let it only be supposed, that Jacob Behmen and myself, when we speak of natural reason, mean only the natural man (as is over and over declared by us) and then Jacob Behmen's saying, that he writes neither from reason, nor to the natural reason of others, is only saying that very same thing as Paul said, that "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, Neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned."
But that I may fully show the perverseness of my accusers, in charging me with denying the use of reason in religion, see here a word or two of what I have said, more than twenty-four years ago, which doctrine I have maintained in all that I have since wrote. My words are these. You shall see reason possessed of all that belongs to it. I will grant it to have as great a share in the good things of religion, as in the good things of this life; that it can assist the soul, just as it can assist the body, that it has the same power and virtue in the spiritual, that it has in the natural world; that it can communicate to us as much of the one, as of the other, and is of the same use and importance in the one as in the other. Can you ask more? All which I explain in the following manner. Man, considered as a member of this world, who is to have his share of the good that is in it, is a sensible, and a rational creature, that is, he has a certain number of senses, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling, by which he is sensible of all that the outward world, in which he is placed, can do for him, or communicate to him, and so is sensible of what kind and degree of happiness he can have from it.
Now besides these organs of sense, he has a power or faculty of reasoning upon the ideas, which he has received from these senses. How are the good things of this world communicated to man? How is he put in possession of them? To what part of him are they proposed? Are his senses, or his reason, the means of his having so much as he has or can have from this world?
Now here, you must degrade reason just as much as it is degraded by religion, and are obliged to set it as low with respect to the things of this world, as it is set with respect to the things of the spiritual world. It is no more the means of communicating the good things of the one, than of the other. And as Paul says, "The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God," it is for this reason, because they are Spiritually discerned; so you must of necessity say, the rational man cannot receive the things of this world, for this reason, because they are sensibly received, that is, they are received by the organs of sense. Reason therefore has no higher office or power in the things of this world, than in the things of religion; and religion does no more violence to your reason, or rejects it any other way, than all the good things of this world reject it; it is not seeing, it is not hearing, tasting, or feeling the things of this life; it can not supply the place of any of these senses.
Now it is only useless in religion; it can not see, nor hear, taste, or feel of Spiritual things; therefore in the things of religion, and in the things of this world, it has the same insignificance. It is the sensibility of the soul that must receive what this world can communicate to it; it is the sensibility of the soul that must receive what God can communicate: reason may follow after in either case, and view through its own glass what is done, but it can do no more. Reason may be of the same service to us, as when we want any of the enjoyments of this life; it may direct us how and where they are to be had; it may take away a cover from our eyes, or open our window shutters when we want the light; but it can do no more towards seeing, than to make way for the light to act upon our eyes. This is all of its office and ability in the things of religion; it may remove the things that hinder the sensibility of the soul, or prevents the Divine light acting upon it, but it can do no more; because the faculty of reasoning is only the activity of the mind upon its own ideas or images, which the senses have caused it to form from that which has been stirred up in them, but has nothing of the nature of the thing which it speculates upon; it does not become dark, when it reasons upon the cause or nature of darkness, nor does it become light, when it reasons about light; nor does it receive anything of the nature of religion, when it is wholly taken up in descriptions and definitions of religious doctrines and virtues.
For the good of religion is like the good of food and drink to the creature that needs it. And if instead of giving such an one bread and wine, you should teach him to seek for relief by attending to clear ideas of the nature of bread, of different ways of making it, etc., he would be left to die in the need of sustenance, just as the religion of reasoning leaves the soul to perish in the want of that good which it was to have from religion. And yet as a man may have the benefit of food much assisted by the right use of his reason, though reason has not the good of food in it, so a man may have the good of religion much assisted and secured to him, by the right use of his reason, though reason has not the good of religion in it. And as it would be great folly and perverseness, to accuse a man as an enemy to the true use of reasoning about food, because he declares that reason is not food, nor can supply the place of it, so is it equally such, to accuse a man as an enemy to the use of reasoning in religion, because he declares that reasoning is not religion, nor can supply the place of it. We have no need of religion, but because we want to have more of the Divine nature in us than we have in our fallen nature. But if this is the truth of the matter (And who can deny it?) Then we are sure that nothing can be our good in religion, but that which communicates to us something of God, or which alters our state of existence in God, and makes us partakers of the Divine nature, in such a manner and degree as we needed. What a folly it is then to put any trust in a religion of rational notions and opinions logically deduced from scripture words? Do we not see sinners of all sorts, and men under the power of every corrupt passion, equally zealous for such a religion? Proof enough, that it does not have the good of religion in it, nor any contrariety to the vices of the heart; it neither kills them, nor is killed by them. For as pride, hypocrisy, envy or malice, do not take away from the mind its critical abilities; so a man may be most logical in his religion of reason, words, doctrines, and opinions, when he has nothing of the true good of religion in him.
But as soon as it is known and confessed, that all the happiness or misery of all creatures consists only in this, as they are more or less possessed of God, or as they differently partake of this Divine nature, then it must be equally known, that nothing but God can do or be any religious good to us, and also that God cannot do, or be, any religious good to us, but by the communication of Himself, or the manifestation of His own life within us.
Hence may be seen the great blindness both of infidels and Christians; the one in trusting to their own reason dwelling in its own logical conclusions; the other in trusting to their own reason dwelling in learned opinions about scripture words and phrases, and doctrines built upon them. For as soon as it is known and confessed, that God is all in all, that in Him we live and move and have our being, that we can have nothing separately, or out of Him, but everything in Him, that we have no being or degree of being but in Him, that He can give us nothing as our good but Himself, nor any degree of salvation from our fallen nature, but in such degree as He again communicates something more of Himself to us, as soon as this is known, then it is known with the utmost evidence, that to put a religious trust in our own reason, whether confined to itself, or working in doctrines about scripture words, it still has the nature of that same idolatry that puts a religious trust in the sun, a departed saint, or a graven image. And as image-worship has often boasted of its Divine power, because of the wonders of zeal and devotion that have been raised thereby in thousands, and ten thousands of its followers, so it is no marvel, if opinion-worship should often have and boast of the same effects. But the truth of the whole matter lies here: as the word manifested in the flesh or become man, is the one mediator, or restorer of union between God and man, so to seeing eyes it must be evident, that nothing but this one mediatorial nature of Christ, essentially brought to life in our souls, can be our salvation through Christ Jesus. For that which saved and exalted that humanity in which Christ dwelt, must be the salvation of every human creature in the world.
The purpose or job of the Holy Scriptures
But to return. What poor divinity knowledge comes from great scholars and great readers, may be sufficiently seen from the two following judicious quotations in a late dissertation on fanaticism; the one is taken from Dr. Warburton's sermons, the other from a pastoral letter of Mr. Stinstra, a preacher among the Mennonites of Friesland. The one from Dr. Warburton stands thus: "By them (that is, by the writings of the new testament) the prophetic promise of our Savior, that the comforter should abide forever, was eminently fulfilled. For though His ordinary influence occasionally assists the faithful, yet His constant abode and supreme illumination is in the sacred scriptures." {dissertation, page 10.} Dr. Warburton's doctrine is this, that the inspired books of the New Testament is that comforter, or Spirit of truth, and illuminator, which is meant by Christ's being always with his church. Let us therefore put the doctor's doctrine into the letter of the text, which will best show how true or false it is.
Our Lord says, "It is expedient for you that I go away, or that comforter will not come"; that is, it is expedient for you, that I stop teaching you in words, that sound only into your outward ears, that you may have the same words in writing, for your outward eyes to look upon; for if I do not depart from this vocal way of teaching you, the comforter will not come, that is, you will not have the comfort of My words written on paper. But if I go away, I will send written books, which shall lead you into such a truth of words as you could not have, while they were only spoken from My mouth; but being written on paper, they will be My Spiritual, heavenly, constant abode with you, and the most supreme illumination you can receive from Me.
Christ says further: "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now: howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of Himself, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you"; that is, though you cannot be sufficiently instructed from My words at present, yet when they shall hereafter come to You in written books, they will give you a knowledge of all truth, for they shall not speak of themselves, but shall receive words from Me, and show them to you. Again, Christ says, "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but the time comes, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father." That is, up till now you have only had spoken proverbs from Me, and therefore you have not plainly known the Father; but the time comes when these spoken proverbs shall be put into writing, and then you shall plainly know the Father. Again, Christ adds. "You now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you." That is, you are now troubled at My personal departure from you, but some written books shall be My seeing you again, and in that visit you shall have such joy as cannot be taken from you.
Christ also says, "If any man loves me, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." That is, according to the doctor's theology, certain books of scripture will come to him, and make their abode with him; for he expressly confines the constant abode and supreme illumination of God to the holy scriptures. Therefore (horrible to say) God's inward presence, His operating power of life and light in our souls, His dwelling in us, and we in Him, is something of a lower nature, that only may occasionally happen, and has less of God in it than the dead letter of scripture, which alone is His constant abode and supreme illumination. Miserable fruits of a paradoxical genius!
Christ from heaven says, "Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open unto me, I will come into him and sup with him. "This is His true eminent fulfilling of His prophetic promise of being a comforter, and Spirit of truth to His church to the end of the world. But according to the doctor, we are to understand, that not the heavenly Christ, but the New Testament continually stands and knocks at the door, wanting to enter into the heart, and sup with it; which is no better than saying, that when Christ calls Himself alpha and omega, He means not Himself, but the New Testament. Again, "I am the vine, you are the branches; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in Me; for without Me, you can do nothing." Now take the doctor's comment, and then the truth of all these words of Christ was only temporary, and could be true no longer, than until the books of the New Testament were written; for then all this, which Christ has affirmed of Himself, of the certainty and necessity of His life and power in them, ended in Christ, and passed over to the written words of the New Testament, and they are the true vine, and we its branches, they are that without which we can do nothing. For it must be, if, as the doctor affirms, the writings of the New Testament are that, by which we are to understand the constant abode and supreme illumination of God in man. Now absurd, and even blasphemous, as this interpretation of the foregoing text is, it must be evident to every reader, that it is all the doctor's own; for the letter of scripture is only made here to claim that divinity to itself, which the doctor has openly affirmed to be true of it.
"Rabbi," says Nicodemus to Christ, "We know that you are a teacher come from God." Now that which was here truly said of Christ in the flesh, is the very truth that must be said of the scripture teaching in ink and paper; it is a teacher come from God, and therefore fully to be believed, highly reverenced, and strictly followed. But as Christ's teaching in the flesh was only preparatory to His future vital teaching by the Spirit, so the teaching of scripture by words written with ink and paper is only preparatory, or introductory to all that inward essential teaching of God, which is by His Spirit and truth within us. Every other opinion of the holy scripture, but that of an outward teacher and guide to God's inward teaching and illumination in our souls, is but making an idol-God of it: I say an idol-God; for to those who rest in it as the constant abode and supreme illumination of God with them, it can be nothing else. For, if nothing of Divine faith, love, hope, or goodness, can have the least birth, or place in us, but by Divine inspiration, they who think these virtues may be sufficiently raised in us by the letter of scripture, do in truth and reality make the letter of scripture their inspiring God. The Apostles preached and wrote to the people by Divine inspiration. But what do they say of their inspired doctrine and teachings? What virtue and power was there in them? Do they say that their words and teachings were the very promised comforter, the Spirit of truth, the true abode and supreme illumination of God in the souls of men? So far from such a blasphemous thought, that they affirm the direct contrary, and compare all their inspired teachings and instructions to the dead works of bare planting and watering, and which must continue dead, until life comes into them from another and much higher power. "I have planted," says Paul, "Apollos has watered, but God gave the increase." And then further to show that this planting and watering, which was the highest work that an inspired apostle could do, was yet in itself to be considered as a lifeless, powerless thing, he adds, "So then, neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase." But now, if this must be said of all that which the inspired Apostles taught in outward words, that it was nothing in itself, was without power, without life, and only such a preparation towards life, as is that of planting and watering, must not that same thing be said of their inspired teachings, when left behind them in writing? For what else are the Apostolic scriptures, but those very instructions and teachings put into writing, which they affirmed to be but bare planting and watering, quite powerless in themselves, until the living Spirit of God worked with them? Or will anyone say, that what Paul, Peter, John, etc., spoke by inspiration from their own mouths, was indeed bare planting and watering, in order to be capable of receiving life from God; but when these apostolic teachings and instructions were written on paper, they were raised out of their first inability, and received the nature of God Himself, and then became Spirit and life, and might be called the great bringing to life the Power of God, or, as the doctor says, the constant abode and supreme illumination of His Spirit with us?
It would be great folly and perverseness, to charge me here with slighting, or lessening the true value, use, and importance of the inspired Apostolical scriptures; for if the charge was just, it must lie against Paul, and not against me, since I say nothing of them, but that which he says, and in his own express words, i.e., that all their labor of preaching, instructing, and writing by Divine inspiration, had in themselves no other nature, use, or power, than that of such planting and watering as could not fructify until a higher power than was in them gave life and growth to that which they planted and watered.
I exceedingly love, and highly reverence the Divine authority of the sacred writings of the Apostles and evangelists, and would gladly persuade everyone, to be as deeply affected with them, and pay as profound a regard to them, as they would to an Elijah, John the Baptist, or Paul whom they knew to be immediately sent from heaven with God's message to them. I reverence them as a literal truth from God, as much the greatest heavenly blessing that can be outwardly bestowed upon us. I reverence them as doing, or fitted to do all that good amongst Christians now, which the Apostles did in their day, and as of the same use and benefit to the church of every age, as their planting and watering was to the first.
But now, if this is not thought to be that fullness of regard that is due to the holy messengers of God; if anyone will still be so learnedly wise, as to affirm, that though Paul's preaching in his epistles, while he was alive, was indeed only bare planting and watering, but the same epistles, being published after his death, received another nature, and became full of Divine and living power. I shall now only add this friendly hint to the doctor, that he has a remedy at hand in his own sermon, how he may be delivered from so grossly mistaking the Spirit of the gospel, as well as the law of Moses. Paul, (says the doctor) had a quick and lively imagination, and an extensive and intimate acquaintance with those masters in moral painting, the classic writers, all which he proudly sacrificed to the glory of the everlasting gospel. {sermons, vol i., page 229.}
O vainest of all vain projects! For what is Christianity, but that which Christ was while on earth? What can it be, but that which it is, and has from Him? He is a king, who has all power in heaven and on earth, and His kingdom, like Himself, is not of this world. Away then with the projects of popish pomp, and pagan literature to support it; they are as wise contrivances, as a high tower of Babel to defend it against the gates of hell.
This is proof enough, that as soon as any man trusts to natural abilities, skill in languages, and commonplace learning, as the true means of entering into the kingdom of God, a kingdom, which is nothing else but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he gives himself up to certain delusion, and can escape no error that is popular, or that suits his state and situation in the learned, religious world. He has sold his birthright in the gospel state of Divine illumination, to make a figure and noise with the sounding brass and tinkling cymbals of the natural man.
Why is it, that we see genius and natural abilities to be equally pleased with, and equally contending for the errors and absurdities of every system of religion, under which they are educated? It is because genius and natural abilities are just the same things, and must have the same nature now, as they had in the ancient schools of the peripatetic, academic, stoic, and atheistical philosophers. "The temptation of honor, which the academic exercise of wit (as Dr. W. Says) was supposed to bring to its professor, {Divine legation of Moses} has still its power among church disputants." Nor can it possibly ever be otherwise, until our capacity and genius, etc., do, as the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and lepers formerly did, and that is to go to be healed of their natural disorders by the inspiration of that oracle, who said, "I am the light of the world, he that follows Me, walks not in darkness." "No man comes unto the Father but by me." Well therefore might Paul say, "I have determined to know nothing among you, but Christ, and Him crucified." And had it not been for this determination, he would have never known, what he then knew, when he said, "The life that I now live, is not mine, but Christ's that lives in me." Did the apostle overstretch the matter? Was it a spirit of fanaticism, and not of Christ living in him, that made this declaration? Was he here making way for ignorance and darkness to extinguish the light that came down from heaven, and was the light of the world? Did he here undermine the true ground and rock on which the church of Christ was to stand, and prevail against the gates of hell? Did he by setting up this knowledge, as the best and only knowledge that an apostle need to have, break down the fences of Christ's vineyard, rob the church of all its strongholds, leave it defenseless, and a ready prey to infidels? Who can say this, but that spirit of anti-Christ, that did not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh? For, as Christ's intending nothing, knowing nothing, willing nothing, but purely and solely the whole course of His crucifying process, was the whole truth of His being come in the flesh, was His doing the whole will of Him that sent Him, was His overcoming the world, death, and hell, so he that embraces this process, as Christ embraces it, who is wholly given up to it, as Christ was. He has the will of Christ, and the mind of Christ, and therefore may well desire to know nothing else. To this man alone, is the world, death, and hell, known to be overcome in him, as they were in Christ; to him alone has Christ become the resurrection and the life; and he that knows this, knows also with Paul that all other knowledge may, and will be cast away as dung. Now if Paul, having rejected all other knowledge but that of a crucified Savior, which to the Jew was a stumbling-block, and to the Greek foolishness, if he had afterwards wrote three such large volumes as the doctor has done, for the food and nourishment of Christ's sheep, who can have no life in them but by eating the true bread that came down from heaven, must they not have been called Paul's full recantation of all that he had taught of a crucified Christ?
The other instance of delusion from book-learning, relates to Mr. Green, who wanting to write on Divine inspiration, runs from book to book, from country to country, to pick up reports wherever he can find them, concerning Divine inspiration, from this and that judicious author, so that he might be sure of compiling a judicious dissertation on the subject. All which he might have known to be mere delusion and lost labor, had he but remembered, or regarded any one single saying either of Christ or His Apostles concerning the Holy Spirit and his operations. For not a word is said by them, but that fully shows all knowledge or perception of the Spirit is nothing else but the enjoyment of the Spirit, and that no man can know more of Him than that which the Spirit Himself is, and does, and manifests of His power in man.
"The things of God," says Paul, "Knows no man, but the Spirit of God." Is not this decisive upon the matter? Is not this proof enough, that nothing in man but the Spirit of God in him, can know what the Spirit's work in man is and does? The fruit of the Spirit, so often mentioned in scripture, are not different things, or separate from the Spirit; and if the Spirit is not always working in us, His fruits must be as absent from us as He is. John says, "Hereby we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us." A demonstration, that the Spirit can in no other way make Himself known to us, but by His dwelling and working in us. James says, "Every good and perfect gift comes from above": but now does he not in reality deny this, who seeks for the highest gift of knowledge from below, from the poor contrivance of a common-place book? Again, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God"; James does not say, let him go ask Peter, or Paul, or John, because he knew that Divine wisdom was nothing else, but Divine inspiration. But Mr. Green has put together his ingenious, eminent writers, his excellent, learned, judicious authors, his calm and cool, rational-morality doctors (a set of men whose glorious names we read no more of in the gospel, than of the profound Aristotle, or the divine Cicero) and these are to do that for him, that which the whole college of Apostles could not do for anyone. Now this doctrine, that nothing but the Spirit can know the things that be of God, and that the enjoyment of the Spirit, is all the knowledge that we can have of Him, is a truth taught us, not only by all scripture, but by the whole nature of things. For everything that can be seen, known, heard, felt, etc., must be manifested by itself, and not by another. It is not possible for anything but light to manifest light, nor for anything but darkness to make darkness known. Yet this is more possible, than for anything but Divine inspiration to make Divine inspiration to be known. Hence there is a degree of delusion still higher, to be noted in such writers as Mr. Green; for his collection of ingenious, eminent, rational authors, of whom he asks counsel concerning the necessity or certainty of the immediate inspiration of the Spirit, are such as deny it, and write against it. Therefore the proceeding is just as wise, as if a man was to consult some ingenious and eminent atheists, about the truth and certainty of God's immediate continual providence; or ask a few selected deists, what he was to believe of the nature and power of gospel faith. Now there are the Holy Spirit's own operations, and there are reports about them. The only true reports, are those that are made by inspired persons; and if there were no such persons, there could be no true reports of the matter. And therefore to consult uninspired persons, persons who deny and reproach the pretense to inspiration, to be rightly instructed about the truth of immediate continual Divine inspiration, is a degree of blindness greater than that which could be charged upon the old Jewish scribes and Pharisees.
Deaf, dumb and blind to the kingdom of God
The reports that are to be acknowledged as true concerning the Holy Spirit and His operations, are those that are recorded in scripture; that is, the scriptures are an infallible history, or relation of that which the Holy Spirit is, and does, and works in true believers; and also an infallible direction as to how we are to seek, and wait, and trust in His good power over us. But then the scriptures themselves, though true and infallible in these reports and instructions about the Holy Spirit, yet they can go no further than to be a true history; they cannot give to the reader of them the possession, the sensibility, and enjoyment of that which they relate. This is plain, not only from the nature of a written history or instruction, but from the express words of our Lord, saying, "Except a man be born again of the Spirit, he cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God." Therefore the new birth from above, or of the Spirit, is that alone which gives true knowledge and perception of that which is the kingdom of God. The history relates truths about it; but the kingdom of God, is nothing else but the power and presence of God, dwelling and ruling in our souls, this can only manifest itself, and can manifest itself to nothing in man but to the new birth. For everything else in man is deaf, dumb and blind to the kingdom of God; but when that which died in Adam is made alive again by a birth of the Spirit of God from above, this being the birth which came at first from God, and by being made a partaker of the Divine nature, this knows, and enjoys the kingdom of God.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life,"
Says Christ: this record of scripture is true; but what a delusion, for a man to think that he knows and finds this to be true, and that Christ is all this benefit and blessing to him, because he mentally assents, consents, and contends, that those words are true. This is impossible. The new birth here again is the only power of entrance; everything else knocks at the door in vain: "I know you not," says Christ to every thing, but the new birth. "I am the way, the truth and the life"; this tells us neither more nor less, than if Christ had said, I am the kingdom of God, into which nothing can enter, but that which is born of the Spirit. Here again may be seen, in the highest degree of certainty, the absolute necessity of immediate Divine inspiration through every part of the Christian life. For if a birth of the Spirit is that alone which can enter into, or receive the kingdom of God that has come among men, is alone that which can find Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life. Then a continual life or breathing of the Spirit in us, must be as necessary as the first birth of the Spirit. For a birth of the Spirit only makes a beginning of a life of the Spirit: birth is only in order for life to begin; if therefore the life of the Spirit does not continue, the birth is lost, and the cessation of its breathing in us is nothing else but death again to the kingdom of God, that is, to everything that is or can be Godly. Therefore the immediate continual inspiration of the Spirit, as the only possible power and preservation of a Godly life, stands upon the same ground, and is as absolutely necessary to salvation, as the new birth.
Take away this power and working life of the Spirit from being the one life of all that is done in the church, and then, though it be ever so outwardly glorious in its extent, or ever so full of learned members, it can be nothing else in the sight of God but the wise Greeks and the carnal Jews having become a body of water-baptized Christians. For no one can be in a better state than this, the wisdom of the Greek, the carnality of the Jew, must have the whole government over them, until he is born of and led by the Spirit of God; this alone is the kingdom of God, and everything else is the kingdom of this world, in which Satan is declared to be the prince. Poor, miserable man! That strives, with all the laboriousness of human wit, to be delivered from the immediate continual operation and governance of the Spirit of God, not considering, that where God is not, the devil is, and where the Spirit does not rule, there all is the work of the flesh, though nothing but Spiritual and Christian matters be talked about. I say talked of; for the best ability of the natural man can go no further than talk, and notions, and opinions about scripture words and facts; in these, he may be a great critic, an acute logician, a powerful orator, and know everything of scripture, except the Spirit and the truth!
How much then is it to be lamented, as well as impossible to be denied, that though all scripture assures us, that the things of the Spirit of God are and must, to the end of the world, be foolishness to the natural man, yet from one end of learned Christendom to the other, nothing is thought of as the true and proper means of attaining Divine knowledge, but that which every natural, selfish, proud, envious, false, conceited, worldly man can do. Where is that divinity student who thinks, or was ever taught to think, of partaking of the light of the gospel any other way, than by doing with the scriptures that which he does with pagan writers, whether poets, orators, or comedians, i.e., exercise his logic, rhetoric, and critical skill, in descanting upon them? This done, he is thought by himself, and often by others, to have a sufficiency of divine apostolic knowledge about God and the Scriptures. What a wonder it is therefore, if it should sometimes happen, that the very same vain, corrupt, proud literature, that raises one man to be a poet-laureate, should set another in a divinity chair?
Where does the logical, critical, learned deist get his infidelity? Why just by the same help of the same good powers of the natural man, as many a learned Christian comes to know, embrace, and contend for in the faith of the gospel. For, if you drop the power and reality of Divine inspiration, then all is dropped that can set the believer above, or give him any Godly difference from the infidel. For the Christian's faith has no goodness in it, but that which comes from above, and is born of the Spirit; and the deist's infidelity has no badness in it, but because it comes from below, is born of the will of the flesh and the will of men, and rejects the necessity of being born again out of the corruption of fallen nature. The Christian therefore that rejects, reproaches, and writes against the necessity of immediate Divine inspiration, pleads the whole cause of infidelity; he confirms the ground, on which it stands; and has nothing left to prove the goodness of his own Christianity, but that which equally proves to the deist the goodness of his infidelity. For without the new birth, which is the same thing as saying, without immediate continual Divine inspiration, the difference between the Christian and the infidel is quite lost; and whether the uninspired unregenerate son of Adam is in the church, or out of the church, he is still that child of this world, that fallen Adam, and mere natural man, to whom the things of the Spirit of God are and must be foolishness. For a full proof of this no more needs be seen, than that which you cannot help seeing, that the same shining virtues, and the same glaring vices are common to them both. For the Christian, not made such by the Spirit of God, continually inspiring and working in him, has only a Christianity of his own making, and can have only an appearances of virtues, and will have as many realities of vices, as natural self wants to have. Let him therefore renounce what is called natural religion as much as he will, yet unless he is a new born and Divinely inspired Christian, he must live and die in all his natural corruption.
Through all scripture nothing else is aimed at or intended for man, as his Christianity, but the Divine life, nor anything hinted at, as having the least power to raise or bring him to a holy birth, but the holy life-giving Spirit of God. How great therefore is that blindness, which while reading the gospel, and the history of gospel Christians, cannot see these two fundamental truths, (1) "That nothing is Divine knowledge in man, but the Divine life": (2) "That the Divine life is nothing else but a birth of the Divine nature within him"?
But this truth being lost or given up, has been replaced with a vain learning and worldly spirit, and being in possession of the gospel-book, he sets up kingdoms of strife and division. Now, why does he do this? Why, that the unity of the church may not be lost! Multiply systems of empty notions and opinions: for what? Why, that words and forms may do that for the church now, which to the first church, of Christ's own forming, could only be done by being born of the Spirit; by being endued with that power from on high!
Therefore it is, that the scripture-scholar is looked upon as having Divine knowledge of its matters, when he is as ready at chapter and verse, as the critic is at every page of Cicero. And nothing is looked upon as defective in divinity knowledge, but such supposed mistakes of the genius of the Hebrew, or Greek letter, as the sublime students of the immortal words of a Milton, or a Shakespeare, charge as blunders upon one another.
A very good example!
Now to call such scripture skill Divine knowledge, is just as true and judicious, as if a man was said, or thought to know, that which apostle John knew, because he could repeat his whole gospel and epistles by heart, without missing a word of them. For a literal knowledge of scripture is but like having all scripture in the memory, and is so far from being a Divine perception of the things spoken of, that the most vicious wicked scholar in the world may attain to the highest perfection in it. But Divine knowledge and wickedness of life are so inconsistent, that they are mutual death and destruction to one another; where the one is alive, the other must be dead. Judas Iscariot knew Jesus Christ, and all that he said and did up to the point of His crucifixion; he knew what it was to be at the Lord's table, and to partake of His supper of bread and wine. But yet, with much more truth it may be said, that he knew nothing of this at all, and that he did not have any better knowledge of it than Pontius Pilate had. Now all knowledge of Christ, but that which is from Divine inspiration, or the new-birth, is but as poor and profitless, as Judas's knowledge was. It may say to Christ, as he did, hail Master; but no one can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. This empty letter-learned knowledge, which the natural man can as easily have of the sacred scripture and religious matters, as of any other books of human affairs. When this has been taken for Divine knowledge, it has spread great darkness and delusion over all Christendom, and will do this every time this terrible mistake is made! It may be reckoned no less than a general apostasy from the gospel state of Divine illumination. For the gospel state is in its whole nature nothing else; it has but one light, and that is the Lamb of God; it has but one life, and that is by the Spirit of God. Whatever is not of and from this light, and governed by this Spirit, call it by what great name you will, it is no more a part of the gospel state, nor will have a better end, than that which enters into the mouth, and corrupts in the belly.
That one light and Spirit, which was only one from all eternity, before angels or any heavenly beings were created, must to all eternity be that one and only light and Spirit, by which angels or men can ever have any union or communion with God. Every other light is but the light by which beasts receive their subtlety; every other spirit, is but that which gives to flesh and blood all its lusts and appetites. Nothing else but the loss of the one light and Spirit of God turned an order of angels into devils. Nothing else but the loss of that same light and Spirit took from the Divine Adam his first crown of Paradisaical glory, and stripped him more naked than the beasts, then left him a prey to devils, and in the jaws of eternal death. What therefore can have the least share of power towards man's redemption, but the light and Spirit of God creating again a birth of Himself in man, as He did in His first glorious creation? Or what can possibly bring forth this return of his first lost birth, but solely that which is done by this eternal light and Spirit. Consequently it is, that the gospel state is by our Lord affirmed to be a kingdom of heaven at hand, or come among men, because it does not have the nature of any worldly thing or creaturely powers, it serves no worldly ends, can be helped by no worldly power, receives nothing from man but man's full denial of himself, stands upon nothing that is finite or transitory, has no existence but in that working power of God that created and upholds heaven and earth, it has become a kingdom of men united to God, through a continual immediate Divine illumination. What scripture of the New Testament can you read, that does not prove this to be the gospel state, a kingdom of God, into which none can enter but by being born of the Spirit, and none can continue to be alive in it, but by being led by the Spirit, in which not a thought, or desire, or action, can be allowed to have any part in it, but as it is a fruit of the Spirit?
"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What is God's kingdom in heaven, but the manifestation of what God is, and what He does in His heavenly creatures? How is His will done there, only by His Holy Spirit becoming the life, the power, and mover of all that live in it. We often read this prayer, we extol it under the name of the Lord's prayer, and yet (for the sake of orthodoxy) preach and write against all that is prayed for in it. For nothing but a continual, essential, immediate Divine illumination can do that which we pray may be done.
For where can God's kingdom truly come, but where every other power but His is at an end, and driven out of it? How can His will only be done, but where the Spirit that wills in God wills in the creature?
What can literature, and the natural abilities of man, the things man can do here on earth accomplish? Just about as much as they can do at the resurrection of the dead; for all that is to be done here, is nothing else but resurrection and life. Therefore, that which gave eyes to the blind, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, and raised the dead, that alone can and must do all that is to be done in this gospel kingdom of God. For even the smallest work or fruit of grace must be as solely done by God, as the greatest miracle in nature; and the reason is this, because every work of grace is the same overcoming of nature, as when the dead are raised to life. Yet vain man would be thought to be something, to have great power and ability in this kingdom of grace, not because he happens to be born of noble parents, is clothed in purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day, but because he has happened to be made a scholar, has run through all languages and histories, has been long exercised in conjectures and criticisms, and has his head as full of notions, theological, poetical, and philosophical, as a dictionary is full of all sorts of words.
Now let this simple question decide the whole matter here: has this great scholar any more power of saying to this mountain, "Be thou removed, and cast into the sea," than the illiterate Christian has? If not, the scholar is just as weak, as powerless, and little in the kingdom of God as he is. But if the illiterate man's faith should happen to be nearer to the size of a grain of mustard-seed, than that of the prodigious scholar, the illiterate Christian stands much above scholar in the kingdom of God.
Look now at the present state of Christendom, glorying in the light of Greek and Roman learning (which an age or two ago broke forth) as a light that has helped the gospel to shine with a luster, that it scarce ever had before. Look at this, and you will see the fall of the present church from its first gospel state, to have as much likeness to the fall of the first Divine man from the glory of Paradisaical innocence and heavenly purity into an earthly state, and bestial life of worldly craft and serpentine subtlety.
In the first gospel church, heathen light had no other name than heathen darkness; and the wisdom of words was no more sought after, than that friendship of the world which is enmity with God. In that new born church, the tree of life, which grew in the midst of paradise, took root and grew up again. In the present church, the tree of life is hissed at, as the visionary food of deluded fanatics; and the tree of death, called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, has the eyes and hearts of ministers, priest, and people, and is thought to do as much good to Christians, as it did evil to the first inhabitants of paradise. This tree, that brought death and corruption into human nature at the first, is now called a tree of light, and is day and night well watered with every corrupt stream, however distant, that can be drawn to it.
The simplicity indeed, both of the gospel letter and doctrine, has the shine and polish of classic literature laid thick upon it. Cicero is in the pulpit, Aristotle writes Christian ethics, Euclid demonstrates infidelity and absurdity to be the same thing. Greece had but one Longinus, Rome had but one Quintilian; but in our present church, they are as common as patriots in the state.
But now, what follows from this new risen light? Why Aristotle's atheism, Cicero's height of pride and depth of dissimulation, and every refined or gross species of Greek and Roman vices, are as glaring in this new enlightened Christian church, as they ever were in old pagan Greece or Rome. Could you find a gospel-Christian in all this mid-day glory of learning, you may as well light a candle, as the philosopher did in the mid-day sun, to find an honest man.
And indeed, if we consider the nature of our salvation, either with respect to that which alone can save us, or that from which we are to be saved from, it will be plain, that the wit and elegance of classic literature, brought into a Christian church to make the doctrines of the cross have a better salvation-effect upon fallen man, is but like calling in the assistance of balls and masquerades, to make the Lord's supper go deeper into the heart, and more effectually drive all levity and impurity out of it. How poorly was the gospel at first preached, if the wisdom of words, and the gifts of natural wit and imagination had been its best genuine help? But alas, they stand in the same contrariety to one another, as self-denial and self-gratification. To know the truth of gospel salvation, is to know that man's natural wisdom is to be equally sacrificed with his natural folly; for they are but the same thing, sometimes called by one name, and sometimes by the other.
This is every man's short lesson of life
His intellectual faculties are, by the fall, in a much worse state than his natural animal appetites, and need a much greater self-denial. And when our own will, our own understanding, and our own imagination have their natural strength indulged and gratified, and are made seemingly rich and honorable with the treasures acquired from study, they will just as much help poor fallen man to be like-minded with Christ, as in the art of cookery, daily studied, will help a professor of the gospel to the Spirit and practice of Christian abstinence. When you know this to be the truth, no more needs be known, than these two things:
(1) That our salvation consists wholly in being saved from ourselves, or that which we are by nature;
(2) That in the whole nature of things, nothing could be this salvation, or Savior to us, but the humility of God manifested in human nature, as is beyond all expression. Hence, the first unalterable term of this Savior to fallen man, is this,
"Except a man deny himself, forsake all that he has, yes and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
And to show, that this is but the beginning, of man's salvation, the Savior adds, "Learn of Me, for I am meek, and lowly of heart." What a light we have here, for those that love the light! Self is the whole evil of fallen nature; self-denial is our capacity of being saved; humility is our savior. This is every man's short lesson of life; and he that has well learned it, is scholar enough, and has had all the benefit of a most profound education. Then old Adam with all his ignorance is cast out of him; and when Christ's humility is received, then he has the very mind of Christ, and that which brings him forth as a son of God.
Who then can wonder enough at the bulk of libraries, which has taken the place of this short lesson of the gospel, or at the number of champion disputants, who from age to age, have been all in arms to support and defend a set of opinions, doctrines, and practices, all which may be most cordially embraced, without the least degree of self-denial, and most firmly held, without receiving the least degree of humility by it?
What a grossness of ignorance, both of man and his Savior, to run to Greek and Roman schools to learn how to put off Adam, and to put on Christ? To drink at the fountains of pagan poets and orators, in order more divinely to drink of the cup that Christ drank of? What can come of all this, but that which has already come, a Ciceronian-gospel preacher, instead of a gospel-penitent? Instead of the depth, the truth and spirit of the humble publican, seeking to regain paradise, only by a broken heart, crying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner," The high-bred classic will live in daily transports at the enormous Sublime of a Milton, flying here and there on the un-feathered wings of high sounding words.
This will be more or less the case with all the salvation-doctrines of Christ, while under classical acquisition and administration. Those Divine truths, which are no further good and redeeming, but as they are Spirit and life in us, which can have no entrance, or birth, but in the death of self, in a broken and contrite heart, will serve only to help the classic painters to lavish out their colors on their own paper monuments of lifeless virtues.
How did the educated heathens come by their pride and vanity, was it because they could not come under the humility of the cross? It is because the natural man shines in the false glory of his own cultivated abilities. Does wit, and elegant taste, have any more good or redeeming virtue in Christians, than they had in heathens? As well might it be said, that self-will is good, and has a redeeming virtue in a Christian, but is bad and destructive in a heathen. I said a redeeming virtue in it; because nothing is or can be a religious good to fallen man, but that which has a redeeming virtue in it, or is, so far as it goes, a true renewal of the Divine life in the soul. Therefore, said our only redeemer, Jesus, "Without me, you can do nothing." Whatever is not His immediate work in us is at best but a mere nothing with respect to the good of our redemption. A tower of Babel may to its builder's eyes seem to hide its head in the clouds, but as to its reaching to heaven, it is no nearer to that, than the earth on which it stands. It is so with all the building of man's wisdom and natural abilities in the things of salvation; he may take the logic of Aristotle, add to that the rhetoric of Tully, and then ascend as high as he can on the ladder of poetic imagination, yet no more is done in reviving the lost life of God in his soul, than is done by a tower of brick and mortar to reach heaven.
Self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking
Self is the root, the tree, and the branches of all the evils of our fallen state. We are without God, because we are in the life of self. Self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are the very essence, and life of pride; and the devil is the father of pride, and is never absent from them, nor without power in them. To die to these essential properties of self, is to make the devil depart from us. But as soon as we want to have self-abilities take a share in our good works, the Satanic spirit of pride is in union with us, and we are working for the maintenance of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking.
All the vices of fallen angels and men have their birth and power in the pride of self, or I may better say, in the atheism and idolatry of self; for self is both atheist and idolater. It is atheist, because it has rejected God; it is an idolater, because it is its own idol. On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. Not a joy, or glory, or praise in heaven, but is what it is, through humility. It is humility alone that bridges the un-passable gulf between heaven and hell. No angels are in heaven, but because humility is in all their breath; no devils are in hell, but because the fire of pride is their whole fire of life.
Pride and humility are the two master powers
In what lies the great struggle for eternal life? It all lies in the strife between pride and humility: all other things, no matter what they are, are but as under workmen; pride and humility are the two master powers, the two kingdoms of strife for the eternal possession of man.
And here it is to be observed, that every son of Adam is in the service of pride and self, no matter what he is doing, until a humility that comes solely from heaven has been his redeemer. Until then, all that he does will be only done by the right hand, that the left hand may know of it. And he that thinks it possible for the natural man to have a better humility than this from his own right reason (as it is often miscalled) refined by education, shows himself quite ignorant of this one very plain truth of the gospel, namely, that there never was, nor ever will be, but one humility in the whole world, and that is the one humility of Christ, which man since the fall of Adam never had the least degree of, except from Christ. Humility is one, in the same sense and truth, as Christ is one, the mediator is one, redemption is one. There are not two lambs of God that take away the sins of the world. But if there was any humility besides that of Christ, there would be something else besides Him that could take away the sins of the world. "All that came before Me," says Christ, "Were thieves and robbers": We are used to confining this to persons; but the same is as true of every virtue, whether it has the name of humility, charity, piety, or anything else; if it comes before Christ, however good it may pretend to be, it is but a cheat, a thief, and a robber, under the name of a Godly virtue. And the reason is, because pride and self have all of man, until man has his all from Christ. He therefore only fights the good fight, whose strife is, that the self-idolatrous nature which he has from Adam may be brought to death, by the supernatural humility of Christ brought to life in him.
The enemies to man's rising out of the fall of Adam, through the Spirit and power of Christ, are many. But the one great dragon-enemy, called anti-Christ, is self-exaltation. This is his birth, his pomp, his power, and his throne; when self-exaltation ceases, the last enemy is destroyed, and all that came from the pride and death of Adam is swallowed up in victory.
There has been a lot of discussion, as to where and what anti-Christ is, or by what signs he may be known. Some say he has been in the Christian world ever since the gospel times, yes, that he was even then beginning to appear and show himself. Others say he came in with this, or that pope; others that he is not yet come, but near at hand. But to know with certainty, where and what anti-Christ is, and who is with him, and who is against him, you need only read this short description which Christ gives of Himself.
(1) I can do nothing of myself.
(2) I came not to do my own will.
(3) I seek not my own glory.
(4) I am meek and lowly of heart.
Now if this is Christ, then self-ability or self-exaltation, being the highest and fullest contrariety to all this, must be alone the one great anti-Christ, that opposes and withstands the whole nature and Spirit of Christ.
What therefore has everyone so much to fear, to renounce and abhor, as every inward sensibility of self-exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it. But now, at what things shall a man look, to see that working of self which raises pride to its strongest life, and most of all hinders the birth of the humble Jesus in his soul? Shall he call the pomps and vanities of the world the highest works of self-adoration? Shall he look at the painted ladies, to see the pride that has the most of anti-Christ in it? No, by no means. These are indeed marks, shameful enough, of the vain, foolish heart of man, but yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man has brought forth in himself. If you would like to see the deepest root, and iron-strength of pride and self-adoration, you must enter into the dark chamber of man's fiery soul, where the light of God (which alone gives humility and meek submission to all created spirits) being extinguished by the death which Adam died, Satan, or self-exaltation, which is the same thing, became the strong man that kept possession of the house, Until a stronger than he should come upon him. In this secret source of an eternal fiery soul, glorying in the astral light of this world, a swelling kingdom of pomp's and vanities is set up in the heart of man, of which, all outward pompous vanities are but its childish transitory play-things. The inward strong man of pride, the diabolical self, has his higher works within; he dwells in the strength of the heart, and has every power and faculty of the soul offering continual incense to him. His memory, his will, his understanding, his imagination, are always at work for him, and for no one else. His memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done; and lest anything of them should be lost or forgotten, she is continually setting them before his eyes. His will, though it has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing, but as self sends it. His understanding is ever searching for new projects to enlarge the dominions of self; and if this fails, imagination comes in, as the last and truest support of self, she makes him a king and mighty Lord of castles in the air. This is that full-born natural self, that must be pulled out of the heart, and totally denied, or there can be no disciple of Christ; which is only saying this plain truth, that the apostate self-idolatrous nature of the old man must be put off, or there can be no new creature in Christ.
All that it has or does, will be either the glory of God manifested in it, or the power of hell in full possession of it!
Now what is it in the human soul that most of all hinders the death of this old man? What is it that above all other things strengthens and exalts the life of self, and makes it the master and governor of all the powers of the heart and soul? It is the fancied glitter of genius, the flights of imagination, the glory of learning, and the self-conceited strength of natural reason: these are the strong holds of fallen nature, the master-builders of pride's temple in the heart of man, and which, as so many priests, keep up the daily worship of idol-self. And here let it be well observed, that all these magnified talents of the natural man are started up through his miserable fall from the life of God in his soul. Wit, genius, learning, and natural reason, would never have had any more of a name among men, than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued, as at first, an holy image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Everything then that dwelt in him, or came from him, would have only said so much of God, and nothing of himself, have manifested nothing to him but the heavenly powers of the triune life of God dwelling in him. He would have had no more sense or consciousness of his own wit, or natural reason, or any power of goodness in all that he was, and did, than of his own creating power, at beholding the created heavens and earth. It is his dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul, that has furnished him with these high intellectual riches, just as it has furnished him with the substantial riches of his bestial appetites and lusts. And when the lusts of the flesh have spent out their life, when the dark thick body of earthly flesh and blood shall be forced to let the soul go loose, all these bright talents will end with that system of fleshly lusts, in which they begun; and that which remains of man will have nothing of its own, nothing that can say, I do this, or I do that; but all that it has or does, will be either the glory of God manifested in it, or the power of hell in full possession of it. The time of man's playing with wit, and abilities, and of fancying himself to be something great and considerable in the intellectual world, may be much shorter, but can be no longer, than he can eat and drink with the animals of this world. When the time comes, that fine houses, rich settlements, acquired honors, and rabbi, rabbi, must take their leave of him, all the stately structures, which genius, learning, and flights of imagination, have painted inwardly on his brain and outwardly on paper, must bear full witness to Solomon's vanity of vanities.
Let then the high accomplished scholar reflect, that he comes by his wit, and acute abilities, just as the serpent came by his subtlety; let him reflect, that he might as well dream of acquiring angelic purity to add to his animal nature by multiplying new invented delights for his earthly passions and tempers, as of raising his soul into Divine knowledge through the well exercised powers of his natural reason and imagination.
The finest intellectual power, and that which has the best help in it towards bringing man again into the region of Divine light, is that poor despised thing called simplicity. This is that which stops the workings of the fallen life of nature, and leaves room for God to work again in the soul, according to the good pleasure of His holy will. It stands in such a waiting posture before God, and in such readiness for the Divine birth, as the plants of the earth wait for the inflowing riches of the light and air. But the self-assuming workings of man's natural powers shut him up in himself, closely barred up against the inflowing riches of the light and Spirit of God.
Yet so it is, in this fallen state of the gospel church, that with these proud endowments of fallen nature, the classic scholar, fully weighed down with pagan light and skill, comes forth to play the critic and orator with the simplicity of the salvation mysteries; mysteries which mean nothing else but the inward work of the triune God in the soul of man, nor any other work there, but raising up a dead Adam into a living Christ of God.
However, to make way for division, criticism, and language-learning, to have the full management of salvation doctrines, the well-read scholar declares, that the ancient way of knowing the things of God, taught and practiced by fishermen-Apostles, is obsolete. They indeed needed to have Divine knowledge from the immediate continual operation of the Holy Spirit, but this state was only for a time, until genius, and learning entered into the church. Behold, "The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place!" For as soon as this doctrine is set up, that man's natural elements and acquired learning have full right and power to sit in the divinity chair, and to guide men into that truth which was once the office and power of the Holy Spirit, as soon as this is done, and so far as it is received, it may with the greatest truth be said, that the kingdom of God is entirely shut up, and only a kingdom of scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, can come instead of it. For by this doctrine the whole nature and power of gospel religion is much more denied, than by setting up the infallibility of the pope; for though his claim to infallibility is false, yet he claims it from and under the Holy Spirit; but the protestant scholar has his divinity knowledge, his power in the kingdom of truth, from himself, his own logic, and learned reason. Christ has nowhere instituted an infallible pope; and it is as certain, that He has nowhere spoken one single word, or given the least power to logic, learning, or the natural powers of man, in His kingdom. He didn't say to them, "It is also expedient for you that I go away, that your own natural abilities and learned reason may have the guidance of you into all truth?" This is nowhere said, unless logic can prove it from these words, "Without Me you can do nothing," and, "Lo, I am with you to the end of the world."
The first and main doctrine of Christ and His apostles was, to tell the Jews, "That the kingdom of God was at hand," or was come to them. Proof enough surely, that their church was not that kingdom of God, though by God's appointment, and under laws of His own commanding. But why not, when it was thus set up by God? It was because it had human and worldly things in it, it consisted of carnal ordinances, and had only types, and figures, and shadows of the kingdom of God that was to come. Of this kingdom, Christ says, "My kingdom is not of this world"; and as a proof of it, he adds, "If it was of this world, then would My servants fight for Me"; which was saying, that it was so different in kind, and so superior in nature to this world, that no sort of worldly power could either help, or hinder it. But of this world, into which the kingdom of God was come, the holy one of God says, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good comfort, I have overcome the world." Now how was it that Christ's victory was their victory? It was, because He was in them, and they in Him,
"Because I live, you shall live also; in that day you shall know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
This kingdom of God that was come to them, was the same kingdom of God in which Adam was born and began his first glorious life, when the image and likeness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had an outward glory, like that which broke through the body of Christ, when on "Mount Tabor His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." To the children of this kingdom, says its Almighty King, "When they bring you before magistrates and powers, take no thought how, or what you shall answer, or what you shall say unto them, for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that same hour what you ought to say. For it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you."
No higher, or other thing is said here, than in these other words, "Take no thought, what you shall eat, or drink, or wherewithal you shall be clothed, but seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." This is the truth of the kingdom of God, come unto men, and this is the birth-right privilege of all that are living members of it, to be delivered from their own natural spirit which they had from Adam, from the spirit and wisdom of this world, and through the whole course of their lives only to say, and do, and be that, which the Spirit of their Father works in them.
But now, is it not true that this kingdom has gone away from us, are we not left comfortless, if instead of this Spirit of our Father speaking, doing, and working everything in us and for us, we are left again to our own natural powers, to run to every lo here, and lo there, to find a share in that kingdom of God, which once was, and never can be anything else but God, the wisdom and power of God manifested in our flesh? Would it not have been as well, no, better for us, to have been still under types and figures, sacrificing bulls and goats by Divine appointment, than to be brought under a religion that must be Spirit and life and then be left to the interests of the wisdom of the Greek, and the carnality of the Jew, and we are taught how to be living members of it? For where the Spirit of God is not the continual immediate governor of Spiritual things, nothing better can come of it. For the truth and full proof of this, no more need be looked at, but all the libraries and churches of Christendom for the past many ages and even to this very day.
What is the difference between man's own righteousness and man's own light in religion? They are exactly the same thing, and do the same work, namely, they keep up and strengthen every evil, every vanity, and corruption of fallen nature. Nothing saves a man from his own righteousness, but that which saves and delivers him from his own light. The Jew that was most of all set against the gospel, and unable to receive it, was he that trusted in his own righteousness; this was the rich man, to whom it was as hard to enter into the kingdom of heaven as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But the Christian, that trusts in his own light, is this very same Jew that trusted in his own righteousness; and all that he gets from the gospel, is only that which the Pharisee received by the law, namely, to be further from entering into the kingdom of God than publicans and harlots. Why is that so, that a beast, a scarlet whore, a horned dragon, and the most horrible descriptions of diabolical power, were made by the Spirit of God when describing the Christian church? Why is it, that the Spirit describes the gospel-church as driven into a wilderness; the two faithful witnesses, Moses and Jesus, as prophesying so many ages in sackcloth, and slain in the streets of Spiritual Sodom and Egypt? It is because man's own natural light, man's own conceited righteousness, his serpentine subtlety, his self-love, his sensual spirit and worldly power, have seized the mysteries of salvation that came down from heaven, and built them up into a kingdom of envious strife and contention, for learned glory, spiritual merchandise, and worldly power. This is the beast, the whore, and dragon, that has governed, and will govern in every Christian, and every church, till, dead to all that is self, they turn to God; not to a God that they have only heard of with their ears, and their fathers have told them about, but to a God of life, light, and power, found living and working within them, as the essential life, light, and power of their own lives. For God is only our God, by a birth of His own Divine nature within us. This, and nothing but this, is our whole relation to, our only fellowship with Him, our whole knowledge of Him, our whole power of having any part in the mysteries of gospel-salvation. Nothing can seek the kingdom of God, or hunger and thirst after His righteousness, nothing can cry, Abba Father, nothing can pray, "Thy kingdom come," nothing can say of Christ, "My Lord, and my God," but that which is born of God, and is the Divine nature itself having become born in us. Nothing but God in man can be a Godly life in man. Hence the apostle declares, "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." But you will say, can this be true of the Spiritual Divine letter of the gospel? Can it kill, or give death? Yes, it kills, when it is rested in; when it is taken for Divine power, and supposed to have goodness in itself; for then it kills the Spirit of God in man, quenches His holy fire within us, and is set up instead of the Spirit of God. It gives death, when it is built into systems of strife and contention about words, notions, and opinions, and makes the kingdom of God to consist, not in power, but in words. When it is used in this way, then of necessity it kills, because it keeps us from that which alone is life and can give life. This then is the whole of the matter; all the literal truths, and variety of doctrines and expressions of the written word, have but one nature, one end, and one errand, they all say nothing else to man but that one thing which Christ said, in these words, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"; just the same, as when it is said, "Jesus Christ, who is of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification"; this is the only refreshment from Christ. Again, "But you are washed, but you are cleansed in the name of our Lord Jesus"; just the same as when it is said, "Except you abide in Me, and I in you, you have no life in you." Again, "By grace you are saved, through faith," all of this says neither more nor less than this, "He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life"; the same as when Christ says, "Without Me you can do nothing"; the same as when Paul said, "Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me"; the same as "Christ in us the hope of glory; if Christ is not in you, you are reprobate. Therefore to come to Christ, to have our heavy laden, fallen nature refreshed by Him, to be born Spirit of His Spirit, to have His heavenly flesh and heavenly blood made living in us, before we put off the bestial body and blood of death which we have from Adam, is the one and only thing taught and meant by all that is said in the scriptures of the merits and benefits of Christ to us.
Fallen man needs only one thing!
It is the Spirit, the body, the blood of Christ within us that is our whole peace with God, our whole adoption, our whole redemption, our whole justification, our whole glorification; and this is the main thing said, and meant by that new birth, of which Christ says, "Except a man be born again from above, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Now, the true ground why all that is said of Christ in such a variety of expressions has only one meaning, and points only to one and the same thing is this, it is because the whole state and nature of fallen man needs only one thing, and that one thing is a real birth of the Divine nature made living again in him, as at the first, as it was in Adam; and then all is done, that can be done, by all the mysteries of the birth, and whole process of Christ, for our salvation. All the law, the prophets, and the gospel are fulfilled, when there is in Christ a new creature, having life in and from Him, as really as the branch has its life in and from the vine. And when all scripture is understood in this way, and all that either Christ says of Himself, or His Apostles say of Him, are all heard, or read, only as one and the same call to come to Christ, in hunger and thirst to be filled and blessed with His Divine nature made living within us; then, and then only, the letter does not kill, but is a sure guide, and leads us directly to life. But grammar, logic, and criticism, knowing nothing of scripture but its words, bring forth nothing but their own wisdom of words, and a religion of wrangling, hatred, and contention, about the meaning of words.
But lamentable as this is, the letter of scripture has been so long the usurped province of school-critics, and learned reasoners, making their markets of it, that the difference between literal, notional, and living Divine knowledge, is almost quite lost in the Christian world. So that if any awakened souls are found here or there among Christians, who think that more must be known of God, of Christ, and the powers of the age to come, than every scholar can know by reading the letter of scripture, immediately the cry of fanaticism, whether they are ministers, or people, this cry is sent after them. A procedure, which could only have some excuse, if these critics could first prove, that the apostle's text ought to be thus read, the Spirit kills, but the letter gives life.
The true nature, and full distinction between literal and Divine knowledge, is set forth in the highest degree of clearness in these words of our Savior, "The kingdom of God is like a treasure in a field": thus far is the true use and benefit, and utmost power of the letter, it can tell us of a treasure that we need, a treasure that belongs to us, and how and where it is to be found; but when it is added, that a "Man goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field," then begins the Divine knowledge, which is nothing else, but the treasure possessed and enjoyed. Now what is said here, is the same that is said in these other words of Christ, "Except a man denies himself and forsakes all that he has, he cannot be My disciple"; that is, he cannot partake of My mind, My Spirit, and My nature, and therefore cannot know Me; he is only a hearer of a treasure, without entering into the possession and enjoyment of it. And so it is with all scripture, the letter can only direct to the doing of that which it cannot do, and give notice of something that it cannot give.
Now clear and evident as this distinction is, between a mere literal direction to a thing and a real participation of it, which alone is a true perception of it, most Christians seem quite insensible of any other religious perception, or knowledge of Divine things, but such ideas or notions of them, as a man can form from scripture words. Whereas good and evil, the only objects of religious knowledge, are an inward state and growth of our life, they are in us, are a part of us, just in the same manner as seeing and hearing are in us, and we can have no real knowledge of them any other way, than as we have of our own seeing and hearing. And as no man can get or lose his seeing or hearing, or have less or more of them, by any ideas or notions that he forms about them, just so it is with that which is the power of good, and the power of evil in us; notions and ideas have no effect upon it. Yet no other knowledge is thought of, or sought after, or esteemed of any value, but that which is notional and the work of the brain.
Thus, as soon as a man of speculation can demonstrate that, which he calls the being and attributes of God, he thinks, and others think, that he truly knows God. But what excuse can be made for such an imagination, when plain scripture has told him, that to know God is eternal life, that is, to know God is to have the power, the life, and the Spirit of God manifested in him, and therefore it is eternal life. "No man knows the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son reveals Him." Because the revelation of the Son is the birth of the Son in the soul, and this new creature in Christ alone has knowledge of God, what He is, and does, and works in the creature.
Again, another, forming of an opinion of faith from the letter of scripture, straightway imagines that he knows what faith is, and that he is in the faith. Sad delusion! For to know what faith is, or that we are in the faith, is to know that Christ is in us of a truth; it is to know the power of His life, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection and ascension, made good in our souls. To be in the faith, is to be finished with all notions and opinions about it, because it is found and felt by its living power and fruits within us, which are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. All which are three names or powers peculiar to Jesus Christ; He alone is our righteousness, our peace, our joy in the Holy Ghost. And therefore faith is not in us, by reason of this or that opinion, assent or consent, but it is Christ, or the Divine nature in us; or its operations could not be righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. By faith you are saved, has no other meaning than by Christ you are saved. And if faith in its whole nature, in its root and growth, was anything else but Christ, or a birth of the Divine nature within us, it could do us no good, no power could be ascribed to it, it could not be our victory, it could not overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every faith that is not Christ in us is but a dead faith.
How trifling therefore that learning is, which sets up a difference between faith and its works, between a justification by faith, and justification by its works. Is there any difference between Christ, as a redeemer, and His redeeming works? Can they be set above one another in their redeeming efficacy7? If not, then faith and its works, which are nothing else but Christ in us, can have no separation from, or excellence above one another, but are as strictly one, as Christ is one, and are no more two things, than our Savior and our salvation are two different things in us. Everything that is said of faith, from Adam to this day, is only so much said of the power, and life of the one redeeming Christ, working within us; so that to divide faith from its works is as absurd, as to divide a thing from its self, or a circle from its roundness. No salvation would have ever been ascribed to faith, but because it is, in the strictest sense, Christ Himself, the power of God, living and working in us. It never would have been said of faith, that every power of the world, the flesh, and the devil, must yield to it, but because it is that very Christ within us, without whom we can do nothing. But if without Christ we can do nothing, and yet all things are possible to our faith, can there be a fuller demonstration that our faith is nothing else but Christ, born, and living within us? Whatever therefore there is of power within us, that tends to salvation, call it by what name you will, either faith, or hope, or prayer, or hunger after the kingdom of God and His righteousness, it is all but one power, and that one power is Christ within us. If therefore faith and its good works are but one and the same Christ living in us, the distinction between a good faith and its good works, and all the contentious volumes that have been written about it, are as mere ignorant terminology, as a distinction made and contended for, between life and its living operations.
When the holy church of Christ, the kingdom of God came among men, was first set up, it was the apostle's boast, that all other wisdom or learning was sunk into nothing. "Where," says he, "is the wise, the scribe, the disputer of this world? Has not God made them foolishness?" But now, it is the boast of all churches, that they are full of the wise, the scribes, the disputers of this world, who sit with learned pomp in the apostle's chair, and have the mysteries of the kingdom of God committed to them.
Therefore it is, that from a religion of heavenly love, built upon the redeeming life and doctrines of a Son of God dying to save the whole world, division, bitterness, envy, pride, strife, hatred, and persecution, and every outrage of war and bloodshed, breathe and break forth with more strength in learned Christendom, than they ever did from a religion of pagan idolatry, set up by Satan .
It may perhaps be asked, must there then be no learning or scholarship in the Christian church? Must there be nothing thought of, or received by the gospel, but salvation? Must its ministers know nothing, teach nothing, but such salvation-doctrines as Christ and His Apostles taught; nothing but the full denial of self, poverty of spirit, meekness, and humility, and unwearied patience, a never ceasing love, an absolute renunciation of the pomp's and vanities of the world, a full dependence upon our heavenly Father; no joy or rejoicing but in the Holy Ghost; no wisdom but that which God gives; no walking but as Christ walked; no reward or glory for their labors of love, but that of being found in Christ, flesh of His flesh, bone of His bones, Spirit of His Spirit, and clothed with the wedding-garment when the bridegroom comes, "When the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first?"
To this the first answer is, happy, very happy are they, who are the preachers of the gospel accordingly learned, who through all their ministry, seek nothing for themselves or others, but to be taught of God; hunger after nothing but the bread of life that comes down from heaven, owning no master but Christ, no teacher but His Holy Spirit; as unable to join with those that dig in pagan pits of learning, as with those that "Labor for the wind, and give their money for that which is not bread."
Secondly, with regard to the demand of learned knowledge in the Christian church, it may be answered, that all that has been said above, is only for the increase and promotion of it, and that all ignorance and darkness may be driven quite out of it. The church of Christ is the seat or school of all the highest knowledge that the human nature is capable of in this life. Ignorance is everywhere but in the church of Christ. The law, the prophets, and the gospel, are the only treasures of all that can be called the knowledge either of God or man; and he in whom the law, the prophets, and the gospel are fulfilled, is the only well-educated man, and a true first-rate scholar. But now, who is he, that has this wisdom from these rich treasures? Who is he, in whom all is known and fulfilled which they teach? The lip of truth has told us, that it is he, and he alone, "Who loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself." This is the man that is all wisdom, all light, and has come into full possession of all that is meant by all the mysteries contained in the law, the prophets, and the gospel. Where this Divine love is needed, and a diabolical self sits in its place, there may be great wits, shining critics, orators, poets, etc., as easily as there may be a profound Machiavel, a learned Hobbs, or an atheistic Virtuoso. But would you Divinely know the mysteries of nature, the ground and reason of good and evil in this world, the relation and connection between the visible and invisible world, how the things of time proceed, and depend upon the things and powers of eternity, there is but one key of entrance; nothing can open the vision, but seeing with the eyes of that same love, which began and carries on all that is and works in visible and invisible nature. Would you Divinely know the mysteries of grace and salvation, would you go forth as a faithful witness of gospel truths, then stand still until this fire of Divine love has had its perfect work within you. For until your heart is an altar, on which this heavenly fire never goes out, you are dead in yourself, and can only be a speaker of dead words, about things that never had any life within you. For without a real birth of this Divine love in the essence of your soul, you may be as learned and polite as you will, but still, your heart is but the dark heart of fallen Adam, and your knowledge of the kingdom of God will be like that which murdering Cain had. For everything is murder, but that which love does. If love is not the breath of your life, the Spirit that forms and governs everything that proceeds from you, everything that has your labor, your allowance and consent, you are broken off from the works of God, you have left His creation, you are without God, and your name, and nature, and works, can have no other name, or nature, but that which is called pride, wrath, envy, hypocrisy, hatred, revenge, and self-exaltation, under the power of Satan in his kingdom of darkness. Nothing can possibly save you from being the certain prey of all these evil spirits, through the whole course of your life, but a birth of that love which is God Himself, His light, and Spirit within you.
There is no knowledge in heaven, but what proceeds from this birth of love, nor is there any difference between the highest light of an angel, and the horrid darkness of a devil, but that which love has made. But now, since Divine love can have no beginning, but from a birth of the Divine nature in us, therefore says John, "We love Him because He first loved us," the same as saying, we desire God, because He first desired us; for we could not desire God, but because He first desired us, we could not turn to God, but because He first turned to us. And so it is, that we could not love God, but because He first loved us, that is, because He first by our creation brought forth, and by our redemption continued and kept up that same birth of His own Spirit of love in us. For as His Holy Spirit must first be a gift to us, or born in us, and then we have that which can worship God in Spirit, so His love must of all necessity be a gift to us, or be born in us, and then we have that of God in us which alone can love Him with His own love. A truth absolutely asserted in these words; "Love is of God, and he that loves, is born of God."
Let this be my excuse to the learned world, for owning no school of wisdom, but where the one and only lesson is Divine love; and the one and only teacher, the Spirit of God. Let no one call this wild or extravagant; it is no wilder a step, no more injurious to man, to truth and goodness, than the owning of only one God. For to be called from everything but Divine love and the Spirit of God, is only being called from everything that has the curse of fallen nature in it. And no man can come from under this curse, until he is born again of Divine love and the Spirit of God. For to be born in this way, is as much the sole happiness, joy, and glory of men, both now and forever, as it is the sole joy and glory of angels eternally in the heavens. Believe me then, you great scholars, that all that you have received of wisdom or learning, day after day, in any other school but this, will stand you in as much stead, fill you with as high a heavenly comfort at the hour of death, as all the long dreams, which night after night, you have ever had in your sleep. And until a man knows this, with as much fullness of conviction as he knows the vanity of a dream, he has his full proof, that he is not yet in the light of truth, not yet taught of God, nor like-minded with Christ.
One of Christ's followers said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father"; Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury their dead, follow Me." Another said to Him, "Let me first go bid them farewell, that are at home in my house"; Jesus answered, "No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Now let it be supposed that a third had said, Lord, I have left several books at home, written by the greatest masters of grammar, logic and eloquence, allow me first to go back for them, lest losing the light which I had from them, I might mistake the depth and truth of your heavenly doctrines, or be less able to prove and preach them powerfully to others. Would not such a request as this have had a folly and absurdity in it, not chargeable upon those two other requests which Christ rejected? And yet, what can scholastic, classic, and critical divinity say for itself, but that very same thing, which this man here had said?
The holy Jesus said, "I am the light of the world, he that follows Me, walks not in darkness." Here Spiritual light and darkness are as immutably fixed, and separated from one another, as the light and darkness of this world were divided on the first day of the creation. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is the one and only light both of men and angels. Fallen nature, the selfish will, proud attitudes, the highest abilities, the natural shrewdness, cunning arts and subtleties, that are or can be in fallen men and angels, are nothing else but their fullness of Spiritual darkness, from which nothing but works of darkness can come forth. In a word, darkness is the whole natural man; light is the new born man from above. Therefore says the Christ of God, "I am the light of the world," because He alone is the birth of heaven in the fallen souls of men. But now, who can reject this Divine light more, or more plainly choose darkness instead of it, than he who seeks to have his mind enriched, the faculties of his fallen soul cultivated by the literature of poets, orators, philosophers, sophists, skeptics, and critics, born and bred up in the worship and praises of idol gods and goddesses? What is this, but like going to the serpent to be taught the innocent Spirit of the dove; or to the elegant lusts of Anacreon and Ovid, to learn purity of heart, and kindle the flame of heavenly love in our souls? Look where you will, this is the wisdom of those who look to pagans for skill to work in Christ's vineyard who from long labors in restoring the grammar, and finding out hidden beauties of some old vicious book, set up for qualified artists to polish the gospel pearl of great price. Surely this is no better a proof of their savoring the things that are of God, than Peter gave, when his Master said to him, "Get thee behind Me, Satan." A grave ecclesiastic, bringing forth out of his closet skillful meditations on the commentaries of a murdering Caesar, or the sublime rhapsody of an old Homer, or the astonishing beauties of a modern Dunciad, has as much reason to think that he is walking in the light of Christ, and led by the Spirit of God, as they have who are only eating and drinking, and rising up to play.
But to see the exceeding folly of expecting ability in Divine knowledge, from anything that is the wit, wisdom, or spirit of the natural man, you need only read these words of the holy messenger of God, the Ezekiel that was to come. "I indeed," says he, "Baptize you with water, but He that comes after me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Now if this which John the Baptist said of Christ is not our faith, if we do not receive it as the truth in which we are firmly to stand, then, be as learned as we can, we have no better a faith, or higher wisdom, than those blind rabbis who did not receive the testimony of John. A fire and Spirit from above was the news which he published to the world; this, and nothing else, was His kingdom of God that was at hand. Now if this fire and Spirit from above has not baptized us into a birth of the life of God in our souls, we have not found, that Christ, and kingdom of God, to which John bore witness. But if (what is still worse) we are so bewitched through the sorcery of learning, as to turn writers and preachers against this inward, and only redeeming heavenly fire and Spirit, we are baptized with the spirit of those, to whom our Lord said, "Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in."
For what is, or can be the fall of Adam under the power of sin, Satan , and hell, but the extinction of that heavenly fire and spirit, which was his first union with God and all heavenly beings. If you say, that he did not have this heavenly fire and Spirit at the first, that nothing lived or breathed in him but that astral fire and spirit which is the life and spirit of all earthly animals, then you have a religion as divine as that of the Sadducees of old, who allowed of no resurrection, angel, or spirit. For, deny the truth and fullness of a Divine life in the first man, and then his fall and redemption are equally empty sounding words about nothing. For what can he be fallen from, or redeemed to, if he has now all that fire and Spirit of life which he ever had, or ought to have. Tell me, why that burning and shining light, that man that was more than a prophet, should come with his water, and the Son of God, should come with His fire-baptism, if man neither needed, nor could receive a higher water, and fire of life, than that which he has in common with the beasts of the field? Why is there all this stir about religions, expiations and atonements, why all these ordinations, consecrations, churches, sacraments, and prayers? For if the fire and spirit of this world is the only life, and highest life, both of man and beasts, we have it without asking, and on the same terms as the beasts have it, and can only lose it, as they do when they lose their existence.
But if fire and Spirit from heaven can alone make heavenly creatures, and make us, to be the children of our heavenly Father; if the Son of God took our fallen nature upon Him, that the first heavenly fire and Spirit might again come to life in us, if Divine life, Divine light, and Divine goodness, can only come from them, and only in such degree, as they are kindled in our souls, what a poverty of sense is it in those, who are called to a resurrection of the first Divine life, where a new creature is taught by that same unction from above, from where all the angels and principalities of heaven have their light and glory, what a poverty of sense, I say, in such, to set themselves down at the feet of a master Tully, and a master Aristotle, who only differ from the worst of all other corrupt men, as the teaching serpent differed from his fellow animals, by being more subtle than all the beasts of the field.
Behold then your state, you ministers, that wait at Christian altars, who will have neither faith, nor hope, nor desire of heavenly fire kindled in your souls, you have a priesthood, and an altar not fit to be named with that, which in Jewish days had a holy fire from God descending upon it, which made priest and sacrifice acceptable to God, though only a type and pledge of that inward celestial fire, which Christ would kindle into a never ceasing, burning, in the living temples of His newborn children from above.
Do not complain anymore of atheists, infidels, and such like open enemies to the gospel kingdom of God; for while you call heavenly fire and Spirit, kindled into the same essential life in us as they are in holy angels, frenzy, and mystic madness, you do all that work of infidelity within the church, which they do on the outside of it. And if through a learned fear of having that done to your earthly reason, which was done to Enoch when God took him, you will own no higher a regeneration, no more birth of God in your souls, than can be had by a few cold drops of water sprinkled on your head, any of the heathen Gods of wood and stone are good enough for such an elementary priesthood. For let this be told you, as a truth from God, that until heavenly fire and Spirit have a fullness of a birth within you, you can rise no higher by your highest learning, than to be elegant orators about scripture words.
Our Lord has said, "The kingdom of God is within you," that is, the heavenly fire and Spirit, which are the true kingdom and manifestation of God, are within you. And indeed, where else can it be? Yet what learned pains are taken to remove the literal meaning from these words, as too visionary a thing for learned ears. And yet it is a truth obvious to common sense, that even this outward world of stars and elements, neither does, nor can belong to us, or we to it, but so far as it is, literally speaking, a kingdom within us. For the outward kingdom or powers of this world signify nothing to a worldly man that is dead; but no man is dead, but for this reason, because the kingdom of this world, with all its powers of fire, light, and spirit, stands only outwardly about him, and has lost its life and powers within him.
Say now, out of reverence to sound literature, and abhorrence of fanaticism, that the kingdom of God is not really and virtually within, that its heavenly fire, light, and Spirit, are not, ought not to be born in a sober right-minded follower of Christ, and then you have a good disciple of Christ, as absolutely dead to the kingdom of heaven, as the corpse that has nothing of the fire, spirit, and light of this world in it, is dead to all the outward world round about it.
What a soberness of faith and sound doctrine is it, to preach up a necessity of being living members of the kingdom of heaven, and at the same time the necessity of "orthodoxy" holding, that a heavenly birth neither is, nor can, nor ought to be within us! For if it either is, or could, or ought to be within us, then it could not be a brain-sick folly to believe, that the literal words of Christ had no deceit, falsity, or delusion in them, when He said, "Except a man be born again from above, he cannot see, or enter into the kingdom of God." That is, he cannot possibly have any Godlike or Divine goodness, he cannot be a child of the heavenly Father, but from the nature and Spirit of his heavenly Father brought to a real birth of life in him. Now if, without this Divine birth, all that we have in us is only fallen Adam, a birth of sin, flesh, and the devil, if the power of this heavenly birth is all the power of goodness that is or was, or ever can be in a son of Adam; and if logic, learning, and criticism, are almost everywhere set in high places, to pronounce and prove it to be mere fanaticism and Spiritual frenzy, what wonder is it, if folly of doctrine, wickedness of life, lusts of the flesh, profaneness of spirit, wantonness of wit, contempt of goodness and profession of Christianity, should all of them seem to have their full formation among us?
What wonder, if sacraments, church-prayers, and preaching, leave high and low, learned and unlearned, men and women, ministers and people, as unaltered in all their age old vices, as they leave children unchanged in their childish follies? For where the one and only fountain of life and goodness is forsaken, where the seed of the Divine birth is not alive, and going forwards in the birth and light, all the difference between men is as nothing with respect to the kingdom of God. It does not matter what name is given to the old earthly man of Adam's bestial flesh and blood, whether he is called a zealous churchman, a stiff-necked Jew, a polite civilized heathen, or a grave infidel; under all these names, the unregenerate old man has but one and the same nature, without any other difference, but that which time, and place, education, complexion, hypocrisy, and worldly wisdom, happen to make him. By such a one, whether he be papist, or protestant, the gospel is only kept as a book, and all that is within it is only so much condemnation to its keeper, just as the old man, the Jew, has kept the book of the law and the prophets, only to be more fully condemned by them.
That the Jewish and Christian church stand at this day in the same kind of apostasy, or fallen state, must be manifest to everyone, that has not shut his eyes. Why are the Jews in a fallen state? It is because they have refused Him, who in His whole process was the truth, the substance, the life, and the fulfilling of all that which was outwardly taught, and prescribed in their law and prophets.
But is it not as easy to see, that the whole Christian church is in a fallen state, and for the same reason, because they are fallen or turned away from that Holy Spirit who was promised, and given to be the one and only power, life, and fulfilling of all that which was outwardly taught, and prescribed by the gospel. For the Holy Spirit to come is the fulfilling of the whole gospel, as a Christ to come was the fulfilling of the law. The Jew therefore with his Old Testament, not owning Christ in all his process to be the truth and life, and the fulfiller of their law, is just in that same apostasy, as the Christian with his New Testament, not owning the Holy Spirit in all His operations, to be his only light, guide, and governor. For as all types and figures in the law were but empty shadows without Christ being the life and power of them, so all that is written in the gospel is but a dead letter, unless the Holy Spirit in man is the living reader, the living one to remember, and the living doer of them. Therefore, where the Holy Spirit is not in this way owned and received, as the whole power and life of the gospel state, it is no marvel, that Christians have no more of the virtues of the gospel, than the Jews have of patriarchal holiness, or that the same lusts and vices which prosper amongst Jews, should break forth with as much strength in fallen Christendom. For the New Testament, if it does not end in the coming of the Holy Spirit, with the fullness of power over sin and hell, and the devil, is but the same, and no better a help to heaven, than the Old Testament without the coming of a Messiah. Need I now say any more, to demonstrate the truth of that which I first said was the one thing absolutely essential, and the only thing available for man's salvation, namely, the Spirit of God brought again to His first power of life in us. This was the glory of man's creation, and this alone can be the glory of his redemption. All besides this, that passes for a time between God and man, be it what it will, shows only our fall and distance from God, and in its best state has only the nature of a good road, which is only good, because that which we need is at the end of it. While God calls us by various outward dispensations, by creaturely things, figurative institutions, etc., it is a full proof, that we are not yet in our true state, or that union with God which is intended by our redemption.
God said to Moses, "Put off your shoes, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground." Now this which God said to Moses, is only that very same thing, which circumcision, the law, and sacrifices say to man. They are in themselves nothing else but outward significations of inward impurity, and lost holiness, and can do no more in themselves but intimate, point, and direct to an inward life and new birth from above, that is to be sought after.
But here lies the great mistake, or rather idolatrous abuse of all God's outward dispensations. They are taken for the thing itself, for the truth and essence of religion. That which the learned Jews did with the outward letter of their law, this is the same thing that learned Christians do with the outward letter of their gospel. Why did the Jewish church so furiously and obstinately cry out against Christ, "let Him be crucified?" It was because their letter-learned ears, their worldly spirit and temple-orthodoxy, would not bear to hear of an inward Savior, would not bear to hear of being born again of His Spirit, of eating His flesh, and drinking His blood, of His dwelling in them, and they in Him. To have their law of ordinances, their temple-pomp sunk into such a fulfilling Savior as this, was to them fanatical jargon to their ears, as did then force their sober, rational theology, to call Christ, Beelzebub, His doctrine, blasphemy, and all for the sake of Moses and rabbinic orthodoxy.
Need it now be asked, whether the true Christ of the gospel is less blasphemed, less crucified, by that Christian theology which rejects an inward Christ, a Savior living and working in the soul, as its inward light and life, generating His own nature and Spirit in it, as its only redemption, whether that which rejects all this as mystic madness is not that very same old Jewish wisdom that has sprung up in Christian theology, which said of Christ when teaching these very things, "He is mad, why hear you Him?" Our blessed Lord in a parable sets forth the blind Jews, as saying of Himself, "We will not have this man to reign over us." The sober-minded Christian scholar has none of this Jewish blindness, he only says of Christ, we will not have this Man to reign in us, and so keeps clear of such mystic absurdity as Paul fell into, when he enthusiastically said, "Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me."
Christian doctors reproach the old learned rabbis, for their vain faith, and carnal desire of a glorious, temporal, outward Christ, who should set up their temple-worship all over the world. Vanity indeed, and learned blindness enough? But nevertheless, in these condemners of rabbinic blindness, Paul's words are remarkably verified, i.e., "Wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you that judge do the same thing." For, take away all that from Christ which Christian doctors call fanaticism, suppose Him not to be an inward birth, a new life and Spirit within us, but only an outward, separate, distant heavenly Prince, no more really in us, than our high cathedrals are in the third heavens, but only by an invisible hand from His throne on high, some way or other raising and helping great scholars, or great temporal powers, to make a rock in every nation for His church to stand upon; suppose all this (which is the very heart of modern divinity) and then you have that outward Christ, and that outward kingdom, which the carnal Jew dreamed of, and for the sake of which the Spiritual Christ was then nailed to the cross, and is still crucified by the new Jew which has risen in the Christian church. If it now be asked, where, or from what, comes all this spiritual blindness, which from age to age mistakes and defeats all the gracious designs of God towards fallen mankind? Look at the origin of the first sin, and you see it all. Had Eve desired no knowledge but that which came from God, paradise would have been the habitation of her and all her offspring. If after paradise lost, Jews and Christians had desired no knowledge but that which came from God, the law and prophets would have kept the Jew close to the first tree of life, and the Christian church would have been a kingdom of God, and communion of saints to this day.
The serpent's voice within every man
But now corruption, sin, death, and every evil of the world, have entered into the church, the spouse of Christ, just as they had entered into Eve, the spouse of Adam in paradise, in the same way, and from the same cause, i.e., a desire of more, or other knowledge, than that which comes from God alone. This desire is the serpent's voice within every man, which does all that to him, and in him, which the serpent at the tree did to Eve. It carries on the first deceit, it shows and recommends to him that same beautiful tree of his own will, own wit, and own wisdom, springing up within him, which Eve saw in the garden; and yet so blind is this love of wisdom as not to see, that his eating of it is in the strictest truth his eating of the same forbidden fruits as Eve did, and keeping up in himself all that death and separation from God, which the first knowledge-hunger brought forth.
Let then the eager searcher into words for wisdom, the book-devourer, the opinion-broker, the exalter of human reason, and every builder of religious systems, be told this, that the thirst and pride of being learnedly wise in the things of God, is keeping up the grossest ignorance of all, and is nothing else but Eve's old serpent, and Eve's evil birth within them, and does no better work in the church of Christ, than her thirst after wisdom did in the paradise of God. "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears," is the only way by which any man ever did, or ever can attain Divine knowledge, and Divine goodness. To knock at any other door but this, is but like asking life of that which is itself dead, or praying to him for bread who has nothing but stones to give.
Now strange as all this may seem to the labor-learned possessor of far-fetched book-riches, yet it is saying no more, nor anything else, but that which Christ said in these words, "Except you be converted, and become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God." For, if classic gospel linguist critics, scripture-logicians, salvation orators, able dealers in the grammatical powers of Hebrew, Greek, and Roman phrases, idioms, tropes, figures, etc., etc., can show, that by raising themselves high in these attainments, they are the very men that have become Christ's little children of the kingdom of God, then it may be also said, that he who is laboring, scheming, and fighting for all the riches he can get from the Indies, is the very man that has left all to follow Christ, the very man that "Labors not for the meat that perishes."
Show me a man whose heart has no desire, or prayer in it, but to love God with his whole soul and spirit, and his neighbor as himself, and then you have shown me the man who knows Christ, and is known of Him; the best and wisest man in the world, in whom the first Paradisiacal wisdom and goodness are come to life. All of the precepts in the gospel, are the precepts of his own heart, and the joy of that new-born heavenly love which is the life and light of his soul. In this man, all that came from the old serpent is trod under his feet, not a spark of self, of pride, of wrath, of envy, of covetousness, or worldly wisdom, can have the least abode in him, because that love, which fulfills the whole law and the prophets, that love which is God and Christ, both in angels and men, is the love that gives birth, and life, and growth to everything that is either thought, or word, or action in him. And if he has no share or part with foolish errors, and cannot be tossed about with every wind of doctrine, it is because, to be always governed by this love, is the same thing as to be always taught by God.
Literal learning, verbal contention, and critical strife about the things of God
On the other hand, show me a scholar as full of learning, as the Vatican is of books, and he will be just about as likely to give all that he has for the gospel-pearl, as he would be, if he was as rich as Croesus. Let no one here imagine, that I am writing against all human literature, arts and sciences, or that I wish the world to be without them. I am no more an enemy to them, than to the common useful labors of life. It is literal learning, verbal contention, and critical strife about the things of God, that I charge with folly and mischief to religion. And in this, I have all learned Christendom, both popish and protestant on my side. For they both agree in charging each other with a bad and false gospel-state, because of that which their learning, logic, and criticism has done for them. Do not say then, that it is only the illiterate enthusiast that condemns human learning in the gospel, kingdom of God. For when he condemns the blindness and mischief of popish logic and criticism, he has all the learned protestant world with him; and when he lays the same charge to protestant learning, he has a much larger kingdom of popish scholars, logically and learnedly affirming the same thing. So that the private person, charging human learning with so much mischief to the church, is so far from being led by fanaticism, that he is led by all the church-learning that is in the world.
The two points
Again, all learned Christendom agrees in the same charge against temporal power in the church, as hurtful to the very being and progress of a salvation-kingdom that is not of this world, as supporting doctrines that human learning has brought into it. And true it is and must be, that human power can only support and help forward human things. The protestant brings proof from a thousand years of learning and doctrines, that the pope is an unjust usurper of temporal power in the church, which is Christ's Spiritual spouse. The papist brings the learning of as many ages to show that a temporal head of the church is an anti-Christian usurpation. And yet he who holds Christ to be the one, and only head, heart, and life of the church, and that no man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, passes with the learned of both these people for a fanatic. Is it not then high time to look for some better ground to stand upon, than learning such as this? Now look where you will, through all of the nature of things, no Divine wisdom, knowledge, goodness, and deliverance from sin, are anywhere to be found for fallen man, but in these two points; (1) A total entrance into the whole process of Christ; (2) A total resignation to, and sole dependence upon the continual operation of the Holy Ghost, or Christ come again in the Spirit, to be our never-ceasing light, teacher, and guide into all those ways of virtue, in which He Himself walked when in the flesh. All besides this, call it by what name you will, is but dead works, a vain labor of the old man, to newly create himself. And here let it be well observed, that in these two points consists the whole of that mystic divinity, to which the Jewish orthodoxy at this day is so great an enemy. For nothing else is meant, or taught by it, but a total dying to self (called the process of the cross of Christ) that a new creature (called Christ in us, or Christ come in the Spirit) may be born in the purity, and perfection of the first man's union with God. Now, let the Christian world forget, or depart from this one mystic way of salvation, let anything else be thought of or trusted to but the cross of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, and then, though churches, and preachers, and prayers, and sacraments are everywhere in plenty, yet nothing better can come of it than a Christian kingdom of pagan vices, along with a mouth-belief of an holy church, and communion of saints. To this melancholy truth, all Christendom both at home and abroad bears full witness. Who needs to be told, that there is not a corruption or depravity of human nature, no kind of pride, wrath, envy, malice, and self-love; no sorts of hypocrisy, falseness, cursing, swearing, perjury, and cheating; no wantonness of lust in any kind of debauchery, but are as common, and can be found in the many different denominations all over Christendom? But to pass these by, I shall only point out two or three particulars, which though only slightly observed, and even less condemned, yet fully show that the beast, the whore, and the fiery dragon, are in possession of protestant and popish churches.
First of all, can it be said that mammon8 is less served by Christians, than by Jews and infidels? Or can there be a greater proof that Christians, Jews, and infidels, are equally fallen from God and true Divine worship, since truth itself has told us, that we cannot serve God and mammon? Is not this as unalterable a truth, and of as great an importance, as if it had been said, you cannot serve God and Baal? Or can it with any truth or sense be affirmed, that the mammonist has more of Christ in him than the Baalist, or is more or less an idolater for being called a Christian, a Jew, or an infidel? Look now at all those things which Christ charged upon the Jewish priests, scribes, and Pharisees, and you will see them acted over again, in the fallen state of Christendom. And if God's prophets were again in the world, they would have just the same complaints against the fallen Christian church, as they had against the old carnal stiff-necked Jews, namely, "That of their silver and gold they had made themselves idols," Hos. 8:4. For though idol-Gods of gold are not now worshipped either by Jews or Christians, yet silver and gold with that which belongs to them is the mammon god, that sits and reigns in their hearts. How else could there be that universal strife through all Christendom, of who should stand in the richest and highest place, to preach up the humility of Christ, and offer spiritual sacrifices unto God? What god but mammon could put into the hearts of Christ's ambassadors, to make, or want to make a gain of that gospel, which from the beginning to the end means nothing else but death to self, and separation from every view, temper, and affection, that has any connection with the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? Our blessed Lord said a word to the Jews, that might well have made their ears tingle, He told them that they "Had made His Father's house a den of thieves"; because sheep and oxen were sold, and money-changers were sitting in the outer court of the temple. Now if you will say, that mammon has brought forth no profanation like this in our Christian church, your best proof must be this, because our church-sale, is not oxen and sheep, but holy things, cures of souls, parsonages, vicarages, etc., and our money-changers, our buyers, and sellers, are chiefly consecrated persons, that use the church to further their own business.
Look at Spiritual things, and temporal things, and say if you can, that the same talents, the same passions, and worldly wisdom, are not as visibly active in the one, as in the other. For if Christ at leaving the world had said to His disciples, "Labor to be rich; make full provision for the flesh; be conformed to the world; court the favor and interest of great men. Clothe yourselves with all the worldly honors, distinctions, and powers you can get"; I appeal to every man, whether popish and protestant churches need do anything else, than that which they now do, and have done for ages, to prove their faithfulness to such a master, and their full obedience to his precepts. And now, what is all this in truth and reality, but the same whore riding upon the same beast, not here or there, but through all fallen Christendom, where God has only, in every age, people, and language, His seven thousands, who have not bowed the knee to mammon?
Again, secondly, "You have heard," says our Lord, "That it has been said by them of old; you shall not renounce your oaths, but shall perform unto the Lord your oaths." The Jews practiced promissory oaths, and thought all was well, when there was a performance of them. But this, with numbers of other Jewish practices, were not to be allowed in this kingdom of God, that had come into the world. Christ totally rejects, and absolutely forbids it, saying, "I say unto you, swear not at all." But instead of it, He appoints and absolutely demands a most perfect simplicity of language, to support and adorn the mutual communication of those, whom He had created again unto righteousness, and given power to become sons of God saying, "Let your communication be yes, yes, and no, no, for whatsoever is more than this, comes of evil." What more could have been done by Christ to prevent the use, or hinder the entrance of an oath into His church? What then shall we say of this present universal Christendom? For if Christ had commanded the direct contrary, had He said, behold I give you this new commandment, let not a simple yes or no be of any avail in all your communication, but let oaths be required of all that bear My name, as a proof that they belong to Me, and act in all their dealings as it becomes saints; for whatsoever is less than this, comes of evil. Had this been Christ's new commandment, all the churches of Christendom, as well popish and protestant, and these reformed kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, might have much to boast of their obedience to it. For through town and country, in all ignorant villages, in all learned colleges, in all courts Spiritual and temporal, what with law-oaths, corporation-oaths, trade-oaths, qualification-oaths, bribery-oaths, election-oaths, etc., there is more swearing and forswearing, than all history can report of in any idol-worshipping nation. It was said of old, "Because of swearing, the land mourns"; it is as true to say now, because of swearing, the land rejoices in iniquity, is full of profaneness, and without any fear or awe of the Divine majesty, daily swallowing down all manner of oaths, in the same good state of mind, and with as much serious reflection, as drunkards swallow down their liquor.
"He that despises Me," says Christ, "Despises not Me, but Him that sent me." Can that church, which absolutely requires that which Christ has absolutely forbidden, be free from the most open and public despising of Christ, which in full contrariety to His express word, refuses the sufficiency of that yes and no, which He has commanded to be sufficient; and what is still more astonishing, compels all orders of Christians to swear by that very book the Bible, with their hand upon it, which says to all, whether high or low, prince, priest, or people, swear not at all?
"Let God pardon me in this one thing"
If the swearing law was to order, that instead of kissing the Bible, or laying their hand upon it, the person making the oath should say, "In remembrance of, and in regard to the words of Christ, forbidding me to swear, I make this oath." Who would not see the open contempt of Christ and His gospel? The devil must have had many laughs at this! But the contempt of both is as truly there, when the Bible is kissed by the person making the oath; for the book has nothing relating to oaths, but those words of Christ, which absolutely forbid the use of them. Instead, therefore, of a "So help me God," it might have been much better, if every swearing law through all Christendom had obliged every person making an oath to finish his oath with these words, "let God pardon me in this one thing."
If it here be asked, whether I would have all private Christians to beggar themselves, and lose all their right and title to house and land, which by the laws of Christendom, cannot be preserved without certain promissory oaths? I say no. But my answer is, that as the Jews were of old carried captive into Babylon, so as real a captivity, and fully as great, must happen to all private Christians, born and living under a fallen state of governing Christendom. For whether it be a pope, or a Nebuchadnezzar, popish, or protestant church governors, that make the goods and properties of private Christians, only possible to be possessed by obedience to their swearing laws, the captivity is the same. And as God bore with the needs of a Jerusalem-worship in those Jews, whose captivity suffered them not to perform it, so it may well be hoped and believed, that he will bear with that need of gospel purity, in the yes and no of private Christians, which their captivity under a fallen state of Christian government does not allow them constantly to adhere to. And also, that the piety of private Christians, loving and longing after gospel-purity of communication, under the church-captivity, will be as acceptable to God, as the piety of captive Jews was, who though living under heathen laws, and forced to say their prayers in Babylon, yet had always their eyes turned towards, and their hearts longing after Jerusalem and its holy worship.
What I write, is not to show that Christendom's oaths, and the manner of them, are not to be submitted to by any private good Christian, but to show in the plainest manner, that the laws of Christendom, which make them necessary, are a full proof that the spirit which governs all Christendom, is fallen away from the Spirit of Christ. And also to show, that if gross impiety runs through all the Christian world, if much the greatest part of swearing Christians have lost all pious fear of oaths and swearing, it is because the necessity of swearing comes at every man, in almost everything, at the peril of losing all that he has, or can have, unless he will swear9.
When the matter of an oath is a manifest lie, or an engagement to do some wicked thing, all is to be suffered, rather than take it. But where there is nothing false or bad, affirmed or promised, nor any blame chargeable, but that of going further than our Lord's yes and no, it is plain from Christ's words, that the evil is only in that, from which the oath comes.
When a person swears of his own accord, or wantonly, then the oath comes from the evil of his own heart. But when a Christian, in whose heart the simplicity and purity of gospel-language is written and loved, when he submits to use more than a yes or no, compelled by that authority which makes the refusal to be the loss of goods, and bodily imprisonment, then such departure from gospel-language comes of and from the evil in that power which required it, whether it be a pope, a church, an assembly of Divines, or a Nebuchadnezzar. All this, I say, is plain from Christ's own words. "Let your yes be yes, and your no, no." But why so? It is because whatsoever is more than this comes of evil, that is, is caused by evil. Therefore the evil that is in the use of an imposed oath, is by the words of Christ, charged upon and confined to that, which causes or forces it to be done. For that which the oath comes from, is that which our Savior calls the evil of it but the oath comes from that which causes it, therefore, that which causes swearing, is by our Savior's words charged with all the evil of the oath. But all this supposed freedom from the evil of an imposed oath, in the private Christian's submission to the use of it, is only then and there, where what is affirmed, or denied by the oath, has all that innocence, truth, or righteousness in it, which the true yes or no of Christ might justly affirm, or deny.
But here let it be well observed, that nothing that has here been said, is intended to blame the piety of those, who on no account whatsoever will be prevailed upon to take any kind of oath, because our Lord and Master has said, "Swear not at all." I am so far from blaming this, or looking upon it, as the effect of a false or blind piety, that I wish with all my heart, it may come to be the piety of all the three estates of this kingdom; and that all swearing, whether in secular or religious matters, may by all the authority of the nation be as utterly condemned, as absolutely renounced, and declared to be as anti-Christian, as the pope's supremacy.
In a word, that which calls for, and requires oaths among Christians, requires that which Christ forbids; but governing Christendom everywhere establishes, requires, and even compels Christians to swear, therefore governing Christendom is fallen from Christ, and acts by and through that spirit, which being contrary to Christ, is and must be called anti-Christ.
But to proceed now to a third and last instance, which I shall mention, of the full power of anti-Christ in and through every part of governing Christendom. In the darkest ages of Romish superstition, a martial spirit of zeal and glory for the gospel, broke forth in kings, cardinals, bishops, monks, and friars, to lead the sheep of Christ, saints, pilgrims, penitents, and sinners of all kinds, to proceed in battle array, to kill, devour, and drive the Turks from the land of Palestine, and the old earthly Jerusalem. These bloodthirsty expeditions were called a "holy war," because it was fighting for the holy land; they were called also crusades, because crosses and crucifixes made the greatest glitter among the sharpened instruments of human murder, and under the banner of the cross went forth as an army of church wolves, to destroy the lives of those, whom the Lamb of God died on the cross to save.
The light which broke out at the reformation, abhorred the bloody superstitious zeal of these catholic heroes. But what followed from this new risen, reforming light, what came forth instead of these holy crusades? Why wars, if possible, still more diabolical. Christian kingdoms with bloodthirsty piety, destroying, devouring, and burning one another, for the sake of that which was called popery, and that which was called Protestantism.
Now who can help but to see, that Satan , the prince of the powers of darkness, had here a much greater triumph over Christendom, than in all the holy wars and crusades that went before? For all that was then done, by such high-spirited fighters for old Jerusalem's earth, could not be said to be so much done against gospel-light, because not one in a thousand of those holy warriors were allowed to see what was in the gospel. But now, with the gospel opened in everyone's hands, papists and protestants make open war against every Divine virtue that belonged to Christ, or that can unite them with that "Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world": I say against every Divine, redeeming virtue of the Lamb of God, for these are the enemies which Christian war conquers. For there is not a virtue of gospel-goodness, but that has its death-blow from it. For no virtue has any gospel-goodness in it any further, than as it has its birth and growth in and from the Spirit of Christ; where His nature and Spirit is not, there is nothing but the heathen to be found, which is but saying the same truth, as when the apostle said, that "He who has not, or is not led by the Spirit of Christ, is none of His."
Now fancy to yourself Christ, the Lamb of God, after His Divine Sermon on the Mount, putting himself at the head of a blood-thirsty army, or Paul going forth with a squadron of fire and brimstone, to make more havoc in human lives than a devouring earthquake.
But if this is too blasphemous an absurdity to be supposed, what follows, but that the Christian who acts in the destroying fury of war, acts in full contrariety to the whole nature and Spirit of Christ, and can no more be said to be led by His Spirit, or be one with Him, than those His enemies who "Came forth with swords and staves to take Him."
Blinded Protestants think they have the glory of slaughtering blind papists; and the victorious papist claims the merit of having conquered the troops of heretics: but alas! The conquest is equally great on both sides, both are entitled to the same victory; and the glorious victory on both sides, is only that of having gospel goodness equally trampled under their feet.
When a most Christian majesty, with his catholic church, sings a te deum at the high altar, for rivers of protestant blood poured out; or an evangelic church sings praise and glory to the Lamb of God, for helping them from His holy throne in heaven, to make popish towns burn like Sodom and Gomorrah, they blaspheme God as much as Cain would have done, had he offered a sacrifice of praise to God for helping him to murder his brother. Let such worshippers of God be told this, that the field of blood gives all its glory to Satan, who was a murderer from the beginning, and will to the end of his reign be the only receiver of all the glory, that can come from it.
A glorious Alexander in the heathen world is a shame and reproach to the human nature, and does more mischief to mankind in a few years, than all the wild beasts, in every wilderness upon earth, have ever done from the beginning of the world to this day. But the same hero, making the same ravage from country to country with Christian soldiers, has more thanks from the devil, than twenty pagan Alexanders would ever have had. To make men kill men, is meat and drink to that roaring adversary of mankind, who goes about seeking whom he may devour. But to make Christians kill Christians for the sake of Christ's church, is his highest triumph over the highest mark, which Christ has set upon those whom he has purchased by his blood. "This commandment," says He, "I give to you, that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you."
Can the duelist, who would rather sheathe his sword in the bowels of his brother than stifle that which he calls an affront, can he be said to have this mark of belonging to Christ? And may not he that is called his second, more justly be said to be second to none in the love of human murder? Now, what is the difference between the haughty duelist with his provided second, meeting his adversary with sword and pistol behind a hedge, or a house, and two kingdoms with their high-spirited regiments slaughtering one another in the field of battle? It is only the difference that is between the murder of one man, and the murder of a hundred thousand.
Now imagine the duelist fasting and confessing his sins to God today, because he is engaged to fight his brother tomorrow; fancy again the conqueror going into his closet, on his bended knees, lifting up hands and heart to God for blessing his weapons with the death of his brother; and then you have a small picture of the great piety, that begins and ends the wars all over heavenly Christendom.
What blindness can well be greater, than to think that a Christian kingdom, as such, can have any other goodness, or union with Christ, but that very goodness, which makes the private Christian to be one with Him, and a partaker of the Divine nature? Or that pride, wrath, ambition, envy, covetousness, resentment, revenge, hatred, mischief, and murder, are only the works of the devil, while they are committed by private or single men; but when carried on by all the strength and authority, and all the hearts, hands, and voices of a whole nation, that the devil is then quite driven out of them, loses all his right and power in them, and they become a holy matter of church thanksgivings, and the sacred oratory of pulpits.
Look at that which the private Christian is to do to his neighbor, or his enemy, and you see that very thing, which one Christian kingdom is to do to another. Look at that which proves a man to be not led and governed by the Spirit of Christ, and you see that, which proves a kingdom to be under the dominion and power of Satan. Wherever pride is, there the devil is riding in his first fiery chariot; and wherever wrath is, there he has his murdering sword at work. What is it, that fallen man needs to be redeemed from, but pride and wrath, envy and covetousness? He can have no higher separation or apostasy from God, no fuller union with Satan and his demons, than he has of the spirit of these tempers: they constitute that, which whether you call it self, or Satan in him, the meaning is the same. Now suppose man had not fallen into this self or Satan, and then there could be no war or fighting left in him, than there was in the Word made man in our flesh.
Love, goodness, and communication of good, is the unchallengeable glory and perfection of the Divine nature, and nothing can have union with God, but that which partakes of this goodness. The love that brought forth the existence of all things, does not change through the fall of its creatures, but is continually at work, to bring back all fallen nature and creatures to their first state of goodness. All that passes for a time between God and his fallen creature, is but this one thing, God always works for this one end; and though this is called wrath, that called punishment, curse, and death; it is all from the beginning to the end, nothing but the work of the first creating love, and means nothing else, does nothing else, but those works of purifying fire, which must, and alone can burn away all that dark evil, which separates the creature from its first created union with God. God's providence, from the fall to the restitution of all things, is doing the same thing, as when he said to the dark chaos of fallen nature, "Let there be light"; He still says, and will continue saying the same thing, until there is no evil of darkness left in all that is nature and creature, God creating, God illuminating, God sanctifying, God threatening and punishing, God forgiving and redeeming, is but one and the same essential, immutable10, never ceasing working of the Divine nature. That in God which illuminates and glorifies saints and angels in heaven, is that very same working of the Divine nature, which wounds, pains, punishes, and purifies sinners upon earth. And every number of destroyed sinners, whether thrown by Noah's flood, or Sodom's brimstone, into the terrible furnace of a life, insensible of anything but new forms of raging misery until judgment's day, must through the all-working, all-redeeming love of God, which never ceases, come at last to know what they had lost, such a God of love as this.
And if long ages of fiery pain, and tormenting darkness, fall to the share of many, or most of God's apostate creatures, they will last no longer, than until the great fire of God has melted all arrogance into humility, and all that is self has died in the long agonies and bloody sweat of a lost God, which is that all-saving cross of Christ, which will never give up its redeeming power, until sin and sinners have no more a name among the creatures of God. And if long ages hereafter can only do that for a soul, departing this life under a load of sin, which days and nights might have done for a hardened Pharaoh, or a wicked Nero, while in the body, it is because, while the soul is in the body, it has only the nature and state of fallen Adam, but when flesh and blood are taken from it, the strong apostate nature of fallen angels is found in it, which must have its state and place in that blackness of a fiery wrath, that burns in them and their kingdom.
O poor sinner, whoever you are, repent and turn to God, while you have Adam's flesh upon you; for as long as that lasts, the kingdom of God is near at hand; but if you die without Adam's repentance, black lakes, bottomless pits, ages of a gnawing worm, and a fire that never will cease to burn, will stand between you and a kingdom of heaven afar off, and this will be your state forever.
To prevent all this, and make you a child of the first resurrection, Jesus Christ, God and man, the only begotten Son of this infinite love, came into the world in the name, and under the character of infinite pity, boundless compassion, inexpressible meekness, bleeding love, nameless humility, never ending patience, long suffering, and bowels of redeeming mercy, called the Lamb of God, who with all these supernatural virtues takes away the sins of the world.
Now from this view of God's infinite love and mercy in Christ Jesus, willing nothing, seeking nothing through all the regions of His providence, but that sinners of all kinds, the boldest rebels against all His goodness, may have their proper remedy, their necessary means of being fully delivered from all that hurt, mischief, and destruction, which in full opposition to their God and Creator, that they have brought upon themselves; from this view, I say, of God and Christ, using every miracle of love and wisdom to give recovery of life, health and salvation to all that have rebelled against them, look at the murdering monster of war, and what can its name, or nature be, but a fiery great dragon, a full figure of Satan broke loose, and fighting against every redeeming virtue of the Lamb of God?
The temporal miseries and wrongs which war carries along with it, wherever it goes, are neither to be numbered or expressed. What thievery bears any proportion to that, which with the boldness of a drum and trumpet plunders the innocent of all that they have? And if they are left alive with all their limbs, or their daughters are left un-ravished, they have many times only the ashes of their consumed houses to lie down upon. What honor has war not gotten from its tens of hundreds or thousands of men slaughtered on heaps, with as little regret or concern, as of loads of rubbish thrown into a pit? Who, but the fiery dragon, would put wreaths of laurel on such heroes' heads? Who but he could say unto them, "Well done, good and faithful servants?"
But there is still an evil of war much greater, though less regarded. Who have reflected upon how many hundreds of thousands, no millions of young men, born into this world for no other end, but that they may be born again of Christ, and from sons of Adam's misery become sons of God, and fellow heirs with Christ in everlasting glory; who reflects, I say, what untold numbers of these are robbed of God's precious gift of life to them, before they have known the one sole benefit of living; who are not permitted to stay in this world, until age and experience have done their best for them, have helped them to know the inward voice and operation of God's Spirit, helped them to find, and feel that evil, curse, and sting of sin and death, which must be taken from within them, before they can die the death of the righteous; but instead of all this, they have been either violently forced, or tempted in the fire of youth, and full strength of sinful lusts, to forget God, eternity, and their own souls, and rush into a kill or be killed, with as much furious haste, and goodness of spirit, as a tiger kills another tiger for the sake of his prey?
That God's providence over his fallen creatures is nothing else but a providence of love and salvation, turning through ways of infinite wisdom, sooner or later, turns all kinds of evil into a new good, making that which was lost to be found, that which was dead to be alive again; not willing that one single sinner should want that which can save him from eternal death, is a truth as certain, as that God's name is, I am that I am.
Among un-fallen creatures in heaven, God's name and nature is love, light, and glory. To the fallen sons of Adam, that which was love, light, and glory in heaven, becomes infinite pity and compassion on earth, in a God clothed with the nature of His fallen creature, bearing all its infirmities, entering into all its troubles, and in the meek innocence of a Lamb of God living a life, and dying a death, of all the sufferings due to sin. Hence it was, that when this Divine pity suffered its own life-giving blood to be poured on the ground, all outward nature made full declaration of its atoning and redeeming power; the strength of the earth did quake, the hardness of rocks was forced to split and long-covered graves had to give up their dead. A certain passage, that all that came by the curse into nature and creature must give up its power; that all kinds of hellish wrath, hardened malice, fiery pride, selfish wills, tormenting envy, and earthly passions, which kept men under the power of Satan, must have their fullness of death, and fullness of a new life, from that all-powerful, all-purifying blood of the Lamb, which will never cease washing red into white, until the earth is washed into the crystal purity of that glassy sea, which is before the throne of God, and all the sons of Adam clothed in such white, as fits them for their many mansions in their heavenly Father's house.
Sing, O you heavens, and shout all you lower parts of the earth, this is our God that does not vary, whose first creating love knows no change, but into a redeeming pity towards all His fallen creatures.
Look now at warring Christendom, what smallest drop of pity towards sinners is to be found in it? Or how could a spirit all hellish, more fully contrive and hasten their destruction? It stirs up and kindles every passion of fallen nature that is contrary to the all-humble, all-meek, all-loving, all-forgiving, all-saving Spirit of Christ. It unites, it drives, and compels nameless numbers of unconverted sinners to fall, murdering and murdered among flashes of fire, with the wrath and swiftness of lightning, into a fire infinitely worse than that in which they died. O sad subject for thanksgiving days, whether in popish or protestant churches! For if there is a joy of all the angels in heaven for one sinner that repents, what a joy must there be in hell over such multitudes of sinners, not allowed anymore to repent? And if they who have "Converted many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in the firmament forever," what woe may they not fear, whose proud wrath and vain glory have robbed such numberless troops of poor wretches, of all time and place of knowing what righteousness they needed, for the salvation of their immortal souls.
Here my pen trembles in my hand; but when, o when will one single Christian church, people, or language, tremble at the share they have in this death of sinners!
"For the glory of his majesty's arms," said once a most Christian king: now if at that time, his catholic church had called a solemn assembly to unite hearts and voices in this pious prayer, "O blessed Jesus, dear redeeming Lamb of God, who came down from heaven, to save men's lives, and not destroy them, go along, we humbly pray thee, with our bomb-vessels and fire-ships, suffer not our thundering cannon to roar in vain, but let Your tender hand of love and mercy direct their shells to more heads and hearts of Your own redeemed creatures, than the poor skill of man is able to do itself ": does not such prayers have more of the man of the earth, more of the son of perdition in them, than the Christian king's glorying in his arms?
Again, would you further see the fall of the universal church, from being led by the Spirit of Christ, to be guided by the inspiration of the great fiery dragon, look at all European Christendom sailing round the globe with fire and sword, and every murdering art of war, to seize the possessions, and kill the inhabitants of the Indies. What natural right of man, what supernatural virtue which Christ brought down from heaven, was not trodden under foot here? All that you ever read or heard of heathen barbarity, was here outdone by Christian conquerors. And to this day, what wars of Christians against Christians, blended with scalping heathens, still keep staining the earth and the seas with human blood, for a miserable share in the spoils of a plundered heathen world! A world, which should have heard, or seen, or felt nothing from the followers of Christ, but a Divine love, that had forced them from distant lands, and through the perils of long seas, to visit strangers with those glad tidings of peace and salvation to all the world, which angels from heaven, and shepherds on earth, proclaimed at the birth of Christ.
Here now, let the wisdom of this world be as wise as ever it will, and from its learned throne condemn all this as fanaticism; it shouldn't trouble anyone, to be condemned by that wisdom, which God Himself has condemned as foolishness with him. For the wisdom of this world has all the contrariety to salvation-wisdom, That the flesh has to the Spirit, earth to heaven, or damnation to salvation. It is a wisdom, whose spirit and breath keep all the evil that is in fallen man alive, and which in its highest excellence has only the full grown nature of that carnal mind, which is enmity against God. It is a wisdom that is sensual, and devilish, that hinders man from knowing, and dying all those deaths, without which there can be no new life. It is a wisdom that turns all salvation-truths into empty, learned tales, that instead of helping the sinner to confess his sins, and feel the misery that is hid under them, helps him to an art of hiding, no, worse yet, of defending them. For that which the lusts and passions do contrary to the wisdom from above, is proved to be right reason by this wisdom from below, whose greatest skill is shown, in keeping all the powers and passions of the natural man in peace and prosperity; and so the poor blinded sinner lives and dies in a total ignorance of all that light, blessing, and salvation, which could only be had by a broken and contrite heart. For with respect to conscience, this is the chief office of worldly wisdom; it is to keep all things quiet in the old man, and that whether busied in things Spiritual, or temporal, he may keep up the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, without any disturbance from religious phantoms, and dreams of mystic idiots, who for want of sober sense and sound learning, think that Christ really meant what he said in these words, "Except a man be born again of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." For this wisdom, when it comes to its highest perfection, is a classic moral painter, which though it cannot alter the nature, yet can change the colors of everything; it can give to the most heavenly virtue such an outward form and color, as will force the stoutest of aged and learned men to run away from it; and to a vice of the greatest deformity it can pencil such charming features, as will make every child of this world, wish to live and die with it. Its next perfection is that of a flattering orator, who has praise and dispraise at his own free disposal; for as they are all of his own making, he can dispose them on whom, and on what he will; not only as outward interesting occasions call for, but also as the inward necessities, the ups and downs of his own poor self wants them. For self, however willing to be always strong, has its weak hours, and would be ever tottering, unless this orator kept him everyday (though perhaps not every night) free from the disturbing whispers of a seed of God in his soul. Now join (if you please) learning and religion to act in fellowship with this worldly wisdom, and make their best of it, and then you will have a depravity of craft and subtlety as high as flesh and blood can carry it, which will bring forth a glittering Pharisee, with a hardness of heart, greater than that of the publican sinner.
"Demas," says Paul, "Has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Here you see all the good and blessing that is inseparable from the wisdom of this world, it always does the same thing, and has the same effect wherever it is; it will do to high and low, learned or unlearned, clergy or laity, the same unavoidably as that which it did to Demas; it will make them forsake Christ, turn their backs on every grace and virtue of his Holy Spirit, as certainly as the love of the world made Demas forsake Paul.
This wisdom has asked me, how it is possible for Christian kingdoms in the neighborhood of one another to preserve themselves, unless the strength and weapons of war are everyone's defense, against such invasions, encroachments, and robberies, as would otherwise be the fate of Christian kingdoms from one another.
This question is so far from needing to be answered by me, that it is actually on my side of the discussion; it confesses all, and proves all that I have said of the fallen state of Christendom, to be strictly true. For if this is the governing Spirit of Christian kingdoms, that no one of them can subsist in safety from its neighboring Christian kingdoms, but by its weapons of war, are not all Christian kingdoms equally in the same un-Christian state, as two neighboring bloody cutthroats, who cannot be safe from one another, but as each other's murdering weapons preserve and protect them? This plea therefore for Christendom's wars, proves nothing else but the need of Christianity all over the Christian world, and stands upon no better a foundation of righteousness and goodness, than when one murdering cutthroat kills another that would have killed him.
Now the true state of the world turned Christian, is thus described by the great gospel-prophet, who showed what a change it was to make in the fallen state of the world. Isaiah 2:2 "It shall come to pass," says he, "In the last days," that is, in the days of Christendom, "That the mountain of the Lord's house" (His Christian kingdom) "Shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow into it; and many people shall say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord's house, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths,".
Now what follows from this going up of the nations to the mountain of the Lord's house, from His teaching them of His ways, and their walking in His paths? The holy prophet expressly tells you in his following words, "They shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up its sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." This is the prophet's true Christendom, with one and the same essential Divine mark set upon it, as when the Lamb of God said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you." Christ's kingdom of God is not come, but where the works of the devil are destroyed, and men are turned from the power of Satan unto God. God is only another name for the highest and only good; and the highest and only good means nothing else but love with all its works. Satan is only another name for the whole of evil, and the whole of evil is nothing else but its whole contrariety to love. And the sum total of all contrariety to love is contained in pride, wrath, strife, self, envy, hatred, revenge, mischief, and murder. Look at these with all their fruits that belong to them, and then you see all the princely power that Satan has in this fallen world.
If you want to see when the kingdoms of this fallen world become the kingdom of God, the gospel prophets tell you, that it is when all enmity ceases. Isaiah 11:6. "The wolf," says he, "Shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den." For, "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," that is, through all holy Christendom.
See here a kingdom of God on the earth; it is nothing else but a kingdom of love, where all hurt and destroying is done away, and every work of enmity changed into one united power of heavenly love but observe again and again, when this comes to pass, that God's kingdom on earth is, and can be nothing else, but the power of reigning love; the prophet tells you, it is because in the day of His kingdom, "The earth shall be as full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Therefore, O Christendom, your wars are your certain proof, that you are as full of an ignorance of God, as the waters cover the sea.
As to the present fallen state of universal Christendom, working under the spirit and power of the great fiery dragon, it is not my intention, in anything I am here upon, to show how any part of it can subsist, or preserve itself from being devoured by every other part, but by its own dragon weapons.
So many lesser Babels
But the Christendom which I mean, that neither wants, nor allows war, is only that where Christ is king, and His Holy Spirit the only governor of the will, affections, and designs of all that belong to it. It is my complaint against, and charge upon all the nations of Christendom, that this necessity of murdering arms is the dragon's monster, that is equally brought forth by all and every part of fallen Christendom; and that therefore all and every part, popish as well as protestant, are at the same distance from the Spirit of their Lord and Savior the Lamb of God, and therefore all need the same entire reformation. In these last ages of fallen Christendom, many reformations have taken place; but alas! Truth must be forced to say, that they have been in all their variety, little better than so many run-away births of the same mother, so many lesser Babels come out of Babylon the Great. For among all the reformers, the one and only true reformation has never yet been thought of. A change of place, of governors, of opinions, together with new formed outward models, is all the reformation that has yet been attempted.
The wisdom of this world, with its worldly spirit, was the only thing that had overcome the church, and had carried it into captivity. For in captivity it certainly is, as soon as it is turned into a kingdom of this world; and a kingdom of this world it certainly is, as soon as worldly wisdom has its power in it. Not a false doctrine, not a bad discipline, not an usurped power, or corrupt practice ever has prevailed, or does prevail in the church, but what has had its whole birth and growth from worldly wisdom.
This wisdom was the great evil root, at which the reforming axe should have been laid, and must be laid, before the church can be again that virgin spouse of Christ, which it was at the beginning "If any man," says Paul, "Will be wise, let him become a fool in this world." this admits of no exception, it is a maxim as universal and unalterable, as that which says, "If any man will follow Christ, let him deny himself." for no man has any more to deny than that, which the wisdom and spirit of this world are, and do in him. "For all that is in this world, the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," are the very things in which alone the wisdom of this world lives, and moves, and has its being. It can be no other, can rise no higher, nor be any better, than they are and do. For as heavenly wisdom is the whole of all heavenly goodness, so earthly wisdom has the whole evil of all the earthly nature.
Paul speaks of a natural man, that cannot know the things of God, but to whom they are mere foolishness. This natural man is only another name for the wisdom of this world; but though he cannot know the things that are of God, yet he can know their names, and learn to speak that which the saints of God have spoken about them. He can make profession of them, be eloquent in their praise, and set them forth in such a desirable view, as shall make them quite agreeable to the children of worldly wisdom. This is the natural man, who having got into the church, and church power, has turned the things of God into things of this world. Had this man of the world been kept out of the church, the church would have kept its first purity to this day; for its fallen state is nothing else but its fall into the hands of the natural man of this world. And when this is the state of the church, the wisdom of this world (which always loves its own) will be in love with it, will spare no cost to maintain it, will make laws, fight battles in defense of it, and condemn every man as a heretical, who dares speak a word against this glorious image of a church, which the wisdom of this world has set up.
This is the great anti-Christ, which is neither better nor worse, nor anything else, but the spirit of Satan working against Christ, in the strength and subtlety of earthly wisdom.
To sin or not to sin, that is the question!
If therefore you take anything to be a church-reformation, but a full departure from the wisdom of this world, or anything else to be your entrance into a salvation-church, but the nature, Spirit, and works of Christ, living in you, then, whether you are a papist or protestant, whether reformation or no reformation, all will be just as much good to you, as when a Sadducee turns publican, or a publican becomes a Pharisee. For the church of Christ, as it is the door of salvation, is nothing else but Christ Himself. Christ in us, or we in His church, which is the same thing. When that is alive, wills, and works in you, which was alive in Christ, then you are in His church; for that which He was, that must they be who are His. Without this, it matters not what pale you are in. To everything but the new creature, Christ says, "I know you not"; and to every virtue that worldly wisdom puts on, "Get behind Me, Satan , for you savor not the things that are of God." And the reason why it must be so, why worldly wisdom, though under a religious form, is and can be nothing else, but that which is called Satan, or anti-Christ, is because all that we are, and have from this world, is that very enmity against God, that whole evil which separates us from him, and constitutes all that death and damnation that belongs to our fallen state. And so sure as the life of this world is our separation from God, so sure it is, that a total departure from every subtlety and prosperity of worldly wisdom, is absolutely necessary to change an evil son of Adam into an holy son of God. And here it is well to be observed, that the church of Christ is solely for this end, to make us holy as He is holy. But nothing can do this, but that which has full power to change a sinner into a saint. And he who has not found that power in the church, may be assured that he is not yet a true son of that church. For the church brings forth no other births, but holy children of God; it has no other end, no other nature or work, but that of changing a sinner into a saint. But this can only be done, just as the change of night into day is done, or as the darkness is quite lost in the light. Something as contrary to the whole nature of sin, as light is to darkness, and as powerful over it, as the light is powerful over darkness, can alone do this. Creeds, canons, articles of religion, stately churches, learned ministers or priests, singing, preaching, and praying in the best contrived form of words, can no more raise a dead sinner into a living saint, than a fine system of light and colors can change the night into day. For, that which cannot help you to all goodness, cannot help you to any goodness, nor can anything take away even one sin but that which can take away all sin.
The true forgiveness of sins
On this ground it is, that the apostle said, "Circumcision is nothing, and un-circumcision is nothing"; and on the same ground it must be said, that Popery is nothing, and Protestantism is nothing, because all is nothing, as to salvation, but a sinner changed into a saint, or in the apostle's words, a new creature. Call nothing therefore your holy, salvation-church, but that which takes away all your sins; this is the only way not to be deceived with the cry about churches, reformations, and divisions. If it be asked, what is meant by taking away all our sins? The whole is fully told us in these words, "To as many as believed, to them He gave power to become sons of God." This is the true taking away, or forgiveness of sins; not a strong imagination, even though on such an hour, on such a day, you felt and knew assuredly that all your sins were forgiven you: but what good are such thoughts about having your sins forgiven, if that fountain of sin is not destroyed, for you will have each and everyday the same necessity of confessing yourself a miserable sinner, as you had just done, that morning, or evening, etc., when your sins were forgiven you, until of course, you sinned again, and that on the same day, you asked your forgiveness! The true forgiveness of sins is only then, when that which sinned in us is done away with, or becomes powerless in us; but nothing can do this, but that power by which we become sons of God. A blind man has only a deliverance from his blindness, when he is put in full possession of eyes that see; this and this alone, is the doing away of his darkness. Just so, and in no other way, are our sins forgiven us, or done away, when the power by which we become sons of God, or the new creature, is given to us, so possessed by us, as seeing eyes are given to and possessed by the man, who before that was blind. And as our old man can only then be said to be truly put off, when the new man in Christ is raised to life in his stead, so our sins are only then truly blotted out, or done away, when an un-sinning nature, or a birth of God that sins not, is come to be the ruling life in us.
Many are the marks, which the learned have given us of the true church; but be that as it will, no man, whether learned or unlearned, can have any mark or proof of his own true church-membership, but his being dead unto all sin, and alive unto all righteousness. This cannot be more plainly told us, than in these words of our Lord, "He that commits sin, is the servant of sin"; but surely that servant of sin, cannot at the same time be a living member of Christ's body, or that new creature, who dwells in Christ, and Christ in him. To suppose a man born again from above, yet under a necessity of continuing to sin, is as absurd as to suppose, that the true Christian is only to have so much of the nature of Christ born in him, as is consistent with the same amount of the power of Satan still dwelling in him. "If the son," says Christ, "Shall make you free, then you shall be free indeed." what is this, but saying, if Christ is come to life in you, then a true freedom from all necessity of sinning is given to you. Now if this is hindered, and cannot come to pass in the faithful follower of Christ, it must be, because both the willing and working of Christ in man is too weak to overcome that, which the devil wills and works in him. All this absurdity, and even blasphemy, is necessarily implied in that common doctrine of books and pulpits, which teaches, that the Christian can never stop sinning as long as he lives. It is not well therefore that Christendom sleeps as securely as it does, under the power of sin, without any thought, hope, or desire of doing God's will on earth, as it is done in heaven; without any concern at their being pure, as He who has called them is pure, or walking as He walked.
The scripture knows no Christians but saints, who in all things act as becomes saints. But now if the scripture saint did not mean a man that hates all evil, and was holy in all his conversation, saint and no saint would have only such difference, as one carnal man will always have with another. Preachers and writers comfort the half Christians or the Christian in name only, with telling them, that God requires not a perfect, sinless obedience, but accepts the sincerity of our weak endeavors instead. Here, if ever, the blind truly lead the blind. For Paul, comparing the way of salvation to a race, says, "In a race all run, but one obtains the prize: so run that you may obtain." Now if Paul had seeing eyes, must not they be blind who teach, that God accepts all that run in the religious race, and does not require that any obtain the prize. How easy was it to see, that the sincerity of our weak endeavors was quite a different thing from that, which alone is, and can be the required perfection of our lives. The first God accepts, that is, bears with. But why or how? Not because he seeks or requires no more, but he bears with them, because though at as great a distance as they are, towards that perfection, or new creature, which he absolutely requires, which is the fullness of the stature of Christ, and is that which Paul says, is the one that obtains the prize. The same which Paul says, is said by Christ in other words, "Strive," says he, "To enter in at the strait gate." Here our best endeavors are called for, and therefore accepted by God, and yet at the same time he adds, "That many shall strive to enter in, but shall not be able." Why so? It is because Christ Himself is the one door into life. Here the strivers mentioned by Christ, and those which Paul calls runners in a race, are the very same persons; and Christ calling Himself the one door of entrance, is the same thing as when Paul says, that only one receives the prize, and that one, which alone obtains the prize, or that enters through the right door, is that new creature in whom Christ is truly born. For whether you consider things natural or supernatural, nothing but Christ in us, can be our hope of glory.
The pleader for imperfection further supports himself by saying, no man in the world, Christ excepted, was ever without sin. And so say I too; and with the apostle I also add, "That if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar." But then it is as true to say, that we make Him a liar, if we deny the possibility of our ever being freed from a necessity of sinning. For the same word of God says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." But surely he that is left under a necessity of sinning as long as he lives, can no more be said to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, than a man who must be a cripple to his dying day, can be said to be healed of all his lameness. What weaker conclusion can well be made, than to infer, that because Christ was the only man that was born and lived free from sin, therefore no man on earth can be raised to a freedom from sinning; no better than concluding, that because the old man is everyone's birth from Adam, therefore there can be no such thing as a new man, created unto righteousness, through Christ Jesus, living and being all in all in him; no better sense or logic, than to say, that because our Redeemer could not find us anything else but sinners, therefore He must of all necessity leave us to be sinners.
Of Christ it can only be said, that He is in Himself the true vine; but of every branch that is His, and grows in Him, it must be as truly said, that the life and Spirit of the true vine, is the life and Spirit of its branches, and that as is the vine, so are its branches. And here let it be well noted, that if the branch does not have the life and goodness of the vine in it, it can only be, because it is broken off from the vine, and therefore is a withered branch, fit for the fire. But if the branches abide in the vine, then Christ says this glorious thing of them, "You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you," John 15:7. The very same glorious thing, which He had before said of Himself, "Father, I thank you, that you have heard me," and "I knew that you hear me always," John 11:41. Now say that this new creature, who is in such union, communion, and power with God, because Christ is in him, and he in Christ, as really as the vine is in the branches, and the branches in the vine, say that he must be a servant of sin, as long as he lives in this world, and then your absurdity will be as great, as if you had said, that Christ in us must partake of our corruption.
What scripture ever spoke of, or required any perfect works from this old man
The sober Divine, who abhors the pride of enthusiasts, for the sake of humility, says of himself and all men, we are poor, blind, imperfect creatures; all our natural faculties are perverted, corrupted, and out of their right state; and therefore nothing that is perfect can come from us, or be done by us. Truth enough! And the very same truth, as when the apostle says, "The natural man knows not the things that be of God, he cannot know them, they are foolishness to him." This is the man that we all are by nature. But what scripture ever spoke of, or required any perfect works from this old man, any more than it requires the Ethiopian to change his skin? Or what an educated Divine must he be, who considers this old natural man as the Christian, and therefore rejects Christian perfection, because this old man cannot attain to it? What greater blindness, than to appeal to our fallen state, as a proof of a weakness and corruption which we must have, when we are redeemed from it? Is this any wiser, than saying, that sin and corruption must be there where Christ is, because it is there where He is not?
Our Lord has said this absolute truth, that unless we be born again from above, there is no possible entrance into the kingdom of God. What this new birth is in us, and what we get by it, is as expressly told us by his beloved apostle, saying, "That which is born of God does not sin." This is as true and unalterable, as to say, that which is born of the devil can do nothing else but add sin to sin. To what end do we pray, that "This day we may fall into no sin," If no such day can be had? But if sinning can be made to cease in us for one day, what can do this for us, but that which can do the same to-morrow? What benefit in praying, that "God's will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven," if the earth as long as it lasts must have as many sinners, as it has men upon it? How vainly does the church pray for the baptized person, "that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh," if this victorious triumph can never be obtained; if notwithstanding this baptism and prayer, he must continue committing sin, and so be a servant of sin, as long as he lives? What sense can there be in making a communion of saints to be an article of our creed, if at that same time we are to believe that Christians, as long as they live, must in some degree or other follow, and be led by the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?
Where does all of this folly of doctrines come? It is because the church is no longer that Spiritual house of God, in which nothing is intended and sought after, but Spiritual power and Spiritual life, it has become a mere human building, made up of worldly power, worldly learning, and worldly prosperity in gospel matters. And therefore all the frailties, follies, and imperfections of human nature, must have as much life in the church, as in any other human society. And the best sons of such a church, must be forced to plead such imperfections in the members of it, as must be where the old fallen human nature is still alive. For nothing but a full birth, and continual breathing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the newborn creature, can be a deliverance from all that which is earthly, sensual, and devilish in our fallen nature. This new creature, born again in Christ, of that eternal Word which created all things in heaven and on earth, is both the rock and church, of which Christ says, "The gates of hell shall never prevail against it." For prevail they will, and must against everything, but the new creature. And every fallen man, who is yet in his fallen state, and his whole life is a mere Egyptian bondage, and Babylonian captivity, until the heavenly church, or the new birth from above, has taken him out of it.
And nothing but God can give death to self!
See how Paul sets forth the salvation-church, as being nothing else, and doing nothing else, but is the mother of this new birth. "Know you not," says he, "That so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Here we have the one true church, infallibly described, and yet no other church, but the new creature. He goes on, "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection." Therefore to be in Christ, or in His church, belongs to no one, but he who has the old man put off, and the new creature risen in Christ, put on. The same thing is said again in these words, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin"; therefore the true church is nowhere but in the new creature, that from this time forth does not sin, nor is he any longer a servant to sin. Away then with all the tedious volumes of church unity, church power, and church salvation. Ask neither a council of Trent, nor a synod of Dort, nor an assembly of Divines, for a definition of the church. The apostle has given you, not a definition, but the unchangeable nature of it in these words. But now "Being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruits unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Therefore to be in the true salvation-church, and to be in Christ that new creature which sins not, is strictly the same thing. What now is become of this true church, or where must the man go, who would be a living member of it? He need go nowhere; because wherever he is, that which is to save him, and that which he is to be saved from, is always with him. Self is all the evil that he has, and God is all the goodness that he can ever have; but self is always with him, and God is always with him. Death to self is his only entrance into the life of the church, AND NOTHING BUT GOD CAN GIVE DEATH TO SELF. Self is an inward life, and God is an inward Spirit of life; therefore nothing kills that which must be killed in us, or brings to life that which must come to life in us, but the inward work of God in the soul, and the inward work of the soul in God. This is that mystic religion, which, though it has nothing in it but that same Spirit, that same truth, and that same life, which always was, and always must be the religion of all of God's holy angels and saints in heaven, is by the wisdom of this world accounted to be madness. As wisely done, as to reckon him mad, who says, that the vanity of temporal things cannot give life to things that are eternal; or that the circumcision of the flesh is but as poor a thing, in comparison of that inward mystic circumcision of the heart, which can only be done by "That word of God, which is sharper than any two edged sword, and pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit," Heb. 4:1. Now fancy this, a rabbi-doctor, laughing at this circumcision of the two edged sword of God, as gospel madness, and then you see that very same Christian orthodoxy, which at this day condemns the inward working life of God in the soul, as mystic madness.
Look at all that which is outward, and all that you can see, it will have no more salvation in it, than the stars and elements. Look at all the good works you can think of, they have no goodness for you, but when the good Spirit of God is the doer of them in you. For all the outward works of religion may be done by the natural man, he can observe all church-duties, stick close to doctrines, and put on the semblance of every outward virtue; but, this is as high as he can go. No one is a Christian, until they are led and governed by the Spirit of God, no one can go any higher than this feigned, outward formality of the natural man; to which he can add nothing, but his own natural fleshly zeal in the defense of it. For all zeal must be of this kind, until it is the zeal of that which is born of God. "My little children," says Paul, "Of whom I travail again in birth, until Christ be formed in you." This is the whole labor of an apostle to the end of the world. He has nothing to preach to sinners, but the absolute necessity, the true way, and the certain means, of being born again from above. But if dropping this one thing that is necessary and available, he starts disputing about words and opinions, and helps professing Christians to be zealously separated from one another, for the sake of being saved by different notions of faith, works, justification, or election, etc., he has forgotten his errand, and is become a blind leader of all, who are blind enough to follow him. For all that is called faith, works, justification, sanctification, or election are only so many different expressions of that which the restored Divine life is, and does in us, and can have no existence anywhere, or in anything, but the new creature. And the reason why everything that is, or can be good in us, or to us, is nothing else but this Divine birth from above, is because the Divine nature dead in Adam, was his entire loss of every Divine virtue, and his fall under the power of this world, the flesh, and the devil; therefore the Divine nature brought again to life in man, is his faith, his hope, his prayer, his works, his justification, sanctification, election, or salvation. And that election, which systematical doctors have taken out of its place, and built into an absolute irreversible decree of God, has no other nature, no other effect, or power of salvation, but that which equally belongs to our faith, hope, prayer, love of God, and love of our neighbor; and just so far as these Divine virtues are in us, just so far are we the elect of God, which means nothing else but the beloved of God; and nothing makes us the beloved of God, but His own first image and likeness rising up again in us. Would you like to know what is meant by being elected of God, the same is meant, as when the scripture says, "God hears those only who call upon Him"; or that He can only be "Found by those who seek Him"; so He only elects those and that which elect Him. Again, "He that honors Me, him will I honor," says God: "He that loves Me," says Christ, "Shall be beloved of Me and my Father." This is the mystery of election, as it relates to salvation. At different times and in various manners, God may have, and has had His chosen vessels for particular offices, messages, and appointments; but as to salvation from our fallen state, every son of Adam is His chosen vessel, and this as certainly, as that every son of Adam has the seed of the woman, the incorruptible seed of the word born along with him; and this is God's unchangeable universal election, which chooses, or wills the salvation of all men. For the ground of all union, communion, or love between God and the creature, lies wholly in the Divine nature. That which is Divine in man tends towards God, elects God; and God only and solely elects His own birth, nature, and likeness in man. But seeing that His own birth, a seed of His own Divine nature is in every man, to suppose God by an arbitrary power, willing and decreeing its eternal happiness in some, and willing and decreeing its eternal misery in others, is a blasphemous absurdity, and supposes a greater injustice in God, than the wickedest creatures can possibly commit against one another. One scripture that proves this statement is found in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires ALL men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
And truth, to the eternal praise and glory of God, will eternally say, that His love is as universal and unchangeable as His being, that His mercy over all His works can no more cease, than His omnipotence can begin to grow weak. God's mark of an universal salvation set upon all mankind, was first given in these words, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent": therefore wherever the serpent is, there his head is to be bruised. This was God's infallible assurance, or omnipresent promise, that all that died in Adam, should have its first birth of glory again. The eternal son of God came into the world, only for the sake of this new birth, to give God the glory of restoring it to all the dead sons of fallen Adam. All the mysteries of this incarnate, suffering, dying son of God, all the price that He paid for our redemption, all the washings that we have from His all-cleansing blood poured out for us, all the life that we receive from eating His flesh, and drinking His blood, have their infinite value, their high glory, and amazing greatness in this, because nothing less than these supernatural mysteries of a God-man, could raise that new creature out of Adam's death, which could be again a living temple, and deified habitation of the Spirit of God.
That this new birth of the Spirit, or the Divine life in man, was the truth, the substance, and sole end of His miraculous mysteries, and was plainly told us by Christ Himself, who at the end of all His process on earth, tells His disciples, what was to be the blessed, and full effect of it, namely, that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (being now fully purchased for them) should after His ascension, come instead of a Christ in the flesh. "If I go not away," says He, "The comforter will not come; but if I go away, I will send Him to you, and He shall guide you into all truth." Therefore all that Christ was, did, suffered, dying in the flesh, and ascending into heaven, was for this sole end, to purchase for all His followers a new birth, new life, and new light, in and by the Spirit of God restored to them, and living in them, as their support, comforter, and guide into all truth. And this was His, "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Finis.
We of the "Old Time Publishing Co." have put this book back in print because of the conviction that the world we live in, needs to hear this message, again! Bro. Law had an insight, rare in his day, and rarer still today. We have tried to bring William Law's writings into a colloquial tongue, so that you, the reader, can understand the message. When he wrote this book, it was "colloquial," over time the English language has changed so much that many people have difficulty understanding books and letters that were written in the seventeen hundreds. We have done our best to see that the message has not been changed, and we hope that his message will be "understandable" to you, the modern reader. The editor.
An Appeal to all who Doubt the Truths of the Gospel
By WILLIAM LAW
A Word To The Reader
I have nothing to say by way of preface or introduction. I only ask this favor of the reader, that he would not pass any censure upon this book, from only dipping into this, or that particular part of it, but give it one fair perusal in the order it is written, and then I shall have neither right, nor inclination to complain of any judgment he shall think fit to pass upon it.
Subjects Covered In Chapter 1
Of creation in general.
Of the origin of the soul.
Whence will and thought are in the creature.
Why the will is free.
The origin of evil solely from the creature.
This world not a first, immediate creation of god.
How the world came to be in its present state.
The first perfection of man.
Man has the triune nature of god in him.
Arianism and deism confuted by nature.
That life is uniform through all creatures.
That there is but one kind of death to be found in all nature.
The fallen soul has the nature of hell in it.
Regeneration is a birth of a divine life in the soul.
That there is but one salvation possible in nature.
This salvation is only to be had from Jesus Christ.
All the deist's faith and hope proved to be false.
Subjects Covered In Chapter 2
Of eternal and temporal nature.
How nature is from God, and the scene of his action.
How the creatures are out of it.
Temporal nature created out of that which is eternal.
The fallen angels brought the first disorders into nature.
This world created to repair those disorders.
Whence good and evil is in every thing of this world.
How heaven and hell make up the whole of this world.
How the fire of this world differs from eternal fire; and the
Matter of this world from the materiality of heaven.
Eternal nature is the kingdom of heaven, the beatific manifestation of the triune God.
God is love and goodness.
How wrath and anger come to be ascribed to him.
Of fire in general. Of the un-beginning fire.
Of the spirituality of fire.
How fire comes to be in material things.
Whence the possibility of kindling fire in the things of this world.
Every man is, and must be the igniter of his own eternal fire.
Chapter 3 Page 75
Subjects Covered In Chapter 3
The true ground of all the doctrines of the gospel discovered.
Why Adam could make no atonement for his sins.
Why, and how Jesus Christ alone could make this atonement.
Whence the shedding of blood for the remission of sins.
What wrath and anger it is, that is quenched and atoned by the blood of Christ.
Of the last sufferings of Christ.
Why, and how we must eat the flesh and drink the blood Of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1
Of Creation in general.
It has been an opinion commonly received, though without any foundation in the light of nature, or scripture, that God created this whole visible world, and all things in it, out of nothing. No, that the souls of men, and the highest orders of beings, were created in the same manner. The scripture is very decisive against this origin of the souls of men. For Moses said, "God breathed into man (Spiraculum Vitarum) the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." Here the notion of a soul created out of nothing, is in the plainest, and strongest manner rejected, by the first book of 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 darkly, but openly, absolutely, and in the strongest form of expression ascribed to the soul; it came forth as a breath of life, or lives, from the very 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, and out of the first and highest of all beings.
Of the Origin of the Soul.
For to say that God breathed forth into man the breath of lives, by which he became a living soul, is directly saying, that that which was life, light, and Spirit in the living God, was breathed forth from him to become the life, light and spirit of a creature. The soul therefore being declared to be an effluence from God, a breath of God, must have the nature and likeness of God in it, and is, and can be nothing else, but something, or so much of the divine nature, become creaturely existing, or breathed forth from God, to stand before him in the form of a creature
Where "Will" and "Thought" are in the Creature.
When the animals of this world were to be created, it was only said, Let the earth, the air, the water bring forth creatures after their kinds; but when man was to be brought forth, it was said, "Let us make man in our own image and likeness." Is not this directly saying, Let man have his beginning and being out of us, that he may be so related to us in his soul and spirit, as the animals of this world are related to the elements from which they are produced. Let him so come forth from us, be so breathed out of us, that our divine nature may be manifested in him, that he may stand before us as a creaturely image, likeness, and representative of that which we are in ourselves.
Why the Will is free
Now, from this original doctrine of the creation of man, known to all the first inhabitants of the world, and published in the front of the first written Word of God; these great truths have been more or less declared to all the nations of the world. First, that all mankind are the created offspring of the one God.
Secondly, that in all men there is a spirit or breath of lives, that did not begin to be out of nothing, or was created out of nothing; but came from the true God into man, as his own breath of life breathed into him.
Thirdly, that therefore there is in all men, wherever dispersed over the earth, a divine, immortal, never-ending spirit, that can have nothing of death in it, but must live for ever, because it is the breath of the ever living God.
Fourthly, that by this immortal breath, or Spirit of God in man, all mankind stand in the same nearness of relation to God, are all equally his children, are all under the same necessity of paying the same homage of love and obedience to him, all fitted to receive the same blessing and happiness from him, all created for the same eternal enjoyment of his love and presence with them, all equally called to worship and adore him in spirit and truth, all equally capable of seeking and finding him, of having a blessed union and communion with him. These great truths, the first pillars of all true and spiritual religion, on which the holy and divine lives of the ancient patriarchs was supported, by which they worshipped God in a true and right faith; these truths, I say, were most eminently and plainly declared in the express letter of the Mosaic writings, here quoted. And no writer, whether Jewish or Christian, has so plainly, so fully, so deeply laid open the true ground, and necessity of an eternal, never-ceasing relation between God, and in all of human nature; no one has so incontestably asserted the immortality of the soul, or spirit of man; or so deeply laid open, and proved the necessity of one religion, common to all human nature, as the legislator of the Jewish theocracy had done. Life and immortality are indeed justly said to be brought to light by the gospel; not only because they there stand in a new degree of light, largely explained, and much appealed to, and absolutely promised by the Son of God himself, but chiefly because the precious means and mysteries of obtaining a blessed life, and a blessed immortality, were only revealed, or brought to light by the gospel.
But the incontestable ground and reason of an immortal life, and eternal relation between God, and the whole human nature, and which lays all mankind under the same obligations to the same true worship of God, is most fully set forth by Moses, who alone tells us the true fact; how, and why man is immortal in his nature, i.e., because the beginning of his life was a breath, breathed into him from God; and for this end, that he might be a living image and likeness of God, created to partaker of the nature and immortality of God.
This is the great doctrine of the Jewish legislator, and which justly places him amongst the greatest preachers of true religion. St. Paul used a very powerful argument to persuade the Athenians to own the true God, and the true religion, when he told them, "that God made the world and all things therein; that he gives life and breath and all things; that He has made of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on the earth; that they should all seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after, and find him, seeing he is not far from any of us, because in him we live, move, and have our being." {Acts 17:24} And yet this doctrine, which St. Paul preaches to the Athenians, is nothing else, but that same divine and heavenly instruction, which he had learned from Moses, which Moses openly and plainly taught all the Jews. The Jewish theocracy therefore was by no means an intimation to that people, that they had no concern with the true God, but as children of this world, under his temporal protection or punishment; for their lawgiver left them no room for such a thought, because he had as plainly taught them their eternal nature and eternal relation, which they had to God in common with all mankind; as St. Paul did to the Athenians, who only set before them that very doctrine that Moses taught all the Jews. The great end of the Jewish theocracy was to show, both to Jew and gentile, the absolute, uncontrollable power of the one God, by such a covenanted interposition of his providence, that all the world might know, that the one God, from whom both Jew and gentile were fallen away, by depareing from the faith and religion of their first fathers, was the only God, from whom all mankind could receive either blessing or cursing.
This was the great thing intended to be proclaimed to all the world by this theocracy, i.e., that only the God of Israel had power to save or destroy, to punish or reward, according to his pleasure; and that therefore all the gods of the heathens, were mere vanity. If therefore any Jews, by reason of those extraordinary temporal blessings and cursing which they received under their theocracy, grew grossly ignorant, or dully senseless of their eternal nature, and eternal relation to God, and of that one true religion, which by nature they were obliged to observe in common with all mankind; if they took God only to be their local or tutelary deity, and themselves to be only animals of this world; such a grossness of belief was no more to be charged upon their great lawgiver, Moses, than if they had believed, that a golden calf was their true god. But to return to the creation. It is the same impossibility for a thing to be created out of nothing, as to be created by nothing. It is no more a pare, or prerogative of God's omnipotence to create a being out of nothing, than to make a thing to be, without any one quality of being in it; or to make, that there should be three, where there is neither two, nor one. Every creature is nothing else, but nature put into a certain form of existence; and therefore a creature not formed out of nature, is a contradiction. A circle, or a square cannot be made out of nothing, nor could any power bring them into existence, but because there is an extension in nature, that can be put into the form of a circle, or a square: but if dead figures cannot by any power be made out of nothing, who sees not the impossibility of making living creatures, angels, and the souls of men out of nothing?
Thinking and willing are eternal, they never began to be. Nothing can think, or will now, in which there was not will and thought from all eternity. For it is as possible for thought in general to begin to be, as for that which thinks in a particular creature to begin to be of a thinking nature: therefore the soul, which is a thinking, willing being is come forth, or created out of that which has willed and thought in God, from all eternity. The created soul is a creature of time, and had its beginning on the sixth day of the creation; but the essences of the soul, which were then formed into a creature, and into a state of distinction from God, had been in God from all eternity, or they could not have been breathed forth from God into the form of a living creature.
And herein lies the true ground and depth of the uncontrollable freedom of our will and thoughts: they must have a self-motion, and self-direction, because they came out of the self-existent God. They are eternal, divine powers, that never began to be, and therefore cannot begin to be in subjection to any thing. That which thinks and wills in the soul, is that very same un-beginning breath which thought and willed in God, before it was breathed into the form of an human soul; and therefore it is, that will and thought cannot be bounded or constrained.
Herein also appears the high dignity, and never-ceasing perpetuity of our nature. The essences of our souls can never cease to be, because they never began to be: and nothing can live eternally, but that which Has lived from all eternity. The essences of our soul were a breath in God before they became a living soul, they lived in God before they lived in the created soul, and therefore the soul is a partaker of the eternity of God, and can never cease to be. Here, O man, behold the great origin, and the high state of your birth; here let all that is within you praise your God, who has brought you into so high a state of being, who has given you powers as eternal and boundless as his own attributes, that there might be no end or limits of your happiness in him. You began as time began, but as time was in eternity before it became days and years, so you were in God before you were brought into the creation: and as time is neither a part of eternity, nor broken off from it, yet come out of it; so you are not a part of God, nor broken off from him, you were originally born out of him. You should only will that which God wills, only love that which he loves, cooperate, and unite with him in the whole form of your life; because all that you are, all that you have, is only a spark of his own life and Spirit derived into you. If you desire, and turn towards the sun, all the blessings of the Deity will spring up in you; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will make their abode with you. If you turn in towards yourself, to live to yourself, to be happy in the workings of your own will, to be rich in the sharpness and acuteness of your own reason, you choose to be a weed, and can only have such a life, spirit and blessing from God, as a thistle has from the sun. But to return. To suppose a willing, understanding being, created out of nothing, is a great absurdity. For as thinking and willing must have always been from all eternity, or they could never have been either in eternity, or time; so, wherever they are found in any particular, finite beings, they must of all necessity, be direct communications, or originating of that thinking and willing, which never could begin to be. The creation therefore of a soul, is not the creation of thinking and willing, or the making that to be, and to think, which before had nothing of being, or thought; but it is the bringing of the powers of thinking and willing out of their eternal state in the one God, into a beginning state of a self-conscious life, distinct from God. And this is God's omnipotent, creating ability, that he can make the powers of his own nature become living, personal images of what he is in himself, in a state of distinct personality from him: so that the creature is one, in its finite, limited state, as God is one, and yet has nothing in it, but that which was in God before it came into it: for the creature, be it what it will, high or low, can be nothing else, but a limited participation of the nature of the creator. Nothing can be in the creature, but what came from the creator, and the creator can give nothing to the creature, but that which He has in Himself to give. And if beings could be created out of nothing, the whole creation could be no more a proof of the being of God, than if it had sprung up of itself out of nothing: for if they are brought into being out of nothing, then they can have nothing of God in them; and so can bear no testimony of God; but are as good a proof, that there is no God, as that there is one. But if they have anything of God in them, then they cannot be said to be created out of nothing.
That the souls of men were not created out of nothing, but are born out of an eternal original, is plain from this; from the delight in, and desire of eternal existence, which is so strong and natural to the soul of man. For nothing can delight in, or desire eternity, or so much as form a notion of it, or think upon it, or in any way reach after it, but that alone which is generated from it, and came out of it. For it is a self-evident truth, that nothing can look higher, or further back, than into its own origin; and therefore, nothing can look or reach back into eternity, but that which came out of it. This is as certain, as that a line reaches, and can reach no further back, than to that point from where it began.
Our bodily eyes are born out of the firmamental light of this world, and therefore they can look no further than the firmament: but our thoughts know no bounds; therefore they are come out of that which is boundless. The eyes of our minds can look as easily backwards into that eternity which always Has been, as into that which ever shall be; and therefore it is plain, that that which thinks and wills in us, which so easily, so delightfully, so naturally penetrates into all eternity, has always had an eternal existence, and is only a ray or spark of the divine nature, brought out into the form of a creature, or a limited, personal existence, by the creating power of God.
Again. Every soul shrinks back, and is frightened at the very thought of falling into nothing. Now this undeniably proves, that the soul was not created out of nothing. For it is an eternal truth, spoken by all nature, that everything strongly aspires after, and cannot be easy, until it finds and enjoys that origin out of which it arose. If the soul therefore was brought forth out of nothing, all its being would be a burden to it; it would want to be dissolved, and to be delivered from every kind and degree of sensibility; and nothing could be so sweet and agreeable to it, as to think of falling back into that nothingness, out of which it was called forth by its creation. Thus is the eternal, immortal, divine nature of the soul, which the schools prove with so much difficulty one of the most obvious, self-evident truths in all nature. For nothing but that which is eternal in its own nature, can have the least thought about eternity.
If a beast had not the nature of the earth in it, nothing that is on the earth, or springs out of it, could be in the least degree agreeable to it, or desired by it. If the soul had not the nature of eternity in it, nothing that is eternal could give it the smallest pleasure, or be able to make any kind of impression upon it. For as nothing can taste, or relish, or enter into the agreeable sensations of this world, but that which Has the nature of this world in it; so nothing can taste, or relish, or look into eternity with any kind of pleasure, but that which has the nature of eternity in it.
If the soul was not born, or created out of God, it could have no happiness in God, no desire, nor any possibility of enjoying him. If it had nothing of God in it, it must stand in the utmost distance of contrariety to him, and be utterly incapable of living, moving, and having its being in God: for everything must have the nature of that, out of which it was created, and must live, and have its being in that root or ground from that which it sprung. If therefore there was nothing of God in the soul, nothing that is in God could do the soul any good, or have any kind of communication with it; but the gulf of separation between God and the soul, would be even greater than that which is between heaven and hell.
But let us rejoice, that our soul is a thinking, willing being, full of thoughts, cares, longings, and desires of eternity; for this is our full proof, that our descent is from God himself, that we are born out of him, breathed forth from him; that our soul is of an eternal nature, made a thinking, willing, understanding creature out of that which Has willed and thought in God from all eternity; and therefore must, for ever and ever, be a partaker of the eternity of God. And here you may behold the sure ground of the absolute impossibility of the annihilation of the soul. Its essences never began to be, and therefore can never cease to be; they had an eternal reality before they were in, or became a distinct soul, and therefore they must have the same eternal reality in it. It was the eternal breath of God before it came into man, and therefore the eternity of God must be inseparable from it. It is no more a property of the divine omnipotence to be able to annihilate a soul, than to be able to make an eternal truth become a fiction: and to think it a lessening of the power of God, to say, that he cannot annihilate the soul, is as absurd, as to say, that it is a lessening of the light of the sun, if it cannot destroy, or darken its own rays of light. O, dear reader, stay a while in this important place, and learn to know yourself: all your senses make you to know and feel, that you stand in the vanity of time; but every motion, stirring, imagination, and thought of your mind, whether in fancying, fearing, or loving everlasting life, is the same infallible proof, that you stand in the midst of eternity, are an offspring and inhabitant of it, and must be for ever inseparable from it. Ask when the first thought sprung up, find out the birthday of truth, and then you will have found out, when the essences of your soul first began to be. Were not the essences of your soul as old, as un-beginning, as unchangeable, as everlasting as truth itself, truth would be at the same distance from you, as absolutely unfit for you, as utterly unable to have any communion with you, as to be the food of a worm. The ox could not feed upon the grass, or receive any delight or nourishment from it, unless grass and the ox had one and the same earthly nature and original; your mind could receive no truth, feel no delight and satisfaction in the certainty, beauty, and harmony of it, unless truth and the mind stood both in the same place, had one and the same unchangeable nature, un-beginning origin. If there will come a time, when thought itself shall cease, when all the relations and connections of truth shall be untied; then, but not until then, shall the knot, or band of your soul's life be unloosed. It is a spark of the Deity, and therefore has the un-beginning, unending life of God in it. It knows nothing of youth, or age, because it is born eternal. It is a life that must burn for ever, either as a flame of light and love in the glory of the divine majesty, or as a miserable firebrand in that God, which is a consuming fire.
The Origin Of Evil Solely From The Creature.
It is impossible, that this world, in the state and condition it is now in, should have been an immediate and original creation of God: this is as impossible, as that God should create evil, either natural or moral. That this world Has evil in all its parts ; that its matter is in a corrupt, disordered state, full of grossness, disease, impurity, wrath, death and darkness, is as evident, as that there is light, beauty, order and harmony everywhere to be found in it. Therefore it is as impossible, that this outward state and condition of things, should be a first and immediate work of God, as that there should be good and evil in God himself. All storms and tempests, every fierceness of heat, every wrath of cold proves with the same certainty, that outward nature is not a first work of God, as the selfishness, envy, pride, wrath, and malice of devils, and men proves, that they are not in the first state of their creation. As no kind or degree of moral evil could possibly have its cause in, or from God, so there cannot be the least shadow of imperfection and disorder in outward nature, but what must have sprung up in the same manner, and from the same causes, as sickness and corrupt flesh is come into the human body, namely, from the sin of the creature. Storms, tempests, gravel, stone, sour and dead earth are the same things, the same diseases, the same effects of sin, produced in the same manner in the outward body of nature, as corrupt flesh, fevers, dropsy's, plagues, stones, and gout, are produced in the outward body of man. For that, and that only which produces stone in the body of man, did produce stone in the outward nature, as shall plainly appear by and by. For nature within, and without man, is one and the same, and has but one and the same way of working; a stone in the body, and a stone out of the body of man, proceeds from one and the same disorder of nature. When therefore you see a diseased, gouty, leprous, asthmatic, scorbutic man, you can with the utmost certainty say, this is not that human body which God first created in paradise; so, when you see the disorders of heat and cold, the poisonous earth, unfruitful seasons, and malignant qualities of outward nature, you can with the same certainty affirm, this state of nature is not a first creation of God, but that the same thing must have happened to it, which has happened to the body of man. For dark, sour, hard, dead earth, can no more be a first, immediate creation of God, than a wrathful devil, as such, can be created by him. For dark, sour, dead earth is as disordered in its kind, as the devils are, and has as certainly lost its first heavenly condition and nature, as the devils have lost theirs. But now, as in man, the little world, there is excellence and perfection enough to prove, that human nature is the work of an all-perfect being, yet, so much impurity and disease of corrupt flesh and blood, as undeniably shows, that sin has almost quite spoiled the work of God. So, in the great world, the footsteps of an infinite wisdom in the order and harmony of the whole, sufficiently appears; yet, the disorders, tumults, and evils of nature, plainly demonstrate, that the present condition of this world is only the remains or ruins, first, of a heaven spoiled by the fall of angels, and then of a paradise lost by the sin of man. So that man, and the world in which he lives, lie both in the same state of disorder and impurity, have both the same marks of life and death in them, both bring forth the same sort of evils, both need a redeemer, and have need of the same kind of death and resurrection, before they can come to their first state of purity and perfection.
This World Not A First, Immediate Creation Of God
That this outward world was not created out of nothing, is plainly taught by St. Paul, who declares, Rom.1:20, that the creation of the world is out of the invisible things of God; so that the outward condition and frame of invisible nature, is a plain manifestation of that spiritual world from which it is descended. For as every outside necessarily supposes an inside, and as temporal light and darkness must be the product of eternal light and darkness, so this outward, visible state of things necessarily supposes some inward, invisible state, from which it is come into this degree of out-wardness. Thus all that is on earth is only a change or alteration of something that was in heaven: and heaven itself is nothing else but the first glorious out-birth, the majestic manifestation, the adorable visibility of the one God. And thus we find out, how this temporal nature is related to God; it is only a gross out-birth of that which is an eternal nature, or a blessed heaven, and stands only in such a degree of distance from it, as water does to air; and this is the reason why the last fire will, and must turn this gross, temporal nature into its first, heavenly state. But to suppose the gross matter of this world to be made out of nothing, or compacted nothing, is more absurd, than to suppose ice that has been made from nothing, a yard that is not made up of inches, or a pound that is not the product of ounces.
How The World Comes To Be In Its Present State.
And indeed to suppose this, or any other material world to be made out of nothing, has all the same absurdities in it, as the supposing angels and spirits, to be created out of nothing. All the qualities of all beings are eternal; no real quality or power can appear in any creature, but what has its eternal root, or generating cause in the creator. If a quality could begin to be in a creature, which did not always exist in the creator, it would be no absurdity to say, that a thing might begin to be, without any cause either of its beginning, or being. All qualities, properties, or whatever can be affirmed of God, are self-existent, and necessary existent. Self and necessary existence is not a particular attribute of God, but is the general nature of everything that can be affirmed of God. All qualities and properties are self-existent in God: now, they cannot change their nature when they are derived, or formed into creatures, but must have the same self-birth, and necessary existence in the creature, which they had in the creator. The creature begins to be, when, and as it pleased God; but the qualities which are become creaturely, and which constitute the creature, are self-existent, just as the same qualities are in God. Thus, thinking, willing, and desire can have no outward maker, their maker is in themselves, they are self- existent powers wherever they are, whether in God, or in the creature, and as they form themselves in God, so they form themselves in the creature. But now, if no quality can begin to be, if all the qualities and powers of creatures must be eternal and necessary existent in God, before they can have any existence in any creature; then it undeniably follows, that every created thing must have its whole nature from, and out of the divine nature.
All qualities are not only good, but infinitely perfect, as they are in God; and it is absolutely impossible, that they should have any evil or defect in them, as they are in the one God, who is the great and universal all. Because, where all properties are, there must necessarily be an all possible perfection: and that which must always have all in itself, must, by an absolute necessity, be always all perfect. But the same qualities, thus infinitely good and perfect in God, may become imperfect and evil in the creature; because in the creature, being limited and finite, they may be divided and separated from one another by the creature itself. Thus strength and fire in the divine nature, are nothing else but the strength and flame of love, and never can be anything else; but in the creature, strength and fire may be separated from love, and then they are become an evil, they are wrath and darkness, and all mischief: and so that same strength and quality, which in creatures making a right use of their own will, or self-motion, becomes their goodness and perfection, does in creatures making a wrong use of their will, become their evil and mischievous nature; and it is a truth that deserves well to be considered, that there is no goodness in any creature, from the highest to the lowest, but in its continuing to be in such a union of qualities and powers, as God has brought together in its creation.
In the highest order of created beings, this is their standing in their first perfection, this is their fulfilling of the whole will or law of God, this is their piety, their song of praise, their eternal adoration of their great creator. On the other hand, there is no evil, no guilt, no deformity in any creature, but in its dividing and separating itself from something which God had given to be in union with it. This, and this alone, is the whole nature of all good, and all evil in the creature, both in the moral and natural world, in spiritual and material things. For instance, dark, fiery wrath in the soul, is not only very much like, but it is the self-same thing in the soul which poison is in the flesh. Now, the qualities of poison are in themselves, all of them good qualities, and necessary to every life; but they are become a poisonous evil, because they are separated from some other qualities. Thus also the qualities of fire and strength that constitute an evil wrath in the soul, are in themselves very good qualities, and necessary to every good life; but they are become an evil wrath, because separated from some other qualities with which they should be united.
The qualities of the devil and all fallen angels, are good qualities; they are the very same which they received from their infinitely perfect creator, the very same which are, and must be in all heavenly angels; but now they have become a hellish, abominable malignity, because they have, by their own self-motion, separated them from the light and love which should have kept them glorious angels.
And here may be seen at once, in the clearest light, the true origin of all evil in the creation, without the least imputation upon the creator. God could not possibly create a creature to be an infinite all, like himself: God could not bring any creature into existence, but by deriving into it the self-existent, self-generating, self-moving qualities of his own nature: for the qualities must be in the creature, that which they were in the creator, only in a state of limitation; and therefore, every creature must be finite, and must have a self-motion, and so must be capable of moving right and wrong, of uniting or dividing from what it will, or of falling from that state in which it ought to stand: but as every quality, in every creature, both within and without itself is equally good, and equally necessary to the perfection of the creature, since there is nothing that is evil in it, nor can become evil to the creature, but from being separated from itself, with which it can, and ought to be united, it plainly follows, that evil can no more be charged upon God, than darkness can be charged upon the sun; because every quality is equally good, every quality of fire is as good as every quality of light, and only becomes an evil to that creature, who, by his own self-motion, has separated fire from the light in his own nature.
The First Perfection Of Man.
If a delicious, fragrant fruit had a power of separating itself from that rich spirit, fine taste, smell, and color which it receives from the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air; or if it could in the beginning of its growth, turn away from the sun, and receive no virtue from it, then it would stand in its own first birth of wrath, sourness, bitterness, and astringency, just as the devils do, who have turned back into their own dark root, and rejected the Light and Spirit of God: so that the hellish nature of a devil is nothing else, but its own first forms of life, withdrawn, or separated from the heavenly light and love; just as the sourness, astringency, and bitterness of a fruit, are nothing else but the first forms of its own vegetable life before it has reached the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air.
And as a fruit, if it had a sensibility of itself, would be full of torment, as soon as it was shut up in the first forms of its life, in its own astringency, sourness, and stinging bitterness: so the angels, when they turned back into these very same first forms of their own life, and broke off from the heavenly light and love of God, they became their own hell. No hell was made for them, no new qualities came into them, no vengeance or pains from the God of love fell upon them; they only stood in that state of division and separation from the Son, and Holy Spirit of God, which, by their own motion, they had made for themselves. They had nothing in them, but what they had from God, the first forms of an heavenly life, nothing but what the most heavenly beings have, and must have, to all eternity; but they had them in a state of self-torment, because they had separated them from that birth of light and love, which alone could make them glorious sons, and blessed images of the Holy Trinity.
The same strong desire, fiery wrath, and stinging motion is in holy angels, that is in devils, just as the same sourness, astringency, and biting bitterness is in a full ripened fruit, which was there before it received the riches of the light and spirit of the air. In a ripened fruit, its first sourness, astringency, and bitterness is not lost, nor destroyed, but becomes the real cause of all its rich spirit, fine taste, fragrant smell, and beautiful color; take away the working, contending nature of these first qualities, and you annihilate the spirit, taste, smell, and virtue of the fruit, and there would be nothing left for the sun and the spirit of the air to enrich.
Just in the same manner, that which in a devil is an evil selfishness, a wrathful fire, a stinging motion, is in an holy angel, the everlasting kindling of a divine life, the strong birth of an heavenly love, it is a real cause of an everlasting, ever-triumphing joyfulness, an ever-increasing sensibility of bliss.
Take away the working, contending nature of these first qualities, which in a devil, are only a serpentine selfishness, wrath, fire, and stinging motion; take away these, I say, from holy angels, and you leave them neither light, nor love, nor heavenly glory, nothing for the birth of the Son, Holy Spirit of God to rise up in.
So that here you may see this glorious truth, that the love and goodness of God is as plain and undeniable in having given to the fallen angels, those very qualities and powers which are now their hell, as in giving the first sourness, astringency and bitterness to fruits, which alone makes them capable of their delicious spirit, taste, color, and smell.
And so you see the uniform life of all the creatures of God; how they are all raised, enriched, and blessed by the same life of God, derived into different kingdoms of creatures. For the beginnings and progress of a perfect life in fruits, and the beginnings and progress of a perfect life in angels, are not only similar to one another, but are the very same thing, or the workings of the very same qualities, only in different kingdoms. Astringency in a fruit, is the very same quality, and does the same work in a fruit, that attracting desire does in a spiritual being; it is the same beginner, former, and supporter of a creaturely life in the one, as in the other. No creature in heaven, or earth, can begin to be, but by this astringency, or desire, being made the ground of it: and yet this astringency kept from the virtue of the sun, can only produce a poisonous fruit, and this astringent desire in an angel, turned from the light of God, can only make a devil. The biting, stinging bitterness of a fruit, if you could add thought to it, would be the very gnawing envy of the devil: and the envious motion in the devil's nature, would be nothing else but that stinging bitterness which is in a fruit, if you could take thought from the devil's motion.
From this attraction, astringency, or desire, which is one and the same quality in every individual thing, which is the first form of being and life, the very ground of every creature, from the highest angel to the lowest vegetable, we are led by an unerring thread to the first desire, or that desire which is in the divine nature. For as this attraction, or astringent desire is in spiritual and corporeal things, one and the same quality, working in the same manner, so is it one and the same quality with that first, un-beginning desire, which is in the divine nature. That there is an attracting desire in the divine nature, is undeniable, because attraction is essential to all bodies; and desire, which is the same quality, is absolutely inseparable from all intelligible beings; therefore, that which is necessarily existent in the creature, upon the supposition of its creation, must necessarily be in the creator; because no inherent, operative quality can be in the creature, unless the same kind of quality had always been in the creator: therefore, attraction or desire, which are inseparable from every created being and life, are only various participations of the divine nature; or emanations from it, formed into different kingdoms of creatures, and working in all of them according to their respective natures. In vegetables, it is that attraction, or desire, which brings every growing thing to its highest perfection: in angels, it is that blessed hunger, by which they are filled with the divine nature: in devils, it is turned into that serpentine selfishness, or crooked desire, which makes them a hell and torment to themselves.
On the other hand, as we prove a posteriori, from a view of the creature, that there must be an attracting desire in the divine nature; so we can prove a priority also, from a consideration of God, that there must be an attracting desire in everything that ever was, or can be created by God: for nothing can come into being, but because God wills and desires it; therefore the desire of God is the creator, the origin of everything. The creating will, or desire of God, is not a distant, or separate thing, as when a man wills or desires something to be done; but it is an omnipresent, working will and desire, which is itself, the beginning and forming of the thing desired. Our own will, and desirous imagination, when they work and create in us a settled aversion, or fixed love of anything, resemble in some degree, the creating power of God, which makes things out of itself, or its own working desire. And our will, and working imagination could not have the power that it has now even after the fall, but because it is a product, or spark of that first divine will or desire which is omnipotent.
Here therefore we have plainly found the true origin, or first source of all things. The desire of God is the first former, generator, and creator of all things; they are all the births of this omnipotent, working desire; for everything that comes into being, must have the nature of that power that formed it, and therefore the nature of every creature must stand in an attracting desire, that is, everything must be a created, attracting power; because it is the birth, or product of a desire, or attractive power, and could neither come into, nor continue in being, but because it was generated not only by, but out of an attracting desire. And herein lies the band, or knot of all created being and life.
Will or desire in the Deity, is justly considered as God the Father, who from eternity to eternity, wills or generates only the Son, from which eternal generating, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds: and this is the infinite perfection or fullness of blessings of the life of the triune God. Now, as the un-beginning, eternal desire is in God, so is the created desire in the creature; it stands in the same tendency, Has the nature of the divine desire, because it is a branch out of it, or created from it. In the Deity, the eternal will or desire, is a desiring, or generating the Son, from where the Holy Spirit proceeds; the desire that is come out of God in the form of a creature, has the same tendency, it is a desire of the Son and Holy Spirit. And every created thing in heaven and earth attains its perfection, by its gaining in some degree, the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it: for all attraction and desire in the creature, generates in them as it did in God; and so the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God arises in some degree, or other, in all creatures that are in their proper state of perfection.
Man Has The Triune Nature Of God In Him.
And here lies the ground of that plain, and most fundamental doctrine of scripture, that the Father is the creator, the Son the regenerator, and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier. For what is this but saying in the plainest manner, that as there are three in God, so there must be three in the creature, that as the three stand related to one another in God, so must they stand in the same relation in the creature. For if a threefold life of God must have distinct shares in the creation, blessing, and perfection of man, is it not a demonstration, that the life of man must stand in the same threefold state, and have such a Trinity in it, as has its true likeness to that Trinity which is in God?
That which generates in God, must generate in the creature; and that which is generated in God, must be generated in the creature; and that which proceeds from this generation in the Deity, must proceed from this generation in the creature: and therefore, the same threefold life must be in the creature in the same manner as it is in God. For a creature that can only exist, and be blessed by the distinct operation of a Triune God upon it, must have the same Triune nature that is answerable to it. And herein lies our true, easy, sound, and edifying knowledge and belief of the mystery of a Trinity in Unity: and this is all that the scripture teaches us concerning it. It is not a doctrine that requires learned or nice speculations, in order to be rightly apprehended by us. But when with the scriptures, we believe the Father to be our creator, the Son our regenerator, and the Holy Spirit our sanctifier; then we are learned enough in this mystery, and begin to know the Triune God in the same manner in time, that we shall know him in eternity. And the reason why this great mystery of a Trinity in the Deity is revealed to us, and the necessity of a baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, laid upon us, is this; it is to show us, that the divine, Triune life of God is lost in us, and that nothing less than a birth from the Son and Holy Spirit of God in us, can restore us to our first likeness to that Triune God, who at first created us. This I have fully shown in the little treatise upon regeneration.
When man was created in his original perfection, the Holy Trinity was his creator; the breath of lives, which became a living soul, was the breath of the Triune God: but when man began to will, and desire, that is, to generate contrary to the Deity, then the life of the Triune God extinguished in him.
The desire of man being turned from God, lost the birth of the Son, and the proceeding of the Holy Spirit; and so fell into, or under the light and spirit of this world: that is, of a paradisiacal man, enjoying union and communion with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and living on earth in such enjoyment of God, as the angels live in heaven, he became an earthly creature, subject to the dominion of this outward world, capable of all its evil influences, subject to its vanity and mortality; and as to his outward life, stood only in the highest rank of animals. This and this alone, is the true nature and degree of the fall of man; it was neither more nor less than this. It was a falling out of one world, or kingdom, into another, it was changing the life, Light and Spirit of God, for the light and spirit of this world. Thus it was that Adam died the very day of his transgression, he died to all the influences and operations of the kingdom of God upon him, as we die to the influences of this world, when the soul leaves the body; and, on the other hand, all the influences, operations and powers of the elements of this life became opened in him, as they are in every animal at its birth into this world. All other accounts of that fall, which only suppose the loss of some moral perfection, or natural acuteness of his rational powers, are not only senseless fictions, but are an express denial of the Old and New Testament account of it; for the Old Testament expressly says, that Adam was to die the day of his transgression, and therefore it is certain, that he then did die, and that the fall was his losing his first life: and to say that he did not die to that first life in which he was created, is the same denial of scripture, as to say, that he did not eat of the forbidden tree. Again, the same scripture assures us, that after the fall, his eyes were opened; I suppose this is a proof, that before the fall, they were shut. And what is this, but saying in the plainest manner, that before the fall, the life, light and spirit of this world, were shut out of him? and that the opening of his eyes, was only another way of saying, that the life and light of this world were opened in him? If an angel, or any inhabitant of heaven, was to be sent of a message into this world, it must be supposed, that neither the darkness, nor light of this world, could act according to their nature upon him; and therefore, though he was here, he must be said not to have the opened eyes of this world: but if this heavenly messenger should be taken with our manner of life, should be in doubts about returning to heaven, and long to have such flesh and blood as ours is, as earnestly as Adam longed to eat of the earthly tree; and if by this longing, he should actually obtain that which he desired; must it not then be said of him, when he had got this new nature, his eyes were opened, to see light and darkness; and that only for this reason, because the heavenly life was despaired from him, and the earthly life of this world was opened in him? And so it was that Adam died, and his eyes were opened. Again, when his eyes were opened, or the light and life of this world opened in him, he was immediately ashamed and shocked at the sight of his own body, and wanted to hide it from himself, and from the sight of the sun. Now, how could this have happened to him, if his body had not undergone some very extraordinary change, from a state of glory and perfection, to a lamentable degree of vileness and impurity? All the terror at his fallen state, seems to arise from the sad condition, in which he saw and felt his outward body. This made him ashamed of himself; this made him tremble, at hearing the voice of God; this made him creep behind the trees, and endeavor to hide and cover his body with leaves. And is not this the same thing, as if Adam had said, "All my sin, my guilt, my misery, and shame, is published before heaven and earth, by this sad state and condition in which my body now appears." But now, what was this sad state and condition of his body? What did Adam see in the manner and form of it that filled him with such confusion? Why, he only saw that he was fallen from his paradisiacal glory, to have the same gross flesh and blood as the beasts and animals of this world have; which was, to bring forth an offspring in the same earthly manner, as they did. He could see, and be ashamed of no other deformity in his body, but that which he had in common with the animals of this world; and therefore there was nothing else in his outward form that he could be ashamed of; and yet it was his outward form that filled him with confusion. And is not this the greatest of all proofs, that before his fall, his body had not this nature and condition of the beasts in it? Is it not the same thing, as if he had said, "this body which now makes me ashamed, and which I want to hide, though it be only with thin leaves, because it brings me down amongst the animals of this world, is not that first body of glory into which God at first breathed the breath of lives, and in which I became a living soul." Again, if Adam's body had been of the same kind of flesh and blood as ours is now, only in a better state of health and vigor, how could he have been created immortal? If he was not created immortal, how can it be said, that sin alone brought mortality, or death into human nature? But if he had immortality in his first created state, then he must have such a body as none of the elements, or elementary things of this world could act upon; for there is no death in any creature of this world, but what is brought upon it by that strife and destruction which the four elements bring upon one another. But if sin alone gave the elements, and all elementary things their first power of acting upon the body of Adam; then it is plain, that before his sin, he had not, could not have a body of such flesh and blood as we now have, but that he stood, as to the state, nature, and condition of his outward body, at as great a distance and difference from the animals of this world, as heaven does from earth, and was created with flesh and blood as much exalted above, and superior to the nature and power of all the elements, as the beasts of this world are under them. And herein plainly appears the true sense of that saying, "God did not make death," that is, he did not make that which is mortal, or dying in the human nature, but sin alone formed and produced that in man, which could, and must die like the bodies of beasts. Death, and the grave, and the resurrection, are all standing proofs, that the body of bestial flesh and blood, which we now have, at the sight of which Adam was ashamed, which must die, which can rot in the grave, which must not be seen after the resurrection, was not that first body, in which Adam appeared before God in paradise: for it is an undeniable truth of scripture, that this flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God; it must be a truth of the same certainty, that this flesh and blood could not by God himself be brought into paradise; but that it must have the same original with every other polluted thing that is an abomination in his sight, or incapable of entering into the kingdom of God.
That the gospel also plainly shows, that man was created in the dignity and glorious enjoyment of the Triune life of God, that his fall was a falling into the earthly life of the light and spirit of this world, I have sufficiently proved from the greatest articles of the Christian faith, concerning the necessity, nature, and manner of our redemption, in the book of Christian Regeneration11. I have there shown, that baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, signifies nothing but our being born again into this Triune life of God. That the necessity of being born again of the Word or Son of God, of being born of the Spirit, or receiving him as a sanctifier of our newly raised nature, plainly proves that what we lost by the fall, was this Triune life of God: he that denies this, denies the whole of the Christian redemption.
It has been already observed, that when man was created in his original perfection, the Holy Trinity was his creator; but when man was fallen, or had lost his first divine life, then there began a new language of a redeeming religion. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were now to be considered, not as creating every man as they created the first, but as differently concerned in raising the fallen race of mankind, to that first likeness of the Holy Trinity in which their first father was created: hence it is, that the scriptures speak of the Father, as drawing, and calling men; because the desire which is from the Father's nature, must be the first mover, stirrer, and beginner. This desire must be moved and brought into an anguishing state, and have the agitation of a fire that is kindled; and then men are truly drawn by the Father. The Son of God is now considered as the regenerator or raiser of a new birth in us; because he enters a second time into the life of the soul, that his own nature and likeness may be again generated in it, and that he may be that to the soul in its state, which he is to the Father in the Deity. The Holy Ghost is represented as the sanctifier, or finisher of the divine life restored in us; because as in the Deity, the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, as the amiable, blessed finisher of the Triune life of God; so the fallen nature of man cannot be raised out of its unholy state, cannot be blessed and sanctified with its true degree of the divine life, until the Holy Spirit arises up in it. Since then the Triune God, or the three persons in the one God, must have this difference of shares, must reach out this different help to the raising up of fallen man, it is undeniable, that the first created man stood in the image and real likeness of the one God, not only representing, but really having in his birth and life, the birth and life of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost had such a Unity in man, as they had in the Deity itself: how else could man be the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, if it was not such a birth in man, as it was in itself? Or, how could the Holy Trinity dwell and operate in man, each person according to its respective nature, unless there was the same threefold life in man as there is in God? How could the Holy Trinity be an object of man's worship and adoration, if the Holy Trinity had not produced itself in man? The creature is only to own and worship its creator; therefore Father, Son, and Holy Ghost must have each of them their creaturely offspring, or product in man, if man is to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If therefore you deny angels, and the souls of perfect men to have the triune nature, of life of God in them: if you deny that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have such union and relation in the soul, as they have out of it, you are guilty of as great heresy and apostasy from the gospel, as if you denied the Father to be the creator or him that calls and draws, the Son to be the redeemer, or him that regenerates, and the Holy Spirit to be him that sanctifies human nature.
Again: consider this great truth, which will very much illustrate this matter; you can be an inhabitant of no world, or a partaker of its life, but by its being inwardly the birth of your own life, or by having the nature and condition of that world born in you. As such, hell must be inwardly born in the soul, it must arise up within it, as it does without it, before the soul can become an inhabitant of it. Again: that which is the life of this outward world, i.e., its fire, and light, and air, must have such a state and birth within you, as they have outside of you, before you can be an inhabitant or partaker of the life of this world; that is, fire must be in you, must be the same fire, have the same place and nature within you, have the same relation to the light and air that is within you, as it has without you, or else the fire of the outward world, cannot keep up, or have any communion with your own life. The light of this world can signify nothing to you, cannot reach or enrich you with its powers and virtues, if the same light is not arisen in the same manner in the kindling of your own life, as it arises in the outward world. The air also of this world can do you no good, can be no preserver of your life, but because it has the same birth in you, that it has in outward nature. And therefore it must be a truth of the greatest certainty, that so it must of all necessity be with respect to the kingdom of God, or that life which is to be had in the beatific12 presence of God; it must, by an absolute necessity, have the same birth within you, as it has without you, before you can enter into it, or become an inhabitant of it: if you are to live, and be eternally blessed in the triune life, or beatific presence of God, that triune life, must, of the utmost necessity, first make itself creaturely in you; it must be, and arise in you, as it does without you, before you can possibly enter into any communion with it. Now is there anything more plain and scriptural, more easy to be conceived, more pious to be believed, and more impossible to be denied, than all this? And yet this is all that I have said, in two propositions in the treatise upon Christian Regeneration: it is there said, "Man was created by God after his own image, and in his own likeness, a living mirror of the divine nature; where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost each brought forth their own nature in a creaturely manner." Now, what is this, but saying, that the Holy Trinity brought forth a creature in its own likeness, standing in a creaturely birth of the divine, triune life? If it did not stand thus, how could it have its form or creation from the Holy Trinity? Or how could it without this triune life in itself, enter into, or be a partaker of the triune life or presence of God? In the next proposition it is said; "In it, that is, in this created image of the Holy Trinity, the Father's nature generated the divine Word, or Son of God, and the Holy Ghost proceeded from them both as an amiable, moving life of both. This was the likeness or image of God, in which the first man was created, a true offspring of God, in whom the divine birth sprung up as in the Deity, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saw themselves in a creaturely manner."
Now, what is this, but saying in the plainest manner, only that the triune, creaturely life stood in the same birth and generation of its threefold life, as the Deity does, whose image, likeness, and offspring it is? And can it possibly be otherwise; for if the creature comes from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as their created image and likeness, must not that which it has from the Father, be of the nature of the Father, that which it has from the Son, be of the nature of the Son, and that which it has from the Holy Ghost, be of the nature of the Holy Ghost? And must they not therefore stand in the creature in such a relation to one another, as they do in the creator? If it is the nature of the Father to generate, if it is the nature of the Son to be generated, if it is the nature of the Holy Ghost to proceed from both, must not that which you have from the Father generate in you, that which you have from the Son be generated in you, and that which you have from the Holy Ghost, proceed from both in you? All which is only saying this plain and obvious truth, that that being, or created life, which you have from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must stand in such a triune relation within you as it does outside you; that having this threefold likeness of God, you may be capable of entering into an enjoyment of his triune, beatific life or presence. For, consider again this instance, with regard to the life of this world. The fire, and light, and air, of outward nature, must become creaturely in you; that is, you must have a fire that is your own creaturely fire, you must have a light that is generated by, or from your own fire, a breath that proceeds from your own fire and light, as the air of outward nature proceeds from its fire and light: you must have all this nature and birth of fire, and light, and air in your own creaturely being, or you cannot possibly live in, or have a life from the fire, and light, and air of outward nature: 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. And therefore, no omnipotence can make you a partaker of the beatific life or presence of the Holy Trinity, unless that life stands in the same triune state within you, as it does outside of you. The nature of this world must become creatural in you, before you can live, or have a share in the life of this world; the triune nature of God must breathe forth itself to stand creaturely in you, before you can live, or have a share in the beatific life or presence of the triune God.
Now, is not all this strictly according to the very outward letter, and inward truth of the most important articles of the Christian religion? For what else can be meant by the necessity of our being born again of the Word, or Son of God, being born of the Spirit of God, in order to have our entrance into the kingdom of heaven? Is not this saying, that the triune life of God must first have its birth in us, before we can enter into the triune, beatific life, or presence of God? What else is taught us by that new birth sought for by a baptism, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Does it not plainly tell us, that the triune nature of the Deity is that which wants to be born in us, and that our redemption consists in nothing else but in the bringing forth this new birth in us, and that, being thus born again in the likeness of the Holy Trinity, we may be capable of its threefold blessing and happiness? The New Testament tells us of the impossibility of our being made holy, but by the Holy Spirit of God: now, how could we need any distinct thing particularly from the Son of God, any distinct thing, particularly from the Holy Ghost, in order to raise and repair our fallen nature, how could this be absolutely necessary, but because the holy threefold life of the Deity must stand within us, in the birth of our own life, as it does without us, so that we may be capable of living in God, and God in us. Search to eternity, why no devil, or beast can possibly be a partaker of the kingdom of heaven, and there can only be this one reason found, because neither of them have the triune, holy life of God in them: for every created thing does, and must, and can only want, seek, unite with, and enjoy that outwardly, which is of the same nature with itself. Place a devil where you will, he is still in hell, and always at the same distance from heaven; he can touch, or taste, or reach nothing but what is in hell. Carry a beast where you please, either to court, or to church, he is yet at the same infinite distance from the joys and fears either of church, or court, as the beasts that never saw anything else but their own kind: and all this is grounded solely on this eternal truth; namely, that no being can rise higher than its own life reaches. The circle of the birth of life in every creature is its necessary circumference, and it cannot possibly reach any further; and therefore it is a joyful truth, that beings created to worship and adore the Holy Trinity, and to enter into the beatific life and presence of the triune God, must, of all necessity, have the same triune life in their own creaturely being. And now, what can be so glorious, so edifying, so ravishing, as this knowledge of God and ourselves? The very thought of our standing in this likeness and relation to the infinite creator and being of all beings, is enough to kindle the divine life within us, and melt us into a continual love and adoration: for how can we enough love and adore that Holy Trinity which has created us in its own likeness, that we might live in an eternal union and communion with Him? Will anyone call this an irreverent familiarity, or bold looking into the Holy Trinity, which is nothing else but a thankful adoration of it, as our glorious Father and creator? It is our best and only acknowledgement of the greatest truths of the holy scriptures; it is the scripture doctrine of the Trinity kept in its own simplicity, separated from scholastic speculations, where the three in God, are only distinguished by that threefold share that they have in the creation and redemption of man. When therefore we know the Trinity in ourselves, and adore its high origin in the Deity, we are possessed of a truth of the greatest degree, that enlightens the mind with the most solid and edifying knowledge, and opens to us the fullest understanding of all that concerns the creation, fall, and redemption of man.
Without this knowledge, all the scripture will be used as a dead letter, and formed only into a figurative, historical system of things, that has no ground in nature; and learned divines can only be learned in the explication of phrases, and verbal distinctions. The first chapters of Genesis will be a knot that cannot be untied; the mysteries of the gospel will only be called federal rites, and their inward ground reproached as enthusiastic dreams; but when it is known, that the triune nature of God was brought forth in the creation of man, that it was lost in his fall, that it is restored in his redemption, a never-failing light arises in all scripture, from Genesis to the Revelation. Everything that is said of God, as Father, regenerator, or sanctifier of man; everything that is said of Jesus Christ, as redeeming, being formed, dwelling in, and quickening; and of the Holy Spirit, as moving and sanctifying us: everything that is said of the Lord's supper and baptism, or promised in and by them, has its deep and inward ground fully discovered; and the whole Christian religion is built upon a rock, and God will appear to be doing every good to us, that the God of all nature can possibly do. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is wholly practical; it is revealed to us, to discover our high origin, and the greatness of our fall, to show us the deep and profound operation of the triune God in the recovery of the divine life in our souls; that by the means of this mystery thus discovered, our piety may be rightly directed, our faith and prayer have their proper objects, that the workings and aspiring of our own hearts may cooperate, and correspond with that triune life in the Deity, which is always desiring to manifest itself in us; for as everything that is in us, whether it be heaven, or hell, rises up in us by a birth, and is generated in us by the will-spirit of our souls, which kindles itself either in heaven, or hell; so this mystery of a triune Deity manifesting itself, as a Father creating, as a Son, or Word, regenerating, as a Holy Spirit sanctifying us, is not to entertain our speculation with dry, metaphysical distinctions of the Deity, but to show us from what a height and depth we are fallen, and to excite such a prayer and faith, such a hungering and thirsting after this triune fountain of all good, as may help to generate and bring forth in us that first image of the Holy Trinity in which we were created, and which must be born in us before we can enter into the state of the blessed: here we may see the reason, why the learned world has had so many fruitless disputes about this mystery, and why it has been so often a stone of stumbling to philosophers and critics; it is because they began to reason about that, which never was proposed to their reason, and which no more belongs to human learning and philosophy, than light belongs to our ears, or sounds to our eyes. No person has any fitness, nor any pretense, nor any ground from scripture, to think, or say anything of God, until such time as he stands in the state of the penitent returning prodigal, weary of his own sinful, shameful nature; and desiring to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, and then is he first permitted to be baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: this is the first time the gospel teaches, or calls anyone to the acknowledgement of the Holy Trinity. Now, as this knowledge is first given in and about baptism, and there only as a signification of a triune life of the Deity, which must be regenerated in the soul; so the scriptures say nothing afterwards to this baptized penitent concerning the Trinity, but only with regard to regeneration, everywhere only showing him how Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all equally divine, must draw, awaken, quicken, enlighten, move, guide, cleanse, and sanctify the new-born Christian: is it not therefore undeniably plain, that all abstract speculations of this mystery, how it is in itself, how it is to be ideally conceived, or scholastically expressed by us, is a wandering away from that true light, in which the Trinity of God is set before us, which is only revealed as a key, or direction to the true depths of that regeneration, which is to be sought for from the Lord? But to go on in a further account of the creation.
Now, as all creatures, whether intellectual, animate, or inanimate, are products, or emanations of the divine desire, created out of the Father, who from eternity to eternity generates the Son, and from this the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds; so every intelligent, created being, not fallen from its state, stands in the same birth, or generating desire, it generates in its degree, as God the Father generates eternally the Son, and is blessed and perfected in the divine life, by having the Holy Spirit rise up in it. And so it is, that those angels which stood, and continued in the same will and desire in which they came out from God, willing and desiring as God from all eternity had willed and desired, were by the rising up of the Holy Spirit in them, confirmed and established in the divine life, and so became eternally and inseparably united with the ever-blessed triune Deity.
On the other hand, those angels which did not keep their will and desire in its first created tendency, but allowed their own will and desire to rise up, which own will and desire was their direct, full choosing and desiring to be, and do something which they could not be, and do in God, and is therefore properly called their aspiring to be above God, or to be independent from Him; these angels, by going backwards with their will and desire out of, or from God and divine truth, could only find, or generate that which had contrariety to God and the divine birth, and so became under a necessity of finding themselves in an eternal state, spirit and life that was directly contrary to all that is good, holy, amiable, blessed and divine. Now, the will and desire in every creature is generating, and effective, strictly according to the state and nature of that creature, therefore, eternal beings in an eternal state, must have an eternal power and effectiveness in the working of their wills and desires: when therefore those angels, with all the strength of their eternal desires, turned away from God and the divine birth, they could become nothing else, but beings eternally separated and broken off from all that was God and goodness: for eternal beings that stood only in an eternal state, acting with all their vigor, not doubting, but strong willed, could not do anything that had only a temporal nature and effect, because they stood not in such a nature or such a world, and therefore what they willed and generated with all their nature, (which was a contrariety to God) that became the eternal state of their nature. And this is the birth and origin of hellish beings. God had done all to them and for them, that he had done to and for the angels that stood; he had given them the same holy beginning of their lives, had brought them forth out of himself in the same tendency, that which was the nature of other angels, was theirs; he could not make any established, fixed, and unchangeable angels, because the life of everything must be a birth, and willing beings must have a birth of their wills; he could not make them fixed, because everything that comes from God, must so come from him, as it was in him, a self- existent and self-moving power, and therefore no goodness of God could hinder their having a self-motion, because they were, and could be nothing else but creatures brought forth by, and out of his own self- existent and self-moving nature. God is all good, and everything that comes out from him, as his creature, product, or offspring, must come forth in that state of goodness, which it had in him; and every creature, however high in its birth from God, must in the beginning of its life, have a power of joining with or depareing from God, because the beginning of its life is nothing else but the beginning of its own self-motion as a creature; and therefore no creature can have its state or condition fixed, until it gives itself up either wholly unto God, or turns wholly from him; for if it is an intelligent creature, it can only be so, by having the intelligent will of God derived into it; but the intelligent will brought into a creaturely form, must be that which it was in the creator, and therefore must be the same self-existent and self-moving power that it was before it became creaturely in any angel or spirit. And so you see the cause and origin of evil, wherever it is, it is absolutely and eternally separated from God.
Again: as all intelligent beings can in no way attain their happiness and perfection, but by standing with their will and desire united to God, in the same tendency in which the Father eternally generates the Son, from this and this alone, the Holy Spirit proceeds as the finisher of the triune, beatific life, so the same thing is manifestly proved to us by the lowest kind of beings that are in visible this world; for all vegetables, by their attraction or astringency, which is their desire, and is an out birth of the divine desire, reach their utmost perfection by the same progress, that is, by getting a birth of the light and spirit of this outward world into them, and so become infallible, though no life can be brought to its proper perfection in the creature, until the image of the triune life of God, is, according to the state and capacity of the creature, formed in it: look where you will, everything proclaims and proves this great truth. The Christian doctrine of the salvation of mankind by a birth of the Son, and Holy Spirit of God in them, is not only written in scripture, but in the whole state and frame of nature, and of every life in this world; for every perfect fruit openly declares, that it can have no goodness in it, until the light and spirit of this world has done that to it and in it, which the Light and Spirit of God must do to the soul of man, and therefore is a full proof, that it is absolutely necessary for every human creature to desire, believe, and receive the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God to save it from its own wrath and darkness, as it is necessary for every fruit of the earth to be raised and regenerated from its own bitterness and sourness, by receiving the light and spirit of this world into it.
Some learned men, willing to discover the image of the Holy Trinity in the creation, have observed three properties both in body and spirit, which they supposed to be a proper likeness of the Trinity. But all this is as nothing to the matter. For as the Holy Trinity is a threefold life in God, so the image of the Trinity is always found in a threefold life in the creature; for it is the whole birth, or generation of the thing itself, whether it be corporeal or spiritual, that stands in such a threefold state as the Holy Trinity does, that is the proper likeness or image of the Trinity. As there is one infinitely perfect Deity, because this one Deity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so every creature that is an original production of the Deity, or in its proper state of perfection, stands in its whole being, or generating as the Deity does, and neither has, nor ever can have any perfection, but because the triune nature of God is manifested and brought forth in it; for the perfection of life, is God, and a perfection of life derived from God, must stand in the same threefold state, and that which is a life from the Deity, must have a life of the Trinity in it.
Take away attraction, or desire from the creature of this world, and you annihilate the creature; for where there is no attraction or desire, there can be no nature or being; and therefore attraction or desire shows the work of the creator in everything, or what is meant by the divine fiat, or creating power. Now, what is it which this attraction or desire wants, hungers, draws and reaches after? Nothing else but the light and spirit of this world. What is the true, deep, and infallible ground of this? Why does this desire work in every life of this world? It is because the eternal will in the Deity, is a desiring or generating of the Son, from where the Holy Spirit of God proceeds: and therefore attraction, which is an out-birth of the divine desire, stands in a perpetual desiring of the light and spirit of this world, because they are the two out-births of the Light and Holy Spirit of God. What rational mind can help being charmed with this wonderful harmony and relation between God, nature, and creature?
And now, my dear reader, if you are either Arian, or Deist, be so no longer: the ground has been dug up from under you, and neither opinion has anything left to stand upon; you may wrangle and wrestle the doctrine of scripture, because it is only taught in words; but the veil is now taken off from nature, and every plant and fruit will teach you with the clearness of the noon-day sun, these two great truths; first, that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one being, one life, one God: secondly, that the soul, which is dead to the paradisiacal life, must be made alive again by the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, in the same manner as a dead seed is, and only can be brought to life in this world, by the light and spirit of this world.
Arianism And Deism Confronted By Nature.
If you are an Arian, don't content yourself with the numbers that are with you, or with a learned name or two that happen to be on your side: Arianism has never yet been recommended by the genius and learning of a Baronious, or Bellarmin; and nothing but a poor, groping, purblind philosophy, that is not able to look either at God, nature, or creature, has ever led any man into it: for it is a truth proclaimed by all nature and creature, that there is a threefold life in God, and everything that is, whether it be happy, or miserable, perfect or imperfect, is only so, because it has, or has not the triune nature of God in it.
A beginning fruit is like a poison; a seed, for a while, it is shut up in a hard death. Why are they both at first in this state? It is because each of them stands as yet only in that first birth of nature, which is but a beginning manifestation of the Deity. Let the light of the sun, and the spirit of this world be born in them, and then the sour, astringent fruit, and the dead seed becomes a perfect, vegetable life, and is in its kind perfect, for this one and only reason, because the triune life of the Deity is truly manifested in it.
If you are a Deist, made so, either by the disorderly state of your own heart, or by prejudices taken from the corruptions and divisions of Christians, or from a dislike of the language of scripture, or from an opinion of the sufficiency of a religion of human reason, or from whatever else it may be, look well to yourself, Christianity is no fiction of enthusiasm, or invention of ministers or priests.
That Life Is Uniform Through All Creatures.
If you can show, that the gospel proposes to bring men into the kingdom of heaven by any other method, than that, which nature requires to make any creature a living member of this world, then I will acknowledge the gospel not to be founded in nature. But if what the gospel said of the absolute necessity, that the fallen soul be born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, this is the very same which all temporal nature has said of everything that is to enter into the life of this world, i.e., that it cannot partaker of the life of this world, until the light and spirit of this world is born in it; then does not all nature in this world, and every life in it, declare, that the Christian method of salvation is as necessary to raise fallen man, as the sun and spirit of this world is, to bring a creature alive into it? Now, as there is but one God, so there is but one nature, as unalterable as that God from whom it arises, and whose manifestation it is; so also there is but one religion founded in nature, and but one salvation possible in nature. Revealed religion is nothing else but a revelation of the mysteries of nature, for God cannot reveal, or require anything by a spoken or written word, but only that which he reveals and requires by nature; for nature is his great book of revelation, and he that can only read its letters, will have found so many demonstrations of the truth of the written revelation of God. But to show, that there is but one salvation possible in nature, and that possibility solely contained in the Christian method: look from the top to the bottom of all creatures, from the highest to the lowest beings, and you will find, that death has but one nature in all worlds, and in all creatures: look at life in an angel, and life in a vegetable, and you will find, that life has but one and the same form, one and the same ground in the whole scale of beings: no omnipotence of God can make that to be life, which is not life, or that to be death, which is not death, according to nature; and the reason is, because nature is nothing else but God's own outward manifestation of what he inwardly is, and can do; and therefore no revelation from God can teach, or require anything but that which is taught and required by God in, and through nature. The mysteries of religion therefore, are no higher, nor deeper than the mysteries of nature, and all the rites, laws, ceremonies, types, institutions and ordinances given by God from Adam to the apostles, are only typical of something that is to be done, or instrumental to the doing of that, which the unchangeable working of nature requires to be done. As sure therefore as there is but one death thing, and life is the same thing throughout all nature, whether temporal or eternal, so sure is it, that there is but one way to life or salvation for fallen man. And this way, let it be what it will, must and only can be that, which has its reason and foundation in that one universal nature, which is the one unchangeable manifestation of the Deity. For if there is but one thing that is life, and one thing that is death throughout all nature, from the highest angel to the hardest flint upon earth, then it must be plain, that the life which is to be raised or restored by religion, must, and can only be restored according to nature: and therefore, true religion can only be the religion of nature, and divine revelation can do nothing else, but reveal and manifest the demands and workings of nature.
That There Is But One Kind Of Death To Be Found In All Nature.
Now, the one great doctrine of the Christian religion which includes all the rest, is this, that Adam, by his sin, died to the kingdom of heaven, or that the divine life was extinguished within him; that he cannot be redeemed, or restored to this first divine life, but by having it regenerated in him by the Son and Holy Spirit of God: now, that which is here called death, his losing the Light and Spirit of the kingdom of heaven, and that which is here made necessary to make him alive again to the kingdom of heaven, is that very same which is called, and is death and life throughout all nature, both temporal and eternal: and therefore, the Christian religion requiring this method of raising a man to a divine life, has its infallible proof from all nature. Consider death, or the deadness that is in a hard piece of flint, and you will see the nature of the eternal death of a fallen angel: the flint is dead, or in a state of death, because its fire is bound, compacted, shut up, and imprisoned; this is its chains and bands of death: a steel struck against a flint will show you, that every particles of the flint consists of this compacted fire. Now, a fallen angel is in no other state of death, knows no other death than this: it is in its whole spiritual, intelligent being, nothing else, but that very same which the flint is, in its insensible materiality, i.e., an imprisoned compacted, darkened fire-spirit, shut up, and tied in its own chains of darkness, as the fire of the flint; and you shall see, that the flint is changed from its first state into its present hardness of death, in the same manner, and by the same means, as the heavenly angel is become a fiery serpent in the state of eternal death. Now, look at every death that can be found between that of a fallen angel, and that of a hard flint, and you will find that death enters nowhere, into no kind of vegetable, plant, or animal, but as it has entered into the angel, and the flint, and stands in the same manner in everything wherever it is. Now, that a fallen angel, is nothing else but a fire-spirit imprisoned in the same manner as a flint is an imprisoned fire, is plain from the scripture account of them; not only because all the wrathful properties of a fire without light, are ascribed to them as their essential qualities, but because the place of their habitation, or the state of their life, is a fire of hell. For how could it be possible, that a hellish fire should be the eternal state of their life, unless their nature was such a fire? Must not their painful condition arise from their nature, and their misery be only a sensibility of themselves, of that which they have made themselves to be? Therefore, if fire shut up in darkness, is the nature of hell, it can only be so, because such a darkened fire is the very nature of a fallen angel. Or how again could the human soul, which has withstood its salvation in this life, be said to fall into eternal death, or the fire of hell, if the soul itself did not become that fire of hell? For when you say the soul enters into hell, you say neither more nor less, than if you had said, that hell enters into the soul; therefore, the state of hell, and the state of the soul in hell, is one and the same thing. If therefore hell is a state of fire shut up, and imprisoned from all communion with light, then the same dark, imprisoned fire must be the nature of the fallen angel and lost soul; and what your eyes see to be the death or deadness of a flint, is that same thing, or that same state of the thing, which the scripture assures you, to be the eternal death of a fallen angel, and a lost soul. Here also you may see a plain proof of what I have elsewhere declared in it, or the in-spoken Word of life given to Adam at his fall, it is in itself, as a fallen soul, the same dark, fiery spirit, as the devils are; and the reason why men are wholly given up to wickedness, who have suppressed the redeeming power of God in their souls, and the reason that they do not become fully sensible of this state of their souls, is this, because the soul, while it is in this flesh and blood, is capable of being softened, and comforted in some degree or other, by the influences of the sun and spirit of this world, as all other creatures and beings are. And if it was not, how could it be a plain, constant doctrine of scripture, that when the unredeemed soul despairs this life, it is incapable of anything but hell? Is not this directly saying, that hell, or the sensibility of hell was only hid and suppressed in such a soul, by the life and light of this world shining upon it. Now what I have said of the sad condition of the soul at the fall, that it lost the divine life, or the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, and so became the same dark, fiery nature, as the devils, is not possible to be denied, without denying the most universally received doctrine of scripture. Is it not a fundamental doctrine of scripture, that Adam and all his posterity had been left in a state of eternal death, or damnation, unless Jesus Christ had become their redeemer, and taken them out of their natural state? But how can you believe that they had been left in this state, without believing that they were in it? Or, how can you with the scripture believe, that by the fall they became heirs of eternal death and damnation with the devils, unless you believe and affirm, that by the fall they became of a hellish, diabolical nature? Or how can you hold, that by the fall they needed to be delivered from the state of the devils, and yet not allow, that by the fall, they received the nature of the devils? Can anything be more absurd and inconsistent? Is it not the same thing as saying, that God made them heirs of eternal death and hell, before they were by nature fit for it, or before they had extinguished in themselves the divine life which was at first brought forth in them. Again: it is a scripture doctrine of the utmost certainty and importance, that those souls which have totally resisted and withstood all that God has done in them and for them by his Son Jesus Christ, will, at their departure from the body, be incapable of anything but eternal death, or a hellish condition. Now, how can you possibly hold this doctrine of scripture, without holding at the same time, that the soul was in that state by the fall, before it had received its redeemer, as it is then in, when it has refused to receive him; for all that you can say of a lost soul is only this, that it has lost its redeemer, and therefore is only in the condition of that soul which has not received him: and therefore, if a lost soul is only an unredeemed soul, it must be plain, that the soul, before it had received its redeemer, was in a miserable condition, and had the miserable nature of a lost soul; and therefore, the only difference between the fallen soul, and the lost soul is this, they are both in the same need of a savior, both have the same miserable nature, because they have him not; but the one has the offer of him, and the other has refused to accept of him: but this final refusal of him, has only left him in possession of that fallen state of a hellish condition, which it had before a savior was given to it; and therefore, it is a truth of the utmost certainty, that Adam, by his fall, died to the divine life, and that by this death, his soul became of the same nature and condition as that of the fallen angels; and that therefore the new birth or regeneration, which he is to obtain by his redeemer Jesus Christ, is nothing else but the bringing back of his soul into the kingdom of heaven, by a birth of the Son and the Holy Spirit of God brought forth in it, so that the life of the triune God may be in him again, as it was at his creation, when his soul was first breathed forth from the triune God. Is there anything greater, more glorious, or more consistent than these truths? Or is there any possibility of denying any part of them, without giving up all of them? Or is there any reason, why a Christian should be reluctant to believe this, and this alone, to be the true state of that regeneration which is so absolutely required by the gospel? Is it an unreasonable or an uncomfortable thing to be told, that our regeneration is a true and real regaining of that heavenly, divine, immortal life which at first came forth from God, and which alone can enter into the kingdom of heaven? Say that Adam did not die a real death at his transgression, that he did not lose a divine, immortal life, light and spirit, that he did not then first become a mere earthly, mortal, diabolical animal in the true and proper sense of the words, but that these things could only be affirmed of him in a figurative form of speech; say this, and then tell me what reality you have left in any article of our salvation? But if all these things must be said of fallen man according to the strictest truth of the expression, then the gospel regeneration, by a birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, arising a second time, in the soul of man, must mean such a real birth of a new heavenly life, as the proper sense of the words denote.
But to return now to my argumentation with the Deist, I have plainly shown you, that there is, and can be but one kind of death through all nature, whether temporal or eternal; and this I have done, by showing that eternal death in an angel, is the same thing, and has the same nature, as the hard death that is in a senseless flint. But if it is a certain truth, that death has but one way of entering into, or possessing any being from the highest of spiritual to the lowest of material creatures, then, though nothing else could be offered, it must be an infallible consequence, that life has but one way of being kindled throughout all nature, and that therefore there can be but one true religion, and that only can be it, which has the one and only way of kindling the heavenly life in the soul. Now, look where you will, the birth or kindling of life through all nature shows you, that the way of gospel regeneration, or raising the divine life again in the fallen soul, is that one and the same way, by which every kind of life is, and must be raised, wherever it is found. The gospel said, unless the fallen soul be born again from above, be born again of the Word, or Son, and the Spirit of God, it cannot see, or enter into the kingdom of heaven: now here it says a truth, as much confirmed and ratified by all nature, as when it is said, except a creature has the light and spirit of this world born in it, it cannot become a living animal of this world: or, except a seed have the light and spirit of this world incorporated in it, it cannot become a vegetable of this world, either as plant, fruit, or flower. Ask now wherein lies the absolute impossibility, that the fallen soul should be raised to its divine life, without a birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, and the true ground of this impossibility is only this, because a seed shut up in its own cold hardness, cannot possibly be raised into its highest vegetable life, but by a birth of the light and spirit of this world rising up in it. On the other hand, ask why a seed cannot possibly become a vegetable life, until the light and spirit of this world has been incorporated, or generated in it; and the only true ground of it is, because a fallen soul can only be raised to a divine life, or become a plant of the kingdom of heaven, by receiving the birth of the Light and Spirit of God into it. For the true reason, why life is in such a form, and rises in such a manner in the lowest creature living, is because it does, and must arise in the same manner, and stand in the same form in the highest of living creatures: for nature does, and must always act and generate in one and the same unchangeable manner, because it is nothing else but the manifestation of one unchangeable God. It is one and the same operation of light and spirit, that turns fire into every degree and kind of life that can be found either in temporal or eternal nature: it is one and the same operation of light and spirit, that upon one state of fire, raises an animal life, upon another state of fire, raises an intellectual and angelical life. There is no state or form of death in any creature, but where some kind of fire is shut up from light and spirit, nor is there any kind of life but that which is kindled by the same operation of light and spirit upon some sort of fire. A fruit must first stand in a poisonous, sour, astringent, bitter, and fiery agitation of all its parts , before the light and spirit of this world can be generated in it. And so light and spirit operate upon one sort of fire in the production of a vegetable life. An animal must be conceived in the same manner, it must begin in the same poison, and when nature is in its fiery strife, the light and spirit of this world kindles up the true animal life. There is but one kind, or state of death that can fall upon any creature, which is nothing else, but its losing the birth of light and spirit in itself, by which it becomes an imprisoned, dark fire. In an animal, vegetable, or mere matter, it is a senseless state of imprisoned fire; in an angel, or intellectual being, as the soul of man, it is a self-tormenting, self-generating, fiery worm, that cannot lose its sensibility, but is in a state of eternal death, because it is separated eternally from that light and spirit, which alone can raise a divine life in any intellectual creature. And so it is plain, beyond all possibility of doubt, that there is neither life nor death to be found in any part of the creation but that sets its infallible seal to this gospel truth, that fallen man cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven any other way, than by being born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God.
And here, my friend, you may with certainty see what a poor, groundless fiction, your religion of human reason is; its insignificancy and emptiness is shown you by everything you can look upon. Salvation is a birth of life, but reason can no more bring forth this birth, than it can bring forth life in a plant, or animal: you might as well write the word "flame," upon the outside of a flint, and then expect that its imprisoned fire should be kindled by it, as to imagine, that any images, or ideal speculations of reason painted in your brain, should raise your soul out of its state of death, and kindle the divine life in it. No: would you have fire from a flint; its house of death must be shaken, and its chains of darkness broken off by the strokes of a steel upon it. This must of all necessity be done to your soul, its imprisoned fire must be awakened by the sharp strokes of steel, or no true light of life can arise in it: all nature and creature tells you, that the heavenly life must begin in you from the same causes, and the same operation as every earthly life, whether vegetable, or animal. Now, look where you will, all life must be generated in this manner: first, an attraction, or an astringent desire, must work itself into an anguishing agitation, or painful strife; this attraction become restless, and highly agitated, it is that first poison, or strife of the properties of nature, which is and must be the beginning of every vegetable or animal life; it is by this strife, or inward agitation, that it reaches and gets a birth of the light and spirit of this world into it, and so becomes a living member, either of the animal or vegetable world. Now, this must be your process, a desire brought into an anguishing state; the bitter sorrows and fiery agitations of repentance, must be the beginning of a divine life in your soul; it is by this awakened fire, or inward agitation, that it becomes capable of being regenerated, or turned into an heavenly life, by the Light and Holy Spirit of God. Nothing is, or can possibly be salvation, but this regenerated life of the soul: how vain and absurd would it be, to talk of a creature's being made a member of a vegetable or animal kingdom, through an outward grace or favor? or by any outward thing of any kind? For does not sense, reason, and all nature force you to confess, that it is absolutely impossible for anything to become a living member of the animal or vegetable kingdom, but by having the animal or vegetable life raised or brought forth in it? Therefore, does not sense and reason, and all nature join with the gospel in affirming, that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven, until the heavenly life, or that which is the life in heaven, be born in him? The gospel says to the fallen, earthly man, that he must be born again from above, before he can see, enter into, or become a living member of the kingdom that is above. Now, he that understands this to be a figurative saying, that requires no real birth of a real life that is only above, but that an earthly man may enter into the life of heaven, by only carrying this figurative saying along with him, is as absurd, as ignorant, and offends as much against sense, reason, and all nature, as he who holds, that it is a figurative expression, when we say that nothing can enter into the vegetable kingdom, until it has the vegetable life in it, or be a member of the animal kingdom, until it has the animal life born in it. And if some learned men will say, that it is religious enthusiasm to place our salvation, or capacity for the kingdom of heaven in the inward life or birth of heaven derived into our souls, they are only as learned as those who should call it philosophical enthusiasm to place the true nature of a vegetable, or animal, in its getting the inward, real birth of a vegetable and animal life. But to return to the Deist. You act as if God was a being that had an arbitrary, discretionary will, or wisdom, like that of a great prince over his subjects, who will reward mankind according as their services appeared to him. And so you fancy, that your religion of reason may appear as valuable as a religion that consists of forms, and modes, ordinances, and doctrines of revelation; but your idea of the last judgment is a fiction of reason that knows nothing rightly of God. God's last rewarding, is only his last separating everything into its own eternal place; it is only putting an end to all temporary nature, to the mixture of good and evil that is in time and leaving everything to be that in eternity, which it has made itself to be in time. Consequently, it is that our works follow us, and so God rewards every man according to his deeds. During the time of this world, God may be considered as the good husbandman; he sows the seed, the end of the world is the harvest, the angels are the reapers; if you are wheat, you are to be gathered into the barn, if you are tares, it signifies nothing, where, or how, or by what means you are become so; tares are to be rejected, because they are tares, and wheat is to be gathered by the angels, because it is wheat: this is the mercy, and goodness, and discretionary justice of God that you are to expect at the last day. If you are not wheat, that is, if the heavenly life, or the kingdom of God, is not grown up in you it signifies nothing, but what you have chosen in the instead of it, or why you have chosen it. God wants no services of men to reward, he only wants to have such a life quickened and raised up in you, as may make it possible for you to enter into, and live in heaven. He has created you out of his own eternal nature, and therefore you must have either an eternal life, or eternal death according to it. If eternal nature stands in you, as it does without you, then you are born again to the kingdom of heaven; but if nature works contrary in you to what it does in heaven, then you are in eternal death: and here lies the necessity of our being born again of the Word and Spirit of God, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is because we are created out of that eternal nature which is the kingdom of heaven; it is because we are fallen out of it into a life of temporal nature, and therefore must have the life of eternal nature re-kindled, born afresh in us, before we can possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven: therefore, look where you will, or at what you will, there is only one thing to be done, we want nothing else, but to have the life of eternal nature kindled again in our souls, that this life, and light, and spirit may be that in our souls, which they are in eternal nature13, out of which our souls were created; that so we may be heavenly plants growing up in the kingdom of heaven. You deceive yourself with fancied notions of the goodness of God; you imagine, that so perfect a being cannot damn you for so small a matter, as choosing a religion according to your own notions, or for not joining yourself with this, or that religious society. But all this is a great ignorance of God, and nature, and religion. God has appointed a religion, by which salvation is to be had according to the possibility of nature, where no creature will be saved, or lost, but as it works with, or contrary to this nature. For as the God of nature cannot Himself act contrary to nature, because nature is the manifestation of Himself, so every creature having its life in, and from nature, can have only such a life, or such a death as is according to the possibility of nature: and therefore, no creature will be saved, by an arbitrary goodness of God, but because of its conformity to nature, nor any creature lost by a want of compassion in God, but because of its salvation being impossible, according to the whole state of nature. It is not for notional, or speculative mistakes, that man will be rejected by God at the last day, or for any crimes that God could overlook, if he was so pleased; but because man has continued in his unregenerate state, and has resisted and suppressed that birth of life, by which alone he could become a member of the kingdom of heaven. The goodness and love of God have no limits or bounds, but such as His omnipotence has: and everything that has a possibility of partaking of the kingdom of heaven, will infallibly find a place in it. God comes not to judgment to display any wrath of his own, or to inflict any punishment as from himself upon man: he only comes to declare, that all temporary nature is at an end, and that therefore, all things must be, and must stand in their own places in eternal nature: his sentence of condemnation, is only leaving them that are lost, in such a misery of their own nature, and this is the final rejecting of all that was possible to relieve it. You fancy that God will not reject you at the last day, for having not received this, or that mode, or kind of religion: but here all is mistake again. You might as well imagine, that no particular kind of element was necessary to extinguish fire, or that water can supply the place of air in stopping it, as suppose that no particular kind of religion is absolutely necessary to raise up such a divine life in the soul as can only be its salvation; for nature is the ground of all creatures, it is God's manifestation of Himself, it is his instrument in, and by which he acts in the production and government of every life; and therefore a life that is to belong to this world, must be raised according to temporal nature, and a life that is to live in the next world, must be raised according to eternal nature. Therefore, all the particular doctrines, institutions, mysteries, and ordinances of a revealed religion that comes from the God of nature, must have their reason, foundation, and necessity in nature; and then your renouncing such a revealed religion, is renouncing all that the God of nature can do to save you. When I speak of nature as the true ground and foundation of religion, I mean nothing like that which you call the religion of human reason, or nature; for I speak here of eternal nature, which is the nature of the kingdom of heaven, or that eternal state, where all redeemed souls must have their eternal life, and live in eternal nature by a life derived from it, as men and animals live in temporal nature, by a life derived from it; for, seeing man stands with his soul in eternal nature, as certainly as he lives outwardly in temporal nature, and seeing man can have nothing in this world, neither happiness, nor misery from it, but what is according to the eternal nature of that world; and therefore, it is an infallible truth, that that particular religion can alone do us any good, or help us to the happiness of the next world, which works with, and according to eternal nature, and is able to generate that eternal life in us. But your notion of a goodness of God that may be expected at the last day, is as groundless, as if you imagined, that God would then stand over his creatures in a compassionate kind of weighing or considering who should be saved, and who damned, because a good-natured prince might do so towards variety of offenders. But hear how the God of nature himself speaks of this matter: Behold, I have set before you, life and death, fire and water. choose which you will. Here lies the whole of the divine mercy; it is all on this side of the day of judgment: until the end of time, God is compassionate and long-suffering, and continues to every creature a power of choosing life or death, water or fire; but when the end of time is come, there is an end of choice, and the last judgment is only a putting everyone into the full and sole possession of that which he has chosen. But your notion of a goodness of God at the last day supposes, that if a man has erroneously chosen death instead of life, fire instead of water, that God will not suffer such a creature to be deprived of salvation through a mistaken choice; but that in such a creature, he will make death to be life, and fire to be water. But you might as well expect that God should make a thing to be, and not to be at the same time; for this is as possible as to make hell to be heaven, or death to be life: for darkness can no more be light, death can no more be life, fire can no more be water in any being through a compassion of God towards it, than a circle could be a square, a falsehood a truth, or two to be three, by God's looking upon them.
Our salvation is an entrance into the kingdom of heaven: now, the life, Light and Spirit of heaven must as necessarily be in a creature before it can live in heaven, as the life, light and spirit of this world must be in a creature before it can live in this world: therefore the one only religion that can save any son of fallen Adam, must be that which can raise, or regenerate the life, Light and Spirit of heaven in his soul, so that when the light and spirit of this world leaves him, he may not find himself in eternal death and darkness. Now if this Light and Spirit of heaven is generated in your soul as it is generated in heaven, if it arises up in your nature within you, as it does in eternal nature without you, (which is the Christian new birth, or regeneration) then you are become capable of the kingdom of heaven, and nothing can keep you out of it; but if you die without this birth of the eternal Light and Spirit of God, then your soul stands at the same distance from, and contrariety to the kingdom of heaven, as hell does: if you die in this unregenerate state, it signifies nothing of how you have lived, or what religion you have owned, all is left undone that was to have saved you: it matters not what form of life you have appeared in, what a number of decent, engaging or glorious exploits you have done either as a scholar, a statesman, or a philosopher; if they have proceeded only from the light and spirit of this world, they must die with it, and leave your soul in that eternal darkness, which it must have, so long as the Light and Spirit of eternity is not generated in it. And this is the true ground and reason, why an outward morality, a decency and beauty of life and conduct with respect to this world, arising only from a worldly spirit, has nothing of salvation in it: he that has his virtue only from this world, is only a trader of this world, and can only have a worldly benefit from it. For it is an undoubted truth, that everything is necessarily bounded by, or kept within the sphere of its own activity; and therefore, to expect heavenly effects from a worldly spirit, is nonsense: as water cannot rise higher in its streams, than the spring from where it comes, so no actions can ascend further in their effectiveness, or rise higher in their value, than the spirit from which they proceed. The spirit that comes from heaven is always in heaven, and whatsoever it does, tends to, and reaches heaven: the spirit that arises from this world, is always in it; it is as worldly when it give alms, or prays in the church, as when it makes bargains in the market. When therefore the gospel said, he that gives alms to be seen of men, has his reward; it is grounded on this general truth, that everything, every shape, or kind or degree of virtue that arises from the spirit of this world, has nothing to expect but that which it can receive from this world: for every action must have its nature, and effectiveness according to the spirit from which it proceeds. He that loves to see a worthless image, solely from this principle, because from his heart he embraces Christ as his suffering Lord and pattern, does an action poor, and needless in itself, which yet by the spirit from which it proceeds, reaches heaven, and helps to kindle the heavenly life in the soul. On the other hand, he that from a selfish heart, a worldly spirit, a love of esteem, distinguishes himself by the most rational virtues of an exemplary life, has only a piety that may be reckoned amongst the perishable things of this world.
You (the Deist) think it unworthy of God, when you hear that the salvation of mankind is attributed and appropriated to faith and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. It must be answered, first, that there is no partiality of any kind in God; everything is accepted by him according to its own nature, and receives all the good from him that it can possibly receive: secondly, that a morality of life, not arising from the power and Spirit of Jesus Christ, but brought forth by the spirit of this world, is the same thing, has the same nature and effectiveness in a heathen, as a Christian, does only the same worldly good to the one, as it does to the other; therefore, there is not the least partiality in God, with respect to the moral works of mankind, considered as arising from, and directed by the spirit of this world. Now, if these were the only works that man could do, if he could only act from the spirit of this world, no flesh could be saved, that is, no earthly creature, such as man is, could possibly begin to be of a heavenly nature, or have a heavenly life brought forth in him; so it is only a Spirit from Heaven derived into the fallen nature, that makes any beginning of a heavenly life in it, that can lay the possibility of its having the least ability, tendency, and disposition towards the kingdom of heaven. This Spirit derived from heaven, is the birth of the Son of God, given to the soul as its savior, regenerator, or beginner of its return to heaven; it is that Word of life, or bruiser of the serpent, that was in-spoken into the first fallen father of men; it is this alone that gives to all the race of Adam their capacity for salvation, their power of choice of being again sons of God; and therefore, faith and prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ, or works done in the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ can alone save the soul, because the soul can have no relation to heaven, no communion with it, no beginning or power of growth in the heavenly life, but solely by the nature and name of Jesus Christ derived into it. God's redemption of mankind is as universal as the fall: it was the one father of all men that fell, therefore, all his children were born into his fallen state: it was the one father of all men that was redeemed by the unspoken Word of life into him; therefore, all his children are born into his state of redemption, and have as certainly the same bruiser of the serpent in the birth of their life from him, as they have from him a serpentine nature that is to be bruised. For this reason it was, that this bruiser of the serpent, when born of a virgin, and come to die for the world, said of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes unto the Father but by me." Hence also the apostle said, "There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," because he is that same saving Name, or power of salvation which from the beginning was given to Adam, as an in-spoken Word of life, or bruiser of the serpent: and therefore, as sure as Adam had any power of salvation derived into him from Jesus Christ, so sure was it, that the apostle must tell both Jews and heathens, that there was no salvation in any other. Therefore, though Jesus Christ is the one and only savior of all that can anywhere, or at any time be saved, yet there is no partiality in God, because, this same Jesus Christ, who came in human flesh to the Jews in a certain age, was that same savior who was given to Adam, when all mankind were in his loins; and who, through all ages, and in all countries, from the first patriarchs to the end of the world, is the common savior, as he is the common light that lights every man that comes into the world, and that principle of life both in Jews and heathens, by which they had any relation to God, or any power, right, or ability to call him Father. When therefore you look upon the gospel as narrowing the way of salvation, or limiting it to those, who only know and believe in Jesus Christ, since His appearance in the flesh, you mistake the whole nature of the Christian redemption. And when you reject this Savior that then appeared, and died as a sacrifice upon the cross, you don't renounce a particular kind of religion, that was given only at a certain time to one part of the world, but you renounce the one source and foundation of all the grace and mercy that God can bestow upon mankind, you renounce your share of that first covenant which God made with all men in Adam, you go back into his first fallen state, and so put yourself into that condition of eternal death, from which there is no possibility of deliverance, but by that one savior whom you have renounced. And now, my dear friend, beware of prejudice, or hardness of heart: one careless, or one relenting thought upon all that is here laid before you, may either quite shut out, or quite open an entrance for true conviction. I have shown you what is meant by Christian redemption, and the absolute necessity of a new and heavenly birth, in order to obtain your share of a heavenly life in the next world: I have confirmed the truths of the gospel, by proofs taken from what is undeniable in nature: and I readily grant you that nothing can be true in revealed religion, but that which has its foundation in nature; because a religion coming from the God of nature, can have no other end but to reform, and set right the failings, transgressions, and violations of nature. When the gospel said that man fallen from the state of his creation, and become an earthly animal of this temporal world, must be born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, in order to be a heavenly creature; it is because all nature said, that an immortal, eternal soul, must have an immortal, eternal Light and Spirit, to make it live in eternal nature, as every animal must have a temporal light and spirit, in order to live in temporary nature. Must you not therefore either deny the immortality of the soul, or acknowledge the necessity of its having an eternal Light and Spirit? When the gospel said, that nothing can kindle or generate the heavenly life, but the operation of the Light and Spirit of heaven, it is because all nature said, that no temporal life can be raised but in the same manner in temporary nature. Must you not therefore be forced to confess, that nature and the gospel both preach the same truths. Light and spirit must be wherever there are living beings: and there must be the same difference between the light and spirit of different worlds, as there is between the worlds themselves. Hell must have its light, or it could have no living inhabitants, but its light is not so refreshing, not so gentle, not so delightful, not so comfortable as flashing points of fire in the thickest darkness of night; and therefore their light is called an eternal darkness, because it can never disperse, but only horribly discover darkness: hell also must have its spirit; but it is only an incessant insensibility of wrathful agitations, of which the thunder and rage of a tempest is but a low, shadowy resemblance, as being only a little outward eruption of that wrath, which is the inward, restless essence of the spirit of hell; and therefore that life, though it be a living spirit, is justly called an eternal death. The Light and Spirit of God admits of no delineation or comparison, they are only so far known to anyone, as they are brought into the soul by a birth of themselves in it. Now consider, I pray you: the light and spirit of this world can no more be the light and spirit of immortal souls, than grass and hay can be the food of angels; but is as different from the Light and Spirit of heaven, as an angel is different from a beast of the field. When therefore the soul of a man despairs from his body, and is eternally cut off from all temporal light and spirit, what is it that can keep such a soul from falling into eternal darkness, unless it have in itself, that Light and Spirit, which is of the same nature with the Light and Spirit of eternity, so that it may be in the light of heaven or eternal nature, as it was in the light of this world in temporary nature. Light and spirit there must be in everything that lives, but the death of the body takes away the light and spirit of this world; if therefore the Light and Spirit of heaven is not born in the soul when it loses the body, it can only have that light and spirit, which is the very death and darkness of hell. When man lost the Light and Spirit of his creation, he lost it by turning the will and desire of his soul into an earthly life; this was his desire of knowing good and evil in this world. His fall therefore consisted in this, his soul lost its first innate, inbreathed Light and Spirit of heaven, and instead of it, had only the light and spirit of temporary nature, to keep up for a time such a life in him from this world, as the proper creatures of this world have: and this is the reason, why man, the noblest creature that is in this world, has yet various circumstances of necessity, poverty, distress and shame, that are not common to other animals of this world. it is because the creatures of this life are here at home, are the proper inhabitants of this world, and therefore that womb out of which they are born, has provided them with all that they want; but man being only fallen into it, and as a transgressor, must in many respects find himself in such wants as other creatures have not. Transitory time has brought them forth, and therefore they can have no pain, nor concern, nor danger in passing away; because it is the very form of their nature, to begin, and to have an end: and therefore the God of nature has no outward laws, or directions for the creatures of this world. But the soul of man being not born of the light and spirit of this transitory world, but only standing a while as a stranger upon earth, and being under a necessity of having either the nature of an angel, or a devil, when it leaves this world, is met by the mercy and goodness of the God of nature, is inwardly and outwardly called, warned, directed, and assisted how to regain that Light and Spirit of heaven which it lost, when it fell under the temporary light and spirit of this world. And this is the whole ground and end of revealed religion, i.e., to kindle such a beginning or birth of the divine Light and Spirit in the soul, that when man must take an eternal leave of the light and spirit of this world, he may not be in a state of eternal death and darkness. Now, seeing the Light and Spirit of heaven or eternal nature, is as different from the light and spirit of this world, as an angel is from an animal of the field, if you have lived here only to the spirit and temper of this world, governed by its goods and evils, and only wise according to its wisdom, you must die as destitute of the Light and Spirit of heaven, as the beasts that perish. You have now an aversion and dislike, or at least, a disbelief of the doctrines of Christian regeneration, you struggle against this kind of redemption, you would have no salvation from the Light and Spirit of eternity regenerated in your soul; where then must you be, when the light and spirit of this world leaves you? Do you think that the Light and Spirit of God will then seize upon you, shine up in you by an outward force, though they never could be born in you? Or do you think, that the Light and Spirit of God can now be generating themselves in you, and ready to appear, as soon as you have ended a life, that has continually resisted them, and would have nothing to do with a new birth from them? Or that God, by a compassionate goodness, will not suffer you to be in that condition, into which your own will has brought you? No, my friend, the will that is in you, must do that for you, which the will that was in angels did for those that stood, and for those that fell. God's goodness or compassion is always in the same infinite state, always flowing forth, in and through all nature in the same infinite manner, and nothing wants it, but that which cannot receive it: while the angels stood, they stood encompassed with the infinite source of all goodness and compassion, God was communicated to them in as high a degree as their nature could receive; and they fell, not because he ceased to be an infinite, open fountain of all good to them, but because they had a will which must direct itself. For the will, at its first arising in the creature, can be subject to no outward power, because it has no outward maker; as it stands in a creaturely form, God is its true creator; but as a will, it has no outward maker, but is a ray, or spark, derived from the un-beginning will of the creator, and is of the same nature in the creature, as it was in the creator, self-existent, self-generating, self-moving, and uncontrollable from without; and there could not possibly be a free will in the creature, but by its being directly derived, or propagated from the same will in the creator, for nothing can be free now, but that which always was so. But if the free will of God, which is above and superior to nature, be communicated to the creature, then the creature's free will must have the same power over its one nature, that the will of God has over that eternal nature, which is his own manifestation: and therefore, every free creature must have, and find its own nature in this, or that state, as a birth from the free working of its own will. And here appears the true reason, why no creatures of this world can commit sin; it is because they have no will that is superior to nature: their will in every one of them, is only the will of nature; and therefore let them do what they will, they are always doing that which is natural, and consequently, not sinful. But the will of angels and men being an offspring, or ray, derived from the will of God, which is superior to nature, stands chargeable with the state and condition of their nature; and therefore it is, that the nature of the devil, and the nature of fallen man is ascribed to both of them, as their sin, which could not be, but because their will was uncontrollable, and gave birth and being to that state and condition of nature, which is called, and is their sin. Therefore, O man! look well to yourself, and see what birth you are bringing forth, what nature is growing up in you, and be assured, that stand you must, in that state of nature, which the working of your own will has brought forth in you, whether it be happy or miserable. Expect no arbitrary goodness, of God towards you, when you leave this world; for that must grow for ever which has grown here. God Has created you in nature, his mercy Has shown you all the laws and necessities of nature, his mercy Has shown you all the laws and necessities of nature, and how you may rise from your corruption, according to the possibilities of nature, and he can only save you by your conforming to the demands of nature: the greatness of the divine mercy and favor towards all men appears in this, that when all nature had failed, and mankind could from nature have nothing but eternal death, that God brought such a second Adam into the world, as being God and man, could make nature begin its work again, where it failed in the first Adam.
And now for Calvinism . . . .
The free grace and mercy by which we are said in the scripture to be saved, is not an arbitrary good will in God, which saves whom he pleases; as a prince may forgive some, and not forgive others, merely through his own sovereign grace and favor: nothing of this kind has any place in God, or in the mystery of our redemption; but the mercy and grace, by which we are saved, is therefore free, because God Has freely, and from his own goodness, put us into a state and possibility of salvation, by freely giving us Jesus Christ, (the divine and human nature united in one person) as the only means of regenerating that first divine and human life, which the whole race of mankind had lost. In this sense alone it is, that all our salvation is wholly owing to the free grace of God, that is, our state, and possibility, and means of attaining salvation is wholly owing to his free grace in giving us Jesus Christ; but our salvation, considered as a finished thing, is not, cannot be found by any act of God's free grace towards us, but because all that is done, altered, removed, suppressed, quickened, and recovered by us in the state of our nature, which the free grace of God had furnished us with the possibility and means of doing. If nature and creature had no share in working out our salvation; if it was all free grace, effected against, and without the powers of nature, why is it, that the fallen angels are not to be redeemed as well as man? Must we say that God is less good to them than he is to us? Or if they are not redeemed, can there be any other reason for it, but because it is an impossibility in nature? Must not an infinite good do all the good that is needed, and is possible to be done? If free grace can do what it pleases, if it wants no concurrence of nature and creature, how can any being, whether man or angel, be eternally miserable, but through an eternal defect in the goodness of God towards it? Shall we call that infinite goodness, which sets bounds and limits to itself, and which could do more good, but will not? The truth of the matter is this, God is as infinite and boundless in love and goodness, as he is in power, but his omnipotence can only do that which is possible, and nothing is possible but that which Has its possibility in nature; because nature is God's first power, his great, universal manifestation of his Deity, in and through, and by which all his infinite attributes break forth, and display themselves: so that to expect, that God should do anything that is above, or contrary to this nature, is as absurd as to expect that God should act above, or contrary to himself: as God can only make a creature to be in, and through, and by nature; so the reason why he cannot make a creature to be, and not to be at the same time, is only this, because it is contrary to nature. Let no man therefore trust to be saved at the last day, by any arbitrary goodness, or free grace of God; for salvation is, and can be nothing else, but having put off all that is damnable and hellish in our nature, which salvation can be found by no creature but by its own full conforming to, and concurring with those mysterious means, which the free grace of God Has afforded for the recovery of our first, perfect, glorious state in nature.
Chapter 2
Were there no nature, there could be no creature, because the life of every creature is, and can be nothing else, but the life of that nature out of which it was created, and in which it has its being. Eternal beings must have their qualities, nature, form and manner of existence out of eternal nature, and temporal beings out of temporary nature: were there no eternity, there could be no time, were there nothing infinite, there could be nothing finite; therefore we have here two great fundamental truths that cannot be shaken; first, that there is, and must be, an eternal nature; because there is a nature that is temporary, and that it must be that to eternal creatures, which temporal nature is to temporal creatures: secondly, that everywhere, and in all worlds, nature must stand between God and the creature, as the foundation of all mutual communication; God can transact nothing with the creature, nor the creature have any communion with God, but in, and by that nature, in which it stands. I hope no one will ask me for scripture proofs of this, or call these truths nostrums, because they are not to be found in the same form of expression in some particular text of scripture. Where do the holy writings tell us, that a thing cannot be, and can be at the same time? Or that every consequence must arise from premises? And yet the scripture is continually supposing both these truths, and there could be no truth in the scripture, or anywhere else, if these things were not undeniable. There is nothing said of man throughout all scripture, but what supposes him to stand in nature, under a necessity of choosing something that is natural, either life or death, fire or water. There is nothing said of God with relation to creatures, but what supposes him to be the God of nature, manifesting himself in and through nature, calling, assisting and directing everything to its highest natural state. Nature is the scene of his providence, and all the variety of his governing attributes display themselves by his various operations in and through nature: therefore it is equally certain, that what God does to any creature, must be done through the medium of nature, and also what the creature does toward God, must be done in and through the powers of that nature in which it stands. No temporary creature can turn to God, or reach after him, or have any communication with him, but in, and according to that relation which temporary nature bears to God; nor can any eternal beings draw near to, or unite with God in any other manner, than that in which eternal nature is united with him. Would you know, why no omnipotence of God can create temporal animals except out of temporary nature, nor eternal animals except out of eternal nature; it is because no omnipotence of God can produce a visible triangle, but out of, and by three visible lines; for, as lines must be before there can be any lineal figures, so nature must be before there can be natural creatures.
Everything that is in being, is either God, or nature, or creature; and everything that is not God, is only a manifestation of God; for as there is nothing, neither nature, nor creature, but what must have its being in, and from God, so everything is, and must be according to its nature, more or less a manifestation of God. Everything therefore, by its form and condition, speaks so much of God, and God in everything, speaks and manifests so much of himself. Temporary nature is this beginning, created system of sun, stars, and elements; it is temporary nature, because it had a beginning and has an end, and therefore is only a temporary manifestation of God, or God manifested according to transitory things.
Properly and strictly speaking, nothing can begin to be: the beginning of everything is nothing more, than its beginning to be in a new state. Thus time itself does not begin to be, but duration, which always was, began to be measured by the earth's turning round, or the rising and setting of the sun, and that is called the beginning of time, which is, properly speaking, only the beginning of the measure of duration: thus it is with all temporal nature, and all the qualities and powers of temporal beings that live in it: no quality or power of nature then began to be, but such qualities and powers as had been from all eternity, began then to be in a new state. Ask what time is, it is nothing else but something of eternal duration become finite, measurable, and transitory? Ask what fire, light, darkness, air, water, and earth are; they are, and can be nothing else, but some eternal things become gross, finite, measurable, divisible, and transitory? For if there could be a temporal fire that did not spring out of eternal fire, then there might be time that did not come out of eternity. it is so with every temporary thing, and the qualities of it; it is the beginning of nothing, but only of a new state of something that existed before: therefore all temporary nature is a product, offspring, or out-birth of eternal nature, and is nothing else but so much of eternal nature changed from its eternal to a temporal condition. Fire did not begin to be, darkness did not begin to be, light did not begin to be, water and earth did not begin to be, when this temporary world first appeared, but all these things came out of their eternal state, into a lower, divided, compacted, created and transitory state. Hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, feeling, did not then begin to be, when God first created the creatures of this world, they only came to be qualities and powers of a lower, and more imperfect order of beings than they had been before. Figures, and their relations, did not then begin to be, when material circles and squares, etc., were first made, but these figures and relations began then to appear in a lower state than they had done before: and so it must be said of all temporal nature, and everything in it. It is only something of eternal nature separated, changed, or created into a new, temporary state and condition.
Now it may be asked, why was eternal nature degraded like this, debased, and changed from its eternal state of perfection? Will anyone say, that God of his own free will changed eternal nature, which is the glorious manifestation of his power and godhead, the seat of his holy residence, his majestic kingdom of heaven, into this poor, miserable mixture of good and evil, into this impure state of division, grossness, death, and darkness? No. It is the highest of all absurdities, to say so. Now, we sufficiently know from scripture, that a whole hierarchy, or host of angels, renounced their heavenly life, and thereby raised up a kingdom that was not heavenly. Could they not have inflamed and disordered outward nature in which they lived, they could not have destroyed the heavenly nature in themselves: for everything must be according to the state of that world in which it lives; and therefore, the state of outward nature, and the state of inward nature in the angels must stand and fall together; and as sure as a whole kingdom of angels lost their heavenly life, so sure it is, that their whole kingdom lost its heavenly state and condition: and therefore, it is an undeniable truth, founded on scripture evidence, that same part of eternal nature was changed from its first state of glory and perfection, before the creation of temporary nature; therefore, in the creation of this poor, gross, disordered, perishable, material world, one of these two things was done, either God took the spoiled part of heaven or eternal nature, and created it into this temporary state of good and evil; or he degraded, and brought down some part of the kingdom of heaven from its glory and perfection, into this mixture of good and evil, order and disorder in which the world stands. He could not do this latter, without bringing evil into nature, as the devil had done, and therefore we may be sure he did not do it; but if he did the former, then the creation of this lower world, was a glorious act, and worthy of the infinite goodness of God, it was putting an end to the devil's working evil in nature, and it was putting the evil that was brought into nature, in a way of being finally overcome, and turned into good again. Will anyone now call these things whimsical speculations? Can anything be thought of more worthy of God, more conformable to nature, or more consonant to all revealed religion? But perhaps you will say, how could the angels spoil or destroy that glorious kingdom of eternal nature in which they dwelt. It may be answered, how could it possibly be otherwise? How could they live in eternal nature, unless nature without them, and nature within them, mutually mixed and agreed with each other? Would you have such mighty spirits, with their eternal energies, have less power in that nature, or kingdom in which they dwelt, than a kindled piece of coal has in this world? For every piece of coal set on fire, adds so much heat to outward nature, and so far alters and changes the state of it.
Now, let it be supposed, not only that a piece of coal, but that the whole of everything in this world, that could either give or receive fire was made to burn, what effect would it have upon the whole frame of nature? Would not the whole state of things, the regions, places, and divisions of the elements, and all the order of temporal nature be quite destroyed? When therefore every angelical life kindled itself in wrath, and became thereby divided, darkened, and separated from God, the same kindling, darkening, dividing, and confusion must be brought forth in their natural kingdom, because they lived in nature, and could have neither love, nor wrath, but such as they could exert in and by the powers of nature. Now, all fire, wherever it is, is either a fire of wrath, or a fire of love: fire not overcome or governed by light, is the fire of wrath, which only tears in pieces, consumes and devours all that it can lay hold of, and it wills to do nothing else: but light is the fire of love, it is meek, amiable, full of kind embraces, lovingly spreading itself, and giving itself with all its riches into everything that can receive it. These are the two fires of eternal nature, which were but one in heaven, and can be only one wherever heaven is; and it was the separation of these two fires that changed the angels into devils, and made their kingdom a beginning of hell. Now, either of these two fires, wherever it is kindled in animate or lifeless things, communicates its own kind of heat in some degree to outward nature, and so far alters and changes the state of it: the wrath of a man, and the wrath of a tempest do one and the same thing to outward nature, alter its state in the same manner, and only differ in their degree of doing it. Fire kindled in a material thing, can only communicate with the materiality of nature; but the fire of a wrathfully-inflamed man, being a fire both of body and soul, communicates a twofold heat, it stirs up the fire of outward nature, as fire does in a coal, and it stirs up the wrath of hell as the devils do. The fire of love kindled by the Light and Spirit of God in a truly regenerated man, communicates a twofold blessing, it outwardly joins with the meek light of the sun, and helps to overcome the wrath of outward nature; it inwardly cooperates with the power of God's angels, in resisting the wrath and darkness of hell: and it would be no folly to suppose, that if all human breath was become a mere, unmixed wrath, that all the fire in outward nature would immediately break forth, and bring that dissolution upon outward nature, which will arise from the last fire. Therefore it is necessary, that a whole kingdom of angels should kindle the same wrath and disorder in outward nature that was in themselves; for being in eternal nature, and communicating with it, as temporal beings do in temporal nature, what they did in themselves, must be done in that nature or kingdom in which they lived, and moved, and had their being. What a powerful fire there is in the wrath of a spirit, may be seen by the effects of human wrath; one sudden thought shall in a moment discolor, poison, inflame, swell, distort and agitate the whole body of a man. You can see, that a diseased body infects (germs) the air, or that malignant air (germs) infects a healthy body? Is it not because there is, and must be an inseparable qualifying, mixing and uniting between nature and those creatures that live in it? Now, all diseases and malignity's, whether in nature or creature, all proceed from the sinful motions of the will and desires of the creature. This is as certain, as that death and all that leads to it, is the sole product of sin; therefore it is a certain truth, that all the disorder that ever was, or can be in nature, arises from that power which the creature has in and upon nature; and therefore, as sure as a whole host of heavenly beings, raised up a fiery, wrathful, dark nature in themselves, so sure is it, that the same wrathful, fiery, dark disorder was raised up in that kingdom, or nature, in which they had their being.
Now the scriptures nowhere say in express words, that the place of this world was the place of the angels that fell, and that their fallen, spoiled and disordered kingdom, was by the power of God, changed or created into this temporary state of things in which we live; this is not expressly said, because it is plainly implied and fully signified to us by the most general doctrines of scripture; for if we know, both from nature and scripture, that this world is a mixture of good and evil, do not we enough know, that it could only be created out of that which was good and evil? And if we know that evil cannot come from God, if we know that the devil had actually brought it forth before the creation of this world; are we not enough told, that the evil which is in this world, is the evil that was brought forth into nature by the devil? And that therefore the matter of this world, is that very materiality which was spoiled by the fallen angels? How can we need a particular text of scripture to tell us, that the place of this world was the place of the angels before their fall, when the whole tenor of scripture tells us, that it is the place of their habitation now? For how could they have, or find darkness, but in that very place, where they had extinguished the light? What could they have to do with us, or we with them, but that we are entered into their possessions, and have their kingdom made over to us? How could they go about amongst us as roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour, but that our creation has brought us amongst them? They cannot possibly be anywhere, but where they fell, because they can live nowhere but in the evil which they have brought forth; they can have no wrath and darkness but where they broke off from light and love; they can communicate with no outward nature but that which fell with them, and underwent the same change as they did: therefore, though St. Jude said with great truth, that they left their own habitations, yet, it is only as they left their own angelical nature, not departed from it into a distant place, but deformed and changed it; so that the heaven that was within them, and without them, is equally left, because both within them, and without them, they have no habitation but a fiery darkness broken off from the light of God. And therefore, as man by his creation is brought into a power of commerce with those fallen angels, who must live, and could only act in that part of nature which they had deformed, it is plain, that this creation placed him in that system of things, which was formed and created out of their fallen kingdom, because they can act, or be acted upon nowhere else.
And this is the one true, and only reason, why there is good and evil throughout all temporal nature and creature; it is because all this temporary nature is a creation out of that strife of evil against good which the fallen angels had brought into their kingdom. No subtle, evil serpent could have been generated, no tree of knowledge of good and evil could have been sprung out of the earth, but because nature in this world was that part of eternal nature which the fallen angels had corrupted; and therefore, a life made up of good and evil could be brought forth by it. Evil and good was in the angelical kingdom as soon as they set their wills and desires contrary to God, and the divine life. Had God permitted them to go on, their whole kingdom would have been like themselves, all over, one unmixed evil, and so would have been incapable of being created into a redeemable state: but God put a stop to the progress of evil in their kingdom, he came upon it while it was in strife, and compacted or created it all into a new, temporary, material state and condition; from which these two things followed: first, that the fallen angels lost their power over it, and could no further kindle their own fire in it, but were as chained prisoners, in an extent of darkness which they could neither get out of, nor extend any further: secondly, this new creation being created out of this new begun strife, stood as yet in the birth of life, and so became capable of being assisted and blessed by God; and finally, at the end of time, restored to its first heavenly state. Now, the good and evil that is in this world is that same good and evil, and in the same strife that it was in the kingdom of fallen angels, only with this happy difference, there it was under the devil's power, and in a way to be wholly evil; here it is in a new compacted, or created state under the providence and blessing of God, appointed to bring forth a new kind of life, and display the wonders of divine love, until such time as a new race of angelical creatures born in this mixture of good and evil, shall be fit to receive the kingdom of Lucifer, restored to its first glory. Is there any part of the Christian religion that does not either suppose or speak this great truth, any part of outward nature that does not confirm it? Is there any part of the Christian religion that is not made more intelligible, more beautiful and edifying by it? Is there any difficulty of outward nature that is not totally removed and satisfied by it? How was the philosophy of the ancient sages perplexed with the state of nature? They knew God to be all goodness, love, and perfection, and so did not understand the misery of human life, and the disorders of outward nature, because they did not know how this nature came into its present state, or from where it was descended. But had they known, that temporal nature, all that we see in this whole frame of things, was only the sickly, defiled state of eternal things put into a temporary state of recovery, that time and all transitory things were only in this war and strife, to be finally delivered from all the evil that was brought into eternal nature, their hearts must have praised God for this creation of things as those morning stars did, that shouted for joy when it was first brought forth.
To be swelled with pride, to be fattened with sensuality, to grow great through craft, and load ourselves with earthly goods, is only living the life of beasts, that we may die the death of devils.
From this true knowledge of the state, and nature, and place of this creation, what a reasonableness, wisdom, and necessity does there appear in the hardest sayings, precepts and doctrines of the gospel? He that understands what this world is, has great reason to be glad that he is born into it, and yet still greater reason to rejoice, in being called out of it, preserved from it, and shown how to escape with the preservation of his soul. The evils that are in this world, are the evils of hell, that tend to be nothing else but hell; they are the remains of the sin and poison of the fallen angels: the good that is in this world are the sparks of life that are to generate heaven, and gain the restoration of the first kingdom of Lucifer. Who therefore would think of anything, desire anything, endeavor anything, but to resist evil in every kind, under every shape and color? Who would have any views, desires and prayers after anything, but that the life and light of heaven may rise up in himself, and that God's kingdom may come, and his will be done in all nature and creature? Darkness, light, fire and air, water and earth, stand in their temporary, created distinction and strife, for no other end, with no other view, but that they may obtain the one thing needful, their first condition in heaven: and shall man that is born into time for no other end, on no other errand, but that he may be an angel in eternity, think it hard to live as if there were but one thing needful for him? What was the poor politics, the earthly wisdom, the ease, sensuality, and advancements of this world for us, but such fruits as must be eaten in hell? To be swelled with pride, to be fattened with sensuality, to grow great through craft, and load ourselves with earthly goods, is only living the life of beasts, that we may die the death of devils. On the other hand, to go starved out of this world, rich in nothing but heavenly tempers and desires, is taking from time all that we came for, and all that can go with us into eternity.
But to return to the further consideration of nature. As all temporary nature is nothing else but eternal nature brought out of its kindled, disordered strife, into a created or compacted distinction of its several parts , so it is plain, that the whole of this world, in all its working powers, is nothing else but a mixture of heaven and hell. There cannot be the smallest thing, or the smallest quality of anything in this world, but what is a quality of heaven or hell, discovered under a temporal form: everything that is disagreeable to the taste, to the sight, to our hearing, smelling or feeling, has its root and ground, and cause, in and from hell, and is as surely in its degree the working or manifestation of hell in this world, as the most diabolical malice and wickedness is: the stink of weeds, of mire, of all poisonous, corrupted things, shrieks, horrible sounds, wrathful fire, rage of tempests, and thick darkness, are all of them things that had no possibility of existence, until the fallen angels disordered the state of their kingdom; therefore, everything that is disagreeable and horrible in this life, everything that can afflict and terrify our senses, all the kinds of natural and moral evil, are only so much of the nature, effects, and manifestations of hell: for hell and evil are only two words for one and the same thing: the extent of one is the extent of the other, and all that can be ascribed to the one, must be ascribed to the other. On the other hand, all that is sweet, delightful and amiable in this world, in the serenity of the air, the fineness of the seasons, the joy of light, the melody of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrance of smells, the splendor of precious stones, is nothing else but heaven breaking through the veil of this world, manifesting itself in such a degree, and daring forth in such variety so much of its own nature. So that heaven and hell are not only as near you, as constantly showing and proving themselves to all your senses, as day and night, but night itself is nothing else but hell breaking forth in such a degree, and the day is nothing else but a certain opening of heaven, to save us from the darkness that arises from hell. O man! consider yourself, here you stand in the earnest, perpetual strife of good and evil, all nature is continually at work to bring about the great redemption; the whole creation is travailing in pain, and laborious working, to be delivered from the vanity of time, and will you be asleep? Everything you hear, or see, says nothing, shows nothing to you, but what either eternal light, or eternal darkness has brought forth; for as day and night divide the whole of our time, so heaven and hell divide the whole of our thoughts, words and actions. Stir which way you will, do, or design what you will, you must be an representative of one or with the other. You can not stand still, because you live in the perpetual workings of temporal and eternal nature; if you work not with the good, the evil that is in nature carries you along with it: you have the height and depth of eternity in you, and therefore no matter what you do, in the closet, the field, the shop, or the church, you are sowing that which grows, and must be reaped in eternity. Nothing of yours can vanish away, but every thought, motion, and desire of your heart, has its effect either in the height of heaven, or the depth of hell: and as time is flying by to put an end to the strife of good and evil, and bring about the last great separation of all things into their eternal state, with such speed are you making haste either to be wholly an angel, or wholly a devil: Therefore awake, watch and pray, join with all your force with that goodness of God, which has created time and all things in it, to have a happy end in eternity.
Temporal nature opened to us by the Spirit of God becomes a volume of holy instruction to us, and leads us into all the mysteries and secrets of eternity: for as everything in temporal nature is descended out of that which is eternal, and stands as a palpable, visible out-birth of it; so when we know how to separate the grossness, death, and darkness of time from it, we find what it is in its eternal state. Fire, and light, and air in this world are not only a true resemblance of the Holy Trinity in Unity, but are the Trinity itself in its most outward, lowest kind of existence or manifestation; for there could be no fire, fire could not generate light, air could not proceed from both, these three could not be united like this, and so divided, but because they have their root and original in the Trinity of the Deity. Fire compacted, created, separated from light and air, is the elemental fire of this world: fire uncreated, un-compacted, un-separated from light and air, is the heavenly fire of eternity: fire kindled in any material thing is only fire breaking out of its created, compacted state; it is nothing else but the awakening of the spiritual properties of that thing, which being thus stirred up, strive to get rid of that material creation under which they are imprisoned: consequently every kindled fire, with all its rage and fierceness, tears and divides, scatters and consumes that materiality under which it is imprisoned; and were not these spiritual properties imprisoned in matter, no material thing could be made to burn. And this is another proof, that the materiality of this world is come out of a higher, and spiritual state, because every matter upon earth can be made to discover spiritual properties concealed in it, and is indeed a compaction of nothing else. Fire is not, nor cannot be a material thing, it only makes itself visible and sensible by the destruction of matter; matter is its death and imprisonment, and it comes to life but by being able to agitate, divide, shake off, and consume that matter which held it in death and bondage; so that every time you see a fire kindled, you see nature striving in a low degree to get rid of the grossness of this material creation, and to do that which can alone be done by the last fire, when all the inward, spiritual properties hid in everything, in rocks, and stones, and earth, in sun, and stars, and elements, shall by the last trumpet be awakened and called forth: and this is a certain truth, that fire could not be kindled in any material thing, but for this reason, because all material nature was created to be restored, and stands by divine appointment in a fitness and tendency to have its deliverance from this created state, by fire; so that every time you see a piece of matter dissolved by fire, you have a full proof, that all the materiality of this world is appointed to a dissolution by fire; and that then, (O glorious day!) sun and stars, and all the elements will be delivered from vanity, will be again that one eternal, harmonious, glorious thing which they were, before they were compacted into material distinctions and separations.
The elements of this world stand in great strife and contrariety, and yet in great desire of mixing and uniting with each other; and so arises both the life and death of all temporal things; and hereby we plainly know that the elements of this world were once one undivided thing; for union can nowhere be desired, but where there has first been a separation; as sure therefore as the elements desire each other, so sure is it, that they have been separated from each other, and are only parts of some one thing that has been divided. When the elements come to such a degree of union, a life is produced; but because they have still a contrariety to each other, they soon destroy again that same life which they had built, and therefore every life made up of the four elements is short and transitory. Now, from this undeniable state of nature, we are told these following great truths:
That the four elements are only four parts of that, which before the creation of the world, was only a one element, or one undivided power of life. That the mortality of this life is wholly and solely owing to the divided state of the elements. That the true, immortal life of nature, is only there to be found, where the four elements are only one thing, mere unity and harmony; where fire and air, water and earth, have a much more glorious union than they have in diamonds and precious stones: for in the brightest diamonds the four elements still partake of their divided state, though to our eye they appear as only one glorious thing; but the beauty of the diamond is but a shadow, a low specimen of that glory which will shine through all nature, when fire and air, water and earth shall be again that one thing which they were, before the fall of angels and the creation of this world.
That the body of Adam (being formed for immortality) could not possibly have the nature, or be made out of the divided state of the elements. The letter of scripture absolutely demonstrates; for if sickness, sorrow, and pain, the trouble of heat and cold, all so many forerunners of death, can only be where the elements are in division and contrariety; and if, according to scripture, these calamities did not, could not possibly touch Adam until he fell, then it is plain from scripture, that before his fall, the division and contrariety of the elements was not in him: and that was his paradisiacal nature, in and by which he stood in a state of superiority over all the elements of this world.
That the body Adam lost was one elementary glory and immortality, and then first became gross, dark, heavy flesh and blood, under the power of the four elements, when he lusted to eat, and actually did eat of that tree, which had its good and evil from the divided state of the elements.
For this reason we also know, with the greatest certainty, the mystery of the resurrection of the body, that it consists wholly and solely in reducing the body made up of the four elements of this world, to its first, one elementary state, and then everyone has that same body raised again that died, and all that Adam lost is restored. For if the body is mortal, and dies because it is become a body of the four elements, it can only be raised immortal, by having its four elements reduced again into one: and here lies the true sameness of the body that died, and that which rises again. But to proceed: As all the four elements, by their desiring, and wanting to be united together, prove that they are only four grossly divided out-births of that which before was only one heavenly, harmonious element, so every single element fully demonstrates the same thing; for every single element, though standing in its created contrariety to every other, has yet in its own divided state, all of the four elements in itself: thus the air has everything in it that is in the earth, and the earth has in itself everything that is in fire, water and air, only in a different mixture and compaction; were it not so, had not every element in some degree the whole nature of them all, they could not possibly mix, and qualify with one another; and this may well pass for a demonstration, that that out of which the four elements are descended, was one harmonious union of them all, because every one of the four, has now, and must have in its undivided state, all the four in itself, though not in equality; for if the four must be together, though unequally lodged in every single element, it is plain, the four must have been one harmonious thing, before they were brought into four unequal separations: and therefore, as sure as there are four warring, disagreeing elements in time, so sure is it, that that which is now in this fourfold division, was and is in eternity, one, in an heavenly, harmonious union, keeping up an eternal, joyful, glorious life in eternal nature, as its four broken parts bring forth a poor, miserable, transitory life in temporal nature.
All matter in this world is only the materiality of heaven thus altered. The difference between matter in this world and matter in the other world, lies wholly and solely in this; in the one it is dead, in the other it is a living materiality. It is dead materiality in this world, because it is gross, dark, hard, heavy, divisible. It is in this state of death, because it is separated, or broken off from the eternal light, which is the true life, or the power of life in everything. In eternal nature or the kingdom of heaven, materiality stands in life and light; it is the light's glorious body, or that garment wherewith light is clothed, and therefore has all the properties of light in it, and only differs from light, as to its brightness and beauty, as the holder and displayer of all its colors, powers and virtues. But the same materiality in this world, being created or compacted into a separation from fire united with light, is become the body of death and darkness, and is therefore gross, thick, dark, heavy, divisible, for death is nothing else but the shutting up, or shutting out the united power of fire and light: this is the only death that ever did, or can happen to anything, whether earthly or heavenly. Therefore, every degree of hardness, sickness, stiffness, is a degree of death; and herein consists the deadness of the materiality of this world. When it shall be raised to life, that is, when the united power of fire and light shall kindle itself through all temporal nature, then hardness, darkness, divisibility, will be all extinguished together. That the deadness of the earth may, and certainly will be brought to life by the united power of fire and light, is sufficiently shown us by the nature and office of the sun. The sun is the united power of fire and light, and therefore the sun is the raiser of life out of the deadness of the earth; but because fire and light as united in the sun, is only the virtue of temporary fire and light, so it can only raise a short and fading, transitory life. But as sure as you see, that fire and light united in the sun, can change the deadness of the earth, into such a beautiful variety of a vegetable life, so sure are you, that this dark, gross earth, is in its state of death and darkness, only for this reason, because it is broken off from the united power of fire and light: for as sure as the outward operation of the fire and light of the sun can change the deadness of the earth into a degree of life, so sure is it, that the earth lies in its present deadness, because it is separated from its own eternal fire and light: and as sure as you see, that the fire and light of the sun can raise a temporal life out of the earth, so sure is it, that the united power of eternal fire and light can, and will turn all that is earthly, into its first state of life and beauty. For the sun of this world, as it is the union of temporal fire and light, has no power, but as it is the outward agent, or temporary representative of eternal fire and light, and therefore it can only do that in part, and imperfectly in time, which by the eternal fire and light will be wholly and perfectly done in eternity. And therefore every vegetable life, every beauty, power, and virtue which the sun calls forth out of the earth, tells us, with a divine certainty, that there will come a time, when all that is hid in the deadness, grossness, and darkness of the earth, will be again called up to a perfection of life and glory of beauty.
How has the philosophy of the schools been puzzled with the divisibility of matter! It is because human reason, the mistress of the schools, partakes of the deadness of the earth; and the soul of man must first have the light of eternal life rise up in him, before he can see or find out the truths of nature. Human reason knew nothing of the death of the matter, or the nature and reason of its temporary creation, and so thought death and divisibility to be essential to matter; but the light of God tells every man this infallible truth, that God did not make death in anything, that he is a God of life, and therefore, everything that comes from him, comes into a state of life. Matter is thick, hard, heavy, divisible, only for a time, because it is compacted or created into thickness, hardness, and divisibility only for a time: these are only the properties of its temporal, created state, and therefore are no more essential to it than the hardness of ice is essential to water. Now, that the creation of the matter of this world is nothing else but a compaction, that all the elements are separated compactions of that which before was free from such a compaction, is plain from scripture. For we are told, that all the material things and elements of this world, are to have their created state and nature taken from them, by being dissolved or melted: but if this be a scripture truth, then it is equally true from scripture, that their creation was only a compaction; and a compaction of something that stood before according to its own nature, absolutely free from it. Mortality, corruptibility, and divisibility, are not essential properties, but temporary accidents, they are in things, as diseases and sickness are, and are as separable from them; and that is the true reason, why this mortal can put on immortality, this corruptible can put on incorruptibility, and this divisible can put on indivisibility: for when the four elements are dissolved and loosed from their separate compaction from one another, when fire and air, water and earth, shall be much more a glorious and harmonious thing than they are now in the brightest diamond, then the divisibility of this redeemed materiality will be more impossible to be conceived, than the distance between fire and water in a diamond.
The reason why all inanimate things of this world tend towards their utmost perfection in their kind, lies wholly and solely in this ground; it is because the four elements of this world were once the one element of the kingdom of the fallen angels; and therefore, nature in this world is always laboring after its first perfection of life, or as the scripture speaks, the "whole creation travails in pain, and groans to be delivered from its present vanity": and therefore it is, that all vegetables and fruits naturally grasp after every kind and degree of perfection they can take in; endeavoring with all their power, after that first perfection of life which was before the fall of the angels. Every taste and color, and power and virtue, would be what it was before Lucifer kindled his dark, fiery, wrathful kingdom; but as this cannot be, so when every fruit and flower has worked itself as far towards a heavenly perfection as it can, it is forced to wither and rot, and become a witness to this truth, that neither flesh nor blood, nor fruit, nor flower, can reach the kingdom of God.
The Fallen Soul Has The Nature Of Hell In It.
All the misery and imperfection that is in temporary nature, arises from the divided state of the elements: their division is that which brings all kinds and degrees of death and hell into this world, and yet their being in a certain degree related to one another, and always endeavoring after their first union, is proof of the nature and perfection of heaven still in them. The death that is in this world, consists in the grossness, hardness and darkness of its materiality. The wrath that is in this world consists in the kindled division of its qualities, from where there arises a contrary motion and fermentation in all its parts, in which consists both the life and death of all its creatures. This death and this wrath is the nature of hell in this world, and is the manifestation of the disorders which the fallen angels have occasioned in nature. The heaven in this world began when God said, Let there be light, for so far as light is in anything, so much it has of heaven in it, and of the beginning of a heavenly life: this shows itself in all things of this world, chiefly in the life-giving power of the sun, in the sweetness and meekness of qualities and tempers, in the softness of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrance of smells, and richness of tastes and the like; so far as anything is tinctured with light, so far it shows its descent from heaven, and its partaking of something heavenly and paradisiacal. Again, love or desire of union, is the other part of heaven that is visible in this world. In things without life, it is a senseless desire, a friendly mixing and uniting of their qualities, whereby they strive to be again in that first state of unity and harmony in which they existed, before they were kindled into division by Lucifer. In rational creatures, it is meekness, benevolence, kindness and friendship amongst one another: and so far as they have heaven and the Spirit of God in them, each in their sphere, being and doing that to one another, which the divine love is and does to all. Again, the reason why man is naturally taken with beautiful objects, why he admires and rejoices at the sight of lucid and transparent bodies, and the splendor of precious stones, why he is delighted with the beauty of his own person, and is fond of his features when adorned with fine colors, has this only true ground, it is because he was created in the greatest perfection of beauty, to live amongst all the beauties of a glorious paradise: and therefore man, though fallen, has this strong sensibility and reaching desire after all the beauties, that can be picked up in fallen nature. Had not this been his case, had not beauty, and light, and the glory of brightness been his first state by creation, he would now no more want the beauty of objects, than the ox wants to have his pasture enclosed with beautiful walls, and painted gates. Every vanity of fallen man shows our first dignity, and the vanity of our desires are so many proofs of the reality of that which we are fallen from. Man wants to see himself in riches, greatness and power, because human nature came first into the world in that state; and therefore, what he had in reality in paradise, is that which he vainly seeks for, even though he is only a poor prisoner in the valley and shadow of death.
All beings that are purely of this world, have their existence in and dependence upon temporal nature. God is no maker, creator or governor of any being or creature of this world, immediately, or by himself, but he creates, upholds and governs all things of this world, by, and through, and with temporal nature: as temporary nature is nothing else but eternal nature separated, divided, compacted, made visible and changeable for a time, so heaven is nothing else but the beatific14 visibility, the majestic presence of the abysmal, un-searchable, triune God: it is that light with which the scripture said, God is decked as with a garment, and by which he is manifested and made visible to heavenly eyes and beings; for Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as they are the triune God, deeper than the kingdom of heaven or eternal nature, are invisible to all created eyes; but that beatific visibility and outward glory which is called the kingdom of heaven, is the manifestation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in, and by, and through the glorious union of eternal fire, and light, and spirit. In the kingdom of heaven, these are three and one, because their original, the Holy Trinity, is so, and we must call them by the names of fire, and light, and spirit; because all that we have of fire, and light, and spirit in this world, has its whole nature directly from them, and is indeed nothing else but the fire, light, and spirit of eternity, brought into a separated, compacted, temporal state. So that to speak of a heavenly fire, has no more grossness and offense in it, than when we speak of a heavenly life, a heavenly light, or heavenly spirit; for if there is a heavenly light and spirit, there must of all necessity be a heavenly fire; and if these things were not in heaven in a glorious state of union, they never could have been here in this gross state of a temporal compaction and division: so that as sure as there are fire, and light, and air in this world, in a divided, compacted, imperfect state, in which consists the life of temporary nature and creatures, so sure is it, that fire, and light, and spirit are in the kingdom of heaven, united in one perfection of glory, in which consists the beatific visibility of God, the divine nature, as communicable to heavenly beings.
The kingdom of heaven stands in this threefold life, where three are one, because it is a manifestation of the Deity, which is three and one; the Father has his distinct manifestation in the fire, which is always generating the light; the Son has his distinct manifestation of the light, which is always generated from the fire; the Holy Ghost has his manifestation in the spirit, that always proceeds from both, and is always united with them. It is this eternal un-beginning Trinity in Unity of fire, light, and spirit, that constitutes eternal nature, the kingdom of heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, the divine life, the beatific visibility, the majestic glory and presence of God. Through this kingdom of heaven, or eternal nature, is the invisible God, the incomprehensible Trinity eternally breaking forth, and manifesting itself in a boundless height and depth of blissful wonders, opening and displaying itself to all its creatures as in an infinite variation and endless multiplicity of its powers, beauties, joys and glories. So that all the inhabitants of heaven are for ever knowing, seeing, hearing, feeling, and enjoying all that is great, amiable, infinite and glorious in the divine nature. Nothing ascends, or comes into this kingdom of heaven, but that which descended, or came out of it, all its inhabitants must be innate guests, and born out of it.
God considered in Himself, as distinct from this eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, is not the immediate creator of any angels, spirits, or divine beings; but as He creates and governs all temporal beings in, and by, and out of temporal nature, so he creates and governs all spiritual and heavenly beings in, and by, and out of eternal nature: this is as absolutely true, as that no being can be temporal, but by partaking of temporal nature, nor any being eternal, but by partaking of the eternal, divine nature; and therefore, whatever God creates is not created immediately by himself, but in and by, and out of that nature, in which it is to live, and move, and have its being, temporal beings out of temporal nature, and eternal beings out of the heavenly kingdom of eternal nature: and therefore it is, that all angels, and the souls of men are said to be born of God, sons of God, and partakers of the divine nature, because they are formed out of that eternal nature, which is the un-beginning majesty of God, the kingdom of heaven, or visible glory of the Deity. In this eternal nature, which is the majestic clothing, or glory of the triune God, manifested in the glorious unity of divine fire, light, and spirit, have all the created images of God, whether they be angels or men, their existence, union and communion with God; because fire, and light, and spirit have the same union and birth in the creature, as in the creator: and consequently it is, that they are so many various mirrors of the Deity, penetrated with the majesty of God, receiving and returning back communications of the life of God. Now, in this ground, that is, in this consideration of God, as manifesting his Holy Trinity through nature and creature, lies the solid and true understanding of all that is so variously said of God, both in the Old and New Testament with relation to mankind, both as to their creation, fall, and redemption. God is to be considered throughout, as the God of nature, only manifesting himself to all his creatures in a variety of attributes in and by nature; creating, governing, blessing, punishing, and redeeming them according to the powers, workings, and possibilities of nature. Fire, light, and spirit in harmonious union, is the substantial glory, the beatific manifestation of the triune God, visible and communicable to creatures formed out of it. All intelligent, holy beings were by God formed and created out of, and for the enjoyment of this kingdom of glory, and had fire, and light, and spirit, as the triune glory of their created being: and herein consisted the infinite love, goodness and bounty of God to all his creatures: it was their being made creatures of this fire, light, and spirit, partakers of that same nature in which the Holy Trinity had stood from all eternity gloriously manifested. And thus they were creatures, subjects, and objects of the divine love; they came into the nearest, highest relation to God; they stood, and partook of his own manifested nature, so that the outward glory and majesty of the triune God, was the very form, and beauty, and brightness of their own created nature. Every creature which thankfully, joyfully, and absolutely gave itself up to this blessed union with God, became absolutely fixed in its first created glory, and incapable of knowing anything but love, and joy, and happiness in God to all eternity: thus in this state, all angels and men came first out of the hands of God. But seeing light proceeds from fire by a birth, and the spirit from both, and seeing the will must be the leader of the birth, Lucifer and Adam could both do as they did, Lucifer could will strong might and power, to be greater than the light of God made him, and so he brought forth a birth of might and power, that was only mighty wrath and darkness, a fire of nature broken off from its light. Adam could will the knowledge of temporal nature, and so he lost the Light and Spirit of heaven for the light and spirit of this world: and had man been left in this state of temporary nature, without a redeemer, he must, when the light of this world goes out, have found himself in the same absolute wrath and darkness of nature, which the fallen angels are in.
Now, after these two falls of two orders of creatures, the Deity itself came to have new and strange names, new and unheard of tempers and inclinations of wrath, fury, and vengeance ascribed to it. I call them new, because they began at the fall; I call them strange, because they were foreign to the Deity, and could not belong to God in Himself: as a result, God is in the scriptures said to be a consuming fire. But to whom? To the fallen angels, and lost souls. But why, and how is he so to them? It is because those creatures have lost all that they had from God, but fire; and therefore God can only be found and manifested in them, as a consuming fire. Now, is it not justly said, that God, who is nothing but infinite love, is yet in such creatures only a consuming fire, and that though God be nothing but love, yet they are under the wrath and vengeance of God, because they have only that fire in them, which is broken off from the light and love of God, and so can know, or feel nothing of God, but his fire in them? As creatures they can have no life, but what they have in and from God; and therefore, that wrathful life which they have, is truly said to be a wrath of God upon them. And yet it is as strictly true, that there is no wrath in God himself, that he is not changed in his temper towards the creatures, that he does not cease to be one and the same infinite fountain of goodness, infinitely flowing forth in the riches of his love upon all and every life; but the creatures have changed their state in nature, and so the God of nature can only be manifested in and to them, according to their own state in nature: and this is the true ground of rightly understanding all that is said of the wrath and vengeance of God in and upon the creatures. It is only in such a sense as the curse or unhappiness of God may be said to be upon them, not because anything cursed, or unhappy can be in, or come from God, but because they have made that life which they must have in God, to be a mere curse and unhappiness to them: for every creature that lives, must have its life in and from God, and therefore God must be in every creature; this is as true of devils, as of holy angels: but how is God in them? Why only as he is manifested in nature. Holy angels have the triune life of God in them, therefore God is in them all love, goodness, majesty and glory, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Devils have nothing of this triune life left in them, but the fire of eternal nature broken off from all light and joy; and therefore the life that they can have in and from God, is only a life of wrath and darkness, and theirs is the kingdom of hell: and because this life is a strength of life which they must have in and from God, and which they cannot take out of his hands; therefore, is their cursed, miserable, wrathful life truly and justly said to be the curse, and wrath, and vengeance of God in and upon them, though God himself can no more have wrath and vengeance, than he can have mischief and malice in him: for this is a glorious, two-fold truth, that from God considered as in himself, nothing can come from eternity to eternity, but infinite love, goodness, happiness, and glory; and also that infinite love, goodness, happiness and glory are, and will be for ever and ever flowing forth from him in the same boundless, universal, infinite manner; he is the same infinitely overflowing fountain of love, goodness and glory after, as before the fall of any creatures; his love, and the infinite workings of it can no more be lessened, than his power can be increased by any outward thing; no creature, or number of creatures can raise any anger in him, it is as impossible as to cast terror, or darkness, and pain into him, for nothing can come into God from the creature, nothing can be in him, but that which the Holy Trinity in Unity is in itself. All creatures are products of the infinite, triune love of God; nothing willed, and desired, and formed them, but infinite love, and they have all of them all the happiness, beauty and excellence that an infinitely powerful love can reach out to them: the same infinite love continues still in its first creating goodness, willing, desiring, working, and doing nothing with regard to all creatures, but what it willed, did, and desired in the creation of them: this God over nature and creature, dares no more anger at angels when fallen, than he did in the creation of them: they are not in hell, because Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are angry at them, and so cast them into a punishment, which their wrath had contrived for them; but they are in wrath and darkness, because they have done to the light which infinitely flows forth from God, as that man does to the light of the sun, who puts out his own eyes: he is in darkness, not because the sun is darkened towards him, has offers less light to him, or has lost all inclination to enlighten him, but because he has put out that birth of light in himself, which alone made him capable of seeing the light of the sun. It is so with fallen angels, they have extinguished in themselves that birth of light and love, which was their only capacity for that happiness, which infinitely, and everywhere flows forth from God; and they no more have their punishment from God himself than the man who puts out his eyes, has his darkness from the sun itself.
God, considered in himself, as the holy, triune God, is not the immediate fountain and original of creatures; but God considered as manifesting himself in and through nature, is the creator, Father and producer of all things. The hidden Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is from eternity to eternity, manifested, made visible, perceivable, sensible in the united glory of fire, light and spirit; this is the beatific presence, the glorious out birth of the Holy Trinity; this is that eternal, universal nature, which brings God into all creatures, and all creatures into God, according to that degree and manner of life which they have in nature: for the life of creatures must stand in nature, and nature is nothing else but God made manifest, visible, and perceptible; and therefore the life of every creature, be it what it will, a life of joy or wrath, is only so much of God made manifest in it, and perceptible by it, and thus is God in some creatures only a God of wrath, and in others, only a God of glory and goodness. No creature can have life, or live, and move, and have its being in God, but by being formed out of, and living in this manifestation of nature. Thus far hell and heaven, angels and devils are equally in God, that is, they equally live, move, and have their being in that eternal nature, which is the eternal manifestation of God: the one have a life of glory, majesty, love, and bliss, the other a life of horror, fire, wrath, misery, and darkness. Now, all this could not possibly be, there could be no room for this distinction between creatures standing in nature, the one could not possibly have a life of majestic bliss and glory, the other of fiery horror and darkness, but because the holy, triune God is manifested in the united glory and bliss of fire, light, and spirit. For the creatures could only divide that, which there was in nature to be divided, they could only divide that, which was united, and divisible; and therefore, as sure as heaven is a splendorous light of blissful majesty, as sure as hell is a place of fiery wrath and darkness, so sure is it from the scriptures, that eternal nature, which is from God, or a manifestation of God, is a nature of united fire, light, and spirit, otherwise, some creatures could not have the blissful glory of light, and others, a horrible, fiery darkness for their separate portions. All therefore that has been said of an eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, consisting of united fire, light, and spirit, is not only to be looked upon as an opinion well grounded, and sufficiently discovered by the light of nature, but as a fundamental truth of revealed religion, fully established by all that is said in the scriptures both of heaven and hell. For if God was not manifested, visible, perceptible and communicable, in and by this united fire, and light, and spirit, how could there be a heaven of glorious majesty? If this fire of heaven could not be separated, or broken off from its heavenly light, how could there be a hell in nature? Or, how could those angels which lost the light of heaven, have thereby fallen into a state of hellish darkness, or fire? Is not all this the greatest of demonstrations, that the holy Trinity of God is, and must be manifested in nature, by the union of fire, light, and spirit? And is not this demonstration wholly taken from the very letter of the plain doctrines of scripture? Hell and wrath could have no possibility of existence, but because the light and majesty, and glory of heaven, must of all necessity have its birth in and from the fire of nature. An angel could not have become a devil, but because the angelic light and glory had, and must have its birth in and from the fire of life. And thus as a devil was found, where angelic light and glory had its existence, so a hell was found, where heavenly glory was before; and as the devil is nothing but a fire-spirit broken off from its angelic light and glory, so hell is nothing but the fire of heaven separated from its first light and majesty. And here we have found two worlds in eternity; not known to even be possible to be two, but by such creatures, as have in their own natures, by their own self-motion, separated the fire of eternal nature from its eternal light, spirit and majesty. And this is also the beginning, or first opening of the wrath of God in the creature; which is, in other words, only the beginning, or first opening of pain and misery in the creature, or the origin of a hellish, tormenting state of life.
And here, in this dark wrathful fire of the fallen creature, do we truly find that wrath and anger and vengeance of God, that cleaves to sin, that must be quenched, atoned, and satisfied before the sinner can be reconciled to God; that is, before it can have again that triune life of God in it, which is its union with the Holy Trinity of God, or its regaining the kingdom of heaven in itself. Some have objected, that by so considering the fallen soul, as a dark, wrathful fire-spirit, for this reason, because it has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, that this casts reproach upon God the Father, as having the nature of such a soul in him. But this is a groundless objection, for this state of the soul casts no more reproach upon the first, than upon the second and third persons of the holy Trinity. The fallen soul, that has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, cannot be said to have the nature of the Father left in it. This would be blasphemous nonsense, and is no way founded on this doctrine. But such a soul must be said to have a nature from the Father left in it, though a spoiled one, and this because the Father is the origin, fountain and creator of all the different kinds of existence: hell, and the devils have their nature from him, because every kind of creature must have what it has of life and being from its creator; but hell and the devils have not therefore the nature of the Father in them. If it where to be asked what the Father is, as he is the first person in the sacred Trinity, the answer must be, that as such, he is the generator of the Son and Holy Spirit: this is the nature of the Father; where this generating is not, there is not the nature of the Father. Is it not therefore highly absurd to charge this doctrine with ascribing the nature of the Father to the fallen soul, which asserts the soul to be fallen, for this reason, because it has quite lost and extinguished all power and ability for the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit in it? How could it be affirmed more, or more fully proved, that the fallen soul Has not the nature of the Father in it. But to proceed: The reader ought not to wonder, or be offended at the frequent mention of the word "fire," which is here used to denote the true nature, and state of the soul. For both nature and scripture continually speak the same language. For wherever there is mention of life, light, or love in the scriptures, there fire is necessarily supposed, as being that in which all life, and light, and love must necessarily arise; and therefore the scriptures speak as often of fire, as they do of life, and light, and love, because the one necessarily includes the other: for all life, whether it be vegetable, animal, or intellectual, is only a kindled fire of life in such a variety of states; and every dead, insensitive thing is only so, because its fire is quenched, or shut up in a hard compaction. If therefore we will speak of the true ground of the fallen state of men and angels, we are not at liberty to think of it under any other idea, or speak of it in any other manner, than as the darkened fire of their life, or the fire of their life which has become unable to produce light and love. Do not the scriptures strictly confine us to this idea of hell? So that it is not any particular philosophy, or affected singularity of expression, that makes me speak in this manner of the soul, but because all nature and scripture forces us to confess, that the root of all and every life stands, and must necessarily stand in the properties of fire. The holy scriptures also speak much of fire, in the ideas which they give us, both of the divine nature, and of created spirits, whether they be saved, or lost; the former as becoming flames of heavenly light and love, the latter as dark firebrands of hell. No description is, or can be given us either of heaven or hell, but where fire is necessarily signified to be the ground and foundation of both the one, and the other. Why do all languages, however distant, and different from one another, all speak of the coldness of death, the coldness of insensibility? Why do they all agree in speaking of the warmth of life, the heat of passions, the burnings of wrath, the flames of love? It is because it is the voice or dictate of universal nature, that fire is the root or seat of life, and that every variety of human tempers is only the various workings of the fire of life. There is good reason for us to think grossly of fire, because it is seen in so many disgusting things of this world? But how is it seen in them? Why only as a destroyer, a consumer, and refiner of all disgusting things; as an igniter of life, and light out of death and darkness. So that in all the appearances of fire, even in earthly things, we have reason to look upon it as something of a heavenly, exalting, and glorious nature; as that which disperses death, darkness, and grossness, and raises up the power and glory of every life. If you ask what fire is in its first, true, and un-beginning state, not yet entered into any creature, it is the power and strength, the glory and majesty of eternal nature; it is that which generates, enriches, brightens, strengthens and displays the Light of heaven. It is that which makes the eternal light to be majestic, the eternal love to be flaming: for the strength and exuberance of fire, must be both the majesty of light, and the passion of love. It is the glorious out birth, the true representative of God the Father eternally generating his only Son, Light and Word. If you ask what fire is in its own spiritual nature, it is merely a desire, and has no other nature than that of a working desire, which is continually its own igniter. For every desire is nothing else, but its own striking up, or its own kindling itself into some kind and degree of fire. And therefore it is that nature (though reduced to great ignorance of itself) has yet forced all nations and languages to speak of its own desires, as cool, warm, or burning, because every desire is, so far as it goes, a kindled fire. And it is to be observed, that fire could have no existence or operation in material things, but because all the matter of this world has in it more or less of spiritual and heavenly properties compacted in it, which continually desire to be delivered from their material imprisonment. And the stirring up the desire of these spiritual properties, is the kindling of that heat, and light, in material things, which we call fire, and is nothing else but their gloriously breaking, and triumphantly dispersing that hard compaction in which they were imprisoned. And so it is with every kindled fire, as a flash or transitory opening of heavenly glory, show us daily, the true instances, the triumph of the last fire, when all that is spiritual and heavenly in this world, shall kindle and separate itself from that, which must be the death and darkness of hell. Now the reason, why there are spiritual properties in all the essential things of this world, is this, it is because the matter of this world is the materiality of the kingdom of heaven, brought down into a created state of death, and imprisonment, by occasion of the sin of those angels, who first inhabited the place, or extent of this material world. Now these heavenly properties, which were brought into this created compaction, lie in a continual desire to return to their first state of glory; and this is the groaning of the whole creation to be delivered from vanity, which the apostle speaks of. And in this continual desire lies the kindling, and all the possibility of kindling any fire in the things of this world. Quench this desire, and then suppose there is nothing in the matter of this world that desires to be restored to its first glory, and all the breaking forth of fire, light, brightness, and glance in the things of this world, is utterly quenched with it, and it would be the same impossibility to strike fire, as to strike sense and reason out of a piece of flint.
But you will perhaps say, though this is a truth, yet it is more speculative than edifying, more fitted to entertain the curiosity, than to assist the devotion of Christians. But stay awhile, and you shall see it is a truth full of the most edifying instruction, and directly speaking to the heart. For if every desire is in itself, in its own essence, the kindling of fire, then we are taught this great practical lesson, that our own desire is the igniter of our own fire, the thing that forms and raises that life which leads us. What our desire kindles, that becomes the fire of our life, and fits us either for the majestic glories of the kingdom of God, or the dark horrors of hell: so that our desire is all, it does all, and governs all, and all that we have and are, must arise from it, and therefore it is, that the scripture says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." We are apt to think that our imaginations and desires may be played with, that they rise and fall away as nothing, because they do not always bring forth outward and visible effects. But indeed they are the greatest reality we have, and are the true formers and raisers of all that is real and solid in us. All outward power that we exercise in the things about us, is but as a shadow in comparison of that inward power, that resides in our will, imagination, and desires; these communicate with eternity, and kindle a life which always reaches either heaven or hell. This strength of the inward man makes all that is the angel, and all that is the devil in us, and we are neither good nor bad, but according to the working of that which is spiritual and invisible in us. Now our desire is not only thus powerful and productive of real effects, but it is always alive, always working and creating in us, I say creating, for it has the power to create, it perpetually generates either life or death in us: and here lays the ground of the great effectiveness of prayer, which when it is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of faith, it has a kindling and creating power, and forms and transforms the soul into everything that its desires to reach after: it has the key to the kingdom of heaven, and unlocks all its treasures, it opens, extends, and moves that in us, which has its being and motion in and with the divine nature, and so brings us into a real union and communion with God. Long prayers sounded only from the mouth, or impure hearts, may year after year be repeated to no advantage, they leave us to grow old in our own poor, weak state: these are only the poor prayers of heathens, who, as our Lord said, "think to be heard by their much speaking." But when the eternal springs of the purified heart are stirred, when they stretch after that God from where they came; then it is, that what we ask, we receive, and what we seek, we find. For this reason it is, that all those great things are by the scriptures attributed to faith, that to it all things are possible; that it heals the sick, saves the sinner, can move mountains, and that all things are possible to him that believes; it is because the working of will and desire is the first eternal source of all power, that from which everything is kindled into that degree of life in which it stands; it is because will and desire in us are creaturely offspring of that first will and desire which formed and governed all things; and therefore, when the creaturely power of our will, imagination and desire leaves off its working in vanity, and gives itself wholly unto God in a naked and implicit faith in the divine operation upon it, then it is, that it does nothing in vain, it rises out of time into eternity, is in union and communion with God, and so all things are possible to it. In consequence this doctrine is far from being speculative, it opens to us the ground, and shows us the necessity and excellence of the greatest duties of the gospel.
Now, as all desire throughout nature and creature is but one and the same thing, branching itself out into various kinds and degrees of existence and operation, so there is but one fire throughout all nature and creature, standing only in different states and conditions. The fire that is in the light of the sun, is the same fire that is in the darkness of the flint: that fire which is the life of our bodies, is the life of our souls; that which tears wood in pieces, is the same which upholds the beautiful forms of angels: it is the same fire that burns straw, that will at last melt the sun, the same fire that brightens a diamond, is darkened in a flint: it is the same fire that kindles life in an animal, that kindled it in angels: in an angel it is an eternal fire of an eternal life, in an animal it is the same fire brought into a temporary condition, and therefore can only kindle a life that is temporary: the same fire that is mere wrath in a devil, is the sweetness of flaming love in an angel; and the same fire which is the majestic glory of heaven, makes the horror of hell.
Chapter 3
We have now, worthy reader, so far cleared the way, that we have nothing to do, but to rejoice in the most open illustration, and full proof of all the great doctrines of the gospel, and to see all the objections, which Deists, Arians, and Socinians have brought against the first articles of our faith, be dashed to pieces: for as soon as we but begin to know, that the holy, triune Deity from eternity to eternity manifests itself in nature, by the triune birth of fire, light and spirit, and that all angels and men must have been created out of this nature; there is not a doctrine in scripture concerning the creation, fall, and redemption of man, but that becomes very plain and intelligible, and all the mysteries of our redemption are proved and confirmed to us, by all that is visible and perceptible in nature and creature. Here we have the plain foundation of the whole of religion from the beginning to the end of time, why the incarnation of the Son of God, who is the light of the world, must have delivered from Mount Sinai before the fiery dispensation of the Father; and after it, the pouring out, or proceeding forth of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh; it is because the triune life of the fallen race must be restored according to the triune manifestation of the holy Deity in nature. Here we know what the love, and what the anger of God is, what heaven and hell, an angel and a devil, a lost and a redeemed soul are. The love, and goodness, and blessing of God known, found, and enjoyed by any creature, is nothing else but the Holy God known, found, and enjoyed in the blissful, glorious, triune life of fire, light and spirit, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost perpetually communicate their own nameless, numberless, boundless powers, riches and glories to the created image of their own nature. The hell in nature, and the hellish life in the creature, the wrath of God in nature and creature, is nothing else but the triune, holy life broken and destroyed in the creature, it is only the fire of heaven separated from its heavenly Light and Spirit. This is that eternal anger, and wrath, and vengeance, that must be atoned, satisfied, and removed, that eternal fire that must be quenched, that eternal darkness that must be changed into light, or there is no possibility in nature, that the soul of fallen man should ever see the kingdom of God: and here all the doctrines of the Socinians are torn up by the roots. For in this ground appears the absolute necessity of the incarnation, life, sufferings, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God. Here lays the full proof, that through all nature no redeemer of man could be found, but only in the second person of Jesus Christ who became man. For as the Light and Spirit of eternal life, is the Light and Spirit of the Son and Holy Ghost manifested in heaven, so the Light of eternal life could never come again into the fallen soul, but from Him alone, who is the Light of heaven. He must be again in the soul, as He was in it when it was first breathed forth from the Holy Trinity, He must be manifested in the soul, as He is in heaven, or it can never have the life of heaven in it. The Socinians therefore, or others, who think they pay a just respect to the wisdom and omnipotence of God, when they suppose there was no absolute necessity for the incarnation of the Son of God; but that God, if he had so pleased, could as well have saved man some other way, show as great an ignorance both of God and nature, as if they should have said, that when God makes a blind man to see by opening or giving him eyes, there was no necessity in the thing itself, that sight should be given in that particular way, but that God, if he had so pleased, could have made him become a seeing man in this world without eyes, or light of this world. For if the Son of God is the Light of heaven, and man only wants to be redeemed, because he has lost the Light of heaven; is it not absolutely impossible for him to be redeemed any other way, or by any other thing, than by a birth of this Son of God in him. Is not this particularity the one and only thing that can raise fallen man, as seeing eyes are the only thing that can take away blindness from the man? If Adam had been able to undo for himself all that he had done, if he could have gone back into that state from which he was fallen, if he could have raised up again in himself that birth of the Holy Trinity, in which he was created, no savior would of been needed for him; but because he could not do any of this, but must remain that which he had made himself to be, therefore the wrath of nature, or the wrath of God, manifested in nature, abode upon him, and this wrath must of all necessity be appeased, atoned, and satisfied, that is, it must be kindled into light and love, before he could again find, and enjoy the God of nature, as a God of light and love. Could Adam himself have done all that which I have just now mentioned, then his own actions would have atoned and satisfied the divine wrath, and would have reconciled him to God: for nothing lost him the love of God, but that which separated him from God; and nothing did, or ever can separate him from God, but the loss of that inner triune life, in which alone the Holy Trinity of divine love can dwell. If therefore Adam could have raised again in himself that triune life, then his sin, and the wrath of God upon him, would of been only transitory; but because he did that, which according to all the possibilities of nature, was unalterable; therefore he became a prisoner of an eternal wrath, and heir of an everlasting, painful life, until the love of God, who is greater than nature, should do that for him and in him, which he could by no powers of nature could do for himself.
And here we see in the plainest light, that there was no anger in God himself towards the fallen creature, because it was purely and solely the infinite love of God towards him, that did, and alone could raise him out of his fallen state: all scripture, as well as nature, obliges us to think this way of God. As a consequence, it is the whole tenor of scripture, that "God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son into it, that the world, through him, might be saved": is not this saying more than if it had been said, that there was no anger in God himself towards fallen man? Is he not expressly declared to be infinitely flowing forth in love towards him? Could God be more infinite in love, or more infinitely distant from all possibility of anger towards man, when he first created him, than when he in this way redeemed him? God out of pure and free love gave his Son to be the life of the world, first, as an in-spoken and in-grafted Word of life, as the bruiser of the serpent given to all mankind in their father Adam. This Word of life, and bruiser of the serpent, was the extinguisher of that wrath of God that lay upon fallen man. Now, will the scriptures, which tell us that the love of God sent his Son into the world, to redeem man from that hellish wrath that had seized him, allow us to say, that it was to extinguish a wrath that had gotten into God himself, or that the bruiser of the serpent was to bruise, suppress, or remove something that sin had raised in the Holy Trinity itself? No surely, but to bruise, alter, and overcome an evil in nature and the creature, that had become man's separation from the enjoyment of the God of love, whose love still existed in its own state, and still followed him, and gave his only Son to make him capable of it. Do not the holy scriptures continually teach us, that the holy Jesus became incarnate to destroy the works of the devil, to overcome death and hell that had taken man captive? And is not this sufficiently telling us, what that wrath was, and where it existed, which must be atoned, satisfied, and extinguished, before man could again be alive unto God, or reconciled unto him, so as to have the triune life of light and love in him? It was a wrath of death, a wrath of hell, a wrath of sin, and which only the precious, powerful blood of Christ could change into a life of joy and love: and when this wrath of death and hell are removed from human nature, there neither is, nor can be any other wrath of God abiding on it. Are not the devils and all lost souls justly said to be under the eternal wrath of God, and yet no wrath but that which exists in hell, and in their own hellish nature.
They therefore, who suppose the wrath and anger of God upon fallen man, to be a state of mind in God himself, to be a political kind of just indignation, a point of honorable resentment, which the sovereign Deity, as governor of the world, ought not to recede from, but must have a sufficient satisfaction done to his offended authority, before he can, consistently with His sovereign honor, receive the sinner into His favor, hold the doctrine of the necessity of Christ's atoning life and death in a mistaken sense. That many good souls may hold his doctrine in this simplicity of belief, without any more hurt to themselves, than others have held the reality of Christ's flesh and blood in the sacrament under the notion of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, I make no manner of doubt: but when books are written to impose and require this belief of others, as the only saving faith in the life and death of Christ, it is then an error that ceases to be innocent: for neither reason nor scripture will allow us to bring wrath into God himself, as a temper of his mind, who is only infinite, unalterable, overflowing love, as unchangeable in love, as he is in power and goodness. The wrath that was awakened at the fall of man, that then seized upon him, as its captive, was only a plague, or evil, or curse that sin had brought forth in nature and creature: it was only the beginning of hell: it was such a wrath as God himself pitied man's lying under it; it was such a wrath as God himself furnished man with a power of overcoming and extinguishing, and therefore it was not a wrath that was according to the mind, will, and liking, or wisdom of God; and therefore it was not a wrath that was in God himself, or which was exercised by his sovereign wisdom over his disobedient creatures: it was not such a wrath, as when sovereign princes are angry at offenders, and will not cease from their resentment, until some political satisfaction, or valuable amends be made to their slighted authority. No, no; it was such a wrath as God himself hated, as he hates sin and hell, a wrath that the God of all nature and creature so willed to be removed and extinguished, that seeing nothing less could do it, He sent His only begotten Son into the world, that all mankind might be saved and delivered from it. For seeing the wrath that was awakened and brought forth by the fall, and which needed to be appeased, atoned, and quenched, was the wrath of eternal death, and eternal hell, that had taken man captive; therefore God did not spare the precious, powerful, effective blood of the holy Jesus, because that alone could extinguish this eternal wrath of death and hell, and re-kindle heaven and eternal life again in the soul. And thus all that the scriptures speak of the necessity and powerful atonement of the life and death of Christ, all that they say of the infinite love of God towards fallen man, and all that they say of the eternal wrath and vengeance to which man had become a prey, have the most solid foundation, and are, all of them proved to be consistent, harmonious truths of the greatest certainty, according to the plain letter of scripture.
It is the foundation of the law and the gospel, that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins; and that the precious blood of Christ could alone do this, could alone reconcile us to God, and deliver us from the wrath to come. How, and why blood, and only the blood of Jesus Christ could do this, will appear as follows: Adam was created with a twofold respect, to be himself a glorious, living, eternal image of the holy, triune God, and to be a father of a new world of like beings, all descended from himself: when Adam fell, he lost both these conditions of his created state; the holy image of God was extinguished, his soul lost the Light and Spirit of heaven, and his body became earthly, bestial, corruptible flesh and blood, and he could only be a father of a posterity partly diabolical, and partly bestial. Now, if the first purpose of God was to stand, and to take effect; if Adam was still to be the father of a race that were to become sons of God, then there was an absolute necessity that all that Adam had done in and to himself, and his posterity, by the fall, should be undone again; the serpent and the beast, that is, the serpentine life, and the bestial life in human nature, must both be overcome, and driven out of it. This was the only, possible salvation for Adam, and every individual of his posterity. Adam had killed that which was to have been immortal in him, he had raised that into a life which never should have been alive in him, and therefore that which was to be undone and altered both in himself and his posterity, was this, it was to part with a life that he had raised up into being, and to receive another life, which he had to a certain extent extinguished. And here appears the true, infallible ground of all the sacrifice, and all the blood-shedding that is necessary to redeem and reconcile man to God. It is because the earthly, fleshly, bestial, corruptible life under the elements of this world, is a life raised and brought into man by the fall, and is not that life which God created, but is an impurity in the sight of God, and therefore cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; it is a life, or body of sin, brought forth by sin, and the habitation of sin, and therefore it is a life that must be given up, its blood must be poured out, before man can be released from his sins: this is the one and only ground of all the shedding of blood in religion. Had not a life foreign to the kingdom of God, and utterly incapable of it, been introduced by the fall, there would have been no possible room for the death of any creature, or the pouring out of any blood, as serviceable and instrumental to raising fallen man.
But now, this bestial, animal life which is thus to be given up, and its blood poured out, is but the half, and lesser half of that which is required to deliver man from all that the fall has brought upon him. For the heavenly life, the birth of the Light and Holy Spirit of God which Adam had quite extinguished, was to be kindled or regenerated again; also his first, glorious, immortal body was to be regained, before he could become an inhabitant of the kingdom of heaven: but to accomplish all of this, Adam did not have the power. See here again the true and dreadful state of the fall, it was the fall into such a life, as must be slain and sacrificed before the fallen soul could come to God; and yet this death and sacrifice of the body, which was absolutely necessary, was the most dreadful thing that could happen to man, because his own death, come when it would, would only remove him from the light of this world into eternal darkness, and the hellish state of fallen angels: and here we find the true reason, why man's own death, though a sacrifice necessary to be made, had yet nothing of atonement or satisfaction in it; it was because it left the eternal wrath of nature, and the hell that was therein, unquenched and un-extinguished in the soul, and therefore made no reconcilement to God, no restoration to the creature of its first state and life in God, but left the soul in its dark, wrathful separation from the kingdom of light and love. But here the amazing infinity of divine love appeared, such a mystery of love as will be the universal song of praise to all eternity. Here God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, took human nature upon him, became a suffering, dying man, that there might be found a man, whose sufferings, blood and death had power to extinguish the wrath and hell that sin had brought forth, and to be a fountain of the first heavenly life to the whole race of mankind. It was human nature that was fallen, that had lost its first heavenly life, and had become a bestial, diabolical life in the stead of it. Now if this human nature was to be restored, there was but one possible way, it must go back to the state from which it came, it must put off all that it had put on, it must regain all that it had lost: but the human nature that fell, could not do any of this, and yet all this must be done in and by that human nature which is fallen, or it could never, to all eternity, come out of the state of its fall; for it could not possibly come out of the state of its fall, but by putting off all that, which the fall had brought upon it. And thus stood man, as to all the powers of nature and creature, in an utter impossibility of salvation, and had only a short life of this world between himself and hell.
But let us now change scene, and behold the wonders of a new creation, where all things are called out of the curse and death of sin, and created again to life in Christ Jesus; where all mankind are chosen and appointed to the recovery of their first glorious life, by a new birth from a second Adam, who, as an universal redeemer, takes the place of the first fallen father of mankind, and so gives life and immortality, and heaven to all that they had lost in Adam. God, according to the riches of his love, raised man out of the loins of Adam, in whose mysterious person, the whole humanity, and the Word of God was personally united; that same Word which had been in-spoken into Adam at his fall, as a secret bruiser of the serpent, and real beginning of his salvation; so that in this second Adam, God and man were one person. And in this union of the divine and human nature lies the foundation and possibility of our recovery. For in this way the holy Jesus became qualified to be the second Adam, or universal regenerator of all that are born of the first Adam. For being himself that Deity, which as a spark or seed of life was given to Adam, thus all that were born of Adam had also a birth from him, and so stood under him, as their common father and regenerator of a heavenly life in them. And it was this first in-spoken Word of life which was given to Adam, that makes all mankind to be the spiritual children of the second Adam, though he was not born into the world until so many years after the fall. For seeing the same Word that became their perfect redeemer in the fullness of time, was in them from the beginning, as a beginning of their redemption, therefore he stood related to all mankind as a fountain and deriver of an heavenly life into them, in the same universal manner as Adam was the fountain and deriver of a miserable mortality in them. And seeing also this great and glorious redeemer had in himself the whole humanity, both as it was before and after the fall, i.e., in his inward man the perfection of the first Adam, and in his outward the weakness and mortality of the fallen nature; and seeing he had all this, as the un-doer of all that Adam had done, as the over-comer of death, as the raiser of our heavenly life, therefore it was, that all his conquests over this world, sin, death, and hell, were not the conquests of a single person that terminated in himself, but had their real effect and effective merit through all human nature, because he was the appointed father and regenerator of the whole human nature, and as such, had that same relation to it all as Adam had: and therefore as Adam's fall, sin and death, did not, could not terminate in himself, because he was our appointed father, from whom we must have such a state and condition of life as he had; so the righteousness, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ into the kingdom of heaven did not terminate in Himself, but became ours, because he is our appointed second Adam, from whom we are to derive such a state and condition of life as he had; and therefore all that are born again of him, are certainly born into his state of victory and triumph over the world, sin, death and hell.
Now here is opened to us the true reason of the whole process of our savior's incarnation, passion, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven: it was because fallen man was to go through all these stages as necessary parts of his return to God; and therefore, if man was to go out of his fallen state, there must be a son of this fallen man, who, as a head and fountain of the whole race, could do all this, could go back through all these gates, and so make it possible for all the individuals of human nature, as being born of him, to inherit his conquering nature, and follow him through all these passages to eternal life. And so we see, in the strongest and clearest light, both why and how the holy Jesus has become our great redeemer. Had he failed in any of these things, had he not been all that he was, and did all that he did, he could not have made one full, perfect, sufficient atonement and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, that is, he could not have been and done that, which in the nature of the thing was absolutely necessary, and fully sufficient to take the whole human race out of the bondage and captivity of their fallen state. Thus, had he not really had the divine nature in his person, he could not have begun to be our second Adam from the time of the fall, nor could we have stood related to him as children, that had received a new birth from him. Neither could he have made a beginning of a divine life in our fallen nature, but that he was that God who could make our nature begin again where it had failed in our first father. Without this divinity in his person, the perfection of his humanity would have been as helpless to us as the perfection of an angel. Again, had he not been man, and in human nature overcome sin and temptation, he could have been no savior of fallen man, because nothing that he had done would have been done in and to the fallen nature. Adam might as well have derived sin into the angels by his fall, as Christ had derived righteousness into us by his life, if he had not stood both in our nature, and as the common father and regenerator of it; therefore his incarnation was necessary to deliver us from our sins, and accordingly the scripture says, "he was manifest in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil." Again, if Christ had not renounced this life, as heartily and thoroughly as Adam chose it, and declared absolutely for another kingdom in another world; if he had not sacrificed the life he took up in and from this world, he could not have been our redeemer, and therefore the scripture continually ascribes atonement, satisfaction, redemption, and remission of sins to his sufferings and death. Again, had not our Lord entered into that state of eternal death which fallen man was eternally to inherit; had he not broken from it as its conqueror, and rose again from the dead, he could not have delivered us from the effects of our sins, and therefore the apostle says, "If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins." But I must enlarge a little upon the nature and merits of our savior's last sufferings. It is plain from scripture that that death, which our blessed Lord died on the cross, was absolutely necessary for our salvation; that he, as our savior, was to taste death for every man, that as the captain of our salvation, he was to be made perfect through sufferings, that there was no entrance for fallen man into paradise until Christ had overcome death and hell, or that first and second death which stood between us and it. Now the absolute necessity of our Savior's doing and suffering all this, plainly appears, as soon as we consider him as the second Adam, who, as such, is to undo all the evil that the first Adam had done in human nature; and therefore must enter into every state that belonged to this fallen nature, restoring in every state that which was lost, quickening that which was extinguished, and overcoming in every state that by which man was overcome. And therefore as eternal death was as certainly brought forth in our souls, as temporal death in our bodies, as this death was a state that belonged to fallen man, therefore our Lord was obliged to taste this dreadful death, to enter into the realities of it, that he might carry our nature victoriously through it. And as fallen man was to have entered into this eternal death at his giving up the ghost in this world, so the second Adam, as reversing all that the first had done, was to stand in this second death upon the cross, and die from it into that paradise out of which Adam the first died into this world. Now when the time drew near that our blessed Lord was to enter upon his last great sufferings, i.e., the realities of that second death through which he was to pass, then it was that all the anguishing terrors of a lost soul began to open themselves in him; then all that eternal death which Adam had brought into his soul, when it lost the Light and Spirit of heaven, began to be awakened, and stirring in the second Adam, who was come to stand in the last state of the fallen soul, to be encompassed with that eternal death and sensibility of hell, which must have been the everlasting state of fallen man. The beginning of our Lord's entrance into the terrible jaws of this second death, may be justly dated from those affecting words, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here with me and watch." See here the Lord of life reduced to such distress as to beg the prayers, watching, and assistance of his poor disciples! A plain proof that it was not the sufferings of this world, but a state of dreadful dereliction that was coming upon him. O holy redeemer, that I knew how to describe the anguishing terrors of your soul, when you were entering into eternal death, that no other son of man might fall into it. The progress of these terrors are plainly shown us in our Lord's agony in the garden, when the reality of this eternal death so broke in upon him, so awakened and stirred itself in him, as to force great drops of blood to sweat from his body. This was that bitter cup which made him withdraw himself, prostrate himself, and thrice repeat an earnest prayer, that if it were possible, it might pass from him, but at the same time heartily prayed to drink it according to the divine will. This was that cup he was drinking from the sixth to the ninth hour on the cross, nailed to the terrors of a twofold death, when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We are not to suppose that our Lord's agony was the terrors of a person that was going to be murdered, or the fears of that death which men could inflict upon him; for he had told his disciples, not to fear them that could only kill the body, and therefore we may be sure he had no such fears himself. No, his agony was his entrance into the last, eternal terrors of the lost soul, into the real horrors of that dreadful, eternal death, which man unredeemed must have died into when he left this world. We are therefore not to consider our Lord's death upon the cross, as only the death of that mortal body which was nailed to it, but we are to look upon him with wounded hearts, as fixed and fastened in the state of that twofold death, which was due to the fallen nature, out of which he could not come until he could say, "It is finished; Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." In that instant he gave up the ghost of this earthly life; and as a proof of his having overcome all the bars and chains of death and hell, he rent the rocks, opened the graves, and brought the dead to life, and triumphantly entered into that long shut up paradise, out of which Adam died, and in which he promised the thief, he should that day be with him. When therefore you behold the cross, which finely represents to your senses the savior of the world hanging on the cross, let not your thoughts stay on any sufferings, or death, that the malice of men can cause; for he hung there in greater distress than any human power can inflict, forsaken of God, feeling, bearing, and overcoming the pains and darkness of that eternal death which the fallen soul of Adam had brought into it. For as Adam by his fall, or death in paradise, had nothing left in his soul, but the nature, properties and life of hell, all which must have awakened in him in their full strength, as soon as he had lost the flesh, and blood, and light of this world, as this eternal death was a state that belonged to man by the fall, so there was an absolute necessity that the savior of man should enter into all these awakened realities of the last eternal death, and come victoriously out of them, or man would never have been redeemed from them. For the fallen nature could in no possibly way be saved, but by its own coming victoriously out of every part of its fallen state; and therefore all this was to be done by that son of man, from whom we had a power of deriving into us his victorious nature. Lastly, if our blessed Lord was not ascended into heaven, and set on the right hand of God, he could not deliver us from our sins; and therefore the scripture ascribes to him, as ascended, a perpetual priesthood in heaven: "If any man sin," says St. John, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." All these things therefore are so many equally essential parts of our savior's character, and he is the one atonement, the full satisfaction for sin, the savior and deliverer from the bondage, power, and effects of sin. And to ascribe our deliverance from sin, or the remission of our sins more to the life and actions, than to the death of Christ, or to his death more than to his resurrection and ascension, is directly contrary to the plain letter and tenor of the scripture, which speaks of all these things as jointly qualifying our Lord to be the all-sufficient redeemer of mankind; and when speaking separately of any of them, ascribes the same power, efficacy, and redeeming virtue to one as to the other. And all this is very plain from the nature of the thing; for since all these things are necessary parts or stages of our return to God, every one of them must have the same necessary share in delivering us from our sinful state; and therefore what our savior did, as living, dying, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven, are things that he did as equally necessary, and equally effectual to our full deliverance from all the power, effects, and consequences of our sins. And here we may see, in the plainest light, how Christ is said to bear our iniquities, to be made sin for us, and how his sufferings have delivered us from the guilt and sufferings due to our sins, and how we are saved by him. It is not by an arbitrary, discretionary pleasure of God, accepting the sufferings of an innocent person, as a sufficient amends or satisfaction for the sins of criminals. This is by no means the true ground of this matter. In this view we neither think rightly of our savior, nor rightly of God's receiving us to salvation through him. God is reconciled to us through Jesus Christ in no other sense than as we are new born, new created in Christ Jesus. This is the only merit we have from him. Jesus Christ was made sin for us, he bore our iniquities, he saved us, not by giving the merit of his innocent unjust sufferings as a full payment for our demerits, but he saved us because he made himself one of us, became a member of our nature, and such a member of our nature, as had power to heal, remove, and overcome all the evils that were brought into our nature by the fall. He bore our iniquities and saved us, because he stood in our nature as our common father, as one that had the same relation to all mankind as Adam had, and from whom we can derive all the conquering power of his nature, and so are enabled to come out of our guilt and iniquities by having his nature derived into us. This is the whole of what is meant by having our guilty condition transferred upon him, and his merit transferred upon us: our guilt is transferred upon him in no other sense than as he took upon him the state and condition of our fallen nature, to bear all its troubles, undergo all its sufferings, until he had healed and overcome all the effects of sin. His merit or righteousness is imputed or derived into us in no other sense, than as we receive from him a birth, a nature, a power to become the sons of God. Therefore it appears, what vain disputes the world has had upon this subject, and how this edifying, glorious part of religion has been perplexed and lost in the fictions and difficulties of scholastic learning. Some people have much puzzled themselves and others with this question, how it is consistent with the goodness and equity of God to permit, or accept the sufferings of an innocent person as a satisfaction for the guilt and punishment of criminal offenders? But this question can only be put by those, who have not yet known the most fundamental doctrine of the gospel salvation; for according to the gospel, the question should proceed like this, How it is consistent with the goodness and equity of God, to raise such an innocent, mysterious person out of the loins of fallen man, as was able to remove all the evil and disorder that was brought into the fallen nature? This is the only question that is according to the true ground of our redemption, and at once disperses all those difficulties which are the mere products of human invention. The short of the matter is this: Man considered as created, or fallen, or redeemed, is that which he is, because of his state in nature; he can have no goodness in him when created, but because he is brought into such a participation of a goodness that there is in nature; he can have no evil in himself when fallen, but because he is fallen from his good state in nature; he can in no way be redeemed, but by being brought into his first state of perfection in nature; and therefore, this is an eternal, immutable truth, that he can be redeemed by the God of nature, only according to the possibilities of nature: and here lies the true ground, the whole reason of all that our savior was, and did, and suffered on our account: it was because in and through all nature there could be no other relief found for us: it was because nothing less than such a process of such a mysterious person could have power to undo all the evils that were done in and to the human nature; and therefore it is not only consistent with the goodness and equity of God to bring such a mysterious person into the world, but is the most infinite instance of his most infinite love to all mankind, that can possibly be conceived and adored by us.
To proceed:
By the fall of our first father we have lost our first, glorious bodies, that eternal, celestial flesh and blood which had as truly the nature of paradise and heaven in it, as our present bodies have the nature, mortality and corruption of this world in them: if therefore we are to be redeemed, there is an absolute necessity that our souls be clothed again with this first paradisiacal, or heavenly flesh and blood, or we can never enter into the kingdom of God. Now, this is the reason, why the scriptures speak so clearly, so frequently, and so emphatically of the powerful blood of Christ, of the great benefit it is to us, of its redeeming, quickening, life-giving virtue; it is because our first life, or heavenly flesh and blood is born again in us, or derived again into us from this blood of Christ Our blessed Lord, who died for us, had not only that outward flesh and blood, which he received from the virgin Mary, and which died upon the cross, but he had also an holy humanity of heavenly flesh and blood veiled under it, which was appointed by God to quicken, generate, and bring forth from itself, such an holy offspring of immortal flesh and blood, as Adam the first should have brought forth before his fall. If our Lord Christ had not had a heavenly humanity, consisting of such flesh and blood as is not of this world, he would not have been as perfect as Adam was, nor could our birth from him, raise us to that perfection, which we had lost, nor could his blood be said to purchase, ransom, redeem, and restore us; because, as it is heavenly flesh and blood that we have lost, so we can only have it ransomed and restored to us, by that blood which is of the same heavenly and immortal nature with that which we have lost. Our common faith, therefore, obliges us to hold, that our Lord had the perfection of the first Adam's flesh and blood united with, and veiled under that fallen nature, which he took upon him from the blessed virgin Mary. Had he not taken our fallen nature upon him, nothing that he had done, could have been of any advantage to us, or brought any ransom or redemption to our fallen nature; and had he not taken our nature as it was before the fall, he could not have been our second Adam, or a restorer to us of that nature, which we should have had from Adam if he had not fallen. Now, what our common faith fully teaches, concerning a heavenly, as well as earthly humanity, which our Lord had, is also plainly signified to us by several clear texts of scripture; as where he said of himself, "I am from above, you are from beneath," again, "I am not of this world," and further, "No one ascends into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven": these and other texts of like nature, which plainly speak of something in our blessed Lord, which can neither be understood of his divinity, nor of that flesh and blood which he received from the virgin Mary, has forced some scholastic divines to hold the pre-existence of our savior's soul, which is an opinion utterly inconsistent with our redemption; for it is as necessary that our Lord should have a soul as well as a body derived from Adam, in order to be the redeemer of Adam's offspring: but all these texts, which a learned, merely literal person, has in this way mistaken, only prove this great, necessary, and edifying truth, that our blessed Lord had a heavenly humanity, which clothed itself with the flesh and blood of this world in the womb of the virgin; and from that heavenly humanity, or life-giving blood it is, that our first heavenly, immortal flesh and blood is generated and formed in us again; and therefore his blood is truly the atonement, the ransom, the redemption, the life of the world; because it brings forth, and generates from itself the paradisiacal, immortal flesh and blood, as certainly, as really, as the blood of fallen Adam brings forth and generates from itself the sinful, vile, corruptible flesh and blood of this life. Would you like to further know, what blood this is, that has this atoning, life-giving quality in it? It is that blood which is to be received in the holy sacrament. Would you like to know, why it quickens, raises and restores the inward man that died in paradise? The answer is from Christ himself, "He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him, that is, he is born of my flesh and blood." Would you know, why the apostle said, "that He has purchased us by his blood," Acts 28:28. "That we have redemption through his blood," Ephes.1:7. Why he prays, "the God of peace--through the blood of the everlasting covenant, to make us perfect in every good work to do his will"; it is because the holy Jesus said, "except we drink his blood, we have no life in us," and therefore the drinking his blood, is the same thing as receiving a life of heavenly flesh and blood from him: and all this is only saying, that our savior, the second Adam, must do that for us and in us, which the first Adam should have done; his blood must be that to us by way of descent, or birth from him, which the blood of our first father, if he had not fallen, would have been to us; and as this blood of an immortal life is lost by the fall, so he from whom we receive it again by a secondary way, is justly and truly said, to purchase, to redeem, and ransom us by his blood. Now, there is but one redeeming, sanctifying, life-giving blood of Christ, and it is that which gave and shed itself under the veil of that outward flesh and blood that was sacrificed upon the cross; it is that holy and heavenly flesh and blood which is to be received in the holy sacrament; it is that holy, immortal flesh and blood which Adam had before the fall, of which blood, if we had drank, that is, if we had been born of it, we would not have needed a savior, but would have had such flesh and blood as could have entered into the kingdom of heaven; had we received this holy, immortal flesh and blood from Adam before his fall, it would have been called our being born of his flesh and blood; but because we receive that same flesh and blood from Jesus Christ, our second Adam, by our faith, our hunger and desire of it; therefore it is justly called our eating and drinking his flesh and blood. And here we have another strong scripture proof, that our savior had heavenly flesh and blood veiled under that which he received from the virgin Mary. For does not the holy sacrament undeniably prove to us, that he had a heavenly flesh entirely different from that which was seen nailed to the cross, and which was to be a heavenly, substantial food to us; that he had a blood entirely different from that which was seen to run out of his mortal body, which blood we are to drink of, and live for ever? Now, that flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God, is a scripture truth; and yet it must be affirmed to be a truth according to the same scriptures, that flesh and blood can, and must enter into the kingdom of God, or else, neither Adam, nor any of his posterity could enter in; therefore, it is a scripture truth, that there is a flesh and blood that has the nature, the likeness, and qualities of heaven in it, that is as wholly different from the flesh and blood of this world, as heaven is different from the earth. For if the flesh and blood that we now have, cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven, and yet we must be flesh and blood, for ever in heaven; then it follows, that there is a real flesh and blood that has nothing of this world in it, that neither arises from it, nor is nourished by it, but will subsist eternally, when this world is dissolved and gone. Now, if this flesh and blood is lost by the fall of our first father, and if the blood which we derive from him is the cause, the seat, and principle of our mortal, corruptible, impure life; if from the blood of this first father, all our un-holiness, impurity and misery is derived into us, then we may clearly understand what is meant by our being redeemed by the blood of Christ, and why the scriptures speak so much of his atoning, quickening, life-giving, cleansing, sanctifying blood; it is because it is to us the reverse of the blood of Adam, it is the cause, the seat, the principle of our holiness and purity of life; it is that from which we derive an immortal, holy flesh and blood in the same reality from this second Adam, as we inherit a corrupt, impure, and earthly flesh and blood from our first Adam: and therefore that which would have been done to us by our birth, if we had been born of the holy blood of Adam un-fallen, that we are to understand to be done to us, in and by the holy blood of Christ. For the blood of Christ is that to us in the way of redemption, which the blood of our first father should have been to us in the order of creation; for the redemption has no other end, but to raise us from our fall, to do that for us, which we should have had by the condition of our creation, if our father had kept his state of glory and immortality; and this is a certain truth, that there would have been no eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ in the Christian scheme of redemption, but that the flesh and blood which we should have had from Adam, must of all necessity be had, before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Here
therefore is plainly discovered to us, the true nature, necessity and
benefit of the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper; both why, and how, and
for what end, we must of all necessity, eat the flesh, and drink the blood
of Christ. No figurative meaning of the words is here to be sought for, we
must eat Christ's flesh, and drink his blood in the same reality, as he took
upon him the real flesh and blood of the blessed virgin: we can have no real
relation to Christ, can be no true members of his mystical body, but by
being real partakers of that same kind of flesh and blood, which was truly
his, and was his, for this very end, that through him, the same might be
brought forth in us: all this is strictly true of the holy sacrament,
according to the plain letter of the expression; which sacrament was thus
instituted, that the great service of the church might continually show us,
that the whole of our redemption consisted in receiving the birth, spirit,
life and nature of Jesus Christ into us, in being born
of him, and clothed with a heavenly flesh and blood from him, just as the
whole of our fall consists in our being born of Adam's sinful nature and
spirit, and in having a vile, corrupt and impure flesh and blood from him.
But what flesh and blood are we to eat and drink? Not such as we have
already, not such as any offspring of Adam has, not such as can have its
life and death by, and from the elements of this world; and therefore, not
that outward, visible, mortal flesh and blood of Christ, which he took from
the virgin Mary, and was seen on the cross, but a heavenly, immortal flesh
and blood, which came down from heaven, which has the nature, qualities, and
life of heaven in it, according to which our Lord said of himself, that he
was a "Son of Man come down from heaven," that "he was not of this world,"
that "he was from above," that very flesh and blood which we should have
received from Adam, if we had kept his first glorious and immortal nature.
For as the flesh and blood which we lost by his fall,
was the flesh and blood of eternal life, so it is in the holy sacrament,
that we may eat, and live for ever: this is the adorable height and depth of
this divine mystery, which brings heaven and immortality again into us, and
gives us power to become sons of God. Woe be to those who come to it with
the mouths of beasts, and the minds of serpents! who, with impenitent
hearts, devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the
pride of life, for worldly ends, outward appearances, and secular
conformity, boldly meddle with those mysteries that are only to be
approached by those that are of a pure heart, and who worship God in spirit
and truth. Justly may it be said of such, that they eat and drink damnation
to themselves, not discerning, that is, not regarding, not reverencing, not
humbly adoring the mysteries of the Lord's body. If you ask how the eating
and drinking the body and blood of Christ, is the receiving that flesh and
blood of eternal life, which we should have had from Adam himself,
it is for this plain reason, because the same kind of flesh and blood is in
Christ, that was in Adam, and is in Christ as it was in Adam, for this very
end, that it might be derived into all his offspring: so that we come to the
sacrament of the blessed body and blood of Christ, because he is our second
Adam, from whom we must now receive that eternal, celestial flesh and blood
which we should have had from our first father; and therefore it is, that
the apostle said, the "first Adam was made a living soul," that is, had a
life in himself, which could have brought forth an eternal ever-living
offspring; but having brought forth a dead race, the last Adam, as the
restorer of the life that was lost, was made a quickening spirit, because
quickening again that life which Adam as a living soul, should have brought
forth. And consequently we have the plain and full truth of the most
mysterious part of this holy sacrament, delivered from the tedious strife of
words, and that thickness of darkness which learned
contenders on all sides have brought into it. The letter and spirit of
scripture are here both preserved, and the mystery appears so amiable, so
intelligible, and so beneficial, as must raise a true and earnest devotion
in everyone that is capable of hungering and thirsting after eternal life.
And this true and sound knowledge of the holy sacrament could never have
been lost, if this scripture truth had not been overlooked; namely, that
Christ is our second Adam, that he is to do that for us, which Adam should
have done; that we are to have that life from him, as a quickening spirit,
which we should have had from Adam as a living soul; and that our redemption
is only doing a second time, or in a second way, that which should have been
done by the first order of our creation: this plain doctrine attended to,
would sufficiently show us, that the flesh and blood of eternal life, which
we are to receive from Christ, must be that flesh and blood of eternal life
which we lost in Adam. Now, if we had received this
immortal flesh and blood by our descent from Adam, we must in the strictness
of the expression have been said to partake of the flesh and blood of Adam;
so seeing we now receive it from Christ, we must in the same strictness of
expression, be said to be real partakers of the flesh and blood of Christ,
because He has the same heavenly flesh and blood which Adam had, and for the
same end that Adam had it; namely, that it may come by and through him into
us. And thus is this great sacrament, which is a continual part of our
Christian worship, a continual communication to us of all the benefits of
our second Adam; for in and by the body and blood of Christ, to which the
divine nature is united, we receive all that life, immortality, and
redemption, which Christ, as living, suffering, dying, rising from the dead,
and ascending into heaven, brought to human nature; so that this great
mystery is that, in which all the blessings of our redemption and new life
in Christ are centered. And they that hold a sacrament
short of this reality of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, cannot be
said to hold that sacrament of eternal life, which was instituted by our
blessed Lord and savior.
FINIS.
Of Justification by Faith and Works
By WILLIAM LAW
Written 1760
A dialogue between A Methodist and a Churchman
Methodist. Say what you will, sir, I must still believe, that almost all the sermons preached for these last hundreds of years, have been full of soul-destroying doctrine.
Christian. Pray, what is that doctrine?
Methodist. It is the doctrine of salvation, "Partly by faith, and Partly by works; or justification by faith and works."
Christian. Salvation by faith and works, is a plain, and very intelligible Scripture-truth. But salvation partly by faith and partly by works, is a false and groundless interpretation of the matter, proceeding either from ignorance, or deceit. What sounder Gospel-truth, than to say, that we are saved by Jesus Christ, God and man? But, what falser account could be given of it, than to say, that if so, then we are saved, partly by Jesus, and partly by Christ; that Jesus does something, and Christ adds the rest. For is not Jesus Christ, as such, the one undivided Savior, with one undivided operation? And who can more endeavor to lose the meaning, and pervert the sense of this Gospel truth, than he, who considers Jesus, as separately, and Christ as separately, doing their parts one after the other, the one making up what was wanting in the other, towards the work of our salvation? Now to separate faith from works, in this manner, the one partly doing this, and the other partly doing that, is in as full contrariety to Scripture, to all truth, and the nature of the thing, as to separate Jesus from Christ. For as the one Savior is manifested in and by Jesus Christ, one undivided person; so the one salvation is manifested, when faith is in works, and works are in faith, as Jesus is in Christ, and Christ is in Jesus. Again, how plain and good a Scripture-truth is this, that the loving of God with all the powers of our heart, soul, and spirit, and the loving of our neighbor as ourselves, is the one true fulfilling of the whole Law and prophets. But how falsely would this be set forth by him who should say, that it is partly the love of God, and partly the love of our neighbor, the one adding that which the other wanted, and doing that which the other could not do; as if they were two separate things, which with their different powers make up the fulfilling of the Law. For these two loves, or rather the two names of love, are, in the strictest truth, but one thing, one divine spirit of love, from one ground, full of one and the same operation, no more different, or separable from one another, than flame is different, or separable from its natural propensity to fly upwards. Thus John said, "If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar"; but he could not therefore be a liar, if the love of God was a different, or separate thing from the love of our neighbor. Yet this is your friend's false and mistaken way of setting forth justification, if it really were true, that it is by faith and works; namely, his dividing them asunder from one another, and ascribing his own invented to some extent, first to one, and then to the other; all which is as mere fiction, and full of the same absurdity, as if some other scholar, should with the like partially set forth the state of a living creature; i.e., that if it is in a living state, it must be so, partly by life, and partly by its living operations, as if life and its living operations were two distinct and separate things, that contributed their separate powers, and joined in their different actions, to make and keep up a living creature. This, and not one jot less, is the absurdity of your partly this and partly that, ascribed to a justification, supposed to be the effect of faith and works. For Christian faith and Christian works, are as much one and the same indivisible thing, as life is one and the same indivisible thing with its living operations.
Methodist. I can call all this nothing else but quibbling about words, and mere running away from the only thing which ought to be debated, and that is, whether St. Paul has not, over and over, placed the whole of justification in and by faith alone?
Christian. Let me ask you, did you ever hear or read of a dead faith, and a living faith, or do you think the difference between them to be nothing at all, but that the one has as much of justification in it as the other?
Methodist. This is a trifling question, since you know, as well as I do, that our awakened preacher has expressly declared, that there is dead faith, and that it is then dead, when it worketh not by love.
Christian. Well then, if so, the matter stands thus; works prove faith to be living; want of works prove faith to be dead; and therefore you conclude, that it is a soul-destroying doctrine, to teach Christians, that they are to be saved by faith and works. Surely, sir, you are not quite awake.
Methodist. You are growing hot, my friend, but be as hot as you will, I must tell you in the words of Mr. B_____, "That be you ever so sober, serious, just, and devout, you are still under the curse of God, provided you have any allowed reliance on your own good works, and think that they are to do something for you, and Christ to do the rest."
Christian. In answer to this, I only say, that be you and your friend ever so full of faith, so that you could remove mountains, you are still under the curse of God, provided you have allowed any reliance upon your own faith, and think that it is to do something for you, and Christ to do the rest. For a reliance upon our own faith, and a reliance upon our own works, are just that same good thing, and equally contrary to the truth of faith, and the truth of works.
Methodist. What true Methodist ever called true faith our own faith? Does not the Scripture say, it is the gift of God?
Christian. What true Christian ever called good works our own works? Does not Scripture say, "it is God who worketh in us, both to will, and to do?" Now if your faith may be called good and saving, because it is God's gift, and power within you; then a Christian's works may be called good and saving, or such as work out his salvation, because they are all accomplished in God, and by his power working in him. But now, suppose one man to rely on his own faith, and another to rely upon his own works, they then are both of them carnally minded, and the faith of the one, and the works of the other, are equally the same worthless, filthy rags. On the other hand, do (as plain Scripture requires you) ascribe good works of the same original, and divine power, as a right faith must be ascribed to, and then faith and works are equally one power of God to salvation, because equally the same saving, redeeming, and sanctifying work of God in our souls.
Methodist. I wonder you should thus strive to puzzle and darken one of the greatest, and most plain truths of the Gospel. Can anything be more plain than the case of the Pharisee, he said, "God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess,"? Here you have works pleading their cause. Now how came the publican without any works, saying only, "God be merciful to me a sinner," to be justified rather than this good working Pharisee? Can anything be more decisive than this?
Christian. Let it then be supposed that the Pharisee had said, God, I thank You, that my faith is not like other men's faith, it needs not the help of fasting and praying. I ask you, "had this been a better Pharisee than the other?" Had this boasting of a faith been better than that boasting of works? Or might not Christ have here justly said, that the publican's "God be merciful to me a sinner," had more of God and goodness in it, than the Pharisee's boasting of his solitary faith? But now, if such a passage as this, of a Pharisee boasting of a faith without works, was to be found in Scripture, and condemned by Christ, surely it would be great delusion to appeal to it, as a full and decisive proof of the vanity and insignificancy of faith, and of its being rejected by Christ, as of no avail. Yet this would be full as well, as to appeal to what Christ said of the Pharisee's boasted works, as a full proof that works are rejected by Christ, as worse than nothing.
Methodist. Say what you will, I am fully assured of this great truth, thus expressed by our friend, "That the moment a man seeks to be justified by his own obedience to God's laws, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him."
Christian. Here just the same answer as before will be sufficient, viz., that the moment a man seeks to be saved or justified by his own faith in God, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him. This is just as good an argument against faith itself, as your friend's is against works. For own faith and own obedience are at the same distance from God, and are as mere works of the flesh, as self-seeking and self-love. But if your friend would have spoken to the purpose of the matter in hand, he should have expressed himself thus, viz., that the moment a man seeks to be justified, or made acceptable to God, by works accomplished by the Spirit of Christ living in Him, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him. Had he thus expressed himself, you see what an absurdity there had been in it, and yet, without thus expressing himself, his words are quite foreign to the matter, and touch not those works, which are affirmed to be essential to a justifying faith. For the true Christian man never thinks, or talks of being justified by any "own obedience", any more than of being washed and saved by his own precious blood. But though he has no "own obedience," no "own works," any more than he has an "own will," and own love, yet he has an obedience and works, and will and love that reach heaven, and unite with God. How so? It is because by the supernatural WORD and SPIRIT of God, come to a fullness of birth in him, his obedience, his works, his will, his love, are that which they are, and do that which they do on earth, to the glory, and by the same Spirit of God, as angels do in heaven. This is the new creature that is justified by faith and works. Suppose faith to be not from Christ, or works not from Christ, and then they are both of them but works of the flesh. But add Christ to faith, and Christ to works, and then they are but one and the same power of God to salvation, and all difference between faith and works is lost, and nothing remains, but "Christ in us the Hope of Glory." But your friend forgetting, or not knowing, that no works, are called salvation works, or pleaded for as such, but those that Christ worketh in us, considers, and confounds all works as own works, and selfish works, and so condemns Christian works, and the necessity of them, upon no other ground, but because own works, which proceed from self, are false, vain, and unprofitable to our salvation. Whereas our blessed Lord, has in the plainest manner distinguished them from one another, and shown us, when and how works are good and Godly, and works of salvation, justification, and sanctification. "When you do your alms," says He, "do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, to be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." Here you see what an own work is, and why it has no salvation-goodness in it, it is because it is done only to trumpet forth its own glory. Now where anything like this trumpet goes along, either with that which we call faith, or works, though it should have ever so heavenly an appearance, it has only the nature, and can have only the reward of vainglorious alms. God said to a holy prophet of old, "Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet." Here is one kind of a religious trumpet. The Pharisees were learned men, and full of religious zeal, and they also had their religious trumpet, which our Lord condemned. Therefore zeal and trumpeting, are not good, and things to be trusted to, because they pretend religion, but may be as different from one another, as a Pharisee is from a holy prophet. This ought to be well considered by all, who set a trumpet to their mouths in God's cause; for if all that was alive in the trumpeting prophet, be not alive in them, they will begin too soon, and run before they are sent by God, to preach of the true life, and the true death, to a world ignorant, and careless about them. Again, our Lord says, "when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward," and can have no better reward, because he that thus prays, makes prayers an own work of own glory, and therefore they are but an abomination before God. But now, will you therefore tell the world, that alms and prayers are soul-destroying things, or at best but mere filthy rags, that signify nothing to him that uses them, because such alms and prayers are said to be so by Christ? For has not Christ in this very place taught you the direct contrary, and said as much of the salvation-power of good works, as he has said of the nothingness of Pharisaical works? "When you do your alms," says he, "let not your left hand know what your right hand does." And again, "When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret, and your Father which sees in secret, shall reward you openly." Why is all this secrecy? It is, that the whole work, may be solely from, and to, and for God, and that self may have neither beginning, nor end, or the least share in it. Now I ask, have these alms and these prayers nothing of salvation-goodness in them, when our Lord therefore commands them, that we may thereby obtain a reward in heaven? Can they help us to a reward in heaven, without helping forward our salvation? If a heavenly reward follows such works as these, must they not on the same ground, in the strictest sense of the words, be called saving alms, saving prayers, as any faith, from Adam or Abraham to this day, can be called saving faith? What are all the promises made to the faith of the fathers, of a "city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God"? what is that better and heavenly country, which was to be the reward of their faith, but these very rewards here promised by Christ to the works of Christian alms, and Christian prayers? Our blessed Lord's whole divine sermon on the mount, is nothing else but a continual doctrine of good works, and a continual doctrine of such rewards as belong to the faithful, diligent workers. No blessedness is ascribed to a single faith, but all along to some one or other Godly work. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Do good to them that hate you. Give to him that asks of you." But why all this? It is, "that you may be children of your Father, which is in heaven." Surely then such works as make us to be children of our Father, which is in heaven, may be said to be saving works.
Methodist. Well, now I fully believe, what a very great man has often said, that you have not one right thought or notion about justification. But however for once, I must desire you to say, what, and when, and where justification is.
Christian. Surely I shall not be much mistaken, if I shall venture to say, it is then and there, where is no condemnation. Now St. Paul says, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." If you ask him, who are those that are in Christ Jesus? he tells you in the very next words, they are those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." But no one does, or can walk after the flesh, but he who does the works of the flesh, nor anyone walk after the Spirit, but he who does the works of the Spirit. So then whether you consider justification, or condemnation, works are the whole of the matter. No condemnation but from our evil works, no justification but from our good works. Evil works are from the spirit of Satan, working and ruling in our animal birth of Adam's poisoned flesh and blood. Good works are from the Spirit of Christ, working in that blessed seed of the woman, or incorruptible seed of the WORD (common to all men) till it comes to a birth of the new creature, created unto good works in Christ Jesus. Thus the works of the devil in us, are our only condemnation, and the works of Christ in us, are our only justification. And by your works, you shall be justified, is just the same scriptural, immutable truth, as by your works you shall be condemned. Would you see the truth of justification, and the truth of condemnation, free from all possibility of mistake, look how the righteous judge of all the world, will proceed at the last day. Mankind is then to be divided into two sorts of people, the one called sheep, the other goats. To the sheep, says Christ, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." From where does this blessedness come, or how did they become blessed heirs of such a prepared kingdom? The one sole reason of it, is this given by Christ, namely because of their good works. "For I was an hungered and ye gave Me meat, naked and ye clothed Me, sick and in prison, and ye visited Me." Here you have the last, full and final justification, ascribed to nothing else but works, done in and by and for Christ. Is there here any room left for you, or any Christian to ask one single question, or have the least doubtful thought about justification, what it is, and how it comes to pass? Can you be taught by an higher authority, or in plainer words, that works, Christian works, are all the justification that will stand you in stead at the last day? Again, to the goats says Christ, "Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Whence now have these goats their cursed state, that casts them into the hell of the devil? The one sole reason given by Christ, is because they had not done those works, by which His sheep were justified and blessed, and made to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Here you have the last, full and final condemnation, ascribed to no one thing else, but the want of works. And who is it that teaches you, but He who is the truth itself, and the Father of all truth, both in men and angels. What occasion then for so many labored critical volumes, about faith and works in order to justification? If you hold more or less, or anything else about justification, than that which Christ has here asserted, the spirit of anti-Christ must have helped you to it. For call anything a justifying faith, but good works, and then you have your doctrine as surely from anti-Christ, as if you were to hold, that they were the blessed sheep, whom Christ called goats and cursed. Christ is the one great infallible teacher about justification, and what he has said in two or three words about it, can no more have anything taken from it, or added to it, or altered in it, than his last sentence on His judgment seat. Deceive not yourself, my friend, with a faith, that has not all its goodness, its truth and perfection, from works. For what greater deception can you fall under, than to believe, that anything can be your justification, or your condemnation, while you are in the body, but that which will be your justification, or condemnation, after you are risen from the dead? Now after this determination of Christ, that nothing but works will pass for justification at the last day, look at the determination made by your friend, saying, in the fullest contradiction of Christ, "that justification by faith and works, is a most destructive, papistical, and damnable doctrine. Which doctrine," says he, "I am verily assured, no one can hold, and be in a state of salvation." {Letters, page 22.} Is not every word here, in full condemnation of Christ's doctrine of His sheep and their salvation through works, as a most destructive and damnable doctrine, tending to the destruction of all those who believe it, and walk according to it? For does he who preaches up salvation by faith and works, teach anything else, but that very doctrine which Christ taught, when he said, Come ye blessed, because of the works, which ye have done, and go ye cursed, because wanting the works, which ye should have done. Say no more then, that papists, and popish Protestants, have invented this damnable doctrine of faith and works. Christ is the author of it, and He has sealed it with the same certainty, as the day of judgment. Your friend's "verily assured," is quite as outrageous and frantic, as if he had said, I am verily assured, that damnation will be the state of all preachers and hearers, who do not as fully exclude works from justification now, as Christ will require them for justification hereafter.
Methodist. But pray, sir, if I am to give up my friend's doctrine, must I not give up St. Paul also, as a deceiver and false apostle, for so he must be, if justification is by works? What are his epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, and Ephesians, but so much pains taken, to prove that we are saved, or justified, by faith alone.
Christian. I am as much for all St. Paul's doctrine, as for any other Scripture, and fully believe that he said nothing about faith, but what he said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But if you believe that St. Paul ever said one single word about faith, as it signifies a single act, or operation of the mind, or that he ever distinguished, or divided Christian faith from Christian works, you may be said to have read him with eyes that see not, and ears that hear not.
Methodist. Surely your St. Paul and mine cannot be the same person, or you could never talk at this rate.
Christian. I would ask you whether St. Peter taught a faith without works, when he said to the Jews, "This is the stone, which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts iv.11,12. Now did it ever come into your head, from reading these words of St. Peter, that he there taught a salvation through Christ (that is, through the Gospel religion) by faith without works? See also what Christ Himself had spoke before of this very stone, and the builders that rejected it, therefore, says He, "I say unto you, the kingdom of God," that is, this very stone, "shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," Matt. xxi.43. Now would you from these words of Christ, on which St. Peter's words are grounded, have ever thought of proving that the religion of the Gospel, called by St. Peter the headstone of the corner, and by Christ the kingdom of God bringing forth its fruits, must be a religion of faith without works. What could be more extravagant than this, and yet not more so, than to pretend to prove it from any words of St. Paul. For I defy anyone to show, that he has ever said any more, or other thing about faith alone, or meant anything else by it, as our salvation, but strictly and to a tittle, that same which St. Peter calls the stone, or that Name alone, by which salvation is to be had. St. Paul's faith alone, is nothing else, means nothing else, but the Gospel religion alone, and only attests that divine truth spoke from the beginning to the end of the New Testament, that the Gospel dispensation, or religion, alone, can be the salvation of men. When St. Paul speaks of works, as quite unprofitable, nay hurtful to salvation, nothing is meant by them, but Jewish and heathenish works; and by that faith, which he opposes to them, and sets up in the stead of them, he always means the whole system of Gospel truths, the whole process of Christ, with all the salvation doctrines that belong to it. This is St. Paul's faith alone, by which we can only be saved, just the same thing as St. Peter's saying, there is no other Name under heaven, but this alone by which we can be saved. The only difference between Peter and Paul is this, Peter, in his short expression calls that, the Name alone by which we can be saved, which Paul, in his short expression, calls faith alone, and both of them mean the whole of that, which Christ calls the kingdom of God with its fruits thereof; which kingdom of God is neither more nor less, than the whole Gospel system of Christ's process, with all the benefits and doctrines essential, or belonging to it. Away then with your idle fancy of Paul's ever distinguishing Christian faith from Christian works, or ever giving the smallest preference of the one to the other. To the Jews, who said to Christ, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Christ says, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him, whom He has sent." This St. Paul's sole and whole doctrine about faith alone, it is to believe in Christ, and that belief is the whole Christian work, the whole work that God requires, the whole salvation work. But why so? Because to believe in Christ, is to embrace all and the whole of that, which Christ was, did, suffered, taught, and commanded, as the one only salvation of men.
Methodist. I must confess you have said more than I expected to hear, and more than I can at present answer. But pray show me how it appears, that St. Paul by his faith alone, means nothing else but the Christian religion alone, or the system of Gospel doctrines alone.
Christian. You might as well ask me, how it appears that Paul was an apostle, or witness of Jesus Christ alone; for how could he be an apostle of Christ alone, if he meant anything by his faith alone, but the whole that is meant by the whole Gospel religion of Christ? Therefore wherever St. Paul ascribes salvation to faith alone, you have the fullest proof that he himself could possibly give you, that by faith alone, he means neither more nor less than the whole Gospel religion alone. St. Paul has these words, "God forbid, that I should glory in anything, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here you see, all is rejected by the cross of Christ alone, this alone is His glory, and a good glory it was; but would not all that is true and good in this speech of Paul's be perverted and lost, unless by the cross alone, you understand the whole process, doctrines, and precepts, of a crucified Savior, that is, the whole Christian religion? Now this it is with faith alone; and if Paul had said, God forbid that I should glory in anything but in faith alone in Christ, he had said just the same thing, as when he would have no glory but in the cross alone. For where all that is Christian joy, or hope, or comfort, or salvation, is ascribed to any one single thing, whether it be called faith alone, or the cross alone, there that faith, and that cross, must stand equally, and only for the whole Gospel religion. And then to say, that a man is saved by the cross alone, or by faith alone, is the same sound, and good truth. "I know whom I have believed," says the apostle, and if he had said, I know whom I have followed, whom I have obeyed, the thing had been just the same. For to follow Christ, or to be in the faith of Christ, or to be a disciple of the cross, are three different expressions, but the meaning of them all, is but one and the same. "I am not ashamed," says St. Paul, "of the cross of Christ," just the same as if he had said, I am not ashamed of the Gospel kingdom of Christ. For that he means by the cross, the whole religion of the Gospel, he tells you, in saying, that it is the power of God to salvation; and what is, or can be this power, but that whole process, precepts, and doctrines of Christ, which make the whole religion of the Gospel? Again, "I have determined," says he, "to know nothing among you but Christ, and him crucified." But will you therefore infer, that all other knowledge, whether of the birth, life, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, was rejected by him as quite useless and unprofitable? Yet this would be full as well, as to infer, that because he says, by faith alone ye are saved, therefore no works are to be admitted as saving, but are to be rejected as vain and quite unprofitable to salvation. For the knowledge of Christ crucified alone, and faith alone, are then each of them put for the whole Gospel-religion, and not for faith, as signifying a single power of the mind, nor for the cross, as meaning the single crucifixion of Christ. Further, drop now for a while this consideration of faith, in which St. Paul has used it for the whole Gospel-doctrine, and consider faith in the sense, in which our Lord and the whole Scripture most frequently speak of it, as a living working power of the mind, that wills, and desires, and hopes, and trusts, and believes, and obeys; and in this sense of the word, it will be absolutely true, that works have just the same salvation in them, that faith has, because in the very nature of the thing, works are of the same nature with, and inseparable from faith, let the faith or works be what they will, because faith is nothing else, has nothing else, but what its works are. This is equally true of every man, and every faith in the world, he has no works, but the workings of his faith. For as life has no existence, but in and by its living operations, so faith has no existence, but in its own workings. Now if you will have a life alone without its living operations, then you must have a life that is without motion, without will or desire, without hearing, seeing, feeling, or any inclination to anything, and then you have a life, that is just as good as a dead carcass. So if you will have a Christian faith that is alone, and not made up of works, you must have a Christian faith that has no penitence, no humility, no denial of self, no hunger after righteousness, no striving to enter in at the strait gate, no love of God, or your neighbor. For faith cannot be alone, or without works, till it is without all these workings. And then you have a faith alone, that is just as able to fight St. Paul's good fight of faith, as the dead carcass is to take a city. And let me tell you, that these works are not only the very essence of faith, and inseparable from it, but that faith itself can have no beginning, but from some one, or other of them, nor any further growth, but as these grow more and more. For faith and its works beget, and are begotten of one another, for as it must be said, that humility and penitence are the true fruits, or works of faith, so it may be as truly said, that humility or penitence are the first root, or seed, from whence faith gets its birth--faith, considered as an act or operation of the mind, is like any other faculty or power, it cannot be alone, any more than will, desire, longing, hoping, fearing, wishing, loving, trusting, or rejoicing, can any of them be alone, or in a state of separation from the rest. And to ascribe salvation to any one of these tempers alone, and by itself, would be as consistent with Scripture, and the nature of the thing, as to ascribe it to faith alone, considered as a single thing, and separate from all other works, or working of the mind. But faith, not considered as the working of the will, or an operation of the mind, but as meaning the whole system of Gospel-religion, may and must be alone salvation, without anything else but itself, and that for the same reason, as St. Peter says, that Christ alone, is the only stone, or the only Name whereby we can be saved. Would you therefore come out of that thickness of darkness, which a blind Babylonish spirit of dispute, has in these latter ages brought into St. Paul's doctrine of faith without works, this must be your way. You must take, or put faith for the whole Gospel-religion, when he opposes it to, or separates it from works, and then you will rightly understand why he says, By faith alone ye are saved. You must also put Jewish, or heathenish to the works, which he excludes from faith, and then you will rightly understand what works he declares to have no salvation in them. This is the true, unerring key to all his whole doctrine about faith without works.
Methodist. But where has St. Paul himself told you, that by faith alone, he means the whole Gospel-religion alone?
Christian. He has told it me, as often, and wherever he has said, that by faith alone we are saved. For how could he more show you, that he means neither more nor less by it, than by telling you that it alone is salvation? Would you have salvation to be obtained by something different from the whole of Gospel-religion? Fancy now St. Paul explaining himself, and saying, when I ascribe salvation to faith alone, I do not mean by faith, the whole of Gospel-doctrine; what greater absurdity could you charge upon him? His doctrine of faith alone, and without works, is nothing else but the Gospel-religion alone, in opposition to the religion and works of Jews and heathens, and is solely directed to these two sorts of people, and not, as is blindly imagined, to set Christian faith in opposition to Christian works, which would be no better, than teaching a Christian to be good without goodness. To the Jews he this speaks, "We have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law." Here faith and works stand for the two religions, the one of Christ, and the other of Moses. For what are the works of the Law, but the whole of the Mosaic religion, or what the faith of Christ, but the whole new religion of the Gospel? Therefore to tell these people, that they were to be saved by faith alone, and without works, was only telling them, that they were to be saved by leaving or turning from Judaism to Christianity, or that they could not enter into the kingdom of God, or the Gospel-faith, or the church of Christ (for they all mean the same thing) till they had done with, and left off all the works of the Law? "I testify," says he, "unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." To the heathens, or Greeks, he preaches the same doctrine with regard to their religious state, namely, that all the works of their religion and lives, must be forsaken and turned from, that by embracing the religion, or faith of Christ, they might be saved. I have, says he, "kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jew and to the Greek, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance towards God, signified the necessity of their having done with their former religion, works, and manner of life; faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, signified the necessity of their becoming members of a new Gospel-church, or kingdom of Jesus Christ. Not a word through all St. Paul, that rejects any works, but those which Jews and heathens were satisfied with, and would not give up for the Gospel state of the kingdom of God, which kingdom, is called by Paul, the faith of Christ. Not a word of the sufficiency of faith alone, but where it stands for the whole of Gospel-doctrine. Again, St. Paul has himself told me, that by faith alone he means the Gospel-religion alone, in the following passages, "I have," says he, "fought the good fight, I have finished my course," and as a proof of this, he adds, "I have kept the faith." Must not faith here stand for the whole Gospel-religion? Again, "Before faith came, we were under the Law." Does not faith here as certainly signify the whole religion of the Gospel, as the Law signifies the whole religion of Moses? Again, "If they who are under the Law, be heirs, then faith is made void," that is, the whole religion of Jesus Christ, is made needless, and of no use or benefit. Can he more plainly tell you, that by faith, as opposed to the works of the Law, he means nothing else, but the whole of the Gospel-doctrine? This is said to the Jews. To the gentiles at another time, he speaks the same truth in these words; "By grace ye are saved through faith in Christ, and that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast, it is the gift of God," the very self-same gift, of which Christ spoke to the woman at Jacob's well, saying, "if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says, give Me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water." Now what is this gift of God with His living water, but the Christ of God with all His redeeming process, from His birth to His ascension into heaven, freely given by God, that man might thereby be saved. Therefore this faith, or gift of God, by which alone we can be saved, signifies neither more nor less, than the whole Gospel-means of salvation. The apostle adds, "and that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast." Here works are totally excluded. But what works? Why only works of self, and works that man could, or would, boast of. But these works are only therefore excluded from Gospel-faith or salvation, that Godly works which have nothing of self, or boasting in them, may come up in their stead. This the apostle affirms, saying, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained," Eph. ii. How great then is that learned delusion, which opposes Christian faith to Christian works, because Paul opposes it to the un-Christian works of Jews and heathens; or because he will not allow their several works to have any salvation in them, therefore will have it, that the true followers of Christ, neither can, nor ought to have any salvation from their doing the works, which Christ has taught and commanded them to do. A believer, or a hearer, without doing, is but one and the same self-deceived person. In the Gospel, we have a father bidding his son go to work in his vineyard. The son consents, and says, "I go, sir, but he went not." This consenting and not doing, is the perfection of a faith without works.
Methodist. Surely you never minded these words of St. Paul, "To him that worketh not, but believe on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted unto him for righteousness."
Christian. Surely you have been deaf to all that has been said, or you could never come now with such a text as this. For no more is said in it against working, or against any other works, but that very single thing, which he says in these words, "that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." Now if it be the apostle's repeated doctrine, that the deeds or works of the Law, must of all necessity be ceased from, must he not for that very reason say, to him that worketh not, that is, to him that ceases from working, as the Law, or religion of Moses requires, and turns to the faith of Christ, called the kingdom of God, this faith becomes his righteousness. But how does it become his righteousness? The apostle tells you, "It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." Now what is the redemption through Jesus Christ, but a redemption by and through all that, which Christ, as God-man, was, did, suffered, obtained, taught, and commanded, that is, through and by the whole of the Gospel-religion? How is Christ our propitiation, or peace, but by that which he is, and does in the inward change, and renewal of our nature, in creating us again to good works, in bringing forth a new creature, not born of man, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God? What is faith in His blood, but the same thing as faith in His cross, and what is faith in either case, but a hearty willingness, and full desire wholly to cease, or turn away from all heathenish, or Jewish works, and to embrace and give up ourselves to all that is meant, taught, and required by the Gospel-faith, or kingdom of God? Would you know the whole of St. Paul's doctrine about faith, and against works, or working, you have it all summed up by himself in the following words, "Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law." What room then for one single word about what he means by not working? Faith stands here for the Gospel-religion, and the deeds of the Law signify the religion of Moses; no wonder therefore that he says a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law. So sure therefore as you conclude either more or less, or other than St. Paul's own conclusion, so sure you may be, that you abuse the apostle, falsify His doctrine, and sow your own tares among His wheat.
Methodist. Let me here ask you, in the elegant words of a last most amiable divine, "Must the efficacy of Christ's obedience be enforced by the accession of our maimed and worm-eaten works?"
Christian. There may, for ought I know, be elegance enough in these words, but truth and sense is quite wanting. For what have our good works to do with the efficacy of Christ's obedience, either as to the lessening, or increasing of it; or how has his obedience anything more added to it by our good works, than it has anything taken from it by the evil works of those who crucified him? What careful doer of good works, ever said or thought after this manner? "I strive to obey your will, O God, that thereby Christ's obedience may be made more perfect, than it was in Him. I lift up my eyes and heart towards heaven, that Christ's sitting there at your right hand, may be more powerful than it is in itself." On the other hand, what a wise man of faith would he be, who should abstain from prayer, least he should seem by such worm-eaten petitions, to be adding something to Christ's all-sufficient intercession in heaven. Again, fancy another man of faith alone, saying this, "I cannot have any care about denying myself, taking up my daily cross and following you. I cannot do these things, as helping forward my salvation, because that would be no better, than presuming to help you to be a more full and sufficient Savior, than you are in yourself, and without my works." Can anything be more absurd, or irreligious than this? And yet all of it is manifestly contained in the elegant words of your friend. If we walk as Christ walked, and do the works of Christ, we shall on that account be rewarded with him. This is the same good doctrine, as when the apostle says, "If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." Here you see our own sufferings are not only required, but made the ground of our reigning with our suffering Savior. But what man, not intoxicated with the elegance of words, would call, or look upon this, as adding our maimed, worm-eaten sufferings, to make the sufferings of Christ, greater and more valuable than they are in themselves? As silly a thought, as to say, that our following of Christ, is helping him to be the Son of God. Our blessed Lord keeps our eye continually upon good works, or things that we ourselves are to do. "Strive," says He, "to enter in at the strait gate; Ask, and ye shall receive; Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." He does not say, all is already gained, received, found, and opened, by what he has done and suffered. Now if this striving, asking, knocking, were but maimed, worm-eaten things, surely it had been better to forbid, than to command them. Or if he had said to His disciples, that this striving and seeking were such maimed, worm-eaten things, surely he had said as much against them, and with the same intention of turning them from them, as when he bid them "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," and compared their goodness to whited sepulchers, full of stench, corruption, and dead men's bones. You vehemently accuse the clergy, with acting contrary to the articles of the church, because preaching up justification along with works. But you quite forget, that your making Christian works no better than maimed, worm-eaten things, stands in full contrariety to many of the best prayers in our liturgy. Thus, how many collects are like this, "Grant, O Lord, that by your holy inspiration, we may think those things that be good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same." Is this prayer in vain; or if God hears us, can no better works come from it, than worm-eaten things? Agreeable to this prayer, St. Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me"; the same may everyone say as well as he; but according to your new light, these all things, are but worm-eaten things. Again, what difference is there between the old man and his deeds, which we are to put off, and the new man in Christ, that is to be put on, if he has no deeds, but what are maimed, worm-eaten things? But hear now what Christ says of the necessity, the Excellency, and efficacy of Christian good works, in the following words, "Whosoever hears my sayings and DOES them, is like a man which built an house, and dug deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the floods arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock." Here you see the excellence, the power and efficacy of Christian good works, compared by our Lord to the strength and firmness of a house built upon a rock, which floods and tempests cannot overthrow. How could he more fully show you, that they are the beginning, the continual strength and support of the divine life, than by comparing them to a rock on which a house begins, and from which it has all its power of standing against all floods and tempests? How could he better show you, that this rock of good works, all proceeding from His power within us, is that very rock, on which he builds a church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail? On the other hand, call anything salvation but Christian works, and then you have Christ's word for it, that you are "like the man that without a foundation built his house upon the sand, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and great was the fall of it." Hear again what our Lord says of Christian works, "A good man," says he, "out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good"; but how could this possibly be, if Christian works could be no better than maimed, worm-eaten things? And here by the by, let me desire you well to observe, whence it is, that the good man brings forth good things. Not as your orator tells you, because Christ's goodness, or righteousness is outwardly imputed to him, and so made his. No, truth itself tells you the direct contrary, that it proceeds from the good treasure of his heart, and therefore is a goodness born within him. Now, whence has he this good treasure of his heart, and what is it? It is that treasure of a divine life, or nature, which Adam had at first, and to which he died, and which by the free grace and mercy of God, was secured to him and all his posterity, as a seed of the woman, a preserved remains, or power of His first divine nature. Christ in Adam, was his first glory and perfection of life; Christ remaining in fallen Adam, as a preserved seed of His first divine nature, is the only ground and foundation, of his being able to be made again in Christ a new creature. This divine seed of the woman, is so much of Christ remaining in him; and therefore it is, that Christ alone has power to be the mediator and redeemer of man, because that which is to be raised from death into life in us, is nothing else but the incorruptible seed of himself in us. This, sir, is that good treasure of the heart, out of which the good man brings forth good things, and is in itself nothing more or less, than a seed of Adam's first divine life within us, preserved by God's never-ceasing love towards man, as His covenant of grace and redemption within us, which seed, as it comes through the mediation of Christ to a new power of life in us, causes all those different sensibilities, called humility, penitence, fear, prayer, faith, hope, and earnest seeking after God. Will you now ever say a word more, about your fiction of an outwardly imputed goodness, when Christ has so expressly told you, that its birth is from within, from the good treasure of the heart, which is himself within us. And to show, that all must come from this divine root, preserved within us, as good fruit does from a good tree, he says, "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt." "For the tree is known by its fruit." No, say your imputation-doctors, that need not be; let some good hand only hang good fruit outwardly upon it, and then you will rightly know the tree by its fruits. And it will be more glorious to the tree, to have a variety of good fruit outwardly imputed to it, or hung upon it, than to have good fruit from its own good root.
Methodist. Our present matter is not about the doctrine of imputation. If you will not stick closely to the point of faith alone, I must beg leave to depart.
Christian. The doctrine of the outward imputation of Christ's righteousness, and the doctrine of faith alone, is but one and the very same individual point; for what is your faith alone, but a faith in that imputed righteousness? The righteousness of Christ we must have, or he can be no Savior to us. This is granted on both sides. But you, for the great glory of God, and the great good of man, are for having it only outwardly imputed to us; which is just such a glory to God, and would be such a good to a blind man, as if instead of opening his own eyes, only the good far-seeing eyes of an angel were outwardly imputed to him. On the other hand, we believe, and contend for an inward birth of Christ's righteousness in us, because it was the birth of our first glorious father, and because it is to the eternal glory of God, and the eternal good of man, that his inward sinful nature be quite destroyed, by a birth of his original righteousness rising up in its stead; that so, all that was lost in Adam, may be found again in Christ. Can you possibly be told this in stronger terms, than when Christ says, "Except a man be born again from above, of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"? St. John bears witness to this truth, saying, "Whosoever is born of God, does not commit sin"; the same as saying, till a man is born of God, he continues under the power of his sinful nature. But why does such a man not sin? The apostle tells you, because His seed, that is, the seed of God, remains in him. Had St. John the least thought of a righteousness of Christ outwardly imputed, when he places all our freedom from sin, and power over it, to a seed of God remaining in us? Or if he had ever heard of such a thought in other people, how could he more fully condemn it, than in saying, "Little children, let no man deceive you, he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." Here you see all is deceit, be they notions, opinions, faiths, hopes, imputed righteousness, or whatever else you can name, all is deceit, till a man by doing righteousness, is righteous even as he is righteous. Then it is, that Christ's righteousness is become his righteousness, and this alone is the righteousness of Christ that is his full and only justification in the sight of God; and that for this one reason, because it is Christ himself, that is, His divine and righteous nature born within him. Which the apostle therefore strongly asserts, "If ye know that he is righteous"; what follows from this knowledge? The apostle adds, then, "ye know, that everyone that does righteousness is born of him," that is, has a birth of His divine and righteous nature, brought forth in him; and consequently, he that is not born of him, has nothing of Christ's righteousness--to be his salvation.
Methodist. I must say again, that you ramble strangely about with multiplicity of words. Our doctrine is, that works have no share in saving us, because, as our friend strongly expresses it, "Christ will either be a whole Savior, or none at all."
Christian. Had your friend said, We can have no salvation but in Christ alone, he had said a good Scripture-truth; but this strange unscriptural language of a Christ, who will either be a whole Savior, or none at all, has the same bad meaning in it, as if he were to say, Christ will do nothing for us, unless we forbear to concur, or do anything along with him. Now Christ says, "Follow me. Take my yoke upon you." But if following of Christ, if taking His yoke upon us, is necessary, then something that is to be done by ourselves, is as necessary to our salvation, as that which is done by Christ for us, and some works are as truly salvation-works, as any acts of faith are saving.
Methodist. Who ever denied, that we are to follow Christ, and take His yoke upon us?
Christian. But will such works do us any good, or recommend us to God?
Methodist. I will give you no answer, but in the decisive words of our friend; "If," says he, "you think that you have any good service of your own, to recommend you to God, you are certainly without any interest in Christ."
Christian. Own service is but like own will, and no more good can come from it, than from the natural old man with his deeds. But our Savior has assured us, that there is a good man, who out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth that which is good. Now these are the good works that are pleaded for as absolutely necessary, and essential to a true and saving faith. Say now that if we think such good works recommend us to God, we are certainly without any interest in Christ, and then it were better, that you should preach such doctrine to sticks and stones, than to Christian ears. For who can receive it, without giving up the most constant and repeated salvation-doctrines of Scripture? What more frequent through all our Bible, than passages of the same nature with this: "To do good, and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Now must a man who believes this, and thinks, that such things recommend him to God, be therefore certainly without any interest in Christ? Hear Christ himself thusly calling out for good works, in all those who expect to have any interest in him, "Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven." Will such a caller upon the Lord, without good works, have his sufficient excuse, by saying, Lord, I thought you would be my whole Savior, or none at all; and therefore, I would not think of recommending myself to God, by doing His will, lest I should thereby lose all interest in you.
Methodist. If you do not like my friend's expression, take the same truth in other words of some most excellent divines. Thus says one, "Nothing is required in order to our participation of Christ and His benefits; there is no clogging qualification, no worth to be possessed, no duty to be performed, in order to our full participation of Christ and all His riches"; for all which he gives this solid reason, because, "It is not a matter of bargain, nor the subject of sale, but a deed of gift, the gift of righteousness; and gifts we all know, are not to be purchased, but received."
Christian. As wild and extravagant words as ever met together, as may thusly be fully shown. Christ said to His disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life"; and that they might more fully understand the true meaning of that, he said also, "Strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leads to life." Now, what Christ here says of the strait gate and narrow way, is strictly so much said of himself, and how he is the Savior of the world; for the way and gate could not lead to life, if they meant anything else but Christ himself. Now Christ and His benefits, considered as the blessed strait gate, and narrow way to life, provided by God, is wholly and solely the free grace and gift of God; here was no bargain, or sale of anything; nothing was done on man's part to obtain it, and that for this very good reason, because Christ was thus given by God before the foundation of the world, and again, before there was a man born of a woman. See then the miserable delusion of your doctors, who, from this Scripture-truth, that God has freely, and out of mere mercy to the fallen state of man, provided, and given a blessed narrow way, and strait gate to eternal life, therefore conclude, that no pains, or trouble of striving to get into this narrow way, and through this strait gate, need be taken, because, without any pains of our own, he freely gave it to all mankind; though there could be no blessedness in the gift, but because blessed are they, who with all their powers, works, and endeavors of spirit, soul, and body, strive to walk in this narrow way, and pass through this strait gate. Is not all this as gross a delusion, and in as full contrariety to the nature of the thing, as to conclude, that because God has freely prepared and given us a cup of salvation, therefore there is no need that we should drink it; or think that our own drinking it, need not be added to make His free cup of salvation a benefit to us. Now, gross as all this is, it is the strong foundation-absurdity, on which alone, your great divines build all their rhetorical flourishes of a salvation that is wholly the gift of God, without any works of man belonging to it. For they have not a word to say against salvation-works, but that works did not produce God's first free gift of a Savior to us; and therefore, works can no more belong to this free gift of a Savior, after he is given, than they did before he was given to us; being too systematically blind to see, that as a strait gate and narrow way were only given to us, that we might do that which we could not do before they were given, or as the cup of salvation is only given, that we may drink that, which we could not drink before it was given, so Christ was only and solely given for the sake of salvation-works, which we could not do, till in him and by him we became new creatures, created again unto good works. How easily may you now see the vanity of these, and suchlike flourishing words; "The gift of the great eternal sovereign are intended, not to recognize our imaginary worth, but to expand our views of His mercy and grace." Just as full of Scripture-truth, and good sense, as to say, that God's gifts of five and ten talents, are not given us with this intention, that our good use of them may appear, and that God may have occasion to say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant," but to show us how great are the talents and riches of God. Or again, that God's gift of a strait gate and narrow way to life, is not given us, that our well striving in it may appear, but only, that the greatness of God's goodness to us may be shown thereby. See again, what the same writer says of the man who is in the truth of the Gospel; "He labors neither first nor last to acquire any requisite to justification." When Christ himself has told him, "By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned": surely, this is enough telling him, that from first to last, nothing but works have either justification or condemnation in them. See again what another of your excellent divines says; "Do not think by any preparatory works, to make yourselves worthy of Christ." What is this but saying, do not believe Christ when he is speaking of worthiness and unworthiness, when he says, "He that takes not his cross, and follows me, is not worthy of me. He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me." Do not believe St. Paul, when he exhorts the Thessalonians, "to walk worthy of God, who has called them to His kingdom and glory." Again, have a care of these words of Christ, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; for you may easily be thereby led to think, that repentance-works have some kind of worthy preparation in them, to make you fit for the kingdom of God. And now let me tell you, that two or three old heresies joined together, would not more abuse and contradict the Gospel, than your three doctrines, (1.) of faith without works. (2.) Of a righteousness of Christ only outwardly imputed to us. (3.) Of absolute election and reprobation. These are the scandal and reproach of the reformation, wherever they are found, and have nothing to support them, but that implicit adherence, and systematic obstinacy, which keeps Romish scholars steady to a Trent-creed. Gospel-salvation, is on God's part, a covenant of free grace and mercy, and cannot possibly be anything else; on man's part, it is wholly a covenant of works, and cannot possibly be anything else. For the sake of works, man was that which he was by His creation: for the sake of works, he is all that is, by His redemption. Works are the life of the creature, and he can have no life better or worse than his works that which he does, that he is. THIS DO AND you SHALL LIVE, is the Law of Works, which was from the beginning, is now, and always will be, the one Law of Life. And whether you consider the Adamical, patriarchal, legal, prophetic, or Gospel-state of the church, DOING is ALL. Nothing makes any change in this. Nay, it is not only the one law of all men on earth, but of all angels in heaven. And this as certainly, as our best and highest prayer is this, "thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." "This do, and you shall live," was the only Law of Life given to Adam in paradise. Adam could not have been capable of this law, but because the divine nature, or a birth of Christ within him, was his first created state. No law of doing God's will could have been given to, or received by any of His posterity, but because a seed of the first divine life, or Christ in man, was by God's free grace and mercy, preserved and continued in Adam, and secured to all his posterity, as a redeeming seed of the woman, which through all ages of the church, should continue bruising the head of the serpent, till this first seed of life became a God incarnate, with all power in heaven and on earth, to restore original righteousness, and to raise again in fallen man, that first birth of himself, which was in Adam before he fell; this was the one power that he gave them to become sons of God.
Methodist. Nothing more need be said against all your doctrine, but that it is direct Arminianism.
Christian. Do you think then, that no more need be said in defense of your doctrine, than that it is true Calvinism? I have appealed to nothing for what I have asserted, but to the words of Christ and His apostles, and would no more consult a Calvin, an Arminius, or a Zinzendorf, how I was to understand them, than I would pray to God to be led by their spirit, instead of the Spirit of Christ. Nor is the one a wit better or worse than the other. Christ said, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear." And again, "He that is of God, hears God's words." If therefore you want hearing ears, or are not of God, to consult a grammarian how you are to understand the words of Christ, is as sure a way as you can take, to be content with spiritual deafness and blindness, and never to be taught of God, so long as you live. If I have called the Law of Works, the one Law of Life, it is because Christ has said the same, to the lawyer, who asked him, what he should do to inherit eternal life. Christ asked him, "What is written in the Law?" He answered, "Thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, spirit and strength, and your neighbor as yourself." To which Christ said, "Thou have answered right, THIS DO AND you SHALL LIVE." Here you have just the same thing said of works, as is said of faith; "The just shall live by faith." Therefore you can have no fuller proof given you, that faith and works mean but one and the same thing, whenever life is sometimes ascribed to one, and sometimes to the other, and therefore faith and works can no more be two things, than eternal life can be two things. Again, hear how St. Paul asserts the Law of Works, to be the one Law of Life. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things DONE in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." Now if you have your senses so exercised to discern between good and evil, as to think, that the Law of Works asserted by Christ and His apostle to be the Law of Life, is fitter to be received, or not received, just as a Calvin, or an Arminius, are with it, or against it, where must you look for the people, who have eyes and see not, ears and hear not?
Methodist. I am quite tired with disputing in this manner, but yet will add one thing, which you will not be so able to puzzle, as you have the Scripture, and which must be acknowledged to be decisive, at least with regard to our awakened preacher. He heard a voice (as he really thought from heaven) saying unto him, "Cease from your own works."
Christian. Whenever the voice came, it spoke well, and might have been just as beneficial to him, as if it had said, "Cease from your own wisdom, your own faith, or your own projects in religion"; for these are not only alike, but the very same thing. But if he took an advice to cease from his own works, to be an advice to cease from works, that were not his own, it is much to be feared, he misunderstood his adviser. If the voice had said, "Cease from your own faith," would he have taken this to be a sufficient divine authority, to call the Christian world to a religion of works without faith, and to have told them of the damnable doctrine of adding faith to works? Yet this would be full as well, as to preach against good works, as having no salvation -goodness in them, because he was bid to cease from his own works. If you knew a minister, so full of experience from his own works, as to be quite uneasy at their insignificance for many years, both with regard to himself, and his hearers, such a man might well be said to have his eye too much upon his own works, to mistake the nature of them, and to expect that from them, which can only be done by quite another power. To such a man as this, how wholesome would the advice be, "Cease from your own works." And why so? Because you can neither be your own Savior, nor the Savior of them that hear you, by anything that can be called your own work. If therefore your fruitless preacher, instead of making a division between faith and works, in order to preach with divine success, had said to himself, and to his hearers, we have formerly lived and labored in vain, because (as the prophet speaks) "we have committed two evils; we have forsaken the fountain of living water, and hewed out to ourselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water"; now when, or how may we be said to have "forsaken the fountain of living water"? It is when we expect or seek for good in anything, but that, which God is, and does by His own WORD, LIGHT, and SPIRIT within us. Look after anything but this, have any trust in, or dependence upon anything else but this divine operation, and then be as full of religious zeal, as you will, you have forsaken the fountain of living water. Collect, divide, distinguish, and new model all doctrines, notions, and opinions, as nicely as ever you can, you are only making a new-fashioned, cracked cistern that can hold no living water in it. What is the reason that sin and wickedness overflow, like a flood, the whole Christian world? It is because popish, and Protestant churches, have been age after age, wholly taken up in hewing out of the Gospel-rock their several opinion-cisterns. The pope has his infallibility, and therefore his cisterns can have no failure, or crack in them. Protestants have a Luther, a Calvin, an Arminius, a Beza, a Socinus, a Zinzendorf, &c. And if their cisterns are free from cracks, it is because they have nouns and pronouns, verbs and adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions, to cement and strengthen them. What infallibility does in popish, that criticism does in Protestant countries, and so (sad truth!) the one fountain of living water is everywhere forsaken, and quite out of date. What wonder then, if Christianity is but an empty name, a vain battle of opinions, instead of the life and power of God, born, dwelling, and manifested in our fallen nature. And here let me tell you, that all that you see, or hear, or read of the best notions, truths, or doctrines, while you place anything in them, as considered in themselves, are to you only broken cisterns, that afford no water of life. Eugenius said one day, how charmed he was at first with the doctrines of the spiritual life, and the glories of a new birth; but that now, after some years striving to be good by the knowledge of such things, he found himself to be but just where he was, before he knew anything of them. But did anyone ever tell Eugenius, that these doctrines were the fountain of living water, and that by drinking of them he would have eternal life? How good are these words of Christ, "Unless a man be born again from above, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."? But how useless are they to him, who is not thereby turned to seek and expect it all from God? How good is it to know that abyss of death, into which our father Adam has plunged us; but how unprofitable is this knowledge, unless it makes us all hunger and thirst after that essential operation of the divine nature in us, which lived in Adam before he fell? All Scripture-doctrines whether of life or death, are nothing in themselves, nor have any power of Godliness in them, but are only to show us, again and again, this great truth, that the departure from God into whatever it be, is the death of deaths; and the cleaving wholly and solely to God, is eternal life. Think of anything but God, as the cause of goodness; or that His goodness can be your good, but by being born in you, as it was in Adam and holy angels, and then, though you have all the three Christian creeds, you have turned your Christian-God into an outward idol. For a God, not living and working within in you all that is, or can be called your good life, is but an outward idol of a God. And be assured of this, that as is the birth and working life within you, so are you, and can neither here, nor hereafter, be anything else, but that which is born within you. Righteousness imputed from without, is but like such imputed wickedness. And you may as well frighten yourself with fearing, that the devil's wickedness should be outwardly imputed to you as to think of having any righteousness of Christ, but that which of him and by him, is born in you. But to return to Eugenius; let it be supposed, that having found himself, not sanctified by his former notions, that he had recourse to others quite contrary to them; as faith without works; Christ's righteousness, not as a new birth in us, but only outwardly imputed to us: The number of saved and damned to all eternity, neither greater or less than God's absolute decrees had made it. Suppose him now so charmed with the sweet sound of these doctrines, to be under such a sense of their saving power, as to be forced to come forth as a preacher of eternal death and damnation to all, that would not seek to be saved by them. Could Eugenius possibly give fuller proof, that he had forgotten and forsaken the one fountain of living water, and was calling the Christian world to a rotten cistern instead of it?
Methodist. This kind of reasoning comes too late; God has already set His seal to the truth and goodness of our friend's preaching; thousands from far and near flock about him. Sighs, groans, swooning, screaming of young and old, proclaim the two-edged sword, that is in His mouth. If you will not allow this to be proof enough, it is in vain to talk any further with you.
Christian. All this is so far from being proof enough of the truth and goodness of his doctrine, that it is not proof at all. If it will do for him, it will do for Mohammed, and every successful deceiver. Zinzendorf has plenty of this proof. Not only these kingdoms, but great part of Europe and America, bear witness to it. And yet of these Moravians, carrying conviction wherever they go, and gaining such awakened converts out of every part of the reformation, as are ready to sell lands and houses, and lay the price at their feet, of these, your friend says, he bears a "preaching testimony against their corrupt principles and practices, and might as well be called a murderer, as a Moravian." What becomes now of your success, as being God's seal set to the truth of your doctrine? If Rome was allowed to send her preaching missionaries among us, to attack with full liberty of speech every Protestant form of religion, to travel from place to place, daily telling all the men and women they could get together, on hills, in churchyards, or elsewhere, that dreadful soul-destroying doctrines had been constantly preached to them ever since the reformation; that they had lost all interest in Christ every since they left the pope; that church and sects, however setting themselves above one another, were all equally in a certain state of damnation, and must be so, till they had true priests and true sacraments, nowhere to be had, but in the one ancient, infallible mother -church of Rome. If I should say, that damnation thus thundered out, to awaken people from their reformation-dream of safety, would soon have converts ten times more numerous, and much greater crowds of various followers, than you have yet to boast of, who could have any show of reason to deny it?
Methodist. Poor man! Can you not see the miserable and wretched state of Christendom, that heathen wickedness reigns everywhere, that nothing of Christianity is left among us, but an outward profession, destitute of every goodness but that of words and doctrines? How then ought you to rejoice, that the mercy of God has here and there raised up awakened preachers, to shake the hardened hearts of such apostate Christians? Who that has any spark of goodness in him, would endeavor to stop their course?
Christian. Whoever would, I am sure I would not. I wish from my heart, that not only every parish, but every house had such a divine preacher in it. Nay, though some should preach Christ out of envy, and others through strife, yet I would rejoice, if such contentious preachers, did but preach the truth as it is in Jesus. But now supposing (as is but too true) that we have only the words and doctrines, but not the spirit of Christianity, they are in the state of those that never had it, and must be called to that same change of life, as they were, before they can be Christians in spirit and in truth. The Gospel thus began, "REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This kingdom was God's free gift; His own love was the sole cause of it; but it was only given to repentance, because nothing else could possibly receive it. This "repent," in order to the kingdom of God, was the only preaching which Christ set on foot, and sent into every city and village. But what do your preachers now say? Do they call the present un-Christian world, as Christ ordered the un-Chrisian world to be called, to the kingdom of God? Do they say to Christians become workers of iniquity, that have long resisted God's Holy Spirit, long abused all Gospel-blessings, trampled all its pearls under their feet, and ever since their baptism, been wallowing in the mire of their sensual lusts; do they cry aloud to these miserable sinners, repent, and bring forth works meet for repentance, or it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of judgment than for you? So far from this, that they teach and affirm with vehemence to all these sinners that no repentance, no qualifications, no requisite, no preparation, is necessary to put them in full possession of Christ and all His riches; and all for this absurd reason, because righteousness, that is, the means of righteousness is the free gift of God, and was not procured, or obtained by any works of men, therefore salvation can require no works of man. Who can be blinder than he, who sees not the difference between a Savior prepared and given, and that salvation which is to be from him? Or who can more confound the most distinct things, than he who affirms that of salvation, which is only true of the Savior alone. It is true of the Savior to say, that he is freely given of God, to be the Savior of all men; but it is not true to say of salvation, that it is freely given to all men. The works of man, do no more towards making Christ to be the all-sufficient Savior of the world, than towards making him to be God and man; but to have salvation from this free-given, perfect Savior, all is requisite, all is to be worked, labored, and done, which he commands us to have, and do, and be. Therefore says St. Paul of this perfect Savior, "that he is the author of salvation to all that obey him." Here you see what an error it is, to speak of Savior and salvation, as one and the same thing, equally free and independent on man's works. The perfect, all-sufficient Savior, is the free gift of God, that all men might be saved: but salvation is no free gift, but stands in the utmost contrariety to it; it is to be purchased. A Savior you cannot, you need not buy, he is already given you without price and without money; but all the salvation that you can have, must be bought of this Savior, there is nothing gratis here. But what are you to give for it? All that you have from fallen Adam, all that the world, the flesh, and the devil have treasured up in you; nay, houses, lands, fathers, mothers, brethren, are all to be forsaken, they must all of them lose that place and power, that they had in you, or you have no salvation, though you never wanted a free-given Savior. Think of coming to Christ without these requisites, these qualifications, these preparation-works, and then you will be just as welcome as the prodigal son would have been, had he come to his heavenly Father with his harlots in his arms, that he and they might have rings and the best robes put on them, without their giving or doing anything for them. What now is the parable of all that penitence of the prodigal, his renunciation of himself, his forsaking his way of life, his sense of his great unworthiness to have his first sonship, his begging to be admitted to the labor and obedience of a hired servant, what is all this for, but to tell every son of fallen Adam, that he is this very prodigal, this keeper of harlots, living with, and like swine in a strange country, till he thinks of going to Christ with all those qualifications, preparations, and changes of life and manners, with which the prodigal son went to his father? May it not now be justly said with St. Paul, "Who has bewitched you," ye foolish preachers, to come forth with zeal and vehemence against qualifications, preparations, and requisites to fit us for the grace and favor of Christ? Did the heavenly Father send the ring and the best robe to his wicked son, while he was content with his harlots, his husks, and his swine? Was his eye of goodness turned towards him, till he saw him upon the road, a sorrowful seeker of his father, with penitential works, and full change of life? Now if Christ in his parable has set forth a sinner come to his right senses, how can you more show, that you have lost yours, than by cautioning sinners against qualifications, penitential requisites and preparations to be received by Christ? What is the whole Gospel, but one continual doctrine of all that is to be done, denied, renounced, and suffered, in order to have any interest in God's free gift of Christ, as a Savior of the world? Hear what the Savior, who came to save all men, says to those who forgot, that repentance and good works were the qualifications, and requisites to have any share of salvation, "I know ye not, depart from me all ye workers of iniquity." Is this a Savior, that calls for no salvation-works, but will himself, be our whole Savior, or none at all? Had Christ begun His Gospel, with saying, I am come to save you all, without putting you to any pains or labor to be saved; I bring no terms with me, nor have any demands upon you; I look for no requisites, no preparatory, no repentance, and self-denying works; I and all my riches are freely yours; inward, inborn goodness cannot belong to you, but ye shall be the children of God, not because ye are led by the Spirit of God, but because my righteousness shall be outwardly imputed to you; had this been the Gospel of Christ, your preachers of no requisites, no qualifications to have interest in Christ, might well be received as faithful apostles. You all complain that Christianity is become a mere outward profession, without the inward spirit of the Gospel. This just and true complaint, how vain is it in your mouths? For how can your Christianity in its best state, be anything else but bare outward profession, if Christians neither have nor can have any righteousness, but that which is outwardly imputed to them? Can you complain, or accuse them of not being inwardly of the spirit and life of the Gospel, if Gospel-goodness cannot be a birth within them, but only the goodness of another, that is to be accounted as theirs? Either therefore, give up your outwardly imputed righteousness, or complain no more that Christians are mere formalists; for both you and all your preachers, however awakened, can only be formalists yourselves, and can awaken nothing but formality in others, unless the righteous Spirit of Christ has its fullness of a birth in the inmost spirit, both of preachers and hearers. St. Paul says, "Circumcision is not that which is outward, but of the heart." Is it not as necessary to say of righteousness, that it cannot be an outwardly imputed thing, but must be the righteousness of the heart? Had Paul told them, that the circumcision of the heart could only be outwardly imputed to the circumcisers of the flesh, he had preached the Law, as you do the Gospel. Again, "He is not a Jew," says he, "that is one outwardly." How unlike is this to your doctrine, which will not allow the Christian to be one inwardly, but solely by that which is outwardly imputed to him? Again, "the Spirit," says he, "bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." But how could this be, but because the spirit that is within us, is a birth of that Holy Spirit, whose witness agrees with it? For suppose no birth of the Spirit within us, and then we have only that "natural old man, that knows not the things of the Spirit, because they are foolishness to him."
Methodist. Let me before we part, only ask you these two questions. Would you be glad to see Christianity continued in its present, poor, blind, and apostate state from the truth and life of the Gospel? Or can you show me, how it can return to its first purity and perfection of Godliness, unless preachers go forth in such a spirit of zeal, calling the world to Christ, as ours do?
Christian. Take this for a full answer to every question of this kind. There are but two spirits that govern every rational and intelligent life. The one is the Spirit of God, the other is that spirit that is fallen from God, and works contrary to him. Nothing is good in any creature, but because the good Spirit of God is the doer of it; nothing is evil, but that which is done by the spirit of the creature fallen off from God, and working in self-will. Here you have the infallible touchstone for the trial of all spirits, which never can deceive you. Every spirit that calls you to be delivered from anything, but the evil that is in your own spirit, or that turns you to anything, as a deliverance from it, but to the Spirit and power of God within you, is not of God, but is an agent under that spirit, that is fallen off from God. The Christian religion has no ground, or foundation, but because the spirit of man has lost its first state of union with God, and is unable of itself to recover it. Hence it is, that Christ, God and man united, is the one only possible restorer of man's first union with God. Therefore the whole of our redemption consists in our being made one with Christ, essentially born of him, that having His whole redeeming nature come to life in us, we may be in him, as he is in God, one spirit, one life to all eternity. "God was in Christ Jesus," says Paul, "reconciling the world to himself." But Christ was the reconciler between God and man, only and solely by that which he was, did, suffered, and obtained by and through his whole process. This is his mediation-work. Are you in this process, you are in the arms of your mediator; His mediation-work is like a new creation within you, and what God saw in His beloved Son, that he sees in you; and you must belong to God, as he does, because His nature, life, and Spirit, are in you. Therefore, is anyone reconciled to God, it is because Christ is born in him; but the seed of Christ, which is in every son of Adam, never comes to the fullness of the birth of the new creature, but through the process of Christ. This is the one strait gate, and narrow way, out of which, there is nothing but sin, death, and hell, to every man. Without Christ, we are without God; but who is without Christ, is told you in the following words, "Unless a man deny himself, take up his cross," "and follow me, he cannot be my disciple." This is the one term of union with Christ. Suppose now a preacher comes to you from Rome, with his invented doctrines about saints, images, sacraments, and transubstantiation, threatening certain damnation to all that do not receive them; suppose another coming from Geneva, as full of damnation for all those, who will not receive his invented doctrines of saving faith without works; of the righteousness of Christ, not inwardly born, but only outwardly imputed to you; of a salvation and damnation, equally the one sole work or gift of God, neither of which you can any more help, or hinder, than you can help or hinder the duration of the world, or add one cubit to your own stature; what Gospel-eyes must he have, who did not see as many marks of the beast, the whore, and the false prophet in one of these preachers, as in the other? Or can you think, if St. Paul was again in the world, he would give a heartier God -speed to the one, than to the other? Had the apostle been a preacher of your imputation-doctrine, he would never have said, "What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?" as knowing that this was the very fellowship which Christ had with the sons of fallen Adam; his righteousness being only outwardly imputed to their unrighteousness. And how could he have cried out, as of an impossible thing, "What communion has light with darkness, or what concord has Christ with Belial?" For had your imputation-doctrine been his, he would have known, that if light was but outwardly imputed to darkness, then the darkness would be in communion with light; and if Christ's righteousness was but outwardly imputed to the sons of Belial, then there would be concord between Christ and Belial. This is the blasphemous absurdity of your imputation-doctrine; for unless the whole fallen nature of man be born again from above, the righteousness of Christ outwardly imputed to it, is but like the same imputed to the unchanged sons of Belial. "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing," that is, all is in vain without my process; for Christ is that, which His process is. St. Paul says, "No one can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." In these two short texts, you have the whole nature and substance of Christian redemption, namely, that it all consists in the process of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. Christ's process in the flesh, is the only way of dying to all that fleshly evil, that Adam brought to life in us; Christ came in the Spirit, is the one only quickening of that divine life, to which Adam died. Trust to anything else, seek to anything else, but this process of Christ, and this power of the Holy Ghost, and then all your leaning upon the Gospel, will be no better than leaning upon a broken reed. These two fundamental truths plainly show, why the first preaching of the Gospel began, and must ever go on, saying nothing but what is implied in these words, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." "Repent," shows the necessity of making Christ's process the one way to the kingdom of God; for repentance-works are in His process, and nowhere else. "For the kingdom of God is at hand," shows that Christ's coming in the Spirit, is the one thing sought for by His process; for the kingdom of God come among men, is nothing else but Christ come in the power of the Spirit; and where this power is not come in the likeness of a kingdom, wherever plenty there may be of preachers, the kingdom of God is yet afar off. The Law ended with Christ come in the flesh; His process was the fulfilling of all its types, figures, and sacrifices. The coming of Christ in the Spirit, is just the same one only fulfilling of all the Gospel-dispensation. And as the Law would have been all in vain, without Christ's coming in the flesh; so would the Gospel also, without Christ's coming in the Spirit. And the Jew with his Old Testament, rejecting Christ come in the flesh, is just as true to the Law, as the Christian is to the Gospel, who does not own Christ as come in the Spirit, to be the one only fulfilling of all its doctrines. For as all the types, figures, and sacrifices of the Law, were in themselves but empty shadows, without Christ being the life of them, so all things written in the Gospel, are but dead letters, till Christ coming in the Spirit quickens a new creature, to be the reader, the one that remembers, and doer of them. Therefore, where the Holy Spirit is not sought after, trusted to, and rested in, as the end, the substance, and living power of the whole Gospel, it is no marvel, that Christians, high or low, learned or unlearned, Churchman or dissenter, should have no more of Gospel-virtues, than the Jews have of patriarchal holiness; or that the same lusts, vices, and worldly craft, which prosper among apostate Jews, should break forth with as much strength in a fallen Christendom. See here then your work, ye awakened preachers, if God has sent you forth, you can have no other errand but that, on which Christ sent His apostles. Do you preach anything but the process of Christ, as the way to the kingdom of God, or call men to any power of walking in it, but that of the Holy Spirit, you are strangers to, or deserters from the truth, as it is in Jesus, for neither Christ, nor His apostles, ever taught anything else but this. The old man must die, or the new man can never be made alive in Christ. But nothing brings death upon the old man, but that one self-denying process of Christ; nothing gives life to the new man, but the one Spirit of Christ born in it. This is the Gospel-language from the beginning to the end. With this language in your mouths, the whole Gospel is with you, you may cry aloud and spare not; be as zealous here as you will or can; go out into the streets and lanes, the highways and hedges; compel hypocrites, sensualists, worldlings, and hardened sinners to tremble at their ways, to dread everything that is contrary to Christ's salvation-process; preach certain damnation to every sinful lust of the flesh, and no possible power to be delivered from it, but by Christ coming in the Spirit, to set up His own kingdom of God within you; and then, everyone who has the least spark of goodness living in his soul, will call you the sent of God, will wish prosperity to all your labors of love; and no one will be against you, but he that is not with Christ. But if you come forth with the new-fangled un-Gospel doctrines of a Calvin, a Zinzendorf, be your zeal as great as it will, it only unites you with the brick and mortar-builders of that anti-Christian Babel, which the prince of the power of the air has set up, in full opposition to that rock, on which Christ has built His one, universal salvation-church. And now, my dear friend, wishing you, from the bottom of my heart, all that blessing which Christ bestowed upon His apostles when he said, "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," I bid you farewell. FINIS
The Letters in this Collection having been found of great private benefit, the consent of the author has been obtained to their being made public. And as they contain a rich treasure of Divine truths, that come home to the bosoms of men, comprehending the fullness of religion, and resolving a great variety of important points, the editors have great pleasure, in being allowed to publish them.
In Answer to a Question
Letter 6
You tell me, sir, that after twenty years of zeal, and labor in matters of religion, it has turned to so little account, that you are forced, most earnestly to desire a speedy answer to this question, Where you shall go, or what you shall do, to be in the truth?
Allow me to expound upon the first premise. Every man in his fallen state, has all that in him, though in a state of death, and hiddenness, which was the living glory, and perfection of the first created man. Just as the root of the lily, in the winter's cold, has all that in it, though as in a state of death, which was the glory and beauty of the summer's flower. What is hidden in the root of the lily, lies no longer in its seeming death, than until the spring-sun calls forth its life. Now, one divine dispensation after another, is to do that same to the fallen soul, which the spring, and daily advancing sun does to the lily root; namely, to call it out of its state of death, and make something of its first glory come to life, and spring forth out of it. Hence it is that the kingdom of God (which was that to which Adam died) is like to treasure hid in a field; and again, the kingdom of God is within you. But this could not be true, unless all that glory, which Adam lost, was still preserved, as a seed, or a shut-up root of life within him: and all this, through the mercy, and free grace of God, who foreseeing the fall of Adam, willed, that a seed of His first glory, should be preserved in him; declared, and made known to him, by a seed of the woman, which through the Word made flesh, should, in spite of death and hell, grow up to the fullness of the stature in Christ Jesus.
And as the kingdom of heaven, is every man's treasure, as surely within him, as his own soul, so that which hides, and covers it from us, is that awakened, bestial life, which is called Adam in us, and in which, the immortal soul, that was born for heaven, is wedded to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and subject to the workings of that satanical nature, which our Lord calls the prince of this world. And so it is, that every man comes into this world in a twofold state; Adam and Christ are both in him. And if this was not the state of man, nothing within you, would, or could ask, as you have done, or have any anxiety after the truth. And your being either led from this true knowledge of your state, or having never been sensible of it, is the reason of your having made so many religious inquiries in vain, both from yourself, and other people. For nothing can tell you the truth, or establish you in a just and solid discernment of right from wrong, in doctrines, opinions, and practices of religion, but this personal knowledge of yourself, namely, that Christ and Adam, are not only both of them essentially within you, but the whole of you; that nothing is life or salvation, but that, which is the life and growth of Christ in you, and that all that is done from the life, the power and natural capacity of the Adamical nature, is heathenish, is mere vanity and death, however gloriously set forth by the natural gifts of wit and learning.
Religion has no good in it, but as it is the revival, and quickening of that divine nature, which your first father had from God, and nothing can revive it, but that which first created it. God is no otherwise your God, but as He is the God of your life, manifested in it; and he can be no otherwise the God of your life, but as His Spirit is living within you. Satan is no other way knowable by you, or can have any other fellowship with you, but as his evil spirit works, and manifests itself along with the workings of your own spirit. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"; but he is nowhere to be resisted, but as a working spirit within you, therefore to resist the devil, is to turn from the evil thoughts, and motions that arise within you. "Turn to God, and He will turn to you": but God is a universal Spirit, which you cannot locally turn to, or from; therefore to turn to God, is to cleave to those good thoughts and motions which proceed from His Holy Spirit, dwelling and working in you. This is the God of your life, to whom you are to adhere, listen, and attend, and this is your worshipping Him in spirit and truth. And that is the devil that goes about as a roaring lion, who has no voice but that which he speaks within you. Therefore, my friend, be at home, and keep close to that which passes within you, for be it what it will, whether it be a good, in which you delight, or an evil, at which you grieve, you could have neither the one, nor the other, but because a holy God of light and love is essentially dwelling in you. Seek therefore for no other road, nor call anything the way to God, but solely that, which is His eternal, all-creating WORD, and SPIRIT working within you. For if anything else could have been man's way to God, the WORD would not have been made flesh.
The last words in your question, to be in the truth, are well expressed, for to be in the truth, is the finished state of man returning to God, therefore declared by Christ Himself, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"; free from the blindness and delusion of your own natural reason, and free from forms, doctrines and opinions, which others would impose upon you. To be in truth, is to be, where the first holy man was, when he came forth in the image and likeness of God. When he lost paradise, he lost the truth; and all that he felt, knew, saw, loved, and liked of the earthly, bestial world, into which he was fallen, was but a separation from God, a veil upon his heart, and scales upon his eyes. Nothing of his first truth could be spoken of to him, even by God Himself, but under the veil of earthly things, types, and shadows. The Law was given by Moses; but Moses had a veil upon his face, the Law was a veil, prophecy was a veil, Christ crucified was a veil, and all was a veil, until grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, in the POWER of His HOLY SPIRIT. Therefore to be in the truth, as it is in Jesus, is to have the veil lifted, to have passed through all those dispensations, which would never have begun, but that they might end in a Christ spiritually revealed, and essentially formed in the soul. So that now, in this last dispensation of God, which is the first truth itself restored, nothing is to be thought of, trusted to, or sought after, but God's immediate, continual working in the soul, by his Holy Spirit. This, sir, is he where you are to go, and what you are to do, to be in the truth. For the truth as it is in Jesus, is nothing else but Christ come in the Spirit, and His coming in the Spirit, is nothing else but the first lost life of God, quickened, and revealed again in the soul. Everything short of this, has only the nature of outward types and figures, which in its best state, is only for a time. If therefore you look to anything but the Spirit, seek to any power, but that of the Spirit, expect Christ to be your Savior, any other way, than as He is spiritually born in you, you go back from the grace and truth, which came by Jesus, and can at best be only a legal Jew, or a self-righteous Pharisee; you can go no further than these states, but by being born of the Spirit, living by the Spirit, as His child, His instrument, and holy temple, in which He dwells, and works all His good pleasure. Drop this full adherence to, and dependence upon the Spirit, act as in your own sphere, be something of yourself, and through your own wisdom, etc., and then, though all that you say, or do, is with the outward words of the spiritual gospel, and in the outward practices of the spiritual apostles, yet for all this, you are but there, where those were, who worshipped God with the blood of bulls and goats; for nothing but the Spirit of God can worship God in spirit and in truth.
But you will perhaps say, that you are still, exactly where you were, because you don't know how to find the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you know how to find your own thoughts, you need not be at a loss to find the Spirit of God. For you have not a thought within you, but that is either from the good of the Spirit, or from the evil of the flesh. Now the good and the evil that are within you, and always more or less sensible by turns, do each of them teach you the same work and presence of the Spirit of God. For the good, could not appear as good, nor the evil be felt as evil, but because the immediate working of the Spirit of God creates, or manifests this difference between them, and therefore be in what state you will, the power of God's Spirit within you, equally manifests itself to you; and to find the immediate, continual, essential working of the Spirit of God within you, you need only know what good, and evil are felt within you. For all the good that is in any thought or desire, is so much of God within you, and while you adhere to, and follow a good thought, you follow, or are led by the Spirit of God. And on the other hand all that is selfish and wicked in thought, or affection, is so much of the spirit of Satan within you, which would not be known, or felt, as evil, but because it is contrary to the immediate, continual working of the Spirit of God within you. Turn therefore inwards, and all that is within you, will demonstrate to you, the presence, and power of God in your soul, and make you find, and feel it, with the same certainty, as you find and feel your own thoughts. And what is best of all, by doing this, you will never be without a living sense of the immediate guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, always equal to your dependence upon it, always leading you from strength to strength in your inward man, until all your knowledge of good and evil, is become nothing else, but a mere love of the one, and mere aversion to the other. For the one work of the Spirit of God, is to distinguish the good, and evil, that is within you, not as in notion, but by affection; and when you are wholly given up to this new-creating work of God, so as to keep your mind upon it, abide with it, and expect all from it. This, my friend, will be your returning to the rock, from whence you were hewn, your drinking at the fountain of living water, your walking with God, your living by faith, your putting on Christ, your continual hearing the WORD of God, your eating the bread that came down from heaven, your supping with Christ, and following the Lamb wherever he goes.
For all these seeming different things, will be found in every man, according to his measure, who is wholly given up to, and depending upon the blessed work of God's Spirit in his soul.
But your mistake, and that of most professing Christians, lies in this; you try to be good by some outward means, you would have methods, opinions, forms, and ordinances of religion, alter and raise your fallen nature, and create in you a new heart, and a new spirit, that is to say, you would be good in a way that is altogether impossible, for goodness cannot be brought into you from without, much less by anything that is creaturely, or the action of man; this is as impossible, as for the flesh to sanctify the spirit, or for things temporal, to give life to things that are eternal.
The image and likeness of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are in every man, antecedent15[1] to every outward work, or action that can proceed from him: it is God thus within him, that is the sole cause that anything can be called godly, that is done, observed, or practiced by him. If it were not so, man would only have his being from God, but his goodness would be from himself.
All of man's outward good works, are only like his outward good words; he is not good, because he frequently uses them, they bring no goodness into him, nor are of any worth in themselves, but as a good, and godly spirit speaks forth itself in the sound of them. This is the case of every outward, creaturely thing, or work of man, no matter what kind it is, either hearing, praying, singing or preaching, etc., or practicing any outward rules, and observances; they have only the goodness of the outward Jew, no, are as vain, as sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals, unless they be solely the work, and fruits of the Spirit of God: for the divine nature, is that alone, which can be the power to any good work, either in man, or angel.
When a man, first finds himself stirred up with religious zeal, what does he generally do? He turns all his thoughts outwards, he runs after this, or that man, he is at the beck and call of every new opinion, and thinks only of finding the truth, by resting in this, or that method, or society of Christians. Could he find a man, that did not want to have him of his party, and opinion, that turned him from himself, and the teaching of man, to a God, not as historically read in books, or preached of in this, or that society, but to a God essentially living and working in every soul, him he might call a man of God; as leading him from himself to God, as saving him from many vain wanderings, from fruitless searching into a Council of Trent, a Synod of Dort, and Augsberg Confession, an Assembly's catechism, or a Thirty-nine Articles. For had he an hundred articles, if they were anything else but a hundred calls to Christ come in the Spirit, to a God within him, as the only possible light, and teacher of his mind, it would be a hundred times better for him, to be without them. For all man's blindness and misery lies in this, that he has lost the knowledge of God, as essentially living within him, and by falling under the power of an earthly, bestial life, thinks only of God, as living in some other world, and so seeks only by notions, to set up an image of an absent God, instead of worshipping the God of life and power, in whom he lives, moves, and has his being. Whoever therefore teaches you to expect great things from this, or that sort of opinions, or calls you to anything as saving, and redeeming, but the manifestation of God in your own soul, through a birth of the holy nature of Christ within you is totally ignorant of the whole nature, both of the fall, and the redemption of man. For the first is nothing else, or less, than a death to the divine life, or Christ-like nature, which lived in the first man; and the other, is nothing else, but Christ new-born, formed, and revealed again in man, as He was at the first. These two great truths are the most strongly asserted by Christ, when He said, "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." Let him "deny himself," is the fullest declaration, and highest proof, that he has lost his first divine and heavenly nature, that he is not that self, which came first from God, or he could not be called to deny it. Say, if you will, that he has not lost that first heavenly life in God, and then you must say, that our Lord calls him to deny, crucify, and renounce that holy, and Godlike self, which was the first gift of God to him.
To read whole libraries on these matters, is only to be bewildered in the strife of fictions, and contradictions about them. But to read this one single line of Christ, is to be led into the open, full truth of the whole nature, both of the fall, and redemption. And indeed, if we were but freed from the Babel of opinions, which have so long confounded the first truths of the gospels, it would be plain from every part of it, that nothing could be called the fall of man but his loss of the divine life, or nature, nor anything be called his redemption, or the real means of it, but solely that, which God is, and does in him. For what can be a good, or work good, in man, but God, or the divine nature in him? All the divine truths, that ever came from God, speak only to the pearl of the divine nature, that is hidden in our earthly field of flesh and blood, because nothing else wants them, or has any capacity to receive them; that which is divine, can only receive the divine things from God. And so it is, that unless a "Man be born again from above, it is not possible for him to see, or enter into the kingdom of God," that is, the divine life must arise again, in the power of a new birth, or there is nothing in fallen man, that can partake of the kingdom of God. And the reason is, because "The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," and therefore not possible to be anywhere, but where it proceeds from the Holy Ghost. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Now what is this God, that you are thus to love? Is it some abstract idea, that learned men have helped you to form of him? No such thing. This would be but a poor fiction of God, and a poor fiction of love. God is all good, the only good, and there is nothing good besides him, therefore to love God with all your heart, etc., is to love all goodness, and to love nothing else but goodness, and then, and only then, do you love God with all your heart, and soul, and strength. But now, to what purpose could this precept of such a love be given to man, unless he essentially partook of the divine nature? For to be in heart, and soul, and spirit, all love of God, and yet have nothing of the nature of God within you, is surely too absurd for anyone to believe. So sure therefore as this precept came from truth itself, so sure is it, that every man (however loath to hear of anything but pleasures, and enjoyments in this vain shadow of a life) has yet a divine nature concealed within him, which, when allowed to hear the calls of God, will know the voice of its heavenly Father, and long to do his will on earth, as it is done in heaven.
The conclusion then, is this, if to love God with your whole heart, and soul, is to love all goodness, and nothing else but goodness; and if all that is done without this love, whether in religious duties, of common life, is but mere separation from God, then it must be the grossest blindness, to believe you can have any love of God, or goodness in any duties you perform, any further, or in any other degree, than as the eternal, Holy Spirit of God, lives and loves in you.
Again, to see the divinity of man's origin, you need only read these words: "Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." For what could man have to do with the perfection of God, as the rule of his life, unless the truth and reality of the divine nature was in him? Could there be any reasonableness in this precept, or any fitness to call us to be good, as God is good, unless there was that in us, which is in God? Or to call us to the perfection of an heavenly Father, if we were not the real children of his heavenly nature? Might it not be as well, to bid the heavy stone to fly, as its flying father the eagle does?
But this precept from the lip of truth, is another full proof, that by the fall, a death, or suppression is brought upon our first divine life, and also that it is yet in a state, capable of being revived again, in us. For if it was not in a state of death, or suppressed in us, there could be no need of calling us to live according to it; for every being naturally acts according to the life, that is manifested in it. Nor could we be called to be heavenly, but because the heavenly nature has its seed in our soul in a readiness to come to life in us.
Lastly, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," is another full proof, that God is in us of a truth, and that the Holy Spirit has as certainly, an essential birth within us, as the spirit of this world have. For this precept might as well be given to a fox, as to a man, if man had not something quite supernatural in him. For mere nature, and natural creature, is nothing else, but mere self, and can work nothing but to, and for itself. And this, not through any corruption, or depravity of nature, but because it is nature's best state, and it can be nothing else, either in man, or beast.
"I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you," etc. Every word here is demonstration, that nothing but the new birth from above, can be a Christian. There is no other nature, or spirit that can breathe forth this universal love and benevolence, but that same Spirit, which laying aside its own glory, came down from heaven, to forgive, to love, to save, and die for a whole world of enemies and sinners.
This is the Spirit of Christ, that must as essentially live and breathe in you, as it did in Him, or all exhortations, to do as He did, to walk as He walked, are but in vain. The natural man is in full separation from this holiness of life, and though he had more wisdom of words, more depth of literature, than was in Cicero, or Aristotle, yet would he have as much to die to, as the grossest publican, or vainest Pharisee, before he could be in Christ, a new creature. For the highest improved natural abilities, can as well ascend into heaven, or clothe flesh and blood with immortality, as make a man like-minded with Christ in any one divine virtue. And that for this reason, because God, and divine goodness, are inseparable.
No precept of the gospel, supposes man to have any power to effect it, or calls you to any natural ability, or wisdom of your own to comply with it. Christ and His apostles called no man, to overcome the corruption and blindness of fallen nature, by learned cultivation of the mind. The wisdom of the learned world, was the same pitiable foolishness with them, as the grossest ignorance. By them, they only stand thus distinguished, the one brings forth a publican which is often converted to Christ, the other a Pharisee, that for the most part, condemns Him to be crucified. They (Christ and his apostles) taught nothing but death, and denial to all self, and the impossibility of having any one divine disposition, but through faith, and hope of a new nature, "Not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
To speak of the operation of the Holy Spirit, as only an assistance, or an occasional assistance, is as short of the truth, as to say, that Christ shall only assist the resurrection, of our bodies. For not a spark of any divine virtue can arise in us, but what must wholly and solely be called forth, by that same power, which alone can call our dead bodies, out of the dust and darkness of the grave.
If you turn to your own strength, to have Christian piety, and goodness; or are so deceived, as to think, that learning, or logical abilities, critical acuteness, skill in languages, church-systems, rules and orders, articles and opinions, are to do that for you, which the Spirit of Christ did, and only could do for the first Christians; your diligent reading the history of the gospel, will leave you as poor, and empty and dead to the divine life, as if you had been only a diligent reader of the history of all the religions in the world. But if all that you trust to, long after, and depend upon, is that Holy Spirit, which alone made the scripture-saints able to call Jesus Lord; if this is your one faith, and one hope, the divine life, which died in Adam, will find itself alive again in Christ Jesus, IN YOU. And be assured, that nothing but this new birth, can be the gospel Christian, because nothing else can possibly love, like, do, and be that, which Christ preached in His divine sermon on the mount. And be assured also, that when the Spirit of Christ, is the spirit that rules in you, there will be no hard sayings in the Gospel; but all that the heavenly Christ taught in the flesh, will be as meat and drink to you, and you will have no joy, but in walking, as he walked, in saying, loving, and doing, that which he said, loved, and did. And indeed, how can it be otherwise? How can notions, doctrines, and opinions about Christ, what he was, and did, make you in Him a new creature? Can anyone be made a Samson, or a Solomon, by being well versed in the history of what they were, said or did?
Ask then, my friend, no more, where you shall go, or what you shall do, to be in the truth; for you can have the truth, nowhere, but in Jesus, nor in Him, any further, than as His whole nature, and Spirit is born within you.
Farewell. William Law
Our Need For Christ - Letter 10 By William Law
To Mr. J. T.
My dear worthy Friend,
Whom I much love and esteem, your letter, though full of complaints about the state of your heart, was very much according to my mind, and gives me great hope, that God will carry on the good work he has begun in you, and lead you by His Holy Spirit, through all those difficulties, under which you are presently laboring.
The desire that you have, to be better than you find yourself at present, is God's call begun to be heard within you, and will make itself to be heard, even more within you, if you but, give way to it, and reverence it as such; humbly believing that He that calls, will, and only can, help you to pay right and full obedience to it.
As to the advertisement in the public paper, it deserves no regard from you, or anyone else. It must have come, either from a very ignorant and weak friend, or from a very insignificant enemy to the writings of Jacob Behman. But be it as it will, it was not an object of your attention, nor could be of any use to you.
But to come to your own state, you seem to yourself to be all infatuation and stupidity, because your head, and your heart are so contrary, the one delighting in heavenly notions, the other governed by earthly passions, and pursuits. It is a happy thing for you, that you know and acknowledge this: for only through this truth, through the full and deep perception of it, can you have any entrance, or so much as the beginning of an entrance into the liberty of the children of God. God is in this respect dealing with you, as He does with those, whose darkness is to be changed into light. Which can never be done, until you fully know,
1. The real badness of your own heart, and
2. Your utter inability to deliver yourself from it, by any sense, power, or activity of your own mind.
And if you thought that you were in a better state, the matter would be worse with you. For the badness in your heart, though you had no sensibility of it, would still be there, and would only be concealed, to your much greater hurt. For there it certainly is, whether it is seen and found, or not, and sooner or later, must show itself in its full deformity, or the old man will never die the death which is due to him, and must be undergone, before the new man in Christ can be formed in us.
All that you complain of in your heart is common to man, as man. There is no heart that is without it. And this is the one ground, why every man, as such, however different in disposition, complexion, or natural endowments from others, has the same full reason, and absolute necessity, of being born again from above.
Flesh and blood, and the spirit of this world, govern every spring in the heart of the natural man. And therefore you can never enough adore that ray of divine light, which breaking in upon your darkness, has made it known to be the state of your heart, and raised only those faint wishes that you desire to be delivered from.
For faint as they are, they have their degree of goodness in them, and as certainly proceed solely from the goodness of God working in your soul, as the first dawning of the morning, is solely from, and wrought by the same sun, which helps us to the noonday light. Firmly, therefore, believe this, as a certain truth, that the present sensibility of your incapacity for goodness, is to be cherished as a heavenly seed of life, as the blessed work of God in your soul. Could you like anything about your own heart, or so much as think that any good could be found in it, or believe that you had any power of your own to embrace and follow the truth, this opinion, would be your turning away from God and all goodness, and building iron walls of separation between God and your soul.
For conversion to God, only then begins to be in truth, and reality, when we see nothing that can give us the least degree of faith, of hope, of trust, or comfort in anything, that we are of ourselves. To see vanity of vanities in all outward things, to loath and abhor certain sins, is indeed something, but yet as nothing, in comparison of seeing and believing the vanity of vanities within us, and ourselves as utterly unable to take one single step in true goodness, as to add one cubit to our stature.
Under this conviction, the gate of life is opened to us. And therefore it is, that all the preparatory parts of religion, all the various proceedings of God either over our inward, or outward state, setting up, and pulling down, giving, and taking away, light, and darkness, comfort, and distress, as independently of us, as he makes the rain to descend, and the winds to blow, are all of them for this one end, to bring us to this conviction, that all that can be called life, good, and happiness, is to come solely from God, and not the smallest spark of it from ourselves. When man was first created, all the good that he had in him was from God alone. This must be the state of man for ever. From the beginning of time through all eternity, the creature can have no goodness, but that which God creates in it.
Our first created goodness is lost, because our first father departed from a full, absolute dependence upon God. For a full, continual, unwavering dependence upon God, is that alone which keeps God in the creature, and the creature in God. Our lost goodness can never come again, or be found in us, until by a power from Christ living in us, we are brought out of ourselves, and all selfish truths, into that full and blessed dependence upon God, in which our first father should have lived.
What room now, my dear friend, for complaint at the sight, sense, and feeling of your inability to make yourself better than you are? If you truly wanted this, every part of your religion would only have the nature and vanity of idolatry. For you cannot come unto God, you cannot believe in Him, you cannot worship Him in spirit and truth, until He is regarded as the only giver, and you yourself as nothing else but the receiver of every heavenly good, that can possibly come to life in you. Can it trouble you, that it was God that made you, and not you yourself? Yet this would be as unreasonable, as to be troubled that you cannot make heavenly affection, or divine powers to spring up, and abide in your soul.
God must for ever be God alone; heaven, and the heavenly nature are His, and must for ever and ever be received only from Him, and for ever and ever be only preserved, by an entire dependence upon, and trust in Him. Now as all the religion of fallen man, fallen from God into himself, and the spirit of this world, has no other end, but to bring us back to an entire dependence upon God, so we may justly say, blessed is that light, happy is that conviction, which brings us into a full and settled despair, of ever having the least good from ourselves. Then we are truly brought, and laid at the gate of mercy: at which gate, no soul ever did, or could lay in vain.
A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. That is, God will not, God cannot pass by, overlook, or disregard it. But the heart is then only broken and contrite, when all its strong holds are broken down, all false coverings taken off, and it sees, with inwardly opened eyes, everything to be bad, false, and rotten, that does, or can proceed from it as its own.
But you will perhaps say, that your conviction is only an uneasy sensibility of your own state, and has not the goodness of a broken and contrite heart in it. Let it be so, yet it is on the road to it, and it can only begin, as it begins at present in you. Your conviction is certainly not full and perfect; for if it was, you would not complain, or grieve at inability to help or mend yourself, but would patiently expect, and only look for help from God alone. Know therefore your want of this, as of all other goodness. But know also at the same time, that it cannot be had through your own willing and running, but through God that shows mercy; that is to say, through God who gives us Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is the one and only mercy of God to all the fallen world.
Now if all the mercy of God is only to be found in Christ Jesus, if he alone can save us from our sins; if he alone has power to heal all our infirmities, and restore original righteousness, what room for any other pains, labor, or inquiry, but where, and how Christ is to be found.
It matters not what our evils are, deadness, blindness, infatuation, hardness of heart, covetousness, wrath, pride, and ambition, our remedy is always one and the same, always at hand, always certain and infallible. Seven devils are as easily cast out by Christ as one. He came into the world, not to save from this, or that disorder, but to destroy all the power and works of the devil in man. If you ask where, and how Christ is to be found? I answer, in your heart, and by your heart, and nowhere else, nor by anything else. But you will perhaps say, it is your very heart that keeps you a stranger to Christ, and Him to you, because your heart is all bad, as unholy as a den of thieves. I answer, that the finding this to be the state of your heart, is the real finding of Christ in it. For nothing else but Christ can reveal, and make manifest the sin and evil in you. And he that discovers, is the same Christ that takes away sin. So that, as soon as complaining guilt, sets itself before you, and will be seen, you may be assured, that Christ is in you of a truth.
For Christ must first come as a discoverer and reprover of sin. It is the infallible proof of His holy presence within you.
Hear Him, reverence Him, submit to Him as a discoverer and reprover of sin. Own His power and presence in the feeling of your guilt, and then He that wounded, will heal, He that found out the sin, will take it away, and He who showed you your den of thieves, will turn it into a holy temple of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And now, sir, you may see, that your doubt and inquiry of me, whether your will was really free, or not, was groundless.
You have no freedom, or power of will, to assume any holy temper, or take hold of such degrees of goodness, as you have a mind to have. For nothing is, or ever can be goodness in you, but the one life, light, and spirit of Christ revealed, formed, and begotten in your soul. Christ in us, is our only goodness, as Christ in us, is our hope of glory. But Christ in us, is the pure, free, gift of God to us.
But you have a true and full freedom of will and choice, either to leave, and give up your helpless self to the operation of God in your soul, or to rely upon your own rational industry, and natural strength of mind. This is the truth of the freedom of your will, in your first setting out, which is a freedom that no man wants, or can want so long as he is in the body. And every unregenerate man has this freedom.
If therefore you have not that which you want to have of God, or are not that which you ought to be in Christ Jesus, it is not because you have no free power of leaving yourself in the hands, and under the operation of God, but because the same freedom of your will, seeks for help where it cannot be had, namely, in some strength and activity of your own faculties.
Of this freedom of will it is said, "According to your faith, so be it done to you"; that is to say, according as you leave and trust yourself to God, so will His operation be in you. This is the real, great magic power of the first turning of the will; of which it is truly said, that it always has that which it wills, and can have nothing else.
When this freedom of the will wholly leaves itself to God, saying, not mine, but Your will be done, then it has that, which it wills. The will of God is done in it. It is in God. It has divine power. It works with God, and by God, and comes at length to be that faith which can move mountains; and nothing is too hard for it.
And so it is, that every unregenerate son of Adam has life and death in his own choice, not by any natural power of taking that which he will, but by a full freedom, either of leaving, and trusting himself to the redeeming operation of God, which is eternal life, or of acting according to his own will and power in flesh and blood, which is eternal death.
And now, my dear friend, let me tell you, that as here lies all the true and real freedom, which cannot be taken from you, so in the constant exercise of this freedom, that is, in a continual leaving yourself to, and depending upon the operation of God in your soul, lies all your road to heaven. No divine virtue can be had in any other way.
All the Excellency and power of faith, hope, love, patience, and resignation, which are the true and only graces of the spiritual life, have no other root or ground, but this free, full leaving of yourself to God, and are only so many different expressions of your willing nothing, seeking nothing, trusting to nothing, but the life-giving power of His holy presence in your soul.
To sum up all in a word. Wait patiently, trust humbly, depend only upon, seek solely to a God of light and love, of mercy and goodness, of glory and majesty, ever dwelling in the inmost depth and spirit of your soul. There you have all the secret, hidden, invisible upholder of all the creation, whose blessed operation will always be found by a humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient introversion of your heart to Him, who has His hidden heaven within you, and which will open itself to you, as soon as your heart is left wholly to His eternal ever-speaking WORD, and ever-sanctifying Spirit within you.
Beware of all eagerness and activity of your own natural spirit and temper. Run not in any hasty ways of your own. Be patient under the sense of your own vanity and weakness; and patiently wait for God to do His own work, and in His own way. For you can go no faster, than a full dependence upon God can carry you.
You will perhaps say, Am I then to be idle, and do nothing towards the salvation of my soul? No, you must by no means be idle, but earnestly diligent, according to your measure, in all good works, which the law and the gospel direct you to, both with regard to yourself and other people. Outward good works to other people, may be justly considered as God's errand on which you are sent, and therefore to be done faithfully, according to His will, and in obedience to Him, who sent you.
But nothing that you do, or practice as a good to yourself, and other people, is in its proper state, or grows from its right root, or reaches its true end, until you look for no willing, nor depend upon any doing that which is good, but by Christ, the wisdom and power of God, living in you. I caution you only against all eagerness and activity of your own spirit, so far as it leads you to seek, and trust to something that is not God, and Christ within you.
I recommend to you stillness, calmness, patience, not to make you lifeless, and indifferent about good works, or indeed with any regard to them, but solely with regard to your faith, that it may have its proper soil to grow in, and because all eagerness, restlessness, haste, and impatience, either with regard to God, or ourselves, are not only great hindrances, but real defects of our faith, and dependence upon God.
Lastly, be courageous then, and full of hope, not by looking at any strength of your own, or fancying that you now know how to be wiser in yourself, than you have hitherto been; no, this will only help you to find more and more defects of weakness in yourself; but be courageous in faith, and hope, and dependence upon God. And be assured, that the one infallible way to all that is good, is never to be weary in waiting, trusting, and depending upon God, manifested in Christ Jesus.
I am your hearty Friend,
and Well-Wisher, William Law.
March 20, 1756.
To a Person burdened with inward and outward troubles
This is the response to a letter sent to Brother William Law, I believe that it will be as good a help to any other soul that is not fully in Christ, as it was to the soul that it was addressed to. Editor.
Worthy Sir,
My heart embraces you, with all the tenderness and affection of Christian love; and I earnestly beg of God, to make me a messenger of His peace to your soul.
You seem to apprehend that the account you have given of yourself might surprise me; but I am neither surprised, nor offended at it; I neither condemn, nor lament your condition, but shall endeavor to show you, how it may be made a blessing and great happiness to you. I shall not enter into a consideration of the different kinds of trouble you have told me about. I think it better to lay before you the one true ground and root, from which all the evil and disorders of human life have sprung. This will make it easy for you to see, what that is, which must, and only can be the full remedy and relief for all of them.
The scripture has assured us, that God made man in His own image and likeness; a sufficient proof, that man, in his first state, as he came forth from God, must have been absolutely free from all vanity, want, or distress of any kind, from anything either within, or without him. It would be quite absurd and blasphemous, to suppose, that a creature beginning to exist in the image and likeness of God, should have vanity of life, or vexation of spirit: a Godlike perfection of nature, and a painful, distressed nature, stand in the utmost contrariety to one another.
Again, the scripture has assured us, that man that is born of a woman, has but a short time to live, and is full of misery: therefore man now is not that creature that he was by his creation. The first divine and Godlike nature of Adam, which was to have been immortally holy in union with God, is lost; and instead of it, a poor mortal of earthly flesh and blood, born like a wild donkey's colt, of a short life, and full of misery, and is through a vain pilgrimage, to end in dust and ashes. Therefore, let every evil, whether inward, or outward, only teach you this truth, that man has infallibly lost his first divine life in God; and that no possible comfort, or deliverance is to be expected, but only in this one thing, that though man had lost his God, yet God is become man, that man may be again alive in God, as at the first. For all the misery and distress of human nature, whether of body or mind, is wholly owing to this one cause, that God is not in man, nor man in God, as the state of his nature requires: it is, because man has lost that first life of God in his soul, in and for which he was created. He lost this light, and spirit, and life of God, by turning his will, imagination, and desire, into a tasting and sensibility of the good and evil of this earthly bestial world.
Now here are two things raised up in man, instead of the life of God: first, self, or selfishness, brought forth by his choosing to have a wisdom of his own, contrary to the will and instruction of his creator. Secondly, an earthly, bestial, mortal life and body, brought forth by his eating that food, which was poison to his paradisiacal nature. Both these must therefore be removed; that is, a man must first totally die to self, and all earthly desires, views, and intentions, before he can be again in God, as his nature and first creation requires.
But now if this is a certain and immutable truth, that man, so long as he is a selfish, earthly-minded creature, must be deprived of his true life, the life of God, the spirit of heaven in his soul; then how is the face of things changed! For then, what life is so much to be dreaded, as the life of worldly ease and prosperity? What a misery, what a curse, is there in everything that gratifies and nourishes our self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking? On the other hand, what happiness is there in all inward and outward troubles, when they force us to feel and know the hell that is hidden within us, and the vanity of everything without us, when they turn all our self-love into self-abhorrence and force us to call upon God to save us from ourselves, to give us a new life, new light, and new spirit in Christ Jesus.
"Oh thank you for the famine," the poor prodigal might well have said, "which, by reducing me to the necessity of asking to eat husks with the swine, brought me to myself, and caused my return to my first happiness in my father's house."
Now, I will suppose your distressed state to be as you represent it; inwardly, darkness, heaviness, and confusion of thoughts and passions; outwardly, ill treatment from friends, relations, and all the world; unable to strike up the least spark of light, comfort, or happiness, by any thought or reasoning of your own.
Oh happy famine, which leaves you not so much as the husk of one human comfort to feed upon! For this is the time and place for all that is good and life and salvation to happen to you, which happened to the prodigal son. Your way is as short, and your success as certain as his was: you have no more to do than he had; you need not call out for books, or methods of devotion; for, in your present state, much reading, and borrowed prayers, are not your best method: all that you are to offer to God, all that is to help you to find Him to be your Savior and Redeemer, is best taught to you by the distressed state of your heart.
Only let your present and past distress make you feel and acknowledge this twofold great truth: first, that in and of yourself, you are nothing but darkness, vanity, and misery; secondly, that of yourself, you can no more help yourself to light, comfort, and happiness, than you can create an angel. People at all times can seem to assent to these two truths; but then it is an assent that has no depth or reality, and so is of little or no use to them: but your condition has opened your heart for a deep and full conviction of these truths. Now give way, to this conviction, and hold these two truths, in the same degree of certainty as you know two and two is four, and then you are with the prodigal, come to yourself, and more than HALF YOUR WORK IS DONE!
Being now in full possession of these two truths, feeling them in the same degree of certainty, as you feel your own existence, you are, under this sensibility, to give up yourself absolutely and entirely to God in Christ Jesus, as into the hands of infinite love; firmly believing this great infallible truth, that God has no will towards you, but that of infinite love, and an infinite desire to make you a partaker of His divine nature; and that it is as absolutely impossible for the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to refuse all that good and life and salvation which you want, as it is for you to take it by your own power.
Oh drink deep of this cup! For the precious water of eternal life is in it. Turn to God with this faith; cast yourself into this abyss of love; and then you will be in that same state the prodigal son was in, when he said, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called Your son'"; and all will be fulfilled in you, which was fulfilled in him.
Make this, therefore, the twofold exercise of your heart: now, bowing yourself down before God, in the deepest sense and acknowledgement of your own nothingness and vileness; then, looking up to God in faith and love, consider Him as always extending the arms of His mercy towards you, and full of an infinite desire to dwell in you, as He dwells in angels in heaven. Content yourself with this inward and simple exercise of your heart, for a while; and seek, or look for nothing in any book, but that which nourishes and strengthens this state of your heart.
"Come to Me," says the holy Jesus, "all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." Here is more for you to lie upon, more light for your mind, more unction for your heart, than in volumes of human instruction. Pick up the words of the holy Jesus, and beg of Him to be the light and life of your soul: love the sound of His name; for Jesus is the love, the sweetness, the compassionate, the goodness, of the deity itself; which became man, so that men might have power to become the sons of God. Love, pity and wish well to every soul in the world; dwell in love, and then you dwell in God; learn to hate nothing but the evil that stirs in your own heart.
Teach your heart this prayer, till your heart continually says, though not with outward words: "Oh holy Jesus: meek lamb of God! Bread that came down from heaven! Light and life of all holy souls! Help me to a true and living faith in You. Oh do open yourself within me, with all your holy nature, spirit, tempers, and inclinations, that I may be born again of You, a new creature, quickened and revived, led and governed, by Your Holy Spirit."
Prayer so practiced, becomes the life of the soul, and the true food of eternity. Keep in this state of application to God; and then you will infallibly find it to be the true way of rising out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity.
Do not expect, or look for the same degrees of sensible fervor. The matter does not lie there. Nature will have its share; but the ups and downs of that are to be overlooked. While your will, or spirit is good, and set right, the changes of creaturely fervor do not lessen your union with God. It is the abyss of the heart, an unfathomable depth of eternity within us, as much above sensible fervor, as heaven is above the earth; it is this that works our way to God, and unites with heaven. This abyss of the heart, is the divine nature and power within us, which never calls upon God in vain; but whether helped or deserted by bodily fervor, penetrates through all outward nature, as easily and effectually as our thoughts can leave our bodies, and reach into the regions of eternity.
The poverty of our fallen nature, the depraved workings of flesh and blood, the corrupt tempers of our polluted birth in this world, do us no hurt, so long as the spirit of prayer works contrary to them, and longs for the first birth of the light and spirit of heaven. All our natural evil ceases to be our own evil, as soon as our will, or spirit turns from it; it then changes its nature, loses all its poison and death, and only becomes our holy cross, on which we happily die from self and this world into the kingdom of heaven.
Would you be done with error, scruple, and delusion? Consider the deity to be the greatest love, the greatest meekness, the greatest sweetness, the eternal unchangeable will to be a good and blessing to every creature; and that all the misery, darkness, and death of fallen angels and fallen men, consist in their having lost their likeness to this divine nature. Consider yourself, and all the fallen world, as having nothing to seek or wish for, but by the spirit of prayer to draw into the life of your soul, rays and sparks of this divine, meek, loving, tender nature of God. Consider the holy Jesus as the gift of God to your soul, in spite of every inward or outward enemy. These three infallible truths, heartily embraced, and made the nourishment of your soul, shorten and secure the way to heaven, and leave no room for error, scruple or delusion
Expect no life, light, strength, or comfort, but from the Spirit of God, dwelling and manifesting His own goodness in your soul. The best of men, and the best of books, can only do you good, so far as they turn you from themselves, and every human thing, to seek, and have, and receive every kind of good from God alone; not a distant, or an absent God, but a God living, moving, and always working in the spirit and heart of your soul.
They never find God, who seek for Him by reasoning and speculation; for since God is the highest spirit, and the highest life, nothing but a like spirit, and a like life, can unite with Him, find or feel, or know anything of Him. Hence it is, that faith, and hope, and love, turned towards God, are the only possible, and infallible means of obtaining a true and living knowledge of Him. And the reason is plain, it is by this holy attitude, which is the working of spirit and life within us, we seek the God of life where He is, we call upon Him with His own voice, we draw near to Him by His own Spirit; for nothing can breathe forth faith, and love, and hope to God, but that Spirit and life which is of God, and which therefore through flesh and blood thus presses towards Him, and readily unites with Him.
There is not a more infallible truth in the world than this, that neither reasoning nor learning can ever introduce a spark of heaven into our souls: and since this is so, you have nothing to seek, nor anything to fear, from reason. Life and death are the things in question: they are neither of them the growth of reasoning or learning, but each of them is a state of the soul, and only thus differ, death is the want, and life the enjoyment of its highest good. Reason, therefore, and learning, have no power here; but only by their vain activity to keep the soul insensible of that life and death, one of which is always taking the ascendancy in it, according as the will and desire of the heart worked. Add reason to a vegetable, and you add nothing to its life or death. Its life and fruitfulness lies in the soundness of its root, the goodness of the soil, and the riches it derives from air and light. Heaven and hell grow thus in the soul of every man: his heart is his root; if that is turned from all evil, it is then like the plant in a good soil; when it hungers and thirsts after the divine life, it then infallibly draws the light and Spirit of God into it, which are infinitely more ready and willing to live and fructify in the soul, than light and air is to enter into the plant, that hungers after them. For the soul has its breath, and being, and life, for no other end, but that God may manifest the riches and powers of His own life in it.
Thus hunger is all, and in all worlds, everything lives in it, and by it; nothing else eats, or partakes of life; and everything eats according to its own hunger. Everything hungers after its own mother, that is, everything has a natural magnetic tendency to partake of that from which it had its being, and can only find its rest in that from whence it came. Dead as well as living things bear witness to this truth: the stones fall to the earth, the sparks fly upwards, for this only reason, because everything must tend towards that from which it came.
Were not angels and the souls of men breathed forth from God, as so many real offspring's of the divine nature, it would be as impossible for them to have any desire of God, as for stones to go upwards, and the flame downwards. Thus you may see, and feel, that the spirit of prayer not only proves that you came from God, but is your certain way of returning to Him.
When, therefore, it is the one ruling, never ceasing desire of our hearts, that God may be the beginning and end, the reason and motive, the rule and measure, of our doing, or not doing, from morning to night; then everywhere, whether speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly employed, we are equally offered up to the Eternal Spirit, have our life in Him and from Him, and are united to Him, by that spirit of prayer, which is the comfort, the support, the strength and security of the soul, traveling by the help of God, through the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. For this spirit of prayer, let us willingly give up all that we inherit from our fallen father, to be all hunger and thirst after God; and to have no thought or care, but how to be wholly His devoted instruments; everywhere, and in everything, His adoring, joyful, and thankful servants. Have your eyes shut, and ears stopped to everything, that is not a step in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven.
Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good; but then they are only good at times and occasions, and in a certain degree; and must be used and governed, with such caution, as we eat and drink, and refresh ourselves, or they will bring forth in us the fruits of overindulgence. But the spirit of prayer is for all times, and all occasions; it is a lamp that is to always be burning, a light to be ever shining; everything calls for it, everything is to be done in it, and governed by it; because it is, and means, and wills nothing else, but the whole, of the soul, not doing this or that, but wholly, incessantly given up to God, to be where, and what, and how He pleases.
This state of absolute resignation, naked faith, and pure love of God, is the highest perfection, and most purified life of those, who are born again from above, and who through the divine power become sons of God: and it is neither more nor less, than what our blessed Redeemer has called, and qualified us to long and aspire after, in these words: "Your kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven." It is to be sought for in the simplicity of a little child, without being captivated with any mysterious depths or heights of speculation; without nature, grace, or creature, but so far as it brings us nearer to God, forces us to forget and renounce everything for Him; to do everything in Him, with Him, and for Him; and to give every breathing, moving, stirring, intention, and desire of our heart, soul, spirit, and life to Him.
Let every creature have your love. Love with its fruits of meekness, patience, and humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, and our fellow creatures; for this is to live in God, united to Him, both for time and eternity.
To desire to communicate good to every creature, in as big a degree as we can, and as it is capable of receiving from us, is a divine disposition; for thus God stands unchangeably disposed towards the whole of creation: but let me add my request, as you value the peace which God has brought forth by His Holy Spirit in you, as you desire to be continually taught by an unction from above, that you would on no account enter into any dispute with anyone about the truths of salvation; but give them every help, but that of debating with them; for no man has fitness for the light of the gospel, till he finds an hunger and thirst, and want of something better, than that which he has and is by nature. Yet we ought not to check our inclinations to help others in every way we can. Only do what you do, as a work of God; and then, whatever may be the event, you will have reason to be content with the success that God gives it. "He that has ears to hear, let him hear"; may be enough for you, as well as it was for our blessed Lord.
The next thing that belongs to us, and which is also Godlike, is a true unfeigned patience, and meekness, showing every kind of good will and tender affection towards those that turn a deaf ear to us; looking upon it to be as contrary to God's method, and the good state of our own hearts, to dispute with anyone in contentious words, as to fight with him for the truths of salvation.
"Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," says our blessed Lord. He called no one else, because no one else has ears to hear, or a heart to receive the truths of redemption.
Every man is an ineffective disputer, till such time as something has disturbed his state, and awakened in him a sensibility of his own evil and miserable nature. We are all afraid, both of inward and outward distress; and yet, till distress comes, our life is but a dream, and we have no awakened sensibility of our own true state.
We are apt to consider intellect and abilities, as the proper qualifications for the reception of divine truths; and wonder that a man of a fine understanding should not immediately embrace just and solid doctrines: but the matter is quite otherwise. Had man kept possession of his first rich and glorious state, there would not have been any foundation for the gospel redemption; and the doctrine of the cross, would have appeared quite unreasonable to be pressed upon him: and therefore says our Lord, "To the poor the gospel is preached." It is solely to them, and no one else: that is, to poor fallen man, that has lost all the true natural riches and greatness of his first divine life; to him is the gospel preached. But if a man knows and feels nothing of this poverty of his nature, he is not that person to whom the gospel belongs: it has no more suitableness to his state, than it had to the un-fallen man: and then the greater his intellect and abilities are, the better he will be qualified to show the folly of every doctrine of that salvation, of which he has no need.
Such a man, though he may be of an humane, ingenuous, generous and frank nature, of lively intellect and have much candor, is nevertheless entirely ignorant of the depth of the heart of man, and the necessities of human nature. As yet (though he knows it not) he is only at play and pastime, pleasing himself with supposed deep inquiries after strict truth, while he is only entertaining himself with lively, and wandering images of this and that, just as they happen to occur in his mind. Could but he see himself in the state of the poor distressed prodigal son, and find that he, himself is the very person there recorded, he would then, but not till then, see the fitness and need of that redemption, which is offered him by the mercy of God in CHRIST JESUS. But such a one, is rich; he is sound; light is in his own power, goodness is in his own possession: he feels no distress or darkness; but has a crucible of reason and judgment, that on every occasion separates gold from dross: and, therefore, he must be left to himself, to his own sweet bliss, till something more than argument and disputation awakens him out of these golden dreams.
Let us beware also of the religious Pharisee, who raves against spiritual religion, because it touches the very heart string of all systematical divinity, and shakes the very foundation of every BABEL in every country; for not a system of divinity, since systems were in being, whether popish or Protestant, deserves a better name.
All preachers of the true spiritual mystery of the gospel, of a birth, light and life from above, in and by JESUS CHRIST (which are the mystic writers of every age) were, and will be, treated by the reigning fashionable orthodoxy, as enemies to the outward gospel, and its services, just as the prophets of God (who were the mystic preachers of the Jewish dispensation) were by the then reigning orthodoxy, condemned and despised, for calling people to a spiritual meaning of the dead letter, to a holiness infinitely greater than that of their outward sacrifices, types, and ceremonies.
Whoever he is that has any situation of his own to defend, be it that of a celebrated preacher, a champion for received orthodoxy, a head, a leader, or follower of any sect, or party; or that seems, both in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others, to have made himself significant in any kind of religious distinction; every such person, sooner or later, will find, that he has much of that very same to give up, which hindered the zealous, and eminently religious Pharisees from being converted to CHRIST, in the spirit of a little child.
Nor does it help the matter, that such an one abounds with piety and Excellency; for Paul was governed by a spirit of great piety, great Excellency, and zeal for God. He says of himself, that when he was persecuting the disciples of Christ, he "lived in all good conscience, as touching the Law blameless, and according to the straightest sect of the Jewish religion": for the Pharisees, though many of them had all that hypocrisy and rottenness which Christ laid to their charge, yet as a sect, they were an order of confessed and resplendent sanctity; and yet the more earnest and upright they were in this kind of zeal for goodness, the more earnestly they opposed and condemned the heavenly mystery of a new life from CHRIST, as appears from St. Paul.
This sect of the Pharisees did not cease with the Jewish church; it only lost its old name; it is still in being, and springs now in the same manner from the gospel, as it did then from the Law: it has the same place, lives the same life, does the same work, minds the same things, has the same goodness at heart, has the same religious honor, and claims to piety, in the Christian, as it had in the Jewish church; and as much mistakes the depths of the mystery of the gospel, as the Pharisees mistook the mystery signified by the letter of the Law and the prophets.
It would be easy to show in several instances, how the leaven of that sect works amongst us, just as it did amongst them. "Have any of the rulers believed on Him?" was the orthodox question of the ancient Pharisees. Now we Christians readily and willingly condemn the weakness and folly of that question; and yet who does not see, that, for the most part, both priest and people, in every Christian country, live and govern themselves by the folly and weakness of the very same spirit which put forth that question: for when God, as He has always done from the beginning of the world, raises up private and illiterate persons, full of light and wisdom from above, so as to be able to discover all the workings of the mystery of iniquity, and to open the ground, and truth, and absolute necessity of such an inward spirit and life of CHRIST revealed in us, as time, carnal wisdom, and worldly policy have departed from; when all this is done, by the weakest instruments of God, in such a simplicity and fullness of demonstration, as may be justly deemed a miracle; do not clergy and laity get rid of it all, though ever so unanswerable, merely by the strength of the Pharisees' good old question, saying with them, "Have any of the rulers believed and taught these things? Has the church in council or convocation? Has Calvin, Luther, Zwinglius, or any of our renowned system-makers, ever taught or asserted these matters? "
But hear what our blessed Lord said, of the place, the power, and origin of truth: He refers us not to the current doctrines of the times, or to the systems of men, but to his own name, His own nature, His own divinity hidden in us: "My sheep," says He, "hear My voice." Here the whole matter is decisively determined, both where truth is, and who they are that can have any knowledge of it.
HEAVENLY truth is nowhere spoken but by the voice of CHRIST, nor heard but by the power of CHRIST living in the hearer. As he is the eternal WORD of GOD, that speaks forth all the wisdom, and wonders of GOD; so He alone is the Word, that speaks forth all the life, wisdom, and goodness, that is, or can be in any creature; it can have nothing but what it has in Him and from Him: this is the one unchangeable boundary of truth, goodness, and every perfection of men on earth, or angels in heaven.
Literary learning, from the beginning to the end of time, will have no more of heavenly wisdom, nor any less of worldly foolishness in it, at one time than at another; its nature is one and the same through all ages; what it was in the Jew and the heathen, that same it is in the Christian. Its name, as well as nature, is unalterable, i.e., foolishness with God.
I shall add no more, but the two or three following words.
1. Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both Your hands, as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with Your self-denying, suffering Savior.
2. Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view; reject every other thought about it; and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of Your prosperity.
3. Be afraid of seeking or finding comfort in anything, but God alone: for that which gives you comfort, takes so much of Your heart from God. "Quid est cor purum? cui ex toto, et pure sufficit solus Deus, cui nihil sapit, quod nihil delectat, nisi Deus." That is, what constitutes a pure heart? One to which God alone is totally, and purely sufficient; to which nothing relishes, or gives delight, but God alone.
4. That state is best, which exercises the highest faith in, and fullest resignation to God.
5. What is it you want and seek, but that God may be all in all, in you? But how can this be, unless all creaturely good and evil become as nothing in you, or to you? "Oh anima mea, abstrahe te ab omnibus. Quid tibi cum mutabilibus creaturis? Solum sponsum tuum, qui omnium est author creaturarum, expectans, hoc age, ut cor tuum ille liberum et expeditum semper inveniat, quoties illi ad ipsum venire placuerit." That is, Oh my soul! abstract Yourself from everything. What have you to do with changeable creatures? Waiting, and expecting Your bridegroom, who is the author of all creatures, let it be Your sole concern, that He may find Your heart free and disengaged, as often as it shall please Him to visit you.
Be assured of this, that sooner or later, we must be brought to this conviction, that everything in ourselves by nature is evil, and must be entirely given up; and that nothing that is creaturely, can make us better than we are by nature. Happy, therefore, and blessed are all those inward or outward troubles, that hasten this conviction in us; that with the whole strength of our souls, we may be driven to seek ALL from, and in GOD, without the least thought, hope, or contrivance after any other relief: then it is, that we are made truly partakers of the cross of CHRIST; and from the bottom of our hearts shall be enabled to say, with St. Paul, "God forbid that I should glory in anything, save the cross of our Lord JESUS CHRIST: by which I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me."
Give up yourself to God without reserve. This implies such a state or habit of heart, as does nothing of itself, from its own reason, will or choice, but stands always in faith, hope, and absolute dependence upon being led by the Spirit of God into everything that is according to His will; seeking nothing by designing, reasoning, and reflection, how you shall best promote the honor of God, but in singleness of heart, meeting everything that everyday brings forth, as something that comes from GOD, and is to be received, and gone through by you, in such an heavenly use of it, as you would suppose the HOLY JESUS would have done, in such occurrences. This is an attainable degree of perfection; and by having CHRIST and His Spirit always in your eye, and nothing else, you will never be left to yourself, nor without the full guidance of GOD.
To a Clergyman of Westmoreland
Sir,
Concerning the following texts, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh; "He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will he hardeneth"; "Good and evil are from the Lord"; "I create light, and I create darkness"; you ask, how these things can be consistently affirmed of a God, all love and goodness to His creatures?
I would ask you also, is there any difficulty of admitting the truth of this scripture, "In God we live, and move, and have our being"? Does this clash with the idea of a God all love and goodness to the creatures? Now take all the contrary things that are said of God, with relation to that which passes between God and man, and they all imply no more, affirm no more, than the single foregoing text, namely, that in every state of the life of man, be it what it will, either under a sense and enjoyment of good, or the power and pain of evil, it is all owing to this divine, original, essential relation between God and man, or because in Him we live, and move, and have our being. For man, thus come from God, must through the whole course, or endless ages of his life, neither know, nor find, nor feel anything of good or evil, life or death, happiness or misery, but solely because of that, which God is in him, and to him, and because of that, which he is in God, and has from Him, by his original birth or creation.
The earthly animals, whose birth is only in and from this world, can have no evil of sin, or misery in their state, from God; and that only for this one reason, because they are not born of God, or partakers of the divine nature. Therefore God's creating evil in man, is the same thing, as if it were said, the divine birth in man, is that which creates his evil, because he could have no sin of a wrathful, proud, hardened heart, these things could neither exist in him, or be known by him, but because he came into being by a divine birth. Angels could not be a diabolical spirit of darkness, fiery dragon of wrath, fury, malice, vengeance, envy, hatred, but, because they were all born of God, to live and move and have their being in Him. This has created all the evil of every kind, that they can feel or know in their whole state.
All the difficulty of reconciling such contrary things as are said of God, that he wills only life and good, and yet that evil and death, are said to come from Him, arises from our considering the operations of God, in a creaturely manner, or as we should understand the same contrary things, if they were affirmed of any creature. Whereas the operation of God, in its whole nature, is as different from anything that can be done by creatures, as the work and manner of creation, is different, in power, nature, and manner, from that which creatures can do to one another. For the operation of God is never in or with the creature in any other manner, or doing any other thing, but that which it was and did in the creation of them. This, and this alone is the working of the deity in heaven and on earth; nothing comes from Him, or is done by Him through all the eternity of His creatures, but that essential manifestation of Himself in them, which began the glory and perfection of their first existence. Now from this one, single, immutable operation of God, that He can be nothing else in, or towards the creature, but that same love and goodness, that He was to it, at its creation, it necessarily follows, that to the creature that turns from Him, God can be nothing else to it, but the cause of all its evil and miserable state. Hence is that of the apostle, that "sin comes by the Law, because where there is no Law, there is no transgression." Now God, or the divine nature in man, is the one great Law of God in man, from which, all that is good and all that is evil in him, has its whole state and nature. His life can have no holiness or goodness in it, but as the divine nature within him, is the law by which he lives. He can commit no other sin, nor feel any kind of hurt or evil from it, but what comes from resisting, or rebelling against that Spirit of God, which is in him; and therefore the good and evil of man, are equally from God. And yet this could not be, but because of this ground, i.e., that God is unchangeable love and goodness, and has only one will and work of love and goodness towards the creature. Just as the Law could not make sin, or evil, because it has no sin or evil in itself, but is immutably righteous, holy, and good, and has only one will and one work towards man, whether he receives good or evil by it. Therefore the righteous, holy Law, that is so, because it never changes its good will, and work towards man, can truly say of itself these two contrary things, I create good, and I create evil, without the least contradiction. In the like truth, and from the same ground, it must be said, that happiness and misery, life and death, tenderness and hardness of heart, are from God, or because God is that which He is, in and to the birth and life of man.
This is the one true key to the state of man before his fall, to his state after his fall, and to the whole nature of his redemption. All three states, are in a few words of our Savior, set forth in the clearest and strongest degree of light. "I am the true vine, ye are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in him, bringeth forth much fruit." This was man's first created state of glory and perfection, it was living and abiding in God, such a birth and communion of life with Him, and from Him, as the branch has from the vine.
The nature of man's fallen state, and where he has all the evil that is in it, is set forth in the following words, "If a man abide not in Me" (the true vine) "he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and they are cast into the fire and burned." This comprehends the whole of man's fallen state, namely, being broken off from the life of God, and therefore becoming such a poor, withered, helpless creature, as may have all that done to him, as a firebrand of hell and devils, which men may do to a broken off, withered branch of the vine. And his state is as different from that of his creation, as a withered branch, smoking and burning in the fire, is different from its first state of life and growth in the rich spirit of the vine. Again, the whole of man's redeemed state, is in the following words, "I am the bread of life, that came down from heaven; He that eats this bread shall live for ever; Who ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life, dwelling in Me, and I in him."
This is our whole redemption, it consists in nothing else, but having the full life of God, or birth of Christ begotten, and born in us again. And thus do these three states of man fully show, that our first perfection, our miserable fall, and blessed redemption, have all that they have in them, whether of glory, or misery, merely and solely because God alone is all that is good, and can be nothing else but good towards the creature; and that neither angel, nor man can be happy or miserable, but because it either has, or has not, this one God of goodness essentially living and operating in it.
What a number of things called religion, are here, at once cut off? Since nothing is life, happiness, and glory, but the one essential operation of the triune God of love, and goodness within us; nothing is death, evil, or misery, but the departure, or turning from this essential God of our lives, to something that we would have from ourselves, or the creatures that are about us. And how greatly is he deluded, who living among the throng of religious schemes, thinks this, or that, or anything in nature, can be his atonement, his reconciliation, and union with God, but the Spirit, the body, and the blood of Christ forming themselves into a new creature within Him! Then, and then only is he that first man that God created, in whom alone He can be well pleased. But until then, he is that man, whom the cherub's two-edged flaming sword will not allow to enter into paradise. How is it now, that we are to regain that first birth of Christ? In the same way, as Adam had it at first. What did he then do? How did he help forward God's creating power? Now creating again, or restoring a first life in God, it is just the same thing, and the same sole work of God, as did create us at first; and therefore we can have no more share of power in the one, than in the other. Nothing lies upon us as creatures fallen from God, or is required of us with regard to our growth in God, but simply not to resist that, which God is doing towards a new creation of us.
That which God is doing towards the new creation of us, had its beginning before the foundation of the world. "In Christ Jesus," said Paul, "We were chosen before the foundation of the world"; the same as saying, that God out of His great mercy, had chosen to preserve a seed of the WORD and SPIRIT of God in fallen man, which through the mediation of a God incarnate, should revive into that fullness of stature in Christ Jesus, in which Adam was at first created. And all this work of God towards a new creation, is by that same essential operation of God in us, which at first created us in His image and likeness. And therefore nothing belongs to man in it, but only to yield himself up to it, and not resist it.
Now who is it, that may be said to resist it? It is everyone who does not deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Christ. For everything but this, is that flesh that wars against the spirit. The whole life of the natural man, resists all of the essential operation of God, which would create him again in Christ Jesus. Further more, every religious man resists it, in and by and through the whole course of his religion, who takes anything to be the truth of piety, the truth of devotion, the truth of religious worship, but faith, and hope, and trust, and dependence upon that alone, which the all-creating WORD, and all-sanctifying SPIRIT of God, inwardly, essentially, and vitally works in his soul.
Would you like to know, how you are to understand this essential operation of the triune holy deity in our souls, and why nothing else is, or can be that grace or help of God, which brings salvation, take this earthly equivalent of the matter. The light and air of this world, are universal powers, that are essential to the life of all the creatures of this world. They are essential, because nothing sees, until the light has brought forth a birth of itself in the essence of the creature, which birth of light can last no longer, than it is essentially united with the operation of that universal light which brought it forth: Air is also essential to the life of the creature, because nothing lives, until a birth of the air is born in it, nor any longer, than its own in-born air, is in essential union with that universal air, and operation of air, that first brought it forth. Now from this essential, unalterable relation between light and air, and seeing, living creatures, it plainly follows, that darkness and death, may be ascribed to them, as well as seeing and life.
Thus, if light and air could say anything of themselves in outward words, of that which they are, and do to all animals; if the light was to say, It is I that make seeing and blind eyes; if the air was to say, I create life, and I create death; could there be any difficulty of understanding, or allowing the truth of these words? Or could they be true in any other sense, but because where light is not, there is the cause of darkness, and where air is not, there is the cause of death. And so in the strictest truth of the words, seeing and blind eyes are from the light; living and dead bodies are from the air. Because darkness could not be, but because light does not shine in it, nor the body be dead, but because the breathing of the air is not in it.
It is thus, with the essential operation of the triune holy God, in the life of all divine and godly creatures, whether men or angels. The light and Holy Spirit of God, are universal powers, and essential to the birth of a godly life in the creature; which creaturely birth of a divine life, can begin no sooner, than the WORD and SPIRIT of God bring forth a birth of themselves in the creature, nor subsist any longer, than it is united with, and under the continual operation of that Word and Spirit, which brought it forth. Hence it is truly said, that spiritual life, and spiritual death, spiritual good and spiritual evil happiness and misery are from God, and it is, for this one reason, because there is no good, but in God, nor any other operation of God in, and to the creature, but that of heavenly life, light, love, and goodness.
When man, created in the image and likeness of God, to be an habitation and manifestation of the triune God of goodness, had by the perverseness of a false will, turned from his holy state of life in God, and so was dead to the blessed union, and essential operation of God in his soul, yet the goodness of God towards man, was not altered, but stood in the same good will towards man as at the first, and willed, and could will nothing else towards the whole human nature, but that every individual of it, might be saved from that state of death and misery in an earthly nature, into which they were fallen.
Hence, it is, from this unchangeable love of God towards man, which could no more cease, than God could cease, came forth that wonderful scene of providence, of such a variety of means, and dispensations, of visions, voices, and messages from heaven, of law, of prophecies, of promises and threatenings, all adapted to the different states, conditions, and ages of the fallen world, for no other end, but by every skill of divine wisdom, and contrivance of love, to break off man from his earthly delusion, and bring about in him a sense of his lost glory, and so, make him capable of finding again that blessed essential operation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in his soul, which was the essential glory of his first creation.
Now, as in this scene of a divine and redeeming providence, God had to do with a poor, blind, earthly creature, that had lost all sense of heavenly things, as they are in themselves, so the wisdom of God, must often, as it were, humanize itself, and condescend to speak of Himself after the manner of men. He must speak of His eyes, His ears, His hands, His nose, etc., because the earthly creature, the mere natural man, could in no other way, be brought into any sense of that, which God was to him.
But now all this process of divine providence, was only for the sake of something higher; the mystery of God in man, and man in God, was still laying hid, and was no more opened, than the mystery of a redeeming Christ, was opened in the type of a passover lamb.
Pentecost alone was that, which took away all veils, and showed the kingdom of God, as it was in itself, and set man again under the immediate, essential operation of God, which first gave birth to a holy Adam in paradise. Types and shadows ended, because the substance of them was found. The cloven tongues of fire had put an end to them, by opening the divine eyes, which Adam had closed, unstopping the spiritual ears, that he had filled with clay, and making his dumb sons to speak with new tongues. And what did they say? They said all old things were gone, that a new heaven and a new earth were coming forth, that God Himself was manifested in the flesh of men, who were now all taught of God. And what were they taught? The same which Adam was taught by his first created life in God, namely, that the immediate, essential operation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was from now on, the birthright of all that were become true disciples of Christ. And so ended, the old creation, and the fall of man, in a God manifested in the flesh, dying in and for the world, and coming again in spirit, to be the life and light of all the sons of Adam.
Look now at all God's dispensations to the day of Pentecost, in this true point of view, as so many schools of different discipline and education of the natural man, until by a birth from above, he could bear the language of heaven, and be taught of God, then you will sufficiently see the childish folly of those gray-headed doctors, who, forgetting that the last times are come, when God will be known only as a spirit, worshipped only in spirit, because everything else is but shadow, and not the truth, yet set up themselves as masters, or rabbis of new schools of their own, which can only keep up that doting learning, and wisdom of words, which compelled the learned Jews, for the sake of God, and goodness, for the sake of Law and prophecy to crucify the Christ of God, as a Beelzebub, and blasphemer. This old logic and criticism of scribes and Pharisees, is that which robs disputing Christians of the truth as it is in Jesus, and instead of the true bread that came down from heaven, feeds their unregenerate hearts with the dry husks of that, which can be received from text set against text in the outward letter. No, so wise are these verbal proficients, as to think the gospel must be false, and the Bible itself only fit to be burned, if all that, is not to be ascribed to God, as true of Him, as He is in Himself, which in condescension to the poor, ignorant, fallen, earthly creature, He speaks of His eyes, His ears, His hands, His turning His back, and turning His face, His coming down, and going up, His fiery wrath, His destroying fury, everlasting vengeance, etc., Whereas all these things are said, not because of that, which God is in Himself, in His holy, supernatural being, but because of that, which man is, in the blindness of his fallen state, so ignorant of God, so averse to godliness, as only capable for a time, to be instructed by the impressions of such language: That is, until the threatenings of the Law, and the word of prophecy have done their work, and that day star arises in the heart, which knows, and teaches, that CREATOR, REDEEMER, and LOVE, are the one true unchangeable, triune God, that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which from everlasting to everlasting have only one will, and one work of heavenly life, light, and love in, and towards the creature. And as true as this is, so true is it also, that from the first to the last man, no one was, or ever will be any further from this essential operation of the holy deity in his soul, but so far as he has withdrawn himself from it. "God hardened the heart of Pharaoh"; this says neither more nor less, than that Pharaoh had withdrawn his heart from God. When God said to Moses, "I will harden his heart, that he will not let the people go"; it had no other meaning, than to give to Moses that same full assurance of Pharaoh's state, which he gave to Jeremiah at another time. "You shall" (says God) "speak all these words to them," "But they will not listen to you, you shall call to them, but they will not answer you." Jer. 7:27. God helped Pharaoh to his hardened heart, just as he helped Adam not to be afraid of eating of the evil tree, by assuring him, that certain death was hid in it. But Adam's turning from God, to hear the voice and instruction of his own reason and imagination, and the suggestions of a satanical serpent, was that which created in him a new hardened heart, bold enough to eat of the forbidden tree. Now here, sir, I would have you observe, that this rise of the first sin, fully demonstrates how the matter unalterably stands between God and every sinner, to the end of the world; there cannot be the smallest variation, either on the side of God, or on the side of the sinner. The whole nature of God, His one unalterable will and work, stands in the same full opposition and contrariety to every work of sin in every man, as it did to Adam's first transgression. Nothing new will ever be in any sin, it has but one way of coming into the world, it must always be born out of self and Satan, as the first was. And that which God did to prevent the first sin, saying to Adam, "Eat not," that same miraculous voice of love, keeps saying, and saying to every son of Adam, Do not Sin.
Yet so wise in the ways of God, are some divinity-students, as to teach and preach, that the whole world, through its thousands of years, has been bringing forth its millions of myriads of sinners all round the globe, who as soon as they have finished with the vanity and misery of this world, are to be roaring in the hottest fire of an eternal hell. For what? Why, because they have been just as wicked, as the decrees of God required and forced them to be. And also through every age of the world, there has always been a little number of righteous, who were to go to heaven, which number had no littleness in it, but because God would not suffer it to be greater. Can a charge like this be brought against Satan? No, does it not even free Satan from all the evil that is charged upon him, and make him, though going about as a roaring lion, to be as insignificant a tool in the work of sin, as the preacher is in the work of godliness, though with ever so loud a voice, he begs the reprobate to be reconciled to God, or with tears in his eyes, exhorts the elect not to depart from him?
You once, I remember, said to me, that you thought I over did the matter, in my censure upon learning. Let learning therefore speak for itself. Let its own works praise it. What has it done? What has brought forth a multiplicity of churches, but that very same acuteness of learning, which asserts and proves there is but one? From what source comes transubstantiation, election, reprobation, justification of several sorts, necessity and insignificancy of works, Socinianism, Arianism, etc., but from that knowledge of history, and critical skill in words, which is the glory of the learned world.
"Without me you can do nothing," said Christ. "That which a man soweth, that shall he reap," said the apostle. Truths like these, of which the scripture is full, would keep all believers in the true church, attentive to the one thing needful, had not a learning, falsely so called, filled all eyes with the dust of darkness.
Now, sir, be as sober as you will about the use and power of learning, logic, and eloquence, in the doctrines of salvation; condemn the bad use that heretics, schismatics, Arians and Socinians have made of them; yet let me whisper this truth into your ear, that you will never be delivered from the delusion and cheat of your own learning, until by a light of life risen up within you, you come to see, and know, that you need no more learning, to change you from a sinner into a saint, than Mary Magdalen did.
God said to Abraham, "Walk before me, and be perfect." This was the Hebrew school, in which the Father of the faithful, was to learn to be perfect. But here now comes the scholar-critic, and finds, that matters stand not thus now, because the glorious light of the gospel (he says) has discovered that all is in an election and reprobation, and that salvation and damnation come from nothing else, the apostle expressly saying, "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." What a learned strife has there been about the meaning of these words? And yet they mean not one jot, more or less, than when the apostle said, "The natural man does not know the things of the spirit, neither can he know them." All that is in the one text, is in the other; and both of them say only this one great and good truth, namely, that the creature can have no divine life, light, goodness, and happiness, but from that, which the holy triune God is, and operates by a birth of His holy nature in it.
Farewell. William Law
FINIS.
To a Clergyman in the North of England
Letter 5
My dear Brother,
Live as you now do, in such activity of spirit, and multiplied ways of being good, and though you were to live fifty years longer, you would stick in the same mire, and end your life with the same complaints, as filled your last letter to me. You tell me, that after all the great change you have made in your life, you find nothing of that inward good and satisfaction, which you have so much expected, and more especially since you have been a reader of the books, recommended by me.
But, sir, you quite mistake the matter, you have not changed your life; for that which is, and only can truly be called your life, is in the same state as when I first knew you. Nothing is in your life, whether it be good or bad, but that which WILLS and HUNGERS in you; and your own life neither is, nor can be anything else but this. Therefore nothing reaches your life, or can make a real change in it, from bad to good, from falseness to truth, but the right will and the right hunger. Practice as many rules as you will, take up this or that new opinion, be daily reading better and better books, follow this or that able man, the bread of life is not there. Nothing will be fed in you, but the vanity and self-conceited righteousness of your own old man. And thus it must be with you, until all that is within you is become one will, and one hunger after that which angels eat in heaven.
But now, if will and hunger are the whole of every natural life, then you may know this great truth with the utmost certainty, namely, that eating is the one preservation of every life, from the highest angel in heaven, to the lowest living creature on earth. That which the life does not eat, that the life does not have. Now everything that lives on earth, is a birth or production of the astral, elementary fire, light, and spirit, to which water is always essential, and it continues in life, tastes and enjoys the good of its life, no longer than these powers and virtues of the stars and elements are essentially and continually eaten by it.
It is just so with the immortal, heavenly life of the soul, it is a birth of those same powers, in their highest glory, in the invisible world; a world, where the triune deity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, brings forth a triune glorious habitation for itself, of fire, light, and spirit, opening an infinity of wonders, births, and beauties in a crystal transparent sea, called the kingdom of heaven.
Out of these powers, or out of this kingdom of heaven, are the births of all holy, angelic creatures; nothing lives or moves in them, but that fire, light, and spirit, which comes as a birth from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and nothing feeds, keeps up, and exalts this heavenly fire, light, and spirit, but the hidden, inconceivable, supernatural Trinity, which is before, and deeper than all nature, and can only manifest itself, and communicate its goodness, by such an outward birth of its own unapproachable glory. And here you may find a glorious meaning of those words of our Lord, saying, "My kingdom is not of this world," because it is a kingdom of those heavenly powers of the triune God, which give food and nourishment, purity and perfection to the fire, light, and spirit of those divine creatures, which are to be holy as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect, in His own heavenly kingdom.
Here therefore, in this spiritual eating of that same invisible good, which gives life, and perfection of life to all the angels of God, and not in any human contrivances, or activity of your own, are you to place your all, as to the change of your life; it all consists in the right hunger, and the right food, and in nothing else!
The fall of Adam, and the origin of all sin and misery, began in his lust and hunger after the knowledge of good and evil in the kingdom of this world. By this, he left, and lost the food which heaven gives. He died to all the influences and enjoyments of his first fire, light, and spirit, which was his vital union with God, in the kingdom of heaven. All the evil that was hid in this earthly creation, and its numerous creatures, opened, and diffused itself with all the power of a poisonous food, through his whole soul and body. But in all this, nothing more came upon him, or was done to him, than that which his own hunger had eaten. Here you have the fullest demonstration, how every change in the life of man is, and only can be made, namely, by hungering, and eating. Adam had not fallen, had known no death, or extinction of that heavenly fire, light, and spirit, which was his first birth in God, but because he hungered after the state of the animal life in this world, which has no other fire, light, and spirit in it, but that which gives a transitory life, or varied, contrary lusts and appetites, to all the beasts, birds, and insects.
This is the doctrine of the Old Testament, concerning the power of hunger and eating in the first Adam. On the other hand, in conformity to this, and in full proof of the truth of it, that it must have been so; the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, in the New Testament, has declared, that hunger and eating is that alone, which can help fallen man to that first heavenly fire, light, and spirit, with the spiritual flesh and blood that belonged to it; saying again and again, in a variety of the strongest expressions, this great truth, that except a man eat his flesh, and drink his blood, he has no life in him, that is, no life of that celestial body and blood, which Adam lost, and which alone can live in the fire, light, and spirit of heaven.
Every spirit that is creaturely, and every desire of the spirit, has always something bodily, as its own birth. No spiritual creature can begin to be, but by beginning to be bodily. For creaturely existence, and bodily existence, is the same thing; the spirit is not, and cannot be in the form of a creature, until it has its body; and its body is the manifestation of spirit, both to itself, and other beings.
Live in the love, the patience, the meekness, and humility of Christ, and then the celestial, transparent, spiritual body of Christ's flesh and blood, is continually forming itself, and growing in and from, and about your soul, until it comes to the fullness of the stature in Christ Jesus; and this is your true, substantial, vital eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ, which will afterwards become your body of glory to all eternity. And though your astral reason, and outward senses, while you are in Adam's bodily flesh, you know nothing of this inward body of Christ, yet there it is, as surely as you have the love, the patience, the meekness, and humility of Christ; for where the true Spirit of Christ is, there is His true spiritual body.
On the other hand, live to selfishness, to diabolical pride, wrath, envy, and covetousness, and then nothing can hinder these tempers, from forming within you such a spiritual body to your soul, as that which devils have, dwell, and work in.
Be as unwilling as you will, through learned wisdom, or fear of fanaticism, to believe this, your unbelief can last no longer, than until Adam's flesh and blood leave you, and then, as sure as your soul lives, you will, and must have it living, either in the spiritual body of fallen angels, or in the spiritual body of the redeeming Jesus. Oh, sir, trifle away no more time in many matters, your first spiritual body must come again. Without it, you are the very man that came to the marriage feast, not "Having on a wedding garment." He was bound hands and feet, and cast into utter darkness, that is, he was the chained prisoner of his own dark, hellish, spiritual body, which had been growing up in him all of his life, from that which his soul had daily eaten, and hungered after; and so was become those very chains of darkness, under which the fallen angels are reserved unto the judgment of the great day.
Now there is no being saved or preserved from this body of chains and darkness, but by the one hunger and thirst after righteousness that is in Christ Jesus, and by eating that, which begets heavenly spiritual flesh and blood to the soul. The two trees of paradise, with their two fruits i.e., of death, to the eater of the one, and life, to the eater of the other, these were infallible signs, and full proofs, that from the beginning to the end of the world, death and life, happiness and misery, can proceed from nothing else, but that which the lust and hunger of the soul chooses for its food. Now spiritual eating is by the mouth of desire, and desire is nothing else but will, and hunger, therefore, that which you will, and hunger after, that you are continually eating, whether it is good, or bad, and that, no matter which it is, forms the strength of your life, or which is the same thing, forms the body of your soul. If you have many wills, and many hungers, all that you eat is only the food of the many spiritual diseases, and burdens your soul with a complication of inward distempers. And under this working of so many wills, it is, that religious people have no more good, or health and strength from the true religion, than a man who has a complication of bodily distempers, has from the most healthful food. For no will or hunger, be it turned which way it will, or seem ever so small or trifling, is without its effect. For as we can have nothing but as our will works, so we must always have some effect from it. It cannot be insignificant because nothing is significant, but that which it does.
Do not now say, that you have this one will, and one hunger, and yet can't find the food of life by it. For as sure as you are forced to complain, so sure is it, that you do not have it. "Not my will, but thine be done"; when this is the one will of the soul, all complaints are over, then it is, that patience drinks the water of life out of every cup; and to every craving of the old man, this one hunger continually says, "I have meat to eat, that you know nothing of."
"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," is the one will, and one hunger, that feeds the soul with the life-giving bread of heaven. This will is always fulfilled, it cannot possibly be sent away empty, for God's kingdom must manifest itself with all its riches in that soul, which wills nothing else; it never was, nor can be lost, but by the will, that seeks something else. Therefore you may know with the utmost certainty, that if you have no inward peace, if religious comfort is still wanting, it is because you have more wills than one. For the multiplicity of wills, is the very essence of fallen nature, and all its evil, misery, and separation from God lies in it; and as soon as you return to, and allow only this one will, you are returned to God, and must find the blessedness of his kingdom within you.
Give yourself up to ever so many good works, read, preach, pray, visit the sick, build hospitals, clothe the naked, etc., yet if anything goes along with these, or in the doing of them you have anything else, that you will and hunger after, but that God's kingdom may come, and His will be done, they are not the works of the new-born from above, and so cannot be His life-giving food. For the new creature in Christ is that one will, and one hunger that was in Christ; and therefore where that is wanting, there is no new creature, which alone can have his conversation, which alone can daily eat and drink at God's table, receiving in all that it does, continual life from "Every word, that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
From what word, and from what mouth of God? Why only from that hidden, supernatural power of the triune deity, which speaks, and breathes continual nourishment to that heavenly fire, light, and spirit, in and from which, all that are about the throne of God, have their inward joy above all thought, and their outward glory, that can only be figured, or hinted to us, by pearls, sapphires, and beautiful rainbow.
It is from this power of the triune God, working in the fire, light, spirit, and spiritual water, or body of your new-born creature, that all the good, and comfort, and joy of religion, which you want, is to be found, and found by nothing, but the resurrection of that divine, and heavenly nature, which came forth in the first man.
Do not take these to be too high flown words, for they are no higher, than the truth; for if that which is in you, is not as high as heaven, you will never come there. That heavenly fire, light, and spirit, which makes the angelic life to be all divine, must as certainly be your inward likeness to God; and that which God is, and works in angels, that He must be, and work in you, or you can never be like to, or equal with them, as Christ has said. To be outwardly glorious, as they are, you must stay until this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, but to have the same inward glory of the same celestial fire, light, and spirit, burning, shining, and breathing in your inward man, as angels have, belongs to you, as born at first of the triune breath of the living God, and born again of Christ, out of Adam's death, to have, and be, all that by a wonder of redemption, which was your divine birthright at first by a wonder of creation.
And now, my dear friend, choose your side: would you like to be honorable in church, or state, put on the whole armor of this world, praise that which man praises, clothe yourself with all the graces and perfections of the world, and be an orator, and critic, as fast as you can, and above all, be strong in the power of flattering words.
But if the other side is your choice; would you be found in Christ, and know the power of his resurrection; would you taste the powers of the world to come, and find the continual influences of the triune God, feeding and keeping up His divine life in your triune soul, you must give up all for that one will, and one hunger, which keeps the angels of God in the full feasts, of ever new, and never-ceasing delights in the nameless, boundless riches of eternity.
Do not think it too hard, or too severe a restraint, to have but one will, and one hunger; it is no harder a restraint, than to be kept from all that can bring forth pain, and sorrow to your soul; no greater severity, than to be excluded from every place, but the kingdom of God. For to have but this one will, and one hunger, is to have every evil of life, and all enemies put under your feet. It is to be finished with everything, that can defile, betray, disappoint, or hurt that eternal nature, which must have its life within you. On the other hand, everything that is not the effect and fruit of this one will, and one hunger, must sooner or later, be torn from you with the utmost pain, or become food for that gnawing worm, which will not die.
Do you ask, how you are to receive this one will, and one hunger? I refer you to no power of your own, and yet refer you to that which is within yourself. Angels in heaven, are not good and happy by anything they can do to themselves, but solely by that which is done to them. Now that Holy Spirit, which does God's will in heaven, and is the goodness and happiness of all its inhabitants, that same Spirit is every man's portion upon earth, and the gift of God within him. It is but lost labor, to strive by any power of your reason, or self-activity, to work up this one will and one hunger within you, or to kindle the true ardency of a divine desire, by anything that your natural man can do. This is as impossible, as for fallen Adam to have been his own redeemer, or a dead man to give life to himself. The one will, and one hunger which alone can eat the true nourishment of the divine life, is nothing else but the divine nature within you, which died in Adam no other death, but that of being suppressed and buried for a while, under a load of earthly wills.
Hence it is, that nothing can put an end to this multiplicity of wills in fallen man, which is his death to God, nothing can be the resurrection of the divine nature within him, which is his only salvation, but the CROSS of Christ, not that wooden cross, on which he was crucified, but that cross on which he was crucified through the whole course of his life in the flesh. It is our fellowship with Him on this cross, through the whole course of our lives, that is our union with Him, it alone gives power to the divine nature within us, to arise out of its death, and breathe again in us, in one will, and one hunger after nothing but God.
To be like-minded with Christ, is to live in everything that is contrary to self, the world, the flesh, and the devil, as He did; this is our belonging to Him, our being one with Him, having life H, and washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb. For then, and then only are we washed, and cleansed by His blood, when we drink His blood, and we drink His blood, when we willingly drink of the cup that He drank of.
Again, not to be like-minded with Christ, is to be separated from Him. To have another mind than He had, is to be in the state of those, who crucified Him. Such as the redeemer was, such are they that are redeemed. As Adam was, such are they that are born of him. Life from Adam, and life from Christ, is the one single thing, that makes the one our destroyer, the other our redeemer. But to finish, cast not about in your mind, how you are to have the one will, and one hunger, which is always eating at God's table, and continually fed with the bread of life; the thing is already done to your hands. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," says Christ, the same as if He had said, the way is nowhere, the truth is nowhere, the life is nowhere, but in me. What room therefore for any learned contrivances, or further enquiry about the matter? Follow Christ in the denial of all the wills of self, and then all is put away that separates you from God: the heaven-born new creature will come to life in you, which alone knows, and enjoys the things of God, and has his daily food of gladness in that manifold BLESSING, which Christ preached on the mount.
Tell me then no more of your new skill in Hebrew words, of your Paris editions of all the ancient fathers, your complete collection of the councils, commentators, and church historians, etc., etc. Did Christ mean anything like this, when he said, "I am the way, the truth and the life"? Did the apostle mean anything like this, when he said, "No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost"? Great, good, and divine teachers, you say, were many of the fathers: I only say this, that much more great, good, and divine is He, who is always teaching within you, ever standing and knocking at the door of your heart, with the words of eternal life.
You perhaps may ask, why I go on writing books myself, if there is but one true, and divine teacher? I answer, though there is but one bridegroom, that can furnish the blessing of the marriage feast, yet His servants are sent out to invite the guests. This is the unalterable difference between Christ's teaching, and the teaching of those, who only publish the glad tidings of Him. They are not the bridegroom, and therefore have not the bridegroom's voice. They are not the light, but only sent to bear witness of it. And as John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease"; so every faithful teacher says of his doctrine, it must decrease, and end, as soon as it has led to the true teacher.
All that I have written for near thirty years, has been only to show, that we have no master but Christ, nor can have any living divine knowledge, but from His holy nature born and revealed in us. Not a word in favor of Jacob Behmen, but because, above every writer in the world, he has made all that is found in the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of nature, to be one continual demonstration, that dying to self, to be born again of Christ, is the one only possible salvation of the sons of fallen Adam.
But I will have finished, as soon as I have given you a little piece of history, which your friend Academicus, has given of himself: "When I had," says he, "taken my degrees in the university, I consulted several great divines to put me in a good method of studying divinity. It would take up nearly half a day to tell you the work, which my learned friends cut out for me. One told me, that Hebrew words are all; that they must be read without points, and then the Old Testament is an opened book. He recommended to me a cart load of lexicons, critics, and commentators upon the Hebrew Bible. Another tells me, the Greek Bible is the best, that it corrects the Hebrew in many places, and refers me to a large number of books learnedly writ in defense of it. Another tells me that church history is the main matter, that I must begin with the first fathers, and follow them through every age, not forgetting to take the lives of the Roman emperors along with me, as striking great light into the state of the church in their times. Then I must have recourse to all the councils held, and the canons made in every age: which would enable me to see with my own eyes, the very great corruptions of the Council of Trent. Another, who is not very fond of ancient matters, but wholly bent upon rational Christianity, tells me, I need go no higher than the reformation; that Calvin and Cranmer were very great men; that Chillingworth and Locke ought always to lie upon my table; that I must get an entire set of those learned volumes wrote against popery in King James's reign; and also be well versed in all the discourses, which Mr. Boyle's, and Lady Moyer's lectures have produced; and then, he said, you will be a match for our greatest enemies, which are popish priests, and modern deists. My tutor is very liturgical; he desired me, of all things, to get all the collections, that I can, of the ancient liturgies, and all the authors that treat of such matters, who, he said, are very learned and very numerous. He has for many years been making observations upon them, and is now clear, as to the time, when certain little particles received entrance into the liturgies, and others were by degrees dropped. He has a friend abroad in search of ancient mss. liturgies; for at times, said he, at parting, I have had some suspicion, that our sacrament of the Lord's Supper is essentially defective, for want of having a little water mixed with the wine. Another learned friend told me, that the Clementine Constitution is the book of books; and that all that lies loose, and scattered in the New Testament, stands there in its true order and form. And though he will not say, that Dr. Clarke, and Mr. Whiston, are in the right, yet it might be useful to me to read all the Arian and Socinian writers, provided I stood upon my guard, and did it with caution. The last person I consulted, advised me to get all the histories of the rise and progress of heresies, and of the lives and characters of heretics. These histories, he said, contract the matter, bring truth and error close in view; and I should find all that collected in a few pages, which would have cost me some years to gather together. He also desired me to be well versed in all the casuistical writers, and chief schoolmen, for they debate matters to the bottom, dissect every virtue, and every vice, and show how near they may come together without touching. And this knowledge, he said, might be very useful, when I came to be a pastor.
"Following the advice of all these counselors, as well as I could, I lighted my candle early in the morning, and put it out late at night. In this labor I had been sweating for some years, until Rusticus, at my first acquaintance with him, seeing my way of life, said to me, had you lived about seventeen hundred years ago, you would have stood just in the same place, as I stand now. I cannot read, and therefore, says he, all these hundreds of thousands of doctrine and disputing books, which these seventeen hundred years have produced, do not stand in my way; they are the same thing to me, as if they had never existed. And had you lived at the time mentioned, you would have escaped them all, as I do now, because, though you are a very good reader, there were then none of them to be read. Could you therefore be content to be one of the first Christians, who were as good as any that have been since, you may of spared all this labor. It is not easy for me, says Academicus, to tell you how much good I received from this simple instruction of honest Master Rusticus. What a project was it, to be grasping after the knowledge of all the opinions, doctrines, disputes, heresies, schisms, which seventeen hundred years had brought forth, through all the extent of the Christian world! What a project this was, in order to be a divine, that is, in order to bear true witness to the power of Christ, as a deliverer from the evil of earthly flesh and blood, and death and hell, and a raiser of a new birth and life from above! For as this is the divine work of Christ, so he alone is a true and able divine that can bear a faithful testimony to this work of Christ. How easy was it for me to have seen, that all this labyrinth of learned enquiry, into such a dark, thorny wilderness of notions, facts, and opinions, could signify no more to me now, to my own salvation, to my interest in Christ, and obtaining the Holy Spirit of God, than if I had lived before it had any beginning. But the blind appetite of learning, gave me no leisure to apprehend so plain a truth. Books of divinity indeed, I have not quit reading, but will esteem none to be such, but those that make known to my heart, the inward power and redemption of Jesus Christ. Nor will I seek for anything even from such books, but that which I ask of God in prayer, i.e., how better to know, more to abhor, and resist the evil that is in my own nature, and how to obtain a supernatural birth of the divine life brought forth within me. All besides this is worthless."
God be with you. William Law, March 5, 1753.
The Truth Of The Atonement
Letter 4
In Answer to a Scruple.
That you may have a full answer to your scruple, concerning these words, "The folly of debtor and creditor," in the second part of the Spirit of Love, I will set forth the doctrine from the place it was taken. A great part of that book, is to clear up, and assert the true scripture doctrine of the nature, necessity, and merit of our Lord's sufferings and death, as an atonement, and satisfaction before God, in the work of our redemption. No point of Christianity has been more mistaken, in our common systems of gospel doctrine, or given greater offense than this, and yet nothing clearer, or more reasonably to be believed, when it stands in its own scriptural manifestation.
Now the right ground of understanding the true meaning of every different expression, relating to Christ as our savior, or salvation, lies in these two things:
1. What Christ is in Himself.
2. What He does, or intends to do for us.
The scripture says, "God was manifested in the flesh"; this describes His whole nature, what He was in Himself, i.e., the deity become man. What He is, and does in us, and for us, is expressed in the following words, "He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil"; and again, "As in Adam all die, so in Christ, shall all be made alive."
Now according to this ground, every expression concerning our Savior, is to have its true infallible meaning fixed. Everything that is said of His birth, His life, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection and ascension, are all, both with respect to God, and ourselves, of one and the same efficacy, full of one and the same merit, and all for one and the same end, i.e., to destroy in man the works of the devil, and to make all that died in Adam, to be alive again in Christ.
Suppose now, any one of these to still be needed, and the same will follow from it, as if they were all needed. Had His birth been otherwise than it was, He not being God as well as man, he could not have effected a beginning of the divine life in us. Had not His life been without sin, His death upon the cross could not have done us any good, nor could it have been the one mediator between God and sinful man. Had His sufferings been less than they were, had there been any evil, trial, or temptation, which had not attacked Him, through the whole course of His life, with all its force, He could not have been said, to have overcome them. So sure therefore as Christ, as a son of man was to overcome all that the world, the flesh, and the devil, could do to fallen man; so sure is it, that all the evils, which they could possibly bring upon fallen man, were to be felt, and suffered by Him, as absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, to prove His victorious superiority over them. Had He not given up His body to an humiliating death, in all the horrors of a soul, that had lost its God: He could not have suffered that in, and for man, which every man must have suffered, who had died in his fallen state. But Christ dying, and sacrificing Himself, as He did, in and through that horrible death, which was fallen man's gate to eternal misery, and conquering this state of man, as He had every evil power of the world, the flesh, and the devil, then it was, that He could say to those, who were all their life in fear of this death, be of good comfort, I have overcome death, and that upon the same ground, as He said to His followers, under a sense of worldly tribulations, "Be of good comfort, I have overcome the world." And thus His death, had no other nature, with respect to us, than every other part of His process, that was a precursor to it, only as it was the last, and greatest, and finishing part of that redeeming work, which was begun by His divine birth, and carried on in, and through His sinless, perfect life. And as I said, that the death of man unredeemed, was his gate into an eternal separation from God, so Christ's entrance into this gate of damnation, and pouring out His blood, thus forsaken of God, had a suffering in it, that thoughts can no more conceive, than can words express.
Hence it is, by way of eminence, justly said, to be the highest price, that He paid for us; and that by His blood it is that we are washed, and redeemed, not only because of its greatness in itself, but because it finished, and for ever completed the whole redeeming work, which He had to do for us in the flesh. Therefore it was, that through the Old Testament, this sacrifice of His death, is the great thing mostly pointed at in all its sacrifices, types, and figures; hence also is all the boast of it in the gospel. Well therefore may the church, through all ages, have ascribed so much to the merit of His blood shed for us; well may it have been celebrated, as the one great price, by which we are ransomed from the power of death and hell; because though all that He was, and did, antecedently to it, was equally necessary to our salvation, yet all had been without any effect, unless by His so dying, this damnable death had been swallowed up in victory.
In short, had not Christ been God, as well as man, He could not even have made a beginning in the work of our salvation, and had He not ended His life in such a sacrifice, as He did, He could never have said, "It is finished." He therefore, who denied the truth, the certainty, and absolute necessity of these two essential points, is in the abomination of Socinianism16[2], and is that very liar and anti-Christ described by John in his first epistle.
Again, though Christ's death was absolutely necessary in the very nature of the thing, so very great in its merits and effects, yet unless His resurrection had followed, we would have been still in our sins, nor could He, until risen from the grave, have purchased a resurrection for us. Lastly, had He not ascended into heaven, He could not have had the power of drawing, as He said, all men to Himself. Every part therefore of our Savior's character, or process, has its full and equal share in all that, which is said of Him, as our peace with God, our righteousness, our justification, our ransom, our atonement, our satisfaction, our life and new birth; for all these different expressions, have no difference in doctrine, but whether separately, or jointly taken, signify nothing else, but this one thing, that He was the true and full destroyer of all the works of the devil in man, and the true raiser of a divine life, in all that died in Adam.
And here, sir, it is well to observe, that all that Christ was, did, suffered, and obtained, was purely and solely on the account, and for the sake of altering, or removing that which was wrong, evil, and miserable in man, or in scripture words, "God was in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world to Himself," that is, taking away from man every property, or power of evil, that kept him in a state of separation from God. Thus it was, and to this end, that "God was in Christ Jesus" in His whole process.
Unreasonably therefore have our scholastic systems of the gospel, separated the sacrifice of Christ's death, from the other parts of His process, and considered it as something chiefly done with regard to God, to alter, or atone an infinite wrath, that was raised in God against fallen man, which infinity of just vengeance, or vindictive justice, must have devoured the sinner, unless an infinite satisfaction had been made to it, by the death of Christ.
All this, is in the grossest ignorance of God, of the reason and ground, and effects of Christ's death, and in full contradiction to the express letter of scripture. For there we are told, that God is love, and that the infinity of His love was that alone, which showed itself towards fallen man, and wanted to have satisfaction done to it; which love-desire could not be fulfilled, could not be satisfied with anything less than man's full deliverance from all the evil of his fallen state. That love, which has the infinity of God, no, which is God Himself, was so immutably great towards man, though fallen from Him, "That He spared not His only begotten Son"; and why did He not spare Him? It was because nothing but the incarnate life of his eternal Son, passing through all the miserable states of lost man, could regenerate His first divine life in him. Can you possibly be told this, in stronger words than these, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son"; how did He give Him? Why, in His whole process. And to what end did He give Him? Why, "That all who believe in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life." Away then with the superstitious dream, of an infinite wrath in God towards poor fallen man, which could never cease, until an infinite satisfaction was made to it. All scripture denies it, and the light of nature abhors it. The birth, the life, the death of Christ, though so many different things, have but one and the same operation, and that operation is solely in man, to drive all evil out of his fallen nature, and delight the heart of God, that desires his salvation. God is love, and has no other will towards man, but the will of love. That love, which from itself began the creation of an holy Adam, from itself began the redemption of a fallen Adam. The death of Christ was a sacrifice from the love of God the Son towards man, to overcome thereby that damnable death, which, otherwise, every son of Adam must have died; it was a sacrifice offered to the same love, in God the Father; a sacrifice, equally loved and desired by both of them, because, in the nature of the thing, as absolutely necessary to alter and overcome that evil, which belonged to man's state of death, as the incarnation of the WORD, was absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, to make man to be alive again in God.
This is the one only true, and full confutation of Socinianism.
But to have recourse to a supposed wrath, or vindictive justice, in a God incensed towards fallen man, in order to confute the Socinian, who denies the necessity, and effects of Christ's death, is only opposing one great falsity with another. For wrath has no more place in God, than love has in the devil. Wrath began with devils, hell, and fallen nature, and can have no possible existence anywhere, or in anything, but where devils, hell, and fallen nature, have their power of working.
Do not, my friend, be here so furious, as to say, that if it was strictly true, that there was no wrath in God, you would burn your Bible: for if it was strictly true, you would never have had a Bible to burn; nor any more messages from heaven about man's salvation, than from hell. For if you will have wrath in the most high God, you can have no other, or better a God, than that which the atheistical Spinoza invented.
For if wrath is in the supreme God, then nature is in God, and if so, then God is nature, and nothing else; for nature cannot be above itself. Therefore if nature is in the most high God, then the lowest working of nature, is the true supreme God. And so instead of a supernatural God, who created heaven and earth, then heaven and earth, and all things else, are the only God.
This is the atheistical absurdity, that necessarily follows from supposing a wrath in God; for wrath can no more be anywhere, but in nature, than storms and tempests can be, where there is nothing that moves.
Let me here, sir, observe to you the barefaced slander, that Dr. Warburton has ventured to cast upon me, in charging my writings with Spinozism, though all that I have written for these last twenty years, has been a full contradiction of it, as is not to be found in any book, that had been purposely written against it. Had I only proved, as I have done, by a variety of proofs, that wrath cannot possibly be in the true God, I would have sufficiently confuted Spinozism; for if not wrath, then nothing of nature is in God. But I have gone much further, and have, in my books, The Appeal, the book of Regeneration, the Spirit of Prayer, the Spirit of Love, and the Way to Divine Knowledge, opened the true ground of the unchangeable distinction between God and nature, making all nature, whether temporal or eternal, its own proof, that it is not, and cannot be God, but purely and solely, the WANT of God, and can be nothing else in itself but a restless, painful want, until a supernatural God manifests Himself in it. This is a doctrine, which the learned of all ages have known nothing of; not a book, ancient or modern in all our libraries, has so much as attempted to open the ground of nature, to show its birth and state, and its essential unalterable distinction from the one abyssal, supernatural God; and how all the glories, powers, and perfections of the hidden, unapproachable God, have their wonderful manifestation in nature and creature. This is a blessing reserved by God for these last times, to be opened in His chosen instrument, the poor, illiterate Behmen. And this I will venture to say, that he who will declare war against him, has no choice of any other weapons, but raillery and reproach. To call the blessed man, a possessed cobbler, will be doing something; to call his writings, senseless jargon, may stand his learned adversary in great stead; but if he tries to overcome him any other way, his success will be like his, who knocks his head against a post. But no more of this here.
And now, sir, what shall I say of my learned, accusing doctor? Why only this, that if he knows how to forgive himself, then there will be one thing at least, in which we are both like-minded.
A word or two now to yourself and friends, who are so loath to own a God who is all love: let me tell you, if you will have wrath in the supreme God, you must have a God, in whom is selfishness, envy, and pride, with all the properties of fallen nature. For as it is impossible for one of these to be without the other in the creature, so if any one of them was in God, all the other must be there. They are the four essential elements of hell, or fallen nature, which mutually beget, and are begotten of one another; where one is, there are all of them, and where all are not, there cannot be one of them. Every pride consists of three things, selfishness, envy, and wrath. And so of every one of them, take which you will, it consists of the other three, so that to separate them, is to separate a thing from itself.
Divine love is just as contrary to them, as God is to the devil; and where love is not, there God is not, and where the work is not wholly the working of love, it is not a work of God, but the selfish, wrathful, proud, envious working of the diabolical nature, fallen from its first blessed subjection to, and union with the supernatural God of love.
To talk (as some do) of a good wrath in God, which is only so called, because it has a likeness to, and produces like effects to those that come from wrath in the creature, is but calling that a good wrath, which is like a bad wrath, and is no better, no wiser, than to talk of a good envy, a good pride in God, which are only so called, because they have a likeness to that, which is a bad pride, and a bad envy in the creature. Can anything be more profanely absurd than this? Which yet is the best that can be said by those, who will have it the glory of God, to be wrathful, who think all is lost, that the gospel salvation is blasphemed, if the same love that created man in glory, should be his only redeemer, when he had fallen from it. Not considering, that salvation could never have come into the world, but because, all that good and blessing, which love can be, and do to the creature, must be done, and doing for ever and ever, by that first creating God, whose name and nature, whose will and working, is love, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And now, sir, need I say more, to remove your scruple about the following passage in the Spirit of Love, "No wrath in God, no fictitious atonement, no folly of debtor and creditor, no suffering for suffering's sake, but a Christ suffering and dying, as His same victory over death and hell, as when He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven." {Spirit of Love, Second Part.}
I said folly of debtor and creditor, because Christ's overcoming man's damnable death, by His victorious passage through it, has nothing in it that has any likeness to the transaction of a debtor paying his creditor; nothing was done in it by way of payment of a debt, any more than Christ paid a debt for Lazarus, when he raised him from the dead, or paid a debt for the man born blind, whom he helped to seeing eyes. For the good that is done us by the death of Christ, is a good that relates solely to ourselves. Nothing in it, is given to, or received, but by ourselves; it overcomes, and saves us from our own evil of death, just as that, which Christ did to Lazarus, and the blind man, overcame the death that was in the one, and the darkness that was in the other.
You appeal to a parable of our Lord's, which has no more relation to the nature and efficacy of Christ's death, than the parable of the tares of the field. St. Peter said, "How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, until seven times?" Christ answered, "Not until seven times, but until seventy times seven." And then he sets forth this doctrine of continual forgiveness in the following parable.
"The kingdom of God is likened to a certain king, who would take account of his servants," etc. Read the whole parable, and you will be forced to see, that nothing else is intended to be taught by it, but that one conclusion, which Christ draws from it: "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if you from your hearts, forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses." All that the parable said, is neither more nor less, than is said in these other words, "Be merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful": again, the doctrine of this parable, quite overthrows that, which systematic doctors intend by debtor and creditor; for their doctrine is, that the injured authority of God must have full satisfaction made to it, and then it is, that they ground the necessity of so great a payment, as Christ made to it. Whereas this parable of the kingdom of God, sets forth a king, frankly forgiving, and not requiring any payment at all, either from the debtor himself, or from anyone else for him. Can there therefore be a greater folly, than to appeal to this, and the like scriptures, to make God a creditor, whose vindictive wrath against his debtor, will not be appeased, until full payment is made to it? And what a blind persisting is it in the same folly, to urge the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," as another proof, that God is that creditor, who will be fully paid the debts, that are due to Him? For surely, if God requires us to expect, and pray for the forgiveness of our debts, it is badly concluded from this, that therefore full payment of them, must be made. The truth is, this petition teaches the same forgiveness, as the foregoing parable, and is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of an infinite satisfaction, necessary to be made; for, if so, then the petition ought to have been thus, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, BUT ONLY, when full payment is made, either by themselves, or by someone else for them."
In a word, vindictive wrath in God, that will not forgive, until a satisfaction equal to the offense, is made to it, sets the goodness of God in a lower state, than that which has been found in thousands of mankind. The truth of the matter, is this, the divinity of Christ, and His whole process through life and death, was absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, to raise man out of the death of sin, into a heavenly birth of life. And the necessity of all this, is grounded upon the certainty of man's fall, from a divine, into a bestial life of this world. The Socinian blasphemy consists in the denial of these points, the deity of Christ, and the fall of man, and the necessity of Christ's death. Our scholastic doctors, own the fall of man, but know nothing of the true nature and depth of it. They own the truth of Christ's divinity, and the necessity of His sufferings; they plead for the certainty of these things from scripture words, but DO NOT see into the ground of them, or in what, the absolute necessity of them consists. Therefore it is, that when opposed by Socinian reasoning, they are at a loss of how to support these great truths, and are forced to humanize the matter, and to suppose a vindictive wrath in God, as usually breaks forth in great princes, when a revolt is made, against their sovereign authority.
What a paltry logic, to say, God is righteousness and justice, as well as love, and therefore His love cannot help, or forgive the sinner, until His justice, or righteous wrath has been given satisfaction? Every word here, is in full ignorance of the things spoken of. For what is love in God, but His unchangeable love of His own goodness, His impossibility of loving anything else but it, His impossibility of suffering anything that is unrighteous, to have any communion with Him? What is God's forgiving sinful man? It is nothing else in its whole nature, but God's making him righteous again. There is no other forgiveness of sin, but being made free from it. Therefore the compassionate love of God, that forgives sin, is no other, than God's love of His own righteousness, for the sake of which, and through the love of which, He makes man righteous again. This is the one righteousness of God, that is rigorous, that makes no abatements, that must be satisfied, must be fulfilled in every creature that is to have communion with Him. And this righteousness that is thus rigorous, is nothing else but the unalterable purity and perfection of the divine love, which from eternity to eternity can love nothing but its own righteousness, can will nothing but its own goodness, and therefore can will nothing towards fallen man, but the return of his lost goodness, by a new birth of the divine life in him, which is the true forgiveness of sins. For what is the sinful state of man? It is nothing else, but the loss of that divine nature, which cannot commit sin; therefore the forgiving man's sin, is in the truth and reality of it, nothing else, but the revival of that nature in man, which being born of God does not sin. Lastly, let me ask these dividers of the divine nature, what different shares, or different work, had the righteousness, and the love of God in the creation of man? Was there then something done by the love of God, which ought not to be ascribed to the righteousness of God? Who can be so weak, as to say this? But if the love and the righteousness of God, is one, as God is one, and had but one work in the creation of man, it must be the highest absurdity, to say, that in the redemption of man, the love, and the righteousness of God, must have, not only different, but contrary works, that the love of God cannot act, till the righteousness of God, as something different from it, is first satisfied.
All that which we call the attributes of God, are only so many human ways of our conceiving that Abyssal All, which can neither be spoken, nor conceived by us. And this way of thinking, and speaking of God, is suitable to our capacities, has its good use, and helps to express our adoration of Him, and His perfections. But to conclude, and contend, that there must therefore be, different qualities in God, answerable, or according to our different ways of thinking, and speaking of His perfections, is rather blaspheming, than truly glorifying His name, and nature. For omnipotent love, inconceivable goodness, is that unity of God, which we can neither conceive, as it is in itself, nor divide into this, or that. The importance of the subject I have been upon, has led me further than I intended. But for the full illustration of it, I refer you to the Second Part of the Spirit of Love. And so committing you to a God, who has no will towards you, but in, and through the life, and death, the Spirit and power of the holy Jesus, to deliver you from all your natural evil, and make you His beloved son, in whom, He can be well pleased to all eternity, I bid you farewell.
July 18, 1757. William Law.
The Taking Of Communion At Church
This is another response to a letter sent to Brother William Law, I believe that it will be as good a help to any other soul that is not fully in Christ, as it was to the soul that it was addressed to. Editor.
To Mr. J. L.
My dear and most worthy friend,
I shall speak directly to the matter that is causing you difficulty, the taking of communion at Church. First of all, true religion, or church communion, is in its true nature, both external and internal, which are united, and so, distinguished; the one is the outward sign, the other the inward truth signified by it: the one never was, nor ever can be, in its true state without the other. The inward truth, or church, is regeneration, or the life, spirit, and power of Christ, quickened and brought to life, in the soul.
The outward sign, or church, is that outward form, or manner of life, that bears full witness to the truth of this regenerated life of Christ, formed or revealed in the soul. The inward truth gives forth its outward proper manifestations of itself, and these manifestations bring forth the true outward church, and make it to be visible, and outwardly known. As so, everything in the inward life, spirit, and will of Christ, when it becomes living, dwelling and working in the spirit of our minds, or inward man, is the inward church, or kingdom of God set up within us: and everything in the outward behavior, and visible conversation of Christ, while dwelling among men, when practiced and followed by us, in the form and manner of our life, makes us the members of that outward church, which he set up in this world. Inwardly nothing lived in Christ, but only the will of God, a perpetual regard to His glory, and one continual desire of the salvation of all mankind. When this spirit is in us, then are we inwardly one with Christ, and united to God through Him.
Outwardly Christ exercised every kind of love, kindness and compassion to the souls and bodies of men; nothing was visible in the outward form of his life, but humility and lowliness of state in every shape; a contented want, or rather total disregard of all worldly riches, power, ease or pleasure; a continual meekness, gentleness, patience and resignation, not only to the will of God, but to the haughty powers of the world, to the perverseness, and contradiction of all the evil and malice of men, and all the hardships and troubles of human life: now this, and such outward behavior, like that of Christ, thus separate from, and are contrary to the spirit, wisdom and way, of this world, and is that very outward church, of which He willed all mankind to become living members of. And whoever in the spirit of Christ, lives in the outward exercise of these virtues, lives as to himself in the highest perfection of church unity, and is the true inward and outward Christian. He is all that he can be, he has all that he can have, he does all that he can do, and enjoys all that he can enjoy, as a member of Christ's body, or church in this world.
For as Christ was God and man, come down from heaven, for no other end, but fully to restore the union that was lost between God and man, so church unity is, and can be nothing else, but the unity of this, or that man, or number of men with God, through the power and nature of Christ. And therefore it must be the truth, and the whole truth, that nothing more is required, nor will anything less be able, to make anyone a true member of the one church of Christ, out of which there is no salvation and in which there is no condemnation, but only and solely his conformity to, and union with the inward spirit, and outward form of Christ's life and behavior in this world. This is the one fold under one shepherd; though the sheep are scattered, or feeding in valleys, or on mountains ever so distant, or separate from one another. On the other hand, not only every unreasonable unjust action, be it done to whom it will, not only every unkind, proud, wrathful, scornful, disdainful inward thought, or outward behavior to any person, but every un-readiness to do good of all kinds, to all that we can; every unwillingness to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with those that weep, and love our neighbor as ourselves; every aversion to be inwardly all love, and outwardly all meekness, gentleness, courtesy, and condescension in words and actions towards every creature, for whom Christ died, makes us schismatics, though we be ever so daily gathered together, into one and the same place, joining in one and the same form of creeds, prayers and praises offered to God, and truly breaks that church unity, which makes us one with Christ, as our head, and unites us with men, as the members of His body. That the matter stands like this; that true church unity consists in our walking as Christ walked, fully appears so from these words of our Lord Himself: "You are not of this world, as I am not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the world." Therefore to have this contrariety to the world, which Christ had, is the one necessary and full proof of our being His, of our belonging to Him, and being one with Him.
Again, "Abide in me, and I in you, if you abide in me, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch withered, etc. For without me you can do nothing."
Therefore the one true proof of our being living members of Christ's church on earth, or only dead branches, fit for the fire, is nothing else but our being, or not being inwardly of that spirit, and outwardly of that behavior, which Christ manifested to the world. Again, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples." Therefore the true and sufficient mark of our outward church membership, is there fully, outwardly known, and found in every man, where the outward form of Christ's loving behavior to all men, is outwardly seen and known to be in him. These and like passages of Christ and His apostles (though quite overlooked by most modern defenders of the one church) are the only places that speak truth, and reality of what true church unity is.
It may now be reasonably asked, What is the divine service, or worship in this church? For every church must have its divine service and worship which is the life, strength, and support of it. It is answered: "That no man can call Christ Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Therefore nothing is, or can be a divine service in that church, which has Christ for its Lord, but what has the Holy Spirit for its beginner, doer, and finisher. For if it be certain that no one can own Christ as his Lord, but by the Holy Spirit, then it must be equally certain, that no one can serve or worship God through Christ His Lord, in any other way, help, power, or means, but so far as it is done, in, and by the power of that same Holy Spirit. Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh; that is, whatsoever proceeds from, or is done by the natural powers of man, from his birth of flesh and blood, is merely human, earthly, and corrupt, and cannot do anything that is heavenly, or perform a service or worship that is divine, than our present flesh and blood can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Thus the apostle says, "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And consequently if not His, he can perform no divine service to Him. Nor can any worship cease to be carnal, or become divine, but by its being all that it is, and doing all that it does, by the power, and presence of Christ dwelling in our souls, and helping us by His Holy Spirit to cry in truth and reality, Abba Father.
The New Testament never calls us to do, or offer, or allows anything to be done or offered to God, as a divine service, or worship, but what is done in the truth, and reality of faith, of hope, of love, and obedience to God.
But through all the New Testament, no faith, no hope, no love is allowed to be true, and godly, but only that faith, that hope, etc., which solely proceeds from, and is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, living, dwelling, and working in our whole heart, and soul, and spirit. This spirituality of the Christian religion, is the reason why it was first preached to the world under the name of the kingdom of God, because under this new dispensation, freed from veils, shadows, and figures of good things absent, or to come, God Himself is manifested, ruling in us and over us, as an essential light of our lives, as an indwelling Word of power, as a life-giving Spirit within us, forming us by a new birth, to become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God, through a new and living way which Christ has consecrated for us. The truth and perfection of which state, is plainly set forth by the following prayer of Christ, "That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, I in them and You in me, that they be made perfect in one, and that the love wherewith You have loved Me, may be in them, and I in them." Now for the truth and certainty of this spiritual kingdom, in which are made up only, spiritual worshippers, baptized from above, into a union, and communion with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through the mysterious union of God and man in the one mediator Jesus Christ; for the truth, I say, of this spiritual state of Christianity, we have the plainest words of Christ, expressly declaring that the Jerusalem service, and consequently everything, or service that has the nature of it, was to have its end in the establishment of His church.
"Believe me," He said, "The hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father: but the hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him."
Therefore it must be certain in the highest degree, that Christ cannot set up any other kind of worship, or worshippers, but such as the Father seeks; because He and His Father were one, both in will and work. And the reason and necessity of this kind of worship, is added by Christ in the following words, "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Therefore if Christ had not solely set up this truth of spiritual worship, He would not have been anything else than another Moses, and though a better teacher, yet still, but as a schoolmaster, to some higher state of religion, that was yet needed, and must be revealed, if man was to be restored to his true state of life, union, and happiness in and with the divine nature. For as God is a spirit, and our life is spiritual, so no religious worship can be in its true perfection, or bring us into the possession of our highest good, till it raises all that is spirit and life in us, into union and communion with spirit and life in God. If it should be asked, how are we to become and continue worshippers of the Father in spirit and truth? It is answered; all consists in turning inwards, in attention to that, which is daily and hourly stirring, living, and working in our hearts. Now though the scripture nowhere gives this direction in these very words, yet, since it is said in the scripture, that God dwells not in temples made with hands, but in the temple of our hearts, since the kingdom of God is said to be within us, and not to come with outward observation, but to be in us, as a secret, living seed of the incorruptible Word; since our heart is our whole life, and we are said to live, and move, and have our being in God, it is directly telling us that we are to turn inwards, if we would turn to, and find God. It is directly telling us, that in what manner we are within, as the worship is done there, so is God in such manner within us; and that he is no otherwise our God, our life, our rest and happiness, than so far as the working of our hearts, is a willing and choosing, a hungering and thirsting to find, feel and enjoy the life-giving power of His holy presence in our souls.
To be inwardly therefore attentive to God, showing the good and the evil, distinguishing the light from the darkness in our own souls; to listen to the voice of His ever speaking Word, and to watch the moving of His ever sanctifying Spirit within us, waiting and longing in the spirit of prayer, of faith and hope, of love and resignation, to be inwardly quickened and revived in the image, and according to the likeness of that Son, in whom He is well pleased, is the worshipping of God with our whole heart and soul, in spirit and in truth.
It is living to God, in and through the power of Christ, as He lived; it is praying with Him, and by His Spirit, that continual prayer which He always had, whether speaking to the multitude, or healing their diseases, or alone by Himself in the stillness of nights, and loneliness of mountains. For this inward prayer, in which the whole heart, and soul, and spirit, loves, worships, and applies to God, not absent or distant, but to a three fold of goodness and mercy, of light and love, of glory and majesty, dwelling, and working within us, willing and desiring to do all that in the temple of our hearts, which is done and always doing in His own temple in heaven, is a prayer, that only needs outward words for the sake of others; and of which it may be said, as Christ said: "Father, I knew that You always hear me, but because of the people, which stand by, I said it."
I believe that you will think I have gone too far, and have not come close enough to the matter at hand. But I hope it is not so: I have gone through all that I have said, only to show, that church unity or communion, is not a matter that depends on any particular society, or outward thing, but is complete, or defective, in such degree, as we live in unity with, or contrariety to the inward spirit and outward example of Christ. For no union signifies anything to us, or our salvation, but union with God, through Christ, and nothing unites us to Christ, or makes us to be His, but His Holy Spirit dwelling, and working inwardly and outwardly in us, as it did in Him.
This is the only church unity that concerns the conscience, and when we are in this unity, we are in union with Christ, and with everyone who is united to Him, however distant, or separated from us, by human enclosures.
I come now to consider the church under another, and more common idea of it, namely as external, and about which, all the Christian world is at enmity, strife, and debate. After Christianity had been in the world for a few hundred years, it became national, and obtained the protection, and patronage of the princes of this world.
Hence it was enriched with many gifts and privileges, and strengthened by powers, that were foreign to the nature of it; and churchmen, beginning to quarrel about Christian doctrines, were supported in their strife and division from one another, by the temporal powers, under which they lived.
This state of the church has continued to this day, where almost every age has multiplied the number of divided churches, brought forth, by the union of the civil and ecclesiastical power.
This state therefore of external churches, has the nature of things merely human, and is subject to such alterations, changes, and corruptions, as the forms and revolutions of temporal government all over the world are. And therefore the private Christian, who, as such, is a member of a kingdom, that is not of this world, has little or no concern in it.
Without entering into the merits of divided churches, which I shall not do here, or anywhere else; this much I think, and it may with truth be affirmed, that where the church and state are incorporated, and under one and the same power, all the evil passions, corrupt views, and worldly interests, which form and transform, turn and overturn all outward things, must be expected to come to pass often, as well in the church, as in the state, with which it is united.
But as private Christians have no power, or call to govern the world, or set up thrones according to the principles of truth and righteousness, but are by the spirit of the gospel obliged to submit to, and be contented with that state of government, good or bad, under which the providence of God has placed them, so are they in like manner, to exercise a patient submission, and resignation under such an imperfect state of the outward church, which providence has not prevented, and to take care, to be inwardly found such worshippers in spirit and in truth, as the Father seeks.
I do not mean by this, as some have, that any evil, however great in the beginning, either in the church or state, loses its evil nature, and may be called right and good, as soon as providence has suffered it to become successful. No, by no means. Success, though always to be owned to have God's permission, leaves all things in their own nature, neither good because successful, nor bad, because defeated and suppressed.
The wickedness of the Jews conspiring and effecting the death of Christ, was not only permitted, but suitable to the designs of providence, in the redemption of mankind. But that the evil nature of their wickedness did not lose its guilt, because God allowed it to be successful, but it still continues to be evil, and this is plain from the curse of God still abiding upon it to this day.
The duty of private Christians, with regard to providence in such cases, is not to call that good which before was evil, or that evil which before was good, but patiently to suffer, and humbly acquiesce under all that bad outward course of things, either in church or state, which the providence of God has not thought fit to prevent, and that for these reasons: first, as fully knowing that all things must work together for good, to those who love God; secondly, as piously believing that in all successful wickedness, whether of princes against their people, or of people against their princes, there is always something hid under it, which in its own way and degree, will like the successful wickedness of the Jews towards Christ, help forward that salvation, for which Christ has laid down His life. Who can say, what good, and what blessings, the Christian world had been deprived of, had the righteous providence of God not permitted the princes of the heathen world, to make such bloody havoc of the first Christians.
But suppose errors of the following kind had got into the church,
1 The scripture baptism of the whole body under water, only as it were mimicked, by scattering a few drops of water on a new-born child's face.
2. The Supper of the Lord in one church, held to be bread and wine changed into the real flesh and blood of Christ: in another, as bread and wine, not changed into, but substantially united with the real flesh and blood of Christ: in another, mere bread and wine, only made memorials of the body and blood of Christ. In one church this, in another that form and manner of consecration held to be essential; in another, all consecration rejected, as superstition.
3. Suppose the original apostolical constitution of church assemblies, were all meeting together, so that all in their turns, might prophesy one by one, that all might learn, and all be comforted, should it be that in some churches things have so changed, that all praying, speaking or prophesying, from the power, and presence of Christ, should be prohibited; so that one and the same, long, tedious, humanly-contrived form of worship, be daily, from year's end to year's end, read by one, who is become their only speaker and instructor, not because he alone is daily full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, but because he is either hired to that office, or because, by some means or the other, the church and churchyard have become his own property until he dies. Is not such a state of church assemblies, in full contrariety to the first assemblies, and to the apostle's injunction; "Quench not the Spirit, despise not prophesying"?
4. Suppose again, that in the settled service of the church, certain prayers and petitions, not according to truth and righteousness, or suitable to the goodness of the evangelical spirit, are read, as prayers for success in un-Christian wars, prayers for the destruction of our Christian brethren, called our enemies, thanksgivings for the violent slaughter and successful killing of mankind: when these are made parts of the church service, are we in obedience to the providence of God, allowing things in church assemblies to come to pass, to unite and bear a part in such church service?
My answer to all this, shall be only personal; that is, what I would do myself, in these supposed cases.
First, as to any defects, mutilation, or variations in the outward form, and performance of baptism and the Supper of the Lord in the church, I am under little, or no concern about them; and that for this very good reason, because all that is inwardly meant, taught, or intended by them, as the life, spirit, and full benefit of them, is subject to no human power, is wholly transacted between God and myself, and cannot be taken from me, by any alteration made by man, in the outward celebration of them.
If the church, in my baptism, should sprinkle a little milk, or wine, instead of water, upon my face it would be no defective baptism to me, if I had all that inward disposition of repentance, of faith in Christ, to be born again of Him, which was meant, figured, and implied by such immersion into water, as was the first baptism.
The same may be said of the Supper of the Lord, however altered, or varied in its outward manner from what it was at first, if the inward truth, pointed at by it, is in me, is loved and adhered to by me, I have all the benefit that was meant, or could be had by it, when it was kept to a tittle in the same outward form, in which the first church used it.
And therefore the outward celebration of these sacraments is reverenced by me, wherever they are observed, as standing in the same place and significant of the same inward blessing, as in their first institution.
As to the fore-mentioned supposed prayers, though I am present when they are read in the church, I neither make, nor need I make them, any more my own prayers, than I make, or need to make all the curses in the psalms, to be my own curses, when I hear both priest and people reading them in church, as a part of divine service. Nor is there any more hypocrisy, or insincerity, in one case, than in the other.
I join therefore in the public assemblies, not because of the purity, or perfection of that which is done, or to be found there, but because of that which is meant and intended by them: they mean the holy, public worship of God; they mean the edification of Christians; they are of great use to many people; they keep the world from a total forgetfulness of God; they help the ignorant and un-learned to such a knowledge of God, and the scriptures, as they would not have without them.
And therefore, fallen as these church assemblies are, from their first spiritual state, I reverence them, as the venerable remains of all that, which once was, and will, I hope, be again, the glory of church assemblies, the ministration of the spirit, and not of the dead letter. And there are two very great signs of the near approach of this day, in two very numerous, yet very different kinds of people in these kingdoms. In the one sort, an extraordinary increase of new separations, particularity of opinions, methods, and religious distinctions, is worked up to its utmost height. And we see them almost every day running with eagerness from one method to another, in quest of something, by the help of a new form, which they have not been able to find in the old one.
Now, as the vanity and emptiness of anything, or way, is then only fully discovered and felt, when it has run all its lengths, and worked itself up to its highest pitch, so that nothing remains untried, to keep up the deceit; so when religious division, strife of opinions, invented forms, and all outward distinctions, have done their utmost, and have no further place to go, nor anything more to try, then is their inevitable fall at hand; and if the zeal was simple and upright, all must end in this full conviction, that vanity and emptiness, burden and deceit, must follow us in every course we take, until we have finished with all our own running, to expect all, and receive all, from the invisible God dwelling in, and blessing our hearts with all heavenly gifts, by a birth of His eternal, all-creating Word, and life-giving Spirit brought forth in our souls.
The other sign I mentioned, is to be found in another kind of a much awakened people, in most parts of these kingdoms, who in the midst of the noise and multiplicity of all church-strife, having heard the still, and secret voice of the true Shepherd, are turned inwards, and wholly attentive to the inward truth, spirit and life of religion, searching after the mystical, spiritual instruction, which leads them from the outward cry, of a "Lo here," or "there, is Christ," to seek Him and His redeeming Spirit within them, as the only safe guide from inward darkness to inward light; and from outward shadows into the substantial, ever-enduring truth; which truth is nothing else, but the everlasting union of the soul with God, as its only good, through the Spirit and nature of Christ truly formed and fully revealed in it. But to go no further; I shall only add, that as yet, I know of no better way of thinking or acting, than as above, with regard to the universal fallen state of all churches; for fallen they all are, as certainly as they are divided.
Every church distinction is more or less in the corrupt state of every selfish, carnal, self-willed, worldly minded, partial man, and is what it is, and acts as it acts, for its own glory, its own interest and advancement, by that same spirit, which keeps the selfish, partial man solely attached to his own will, his own wisdom, self-regard, and self-seeking. And all that is wanting to be removed from every church, or Christian society, in order that it may be a part of the heavenly Jerusalem, is that which may be called its own, human will, carnal wisdom, and self-seeking spirit; which is all to be given up, by turning the eyes and hearts of all its members, to an inward adoration, and total dependence upon the supernatural, invisible, omnipresent God of all spirits; to the inward teachings of Christ, as the power, the wisdom, and the light of God, working within them every good, and blessing, and purity, which they can ever receive, either on earth, or in heaven.
Under this light, I am neither Protestant, nor papist, according to the common acceptation of the words. I cannot consider myself as belonging only to one society of Christians, in separation and distinction from all others. It would be as hurtful to me, if not more so, than any worldly partiality, and therefore as the defects, corruptions, and imperfections, which, some way or other, are to be found in all churches, hinder not my communion with that, under which my lot is fallen, so neither do they hinder my being in full union, and hearty fellowship with all that is Christian, holy, and good, in every other church division. And as I know, that God and Christ, and holy angels, stand disposed towards all that is good in all men, and in all churches, notwithstanding the mixture in them, is like that of tares growing up with the wheat, so I am not afraid, but humbly desirous, of living and dying in this disposition towards them.
I am, worthy Sir, With much Truth of Love and Respect,
Your faithful Friend, And hearty Servant.
King's Cliffe, Feb. 28, 1756.
Letter 16
The Prevention Of Suicide
To the same.
My dear L.,
You have communicated to me several letters, that you have written to your friends, and I much approve of the spirit in which you have written them. Only I must repeat, what I have often said, be careful of too much eagerness to set other people right, lest it lead you too far from home, or too much exhaust that breath, which is to keep up the strength of your own inward life. I believe you understand me.
You want a remedy, to prevent the growth of suicide, and madness. They are not to be remedied by a new way of setting forth the folly, and extravagancy of them. When the fruit is evil, there is no remedy, but in putting the root of the tree in a better state.
Pride, is the father and mother of suicide and madness. Would you have a share in removing these evils, you must not cast about for high speculations, there is but one step to be taken, and that is, to show the necessity of dying to pride, and seeking for salvation only in humility. JESUS CHRIST is the only peace, and rest, and satisfaction of human life. This is absolute, and admits of no exception. John the Baptist was the true preparer of the way to CHRIST; if you think of any other way, it is labor lost. This point is absolutely determined when CHRIST said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they believe not Moses, nor the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one arose from the dead."
Miracles and demonstrations, you see, are in vain, until Moses, and the prophets are believed.
Now Moses is sin, made known by the Law, and the prophets, are faith and hope in God. And these two things must have their state, and work in the soul, before it can have any benefit from CHRIST and His miracles. If you would therefore give some check to the growth of suicide and madness, it cannot be by attacking them in themselves, or speaking to the unreasonableness of their particular nature, this is as useless, as a miracle to him, that would hear neither Moses, nor the prophets.
Now as Moses and the prophets were of necessity, before the coming of CHRIST, so it must be in every human soul.
And this proves the truth, of what has been so often asserted, of the importance of apprehending the fall of man, in its true and full depth. For to hear Moses and the prophets is in reality only this, i.e., man becoming truly sensible of his impure, and fallen nature, and looking up to God to be delivered from it. Then, whether he has, or has not, ever seen the Bible, he is a true believer of Moses and the prophets, he is that lost sheep, that is sure of being found, that one who is weary and heavy laden, that must find rest and refreshment in CHRIST.
It matters not therefore, my friend, what the problem is, whether you would save a man from deism, debauchery, or suicide, you must begin in the same place, from one and the same ground, and this as unavoidable, as every fruit must have its beginning from the root, and from the root in its right state.
The amiableness of any virtue, or the horrid nature of any vice, while only considered as in themselves, are but as pictures, set before our eyes, and have no other effect upon us. And this is the un-profitableness of all moral instructions, whether heathen, or Christian.
If you can help a man to seek, and find, and know himself, and his real relation to God; to know that he has neither inward, nor outward evil, but only because he has lost his true state, and place in God; and that therefore nothing can be his peace and happiness, but being born again to his first divine life, or nature quickened again in him, then you have done all that you can for him, whatever his malady is. But enough of this.
Dear Soul,
Adieu. William Law Aug. 4, 1753.
Letter 15
To the same.
My dear L.,
I heartily thank you for your last. Talk no more of obtruding upon me with your letter. Everything that comes from you is welcome. I have no need to write anything to you, for you know all that I have to say. You stand upon the same ground, that I do. And you have nothing to do, but to be steadfast and un-moveable in that light, which God has vouchsafed to you.
But, my friend, take notice of this, no truths, however solid and well grounded, help you to any divine life, but so far as they are taught, nourished, and strengthened by an unction from above; and that nothing more dries, and extinguishes this heavenly unction, than a talkative, reasoning temper, that is always catching at every opportunity of hearing, or telling some religious matters.
You have found enough, to prove to you, that all must be found in God, manifested in the life of your soul. And I must say again, shut your eyes, and stop your ears, to all religious tales.
My dear Soul, Adieu. William Law Feb. 12, 1753.
Letter 18
To the same.
My dear friend,
The variety of trials, you have lately met with, are but a specimen of what you are to expect, in some form or other, so long as you breathe the air of this fallen world. The longer we are without them, the more our need of them is increased. And they never give great smart, but where something is to be torn off, that sticks too close to us. One reflection upon these sacred words, "My kingdom is not of this world: The Son of Man has no where to lay His head," are sufficient to take not only the sting out of every cross, that can here befall us, but even to make us afraid, and ashamed of being pleased with anything, that has the name of worldly honor, and prosperity.
You have no reason to wonder at anything you see, or hear, of the partiality, selfishness, envy, and enmity, that so often breaks out between brothers and sisters of the same blood. For if blood- relations, considered as such, could have any true goodness, or unselfish regard to one another, we should not be under the necessity of being born again from above.
Will it do you any good to tell you, that thus says my heart, without speaking a word. "Let nothing live in me, but the redeeming power of my holy Jesus, nothing pray in me but thy Holy Spirit." This is my ship, in which, I would be always at sea. All that I seek, or mean, either for myself, or others, by every height and depth of divine knowledge, given us by God in His illuminated Behmen, is only for this end, that we may be more willing, and glad to become such little children, as our Lord has told us, are the only heirs of the kingdom of God.
The piercing critic may, and naturally will grow in pride, as fast as his skill in words discovers itself. And every kind of knowledge, that shows the scholar, the orator, the disputer, the commentator, the historian, his own powers, and abilities, are the same temptation to him, that Eve had from the serpent; and he will get no more good by the love and relish of such knowledge, than she got by her love of the tree, that was so desirable to make one wise.
But he whose eyes are opened, to see into this mystery of all things, sees nothing but death to himself, and to everything, that he had called, or delighted in as his own. This is the bold depth of his knowledge. And if you would know its aspiring height, it consists in learning to know, that which the angels and twenty-four elders about the throne of God, knew, when they cast down their crowns, before Him that sat on the throne, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, Thou art worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created. It is to know that the triune majesty of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the threefold power, life, glory, and perfection of every creature, that sings praises to God, in heaven and in earth. This is the proud knowledge of those, who are let into the holy of holies, opened by the Spirit of God in his chosen instrument, Behmen. Which goes no deeper, than to see the nothingness of man, ascends no higher, than to know that God is all; which begets nothing in man, but that which was begotten in Paul, when he cried out, "God forbid, that I should glory in anything, but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The First Business Of A Clergyman
To Mr. S.
My dear friend and brother,
I hope my long silence has not occasioned your being offended at me, or to suspicion, that I have disregarded you, or the matter you wrote upon. If I were to offer a reason in excuse of it, it would be an invented one, for it has never been known to myself. But I was contented to know, that my heart was right towards you, full of all good will and desire to serve you, in the way that God should lead me to. And so it is come to pass, that you have not heard from me sooner. It is a great pleasure to me to think (as you say) that my letter to you, will also be to two of your brethren, who stand in the same state of earnestness, to know how to be faithful and useful in their ministry, as you do: I hope God will increase your number.
The first business of a clergyman awakened by God into a sensibility, and love of the truths of the gospel, and of making them equally felt, and loved by others, is thankfully, joyfully and calmly, to adhere to, and give way to the increase of this new-risen light, and by true introversion of his heart to God, as the sole author of it, humbly beg of Him, that all that, which he feels a desire of doing to those under his care, may be first truly and fully done in himself.
Now the way to become more and more awakened, to feel more and more of this first conviction, or work of God within you, is not to reflect and reason yourself into a further and deeper sensibility of it, by trying to find arguments to strengthen it in your mind. But the one true way is, in faith and love to keep close to the presence and power of God, which has manifested Itself within you, willingly resigned to, and solely depending upon the one work of His all-creating Word, and all-quickening Spirit, which is always more or less powerful in us, according as we are more or less trusting to, and depending upon it.
And thus it is, that by faith we are saved, because God is always ours, in such proportion as we are His; as our faith is in Him, such is His power and presence in us. What an error therefore, to turn one thought from Him, or cast a look after any help but His; for if we ask all of Him, if we seek for all in Him, if we knock only at His door of mercy in Christ Jesus, and patiently wait and abide there, God's kingdom must come, and His will must be done in us.
For God is always present, and always working towards the life of the soul, and its deliverance from captivity under flesh and blood. But this inward work of God, though never ceasing, or altering, is yet always, and only hindered by the activity of our own nature, and faculties, by bad men through their obedience to earthly passions, and by good men through their striving to be good in their own way, by their natural strength, and a multiplicity of seemingly holy labors and contrivances.
Both these sorts of people obstruct the work of God upon their souls. For we can cooperate with God no other way, than by submitting to the work of God, and seeking, and leaving ourselves to it.
For the whole nature of the fallen soul, consists in its being fallen from God, into itself, into a self-government and activity, under its own powers broken off from God, and therefore dying to self, as well to our reason, and our passions and desires, is the first and indispensable step in Christian redemption, and brings forth that conversion to God, by which Christ becomes formed and revealed in us. And nothing hinders this conversion from being fruitful and good, and gaining all that we want from God, but the retaining of something to dwell in, as our own, whether it be earthly satisfactions, or a righteousness of human endeavors.
And therefore all the progress of your first conviction, which by the grace of God you have had from above, consists in the simplicity of your faith, in adhering to it, as solely the work of God in your soul, which can only go on in God's way, and can never cease to go on in you, any more than God can cease to be that which he is, but so far as it is stopped by your want of faith in it, or trusting to something else along with it. God is found, as soon as he alone is sought; but to seek God alone, is nothing else but the giving up ourselves wholly unto Him. For God is not absent from us in any other respect, than as the spirit of our mind is turned from Him, and not left wholly to Him.
This spirit of faith, which not here, or there, or now and then, but everywhere, and in all things, and at all times, looks up to God alone, trusts solely in Him, depends absolutely upon Him, expects all from Him, and does all it does for Him, is the utmost perfection of piety in this life. The worship of God in spirit and truth, can go no higher, than it does that which is its duty to do; it has all that it wants, it does all that it will, it is one power, one spirit, one will, and one working with God. And this is that union or oneness with God, in which man was at first created, and to which he is again called, and will be fully restored by God and man being made one with Christ.
"Stephen was a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost." These are always together, the one can never be without the other.
This was Stephen's qualification for the deaconship, not because of anything high or peculiar in that office, but because the gospel dispensation was the opening a kingdom of God amongst men, a spiritual theocracy, in which as God, and man fallen from God, were united in Christ, so a union of immediate operation between God and man was restored. Hence this dispensation was called, in distinction from all that went before it in outward types, figures, and shadows, a ministration of the Spirit, that is, an immediate operation of the Spirit of God itself in man, in which nothing human, creaturely, or depending upon the power of man's wit, ability or natural powers, had any place, but all things begun in, and under obedience to the Spirit, and all were done in the power and strength of faith united with God.
Therefore to be a faithful minister of this new covenant between God and man, is to live by faith alone, to act only, and constantly under its power, to desire no will, understanding, or ability as a laborer in Christ's vineyard, but what comes from faith, and full dependence upon God's immediate operation in and upon us.
This is that very thing, which is expressly commanded by Peter, saying, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives." For all which he gives this reason, which will be a reason as long as the world stands, "That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." A plain and sufficient declaration, that where this is not done, there God is not glorified by Christians through Christ Jesus.
God created men and angels solely for the glory of His love; and therefore angels and men, can give no other glory to God, but that of yielding themselves up to the work of His creating love, manifesting itself in the several powers of their natural life, so that the first creating love, which brought them into being, may go on creating, and working in them, according to its own never-ceasing will, to communicate good for ever and ever. This is their living to the praise and glory of God, namely by owning themselves, in all that they are, and have, and do, to be mere instruments of His power, presence, and goodness in them, and to them; which is all the glory they can return to their creator, and all the glory for which He created them. We can no otherwise give religious glory to God, than by worshipping Him in spirit and in truth, seeing Christ has said, that "The Father seeks such to worship Him."
But we can no other way worship God in spirit and in truth, than as our spirit in truth and reality, seeks only to, depends only upon, and in all things adores, the life-giving power of His universal Spirit; as the creator, upholder, and doer of all that is or can be good, either in time or eternity. For nothing can be good, but that which is according to the will of God, and nothing can be according to the will of God, but that which is done by His own Spirit. This is unchangeable, whether in heaven, or on earth. And this is the one end of all the dispensations of God, however various, towards fallen man, to bring man into an union with God. Comply with all the outward modes and institutions of religion, believe the letter, own the meaning of scripture facts, symbols, figures, representations, and doctrines, but if you stand in any other use of them, or seek to gain some other good from them, than that of being led out of your own self, from your own will, and own spirit, that the will of God, and the Spirit of God, may do all that is willed, and done by you; however fixed, and steadily you may adhere to such a religion, you stand as fixed and steadily in your own fallen state. For the restoration of fallen man, is nothing else but the restoration of him to his first state, under the will and Spirit of God, in and for which he was created.
You may here perhaps, my dear friend, think that I am speaking too much at large, and not closely enough to the particular matter of your inquiry. But my intention has been, so to speak to you on this occasion, as to lay a ground for a proper behavior, under every circumstance of the outward work of your ministry. All things must be set right in yourself first, before you can rightly assist others, towards the attaining to the same state.
I do not mean, that you must be first in a state of perfection, before you can be fitted to teach others. But I mean that you must first see, in what you place your own perfection, and have the witness in yourself of the truth of it, before you can rightly direct others in the way to it; otherwise your instruction would be of such practical things, of which you had no practical knowledge.
For this reason, I have said all that is said above, to help you to set out under a right sense of all that, which religion is to do for yourself, the why, and the how, it can be done in you. When these two things are not notionally but practically known, and adhered to, then you are enabled, according to your measure, to speak of things, and truths of religion, to those that are ignorant, or insensible of them.
Hence you may learn, what you are chiefly to drive at, in all your discourses from the pulpit, and conversation; namely, to turn the attention of men to a power of good, and a power of evil, both of them born and living within them. For in these two things, or states of the soul, lies the full proof of the whole nature, both of the fall, and redemption from the fall.
Were we not naturally evil, by a birth of evil essentially born and living in us, we would need no such redemption; and had we not a birth of something divine in us, we could not be redeemed. Inward evil can only be cured, or overcome by an inward good.
And therefore, as all our salvation is an inward work, or struggle of two births within us, so all the work of your outward instruction, must be to call everyone home to himself, and help every heart to know its own state, to seek, and find, and feel his inward life and death, which have their birth, and growth, and strife against one another, in every son of Adam.
And as this is the only proper way of preaching, so it is, of all others, the most powerful, and penetrating into the hearts of all men, no matter what condition they are in.
For as these two states are certainly in every soul of man, however blended, smothered, and undistinguished, in their operations for a time, yet they have each of them, in some degree, their hearing ears, which though ever so sunk into dullness, will be forced, more or less, to feel the power of that voice, which speaks nothing but what is true, and must be heard within themselves.
And this is the true end of outward preaching, namely, to give loud notice of the call of God in their souls, which though unheard, or neglected by them, is yet always subsisting within them. It is to make such outward sounds, as may reach and stir up the inward hearing of the heart. It is so to strike all the outward senses of the soul, that from sleeping in an inward insensibility of its own life and death, it may be brought into an awakened and feeling perception of itself, and be forced to know, that the evil of death which is in it, will be its eternal master, unless the good of life that is in it, seeks for victory in the name and power and mediation of Christ, the only Prince of life, and Lord of glory, and who alone has the keys of heaven, of death and hell in His hands.
Thus far, and no further, goes the labor and ministry of man, in the preaching of the Word, whether it be of Paul, or Cephas. Therefore you will be well qualified, to open in your hearers, a right sense and knowledge of the truth and reality of every virtue, and every vice, that you are discoursing upon.
For since all that is good and evil, is only so to them, because it lives in the life of their heart; they may easily be taught, that no virtue, whether it be humility, or love, has any goodness in it, but as it springs in, and from the heart, nor any vice, whether it be pride, or wrath, is any further renounced, than as its power, and place in the heart is destroyed. And thus the insignificance and vanity of an outward formality, of a virtuous behavior, and everything short of a new heart, and new spirit in, and through the power of Christ, dwelling vitally in them, may be fully shown to be self-delusion, and self-destruction.
Your next great point, as a preacher, should be to bring men to an entire faith in, and absolute dependence upon, the continual power and operation of the Spirit of God in them. All churches, even down to the Socinians, are forced, in obedience to the letter of scripture, to hold something of this doctrine. But as the practice of all churches, for many ages, has looked to education, art, and science, to qualify ministers for the preaching of the gospel, as if it was merely a work of man's wisdom, so ecclesiastics, for the most part, come forth in the power of human qualifications, and are more or less full of themselves, and trusting to their own ability, according as they are more or less proficient in science, and literature, languages and rhetoric.
To this, more than to any one other cause, is the great apostasy of all Christendom to be attributed. This was the door, at which the whole spirit of the world, entered into possession of the Christian church. Worldly lusts, and interests, vanity, pride, envy, contention, bitterness, and ambition, the death of all that is good in the soul, have now, and always had their nourishment, power, and support, from a sense of the merit, and sufficiency of literal accomplishment.
Humility, meekness, patience, faith, hope, contempt of the world, and heavenly affections (the very life of Jesus in the soul) are by few people less earnestly desired, or more difficult to be practiced, than by the great wits, classical critics, linguists, historians, and orators in holy orders.
Now to bring man to a right practical knowledge, of that full dependence upon, and faith in the continual operation of the Holy Spirit, as the only raiser and preserver of the life of God in their hearts, and souls, and spirits, is not enough, you sometimes, or often preach upon the subject, but everything that you inculcate, should be directed constantly to it, and all that you exhort men to, should be required, only as a means of obtaining, and concurring with, that Holy Spirit, which is, and only can be, the life and truth of goodness. And all that you turn them from, should be as from something that resists, and grieves that blessed Spirit of God, which always wills and desires to remove, all evil out of our souls, and make us again to be sanctified partakers of the divine nature.
For as they only are Christians, who are born again of the Spirit, so nothing should be taught to Christians, but as a work of the Spirit; nor anything sought, but by the power of the Spirit, as well in hearing, as in teaching. It is owing to the want of this, that there is so much preaching and hearing, and so little benefit either of the preacher or hearer.
The labor of the preacher is, for the most part, to display logic, argument, and eloquence, upon religious subjects; and so he is just as much carried out of himself, and united to God by his own religious discourses, as the pleader at the bar is, by his law, and oratory upon right and wrong. And the hearers, by their regarding such accomplishments, go away just as much helped, to be new men in Christ Jesus, as by hearing a cause of great equity well pleaded at the bar.
Now in both these cases, with regard to preacher and people, the error is of the same kind, namely, trusting to a power in themselves; the one in an ability, to persuade powerfully; the other in an ability, to act according to that which they hear.
And so the natural man goes on preaching, and the natural man goes on hearing of the things of God, in a fruitless course of life. And so it must be, so long as either preacher or hearers, seek anything else but to edify, and be edified in, and through the immediate power and presence of the Holy Spirit, working in them.
The way therefore to be a faithful, and fruitful laborer in the vineyard of Christ, is to stand yourself in full dependence on the Spirit of God, as having no good power, but as His instrument, and by His influence, in all that you do; and to call others, not to their own strength or rational powers, but to a full hope, and faith of having all that they want, from God alone; not as teaching them to be good by men, but by men and outward instruction, calling them to Himself, to a birth of essential, inherent living goodness, wisdom and holiness from His own eternal WORD and Holy Spirit, living and dwelling in them. For as God is all that the fallen soul needs, so nothing but God alone, can communicate Himself to it; all therefore is lost labor, but the total conversion of the soul, to the immediate essential operation of God in it.
As to the other parts of your office, whether they relate to things prescribed, or to such things as are to be done, according to your best discretion, there will not be much difficulty, if you stand in the state as described above.
As to several outward forms, and orders in the church, they must be supposed to partake, in their degree, of that spirit, which has so long borne rule in all church divisions. But the private man, who has sufficient call to the ministry, is not to consider, how outward things should be, according to the primitive plan, but how the inward truth, which is meant by them, may be fully adhered to.
Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as differently practiced in almost every particular church, may give ground of doubt about them, since almost every church in these matters, is condemned by all other churches.
But the way to be above, and free from these scruples, is to keep yourself, and your people wholly intent to that spiritual good, of which these institutions are the appointed outward figures, namely to that spiritual regeneration, which is meant by baptism, and to the spiritual living in Christ, and Christ in us, which is meant by the Supper of the Lord. And then, though the sacraments practiced by you should have any outward imperfection in them, they would be of the same benefit to you, as they were to those, who used them in their first, outwardly perfect form. And thus you will be led neither to overrate, nor disregard such use of them, as is according to the present state of the church. It is only the inward regenerate Christian, that knows how to make a right use of all outward things. His soul being in such a state of union with God, and man, as it ought to be, it takes everything by the right handles, and turns everything into a means of carrying on this love towards God and man. To the pure, all things are pure.
When you visit the sick, use no pre-contrived knowledge, or rules, how you are to proceed with them, but go as in obedience to God, as on His errand, and say only what the love of God and man suggests to your heart, without any anxiety about the success of it; that is God's work. Only see that the love the tenderness, and patience of God towards sinners, be uppermost in all that you do to man. Think not, that here severity, and there tenderness, is to be shown; for nothing is to be shown to man, but his want of God; nothing can show him this so powerfully, so convincingly, as love. And as love is the fulfilling of the whole Law, so love is the fulfilling of all the work of the ministry.
I am, with my best wishes To you and your Brethren,
Your most affectionate Friend, And willing Servant.
William Law, April 19th, 1756.
The Doctrine Of Imputation
To a Clergyman of Bucks.
I am much surprised, my friend, that you should still want more to be said, about the doctrine of imputation, whether of Adam's sin, or the righteousness of Christ to His followers. Our polluted sinful birth of Adam, is all the sin we can have from him; and our supernatural birth of Christ, is all the righteousness that we possibly can have from Him. Imputation neither has, nor can have anything to do in either case; sin and righteousness are both inward and innate things, and the sole work of the spirit, that lives in us. That which is born of God, is godly, and cannot sin; and that which is born of sinful man, cannot be without a sinful nature and sinful attitude. Cain could not possibly have any other natural life, than that which was in Adam; and therefore so sure as Adam in soul, spirit, and body, was all sin and corruption, so sure is it, that all his offspring must come from him in the same depravity of soul, spirit and body. And to talk of their having this disordered fallen nature, not from their natural birth, but by an outward imputation of it to them, is quite absurd, as to say, that they have their hands and feet, or the whole form of their body, not from their natural birth, but by an outward imputation of such a form, and members to them. Suppose it was said, that Adam's evil and polluted condition of body and soul, was not the natural effect of his transgression, but independently of that, that it came upon him from God's imputing it to him, as his, though it was not his. What blasphemy this would be? And yet not less than that, of saying, that his children have their evil nature, the sinful state of their wills and affections, not by their natural birth from him, but independently of that, solely from God's imputing Adam's sinful nature to Cain, though he was by birth free from sin, and born in the purity and perfection, in which Adam was created; for so he must have been, if his birth had nothing of sinful Adam in it. But if Cain was not so born, then he had his sin, not by an imputation of another's sin to him, but plainly in the same way of natural birth, as every man has his natural life and form of his body, from parents of the same nature and form. And indeed, to speak of sin imputed to a person that did not have sin, is the same absurdity, as speaking of will and affections, imputed to a person that did not have them. For sin is nowhere but in, and from the will and affections, and therefore to make sin to be there by imputation, where it is not, has no more sense in it, than to make will and affections, to be by imputation in a creature that has them not.
"As in Adam all die," says the text: is not this the same, as saying, that all men have their fallen nature, because they are born of Adam? Say, this does not follow, and then the matter will stand thus: "In Adam all die" : but why, or how? Why because no man has the evil of a mortal fallen nature from his birth from Adam, but merely by God's free imputation of it to him.
But such a free imputation of Adam's sinful state to his children, when they did not have it by natural birth, is quite blasphemous, and leaves no room for magnifying the free grace of God in Christ Jesus; since from this erroneous doctrine, free grace comes only to help man out of a sinful state which he did not have from natural birth, but which came upon him, by God's free imputation of it to him. Thus, the adorable love of God in his free grace in Christ Jesus, is quite destroyed, upon supposition, that mankind does not have their sinful state from their natural birth from Adam, but by an imputation of it by God to them.
Take now the other part of the text, so "In Christ shall all be made alive." Is it not a flat denial of all this, to say, they are not made alive by a birth of that to which Adam died, brought to life again in them, but are accounted as if they were alive, by the imputation of Christ's life to them, but not born in them? Could dead Lazarus have been said to have been made alive again, if still lying in the grave, he would have only been accounted as alive, by having the nature of a living man, imputed to him?
Our Lord said to a leper, whom he had cleansed, "Go, show yourself to the priest," etc. But if instead of cleansing him, he had bid him go to the priest, to be accounted as a clean man, by the imputation of another's cleanness to him, would he not have still been under all the evil of his own leprosy? Now this is strictly the case of the righteousness of Christ, only outwardly imputed to us, and not inwardly born within us. A fiction, that runs counter to all that Christ and His apostles, have said of the nature of our salvation. We need Christ's righteousness, because by our natural birth, we are inwardly full of evil; therefore says Christ, "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Does not this place all in a birth? But a birth, and outward imputation, are inconsistent; that which is born in us, cannot be said, to be outwardly imputed to us. "I am the vine," said Christ, "you are the branches." Now if this be a true representation of the matter, then these two plain doctrines of Christ, affirming, (1) the absolute necessity of a new birth from above, and (2) declaring this birth to be as really brought forth in us, as the life of the vine is really in the branches, do, as far as words can do it, entirely reject the notion of a righteousness imputed to us from without; a righteousness, that has no more to do with our own life, after it is imputed to us, than it had a thousand years before we were born. For that which is not in us, or ours, by a birth of itself in us, can never be any nearer to us, or have a real union with us, after it is called ours, than before it was so called. I say called, for imputation, whether of sin, or righteousness, if its power is not living in us, is no more than mere calling that ours, which is not ours.
It is needless to cite places of scripture, affirming that all consists in a Christ revealed, begotten, formed and living in us. Let this one word of Paul suffice, "Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me." He does not say, a Christ who is only called his, or outwardly imputed to him, but quite the contrary, a Christ who lives in him.
Again, if Christ's holy nature, is not a birth in us, but only outwardly imputed to us, then no virtue, or power of a holy life, can have any more real existence, or vital growth in us, than in the devils, but are only outwardly imputed to us, and not to them, only called ours, and not theirs, though we have no more of them within us, than they have. Thus, be ye "holy, for I am holy; be ye perfect, as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart," etc. All these are but vain exhortations to do, and be, that which is not within our sphere, but entirely inconsistent with it. For these virtues are, in their whole nature, nothing else but the very righteousness of Christ, therefore if that can be only outwardly imputed to us, the same must be said of all those virtues, that they can have no real life or growth in us, but only outwardly imputed to us. And indeed, unless Christ be truly and essentially born in us, we can have no more of any Christian virtue, but the empty, outward name of it: for neither man, nor angel ever did, or can love God with all his heart, be holy because God is holy, be perfect as He is perfect, but because there is a spirit born and living in them, which is of God, and from God, and partakes of the divine nature.
Further, say that the Holy Spirit is not born and living in us, that His operation is not inwardly in us, as the spirit of our spirit, the life of our life, but only outwardly imputed to us, as if he was in us, though he is not there: what a blasphemy this would be! And yet full as well, as to say the same of Christ, and his righteousness. For if Christ was only outwardly imputed to us, the same must, of all necessity be said of the Holy Spirit; for where and what Christ is, there and that is the Holy Spirit. How constantly are we told in scripture, that they only are sons of God, "Who are led by the Spirit of God"; that unless "a man has the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; that if Christ is not in us, we are reprobates." Now I would ask, can any man be truly said to be led by the spirit of the world, the flesh and the devil, who has nothing of this spirit of the world living in him, but only outwardly imputed to him? Can any creature be said to be led by the spirit of man, who has not the nature of man within him, but only outwardly imputed to him? Yes, just as a beast may be said to be a Newtonian philosopher, by having Sir Isaac's system outwardly imputed to him.
Take notice, sir, that if Christ's righteous and holy nature is only outwardly imputed to Christians, then all of them, whether they are called good, or bad, are without any difference as to their inward man, and all are under the same unaltered evil of their fallen nature, as much after, as they were before Christ's righteousness was imputed to them. When a good man has anything falsely laid to his charge, is not this outwardly imputing something to him, that is not his, and does not belong to him? But is not his own inward goodness just in the same fullness of truth in him, after such an imputation of evil to him, as it was before it was so imputed. Now this is the whole nature of imputation; and therefore if the righteous nature of Christ is only outwardly imputed to the sinner, it leaves him in all the evil of his fallen nature, and can no more make him inwardly good, than a good man can be made inwardly evil, by having an evil, outwardly imputed to him, that is not his.
The relation between Christ and the fallen soul, is thus: Christ is the one mediator between God and man, and that which his mediation consists in, is the restoring God's life in man, which was his first created union with God. Nothing separated man from God, or made him want a mediator, but the loss of his first divine life; and therefore nothing can mediate, or be a means of union again between God and man, but that which can, and does raise again in man, that divine life which was his first union with God. Everything therefore, that is said of this one mediator, as redeeming, ransoming, justifying, sanctifying, making peace, or reconciliation, etc., however variously expressed, has no other nature, or meaning, but that of making fallen man, inwardly alive again in God. He in whom Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, has just that same change made in him, just the same is done to him, as he that has his sins washed and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. For these different expressions mean only one and the same thing, and that one thing, is Christ in us, our hope of glory. This is justification, sanctification, redemption, peace, reconciliation, and everlasting union with God. Trifling therefore, to the last degree, is their orthodoxy, who raise disputes, and set up different doctrines, on the different meaning of these words, and the danger of not knowing, or not stiffly contending for the blessed difference between justification and sanctification, etc., full as trifling, as to raise disputes, and set up different doctrines on the different names given to Jesus Christ, as the Word of God, son of man, Lamb of God, alpha and omega, mediator, Emmanuel, atonement, reconciliation, resurrection, etc., and the great danger of ascribing that to Christ, as our reconciliation, which only belongs to Him, called the resurrection and the life. Figure to yourself such an orthodox dispute as this, and then you will see the importance of that pious zeal, which will not suffer justification and sanctification to encroach upon one another.
What an egregious17[3] folly, to be learnedly laborious in dividing and distinguishing those different names of Christ, or the different effects of his purchasing, justifying, or sanctifying our souls, etc., when all that these things are told us for, and all the benefit that we can receive from them, lies solely in this one word of Christ, "if anyone will be my disciple" (that is, if anyone will have the benefit of all that I am, and of all that is said of me) "let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Then, and then only, all the different names of Christ, and all the different powers ascribed to Him, will be, not critically, but blessedly known and understood to be one, as God is one, whether he be called I AM, or the creator of heaven and earth, or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But to proceed: all that is said of the nature, office, and qualities of Christ, in order to be our redeemer, is so much said of the necessity of their being essentially found, and realized in every soul, that is to partake of his redemption. If "Christ be not in us, we are none of his." But how can Christ be in us, but because all that which Christ was, in the Spirit and nature of his whole being, is in us, as it was in Him? If the same mind is not in us, which was in Christ Jesus; if that which loved, that which willed, that which suffered in Him, is not the same spirit in us, we shall never reign with Him. He may be truly called a redeemer, but we are not His redeemed, for such as the redeemer is, such are they that are redeemed.
"To him that overcomes," said Christ, "will I grant to sit with me on My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne." What becomes now of the vain fiction of an outward imputation? Is Christ's victory here imputed to us? Is not the contrary strongly taught us, as words can teach us? "To him that overcomes, even as I also overcame."
Can we have fuller proof, that Christ's righteous nature must be inwardly born, living and manifesting Itself in us, as it did in Him; how else can we overcome, even as He overcame? That Spirit which overcame in Christ, was manifest in the flesh, for no other end, but that the same conquering Spirit might be born in us. And when that is done, then all is done, by that grace of God, which brings salvation, justification, sanctification, or the new creature. For whether you call it by one, or by all of these names, it is the white stone with the new name written in it, which no man knows, but he that has received it. And for this reason, because it is no outwardly imputed thing, but is the new name, the new nature and Spirit of Christ, become all in all in us, and so only to be known by those, who have it brought to life in them.
Again, "This is my blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins"; what follows? Why, "Drink ye all of this. If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. who has washed us from our sins in His blood." Now to show you, that all these different sayings have but one and the same doctrine, you need only read the following decisive words: "These are they that came out of the great tribulation," (that, is have trodden the wine press with Christ) "and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb." Here you see is no outward imputation of the sufferings of Christ, but "their coming out of great tribulation," or passing through the whole process of Christ, was that alone, which made their "robes to be washed in the blood of the Lamb." And no other doctrine is in this text, than if it had been said, "these are they, who having denied themselves, taken up their cross daily, and followed Christ, have thereby washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb." Through all the New Testament, this is the one doctrine of salvation through the blood of Christ, it is "drinking the cup, that he drank of," and not the bitterness of his cup outwardly imputed to us.
You tell me, my friend, that the seraphic Aspatio is quite transported with the thought of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner, and that it should in the account of God, be esteemed as his. It may be so, transport seems to be as natural to Aspatio, as flying is to a bird. But surely, a more transporting, a more glorious thing it is, both to the glory of God, and the good of man, that the sinner is, through the righteous nature of Christ, born and brought to life in Christ, set up again in his first likeness and image of God. For if man's righteousness is not essentially restored in him, as it was essentially in him at the first, has he not less of God in him, by his redemption, than he had at his creation? Is it to the happiness of man, and the glory of God, that God has not obtained that dwelling in man, for which He alone created him?
Is it a matter of transport to think, that fallen man will to all eternity live destitute of his first heavenly nature, his first divine life, which he had from God? But this must be the case, if Christ's righteousness is only outwardly imputed to him, and not essentially born in him.
Transports, my friend, are but poor proofs of truth, or of the goodness of the heart, from where they proceed. Martyrdom has had its fools, as well as its saints, and zealots may live and die in a joy, that has all its strength from delusion.
You may see a man drowned in tears, at beholding, and kissing a wooden crucifix, and the same man condemning another, as a wicked heretic, who only honors the cross, by being daily baptized into the death of Christ. No, so blind is opinion-zeal, that some "Christian pastors" will not hesitate to tell you, they could find no joy in their own state, no strength, or comfort in their labors of love towards their flocks, but only for this reason, they are assured from St. Paul, that God never had, nor ever will have, mercy on all men, but that an unknown multitude of them, are through all ages of the world, inevitably decreed by God to an eternal fire, and damnation of hell, and an unknown number of others, to an irresistible salvation.
Do not wonder about the inquisition, about how it has had its pious defenders, for inquisition-cruelty, no, every barbarity that must have an end, is mere mercy, if compared with this damnable doctrine. And to be in love with it, to draw sweet comfort from it, and wish it God speed, is a love that absolutely forbids the loving our neighbor, as ourselves, and makes the wish, that all men might be saved, no less than a rebellion against God. It is a love, with which, the cursed hater of all men, would willingly unite and take comfort; for could he know from St. Paul, that millions, and millions of mankind, are created and doomed to be his eternal slaves, he might be as content with this doctrine, as some preachers are, and cease "going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"; as knowing, that his kingdom, was so sufficiently provided for, without any labors of his own.
Oh, the sweetness of God's election, cries out the ravished preacher! Oh, the sweetness of God's reprobation! might the hellish Satan well say, could he believe that God had made him a free gift of such millions, and millions of men, of all nations, tongues and languages, from the beginning to the end of the world, and reserved so small a number for himself.
This is the blessed fruit of the imputation doctrine.
What a complaint, and condemnation is there made in scripture, of those who sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils? And yet, this reprobation doctrine, represents God, as sacrificing myriads of His own creatures, made in His own image, to an everlasting hell.
There is not an absurdity of heathenish faith and religion, but what is less shocking than this doctrine, and yet so blindly are some zealous doctors of the gospel bigoted to it, as to set it forth, as the glorious manifestation of the supreme sovereignty of God.
My friend, let any old woman preach to you, rather than these doctors.
But to end in one word, Christ's righteousness is ours, in our redemption, just in the same manner, as it was Adam's in his first holy birth. For Adam then had no righteousness of his own, but that which was created in Christ Jesus. And that is the only reason, why there could be no other redeemer but Christ, because the loss of Christ, was that death which Adam died by his fall; and therefore no possibility of coming out of his fallen state, but in, and by a birth of Christ's righteous nature, essentially born and living in him, as it was living in him before he fell.
"Little children," said John, "let no man deceive you; he that does righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous." Therefore to expect, or trust to be made righteous, by the righteousness of another, only outwardly imputed to us, is, according to the apostle deceiving ourselves.
Either man, by the mediation of Christ, is united again with God, or he is not; if he is not, then he has no more of the divine life in him, after his redemption, than he had before he was redeemed. But if he is again united with God, as he was at his creation, then his redemption must wholly consist in the birth of a divine nature and Spirit, essentially brought to life in him. That which is spirit in man, must be godlike, before it can be united with that Spirit, which is God. And if there had not been a divine Spirit in man, truly born of God, proceeding from the Spirit of God, as his real offspring, no union of will, love, or desire, could be between God and man. For this is a truth, that extends itself through all that is natural, or supernatural, that like can only unite with like. There is not separation between things, but that which is effected by contrariety. If therefore nothing in man was a partaker of the divine nature, man must in his whole nature, be forever separated from God, and stand in the impossibility of being united with him. So sure, therefore, as the mediation of Christ, is by Himself declared to be for this end, "That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one"; so sure is it, that an outwardly imputed Christ, is as absurd in itself, and as contrary to scripture, as an outwardly imputed God.
Farewell, William Law
The Activity Of Your Religious Spirit
To Mr. T. L.
My dearly beloved Friend,
I begin, as I did my last, with assuring you, that I love to hear from you.
I am in some concern about the activity of your religious spirit, which I have often cautioned you against. You have seen, and as I think deeply apprehended, the true ground, on which man's redemption stands. This ground has been shown you, not only from the plain letter of scripture, but confirmed by the whole frame of nature.
Everything in heaven and earth, everything that you inwardly or outwardly feel, or know of your own soul, and body, are all shown to bear infallible witness to these two fundamental truths of the gospel: that our first father died to his first life in God; and that nothing in the whole nature of things, can be our redemption, but the first life of God, born again of God in the soul. You have had the fullest proof, that man was created in this high perfection of life. You have had the fullest proof, that Adam had no other way of dying to heaven, or losing his first state in God, but by the working of his will; and that every son of Adam, is to this day, only that which his faith, or the working of his will, or the desire of his heart (for they are all the same thing) makes him to be. Jesus Christ is the divine nature, which must be alive again in man. But the life of the deity can only arise by a birth in us, by the hunger and faith and desire of the heart, or the working of the will turned to it; and this is the faith in Christ that does all.
To what purpose therefore, is so much anxious enquiry about this or that? Why this running after everyone, to hear the history of himself, and the secrets of his own fancied experience?
If you know a man to be a fatalist, do you not enough know, that he cannot explain the mysteries of the gospel, all which have a quite contrary ground.
If a man has no notion, or belief of the fall of man can he tell you either the nature, or the necessity of Christian redemption? What room could there be for the divine philanthropy, if it could be supposed, that man and the world had not a better state, and life from Him at first, than they have now?
If a man denies the necessity of the new birth from above, will you believe that this proceeds from an intimate familiarity with Christ, teaching him in private, the disbelief of that which He taught publicly when on earth? What folly to tell you, that you are only in a legal state, unless he could prove to you, that you have no aversion to wickedness, nor abstain from any sin, but so far as the fear and dread of punishment keep you from it. For this is the truth of the legal state; but when sin is disliked, and the commandments kept through a love of God, and a desire of divine goodness, there is the man in Christ a new creature, no longer under the yoke of the Law, but living in the freedom, and Spirit of God.
If a man tells you that Jesus is not God, surely it is time to have no fellowship with him. If he tells you, you are not to pray to God, but to Jesus, only, who is only a creature, is not this telling you, that it is unlawful for us to pray, as Jesus taught His disciples? And if it was wrong to pray to God, the Old and New Testament are, from the beginning to the end, full of false religion? Or will he say, that though under the Old Testament men might rightly pray to the deity, yet we, by being Christians, have lost this privilege of relation to, and dependence upon God? But surely, I need not expose the extravagancy of these things, nor exhort you to be weary of such Entertainment.
You tell me, that you cannot help thinking with Mr. S. "That all partial systems of salvation, are greatly derogatory to the goodness of God:" but that you would say this to very few, but myself. But dear soul, why should you say this to me? I have without any question, openly declared to all the world, that from eternity to eternity, nothing can come from God but mere infinite love. In how many ways have I proved, and asserted, that there neither is, nor can be any wrath, or partiality in God, but that every creature must have all that happiness, which the infinite love and power of God can help it to. Can I, or any creature, possibly say more of an impartiality in God? And is it not quite unreasonable, to ask more about it, or to carry it further? You say "The seeming impossibility of the Spirit and light of God, arising up again in any creature, that has been extinguished in it, is, you presume, the strongest argument that can be offered, in support of everlasting misery." And therefore you say, "You have chosen, with submission, to examine the force of this principle argument, which runs through the APPEAL, and my other writings." But, my dear friend, how did you come to say this? For this is so far from being the principle, or any argument that runs through my Appeal, and other books, that there is not one single word, in all the Appeal, nor any other of my books, that touches upon this matter, until you come to the last book, i.e., The Way to Divine Knowledge; and even in that book, the impossibility is so far from being asserted, that it is there affirmed, that this impossibility is not proved, nor ever likely to be so. Will you therefore charge me with proving a thing, that I show cannot be proved? It is my main doctrine, that God is all love, and merely a will to all goodness; that He must eternally will that to the creature, which He willed at its creation.
But, my dear soul, debate not such matters as these, either with me, or anyone else. Stop your ears to all that you hear about them, and turn from everyone that will lead you into them. The perplexity that you make to yourself in such matters, is death to the divine life within you, it is a great abuse of God's goodness towards you, and is a likely way for you to lose the peace and joy of that divine light, which has so largely opened itself within you.
Mr. G. and Mr. S. both of them (as they say) come out of the depths of hell, full of a new risen divine light within them. The first makes me a greater blasphemer of God, than the devils are, because I say, God has no other nature, or will towards every creature, but love and goodness.
The other calls me blind, and ignorant, because I have not a self-evident knowledge of the salvation of devils. Now were you to find out a third, laying claim to the same certainty of divine light, as these two do, you might perhaps have them both condemned by one who had a self-evident knowledge of absolute election, and reprobation, and who knew with as great certainty, that God damns some eternally to make His power to be known, as Mr. S. knows Christ to be only a creature, and that prayer is not to be made to God, but solely to this creature.
Dear L. son of my love, I do not know that ever I wasted my spirits in writing, or thinking in the manner of this letter before, and trust I never shall again. But love towards you, and a hearty zeal for your true growth in the spiritual life, has compelled me into this wrangling.
Put away all needless curiosity in divine matters, and look upon everything to be so, but that which helps you to die to yourself, that the Spirit and life of Christ may be formed, and revealed in you.
As for the purification of all human nature, either in this world, or some after ages, I fully believe it. And as to that of angels, if it is possible, I am glad of it, and also sure enough, that it will then come to pass.
Dear Soul,
Adieu, William Law.
Where then is the dark side?
Letter 13
To the same.
My Dear Friend,
I thank you for the favor of yours. In the two extracts, you have sent, the writer says twice, he cannot adopt the dark side of my system. If what I have written may be called a system, it has put a full end to all that was dark, and partial, in every other system. It makes all the universe both of nature and grace, to be an edifice of love, kept up and governed by love. For I allow of no other God but love, who from eternity to eternity, can have no other will towards the creature, but to communicate good; and that no creature can have any misery, from which infinite goodness can deliver. Where then is the dark side? Must I assert God to be more than infinitely good?
Dear Soul,
Adieu. William Law. June 9, 1752.
The real progress of your soul
Letter 14
My dear L.,
I cannot tell you how much I love you. But that which of all things I have most at heart, with regard to you, is the real progress of your soul in the divine life. Heaven seems to be awakened in you. It is a tender plant. It requires stillness, meekness, and the unity of the heart, totally given up to the unknown workings of the Spirit of God, which will do all its work in the calm soul, that has no hunger or desire, but to escape out of the mire of its earthly life, into its lost union and life in God.
I mention this, out of a fear of your giving in to an eagerness into so many things, which though seemingly innocent, yet divide and weaken the workings of the divine life within you. For a multiplicity of wills, is the one evil, disease, and misery, both of our souls and bodies. That which can make the soul to have only one will, and one love, is the universal tincture, both for soul and body. And nothing else is it. That alone can take the fall, or curse out of the body, which can take it out of the soul. For the curse through all nature, and creature, is but one and the same thing, i.e., the absence of the heavenly power. Heaven is dead in gold, just as it is dead in man; and its heavenly tincture can only be made alive, in the same manner, and from the same power, as in the inward man is born again of the water, and Spirit from above.
Our outward man must be tormented, crucified, mortified in the fire of our own flesh and blood; and then it is as gold in the crucible, heated by earthly fire. But as no fiery torments of our own flesh and blood, can glorify our inward man, and set him in his first angelic state, so no outward fire can torment gold into its first heavenly state. Our Lord said to the crucified thief, Today, you shall be with me in paradise.
Now no one is a divine magus18[4], until he is thus qualified to say to his subject, Today you shall be with me in paradise. If he himself is not in paradise, he can do no paradisaical work. But, my friend, let not what I here say, put you upon disputing this point with anyone, for I say it for quite a contrary end, to show you the vanity of all such discourse.
My dear Soul,
Adieu. William Law Oct. 16, 1752.
To Be Always Calling Physicians
To a Person of Quality, Madam,
I had the honor of your Ladyship's letter, and have true regard for your Ladyship, and the subject, has been the occasion of my delaying this answer so long. I am in some hopes, that the person that wanted it, may, by this time, have found something better than it, by being left to God and himself, and that I have done more for him by my silence, than I should have done by my writing.
To be always calling physicians, upon every occasion, is the way to lose all natural soundness of health; and to be continually talking, and enquiring about the nature of sicknesses, and the powers of medicines, for the head, the heart, the spirit, and nerves, is the way to lose all true judgment, either of our own sickness or health.
It is much the same, with regard to our spiritual health and constitution, we do great harm to it, by running after spiritual advice on every occasion, and wanting the help of some human prescription, for every fear, scruple, or notion, that starts up in our minds, and to weaken the true strength of our spiritual constitution, would do all that we need to have done. If it is asked, What this soundness of our spiritual constitution is? It may be answered that it is a state or habit of such humble, total resignation of ourselves to God, by faith, and hope, and to expect all from Him alone. This is the health, and strength of our spiritual constitution, and nothing is health in the soul, but this state.
And if we left all our incidental, accidental, sickly notions, and imaginations that so frequently attack our minds, if we left them to be overcome, and done away by the strength of our spiritual constitution, we would never fail to be successful.
How this pious and worthy person came to think of leaving his parish, or what scruples occasioned his doubting, whether he should stay in it, I cannot guess, and therefore can say nothing about them. I would have thought, that such a change as he found in himself, his parish, and neighborhood, should have everything in it, that could render his situation comfortable to him.
The greatest danger that new converts are liable to, especially if they are young, arises from their conceiving something great of their conversion, and that great things are to follow from it. Hence they are taken up too much with themselves, and the supposed designs of God upon them. They enter into reasonings, and conjectures as to how they shall be, and think that they will do something extraordinary, and so lose that simplicity of heart, which should think of nothing but of dying to self, that the Spirit of God might have time and place to create, and form all that is needed in their inward man.
There is nothing more plain and simple than the way of religion, if self is but kept out of it; and all the perplexities, and scruples which pious persons meet with, chiefly arise from some idea they have formed, of a progress they ought to make in order to be that, which self would be. But piety makes little progress until it has no schemes of its own, no thoughts or contrivances to be anything, but a naked penitent, left wholly, and solely in faith and hope to the divine goodness. Every contrivance for human help, from this, or that, no matter what it is, is at best but dropping some degree, of that fullness of faith and hope, and dependence upon God, which only is, and only can be our way of finding Him, to be the strength and God of our life.
Nothing but the life of God, opened by His Holy Spirit within us, can be the renewal of our souls, and we shall look for this renewal no longer, than while we are seeking it in something, that is not God. The faith that ascribes all to God, and expects all from Him, cannot be disappointed. Nothing could hinder the centurion from having, that which he asked of Christ, because his heart could thus speak, "Lord I am not worthy, that You should come under my roof, speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."
He that has this sense of himself, and this faith in God, is in the truth and perfection of religion: if we knew the goodness of this state, we should always be contented with the simplicity of it, and let everything else come, and go, as it would; all is well and safe, so long as the heart rests all upon God alone. Your Ladyship says, this worthy person fears his zeal, and yet dreads the abatement of it. It would be better, not to indulge a thought about his own zeal, or to speak a word of it to any person. For if it is godly zeal, it is no more his than it is mine, nor comes any more from him, than it does from me; and therefore when he thinks, or speaks of it as his, or as something he would be glad to keep in its right state, he is giving way to delusion, both with regard to himself, and the nature of true zeal: for as the "wind blows where it desires," so it is with him, who is driven by true zeal. I do not wonder, that his audience is so much affected, and increased, since he has preached up the doctrine of regeneration amongst them. All other preaching passes away as a tale that is told, and indeed is nothing better, until it enters into the things within man, brings him to a sensibility of the state of his heart, and its need of God's Holy Spirit therein. How far it may be right for him to comply with their request of visiting, reading, and expounding the scripture to them, I will not say; but only this much, that it seems to be right to be in no anxiety about it, or to put himself under any stated rules about it, but leave it to be done, as he finds himself inwardly stirred up to it, and able out of the abundance of his heart to perform it.
Expounding the scriptures, has a fine sound, but I should rather advise such persons, to read only in love, and simplicity of heart, such scriptures as need no expounder, but their own heart turned to God. Persons who have come to this inward conviction, that they must live, and die, under the power of Satan, and of fallen nature, unless by a fullness of faith in Christ, they be born again from above, have nothing more to enquire about, where, or how Christ is to be found.
They have no other use to make of the scripture, but that of being refreshed, and delighted with such passages, as turn, and stir up the heart, to a fullness of faith, love, and resignation to the blessed guidance, and operation of the Holy Spirit of God.
January 10, 1754. William Law
Only God
To the same.
My dear Friend,
I do not know how to write to the most illuminated person upon earth, for advice, or instruction. And the more dark, and distressed my state should be, the more I should be averse to seek counsel of any creature; not from an opinion of any sufficiency in myself, but from a fullness of conviction, that I run away from relief, and deprive myself of the true light, and comfort, by not seeking, and depending upon God alone for it.
All my writings have no other end, but to communicate this conviction to my readers, and consequently to teach them to be finished with me, as soon as I have convinced them, that GOD and CHRIST and the kingdom of heaven are only to be found by man, in his own heart, and are only capable of being found there, by his own love of them, faith in them, and absolute dependence upon them.
What room, therefore, for calling out for help and direction, when once it is known, that all consists in an implicit blind faith, in purity of love, and total resignation to the Spirit of GOD? For where can these be exercised, but in the states and trials through which human life must pass. And to acquiesce in God, when things are inwardly, and outwardly easy with us, but to cast about for help from something that is not God, when distress and darkness come upon us, is the error of errors, and the greatest hindrance to our true union with GOD in CHRIST JESUS.
I am with much Truth and Sincerity, Your affectionate Friend. Sept. 22, 1754
Touched the heart-string of all systematical divinity
Letter 9
Madam,
The passage in the letter from a pious and very excellent clergyman, as you style him, calls for no regard, either from your Ladyship, or me. More insignificant words cannot well be put together: "I think," says he, "Mr. Law has gone half a bow shot too far." If I have shot so far beyond, or beside the truth, he should have shown where, and why, and how. Without this, his words are but a random shot at nothing. His reason for this censure, is still worse, i.e., "Because I have touched the heart-string of all systematical divinity." As grievous a charge, as if he had said, that I had shook the very foundation of every Babel of every country. For not a system of divinity, since systems were in being, whether popish, or Protestant, deserves a better name.
His next reason is, "Because it should not be touched without skill from above."
If this gentleman ever preaches from the pulpit, concerning the ways of God, and the doctrines of redemption, without skill from above, all he says, will be a whole bow-shot beside the matter. If, therefore, in touching this point, I have touched that, which ought not to be touched without skill from above, I have taken no bolder a step, than he does, every time he mounts the pulpit, to give forth the doctrines of Christ.
His third reason is this, "I choose in my present ignorance, as touching the necessity and virtue of an outward atonement, to bow down before the awful subject."
But in truth, he should have said, I choose to bow down before the awful heart string of all systematical divinity, which resolves all the atonement into an infinite wrath, and vengeance, raised in the holy deity itself, and which would not be appeased, or satisfied by anything else, but the sacrifice of an infinite Son of God. It is by reason of his attachment to this heart string, or rather his having so constantly preached according to it, that he cannot bear a demonstration of the most glorious truth, that either heaven or earth can proclaim, i.e., that God from eternity to eternity, is mere, unchangeable, and ever-overflowing love; and that nothing but this infinity of never-ceasing, never- changing love, gave the birth, the life, the sufferings, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, for the salvation of all mankind; because in the whole possible nature of things, nothing else but this whole process of a God made man, could have any ability to extinguish the hell and wrath of a fallen nature, and give man a second birth of such a life from above, as could for ever and ever, have union and communion with the un-beginning, never-ending, never-changing Trinity of love.
Weary and heavy laden
To G. W.
The large account you have given of yourself, is very affecting, and I hope God will turn all the variety of your past distress, into a means of a future peace, and rest in His divine love. To be weary and heavy laden, is to have the highest fitness to receive that rest, that Christ alone can give. These are the persons that he called to Himself, when he was upon earth. They, who are content with themselves, are in the utmost danger of never knowing that happiness, for which they were created.
For a while, consider yourself in such solitude, as if there was only God and you in the world, free from every thought, but that of desiring to be wholly and solely His, and looking wholly to His goodness, to be delivered out of the misery of your fallen state.
Stand firmly in this faith, that God and the kingdom of heaven, are certainly within you, and within you for this reason only, that they may become your salvation. As all therefore is within, so let all your care be turned inwards, in loving, adoring, and praying to this GOD and CHRIST within you.
Do not be eager about reading a great deal. Nor read anything, but that which nourishes, strengthens, and establishes this faith in you, of an inward savior, who is the life of your soul. To grow up in this faith, is taking the best means, of attaining to the best knowledge in all divine matters.
Cast away all reflections about yourself, the world, or your past life. And let all be swallowed up, or lost in this joyful thought, that you have found the Messiah, the Savior of the world, not in books, not in history, but in the birth, and the bottom of your soul. Give yourself up to this birth of heaven within you, expect all from it, let it be the humble, faithful, longing desire of your heart, and desire no knowledge, but that which is born of it, and proceeds from it. Stand only in this thirst of knowledge, and then all that you know will be spirit and life.
With a Heart full of good Wishes to you, I am, Yours, William Law. May 8, 1750.
What therefore has everyone so much to fear, so much to renounce and abhor, as every inward sensibility of self-exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it. But now, at what things shall a man look, to see that working of self which raises pride to its strongest life, and most of all hinders the birth of the humble Jesus in his soul? Shall he call the pomps and vanities of the world the highest works of self-adoration? Shall he look at the painted ladies, to see the pride that has the most of antichrist in it? No, by no means. These are indeed marks, shameful enough, of the vain, foolish heart of man, but yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man has begotten and brought forth in him. If you would like to see the deepest root, and strength of pride and self-adoration, you must enter into the dark chamber of man's fiery soul, where the light of God (which alone gives humility and meek submission to all created spirits) being extinguished by the death which Adam died. Satan, or self-exaltation, which is the same thing, became the strong man that keep possession of the house, till a stronger than he should come upon him. In this secret source of an eternal fiery soul, glorying in the light of this world, a swelling kingdom of pomps and vanities is set up in the heart of man, of which, all outward pomps and vanities are but its childish transitory playthings. The inward strong man of pride, the diabolical self, has his higher works within; He dwells in the strength of the heart, and has every power and faculty of the soul offering continual incense to him. His memory, his will, his understanding, his imagination, are always at work for him, and for no one else. His memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done; And lest any thing of them should be lost or forgotten, she is continually setting them before his eyes. His will, though it has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing, but as self sends it. His understanding is ever upon the search for new projects to enlarge the dominions of self; and if this fails, imagination comes in, as the last and truest support of self, she makes him a king and mighty lord of castles in the air.
His is that full-born natural self, that must be pulled out of the heart, and totally denied, or there can be no disciple of Christ; which is only saying this plain truth, that the apostate self-idolatrous nature of the old man must be put off, or there can be no new creature in Christ.
Now what is it in the human soul that most of all hinders the death of this old man? What is it that above all other things strengthens and exalts the life of self, and makes it the master and governor of all the powers of the heart and soul? It is the fancied riches of genius, the flights of imagination, the glory of learning, and the self-conceited strength of natural reason: these are the strong holds of fallen nature, the master-builders of pride's temple in the heart of man, and which, as so many priests, keep up the daily worship of idol-self. And here let it be well observed, that all these magnified talents of the natural man are started up through his miserable fall from the life of God in his soul. Wit, genius, learning, and natural reason, would never have had any more of a name among men, than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued, as at first, an holy image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every thing then that dwelt in him, or came from him, would have only said so much of God, and nothing of himself, have manifested nothing to him but the heavenly powers of the triune life of God dwelling in him. He would have had no more sense or consciousness of his own wit, or natural reason, or any power of goodness in all that he was, and did, than of his own creating power, at beholding the created heavens and earth. It is his dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul, that has furnished him with these high intellectual riches, just as it has furnished him with the substantial riches of his bestial appetites and lusts. And when the lusts of the flesh have spent out their life, when the dark thick body of earthly flesh and blood shall be forced to let the soul go loose, all these bright talents will end with that system of fleshly lusts, in which they begun; and that of man which remains will have nothing of its own, nothing that can say, I do this, or I do that; but all that it has or does, will be either the glory of God manifested in it, or the power of hell in full possession of it. The time of man's playing with wit, and abilities, and of fancying himself to be something great and considerable in the intellectual world, may be much shorter, but can be no longer, than he can eat and drink with the animals of this world. When the time comes, that fine buildings, rich settlements, acquired honors, and rabbi, rabbi, must take their leave of him, all the stately structures, which genius, learning, and flights of imagination, have painted inwardly on his brain and outwardly on paper, must bear full witness to Solomon's vanity of vanities.
However, to make way for criticism, and language-learning, to have the full management of salvation doctrines, the well-read scholar gives out, that the ancient way of knowing the things of God, taught and practiced by fishermen-apostles, is obsolete. They indeed wanted to have divine knowledge from the immediate continual operation of the Holy Spirit, but this state was only for a time, till genius, and learning entered into the confines of the church. Behold, if ever, "the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place!" was ever put into place, it is with this. For as soon as the doctrine is set up, that man's natural acquired learning have full right and power to sit in the divinity chair, and to guide men into that truth which was once, the office and power of the Holy Spirit, as soon as this is done, and so far as it is received, it may with the greatest truth be said, that the kingdom of God is entirely shut up, and only a kingdom of scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, can come instead of it. For by this doctrine the whole nature and power of gospel religion is much more denied, than by setting up the infallibility of the pope; for though his claim to infallibility is false, yet he claims it from and under the power of the Holy Spirit; but the protestant scholar has his divinity knowledge, his power in the kingdom of truth, from himself, his own logic, and learned reason. Christ has nowhere instituted an infallible pope; and it is very clear, that he has nowhere spoke one single word, or given the least power to logic, learning, or the natural powers of man, in his kingdom. He never said to wolves, "go ye, and feed my sheep." Christ indeed said of himself, according to the flesh, it is expedient for you that I go away. But where has he said of himself according to the spirit, "it is also expedient for you that I go away, that your own natural abilities and learned reason may have the guidance of you into all truth?" This is nowhere said, unless logic can prove it from these words, "without me ye can do nothing," and, "lo, I am with you to the end of the world."
Instead of this doctrine of every thing coming from our own logic, and learned reason, the bible actually says. "when they bring you before magistrates and powers, take no thought how, or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say unto them, for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that same hour what ye ought to say. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you."
This is the truth of the kingdom of God, come unto men, and this is the birth-right privilege of all that are living members of it, to be delivered from their own natural spirit which they had from Adam, from the spirit and wisdom of this world, and through the whole course of their lives only to say, and do, and be that, which the Spirit of their Father works in them.
About the author
William Law, born in 1686, became a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1711, but in 1714, at the death of Queen Anne, he became a non-juror: that is to say, he found himself unable to take the required oath of allegiance to the Hanoverian Dynasty (which had replaced the Stuart Dynasty) as the lawful rulers of the United Kingdom, and was accordingly ineligible to serve as a university teacher or parish minister. He became for ten years a private tutor in the family of the historian, Edward Gibbon (who, despite his generally cynical attitude toward all things Christian, invariably wrote of Law with respect and admiration). William Law then retired to his native King's Cliffe. Forbidden the use of the pulpit and the lecture-hall, he preached through his books. These include Christian Perfection, The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration, Fable of the Bees 1724, Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments 1726, On Christian perfection 1726, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life 1728, The Case of Reason, or Natural Religion 1731, On the Lord's Supper 1737, The Spirit of Prayer 1749, Christian Regeneration 1750, Where shall I go ... to be in the Truth," 1750, The Way to Divine Knowledge 1752, The Spirit of Love 1752, Of Justification by Faith and Works 1760, Letters on Important Subjects, and on Several Occasions 1760, Address to the Clergy 1761.
The thesis of this last book is that God does not merely forgive our disobedience, he calls us to obedience, and to a life completely centered in Him. He says: "If you will here stop and ask yourself why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but because you never thoroughly intended it." The immediate influence of the book was considerable.
Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Henry Venn, William Wilberforce, and Thomas Scott each described reading the book as a major turning-point in his life. All in all, there were few leaders of the English evangelical movement on whom it did not have a profound influence.
John Wesley calls it one of three books which accounted for his first "explicit resolve to be all devoted to God." Later, when denying, in response to a question, that Methodism was founded on Law's writings, he added that "Methodists carefully read these books and were greatly profited by them." In 1744 he published extracts from the serious call, thereby introducing it to a wider audience than it already had. About eighteen months before his death, John Wesley called it "a treatise which will hardly be excelled, if it be equaled, either for beauty of expression or for depth of thought."
William Law died in 1761 just a few days after his last book, An Affectionate Address to the Clergy, went to the printers.
by William Law
A Dialogue in Two Parts
Between Thomas, Steven, and Gordon
The First Part (Chapter 1) Originally Published in 1752.
The Second Part. (Chapters 2-4) Originally Published in 1754.
Bro. Law had an insight, rare in his day, and rarer still today.
If you wish to abide in Christ, to live a life that is
pleasing to God. If your conscience won't allow you to say with the Apostle
Paul, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience
before God up to this day." And again when Paul said "I also do my best to
maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men." Then
this is a book that will bless you, it will show you Paul's secret, the
secret of maintaining a pure conscience.
Published This Date 8/20/02 by
Old Truth Publishing Company
38 Borck Lane
Lebanon, TN 37090
Printed in the 'United States Of America'
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
1 What Is The Spirit Of Love? (1752)
2 The Essence of the Spirit Of Love (1754) 27
3 The Absolute Necessity Of the Spirit Of Love 60
4 How To Acquire and Maintain this Love 89
May God bless this book to His kingdom, and your life.
Introduction
This book will in due time show you very clearly and in a concise way, how to find real peace with God; it will explain exactly what the phase "Born again" means. If you want to be set free from the bondage of sin, this book will become a light for you to illuminate the path to pleasing God, with true joy in your heart.
Today, we have a great darkness masquerading in the form of a "Spiritual church." What causes this darkness that must be illuminated in order for us to find real peace with God? The darkness is caused by all of the modern popular preachers, that dominate television and radio. By and large they preach false doctrines that sound very pleasing to the carnal mind, nevertheless, if you believe the things they preach you will be sliding down the path to hell, any doctrine or preaching that leaves you in your sin and rebellion to God, but at the same time give you a false hope of Heaven, is a doctrine of demons. This is a strong allegation to make, I know, but I believe it to be absolutely true! 2 Timothy 4: 3-4 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Because of the magnitude of the subject, because of all the warnings from God's word, and because of the many years of planting and sowing false doctrines that the devil has already accomplished, please give this book a very careful reading, don't skim over it, don't put it down until you have been fair in having read it at least once through, very carefully. If you don't, a time might come, when it is too late to rectify the problem, and you will spend the rest of forever wishing you had read the Bible, and this book, very carefully.
We have altered this edition of "The Spirit Of Love" for the purpose of making it clearer to the reader, the older seventeenth and eighteenth century style of grammar is very difficult for today's average reader to comprehend. This book is too important not to be read with total comprehension. The publisher.
Chapter 1
What Is The Spirit Of Love?
This book is in the form of a "Dialogue" Between Thomas, Steven, and Gordon-
This Dialogue form of writing was very popular sometime back.
Gordon- My Dear Friend, You do not need to make any apology for the letter you sent to me, for you know that I dislike wasting time and thoughts in matters of theological debate as well as in any disagreements of a worldly nature, knowing that theological debates are generally as much, if not more, hurtful to the heart of man than debates about worldly matters are; yet, as the subject you wish to discuss rather tends to stir up the powers of love more than wrangling with words, I believe the subject is capable of bringing about an occasion for the edifying of both you and myself with the truth, and divine blessedness of the spirit of love.
You say there is nothing in all my writings that has more affected you than the spirit of love that breathes in them, and that you wish for nothing more than to have a living sensibility of the power, life, and religion of love. But you have two objections often rising in your mind: First, that the doctrine of pure and universal love may be too refined and imaginary, because you find that no matter how much you agree with it, yet you cannot attain to it, or overcome all that is in your nature which is contrary to it, no matter what you do; and so you are left to be only an admirer of that doctrine of love which you cannot lay hold of.
Secondly, because you find written in the scriptures a righteousness and justice, a wrath and vengeance of God that must be atoned and satisfied, etc., that though you are in love with that description of the God which I have given, as a being that which is all love, yet you have some doubt whether the scripture teaches that this experience is attainable in this life.
And so your objections stand, but your objections will fall into nothingness as soon as you look at them from a right point of view, and this you will do, as soon as you have found the true foundation of the nature, power, and necessity of this blessed spirit of love. Now the spirit of love began with this, God, as considered in Himself in His holy being, before anything is brought forth by Him or out of Him, is, and has always been, an eternal will to all goodness. This is the one eternal, unchallengeable God, that from eternity to eternity can not change, can be neither more nor less nor anything else but an eternal will to all the goodness that is in Himself. The creation of ever so many worlds or systems of creatures adds nothing to, nor takes anything away from this immutable19 God. He always was and always will be the same unchallengeable will to all goodness. So that as certainly as He is the Creator, so certainly is He the one that blesses every created thing, and can give nothing but blessing, goodness, and happiness from Himself because He has in Himself nothing else to give.
It is much more possible for the sun to give forth darkness than for God to give forth anything but blessing and goodness. Now this is the foundation or starting point of the spirit of love in the creature; it is and must be a will to all goodness, and you do not have the spirit of love until you have this will to all goodness, at all times and on all occasions. You may indeed do many works of love and delight, especially at such times as they are not inconvenient to you, or contradictory to your current state or mood. But the spirit of love is not in you until it is the spirit of your life, until you live freely, willingly, and universally according to it. For every spirit acts with freedom and uniqueness according to what it is. It needs no command to live its own life, or be what it is, no more than you need tell wrath to be wrathful. And therefore when love is the spirit of your life, it will always live and work in love, not because of this or that circumstance, but because the spirit of love can only love, wherever it is or goes. As the sparks know no motion but that of flying upwards, whether it be in the darkness of night or in the light of day, so the spirit of love is always in the same course; it knows no difference of time, place, or persons, but whether it gives or forgives, bears or forbears, it is equally doing its own delightful work. For the spirit of love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness because it is the truth and reality of God in the soul, and therefore is the same joy of life and the same good to itself, on every occasion. Would you like to know the blessing of all blessings? It is this, the God of love dwelling in your soul and killing every root of bitterness which is the pain and torment of every earthly, selfish love. For all needs are satisfied, all disorders of nature are removed, no life is any longer a burden, everyday is a day of peace, everything you meet becomes a help to you because everything you see or do is all done in the sweet, gentle element of love. For as love has no selfish will, and wills nothing but its own increase, so everything is as oil to its flame. It must have that which it wills and cannot be disappointed, because everything naturally helps it to live in its own way and to bring forth its own work. The spirit of love does not want to be rewarded, honored, or esteemed. Its only desire is to propagate itself and become the blessing and happiness of everything that desires it. And therefore it meets wrath, evil, hatred and opposition with the same will as the light meets the darkness, only to overcome it with all its blessings. If you want to avoid wrath and ill will or gain the favor of any persons, you might easily fail in your mission; but if you have no will but to all goodness, everything you meet, be it what it will, must be forced to be an assistant to you. For the wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a friend, and every other evil only helps the spirit of love to be more triumphant, to live its own life and find all its own blessings in a higher degree. Whether therefore you consider perfection or happiness, it is all included in the spirit of love and must be so for this reason, because the infinitely perfect and happy God is always and only love, with an unchangeable will to do all goodness; and therefore every creature must be corrupt and unhappy, so far as it is led by any other will other than this one will to do all goodness, all of the time, the will of God. Therefore you see the ground, the nature, and perfection of the spirit of love. Let me now in a word or two show you the necessity of it. Now the necessity is absolute and unchangeable. No creature can be a child of God but only because the goodness of God is in it; nor can they have any union or communion with the goodness of the God until their life is a spirit of love.
"This will to all goodness"
This is the only band of union between God and the creature. All besides this, call it by what name you choose, is only so much error, fiction, impurity, and corruption that has gotten into the creature, and must of all necessity be entirely separated from it before it can have that purity and holiness which alone can see God or even find the divine life. For as God is an unchallengeable will to all goodness, so the divine will can unite or work with no creaturely will but that which wills with Him only that which is good. Here the necessity is absolute; nothing will do instead of this will; all contrivances of holiness, all forms of religious piety, signify nothing without this will to all goodness. For as the will to all goodness is the whole nature of God, so it must be the whole nature of every service or religion that can be acceptable to Him. For nothing serves God or worships and adores Him but that which wills and works with Him. For God can delight in nothing but his own will and his own Spirit, because all goodness is included in it and can be nowhere else. And therefore everything that follows it's own will or it's own spirit forsakes the one will to all goodness, and as a result it does not have capacity for the light and Spirit of God.
Everything therefore but the will and life of goodness is an apostasy in the creature
The necessity therefore of the spirit of love is the very thing that God Himself cannot dispense with in the creature, no more than he can deny Himself or act contrary to His own holy being. But as it was His will to all goodness that created angels and the spirits of men, so he can will nothing in their existence but that they should live and work and manifest that same spirit of love and goodness which brought them into being. Everything therefore but the will and life of goodness is an apostasy in the creature and is rebellion against the whole nature of God. There is no peace, nor ever can be for the soul of man but in the purity and perfection of its first created nature; nor can it have its purity and perfection in any other way than in and by the spirit of love. For as love is the God that created all things, so love is the purity, the perfection, and blessing of all created things; and nothing can live in God but as it lives in love. Look at every vice, pain, and disorder in human nature; it is in itself nothing else but the spirit of the creature turned from love to self-seeking or self-will in created things. So that love alone is, and can be the only cure of every evil, and the one that lives in the purity of love is risen out of the power of evil into the freedom of the one Spirit in heaven. The schools have given us very accurate definitions of every vice, whether it be covetousness, pride, wrath, envy, etc., and has shown us how to understand them, and even how to distinguish them from one another. But the Christian has a much shorter way of knowing their nature and power and what they are and do in and to himself. For call them by what names you will, or distinguish them with ever so much exactness, they are all, just that same thing, and all do the same work, just as the scribes, the Pharisees, hypocrites, and rabble of the Jews who crucified Christ were all the same thing and all did the same work, however different they were in their outward names. If you would therefore have a true sense of the nature and power of pride, wrath, covetousness, envy, etc., they are in their whole nature nothing else but the murderers and crucifiers of the true Christ of God; not as the high priests did many hundred years ago, nailing his outward humanity to an outward cross, but crucifying afresh the Son of God, the holy Emmanuel, who is the Christ that every man crucifies as often as he gives way to wrath, pride, envy, immorality, or covetousness, etc. For every temper or passion that is contrary to the new birth of Christ and keeps the holy Emmanuel from coming to life in the soul is, in the strictest sense of the words, a murderer and killer of the Lord of life. And where pride and envy and hatred, etc., are allowed to live, there the same thing is done as when Christ was killed and Barabbas was saved alive. The Christ of God was not then first crucified when the Jews brought Him to the cross but Adam and Eve were his first real murderers; for the death which happened to them in the day that they did eat of the earthly tree was the death of the Christ of God or the divine life in their souls. For Christ would have never come into the world as a second Adam to redeem it, had he not been originally the life and perfection and glory of the first Adam. And he is our atonement and reconciliation with God, because when he is brought to life in us, we are set again in that first state of holiness, and have Christ again in us as our first father had at his creation. For had not Christ been in our first father as a birth of life in him, Adam would have been created a mere child of wrath, in the same impurity of nature, in the same enmity with God, and in the same need of an atoning Savior as we are at this day. For God can have no delight or union with any creature but because his well-beloved Son, the express image of his person, is found in it. This is as true of all the un-fallen as of all fallen creatures; the latter must be redeemed (have Christ restored to them) and the other need no redemption, because the life of Christ dwells in them. For as the Word, or Son of God, is the creator of all things, and by Him everything is made that was made, so everything that is good and holy in un-fallen angels is as much through His living and dwelling in them as everything that is good and holy in redeemed man is through Him. And He is just as much the preserver, the strength, and glory, and life of all the thrones and principalities of heaven as He is the righteousness, the peace, and redemption of fallen man. This Christ of God has many names in scripture, but they all mean this, that He is, and alone can be, the light and life and holiness of every creature that is holy, whether in heaven or on earth. Wherever Christ is not, there is the wrath of nature or nature left to itself and its own tormenting strength of life, to feel nothing in itself but the vain, restless contrariety of its own working properties. This is the only origin of hell, and every kind of curse and misery in the creature.
"Whenever therefore you willingly indulge wrath or let your mind work in hatred, you not only work without Christ, but you resist Him and withstand His redeeming power over you."
It is nature without the Christ of God or the spirit of love ruling over it. And here you may observe that wrath has in itself the nature of hell, and hell can have no beginning or power in any creature but so far as that person has lost (or died to) the Christ of God. And when Christ is everywhere, wrath and hatred will be nowhere. Whenever therefore you willingly indulge wrath or let your mind work in hatred, you not only work without Christ, but you resist Him and His redeeming power over you. You do in reality what those Jews did when they said, "We will not have this man to reign over us." For Christ never was, nor can be, in any creature but purely as a spirit of love. In all the universe of nature nothing but heaven and heavenly creatures ever had, or could have known the spirit of love, those which came forth out of God. For God can will nothing in the life of the creature but a creaturely manifestation of His own goodness, happiness and perfection. And therefore, where this is not found, the fact is certain that the creature has changed and lost its first state that it had from God.
Everything therefore which is the vanity, wrath, torment and evil of man is solely the effect of his will turned away from God and can come from nothing else. Misery and wickedness can have no other foundation or root, for whatever wills and works with God must of all necessity partake of the happiness and perfection of God. This therefore is a certain truth, that hell and death, curse and misery, can never cease or be removed from the creation until the will of the creature is again as it originally was when it came from God, and is a spirit of love that wills nothing but goodness. All of fallen creation, no matter how long it stands, must groan and travail in pain; this must be its hellish state until every contrariety to the divine will is entirely taken from it. Which is only saying that all the powers and properties of nature are a misery to themselves, and can only work in anxiety and wrath until the birth of the Son of God brings them under the dominion and power of the spirit of love. Therefore you have seen the original, unchallengeable necessity of the spirit of love. It is no imaginary refinement or speculative curiosity, but is of the highest reality and most absolute necessity. It stands in the perfection of God, and not only every intelligent creature, but every inanimate thing must work in vanity and unrest until it has its state in and works under the spirit of love.
For as love brought forth all things, and all things were what they were and had their place and state under the working power of love, so everything that has lost its first-created state must be in restless strife and anxiety until it finds it again. There is no sort of strife, wrath, or storm in outward nature, or corruption in any elementary things but that which is a full proof of this truth, i.e., that nature can have no rest but must be in the strife of agitation, unrest, and corruption, constantly doing and undoing, building and destroying, until the spirit of love has set right all outward nature and brought it back again into that glassy sea of unity and purity in which John beheld the throne of God in the midst of it. For this glassy sea, which the beloved apostle was blessed with the sight of, is the transparent, heavenly element in which all the properties and powers of nature move and work in the unity and purity of the one will of God, only known as so many endless forms of triumphing light and love.
Every son of fallen Adam is under the necessity of working and striving after something that he neither is, nor has, and for the same reason, because the life of man has lost its first unity and purity and therefore must be in a working strife until all contrariety and impurity is separated from it and it finds its first state in God. All men both evil and good, and all the wisdom and folly of this life, are proof of this. For the vanity of wicked men in their various ways, and the labors of good men in faith and hope, etc., proceed from the same cause, a want and desire of having and being something that they neither are nor have. The evil seek wrong and the good seek right, but they both are seekers, and for the same reason, which is because their present state does not have the thing it wants to have. And this must be the state of human life and of every creature that has fallen from its first state. It must do as the polluted fluid does; it must ferment and work, either right or wrong, to mend its state. The muddled wine always works right to the utmost of its power because it works according to nature, but if it had an intelligent free will it might work as vainly as man does. It might continually thicken itself, be always stirring up its own dregs, just as well as the soul of man seeks happiness in the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All which must of the same necessity fall away from the heart of man before it can find its happiness in God, as the dregs must separate from the wine before it can have its perfection and clearness. Purification therefore is the one thing necessary, and nothing will do in its place. But man is not purified until every earthly, wrathful, sensual, selfish, self-willing temper is taken from him. He is not dying to himself until he is dying to these tempers, and he is not alive in God until he is dead to all of them. For he needs purification only because he has these tempers, and therefore he does not have the purification which he wants until they are all separated from him. It is the purity and perfection of the divine nature that must be brought again into him, because it was in purity and perfection that he came forth from God, he was a child of God, that was to be blessed by a life in Him and from Him. For nothing impure or imperfect in its will and working can have any union with God. Nor are you to think that these words, the purity and perfection of God, are too high to be used in this context, for they only mean that the will of the creature, as an offspring of the divine will, must will and work with the will of God, for then it stands and lives truly and really in the purity and perfection of God, and whatever does not do this is at enmity with God and cannot have any union of life and happiness with Him nor in Him.
Now nothing wills and works with God but the spirit of love, because nothing else works in God Himself. The almighty brought forth all nature only for this end, that boundless love might have its infinity of height and depth to dwell and work in, and all the striving and working properties of nature are only to give essence and substance, life and strength, to the invisible hidden spirit of love, that it may come forth into outward activity and manifest its blessed powers, that creatures born in the strength, and out of the powers of nature, might communicate the spirit of love and goodness, give and receive mutual delight and joy to and from each other. All below this state of love is a fall from the one life of God, and the only life in which the God of love can dwell. Self, partiality, mine, yours, etc., are attitudes that can only belong to creatures that have lost the power, presence, and spirit of the universal good. They can't have a place in heaven, nor can they be anywhere because heaven is lost to them. Do not think, therefore, that the spirit of pure, universal love which is the one purity and perfection of heaven has been, or can be carried too high or its absolute necessity too much asserted. For it admits no degrees of higher or lower, and is not in being until it is absolutely pure, no more than a line can be straight until it is absolutely free from all crookedness.
All the design of Christian redemption is to remove everything that is un-heavenly, dark, wrathful, and disordered from every part of this fallen world. And when you see storms and tempests, and every kind of evil, misery, and wickedness, you see that which Christ came into the world to remove, not only to give a new birth to fallen man, but also to deliver all outward nature from its present vanity and evil and set it again in its first heavenly state. Now if you ask how all things came into this evil and vanity, it is because they have lost the blessed spirit of love which alone brings forth the happiness and perfection of every power of nature. Look at darkness, it could not have had any existence, but because the light of God is no longer dwelling in it. Nature is at first only spiritual. It has in itself nothing but the spiritual properties of the desire, which is the very being and foundation of nature. But when these spiritual properties are not filled and blessed, and all held in one will by the light and love of God ruling in them, then something is found in nature which never should have been found in it.
Therefore, when the desire (the first property of nature) in any intelligent creature leaves the unity and universality of the spirit of love and shuts itself up in it's "own will," "own love," and "self-seeking," then it does all that inwardly and spiritually in the soul, which it does in outward darkness. And had not "own will," "own love," and "self- seeking" come into the spirit of the creature, it never could have found or felt any outward contrariety or darkness. For no creature can have any other outward nature but that which is in the same state with its inward spirit, and belongs to it as its own natural growth.
Modern metaphysics has no knowledge of the ground and nature either of spirit or body, but supposes them not only without any natural relation, but essentially contrary to one another, and only held together in a forced conjunction by the arbitrary will of God. No, if you were to say that God first created a soul out of nothing, and when that is done, then takes an understanding faculty and puts it into it, after that adds a will and then a memory, all is independently made, as when a tailor first makes the body of a coat and then adds sleeves or pockets to it. If you were to say this, the schools of Descartes, Malebranche, or Locke could have nothing to say against it. For all these philosophers were so far from knowing the ground of nature, how it is a birth from God, and all creatures a birth from nature through the working will of God in and by the powers of nature, they were so far from knowing this, that they held to the notion that we are a creation out of "nothing," and as a result, they were necessarily excluded from every fundamental truth concerning the origin either of body or spirit and their true relation to one another.
For a creation out of nothing does not explain why everything is as it is. Now every wise man is supposed to have respect to nature in everything that he would have joined together; he cannot suppose his work to succeed unless this is done. But to suppose God created man with a body and soul, not only not naturally related but naturally impossible to be united by any powers in either of them, is to suppose God acting and creating man into an unnatural state, which yet He could not do unless there was such a thing as nature antecedent20 to the creation of man. And how can nature be, or have anything but what it is and has from God? Therefore to suppose God to bring any creature into an unnatural state is to suppose Him to act contrary to Himself and to that nature which is from Him. Yet just about all the instructions from Bible schools do this. It supposes God to bring a soul and a body together which have the utmost natural contrariety to each other and can only affect or act upon one another by the arbitrary will of God, willing that body and soul, held together by force, should seem to do that to one another which they have no natural or possible power to do. But the true way of this matter, known only to the soul, is that by a new birth from above, it has found its first state in and from God: namely, that nature is a birth or manifestation of the triune invisible God. And as it could only come into existence as a birth from God, so every creature can only come forth as a birth from and out of nature by the will of God, willing it to come forth in such a birth. And no creature can have, or be, anything but by and according to the working powers of nature; and therefore, strictly speaking, no creature can be, or be put into an unnatural state. It may indeed lose or fall from its natural perfection by the wrong use or working of its will; but then its fallen state is the natural effect of the wrong use of its will, and so it only has that which is natural to it. The truth of the matter is this: There neither is, nor can be, anything nor any effect in the whole universe of things but by way of birth. For as the working will is the first cause or beginner of everything, so nothing can proceed further than as it is driven by the will and is a birth of it. And therefore nothing can be in anything but what is natural to its own working will and the true effect of it. Everything that is outward in any being is only a birth of its own spirit, and therefore all body, whether it be heavenly, earthly or hellish, has its whole nature and condition from its own inward spirit, and no spirit can have a body of any other properties but such as are natural to it as being its own true outward state. For body and spirit are not two separate, independent things, but are necessary to each other, and are only the inward and outward conditions of the same thing. Every creaturely spirit must have its own body and cannot be without it, for its body is that which makes it manifest to itself.
Now a desire that cannot be stopped nor receive what it wants to have, has a threefold contrariety working in it, which you may conceive as follows: The first and peculiar property, or the one will of the desire, as such, is to receive that which it does not have; and all it can do toward having it is to act as if it were seizing it; and this is it which makes the desire to be a compressing, enclosing, or astringing, because that is all that it can do toward seizing the thing it desires. But the desire cannot receive that which it desires. And thus the desire, in its working, sets out with two contrary properties, inseparable from one another and equal in strength; for the action has no strength but as it is the drawing of the desire; and the desire only draws in the same degree as it can; and therefore the desire, always receives a resistance equal to itself. Now from this great and equally strong contrariety of the two first properties of the desire, or as may be said, two contrary ways, there arises as a necessary birth from both of them of a third property which is emphatically called a "whirling" anguish of life. For a thing that can go neither inward nor outward and yet must move under the equal power of both of them, must whirl or turn around; it has no possibility of doing anything else or of ceasing to do that. And that this whirling contrariety of these inseparable properties is the great anguish of life, and may properly be called the hell of nature; every lesser torment which any man finds in this mixed world has all its existence and power from the working of these three properties. For life can find no troublesome motions or sensibility of distress but so far as it comes under their power, and enters into their whirling wheels. Now here you may observe that as this whirling anguish of life is a third state necessarily arising from the contrariety of the two first properties of the desire, so in this material system every whirling or orbital motion of any body is solely the effect or product of the contrariety of these two first properties.
"Sir Isaac Newton plowed with Jacob Behmen's heifer when he brought forth the discovery of them"
For no material things can whirl or move around until it is under the power of these two properties; that is, until it can neither go in nor out and yet it is forced to move, just as the whirling anguish of the desire begins when it can neither go inwards nor outwards and yet must be in motion. And this may be again another strict demonstration to you that all the matter of this world is from spiritual properties, since all its workings and effects are according to them. For if matter does nothing but according to them, it can be nothing but what it is and has from them. Here also, in these three properties of the desire, you see the ground and reason of the three great laws of matter and motion lately discovered, and no more need be told than that the illustrious Sir Isaac Newton plowed with Jacob Behmen's heifer when he brought forth the discovery of them. In the mathematical system of this great scientific philosopher these three properties, attraction, equal resistance, and the orbital motion of the planets as the effect of them, etc., are only treated of as facts and appearances whose ground is not pretended to be known. But in our Jacob Behman, the illuminated instrument of God, their birth and power in eternity is opened; their eternal beginning is shown, and how and why all worlds and the life of every creature, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or hellish, must be in them and from them, and can have no nature either spiritual or material, no kind of happiness or misery but according to the working power and state of these properties. All outward nature, all inward life, is what it is and works as it works from this unceasing, powerful attraction, resistance, and whirling. Every madness and folly of life is their immediate work and every good spirit of wisdom and love has all its strength and activity from them. They equally support darkness and light. Not a thought of the mind either of love or hatred, of joy or trouble, of envy or wrath, of pride and covetousness, can rise in the spirit of any creature but as these properties act and stir in it. And from this manifestation of God in the seven properties of nature or kingdom of heaven, he most wonderfully opens and accounts for all that was done in the six first working days of the creation, showing how every one of the six active properties had its peculiar day's work until the whole ended or rested in the sanctified, paradisiacal Sabbath of the seventh day, just as nature does in its seventh property. And now, sir, you may see in the greatest clearness how everything in this world, everything in the soul and body of man, absolutely requires the one redemption of the gospel. There is but one nature in all created things, whether spiritual or material; they stand and work upon the same ground, the three first properties of nature. Only that which can illuminate the soul, can give brightness and purity to the body. For there is no darkness, and contrariety in the body but that which proceeds from the same cause that makes selfishness, wrath, envy, and torment in the soul; it is but the same state and working of the first three properties of nature. All is evil, whether natural or moral, whether of body or spirit, this is the sole effect of the wrath and disorder of the spirits of nature working in and by themselves.
All of the good, perfection, and purity of everything, whether spiritual or material, whether it be the body or spirit of man or angel, is solely from the power and presence of the supernatural Deity dwelling and working in the properties of nature. For the properties of nature are in themselves nothing else but a mere hunger, want, strife, and contrariety, until the fullness and riches of the Christ entering into them and unites them all in one will and one possession of light and harmonious love, which is the one redemption of the gospel, and the reason why nothing else but the heart or Son or light of God can purify nature and creature from all the evil they are fallen into. For nothing can possibly deliver the soul from its selfish nature and earthly passions but that one power that can deliver matter from its present material properties and turn earth into heaven. And for this plain reason, because soul and body, outward nature and inward life, have the same evil in them and from the same cause. The Deist21, therefore, who looks for life and salvation through the use of his reason, acts contrary to the whole nature of everything that he sees and knows of himself and of the nature and state of this world. For from one end of it to the other, all its material state, all its divided elements declare that they are what they are because the light and love of heaven is not working and manifest in them, and that nothing can take darkness, materiality, rage, storms, and tempests from them but that same heavenly light and love which was made flesh to redeem the fallen humanity first, and after that, the whole material system.
Can the Deist with his reason bring the light of this world into the eyes of his body? If not, why is it to be less absurd or more possible for reason to bring heavenly light into the soul? Yet nothing less than such a power can possibly help the soul out of its fallen, earthly state. For the corruption of flesh and blood is the natural state of the fallen soul, and therefore nothing can purify the soul, or raise it out of its earthly, corrupt state, but that which has all power over all that is earthly and material in nature. To pretend therefore that reason may have sufficient power to remove all hellish depravity and earthly lusts from the soul while it has not the least power over sweet or sour in any one particle of matter in the body is as absurd as if a man should pretend that he has power to alter the inward, invisible, life of a plant, but none at all over its outward state, color, leaves, or fruit.
The Deist therefore, and not the Christian, stands in need of continual miracles to make good his doctrine. For reason can have no pretense to amend or alter the life of the soul but so far as it can show that it has power to amend and alter the nature and state of the body. The unbelieving Jews said of our Lord, "How can this man forgive sins?" Christ showed them how by appealing to that power which they saw he had over the body: "Which," says he, "Is it easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, arise, take up your bed, and walk?" But the delusion of the unbelieving Deist is greater than that of the Jew. For the Deist sees that his reason has no power over his body; can remove no disease, blindness, deafness, or lameness from it, and yet will pretend to have power enough from his reason to help the soul out of all its evil, not knowing that body and soul go hand in hand, and are nothing else but the inward and outward state of the same life, and that therefore he only, who can say to the dead body of Lazarus, "Come forth," can say to the soul, "Be cleansed." The Deist therefore, if he pleases, may style himself a natural or a moral philosopher, but with no more truth than he can call himself a healer of all the diseases of the body. And for a man to think himself a moral philosopher because he has put together a choice collection of witty sayings in order to quicken and revive a divine goodness in the soul, or that no redeemer need come from heaven because human reason when truly left to itself has great skill in the severing of logic, may justly be deemed such an ignorance of the nature of things as is seldom found in the illiterate and unlearned people of this world.
"By denying and dying to self"
To return to our chief subject, the sum of all that has been said is this: All evil, no matter what it is, all misery of every kind, is in its birth, and working, nothing else but nature left to itself, and under the divided workings of its own hunger, wrath, and contrariety; and therefore no possibility for the natural, earthly man to escape eternal hunger, wrath, and contrariety, but solely in the way the gospel teaches, by denying and dying to self. On the other hand, all the goodness and perfection, all the happiness, glory, and joy that any intelligent, divine creature can be possessed of, is, and can be, from nothing else but the invisible uncreated light and Spirit of God manifesting itself in the properties of the creaturely life, filling, blessing, and uniting them all in one love and joy of life. And again: no possibility of man's attaining to any heavenly perfection and happiness, but only in the way of the gospel, by the union of the divine nature of God and human nature, by man's being born again from above of the Word and Spirit of God. There is no possibility of any other way because there is nothing that can possibly change the first properties of life into a heavenly state but the presence and working power of the God united with, and working in them. And therefore the "Word was made flesh," and must of all necessity be made flesh if man is to have a heavenly nature. Now as all evil, sin, and misery have no other beginning, nor power of working, but in the manifestation of nature in its divided, contrary properties, so it is certain that man has nothing to turn to, seek or aspire after but the lost spirit of love. And therefore it is, that God only can be his redeemer, because God only is love, and love can be nowhere else but in God and where God dwells and works.
Now the difficulty which you find in attaining to this purity and universality of the spirit of love is because you seek for it, in the way of reasoning. You would be possessed of it only from a rational conviction of the fitness and amiableness of it. And as this clear idea does not put you immediately into the real possession of it, your reason begins to waver, and suggests to you that it may be only a fine notion that has no ground but in the power of the imagination. But this is all your own error, and as contrary to nature as if you would have your eyes do that which only your hands or feet can do for you. The spirit of love is a spirit of nature and life, and all the operations of nature and life are according to the working powers of nature, and every growth and degree of life can only arise in its own time and place from its proper cause and as the genuine effect of it. Nature and life do nothing by chance or accidentally, but everything is done in a uniform way. Fire, air, and light do not proceed sometimes from one thing and sometimes from another, but wherever they are, they are always born in the same manner and from the same working properties of nature. So in like manner, love is an unchallengeable birth, always proceeding from the same cause, and cannot be in existence until its own true parents have brought it forth.
How unreasonable would it be to begin to doubt whether strength and health of body were real things or even possible to be had, because you could not by the power of your reason take possession of them? Yet this is as well as to suspect the purity and perfection of love to be only a notion, because your reason cannot bring forth its birth in your soul. For reason has no more power of altering the life and properties of the soul than of altering the life and properties of the body. That, and that alone, can cast devils and evil spirits out of the soul, that can say to the storm, "Be still," and to the leper, "Be cleansed."
The birth of love is a form or state of life, and has its fixed place in the fifth form of nature. The three first properties or forms of nature are the ground of life that is in itself only as an extreme hunger, want, strife, and contrariety. And they are in this state, that they may become a proper fuel for the fourth form of nature, the fire, to be kindled in them. You will perhaps say, "What is this fire? What is its nature? And how is it started? And how is it that the hunger and anguishing state of the properties are a fitness to be a fuel of this fire?" It may be answered, this hunger and anguish of nature, in its first forms, is its fitness to be changed into a life of light, joy, and happiness: and, it is in this hunger and anguish only for one reason, because God is not in it. For as nature comes from God, and for this end that the Deity may manifest heaven in it, it will remain in this hungering and anguishing state until the God is manifested in it. And therefore its hunger and anguish is its true fitness to be changed into a better state, and this is its fitness for the birth of the fire. For the fire means nothing and is nothing else but that which changes them into a better state. Not as if fire was a fourth, distinct thing that comes into them from without, but is only a fourth state, or condition into which the same properties are brought.
The fire then is the very thing that changes the properties into a new and heavenly state. Therefore the fire does two things. It alters the state of nature and brings heaven into it, and it must work from a two-fold power: the Deity and nature must both be in it. It must have some strength from nature, or it could not work in nature. It must have some strength from God or it could not overcome and change nature into a divine life. Now all this is only to show you that the fire can only be kindled by the entrance of the supernatural God, into a union with nature. And this union of the Deity and nature makes, or brings forth, that state or form of life which is called and truly is, fire:
First, because it does that in the spiritual properties of nature which fire does in the properties of material nature.
Secondly, because it is that alone from which every fire in this world, whether in the life of animal or vegetable or inanimate matter, has its source and power and possibility of burning. The fire of this world overcomes its fuel, breaks its nature, alters its state and changes it into flame and light.
But why does it do this? Why did it get this nature and power? It is because it is a true out-birth of the eternal fire which overcomes the darkness, wrath, and contrariety of nature, and changes all its properties into a life of light, joy, and glory. Not a spark of fire could be kindled in this world, nor a ray of light could come from any material fire but because material nature is, in itself, nothing else but the very properties of eternal nature, standing for a time in a material state or condition; and therefore they must work in time as they do in eternity; and consequently there must be fire in this world, it must have the same birth and do the same work in its material way, which the eternal fire has, and does in spiritual nature. And this is the reason why everything in this world is delivered as far as it can be from its earthly impurity, and brought into its highest state of existence only by fire. The eternal fire is the purifier of eternal nature and the opener of every perfection, light, and glory in it. And if you ask why the eternal fire is the purifier of eternal nature, the reason is plain; it is because the eternal fire has its birth and nature and power from the entrance of the pure, supernatural Deity into the properties of nature, the properties must change their state and become something they were not before, as soon as God enters into them. Their darkness, wrath, and contrariety is driven out of them, and they work and give forth only a life and strength of light and joy and glory. And this two-fold operation, on the one hand taking from nature its wrathful workings, and on the other hand opening a glorious manifestation of God in them, is the whole nature and form of the fire, and is the reason why from eternity to eternity it is and must be the purifier of eternal nature, namely, as from eternity to eternity changing nature into a kingdom of heaven. Now every fire in this world does, and must do, the same thing in its low way to the utmost of its power, and can do nothing else. Start a fire where or in what you will, it acts only as, and by the power of this eternal purifying fire; and therefore it consumes everything, and makes all that is pure and spirituous to come forth out of it; and therefore purification is its only work through all material nature, because it is a real out-birth of that eternal fire which purifies eternal nature, and changes it into a heaven of glory.
This entrance of the supernatural Deity into them is the consuming of all that is bad in them and turning all their strength into a working life of light, joy, and heavenly glory; and therefore is called fire, as having no other nature and operation in it but the known nature of fire, and also as being that from which every fire in this world has all its nature and power of doing as it does. But, fire has but one nature throughout the whole universe, and material fire has no more nor less of the nature of fire in it than that which is in eternal nature because it does nothing, works nothing but what it has, and works from this. How easy is it for you to see that the fire of the soul and the fire of the body has only one nature? How else could they unite in their heat? How easy also to see that the fire of animal life is the same fire that burns in the kitchen22? How else could the kitchen fire be serviceable to animal life? What good would it do you to come to a fire of wood when you wanted to have the heat of your own life increased? In animal life the fire is kindled and preserved in such a degree and under such circumstances as to be life and the preservation of life, and this is its difference from fires that are kindled in wood and burnt to ashes. It is the same fire, only in a different state, that keeps up life and consumes wood, and has no other nature in the wood than in the animal. Just as in water that is heated up to make it warm, or to make it boiling hot, the same nature and power of fire is in both but only in a different degree.
Now will you say that fire is not to be literally understood when it only makes water to be warm, because it is not red and flaming as you see it in a burning coal? Yet this would be as well as to say that fire is not literally to be understood in the animal life because it is so different from that fire which you see burning in a piece of wood. It is the same great power of God in the spiritual and material world; it is the cause of every life and the introduction of every power of nature, and its one great work through all nature and creature, animate and inanimate, is purification and exaltation; it can do nothing else for this reason, because its birth is from the entrance of the pure Deity into nature, and therefore must in its various states and degrees be doing that which the entrance of God into nature does. It must bring every natural thing into its highest state.
But to go back now to the spirit of love and show you the time and place of its birth before which it can have no existence in your soul, no matter what you try to do to have it. The fire, you see, is the first over-comer of the hungry, wrathful, self-tormenting state of the properties of nature, and it only overcomes them because it is the entrance of the living God into them; and therefore that which overcomes them is the light of the Deity. And this is the true reason why every right-kindled fire must give forth light and cannot do otherwise. It is because the eternal fire is only the effect or operation of the supernatural light of the Deity entering into nature; and therefore fire must give forth light because it is only a power of the light, and light can be nowhere in nature but as a fifth form or state of nature, brought forth by the fire. And as light brought forth is the first state that is lovely and delightful in nature, so the spirit of love has only its birth in the light of life, and can be nowhere else. For the properties of life have no common good, nothing to rejoice in, until this light of God is found, and therefore there is no possible beginning of the spirit of love until then. The shock that is given to the three first properties of nature by the amazing light of God breaking in upon them is the operation of the fire that consumes or takes away the wrathful strength and contrariety of the properties, and forces each of them to shrink, as it were, away from itself, and come under the power of this new-risen light. Here all strife, enmity and wrathful contrariety in the properties must cease because all are united in the love of the light, and all are equally helping one another to a higher enjoyment and delight in it. They are all one triune will, all doing the same thing, all rejoicing in the one love of the light. And here it is, in this delightful unity of operation, that the spirit of love is born, in the fifth property or light of life, and cannot possibly rise up in any creature until the properties of its life are brought into this fifth state, therefore changed and exalted into a new sensibility of life. Let me give you this similitude of the matter: Imagine, yourself a man shut up in a deep cave underground, without ever having seen a ray of the light, your body is tortured all over with pain, your mind distracted with rage, whirling and working with the utmost fury and madness, and you don't know why; and then you have an image of the first properties of life as they are in themselves before the fire has done its work in them. Think for a moment of you being suddenly surrounded, with a glare of light as in the twinkling of an eye, it struck dead every evil working of every pain and all rage, both in your body and mind; and then you have an image of the operation of the fire and what it does to the first properties of nature. Now as soon as the first terror of the light has had its fiery operation, and struck nothing dead but every working sensibility of distress, and wrath, imagine yourself, in the sweetest peace of mind and bodily sensations, blessed in a new region of light, giving joy to your mind and gratification to every sense; the overflowing of love and delight in this new state may give you an image of how the spirit of love is and must be born when fire and light have overcome and changed the state of the first properties of nature, and never until then can they have any existence in any creature, nor can they proceed forth from any other cause. You may sufficiently see how vainly you attempt to acquire for yourself the spirit of love by the power of your reason; and also what a vanity of all vanities there is in the religion of the Deists who will have no other perfection or divine life but what they can have from their reason, as great a contradiction to nature as if they would have no life or strength of body but that which can be had from their faculty of reasoning. For reason can not alter or exalt any of the properties of life in the soul nor bring it into its perfect state, no more than it can add one cubit to the stature of the body. The perfection of every life is not possible, nor can it be had but as every flower comes to its perfection, from its own seed and root and the various degrees of alteration which must be gone through before the flower is found. It is strictly this way with the perfection of the soul; all of its properties of life must have their true natural birth and growth from one another.
"Nature must be set right, its properties must enter into the process of a new birth"
The first, as its seed and root, must have their natural change into a higher state; it must, like the seed of the flower, pass through death into life, Blessed by the fire and light and air of this world until it reaches its last perfection and becomes a beautiful sweet-smelling flower. And to think that the soul can attain its perfection any other way than by the change of its first properties, until it flowers, for as whatever dies cannot have a death particular to itself but the same death in the same way and for the same reasons that any other creature, whether animal or vegetable, ever did die, so every life and degree of life must come into its state and condition of life in the same way and for the same reasons as life and the perfection of life comes into every other living creature, whether in heaven or on earth. Therefore, the Deists religion of reason, which is to raise the soul to its true perfection, is so far from being the religion of nature that it is quite unnatural and declared to be so by every working in nature. For since reason can neither give life nor death to anything in nature, but everything lives or dies according to the working of its own properties, everything either dead or alive gives forth a demonstration that nature asks no counsel of reason, nor stays to be directed by it. Cling fast to this certain truth, that you can have no good come into your soul but only by way of a birth from above, from the entrance of the Deity into the properties of your own soul. Nature must be set right, its properties must enter into that process of a new birth, it must work to the production of light before the spirit of love can have a birth in it. For love is delight, and delight cannot arise in any creature until its nature is in a delightful state or is possessed of that in which it must rejoice. For while the soul has only its natural life, it can only be in such a state as nature, without God is in, a hunger, want, and strife, for something that, and it does not even know what it is. All that variety of blind, restless, contrary passions which govern and torment the life of fallen man. It is because all the properties of nature must work in blindness and be doing they know not what, until the light of God is found in them. Hence also it is that, that which is called the wisdom, honor, honesty, and the religion of the natural man, often does as much hurt to himself and others as his pride, ambition, self-love, envy, or revenge does, and they are all subject to the same impulses; this is because nature is no better in one motion than in another, nor can it be, until something supernatural has come into it.
"For self can have no motion, do no action, but that which is selfish"
We often charge men, both in and out of the church, with changing their principles; but the charge is too hasty, for no man ever did change his principals, or even can change his principles but only by a birth from above. The natural man, called in scripture the old man, is always the same in heart and spirit in everything he does, whatever variety of names may be given to his actions. For self can have no motion, nor do anything, but that which is selfish, wherever it goes, or whatever it does, either in church or state. And be assured of this, that nature in every man, whether he is educated or uneducated, is always this very self and can be nothing else until a birth of Jesus Christ is brought forth in it. There is therefore no possibility of having the spirit of love or any divine goodness from any power of nature or working of reason. It can only be had in its own time and place; and its time and place is nowhere but where nature is overcome by a birth of the life of God in the properties of the soul. And so you see the infallible truth and absolute necessity of Christian redemption; it is the most demonstrable thing in all nature. The Deity must become man, take a birth in the fallen nature, be united to it, become the life of it or the natural man must of all necessity be forever and ever in the hell of his own hunger, anguish, contrariety, and self-torment; and all for this plain reason, because nature is and can be nothing else but this variety of self-torment, until the Deity is manifested and dwelling in it. And now, you can see the absolute necessity of the gospel doctrine of the cross, of dying to self as the only way to have life in God. This cross, or dying to self, is the only thing that can do man any good at all. Imagine as many rules as you will of remodeling the moral behavior of man, they all do nothing because they leave self-nature still alive, and therefore can only help a man to pretend, or act out in a hypocritical art of concealing his own inward evil and pretending not to be under its power. And the reason why it must be so is obvious; it is because it is not possible to reform nature; it is unchallengeable in its workings and must be always as it is and never any better or worse than its own un-Godly workings are. It can no more change from evil to good than darkness can work itself into light. The only work therefore of morality is the doctrine of the cross, to resist and deny nature, that a supernatural power to divine goodness may take possession of it and bring a new light into it. In a word, there are in all the possibility of things but two states or forms of life; the one is nature (the old man) and the other is God manifested in nature (newness of life); and as God and nature are both within you, so you have it in your power to live and work with which one you will, but you are under a necessity of obeying either the one or the other. There is no standing still; life goes on and will always bring forth its realities, which ever way it goes. You have seen what the properties of nature are, and they can be, nothing else in their own life but a restless hunger, unrest, and blind strife for they know not what, until the property of light and love has gotten possession of them.
Now when you see this, you see the true state of every natural man, whether he is Caesar or Cato, whether he gloriously murders others or only stabs himself; blind nature does all the work and must be the doer of it until the Christ of God is born in him. For the life of man can be nothing else but a hunger of covetousness, a rising up of pride, envy, and wrath, a medley of contrary passions, doing and undoing it knows not what, because these workings are essential to the properties of nature; they must be always hungering and working one against the other, striving to be above one another, and all this in blindness, until the light of God has helped them to one common good, in which they all willingly unite, rest, and rejoice. Goodness is only a word, a sound, a virtue, and can be nothing more until the spirit of love is the breath of everything that lives and moves in the heart. For love can be the only blessing and goodness of nature; and you have no true religion, you are not a worshiper of the one true God, but in and by that spirit of love which is God Himself living and working in you. But here I put down my pen and shall leave the remaining part of this teaching for another opportunity. King's Cliffe, June 16, 1752.
Chapter 2
The Essence of the Spirit Of Love
A Dialogue between Thomas, Steven, and Gordon
Thomas- Gordon, I'd like you to meet Steven, a pastor in my neighborhood; he would not let me wait any longer for your second conversation about the spirit of love, nor be content until I consented to our inviting you for another visit. And indeed, we are both equally impatient to have your full answer to a particular part of my objection, which you reserved for this second conversation.
Gordon- My heart embraces you both with the greatest affection, and I am very pleased at this occasion of your coming, and I am looking forward sharing with you, the most delightful subject in the whole world, and to help both you as well as myself to rejoice in that Deity whose infinite being is an infinity of love, an un-beginning, never ceasing, and forever overflowing ocean of meekness23, sweetness, delight, blessing, goodness, patience, and mercy, and all this as so many blessed streams breaking out of the ocean of universal love, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a triune infinity of love and goodness, forever and ever giving forth nothing but the same gifts of light and love, of blessing and joy, before and after the fall, both of angels and men. Look at all nature, through all its height and depth, in all its variety of working powers; it is what it is for this reason only, that the hidden riches, the invisible powers, blessings, glory, and love of the un-searchable God may become visible, sensible, and manifest in it. Look at all the variety of creatures; they are what they are for this one purpose, that in their infinite variety, degrees, and capacities they may be as so many speaking figures, and living forms of the manifold riches and powers of nature, so many sounds and voices, preachers, and trumpets, giving glory and praise and thanksgiving to that God of love who gives life to all nature and creatures. For every creature of un-fallen nature, call it by what name you will, has its form, and power, and state, and place in nature for no other end but to open and enjoy, to manifest and rejoice in some share of the love, happiness and goodness of God, as springing forth in the boundless height and depth of nature. Now this is the one will and work of God in and through all nature and creature. From eternity to eternity He can will and intend nothing toward them, or in them, or even by them, but the communication of various degrees of His own love, goodness, and happiness to them, according to their state, and place, and capacity in nature.
This is God's unchangeable disposition toward the creature; He can be nothing else but all goodness toward it because He can be nothing toward the creature but that which He is, and ever shall be in Himself. God can no more begin to have any wrath, rage, or anger in Himself after nature and creature are in a fallen state, than He could have been infinite wrath and boundless rage everywhere and from all eternity. For nothing can begin to be in God, or to be in a new state in Him; everything that is in Him is essential to Him, as inseparable from Him, as unalterable in Him as the triune nature of His deity.
Thomas- Gordon, Please let me ask you this, does not patience and pity and mercy begin to be in God, and only then begin, when the creature has brought itself into misery? These things could have no existence in the Deity before. Why then may not wrath and anger begin to be in God when the creature has rebelled against Him, though it neither had nor could have had any existence in God before?
Gordon- It's true, Thomas, that God can only then begin to make known His mercy and patience when the creature has lost its righteousness and happiness, yet nothing then begins to be in God, or can be found in Him, but that which was always in Him in the same infinite state, a will to all goodness, which can will nothing else. And His patience and mercy which could not show forth until nature and creature had brought forth misery, this was not a new temperament, or the beginning of some new disposition that was not in God before, but only new and occasional manifestations of that boundless eternal will to all goodness, which always was in God in the same height and depth. The will to all goodness, which is God Himself, began to display itself in a new way when it first gave birth to creatures. The same will to all goodness began to manifest itself in another new way when it became patience and compassion toward fallen man. But neither of these ways are the beginning of any new tempers or qualities in God, but only new and occasional manifestations of that true eternal will to all goodness, which always was, and always will be, in the same fullness of infinity in God. But to suppose that when the creature has abused its power, lost its happiness and plunged itself into a misery out of which it cannot deliver itself, to suppose that only then, there begins to be something in the holy Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost that is not of the nature and essence of God, and which was not there before, i.e. a wrath, and fury, and vindictive vengeance, breaking out in storms of rage and resentment because the poor creature has brought misery upon itself, is wickedness and absurdity that cannot be enough abhorred. For nothing can be in God but that which He is and has from Himself, and therefore no wrath can be in the Deity itself unless God was in Himself before all nature began and from all eternity an infinity of wrath, and anger. Why are love, knowledge, wisdom, and goodness said to be infinite and eternal in God, capable of no increase or decrease, but always in the same utmost state of existence? Why is His power eternal and omnipotent, His presence not here, or there, but everywhere? No reason can be assigned, but because nothing that is temporary, limited, or bounded can be in God. It is His nature to be that which He is, and in an infinite, unchangeable degree, admitting neither higher, nor lower, neither here nor there, but always and everywhere in the same unalterable state of infinity. If therefore wrath, rage, and resentment could be in the Deity itself, it must be an un-beginning, boundless, never-ceasing wrath, capable of no more, or less, no increase or decrease, but always existing, always working, and breaking forth in the same strength, and everywhere equally burning in the height and depth of God.
There is no middle ground here; it must be either all or nothing, either no possibility of wrath, or no possibility of its having any bounds. And therefore, if you would not say that everything that has, or can, or ever shall proceed from God are and can be only so many effects of His eternal and omnipotent wrath, which can never cease, or be less than infinite; if you will not hold this monstrous blasphemy, you must stick close to the absolute impossibility of wrath having any existence in God. For nothing can have any existence in God, but in the way and manner as His eternity, infinity, and omnipotence have their existence in Him. Have you any objections to this?
Thomas- Gordon, both Steven and myself have been from the first fully satisfied with what has been said of this matter in your book of "Regeneration," "The Appeal24," and "The Spirit of Prayer," We find ourselves incapable of thinking any otherwise of God than as the one and only good, or, as you express it, "An eternal immutable25 will to all goodness," which can will nothing else to all eternity, but to communicate good, and blessing, and happiness, and perfection to every life, according to its capacity to receive it. Had I a hundred lives, I could with more ease part with them all by suffering a hundred deaths than give up this lovely idea of God. Nor could I have any desire of eternity for myself if I did not have the hope that, by partaking of the divine nature, I could be eternally delivered from the burden and power of my own wrath and changed into the blessed freedom of a spirit that is all love and a will to nothing but goodness. An eternity without this is but an eternity of trouble. For I know of no hell either here or hereafter, but the power and working of wrath, nor any heaven but where the God of love is all and in all, and working in the life of all. And therefore, the holy Deity is one blessing, and goodness, willing and working only love and goodness to everything as far as it can receive it. This is a truth as deeply grounded in me as the feeling of my own existence. I ask you for no proof of this; my only difficulty is how to reconcile this idea of God to the letter of scripture. First, because the scripture speaks so much and so often of the wrath, and fury, and vindictive vengeance of God. Secondly, because the whole nature of our redemption is so plainly grounded on such a supposed degree of wrath and vengeance in God as could not be satisfied and atoned by anything less than the death and sacrifice of His only begotten Son.
Gordon- I will do more for you, Thomas, in this matter than you seem to expect. I will not only reconcile the letter of scripture with the foregoing description of God but will show you that everything that is said of the necessity of Christ's being the only possible satisfaction and atonement of the vindictive wrath of God is an absolute proof that the wrath of God spoken of never existed, nor exists now, or can possibly ever exist in God.
Steven- Gordon, you have forced me now to speak, and I cannot contain the joy that I feel in this expectation which you have raised in me. If you can show that the scriptures do all that which you have just promised to Thomas, I shall be in paradise before I die. For to know that love alone was the beginning of nature and creature, that nothing but love encompasses the whole universe of things, that the governing hand that overrules all, the watchful eye that sees through all, is nothing but omnipotent and omniscient love using an infinity of wisdom to raise all that is fallen in nature, to save every misguided creature from the miserable works of its own hands, and make happiness and glory the perpetual inheritance of all the creation is a reflection that must be quite magnificent to every intelligent creature that is sensible of it. Therefore to think of God, of His providence, and eternity while we are in this valley and shadow of death is to have a real foretaste of the blessings of the world to come. Please, let us hear how the letter of scripture is a proof of this God of love.
Gordon- Before I do this, Steven, I think it is necessary to show you in a word or two the true ground and nature of wrath in all its kinds, what it is in itself, where it has its birth, life, and manner of existence. And then you will see with your own eyes why, and how, and where wrath or rage can, or cannot be. And until you see this fundamentally in the nature of things, you cannot be at all qualified to judge of the matter in question, but must only think and speak at random, merely as your imagination leads you. For until we know the nature of wrath, what it is in itself, and why, and how it comes into existence, we can not possibly know where it can or cannot enter. Nor can we know what is meant by the satisfaction, appeasement, or atonement of wrath in any being but by knowing how, and why, and for what reason wrath can rise, and work in any being; then and only then can we know how any wrath, wherever raised, can be atoned for or be made to cease. Now there are two things, both of them visible to your outward senses, which entirely open the true ground and nature of wrath and undeniably show what it is in itself, and from where it arises, and what its life, and strength, and being consists of. And these two things are a tempest in the elements of this world and a raging sore in the body of man or any other animal. Now that a tempest in the elements is wrath in the elements, and a sore in the body of an animal is a wrath in the state of the health of the body is a matter, I think, needs no proof or clarification. Consider, then, how or why a tempest arises in the elements, or an inflamed sore in the body, and then you have the true ground and nature of wrath. Now a tempest does not, cannot arise in the elements while they are in their right state, in their just mixture or union with one another. A sore does not, cannot break forth in the body while the body is altogether in its true state of health. Consequently you can plainly see that wrath has its whole nature and it's only ground and existence in and by the disorder or bad state of the thing in which it exists and works. It can have no place of existence, no power of breaking forth, but where the thing has lost its proper perfection and is not as it ought to be. And therefore no good being that is in its proper state of goodness can, while it is in such a state, have any wrath or rage in it. And therefore, as a tempest of any kind in the elements is a sure proof that the elements are not in their right state, but under disorder, as a raging sore in the body is impure and corrupt and not as it should be, so in whatever mind or intelligent being wrath or rage works, and breaks forth, there is proof enough that the mind is in that same impure, corrupt, and disordered state as those elements that raise a tempest and that body which gives forth an inflamed sore. And now, gentlemen, what do you think of a supposed wrath, or rage in God; will you have such things to be in God Himself as cannot have a place or existence in any creature until it has become disordered and impure and has lost its proper state of goodness?
Steven- But pray, Gordon, let me observe that it does not appear to me that there is only one type of wrath possible to be in nature or creature. I grant there is such a likeness in the things you have appealed to as is sufficient to justify poets, orators, or popular speakers in calling a tempest wrath, and wrath a tempest. But this will not do in our present matter; for all that you have said depends upon this, whether, in a philosophic strictness in the nature of the things, there can be only one wrath, wherever it is, proceeding strictly from the same ground, and having everywhere the same nature. Now if you can prove this identity or sameness of wrath, be it where it will, either in an intelligent mind, the elements of this world, or the body of an animal, then your point is absolutely gained, and there can be no possibility for wrath to have any existence in God. But as body and spirit are generally held to be quite contrary to each other in their most essential qualities, I do not know how you can sufficiently prove that they can only have one kind of wrath, or that wrath must have the same nature, whether it be in a body or spirit.
Gordon- Wrath can have no other nature in body than it has in spirit for this reason, because it can have no existence or manner of working in the body but what it has directly from spirit. And therefore, in every wrath that is visible in any body whatever, you have a true manifestation of the ground and nature of wrath, in whatever spirit it is in. And therefore, as there is but one ground and nature of wrath in all outward things, whether they are animate or inanimate, so you have proof enough that so it is with all wrath in the spirit or mind. Because wrath in any body or outward thing is nothing else but the inward working of that spirit which manifests itself by an outward wrath in the body. And what we call wrath in the body is truly and strictly speaking the wrath of the spirit in the body. For you are to observe that the body does not begin from itself, nor is anything of itself, but is all that it is, whether pure or impure, has all that it has whether of light or darkness, and works all that it works, whether of good or evil, from spirit. For nothing, my friend, acts in the whole universe of things but spirit alone. And the state, condition, and degree of every spirit is only opened by the state, form, condition, and qualities of the body that belongs to it. For the body can have no nature, form, condition, or quality but that which the spirit that brings it forth gives to it. If there had not been an eternal universal spirit, there could be no eternal or universal nature; that is, had not the Spirit of God been everywhere, the kingdom of heaven, or the visible glory of God in an outward majesty of heaven, could not be everywhere. Now the kingdom of heaven is that to the Deity which every body is to the spirit, which lives, works, and manifested itself in it.
"Nothing can be wrathful but spirit!"
The spirit is not body, nor is the body spirit; they are so essentially distinct that they cannot possibly lose their difference, or be changed into one another; and yet all that is in the body is from the nature, will, and working of its spirit. There is therefore no possible room for a supposition of two kinds of wrath, or that wrath may have two natures, the one as it is in spirit, and the other as it is in body; first, because nothing can be wrathful but spirit, and secondly, because no spirit can exert or manifest wrath but in and by its body. And therefore, through the whole universe of things, there is and can be but one possible ground and nature of wrath, whether it be in the sore of an animal body, in a storm in the elements, in the mind of a man, in an angel, or in hell.
Steven- Enough, enough, Gordon, you have made it sufficiently plain that wrath can be no more in God Himself than hell can be heaven. And therefore we ask no more of you, but that you reconcile this with the language and doctrine of the holy scriptures.
Thomas- You are in too much haste, Steven; it would be better to let Gordon proceed further in this matter. He has told us what wrath is in itself; no matter where it is, I would like to know its true origin, how, and where, and why it begins.
"There is no evil in anything, but the working of the spirit of wrath!"
Gordon- To inquire or search into the origin of wrath is the same thing as to search into the origin of evil and sin. For wrath and evil are but two words for the same thing. There is no evil in anything, but the working of the spirit of wrath. And when wrath is entirely suppressed, there can be no more evil, or misery, or sin in any part of nature or creature. This therefore is a firm truth, that nothing can be capable of wrath, or be the beginning of wrath but the creature, because nothing but the creature can be the beginner of evil and sin. Again, the creature can have no beginning, or sensibility of wrath in itself, but only by losing the living power, the living presence, and governing operation of the Spirit of God within it, or in other words, by losing that heavenly state of existence in God and the influence from God which it had at its creation. Now no intelligent creature, whether angel or man, can be good and happy but by partaking of, or having in itself, a two-fold life. Hence so much is said in the scripture of an inward and outward, an old and a new man. For there could be no foundation for this distinction but because every intelligent creature, was created to be good and happy, and must of all necessity have a two-fold life in itself, or it cannot possibly be capable of goodness and happiness, nor can it possibly lose its goodness and happiness, or feel the least need of them, but by its breaking the union of this two-fold life in itself. Therefore so much is said in the scripture of quickening, raising, and reviving the inward, new man, and of the new birth from above, of Christ being formed in us as the only redemption and salvation of the soul. That's why the fall of Adam was said to be a death, that he died the day of his sin though he lived so many years after it; it was because his sin broke the union of his two-fold life and put an end to the heavenly part of it and left only one life, the life of this brutish, earthly world in him. Now there is, in the nature of the thing, an absolute necessity of this two-fold life in every creature that wants to be happy; The two-fold life is this, it must have the life of nature, and the life of God in it. It cannot be a creature, and intelligent, but only by having the life and properties of nature, that is, by finding itself to be a life of various sensibilities, that has a power of understanding, willing, and desiring. This is its creaturely life, which, by the creating power of God, it has in and from nature. Now this is all the life that is or can be creaturely, or be a creature's natural, own life; and all this creaturely natural life, with all its various powers and sensibilities, is only a life of various appetites, hungers, and wants, and cannot possibly be anything else. God Himself cannot make a creature to be in itself, anything else but a state of emptiness, of want, of appetite, etc. He cannot make it to be good or happy, in and from its natural state: This is as impossible as for God to cease to be the one and only good.
The highest life, therefore, that is natural and creaturely can go no higher than this; it can only be a bare capacity for goodness and happiness and cannot possibly be a good and happy life, but by the life of God dwelling in union with it. And this is the two-fold life that of all necessity must be united in every good, perfect and happy creature. See here the greatest of all demonstrations of the absolute necessity of gospel redemption and salvation. There can be no goodness and happiness for any intelligent creature, but in, and by this two-fold life; and therefore the union of the divine and human life, or the Son of God incarnate in man, to make man again a partaker of the divine nature, this is the only possible salvation for all the sons of fallen Adam, Deism, therefore, or a religion of nature, pretending to make man good and happy without Christ, without the Son of God entering into union with the human nature, is the greatest of all absurdities. It is as contrary to the nature and possibilities of things as for emptiness to be its own fullness, or hunger to be its own food, and want to be its possession of all good things. For nature and creature, without the Christ of God, is and can be nothing else but emptiness, hunger, and want of all that which alone can make it good and happy. For God Himself, as I said, cannot make any creature to be good and happy by anything that is in its own created nature; however high and noble any creature is supposed to be created, its height and nobility can consist in nothing but its higher capacity and fitness to receive a higher union with the divine life, and also a higher and more wretched misery when left to itself, as is manifest by the hellish state of the fallen angels. Their high and exalted nature was only an enlarged capacity for the divine life; and therefore, when this life was lost, their whole created nature was nothing else but the height of rage, and hellish distraction. A plain demonstration that there can be no happiness, blessing, and goodness for any creature in heaven or on earth but by having, as the gospel says, Jesus Christ made unto it, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and peace with God. This is because goodness and happiness are absolutely inseparable from God, and can be nowhere but in God. And on the other hand, emptiness, want, insufficiency, etc., are absolutely inseparable from the creature, as such; its whole nature cannot possibly be anything else, no matter what it is, an angel in heaven, or a man on earth; it is and must be in its whole creaturely nature and capacity a mere hunger and emptiness, etc. And therefore all that we know of God, and all that we know of the creature, fully proves that the life of God in union with the creaturely life (which is gospel salvation) is the one only possibility of goodness and happiness in any creature, whether in heaven or on earth. Hence also it is certain enough that this two-fold life must have been the original state of every intelligent creature when it first came forth from God. It could not be brought forth by God to have only a creaturely life of nature, and be left to that; for that would be creating it under a necessity of being in misery, in want, in wrath, and all painful sensibilities. A thing most unworthy of God, and impossible for Him to do.
No creaturely life can in itself be any higher, or better, than a state of want or seeking for something that cannot be found in itself; and therefore, as sure as God is good, as sure as He would have intelligent beings live a life of goodness and happiness, so sure is it that such beings must of all necessity in their first existence have been blessed with a two-fold life, i.e., the life of God dwelling in and united with the life of nature or created life.
Steven- What an important matter you have here proved in the necessity and certainty of this two-fold life in every intelligent being that is to be good and happy? For this great truth opens and asserts the certain and substantial ground of the spiritual life and shows that all salvation is and can be nothing else but the manifestation of the life of God in the soul. How clearly does this give the solid distinction between inward holiness and all outward, creaturely practices. All that God has done for man by any particular dispensations, whether by the law or the prophets, by the scriptures, or ordinances of the church, are only as helps to a holiness which they (the law and the prophets, the scriptures, and the ordinances of the church) cannot give, but are only suited to the death and darkness of the earthly, creaturely life, to turn it from itself, from its own workings, and awaken in it a faith and hope, a hunger and thirst after that first union with the life of God, which was lost in the fall of the first father of mankind. How unreasonable is it to call continuous inspiration fanaticism when there cannot be the least degree of goodness or happiness in any intelligent being, except that which is in its whole nature, truly breathing, the life, and the operation of God in the life of the creature? For if goodness can only be in God, if it cannot exist separate from Him, if He can only bless and sanctify not by a creaturely gift, but by Himself becoming the blessing and sanctification of the creature, then it is the highest degree of blindness to look for any goodness and happiness from anything but the immediate indwelling, union, of God in the life of the creature. Immediate, continuous inspiration, therefore, is in the nature of the thing as necessary to a life of goodness, holiness, and happiness, as the perpetual breathing of air is necessary to animal life. For the life of the creature, while only creaturely and possessing nothing but itself, is hell; that is, it is all pain and want and distress. Now nothing in the nature of the thing can make the least alteration in this creaturely life, nothing can help it to be in light and love, in peace and goodness, but the birth of God within it, and the life of God working through it, because nothing but God is light, and love, and goodness. And therefore, where the life of God has not become the life and goodness of the creature, there the creature cannot have the least degree of goodness in it.
What a mistake it is, therefore, to confine inspiration to particular times and occasions, to prophets and apostles and extraordinary messengers of God, and to call it fanaticism when the common Christian looks and trusts to be continually led and inspired by the Spirit of God. For though all are not called to be prophets or apostles, yet all are called to be holy as He who has called them is holy, to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect, to be like-minded with Christ, to will only as God wills, to do all to his honor and glory, to renounce the spirit of this world, to have their conversation in heaven, to set their affections on things above, to love God with all their heart, soul, and spirit, and their neighbor as themselves. Behold a work as great, as divine and supernatural as that of a prophet and an apostle. But to suppose that we should and may always be in this spirit of holiness, and yet are not and ought not to be always moved and led by the breath and Spirit of God within us, is to suppose that there is a holiness and goodness which comes from something other than God, which is no better than supposing that there may be true prophets and apostles who have not received their truth from God.
The holy and good Spirit of God is to be always operating as a principle of life within us.
Now the holiness of the common Christian is not an occasional thing that begins and ends, or is only for such a time, place, or action, but is the holiness of that which is always alive and stirring in us, namely, of our thoughts, wills, desires, and affections. If therefore these are always alive in us, always driving or governing our lives, if we can have no holiness or goodness but as this life of thought, will, and affection works in us, if we are all called to this inward holiness and goodness, then a perpetual, always-existing operation of the Spirit of God within us is absolutely necessary. For we cannot be inwardly led and governed by a spirit of goodness, but by being governed by the Spirit of God Himself. For the Spirit of God and the spirit of goodness are not two different Spirits, nor can we be said to have any more of the one than we have of the other. Now if our thoughts, wills, and affections need only be now and then holy and good, then indeed the moving and breathing Spirit of God need only now and then govern us. But if our thoughts and affections are to be always holy and good, then the holy and good Spirit of God is to be always operating as a principle of life within us, as a continual source of holy power!
"The difference between a good and a bad man"
The scripture says, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a good thought." If so, then we cannot be chargeable with not thinking and willing that which is good but upon this supposition, that there is always a supernatural power within us, ready and able to help us to the good which we cannot have from ourselves. The difference between a good and a bad man does not lie in this, that the one wills that which is good, and the other does not, but solely in this, that the one yields to the living inspiring Spirit of God within him and the other does not, and can only be chargeable with evil because he resists the inspiring Spirit of God. Therefore whether you consider that which is good or bad in a man, they equally prove the perpetual indwelling and operation of the Spirit of God within us since we can only be bad by resisting, as we are only good by yielding to the Spirit of God, both of which equally suppose a perpetual operation of the Spirit of God within us.
The true ground of this doctrine of the necessity of the perpetual guidance and operation of the Holy Spirit lies in what has been said above, of the necessity of a two-fold life in every intelligent creature, in order to be good and also to be happy. For if the creaturely life while alone, can only be want, misery, and distress, if it cannot possibly have any goodness or happiness in it until the life of God is in union with it as one life, then everything that you read in the scripture of the Spirit of God as the only principle of goodness opens itself to you as a most certain and blessed truth, about which you can have no doubt.
Gordon- Let me only add, Steven, to what you have said, that from this absolute necessity of a two-fold life in every creature, that is, in order to be good and happy, we may in a still greater clearness see the certainty of that which we have so often spoken of at other times, namely, the in-spoken Word in paradise, the bruiser of the serpent, the seed of the woman, the Immanuel, the holy Jesus (for they all mean the same thing) is the only possible ground of salvation for fallen man.
For if the two-fold life is necessary and man could not be restored to goodness and happiness but by the restored union of this two-fold life into its first state, then there is an absolute necessity in the nature of the thing, that every son of Adam should have such a seed of heaven in the birth of his life, as could by the intervention of Christ be raised into a birth and growth like that of the first perfect man. This is the original power of salvation without which no external dispensation could have done anything toward raising the fallen state of man. For nothing could be raised but what was already a seed of life there to be raised, nor can life be given to anything but to that which is capable of life. Unless, therefore, there had been a seed of life or a smothered spark of heaven in the soul of man which needed to come to birth, there would not have been any possibility, for any of the dispensations of God to bring forth a birth of heaven in fallen man. Moses and the prophets would have come in vain, had not the Christ of God lain in a concealed state in every son of man. For faith, which is a will and hunger after God, could not have begun to be, or have any life in man but because there was something of the divine nature existing and hidden in man. For nothing can have any longing desire for anything but its own likeness, nor could anything be made to desire God but that which came from Him and had the nature of Him in the beginning. The whole mediatory office of Christ, from His birth to His sitting down in power, at the right hand of God, was only for this end, to help man to a life that was fallen into death and insensibility, back to Himself. And therefore His mediatory power was to manifest itself by way of a new birth. In the nature of the thing, nothing else was to be done, and Christ had no other way to proceed, because of this reason, because life was the thing that was lost, and life wherever it is must be raised by a birth, and every birth must and can only come from its own seed. But if Christ was to raise a new life like his own in every man, then every man must have had, originally, in the inmost spirit of his life, a seed of Christ, or Christ as a seed of heaven, lying there as in a state of insensibility or death, out of which it could not arise but by the mediatory power of Christ, who as a second Adam was to regenerate that birth of His own life, which was lost in all the natural sons of the first Adam. But unless there was this seed of Christ or spark of heaven hidden in the soul, not the least beginning of man's salvation or of Christ's mediatory office could be made. For what could begin to deny self if there was not something in man different from self? What could begin to have hope and faith and desire of a heavenly life if there was not something of heaven hidden in his soul, and lying there as in a state of inactivity and death until raised by the mediation of Christ into its first perfection of life, and set again in its true dominion over flesh and blood?
Steven- You have, Gordon, sufficiently proved the certainty and necessity of this matter. But I would be glad if you knew how to help me have a more distinct idea and conception of it.
Gordon- An idea is not the thing to be sought for; it would hinder more than help your true knowledge of it. But perhaps the following example may be of some use to you. The Ten Commandments when written by God on tables of stone and given to man did not at first belong to man; they had their existence in man, were born with him, they lay as a seed and power of goodness hidden in the form of his soul and were altogether inseparable from it before they were shown to man on tables of stone. And when they were shown to man on tables of stone, they were only an outward imitation of that which was inwardly in man, though not legible because of that impurity of flesh and blood in which they were swallowed up in. For the earthly nature, having overcome the divinity that was in man, gave commandments of its own to man and required obedience to all of the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. For this reason it became necessary that God should give an outward knowledge of such commandments as had become inwardly unknown, unfelt, lost, and, as it were, shut up in death, in the soul. But now, had not all that is in these commandments been really given into the soul of man before as its own birth and nature, had they not still lain therein, and although totally suppressed yet in such a seed as could be called forth into it's first living state, in vain had the tables of stone been given to man; and all outward writing or teaching of the commandments had been as useless as instructions given to beasts. If therefore you can conceive how all that is good and holy in the commandments lay hid as an unfelt, inactive power or seed of goodness until called into sensibility and stirred by laws written on tables of stone. This may help you to understand and believe how Christ as a seed of life or power of salvation lies in the soul as its unknown, hidden treasure until awakened and called forth into life by the mediatory office and process of the holy Jesus. Again, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself." Now these two precepts, given by the written word of God, are an absolute demonstration of the first original perfection of man and also a full and invincible proof that the same original perfection is not quite destroyed but lies in him as a hidden, suppressed seed of goodness capable of being raised up to its first perfection. For had not this divine unity, purity, and perfection of love toward God and man been man's first natural state of life, it would have nothing to do with his present state. For had any other nature, or measure, or kind of love began in the first birth of his life, he could only have been called to that. For no creature has or can have a call to be above, or act above its own nature. Therefore, as sure as man is called to this unity, purity, and perfection of love, so sure is it that it was his first natural, heavenly state, and still has its seed, or remains within him as his only power and possibility of rising up to it again. And therefore, all that man is called to, every degree of a new and perfect life, every future exaltation and glory he is to have from the mediation of Christ, is a full proof that the same perfection was originally his natural state and is still in him in such a seed of existence. You are to conceive of the holy Jesus in this way, or as the Word of God, as the hidden treasure of every human soul, born as a seed of the Word in the birth of the soul, enslaved in flesh and blood until as a day-star it arises in our hearts and changes the son of an earthly Adam into a son of God. And if the Word and Spirit of God was not in us all, preceding any dispensation or written word of God as a real seed of life in the birth of our own life, we would not have anymore of a gospel redemption, than the animals of this world which have nothing of heaven in them. And to call us to love God with all our hearts, to put on Christ, to walk according to the Spirit, if these things did not have their real nature and root within us, would be as vain and useless to command us to do, as to make rules and orders how our eyes should smell and taste, or our ears should see.
Now this mystery of an inward life hidden in man as his most precious treasure, as the ground of all that can be great or good in him and hidden only since his fall, and which can only be opened and brought forth in its first glory by Him to whom all power in heaven and on earth is given, this is a truth to which almost everything in nature bears full witness. Look where you will, nothing appears or works outwardly in any creature or in any effect of nature but that which is done from its own inward invisible spirit, not a spirit brought into it, but its own inward spirit which is an inward invisible mystery until it is made known or brought forth by outward appearances. The sun in the firmament gives growth to everything that grows in the earth, and life to everything that lives upon earth, not by giving or imparting a life from without, but only by stirring up in everything its own growth and its own life which lay as in a seed, or state of death until helped to come out of it, by the sun, which as an emblem of the redeemer of the spiritual world helps every earthly thing out of its own death into its own highest state of life. That which we call our sensations, seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling, are not things brought into us from outside, or given to us by any external causes, but are only so many inborn, secret states of the soul which lie in their state of concealment until they are awakened and brought forth into sensibility by outward occurrences. And were they not previously in the soul as states and forms of its own life, no outward objects could bring the soul into a sensibility of them. For nothing can have or be in any state of sensation but that which it is and has from itself, as its own birth. But these sensations are only internal states of the soul which appear, or disappear, are found, or not found, just as occasions bring them into sensibility.
Again, the greatest artist in music can add no sound to his instrument, nor make it give forth any other melody but that which lies silently hidden in it as its own inward state. Look now at what you will, whether it be animate, or inanimate: All that it is, or has, or can be, it is, and has in and from itself, as its own inward state; and all outward things can do no more for it than the hand does to the instrument, to make it show forth its own inward state, either of harmony or discord. It is strictly so with ourselves. Not a spark of joy, of wrath, of envy, of love or grief can possibly enter into us from without, or be caused to be in us by any outward thing. This is as impossible as for the sound of metals to be put into a lump of clay. And as no metal can possibly give forth any other or higher sound than that which is enclosed within it, so we, however struck, can give forth no other or higher sound either of love, hatred, wrath, etc., than that very degree which lay shut up within us. The natural state of our nature has a variety of covers under which they lie concealed at times, both from ourselves and others; but when this or that accident happens to remove the cover, then that which lay hid under it breaks forth. And then we vainly think that this or that outward occasion has not shown us how we really are within, but has put into us or caused us to be wrathful, or envious, and we go on believing that this is not our natural state or of our own growth. This is mere blindness and self-deceit, for it is as impossible for the mind to have any grief, or wrath, or joy, but what it has all from its own inward state, as for the instrument to give forth any other harmony or discord, is but that which is within and from ourselves. Persons, things, and outward occurrences may strike our instrument improperly, but as we are in ourselves, such is our outward sound, whatever strikes us, or however we are struck! If our inward state is the renewed life of Christ within us, then everything and occasion, let it be what it will, only makes the same life to sound forth and show itself; if one cheek is smitten, we meekly turn the other also. But if nature, or the "old man" is alive and only under a religious cover, then every outward accident that shakes or disturbs this cover, allows that bad state, whether of grief, or wrath, or joy that lay hid within us to show forth itself, in truth. But nothing at any time makes the least show or sound outwardly, but only that which lay ready within us for an outward birth, as occasion should offer. What a miserable mistake it is therefore to place religious goodness in outward observances, in notions and opinions which good and bad men can equally receive and practice, and to treat the real power and operation of an inward life of God in the birth of our souls as fanaticism, when not only the whole letter and spirit of scripture, but every operation in nature and creature demonstrates that the kingdom of heaven must be within us, or it never can possibly belong to us. Goodness, piety, and holiness can only be ours, as thinking, willing, and desiring are ours, by being in us as a power of heaven in the birth and growth of our own life. And now, Steven, how is the great controversy about religion and salvation shortened. For since the only work of Christ as your redeemer is this, to take from the earthly life of flesh and blood its usurped power, and to raise the smothered spark of heaven out of its state of death into a powerful governing life of the whole man. And you have the utmost certainty what you are to do, where you are to seek, and in what you are to find your salvation. All that you have to do, or can do, is to oppose, resist, and, as far as you can, to renounce the evil tempers and workings of your own earthly nature. You are under the power of no other enemy, are held in no other captivity, and need no other deliverance but from the power of your own earthly self.
Everything that your earthly nature does is under the influence of self-will, self-love, and self-seeking
This is the one murderer of the divine life within you. It is your own Cain that murders your own Abel. Now everything that your earthly nature does is under the influence of self-will, self-love, and self-seeking, whether it carries you to praiseworthy or blamable practices, all is done in the nature and spirit of Cain and only helps you to such goodness as when Cain slew his brother. For every action and motion of self has the spirit of anti-Christ and murders the divine life within you. Judge not therefore of yourself by considering how many of those things you do which preachers and moralists call virtue and goodness, nor how much you abstain from those things which they call sin and vice. But daily and hourly, in every step that you take, watch the spirit that is within you, the one that guides you, and see whether it be of heaven or of earth. And judge everything to be sin and Satan with which your earthly nature, own love, or self-seeking has any share of life in you; nor should you think that any goodness is brought to life in you but so far as it has become an actual death to the pride, vanity, wrath, and selfish tempers of your fallen, earthly life. Again, here you see where and how you are to seek your salvation, not in taking up your traveling staff, or crossing the seas to find a new Luther or a new Calvin to clothe yourself with their opinions. No. The revelation is already at home with you that speaks the truth to you, because nothing is your truth but that good and that evil which is yours within you. For salvation or damnation is no outward thing that is brought into you from outside, but is only that which springs up within you as the birth and state of your own life. What you are in yourself, what is happening in you, is all that can be either your salvation or damnation. For all that is our good and all that is our bad has no place nor power but within us (Did not someone say "Clean the inside of the cup . . ."). Again, nothing that we do is bad but simply for this reason, because it resists the power and working of God within us; and nothing that we do can be good but because it conforms to the Spirit of God within us. And therefore, as all that can be good and all that can be evil in us necessarily supposes a God working within us, you have the utmost certainty that God, salvation, and the kingdom of heaven are nowhere to be sought, or found, but within you, and that all outward religion from the fall of man to this day is not for itself, but merely for the sake of an inward and divine life which was lost when Adam died his first death in paradise. And therefore it may well be said that circumcision is nothing, and un-circumcision is nothing, because nothing is wanted, and therefore nothing can be available but the new creature called out of its captivity under the death and darkness of flesh and blood into the light, life, and the perfection of its first creation. And as a result you have the fullest proof as to what your salvation precisely consists. Not in any historic faith, or knowledge of anything absent or distant from you, not in any variety of restraints, rules, and methods of practicing virtues, not in any formality of opinion about faith and works, repentance, forgiveness of sins, or justification and sanctification, nor in any truth or righteousness that you can have from yourself, from the best of men or books, but wholly and solely in the life of God, or the Christ of God born again in you, or in other words in the restoration and perfect union of the first two-fold life in humanity.
Thomas- Though all that has passed between you and Steven concerns matters of the greatest importance, yet I must call it a digression and it is quite useless to me. For I have not the least doubt about any of these things you have been asserting. It is clear enough that there can be no middle way in this matter; either religion must be all spiritual or all carnal, that is, we must either take up with the grossness of the Sadducees who say there is neither angel nor spirit, and with such purification as the Pharisees had from their washing of pots and vessels and tithing their mint and rue; we must, I say, either agree with all this carnality, or we must profess a religion that is all spirit and life, and merely for the sake of raising up an inward spiritual life of heaven that fell into death in our first father. I consent also to everything that you have said of the nature and origin of wrath. That it can have no place nor possibility of beginning but solely in the creaturely nature, nor even any possibility of beginning there until the creature has died to, or lost its proper state of existence in God, that is, until it has lost that life and blessing and happiness which it had in and from God at its first creation. But I still ask, what must I do with all those scriptures which not only make God capable of being provoked to wrath and resentment, but frequently inflamed with the highest degrees of rage, fury, and vengeance that can be expressed by words?
The answer!
Gordon- I promised, to remove this difficulty, and will be as good as my word. But I must first tell you that you are in much more distress about it than you need to be. For in the little book of Regeneration, in the Appeal26, in the Spirit of Prayer, etc., which you read and gave your entire approval, the whole matter is cleared up from its true ground, how wrath in the scriptures is ascribed to God and yet cannot belong to the nature of the Deity. Therefore you are told in the "Appeal," after these two falls of two orders of creatures (that is, of angels and man), the God Himself came to have new and strange names, new and unheard of tempers and inclinations of wrath, fury, and vengeance ascribed to it. I call them new because they began at the fall; I call them strange because they were foreign to the Deity and could not belong to God in Himself. Consequently, God is said to be a consuming fire. But to whom? To the fallen angels and lost souls. But why, and how is he this way to them? It is because those creatures have lost all that they had from God but the fire of their nature, and therefore God can only be found and manifested in them as a consuming fire. Now is it not justly said that God, who is nothing but infinite love, is yet in such creatures only a consuming fire? And though God is nothing but love, yet they are under the wrath and vengeance of God because they have only that fire in them which is broken off from the light and love of God, and so can know or feel nothing of God but his fire of nature in themselves. As creatures, they can have no life but what they have in and from God; and therefore that wrathful life which they have is truly said to be a wrath or fire of God upon them. And yet it is still strictly true that there is no wrath in God Himself, that He has not changed in His temper toward the creatures, that He does not cease to be the same infinite fountain of goodness, infinitely flowing forth in the riches of His love upon all and every life. Now, understand what follows as the true ground, how wrath can and cannot be ascribed to God. God is not changed from love to wrath, but the creatures have changed their own state in nature, and so the God of nature can only be manifested in them according to their own state in nature. And, this is the true ground of rightly understanding all that is said of the wrath and vengeance of God in and upon the creatures. It is only in such a sense as the curse of God may be said to be upon them, not because anything cursed can be in or come from God, but because they have made that life which they must have in God to be a mere curse to themselves. For every creature that lives must have its life in and from God, and therefore God must be in every creature.
This is as true of devils as of holy angels. But how is God in them? Why, only as he is manifested in nature. Holy angels have the triune life of God as manifested in nature, and so it is manifested also in them, and therefore God is in them all love, goodness, majesty, and glory, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Devils have nothing of this triune life left in them but the fire or wrath of eternal nature broken off from all light and love; and therefore the life that they can have in and from God is only and solely a life of wrath, rage, and darkness, and therefore, theirs is the kingdom of hell. And because this life (though all rage and darkness) is a strength and power of life, which they must have in and from God, and which they cannot take out of His hands, therefore is their cursed, miserable, wrathful life truly and justly said to be the curse and misery, and wrath, and vengeance of God upon them, though God Himself cannot and does not have any curse, misery, wrath, and vengeance than He can have mischief, malice, or any fearful trembling in His holy triune Deity. See now, Thomas, what little reason you had for your present difficulty. For here, in the above cited words, which you have been several years acquainted with, the true ground and reason is plainly shown to you, how and why all the wrath, rage, and curse that is anywhere stirring in nature or breaking forth in any creature is and must be in all truth called by the scriptures the wrath, and rage, and vengeance of God, though it be the greatest of all impossibilities for rage and wrath to be in the holy Deity Himself. The scriptures therefore are literally true in all that they affirm of the wrath, etc., of God. For is it not as literally true of God that hell and devils are His, as that heaven and holy angels are His? Must not therefore all the wrath and rage of the one be as truly His rage in them, as the light and joy and glory of the other is only his goodness opened and manifested in them, according to their state in nature? Take notice of this fundamental truth. Everything that works in nature and creature, except sin, is the working of God in nature and creature. The creature has nothing else in its power but the free use of its will; and its free will has no other power but that of concurring with or resisting the working of God in nature. The creature with its free will can bring nothing into being, nor make any alteration in the working of nature, and cannot feel or find something in its state that it did not feel or find before. Thus God, in the manifestation of Himself in and by nature, sets before every man fire and water, life and death; and man has no other power but that of entering into and uniting with either of these states, but not the least power of adding to, or taking anything from them, or of making them to be other than he finds them. For this fire and water, this life and death are nature, and have their unchangeable state in the uniform working of God in nature. And therefore, whatever is done by this fire and water, this life and death in any creature may, no must, in the strictest truth be affirmed of God as done by Him. And consequently every breathing forth of fire, or death, or rage, or curse, wherever it is, or in whatever creature, must be said, in the language of scripture, to be a provoked wrath, or the fiery vengeance of God, poured forth upon the creature. And yet, everything that has been said in proof of the wrath of God shows and proves to you at the same time that it is not a wrath in the holy Deity itself. For you see, as was said above, that God sets before man fire and water, life and death; now these things are not God, nor existent in the Deity itself; but they are that which is, and is called nature, and as they are the only things set before man, so man can go no further, reach no further, nor find, feel, nor be sensible of anything else but that which is to be felt or found in this nature, or fire and water, life and death which is set before him. And therefore all that man can find or feel of the wrath and the vengeance of God can only be in this fire and this death, and not in the Deity itself.
Thomas- Gordon, you have given me the utmost satisfaction on this point, and in a much better way than I imagined. I expected to have seen you glossing and criticizing away the literal expression of scriptures that affirm the wrath of God, in order to make good your point that the Deity is mere love. But you have done the utmost justice to the letter of scripture, you have established it upon a firm and solid foundation and shown that the truth of things require it to be so, and that there can be no wrath anywhere, but what is and must be called the wrath and vengeance of God, and yet it is found only in nature. What you have said seems as if it would clear up many passages of scripture that have raised much perplexity. I think that I now begin to see how the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, how eyes that see not and ears that hear not, may in the strictest truth be said to be from God, though the Deity in itself stands in the utmost contrariety to all these things, and in the utmost impossibility of willing or causing them to be. You have shown from the letter of scripture that nothing else is set before man but fire and water, life and death; and therefore, no possibility of wrath or love, joy or sorrow, curse or happiness to be found by man but in this state of nature set before him, or into which at his creation he is introduced as into a region of various sensibilities where all that he finds, or feels is truly God's, but not God Himself, who has His supernatural residence above and distinct from everything that is nature, fire or water, life or death. But allow me to mention one point of difficulty that I still have. You proved that wrath, rage, vengeance, etc., can only exist or be found in nature and not in God; and yet you say that nature is nothing else but a manifestation of the hidden, invisible powers of God. But if that is so, must not all that is in nature be also in God? How else could nature be a manifestation of God?
Gordon- Nature is a true manifestation of the hidden, invisible God. But you are to observe that nature, as it is in itself, in its own state, cannot have the least possible spark, or stirring of wrath, or curse, or vengeance in it, but on the contrary is from eternity to eternity a mere infinity of heavenly light, love, joy, and glory; and therefore it is a true manifestation of the hidden Deity, and the greatest of proofs that God Himself can have no wrath in Him since wrath only then begins to be in nature when nature has lost its first state.
Thomas- This is answer enough. But now this brings another thing to my mind. For if God in Himself, in His supernatural state, is only love, and only a will to all goodness, and if nature in itself is only a manifestation of this Deity of love in heavenly light and glory, if neither God nor nature have or can give forth wrath, how then can fire and water, life and death be set before man? What can they come from, or where can they exist, since God in Himself is all love.
Gordon- I will open to you all this matter from the bottom to the top, in as few words as I can. Before God began any creation or gave birth to any creature, he was only manifested or known to Himself in His own glory and majesty; there was nothing but Himself in His own glory and majesty; there was nothing but Himself beholding Himself in His own kingdom of heaven, which was, and is, and ever will be as unlimited as Himself. Nature as well as God is the predecessor to all creatures. For as no seeing eye could be created unless there was antecedently27 to it a natural visibility of things, so no creature could come into a sensibility of any natural life unless such a state of nature had been created before it. For no creature can begin to be, in any world or state of nature, but by being created out of that world or state of nature into which it is brought to have its life. For to live in any world is the same thing as for a creature to have all that it is and has, in and from that world. And, therefore, no creature can come into any other kind of existence and life but such as can be had out of that world in which it is to live. Neither can there possibly be any other difference between created beings whether animate or inanimate but what arises from that out of which they were created. Seeing then that before the existence of the first creatures there was nothing but God and His kingdom of heaven, the first creatures could receive no other life but that which was in God because there was nothing living but God nor any other life but His, nor could they exist in any other place or outward state but the kingdom of heaven because there was nothing else in existence; and therefore, the first creatures must, of all necessity, be divine and heavenly, both in their inward life and outward state.
Thomas- Here then, Gordon, is my question. Where is that fire and water, that life and death that is set before the creature? For as to these first creatures, nothing is set before them, nothing is within them or without them but God and the kingdom of heaven.
Gordon- You should not have said there is nothing within them but God and the kingdom of heaven. For that which is their own creaturely nature within them is not God, nor the kingdom of heaven. It has been already proved to your satisfaction that no creature can be divine, good, and happy, but by having a two-fold life united in it. And in this two-fold life of the creature is fire and water, life and death unavoidably set before it. For as its will works with either of these lives, so will it find either fire or water, life or death. If its will turns from the life of God into the creaturely life, then it enters into a sensibility of that which is meant by death and fire, i.e., a wrathful misery. But if the will keeps steadily given up to the Deity, then it lives in possession of that life which was its first and will be its everlasting heavenly joy and happiness. But to explain this matter a bit deeper to you according to the mystery of all things opened by God in his chosen instrument, Jacob Behmen. You know we have often spoken of eternal nature, that so sure as there is an eternal God, so sure is it that there is an eternal nature, as universal, as unlimited as God Himself, and everywhere working where God is and therefore everywhere equally existent, as being His kingdom of heaven or outward manifestation of the invisible riches, powers, and glories of the Deity. Before or without nature, the Deity is an entire hidden, shut up, unknown, and unknowable area. For nature is the only ground or beginning of something; there is neither this nor that, no ground for conception, no possibility of distinction or difference; there cannot be a creature to think, nor anything to be thought upon until nature is in existence. For all the properties of sensibility and sensible life, every mode and manner of existence, all seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, all inclinations, passions, and sensations of joy, sorrow, pain, pleasure, etc., are not in God but in nature. And therefore, God is not knowable, not a thought can begin about Him until He manifests Himself in and through and by the existence of nature, that is, until there is something that can be seen, understood, distinguished, felt, etc. And this eternal nature or the out-birth of the Deity, called the kingdom of heaven, i.e., an infinity, or boundless opening of the properties, powers, wonders, and glories of the hidden Deity, and this not being done once, but ever doing, ever standing in the same birth, forever and ever breaking forth and springing up in new forms and openings of the abyssal28 Deity in the powers of nature. And out of this ocean of the manifested powers of nature, the will of the Deity created hosts of heavenly beings, full of the heavenly wonders introduced into a partaking of the infinity of God, to live in an eternal succession of heavenly sensations, to see and feel, to taste and find new forms of delight in an inexhaustible source of ever-changing and never-ceasing wonders of the divine glory. Thomas, what an eternity is this, out of which and for which your eternal soul was created? What little, crawling things are all that an earthly ambition can set before you? Bear with patience for a while the rags of your earthly nature, the veil and darkness of flesh and blood as the lot of your inheritance from father Adam, but think nothing worth a thought but that which will bring you back to your first glory and land you safe in the region of eternity.
But to return. Nothing is before this eternal nature but the holy, supernatural Deity; and everything that is after it is creature and has all its creaturely life and state in it and from it, immediately. This eternal nature has seven chief properties that are the doers or workers of everything that is done in it and can have neither more nor less because it is a birth from or a manifestation of the Deity in nature. For the perfection of nature (as was before said of every divine and happy creature) is a union of two things, or is a two-fold state. It is nature, and it is God manifested in nature.
Now God is triune and nature is triune, and hence there arises the ground of properties, three and three; and that which brings those three and three into union, or manifests the triune God in the triune nature, is another property, so that the glorious manifestation of the Deity in nature can have neither more nor less than seven chief properties from which everything that is known, found, and felt in all the universe of nature, in all the variety of creatures either in heaven or on earth, has its only rise, or cause, immediately.
Thomas- You say, Gordon, that the triune Deity is united or manifested in triune nature, and that from this comes the glorious manifestation of God in seven heavenly properties called the kingdom of heaven. But how does it appear that this nature, earlier in time to the entrance of the Deity into it, is triune? Or what is this triune nature before God that is supposed to be in union with it?
Gordon- It is barely a desire. It neither is, nor has, nor can be anything else but a desire. For desire is the only thing in which the Deity can work and manifest itself; for God can only come into that which wants and desires Him. The Deity is an infinite abundance, or fullness of riches and powers in and from itself; and it is only want and desire that is excluded from it and can have no existence in it. And here lies the true, unchallengeable distinction between God and nature and shows why neither can ever be changed into the other; it is because God is a universal all; and nature or desire is a universal want, or need to be filled with God. Now as nature can be nothing but a desire, so nothing is in or done in any natural way but as desire does it, because desire is the total of nature. And therefore, there is no strength or substance, no power or motion, no cause or effect in nature but that which is in itself a desire or the working and effect of a desire. This is the true origin of attraction and all its powers in this material world. It gives essence and substance to all that is matter and the properties of matter; it holds every element in its created state, and not only earth and stones, but light and air and motion are under its dominion. From the center to the circumference of this material system, every motion, separation, union, vegetation, or corruption begins no sooner, goes on no further than as attraction works. Take away attraction from this material system, and then it has all the annihilation it can ever possibly have. Why does nature have this attraction? It is because all nature, from its eternity has been, is, and forever can be only a desire and has nothing in itself but the properties of desire. Now the essential, inseparable properties of desire can be neither more nor less; and in this you have that tri-unity of nature which you asked after and in which the triune Deity manifested itself. I shall not now prove these three properties of the desire because I have already done that plainly enough elsewhere. But to go back now to your question where or how this fire and water, etc., can be found since God is all love and goodness and his manifestation in nature is a mere kingdom of heaven. They are to be found in the two-fold state of heaven and the two-fold state of every heavenly creature. For seeing that the perfection of nature and the perfection of the intelligent creature consists in the same two-fold state, you have here the plainest ground and reason why and how every good and happy and new created being must of all necessity have fire and water, life and death set before it. Because it has it in its power to turn and give up its will to either of these lives, it can turn either to God or nature and therefore must have life or death, fire or water in its choice.
Now this two-fold life which makes the perfection of nature and creature is, in other words, signified by the seven heavenly properties of nature; for when God is manifested in nature, all its seven properties are in a heavenly state. But in these seven properties, though all heavenly, lies the ground of fire and water, etc., because a division or separation can be made in them by the will of the creature. For the three first properties are as distinct from the four following ones as God is distinct from that which wants God. And these three first properties are the essence or whole being of that desire which is called nature, or that which wants God. When, therefore, the will of the creature turns from God into nature, it breaks or looses the union of the seven heavenly properties because nature, as distinct from God, has only the three first properties in it. And such a creature, having broken or lost the union of the seven properties, has fallen into the three first, which sums up to death. For when the first three properties have lost God or their union with the four following ones, then they are only nature, which in its whole being is nothing else but the strength and rage of hunger, an excess of want, of self-torment, and self-vexation. Surely now, my friend, this matter has been explained enough.
Thomas- Indeed, I am quite satisfied; for by this account which you have given of the ground of nature and its true and full distinction from God, you have brought light into my mind. For if nature is always and only want, and has nothing in it but a strength of want generated from the three self-tormenting properties of it's desire, if God is all love, joy, and happiness, an infinite all that is good, then the limits and bounds of good and evil, of happiness and misery are made as visibly distinct and as certainly to be known as the difference between a circle and a straight line. To live to desire, that is, to nature, is unavoidably entering into the region of all evil and misery because nature has nothing else in it, but on the other hand, to die to desire, that is, to turn from nature to God, is to be united with the infinite source of all that is good and blessed and happy. All that I wanted to know is now cleared up in the greatest plainness. And I have no difficulty about those passages of scripture which speak of the wrath, and fury, and vengeance of God. Wrath is His, just as all nature is His, and yet God is mere love that only rules and governs wrath as He governs the foaming waves of the sea and the madness of storms and tempests. The following propositions are as true as that two and two are four. First, that God in His holy Deity is as absolutely free from wrath and rage and as totally incapable of them as He is of thickness, hardness, and darkness because wrath and rage belong to nothing else, can exist in nothing else, have life in nothing else but in thickness, hardness, and darkness. Secondly, that all wrath is disorder and can be nowhere but in nature and creature because nothing else is capable of changing from right to wrong. Thirdly, that wrath can have no existence even in nature and creature until they have lost their first perfection which they had from God and are become that which they should not have been. Fourthly, that all the wrath and fury and vengeance that ever did or ever can break forth in nature and creature can be called and looked upon as the wrath and vengeance of God, just as the darkness as well as the light is to be called His. Gordon, what a key you have given me to the right understanding of scripture! For when nature and creature are known to be the only theater of evil and disorder, and our holy God as that governing love which wills nothing but the removal of all evil from everything as fast as infinite wisdom can find ways of doing it, then whether you read of the raining of fire and brimstone or only showers of heavenly manna falling upon the earth, it is only the same love working in such different ways and with diversity of instruments as time and place and occasion had made wise and good and helpful. Pharaoh with his hardened heart and Paul with his voice from heaven, though so contrary to one another, were both, the chosen vessels of the same God of love because both were miraculously taken out of their own state and made to do all the good to a blind and wicked world which they were capable of doing. And consequently, are all the treasures of the wisdom and goodness of God hidden in the letter of scripture and made the comfort and delight of my soul. Everything I read turns itself into a motive of loving and adoring the wonderful working of the love of God over all the various changing of nature and creature, until all evil shall be extinguished and all disorder go back again to its first harmonious state of perfection.
Depart from this idea of God as an infinity of love, wisdom, and goodness, and then everything in the system of scripture and the system of nature only helps the reasoning mind to be miserably perplexed, as well with the mercies as with the judgments of God. But when God is known to be omnipotent love that can do nothing but works of love, and that all nature and creature are only under the operation of love as a distempered person under the care of a kind and skillful physician who seeks nothing but the perfect recovery of his patient, then whatever is done, whether a severe treatment of some sort or the other, or a treatment that is not painful, that is, whether or not the treatment includes pain, yet all is equally well done because love is the doer of both and does both from the same principle of love and for the same end, to heal the patient.
Gordon- Thomas, when love is the triune God that you serve, worship, and adore, the only God in whom you desire to live and move and have your being, then of a truth God dwells in you, and you in God. I shall now only add this one word more to strengthen and confirm your right understanding of all that is said of the wrath, or rage of God in the scriptures. The psalmist, you know, says this of God, "He gives forth His ice like morsels, and who is able to abide His frosts." Now, sir, if you know how to explain this scripture and can show how ice and frost can truly be ascribed to God as His, though absolutely impossible to have any existence in Him, then you have an easy and unerring key of how the wrath and fury and vengeance that anywhere falls upon any creature is and may be truly ascribed to God as His, though fury and vengeance are as inconsistent with and as impossible to have any existence in the Deity as lumps of ice, or the hardness of intolerable frosts. Now in this text setting forth the horror of God's ice and frost, you have the whole nature of divine wrath set before you. Search all the scriptures and you will not find any wrath of God but what is bounded in nature, and is so described as to be itself a proof that it has no existence in the holy supernatural Deity. So, the psalmist says again, "The earth trembled and quaked, the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed, because He was angry." No wrath here but in the elements. Again, "There went a smoke out in His presence, and a consuming fire out of His mouth, so that coals were kindled from it. The springs of water were seen and the foundations of the round world were discovered at your chiding, O Lord, at the blasting of the breath of your displeasure." Now every working of the wrath of God described in scripture is strictly an example of this, it relates to a wrath solely confined to the powers and working properties of nature that lives and moves only in the elements of the fallen world, and does not reach the Deity any more than ice or frost do. The apostle says, "Avenge not yourselves, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." This is another full proof that wrath or vengeance is not in the holy Deity itself as a quality of the divine mind; for if it was, then vengeance would belong to every child of God that was truly born of Him or he could not have the spirit of His Father, or be perfect as His Father in heaven is perfect. But if vengeance only belongs to God and can only be so affirmed of Him as ice and frost are His and belong to Him, if it has no other manner of working than as when it is said, "He sent out His arrows and scattered them, He cast forth lightning and destroyed them," then it is certain that the divine vengeance is only in fallen nature and its disordered properties and is no more in the Deity itself than hailstones and coals of fire. And here you have the true reason why revenge or vengeance is not allowed to man; it is because vengeance can only work in the evil or disordered properties of fallen nature. But man being himself a part of fallen nature and subject to its disordered properties is not allowed to work with them because it would be stirring up evil in him, and that is his sin of wrath or revenge. God therefore reserves all vengeance to Himself, not because wrathful revenge is a temper or quality that can have any place in the holy Deity but because the holy supernatural Deity, being free from all the properties of nature from where partial love and hatred spring and being in Himself nothing but an infinity of love, wisdom, and goodness, He alone knows how to overrule the disorders of nature and so to repay evil with evil that the highest good may be promoted by it. To say therefore that vengeance is to be reserved for God is only saying in other words that all the evils in nature are to be reserved and turned over to the love of God to be healed by his goodness. And every act of what is called divine vengeance recorded in scripture may, and ought with the greatest strictness of truth, be called an act of the divine love. When Sodom flamed and smoked with stinking brimstone, it was the love of God that kindled it, only to extinguish a more horrible fire. It was the same infinite love when it preserved Noah in the ark, when it turned Sodom into a burning lake, and overwhelmed Pharaoh in the Red Sea. And if God commanded the waters to destroy the old world, it was as high an act of the same infinite love toward that chaos as when it said to the first darkness upon the face of the deep, "Let there be light, and there was light."
Everything in all scripture concerning the wrath or vengeance of God only teaches you these two infallible truths.
First, that all the wrath spoken of, works nowhere but in the wrathful, disordered elements and properties of fallen nature.
Secondly, that all the power that God exercises over them, all that he does at any time or on any occasion with or by them is solely the one work of his unchangeable love toward man. Just as the good physician acts from good will toward his patient when he orders a bitter or sour dose of medicine, as when he gives a sweet tasting dose. Now suppose the good physician to have such intense love for you as to disregard your dislike toward them and to force such medicines down your throat as are needed to save your life, suppose he should therefore call himself your severe physician and declare himself so rigid toward you that he would not spare you, nor permit you to escape his bitter medicine until all means of your recovery were tried, then you would have a true and just though small representation of those bitter cups which God in his wrath forced fallen man to drink. Now as the bitter, sour, etc., in the physician's medicine are not an affirmation of any similar bitterness, heat, or sourness in the spirit of the physician that uses them but are things quite distinct from the state and spirit of his mind and only manifest his care and skill in the right use of such materials toward the health of his patient. So in like manner, all the elements of fallen nature are only so many outward materials in the hands of God formed and mixed into heat and cold, into fruitful and pestilential29 effects, into serenity of seasons and blasting tempests, into means of health and sickness, of plenty and poverty, just as the wisdom and goodness of providence sees to be the fittest to deliver man from the miserable difficulty of his earthly nature and help him to become heavenly minded. If therefore it would be great folly to suppose bitterness, or heat, etc., to be in the spirit of the physician when he gives a hot or bitter medicine, much greater folly it must surely be to suppose that wrath, vengeance, or any pestilential quality is in the spirit of the holy Deity when a wrath, a vengeance, or pestilence is stirred up in the fallen elements by the providence of God as a proper remedy for the evil of this or that time or occasion.
Hear these decisive words of scripture, i.e., "Whom the Lord loves, he chastens." What a grossness therefore of mistake is it to conclude that wrath must be in the Deity because he chastens and threatens chastisement when you have God's own word for it that nothing but His love chastens. Again, the Lord says, "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. Your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive yards did the palmerworm devour," and then the love that did this makes this complaint, "Yet you have not returned to me." Again, " I sent Pestilence among you; I have made the stench of your tents come up even into your nostrils," etc. And then the same love that did this, that made this use of the disordered elements, makes the same complaint again, "Yet you have not returned to me" (Amos 4:9-10). Now, how is it possible for words to give stronger proof that God is mere love, that he has no will toward fallen man but to bless them with works of love, and this as certain when he turns the air into a pestilence as when he makes the same air rain down manna upon the earth? Since neither the one nor the other are done but as time and place and occasion render them the fittest means to make man return and adhere to God, that is, to come out of all the evil and misery of his fallen state and into God's love. What can infinite love do more, or what can it do to give greater proof that all that it does proceeds from love? And here you are to observe that this is not said from human conjecture or any imaginary idea of God, but is openly asserted, constantly affirmed and repeated over and over again in the scripture.
Chapter 3
The Absolute Necessity Of the Spirit Of Love
Steven- There is no reason to continue our last discourse. The following propositions are sufficiently proved. First, that God's love, wisdom, and goodness is infinite, that He ever was and ever will be the same unchangeable will to all goodness and works of love, as incapable of any sensibility of wrath or acting under it as of falling into pain or darkness and acting under their direction.
Secondly, that all wrath, strife, discord, hatred, envy, or pride, etc., all heat and cold, all enmity in the elements, all thickness, grossness, and darkness are things that have no existence but in and from the sphere of fallen nature. Thirdly, that all the evils of contrariety and disorder in fallen nature are only as so many materials in the hands of infinite love and wisdom, all made to work in their different ways as far as is possible to the same end, i.e., to turn temporal evil into eternal good. So that whether you look at light or darkness, at night or day, at fire or water, at heaven or earth, at life or death, at prosperity or adversity, at blasting winds or heavenly dews, at sickness or health, you see nothing but such a state of things in and through which the supernatural Deity wills and seeks the restoration of fallen nature and creature to their first perfection. It now only remains that the doctrine of scripture concerning the atonement necessary to be made by the life, sufferings, and death of Christ be explained, or in other words, the true meaning of that righteousness of God that must have satisfaction done to it before man can be reconciled to God. For this doctrine is thought by some to support the opinion of a wrath and resentment in the Deity itself.
Gordon- This doctrine, of the atonement made by Christ, and the absolute necessity and real effectiveness of it to satisfy the righteousness or justice of God, is the very ground and foundation of Christian redemption and the life and strength of every part of it. But then, this very doctrine is so far from supporting the opinion of a wrath in the Deity that in fact, it is an absolute and full denial of it and the strongest of demonstrations that the wrath or resentment that is to be pacified or atoned cannot possibly be in the Deity itself. For this wrath that is to be atoned and pacified is in its whole nature nothing else but sin, or disorder in the creature. And when sin is extinguished in the creature, all the wrath that is between God and the creature is fully atoned. Search all the Bible from one end to the other, and you will find that the atonement of that which is called the divine wrath or justice and the extinguishing of sin in the creature are only different expressions for the same individual thing. And therefore, unless you will place sin in God, that wrath that is to be atoned or pacified cannot be placed in Him. The whole nature of our redemption has no other end but to remove or extinguish the wrath that is between God and man. When this is removed, man is reconciled to God. Therefore, where the wrath is, or where that is which wants to be atoned, there is that which is the blamable cause of the separation between God and man; there is that which Christ came into the world to extinguish, to quench or atone. If, therefore, this wrath, which is the blamable cause of the separation between God and man, is in God Himself, if Christ died to atone or extinguish a wrath that had gotten into the holy Deity itself, then it must be said that Christ made an atonement for God and not for man, and that which is called our redemption ought rather to be called the redemption of God, as saving and delivering him and not man from his own wrath. This blasphemy is unavoidable if you suppose that wrath for which Christ died to be a wrath in God Himself.
Again, the very nature of atonement absolutely shows that that which is to be atoned cannot possibly be in God nor even in any good being. For atonement implies the alteration or removal of something that is not as it ought to be. And therefore, every creature, so long as it is good and has its proper state of goodness, neither needs nor can admit of any atonement because it has nothing in it that needs to be altered or taken out of it. And therefore, atonement cannot possibly have any place in God because nothing in God either needs or can receive alteration; neither can it have place in any creature but so far as it has lost or altered that which it had from God and is fallen into disorder, and then, that which brings this creature back to its first state, which alters that which is wrong in it and takes its evil out of it, is its true and proper atonement.
Water is the proper atonement for the rage of fire; and that which changes a tempest into a calm is its true atonement. And, therefore, as sure as Christ is a propitiation and atonement, so sure is it, that that which he does, as a propitiation and atonement, can have no place, but in altering that evil and disorder which, in the state and life of the fallen creature, needs to be altered. Suppose man had not fell, then there is no room nor possibility for atonement, a plain and full proof that the work of atonement is nothing else but the altering or quenching that which is evil in the fallen creature. Hell, wrath, darkness, misery, and eternal death mean the same thing throughout all scripture, and these are the only things from which we need to be redeemed; and where there is nothing of hell, there is nothing of wrath, nor anything that needs the benefits of the atonement made by Christ. Either, therefore, all hell is in the essence of the holy Deity, or nothing that needs to be atoned for by the merits and death of Christ can possibly be in the Deity itself. The apostle says that "We are by nature children of wrath," the same thing as when the psalmist says, "I was shaped in wickedness, and in sin has my mother conceived me." And therefore, that wrath which needs the atonement of the sufferings, blood, and death of Christ is no other than that sin or sinful state in which we are naturally born. But now, if this wrath could be supposed to be in the Deity itself, then it would follow that by being by nature children of wrath, we should thereby be the true children of God; we should not need any atonement or new birth from above to make us partakers of the divine nature because that wrath that was in us would be our dwelling in God and He in us.
Again, all scripture teaches us that God wills and desires the removal or extinction of that wrath which is between God and the creature, and therefore all scripture teaches that the wrath is not in God, for God cannot will the removal or alteration of anything that is in Himself; this is as impossible as for Him to will the extinction of His own omnipotence. Nor can there be anything in God contrary to, or against His own will; and yet, if God wills the extinction of a wrath that is in Himself, it must be in Him, contrary to or against his own will.
This, I presume, is enough to show you that the atonement made by Christ is itself the greatest of all proofs that it was not to atone or extinguish any wrath in God, nor, indeed, in any way to affect or alter any quality or temper in the divine mind, but purely and solely to overcome and remove all that death and hell, and wrath, and darkness that had opened itself in the nature, birth, and life of fallen man.
Steven- The truth of all this is not to be denied. And yet it is as true that all our systems of divinity give quite another account of this most important matter. The satisfaction of Christ is represented as a satisfaction made to a wrathful Deity, and the merits of the sufferings and death of Christ as that which could only avail with God to give up his own wrath and think of mercy toward man. No, what is still worse, if possible, the ground, and nature, and effectiveness of this great transaction between God and man is often explained by debtor and creditor. Man as having contracted a debt with God that he could not pay, and God as having a right to insist upon the payment of it, and therefore only to be satisfied by receiving the death and sacrifice of Christ as a valuable consideration instead of the debt that was due to Him from man.
Gordon- And so you may see, Steven, how unreasonably, complaint has been sometimes made against the books "Appeal30," The Spirit of Prayer, etc., as introducing a philosophy into the doctrines of the gospel that is not supported by the letter of scripture, though everything there asserted had been over and over shown to be well grounded in the letter of scripture and included in the most fundamental doctrines of the gospel. Yet they who make this complaint blindly swallow a vanity of philosophy of the most important part of gospel religion, which not only has less scripture for it than the infallibility of the Pope, and is directly contrary to the plain letter of every single text of scripture that relates to this matter, as I will now show you. First, the apostle says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life." What becomes now of the philosophy of debtor and creditor, of a satisfaction made by Christ to a wrath in God? Is it not the greatest of all fictions and in full contrariety to the plain written word of God? "God so loved the world"; behold the degree of it. But when did he so love it? Why, before it was redeemed, before He gave His only Son to be the redeemer of it. Here you see that all wrath in God that was before our redemption, or the sacrifice of Christ for us is utterly excluded; there is no possibility for the supposition of it, it is as absolutely denied as words can do it. And therefore the infinite love, mercy, and compassion of God toward fallen man is not purchased, or procured for us by the death of Christ, but the incarnation and sufferings of Christ come from and are given to us by the infinite love of God, and are the gracious effects of His own love and goodness toward us. It is needless to show you how constantly this same doctrine is asserted and repeated by all the apostles, but I will give you a few examples. John again said, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." Again, "This is the record that God has given to us, eternal life; and this life is in his Son." Again, Paul says "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." Which is repeated and further opened in these words, "Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:12-13). And again, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).
How great therefore, Steven, is the error, how total the disregard of scripture, and how vain the philosophy which talks of a wrath in God prior to our redemption, or of a debt which he could not forgive us until he had received a valuable consideration for it when all scripture from page to page tells us that all the mercy and blessing and benefits of Christ as our savior are the free foreordained gift of God Himself to us, and bestowed upon us for no other reason, from no other motive but the infinity of His own love toward us, agreeable to what the evangelical prophet says of God, "I am he that blotted out transgressions for my own sake" (Isa. 43:25), that is, not for any reason or motive that can be laid before me but because I am love itself, and my own nature is my unchallengeable reason why nothing but works of love, blessing, and goodness can come from me. Look now at the scripture account of the nature of the atonement and satisfaction of Christ, and this will further show us that it is not to atone or alter any quality or temper in the divine mind, nor for the sake of God, but purely and solely to atone, to quench, and overcome that death and wrath and hell under the power of which man had fallen. "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." This is the whole work, the whole nature, and the sole end of Christ's sacrifice of Himself; and there is not a syllable in scripture that gives you any other account of it. It all consists from the beginning to the end, in carrying on the one work of regeneration; and therefore the apostle says, the first Adam was made a living soul, but the last or second Adam was made a quickening spirit because He was sent into the world by God to make alive and revive that life from above which we lost in Adam. And He is called our ransom, our atonement, etc., for no other reason but because that which He did and suffered in our fallen nature was as truly an effective means of our being born again to a new heavenly life of Him and from Him, as that which Adam did was the true and natural cause of our being born in sin and the impurity of bestial flesh and blood.
And as Adam by what he did may be truly said to have purchased our misery and corruption, to have bought death for us, and to have sold us into a slavery under the world, the flesh, and the devil, though all that we have from him or suffer by him is only the inward working of his own nature and life within us, so according to the plain meaning of the words, Christ may be said to be our price, our ransom, and atonement; though all that He does for us as buying, ransoming, and redeeming us is done wholly and solely by a birth of His own nature and spirit brought to life in us. The apostle says, "Christ died for our sins." Therefore it is because He is the great sacrifice for sin and its true atonement. But how and why is he so? The apostle tells you in these words, "The sting of death is sin; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"; and therefore Christ is the atonement of our sins when by and from Him living in us we have victory over our sinful nature. The scriptures frequently say Christ gave Himself for us. But what is the full meaning, effect, and benefit of His giving Himself for us? The apostle does away with all doubt when he says, "Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people...that he might deliver us from this present world...from the curse of the law...from the power of Satan...from the wrath to come"; or as the apostle says in other words, "That he might be made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification." The whole truth therefore of the matter is this, Christ given for us is neither more nor less than Christ given into us. And he is in no other sense our full, perfect, and sufficient atonement than as His nature and spirit is born and formed in us, which so purges us from our sins that we are thereby in Him, and by Him dwelling in us we become new creatures having our life in heaven.
As Adam is truly our defilement and impurity by his birth in us, so Christ is our atonement and purification by our being born again of Him and what is this that has been made alive and revived in us? It is that first divine life which was extinguished in Adam. And therefore, as Adam purchased death for us, just so in the same manner, in the same degree, and in the same sense, Christ purchases life for us. Each of them only, and solely by their own inward life within us.
This is the one scripture account of the whole nature, the sole end, and full effectiveness of all that Christ did and suffered for us. It is all comprehended in these two texts of scripture:
1)"That Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil;"
2)"That as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."
From the beginning to the end of Christ's atoning work, no other power is ascribed to it, nothing else is intended by it as an appeaser of wrath but the destroying of all that in man which comes from the devil, no other merits, or value, or infinite worth than that of its infinite ability and sufficiency to bring to life again in all human nature that heavenly life that died in Adam.
Steven- Though all that is here said seems to have both the letter and the spirit of scripture on its side, yet I am afraid it will not be thought enough to assert the infinite value and merits of our savior's sufferings. For it is the common opinion of the doctors of divinity and Bible school teachers, that the righteousness or justice of God must have satisfaction done to it. And that nothing could avail with God as a satisfaction but the infinite worth and value of the sufferings of Christ.
Gordon- It is true, Steven, that this is often, and almost always asserted by human writers, but it is neither the language nor the doctrine of scripture. Not a word, not one Scripture is there, that says that righteousness or justice is an attribute of God that must be satisfied or that the sacrifice of Christ is that which satisfies the righteousness that is in God Himself. It has been sufficiently proved to you that God did not want to be reconciled to fallen man; that he never was, nor had He ever been anything else toward fallen man but love; and that His love brought forth the whole scheme of His redemption. That is the reason that the scriptures do not say that Christ came into the world to procure for us the divine favor and good will of God in order to put a stop to the antecedent righteous wrath in God toward us. No, in fact, the reverse of all this is the truth, i.e., that Christ and his whole mediatorial office came purely and solely from God, already so reconciled to us as to bestow an infinity of love upon us. "The God of all grace," says the apostle, "Who has called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 5:10). Here you see Christ is not the cause or motive of God's mercy toward fallen man, but God's own love for us, His own desire of our eternal glory and happiness has for that end given us Christ that we may be made partakers of it. The same as when it is again said, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," that is, calling and raising it out of its ungodly and miserable state. Therefore all the mystery of our redemption proclaims nothing but a God of love toward fallen man. It was the love of God that could not behold the misery of fallen man without demanding and calling for his salvation. It was love alone that wanted to have full satisfaction done to it and such a love as could not be satisfied until all that glory and happiness that was lost by the death of Adam was fully restored and regained again by the death of Christ.
Steven- But is there not some good sense in which righteousness or justice may be said to be satisfied by the atonement and sacrifice of Christ?
Gordon- Yes, most certainly there is. But then it is only that righteousness or justice that belongs to man and ought to be in him. Now righteousness, wherever it is to be, has no mercy in itself; it makes no condescension; it is inflexibly rigid; its demands are unstoppable; prayers, offerings, and entreaties have no effect upon it; it will have nothing but itself, nor will it ever cease its demands or take anything in lieu of them as a satisfaction instead of itself. Consequently, "Without holiness," says the apostle, "No man shall see the Lord." And again, "Nothing that is defiled or impure can enter into the kingdom of heaven." And this is what is meant by righteousness being rigid and having no mercy; it cannot spare, or have pity, or hear entreaty because all its demands are righteous and good and therefore must be satisfied or fulfilled. Now righteousness has its absolute demands upon man because man was created righteous and has lost that original righteousness which he ought to have kept in its first purity. And this is the only righteousness or justice which Christ came into the world to satisfy, not by giving some highly valuable thing as a satisfaction to it, but by raising up again in all human nature that holiness or righteousness which originally belonged to it. For to satisfy righteousness means neither more nor less than to fulfill it. Nor can righteousness intend to have satisfaction in any being, but in restoring or fulfilling righteousness in that being which had departed from it. And therefore the apostle says that we are created again unto righteousness in Christ Jesus. And this is the only way of Christ's taking away the sins of the world, namely, by restoring to man his lost righteousness. For this end, says the scripture, "Christ gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27). This is the one righteousness which Christ came into the world to satisfy by fulfilling it Himself and enabling man by a new birth from Him to fulfill it. And when all unrighteousness is removed by Christ from the entire human nature, then all that righteousness is satisfied, to accomplish this, Christ poured out his most precious, availing, and meritorious blood.
Steven- Gordon, the ground on which you stand must certainly be true. It so easily, so fully solves all the difficulties and objections and enables you to give so plain and solid an account of every part of our redemption. This point is fully cleared up for me.
Gordon- However, Steven, I will add a word or two more upon it so that there may be no room left either for misunderstanding or denying what has been said of the nature of that righteousness which must have a full satisfaction done to it by the atoning and redeeming work of Christ. And then you will be fully possessed of these two great truths. First, that there is no righteous wrath in the Deity itself and therefore none to be atoned there. Secondly, that though God Himself is an infinity of love from whom nothing else but works of love and blessing and goodness can proceed, yet sinful men are hereby not at all delivered from that which the apostle calls the terrors of the Lord, but that all the threatening of woe, misery, and punishment denounced in scripture against sin and sinners both in this world and that which is to come stand in their full force, and are not in the least degree weakened, or less to be dreaded because God is all love. Everything that God has created is right and just and good in its kind and has its own righteousness within itself. The goodness of its nature is its only law, and it has no other righteousness but that of continuing in its first state. No creature is subject to any pain or punishment or guilt of sin but because it has departed from its first right state, and can feel the painful loss of its own first perfection. Every intelligent creature that departs from the state of its creation is unrighteous, evil, and full of its own misery. And there is no possibility for any disordered, fallen creature to be free from its own misery and pain until it is again in its first state of perfection. This is the certain and infallible ground of the absolute necessity of a perfect holiness in this life, and a further purification after death before man can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now this pain and misery which is inseparable from the creature that is not in that state in which it ought to be, in which it was created, is nothing else but the painful state of the creature because it has lost its own proper righteousness, as sickness is the painful state of the creature which has lost its own proper health. No other righteousness, no other justice, no other severe vengeance demands satisfaction or torments the sinner but that very righteousness which once was in him, which still belongs to him, and therefore will not allow him to have any rest or peace until it is again in him as it was at the first. All, therefore, that Christ does as an atonement for sin or as a satisfaction to righteousness is all done in and to and for man, and has no other operation but that of renewing the fallen nature of man and raising it up into its first state of original righteousness. If this righteousness which belongs solely to man and needs no satisfaction but that of being restored and fulfilled in the human nature, is sometimes called the righteousness of God, it is only called this because it is a righteousness which man received originally from God, in and by his creation; and, therefore, as it comes from God, has its whole nature and power of working as it does from God, it may very justly be called God's righteousness. This way of ascribing to God this righteousness, which is to be found in man, the psalmist has said of God, "Your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand pressed me sore." And yet nothing else is meant by it than when he says, "My sins have taken such a hold of me that I am not able to look up...My wickedness are gone over my head, and are like a sore burden too heavy for me to bear." Now whether you call this state of man the burden of his sins and wickedness or the arrows of the almighty and the weight of God's hand, they mean but the same thing which can be called by these different names for no other reason than this, because man's own original righteousness which he had from God makes his sinful state a pain and torment to him and lies heavy upon him in every commission of sin. And when the psalmist again says, "Take your plague away from me, I am even consumed by means of your heavy hand," it is only praying to be delivered from his own plague, and praying for the same thing as when he says in other words, "Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
Now this language of scripture which teaches us to call the pains and torments of our sins the arrows, darts, and strokes of God's hand upon us, which calls us to have the power, presence, and operation of God in all that we feel and find in our own inward state, is the language of the most exalted piety and highly suitable to that scripture which tells us that in God we live, and move, and have our being. For by teaching us to find and own the power and operation of God in everything that goes on within us, it keeps us continually turned to God for all that we want and by all that we feel within ourselves. It brings us to this best of all confessions, that pain as well as peace of mind is the effect and manifestation of God's infinite love and goodness toward us. For we could not have this pain and sensibility of the burden of sin but because the love and goodness of God made us originally righteous and happy; and therefore, all the pains and torments of sin come from God's first goodness toward us and are in themselves truly the arrows of his love and his blessed means of drawing us back to that first righteous state for which his first and never ceasing love created us.
Steven- The matter, therefore, plainly stands accordingly. There is no righteous wrath or vindictive justice in the Deity itself, which as an attribute of resentment in the divine mind wants to be contented, atoned, or satisfied; but man's original righteousness which was once his peace, and happiness, and rest in God is by the fall of Adam become his tormentor, his plague that continually exercises its good vengeance upon him until it truly regains its first state in him.
Secondly, man must be under this pain, punishment, and vengeance to all eternity; there is no possibility in the nature of the thing for it to be otherwise though God be all love, unless man's lost righteousness be fully again possessed by him. Therefore, the doctrine of God being all love, of God having no wrath in Himself, has nothing in it to abate the force of those scriptures which threaten punishment to sinners, or to make them less fearful of living and dying in their sins.
Gordon- What you say, Steven, is very true; but then it is but half the truth of this matter. You should have added that this doctrine is the only reason why the scriptures abound with so many declarations of woe, misery, and judgments sometimes executed and sometimes only threatened by God, and why all sinners to the end of the world must know and feel "That the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness," and that "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish must be upon every soul of man that does evil" (Rom. 2:8-9). For all these things, which the apostle elsewhere calls the terrors of the Lord, have no ground, nothing that calls for them, nothing that vindicates the fitness and justice of them either with regard to God or man but this one truth, i.e., that God is in Himself a mere infinity of love from whom nothing but out-flowing of love and goodness can come forth from eternity to eternity. For if God is all love, if He wills nothing toward fallen man but his full deliverance from the blind slavery and captivity of his earthly, bestial nature, then every kind of punishment, distress, and affliction that can extinguish the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of this life may and ought to be expected from God merely because He is all love and good will toward fallen man.
To say, therefore, as some have said, if God is all love toward fallen man, how can he threaten or chastise sinners? This is like saying, if God is all goodness in Himself and toward man, how can He do that in and to man which is for his good? As absurd as to say, if the able physician is all love, goodness, and good will toward his patients, how can he give them medicine that tastes bitter, how can he order a limb cut off? No, so absurd is this reasoning that if it could be proved that God had no chastisement for sinners, the very lack of this chastisement would be the greatest of all proofs that God was not all love and goodness toward man. The meek, merciful, and com-passionnate Jesus who had no errand in this world but to bless and save mankind said, "If your right eye or your right hand offend you, pluck out the one, cut off the other, and cast them from you" And that He said all this from mere love He adds, "It is better for you to do this than that your whole body should be cast into hell"; therefore, if the holy Jesus had been lacking in this severity, he was lacking in true love toward man. Therefore, because of the pure love of God sinners can justly expect from God that no sin will pass unpunished, but that his love will visit them with every calamity and distress that can help to break and purify the bestial heart of man and awaken in him true repentance and conversion to God. It is love alone in the holy Deity that will allow no peace to the wicked, nor ever cease its judgments until every sinner is forced to confess that it is good for him that he has been in trouble, and thankfully own that not the wrath but the love of God has plucked out that right eye, cut off that right hand which he ought to have done but would not do for himself and his own salvation.
Again, this doctrine that declares that there is no wrath in the divine mind but places all wrath in the evil state of fallen nature and creature, has everything in it that can prove to man the dreadful nature of sin and the absolute necessity of totally departing from it. It leaves no room for self-delusion, but puts an end to every false hope or vain seeking for relief in anything else but the total extinction of sin. And this it effectually does by showing that damnation is no foreign, separate, or imposed state that is brought in upon us or attributed to us by the will of God, but is the inborn, natural, essential state of our own disordered nature, which is absolutely impossible in the nature of the thing to be anything else but our own hell both here and hereafter, unless all sin be separated from us and righteousness be again made our natural state by a birth of itself in us. And all this, not because God will have it so by an arbitrary act of His sovereign will, but because He cannot change His own nature or make anything to be happy and blessed, but only that which has its proper righteousness and is of one will and spirit with Himself, because He and He alone is the source of all happiness! If then every creature that has lost or is without the true righteousness of its nature must as such be of all necessity absolutely separated from God and necessarily under the pain and misery of a life that has lost all its own natural good, if no omnipotence or mercy or goodness of God can make it to be otherwise or give any relief to the sinner but by a total extinction of sin, by a birth of righteousness in the soul, then it fully appears that according to this doctrine, everything in God, and nature, and creature calls the sinner to an absolute renunciation of all sin as the only possible means of salvation and leaves no room for him to deceive himself with the hopes that anything else will do instead of it. Vainly therefore is it said that if God be all love, the sinner is let loose from the dreadful apprehensions of living and dying in his sins. On the other hand, deny this doctrine and say with the current of scholastic divines that sin must be doomed to eternal pain and death unless a supposed wrath in the mind of the Deity is first atoned and satisfied, and that Christ's death was that valuable gift or offering made to God by which alone he could be moved to lay aside or extinguish his own wrath toward fallen man, say this; and then you open a wide door for licentiousness and infidelity in some, and superstitious fears in others. For if the evil, the misery, and sad effects of sin are placed in a wrath in the divine mind, what can this beget in the minds of the pious but superstitious fears about a supposed wrath in God which they can never know when it is, or is not, atoned? Every kind of superstition has its birth from this belief and cannot be otherwise. And as to the licentious, who want to stifle all fears of gratifying all their passions, this doctrine has a natural tendency to do this for them. For if they are taught that the hurt and misery of sin is not its own natural state, not owing to its own wrath and disorder but to a wrath in the Deity, how easy is it for them to believe either that God may not be so full of wrath as is given out or that He may overcome it Himself and not keep the sinner eternally in a misery that is not his own but wholly brought upon him from without by a resentment in the divine mind.
Again, this account which the Bible schools give of the sacrifice of Christ made to atone a wrath in the Deity by the infinite value of Christ's death is that alone which helps Socinians, Deists, and infidels of all kinds to such splitting of hairs and objections to the mystery of our redemption that can't be silenced by the most able defenders of that Bible school fiction. The learning of a Grotius or Stillingfleet when defending such an account of the atonement and satisfaction rather tends to increases rather than lessens the objections to this mystery. But if you take this matter as it truly is in itself, i.e., that God is in Himself all love and goodness, therefore can be nothing else but all love and goodness toward fallen man, and that fallen man is subject to no pain or misery either present or to come but that which is the natural, unavoidable, essential effect of his own evil and disordered nature and that it is impossible for him to alter it by himself, and that the infinite, never ceasing love of God has given Jesus Christ as the highest and only possible means that heaven and earth can afford to save man from himself, from his own evil, misery, and death, and restore to him his original divine life.
When you look at this matter in this true light, then a God all love and an atonement for sin by Christ, not made to pacify a wrath in God but to bring forth, fulfill, and restore righteousness in the creature that had lost it, and has everything in it that can make the providence of God adorable and the state of man comfortable. Here all superstition and superstitious fears are at once totally cut off, and every work of piety is turned into a work of love. Here every false hope of every kind is taken from the wicked; they have no ground left to stand upon. Nothing to trust to as a deliverance from misery but the total eradication of sin. The Socinian and the infidel are here also robbed of all their philosophy against this mystery; for as it is not founded upon, and does not teach an infinite resentment that could only be satisfied by an infinite atonement, as it stands not upon the ground of debtor and creditor, all their arguments which suppose it to be such are quite beside the matter and do not touch the truth of this blessed mystery. For it is the very reverse of all this, it declares a God that is all love and the atonement of Christ to be nothing else in itself but the highest, most natural and effective means through all the possibility of things that the infinite love and wisdom of God could use to put an end to sin, and death, and hell and restore to man his first divine state or life. I say the most natural, effectual means through all the possibilities of nature; for there is nothing that is supernatural, however mysterious, in the whole system of our redemption; every part of it has its ground in the workings and powers of nature, and all our redemption is only nature set right, or made to be that which it ought to be. There is nothing that is supernatural but God alone; everything besides Him is from and subject to the state of nature. It can never rise out of it, or have anything contrary to it. No creature can have either health or sickness, good or evil, or any state either from God or itself but strictly according to the capacities, powers, and workings of nature. The mystery of our redemption, though it comes from the supernatural God, has nothing in it but what is done and to be done within the sphere and according to the powers of nature. There is nothing supernatural in it or belonging to it but that supernatural love and wisdom which brought it forth, presides over it, and directs it until Christ as a second Adam has removed and extinguished all that evil which the first Adam brought into the human nature. And the whole administration of Jesus Christ, from His being the in-spoken Word or bruiser of the serpent given to Adam, to his birth, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven has all its ground and reason in this because nothing else in all the possibilities of nature, either in heaven or on earth could begin, carry on, and totally effect man's deliverance from the evil of his own fallen nature.
"With this one difference . . ."
Therefore Christ is the one, full, sufficient atonement for the sin of the whole world because he is the only natural remedy and possible cure of all the evil that has happened as a result of the fall of man, the only natural life and resurrection of all holiness and happiness that died in Adam. And seeing that all this process of Christ is given to the world from the supernatural, antecedent, infinite love of God, therefore is it that the apostle says God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. And Christ in God is nothing else in his whole nature but that same, certain, and natural parent of a redemption to the whole human nature, as falling Adam was the certain and natural parent of a miserable life to every man that is descended from him. With this one difference, that from fallen Adam we are born in sin whether we will to be or not, but we cannot have the new birth which Christ has all power to bring forth in us unless the will of our heart chooses it. But as nothing came to us from Adam but according to the powers of nature, and because he was that which he was with relation to us, so it is with Christ and our redemption by Him: All the work is grounded in and proceeds according to the powers of nature or in a way of natural efficiency to produce its effects; and everything that is found in the person, character, and condition of Christ is only there as His true and natural qualification to do all that He came to do in us and for us. That is to say, Christ was made to be that which He was; He was a seed of life in our first fallen father; He lived as a blessing of promise in the patriarchs, and prophets, and Israel of God; He was born as a man of a pure virgin; He did all that He did whether as suffering, dying, conquering, rising, and ascending into heaven only as so many things which as naturally and as truly, according to the nature of things, qualified Him to bring about the return of the divine life in us, just as the state and condition of Adam qualified him to make us the slavish children of earthly, bestial flesh and blood. This is the comfortable doctrine of our redemption: nothing in God but an infinity of love and goodness toward our fallen condition; nothing in Christ but that which had its necessity in the nature of things to make Him able to give, and us to receive, our full salvation from Him.
I will now only add that from the beginning of Deism and from Socinus to this day, not a Socinian or Deist has ever seen or opposed this mystery in its true state as is undeniably plain from all their writings. A late writer, who has as much knowledge, zeal and wit in the cause of Deism as any of his predecessors, is forced to attack our redemption by giving this false following account of it. "That a perfectly innocent being (Jesus Christ) of the highest order among intelligent natures should personate the offender and undergo in his place in order to take down the wrath and resentment of the Deity against the criminal (us) and dispose God to show mercy to Him, we Deists conceive to be both unnatural and improper and therefore not to be ascribed to God without blasphemy." And again, "The common notion of redemption among Christians seems to represent the Deity in a disagreeable light, as implacable and revengeful," etc. What an arrow is here, I will not say, shot beside the mark, but shot at nothing. Because nothing of that which he accuses is to be found in our redemption. The God of Christians is so far from being, as he says, implacable and revengeful that you have seen it proved from text to text that the whole form and manner of our redemption comes wholly from the free, infinite love and goodness of God toward fallen man. That the innocent Christ did not come to still an angry Deity but merely as cooperating, assisting, and uniting with that love of God which desired our salvation. That He did not suffer in our place but only on our account, which is a very different matter. And to say that He suffered in our place or stead is as absurd, as contrary to scripture, as to say that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven in our place and stead that we might be excused from it. For His sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension are all of them equally on our account, for our sake, for our good and benefit, but none of them possible to be in our place. And as scripture and truth affirm that He ascended into heaven for us, though neither scripture nor truth will allow it to be in our place and stead, so for the same reasons it is strictly true that He suffered and died for us, though no more in our place or stead than His ascension into heaven for us should be in our place and stead. I have quoted the above passage only to show you that a defender of Deism, however acute and ingenious, has not one objection to the doctrine of our redemption but that which is founded on the grossest ignorance and total mistake of the whole nature of it. But when I lay this gross ignorance to the Deists charge, I don't mean any natural lack of intelligence, or incapacity in them to judge correctly, but that something, either men or books or their own way of life has hindered their seeing the true ground and real nature of Christianity as it truly is.
Steven- I would hope, Gordon, that from all that has been said in the Demonstration of the Fundamental Errors of the Plain Account, the Appeal to all that Doubt, etc., and the rest that follow, to these dialogues in which Christianity and Deism, is so plainly explained so that all who are serious amongst the Deists will be prevailed upon to reconsider the matter. For though some people have been hasty enough to charge those writings with fanaticism, and as disclaiming the use of our reason in religious matters, yet this charge can be made by none but those who, have not read them, but, instead listen to rumored censures. The true ground, nature, and power of faith is opened by fully proving that this saying of Christ, "According to your faith, so be it done unto you," takes in every human; and that all men, whether Christians, Deists, idolaters, or atheists are all of them equally men of faith, all equally and absolutely governed by it and therefore must have all that they have, salvation or damnation, strictly and solely according to their faith. All of this is so evidently proved that I can't help thinking that every reader with understanding must be forced to accept it.
Thomas- All of this has been said well. But let us now return to the finishing of our main point which was to show that the doctrine of a God all love does not do away with the necessity of Christ's death and the infinite value and merits of it but is itself the fullest proof and strongest confirmation of both.
Gordon- How it could enter into anyone's head to charge this doctrine with destroying the necessity and merits of Christ's death is exceeding strange. For look where you will, no other cause or reason of the death of Christ can be found but in the love of God toward fallen man. Nor could the love of God will or accept the death of Christ but because of its absolute necessity and effectiveness to do all that for fallen man which the love of God would insist be done for him. God did not, could not, have or desire the sufferings and death of Christ for what they were in themselves. No, the higher and greater such sufferings would have been, were they only considered in themselves, the less pleasing they would of been to a God who wills nothing but blessing and happiness to everything capable of it. But all that Christ was and did and suffered was infinitely prized and highly acceptable to the love of God because all that Christ was, and did, and suffered in his own person was that which gave Him full power to be a common father of life to all that died in Adam. Had Christ not accomplished any of the things that He did or had He suffered in His own person, He could not have stood in that relation to all mankind as Adam had done. Had He not been given to the first fallen man as a seed of the woman, as a light of life, enlightening every man that comes into the world, He could not have had His seed in every man as Adam had, nor have been as universal a father of life as Adam was of death. Had he not in the fullness of time become a man born of a pure virgin, the first seed of life in every man must have lain only as a seed and could not have come to the fullness of the birth of a new man in Christ Jesus. For the children can have no other state of life but that which their father first had. And therefore Christ, as the father of a regenerated human race, must first stand in the fullness of that human state which was to be derived from Him into all His children. This is the absolute necessity of Christ's being all that he was before he became man, a necessity arising from the nature of the thing. Because He could not possibly have had the relation of a father to all mankind, nor any power to be a quickener31 of a life of heaven in them, but because He was both God in Himself and a seed of God in all of them. Now all that Christ was, and did, and suffered after He became man is from the same necessity founded in the nature of the thing. He suffered on no other account but because that which He came to do in and for human nature was and could be nothing else in itself but a work of sufferings and death.
A crooked line cannot become straight but by having all its crookedness taken from it. And there is but one way possible in nature for a crooked line to lose its crookedness. Now the sufferings and death of Christ stand in this same kind of necessity. He was made man for our salvation, that is, He took upon Himself our fallen nature to bring it out of its evil crooked state and set it again in that righteousness in which it was created. Now there were not two ways of doing this, no more than there are two ways of making a crooked line straight. If the life of fallen nature which Christ had taken upon Himself was to be overcome by Him, then every kind of suffering and dying that was a giving up or departing from the life of fallen nature was just as necessary in the nature of the thing as that the line to be made straight must give up and part with every kind and degree of its own crookedness. And therefore the sufferings and death of Christ were, in the nature of the thing, the only possible way of His acting contrary to and overcoming all the evil that was in the fallen state of man. The apostle says, "The captain of our salvation was to be made perfect through sufferings." This was the reason for His sufferings. Had He been without them, He could not have been perfect in Himself as a son of man nor the restorer of perfection in all mankind. But why is this so? Because His perfection as a son of man, or the captain of human salvation, could only consist in His acting in and with a spirit suitable to the first created state of perfect man; that is, He must in His spirit be as much above all the good and evil of this fallen world as the first man was before his fall. He could not do this but by showing that all the good of the earthly life was renounced by Him and that all the evil which the world, the malice of men and devils could bring upon Him could not hinder His living wholly and solely to God and doing His will on earth with the same fullness as angels do it in heaven. But had there been any evil in all fallen nature, whether in life, death, or hell that had not attacked Him with all its force, He could not have been said to have overcome it. And therefore so sure as Christ the son of man was to overcome the world, death, hell, and Satan, so sure is it that all the evils which they could possibly bring upon Him were to be felt and suffered by Him and this was as absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, to declare His perfection and prove His superiority over them. Surely, my friend, it is now enough proved to you how a God all love toward fallen man must love, desire, and delight in all the sufferings of Christ which alone could enable Him as a son of man to undo and reverse all that evil which the first man had done to all his posterity.
Steven- Oh, sir, in what a sweet light this mystery is now placed. And yet in no other light than that in which in the plain letter of all scripture sets it. No wrath in God, no fictitious atonement, no folly of debtor and creditor, no suffering in Christ for suffering's sake, but a Christ suffering and dying as His same victory over death and hell as when He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.
Gordon- Steven, you plainly enough see where the infinite merits, or the availing effectiveness and glorious power of the sufferings and death of Christ consist, since they were that in and through which Christ Himself came out of the state of fallen nature and got power to give the same victory to all His brethren of the human race. Wonder not therefore that the scriptures so frequently ascribes all our salvation to the sufferings and death of Christ, that we are continually referred to them as the wounds and stripes by which we are healed, as the blood by which we are washed from our sins, as the price (much above gold and precious jewels) by which we are bought. Wonder not also that in the Old Testament, its service, sacrifices, and ceremonies were instituted to typify and point at the great sacrifice of Christ, and to keep up a continual hope, a strong expectation, and belief of it. And that in the New Testament, the reality, the benefits, and the glorious effects of Christ our Passover being actually sacrificed for us are so joyfully repeated by every apostle. It is because Christ, as suffering and dying, was nothing else but Christ conquering and overcoming all the false good and the hellish evil of the fallen state of man. His resurrection from the grave and ascension into heaven, though great in themselves and necessary parts of our deliverance, were yet but the consequences and genuine effects of his sufferings and death. These were in themselves the reality of his conquest; all His great work was done and effected in them and by them, and His resurrection and ascension was only His entering into the possession of that which his sufferings and death had gained for Him.
Wonder not then that all the true followers of Christ, the saints of every age, have so gloried in the cross of Christ, have attributed such great things to it, have desired nothing so much as to be partakers of it, to live in constant union with it. It is because His sufferings, His death and cross were the fullness of His victory over all the works of the devil. Not an evil in flesh and blood, not a misery of life, not a chain of death, not a power of hell and darkness, for all were broken, and overcome by the process of a suffering and dying Christ. Well therefore may the cross of Christ be the glory of Christians.
Steven- This matter is so solidly and fully cleared up that I am almost ashamed to ask you anything further about it. Yet explain a little more, if you please, how it is that the sufferings and death of Christ gave Him power to become a common father of life to all that died in Adam. Or how it is that we, by virtue of them, have victory over all the evil of our fallen state.
Gordon- You are to know, Steven, that the Christian religion is no arbitrary system of divine worship, but is the one true, and only religion of nature, that is, it is wholly founded in the nature of things, has nothing in it supernatural or contrary to the powers and demands of nature, but all that it does is only in and by and according to the workings and possibilities of nature. A religion that is not founded in nature is all fiction and falsity and as much a nothing, as an idol. For as no creature can be or have anything in it but what it is and has from the nature of things nor have anything done to it good or bad but according to the unalterable workings of nature, so no religion can be of any service but that which works with and according to the demand of nature. Nor can any fallen creature be raised out of its fallen state, even by the omnipotence of God but according to the nature of things, or the unchangeable powers of nature; for nature is the opening and manifestation of the divine omnipotence; and therefore all that God does, is and must be done in and by the powers of nature. God though omnipotent can give no existence to any creature but that which does exist in space and time. Time comes out of eternity, and space comes out of the infinity of God. God has an omnipotent power over them, in them, and with them, to make both of them set forth and manifest the wonders of his supernatural Deity. Yet time can only be subservient to the omnipotence of God according to the nature of time, and space can only obey his will according to the nature of space; but neither of them can by any power be made to be in a supernatural state or be anything but what they are in their own nature. Now right and wrong, good and evil, true and false, happiness and misery, are as unchangeable in nature as time and space. And every state and quality that is creaturely, or that can belong to any creature, has its own nature as unchangeably as time and space have theirs. Nothing, therefore, can be done to any creature supernaturally, or in a way that is contrary to the powers of nature; everything that is to be helped, that is to have any good done to it, or any evil taken out of it, can only have it done so far as the powers of nature are able and rightly directed to effect it. And this is the true ground of all divine revelation, or that help which the supernatural Deity promises to the fallen state of man. It is not to appoint an arbitrary system of religious homage to God, but solely to point out and provide for man blinded by his fallen state that only religion that, according to the nature of things, can possibly restore to him his lost perfection. This is the truth, the goodness, and the necessity of the Christian religion; it is true and good and necessary because it is as much the only natural and possible way of overcoming all the evil of fallen man as light is the only natural, possible thing that can expel darkness. And therefore it is that all the mysteries of the gospel, however high, are yet true and necessary parts of the one religion of nature because they are no higher nor otherwise than the natural state of fallen man absolutely stands in need of. His nature cannot be helped or raised out of the evils of its present state by anything less than these mysteries; and therefore, they are in the same truth and justness to be called his natural religion as that remedy which alone has full power to remove all the evil of a disease may be justly called its natural remedy. For a religion is not to be deemed natural because it has nothing to do with revelation; it is the one true religion of nature when it has everything in it that our natural state stands in need of, everything that can help us out of our present evil and raise us up to all the happiness which our nature is capable of having. For the fallen, corrupt, mortal state of man absolutely requires these two things as its only salvation.
First, the divine life or the life of God must be quickened32 or revived in the soul of man. Secondly, there must be a resurrection of the body in a better state after death. Now nothing in the power of man or in the things of this world can effect this salvation. If, therefore, this is to be the salvation of man, then some interposition33 of God is absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, or man can have no religion that is sufficient or equal to the needs of his nature. Now this necessary interposition of the Deity though doing nothing but in a natural way, or according to the nature of things, must be mysterious to man because it is doing something that his senses and reason never thought possible to be done, either by himself or any of the powers of this world. And this is the true ground and nature of the mysteries of Christian redemption. They are in themselves nothing else but what the nature of things requires them to be, as natural, effective means of our salvation, and all their power is in a natural way, or true fitness of cause for its effect, but they are mysterious to man because they are brought into the scheme of our redemption by the interposition of God to work in a way and manner above and superior to all that is seen and done in the things of the world. The mysteries, therefore, of the gospel are so far from showing the gospel not to be the one true religion of nature that in fact, they are the greatest proof of it, since they are that alone which can help man to all that good which his natural state needs to have done to it. For instance, since the salvation of man absolutely requires the revival or restoration of divine life in the human nature, then nothing can be the one, sufficient, true religion of nature, but that which has a natural power to do this. What a grossness of error it is, therefore, to blame that doctrine which asserts the incarnation of the Son of God, or the necessity of the Word being made flesh, when in fact nothing else but this very mystery can be the natural, effective cause of the renewal of the divine life in the human nature, or have any natural ability to bring about our salvation?
Having now established this ground, that nothing is or can be a part of true, natural religion or have any real effectiveness in and from the nature of things or in the natural fitness of cause to produce its effect, you are brought into a clear view of this truth, i.e., that the religion of Deism is false, and vain, and visionary, and should be rejected by every man as mere fanaticism, and the product of imagination, and all for this reason, because it quite disregards the nature of things, stands wholly upon a supernatural ground and goes as much above and as directly contrary to the powers of nature as that faith that trusts in and prays to a wooden god. I say this not34 in the spirit of accusation, or to raise any disgust. No, by no means. I have the utmost aversion to such a procedure; I would no more bring a false charge against the Deist than I would bear false witness against an apostle. And I desire to have no other disposition, spirit or behavior toward them but such as the lord, and that with all my heart. And in this spirit of love, I charge them with visionary faith and fanatical religion, and only so far as I have from time to time proved that they trust to be saved by that which, according to the unchangeable nature of things, can have no power of salvation in it. For a religion not grounded in the power and nature of things is unnatural, and is rightly called fanaticism, superstition, or idolatry, just as you please. For all these are but different names for the same religious delusion. And every religion is this delusion but that one religion which is required by and has its effectiveness in the unchangeable nature of things. And so stands the matter between the Deists and myself. If I knew how to do them or the subject more justice, I would gladly do it; having no desire either toward them or myself but this one thing, that we may all be delivered from everything that separates us from God, all equal sharers of every blessing that He has for human nature, all united in that spirit of love and goodness for which He created us, and all blessed with that faith and hope to which the God of love has called us as the one, and only, possible, natural, and full means of ever finding ourselves saved and redeemed from all the evils both of time and eternity.
And now, Steven, upon this ground, i.e.,
(1) That there is but one true religion, and that it is the religion of the natural effect of God upon us.
(2) That a religion has no pretense to be considered as the religion of nature because it rejects divine revelation and has only human reason for its guide, but wholly and solely because it has every good in it that the natural state of man needs and can receive from religion.
(3) That nothing can be any religious good, or have any real effectiveness as a means of salvation, but only that which has its effectiveness in and from the natural power of things, or the fitness and sufficiency of cause to produce its effect.
(4) That the religion of the gospel, in all its mysteries and doctrines, is wholly grounded in the natural powers of things and their fitness to produce their effects.
Upon this ground I come to answer your question, i.e., how it is that the sufferings and death of Christ gave Him full power to become a common father of life to all those that died in Adam. Or how it is that we by virtue of them are delivered out of all the evils of our fallen state. The sufferings and death of Christ have no supernatural effect, that is above, or contrary to nature. Because the thing itself is impossible; for a thing is only therefore impossible because the nature of things will not allow it. The fall of all mankind in Adam is no supernatural event or effect, but the natural and necessary consequence of our relation to him. Could Adam at his fall into this earthly life have absolutely overcome every power of the world, the flesh, and the devil in the same spirit as Christ did, he would have been his own redeemer, he would have risen out of his fall, and ascended into paradise and he would have been the father of a paradisiacal offspring, just as Christ when he had overcome them all rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. But Adam did not do this because it was as impossible in the nature of the thing as for a beast to raise itself into an angel. If therefore man is to come out of his fallen state, there must be something found that, according to the nature of things, has power to effect it. For it can no more be done supernaturally by anything else than it could by Adam.
Now the matter stood accordingly: The seed of all mankind was in the loins of fallen Adam. This was unalterable in the nature of the thing and therefore all mankind must come forth in his fallen state. Neither can they ever be in any state whatever, whether earthly or heavenly, but by having an earthly man or a heavenly man for their father. For mankind as such must of all necessity be born of and have that nature which it has from a man. And this is the absolute necessity of the one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. For mankind as such must have that birth and nature which they had from man, seeing they never could have had any relation to paradise or any possibility of partaking of it but only because they had a paradisiacal man for their father, they never could have had any relation to this earthly world, or any possibility of being born earthly but because they had an earthly man for their father; and seeing all this must be unalterably so forever, it plainly follows that there was an utter impossibility for the seed of Adam ever to come out of its fallen state or ever have another or better life than they had from Adam unless such a son of man could be brought into existence as had the same relation to all mankind as Adam had, was as much in them all as Adam was, and had full power according to the nature of things to give a heavenly life to all the seed in Adam's loins as Adam had to bring them forth in earthly flesh and blood. And now, Christ was this very son of man, standing in the same fullness of relation to all mankind as Adam did, having His seed as really in them all as Adam had, and as truly and fully qualified according to the nature of things to be a common and universal father of life as Adam was of death to all the human race.
The doctrine of our redemption absolutely asserts that the seed of Christ was sown into the first fallen father of mankind called the seed of the woman, the bruiser of the serpent, the in-grafted Word of life, called again in the gospel, that light which lights every man that comes into the world. Therefore, Christ was in all men in that same fullness of relation of a father to all mankind as Adam was in the beginning. Secondly, Christ was born of Adam's flesh and blood, and therefore took human nature upon Himself and stood as a human creature in the same relation to mankind as Adam did. Nothing therefore was deficient in Christ to make Him as truly a natural father of life to all mankind as Adam was at the first, but God's appointment of Him to that end. For as Adam could not have been the natural father of mankind but because God created and appointed him for that end, so Christ could not have been the natural regenerator or redeemer of a heavenly life that was lost in all mankind but because God had appointed and brought Him into the world for that end. Now that God did this, that Christ came into the world by divine appointment to be the savior, the resurrection and life of all mankind is a truth as evident from scripture as that Adam was the first man. And therefore it appears to the utmost degree of plainness and certainty that Christ was, according to the nature of things, as fully qualified to be a common redeemer as Adam was to be a common father of all mankind. He had His seed in all mankind as Adam had; He had the human nature as Adam had; and He had the same divine appointment as Adam had. But Christ, however qualified to be our redeemer, could not be actually such until He had gone through and done all that by which our redemption was to be effected. Adam, however qualified, yet could not be the father of a paradisiacal offspring until he had gone though his trial and fixed himself victorious over everything that could make a trial of him. In like manner, Christ, however qualified, could not be the redeemer of all mankind until He had also gone though His trial, and had overcome all that by which Adam was overcome and had fixed Himself triumphantly in that paradise which Adam had lost. Now as Adam's trial was whether he would keep himself in his paradisiacal state, above and free from all that was good and evil in this earthly world, so Christ's trial was whether, as a son of man and loaded with the infirmities of fallen Adam, sacrificed to all that which the rage and malice of the world, hell, and devils could possibly do to Him, whether He in the midst of all these evils could live and die with His spirit as contrary to them, as much above them, as unhurt by them, as Adam should have lived in paradise. Christ overcome everything which had overcome Adam, and Christ's victory did in the nature of the thing, everything to open an entrance for Him and all His seed into paradise as Adam's fall cast him and all his seed into the prison and captivity of this earthly, bestial world. Nothing supernatural came to pass in either case but paradise lost and paradise regained according to the nature of thing, or the real effectiveness of cause to produce its effect. Therefore your question is fully answered, i.e., how and why the sufferings and death of Christ enabled Him to be the author of life to all that died in Adam. Just as the fall of Adam into this world under the power of sin, death, hell, and the devil enabled him to be the common father of death, that is, was the natural, unavoidable cause of our being born under the same captivity, just so that life and sufferings and death of Christ which declared His breaking out from them and superiority over them must in the nature of things, as much enable Him to be the common author of life, that is, must as certainly be the full, natural, effectual cause of our inheriting life from Him. Because by what Christ was in Himself, by what He was in us by His whole state, character, and the divine appointment, we all had that natural union with Him and dependence upon Him as our head in the way of redemption, as we had with Adam as our head in the way of our natural birth. So that as it must be said that because Adam fell, we must of all necessity be heirs of his fallen state, so with the same truth and from the same necessity of the thing, it must be said that because Christ our head is risen victorious out of our fallen state we as His members and having His seed within us must be and are made heirs of all his glory. Because in all respects we are as strictly, as intimately connected with and related to him as our one redeemer as we are to Adam as the one father of all mankind. So that Christ by His sufferings and death become in all of us our wisdom, our righteousness, our justification and our redemption, is the same sober and solid truth as Adam by his fall became in all of us our foolishness, our impurity, our corruption, and death.
And now, my friends, look back upon all that has been said and then tell me, is it possible more to exalt or magnify the infinite merits and availing effectiveness of the sufferings and death of Christ than is done by this doctrine? Or whether everything that is said of them in scripture is not proved here, from the very nature of the thing, to be absolutely true? And again, whether it is not sufficiently proved to you that the sufferings and death of Christ are not only consistent with the doctrine of a God of all love, but are the fullest and most absolute proof of it?
Steven- Indeed, Gordon, you have so fully explained to us all that we wanted to know, that we are now ready to take leave of you. As for my part, I want to return home to enjoy my Bible and delight myself with reading it in this comfortable light in which you have set the whole ground and nature of our redemption. I am now in full possession of this glorious truth that God is love, the most glorious truth that can possess and edify the heart of man. It drives every evil out of the soul and gives life to every spark of goodness that can possibly be kindled in it. Everything in religion is made agreeable by being a service of love to the God of love. No sacrifices, sufferings, and death have any place in religion but to satisfy and fulfill that love of God which could not be satisfied without our salvation. If the Son of God is not spared, if he is delivered up to the rage and malice of men, devils, and hell, it is because, had we not had such a captain of our salvation made perfect through sufferings, we could not of have sung, "Oh death, where is your sting, Oh grave, where is your victory!" It never could have been true that "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so by one man came the resurrection of the dead." It never could have been said " That as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."
Therefore, dear Gordon, goodbye. God is love, and he that has learned to live in the spirit of love has learned to live and dwell in God. Love was the beginner of all the works of God, and from eternity to eternity nothing can come from God but a variety of wonders and works of love over all nature and creature.
Gordon- God prosper you, Steven, this spark of heaven in your soul; may it, like the seraphim's coal taken from the altar, purify your heart from all its uncleanness. But before you leave me, I would like to tell you about the practical part of the spirit of love, so that in doctrine and practice, hearing and doing, all may go hand in hand.
Chapter 4
How To Acquire and Maintain this Love
Steven- You have shown great good will toward us, Gordon, in desiring another meeting before we leave you. But yet it seems to me that I have no need of learning anymore on this subject. For this doctrine of the spirit of love cannot have more power over me or be more deeply rooted in me than it is already. It has so gained and got possession of my whole heart that everything else must be under its dominion. I can do nothing else but love; it is my whole nature, I have no taste for anything else. Can this matter be carried higher in practice?
"You are as yet only charmed with the sight, or rather the sound of it."
Gordon- You say "higher" Steven- And if this truly was the state of your heart, you would bid fair-well to leave the world as Elijah did; or like Enoch to have it said of you that you lived wholly to love, and was not. For if there was nothing but this divine love alive in you, your fallen flesh and blood would be in danger of being quite burnt up by it. What you have said of yourself, you have spoken in great sincerity but in a total ignorance of yourself and the true nature of the spirit of divine love. You are as yet only charmed with the sight, or rather the sound of it; its real birth is as yet unfelt and unfound in you. Your natural complexion has a great deal of the animal meekness and softness of the lamb and the dove, your blood and spirit are of this turn; and therefore a God all love and a religion all love quite carries you; and you are so delighted with it that you fancy you have nothing in you but this God and religion of love. But, my friend, bear with me if I tell you that all this is only the good part of the spirit of this bestial world in you and may be in any unregenerate man that is of your personality. It is so far from being a genuine fruit of divine love that if you do not look to it, it may prove a real hindrance of it as it oftentimes does by its appearing to be that which it is not. You have quite forgot all that was said in the letter to you on the spirit of love, that it is a birth in the soul that can only come forth in its proper time and place and from its proper causes. Now nothing that is a birth can be brought into the soul by any philosophy. You may love it as much as you please, think it the most charming thing in the world, think of everything as dung in comparison of it, and yet have no more of its birth in you than the blind man has of that light of which he has only been told of. His blindness still continues the same; he is at the same distance from the light because light can only be had by a birth of itself in seeing eyes. It is so with the spirit of love; it is nowhere, but where it rises up as a birth.
Steven- But if I am no further than this, what good have I received from having energetically agreed to all that you have said of this doctrine? And to what end have you taken so much pains to establish it?
Gordon- Your error lies in this; you confound two things which are entirely different from each other. You may see the difference between the doctrine, and necessity of the spirit of love, and the spirit of love itself, which yet are two things so different that you may be quite full of the former and at the same time quite empty of the latter.
I have said everything that I could say to show you the truth, and necessity of the spirit of love. It is of infinite importance to you to be well established in the belief of this doctrine. But all that I have said of it is only to induce and encourage you to buy it at its stated price and to give all that you have for it, for this is the purchase price. But if you think (as you plainly do) that you have got it because you are so highly pleased with that which you have heard of it, you only embrace the shadow instead of the substance of that which you ought to have.
Steven- What is this price that I must pay for it?
Gordon- You must give up all that you are, and all that you have from fallen Adam, for all that you are and have from him is that life of flesh and blood which cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Adam, after his fall, had nothing that was good in him, nothing that could inherit eternal life in heaven but the bruiser of the serpent or the seed of the Son of God that was placed into him. Everything else in him was devoted to death, that this incorruptible seed of the Word might grow up into a new name in Christ Jesus. All the doctrine of God's reprobation and election relates wholly and solely to these two things, i.e., the earthly, bestial nature from Adam, and the incorruptible seed of the Word, or Immanuel in every man. Nothing is elected, is foreseen, predestinated, or called according to the purpose of God, but this seed of the new man. Because the one eternal, unchangeable purpose of God toward man is this, namely, that man should be a heavenly image or son of God; and therefore nothing can be elected or called according to the purpose of God but this seed of a heavenly birth, because nothing else is able to answer and fulfill the purpose of God; but everything else that is in man, his whole earthly, bestial nature, is from sin and is quite contrary to God's purpose in the creation of man. On the other hand, nothing is reprobated, rejected, or cast out by God but the earthly nature which came from the fall of Adam. This is the only vessel of wrath, the son of perdition, that can have no share in the promises and blessings of God. Here you have the whole unalterable ground of divine election and reprobation; it relates not to any particular number of people or division of mankind, but solely to the two natures that are, both of them without exception, in every individual. All that is earthly, serpentine, and devilish in every man is reprobated and doomed to destruction; and the heavenly seed of the new birth in every man is that which is chosen, ordained, and called to eternal life. Election therefore and reprobation as respecting salvation equally relate to every man in the world because every man as such, has that in him which only is elected, and that in him which only is reprobated, namely, the earthly nature and the heavenly seed of the Word of God. Now all this is evident from the very nature of the thing; as soon as you suppose man at his fall to have a power of redemption or deliverance from the evil of his fallen nature engrafted into him, you then have the first unchangeable ground of election and reprobation; you are infallibly shown what it is that God elects and reprobates and the absolute impossibility of anything else being reprobated by God but that fallen, evil nature from which he is to be redeemed or of anything else being elected by God, but that seed of a new birth which is to bring forth his redemption. Here therefore you have a full deliverance from all perplexity upon this matter and may rest yourself upon this great, comfortable, and most certain truth, that no other election or reprobation with regard to salvation ever did or can belong to any one individual son of Adam, but that very same election and reprobation which both of them happened to and took place in Adam's individual person. For all that which was in Adam, both as fallen and redeemed, must of all necessity be in every son of Adam; and no man can possibly stand in any other relation to God than Adam did, and therefore cannot have either more or less, or any other divine election and reprobation than Adam had. For from the moment of man's redemption which began at the fall when the incorruptible seed of the Word was given into Adam, every son of Adam to the end of the world must come into it under the same election and reprobation with regard to God. Because the whole earthly nature from which man was to be redeemed, and the seed of the Word by which he was to be redeemed, were both of them in every man, one as certainly as the other.
Now this being the inward, essential state of every man born into the world, having in himself all that is elected and all that is reprobated by God, therefore it is in order to publish the truth and certainty of such an election and reprobation and the truth and certainty of that two-fold nature in man on which it is grounded, consequently it is as the Spirit of God in holy scripture represents this matter to us by such outward figures as are yet in themselves, not symbolic, but real proofs of it. This is first of all done under the example of Cain and Abel, the two first births from Adam, where the one is murdered by the other hereby demonstrating to us by this contrariety and difference of these two births the inward real state of the father of them, namely, that the same two-fold nature was in him that discovered itself in these two first births from him. The same thing is age after age set forth in a variety of examples, more especially in Ishmael and Isaac, and Esau and Jacob. All of this, only further confirms and establishes this great truth, i.e., that such strife and contrariety as appeared in the sons of the same father were not only outward representations, but full proofs of that inward strife and contrariety which not only existed in their fathers but universally in every human creature. For Cain and Abel had not come from Adam but only for this reason, because both their natures were antecedently35 in him and in the same state of opposition and contrariety to each other. Cain and Abel were no other than the genuine effects of the two-fold state which Adam as fallen and redeemed was then in, so every man, descended from Adam, is in himself infallibly all that which Adam was, and has as certainly his own Cain and Abel within himself as Adam had. And from the beginning to the end of the human race, all that which came to pass so remarkably in the births of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, all of this some way or other more or less comes to pass in every individual of mankind. In one man, his own Abel is murdered by his own Cain, and in another his own Jacob overcomes his own Esau that was born with him.
And all the good or the evil that we bring forth in our lives is from nothing else but from the strife of these two natures within us and their victory, the one over the another. Which strife no son of Adam could ever have known anything of, had not the free grace and mercy of God chosen and called all mankind to a new birth of heaven in and out of their corrupt and fallen souls. No possible war or strife of good against evil could be in fallen man but by his having from God a seed of life in him, ordained and predestinated to overcome his earthly nature. For that which is put into him by God as the power of his redemption must be contrary to that from which he is to be redeemed. And consequently a war of good against evil set up within us by the grace and mercy of God to us, and is the greatest of all demonstrations that there is but one election and one reprobation, and that all that God rejects and reprobates is nothing else but that corrupt nature which every individual man, Abel as well as Cain, has in himself from Adam as fallen; and that all that God elects, predestinates, calls, justifies, and glorifies is nothing else but that heavenly seed which every individual man, Pharaoh as well as Moses, has in himself from Adam as redeemed. And so you have an unerring key to all that is said in scripture of the election falling upon Abel, Isaac, and Jacob, etc., and of the reprobation falling upon Cain, Ishmael, and Esau, not because God has respect to persons or that all men did not stand before him in the same covenant or redemption; but the scriptures speak accordingly, that the true nature of God's election and reprobation may thereby be made manifest to the world. For the earthly nature, which God only reprobates, having broke forth in predominance in Cain, Ishmael, and Esau, they became proper figures of that which God reprobates and were used by God as such. And the heavenly seed, which is alone elected to eternal glory, having broke forth in predominance in Abel, Isaac, Jacob, etc., they became proper figures of that which God only elects and were used by God as such. Nothing is here to be understood personally or according to the flesh of these persons on either side, but all that is said of them is only as they are figures of the earthly nature and heavenly seed in every man. For nothing is reprobated in Cain but that very same thing which is reprobated in Abel, i.e., the earthly nature, nor is anything elected in Jacob but that very same which is equally elected in Esau, i.e., the heavenly seed.
And now, gentlemen, you may easily apprehend how and why a God in whose holy Deity no spark of wrath or partiality can possibly arise, but who is from eternity to eternity only flowing forth in love, goodness, and blessing to everything capable of it, could yet say of the children before they were born, or had done either good or evil, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. It is because Esau signifies the earthly, bestial nature that came from sin, and Jacob signifies the incorruptible seed of the Word that is to overcome Esau and change his mortal into immortality. But now I stop, for you may perhaps think that I have here made a digression from our proposed subject.
Steven- A digression you may call it, if you please, Gordon, but it is such a digression as has entirely prevented my ever having one more anxious thought about God's decrees of election and reprobation. The matter now stands in open daylight, notwithstanding that blanket of educated darkness under which it has been hidden from the time of Augustine until now. And now, sir, proceed as you please to lay open all my defects in the spirit of love; for I am earnestly desirous of being set right in so important a matter.
"Yet I am continually unable to practice it"
Thomas- Let me first observe to Gordon that I am afraid the matter is much worse with me than it is with you. For though this doctrine seems to have got my heart as it is a doctrine, yet I am continually unable to practice it, and find myself as daily under the power of my old tempers and passions as I was before I so fully understood and agreed with this doctrine.
Gordon- You are to know, my friends, that every kind of virtue and goodness may be brought into us by two different ways.
1) They may be taught us outwardly by men, by rules and precepts. 2) They may be inwardly born in us, as the genuine birth of our own renewed spirit.
In the former way, as we learn them only from men by rules and instruction, they at best only change our outward behavior and leave our heart in its natural state and only put our passions under a forced restraint which will occasionally break forth in spite of the dead letter of precept and doctrine. Now this way of learning and attaining goodness, though imperfect, is yet absolutely necessary in the nature of the thing, and must first have its time, and place, and work in us; yet it is only for a time, as the law was a schoolmaster to the gospel. We must first be babes in doctrine as well as in strength before we can be men. But of all this outward instruction whether from good men or the letter of scripture, it must be said as the apostle says of the law, "That it makes nothing perfect," and yet is highly necessary in order to bring about perfection. The true perfection and profitableness of the holy written word of God is fully set forth by Paul to Timothy: "From a child," says he, "You have known the scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation, which is by faith in Christ Jesus." Now these scriptures were the law and the prophets, for Timothy had known no other from his youth. And as they, so all other scriptures since have no other good or benefit in them but as they lead and direct us to a salvation that is not to be had in themselves but from faith in Christ Jesus. Their teaching is only to teach us where to seek and to find the fountain and source of all light and knowledge. Of the law, says the apostle, "It was a schoolmaster to Christ." Of the prophets, he says the same. "You have," says he, "A more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well, that you take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn, and the daystar arises in your hearts." The same thing is to be affirmed of the letter of the New Testament; it is but our schoolmaster unto Christ, a light like that of prophecy to which we are to take great heed until Christ as the dawning of the day or the daystar arises in our hearts. Nor can the thing possibly be otherwise; no instruction that comes under the form of words can do more for us than sounds and words can do; they can only direct us to something that is better than themselves, that can be the true light, life, spirit, and power of holiness in us.
Steven- I cannot deny what you say, and yet it seems to me to minimize the scripture.
Gordon- Would you then have me to say that the written word of God is that Word of God which lives and abides forever; that was with God, which was God by whom all things were made; that Word of God, which was made flesh for the redemption of the world; that Word of God, of which we must be born again; that Word which lighted every man that comes into the world; that Word, which in Christ Jesus is become wisdom and righteousness and sanctification in us; would you have me say that all this is to be understood of the written word of God? But if this cannot possibly be, then all that I have said is granted, namely, that Jesus is alone that Word of God that can be the light, life, and salvation of fallen man. Or how is it possible more to exalt the letter of scripture than by owning it to be a true, outward, verbal direction to the one true light and salvation of man? Suppose you had been a true disciple of John the Baptist, John's only office was to prepare the way to Christ, how could you have more magnified his office or declared your fidelity to him than by going from his teaching to be taught by that Christ to whom he directed you? The Baptist was indeed a burning and a shining light, and so are the holy scriptures; "But he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness to that light. That was the true light, which lighted every man that comes into the world." What a folly would it be to say that you had undervalued the office and character of John the Baptist because he was not allowed to be the light itself but only a true witness of it and a guide to it? Now if you can show that the written word in the Bible can have any other or higher office or power than such a ministerial one as the John the Baptist had, I am ready to hear you.
Steven- There is no possibility of doing that.
Gordon- But if that is not possible to be done, then you have come to the full proof of this point, that there are two ways of attaining knowledge, goodness, virtue, etc., the one by the ministry of outward, verbal instruction either by men or books, and the other by an inward birth of divine light, goodness, and virtue in our own renewed spirit, and that the former is only of value to point you to the latter and of no benefit to us but as it carries us to be united in heart and spirit with the light and Word and Spirit of God. Just as the Baptist had been of no benefit to his disciples unless he had been their guide from himself to Christ.
But to come now closer to our subject at hand. From this two-fold light or teaching there necessarily arises a two-fold state of virtue and goodness. For as the teacher or teaching is, so is the state and manner of the goodness that can be had from it. Every effect must be according to the cause that produces it. If you learn virtue and goodness only from outward means, from men, or books, you may be virtuous and good according to time and place and outward forms; you may do works of humility, works of love and benevolence, you may pray often; all this virtue and goodness is suitable to this kind of teaching and may very well come from it. But the spirit of prayer, the spirit of love, and the spirit of humility or any other virtue are only to be attained by the operation of the light and Spirit of God, not outwardly teaching but inwardly bringing forth a newborn spirit within us.
"Everything you do will be a mixture of good and bad; your humility will help you to pride, your charity to others will give nourishment to your own self-love, and as your prayers increase, so will the opinion of your own holiness."
And now let me tell you both, that it is much to be feared that you as yet stand only under this outward teaching; your good works are only done under obedience to such rules, precepts, and doctrines as your reason assents to, but are not the fruits of a newborn spirit within you. But until you are accordingly renewed in the spirit of your minds, your virtues are only learned practices and are built upon a faulty foundation. Everything you do will be a mixture of good and bad; your humility will help you to pride, your charity to others will give nourishment to your own self-love, and as your prayers increase, so will the opinion of your own holiness. Because until the heart is purified from the top to the bottom and has felt the ax at the root of its evil (which cannot be done by outward instruction) everything that proceeds from it partakes of its impurity and corruption. That Thomas is only under the law or outward instruction, is obvious from the complaint that he made of himself. For notwithstanding his progress in the doctrine of love, he finds all the passions of his corrupt nature still alive in himself, and only altered in doctrine and opinion. The same may well be suspected of you Steven, who are so mistaken in the spirit of love that you fancy yourself to be wholly possessed of it from no other ground but because you embrace it, as it were, with open arms, and think of nothing but living under the power of it. Whereas if the spirit of love was really born in you from its own seed, you would account for its birth and power in you in quite another manner than you have done here; you would have known the price that you had paid for it, and how many deaths you had suffered before the spirit of love came to life in you.
Steven- But surely, sir, imperfect as our virtues are, we may yet, I hope, be truly said to be in a state of grace; and if so, we are under something more than mere outward instruction. Besides you very well know that it is a principle with both of us to expect all our goodness from the Spirit of God dwelling and working in us. We live in faith and hope of the divine operation; and therefore I must say that your censure upon us seems to be more severe, than just.
Gordon- Dear Steven, I censure neither of you, nor have I said one word by way of accusation. So far from it that I can say that I am very pleased and approve the state you are both in. It is good for Thomas that he feels and confesses that his natural tempers are not yet subdued by doctrine and precept. It is good for you also that you are so highly delighted with the doctrine of love, for by this means you have your true preparation for further advancement. And though your state has this difference, yet the same error was common to both of you. You both thought you had as much of the spirit of love as you could, or ought to have; and therefore Thomas wondered why he had no more benefit from it, and you wondered why I should desire to lead you further into it. And therefore, to deliver you from this error, I have desired this conference upon the practical ground of the spirit of love so that neither of you would lose the benefit of the good state in which you stand.
Steven- Therefore proceed as you please. For we desire nothing so much as to have the truth and purity of this divine love brought forth in us. For as it is the highest perfection that I adore in God, so I can neither wish nor desire anything for myself but to be totally governed by it. I could as willingly consent to lose all my being as to find the power of love lost in my soul. Neither doctrine, nor mystery, nor precept has any delight for me but as it calls forth the birth, and growth, and exercise of that spirit which does all that it does toward God and man under the law of love. Whatever therefore you can say to me, either to increase the power, manifest the defects, or remove the hindrances of divine love in my soul will be heartily welcome to me.
"For divine love is perfect peace and joy"
Gordon- I can see that you don't understand yet what divine love is in itself, nor what its nature and power in the soul of man is. For divine love is perfect peace and joy, it is a freedom from all unrest, it is all contentment and happiness, and makes everything to rejoice in itself. Love is the Christ of God; wherever it comes, it comes as the blessing and happiness of every natural life, as the restorer of every lost perfection, a redeemer from all evil, a fulfiller of all righteousness, and a peace of God which passes all understanding. Through all the universe, nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but for this one reason, it is not governed by love, or because its nature has not reached or attained the full birth of the spirit of love. For when that is done, every hunger is satisfied, and all complaining, murmuring, accusing, resenting, revenging, and striving are as totally suppressed and overcome as the coldness, thickness, and horror of darkness are suppressed and overcome by the breaking forth of the light. If you ask why the spirit of love cannot be displeased, cannot be disappointed, cannot complain, accuse, resent, or murmur, it is because divine love desires nothing but itself; it is its own good, it has all, when it has itself, because nothing is good but itself and its own working; for love is God, and he that dwells in God, dwells in love; tell me now, Steven, are you blessed in the spirit of love?
Steven- Would you have me tell you that I am an angel? And without the infirmities of human flesh and blood?
"For divine love is a new life and new nature and introduces you into a new Heavenly world"
Gordon- No, but I would have you judge of your state of love by these angelic tempers and not by any fervor or heat that you find in yourself. For just so much and so far as you are freed from the folly of all earthly affections, from all anxiety, trouble, and complaint about this or that, just so much and so far is the spirit of love come to life in you. For divine love is a new life and new nature and introduces you into a new Heavenly world; it puts an end to all your former opinions, and temperament; it opens new senses in you and makes you see high to be low, and low to be high, wisdom to be foolishness, and foolishness wisdom; it makes prosperity and adversity, praise and dispraise to be equally nothing. "When I was a child," says the apostle, "I thought as a child, I spoke as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things." While man is under the power of nature, governed only by worldly wisdom, his life (however old he may be) is quite childish; everything about him only awakens childish thoughts and pursuits in him; all that he sees and hears, all that he desires or fears, likes or dislikes; that which he gets and that which he loses; that which he has and that which he has not, serve only to carry him from this fiction of evil to that fiction of good, from one vanity of peace to another vanity of trouble. But when divine love is born in the soul, all childish images of good and evil are done away with and all emotional response of them is as lost, as the stars lose their visibility when the sun is risen.
Thomas- That this is the true power of the spirit of divine love, I am fully convinced from my own uneasiness at finding that my natural disposition is not overcome by it. For where could I have this trouble but only because of the small dawning that I have of the spirit of love in me that makes upon me just demands to be the one light, breath, and power of my life and to have all that is within me overcome and governed by it. And therefore, I find I must either silence this small voice of new-risen love within me or have no rest from complaints and self-condemnation until my whole nature is brought into subjection to it.
Gordon- You have judged rightly, Thomas; and now we are brought to the one great practical point on which all our adeptness in the spirit of love entirely depends. Namely, that all that we are, and all that we have from Adam as fallen, must be given up, and absolutely denied and resisted, if the birth of divine love is to be brought forth in us. For all that we are by nature is in full contrariety to this divine love, nor can it be otherwise; a death to itself is its only cure, and nothing else can make it subservient to good, just as darkness cannot be altered or made better in itself or transmuted into light; it can only be subservient to the light by being lost in it and swallowed up by it. Now this was the first state of man; all the natural properties of his creaturely life were hid in God, united in God, and glorified by the life of God manifested in them, just as the nature and qualities of darkness are lost and hid when enlightened and glorified by the light. But when man fell from, or died to the divine life, all the natural properties of his creaturely life, having lost their union with God, broke forth in their own natural division, contrariety, and war against one another, just as the darkness, when it has lost the light, must show forth its own coldness, horror, and other uncomfortable qualities. And as darkness, though in the utmost contrariety to light, is yet absolutely necessary to it and without which no manifestation or visibility of light could be possibly, so it is with the natural properties of the creaturely life; they are in themselves all contrariety to the divine life, and yet the divine life cannot be communicated but in them and by them.
Steven- I never read or heard of darkness being necessary to light. It has been generally considered as a negative thing that was nothing in itself and only signified an absence of light; but your doctrine not only supposes darkness to be something positive that has a strength and substantiality in itself, but also to be antecedent to the light because it is necessary to bring it into manifestation. I am almost afraid to hear more of this doctrine.
Gordon- Don't be frightened, Steven- I will lead you into no doctrine but what is strictly conformable to the letter of scripture and the most orthodox piety. The scripture says, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"; therefore the scripture affirmed light to be superior, absolutely separate from, and eternally antecedent to darkness; and so do I. In this scripture you have a noble and true account of light, what it is, where it is and was, and always must be. It can never change its state or place, or be altered in itself, be anywhere or in another manner than as it was and will be to all eternity. When God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," no change happened to eternal light itself, nor did any light then begin to be; but the darkness of this world began to receive a power or operation of the eternal light upon it, which it did not have before. And therefore it is that I assert the priority and glory of light and put all darkness under its feet, as impossible to be anything else but its footstool.
Steven- What is it then that you understand by the materiality of light?
Gordon- No more than I understand by the materiality of the wisdom, mercy, and goodness of God when they are made intelligible and credible to me by the materiality of paper and ink, etc. For light is as distinct from and superior to all that materiality, in and by which it gives forth some visibility of itself, as the wisdom, mercy, and goodness of God are distinct from and superior to all that written materiality, in and through which they are made in some degree intelligible and credible to human minds. The incomprehensible Deity can make no outward revelation of his will, wisdom, and goodness but by articulate sounds, voices, or letters written on tables of stone or such like materiality. Just so the invisible, inaccessible, supernatural light can make no outward visibility of itself but through such darkness of materiality as is capable of receiving its illumination. But as the divine will, wisdom, and goodness, when making outward revelation of themselves by the materiality of things, are not therefore material, so neither is the light material when it outwardly reveals something of its invisible, incomprehensible splendor and glory by and through the materiality of darkness. All light then that is natural and visible to the creature, whether in heaven or on earth, is nothing else but so much darkness illuminated; and that which is called the materiality of light is only the materiality of darkness in which the light incorporated itself. For light can be only that same invisible, unapproachable thing which it always was in God from all eternity. And that which is called the variation of light is only the divergence of that darkness through which the light gives forth different manifestations of itself. It is the same, whether it illuminates the air, water, a diamond, or any other materiality of darkness. Whatever is delightful and ravishing, sublime and glorious in spirits, minds or bodies, either in heaven or on earth, is from the power of the supernatural light, opening its endless wonders in them. Hell has no misery, horror, or distraction but because it has no communication with the supernatural light. And if the supernatural light did not stream forth its blessings into this world through the materiality of the sun, all outward nature would be full of the horror of hell. And therefore all the mysteries and wonders of light in this material system so astonishingly great and un-searchable, is because the natural light of this world is nothing else but the power and mystery of the supernatural light breaking forth and opening itself according to its omnipotence in all the various forms of elementary darkness which constitute this temporary world.
Thomas- I could willingly hear you, Gordon, on this subject until midnight, though it seems to lead us away from our proposed subject.
Gordon- Not so far out of the way, Thomas, as you may imagine; for darkness and light are the two natures that are in every man, and do all that is done in him. The scriptures, you know, make only this division: The works of darkness are sin, and they who walk in the light are the children of God. Therefore light and darkness do everything that is done in man, whether good or evil.
Thomas- What is this darkness in itself, or where is it?
Gordon- It is everywhere, where there is nature and creature. For all nature, and all that is natural in the creature, is in itself nothing else but darkness, whether it be in soul or body, in heaven or on earth. And therefore, when the angels (though in heaven) had lost the supernatural light, they became imprisoned in the chains of their own natural darkness. If you ask why nature must be darkness, it is because nature is not God and therefore can have no light as it is nature. For God and light are as inseparable as God and unity are inseparable. Everything, therefore, that is not God is and can be nothing else in itself but darkness, and can do nothing but in, and under, and according to the nature and powers of darkness.
Thomas- What are the powers of darkness?
Gordon- The powers of darkness are the workings of nature or self; for nature, darkness, and self are but three different expressions for the same thing. Now every evil, wicked, wrathful, impure, unjust thought, temper, passion, or imagination that ever stirred or moved in any creature; every misery, discontent, distress, rage, horror, and torment that ever plagued the life of fallen man or angel are the very things that you are to understand by the powers or workings of darkness, nature, or self. For nothing is evil, wicked, or tormenting, but that which nature or self does.
Thomas- But if nature is the seat and source of all evil, if everything that is bad is in it and from it, how can such a nature be brought forth by God who is all goodness?
Gordon- Nature has all evil, and no evil in itself. Nature, as it comes forth from God, is darkness without any evil of darkness in it; for it is not darkness without or separate from light, nor could it ever have been known to have any quality of darkness in it, had it not lost that state of light in which it came forth from God only as a manifestation of the goodness, virtues, and glories of light. Again, it is nature, i.e., a strife and contrariety of properties for this only end, that the supernatural good might in that way come into sensibility, be known, found, and felt, by its taking all the evil of strife and contrariety from them and becoming the union, peace, and joy of them all. Nor could the evil of strife and contrariety of will ever have had a name in all the universe of nature and creature had it all continued in that same state in which it came forth from God. Lastly, it is self, i.e., an "own" life, that through such an "own" life, the universal, incomprehensible goodness, happiness, and perfections of the Deity might be possessed as properties and qualities of an "own" life in creaturely, finite beings. And therefore, all that is called nature, darkness, or self has not only no evil in it, but is the only true ground of all possible good. But when the intelligent creature turns from God to self or nature, he acts unnaturally, he turns from all that makes nature to be good, he finds nature only as it is in itself and without God. And then it is that nature or self has all evil in it. Nothing is to be had from it or found in it but the work and working of every kind of evil, baseness, misery, and torment, and the utmost contrariety to God and all goodness. And consequently you see the plainness and certainty of our assertion that nature or self has all evil and no evil in it.
Thomas- I perceive that nature or self without God manifested in it is all evil and misery. But I would like to, if I could, more perfectly understand the precise nature of self, or what it is that makes it to be so full of evil and misery.
Gordon- Covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath are the four elements of self, or nature, or hell, all of them inseparable from it. And the reason why it must be this way and cannot be otherwise is because the natural life of the creature is brought forth for the participation of some high, supernatural good in the creator. But it could have no fitness or possible capacity to receive such good unless it was in itself both an extremity of want and an extremity of desire of some high good. When, therefore, this natural life is fallen from God, it can be nothing else in itself but an extremity of want and continual desiring, and an extremity of desire continually wanting. And so it is, that its whole life can be nothing else but a plague and torment of covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath, all which is precisely nature, self, or hell.
Now covetousness, pride, and envy are not three different things, but only three different names for the restless workings of the same will or desire which, as it differently torments itself, takes different names; for nothing is in any of them but the working of a restless desire, and all this because the natural life of the creature can do nothing else but work as a desire. And therefore, when fallen from God its first three births, which are quite inseparable from it, are covetousness, envy, and pride. It must covet because it is a desire proceeding from want; it must envy because it is a desire turned to self; it must assume, because it is a desire, founded on a real want of exaltation, or a higher state. Now wrath, which is a fourth birth from these three, can have no existence until some or all of these three are contradicted or have something done to them that is contrary to their will; and then it is that wrath is necessarily born, and not until then. And so you see in the highest degree of certainty what nature or self is as to its essential, parts. It is the three aforementioned, inseparable properties of a desire thrown into a fourth of wrath that can never cease because their will can never be gratified. For these four properties generate one another, and therefore generate their own torment. They have no outward cause, nor any inward power of altering themselves. And therefore, all self, or nature, must be in this state until some supernatural good comes into it or has a birth in it. Therefore, every pain or disorder in the mind or body of any intelligent creature is an undeniable proof that it is in a fallen state and has lost that supernatural good for which it was created. So certain a truth is the fallen state of all mankind. And here lies the absolute, indispensable necessity of the one Christian redemption. Until fallen man is born again from above, until such a supernatural birth is brought forth in him by the eternal Word and Spirit of God, he can have no possible escape or deliverance from these four elements of self or hell. While man, indeed, does live amongst the vanities of time, his covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath may be in a bearable state, may help him to a mixture of peace and trouble; they may have at times their gratifications, as well as their torments. But when death has put an end to the vanity of all earthly existents, the soul that is not born again of the supernatural Word and Spirit of God must find itself unavoidably devoured or shut up in its own, insatiable, unchangeable, self-tormenting covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath. Thomas, I wish that I had power from God to take those dreadful scales from the eyes of every person, which hinders them from seeing and feeling the infinite importance of this most certain truth!
Thomas- God give a blessing, Gordon, to your good prayer. And then let me tell you that you have quite satisfied my question about the nature of self. I shall never forget it, nor can I ever possibly have any doubt of the truth of it.
Gordon- Let me however go a little deeper in the matter. All life, and all sensibility of life, is a desire; and nothing can feel or find itself to exist, but as it finds itself to have and be a desire; and therefore, all nature is a desire, and all that nature does or works is done by the working of desire. And this is the reason why all nature and the natural life of every creature is a state of want, and therefore must be a state of misery and self-torment, so long as it is mere nature left to itself, apart from God. For every desire as such is and must be made up of contrariety, as has been sufficiently shown elsewhere. And its essential contrariety, which it has in itself, is the only possible beginning or ground of its sensibility. For nothing can be felt, but because of contrariety to that which feels. And therefore no creaturely desire can be brought into existence or have any possible sensibility of itself but because desire as such is unavoidably made up of that contrariety from which comes all feeling and the capacity of being felt. Again, all natural life is nothing else but a mere desire found in want; now want is contrary to desire, and, therefore, every natural life as such is in a state of contrariety and torment to itself. It can do nothing but work in and feel its own contrariety, and so be its own unavoidable, incessant tormentor. For this reason we may plainly see that God's bringing a sensible creature into existence is his bringing the power of desire into a creaturely state; and the power and extent of its own working desire is the bounds or limits of its own creaturely nature. And, therefore, every intelligent creature, of whatever rank in creation, is and can be nothing else in its creaturely or natural state but a state of want; and the higher its natural state is supposed to be, the higher is its want and the greater its torment if left only in its natural state. And this is the reason for the excessive misery and depravity of fallen angels. Now the contrariety that is in desire, and must be in it because it is a desire and the only ground of all sensibility is plainly shown you by the most undeniable appearance in outward or material nature. All that is done in outward nature is done by the working of attraction. And all attraction is nothing else but an inseparable combination and incessant working of three contrary properties or laws of motion. It draws, it resists its own drawing; and from this drawing and resisting, which are necessarily equal to one another, it becomes an orbital or whirling motion, and yet draws and resists, just as it did before. Now this threefold contrariety in the motions or properties of attraction and by which all the elements of this material world are held and governed and made to bring forth all the wonders in all kinds of animate and inanimate things, this contrariety being the only possible ground of all material nature is a full demonstration that contrariety is the only possible ground of nature and all natural life, whether it be eternal or temporal, spiritual or material.
That no other contrariety is or can be in the properties or laws of attraction in this material nature but that the same contrariety which was from eternity in spiritual nature, is inseparable from it, and can be nowhere but in it. For time can only partake of eternity, it can have nothing in it but the working of eternity, nor be anything but what it is by the working of eternity in it. It can have nothing that is its own or peculiar to it but its transitory state, and form, and nature. It is a mere accident, has only an occasional existence; and whatever is seen or done in it is only so much of the working of eternity seen and done in it. Therefore, that which is called the attraction of materiality is in itself nothing else but the working of the spiritual properties of desire which has in itself those three inseparable contrarieties which make the three contrarieties in the motions of attraction. Material nature, being an accidental, temporary, transitory out-birth from eternal nature and having no power of existing but under it and in dependence upon it, the spiritual properties of eternal nature do, as it were, materialize themselves for a time in their temporary out-birth and force matter to work as they work and to have the same contradictory motions in it which are essential to eternal nature. And so the three inseparable, contrary motions of matter are in the same manner and for the same reason a true ground of a material nature in time, as the three inseparable, contrary, contradictory workings of desire are a true ground of spiritual nature in eternity. And you are to observe that all that is done in matter and time is done by the same agents or spiritual properties which do all that is naturally done in eternity, in heaven or in hell. For nothing is the ground of happiness and glory in heaven, nothing is the ground of misery, woe and distraction in hell, but the working of these same contrary properties of desire which work contrariety in the attraction of matter and bring forth all the changes of life and death in this material system. They are unchangeable in their nature and are everywhere the same; they are as spiritual in hell and on earth as they are in heaven. Considered as in themselves, they are everywhere equally good and equally bad because they are everywhere equally the only ground for either happiness or misery. There is no possible happiness or sensibility of joy for any creature but where these contrary properties work, nor is there any possibility of misery but from them. Now attraction, acting according to its three constant, inseparable contrarieties of motion, stands in this material nature, exactly in the same place and for the same end and doing the same office as the three first properties of desire do in eternal or spiritual nature. For they can be or do nothing with regard to earth and time but that same which they are and do in heaven and eternity.
Thomas- Gordon, you quite surprise me by showing me with so much certainty how the powers of eternity work in the things of time. Nothing is done on earth but by the unchangeable workings of the same spiritual powers which work after the same manner, both in heaven and in hell. I now sufficiently see how man stands in the midst of heaven and hell under an absolute necessity of belonging wholly to the one, or wholly to the other, as soon as this cover of materiality is taken off from him. For matter is his only wall of partition between them, he is equally near to both of them; and as light and love make all the difference there is between heaven and hell, so nothing but a birth of light and love in the properties of his soul can possibly keep hell out of it or bring heaven into it. I now also see the full truth and certainty of what you said of the nature and power of divine love, i.e., "That it is perfect peace and joy, a freedom from all unrest, making everything to rejoice in itself. That it is the Christ of God, and wherever it comes, it comes as the blessing and happiness of every natural life; as the restorer of every lost perfection; a redeemer from all evil; a fulfiller of all righteousness; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding." So that I am now a thousand times more than ever athirst after the spirit of love. I am willing to sell all and buy it; its blessing is so great and to be without it, so dreadful a state that I am even afraid of lying down in my bed until every working power of my soul is given up to it, wholly possessed and governed by it.
Gordon- You have reason for all that you say, Thomas; for were we truly affected with things, as they are our real good or real evil, we should be much more afraid of having the serpents of covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath well nourished and kept alive within us than of being shut up into a dungeon of venomous beasts. On the other hand, we should only look upon the lofty eloquence and proud virtue of a Cicero but as the blessing of storm and tempest when compared with the heavenly tranquility of that meek and lowly heart to which our redeemer has called us. I said the serpents of covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath because they alone are the real, dreadful, original serpents; and all earthly serpents are but transitory, partial, and weak out-births of them. All evil, earthly beasts are but short-lived images or creaturely eruptions of that hellish disorder that is broke out from the fallen spiritual world; and by their manifold variety, they show us the multiplicity of evil that lies in the womb of that abyss of dark rage which has no maker but the three first properties of nature fallen from God and working in their darkness. So that all evil, mischievous, ravenous, venomous beasts, though they have no life but what begins in and from this material world and totally ends at the death of their bodies, yet they have no malignity in their earthly, temporary nature but from those same wrathful properties of fallen nature which live and work in our eternal fallen souls. And therefore, though they are as different from us as time from eternity, yet wherever we see them we see so many infallible proofs of the fall of nature and the reality of hell. For if there had not been a hell broke out in spiritual nature, not only no evil beast but no bestial life could ever have come into existence. For the origin of matter and the bestial, earthly life stands accordingly. When the fall of angels had made their dwelling place to be a dark chaos of the first properties of nature left to themselves, the infinite wisdom and goodness of God created this spiritual chaos into a material heaven and a material earth and commanded the light to enter into it. Therefore this chaos became the ground or the materiality of a new and temporary nature in which the heavenly power of light and the properties of darkness, each of them materialized, could work together, carrying on a war of heaven against earth so that all the evil workings of fallen spiritual nature and all the good that was to overcome it might be equally manifested both by the good and bad state of outward nature, and by that variety of good and bad living creatures that sprung up out of it. To stand in this state, i.e., of a spiritual chaos changed into a materiality of light striving against darkness until the omnipotent wisdom and goodness of God, through the wonders of a first and second Adam, had made this chaotic earth to send more angels into the highest heaven as fell with Lucifer into the hellish chaos.
But to return. I have, I hope, sufficiently opened up to you the malignant nature of that self which dwells in and makes up the working life of every creature that has lost its right state in God, that all the evil that was in the first chaos of darkness or that still is in hell and devils, all the evil that is in material nature and material creatures whether animate or inanimate is nothing else, works in, and with nothing else but those first properties of nature which drive on the life of fallen man in covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath.
Thomas- I could almost say that you have shown me more than enough of this monster of self, though I would not be without this knowledge of it for the world. But now, sir, what must I do to be saved from the mouth of this lion, for he is the depth of all subtlety, the Satan that deceived the whole world. He can hide himself under all forms of goodness, he can watch and fast, write and instruct, pray much, and preach long, give alms to the poor, visit the sick, and yet often gets more life and strength from these forms of virtue than he has in publicans and sinners. Instruct me, therefore with whatever you please; all rules, methods, and practices will be welcome to me if you judge them to be necessary in this matter.
"The way of patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God"
Gordon- There is no need of a number of practices or methods in this matter. For to die to self or to come from under its power is not, and cannot be done by any active resistance we can make to it by the powers of nature. For nature can no more overcome or suppress itself than wrath can heal wrath. So long as nature acts, nothing but natural works are brought forth; and therefore the more labor of this kind, the more nature is fed and strengthened with its own food. But the one true way of dying to self is most simple and plain, it needs no methods, monasteries, or pilgrimages, it is equally feasible for anyone and everyone, it is always at hand, it meets you in everything, it is free from all deceit, and is never without success. If you ask what this one, true, simple, plain, immediate and unerring way is, it is the way of patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God. This is the truth and perfection of dying to self; it is not possible for it to be in anything else, but in this state of heart.
Thomas- The Excellency and perfection of these virtues I readily acknowledge; but, how will this prove the way of overcoming self to be so simple, plain, immediate, and unerring as you speak of? For is it not the doctrine of almost all men and all books, and confirmed by our own woeful experience, that a great length of time and exercise and a variety of practices and methods are necessary and scarce sufficient to the attainment of any one of these four virtues?
Gordon- When Christ our savior was upon earth, was there anything more simple, plain, immediate, unerring, than this way to Him? Did scribes, Pharisees, publicans, and sinners need any length of time or exercise of rules and methods before they could have admission to Him, or have the benefit of faith in Him?
Thomas- I don't understand why you ask this question, nor do I see how it can possibly relate to the matter before us.
Gordon- It not only relates to, but is the very heart and truth of the matter before us. It is not appealed to by way of the illustration of our subject, but is our subject itself, only set in a truer and stronger light. For when I refer you to patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God as the one simple, plain, immediate, and unerring way of dying to self or being saved from self, I call it so for no other reason but because you can as easily and immediately, without skill or method, by the mere turning and faith of your mind, have all the benefit of these virtues, as publicans and sinners by their turning to Christ could be helped and saved by Him.
Thomas- But, good sir, would you have me then believe that my turning and giving up myself to these virtues is as certain and immediate a way of my being directly possessed and blessed by their good power as when sinners turned to Christ to be helped and saved by Him? Surely this is too short a way and has too much of a miracle in it to be now expected.
Gordon- I would have you strictly to believe all this in the fullest sense of the words. And also to believe that the reasons why you or anyone else spend so much time vainly endeavoring after and never quite attaining these virtues is because you seek them in the way they are not to be found, in a multiplicity of human rules, methods, and contrivances, and not in that simplicity of faith in which those who applied to Christ immediately obtained that which they asked of Him. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How short and simple and certain a way to peace and comfort from the misery and burden of sin! What becomes now of your length of time and exercise, your rules and methods and roundabout ways to be delivered from self, the power of sin, and find the redeeming power and virtue of Christ? Will you say that turning to Christ in faith was once indeed the way for Jews and heathens to enter into life and be delivered from the power of their sins, but that all this happiness was at an end as soon as Pontius Pilate had nailed our redeemer to the cross, and so broke off all immediate union and communion between faith and Christ?
What a folly would it be to suppose that Christ, after his having finished his great work, overcome death, ascended into heaven with all power in heaven and on earth, was become less a savior and gave less than certain and immediate help to those that by faith turn to Him now, than when he was clothed with the infirmity of our flesh and blood upon earth? Has he less power after He has conquered than while he was only resisting and fighting our enemies? Or has He less good will to assist his church, His own body, now that He is in heaven than He had to assist publicans, sinners, and heathens before He was glorified as the redeemer of the world? And yet this must be the case if our simply turning to Him in faith and hope is not as sure a way of obtaining immediate assistance from Him now as when He was upon earth.
Thomas- You seem, sir, to me to have stepped aside from the point in question which was not whether my turning or giving myself up to Christ in faith in Him would not do me as much good as it did to those who turned to Him when He was upon earth, but whether my turning in faith and desire to patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God would do all that as fully for me now as faith in Christ did for those who became His disciples.
Gordon- I have stuck closely, my friend, to the point before us. Let it be supposed that I had given you a form of prayer in these words: "O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world," or "O bread that came down from heaven", or "You that are the resurrection and the life, the light and peace of all holy souls, help me to a living faith in You." Would you say that this was not a prayer of faith to Christ because it did not call Him Jesus, or the Son of God? Answer me plainly.
Thomas- What can I answer you but that this is a most true and good prayer to Jesus, the Son of the living God? For who else but He was the Lamb of God, and the bread that came down?
Gordon- Well answered, my friend. When therefore I exhort you to give yourself up in faith and hope, to patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God, what else do I do but turn you directly to faith and hope in the true Lamb of God? For if I ask you what the Lamb of God is, must you not tell me that it is and means the perfection of patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God? Can you say it is either more or less than this? Must you not therefore say that a faith of hunger and thirst and desire of these virtues is, in spirit and truth, the very same thing as a faith of hunger and thirst and desire of salvation through the Lamb of God? And consequently that every sincere wish and desire, every inward inclination of your heart that presses after these virtues and longs to be governed by them, is an immediate direct submission to Christ, is worshipping and falling down before Him, is giving up yourself to Him and the very perfection of faith in Him? If you distrust my words, hear the words of Christ Himself. "Learn of me," he says, "For I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Here you have the plain truth of our two points fully asserted, first, that to be given up to, or stand in a desire of, patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God is strictly the same thing as to learn of Christ, or to have faith in Him. Secondly, that this is the one simple, short, and infallible way to overcome or be delivered from all the malignity and burden of self expressed in these words, "And you shall find rest unto your souls." And all this because the simple tendency or inward inclination of your heart to sink down into patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God is truly giving up all that you are and all that you have from fallen Adam; it is perfectly leaving all that you have to follow Christ, it is your highest act of faith in Him and love of Him, the most ardent and earnest declaration of your cleaving to Him with all your heart and seeking for no salvation but in Him, and from Him. And therefore all the good, and blessing, pardon, and deliverance from sin that ever happened to anyone from any degree of faith and hope and application to Christ is sure to be had from this state of heart which stands continually turned to Him in a hunger and desire of being led and governed by His spirit of patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God. Thomas, if I could help you to perceive what good there is in this state of heart, you would desire it with more eagerness than the thirsty deer desires the water brooks, you would think of nothing, desire nothing but constantly to live in it. It is a security from all evil and all delusion; no difficulty or trial either of body or mind, no temptation either within you or without you but what has its full remedy in this state of heart. You have no questions to ask of anybody, no new ways that you need inquire after, no oracle that you need to consult, for while you shut yourself up in patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God, you are in the very arms of Christ, your whole heart is His dwelling place and He lives and works in you most certainly.
Learn whatever else you will from men and books, or even from Christ Himself besides or without these virtues, and you are only a poor wanderer in a barren wilderness where no water of life is to be found. For Christ is nowhere but in these virtues, and where they are there is He in his own kingdom. From morning to night, let this be the Christ that you follow, and then you will fully escape all the religious delusions that are in the world, and what is more, all the delusions of your own selfish heart. For to seek to be saved by patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God is truly coming to God through Christ; and when these tempers live and abide in you as the spirit and aim of your life, then Christ is in you of a truth and the life that you then lead is not yours but Christ that lives in you. For this is following Christ with all your power. You cannot possibly make more haste after Him, you have no other way of walking as He walked, no other way of being like Him, of truly believing in Him, of showing your trust in Him and dependence upon Him but by wholly giving up yourself to that which He is, i.e., to patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God. Tell me now, have I enough proved to you the short, simple, and certain way of destroying that body of self which lives and works in the four elements of covetousness, envy, pride, and wrath?
Thomas- Enough of all reason. But as to covetousness, I thank God I cannot charge myself with it, it has no power over me, no, I naturally abhor it. And I also now clearly see why I have been so long struggling in vain against other selfish tempers.
Gordon- Permit me, my friend, to remove your mistake. Had covetousness no power over you, you could have no other selfish tempers to struggle against. They are all dead as soon as covetousness has stopped working in you. You take covetousness to relate only to the wealth of this world. But this is but one single branch of it, its nature is as large as desire, and wherever selfish desire is, there is all the evil nature of covetousness. Now envy, pride, hatred, or wrath can have no possibility of existence in you but because there is some selfish desire alive in you that is not satisfied, not gratified, but resisted and disappointed. And therefore so long as any selfish desire, whether of envy, uneasiness, complaint, pride, or wrath are alive in you, you have the fullest proof that all these desires are born and bred in and from your own covetousness, that is, from that same selfish bad desire which, when it is turned to the wealth of this world, is called covetousness. For all these four elements of self or fallen nature are tied together in one inseparable band, they mutually generate and are generated from one another, they have but one common life and must all of them live, or all die together. This may show you again the absolute necessity of our one simple and certain way of dying to self and the absolute insufficiency of all human means whatever to effect it. For consider only this, that to be angry at our own anger, to be ashamed of our own pride and strongly resolve not to be weak, is the upshot of all human endeavors, and yet all this is rather the life than the death of self. There is no help but from a total despair of all human help. When a man is brought to such an inward, full conviction as to have no more hope from any human means than he can hope to see with his hands or hear with his feet, then it is that he is truly prepared to die to self, that is, to give up all thoughts of having or doing anything that is good in any other way but that of a meek, humble, patient, total resignation of himself to God. All that we do before this conviction is in great ignorance of ourselves and full of weakness and impurity. Let our zeal be ever so wonderful, yet if it begins sooner or proceeds further, or to any other matter or in any other way than as it is led and guided by this conviction, it is full of delusion. No repentance, however long or laborious, is conversion to God until it falls into this state. For God must do all, or all is the same as nothing; but God cannot do all, until all is expected from Him; and all is not expected from Him until by a true and good despair of every human help, we have no hope, or trust, or longing after anything but a patient, meek, humble, total resignation to God, which is in other words, Christ formed in us! And now, my dear friends, I have brought you to the very place for which I desired this day's conversation, which was to set your feet upon sure ground with regard to the spirit of love. For all that variety of matters through which we have passed has been only a variety of proofs that the spirit of divine love can have no place or possibility of birth in any fallen creature until it wills and chooses to be dead to all self in a patient, meek, humble resignation to the good power and mercy of God. And from this state of heart also it is that the spirit of prayer is born, which is the desire of the soul turned to God. Stand, therefore, steadfastly in this will, let nothing else enter into your mind, have no other contrivance but everywhere and in everything to nourish and keep up this state of heart, and then your house is built upon a rock; you are safe from all danger; the light of heaven and the love of God will begin their work in you, will bless and sanctify every power of your fallen soul, you will be in a readiness for every kind of virtue and good work and will know what it is to be led by the Spirit of God.
Thomas- But, Gordon, though I am so delighted with what you say that I am reluctant to stop you, yet permit me to mention a fear that rises up in me. Suppose I should find myself so overcome with my own darkness and selfish tempers as not to be able to sink from them into a sensibility of this meek, humble, patient, full resignation to God; what must I then do, or how shall I have the benefit of what you have taught me?
Gordon- You are then at the very time and place of receiving the fullest benefit from it and practicing it with the greatest advantage to yourself. For though this patient, meek resignation is to be exercised with regard to all outward things and occurrences of life, yet it chiefly respects our own inward state, the troubles, perplexities, weaknesses, and disorders of our own fallen souls. And to stand turned to a patient, meek, humble resignation to God when your own impatience, wrath, pride, and un-resignation attacks you is a higher and more beneficial performance of this duty than when you stand turned to meekness and patience when attacked by the pride or wrath or disorderly passions of other people. I say, stand turned to this patient, humble resignation, for this is your true performance of this duty at that time; and though you may have no comfortable sensibility of your performing it, yet in this state you may always have one full proof of the truth and reality of it, and that is when you seek for help no other way, nor in anything else, neither from men nor books, but wholly leave and give up yourself to be helped by the mercy of God. And of consequently, no matter what state you are in, you may always have the full benefit of this short and sure way of resigning yourself to God. And the greater the perplexity of your distress is, the nearer you are to the greatest and best relief, provided you have but patience to expect it all from God. For nothing brings you so near to divine relief as the extremity of distress; for the goodness of God has no other name or nature but the helper of all that wants to be helped; and nothing can possibly hinder your finding this goodness of God and every other gift and grace that you stand in need of; nothing can hinder or delay it but your turning from the only fountain of life and living water to some cracked cistern of your own making, to this or that method, opinion, division, amongst Christians, carnally expecting some mighty things either from Paul or Apollos, which are only and solely to be had by worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth, which is then only done when your whole heart and soul and spirit trusts wholly and solely to the operation of that God within you, in whom we live, move, and have our being. And be assured of this as a most certain truth that we have neither more nor less of the divine operation within us because of this or that outward form or manner of our life but just and strictly in that degree, as our faith and hope and trust and dependence upon God is in us. What a folly then to be so often perplexed about the way to God? Nothing is the way to God, but our heart; God is nowhere else to be found, and the heart itself cannot find Him or be helped by anything else to find Him but by its own love of Him, faith in Him, dependence upon Him, resignation to Him, and expectation of all from Him. These are short but full articles of true religion which carry salvation along with them, which make a true and full offering and oblation of our whole nature to the divine operation and also a true and full confession of the Holy Trinity in unity. For as they look wholly to the Father as blessing us with the operation of His own Word and Spirit, so they truly confess and worship the Holy Trinity of God. And as they ascribe all to, and expect all from this Deity alone, so they make the truest and best of all confessions, that there is no God but one. Let then Arians, semi-Arians, and Socinians who puzzle their laborious brains to make for themselves paper images of a trinity, they can have nothing from you but your pity and prayers; your foundation stands sure while you look for all your salvation through the Father working life in your soul by His own Word and Spirit which dwell in Him and are one life, both in Him and you.
Thomas- I can never thank you enough, Gordon, for this answer to my fear. It seems now as if I can always know how to find full relief in this humble, meek, patient, total resignation of myself to God. It is, as you said, a remedy that is always at hand, equally practicable at all times, and never in greater reality than when my own tempers are making war against it in my own heart. You have quite carried your point with me; the God of patience, meekness, and love is the one God of my heart. It is now the whole desire of my soul to seek for all my salvation in and through the merits and mediation of the meek, humble, patient, resigned, suffering Lamb of God who alone has power to bring forth the blessed birth of these heavenly virtues in my soul. He is the bread of God that came down from heaven, of which the soul must eat, or perish into everlasting hunger. He is the eternal love and meekness that left the bosom of His Father, to be Himself the resurrection of meekness and love in all the darkened, wrathful souls of fallen men. What a comfort is it to think that this Lamb of God, Son of the Father, light of the world, who is the glory of heaven and joy of angels is as near to us, as truly in the midst of us as He is in the midst of heaven. And that not a thought, look, or desire of our heart that presses toward Him, longing to catch, as it were, one small spark of His heavenly nature, is in as sure a way of finding Him, touching Him, and drawing virtue from Him as the woman who was healed by longing but to touch the border of His garment. This doctrine also makes me quite ashamed of all my own natural tempers, as so many marks of the beast upon me; every whisper of my soul that stirs up impatience, uneasiness, resentment, pride, and wrath within me shall be rejected with a "Get behind me, Satan," for it is His and has its whole nature from Him. To rejoice in a resentment that has been gratified appears to me now to be quite frightful. For what is it, in reality, but rejoicing that my own serpent of self has new life and strength given to it, and that the precious Lamb of God is denied entrance into my soul. For this is the strict truth of the matter. To give into resentment and go willingly to gratify it, is calling up the courage of your own serpent and truly helping it to be more stout and valiant and successful in you; on the other hand, to give up all resentment of every kind and on every occasion, however artfully, beautifully, and outwardly colored. To sink down into the humility of meekness under all contrariety, contradiction, and injustice, always turning the other cheek to the smiter, however haughty, is the best of all prayers, the surest of all means to have nothing but Christ living and working in you as the Lamb of God that takes away every sin that ever had power over your soul. What a blindness was it in me to think that I had no covetousness because the love of self was not felt by me! For to covet is to desire; and what can it signify whether I desire this or that? If I desire anything, but that which God would have me to be and do, I stay in the mire of covetousness and must have all that evil and unrest, living and working in me, which robs misers of their peace both with God and man. Oh sweet resignation of myself to God, happy death of every selfish desire, blessed unction of a holy life, the only driver of all evil out of my soul, You be my guide and governor wherever I go! Nothing but You can take me from myself, nothing but You can lead me to God; hell has no power where You are; nor can heaven hide itself from You. Oh may I never indulge a thought, bring forth a word, or do anything for myself or others but under the influence of your blessed desire.
Forgive me, Gordon, my soul is transported; I can not stop it. The sight, though distant, of this heavenly Canaan, this Sabbath of the soul, freed from the miserable labor of self to rest in meekness, humility, patience, and resignation under the Spirit of God, is like the joyful voice of the bridegroom to my soul and leaves no wish in me but to be at the marriage feast of the Lamb.
Gordon- Thomas, here you must certainly come if you keep to the path of meekness, humility, and patience under a full resignation to God. But if you turn aside from it, even if the occasion seems ever so glorious, or the effects ever so wonderful to you, it is only preparing yourself for a harder death. For die you must, to all and everything that you have worked for, under any other spirit but that of meekness, humility, and true resignation to God. Everything else, no matter what it is, has its rise from the fire of nature, it belongs to nothing else and must of all necessity be given up, lost, and taken from you again by fire, either here or hereafter. For these virtues are the only wedding garments; they are the lamps and vessels well furnished with oil. There is nothing that will do instead of them; they must have their own full and perfect work in you, or the soul can never be delivered from its fallen wrathful state. And all this is no more than is implied in this scripture doctrine, i.e., that there is no possibility of salvation but in and by a birth of the meek, humble, patient, resigned Lamb of God in our souls. And when this Lamb of God has brought forth a real birth of his own meekness, humility, and full resignation to God in our souls, then are our lamps trimmed and our virgin hearts made ready for the marriage feast. This marriage feast signifies the entrance into the highest state of union that can be between God and the soul in this life. Or in other words, it is the birth of the spirit of love in our souls, which whenever we attain will feed our souls with such peace and joy in God as will blot out the remembrance of everything that we called peace or joy before. This birth neither does nor can possibly begin any sooner than at the entrance or manifestation of the divine light in the three first wrathful, self-tormenting properties of nature, which are and must be the ground of every natural life and must be darkness, rage, and torment until the light of God, breaking in upon them, changes all their painful working into the strongest sensibilities of love, joy, and triumph in the perception and possession of a new divine life. Now all that we have said today of the necessity of the fallen souls dying to self by meekness, patience, humility, and full resignation to God is strictly the same thing and asserted from the same ground as when it was said that the three first properties of nature must have their wrathful activity taken from them by the light of God breaking in upon them. Now this was always the state of nature, it never was a state of wrath because it never was without the light of God in it. But the natural, creaturely life, having a possibility of falling and having actually fallen from God, has found and felt (that which ought never to have been found and felt), That which nature is in itself without the manifestation of God in it.
Therefore, as sure as the light of God or the entrance of the Deity into the first three properties of nature is absolutely necessary to make nature to be a heavenly kingdom of light and love, so sure and certain is it that the creaturely life that is fallen from God under the wrathful first properties of nature can have no deliverance from it, cannot have a birth of heavenly light and love by any other possible way but that of dying to self by meekness, humility, patience, and full resignation to God. And the reason is this. It is because the will is the leader of the creaturely life, and it can have nothing but that to which its will is turned. And therefore it cannot be saved from, or raised out of the wrath of nature until its will turns from nature, and wills to be no longer driven by it. But it cannot turn from nature or show a will to come from under its power any other way than by turning and giving itself up to that meekness, humility, patience, and resignation to God, which, so far as it goes, is leaving, rejecting, and dying to all the guidance of nature.
And so you see that this one simple way is, according to the unchallengeable nature of things, the only possible and necessary way to God. It is as possible to go two opposite ways at once as to go to God any other way than this. But what is best of all, this way is absolutely infallible; nothing can defeat it. And all this infallibility is fully grounded in the two-fold character of our savior,
1) As He is the Lamb of God, a principle and source of all meekness and humility in the soul.
2) As He is the light of eternity that blesses eternal nature and turns it into a kingdom of heaven.
For in this two-fold respect, He has a power of redeeming us, which nothing can hinder; but sooner or later, He must see all His and our enemies under His feet, and all that is fallen in Adam into death must rise and return to a unity of an eternal life in God. For as the Lamb of God, He has all power to bring forth in us a sensibility and a weariness of our own wrathful state and a willingness to flee from it into meekness, humility, patience, and resignation to that mercy of God which alone can help us. And when we are as a result weary and heavy laden and wanting and willing to get rest for our souls in meek, humble, patient resignation to God, then it is that He, as the light of God and heaven, joyfully breaks in upon us, turns our darkness into light, our sorrow into joy, and begins that kingdom of God and divine love within us which will never have an end. Need I say more, Thomas, to show you how to come out of the wrath of your evil earthly nature into the sweet peace and joy of the spirit of love? Neither notions, nor speculations, nor heat, nor fervor, nor rules, nor methods can bring it forth. It is the child of light and cannot possibly have any birth in you but only and solely from the light of God rising in your own soul, as it rises in heavenly beings. But the light of God cannot rise or be found in you by any talent or contrivance of your own but solely in the way of that meekness, humility, and patience which waits, trusts, resigns to, and expects all from the inward, living, life-giving operation of the triune God within you, creating, quickening, and reviving in your fallen soul that birth and image and likeness of the Holy Trinity in which the first father of mankind was created.
Thomas- You
need say no more, Gordon; you have not only removed that difficulty which
brought us here, but have by a variety of things fixed and confirmed us in a
full belief of that great truth elsewhere affirmed, namely "That there is
but one salvation for all mankind, and that is the life of God in the soul.
And also, that there is but one possible way for man to attain this life of
God, not one for a Jew, another for a Christian, and a third for a heathen.
No, God is one, human nature is one, salvation is one, and the way to it is
one, and that is the desire of the soul turned to God." Therefore, Gordon,
farewell. If we see you no more in this life, you have sufficiently taught
us how to seek and find every kind of goodness, blessing, and happiness in
God alone.
Finis.
By William Law
Original Printing accomplished in the year of our Lord 1749 'England'
The Fourth edition, revised and corrected by the author in 1758
The Fifth edition, revised and
printed in the year of our Lord 2002 by the Old Truth Publishing Company,
United States Of America
Table Of Contents
Part 1 Page
Chapter 1 Treating of some matters preparatory 3
To The Spirit of Prayer
Chapter 2 Discovering the true way of turning to 24
God, and of finding the kingdom of heaven,
and the riches of eternity in our souls
Part 2
Chapter 1 The First Dialogue, Being several Dialogues
between Robert, Allen, and Henry. At which
Harold was present.
Chapter 2 The Second Dialogue between Robert, Allen, and
Henry
Chapter 3 The Third Dialogue between Robert, Allen, and
Henry
Part 1 Chapter I
Treating Of Some Matters 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 be very well 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, only passing away a short life in a different kind of dream. But why so? It is because man has an eternity within him, is born into this world, not for the sake of living here, not for anything this world can give him, but only to have time and place, to become either an eternal partaker of a divine life with God, or to have an hellish eternity among fallen Angels: And 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; only with this great difference, that when a dream is over, nothing is lost but fictions and fancies; but when the dream of life is ended, and it ends only by death, all that 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 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. Do but 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. Do but suppose him to govern his inward thoughts and outward actions by this view of himself, and then to him every day has lost all 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, and 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, 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; and 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, and 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 that certainty, as God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.
We are all of us, by birth, the offspring of God, 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 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 regard 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 Deity, 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 an 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 materiality. 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, become visible to its creatures, and rule over it and 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 new created world, which however was as inferior to him, as subject to him, as the earth and all its creatures were. It was no more alive in him, no more brought forth its nature within him, than Satan and the serpent were alive in him at his first creation. And herein lays 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 mere 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. The 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 both 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 here the nature and necessity of our redemption; it is to redeem the first Angelic nature that departed from Adam; it is to make that heavenly Spirit and Body which Adam lost, to be alive again in all the 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 having 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 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 mortifications 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 alone which opened this knowledge in him, it is a demonstration, that in his first state he was in this world as an Angel, that 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 to act in it as a heavenly artist, that had power and skill to open the wonders of God in every power of outward nature. An Angel, we read, used 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 animal 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 plain and important truths, that follow from 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. Nothing of this is the truth of the matter, either on the part of God, or on the part of man.
Secondly, it is plain also, that the command of God, not to lust after, and eat of the forbidden tree, was not an arbitrary command of God, given at 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, concerning 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 immediate dying to that divine and heavenly life which he then enjoyed. "Eat not," 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, as to 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 numerous offspring, fit for that kingdom which they have lost. The world around you, and the life which is newly awakened in it, is much lower than you are; of a nature quite inferior to yours. It is a gross, corruptible state of things, that cannot stand 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 (as the order of creation requires) in meekness and resignation, 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, merely 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, under which 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 abjuring all meekness and submission to God. No sooner did their eternal potent desires fly in this direction of a revolt from 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 materiality of their kingdom, their glassy sea in which they dwelt, was by the wrathful rebellious workings of these apostate 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 an earth, a sun, stars, and separated elements. Had not this revolt of Angels brought forth that disordered chaos, no such materiality 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, 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 become again that first, heavenly materiality, a glassy sea of everlasting light and glory, in which you and your offspring shall sing hallelujahs to all eternity. Look not therefore, you child of paradise, you son of eternity, look not with a longing eye after anything in this outward world. There are the remains of the fallen Angels in it; You have nothing to do in it, but as 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 stands not in your sphere of existence; it is, as it were, but a picture, and transitory figure 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 figure 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 have no distinction from a moment. It is a life of such animals and insects, as 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, O Adam, is 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. Hence it was, that when the creating fiat36 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 done 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 modeled 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. Lust not 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, the same instant, the heavenly birth of your nature must die in you. therefore turn away your lust and imagination from a tree, that can only help you to the knowledge of such good and evil, as belongs only 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 this tree, it will unavoidably awaken and open the bestial life within you; and in that moment, all that is heavenly must die, and 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, distress, 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 be 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 infallibly 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 kindled 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, 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, no more evil done to him, at his fall, than the very nature of his own action brought along with it upon himself. 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 this sensibility of earthly good and evil in him. No sooner was this sensibility opened in him, 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 supposed lameness and blindness. Because the whole nature of all that miserable change, both as to body and soul, which then 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 so small and single an 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 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, and 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 it. All the sovereignty that God here showed, was a sovereignty of love to the fallen creature. So that all the volumes on this question may be laid aside, as quite beside the point. Another, and the greatest question of all, and which divines of all sorts have been ever solving, and yet never have 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 a fiction 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 therefore 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 beget children of the same nature and condition with himself. And therefore 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 at 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, 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, and the seat in 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, 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, considered in Himself, 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 plain 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, in an eternal impossibility of willing and intending a moment's pain or hurt to any creature. For from this unbounded source of goodness and perfection, nothing but infinite streams of blessing are perpetually flowing forth upon all nature and creature, in a more incessant plenty, than rays of light stream from the sun. And as the sun has but one nature, and can give forth nothing but the blessings of light, 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 to all eternity. He is love itself, the unmixed, immeasurable love, doing 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 consisted of no 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 one and 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 a 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, is 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 with 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 is to be truly seen 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, and that 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, as they had up till now had been in submission to God. They would 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 were separate 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 did not fall into their hell, for these two reasons.
First, because his Angelical man dwelt in a body taken from this outward world, which 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, 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 lusting to enter in a sensibility of the good and evil of the bestial life of this world, he found only that which he sought, and fell into no other state or misery, than that 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 state of 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 as mortal in him, as it was in the beasts, and lay at the mercy of a thousand accidents, that could every 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 ground and absolute necessity of that new birth, of 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 gets again its first heavenly nature. If you have nothing of this 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 art of words, to avoid and lose 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, strong 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 here be observed, 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.
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 have recourse to a figurative sense, are without excuse, and have nothing they can urge 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 fixing these passages to a figurative meaning, is not only without any reason, but is also a bad meaning, impossible to be true, and utterly inconsistent with the fundamental doctrines of scripture. Now that this is the case here, may 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 would he 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, as 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 again brought forth in 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 that the soul, as fallen, is in this real state of death, is a doctrine not only plain from the whole tenor 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 be 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 wanting 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 have been eternally lost." For it cannot be true, that the fall of man unredeemed, would have kept him forever out of heaven, but for 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 Angels after Angels had come down from heaven to assure him, that God had no anger at 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 of them 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 first? And all for this reason, because the poor man was naked, and wounded, not in a figurative sense of the words, but really and truly naked, and wounded, and therefore could have no help or benefit, but from real oil and wine actually poured into his wounds. For this same 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, had the highest order of archangels, or seraphims 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 but said to him "be warmed and filled." For as Adam had extinguished the light and Spirit of God in himself, so no one could be the good Samaritan to him, or pour that wine and oil into his wounds, which they wanted, 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, I pray, 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 the thing itself, 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, and 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 is 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. What excuse therefore can be made for that learning, 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 Him, 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 are only so far with Christ, as to own and receive the history of His birth, person, and character, 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 the fallen Angels, are totally without Christ, and have no benefit from Him, for this one and only 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 has not 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 does, if we have not as really 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 here 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 what wholly proceeds from, and is effected by that life-giving Redeemer, who died on the cross for our redemption.
Was I 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 efficacy37 of that blessed Christ, that was born of the virgin Mary.
Part 1
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, is fiction, is propriety, is 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, or abroad, in the field, or at church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in imitation of his tempers and inclinations, and look upon all as nothing, 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, 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 what 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 would willingly hear nothing that does not tend to God, nor your eyes 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 a pearl of great price, it will make you glad to sell all that you have, and buy it. For all that had seized and possessed the heart of any man, whatever the merchant of this world got together, whether of riches, power, honor, learning, or reputation, loses all its value, is counted but as dung, 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 touchstone, 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 covered under a form of Godliness, a cloak of creeds, observances, and institutions of religion, you may be assured, that the pearl of great price is not yet 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, arts 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 effected 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 was it, 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 be done to them? It was because they had a real desire of having that which they asked for, and therefore in true faith and prayer applied to Christ, that His Spirit and power might enter into them, and heal that which they wanted, and desired 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 unto you." This is Christ's answer now, and thus it is done to every one of us today, as our faith is, so is it done unto us. And here lies the whole reason of our falling short of the salvation of Christ, it is because we have no will to 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 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 unto 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 and begotten in your heart, is to have salvation from Christ. But if you will not 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 was it, that the carnal Jew, the deep-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 tempers, no deliverance from the love of themselves, and the enjoyments of their passions; they liked their state, 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 glass. For at 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 church, is the salvation which priests and people 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 still further know, how this great work, the birth of Christ, is to be effected in you, then let this joyful truth be told 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 ingrafted 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 unto your first father, into the light of his life, and from him, rising up in the life of every son of Adam. Hence also 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 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 unto 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 infallibly 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 had 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, you never yet have owned Him, you are as far as the prodigal son is from his Father's house, yet is He still with you, He is the gift of God to you. If you will 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 abroad 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, 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 Himself 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, and made paradise. But the day that Adam did eat of the forbidden earthly tree, in that day he absolutely died to this kingdom of God within him. 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, 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 only lies hidden there in every man, until he desires to rise from his fallen state, and to 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 it; it cannot cost you too much, nor can the cost be too dear, for it is all, and when you have found it, you will know, that all which you have sold or given away for it, is as nothing, as 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, 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 till now done you but 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 poor concerns of this life, and therefore you are a stranger to this principle of heaven, these riches of eternity within you. For as God is not, nor can 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 should discover, and open it by degrees, in such proportion, as the faith and desires of our hearts were turned to it. This light and Spirit of God thus 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 inspiration, or life of God, the Spirit of God, 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 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, the Deity 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 without man, unites and communicates its riches and virtues to the spirit of the air that is within man. 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 sun 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 where 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 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 and gross part 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 here see the true ground, and absolute necessity, of that dying to ourselves, and to the world, to which our blessed Lord so constantly calls all His followers. A universal self-denial, a perpetual mortification of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not a thing imposed upon us by the mere will of God, but has its ground 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 and gross part 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 but 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 have each of them their foundation within us, they do not come into us from outside, but spring up in 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 tempers, within you. Hence it was (that is, from this principle of heaven, or Christ in the soul) therefore, I say it was, that 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, 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 had not 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. Hence also it is, 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 art or science, or skill in grammar or logic, but the opening of a divine life in the soul, that can give true understanding of the things of God. 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 this 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 suffered to grow up in him. And therefore his religion is no more from heaven than his breeding; his cares 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 hearsay, 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 conversation 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 cleave unto 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 the 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, tempers 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 a 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 peremptory, 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 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, you know them not! 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 are but a dead formality, until this fountain of living water is found within you. But you will perhaps say, how shall I discover this 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, though you know it not. 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 but 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 that 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, 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 do 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. Stop therefore all self-activity, listen not 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, consult not 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 the 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 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 end, to fit, 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, in a continual dependence upon God, in a readiness to receive all good from Him, and will be a continual source of light in your mind. They 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, 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. See here the whole truth in short, 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 found again in the soul. It is man come back again into his center, or place in God, from where he had broken off. The beginning again of the life of God in the soul, was then 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 into the human nature. Here the kingdom of God was again within us, though only as a seed, yet small as it was, it was yet 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 end; 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, 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 end, 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 constantly 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. Hence 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 be, 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 ground 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 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 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 him.
Secondly, for this reason, you can see the true ground and necessity of that universal mortification 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, yea, 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. And then the disciple 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 for a body to move in two different directions at the same time. And therefore all these mortifications 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 hath, he cannot be my disciple; the reason is plain, 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 celestial 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 is 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.
Because all turning to self is so far 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. The matter goes 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, 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 it only as it is God's work, image, and delight, when we love it merely as it is God's, and belongs to Him, this is loving it in God, and when all that we wish, intend, or do to it, is done from a love of God, for the honor of God, and in conformity to the will of God, this is loving it 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 fiction 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 is not in God, is a stranger to Him, has lost the life of God in itself, 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 gross affections, be deposed, 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 peculiar 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 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 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 is come, He is 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, cannot be within us, but only so far as the spirit of this world, self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are renounced, and driven out of us.
Thirdly, we must also learn the true nature and worth of all self-denials and mortifications. 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 quickening, 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 quickening, 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 had only that degree of a divine life, which the power of God derived into us; as then 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, be it ever so 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 mortifications. 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, for their own progress in them. This makes them self-sufficient, depressed, severe judges of all those that fall short of their mortifications. 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 keep up the kingdom of self. 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, 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 ground for pride, or a high opinion of himself, for the share he had in the restoring 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 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 so far born again, as to be able to say with the apostle, "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, 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, that 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 most excellent 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 Him. 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, 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 arise 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 beget 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! O 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! O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, immense ocean of divine love in which all mankind live, and move, and have their being! 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, as soon as their heart is turned to You! How plain, easy, and simple this way of salvation is, wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all 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 the infinite desire of God is united with it, 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 arises 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. Get up therefore 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, as the 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 conceptions; for if the Divine power in the inward ground of the soul was 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 begets 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. O how great a triumph is there in the soul, when He arises in it! Then a man knows, as he never knew before, that he is a stranger in a foreign land."
A PRAYER
Oh heavenly Father, infinite, fathomless depth of never-ceasing love, save me from myself, from the disorderly workings of my fallen, corrupted nature, and let my eyes see, my heart and spirit feel and find, your salvation in Christ Jesus. O God, who made me for yourself, to show forth your goodness in me, manifest, I humbly ask You, the life-giving power of Your holy nature within me; help me to such a true and living faith in You, such strength of hunger and thirst after the birth, life, and Spirit of your Holy Jesus in my soul, that all that is within me, may be turned from every inward thought, or outward work, that is not you, your holy Jesus, and heavenly working in my soul. Amen.
Part 2 Chapter 1
The First Dialogue
Being several Dialogues between Robert, Allen, and Henry. At which Harold was present.
Robert- I can now tell you with much pleasure, that we shall soon see a second part of the Spirit of Prayer. And as soon as I receive it, I will come and read it to you.
Allen- I have often told you, Robert, that I wondered at your eagerness and impatience to see more of this matter. As to my part, I have no such thirst within me, and should make no complaint, if it never came out.
Robert- Allen, it is only that you cannot read, that you are not in my state of impatience, to see another book.
Allen- Indeed, Robert, you quite mistake the matter. The first part of the Spirit of prayer you read to me more than three or four times, and that is the reason, why I am in no state of eagerness after a second part. 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. O 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 only with pen and ink, when such a book as this, so full of wonders, has once 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 then of so much news from abroad, since all that concerns either life or death, are all transacting, 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 forwards 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 have but little occasion to start a second.
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 part upon 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 for this twenty years has been collecting and reading all 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, than that of much reading, even upon 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 great and 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 many books, which in your state has more of nature than grace in it; nature seeks delight in a variety of new ideas, and likes to gratifie 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 was 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, and 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, "O man awake; your work is great, 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 that not to be born again is to 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 the divine mercy, desiring nothing but that, from that very time, 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 it had awakened in him, was only a longing and desire to hear the same things said, 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.
Our body of earth is to last to the end of our lives
Henry- A truly spiritual book, Robert, is a call to a total death to the life of corrupt nature, as that which 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; 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 began 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 much 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 a mere seeing and feeling of this hell, serpent, beast, and fiery dragon. See here, 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 heart, the Lamb of God, is become man, 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 real mixture of heaven and hell. The sun and water of this world, is that which keeps under and 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 intensions 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, 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 ground 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, 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"
Hence it is that 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 away 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 at such a distance from us, as this, they are the properties of fallen human nature, and 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. But when the human soul turns from itself, and turns to God, 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 separate from it. For covetousness and sensuality of all kinds, are the very 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 the fallen human nature, and this is the old man, which is alive in every one, though in various manners, until that person is born again from above. To think therefore 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 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 would be alive in God, before they were dead to their own nature; a thing as impossible in itself, as for a grain of wheat to be alive before it dies.
Now religion in the hands of self, or corrupt nature, serves only to discover vices of a worse kind, than 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, with what great reason I have called you, at your first setting out, to this great point, the total dying to self, as the only foundation of a solid piety. All the fine things you hear or read of about an inward and 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, sir, 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 are quite fantastical and affected in their dress; some 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. Now all the truths of the gospel, when only embraced and possessed by the old man, make only such superficial difference, as is made by clothes. 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, unhelped, in its own fallen state. And like this it remains, it is not possible for it to be otherwise, until the spiritual life begins at the true root, grows out of death, and 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; and 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 pray, sir, tell me how I am to take this first step, which you so much insist upon.
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 many times, making this sacrifice of yourself to God; 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 and bent of your spirit points as constantly to God, as the needle touched with a magnet turns to the north. This, sir, 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 an 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 leave you to 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 ask for it later. But pray, gentlemen, who is this Harold? I do not remember seeing him before; He seems to be unwilling to speak, yet is often biting his lips at what is being said.
Allen- Harold, sir, is my neighbor; but so ignorant of the nature of the gospel, that he is often trying to persuade me into disbelieving it. 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 the human nature, than sight to the blind, limbs to the lame, health to the sick, or liberty to the condemned slave. But this neighbor of mine has never yet seen the truth, as it is in the gospel; he knows nothing of the foundation and reason of it, but 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 that so plain a man as I am, will not submit to it. He says, if it be 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. He comes with me at his own earnest desire, which has lately seized him, and upon his own strict promise, not to interrupt our conversation; but to be a silent hearer, until it is all over. And therefore, if you please, sir, I beg our conversation may for a while turn upon the chief points asserted in the Spirit of prayer, for two reasons; first, that Robert may see what reasons I had for saying, that book had given me sufficient instruction; and also that Harold, hearing these great points, may hear the whole ground and nature, the necessity and blessedness of the Christian redemption, set forth in such a degree of light, and truth, , as he had no notion of before.
Henry- Your neighbor is welcome, and I pray God to give him a heart attentive to those truths, which have made so good an impression upon you. The first point that you desire us to speak about, concerns the origin of this temporal world. How God was moved to create it, upon the fall of a whole host, or kingdom 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 all, 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 again raised, 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. Oh Allen, what sentiments do these things 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 life, either to overcome with God, or be overcome by the Devil. Oh, sir, 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 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. See here 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. Marvel not, 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 as there is of light 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 discover 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 be all as so many wrathful venomous serpents of hell. If the light did quite suppress 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- Agreed: And I will set them in order like this.
1- That the place of this world is the very place, or region, which belonged to Lucifer, and his Angels.
2- That 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 ground 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 plain and 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 opener 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 that 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 in the working of its will is turned 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 deep ground, and absolute necessity, of Christian redemption, by a birth from above, of the light and Spirit of God, 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 kindle it into a kingdom of heaven. And therefore the fallen soul can have no possible relief, or redemption, it must be, to all eternity, an hungry, dark, fiery, tormenting spirit of life, unless the light, or Son, and Spirit of God, is born again in it. Hence also 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 a 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, and warmth, and fervor, in the performance of these religious practices, is not 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, seek nothing, but only this keeping up a continual dying to self, and dying to all worldly things, and turns 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 he did eat 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 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 deep and solid ground of the absolute necessity of the 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, and 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. Now 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 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, by nature's being broken off from God, and so losing the light and Spirit of God, which made it to be a kingdom of heaven; we 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 plain proof, that the malady of nature, was nothing else but its loss of the light and Spirit of God working in it. This shows us also, that the fallen creature is to be restored, or put into the way of recovery, in the same way as fallen nature; i.e., by the Spirit, and light of God entering into it again, 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 see no 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 what the state of their nature calls them to. Nature is His great law, that speaks His whole 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-laws; but they were made after His creatures had fallen from nature, and lost its perfection. But all these after-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 all of 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, as makes me believe that my former knowledge was only a dream. A dream I may justly say, since all my labor was taken up in searching into a seventeen hundred years history 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 only swam away 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 thus with myself, and I seem to be entered 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 have not the letter of scripture to support them; and therefore men of sober learning, are cautious of giving opinions, not strictly grounded on the plain 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 plain letter of scripture, than the doctrine of a real regeneration, a new birth of the Word, the Son, and Holy Spirit of God, really brought forth in the soul? And yet this plain letter of scripture, 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 of Bible school learning. But this point, has not only the letter of scripture with it, but what the letter asserts, is absolutely required by the whole spirit and tenor of the New Testament. All 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; an Holy Spirit, breathing in the birth and life of our souls, quickening the dead life of fallen Adam, is the letter and spirit of the apostle's writings; grounded upon the plain letter of 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 letter of scripture, that Adam died the day that he did eat of the earthly tree? 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; delivered up 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 horrible remorse of mind, at his sad entrance in a world, from which paradise, and God, and his own glory, were departed. Death enough surely! 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 none like it, none equal to it, none of the same nature with it, but that which the Angels died, when, from Angels of God, they became living devils, serpentine, hideous forms, and slaves to darkness. 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 was within himself. But further, not only the plain letter of the text, 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? What need of the Deity to enter again into the human nature, not only as acting, but taking a birth in it, and from it? What need of all this mysterious method, to bring the life from above again into man, if the life from above had not been lost? Say that Adam did not die, and then tell me, what sense or reason there is in saying, that the Son of God became man, and died on the cross to restore to him 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 do; 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 the proper punishment and misery that belonged to 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 subsist, after his sin had put an end to the life of paradise and God in him. But amazing it is to a great 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 ground or reason therefore 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, suffered 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 have only the faith of devils, to believe and tremble. Proof enough, surely, that Adam was dead to the life, and 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 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 that which is the very 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, either in nature or grace; it does not teach the ground or philosophy of the Christian faith; it contents itself with bare facts and doctrines, and calls for simple faith and obedience. No wonder therefore, 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 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 five books of Moses. And yet it seems, that the resurrection was plainly and strongly taught there: For our Lord says, 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 stands the matter with regard to those great, and edifying truths set forth in the appeal. They are truly scriptural, they have their ground and authority from scripture, though not so openly expressed in the letter, as matters of faith and necessary doctrine are. For is not the fall of Angels a scripture-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 ground in 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 still are here, because their kingdom is not wholly delivered from all the evil 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 restored, and themselves plunged into hell, that is cut off from every thing, 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 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, gives full nourishment to self-esteem, and gratifies every pride of life? And yet life itself is the loss of every thing, unless pride is overcome. Oh stop 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 up yourselves 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. Look not at pride only as an unbecoming temper; not at humility only 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 as you have of pride, so much you have of the fallen Angel alive in you; so much you have of true humility; so much you have of the lamb of God within you. Could you see with your eyes what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of everything you meet, to tear the viper 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 it. Excuse, this little digression, for the subject we were upon, forced me into it.
Robert- Indeed, the lesson you have here given, is the same that the whole nature of the fall of Angels, and the whole nature of the redemption of man, daily reads 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 unlearnt, we must be said to have left our master, as those disciples did, who went back, and walked no more with him.{John vi.}
Henry- Allow me to mention one point more, to show you still further, how unreasonably your friends object to the "appeal." Now let it be supposed, that the account of the fall of Angels, the creation, etc., given in the "Appeal," has not scripture enough; Take then the contrary opinion, which is that of your friends; i.e., That all worlds, and all things, are created out of nothing. Show me now, Robert, I do not say a text, but the least hint of scripture, that by all the art of commenting, can so much as be drawn to look that way. It is a fiction, big with the grossest absurdities, and contrary to everything that we know, either from nature or scripture, concerning the rise and birth, and nature of 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. He tells us also as expressly out of what, Eve, the next creature, was created. But from the time of Adam and Eve, the Creation of every human Creature is 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 letter of scripture. For everything that we see, every creature that has life, is by the scripture-account a birth from something else. And here, sir, 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. The spiritual materiality of heaven, so far as the extent of the kingdom of fallen Angels reached, has by various changes occasioned by their fall, gone through a variety of births, or creations, until some of it came down to the thickness of air and water, and the hardness of earth and stones. But when 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 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 manner 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 only on 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 weight 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 "Appeal" we have a system of uniform truths, concerning the fall of Angels, their spoiled and darkened kingdom, and the creation of this world as 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 had 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 "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 it 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.
Part 2
Chapter 2
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 new-created world, to populate it with an host of Angelic men, until time had finished its course, and all things were fitted to be restored to that state, from which they were fallen by the revolt of Angels. For the restoration of all things to their first glorious state, by making the good to overcome the evil, was the end which God proposed by the state and manner of this new creation. Adam was the chosen Instrument of God, to conduct this whole affair, to keep up this new-made world in the state in which God had created it, not to till the earth, which we now plough, but to keep that, which is now called the curse in the earth, that paradise in which he was created has been covered, and hid. For to this end, he was created in 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, and saw, and felt nothing in himself, but a birth of paradise, that 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 have to be 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 him, 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 such a partaker of the Divine Life, as the Angels have now; that his fall was a 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 would it 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 not this 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 in 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 an heavenly man bring forth an heavenly offspring? Or could he be said to have the life of this world opened in him 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} Or, as in Luke, "For they are equal to the Angels of God." Here we have a twofold 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 now 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 here just mention what my good old tutor says: The author of 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 confutation, as he thinks, of the capital doctrine of the "appeal," I shall only quote the whole period, as it stands 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 plainest, strongest manner, rejected by the first 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, and out of, 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 there. 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" must, and therefore will forever, stand un-confuted 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 thus 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 this triune deity into man. This, is no small proof of its having the triune nature of God in it. And this threefold life of the soul, thus 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, of devils, of 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 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 good old tutor. Allen, will, I am afraid, chide you for being the occasion of this long digression from the point we were speaking about.
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 the just about the only man that had some learning, and he was a persecutor of Christ, until such time as God made as it were scales to 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 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, 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 is there 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 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, 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 a birth from him; all done by the pure power of a divine love. Man stood no longer in the perfection of his first state, as a birth of divine love, than while he loved himself only as God loved him, as in the image, and after the likeness of God. This purity of love, and delight in the image of God, would have carried on the birth of the humanity, in the same manner, and by the same divine power, as the first man 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 only have loved, and desired to propagate out of himself. He gazed upon this outward world, and let in an adulterate love into his heart, which 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, had no 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 into 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 therefore towards the redemption or recovery of man, beginning to fall, was the taking 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 is there 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 an help, that was truly and properly meet for him, since he had lost his first power of being himself 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 thus 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 to be seen in this divided male and female; then in, and by, and through this division, did God open and establish the glorious scheme of an 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 an holy offspring; no Eve would of 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 of 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, therefore that, Adam might yet have an offspring, God took from him that, which is called the female part of his nature, 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; which glorious Man is therefore called 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?
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 hardly be sorry, that I am not a great scholar. Can anything be more punctually related in scripture than the gradual fall of Adam? Do not you 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 rational 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 every thing, 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 the deity, the first fiat of God; and all Angels, and eternal beings, are the first births of it. The deity 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 the deity, 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 itself 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 fulfilled 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 not this 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, merely by a spiritual power, 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; and 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 Adam the first: A divine love in Adam the first, 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 whimsy, or 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 ground and 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 stamp. 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 original 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, sir, I do. But it is only to observe 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 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, were 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! What less than God, could awaken again the dead Angelic life! What less than God's entering into the human birth itself, and becoming one of it, and 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: Whereas 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, 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 of 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 transubstan-tiation, 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, but confounds heaven and hell, takes all goodness from the deity, 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, and 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 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 overcome. 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 rectitude of his will, willing that which God willed, both in the creation of him, and the world.
While his will stood thus 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, or 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 rectitude 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. But 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 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 stop put to it, by God taking 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, until 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. no 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 America was not well tilled? Now everything that is not within you, that has not 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 to him on the nature of roads, but to be told, in short, which is his 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 uses not 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 is 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, and 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 sects 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, and 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, independent of, and does not pray for any particular number hours, or uses 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 be 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 degrees of Christian goodness, but as a state of real death to the kingdom and life of God in our souls. Management, prudence, or trying to have a balance between God and mammon, are here 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 of them within us, yet we feel neither the 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 who ever 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 him, 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 his knowledge, his 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, through a vain and haughty contention for them. 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 for this reason, 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 be ever so 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 and blood. 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, and kind, and manner of life; and consequently as the will of its life works, so it has its degree, and 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 that as the fire of our life burns, so is the light of our life kindled: and all this 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 flee away, and be at rest; flee away from the spirit of this world, to be at rest in the sweet tranquility of a life born again of God. You know, sir, 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, and 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, Socrates, Plato, 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 fathers of the church, that they were dreaming enthusiasts. 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., only desired and used for the support of the earthly body, is suitable to man's present condition, and the order of nature: But when the desire, the delight, and longing of the soul is set upon earthly things, then the humanity is degraded, 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. Oh 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 of heaven; and desire only to live, so that with all the working of your wills, and the whole spirit of your minds, you may live and die united to God: and thus let this conversation end, until God gives us another meeting.
Part 2
Chapter 3
The Third Dialogue
Allen- I have brought again with me, gentlemen, my silent friend, Harold, and he is in the same condition of being silent. But though his silence is the same, yet he is quite altered. For this twenty years I have known him to be of an even 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 morose, peevish, and full of disappointment, and seems to be as uneasy with himself, as with every body 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 bottom, and better nature, 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 the true ground of his present, uneasy, peevish 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. These, I know, are severe and hard words: but, hard as they are, 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 malady 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 much 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 seek not ourselves, nor our own victory, but 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 to be undergone.
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 and 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 is lost that we had any trust in as our own; until then, faith and hope, and turning to God in prayer, are only things learnt 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 till 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 my 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 has redeemed 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 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, that 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 by-ends; 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 them all, redeems them all, 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 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, says He, 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 charity (that is, have not the Spirit of Christ) it profit 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 charity here described; therefore this charity, 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 charity (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 charity, 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, then 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 most specious 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 only way to God, and salvation. Thus does all 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 sacraments, 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 virgin 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, by 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 enthusiasm, 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, sir, 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 first 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, be it what it will, 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 be ask for instructions, and rules, and methods, or consulting 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 and liked 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, brings 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, 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 thus 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 good Christians daily pray 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 said 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 hungering, if the truly hungry and thirsty, could ever be sent empty away. 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 without us; it unites with God, 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 just 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 quickened, 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, Robert, 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, Robert, you 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 it, but because its will-spirit, or its 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 Form, and 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 this or that, or 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 are not our own; they are not the abundance of our own heart; 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- O Henry, 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- Dear 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 dear desires the water so longs my soul after you, O 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, in 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, Robert, 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 along with them. 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 wherewith 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, 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 for ever 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 corners of our minds, but openly entering 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 either bring heaven into us, or drive hell out of us. O Britain, Britain, hear the Son of God say to you, as he said, "O 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, O British 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? O 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, that you may be born again from above! My heart bleeds for you. Think, I beseech 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 suffer you not 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, be it what it will; 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. I will here give you an infallible 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 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 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, 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 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 as surely feel the need of them, and desire the good of them, as the sick man feels the need, and desires the good of health. But when this is your case, you need not be told how to pray, anymore than the thirsty man wants to be told what he shall ask for. Have you not fully consented to this truth, that the heart only can pray, and that it prays for nothing but that, which it loves, wills, and wishes to have? But can 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 tempers, 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 everyman he met, to pull him out of a deep pit. For prayers not formed according to the real state of your heart, are but 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, that must have 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 wants. And yet it should seem, as if a prayer-book was highly necessary, and ought to be the performance of great learning and abilities, since only our learned men and scholars make our prayer-books.
Robert- I did not imagine, that you would have come so openly against manuals of devotion, since you cannot but 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 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 stir 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 a enemy to crutches, or the makers of them. Now a manual 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 really travel; but when the heart cannot take one step in prayer, and you read your manual, you do not do that very same thing, which your heart should have done, that is, really 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, as a book of prayers to a dead and hardened heart that has no prayer of its own, is 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, be it what or where it will, or be its spirit of what kind it will, 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 all, and every life does, and must stand in this form, is wholly and solely from 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 the 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 has now come so near to God, has found such union with Him, that it does not so much pray, as live 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 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: it is 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 an union with God: For nothing hurts us in any state, but an expectation of something in it, and from it, 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, keep fast hold of the thread I mentioned before, and all is well. For this coldness is the divine offspring, or genuine birth, of the former fervor; it 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 it's 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 means and power of exercising an higher faith, a purer love, and more perfect resignation to God, which are the best state 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 sketch, Robert, of the nature and progress of the Spirit of prayer, may show you, that a manual is not so great a matter as you imagined. The best instruction that I can give you, as helpful, or preparatory to the Spirit of prayer, is already fully 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 are to pray for. For a man does not, nor cannot pray for anything, because a fine petition for it is put into his hands, but 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 low 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 any body, 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 he is, and how he is to be found; there 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 pants and longs after God, its prayer is a praying, as 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 certain 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. 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, 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 he 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 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 a numerous change 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 unto 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 scripture, as given to 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 then was done? 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 most simple 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 thereof, than any persons who have only their knowledge from learning, and learned 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 made much account of what they call a gifted man, and make that to be the one true gift of prayer, when any one is able to pray extempore, or with his own words, for an hour or two at a time.
Henry- I have shown you, Robert, 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 in people that have no education, for them to be able to pray from their own hearts, I have 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, 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 another or 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 and solely the reality, steadiness, and continuity of the desire; and therefore whether a man offers this desire to God in the silent longing of the heart, or in simple short petitions, or in a great variety of words, 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 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, leaving 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 easy, simple, 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 want 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. Thus a man that has but just entered upon the reformation of his life, shall want to read or hear a discourse upon perfection, whether or not it is attainable or not; and shall be more eager after what he can hear of this matter, though it is at such a distance from himself, than of 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 be kept alive, 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: I do not mean you must frequently read or say a number of prayers (though this in its turn may be good and useful to you) but 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 has not 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 or methods to keep it in his thoughts; it goes with him everywhere he goes; it has his first thoughts in the morning; and every day 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 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 retire 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 cannot but know your own state, so it must be 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 come 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 no more change you into a good man, than an actor upon the stage, who speaks kingly language, 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, is with a noonday clearness forced to be seen, 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 and natural 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, or as the Spirit of God moves you in it, or to it. This, 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 have no communion with God, he could not enjoy the elements, nor could the evil spirits have the least power of access to him. Now the astral, 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 no more make a divine prayer, than 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, or can 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 in the temptation of 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 one and only prayer that is divine, or can do us any divine good; and to reject and oppose it, as a vain conceit, 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 here 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 good 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, so in few words, gotten to the bottom of this matter, that nothing is left either for any further doubt, or inquiry. 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, 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 and most edifying degree of clearness. Consequently, what can be a plainer, and 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 everyman; 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 pearl 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, cannot live, but so far as we are inspired, moved, and led, by the Spirit of God. Earnestly, 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 lip of truth has 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 an 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 only 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. Pray, 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. Everyman 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 unwearied 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 everyman, 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 need 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, are 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 perceive, 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 it's 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 say, Robert, is very 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 into 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 belong not 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.
The Grounds And Reasons Of Christian Regeneration
By William Law
Written in 1750
Introduction
I should reckon it a matter of great importance, if I knew how to bring to your attention one of the greatest subjects of the Christian religion, and of the greatest concern to you. And though the subject is exacting, and seems only to relate to one point, yet the things which we will bring under consideration, will extend to matters of the most general importance, and contain the most important reasons to awaken and convert the heart both of the deist38, pagan, and the professing Christian.
For it is my intent to search and lay open the true grounds and reasons of the Christian new-birth, that the things said, may equally reach all of these readers. For the Deists, and unbelievers, have a great share of my compassionate affections, and I can never think, or write of the infinite blessings of the Christian redemption, without feeling in my heart, an impatient longing to see them become the happy partakers of them. And as one naturally believes, what one strongly wishes; so I cannot help hoping, that both Christians and Deists will here find truths of such a nature, as will in some degree touch their hearts, and this can happen if it is not read with prejudice and aversion.
Man was created by God after His own Image, and in His own Likeness, a living Mirror of the Divine Nature; where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each brought forth their Own nature in a creaturely manner. As the Son, who is begotten of the Father, is the brightness of the Father's Glory, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, as an amiable, moving Life of both; so it was in this created Image of God. In it, the Father's Nature generated the Nature of the Son, and the Holy Ghost proceeded from them both, as an amiable, moving Life of both. This was the Likeness or Image of God, in which the first man was created, a true offspring of God, in whom the Divine Birth sprung up as in the Deity, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost saw themselves in a creaturely manner.
In the Divine Nature the Father cannot possibly be separated from the Son, nor the Holy Ghost from both, or either of them. But such a separation could come to pass in the Trinity, become creaturely, or in the created living Image of the Trinity.
If such Separation could not have happened, Man could not have fallen out of Paradise; for so long as this Image of the Godhead continued unbroken, so long it must be in Paradise, Heaven, or the Kingdom of Divine Joy. But that this Separation could happen in this created Image of the Trinity, i.e., that the Birth of the Son, and the arising or proceeding of the Holy Ghost, could be separated or lost, is also certain; because Man is actually fallen out of paradise into this poor, wretched, perishable world.
While man continued as an unbroken image of the Godhead, he was necessarily in paradise, in the open enjoyment of the Kingdom of God. He stood indeed upon the earth, and with the same outward world about him, as we do now; but paradise was over all, the cover of all; and therefore he neither saw nor felt either his own outward body, or the things of this outward world, in the manner, as we now see, and feel them. His own dark, gross, heavy, fleshly body, which appeared after the fall, and the naked grossness, heaviness, darkness, discord, contrariety, and enmity, of the elements of this outward world, the strife of heat and cold, of storms and tempests, were things suppressed in paradise, and as entirely hid from his eyes, as the darkness of the night is hid from our eyes by the light of the day.
This is plainly taught us in the holy scripture, where it is said of our first parents in paradise, before the fall, that "They were naked, and were not ashamed." and again, after the fall it is said, "Their eyes were opened," and "They saw they were naked," and through shame sought for a covering. It is not said, they saw their nakedness in paradise, but that though they were naked, that is, had such bodies as afterwards appeared to be naked, yet they were not ashamed, and the reason of their not being ashamed, was because that nakedness was not then visible, could not show itself, but was concealed and covered from them by their paradisiacal glory; but as soon as by sin, they died to the paradisiacal life and glory, then they saw their nakedness, which sight filled them with shame and confusion. From these two passages of scripture it is most plain, first, that another sort of seeing, or another sight of things, was opened in Adam after the fall, than that which he had before it: for he then first saw his own nakedness, and therefore first also saw the outward world, with such eyes as he saw his own body, that is, in the same state of nakedness, as he saw himself, destitute of its paradisiacal glory. Secondly, that before his fall, his seeing was divine, by means of a divine light, shining forth from the Kingdom of God, that was then not hid, but powerfully opened within him. It was then with him, as with the heavenly city, of which John says, "It had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did enlighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof. Rev.21:23. Thirdly, that after the fall, when the image of the Godhead was broken in him, this divine light departed from him, and he was left to the firmamental light of this world, to the light of beasts, to see himself, and all other outward things, in no other light and glory, but such as the sun, stars, and elements, cast upon one another. Thus he stood with regard to this outward world, a poor prisoner of this earthly life, as much under the power and slavery of the elements, as his fellow-creatures the beasts.
Paradise being departed from the earth (which before kept all in harmony) now discord and contrariety broke forth in all the elements, and animals upon it. The elementary nature in man, and beasts, was in the same disorder with the outward elements and stars. From this time storms and tempests, thunders and lightning, earthquakes, and all sorts of strife and contrarieties through all temporal nature; and in man, and other animals, arose the same unrest; the elements and man, were of the same nature, and therefore strife and contrarieties acted upon one another. Therefore, heat, cold, pain, sorrow, fear, unrest, diseases, sickness and death, came upon man, fallen out of paradise into this world. This was the state of the world, and of the men in it, after paradise was removed from it; instead of the light and glory of paradise, which made it all peace and unity, and a sweet habitation of divine joy, it now had only the light of the sun, which could only keep the elements in such harmony, and discord, as we now see in the world. Thus stood man in this outward world; let us now look at the inward state of his soul, and see what condition he was of, in the inward, and spiritual world.
We have before shown, that man was created a living image of God, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saw themselves in him, in a creaturely manner. Now by his transgression this image of God was broken; the generation of the Son, or Word, and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost in him, were at an end; in the day that he sinned, in that day he died. And therefore what was he as to his soul? What must be said of it? It was something, that was deprived of that birth, which was the brightness of its glory, and which should be that in it, which the Son of God is to the Father; it wanted that Spirit, which was its amiable life, and which was to be to it, that which the Holy Ghost is to the Father, and the Son. Yet the soul was still a life, an imperishable life, that could not be dissolved, or cease to be. Now understanding that every life, whether spiritual or corporeal, consists in fire, or rather is fire; therefore we may say of the soul in this state, that it is a spiritual dark, fire-breath, an anger-fire, that must heat, and torment itself with its own inward burning strife, and yet be unable to reach, touch, or obtain any spark of light and love, to make its fire-life sweet and amiable, or such a flame of fire, as angels are said to be.
This was the state of the soul after the fall, when the birth of the son of God, and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost, were no more to be found, or felt in it. It was in the same state and condition of the devils, who in their fallen nature, have changed from flames of love, to dark spiritual raging, that can draw no light of love into it. And the reason why, even the most intelligent persons do not fully know, they perceive their souls to be in this miserable state, a dark root of self-tormenting fire, because the soul, though thus fallen, was still united to the blood of an human body, and therefore the sweet, and cheering light of the sun, could reach the soul, and do that for it in some degree, and for some time, which it does to the darkness, sharpness, sourness, bitterness, and wrath that is in outward nature, that is, it could enlighten, sweeten, and cheer it in a certain degree.
But as this is not its own light, that is, does not arise in the soul itself, but only reaches it by means of the body; so if the soul has in this time had no light of its own, then, when the death of the body breaks off its communion with the light of this world, the soul is left a mere dark, raging fire, in the same state as the devils. And if all the light of this world was to be immediately at once extinguished, all human souls that were not in some real degree of regeneration, would immediately find themselves to be nothing but the rage of fire, and the horror of darkness. Now, though the light and comfort of this outward world, keeps even the worst of men from any constant, strong sensibility of that wrathful, fiery, dark, and self-tormenting nature, that is the very essence of every fallen, unregenerate soul; yet every man in the world has, more or less, frequent and strong intimations given him, that it is so with him, in the inmost part of his soul.
How many inventions are some people forced to have recourse to, to keep off a certain inward uneasiness, which they are afraid of, and do not even know where it comes from? Alas, it is because there is a fallen spirit, a dark aching fire within them, which has never had its proper relief, and is trying to discover itself, and it calls out for help, every time some worldly joy ends.
Why are some people, when undergoing heavy disappointments, or some great worldly shame, are at the very brink of distraction, unable to bear themselves, and sometimes desire death? It is because worldly light and comforts, are no longer acting sweetly upon the soul, the soul is left to its own dark, fiery raging nature, and sometimes is willing to destroy itself, rather than continue to undergo the wrathful, self-tormenting fire. Who has not at one time or other felt a sourness, wrath, selfishness, envy, and pride, which he could not tell what to do with, or how to bear, rising up in him without his consent, casting a blackness over all his thoughts, and then as suddenly going away again, either by the cheerfulness of the sun, or some agreeable accident, and again, at times, as suddenly returning upon him? Sufficient indications are these to every man, that there is a dark guest within him, concealed under the cover of flesh and blood, often lulled asleep by worldly light and amusements, yet such as will, in spite of everything, show itself, which if it has not its proper relief in this life, must be his torment in eternity. And it was for the sake of this hidden hell within us, that our blessed lord said when on earth, and says now to every soul, "Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." For as the soul is become this self-tormenting fire, only because the birth of the Son of God was extinguished in it by our first parents; so there is no other possible remedy for it, either in heaven or earth, but by its coming to this son of God, to be born again of him, of His love. Oh, poor unbelievers, that content yourselves with this foundation of hell in your nature, and either seek for no salvation, or, what is worse, turn your backs with disregard on the one and only savior, that God himself can help you to!
Do not think of saving yourselves. It is no more in your power, than to save the fallen spirits that are in hell; you can no more do the one than the other. Talk not of the mercy and goodness of God; his mercy is indeed infinite, and his goodness above all conception; but then the infiniteness of it consists in this, that he of his own mere mercy offered this savior to all mankind, because in the nature of things, nothing less than this savior could redeem them. Therefore to rely upon a mercy of God, that is not within the Christian scheme of things, is to rely upon a fiction of our own minds; because all the mercy that God can show to mankind, all that his omnipotent love can do for them, is done and offered to them in, and through God's redemption, Jesus Christ.
If either devils, or lost souls could possibly be annihilated, neither of them would by the goodness of God, be suffered to exist in misery. But a man may as well expect that his soul shall be annihilated through the goodness of God, though annihilation is impossible, and what cannot be done, as to expect to be saved through the divine goodness, without the mediation of the son of God, when the birth of the Son of God in the soul, is the only salvation, that the omnipotence of God can bestow upon him. Therefore to choose or rely upon some other goodness of God besides that, which he has offered to us in Jesus Christ, is the most dreadful mistake that can befall any man, and must, if persevered in, leave him out of the possibility of any kind, or degree of salvation. For as the Son of God is the brightness and glory of the father, so no soul made in the likeness of God is capable of any degree of brightness and glory, but so far as the birth of the Son of God is in it; therefore to reject this birth, to refuse this method of redemption, is to reject all the goodness, that the divine nature itself has for us.
But to return. I have shown in few words the original dignity and glory of man's creation and state in paradise, and the lamentable change, that the fall has brought upon him. From a divine and heavenly creature, he is so wretchedly changed, as to have inwardly the nature, and dark fire of the devils, and outwardly the nature of all the beasts, a slave of this outward world, living at all uncertainties, amongst the pains, fears, sorrows, and diseases, until his body is forced to be removed from our sight, and hid in the earth.
Now from this short view of what man is fallen from, and what he is fallen into, we may see at once in the strongest light the divine excellence and absolute necessity of those doctrines of our blessed lord, calling us to all kinds of renouncing the world, to so many ways of denying all the passions and inclinations of flesh and blood. Were the world, as it now is, and we, as we now are, in the very first state in which God made it and us, there would be some foundation for saying, as some do, "what are all these things for, if they are not to be enjoyed? Why have we these passions and inclinations, if they may not be gratified?" but all these questions are fully answered, as soon as it is known, that the first state of things is quite altered; that we were not created to be in this world in the manner we are now in it; that paradise was our first state, where we should have stood in divine strength and ability, insensible of any evil from outward nature; that sin destroyed this first state of things, destroyed the divine life in the soul, and removed paradise from off the earth; that man, cast out of paradise, came as a malefactor into this outward world, to be punished and scourged by all its divided, warring elements; that by his falling into this world, it got the same power over him, as over the beasts, that are its proper inhabitants, and of the same nature with itself; that thus fallen under its dominion, it continually breathes its own corrupt nature into him, feeds him with such husks as the swine eat, and proposes such pleasures to him, as make him unwilling, and unable to regain his first divine life. Now, as soon as this is known to be the condition of man, thus fallen from a divine life under the dominion of this world, then all the renouncing, self-denying doctrines of the gospel, appear to have the utmost reason and necessity in them; then it appears to be as much our happiness, to deny the tempers and inclinations of this earthly nature, and to be delivered from the power of its pleasures over us, as to be delivered from the power of death and hell. And the most sober reason thus acquainted with the nature of our fall, must be forced to consider this world as having merely the nature of a hospital, where people only are, because they are distempered, and where no happiness is sought for, but that of being healed, and made fit to leave it.
To proceed: the fact that I have not stated man's first dignity too high, is evidently plain from the scripture account of it. It is a fundamental truth of our religion, that he was created in paradise for a life suitable to it. But paradise is a divine habitation, still existing where it was at the first, though not visible to eyes which see only by the light of the sun, and is the habitation of such as have attained their first paradisiacal nature; it was in this paradise, that our savior, through a miracle of love, promised to be with the thief on the cross.
It is also a fundamental truth of scripture, that man was created to be immortal, incapable of death, and of everything that had any likeness to it, so long as he continued in the perfection of his state. That it was sin alone which brought sorrow, pain, evil, distress, sickness and death upon him. But if this is a truth that cannot be denied, then it must be equally true, that before he sinned, he must have stood in such a paradise, that kept everything in the outward world entirely under him, so that neither fire nor water, nor any other element, could have the least power over him. But if fire, the fiercest of the elements, did not the least power of touching his body in any hurtful manner, or of causing any pain to it; then it must be granted, that paradise covered, and governed the power of all the elements of this outward world; that man lived in it as an absolute lord over it; and therefore it undeniably follows that the manner, in which he is now under the power of the elements, capable of receiving pain and evil from them, is a state that he was not in, until sin took paradise from him, and left him in the same poor condition, that we now are in, capable of receiving pain and death, from almost everything that is about us.
That man in paradise lived in this world insensible, and also incapable of any evil from it, superior to all its elements, is plain from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For how could it be more plainly told us, that outward things, the stars and elements could not affect his state, or make any impression upon him, than by telling us, that he had no knowledge of good and evil in this world, until he had eaten of that tree? Is not this directly telling us, that before he ate of the tree, he was above the nature of this world, that it did not have power to operate upon him, or give him any sense or feeling, of what there was of good or evil in it.
Now that he was created to be, and to continue a lord over all temporal nature, superior to all the influences and effects of the stars and elements, is also plain from the prohibition given him, not to eat of this tree of knowledge. But he was not content with this happy superiority above the evil and good of outward nature. His imagination, helped on by the devil, longed to look into, to know and feel the secret working powers of that outward nature, which it was his happiness, and paradise to be insensible of. When God forbade his eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was the same thing as if he had said, do not fall into this outward world, under the dominion of its stars and elements, but keep your state in paradise.
When man disobeyed God, and took the fruit of the tree into his body, which brought the nature and power of the stars and elements into it; it is not to be considered, as the single act of eating, but it signifies as much as if he had said; by eating this fruit, I desire to come within the influences of the stars and elements, and to be made sensible, and be able to feel the good and evil that is in them. Therefore, small as the action seems to be at the first view, and of a very limited nature, it was his refusing to be that, which God created him to be; it was his express, open, voluntary act and deed, by which he chose to fall into this outward world, in the manner we now are in it. Therefore it was not the mere eating of a fruit, that brought Adam's misery upon him, but it was because of his desire to enter into this world, and for this reason it ate of the fruit. God was not angry at all, at the small act of eating a fruit, and then in this supposed anger wanting to turn man out of paradise, into a world cursed for that sin. But man freely and voluntarily chose, against the will, and command of God, to be in this world in its cursed state, unblessed by paradise; for he chose to enter into a sensibility and feeling of its good and evil, which is directly choosing to be, where paradise is not; for nothing that is in paradise, can be touched, or hurt by anything of the outward world. Therefore the first state of man was a state of such glory, and heavenly prerogatives, as I have above related; and his fall, was a fall into, or under the power of this outward world.
If it be also further asked, what sufficient proof is there, first, that the likeness and image of God, in which man was created, signified all of this, that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each brought forth their own nature in him, and in him saw themselves in a creaturely manner? And then, secondly, that by the first sin, this birth of the son of God, and proceeding of the Holy Ghost was extinguished and lost in the soul of man? It may be answered, that these great truths stand attested by undeniable evidence of scripture. First, from the means and manner of our redemption. For there is nothing that can so fully, and justly show us the true nature of our fall, as the nature and manner of our redemption. And it seems highly suitable to the wisdom of God to let the first, be but in part discovered, until the latter showed and proved itself in an undeniable manner. And this, no doubt, is the reason why Moses was allowed to write no more of the nature of the fall of man, or what it implied, than that which he has done. Because the time for a plain insight into that matter, had not then come, and it was to lie as much a secret, as to the true nature of it, as the nature and manner of our redemption then did; which was then only obscurely declared, by an enmity between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. But when the seed of the woman showed itself to be the son of God, the second person of the Godhead, united to our human nature; then the nature of our fall, and what we fell from, and what the seed of the serpent was in us, manifested themselves in the same degree of certainty. And therefore it is very unreasonable to hold, that we ought to say no more of our first state before the fall, of its dignity and perfection, and what was lost by the fall, than what is openly and expressly declared by Moses. For as it seemed good to the divine wisdom to conceal the mystery of our redemption and salvation for many ages, and to let Moses only discover it under a declaration of a serpent-destroyer; so there was a fitness, and even necessity, that the nature and degree of our fall should be kept in the same degree of secrecy, then only to be discovered with a sufficient degree of plainness and certainty, when our redemption and salvation came plainly to be open up to us. The religion of the Jews was suited to that state of things and times in which they lived; neither the mysteries of the creation, nor redemption, were then discovered; things past, and things to come, had then only their figures, shadows, and types. But when the Son of God became incarnate, and showed forth in the plainest manner, the nature, manner, and necessity of our redemption through his blood, and a life received from him, then the nature and degree of our fall became equally plain and manifest; and everything that he has told us of the nature and necessity of a new or second birth from him, was so much told us of our first birth in paradise. For the nature and greatness of our redemption, must show the nature and greatness of our fall. These things have such a necessary correspondence, as cannot be denied, but by a mind utterly indisposed to receive conviction.
If our redemption proposed to restore to us a divine sight, would not this be a sufficient proof, that by the fall we had lost the divine manner of seeing? So, if God himself takes our nature upon him to redeem us, and it be declared that nothing, but this uniting the divine nature to the human, can be our redemption, do we need a proof, that the divine nature existed in some manner in us, before the fall?
Now it is a plain, manifest doctrine of the holy scriptures, that man by the fall is in such a condition, that there was no help or remedy for him, either in the height above, or in the depth below, but by the Son of God becoming incarnate, and taking the fallen nature upon him. If this alone could be the remedy, does not this enough show us the disease? Does not this speak plainly enough, what it was that man had lost by his fall, namely, the birth of the Son of God in his soul; and therefore it was, that only the Son of God in so mysterious a manner, could be his redeemer? If he had lost less, a less power could have redeemed him. If he had lost something else, the restoration of that something, would have been his redemption. But since it is an open, undeniable doctrine of the gospel, that there can be no salvation for mankind but in the name, and by the power of the Son of God, by his being united to the fallen nature, and so raising his own birth and life in it, is it not sufficiently declared to us, that what was lost by the fall, was the birth of the Son of God in the soul?
Secondly, this same doctrine is not left to be drawn from any consequences of things, but is in express words taught us, when it is said, that we must be born again from above, born of God; for this is expressly telling us what birth we have lost, and is only saying, that the first birth is to be restored, or that the divine birth is to arise, or to be brought again into us, as at the first, when the living image of the Godhead was brought forth in us. What this new regained birth is, we are plainly told by Peter, that is a being born again of an incorruptible seed by the word, that is, the eternal word, or son of God. Which divine word being only in the soul as a seed, is to restore by degrees the first birth of the word, or Son of God in the soul. Which is proof enough that this was the state of the soul in its creation, that this birth was then in it, and so was an image of the Godhead; and that the death which Adam died in the day that he sinned, was this he lost his holy birth from his soul. And on this account it was, that nothing could restore him, but that which was able to restore this birth again to his soul, and make it again an image of God, as that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, might see themselves again in a creaturely manner, and dwell in it, and it in them.
Thirdly, the Holy Ghost is in the scriptures declared to be the sanctifier, or re-newer of holiness in the soul, and this in such a manner, that all the motions and operations of the soul, so far as they are without it, and unmoved by it, are so far unholy, and unable even for a good thought. Now how could our thoughts or operations be unholy in themselves, and need the sanctification and renewing of the Holy Ghost, unless this Holy Spirit had first existed in us, and by our fall had been separated from us? Had not the birth of the Holy Ghost arisen in us at our creation, we could no more be unholy for want of it, than the beasts are, nor any more now have wanted to be renewed by it, than the beasts that never had it. But since there is now no sanctification or redemption for us, but only this, by having the Holy Ghost as a free gift of God breathed again into us, and it is a demonstration, that we had before we fell, this holiness by the nature which God gave us at first; and that the holiness of our creation consisted in this, that the Holy Spirit then proceeded, or arose forth in our soul, as the birth of the Son of God did; and that it might for the same reason be then called the holiness of our nature, as it is now after the fall, called a holiness by gift or grace. For if we are now to be born again of the Spirit by grace, does this not tell us, that we had this birth of the Spirit in us at the first, and that at that time it was the birth of our nature by creation?
Fourthly, these same great truths are evidently signified to us in the fullest manner by our baptism, and the form of it. Our baptism is to signify our seeking and obtaining a new birth. And our being baptized in, or into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, tells us in the plainest manner, what birth it is that we seek, namely, such a new birth as may make us again what we were at first, a living image or offspring of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Is it not owned by all, that we are baptized into the death of Christ and receive a renovation of the divine birth that we had lost? And, that we may not be at a loss to know what that divine birth is, the form in baptism openly declares to us, that it is to regain that first birth of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in our souls, which at the first made us to be truly and really images of the nature of the Godhead in unity. The form in baptism is but very imperfectly apprehended, until it is understood to have this great meaning in it. And it must be owned, that the scriptures tend wholly to guide us to this understanding of it. For since they teach us, a birth of God, a birth of the Spirit, that we must obtain, and that baptism, is to be done into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, can there be any doubt, that this is to signify the death of self and renovation of the birth of the Godhead in our souls? And that therefore this was the holy image born or created at first, when God said, "let us make man in our image, after our own likeness," that is, so make him, that we may see ourselves, our own nature in him, in a creaturely manner.
What an harmonious agreement does there thus appear, between our creation and redemption? And how finely, how surprisingly do our first and our second birth answer to, and illustrate one another? At our first birth it is said, "let us make man in our image, after our own likeness", when the divine birth was lost, and man was to receive it again, it is said, "be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost": which is saying, let the divine birth, be brought forth again in you, or be born again in the image of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as you were at first. These considerations all taken from the plain words, and acknowledged doctrines of scripture, I think do, sufficiently declare and prove to us, these great truths, namely, that the image in which man was created, was such, as in which, the Godhead saw itself, or its own nature in a creaturely manner, in which the father's nature generated the nature of the son, and the Holy Ghost proceeded from them both, as the amiable moving life of both. That by Adam's sin, this holy image of the Godhead was broken, and in such a manner, that the birth of the son of God, and of the Holy Spirit, was no longer in it, and that therefore in a stupendous mystery of love, the Son of God united himself to our fallen nature, to recover, and restore to it, all that it had lost, and in such a manner, that it need not be lost again to all eternity, if you will only follow the Holy Spirit!
As soon as it is observed and known, that our fall consisted in losing the birth of the Son of God in our soul, and consequently the life of the Holy Spirit in it, there appears a surprising agreeableness and fitness, in the means of our redemption, namely, that we could only be saved by the eternal son of God; that he only could save us, by taking our nature upon Himself, and so uniting it with Him, that His life, or birth might again arise in us, as at the first, and so we may again become a perfect living image of the Godhead.
Now the reason why I have gone this far in inquiring into the dignity of man's original state, and searched this deep into his lamentable fall, is simple, to point out to the reader the true nature of the Christian religion, and the infinite importance of it; which religion is administered by God, as our only relief from our sad condition; and that he may at once see the height and depth of divine love, which has had so great a care of mankind.
I am persuaded that no one can see these truths, in the manner that I have represented them, without being in some degree inclined to believe them; and in the same degree stirred up to act in conformity to them. We can know nothing in truly, of the nature of the Christian religion, and our deep concern in it, but only so far as we see into the nature of our first state in the creation, and our present state by the fall. And as this knowledge is in some degree necessary, so is it also in some degree obvious to every man. every man has a consciousness within himself, that a perfection in all kinds of virtue becomes him; this consciousness obliges him to set the best foot forwards, and to put on the appearance of all the virtue that he can. Now what else is this, but an inward strong testimony of his own mind, declaring to him, that perfection was his first state, and that because his nature once had it, he can neither lose the agreeable idea of it, nor quit his pretenses to it; so that every man carries in his own heart, in the depth of his own frame and constitution, a strong proof of all those truths, that I have deduced from scripture. For I have not been speaking of things foreign or strange to us, but of things sensibly felt within us, and spoken to us, by the whole form of our nature.
The condition in which I have represented our soul to be by the fall, a mere dark fire-breath, of an hellish nature, showing itself in every man more or less by its fruits, by such eruptions and breakings forth of dark passions, but hiding itself under an outward appearance of good, and a feigned civility or rectitude of manners, is what every man must be forced to own to be more or less in himself. For this is the state of every man's soul, because it has lost the birth of the Son of God in it, and so is only as a strong root of a fiery life, unenlightened, and unblessed by that holy word, which is the brightness of the Father's glory.
The four elements
This dark root of a fiery, self-tormenting life, which is the whole nature of the fallen soul, destitute of the birth of the Son of God in it, is a life that subsists in four elements, as the life of this world has its four elements. Now the four elements of this dark, fiery soul, or fallen nature, are, (1.) A restless selfishness; (2.) A restless envy; (3.) A restless pride; and, (4.) A restless wrath or anger. I call them the elements of the fallen soul, because they are that to it, which the four elements of this world are to the life of the body. Now these four elements which nourish and keep up the life of the fallen soul, are also the four elements of hell, in which the devils dwell; they can no more depart from, or exist out of these elements, than an earthly life can depart from, or exist without the four elements of this world, fire, air, water, and earth. Now, as the soul, by the losing of the birth of the Son of God in it, is become an aching dark root of fire, that has this restless selfishness, restless envy, restless pride, and restless wrath in it, which are the four elements of hell; so by its being in these, or having them in it, it is come to pass, that evil spirits have communion with it, and so great power over it.
Giving the devil power to infuse his wretched nature into us . .
every stirring of the soul in the element of pride, is a moving in the devil's element, where he is, and has power to join and act with it; every motion in the element of envy or wrath, is so far empowering him to enter into the breath of our life, and settle his fiery kingdom in us. And it is the same in every one of these four elements, so far as we willingly are in their sphere of activity, and act and stir according to them, so far we become members of the devil's kingdom, and have him for our leader, and guide. How watchful therefore ought we to be of our hearts, how fearful of consenting to, or not enough resisting every motion of these elements within us, since every voluntary yielding to them, is opening the Kingdom of darkness in our souls, and giving the devil power to infuse his wretched nature into us. And we have still further reason for this fear and watchfulness, if it is to be considered, that as not one of the elements of this outward world could exist, if the other three were not, because they are the mutual cause of one another; they generate each other, so it is in these other elements, if we live in one, we live in all; selfishness cannot be, or subsist without envy, nor pride without wrath and selfishness, nor any one of the four, without carrying the other three in its bosom; therefore we must have the same fear of any one, as of them all, for the name of every one is legion. Could we see, as we see outward objects, what a dreadful misery these four elements bring upon our souls, we would shun and fly from Everything that gave life and strength to them, with more earnestness, than from the most violent evils that could threaten our bodies; we would choose to burn in any fire, rather than in that of our own wrath and pride, any poverty of outward life, rather than that of our own pinching envy, any prison, rather than to be shut up in our own dark selfishness. For all outward fires, chains, torments, slaveries, poverties, are but transient shadows, of the tormenting, fiery, dark slavery of an unredeemed soul, left, and given up to these four elements of hell. And the reason why they are not a hell to profligate men now upon earth, is, as has been said, because we now live in flesh and blood, under the cheering influences of the sun, and the diversion and amusement of outward things, and in several forms of happiness, which our imaginations play with at various times. This wandering of the imagination through its own inventions of delight, hinders the poor soul from feeling what it is, in its own nature; and therefore, though Ever so much a slave of these elements, it only feels or perceives the torment of them on certain occasions. And yet sometimes it is seen, that one or the other of these elements awakens so violently, as to become intolerable, and to give a true and plain foretaste of the condition and nature of hell in the soul that feels it. Here again, I cannot help observing, the wondrous excellence and divine nature of the gospel religion, which knowing our fall to consist in this darkened fire of the soul, dwelling in these elements of hell, has set before us such amazing representations of humility, meekness, and universal love, as the imagination of man could never have thought of; namely, the humility, meekness, and lowliness of the son of God, who left his glory, to take upon him the form of a servant for our sakes; the great love of God towards us sinners, in giving his only begotten son to redeem us, and the love of God the Son, in laying his life down for us, that we might imitate this amazing humility, meekness, and divine love, and love one another as he has loved us. These are mysteries of love and mercy that are set before us, to quench the fiery wrath of our fallen nature, and to compel us, if possible, to abhor our own dark passions, and in humility and meekness become lovers of God, and one another.
Now so far as we, by true resignation to God, die to the element of selfishness and own will, so far as by universal love, we die to the element of envy, so far as by humility we die to the element of pride, so far as by meekness we die to the element of wrath, so far we get away from the devil, and enter into another kingdom, and leave him to dwell without us in his own elements. These are not fictions of a visionary imagination, but sober truths, spoken by the word of God in scripture, and written and engraved in the book of every man's own nature. No man since the fall, has escaped being a living witness to these truths; to deny them, is to own and prove them: for we could not tell a lie, or resist the truth, but because we have this dark enemy to truth hidden in our bosom.
Repentance is nothing but high ideas, merely idle talk until . .
Now the greatest good that any man can do to himself, is to give leave to this inward deformity to show itself, and not to strive by any art or management, either of negligence or amusement to conceal it from him. First, because this root of a dark fire-life within us, which is of the nature of hell, with all its elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, must be in some sort discovered to us, and felt by us, before we can enough feel, and enough groan under the weight of our disorder. Repentance is nothing but high ideas, merely idle talk, until we see so much of the deformity of our inward nature, as to be in some degree frightened and terrified at the sight of it. There must be some kind of an earthquake within us, something that must rend and shake us to the bottom, before we can be enough sensible, either of the state of death we are in, or enough desirous of that savior, who alone can raise us from it. A plausible form of an outward life, that has only learned rules and modes of religion by use and custom, often keeps the soul for some time at ease, though all its inward root and ground of sin has never been shaken or molested, though it has never tasted the bitter waters of repentance, and has only known the need of a savior by hearsay. But things cannot pass long this way: sooner or later, repentance must have a broken, and a contrite heart; we must with our blessed Lord go over the brook Kedron, and with him sweat great drops of sorrow, before he can say for us, as he said for himself, "it is finished."
Now, though this sensibility of the sinfulness of our inward ground, is not to be expected to be the same in all, yet the truth and reality of it must, and will be in all, that do but give way to the discovery of it; and our sinfulness would Ever be in our sight, if we did not industriously turn our eyes from it. If we used but half the pains, to find out the evil that is hidden in us, as we do to hide the appearance of it from others, we should soon find, that in the midst of our most orderly life, we are in death, and in great need of a Savior, to make our most apparent virtues to be virtuous.
It is therefore exceeding good and beneficial to us, to discover this dark, disordered fire of our soul; because when rightly known, and rightly dealt with, it can as well be made the foundation of heaven, as it is of hell. For when the fire and strength of the soul, is sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, then its fire, becomes a fire of light, and its strength is changed into a strength of triumphing love, and will be fitted to have a place amongst those flames of love, that wait about the throne of God. The reason why we know so little of Jesus Christ, as our savior, atonement, and justification, why we are so destitute of that faith in him, which alone can change, rectify, and redeem our souls, why we live starving in the coldness and deadness of a formal, historical, religion "This Jesus whom Paul knew" type religion is this; we are strangers to our own inward misery and wants, we know not that we lie in the jaws of death and hell; we keep all things quiet within us, partly by outward forms, and modes of religion and morality, and partly by the comforts, cares and delights of this world. Hence it is that we consent to receive a savior, as we consent to admit of the four gospels, because only four are received by the church. We believe in a savior, not because we feel an absolute need of one, but because we have been told there is one, and that it would be a rebellion against God to reject him. We believe in Christ as our atonement, just as we believe, that he cast seven devils out of Mary Magdalene, and so are no more helped, delivered, and justified by believing that he is our atonement, than by believing that he cured Mary Magdalene.
True faith, is a coming to Jesus Christ to be saved, and delivered from a sinful nature, as the Canaanitish woman came to him, and would not be denied. It is a faith of love, a faith of hunger, a faith of thirst, a faith of certainty and firm assurance, that in love and longing, and hunger, and thirst, and full assurance, will lay hold on Christ, as its loving, assured, certain and infallible savior and atonement. It is this faith, that breaks off all the bars and chains of death and hell in the soul; it is to this faith, that Christ always says, what he said in the gospel, "your faith has saved you, your sins are forgiven you; go in peace." nothing can be denied to this faith; all things are possible to it; and he that seeks Christ in this way, must find him to be his salvation.
On the other hand, all things will be dull and heavy, difficult and impossible to us, we shall toil all the night and take nothing, we shall be tired with resisting temptations, grow old and stiff in our sins and infirmities, if we do not with a strong, full, loving, and joyful assurance, seek and come to Christ for every kind, and degree of strength, salvation and redemption. We must come unto Christ, as the blind, the sick, and the leprous came to him, expecting all from him, and nothing from themselves. When we have this faith, then it is, that Christ can do all his mighty works in us.
From the foregoing account anyone may be supposed already to see the nature and necessity of regeneration, or the new birth. It is as necessary as our salvation. By our fall, our soul has lost the birth of the Son of God in it; by this loss it is become a dark, wrathful, self-tormenting root of fire, shut up in the four hellish elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath; considered as a fallen soul, it cannot stir one step, or exert one motion but in, and according to these elements; therefore it is as necessary to have this nature itself changed, and to be born again from above, as it is necessary to be delivered from hell, and eternal death.
For these elements are hell, and eternal death itself, and not without, or standing at a distance from us, but hell and death springing up in the forms, and essences of our fallen nature; they are the serpent that is in us, and constitute that gnawing worm which never dies for they mutually give birth to each other, and mutually torment each other, and so constitute a worm, or worming pain, that never dies.
Now as this hell, serpent, worm, and death, are all within us, rising up in the forms and essences of our fallen soul; so our redeemer, or regenerator, whatever it be, must be also equally within us, and spring up from as great a depth in our nature. Now the scripture sufficiently tells us, that it is only the promised seed of the woman, the eternal word, or Son of God made man, that can bruise this head, or kill this life of the serpent in us; therefore this seed of the woman must have its dwelling in the ground and essence of our nature, because the serpent is there, that a new life or a new nature may arise from this seed within us; and therefore it is plain, that regeneration, or the new birth, is, and can be no other thing, but the recovering of the birth of the Son of God in the fallen soul.
And this is what the scripture means by the necessity of our being born of God, born again from above, born of the Spirit. Hence also we see in the clearest light, the meaning of all those passages of scripture, where we are said to be in Christ, that Christ is in us; that we must put on Christ; that he must be formed in us; that he is our life; that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood; that he is our atonement, that his blood alone cleans us from all our sins; that we have life from him, as the branches have life from the vine; that he is our justification, or righteousness; that in him we are created again to good works; that without him we can do nothing, and have no life in us: all these, I say, and sayings of scripture like these, have a wonderful congruity and plainness in them, and fill the mind with the most excellent and solid truths, as soon as it is known, that regeneration is absolutely necessary, and that this regeneration signifies, the recovering of the birth of the Son of God in the soul.
And as it does this justice to so great and concerning a part of scripture, so it sets the whole scheme of the Christian salvation in the most agreeable and engaging light, and such as is enough Even to compel Everyone, to embrace it with the utmost earnestness. The mystery of this salvation is still preserved, and yet hereby so unfolded, that every man has as much reason to desire to be born again, and to believe that the Son of God can only bring forth this birth in him, as to believe that God made him, and can alone make him happy. A mediator, an atonement, regenerator, thus understood, must be as agreeable and desirable to every human mind, and as much according to his own wishes, as to be delivered from the uneasiness and unrest of a nature, which he finds himself not master of, nor able to fix it in a state of better enjoyment.
What is it that any thoughtful, serious man could wish for, but to have a new heart, and a new Spirit, free from the hellish, self-tormenting elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath? His own experience has shown him, that nothing human can do this for him; can take away the root of evil that is in him; and it is so natural to him to think, that God alone can do it, that he has often been tempted to accuse God, for allowing it to be so with him.
Therefore to have the Son of God come from heaven to redeem him by a birth of His own divine nature in him, must be a way of salvation, highly suited to his own sense, wants and experience; because he finds, that his evil lies deep in the very essence and forms of his nature, and therefore can only be removed by the arising of a new birth, or life in the first essences of it.
Therefore an inward savior, a savior, that is God himself, raising his own divine birth in the fallen soul, has such an agreeableness and fitness in it, to do for him all that he wants, as must make every sober man, with open arms, ready and willing to receive such a salvation.
Some people have an idea, or notion of the Christian religion, as if God was thereby declared so full of wrath against fallen man, that nothing but the blood of his only begotten son could satisfy his vengeance. No, some have gone such lengths of wickedness, as to assert that God had by immutable decrees reprobated, and rejected a great part of the race of Adam, to an inevitable damnation, to show forth and magnify the glory of his justice. But these are miserable mistakes of understanding of the divine nature, and miserable reproaches of his great love, and goodness in the Christian dispensation. For God is love, yes, all love, and so all love, that nothing but love can come from him; and the Christian religion, is nothing else but an open, full manifestation of the universal love towards all mankind. {Read Spirit of prayer}
As the light of the sun has only one common nature towards all objects that can receive it, so God has only one common nature of goodness towards all created nature, breaking forth in infinite flames of love, upon every part of the creation, and calling Everything to the highest happiness it is capable of. God so loved man, when his fall was foreseen, that he chose him to salvation in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world. When man was actually fallen, God was completely without wrath towards him, so full of love for him, that he sent his only begotten son into the world to redeem him. Therefore God has no nature towards man, but love, and all that he does to man, is love.
There is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not his own, God gave his only begotten son to be made man. God has no more wrath in himself now, than he had before the creation, when he had only himself to love. The precious blood of his son was not poured out to pacify himself (who in himself had no nature towards man but love), but it was poured out, to quench the wrath, and fire of the fallen soul, and kindle in it a birth of light, and love. {see Spirit of love, part 2, p. 50.}
As man lives, and moves, and has his being in the divine nature, and is supported by it, whether his nature is good or bad; so the wrath of man, which was awakened in the dark fire of his fallen nature, may, in a certain sense, be called the wrath of God, as hell itself may be said to be in God, because nothing can be out of his immensity; yet this hell, is not God, but the dark habitation of the devil. And this wrath which may be called the wrath of God, is not God, but the fiery wrath of the fallen soul.
And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary, because nothing but a life and a birth, derived from him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a self-tormenting fire, into an amiable image of the Godhead, as it was at first created.
This was the wrath, vengeance, and vindictive justice that wanted to be satisfied, for our salvation; it was the wrath and fire of nature and creature kindled only in itself, by its departing from due resignation, and obedience to God. When Adam and Eve went trembling behind the trees, through fear and dread of God, it was only this wrath of God awakened in them; it was a terror, and horror, and shivering of nature, that arose up in themselves, because the divine life, the birth of the son of God, which is the brightness and joy of the soul, was departed from it, and had left it, to feel its own poor miserable state without it. And this may well enough be called the wrath, and justice of God upon them, because it was a punishment, or painful state of the soul, that necessarily followed their revolting from God.
But still there was no wrath, or painful sensation, that needed to be appeased, or satisfied, but alone in nature and creature; it was only the wrath of fallen nature, that needed to be changed, into its first state of peace and love. When God spoke to them, he spoke only love; Adam, where art thou? And he called him, only to comfort him with a promised redemption, through a seed of the woman, a spark of the word of life which should reign in him, and his posterity, until all enemies were under their feet. God therefore is all love, and nothing but love and goodness can come from him. He is as far from anger in himself, as from pain and darkness. But when the fallen soul of man, had awakened in itself, a wrathful, self-tormenting fire, which could never be put out by itself, which could never be relieved by the natural power of any creature whatsoever, then the son of God, by a love, greater than that which created the world, became man, and gave his own blood, and life into the fallen soul, that it might through his life in it, be raised, quickened, and born again into its first state of inward peace and delight, glory and perfection, never to be lost any more. O inestimable truths! Precious mysteries, of the love of God, enough to split the hardest rock of the most obstinate heart, that is able to receive one glimpse of them! Can the world resists such love as this? Or can any man doubt, whether he should open all that is within him, to receive such a salvation?
O unhappy unbelievers, this mystery of love compels me in love, to call upon you, to beseech and entreat you, to look upon the Christian redemption in this amiable light. All the ideas that your own minds can form of love and goodness, must sink into nothingness, as soon as it is compared with God's love and goodness in the redemption of mankind.
I appeal to nothing but the state of your own hearts and consciences, to prove the necessity of your embracing this mystery of divine love. I will grant you all that you can suppose, of the goodness of God, and that no creature would have to be lost, for the infinite love of God can surely save, if they would only allow it to. But still, here is no shadow of security for infidelity; your refusing to be saved through the son of God, while the soul is in the redeemable state of this life, may at the separation of the body, when you die, leave it in such a hell, as the infinite love of God cannot deliver it from. For, first, you have no kind, or degree of proof, that your soul is not that dark, self-tormenting, anguishing and imperishable fire, mentioned above, which has lost its own proper light, and is only comforted by the light of the sun, until its redemption be effected. Secondly, you have no kind, or degree of proof, that God himself can redeem, or save, or enlighten this dark fire-soul, any other way than, as the gospel proposes, by the birth of the Son of God in it. Therefore your own hearts must tell you, that for whatever reason you may think of, infidelity, or the refusing of this birth of the son of God, may, at the end of life, leave you in such a state of self-torment, as the infinite love of God can in no way deliver you from.
You build much upon certain clear ideas, founded in the nature and fitness of things; but I beseech you to consider, that herein this great point, on which all depends, you have no ideas at all; for you have not one clear, or Even obscure idea, that your souls cannot be in this disordered state, or that they can be set into a right order, without the birth of the Son of God brought forth in them.
But to return. What has been said already of the nature of regeneration, may sufficiently show us, how greatly people err, when they think it only signifies a moral change of our tempers and inclinations. Tempers and inclinations are the fruits of the new-born nature, and not the nature itself; and as fruits and flowers are entirely distinct, and different from the root and the tree, and necessarily need the root as well as the tree, before they can be brought forth; so good tempers and inclinations are as distinct from, and posterior to that nature, which is to produce them, as its fruits.
And if good tempers rightly purified, could really arise, or be brought forth in us, without a change first made in the root, or nature, that is to bring them forth, it would not be an absurdity to say, that men may gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles.
But if our blessed lord has declared this, to be contrary to the nature of things, and has further said, that the tree must first be made good, before it can bring forth good fruit; then we can with sufficient ground of assurance say, that our nature must first be made good, its root and stock must be made new, or regenerated again, before it can bring forth good fruits of moral behavior.
Angels are justly represented to us, as flames of love; now every flame must have a hidden fire for its root, from which it has its subsistence; and the Spiritual flaming angelical nature, must have a Spiritual fire concealed under it. Now let it be supposed, that in an angel this flame of love was extinguished, and that there only remained an inward root of a Spiritual fire. Let it be supposed, that this Spiritual fire that has lost its flame of love cannot cease to be, and to be a fiery spirit; that it cannot, by any properties of its fire kindle itself in its first flame of love; that all its own stirrings can produce no one thought, motion or desire, but what solely tends either to selfishness, envy, pride, or wrath; that it can of itself no more come out of this state, than fire locked up in a flint, can of itself become a flame; could it be said, that this angel had only lost some moral good dispositions? Must it not be said, to have lost that nature, from which alone, its good tempers could proceed? Let it be further supposed, that God, by a miracle of love entered into the fiery root, or essence of this fallen angel, and by a new birth made it again to be a flame of love; could it be said, that it had gained nothing by this new birth, but only a change of some moral tempers? Must it not be said to have gained a new nature, a flame of love, instead of a dark fire? And from this new nature, its angelical and good tempers can alone proceed. But representing the new-birth as signifying only a change of moral behavior, is not only false and absurd in itself, but is also exceeding prejudicial to true conversion, and saps the foundation of our redemption. That it is highly prejudicial to true conversion, is most evident from this, that it hides and suppresses the real nature of our fallen state, and the true greatness of the love and mercy of God in our redemption. Now it inevitably does these two things in a great degree, and therefore the hurt that it does us, is more than can well be imagined. And it is owing to this cause more than to any other, that Even amongst people of sober behavior, religion is only a superficial thing, that has no true depth in them, because they have never understood the true depth of religion, nor conceived, in how deep a manner, their nature is concerned in it.
The heathen may say, that by going to such a neighborhood, or marrying into such a family, or falling into acquaintance with such a man, he obtained an entire change in his moral behavior. Now if Christians are told, that this is the true, and only meaning of their new birth in Christ Jesus, namely, a great change in their moral behavior, a thing that happens to heathens, by the ordinary occurrences of human life, it is no wonder, that they live all their lives, strangers to true humility, and penitence, and are never truly converted to God, nor have any just sense of his infinite mercy, in the manner of their salvation.
For if they are to believe, that to be born of God, born from above, born of the Spirit, born of an incorruptible seed of the word of God, signifies no more than this now mentioned, must not this naturally lead them, to take Everything that is said of God and Christ, in the mysteries of their redemption, in a sense as much below the expression, as this of the new birth? Must it not naturally lead them to think, that all scripture-doctrines, have more of height and mystery in the expression, than in the thing itself? And that there is no need to fear, or hope, or believe, or trust, or resign, or love, or seek, or do, or bear, or give, or suffer according to the apparent language, and plain expression of the gospel? And thus, the words of him that spoke as never man spoke, have all their Spirit and life taken from them; and we may be said to have the words of Christ, as though we had them not.
The whole nature of the Christian religion, stands upon these two great pillars, namely, the greatness of our fall, and the greatness of our redemption. In the full and true knowledge of these truths, lie all the reasons of a deep humility, penitence, and self-denial, and also all the motives and incitements, to a most hearty, sincere, and total conversion to God. And Everyone is necessarily more or less truly penitent, more or less truly converted to God, according as he is more or less deeply, and inwardly sensible of these truths.
And until these two great truths, have awakened, and opened our minds for the full reception of the divine light, all reformation and pretence to amendment, is but a dead and superficial thing, a mere garment of hypocrisy, to hide us from ourselves, and others.
Humility can only be feigned or false, before this conviction
Nothing can truly awaken a sinner, but a true sense, of the deep inward possession, and power that sin has in him. When he sees, that sin begins with his being, that it rises up in the essences of his nature, and lives in the very form of his life, and that he lies chained, in the very jaws of death and hell, as unable to alter his own state, as to create another creature; when along with this knowledge he sees that the free grace of God, has provided him a remedy equal to the distress, that he has given him the holy blood and life of Jesus Christ, the true son of God, to enter as deep into his soul, as sin has entered, to change the very form, and essences of his life, and bring forth in them a new birth of a divine nature, which is to be an immortal image of the Godhead, Everlastingly safe, blessed, and enriched in the bosom of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; when a man once truly knows, and feels these two truths, he may be said, truly to know, and feel so much of the power of Christ brought to life in him. And there seems to be no more, that you need to do outwardly for him. The voice of his inward teacher is Ever speaking, so Ever heard, and loved within him, that you can say nothing to him outwardly of any humility, penitence, or self-abasement, but what is much less, than that which his own wounded heart suggests to him. Humility can only be feigned or false, before this conviction. He can now, no more take any degree of good to himself, than assume any share in the creation of angels; and all pride or self-esteem of any kind, seems to him to contain as great a lie in it, as if he was to say, that he helped to create himself.
You need not tell him that he must turn to God with all his strength, with all his heart, all his soul, and all his spirit; for all that he can offer to God, seems to him already less than the least of his mercies towards him. He has seen the exceedingly great love of God, in the manner and degree of his redemption, that it would be the greatest of pain to him, to do anything, but upon a motive of divine love. As his soul has found God to be all love, so it has but one desire, and that is, to be itself all love to God. This is the conviction and conversion, that necessarily arises from a full, inward sensibility of these truths; the soul is thereby wholly consecrated to God, and can like, or love, or do nothing, but what it can, in some way or other, turn into a service of love towards him. But where the weight and power of these truths is not livingly felt in the heart, there it is not to be wondered at, if religion has no root, that is able to bring forth its proper fruits. And if the generality of Christians, are a number of dead, superficial consenters to the history of scripture-doctrines, as unwilling to have the Spirit, as to part with the form of their religion; unwilling to hear of any kind of self-denial, being very fond of worldly ease, indulgence, and riches, unwilling to be called to the perfection of the gospel, professing and practicing religion, merely as the fashion and custom of the place they are in, require; if some rest in outward forms of religion, others in certain orthodoxy of opinions; if some expect to be saved by the goodness of the denomination they are of, others by a certain change of their outward behavior; if some content themselves with a lukewarm spirit, and others depend upon their own works, these are delusions, that must happen to those, who do not know and feel, in some good degree, the true nature of their own fallen soul, and what a kind of regeneration can alone save them.
But all these errors, delusions, and false rests, are cut up by the root, as soon as a man knows the true reason and necessity of his needing so great a savior. For he that knows the ground and essences of his soul to be so many essences of sin, which form sin as they form his life, entirely incapable of producing any good, until a birth from God has arisen in them; such a one can neither place his redemption, where it is not, nor seek it coolly and negligently, where it is. For knowing, that it is the hell within his own nature, that only needs to be destroyed, he is intent only upon bringing destruction upon that; and this secures him from false religion. And knowing, that this inward hell cannot be destroyed, unless God becomes his redeemer, or regenerator in the ground of his soul; this makes him believe all, expect all, and hope all from his savior Jesus Christ alone.
And knowing that all this redemption, or salvation, is to be brought about in the inmost ground and depth of his heart, this makes him always apply to God, as the God of his heart; and therefore what he offers to God is his own heart; and this keeps him always Spiritually alive, wholly employed and intent upon the true work of religion, the fitting and preparing his heart for all the operations of God's Holy Spirit upon it. And so he is a true inward Christian, who, as our blessed lord speaks, has the Kingdom of God within him, where the state and habit of his heart continually, thankfully, worships the Father in Spirit and in truth.
Having sufficiently shown the nature and necessity of regeneration, that it consists solely in the restoration of the birth of the Son of God in the human soul, it must be plain from this, that it is solely the work of God, He being alone able to effect it; and that man can have no other share in it, but that of complying with the terms, on which it is to be received of God.
It may be proper to inquire, when, and how this great work is done in the soul? The mercy and infinite goodness of God, has chosen all mankind to salvation in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now this eternal decree of God, took place upon the fall of Adam; and as he was admitted into the terms of Christian salvation immediately after his transgression, so all mankind, as being in his loins, were taken into the same covenant of grace, and what was then done to Adam, was done to him, as the common parent of mankind.
The bruiser of the serpent given to Adam, as his savior, was not a verbal promise of something only, that should come to pass in future ages to redeem him, and which left his soul in the same state of inward darkness, disorder, and weakness in which it found him; but it was a redeeming power, which by the mercy of God, was treasured up in his fallen nature, which was to resist and overcome the wrath and death, and awakened nature of hell, that was in his soul; and from that time of God's accepting him to a salvation, through the seed of the woman, he was saved by the power of Christ within him, as really, as those that lived, and believed in Christ, after he had been incarnate. As nothing can save the last man, or become his righteousness, or redemption, but the divine nature of Jesus Christ, derived into his soul, so nothing else could be righteousness, redemption, or salvation to the first man. All men therefore that Ever were, or shall be descended from Adam, have Jesus Christ for their savior, as Adam had, they receive the promise made to him, and receive by that promise, that which he received by it, they have a seed of the woman, an incorruptible seed of life, springing up in the first essences of their life, which is to oppose and resist the seed of the serpent, or the diabolical nature that is in them also. And therefore no son of Adam is without a savior, or can be lost, or entirely overcome by the evil, that the fall has brought upon him, but by his own turning away from this savior within him, and giving himself up to the suggestions, and workings of the evil nature, that is in him.
This mystery of an inward power of a salvation hidden in all men, has had just such degrees of obscurity and manifestation, as the nature, and birth, and person of the Messiah have had; that is, as the nature and person of Jesus Christ, as an atonement, Savior and redeemer of mankind, were for several ages of the world only obscurely pointed at, and typified by the religion of the Jews; so this seed of a new birth, or saving power of Christ hidden in the souls of all men, was, through the same ages, under the same veil, and obscurity. But when the eternal Son of God became incarnate, and manifested to the world the mysteries of his nature, person, and office, when it was publicly declared, that he was the life and light of the world, the only source of goodness in every creature, the "light that lights every man that comes into the world"; that we must all be born again of him, be born again from above, be born of the Spirit, and that Everyone was to profess the owning, seeking and desiring this divine birth, by a baptism into the name, or nature, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; then it became plainly manifest, what Christianity was from the beginning, and in what manner Jesus Christ was the savior of Adam, and what it was that he received, by receiving a bruiser of the serpent, into the first essences of his life. Therefore when Jesus Christ came into the world, declaring the necessity of a new birth, to be owned, and sought, by a baptism into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; this was not a new kind, or power of salvation, but only an open declaration of the same salvation, that had been until then, only typified, and veiled under certain figures and shadows, as he himself had been. And men were called not to a new type of faith in him, i.e., Jesus becoming their inward life, and light, but to a more open and plain acknowledgement of him, who from the beginning, had been the one life and light, and only salvation of the first man, and all that were to descend from him.
Now the things required on our part, towards the raising and bringing forth this new birth in us, are repentance, and faith. These are to be the continual support of our regeneration, carrying it on to the end of our lives. But now though repentance and faith are to bring forth, and carry on our regeneration; yet they are themselves the effect and fruit of it, i.e., of that first seed or light of life, which God willed to be in Adam. For if God had not of his own free grace, chosen Adam and Eve to salvation in Jesus Christ, by doing inwardly in the deep, and darkened essences of their fallen souls, something like that, which he did to the "darkness which was upon the face of the deep," when he said, "let there be light" to it; Adam and Eve, and all their posterity, would of been inwardly, as to their souls, the same as the devils, as far as their nature is concerned, full of their dark and fiery dispositions, shut up in their elements, incapable of any thought or motion, but that which tended to selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath.
Neither they, nor any of their posterity, could have brought forth any degree of humility, resignation, love, faith, hope, or desire of God; but would have lived hardened and fixed, in the above named elements of hell, full of their own perverse will, without any conscience, or instincts of goodness.
And therefore when the God of free grace, provided that fallen man should fall into a state of redemption, that is, into a possibility of being God's creature again; this was effected by God's treasuring up, or preserving in him a seed of the woman, a remaining spark of his first divine life; the very first divine life, which was then, Christ in him, his full birth of glory, as certainly, as Christ in us, is now our hope of glory.
Paul said, "God has chosen us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world." now from this eternal, foreseeing goodness of God towards all mankind, it is, that a root or remains of the first divine life, called a seed of the woman, the engrafted word, a Kingdom of God, a pearl of great price, a treasure hid in a field, was fore-ordained to be preserved, and treasured up, though hidden under that death, which Adam died in paradise. And so it was, that the goodness of God, could direct distressed Adam to this comfort, i.e., "the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent"; not a foreign seed, to be sown into you from without, but a remaining, preserved seed of your first life of Christ, which through the divine love for you, is hidden, and securely treasured up under your own fallen earthly nature, as a pearl hidden in your own field, a principle of holiness, a touch of love, the pledge of immortality, and fund of Everlasting happiness. For this heavenly pearl called by Peter, "the incorruptible seed of the word," shall surely come forth again out of its state of death; shall be quickened and revived into its first glory, through Christ, who is, and ever shall be, the resurrection, and life of all that, which was hid and lost in the death, that Adam died. And here it is, that we see again how "God is love," universal love towards all mankind, having put all into a state of redemption. For if all men, as sons of Adam, are by the free grace of God made sons of the second Adam, and, as such, have a seed of life in them from him, in order to be raised up to a perfection of the new man in Christ Jesus; and if this seed of a new birth, or light of life, is the grace of all men, that enables them so to act, as to obtain God's assisting grace, in the renewal of their hearts and minds, then it is a glorious and undeniable truth, that there is no partiality in God, no election of one people to mercy in Christ Jesus, and dereliction of another to their own helpless misery, but that all men, have a general call, and a general capacity to obtain their salvation; and that as certainly as all fell and died in Adam, so all can be restored in his restoration.
Because the first power and ability of our having one good thought, or desire of turning to God in penitence and faith, is the effect of this first seed of a new birth in all men; so this seed of a new birth is quickened, strengthened, and brought forth to its full stature or highest degree of perfection, by acts, or rather habits of repentance and faith.
So faith and repentance are the life of the new man, or the acts by which it grows, and is brought forth into its proper state of perfection. There is no difference between faith and works, in this inward new-born man. Its faith is its works, and its works are its faith. For faith is its turning to God, and its turning to God, is its aversion, or turning from all evil; so that faith and good works, are only two considerations of one and the same thing, or of one and the same state of mind, in the new-born man.
This seed of the new birth, that is God's free, and fore-ordained gift to man, as the power that is to redeem him, is the reason and foundation of that language in scripture, of a new, inward and Spiritual man, and of an old, natural, and outward rational man, and of the enmity between the two; in which enmity, the whole warfare, and trial of the Christian life, consist. The seed of the new birth, is the inward and new man, which is to grow up into that Spiritual and holy man, which was first created in paradise.
This inward man, is alone the subject of religion and divine grace; he only is of God, and hears God's word; he only has eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to conceive the things of God.
This is he alone, that is born of God, and cannot sin, because he has no sin in his nature. This is he alone, that overcomes the world, because he is of a divine nature, and is both contrary to the world, and above it. This is he alone, that can love his brother as himself, because the love of God is alone alive, and abides in him.
The old, natural man, or the rational man of this world, is the dark fallen nature, enlightened only, and solely with the light of this outward world; it is the diabolical nature, only softened with flesh and blood, quieted and comforted with the light of the sun; by this light, he can only see the outward images of things, whether divine or human, and can only reason, dispute, and wrangle about his own shadowy images, but can know no more of God, and the things of God, than such dead images can represent unto him.
The old or natural man, may be an historian, a poet, an orator, a critic, a politician, or worldly wise man, all this skill and art lies within his reach; the fire of his soul, kindled only by the light of the sun, may do all this. But notwithstanding all these trappings and endowments, he is wholly shut up in his own dark prison of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath; his virtues, piety, and goodness can be only such, as give no disturbance to these four elements of the fallen nature. He is an animal, full of earthly, sensual passions and tempers, and can only favor such things as can gratify their nature. Here, and here only, lies the true, solid, and immutable39 distinction, between the old and the new man, and the reason, why the life of the one, is the death of the other.
Now in this essential difference, between the old and the new man, we may at once, see a clear and solid ground of distinction, between what is called a bare historical, and superficial faith, which cannot save the soul, but leaves it a slave to sin, and that living and real faith, which effects our salvation, and sets us in the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Human reason, or the natural man of this life, can believe and assent to this truth, that Christ is our savior, and that we are to be saved by a righteousness from him, as easily, as it can assent to any other relation, or matter of fact. But while it is human reason only, that assents to this truth, little or nothing is done to the soul by it; the soul is under much the same power of sin as before, because only the notion, or image, or history of the truth is taken in by it; and reason of itself can take in no more.
But when the seed of the new birth, called the inward man, has faith awakened in it, its faith is not a notion, but a real, strong, essential hunger, an attracting, or magnetic desire of Christ, which as it proceeds from a seed of the divine nature in us, so it attracts and unites, it lays hold on Christ, puts on the divine nature, and in a living and real manner, grows powerful over all sins, and effectually works out our salvation.
And therefore it is justly called a divine faith, not only because of its divine effects, but chiefly because it arises from that, which is divine within us, and by its attracting hunger, and thirst after that fountain of life, from where it came, becomes essentially united with it; breathes by that Spirit, and lives by that word which eternally proceeds out of the mouth of God. Of this faith alone it is, that our lord speaks, when he says, "who so ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life. When this faith is awakened, and springs up in the inward man, then we may be said to have a saving faith, or a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. From these two sorts of faith here mentioned, we may very plainly see and perceive, why there is such a misunderstanding between two sorts of believers, and why they speak a language so unsatisfactory, and disgustful to one another.
Busy inquisitive reason, learned enough in its own sphere, grammatically skilled in scripture-knowledge, looking no further, or deeper into the things of God, than a dictionary can guide it, cannot bear the language of the regenerate, inward man, but condemns it as fanatical, and enthusiastic; not considering, that this rational man, which is made the judge of salvation, is that very individual old man with his deeds, that we are by the religion of the gospel, to be saved, and delivered from; and that we should have no occasion for a new seed of a divine life in us, no occasion to be born again of God, but because this natural man of human reason, can neither see nor hear, nor feel, nor taste, nor understand the things of God, as they are in themselves.
From this difference between the new, and the old man, which is a difference as real, as that between heaven and earth, several lessons of great instruction may be learnt. When religion is in the hands of the mere natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds a bad heat to his own dark fire, and helps to inflame his four elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath. And so it is, that worse passions, or a worse degree of them, are to be found in persons of great religious zeal, than in others that make no pretenses to it. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and devotion, who have fallen into great delusions, and deceived both themselves and others. The occasion of their fall was this; it was, because they tried to made a saint of the natural man. My meaning is, they considered their whole nature, as the subject of religion, and divine graces; and therefore their religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man was as busy, and as much delighted in it, as the new. And so it was, that persons of this type, all inflamed, as they seemed to be, with piety, yet overlooked in their own lives, such errors of moral behavior, as the first beginners in religion, would not permit, in themselves.
Meat, not milk, Real Meat!
Others again, perhaps truly awakened by the Spirit of God, to devote themselves wholly to piety, and the service of God, yet making too much haste to have the glory of saints, allow the elements of fallen nature, selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, to secretly go along with them. For to seek eminence, and significance, in grace, is like seeking for eminence and significance in nature. And the old man can take pleasure in glory, and distinction in religion, as well as in common life, and will be content to undergo as many labors, pains, and self-denials, for the sake of religious, as for the sake of secular glory. There is nothing safe in religion, but in such a course of behavior, as leaves nothing for corrupt nature to feed, or live upon; which can only then be done, when every degree of perfection we aim at, is a degree of death to the passions of the natural man.
It may now perhaps be said, if regeneration is so great a matter, if it signifies restoring to the soul its first paradisiacal light, or the renewing of the birth of the Son of God in it; surely so great a thing, and transacted within us, must not only be known and felt, when it is brought about, but must be known and felt in some strange, and extraordinary manner.
It may be answered, first, that all mankind may in a certain and good sense, be said to be in some degree sharers of this regeneration, as having in them a seed of life, that is contrary to their corrupt nature; which seed they partake of, as heirs of the first grace, granted to Adam in the engrafted word. This first seed, or light of life, which lights every man that comes into the world, is the first seed of the new birth; which birth stands in this life, as a tree or plant in the soil, and is only in a state of growing during this life. For if the new birth, with regard both to soul and body, ever totally finished in anyone, he would be as certainly in paradise, as Adam was, and be as much above the power of the elements of this world, as Adam was at his creation. Secondly, all Christians are in a higher and further state of regeneration, by the grace of baptism (dying to self) into the name of the Godhead. By baptism, they profess themselves disciples of Jesus Christ, in his Kingdom of grace, to seek for life, righteousness, and sanctification in him; to live by his Spirit, in conformity to his doctrine, life, sufferings and death, in a continual resistance of the corruptions of their nature, the temptations of the world and the devil.
This profession faithfully kept, is their progress in the way of regeneration. Some only outwardly make this profession, and so only have the name of Christians. Some make this profession in a much better manner; yet being very defective in their conformity to the life and doctrines of Jesus, live and die far short of that purification, or renewal of the inward man, which the religion of the gospel proposes.
Others renouncing all for Christ, and following his counsels, as well as his precepts, arrive at high degrees of regeneration, and experience such a life in Christ, or such a manifestation of Christ in them, as others less faithful to their master, must be strangers to. To ask therefore by what strange or extraordinary effects, the work of the new birth is to be known, and felt to be done in the soul, is a very improper, and useless question. Because regeneration is not to be considered as a thing, done, but as a state that is progressive, or as a thing, that is continually doing. If it be further asked, what are then the certain marks, or effects of a highly advanced degree of regeneration, which Christians are to look for? It may be answered, this question is not useful: first, because there is no obligation upon anyone, to know and feel the height, or advancement of his state. Secondly, because the inquiry after such knowledge, and inward feeling of it, is very dangerous. Thirdly, because it can be no hurt to anyone's piety and holiness, to take it to be lower than it really is. Fourthly, because nothing keeps up our progress in the way of regeneration, let it be in what degree it will in us, but our constant fidelity in conforming to the doctrines, life, and death of Jesus Christ. Fifthly, because this question directs, and turns people's minds to the seeking after certain effects, merely from ideas and descriptions of them, when their minds should only be set upon the causes that are to produce them.
Supposing it to be true, that an assurance of salvation, or continuance in grace, was a genuine effect of a certain degree of regeneration; Christians should not be directed to seek for this assurance, as a certain mark or effect of such a degree of regeneration, for this is directing them to seek for this effect from their own selves, and not from the state of their regeneration.
For their minds and imaginations will be naturally upon the thought, how to work themselves up into this pitch of assurance, and so it will be something, that they have seized upon by their own will, and not received as the genuine effects of their state in grace. Whereas, supposing this assurance to be the proper effect of a certain degree of the new birth, yet it is an effect that is not to be sought for beforehand, but only to be received when its proper cause has produced it. It is a great error, to fix any certain marks or effects to such a degree of regeneration; for its effects will be various in different persons, from a variety of causes, both on the part of God, and man.
The truly pious Christian, in whom the Holy Ghost dwells as in His temple, is indeed in a state of high acquiescence in God; but he does not want nor need to have this acquiescence turned into an assurance of his own mind, an assurance that he cannot fall from this state of grace, no more than he wants to have the promises of God made sure to him, by the promise of some mortal man.
And if it pleases God to impress strongly and plainly upon his mind, that his salvation is secured, he receives it, as he does everything from God, with a grateful mind; yet he will not rest in it, or receive it as a sign of his high regeneration, but rather as a sign that God saw his weakness stood in need of it; and so will pass over it, and return to an humble, total resignation of his whole soul, spirit, and body, both for time and eternity, into the hands of God, through faith in the merits of his savior Jesus Christ. Any other course will only result in Spiritual pride.
Again, neither can such a one call peremptorily upon others, for such an assurance as he has had, or condemn their resignation and peace for the want of it; he will be more afraid of meddling with the things of God, than of being a busy-body in other men's matters. The only useful question in this matter, is this, how a man may know that he is in the way of regeneration, that he is Spiritually alive, and growing in the inward and new man? It may be answered, just as the state, nature, and life of the natural man makes itself to be known, and felt. The soul of man, or that which is the subject both of the old and new nature, is not two, but one soul. The fire of the soul, or that Spiritual fire which is the soul itself, is kindled or enlightened by the light of the sun; this makes the natural man, and from this the imagination, will, desires, thoughts, and inclinations of the natural life arise.
The same individual fire-soul, enlightened by the Son of God, makes the true new man, from which he is enlightened by the Son of God, the imagination, will, desires, thoughts, and inclinations of the new man arise. So that the same proofs are to be expected in both cases, the spiritual man is to know that he is alive in the same manner, as the natural man knows and feels his life. In these things, in the imagination, will, desires, thoughts, and inclinations, consists the life of each natural man; and what are more than these, are to be considered as the outward fruits and effects of each nature.
Now though the natural life in all men is one and the same, yet they are under it a variety of complexions, which makes men of the same nature, almost infinitely different from one another. Now the matter is just the same with the Spiritual man, or in the inward world. As many different complexions arise in the soul, enlightened by the son of God, as in the soul, enlightened by the outward light of this world. For the outward world is but a glass, or representation of the inward; and everything in temporal nature, must have its root, or hidden cause, in something that is more inward.
It is therefore a well-grounded, and undeniable truth, that the new Spiritual man has his particular complexion, as sure as the outward and natural man has. So it is, that there has been so great a difference, in the form and character of the most eminent and faithful servants of God; one could think of nothing but penitence and penitential austerities; another all inflamed with the love of God, could think or speak of nothing else; some have been driven into a holy solitude, living as john the Baptist; others have been wholly taken up in works of charity, loving their neighbor even more than themselves. A great variety of this kind, has always been found amongst those, who were most truly devoted to God, whose variety, is not only not hurtful in itself, nor displeasing to God, but is as much according to his will, and the designs of his wisdom, as the difference between cherubims and seraphims, or the variety of the stars in the firmament.
every complexion of the inward man, when sanctified by humility, and suffering itself to be tuned, and struck, and moved by the Holy Spirit of God, according to its particular frame and turn, helps mightily to increase that harmony of divine praise, thanksgiving, and adoration, which must arise from different instruments, sounds, and voices. To condemn this variety in the servants of God, or to be angry at those who have not served him, in the way that we have chosen for ourselves, is but too plain a sign, that we have not enough renounced the elements of selfishness, pride, and anger.
From this variety of complexions both in the inward and outward man, we may make some useful observations. And the first may be this, that every man whose complexion is strong in him, as to one particular kind, is vehemently inclined to imprint the same upon others, and that others of the same kind, are naturally disposed to catch and receive it from him. But I shall consider this matter only with regard to religion. Let it be supposed that men of a certain complexion, have taken upon them to try the religious state of others by these questions: are you sure that you should be able to die a martyr? Do you find certain strong resolutions, not in your head, or your brain, but in your inward man, that you would not refuse a martyrdom of any kind? Have you the witness of the Spirit within you, bearing witness with your spirit, that you are in this state?
Now, it is beyond all question, that an examination of this kind, or a demand of such a faith, can have no better foundation than complexion. Who do you think would be most likely to come into this faith? First, it would be those that were most unlikely to keep it. It would be those who knew the least of themselves, and whose piety had more of heat than of light in it. It would be those, whose outward man was of the same complexion, that was sanguine, capable of a false fire, and willing to have the glory of resolutions, and fine persuasions at so easy a rate. Let it now be supposed, that people of another complexion should put questions such as these: do you know and feel that all your sins are forgiven you? Do you know when and where, or at what time, and in what place, you received this forgiveness? Do you know when and where you ceased to be one of those sinners called to repentance? And became one of those whole, that need not a physician? Have you an absolute assurance of your salvation, and that you cannot possibly fall from your state of grace? Now who may be thought the most likely to come into this religion?
First, not he who is deeply humble, that abhors self-justification, and truly knows the free grace of God. Such a one would say, I believe the forgiveness of sins, with as much assurance, as I believe there is a God; I believe that Jesus Christ does now to all those who have a true, and full faith in him, that which he did to those who so believed in him, when he was upon earth. That he forgives their sins, as immediately, as certainly, as fully, as when he said by an outward voice, "your sins are forgiven you." I believe that in this faith lies all our strength, and possibility of growing up in the inward man, and recovering that image and likeness of God, in which we were created; that to this faith all things are possible, and that by this faith, every enemy we have, whether he be within us, or without us, may, and must be entirely overcome. I believe, that to repentance and faith in Christ, salvation is made as secure, and as absolutely assured, as paradise was made secure to the thief upon the cross, by the express word of our savior. I believe that my own sins, were they greater, and more than the sins of the whole world, would be wholly expiated, and taken away by my faith, in the blood and life of my blessed savior.
But if I now want to add something of my own to this faith, if this great and glorious faith is defective, and saves me not, until I can add my own sense, and my own feeling to it, at such a time or place, is not this saying in the plainest manner, that faith alone cannot justify me? Is not this making this faith in the blood of Christ defective, and insufficient to my salvation, until a self-satisfaction, an own-pleasure, an own-taste, are joined with it? Might it not better be said, that faith could not justify me until it had works, than that it cannot justify me without these inward workings, feelings, witnessing, of my own mind, sense, and imagination? Is there not likely to be a more hurtful self-seeking, a more hurtful self-confidence, a more hurtful self-trust, a more dangerous self-deceit, in making faith to depend upon these inward workings and feelings, than in making it depend upon outward good works of our own?
Secondly, no one who was truly resigned unto God in all things, would come into these questions; for to be resigned unto God in all things, and yet seek to be not resigned to him, in these great matters mentioned above, is a contradiction.
Such a one would say, I seek not to have an inward sense and feeling of the certainty of these things, because that would be departing from that pure, entire, full, and naked faith in God, and resignation of myself to him, which alone can justify me in his sight, and make me capable of the operations of his Holy Spirit. He can only then, do all his good pleasure in me, when I have no will of my own, no self-seeking; this total resignation of myself to him, is the only immediate disposition, or capability of enjoying God himself with all his infinite treasures, particular impressions, sensible convictions, strong tastes, high satisfactions, though they may be often the good gifts of God, yet if they are much sought for, or rested in, they minister food to a spiritual self-love, and self-seeking, and lay the foundation of spiritual pride; and so become a wall of partition between God and the soul. For the soul may be as fully fixed in selfishness, through a fondness of sensible sweetness, pious motions, and delightful enjoyments in spiritual things, as by a fondness for earthly satisfactions.
Thirdly, no one, whose heart was truly touched by a pure and perfect love of God, could come into these questions. For this love cannot seek for self-comfort in the answer of such questions as these.
Such a person would say, my religion consists in living wholly to my beloved, according to his satisfaction, and not my own. What God wills, that I will; what God loves, that I love; what pleases God, that pleases me. I have no desire to know anything of myself, or to feel anything in myself, but that I am an instrument in the hands of God, to be, to do, and suffer, according to his good pleasure. I am content to know that I love and rejoice in God alone, that he is what he is, and that I am what he pleases to make of me, and do with me.
Seeing then it appears that the truly humble man, the man that is wholly resigned to God, and the pure lover of him, are not likely to come into the religion of these questions, let us now see who may be ready to receive it.
First, all young persons, whose passions had not yet been awakened much, or spent their fire; who had but little experience of themselves, and the deceitfulness of their own hearts; for everything in their nature, would help them to like, love, and obtain such an assurance, strength of conviction, inward feeling, as is here required.
Secondly, all restless lovers of self, who were uneasy with themselves, and everything else, who could find nothing in religion, or common life, that pleased them enough; these would be easily persuaded to work themselves up into a belief, that their sins were forgiven them at such a time, or that Christ took an entire possession of them at such a place. For hearing that true religion consisted solely in this, and that they only wanted it, because of their want of faith in it, they would naturally embrace this, as the shortest way to comfort and rest in themselves, in their own self-convictions.
Thirdly, all persons of a sanguine, tender, and imaginary complexion, would be likely to join in with the religion of these questions. For such persons receiving everything strongly, and having a power of believing and imagining almost in any degree, as they please, they would not find it hard, to comply with doctrines so suited to their nature, and which indulged that in them, which wanted most to be indulged, a sanguine imagination.
Fourthly, all those who so blaspheme God, as to make him from all eternity absolutely to elect some to an irresistible salvation, and absolutely to reprobate others to an unavoidable damnation. For there could be no subsisting under such an horrid belief as this, but by those, who through a blind partiality, strong bias of self-love, and self-esteem, can work themselves up into a full assurance, inward infallible feeling that they are in the number of the absolutely elected from all eternity.
Lastly, these questions are a great bait to all kinds of hypocrites, who must find themselves much inclined to enter into a religion, where they may pass immediately for saints, upon their own testimony, and stand in the highest rank of piety, and of interest in Christ, merely by laying claim to it. Suppose it was to be asked Christians, as necessary to their salvation, do you believe and know that you have the self-denial and mortification of John the Baptist? Have you an inward conviction that you have a zeal equal to that of Paul? Have you an assurance that your love is full as high as that of John the evangelist? That your penitence is equal to that of Mary Magdalene?
Could these questions, with any warrant from scripture, be put to all Christians, as terms of their salvation? Yet there is as much foundation in the gospel, for putting such questions as these, and making the salvation of Christians to depend upon them, as for asking them, on the same account, when, and where they felt their sins were forgiven them? When and where they felt Christ to take an entire possession of them? When and where they felt themselves made sure of their salvation, and incapable of falling from their state of grace?
For what is all this but calling, hastening, and stirring up people to seek for self-justification, and compelling them to think highly, and affirm rashly of themselves, in order to be saved? Why might it not be as well to call upon them to say, I feel myself to be as good as Paul, as pious as John, as to say, I feel that my salvation is secure, and that I cannot fall from my state of grace? Is not this making faith in one's self, as good, as necessary, and as beneficial to us, as faith in Christ?
Would it not be as well, no better, to make good works of our own, necessary to true faith, than to make self-justification, which is not a good work, to be the very essence and perfection of it?
The matter will not be much mended by saying, that this feeling and assurance is acknowledged to be the pure gift of God, and so cannot be called our own, or our own justification. For if I have not this gift of God, until I pronounce it myself, until my own feeling and assurance confirms it to me, I am self-justified, because my justification arises, from what I feel and declare of myself.
How strangely must they have read the gospel, who can take a naked implicit faith, and an humble total resignation of our spirit, state, and life, into the mercy and goodness of God, to be not only a poor and imperfect, but a reprobate state; or that a man has no true and saving faith, until it is an infallible own-feeling, and self-assurance? What must such people think of our savior dying upon the cross, with these words in his mouth, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" will they say that this is a dangerous state? Is the Spirit of Christ here to be renounced? Will they say, that no new-born Christian can die in this manner? Or that if he does, he is not in a state of salvation?
To know no more, and to seek to know no more of our salvation, than we can know by an implicit faith, and absolute resignation of ourselves to God in Christ Jesus, is the true saving knowledge of Christ, and such as keeps us in the highest degree of fitness to receive our perfect salvation.
I hope it will here be observed, that I no way depreciate, undervalue, or reject any particular impressions, strong influences, delightful sensations, or heavenly foretastes in the inward man, which the Holy Spirit of God may at times bestow upon good souls; I leave them their just worth, I acknowledge them to be the good gifts of God, as special calls, and awakenings to forsake our sins, as great incitements to deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow Christ with greater courage, and resolution. They may be as beneficial, and useful to us in our spiritual life, as other blessings of God, such as prosperity, health, happy complexion, and the like. But then, as outward blessings, remarkable providences, religious complexion, and the like, may be very serviceable to awaken us, and excite our conversion to God, and much assist the spiritual life; so they may very easily have a contrary effect, serve to fill us with pride, and self-satisfaction, and make us esteem ourselves, as greater favorites of God, than those that want them. Who may yet be led to a higher degree of goodness, be in a more purified state, and stand nearer to God in their poor, naked, and destitute condition, than we in the midst of great blessings.
It is just so with regard to those inward blessings of the spiritual life. They are so many spurs, motives, and incitements to live wholly unto God; yet they may instead of that, fill us with self-satisfaction and self-esteem, and prompt us to despise others that want them, as in a poor, mean, and reprobate state; who yet may be higher advanced, and stand in a nearer degree of union with God, by humility, faith, resignation, and pure love, in their inward poverty and emptiness, than we who live high upon spiritual satisfactions, and can talk of nothing, but our feasts special blessings from God.
All that I would here say of these inward delights and enjoyments, is only this, they are not holiness, they are not piety, they are not perfection, but they are God's gracious allurements, and calls to seek after holiness and spiritual perfection. They are not to be sought for, for their own sakes; they are not to be prayed for, but with such a perfect indifference and resignation, as we must pray for any earthly blessings; they are not to be rested in, as the perfection of our souls, but to be received as cordials, that suppose us to be sick, faint, and languishing; and ought rather to convince us, that we are as yet, but babes, than that we are really men of God.
But to demand them in others, to make them uneasy under the want of them, full of search and endeavor how to come at them, and satisfied in the enjoyment of them, is as great a mistake in itself, and as prejudicial to true piety, as to make outward blessings of providence, marks of salvation, or worldly poverty, pains, and distress, to be proofs, that we are not born of God. There are indeed impressions and communications from God, which are more necessary and essential to the pious life of the soul, than the impressions of the sun are to the comfortable life of our outward man. And he that prays for nothing else but these divine communications and impressions, who thinks of nothing else, trusts in nothing else, as able to comfort, strengthen, and enrich his soul; he that is thus all prayer, all love, all desire, and all faith, in these communications and impressions from above, is just in the same state of sobriety, as he that only prays that God would not leave him to himself. For he that is without anything of these communications and impressions of God upon him, is in the same state of death and separation from God, as the devils are." {"demonstration of the gross errors.}.
These impressions or operations of God upon our souls, are of the essence of religion, which has no goodness in it, but so far as it introduces the life, power, and presence of God into the soul. The praying therefore for impressions of this kind from God, is only praying that we may not be left to ourselves; to pray always for these with faith, and hunger and thirst after them, is only praying earnestly, that the Kingdom of God may come, and his will be done in us. For the soul is only so far cleansed from its corruption, so far delivered from the power of sin, and so far purified, as it has renounced all own will, and own desire, to have nothing, receive nothing, and be nothing, but what the one will of God chooses for it, and does to it.
This, and this alone is the true Kingdom of God opened in the soul, when stripped of all selfishness, it has only one love, and one will in it, when it has no motion or desire, but what branches from the love of God, and resigns itself wholly to the will of God.
There is nothing evil, or be the cause of evil to either man, or devil, but his own will, there is nothing good in itself, but the will of God; he therefore who wholly renounces his own will, turns away from all evil; and he who gives himself up wholly to the will of God, puts himself in the possession of all that is good.
It may freely be granted, that conversion to God, is often very sudden and instantaneous, and unexpectedly raised from many varieties of occasions. Thus, one by seeing only a withered tree, another by reading the lives and deaths of the antediluvian fathers, one by hearing of heaven, another hell, one by reading of the love, or wrath of God, another of the sufferings of Christ, may find himself, as it were, melted into penitence all of a sudden. It may be granted also, that the greatest sinner, may in a moment be converted to God, and feel himself wounded in such a degree, as perhaps those never were, who had been turning to God all their lives.
But then it is to be observed, that this suddenness of change, or flash of conviction is by no means of a greater essence of true conversion, and is no more to be demanded in ourselves, or others, than such a light from heaven, as shone round Paul, and cast him to the ground. Secondly, that no one is to expect, or require, that another should receive his conversion, or awakening, from the same cause, or in the same manner, as he has done, that is, that heaven, or hell, or the justice, or love of God, or faith in Christ, either as our light, or our atonement, must needs be the first awakening of the soul, because it has been so with him. Thirdly, that this stroke of conversion, is not to be considered, as signifying our high state of a new birth in Christ, or a proof that we are all of a sudden made new creatures, but that we are suddenly called, and stirred up to look after a newness of nature. Fourthly, that this sensibility, or manifest feeling of the operations of God upon our souls, which we have experienced in these first awakenings, is not to be expected, or desired, to go along with us, through the course of our purification. Fifthly, that regeneration, or the renewal of our first birth and state, is something entirely distinct, from this first sudden conversion, or call to repentance; that it is not a thing done in an instant, but is a certain process, a gradual release from our captivity and disorder, consisting of several stages and degrees, both of death and life, which the soul must go through before it can have thoroughly put off the old man. I will not say that this must be in the same degree in all, or that there cannot be any exception to this. But so much is true and certain, that Jesus Christ is our pattern, that what He did for us, that we are also to do for ourselves, or, in other words, we must follow him in the regeneration. For what he did, he did, both as our atonement, and example; his process, or course of life, temptations, sufferings, denying his own will, death and resurrection, all done, and gone through, on our account, because the human soul needed such a process of regeneration and redemption; because, only in such a gradual process, all that was lost in Adam, could be restored to us again. And therefore it is beyond all doubt, that this process is to be looked upon, as the stated method of our purification.
It is well worth observing, that our savior's greatest trials, were near the end of his process or life, that he then experienced the sharpest part of our redemption. This might sufficiently show us, that our first awakenings have carried us but a little way; that we should not then begin to be self-assured of our own salvation, but remember, that we stand at a great distance from, and in great ignorance of our severest trials.
To sum up all in a word
Nothing has separated us from God but our own will, or rather our own will is our separation from God. All the disorder, and corruption, and malady of our nature, lies in a certain fixedness of our own will, imagination, and desire, wherein we live to ourselves, are our own center and circumference, act wholly from ourselves, according to our own will, imagination, and desires. There is not the smallest degree of evil in us, but what arises from this selfishness, because we are all in all to ourselves.
It is this self, that our savior calls upon us to deny; it is this life of self, that we are to hate and to lose, that the Kingdom of God may arise in us, that is, that God's will may be done in us. All other sacrifices that we make, whether of worldly goods, honors, or pleasures, are but small matters, compared to that sacrifice and destruction of all selfishness, as well spiritual, as natural, that must be made, before our regeneration has its perfect work.
There is a denial of our own will, and certain degrees even of self-denying virtues, which yet are no disturbance to this selfishness. To be humble, mortified, devout, patient in a certain degree, and to be persecuted for our virtues, is no hurt to this selfishness; no, spiritual-self must have all these virtues to subsist upon; and his life consists, in seeing, knowing, and feeling the bulk, strength, and reality of them. But still in all this show, and glitter of virtue, there is an unpurified bottom on which they stand, there is a selfishness, which can no more enter into the Kingdom of heaven, than the grossness of flesh and blood can enter into it.
What we are to feel, and undergo in these last purifications, when the deepest root of all selfishness, as well spiritual as natural, is to be plucked up, and torn from us, or how we shall be able to stand in that trial, are both of them equally impossible to be known by us beforehand.
It is enough for us to know, that we hunger and thirst after the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus; that by faith we desire, and hope to be in him new creatures; to know, that the greatest humility, the most absolute resignation of our whole selves unto God, is our greatest and highest fitness, to receive our greatest and highest purification, from the hands of God.
FINIS.
It must be remembered that the proof that Jesus Christ is reigning in our lives is this, the steady growth of patients, meekness, humility and total resignation to the will of God. And equally important is the absents of the elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, in any of it's various forms!
By William Law
Three Dialogues Between
Humanus, Academicus, Rusticus, And Theophilus.
As preparatory to a new edition of the works of Jacob Behmen; and the right use of them.
L o n d o n : Printed for W. Innys, and J. Richardson,
in Pater-noster-Row 1752
On June 8th, 2002 the "Old Truth"
Publishing Company published this edition.
Part 1
Humanus, Academicus, Rusticus, and Theophilus:
Humanus:
Oh! Theophilus, I must yield, and it is with great Pleasure that I now enter
into Conversation with you. You have taken from me all Power of arguing and
disputing. I have no opinions that I choose to maintain, but have the utmost
desire of entering further into this field of light, which you have so
clearly opened to my view. I shall not trouble you with the relation of what
has passed in my soul, nor what struggles I have had, with that variety of
heathenish notions which have had their turn in my mind. It is better to
tell you, that they are dead and buried, or rather consumed by this new
Light, which you have opened in so many great points, that I was a stranger
to before. To reject all that you have said concerning the fall of Angels,
the original of this world, the creation and fall of man, and the necessity
of a redemption, as great as that of the gospel, is impossible; nothing can
do it, or stand out against it, but the most willful and blind obstinacy.
But these great points cannot be received in any true degree, without seeing the vain contention of all those, who either defend or oppose the gospel without any true and real knowledge of these great points. The one contend for, and the other oppose, not the Gospel, but a System of empty words, and historical facts, branched into forms and modes of dividing one denomination from another; whereas the gospel is no history of any absent, distant, or foreign thing, but is a manifestation of an essential, inherent, real life and death in every son of Adam; grounded on the certainty of his first angelical nature, on the certainty of his real fall from that into an animal earthly life of impure, bestial flesh and blood, and on the certainty of an inward redemption from it, by the divine nature given again into him. These three great points, with all the doctrines, duties, and consequences, that are essentially contained in, or flow from them, are the gospel of Jesus Christ, to which, by your means, I have become a convert. I am now, dear Theophilus, strongly drawn two different ways. First, I am hungering and thirsting after this new light, a glimpse of which has already raised me, as it were, from the dead; and I am in the utmost impatience to hear more of this divine philosophy, which, I so plainly see, opens all the mysteries both of nature and grace from the beginning to the end of time. What I have heard from you, when I was obliged to be silent, and what I have since found and felt by reading the Appeal, and that Dialogue, obliges me to speak in this
Manner. They have awakened something in me which I never felt before, something much deeper than my Reason, and over which I have no Power; it glows in my Soul, like a Fire, or Hunger, which nothing can satisfy, but a further View of those great Truths, which I this Day expect from your opening to us the Mysteries of Heaven revealed to that wonderful Man, Jacob Behmen.
On the other hand, I find in myself a vehement impulse to turn preacher amongst my former infidel brethren; and this impulse is difficult for me to control: for being just converted myself, I seem to know, and feel the true place, from where conversion is to arise in others; and by the reluctance which I have felt in my passage from one side to the other, I seem also to know the true ground on which infidelity supports itself. And he alone is able to declare with spirit and power any truths, or bear a faithful testimony of the reality of them, who preaches nothing but what he has first seen, and felt, and found to be true, by a living sensibility and true experience of their reality and power in his own soul. All other preaching, whether from art, books, or education, is, at best, but playing with words, and mere trifling with sacred things. Being thus divided in myself, I hope to have your direction.
Theophilus: Dear Humanus, my heart embraces you with great joy, and I am much pleased with what you say of yourself. This hunger of your soul is all that I wish for; it is the fire of God, the opening of eternity, the beginning of your redemption, the awakener of the angelic life, the root of an omnipotent faith, and the true seeker of all that is lost. For all these things, and much more, are the blessed powers which will soon break forth, and show themselves to be the true workings of this celestial fire, that has begun to glow within you.
Your business is now to give way to this heavenly working of the spirit of God in your soul, and turn from everything either within you, or without you, that may hinder the further awakening of all that is holy and heavenly within you. For within you is that heavenly angel that died in paradise, and died no other death, than that of being hid awhile from your sight and sensibility.
For be assured of this, as a certain truth, that corrupt, fallen, and earthly as human nature is, there is nevertheless in the soul of every man, the fire, and light, and love of God, though lodged in a state of hiddenness, inactivity, and death, until something, human or divine, Moses and the prophets, Christ or his apostles, discover its life within us.
For the soul of every man is the breath and life of the triune God, and as such a partaker of the divine nature; but all this divinity is unfelt, because it is overpowered by the workings of flesh and blood, until such time as distress, or grace, or both, give flesh and blood a shock, open the long shut-up eyes, and force a man to find something in himself, that sense and reason, while being quiet were not aware of. Wonder not therefore at this conflict in your soul, that you are eager after more light, and impatient to communicate that which you have. For you must in this way be driven; and both these desires are only two witnesses to this truth, that a heaven-born spirit is come to life in you.
Only remember this; look well to the ground on which you stand, keep a watchful eye upon every working of nature, and take care that nothing human, earthly, private, or selfish, mix with this heavenly fire: that is, see that your mind is free, universal, impartial, without regard to here or there, this or that, but loving all goodness, practicing every virtue, for itself, on its own account, because it is so much of God; neither coveting light, nor longing to communicate it to others, but merely and solely for this reason, that the will of God may be done, and the goodness of God brought to life both in you and them. For there is no goodness but God's; and his goodness is not alive, or fruitful in you, but so far, and in such degree, as the good that you mean, and do, is done in and by that spirit, by which God himself is good. For as there is but one that is good, so there is, and can be but one goodness. And therefore it is, that we are called not to an human, worldly, prudent, partial goodness, suitable to our selfish reason, and natural tempers, but we are called to be perfect, as our father in heaven is perfect. And the full reason is expressed in the words; for if our father is in heaven, we must be there too in spirit and life, or we are not his children; if heaven is that for which we are made, and that which we have lost, it is not any human goodness, but a heavenly birth and spirit of God's own goodness, working in us, as it does in God, that can make us the heavenly children of our Father in heaven. You must love the light of God, as God loves it; you must desire that others may enjoy it, as God desires it. Now God is a free, universal, impartial love, loving and doing every kind of good, for its own sake, because that is the highest and most perfect working of life; and because everything else but goodness, for its own sake, is imperfect, and a degree of evil, misery, and death. And no creature can come out of its imperfection, misery, and death, but by the pure, free, unmixed goodness of God, being born in it. Though you had outwardly all virtues, and seemed to do all that the saints of God have done, yet unless the same spirit, by which God himself is good, brought forth your goodness, all would be only an earthly labor, that could have no communication with heaven.
Therefore, my friend, set out right, and be assured of this truth, that nature, and self, and every particular view, must be totally renounced; or else, your zeal, what ever it will be, ever so pleasing to yourself, or astonishing to the world, you are still not working with God.
Here now you have the test of truth, by which you may always know, whether it be the Spirit of God, and the love of God, that drives you. If your zeal is after this pure, free, universal goodness of God, then of a truth the Spirit of God breaths in you; but if you feel not the love of this pure, free, universal goodness, and yet think that you love God, you deceive yourself; for there is no other true love of God, but the loving that, which God is.
But if you please, Humanus, pray tell me, in what manner you would attempt to make converts to Christianity.
Humanus: I would not take the method generally practiced by the modern defenders of Christianity. I would not attempt to show from reason and antiquity, the necessity and reasonableness of a divine revelation in general, or of the mosaic and Christian in particular. Nor enlarge upon the arguments for the credibility of the Gospel-history, the reasonableness of its creeds, institutions, and usages; or the duty of man to receive things above, but not contrary to, his reason. I would avoid all this, because it is wandering from the true point in question, and only helping the deist to oppose the gospel with argument, by attempting to prove the gospel stands upon its own bottom, mere words alone.
And, on the other hand, should the deist yield up such a cause as this, and change sides, he could only be said to have changed his opinion about facts, without any more altering or bettering his state in God, than if he had only altered his opinion about things in dispute amongst the ancient philosophers.
For since the fall of man, implying a real change from his first state, or a total death to his first created life, since the necessity of a new birth of that lost life, by the life of God again restored to, or born in the soul, are two points, quite overlooked by those who defend the truth and reasonableness of the Christian scheme, it may be truly said, that the only ground, and the whole nature of the gospel is quite dropped, and given up by those who defend it in this way.
For the gospel has but one ground, or reason, and that is the fall of man, it has but one nature, and that is to help man again to all that he had lost.
How unreasonable would it be, to offer the Christian redemption to glorious angels in heaven? Could anything be more inconsistent with their heavenly, un-fallen state? Yet just so unreasonable would it be to offer it to man un-fallen from his first created state. For man standing in that first perfection of life, which God breathed into him, and in that very outward state, or world, into which God himself brought him, needs no more redemption, than the most glorious angels do; and to preach to such a man, to be reconciled to God, the necessity of dying to himself, and the world he is in, would be as contrary to all sense and reason, as to preach to angels the necessity of dying to themselves, their divine life and the kingdom of heaven, for which God had created them.
Therefore it appears, that the fall of man, into the life of this earthly world, is the sole ground of his needing the redemption, which the gospel offers.
Sole purpose of the gospel
As a result the gospel has only one simple proposal of certain life, or certain death to man; of life, if he will take the means of entering into the kingdom of God, of death if he chooses to take up his rest in the kingdom of this world. This is the simple nature, and sole purpose of the gospel; it can do no more, than making it known to mankind, that this world, and the life of it, is his fall, and separation from God, and his separation from happiness, both here and hereafter: and that to be saved or restored to God and happiness, can only be obtained, by renouncing all love, and adherence to the things of this world. Look at all the precepts, warnings and doctrines of the gospel, they mean to do nothing, but drive all earthly-mindedness and carnal affections out of the soul, to call man from the life, spirit and things of this world,
to a life of hope, and faith, and trust, and love and desire of a new birth from heaven.
To Embrace The Gospel
To embrace the gospel is to enter with all our hearts into its terms of dying to all that is earthly both within us, and without us; and on the other hand to place our faith, and hope, and trust, and satisfaction in any of the things of this world, is to reject the gospel with our whole heart, spirit and strength, as much as any infidel can do, even though we make verbal assents and consents to everything that is recorded in the new testament.
It Is The Love Of The World Instead Of God . . .
This therefore is the one true essential distinction between the Christian and the infidel. The infidel is a man of this world, wholly devoted to it, his hope and faith are set upon it; for where our heart is, there, and only there is our hope and faith. He has only such virtues, such goodness, and such a religion, as entirely suits with the interest of flesh and blood, and keeps the soul happy in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: this, and this alone, is infidelity, a total separation from God, and a removal of all faith, and hope from Him, into the life of this world. It matters not, whether this infidel be a professor of the gospel, a follower of Plato, a Jew, a Turk, or one who opposes the gospel-history: this difference of opinions or professions does not alter the matter, it is the love of the world instead of God, that constitutes the whole nature of the infidel.
On the other hand, the Christian renounces the world, as his horrid prison; he dies to the will of flesh and blood, because it is darkness, corruption, and separation from God; he turns from all that is earthly, animal, and temporal, and stands in a continual tendency of faith, and hope, and prayer to God, to have a better nature, a better life and spirit born again into Him from above.
Where this faith is, there is the Christian, the new creature in Christ, born of the word and Spirit of God; neither time nor place, nor any outward condition of birth, and life, can hinder his entrance into the kingdom of God.
But where this faith is not, there is the true, complete infidel, the man of the earth, the unredeemed, the one who rejects the gospel, the son of perdition, that is dead in trespasses and sins, without Christ, an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
The heart is either devoted to this world, or devoted to God!
Here therefore I fix my true ground of converting men to Christianity; and how miserably, may I say, do they err, who place Christianity and infidelity in anything else, but in the heart either devoted to this world, or devoted to God!
He therefore that opens a field of controversy to the deist, about revelation in general, or the history of facts, creeds, and doctrines of churches, not only leads him from the merits of the gospel, but brings him into a field of battle, where the deist or infidel may stand his ground as long as he pleases. This I can truly say from my own experience, who have been 20 years in this dust of debate; and have always found that the more books there were written in this or that way of defending the gospel, the more I was furnished with new objections to it, and the less apprehensive of any danger from my not receiving it.
For I frequently had a consciousness rising up within me, that the debate was equally vain on both sides, doing no more real good to the one than to the other, not being able to imagine, that a set of scholastic, logical opinions about history, facts, doctrines, and institutions of the church, or a set of logical objections against them, were of any significance toward making the soul of man either an eternal angel of heaven, or an eternal devil of hell. And therefore it was, that I was often tempted rather to think, there was neither heaven, nor hell, than to believe that such a variety of churches, and systems of opinion, all condemning, and all condemned by one another, were to find the heaven of God opened to receive them, but he who was equally led by opinion to reject them all, was doomed to hell. But you, sir (and how can I enough thank you for it?) Have put a full end to all this strife of opinions floating in my brain; you have dispersed the clouds that surrounded my bewildered mind; you have brought me home to myself, where I find heaven and hell, life and death, salvation and damnation at strife within me; you have shown me the infinite worth of Christianity, and the dreadful nature of infidelity, not by helping me to a new opinion, for my reason to maintain, but by proving to me this great and decisive truth, that Christianity is neither more nor less, than the goodness of the divine
life, light and love, living and working in my soul; and that infidelity in its whole nature, is purely and solely the heart of man living in, governed by, and contented with the evil workings of the earthly life, spirit and nature.
This is the infidelity that you have forced me to fly from, and renounce, and that is the Christianity, to which I am converted with all the strength of my heart and spirit. Away then with all the fictions and workings of reason, either for, or against Christianity! They are only the wanton sport of the mind, while ignorant of God, and insensible of its own nature and condition. Death and life are the only things in question; life is God, living and working in the soul; death is the soul living and working according to the sense and reason of bestial flesh and blood. Both this life, and this death are of their own growth, growing from their own seed within us, not as busy reason talks or directs, but as our heart turns either to the one or the other.
But, dear Theophilus, I must now tell you that I want to make haste in this new road you have put me in. Time is short, I am afraid of leaving the world, before I have left all worldly tempers, and before the first holy and heavenly birth be quickened, and brought to life in me.
An angel my first father was created, and therefore nothing but the angel belongs to man, and nothing but the angel can enter into heaven. Angelic goodness, therefore, is the one thing that man must look up to God for, because this is the one goodness that he has lost. Everything else, flesh and blood, earth and all earthly tempers, everything that had its rise from the fall of Adam, must be renounced, and given up to death, that the first angelic glory of the life of God in man may be again found in him.
Theophilus: Indeed, Humanus, you have made great haste already; for all the haste that we can make, consists in a total dying to all the tempers and passions which we have received from the spirit of this world, by our fall into it. And the more watchfully, earnestly, and constantly, we do this, the more haste we make to our lost country, and heavenly glory.
It is no extravagance, nor are we overstraining the matter, when we say, that our goodness must be angelic; for no goodness less than that, can be divine and heavenly, or help us to a life in heaven. It is often said, that we are poor, infirm men, and not angels; and therefore must be content with the poverty and infirmity of human
virtues. That we are poor, infirm men, is undeniable; but this is the one infallible reason, why a virtue that is according to our nature, or of its own growth, can do us no good. We were not created poor and infirm men by God, but have lost him, are separated from him; full of misery, because we have changed our first state, and brought all this poverty, corruption, and infirmity, upon ourselves. And therefore, as this infirmity is from ourselves, so we must intend nothing less, or short of the total removal of it, nor think that we have our proper goodness, until we stand in that degree of it, in which God created us. For, be assured of this great truth, that nothing in us can be the delight of God, but that very creature, which he created. All therefore must be parted with, that God has not created and brought to life in us. And no goodness but that of an angel, can overcome the evil that is in us, or do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven, which is the only goodness in and for which God created us.
Academicus: Pray, Theophilus, allow me to say, that I should think it better, not to insist so much upon the word angelic, when you speak of the goodness, that ought to be ours. For it seems to me that many will object to this word. We have not the high faculties, and exalted powers, of angels; and therefore our goodness cannot rise up to an equality with theirs.
Rusticus: Pray, Academicus, give me leave also to say, that if your learning did not lead you to mind words, more than things, you could not have fallen into this critical scruple. For our call to angelic goodness does not suppose or require any stretching of truth, to our intellectual faculties and powers. A shepherd watching over his flock, a poor slave digging in the mines, may each of them, though so employed to the end of their lives, stand before God in a degree of goodness truly angelic. On the other hand, you may spend all your time in high speculations, writing and preaching upon Christian perfection, composing seraphic hymns of heavenly matters, with a strength of thought and genius that delights both yourself and others, and yet, so doing to the day of your death, have only a goodness like that of eating and drinking that which most pleases your palate.
Nor can it have any existence in man, until the workings of our earthly nature are overcome
Would you know the true nature of angelic goodness, see how the spirit of Christ speaks, you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. I came into the world not to do my own will, not to seek my own glory or honor, not to have a kingdom in this world, but to promote the kingdom of God, and do the will of my father in heaven. My meat and drink is to do the will of him that sent me. When you make a feast, do not call your rich friends and acquaintance, but the poor, the lame, and blind, &c. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory and praise of God. This is how the Spirit of Christ speaks; and he that in this spirit thus lives, is an angel, whether he is in heaven, or enclosed in flesh and blood. And all of us are on the way to attaining this angelic goodness, as soon as we hate the selfish tempers of our own earthly life, and earnestly long, in the spirit of prayer, to have the life of God brought forth in us. Now this goodness we must have, or we have none at all; for there is but one God, one good, and one goodness; and it is rightly called angelic, because nothing is capable of it, but the heavenly angelic nature; nor can it have any existence in man, until the workings of our earthly nature are overcome, and brought into subjection to that spirit, which is not of man, but from heaven. For flesh and blood in all its workings can work only for itself; darkness can only be dark, it has no other nature; coldness can only be cold; earth can only be earthly; and the works of light can only proceed from light. Flesh and blood, or that life which is only from the stars and elements of this world, can only work as the stars and elements work, only for time, and a corruptible life; it can only be bestial, and serve the ends of a bestial life; it is insensible and incapable of divine virtue, and is, and can be of no higher a nature in a man, than in a beast, and must have the same end in both. It is quite incapable of entering into the kingdom of God; and only for this reason, because it is absolutely incapable of having any true and heavenly goodness. It has then only its proper goodness, when it has lost its power of acting, and is governed by a spirit superior to it; while it lives and rules, it can only live to itself; is nothing but an earthly own will, own love, own honor, own interest, never rising higher, doing better, or coming any nearer to goodness, than its own pride or covetousness, envy or wrath, can carry it. For these tempers, with all their lesser subdivisions, are the atmosphere that sets bounds to the breath of the earthly life; they are essential to it, and as inseparable from it, as hardness and darkness are inseparable from a rock of stone. So long as the stony rock lasts, so long is it is hard and dark. And so long as earthly flesh and blood lives and acts, it can only live and act for itself; it can seek, love, like, or do no manner of thing, but as its own will, own love, own interest, is some way or other felt, and found in it. Would you know the true ground and reason of this? It is because no life can go out of, or farther than itself; nor can it will anything, but what its own life is. This is absolutely true of every life, whether it be divine, earthly, or hellish; it can seek, love, and delight in nothing, but that which is according to its own life.
See here, Academicus, the folly of your quarrelling with the word angelic, since the thing itself, angelic goodness, is absolutely necessary; it is the goodness of our first creation, and must be the goodness of our redemption. The falling from it has brought forth all the evils that we are surrounded with, and nothing can deliver us from the death of our fallen state, but a true and full resurrection of all that purity and goodness, which was living in the first creation of man. To be content with our infirmities, is to be content with our separation from God; and to not aspire after the one angelic goodness, is to be carnally-minded, which we are told is death, that is, death to the one divine life.
A virtue that is only according to the state of this earthly life, is a virtue of art, and human contrivance, a fiction of behavior, modeled according to rule and custom, or education, that can go no deeper, nor rise higher, nor reach farther, than the sense and reason, and interests of flesh and blood, can carry it. But this can have no communication with God and heaven, because it is not born of them, but is a lower, separate state of life, that at best can only bring forth a civility of outward manners. But the goodness which we want, and which we were created to have, is the holy blessed life of God, and Christ, and heaven, living in the soul. For from eternity to eternity, there never was, or ever can be, any other heavenly goodness in any creature, but the Life, and Spirit, and Word of God, speaking, living, and breathing in it.
Bid the anatomist, that can skillfully dissect a human body, and can tell you the names, nature, and offices of most of its parts,
that can show you how they all conspire to give life, strength, and motion, to the living machine: ask him, to put life into the dead carcass.
Now learned reason, when pretending to be a master of morality, is just as powerful as this very anatomist. It can skillfully dissect a dead system of morality, can separate all its parts, tell you the names, nature, distinctions, and connections, of most kinds of good and evil. But when this is done, learned reason, with all its dictates, distinctions, and definitions, can do just as much good to the soul, that has lost its goodness, as the anatomist can do to the dead carcass, that has lost its life, learned reason cannot bring life back!
It is wonderfully astonishing, that you men of learning seldom come thus far, as to see, and feel this glaring truth, that goodness must be a living thing; but, blinded with the empty sound of words in a variety of languages, they are as content and happy with a religion of nature delineated, or book of axioms, maxims, and deductions, mathematically placed one after another, as if you had really found the tree of life. Whereas, in truth, all this is no better than reading a lecture upon the use of the heart, liver, and lungs, to a dead carcass: for the life of goodness can no more be raised, or brought into the soul, by this art of reasoning, than life can be brought into the carcass, by a discourse upon the heart, liver, and lungs, made over it.
Oh! Academicus, forget your scholarship, give up your art and criticism, be a plain man, and then the first rudiments of sense may teach you, that there, and there only, can goodness be, where it comes forth as a birth of life, and is the free natural work and fruit of that which lives within us. For until goodness comes from a life within us, we have in truth none at all. For reason, with all its doctrine, discipline, and rules, can only help us to be so good, so changed, and amended, as a wild beast may be, that by restraints and methods is taught to put on a sort of tameness, though its wild nature is all the time only restrained, and in a readiness to break forth again as occasion shall offer. So far the masters of morality and human discipline may go; they may tame and reform the outward man, clothe him with the appearance of many images of virtue, which will, some or all of them, be put off, just as time, occasion, and flesh and blood, require it. For the goodness of a living creature must be its own
life; it must arise up in it as its own love, or any other passion does; just as the fierceness of the tiger, and the meekness of the lamb, are the birth of their own life. And if goodness is not our natural birth from our natural parents, we must of all necessity be born again from a principle above nature, or no goodness can be living in us. Now since goodness is a life, we have a twofold proof, that no goodness can be living in us, until we are born again of the word and spirit of God: for nature, as well as scripture, assures us, that God is originally the one good, and the one life; and therefore no good life can possibly be in us, but by the word, life, and spirit, of God having a birth in us. And from this birth alone it is, that the free, genuine works of goodness flow forth with the freedom of the divine life, wherewith the spirit of God has made us free; loving and doing all manner of good, merely for goodness-sake; virtuous in all kinds of virtue, purely for virtue-sake: then we are the natural true children of our heavenly father, and do the works of heaven with a cheerful and willing mind. Then it is, that we are good in the manner as God is good, because it is his goodness that is born in us; we are perfect as he is perfect, we love as he loves, are patient as he is patient, we give as he gives, we forgive as he forgives, and resist evil only with good as he does.
This, Academicus, is angelic goodness; and is the goodness of those who are born again of the word, and become new creatures in the spirit of Christ. This goodness our first father lost, when he chose to have eyes of flesh and blood, and the spirit of this world, opened in him; and therefore our redeemer, who well knew what we had lost, and must have again, has taught us in our daily prayer, to ask for angelic goodness in these words, i.e., "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." but I have done, and I think you must have done, with your learned misgiving about the word angelic. And now, Theophilus, if you please, return to your subject with Humanus.
Theophilus: Let me then tell you, Humanus, that I much approve of the way that you intend to proceed in. You are coming directly to the truth and heart of the matter, and have hit upon the one and only method of putting deism to a full stop, by reducing Christianity to this one single great point, which so evidently contains the whole ground and nature of it.
Now this one great point consists of two essential parts; 1st, the fall of man from a divine angelic life into an earthly, bestial, corruptible, miserable life of this world. 2nd, the redemption of man, or his regaining of his first angelic perfection, by a new birth of the divine nature, by the word and spirit of God. Stand steadily upon this true Christian ground; you will not only stand safely yourself, but you will have left the deist no ground to stand upon. For here all the labored volumes of infidelity, with which these last ages have swarmed, are at once rendered useless, and cannot put so much as a little finger into this debate. Consult all, from Hobbes to the moral philosopher, and you consult in vain; their works are as dead as themselves, and unable to give forth one word against this Christianity. They had a much easier task upon their hands; for nothing can be easier than for reason to object, and continue objecting, to the extraordinary matters of the old and new testament. I do not mention this as an accusation of the deists, or to charge them with the crafty contrivance of placing the merits of the cause where it is not. No, the learning of the Christian world must bear the blame of these fruitless disputes: the demonstrators of the truth and reasonableness of Christianity have betrayed their own cause, and left true Christianity unmentioned in their defense of it. What a reasonableness of Christianity have some great names helped us to? Just as useful, and good to our fallen souls, as the reasonableness of consenting to the death of pharaoh and his host in the red sea. But you, my friend, being rightly converted to Christianity, that began before the scriptures were written, and is as old as the creation and fall of man; keep close to its true and real ground; and, instead of showing the reasonableness of believing a long history of things, show the absolute necessity of man's dying to his present life, in order to have a better life from God. This is the Christianity that began with the fall, and has been preached ever since to every son of fallen man, in every corner of the world; and by the same preacher that tells every man, that he ought to be better than he is. For if man had not fallen from a better state than that he is now in, he could no more be ashamed or offended at anything that his nature prompts him to do, than the ox is ashamed at breaking into a good pasture. Every man, therefore, from the beginning of the world, has had Christianity and the gospel written and preached within him; as it contains the fall of man, and his want of being raised to a better
state. But as we see, that the truth and reality of his fall, and the truth and reality of his redemption by a real birth from above, can be lost, no, disowned, amongst those that are daily reading and expounding the scriptures; so it is no wonder that the same should have happened to those, who had no scriptures to read. Justly therefore, Humanus, are churches and creeds, doctrines above and contrary to reason, miracles of the old and new testament, and all historical facts and matters, which are so great an harvest to the deists; justly, I say, are they removed by you out of the debate; and the one great point above-mentioned only insisted upon, as the whole of the matter. For this one point gained, all is gained; and, until this point is cleared up, all the rest is but a debate about nothing.
For if man is fallen from a divine life, no one need be told, that he can only be redeemed or saved from his fall by having the same divine life born in him again, or a second time. Nothing therefore touches the truth of the debate between the Christian and the infidel, but that which proves with certainty, that man has, or has not, lost a divine life.
If he is therefore fallen, has died this death to his divine life, then the nature and necessity of the Christian new-birth sufficiently proves itself. But if it can be proved, that he is not fallen, but stands in that state and degree of life in which God created him; the deists have reason enough to reject the Christian scheme of redemption.
Strange it is therefore beyond expression, that every man, whether Christian or infidel, should not see, that here lies the whole of the matter; or that any learned defender of Christianity should think of beginning anywhere, or in anything, but where the redemption itself begins; or imagine there can be the least ground to propose a redemption to man, until he shows why, and from what he is to be redeemed. Stranger is it still, if you consider, that Christians have nothing to excuse their wandering from this one great point, since both the testaments bear so open a witness to it. "in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die," says the old testament. "except a man be born again from above, of the word and spirit of God, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," says the new testament.
Accordingly these two testaments begin with the most open declarations of these two things; i.e., the death of man to his first created life; 2nd, his redemption only and solely by a real birth of the divine life, received again from above. What excuse therefore can be made for those who read the scripture, and yet overlook that very
point; not only so plainly declared, but which, in itself, is the only ground and foundation upon which all the scripture stands? For had man not died, neither Moses, nor the prophets, would of ever been born. For man had he not fallen, abiding in his first created perfection of life, would have been as free from any outward law, as the light is from darkness. The keeping of his own nature would of been the keeping, and doing, and seeing, and knowing all that God required of him. So that neither law nor prophecy have any ground or reason, but because man is dead to his first Divine life.
But seeing man is dead to his first life, and living only in an earthly bestial world, under the power and slavery of the evil motions and tempers of gross flesh and blood; therefore Moses must come with his law, to set sin before him, and give him precepts of resisting and dying to all the lusts of this new earthly life, which he is fallen into: therefore, to seek for any other learning in or from Moses, than that of learning to resist and die to the tempers and passions of this earthly life, is knowing nothing right of Moses, nor of ourselves.
After Moses came the prophets, or the spirit of prophecy, with its far-seeing sight, and declaration of glories to come. Now the ground of prophecy is this, it is because man is to be restored to his first glorious state; and therefore the spirit of prophecy comes forth from God to awaken hope and faith, expectation and desire in man; because these are the only powers that can draw him out of the mire of the earthly life, in which he sticks, and carry him up to his first heavenly state again. Nothing therefore is to be sought for in or from the prophets, but the increase of our hope, faith, and desire of the new birth of that glorious life which we have lost, and they foretold was to be had again.
Therefore, my friend, you see the importance of this one point; Moses and the prophets have but one purpose and it is this, that man has lost his divine life; and that this same divine life is to be born again in him. Now seeing this is the ground and reason of the scriptures, therefore is it the one unerring key to the right use of them. They have only this one intent, to make man know, resist, and abhor the working of his fallen earthly nature; and to turn the faith, hope, and longing desire of his heart to God: and therefore we are only to read them with this view, and to learn this one lesson from them. Whatever therefore occurs, that
cannot be turned to this general end, but relates to only some temporal, occasional, or private matter, is of no more importance to us, than the cloak and parchments which Paul speaks of.
How many hundreds of barns must there be, to hold all the learned volumes, that had would not have been written, had man looked upon the scriptures as having no other view or end, but to teach him to renounce the tempers of his fallen earthly nature, and live unto God in faith and prayer; to be born again of the divine nature! But this one end being overlooked by learned reason, Hebrew and Arabic, Greek, and Latin, have been called in, to torture the scriptures into a chaos of confused opinions, that has covered the Christian world with darkness, and lost the only good that was to be had from the written word of God. Whereas, standing upon the ground on which you stand, with only this one great point at heart, the scriptures are a plain, easy, and certain instruction; and no honest unlearned heart stands in need of any commentator to help him to all the benefit that can be had from scripture, or secure him from any hurtful error.
Humanus: Indeed, Theophilus, my own experience can bear a full testimony to the truth of all that you have said. For upon my reading now the new testament, with this key in my hand; i.e., of man thus fallen, and thus called to a new birth from heaven; everything I read in it has spirit and life, and overflows my soul with such an unction, and sensibility of sweet doctrine, that I am not able to express. For while I consider it only as written to drive all earthly tempers and passions out of the soul, and inflame the heart with love and desire of the grace, the spirit, and the light and life of the heavenly nature, I can say, as the Jewish officers did, never man spoke like Christ and his apostles.
Why was the son of God made man? It was because man was to be made again a divine creature. Why did man need such a savior? It was because he had become earthly, mortal, gross flesh and blood. Now take Christ in this light, and consider man in this state, and then all that is said in the gospel stands in the fullest light.
Therefore, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you. How poor, how mean, and uncertain a sense is there in this, until you know, that man has lost his divine nature, and is fallen into a world that is all labor, burden, and misery! But as soon as this is known, then how easy, how plain, is the full and highest sense of these words, come unto me, all that labor, are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you! I will bring to life
that first happy state which you have lost. This is the note, the paraphrase, the expositor, the key to the true sense of every doctrine of Christ; which, though variously expressed to awaken the heart, is only one and the same thing. Therefore, "blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." but why so? Because he that is troubled at the corruption, vanity, and impurity of his fallen earthly state, has the comfort of the heavenly life ready for him. Again, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. How plain and great is the sense here, as soon as we know, that Christ is our righteousness; and that the righteous life of Christ in the soul, is that life which our first father lost! Therefore, to hunger and thirst after this righteousness, is the one way to be filled with that divine life, that we had lost. Again, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. What can the Latin or Greek critic do here? Nothing at all. He will only try to make some excuse for the strangeness of the phrase. But when these words are read by one who knows that he, and all mankind, have lost the divine nature, he tastes and feels the glad tidings which they bring; and is in love with these sweet sounds, which promise such an overflowing return of heaven into his soul. Again, I beseech you, says the apostle, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, &c. The critic looks into his books to see how Latin and Greek authors have used the words stranger and pilgrim, and so some sense or other is given to the apostle; but the Christian, who knows, that man, wandering out of paradise, a colony of heaven, was taken captive by the stars and elements, to live in labor and toil, in sickness and pain, in hunger and thirst, in heat and cold amongst the beasts of the field; where evil spirits, like roaring lions, seek to devour him; he alone knows in what truth and reality man is a poor stranger and distressed pilgrim upon earth. Again, to the poor, said Christ, the gospel is preached. The critic only considers the several kinds of worldly poverty. But the Christian, who knows that the real great poverty of man consists in his having lost the riches and greatness of his first life, knows, that to this poor man the gospel is preached, because he alone, who is sensible of this poverty, can hear and receive it. For to man, insensible of his fallen state, the glad tidings of the gospel are but like news from fairy land; and the cross of Christ can only be a stumbling-block and foolishness to him, whether he be a Christian, a Jew, or a Greek. Thus does it appear, that all the doctrines and sayings of Christ and his apostles are full of a comfortable, divine,
and exalted sense, or mere empty words, just as the fall of man from a divine life is either owned or disowned.
Theophilus: Thus far then, Humanus, we are agreed, that the fall of man into the life and state of this world, is the whole ground of his redemption; and that a real birth of Christ in the soul, is the whole nature of it. Let me now only ask you, how you would endeavor to convince a man of his fallen state?
Humanus: I would not begin with the account that Moses gives of it, for several reasons; but chiefly for these two: first, because the fall is not an historical matter; nor would a mere historical knowledge of it be of any use, or do any real good to him. Secondly, because Moses account is not the proof of the fall, and therefore not to be appealed to as such.
Moses is the first historian of natural death, and has recorded the death of the first man, and of many others who were born of him: but the proof that man is mortal lies not in Moses history of the death of the first man, but in the known nature of man, and the world from which he has his life. Again, we do not want Moses to assure us, that there was a first man; that he had something from heaven, and something from the earth in him; and must have come into the world in another manner than all those who have descended from him. For every man is himself the infallible proof of this; Moses is only the historian that has recorded the when, and where, and how this first man came into the world, and what his name was. But the proof and certainty of the fact, that such a first man there must have been, lies not in Moses account, but stands proved to every man from his own nature and state in this world.
Consequently with the fall; we have no more occasion to go to Moses, to prove that man and the world are in a fallen state, than to prove that man is a poor, miserable, weak, vain, distressed, corrupt, depraved, selfish, self-tormenting, perishing creature, and that the world is a sad mixture of false goods, and real evils; a mere scene of all sorts of trials, vexations, and miseries; all arising from the frame, and nature, and condition both of man and the world. This is the full infallible proof of the fall of man; which is not a thing learned from any history, but shows itself every-where, and every day, with such clearness as we see the sun. Moses doesn't need to prove the fact, that man is fallen; but is simply the recorder of the when and how, and the manner in which the fall has happened.
My first attempt therefore, upon any man, to convince him of the fall, as the ground of the redemption, should be an attempt to do that for him, which affliction, disappointments, sickness, pain, and the approach of death, have a natural tendency to do; i.e., to convince him of the vanity, poverty, and misery of his life and condition in this world. For as this is the true proof of the fallen state of man, so man can only be convinced of it, by having this proof truly set before him. I would therefore appeal at first to nothing but his own nature and condition in the world; and show him how unreasonable, no, impossible, it is, that a God, who has nothing in himself but infinite goodness and infinite happiness, should bring forth a race of intelligent creatures, that have neither natural goodness, nor natural happiness. The inspired saints of God say therefore, man that is born of a woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery. Again, man walks in a vain shadow, and disquieted himself in vain. Now if what is here truly said of mankind, could be truly said of any order of the beasts and animals of the field, who could defend the goodness of God in bringing such creatures into such a state of life? Now though the deist rejects the scriptures, considered as a volume of divine revelation, yet everything that he outwardly sees, and inwardly feels, demonstrates this capital truth of scripture, that man is in this poor and miserable state of life. And therefore, everything that we know of God, and everything that we know of man, is a daily irresistible proof, that man is in a fallen state. Look at the human infant just come out of the womb, you can hardly bear the sight; it is a picture of such deformity, nakedness, weakness, and helpless distress, as is not to be seen amongst the home-born animals of this world: the chicken has its birth from no sin, and therefore it comes forth in beauty; it runs and pecks as soon as its shell is broken: the pig and the calf go both to play, as soon as the dam is delivered of them; they are pleased with themselves, and please the eye that beholds their frolic state and beauteous clothing; while the new-born babe of a woman, that is to have an upright form, that is to view the heavens, and worship the God that made them, lies for months in gross ignorance, weakness, and impurity; as sad a spectacle when he first begins to breathe the life of this world, as when in the agonies of death he breathes his last.
What is all this, but the strongest proof, that man is the only creature that does not belong to this world, but is fallen into it through sin? And therefore his birth, in such distress, bears all these marks of shame and weakness. Had he been originally of this world, it is
necessary to suppose, that this world would have done the highest honor to its highest creature; and that he had begun his life in a greater perfection than any other animal, and brought with him a more beautiful clothing than the finest lilies of the field have. But, to go on: when the human infant is set upon his legs, and begins to act for himself, he soon becomes a more pitiable object than when he was crying in the cradle. The strength of his life is a mere strength of wild passions; his reason is craft, and selfish subtlety; he loves and hates only as flesh and blood prompt him, jails and gallows cannot keep him from theft and murder. If he is rich, he is tormented with pride and ambition; if poor, with murmuring and discontent : no matter which he is, sooner or later, disordered passions, disappointed lusts, fruitless labor, pains and sickness will tear him from this world in such travail as his mother felt, when she brought forth the sinful animal.
Now all this evil and misery are purely the natural and necessary effect of his birth in the bestial flesh and blood of this world, and there is nothing in his natural state that can put a stop to it; he must be evil and miserable so long as he has only the life of this world in him. Therefore the absolute certainty of the fall, and the absolute necessity of a new birth, are truths, independently of scripture, plain as can be, and can be demonstrated. Therefore, God is in himself infinite goodness, and infinite happiness; but man, in his present earthly birth and life, can neither have goodness or happiness, therefore his present state of life could not be brought forth by a God who is all goodness and happiness. Thus every man, that believes in a creator infinitely perfect, is under a necessity of believing the whole ground of Christian redemption, namely, that man has some way or other lost that perfection of life which he had received at first from his creator.
But the Christian has yet an additional proof of this matter, because the scriptures, which with him are infallible, so frequently and openly bear witness to it.
Therefore, "let us make man in our image; according to our own likeness." how great, how divine, is this beginning of man? How can there be any evil or misery, any vanity or weakness, in a creature so brought forth? But now what is become of this man? For if you look at man just coming out of the womb, an object that is pitiable and helpless above described, what can be so absurd, as to call this birth, his creation in the likeness and after the image of God? What is said of the first man, is not spoken of one person, but of the human nature; for the first man was only the first instance of that which mankind was to be. He had no perfection peculiar to himself, but that of being the first man; and had he stood, all that came from him, would have come to life as he did, in the same strength and glory of perfection, and would not of been born of a bestial womb, like the wild donkey's colt. Again, compare the following text against Moses description of the perfection of the first man in the image of God, man that is born of a woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery."
Is not this a full proof, that the first created life of man is quite dead, and that an earthly life of misery is risen up instead of it? Again, the apostle said, the natural man knows not the things of God; they are foolishness unto him. Can this natural man, the man of earthly flesh and blood, that can have no acquaintance with, or knowledge of God, to whom the things of God are foolishness; can this be the man first created in the image and likeness of God? What can be more absurd than such a thought? Or what excuse can be made for that learning which cannot see from so plain a scripture, that human nature, now, is not that human nature, which it was when first created, but is dead to that first life, which it had in the image and likeness of God, or the things of God could not possibly be foolishness to it? But I will end this matter with these borrowed words, "we were no more created to be in the sorrows, burdens, and anguish of an earthly life, than the angels were created to be in the wrath and darkness of hell. It is as contrary to the will and goodness of God towards us, that we have been cast out of paradise, as it is contrary to the designs and goodness of God towards the angels, that some of them are cast out of heaven, prisoners of darkness."
The grossness, impurity, sickness, pain, and corruption of our bodies, is brought upon us by ourselves, in the same manner as the hideous, serpentine, forms of the devils are brought upon them. How absurd, and even blasphemous would it be, to say with the scripture and the church, that we are children of wrath, and born in sin, if God had originally givens us that nature? What a reproach upon God, to say, that this world is a valley of misery, a shadow of death, full of disorders, snares, evils, and temptations, if this was an original creation, or that state of things for which God created us? Is it not as consistent with the goodness and perfection of God, to speak of the misery and disorder that un-fallen holy angels find above, and of the vanity, emptiness, and sorrow of their heavenly state, as to speak of the misery of men, and the sorrows of this world, if men and the world were in that order, in which God at first had placed them? If God could make any place poor and vain, and create any beings into a state of vanity and vexation of spirit, he would do so in all places, and to all beings.
Theophilus: You have put the fall, Humanus, upon its right proof, and shown great judgment in your intended method of converting anyone to the belief of it. You have set the whole matter in so just a light, that I have nothing that I can add to it.
Humanus: Give me leave, gentlemen, just to put in a word or two concerning another plain indication, that man has lost that life and nature, in which he was first created. Reason has been my God, and is the vain idol of modern deism, and modern Christianity; and yet human reason has no higher birth, than human ignorance, infirmity, and mortality; they all began together; they are inseparable; they generate and are generated from one another; they are the life of each other; and they must live and die together, and all bear the same witness to the fallen state of man. For no creature can come from the hands of God into a state of any ignorance of anything, than is fit and proper to be known by it. This is as impossible as for God to have an envious, or evil will. Now all right and natural knowledge, in whatever creature it is, is sensible, intuitive, and its own evidence. But opinion, reasoning, or doubting (for they are all but one thing) can only then begin when the creature has lost its first right and natural state, and is changed into something else, and now it cannot tell what to make of. Then begins the doubting, from this reasoning, from this debating; and this is the high birth of our magnified reason, as nobly born, as groping is, which has its beginning in and from darkness, with a complete loss of the heavenly light. Hence we have a full proof, that man has lost his first natural state in which God created him. For reasoning, doubt, and perplexity in any creature, is the effect of some fall, or departure from its first state of nature, and shows, that it wants, and is seeking, something that its nature would have, but does not know how to get it. The beasts do not seek after truth; a plain proof, that truth has no relation to them; has no
suitableness to their nature, nor ever belonged to them. Man is in quest of it, in perplexity about it, cannot come find it; takes lies to be truth, and truth to be lies; a plain proof, both that he does not have it, and yet has had it, was created in it, and for it; for nothing can seek for anything, but that which it has lost, and is needed; The beasts have no ignorance of anything, that concerns them; but have all the sensible, intuitive knowledge of everything that is the good of their nature. But man left to his reason is all over ignorance, doubt, conjecture, and perplexity in all matters of importance, chiefly about what he himself is, what is his main good, where he is to seek it, and how to obtain it. For to ask your reason, how God is your God, how you are in him, and from him, what he is in himself, and what he is in you, is but like asking your hands to feel out the thickness, or the thinness, of the light. To ask your reason, whether the soul of man is immortal in its nature, is to as good purpose, is going no father out of the way, than if you were to ask your eyes to let you hear sounds. To ask your reason, whether man has anything of God, or the divine nature in him, is just as suitable to the nature and power of your reason, as if you were to ask your nose, whether this or that sweet, aromatic smell in the garden, has any heavenly power mixed in it.
Reason, therefore, is so far from being able to help man to that knowledge, which his nature and condition needs, that it can only help his ignorance and doubts to increase. And this cannot be otherwise; man must walk in a vain shadow, so long as reason is his oracle. For nothing can act suitable to nature, find its true state in nature, or answer the end of its creation by the power of reason; because reason is not the life, the power, or the thing that forms nature; and therefore has no more power over nature, than over the powers and principles of vegetation, either in the body of man, or any other creature. He therefore who turns to his reason, as the true power and light of his nature, shows forth the same ignorance of the whole nature, power, and office of reason, as if he were to try to smell with his eyes, or see with his nose. For as each of these senses has only one ability or power, which it cannot alter, or exceed; so reason has only its one work or power, which it cannot alter, or exceed; and that one work is, to be a bare observer and comparer of things that manifest themselves to it by the senses. This is as much its one and only power, as seeing is the one and only power of the eyes. When therefore reason takes upon it to determine things not manifested to it by the senses, as to judge about divine new birth, a divine light, and divine faith; or how the soul needs, or does not want
God, it is then as much out of its place and office, as the eye that tries to smell; and its true name and nature is, whim, humor, caprice, conjecture, opinion, fancy, and every other species of blindness, and passion.
Now suppose man to come like this into the world, with this chief difference from other creatures; that he is at a loss to find out what he is, how he is to live, and what he is to seek, as his chief happiness; what he is to own of a God, of providence, religion. Suppose him to have faculties that put him upon this quest, but no faculties, that can satisfy his inquiry; and what can you suppose to be more miserable to himself, or more unworthy of a good creator? Therefore, if you will not suppose a God, that has been good to all creatures, and given every animal its proper light of nature, except man, you must be forced to believe, that man has certainly lost the true light and perfection of his nature, which God at first gave him.
But I believe Academicus wants to say something, and therefore I am done.
Academicus: I was only going to say, that every attribute of God, everything that sense and reason force us to see, and know, and feel, both of ourselves, and the world, join with the letter and spirit of all scripture in attesting, that man has certainly had a divine life, to which he has certainly died. But yet I must believe it is very difficult to conceive, how a creature brought forth in so high a perfection, in such enjoyment of the life, light, and spirit of God, could either deceive himself, or be deceived by another.
Theophilus: All that we want to know, my friend, is the certainty of the fact, and this is of the greatest importance to us: for this is it, that takes us from the herd of earthly animals, and lays the foundation of religion, and divine virtue. For had not a divine life at first been in us, we should now be at the same distance from all true virtue and goodness, and as incapable of forming the least thought or desire of it, as other animals; and should have nothing to do, but to look to ourselves, live to our earthly nature, and make the most of this world.
For this is the only wisdom and goodness, that an earthly nature is capable of, whether it be a man, or a fox. The certainty therefore of the fact, of our first divine birth, is all, is everything; nothing more need be inquired after. For on this ground stands all our comfort; for this reason it is, that, in faith and hope, we can look up to God as our father, to heaven as our native country, and have the honor to be accounted only as strangers and pilgrims upon earth.
But however, to remove your difficulty, I shall give you an example of the possibility of man's falling, although created in the perfection mentioned above.
Now supposing God to have brought a new intelligent creature into a new world, all the attributes of God oblige us to suppose this creature to be created in a perfect state both inwardly and outwardly. As intelligent, it must partake of the divine understanding; as living, it must have a degree of the divine life in it; as good, it must have a birth of the divine goodness in it; as an offspring of divine love, it must have a divine happiness, for the enjoyment of which the love of God created it. Now there is but one possible way, for this intelligent creature, endowed in this way to fall from, or lose the happiness of its first created state. It cannot knowingly choose misery, or the loss of its happiness: therefore it can only fall by such an ignorance, or power of falling as is consistent with its perfect state. Now this power lay wholly in the newness of its life: it only began to find itself an intelligent being; and yet had a power of looking with the eyes of its understanding either inwards, or outwards; upwards, or downwards. It had a power of acquiescing and rejoicing in that, which it found itself to be, and adoring that power and goodness which had brought it into the possession of such a nature: and it had a power of wandering into conjectures, and reasons about that, which it was not. Now as a free, intelligent creature, it could not be without this power of thus turning its intelligent eye; and yet, as a beginning creature, that had no experience, this power could not be free from a possibility of wandering; and therefore its power of wandering was not a defect, but a necessary part of its first perfect state.
Now in this possibility of wandering with its intelligent eye, looking where it ought not, and entering into conjectures about that, which it was not, may be clearly seen the possibility of its falling from a state of high perfection.
This is the one only possible way for a good, intelligent, new creature to lose its happiness. And I think it may justly be affirmed, that the mosaic account of the fall of man is exactly this very case; namely, how the eye of his new inexperienced understanding, beginning to cast a wandering look into that, which he was not, was by an unsuspected subtlety, or serpent, drawn into a reasoning and conjecturing about a certain good and evil, which were no part of his own created state.
Which inquiry, being given, ended in the real knowledge of this good and evil, the sensibility of which became an immediate death to his first divine life, destroyed the angelic image in the likeness of God, and set a gross, earthly, naked, ashamed, frightened, wretched animal of bestial flesh and blood in its place, the only animal to which this new knowledge of good and evil could belong.
Supposing therefore the fall of man, which is a fact attested, and proved by everything we know of God, ourselves, and the world; the mosaic account of it has every mark of truth, sobriety, and justness, as being a plain and easy description of the one only way, by which a creature so endowed could change or lose its first happy state.
Academicus: Truly, Theophilus, you have given a most natural and full solution of my difficulty, by which, I suppose, you mean as well to explain the fall of angels, as of men. But, sir, if that pride, to which their fall is charged, came upon them in an unsuspected way, in which they started longing after the tree of good and evil; i.e., from a wandering look into that, which they were not, occasioned by the newness of their untried life, in which they had but just began; explain to me then, why the fallen angels were not, at first, the immediate objects of divine mercy and goodness? Why they are to be forever prisoners of a never-ending hell? Or, are you of the opinion, that angels, as well as men, will be at last brought back to their first state?
Theophilus: Your questions, Academicus, seem to be born of curiosity: but, as I hope you will not give way to this disposition, I will, at once, comply with your demands.
The fall of angels must be supposed to have been as soon after their creation, as that of Adam. Had they stood any time in their new-created state, it would have been just about impossible for them to fall, as it is for the angels that are now in heaven to fall. For no pure, intelligent, good, and holy created being, can possibly lose this divine state of perfection, but through the first use of its untried state and powers. The manner of Adam's falling into the life of this world plainly shows us the manner in which the angels fell into hell, namely, at first only by looking and conjecturing with their intelligent eye into that, which they were not, which was not opened in them, that was hid in God. This looking went on until it became a lust and strong longing; just as it had done in Adam, who so gazed upon the earthly good and evil, until it opened itself up in him. Adam looked only at that which was creaturely, and in a life below him; and
therefore only that lower, creaturely, bestial life was brought forth in him. But the angel turning his wandering look into that height and depth which was not creaturely, but hid in God; namely, into the might and strength of eternity, that he might know how the creaturely life was started by it; and thinking himself by his exalted nature, to be as near to this great power, and as capable of entering into it, as Adam thought himself near to, and capable of knowing the good and evil of the earthly life; and as Adam thought to be like God in this new knowledge; so the angel imagined to be like God, if he could enter into this knowledge, how the might of God started the creaturely life, for then he himself would have the power of creating or starting the creaturely life; and as Adam's imagination brought forth a lust and longing, which could not be stopped, until the earthly knowledge, and earthly life, had opened itself in him; so the angel's imagination started a lust and longing to know the ground and original of life, as would not be stopped until the ground and original of life, namely, that depth of darkness and fire, in and from which every creaturely life must begin, was totally opened in him, and he was as much swallowed up by hell, as Adam was by the earthly life. Thus you may see, how the same aspiring imagination (but with regard to different matters) rising in the same manner, and from the same cause, in both these creatures, and working itself up into a lust and longing, brought the one from heaven into hell, and the other from paradise into a bestial world.
Now as the lust of Adam, when it had obtained its desire, opened all the properties and tempers of the bestial life in him; so the lust of the angel, when it got what it wanted; i.e., the ground and original of the creaturely life, which is darkness and fire; immediately opened all the dreadful properties of darkness and fire in him, which at once swallowed up or extinguished the angelic nature. Hence wrath, hatred, pride, envy, malice, and every enmity to light and love, are the one only life of the fallen angel; and he can will and act nothing else, but as these properties of darkness and fire drive him.
To ask therefore, why the fallen angels continue in their state, is to ask, why darkness is not made to be light? For the root and ground of nature is unchangeable; it keeps its own nature, or it could not be the ground; it must stand always in its own place, and be only the ground and root; it cannot rise higher than the root, no more than the root of the tree can be its branches and fruit. The angels, therefore,
having fallen into the ground and root of nature, have only the working life of the ground and root of nature in them; and therefore seem to be as unchangeable, and incapable of having anything else, as the root itself is capable of changing.
To ask therefore, why the fallen angels were not helped by the mercy and goodness of God, as fallen man was; is like asking, why the refreshing dew of heaven does not do that to flint, which it does to the vegetable plant? For as the nature of the flint is too hard, and too much compacted, to receive any alteration from the sweet softness of refreshing water; so the fallen angel, like the flint, being shut up in the wrathful working of its own hard darkness and fire, the goodness of God can have no entrance into it.
For what are we to understand by the mercy and goodness of God? His mercy is his patience. And his goodness, is his light, and word, and Holy Spirit. Now every creature has the benefit of divine patience; but no creature can have his goodness, but that which is capable of receiving his light, and Holy Spirit.
And his light, and Holy Spirit, cannot enter into a creature, as an external, additional thing, that may be given to it, whether it wants it or not, but it must be brought forth as a birth in it. For the light, and spirit of God can be nowhere, but as a birth, whether it be in God, or the creature. And therefore the goodness of God can be imparted to no creature, but that which is capable of a birth of the light and spirit of God, or, in the words of scripture, unless it be born of the word and spirit of God.
This therefore you may rest upon, as a certain truth, that the one and only reason, why the fallen angels have as yet had nothing of the spirit or light of God breathed into, or born in them, is, because they are as yet utterly incapable of such a birth, or of being helped by the divine goodness. For as flame cannot communicate itself to flint, nor the spirit of God to a beast; because the flint stands in the utmost contrariety to flame, and the beast in a total incapacity of holiness so the fallen angel is in its working life altogether incapable of receiving the spirit and life of God into it. Were it not this way, angels would have been helped, as early as man: for the goodness, or the light and spirit of God loses no time, but stands always in the same fullness of communication of itself to every creature that is capable of receiving it. Therefore it is, that fallen man was immediately helped, because he fell only into earthly flesh and blood, in which the light of this
world is kindled, which light has something of heaven in it, and was kindled by the light of heaven.
And therefore the goodness of God, or his light, and Holy Spirit, could come to man's assistance in the light of this life, and therein begin a covenant of redemption with him. For in this light of his life, which is a ray of heaven, the in-spoken word in paradise could enter, and have communion with it, and make itself to be a beginning of salvation to all those, who by faith and hope should lay hold of it, and endeavor after a new birth from it. Thus stands the ground and reason why men, and not angels, were immediately helped at their fall.
As to your last question, whether I believe the final restoration of all the fallen angels; I shall only say, that neither ancient nor modern writers, on either side of the question, have touched the true merits of the cause, or spoken to that point on which the decision of the matter wholly rests. For it can neither be sufficiently affirmed, nor sufficiently denied, by any arguments drawn either from the divine attributes, or texts of scripture; for they cannot come up to the point in question. But the true ground and merit of the cause lies solely in the possibility of the thing, which no one has attempted to prove, nor perhaps is anyone able to do it; namely, to show from a true ground, that the diabolical nature is possible to be altered. Darkness can by no omnipotence be made to be light; it can only be suppressed, or overcome by it, or forced to be hid under it, as heaven hides or overcomes hell; but still the darkness has its first nature, never to be changed.
Now if anyone can show, that the devils are not essentially evil, as darkness is essentially dark, but have only such an accidental difference from goodness, as ice has from water, or a flint from transparent glass; then their restoration is possible, and they will infallibly have all their evil removed out of them by the goodness of God.
But unless it could be shown from a true ground in nature, that the fallen angels must have something of the heavenly life in them, though shut up in a thousand times harder death, than fire is in flint, no length of time, or anything else, can produce any alteration, or termination of their evil nature. For time cannot alter the nature or essence of things; it only suffers that to come to pass which is possible, and consistent with the nature of things. No length of time
can make a circle to have, or give forth, the properties of a straight line.
Now if the fallen angels have nothing heavenly in them, but stand in as full a contrariety to all that is heavenly, as the circle does to the properties of the straight line; then goodness is as impossible to be ever awakened in them, as in a beast. The beast must always be what it was at first; and for this reason, because nothing but the bestial nature is in it: if therefore the fallen angel is totally hellish, as the beast is bestial, it must always be what it is.
But we have gone far enough into this subject; and which cannot be sufficiently affirmed or denied but from the known possibility, or the known impossibility, of the thing, which does not yet appear. If it is possible, I am heartily glad of it; and am also sure enough, that it will then come to pass in its own time. For if he could not be thought to be a good man, who did not do all that he could to make sinners become holy and happy in goodness, we may be sure enough that the boundless goodness of God, will set no bounds to itself, but remove every misery from every creature that is capable of it. But let me now return to Humanus, and ask him, that, supposing he could not convince a man of the certainty of his fallen state, how he would farther proceed with him.
Humanus: Truly, Theophilus, I would proceed no further at all; and for this good reason, because I would then have nothing to proceed upon. If I knew of a certainty about an infallible cure for every disorder of the eyes, but a cure that could only be had by going to china, I would not attempt to persuade a man, who believed his eyes to be sound and good, to leave all that he had, and go to china for this infallible remedy for bad eyes.
Now to press a man to deny himself, and leave all that he has in the enjoyments of flesh and blood, in order to be reconciled to God, who believes himself to be in the same good state, in which God created him, seems to be as wild a project, as to desire him who is well pleased with the goodness of his sight, to go to the china to be helped to see.
And indeed I very well know, from former experience, that all discourse about the reasonableness of Christianity, the doctrine of the cross, the exceeding love of God in giving so great a savior, is but unimportant words, heard with the greatest indifference, and incapable of raising the least seriousness in me, because I have not the least notion or suspicion of the truth and greatness of my fallen
state, and therefore I was not a man that could be affected with these matters. And since it was that Christ said, "come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"; as plain as if he had said, no one else can come to me, nor anyone else be refreshed by me. Here therefore, in my humble opinion, should all begin, who would propagate Christianity, or make true converts to it, and here stop, as Christ did. It is only the weary, and heavy laden, that are fitted to be converts, or refreshed; and therefore we can in no way help a man to be a Christian, or fit him to be refreshed by Christ, but by bringing him into a full sensibility of the evil, and burden, and vanity of his natural state. And if he cannot be made sensible of this, we are to leave him to himself in his natural state, until some good providence awakens him out of it; and not make proposals to him of the reasonableness of believing in the holy trinity, the incarnation of the son of God, and the necessity of his sufferings and death. For this method is as absurd, as to enter into solemn debate with a confessed atheist, about the reasonableness of worshiping God in spirit and truth; for, as the existence of a God is the only ground of proving that he ought to be worshiped in spirit and truth, so the certainty and belief of our fallen state is the only ground of showing the reasonableness of the mysteries of redemption. And he that disowns the fall of man from a divine life, has all the same reasons for rejecting the mysteries of our salvation, as the atheist has to reject the doctrines of a spiritual worship of God. Therefore, to expose the mysteries of our salvation to the wrangle of a debate with one who doe not believe how far man has fallen, which mysteries have no other ground to stand upon, is not only helping him to an easy triumph over you, but is the most likely method to prevent his ever becoming a Christian. For seeing how easily he can ridicule mysteries, which, to him in his present state, can have no reasonableness at all, he is put into the most likely way of living and dying in a hardened contempt of them. Whereas if you stick close to the one true ground of Christianity, and only proceed as that proceeds, and make the unbeliever no offers of any other Christianity, but that which is to begin with the acknowledged sensibility of the fall of human nature from its first divine life; you stop where you ought to stop, and rob him of all power and pretense of meddling with the mysteries of salvation.
The one business then upon his hands, if he will hold out against you, must be to deny his reason and senses, and maintain, in spite of both, that man is not fallen, but is by nature holy, just, good, and happy
both in body and soul; and that mankind, and the world they are in, have all that goodness and happiness, which they could be supposed to have from an infinitely good and happy God; and who can will nothing in the creature but goodness and happiness. Here you bring the deist to his proper work, and all the contradiction to sense and reason will lie on his side: you set Christianity upon its true ground; and whoever thus defends it, as it ought to be defended, not only does justice to the Christian cause, but acts the most kind and friendly part towards those who oppose it merely through a misunderstanding of its true ground and nature; which I will venture to say is the case of all the sober well-meaning deists. For deism has no natural foundation, or ground of its own, to stand upon; it does not grow from any root or strength within itself, but is what it is merely from the bad state of Christendom, and the miserable use of heathenish learning, and worldly policy, that have misrepresented the gospel. If it (deism) seems to itself to be strong and well-grounded, it is merely because it can so easily object to church-doctrines, and scholastic opinions: if it seems to itself to be good it is because it can so easily lay open the evils which Christians and churches bring upon one another: if it seems to itself to be highly rational, the reason is this, because it is free from that number of absurdities and contradictions which Christian churches lay to the charge of one another. Lastly, if it keeps off all fearful forebodings of the consequences of not receiving the gospel, it is because it so plainly sees, that Christians say, hail, master, kiss the gospel, and then break every part of it.
This is the true height, and depth, and total strength of deism or infidelity; I have never conversed with a deist, who carried the matter higher or farther than this, to support the cause. Hence it is, that you made so speedy a convert of me, by showing me such a Christianity as I never heard of before; and stripped away everything that gave me power to oppose it. Had you proceeded in the way practiced by most defenders of the gospel, you would have left me just as you found me, if not more confirmed in my old way. But as you have justly removed all controversy about doctrines from the merits of the cause, and shown that it all lies in this one short, plain, and decisive point, namely the fall of man; a fall proved and demonstrated to all my senses and reason, by every height and depth of nature, by every kind of misery, evil, and sin in the world, by everything we know of God, ourselves, and the world we live in; the ground and foundation of Christianity is undeniable, and no one can be too speedy a convert to the belief of it. And as you have also shown, that the whole nature
of gospel redemption means nothing but the one, true, and only possible way of delivering man from his miserable state in this world; Christianity is shown to be the most intelligible and desirable thing that the heart of man can think of. And thus, contrary to all expectation, the tables are quite turned; deism can no longer be founded on argument, and Christianity is as self-evident as our senses: all learning on both sides, either for or against it, is insignificant; Christianity stands upon a foundation quite superior to it, and may be the sure possession of every plain man, who has sense enough to know whether he is happy or unhappy, good or evil. For this natural knowledge, if adhered to, is every man's sure guide to that one salvation preached by the gospel. Which gospel stands in no more need of learning and critical art now, than it did when Christ was preaching it upon earth. How absurd would it have been for any critics in Greek or Hebrew, to have followed Christ and his apostles, as necessary explainers of their hard words, which called for nothing in the hearers but penitent hearts turned to God; and declared, that they only who were of God, could hear the word of God! How strange, that Christ should choose only illiterate men to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, if only great scholars could rightly understand what they said! Again, supposing learned men to have only the true fitness to understand the word of scripture, and that the plain man is to receive it from them, how must he know which are the scholars that have the right knowledge? From what source is he to have this information? For no one needs to be told, that ever since learning has ruled in the church, learned doctors have contradicted and condemned one another in every essential point of the Christian doctrine. Thousands of learned men tell the illiterate, they are lost in this or that church; and thousands of learned men tell them, they are lost, if they leave it.
If therefore Christianity is in the hands of scholars, how must the plain man come at it? Must he, though unable to understand scripture, for want of learning, tell which learned man is in the right, and which is not? If so, the unlearned man has much the greatest ability, since he is to do that for scholars, which they cannot do for themselves.
But the truth of the matter is this; Christian redemption is God's mercy to all mankind; but it could not be so, if every fallen man, as such, had not some fitness and capacity to lay hold of it. It must have no dependence upon times and places, or the ages and conditions of the world, or any outward circumstance of life; as the first man partook of it, so must the last; the learned linguist, and the blind, the deaf and dumb, have but one and the same common way of finding life in it. And he that writes large commentaries upon the whole bible, must be saved by something full as different from book knowledge, as they were, who lived when there was neither book nor any alphabet in the world.
For this salvation, which is God's mercy to the fallen soul of man, merely as fallen, must be something that meets every man; and which every man, as fallen, has something that directs him to turn to it. For as the fall of man is the reason of this mercy, so the fall must be the guide to it; the want must show the thing that is wanted. And therefore the manifestation of this one salvation, or mercy to man, must have a nature suitable, not to this or that great reader of history, or able critic in Hebrew roots and Greek phrases, but suitable to the common state and condition of every son of Adam. It must be something as grounded in human nature, as the fall itself is, which needs no skill to make it known; but to which the common nature of man is the only guide in one man, as well as another. Now this something, which is so obvious to every man, and which opens the way to Christian redemption in every soul, is a sense of the vanity and misery of this world; and a prayer of faith and hope to God, to be raised to a better state.
Now in this sensibility, which every man's own nature leads him into, lies the whole of man's salvation; here the mercy of God and the misery of man meet; here the fall and the redemption kiss each other. This is the Christianity which is as old as the fall; which alone saved the first man, and can alone save the last. This is it, on which hang all the law and the prophets, and which fulfills them both; for they have only this one end, to turn man from the lusts of this life, to a desire, and faith, and hope of a better. Thus the whole of Christian redemption, considered on the part of man, stands in this degree of nearness and plainness to all mankind; it is as simple and plain as feeling our own evil and misery, and as natural as the desire of being saved and delivered from it.
This is the Christianity which every man must first be made sensible of, not from hearsay, but as a growth or degree of life within himself, before he can have any fitness, or the least pretense to judge or speak a word about the further mysteries of the gospel. But here I stop.
Theophilus: Well, Humanus, I have now pushed the matter with you, as far as I intended; and you have given me full proof of the truth and solidity of your own conversion, and your ability to do good amongst your brethren. You must now enter the lists with them; not to charge them with ignorance, ill-will, or profaneness of spirit, but only to try, in the spirit of love and meekness, to undeceive them, in the manner you have been undeceived; and to show them, that Christianity is by no means that thing, which you and they have so long disliked.
Nothing can be more right than your resolution not to enter into debate about gospel doctrines, or propose the reasonableness of them to anyone, until he owns himself sensibly convinced of the fore-mentioned fall of man; and stands in a full desire to be saved, or delivered from it. And if that time never comes, you must leave him, as in the same incapacity to hear or judge of the doctrines of the holy trinity, the incarnation of the son of God, the operation of the Holy Spirit, as any atheist would be. For every man that cleaves to this world, that is in love with it, and its earthly enjoyments, is a disciple of Epicurus, and sticks in the same mire of atheism, as he did, whether he be a modern deist, a popish or protestant Christian, an Arian, or an orthodox teacher. For all these distinctions are without any difference, if this world has the possession and government of his heart. For the whole of the matter lies solely in this, whether heaven, or earth, has the heart and government of man. Nothing divides the worshipers of the true God from idolaters but this: where earth possesses and rules the heart, there all are of one and the same religion, and worship one and the same God, however they may be distinguished by sect or party.
And wherever the heart is weary of the evil and vanity of the earthly life, and looking up to God for an heavenly nature, there all are one in the true religion, and worshippers of the true God, however distant they may be from one another, as to time or place. But enough has been said of this matter. Let me now only, before we break up, observe to you the true ground and nature of gospel Christianity: I call it so by way of distinction from that original universal Christianity, which began with Adam; it was the religion of the patriarchs, of Moses and the prophets, and of every penitent man in every part of the world, that had faith and hope towards God, to be delivered from the evil of this world. But when the son of God had taken a birth in and from human nature, had finished all the wonders
that belonged to our redemption, and sat down at the right hand of God in heaven, then a heavenly kingdom was set up on earth, and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, was given to the flock of Christ in such a degree of birth and life, as never was, nor could be given to human nature, until Christ, the redeemer of human nature, was glorified. But when the humanity of Christ, our second Adam, was glorified, and became all heavenly, then the heavenly life, the comfort, and power, and presence of the Holy Spirit, was the gift which he gave to his brethren, his friends and followers, which he had left upon earth.
The Holy Ghost descended in the shape of cloven tongues of fire on the heads of those, that were to begin and open the new powers of a divine life set up amongst men. This was the beginning and manifestation of the whole nature and power of gospel Christianity, a thing as different from what was Christianity before, as the possession of the thing hoped for is different from hope, or deliverance different from the desire or expectation of it. Hence the apostles were new men, entered into a new kingdom come down from heaven, enlightened with new light, inflamed with new love, and preached not any absent or distant thing, but Jesus Christ, as the wisdom and power of God, felt and found within them, and as a power of God ready to be communicated in the same manner, as a new birth from above, to all that would repent and believe in him. It was to this change of nature, of life, and spirit, to this certain immediate deliverance from the power of sin, to be possessed and governed by gifts and graces of an heavenly life, that men were then called to, as true Christianity. And the preachers of it bore witness, not to a thing that they had heard, but to a power of salvation, a renewal of nature, a birth of heaven, a sanctification of spirit, which they themselves had received. Gospel Christianity then stood upon its own true ground; it appeared to be what it was. And what was it? Why, it was an awakened divine life set up amongst men; itself was its own proof; it appealed to its proper judge, to the heart and conscience of man, which was alone capable of being touched with these offers of a new life.
Hence it was, that sinners of all sorts, that felt the burden of their evil natures, were in a state of fitness to receive these glad tidings. While the rigid Pharisee, the orthodox priest, and the rational heathen, though at enmity with one another, and each proud of his own distinction, yet all agreed in rejecting and abhorring a spiritual Savior, that was to save them from their carnal selves, and the vanity of their own rational selfish virtues. But when, after awhile, Christianity had lost its first glory, appeared no longer as a divine life awakened amongst men, and itself was no longer its own proof of the power and Spirit of God manifested in it; then heathenish learning, and temporal power, was from age to age forced to be called the glory and prosperity of the Church of Christ; although in the revelation of St. John, its figure is that of a scarlet whore riding upon the beast.
Here therefore, my friend, you are to place the true distinction of gospel Christianity from all that went before it, or that is come up after it. It is purely and solely a divine life awakened, and set up amongst men, as the effect and fruit of Christ's glorification in heaven; and has no other promise from him but that of his Holy Spirit, to be with it, as its light, its guide, its strength, its comfort, and protection, to the end of the world. Therefore as gospel Christians, we belong to the new covenant of the Holy Spirit which is the kingdom of God come down from heaven on the day of Pentecost; and therefore it is, that there is no possibility of seeing or entering into this new kingdom, but by being born again of the Spirit. The apostles and disciples of Christ, though they had been baptized with water, had followed Christ, heard his doctrines, and done wonders in his name; yet as then, stood only near to the kingdom of God, and preached it to be at hand. They had only seen and known Christ according to the flesh; had followed him with great zeal, but with little and very low knowledge either of him or his kingdom; and therefore it was, that they were commanded to stand still, and not act as his ministers in his new glorified state, until they were endued with power from on high: which power they then received, when the Holy Ghost with his cloven tongues of fire came down upon them, by which they became the illuminated instruments, that were to diffuse the light of an heavenly kingdom over all the world. From that day began gospel Christianity, with its true distinction from everything that was before it; which was the ministration of the spirit; and the ministers of it called the world to nothing but gifts and graces of the same spirit, to look for nothing but spiritual blessings, to trust, and hope, and pray for nothing but the power of that spirit, which was to be the one life and ruling spirit of this newly opened kingdom of God.
No one could join himself to them or have any part with them but by dying to the wisdom and light of the flesh, that he might live by the spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ, who had called them to His kingdom and glory. Now this Christianity is its own proof; it can be proved from nothing but itself; it wants neither miracles, nor outward witness; but, like the sun, is only its own discoverer.
He that adheres only to the history of the facts, doctrines, and institutions of the gospel, without being born of its spirit, is only such a Christian, and is no nearer to Christ, than the Jew, who carnally adhered to the letter of the law. They both stand the same distance from gospel Christianity.
It is in vain therefore for the modern Christian, to appeal to antiquity, to history, and ancient churches, to prove that he belongs to Christ; for he can only belong to Him, by having the power of Christ, and the Spirit of God living and dwelling in his renewed inward man.
But a learned Christianity, supported and governed by reason, dispute, and criticism, that is forced to appeal to canons, and councils, and ancient usages, to defend itself, has lost its place, stands upon a fictitious ground, and shows, that it cannot appeal to itself, to its own works, which alone are the certain and only proofs either of a true, or a false Christianity.
For the truth of Christianity is the Spirit of God living and working in it; and where this Spirit is not the life of it, there the outward form is but like the outward carcass of a departed soul.
For the spiritual life is as much its own proof, as the natural life, and needs no outward, or foreign thing to bear witness to it. But if you please, gentlemen, we will end for this time, and refer what remains to a later time.
The end of the part 1
Part 2
Academicus: I must take the liberty, gentlemen, of speaking first; for though I have been much pleased with what passed between Humanus and Theophilus in the first conversation, yet I must admit to you, that I was quite disappointed; for I came in full expectation of hearing everything, that I wish, and want to know, concerning Jacob Behmen, and his works. For though I have been reading, for more than two years, some of his books, with the utmost attention, and I everywhere find the greatest truths of the gospel most fundamentally asserted, yet presently I am led into such depths, as I know not where I am, and talked to in such new, intricate, and unintelligible language, as seems quite impossible to be comprehended. Sometimes I almost suspect, that the author did not understand himself: for I think, if I knew any truths, though ever so deep or uncommon; yet, if I understand them plainly myself, I could set them before others in the same plainness, that they appeared to me.
All my acquaintance have the same complaint that I have made; but some hope, and others say, that if you live to publish any of his books, you will remove most of his strange and unintelligible words; and give us notes and explications of such as you don't alter. Surely a kind of commentary upon him, would reconcile many to the reading of him, who, in the state he is in, cannot have patience to puzzle their heads about him.
Rusticus: Oh this impatient scholar! How many troubles do I escape, through the lack of his learning? How much better does my old neighbor john the shepherd proceed? In winter evenings,
when he comes out of the field, his own eyes being bad, the old woman, his wife puts on her spectacles, and reads about an hour to him, sometimes out of the scriptures, and sometimes out of Jacob Behmen; for he has had two or three of Jacob's books for some years. I sat by one evening, when my wife, reading Jacob, had much ado to get on: john, said I, do you understand all this? Ah, says he, God bless the heart of the dear man, I sometimes understand but little of him; and sometimes betty does not always read right; but what little I do understand, does me so much good, that I love him even where I don't understand him. John, said I, shall I bring a man to you, that knows the meaning of all of Jacob's hard words, and can make all his high matters as plain to you, as the plainest things in the
world? No, replied john, I don't want such a man, to explain Jacob's words; I would rather have a little of his own, as it comes from him, than twenty times as much second-hand. Madam, the squire's wife, of our town, hearing how betty and I loved the scriptures, brought us, one day, a huge expounding book upon the new testament; and told us, that we would understand the scripture a great deal better, by reading it in that book, than reading the testament alone. The next lord's day, when two or three neighbors, according to custom, came to sit with us in the evening; betty, said I, bring out madam's great book, and read the fifth chapter of Matthew. When she had done that, I bid her read the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians. The next morning, I said to betty, carry this expounding book again to the mistress, and tell her, that the words of Christ, and his apostles, are best by themselves, and just as they left them.
And, as I was going to my sheep that morning, I thought to myself, this great expounding book seems to have done just as much good to this little book of the testament, by being added to it, and mixed with it, as a gallon of water would do to a little cup of true wine, by being added to it, or mixed with it. The wine indeed would be all there; but its fine taste, and cordial spirit, which it had, when drank by itself, would be all lost and drowned in the coldness and deadness of the water.
When my betty used to read this, or some such words of Christ, 'blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'; she used to stop a little while, that my heart might have time to be affected with them, to love the blessed thing spoken of, and lift up my soul to God in desire of it. But this great book takes this good work from my heart; and only calls upon my mind, to behold the many parts which the text may be split into, and the many meanings, some better and some worse, some higher and some lower, that every part has, and may be taken in, by some doctor of some church or other. Therefore, Rusticus, I sent the great book to Madam again; and am, for the same reason, utterly against hearing your expounder of Jacob Behmen. If Jacob has more truths than other folks, he is the best able to tell me what they are; and if he has some matters too high for me, I don't desire any lesser man to make them lower.
When he, like an Elijah, in his fiery chariot, is caught up into such heights, and sees and relates such things, as I cannot yet comprehend; I love and reverence him for having been where I have not; and
seeing such things as he cannot make me see: just as I love and reverence Paul for having been caught up into the third heaven, and hearing and seeing things not possible to be uttered in human words.
As I have but one end in hearing the scriptures read to me, to fill me with the love of God, and every kind of goodness; so every part of scripture, whether plain or mysterious, does me the same good, and kindles the same heavenly flame in my soul. Therefore these plain words, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls; gives me, without any one to expound it their meaning, and such an aversion and dislike of all vanity and pride, it fills me with such sweet contentment in every humility of life, that I long to be the servant of every human creature. On the other hand, these lofty words of scripture, "behold, a throne was set in heaven; and he that sat thereon, was, to look upon, like a jasper-stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne; and four-and-twenty seats; and upon the seats, four-and-twenty elders in white raiment, and crowns of gold upon their heads: and out of the throne proceeded lightning, and thunders, and voices: and before the throne were seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God: and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about it, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind: and the first beast was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle: and the four beasts had each of them six wings, and were full of eyes; and they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when these beasts give glory, and honor, and thanks, to him that sat on the throne, the four-and-twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, thou art worthy, o lord, to receive glory and honor, for thou hast created all things" Revelations, 4:2.
Now these lofty and mysterious words, instead of puzzling my head, lay hold of my heart, which, all inflamed with them, rises up with the eyes and wings of the beasts in their song of praise and honor; and bows down with the elders that worship the high and mighty lord of heaven and earth. And I do not want a Hebrew or Greek scholar to tell me this or that, what the seven spirits of God are, why four kinds of beasts, why neither more nor less than six wings, who were the elders, and why twenty-four; but the whole matter, is as if a glance of the majesty of heaven had just passed by me, and strikes my heart
with such an ecstasy of wonder and joy, as makes me to long and desire to be one of those, who are always singing the praises and wonders of the majesty of God. And therefore, Rusticus, all that the scriptures give me to drink, whether high or low, are equally a cup of blessing to me, and equally helps forward the growth of heaven in my soul.
Bring not therefore your cunning man, that has skill in words, to me; for words are but words; and though they be spoken even by the messengers of God, as angels, or prophets, or apostles; when they do their best, they can only do, as John the Baptist did, bear witness to the light: but the light itself, which can only give light to the soul, is God himself. And therefore not he that can best speak with the tongues of men and angels, but he that most loves God, that is, that most loves the goodness of the divine nature; he has most of God, and the light of God within him.
Thus honest old john the shepherd ended. And now, Academicus, if your learned curiosity could be as much affected with what he has said, as my ignorant simplicity is, you would drop all that you have said, as the effect of such impatience as is much fitter to bring darkness than light into your soul. You own, that, in the works of Behmen, the greatest points of Christianity are most fundamentally opened. And how can you be more self-condemned, than by desiring more?
But the truth is, you have only heard these fundamental matters; you have only received them as good notions; are content with the hearsay of them; and are therefore impatient to have more of this hearsay knowledge, that you may become more learned in high matters, and more able to talk about the ground and depth of Christian doctrines. You know, as well as I can tell you, that this is your joy in Jacob Behmen; and so it is, that you have no patience, when you can't understand his meaning, so as to add it to your number of notions. And thus you forget how often he tells you, and how fundamentally he proves to you, that this notional knowledge, the treasure of human reason, is the very builder of Babel. While you are under the guidance of our own Babylonian reason, you can have no good either from the scriptures, or the writings of Jacob Behmen; but will be hunting after notes and commentaries to help you to notions which only delude your mind with the empty shadows
of knowledge. If you would know the truths of Jacob Behmen, and want to stand where he stood; you must begin where he began, and seek only, as he tells you he did, the heart of God, that you might be saved from the wrath of sin and Satan; and then it was, that the light of God broke in upon him. But you, full of the power of your own reason, want to stand upon the top of his ladder, without the trouble of beginning at the bottom, and going up step by step. But I believe you would rather have Theophilus speak than me; and therefore I shall now leave you to him.
Theophilus: Truly, Academicus, I am of the same mind as Rusticus, though perhaps I might not have spoken it so bluntly as he has done. You seem to be in the same error, that most of my learned friends are in, with regard to Jacob Behmen, who, though they greatly admire him, yet, of all people, receive the least true benefit from him. They have been trained up in dispute and controversy, accustomed to determine everything by the light of their own reason, and know no other guide to truth. And therefore, sooner or later, they come to know the falseness of this guide, they can have no entrance into the region of divine light; but must be forced to take their part, not of truth, but of some system of opinions, as their birth and education has placed them in. Thus, a learned papist has one creed, and the learned protestant has another; not because truth and light has helped him to it; but because birth and education have given to the one popish, to the other protestant eyes. For reason, which is the eye or light of both, finds as much to its purpose, and as many good tools to work with, in popish, as in protestant opinions. Learning and criticism are an open field to both, and he only has the greatest harvest, who is the best skilled in reaping.
Academicus: I perceive then, that I must renounce all my learning and reason, if I am to understand Jacob Behmen. I cannot say, that I am resolved to purchase it at so great a price. I hope the knowledge to be had from the scriptures, will be sufficient for me, without his deep matters. I did not expect to find you so great an enemy to learning.
Theophilus: Dear Academicus, do not be so anxious; I am no more an enemy to learning, than I am to that skill which builds mills to grind our corn, or houses for ourselves to dwell in. I esteem the liberal arts and sciences as the noblest of human things; I desire no man to dislike or renounce his skill in ancient or modern languages; his knowledge of metals, pictures, paintings, history, geography, or chronology; I have no more dislike of these things in themselves, than of the art of throwing silk, or making lace. But then all these things are to stand in their proper places, and everyone kept within its own sphere.
Now all this circle of science and arts, belong solely to the natural man; they are the work of his natural powers and faculties; and the most wicked, sensual, unjust person, who regards neither God, nor man, may yet be one of the ablest and proficient in any of them. But now Christian redemption is quite of another nature; it has no affinity to any of these arts or sciences; it belongs not to the outward natural man, but is purely for the sake of an inward, heavenly nature, that was lost, or put to death, in paradise, and buried under the flesh and blood of the earthly, natural man. It breathes a spark of life into this inward, hidden, or lost man; by which it feels and finds itself, and rises up in a new awakened desires after its lost father, and native country.
This is Christian redemption; on the one side, it is the heavenly divine life offering itself again to the inward man, that had lost it. On the other side, it is the hope, the faith, and desire of this inward man, hungering, and thirsting, stretching after, and calling upon this divine and heavenly life.
Now, whether this awakened, new man breathes forth his faith and hope towards this divine life, in Hebrew, Greek, or English sounds, or in none of them, is not significant: a man that can do it only in one, or in all these languages, is neither farther from, nor nearer to, this redeeming life of God. Or can you think, that the heavenly life must more willingly enter into, and open itself in, a man that has many languages, than in him, who knows only one? Or, that a man, who can make speak Dutch, welsh, or Greek grammars, will have a stronger faith, a more lively hope, and a more continual thirst after God, than he who can but poorly spell in his mother tongue? But now, if this is too absurd to be supposed; then, my friend, without the least injury done, or the least enmity shown, to learning, science, reason, and criticism, you must place them just where I have done, amongst the things and ornaments of this earthly life, and such things as, in their own nature, are as easy to be had, and as highly enjoyed, by men that despise all goodness, as by those who fear God, and eschew evil.
And therefore, sir, no truths concerning the divine and heavenly life are to be brought to trial before this learned bar, where both jury and judges are born and bred, live and move and have their being, in another world, which have no more power of feeling the divine life, than an eagle's eyes can look into the kingdom of God. If you, my friend, having read many old Greek and Latin books, should intend to publish homer, or Caesar's commentaries, with critical notes, I should have nothing to object to your ability; you might be as well qualified by such means for such a work, as one man is to make baskets, or another traps to catch flies. But if, because of this skill in old Greek and Latin, you should seem to yourself, or others, to be well qualified to write notes upon the spirit and meaning of the words of Christ, I should tell you, that your undertaking was quite unnatural, and as impossible to be free from error, as when a blind man undertakes to set forth the beauty of different colors.
For the doctrines of redemption belong no more to the natural man, than the beauty of colors to him, that never saw the light.
And from this unnatural procedure it is, that the scriptures are as useful to the Socinian or Arian, the papist or the protestant; and they can as easily, by the light of reason, charge one another with absurdities, and confute each other's opinion, as two blind men can quarrel and reject each other's notions of red and green.
Jesus Christ is the light of that heavenly man that died in paradise; and therefore nothing in man, but that awakened seed of life, that died in paradise, can have the least sensibility or capacity for receiving the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. But light and life have no dependence upon words or phrases; they both can only proceed from a birth, whether it be the light and life of God, or the light and life of this world. How absurd would it be, to suppose, that a man, naturally blind, must be taught grammar or logic, to fit him for the reception of the light of the sun, and the knowledge of colors? Yet not less absurd, than to think, that skill in Hebrew and Greek words can open the light of God and heaven in the soul. If you now, Academicus, can set this matter in a more just light, I am ready to hear you.
Academicus: Standing upon the ground, that you, stand upon, all that you have said of reason, science, historical knowledge, or critical skill in words, is unanswerable. For what can all these things avail, if redemption is purely a birth of the divine nature, light, and spirit of God, offered to fallen man; which birth can only be received by the faith, hope, and desire of that inward man, which is divine in us? For nothing else can have any hunger or thirst after the divine nature, but that which is itself born of it.
Now this true ground of the Christian redemption gives the greatest glory to God and comfort to man. It explains the fact, why plain and simple souls, having their inward man kindled into love, hope, and faith in God, are capable of the highest divine illumination; while learned students, full of art and science, can live and die without the least true knowledge of God and Christ, and be slaves to all the lusts of the flesh. For thus, this redemption belongs only to one sort of people, and yet is common to all. It is equally near, and equally open, to every son of man. There is no difference between learned and unlearned, between Jew or Greek, male or female, Scythian or barbarian, bond or free; but the same lord is God over all, and equally near to all that call upon him. We have been told, that the glory of the divine goodness, gives fodder to the cattle; and feeds the young ravens that cry unto it. What cattle? Surely not only to the cattle of Jacob; or only to the young ravens that cry in the land of Judah. Yet this would be much more consistent with the goodness of the one universal God, than to hold, that only the sons of Jacob, or the children of the circumcision, were in the covenant of God's redemption. but now, though this one ground of Christian redemption stands in the highest degree of plainness from scripture, and is absolutely certain from the very nature of the thing; yet, until I met with Rusticus, I never conversed with any man, or read any book, that gave me the least hint of it. When I received my degrees, I consulted
several great divines, to share with me a method of studying divinity. Had I said to them, sirs what must I do to be saved? They would have prescribed hellebore to me, or directed me to the physician as an enthusiast. And yet I am now fully satisfied, that this one question ought to be the sole inquiry of him, who desires to be a true divine. And was our savior himself on earth, who surely could do more for me, than all the libraries in the world; yet I need have asked no more divinity-knowledge of him, than is contained in this one question.
It would take up near half a day, to tell you the work which my learned friends have cut out for me. One told me, that Hebrew words are all; that they must be read without points; and then the old testament is an opened book. He recommended to me a cart-load of lexicons, critics, and commentators, upon the Hebrew bible. Another tells me, the Greek bible is the best; that it corrects the Hebrew in many places; and refers me to a large number of books learnedly written in the defense of it. Another tells me, that church-history is the main matter; that I must begin with the first fathers, and follow them through every age of the church, not forgetting to take the lives of the roman emperors along with me, as striking great light into the state of the church in their times. Then I must have recourse to all the councils held, and the canons made, in every age which would enable me to see with my own eyes the great corruptions of the council of Trent. Another, who is not very fond of ancient matters, but wholly bent upon rational Christianity, tells me, I need go no higher than the reformation; that Calvin and Crammer were very great men; that Chillingworth and Locke ought always to lie upon my table; that I must get an entire set of those learned volumes wrote against popery in king James's reign; and also be well versed in all the discourses which Mr. Boyle's and lady Moyer's lectures have produced: and then, says he, you will be a match for our greatest enemies, which are the popish priests, and modern deists. My tutor is very liturgical; he desires me, of all things to get all the collections that I can of the ancient liturgies, and all the authors that treat of such matters; who, he says, are very learned, and very numerous. He has been many years making observations upon them, and is now clear, as to the time, when certain little particles received entrance into the liturgies, and others were by degrees dropped. He has a friend abroad, in search of ancient manuscript liturgies; for, by the by, said he, at parting, I have some suspicion that our sacrament of the lord's supper is essentially defective, for want of having a little water in the wine.
Another learned friend tells me, the Clementine constitutions is the book of books; and that all that lies loose and scattered in the new testament, stands there in its true order and form; and though he won't say, that dr. Clarke and Mr. Whiston are in the right; yet it might be useful to me to read all the Arian and Socinian writers, provided I stood upon my guard, and did it with caution. The last person I consulted, advised me to get all the histories of the rise and progress of heresies, and of the lives and characters of heretics. These histories, he said, contract the matter, bring truth and error
close in view; and I should find all that collected in a few pages, which would have cost me some years to have collected together. He also desired me to be well versed in all the casuistical writers, and chief schoolmen; for they debate matters to the bottom; dissect every virtue, and every vice, into its many degrees and parts; and show, how near they can come to one another without touching. And this knowledge, he said, might be useful to me, when I came to be a parish priest.
Following the advice of all these counselors, as well as I could, I lighted my candle early in the morning, and put it out late at night. In this labor I had been sweating for some years, until Rusticus, at my first acquaintance with him, seeing my way of life, said to me, had you lived about seventeen hundred years ago, you would have stood just in the same place as I stand now. I cannot read; and therefore, says he, all these hundreds of thousands of disputing books, and doctrine-books, which these seventeen hundred years have produced, stand not in my way, they are the same thing to me, as if they had never existed. And had you lived at the time mentioned, you would have escaped them all, as I now do, because, though you are a very good reader, none of them at that time existed.
Could you therefore, be content to be one of the primitive Christians, who were as good as any that have been since; you may spare all this labor. Take only the gospel into your hands; deny yourself; renounce the lusts of the flesh; set your affections on things above; call upon God for his Holy Spirit; walk by faith, and not by sight; adore the holy deity of father, son, and Holy Ghost, in whose image and likeness you were at first created; and in whose name and power you have been baptized, to be again the living likeness, and holy habitation, of his life, and light, and Holy Spirit.
Look up to Christ, as your redeemer, your regenerator, your second Adam; look at him, as truly he is, the wisdom and power of God, sitting at his right hand of God in heaven, giving forth gifts unto men; governing, sanctifying, teaching, and enlightening with his Holy Spirit, all those that are spiritually-minded; who live in faith, and hope, and prayer, to be redeemed from the nature and power of this evil world. Follow but this simple, plain spirit of the gospel, loving God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself; and then you are Christ's disciple, and have his command to let the dead bury their dead.
God is a spirit, in whom you live and move and have your being; and he does not stay until you are a great scholar, but until you turn from evil, and love goodness, to manifest his holy presence, power, and life, within you. It is the love of goodness, that must do all for you; this is the art of arts; and when this is the ruling spirit of your heart, then Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will come unto you, and make their abode with you, and lead you into all truth, though you know no more of books than I do."
So ended Rusticus: It is not easy for me, Theophilus, to tell you, how much good I received from this simple instruction of honest master Rusticus; for master I may well call him, since he, in so few words, taught me a better lesson of wisdom, than I ever had heard of before.
What a project was it, to be grasping after the knowledge of all the opinions, doctrines, disputes, heresies, schisms, councils, canons, alterations, additions, inventions, corruptions, reformations, sects, and Churches, which 1700 years had brought forth through all the extent of the Christian world! What a project this is, in order to be a divine, that is, in order to bear true witness to the power of Christ, as a deliverer from the evil of flesh, and blood, and hell, and death, and a raiser of a new birth and life from above! For as this is the divine work of Christ, so he only is a true and able divine, that can bear a faithful testimony to this divine work of Christ.
The shipwrecked man wants only to get to shore
How easy was it for me to have seen with Rusticus, that all this labyrinth of learned inquiry into such a dark, thorny wilderness of notions, facts, and opinions, could signify no more to me now, to my own salvation, to my interest in Christ, and obtaining the Holy Spirit of God, than if I had lived before it had began! But the blind appetite of learning did not give me the leisure to apprehend so plain a truth. Books of divinity indeed I will continue to read; but I will esteem none to be such, but those that make known to my heart the inward power and redemption of Jesus Christ. Nor will I seek for anything even from such books, but that which I ask of God in prayer; i.e., how better to know, more to abhor and resist the evil that is in my own nature; and how to attain a supernatural birth of the divine life brought forth in me: all besides this is of no value. The shipwrecked man wants only to get to shore. If we see the truth of our state as he does, we should have but this one want, and that would be, to get
possession of our first created state. There is no misery but in the evil that is in our own fallen state; this is our shipwreck, and great distress; nor is there any happiness, but in having the first life of God, and all goodness, opened again in the soul. He that is not intent upon this one thing needful, is not a wise Christian, much less a divine, or one qualified to make known to others the mystery of the power of Christ in the work of redemption.
But now I go back to that which I first spoke of; and though I give up all that I said of putting out Jacob Behmen in new language, with comments. Yet I must still desire, that, in some way or the other, he may be made more plain and intelligible; call it by what name you please.
Theophilus: Jacob Behmen may be considered, (1.) As a teacher of the true ground of the Christian religion. (2.) As a discoverer of the false antichristian church, from its first rise in Cain, through every age of the world, to its present state in all and every sect of the present divided Christendom. (3.) As a guide to the truth of all the mysteries of the kingdom of God. In these three respects, which contain all that anyone can possibly want to know or learn from any teacher; he is the strongest, the plainest, the most open, intelligible, awakening, convincing writer, that ever lived. As to these three matters, he speaks to everyone, as he said, "in the sound of a trumpet." And here to pretend to be an interpreter of him, or make his writings fitter for our apprehension, in these great matters, is as vain, as if a man should pipe through a straw, to make the sound of a trumpet better heard by us.
Further, he may be considered, (4.) As a relater of depths opened in himself, of wonders which his spirit has seen and felt in his ternario sancto. Now in this respect he is no teacher, nor his reader a learner; but all that he says is only for the same end as Paul spoke of his having been in the third heaven, and hearing things not possible to be spoken in human words. And yet in these matters it is, that most of his readers, especially if they are scholars, are chiefly employed; every one in his way trying to become masters of them. Thus, when his writings first appeared in English, many persons of this nation, of the greatest wit and abilities, became his readers; who, instead of entering into his one and only design, which was their own regeneration from an earthly to an heavenly life. And yet, of all men in the world, no one has so deeply, and from so true a ground, laid open the exceeding vanity of such labor, and utter impossibility of
success in it from any art or skill in the use of fire. And this must with truth be affirmed of him, that there is not any possible error, that you can fall into in the use of his books, but that he gives you notice of beforehand, and warns you against it in the most solemn manner; and tells you, that the blame must be yours, if you fall into it. Neither is there any question that you can put, nor advice or direction that you can ask, but what he has over and over spoke to; telling you, in the plainest manner, what the mystery is which his books contain; how, and by whom, and for what end, they are to be read.
There are two sorts of people to whom he forbids the use of his books, as un-capable of receiving any benefit from them, but, who would instead, receive hurt. The first sort he describes in these words: "loving reader, if thou loves the vanity of the flesh still, and art not in an earnest purpose on the way to the new birth, intending to be a new man, then leave the above-written words in these prayers unnamed, or else they will turn to a judgment of God in thee again, "reader, I admonish you sincerely, if you be not in the way of the prodigal, or lost son, returning to his father again, that you leave my book, and read it not; it will do you harm. But if you will not take warning, I will be guiltless; blame nobody but yourself."
In this advice, so different from that of other writers, he shows the truth and reality of his own regenerated state; and that the very same spirit speaks in him, as formerly said, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Unless a man deny himself, and forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. No man can come unto me, except the father draws him. Except a man be born again from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He that is of God, hears God's word. Come unto me, all you that labor, and are weary and heavy-laden." For all these texts of scripture say that very self-same thing that Jacob Behmen does, when he absolutely requires his reader to be in like the returning prodigal. It is not rules of morality observed, or an outward blameless form of life, that will do: for pride, vanity, envy, self-love, and love of the world, can be, and often are, the heart of such a morality of life. But the state of the lost son is quite another thing; and must be the state of every man: as soon as he comes to himself, and has eyes that see, he will then, like prodigal, see himself far from home; that he has lost his first paradise, his heavenly father, and the dignity of his first birth; that he is a poor, beggarly slave in a foreign
land, hungry, ragged, and starving, amongst the lowest kind of beasts, not so well fed and clothed as they are: when thus finding himself, he says, "I will arise, and go to my father." Then has he his first fitness for the mysteries opened in Jacob Behmen's writings; for they are addressed to man only in this state; they have no fitness to him but in this state; and therefore no one, whether Jew, Christian, or deist, who does not find and feel himself to be the very lost son described in the parable, has any capacity to receive benefit from them, but they will be a continual stumbling-block to him. And it is just so with the gospel itself; wherever it is received and professed, without something of this preparation of heart, without this sensibility of being a lost son, it can only be a stone of stumbling, and help the earthly man to form a religion of notions and opinions from the unfelt meaning of the letter of the gospel.
Secondly, the other sort of people, whom he excludes from his books, and for whom he has written nothing, are the men of reason, who give themselves up to the light of reason, as the true touchstone of divine truths. To these he declares over and over, that he did not receive his light from reason; and that he writes nothing to reason. The rational man, he said, understands nothing in reference to God; for it is without and not in God. Again, the true understanding must flow from the inward ground, out of the living word of God. In which inward ground, all my knowledge concerning the divine and natural ground, has taken its rise, beginning, and understanding. I am not born of the school of this world, and am a plain simple man; but by God's spirit and will am brought, without my own purpose and desire, into divine knowledge in high natural searchings. {episistles, page 121.} Again, he that will learn to understand the true way, let him depart from and forsake his own reason. {page 138.} If my writings, says he, come into your hands, I would that you should look upon them as of a child's, in whom the highest has driven his work; for there is that couched therein, which no reason may understand or comprehend. {page 141.} Again, reason must be blinded, kept under, and not allowed to stir. {page .68.} Again, reason must yield up its own hearing and life, and give itself up to God, that God may live in the understanding of man, else there is no finding in the divine wisdom. All that is taught and spoken concerning God, without the spirit of God, is but Babel. {epistle. Page 9.} Again, we must wholly reject our own reason; it is not available to help us to the light, but is a mere leading astray, and keeping us back. This we intimate to the reader, that he may know
what he reads. Let none account it for a work of outward reason. Again, speaking of the mystery, {three-fold life. Pages 68,88.} He says, pray to God the most high, that he would be pleased to open the door of knowledge, without which no man will understand my writings; for they surpass the astral reason; they apprehend and comprehend the divine birth; and therefore only the like spirit can understand them aright. No reasoning or speculating reaches them, unless the mind be illuminated from God, to the finding of which the way is faithfully shown to the seeking reader. {epistles. Page 138.}
And now, Academicus, you may see how needless it is to ask me, or anyone else, to help you to understand his works: he himself has given you all the assistance that can be given: he has laid open before you, in the utmost plainness, both the nature of the mystery, and the one only possible way that you can partake of it.
Academicus: You speak often of the mystery: What am I to understand by it?
Theophilus: You are to understand, the deep and true ground of all things. A mystery, in which the birth and beginning of eternal nature, or the first workings of the inconceivable God, opening and manifesting his hidden triune deity in an outward state of glory in the splendor of united fire, light, and spirit, all kindled and distinguished, all united and beatified by the hidden three. In this eternal nature, all inward powers, all the hidden riches of the incomprehensible father, son, and Holy Ghost, are from eternity to eternity brought forth into outward majesty, and visible glory. In which triune opening of heavenly glory, power, and majesty, the triune God beholds himself as in his own manifestation, is clothed as with his own garment, dwells as in his own habitation, and works all his wonders of wisdom and omnipotence in and by, and according to, the possible powers of this eternal nature. For this eternal nature is the first possibility of all after-beings and things; for before, or without, this eternal nature, all is an eternal, silent, still, unmovable, unperceivable nothingness; and this eternal nature is the first manifestation, the first opening of the divine omnipotence; and in it are included, in its own infinite bounds, all the height and depth, and extent, of the divine wisdom and powers. All that God is, and can do, or bring forth from himself, is done in and by the working of his triune spirit in this eternal nature.
This is the great scene of his eternal wisdom and omnipotence, in which new wonders are eternally rising up, and declaring the fathomless depths of the riches of the invisible triune deity. And to say, that God can do no more, than what he can do through and by the possible powers of this eternal nature, is only saying, that he can do no more than what he can do by himself, because this eternal nature is the eternal manifestation of the total God, or an out-birth of that which the deity is, in its invisible power and deity.
Out of this transcendent eternal nature, which is as universal and immense as the deity itself, do all the highest beings, Cherubims and Seraphims, all the hosts of angels, and all intelligent spirits, receive their birth, existence, substance, and form. They are all so many different, finite, bounded forms of the heavenly fire, and light of eternal nature, into which creaturely beings the invisible triune God breathes his invisible spirit, by which they become both the true children and likeness of the invisible deity, and also the true offspring of his eternal nature; and are fitted to rejoice with God, to live in the life of God, and live and work, and have their being, in that eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, in which the deity himself lives and works. And they are one, and united in one, God in them, and they in God, according to the prayer of Christ for his disciples; 'that they, and he, and his holy father, might be united in one.' {john xvi.}
This is in part what you are first to understand concerning the mystery. But, secondly, it is a mystery, in which the creation and fall of angels, with all its consequences in them, and their kingdom; in which the system of this visible universe, why, and from what, and how it came to be as it is; the birth of the sun and the planets, why and how they come to have such a difference in nature, place, and office, as also of all the stars; the nature of every creaturely life, and ground of its vast variety; the cause of every inanimate dead thing; a mystery in which the creation, dignity, and perfection, of the first angelic man in paradise; the whole kingdom of nature, and kingdom of grace; their connection, difference, and mutually affecting and working upon one another under the providence of the invisible spirit of God, from the beginning to the end of time, are all unfolded from their first root and cause. Thirdly, it is a mystery, in which the ground of Christian redemption, its whole nature, absolute necessity, and the working of all its parts both in the redeemer and in the redeemed, are set forth in the utmost degree of clearness; where the
whole process of Christ, as incarnate, living, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, ascending into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, and governing his church on earth by his Holy Spirit; and all the practical duties of the gospel, whether of faith and hope, or of self-denial; dying to this world, and strict conformity to the life and spirit of Christ; are all demonstrated from the deepest ground of the nature of things, to be absolutely necessary to the recovery and redemption of the fallen human nature.
This, sir, is, in some degree, the mystery which it has pleased the spirit of God to open in this plain and unlearned man.
Academicus: Well, Theophilus, I entirely consent to this account you have given of it, and think it is sufficiently supported by what is to be found in his books; they seem to mean all these great matters which you mentioned. But then, sir, allow me to tell you, that I think it is impossible for you to defend what you have said above concerning reason; or to show the unreasonableness of my demanding rational illustrations and comments. For if this is the truth, that his works contain the ground and philosophy of nature, and all creatures; surely they must not only allow for the use of our reason, but call for the highest and most acute exercise of it. For what can enter into the philosophy of things, but reason? Or what do all these great matters appeal to, but to our reason? I see no possibility of denying this; and if this be granted, all that has been said about silencing our reason, must be given up.
Theophilus: The conclusion, my friend, that you have drawn here and think to be so strong, so as not to be denied, is so far from being correct, that it is a glaring absurdity; and quite contrary to that one and only true conclusion, which you should have made, and which so easily and naturally flows from what was said. For if the mystery is the deep ground of all things, of all nature, and all creatures, then the one conclusion that infallibly flows from it, is this, that no acuteness or ability of natural reason can so much as look into it. For natural reason is no older than flesh and blood; it has no higher a nature or birth than natural doubting; it had no existence when nature began its first workings, and therefore can bear no witness to them. It was not present, had no eyes, when things first came forth; it never stood in the center, from where the birth of everything must arise; it never saw the forming of the first seeds of every life: and yet the mystery, you see, contains all this: and therefore the one plain and necessary conclusion is this; that natural reason is, and must be, as incapable of entering into this mystery, as flesh and blood is incapable of entering into the kingdom of heaven.
Behold, now, what a flagrant proof you have given of the vanity, weakness, and blindness of natural reason in divine matters. Your reason saw, with the utmost certainty, that the mystery must be an appeal to reason, merely because it contained such a height and depth of divine philosophy; and yet the height and depth of its matters is the one great proof, that reason can have nothing to do with it. This may show you by what means Babel has built itself all over the Christian world. For, by the light of this Babylonian reason, the defenders and those who oppose the doctrines confute one another with such a certainty and strength of reason, as you saw, that reason must be the only judge of the mystery, from which it is just as much excluded by its own nature, as the mole under-ground is, by its nature, excluded from the flight and sight of the towering eagle.
Academicus: Pray then tell me, how a man is to attain the knowledge of the mystery, or have any share in the light of it.
Theophilus: There is but one possible way, and that is this: it must be born in you. All true knowledge, either of God or nature, must be born in you. You cannot possibly know anything of God, but so far as God is manifested in you; so far as his light and Holy Spirit is born in you, as it is born in him, and lives and works in you, as it lives and works in him. A distant, absent, separate God, is an unknown God. For God can only manifest God, as light can only manifest light, and darkness only can make darkness known..
Again, you can have no real knowledge of nature, and its inward working power, but so far as the workings of nature, and the birth of things, are a working and birth in you. Natural reason may trade in the things on the outside; it may measure, and make draughts of magnitude, height, and distance of things on the earth, and above the earth; it may make many and fine experiments of the powers of every element: but then this is going no farther into the ground of nature, than when the potter makes curious vessels with his clay.
To count the stars, to observe their places or motions, is just the same height of natural knowledge, as when the shepherd counts his sheep, and observes their time of breeding.
This world, with all its stars, elements, and creatures, has come out of the invisible world; it has not the smallest thing, or the smallest quality of anything, but that which has come forth from there; and
therefore every quality of everything is what it is, and works that which works, by a secret power and nature in and from the invisible world. Bitter, sweet, sour, hard, soft, hot, cold, etc. Have their first seed and birth in the invisible world, called eternal nature. The irrational animals of this world feel all these things: the rational man goes farther; he can reason and dispute about their outward causes and effects: but the mystery of eternal nature must first be opened in man, before he can give the divine philosophy of them. For as they all come from there, have their nature, birth, and growth, from that; no philosophy, but that which comes from above, can give the true ground of them.
If man himself was not all these three things, (1.) A birth of the holy deity; (2.) A birth of eternal nature; and, (3.)Also a microcosm of all this great outward world; that is, of everything in it, its stars and elements; and if the properties of every creaturely life were not in an hidden birth in him; no omnipotence of God could open the knowledge of divine and natural things in him.
For God can only manifest that, which there is to be manifested; and therefore only open that, which before laid unopened, and in a state of death. Nothing can come forth from man, or any creature, but that which first had its seed in him; and to think, that any knowledge can be put into him, but that which is a birth of his own life, is as absurd as to think, that the tree and its branches may first grow, and then be brought to the root.
We are led into mistakes about this matter from the common practice of the world, which calls everything knowledge, that the reason, wit, or humor of man prompts him to discourse about; whether it be fiction, conjecture, report, history, criticism, rhetoric, or oratory: all this passes for sterling knowledge; whereas it is only the activity of reason, playing with its own empty notions.
From this idea of knowledge it is, that when this rational man turns his thoughts to the study of divinity, he is content with the same knowledge of divine matters, as he had in these exercises of his reason; and he proceeds in the same manner, as when he studied history and rhetoric.
He turns his mind to hearsay, to conjecture, to criticism, and great names; and thinks he is then a member of the true church, when he knows it as plainly as he knows the ancient commonwealth of Rome.
His knowledge of the being of God stands upon the same foundation, and is made known to him by the same means and methods of proof, as he comes to be assured, that once upon a time there was a first man, and his name was Adam. His knowledge of the kingdom of heaven is looked upon to be sufficient, as soon as he knows it, as he knows that there is such a place as Constantinople. When he turns his inquiries into the mysteries of Christian redemption, he looks as much out of himself as when he is searching into the antiquities of Greece; and appeals to the same helps for this knowledge, as when he wants to know the inward structure of Solomon's temple, and all its services.
This is the great delusion which has so long spread itself over the Christian world; and all countries, and all libraries, are the proof of it. It is this power and dominion of reason in religious matters, that Jacob Behmen so justly calls the antichrist in Babel; for it leads men from the life and truth of the mysteries of Christ, to put a carnal trust in a confused multitude of contrary notions, inventions, and opinions. And the thing is unavoidable, it cannot be otherwise with reason; it cannot do more good with, or make a better use of, gospel doctrines; it is antichrist as soon as it is admitted to debate and states the nature of any divine truth. And that for these two great reasons: first, because it has absolutely the same incapacity for it, as the man that is born blind has for light. Wherein now lies the incapacity of the blind man, to speak or think anything true about light? It is because he is born and bred in another world, where nothing of light ever did or can enter; it is because there is the gulf of a whole birth between him and the light of this world; and therefore, though he lives ever so long, reasons ever so much, or hears ever so many speeches, about the light, all that he gets by it is only more false ideas of the unknown thing.
Now this is strictly the incapacity of reason, to speak, or think anything truly of the divine life. It is because it is born and bred in another world, in the darkness of flesh and blood, into which no perception or sensibility of God and heaven can enter; it is because there is the gulf of a whole birth between it, and the light of God and heaven; and therefore, let reason, from age to age, hear, read, and dispute ever so much about the light of God and heaven, all that it can get by it, is only to be enriched with more and more fictions and falsities about the unknown thing.
Secondly, natural reason, whenever judging or ruling in divine matters, must be antichrist, because it cannot make any other use of the mysteries of religion, or do anything else with them, but in the same spirit, and for the same ends, that it receives and uses the things of this world. It matters not, what the names or natures of the things are, whether you call them spiritual or temporal: natural reason can make but one and the same use of them; it can only turn them to an earthly use, to worldly prosperity, to private interest, honor, power, or distinction. And the thing is unavoidable, it is impossible to be otherwise; it is not a fault that reason might amend, if it would; but is as much its own nature, as it is natural for the flame to rise upward. Now everything must act according to its nature; every kind of life must be for itself, for its own good. Now reason has no higher a birth and nature, than the spirit of this world; it must be as worldly as its birth is, and cannot possibly have anything else but worldly views, and the interests of its own flesh and blood, in everything that it can make any use of. This is as essential to the natural reason of man, as to the natural subtlety of every beast; for they both have the same original from the light and life of this world, both have the same earthly nature, and can act only in an earthly manner, to serve the same ends of an earthly life. The reason of the one has no more of God and divine nature in it, than the subtlety of the other. And hence it is, that man, following only the cunning of his natural reason, is often more mischievous than the worst of beasts. And thus, you see how reason, ruling in divine things, is and must be antichrist: first, as it turns the living mysteries of God into lifeless ideas, and vain opinions; and, secondly, as it sets up a worldly kingdom of strife, hatred, envy, division, and persecution, in defense of them. And therefore it is a fundamental truth, that man has no capacity for divine knowledge, until the particle of divine life, lost in the fall, is awakened; in which alone, the mystery of God and the divine nature can have a birth.
Academicus: You have carried your point, and I rejoice in seeing this matter so well proved. But still I would ask you something, that I am not sure how to express; I would like to understand more clearly, how this mystery of God, and eternal nature, is to be born in me.
Theophilus: Everything, is, and must be, its own proof; and can only be known from and by itself. There is no knowledge of anything, but where the thing itself is, and is found, and possessed. Life, and every kind and degree of life, is only known by life; and so far as life reaches, so far is there knowledge, and no farther.
Whatever knowledge you can get by the searching and working of your own active reason, is only like that knowledge, which you may be said to have got, when you have searched for a needle in a stack of straw, until you have found it.
For nothing that is brought into the mind from without, or is only an idea beheld by our reasoning faculty, is any more our knowledge, than seeing our natural face in a glass, is seeing our own selves. And all the ideas or images that your reason can form of any absent, un-possessed thing, is no more a part of your own knowledge, than your drawing a picture of your own hand is making a member of your own body. It is therefore a vain and fruitless inquiry, to be asking beforehand for the knowledge of any un-possessed matters; for knowledge can only be yours, as sickness and health is yours, not conveyed into you by a hearsay notion, but the fruit of your own perception and sensibility of that which you are, and that which you have in yourself. How often have you been warned against this procedure, in words like these? "therefore let the reader be warned not to dive farther into these very deep writings, nor plunge his will deeper, than so far as he apprehends the subject: he should always rest satisfied with his apprehension for in his apprehension, he stands yet in that which has its reality; and therefore he errs not, how deep so ever the spirit leads him: for to one more will be given than to another. And this is the only mark to be observed, that every one continues steadfast in humility towards God, and submits himself, that he may make the will and the deed as he pleases. When you do that, you are in yourself as dead; for you desire nothing but God's will, and the will of God is your life, which goes inward even to the opening of the highest mysteries."
One would have thought, Academicus, that this advice, if only from the uncommon nature of it, should have had more effect upon you. For it is not only new to you, but to every reader; there being nothing like it, either for the sense, the sobriety, or the depth of its matter, ever given by the wisest of philosophers to their readers.
Truth, my friend, whatever you may think of it, is no less than the Savior and redeemer of the world.
Hear therefore its own language: if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after me. He does not say, "let him get a clear and distinct idea of me, what, and how I
am God and man in the unity of my person"; he only tells him what he is to part with, what he must put off, to be made a child of the light. Search and look where you will, this denial of self is the one only possible way to the truth. For nothing has separated us from truth, nothing stands between us and truth, but this self of an earthly life, which is not from God, but from our wandering out of our first created state.
God created us in and for the light; and if Adam had kept his first state, he would not have been an ignorant, blind pilgrim in the darkness of this world, but the illustrious opener of all its wonders in the light of God. But as this light and knowledge was lost in Adam, so it can only be recovered by him who came to restore all that was lost, and who justly called himself the light of the world. If you want to be a disciple of truth, you must not, with Pilate, ask, what is truth? Or consult the schools, about how to understand it: but you must alter your life, put a stop to all earthly lusts, renounce all that you are, and have from self; give up all the workings of your own reason, and your own will; and then, and then only, are you fitted for that unction from above which can teach you all things. But until Christ, who is the one fountain of life and light, be opened in you; it is in vain, that you rise up early, in quest of truth; for he himself has said, without me, ye can do nothing. And every son of earthly Adam, however naturally enriched with the spirit, and light, and arts of this world, is born, and must remain, a spirit in prison, until Christ is found to be an inward preacher, and light within him. As he is the one resurrection from the dead, so is he the one deliverer from everything that has the nature of death, darkness, and ignorance. And to expect seeing eyes, hearing ears, and sensibility of heart, from anything but that eternal word, by which we were at first made, is robbing God and Christ of more honor, is a more idolatrous departure from the true worship and dependence upon Him, than if we sometimes hoped to have good from this or that saint praying for us. For this is a truth, that admits of no restriction, but reaches from one end of the earth to the other, that as no man can come unto the father, but through the son; so no one can come to any divine knowledge either in grace or nature, but through Him alone.
The schools of this world are of no higher a nature, than the markets of this world; and, when rightly used, serve only to the ends of this earthly life. But as markets and traffic seldom keep within their just bounds, but become serviceable to vanity, earthly lusts, and all the luxury of life; so it mostly happens in our learned labors; we grow old, and bleary-eyed, in studies that nourish pride and envy, division and contention; and only help our old man to be content with the riches of his fallen nature, and feel no necessity of being born again.
If you want to be a divine philosopher, you must be a true Christian; for darkness is everywhere, but in the kingdom of God and truth is no where to be found by man, but in a new birth from above. Man was created in and for the truth; that is, he was created in the truth of the divine light, to see and hear, to taste and feel, to find and enjoy all things in the truth of the divine life brought forth in him. And therefore it is, that for fallen man there is but one remedy; it is only the truth that can make him free. Truth is the one and only resting-place of the soul; it is its atonement and peace with God; all is, and must be, unrest, a succession of lying vanities, until the soul is again in the truth, in which God at first created it. And therefore the truth said, learn of me; for I am meek, and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Academicus: Pray, Theophilus, stop a while: surely your zeal is carrying you too far. All ages of the world have seemed to agree in this, that the gospel teaches purely the simplicity of a Godly life; calls no man to be a philosopher, nor gives the smallest instruction in matters that relate to philosophy.
Theophilus: All this, is very true; but then, this very simplicity and plainness of the gospel, turning man only from this world, to a faith, and hope, and desire of God, is the one reason, the full proof, that it alone is a true guide into the highest school of divine wisdom and philosophy; not only because goodness is our greatest wisdom, but because the mysteries of God, of grace, of nature, of time and eternity, can in no other possible way be opened in man, but by this simplicity of a Godly life taught in the gospel; because only the Godly life has the knowledge of God; just as the creaturely life has only knowledge of the creature, and the painful life has knowledge of pain. The scripture says, that only the spirit of God knows the things of God. And indeed, how can it possibly be otherwise? For since the spirit of God is the spirit and life that goes through all nature and creature, and only opens its own hidden powers within; since it is
that which is the former of everything; that which makes everything to have the life that it has, and to work as it works; nothing but the spirit of God can possibly know the things of God: and therefore, of necessity, this spirit of God must be in man, and work in man, as it is in nature, and works in nature, before man can enter into the knowledge and working of God in nature. And therefore here you have two immutable, and fundamental truths: (1.) That all our ignorance of God and nature is, and must be, purely and solely, for want of the spirit and life of God in us: and, (2.) That therefore the one and only way to divine knowledge is the way of the gospel, which calls and leads us to a new birth of the divine nature brought forth in us.
Academicus: I have nothing that I can, or would, object to what you have said. But still I must say, that I do not apprehend how the spirit and life of God must, of all necessity, be born in us; nor, indeed, do I entirely comprehend how it is done. Human reason, or human instruction, I see plain enough, cannot help me to any divine light. But suppose God should send an angel to instruct me, and that frequently, would not divine knowledge be imparted to me then? And yet this would not be a birth of God in me. Or, will you say, that God cannot sufficiently instruct me, even by the highest of his angels?
Theophilus: An angel, sir, may instruct you, as the scriptures instruct you; but it is only such an instruction, as may direct you where and how to obtain that light, which neither the letter of scripture, nor the voice of an angel, can bring forth in you. The highest angel does not, nor ever can have, any more of a redeeming power in it, than the dead paper on which the scriptures are written. But you are to observe, and mark it well, that you cannot have divine light from any other thing, but that which has full power to redeem you: for light is not only life, but the perfection, and the highest state of it; and therefore nothing can bring forth light, but that which can bring forth the truth and the perfection of life.
Every other thing, besides the life and light of God, stands only in a state of ministerial service towards you: whether it be words of a message from God, written on paper, engraved on tables of stone, or spoken by the mouth of an angel, a prophet, or apostle; be it what it will, it is only a creaturely thing; and its creaturely service can rise no higher, nor go any farther, than to show the true way to him, who only himself can be the truth, the life, and the light in you. For the light of God cannot, even by God himself, be communicated to you
by any creature; and the reason is, because the light of God is God himself: it is the light of his own life: and therefore only He can bring it forth; and no creature can possibly partake of his light, but by having a birth in and from the divine nature: for the light of God can never be separate from the divine nature, or be anywhere but where the divine birth is. And so, you can fully see, that all that can be divinely known, either in heaven, or on earth, can only be known in that one way, and by that one means, by which fallen man can be saved; namely, by a new birth of the light and spirit of God within us. And therefore the simple way of the gospel is the one and only way to attain all the knowledge of all that, which can be known of God and nature: for nothing can manifest God and nature, but the spirit of God working in man, as he works in nature, which can only be done by a new birth of the divine nature, brought forth in man: but when man is thus born again of God, then the life and spirit of God is in him, and works in him, as it does in nature. And thus it is, that man can only be a divine philosopher, when Christ, who is the light of God, and the light of nature, is revealed in him. Then he is in that living word, and that living word is in him, by which all things were at first made; and which makes, creates, and works in him, as it works in all things, both in heaven and earth.
Academicus: I never expected to have seen the gospel new birth proved to be the only open gate to all that divine knowledge which any son of Adam ever had, or can have. But you have proved it to be so, beyond all possibility of denial. And I now only want to have you go on in this doctrine of the new birth; for I am persuaded, you can still add something to that, which has already been said upon it, both as to the ground, and nature, and fruits of it.
Theophilus: You must remember, Academicus, that all that I can by discourse, from the beginning to the end of this matter, do for you, amounts only to this: it is like giving you a full assurance of a wonderful pearl of glorious virtues, hidden in the ground, and showing you every step of the way you must take to find it. Now, if from month to month, you should be inquiring and hearing of some new powers and virtues of this heavenly pearl; what good does all this discourse do you? You are just as far from the pearl itself, and have no more of it, than when you first heard of it; and would be the same distance from it, even though you were always, to the very end of your life, loving to hear and talk about it. I have had no other end
in all that is said of the new birth, but to assure you of the truth of the thing, and the true way to attain it. Now the way to the new birth lies wholly in your will to it; and every step that you can take, consists in a continual dying to that selfish corrupt will, which you have from flesh and blood. Nothing can make any change in you, but the change of your will. For everything, be it what it will, is a birth of that will, which works in you. You have nothing therefore to inquire after, nor anything that you can judge of yourself by, but the state of your mind, the working of your will and desire. These will give you more light than all the men or books in the world can give you: where these are, there are you; and what these are, that are you: there you live, and to that you belong; and there you must have all the good or evil that can be called yours.
For nothing leads or carries you anywhere, nothing generates either life or death in you, but the working of your mind, will, and desire. If your will is angelic, you are an angel, and angelic happiness must be yours. If your will is with God, you work with God; God is then the life of your soul, and you will have your life with God to all eternity. If you follow an earthly will, every step you take is a departure from God, until you become as incapable of God, and the life of God, as the animals of this world. If your will works in pride and self-exaltation, in envy and wrath, in hatred and ill-will, in deceit, hypocrisy, and falseness, you work with the devil, you are generating his nature within you, and making yourself ready for the kingdom of hell. And thus it is, that our works follow us; and that everyone will be rewarded according to his works; and none can reap anything else but that which he has sown. And the seed of everything that can grow in us, is our will. The will makes the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything; it is the only workman in nature; and everything is its work. It has all power; its works cannot be hindered; it carries all before it; it creates as it goes; and all things are possible to it. It enters wherever it wills, and finds everything that it seeks; for its seeking is its finding. The will overrules all nature, because nature is its offspring, and born of it; for all the properties of nature, whether they be good or evil, in darkness or in light, in love or in hatred, in wrath or in meekness, in pride or humility, in trouble or joy, are all the offspring or birth of the will; as that lives, so they live; and as that changes, so they change. So that whatever you are, or whatever you feel, is all owing to the working and creating power of your own will. This is your God or your devil, your heaven or your hell; and you have only so much of one, or the other, as your will, which is the first mover, is either given up to the one, or to the other.
For where the will of man is not, there he has nothing; and where his will is, there is all that something, which he has, no matter what it is; and it is inseparable from him, until his will works contrary to it.
Academicus: Whence has the will of man this mighty power, that it can have nothing, but that which itself has willed?
Theophilus: You might as well ask, why a circle must be perfectly round, or a straight line free from every degree of crookedness. For as it is not a circle until it is perfectly round, nor a straight line until it is free from crookedness; so the will is not in being, but so far as it is free, is its own mover, and can have nothing but that which it wills. Secondly, the will is not a made thing, which is made out of something, or that came out of some different state, into the state of a will. But the free will of man is a true and real birth from the free, eternal, uncreated will of God, which willed to have a creaturely offspring of itself, or to see itself in a creaturely state. And therefore the will of man has the nature of divine freedom; has the nature of eternity, and the nature of omnipotence in it; because it is what it is, and has what it has, as a spark, a ray, a genuine birth of the eternal, free, omnipotent will of God. And therefore, as the will of God is superior to, and rules over all nature; so the will of man, derived from the will of God, is superior to, and rules over all his own nature. And then it is, that as to itself, and so far as its own nature reaches, it has the freedom and omnipotence of that will from which it is descended; and can have or receive nothing, but what itself does, and works, in and to itself.
And herein consists the infinite goodness of God, in the birth of all intelligent creatures; and also the exceeding height, perfection, and happiness of their created state: they are descended from God, full of divine power; they can will and work with God, and partake of the divine happiness. They can receive no injustice, hurt, or violence, either from nature or creature; but must be only that, which they generate, and have no evil or hurt, but that which they do in and to themselves. All things stand in the will, and everything animate or inanimate is the effect and produce of that will, which works in it, and forms it to be that which it is. And every will, wherever found, is the birth and effect of some antecedent will; for will can only proceed from will, until you come to the first working will, which is God Himself.
And here, my friend, you have an easy entrance into the true meaning of many important passages in the books of Jacob Behmen, like those that follow: all, says he, is magical; eternity is magical: magic is the mother of all things. I speak from a magic ground here the reader must have magical eyes. this has a magical understanding, &c. Vulgar reason is offended at these expressions, because the word magic has, for many ages, been mostly used in a bad sense. But don't you be frightened at the sound of these words; they are not only innocent, but truly good and wise, and deeply founded on the truth of things. They have the most Christian and divine meaning; are strictly conformable to the spirit of the gospel, as shall be shown by-and-by; and are used for the best of ends; namely, to open the true ground of eternal and temporal nature, and the birth of creatures in each of them. They are to show how the hidden, invisible deity acts and works all its wonders in both these worlds, in one and the same uniform way; as also, how everything in religion, whether it be a mystery of God, a grace of God, or a duty of man, has its whole ground, and nature and effectiveness, therein.
Now magic power means nothing but the working of the will, whether it be the divine, or the creaturely will; and everything that is the work of the will, and is produced by it, is called its magic work, which only means, that it is generated by and from the will, as a birth brought forth by it. The will is the workman, and the work is that, which it brings forth out of itself. So that by these words you are always to understand these two things, the working, and the work of the will. And now, you may already sufficiently see, that their meaning is not only innocent and good, but as necessarily, and divinely, to be ascribed to God, as the power of bringing things into existence by the working of his will. For here you have the true ground and original of the creating power of God; how everything that is not God; is yet come from him, and out of him, as so many births of his invisible power, breaking forth into visibility, and sensible qualities of an outward life.
The first manifestation of the invisible God, is that which is called, and is, eternal nature; which is the eternity of all possible powers and qualities of life, the first source of every natural power that can be in any creature. All these qualities of life, in their eternal birth, and rising from one another by the working will of God, are the out-birth, or outward glory of God, in which he manifests his triune, invisible deity in a threefold life of fire, light, and spirit, which are the ground of all the qualities of life, sensibility, power, and spirit, that ever were, or can be found in any creature. Everything that exists, or thinks, or moves, or finds itself in any kind or degree of sensibility, is from, and out of, this glassy sea of these united powers of life. And this whole manifestation of all the possible powers, and perfection of life and glory, is called that kingdom of heaven, in which God dwells; and is, as it were, his divine workhouse, out of which he is perpetually giving forth new works, and wonders.
This manifestation of God is a magical birth from the triune working will of the hidden deity, which willed to see itself in this opened, outward show of all the possible powers of life and glory; and from where new worlds of finite divine beings, as so many living images of God, might have a possibility of coming forth. For without nature, God must be by himself, and continue as an un-manifested God. For no form or creature can be, unless there be something antecedent to it, that can be formed. Life must be, before there can be any finite living creatures; just as light must be, before there can be any seeing eyes. And therefore the manifestation of God in an outward glory of all the possible powers, qualities, perfections of life, called eternal nature, must be, or there could be no possibility for the existence of any creature.
Now this same working will of the triune deity, which manifested itself in an eternal nature, manifests itself in creaturely forms, all generated from, all enlivened and animated with, that same trinity of fire, light, and spirit, that constitutes eternal nature. So that all intelligent creatures are that in their finite being, which eternal nature is in its infinite state. And thus all of them are from God, and from heaven, live in God, and may work with God, as God is in heaven, and heaven in him; one life, one power, one will, and one happiness with God.
Now everything that is not God, but after him, and distinct from him, must be that which it is, from the working will of the deity. For since it came into being, only because it is willed to be, it can have nothing in it, or be any other thing, but that which the working or creating will brought forth. And as all things began in and from this working will; so all things must go on in it; and there can be no other creator, worker, or former of things to all eternity, but the working will of God. Nor can there be any other nature in anything, but that which is the birth, or magic effect, of a working will within it. And everything
that is done by the creature, everything which it seeks and likes, or abhors and resists, is all driven on by a working will, or magic power, which stirs, and generates, and works within it.
Would you know now the true ground of all this? It is this: it is because will is the first origin of all power, and the omnipotence of God consists in nothing else but his working will; and therefore no power ever was, or ever can be, anywhere else, but as it is in God, and if the creature has any power, it must have it, as God has it, in the working will. For since all nature, with all its qualities, births, and creatures, are all brought into being by the working will of God; it evidently follows, that every creature, with every quality, power, and property in it, is magically born, and therefore must have a magic nature, that is, a nature that cometh from, and stands in, a working will.
And now, sir, you have come into a full view of the most important matter of the mystery of all things; a matter which, if rightly apprehended in the inward ground of your soul, puts an entire end to all the jargon of a false philosophy, and to all those fictions of doctrines and disputes, which reason has built upon the written word of God.
For nothing is effected by fiction and invention, by any contrived arts or searching of rational inquiries; all this is nothing, because it does not touches nature, but leaves it to itself; which carries on its own works by its own power, and can only work in its own way; and must bring forth its own births independent of everything but its own working life. But all lies in the will and working desire of the soul, because will began and brought forth all that nature that lives in the soul, and is the only life in it; and this life can work and grow from nothing else, but that which first brought it forth. Hence you see the full meaning of these words of our author, all is magical, and as a consequent, the only opener of divine knowledge. All which expressions only imply this much, that the will, whether in God, or the creature, is the ground and seed of everything; is the generating working power, which makes and works all things to be in that state and condition which they are; and that everything begins, goes on, and ends, in the working of the will; and that nothing can be otherwise, than as its will works; and therefore eternity and time are in this sense magical.
Now here you see, in the utmost degree of clearness, how all true and false religion divide from one another. For if nothing works but the will, if nothing else carries on the work of nature; then all is false and vain in religion but the working of the will; and nothing is saving, or redeeming the life of the soul, but that which helps the will to work towards God.
Therefore it is, that our author so often tells his reader, that when he sees and finds this magic birth of things, he is delivered from Babel; not by running from one place to another, or from one system of opinions to another, but by inwardly leaving all the workings of earthly self, all the paper-buildings of natural reason, and turning to
God with the whole will and working desire of his heart. This is the right coming out of our own Babel of vain opinions into the truth and reality of nature, where the living God of nature is found; not in notions, but in the living working of the soul, and worshipped in spirit and in truth.
I said, because nature is the standard of truth, and all is Babel but that which works with nature, that is, with eternal nature; for as eternal nature is the manifestation of the unchangeable God, so it must be as unchangeable in itself, and its own workings, as God is; because it has nothing in it, but what is in and from the unchangeable God. And therefore, God cannot be manifest, or work in any creature, but as he is manifest, and works in eternal nature; and therefore all that the creature does is labor lost, and a vain beating of the air, but that which it works with, and according to eternal nature. Because God never was, nor ever can be found, anywhere else but in his own heaven, or eternal nature. And no soul can by any possible thing find, or be found by God, but by standing before him in the same will and working as eternal nature does. And therefore all is fiction and Babel but the working of the will, because nothing but the will can work with nature; and that for this reason, because all life, and all nature, eternal and temporal, is what it is, merely and solely, from the working of the will. All things in heaven and in earth stand in this magic birth; and nothing can change its state, either for better or worse, but as the working of its will changes. Justly therefore is it said, that where this truth is found, there is a full and true deliverance from Babel; that is, from all strife, and zeal, and division about opinions, sects, and churches; since the one thing that works either to life, or to death, the one thing that alone opens heaven or hell for us, is with every individual man in every place, and in every age of the world; and that one thing is the working of the will. And when, in any such man, his will is turned from his own earthly self, and this
earthly life then works with its desire to God, then all these sayings of the scripture are true of him; i.e., that he is redeemed from this evil world, that he has his conversation in heaven, that he is of God, and hears God's word, that he is saved by faith, that Christ is revealed in him, that he is Christ's, and Christ is his, that Christ is in him of a truth, and that he is led by the spirit of Christ. All these texts would be true of him, though he had never seen, nor heard, a syllable of the written word of God.
For the word of God which saves and redeems, which gives life and light to the soul, is not the word printed on paper, but is that eternal, ever-speaking word, which is the son of God, who in the beginning was with God, and was the God by whom all things were made. This is the universal teacher and enlightener of all that are in heaven, and on earth, who from the beginning to the end of time, without respect of persons, stands at the door of every heart of man, speaking into it not human words, but divine goodness; calling and knocking, not with outward sounds, but by the inward stirring of an awakened divine life. And therefore, as sure as that is true, which John said, that this eternal word is the life of men, and the light that lights every man that cometh into the world, so sure is it, that our savior and salvation, our teacher and enlightener, from whom we have every good thought, is Christ within us; not within this or that man, but in every man where ever he is born, and in whom the light of life arises. And indeed how can it be otherwise? For if God is the God of all men; and the word of God the life and light of all men; and all men are capable of goodness; and all goodness can only be from God; and no goodness can belong to man, but that which is within him; then every man must have the word, or Christ of God within him, and can have it nowhere else. All teachers therefore, who teach men to look for life or salvation in anything but from the word and spirit of God within them, stand chargeable with the blood and death of souls; because, in all the possibility of things, nothing can overcome that death which is in the soul, but the word, or Christ of God living and working in it. For, observe, man must have goodness in the same way as God has goodness, that is, from the divine nature; for goodness is nowhere else, neither is anything else capable of it; and therefore, if goodness is to be in man, the divine nature must, of all necessity, be first brought to life within him. But this cannot be, until the working will of our heart turns and gives up itself wholly to the word and spirit of God within us. For we can have nothing but that, towards which the earnestness of our will goes.
So we are either swallowed up in the vanity of time, or called forth into the riches of eternity.
Again, see here in a still higher degree of proof the absolute necessity, and unspeakable benefit, of the spirit of prayer; how it does, and must, in spite of all opposition, raise the fallen soul out of the poverty of flesh and blood, into the riches of an heavenly nature brought forth in it. For since all things in heaven and earth stand in a magic birth, or working of the will; the will is that, which has all power; it unites all that is united in heaven or on earth; it divides and separates all that is divided in nature; it makes heaven, and it makes hell; for there is no hell, but where the will of the creature is turned from God; nor any heaven, but where the will of the creature works with God. Therefore, as we pray, so we are; and as our will-spirit secretly works, so we are either swallowed up in the vanity of time, or called forth into the riches of eternity. And therefore the spirit of prayer is most justly conceived, and most simply expressed, when it is said to be the rising of the soul out of the vanity of time into the riches of eternity: for all the vanity which the soul has, is from its living in, and loving the things of time; and therefore it can only come out of the vanity of its state, by loving and living in the truths, which are the riches of eternity: for the spirit of prayer is the hunger of the soul; and as every hunger is, so it eats; it always eats that which it hungers after, and has a life suitable to the nature, state, and condition, both of its hunger, and its food. If it hungers after the things of flesh and blood, it eats nothing else, and only grows in the bestial life; and of the flesh must reap the corruption that belongs to flesh: and if it hungers after God, it eats the food which gives life to the angels; it eats the bread that is come down from heaven; namely, the real heavenly body and blood of Christ, which surely may be called the riches of eternity.
All the mysteries of religion, and the necessity of the whole process of Christ in our redemption, have their ground, and necessity, and efficacy, in this magic nature of things, and are all of them only for this one end; to help fallen man to have a working will towards that first life, which he has lost. And therefore no one joins with the mysteries of redemption, or can have any share in them, but he whose will turns wholly from this world, and has all its workings towards God and heaven. And now, sir, see the plain, and easy, and certain deliverance from all perplexity and vain labor in the disputes and divisions of religion. It is but opening your natural eyes, that is, letting simple nature work with its own power, and all difficulties are removed; and the way to God and goodness is as natural, and as free from all perplexity, as opening our eyes to see the light of the sun. For what is so natural to man as the working of the will? And yet he can have nothing, nor be anything, different from that, to which his will works.
Nor does this at all too much exalt the human will, or make our salvation not to be the pure grace and gift of God to us, but quite the contrary. For the will here spoken of, is not the will of flesh and blood, but that heavenly will, which is the only spark of the deity in us, given by the free grace of God to all mankind, as soon as fallen, and called in scripture the in-spoken word of God in paradise; which was the beginning of the redemption, when God first entered into a covenant of salvation with Adam, and all his posterity. This in-spoken word is Christ, or the spark of the divine nature, which is the light that lights every man that cometh into the world. And here, in this Christ in us, lies the will that has the power of salvation in it; and all its salvation is the salvation of Christ. For it is the will of this heavenly nature, hid in every man, that is the working will, that brings forth the new birth of heaven in us; and therefore is the pure free salvation of Christ, given to be a redeemer within us. So that all our salvation, though wrought out by this working will within us, is, from the beginning to the end, the pure grace of God to us, and no salvation of our own.
And thus, sir, you see, that every soul of man is partly human, and partly divine; and is united to an earthly and an heavenly nature; and so not only can, but must, always work either with one or the other, and has nothing else to work with; and must and can be, or have nothing else, but as he follows or works with either of these wills. So that, infallibly to know both your present and future state, what you are, and to what you belong, you need only to see, what you cannot help seeing, how, and where, and to what, your will works.
And thus, from this knowledge of the magic nature of things, which all are that which they are, solely from the working of the will in everything, you are delivered from all vain labor and party-zeal; and are brought back to that true and safe ground, on which God has placed you to work out your own salvation, without any hindrance from any builders of Babel, of whatever denomination.
The short of it is this: the whole matter of religion relates only to life and death. But life and death are both of them unchallengeable, and founded in the unchangeable nature of things. Nothing can alter them, or invent a new way, either to or from either of them. To what purpose then, is all this dividing into so many parties? Why all this strife and zeal about opinions? Death and life go on their own way, carry on their own work, and stay for no opinions. Does the stone stop, or alter its tendency towards the earth? Do the sparks and flame cease to fly upwards, because philosophers dispute and quarrel about the reasons of one or the other? No; nature goes on in its own way, let reason say what it will. Now death and life have their own unchangeable nature and working in and from themselves; and are just as distinct from, and independent of, all opinions of men about them, as the things just now mentioned: so that to will and work, as life wills and works, and to will and work, as death wills and works, is the one only possible way to partake either of life or death. What a delusion is it therefore, to grow grey-headed in balancing ancient and modern opinions; to waste the precious uncertain fire of life in critical zeal, and verbal animosities; when nothing but the kindling of our working will into a faith, that overcomes the world, into a steadfast hope, and ever-burning love, and desire of the divine life, can hinder us from falling into eternal death!
Academicus: Oh! Theophilus, you have led me into a depth, that I never thought of seeing into.
For this magic power of everything, that works in all nature and creature, shows me everything in a new view. You might well say, that reason has no power in this mystery; that nothing is proposed to it: for since life and death have their own working within themselves, and must at last, when time is at an end, divide and take possession of everything, according as its will has worked either with one or the other, it signifies no more to them what reason has been all this time discoursing about, than in what language a man used to talk. But before you go any farther, I beg a word or two on these matters. First, how I am to understand our author, when he says, here the reader must have magical eyes and, this or that has a magical understanding. And, secondly, that you would, as you promised, show, how speaking thus of this magical power of life, is strictly conformable to the spirit of the gospel.
Theophilus: As to your first matter, concerning magical eyes; I should have thought the thing plain enough already. But you may understand it in this way. When a carpenter cuts timber into various shapes and forms, and then joins one piece to another, until it is formed into the shape of a house; this is no magical work, because one part does not grow from the other, until the whole is brought forth, and therefore there is no need of magical eyes to see what this work is. But when an oak grows from an acorn, or a plant from a seed in the ground, here the work is magical; that is, it is a birth or product generated from the working will in the acorn and seed, from where the stem, and all its branches and fruits, grow forth; which working will continue until the plant or tree has reached its limit, that is, until the working will in the seed has spent itself. Now all this is a magical work, and therefore can only be seen by such magical eyes as can see into the beginning, and go on with the working of that which works and generates in the tree or plant.
As to your other matter, how this language of the magical working of the will is entirely conformable to the spirit of the gospel; the answer is easy, because the thing is plain. For the first possible beginning of the Christian life, is, by the founder of it, expressly laid in a new birth from above, and therefore plainly declared to be a magical work, and to have no other nature; because a generating work, and a magical work, are only different expressions for the same thing. And as the beginning, so every following advancement in the Christian life, is as really and truly only a growth of life, or magical birth from the powers of father, son, and Holy Ghost, upon the working will in the soul, as the plant, from its first stirring in the seed, to its last state, is only a growth from the powers of the sun, stars, and elements, upon the working will in the seed.
Everything that is outward in religion, whether it be men or things, planting or watering, is only for the sake of this inward birth; either to direct man to it, to help him to work in it, or warn him of that eternal death, which the will, working according to flesh and blood, must inherit as its own genuine fruit. And whoever fancies the Christian life to be anything else than a birth growing up in God, until it comes to the perfection of the divine life, by the same way of a gradual growth, and in the same reality, as the finished flower has all its perfection by way of a gradual growth from the seed, has not a syllable in the gospel, nor an instance in nature, to plead in excuse of his fanciful error.
For nothing works in all nature or grace, but what works as a birth, or magical growth of life. For nothing can come from the living God but life, nor for any other end, but to manifest some kind or degree of life. There are no dead forms, or lifeless inventions to be found, until you come to the works of men's hands, and the cobweb schemes of dead knowledge, brought forth by human reason. For reason is the old serpent called subtlety, the first and the last grand deceiver of mankind, that takes them from the powerful workings of nature, to follow the shadows of empty sounds, until all is swallowed up either by final life or death, which will at last reap everything into its own unchangeable barn.
Again, faith and hope, and love and desire towards God, are the only gospel means of bringing forth the new birth; and therefore all that the gospel requires, is a magical working of the will.
For all these powers, whether of faith, hope, love, and desire towards God and the divine life, are only so many different powers of the working of the will, and have all their efficacy, as so many parts of it; and only alter, raise, and bring forth a new life, because the working of the will is magical, and generates as it works, and unites with that which it wills. And thus Christ, or the new man in Christ Jesus, is formed in us, from a seed of heaven, which is the will that can work towards God, until it becomes a Godly birth, as the seed works towards the sun, until it is changed into the birth of a beauteous fragrant flower.
Again, it is, namely, from this magic power of the working of the will, that our blessed lord speaks so often of the omnipotence of faith; i.e. ,that all things are possible to him that believeth, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive, if ye had faith but as a grain of mustard-seed, ye might say to this tree, be thou plucked up by the root; and to this mountain, be thou cast into the sea; and it should be done, thy faith has saved thee, according to thy faith, so be it done unto thee.
Hence all these truths plainly follow: first, that faith, which is in itself only the working of the will, is the source of all power; and that all that is done in nature is done by faith alone; and that therefore all nature stands in a magic working of the will. For all things could not be possible to him that believes, but because faith, or the working of the will, is the true source of all power in or over nature. Secondly, here is a full demonstration of the high and powerful state, in which man was at first created! A lord over all this outward world; who could, by the working of his will, command the obedience of all things about him.
This was the dominion he had over all the creatures on the earth, in the sea, and in the air; not such a poor power as invented weapons, or the strength of his hands and feet, could help him to; but a power here mentioned, of standing still, and, by the faith or will of his mind, making every creature to come or go, just as the faithful disciple of Christ was, by his faith, to have power over every outward thing of this world.
Now all this high state of his first power is undeniable from the words of our savior. For it is not to be supposed, that he would turn men's thoughts to any such powers, as to have all things obedient to their faith, or the working will of their minds, if this had not been man's first created state, or such powers as originally belonged to it. For no man or creature can have any higher power, than that which belongs to his first created state.
And therefore all gospel faith, however wonderful in its power, can only have something of that first powerful faith, which man had when he first came out of the hands of God. And faith now in a redeemer can only be the means of obtaining salvation, for this reason, because faith was then that original high power in man, which could have preserved him in his first perfection and glory of life. Thus, when Christ said, your faith has saved you, it is the same thing as if he had said, faith had always such power; that faith was the strength and glory of the first man, that could have saved him from falling under the power of the stars and elements; that it was faith alone which could and did put an end to his first paradisiacal glory, by turning its strength and desire into the life of this world. Again, when our lord said, according to your faith, so be it done unto you; this was no new thing, or new operation in the power of faith, but was only a declaration of a truth as old as nature and creature, and was in reality so much said of the powerful faith of the first man; and infallibly shows, that as now, so then, nothing was done to him in his fall, but that which was done according to the faith and working of his will. For this is God's immutable righteous procedure with man, that nothing but his own works can follow him; and that, from first to last, whether standing or falling, according to his faith, and working will, so must it be done unto him. And therefore man's faith, and working will, was his divine power of living superior to, and independent of all the stars and elements of this world, in his own angelic perfection of a divine life.
For if the revival of faith, in so small a degree, as to be compared to a grain of mustard-seed, could bring forth in man such a divine power over all the things of this world, is it not a sufficient proof of the high power of his first lost faith; which only in this way coming again, as the smallest of seeds, yet comes with such mighty power over all outward nature, the flesh and the devil? And so, all that is said in the gospel, of the power of faith, is, in the strictest truth, so much said of the power and perfection of our first father, over whom this earthly system had no power: but whether he stood, or fell, or was to rise again, all was, and is, and must be done, by his faith, or the working of his will.
And also, you see, that all that was said of the nature and extent of the magic power of the will, is not only conformable to, but is the very spirit of the gospel, and all the written word of God. For from the first promise made to Adam, to the last written words of scripture, man is only called and directed to the true exercise of these magic, generating powers of the will; namely, to believe, to hope, to trust in God; to love, desire, and expect the renewal of a divine life from the goodness of God.
Humanus: Give me leave only to add, that in these words of our Savior, according to your faith, so be it done unto you, and other such-like sayings, he has not only opened the true nature and power of faith, but has discovered more of the true philosophy of nature, than had ever been told to the world before. Faith is generally considered as a speculative thing, as an assent of the mind to the credibility of things related. This may sometimes, as well in the scriptures, as in other books, be called faith, as the same word may be used in various senses. But the faith in question, about which our savior speaks, and to which he ascribes so much power, and which alone can do a man any real good or harm, is quite of another nature: I say, good or harm; because all that is good or bad proceeds from it, and it carries its power which way it will: as it can work all wonders, and overcome the world, so it alone has power over life and heaven in the soul, can drive them out, and setup the kingdom of hell and death instead of them.
Now this faith may be thus understood; it is that power by which a man gives himself up to anything, seeks, wills, adheres to, and unites with it, so that his life lives in it and belongs to it. Now to whatever the soul gives itself up; whatever it hungers after; and in which it delights, and seeks to be united; there, and there only, is its faith; that faith which can work either life or death, and according to which faith everything is, and must be done to man.
Now this faith is not a matter of choice, so that a man may live without it, if he pleases; but is essential to his life, and altogether inseparable from it. For whatever the life drives at, to whatever it is given up, there is its living and powerful faith. Therefore, be a man given up to what he will, seeking, delighting, and acquiescing in whatever it be, temporal or eternal, whether it be Christianity, idolatry, deism, or atheism; this is a certain conclusion, that every man in the world is a man of faith, lives by faith, and that equally so; because every man's life is equally given up to the seeking, and delighting in, and uniting itself to, something or other; and therefore every man equally lives by faith, and that in its highest degree. It matters not, whether a man delights and acquiesces in the philosophy of Epicurus, or Spinoza; whether he is given up to luxury and sensuality, or to syllogisms and definitions, to mysteries of redemption, or mysteries of atheism: he is neither more nor less a man of faith for all this; but is equally under the power of faith, whether it be divine, earthly, sensual, or devilish. For which way so ever the life of man tends, or drives; to whatever he gives himself up; there he is, and lives by faith, and that in its highest degree; for no faith can rise higher than this. Nor can a man's faith be anywhere, but where his life is, and to which it belongs; nor can he be said to live to anything, but by faith. For faith is as much the one working power of life, as thought is the one working power of the understanding; and the understanding of man may as easily proceed without being led by thought, as the life of man go on without being led by faith; that is, without giving itself up to something, or other, with which it would be united, and to which it would belong, as its desired good; which, as I said before, is the highest degree of the most living faith.
The debate therefore, set up by the deists, about reason and faith, as two principles of life; the one appropriated to Christians, and the other to themselves, is founded on the grossest ignorance of both their natures; as great as that of supposing, that there are two principles of seeing and smelling; i.e., reason and the senses. And the deist, who turns from all faith, to have a life of reason, proceeds as much according to nature, as if he was to leave it to Christians, to see and smell by their senses; but himself his fellow deists to see and smell by the power of reason. For reason is no more the power of life, than it is the power of the senses; it can no more enter into, mix, or co-operate with life, than with the senses; but must stand below them both, and follow them both, in the same degree of inability to alter, increase, or lessen the natural power of either of them, as the eye has to alter the vegetation, color, or smell, of the plant on which it looks. For reason like the eye, is only an outward looker on; and can no more form, or model, or alter the life of the soul, than it can alter the life and vegetation of the body. But this saying, according to your faith, so be it done unto you, contains the unchangeable ground, and true philosophy of life, and the power of life. And this saying takes in every individual of human nature and the deist may as well think of turning death over to the Christians, and reserving immortality for himself, as to think of being anything else, either here or hereafter, but purely and solely that, which his faith has brought to pass in him. He may, indeed, easily enough keep himself free from all Christian faith; but, whether he will or not, a faith must do all in him, and for him, just in the same degree, as it does for the Christian. Let him make ever so many declarations against the superstition and blindness of faith; ever so many comments upon the beauty of axioms, syllogisms, and deductions of reason; his life is just as far from being a life of reason, as the Christian's is, who declares only for a life of faith. For as the eye and the nose have just the same nature, office, and power, in a man, whether he is a deist, or Christian; and he cannot, as such, have either more or less from them, or be more or less helped by them; so reason and faith have just the same nature, office and power in a man, and are always in him, and will always do the same for him, whether he be Christian or deist. And if the deist were to change sides, he would be neither more nor less a man of faith and reason, than he was before; nor have received or lost any power either of faith or reason. He would only be under a divine, instead of an earthly and sensual faith; and his reason would not have changed its state, or office, or power, but only be the servant of a better master; that is, of a divine faith.
Now, if faith was not the power of life in every man, no man could live by faith, nor could it be the principle or power of life in any man. But seeing every man, whether earthly or heavenly, is that which he is, by faith; and faith will and must have its work in every man; and he cannot live without it, or live free from it; therefore is the absolute necessity of the one right faith, in order to have salvation, and the impossibility of anything else to avail in the stead of it. Also it is for this, that Christianity applies not to the reason of any man, because reason is not the principle of life, or the former of it; but it calls the heart to a right faith, because man is only lost and separate from God and heaven by his faith in the things and powers of this world. And therefore all salvation does, and only can do, arise from a faith turned to God; and also all damnation from faith in the things of this world. And no man can turn either to God, or to this world, but by faith; that is, by giving up himself up either to the one, or the other, which is the highest act or power of faith. For there is nothing that works either to life or death, in any man, but that to which he is given up, by faith in it. And reason never had, nor ever can have, or do, anything else, but one and the same office, let faith take which way it will.
The delusion of the deist lies here: he refuses an assent to the history of facts and doctrines of the gospel; and this is his proof to himself, that he lives by reason, and that it is the real principle of his life. On the other hand, he that assents to the history of facts and doctrines of the gospel, is, by the deist, reckoned to be a man of gospel faith, and that lives by it. But this is all a mistake on both sides. For this assent on one side, and dissent on the other, touches not the matter either of reason or faith. For both these persons, notwithstanding this difference of assenting, may not only be equally governed by faith; but have strictly one and the same faith. For if the things of this world have the heart of both of them, which very easily may be; then they have but one and the same faith, and are equally governed by it; for they both equally live by a faith in this world.
The deist therefore has no other possible way of showing, that he is not as much a man of faith, as any Christian can be, but by showing, that he has no will, no desire, no inclination of heart left in him; that his life drives no way, is given up to no one thing, as its end and good; but that reason, without affection, carries him only from syllogism to syllogism, in quest of nothing. Then it is, that he may deem himself to be a man of reason, but not until then; for if he has any heart that has any inclination to be united with, or belong to anything; then he becomes a man of faith, and he lives by faith in that to which he is given up, as much as any Christian does, who is given up to the mysteries of Christian redemption.
Consequently I could not help saying much on this delusion, in which I have been so long ensnared myself, and therefore have the utmost desire and earnestness to help others out of it. And, to this end, I shall add the following passages, taken from a book, where this whole matter is justly said to be examined from top to bottom.
"We have no want of religion, but so far as we want to better our state in God; or so far as we are un-possessed of God, or less possessed of him than we might be, and our nature requires. This is the true and only ground of religion, i.e., to alter our state of existence in God, and to have more of the divine nature and perfections communicated to us. Nothing therefore is our good in religion, but that which alters our state of existence in God for the better, and puts us in possession of something of God; or makes us partakers of the divine nature in such a manner and degree, as we wanted it. Everything that is in life, has its degree of life in and from God; it lives and moves and has its being in God. This is as true of devils, as of the highest and most perfect angels. Therefore, all the happiness or misery of all creatures consists only in this; i.e., as they are more or less possessed of God, or as they differently partake of the divine nature, or according to their different state of existence in God. But if this is a truth (and who can deny it?) Then is has been demonstrated, that nothing can be our good in religion, but that which communicates to us something of God, or the divine nature, or that which betters our state and manner of existence in God."
For if devils are what they are, because of their state and manner of existence in God; if blessed angels are what they are, because of their state, and manner of existence in God; then it undeniably follows, that all that is between angels and devils, all beings, from the happiness of the one, to the misery of the other, must and can have no other happiness or misery, but according to their state and manner of existence in God, or according as they have more or less of the state of angels, or the state of devils, in them. Therefore nothing can be our good in religion, but that which alters our state and manner of existence in God, and renders us possessed of him in a different and better manner."
Now, if you were to send to the fallen spirits of darkness all the systems of your religion of reason, that have been published, to let them know that they have the power of their own restoration and happiness within themselves; that they need seek nothing, but their own natural reason and understanding, and the strength and activity of their own powers, to raise them to all the happiness they are capable of; such a religion would be so far from altering or mending their state of existence in God, or doing them any good, that it would add strength to all their chains; and the more firmly they believed and relied upon it, the more would they be confirmed and fixed in their separation from God. And yet, a religion that must necessarily keep them in hell, is the only religion, that you will have to carry you to heaven. May God deliver you from this error!"
Hence it sufficiently appears, that your way of natural reason cannot be the way of salvation; because the want of salvation is nothing else, but the wanting to have our state and manner of existence in God altered for the better, or to have something of God communicated to us, which we need, and are capable of receiving. But if this is, and must be, the nature of salvation; then no religion can save us, or do us any proper good, or supply our proper want, but that which has the power to alter our state of existence in God, or to communicate to us that of God, which we need, and are capable of. And therefore, nothing but that same power of God, which created us, which gave us our state and manner of existence in God, and communicated to us that which we possess in him, can redeem us, or help us to that state and manner of existence in him, which we have lost, and are in want of."
There never could have been any dispute about the possibility of saving ourselves by our own natural faculties, had not men lost all true knowledge both of God and themselves. For this dispute cannot happen, until men suppose God to be some outward being; that our relation to him is some outward relation; that religion is an outward thing, that passes between God and us, like terms of behavior between man and man; that sin hurts, and separates us from God, only as misconduct hurts, and separates us from our prince; that an offended God either gives or refuses pardon to us, as an angry prince does to his subjects; and that, what he gives or forgives to us, is something as distinct or different from himself, as when a prince, sitting upon his throne, gives or forgives something to an offender, that is an hundred miles from him."
Now all this is the same total ignorance of God, what he is in himself, and what he is in relation to us, and the manner of his being our good, as when the old idolaters took men to be Gods. And yet nothing is more plain, than that your religion of reason is wholly founded upon all these gross and false notions of God. You do not have an argument in its defense, but that which supposes, that our relation to God is an outward relation, like that of subjects to their prince; and that which we do to and for God, as our service to him, is, and must be done, by our own power, as that which we do to and for our prince, must be done by our own power. And from these errors it is, that you draw this false conclusion, that if our own reason and natural power were not sufficient to obtain for us all that we want, and God requires of us; God must be less good than a good earthly prince, who requires no more of us, than that which we have a natural strength to do, or can do by our own power. And yet all this is pure absurdity, and has all the grossness of idolatry in it, as soon as you know, that God is no outward or separate being; but that we are what we are, have what we have, and do that which we can do, because he has brought us to this state of life, power, and existence in himself; because he has made us, so far as we are made, partakers or possessors of a life in him, and has communicated to us, such a life in himself; or in the words of scripture, because in him we live and move and have our being, and consequently have no life, motion, or being, out of him. For from this state of our existence in God, it necessarily follows; first, that by the nature of our creation, we are only put into a capacity of receiving good. A creature, as such, can be in no other state; it is as impossible for him to enrich himself, or communicate more good to himself, as it was to create himself. Secondly, that nothing but God can do us any good. Thirdly, that God himself cannot do us any good, but by the communication of himself, in some manner, to us. Therefore it is plain, that your religion of reason, which supposes, that we have natural powers, that can put us in possession of that which we want to be possessed of in God; or, that we need no more divine assistance to recover what we have lost of God, than to obtain a pardon from a prince; or, that God need communicate no more of himself to us in our reconcilement to him, than a prince communicates of himself to his pardoned subject; has all the mistakes, error, and ignorance of God, that is in idolatry, when it takes God to be something that he is not; and has all the false devotion that is in idolatry, when it puts the same trust in, and expects the same benefit from, its own powers and faculties, which idolaters did in and from their idols. Your religion of reason, therefore, which you esteem as the modern refinement of the human mind, and more excellent and rational, than the faith and humility of the gospel, has all the dregs of the grossest heathen idolatry in it; and has changed nothing in idolatry, but the idol; and only differs in such a degree of philosophy, as the religion of worshipping the sun differs from the religion of worshipping an onion."
For as soon as it is known and confessed, that God is all in all; that in him we live and move and have our being; that we have nothing separately, or at a distance, from him, but everything in him; that we have no degree of being, nor any degree of good, but in him; that the almighty can give us nothing, but that which is something of himself; nor any degree of amendment or salvation, but in such degree as he communicates something more of himself to us; as soon as this great immutable truth is known, then it is known with the utmost certainty, that to put our trust in the sun, or an onion, or our own reason, if not equally absurd, is yet equally idolatrous, and equally prejudicial to our salvation."
And now, Theophilus, if you please, you may proceed in the matter you were upon.
Theophilus: We have discoursed long enough for this time. Let silence, recollection, inward and outward retirement, have their work for a few days. They purify the heart; they weaken and disarm self; they strengthen the spirit of prayer, and help us not only to pray, but to find, to love, and live in God. Let us all desire such an interval as this; and then we shall be fitter to meet again for our mutual benefit. My friends, adieu.
The end of Part 2
Part 3
Academicus: If you please, Theophilus, please go on just where you left off at our last meeting. For I am starting to understand this mystery; and the approach of its light leaves me no power to be content without it.
Theophilus: You have seen, that all nature begins and stands in a magic birth; and is only a large display of its working power in every kind of creature. You now want to see farther into this mystery, how eternal nature begins; and how God, the first, hidden, imperceptible cause of all things, manifests himself in the properties of a visible and working nature. Now I would, to the best of my power, gladly assist you in this matter, if I could find out a way of doing it, by opening in your heart a knowledge of God, of nature, and yourself, without helping you to a mere opinion, or increasing your thirst after speculation. Tell me, therefore, what is your propose; or what effect are you expecting from such knowledge, as you seek here.
Academicus: All that I desire by it is, to strengthen and confirm the ground on which I stand; that, seeing the true philosophy of religion, I may have nothing to fear from all that variety of attacks which now, more than ever, are made upon it by infidel reason. I hope, therefore, it is no vain curiosity, to desire to enter into the depth of this mystery, since I only desire strength to resist all the enemies of religion.
Theophilus: All this is right, and very well; provided you know who, and what, are the great and powerful enemies of religion. But this, perhaps, you may not so well apprehend, as you may imagine. Your own reason, born, and bred, and governed, by your own flesh and blood, is the most powerful enemy of religion that you have to deal with, and whom you have the most to fear from.
The men of speculative reason, whom you seem most to apprehend, are powerless enemies, that cannot strike at your religion with even the strength of a straw. If you rightly see what their power is, you would see it as ridiculous, as that of a few water-hydrants trying to quench the fire of the sun: for reason stands in the same inability to touch the truth of religion, as the water-hydrant to affect the sun. No, its inability is much greater; for could the water, thrown from the hydrants, be able to reach the sun, it would have some, though an insignificant, effect upon it; but reason can no more affect the truth
of religion, than nothing can affect something. If reason seems to have any power against religion, it is only where religion is become a dead form, and has lost its true state, and is dwindled into opinion; and when this is the case, that religion stands only as a well-grounded opinion, then indeed it is always liable to be shaken; either by having its own credibility lessened, or that of a contrary opinion increased. But when religion is that which it should be, not a notion or opinion, but a real life growing up in God, then reason has just as much power to stop its course, as the barking dog to stop the course of the moon. For true and genuine religion is nature, is life, and the working of life; and therefore, where ever it is, reason has no more power over it, than over the roots that grow secretly in the earth, or the life that is working in the highest heavens. If therefore you are afraid of reason hurting your religion, it is a sign, that your religion is not yet as it should be, is not a self-evident growth of God within you, but is only a system of opinions.
Observe the word self-evident; for there lies the truth of the matter; for you have no more of the truth of religion than what is self-evident in you. A blind man may be rich in notions and opinions about the nature, power, and good, of light; and in this case, one blind man may perplex another, and unsettle his notions; but when the light manifests itself, and is become self-evident, then he is at once delivered from all uncertainty about it. Now religion is light and life; but light and life can only manifest themselves, and can nowhere be known, but where they are self-evident.
You can know nothing of God, of nature, of heaven, or hell, or yourself, but so far as all these things are self-evident in you. Neither could any of these things be of any concern to you, but because they can be self-evident in you. For the bare history, of any one thing, signifies no more to you, than the idle talk of any other thing. And if God and heaven, hell and the devil, the world and the flesh, were not all of them self-evident in you, you could have no more good or hurt from any idle talk about them, than from the knowledge of pleasant gardens, and dismal prisons, in the world of the moon.
Let it be supposed, that your ingenious reason should suggest to you, that there are no devils or hell, and therefore no occasion to believe that revelation that gives an account of them: in this case, do but turn to that which is sensible and self-evident in you, and then you must know, in the same certainty as you know yourself to be alive, that there is wrath, self-torment, envy, malice, evil-will, pride, cruelty,
revenge, etc. Now say, if you please, there are no other devils but these, and that men have no other devils to resist; and then you will have said truth enough, and enough confessed, that you are in the midst of them; that you are every where tempted by them; and that flesh and blood is too weak to resist them, and therefore wants some kind of savior, of so contrary a nature, as has power to destroy these works of the devil in you
Now this is the only knowledge that you can possibly have of an outward hell, and outward devils; and this knowledge is as self-evident in you as your own thoughts, and is as near to you as your own life. But to see and know an outward hell, or outward devils, that are outward living creatures, can never be your own case, until all that is divine and human in you is extinguished; and then you will have knowledge enough, how hell is a place, and how the devils of rage, wrath, envy, and pride, are living creatures.
Again, let it be supposed, that your skeptic reason has brought you into doubt about the being and providence of God in you: you have no occasion to consult the demonstrations which heathen philosophers, school divines, deists, or atheists, have produced about it, from the existence of things; all concluding, as well Christians, as deists and atheists, that there must be some eternal first cause from which all has proceeded.
For what a God is this, that is only proved to be, because something now is, and therefore something must always have been, an infinite, eternal something, with infinite power to bring forth all that is come into being? What a God, I say, is this, which the Arian, the deist, and the atheist, is as willing to own as the Christian; and which is as serviceable to the cause of Arianism, deism, idolatry, and atheism, as it is to Christianity? For the atheist has his omnipotent, eternal, first cause, as well as all the disputers for a God.
But now, if you turn from all these idle debates and demonstrations of reason, to that which is sensible and self-evident in you, then you have a sensible, self-evident proof of the true God of life, and light, and love, and goodness, as manifest to you as your own life. For with the same self-evident certainty, as you know that you think, and are alive, you know that there is goodness, love, benevolence, meekness, compassion, wisdom, peace, joy. Now this is the self-evident God, that forces himself to be known, and found, and felt, in every man, in the same certainty of self-evidence, as every man feels and finds his own thoughts and life. And this is the God, whose being and providence, self-evident in us, calls for our worship, and love, and adoration, and obedience to him: and this worship, and love, and adoration, and conformity to the divine goodness, is our true belief in, and sure knowledge of, the self-evident God. And atheism is not the denial of a first omnipotent cause, but is purely and solely nothing else but the disowning, forsaking, and renouncing of the goodness, virtue, benevolence, meekness, of the divine nature, that has made itself self-evident in us, as the true object of our worship, conformity, love, and adoration. This is the one true God, or the deity of goodness, virtue, and love, the certainty of whose being and providence opens itself to you in the self-evident sensibility of your own nature; and inspires his likeness, and love of his goodness, into you. And as this is the only true knowledge that you can possibly have of God and the divine nature, so it is a knowledge that can't be debated or lessened by any objections of reason, but is as self-evident as your own life. But to find or know God in reality, by any outward proofs, or by anything but by God himself made manifest and self-evident in you, will never be your case either here or hereafter. For neither God, nor heaven, nor hell, nor the devil, nor the world, and the flesh, can be any otherwise knowable in you, or by you, but by their own existence and manifestation in you. And all pretended knowledge of any of these things, beyond or without this self-evident sensibility of their birth within you, is only such knowledge of them, as the blind man has of that light, that has never entered into him.
And as this is our only true knowledge, so every man is, by his birth and nature, brought into a certain and self-evident sensibility of all these things. And if we bring ourselves by reasoning and dispute into an uncertainty about them, it is an uncertainty that we have created for ourselves, and one which does not comes from God and nature. For God and nature have made that which is our greatest concern, to be our greatest certainty; and to be known by us in the same self-evidence, as our own pain or pleasure is. For nothing is religion, or the truth of religion, nothing is good or bad to you, but that which is a self-evident birth within you. So that if you call that God, and religion, and goodness, which truly are so, and can only be known by their self-evident powers and life in you, then you are in the truth, and the truth will make you free from all doubts; and you will fear no more or regard anything that talkative reason can discourse against it, than against your own seeing, hearing, or sensible life. But if you turn from self-evidence to reason and opinion, you turn from the tree of life, and you give yourself up to certain delusion.
Wonder not therefore, my friend, that though the mystery under consideration contains the greatest of truths, yet I am unwilling to help you to reason and speculate upon it; for if you attempt to go farther in it than self-evidence leads you, you only go so far out of it, or from it. For the end of this mystery is not to furnish new or better matter for reason and opinion, but to bring man home to that sensibility, which is self-evident in himself, and to lead him only by self-evident principles, to see, and find, and feel the difference between true and false religion in the same degree of self-evident certainty, as he sees and feels the difference between fire and water. This, I say, is the great intent of this mystery, to bring man into a sensibility of God and nature, to know and feel, that good and evil, life and death, are a self-evident growth and birth of nature in man, according as his will enters into and works with that which is unchangeably good, or unchangeably evil, in the working of nature. Now as the workings of nature are unchangeable in their effects, and that which is naturally good or evil, must always be so; and seeing man's life stands in nature, and must work with it, must have only that good or evil which is unchangeable in nature; and seeing his state in nature, whether good or evil, is, and can be, only that, which the sensible, self-evident powers of his own life manifest to him; then you see the fitness and necessity of your keeping steadily to that, which is self-evident in you, as the very tree of life, the criterion of all that truth and goodness that belongs to you. Secondly, you see with what good reason Jacob Behmen so often tells you, that all that he has written, was only to help man to seek and find himself, to see and know his place and state in nature, and how to cooperate with God and nature in generating a birth of heaven within himself. Thirdly, you may see how you and I should abuse this blessed mystery, should we, instead of only and truly seeking and finding its birth within us, make it a matter of reasoning and opinion.
Academicus: I have neither power nor inclination to object to anything that you have said. But still I must desire you to assist me in your own way, and such as you judge to be suitable to the intention of this mystery. I plainly see, that the whole ground of religion lies in the knowledge of what God is in himself, as distinct from nature; what nature is in itself; what I have from God, and what I am in and from nature; and how I am to work with it, as God himself is and works in nature. For if this knowledge can be opened in me, then the why, and the how, of every mystery of redemption must be seen to the bottom.
Theophilus: By nature are meant, all the working, stirring properties of life, or all the various sensibilities which life is capable of finding and feeling in itself. And therefore you need only look at the working sensibilities of your own life, the several kinds and ways of feeling and finding your own state, to know by a self-evident certainty, what nature is in itself. And also, in the same self-evident certainty, you may know, that nature is not God. For as you find, that nature is opened in you; that all its properties have their existence in you; and yet that none of these properties of life are their own happiness, or can make themselves to be happy, full of peace, delight, and joy, and free from every want; so you have a full self-evident proof, that God is not nature, but entirely distinct from, and superior to, nature; and that, as considered in Himself, he is that which alone can make nature happy, free from want, and full of all delightful satisfaction. And so you know, not from hearsay, but from a self-evident certainty in yourself, that God, considered as in himself, is the happiness, the rest, the satisfaction, the joy, the fulfilling of all the properties and sensibilities of nature; and also that nature, in itself, is that working life of various properties and sensibilities, which want to be made happy, which reach after something that they are not, and have not, and which cannot be happy or fulfilled, until something of an higher nature than themselves be united with them, that is, the working of nature must be in want, in pain, and dissatisfaction, until God (the blessing and fulfilling of nature) is manifested, found, and enjoyed in it.
Now suppose you knew no more of what God is in himself, distinct from nature, and what nature is as distinguished from God, than is already opened in you, you would know enough to be a key to all that which Jacob Behmen speaks of God, and of nature; and enough also to show you how to cooperate with God and nature, in bringing forth a new birth of the divine life within you. For as soon as you know, that nature in itself is only a working life of various sensibilities, which needs something distinct from itself, and higher than itself, to make it happy, then you have a self-evident certainty of these following truths; first, that God, considered as in himself, is the blessing, the satisfaction, the heaven, and happiness, of all and every sensibility of nature. Secondly, that therefore, as the gospel teaches, only the word, the light, the son of God, or Jesus Christ, can redeem fallen nature, restore it to its first state of blessedness in God. Thirdly, that therefore, as the gospel teaches, you have but one thing to do, and that one thing absolutely necessary to be done; i.e., to
deny yourself; that is, to turn this fallen nature from itself, from all its own wills and workings in the vanity of this life, to give up itself in faith, in hunger and thirst after that light, word, son, or Jesus Christ of God, who is the fullness, the satisfaction, the joy, and blessedness, of all nature; who alone can turn every working and sensibility of nature into a participation of heavenly satisfaction and joy. Now what can you desire, or need you to know of God, of nature, and the mystery of Christian redemption, more than this? And yet all this is a self-evident knowledge, born within you as soon as you turn to it.
Academicus: Oh! Sir, you quite transport me with this short, easy, and yet full illumination of so great a matter, which has often perplexed me. But now I shall never be at a loss how to understand the distinction between God and nature, and also the absolute necessity of it; which, when rightly known, sets all the doctrines and mysteries of Christian redemption upon such a ground as cannot be removed. But still I must beg of you to help me to the same self-evidence of the birth and generation of the properties of nature, as they are set forth by Jacob Behmen, especially of the three first forms, which I perceive to be the ground of all; and yet their birth and generation, their union with, and distinction from, one another, I do not comprehend enough, as he sets them forth. Therefore, the first form of nature is said to be desire; which is the ground and foundation of all things. This desire (the first property), he said, is astringing, drawing, shutting up, compressing, hardening. Now all this is evident enough; for I have a sufficient sensibility, that this is the nature of desire; that, in its spiritual way, it attracts, draws, compresses, and would shut up, or enclose. But then, it is immediately said, that the second property is attraction, drawing, sting, and motion. Now if the first is attraction and drawing, how can the second be different from it, and yet be attraction and drawing?
Theophilus: The desire is not one property, but is in itself all the properties of nature; it is the ground in which they all dwell, and the mother out of which they are all born: so that all that is said of the three first forms of nature, is only so much said of three forms or properties of the desire. For the desire is not the first property of nature; but every property has all that it has in and from the desire. The first property of the desire, of that which is the peculiarity of its
nature, as distinguished from the second, is, to compress, enclose, shut up, and then comes the thickness, darkness, hardness, etc. But no sooner does the desire begin to compress, shut up, but it brings forth its own greatest enemy, and the highest resistance to itself: for it cannot compress or thicken, but by drawing or attracting; but drawing and attracting is quite contrary to shutting up, or compressing; because drawing or attracting is motion, and every motion is contrary to shutting up or compressing together.
And thus your difficulty is removed: attraction or drawing is rightly ascribed to the desire, and rightly called its second property, because it is born of it; and yet is directly contrary to that which is the desire's first property or intention; i.e., to compress, to hold in stillness.
Now as these two properties are two resistances, not in two different things, but are one and the same thing in opposition to itself, as they are inseparable, and generate each other, are equal in strength, and neither of them can overcome the other, so as to go one way, but each of them stops the other in the same manner; and seeing this desire cannot cease to be these two contrary things; i.e., A holding-fast, and moving-away, a shutting-in, and a going-out, both in the same degree of strength; neither able to shut up, or go out, nor able to cease from either; these two contrarieties become a whirling anguish in itself, and so bring forth a third property of nature. And in these three properties lies the true ground of all sensibility of life, and also of every created thing. Matter, motion, darkness, fire, and every natural power or quality of anything, has its beginning from them. Considered in themselves, they are the working powers of that great and strong creaturely life, which cannot be broken, because it gives birth to itself, and every property is included in, and generates each other. It is a band or knot of life, that can never be loosed; nor is capable of annihilation, because it is a birth of eternal nature, which is as unchangeable as God himself. And as it arises from nothing outward, but is generated in and from itself, its work is eternal, and can never be made to cease. For as one property has no power over the other, but that of forcing it to exist; as one property does not weary the other, but always gives strength to it; so there can be no cessation of their working, but they must do, as they do, to all eternity.
Now the life of these three properties is a life of three contrary wills, equally strong and powerful against each other; and therefore is a life of the highest unrest, torment, and anguish, full of the most horrible sensibility. It is a life that can feel nothing but its own tearing contrariety, that reigns within it. And this is the life of nature separated from God; it is the life of hell, and the devils; and is that life of dark, raging distraction, which every living creature must be in, whose first properties of life are not softened and quieted, either by the light of God, or the light of this world, dwelling and making peace in them. And he that will only seek to his reason, to cool the flame of these raging first properties of life, acts as wisely as he, whose house being on fire, would only have it extinguished, by reading a lecture upon the nature of water to it.
And now, sir, you have seen plainly enough the birth, nature, and difference, of these three first properties. But let it be supposed, that you have no feeling, or inward sensibility, of these three properties in the manner they have been here described, according to Jacob Behmen; yet you have no reason to be troubled at it, or put your brain upon the rack how to conceive it, or fear that you must want the benefit of this knowledge, until you have it as above described; for you have in yourself a most self-evident proof, that the thing is really so; and that desire has all that in it which he so deeply declares, from its first seed, or root.
For it is a thing self-evident to you, that every desire, as such, is in itself a restless torment; that it has pain, disquiet, and anguish, in itself; and, consists of nothing else. Now, whether you can, with Jacob Behmen, divide this restless, anguishing desire into its three essential parts, of which it consists, matters not, as to the reality of the thing itself; for you have sensibility enough, that the desire is made up of pain and anguish, until the thing desired is obtained: and therefore you have all the certainty and benefit of this knowledge; and it serves the same end, as if you knew the ground of it with the same exactness as he has set it forth.
You have yourself for a proof, that desire and pain begin together; and this is a full proof of what was said; i.e. That desire begins with two properties, that resist and strive against one another. Again, you have the same evidence in yourself, that the desire, left to itself, that is, without the least glimpse of any possibility of having that which it desires, is a degree of hell, and quite intolerable in itself: and this is a self-evident proof of what was said; i.e. That the third and last property of the desire, is that whirling anguish, brought forth by the two first properties: for these three properties are the whole of the desire; it has nothing more in it. And when your desire cannot cease, and yet has nothing but itself, without the least mixture or feeling of hope in it, then you have a full self-evidence of all that which the desire is, in its three essential, inseparable properties, and that strictly according to the letter of Jacob Behmen.
Now all that is nature, or natural life within you, is only the working of desire in this painful state; and that which can set this painful life at rest in you, is so much of God, or the divine nature, manifested in you, and changing your restless properties of life into peace and happiness. And as the working properties of desire are your natural life, so the same working properties are the life of eternal nature; as from out of the womb, your natural life is brought forth, and has neither more nor less in it than that which is in eternal nature.
And if the working properties, which constitute the life of eternal nature, could be supposed to be without God in them, eternal nature would be a mere eternal hell: but as the eternal desire, with all its working properties, is brought forth by the magic power of the divine will, only for this end, that the holy deity may manifest a heaven of glory in them; so eternal nature always was, and always must be, a kingdom of heaven, or the unchangeable manifestation of the invisible God in an outward sensibility of life, happiness, glory, and majesty.
Academicus: I am fully satisfied as to this point; and all that you have said, has the evidence of light at noon-day. And I hope you will now go on in the birth of the four remaining properties; and show me, in the same degree of evidence, how these three properties bring forth the four following ones, which turn nature into a kingdom of heaven
Theophilus: These three properties of nature cannot bring forth the four following ones. They can bring forth nothing but themselves to all eternity, nor can they ever be anything else in themselves, but what they were at first. Nature can rise no higher than this painful state; and its painful working contrariety must always be the ground of all life, and all sensibility of life. For if (1.) This shutting-up, or compressing; and (2.) This resistance to it; and (3.)This whirling arising from both, was ever to cease, there life, and all sensibility, must cease with them; and therefore these three properties must always do as they do, as the only possible ground of every kind and degree of creaturely life, both in heaven, and on earth.
But if life is to be happy, something else must come into them, not to destroy their natural working, but to make every contrariety in them a joy, and delightful sensibilities. Thus, (1.) Compressing, or shutting-up, must find itself only to compress and keep in light and love; (2.) The attraction or drawing-motion, must find itself to be the drawing and motion of love; and, (3.)The whirling anguish must whirl still, but as a transport of joy unavoidably brought forth from the strife of love in the two properties of which it is born. And thus nature remains in its full strength; it compresses, it attracts, and it whirls, as it did at first; and nothing is lost, or taken from it, but its hatred, wrath, and misery. Now here you are to observe, that everything or creature, either in heaven, hell, or this world, has its substance, or all that is substantiality in it, solely from these three first properties of nature. The creaturely substance of an angel, a devil, or a dead piece of flint, all stand in these three first forms of nature. And all the difference between high and low, spiritual and material, in the creatures, arises from their different participation of the four following forms of nature. But the four following forms cannot exist, or manifest themselves, but in the three first; and therefore the three first are, and must be, as well in the highest as in the lowest of creatures: they are the first something, or substantiality of nature, in which the light, and love, and spirit of God can manifest itself; for spirit cannot work without something to work in and upon, and in which it may be found; nor could light shine, unless there was something in nature thicker than itself, to receive and reflect it: and therefore, thickness or darkness is, and must be, as eternal as the visible or shining light. Darkness is so far from being a mere negation, or only an absence, of the light, that it is the first and only substance, and the ground of all the possible substantiality in nature, and the substantial manifesting of light itself, which could have no visibility, shine, or color, but in and through, and by the substantiality of darkness or thickness. This darkness, thickness, or substantiality, is not co-existent with, or independent of, God, but is the compressing, astringing, thickening work of the first property of the desire; which desire comes eternally from God, only as a magic birth from the will of the deity, which wills to come out of its state of being hidden into an outward visibility of a working life. And therefore the desire is the beginning of nature; it compresses and thickens. But what does it compress and thicken? Why, nothing but itself; i.e. Its own three properties. And these three properties thus brought forth, tied and bound to one another, are, from eternity to eternity, all the substantiality and thickness, that is or ever can be in nature, or any creature, from the highest to the lowest. And they are thus brought forth in this band that can't be dissolved in and by the desire, that the invisible light and life of the hidden deity may have something to move and shine in; that His hidden Spirit may have something to work and manifest itself in; His hidden love have something into which it may give itself; and His hidden life have something in which it can open itself in a variety of births of life. And this something is the working compressing desire, which includes in itself, (1.) A continual thickening, which is darkness and substantiality: (2.) Motion or resistance to this thickening, which is the ground of all sensibility; and, (3.) A restless state of whirling born from these two properties, which is the very nature and power of life. And so these three properties of the desire, are that sufficient something, in which the deity, by entering into it, can manifest his hidden power in all the substances and working properties of nature, by turning them all in their different workings into an endless variety of delightful forms and sensibilities of the creaturely life.
Now this first thickness, darkness, or substantiality, brought forth in the desire, though it is not matter, as matter is seen and found in this world; yet these two things must be affirmed of it; first, that it stands in the same place, answers the same ends, and is distinguished from light and spirit in the eternal world, just as matter in this world stands distinguished from the light and spirit of this world. Secondly, that all the darkness, thickness, and matter of every kind in this world, is nothing else in itself, but the first thickness, darkness, and substantiality in the desire, brought down by various steps into such kinds of materiality as are here to be seen. Look at what kind of materiality you will in this world; it is, in its whole nature, nothing else but the darkness or thickness of the eternal world, brought into a farther degree of thickness and compression. And now we are come to see the true ground; (1.) How the angels could destroy their kingdom, or lose all the light and happiness of heaven in it: and, (2.) How also, their wasted, spoiled, darkened habitation in the divided properties of nature, could be turned, and created by God, as it is, into this new form of a material world.
The first three properties of nature were never to have been seen or known, as they are in themselves, by any creature; their thickness, strife, and darkness, were brought forth by God, in union with the light, and glory, and majesty of heaven; and only for that end, that the holy deity might be made manifest in them. And therefore their own nature, as they are in themselves, without God in them, could only then be first known, when the angels turned their desire backwards to search and find the ground and original of life, which could not be found, until these properties were found, in which the original ground of life lay hid. This turning of their desire into the origin of life, was their whole turning from the light of God; and therefore they found themselves where they had turned their desire; that is, in the center of nature; i.e. In the first properties of nature, which is the dark center, or ground of life, which never should have been known or manifest to any creature. For by the center of nature, or the dark center, you are always to understand these three first properties; which, when without, or separate from the light and goodness of the deity in them, are in themselves only the thickness, and rage, and darkness, of an omnipotent compressing, and omnipotent resistance to it, and omnipotent whirling from these two omnipotent contrarieties. I call them all omnipotent, because they cannot be stopped, but do all that they would; and though they are contrary to one another, yet each of them gives strength to the other; so that the omnipotence of the one, is the omnipotence of the other. And this is the boundless, incessant, strong rage, darkness, and strife, of the hellish life, which only is that, which these three properties of nature, when left to themselves, can feel or find. Now the angels, which turned their desire into the center of nature, fell into the life and working power of these three properties; they felt nothing else in themselves, but these properties, they had no other will or power of working, but as these properties worked; and therefore, as living and active creatures, they could only live, and act, and cooperate, or unite with that ground of nature without them, which was the same as their own nature; and therefore, all that they could do, was to stir up, awaken, call forth, and act with that thickness and darkness, and strife, that was hidden in nature, just as the toad, in a fine garden, only sucks the poison that is hid in a good herb. So the fallen angels, though in heaven, having only the center of nature in themselves, could only find and work with that center and root of darkness, on which the heavenly glory stood. But from this power which they had of working in the center of nature, hence came forth a dark, wrathful substantiality, separated from the light and glory of the holy deity; and thus a new kind of substantiality appeared in their kingdom; and their outward habitation was like their inward life; i.e. A manifestation of nature fallen from God. And here now, you clearly see, how the first thickness or compression of the first property of nature, which was only the hidden substantiality of the light and glory of heaven, came into a more outward state, and made its first approach or step towards matter, as you now see it. For there was now a thickness, a darkness, and hardness, which never had been before; for when the light was lost, then the first property of nature lost its beatified state of meekness, transparency, and spiritual fluidity; and became stiff, rigid, dark, and hard; and this, as I said, was its first step or descent towards the hardness and darkness of the matter of this world, until it came to be earth and stones, by the creating power of God. And thus it came to pass, as Moses speaks, that darkness was upon the face of the deep. A state, that had no possibility of existence, until the sin of angels had manifested the hidden center of nature, in the working of its three properties, without the light of God in them.
Now as a new thickness of darkness, hardness, or substantiality, was manifested by the strong working powers of the angels in the center, or the first properties of fallen nature; so God, to manifest his wisdom and goodness towards this fallen nature, took all these properties in their own working way; and made them in their own way of working, to stop and overcome the evil that was brought forth by them. For the will of God, joining with the wrathful astringency of the first compressing property of nature, became the divine fiat, which increased this compacting property to such a degree, as created or compacted the darkened substantiality into a globe of earth and stones. And this same divine fiat, or creating power, which coagulated the grossness into earth and stones, compressed or coagulated all that was substantial, or belonged to substantiality through their whole kingdom, as well the heavenly as the earthly part of it; so that all their kingdom, as to its substantiality, lost its spirituality, and entered into a new created or compacted state of thickness, the spoiled as well as the unspoiled part of their kingdom. And as soon as this was done, the angels lost all their power in it, and over it. They could kindle no more wrath in its heavenly part, nor make any use of that which they had spoiled, because all was shut up together in this new compaction, with which the spirituality of their nature could have no communication. And so they were left prisoners in their own chains of darkness, unable to stir up wrath anywhere but in themselves. All this was done in the first day of the creation, when the fiat of God compressed or created their whole kingdom into a heaven and earth. Hence it is; From a compaction of their whole kingdom into a new-created heaven and earth, that all things in this world, all its elements and stars, are a mixture of good and evil, have something of the goodness of heaven, and something of the wrath and evil of hell in them. Hence is the great variety of metallic ores and precious stones in the earth; the good and bad qualities in fire, air, and water. It is because the divine fiat, or compacting power, came at once in the utmost swiftness upon their whole kingdom, as the good and evil stood in strife against each other, and compressed all into a state of cessation and conjunction with one another, as in the prison of this new-created materiality. And thus the heavenly and hellish part of their kingdom, light and darkness, fluidity and hardness, meekness and wrath, good and evil, were all shut up together in the same sudden compaction; in which they lay, as in a state of death, until the divine fiat should awaken a life in it.
Now the three first properties of nature; the first, a shutting up; the second, a running out; and the third, a whirling; were by the divine fiat, in the three first days of the creation, become the ground of an earthly, a watery, and airy materiality, all according to the working nature of the three properties; and all of them having something of an heavenly nature shut up in them, which wanted to be delivered from its bondage. Hence this threefold materiality of earth, water, and air, became a subject fit for the birth of the fourth property of nature. And therefore, on the fourth day of the creation, the divine fiat kindled in this anguishing materiality, out of that very fire and light that was compacted and hid in it, the fourth property of nature (the eternal fire), as a globe of fire and light, which was to stand as an out-birth of the eternal fire, in the midst of this newly created materiality, and become the opener of all the astral life and light in this world. And as the eternal fire, the fourth property of eternal nature, is not a movable thing that can change its place, but must be always in the place of its birth, standing forever, as a birth, in the midst of the seven properties, forever changing the three first properties of nature into the three last properties of the kingdom of heaven; so the sun, the true out-birth of the eternal fire, and having the same birth and office in this material world, as the eternal fire has in eternal nature, is not, and cannot be, a movable thing, or be in any other place in this world, than where it is; but is, and must be, the center or heart of this whole system, ever separating the three first properties of this material world, from the three that follow, and ever changing the three first forms of material wrath into the three following forms of terrestrial life, light, and all delightful sensibilities; in strict conformity to that, which the eternal fire does in eternal nature, changing the root, or first properties of nature, into a kingdom of God, and heavenly glory. For the sun is not a body of fire brought into the place where it is; but the kindled place is its body and birth; and therefore it is as immovable as place is, and must be as it is; A place giving forth fire and light until all material nature is dissolved. The place is kindled, not by any foreign fire, but in consequence: in the first compaction of the whole angelic kingdom into this new materiality, the good and bad part, that is, the spoiled and unspoiled substantiality of their whole kingdom, was shut up in this new compression or materiality, in one and the same state of death. Secondly, in the beginning of the creation, God, said, "let there be light," and there was light; not a shining light, for that came first from the birth of the sun, but a power or virtue of heavenly light, not yet in a visible, material shining way, but as an uncreated power of light, entering into this whole materiality, to stir up, and awaken the good part of the heavenly substantiality, that was shut up in the compaction of this new materiality.
Without these two things, material nature must have continued in its darkness, and no fourth form of fire could ever have come forth in it. But from these two things, i.e. The heavenly substantiality, stirred up by the power of light entering into it, the three first properties of darkness were brought into a mere anguishing state; from where, by the divine fiat, the fourth form of material nature kindled itself, as a fire, and broke forth in the place of the sun, and must be ever burning and flaming in the midst of the material system; because it is born of the three first properties of darkness, and brings forth the three last properties of light, and life, and the joy of nature; and therefore must always be in the midst of the six properties of nature, itself making the number to be seven. And so the sun, as the fourth form of nature, must always stand in the midst of the whole material system. And this proved, not as Copernicus has proved it, from reasonable conjectures, and outward arguments, but from the internal nature of its birth, the first root from which it proceeds, and the absolute impossibility of its being otherwise. And thus it is, that the truth and depth of nature is opened by the spirit of God, in the mystery made known to our illiterate shoemaker. And therefore you have a short sketch, how this world came to be as it is. It is descended as an out-birth of the eternal world, and all the seven properties of eternal nature work in it, as they work in eternity; and the eternity is manifested in the temporary working of a new world, which is only to stand in this state of thickness or compaction for a time, until the goodness of God towards fallen nature has been sufficiently manifested thereby.
For as this material system of things may, in a good sense, be said to be an unnatural state, occasioned by the disorders which the fall of angels brought into nature; and as it had no beginning, but from the will of God, commanding the first property of nature to coagulate and compress their disordered kingdom into a new thickness or materiality, only as a remedy to stop, remove, and overcome the evil in nature; so when this remedy shall have had its trial, and the will of God shall no longer will this compressing together; then all that has been brought together by it, must fall back again into its first eternity. And then, without any possibility of being otherwise, every birth in this world, that belongs to the root or center of nature, and has worked with it, must fall down into that eternal abyss of darkness, on which the light of God forever stands, unknown to it. And every life that is born of heaven, and has worked with it, must ascend into the kingdom of God, or abyss of divine glory and majesty.
Oh Academicus! Look now (while these thoughts are alive in you) at worldly greatness, fleshly wisdom, and earthly schemes of happiness; and tell me, if you can, what a nothingness, what a folly and delusion, there is in them? Look again at the apostle's pilgrim, abstaining from worldly lusts, desiring to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified; living in the spirit of prayer, and thirst after God; striving in everything after the fullest conformity to the tempers, spirit, life, and behavior of Christ in this world; and then tell me, whether heaven and earth, God and nature, and all that is great, and wise, and happy, does not call upon you to be this pilgrim.
Academicus: Truly, sir, I see enough, that all worldly wisdom, and ambitious views of a glory of life in the things and concerns of this world, are no better than vain attempts to be blessed and happy from the ruins of the angelic kingdom. For this world is only a thickness and materiality of the bestial life, built upon the very ground of hell; upon the first properties of fallen nature, brought into a harder, more compacted state of existence than they have in hell, and kindled into an astral, terrestrial, bestial life, by the power of the sun. The bestial life, therefore, is the highest good and happiness in it; and the creatures of this world have nothing that they seek for further in it.
But man, being not created for it, but by sin has fallen into it, is the only creature that makes an unnatural use of it, and seeks for that in it, and by it, which cannot be found in it. Man, having been wise, great, and happy in his creation, though they are all lost, has yet some remaining sensibility of them, though fallen into a world, that cannot help him find them. Hence it is, that he would be wise, and great, and happy in a world, that has no happiness but for beasts; and can only help man to know, that he is poor and miserable, and banished from his true native country.
But, instead of learning this one lesson of truth, from the world he is in, which is all the wisdom, greatness, and happiness, that can be had from it; he gives himself up to a wisdom that is a true foolishness, a greatness that is all meanness, and a happiness that begins and ends in torment and delusion. Would you see all his greatness, wisdom and happiness united, the sum total of earthly glory! It is, when he has in his cap the feathers of some birds, wears a painted ribbon, laced clothes, is called by some new name, and drawn from place to place by a large number of expensive horses. Now, poor, and mean, and unnatural as this fiction of earthly glory is; yet this is the powerful idol, that carries all before it! That destroys all sense of goodness, and divine virtue! And keeps the heart of man so earnestly devoted to it, that he has no sense of the eternity that is in him; that eternity brought him forth, and eternity will take him again!
Theophilus: It is true, Academicus, that the highest good of this world is its bestial life; and therefore it has no more, or other, happiness for a man than for a beast; can give no more to one, than to the other; i.e. Food and raiment; with which the bestial life in man ought to be content, as well as in the beast. But seeing man, in spite of the nature of things, will have an earthly glory of life; and so it is, that the wisdom of this world is, and must be, foolishness with God, and will be foolishness with man, as soon as he gets but a moderate knowledge of himself. But allow me to make this observation, that though this material world has no higher happiness than the bestial life; yet God has much higher ends in creating it. For though the dark wrathful properties of fallen nature could only, in their compaction, be made the ground of a vegetable and bestial life; yet you are to observe, that in the creation of this world; i.e. In the compaction of the whole angelic kingdom; the unspoiled heavenly part thereof was shut up with that, in which the wrath was kindled: and that for these two great ends; first, that, by this compaction, it might be taken out of the power of the evil angels, that they might not go on in kindling wrath in it. Secondly, that this reserved good part of their kingdom might be the foundation and ground of an heavenly paradisiacal life, and a new host of heavenly creatures, instead of the fallen angels. Now, to do this, God created an human angel, who was to call forth the paradisiacal life out of the compacted heavenly substantiality, as the sun opened a vegetable bestial life, out of the gross substantiality of the material world.
God breathed the triune spirit of the holy deity into a body taken out of the earth, that is, into a body of that heavenly substantiality, that was shut up in the earth, as well as in every other part of this material system; and therefore his body is rightly said to be taken or formed out of the earth; because it was formed of that substantiality, that was shut up in the earth.
But when his wandering eye had raised a longing desire to know what the earthly life was in its good and evil, and took the certain means of knowing it; then, as his soul lost the light and spirit of God, so it lost also that heavenly luminous body, in which the light and spirit of God could dwell, as it dwells in heaven. And when this heavenly luminous corporeity was lost, and shut up again in that earthly bondage and compaction, in which it lay, before it was his body; then the poor fallen soul was only clothed with the gross corruptibility of bestial flesh and blood. You are to understand this matter in this way: when his body was formed out of that heavenly substantiality, that was in the compaction of the earth, it was not entirely separated from all earthly materiality (because he was to have a body of this world, as well as of the heavenly world); but its state in the earthly materiality was entirely changed; it was until then shut up in the earthly compaction, but now it is called out of that earthly death into a state of life; it is set free from the power of the earth, in a superiority over it, to be its happiness, and open its own glory in it, and through it.
And therefore you can see the possibility, the truth, and the manner of the thing; how his heavenly body was taken out of the earth at his creation, set in freedom from it, and in a living superiority over it; how, at the fall, it was swallowed up, or compacted again in its own first earth; i.e. The earthly body, or materiality of Adam: for as it was not separated from this earthly materiality, but only brought to life in it, and superiority over it; so when the divine light, which was the life of this body, was lost, it then fell again into a state of death in that gross materiality, under which it lay before. And thus, in the strictest truth, the body of Adam returned again to that very earth, or dust, from where it was taken.
Now, when this happened, the fallen angels entered again into some power in their lost kingdom. There was then something found, with which they could work, and join their own power. For as the soul of man had lost the light and spirit of heaven, so the same dark center of nature, or the three first wrathful properties, were opened in it, as it is opened in the fallen angels. And thus they received entrance into the awakened hell in man, and can work in it. For as often as man stirred, followed, or worked with his will according to these properties, the devil could enter into, and work with him; and so the first son of fallen man was made a murderer. And hence it is, that sin and wickedness have known no bounds; it is because it is the joint work of fallen angels, and fallen man.
Stay a while, sir, in view of these truths: here you see the seat and ground, the birth and growth of all sin and evil; it lies in these three dark, selfish, self-willed, wrathful, hellish properties of the fallen soul. This is the dark center of nature, in which the devils have all their own power in themselves, and all their power in you; and until you resist this hell within you, until you live in contrariety to it, the devils will not flee from you.
Here you can also see, in a self-evident light, the deep ground, and absolute necessity, of that one redemption, which is called, and is, the meekness and heavenly blood of the lamb of God. For these words in their true ground mean only the changing of the three first dark wrathful properties of fallen nature, into the three last properties of the heavenly life, light, and love, which is the life of God restored to the soul, or the light, and spirit, or word of God born again in it. Let me only add this one word; turn from wrath of every kind, as you would flee from the most horrid devil; for it is his, it is he, and his strength in you. Whether you look at rage and anger in a tempest, a beast, or a man, it is but one and the same thing, from one and the same cause; and therefore your own wrath is to be turned from, as the same with that of hell; and which has its birth and strength from that hell or center of nature, which the fall of angels has made known; which only work differently, whether it be in a man, a beast, or the elements of this world. And this must be, until the center of nature is again hidden, by being wholly overcome by heaven.
Embrace therefore every meekness of love and humility with the same eagerness as you would fall down at the feet of Jesus Christ; for it is his, it is he, and his power of salvation in you. Enter into no strife, or self-defense against any one, that either reproaches you, or your doctrine; but remember, that if you are to join with Christ in doing good, your sword of natural wrath must be locked up in its own sheath; no weapons of the flesh are to be used; but you must work only in the meekness, the sweetness, the humility, the love and patience of the lamb of God; who, as such, is the only doer of good, the only one who can overcome wrath, and He is the one redemption of fallen nature. If you are reproached as an enthusiast, do not take comfort in thinking, that it is the truth of your own piety, or the want of it in others, that gives occasion to the charge; for though both of these should happen to be the case, yet they are not proper reflections for you; and if you take your peace from them, it is not the peace of God in you: but as in a good report, you are to be as though you did not hear it, ascribe nothing to yourself from it; so in evil report, self is just as much to be forgotten; and both of them are to be used, only as an occasion to generate humility, meekness, love, and the spirit of the lamb of God, both in yourself, and all that speak either well or ill of you. For this is the will and working of heaven; it has but one will, and one work; and that is, to change all the wrath, evil, and disorder of nature, into a kingdom of God. And therefore he that would be a servant of God, and work with heaven, must will all that he wills, do all that he does, and bear all that he bears, in that one spirit, and one will, with which heaven rules over all the earth.
You rejoice to think, that you know the true ground of your redemption; how heaven comes again into the fallen soul, when that property of light and love, which is the fifth property of nature, is generated in it. It is indeed a blessed knowledge; but its blessedness is only then yours, when you, yourself are this fifth property, that is, when your life is a life of this fifth property; when, whatever you do, wherever you go, or whatever you meet, you only do as this fifth property does, give nothing but that which it gives; i.e. Its gentle light and love to every man, and everything, whether it be good or bad. For this property has nothing else to give, and yet is always giving; its nature is, to communicate and impart itself, not here or there, but always and every-where; it has no other will. When therefore this property (the Christ of God, and the life of heaven) is born in you, friend and foe will have the same from you; you will have lost all resentment; you will love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you; and have but one will towards every man, and that is, that light and love may do that for him, which they have done for you.
Academicus: Oh! Theophilus, you have given me more than I know how to contain; and yet have increased my thirst after more still. You have so touched the cord of love within me, that all my nature stands in a trembling desire after it; I would fain feel nothing else but the gentle Godlike power of love, living in my heart. Pray therefore, of all things, help me to understand how the fire, the fourth property of nature, is born; and how it turns the first three wrathful forms into the three following forms of heavenly joy, triumph, and happiness; the first of which three forms, is this fifth of light and love: therefore, help me here, I beseech you.
Theophilus: What a picture you have drawn? That of all things, I need to help you to an opinion, or notional knowledge, of how this fire is born, and how it turns nature into a kingdom of God. For if I were to join with you in forming notions of how all of this came about, I would only help you to lose it all, by being content with the shadow, instead of the substance.
You say, that your nature stands in a trembling desire after the birth of this light and love: if so, you stand in the very place of its birth, and must stand there until it is born in you. It can be born nowhere else, nor in any other manner; and all that Jacob Behmen has written, is only to direct and bring you to this place of its birth. He himself has given you all the knowledge that you need to have of it; for he can give you no more from words. And therefore, to help anyone to work with his brain for a clear notion, and rational conception, of what he has written, is helping him to do and be that, which all his works, from the beginning to the end, absolutely come against, as contrary to the whole nature and end of them. Which says, as he has said, with the sound of a trumpet; and chiefly to awaken man out of the dream and death of rational, notional, and hearsay knowledge; and to show him, that his own inward hunger and thirst after God, is that alone which can and must open the fountain of light and divine knowledge in him.
But to speak a word or two of the fire, whose birth you want to know. You know already, better than any words can tell you, from a self-evident knowledge, that nature is in you; that it is not God, but is that which needs God; and must be an emptiness, a pain, and want, until God is manifested in it. If you ask why nature is only a state of want and unrest, and unable to be content with itself; it is because the eternal, uncreated, incomprehensible light, which no creature can enter into, is that which gave birth to all nature, and from whence all nature has its hungering, and state of want. For nature would not of come into being, but because the eternal, incomprehensible light longed to be manifested in an outspoken life of nature and creatures, and in a visibility and shine of glory: therefore, as nature came forth from this first longing of the light to be manifested in it, so nature is in itself only a want and hungering, which the light alone has raised, and can only satisfy.
Now from this longing on both sides, nature wanting God, and God wanting to be manifested in nature, the union of both is effected, which is the birth of that eternal fire, or fourth form of nature, which is always burning in the same degree, that is, always doing the same thing; i.e. Always overcoming and shutting up the three first forms of nature, and making them to be the hidden root and center of nature; always bringing forth out of them the three following properties of light and love, and every joyful sensibility of life; changing nature into a kingdom of heaven. Now that which makes this change in the properties of nature is, and is rightly called, fire, in the strictest literal meaning of the word; because all that we can conceive as fire in this world, has its whole nature, power, and existence, from it. Not only the fire of life in animals and vegetables, but the fire in the kitchen, and the candle, are each of them kindled as it is kindled, and does all that it does from this fourth property, or fire of eternal nature. The thickness and darkness in the wood, and the candle, have fire kindled in them, and light from that fire, in no other way, than as the fourth property is a fire from the thickness and darkness of nature, kindled by the light of God entering into union with it. Had the wood, and the candle, no water or oil in them, neither of them could give forth fire and light. Now water and oil have the properties of light in them: when therefore the properties of nature in the wood, and the candle, are put into strife, and begin to work in blackness and darkness (which is the beginning of every fire), they by this strife open an entrance for the properties of light in the water, and the oil, to mix and unite with them; and by this union of darkness and light, that fire is kindled, which turns the darkness of the wood and candle into a shining light. And thus does every fire kindled in this world bear an infallible witness to the kindling, the nature, and power, of that eternal fire, which, kindled by the oil of divine light, changes the first dark properties of nature into the light and majesty of heaven. Now what do you need to know more of fire, or its birth, than that it is, and only can be, kindled by the light of God entering into, and uniting with it, the first properties of nature in the soul? Stop trying to use your reason in the way of notions; empty your heart of all vain satisfactions in earthly things, so that the first properties of nature in your soul, finding their misery, and want of God, may make you to be all hunger, and faith, and desire of him. And then the fire must kindle, nothing can hinder it; God will then infallibly come as a fire and light into your soul, changing all the wanting, empty, restless properties of your natural life, into a sweetness of a new birth of rest and peace in him.
For nothing works either in God, or nature, or creature, but desire. And as God created angels and men out of eternal nature, only through a longing desire of manifesting his own goodness and happiness in them, so every angel and man must find God, as a life of happiness and goodness in him, as soon as nature, either in angel or man, has become a hunger after God. For hunger does all in all worlds, and finds all that it wants, and hungers after. Everything had its beginning in it, and from it; and everything is led by it to all its happiness.
Academicus: I am quite satisfied in all my demands, and will ask for no more help, as to the use I am to make of our author's writings. Only tell me when they will all come forth in a new edition, or which will be published first; for I want several of them.
Theophilus: If you have but two or three of his books, it is enough; for every one of them has all in it that you need be taught, and sufficiently opens the ground of the whole mystery of the Christian redemption. He himself thought his books to be too numerous; and expressed his wish, that they were all reduced into one. As he wrote without any art, and had no knowledge of regularity of composition; so whatever particular matter he occasionally entered upon, he always began again afresh from the same first ground, and full opening of the mystery of nature, from where he explained the matter he was upon. And it was this frequent, and almost constant, repetition of one and the same ground that swelled his writings into so many volumes; though it may be said, that there is nothing separately in any of his books, but what is to be found in almost every other, though not so largely set forth. You have no need therefore to run with eagerness through all his books; but the thing that you are to intend and look for, is the ground and foundation on which all his doctrines are built, which contains the true philosophy, or fundamental opening of all the powers that work both in nature and grace; and that by this knowledge you may become a true workman yourself; and know how to conform to, and concur with, all that the working powers, either of nature or grace, require of you. Now this ground and foundation of all is (as far as words can do it) opened to you in every one of his books: and you have been already sufficiently brought into the knowledge of it, by what has been said of the birth of nature; what it is, how it works, how it came into being, how it is distinct from God, how it wants God, how God is manifested in it, how everything is from and out of it, is all that it is, and has all that it has, in it, and by it, and must have all its happiness or misery, according as it works with, or contrary to nature. From this fundamental ground, or opening of the working powers of nature, you have seen how angels could and did, lose their first state in nature; and how a second new creation could, and did come out of their fallen state and kingdom, all according to the powers of fallen nature, over-ruled, and governed, and put into a new way by the good creating fiat of God. You have seen how this new creation, with man its lord, could, and did, lose also their first created state in nature; and how God, over-ruling fallen nature again, did, by his merciful redeeming fiat, or by the means of the holy Jesus, put this fallen new creation in a state of recovery, and all done according to the powers, and workings, and possibilities of nature. So that nothing is done arbitrarily, or by mere will, but everything in conformity to the unchangeable workings and powers of nature; only directed, assisted, and helped, by the mercy of his redeeming fiat, so far as nature was capable of being helped. This, sir, is the true and fundamental ground of all his doctrines; and, standing upon this ground, you stand in the center of truth, where everything that you need to know of God, of nature, of heaven, of hell, of the fall of man, of his redemption only and solely in and by the word or son of God, is known in such self-evident certainty, as you find and know the workings of your own life: and also, that happiness, or misery, life or death, can only be had, or not had, lost or found, solely as a birth in nature, brought forth by the faith, or magic power of the will of man, working either with, or contrary to, the redeeming fiat of God.
To make therefore a right use of his writings, you should, for a sufficient time, keep solely to that part of them, which opens the ground and foundation of the powers that work in grace and nature, until by a self-evident sensibility it is opened in you, and your heart stands in a conformity to it, and true working with it: for it is your own heart, as finding the working powers of nature and grace in itself, and simply given up in faith to work with them, that is to be your key and guide to that knowledge you are to have of them; whether it be from the holy scripture, or the writings of this author. For to this end, he tells you, he has written all to help man to seek and find himself; to find out what his is birth, his state and place in nature; what he is in body, soul, and spirit; from what worlds all these three parts of him have come from; how they came to be as they are at present; what his fall is, and how he must rise out of it. And therefore, if, in order to seek and find this ground in yourself, you were, for some sufficient time, to read only to the 10th or 12th chapter of his three principles, or to the 6th or 8th chapter of his threefold life; and proceed no farther, until this ground had made itself manifest in you, and your heart stood in a strict conformity to it, and working with it; you would then be in a true fitness to read farther, and reap the full benefit from any other of his books, that should fall into your hands; whether it was the way to Christ, or the book upon the incarnation. But, above all things, remember this advice, do not try to reason your way into this mystery; seek for no commentaries, or rational explications of it, to entertain your reason with: for, as soon as you do this; then, however true and good this mystery may be in itself, it is, with regard to you, of no better use than that very vain philosophy, and science falsely so called, condemned by the apostle. It will only be the same snare and delusion to you, that other learning and philosophy is to other people. For if there is nothing good or divine in you but the faith, and hope, and love, and desire of your heart turned to God; if nothing can do any good, be any blessing or happiness to this faith, and love, and desire turned to God, but only God himself in his holy being; and if nothing can communicate God to you, but God himself; and if God cannot communicate himself to you under a notion, or an idea of reason, but a degree of life, good, and blessing, born or brought to life in your soul; then you see, that to give yourself up to reasoning, and notional conceptions, is to turn from God, and wander out of the way of all divine communications.
Academicus: But if it be strictly so Theophilus, that these deep matters had not been communicated to the world, because it is so natural to man to make a wrong use of them?
Theophilus: This objection, Academicus, comes with the same strength against the scriptures themselves. For, excepting the seven thousands unknown in every age, as in the days of Elijah, and a few spiritual fathers and writers in almost every age of the church, bearing faithful witness to the truth and mysteries of religion, it must be said, that human learning, governed by human reason, has, from age to age, to this very day, not only mistaken the true end and use of the scriptures, but has turned them into an occasion of much evil and mischief. The scriptures speak only to the heart and conscience of man, not to amend or enlighten it with notions and opinions formed from the written letter of the word; but solely to make the being and power of God known and adored, and to awaken in man a sensibility of his want of God; and to turn all the power, and strength, and will of the heart wholly to God, to receive light, and life, and rest, in his holy being.
But to speak now directly to your objection: if I knew of any person, who stood in the faith and simplicity of the first Christians, free from all carnal adherence, or vain trust, to party-notions, doctrines, and errors, brought forth by the contention of sects and churches; whose soul was dead to the earthly nature, and all the rudiments of this world, seeking only light, life, and salvation, from God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, living and dwelling in him, redeeming and sanctifying his whole body, soul, and spirit; to such a one I could freely say, this mystery was needless; as having already all that which this mystery could do for him. For its only end is, to bring man out of all the labyrinths of false and notional religion, to this very first state and simplicity of the gospel-faith and life.
And this may pass for a good reason why this mystery was not opened by God in the first ages of the church; since there was then no occasion for it. For religion began, and went on, rightly, in its own true way; it had the faith and heart of man; it stood in its own proper strength and glory, and was an awakened divine life of faith simply given up with joy and gladness to the mysteries of the gospel; not wanting any why's or wherefores, because it was in the real possession of all the good, and blessing, and power, of every mystery of salvation. But seeing a worldly spirituality, called in the scripture the whore riding upon the beast, has had its thousand years in the church; since not only every kingdom, but almost every corner of Christendom, has a Babel of its own, built upon some rational interpretation of the letter of scripture; since learned reason, within the church, knows no other use of scriptures, but to reproach and condemn all other Babels, and to find materials to strengthen its own; since reason, without the church, finds it as easy to reproach and condemn all revelation, as it is to reproach all these Babels built upon it; since this is the finished confusion, brought forth by the reason and fleshly wisdom both of those that defend, and those that oppose the gospel; how adorable is the goodness of God in making good to these last ages of the world such a remedy i.e., opening the ground and mystery of all things as is suitable to the distressed and confused state of religion in the world! And how easy is it also to see the greatest reasons, why this remedy was not afforded sooner! For as true faith did not need it, and learned reason, while pleased with itself, could not be in a condition to receive it; so it was highly suitable to the goodness and wisdom of God, not to give forth this mystery, until reason, or fleshly wisdom, had made shipwreck of faith; and had so filled up the measure of its folly, as to stand in its last and highest state of distress, perplexity, and confusion. For any remedy is only then likely to be rightly received, when distress and perplexity makes the want of it to be sensibly felt.
Let not therefore the genuine, plain, simple Christian, who is happy and blessed in the simplicity of gospel-faith, take offence at this mystery, because he has no need of it. For it is God's goodness to the distressed state of the church, fallen from the life and power of gospel-faith, and groaning under the slavery, darkness, and perplexity of bewildered reason and opinions.
Neither let the orthodox divine, who sticks close to the phrases and sentiments of antiquity, reject this mystery as heretical, because it opens a ground of man, and the divine mysteries, not known or found in the primitive writers. For this is the very reason, why he should thankfully receive it with open arms, as having, and being that very thing, which the distressed divided state of the church now so greatly needs; and yet did not want, until it was fallen from its first simplicity of faith. For while faith and life defended the mysteries of religion, the ground and philosophy of it was not wanted. But when orthodoxy had given itself up to reason, and had nothing else for its support but reason and argument from the letter of scripture, without the least knowledge of the first ground of doctrines; then it could only be defended, as it is defended in every sect and division of the Christian world. For if reason will defend the mysteries of redemption, without knowing the true ground on which they stand, or why they must be as they are, from the nature of the thing; the more zealous and learned any man is, the more errors must he fall into in the defense of them. For the greater the strength is, that works without light, the more extravagancies it must produce. This is too visible in all the controversies that have risen in the church. Now, that learned reason, as presiding in the divinity-schools, never yet had, nor could have, any knowledge of the ground of man, and the mysteries of redemption, is plain from this one generally received opinion of every age to this day; i.e. That all things were created out of nothing. For this maxim entirely excludes all possibility of giving any account of the ground and reason of anything, either in the nature of man, or religion; and is the same thing as saying, that nothing has any ground or reason. For if that which begins to be, comes out of nothing, it can only have the nature of that out of which it comes; and therefore can have no more said about it, than can be said of that nothing. And if the mystery, or life of the human nature, is out of nothing, has no reality of any antecedent ground in it, out of which it came to be such as it is, and to have that which it has; then it is most certain, that all the mysteries of the religion of man must come forth from the same nothing, and have no antecedent ground from where they have come, that requires them to be as they are. For man, created out of nothing, cannot have a religion that is of any higher descent than himself, unless he is to have a religion that is quite unnatural to him. But a religion that has its ground in eternity, must be an unnatural religion to man that comes up in time, and out of nothing. If therefore you will hold man to be out of nothing, you must of all necessity hold all the mysteries of the religion of man to be also out of nothing; and that therefore no possible account can be given either of the ground of man, or his religion, or why there can be either right or wrong, good or evil, in either of them.
Consequently you may see why the truth has always suffered in every controversy of the church: if you begin with that of St. Austin and Pelagius, about the freedom of the human will; do but suppose, what is fact that they held the human will to be created out of nothing; and then you need not wonder at that number of volumes and systems of errors, which this dispute has brought forth. For who can say, what the will is, or is not; what nature or power it must have, if it is created out of nothing? Whereas, if either of these disputants had known, from a true ground, what the human will is; that it cannot be a made thing, much less made out of nothing; but that the will of angel or man is the eternal uncreated will become creaturely, as a true direct birth from the divine will, descended from it, born out of it, and from there come into a creaturely state; then they would have known, that the will of angel or man must have the nature and freedom of the eternal will; and that its freedom not only consisted in its self-motion, but chiefly and most gloriously in this, that it could neither receive, nor have, nor be anything, as to its happiness or misery, but according to its own working: and then all that predestination learning of decrees, that has tormented the church ever since the time of St. Austin, had been prevented.
Look next at the Socinian controversy. The Socinians, and their opponents, met in the field of reason, to debate about the fall, original of sin, its guilt, the vindictive wrath of God, and the necessity of satisfying the divine justice; the necessity of the incarnation, sufferings, death, and satisfaction, of Christ. These were the great points to be tried at the bar of reason. Now all these disputants stood upon the old ground; i.e. That the soul of man, as well as all other things, was created out of nothing. And therefore, they all stood absolutely excluded from every possibility of touching the true ground or reason of any one doctrine in debate. For the soul, created out of nothing, leaves no room to affirm, or even to suppose, that anything can be affirmed of the ground and reason of Christian redemption. For surely, if the soul of man is created out of nothing, it may and must with as much sense be affirmed, that it may be redeemed by nothing; and he that affirms the one, can have no pretence to deny the other.
Just the same may be said of the present controversy between the Christians and infidels, concerning Christianity itself. You need not wonder, that so many learned volumes have had so little effect; or that the defenders of Christianity seem to lose ground, though the infidels, at the same time, get no advantage to their cause, but that of increasing their numbers. For as neither side can go any higher, than a creation out of nothing; so neither side can say anything from a true ground, either for or against the mysteries of the gospel. If therefore infidelity increases, it is not because it has more light, or sees further into the depths of nature, or stands upon a more rational ground; but merely because the vanity and blindness of the dispute has a natural tendency to create indifference and infidelity in the hearts of men.
Observe this proposition; i.e. In God we live and have our being. Now, how easy is it for any one to see, that no one can say anything as to the ground and reasons of the mysteries of the gospel, either for or against them, until he can go to the bottom of this proposition, and plainly show, either how we do, or do not, live and move, and have our being in God! For the truth or falseness of every mystery of the Christian redemption plainly depends upon this matter. If the Christian therefore will speak to the purpose, in defense of the ground of the gospel; he must be able to show, that we are in God, and have our life in him and from him, and to move in him, as to prove, from this, the ground, the necessity, and certainty, of the Christian means of redemption. On the other hand, the deist cannot take one rational step, or have any true ground to stand upon, but so far as he can show, that we are not so from God, have not such a nature in and from him, do not so live and move in him, as to have any want or any fitness for that method of redemption, which the gospel teaches. But as neither side did this, though this is the one thing necessary to be done; so you also see, that neither side had any possibility of doing it. For the soul, created out of nothing, allows no inquiry, as to whether anything of God is in it, or how it has its life in him, or stands related to him. It admits of no searching after any ground or reason of its good or evil, or how it must have its happiness or misery from the nature of the thing. For if the intelligent life itself must be supposed to come from no ground, but to be created out of nothing; then it is certain, that its good and evil, its happiness or misery, with everything else, must be supposed to have no ground or reason for being as it is, but to be created out of nothing; and may go again into nothing, just as the creator pleases. And now, sir, you may see, how all controversy, both within and without the church, has been so vain a thing. For reason was to support doctrines and mysteries, without the least knowledge of the ground on which they stood; and reason was to oppose them in the same ignorance. You see also, why in these last ages, where literal learning has made so great a rise, that the matter has only been made worse, and division and error more triumphant. For as the ground of the truth was not wanted, and nothing was available to appealed to, but the letter and phrase of scripture; so the more artful and learned the disputants were in reasoning and criticism, the more absurdities must be defended on both sides. Why is not the learned papist shocked at transubstantiation, or the protestant at predestination and reprobation? It is because each of them have enough of the truth of reason, and the goodness of criticism, to draw the letter of scripture to his side. And this you may be assured of, that reason, and literal learning, have just as good eyes in every other religious matter, and will give just such an account of every other doctrine, when it comes into dispute, as the papist and protestant have done in these two points. And the thing cannot be otherwise: as deist and Christian both hold a creation out of nothing, they must have only an arbitrary God, and arbitrary religion, that has no antecedent ground to stand upon, but is left to the arbitrary proof or reason of both of them. What thanks, therefore, are due to the goodness of God, for opening this great mystery of all things in our author, wherein the right and wrong, the true and false, in religion, is as manifest as anything can be to our senses! Let no one therefore take offence at the opening of this mystery, as if it brought anything new into religion; for it has nothing new in it; it alters no point of gospel-doctrine, nor adds anything to it, but only sets every article of the old Christian faith upon its true ground, and in such a degree of light, as, when seen, is irresistible. It disturbs no one, who is in possession of the truth, because it points at nothing, drives to nothing, but to open the heavenly life in the soul. It calls no man from any outward form of religion, as such; but only shows, that no outward form can have any good in it, but so far as it only means, and seeks, and helps, the renewed life of heaven in the soul. A Christian, says he, is of no sect, and yet he is in every sect; a truth which all sects, as such, will dislike; and therefore a truth equally needed to be known, and equally beneficial to all sects. For the chief hurt of a sect lies in this, that it makes itself seem to be necessary to the truth; whereas the truth is only then found, when it is known we, all Christians are to be of no sect, but as free and universal as the goodness of God, and as common to all names and nations as the air and light of this world.
Suffer me now, before we part, once more to repeat what I have so often said, that you would not receive this mystery as a system of rational notions; nor do with it, as the world has, for the most part, done with the bible, only gather opinions of reason and speculation from it. For it opens no depth of nature or grace, but to help you to the heart and spirit of the returning prodigal son, and to show you the blindness and vanity of reason and opinions; and that truth can have no possible entrance into you, but so far as you die to your earthly nature. The gospel says all this to you in the plainest words; and the mystery only shows you, that the whole system of the universe says the same thing. To be a true student or disciple of the mystery, is to be a disciple of Christ; for it calls you to nothing but to the plain letter of the gospel; and wherever it enters, either into the height or depth of nature, it is only to confirm the truth of these words of Christ; i.e. He that follows not me, walks in darkness; and unless a man deny himself, and forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. This is the philosophy opened in this mystery. It is not to lead you after itself, but to compel you, by every truth of nature, to turn to Christ, as the one way, the one truth, the one life, and salvation of the soul; not as notionally apprehended, or historically known; but as experimentally found, living, speaking, and working, in your soul. Read as long or as much as you will of this mystery, it is all labor lost; if you intend anything else by it, or would be anything else from it, but a man dead to this world, that you may live unto God through Christ Jesus, in the power of faith, and the spirit of prayer. With these words upon our minds, my friends, let us now end this conversation.
The end of part 3.
Finis.
Highlights From Brother William Law's Writings
Having a Vital relationship with Christ
Brother Law stresses the need of the believers continuing in a vital relationship with Christ after their conversion. Every branch of a tree, though ever so richly brought forth, must wither and die the moment it ceases to have a life union with the root. To this truth, grounded as absolutely in the spiritual as in the natural, our Lord appeals as an illustration of the necessity of His constant indwelling and continuous working in the redeemed soul of man.
The Gospel - an inward experience
According to brother Law, salvation is an inward experience, and a spiritual operation of God in man. No one can know the truth of salvation by a mere rational consent to that which is historically said of Christ. Only by an inward experience of His cross, death, and resurrection can the saving power of the gospel be known. For the reality of Christ's redemption is not in fleshly, finite, outward things, much less in verbal descriptions of them, but is a birth, a life, a spiritual operation, which as truly belongs to God alone as does His creative power.
Brother Law also addresses the disparity between many professing Christians' position in Christ and their outward living. Many Christians are careful to observe certain times, places, and rituals of worship; but when the service of the church is over, they are but like those that profess no regard for religion. In their manner of life, in their cares and worries, fears and pleasures, indulgences and diversions, it is often impossible to distinguish professing Christians from the rankest unbelievers, until they once again unite to sing of their love and devotion to Jesus. Little wonder that the skeptic makes such false standard-bearers the object of his scorn and jest, because he sees that their devotion goes no deeper than the words they use in song and prayer. How can this be called Christianity, when such a manner of life finds its proper condemnation in every page of the New Testament?
Worship of the Letter a Denial of the Spirit
Brother Law strongly states that the appreciation of Biblical scholarship of the letter is in opposition to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This results in a scholar who is empty of the reality of the gospel. This scholarly worship of the letter has greatly opposed the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and blinded men to the living reality which the gospel holds out to those who believe. The manner in which Greek and Hebrew scholarship is admired and sought after in the church would lead one to believe that a man has all the divine life and reality that Paul had, if he can only recite his epistles by heart. What could such a man truly be said to have, except the letter of the gospel without the Spirit? And what would be the advantage if he knew this letter in the original Greek, and had thoroughly mastered all the niceties of grammar and shades of ancient meanings? Such a man, while more thoroughly grounded in the letter, must remain just as empty of the reality of the gospel, unless he knows in his own experience the immediate inspiration and quickening power of the Holy Spirit.
Bible teachers and religious leaders
Finally, brother Law gives a strong denunciation of leaders who gain positions by their intellectual attainments and eloquence. The Bible teacher and religious leader who gain and hold a church position through intellectual attainments and oratorical skills can be said to differ from lesser men only as the serpent differed from the other beasts of the field, in that it was more subtle.
The Wisdom of the World Denies the Spirit of God
In commenting on 1 Corinthians 4:15 "For though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers..." he says: "Thousands stand ready to split doctrinal hairs and instruct others in the fine meaning of Scripture words - but there are so few through whom the Holy Spirit can work to bring men to a new birth in the kingdom of God."
Brother Law's provocative style of writing is again displayed in his desire to turn his reader away from the natural pursuit of knowledge to a genuine experience of God's salvation with regards to his entrance into God's kingdom. Natural genius and human wisdom can feed on no other food than the deceptive fruit of that ancient tree of knowledge. What a gross ignorance, both of man's need and Christ's salvation, to run to Greek and Hebrew schools to learn how to put off Adam and to put on Christ! How absurd to seek to be wise in scholarship concerning the letter of Scripture in order to obey Christ's command that we must become like a little child to enter into His kingdom!
An Appeal To All Who Doubt The Truths Of The Gospel
By WILLIAM
LAW
A Word To The Reader
I have nothing to say by way of preface or introduction. I only ask this favor of the reader, that he would not pass any censure upon this book, from only dipping into this, or that particular part of it, but give it one fair perusal in the order it is written, and then I shall have neither right, nor inclination to complain of any judgment he shall think fit to pass upon it.
Subjects Covered In Chapter 1
Of creation in general.
Of the origin of the soul.
Whence will and thought are in the creature.
Why the will is free.
The origin of evil solely from the creature.
This world not a first, immediate creation of god.
How the world came to be in its present state.
The first perfection of man.
Man has the triune nature of god in him.
Arianism and deism confuted by nature.
That life is uniform through all creatures.
That there is but one kind of death to be found in all nature.
The fallen soul has the nature of hell in it.
Regeneration is a birth of a divine life in the soul.
That there is but one salvation possible in nature.
This salvation is only to be had from Jesus Christ.
All the deist's faith and hope proved to be false.
Subjects Covered In Chapter 2
Of eternal and temporal nature.
How nature is from God, and the scene of his action.
How the creatures are out of it.
Temporal nature created out of that which is eternal.
The fallen angels brought the first disorders into nature.
This world created to repair those disorders.
Whence good and evil is in every thing of this world.
How heaven and hell make up the whole of this world.
How the fire of this world differs from eternal fire; and the
Matter of this world from the materiality of heaven.
Eternal nature is the kingdom of heaven, the beatific manifestation of the triune God.
God is love and goodness.
How wrath and anger come to be ascribed to him.
Of fire in general. Of the un-beginning fire.
Of the spirituality of fire.
How fire comes to be in material things.
Whence the possibility of kindling fire in the things of this world.
Every man is, and must be the igniter of his own eternal fire.
Subjects Covered In Chapter 3
The true ground of all the doctrines of the gospel discovered.
Why Adam could make no atonement for his sins.
Why, and how Jesus Christ alone could make this atonement.
Whence the shedding of blood for the remission of sins.
What wrath and anger it is, that is quenched and atoned by the blood of Christ.
Of the last sufferings of Christ.
Why, and how we must eat the flesh and drink the blood Of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1
Of Creation in general.
It has been an opinion commonly received, though without any foundation in the light of nature, or scripture, that God created this whole visible world, and all things in it, out of nothing. No, that the souls of men, and the highest orders of beings, were created in the same manner. The scripture is very decisive against this origin of the souls of men. For Moses said, "God breathed into man (Spiraculum Vitarum) the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." Here the notion of a soul created out of nothing, is in the plainest, and strongest manner rejected, by the first book of 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 darkly, but openly, absolutely, and in the strongest form of expression ascribed to the soul; it came forth as a breath of life, or lives, from the very 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, and out of the first and highest of all beings.
Of the Origin of the Soul.
For to say that God breathed forth into man the breath of lives, by which he became a living soul, is directly saying, that that which was life, light, and Spirit in the living God, was breathed forth from him to become the life, light and spirit of a creature. The soul therefore being declared to be an effluence from God, a breath of God, must have the nature and likeness of God in it, and is, and can be nothing else, but something, or so much of the divine nature, become creaturely existing, or breathed forth from God, to stand before him in the form of a creature
Where "Will" and "Thought" are in the Creature.
When the animals of this world were to be created, it was only said, Let the earth, the air, the water bring forth creatures after their kinds; but when man was to be brought forth, it was said, "Let us make man in our own image and likeness." Is not this directly saying, Let man have his beginning and being out of us, that he may be so related to us in his soul and spirit, as the animals of this world are related to the elements from which they are produced. Let him so come forth from us, be so breathed out of us, that our divine nature may be manifested in him, that he may stand before us as a creaturely image, likeness, and representative of that which we are in ourselves.
Why the Will is free
Now, from this original doctrine of the creation of man, known to all the first inhabitants of the world, and published in the front of the first written Word of God; these great truths have been more or less declared to all the nations of the world. First, that all mankind are the created offspring of the one God.
Secondly, that in all men there is a spirit or breath of lives, that did not begin to be out of nothing, or was created out of nothing; but came from the true God into man, as his own breath of life breathed into him.
Thirdly, that therefore there is in all men, wherever dispersed over the earth, a divine, immortal, never-ending spirit, that can have nothing of death in it, but must live for ever, because it is the breath of the ever living God.
Fourthly, that by this immortal breath, or Spirit of God in man, all mankind stand in the same nearness of relation to God, are all equally his children, are all under the same necessity of paying the same homage of love and obedience to him, all fitted to receive the same blessing and happiness from him, all created for the same eternal enjoyment of his love and presence with them, all equally called to worship and adore him in spirit and truth, all equally capable of seeking and finding him, of having a blessed union and communion with him. These great truths, the first pillars of all true and spiritual religion, on which the holy and divine lives of the ancient patriarchs was supported, by which they worshipped God in a true and right faith; these truths, I say, were most eminently and plainly declared in the express letter of the Mosaic writings, here quoted. And no writer, whether Jewish or Christian, has so plainly, so fully, so deeply laid open the true ground, and necessity of an eternal, never-ceasing relation between God, and in all of human nature; no one has so incontestably asserted the immortality of the soul, or spirit of man; or so deeply laid open, and proved the necessity of one religion, common to all human nature, as the legislator of the Jewish theocracy had done. Life and immortality are indeed justly said to be brought to light by the gospel; not only because they there stand in a new degree of light, largely explained, and much appealed to, and absolutely promised by the Son of God himself, but chiefly because the precious means and mysteries of obtaining a blessed life, and a blessed immortality, were only revealed, or brought to light by the gospel.
But the incontestable ground and reason of an immortal life, and eternal relation between God, and the whole human nature, and which lays all mankind under the same obligations to the same true worship of God, is most fully set forth by Moses, who alone tells us the true fact; how, and why man is immortal in his nature, i.e., because the beginning of his life was a breath, breathed into him from God; and for this end, that he might be a living image and likeness of God, created to partake of the nature and immortality of God.
This is the great doctrine of the Jewish legislator, and which justly places him amongst the greatest preachers of true religion. St. Paul used a very powerful argument to persuade the Athenians to own the true God, and the true religion, when he told them, "that God made the world and all things therein; that he gives life and breath and all things; that He has made of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on the earth; that they should all seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after, and find him, seeing he is not far from any of us, because in him we live, move, and have our being." {Acts 17:24} And yet this doctrine, which St. Paul preaches to the Athenians, is nothing else, but that same divine and heavenly instruction, which he had learned from Moses, which Moses openly and plainly taught all the Jews. The Jewish theocracy therefore was by no means an intimation to that people, that they had no concern with the true God, but as children of this world, under his temporal protection or punishment; for their lawgiver left them no room for such a thought, because he had as plainly taught them their eternal nature and eternal relation, which they had to God in common with all mankind; as St. Paul did to the Athenians, who only set before them that very doctrine that Moses taught all the Jews. The great end of the Jewish theocracy was to show, both to Jew and gentile, the absolute, uncontrollable power of the one God, by such a covenanted interposition of his providence, that all the world might know, that the one God, from whom both Jew and gentile were fallen away, by depareing from the faith and religion of their first fathers, was the only God, from whom all mankind could receive either blessing or cursing.
This was the great thing intended to be proclaimed to all the world by this theocracy, i.e., that only the God of Israel had power to save or destroy, to punish or reward, according to his pleasure; and that therefore all the gods of the heathens, were mere vanity. If therefore any Jews, by reason of those extraordinary temporal blessings and cursing which they received under their theocracy, grew grossly ignorant, or dully senseless of their eternal nature, and eternal relation to God, and of that one true religion, which by nature they were obliged to observe in common with all mankind; if they took God only to be their local or tutelary deity, and themselves to be only animals of this world; such a grossness of belief was no more to be charged upon their great lawgiver, Moses, than if they had believed, that a golden calf was their true god. But to return to the creation. It is the same impossibility for a thing to be created out of nothing, as to be created by nothing. It is no more a pare, or prerogative of God's omnipotence to create a being out of nothing, than to make a thing to be, without any one quality of being in it; or to make, that there should be three, where there is neither two, nor one. Every creature is nothing else, but nature put into a certain form of existence; and therefore a creature not formed out of nature, is a contradiction. A circle, or a square cannot be made out of nothing, nor could any power bring them into existence, but because there is an extension in nature, that can be put into the form of a circle, or a square: but if dead figures cannot by any power be made out of nothing, who sees not the impossibility of making living creatures, angels, and the souls of men out of nothing?
Thinking and willing are eternal, they never began to be. Nothing can think, or will now, in which there was not will and thought from all eternity. For it is as possible for thought in general to begin to be, as for that which thinks in a particular creature to begin to be of a thinking nature: therefore the soul, which is a thinking, willing being is come forth, or created out of that which has willed and thought in God, from all eternity. The created soul is a creature of time, and had its beginning on the sixth day of the creation; but the essences of the soul, which were then formed into a creature, and into a state of distinction from God, had been in God from all eternity, or they could not have been breathed forth from God into the form of a living creature.
And herein lies the true ground and depth of the uncontrollable freedom of our will and thoughts: they must have a self-motion, and self-direction, because they came out of the self-existent God. They are eternal, divine powers, that never began to be, and therefore cannot begin to be in subjection to any thing. That which thinks and wills in the soul, is that very same un-beginning breath which thought and willed in God, before it was breathed into the form of an human soul; and therefore it is, that will and thought cannot be bounded or constrained.
Herein also appears the high dignity, and never-ceasing perpetuity of our nature. The essences of our souls can never cease to be, because they never began to be: and nothing can live eternally, but that which Has lived from all eternity. The essences of our soul were a breath in God before they became a living soul, they lived in God before they lived in the created soul, and therefore the soul is a partaker of the eternity of God, and can never cease to be. Here, O man, behold the great origin, and the high state of your birth; here let all that is within you praise your God, who has brought you into so high a state of being, who has given you powers as eternal and boundless as his own attributes, that there might be no end or limits of your happiness in him. You began as time began, but as time was in eternity before it became days and years, so you were in God before you were brought into the creation: and as time is neither a part of eternity, nor broken off from it, yet come out of it; so you are not a part of God, nor broken off from him, you were originally born out of him. You should only will that which God wills, only love that which he loves, cooperate, and unite with him in the whole form of your life; because all that you are, all that you have, is only a spark of his own life and Spirit derived into you. If you desire, and turn towards the sun, all the blessings of the Deity will spring up in you; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will make their abode with you. If you turn in towards yourself, to live to yourself, to be happy in the workings of your own will, to be rich in the sharpness and acuteness of your own reason, you choose to be a weed, and can only have such a life, spirit and blessing from God, as a thistle has from the sun. But to return. To suppose a willing, understanding being, created out of nothing, is a great absurdity. For as thinking and willing must have always been from all eternity, or they could never have been either in eternity, or time; so, wherever they are found in any particular, finite beings, they must of all necessity, be direct communications, or originating of that thinking and willing, which never could begin to be. The creation therefore of a soul, is not the creation of thinking and willing, or the making that to be, and to think, which before had nothing of being, or thought; but it is the bringing of the powers of thinking and willing out of their eternal state in the one God, into a beginning state of a self-conscious life, distinct from God. And this is God's omnipotent, creating ability, that he can make the powers of his own nature become living, personal images of what he is in himself, in a state of distinct personality from him: so that the creature is one, in its finite, limited state, as God is one, and yet has nothing in it, but that which was in God before it came into it: for the creature, be it what it will, high or low, can be nothing else, but a limited pareicipation of the nature of the creator. Nothing can be in the creature, but what came from the creator, and the creator can give nothing to the creature, but that which He has in Himself to give. And if beings could be created out of nothing, the whole creation could be no more a proof of the being of God, than if it had sprung up of itself out of nothing: for if they are brought into being out of nothing, then they can have nothing of God in them; and so can bear no testimony of God; but are as good a proof, that there is no God, as that there is one. But if they have anything of God in them, then they cannot be said to be created out of nothing.
That the souls of men were not created out of nothing, but are born out of an eternal original, is plain from this; from the delight in, and desire of eternal existence, which is so strong and natural to the soul of man. For nothing can delight in, or desire eternity, or so much as form a notion of it, or think upon it, or in any way reach after it, but that alone which is generated from it, and came out of it. For it is a self-evident truth, that nothing can look higher, or further back, than into its own origin; and therefore, nothing can look or reach back into eternity, but that which came out of it. This is as certain, as that a line reaches, and can reach no further back, than to that point from where it began.
Our bodily eyes are born out of the firmamental light of this world, and therefore they can look no further than the firmament: but our thoughts know no bounds; therefore they are come out of that which is boundless. The eyes of our minds can look as easily backwards into that eternity which always Has been, as into that which ever shall be; and therefore it is plain, that that which thinks and wills in us, which so easily, so delightfully, so naturally penetrates into all eternity, has always had an eternal existence, and is only a ray or spark of the divine nature, brought out into the form of a creature, or a limited, personal existence, by the creating power of God.
Again. Every soul shrinks back, and is frightened at the very thought of falling into nothing. Now this undeniably proves, that the soul was not created out of nothing. For it is an eternal truth, spoken by all nature, that everything strongly aspires after, and cannot be easy, until it finds and enjoys that origin out of which it arose. If the soul therefore was brought forth out of nothing, all its being would be a burden to it; it would want to be dissolved, and to be delivered from every kind and degree of sensibility; and nothing could be so sweet and agreeable to it, as to think of falling back into that nothingness, out of which it was called forth by its creation. Thus is the eternal, immortal, divine nature of the soul, which the schools prove with so much difficulty one of the most obvious, self-evident truths in all nature. For nothing but that which is eternal in its own nature, can have the least thought about eternity.
If a beast had not the nature of the earth in it, nothing that is on the earth, or springs out of it, could be in the least degree agreeable to it, or desired by it. If the soul had not the nature of eternity in it, nothing that is eternal could give it the smallest pleasure, or be able to make any kind of impression upon it. For as nothing can taste, or relish, or enter into the agreeable sensations of this world, but that which Has the nature of this world in it; so nothing can taste, or relish, or look into eternity with any kind of pleasure, but that which has the nature of eternity in it.
If the soul was not born, or created out of God, it could have no happiness in God, no desire, nor any possibility of enjoying him. If it had nothing of God in it, it must stand in the utmost distance of contrariety to him, and be utterly incapable of living, moving, and having its being in God: for everything must have the nature of that, out of which it was created, and must live, and have its being in that root or ground from that which it sprung. If therefore there was nothing of God in the soul, nothing that is in God could do the soul any good, or have any kind of communication with it; but the gulf of separation between God and the soul, would be even greater than that which is between heaven and hell.
But let us rejoice, that our soul is a thinking, willing being, full of thoughts, cares, longings, and desires of eternity; for this is our full proof, that our descent is from God himself, that we are born out of him, breathed forth from him; that our soul is of an eternal nature, made a thinking, willing, understanding creature out of that which Has willed and thought in God from all eternity; and therefore must, for ever and ever, be a partaker of the eternity of God. And here you may behold the sure ground of the absolute impossibility of the annihilation of the soul. Its essences never began to be, and therefore can never cease to be; they had an eternal reality before they were in, or became a distinct soul, and therefore they must have the same eternal reality in it. It was the eternal breath of God before it came into man, and therefore the eternity of God must be inseparable from it. It is no more a property of the divine omnipotence to be able to annihilate a soul, than to be able to make an eternal truth become a fiction: and to think it a lessening of the power of God, to say, that he cannot annihilate the soul, is as absurd, as to say, that it is a lessening of the light of the sun, if it cannot destroy, or darken its own rays of light. O, dear reader, stay a while in this important place, and learn to know yourself: all your senses make you to know and feel, that you stand in the vanity of time; but every motion, stirring, imagination, and thought of your mind, whether in fancying, fearing, or loving everlasting life, is the same infallible proof, that you stand in the midst of eternity, are an offspring and inhabitant of it, and must be for ever inseparable from it. Ask when the first thought sprung up, find out the birthday of truth, and then you will have found out, when the essences of your soul first began to be. Were not the essences of your soul as old, as un-beginning, as unchangeable, as everlasting as truth itself, truth would be at the same distance from you, as absolutely unfit for you, as utterly unable to have any communion with you, as to be the food of a worm. The ox could not feed upon the grass, or receive any delight or nourishment from it, unless grass and the ox had one and the same earthly nature and original; your mind could receive no truth, feel no delight and satisfaction in the certainty, beauty, and harmony of it, unless truth and the mind stood both in the same place, had one and the same unchangeable nature, un-beginning origin. If there will come a time, when thought itself shall cease, when all the relations and connections of truth shall be untied; then, but not until then, shall the knot, or band of your soul's life be unloosed. It is a spark of the Deity, and therefore has the un-beginning, unending life of God in it. It knows nothing of youth, or age, because it is born eternal. It is a life that must burn for ever, either as a flame of light and love in the glory of the divine majesty, or as a miserable firebrand in that God, which is a consuming fire.
The Origin Of Evil Solely From The Creature.
It is impossible, that this world, in the state and condition it is now in, should have been an immediate and original creation of God: this is as impossible, as that God should create evil, either natural or moral. That this world Has evil in all its parts ; that its matter is in a corrupt, disordered state, full of grossness, disease, impurity, wrath, death and darkness, is as evident, as that there is light, beauty, order and harmony everywhere to be found in it. Therefore it is as impossible, that this outward state and condition of things, should be a first and immediate work of God, as that there should be good and evil in God himself. All storms and tempests, every fierceness of heat, every wrath of cold proves with the same certainty, that outward nature is not a first work of God, as the selfishness, envy, pride, wrath, and malice of devils, and men proves, that they are not in the first state of their creation. As no kind or degree of moral evil could possibly have its cause in, or from God, so there cannot be the least shadow of imperfection and disorder in outward nature, but what must have sprung up in the same manner, and from the same causes, as sickness and corrupt flesh is come into the human body, namely, from the sin of the creature. Storms, tempests, gravel, stone, sour and dead earth are the same things, the same diseases, the same effects of sin, produced in the same manner in the outward body of nature, as corrupt flesh, fevers, dropsy's, plagues, stones, and gout, are produced in the outward body of man. For that, and that only which produces stone in the body of man, did produce stone in the outward nature, as shall plainly appear by and by. For nature within, and without man, is one and the same, and has but one and the same way of working; a stone in the body, and a stone out of the body of man, proceeds from one and the same disorder of nature. When therefore you see a diseased, gouty, leprous, asthmatic, scorbutic man, you can with the utmost certainty say, this is not that human body which God first created in paradise; so, when you see the disorders of heat and cold, the poisonous earth, unfruitful seasons, and malignant qualities of outward nature, you can with the same certainty affirm, this state of nature is not a first creation of God, but that the same thing must have happened to it, which has happened to the body of man. For dark, sour, hard, dead earth, can no more be a first, immediate creation of God, than a wrathful devil, as such, can be created by him. For dark, sour, dead earth is as disordered in its kind, as the devils are, and has as certainly lost its first heavenly condition and nature, as the devils have lost theirs. But now, as in man, the little world, there is excellence and perfection enough to prove, that human nature is the work of an all-perfect being, yet, so much impurity and disease of corrupt flesh and blood, as undeniably shows, that sin has almost quite spoiled the work of God. So, in the great world, the footsteps of an infinite wisdom in the order and harmony of the whole, sufficiently appears; yet, the disorders, tumults, and evils of nature, plainly demonstrate, that the present condition of this world is only the remains or ruins, first, of a heaven spoiled by the fall of angels, and then of a paradise lost by the sin of man. So that man, and the world in which he lives, lie both in the same state of disorder and impurity, have both the same marks of life and death in them, both bring forth the same sort of evils, both need a redeemer, and have need of the same kind of death and resurrection, before they can come to their first state of purity and perfection.
This World Not A First, Immediate Creation Of God
That this outward world was not created out of nothing, is plainly taught by St. Paul, who declares, Rom.1:20, that the creation of the world is out of the invisible things of God; so that the outward condition and frame of invisible nature, is a plain manifestation of that spiritual world from which it is descended. For as every outside necessarily supposes an inside, and as temporal light and darkness must be the product of eternal light and darkness, so this outward, visible state of things necessarily supposes some inward, invisible state, from which it is come into this degree of out-wardness. Thus all that is on earth is only a change or alteration of something that was in heaven: and heaven itself is nothing else but the first glorious out-birth, the majestic manifestation, the adorable visibility of the one God. And thus we find out, how this temporal nature is related to God; it is only a gross out-birth of that which is an eternal nature, or a blessed heaven, and stands only in such a degree of distance from it, as water does to air; and this is the reason why the last fire will, and must turn this gross, temporal nature into its first, heavenly state. But to suppose the gross matter of this world to be made out of nothing, or compacted nothing, is more absurd, than to suppose ice that has been made from nothing, a yard that is not made up of inches, or a pound that is not the product of ounces.
How The World Comes To Be In Its Present State.
And indeed to suppose this, or any other material world to be made out of nothing, has all the same absurdities in it, as the supposing angels and spirits, to be created out of nothing. All the qualities of all beings are eternal; no real quality or power can appear in any creature, but what has its eternal root, or generating cause in the creator. If a quality could begin to be in a creature, which did not always exist in the creator, it would be no absurdity to say, that a thing might begin to be, without any cause either of its beginning, or being. All qualities, properties, or whatever can be affirmed of God, are self-existent, and necessary existent. Self and necessary existence is not a particular attribute of God, but is the general nature of everything that can be affirmed of God. All qualities and properties are self-existent in God: now, they cannot change their nature when they are derived, or formed into creatures, but must have the same self-birth, and necessary existence in the creature, which they had in the creator. The creature begins to be, when, and as it pleased God; but the qualities which are become creaturely, and which constitute the creature, are self-existent, just as the same qualities are in God. Thus, thinking, willing, and desire can have no outward maker, their maker is in themselves, they are self- existent powers wherever they are, whether in God, or in the creature, and as they form themselves in God, so they form themselves in the creature. But now, if no quality can begin to be, if all the qualities and powers of creatures must be eternal and necessary existent in God, before they can have any existence in any creature; then it undeniably follows, that every created thing must have its whole nature from, and out of the divine nature.
All qualities are not only good, but infinitely perfect, as they are in God; and it is absolutely impossible, that they should have any evil or defect in them, as they are in the one God, who is the great and universal all. Because, where all properties are, there must necessarily be an all possible perfection: and that which must always have all in itself, must, by an absolute necessity, be always all perfect. But the same qualities, thus infinitely good and perfect in God, may become imperfect and evil in the creature; because in the creature, being limited and finite, they may be divided and separated from one another by the creature itself. Thus strength and fire in the divine nature, are nothing else but the strength and flame of love, and never can be anything else; but in the creature, strength and fire may be separated from love, and then they are become an evil, they are wrath and darkness, and all mischief: and so that same strength and quality, which in creatures making a right use of their own will, or self-motion, becomes their goodness and perfection, does in creatures making a wrong use of their will, become their evil and mischievous nature; and it is a truth that deserves well to be considered, that there is no goodness in any creature, from the highest to the lowest, but in its continuing to be in such a union of qualities and powers, as God has brought together in its creation.
In the highest order of created beings, this is their standing in their first perfection, this is their fulfilling of the whole will or law of God, this is their piety, their song of praise, their eternal adoration of their great creator. On the other hand, there is no evil, no guilt, no deformity in any creature, but in its dividing and separating itself from something which God had given to be in union with it. This, and this alone, is the whole nature of all good, and all evil in the creature, both in the moral and natural world, in spiritual and material things. For instance, dark, fiery wrath in the soul, is not only very much like, but it is the self-same thing in the soul which poison is in the flesh. Now, the qualities of poison are in themselves, all of them good qualities, and necessary to every life; but they are become a poisonous evil, because they are separated from some other qualities. Thus also the qualities of fire and strength that constitute an evil wrath in the soul, are in themselves very good qualities, and necessary to every good life; but they are become an evil wrath, because separated from some other qualities with which they should be united.
The qualities of the devil and all fallen angels, are good qualities; they are the very same which they received from their infinitely perfect creator, the very same which are, and must be in all heavenly angels; but now they have become a hellish, abominable malignity, because they have, by their own self-motion, separated them from the light and love which should have kept them glorious angels.
And here may be seen at once, in the clearest light, the true origin of all evil in the creation, without the least imputation upon the creator. God could not possibly create a creature to be an infinite all, like himself: God could not bring any creature into existence, but by deriving into it the self-existent, self-generating, self-moving qualities of his own nature: for the qualities must be in the creature, that which they were in the creator, only in a state of limitation; and therefore, every creature must be finite, and must have a self-motion, and so must be capable of moving right and wrong, of uniting or dividing from what it will, or of falling from that state in which it ought to stand: but as every quality, in every creature, both within and without itself is equally good, and equally necessary to the perfection of the creature, since there is nothing that is evil in it, nor can become evil to the creature, but from being separated from itself, with which it can, and ought to be united, it plainly follows, that evil can no more be charged upon God, than darkness can be charged upon the sun; because every quality is equally good, every quality of fire is as good as every quality of light, and only becomes an evil to that creature, who, by his own self-motion, has separated fire from the light in his own nature.
The First Perfection Of Man.
If a delicious, fragrant fruit had a power of separating itself from that rich spirit, fine taste, smell, and color which it receives from the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air; or if it could in the beginning of its growth, turn away from the sun, and receive no virtue from it, then it would stand in its own first birth of wrath, sourness, bitterness, and astringency, just as the devils do, who have turned back into their own dark root, and rejected the Light and Spirit of God: so that the hellish nature of a devil is nothing else, but its own first forms of life, withdrawn, or separated from the heavenly light and love; just as the sourness, astringency, and bitterness of a fruit, are nothing else but the first forms of its own vegetable life before it has reached the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air.
And as a fruit, if it had a sensibility of itself, would be full of torment, as soon as it was shut up in the first forms of its life, in its own astringency, sourness, and stinging bitterness: so the angels, when they turned back into these very same first forms of their own life, and broke off from the heavenly light and love of God, they became their own hell. No hell was made for them, no new qualities came into them, no vengeance or pains from the God of love fell upon them; they only stood in that state of division and separation from the Son, and Holy Spirit of God, which, by their own motion, they had made for themselves. They had nothing in them, but what they had from God, the first forms of an heavenly life, nothing but what the most heavenly beings have, and must have, to all eternity; but they had them in a state of self-torment, because they had separated them from that birth of light and love, which alone could make them glorious sons, and blessed images of the Holy Trinity.
The same strong desire, fiery wrath, and stinging motion is in holy angels, that is in devils, just as the same sourness, astringency, and biting bitterness is in a full ripened fruit, which was there before it received the riches of the light and spirit of the air. In a ripened fruit, its first sourness, astringency, and bitterness is not lost, nor destroyed, but becomes the real cause of all its rich spirit, fine taste, fragrant smell, and beautiful color; take away the working, contending nature of these first qualities, and you annihilate the spirit, taste, smell, and virtue of the fruit, and there would be nothing left for the sun and the spirit of the air to enrich.
Just in the same manner, that which in a devil is an evil selfishness, a wrathful fire, a stinging motion, is in an holy angel, the everlasting kindling of a divine life, the strong birth of an heavenly love, it is a real cause of an everlasting, ever-triumphing joyfulness, an ever-increasing sensibility of bliss.
Take away the working, contending nature of these first qualities, which in a devil, are only a serpentine selfishness, wrath, fire, and stinging motion; take away these, I say, from holy angels, and you leave them neither light, nor love, nor heavenly glory, nothing for the birth of the Son, Holy Spirit of God to rise up in.
So that here you may see this glorious truth, that the love and goodness of God is as plain and undeniable in having given to the fallen angels, those very qualities and powers which are now their hell, as in giving the first sourness, astringency and bitterness to fruits, which alone makes them capable of their delicious spirit, taste, color, and smell.
And so you see the uniform life of all the creatures of God; how they are all raised, enriched, and blessed by the same life of God, derived into different kingdoms of creatures. For the beginnings and progress of a perfect life in fruits, and the beginnings and progress of a perfect life in angels, are not only similar to one another, but are the very same thing, or the workings of the very same qualities, only in different kingdoms. Astringency in a fruit, is the very same quality, and does the same work in a fruit, that attracting desire does in a spiritual being; it is the same beginner, former, and supporter of a creaturely life in the one, as in the other. No creature in heaven, or earth, can begin to be, but by this astringency, or desire, being made the ground of it: and yet this astringency kept from the virtue of the sun, can only produce a poisonous fruit, and this astringent desire in an angel, turned from the light of God, can only make a devil. The biting, stinging bitterness of a fruit, if you could add thought to it, would be the very gnawing envy of the devil: and the envious motion in the devil's nature, would be nothing else but that stinging bitterness which is in a fruit, if you could take thought from the devil's motion.
From this attraction, astringency, or desire, which is one and the same quality in every individual thing, which is the first form of being and life, the very ground of every creature, from the highest angel to the lowest vegetable, we are led by an unerring thread to the first desire, or that desire which is in the divine nature. For as this attraction, or astringent desire is in spiritual and corporeal things, one and the same quality, working in the same manner, so is it one and the same quality with that first, un-beginning desire, which is in the divine nature. That there is an attracting desire in the divine nature, is undeniable, because attraction is essential to all bodies; and desire, which is the same quality, is absolutely inseparable from all intelligible beings; therefore, that which is necessarily existent in the creature, upon the supposition of its creation, must necessarily be in the creator; because no inherent, operative quality can be in the creature, unless the same kind of quality had always been in the creator: therefore, attraction or desire, which are inseparable from every created being and life, are only various pareicipations of the divine nature; or emanations from it, formed into different kingdoms of creatures, and working in all of them according to their respective natures. In vegetables, it is that attraction, or desire, which brings every growing thing to its highest perfection: in angels, it is that blessed hunger, by which they are filled with the divine nature: in devils, it is turned into that serpentine selfishness, or crooked desire, which makes them a hell and torment to themselves.
On the other hand, as we prove a posteriori, from a view of the creature, that there must be an attracting desire in the divine nature; so we can prove a priority also, from a consideration of God, that there must be an attracting desire in everything that ever was, or can be created by God: for nothing can come into being, but because God wills and desires it; therefore the desire of God is the creator, the origin of everything. The creating will, or desire of God, is not a distant, or separate thing, as when a man wills or desires something to be done; but it is an omnipresent, working will and desire, which is itself, the beginning and forming of the thing desired. Our own will, and desirous imagination, when they work and create in us a settled aversion, or fixed love of anything, resemble in some degree, the creating power of God, which makes things out of itself, or its own working desire. And our will, and working imagination could not have the power that it has now even after the fall, but because it is a product, or spark of that first divine will or desire which is omnipotent.
Here therefore we have plainly found the true origin, or first source of all things. The desire of God is the first former, generator, and creator of all things; they are all the births of this omnipotent, working desire; for everything that comes into being, must have the nature of that power that formed it, and therefore the nature of every creature must stand in an attracting desire, that is, everything must be a created, attracting power; because it is the birth, or product of a desire, or attractive power, and could neither come into, nor continue in being, but because it was generated not only by, but out of an attracting desire. And herein lies the band, or knot of all created being and life.
Will or desire in the Deity, is justly considered as God the Father, who from eternity to eternity, wills or generates only the Son, from which eternal generating, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds: and this is the infinite perfection or fullness of blessings of the life of the triune God. Now, as the un-beginning, eternal desire is in God, so is the created desire in the creature; it stands in the same tendency, Has the nature of the divine desire, because it is a branch out of it, or created from it. In the Deity, the eternal will or desire, is a desiring, or generating the Son, from where the Holy Spirit proceeds; the desire that is come out of God in the form of a creature, has the same tendency, it is a desire of the Son and Holy Spirit. And every created thing in heaven and earth attains its perfection, by its gaining in some degree, the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it: for all attraction and desire in the creature, generates in them as it did in God; and so the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God arises in some degree, or other, in all creatures that are in their proper state of perfection.
Man Has The Triune Nature Of God In Him.
And here lies the ground of that plain, and most fundamental doctrine of scripture, that the Father is the creator, the Son the regenerator, and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier. For what is this but saying in the plainest manner, that as there are three in God, so there must be three in the creature, that as the three stand related to one another in God, so must they stand in the same relation in the creature. For if a threefold life of God must have distinct shares in the creation, blessing, and perfection of man, is it not a demonstration, that the life of man must stand in the same threefold state, and have such a Trinity in it, as has its true likeness to that Trinity which is in God?
That which generates in God, must generate in the creature; and that which is generated in God, must be generated in the creature; and that which proceeds from this generation in the Deity, must proceed from this generation in the creature: and therefore, the same threefold life must be in the creature in the same manner as it is in God. For a creature that can only exist, and be blessed by the distinct operation of a Triune God upon it, must have the same Triune nature that is answerable to it. And herein lies our true, easy, sound, and edifying knowledge and belief of the mystery of a Trinity in Unity: and this is all that the scripture teaches us concerning it. It is not a doctrine that requires learned or nice speculations, in order to be rightly apprehended by us. But when with the scriptures, we believe the Father to be our creator, the Son our regenerator, and the Holy Spirit our sanctifier; then we are learned enough in this mystery, and begin to know the Triune God in the same manner in time, that we shall know him in eternity. And the reason why this great mystery of a Trinity in the Deity is revealed to us, and the necessity of a baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, laid upon us, is this; it is to show us, that the divine, Triune life of God is lost in us, and that nothing less than a birth from the Son and Holy Spirit of God in us, can restore us to our first likeness to that Triune God, who at first created us. This I have fully shown in the little treatise upon regeneration.
When man was created in his original perfection, the Holy Trinity was his creator; the breath of lives, which became a living soul, was the breath of the Triune God: but when man began to will, and desire, that is, to generate contrary to the Deity, then the life of the Triune God extinguished in him.
The desire of man being turned from God, lost the birth of the Son, and the proceeding of the Holy Spirit; and so fell into, or under the light and spirit of this world: that is, of a paradisiacal man, enjoying union and communion with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and living on earth in such enjoyment of God, as the angels live in heaven, he became an earthly creature, subject to the dominion of this outward world, capable of all its evil influences, subject to its vanity and mortality; and as to his outward life, stood only in the highest rank of animals. This and this alone, is the true nature and degree of the fall of man; it was neither more nor less than this. It was a falling out of one world, or kingdom, into another, it was changing the life, Light and Spirit of God, for the light and spirit of this world. Thus it was that Adam died the very day of his transgression, he died to all the influences and operations of the kingdom of God upon him, as we die to the influences of this world, when the soul leaves the body; and, on the other hand, all the influences, operations and powers of the elements of this life became opened in him, as they are in every animal at its birth into this world. All other accounts of that fall, which only suppose the loss of some moral perfection, or natural acuteness of his rational powers, are not only senseless fictions, but are an express denial of the Old and New Testament account of it; for the Old Testament expressly says, that Adam was to die the day of his transgression, and therefore it is certain, that he then did die, and that the fall was his losing his first life: and to say that he did not die to that first life in which he was created, is the same denial of scripture, as to say, that he did not eat of the forbidden tree. Again, the same scripture assures us, that after the fall, his eyes were opened; I suppose this is a proof, that before the fall, they were shut. And what is this, but saying in the plainest manner, that before the fall, the life, light and spirit of this world, were shut out of him? and that the opening of his eyes, was only another way of saying, that the life and light of this world were opened in him? If an angel, or any inhabitant of heaven, was to be sent of a message into this world, it must be supposed, that neither the darkness, nor light of this world, could act according to their nature upon him; and therefore, though he was here, he must be said not to have the opened eyes of this world: but if this heavenly messenger should be taken with our manner of life, should be in doubts about returning to heaven, and long to have such flesh and blood as ours is, as earnestly as Adam longed to eat of the earthly tree; and if by this longing, he should actually obtain that which he desired; must it not then be said of him, when he had got this new nature, his eyes were opened, to see light and darkness; and that only for this reason, because the heavenly life was depareed from him, and the earthly life of this world was opened in him? And so it was that Adam died, and his eyes were opened. Again, when his eyes were opened, or the light and life of this world opened in him, he was immediately ashamed and shocked at the sight of his own body, and wanted to hide it from himself, and from the sight of the sun. Now, how could this have happened to him, if his body had not undergone some very extraordinary change, from a state of glory and perfection, to a lamentable degree of vileness and impurity? All the terror at his fallen state, seems to arise from the sad condition, in which he saw and felt his outward body. This made him ashamed of himself; this made him tremble, at hearing the voice of God; this made him creep behind the trees, and endeavor to hide and cover his body with leaves. And is not this the same thing, as if Adam had said, "All my sin, my guilt, my misery, and shame, is published before heaven and earth, by this sad state and condition in which my body now appears." But now, what was this sad state and condition of his body? What did Adam see in the manner and form of it that filled him with such confusion? Why, he only saw that he was fallen from his paradisiacal glory, to have the same gross flesh and blood as the beasts and animals of this world have; which was, to bring forth an offspring in the same earthly manner, as they did. He could see, and be ashamed of no other deformity in his body, but that which he had in common with the animals of this world; and therefore there was nothing else in his outward form that he could be ashamed of; and yet it was his outward form that filled him with confusion. And is not this the greatest of all proofs, that before his fall, his body had not this nature and condition of the beasts in it? Is it not the same thing, as if he had said, "this body which now makes me ashamed, and which I want to hide, though it be only with thin leaves, because it brings me down amongst the animals of this world, is not that first body of glory into which God at first breathed the breath of lives, and in which I became a living soul." Again, if Adam's body had been of the same kind of flesh and blood as ours is now, only in a better state of health and vigor, how could he have been created immortal? If he was not created immortal, how can it be said, that sin alone brought mortality, or death into human nature? But if he had immortality in his first created state, then he must have such a body as none of the elements, or elementary things of this world could act upon; for there is no death in any creature of this world, but what is brought upon it by that strife and destruction which the four elements bring upon one another. But if sin alone gave the elements, and all elementary things their first power of acting upon the body of Adam; then it is plain, that before his sin, he had not, could not have a body of such flesh and blood as we now have, but that he stood, as to the state, nature, and condition of his outward body, at as great a distance and difference from the animals of this world, as heaven does from earth, and was created with flesh and blood as much exalted above, and superior to the nature and power of all the elements, as the beasts of this world are under them. And herein plainly appears the true sense of that saying, "God did not make death," that is, he did not make that which is mortal, or dying in the human nature, but sin alone formed and produced that in man, which could, and must die like the bodies of beasts. Death, and the grave, and the resurrection, are all standing proofs, that the body of bestial flesh and blood, which we now have, at the sight of which Adam was ashamed, which must die, which can rot in the grave, which must not be seen after the resurrection, was not that first body, in which Adam appeared before God in paradise: for it is an undeniable truth of scripture, that this flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God; it must be a truth of the same certainty, that this flesh and blood could not by God himself be brought into paradise; but that it must have the same original with every other polluted thing that is an abomination in his sight, or incapable of entering into the kingdom of God.
That the gospel also plainly shows, that man was created in the dignity and glorious enjoyment of the Triune life of God, that his fall was a falling into the earthly life of the light and spirit of this world, I have sufficiently proved from the greatest areicles of the Christian faith, concerning the necessity, nature, and manner of our redemption, in the book of Christian Regeneration40. I have there shown, that baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, signifies nothing but our being born again into this Triune life of God. That the necessity of being born again of the Word or Son of God, of being born of the Spirit, or receiving him as a sanctifier of our newly raised nature, plainly proves that what we lost by the fall, was this Triune life of God: he that denies this, denies the whole of the Christian redemption.
It has been already observed, that when man was created in his original perfection, the Holy Trinity was his creator; but when man was fallen, or had lost his first divine life, then there began a new language of a redeeming religion. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were now to be considered, not as creating every man as they created the first, but as differently concerned in raising the fallen race of mankind, to that first likeness of the Holy Trinity in which their first father was created: hence it is, that the scriptures speak of the Father, as drawing, and calling men; because the desire which is from the Father's nature, must be the first mover, stirrer, and beginner. This desire must be moved and brought into an anguishing state, and have the agitation of a fire that is kindled; and then men are truly drawn by the Father. The Son of God is now considered as the regenerator or raiser of a new birth in us; because he enters a second time into the life of the soul, that his own nature and likeness may be again generated in it, and that he may be that to the soul in its state, which he is to the Father in the Deity. The Holy Ghost is represented as the sanctifier, or finisher of the divine life restored in us; because as in the Deity, the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, as the amiable, blessed finisher of the Triune life of God; so the fallen nature of man cannot be raised out of its unholy state, cannot be blessed and sanctified with its true degree of the divine life, until the Holy Spirit arises up in it. Since then the Triune God, or the three persons in the one God, must have this difference of shares, must reach out this different help to the raising up of fallen man, it is undeniable, that the first created man stood in the image and real likeness of the one God, not only representing, but really having in his birth and life, the birth and life of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost had such a Unity in man, as they had in the Deity itself: how else could man be the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, if it was not such a birth in man, as it was in itself? Or, how could the Holy Trinity dwell and operate in man, each person according to its respective nature, unless there was the same threefold life in man as there is in God? How could the Holy Trinity be an object of man's worship and adoration, if the Holy Trinity had not produced itself in man? The creature is only to own and worship its creator; therefore Father, Son, and Holy Ghost must have each of them their creaturely offspring, or product in man, if man is to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If therefore you deny angels, and the souls of perfect men to have the triune nature, of life of God in them: if you deny that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have such union and relation in the soul, as they have out of it, you are guilty of as great heresy and apostasy from the gospel, as if you denied the Father to be the creator or him that calls and draws, the Son to be the redeemer, or him that regenerates, and the Holy Spirit to be him that sanctifies human nature.
Again: consider this great truth, which will very much illustrate this matter; you can be an inhabitant of no world, or a partaker of its life, but by its being inwardly the birth of your own life, or by having the nature and condition of that world born in you. As such, hell must be inwardly born in the soul, it must arise up within it, as it does without it, before the soul can become an inhabitant of it. Again: that which is the life of this outward world, i.e., its fire, and light, and air, must have such a state and birth within you, as they have outside of you, before you can be an inhabitant or partaker of the life of this world; that is, fire must be in you, must be the same fire, have the same place and nature within you, have the same relation to the light and air that is within you, as it has without you, or else the fire of the outward world, cannot keep up, or have any communion with your own life. The light of this world can signify nothing to you, cannot reach or enrich you with its powers and virtues, if the same light is not arisen in the same manner in the kindling of your own life, as it arises in the outward world. The air also of this world can do you no good, can be no preserver of your life, but because it has the same birth in you, that it has in outward nature. And therefore it must be a truth of the greatest certainty, that so it must of all necessity be with respect to the kingdom of God, or that life which is to be had in the beatific41 presence of God; it must, by an absolute necessity, have the same birth within you, as it has without you, before you can enter into it, or become an inhabitant of it: if you are to live, and be eternally blessed in the triune life, or beatific presence of God, that triune life, must, of the utmost necessity, first make itself creaturely in you; it must be, and arise in you, as it does without you, before you can possibly enter into any communion with it. Now is there anything more plain and scriptural, more easy to be conceived, more pious to be believed, and more impossible to be denied, than all this? And yet this is all that I have said, in two propositions in the treatise upon Christian Regeneration: it is there said, "Man was created by God after his own image, and in his own likeness, a living mirror of the divine nature; where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost each brought forth their own nature in a creaturely manner." Now, what is this, but saying, that the Holy Trinity brought forth a creature in its own likeness, standing in a creaturely birth of the divine, triune life? If it did not stand thus, how could it have its form or creation from the Holy Trinity? Or how could it without this triune life in itself, enter into, or be a partaker of the triune life or presence of God? In the next proposition it is said; "In it, that is, in this created image of the Holy Trinity, the Father's nature generated the divine Word, or Son of God, and the Holy Ghost proceeded from them both as an amiable, moving life of both. This was the likeness or image of God, in which the first man was created, a true offspring of God, in whom the divine birth sprung up as in the Deity, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saw themselves in a creaturely manner."
Now, what is this, but saying in the plainest manner, only that the triune, creaturely life stood in the same birth and generation of its threefold life, as the Deity does, whose image, likeness, and offspring it is? And can it possibly be otherwise; for if the creature comes from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as their created image and likeness, must not that which it has from the Father, be of the nature of the Father, that which it has from the Son, be of the nature of the Son, and that which it has from the Holy Ghost, be of the nature of the Holy Ghost? And must they not therefore stand in the creature in such a relation to one another, as they do in the creator? If it is the nature of the Father to generate, if it is the nature of the Son to be generated, if it is the nature of the Holy Ghost to proceed from both, must not that which you have from the Father generate in you, that which you have from the Son be generated in you, and that which you have from the Holy Ghost, proceed from both in you? All which is only saying this plain and obvious truth, that that being, or created life, which you have from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must stand in such a triune relation within you as it does outside you; that having this threefold likeness of God, you may be capable of entering into an enjoyment of his triune, beatific life or presence. For, consider again this instance, with regard to the life of this world. The fire, and light, and air, of outward nature, must become creaturely in you; that is, you must have a fire that is your own creaturely fire, you must have a light that is generated by, or from your own fire, a breath that proceeds from your own fire and light, as the air of outward nature proceeds from its fire and light: you must have all this nature and birth of fire, and light, and air in your own creaturely being, or you cannot possibly live in, or have a life from the fire, and light, and air of outward nature: 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. And therefore, no omnipotence can make you a partaker of the beatific life or presence of the Holy Trinity, unless that life stands in the same triune state within you, as it does outside of you. The nature of this world must become creatural in you, before you can live, or have a share in the life of this world; the triune nature of God must breathe forth itself to stand creaturely in you, before you can live, or have a share in the beatific life or presence of the triune God.
Now, is not all this strictly according to the very outward letter, and inward truth of the most important areicles of the Christian religion? For what else can be meant by the necessity of our being born again of the Word, or Son of God, being born of the Spirit of God, in order to have our entrance into the kingdom of heaven? Is not this saying, that the triune life of God must first have its birth in us, before we can enter into the triune, beatific life, or presence of God? What else is taught us by that new birth sought for by a baptism, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Does it not plainly tell us, that the triune nature of the Deity is that which wants to be born in us, and that our redemption consists in nothing else but in the bringing forth this new birth in us, and that, being thus born again in the likeness of the Holy Trinity, we may be capable of its threefold blessing and happiness? The New Testament tells us of the impossibility of our being made holy, but by the Holy Spirit of God: now, how could we need any distinct thing particularly from the Son of God, any distinct thing, particularly from the Holy Ghost, in order to raise and repair our fallen nature, how could this be absolutely necessary, but because the holy threefold life of the Deity must stand within us, in the birth of our own life, as it does without us, so that we may be capable of living in God, and God in us. Search to eternity, why no devil, or beast can possibly be a partaker of the kingdom of heaven, and there can only be this one reason found, because neither of them have the triune, holy life of God in them: for every created thing does, and must, and can only want, seek, unite with, and enjoy that outwardly, which is of the same nature with itself. Place a devil where you will, he is still in hell, and always at the same distance from heaven; he can touch, or taste, or reach nothing but what is in hell. Carry a beast where you please, either to court, or to church, he is yet at the same infinite distance from the joys and fears either of church, or court, as the beasts that never saw anything else but their own kind: and all this is grounded solely on this eternal truth; namely, that no being can rise higher than its own life reaches. The circle of the birth of life in every creature is its necessary circumference, and it cannot possibly reach any further; and therefore it is a joyful truth, that beings created to worship and adore the Holy Trinity, and to enter into the beatific life and presence of the triune God, must, of all necessity, have the same triune life in their own creaturely being. And now, what can be so glorious, so edifying, so ravishing, as this knowledge of God and ourselves? The very thought of our standing in this likeness and relation to the infinite creator and being of all beings, is enough to kindle the divine life within us, and melt us into a continual love and adoration: for how can we enough love and adore that Holy Trinity which has created us in its own likeness, that we might live in an eternal union and communion with Him? Will anyone call this an irreverent familiarity, or bold looking into the Holy Trinity, which is nothing else but a thankful adoration of it, as our glorious Father and creator? It is our best and only acknowledgement of the greatest truths of the holy scriptures; it is the scripture doctrine of the Trinity kept in its own simplicity, separated from scholastic speculations, where the three in God, are only distinguished by that threefold share that they have in the creation and redemption of man. When therefore we know the Trinity in ourselves, and adore its high origin in the Deity, we are possessed of a truth of the greatest degree, that enlightens the mind with the most solid and edifying knowledge, and opens to us the fullest understanding of all that concerns the creation, fall, and redemption of man.
Without this knowledge, all the scripture will be used as a dead letter, and formed only into a figurative, historical system of things, that has no ground in nature; and learned divines can only be learned in the explication of phrases, and verbal distinctions. The first chapters of Genesis will be a knot that cannot be untied; the mysteries of the gospel will only be called federal rites, and their inward ground reproached as enthusiastic dreams; but when it is known, that the triune nature of God was brought forth in the creation of man, that it was lost in his fall, that it is restored in his redemption, a never-failing light arises in all scripture, from Genesis to the Revelation. Everything that is said of God, as Father, regenerator, or sanctifier of man; everything that is said of Jesus Christ, as redeeming, being formed, dwelling in, and quickening; and of the Holy Spirit, as moving and sanctifying us: everything that is said of the Lord's supper and baptism, or promised in and by them, has its deep and inward ground fully discovered; and the whole Christian religion is built upon a rock, and God will appear to be doing every good to us, that the God of all nature can possibly do. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is wholly practical; it is revealed to us, to discover our high origin, and the greatness of our fall, to show us the deep and profound operation of the triune God in the recovery of the divine life in our souls; that by the means of this mystery thus discovered, our piety may be rightly directed, our faith and prayer have their proper objects, that the workings and aspiring of our own hearts may cooperate, and correspond with that triune life in the Deity, which is always desiring to manifest itself in us; for as everything that is in us, whether it be heaven, or hell, rises up in us by a birth, and is generated in us by the will-spirit of our souls, which kindles itself either in heaven, or hell; so this mystery of a triune Deity manifesting itself, as a Father creating, as a Son, or Word, regenerating, as a Holy Spirit sanctifying us, is not to entertain our speculation with dry, metaphysical distinctions of the Deity, but to show us from what a height and depth we are fallen, and to excite such a prayer and faith, such a hungering and thirsting after this triune fountain of all good, as may help to generate and bring forth in us that first image of the Holy Trinity in which we were created, and which must be born in us before we can enter into the state of the blessed: here we may see the reason, why the learned world has had so many fruitless disputes about this mystery, and why it has been so often a stone of stumbling to philosophers and critics; it is because they began to reason about that, which never was proposed to their reason, and which no more belongs to human learning and philosophy, than light belongs to our ears, or sounds to our eyes. No person has any fitness, nor any pretense, nor any ground from scripture, to think, or say anything of God, until such time as he stands in the state of the penitent returning prodigal, weary of his own sinful, shameful nature; and desiring to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, and then is he first permitted to be baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: this is the first time the gospel teaches, or calls anyone to the acknowledgement of the Holy Trinity. Now, as this knowledge is first given in and about baptism, and there only as a signification of a triune life of the Deity, which must be regenerated in the soul; so the scriptures say nothing afterwards to this baptized penitent concerning the Trinity, but only with regard to regeneration, everywhere only showing him how Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all equally divine, must draw, awaken, quicken, enlighten, move, guide, cleanse, and sanctify the new-born Christian: is it not therefore undeniably plain, that all abstract speculations of this mystery, how it is in itself, how it is to be ideally conceived, or scholastically expressed by us, is a wandering away from that true light, in which the Trinity of God is set before us, which is only revealed as a key, or direction to the true depths of that regeneration, which is to be sought for from the Lord? But to go on in a further account of the creation.
Now, as all creatures, whether intellectual, animate, or inanimate, are products, or emanations of the divine desire, created out of the Father, who from eternity to eternity generates the Son, and from this the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds; so every intelligent, created being, not fallen from its state, stands in the same birth, or generating desire, it generates in its degree, as God the Father generates eternally the Son, and is blessed and perfected in the divine life, by having the Holy Spirit rise up in it. And so it is, that those angels which stood, and continued in the same will and desire in which they came out from God, willing and desiring as God from all eternity had willed and desired, were by the rising up of the Holy Spirit in them, confirmed and established in the divine life, and so became eternally and inseparably united with the ever-blessed triune Deity.
On the other hand, those angels which did not keep their will and desire in its first created tendency, but allowed their own will and desire to rise up, which own will and desire was their direct, full choosing and desiring to be, and do something which they could not be, and do in God, and is therefore properly called their aspiring to be above God, or to be independent from Him; these angels, by going backwards with their will and desire out of, or from God and divine truth, could only find, or generate that which had contrariety to God and the divine birth, and so became under a necessity of finding themselves in an eternal state, spirit and life that was directly contrary to all that is good, holy, amiable, blessed and divine. Now, the will and desire in every creature is generating, and effective, strictly according to the state and nature of that creature, therefore, eternal beings in an eternal state, must have an eternal power and effectiveness in the working of their wills and desires: when therefore those angels, with all the strength of their eternal desires, turned away from God and the divine birth, they could become nothing else, but beings eternally separated and broken off from all that was God and goodness: for eternal beings that stood only in an eternal state, acting with all their vigor, not doubting, but strong willed, could not do anything that had only a temporal nature and effect, because they stood not in such a nature or such a world, and therefore what they willed and generated with all their nature, (which was a contrariety to God) that became the eternal state of their nature. And this is the birth and origin of hellish beings. God had done all to them and for them, that he had done to and for the angels that stood; he had given them the same holy beginning of their lives, had brought them forth out of himself in the same tendency, that which was the nature of other angels, was theirs; he could not make any established, fixed, and unchangeable angels, because the life of everything must be a birth, and willing beings must have a birth of their wills; he could not make them fixed, because everything that comes from God, must so come from him, as it was in him, a self- existent and self-moving power, and therefore no goodness of God could hinder their having a self-motion, because they were, and could be nothing else but creatures brought forth by, and out of his own self- existent and self-moving nature. God is all good, and everything that comes out from him, as his creature, product, or offspring, must come forth in that state of goodness, which it had in him; and every creature, however high in its birth from God, must in the beginning of its life, have a power of joining with or depareing from God, because the beginning of its life is nothing else but the beginning of its own self-motion as a creature; and therefore no creature can have its state or condition fixed, until it gives itself up either wholly unto God, or turns wholly from him; for if it is an intelligent creature, it can only be so, by having the intelligent will of God derived into it; but the intelligent will brought into a creaturely form, must be that which it was in the creator, and therefore must be the same self-existent and self-moving power that it was before it became creaturely in any angel or spirit. And so you see the cause and origin of evil, wherever it is, it is absolutely and eternally separated from God.
Again: as all intelligent beings can in no way attain their happiness and perfection, but by standing with their will and desire united to God, in the same tendency in which the Father eternally generates the Son, from this and this alone, the Holy Spirit proceeds as the finisher of the triune, beatific life, so the same thing is manifestly proved to us by the lowest kind of beings that are in visible this world; for all vegetables, by their attraction or astringency, which is their desire, and is an out birth of the divine desire, reach their utmost perfection by the same progress, that is, by getting a birth of the light and spirit of this outward world into them, and so become infallible, though no life can be brought to its proper perfection in the creature, until the image of the triune life of God, is, according to the state and capacity of the creature, formed in it: look where you will, everything proclaims and proves this great truth. The Christian doctrine of the salvation of mankind by a birth of the Son, and Holy Spirit of God in them, is not only written in scripture, but in the whole state and frame of nature, and of every life in this world; for every perfect fruit openly declares, that it can have no goodness in it, until the light and spirit of this world has done that to it and in it, which the Light and Spirit of God must do to the soul of man, and therefore is a full proof, that it is absolutely necessary for every human creature to desire, believe, and receive the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God to save it from its own wrath and darkness, as it is necessary for every fruit of the earth to be raised and regenerated from its own bitterness and sourness, by receiving the light and spirit of this world into it.
Some learned men, willing to discover the image of the Holy Trinity in the creation, have observed three properties both in body and spirit, which they supposed to be a proper likeness of the Trinity. But all this is as nothing to the matter. For as the Holy Trinity is a threefold life in God, so the image of the Trinity is always found in a threefold life in the creature; for it is the whole birth, or generation of the thing itself, whether it be corporeal or spiritual, that stands in such a threefold state as the Holy Trinity does, that is the proper likeness or image of the Trinity. As there is one infinitely perfect Deity, because this one Deity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so every creature that is an original production of the Deity, or in its proper state of perfection, stands in its whole being, or generating as the Deity does, and neither has, nor ever can have any perfection, but because the triune nature of God is manifested and brought forth in it; for the perfection of life, is God, and a perfection of life derived from God, must stand in the same threefold state, and that which is a life from the Deity, must have a life of the Trinity in it.
Take away attraction, or desire from the creature of this world, and you annihilate the creature; for where there is no attraction or desire, there can be no nature or being; and therefore attraction or desire shows the work of the creator in everything, or what is meant by the divine fiat, or creating power. Now, what is it which this attraction or desire wants, hungers, draws and reaches after? Nothing else but the light and spirit of this world. What is the true, deep, and infallible ground of this? Why does this desire work in every life of this world? It is because the eternal will in the Deity, is a desiring or generating of the Son, from where the Holy Spirit of God proceeds: and therefore attraction, which is an out-birth of the divine desire, stands in a perpetual desiring of the light and spirit of this world, because they are the two out-births of the Light and Holy Spirit of God. What rational mind can help being charmed with this wonderful harmony and relation between God, nature, and creature?
And now, my dear reader, if you are either Arian, or Deist, be so no longer: the ground has been dug up from under you, and neither opinion has anything left to stand upon; you may wrangle and wrestle the doctrine of scripture, because it is only taught in words; but the veil is now taken off from nature, and every plant and fruit will teach you with the clearness of the noon-day sun, these two great truths; first, that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one being, one life, one God: secondly, that the soul, which is dead to the paradisiacal life, must be made alive again by the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, in the same manner as a dead seed is, and only can be brought to life in this world, by the light and spirit of this world.
Arianism And Deism Confronted By Nature.
If you are an Arian, don't content yourself with the numbers that are with you, or with a learned name or two that happen to be on your side: Arianism has never yet been recommended by the genius and learning of a Baronious, or Bellarmin; and nothing but a poor, groping, purblind philosophy, that is not able to look either at God, nature, or creature, has ever led any man into it: for it is a truth proclaimed by all nature and creature, that there is a threefold life in God, and everything that is, whether it be happy, or miserable, perfect or imperfect, is only so, because it has, or has not the triune nature of God in it.
A beginning fruit is like a poison; a seed, for a while, it is shut up in a hard death. Why are they both at first in this state? It is because each of them stands as yet only in that first birth of nature, which is but a beginning manifestation of the Deity. Let the light of the sun, and the spirit of this world be born in them, and then the sour, astringent fruit, and the dead seed becomes a perfect, vegetable life, and is in its kind perfect, for this one and only reason, because the triune life of the Deity is truly manifested in it.
If you are a Deist, made so, either by the disorderly state of your own heart, or by prejudices taken from the corruptions and divisions of Christians, or from a dislike of the language of scripture, or from an opinion of the sufficiency of a religion of human reason, or from whatever else it may be, look well to yourself, Christianity is no fiction of enthusiasm, or invention of ministers or priests.
That Life Is Uniform Through All Creatures.
If you can show, that the gospel proposes to bring men into the kingdom of heaven by any other method, than that, which nature requires to make any creature a living member of this world, then I will acknowledge the gospel not to be founded in nature. But if what the gospel said of the absolute necessity, that the fallen soul be born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, this is the very same which all temporal nature has said of everything that is to enter into the life of this world, i.e., that it cannot partaker of the life of this world, until the light and spirit of this world is born in it; then does not all nature in this world, and every life in it, declare, that the Christian method of salvation is as necessary to raise fallen man, as the sun and spirit of this world is, to bring a creature alive into it? Now, as there is but one God, so there is but one nature, as unalterable as that God from whom it arises, and whose manifestation it is; so also there is but one religion founded in nature, and but one salvation possible in nature. Revealed religion is nothing else but a revelation of the mysteries of nature, for God cannot reveal, or require anything by a spoken or written word, but only that which he reveals and requires by nature; for nature is his great book of revelation, and he that can only read its letters, will have found so many demonstrations of the truth of the written revelation of God. But to show, that there is but one salvation possible in nature, and that possibility solely contained in the Christian method: look from the top to the bottom of all creatures, from the highest to the lowest beings, and you will find, that death has but one nature in all worlds, and in all creatures: look at life in an angel, and life in a vegetable, and you will find, that life has but one and the same form, one and the same ground in the whole scale of beings: no omnipotence of God can make that to be life, which is not life, or that to be death, which is not death, according to nature; and the reason is, because nature is nothing else but God's own outward manifestation of what he inwardly is, and can do; and therefore no revelation from God can teach, or require anything but that which is taught and required by God in, and through nature. The mysteries of religion therefore, are no higher, nor deeper than the mysteries of nature, and all the rites, laws, ceremonies, types, institutions and ordinances given by God from Adam to the apostles, are only typical of something that is to be done, or instrumental to the doing of that, which the unchangeable working of nature requires to be done. As sure therefore as there is but one death thing, and life is the same thing throughout all nature, whether temporal or eternal, so sure is it, that there is but one way to life or salvation for fallen man. And this way, let it be what it will, must and only can be that, which has its reason and foundation in that one universal nature, which is the one unchangeable manifestation of the Deity. For if there is but one thing that is life, and one thing that is death throughout all nature, from the highest angel to the hardest flint upon earth, then it must be plain, that the life which is to be raised or restored by religion, must, and can only be restored according to nature: and therefore, true religion can only be the religion of nature, and divine revelation can do nothing else, but reveal and manifest the demands and workings of nature.
That There Is But One Kind Of Death To Be Found In All Nature.
Now, the one great doctrine of the Christian religion which includes all the rest, is this, that Adam, by his sin, died to the kingdom of heaven, or that the divine life was extinguished within him; that he cannot be redeemed, or restored to this first divine life, but by having it regenerated in him by the Son and Holy Spirit of God: now, that which is here called death, his losing the Light and Spirit of the kingdom of heaven, and that which is here made necessary to make him alive again to the kingdom of heaven, is that very same which is called, and is death and life throughout all nature, both temporal and eternal: and therefore, the Christian religion requiring this method of raising a man to a divine life, has its infallible proof from all nature. Consider death, or the deadness that is in a hard piece of flint, and you will see the nature of the eternal death of a fallen angel: the flint is dead, or in a state of death, because its fire is bound, compacted, shut up, and imprisoned; this is its chains and bands of death: a steel struck against a flint will show you, that every pareicle of the flint consists of this compacted fire. Now, a fallen angel is in no other state of death, knows no other death than this: it is in its whole spiritual, intelligent being, nothing else, but that very same which the flint is, in its insensible materiality, i.e., an imprisoned compacted, darkened fire-spirit, shut up, and tied in its own chains of darkness, as the fire of the flint; and you shall see, that the flint is changed from its first state into its present hardness of death, in the same manner, and by the same means, as the heavenly angel is become a fiery serpent in the state of eternal death. Now, look at every death that can be found between that of a fallen angel, and that of a hard flint, and you will find that death enters nowhere, into no kind of vegetable, plant, or animal, but as it has entered into the angel, and the flint, and stands in the same manner in everything wherever it is. Now, that a fallen angel, is nothing else but a fire-spirit imprisoned in the same manner as a flint is an imprisoned fire, is plain from the scripture account of them; not only because all the wrathful properties of a fire without light, are ascribed to them as their essential qualities, but because the place of their habitation, or the state of their life, is a fire of hell. For how could it be possible, that a hellish fire should be the eternal state of their life, unless their nature was such a fire? Must not their painful condition arise from their nature, and their misery be only a sensibility of themselves, of that which they have made themselves to be? Therefore, if fire shut up in darkness, is the nature of hell, it can only be so, because such a darkened fire is the very nature of a fallen angel. Or how again could the human soul, which has withstood its salvation in this life, be said to fall into eternal death, or the fire of hell, if the soul itself did not become that fire of hell? For when you say the soul enters into hell, you say neither more nor less, than if you had said, that hell enters into the soul; therefore, the state of hell, and the state of the soul in hell, is one and the same thing. If therefore hell is a state of fire shut up, and imprisoned from all communion with light, then the same dark, imprisoned fire must be the nature of the fallen angel and lost soul; and what your eyes see to be the death or deadness of a flint, is that same thing, or that same state of the thing, which the scripture assures you, to be the eternal death of a fallen angel, and a lost soul. Here also you may see a plain proof of what I have elsewhere declared in it, or the in-spoken Word of life given to Adam at his fall, it is in itself, as a fallen soul, the same dark, fiery spirit, as the devils are; and the reason why men are wholly given up to wickedness, who have suppressed the redeeming power of God in their souls, and the reason that they do not become fully sensible of this state of their souls, is this, because the soul, while it is in this flesh and blood, is capable of being softened, and comforted in some degree or other, by the influences of the sun and spirit of this world, as all other creatures and beings are. And if it was not, how could it be a plain, constant doctrine of scripture, that when the unredeemed soul depares this life, it is incapable of anything but hell? Is not this directly saying, that hell, or the sensibility of hell was only hid and suppressed in such a soul, by the life and light of this world shining upon it. Now what I have said of the sad condition of the soul at the fall, that it lost the divine life, or the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, and so became the same dark, fiery nature, as the devils, is not possible to be denied, without denying the most universally received doctrine of scripture. Is it not a fundamental doctrine of scripture, that Adam and all his posterity had been left in a state of eternal death, or damnation, unless Jesus Christ had become their redeemer, and taken them out of their natural state? But how can you believe that they had been left in this state, without believing that they were in it? Or, how can you with the scripture believe, that by the fall they became heirs of eternal death and damnation with the devils, unless you believe and affirm, that by the fall they became of a hellish, diabolical nature? Or how can you hold, that by the fall they needed to be delivered from the state of the devils, and yet not allow, that by the fall, they received the nature of the devils? Can anything be more absurd and inconsistent? Is it not the same thing as saying, that God made them heirs of eternal death and hell, before they were by nature fit for it, or before they had extinguished in themselves the divine life which was at first brought forth in them. Again: it is a scripture doctrine of the utmost certainty and importance, that those souls which have totally resisted and withstood all that God has done in them and for them by his Son Jesus Christ, will, at their depareure from the body, be incapable of anything but eternal death, or a hellish condition. Now, how can you possibly hold this doctrine of scripture, without holding at the same time, that the soul was in that state by the fall, before it had received its redeemer, as it is then in, when it has refused to receive him; for all that you can say of a lost soul is only this, that it has lost its redeemer, and therefore is only in the condition of that soul which has not received him: and therefore, if a lost soul is only an unredeemed soul, it must be plain, that the soul, before it had received its redeemer, was in a miserable condition, and had the miserable nature of a lost soul; and therefore, the only difference between the fallen soul, and the lost soul is this, they are both in the same need of a savior, both have the same miserable nature, because they have him not; but the one has the offer of him, and the other has refused to accept of him: but this final refusal of him, has only left him in possession of that fallen state of a hellish condition, which it had before a savior was given to it; and therefore, it is a truth of the utmost certainty, that Adam, by his fall, died to the divine life, and that by this death, his soul became of the same nature and condition as that of the fallen angels; and that therefore the new birth or regeneration, which he is to obtain by his redeemer Jesus Christ, is nothing else but the bringing back of his soul into the kingdom of heaven, by a birth of the Son and the Holy Spirit of God brought forth in it, so that the life of the triune God may be in him again, as it was at his creation, when his soul was first breathed forth from the triune God. Is there anything greater, more glorious, or more consistent than these truths? Or is there any possibility of denying any part of them, without giving up all of them? Or is there any reason, why a Christian should be reluctant to believe this, and this alone, to be the true state of that regeneration which is so absolutely required by the gospel? Is it an unreasonable or an uncomfortable thing to be told, that our regeneration is a true and real regaining of that heavenly, divine, immortal life which at first came forth from God, and which alone can enter into the kingdom of heaven? Say that Adam did not die a real death at his transgression, that he did not lose a divine, immortal life, light and spirit, that he did not then first become a mere earthly, mortal, diabolical animal in the true and proper sense of the words, but that these things could only be affirmed of him in a figurative form of speech; say this, and then tell me what reality you have left in any areicle of our salvation? But if all these things must be said of fallen man according to the strictest truth of the expression, then the gospel regeneration, by a birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, arising a second time, in the soul of man, must mean such a real birth of a new heavenly life, as the proper sense of the words denote.
But to return now to my argumentation with the Deist, I have plainly shown you, that there is, and can be but one kind of death through all nature, whether temporal or eternal; and this I have done, by showing that eternal death in an angel, is the same thing, and has the same nature, as the hard death that is in a senseless flint. But if it is a certain truth, that death has but one way of entering into, or possessing any being from the highest of spiritual to the lowest of material creatures, then, though nothing else could be offered, it must be an infallible consequence, that life has but one way of being kindled throughout all nature, and that therefore there can be but one true religion, and that only can be it, which has the one and only way of kindling the heavenly life in the soul. Now, look where you will, the birth or kindling of life through all nature shows you, that the way of gospel regeneration, or raising the divine life again in the fallen soul, is that one and the same way, by which every kind of life is, and must be raised, wherever it is found. The gospel said, unless the fallen soul be born again from above, be born again of the Word, or Son, and the Spirit of God, it cannot see, or enter into the kingdom of heaven: now here it says a truth, as much confirmed and ratified by all nature, as when it is said, except a creature has the light and spirit of this world born in it, it cannot become a living animal of this world: or, except a seed have the light and spirit of this world incorporated in it, it cannot become a vegetable of this world, either as plant, fruit, or flower. Ask now wherein lies the absolute impossibility, that the fallen soul should be raised to its divine life, without a birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, and the true ground of this impossibility is only this, because a seed shut up in its own cold hardness, cannot possibly be raised into its highest vegetable life, but by a birth of the light and spirit of this world rising up in it. On the other hand, ask why a seed cannot possibly become a vegetable life, until the light and spirit of this world has been incorporated, or generated in it; and the only true ground of it is, because a fallen soul can only be raised to a divine life, or become a plant of the kingdom of heaven, by receiving the birth of the Light and Spirit of God into it. For the true reason, why life is in such a form, and rises in such a manner in the lowest creature living, is because it does, and must arise in the same manner, and stand in the same form in the highest of living creatures: for nature does, and must always act and generate in one and the same unchangeable manner, because it is nothing else but the manifestation of one unchangeable God. It is one and the same operation of light and spirit, that turns fire into every degree and kind of life that can be found either in temporal or eternal nature: it is one and the same operation of light and spirit, that upon one state of fire, raises an animal life, upon another state of fire, raises an intellectual and angelical life. There is no state or form of death in any creature, but where some kind of fire is shut up from light and spirit, nor is there any kind of life but that which is kindled by the same operation of light and spirit upon some sort of fire. A fruit must first stand in a poisonous, sour, astringent, bitter, and fiery agitation of all its parts , before the light and spirit of this world can be generated in it. And so light and spirit operate upon one sort of fire in the production of a vegetable life. An animal must be conceived in the same manner, it must begin in the same poison, and when nature is in its fiery strife, the light and spirit of this world kindles up the true animal life. There is but one kind, or state of death that can fall upon any creature, which is nothing else, but its losing the birth of light and spirit in itself, by which it becomes an imprisoned, dark fire. In an animal, vegetable, or mere matter, it is a senseless state of imprisoned fire; in an angel, or intellectual being, as the soul of man, it is a self-tormenting, self-generating, fiery worm, that cannot lose its sensibility, but is in a state of eternal death, because it is separated eternally from that light and spirit, which alone can raise a divine life in any intellectual creature. And so it is plain, beyond all possibility of doubt, that there is neither life nor death to be found in any part of the creation but that sets its infallible seal to this gospel truth, that fallen man cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven any other way, than by being born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God.
And here, my friend, you may with certainty see what a poor, groundless fiction, your religion of human reason is; its insignificancy and emptiness is shown you by everything you can look upon. Salvation is a birth of life, but reason can no more bring forth this birth, than it can bring forth life in a plant, or animal: you might as well write the word "flame," upon the outside of a flint, and then expect that its imprisoned fire should be kindled by it, as to imagine, that any images, or ideal speculations of reason painted in your brain, should raise your soul out of its state of death, and kindle the divine life in it. No: would you have fire from a flint; its house of death must be shaken, and its chains of darkness broken off by the strokes of a steel upon it. This must of all necessity be done to your soul, its imprisoned fire must be awakened by the sharp strokes of steel, or no true light of life can arise in it: all nature and creature tells you, that the heavenly life must begin in you from the same causes, and the same operation as every earthly life, whether vegetable, or animal. Now, look where you will, all life must be generated in this manner: first, an attraction, or an astringent desire, must work itself into an anguishing agitation, or painful strife; this attraction become restless, and highly agitated, it is that first poison, or strife of the properties of nature, which is and must be the beginning of every vegetable or animal life; it is by this strife, or inward agitation, that it reaches and gets a birth of the light and spirit of this world into it, and so becomes a living member, either of the animal or vegetable world. Now, this must be your process, a desire brought into an anguishing state; the bitter sorrows and fiery agitations of repentance, must be the beginning of a divine life in your soul; it is by this awakened fire, or inward agitation, that it becomes capable of being regenerated, or turned into an heavenly life, by the Light and Holy Spirit of God. Nothing is, or can possibly be salvation, but this regenerated life of the soul: how vain and absurd would it be, to talk of a creature's being made a member of a vegetable or animal kingdom, through an outward grace or favor? or by any outward thing of any kind? For does not sense, reason, and all nature force you to confess, that it is absolutely impossible for anything to become a living member of the animal or vegetable kingdom, but by having the animal or vegetable life raised or brought forth in it? Therefore, does not sense and reason, and all nature join with the gospel in affirming, that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven, until the heavenly life, or that which is the life in heaven, be born in him? The gospel says to the fallen, earthly man, that he must be born again from above, before he can see, enter into, or become a living member of the kingdom that is above. Now, he that understands this to be a figurative saying, that requires no real birth of a real life that is only above, but that an earthly man may enter into the life of heaven, by only carrying this figurative saying along with him, is as absurd, as ignorant, and offends as much against sense, reason, and all nature, as he who holds, that it is a figurative expression, when we say that nothing can enter into the vegetable kingdom, until it has the vegetable life in it, or be a member of the animal kingdom, until it has the animal life born in it. And if some learned men will say, that it is religious enthusiasm to place our salvation, or capacity for the kingdom of heaven in the inward life or birth of heaven derived into our souls, they are only as learned as those who should call it philosophical enthusiasm to place the true nature of a vegetable, or animal, in its getting the inward, real birth of a vegetable and animal life. But to return to the Deist. You act as if God was a being that had an arbitrary, discretionary will, or wisdom, like that of a great prince over his subjects, who will reward mankind according as their services appeared to him. And so you fancy, that your religion of reason may appear as valuable as a religion that consists of forms, and modes, ordinances, and doctrines of revelation; but your idea of the last judgment is a fiction of reason that knows nothing rightly of God. God's last rewarding, is only his last separating everything into its own eternal place; it is only putting an end to all temporary nature, to the mixture of good and evil that is in time and leaving everything to be that in eternity, which it has made itself to be in time. Consequently, it is that our works follow us, and so God rewards every man according to his deeds. During the time of this world, God may be considered as the good husbandman; he sows the seed, the end of the world is the harvest, the angels are the reapers; if you are wheat, you are to be gathered into the barn, if you are tares, it signifies nothing, where, or how, or by what means you are become so; tares are to be rejected, because they are tares, and wheat is to be gathered by the angels, because it is wheat: this is the mercy, and goodness, and discretionary justice of God that you are to expect at the last day. If you are not wheat, that is, if the heavenly life, or the kingdom of God, is not grown up in you it signifies nothing, but what you have chosen in the instead of it, or why you have chosen it. God wants no services of men to reward, he only wants to have such a life quickened and raised up in you, as may make it possible for you to enter into, and live in heaven. He has created you out of his own eternal nature, and therefore you must have either an eternal life, or eternal death according to it. If eternal nature stands in you, as it does without you, then you are born again to the kingdom of heaven; but if nature works contrary in you to what it does in heaven, then you are in eternal death: and here lies the necessity of our being born again of the Word and Spirit of God, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is because we are created out of that eternal nature which is the kingdom of heaven; it is because we are fallen out of it into a life of temporal nature, and therefore must have the life of eternal nature re-kindled, born afresh in us, before we can possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven: therefore, look where you will, or at what you will, there is only one thing to be done, we want nothing else, but to have the life of eternal nature kindled again in our souls, that this life, and light, and spirit may be that in our souls, which they are in eternal nature42, out of which our souls were created; that so we may be heavenly plants growing up in the kingdom of heaven. You deceive yourself with fancied notions of the goodness of God; you imagine, that so perfect a being cannot damn you for so small a matter, as choosing a religion according to your own notions, or for not joining yourself with this, or that religious society. But all this is a great ignorance of God, and nature, and religion. God has appointed a religion, by which salvation is to be had according to the possibility of nature, where no creature will be saved, or lost, but as it works with, or contrary to this nature. For as the God of nature cannot Himself act contrary to nature, because nature is the manifestation of Himself, so every creature having its life in, and from nature, can have only such a life, or such a death as is according to the possibility of nature: and therefore, no creature will be saved, by an arbitrary goodness of God, but because of its conformity to nature, nor any creature lost by a want of compassion in God, but because of its salvation being impossible, according to the whole state of nature. It is not for notional, or speculative mistakes, that man will be rejected by God at the last day, or for any crimes that God could overlook, if he was so pleased; but because man has continued in his unregenerate state, and has resisted and suppressed that birth of life, by which alone he could become a member of the kingdom of heaven. The goodness and love of God have no limits or bounds, but such as His omnipotence has: and everything that has a possibility of partaking of the kingdom of heaven, will infallibly find a place in it. God comes not to judgment to display any wrath of his own, or to inflict any punishment as from himself upon man: he only comes to declare, that all temporary nature is at an end, and that therefore, all things must be, and must stand in their own places in eternal nature: his sentence of condemnation, is only leaving them that are lost, in such a misery of their own nature, and this is the final rejecting of all that was possible to relieve it. You fancy that God will not reject you at the last day, for having not received this, or that mode, or kind of religion: but here all is mistake again. You might as well imagine, that no particular kind of element was necessary to extinguish fire, or that water can supply the place of air in stareing it, as suppose that no particular kind of religion is absolutely necessary to raise up such a divine life in the soul as can only be its salvation; for nature is the ground of all creatures, it is God's manifestation of Himself, it is his instrument in, and by which he acts in the production and government of every life; and therefore a life that is to belong to this world, must be raised according to temporal nature, and a life that is to live in the next world, must be raised according to eternal nature. Therefore, all the particular doctrines, institutions, mysteries, and ordinances of a revealed religion that comes from the God of nature, must have their reason, foundation, and necessity in nature; and then your renouncing such a revealed religion, is renouncing all that the God of nature can do to save you. When I speak of nature as the true ground and foundation of religion, I mean nothing like that which you call the religion of human reason, or nature; for I speak here of eternal nature, which is the nature of the kingdom of heaven, or that eternal state, where all redeemed souls must have their eternal life, and live in eternal nature by a life derived from it, as men and animals live in temporal nature, by a life derived from it; for, seeing man stands with his soul in eternal nature, as certainly as he lives outwardly in temporal nature, and seeing man can have nothing in this world, neither happiness, nor misery from it, but what is according to the eternal nature of that world; and therefore, it is an infallible truth, that that particular religion can alone do us any good, or help us to the happiness of the next world, which works with, and according to eternal nature, and is able to generate that eternal life in us. But your notion of a goodness of God that may be expected at the last day, is as groundless, as if you imagined, that God would then stand over his creatures in a compassionate kind of weighing or considering who should be saved, and who damned, because a good-natured prince might do so towards variety of offenders. But hear how the God of nature himself speaks of this matter: Behold, I have set before you, life and death, fire and water. choose which you will. Here lies the whole of the divine mercy; it is all on this side of the day of judgment: until the end of time, God is compassionate and long-suffering, and continues to every creature a power of choosing life or death, water or fire; but when the end of time is come, there is an end of choice, and the last judgment is only a putting everyone into the full and sole possession of that which he has chosen. But your notion of a goodness of God at the last day supposes, that if a man has erroneously chosen death instead of life, fire instead of water, that God will not suffer such a creature to be deprived of salvation through a mistaken choice; but that in such a creature, he will make death to be life, and fire to be water. But you might as well expect that God should make a thing to be, and not to be at the same time; for this is as possible as to make hell to be heaven, or death to be life: for darkness can no more be light, death can no more be life, fire can no more be water in any being through a compassion of God towards it, than a circle could be a square, a falsehood a truth, or two to be three, by God's looking upon them.
Our salvation is an entrance into the kingdom of heaven: now, the life, Light and Spirit of heaven must as necessarily be in a creature before it can live in heaven, as the life, light and spirit of this world must be in a creature before it can live in this world: therefore the one only religion that can save any son of fallen Adam, must be that which can raise, or regenerate the life, Light and Spirit of heaven in his soul, so that when the light and spirit of this world leaves him, he may not find himself in eternal death and darkness. Now if this Light and Spirit of heaven is generated in your soul as it is generated in heaven, if it arises up in your nature within you, as it does in eternal nature without you, (which is the Christian new birth, or regeneration) then you are become capable of the kingdom of heaven, and nothing can keep you out of it; but if you die without this birth of the eternal Light and Spirit of God, then your soul stands at the same distance from, and contrariety to the kingdom of heaven, as hell does: if you die in this unregenerate state, it signifies nothing of how you have lived, or what religion you have owned, all is left undone that was to have saved you: it matters not what form of life you have appeared in, what a number of decent, engaging or glorious exploits you have done either as a scholar, a statesman, or a philosopher; if they have proceeded only from the light and spirit of this world, they must die with it, and leave your soul in that eternal darkness, which it must have, so long as the Light and Spirit of eternity is not generated in it. And this is the true ground and reason, why an outward morality, a decency and beauty of life and conduct with respect to this world, arising only from a worldly spirit, has nothing of salvation in it: he that has his virtue only from this world, is only a trader of this world, and can only have a worldly benefit from it. For it is an undoubted truth, that everything is necessarily bounded by, or kept within the sphere of its own activity; and therefore, to expect heavenly effects from a worldly spirit, is nonsense: as water cannot rise higher in its streams, than the spring from where it comes, so no actions can ascend further in their effectiveness, or rise higher in their value, than the spirit from which they proceed. The spirit that comes from heaven is always in heaven, and whatsoever it does, tends to, and reaches heaven: the spirit that arises from this world, is always in it; it is as worldly when it give alms, or prays in the church, as when it makes bargains in the market. When therefore the gospel said, he that gives alms to be seen of men, has his reward; it is grounded on this general truth, that everything, every shape, or kind or degree of virtue that arises from the spirit of this world, has nothing to expect but that which it can receive from this world: for every action must have its nature, and effectiveness according to the spirit from which it proceeds. He that loves to see a worthless image, solely from this principle, because from his heart he embraces Christ as his suffering Lord and pattern, does an action poor, and needless in itself, which yet by the spirit from which it proceeds, reaches heaven, and helps to kindle the heavenly life in the soul. On the other hand, he that from a selfish heart, a worldly spirit, a love of esteem, distinguishes himself by the most rational virtues of an exemplary life, has only a piety that may be reckoned amongst the perishable things of this world.
You (the Deist) think it a pareiality unworthy of God, when you hear that the salvation of mankind is attributed and appropriated to faith and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. It must be answered, first, that there is no pareiality of any kind in God; everything is accepted by him according to its own nature, and receives all the good from him that it can possibly receive: secondly, that a morality of life, not arising from the power and Spirit of Jesus Christ, but brought forth by the spirit of this world, is the same thing, has the same nature and effectiveness in a heathen, as a Christian, does only the same worldly good to the one, as it does to the other; therefore, there is not the least pareiality in God, with respect to the moral works of mankind, considered as arising from, and directed by the spirit of this world. Now, if these were the only works that man could do, if he could only act from the spirit of this world, no flesh could be saved, that is, no earthly creature, such as man is, could possibly begin to be of a heavenly nature, or have a heavenly life brought forth in him; so it is only a Spirit from Heaven derived into the fallen nature, that makes any beginning of a heavenly life in it, that can lay the possibility of its having the least ability, tendency, and disposition towards the kingdom of heaven. This Spirit derived from heaven, is the birth of the Son of God, given to the soul as its savior, regenerator, or beginner of its return to heaven; it is that Word of life, or bruiser of the serpent, that was in-spoken into the first fallen father of men; it is this alone that gives to all the race of Adam their capacity for salvation, their power of choice of being again sons of God; and therefore, faith and prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ, or works done in the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ can alone save the soul, because the soul can have no relation to heaven, no communion with it, no beginning or power of growth in the heavenly life, but solely by the nature and name of Jesus Christ derived into it. God's redemption of mankind is as universal as the fall: it was the one father of all men that fell, therefore, all his children were born into his fallen state: it was the one father of all men that was redeemed by the unspoken Word of life into him; therefore, all his children are born into his state of redemption, and have as certainly the same bruiser of the serpent in the birth of their life from him, as they have from him a serpentine nature that is to be bruised. For this reason it was, that this bruiser of the serpent, when born of a virgin, and come to die for the world, said of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes unto the Father but by me." Hence also the apostle said, "There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," because he is that same saving Name, or power of salvation which from the beginning was given to Adam, as an in-spoken Word of life, or bruiser of the serpent: and therefore, as sure as Adam had any power of salvation derived into him from Jesus Christ, so sure was it, that the apostle must tell both Jews and heathens, that there was no salvation in any other. Therefore, though Jesus Christ is the one and only savior of all that can anywhere, or at any time be saved, yet there is no pareiality in God, because, this same Jesus Christ, who came in human flesh to the Jews in a certain age, was that same savior who was given to Adam, when all mankind were in his loins; and who, through all ages, and in all countries, from the first patriarchs to the end of the world, is the common savior, as he is the common light that lights every man that comes into the world, and that principle of life both in Jews and heathens, by which they had any relation to God, or any power, right, or ability to call him Father. When therefore you look upon the gospel as narrowing the way of salvation, or limiting it to those, who only know and believe in Jesus Christ, since His appearance in the flesh, you mistake the whole nature of the Christian redemption. And when you reject this Savior that then appeared, and died as a sacrifice upon the cross, you don't renounce a particular kind of religion, that was given only at a certain time to one part of the world, but you renounce the one source and foundation of all the grace and mercy that God can bestow upon mankind, you renounce your share of that first covenant which God made with all men in Adam, you go back into his first fallen state, and so put yourself into that condition of eternal death, from which there is no possibility of deliverance, but by that one savior whom you have renounced. And now, my dear friend, beware of prejudice, or hardness of heart: one careless, or one relenting thought upon all that is here laid before you, may either quite shut out, or quite open an entrance for true conviction. I have shown you what is meant by Christian redemption, and the absolute necessity of a new and heavenly birth, in order to obtain your share of a heavenly life in the next world: I have confirmed the truths of the gospel, by proofs taken from what is undeniable in nature: and I readily grant you that nothing can be true in revealed religion, but that which has its foundation in nature; because a religion coming from the God of nature, can have no other end but to reform, and set right the failings, transgressions, and violations of nature. When the gospel said that man fallen from the state of his creation, and become an earthly animal of this temporal world, must be born again of the Son and Holy Spirit of God, in order to be a heavenly creature; it is because all nature said, that an immortal, eternal soul, must have an immortal, eternal Light and Spirit, to make it live in eternal nature, as every animal must have a temporal light and spirit, in order to live in temporary nature. Must you not therefore either deny the immortality of the soul, or acknowledge the necessity of its having an eternal Light and Spirit? When the gospel said, that nothing can kindle or generate the heavenly life, but the operation of the Light and Spirit of heaven, it is because all nature said, that no temporal life can be raised but in the same manner in temporary nature. Must you not therefore be forced to confess, that nature and the gospel both preach the same truths. Light and spirit must be wherever there are living beings: and there must be the same difference between the light and spirit of different worlds, as there is between the worlds themselves. Hell must have its light, or it could have no living inhabitants, but its light is not so refreshing, not so gentle, not so delightful, not so comfortable as flashing points of fire in the thickest darkness of night; and therefore their light is called an eternal darkness, because it can never disperse, but only horribly discover darkness: hell also must have its spirit; but it is only an incessant insensibility of wrathful agitations, of which the thunder and rage of a tempest is but a low, shadowy resemblance, as being only a little outward eruption of that wrath, which is the inward, restless essence of the spirit of hell; and therefore that life, though it be a living spirit, is justly called an eternal death. The Light and Spirit of God admits of no delineation or comparison, they are only so far known to anyone, as they are brought into the soul by a birth of themselves in it. Now consider, I pray you: the light and spirit of this world can no more be the light and spirit of immortal souls, than grass and hay can be the food of angels; but is as different from the Light and Spirit of heaven, as an angel is different from a beast of the field. When therefore the soul of a man depares from his body, and is eternally cut off from all temporal light and spirit, what is it that can keep such a soul from falling into eternal darkness, unless it have in itself, that Light and Spirit, which is of the same nature with the Light and Spirit of eternity, so that it may be in the light of heaven or eternal nature, as it was in the light of this world in temporary nature. Light and spirit there must be in everything that lives, but the death of the body takes away the light and spirit of this world; if therefore the Light and Spirit of heaven is not born in the soul when it loses the body, it can only have that light and spirit, which is the very death and darkness of hell. When man lost the Light and Spirit of his creation, he lost it by turning the will and desire of his soul into an earthly life; this was his desire of knowing good and evil in this world. His fall therefore consisted in this, his soul lost its first innate, inbreathed Light and Spirit of heaven, and instead of it, had only the light and spirit of temporary nature, to keep up for a time such a life in him from this world, as the proper creatures of this world have: and this is the reason, why man, the noblest creature that is in this world, has yet various circumstances of necessity, poverty, distress and shame, that are not common to other animals of this world. it is because the creatures of this life are here at home, are the proper inhabitants of this world, and therefore that womb out of which they are born, has provided them with all that they want; but man being only fallen into it, and as a transgressor, must in many respects find himself in such wants as other creatures have not. Transitory time has brought them forth, and therefore they can have no pain, nor concern, nor danger in passing away; because it is the very form of their nature, to begin, and to have an end: and therefore the God of nature has no outward laws, or directions for the creatures of this world. But the soul of man being not born of the light and spirit of this transitory world, but only standing a while as a stranger upon earth, and being under a necessity of having either the nature of an angel, or a devil, when it leaves this world, is met by the mercy and goodness of the God of nature, is inwardly and outwardly called, warned, directed, and assisted how to regain that Light and Spirit of heaven which it lost, when it fell under the temporary light and spirit of this world. And this is the whole ground and end of revealed religion, i.e., to kindle such a beginning or birth of the divine Light and Spirit in the soul, that when man must take an eternal leave of the light and spirit of this world, he may not be in a state of eternal death and darkness. Now, seeing the Light and Spirit of heaven or eternal nature, is as different from the light and spirit of this world, as an angel is from an animal of the field, if you have lived here only to the spirit and temper of this world, governed by its goods and evils, and only wise according to its wisdom, you must die as destitute of the Light and Spirit of heaven, as the beasts that perish. You have now an aversion and dislike, or at least, a disbelief of the doctrines of Christian regeneration, you struggle against this kind of redemption, you would have no salvation from the Light and Spirit of eternity regenerated in your soul; where then must you be, when the light and spirit of this world leaves you? Do you think that the Light and Spirit of God will then seize upon you, shine up in you by an outward force, though they never could be born in you? Or do you think, that the Light and Spirit of God can now be generating themselves in you, and ready to appear, as soon as you have ended a life, that has continually resisted them, and would have nothing to do with a new birth from them? Or that God, by a compassionate goodness, will not suffer you to be in that condition, into which your own will has brought you? No, my friend, the will that is in you, must do that for you, which the will that was in angels did for those that stood, and for those that fell. God's goodness or compassion is always in the same infinite state, always flowing forth, in and through all nature in the same infinite manner, and nothing wants it, but that which cannot receive it: while the angels stood, they stood encompassed with the infinite source of all goodness and compassion, God was communicated to them in as high a degree as their nature could receive; and they fell, not because he ceased to be an infinite, open fountain of all good to them, but because they had a will which must direct itself. For the will, at its first arising in the creature, can be subject to no outward power, because it has no outward maker; as it stands in a creaturely form, God is its true creator; but as a will, it has no outward maker, but is a ray, or spark, derived from the un-beginning will of the creator, and is of the same nature in the creature, as it was in the creator, self-existent, self-generating, self-moving, and uncontrollable from without; and there could not possibly be a free will in the creature, but by its being directly derived, or propagated from the same will in the creator, for nothing can be free now, but that which always was so. But if the free will of God, which is above and superior to nature, be communicated to the creature, then the creature's free will must have the same power over its one nature, that the will of God has over that eternal nature, which is his own manifestation: and therefore, every free creature must have, and find its own nature in this, or that state, as a birth from the free working of its own will. And here appears the true reason, why no creatures of this world can commit sin; it is because they have no will that is superior to nature: their will in every one of them, is only the will of nature; and therefore let them do what they will, they are always doing that which is natural, and consequently, not sinful. But the will of angels and men being an offspring, or ray, derived from the will of God, which is superior to nature, stands chargeable with the state and condition of their nature; and therefore it is, that the nature of the devil, and the nature of fallen man is ascribed to both of them, as their sin, which could not be, but because their will was uncontrollable, and gave birth and being to that state and condition of nature, which is called, and is their sin. Therefore, O man! look well to yourself, and see what birth you are bringing forth, what nature is growing up in you, and be assured, that stand you must, in that state of nature, which the working of your own will has brought forth in you, whether it be happy or miserable. Expect no arbitrary goodness, of God towards you, when you leave this world; for that must grow for ever which has grown here. God Has created you in nature, his mercy Has shown you all the laws and necessities of nature, his mercy Has shown you all the laws and necessities of nature, and how you may rise from your corruption, according to the possibilities of nature, and he can only save you by your conforming to the demands of nature: the greatness of the divine mercy and favor towards all men appears in this, that when all nature had failed, and mankind could from nature have nothing but eternal death, that God brought such a second Adam into the world, as being God and man, could make nature begin its work again, where it failed in the first Adam.
And now for Calvinism . . . .
The free grace and mercy by which we are said in the scripture to be saved, is not an arbitrary good will in God, which saves whom he pleases; as a prince may forgive some, and not forgive others, merely through his own sovereign grace and favor: nothing of this kind has any place in God, or in the mystery of our redemption; but the mercy and grace, by which we are saved, is therefore free, because God Has freely, and from his own goodness, put us into a state and possibility of salvation, by freely giving us Jesus Christ, (the divine and human nature united in one person) as the only means of regenerating that first divine and human life, which the whole race of mankind had lost. In this sense alone it is, that all our salvation is wholly owing to the free grace of God, that is, our state, and possibility, and means of attaining salvation is wholly owing to his free grace in giving us Jesus Christ; but our salvation, considered as a finished thing, is not, cannot be found by any act of God's free grace towards us, but because all that is done, altered, removed, suppressed, quickened, and recovered by us in the state of our nature, which the free grace of God had furnished us with the possibility and means of doing. If nature and creature had no share in working out our salvation; if it was all free grace, effected against, and without the powers of nature, why is it, that the fallen angels are not to be redeemed as well as man? Must we say that God is less good to them than he is to us? Or if they are not redeemed, can there be any other reason for it, but because it is an impossibility in nature? Must not an infinite good do all the good that is needed, and is possible to be done? If free grace can do what it pleases, if it wants no concurrence of nature and creature, how can any being, whether man or angel, be eternally miserable, but through an eternal defect in the goodness of God towards it? Shall we call that infinite goodness, which sets bounds and limits to itself, and which could do more good, but will not? The truth of the matter is this, God is as infinite and boundless in love and goodness, as he is in power, but his omnipotence can only do that which is possible, and nothing is possible but that which Has its possibility in nature; because nature is God's first power, his great, universal manifestation of his Deity, in and through, and by which all his infinite attributes break forth, and display themselves: so that to expect, that God should do anything that is above, or contrary to this nature, is as absurd as to expect that God should act above, or contrary to himself: as God can only make a creature to be in, and through, and by nature; so the reason why he cannot make a creature to be, and not to be at the same time, is only this, because it is contrary to nature. Let no man therefore trust to be saved at the last day, by any arbitrary goodness, or free grace of God; for salvation is, and can be nothing else, but having put off all that is damnable and hellish in our nature, which salvation can be found by no creature but by its own full conforming to, and concurring with those mysterious means, which the free grace of God Has afforded for the recovery of our first, perfect, glorious state in nature.
Chapter 2
Were there no nature, there could be no creature, because the life of every creature is, and can be nothing else, but the life of that nature out of which it was created, and in which it has its being. Eternal beings must have their qualities, nature, form and manner of existence out of eternal nature, and temporal beings out of temporary nature: were there no eternity, there could be no time, were there nothing infinite, there could be nothing finite; therefore we have here two great fundamental truths that cannot be shaken; first, that there is, and must be, an eternal nature; because there is a nature that is temporary, and that it must be that to eternal creatures, which temporal nature is to temporal creatures: secondly, that everywhere, and in all worlds, nature must stand between God and the creature, as the foundation of all mutual communication; God can transact nothing with the creature, nor the creature have any communion with God, but in, and by that nature, in which it stands. I hope no one will ask me for scripture proofs of this, or call these truths nostrums, because they are not to be found in the same form of expression in some particular text of scripture. Where do the holy writings tell us, that a thing cannot be, and can be at the same time? Or that every consequence must arise from premises? And yet the scripture is continually supposing both these truths, and there could be no truth in the scripture, or anywhere else, if these things were not undeniable. There is nothing said of man throughout all scripture, but what supposes him to stand in nature, under a necessity of choosing something that is natural, either life or death, fire or water. There is nothing said of God with relation to creatures, but what supposes him to be the God of nature, manifesting himself in and through nature, calling, assisting and directing everything to its highest natural state. Nature is the scene of his providence, and all the variety of his governing attributes display themselves by his various operations in and through nature: therefore it is equally certain, that what God does to any creature, must be done through the medium of nature, and also what the creature does toward God, must be done in and through the powers of that nature in which it stands. No temporary creature can turn to God, or reach after him, or have any communication with him, but in, and according to that relation which temporary nature bears to God; nor can any eternal beings draw near to, or unite with God in any other manner, than that in which eternal nature is united with him. Would you know, why no omnipotence of God can create temporal animals except out of temporary nature, nor eternal animals except out of eternal nature; it is because no omnipotence of God can produce a visible triangle, but out of, and by three visible lines; for, as lines must be before there can be any lineal figures, so nature must be before there can be natural creatures.
Everything that is in being, is either God, or nature, or creature; and everything that is not God, is only a manifestation of God; for as there is nothing, neither nature, nor creature, but what must have its being in, and from God, so everything is, and must be according to its nature, more or less a manifestation of God. Everything therefore, by its form and condition, speaks so much of God, and God in everything, speaks and manifests so much of himself. Temporary nature is this beginning, created system of sun, stars, and elements; it is temporary nature, because it had a beginning and has an end, and therefore is only a temporary manifestation of God, or God manifested according to transitory things.
Properly and strictly speaking, nothing can begin to be: the beginning of everything is nothing more, than its beginning to be in a new state. Thus time itself does not begin to be, but duration, which always was, began to be measured by the earth's turning round, or the rising and setting of the sun, and that is called the beginning of time, which is, properly speaking, only the beginning of the measure of duration: thus it is with all temporal nature, and all the qualities and powers of temporal beings that live in it: no quality or power of nature then began to be, but such qualities and powers as had been from all eternity, began then to be in a new state. Ask what time is, it is nothing else but something of eternal duration become finite, measurable, and transitory? Ask what fire, light, darkness, air, water, and earth are; they are, and can be nothing else, but some eternal things become gross, finite, measurable, divisible, and transitory? For if there could be a temporal fire that did not spring out of eternal fire, then there might be time that did not come out of eternity. it is so with every temporary thing, and the qualities of it; it is the beginning of nothing, but only of a new state of something that existed before: therefore all temporary nature is a product, offspring, or out-birth of eternal nature, and is nothing else but so much of eternal nature changed from its eternal to a temporal condition. Fire did not begin to be, darkness did not begin to be, light did not begin to be, water and earth did not begin to be, when this temporary world first appeared, but all these things came out of their eternal state, into a lower, divided, compacted, created and transitory state. Hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, feeling, did not then begin to be, when God first created the creatures of this world, they only came to be qualities and powers of a lower, and more imperfect order of beings than they had been before. Figures, and their relations, did not then begin to be, when material circles and squares, etc., were first made, but these figures and relations began then to appear in a lower state than they had done before: and so it must be said of all temporal nature, and everything in it. It is only something of eternal nature separated, changed, or created into a new, temporary state and condition.
Now it may be asked, why was eternal nature degraded like this, debased, and changed from its eternal state of perfection? Will anyone say, that God of his own free will changed eternal nature, which is the glorious manifestation of his power and godhead, the seat of his holy residence, his majestic kingdom of heaven, into this poor, miserable mixture of good and evil, into this impure state of division, grossness, death, and darkness? No. It is the highest of all absurdities, to say so. Now, we sufficiently know from scripture, that a whole hierarchy, or host of angels, renounced their heavenly life, and thereby raised up a kingdom that was not heavenly. Could they not have inflamed and disordered outward nature in which they lived, they could not have destroyed the heavenly nature in themselves: for everything must be according to the state of that world in which it lives; and therefore, the state of outward nature, and the state of inward nature in the angels must stand and fall together; and as sure as a whole kingdom of angels lost their heavenly life, so sure it is, that their whole kingdom lost its heavenly state and condition: and therefore, it is an undeniable truth, founded on scripture evidence, that same part of eternal nature was changed from its first state of glory and perfection, before the creation of temporary nature; therefore, in the creation of this poor, gross, disordered, perishable, material world, one of these two things was done, either God took the spoiled part of heaven or eternal nature, and created it into this temporary state of good and evil; or he degraded, and brought down some part of the kingdom of heaven from its glory and perfection, into this mixture of good and evil, order and disorder in which the world stands. He could not do this latter, without bringing evil into nature, as the devil had done, and therefore we may be sure he did not do it; but if he did the former, then the creation of this lower world, was a glorious act, and worthy of the infinite goodness of God, it was putting an end to the devil's working evil in nature, and it was putting the evil that was brought into nature, in a way of being finally overcome, and turned into good again. Will anyone now call these things whimsical speculations? Can anything be thought of more worthy of God, more conformable to nature, or more consonant to all revealed religion? But perhaps you will say, how could the angels spoil or destroy that glorious kingdom of eternal nature in which they dwelt. It may be answered, how could it possibly be otherwise? How could they live in eternal nature, unless nature without them, and nature within them, mutually mixed and agreed with each other? Would you have such mighty spirits, with their eternal energies, have less power in that nature, or kingdom in which they dwelt, than a kindled piece of coal has in this world? For every piece of coal set on fire, adds so much heat to outward nature, and so far alters and changes the state of it.
Now, let it be supposed, not only that a piece of coal, but that the whole of everything in this world, that could either give or receive fire was made to burn, what effect would it have upon the whole frame of nature? Would not the whole state of things, the regions, places, and divisions of the elements, and all the order of temporal nature be quite destroyed? When therefore every angelical life kindled itself in wrath, and became thereby divided, darkened, and separated from God, the same kindling, darkening, dividing, and confusion must be brought forth in their natural kingdom, because they lived in nature, and could have neither love, nor wrath, but such as they could exert in and by the powers of nature. Now, all fire, wherever it is, is either a fire of wrath, or a fire of love: fire not overcome or governed by light, is the fire of wrath, which only tears in pieces, consumes and devours all that it can lay hold of, and it wills to do nothing else: but light is the fire of love, it is meek, amiable, full of kind embraces, lovingly spreading itself, and giving itself with all its riches into everything that can receive it. These are the two fires of eternal nature, which were but one in heaven, and can be only one wherever heaven is; and it was the separation of these two fires that changed the angels into devils, and made their kingdom a beginning of hell. Now, either of these two fires, wherever it is kindled in animate or lifeless things, communicates its own kind of heat in some degree to outward nature, and so far alters and changes the state of it: the wrath of a man, and the wrath of a tempest do one and the same thing to outward nature, alter its state in the same manner, and only differ in their degree of doing it. Fire kindled in a material thing, can only communicate with the materiality of nature; but the fire of a wrathfully-inflamed man, being a fire both of body and soul, communicates a twofold heat, it stirs up the fire of outward nature, as fire does in a coal, and it stirs up the wrath of hell as the devils do. The fire of love kindled by the Light and Spirit of God in a truly regenerated man, communicates a twofold blessing, it outwardly joins with the meek light of the sun, and helps to overcome the wrath of outward nature; it inwardly cooperates with the power of God's angels, in resisting the wrath and darkness of hell: and it would be no folly to suppose, that if all human breath was become a mere, unmixed wrath, that all the fire in outward nature would immediately break forth, and bring that dissolution upon outward nature, which will arise from the last fire. Therefore it is necessary, that a whole kingdom of angels should kindle the same wrath and disorder in outward nature that was in themselves; for being in eternal nature, and communicating with it, as temporal beings do in temporal nature, what they did in themselves, must be done in that nature or kingdom in which they lived, and moved, and had their being. What a powerful fire there is in the wrath of a spirit, may be seen by the effects of human wrath; one sudden thought shall in a moment discolor, poison, inflame, swell, distort and agitate the whole body of a man. You can see, that a diseased body infects (germs) the air, or that malignant air (germs) infects a healthy body? Is it not because there is, and must be an inseparable qualifying, mixing and uniting between nature and those creatures that live in it? Now, all diseases and malignity's, whether in nature or creature, all proceed from the sinful motions of the will and desires of the creature. This is as certain, as that death and all that leads to it, is the sole product of sin; therefore it is a certain truth, that all the disorder that ever was, or can be in nature, arises from that power which the creature has in and upon nature; and therefore, as sure as a whole host of heavenly beings, raised up a fiery, wrathful, dark nature in themselves, so sure is it, that the same wrathful, fiery, dark disorder was raised up in that kingdom, or nature, in which they had their being.
Now the scriptures nowhere say in express words, that the place of this world was the place of the angels that fell, and that their fallen, spoiled and disordered kingdom, was by the power of God, changed or created into this temporary state of things in which we live; this is not expressly said, because it is plainly implied and fully signified to us by the most general doctrines of scripture; for if we know, both from nature and scripture, that this world is a mixture of good and evil, do not we enough know, that it could only be created out of that which was good and evil? And if we know that evil cannot come from God, if we know that the devil had actually brought it forth before the creation of this world; are we not enough told, that the evil which is in this world, is the evil that was brought forth into nature by the devil? And that therefore the matter of this world, is that very materiality which was spoiled by the fallen angels? How can we need a particular text of scripture to tell us, that the place of this world was the place of the angels before their fall, when the whole tenor of scripture tells us, that it is the place of their habitation now? For how could they have, or find darkness, but in that very place, where they had extinguished the light? What could they have to do with us, or we with them, but that we are entered into their possessions, and have their kingdom made over to us? How could they go about amongst us as roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour, but that our creation has brought us amongst them? They cannot possibly be anywhere, but where they fell, because they can live nowhere but in the evil which they have brought forth; they can have no wrath and darkness but where they broke off from light and love; they can communicate with no outward nature but that which fell with them, and underwent the same change as they did: therefore, though St. Jude said with great truth, that they left their own habitations, yet, it is only as they left their own angelical nature, not depareed from it into a distant place, but deformed and changed it; so that the heaven that was within them, and without them, is equally left, because both within them, and without them, they have no habitation but a fiery darkness broken off from the light of God. And therefore, as man by his creation is brought into a power of commerce with those fallen angels, who must live, and could only act in that part of nature which they had deformed, it is plain, that this creation placed him in that system of things, which was formed and created out of their fallen kingdom, because they can act, or be acted upon nowhere else.
And this is the one true, and only reason, why there is good and evil throughout all temporal nature and creature; it is because all this temporary nature is a creation out of that strife of evil against good which the fallen angels had brought into their kingdom. No subtle, evil serpent could have been generated, no tree of knowledge of good and evil could have been sprung out of the earth, but because nature in this world was that part of eternal nature which the fallen angels had corrupted; and therefore, a life made up of good and evil could be brought forth by it. Evil and good was in the angelical kingdom as soon as they set their wills and desires contrary to God, and the divine life. Had God permitted them to go on, their whole kingdom would have been like themselves, all over, one unmixed evil, and so would have been incapable of being created into a redeemable state: but God put a stop to the progress of evil in their kingdom, he came upon it while it was in strife, and compacted or created it all into a new, temporary, material state and condition; from which these two things followed: first, that the fallen angels lost their power over it, and could no further kindle their own fire in it, but were as chained prisoners, in an extent of darkness which they could neither get out of, nor extend any further: secondly, this new creation being created out of this new begun strife, stood as yet in the birth of life, and so became capable of being assisted and blessed by God; and finally, at the end of time, restored to its first heavenly state. Now, the good and evil that is in this world is that same good and evil, and in the same strife that it was in the kingdom of fallen angels, only with this happy difference, there it was under the devil's power, and in a way to be wholly evil; here it is in a new compacted, or created state under the providence and blessing of God, appointed to bring forth a new kind of life, and display the wonders of divine love, until such time as a new race of angelical creatures born in this mixture of good and evil, shall be fit to receive the kingdom of Lucifer, restored to its first glory. Is there any part of the Christian religion that does not either suppose or speak this great truth, any part of outward nature that does not confirm it? Is there any part of the Christian religion that is not made more intelligible, more beautiful and edifying by it? Is there any difficulty of outward nature that is not totally removed and satisfied by it? How was the philosophy of the ancient sages perplexed with the state of nature? They knew God to be all goodness, love, and perfection, and so did not understand the misery of human life, and the disorders of outward nature, because they did not know how this nature came into its present state, or from where it was descended. But had they known, that temporal nature, all that we see in this whole frame of things, was only the sickly, defiled state of eternal things put into a temporary state of recovery, that time and all transitory things were only in this war and strife, to be finally delivered from all the evil that was brought into eternal nature, their hearts must have praised God for this creation of things as those morning stars did, that shouted for joy when it was first brought forth.
To be swelled with pride, to be fattened with sensuality, to grow great through craft, and load ourselves with earthly goods, is only living the life of beasts, that we may die the death of devils.
From this true knowledge of the state, and nature, and place of this creation, what a reasonableness, wisdom, and necessity does there appear in the hardest sayings, precepts and doctrines of the gospel? He that understands what this world is, has great reason to be glad that he is born into it, and yet still greater reason to rejoice, in being called out of it, preserved from it, and shown how to escape with the preservation of his soul. The evils that are in this world, are the evils of hell, that tend to be nothing else but hell; they are the remains of the sin and poison of the fallen angels: the good that is in this world are the sparks of life that are to generate heaven, and gain the restoration of the first kingdom of Lucifer. Who therefore would think of anything, desire anything, endeavor anything, but to resist evil in every kind, under every shape and color? Who would have any views, desires and prayers after anything, but that the life and light of heaven may rise up in himself, and that God's kingdom may come, and his will be done in all nature and creature? Darkness, light, fire and air, water and earth, stand in their temporary, created distinction and strife, for no other end, with no other view, but that they may obtain the one thing needful, their first condition in heaven: and shall man that is born into time for no other end, on no other errand, but that he may be an angel in eternity, think it hard to live as if there were but one thing needful for him? What was the poor politics, the earthly wisdom, the ease, sensuality, and advancements of this world for us, but such fruits as must be eaten in hell? To be swelled with pride, to be fattened with sensuality, to grow great through craft, and load ourselves with earthly goods, is only living the life of beasts, that we may die the death of devils. On the other hand, to go starved out of this world, rich in nothing but heavenly tempers and desires, is taking from time all that we came for, and all that can go with us into eternity.
But to return to the further consideration of nature. As all temporary nature is nothing else but eternal nature brought out of its kindled, disordered strife, into a created or compacted distinction of its several parts , so it is plain, that the whole of this world, in all its working powers, is nothing else but a mixture of heaven and hell. There cannot be the smallest thing, or the smallest quality of anything in this world, but what is a quality of heaven or hell, discovered under a temporal form: everything that is disagreeable to the taste, to the sight, to our hearing, smelling or feeling, has its root and ground, and cause, in and from hell, and is as surely in its degree the working or manifestation of hell in this world, as the most diabolical malice and wickedness is: the stink of weeds, of mire, of all poisonous, corrupted things, shrieks, horrible sounds, wrathful fire, rage of tempests, and thick darkness, are all of them things that had no possibility of existence, until the fallen angels disordered the state of their kingdom; therefore, everything that is disagreeable and horrible in this life, everything that can afflict and terrify our senses, all the kinds of natural and moral evil, are only so much of the nature, effects, and manifestations of hell: for hell and evil are only two words for one and the same thing: the extent of one is the extent of the other, and all that can be ascribed to the one, must be ascribed to the other. On the other hand, all that is sweet, delightful and amiable in this world, in the serenity of the air, the fineness of the seasons, the joy of light, the melody of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrance of smells, the splendor of precious stones, is nothing else but heaven breaking through the veil of this world, manifesting itself in such a degree, and dareing forth in such variety so much of its own nature. So that heaven and hell are not only as near you, as constantly showing and proving themselves to all your senses, as day and night, but night itself is nothing else but hell breaking forth in such a degree, and the day is nothing else but a certain opening of heaven, to save us from the darkness that arises from hell. O man! consider yourself, here you stand in the earnest, perpetual strife of good and evil, all nature is continually at work to bring about the great redemption; the whole creation is travailing in pain, and laborious working, to be delivered from the vanity of time, and will you be asleep? Everything you hear, or see, says nothing, shows nothing to you, but what either eternal light, or eternal darkness has brought forth; for as day and night divide the whole of our time, so heaven and hell divide the whole of our thoughts, words and actions. Stir which way you will, do, or design what you will, you must be an representative of one or with the other. You can not stand still, because you live in the perpetual workings of temporal and eternal nature; if you work not with the good, the evil that is in nature carries you along with it: you have the height and depth of eternity in you, and therefore no matter what you do, in the closet, the field, the shop, or the church, you are sowing that which grows, and must be reaped in eternity. Nothing of yours can vanish away, but every thought, motion, and desire of your heart, has its effect either in the height of heaven, or the depth of hell: and as time is flying by to put an end to the strife of good and evil, and bring about the last great separation of all things into their eternal state, with such speed are you making haste either to be wholly an angel, or wholly a devil: Therefore awake, watch and pray, join with all your force with that goodness of God, which has created time and all things in it, to have a happy end in eternity.
Temporal nature opened to us by the Spirit of God becomes a volume of holy instruction to us, and leads us into all the mysteries and secrets of eternity: for as everything in temporal nature is descended out of that which is eternal, and stands as a palpable, visible out-birth of it; so when we know how to separate the grossness, death, and darkness of time from it, we find what it is in its eternal state. Fire, and light, and air in this world are not only a true resemblance of the Holy Trinity in Unity, but are the Trinity itself in its most outward, lowest kind of existence or manifestation; for there could be no fire, fire could not generate light, air could not proceed from both, these three could not be united like this, and so divided, but because they have their root and original in the Trinity of the Deity. Fire compacted, created, separated from light and air, is the elemental fire of this world: fire uncreated, un-compacted, un-separated from light and air, is the heavenly fire of eternity: fire kindled in any material thing is only fire breaking out of its created, compacted state; it is nothing else but the awakening of the spiritual properties of that thing, which being thus stirred up, strive to get rid of that material creation under which they are imprisoned: consequently every kindled fire, with all its rage and fierceness, tears and divides, scatters and consumes that materiality under which it is imprisoned; and were not these spiritual properties imprisoned in matter, no material thing could be made to burn. And this is another proof, that the materiality of this world is come out of a higher, and spiritual state, because every matter upon earth can be made to discover spiritual properties concealed in it, and is indeed a compaction of nothing else. Fire is not, nor cannot be a material thing, it only makes itself visible and sensible by the destruction of matter; matter is its death and imprisonment, and it comes to life but by being able to agitate, divide, shake off, and consume that matter which held it in death and bondage; so that every time you see a fire kindled, you see nature striving in a low degree to get rid of the grossness of this material creation, and to do that which can alone be done by the last fire, when all the inward, spiritual properties hid in everything, in rocks, and stones, and earth, in sun, and stars, and elements, shall by the last trumpet be awakened and called forth: and this is a certain truth, that fire could not be kindled in any material thing, but for this reason, because all material nature was created to be restored, and stands by divine appointment in a fitness and tendency to have its deliverance from this created state, by fire; so that every time you see a piece of matter dissolved by fire, you have a full proof, that all the materiality of this world is appointed to a dissolution by fire; and that then, (O glorious day!) sun and stars, and all the elements will be delivered from vanity, will be again that one eternal, harmonious, glorious thing which they were, before they were compacted into material distinctions and separations.
The elements of this world stand in great strife and contrariety, and yet in great desire of mixing and uniting with each other; and so arises both the life and death of all temporal things; and hereby we plainly know that the elements of this world were once one undivided thing; for union can nowhere be desired, but where there has first been a separation; as sure therefore as the elements desire each other, so sure is it, that they have been separated from each other, and are only parts of some one thing that has been divided. When the elements come to such a degree of union, a life is produced; but because they have still a contrariety to each other, they soon destroy again that same life which they had built, and therefore every life made up of the four elements is short and transitory. Now, from this undeniable state of nature, we are told these following great truths:
That the four elements are only four parts of that, which before the creation of the world, was only a one element, or one undivided power of life. That the mortality of this life is wholly and solely owing to the divided state of the elements. That the true, immortal life of nature, is only there to be found, where the four elements are only one thing, mere unity and harmony; where fire and air, water and earth, have a much more glorious union than they have in diamonds and precious stones: for in the brightest diamonds the four elements still partake of their divided state, though to our eye they appear as only one glorious thing; but the beauty of the diamond is but a shadow, a low specimen of that glory which will shine through all nature, when fire and air, water and earth shall be again that one thing which they were, before the fall of angels and the creation of this world.
That the body of Adam (being formed for immortality) could not possibly have the nature, or be made out of the divided state of the elements. The letter of scripture absolutely demonstrates; for if sickness, sorrow, and pain, the trouble of heat and cold, all so many forerunners of death, can only be where the elements are in division and contrariety; and if, according to scripture, these calamities did not, could not possibly touch Adam until he fell, then it is plain from scripture, that before his fall, the division and contrariety of the elements was not in him: and that was his paradisiacal nature, in and by which he stood in a state of superiority over all the elements of this world.
That the body Adam lost was one elementary glory and immortality, and then first became gross, dark, heavy flesh and blood, under the power of the four elements, when he lusted to eat, and actually did eat of that tree, which had its good and evil from the divided state of the elements.
For this reason we also know, with the greatest certainty, the mystery of the resurrection of the body, that it consists wholly and solely in reducing the body made up of the four elements of this world, to its first, one elementary state, and then everyone has that same body raised again that died, and all that Adam lost is restored. For if the body is mortal, and dies because it is become a body of the four elements, it can only be raised immortal, by having its four elements reduced again into one: and here lies the true sameness of the body that died, and that which rises again. But to proceed: As all the four elements, by their desiring, and wanting to be united together, prove that they are only four grossly divided out-births of that which before was only one heavenly, harmonious element, so every single element fully demonstrates the same thing; for every single element, though standing in its created contrariety to every other, has yet in its own divided state, all of the four elements in itself: thus the air has everything in it that is in the earth, and the earth has in itself everything that is in fire, water and air, only in a different mixture and compaction; were it not so, had not every element in some degree the whole nature of them all, they could not possibly mix, and qualify with one another; and this may well pass for a demonstration, that that out of which the four elements are descended, was one harmonious union of them all, because every one of the four, has now, and must have in its undivided state, all the four in itself, though not in equality; for if the four must be together, though unequally lodged in every single element, it is plain, the four must have been one harmonious thing, before they were brought into four unequal separations: and therefore, as sure as there are four warring, disagreeing elements in time, so sure is it, that that which is now in this fourfold division, was and is in eternity, one, in an heavenly, harmonious union, keeping up an eternal, joyful, glorious life in eternal nature, as its four broken parts bring forth a poor, miserable, transitory life in temporal nature.
All matter in this world is only the materiality of heaven thus altered. The difference between matter in this world and matter in the other world, lies wholly and solely in this; in the one it is dead, in the other it is a living materiality. It is dead materiality in this world, because it is gross, dark, hard, heavy, divisible. It is in this state of death, because it is separated, or broken off from the eternal light, which is the true life, or the power of life in everything. In eternal nature or the kingdom of heaven, materiality stands in life and light; it is the light's glorious body, or that garment wherewith light is clothed, and therefore has all the properties of light in it, and only differs from light, as to its brightness and beauty, as the holder and displayer of all its colors, powers and virtues. But the same materiality in this world, being created or compacted into a separation from fire united with light, is become the body of death and darkness, and is therefore gross, thick, dark, heavy, divisible, for death is nothing else but the shutting up, or shutting out the united power of fire and light: this is the only death that ever did, or can happen to anything, whether earthly or heavenly. Therefore, every degree of hardness, sickness, stiffness, is a degree of death; and herein consists the deadness of the materiality of this world. When it shall be raised to life, that is, when the united power of fire and light shall kindle itself through all temporal nature, then hardness, darkness, divisibility, will be all extinguished together. That the deadness of the earth may, and certainly will be brought to life by the united power of fire and light, is sufficiently shown us by the nature and office of the sun. The sun is the united power of fire and light, and therefore the sun is the raiser of life out of the deadness of the earth; but because fire and light as united in the sun, is only the virtue of temporary fire and light, so it can only raise a short and fading, transitory life. But as sure as you see, that fire and light united in the sun, can change the deadness of the earth, into such a beautiful variety of a vegetable life, so sure are you, that this dark, gross earth, is in its state of death and darkness, only for this reason, because it is broken off from the united power of fire and light: for as sure as the outward operation of the fire and light of the sun can change the deadness of the earth into a degree of life, so sure is it, that the earth lies in its present deadness, because it is separated from its own eternal fire and light: and as sure as you see, that the fire and light of the sun can raise a temporal life out of the earth, so sure is it, that the united power of eternal fire and light can, and will turn all that is earthly, into its first state of life and beauty. For the sun of this world, as it is the union of temporal fire and light, has no power, but as it is the outward agent, or temporary representative of eternal fire and light, and therefore it can only do that in part, and imperfectly in time, which by the eternal fire and light will be wholly and perfectly done in eternity. And therefore every vegetable life, every beauty, power, and virtue which the sun calls forth out of the earth, tells us, with a divine certainty, that there will come a time, when all that is hid in the deadness, grossness, and darkness of the earth, will be again called up to a perfection of life and glory of beauty.
How has the philosophy of the schools been puzzled with the divisibility of matter! It is because human reason, the mistress of the schools, partakes of the deadness of the earth; and the soul of man must first have the light of eternal life rise up in him, before he can see or find out the truths of nature. Human reason knew nothing of the death of the matter, or the nature and reason of its temporary creation, and so thought death and divisibility to be essential to matter; but the light of God tells every man this infallible truth, that God did not make death in anything, that he is a God of life, and therefore, everything that comes from him, comes into a state of life. Matter is thick, hard, heavy, divisible, only for a time, because it is compacted or created into thickness, hardness, and divisibility only for a time: these are only the properties of its temporal, created state, and therefore are no more essential to it than the hardness of ice is essential to water. Now, that the creation of the matter of this world is nothing else but a compaction, that all the elements are separated compactions of that which before was free from such a compaction, is plain from scripture. For we are told, that all the material things and elements of this world, are to have their created state and nature taken from them, by being dissolved or melted: but if this be a scripture truth, then it is equally true from scripture, that their creation was only a compaction; and a compaction of something that stood before according to its own nature, absolutely free from it. Mortality, corruptibility, and divisibility, are not essential properties, but temporary accidents, they are in things, as diseases and sickness are, and are as separable from them; and that is the true reason, why this mortal can put on immortality, this corruptible can put on incorruptibility, and this divisible can put on indivisibility: for when the four elements are dissolved and loosed from their separate compaction from one another, when fire and air, water and earth, shall be much more a glorious and harmonious thing than they are now in the brightest diamond, then the divisibility of this redeemed materiality will be more impossible to be conceived, than the distance between fire and water in a diamond.
The reason why all inanimate things of this world tend towards their utmost perfection in their kind, lies wholly and solely in this ground; it is because the four elements of this world were once the one element of the kingdom of the fallen angels; and therefore, nature in this world is always laboring after its first perfection of life, or as the scripture speaks, the "whole creation travails in pain, and groans to be delivered from its present vanity": and therefore it is, that all vegetables and fruits naturally grasp after every kind and degree of perfection they can take in; endeavoring with all their power, after that first perfection of life which was before the fall of the angels. Every taste and color, and power and virtue, would be what it was before Lucifer kindled his dark, fiery, wrathful kingdom; but as this cannot be, so when every fruit and flower has worked itself as far towards a heavenly perfection as it can, it is forced to wither and rot, and become a witness to this truth, that neither flesh nor blood, nor fruit, nor flower, can reach the kingdom of God.
The Fallen Soul Has The Nature Of Hell In It.
All the misery and imperfection that is in temporary nature, arises from the divided state of the elements: their division is that which brings all kinds and degrees of death and hell into this world, and yet their being in a certain degree related to one another, and always endeavoring after their first union, is proof of the nature and perfection of heaven still in them. The death that is in this world, consists in the grossness, hardness and darkness of its materiality. The wrath that is in this world consists in the kindled division of its qualities, from where there arises a contrary motion and fermentation in all its parts, in which consists both the life and death of all its creatures. This death and this wrath is the nature of hell in this world, and is the manifestation of the disorders which the fallen angels have occasioned in nature. The heaven in this world began when God said, Let there be light, for so far as light is in anything, so much it has of heaven in it, and of the beginning of a heavenly life: this shows itself in all things of this world, chiefly in the life-giving power of the sun, in the sweetness and meekness of qualities and tempers, in the softness of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrance of smells, and richness of tastes and the like; so far as anything is tinctured with light, so far it shows its descent from heaven, and its partaking of something heavenly and paradisiacal. Again, love or desire of union, is the other part of heaven that is visible in this world. In things without life, it is a senseless desire, a friendly mixing and uniting of their qualities, whereby they strive to be again in that first state of unity and harmony in which they existed, before they were kindled into division by Lucifer. In rational creatures, it is meekness, benevolence, kindness and friendship amongst one another: and so far as they have heaven and the Spirit of God in them, each in their sphere, being and doing that to one another, which the divine love is and does to all. Again, the reason why man is naturally taken with beautiful objects, why he admires and rejoices at the sight of lucid and transparent bodies, and the splendor of precious stones, why he is delighted with the beauty of his own person, and is fond of his features when adorned with fine colors, has this only true ground, it is because he was created in the greatest perfection of beauty, to live amongst all the beauties of a glorious paradise: and therefore man, though fallen, has this strong sensibility and reaching desire after all the beauties, that can be picked up in fallen nature. Had not this been his case, had not beauty, and light, and the glory of brightness been his first state by creation, he would now no more want the beauty of objects, than the ox wants to have his pasture enclosed with beautiful walls, and painted gates. Every vanity of fallen man shows our first dignity, and the vanity of our desires are so many proofs of the reality of that which we are fallen from. Man wants to see himself in riches, greatness and power, because human nature came first into the world in that state; and therefore, what he had in reality in paradise, is that which he vainly seeks for, even though he is only a poor prisoner in the valley and shadow of death.
All beings that are purely of this world, have their existence in and dependence upon temporal nature. God is no maker, creator or governor of any being or creature of this world, immediately, or by himself, but he creates, upholds and governs all things of this world, by, and through, and with temporal nature: as temporary nature is nothing else but eternal nature separated, divided, compacted, made visible and changeable for a time, so heaven is nothing else but the beatific43 visibility, the majestic presence of the abysmal, un-searchable, triune God: it is that light with which the scripture said, God is decked as with a garment, and by which he is manifested and made visible to heavenly eyes and beings; for Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as they are the triune God, deeper than the kingdom of heaven or eternal nature, are invisible to all created eyes; but that beatific visibility and outward glory which is called the kingdom of heaven, is the manifestation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in, and by, and through the glorious union of eternal fire, and light, and spirit. In the kingdom of heaven, these are three and one, because their original, the Holy Trinity, is so, and we must call them by the names of fire, and light, and spirit; because all that we have of fire, and light, and spirit in this world, has its whole nature directly from them, and is indeed nothing else but the fire, light, and spirit of eternity, brought into a separated, compacted, temporal state. So that to speak of a heavenly fire, has no more grossness and offense in it, than when we speak of a heavenly life, a heavenly light, or heavenly spirit; for if there is a heavenly light and spirit, there must of all necessity be a heavenly fire; and if these things were not in heaven in a glorious state of union, they never could have been here in this gross state of a temporal compaction and division: so that as sure as there are fire, and light, and air in this world, in a divided, compacted, imperfect state, in which consists the life of temporary nature and creatures, so sure is it, that fire, and light, and spirit are in the kingdom of heaven, united in one perfection of glory, in which consists the beatific visibility of God, the divine nature, as communicable to heavenly beings.
The kingdom of heaven stands in this threefold life, where three are one, because it is a manifestation of the Deity, which is three and one; the Father has his distinct manifestation in the fire, which is always generating the light; the Son has his distinct manifestation of the light, which is always generated from the fire; the Holy Ghost has his manifestation in the spirit, that always proceeds from both, and is always united with them. It is this eternal un-beginning Trinity in Unity of fire, light, and spirit, that constitutes eternal nature, the kingdom of heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, the divine life, the beatific visibility, the majestic glory and presence of God. Through this kingdom of heaven, or eternal nature, is the invisible God, the incomprehensible Trinity eternally breaking forth, and manifesting itself in a boundless height and depth of blissful wonders, opening and displaying itself to all its creatures as in an infinite variation and endless multiplicity of its powers, beauties, joys and glories. So that all the inhabitants of heaven are for ever knowing, seeing, hearing, feeling, and enjoying all that is great, amiable, infinite and glorious in the divine nature. Nothing ascends, or comes into this kingdom of heaven, but that which descended, or came out of it, all its inhabitants must be innate guests, and born out of it.
God considered in Himself, as distinct from this eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, is not the immediate creator of any angels, spirits, or divine beings; but as He creates and governs all temporal beings in, and by, and out of temporal nature, so he creates and governs all spiritual and heavenly beings in, and by, and out of eternal nature: this is as absolutely true, as that no being can be temporal, but by partaking of temporal nature, nor any being eternal, but by partaking of the eternal, divine nature; and therefore, whatever God creates is not created immediately by himself, but in and by, and out of that nature, in which it is to live, and move, and have its being, temporal beings out of temporal nature, and eternal beings out of the heavenly kingdom of eternal nature: and therefore it is, that all angels, and the souls of men are said to be born of God, sons of God, and partakers of the divine nature, because they are formed out of that eternal nature, which is the un-beginning majesty of God, the kingdom of heaven, or visible glory of the Deity. In this eternal nature, which is the majestic clothing, or glory of the triune God, manifested in the glorious unity of divine fire, light, and spirit, have all the created images of God, whether they be angels or men, their existence, union and communion with God; because fire, and light, and spirit have the same union and birth in the creature, as in the creator: and consequently it is, that they are so many various mirrors of the Deity, penetrated with the majesty of God, receiving and returning back communications of the life of God. Now, in this ground, that is, in this consideration of God, as manifesting his Holy Trinity through nature and creature, lies the solid and true understanding of all that is so variously said of God, both in the Old and New Testament with relation to mankind, both as to their creation, fall, and redemption. God is to be considered throughout, as the God of nature, only manifesting himself to all his creatures in a variety of attributes in and by nature; creating, governing, blessing, punishing, and redeeming them according to the powers, workings, and possibilities of nature. Fire, light, and spirit in harmonious union, is the substantial glory, the beatific manifestation of the triune God, visible and communicable to creatures formed out of it. All intelligent, holy beings were by God formed and created out of, and for the enjoyment of this kingdom of glory, and had fire, and light, and spirit, as the triune glory of their created being: and herein consisted the infinite love, goodness and bounty of God to all his creatures: it was their being made creatures of this fire, light, and spirit, partakers of that same nature in which the Holy Trinity had stood from all eternity gloriously manifested. And thus they were creatures, subjects, and objects of the divine love; they came into the nearest, highest relation to God; they stood, and partook of his own manifested nature, so that the outward glory and majesty of the triune God, was the very form, and beauty, and brightness of their own created nature. Every creature which thankfully, joyfully, and absolutely gave itself up to this blessed union with God, became absolutely fixed in its first created glory, and incapable of knowing anything but love, and joy, and happiness in God to all eternity: thus in this state, all angels and men came first out of the hands of God. But seeing light proceeds from fire by a birth, and the spirit from both, and seeing the will must be the leader of the birth, Lucifer and Adam could both do as they did, Lucifer could will strong might and power, to be greater than the light of God made him, and so he brought forth a birth of might and power, that was only mighty wrath and darkness, a fire of nature broken off from its light. Adam could will the knowledge of temporal nature, and so he lost the Light and Spirit of heaven for the light and spirit of this world: and had man been left in this state of temporary nature, without a redeemer, he must, when the light of this world goes out, have found himself in the same absolute wrath and darkness of nature, which the fallen angels are in.
Now, after these two falls of two orders of creatures, the Deity itself came to have new and strange names, new and unheard of tempers and inclinations of wrath, fury, and vengeance ascribed to it. I call them new, because they began at the fall; I call them strange, because they were foreign to the Deity, and could not belong to God in Himself: as a result, God is in the scriptures said to be a consuming fire. But to whom? To the fallen angels, and lost souls. But why, and how is he so to them? It is because those creatures have lost all that they had from God, but fire; and therefore God can only be found and manifested in them, as a consuming fire. Now, is it not justly said, that God, who is nothing but infinite love, is yet in such creatures only a consuming fire, and that though God be nothing but love, yet they are under the wrath and vengeance of God, because they have only that fire in them, which is broken off from the light and love of God, and so can know, or feel nothing of God, but his fire in them? As creatures they can have no life, but what they have in and from God; and therefore, that wrathful life which they have, is truly said to be a wrath of God upon them. And yet it is as strictly true, that there is no wrath in God himself, that he is not changed in his temper towards the creatures, that he does not cease to be one and the same infinite fountain of goodness, infinitely flowing forth in the riches of his love upon all and every life; but the creatures have changed their state in nature, and so the God of nature can only be manifested in and to them, according to their own state in nature: and this is the true ground of rightly understanding all that is said of the wrath and vengeance of God in and upon the creatures. It is only in such a sense as the curse or unhappiness of God may be said to be upon them, not because anything cursed, or unhappy can be in, or come from God, but because they have made that life which they must have in God, to be a mere curse and unhappiness to them: for every creature that lives, must have its life in and from God, and therefore God must be in every creature; this is as true of devils, as of holy angels: but how is God in them? Why only as he is manifested in nature. Holy angels have the triune life of God in them, therefore God is in them all love, goodness, majesty and glory, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Devils have nothing of this triune life left in them, but the fire of eternal nature broken off from all light and joy; and therefore the life that they can have in and from God, is only a life of wrath and darkness, and theirs is the kingdom of hell: and because this life is a strength of life which they must have in and from God, and which they cannot take out of his hands; therefore, is their cursed, miserable, wrathful life truly and justly said to be the curse, and wrath, and vengeance of God in and upon them, though God himself can no more have wrath and vengeance, than he can have mischief and malice in him: for this is a glorious, two-fold truth, that from God considered as in himself, nothing can come from eternity to eternity, but infinite love, goodness, happiness, and glory; and also that infinite love, goodness, happiness and glory are, and will be for ever and ever flowing forth from him in the same boundless, universal, infinite manner; he is the same infinitely overflowing fountain of love, goodness and glory after, as before the fall of any creatures; his love, and the infinite workings of it can no more be lessened, than his power can be increased by any outward thing; no creature, or number of creatures can raise any anger in him, it is as impossible as to cast terror, or darkness, and pain into him, for nothing can come into God from the creature, nothing can be in him, but that which the Holy Trinity in Unity is in itself. All creatures are products of the infinite, triune love of God; nothing willed, and desired, and formed them, but infinite love, and they have all of them all the happiness, beauty and excellence that an infinitely powerful love can reach out to them: the same infinite love continues still in its first creating goodness, willing, desiring, working, and doing nothing with regard to all creatures, but what it willed, did, and desired in the creation of them: this God over nature and creature, dares no more anger at angels when fallen, than he did in the creation of them: they are not in hell, because Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are angry at them, and so cast them into a punishment, which their wrath had contrived for them; but they are in wrath and darkness, because they have done to the light which infinitely flows forth from God, as that man does to the light of the sun, who puts out his own eyes: he is in darkness, not because the sun is darkened towards him, has offers less light to him, or has lost all inclination to enlighten him, but because he has put out that birth of light in himself, which alone made him capable of seeing the light of the sun. It is so with fallen angels, they have extinguished in themselves that birth of light and love, which was their only capacity for that happiness, which infinitely, and everywhere flows forth from God; and they no more have their punishment from God himself than the man who puts out his eyes, has his darkness from the sun itself.
God, considered in himself, as the holy, triune God, is not the immediate fountain and original of creatures; but God considered as manifesting himself in and through nature, is the creator, Father and producer of all things. The hidden Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is from eternity to eternity, manifested, made visible, perceivable, sensible in the united glory of fire, light and spirit; this is the beatific presence, the glorious out birth of the Holy Trinity; this is that eternal, universal nature, which brings God into all creatures, and all creatures into God, according to that degree and manner of life which they have in nature: for the life of creatures must stand in nature, and nature is nothing else but God made manifest, visible, and perceptible; and therefore the life of every creature, be it what it will, a life of joy or wrath, is only so much of God made manifest in it, and perceptible by it, and thus is God in some creatures only a God of wrath, and in others, only a God of glory and goodness. No creature can have life, or live, and move, and have its being in God, but by being formed out of, and living in this manifestation of nature. Thus far hell and heaven, angels and devils are equally in God, that is, they equally live, move, and have their being in that eternal nature, which is the eternal manifestation of God: the one have a life of glory, majesty, love, and bliss, the other a life of horror, fire, wrath, misery, and darkness. Now, all this could not possibly be, there could be no room for this distinction between creatures standing in nature, the one could not possibly have a life of majestic bliss and glory, the other of fiery horror and darkness, but because the holy, triune God is manifested in the united glory and bliss of fire, light, and spirit. For the creatures could only divide that, which there was in nature to be divided, they could only divide that, which was united, and divisible; and therefore, as sure as heaven is a splendorous light of blissful majesty, as sure as hell is a place of fiery wrath and darkness, so sure is it from the scriptures, that eternal nature, which is from God, or a manifestation of God, is a nature of united fire, light, and spirit, otherwise, some creatures could not have the blissful glory of light, and others, a horrible, fiery darkness for their separate portions. All therefore that has been said of an eternal nature, or kingdom of heaven, consisting of united fire, light, and spirit, is not only to be looked upon as an opinion well grounded, and sufficiently discovered by the light of nature, but as a fundamental truth of revealed religion, fully established by all that is said in the scriptures both of heaven and hell. For if God was not manifested, visible, perceptible and communicable, in and by this united fire, and light, and spirit, how could there be a heaven of glorious majesty? If this fire of heaven could not be separated, or broken off from its heavenly light, how could there be a hell in nature? Or, how could those angels which lost the light of heaven, have thereby fallen into a state of hellish darkness, or fire? Is not all this the greatest of demonstrations, that the holy Trinity of God is, and must be manifested in nature, by the union of fire, light, and spirit? And is not this demonstration wholly taken from the very letter of the plain doctrines of scripture? Hell and wrath could have no possibility of existence, but because the light and majesty, and glory of heaven, must of all necessity have its birth in and from the fire of nature. An angel could not have become a devil, but because the angelic light and glory had, and must have its birth in and from the fire of life. And thus as a devil was found, where angelic light and glory had its existence, so a hell was found, where heavenly glory was before; and as the devil is nothing but a fire-spirit broken off from its angelic light and glory, so hell is nothing but the fire of heaven separated from its first light and majesty. And here we have found two worlds in eternity; not known to even be possible to be two, but by such creatures, as have in their own natures, by their own self-motion, separated the fire of eternal nature from its eternal light, spirit and majesty. And this is also the beginning, or first opening of the wrath of God in the creature; which is, in other words, only the beginning, or first opening of pain and misery in the creature, or the origin of a hellish, tormenting state of life.
And here, in this dark wrathful fire of the fallen creature, do we truly find that wrath and anger and vengeance of God, that cleaves to sin, that must be quenched, atoned, and satisfied before the sinner can be reconciled to God; that is, before it can have again that triune life of God in it, which is its union with the Holy Trinity of God, or its regaining the kingdom of heaven in itself. Some have objected, that by so considering the fallen soul, as a dark, wrathful fire-spirit, for this reason, because it has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, that this casts reproach upon God the Father, as having the nature of such a soul in him. But this is a groundless objection, for this state of the soul casts no more reproach upon the first, than upon the second and third persons of the holy Trinity. The fallen soul, that has lost the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit of God in it, cannot be said to have the nature of the Father left in it. This would be blasphemous nonsense, and is no way founded on this doctrine. But such a soul must be said to have a nature from the Father left in it, though a spoiled one, and this because the Father is the origin, fountain and creator of all the different kinds of existence: hell, and the devils have their nature from him, because every kind of creature must have what it has of life and being from its creator; but hell and the devils have not therefore the nature of the Father in them. If it where to be asked what the Father is, as he is the first person in the sacred Trinity, the answer must be, that as such, he is the generator of the Son and Holy Spirit: this is the nature of the Father; where this generating is not, there is not the nature of the Father. Is it not therefore highly absurd to charge this doctrine with ascribing the nature of the Father to the fallen soul, which asserts the soul to be fallen, for this reason, because it has quite lost and extinguished all power and ability for the birth of the Son and Holy Spirit in it? How could it be affirmed more, or more fully proved, that the fallen soul Has not the nature of the Father in it. But to proceed: The reader ought not to wonder, or be offended at the frequent mention of the word "fire," which is here used to denote the true nature, and state of the soul. For both nature and scripture continually speak the same language. For wherever there is mention of life, light, or love in the scriptures, there fire is necessarily supposed, as being that in which all life, and light, and love must necessarily arise; and therefore the scriptures speak as often of fire, as they do of life, and light, and love, because the one necessarily includes the other: for all life, whether it be vegetable, animal, or intellectual, is only a kindled fire of life in such a variety of states; and every dead, insensitive thing is only so, because its fire is quenched, or shut up in a hard compaction. If therefore we will speak of the true ground of the fallen state of men and angels, we are not at liberty to think of it under any other idea, or speak of it in any other manner, than as the darkened fire of their life, or the fire of their life which has become unable to produce light and love. Do not the scriptures strictly confine us to this idea of hell? So that it is not any particular philosophy, or affected singularity of expression, that makes me speak in this manner of the soul, but because all nature and scripture forces us to confess, that the root of all and every life stands, and must necessarily stand in the properties of fire. The holy scriptures also speak much of fire, in the ideas which they give us, both of the divine nature, and of created spirits, whether they be saved, or lost; the former as becoming flames of heavenly light and love, the latter as dark firebrands of hell. No description is, or can be given us either of heaven or hell, but where fire is necessarily signified to be the ground and foundation of both the one, and the other. Why do all languages, however distant, and different from one another, all speak of the coldness of death, the coldness of insensibility? Why do they all agree in speaking of the warmth of life, the heat of passions, the burnings of wrath, the flames of love? It is because it is the voice or dictate of universal nature, that fire is the root or seat of life, and that every variety of human tempers is only the various workings of the fire of life. There is good reason for us to think grossly of fire, because it is seen in so many disgusting things of this world? But how is it seen in them? Why only as a destroyer, a consumer, and refiner of all disgusting things; as an igniter of life, and light out of death and darkness. So that in all the appearances of fire, even in earthly things, we have reason to look upon it as something of a heavenly, exalting, and glorious nature; as that which disperses death, darkness, and grossness, and raises up the power and glory of every life. If you ask what fire is in its first, true, and un-beginning state, not yet entered into any creature, it is the power and strength, the glory and majesty of eternal nature; it is that which generates, enriches, brightens, strengthens and displays the Light of heaven. It is that which makes the eternal light to be majestic, the eternal love to be flaming: for the strength and exuberance of fire, must be both the majesty of light, and the passion of love. It is the glorious out birth, the true representative of God the Father eternally generating his only Son, Light and Word. If you ask what fire is in its own spiritual nature, it is merely a desire, and has no other nature than that of a working desire, which is continually its own igniter. For every desire is nothing else, but its own striking up, or its own kindling itself into some kind and degree of fire. And therefore it is that nature (though reduced to great ignorance of itself) has yet forced all nations and languages to speak of its own desires, as cool, warm, or burning, because every desire is, so far as it goes, a kindled fire. And it is to be observed, that fire could have no existence or operation in material things, but because all the matter of this world has in it more or less of spiritual and heavenly properties compacted in it, which continually desire to be delivered from their material imprisonment. And the stirring up the desire of these spiritual properties, is the kindling of that heat, and light, in material things, which we call fire, and is nothing else but their gloriously breaking, and triumphantly dispersing that hard compaction in which they were imprisoned. And so it is with every kindled fire, as a flash or transitory opening of heavenly glory, show us daily, the true instances, the triumph of the last fire, when all that is spiritual and heavenly in this world, shall kindle and separate itself from that, which must be the death and darkness of hell. Now the reason, why there are spiritual properties in all the essential things of this world, is this, it is because the matter of this world is the materiality of the kingdom of heaven, brought down into a created state of death, and imprisonment, by occasion of the sin of those angels, who first inhabited the place, or extent of this material world. Now these heavenly properties, which were brought into this created compaction, lie in a continual desire to return to their first state of glory; and this is the groaning of the whole creation to be delivered from vanity, which the apostle speaks of. And in this continual desire lies the kindling, and all the possibility of kindling any fire in the things of this world. Quench this desire, and then suppose there is nothing in the matter of this world that desires to be restored to its first glory, and all the breaking forth of fire, light, brightness, and glance in the things of this world, is utterly quenched with it, and it would be the same impossibility to strike fire, as to strike sense and reason out of a piece of flint.
But you will perhaps say, though this is a truth, yet it is more speculative than edifying, more fitted to entertain the curiosity, than to assist the devotion of Christians. But stay awhile, and you shall see it is a truth full of the most edifying instruction, and directly speaking to the heart. For if every desire is in itself, in its own essence, the kindling of fire, then we are taught this great practical lesson, that our own desire is the igniter of our own fire, the thing that forms and raises that life which leads us. What our desire kindles, that becomes the fire of our life, and fits us either for the majestic glories of the kingdom of God, or the dark horrors of hell: so that our desire is all, it does all, and governs all, and all that we have and are, must arise from it, and therefore it is, that the scripture says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." We are apt to think that our imaginations and desires may be played with, that they rise and fall away as nothing, because they do not always bring forth outward and visible effects. But indeed they are the greatest reality we have, and are the true formers and raisers of all that is real and solid in us. All outward power that we exercise in the things about us, is but as a shadow in comparison of that inward power, that resides in our will, imagination, and desires; these communicate with eternity, and kindle a life which always reaches either heaven or hell. This strength of the inward man makes all that is the angel, and all that is the devil in us, and we are neither good nor bad, but according to the working of that which is spiritual and invisible in us. Now our desire is not only thus powerful and productive of real effects, but it is always alive, always working and creating in us, I say creating, for it has the power to create, it perpetually generates either life or death in us: and here lays the ground of the great effectiveness of prayer, which when it is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of faith, it has a kindling and creating power, and forms and transforms the soul into everything that its desires to reach after: it has the key to the kingdom of heaven, and unlocks all its treasures, it opens, extends, and moves that in us, which has its being and motion in and with the divine nature, and so brings us into a real union and communion with God. Long prayers sounded only from the mouth, or impure hearts, may year after year be repeated to no advantage, they leave us to grow old in our own poor, weak state: these are only the poor prayers of heathens, who, as our Lord said, "think to be heard by their much speaking." But when the eternal springs of the purified heart are stirred, when they stretch after that God from where they came; then it is, that what we ask, we receive, and what we seek, we find. For this reason it is, that all those great things are by the scriptures attributed to faith, that to it all things are possible; that it heals the sick, saves the sinner, can move mountains, and that all things are possible to him that believes; it is because the working of will and desire is the first eternal source of all power, that from which everything is kindled into that degree of life in which it stands; it is because will and desire in us are creaturely offspring of that first will and desire which formed and governed all things; and therefore, when the creaturely power of our will, imagination and desire leaves off its working in vanity, and gives itself wholly unto God in a naked and implicit faith in the divine operation upon it, then it is, that it does nothing in vain, it rises out of time into eternity, is in union and communion with God, and so all things are possible to it. In consequence this doctrine is far from being speculative, it opens to us the ground, and shows us the necessity and excellence of the greatest duties of the gospel.
Now, as all desire throughout nature and creature is but one and the same thing, branching itself out into various kinds and degrees of existence and operation, so there is but one fire throughout all nature and creature, standing only in different states and conditions. The fire that is in the light of the sun, is the same fire that is in the darkness of the flint: that fire which is the life of our bodies, is the life of our souls; that which tears wood in pieces, is the same which upholds the beautiful forms of angels: it is the same fire that burns straw, that will at last melt the sun, the same fire that brightens a diamond, is darkened in a flint: it is the same fire that kindles life in an animal, that kindled it in angels: in an angel it is an eternal fire of an eternal life, in an animal it is the same fire brought into a temporary condition, and therefore can only kindle a life that is temporary: the same fire that is mere wrath in a devil, is the sweetness of flaming love in an angel; and the same fire which is the majestic glory of heaven, makes the horror of hell.
Chapter 3
We have now, worthy reader, so far cleared the way, that we have nothing to do, but to rejoice in the most open illustration, and full proof of all the great doctrines of the gospel, and to see all the objections, which Deists, Arians, and Socinians have brought against the first articles of our faith, be dashed to pieces: for as soon as we but begin to know, that the holy, triune Deity from eternity to eternity manifests itself in nature, by the triune birth of fire, light and spirit, and that all angels and men must have been created out of this nature; there is not a doctrine in scripture concerning the creation, fall, and redemption of man, but that becomes very plain and intelligible, and all the mysteries of our redemption are proved and confirmed to us, by all that is visible and perceptible in nature and creature. Here we have the plain foundation of the whole of religion from the beginning to the end of time, why the incarnation of the Son of God, who is the light of the world, must have delivered from Mount Sinai before the fiery dispensation of the Father; and after it, the pouring out, or proceeding forth of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh; it is because the triune life of the fallen race must be restored according to the triune manifestation of the holy Deity in nature. Here we know what the love, and what the anger of God is, what heaven and hell, an angel and a devil, a lost and a redeemed soul are. The love, and goodness, and blessing of God known, found, and enjoyed by any creature, is nothing else but the Holy God known, found, and enjoyed in the blissful, glorious, triune life of fire, light and spirit, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost perpetually communicate their own nameless, numberless, boundless powers, riches and glories to the created image of their own nature. The hell in nature, and the hellish life in the creature, the wrath of God in nature and creature, is nothing else but the triune, holy life broken and destroyed in the creature, it is only the fire of heaven separated from its heavenly Light and Spirit. This is that eternal anger, and wrath, and vengeance, that must be atoned, satisfied, and removed, that eternal fire that must be quenched, that eternal darkness that must be changed into light, or there is no possibility in nature, that the soul of fallen man should ever see the kingdom of God: and here all the doctrines of the Socinians are torn up by the roots. For in this ground appears the absolute necessity of the incarnation, life, sufferings, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God. Here lays the full proof, that through all nature no redeemer of man could be found, but only in the second person of Jesus Christ who became man. For as the Light and Spirit of eternal life, is the Light and Spirit of the Son and Holy Ghost manifested in heaven, so the Light of eternal life could never come again into the fallen soul, but from Him alone, who is the Light of heaven. He must be again in the soul, as He was in it when it was first breathed forth from the Holy Trinity, He must be manifested in the soul, as He is in heaven, or it can never have the life of heaven in it. The Socinians therefore, or others, who think they pay a just respect to the wisdom and omnipotence of God, when they suppose there was no absolute necessity for the incarnation of the Son of God; but that God, if he had so pleased, could as well have saved man some other way, show as great an ignorance both of God and nature, as if they should have said, that when God makes a blind man to see by opening or giving him eyes, there was no necessity in the thing itself, that sight should be given in that particular way, but that God, if he had so pleased, could have made him become a seeing man in this world without eyes, or light of this world. For if the Son of God is the Light of heaven, and man only wants to be redeemed, because he has lost the Light of heaven; is it not absolutely impossible for him to be redeemed any other way, or by any other thing, than by a birth of this Son of God in him. Is not this particularity the one and only thing that can raise fallen man, as seeing eyes are the only thing that can take away blindness from the man? If Adam had been able to undo for himself all that he had done, if he could have gone back into that state from which he was fallen, if he could have raised up again in himself that birth of the Holy Trinity, in which he was created, no savior would of been needed for him; but because he could not do any of this, but must remain that which he had made himself to be, therefore the wrath of nature, or the wrath of God, manifested in nature, abode upon him, and this wrath must of all necessity be appeased, atoned, and satisfied, that is, it must be kindled into light and love, before he could again find, and enjoy the God of nature, as a God of light and love. Could Adam himself have done all that which I have just now mentioned, then his own actions would have atoned and satisfied the divine wrath, and would have reconciled him to God: for nothing lost him the love of God, but that which separated him from God; and nothing did, or ever can separate him from God, but the loss of that inner triune life, in which alone the Holy Trinity of divine love can dwell. If therefore Adam could have raised again in himself that triune life, then his sin, and the wrath of God upon him, would of been only transitory; but because he did that, which according to all the possibilities of nature, was unalterable; therefore he became a prisoner of an eternal wrath, and heir of an everlasting, painful life, until the love of God, who is greater than nature, should do that for him and in him, which he could by no powers of nature could do for himself.
And here we see in the plainest light, that there was no anger in God himself towards the fallen creature, because it was purely and solely the infinite love of God towards him, that did, and alone could raise him out of his fallen state: all scripture, as well as nature, obliges us to think this way of God. As a consequence, it is the whole tenor of scripture, that "God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son into it, that the world, through him, might be saved": is not this saying more than if it had been said, that there was no anger in God himself towards fallen man? Is he not expressly declared to be infinitely flowing forth in love towards him? Could God be more infinite in love, or more infinitely distant from all possibility of anger towards man, when he first created him, than when he in this way redeemed him? God out of pure and free love gave his Son to be the life of the world, first, as an in-spoken and in-grafted Word of life, as the bruiser of the serpent given to all mankind in their father Adam. This Word of life, and bruiser of the serpent, was the extinguisher of that wrath of God that lay upon fallen man. Now, will the scriptures, which tell us that the love of God sent his Son into the world, to redeem man from that hellish wrath that had seized him, allow us to say, that it was to extinguish a wrath that had gotten into God himself, or that the bruiser of the serpent was to bruise, suppress, or remove something that sin had raised in the Holy Trinity itself? No surely, but to bruise, alter, and overcome an evil in nature and the creature, that had become man's separation from the enjoyment of the God of love, whose love still existed in its own state, and still followed him, and gave his only Son to make him capable of it. Do not the holy scriptures continually teach us, that the holy Jesus became incarnate to destroy the works of the devil, to overcome death and hell that had taken man captive? And is not this sufficiently telling us, what that wrath was, and where it existed, which must be atoned, satisfied, and extinguished, before man could again be alive unto God, or reconciled unto him, so as to have the triune life of light and love in him? It was a wrath of death, a wrath of hell, a wrath of sin, and which only the precious, powerful blood of Christ could change into a life of joy and love: and when this wrath of death and hell are removed from human nature, there neither is, nor can be any other wrath of God abiding on it. Are not the devils and all lost souls justly said to be under the eternal wrath of God, and yet no wrath but that which exists in hell, and in their own hellish nature.
They therefore, who suppose the wrath and anger of God upon fallen man, to be a state of mind in God himself, to be a political kind of just indignation, a point of honorable resentment, which the sovereign Deity, as governor of the world, ought not to recede from, but must have a sufficient satisfaction done to his offended authority, before he can, consistently with His sovereign honor, receive the sinner into His favor, hold the doctrine of the necessity of Christ's atoning life and death in a mistaken sense. That many good souls may hold his doctrine in this simplicity of belief, without any more hurt to themselves, than others have held the reality of Christ's flesh and blood in the sacrament under the notion of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, I make no manner of doubt: but when books are written to impose and require this belief of others, as the only saving faith in the life and death of Christ, it is then an error that ceases to be innocent: for neither reason nor scripture will allow us to bring wrath into God himself, as a temper of his mind, who is only infinite, unalterable, overflowing love, as unchangeable in love, as he is in power and goodness. The wrath that was awakened at the fall of man, that then seized upon him, as its captive, was only a plague, or evil, or curse that sin had brought forth in nature and creature: it was only the beginning of hell: it was such a wrath as God himself pitied man's lying under it; it was such a wrath as God himself furnished man with a power of overcoming and extinguishing, and therefore it was not a wrath that was according to the mind, will, and liking, or wisdom of God; and therefore it was not a wrath that was in God himself, or which was exercised by his sovereign wisdom over his disobedient creatures: it was not such a wrath, as when sovereign princes are angry at offenders, and will not cease from their resentment, until some political satisfaction, or valuable amends be made to their slighted authority. No, no; it was such a wrath as God himself hated, as he hates sin and hell, a wrath that the God of all nature and creature so willed to be removed and extinguished, that seeing nothing less could do it, He sent His only begotten Son into the world, that all mankind might be saved and delivered from it. For seeing the wrath that was awakened and brought forth by the fall, and which needed to be appeased, atoned, and quenched, was the wrath of eternal death, and eternal hell, that had taken man captive; therefore God did not spare the precious, powerful, effective blood of the holy Jesus, because that alone could extinguish this eternal wrath of death and hell, and re-kindle heaven and eternal life again in the soul. And thus all that the scriptures speak of the necessity and powerful atonement of the life and death of Christ, all that they say of the infinite love of God towards fallen man, and all that they say of the eternal wrath and vengeance to which man had become a prey, have the most solid foundation, and are, all of them proved to be consistent, harmonious truths of the greatest certainty, according to the plain letter of scripture.
It is the foundation of the law and the gospel, that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins; and that the precious blood of Christ could alone do this, could alone reconcile us to God, and deliver us from the wrath to come. How, and why blood, and only the blood of Jesus Christ could do this, will appear as follows: Adam was created with a twofold respect, to be himself a glorious, living, eternal image of the holy, triune God, and to be a father of a new world of like beings, all descended from himself: when Adam fell, he lost both these conditions of his created state; the holy image of God was extinguished, his soul lost the Light and Spirit of heaven, and his body became earthly, bestial, corruptible flesh and blood, and he could only be a father of a posterity partly diabolical, and partly bestial. Now, if the first purpose of God was to stand, and to take effect; if Adam was still to be the father of a race that were to become sons of God, then there was an absolute necessity that all that Adam had done in and to himself, and his posterity, by the fall, should be undone again; the serpent and the beast, that is, the serpentine life, and the bestial life in human nature, must both be overcome, and driven out of it. This was the only, possible salvation for Adam, and every individual of his posterity. Adam had killed that which was to have been immortal in him, he had raised that into a life which never should have been alive in him, and therefore that which was to be undone and altered both in himself and his posterity, was this, it was to part with a life that he had raised up into being, and to receive another life, which he had to a certain extent extinguished. And here appears the true, infallible ground of all the sacrifice, and all the blood-shedding that is necessary to redeem and reconcile man to God. It is because the earthly, fleshly, bestial, corruptible life under the elements of this world, is a life raised and brought into man by the fall, and is not that life which God created, but is an impurity in the sight of God, and therefore cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; it is a life, or body of sin, brought forth by sin, and the habitation of sin, and therefore it is a life that must be given up, its blood must be poured out, before man can be released from his sins: this is the one and only ground of all the shedding of blood in religion. Had not a life foreign to the kingdom of God, and utterly incapable of it, been introduced by the fall, there would have been no possible room for the death of any creature, or the pouring out of any blood, as serviceable and instrumental to raising fallen man.
But now, this bestial, animal life which is thus to be given up, and its blood poured out, is but the half, and lesser half of that which is required to deliver man from all that the fall has brought upon him. For the heavenly life, the birth of the Light and Holy Spirit of God which Adam had quite extinguished, was to be kindled or regenerated again; also his first, glorious, immortal body was to be regained, before he could become an inhabitant of the kingdom of heaven: but to accomplish all of this, Adam did not have the power. See here again the true and dreadful state of the fall, it was the fall into such a life, as must be slain and sacrificed before the fallen soul could come to God; and yet this death and sacrifice of the body, which was absolutely necessary, was the most dreadful thing that could happen to man, because his own death, come when it would, would only remove him from the light of this world into eternal darkness, and the hellish state of fallen angels: and here we find the true reason, why man's own death, though a sacrifice necessary to be made, had yet nothing of atonement or satisfaction in it; it was because it left the eternal wrath of nature, and the hell that was therein, unquenched and un-extinguished in the soul, and therefore made no reconcilement to God, no restoration to the creature of its first state and life in God, but left the soul in its dark, wrathful separation from the kingdom of light and love. But here the amazing infinity of divine love appeared, such a mystery of love as will be the universal song of praise to all eternity. Here God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, took human nature upon him, became a suffering, dying man, that there might be found a man, whose sufferings, blood and death had power to extinguish the wrath and hell that sin had brought forth, and to be a fountain of the first heavenly life to the whole race of mankind. It was human nature that was fallen, that had lost its first heavenly life, and had become a bestial, diabolical life in the stead of it. Now if this human nature was to be restored, there was but one possible way, it must go back to the state from which it came, it must put off all that it had put on, it must regain all that it had lost: but the human nature that fell, could not do any of this, and yet all this must be done in and by that human nature which is fallen, or it could never, to all eternity, come out of the state of its fall; for it could not possibly come out of the state of its fall, but by putting off all that, which the fall had brought upon it. And thus stood man, as to all the powers of nature and creature, in an utter impossibility of salvation, and had only a short life of this world between himself and hell.
But let us now change scene, and behold the wonders of a new creation, where all things are called out of the curse and death of sin, and created again to life in Christ Jesus; where all mankind are chosen and appointed to the recovery of their first glorious life, by a new birth from a second Adam, who, as an universal redeemer, takes the place of the first fallen father of mankind, and so gives life and immortality, and heaven to all that they had lost in Adam. God, according to the riches of his love, raised man out of the loins of Adam, in whose mysterious person, the whole humanity, and the Word of God was personally united; that same Word which had been in-spoken into Adam at his fall, as a secret bruiser of the serpent, and real beginning of his salvation; so that in this second Adam, God and man were one person. And in this union of the divine and human nature lies the foundation and possibility of our recovery. For in this way the holy Jesus became qualified to be the second Adam, or universal regenerator of all that are born of the first Adam. For being himself that Deity, which as a spark or seed of life was given to Adam, thus all that were born of Adam had also a birth from him, and so stood under him, as their common father and regenerator of a heavenly life in them. And it was this first in-spoken Word of life which was given to Adam, that makes all mankind to be the spiritual children of the second Adam, though he was not born into the world until so many years after the fall. For seeing the same Word that became their perfect redeemer in the fullness of time, was in them from the beginning, as a beginning of their redemption, therefore he stood related to all mankind as a fountain and deriver of an heavenly life into them, in the same universal manner as Adam was the fountain and deriver of a miserable mortality in them. And seeing also this great and glorious redeemer had in himself the whole humanity, both as it was before and after the fall, i.e., in his inward man the perfection of the first Adam, and in his outward the weakness and mortality of the fallen nature; and seeing he had all this, as the un-doer of all that Adam had done, as the over-comer of death, as the raiser of our heavenly life, therefore it was, that all his conquests over this world, sin, death, and hell, were not the conquests of a single person that terminated in himself, but had their real effect and effective merit through all human nature, because he was the appointed father and regenerator of the whole human nature, and as such, had that same relation to it all as Adam had: and therefore as Adam's fall, sin and death, did not, could not terminate in himself, because he was our appointed father, from whom we must have such a state and condition of life as he had; so the righteousness, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ into the kingdom of heaven did not terminate in Himself, but became ours, because he is our appointed second Adam, from whom we are to derive such a state and condition of life as he had; and therefore all that are born again of him, are certainly born into his state of victory and triumph over the world, sin, death and hell.
Now here is opened to us the true reason of the whole process of our savior's incarnation, passion, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven: it was because fallen man was to go through all these stages as necessary parts of his return to God; and therefore, if man was to go out of his fallen state, there must be a son of this fallen man, who, as a head and fountain of the whole race, could do all this, could go back through all these gates, and so make it possible for all the individuals of human nature, as being born of him, to inherit his conquering nature, and follow him through all these passages to eternal life. And so we see, in the strongest and clearest light, both why and how the holy Jesus has become our great redeemer. Had he failed in any of these things, had he not been all that he was, and did all that he did, he could not have made one full, perfect, sufficient atonement and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, that is, he could not have been and done that, which in the nature of the thing was absolutely necessary, and fully sufficient to take the whole human race out of the bondage and captivity of their fallen state. Thus, had he not really had the divine nature in his person, he could not have begun to be our second Adam from the time of the fall, nor could we have stood related to him as children, that had received a new birth from him. Neither could he have made a beginning of a divine life in our fallen nature, but that he was that God who could make our nature begin again where it had failed in our first father. Without this divinity in his person, the perfection of his humanity would have been as helpless to us as the perfection of an angel. Again, had he not been man, and in human nature overcome sin and temptation, he could have been no savior of fallen man, because nothing that he had done would have been done in and to the fallen nature. Adam might as well have derived sin into the angels by his fall, as Christ had derived righteousness into us by his life, if he had not stood both in our nature, and as the common father and regenerator of it; therefore his incarnation was necessary to deliver us from our sins, and accordingly the scripture says, "he was manifest in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil." Again, if Christ had not renounced this life, as heartily and thoroughly as Adam chose it, and declared absolutely for another kingdom in another world; if he had not sacrificed the life he took up in and from this world, he could not have been our redeemer, and therefore the scripture continually ascribes atonement, satisfaction, redemption, and remission of sins to his sufferings and death. Again, had not our Lord entered into that state of eternal death which fallen man was eternally to inherit; had he not broken from it as its conqueror, and rose again from the dead, he could not have delivered us from the effects of our sins, and therefore the apostle says, "If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins." But I must enlarge a little upon the nature and merits of our savior's last sufferings. It is plain from scripture that that death, which our blessed Lord died on the cross, was absolutely necessary for our salvation; that he, as our savior, was to taste death for every man, that as the captain of our salvation, he was to be made perfect through sufferings, that there was no entrance for fallen man into paradise until Christ had overcome death and hell, or that first and second death which stood between us and it. Now the absolute necessity of our Savior's doing and suffering all this, plainly appears, as soon as we consider him as the second Adam, who, as such, is to undo all the evil that the first Adam had done in human nature; and therefore must enter into every state that belonged to this fallen nature, restoring in every state that which was lost, quickening that which was extinguished, and overcoming in every state that by which man was overcome. And therefore as eternal death was as certainly brought forth in our souls, as temporal death in our bodies, as this death was a state that belonged to fallen man, therefore our Lord was obliged to taste this dreadful death, to enter into the realities of it, that he might carry our nature victoriously through it. And as fallen man was to have entered into this eternal death at his giving up the ghost in this world, so the second Adam, as reversing all that the first had done, was to stand in this second death upon the cross, and die from it into that paradise out of which Adam the first died into this world. Now when the time drew near that our blessed Lord was to enter upon his last great sufferings, i.e., the realities of that second death through which he was to pass, then it was that all the anguishing terrors of a lost soul began to open themselves in him; then all that eternal death which Adam had brought into his soul, when it lost the Light and Spirit of heaven, began to be awakened, and stirring in the second Adam, who was come to stand in the last state of the fallen soul, to be encompassed with that eternal death and sensibility of hell, which must have been the everlasting state of fallen man. The beginning of our Lord's entrance into the terrible jaws of this second death, may be justly dated from those affecting words, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here with me and watch." See here the Lord of life reduced to such distress as to beg the prayers, watching, and assistance of his poor disciples! A plain proof that it was not the sufferings of this world, but a state of dreadful dereliction that was coming upon him. O holy redeemer, that I knew how to describe the anguishing terrors of your soul, when you were entering into eternal death, that no other son of man might fall into it. The progress of these terrors are plainly shown us in our Lord's agony in the garden, when the reality of this eternal death so broke in upon him, so awakened and stirred itself in him, as to force great drops of blood to sweat from his body. This was that bitter cup which made him withdraw himself, prostrate himself, and thrice repeat an earnest prayer, that if it were possible, it might pass from him, but at the same time heartily prayed to drink it according to the divine will. This was that cup he was drinking from the sixth to the ninth hour on the cross, nailed to the terrors of a twofold death, when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We are not to suppose that our Lord's agony was the terrors of a person that was going to be murdered, or the fears of that death which men could inflict upon him; for he had told his disciples, not to fear them that could only kill the body, and therefore we may be sure he had no such fears himself. No, his agony was his entrance into the last, eternal terrors of the lost soul, into the real horrors of that dreadful, eternal death, which man unredeemed must have died into when he left this world. We are therefore not to consider our Lord's death upon the cross, as only the death of that mortal body which was nailed to it, but we are to look upon him with wounded hearts, as fixed and fastened in the state of that twofold death, which was due to the fallen nature, out of which he could not come until he could say, "It is finished; Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." In that instant he gave up the ghost of this earthly life; and as a proof of his having overcome all the bars and chains of death and hell, he rent the rocks, opened the graves, and brought the dead to life, and triumphantly entered into that long shut up paradise, out of which Adam died, and in which he promised the thief, he should that day be with him. When therefore you behold the cross, which finely represents to your senses the savior of the world hanging on the cross, let not your thoughts stay on any sufferings, or death, that the malice of men can cause; for he hung there in greater distress than any human power can inflict, forsaken of God, feeling, bearing, and overcoming the pains and darkness of that eternal death which the fallen soul of Adam had brought into it. For as Adam by his fall, or death in paradise, had nothing left in his soul, but the nature, properties and life of hell, all which must have awakened in him in their full strength, as soon as he had lost the flesh, and blood, and light of this world, as this eternal death was a state that belonged to man by the fall, so there was an absolute necessity that the savior of man should enter into all these awakened realities of the last eternal death, and come victoriously out of them, or man would never have been redeemed from them. For the fallen nature could in no possibly way be saved, but by its own coming victoriously out of every part of its fallen state; and therefore all this was to be done by that son of man, from whom we had a power of deriving into us his victorious nature. Lastly, if our blessed Lord was not ascended into heaven, and set on the right hand of God, he could not deliver us from our sins; and therefore the scripture ascribes to him, as ascended, a perpetual priesthood in heaven: "If any man sin," says St. John, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." All these things therefore are so many equally essential parts of our savior's character, and he is the one atonement, the full satisfaction for sin, the savior and deliverer from the bondage, power, and effects of sin. And to ascribe our deliverance from sin, or the remission of our sins more to the life and actions, than to the death of Christ, or to his death more than to his resurrection and ascension, is directly contrary to the plain letter and tenor of the scripture, which speaks of all these things as jointly qualifying our Lord to be the all-sufficient redeemer of mankind; and when speaking separately of any of them, ascribes the same power, efficacy, and redeeming virtue to one as to the other. And all this is very plain from the nature of the thing; for since all these things are necessary parts or stages of our return to God, every one of them must have the same necessary share in delivering us from our sinful state; and therefore what our savior did, as living, dying, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven, are things that he did as equally necessary, and equally effectual to our full deliverance from all the power, effects, and consequences of our sins. And here we may see, in the plainest light, how Christ is said to bear our iniquities, to be made sin for us, and how his sufferings have delivered us from the guilt and sufferings due to our sins, and how we are saved by him. It is not by an arbitrary, discretionary pleasure of God, accepting the sufferings of an innocent person, as a sufficient amends or satisfaction for the sins of criminals. This is by no means the true ground of this matter. In this view we neither think rightly of our savior, nor rightly of God's receiving us to salvation through him. God is reconciled to us through Jesus Christ in no other sense than as we are new born, new created in Christ Jesus. This is the only merit we have from him. Jesus Christ was made sin for us, he bore our iniquities, he saved us, not by giving the merit of his innocent unjust sufferings as a full payment for our demerits, but he saved us because he made himself one of us, became a member of our nature, and such a member of our nature, as had power to heal, remove, and overcome all the evils that were brought into our nature by the fall. He bore our iniquities and saved us, because he stood in our nature as our common father, as one that had the same relation to all mankind as Adam had, and from whom we can derive all the conquering power of his nature, and so are enabled to come out of our guilt and iniquities by having his nature derived into us. This is the whole of what is meant by having our guilty condition transferred upon him, and his merit transferred upon us: our guilt is transferred upon him in no other sense than as he took upon him the state and condition of our fallen nature, to bear all its troubles, undergo all its sufferings, until he had healed and overcome all the effects of sin. His merit or righteousness is imputed or derived into us in no other sense, than as we receive from him a birth, a nature, a power to become the sons of God. Therefore it appears, what vain disputes the world has had upon this subject, and how this edifying, glorious part of religion has been perplexed and lost in the fictions and difficulties of scholastic learning. Some people have much puzzled themselves and others with this question, how it is consistent with the goodness and equity of God to permit, or accept the sufferings of an innocent person as a satisfaction for the guilt and punishment of criminal offenders? But this question can only be put by those, who have not yet known the most fundamental doctrine of the gospel salvation; for according to the gospel, the question should proceed like this, How it is consistent with the goodness and equity of God, to raise such an innocent, mysterious person out of the loins of fallen man, as was able to remove all the evil and disorder that was brought into the fallen nature? This is the only question that is according to the true ground of our redemption, and at once disperses all those difficulties which are the mere products of human invention. The short of the matter is this: Man considered as created, or fallen, or redeemed, is that which he is, because of his state in nature; he can have no goodness in him when created, but because he is brought into such a participation of a goodness that there is in nature; he can have no evil in himself when fallen, but because he is fallen from his good state in nature; he can in no way be redeemed, but by being brought into his first state of perfection in nature; and therefore, this is an eternal, immutable truth, that he can be redeemed by the God of nature, only according to the possibilities of nature: and here lies the true ground, the whole reason of all that our savior was, and did, and suffered on our account: it was because in and through all nature there could be no other relief found for us: it was because nothing less than such a process of such a mysterious person could have power to undo all the evils that were done in and to the human nature; and therefore it is not only consistent with the goodness and equity of God to bring such a mysterious person into the world, but is the most infinite instance of his most infinite love to all mankind, that can possibly be conceived and adored by us.
To proceed:
By the fall of our first father we have lost our first, glorious bodies, that eternal, celestial flesh and blood which had as truly the nature of paradise and heaven in it, as our present bodies have the nature, mortality and corruption of this world in them: if therefore we are to be redeemed, there is an absolute necessity that our souls be clothed again with this first paradisiacal, or heavenly flesh and blood, or we can never enter into the kingdom of God. Now, this is the reason, why the scriptures speak so clearly, so frequently, and so emphatically of the powerful blood of Christ, of the great benefit it is to us, of its redeeming, quickening, life-giving virtue; it is because our first life, or heavenly flesh and blood is born again in us, or derived again into us from this blood of Christ Our blessed Lord, who died for us, had not only that outward flesh and blood, which he received from the virgin Mary, and which died upon the cross, but he had also an holy humanity of heavenly flesh and blood veiled under it, which was appointed by God to quicken, generate, and bring forth from itself, such an holy offspring of immortal flesh and blood, as Adam the first should have brought forth before his fall. If our Lord Christ had not had a heavenly humanity, consisting of such flesh and blood as is not of this world, he would not have been as perfect as Adam was, nor could our birth from him, raise us to that perfection, which we had lost, nor could his blood be said to purchase, ransom, redeem, and restore us; because, as it is heavenly flesh and blood that we have lost, so we can only have it ransomed and restored to us, by that blood which is of the same heavenly and immortal nature with that which we have lost. Our common faith, therefore, obliges us to hold, that our Lord had the perfection of the first Adam's flesh and blood united with, and veiled under that fallen nature, which he took upon him from the blessed virgin Mary. Had he not taken our fallen nature upon him, nothing that he had done, could have been of any advantage to us, or brought any ransom or redemption to our fallen nature; and had he not taken our nature as it was before the fall, he could not have been our second Adam, or a restorer to us of that nature, which we should have had from Adam if he had not fallen. Now, what our common faith fully teaches, concerning a heavenly, as well as earthly humanity, which our Lord had, is also plainly signified to us by several clear texts of scripture; as where he said of himself, "I am from above, you are from beneath," again, "I am not of this world," and further, "No one ascends into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven": these and other texts of like nature, which plainly speak of something in our blessed Lord, which can neither be understood of his divinity, nor of that flesh and blood which he received from the virgin Mary, has forced some scholastic divines to hold the pre-existence of our savior's soul, which is an opinion utterly inconsistent with our redemption; for it is as necessary that our Lord should have a soul as well as a body derived from Adam, in order to be the redeemer of Adam's offspring: but all these texts, which a learned, merely literal person, has in this way mistaken, only prove this great, necessary, and edifying truth, that our blessed Lord had a heavenly humanity, which clothed itself with the flesh and blood of this world in the womb of the virgin; and from that heavenly humanity, or life-giving blood it is, that our first heavenly, immortal flesh and blood is generated and formed in us again; and therefore his blood is truly the atonement, the ransom, the redemption, the life of the world; because it brings forth, and generates from itself the paradisiacal, immortal flesh and blood, as certainly, as really, as the blood of fallen Adam brings forth and generates from itself the sinful, vile, corruptible flesh and blood of this life. Would you like to further know, what blood this is, that has this atoning, life-giving quality in it? It is that blood which is to be received in the holy sacrament. Would you like to know, why it quickens, raises and restores the inward man that died in paradise? The answer is from Christ himself, "He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him, that is, he is born of my flesh and blood." Would you know, why the apostle said, "that He has purchased us by his blood," Acts 28:28. "That we have redemption through his blood," Ephes.1:7. Why he prays, "the God of peace--through the blood of the everlasting covenant, to make us perfect in every good work to do his will"; it is because the holy Jesus said, "except we drink his blood, we have no life in us," and therefore the drinking his blood, is the same thing as receiving a life of heavenly flesh and blood from him: and all this is only saying, that our savior, the second Adam, must do that for us and in us, which the first Adam should have done; his blood must be that to us by way of descent, or birth from him, which the blood of our first father, if he had not fallen, would have been to us; and as this blood of an immortal life is lost by the fall, so he from whom we receive it again by a secondary way, is justly and truly said, to purchase, to redeem, and ransom us by his blood. Now, there is but one redeeming, sanctifying, life-giving blood of Christ, and it is that which gave and shed itself under the veil of that outward flesh and blood that was sacrificed upon the cross; it is that holy and heavenly flesh and blood which is to be received in the holy sacrament; it is that holy, immortal flesh and blood which Adam had before the fall, of which blood, if we had drank, that is, if we had been born of it, we would not have needed a savior, but would have had such flesh and blood as could have entered into the kingdom of heaven; had we received this holy, immortal flesh and blood from Adam before his fall, it would have been called our being born of his flesh and blood; but because we receive that same flesh and blood from Jesus Christ, our second Adam, by our faith, our hunger and desire of it; therefore it is justly called our eating and drinking his flesh and blood. And here we have another strong scripture proof, that our savior had heavenly flesh and blood veiled under that which he received from the virgin Mary. For does not the holy sacrament undeniably prove to us, that he had a heavenly flesh entirely different from that which was seen nailed to the cross, and which was to be a heavenly, substantial food to us; that he had a blood entirely different from that which was seen to run out of his mortal body, which blood we are to drink of, and live for ever? Now, that flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God, is a scripture truth; and yet it must be affirmed to be a truth according to the same scriptures, that flesh and blood can, and must enter into the kingdom of God, or else, neither Adam, nor any of his posterity could enter in; therefore, it is a scripture truth, that there is a flesh and blood that has the nature, the likeness, and qualities of heaven in it, that is as wholly different from the flesh and blood of this world, as heaven is different from the earth. For if the flesh and blood that we now have, cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven, and yet we must be flesh and blood, for ever in heaven; then it follows, that there is a real flesh and blood that has nothing of this world in it, that neither arises from it, nor is nourished by it, but will subsist eternally, when this world is dissolved and gone. Now, if this flesh and blood is lost by the fall of our first father, and if the blood which we derive from him is the cause, the seat, and principle of our mortal, corruptible, impure life; if from the blood of this first father, all our un-holiness, impurity and misery is derived into us, then we may clearly understand what is meant by our being redeemed by the blood of Christ, and why the scriptures speak so much of his atoning, quickening, life-giving, cleansing, sanctifying blood; it is because it is to us the reverse of the blood of Adam, it is the cause, the seat, the principle of our holiness and purity of life; it is that from which we derive an immortal, holy flesh and blood in the same reality from this second Adam, as we inherit a corrupt, impure, and earthly flesh and blood from our first Adam: and therefore that which would have been done to us by our birth, if we had been born of the holy blood of Adam un-fallen, that we are to understand to be done to us, in and by the holy blood of Christ. For the blood of Christ is that to us in the way of redemption, which the blood of our first father should have been to us in the order of creation; for the redemption has no other end, but to raise us from our fall, to do that for us, which we should have had by the condition of our creation, if our father had kept his state of glory and immortality; and this is a certain truth, that there would have been no eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ in the Christian scheme of redemption, but that the flesh and blood which we should have had from Adam, must of all necessity be had, before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Here therefore is plainly discovered to us, the true nature, necessity and benefit of the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper; both why, and how, and for what end, we must of all necessity, eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Christ. No figurative meaning of the words is here to be sought for, we must eat Christ's flesh, and drink his blood in the same reality, as he took upon him the real flesh and blood of the blessed virgin: we can have no real relation to Christ, can be no true members of his mystical body, but by being real partakers of that same kind of flesh and blood, which was truly his, and was his, for this very end, that through him, the same might be brought forth in us: all this is strictly true of the holy sacrament, according to the plain letter of the expression; which sacrament was thus instituted, that the great service of the church might continually show us, that the whole of our redemption consisted in receiving the birth, spirit, life and nature of Jesus Christ into us, in being born of him, and clothed with a heavenly flesh and blood from him, just as the whole of our fall consists in our being born of Adam's sinful nature and spirit, and in having a vile, corrupt and impure flesh and blood from him. But what flesh and blood are we to eat and drink? Not such as we have already, not such as any offspring of Adam has, not such as can have its life and death by, and from the elements of this world; and therefore, not that outward, visible, mortal flesh and blood of Christ, which he took from the virgin Mary, and was seen on the cross, but a heavenly, immortal flesh and blood, which came down from heaven, which has the nature, qualities, and life of heaven in it, according to which our Lord said of himself, that he was a "Son of Man come down from heaven," that "he was not of this world," that "he was from above," that very flesh and blood which we should have received from Adam, if we had kept his first glorious and immortal nature. For as the flesh and blood which we lost by his fall, was the flesh and blood of eternal life, so it is in the holy sacrament, that we may eat, and live for ever: this is the adorable height and depth of this divine mystery, which brings heaven and immortality again into us, and gives us power to become sons of God. Woe be to those who come to it with the mouths of beasts, and the minds of serpents! who, with impenitent hearts, devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, for worldly ends, outward appearances, and secular conformity, boldly meddle with those mysteries that are only to be approached by those that are of a pure heart, and who worship God in spirit and truth. Justly may it be said of such, that they eat and drink damnation to themselves, not discerning, that is, not regarding, not reverencing, not humbly adoring the mysteries of the Lord's body. If you ask how the eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ, is the receiving that flesh and blood of eternal life, which we should have had from Adam himself, it is for this plain reason, because the same kind of flesh and blood is in Christ, that was in Adam, and is in Christ as it was in Adam, for this very end, that it might be derived into all his offspring: so that we come to the sacrament of the blessed body and blood of Christ, because he is our second Adam, from whom we must now receive that eternal, celestial flesh and blood which we should have had from our first father; and therefore it is, that the apostle said, the "first Adam was made a living soul," that is, had a life in himself, which could have brought forth an eternal ever-living offspring; but having brought forth a dead race, the last Adam, as the restorer of the life that was lost, was made a quickening spirit, because quickening again that life which Adam as a living soul, should have brought forth. And consequently we have the plain and full truth of the most mysterious part of this holy sacrament, delivered from the tedious strife of words, and that thickness of darkness which learned contenders on all sides have brought into it. The letter and spirit of scripture are here both preserved, and the mystery appears so amiable, so intelligible, and so beneficial, as must raise a true and earnest devotion in everyone that is capable of hungering and thirsting after eternal life. And this true and sound knowledge of the holy sacrament could never have been lost, if this scripture truth had not been overlooked; namely, that Christ is our second Adam, that he is to do that for us, which Adam should have done; that we are to have that life from him, as a quickening spirit, which we should have had from Adam as a living soul; and that our redemption is only doing a second time, or in a second way, that which should have been done by the first order of our creation: this plain doctrine attended to, would sufficiently show us, that the flesh and blood of eternal life, which we are to receive from Christ, must be that flesh and blood of eternal life which we lost in Adam. Now, if we had received this immortal flesh and blood by our descent from Adam, we must in the strictness of the expression have been said to partake of the flesh and blood of Adam; so seeing we now receive it from Christ, we must in the same strictness of expression, be said to be real partakers of the flesh and blood of Christ, because He has the same heavenly flesh and blood which Adam had, and for the same end that Adam had it; namely, that it may come by and through him into us. And thus is this great sacrament, which is a continual part of our Christian worship, a continual communication to us of all the benefits of our second Adam; for in and by the body and blood of Christ, to which the divine nature is united, we receive all that life, immortality, and redemption, which Christ, as living, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven, brought to human nature; so that this great mystery is that, in which all the blessings of our redemption and new life in Christ are centered. And they that hold a sacrament short of this reality of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, cannot be said to hold that sacrament of eternal life, which was instituted by our blessed Lord and savior.
FINIS.
Of Justification by Faith and Works
By WILLIAM LAW
Written 1760
A dialogue between A Methodist and a Churchman
Methodist.
Say what you will, sir, I must still believe, that almost all the sermons
preached for these last hundreds of years, have been full of soul-destroying
doctrine.
Christian. Pray, what is that doctrine?
Methodist. It is the doctrine of salvation, "Partly by faith, and Partly by works; or justification by faith and works."
Christian. Salvation by faith and works, is a plain, and very intelligible Scripture-truth. But salvation partly by faith and partly by works, is a false and groundless interpretation of the matter, proceeding either from ignorance, or deceit. What sounder Gospel-truth, than to say, that we are saved by Jesus Christ, God and man? But, what falser account could be given of it, than to say, that if so, then we are saved, partly by Jesus, and partly by Christ; that Jesus does something, and Christ adds the rest. For is not Jesus Christ, as such, the one undivided Savior, with one undivided operation? And who can more endeavor to lose the meaning, and pervert the sense of this Gospel truth, than he, who considers Jesus, as separately, and Christ as separately, doing their parts one after the other, the one making up what was wanting in the other, towards the work of our salvation? Now to separate faith from works, in this manner, the one partly doing this, and the other partly doing that, is in as full contrariety to Scripture, to all truth, and the nature of the thing, as to separate Jesus from Christ. For as the one Savior is manifested in and by Jesus Christ, one undivided person; so the one salvation is manifested, when faith is in works, and works are in faith, as Jesus is in Christ, and Christ is in Jesus. Again, how plain and good a Scripture-truth is this, that the loving of God with all the powers of our heart, soul, and spirit, and the loving of our neighbor as ourselves, is the one true fulfilling of the whole Law and prophets. But how falsely would this be set forth by him who should say, that it is partly the love of God, and partly the love of our neighbor, the one adding that which the other wanted, and doing that which the other could not do; as if they were two separate things, which with their different powers make up the fulfilling of the Law. For these two loves, or rather the two names of love, are, in the strictest truth, but one thing, one divine spirit of love, from one ground, full of one and the same operation, no more different, or separable from one another, than flame is different, or separable from its natural propensity to fly upwards. Thus John said, "If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar"; but he could not therefore be a liar, if the love of God was a different, or separate thing from the love of our neighbor. 777Yet this is your friend's false and mistaken way of setting forth justification, if it really were true, that it is by faith and works; namely, his dividing them asunder from one another, and ascribing his own invented to some extent, first to one, and then to the other; all which is as mere fiction, and full of the same absurdity, as if some other scholar, should with the like partially set forth the state of a living creature; i.e., that if it is in a living state, it must be so, partly by life, and partly by its living operations, as if life and its living operations were two distinct and separate things, that contributed their separate powers, and joined in their different actions, to make and keep up a living creature. This, and not one jot less, is the absurdity of your partly this and partly that, ascribed to a justification, supposed to be the effect of faith and works. For Christian faith and Christian works, are as much one and the same indivisible thing, as life is one and the same indivisible thing with its living operations.
Methodist. I can call all this nothing else but quibbling about words, and mere running away from the only thing which ought to be debated, and that is, whether St. Paul has not, over and over, placed the whole of justification in and by faith alone?
Christian. Let me ask you, did you ever hear or read of a dead faith, and a living faith, or do you think the difference between them to be nothing at all, but that the one has as much of justification in it as the other?
Methodist. This is a trifling question, since you know, as well as I do, that our awakened preacher has expressly declared, that there is dead faith, and that it is then dead, when it worketh not by love.
Christian. Well then, if so, the matter stands thus; works prove faith to be living; want of works prove faith to be dead; and therefore you conclude, that it is a soul-destroying doctrine, to teach Christians, that they are to be saved by faith and works. Surely, sir, you are not quite awake.
Methodist. You are growing hot, my friend, but be as hot as you will, I must tell you in the words of Mr. B_____, "That be you ever so sober, serious, just, and devout, you are still under the curse of God, provided you have any allowed reliance on your own good works, and think that they are to do something for you, and Christ to do the rest."
Christian. In answer to this, I only say, that be you and your friend ever so full of faith, so that you could remove mountains, you are still under the curse of God, provided you have allowed any reliance upon your own faith, and think that it is to do something for you, and Christ to do the rest. For a reliance upon our own faith, and a reliance upon our own works, are just that same good thing, and equally contrary to the truth of faith, and the truth of works.
Methodist. What true Methodist ever called true faith our own faith? Does not the Scripture say, it is the gift of God?
Christian. What true Christian ever called good works our own works? Does not Scripture say, "it is God who worketh in us, both to will, and to do?" Now if your faith may be called good and saving, because it is God's gift, and power within you; then a Christian's works may be called good and saving, or such as work out his salvation, because they are all accomplished in God, and by his power working in him. But now, suppose one man to rely on his own faith, and another to rely upon his own works, they then are both of them carnally minded, and the faith of the one, and the works of the other, are equally the same worthless, filthy rags. On the other hand, do (as plain Scripture requires you) ascribe good works of the same original, and divine power, as a right faith must be ascribed to, and then faith and works are equally one power of God to salvation, because equally the same saving, redeeming, and sanctifying work of God in our souls.
Methodist. I wonder you should thus strive to puzzle and darken one of the greatest, and most plain truths of the Gospel. Can anything be more plain than the case of the Pharisee, he said, "God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess,"? Here you have works pleading their cause. Now how came the publican without any works, saying only, "God be merciful to me a sinner," to be justified rather than this good working Pharisee? Can anything be more decisive than this?
Christian. Let it then be supposed that the Pharisee had said, God, I thank You, that my faith is not like other men's faith, it needs not the help of fasting and praying. I ask you, "had this been a better Pharisee than the other?" Had this boasting of a faith been better than that boasting of works? Or might not Christ have here justly said, that the publican's "God be merciful to me a sinner," had more of God and goodness in it, than the Pharisee's boasting of his solitary faith? But now, if such a passage as this, of a Pharisee boasting of a faith without works, was to be found in Scripture, and condemned by Christ, surely it would be great delusion to appeal to it, as a full and decisive proof of the vanity and insignificancy of faith, and of its being rejected by Christ, as of no avail. Yet this would be full as well, as to appeal to what Christ said of the Pharisee's boasted works, as a full proof that works are rejected by Christ, as worse than nothing.
Methodist. Say what you will, I am fully assured of this great truth, thus expressed by our friend, "That the moment a man seeks to be justified by his own obedience to God's laws, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him."
Christian. Here just the same answer as before will be sufficient, viz., that the moment a man seeks to be saved or justified by his own faith in God, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him. This is just as good an argument against faith itself, as your friend's is against works. For own faith and own obedience are at the same distance from God, and are as mere works of the flesh, as self-seeking and self-love. But if your friend would have spoken to the purpose of the matter in hand, he should have expressed himself thus, viz., that the moment a man seeks to be justified, or made acceptable to God, by works accomplished by the Spirit of Christ living in Him, that moment he falls from Christ, and ceases to have an interest in Him. Had he thus expressed himself, you see what an absurdity there had been in it, and yet, without thus expressing himself, his words are quite foreign to the matter, and touch not those works, which are affirmed to be essential to a justifying faith. For the true Christian man never thinks, or talks of being justified by any "own obedience", any more than of being washed and saved by his own precious blood. But though he has no "own obedience," no "own works," any more than he has an "own will," and own love, yet he has an obedience and works, and will and love that reach heaven, and unite with God. How so? It is because by the supernatural WORD and SPIRIT of God, come to a fullness of birth in him, his obedience, his works, his will, his love, are that which they are, and do that which they do on earth, to the glory, and by the same Spirit of God, as angels do in heaven. This is the new creature that is justified by faith and works. Suppose faith to be not from Christ, or works not from Christ, and then they are both of them but works of the flesh. But add Christ to faith, and Christ to works, and then they are but one and the same power of God to salvation, and all difference between faith and works is lost, and nothing remains, but "Christ in us the Hope of Glory." But your friend forgetting, or not knowing, that no works, are called salvation works, or pleaded for as such, but those that Christ worketh in us, considers, and confounds all works as own works, and selfish works, and so condemns Christian works, and the necessity of them, upon no other ground, but because own works, which proceed from self, are false, vain, and unprofitable to our salvation. Whereas our blessed Lord, has in the plainest manner distinguished them from one another, and shown us, when and how works are good and Godly, and works of salvation, justification, and sanctification. "When you do your alms," says He, "do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, to be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." Here you see what an own work is, and why it has no salvation-goodness in it, it is because it is done only to trumpet forth its own glory. Now where anything like this trumpet goes along, either with that which we call faith, or works, though it should have ever so heavenly an appearance, it has only the nature, and can have only the reward of vainglorious alms. God said to a holy prophet of old, "Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet." Here is one kind of a religious trumpet. The Pharisees were learned men, and full of religious zeal, and they also had their religious trumpet, which our Lord condemned. Therefore zeal and trumpeting, are not good, and things to be trusted to, because they pretend religion, but may be as different from one another, as a Pharisee is from a holy prophet. This ought to be well considered by all, who set a trumpet to their mouths in God's cause; for if all that was alive in the trumpeting prophet, be not alive in them, they will begin too soon, and run before they are sent by God, to preach of the true life, and the true death, to a world ignorant, and careless about them. Again, our Lord says, "when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward," and can have no better reward, because he that thus prays, makes prayers an own work of own glory, and therefore they are but an abomination before God. But now, will you therefore tell the world, that alms and prayers are soul-destroying things, or at best but mere filthy rags, that signify nothing to him that uses them, because such alms and prayers are said to be so by Christ? For has not Christ in this very place taught you the direct contrary, and said as much of the salvation-power of good works, as he has said of the nothingness of Pharisaical works? "When you do your alms," says he, "let not your left hand know what your right hand does." And again, "When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret, and your Father which sees in secret, shall reward you openly." Why is all this secrecy? It is, that the whole work, may be solely from, and to, and for God, and that self may have neither beginning, nor end, or the least share in it. Now I ask, have these alms and these prayers nothing of salvation-goodness in them, when our Lord therefore commands them, that we may thereby obtain a reward in heaven? Can they help us to a reward in heaven, without helping forward our salvation? If a heavenly reward follows such works as these, must they not on the same ground, in the strictest sense of the words, be called saving alms, saving prayers, as any faith, from Adam or Abraham to this day, can be called saving faith? What are all the promises made to the faith of the fathers, of a "city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God"? what is that better and heavenly country, which was to be the reward of their faith, but these very rewards here promised by Christ to the works of Christian alms, and Christian prayers? Our blessed Lord's whole divine sermon on the mount, is nothing else but a continual doctrine of good works, and a continual doctrine of such rewards as belong to the faithful, diligent workers. No blessedness is ascribed to a single faith, but all along to some one or other Godly work. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Do good to them that hate you. Give to him that asks of you." But why all this? It is, "that you may be children of your Father, which is in heaven." Surely then such works as make us to be children of our Father, which is in heaven, may be said to be saving works.
Methodist. Well, now I fully believe, what a very great man has often said, that you have not one right thought or notion about justification. But however for once, I must desire you to say, what, and when, and where justification is.
Christian. Surely I shall not be much mistaken, if I shall venture to say, it is then and there, where is no condemnation. Now St. Paul says, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." If you ask him, who are those that are in Christ Jesus? he tells you in the very next words, they are those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." But no one does, or can walk after the flesh, but he who does the works of the flesh, nor anyone walk after the Spirit, but he who does the works of the Spirit. So then whether you consider justification, or condemnation, works are the whole of the matter. No condemnation but from our evil works, no justification but from our good works. Evil works are from the spirit of Satan, working and ruling in our animal birth of Adam's poisoned flesh and blood. Good works are from the Spirit of Christ, working in that blessed seed of the woman, or incorruptible seed of the WORD (common to all men) till it comes to a birth of the new creature, created unto good works in Christ Jesus. Thus the works of the devil in us, are our only condemnation, and the works of Christ in us, are our only justification. And by your works, you shall be justified, is just the same scriptural, immutable truth, as by your works you shall be condemned. Would you see the truth of justification, and the truth of condemnation, free from all possibility of mistake, look how the righteous judge of all the world, will proceed at the last day. Mankind is then to be divided into two sorts of people, the one called sheep, the other goats. To the sheep, says Christ, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." From where does this blessedness come, or how did they become blessed heirs of such a prepared kingdom? The one sole reason of it, is this given by Christ, namely because of their good works. "For I was an hungered and ye gave Me meat, naked and ye clothed Me, sick and in prison, and ye visited Me." Here you have the last, full and final justification, ascribed to nothing else but works, done in and by and for Christ. Is there here any room left for you, or any Christian to ask one single question, or have the least doubtful thought about justification, what it is, and how it comes to pass? Can you be taught by an higher authority, or in plainer words, that works, Christian works, are all the justification that will stand you in stead at the last day? Again, to the goats says Christ, "Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Whence now have these goats their cursed state, that casts them into the hell of the devil? The one sole reason given by Christ, is because they had not done those works, by which His sheep were justified and blessed, and made to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Here you have the last, full and final condemnation, ascribed to no one thing else, but the want of works. And who is it that teaches you, but He who is the truth itself, and the Father of all truth, both in men and angels. What occasion then for so many labored critical volumes, about faith and works in order to justification? If you hold more or less, or anything else about justification, than that which Christ has here asserted, the spirit of anti-Christ must have helped you to it. For call anything a justifying faith, but good works, and then you have your doctrine as surely from anti-Christ, as if you were to hold, that they were the blessed sheep, whom Christ called goats and cursed. Christ is the one great infallible teacher about justification, and what he has said in two or three words about it, can no more have anything taken from it, or added to it, or altered in it, than his last sentence on His judgment seat. Deceive not yourself, my friend, with a faith, that has not all its goodness, its truth and perfection, from works. For what greater deception can you fall under, than to believe, that anything can be your justification, or your condemnation, while you are in the body, but that which will be your justification, or condemnation, after you are risen from the dead? Now after this determination of Christ, that nothing but works will pass for justification at the last day, look at the determination made by your friend, saying, in the fullest contradiction of Christ, "that justification by faith and works, is a most destructive, papistical, and damnable doctrine. Which doctrine," says he, "I am verily assured, no one can hold, and be in a state of salvation." {Letters, page 22.} Is not every word here, in full condemnation of Christ's doctrine of His sheep and their salvation through works, as a most destructive and damnable doctrine, tending to the destruction of all those who believe it, and walk according to it? For does he who preaches up salvation by faith and works, teach anything else, but that very doctrine which Christ taught, when he said, Come ye blessed, because of the works, which ye have done, and go ye cursed, because wanting the works, which ye should have done. Say no more then, that papists, and popish Protestants, have invented this damnable doctrine of faith and works. Christ is the author of it, and He has sealed it with the same certainty, as the day of judgment. Your friend's "verily assured," is quite as outrageous and frantic, as if he had said, I am verily assured, that damnation will be the state of all preachers and hearers, who do not as fully exclude works from justification now, as Christ will require them for justification hereafter.
Methodist. But pray, sir, if I am to give up my friend's doctrine, must I not give up St. Paul also, as a deceiver and false apostle, for so he must be, if justification is by works? What are his epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, and Ephesians, but so much pains taken, to prove that we are saved, or justified, by faith alone.
Christian. I am as much for all St. Paul's doctrine, as for any other Scripture, and fully believe that he said nothing about faith, but what he said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But if you believe that St. Paul ever said one single word about faith, as it signifies a single act, or operation of the mind, or that he ever distinguished, or divided Christian faith from Christian works, you may be said to have read him with eyes that see not, and ears that hear not.
Methodist. Surely your St. Paul and mine cannot be the same person, or you could never talk at this rate.
Christian. I would ask you whether St. Peter taught a faith without works, when he said to the Jews, "This is the stone, which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts iv.11,12. Now did it ever come into your head, from reading these words of St. Peter, that he there taught a salvation through Christ (that is, through the Gospel religion) by faith without works? See also what Christ Himself had spoke before of this very stone, and the builders that rejected it, therefore, says He, "I say unto you, the kingdom of God," that is, this very stone, "shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," Matt. xxi.43. Now would you from these words of Christ, on which St. Peter's words are grounded, have ever thought of proving that the religion of the Gospel, called by St. Peter the headstone of the corner, and by Christ the kingdom of God bringing forth its fruits, must be a religion of faith without works. What could be more extravagant than this, and yet not more so, than to pretend to prove it from any words of St. Paul. For I defy anyone to show, that he has ever said any more, or other thing about faith alone, or meant anything else by it, as our salvation, but strictly and to a tittle, that same which St. Peter calls the stone, or that Name alone, by which salvation is to be had. St. Paul's faith alone, is nothing else, means nothing else, but the Gospel religion alone, and only attests that divine truth spoke from the beginning to the end of the New Testament, that the Gospel dispensation, or religion, alone, can be the salvation of men. When St. Paul speaks of works, as quite unprofitable, nay hurtful to salvation, nothing is meant by them, but Jewish and heathenish works; and by that faith, which he opposes to them, and sets up in the stead of them, he always means the whole system of Gospel truths, the whole process of Christ, with all the salvation doctrines that belong to it. This is St. Paul's faith alone, by which we can only be saved, just the same thing as St. Peter's saying, there is no other Name under heaven, but this alone by which we can be saved. The only difference between Peter and Paul is this, Peter, in his short expression calls that, the Name alone by which we can be saved, which Paul, in his short expression, calls faith alone, and both of them mean the whole of that, which Christ calls the kingdom of God with its fruits thereof; which kingdom of God is neither more nor less, than the whole Gospel system of Christ's process, with all the benefits and doctrines essential, or belonging to it. Away then with your idle fancy of Paul's ever distinguishing Christian faith from Christian works, or ever giving the smallest preference of the one to the other. To the Jews, who said to Christ, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Christ says, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him, whom He has sent." This St. Paul's sole and whole doctrine about faith alone, it is to believe in Christ, and that belief is the whole Christian work, the whole work that God requires, the whole salvation work. But why so? Because to believe in Christ, is to embrace all and the whole of that, which Christ was, did, suffered, taught, and commanded, as the one only salvation of men.
Methodist. I must confess you have said more than I expected to hear, and more than I can at present answer. But pray show me how it appears, that St. Paul by his faith alone, means nothing else but the Christian religion alone, or the system of Gospel doctrines alone.
Christian. You might as well ask me, how it appears that Paul was an apostle, or witness of Jesus Christ alone; for how could he be an apostle of Christ alone, if he meant anything by his faith alone, but the whole that is meant by the whole Gospel religion of Christ? Therefore wherever St. Paul ascribes salvation to faith alone, you have the fullest proof that he himself could possibly give you, that by faith alone, he means neither more nor less than the whole Gospel religion alone. St. Paul has these words, "God forbid, that I should glory in anything, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here you see, all is rejected by the cross of Christ alone, this alone is His glory, and a good glory it was; but would not all that is true and good in this speech of Paul's be perverted and lost, unless by the cross alone, you understand the whole process, doctrines, and precepts, of a crucified Savior, that is, the whole Christian religion? Now this it is with faith alone; and if Paul had said, God forbid that I should glory in anything but in faith alone in Christ, he had said just the same thing, as when he would have no glory but in the cross alone. For where all that is Christian joy, or hope, or comfort, or salvation, is ascribed to any one single thing, whether it be called faith alone, or the cross alone, there that faith, and that cross, must stand equally, and only for the whole Gospel religion. And then to say, that a man is saved by the cross alone, or by faith alone, is the same sound, and good truth. "I know whom I have believed," says the apostle, and if he had said, I know whom I have followed, whom I have obeyed, the thing had been just the same. For to follow Christ, or to be in the faith of Christ, or to be a disciple of the cross, are three different expressions, but the meaning of them all, is but one and the same. "I am not ashamed," says St. Paul, "of the cross of Christ," just the same as if he had said, I am not ashamed of the Gospel kingdom of Christ. For that he means by the cross, the whole religion of the Gospel, he tells you, in saying, that it is the power of God to salvation; and what is, or can be this power, but that whole process, precepts, and doctrines of Christ, which make the whole religion of the Gospel? Again, "I have determined," says he, "to know nothing among you but Christ, and him crucified." But will you therefore infer, that all other knowledge, whether of the birth, life, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, was rejected by him as quite useless and unprofitable? Yet this would be full as well, as to infer, that because he says, by faith alone ye are saved, therefore no works are to be admitted as saving, but are to be rejected as vain and quite unprofitable to salvation. For the knowledge of Christ crucified alone, and faith alone, are then each of them put for the whole Gospel-religion, and not for faith, as signifying a single power of the mind, nor for the cross, as meaning the single crucifixion of Christ. Further, drop now for a while this consideration of faith, in which St. Paul has used it for the whole Gospel-doctrine, and consider faith in the sense, in which our Lord and the whole Scripture most frequently speak of it, as a living working power of the mind, that wills, and desires, and hopes, and trusts, and believes, and obeys; and in this sense of the word, it will be absolutely true, that works have just the same salvation in them, that faith has, because in the very nature of the thing, works are of the same nature with, and inseparable from faith, let the faith or works be what they will, because faith is nothing else, has nothing else, but what its works are. This is equally true of every man, and every faith in the world, he has no works, but the workings of his faith. For as life has no existence, but in and by its living operations, so faith has no existence, but in its own workings. Now if you will have a life alone without its living operations, then you must have a life that is without motion, without will or desire, without hearing, seeing, feeling, or any inclination to anything, and then you have a life, that is just as good as a dead carcass. So if you will have a Christian faith that is alone, and not made up of works, you must have a Christian faith that has no penitence, no humility, no denial of self, no hunger after righteousness, no striving to enter in at the strait gate, no love of God, or your neighbor. For faith cannot be alone, or without works, till it is without all these workings. And then you have a faith alone, that is just as able to fight St. Paul's good fight of faith, as the dead carcass is to take a city. And let me tell you, that these works are not only the very essence of faith, and inseparable from it, but that faith itself can have no beginning, but from some one, or other of them, nor any further growth, but as these grow more and more. For faith and its works beget, and are begotten of one another, for as it must be said, that humility and penitence are the true fruits, or works of faith, so it may be as truly said, that humility or penitence are the first root, or seed, from whence faith gets its birth--faith, considered as an act or operation of the mind, is like any other faculty or power, it cannot be alone, any more than will, desire, longing, hoping, fearing, wishing, loving, trusting, or rejoicing, can any of them be alone, or in a state of separation from the rest. And to ascribe salvation to any one of these tempers alone, and by itself, would be as consistent with Scripture, and the nature of the thing, as to ascribe it to faith alone, considered as a single thing, and separate from all other works, or working of the mind. But faith, not considered as the working of the will, or an operation of the mind, but as meaning the whole system of Gospel-religion, may and must be alone salvation, without anything else but itself, and that for the same reason, as St. Peter says, that Christ alone, is the only stone, or the only Name whereby we can be saved. Would you therefore come out of that thickness of darkness, which a blind Babylonish spirit of dispute, has in these latter ages brought into St. Paul's doctrine of faith without works, this must be your way. You must take, or put faith for the whole Gospel-religion, when he opposes it to, or separates it from works, and then you will rightly understand why he says, By faith alone ye are saved. You must also put Jewish, or heathenish to the works, which he excludes from faith, and then you will rightly understand what works he declares to have no salvation in them. This is the true, unerring key to all his whole doctrine about faith without works.
Methodist. But where has St. Paul himself told you, that by faith alone, he means the whole Gospel-religion alone?
Christian. He has told it me, as often, and wherever he has said, that by faith alone we are saved. For how could he more show you, that he means neither more nor less by it, than by telling you that it alone is salvation? Would you have salvation to be obtained by something different from the whole of Gospel-religion? Fancy now St. Paul explaining himself, and saying, when I ascribe salvation to faith alone, I do not mean by faith, the whole of Gospel-doctrine; what greater absurdity could you charge upon him? His doctrine of faith alone, and without works, is nothing else but the Gospel-religion alone, in opposition to the religion and works of Jews and heathens, and is solely directed to these two sorts of people, and not, as is blindly imagined, to set Christian faith in opposition to Christian works, which would be no better, than teaching a Christian to be good without goodness. To the Jews he this speaks, "We have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law." Here faith and works stand for the two religions, the one of Christ, and the other of Moses. For what are the works of the Law, but the whole of the Mosaic religion, or what the faith of Christ, but the whole new religion of the Gospel? Therefore to tell these people, that they were to be saved by faith alone, and without works, was only telling them, that they were to be saved by leaving or turning from Judaism to Christianity, or that they could not enter into the kingdom of God, or the Gospel-faith, or the church of Christ (for they all mean the same thing) till they had done with, and left off all the works of the Law? "I testify," says he, "unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." To the heathens, or Greeks, he preaches the same doctrine with regard to their religious state, namely, that all the works of their religion and lives, must be forsaken and turned from, that by embracing the religion, or faith of Christ, they might be saved. I have, says he, "kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jew and to the Greek, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance towards God, signified the necessity of their having done with their former religion, works, and manner of life; faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, signified the necessity of their becoming members of a new Gospel-church, or kingdom of Jesus Christ. Not a word through all St. Paul, that rejects any works, but those which Jews and heathens were satisfied with, and would not give up for the Gospel state of the kingdom of God, which kingdom, is called by Paul, the faith of Christ. Not a word of the sufficiency of faith alone, but where it stands for the whole of Gospel-doctrine. Again, St. Paul has himself told me, that by faith alone he means the Gospel-religion alone, in the following passages, "I have," says he, "fought the good fight, I have finished my course," and as a proof of this, he adds, "I have kept the faith." Must not faith here stand for the whole Gospel-religion? Again, "Before faith came, we were under the Law." Does not faith here as certainly signify the whole religion of the Gospel, as the Law signifies the whole religion of Moses? Again, "If they who are under the Law, be heirs, then faith is made void," that is, the whole religion of Jesus Christ, is made needless, and of no use or benefit. Can he more plainly tell you, that by faith, as opposed to the works of the Law, he means nothing else, but the whole of the Gospel-doctrine? This is said to the Jews. To the gentiles at another time, he speaks the same truth in these words; "By grace ye are saved through faith in Christ, and that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast, it is the gift of God," the very self-same gift, of which Christ spoke to the woman at Jacob's well, saying, "if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says, give Me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water." Now what is this gift of God with His living water, but the Christ of God with all His redeeming process, from His birth to His ascension into heaven, freely given by God, that man might thereby be saved. Therefore this faith, or gift of God, by which alone we can be saved, signifies neither more nor less, than the whole Gospel-means of salvation. The apostle adds, "and that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast." Here works are totally excluded. But what works? Why only works of self, and works that man could, or would, boast of. But these works are only therefore excluded from Gospel-faith or salvation, that Godly works which have nothing of self, or boasting in them, may come up in their stead. This the apostle affirms, saying, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained," Eph. ii. How great then is that learned delusion, which opposes Christian faith to Christian works, because Paul opposes it to the un-Christian works of Jews and heathens; or because he will not allow their several works to have any salvation in them, therefore will have it, that the true followers of Christ, neither can, nor ought to have any salvation from their doing the works, which Christ has taught and commanded them to do. A believer, or a hearer, without doing, is but one and the same self-deceived person. In the Gospel, we have a father bidding his son go to work in his vineyard. The son consents, and says, "I go, sir, but he went not." This consenting and not doing, is the perfection of a faith without works.
Methodist. Surely you never minded these words of St. Paul, "To him that worketh not, but believe on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted unto him for righteousness."
Christian. Surely you have been deaf to all that has been said, or you could never come now with such a text as this. For no more is said in it against working, or against any other works, but that very single thing, which he says in these words, "that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." Now if it be the apostle's repeated doctrine, that the deeds or works of the Law, must of all necessity be ceased from, must he not for that very reason say, to him that worketh not, that is, to him that ceases from working, as the Law, or religion of Moses requires, and turns to the faith of Christ, called the kingdom of God, this faith becomes his righteousness. But how does it become his righteousness? The apostle tells you, "It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." Now what is the redemption through Jesus Christ, but a redemption by and through all that, which Christ, as God-man, was, did, suffered, obtained, taught, and commanded, that is, through and by the whole of the Gospel-religion? How is Christ our propitiation, or peace, but by that which he is, and does in the inward change, and renewal of our nature, in creating us again to good works, in bringing forth a new creature, not born of man, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God? What is faith in His blood, but the same thing as faith in His cross, and what is faith in either case, but a hearty willingness, and full desire wholly to cease, or turn away from all heathenish, or Jewish works, and to embrace and give up ourselves to all that is meant, taught, and required by the Gospel-faith, or kingdom of God? Would you know the whole of St. Paul's doctrine about faith, and against works, or working, you have it all summed up by himself in the following words, "Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law." What room then for one single word about what he means by not working? Faith stands here for the Gospel-religion, and the deeds of the Law signify the religion of Moses; no wonder therefore that he says a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law. So sure therefore as you conclude either more or less, or other than St. Paul's own conclusion, so sure you may be, that you abuse the apostle, falsify His doctrine, and sow your own tares among His wheat.
Methodist. Let me here ask you, in the elegant words of a last most amiable divine, "Must the efficacy of Christ's obedience be enforced by the accession of our maimed and worm-eaten works?"
Christian. There may, for ought I know, be elegance enough in these words, but truth and sense is quite wanting. For what have our good works to do with the efficacy of Christ's obedience, either as to the lessening, or increasing of it; or how has his obedience anything more added to it by our good works, than it has anything taken from it by the evil works of those who crucified him? What careful doer of good works, ever said or thought after this manner? "I strive to obey your will, O God, that thereby Christ's obedience may be made more perfect, than it was in Him. I lift up my eyes and heart towards heaven, that Christ's sitting there at your right hand, may be more powerful than it is in itself." On the other hand, what a wise man of faith would he be, who should abstain from prayer, least he should seem by such worm-eaten petitions, to be adding something to Christ's all-sufficient intercession in heaven. Again, fancy another man of faith alone, saying this, "I cannot have any care about denying myself, taking up my daily cross and following you. I cannot do these things, as helping forward my salvation, because that would be no better, than presuming to help you to be a more full and sufficient Savior, than you are in yourself, and without my works." Can anything be more absurd, or irreligious than this? And yet all of it is manifestly contained in the elegant words of your friend. If we walk as Christ walked, and do the works of Christ, we shall on that account be rewarded with him. This is the same good doctrine, as when the apostle says, "If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." Here you see our own sufferings are not only required, but made the ground of our reigning with our suffering Savior. But what man, not intoxicated with the elegance of words, would call, or look upon this, as adding our maimed, worm-eaten sufferings, to make the sufferings of Christ, greater and more valuable than they are in themselves? As silly a thought, as to say, that our following of Christ, is helping him to be the Son of God. Our blessed Lord keeps our eye continually upon good works, or things that we ourselves are to do. "Strive," says He, "to enter in at the strait gate; Ask, and ye shall receive; Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." He does not say, all is already gained, received, found, and opened, by what he has done and suffered. Now if this striving, asking, knocking, were but maimed, worm-eaten things, surely it had been better to forbid, than to command them. Or if he had said to His disciples, that this striving and seeking were such maimed, worm-eaten things, surely he had said as much against them, and with the same intention of turning them from them, as when he bid them "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," and compared their goodness to whited sepulchers, full of stench, corruption, and dead men's bones. You vehemently accuse the clergy, with acting contrary to the articles of the church, because preaching up justification along with works. But you quite forget, that your making Christian works no better than maimed, worm-eaten things, stands in full contrariety to many of the best prayers in our liturgy. Thus, how many collects are like this, "Grant, O Lord, that by your holy inspiration, we may think those things that be good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same." Is this prayer in vain; or if God hears us, can no better works come from it, than worm-eaten things? Agreeable to this prayer, St. Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me"; the same may everyone say as well as he; but according to your new light, these all things, are but worm-eaten things. Again, what difference is there between the old man and his deeds, which we are to put off, and the new man in Christ, that is to be put on, if he has no deeds, but what are maimed, worm-eaten things? But hear now what Christ says of the necessity, the excellency, and efficacy of Christian good works, in the following words, "Whosoever hears my sayings and DOES them, is like a man which built an house, and dug deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the floods arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock." Here you see the excellence, the power and efficacy of Christian good works, compared by our Lord to the strength and firmness of a house built upon a rock, which floods and tempests cannot overthrow. How could he more fully show you, that they are the beginning, the continual strength and support of the divine life, than by comparing them to a rock on which a house begins, and from which it has all its power of standing against all floods and tempests? How could he better show you, that this rock of good works, all proceeding from His power within us, is that very rock, on which he builds a church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail? On the other hand, call anything salvation but Christian works, and then you have Christ's word for it, that you are "like the man that without a foundation built his house upon the sand, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and great was the fall of it." Hear again what our Lord says of Christian works, "A good man," says he, "out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good"; but how could this possibly be, if Christian works could be no better than maimed, worm-eaten things? And here by the by, let me desire you well to observe, whence it is, that the good man brings forth good things. Not as your orator tells you, because Christ's goodness, or righteousness is outwardly imputed to him, and so made his. No, truth itself tells you the direct contrary, that it proceeds from the good treasure of his heart, and therefore is a goodness born within him. Now, whence has he this good treasure of his heart, and what is it? It is that treasure of a divine life, or nature, which Adam had at first, and to which he died, and which by the free grace and mercy of God, was secured to him and all his posterity, as a seed of the woman, a preserved remains, or power of His first divine nature. Christ in Adam, was his first glory and perfection of life; Christ remaining in fallen Adam, as a preserved seed of His first divine nature, is the only ground and foundation, of his being able to be made again in Christ a new creature. This divine seed of the woman, is so much of Christ remaining in him; and therefore it is, that Christ alone has power to be the mediator and redeemer of man, because that which is to be raised from death into life in us, is nothing else but the incorruptible seed of himself in us. This, sir, is that good treasure of the heart, out of which the good man brings forth good things, and is in itself nothing more or less, than a seed of Adam's first divine life within us, preserved by God's never-ceasing love towards man, as His covenant of grace and redemption within us, which seed, as it comes through the mediation of Christ to a new power of life in us, causes all those different sensibilities, called humility, penitence, fear, prayer, faith, hope, and earnest seeking after God. Will you now ever say a word more, about your fiction of an outwardly imputed goodness, when Christ has so expressly told you, that its birth is from within, from the good treasure of the heart, which is himself within us. And to show, that all must come from this divine root, preserved within us, as good fruit does from a good tree, he says, "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt." "For the tree is known by its fruit." No, say your imputation-doctors, that need not be; let some good hand only hang good fruit outwardly upon it, and then you will rightly know the tree by its fruits. And it will be more glorious to the tree, to have a variety of good fruit outwardly imputed to it, or hung upon it, than to have good fruit from its own good root.
Methodist. Our present matter is not about the doctrine of imputation. If you will not stick closely to the point of faith alone, I must beg leave to depart.
Christian. The doctrine of the outward imputation of Christ's righteousness, and the doctrine of faith alone, is but one and the very same individual point; for what is your faith alone, but a faith in that imputed righteousness? The righteousness of Christ we must have, or he can be no Savior to us. This is granted on both sides. But you, for the great glory of God, and the great good of man, are for having it only outwardly imputed to us; which is just such a glory to God, and would be such a good to a blind man, as if instead of opening his own eyes, only the good far-seeing eyes of an angel were outwardly imputed to him. On the other hand, we believe, and contend for an inward birth of Christ's righteousness in us, because it was the birth of our first glorious father, and because it is to the eternal glory of God, and the eternal good of man, that his inward sinful nature be quite destroyed, by a birth of his original righteousness rising up in its stead; that so, all that was lost in Adam, may be found again in Christ. Can you possibly be told this in stronger terms, than when Christ says, "Except a man be born again from above, of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"? St. John bears witness to this truth, saying, "Whosoever is born of God, does not commit sin"; the same as saying, till a man is born of God, he continues under the power of his sinful nature. But why does such a man not sin? The apostle tells you, because His seed, that is, the seed of God, remains in him. Had St. John the least thought of a righteousness of Christ outwardly imputed, when he places all our freedom from sin, and power over it, to a seed of God remaining in us? Or if he had ever heard of such a thought in other people, how could he more fully condemn it, than in saying, "Little children, let no man deceive you, he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." Here you see all is deceit, be they notions, opinions, faiths, hopes, imputed righteousness, or whatever else you can name, all is deceit, till a man by doing righteousness, is righteous even as he is righteous. Then it is, that Christ's righteousness is become his righteousness, and this alone is the righteousness of Christ that is his full and only justification in the sight of God; and that for this one reason, because it is Christ himself, that is, His divine and righteous nature born within him. Which the apostle therefore strongly asserts, "If ye know that he is righteous"; what follows from this knowledge? The apostle adds, then, "ye know, that everyone that does righteousness is born of him," that is, has a birth of His divine and righteous nature, brought forth in him; and consequently, he that is not born of him, has nothing of Christ's righteousness--to be his salvation.
Methodist. I must say again, that you ramble strangely about with multiplicity of words. Our doctrine is, that works have no share in saving us, because, as our friend strongly expresses it, "Christ will either be a whole Savior, or none at all."
Christian. Had your friend said, We can have no salvation but in Christ alone, he had said a good Scripture-truth; but this strange unscriptural language of a Christ, who will either be a whole Savior, or none at all, has the same bad meaning in it, as if he were to say, Christ will do nothing for us, unless we forbear to concur, or do anything along with him. Now Christ says, "Follow me. Take my yoke upon you." But if following of Christ, if taking His yoke upon us, is necessary, then something that is to be done by ourselves, is as necessary to our salvation, as that which is done by Christ for us, and some works are as truly salvation-works, as any acts of faith are saving.
Methodist. Who ever denied, that we are to follow Christ, and take His yoke upon us?
Christian. But will such works do us any good, or recommend us to God?
Methodist. I will give you no answer, but in the decisive words of our friend; "If," says he, "you think that you have any good service of your own, to recommend you to God, you are certainly without any interest in Christ."
Christian. Own service is but like own will, and no more good can come from it, than from the natural old man with his deeds. But our Savior has assured us, that there is a good man, who out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth that which is good. Now these are the good works that are pleaded for as absolutely necessary, and essential to a true and saving faith. Say now that if we think such good works recommend us to God, we are certainly without any interest in Christ, and then it were better, that you should preach such doctrine to sticks and stones, than to Christian ears. For who can receive it, without giving up the most constant and repeated salvation-doctrines of Scripture? What more frequent through all our Bible, than passages of the same nature with this: "To do good, and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Now must a man who believes this, and thinks, that such things recommend him to God, be therefore certainly without any interest in Christ? Hear Christ himself thusly calling out for good works, in all those who expect to have any interest in him, "Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven." Will such a caller upon the Lord, without good works, have his sufficient excuse, by saying, Lord, I thought you would be my whole Savior, or none at all; and therefore, I would not think of recommending myself to God, by doing His will, lest I should thereby lose all interest in you.
Methodist. If you do not like my friend's expression, take the same truth in other words of some most excellent divines. Thus says one, "Nothing is required in order to our participation of Christ and His benefits; there is no clogging qualification, no worth to be possessed, no duty to be performed, in order to our full participation of Christ and all His riches"; for all which he gives this solid reason, because, "It is not a matter of bargain, nor the subject of sale, but a deed of gift, the gift of righteousness; and gifts we all know, are not to be purchased, but received."
Christian. As wild and extravagant words as ever met together, as may thusly be fully shown. Christ said to His disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life"; and that they might more fully understand the true meaning of that, he said also, "Strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leads to life." Now, what Christ here says of the strait gate and narrow way, is strictly so much said of himself, and how he is the Savior of the world; for the way and gate could not lead to life, if they meant anything else but Christ himself. Now Christ and His benefits, considered as the blessed strait gate, and narrow way to life, provided by God, is wholly and solely the free grace and gift of God; here was no bargain, or sale of anything; nothing was done on man's part to obtain it, and that for this very good reason, because Christ was thus given by God before the foundation of the world, and again, before there was a man born of a woman. See then the miserable delusion of your doctors, who, from this Scripture-truth, that God has freely, and out of mere mercy to the fallen state of man, provided, and given a blessed narrow way, and strait gate to eternal life, therefore conclude, that no pains, or trouble of striving to get into this narrow way, and through this strait gate, need be taken, because, without any pains of our own, he freely gave it to all mankind; though there could be no blessedness in the gift, but because blessed are they, who with all their powers, works, and endeavors of spirit, soul, and body, strive to walk in this narrow way, and pass through this strait gate. Is not all this as gross a delusion, and in as full contrariety to the nature of the thing, as to conclude, that because God has freely prepared and given us a cup of salvation, therefore there is no need that we should drink it; or think that our own drinking it, need not be added to make His free cup of salvation a benefit to us. Now, gross as all this is, it is the strong foundation-absurdity, on which alone, your great divines build all their rhetorical flourishes of a salvation that is wholly the gift of God, without any works of man belonging to it. For they have not a word to say against salvation-works, but that works did not produce God's first free gift of a Savior to us; and therefore, works can no more belong to this free gift of a Savior, after he is given, than they did before he was given to us; being too systematically blind to see, that as a strait gate and narrow way were only given to us, that we might do that which we could not do before they were given, or as the cup of salvation is only given, that we may drink that, which we could not drink before it was given, so Christ was only and solely given for the sake of salvation-works, which we could not do, till in him and by him we became new creatures, created again unto good works. How easily may you now see the vanity of these, and suchlike flourishing words; "The gift of the great eternal sovereign are intended, not to recognize our imaginary worth, but to expand our views of His mercy and grace." Just as full of Scripture-truth, and good sense, as to say, that God's gifts of five and ten talents, are not given us with this intention, that our good use of them may appear, and that God may have occasion to say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant," but to show us how great are the talents and riches of God. Or again, that God's gift of a strait gate and narrow way to life, is not given us, that our well striving in it may appear, but only, that the greatness of God's goodness to us may be shown thereby. See again, what the same writer says of the man who is in the truth of the Gospel; "He labors neither first nor last to acquire any requisite to justification." When Christ himself has told him, "By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned": surely, this is enough telling him, that from first to last, nothing but works have either justification or condemnation in them. See again what another of your excellent divines says; "Do not think by any preparatory works, to make yourselves worthy of Christ." What is this but saying, do not believe Christ when he is speaking of worthiness and unworthiness, when he says, "He that takes not his cross, and follows me, is not worthy of me. He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me." Do not believe St. Paul, when he exhorts the Thessalonians, "to walk worthy of God, who has called them to His kingdom and glory." Again, have a care of these words of Christ, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; for you may easily be thereby led to think, that repentance-works have some kind of worthy preparation in them, to make you fit for the kingdom of God. And now let me tell you, that two or three old heresies joined together, would not more abuse and contradict the Gospel, than your three doctrines, (1.) of faith without works. (2.) Of a righteousness of Christ only outwardly imputed to us. (3.) Of absolute election and reprobation. These are the scandal and reproach of the reformation, wherever they are found, and have nothing to support them, but that implicit adherence, and systematic obstinacy, which keeps Romish scholars steady to a Trent-creed. Gospel-salvation, is on God's part, a covenant of free grace and mercy, and cannot possibly be anything else; on man's part, it is wholly a covenant of works, and cannot possibly be anything else. For the sake of works, man was that which he was by His creation: for the sake of works, he is all that is, by His redemption. Works are the life of the creature, and he can have no life better or worse than his works that which he does, that he is. THIS DO AND you SHALL LIVE, is the Law of Works, which was from the beginning, is now, and always will be, the one Law of Life. And whether you consider the Adamical, patriarchal, legal, prophetic, or Gospel-state of the church, DOING is ALL. Nothing makes any change in this. Nay, it is not only the one law of all men on earth, but of all angels in heaven. And this as certainly, as our best and highest prayer is this, "thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." "This do, and you shall live," was the only Law of Life given to Adam in paradise. Adam could not have been capable of this law, but because the divine nature, or a birth of Christ within him, was his first created state. No law of doing God's will could have been given to, or received by any of His posterity, but because a seed of the first divine life, or Christ in man, was by God's free grace and mercy, preserved and continued in Adam, and secured to all his posterity, as a redeeming seed of the woman, which through all ages of the church, should continue bruising the head of the serpent, till this first seed of life became a God incarnate, with all power in heaven and on earth, to restore original righteousness, and to raise again in fallen man, that first birth of himself, which was in Adam before he fell; this was the one power that he gave them to become sons of God.
Methodist. Nothing more need be said against all your doctrine, but that it is direct Arminianism.
Christian. Do you think then, that no more need be said in defense of your doctrine, than that it is true Calvinism? I have appealed to nothing for what I have asserted, but to the words of Christ and His apostles, and would no more consult a Calvin, an Arminius, or a Zinzendorf, how I was to understand them, than I would pray to God to be led by their spirit, instead of the Spirit of Christ. Nor is the one a wit better or worse than the other. Christ said, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear." And again, "He that is of God, hears God's words." If therefore you want hearing ears, or are not of God, to consult a grammarian how you are to understand the words of Christ, is as sure a way as you can take, to be content with spiritual deafness and blindness, and never to be taught of God, so long as you live. If I have called the Law of Works, the one Law of Life, it is because Christ has said the same, to the lawyer, who asked him, what he should do to inherit eternal life. Christ asked him, "What is written in the Law?" He answered, "Thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, spirit and strength, and your neighbor as yourself." To which Christ said, "Thou have answered right, THIS DO AND you SHALL LIVE." Here you have just the same thing said of works, as is said of faith; "The just shall live by faith." Therefore you can have no fuller proof given you, that faith and works mean but one and the same thing, whenever life is sometimes ascribed to one, and sometimes to the other, and therefore faith and works can no more be two things, than eternal life can be two things. Again, hear how St. Paul asserts the Law of Works, to be the one Law of Life. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things DONE in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." Now if you have your senses so exercised to discern between good and evil, as to think, that the Law of Works asserted by Christ and His apostle to be the Law of Life, is fitter to be received, or not received, just as a Calvin, or an Arminius, are with it, or against it, where must you look for the people, who have eyes and see not, ears and hear not?
Methodist. I am quite tired with disputing in this manner, but yet will add one thing, which you will not be so able to puzzle, as you have the Scripture, and which must be acknowledged to be decisive, at least with regard to our awakened preacher. He heard a voice (as he really thought from heaven) saying unto him, "Cease from your own works."
Christian. Whenever the voice came, it spoke well, and might have been just as beneficial to him, as if it had said, "Cease from your own wisdom, your own faith, or your own projects in religion"; for these are not only alike, but the very same thing. But if he took an advice to cease from his own works, to be an advice to cease from works, that were not his own, it is much to be feared, he misunderstood his adviser. If the voice had said, "Cease from your own faith," would he have taken this to be a sufficient divine authority, to call the Christian world to a religion of works without faith, and to have told them of the damnable doctrine of adding faith to works? Yet this would be full as well, as to preach against good works, as having no salvation -goodness in them, because he was bid to cease from his own works. If you knew a minister, so full of experience from his own works, as to be quite uneasy at their insignificance for many years, both with regard to himself, and his hearers, such a man might well be said to have his eye too much upon his own works, to mistake the nature of them, and to expect that from them, which can only be done by quite another power. To such a man as this, how wholesome would the advice be, "Cease from your own works." And why so? Because you can neither be your own Savior, nor the Savior of them that hear you, by anything that can be called your own work. If therefore your fruitless preacher, instead of making a division between faith and works, in order to preach with divine success, had said to himself, and to his hearers, we have formerly lived and labored in vain, because (as the prophet speaks) "we have committed two evils; we have forsaken the fountain of living water, and hewed out to ourselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water"; now when, or how may we be said to have "forsaken the fountain of living water"? It is when we expect or seek for good in anything, but that, which God is, and does by His own WORD, LIGHT, and SPIRIT within us. Look after anything but this, have any trust in, or dependence upon anything else but this divine operation, and then be as full of religious zeal, as you will, you have forsaken the fountain of living water. Collect, divide, distinguish, and new model all doctrines, notions, and opinions, as nicely as ever you can, you are only making a new-fashioned, cracked cistern that can hold no living water in it. What is the reason that sin and wickedness overflow, like a flood, the whole Christian world? It is because popish, and Protestant churches, have been age after age, wholly taken up in hewing out of the Gospel-rock their several opinion-cisterns. The pope has his infallibility, and therefore his cisterns can have no failure, or crack in them. Protestants have a Luther, a Calvin, an Arminius, a Beza, a Socinus, a Zinzendorf, &c. And if their cisterns are free from cracks, it is because they have nouns and pronouns, verbs and adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions, to cement and strengthen them. What infallibility does in popish, that criticism does in Protestant countries, and so (sad truth!) the one fountain of living water is everywhere forsaken, and quite out of date. What wonder then, if Christianity is but an empty name, a vain battle of opinions, instead of the life and power of God, born, dwelling, and manifested in our fallen nature. And here let me tell you, that all that you see, or hear, or read of the best notions, truths, or doctrines, while you place anything in them, as considered in themselves, are to you only broken cisterns, that afford no water of life. Eugenius said one day, how charmed he was at first with the doctrines of the spiritual life, and the glories of a new birth; but that now, after some years striving to be good by the knowledge of such things, he found himself to be but just where he was, before he knew anything of them. But did anyone ever tell Eugenius, that these doctrines were the fountain of living water, and that by drinking of them he would have eternal life? How good are these words of Christ, "Unless a man be born again from above, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."? But how useless are they to him, who is not thereby turned to seek and expect it all from God? How good is it to know that abyss of death, into which our father Adam has plunged us; but how unprofitable is this knowledge, unless it makes us all hunger and thirst after that essential operation of the divine nature in us, which lived in Adam before he fell? All Scripture-doctrines whether of life or death, are nothing in themselves, nor have any power of Godliness in them, but are only to show us, again and again, this great truth, that the departure from God into whatever it be, is the death of deaths; and the cleaving wholly and solely to God, is eternal life. Think of anything but God, as the cause of goodness; or that His goodness can be your good, but by being born in you, as it was in Adam and holy angels, and then, though you have all the three Christian creeds, you have turned your Christian-God into an outward idol. For a God, not living and working within in you all that is, or can be called your good life, is but an outward idol of a God. And be assured of this, that as is the birth and working life within you, so are you, and can neither here, nor hereafter, be anything else, but that which is born within you. Righteousness imputed from without, is but like such imputed wickedness. And you may as well frighten yourself with fearing, that the devil's wickedness should be outwardly imputed to you as to think of having any righteousness of Christ, but that which of him and by him, is born in you. But to return to Eugenius; let it be supposed, that having found himself, not sanctified by his former notions, that he had recourse to others quite contrary to them; as faith without works; Christ's righteousness, not as a new birth in us, but only outwardly imputed to us: The number of saved and damned to all eternity, neither greater or less than God's absolute decrees had made it. Suppose him now so charmed with the sweet sound of these doctrines, to be under such a sense of their saving power, as to be forced to come forth as a preacher of eternal death and damnation to all, that would not seek to be saved by them. Could Eugenius possibly give fuller proof, that he had forgotten and forsaken the one fountain of living water, and was calling the Christian world to a rotten cistern instead of it?
Methodist. This kind of reasoning comes too late; God has already set His seal to the truth and goodness of our friend's preaching; thousands from far and near flock about him. Sighs, groans, swooning, screaming of young and old, proclaim the two-edged sword, that is in His mouth. If you will not allow this to be proof enough, it is in vain to talk any further with you.
Christian. All this is so far from being proof enough of the truth and goodness of his doctrine, that it is not proof at all. If it will do for him, it will do for Mohammed, and every successful deceiver. Zinzendorf has plenty of this proof. Not only these kingdoms, but great part of Europe and America, bear witness to it. And yet of these Moravians, carrying conviction wherever they go, and gaining such awakened converts out of every part of the reformation, as are ready to sell lands and houses, and lay the price at their feet, of these, your friend says, he bears a "preaching testimony against their corrupt principles and practices, and might as well be called a murderer, as a Moravian." What becomes now of your success, as being God's seal set to the truth of your doctrine? If Rome was allowed to send her preaching missionaries among us, to attack with full liberty of speech every Protestant form of religion, to travel from place to place, daily telling all the men and women they could get together, on hills, in churchyards, or elsewhere, that dreadful soul-destroying doctrines had been constantly preached to them ever since the reformation; that they had lost all interest in Christ every since they left the pope; that church and sects, however setting themselves above one another, were all equally in a certain state of damnation, and must be so, till they had true priests and true sacraments, nowhere to be had, but in the one ancient, infallible mother -church of Rome. If I should say, that damnation thus thundered out, to awaken people from their reformation-dream of safety, would soon have converts ten times more numerous, and much greater crowds of various followers, than you have yet to boast of, who could have any show of reason to deny it?
Methodist. Poor man! Can you not see the miserable and wretched state of Christendom, that heathen wickedness reigns everywhere, that nothing of Christianity is left among us, but an outward profession, destitute of every goodness but that of words and doctrines? How then ought you to rejoice, that the mercy of God has here and there raised up awakened preachers, to shake the hardened hearts of such apostate Christians? Who that has any spark of goodness in him, would endeavor to stop their course?
Christian. Whoever would, I am sure I would not. I wish from my heart, that not only every parish, but every house had such a divine preacher in it. Nay, though some should preach Christ out of envy, and others through strife, yet I would rejoice, if such contentious preachers, did but preach the truth as it is in Jesus. But now supposing (as is but too true) that we have only the words and doctrines, but not the spirit of Christianity, they are in the state of those that never had it, and must be called to that same change of life, as they were, before they can be Christians in spirit and in truth. The Gospel thus began, "REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This kingdom was God's free gift; His own love was the sole cause of it; but it was only given to repentance, because nothing else could possibly receive it. This "repent," in order to the kingdom of God, was the only preaching which Christ set on foot, and sent into every city and village. But what do your preachers now say? Do they call the present un-Christian world, as Christ ordered the un-Chrisian world to be called, to the kingdom of God? Do they say to Christians become workers of iniquity, that have long resisted God's Holy Spirit, long abused all Gospel-blessings, trampled all its pearls under their feet, and ever since their baptism, been wallowing in the mire of their sensual lusts; do they cry aloud to these miserable sinners, repent, and bring forth works meet for repentance, or it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of judgment than for you? So far from this, that they teach and affirm with vehemence to all these sinners that no repentance, no qualifications, no requisite, no preparation, is necessary to put them in full possession of Christ and all His riches; and all for this absurd reason, because righteousness, that is, the means of righteousness is the free gift of God, and was not procured, or obtained by any works of men, therefore salvation can require no works of man. Who can be blinder than he, who sees not the difference between a Savior prepared and given, and that salvation which is to be from him? Or who can more confound the most distinct things, than he who affirms that of salvation, which is only true of the Savior alone. It is true of the Savior to say, that he is freely given of God, to be the Savior of all men; but it is not true to say of salvation, that it is freely given to all men. The works of man, do no more towards making Christ to be the all-sufficient Savior of the world, than towards making him to be God and man; but to have salvation from this free-given, perfect Savior, all is requisite, all is to be worked, labored, and done, which he commands us to have, and do, and be. Therefore says St. Paul of this perfect Savior, "that he is the author of salvation to all that obey him." Here you see what an error it is, to speak of Savior and salvation, as one and the same thing, equally free and independent on man's works. The perfect, all-sufficient Savior, is the free gift of God, that all men might be saved: but salvation is no free gift, but stands in the utmost contrariety to it; it is to be purchased. A Savior you cannot, you need not buy, he is already given you without price and without money; but all the salvation that you can have, must be bought of this Savior, there is nothing gratis here. But what are you to give for it? All that you have from fallen Adam, all that the world, the flesh, and the devil have treasured up in you; nay, houses, lands, fathers, mothers, brethren, are all to be forsaken, they must all of them lose that place and power, that they had in you, or you have no salvation, though you never wanted a free-given Savior. Think of coming to Christ without these requisites, these qualifications, these preparation-works, and then you will be just as welcome as the prodigal son would have been, had he come to his heavenly Father with his harlots in his arms, that he and they might have rings and the best robes put on them, without their giving or doing anything for them. What now is the parable of all that penitence of the prodigal, his renunciation of himself, his forsaking his way of life, his sense of his great unworthiness to have his first sonship, his begging to be admitted to the labor and obedience of a hired servant, what is all this for, but to tell every son of fallen Adam, that he is this very prodigal, this keeper of harlots, living with, and like swine in a strange country, till he thinks of going to Christ with all those qualifications, preparations, and changes of life and manners, with which the prodigal son went to his father? May it not now be justly said with St. Paul, "Who has bewitched you," ye foolish preachers, to come forth with zeal and vehemence against qualifications, preparations, and requisites to fit us for the grace and favor of Christ? Did the heavenly Father send the ring and the best robe to his wicked son, while he was content with his harlots, his husks, and his swine? Was his eye of goodness turned towards him, till he saw him upon the road, a sorrowful seeker of his father, with penitential works, and full change of life? Now if Christ in his parable has set forth a sinner come to his right senses, how can you more show, that you have lost yours, than by cautioning sinners against qualifications, penitential requisites and preparations to be received by Christ? What is the whole Gospel, but one continual doctrine of all that is to be done, denied, renounced, and suffered, in order to have any interest in God's free gift of Christ, as a Savior of the world? Hear what the Savior, who came to save all men, says to those who forgot, that repentance and good works were the qualifications, and requisites to have any share of salvation, "I know ye not, depart from me all ye workers of iniquity." Is this a Savior, that calls for no salvation-works, but will himself, be our whole Savior, or none at all? Had Christ begun His Gospel, with saying, I am come to save you all, without putting you to any pains or labor to be saved; I bring no terms with me, nor have any demands upon you; I look for no requisites, no preparatory, no repentance, and self-denying works; I and all my riches are freely yours; inward, inborn goodness cannot belong to you, but ye shall be the children of God, not because ye are led by the Spirit of God, but because my righteousness shall be outwardly imputed to you; had this been the Gospel of Christ, your preachers of no requisites, no qualifications to have interest in Christ, might well be received as faithful apostles. You all complain that Christianity is become a mere outward profession, without the inward spirit of the Gospel. This just and true complaint, how vain is it in your mouths? For how can your Christianity in its best state, be anything else but bare outward profession, if Christians neither have nor can have any righteousness, but that which is outwardly imputed to them? Can you complain, or accuse them of not being inwardly of the spirit and life of the Gospel, if Gospel-goodness cannot be a birth within them, but only the goodness of another, that is to be accounted as theirs? Either therefore, give up your outwardly imputed righteousness, or complain no more that Christians are mere formalists; for both you and all your preachers, however awakened, can only be formalists yourselves, and can awaken nothing but formality in others, unless the righteous Spirit of Christ has its fullness of a birth in the inmost spirit, both of preachers and hearers. St. Paul says, "Circumcision is not that which is outward, but of the heart." Is it not as necessary to say of righteousness, that it cannot be an outwardly imputed thing, but must be the righteousness of the heart? Had Paul told them, that the circumcision of the heart could only be outwardly imputed to the circumcisers of the flesh, he had preached the Law, as you do the Gospel. Again, "He is not a Jew," says he, "that is one outwardly." How unlike is this to your doctrine, which will not allow the Christian to be one inwardly, but solely by that which is outwardly imputed to him? Again, "the Spirit," says he, "bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." But how could this be, but because the spirit that is within us, is a birth of that Holy Spirit, whose witness agrees with it? For suppose no birth of the Spirit within us, and then we have only that "natural old man, that knows not the things of the Spirit, because they are foolishness to him."
Methodist. Let me before we part, only ask you these two questions. Would you be glad to see Christianity continued in its present, poor, blind, and apostate state from the truth and life of the Gospel? Or can you show me, how it can return to its first purity and perfection of Godliness, unless preachers go forth in such a spirit of zeal, calling the world to Christ, as ours do?
Christian. Take this for a full answer to every question of this kind. There are but two spirits that govern every rational and intelligent life. The one is the Spirit of God, the other is that spirit that is fallen from God, and works contrary to him. Nothing is good in any creature, but because the good Spirit of God is the doer of it; nothing is evil, but that which is done by the spirit of the creature fallen off from God, and working in self-will. Here you have the infallible touchstone for the trial of all spirits, which never can deceive you. Every spirit that calls you to be delivered from anything, but the evil that is in your own spirit, or that turns you to anything, as a deliverance from it, but to the Spirit and power of God within you, is not of God, but is an agent under that spirit, that is fallen off from God. The Christian religion has no ground, or foundation, but because the spirit of man has lost its first state of union with God, and is unable of itself to recover it. Hence it is, that Christ, God and man united, is the one only possible restorer of man's first union with God. Therefore the whole of our redemption consists in our being made one with Christ, essentially born of him, that having His whole redeeming nature come to life in us, we may be in him, as he is in God, one spirit, one life to all eternity. "God was in Christ Jesus," says Paul, "reconciling the world to himself." But Christ was the reconciler between God and man, only and solely by that which he was, did, suffered, and obtained by and through his whole process. This is his mediation-work. Are you in this process, you are in the arms of your mediator; His mediation-work is like a new creation within you, and what God saw in His beloved Son, that he sees in you; and you must belong to God, as he does, because His nature, life, and Spirit, are in you. Therefore, is anyone reconciled to God, it is because Christ is born in him; but the seed of Christ, which is in every son of Adam, never comes to the fullness of the birth of the new creature, but through the process of Christ. This is the one strait gate, and narrow way, out of which, there is nothing but sin, death, and hell, to every man. Without Christ, we are without God; but who is without Christ, is told you in the following words, "Unless a man deny himself, take up his cross," "and follow me, he cannot be my disciple." This is the one term of union with Christ. Suppose now a preacher comes to you from Rome, with his invented doctrines about saints, images, sacraments, and transubstantiation, threatening certain damnation to all that do not receive them; suppose another coming from Geneva, as full of damnation for all those, who will not receive his invented doctrines of saving faith without works; of the righteousness of Christ, not inwardly born, but only outwardly imputed to you; of a salvation and damnation, equally the one sole work or gift of God, neither of which you can any more help, or hinder, than you can help or hinder the duration of the world, or add one cubit to your own stature; what Gospel-eyes must he have, who did not see as many marks of the beast, the whore, and the false prophet in one of these preachers, as in the other? Or can you think, if St. Paul was again in the world, he would give a heartier God -speed to the one, than to the other? Had the apostle been a preacher of your imputation-doctrine, he would never have said, "What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?" as knowing that this was the very fellowship which Christ had with the sons of fallen Adam; his righteousness being only outwardly imputed to their unrighteousness. And how could he have cried out, as of an impossible thing, "What communion has light with darkness, or what concord has Christ with Belial?" For had your imputation-doctrine been his, he would have known, that if light was but outwardly imputed to darkness, then the darkness would be in communion with light; and if Christ's righteousness was but outwardly imputed to the sons of Belial, then there would be concord between Christ and Belial. This is the blasphemous absurdity of your imputation-doctrine; for unless the whole fallen nature of man be born again from above, the righteousness of Christ outwardly imputed to it, is but like the same imputed to the unchanged sons of Belial. "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing," that is, all is in vain without my process; for Christ is that, which His process is. St. Paul says, "No one can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." In these two short texts, you have the whole nature and substance of Christian redemption, namely, that it all consists in the process of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. Christ's process in the flesh, is the only way of dying to all that fleshly evil, that Adam brought to life in us; Christ came in the Spirit, is the one only quickening of that divine life, to which Adam died. Trust to anything else, seek to anything else, but this process of Christ, and this power of the Holy Ghost, and then all your leaning upon the Gospel, will be no better than leaning upon a broken reed. These two fundamental truths plainly show, why the first preaching of the Gospel began, and must ever go on, saying nothing but what is implied in these words, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." "Repent," shows the necessity of making Christ's process the one way to the kingdom of God; for repentance-works are in His process, and nowhere else. "For the kingdom of God is at hand," shows that Christ's coming in the Spirit, is the one thing sought for by His process; for the kingdom of God come among men, is nothing else but Christ come in the power of the Spirit; and where this power is not come in the likeness of a kingdom, wherever plenty there may be of preachers, the kingdom of God is yet afar off. The Law ended with Christ come in the flesh; His process was the fulfilling of all its types, figures, and sacrifices. The coming of Christ in the Spirit, is just the same one only fulfilling of all the Gospel-dispensation. And as the Law would have been all in vain, without Christ's coming in the flesh; so would the Gospel also, without Christ's coming in the Spirit. And the Jew with his Old Testament, rejecting Christ come in the flesh, is just as true to the Law, as the Christian is to the Gospel, who does not own Christ as come in the Spirit, to be the one only fulfilling of all its doctrines. For as all the types, figures, and sacrifices of the Law, were in themselves but empty shadows, without Christ being the life of them, so all things written in the Gospel, are but dead letters, till Christ coming in the Spirit quickens a new creature, to be the reader, the one that remembers, and doer of them. Therefore, where the Holy Spirit is not sought after, trusted to, and rested in, as the end, the substance, and living power of the whole Gospel, it is no marvel, that Christians, high or low, learned or unlearned, Churchman or dissenter, should have no more of Gospel-virtues, than the Jews have of patriarchal holiness; or that the same lusts, vices, and worldly craft, which prosper among apostate Jews, should break forth with as much strength in a fallen Christendom. See here then your work, ye awakened preachers, if God has sent you forth, you can have no other errand but that, on which Christ sent His apostles. Do you preach anything but the process of Christ, as the way to the kingdom of God, or call men to any power of walking in it, but that of the Holy Spirit, you are strangers to, or deserters from the truth, as it is in Jesus, for neither Christ, nor His apostles, ever taught anything else but this. The old man must die, or the new man can never be made alive in Christ. But nothing brings death upon the old man, but that one self-denying process of Christ; nothing gives life to the new man, but the one Spirit of Christ born in it. This is the Gospel-language from the beginning to the end. With this language in your mouths, the whole Gospel is with you, you may cry aloud and spare not; be as zealous here as you will or can; go out into the streets and lanes, the highways and hedges; compel hypocrites, sensualists, worldlings, and hardened sinners to tremble at their ways, to dread everything that is contrary to Christ's salvation-process; preach certain damnation to every sinful lust of the flesh, and no possible power to be delivered from it, but by Christ coming in the Spirit, to set up His own kingdom of God within you; and then, everyone who has the least spark of goodness living in his soul, will call you the sent of God, will wish prosperity to all your labors of love; and no one will be against you, but he that is not with Christ. But if you come forth with the new-fangled un-Gospel doctrines of a Calvin, a Zinzendorf, be your zeal as great as it will, it only unites you with the brick and mortar-builders of that anti-Christian Babel, which the prince of the power of the air has set up, in full opposition to that rock, on which Christ has built His one, universal salvation-church. And now, my dear friend, wishing you, from the bottom of my heart, all that blessing which Christ bestowed upon His apostles when he said, "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," I bid you farewell. FINIS
Acknowledgements
This book has been reproduced by the Old Truth Publishing Company, from the electronic copy of William Law's Of Justification by Faith and Works which had been originally typed by Warner White, from the 1974 Georg Olms Verlag (Hildesheim New York) edition of The Works of the William Law.
1 Unchallengeable
2 Because modern usage of some words has changed, we have substituted the word "fanaticism" for the original word used which was "enthusiasm.".
3 Started
4 A minister who was a contemporary of William Law
5 To add a decorative accompaniment, (often improvised) above the basic thought.
6 A man that is much concerned with his dress and appearance.
7 Effectiveness
8 Riches
9 Editor's note. This was especially true in England during the 1700's
10 Absolute, unchallengeable
11 The grounds and Reason of Christian Regeneration
12 Innocent , Saintly, pure, virtuous
13 God!
14 Innocent, virtuous
19 unchallengeable
20 Forerunner - Anything that precedes something similar in time
21 The word "Deist" refers to what can be called "natural religion" or the acceptance of a certain body of religious knowledge acquired solely by the use of reason as opposed to knowledge gained either through revelation or the teaching of the Bible.
22 In the eighteen hundreds, people cooked over an open fire in the kitchen. Either an open fire or in a "firebox" , the forerunner of the kitchen stove.
23 Compliant, overly submissive
24 A book by William Law called "An appeal to all that doubt"
25 unchallengeable
26 A book by William Law called "An appeal to all that doubt"
27 Preceding in time
28 Abyssal - so deep as to be un-measurable. - unfathomable
29 Plague like diseases
30 A book written by William Law called "An appeal to all that doubt"
31 To bring to life
32 To be made alive
33 An action that interrupts
34 as is too commonly done
35 already done, already in
36 Order, decree
37 Effectiveness
38 Deism, a form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation. Deism is on the rise today, only, not by the name "deism," most of what is taught today in denominational churches is derived from rationalism, not the Bible!
39 Unchangeable
40 The grounds and Reason of Christian Regeneration
41 Innocent , Saintly, pure, virtuous
42 God!
43 Innocent, virtuous