[Love-2.3-1] Eusebius. You have shown great Good-will toward us, Theophilus,
in desiring another Meeting before we leave you. But yet I seem to myself to have no Need
of that which you have proposed by this Day’s Conversation. 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 every Thing else must
be under its Dominion. I can do nothing else but love; it is my whole Nature. I have no
Taste for any Thing else. Can this Matter be carried higher in Practice?
[Love-2.3-2] Theophilus. No higher, Eusebius. And was this
the true State of your Heart, you would bid fair 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 was there 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 transport 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 Complexion. It is so far from
being a genuine Fruit of Divine Love, that if it be not well looked to, it may prove a
real Hindrance of it, as it oftentimes does, by its appearing to be that which it is not.
[Love-2.3-3] 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 taken in, or brought into the Soul by any notional Conception, or delightful
Apprehension of it. You may love it as much as you please, think it the most charming
Thing in the World, fancy everything but Dross and 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 got a
most charming Notion. 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 thus with the Spirit of Love; it is nowhere, but where it rises up as a Birth.
[Love-2.3-4] Eusebius. But if I am got no further than this, what
Good have I from giving in so heartily to all that you have said of this Doctrine? And to
what End have you taken so much Pains to assert and establish it?
[Love-2.3-5] Theophilus. Your Error lies in this; you confound
two Things, which are entirely distinct from each other. You make no Difference betwixt
the Doctrine that only sets forth the Nature, Excellence, 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 every Thing that I could , to show you the Truth, Excellence, 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 own Price and to give all that for it, which
alone can purchase it. 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.
[Love-2.3-6] Eusebius. What is the Price that I must give for it?
[Love-2.3-7] Theophilus. 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.
[Love-2.3-8] Adam, after his Fall, had nothing that was good in
him, nothing that could inherit an eternal Life in Heaven, but the Bruiser of the
Serpent, or the Seed of the Son of God that was reserved, and treasured up in his
Soul. Every Thing else in him was devoted to Death, that this incorruptible Seed
of the Word might grow up into a new Name in Christ Jesus.
[Love-2.3-9] All the Doctrine of God’s Reprobation and Election
relates wholly and solely to these two Things, viz., the earthly bestial
Nature from Adam, and the incorruptible Seed of the Word, or Immanuel
in every Man.
[Love-2.3-10] 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 towards Man is only 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 every Thing 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.
[Love-2.3-11] 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.
[Love-2.3-12] 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 of Mankind. 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.
[Love-2.3-13] Election therefore and Reprobation, as respecting
Salvation, equally relate to every Man in the World; because every Man, as such, hath 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.
[Love-2.3-14] Now all this is evident, from the very Nature of the
Thing. As soon as you but 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 any Thing else being
reprobated by God, but that fallen, evil Nature from which he is to be redeemed, or
of any Thing else being elected by God, but that Seed of a new Birth, which is to
bring forth his Redemption.
[Love-2.3-15] 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 one and 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.
[Love-2.3-16] 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, hence it is that in order to publish the Truth and Certainty of such Election and
Reprobation, and the Truth and Certainty of that two-fold Nature in Man, on which it is
grounded, hence it is that the Spirit of God in holy Scripture, represents this Matter to
us by such outward Figures, as are yet in themselves not figurative, but real Proofs of
it.
[Love-2.3-17] This is first of all done under the Figures 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 first
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.
[Love-2.3-18] The same Thing is, age after age set forth in Variety of
Figures, more especially Ishmael and Isaac, in Esau and Jacob.
And all this, only further to confirm and establish this great Truth, viz., 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 because both their Natures were
antecedently in him, and in the same State of Opposition and Contrariety to each other.
And as 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 that same, 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.
[Love-2.3-19] 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 over one 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 within them, 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.
[Love-2.3-20] And thus a War of Good against Evil, set up within us, by
the free Grace and Mercy of God to us, is the greatest of all Demonstrations, that there
is but one Election, and but 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.
[Love-2.3-21] And thus you have an unerring Key to all that is said in
Scripture of the Election falling upon Abel, Isaac, and Jacob, &c.,
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 of Redemption; but the Scriptures speak thus, that the true Nature of God’s
Election and Reprobation may thereby be made manifest to the World.
[Love-2.3-22] 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 broken forth in
Predominance in Abel, Isaac, Jacob, &c., they became proper Figures of
that which God only elects, and were used by God as such.
[Love-2.3-23] 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 which is reprobated in Abel, viz.,
the earthly Nature; nor is anything elected in Jacob but that very same
which is equally elected in Esau, viz., the heavenly Seed.
[Love-2.3-24] 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 every Thing 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.
[Love-2.3-25] But now I stop, for you may perhaps think that I have here
made a Digression from our proposed Subject.
[Love-2.3-26] Eusebius. A Digression you may call it, if you
please, Theophilus, 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.
[Love-2.3-27] The Matter now stands in open Daylight, notwithstanding
that Thickness of learned Darkness, under which it has been hidden, from the Time of St. Austin
to this Day. 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.
[Love-2.3-28] Theogenes. Let me first observe to Theophilus,
that I am afraid the Matter is much worse with me, than it is with you. For though this
Doctrine seems to have got all my Heart, as it is a Doctrine, yet I am continually thrown
out of it in Practice, and find myself as daily under the Power of my old Tempers and
Passions, as I was before I was so full of this Doctrine.
[Love-2.3-29] Theophilus. You are to know, my Friends, that every
Kind of Virtue and Goodness may be brought into us by two different Ways. They may be
taught us outwardly by Men, by Rules and Precepts; and 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 Documents of Instruction, they at best only change our outward Behaviour
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 thus 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 saith of the Law, "that it maketh nothing perfect;"
and yet is highly necessary in order to Perfection.
[Love-2.3-30] The true Perfection and Profitableness of the holy written
Word of God is fully set forth by St. Paul to Timothy: "From a
Child," saith he, "thou hast known the Scriptures, which are able to make thee
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.
[Love-2.3-31] Of the Law, saith the Apostle, "it was a Schoolmaster
to Christ:" Of the Prophets, he saith the same. "Ye have," says he, "a
more sure Word of Prophecy, whereunto you do well, that ye take Heed, as unto a Light that
shineth in a dark Place, until the Day dawn, and the Day-Star ariseth 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 Day-Star, ariseth 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.
[Love-2.3-32] Eusebius. I cannot deny what you say, and yet it
seems to me to derogate from Scripture.
[Love-2.3-33] Theophilus. Would you then have me to say, that the
written Word of God is that Word of God which liveth and abideth forever; that
Word, which is the Wisdom and Power of God; that Word, which 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 lighteth
every Man, that cometh 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
only true Light, and Salvation of Man?
[Love-2.3-34] Suppose you had been a true Disciple of John the Baptist,
whose 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 lighteth every Man,
that cometh into the World."
[Love-2.3-35] 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 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 Baptist had, I am ready to hear you.
[Love-2.3-36] Eusebius. There is no Possibility of doing that.
[Love-2.3-37] Theophilus. But if that is not possible to be done,
then you are come to the full Proof of this Point, viz., that there are two Ways of
attaining Knowledge, Goodness, Virtue, &c., 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 in
order to the latter, and of no Benefit to us, but as it carries us further than itself, 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.
[Love-2.3-38] But to come now closer to our Subject in Hand.
[Love-2.3-39] From this two-fold Light, or Teaching, there necessarily
arises a two-fold State of Virtue and Goodness. For such as the Teacher, or Teaching is,
such 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, use Times and Forms of Prayer; all this Virtue and Goodness is suitable
to this Kind of Teaching, and may very well be had from it. But the Spirit of
Prayer, the Spirit of Love, and the Spirit of Humility, or of 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 new-born Spirit within us.
[Love-2.3-40] 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 new-born Spirit within you. But till you are thus renewed in the
Spirit of your Minds, your Virtues are only taught Practices, and grafted upon a
corrupt Bottom. Every-thing 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 Sanctity. Because, till the
Heart is purified to the Bottom, and has felt the Axe at the Root of its Evil (which
cannot be done by outward Instruction) every Thing that proceeds from it partakes of its
Impurity and Corruption.
[Love-2.3-41] Now that Theogenes is only under the Law, or
outward Instruction, is too plain 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 him, and himself only altered in Doctrine and Opinion.
[Love-2.3-42] The same may well be suspected of you, Eusebius,
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 here done; 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.
[Love-2.3-43] Eusebius. 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
needs say, that your Censure upon us seems to be more severe than just.
[Love-2.3-44] Theophilus. Dear Eusebius, I censure neither
of you, nor have I said one Word by Way of Accusation. So far from it, that I love and
approve the State you are both in. It is good and happy for Theogenes, that he
feels and confesses, that his natural Tempers are not yet subdued by Doctrine and Precept.
It is good and happy for you also, that you are so highly delighted with the Doctrine
of Love, for by this means each of 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 of you thought, you had as much of the Spirit of Love as you could, or ought to
have; and therefore Theogenes wondered he had no more Benefit from it; and you
wondered that 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, that you may neither of you lose the Benefit of that good State in which you stand.
[Love-2.3-45] Eusebius. Pray therefore proceed as you please. For
we have nothing so much at Heart, 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 any Thing 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 doth all that it doth, toward
God and Man, under the one Law of Love. Whatever therefore you can say to me, either to
increase the Power, manifest the Defects, or remove the Impediments of Divine Love in my
Soul, will be heartily welcome to me.
[Love-2.3-46] Theophilus. I apprehend that you don’t yet
know what Divine Love is in itself, nor what is its Nature and Power in the
Soul of Man. For Divine Love is perfect Peace and Joy, it is a Freedom from
all Disquiet, it is all Content and mere Happiness; and makes every Thing 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 passeth all
Understanding. Through all the Universe of Things, nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied,
or restless, but because 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 dwelleth in God, dwelleth in Love. Tell me now, Eusebius,
are you thus blessed in the Spirit of Love?
[Love-2.3-47] Eusebius. Would you have me tell you that I am an Angel,
and without the Infirmities of human Flesh and Blood?
[Love-2.3-48] Theophilus. No, but I would have you judge of your
State of Love by these Angelic Tempers, and not by any Fervour 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 Disquiet, 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 World; it puts an End to all your former
Opinions, Notions, and Tempers; 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," saith the Apostle, "I thought as a Child, I spake as a Child, but when I
became a Man, I put away childish Things." Whilst Man is under the Power of Nature,
governed only by worldly Wisdom, his Life (however old he may be) is quite childish; every
Thing 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 hath, and that which he hath 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, and all the Sensibility of them is lost, as the Stars lose their Visibility
when the Sun is risen.
[Love-2.3-49] Theogenes. 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 Tempers are not overcome by it. For whence could I have this Trouble, but because
that little Dawning that I have of the Spirit of Love in me, maketh 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, till my whole
Nature is brought into Subjection to it.
[Love-2.3-50] Theophilus. Most rightly judged, Theogenes.
And now we are fairly brought to the one great practical Point, on which all our
Proficiency 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, 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.
[Love-2.3-51] 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 in
and 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 possibly be, 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.
[Love-2.3-52] Eusebius. I never read, or heard of the 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 necessary
to bring it into Manifestation. I am almost afraid to hear more of this Doctrine. It
Sounds harsh to my Ears.
[Love-2.3-53] Theophilus. Don’t be frightened, Eusebius.
I will lead you into no Doctrine, but what is strictly conformable to the Letter of
Scripture, and the most orthodox Piety. The Scripture saith, "God is Light, and in
Him is no Darkness at all"; therefore the Scripture affirmeth 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, be altered in itself, be
anywhere, or in another Manner, than as it was, and will be, from and 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
then only began to receive a Power, or Operation of the eternal Light upon it,
which it had not before; or Eternity then began to open some Resemblance of its own
Glory in the dark Elements, and Shadows of Time, and thus it is, that I assert the Priority
and Glory of Light, and put all Darkness under its Feet, as impossible to be any
Thing else but its Footstool.
[Love-2.3-54] Eusebius. I am quite delighted with this. But tell
me now, how it is that Light can only be manifested in, and by Darkness.
[Love-2.3-55] Theophilus. The Scripture saith that "God
dwelleth in the Light, to which no Man can approach": Therefore the Scripture
teacheth, that Light in itself is, and must be invisible to Man, that it cannot be
approached, or made manifest to him, but in and by something that is not Light. And
this is all that I said, and the very same Thing that I said, when I affirmed that Light
cannot be manifested, or have any Visibility to created Eyes, but in and through
and by Darkness.
[Love-2.3-56] Light, as it is in itself, is only in the Supernatural
Deity; and that is the Reason, why no Man or any created Being, can approach to it, or
have any Sensibility of it, as it is in itself. And yet no Light can come into this World,
but that in which God dwelt before any World was created. No Light can be in Time, but
that which was the Light of Eternity. If therefore the Supernatural Light is to
manifest something of its incomprehensible Glory, and make itself, in some
Degree, sensible and visible to the Creature, this supernatural Light must enter into Nature,
it must put on Materiality. Now Darkness is the one only Materiality of
Light, in and through which it can become the Object of creaturely Eyes; and till there is
Darkness, there is no possible Medium, or Power, through which the Supernatural
Light can manifest something of itself, or have any of its Glory visible to
created Eyes. And the Reason why Darkness can only be the Materiality of Light, is
this, it is because Darkness is the one only Ground of all Nature, and of all
Materiality, whether in Heaven or on Earth. And therefore every Thing that is creaturely
in Nature, that has any Form, Figure, or Substance, from the highest Angel in Heaven to
the lowest Thing upon Earth, hath all that it hath of Figure, Form, or Substantiality only
and solely from Darkness. Look at the glittering Glory of the Diamond and then you
see the one Medium, through which the Glory of the incomprehensible Light can make some
Discovery or Manifestation of itself. It matters not, whether you consider Heaven or
Earth, eternal or temporal Nature, nothing in either State can be capable of visible
Glory, Brightness, or Illumination, but that which standeth in the State of the Diamond,
and has its own Thickness of Darkness. And if the Universe of eternal and temporal
Nature is everywhere Light, it is because it has Darkness everywhere for its Dwelling
Place. Light, you know, is by variety of modern Experiments declared to be material;
the Experiments are not to be disputed. And yet all these Experiments are only so many
Proofs, not of the Materiality of Light, but of our Doctrine, viz., that Materiality
is always along with visible Light, and also that Light can only open, and display
something of itself, in and by Darkness, as its Body of Manifestation and Visibility. But
Light cannot possibly be material, because all Materiality, as such, be it what and
where it will, is nothing else but so much Darkness. And therefore to suppose Light to be
material, is the same Absurdity, as to suppose it to be Darkness; for so much Materiality
is so much Darkness, and it is impossible to be otherwise. Again, All Matter has
but one Nature; it admits of neither more nor less, but wherever it is, all that is
material is equally there. If therefore Light was material, all the Materiality in the
World must be Light, and equally so. For no Materiality could be Light, unless Light was
essential to Matter, as such, no more than any Materiality could be extended, unless
Extension was essential to Matter as such.
[Love-2.3-57] Eusebius. What is it then, that you understand by
the Materiality of Light?
[Love-2.3-58] Theophilus. 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, &c.
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.
[Love-2.3-59] 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
Splendour and Glory, by and through the Materiality of Darkness.
[Love-2.3-60] 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 incorporateth itself.
[Love-2.3-61] 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 Difference of Light, is only the Difference 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. It
has no more Materiality in itself, when it enlightens the Earth, than when it enlightens
the Mind of an Angel, when it gives Colour to Bodies, than when it gives Understanding
to Spirits.
[Love-2.3-62] Sight and Visibility is but one Power of Light, but
Light is all Power; it is Life and every joyful Sensibility of Life
is from it. "In Him," says the Apostle, "was Light, and the Light was the
Life of Men." Light is all Things, and Nothing. It is Nothing, because it is supernatural;
it is all Things, because every good Power and Perfection of every Thing is from it. No
Joy, or Rejoicing in any Creature, but from the Power and Joy of Light. No Meekness,
Benevolence, or Goodness, in Angel, Man, or any Creature, but where Light is the Lord of
its Life. Life itself begins no sooner, rises no higher, has no other Glory than as the
Light begins it and leads it on. Sounds have no Softness, Flowers and Gums have no
Sweetness, Plants and Fruits have no Growth, but as the Mystery of Light opens itself in
them.
[Love-2.3-63] 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 did not the supernatural Light stream forth its Blessings into
this World, through the Materiality of the Sun, all outward Nature would be full of
the Horror of Hell.
[Love-2.3-64] And hence are all the Mysteries and Wonders of Light, in
this material System, so astonishingly great and unsearchable; it 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.
[Love-2.3-65] Theogenes. I could willingly hear you, Theophilus,
on this Subject till Midnight, though it seems to lead us away from our proposed Subject.
[Love-2.3-66] Theophilus. Not so far out of the Way, Theogenes,
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.
[Love-2.3-67] 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 every Thing, whether good or evil, that is done in Man.
[Love-2.3-68] Theogenes. What is this Darkness in itself, or
where is it?
[Love-2.3-69] Theophilus. 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. Every Thing, 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.
[Love-2.3-70] Theogenes. What are the Powers of Darkness?
[Love-2.3-71] Theophilus. The Powers of Darkness are the Workings
of Nature or Self: For Nature, Darkness, and Self are but three different
Expressions for one and the same Thing.
[Love-2.3-72] 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 doth.
[Love-2.3-73] Theogenes. But if Nature is thus the Seat
and Source of all Evil, if every Thing that is bad is in it and from it, how can
such a Nature be brought forth by God who is all Goodness?
[Love-2.3-74] Theophilus. 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, viz., a Strife
and Contrariety of Properties for this only End, that the supernatural Good
might thereby 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
State in which it came forth from God. Lastly, it is Self, viz., an own
Life, that so, 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.
[Love-2.3-75] And thus, 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.
[Love-2.3-76] But when the intelligent Creature turns from God to Self
or Nature, he acts unnaturally, he turns from all that which 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, hath 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 thus also you see the Plainness and
Certainty of our Assertion, that Nature or Self hath all Evil, and no Evil in it.
[Love-2.3-77] Theogenes. I plainly enough perceive, that Nature
or Self, without God manifested in it, is all Evil and Misery. But I would, 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.
[Love-2.3-78] Theophilus. 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 thus, 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 deprived of, or fallen from God, it can be nothing else in itself
but an Extremity of Want, continually desiring, and an Extremity of Desire,
continually wanting. And hence 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.
[Love-2.3-79] Now Covetousness, Pride, and Envy, are not three different
Things, but only three different Names, for the restless Workings of one and 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 three first Births, and 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 and arrogate, because it is a Desire
founded on a real Want of Exaltation, or a higher State.
[Love-2.3-80] Now Wrath, which is a fourth Birth from
these three, can have no Existence, till 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 till then.
[Love-2.3-81] And thus you see in the highest Degree of Certainty, what Nature
or Self is, as to its essential, constituent Parts. It is the three
forementioned, 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 till some supernatural Good comes into it,
or gets a Birth in it. And 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. Till fallen Man is born again from above, till 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.
[Love-2.3-82] Whilst Man indeed lives amongst the Vanities of Time, his
Covetousness, Envy, Pride, and Wrath, may be in a tolerable 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 Cheats, 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. Oh! Theogenes, that I had
Power from God to take those dreadful Scales from the Eyes of every Deist, which hinder
him from seeing and feeling the infinite importance of this most certain Truth!
[Love-2.3-83] Theogenes. God give a Blessing, Theophilus,
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.
[Love-2.3-84] Theophilus. 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, or left to itself. For
every Desire, as such, is and must be made up of Contrariety, as is
sufficiently shown elsewhere. { Way to Divine Knowledge; Spirit
of Love. } And its essential Contrariety,
which it has in itself, is the one 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, whence comes all Feeling, and the Capacity of being felt.
[Love-2.3-85] Again, All natural Life is nothing else but a mere
Desire founded 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.
[Love-2.3-86] Hence 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 the 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 of the excessive Misery and Depravity of the fallen Angels.
[Love-2.3-87] 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 orbicular, or whirling Motion, and yet draws and resists, just as it did before.
[Love-2.3-88] Now this threefold Contrariety in the Motions, or
Properties of Attraction, 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, (1) That Contrariety is the one only possible
Ground of Nature and all natural Life, whether it be eternal or temporal, spiritual or
material; (2) That no other Contrariety is, or can be in the Properties or Laws of
Attraction in this material Nature, but that one and 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 any Thing 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.
[Love-2.3-89] For Attraction, in the material World, has not only
nothing material in it, but is impossible to be communicated to Matter; or rather
Matter has no possible Capacity to receive Attraction. It can no more receive
or obey the Laws of Attraction, than it can make Laws for Angels. It is as
incapable of moving, or stirring itself, as it is of making Syllogisms. For Matter is, in
itself, only Death, Darkness, and Inactivity, and is as utterly incapable of moving
itself, as it is of illuminating or creating itself; nothing can be done in it, and by it,
but that which is done by something that is not material.
[Love-2.3-90] 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 very 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.
[Love-2.3-91] And thus 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 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 Ground and only the
Ground for either Happiness or Misery. No possible Happiness, or Sensibility of Joy for
any Creature, but where these contrary Properties work, nor any Possibility of
Misery but from them.
[Love-2.3-92] Now Attraction, acting according to its three
invariable, 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.
[Love-2.3-93] In eternal Nature, the three contrary Properties of
Desire, answering exactly to the three contrary Motions of material Attraction, are in
themselves only Resistance, Rage, and Darkness, and can be nothing else,
till the supernatural Deity kindles its Fire of Light and Love in
them; and then all their raging Contrarieties are changed into never-ceasing Sensibilities
of Unity, Joy, and Happiness.
[Love-2.3-94] Just so, in this material System, suppose there to be
nothing in it but the contrary Motions of Attraction, it could be nothing else but
Rage against Rage in the Horror of Darkness.
[Love-2.3-95] But when the same supernatural Light, which turns
the first fighting Properties of Nature into a Kingdom of Heaven, gives forth something
of its Goodness into this World, through the kindled Body of the Sun, then all the
fighting, contradictory Motions of Attraction, serve only to bring new Joys into the
World, and open every Life, and every Blessing of Life, that can have Birth in a System of
transitory Matter.
[Love-2.3-96] Theogenes. Oh Theophilus, you quite surprise
me by thus 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.
[Love-2.3-97] For Matter is his only Wall of Partition between
them, he is equally nigh 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.
[Love-2.3-98] I now also see the full Truth and Certainty of what you
said of the Nature and Power of Divine Love, viz., "that it is
perfect Peace and Joy, a Freedom from all Disquiet, making every Thing 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 a 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 the
Want of it so dreadful a State, that I am even afraid of lying down in my Bed, till every
working Power of my Soul is given up to it, wholly possessed and governed by it.
[Love-2.3-99] Theophilus. You have Reason for all that you say, Theogenes;
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 in a Pest-house, or cast
into a Dungeon of venomous Beasts. On the other Hand, we should look upon the lofty
Eloquence, and proud Virtue of a Cicero, but as the Blessing of Storm and Tempest,
when compared with the heavenly Tranquillity of that meek and lowly Heart, to which our
Redeemer has called us.
[Love-2.3-100] I said the Serpents of Covetousness, Envy, Pride,
and Wrath, because they are alone 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 broken out from the fallen spiritual World; and by their manifold
Variety, they show us that Multiplicity of Evil, that lies in the Womb of that
Abyss of dark Rage, which (N.B.) has no Maker, but the three first Properties of
Nature, fallen from God, and working in their Darkness.
[Love-2.3-101] 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 have they 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 was there no Hell broken out in spiritual
Nature, not only no evil Beast, but no bestial Life, could ever have come into Existence.
[Love-2.3-102] For the Origin of Matter, and the bestial, earthly Life,
stands thus. 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, or compacted this spiritual Chaos into a material Heaven, and a material
Earth, and commanded the Light to enter into it. Hence 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, viz.,
of a spiritual Chaos changed into a Materiality of Light striving against
Darkness, till the omnipotent Wisdom and Goodness of God, through the Wonders of a first
and second Adam, shall have made this Chaotic Earth to send as many
Angels into the highest Heaven, as fell with Lucifer into the hellish Chaos.
[Love-2.3-103] But to return. I have, I hope, sufficiently opened unto
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; viz., 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.
[Love-2.3-104] Theogenes. 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 half 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
deceiveth 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, and a more immovable Abode, in
these Forms of Virtue, than he has in Publicans and Sinners.
[Love-2.3-105] Enjoin me therefore whatever you please; all Rules,
Methods, and Practices, will be welcome to me, if you judge them to be necessary in this
Matter.
[Love-2.3-106] Theophilus. 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, 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
Labour of this Kind, the more Nature is fed and strengthened with its own Food.
[Love-2.3-107] But the one true Way of dying to Self is most simple
and plain, it wants no Arts or Methods, no Cells, Monasteries, or Pilgrimages,
it is equally practicable by every Body, it is always at Hand, it meets you in every
Thing, it is free from all Deceit, and is never without Success.
[Love-2.3-108] If you ask, What is this one true, simple, plain,
immediate and unerring Way? It is the Way of Patience, Meekness, Humility, and Resignation
to God. This is the Truth and Perfection of dying to Self; it is nowhere
else, nor possible to be in any Thing else, but in this State of Heart.
[Love-2.3-109] Theogenes. The Excellence and Perfection of these
Virtues I readily acknowledge; but alas, Sir, 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 much Length of Time, and Exercise and Variety of Practices and
Methods are necessary, and scarce sufficient to the Attainment of any one of these
four Virtues?
[Love-2.3-110] Theophilus. When Christ our Saviour was upon
Earth, was there any Thing more simple, plain, immediate, unerring, than the Way to Him?
Did Scribes, Pharisees, Publicans, and Sinners, want 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?
[Love-2.3-111] Theogenes. I don’t understand why you put
this Question; nor do I see how it can possibly relate to the Matter before us.
[Love-2.3-112] Theophilus. 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 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 it, I call it so for no other Reason, but because you can as easily and immediately,
without Art 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.
[Love-2.3-113] Theogenes. 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 Miracle in it, to be now expected.
[Love-2.3-114] Theophilus. 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 any others are for a long Time vainly endeavouring after, and hardly ever
attaining these First-rate 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.
[Love-2.3-115] "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will refresh you." 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 round-about 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 this good Redeemer to the Cross,
and so broken off all immediate Union and Communion between Faith and Christ?
[Love-2.3-116] 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 Saviour and gave less certain and immediate
Helps 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 whilst
he was only resisting and fighting our Enemies? Or has He less good Will to assist his
Church, his own Body, now 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.
[Love-2.3-117] Theogenes. 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 them, 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?
[Love-2.3-118] Theophilus. 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 takest away the Sins of the World; Or, O Thou Bread
that camest down from Heaven; Or, Thou that art the Resurrection, and the Life,
the Light and Peace of all holy Souls, help me to a living Faith in Thee.
Would you say, that this was not a Prayer of Faith in and to Christ, because it did not
call Him Jesus, or the Son of God? Answer me plainly.
[Love-2.3-119] Theogenes. 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?
[Love-2.3-120] Theophilus. Well answered, my Friend. When
therefore I exhort you to give up yourself in Faith and Hope, to Patience, Meekness,
Humility, and Resignation to God, what else do I do, but turn you
directly to so much Faith and Hope in the true Lamb of God? For if I ask you, what
the Lamb of God is, and means, 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 one 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 Application
to Christ, is worshipping and falling down before him, is giving up
yourself unto him, and the very Perfection of Faith in him?
[Love-2.3-121] If you distrust my Words, hear the Words of Christ
himself. "Learn of me," says He, "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 ye shall find Rest
unto your Souls."
[Love-2.3-122] And all this, because this 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 and be with 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 Kind, or 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. Oh Theogenes,
could I help you to perceive or feel what a Good there is in this State of Heart; you
would Desire it with more Eagerness, than the thirsty Hart desireth 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 any Body, no new Way that you need inquire
after; no Oracle that you need to consult; for whilst you shut up yourself 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, as certainly as he lived in,
and governed that Body and Soul, which he took from the Virgin Mary.
[Love-2.3-123] 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.
[Love-2.3-124] 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 it is Christ that liveth 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 was, viz., to Patience,
Meekness, Humility, and Resignation to God.
[Love-2.3-125] 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?
[Love-2.3-126] Theogenes. Enough of all Reason. But as to Covetousness,
I thank God, I cannot charge myself with it, it has no Power over me, nay I naturally
abhor it. And I also now clearly see, why I have been so long struggling in vain against
other selfish Tempers.
[Love-2.3-127] Theophilus. 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 done 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.
[Love-2.3-128] 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 or disappointed.
And therefore so long as any selfish Tempers, whether of Envy, Uneasiness, Complaint,
Pride, or Wrath, are alive in you, you have the fullest Proof, that all these Tempers 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.
[Love-2.3-129] 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 Endeavours; 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 all
human Means, than he hopes 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
any Thing 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, till it falls into
this State. For God must do all, or all is nothing; but God cannot do all, till all is
expected from Him; and all is not expected from Him, till by a true and good Despair
of every human Help, we have no Hope, or Trust, or Longing after any Thing but a patient,
meek, humble, total Resignation to God.
[Love-2.3-130] 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, till it
wills and chooses to be dead to all Self, in a patient, meek, humble
Resignation to the good Power and Mercy of God.
[Love-2.3-131] 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 every Thing, 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.
[Love-2.3-132] Theogenes. But, dear Theophilus, though I
am so delighted with what you say, that I am loath 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?
[Love-2.3-133] Theophilus. 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 Irresignation, attack yourself, 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 any Thing
else, neither from Men nor Books, but wholly leave and give up yourself to be helped by
the Mercy of God. And thus, be your State what it will, you may always have the full
Benefit of this short and sure Way of resigning up 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
hath 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, or Subdivision amongst
Christians, carnally expecting some mighty Things either from Samaria, or Jerusalem,
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, are more or less
in us.
[Love-2.3-134] What a Folly then to be so often perplexed about the Way
to God? For 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 any Thing 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.
[Love-2.3-135] 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.
[Love-2.3-136] Let then Arians, Semi-Arians, and Socinians,
who puzzle their laborious Brains to make Paper-Images of a Trinity for themselves, have
nothing from you but your Pity and Prayers; your Foundation standeth sure, whilst 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.
[Love-2.3-137] Theogenes. I can never enough thank you, Theophilus,
for this good and comfortable Answer to my scrupulous Fear. It seems now, as if I could
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.
[Love-2.3-138] 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 Bent and
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 hath 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 and pine in
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, and Desire of our Heart, that presses toward Him, longing to catch, as it
were, one small Spark of his heavenly Nature, but 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.
[Love-2.3-139] This Doctrine also makes me quite weary and 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 thee behind me, Satan, for it is his, and has its whole
Nature from him. To rejoice in a Resentment gratified, appears now to me 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, outwardly coloured, and 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 taketh away every
Sin that ever had Power over your Soul.
[Love-2.3-140] What a Blindness was it in me, to think that I had no
Covetousness because the Love of Pelf {money or gain}, 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 any Thing but that which God would have me to be and
do, I stick in the Mire of Covetousness, and must have all that Evil and Disquiet living
and working in me, which robs Misers of their Peace both with God and Man.
[Love-2.3-141] 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, be thou my Guide and Governor wherever I go! Nothing but thou can take me from
myself, nothing but thou can lead me to God; Hell has no Power where thou art; nor can
Heaven hide itself from thee. Oh may I never indulge a Thought, bring forth a Word, or do
any Thing for myself or others, but under the Influence of thy blessed Inspiration!
[Love-2.3-142] Forgive, dear Theophilus, this Transport of my
Soul; I could not stop it. The Sight, though distant, of this heavenly Canaan, this
Sabbath of the Soul, freed from the miserable Labour 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.
[Love-2.3-143] Theophilus. Thither, Theogenes, you must
certainly come, if you keep to the Path of Meekness, Humility, and Patience, under a full
Resignation to God. But if you go aside from it, let the Occasion seem ever so glorious,
or the Effects ever so wonderful to you, it is only preparing for yourself a harder
Death. For die you must to all, and every Thing that you have worked or done under
any other Spirit, but that of Meekness, Humility, and true Resignation to God. Every Thing
else, be it what it will, hath 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.
[Love-2.3-144] For these Virtues are the only Wedding Garment;
they are the Lamps and Vessels well furnished with Oil.
[Love-2.3-145] There is nothing that will do in the Stead of them; they
must have their own full and perfect Work in you, if not before, yet
certainly after the Death of the Body, 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, viz.,
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.
[Love-2.3-146] 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-Day of the Spirit of Love in our Souls, which
whenever we attain it, will feast our Souls with such Peace and Joy in God, as will blot
out the Remembrance of every Thing, that we called Peace or Joy before.
[Love-2.3-147] In the Letter on the Spirit of Love, you have been
shown, according to the Mystery of all Things opened by the Goodness of God in the
blessed Behmen, the Time and Place of its Birth. That it 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, till 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.
[Love-2.3-148] Now all that we have said To-day 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 then 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, or
manifesting itself in 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 what never ought to have been found and felt, viz., what Nature is in itself,
without the Manifestation of the Deity in it.
[Love-2.3-149] Therefore, as sure as the Light of God, or the Entrance
of the Deity into the three first 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.
[Love-2.3-150] 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, till 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 up itself to that Meekness, Humility,
Patience, and Resignation to God, which so far as it goes, is a leaving, rejecting,
and dying to all the Guidance of Nature.
[Love-2.3-151] And thus you see, that this one simple Way is,
according to the immutable Nature of Things, the one only possible and absolutely necessary
Way to God. It is as possible to go two contrary 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 Saviour (1) As he is the Lamb of God, a Principle, and Source of all Meekness,
and Humility in the Soul, and (2) As he is the Light of Eternity, that blesses
eternal Nature, and turns it into a Kingdom of Heaven.
[Love-2.3-152] 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.
[Love-2.3-153] 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 fall from it into Meekness, Humility, Patience, and Resignation to that
Mercy of God which alone can help us. And when we are thus weary and heavy laden, and
willing to get Rest to 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.
[Love-2.3-154] Need I say more, Theogenes, 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 Fervour, 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 arise, or be found
in you, by any Art or Contrivance of your own, but only and 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.
[Love-2.3-155] Theogenes. You need say no more, Theophilus;
you have not only removed that Difficulty which brought us hither, but have, by a Variety
of Things, fixed and confirmed us in a full Belief of that great truth elsewhere asserted,
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, and the Way to it is one, and that is, the Desire
of the Soul turned to God."
[Love-2.3-156] Therefore, dear Theophilus, adieu. 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.
The End of the Third DIALOGUE
FINIS.