|
Of True
Resignation Or Dying to Self |
Man must daily
die to his own will in self; he must bring his desire into God.
He must spring
up out of the dying sinful man, with a new mind, and will, through the spirit
of Christ.
What the old
and new man are, and what each of them is in life, will and practice.
Composed by a
soul that loves all who are children of Jesus Christ, under the Cross.
Brought forth in the 1600's by a
humble shoemaker; translated into English over 100 years later; suppressed and
hidden away until recently in theological archives around the world... a worthy
personal study not just for academics but for all those who are spiritually
grounded in the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for
more.
Chapter 1
We have a clear example in
Lucifer, and also in Adam the first man, of what self does, when it gets the
light of nature to be its own, and when it can walk with the understanding in
its own dominion. We see also in men learned in arts and sciences, that when
they get the light of this outward world or nature into the possession of their
reason, nothing comes of it but pride of themselves. And yet the entire world
so vehemently desires and seeks after this light as the best treasure; and
indeed it is the best treasure this world affords, if it is rightly used.
But while self, i.e., reason,
is captivated and fast bound in a strong prison, that is to say, in the anger
of God, and in earthliness, it is very dangerous for a man to make use of the
light of knowledge in self, as if it were in the possession of self. For the
wrath of the eternal and temporary nature will soon take pleasure in it, and
then self and man's own reason, will rise up in pride, and depart from the true
resigned humility towards God, and will no longer eat of the fruit of paradise,
but instead eats of the property of self, i.e., Of that dominion of life,
wherein good and evil are mixed as Lucifer and Adam mixed them. Who both
entered with the desire of self back again into the original, out of which the
creatures were brought forth and entered into the condition of the creatures;
Lucifer into the wrathful nature, into the matrix or womb which brings forth
fire, and Adam into the earthly nature, into the matrix of the outward world,
i.e., Into the lust after good and evil.
This happened to them both,
because they had the light of understanding shining in self, in which they
could behold themselves, whereby the spirit of self went into the imagination,
(i.e., Into a desire to get to the center,) that they might exalt themselves in
might, power, and knowledge. Now when Lucifer sought after the mother of fire
in his center, and thought to reign therewith over the love of God and all the
angels, and when Adam also desired to try in the essence what the mother or
root was from where evil and good did spring, and purposely brought his desire
into it, in order to understand it: both Lucifer and Adam were captivated in
their evil, or false desire, and broke themselves off from the resignation
which proceeds from God, and so were caught by the spirit of the will, and by
the desire. Which desire immediately got the dominion in nature; and so Lucifer
stuck fast in the wrathful source of fire, and that fire became manifest in the
spirit of his will, whereby the creature in its desire became an enemy to the
love and meekness of God.
Adam in like manner, was
immediately caught by the earthly mother, which is evil and good, created out
of the anger and love of God, and compacted into one substance. Whereupon the
earthly property instantly received the dominion over Adam, and from this, heat
and cold, envy and anger, and all malice and contrariety to God became
manifest, and took rule in him. But if they had not brought the light of
knowledge into self, then the glass of the knowledge of the center and of the
original of the creature, i.e., of the power, which it had, in itself, would
not have been manifested, from where the imagination and lust arose.
As also we often see today, how
the same error brings danger upon the enlightened children of God; in whom when
the sun of the great presence of God's holiness shined, by which the life
passes into triumph, and then reason beholds itself, as in a glass, and the
will goes on in self, in its own searching, and will try to find the center,
and know where the light shined, and will of its own motion and strength force
itself into it, how that from this arose abominable pride and self-love; so
that its (the creature's) own reason, which is but a mirror or glass of the
eternal wisdom, supposed itself to be greater than it is; and then whatsoever
it does, it thinks God's will does in and by it, and that he is a prophet;
though he is moved only by self, and goes on in “own desire,” in which the
center of nature presently rises up, and enters into that false desire of self,
against God, and so the will enters into self-conceit and exaltation. Then the
subtle Devil insinuated himself into the creature, and sifts the center of
nature, and brings evil or false desires into it, so that a man becomes as it
were drunken, in self, and still persuades himself that he is driven by God, by
which means the good beginning, wherein the divine light shone in nature, comes
to be ruined, and so the light of God departs from him. Yet the outward light
of the outward nature still remains shining in the creature; for it threw
itself into it, and supposed that it is still the first light of God; but it is
not so. And into this self-exaltation in the light of its outward reason, the
Devil threw himself again, (though in the first light, which was divine, he had
been forced to depart) now returning with the seven-fold desire, of which
Christ spoke, saying, when the unclean spirit departs out of a man, he wandered
through dry places seeking rest, and finds none; and then he takes to himself
seven spirits worse than himself, and returns to his first house; and finding
it swept and garnished, he dwells in it, and so it is worse with that man than
it was in the beginning.
This house, that is thus swept
and garnished, is the light of reason in self. For if a man brings his desire
and will into God, and then goes on in abstinence from this wicked life, and
heartily desires the love of God, then that love will indeed manifest itself to
him with its most friendly and cheerful countenance, by which the outward light
also is kindled. For where the light of God is kindled, there all will be
light; the Devil cannot stay there, but must depart from it; and then he
searched through the mother of the original of life, i.e., The center, but
finds that it is become a dry and feeble place. For the anger of God, i.e., the
center of nature is in its own property altogether feeble, barren and dry and
cannot get the dominion in its own wrathful principle. Satan continually
searched through these places to find an open gate to enter with his desire,
and so to sift the soul that it might come to exalt its self. And now if the
spirit of the will of the creature threw itself with the light of reason back
into the center, i.e., Into self, and enters into self-exaltation, then it goes
forth again from the light of God, and presently the Devil finds an open gate
to enter in at, and a garnished house to dwell in, i.e., The light of reason.
Then he takes to himself the seven forms of the property of life in self, i.e.,
The flatterers which are departed from God into self; and there he enters and
puts his desire into the lust of self and evil imaginations, wherein the spirit
of the will beholds itself in the different forms of life in the outward light,
and then the man sinks into self, as if he were drunk, (into outward reason)
that he might seek the wonders of God there, so that they may manifest
themselves. For all creatures groan and long after God. And though the stars
cannot apprehend the Spirit of God, yet they would rather have a house of light
wherein they may rejoice, than a house shut up, wherein they can have no rest.
Thus such a man goes on as if
he was drunk, in the light of “outward reason,” which is called the stars, and
apprehends great and wonderful things, and he has a continual guide. The Devil
watches to see if any gate stands open for him, through which he may kindle the
center of life, so that the spirit of the will may mount aloft in pride,
self-conceit, or covetousness; (from where self-arrogance arises, the will of
reason desiring to be honored;) for it supposed it has attained the sum of all
happiness, when it has gotten the light of reason, and can judge the house of
hidden mysteries that is shut up; which nevertheless God can easily unlock. The
deluded man thereupon supposed that now he has reached the mark, and that honor
is due to him, because he has received the understanding of reason, and never
considerate that the Devil makes himself merry with his desire in his seven
forms of life of the center of nature, nor how great an error he has set up.
From this understanding of
reason, false Babel is brought forth in the Christian church on earth, wherein
men rule and teach by the conclusions of reason, and have set the child which
is drunk in its own pride and self-desire, as a fair virgin upon the throne.
But the Devil has entered into his seven forms of life of the center, i.e.,
into its own self-conceited reason, and continually brings his desire into this
trimmed and decorated virgin, which the stars receive. He is her beast on which
she rides, well adorned with her own powers of life, as may be seen in the
revelation of John. Thus has this child of self, taken into its possession the
outward glance of divine holiness, i.e., the light of reason, and supposed
itself to be the fair child in the house, though the Devil has his lodging
within it all the while.
And thus it is with all those
who have been once enlightened by God, and afterwards go forth again, from true
resignation, and wean themselves from the pure milk of the word, i.e., True
humility.
Chapter 2
Here reason will object and
say, is it not right for a man to attain the light of God, and also the light
of the outward nature and reason, that he may be able to order his life wisely,
as the scripture directed? Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more
profitable to a man, neither is he capable of anything better; no, it is a
treasure above all earthly treasures for a man to have the light of God and of
time, for it is the eye of time and of eternity.
But mark how you should to use
it; when the light of God first manifests itself in the soul, it shines forth
as light from a candle, and encourages the outward light of reason immediately;
yet it does not yield itself wholly up to reason, so as to be under the
dominion of the outward man. No, the outward man beholds himself in this
shining luster, as he does his likeness in a mirror, whereby he presently
learns to know himself, which is good and profitable to him.
Now, when he does so, reason,
which is the creaturely self, cannot do better than to behold itself in the
self of the creature, and not enter with the will of the desire into seeking
the center of self. If it does, it breaks itself off from the substance of God,
(which rises together with the light of God, of which the soul ought to eat,
and refresh itself,) and eats of the outward substance and light, and thereby
draws the venom into itself again.
The will of the creature ought
to sink wholly into itself with all its reason and desire, accounting itself an
unworthy child that is not worthy of this much grace; nor should it arrogate
any knowledge or understanding to itself, or desire of God to have any understanding
in its creaturely self; but sincerely and simply sink down into the grace and
love of God in Christ Jesus, and desire to be as it were dead to itself and its
own reason, in the divine life, and wholly resign itself to the Spirit of God
in love, that he may do, how, and what he will, with it, as with his own
instrument.
Its own reason ought not enter
upon any speculation as to the ground of divine or human matters; nor to will
and desire anything but the grace of God in Christ. And as an infant continually
longs after the breasts of its mother, so must its hunger be continually going
after the love of God, and not allow itself to be broken off from that hunger
by any means. When the outward reason or self rises up and triumphed in the
light, saying, I have the true child, then the will of the desire must bow
itself down to the earth, and bring itself into the deepest humility and most
sincere ignorance, and say, you are foolish, and have nothing but the grace of
God. You must wrap yourself up in that belief with great humility, and become
nothing at all in yourself, and neither know, nor love yourself. All that you
have, or all that is in you, must esteem itself as nothing but a mere
instrument of God; and you must bring your desire only into God's mercy, and go
forth from all of your own knowing and willing; and esteem it as nothing at
all, nor ever entertain any will to enter into it again. As soon as this is
done the natural will becomes weak and faint, and then the Devil is not able to
sift it any more with his evil desire, for the places of his rest become very
powerless, barren and dry; and then the holy spirit proceeding from God, takes
possession of the forms of life, and makes his dominion to prevail. He kindles
the forms of life with His flames of love, and then the high knowledge of the
center of all things arises, according to the inward and outward complexion of
the creature, in a very subtle drying fire, attended with great delight.
Whereupon the humbled soul presently desires to sink down into that light, and
esteems itself to be nothing and quite unworthy of it. And thus its own desire
pierced into that nothing, i.e., into that wherein God creates and does what
God wills, and the Spirit of God springs forth through the desire of the
resigned humility, and so the human self immediately follows the Spirit of God
in trembling and humble joy; and so it may behold what is in time and eternity,
for all is present before it.
When the Spirit of God rises up
as a fire and flame of love, then the sprit of the soul descends, and says,
Lord, glory be to Your name, not to me; You are able to take to yourself
virtue, power, strength, wisdom, and knowledge; do as you will; I can do
nothing; I know nothing; I will go no where you lead me as your instrument; do
in me, and with me, what you desire.
In such a humble and total
resignation the spark of divine power falls into the center of the forms of
life, as a spark into tinder, and kindles it, i.e., the fire of the soul, which
Adam had made to be a dark coal in himself, so that it glimmered. And when the
light of divine power has kindled itself, the creature must go on as an
instrument of God’s Spirit, and speak what the Spirit of God dictated to it;
and then it is no more in its own possession, but is the instrument of God.
But the will of the soul must
without ceasing, in this fiery driving, sink into nothing, i.e., into the
deepest humility in the sight of God. For no sooner does the will of the soul
in the least measure go on in its own speculation or searching, but Lucifer
lays hold of it in the center of the forms of life, and sifts it so that it
enters back into self. It must therefore continue close to resigned humility,
as a well does to its spring, and must drink of God's fountain, and not depart
from the ways of God at all.
For as soon as the soul eats of
self, and of the light of outward reason, it goes on in its own opinion; and
then its doings, which it sets forth for divine, are but from the outward
constellation, or influence of the stars, which presently lays hold on the
soul, and makes it dry. And then the soul goes on in errors, until it yields
itself up again into resignation, and acknowledges itself anew to be a defiled
child, it must again resist reason and so receive the love of God again. Which is
harder to do this time than it was at first, for the Devil brings in strong
doubts now, and will not easily leave his prey. This may be seen clearly in the
saints of God from the beginning of the world. For many who have been driven by
the Spirit of God, have yet oftentimes departed from resignation into self,
i.e., into “own reason” and will, in which Satan has cast them into sins, and
into the anger of God; as appears by David and Solomon, also by the patriarchs,
prophets, and apostles; who have oftentimes committed great errors when they
have departed from resignation into self, i.e., into their own reason and lust.
Therefore, it is necessary for the children of God to know how to behave
themselves, and learn the way of God. They must beat down and cast away their
very thoughts; and desire nothing, nor have the least will to learn anything,
unless they find themselves to be in true resignation; so that God’s Spirit
leads, teaches, and guides man's spirit, that the human will which is attached
to itself, is wholly broken off from its own lust, and resigned to God.
All speculation in the wonders
of God is very dangerous, for the spirit of the will may soon be captivated
therewith, unless the spirit of the will walks after the Spirit of God, and
then it has power in the resigned humility to behold the wonders of God.
I do not say that a man should
search and learn nothing in natural arts and sciences. No; such knowledge is
useful to him; but a man must not begin with his own reason. Man ought not only
to govern his life by the light of outward reason, which is good in itself; but
should sink down with that light into the deepest humility before God, and set
the Spirit and will of God foremost in all his searching, so that the light of
reason may see and know things through the light of God. And though reason may
be very wise in its own sphere, and help a man to much knowledge, yet it must
not arrogate such wisdom and knowledge to itself, as if it were in his own
possession, but give the glory thereof to God, to whom alone all wisdom and
knowledge belonged.
For the Spirit of God works
only in resigned humility, in that which neither seeks nor desires itself.
For the more deeply reason
sinks itself down into simple humility in the sight of God, and the more unworthy
it accounts itself in His sight; the more truly it dies from self-desire, and
the more thoroughly the Spirit of God penetrates it, and brings it into the
highest knowledge, so that at length it may come to behold the great mysteries
and wonders of God. For the Spirit of God works only in resigned humility, in
that which neither seeks nor desires itself. The Spirit of God takes hold of
all desires to be simple and lowly before Him, and brings it into His wonders.
He has pleasure only in those that fear and bow themselves before Him. For God
has not created us for ourselves only, but to be instruments of His wonders, by
which He desires to manifest His wonders. The resigned will trusted God, and
expected all good from Him alone; but self-will rules itself, for it is broken
off from God. All that self-will does is sin, and is against God; for it is
gone out of that order wherein he created it, into disobedience, and desires to
be its own Lord and master.
When a man's own will dies from
itself, then it is free from sin, for it desires nothing but that which God
desires of His creature; it desires only to do that for which God has created
it and that which God will do by it; and though it is and must be involved in
the doing, yet it is but the instrument of the doing, by which God does what He
wills.
For this is the true faith in
man, i.e., To die from himself; that is, from his own desire; and in all his
undertakings and designs to bring his desire into the will of God, and arrogate
the doing of nothing by his self, but sees himself in all his doings, as a
servant or minister of God, and to think that all he does, and undertakes, is
for God. For in such a disposition the Spirit of God leads him into true
uprightness and faithfulness towards his neighbor. For he thinks within
himself, I do my work not for myself, but for God, who has called and appointed
me to do it; I am but a servant in his vineyard. He listened continually after
the voice of his master, who within him commands him in all that he should do.
The Lord speaks in him, and bids him to do, all that he wants to have done by
him. But self does from outward reason from the stars (his imagination)
commands him to do, into which reason the Devil flies with his desire. All that
self does is without the will of God, and is done altogether in the fantasy,
that the anger of God may accomplish its pastime therewith.
No work done without the will
of God can reach the kingdom of God; it is all but an unprofitable imagery, or
self-wrought work, in this great agitation of mankind. For nothing is pleasing
to God, but what he himself does by the resigned will of his instruments. For
there is but one God in the essence of all essences, and all that which works
with Him in that essence, is one Spirit with Him; but that which works in
itself only, in its own will, is in itself only, and not in God’s dominion. It
is indeed under that universal dominion of nature, whereby He holds subject to
him every life, evil and good, but not under that special divine government in
Himself, which comprehends the good only. Nothing is divine which walks and
works outside of the will of God.
Christ says, every plant which
my heavenly father has not planted, shall be rooted out and burned in the fire.
All the works of man, which he has wrought without the will of God, shall be
burnt up in the last fire and given to the wrath of God, i.e., To the pit of
darkness to recreate itself. For Christ says, he that is not with me is against
me; and he that gathered not with me scattered. Whosoever works, and does it
not in a resigned will with confidence in God, does but make desolate and
scatter; it is not acceptable to God. For nothing is pleasing to Him but that
which he wills with His spirit, and does by His own instrument.
Therefore, whatever is done by
the conclusions of human self in matters of religion is a mere fiction. It is
Babel, and but a work of the stars, and of the outward world, and not
acknowledged by God to be His work. It is only the play of the wrestling wheel
of nature, wherein good and evil wrestle one with the other; what the one
builds, the other destroys. And this is the great misery of the vain turmoil of
men, the issue that must be left to the judgment of God.
Whoever therefore stirs or
labors much in such turmoil, works only for the judgment of God; for none of it
is perfect and permanent. It must all be separated in the putrefaction. For
that which is wrought in the anger of God will be received, and kept in the
mystery of its desire to the day of God's judgment, when evil and good shall be
severed. But if a man turns and goes forth from himself, and enters into the
will of God, then also that good which has been wrought in and by him, shall be
freed from the evil, which he had wrought. As Isaiah says, though your sins
be as red as scarlet, yet if you turn and repent, they shall become as wool,
yes, as white as snow. For the evil shall be swallowed up in the wrath of
God into death, and the good shall spring forth as a sprout out of the wild
earth.
Chapter 3
Whoever therefore intends to do
any good and perfect work, in which he hopes eternally to rejoice, let him
depart from himself, i.e., from his own desire, and enter into resignation,
into the will of God, and start to work with God. And then though the earthly
desire of self in flesh and blood cleaves to him, yet if the will of the soul
does not receive that desire into itself, self cannot perform any work. For the
resigned will continually destroys the substance of self again, and again, so
that the anger of God cannot reach it. And if it should happen to reach it
sometimes, as may be the case, yet the resigned will prevails with its superior
power. Therefore it is not good to speak or do anything, when the reason is
kindled by the desire of self, because that desire springs from, and works in
the anger of God; by which a man would suffers loss. For his work is brought
into that anger, and kept there to the great day of God's judgment.
Every evil or false desire,
whereby a man devised how to gather to himself by craft worldly gain from his
neighbor, to his neighbor's hurt, is taken into the anger of God, and belongs
to the judgment. Wherein all things shall be made manifest and every power and
essence, every cause and effect, both in good and evil, shall be presented to
every one in the mystery of the revelation.
All evil works, done purposely,
belong to the judgment of God. All things shall, and must be made manifest in
the end. For therefore God brought His working power into essence or substance,
that His love and anger might be made manifest, and become a representation of
his deeds of wonder, to His glory.
And every creature ought to
know that it should continue in that condition wherein it was created;
otherwise it runs on in contrariety and enmity to the will of God, and brings
itself into pain. For every intelligent creature that has lost its place or
state wherein God first created it, is in disorder and misery, until it
recovers the same. A creature which is created out of darkness has no pain in
the darkness; as a venomous serpent has no pain from its venom. The venom is
its life; but if it should lose its venom, and have something good instead,
brought into it, and be made manifest in its essence, that would be pain and
death to it. Thus good is a torment to a being whose nature is evil, and evil
is in like manner pain and death to the good. Man was created of, for, and in
paradise; of, for and in the love of God; but if he brings himself into anger,
which is as a poisonous pain and death, then that contrary paradisiacal life of
love is a pain and torment to him.
If the Devil had been created
out of the wrathful matrix, for hell, and had not had the divine essence, he
could not have pain in hell. But he, being created for and in heaven, and yet
having stirred up the source or property of darkness in himself, and thereby
brought himself totally into darkness, therefore the light is now a pain to
him; that is, it caused an everlasting despair of God's grace, and a continual
enmity to God; because God cannot endure him in Himself, but has cast him out.
Therefore, the Devil is angry and wrathful against his own mother, of whose
essence and substance he had his birth, i.e., The eternal nature, which keeps
him prisoner in his own place, as a fallen spirit, and exercises in him with
its properties of anger. And, since he would not bear his part in promoting the
divine joy, in and for which he was created, therefore he must now do the
contrary, and be an enemy to all goodness. For, of God, and in him, are all
things, darkness and light, anger and love, fire and light; but he calls
himself God, only as to the light of his love.
There is an eternal contrariety
between darkness and light, neither of them comprehends the other, and neither
of them is the other; and yet there is only one essence, being, or substance,
wherein they both subsist. But there is a difference in the quality and will;
yet the essence or substance is not divided, but a principle makes the
division. So that the one is a nothing in the other, and yet it is there, but
not manifest in the property of that thing wherein it is.
For the Devil continued in his
own dominion or principality, not indeed in that wherein God created him, but
in the aching painful birth of eternity, in the center of nature and the
property of wrath, in the property which begets darkness, anguish and pain.
Indeed he is a prince in the place of this world, but in the first principle,
in the kingdom of darkness, in the pit or abyss.
Not in the kingdom of the sun,
stars, and elements; he is no Lord or prince there, but only in the wrathful
part, i.e., in the root of the evil of everything; and yet he does not have
power to do what he pleased with that. For there is some good in everything,
which holds the evil captive and shut up in the thing; but he can walk and rule
only in the evil part or property when it is stirred up an evil desire, in
itself, and brings its desire into wickedness. This indeed the inanimate
creature cannot do; but man can do it through the inanimate creature, if he
brings the center of his will, with the desire, out of the eternal center into
it, which is the ground of enchantment and false magic. The will of the Devil
can also enter into that evil where man brings the desire of his soul, which is
born also out of the eternal nature. For the origin of the soul and of angels,
out of the eternal nature is the same. But the Devil has no further power over
the time, or temporary condition of this world, than in the curse; where ever
it kindles itself in the eternal and temporal wrath, there he is busy, as in
wars, fighting, and strife, as also in great tempests without water. In fire he
proceeds as far as the mischief or hurt goes in great showers or tempests of
thunder, lightning, and hail; but he cannot direct them, for he is not Lord or
master in them, but servant only. Thus the creature stirred up with its own
desire, good and evil, life and death. The human angelical desire stands in the
center of eternal nature which is without beginning; and wherever it kindles
itself, whether in good or evil, it accomplished its work in that.
Now God created everything for
and in that wherein it should be; the angels for heaven, and man for paradise.
If therefore the desire of the creature goes forth from its own mother, then it
enters into the contrary will, and into enmity, and it is tormented with the
contrariety therein, and so a false will arises in a good; and then the good
will enters into its nothing again, i.e., into the end of nature and creature,
and so leaves the creature in its own evil or wickedness, as appears by Lucifer
and also Adam; and had not the will of the love of God met with Adam, and mercy
entered into the humanity or human nature again, there could be no “good will”
in man. Therefore all speculation and inquiry about God's will is a vain thing,
unless the mind is converted. For when the mind stands captivated in the
self-desire of the earthly life, it cannot comprehend what the will of God is;
it runs on in “self,” from one way into another, and yet it finds no rest; for self-desire
evermore brings unrest. But when it sinks itself wholly into the mercy of God,
desiring to die from itself, and to have God's will for a guide to the
understanding, so that it acknowledges and esteems itself as nothing, and wills
nothing but what God wills, then it shall both know and do the will of God. And
if the desire of anger in the earthly flesh should join with the Devil's
imagination, and assault the will of the soul, yet the resigned desire cried to
God and says, abba, loving Father, deliver me from evil. And then, though the
earthly will should grow too strong in the wrath of God by the infection of the
Devil, the desire of anger would only work upon itself. According to what Paul
said, now, if I sin, I don’t do it, but sin that dwells in my flesh: also, now
I serve the law of God in my mind, but in my flesh the law of sin. Paul meant
not that the will of the mind or soul should consent to the will of the flesh;
but sin is so strong in the flesh, i.e., The awakened anger of God in self, that
oftentimes the mind is brought into lust, as it were by force, through the evil
incitements of the wicked, or else by beholding worldly pomp and glory; so that
it absolutely bears down the resigned will, and rules by force. Now when sin is
wrought in the flesh, then the wrath exercises itself therewith, and catches at
the resigned will; and then the resigned will cries to God for deliverance from
the evil, and prays that God would remove the guilt away from it, and bring sin
into death, that it might die.
And Paul says further, now,
there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are called
according to the purpose of God; that is, those who in that purpose of God in
which he first called man, are again called in the same calling, to stand again
in that purpose of God, wherein he originally created man to be his image and
likeness. So long as man's own will stands in self, so long it is not in the
purpose and calling of God; it is not called, for it has gone forth from its
original right place; but when the mind turns itself back again into the
calling, i.e., into resignation, then the will is in the calling of God, that
is, in the place for and in which God created it, and then it has power to
become the child of God again; as it is written, he has given us power to
become the children of God. The power which he has given us is His purpose, for
and in which he created man in his image. This God has brought again into the
human nature, and has given power to that power to break the head of sin in the
flesh, namely, the will and desire of the serpent; that is, the resigned will
in Christ treaded upon the head of the desire of the sinful will of the
serpent, and kills again the sins which were committed. This power that is
given becomes a death to death, and the power of life to life. Therefore no man
can make any excuse, as if he could not will. Indeed, while he sticks fast in
himself, in his own desire, and serves only the law of sin in the flesh, he
cannot. For he is kept back, as being a servant of sin; but when he turns the
center of his mind away, and directs it into the will and obedience of God,
then he can.
Now the center of the mind has
come out of eternity, out of God's omnipotence; it can bring itself into what
it will, and where it will. For that which is out of the eternal, has no law.
But the will has a law to obey God, and is born out of the mind, and must not
tear itself away from that out of which God created it. Now God created the
will of the mind for paradise, to be a companion, with Him in the kingdom of
divine joy. It ought not to have removed itself from there; but since it has
removed itself, God has brought His will again into the flesh, and in His
new-brought-in will, has given us power to bring our wills into it, and to stimulate
a new light therein, and so to become his children again.
God hardened no man; but man's
own will, which goes on in the fleshly life of sin, hardened his own heart. The
will of self brings the vanity of this world into the mind, which is thereby shut
up, and is continually so. God, so far as he is called God, and is God, cannot
will any evil; for there is but one only will in God, and that is eternal love,
a desire, which is Power, beauty, and virtue. God desires nothing but what is
like His own desire: His desire receives nothing but what itself is. God
receives no sinner into his power and virtue, unless the sinner goes forth from
his sins, and enters with his desire into God. And then, He will not cast out
those that so come to Him. He has given to the will an open gate in Christ,
saying, "Come to me all you that are heavy laden with sins, and I will
refresh you; take my yoke upon you, that is, the cross of the enmity in the
flesh. This was the yoke of Christ, which he had to bear for the sins of all
men. This cross or yoke the resigned will must also take upon itself in the
evil earthly sinful flesh, and bear it after Christ in patience and hope of
deliverance. It must also continually break the head of the serpent, in and
through Christ's will and spirit, and kill and destroy the earthly will in
God's anger, not letting it rest on the soft bed when sin is committed, and
thinking to repent one time or other.
No, no, the earthly will grows
strong, fat, and wanton upon this soft bed, but as soon as the light of God
shines in you, and shows sin to you, the will of your soul must sink itself
down into the passion and death of Christ, and wrap itself up in it. It must
take the passion of Christ into its possession, and be a Lord over the death of
sin by the death of Christ, and kill and destroy it in the death of Christ. The
will of sin [your outward self] must die, though it is unwilling. It will be at
enmity therefore with the earthly flesh; let it fast and suffer hunger until
its irritation ceases. Account the will of the flesh your enemy, and do not do
what the desire of the flesh wills, and then you will bring a death upon the
property in the flesh.
Do not regard any scorn from
the world, but consider it does but scorn your enemy, and this has become a
fool to it. No, do you yourself account it your fool, which Adam caused you to
possess, and made to be your false heir. Cast out of the house the son of the
bondwoman, that strange child which God did not give to be in the house of
life, in Adam at the beginning; for the son of the bondwoman must not inherit
with the son of the free-woman. The earthly will is but the son of the
bondwoman. For the four elements should have been man's servants, but Adam has
brought them into the son-ship, or adopted them into himself. Therefore God
said to Abraham, when he had opened the covenant of the promise in him, cast
out the son of the bondwoman, for he shall not inherit with the son of the
free. This son of the free, is Christ, which God of His grace has brought again
into the flesh for us, namely, a new or renewed mind, wherein the will, i.e.,
The eternal will of the soul, may draw and drink the water of life, of which
Christ speaks, saying, whoever shall drink of this water that I will give him,
it shall spring up in him, and be a fountain of eternal life. This fountain is
the renovation of the mind or will of the soul.
Therefore I say that all
fictions and devices to come to God by, let them have whatever name you will,
which men can contrive and invent as ways to God, and they are a lost labor,
and vain endeavor, without a new mind. There is no other way to God, but a new
mind, which turns from wickedness, and enters into repentance for the sins it
has committed. Which goes forth from its iniquity and wills to do it no more;
but wraps its will up in the death of Christ, and with all earnestness dies
from the sins of the soul, in the death of Christ, so that it wills sin no
longer. And though all the devils should press hard upon it, and enter with
their desire into the fleshly mind, yet the will of the soul must stand still
and hide itself in the death of Christ, willing and desiring nothing but the
mercy of God. No hypocritical flattery, or outward comforting of ourselves will
avail at all; as when men will cover sin and iniquity in the flesh with the
satisfaction of Christ, while they remain in self still. Christ says, except
you turn and become as children, you shall not see the kingdom of God. The mind
must become as wholly new, as in a child that knows nothing of sin. Christ says
also, you must be born anew, or else, you shall not see the kingdom of God.
There must arise a will wholly new in the death of Christ. It must be brought
forth out of Christ's incarnation, and rise in Christ's resurrection.
Now before this can be done,
the will of the soul [self] must die in the death of Christ; for in Adam it
received the son of the bond-woman, i.e., Sin. This the will must cast out, and
the poor captive soul must wrap itself up in the death of Christ earnestly with
all the power it has, so that the son of the bondwoman, i.e., the sin that is
in it, may die in the death of Christ.
In deed, sin must die in the
will of the soul, or else there can be no vision of God. For the earthly will,
in sin and wrathful nature, shall not see God. It is only the regenerated
nature, the new inward man, that is capable of the divine vision or enjoyment.
The soul must put on the spirit and flesh of Christ; it cannot inherit the
kingdom of God in this earthly tabernacle. For the kingdom of sin hangs to it
outwardly, which must putrefy in the earth, and rise again in new power.
Hypocrisy, flattery, and verbal
forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be children, not by outward imputation, but
by being born of God from within, in the new inward man, which is resigned in,
and to God. All such flattery of ourselves by saying, Christ has paid the
ransom, and made satisfaction for my sin, and that he died for my sins, is a
false and vain comfort, if we also do not die from sin in Him, and put on His
merit in new obedience, and live therein.
He that is a bitter enemy and
hater of sin can and may comfort himself with the sufferings of Christ. He that
does not willingly see, hear, or taste sin, but is at enmity with it, and would
willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew but what he ought
to do; such a one has indeed put on the Spirit and will of Christ, and is His
true disciple. But the outward flattery of being accounted a child of God by
imputation or external application is false and vain. The work done in, or by,
the outward flesh only, does not make you a child of God; but the working of
Christ in the spirit makes, and indeed is, the child of God. Which inward
working is so powerful that it shines forth as a new light in the outward life;
and proves itself to be the child of God by its external conduct and actions.
For if the eye of the soul is
light, then the whole body is light in all its members. Now if any man boast
himself to be a child of God, and yet allows his body to burn in sins, he is
not a true child, nor capable of the inheritance; but lies bound by the chains
of the Devil in gross darkness. And if he does not find in himself an earnest
and sincere desire of doing good, in love, then his pretence of being a child
of God is but an invention of reason proceeding from self. He cannot see God,
unless he is born a-new, and shows forth by God’s power and life, that he is
His true child. For there is no fire but that which has light in it; and if the
divine fire is in the mind, it will shine forth, and the mind will do that
which God wills to be done. But, perhaps you will say, I have a will indeed to
do so; I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot. No, you
vile man, God draws you to be His child, but you will not to; the soft cushion
in evil is dearer to you, and you are not willing to be parted from it. You
prefer the joy of wickedness to the joy of God. You are wholly swallowed up in self
still, and live according to the law of sin, and that is what hinders you. You are unwilling to die from the pleasure
of the flesh, and therefore you are not in the sonship. God draws you to it,
but you yourself will not yield.
O how fine a thing would Adam
think it, if he might be taken into heaven with this will of the flesh all
about him, and have the child of wickedness, that is full of deceit, set upon
the throne of God. Lucifer also would have had it so, but he was spewed out. It
is a troublesome thing to mortify the evil will of self; none are willing to do
it. We would all gladly be the children of God, if we might be so with this
rough garment of fallen nature about us. But that cannot be. This world passes
away, and the outward life must die; what good can the adoption in the mortal
body of flesh and blood only, do for me?
If we would inherit the
Sonship, we must also put on the new man, which alone can inherit it, as being
like the deity. God will have no sinners in heaven, but only such as have been
born a-new and become children, and have put on heaven. Therefore it is not so
easy a matter to become a child of God, as men imagine. Indeed, it is not a
troublesome thing to him that has put on the Sonship, whose light shined; for
it is joy to such a one. But to turn the mind and destroy self, there is a
strong and continued earnestness requisite, and such a stout and steady
purpose, that if the body and soul should part asunder by it, yet the will
would persevere constantly, and not enter again into self. A man must wrestle
until the dark center that is shut up tight, breaks open, and the spark lying
hid therein awakens and from this the noble lily-branch sprouts, as from the
divine grain of mustard-seed as Christ says. A man must pray earnestly, with
great humility, and for a while become a fool in his own reason, and see himself
void of understanding therein, until Christ is formed in this new incarnation.
And then when Christ is born, Herod is ready to kill the child, which he seeks
to do outwardly by persecutions, and inwardly by temptations, to try whether
this lily-branch will be strong enough to destroy the kingdom of the Devil,
which is manifested in the flesh. Then this destroyer of the serpent is brought
into the wilderness, after he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and tempted and
tried whether or not he will continue in resignation to the will of God. In
this temptation he must stand ever so fast, that if it requires, he would leave
all earthly things, and even the outward life, to be a child of God.
No temporal honor must be
preferred before Sonship. But he must with his will, leave and forsake it all,
and not account it his own, but esteem himself as a servant only to it, who is
to obey his master. He must leave all worldly propriety. We do not mean that he
may not have or possess anything; but his heart must forsake it, and not bring
his will into it, nor count it as his own. For if he sets his heart upon it, he
has no power to serve them that stand in need with it. For self is but a slave
to its temporal possessions, but resignation rules over all that it has. Self
must do what the Devil will have it do in the fleshly pride of life; but
resignation treads it all under with the feet of the mind. Self despised that
which is lowly and simple; but resignation sits down with the lowly in the
dust. It says, I will be simple in myself, and understand nothing, lest my
understanding should exalt itself and sin. I will lie down in the courts of my
God at His feet, that I may serve my Lord in that which he commanded me. I will
know nothing of myself, that the will and power of my Lord may lead and guide
me, and that I may only do what God does through me, and will be finished with
myself. I will sleep in myself until the Lord awaken me with His Spirit; and if
he will not, then will I look up to Him in silence, and wait for His commands.
Beloved brethren: men at this
time boast much of faith; but where is it to be found? The modern faith is but
the history of the Gospel. Where is that child who believes that Jesus has been
born within his own soul? If that child were in being, and did believe that
Jesus is born, it would also draw near to the sweet child Jesus, and receive
Him and nurse Him.
Alas! The faith of this day is
only historical, a mere assent to the matter of fact that Jesus Christ was
born, lived and died; that the Jews killed Him; that He left this world, and is
not king on earth in the outward man; and the faith of this day allows that men
may do what they please, and need not die from sin and their evil lusts. With
all of this, the wicked child self rejoiced in, that it
may fatten the Devil by living deliciously. This shows plainly that true faith
was never weaker since Christ's time, than it is now.
If you are truly Zion, and have
that newborn child which was lost and is now found again, then let it be seen
in power and virtue. Let us all openly see the sweet child Jesus brought forth
by you. If not, then the true children in Christ will say, you have found
nothing but the cradle of the child, that is, the history. Where is the sweet
child Jesus, you that are so exalted with the history, and with your false
faith? Oh, how will the child Jesus visit you one day in the Father's property,
the property of anger! It calls you now in love, but you will not hear, for
your ears are stopped with covetousness. Therefore the sound of the trumpet
shall one day alarm you with the hard thunderclap, and rouse you up, if perhaps
you then seek and find the sweet child Jesus.
Beloved brethren, this is a
time of seeking, of seeking and finding. It is a time of earnestness; whom it
touched, it touched home. He that watched shall hear and see it; but he that
sleeps in sin, and says in the fat days of his belly, all is peace and quiet;
we hear no sound from the Lord, shall be blind. But the voice of the Lord has
sounded in all the ends of the earth, and a smoke rises, and in the midst of
the smoke there is a great brightness and splendor. Hallelujah. Amen.
Shout to the Lord in Zion, for
all mountains and hills are full of His glory. He flourished like a green
branch, and who shall hinder it. Hallelujah.