[Pryr-2.1-1] Acad. Well met, honest Rusticus. I
can now tell you with much Pleasure, that we shall soon see a Second
Part of The Spirit of Prayer. And as soon as I get it, I will come and
read it to you.
[Pryr-2.1-2] Rust. I have often told you,
Academicus, that I wondered at your Eagerness and Impatience to see
more of this Matter. As to my Part, I have no such Thirst within me, and
should make no Complaint, if it never came out.
[Pryr-2.1-3] Acad. My Friend Rusticus, you
cannot read; and that is the Reason, that you are not in my State of
Impatience, to see another Book.
[Pryr-2.1-4] Rust. Indeed, Academicus, you quite
mistake the Matter. The First Part of the Spirit of Prayer you read to
me more than three or four times, and that is the Reason, why I am in no State
of Eagerness after a Second Part. I have found in the First Part, all that I
need to know of God, of Christ, of myself, of Heaven, of Hell, of Sin, of
Grace, of Death, and of Salvation: That all these Things have their
Being, their Life, and their Working, in my own Heart:
That God is always in me, that Christ is always within me; that he is the
inward Light and Life of my Soul, a Bread from Heaven, of
which I may always eat; a Water of eternal Life springing up in
my Soul, of which I may always drink. O my Friend, these Truths have opened a
new Life in my Soul: I am brought home to myself; the Veil is taken off from
my Heart; I have found my God; I know that his Dwelling-place, his Kingdom, is
within me. What need we then call out for Books written only with Pen and Ink,
when such a Book as this, so full of Wonders, is once opened in our own
Hearts? My Eyes, my Ears, my Thoughts, are all turned inwards, because all
that God, and Christ, and Grace, are doing for me, all that the Devil, the
World, and the Flesh, are working against me, are only to be known, and found
there. What need then of so much News from abroad, since all that concerns
either Life or Death, are all transacting, and all at work, within me?
[Pryr-2.1-5] How could I be said to have felt these great
Truths, to be sensible of these Riches of Eternity treasured up in my Soul, to
know what a great Good the Divine Nature is in me, and to me, if, instead of
turning all the Desire and Delight of my Heart towards them, I only felt a
Longing and Desire to read more concerning the Spirit of Prayer? No,
Academicus, another, and a better Fire is kindled within me; my Heart
is in motion, and all that is within me tends towards God; and I find that
nothing concerns me more, than to keep my Heart from wandering after anything
else. I now know to what it is that I am daily to die, and to what it is that
I am daily to live; and therefore look upon every Day as lost, that does not
help forwards both this Death, and this Life, in me. I have not yet done half,
what the First Part of the Spirit of Prayer directs me to do; and therefore
have but little Occasion to call out for a Second.
[Pryr-2.1-6] Theoph. Indeed, Academicus, I must
own, that honest Rusticus, as you called him, has spoken well. Your
Education has so accustomed you to the Pleasure of reading Variety of Books,
that you hardly propose any other End in reading, than the Entertainment of
your Mind: Thus the Spirit of Prayer has only awakened in you a Desire to see
another Part upon the same Subject. This Fault is very common to others, as
well as Scholars, and even to those who only delight in reading good Books.
[Pryr-2.1-7] Philo for this twenty Years has been
collecting and reading all the spiritual Books he can hear of. He reads
them, as the Critics read Commentators and Lexicons, to be nice and
exact in telling you the Style, Spirit, and Intent of this or
that spiritual Writer, how one is more accurate in this, and the other in
that. Philo will ride you forty Miles in Winter to have a Conversation
about spiritual Books, or to see a Collection larger than his own.
Philo is amazed at the Deadness and Insensibility of the Christian
World, that they are such Strangers to the inward Life and spiritual Nature of
the Christian Salvation; he wonders how they can be so zealous for the outward
Letter and Form of Ordinances, and so averse to that spiritual Life, that they
all point at, as the one thing needful. But Philo never thinks how
wonderful it is, that a Man who knows Regeneration to be the Whole, should yet
content himself with the Love of Books upon the new Birth, instead of being
born again himself. For all that is changed in Philo, is his Taste for
Books. He is no more dead to the World, no more delivered from himself, is as
fearful of Adversity, as fond of Prosperity, as easily provoked, and pleased
with Trifles, as much governed by his own Will, Tempers, and Passions,
as unwilling to deny his Appetites, or enter into War with himself, as he was
twenty Years ago. Yet all is well with Philo; he has no
Suspicion of himself; he dates the Newness of his Life, and the Fullness of
his Light, from the time that he discovered the Pearl of Eternity in spiritual
Authors.
[Pryr-2.1-8] All this, Academicus, is said on your
Account, that you may not lose the Benefit of this Spark of the Divine Life
that is kindled in your Soul, but may conform yourself suitably to so great a
Gift of God.
[Pryr-2.1-9] It demands at present an Eagerness of another
Kind, than that of much reading, even upon the most spiritual Matters.
[Pryr-2.1-10] Acad. I thank you, Theophilus, for
your good Will towards me; but did not imagine my Eagerness after such Books
to be so great and dangerous a Mistake. And if I do not yet entirely give in
to what you say, it is because a Friend of yours has told us (and as I thought
by way of Direction) that he has been a diligent Reader of all the spiritual
Authors, from the apostolical Dionysius down to the illuminated
Guion, and celebrated Fenelon of Cambray. And therefore
it would never have come into my Head, to suspect it to be a Fault, or
dangerous, to follow his Example.
[Pryr-2.1-11] Theoph. I have said nothing, my Friend,
with a Design of hindering your Acquaintance with all the truly spiritual
Writers. I would rather in a right Way help you to a true Intimacy with them:
For they are Friends of God, entrusted with his Secrets, and Partakers of the
Divine Nature: And he that converses rightly with them, has a Happiness, that
can hardly be over-valued.
[Pryr-2.1-12] My Intention is only to abate, for a time, a
Spirit of Eagerness after much reading, which in your State has more of Nature
than Grace in it; which seeks Delight in a Variety of new Notions, and rather
gratifies Curiosity, than reforms the Heart.
[Pryr-2.1-13] Suppose you had seen an Angel from Heaven, who
had discovered to you a Glimpse of its own internal Brightness, and of that
glorious Union in which it lived with God, opening more of itself to the
inward Sight of your Mind, than you could either forget or relate. Suppose it
had told you with a piercing Word, and living Impression, that all its own
angelic and heavenly Brightness was hid in yourself, concealed from you under
a bestial Covering of Flesh and Blood; that this Flesh and Blood was become
the Master of it, would not suffer it to breathe, or stir, or come to Life in
you. Suppose it had told you, that all your Life had been spent in helping
this Flesh and Blood to more and more Power over you, to hinder you from
knowing and feeling this Divine Life within you. Suppose it had told you, that
to this Day you had lived in the grossest Self-idolatry, loving,
serving, honouring, and adoring yourself instead of loving, serving, and
adoring God with all your Heart, and Soul, and Spirit: That all your
Intentions, Projects, Cares, Pleasures, and Indulgences, had been only so much
Labour to bring you to the Grave in a total Ignorance of that great Work, for
which alone you were born into the World.
[Pryr-2.1-14] Suppose it had told you, that all this Blindness
and Insensibility of your State, was obstinately and willfully brought upon
yourself, because you had boldly slighted and resisted all the daily inward
and outward Calls of God to your Soul, all the Teachings, Doings, and
Sufferings, of a Son of God to redeem you. Suppose it left you with this
Farewell, "O Man awake; thy Work is great, thy Time is short, I am thy
last Trumpet; the Grave calls for thy Flesh and Blood, thy Soul must
enter into a new Lodging. To be born again, is to be an Angel: Not to be born
again is to become a Devil."
[Pryr-2.1-15] Tell me now, Academicus, what would you
expect from a Man who had been thus awakened, and pierced by the Voice of an
Angel? Could you think he had any Sense left, if he was not cast into the
deepest Depth of Humility, Self-dejection, and Self-abhorrence? Casting
himself, with a broken Heart, at the Feet of the Divine Mercy, desiring
nothing but that, from that Time, every Moment of his Life might be given unto
God, in the most perfect Denial of every Temper, Will, and Inclination, that
nourished the Corruption of his Nature: Wishing and praying from the Bottom of
his Heart, that God would lead him into and through every thing inwardly and
outwardly, that might destroy the evil Workings of his Nature, and awaken all
that was holy and heavenly within him; that the Seed of Eternity, the Spark of
Life, that he had so long quenched and smothered under earthly Rubbish, might
breathe, and come to Life, in him.
[Pryr-2.1-16] Or would you think he was enough affected with
this angelic Visit, if all that it had awakened in him, was only a Longing and
eager Desire to hear the same, or another Angel talk again?
[Pryr-2.1-17] Acad. O Theophilus, you have said
enough: For all that is within me consents to the Truth and Justness of what
you have said. I now feel in the strongest Manner, that I have been rather
amused, than edified, by what I have read.
[Pryr-2.1-18] Theoph. A spiritual Book,
Academicus, is a Call to as real and total a Death to the Life of
corrupt Nature, as that which Adam died in Paradise, was to the Life of
Heaven. He indeed died at once totally to the Divine Life in which he was
created: But as our Body of Earth is to last to the End of our Lives; so to
the End of our earthly Life, every Step we take, every Inch of our Road, is to
be made up of Denial, and dying to ourselves; because all our Redemption
consists in our regaining that first Life of Heaven in the Soul, to which
Adam died in Paradise. And therefore the one single Work of Redemption,
is the one single Work of Regeneration, or the raising up of a Life, and
Spirit, and Tempers, and Inclinations, contrary to that Life and Spirit which
we derive from our earthly fallen Parents. To think therefore of anything, but
the continual, total Denial of our earthly Nature, is to overlook the very one
thing on which all depends. And to hope for anything, to trust or pray for
anything, but the Life of God, or a Birth of Heaven, in our
Souls, is as useless to us, as placing our Hope and Trust in a graven Image.
Thus saith the Christ of God the one Pattern, and Author of our Salvation: "If
any Man will be my Disciple, let him deny himself, hate his own Life, take up
his daily Cross, and follow me." And again: "Unless a Man be born again from
above, of Water and the Spirit, he cannot see, or enter into, the Kingdom of
God."
[Pryr-2.1-19] Now is your time, Academicus, to enter
deeply into this great Truth. You are just come out of the Slumber of Life,
and begin to see with new Eyes the Nature of your Salvation. You are charmed
with the Discovery of a Kingdom of Heaven hidden within you, and long to be
entertained more and more with the Nature, Progress, and Perfection of the new
Birth, or the Opening of the Kingdom of God in your Soul.
[Pryr-2.1-20] But my Friend, stop a little. It is indeed great
Joy, that the Pearl of great Price is found; but take notice, that it
is not yours, you can have no Possession of it, till as the Merchant did,
you sell all that you have, and buy it. Now Self is all that you
have, it is your sole Possession; you have no Goods of your own,
nothing is yours but this Self. The Riches of Self are your
own Riches; but all this Self is to be parted with before the
Pearl is yours. Think of a lower Price, or be unwilling to give thus much for
it, plead in your Excuse, that you keep the Commandments, and then you are
that very rich young Man in the Gospel, who went away sorrowful from our Lord,
when he had said, "If thou wilt be perfect," that is, if thou wilt obtain the
Pearl, "sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor"; that is, die to all
thy Possession of Self, and then thou hast given all that thou hast to
the Poor: all that thou hast is devoted and used for the Love of God and thy
Neighbour. This selling all, Academicus, is the Measure of your dying
to Self; all of it is to be given up; it is an apostate Nature,
a stolen Life, brought forth in Rebellion against God: it is a
continual Departure from him. It corrupts everything it touches; it defiles
everything it receives; it turns all the Gifts and Blessings of God into
Covetousness, Partiality, Pride, Hatred, and Envy. All these Tempers are born,
and bred, and nourished, in Self; they have no other Place to live in,
no Possibility of Existence, but in that Creature which is fallen from a Life
in God, into a Life in Self.
[Pryr-2.1-21] Acad. Pray, Sir, tell me more plainly,
what this Self is, since so much depends upon it.
[Pryr-2.1-22] Theoph. It is Hell, it is the Devil, it
is Darkness, Pain, and Disquiet. It is the one only Enemy of Christ, the great
Antichrist. It is the Scarlet Whore, the fiery Dragon, the old Serpent, the
devouring Beast, that is mentioned in the Revelation of St. John.
[Pryr-2.1-23] Acad. You rather terrify than instruct
me, by this Description.
[Pryr-2.1-24] Theoph. It is indeed a very frightful
Matter; it contains everything that Man has to dread and hate, to resist and
avoid. Yet be assured, my Friend, that, careless and merry as the World is,
every Man that is born into it, has all these Enemies to overcome
within himself. And every Man, till he is in the Way of Regeneration,
is more or less governed by them. No Hell in any remote Place, no Devil that
is separate from you, no Darkness or Pain that is not within you, no
Antichrist either at Rome or England, no furious Beast, no fiery
Dragon, without, or apart from you, can do you any Hurt. It is your own Hell,
your own Devil, your own Beast, your own Antichrist, your own Dragon, that
lives in your own Heart's Blood, that alone can hurt you.
[Pryr-2.1-25] Die to this Self, to this inward Nature; and
then all outward Enemies are overcome. Live to this Self, and then, when this
Life is out, all that is within you, and all that is without you, will be
nothing else but a mere seeing and feeling this Hell, Serpent, Beast, and
fiery Dragon.
[Pryr-2.1-26] See here, Academicus, the twofold Nature
of every Man. He has within him a redeeming Power, the Meekness of the
heavenly Life, called the Lamb of God. This seed is surrounded, or
encompassed, with the Beast of fleshly Lusts, the Serpent of
Guile and Subtlety, and the Dragon of fiery Wrath. This is the great
Trial, or strife of human Life, whether a Man will live to the Lusts of the
Beast, the Guile of the Serpent, the Pride and Wrath of the
fiery Dragon, or give himself up to the Meekness, Patience, the
Sweetness, the Simplicity, the Humility, of the Lamb of God.
[Pryr-2.1-27] This is the Whole of the Matter between God and
the Creature. On one Side, Fire and Wrath, awakened first by the rebellious
Angels; and on the other Side, the Meekness of the Lamb of God, the Patience
of Divine Love coming down from Heaven, to stop and overcome the Fire and
Wrath that is broken out in Nature and Creature. Your Father Adam has
introduced you into the Fire and Wrath of the fallen Angels, into a World from
whence Paradise is departed. Your Flesh and Blood is kindled in that Sin,
which first brought forth a murdering Cain. But, dear Soul, be of good
Comfort, for the Meekness, the Love, the Heart, the
Lamb of God, is become Man, has set himself in the Birth of thy own
Life, that in him, and with him, and by a Birth from him, Heaven and Paradise
may be again opened both within thee, and without thee, not for a Time, but to
all Eternity.
[Pryr-2.1-28] Once more, Academicus. Every Man in this
World stands essentially in Heaven, and in Hell, both as to that which
is within him and that which is without him: For Man and the World are both in
the same fallen state. The Curse in the Earth is that same
thing in outward Nature, that the Loss of the Divine Life was to
the Soul of Adam. The whole World, in all its Nature, is nothing else
but a real Mixture of Heaven and Hell. The Sun and Water of this World,
is that which keeps under and overcomes the Darkness, Wrath, and Fire of Hell,
and carries on the vegetable and animal Life that is in it. The Light of the
Sun blesses all the Workings of the Elements, and the cool softening Essence
of the Water, keeps under the Fire and Wrath of Nature. In all animal
Creatures, the Birth of Light in their own Life, and the Water of their
own Blood, both produced by the Light of the Sun, and the Water of outward
Nature, bring forth an Order of earthly Creatures, that can enjoy the Good
that is in this World in Spite of the Wrath of Hell, and the Malice of Devils.
[Pryr-2.1-29] But Man has more than all this; for being at
first created an Angel, and intended by the Mercy of God to be an Angel again,
he has the Light of Heaven, and the Water of eternal Life, both
given to Adam in that Seed of the Woman, which was to
bruise the Head of the Serpent that is, to overcome the Curse, the
Fire, and Wrath, or Hell, that was awakened in the fallen Soul. So that Man
has not only, in common with the other Animals, the Light and Water of outward
Nature, to quench the Wrath of his own Life in this mixed World, but he has
the Meekness, the Light, the Love, the Humility of the Holy Jesus, as a Seed
of Life born in his Soul, to bring forth that first Image of God, in which
Adam was created. This, my Friend, is the true Ground of all true
Religion: It means nothing, it intends nothing, but to overcome that
earthly Life, which overcame Adam in the Fall, that made him a
Prisoner of Hell, and a Slave to the corrupt Workings of earthly Flesh and
Blood. And therefore you may see, and know with a mathematical Certainty, that
the one thing necessary for every fallen Soul, is to die to all the Life that
we have from this World, that the Life of Heaven may be born again in him. The
Life of this World is the Life of the Beast, the Scarlet
Whore, the old Serpent and the fiery Dragon.
[Pryr-2.1-30] Hence it is that Sin rides in triumph over
Church and State, and from the Court to the Cottage all is over-run with
Sensuality, Guile, Falseness, Pride, Wrath, Envy, Selfishness, and every form
of Corruption. Every one swims away in this Torrent, but he who hears and
attends to the Voice of the Son of God within him, calling him
to die to this Life, to take up his Cross, and follow him. Much learned Pains
has been often taken to prove Rome, or Constantinople, to be the
Seat of the Beast, the Antichrist, the Scarlet Whore, &c. But,
alas! they are not at such a Distance from us, they are the Properties of
fallen human Nature, and are all of them alive in our own Selves, till we are
dead or dying to all the Spirit and Tempers of this World. They are
everywhere, in every Soul, where the heavenly Nature, and Spirit of the Holy
Jesus is not. But when the human Soul turns from itself, and turns to God,
dies to itself, and lives to God in the Spirit, Tempers, and Inclinations of
the Holy Jesus, loving, pitying, suffering, and praying for all its Enemies,
and overcoming all Evil with Good, as this Christ of God did; then, but not
till then, are these Monsters separate from it. For Covetousness and
Sensuality of all kinds, are the very devouring Beast; Religion
governed by a worldly, trading Spirit, and gratifying the partial Interest of
Flesh and Blood, is nothing else but the Scarlet Whore; Guile, and
Craft, and Cunning, are the very Essence of the old Serpent;
Self-Interest and Self-Exaltation are the whole Nature of Antichrist.
Pride, Persecution, Wrath, Hatred and Envy, are the very Essence of the
fiery Dragon.
[Pryr-2.1-31] This, Academicus, is the fallen human
Nature, and this is the old Man, which is alive in every one, though in
various Manners, till he is born again from above. To think therefore of
anything in Religion, or to pretend to real Holiness, without totally dying to
this old Man, is building Castles in the Air, and can bring forth nothing, but
Satan in the form of an Angel of Light. Would you know,
Academicus, whence it is, that so many false Spirits have appeared in
the World, who have deceived themselves and others with false Fire, and false
Light, laying Claim to Inspirations, Illuminations, and Openings of the Divine
Life, pretending to do Wonders under extraordinary Calls from God? It is this;
they have turned to God without turning from themselves; would be alive in
God, before they were dead to their own Nature; a thing as impossible in
itself, as for a Grain of Wheat to be alive before it dies.
[Pryr-2.1-32] Now Religion in the Hands of Self, or corrupt
Nature, serves only to discover Vices of a worse kind, than in Nature left to
itself. Hence are all the disorderly Passions of religious Men, which burn in
a worse Flame than Passions only employed about worldly Matters: Pride,
Self-Exaltation, Hatred and Persecution, under a Cloak of religious Zeal, will
sanctify Actions, which Nature, left to itself, would be ashamed to own.
[Pryr-2.1-33] You may now see, Academicus, with what
great Reason I have called you, at your first setting out, to this great
Point, the total dying to Self, as the only Foundation of a solid
Piety. All the fine Things you hear or read of an inward and spiritual Life in
God, all your Expectations of the Light and Holy Spirit of God, will become a
false Food to your Soul, till you only seek for them through Death to Self.
[Pryr-2.1-34] Observe, Sir, the Difference which Clothes make
in those, who have it in their Power to dress as they please: Some are all for
Show, Colours, and Glitter; others are quite fantastical and affected in their
Dress; Some have a grave and solemn Habit; others are quite simple and plain
in the whole manner. Now all this Difference of Dress, is only an outward
Difference, that covers the same poor Carcase, and leaves it full of all its
own Infirmities. Now all the Truths of the Gospel, when only embraced and
possessed by the old Man, make only such superficial Difference, as is
made by Clothes. Some put on a solemn, formal, prudent, outside Carriage;
others appear in all the Glitter and Show of religious Colouring, and
spiritual Attainments; but under all this outside Difference, there lies the
poor fallen Soul, imprisoned, unhelped, in its own fallen State. And thus it
must be, it is not possible to be otherwise, till the spiritual Life begins at
the true Root, grows out of Death, and is born in a broken Heart, a
Heart broken off from all its own natural Life. Then Self-hatred,
Self-contempt, and Self-denial, are as suitable to this new-born Spirit, as
Self-love, Self-esteem, and Self-seeking, are to the unregenerate Man. Let me,
therefore, my Friend, conjure you, not to look forward, or cast about for
spiritual Advancement, till you have rightly taken this first Step in
the spiritual Life. All your future Progress depends upon it: For this Depth
of Religion goes no deeper than the Depth of your Malady: For Sin has its Root
in the Bottom of your Soul, it comes to Life with your Flesh and Blood, and
breathes in the Breath of your natural Life; and therefore, till you die to
Nature, you live to Sin; and whilst this Root of Sin is alive in you, all the
Virtues you put on, are only like fine painted Fruit hung upon a bad Tree.
[Pryr-2.1-35] Acad. Indeed, Theophilus, you have
made the Difference between true and false Religion as plain to me, as the
Difference between Light and Darkness. But all that you have said, at the same
time, is as new to me, as if I had lived in a Land, where Religion had never
been named. But pray, Sir, tell me how I am to take this first Step,
which you so much insist upon.
[Pryr-2.1-36] Theoph. You are to turn wholly from
yourself, and to give up yourself wholly unto God, in this or the like twofold
Form of Words or Thoughts:
[Pryr-2.1-37] "Oh my God, with all the Strength of my Soul,
assisted by thy Grace, I desire and resolve to resist and deny all my own
Will, earthly Tempers, selfish Views, and Inclinations; every thing that the
Spirit of this World, and the Vanity of fallen Nature, prompts me to. I give
myself up wholly and solely unto Thee, to be all thine, to have, and do, and
be, inwardly and outwardly, according to thy good Pleasure. I desire to live
for no other Ends, with no other Designs, but to accomplish the Work which
thou requirest of me, an humble, obedient, faithful, thankful Instrument in
thy Hands to be used as thou pleasest."
[Pryr-2.1-38] You are not to content yourself, my Friend, with
now and then, or even many times, making this Oblation of yourself to God. It
must be the daily, the hourly Exercise of your Mind; till it is wrought into
your very Nature, and becomes an essential State and Habit of your Mind, till
you feel yourself as habitually turned from all your own Will, selfish Ends,
and earthly Desires, as you are from Stealing and Murder; till the whole Turn
and bent of your Spirit points as constantly to God, as the Needle touched
with the Loadstone does to the North. This, Sir, is your first and necessary
Step in the spiritual Life; this is the Key to all the Treasures of Heaven;
this unlocks the sealed Book of your Soul, and makes room for the Light and
Spirit of God to arise up in it. Without this, the spiritual Life is but
spiritual Talk, and only assists Nature to be pleased with an Holiness that it
has not.
[Pryr-2.1-39] The Necessity of this first Step, and the Folly
of pretending to succeed without it, is thus represented by our blessed
Lord: What man intending to build a House,—
[Pryr-2.1-40] All our Ability and Preparation to succeed in
this great Affair, lie in this first Step. You may perhaps think this
an hard Saying. But do not go away sorrowful, like the young Man in the
Gospel, because he had great Possessions. For, my Friend, you little think
what a Deliverance you will have from all Hardships, and what a Flow of
Happiness is found even in this Life, as soon as the Soul is thus dead
to Self, freed from its own Passions, and wholly given up to God; of
which I shall speak to you by and by. I have told you the Price of the new
Birth. I shall now leave you to consider, whether you will be so wise a
Merchant, as to give up all the Wealth of the old Man for this heavenly Pearl.
I do not expect your Answer now, but will stay for it till To-morrow.
[Pryr-2.1-41] But pray, Gentlemen, who is this Humanus?
I do not remember to have seen him before; He seems not willing to speak, yet
is often biting his Lips at what is said.
[Pryr-2.1-42] Rust. This Humanus, Sir, is my
Neighbour; but so ignorant of the Nature of the Gospel, that he is often
trying to persuade me into a Disbelief of it. I say ignorant (though he is a
learned Man) because I am well assured, that no Man ever did, or can oppose
the Gospel, but through a total Ignorance of what it is in itself; For the
Gospel, when rightly understood, is irresistible; it brings more good News to
the human Nature, than Sight to the Blind, Limbs to the Lame, Health to the
Sick, or Liberty to the condemned Slave. But this Neighbour of mine has never
yet been in Sight of the Truth, as it is in the Gospel; he knows nothing of
the Grounds and Reason of it, but what he has picked up out of Books, that
have been written against it, and for it. He often makes use of one Maxim of
the Gospel, to overthrow it, and wonders that so plain and honest a Man as I
am, will not submit to it. He says, if it be a Truth, as the Gospel saith,
That the Tree must be known by its Fruit, and that a good Tree cannot bring
forth corrupt Fruit, we need only look at the Lives of Christians, the
Craft of Priests, the Wars, Contentions, Hatreds, Sects, Parties, Heresies,
Divisions, Outrages, and Persecutions, which Christianity has brought forth,
we need only look at this, to have all our Senses and Reason assure us, that
the Gospel must be a bad Tree.
[Pryr-2.1-43] But this is enough concerning the Man. He comes
with me at his own earnest Desire, which has lately seized him, and upon his
own strict Promise, not to interrupt our Conversation; but to be a silent
Hearer, till it is all over. And therefore, if you please, Sir, I beg our
Conversation may for a while turn upon the chief Points asserted in The Spirit
of Prayer, for two Reasons; first, that Academicus may see what Reasons
I had for saying, that Book had given me a sufficient Instruction; and also
that Humanus, hearing these great Points, may hear the whole Ground and
Nature, the Necessity and Blessedness of the Christian Redemption, set forth
in such a Degree of Light, and Truth, and Amiableness, as he had no Notion of
before.
[Pryr-2.1-44] Theoph. Your Neighbour is welcome, and I
pray God to give him an Heart attentive to those Truths, which have made so
good an Impression upon you. The first Point that you desire us to speak to,
is concerning the Original of this temporal World. How God was moved to create
it, upon the Fall of a whole Host, or Kingdom of Angels, who, by their Revolt
from God, lost the Divine Light, and awakened in themselves, and the Region in
which they dwelt, the dark, wrathful Fire of Hell: For Hell is nothing else,
but Nature departed, or excluded, from the Beams of Divine Light. The
Materiality of their Kingdom was spiritual, and the Light that
glanced through it, that filled its Transparency with an Infinity of glorious
Wonders, was the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's Glory. The
Spirit that animated the inward Life of those glorious Angels, and that
moved with its sweet Breath, through all this glassy Sea, opening and
changing new Scenes in the Mirror of Divine Wisdom, was the Holy Spirit
of God, that eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. Thus did these
celestial Spirits live, move, and have their Being, in God. All was Heaven,
and they all were so many created Gods, eternally sinking down, and rising up,
into new Heights and Depths of the Riches of the Divine Nature. With this
Degree of Glory and Happiness was the whole Extent of the Place of this World
filled, before the Angels fell: and to this Degree of Happiness, and heavenly
Glory, will the whole Place of this World be again raised, when the Love of
God shall have finished the great Work of the Redemption of Mankind. Heaven
again, and Angels again, raised out of the Misery of Time, to sing eternal
Praises to the Holy Trinity, and to the Lamb that has overcome Sin, and Death,
and Hell, and turned all the Wrath, and Misery and Darkness of this World,
into an Heaven never more to be changed. Oh Rusticus, what Sentiments
do these Things raise in you?
[Pryr-2.1-45] Rust. Indeed, Sir, they almost make me to
forget, that I am in the Body. You have set me upon a Mountain, from which,
whether I look backwards, or forwards, or downwards, all is equally
surprising: backwards, a Breach made in Heaven, the first Opening of Hell and
Darkness, and a new Creation out of the Ruins of the fallen Angels; forwards,
Time and all temporal Nature rising again into its first Eternity; downwards,
a Globe of Earth, the Seat of War between Heaven and Hell, where Men are born
to partake of the dreadful Strife, and have only the little Span of Life,
either to overcome with God, or be overcome by the Devil. Oh, Sir, what great
things are these? I wish that all the World, as well as my Neighbour
Humanus, were forced to be silent Hearers of them. But pray, Sir, go
on.
[Pryr-2.1-46] Theoph. When God saw the Darkness that
was upon the Face of the Deep, and the whole angelic Habitation become a
Chaos of Confusion, the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the
Waters; that is, the Spirit of God began to operate again in this outward
Darkness, that covered this once transparent glassy Sea; for from a
glassy Sea it was become a Deep covered with Darkness, which was soon to take
another Nature; to have its Fire and Wrath converted into Sun and Stars; its
Dross and Darkness into a Globe of Earth; its Mobility and Moisture into Air
and Water; when the Spirit of God began to move and operate in it. But before
this Chaos had entered into this new Order, God said, "Let there be Light";
and there was Light. This Light, my Friend, was not the present Light of this
World, which now governs the Night and the Day; for the Sun, the Moon, and
Stars, were not created till the fourth Day. But the Light which God then
spoke forth, was a Degree of Heaven, that was commanded to glance into the
darkened Deep, which penetrated through all the Depth of the Chaos, and
intermixed itself through every Part; not turning the Whole into a Region of
Light, but only by its quickening Virtue fitting, disposing, and preparing
every Part to take that Change, which every following Day of the Creation was
to bring forth, in and out of this darkened Deep: For Darkness is Death, and
Light is Life. This was the Nature and Work of that first Light, which God
called forth on the first Day: It was God's baptizing the dead Chaos
with the Spirit of Life, that it might be capable of a Resurrection into a new
Creation.
[Pryr-2.1-47] See here the Uniformity of the divine Procedure,
with regard both to fallen Nature and Creature. When the Creature (Man) was
fallen, his Redemption was begun by God's speaking a Seed of Light,
called the Seed of the Woman, into the Birth of his Life. This alone could
qualify him for the new Creation in Christ Jesus. When Nature was
fallen, its Restoration was begun in the same Manner: Light was commanded to
enter into it, or rather to rise up in it: this was its Power or Possibility
of coming out of its fallen State.
[Pryr-2.1-48] Marvel not, Rusticus, that I call this first
Light of the first Day, a Degree of Heaven: For Light is natural, essential,
and inseparable from Heaven; it belongs only to Heaven; and wherever else it
is, it is only there as a Gift from Heaven. And therefore so much as there is
of Light in this World, so much there is of Heaven in it. Darkness is natural,
essential, and inseparable from Hell; and can be nowhere else, but where Hell
can in some Degree open and discover itself. And wherever, and in what Degree,
Darkness can show itself; there, and in the same Degree, is the Nature of Hell
known and felt. This World is made up of Light and Darkness, not only as it
consists of Day and Night, but because every earthly thing is itself a
Mixture of Light and Darkness. The Darkness is the Evil, and the Light
is the Good, that is in every thing. If the Darkness was predominant in
Vegetables, they would all be rank Poison; if in Animals, they would be all as
so many wrathful venomous Serpents of Hell. If the Light did quite suppress
the Darkness in Vegetables, they would be like the Fruits which were to have
been Man's Food in Paradise.
[Pryr-2.1-49] Rust. These Things, Theophilus,
strike a most amazing Light into all the Mysteries both of Nature and Grace.
But they do not more enlighten, than they edify the Mind. They are all
reforming Truths; they have the Nature of Alternatives, they purge the Heart
of all its Dross; they force it to drop all its Pretensions to earthly things,
as the poor deceitful Baits of fallen Nature; and to long for nothing, but to
have That first Heaven and Life in God, for which Angels and Men were at first
created. But I want to show to my friend Humanus, as it were in one
View, that Chain of Truths, which follows from what you have said: Though I
had rather you would do it.
[Pryr-2.1-50] Theoph. Agreed: And I will set them in
order thus. First, That the Place of this World is the very Place, or Region,
which belonged to Lucifer, and his Angels. 2dly, That everything that
we see in this World, all its Elements, the Stars, the Firmament,
&c., are nothing else but the invisible Things of the fallen World,
made visible in a new and lower State of Existence. 3dly, that before the
Rebellion of the Angels there was nothing but God, and Heaven, and heavenly
Beings. Light, and Love, and Joy, and Glory, with all the Wonders thereof,
were the only things seen and felt by the Angels. Darkness and Fire, with
every Quality thereof, were absolutely unknown to the Angels; they had no more
Suspicion of them, than of the possibility of Sickness, Pains, Heat, and Cold.
All they aimed at, was at being higher in the Glories, and Powers, and Light,
of that Heaven in which they lived. But their turning to their own Strength to
effect this, was their whole turning from God, and a falling into Nature
without God, which was the first Discovery of Darkness, Wrath, and
Fire, and Pain, and Torment. 4thly, hence it appears, that Darkness is
the Ground of the Substance, or Materiality of Nature; Fire is
its Life; and Light is its glorious Transmutation into the Kingdom of
Heaven; and Spirit is the Opener of all its Wonders. All that can be
conceived, is either God, or Nature, or Creature; God is the Holy Trinity
without, or before Nature; but Nature is the Manifestation of
the Holy Trinity in a triune Life of Fire, Light, and Spirit.
[Pryr-2.1-51] 5thly. Here we see the plain and true Original
of all Evil, without any Perplexity, or Imputation upon God: That Evil is
nothing else but the Wrath, and Fire, and Darkness of Nature broken off from
God: That the Punishment, the Pain, or the Hell of Sin, is no designedly
prepared, or arbitrary Penalty inflicted by God, but the Natural and necessary
State of the Creature, that leaves, or turns from God. 6thly, That the Will of
the Creature is the only Opener of all Evil or Good in the Creature; the Will
stands between God and Nature, and must in all its Workings unite either with
God, or Nature: the Will totally resigned, and given up to God, is one Spirit
with God, and God dwelleth in it; the Will turned from God, is taken Prisoner
in the Wrath, Fire, and Darkness of Nature.
[Pryr-2.1-52] 7thly. Here we see, how and why a
Creature can lose, and die to all its Happiness and Perfection, and, from a
beauteous Angel become a deformed Devil. It is because Nature has no Beauty,
Happiness, or Perfection, but solely from the Manifestation or
Birth of the Holy Trinity in it. God manifested in Nature, is the only
Blessing, Happiness, and Perfection of Nature. Therefore the Creature, that in
the Working of its Will is turned from God, must have as great a Change
brought forth in it, as that of Heaven into Hell, forced to live, but to have
no other Life, but that of its own gnawing Worm left to itself.
[Pryr-2.1-53] 8thly. Hence we see the deep Ground, and
absolute Necessity, of the Christian Redemption, by a Birth from above, of the
Light and Spirit of God, demonstrated in the most absolute Degree of
Certainty. It is because all Nature is in itself nothing, but an hungry
wrathful Fire of Life, a tormenting Darkness, unless the Light and Spirit
of God kindle it into a Kingdom of Heaven. And therefore the fallen Soul can
have no possible Relief, or Redemption, it must be, to all Eternity, an
hungry, dark, fiery, tormenting Spirit of Life, unless the Light, or
Son, and Spirit of God, be born again in it.
[Pryr-2.1-54] Hence also it follows, that in all the
Possibility of Things, there is and can be but one Happiness, and one Misery.
The one Misery, is Nature and Creature left to itself; the one Happiness, is
the Life, the Light, and Spirit of God, manifested in Nature and Creature.
This is the true Meaning of those Words of our Lord, "There is but one that is
good, and that is God."
[Pryr-2.1-55] 9thly. Hence it is also seen, that there is and
can be but one true Religion for the fallen Soul, and that is, the
Dying to Self, to Nature and Creature; and a turning with
all the Will, the Desire, and Delight of the Soul to God.
Sacrifices, Oblations, Prayers, Praises, Rites, and Ceremonies, without this
are but as sounding Brass, and tinkling Cymbals. Nay, Zeal, and Constancy, and
Warmth, and Fervour, in the Performance of these religious Practices, is not
the Matter; for Nature and Self-love can do all this. But these religious
Practices are then only Parts of true Religion, when they mean nothing, seek
nothing, but to keep up a continual Dying to Self, and all worldly things, and
turn all the Will, Desire, and Delight of the Soul to God alone.
Lastly, There is and can be only one Salvation for the fallen
Soul, and that is Heaven opened again in the Soul, by the Birth of such a
Life, Light, and Spirit, as is born in Angels. For Adam was created to
possess that Heaven from which the Angels fell; but nothing can enter into
Heaven, but the angelic Life, which is born of Heaven. The Loss of this
angelic Life was the Fall of Adam, or that Death which he died, on the
Day he did eat of the earthly Fruit; therefore the Regeneration, or new Birth
of his first angelic Life, is the one only Salvation of the fallen Soul. Ask
not therefore, whether we are saved by Faith, or by Works? for we are saved by
neither of them. Faith and Works are at first only preparatory to the
new Birth; afterwards they are the true genuine Fruits and Effects of
it. But the new Birth, a Life from Heaven, the new Creature, called Christ
in us, is the one only Salvation of the fallen Soul. Nothing can enter
into Heaven, but this Life which is born of, and comes from Heaven.
[Pryr-2.1-56] Rust. I thank you, Theophilus, for
setting these awakening Truths in so strong a Light. And I think it is not
possible for my friend Humanus to be unaffected with them.
[Pryr-2.1-57] They must needs open in him a new Way of
thinking about Religion, and show him the deep and solid Ground of the
absolute Necessity of the Christian Redemption, and incline him to be a
willing Hearer of that which follows.
[Pryr-2.1-58] Theoph. I hope it will be so,
Rusticus; and what I would here, and through every Point we speak of,
observe to your Friend Humanus, is this: That the Christian Religion is
the one only true Religion of Nature, deeply and necessarily
founded in the Nature of Things; that its Doctrines are not founded in
an arbitrary Appointment of God, but have their natural and
necessary Reason, why they cannot be otherwise, as has here been shown
in the one great Point of Regeneration, which is the Whole of Man's Salvation,
and the one only thing intended by all Revelation, from the Fall of Man to the
End of the World. Now the true Ground of the one true Religion of Nature
cannot be known, or seen into, but by going back to the Beginning of Things,
and showing how they came into their present State. We must find out,
why and how Religion came to be necessary, and on what
its Necessity is founded. Now this cannot be done, unless we find out, what
Sin, and Evil, and Death, and Darkness, are in
themselves; and how they came into Nature and Creature. For this alone can
show us, what Religion is true, is natural, is necessary,
and alone sufficient to remove all Evil, Sin, and Disorder, out of the
Creation. For this Reason, we began with the Grounds and Reasons of the
Creation of this World, showing how it came to be as it is. But this could not
be done, but by going so far back as the Fall of Angels. For it was their
Revolting from God, that brought Wrath, and Fire, and
Thickness, and Darkness, and Death, into Nature and
Creature; and so gave occasion to this new Creation, and to its being in such
a State, and of such a Nature, as it is.
[Pryr-2.1-59] For who does not see, that this first Deadness,
Thickness, Wrath, Fire, and Darkness, caused by the Angels' Sin, are the very
Materials out of which this World is made? For are not the Fire, the
Air, the Water, the Earth, the Rocks and Stones of this World, the Rage of
Heat and Cold, the Succession of Day and Night, the Wrath of Storms and
Tempests, an undeniable and daily Proof of all this? Now when we thus see what
Sin, and Evil, and Death, and Darkness, are in Nature, and how they came into
it, then we see also, how and what they are, and how they came into the
Creature; because the Creature has its Form, its Being, in and out of Nature.
They came into Nature, or rose up in it, by Nature's being broken off from
God, and so losing the Light and Spirit of God, which made it to be a Kingdom
of Heaven; we see also, that when this disordered Nature was to be taken out
of its fallen State by a new Creation, that, to do this, the Spirit of God
moved, or entered again into the Darkness of the Waters, and the
Light of God was called into it. A plain Proof, that the Malady of
Nature, was nothing else but its Loss of the Light and Spirit of
God working in it. This shows us also, that the fallen Creature is to be
restored, or put into a Way of Recovery, in one and the same Way as
fallen Nature; viz., by the Spirit, and Light of God
entering into it again, and bringing forth a new Birth, or Creation in
Christ Jesus. Just as the Spirit and Light entering into the Chaos,
created or turned the Angels' ruined Kingdom into a Paradise on Earth. God
help him, who can see no Light or Truth here! Your Friend Humanus lays
claim to a Religion of Nature and Reason: I join with him, with all my Heart.
No other Religion can be right, but that which has its Foundation in Nature.
For the God of Nature can require nothing of his Creatures, but what the
State of their Nature calls them to. Nature is his great Law, that
speaks his whole Will both in Heaven and on Earth; and to obey Nature, is to
obey the God of Nature, to please him, and live to him, in the highest
Perfection. God indeed has many After-laws; but it is after his
Creatures have fallen from Nature, and lost its Perfection. But all these
After-laws have no other End or Intention, but to repair Nature, and bring Men
back to their first natural State of Perfection. What say you now,
Academicus, to all these Matters?
[Pryr-2.1-60] Acad. You, Sir, and Rusticus, both
of you know, how these Matters have affected me, ever since I read the book
called The Appeal to all that Doubt, &c. From that Time, I have
stood upon new Ground; I have seen things in such a Newness of Light and
Reality, as makes me take my former Knowledge for a Dream. A Dream I may
justly say, since all my Labour was taken up in searching into a Seventeen
hundred Years' History of Doctrines, Disputes, Decrees, Heresies, Schisms, and
Sects, wherever to be found, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. From
this goodly Heap of Stuff crowded into my Mind, I have been settling Matters
betwixt all the present Christian Divisions both at home and abroad, according
to the best Rules of Criticism; having little or no other Idea of a religious
Man, than that of a stiff Maintainer of certain Points against all those that
oppose them. And in this respect, I believe I may say, that I only swam away
in the common Torrent.
[Pryr-2.1-61] And in this labourious Dream I had in all
Likelihood ended my Days, had not that Book, and some others of the like kind,
shown me, that Religion lay nearer home, was not to be dug out of Disputes,
but lay hid in myself, like a Seed, which, for want of its proper Nourishment,
could not come to the Birth. But however, though Matters stand thus with
myself, and I seem to be entered into a Region of Light, yet I must not forget
to tell you, what some of my learned Friends object to all this. They say,
that in those Books, there are many Things asserted, which have not the
plain Letter of Scripture to support them; and therefore Men of sober
Learning, are cautious of giving into Opinions, not strictly grounded on the
plain Letter of Scripture, however fine and plausible they may seem to be.
[Pryr-2.1-62] Theoph. Is there not some Reason,
Academicus, to take this Objection of your learned Friends to be a mere
Pretence? For what is more fully grounded upon the plain Letter of Scripture,
than the Doctrine of a real Regeneration, a new Birth of the Word, the
Son, and Holy Spirit of God, really brought forth in the Soul?
And yet this plain Letter of Scripture, upon the most important of all
Points, the very Life, and Essence, and whole Nature of our
Redemption, is not only overlooked, but openly opposed, by the
Generality of Men of sober Learning. But this Point, has not only the plain
Letter of Scripture for it, but what the Letter asserts, is absolutely
required by the whole Spirit and Tenor of the New Testament. All the Epistles
of the Apostles proceed upon the supposed Certainty of this one great Point.
[Pryr-2.1-63] A Son of God, united with, and born in our
Nature, that his Nature may have a Birth in us; an Holy Spirit, breathing in
the Birth and Life of our Souls, quickening the dead Life of fallen
Adam, is the Letter and Spirit of the Apostles' Writings; grounded upon
the plain Letter of our Lord's own Words, that unless we are born again from
above, of the Son, Word, Water, and Spirit of God, we cannot enter or see the
Kingdom of Heaven.
[Pryr-2.1-64] Again: Is it not the plain Letter of Scripture,
that Adam died the Day that he did eat of the earthly Tree? Have we not
the most solemn Asseveration of God for the Truth of this? Was not the Change
which Adam found in himself a Demonstration of the Truth of this Fact?
Instead of the Image and Likeness of God in which he was created, the Beauty
of Paradise, he was stripped of all his Glory, confounded at the shameful
Deformity of his own Body, afraid of being seen, and unable to see himself
uncovered; delivered up a Slave to the Rage of all the Stars and Elements of
this World, not knowing which Way to look, or what to do in a World, where he
was dead to all that he formerly felt, and alive only to a new and dreadful
Feeling of Heat and Cold, Shame and Fear, and horrible Remorse of Mind, at his
sad Entrance in a World, whence Paradise, and God, and his own Glory, were
departed. Death enough surely!
[Pryr-2.1-65] Death in its highest Reality, much greater in
its Change, than when an Animal of earthly Flesh and Blood is only changed
into a cold lifeless Carcase.
[Pryr-2.1-66] A Death, that in all Nature has none like it,
none equal to it, none of the same Nature with it, but that which the Angels
died, when, from Angels of God, they became living Devils, serpentine, hideous
Forms, and Slaves to Darkness. Say that the Angels lost no Life, that they did
not die a real Death, because they are yet alive in the Horrors of Darkness,
and then you may say, with the same Truth, that Adam did not die, when
he lost God, and Paradise, and the first Glory of his Creation, because he
afterwards lived and breathed in a World which was outwardly, in all its
Parts, full of the same Curse that was within himself. But further, not only
the plain Letter of the Text, and the Change of State, which Adam found
in himself, demonstrated a real Death to his former State; but the
whole Tenor of Scripture absolutely requires it; all the System of our
Redemption proceeds upon it. For tell me, I pray, What need of a Redemption,
if Adam had not lost his first State of Life? What Need of the Deity to
enter again into the human Nature, not only as acting, but taking a Birth in
it, and from it? What need of all this mysterious Method, to bring the Life
from above again into Man, if the Life from above had not been
lost? Say that Adam did not die, and then tell me, what Sense or
Reason there is in saying, that the Son of God became Man, and died on the
Cross to restore to him the Life that he had lost? It is true indeed, that
Adam, in his Death to the Divine Life, was left in the Possession of an
earthly Life. And the Reason is plain why he was so: For his great Sin
consisted in his Desire and Longing to enter into the Life of this world, to
know its good and evil, as the Animals of this World do; it was his choosing
to have a Life of this World after this new Manner, and his entering
upon the Means of attaining it, that was his Death to the Divine Life. And
therefore it is no Wonder, that after his Death to Heaven and Paradise, he
found himself still alive as an earthly Animal. For the Desire of this
earthly Life was his great Sin, and the Possession of this
earthly Life was the proper Punishment and Misery that belonged to his Sin;
and therefore it is no wonder that that Life, which was the proper
Punishment, and real Discovery of the Fruits of his Sin, should subsist, after
his Sin had put an End to the Life of Paradise and God in him. But wonderful
it is to a great Degree, that any Man should imagine, that Adam did not
die on the Day of his Sin, because he had as good a Life left in him, as the
Beasts of the Field have.
[Pryr-2.1-67] For is this the Life or is the
Death that such Animals die, the Life and Death with which our Redemption
is concerned? Are not all the Scriptures full of a Life and Death of a much
higher Kind and Nature? And do not the Scriptures make Man the perpetual
Subject to whom this higher Life and Death belong? What Ground or
Reason therefore can there be to think of the Death of an Animal of this
World, when we read of the Death, that Adam was assuredly to die the
Day of his Sin? For does not all that befel him on the Day of his Sin, show
that he lost a much greater Life, suffered a more dreadful Change, than that
of giving up the Breath of this World? For in the Day of his Sin, this Angel
of Paradise, this Lord of the new Creation, fell from the Throne of his Glory
(like Lucifer from Heaven) into the State of a poor, darkened, naked,
distressed Animal of gross Flesh and Blood, unable to bear the odious Sight of
that which his new-opened Eyes forced him to see; inwardly and outwardly
feeling the Curse awakened in himself, and all the Creation, and reduced to
have only the Faith of the Devils, to believe and tremble. Proof
enough, surely, that Adam was dead to the Life, and Light, and Spirit
of God; and that, with this Death, all that was Divine and
heavenly in his Soul, his Body, his Eyes, his Mind, and Thoughts, was
quite at an End. Now this Life to which Adam then died, is
that Life which all his Posterity are in want of, and cannot come out
of that State of that Death into which he fell, but by having this
first Life of Heaven born again in them. Now is there any Reason to say,
that Mankind, in their Natural State, are not dead to that first Life in which
Adam was created, because they are alive to this World? Yet this is as
well as to say, that Adam did not die a real Death, because he had
afterwards an earthly Life in him. How comes our Lord to say, that unless
ye eat the Flesh, and drink the Blood, of the Son of Man, ye have no Life in
you? Did he mean, ye have no earthly Life in you? How comes the Apostle to
say, He that hath the Son of God hath Life, but he that hath not the Son of
God hath not Life? Does he mean the Life of this World? No. But both
Christ and his Apostle assert this great Truth, that all Mankind are in the
State of Adam's first Death, till they are made alive again, by a Birth
of the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God brought forth in them. So
plain is it, both from the express Letter, and Spirit of Scripture, that
Adam died a real Death to the Kingdom of God in the Day of his Sin.
Take away this Death, and all the Scheme of our Redemption has no Ground left
to stand upon.
[Pryr-2.1-68] Judge now, Academicus, Who leaves the
Letter of Scripture, your learned Friends, or the Author of the Appeal?
They leave it, they oppose it, in that which is the very Life of
Christianity.
[Pryr-2.1-69] For without the Reality of a new Birth,
founded on the Certainty of a real Death in the Fall of Adam,
the Christian Scheme is but a skeleton of empty Words, a Detail of strange
Mysteries between God and Man, that do nothing, and have nothing to do.
[Pryr-2.1-70] On the other hand, look now at the things set
forth in the Appeal, concerning the Fall of Angels, the Nature and
Effects of their Revolt, and the Creation of this World as deduced therefrom.
They neither leave, nor oppose any Letter, or Doctrine of
Scripture. They add nothing to Religion, but the full Proof of all its
Articles; they intend nothing but to open the original Ground,
and true Reason, of the Christian Redemption, and the absolute Necessity of
its being such, as the Gospel declares. Now the Letter of Scripture
does not do this in open Words; it sets not forth the why, and
how things are, either in Nature or Grace; it teaches not the
Ground or Philosophy of the Christian Faith; it contents itself
with bare Facts and Doctrines, and calls for simple Faith
and Obedience. No Wonder therefore, that when the natural and
necessary Ground of the Christian Redemption is opened, that the
Letter of Scripture is not Step by Step appealed to, for
everything that is said. And yet many things may be sufficiently grounded on
Scripture, that are not so expressed in the Letter. The
Sadducees denied, that there was any Resurrection at all; and this they
did, because they could not find it in the express Letter of the Five
Books of Moses. And yet it seems, that the Resurrection was
plainly and strongly taught there: For thus saith our Lord,—That
the Dead shall rise again, Moses showed at the Bush, when he said, "The
Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac, &c. For he is not the God of the
Dead, but of the Living."{Luke xx.37.38}
This shows us that a thing may be fully and
sufficiently proved from Scripture, which is not plainly expressed in the
Letter. And thus stands the Matter with regard to those great, and edifying
Truths set forth in the Appeal. They are truly scriptural, they
have their Ground and Authority from Scripture, though not so
open and express in the Letter, as Matters of Faith and necessary Doctrine
are. For is not the Fall of Angels a Scripture-Truth? Is not the Desolation
which their Fall brought into Nature, and the very Place of this World a
Scripture-Truth? What else can be meant by Darkness upon the Face of the
Deep? What Darkness, or what Deep, but in the Place of this World? What
Darkness, or State of the Deep, but that, which God was about to raise out of
its disordered State? And does not the Letter of Scripture show, that out of
this Darkness and Waters, and State of the Deep, the Spirit and Light
of God entering into them, brought forth the Earth, the Stars, the Sun, and
all the Elements, into a Form of a new World?
[Pryr-2.1-71] To ask for a particular Text of Scripture,
saying in so many express Words, that the Place of this World is the very
Place and extent of the Kingdom of the fallen Angels, is quite ridiculous, and
without the least Ground in Reason, as is enough shown in the Appeal.
For does not our Lord expressly call the Devil, a Prince of this World?
But how could this Name belong to him, but because he is here in his own
first Region and Territories, and has still some Power, till all the
Evil that he has raised in it, shall be entirely separated from it? For was
not this World raised out of the Materials of the fallen Angels'
Kingdom, and was not the Wrath, and Fire, and Darkness of their Fall,
still in some Degree remaining in every Part of this World, they could have
no more Power in it, than they have in Heaven; they must be as entirely
incapable of seeing or entering into it, as they are of seeing or entering
into the Kingdom of Heaven: For they have nothing but Evil in their Nature;
they can touch nothing, move nothing, see nothing, feel nothing, taste
nothing, act in nothing, but that very Evil, Darkness, Fire, and Wrath,
and Disorder, which they first awakened and kindled both in themselves, and
their Kingdom. And therefore it is a Truth of the utmost Certainty, that they
can be nowhere, but where there is something of that Evil still
subsisting which they brought forth. And this may pass for Demonstration (if
there be any such thing) that the Scriptures themselves demonstrate the
Place of this World, to be the very Place and Region in which the
Angels fell. And they still are here, because their Kingdom is not
wholly delivered from all the Evil they had raised in it, but is to
stand for a Time, only in a State of Recovery, where they themselves must see,
in spite of all the Rage and Malice of their fiery Darts, that the
Mystery of a Lamb of God, born upon Earth, will raise Creatures of
Flesh and Blood, amidst the Ruins of their spoiled Kingdom, to be an Host of
Angels in Heaven restored, and themselves plunged into an Hell, that is cut
off from every thing, but their own Wrath, Fire, and Darkness. And all
this, Academicus, to make it known through all the Regions of Eternity,
that Pride can degrade the highest Angels into Devils, and Humility
raise fallen Flesh and Blood to the Thrones of Angels. This, this is the
great End of God's raising a new Creation, out of a fallen Kingdom of
Angels; for this End it stands in its State of War, a War betwixt the
Fire and Pride of fallen Angels, and the Meekness and Humility of the Lamb of
God: It stands its Thousands of Years in this Strife, that the last Trumpet
may sound this great Truth, through all the Heights and Depths of
Eternity, "That Evil can have no Beginning, but from Pride; nor any End, but
from Humility."
[Pryr-2.1-72] Oh Academicus, what a Blindness there is
in the World! What a Stir is there amongst Mankind about Religion, and
yet almost all seem to be afraid of That, in which alone is
Salvation!
[Pryr-2.1-73] Poor Mortals! What is the one Wish and Desire of
your Hearts? What is it that you call Happiness, and matter of Rejoicing? Is
it not when every thing about you helps you to stand upon higher
Ground, gives full Nourishment to Self-esteem, and gratifies every
Pride of Life? And yet Life itself is the Loss of every
thing, unless Pride be overcome. Oh stop a while in
Contemplation of this great Truth. It is a Truth as unchangeable as God; it is
written and spoken through all Nature; Heaven and Earth, fallen Angels, and
redeemed Men, all bear Witness to it. The Truth is: Pride must die in
you, or nothing of Heaven can live in you. Under the Banner of this
Truth, give up yourselves to the meek and humble Spirit of the Holy Jesus, the
Overcomer of all Fire, and Pride, and Wrath. This is the one Way, the one
Truth, and the one Life. There is no other open Door into the Sheepfold of
God. Everything else is the Working of the Devil in the fallen
Nature of Man. Humility must sow the Seed, or there can be no Reaping in
Heaven. Look not at Pride only as an unbecoming Temper; not at Humility only
as a decent Virtue; for the one is Death, and the other is Life; the one is
all Hell, and the other is all Heaven.
[Pryr-2.1-74] So much as you have of Pride, so much you have
of the fallen Angel alive in you; so much you have of true Humility; so much
you have of the Lamb of God within you. Could you see with your Eyes what
every Stirring of Pride does to your Soul, you would beg of everything
you meet, to tear the Viper from you, though with the Loss of an Hand, or an
Eye. Could you see what a sweet, Divine, transforming Power there is in
Humility, what an heavenly Water of Life it gives to the fiery Breath of your
Soul, how it expels the Poison of your fallen Nature, and makes Room for the
Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather wish to be the Footstool
of all the World, than to want the smallest Degree of it. Excuse,
Academicus, this little Digression, if it be such, for the Subject we
were upon, forced me into it.
[Pryr-2.1-75] Acad. Indeed, Sir, the Lesson you have
here given, is the same that the whole Nature of the Fall of Angels, and the
whole Nature of the Redemption of Man, daily reads to every Creature; and he,
who alone can redeem the World, has plainly shown us, wherein the Life and
Spirit of our Redemption must consist, when he saith, Learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly of Heart. Now if this Lesson is unlearnt, we must be said
to have left our Master, as those Disciples did, who went back, and
walked no more with him.{John vi.} But if you please, Theophilus, we will now break off till the
Afternoon.
[Pryr-2.1-76] Theoph. Give me Leave first,
Academicus, but just to mention one Point more, to show you still
further, how unreasonably your Friends object to the Appeal the Want of
the plain Letter of Scripture. Now let it be supposed, that the Account of the
Fall of Angels, the Creation, &c., given in the Appeal, has
not Scripture enough; — Take then the contrary Opinion, which is that of your
Friends; viz., That all Worlds, and all Things, are created out of
nothing.
[Pryr-2.1-77] Show me now, Academicus, I do not say a
Text, but the least Hint of Scripture, that by all the Art of
commenting, can so much as be drawn to look that way. It is a Fiction,
big with the grossest Absurdities, and contrary to every thing that we
know, either from Nature or Scripture, concerning the Rise and Birth, and
Nature of Things, that have begun to be. Adam was not created out of
nothing; for the Letter of Moses tells us in the plainest Words, out
of what he was created or formed, both as to his inward, and his outward
Nature. He tells us also as expressly out of what, Eve, the next
Creature, was created. But from the Time of Adam and Eve, the
Creation of every human Creature is a birth out of its Parents' Body and Soul,
or whole Nature. And to show us how all things, or Worlds, as well as
all living Creatures, are not created out of nothing, St. Paul
appeals to this very Account, that Moses gives of the Woman's being formed
out of the Man; but "all things" (says he) "are out of
God."{I Cor. ix.12} Here this
Fiction of a Creation out of nothing, is by the plain and open
Letter of Scripture, absolutely removed from the whole System of created
things, or things which begin to be; for St. Paul's Doctrine is, that
all things come into Being, out of God, in the same Reality, as
the Woman was formed or created out of Man. So again, "There is to us
but one God, out of whom are all things" {I Cor.
viii.6} ; for so you know the Greek should be
translated, not "of," but "out of" God; not "of," but "out of"
the man. The Fiction therefore, which I speak of, is not only without
but expressly contrary to, the plain Letter of Scripture. For every
thing that we see, every Creature that has Life, is by the Scripture-account a
Birth from something else. And here, Sir, you are to take Notice
of a Maxim that is not deniable, that the Reason why any thing
proceeds from a Birth, is the Reason why every thing must
do so. For a Birth would not be in Nature, but because Birth is the
only Procedure of Nature. Nature itself is a Birth from God, the
first Manifestation of the hidden, inconceivable God, and is so far
from being out of nothing, that it is the Manifestation of all
that in God, which was before unmanifest. As Nature is the first Birth, or
Manifestation of God, or Discovery of the Divine Powers, so all Creatures are
the Manifestation of the Powers of Nature, brought into a Variety of
Births, by the Will of God, out of Nature. The first Creatures that are
the nearest to the Deity, are out of the highest Powers of Nature, by
the Will of God, willing that Nature should be manifested in the Rise and
Birth of Creatures out of it. Nature, directed and governed by the
Wisdom of God, goes on in the Birth of one thing, out of another. The
spiritual Materiality of Heaven brings forth the Bodies, or heavenly Flesh and
Blood of Angels, as the Materiality of this World brings forth the Birth of
gross Flesh and Blood. The spiritual Materiality of Heaven, so far as the
extent of the Kingdom of fallen Angels reached, has by various Changes
occasioned by their Fall, gone through a Variety of Births, or
Creations, till some of it came down to the Thickness of Air and
Water, and the Hardness of Earth and Stones. But when
things have stood in this State their appointed Time, the last purifying Fire,
kindled by God, will take away all Thickness, Hardness, and
Darkness, and bring all the divided Things and Elements of this World
back again, to be that first glassy Sea, or heavenly
Materiality, in which the Throne of God is set, as was seen by St.
John, in the Revelation made to him.
[Pryr-2.1-78] But the Fiction of the Creation out of
nothing, is not only contrary to the Letter and Spirit of the
Scripture-account of the Rise and Birth of Things, but is in itself full of
the grossest Absurdities, and horrid Consequences. It separates every
thing from God, it leaves no Relation between God and the Creature, nor
any Possibility for any Power, Virtue, Quality, or
Perfection of God, to be in the Creature: for if it is created out
of nothing, it cannot have something of God in it. But I here stop:
For, as you know, we have agreed, if God permit, to have hereafter one Day's
entire Conversation on the Nature and End of the Writings of Jacob
Behmen, and the right Use and Manner of reading them; and all that, as
preparatory to a more correct English Edition of his Works, so this and
some other Points shall be adjourned to that Time. In the Afternoon, we will
proceed only on such Matters, as may further set the Christian Redemption in
its true and proper Light before your Friend Humanus.
[Pryr-2.1-79] Acad. I am very glad, Theophilus,
that I have mentioned these Objections to you, though they were of no Weight
with me, since you have thereby had an Occasion of giving so full an Answer to
them. The Matter stands now in this plain and easy Point of Light.
[Pryr-2.1-80] In the Appeal we have a System of uniform
Truths, concerning the Fall of Angels, their spoiled and darkened Kingdom, and
the creation of this World as raised out of it. We have the Creation and Fall
of Man, his Regeneration, and the Manner of it, all opened and explained
according to the Letter and Tenor of Scripture, from their deepest
Ground, in such a manner, as to give Light and Clearness into all the Articles
of the Christian Faith; to expel all Difficulties and Absurdities that had
crept into it; and the whole Scheme of our Redemption proved to be absolutely
necessary, both from Scripture, and all that is seen and known in Nature and
Creature.
[Pryr-2.1-81] On the other hand, the Opinion which is, and
must be received, if the Account in the Appeal is rejected, appears to
be a Fiction, that has no Sense, no Reason, no Fact, no Appearance in
Nature, nor one single Letter of Scripture, to support it, but stands in the
utmost Contrariety to all that the Scripture saith of the Creation of every
thing, and is in itself full of the grossest Absurdities, raising Darkness and
Difficulties in all Parts of Religion, that can never be removed from it. For
a Creation that has nothing of God in it, can explain nothing that relates to
God: For a Creation out of nothing, has no better Sense in it, than a Creation
into nothing. My Friends, for this time, Adieu.
