| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 07 (of 32)
Author: Wesley, John
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 07 (of 32)" ***
The Works of the
Rev. John Wesley, M.A.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Transcriber’s Notes │
│ │
│ │
│ Punctuation has been standardized. │
│ │
│ Most of the non-common abbreviations used to save space in │
│ printing have been expanded to the non-abbreviated form for │
│ easier reading. │
│ │
│ The author has used an asterisk (*) to indicate passages he │
│ considers most worthy of attention. │
│ │
│ The text may show quotations within quotations, all set │
│ off by similar quote marks. The inner quotations have been │
│ changed to alternate quote marks for improved readability. │
│ │
│ Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. │
│ │
│ Non-printable characteristics have been given the following │
│ Italic text: --> _text_ │
│ emphasized text within │
│ italics --> |text| │
│ │
│ This book was written in a period when many words had │
│ not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have │
│ multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in │
│ the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated │
│ with a Transcriber’s Note. │
│ │
│ The symbol ‘‡’ indicates the description in parenthesis has │
│ been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there │
│ is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image │
│ adequately. │
│ │
│ Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript │
│ number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │
│ they appear. │
│ │
│ Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the │
│ text or to provide additional information for the modern │
│ reader. These notes are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the │
│ text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │
│ they appear. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
THE
WORKS
OF THE
Rev. JOHN WESLEY, M.A.
Late Fellow of _Lincoln-College_, OXFORD.
VOLUME VII.
BRISTOL:
Printed by WILLIAM PINE, in _Wine-Street_.
MDCCLXXII.
THE
CONTENTS
Of the SEVENTH VOLUME.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s Spirit of Prayer.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
_Treating of some matters preparatory to the |Spirit| of
|Prayer|._
CHAPTER II.
_Discovering the true way of turning to |God|, and of finding
the kingdom of heaven, the riches of eternity, in our souls._
PART II.
_The first Dialogue_
_between |Academicus|, |Rusticus| and |Theophilus|. At which
|Humanus| was present._
_The second dialogue._
_The third dialogue._
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s Spirit of Love.
Part I.
Part II.
Part III.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s Letters.
Letter I.
Letter II.
Letter III.
Letter IV.
Letter V.
Letter VI.
Letter VII.
Letter VIIa.
Letter VIII.
Letter IX.
Letter X.
Letter XI.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s Address to the Clergy.
An Extract from the Christian Pattern.
The Preface.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
_Of the imitation of Christ and contempt of all the vanities of
the world._
CHAPTER II.
_Of thinking humbly of ourselves._
CHAPTER III.
_Of the doctrine of truth._
CHAPTER IV.
_Of prudence in our actions._
CHAPTER V.
_Of reading the holy scriptures._
CHAPTER VI.
_Of avoiding vain hopes and pride._
CHAPTER VII.
_That too much familiarity is to be shunned._
CHAPTER VIII.
_Of avoiding superfluity of words._
CHAPTER IX.
_The obtaining of peace, and zeal for improvement._
CHAPTER X.
_Of the usefulness of adversity._
CHAPTER XI.
_Of avoiding rash judgment._
CHAPTER XII.
_Of works done out of charity._
CHAPTER XIII.
_Of bearing with the defects of others._
CHAPTER XIV.
_Of the examples of the holy fathers._
CHAPTER XV.
_Of the love of solitude and silence._
CHAPTER XVI.
_Of compunction of heart._
CHAPTER XVII.
_Of the meditation of death._
CHAPTER XVIII.
_Of judgment and the punishment of sins._
CHAPTER XIX.
_Of the zealous amendment of our whole life._
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
_Of the inward life._
CHAPTER II.
_Of humble submission._
CHAPTER III.
_Of a good and peaceable man._
CHAPTER IV.
_Of a pure mind, and simple intention._
CHAPTER V.
_Of the consideration of one’s self._
Illustration: (‡ decoration)
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Spirit of PRAYER.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
_Treating of some matters preparatory to the |Spirit| of
|Prayer|._
*THE greatest part of mankind, nay of Christians, may be said to be
asleep; and that particular way of life, which takes up each man’s mind,
thoughts, and actions, may well be called his particular dream. This
degree of vanity is equally visible in every form and order of life.
The learned and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, are all in the
same state of slumber; only passing away a short life in a different
kind of dream. But why so? It is because man is born into this world,
not for the sake of living here, not for any thing this world can
give him, but only to have time and place, to become either an eternal
partaker of a divine life with God, or to have a hellish eternity
amongst fallen angels: and therefore, every man who has not his
eyes, his heart, and his hands, continually governed by this twofold
eternity, may be justly said to be fast asleep. And a life devoted to
the interests and enjoyments of this world, spent and wasted in the
slavery of earthly desires, may be truly called a dream, as having all
the shortness, vanity, and delusion of a dream; only with this great
difference, that when a dream is over, nothing is lost but fictions and
fancies: but when the dream of life is ended _only_ by death, all that
eternity is lost, for which we were brought into being. Now there is
no misery in this world, nothing that makes either the life or death
of man to be full of calamity, but this blindness and insensibility of
his state, into which he so willingly, nay obstinately plunges himself.
Every thing that has the nature of evil and distress in it, takes its
rise from hence. Do but suppose a man to know himself; that he comes
into this world on no other errand, but to rise out of the vanity of
time into the riches of eternity; do but suppose him to govern his
inward thoughts and outward actions by this view of himself, and then
to him every day has lost all its evil; prosperity and adversity hath
no difference, because he receives and uses them both in the same
spirit; life and death are equally welcome, because equally parts of
his way to eternity. For poor and miserable as this life is, we have
all of us free access to all that is great and good, and happy; and
carry within ourselves a _key_ to all the treasures that heaven has
to bestow upon us. We starve in the midst of plenty, groan under
infirmities, with the remedy in our own hand: live and die, without
knowing and feeling any thing of the _one, only good_, whilst we have
it our power to know and enjoy it in as great a reality, as we know
and feel the power of this world over us: for heaven is as near to
our souls, as this world is to our bodies; and we are created, we
are redeemed, to have our conversation in it. God, the only _good_
of all intelligent natures, is not an absent or distant God, but is
more present _in_ and _to_ our souls, than our own bodies: and we are
strangers to heaven, and without God in the world, for this only reason,
because we are void of that spirit of prayer, which alone can unite us
with the one good and open heaven, and the kingdom of God within us.
A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with
all that sun, and air, and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way
to perfection, as a man whose spirit aspires after all that, which God
is ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For the _sun_ meets not
the springing-bud that stretches towards him, with half that certainty,
as God, the source of all good, communicates himself to the soul that
longs to partake of him.
We are all of us the offspring of God, more nearly related to him,
than we are to one another: for _in him we live, and move, and have
our being_. The first man that was brought forth from God, had the
Spirit of _Father, Son, and Holy Ghost_ breathed into him, and so he
became a living soul. Thus was our first father born of God, and stood
in paradise in the image and likeness of God. He was the image and
likeness of God, not with regard to his outward shape, for no shape has
any likeness to God; but because the Holy Trinity had breathed their
own nature and Spirit into him. And as the Deity, _Father_, _Son_, and
_Holy Spirit_, are always in heaven, and make heaven to be every where;
so this Spirit, breathed by them into man, brought heaven into man
along with it; and so man was in heaven, as well as on earth, that is,
in paradise, which signifies an heavenly state.
_Adam_ had all that divine nature, which angels have: But as he
was brought forth to be a lord, and ruler of a new world; so it was
necessary that he should also have the material nature of this new
created world in himself. His body was the _medium_ or _means_ thro’
which he was to have commerce with this world, become visible to its
creatures, and rule over it and them. Thus stood our first father;
an angel as to his spirit; yet dwelling in a body taken from this new
created world; which however was as inferior to him, as subject to him,
as the earth and all its creatures were.
CHAPTER II.
_Discovering the true way of turning to |God|, and of finding
the kingdom of heaven, the riches of eternity, in our souls._
*ALL our salvation consists in the _manifestation of the nature, life,
and Spirit of Jesus Christ in us_. Enter with all thy heart into this
truth, let thy eye be always upon it, do every thing in view of it, try
every thing by the truth of it, love nothing but for the sake of it.
Wherever thou goest, whatever thou dost at home or abroad, in the field
or at church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in imitation of
his tempers and inclinations, and look upon all as nothing, but that
which exercises, and increases the Spirit and life of Christ in thy
soul. From morning to night keep Jesus in thy heart, long for nothing,
desire nothing, hope for nothing, but to have all that is within thee,
changed into the spirit and temper of the holy Jesus. Let this be
thy Christianity, thy church, and thy religion. For this new birth in
Christ thus firmly believed, and continually desired, will do every
thing that thou wantest to have done in thee, it will dry up all the
springs of vice, stop all the workings of evil in thy nature, it will
bring all that is good into thee, it will open all the gospel within
thee, and thou wilt know what it is to be taught of God. This longing
desire of thy heart to be one with Christ will soon put a stop to all
the vanity of thy life, and nothing will be admitted to enter into thy
heart, or proceed from it, but what comes from God and returns to God:
thou wilt soon be, as it were, tied and bound in the chains of all holy
affections, thy _mouth_ will have a _watch_ set upon it, thy _ears_
would willingly hear nothing that does not tend to God, nor thy eyes
be open, but to see and find occasions of doing good. In a word, when
this faith has got both thy head and thy _heart_, it will then be with
thee, as it was with the _merchant_ who found a _pearl of great price_,
it will make thee glad to _sell all that thou hast, and buy it_. For
all that had seized and possessed the heart of any man, whatever the
_merchant_ of this world had got together, whether of riches, power,
honour, learning, or reputation, loses all its value, is counted but
as _dung_, and willingly parted with, as soon as this glorious pearl,
the new birth in Christ Jesus, is discovered and found by him. This
therefore may serve as a touchstone, whereby every one may try the
truth of his state; if the old man is still a _merchant_ within thee,
trading in worldly honour, power, or learning, if the wisdom of this
world is not foolishness to thee, if earthly interests and sensual
pleasures are still the desire of thy heart, and only covered under a
form of godliness, a cloke of creeds, observances and institutions of
religion, thou mayest be assured that the pearl of great price is not
yet found by thee. For where Christ is in the soul, there all carnal
wisdom, arts of advancement, with every pride and glory of this life,
are as so many _Heathen idols_ willingly renounced, and the man is not
only content, but rejoices to say, that _his kingdom is not of this
world_.
But thou wilt perhaps say, How shall this great work, the knowledge of
Christ, be effected in me? It might rather be said, since Christ has
an infinite power, and also an infinite desire to save mankind, how
can any one miss of this salvation, but through his _own unwillingness_
to be saved by him? Consider how was it, that the lame and blind, the
lunatic and leper, the publican and sinner, found Christ to be their
Saviour, and to do all that for them, which they wanted to be done to
them? It was because they had a _real desire_ of having _that_, which
they asked for, and therefore in true _faith_ and _prayer_, applied to
Christ, that his Spirit and power might enter into them, and heal that
which they wanted, and desired to have healed in them. Every one of
these said in _faith and desire, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
whole_. And the answer was always this, _According to thy faith, so be
it done unto thee_. This is Christ’s answer now, and thus it is done to
every one of us at this day, as _our faith is, so is it done unto us_.
And here lies the whole reason of our falling short of the salvation of
Christ, it is because we have no will to it.
*But you will say, Do not all Christians desire to have Christ to be
their Saviour? Yes. But here is the deceit; all would have Christ to
be their Saviour in the _next world_, and to help them into heaven when
they die. But this is not _willing_ Christ to be thy Saviour; for his
salvation, if it is had, must be had in this world, if he saves thee,
it must be done in this life, by changing and altering _all that is
within thee_, by helping thee to a new heart, as he helped the blind
to see, the lame to walk, and the dumb to speak. For to have salvation
from Christ, is to be made like unto him; it is to have his humility
and meekness, his mortification and self-denial, his renunciation of
the spirit, wisdom, and honours of this world, his love of God, his
desire of doing God’s will, and seeking only his honour. To have these
tempers formed in thy heart, is to have salvation from Christ; but if
thou willest not to have these tempers, if thy faith does not seek, and
cry to Christ for them in the same reality, as the lame asked to walk,
and the blind to see, then thou art _unwilling_ to have Christ to be
thy Saviour.
Again, consider, how was it, that the deep-read _Scribe_, the learned
_Rabbi_, the religious _Pharisee_, not only did not receive, but
_crucified_ their Saviour? It was because they desired no such Saviour
as he was, no such _inward salvation_ as he offered. They desired no
change of their own nature, no destruction of their natural tempers,
no deliverance from the love of themselves, and the enjoyments of their
passions; they liked the gratifications of their old man, their _long
robes_, their _broad phylacteries_, and _greetings_ in the markets.
They wanted not to have their _pride_ and _self-love_ dethroned, their
covetousness, and sensuality subdued. Their only desire was the success
of _Judaism_, to have an _outward_ saviour, a _temporal_ prince, that
should establish their _law_ and ceremonies over all the earth. And
therefore they crucified their Redeemer, and would have none of his
salvation, because it consisted in a change of their nature; a kingdom
of heaven to be opened _within_ them by the Spirit of God.
*Awake, thou that sleepest, thou art called a Christian, and Christ
shall give thee light. Begin to search and dig for this _pearl of
eternity_; it cannot cost thee too much, nor canst thou buy it too dear,
for it is _all_, and when thou hast found it, thou wilt know, that all
which thou hast sold or given away for it, is as meer a nothing, as a
bubble upon the water.
*But if thou turnest from this heavenly pearl, or tramplest it under
thy feet, for the sake of being rich, or great, either in church or
state, if death finds thee in this success, thou canst not then say,
that though the pearl is lost, yet something has been gained instead
of it. For in that parting moment, the things, and the sounds of this
world, will be exactly alike; to have had an estate, or only to have
heard of it, to have lived at _Lambeth_ twenty years, or only to have
twenty times passed by the palace, will be the same good, or the same
nothing to thee.
I will now shew a little more distinctly, what this _pearl of eternity_
is. _First_, It is the light and Spirit of God, which has hitherto
done thee but little good, because the desire of thy heart has been
after the light and spirit of this world. Thy reason, and senses, and
passions, have turned all their attention to the poor concerns of this
life, and therefore thou art a stranger to this principle of heaven,
these riches of eternity. For as God is not, cannot be truly found by
any worshippers, but those who worship him in _spirit_ and in _truth_,
so this light and spirit is not, cannot be found, or enjoyed, but by
those, whose spirit is turned to it.
When man first came into being, and stood before God as his own image
and likeness, this light and Spirit of God were as natural to him, as
the _light and air_ of this world is natural to other creatures. But
when man, not content with the food of eternity, did eat of the earthly
tree, this light and Spirit of heaven were no more natural to him; but
instead thereof, he was left to the light and spirit of this world. And
this is that death, which God, told _Adam_, he should surely die, in
the day that he ate of the forbidden tree.
But the goodness of God would not leave man in this condition; a
redemption from it was immediately granted, and a bruiser of the
serpent to bring the light and Spirit of heaven once more into the
human nature. This light and Spirit of God is called _grace_, _free
grace_, or the _supernatural_ gift, or power of God in the soul,
because it is something, that the natural powers of the soul can
no more obtain. Hence it is that every stirring of the soul, every
tendency of the heart towards God and goodness, is justly ascribed to
the Holy Spirit, or the grace of God. It is because this first seed
of life, which is sown into the soul, is itself the light of God, and
that every stirring, or opening of this seed of life, every awakening
thought or desire that arises from it, must be called the moving,
or the quickening of the Spirit of God. Hence also we have a plain
declaration of the certain truth, of all those scriptures, which
speak of the inspiration of God, the operation of the Holy Spirit,
the power of the divine light, as the necessary agents in the renewal
and sanctification of our souls. Hence also it is, that all men are
exhorted not to quench, or resist, or grieve the Spirit, that is, this
_seed of the Spirit and light of_ God that is in all men, as the only
source of good. Again, _the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh_. By the flesh and its lustings, are meant the
_mere human nature_, or the _natural man_, as he is by the fall; by the
Spirit is meant the bruiser of the serpent, that seed of the light and
Spirit of God, which lieth as a treasure hid in the soul, in order to
bring forth the life, that was lost in _Adam_. Now as the flesh hath
its life, its lustings, whence all sorts of evil are truly said to be
inspired, quickened, and stirred up in us; so the Spirit being a living
principle within us, has its inspiration, its breathing, its moving,
its quickening, from which alone the divine life, or the angel that
died in _Adam_, can be born in us.
When this Spirit is not resisted, grieved, and quenched, but its
inspirations and motions suffered to grow and increase in us, to unite
with God, and get power over all the lusts of the flesh, then the
nature, Spirit, and tempers of Jesus Christ are opened in our souls.
On the other hand, when the flesh, hath resisted and quenched this
Spirit; then the works of the flesh, adultery, fornication, murders,
lying, hatred, envy, wrath, pride, foolishness, worldly wisdom,
carnal prudence, false religion, hypocritical holiness, and serpentine
subtilty, set up their kingdom within us.
_Secondly_, This pearl of eternity is the wisdom and love of God
within thee. In this pearl, all the holy nature, spirit, tempers, and
inclinations of Christ lie, and divine wisdom and heavenly love will
grow up in thee, if thou givest but true attention to God. On the other
hand, There is hidden also in the depth of thy nature the root, or
possibility of all the hellish nature, spirit and tempers of the fallen
angels. For heaven and hell have each of them their foundation within
us, and spring up in us, according as our heart is turned, either to
the light of God or the kingdom of darkness. But when this life, which
is in the midst of these two eternities, is at an end, either an angel
or a devil will be found to have a birth in us.
Thou needest not therefore run here or there, _saying, where is Christ?
Thou needest not say, Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring
down Christ from above? Or who shall descend into the deep to bring up
Christ from the dead?_ For behold the word, the wisdom of God is in thy
heart, as a light unto thy feet and a lanthorn unto thy paths. It is
there as an holy oil, to soften and overcome the wrathful properties of
thy nature, and change them into the humble meekness of light and love.
It is there as a speaking word of God in thy soul; and, as soon as
thou art ready to hear, will speak wisdom and love in thy inward parts,
and bring forth Christ with all his holy nature, spirit and tempers.
Hence it is, that in the Christian church, there have been in all ages,
amongst the most illiterate both men and women, who have attained to
a deep understanding of the mysteries of the wisdom and love of God in
Christ Jesus. And what wonder? Since it is not art or science, or skill
in grammar or logic, but the opening of the divine life in the soul,
that can give true understanding of the things of God. This life of God
in the soul, which for its smallness at first, is by our Lord compared
to a grain of mustard seed, may be, and too generally is suppressed,
either by worldly cares or pleasures, by vain learning, sensuality, or
ambition. And all this while, whatever church or profession a man is of,
he is a mere natural man, unregenerate, unenlightened by the Spirit of
God. And therefore his religion is no more from heaven, than his fine
breeding; his cares have no more goodness in them than his pleasures;
his love is worth no more than his hatred; his zeal for this, or
against that form of religion, has only the nature of any other worldly
contention in it. And thus it is, and must be with every mere natural
man, whatever appearances he may put on, he may, if he pleases, know
himself to be the slave, and machine of his own corrupt tempers and
inclinations; to be enlightened, inspired, quickened and animated by
self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, which is the only life, and
spirit of the mere natural man, whether he be Heathen, Jew or Christian.
On the other hand, wherever this seed is suffered to take root in the
soul, there the man is justly said to be inspired, enlightened and
moved by the Spirit of God, and all that is in him hath the nature,
spirit, and tempers of heaven in it. As this life grows up in any man,
so there grows up a true knowledge of the whole mystery of godliness.
All that the gospel teaches of sin and grace, of the new and old man,
of the light and Spirit of God, are things not got by hearsay, but
inwardly known, felt and experienced. He has then an unction from above
which teacheth him all things, a spirit that _knoweth what it ought to
pray for_, a spirit that _prays without ceasing_, that is risen with
Christ from the dead, and has all its conversation in heaven, a spirit
that hath _groans and sighs that cannot be uttered_, that travaileth
and groaneth with the whole creation, to be delivered from vanity, and
have its glorious liberty in that God, from whom it came forth.
Again, _Thirdly_, this _pearl_ of eternity, is the _church_, or
_temple_ of God _within thee_, where alone thou canst worship God in
_spirit and in truth_. In _spirit_, because thy spirit is that alone
which can unite to God, and receive the workings of his Spirit upon
thee: in truth, because this adoration in spirit, is that truth and
reality, of which all outward forms and rites, tho’ instituted by God,
are only the figure for a time; but this worship is eternal. Accustom
thyself to the holy service of this inward temple. In the midst of
it is the fountain of living water, of which thou mayst drink and
live for ever. There the birth, the life, the sufferings, the death,
the resurrection and ascension of Christ, are not merely remembered,
but inwardly found and enjoyed as the real states of thy soul, which
has followed Christ in the regeneration. When once thou art well
grounded in this inward worship; when God has all that he should have
of thy heart, when renouncing thy natural will, judgment, tempers
and inclinations, thou art wholly given up to the obedience of the
light and Spirit of God, to will only in his will, to love only in his
love, to be wise only in his wisdom, then it is, that every thing thou
dost, is as a song of praise, and the common business of thy life is a
conforming to God’s will on earth, as angels do in heaven.
But this cannot be, till in obedience to his call, _thou denied thyself,
takest up thy daily cross, and followest him_. This is peremptory,
it admits of no reserve, or evasion, it is the one way to Christ
and eternal life. Be where thou wilt, either here, or at _Rome_, or
_Geneva_, if thou livest to thine own will, to the pleasures of thy
natural lust and appetites, senses and passions, and in conformity to
the customs and spirit of this world, thou art dead while thou livest.
Christ can profit thee nothing, thou art a stranger to all that is
holy and heavenly, and incapable of finding the peace and joy of God.
And thus thou art poor, and blind, and naked, and empty, and livest a
miserable life in the vanity of time; whilst all the riches of eternity,
the light and Spirit, the peace and joy of God are waiting for thee.
And thus it will always be with thee, there is no remedy, go where
thou wilt, do what thou wilt, all is shut up, there is no open door of
salvation, no deliverance from thy corrupt nature, no overcoming of the
world, no solid joy above, till dying to thyself and the world, thou
turnest to the light, and Spirit, and power of God.
But thou wilt perhaps say, How shall I have these riches of eternity,
this Spirit, and wisdom, and peace of God within me? Thy _first
thought_ of repentance, or desiring of turning to God, is thy _first
discovery_ of this light and Spirit of God. It is the voice and
language of God, tho’ thou knowest it not. It is the bruiser of the
serpent’s head, who is beginning to preach _within_ thee, what he first
preached in public, saying, _Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand_. When, therefore but the smallest desire calleth thee towards
God, give it time and leave to speak; and take care thou refuse not him
that speaketh. For it is not an angel from heaven that speaketh to thee,
but it is the eternal _word_ of God, that word which at first created
thee, is thus beginning to call thee unto righteousness, that a new man
may be formed in thee in the image and likeness of God. But above all
things, beware of taking this desire of repentance, to be the effect
of thy own natural sense and reason; for in so doing, thou shuttest
the door against God, turnest away from him, and thy repentance (if
thou hast any) will be only a vain unprofitable work of thy own hands,
that will do thee no more good, than a well that is without water. But
if thou takest this desire of turning to God, to be, as in truth it
is, the _working_, _redeeming_ power of the holy Jesus, if thou dost
reverence and adhere to it as such, this _faith will make thee whole_;
and by thus believing in Christ, tho’ thou wert dead, yet shalt thou
live.
Now all dependeth upon thy right submission and obedience to this
speaking of God in thy soul. Therefore listen not to the suggestions of
thy own reason, run not on in thy own will, but be humbly attentive to
this new risen light within thee; open thy heart, thy eyes, and ears to
all its impressions. Let it enlighten, teach, frighten, torment, judge,
and condemn thee, as it pleaseth; turn not away from it, hear all it
saith, seek for no relief out of it, consult not with flesh and blood,
but with a heart full of resignation to God, pray only this prayer,
that God’s kingdom may come, and his will be done in thy soul. Stand
faithfully in this state of preparation, thus given up to the Spirit of
God, and then the work of thy repentance will be wrought, and thou wilt
soon find, that he that is in thee, is much greater than all that are
against thee.
But that thou mayest be firmly assured, that this resignation to, and
dependance upon the working of God’s Spirit, is right and sound, I
shall lay before thee two fundamental truths.
_First_, That thro’ the whole nature of things, nothing can do, or be
a real good to thy soul, but the _operation of God_ upon it.
_Secondly_, That all the dispensations of God from the fall of _Adam_,
to the preaching of the gospel, were only for this one end, to prepare
and dispose the soul for the operation of the Spirit of God upon it.
These two great truths deeply apprehended, put the soul in its right
state, in a continual dependance upon God, and a readiness to receive
all good from him. They will keep thee safe from all errors, and false
zeal in forms of religion, from a sectarian spirit, from bigotry and
superstition; they will teach thee the true difference between the
means and end of religion, and the regard thou shewest to the shell,
will be only so far as the kernel is to be found in it.
*Man, by his fall, had broke off from his true center, his proper place
in God, and therefore the life and operation of God was no more in him.
He was fallen from a life in God, into an animal life of self-love,
self-esteem, and self-seeking in the poor, perishing enjoyments of
this world. This was the _natural state_ of man by the fall. He was an
apostate from God, and his natural life was all idolatry, where _self_
was the great idol, that was worshipped instead of God. All sin is
nothing else but the various operations of self-love, self-esteem, and
self-seeking which separate the soul from God, and end in eternal death.
*On the other hand, all _grace_, _redemption_, _salvation_,
_sanctification_, _spiritual life_, is nothing else but so much of the
life, and operation of God found again in the soul. It is man come back
again into his center or place in God, from whence he had broke off.
The beginning of the life of God in the soul, was then first made, when
the mercy of God promised a seed which should bruise the head of the
serpent. Then was given a degree of the divine life, which if rightly
cultivated, would make of every fallen man, a new-born Son of God.
All the sacrifices and institutions of the antient patriarchs, the
law of _Moses_, with all its types and rites, and ceremonies, had
this only end; they were the methods of divine wisdom for a time, to
keep the hearts of men from the wanderings of idolatry, in a state of
holy expectation: they were to make way for the farther operation of
God upon the soul; or, as the apostle speaks, to be as a schoolmaster
unto Christ. That is, till the birth, the death, the resurrection
and ascension of Christ, should conquer death, and hell, open a new
dispensation of God, and baptize mankind afresh with the Holy Ghost,
and fire of heaven. Then, that is, on the day of _Pentecost_, a _new
dispensation_ of God came forth; which on God’s part, was the operation
of the Holy Spirit in gifts and graces upon the whole church. And on
man’s part, it was the adoration of God in _spirit_ and _in truth_.
Thus all that was done by God, from the promise given to _Adam_, to
Christ’s sitting down on the right hand of God, was for this end, to
remove all that stood between God and man, and to make way for the
immediate and continual operation of God upon the soul: and that man,
baptized with the Holy Spirit, and born again, should wholly give up
his soul to the operation of God’s Spirit, to know, to love, to will,
to pray, to worship, to preach, to exhort, to use all the faculties
of his mind, and all the outward things of this world, as enlightened,
inspired, moved and guided by the Holy Ghost: who by this last
dispensation of God, was given to be a comforter, a teacher, and guide
to the church, to abide with it for ever.
This is Christianity, a spiritual society, not because it has no
worldly concerns, but because all its members, as such are born of the
Spirit, animated and governed by the Spirit of God. It is constantly
called by our Lord the kingdom of God, or heaven, because all its
ministry and service, all that is done in it, is done in obedience and
subjection to _that spirit_ by which angels live, and are governed in
heaven. Hence our blessed Lord taught his disciples to pray, that this
kingdom might come, that so God’s will might be done on earth, as it
is in heaven; which could not be, but by that same spirit by which it
is done in heaven. The short is this: The kingdom of self, is the great
apostasy from the life of God in the soul, and every one wherever he
be, that liveth unto himself, is still under the fall and apostasy from
God. The kingdom of Christ is the Spirit and power of God, dwelling and
manifesting itself in the inward man; and no one is a member of this
kingdom, but so far as the Spirit reigns in him. These two kingdoms
take in all mankind, he that is not of one, is certainly in the other;
dying to one, is living to the other.
Hence we may gather the following truths: _First_, That when the call
of God to repentance first ariseth in thy soul, thou art wholly to
disregard the workings of thy own will, reason and judgment. It is
because all these are false counsellors, the sworn servants, bribed
slaves of thy fallen nature; and therefore, if the operation of God
is to have its effect in thee, all these are to be silenced, till they
have learned obedience and subjection to the Spirit of God. Now this is
not requiring thee to become a fool, or to give up thy sense and reason;
but is the shortest way to have thy sense and reason delivered from
folly, and guided by that light which is wisdom itself.
A child that denies his own will and reason, to be guided by the will
and reason of a truly wise and understanding tutor, cannot be said to
make himself a fool, and give up the benefit of his rational nature,
but to take the shortest way to have his own will and reason made truly
a blessing to him.
*_Secondly_, Hence is to be seen the true ground of universal
mortification and self-denial with regard to all our senses, appetites,
tempers, passions and judgments. It is because our whole nature, as
fallen from the life of God, is in a state of contrariety to the order
and end of our creation, a continual source of disorderly appetites,
corrupt tempers, and false judgments. And therefore every motion of it
is to be mortified, changed and purified from its natural state, before
we can enter into the kingdom of God. Thus when our Lord saith, _Except
a man hateth his father and mother, yea, and his own life, he cannot
be my disciple_; it is because our best tempers are yet full of the
imperfections of our fallen nature. Not as if father and mother were
to be hated; but _that love_ which an unregenerate person hath towards
them, is to be _hated_; as being a blind self-love, full of all the
_weakness_ and _partiality_ with which fallen man loves, honours, and
cleaves to himself. This love, born from corrupt flesh and blood, is to
be _hated_ and _parted_ with, that we may love them with such a love,
and on such a motive, as Christ hath loved us. And then the _disciple_
of Christ far exceeds all others in the love of parents. Again, our
own life is to be hated; the reason is plain, because there is nothing
lovely in it. It is a _legion_ of evil, an _apostasy_ from the _life_
and _power_ of God in the soul; a life that is _death_ to heaven, that
is pure unmixed _idolatry_, that lives not to God, and therefore _all
this own life_ is to be absolutely _hated_, if the nature, spirit,
tempers and inclinations of Christ are to be in us.
*Thus when our Lord further saith, unless a man forsake _all that
he hath he cannot be my disciple_. The reason is plain; all that the
natural man hath, is in the possession of self-love, and therefore this
possession is to be absolutely forsaken, and parted with. All that he
hath is to be put into other hands, to be given to divine love, or this
_natural man_ cannot be changed into a disciple of Christ. For self
love in _all that it hath_, is earthly, sensual, and devilish, and
therefore must have _all_ taken away from it; and then to the natural
man all is lost, he hath nothing left, all is laid down at the feet of
Jesus. Then all things are common, as soon as self-love has lost the
possession of them. And then the disciple of Christ, _though having
nothing, yet possesseth all things_, all that the natural man hath
forsaken, is restored to the disciple of Christ an hundred fold. For
self-love, the greatest of all thieves, being now cast out, and all
that he had stolen and hidden, thus taken from him, and put into the
hands of divine love, every _mite_ becometh a large treasure, and
mammon openeth the door into everlasting habitations. This was the
spirit or the first draught of a Christian church at _Jerusalem_, a
church made truly after the pattern of heaven, where the love that
reigns in heaven reigned in it, where divine love broke down all the
selfish fences, the locks and bolts of _me_, _mine_, and laid all
things common to the members of this new kingdom of God on earth.
Now tho’ many years did not pass after the age of the apostles, before
_Satan_, got footing in the church, and set up merchandize in the house
of God; yet this one heart, and one spirit, which then appeared in the
_Jerusalem_ church, is that _one heart_ and _spirit_ of divine love, to
which all are called, that would be true disciples of Christ. And tho’
the practice of it is lost as to the church in general, yet it ought
not to have been lost: and therefore every Christian ought to make
it his great care and prayer to have it restored in himself. And then
tho’ born in the dregs of time, or living in _Babylon_, he will be as
truly a member of the first church at _Jerusalem_, as if he had lived
in it in the days of the apostles. This spirit of love, born of that
celestial fire, with which Christ baptizes his true disciples, is alone
that spirit, which can enter into heaven, and therefore is that spirit
which is to be in us, while we are on earth. For no one can enter into
heaven till he is made heavenly, till the Spirit of heaven is entered
into him. And therefore all that our Lord hath said of a man’s parting
with all that he hath, is absolutely necessary from the nature of the
thing.
But thou wilt perhaps say, if all self-love is to be renounced, then
all love of our neighbour is renounced, because the commandment is,
only _to love our neighbour as ourselves_. The answer is easy. There
is but one love in heaven, and yet the angels of God love one another
in the same manner as they love themselves. The matter is thus; The
one supreme _rule_ of love, which is a _law_ to all intelligent beings,
and will be a law to all eternity, is this, _God alone is to be loved
for himself_, and _all other beings only in him, and for him_. Whatever
intelligent creature lives not under this rule, is so far fallen from
the order of his creation, and is, till he returns to this eternal law
of love, an apostate from God, and incapable of the kingdom of heaven.
Now if God alone is to be loved for himself, then no creature is to be
loved for itself: and so all self-love in every creature is absolutely
condemned.
And if all created beings are only to be loved in and for God, then my
neighbour is to be loved as I love myself, and I am only to love myself
as I love my neighbour, or any other created being, that is, only in
and for God. And thus the command of loving our neighbour as ourselves
stands firm, and yet all self-love is plucked up by the roots. But
what is loving any creature, only in and for God? It is when we love it
merely as it is God’s and belongs to him, this is loving it _in_ God.
And when all that we wish, intend, or do to it, is done from a love
of God, for the honour of God, and in conformity to the will of God,
this is loving it for God. This is the _one love_ that is, and must
be the spirit of all creatures that live united to God. Now this is no
speculative refinement, but the simple truth, a first law of nature,
and a necessary band of union between God and the creature. The
creature has lost the life of God whenever its love does not thus begin
and end in God.
_Thirdly_, Hence we may learn the true nature and worth of all
_self-denial_ and _mortification_. As to their nature, considered in
themselves, they have nothing of _goodness_ or _holiness_, nor are any
real parts of our sanctification, they have no _quickening, sanctifying
power_ in them; their only worth consists in this, that they break down
that which stands between God and us, and make way for the _quickening,
sanctifying Spirit_ of God to operate: which operation of God is the
_only_ thing that can raise the divine life in the soul, or help it to
the smallest degree of real holiness. As in our creation we had only
_that degree_ of divine life, which the power of God derived into us;
so in our redemption, or regaining _that_ first perfection, all must be
again the operation of God.
Hence also we may learn, why many people not only lose the benefit,
but are even the worse for all their mortifications. It is because
they mistake the whole nature of them. They practise them for their
_own sakes_, as things good in themselves, they think them to be real
parts of holiness, and so rest in them, and grow full of self-esteem,
and self-admiration for their progress in them. This makes them
self-sufficient, morose, severe judges of all those that fall short
of their mortification.
And thus their self-denials do only _that_ for them, which indulgences
do for other people, they withstand and hinder the operation of God
upon their souls.
There is no avoiding this fatal error, but by deeply entering into this
great truth, that all our own working can do no good to us, but as it
leads us in the best manner to the light and Spirit of God, which alone
brings life and salvation into the soul. _Stretch forth thy hand_, said
our Lord to the man, _that had a withered hand_; he did so, and _it was
immediately made whole as the other_.
Now had this man any ground for pride, for the share he had in the
restoring of his hand? Yet just such is our share in the raising up
of the spiritual life within us. All that we can do, is only like this
man’s stretching out his hand; the rest is the work of Christ, the only
giver of life to the withered hand, or the dead soul. When the Virgin
_Mary_ conceived the holy Jesus, all that she did towards it herself,
was only this single act of faith and resignation: _Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word_. This is all
that we can do towards the conception of the new man in ourselves.
Now this truth is easily consented to, and a man thinks he believes
it, because he does not deny it. But this is not enough, it is to be
apprehended in a deep, full, and practical assurance, in such a manner
as a man knows that he did not create the stars, or cause life to
rise up in himself. And then it is a belief that makes room for the
operation of God upon it. His light then enters with full power into
the soul, and his Holy Spirit directs all that is done in it, and so
man lives again in God as a new creature. For this truth thus firmly
believed, will have these two effects: *_First_, It will keep the soul
continually turned towards God, in faith, prayer, desire, confidence,
and resignation for all that it wants to have done in it, and to it;
which will be a continual source of all divine graces. The soul thus
turned to God, must be always receiving from him. It stands at the
true door of all divine communications, and the light of God as freely
enters into it, as the light of the sun enters into the air. _Secondly_,
It will fix and ground the soul in a true and lasting self-denial.
For by thus knowing our own nothingness and inability, that we have
no other capacity for good, but that of receiving it from God alone;
no room is left for spiritual pride; we are saved from a Pharisaical
holiness, from wrong opinions of our own works and good deeds, and from
a multitude of errors, the most dangerous to our souls, all which arise
from the something that we take ourselves to be either in nature or
grace. *But when we once apprehend but in some degree, the all of God,
and the nothingness of ourselves, we have got a truth whose usefulness
and benefit no words can express. It brings a kind of infallibility
into the soul, in which it dwells; all that is vain, and false, and
deceitful, is forced to vanish before it. When our religion is founded
on this, it has the firmness of a rock, and its height reaches unto
heaven. The world, the flesh and the devil can do no hurt to it; all
enemies are known, and all disarmed by this great truth, dwelling in
our souls. It is the knowledge of the all of God, that makes cherubim
and seraphim to be flames of divine love. For where this all of God is
truly known and felt in any creature, there its whole breath and Spirit
is a fire of love, nothing but a pure, disinterested love can rise up
in it, or come from it, a love that begins and ends in God. For this
pure love introduces the creature into the all of God, all that is in
God, is opened in the creature, it is united with God, and hath the
life of God manifested in it.
*There is but one salvation for all mankind, and that is the life of
God in the soul. God has but one design towards all mankind, and that
is to generate his own life, light, and spirit in them, that all may be
as so many images, temples, and habitations of the holy Trinity.
Now there is but one possible way for man to attain this salvation, or
life of God in the soul: and that is, _the desire of the soul turned to
God_. Through this desire the poor prodigal son leaveth his husks and
swine, and hasteth to his father; ’tis because of _this desire_ that
the father seeth the son, while yet afar off, that he runs out to meet
him, falleth on his neck, and kisseth him. No sooner is this desire in
motion towards God, but the operation of God’s Spirit answers to it,
cherishes and welcomes its first beginnings, signified by the Father’s
seeing, and having compassion on his Son, whilst yet afar off, that
is, in the first beginnings of his desire. Thus does this desire bring
the soul to God, and God into the soul. Suppose this desire not to be
alive, either in a _Jew_, or _Christian_, and then all the sacrifices,
the service, the worship either of the law or the gospel, are but dead
works, that bring no life into the soul. Suppose this desire to be
awakened, though in souls that never heard either of the law or gospel,
and the operation of God enters into them, and Christ blesses those
that never heard of his name.
Oh my God, just and good, how great is thy love and mercy to mankind,
that heaven is thus every where open, and Christ thus the common
Saviour, to all that turn the desire of their hearts to thee! Oh sweet
power of the bruiser of the serpent, that stirs and works in every man,
who has a desire, to find his happiness in God! O holy Jesus, heavenly
_light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world_, that
redeemeth every soul that followeth thy light: O holy Trinity, immense
ocean of love, in which all mankind live, and move, and have their
being! None live out of thy love, but all are embraced in the arms of
thy mercy, as soon as their heart is turned to thee! Oh plain, and easy,
and simple way of salvation, wanting no subtleties of art or science,
no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all done by the
simple motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. For no sooner
is the desire of the creature in motion towards God, but the desire
of God co-operates with it. And in this united desire of God, and the
creature, is the salvation of the soul brought forth. For the soul
is shut out of God, and imprisoned in its own dark workings of flesh
and blood, merely because it desires to live to the vanity of this
world. This desire is its darkness, its death, its imprisonment, and
separation from God.
When therefore the _first spark_ of a desire after God arises in thy
soul, cherish it with all thy care, it is nothing less than a touch of
the divine loadstone, that is to draw thee out of the vanity of time,
into the riches of eternity. Get up therefore and follow it as gladly
as the wise-men of the East followed the star from heaven that appeared
to them.
Christ saith, “I am the light of the world, he that followeth me,
walketh not in darkness.” He directs us only to himself. He is the
morning star, and is generated and riseth in us, and shineth in the
darkness of our nature. O how great a triumph is there in the soul,
when he ariseth in it! Then a man knows, as he never knew before, that
he is a stranger in a foreign land.
* * * * *
*_A_ PRAYER.
OH heavenly Father, infinite, fathomless depth of never ceasing
love, save me from myself, from the disorderly workings of my fallen,
corrupted nature, and let mine eyes see, my heart, and spirit feel and
find thy salvation in Christ Jesus.
O God, who madest me for thyself, to shew forth thy goodness in me,
manifest, I humbly beseech thee, the life-giving power of thy holy
nature within me; help me to such a true and living faith in thee, such
hunger and thirst after the life of thy holy Jesus in my soul, that all
that is within me, may be turned from every inward thought, or outward
work, that is not thee, thy holy Jesus, and heavenly working in my soul.
_Amen._
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Spirit of PRAYER.
PART II.
_The first Dialogue between |Academicus|, |Rusticus| and
|Theophilus|. At which |Humanus| was present._
_Theophilus._ ACADEMICUS, 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 delight in reading good books.
_Philo_ for these 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 _stile_, _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 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 from the time that he discovered the pearl of eternity in
spiritual authors.
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.
It demands at present an eagerness of another kind, than that of much
reading, even upon the most spiritual matters.
_Academicus._ I thank you, _Theophilus_; but did not imagine my
eagerness after such books to be so dangerous a mistake.
_Theophilus._ 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
he that converses rightly with them has an happiness, that can hardly
be overvalued.
My intention is only to abate, for a time, a spirit of eagerness after
much reading, which in your state rather gratifies curiosity, than
reforms the heart.
Suppose you had seen an angel from heaven, who had discovered to you a
glimpse of that glorious union in which it lived with God. Suppose it
had told you that your own soul was capable of all this, but that your
flesh and blood would not suffer it to be imparted to 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 the 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: 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 was born
into the world.
Suppose it had told you, that all this insensibility of your state,
was wilfully brought upon yourself, because you had boldly resisted
all the inward and outward calls of God, all the teachings, doings, and
sufferings of the Son of God. *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.
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 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 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 thro’ every thing inwardly
and outwardly, that might destroy the evil workings of his nature, and
awaken all that was holy and heavenly within him.
Or would you think he was enough affected with this angelic visit, if
all that it had awakened in him, was only a longing desire to hear the
same, or another angel talk again?
_Academicus._ Oh _Theophilus_, you have said enough: for all that is
within me consents to the truth 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.
_Theophilus._ 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 loss of heaven. All our redemption consists
in our regaining that first life of heaven, to which _Adam_ died in
paradise: and the one work of redemption, is the one work of raising up
a life and spirit, contrary to that we derive from our fallen parents.
To think therefore of any thing, but the continual, total denial of our
earthly nature, is to overlook the one thing on which all depends. And
to hope for any thing, to trust or pray for any thing, but the _life of
God_, in our souls, is as useless to us, as placing our hope and trust
in a graven image.
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 the
nature of your salvation. You are charmed with the discovery of a
kingdom of heaven within you, and long to be entertained more and more
with the nature, progress, and perfection of this kingdom in your soul.
But, my friend, stop a little. It is indeed great joy that the _pearl
of great price_ is found; but take notice, it is not your’s till, as
the merchant did, _you sell all that you have_, and buy it. 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 thyself and then thou hast given all that thou hast to the
poor, all is devoted and used for the love of God and thy neighbour.
The apostate nature corrupts every thing it touches; it defiles every
thing it receives; it turns all the gifts and blessings of God into
coveteousness, partiality, pride, hatred and envy.
*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, 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, 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. 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 ownselves, till we are dead to all the
spirit and tempers of this world. They are every where, in every soul,
where the heavenly nature, and the Spirit of the holy Jesus is not. But
when the human soul turns from itself, and turns to God, dies to itself,
and lives to God in the Spirit, tempers, and inclinations of the holy
Jesus, loving, pitying, suffering, and praying for all its enemies, and
overcoming all evil with good, as Christ did; then, but not till then,
are these monsters separate from it.
This, _Academicus_, is the fallen human nature, which is alive in
every one, though in various manners, till he is born again. To think
therefore of any religion, or to pretend to real holiness without 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? It is this; they endeavoured to 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.
Now religion in the hands of 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, hatred, and
persecution, under a cloak of religious zeal, will sanctify actions,
which nature, left to itself, would start at.
Observe, Sir, the difference which cloaths make in those, who have it
in their power to dress as they please: some are all for shew, colours,
and glitters; 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. But 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 possessed by the _old man_, make just such a difference as is made
by cloaths. Some put on a solemn, formal, prudent, outside carriage;
others appear in all the glitter and shew of religious colouring,
and spiritual attainments; but under all this outside difference,
there lies the poor soul, unhelped, in its own fallen state. And,
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.
Self-contempt, and self-denial, are as suitable to this new-born spirit,
as self-esteem, and self-seeking 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
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 on a dead tree.
_Academicus._ But how am I to take this first step, which you so much
insist upon?
_Theophilus._ You are to turn wholly from yourself, and to give up
yourself wholly unto God,¹ in this or the like manner.
¹ Amazing! First step! It is the very highest attainment of
the greatest saint under heaven.
*“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, prompt me to. I give myself up
wholly 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.”
♦ duplicate word “to” removed
*You are not to content yourself with now and then 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 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 first¹ 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 a
fancied holiness.
¹ Not so: it is not the threshold, but the whole building.
You may perhaps think this an hard saying. But do not go away sorrowful,
like the young man in the gospel. I shall now leave you to consider,
whether you will 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.
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.
_Rusticus._ 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 real gospel; he knows nothing of it, but
what he has picked up out of the books that have been written against
it, and for it.
But this is enough concerning the man. He comes with me at his own
desire, and upon 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
of religion, that he may hear the whole nature, the necessity and
blessedness of the Christian redemption.
*_Theophilus._ 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. 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 to 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?
*_Academicus._ You know, how these matters have affected me, ever since
I read some books lately published. From that time, I have seen things
in such a newness of light, as makes me take my former knowledge for
a dream. A dream I may justly say, since all my labour was taken up in
teaching 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 crouded
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.
*And in this laborious dream I had in all likelihood ended my days; had
not those books shewn me, that religion lay nearer home. But however,
though I seem to be entered into a region of light, yet I must not
forget to tell you, what some of my friends say: that in those books,
there are many things asserted, which have not scripture to support
them.
_Theophilus._ 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 scripture, than the doctrine of a real
regeneration? And yet the _plain letter_ of scripture, upon the most
important of all points, the very life and essence 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.
A Son of God, united with, and born in, our nature, that his nature may
be produced in us; an holy Spirit, breathing in our souls, ♦quickening
the dead in sin, 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 of water, and the Spirit we cannot see the kingdom of
heaven.
♦ “quickning” replaced with “quickening”
Again: Is 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 which he was created, he
was stript of all his glory, afraid of being seen, and unable to see
himself uncovered; delivered up a slave to the rage of all the 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 said entrance in a world, whence God and his
own glory, was departed. Death enough surely!
Death in its highest reality, a much greater change, than when an
animal of flesh and blood is only changed into a cold lifeless carcase.
A death, that in all nature has 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, 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 the first
glory of his creation, because he ♦afterwards breathed in a world which
was outwardly, in all its parts, full of the same curse that was within
himself. But farther, not only the plain 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 requires it; all the system
of our redemption proceeds upon it. For what need of redemption, if
_Adam_ had not lost his first state? What need of the Deity to enter
again into the human nature, not only as acting, but being born in 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? It is true
indeed that _Adam_, in his death to the divine life, was left in the
possession of an earthly life. But ’tis wonderful that any man should
imagine _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.
♦ “aftewards” replaced with “afterwards”
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? What ground
or reason then can there be to think of the death of an animal of this
world, when we read of the death that _Adam_ was to die the day of his
sin? For does not all that befel him on the day of his sin shew _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,
naked, distressed animal of flesh and blood; inwardly and outwardly
feeling the curse 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 of God; and that, with his
death, all that was _divine_ and _heavenly_ in his soul, 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 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 has
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 apostles assert
this great truth, that all mankind are in the state of _Adam’s death_,
till they are made alive again by the _Son_ and _Holy Spirit_. So plain
is it, both from the 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.
For without the _reality_ of a new birth, founded on 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.
Oh _Academicus_, what a blindness there is in the world! What a stir
is there among mankind about _religion_, and yet almost all seem to be
afraid of _that_, in which alone is salvation!
Poor mortals! What is the one 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, and gratifies every
pride of life? And yet life itself is the loss of every thing, unless
pride be overcome. Oh stop awhile in contemplation of this great truth.
It is a truth as unchangeable as God; it is written and spoken thro’
all nature; heaven and earth, fallen angels, and redeemed men, all bear
witness to it. The truth is this: _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. This is the
one way, the one truth, and the one life. There is no other door into
the sheepfold of God. Every thing 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;
or 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.
So much as you have of pride, so much you have of the fallen angel in
you: so much as you have of true humility, so much you have of the Lamb
of God. Could you see with your eyes what every stirring of pride does
to your soul, you would beg of every thing you meet to tear the viper
from you; tho’ with the loss of an hand or an eye. Could you see what
a sweet, divine, transforming power there is in humility, 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. My friends, for this
time, adieu!
* * * * *
_The Second Dialogue._
_Theophilus._ FROM this view of things, we see ♦a _spirit of longing_
after the life of this world, made _Adam_ and us to be the poor
pilgrims on earth that we are; so the _spirit of prayer_, or the
longing desire of the heart after Christ, and God, and heaven, raises
us out of the miseries of time into the riches of eternity. Thus seeing
and knowing our first and our present state, every thing calls us to
prayer; and the desire of our heart becomes the spirit of prayer. And
when the spirit of prayer is in us, then prayer is no longer considered
as only the business of this or that hour, but is the continual panting
or breathing of the heart after God. Its petitions are not picked out
of manuals of devotion; it loves its own language; it speaks most when
it says least. If you ask what its words are, they are _spirit_, they
are _life_, they are _love_, that unite with God.
♦ duplicate word “a” removed
_Academicus._ I apprehend, Sir, _that_ what you here say of the spirit
of prayer, will be taken by some for a censure upon hours and forms of
prayer; tho’ I know you have no such meaning.
_Rusticus._ Pray let me speak again to _Academicus_: His learning seems
to be always upon the watch, to find out some excuse for not receiving
the whole truth. Does not _Theophilus_ here speak of the _spirit of
prayer_, as a _state_ of the _heart_, which is become the _governing_
principle of the soul? And if it is a living state of the heart, must
it not have its life in itself, independent of every outward time
and occasion? And yet must it not, at the same time, be that alone
which disposes the heart to delight in hours, and times, and occasions
of prayer? Suppose he had said, that _honesty is_ an inward living
principle of the heart, a rectitude of the mind, that has all its life
and strength within itself. Could this be thought to censure all times
and occasions of performing outward acts of honesty? Now the _spirit_
of prayer differs from all outward acts and forms of prayer, just as
the _honesty of the heart_, or a living rectitude of mind, differs from
outward and occasional acts of honesty. And yet should a man disregard
times and occasions of outward acts of honesty, on pretence that true
honesty was an inward living principle; who would not see that such
a one had as little of the inward spirit, as of the outward acts of
honesty? St. _John_ saith, _If any man hath this world’s goods, and
seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion
to him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?_ Just so, it may be said,
if a man neglects times and hours of prayer, _how dwelleth the spirit
of prayer_ in him? And yet, its own life and spirit is vastly superior
to, and stays for no particular hours, or forms of words. And in this
sense it is truly said, that it has its own language; that it wants not
to pick words out of manuals of devotion, but is always speaking forth
spirit and life, and love towards God. But pray, _Theophilus_, do you
go on as you intended.
*_Theophilus._ I shall only add, before we pass on to another point,
that, from what has been said, it plainly follows, that the _sin_ of
all sins, or the _heresy_ of all heresies, is a _worldly spirit_. We
are apt to consider this temper only as an infirmity, or pardonable
failure; but it is indeed the great _apostasy_ from God, and the divine
life. It is not a single sin, but the whole nature of sin, that leaves
no possibility of coming out of our fallen state, till it be renounced
with all the strength of our hearts. Every sin, be it of what kind
it will, is only a branch of the worldly spirit that lives in us.
_There is but one that is good_, saith our Lord, _and that is God_.
In the same strictness of expression it must be said, there is but one
life that is good, and that is the life of God and heaven. Depart in
the least degree from the goodness of God, and you depart into evil;
because nothing is good but his goodness.
Chuse any life, but the life of God and heaven, and you chuse death;
for death is nothing else but the loss of the life of God. The
creatures of this world have but one life, and that is the life of
this world: this is their one life, and one good. Eternal beings have
but one life, and one good; and that is the life of God. God could not
create man to have a will of his own, and a life of his own, different
from the life and will that is in himself; this is more impossible than
for a good tree to bring forth corrupt fruit. God can only delight in
his own life, his own goodness, and his own perfections; and therefore
cannot love, or delight, or dwell in any creatures, but where his own
goodness and perfections are to be found. Like can only unite with like,
heaven with heaven, and hell with hell; and therefore the life of God
must be the life of the soul, if the soul is to unite with God. Hence
it is, that all the methods of our redemption have only this one end,
to take from us that earthly life we have gotten by the fall, and to
kindle again the life of God and heaven in our souls. Not to deliver us
from that gross and sordid vice called _coveteousness_, which Heathens
can condemn, but to take the whole spirit of this world entirely from
us; because _all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father_; that is, is
not that life, which we had from God by our creation; _but is of this
world_; is brought into us by our fall from God into the life of this
world. And therefore a worldly spirit is not to be considered as a
single sin; but as a state of real death to the kingdom and life of God
in our souls. Management, prudence, or an artful trimming betwixt God
and mammon, are here all in vain; it is not only the grossness of an
outward, worldly behaviour, but the spirit, the prudence, the wisdom of
this world, that is our separation from the life of God.
Hold this therefore, _Academicus_, as a certain truth, that the heresy
of all heresies is a worldly spirit. It is the whole nature and misery
of our fall; it keeps up the death of our souls; and, so long as it
lasts, makes it impossible for us to be born again. It is the greatest
blindness and darkness of our nature, and keeps us in the grossest
ignorance both of heaven and hell. For we feel neither the one nor
the other, so long as the spirit of this world reigns in us. Light,
and truth, and the gospel, so far as they concern eternity, are all
empty sounds to the worldly spirit. His own good, and his own evil,
govern all his hopes and fears; and therefore he can have no religion,
farther than as it can be made serviceable to the life of this world.
_Publicans_ and _Harlots_ are all of the spirit of this world; but its
highest birth are _Scribes_, the _Pharisees_, and _Hypocrites_, who
turn godliness into gain, and serve God for the sake of mammon; these
live, and move, and have their being in and from the spirit of this
world.――Of all things therefore my friends, detest the spirit of this
world, or you must live and die an _utter stranger_ to all that is
divine and heavenly. You will go out of the world in the same poverty
and death in which you entered into it. For a worldly spirit can know
nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, delight in nothing but with
earthly senses, and after an earthly manner. _The natural man_, saith
the apostle, _receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are
foolishness unto him. He cannot know them, because they are spiritually
discerned_; that is, they can only be discerned by that Spirit, which
he hath not. Now the true reason of the absolute impossibility of the
natural man, how polite, and learned, and acute soever he be, is this;
so far as our life reaches, so far we understand, and feel, and know,
and no farther. All after this is, only the play of our imagination,
amusing itself with the _dead pictures_ of its own ideas. Now this is
all that the natural man can possibly do with the things of God. He can
only contemplate them as so many _dead ideas_, that he receives from
books, or hearsay; and so can learnedly dispute and quarrel about them,
and laugh at those as Enthusiasts, who have a living sensibility of
them. He is only the worse for his _dead ideas_ of divine truths; they
become bad nourishment to all his natural tempers: he is proud of his
ability to discourse about them, and loses all humility, thro’ a vain
and haughty contention for them. His _zeal_ for religion is envy and
wrath, his orthodoxy is pride and obstinacy, his love of the truth
is hatred and ill-will to those who dare to dissent from him. This is
the constant effect of the religion of the natural man, who is under
the dominion of the spirit of this world. He cannot make a better use
of his knowledge than this; and all for this plain reason, because he
stands at the _same distance_ from a _living sensibility_ of the truth,
as the man that is born blind, does from a living sensibility of light.
_Academicus._ You know, Sir, that in the morning you told me of a first
step, that must be the _beginning_ of a spiritual life; you gave me
till to-morrow to speak my mind and resolution about it. But you have
now extorted my answer from me: with all the strength that I have,
I turn from every thing that is not God, and his holy will; with all
the desire of my heart, I give up myself wholly to the light and Holy
Spirit of God; pleased with nothing in this world, but as it gives time
and place, and occasions of doing and being that, which my heavenly
Father would have me to do and be; seeking for no happiness from this
earthly fallen life, but that of overcoming all its spirit and tempers.
But I believe, _Theophilus_, you had something farther to say.
_Theophilus._ Indeed, _Academicus_, there is hardly any knowing when
one has said enough of the evil effects of a _worldly spirit_. It is
the canker that eateth up all the fruits of our other good tempers; it
leaves no degree of goodness in them, but transforms all that we are
to do, into its own earthly nature. The philosophers of old, began all
their virtue in a total renunciation of the spirit of this world. They
saw with the eyes of heaven, that darkness was not more contrary to
light, than the wisdom of this world to the spirit of virtue; therefore
they allowed of no progress in virtue, but so far as a man had overcome
himself, and the spirit of this world.
But the doctrine of the cross of Christ, the last, the highest, the
most finishing stroke given to the spirit of this world, that speaks
more in _one word_ than all the philosophy of voluminous writers, is
yet professed by those, who are in more friendship with the world than
was allowed to the disciples of _Pythagoras_, _Socrates_, _Plato_, or
_Epictetus_.
Nay, if those antient sages were to start up among us with their divine
wisdom, they would bid fair to be treated by the sons of the gospel, if
not by some fathers of the church, as dreaming enthusiasts.
But, _Academicus_, this is a standing truth, the world can only
love its own, and wisdom can only be justified of her children. The
heaven-born _Epictetus_ told one of his scholars, that _then_ he might
_first_ look upon himself, as having made _some true_ proficiency in
virtue, when the world took him for a _fool_; an oracle like that,
which said, _The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God_.
If you was to ask me, whence is all the degeneracy of the present
Christian church, I should place it all in a _worldly spirit_. If
here you see open wickedness, there only forms of godliness; if here
superficial holiness, political piety, crafty prudence; there haughty
sanctity, partial zeal, envious orthodoxy; if almost every where you
see a _Jewish_ blindness, and hardness of heart, and the church trading
with the gospel, as visibly, as the old _Jews_ bought and sold beasts
in their temple; all this is only so many forms and proper fruits
of the worldly spirit. This is the great _net_, with which the devil
becomes a fisher of men; and be assured of this, that every son of man
is in this _net_, till, thro’ the Spirit of Christ, he breaks out of it.
I say the _Spirit_ of Christ, for nothing else can deliver him from
it. Trust to any kind, or form of religious observances, to any number
of the most plausible virtues, to any kinds of learning, or efforts of
human prudence, and I will tell you what your case will be; you will
overcome _one_ temper of the world, _merely_ by cleaving to another.
For nothing leaves the world, nothing can possibly overcome it, but the
Spirit of Christ. Hence it is, that many learned men, with all the rich
furniture of their brain, live and die slaves to the spirit of this
world; and can only differ from gross worldlings, as the _Scribes_ and
_Pharisees_ differ from _Publicans_ and _Sinners_: it is because the
Spirit of Christ is not the _one_ thing that is the _desire_ of their
hearts; and therefore their learning only works with the spirit of this
world, and becomes itself no small part of the _vanity of vanities_.
Would you farther know, the evil effects of a worldly spirit, you need
only look at the blessed effects of the _spirit of prayer_; for the one
goes downwards with the same strength as the other goes upwards; the
one weds you to an earthly nature, as the other unites you to Christ,
and God, and heaven. The spirit of prayer is a _pressing forth_ of the
soul out of this earthly life; it is a stretching with all its desire
after the life of God; it is a leaving, as far as it can, all its _own
spirit_, to receive a spirit from above, to be one life, one love, one
Spirit with Christ in God. This prayer, which is an emptying itself
of all its own natural tempers, and an opening itself for the love
of God to enter into it, is the prayer in _the name of Christ_, to
which nothing is denied. For the love which God bears to the soul, his
eternal, never-ceasing desire to enter into it, dwell in it, stays no
longer, than till the door of the heart opens for him. For nothing can
keep God out of the soul, or hinder his union with it, but the _desire_
of the heart turned from him.
A will, given up to earthly goods, is at grass with _Nebuchadnezzar_,
and has one life with the beasts of the field: for earthly desires
keep up the _same life_ in a man and an ox. When therefore a man wholly
turneth his will to earthly desires, he dies to the excellency of his
natural state, and may be said only to live, and move, and have his
being in the life of this world, as the beasts have. Earthy food, only
desired and used for the support of the earthly body, is suitable to a
man’s present condition, and the order of nature: but when the desire
of the soul is set upon earthly things, then the humanity is degraded,
is fallen from God; and the life of the soul is made as _earthly_ and
_bestial_, as the life of the body.
*And this is to be noted well, that death can make no alteration in
this state of the will; it only takes off the outward covering of
flesh and blood, and forces the soul to see, and feel, and know, what
a life, what a state, _food_, _body_, and _habitation_, its own will
has brought forth for it. Oh _Academicus_, stop awhile, and let your
hearing be turned into feeling. Tell me, is there any thing in life
that deserves a thought, but how to keep our will in a right state, and
to get that _purity_ of heart, which alone can see, and know, and find,
and possess God? Is there any thing so frightful as this worldly spirit,
which turns the soul from God, makes it an house of darkness, and feeds
it with the food of time, at the expence of all the riches of eternity.
On the other hand, what can be so desirable a good as the _spirit of
prayer_, which empties the soul of all its evil; separates death and
darkness from it; leaves _time_ and the _world_; and becomes one life,
one light, one Spirit with Christ and God?
Think, my friends, of these things, with something more than thoughts;
let your hungry souls eat of the nourishment of them; and desire only
to live, that with the _whole spirit_ of your minds, you may live and
die united to God; and thus let this conversation end, till God gives
us another meeting.
* * * * *
_The Third Dialogue._
_Rusticus._ I HAVE brought again with me, gentlemen, my silent friend
_Humanus_, and upon the same condition of being silent still. But tho’
his silence is the same, yet he is quite altered. For these twenty
years I have known him to be of an even, chearful temper, full of
good-nature, and even quite calm and dispassionate in his attacks
upon Christianity; never provoked by what was said either against his
infidelity, or in defence of the gospel. He used to boast of his being
free from those four passions, which, he said, were so easy to be seen,
in most defenders of the gospel-meekness. But now he is morose, peevish,
and full of chagrin; and seems to be as uneasy with himself, as with
every body else. I tell him, but he will not own it, that his case is
this: the truth has touched him, but it is only so far, as to be his
_tormentor_. It is only as welcome to him, as a thief that has taken
from him all his riches, goods, and armour, wherein he trusted. The
Christianity he used to oppose is vanished; and therefore all the
weapons he had against it, are dropt out of his hands. It now appears
to stand upon another ground, to have a better nature, than what he
imagined; and therefore he, and his scheme of infidelity, are quite
disconcerted. But tho’ his arguments have lost their strength, his
heart is left in the state it was; it stands in the same opposition to
Christianity as it did before, and yet without any ideas of his brain
to support it. And this is the true ground of his present, uneasy,
peevish state of mind. He has nothing now to subsist upon, but the
resolute hardness of his heart, his pride and obstinacy. Tho’ it is
with some reluctance, yet I have chosen thus to make my neighbour known
both to himself, and to you, that you may speak of such matters as may
give the best relief to the state he is in.
_Theophilus._ His trial is the greatest and hardest that belongs to
human nature: and yet it is absolutely necessary to be undergone.
*Nature must become a torment and burden to itself, before it can
willingly give itself up to that death, thro’ which alone it can pass
into life. There is no real conversion, whether it be from infidelity,
or any other life of sin, till a man comes to know, and feel, that
nothing less than his _whole_ nature is to be parted with, and yet
finds in himself no possibility of doing it. This is the despair by
which we lose all our own life, to find a new one in God. For here, in
this place it is, that faith, and hope, and true seeking to Christ, are
born. But till all is lost that we had any trust in; faith and hope,
and turning to God in prayer, are only things practised by rule and
method; but they are not in us, till we have done feeling any trust or
confidence in ourselves. Happy therefore is it for your friend, that
every thing is taken from him in which he trusted. In this state, one
sigh or look to God for help, would be the beginning of his salvation.
Let us therefore try to improve this happy moment to him, not so much
by arguments, as by the arrows of divine love.
*For _Humanus_, tho’ hitherto without Christ, is still within the reach
of divine love: he belongs to God; God created him for himself, to
be an habitation of his own Spirit; and God has brought him and us
together, that the lost sheep may be found, and brought back to its
heavenly shepherd.
Oh _Humanus_, love is my bait: you must be caught by it; it will put
its hook into your heart, and force you to know, that of all strong
things, nothing is so strong, so irresistible, as divine love.
It brought forth all the creation; it kindles all the life of heaven;
it is the song of all the angels of God. It has redeemed all the world:
it seeks for every sinner upon earth; it embraces all the enemies
of God; and, from the beginning to the end of time, the one work of
providence, is the one work of love.
_Moses_ and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, were all of them
messengers of divine love. They came to kindle a fire on earth, and the
fire was the love which burns in heaven. Ask what God is? His name is
love; he is the good, the perfection, the joy, the glory, and blessing
of heaven and earth. Ask what Christ is? He is the universal remedy
of all evil; he is the destruction of misery, sin, death, and hell. He
is the resurrection and life of all fallen nature. He is the unwearied
compassion, the long-suffering pity, the never-ceasing mercifulness of
God to every want and infirmity of human nature.
He is the breathing forth of the heart, and Spirit of God, into all the
dead race of _Adam_. He is the seeker, the finder, the restorer, of all
that was lost and dead to the life of God. He is the love, that, from
_Cain_ to the end of time, prays for all its murderers; the love that
willingly suffers and dies among thieves, that thieves may have a life
with him in paradise: The love that visits publicans, harlots, and
sinners, that wants and seeks to forgive, where most is to be forgiven.
Oh, my friends, let us surround and incompass _Humanus_ with these
flames of love, till he cannot make his escape from them, but must
become a willing victim to their power. For the universal God is
universal love; all is love, but that which is hellish and earthly.
All religion is the spirit of love; all its gifts and graces are the
gifts and graces of love; it has no breath, no life, but the life of
love. Nothing exalts, nothing purifies, but the fire of love; nothing
changes death into life, earth into heaven, men into angels, but love
alone. Love breathes the Spirit of God; its words and works are the
inspiration of God. It speaketh not of itself, but the word, the
eternal word of God speaketh in it; for all that love speaketh, that
God speaketh, because love is God. Love is heaven revealed in the soul;
it is light, and truth, it has no errors, for all errors are the want
of love. Love has no more of pride, than light has of darkness; it
stands and bears all its fruits from a depth of humility. Love is no
sect or party; it neither makes, nor admits of any bounds; you may
as easily inclose the light, or shut up the air, as confine love to
a sect or party. It lives in the _liberty_, the _universality_, and
_impartiality_, of heaven. It believes in one, holy, catholic God, the
God of all spirits; it joins with the catholic Spirit of the one God,
who unites with all that is good, and is meek, patient, well-wishing,
and long-suffering over all the evil that is in nature. Love, like the
Spirit of God, rideth upon the wings of the wind; and is in communion
with all the saints that are in heaven and on earth. Love is quite pure;
it hath no by-ends; it seeks not its own; it has but _one will_, and
that is, to give itself into every thing, and overcome all evil with
good. Lastly, love cometh down from heaven; it regenerateth the soul
from above; it blotteth out all transgressions; it taketh from death
its sting, from the devil his power, and from the serpent his poison.
It healeth all the infirmities of our earthly birth; it gives eyes to
the blind, ears to the deaf, and makes the dumb to speak; it cleanses
the lepers, and casts out devils, and puts man in paradise before he
dies. It liveth wholly to the will of him, of whom it is born; its meat
and drink is, to do the will of God. It is the resurrection and life
of every divine virtue, a fruitful mother of true humility, boundless
benevolence, unwearied patience, and bowels of compassion. This
_Rusticus_, is the religion of divine love, the true church of God,
where the life of God is found, and lived, and to which your friend
_Humanus_ is called by us. We direct him to nothing but the inward life
of Christ, to the working of the Holy Spirit of God, which alone can
deliver him from the evil that is in his own nature, and give him a
power to become a Son of God.
_Rusticus._ My neighbour has infinite reason to thank you, for this
lovely draught you have given of the spirit of religion. But pray let
us now hear, how we are to enter into this love, or rather what God has
done to introduce us into it.
_Theophilus._ The beginning of this redeeming love of God, is in _that
Immanuel_, or God with us, given to the first _Adam_, as the _seed of
the woman_, which in him, and his posterity, should bruise the head
and overcome the life of the serpent. This is love indeed, because it
is universal, and reaches from the first to the last man. Miserably
as mankind are divided, and all at war with one another, every one
_appropriating_ God to themselves, yet they all have but one God,
who is the Spirit of all, the life of all, and the lover of all. Men
may divide themselves, to have God to themselves; they may hate and
persecute one another for God’s sake; but this is a blessed truth, that
God with an unalterable meekness, sweetness, patience, and good-will
towards all, waits for all, calls them all, redeems them all, and
comprehends all in the outstretched arms of his ♦catholic love. Ask not
therefore how we shall enter into this religion of salvation; we have
not far to go to find it. It is every man’s own treasure; it is a root
of heaven, a seed of God, sown into our souls; and, like a small grain
of mustard-seed, has a power of growing to be a tree of life. Here my
friend, you should once for all, observe, _where_ and _what_ the true
nature of religion is, its place is within; its work and effect is
_within_: its glory, its life, its perfection, is all within; it is the
raising a new life and new love in us. This was the spiritual nature of
religion in its beginning, and this is its _whole nature_ to the end of
time; it is nothing else but the power, and life, and Spirit of God, as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creating and reviving life in the fallen
soul, and driving all its evil out of it.
♦ “catholick” replaced with “catholic”
Here therefore we are come to this firm conclusion, that let religion
have ever so many _shapes_, _forms_, or _reformations_, it is no true
divine service, no proper _worship_ of God, but so far as it _serves_,
_worships_, _conforms_, and _gives_ itself up to this _operation_ of
the holy, triune God, as living and dwelling in the soul. Keep close to
this idea of religion, as an inward spiritual life in the soul; observe
all its works within you, the death and life that are found there; seek
for no good, no comfort, but in the awakening of all that is holy and
heavenly in your heart; and then, so much as you have of this inward
religion, so much you have of a real salvation. For salvation is only a
victory over nature; so far as you resist and renounce your own selfish
and earthly nature, so far as you overcome all your own natural tempers,
so far God lives and operates in you; he is the light, the life, and
the spirit of your soul; and you worship him in spirit and in truth.
For nothing worships God, but the Spirit of Christ his beloved Son, in
whom he is well pleased. This is as true, as that _no man hath known
the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him_. Look
now at any thing as religion, but a strict conformity to the life and
Spirit of Christ; and then, tho’ every day was full of burnt-offerings,
and sacrifices, yet you would be only like those religionists, who
_drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him_.
For the heart is always far from God, unless the Spirit of Christ be in
it. But no one has the living Spirit of Christ, but he, who in all his
conversation walketh as he walked. Consider these words of the apostle,
_My little children, of whom I travail in birth, till Christ be formed
in you_. This is the sum total of all, and, if this is wanting, all is
wanting. Thus saith he, _If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his_; nay, tho’ he could say of himself, (as our Lord says
many will) Have I not prophesied in the name of Christ, cast out devils,
and done many wonderful works? Yet such a one not being _led by the
Spirit of Christ_, is that very man, whose high state the apostle makes
to be a mere nothing, because he hath not that spirit of charity, which
is the Spirit of Christ. Again, _There is no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus_; therefore to be in Christ Jesus, is to have that
spirit of charity, which is the spirit and life of all virtues. Now
here you are to observe, that the apostle no more rejects _all outward_
religion, when he says _circumcision is nothing_, than he rejects
_prophesying_, and _faith_, and _alms-giving_, when he says they
_profit nothing_; he only teaches this solid truth, that the kingdom of
God is within us, and that it all conflicts in the state of our heart;
and that therefore all our outward observances, all the most specious
virtues, profit nothing, are of no value, unless the hidden man of the
heart, the Spirit of Christ, be the doer of them.
Thus, says he, _They who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons
of God_. And therefore none else, be they who, or where, or what they
will, clergy or laity, none are, or can be, sons of God, but they who
give up themselves to the leading and guidance of the Spirit of God,
desiring to be moved, inspired, and governed solely by it. Indeed all
scripture brings us to this conclusion, that all religion is but a dead
work, unless it be the work of the Spirit of God; and that sacraments,
prayers, singing, preaching, hearing, are only so many ways of giving
up ourselves more and more to the inward working, enlightening,
quickening, sanctifying Spirit of God; and for this end, that the
curse of the _fall_ may be swallowed up in victory; and a true, real,
Christ-like nature formed in us, by the same Spirit, by which it
was formed in the holy Virgin _Mary_. Now for the absolute necessity
of this turning wholly to God, the spirit of _Satan_, or the spirit
of this world, are, and must be, the one or the other of them, the
_continual_ leader, guide, and inspirer of every thing that lives in
nature. The moment you cease to be moved, inspired by God, you are
moved and directed by the spirit of _Satan_, or the world, or both.
*As creatures, we are under an absolute necessity of being under the
guidance and inspiration of some spirit, that is greater than our own.
All that is in our power, is only the choice of our _leader_; but led
and moved we must be, and that by the Spirit of God, or the spirit of
fallen nature. To seek therefore to be always under the inspiration and
guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, and to act by an immediate power from it,
is not enthusiasm, but as sober a thought, as to think of renouncing
the world and the devil. For they never can be renounced by us, but so
far as the Spirit of God is living, breathing, and moving in us.
_Academicus._ You have taken from me every difficulty or perplexity
that I had. It now appears to me with the utmost clearness, that to
look for salvation in any thing else, but the Spirit of God working
in us, is to be as carnally minded, as ignorant of God and salvation
as the Jews were, when their hearts were set upon the glory of their
_temple-service_, and a temporal saviour to defend it, by a temporal
power. For every thing but the Spirit of God forming Christ in the soul,
has and can have no more of salvation in it, than a temporal, fighting
saviour. Upon this ground I stand in the utmost certainty, looking
wholly to the Spirit of God for an inward redemption from all the
inward evil that is in my fallen nature. All that I now want to know
is this, what I am to do, to procure this continual operation of the
Spirit of God within me.
_Theophilus._ Ask not _Academicus_, what you are to do to obtain the
Spirit of God; for your measure of receiving it, is just according to
your faith and desire to be led by it. For to this faith, all things
are possible, to which all nature, tho’ as high as mountains, and as
stiff as oaks, must yield and obey. It heals all diseases, breaks the
bands of death, and calls the dead out of their graves.
It is strictly true, that man’s salvation dependeth upon himself;
and it is as strictly true, that _all the work_ of his salvation, is
_solely_ the work of God in his soul. All his salvation dependeth upon
himself, because his _will_ has its power of motion in itself. As a
will, it can only receive that which it willeth; every thing else is
absolutely shut out of it. For it is the unalterable nature of the
will, that it cannot possibly receive any thing into it, but that which
it _willeth_; its willing is its only power of receiving; and therefore
there can be no possible entrance for God or heaven into the soul,
till the _will_ of the soul desireth it; and thus all man’s salvation
dependeth upon himself. On the other hand, nothing can create, effect,
the divine life in the soul, but that _Spirit_ of God, which brings
forth the divine life in heaven. And thus the _work_ of our salvation
is wholly and solely the work of God, dwelling and operating in
us. Thus, you see that God is all; that nothing but _his life_ and
_working-power_ in us, can be our salvation; and yet that nothing
but the _spirit of prayer_ can make it _possible_ for us to have it.
And therefore neither you, nor any other human soul, can be _without_
the operation of the Spirit of God in it, but because its _will_ or
its spirit of _prayer_ is turned towards something else; for we are
always in union with _that_, with which our will is united. Again:
Look at the light and air of this world, you see with what a freedom
of communication they _overflow_ and _enliven_ every thing; they enter
every where, if not hindered by _something_ that withstands their
entrance. This may represent to you the _ever-overflowing_, free
communication of the light and Spirit of God, to every human soul. They
are every where; we are encompassed with them; our souls are as near
to them, as our bodies are to the light and air of this world; nothing
shuts them out of us, but the will and desire of our souls turned from
them, and _praying_ for something else. I say, _praying_ for something
else; for you are to notice this as a certain truth, that every man’s
life is a _continual state_ of prayer; he is no moment free from it,
nor can possibly be so. For all our natural tempers, be they what they
will, ambition, covetousness, selfishness, worldly-mindedness, pride,
envy, hatred, malice, or any other lust whatever, are all of them in
reality only so many different _forms_ of a _spirit of prayer_, which
is as inseparable from the heart, as weight is from the body. For every
natural temper is a manifestation of the desire and prayer of the heart,
and shews us, how it works and wills. And as the heart worketh, and
willeth, _such_, and no other, is its prayer. All else is only _form_
and _fiction_, and empty beating of the air. If therefore the desire
of the heart is not habitually turned towards God, we are necessarily
in a state of prayer towards something else, that carries us from God.
For this is the necessity of our nature; pray we must, as sure as we
are alive; and therefore when the state of our heart is not a spirit
of prayer to God, we pray _without ceasing_ to some or other part of
the creation. The man whose heart habitually tends towards the riches,
honours, powers, or pleasures of this life, is in a _continual_ state
of prayer towards all these things. His spirit stands always _bent_
towards them; they have his hope, his love, his faith, and are the many
gods that he worships: And tho’ when he is upon his knees, and uses
forms of prayer, he directs them to the God of heaven; yet these are
in reality the gods of his heart, and in a sad sense of the words,
he really worships them in spirit and in truth. Hence you may see how
it comes to pass, that there is so much praying, and yet so little
true piety amongst us. The _bells_ are daily calling us to church,
our _closets_ abound with _manuals_ of devotion, yet how little fruit!
It is all for this reason, because our prayers are not _our own_;
they are not the abundance of _our own_ heart; are not _found_ and
_felt_ within us, as we feel our own hunger and thirst; but are only
so many _borrowed forms_ of speech, which we use at certain times,
and occasions. And therefore it is no wonder that little good comes
of it. What benefit could it have been to the _Pharisee_, if, with
an heart inwardly full of its own pride and self-exaltation, he had
outwardly hung down his head, smote upon his breast, and borrowed the
_Publican_’s words, _God be merciful to me a sinner_? What greater good
can be expected from our saying the words of _David_, or singing his
psalms seven times a day, if our heart hath no more of the spirit of
_David_ in it, than the heart of the _Pharisee_ had, of the spirit of
the humble _Publican_?
_Academicus._ O _Theophilus_, I consent to what you say; and yet I am
afraid of following you: for you seem to condemn forms of prayer in
public, and _manuals_ of devotion in private.
_Theophilus._ Dear _Academicus_, abate your fright. Can you think,
that I am against your praying in the words of _David_, or breathing
his spirit in your prayers, or that I would censure your singing his
psalms seven times a day? At three several times we are told, our Lord
prayed, repeating the _same form of words_; and therefore a set form of
words are not only consistent with, but may be highly suitable to, the
most divine spirit of prayer. If your own heart, for days and weeks,
were unable to alter, or break off from inwardly thinking and saying,
_Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done_; if at other
times, it stood always inwardly in another form of prayer, saying,
_Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, with all thy holy nature, Spirit,
and tempers, into my soul; that I may be born again of thee, a new
creature_; I should be so far from censuring this, that I should say,
Blessed are they whose hearts are tied to such a form of words. It is
not therefore a set form that is spoken against, but an _heartless_
form, a form that has no relation to, or correspondence with, the state
of the heart that uses it. All that I have said is only to teach you
the true nature of prayer, that it is the work of the heart, and that
the heart only prays in reality (whatever its words are) for that which
it habitually _wills_, _likes_, _loves_, and _longs_ to have. It is not
therefore the using the words of _David_, or any other saint, in your
prayers, that is censured, but the using them without that state of
heart, which first spake them forth; and the trusting to them, because
they are a good form; tho’ in our hearts we have nothing that is like
them. It would be good to say incessantly with holy _David_, _My heart
is athirst for God. As the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth
my soul after thee, O God._ But there is no goodness in saying daily
these words, if no _such thirst_ is felt in the heart. And, you may
easily know that numbers of repeated forms, keep men content with their
state, because they make use of such holy prayers; tho’ their hearts,
from morning to night, are in a state quite contrary to them, and join
no farther in them, than in liking to use them at certain times.
_Academicus._ I acquiesce, _Theophilus_, in the truth of what you
have said, and plainly see the necessity of condemning what you have
condemned; which is not the form, but the _heartless_ form. But still
I have a scruple upon me: I shall be almost afraid of going to church,
where there are so many good prayers offered up to God, as suspecting
they may not be the language of my own heart, and so become only a
_lip-labour_.
_Theophilus._ I do not dislike your scruple at all; you do well to
be afraid of saying any thing to God, which your heart does not truly
say. It is also good for you to think, that many of the prayers of the
church may go higher, than your heart can go along with them. For this
will put you upon a right care over yourself, so to live, that, as a
true son of your mother the church, your heart may be able to speak
her language, and find delight in the spirit of her prayers. But this
will only then come to pass, when the spirit of prayer is the spirit of
your heart; then every good word, whether in a form, or out of a form,
will be as suitable to your heart, as gratifying to it, as food is to
the hungry, and drink to the thirsty soul. But till the spirit of the
heart is thus renewed, till it is _emptied_ of all earthly desires,
and stands in an _habitual_ hunger and thirst after God (which is the
true spirit of prayer) all our forms of prayer will be, more or less,
but too much like _lessons_ that are given to _scholars_. But be not
discouraged, _Academicus_; take the following advice, and you may go
to church without any danger of a mere lip-labour; altho’ there should
be a _psalm_, or a _prayer_, whose language is higher than that of your
own heart. Do this: Go to the church, as the _Publican_ went into the
temple; stand _inwardly_ in the spirit of your mind, in that _form_
which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes, smote upon
his breast, and could only say, God be merciful to me a sinner! Stand
unchangeably (at least in your desire) in _this form_ and state of
heart; it will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth;
and when any thing is read, or sung, or prayed, that is more exalted
than your heart is, if you make this an occasion of a farther _sinking
down_ in the spirit of the _Publican_, you will then be helped, and
highly blessed, by those prayers and praises, which seem only to fit
a better heart than yours.
This, my friend, will help you to reap where you have not sown, and be
a continual source of grace in your soul. This will not only help you
to receive good from those prayers, which seem too good for the state
of your heart, but will help you to find good from every thing else:
for every thing that inwardly stirs in you, or outwardly happens to
you, becomes a real good to you, if it either finds or excites in you
this humble form of mind: for nothing is in vain, or without profit,
to the humble soul; like the bee, it takes its honey even from bitter
herbs; it stands always in a state of divine growth; and every thing
that falls upon it, is like a dew of heaven to it. Shut up yourself
therefore in this humility, all good is inclosed in it. Let it be as
a garment wherewith you are always covered, and the girdle with which
you are girt; breathe nothing but in and from its spirit; see nothing
but with its eyes; hear nothing but with its ears: and then, whether
you are in the church, or out of the church; hearing the praises of God,
or receiving wrongs from men; all will be edification, and every thing
will help forward your growth in the life of God.
_Academicus._ Indeed, _Theophilus_, this answer to my scruple is good.
All my desire now is, to live no longer to the world, to myself, my
natural tempers and passions, but wholly to the will of the blessed and
adorable God.
*_Theophilus._ This resolution, _Academicus_, only shews that you are
just come to yourself; for every thing short of this earnest desire
to live wholly unto God, may be called a most dreadful infatuation or
madness, and insensibility that cannot be described. For what else is
our life, but a _trial_ for the greatest evil, or good that an eternity
can give us? What can be so dreadful, as to die possessed of a wicked
immortal nature, or to go out of this world with tempers, that must
keep us for ever miserable? What has God not done to prevent this? His
redeeming love began with our fall, and calls every man to salvation,
and every man is forced to hear, tho’ he will not obey his voice. God
has so loved the world, that his only Son hung and expired, bleeding on
the cross for us. Are we yet sons of pride, and led away with vanity?
Do the powers of darkness rule over us? Do evil spirits possess and
drive on our lives? Is remorse of conscience no longer felt? Are
falshood, guile, debauchery, profaneness, perjury, bribery, corruption,
and adultery, no longer seeking to hide themselves in corners, but
openly entering into all our high places, giving battle to every virtue,
and laying claim to the government of the world? Are we thus near being
swallowed up by a deluge of vice and impiety? All this is not come upon
us, because God has left us without help from heaven, or exposed us
to the powers of hell; but because we have rejected and despised the
_whole mystery_ of our salvation, and trampled under foot the precious
blood of Christ, which alone has that omnipotence that can either
bring heaven into us, or drive hell out of us. O _Britain, Britain_,
think that the Son of God saith unto thee, as he said, _O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate._ And now let me say, what aileth
thee, O _British_ earth, that thou _quakest_, and the foundations
of thy churches that they _totter_? Just _that same_ aileth thee, as
ailed _Judah_’s earth, when the divine Saviour of the world, dying on
the cross, was _reviled_, _scorned_, and _mocked_, by the inhabitants
of _Jerusalem_; then the _earth quaked, the rocks rent_, and the sun
refused to give its light. Nature again declares for God, the earth
and the elements can no longer bear our sins: _Jerusalem_’s doom for
_Jerusalem_’s sin, may well be feared by us. O ye miserable _pens_ dipt
in _Satan_’s ink, that dare to publish the folly of believing in Jesus
Christ, where will you hide your guilty heads when nature dissolved,
shall shew you the rainbow, on which the crucified Saviour shall sit in
judgment, and every work receive its reward? O tremble! ye _apostate_
sons, that come out of the schools of Christ, to fight _Lucifer_’s
battles, and do that for him, which neither he, nor his legions can
do for themselves. Their inward pride, malice and rage against God,
and Christ, and human nature, have no _pens_ but yours, no _apostles_
but you. They must be forced to work in the dark, to steal privately
into impure hearts, could they not beguile you into a fond _belief_,
that you are _lovers_ of truth, _friends_ of reason, _detectors_ of
fraud, great _genius_’s, and _moral philosophers_, merely, because ye
blaspheme Christ, and the gospel of God. Poor deluded souls, rescued
from hell by the blood of Christ, called by God to possess the thrones
of fallen angels, permitted to live only by the mercy of God, that
ye may be born again, my heart bleeds for you. Think, I beseech you,
in time, what mercies ye are trampling under your feet. Say not that
reason, and your intellectual faculties, stand in your way; that these
are the _best gifts_ which God has given you, and that these suffer you
not to come to Christ. All this is as vain a pretence, and as gross a
mistake as if ye were to say, that you had nothing but your _feet_ to
carry you to heaven. For your _heart_ is the best and greatest _gift_
of God to you; it is the highest, greatest, and noblest _power_ of your
nature; it forms your whole life, be what it will; all evil and all
good comes from it; your heart alone has the key of life and death;
it does all that it will; reason is but its _play-thing_, and whether
in time or eternity, can only be a _mere beholder_ of the _wonders_ of
happiness, or _forms_ of misery, which the right or wrong working of
the heart has caused.
*I will give you a touch-stone. Offer as continually as you can, this
following form of prayer to God. Offer it frequently on your knees;
but, whether sitting, standing, or walking, be always inwardly longing,
and earnestly praying this _one prayer_ to God: “That, of his great
goodness, he would make known to you, and take from your heart, every
_kind_, and _form_, and _degree_ of pride, whether it be from evil
spirits, or your own corrupt nature; and that he would awaken in
you the _depth_ and _truth_ of all that humility, which can make you
capable of his light and Holy Spirit.” Reject every thought, but that
of wishing, and praying in this manner from the bottom of your heart,
with such truth and earnestness, as people in torment wish and pray
to be delivered from it. Now if ye dare not, if your hearts will not,
cannot give themselves up in this manner to the spirit of this prayer,
then the _touch-stone_ has done its work, and ye may be as fully
assured both what your infidelity is, and from what it proceeds, as ye
can be of the plainest truth in nature. This will shew you, how vainly
you appeal to your _reason_, as the cause of your infidelity: that it
is full as false and absurd, as if _thieves_ and _adulterers_ should
say, that their theft and adultery was entirely owing to their bodily
eyes, which shewed them external objects, and not to any thing that was
_wrong_ in their hearts. On the other hand, if you can, and will give
yourselves up in _sincerity_ to this spirit of prayer, I will venture
to affirm, that if ye had twice as many evil spirits in you, as _Mary
Magdalen_ had, they will all be cast out of you, and ye will be forced
with her, to weep with tears of love, at the feet of the holy Jesus.
But here, my friends, I stop, that we may return to the matter we had
in hand.
_Rusticus._ You have made no digression _Theophilus_, from our main
point, which was to recommend Christianity to poor _Humanus_. He must,
I am sure, have felt the death’s-blows, that you have here given to
the infidel scheme. Their _idol_ of reason, which is the vain god
they worship, is here like _Dagon_ fallen to the ground. _Humanus_
is caught by your bait of love, and I dare say wants only to have
this conversation ended, that he may try himself, by this divine
_touch-stone_, which you have put into his hands.
_Academicus._ Give me leave, gentlemen, to add one word. _Theophilus_
has fairly pulled _reason_ out of its usurped throne, and shewn it to
be a powerless, idle _toy_, when compared to the royal strength of the
heart, which is the kingly power, that has all the government of life
in its hands.
But now, _Theophilus_, I beg we may return to that very point
concerning prayer, where we left off. I think my heart is entirely
devoted to God: and that I desire nothing but to live in such a state
of prayer, as may best keep me under the guidance and direction of the
Holy Spirit. Assist me therefore, in this important matter; give me
the fullest directions that you can; and if you have any _manual_ of
devotion, that you prefer, or any method that you would put me in, pray
let me know it.
_Rusticus._ I beg leave to speak a word to _Academicus_. Ask not
_Academicus_, for a book of prayers; but ask your heart what is within
it, what it _feels_, how it _stirs_, what it _wants_, what it would
have altered, what it desires; and then, instead of calling upon
_Theophilus_ for assistance, stand in the same form of petition to God.
For this turning to God according to the inward _feeling_, _want_,
and _motion_ of your own heart, in love, in trust of having from
him all that you want, and wish, is the best form of prayer in the
world.――――*Now no man can be ignorant of the state of his own heart,
or a stranger to those tempers, that are stirring in him; and what
should be the form of his prayer, but that which the state of his heart
demands? If you know of no trouble, feel no burden, want nothing to be
altered, or removed, nothing to be increased or strengthened in you,
how can you pray for any thing of this kind? But if your heart knows
its own plague, feels its inward evil, knows what it wants to have
removed, will you not let your distress form the manner of your prayer?
Or will you pray in a form of words, that have no more agreement with
your state, than if a man walking above-ground, should beg every man
he met, to pull him out of a deep pit? For prayers not formed according
to the _real state_ of your heart, are but like a prayer to be pulled
out of a deep well, when you are not in it. Hence you may see, how
unreasonable it is to make a mystery of prayer, or an art, that needs
so much instruction; since every man is, and only can be, directed by
his own inward state, and condition, when and how, and what he is to
pray for, as every man’s outward state shews him what he outwardly
wants.
_Academicus._ I did not imagine, _Rusticus_, that you would have so
openly declared against _manuals_ of devotion, since you know not only
the most learned, but the most pious doctors of the church, consider
them as necessary helps to devotion.
_Rusticus._ If you was obliged to go a long journey on _foot_, and yet
through a weakness in your legs could not set one foot before another,
you would do well to get the best travelling crutches that you could.
But if, with sound and good legs, you would not stir one step, till you
had got _crutches_ to hop with; surely a man might shew you the folly
of not walking with your own legs, without being thought an enemy to
crutches, or the makers of them. Now a _manual_ is not so good an help,
as _crutches_, and yet you see crutches are only proper, when our legs
cannot do their office. It is, I say, not so good an help as crutches,
because that which you do with the crutches, is that very same thing,
that you should have done with your legs: you _really_ travel; but when
the heart cannot take one step in prayer, and you therefore read your
manual, you do not do that very same thing, which your heart should
have done, that is, _really_ pray. A fine manual therefore is not to
be considered as a means of praying, or as something that puts you in
a state of prayer, as crutches help you to travel; but its chief use
to a dead and hardened heart, that has no prayer of its own, is to shew
it, what a _state_ and _spirit_ of prayer it _wants_, and at what a
sad distance it is from feeling all that variety of humble, penitent,
grateful, fervent, resigned, loving sentiments, which are described
in the manual, that so, being touched with a view of its own miserable
state, it may begin its own prayer to God for help. But I have done.
_Theophilus_ may now answer your earnest request.
_Theophilus._ Your earnest desire, _Academicus_, to live in the spirit
of prayer, and be truly governed by it, is a most excellent desire;
for to be a man of prayer is that which the apostle means by _living
in the Spirit, and having our conversation in heaven_. It is to have
done, not only with the confessed vices, but with the allowed follies
and vanities of this world. To tell such a soul of the innocency of
levity, that it need not run away from idle discourse, vain gaiety,
and trifling mirth, as being the harmless relief of our heavy natures,
is like telling the flame, that it need not ascend upwards. But here
you are to observe, that this spirit of prayer is not to be taught
you by a book, or brought into you by an art from without; but must
arise from within, from the _painful_ sense and feeling of what you
are. And its first prayer is nothing else but a sense of penitence,
self-condemnation, confession, and humility. It feels nothing but its
own misery, and so is all humility. This prayer of humility is met
by the divine love, the mercifulness of God embraces it; and then
its prayer is changed into hymns, and songs, and thanksgivings. When
this state of fervour has done its work, has melted away all earthly
passions and affections, and left no inclination in the soul, but to
delight in God alone, then its prayer changes again. It is now come so
near to God, has found such union with him, that it does not so much
pray as live in God. Its prayer is not any particular faculty, not
confined to times, or words, or place, but is the work of his whole
being, which continually stands in fulness of faith, in purity of
love, in absolute resignation, to do, and be, what and how his beloved
pleaseth. This is the last state of the spirit of prayer, and is its
highest union with God in this life. Each of these states has its time,
its variety of workings, its trials, temptations, and purifications,
which can only be known by experience in the passage through them. The
_one infallible_ way to go safely through all the difficulties, trials,
temptations, or opposition, of our own evil tempers is this: to expect
nothing from ourselves, to trust to nothing in ourselves, but in every
thing expect, and depend upon God. Keep fast hold of this thread,
and then let your way be what it will, darkness, temptation, or the
rebellion of nature, you will be led through all, to an union with God:
for nothing hurts us in any state, but an expectation of something in
it, and from it, which we should only expect from God. We are looking
for our own virtue, our _own_ piety, our _own_ goodness, and so live on
and on in our _own_ poverty and weakness; to-day pleased and comforted
with the seeming strength and firmness of our own pious tempers;
to-morrow, fallen into our own mire, we are dejected, but not humbled;
we grieve, but it is only the grief of pride, at seeing our perfection
not to be such as we vainly imagined. And thus it will be, till the
_whole turn_ of our minds is so changed, that we as fully see and know
our inability to have any goodness of our own, as to have a life of our
own.
*When we are brought to this conviction, then we have done with all
thought of being our own builders; the whole spirit of our mind is
become a mere _faith_, and _hope_, and _trust_ in the sole operation
of God’s Spirit, looking no more to any other power, to become new
creatures, than we look to any other power for the resurrection of our
bodies at the last day. Hence may be seen, that the trials of every
state are its greatest blessings; they do that for us, which we most of
all want to have done, they force us to know our own _nothingness_, and
the _all_ of God.
*The soul is always safe in every state, if it makes every thing an
occasion either of rising up, or falling down into the hands of God,
and exercising faith, and trust, and resignation to him. And therefore
the pious soul that eyes only God, that means nothing but being his
alone, can have no stop put to its progress; joy and heaviness equally
assist him; in the joy he looks up to God; in the heaviness he lays
hold on God, and so they both do him the same good.
The best instruction that I can give you, as preparatory to the spirit
of prayer, is already fully given, where we have set forth the original
perfection, the miserable fall, and the glorious redemption of man.
It is the true knowledge of these great things that can do all for
you, which human instruction can do. These things must fill you with a
dislike of your present state, and create an earnest longing after your
first perfection. For prayer cannot be taught you, by giving you a book
of prayers, but by awakening in you a sense of what you are, and what
you should be; that so you may see, and know, and feel, what things
you want, and are to pray for. For a man does not, cannot pray for any
thing because a fine petition for it is put into his hands, but because
his _own_ condition is a _reason_ and _motive_ for his asking for it.
And therefore it is, that this tract began with a discovery of these
high and important matters, at the sight of which the world, and all
that is in it, shrinks into nothing, and every thing past, present, and
to come, awakens in our hearts a continual prayer, and longing desire,
after God and eternity.
_Academicus._ But surely you do not take this to be right in general,
that the common people, who are mostly of low understandings, should
kneel down in private, without any form of prayer, saying only what
comes into their own heads.
_Theophilus._ It would be wrong to condemn a manual _as such_, or to
say that none ought to make use of it; but it cannot be wrong, to shew,
that prayer is the natural language of the heart, and such, does not
want any form or borrowed words. Now all that has been said of manuals
of prayers, only amounts to thus much; that they are not necessary,
nor the most natural and excellent way of praying. If they happen to be
necessary to any person, it is because the natural prayer of his heart
is already engaged, loving, wishing, and longing after, the things of
this life; which makes him so insensible of his spiritual wants, so
blind and dead to the things of God, that he cannot pray for them, but
so far as the words of other people are put into his mouth.
But when a man has had so much benefit from the gospel, as to know his
own want of a Redeemer, who he is, and how he is to be found; there
every thing seems to be done, both to awaken and direct his prayer, and
make it a true praying in and by the spirit. For when the heart really
pants after God, its prayer is a praying, as moved by the Spirit of God;
it is the breath or inspiration of God, stirring, moving, and opening
itself in the heart. Nothing can have the least desire to ascend to
heaven, but that which came down from heaven; and therefore nothing in
the heart can pray, and long after God, but the Spirit of God moving
and stirring in it. Every breath therefore of the true spirit of prayer,
is nothing else but the Spirit of God, breathing, inspiring, and moving
the heart, in all its variety of motions and affections, towards God.
And therefore every time a good desire stirs in the heart, a good
prayer goes out of it, that reaches God, as being the fruit and work
of his holy Spirit. When any man, feeling his corruption, looks up to
God, with desire to be delivered from it, whether with words or without
words, how can he pray better? What need of any change of thoughts,
or words, or any variety of expressions, when the one desire of his
heart made known to God, and continued in, is not only all, but the
most perfect prayer he can make? Again, suppose the soul in another
state, feeling with joy its offered Redeemer, and opening its heart
for the full reception of him; if it stands in this state of wishing
and longing for Christ, how can its prayer be in an higher degree?
Or if it breaks out frequently in these words, _Come Lord Jesus, come
quickly, with all thy holy nature, Spirit, and tempers into my soul_,
is there any occasion to enlarge or alter these words into another
form or expression? Can he do better, or pray more, than by continually
standing from time to time in this state of wishing for Christ? Nay,
is it not likely, that his heart should be more divided and dissipated
by a numerous change of expressions, than by keeping united to one
expression that sets forth all that he wants? For it is the reality,
the steadiness, and continuance of the desire, that is the goodness of
prayer. Our Lord said to one that came to him, What wilt thou that I
should do unto thee? He answered, _Lord, that I may receive my sight_:
and he received it. Another said, _Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean_: and he was cleansed. Tell me what learning, or fine parts,
are required to make such prayers as these? And yet what wonders of
relief are recorded in scripture, as given to such short prayers as
these! And what blessing may not now be obtained in the same way, and
with as few words? Every man therefore that has any feeling of the
weight of his sin, or any desire to be delivered from it by Christ,
has learning and capacity enough to make his own prayer. For praying
is not speaking eloquently, but simply, the true desire of the heart;
and the heart, simple and plain in good desires, is in the truest
preparation for all the gifts of God. And the most simple souls, that
have accustomed themselves to speak their own desires and wants to God,
in such short, but true breathings of their hearts, will soon know more
of prayer, than any persons who have only their knowledge from learning,
and learned books.
*And yet it is not either silence, or a simple petition, or a great
variety of outward expressions, that alters the nature of prayer,
or makes it to be good or better, but only and solely the reality,
steadiness, and continuance of the desire; and therefore whether a
man offer this desire to God in the silent longing of the heart, or
in simple, short, petitions, or in a great _variety_ of words, is of
no consequence; but all are equally good, when the true and right state
of the heart is with them.
All that I have said of prayer, has been only to this end: to shew its
real nature; whence it is to arise; where it is to be found: and how
you are to begin, and become a true proficient in it. If, therefore,
you was at present to look no farther, than how to begin to practise
a prayer proceeding from your heart, and continue in it, leaving
all that you are farther to know of prayer, to be known in its time
by experience: this would be much better for you, than to be asking
before-hand about such things, as are not your immediate concern.
Begin to be a man of prayer, in this easy, simple, and natural manner,
that has been set before you; and when you are faithful to this method,
you will then need no other instructor in the art of prayer. Your own
heart thus turned to God will want no one to tell it, when it should be
simple in its petitions, or _various_ in its expressions: or prostrate
itself in silence before God. But this hastiness of knowing things,
before they belong to us, is very common. Thus a man that has but just
entered upon the reformation of his life, shall want to read or hear a
discourse upon _perfection_, whether it be attainable or not; and shall
be more eager after what he can hear of this, though at such a distance,
than of such things as concern the next step he is to take.
You, my friend, have taken the _first step_¹ in the spiritual life; you
have devoted yourself absolutely to God, to live wholly to his will,
under the light and guidance of his holy Spirit, intending, seeking
nothing in this world, but such a passage thro’ it as may tend to the
glory of God, and the recovery of your own fallen soul. Your _next
step_ is, looking to the continuance of this resolution, and donation
of yourself to God, to see that it be kept alive, that every thing you
do may be animated and directed by it, and all the occurrences of every
day, from morning to night, be received by you, as becomes a spirit
that is devoted to God. Now this _second step_ cannot be taken but
purely by prayer; nothing else has the least power here but prayer; I
do not mean you must frequently read or say a number of prayers, (tho’
this in its turn may be good and useful to you) but the prayer I mean,
and which you must practise, if you would take this _second step_ in
the spiritual life, is _prayer of the heart_, or a prayer of your own,
proceeding from the state of your heart, and its own tendency to God.
Of all things therefore look to this prayer of the heart; consider
it as your infallible guide to heaven; turn from every thing that
is an hindrance of it, that quenches or abates its fervour; love
and like nothing but that which is suitable to it; and let every day
begin, go on, and end in the spirit of it. Consider yourself, as having
gone aside and lost your right path, when any _delight_, _desire_, or
_trouble_ is suffered to live in you, that cannot be made a part of
this prayer of the heart to God. For nothing so infallibly shews us
the true state of our heart, as that which gives us either delight or
trouble; for as our delight and trouble is, so is the state of our
heart: if therefore you are carried away with any trouble or delight,
that has not relation to your progress in the divine ♦life, you may be
assured your heart is not in its right state of prayer to God. Look at
a man who is devoted to some _one thing_, or has some one great worldly
matter at heart; he stands turned from every thing that has not some
relation to it; he has no joy or trouble but what ariseth from it; he
has no eyes or ears but to see or hear something about it. All else is
a trifle, but that which some way or other concerns this great matter.
You need not tell him of any rules or methods to keep it in his
thoughts; it goes with him into all places and companies; it has his
first thoughts in the morning; and every day is good or bad, as this
great matter seems to succeed or not. This may shew you how easily,
how naturally, how constantly, our heart will carry on its own state of
prayer, as soon as God is its great object, or it is wholly given up to
him. This may also shew you, that the heart cannot fully enter into the
spirit of prayer, till it takes God for its _all_, or gives itself up
_wholly_ to God. But when this foundation is laid, the seed of prayer
is sown, and the heart is in a continual state of tendency to God;
having no other delight or trouble in things of any kind, but as they
help or hinder its union with God. Therefore, the way to be a man of
prayer, and be governed by its spirit, is not to get a _book_ full of
prayers; but the best help you can have from a book, is to read one
full of such truths and awakening informations, as force you to see
and know _who_, and _what_, and _where_ you are; that God is your all;
and that all is misery, but a heart and life devoted to him. This is
the best outward prayer-book you can have, as it will turn you to an
inward book and spirit of prayer in your heart, which is a continual
longing desire of the heart after God. When, for the sake of this
inward prayer, you retire at any time of the day, never begin till you
know and feel why and wherefore you are going to pray; and let this
_why_ and _wherefore_, form and direct every thing that comes from
you, whether it be in thought or word. As you know your own state,
so it must be the easiest thing in the world to look up to God with
such desires as suit the state you are in; and praying in this manner,
whether it be in one, or more, or no words, your prayer will be always
highly beneficial to you.――Thus praying, you can never pray in vain;
but one month in the practise of it, will do you more good, make a
greater change in your soul, than twenty years of prayer only by books,
and forms of other peoples making.
¹ Surely, one of the _last steps_.
♦ “live” replaced with “life”
No vice can harbour in you, no good desire languish, when once your
heart is in this method of prayer; never beginning to pray, till you
first see how matters stand with you; asking your heart what it wants,
and having nothing in your prayers, but what the known state of your
heart puts you upon _demanding_, _saying_, or _offering_ unto God.
Such a prayer gives new life and growth to all your virtues; whereas,
overlooking this true prayer of your own heart, and only at certain
times taking a prayer that you find in a book, you have nothing to
wonder at, if you are every day praying, and yet every day sinking
farther under your infirmities. For your life can only be altered by
that which is the real working of your heart. And if your prayer is
only a form of words, made by the skill of other people, such a prayer
can no more change you into a good man, than an _actor_ upon the stage,
who speaks kingly language, is thereby made a king. Again, another
great and infallible benefit of this kind of prayer is this; it is the
only way to be delivered from the deceitfulness of your own heart.
Our hearts deceive us, because we are absent from them, taken up in
outward things, in outward rules and forms of living and praying. But
this kind of praying, which takes all its thoughts from the state of
our hearts, makes it impossible for us to be strangers to ourselves.
The strength of every sin, the power of every evil temper, the most
secret working of our hearts, the weakness of any or all our virtues,
is seen with a noon-day clearness, as soon as the heart is made our
prayer-book, and we pray for nothing, but according to what we read and
find there.
_Academicus._ O _Theophilus_, you have shewn me, that the best prayer
in the world is that which the heart sends forth from itself. And
yet I am not free from suspicions about it: I apprehend it to be that
very _praying_ by the _spirit_, or as _moved_ by the spirit, or from
a _light within_, which is condemned as _Quakerism_.
_Theophilus._ There is but one good prayer that you can possibly make;
and that is a prayer as the Spirit of God _moves_ you in it, or to
it. This alone is a divine prayer; no other prayer can possibly have
any communion with God. Therefore to ridicule praying by the Spirit,
or as moved by the Spirit, is ridiculing the _only_ prayer that is
divine; and to reject and oppose it as a vain conceit, is to quench
and suppress all that is holy, heavenly, and divine within us. For
if this Holy Spirit does not live and move in us, and bring forth all
the praying affections of our souls, we may as well think of reaching
heaven with our hands, as with our prayers.
Earnestly therefore to pray, humbly to hope, and faithfully to expect,
to be continually inspired and animated by the Holy Spirit of God, has
no more of _vanity_, _fanaticism_, or _enthusiastic_ wildness in it,
than to hope and pray, to act in every thing from and by a good spirit.
For as sure as the lip of truth hath told us, that there is but _one
that is good_, so sure is it, that not a _spark_ of goodness, nor a
_breath_ of piety can be in any creature, either in heaven or on earth,
but by that divine Spirit. The matter is not about _forms_ of virtue,
_rules_ of religion, or a _prudent piety_, suited to time, and place,
and character; all these are degrees of goodness that our old man can
as easily trade in, as in any other matters of this world. But so much
as we have of an heavenly and divine goodness, so much we must have
of a _divine inspiration_ in us. For as nothing can fall to the earth,
but because it has the nature of the earth in it: so nothing can ascend
towards heaven, or unite with it, but that very Spirit which came down
from heaven and has the nature of heaven in it. This truth therefore,
that the kingdom of God is within us, and that its spirit is the Spirit
of God, stands upon a rock, against which all attempts are in vain. But
how shall I know when, and how far, I am led and governed by the Spirit
of God?
*_Theophilus._ “God is unwearied _patience_, an ever enduring
_mercifulness_; he is unmixed _goodness_, impartial, universal _love_;
his delight is in the communication of himself, his own happiness to
every thing according to its capacity. He does everything that is good,
righteous, and lovely, for its own sake, because it is good, righteous,
and lovely. He is the good from which nothing but good cometh, and
resisteth all evil, only with goodness.” This is the _nature_ and
_Spirit_ of God, and hereby you may know, whether you are moved and
led by the Spirit of God. Here is a proof that is always at hand. If
it be the earnest desire, and longing of your heart, to be _merciful_
as he is merciful; to be full of his _unwearied patience_, to dwell in
his _unalterable meekness_; if you long to be like him in _universal,
impartial_ love; if you desire to communicate _every good_, to every
creature that you are able; if you love and practise every thing that
is good, righteous, and lovely, for its own sake, because it is good,
righteous, and lovely; and resist no evil, but with _goodness_; then
you have the utmost certainty, that the Spirit of God liveth, dwelleth,
and governeth in you. But if you want any of these tempers, at least
if the whole bent of your heart and mind is not set upon them, all
pretences to an _immediate inspiration_, and _continual_ operation of
the Spirit of God are vain. Where his Spirit dwells and governs, there
all these tempers spring, as the certain fruits of it. Therefore keep
but within the bounds here set you; and you may safely say, with St.
_John_, _Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he
hath given us_.
_Academicus._ But surely the Spirit of God often discovers itself,
and operates in very extraordinary ways, in uncommon illuminations and
openings of divine light and knowledge, in strong impulses and sallies
of a wonderful zeal, full of the highest gifts and graces of God: and
these have frequently been God’s gracious methods of awakening a sinful
world.
_Theophilus._ What you say, _Academicus_, is very true; and almost
every age of the church is a sufficient proof of it.
But would you know the _sublime_, the _exalted_, the _angelic_, in the
Christian life, see what the Son of God saith, _Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself. On these two_,
saith he, _hang all the law and the prophets_. And without these _two
things_, no good light ever can arise or enter into your soul. Take all
the sciences, shine in all the accomplishments of the lettered world,
they will only lead you from one vain passion to another; every thing
you send out from within you is selfish, vain, and bad; every thing you
see or receive from without, will be received with a bad spirit; till
_these two_ heavenly tempers have overcome the _natural perverseness_
of fallen nature. Till then, nothing _pure_ can proceed from within,
nor any thing be received in _purity_ from without.
Think yourself therefore incapable of judging rightly, or acting
virtuously, till these two tempers have the government of your heart.
Then every truth will meet you; no hurtful error can get entrance into
your heart; but you will have a better knowledge of all divine matters,
than all human learning can help you to.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Spirit of LOVE.
PART I.
_My Dear Friend_,
YOU had no occasion to make any apology for the manner of your letter
to me; for tho’ you very well know, that I have as utter an aversion
to waste my time and thoughts in matters of theological debate, as in
any contentions merely of a worldly nature, as knowing that the former
are generally as much, if not more hurtful to the heart of man than
the latter; yet as your objections rather tend to stir up the powers of
love, than the wrangle of debate; so I consider them only as occasions
of edifying both you and myself with the divine blessedness of the
_spirit of love_.
You say, “There is nothing in my writings that has more affected you
than that spirit of love that breathes in them; and that you wish for
nothing so much as to have a living sensibility of the power, life, and
religion of love. But you have an objection often rising in your mind,
that this doctrine of pure and universal love may be too refined and
imaginary; because you find, that however you like it, yet you cannot
attain to it.”
Thus stands your objection, which will fall into nothing, as soon
as you look at it from a right point of view: which will be, as soon
as you have found the true ground of the nature and necessity of the
blessed spirit of love.
Now, the spirit of love has this original. God, as considered in
himself, before any thing is brought forth by him, is only an _eternal
will to all goodness_. This is the _one eternal, immutable_ God, that
from eternity to eternity changeth not, that can be neither more nor
less, nor any thing else, but an _eternal will to all the goodness_
that is in himself, and can come from him. The creation of ever so many
creatures, adds nothing to, nor takes any thing from this immutable
God: he always was, and always will be, the same immutable will to all
goodness. So that as certainly as he is the creator, so certainly is he
the blesser of every created thing, and can give _nothing_ but blessing
and happiness from himself, because he has _in himself_ nothing else to
give. It is much more possible for the sun to give forth darkness, than
for God to be, or give forth, any thing but blessing and goodness. Now
this is the _ground and original_ of the spirit of love in the creature:
it is and must be a _will to all goodness_, and you have not this
_spirit of love_ but so far as you have this will to all goodness at
all times, and on all occasions. You may indeed do many works of love,
especially at such times as they are not inconvenient to you. Yet the
spirit of love is not in you, but so far as it is the spirit of your
life, as you live _freely_, _willingly_, and _universally_, according
to it. For every spirit acts with freedom and universality according to
what it is. It needs no command to be what it is, no more than you need
bid wrath be wrathful. And therefore when _love_ is the spirit of your
life, it will have freedom and universality; it will always live and
work in love, not because of _this_ or _that_, _here_ or _there_, but
because the spirit of love can only love, wherever it is or goes, or
whatever is done to it. As the _sparks_ know no motion, but that of
flying upwards, whether it be in the darkness of the night, or in the
light of the day; so the spirit of love is always in the same course;
it knows no difference of time, place, or persons; but whether it
_gives_ or _forgives_, _bears_ or _forbears_, it is equally doing its
own delightful work, equally blessed from itself. For the spirit of
love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness, is in the same
joy, and is the same good to itself, every where, and on every occasion.
*Oh! Sir, would you know the blessing of all blessings, it is the _God
of love_ dwelling in your soul, and killing every root of bitterness
which is the pain and torment of every earthly love. For all wants are
satisfied, all disorders are removed, no life is any longer a burden,
every day is a day of peace, every thing you meet becomes a help to you,
because every thing you see or do is all done in sweet, gentle love.
For as love has no by-ends, wills nothing but its own increase, so
every thing is as oil to its flame; it must have that which it wills,
and cannot be disappointed, because every thing naturally helps it to
live in its own way. The spirit of love does not want to be honoured,
or esteemed; its only desire is to propagate itself, and become the
blessing and happiness of every thing that wants it. And therefore
it meets wrath, and evil, and hatred, and opposition, with the same
_one will_, as the light meets the darkness, only to overcome it with
all its blessings. Did you want to avoid the ill-will, or to gain
the favour of any persons, you might easily miss of your ends; but
if you have no will but to all goodness, every thing you meet must
be assistant to you. For the wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a
friend, and every other evil, only helps the spirit of love to be
more triumphant, to find all its blessings in a higher degree. Whether
therefore you consider _perfection_ or _happiness_, it is all included
in the spirit of love, and must be so, because the infinitely perfect
and happy God is mere love, an unchangeable will to all goodness: and
therefore every creature must be corrupt and unhappy, so far as it is
led by any other will. Thus you see the ground of the spirit of love.
Let me now, shew you the necessity of it: no creature can have any
union or communion with the Deity, but so far as its life is a spirit
of love. This is the one band of union betwixt God and the creature.
All besides this, call it by what name you will, is only so much error
and corruption got into the creature; and must be entirely separated
from it, before it can see God, or find the divine life. For as God is
an _immutable will_ to all goodness, so the divine will can unite with
no creatures will, but that which willeth with him that which is good.
Here the necessity is absolute; nothing will do instead of this will;
all contrivances of holiness, all forms of religious piety, signify
nothing without this will to all goodness. For as the will to all
goodness is the _whole nature_ of God, so it must be the _whole nature_
of every service, that can be acceptable to him. And therefore every
thing that followeth our _own will_, forsaketh the _one will_ to all
goodness. The necessity therefore of _the spirit of love_, is what God
cannot dispense with in the creature, no more than he can deny himself,
or act contrary to his own holy being. But as it was his _will to all
goodness_, that brought forth angels, and the spirits of men, so he can
will nothing in their existence, but that they should live and work,
and manifest that same spirit of love and goodness which brought them
into being. Every thing therefore, but the _will_ to goodness, is some
degree of _apostasy_, yea, rebellion against the _whole nature_ of God.
There is no peace, nor ever can be, for the soul of man, but in the
purity and perfection of its first-created nature; nor can it have its
purity and perfection in any other way, than in and by the _spirit of
love_. For love is the purity, the perfection of all created things;
and nothing can live in God but as it lives in love. Look at every vice,
pain, and disorder, in human nature, it is in itself nothing but the
spirit of the creature turned from the _universality_ of love to some
_self-seeking_ in created things. So that love alone is the cure of
every evil; and he that lives in the purity of love, is risen out
of the power of evil, into the freedom of the one spirit of heaven.
The _schools_ have given us very accurate definitions of every vice,
whether it be covetousness, pride, wrath, or envy, and shewn us how
to conceive them as notionally distinguished from one another. But the
Christian has a much shorter way of knowing them, and what they all are,
and do, in himself. For, call them by what names you will, they are all,
that _same one_ thing, and all do that _same one work_, as the Scribes,
the Pharisees, and rabble of the _Jews_, who crucified Christ, were
all but _one and the same thing_, and all did _one and the same work_,
however different they were in outward names. If you would therefore
have a true sense of the nature and power of pride, wrath, covetousness,
envy, they are in their whole nature nothing else but the _murderers_
and _crucifiers_ of the true Christ of God; not as the high-priests
did many hundred years ago, nailing his outward humanity to an outward
cross, but crucifying afresh the Son of God, who is the Christ that
every man crucifies as often as he gives way to wrath, pride, envy,
or covetousness. For where pride, and envy, and hatred, are wilfully
indulged, there the same thing is done, as when Christ was killed, and
_Barabbas_ was saved alive.
In all the universe, nothing but heaven and heavenly creatures could
have been known, had every creature continued in that state in which
it came forth from God. For God can will nothing in the life of the
creature but a manifestation of his own goodness, happiness, and
perfection. And therefore when this is wanted, it is certain, the
creature hath lost its first state that it had from God. Every thing
therefore, which is the _vanity_, the _torment_, and evil, of man, or
any intelligent creature, is solely the effect of his will turned from
God. Misery and wickedness can have no other root; for whatever wills
and works with God, must partake of the happiness and perfection of God.
This therefore is a certain truth, that hell and death, curse and
misery, can never be removed from the creation, till the will of
the creature is again as it came from God, _a spirit of love_, that
_willeth_ nothing but goodness. All the whole fallen creation, stand it
never so long, must groan and travel in pain, till every contrariety to
the divine will is entirely taken from every creature.
Thus, Sir, you have seen the original, immutable ground of the spirit
of love. It is no imaginary refinement, or speculative curiosity; but
is of the highest reality. It stands in the immutability and perfection
of God; and not only every intelligent creature, be it what and where
it will, but every inanimate thing must work in vanity till it works
under the spirit of love.
*Every son of fallen _Adam_ is under this same necessity of working
and striving after _something_ that he neither is nor hath. All evil
as well as good men, all the wisdom and folly of this life, are a proof
of this. For the vanity of wicked men in their various ways, and the
labours of good men in faith and hope, proceed from the _same cause_,
_viz._ from a _want_ and _desire_ of having and being _something_ that
they neither are nor have. The evil seek wrong, and the good seek right;
but they both are _seekers_, and for the same reason; because their
present state has not _that_ which it wants to have. And this must be
the state of every creature that has fallen from its first state. It
must do as the _polluted fluid_ does; it must ferment and work, either
_right_ or _wrong_, to mend its state. The muddled wine always works
right to the utmost of its power, because it works according to nature;
but if it had an intelligent free will, it might work as vainly as man
does; it might continually _thicken_ itself, be always stirring up its
_own dregs_, and then it would seek for its purity, just as well as the
soul of man seeks for its happiness in the lusts of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. All which must fall away from the
heart of man before it can find its happiness in God, as the dregs must
separate from the wine before it can have its perfection and clearness.
*_Purification_ therefore is so necessary, that nothing will do in the
stead of it. But man is not purified, till every earthly, wrathful,
sensual, selfish temper is taken from him. He is not dying to himself,
till he is dying to these tempers; and he is not alive in God, but
as he is dead to them. It is the purity and perfection of the divine
nature that must be brought again into him: nor are you to think that
these words, the _purity_ and _perfection_ of God, are too high to
be used on this occasion; for they only mean, that the will of the
creature must _will_ and _work_ with the will of God; and whatever does
not thus, is at enmity with God, and cannot have life and happiness
with him.
Now, nothing wills and works with God but the _spirit of love_; because
nothing else works in God himself. The Almighty brought forth all
nature for this only end, that boundless love might have its _infinity_
of height and depth to dwell and work in; and all the properties of
nature are only to give life and strength to the spirit of love, that
it may come forth into outward activity, and manifest its blessed
powers; that all creatures may communicate the spirit of love and
goodness, give and receive delight to and from one another. All below
this state of love, is a fall from the one life of God, the only life
in which the God of love can dwell.
Now who can restore this life? The unbelieving _Jews_ said of our Lord,
_How can this man forgive sins?_ Christ shewed them _how_, by appealing
to that power which they saw he had over the body: _whether_, says he,
_is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise,
take up thy bed, and walk_? But the delusion of the unbelieving Deist
is greater than that of the _Jew_. For the Deist sees, that his reason
has no power over his body; can remove no disease, blindness, deafness,
or lameness, from it; and yet will pretend to have power enough from
his reason, to help the soul out of all its evil; not knowing that he
only, who can say to the dead body of _Lazarus_, Come forth, can say
to the soul, _Be thou clean_. The _Deist_ therefore, if he pleases, may
stile himself a natural, or a moral philosopher, but with no more truth,
than he can call himself an _healer_ of all the maladies of the body.
And for a man to think himself a moral philosopher, because he has made
a choice collection of syllogisms, in order to quicken and revive a
divine goodness in the soul; or that no Redeemer need come from heaven,
because human reason, when truly left to itself, has great skill in
chopping of logic; may justly be deemed such an ignorance of the nature
of things, as is seldom found in the transactions of illiterate and
vulgar life. But this by the by.
To return to our chief subject: the sum is this: all evil, all misery
of every kind, is nothing else but nature left to _itself_; and
therefore, there is no _possibility_ for the natural, earthly man to
escape eternal wrath, but solely in the way the gospel teacheth, by
denying and dying to himself. On the other hand, all the goodness and
perfection, all the happiness, glory, and joy, that any intelligent
creature can be possessed of, is, and can be, from nothing else, but
the invisible uncreated light and Spirit of God manifesting itself in
the creatures, _filling_, _blessing_, and _uniting_ them all in _one
love_.
And thus again: there is no possibility of man’s attaining to any
heavenly perfection and happiness, but only in the way of the gospel,
by the union of the divine and human nature, by man’s being born again
from above, of the _Word_ and _Spirit_ of God. There is no possibility
of any other way, because there is nothing that can possibly change us
into an heavenly state, but the presence and power of the Deity united
with, and working in us. And therefore the _Word was made flesh_, and
must of all necessity be made flesh, if man is to have an heavenly
nature. Now as all evil, sin, and misery, have no beginning, nor power
of working, but in the manifestation of _contrary_ properties; so man
has nothing to turn to, seek, or aspire after, but the lost _spirit of
love_. And therefore it is, that God only can be his Redeemer; because
God only is love; and love can be no where else, but in God, and where
God dwelleth and worketh.
Now the difficulty you find in attaining this spirit of love, is
because you seek for it, in the way of reasoning: you would be
possessed of it only from a _rational_ conviction of the fitness and
amiableness of it. And as this clear idea does not put you into the
possession of it, your reason begins to waver; and suggests to you,
that it may be only a _fine notion_, that has no ground but in the
power of imagination. But this, Sir, is all your own error; as if you
would have your eyes do that, which only your hands or feet can do
for you. The _spirit of love_ is a spirit of _nature_ and _life_; and
therefore can only be produced in you, by that Almighty power which
produced all nature, and gave life to every living thing. Life can
only arise in its _own_ time and place from its proper cause, and
as the genuine effect of it. Nature and life do nothing by chance,
or accidentally, but every thing in one uniform way. _Fire_, _air_,
and _light_, do not proceed sometimes from one thing, and sometimes
from another: but wherever they are, they are always born in the same
manner, and from the same working in the properties of nature. So in
like manner, love is an _immutable birth_, always proceeding from the
same cause, and cannot be in existence till its own true parents have
brought it forth.
*How unreasonable would it be to doubt whether _strength_ and _health_
of body were real things, or possible to be had, because you could
not by the power of your reason take possession of them? Yet this is
as well as to suspect the purity and perfection of love to be only a
_notion_, because your reason cannot bring it forth in your soul. For
reason has no more power of altering the _life_ and _properties_ of the
soul, than of altering the life and properties of the body. That, and
that only, can cast devils, and evil spirits, out of the soul, that can
say to the storm, Be still; and to the leper, Be thou clean.
And now, Sir, you see the absolute necessity of the gospel-doctrine
of the cross; viz. of _dying to ourselves_, as the only way to life in
God. This is the _one morality_ that does man any good. Fancy as many
rules as you will, of modelling the moral behaviour of man, they all
do nothing, because they leave nature still alive; and therefore can
only help a man to an art of concealing his own inward evil. But still
nature can no more change from evil to good, than darkness can work
itself into light. The one work therefore is to resist and deny nature,
that a _supernatural power_ may take possession of it.
There is no standing still, life goes on, and is always bringing forth
its _realities_, which way soever it goeth. You see the _true state_
of every natural man, whether he be _Cæsar_ or _Cato_, whether he
gloriously murders others, or only stabs himself; blind nature does all
the work, and must be the doer of it, till the light of God has helped
them to _one common good_, in which they all willingly _unite_, _rest_,
and _rejoice_. In a word, goodness is only a _sound_, and virtue a mere
strife of _natural passions_, till the _spirit of love_ is the breath
of every thing that lives, and moves in the heart. For love is the one
only blessing, and goodness, and God of nature; and you have no true
religion, are no worshipper of the one true God, but in and by that
Spirit of love, which is God himself living and working in you.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Spirit of LOVE.
PART II.
_A dialogue between |Theogenes|, |Eusebius|, and |Theophilus|._
_Theophilus._ MY heart embraces you both with the greatest affection,
and I am much pleased at the occasion of your coming, which calls me to
the most delightful subject in the world, to help both you and myself,
to rejoice in that adorable Deity, whose infinite being is an infinity
of mere love, an unbeginning, never-ceasing, and for ever over-flowing
ocean of meekness, sweetness, delight, blessing, goodness, patience,
and mercy; and all this, as so many blessed streams breaking out of the
abyss of universal love. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a triune infinity
of love and goodness, for ever and ever, giving forth nothing but the
same gifts of light and love, of blessing and joy, whether before or
after the fall, either of angels, or men.
Look at all nature, through all its height and depth, in all its
variety of powers, it is what it is, for this only end, that the hidden
riches, the invisible blessings, glory and love of the unsearchable God,
may become visible, sensible, and manifest in it, and by it.
Look at all the variety of creatures, they are what they are, for this
only end, that in their infinite variety, degrees, and capacities,
they may be as so many speaking figures, so many sounds and voices,
preachers and trumpets, giving glory and praise, and thanksgiving to
that Deity of love, which gives life to all nature.
For every creature, call it by what name you will, had its form, and
power, and state, and place in nature for no other end, but to open and
enjoy, to manifest and rejoice in some share of the love and happiness,
and goodness of the Deity.
Now this is the _one will_ and work of God, in, and through all
creatures. From eternity to eternity he can will, and intend nothing
towards them, in them, or by them, but the _communication_ of various
degrees of his own love, goodness and happiness to them, according
to their state and place, and capacity. This is God’s unchangeable
disposition towards the creature; he can be nothing else, but all
goodness towards it; because he can be nothing towards the creature,
but that which he is, and was, and ever shall be in himself.
_Theogenes._ Pray, _Theophilus_, let me ask you, Does not patience
and pity, and mercy begin to be in God, and only then begin, when
the creature has brought forth itself into misery? They could have
no existence in the Deity before.
_Theophilus._ ’Tis true, _Theogenes_, that God can only then begin
to make known his mercy and patience, when the creature has lost its
rectitude and happiness; yet nothing then begins to be in God, or
to be found in him, but that which was always in him, in the same
infinite state, _viz._ a _will to all goodness_, and which _can will
nothing else_. And his patience and mercy, which could not shew forth
themselves, till sin had brought forth misery, were not new tempers,
or the beginning of some _new_ disposition, that was not in God before,
but only _new_ and _occasional_ manifestations of that boundless,
_eternal will_ to _all goodness_, which always was in God in the same
height and depth. The will to all _goodness_, which is God himself,
_began_ to display itself in a new way, when it first gave birth to
creatures. The same will to all goodness began to manifest itself in
another new way, when it became patience and compassion towards fallen
creatures. But neither of these ways are the beginning of any new
tempers or qualities in God, but only new and occasional manifestations
of that true eternal will to all goodness, which always was, and always
will be, in the same fulness in God.
And salvation is, and can be nothing else, but the manifestation of
the life of God in the soul. How clearly does this give the solid
distinction between inward holiness, and all outward practices. All
that God has done for man by any particular dispensations, whether by
the law or the prophets, by the scriptures, or ordinances of the church,
are only as helps to an holiness, which they cannot give, but are only
suited to the death and darkness of the earthly life, to turn it from
itself, from its own workings, and awaken in it a faith and hope, a
hunger and thirst after that first union with the Deity, which was lost
in the fall of the first father of mankind.
*How unreasonable is it, to call perpetual inspiration fanaticism,
and enthusiasm, when there cannot be the least degree of goodness or
happiness in any intelligent being, but what is in its whole nature,
merely and truly the breathing, the life, and the operation of God
in the life of the creature? For if goodness can only be in God, if
it cannot exist separate from him, if he can only bless and sanctify
by himself becoming the blessing and sanctification of the creature,
then it is the highest degree of blindness to look for any goodness,
and happiness from any thing but the immediate indwelling, union
and operation of the Deity in the creature. Perpetual inspiration,
therefore, is in the nature of the thing as necessary to a life of
goodness, holiness, and happiness, as the perpetual respiration of
the air is necessary to animal life.
*For the life of the creature, whilst possessing nothing but itself,
is hell; that is, it is all _pain_ and want and _distress_. Now nothing
can help it to be in _light_ and _love_, in _peace_ and _goodness_,
but the union of God with it, and the life of God working in it,
because nothing but God is light, and love, and heavenly goodness. And,
therefore, where the life of God is not become the life and goodness of
the creature, it cannot have the least degree of goodness in it.
What a mistake is it, therefore, to confine inspiration to particular
times and occasions, to prophets and apostles, and extraordinary
messengers of God! and to call it _enthusiasm_, when the common
Christian looks, and trusts to be _continually led_ and _inspired_
by the Spirit of God! For tho’ all are not called to be prophets, or
apostles, yet all are called to be _holy_, as he who has called them
is _holy, to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect, to be
like minded with Christ_, to will only as God wills, to do all to his
honour and glory, to renounce the spirit of this world, to have their
conversation in heaven, to set their affections on things above, to
love God, with all their heart, soul, and spirit, and their neighbour
as themselves.
Behold a work as great, as divine and supernatural, as that of a
prophet and an apostle. But to suppose that we ought, and may always be
in this spirit of holiness, and yet are not, and ought not to be always
moved and led by the Spirit of God, within us, is to suppose, that
there is a holiness and goodness which comes not from God; which is no
better than supposing, that there may be true prophets and apostles who
have not their truth from God.
Now the holiness of the common Christian is not an occasional thing,
that begins and ends, or is only for such a time, or place, or action,
but is the holiness of that, which is always alive, and stirring in
us, namely, of our thoughts, wills, and affections. If therefore these
are always alive in us, always governing our lives, then a perpetual
operation of the Spirit of God within us, is absolutely necessary. For
we cannot be inwardly led and governed by a spirit of goodness, but by
being governed by the Spirit of God himself.
If our thoughts, wills, and affections, need only be now and then holy
and good, then, indeed, the Spirit of God need only now and then govern
us. But if our thoughts and affections are to be always holy, then the
holy Spirit of God is to be always operating within us.
The scripture saith, _We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a
good thought_. If so, then we cannot be chargeable with not thinking,
and willing that which is good, but upon this _supposition_, that there
is always a _supernatural_ power ready, and able to help us to the good,
which we cannot have from ourselves.
How firmly our established church adheres to this doctrine of the
necessity of the _perpetual operation_ of the Holy Spirit, as the one
only source of any degree of divine light, wisdom, virtue, and goodness
in the soul of man; how earnestly she requires all her members to live
in the most open profession of it, and in the highest conformity to
it, may be seen by many such prayers as these in her ordinary, public
service.
_O God for as much as without thee_, we are not able to please thee,
grant _that_ thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our
hearts. Again _we pray thee, that thy grace may_ ALWAYS _prevent_ and
_follow us, and make us_ CONTINUALLY _to be given to all good works_.
Again, _Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the Spirit to think and
do_ ALWAYS _such things as be rightful, that we, who cannot do_ ANY
THING that is good, WITHOUT _thee_, may, by thee, be enabled to live
according to thy will. Again, _Because_ the frailty of man, WITHOUT
_thee_, CANNOT BUT FALL, keep us EVER, by thy HELP, from all things
hurtful, and LEAD _us to all things profitable to our salvation_, &c.
Again, _O God from whom all good things do come, grant to us, thy
humble servants_, that by THY holy INSPIRATION, _we may_ THINK _those
things that be good_, and, _by thy merciful_ GUIDING, _may_ PERFORM
_the same_.
And now, _Eusebius_, how is the great controversy about religion, and
salvation, ♦shortened.
♦ “shortned” replaced with “shortened”
For since the _one_ work of Christ as your Redeemer, is to take from
the earthly life of flesh and blood, its usurped power, and to raise
the smothered spark of heaven, out of death, into life, your _one_
work also, under your Redeemer is fully known. And you have the utmost
certainty, _what_ you are to do, _where_ you are to seek, and in _what_
you are to _find_ your salvation. All that you have to _do_, is to
oppose, resist, to renounce the evil tempers, and workings of your
earthly nature. You want no deliverance, but from the power of yourself.
This is the one murderer of the divine life within you. And every thing
that your earthly nature does, is under the influence of _self-will_,
_self-love_, and _self-seeking_, whether it carries you to laudable,
or blameable practices, all is done in the nature and spirit of _Cain_,
and only helps you to such goodness, as when _Cain_ slew his brother.
For every action and motion of _self_, has the spirit of _antichrist_,
and murders the divine life within you.
Judge not therefore of yourself, by considering how many of those
things you do, which _divines_ and _moralists_ call virtue and goodness,
nor how much you abstain from those things, which they call sin and
vice.
But daily and hourly, in every step that you take, see to the _spirit
that is within you_, whether it be heaven, or earth that guides you.
And judge every thing to be sin and Satan, in which your _earthly
nature_, has any share of life in you; nor think that any goodness is
in you, but so far as it is an _actual death_ to the pride, the vanity,
the wrath, and selfish tempers of your fallen, earthly life.
Again, here you see, _where_ and how you are to seek your salvation,
not in taking up your travelling-staff, or crossing the seas to find
out a new _Luther_ or a new _Calvin_, to cloath yourself with their
opinions. No. The _oracle_ is at home, that _always_ speaks the truth
to you; nothing is your truth, but that good and that evil which is
within you. For salvation or damnation is not an outward thing, but
springs up within you. What you are in yourself, what is doing in
yourself, is either your salvation or damnation.
Again nothing that we do is bad, but for this reason, because it
_resists_ the power, and working of God within us; and nothing that we
do, can be good, but because it conforms, to the Spirit of God within
us. And therefore, you have the utmost certainty, that God, salvation
and the kingdom of heaven, are within you, and that all _outward
religion_, from the fall of man to this day, is not for itself, but
merely for the sake of an _inward_ and _divine_ life, which was lost
when _Adam_ died his first death in paradise. So that it may well
be said, _circumcision is nothing_, and _uncircumcision is nothing_,
because nothing is wanted, but a _new creature_, called out of the
death and darkness of flesh and blood, into the light, life and
perfection of its first creation.
And thus also, you have the fullest proof in _what_ your salvation
precisely consists. Not in any historic faith, or knowledge of any
thing absent, or distant from you, not in any variety of restraints,
rules, and methods of practising virtues, not in any formality of
opinion about _faith_ and _works_, _repentance_, _forgiveness_ of
_sins_, or _justification_, and _sanctification_, not in any truth,
or righteousness, that you can have from yourself, from the best of
men or books, but wholly and solely in the life of God.
_Theogenes._ I have not the least doubt about any of these things. It
is visible, that there can be no medium in this matter, either religion
must be all spiritual, or all carnal; that is, we must either take up
with the grossness of the _Sadducees_, who say, there is neither angel
nor spirit, or with such purification as the _Pharisees_ had from their
washing of pots and vessels, and tithing their mint and rue; we must, I
say, either acquiesce in this carnality, or we must profess a religion,
that is _all spirit and life_, and merely for the sake of raising up
an _inward spiritual life_ of heaven, that fell into death in our first
father.
*_Theophilus._ Oh _Theogenes_! What an eternity is that, out of which,
and for which thy eternal soul was created? What little, crawling
things are all that an earthly ambition can set before thee? Bear
with patience for awhile the rags of thy earthly nature, the veil and
darkness of flesh and blood, as the lot of thy inheritance from father
_Adam_, but think nothing worth a thought but that which will bring
thee back to thy first glory, and land thee safe in the region of
eternity.
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Spirit of LOVE.
PART III.
_A dialogue between |Theogenes|, |Eusebius|, and |Theophilus|._
_Eusebius._ THE 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 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?
_Theophilus._ No higher, _Eusebius_. And was this the true state of
your heart, you would bid fair to leave the world as _Elijah_ did. For
was there nothing but this divine love alive in you, your fallen flesh
and blood would be in danger of being burnt up by it. What you have
said of yourself, you have spoken in great sincerity, but in a total
ignorance of yourself, and 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
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 world, 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.
You have quite forgot all that was said in the letter to you on the
spirit of love. You may love it as much as you please, think it the
most charming thing in the world, fancy every thing but dross and dung,
in comparison of it, and yet have no more of it in you, than the blind
man has of that light, of which he has got a most charming notion.
_Eusebius._ But if I am got no farther than this, what good have I from
giving in so heartily to all that you have said of this doctrine?
_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, excellency, 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 shew you the excellency 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 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 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.
_Eusebius._ What is the price that I must give for it?
_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.
_Adam_, after his fall, had nothing that was good in him, nothing that
could inherit an eternal life in heaven, but a seed of grace. Every
thing else in him was devoted to death, that this _incorruptible seed_
might grow up in Christ Jesus.
_Theogenes._ I am afraid the matter is much worse with me, than it is
with _Eusebius_. For tho’ 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 much under the power of my old tempers and passions,
as I was before I was so full of this doctrine.
_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 wrought in us. In the former way, as we learn them only from
men, they at best, only change our outward behaviour, leave our heart
in its natural state, only put our passions under a forced restraint,
which will occasionally break forth, in spite of precept and doctrine.
Now this way of learning goodness, tho’ 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 school-master 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_.
The true profitableness of the 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 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 of all light and
knowledge.
Of the law saith the apostle, _it was a school-master to Christ_. The
same thing is to be affirmed of the letter of the New Testament; it
is but our school-master unto Christ. 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.
♦ “hoiliness” replaced with “holiness”
_Eusebius._ I cannot deny what you say, and yet it seems to me to
derogate from scripture.
_Theophilus._ Would you then have me to say, that the _written word_
of God, is that word of God, which liveth, and abideth for ever; 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 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? 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.
And how is it possible more to exalt the letter of scripture, than by
owning it to be a true, outward direction to the one only true light,
and salvation of man.
Suppose you had been a true disciple of _John the Baptist_, whose
office was, to prepare the way to Christ, how could you have more
magnified his office, than by going from his teaching, to be taught by
Christ? 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 of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth
every man, that cometh into the world._
What a folly would it be to say that you had undervalued the office,
and the 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 shew, that the written word can have any other, or
higher office, or power, than such a ministerial one as the _Baptist_
had, I am ready to hear you.
_Eusebius._ There is no possibility of doing that.
_Theophilus._ But if that is not possible to be done, then you are to
come to the full proof of this point, _viz._ that there are two ways
of attaining knowledge, goodness, virtue, the one by outward, verbal
instruction, either by men or books, and the other by inward 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 farther than itself, to be united in heart and spirit with the light
and Spirit of God. Just as the _Baptist_ had been of no benefit to his
disciples, unless he had been their guide from himself to Christ.
But to come closer to this subject. From this twofold teaching, there
necessarily arises, a twofold state of goodness. For such as the
teacher, or teaching is, such is the goodness that can be had from it.
Every effect must be according to the cause that produces it. If you
learn goodness only from outward means, from men or books, you may
be virtuous and good according to 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. 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 awakening within
us.
And now let me tell you both, it is much to be feared, you as yet stand
only under this outward teaching; your good works are only done under
obedience to such rules 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 or 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, 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.
Now that _Theogenes_ is only under the law, or outward instruction, is
plain from the complaint he made of himself. For notwithstanding his
progress in the doctrine of love, he finds all his corrupt nature still
alive in him, and himself only altered in opinion.
The same may be well 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 in you, you would account for
its birth, and power in you, in quite another manner, you would have
known the price that you had paid for it, before the spirit of love was
in you.
_Eusebius._ But, surely, Sir, imperfect as our virtues are, we are
under something more than mere outward instruction. We expect all our
goodness from the Spirit of God dwelling and working in us. We live in
hope of the divine operation; and therefore your censure upon us seems
to be too severe.
_Theophilus._ Dear _Eusebius_, I censure neither of you. So far
from it, that I love and approve the state you are in. It is good for
_Theogenes_, that he feels and confesses his natural tempers are not
yet subdued. It is good for you also, that you are so highly delighted
with the doctrine of love, for by this means, both of you have your
true preparation for farther advancement. But tho’ your state has this
difference, yet the same error was common to both of you. You both
thought you had as much of the spirit of love as you ought to have;
and therefore _Theogenes_ wondered he had no more benefit from it;
and you wondered that I should desire to lead you farther 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 state in which you stand.
_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
in us. For as it is the highest perfection, that I adore in God, so I
cannot desire any thing, but to be totally governed by it. I could as
willingly consent to lose 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 that spirit, which doth all that it doth,
towards God and man, under the one law of love.
*_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 brings perfect peace and joy, a freedom from all
disquiet, all content and happiness. Love wherever it comes, comes
as the restorer of every lost perfection, a redeemer from all evil,
a fulfiller of all righteousness. Thro’ all the universe 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 spirit
of love. For when that is done, all complaining, murmuring, resenting,
revenging and striving are suppressed. If you ask why the spirit of
love cannot be displeased, cannot be disappointed, cannot complain,
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?
_Eusebius._ Would you have me tell you, that I am an angel? And without
the infirmities of human flesh and blood?
*_Theophilus._ No; but I would have you judge of your state of love, by
these angelical tempers, and not by any transient fervour. For just as
far as you are freed from the folly of all earthly affections, from all
disquiet, trouble and complaint about this or that, just so far is the
spirit of love 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 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 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.
And now we are fairly brought to the one great practical point, on
which our proficiency in the spirit of love depends. Namely, _that
all we are, and all we have from Adam, as fallen_, must be given up
absolutely, if divine love is to be brought forth in us. For as all
that we are by nature, is in full contrariety to this divine love, so
a death to ourselves is its only cure, and nothing else can make it
subservient to good.
_Theogenes._ I now sufficiently see, how man stands in the midst of
heaven and hell, under an absolute necessity of belonging wholly to the
one, or wholly to the other, as soon as this cover of materiality is
taken off from him.
For matter is his only wall of partition between them, he is equally
nigh to both of them: and as light and love make all the difference
there is between heaven and hell, so nothing but light and love wrought
in his soul, can possibly keep hell out of it, or bring heaven into it.
I now also see the full truth, and certainty of what you said of the
nature and power of divine love; _viz._ that it brings perfect peace
and joy, a freedom from all disquiet, making every thing to rejoice in
itself. That 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. 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, that I am even afraid of lying down in my bed,
till every power of my soul is given up to it, wholly possessed and
governed by it.
_Theophilus._ You have reason for all you say, _Theogenes_; for were
we truly affected with things, as they are our real good or evil, we
should be much more afraid of having the serpents of covetousness,
envy, pride, and wrath, 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 tranquility of that meek and lowly heart, to which our
Redeemer has called us.
_Theogenes._ I could almost say, that you have shewn 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,
and deceiveth the whole world. He can hide himself, under all the 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 _unmoveable abode_, in these forms
of virtue, than he has in publicans and sinners.
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.
_Theophilus._ There is no need of a number of practices, or methods.
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 suppress itself, than wrath can heal
wrath. So long as nature acts, nothing but natural acts are brought
forth, and therefore the more labour of this kind, the more nature is
fed and strengthened, with its own food.
But the _one true_ way of dying to self, is most _simple_ and plain; it
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.
If you ask what this one, true, simple way is: it is the way of
_patience_, _meekness_, _humility_ and _resignation_ to God. This is
the _truth_ and _perfection_ of dying to oneself; it is no where else,
but in this state of heart.
_Theogenes._ The excellency and perfection of these virtues, I
acknowledge; but alas, Sir, how will this prove the way of _overcoming
oneself_ to be so _simple_ and _immediate_, as you speak? 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?
_Theophilus._ When Christ our Saviour was upon earth, was there
any thing more simple and plain, 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?
_Theogenes._ I don’t understand why you put this question, nor do I see
how it can relate to the matter before us.
_Theophilus._ It not only relates to, but is the very _truth_ of the
matter before us: for when I refer you to patience, meekness, humility,
and resignation to God, as the one simple, plain, immediate, way of
dying to yourself. I call it so, for no other reason, but because you
can as _easily_ and _immediately_, without art or method, have all the
benefit of these virtues, as Publicans and Sinners by their turning to
Christ, could be helped, and saved by him.
_Theogenes._ But, good Sir, would you have me believe, that my
_turning_ and _giving_ up myself to these virtues, is as certain and
immediate a way of my being possessed of their 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.
*_Theophilus._ I would have you strictly believe all this, in the
fullest sense of the words. And also to believe, that the reasons why
you, or any one else, are for a long time vainly endeavouring after,
and hardly ever attaining these virtues, is because you seek them in
the way they are not to be found, in a _multiplicity_ of human rules,
methods, and contrivances, and not in that _simplicity_ of faith, in
which, those who applied to Christ, immediately obtained that which
they asked of him?
*_Come unto me, all ye that 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 burthen of sin! What becomes now of your
length of time, and exercise, your rules and methods, and round-about
ways, to be delivered from 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 broke off all _immediate_ union and
communion between faith and Christ?
*What a folly would it be to suppose that Christ, after his having
finished his great work, overcome death, ascended into heaven, with all
power in heaven and on earth, was become less a Saviour, and gave less
certain and immediate helps to those that by faith turn to him now,
than when he was cloathed 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 with 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?
And yet this must be the case, if our _simply turning_ to him in faith,
is not as sure a way of obtaining immediate assistance from him now, as
when he was upon earth.
_Theogenes._ You seem, Sir, to me, to have stepped aside from the
point, which was not, whether my giving myself up to Christ in faith,
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?
_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 comest 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.
_Theogenes._ What can I answer you, but that this is a true 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.
_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? Must you
not say, that faith and desire of these virtues, is the _very same_
thing, as faith and desire of salvation through the Lamb of God? And
consequently, that every sincere wish and desire 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?
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_, 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 _sin_ expressed in these
words; _and ye shall find rest unto your souls_.
And all this, because this simple tendency 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,
a 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
blessing and deliverance from sin, that ever happened to any one from
any kind or degree of faith, and application to Christ, is sure to
be had from this state of heart, which stands continually _turned to
him_ in a desire of being led and governed by his spirit of patience,
meekness, humility and resignation to God. O _Theogenes_, could I
help you to perceive what a good there is in this state of heart, you
would desire it with more eagerness, that 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 enquire 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_.
Learn whatever 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 no where, but in these virtues, and where they are, there is he
in his own kingdom. From morning to night, let this be the object you
follow, and then you will fully escape all the religious delusions
that are in the world, and what is more, all the delusions of your own
selfish heart.
For when these tempers live and abide in you, as the spirit and aim of
your life, then Christ is in you of a truth, and the life that you then
lead, is not yours, but Christ 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, but by wholly giving up
yourself to patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God.
But observe. There is no way to attain this without 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 sin; 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 is not led and guided by this conviction, it is full of delusion.
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
_despairing_ of ever human help, we trust in Christ alone for a patient,
meek, humble, total resignation to God.
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,
in any fallen creature, till it wills and _chooses_ to be dead to _all
sin_ in a patient, meek, humble resignation to the power and mercy of
God.
And from this state of heart also, it is, that the _spirit_ of
prayer is born, which is the desire of the soul turned to God. Stand,
therefore, steadfastly in _this will_, let nothing else enter into your
mind, have no other contrivance, but every where, and in every thing
to nourish, and keep up _this state_ of heart, and then 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.
_Theogenes._ But permit me to mention a fear that rises in me. Suppose
I should find myself so overcome with my own selfish tempers, as
not to be able to sink from them, into 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?
*_Theophilus._ You are then at the very time, and place of receiving
the fullest benefit from it. For tho’ this patient, meek resignation
is to be exercised with regard to all outward things; yet it chiefly
respects our inward state, the troubles, perplexities, weaknesses, and
disorders of our fallen souls. When you are most sensible of these,
seek for help no other way, 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 yourself to God. And the greater 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 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
living water, to some broken cistern of your own making; to this or
that opinion, division, or subdivision amongst Christians, carnally
expecting some mighty things either from _Samaria_, or _Jerusalem_,
_Paul_, or _Apollos_, which are only 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 trust wholly and solely to the operation of
that God, in whom we live, move, and have our being. And be assured of
this, that we have neither more nor less of the divine operation within
us, because of this or that outward form, but strictly in that degree,
as our faith, and hope, and trust, and dependance upon God, is more or
less.
*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 no where else to be
found; and the heart itself cannot find him, but by its _own love_ of
him, _faith_ in him, _dependance_ upon him, _resignation_ to him, and
expectation of all from him.
*These are short but full _articles_ of true religion, which carry
salvation along with them, which make a true and full offering of
our whole nature to the _divine operation_, and also a true and full
confession of the holy Trinity in Unity. For as they look wholly to the
_Father_, as blessing us with the _operation_ of his _own word_, and
_Spirit_, so they truly confess, and worship the _holy Trinity_ of God.
And as they ascribe all to, and expect all from this Deity _alone_, so
they make the truest and best of all confessions, that there is no God
but one.
*Let then _Arians_, _Semi-Arians_, and _Socinians_, who puzzle their
laborious brains to make 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.
_Theogenes._ I can never enough thank you, _Theophilus_, for this
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 heart.
You have quite carried your point with me; the God of patience,
meekness, and love, is the one God of my heart. It is now the whole
bent, and desire of my soul, to seek for all my salvation in, and
thro’ the _merits_ and _mediation_ of the meek, humble, patient,
resigned, suffering Lamb of God, who alone hath power to bring forth
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 the 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 towards
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.
*This doctrine also makes me quite weary and ashamed of all my own
natural tempers. Every whisper of impatience, uneasiness, resentment,
pride, and wrath, 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 the precious Lamb of God is
denied entrance into my soul? This is the strict truth of the matter.
And to give up all resentment of every kind, and on every occasion,
however artfully, beautifully, 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
surest of all means, to have nothing but Christ living, and working in
you.
*What a blindness was it in me, to think that I had no covetousness,
because the love of _pelf_, 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 working in me, which robs _misers_ of their peace both with
God and man.
*Oh sweet resignation of myself to God, happy death of every selfish
desire, be thou my guide, and governor wherever I go! nothing but thee
can take me from myself, nothing but thee can lead me to God; hell has
no power, where thou art; nor can heaven hide itself from thee. O 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.
The sight, tho’ distant, of this heavenly _Canaan_, this _sabbath_
of the soul, resting 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.
_Theophilus._ Thither, _Theogenes_, you must certainly come, if you
keep to the path of meekness, humility, patience, and full resignation
to God. But if you go aside from it, let the occasion seem ever so
glorious, or the effects ever so wonderful, it is only preparing for
yourself, a _harder death_. For die you must, to every thing that
you have worked or done under any other spirit, but that of meekness,
humility and true resignation to God.
For these virtues are the only _wedding garment_; they are the _lamps_,
and _vessels_ well furnished with oil.
There is nothing that will do in the stead of them; they must have
their full and perfect work in you, or the soul can never be delivered
from its fallen, wrathful state. There is no possibility of salvation,
but in this. And when the Lamb of God has brought forth his own
meekness, humility and full resignation to God in our souls, then
are our lamps trimmed, and our virgin-hearts made ready for the
marriage-feast.
This marriage-feast signifies the entrance into the highest state
of union, that can be between God and the soul, in this life. This
birth-day of the spirit of love in our souls, whenever we attain, 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.
Need I say any more to shew 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 rules, nor methods can
bring it forth. It is the child of light, and cannot possibly spring
up in ♦in you, but from the _light_ of God rising in your soul, as
it rises in heavenly beings. But the light of God cannot _arise_, in
you, by any art or contrivance of your own, but only 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 image, and likeness of the holy Trinity, in which the
first father of mankind was created.
♦ duplicate word “in” removed
_Theogenes._ You need say no more _Theophilus_; you have confirmed us
in a full belief of that great truth namely, “That there is but one
salvation for all mankind, and that is the _life of God_, in the soul.
And also, that there is but _one possible_ way for man to attain this
life of God, not one for a _Jew_, another for a _Christian_, and a
third for a _Heathen_. No, God is one, human nature is one, salvation
is one, and the way to it is one, and that is, the _desire_ of the soul
turned to God.”
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
LETTERS.
LETTER I.
IN answer to your doubt, concerning joining any church communion, I
will tell you what I would do myself.
_First_, As to any defects in the outward form, and performance of
_baptism and the supper of the Lord in the church, I am under little
or no concern about them;――Because all that is_ inwardly meant or
_intended by them_, as the life, spirit, and benefit of them, is
subject to no human power, _is wholly transacted between God and
myself_, and cannot be taken from me, by any alteration made by man,
in the outward celebration of them.
If the church, in my baptism, should sprinkle a little milk, or wine,
instead of water, upon my face, it would be no defective baptism to me,
if I had all that inward disposition of repentance, of faith in Christ,
to be born again of him, which was meant, figured, and implied by such
immersion into water, as was the first baptism.
The same may be said of the supper of the Lord, however varied in its
outward manner from what it was at first, if the inward truth, pointed
at by it, is loved and adhered to by me, I have all the benefit that
could be had by it, when it was kept in the same outward form, in which
the first church used it.
And therefore the outward celebration of these sacraments is reverenced
by me, wherever they are observed, as standing in the same place, and
significant of the same inward blessing, as in their first institution.
I join therefore in the public assemblies, not because of the _purity_,
or _perfection_ of that which is _done_; but because of that which is
_meant_ and _intended_ by them; they mean the holy, public worship of
God; they mean the edification of Christians; they are of great use
to many people; they keep the world from a total forgetfulness of God;
they help the ignorant and letterless to such a knowledge of God, and
the scriptures, as they would not have without them.
And therefore, fallen as these church assemblies are, from their first
spiritual state, I reverence them, as the _venerable remains_ of all
that, which once was, and will, I hope, be again, the glory of church
assemblies, _viz._ the _ministration of the Spirit, and not of the
letter_.
And there are two great signs of the near approach of this day, in two
very numerous, yet very different kinds of people in these kingdoms.
In the one sort, an extraordinary increase of new opinions, methods,
and religious distinctions, is worked up to its utmost height. And we
see them almost every day running with eagerness from one method to
another, in quest of _something_, which they have not been able to find.
Now, as the vanity and emptiness of any thing, or way, is then only
fully discovered, when it has run all its lengths, so that nothing
remains untried, to keep up the deceit; so when strife of opinions,
invented forms, and all outward distinctions, have done their utmost,
have no farther that they can go, then if the zeal was simple and
upright, all must end in this full conviction, that vanity and
emptiness, burden and deceit, must follow us in every course we take,
till we expect all, and receive all, from the invisible God blessing
our hearts with all heavenly gifts, by his eternal, all-creating word,
and life-giving spirit in our souls.
The _other sign_ is to be found in another kind of people, in most
parts of these kingdoms, who in the midst of the noise and multiplicity
of church-strife, having heard the still, and secret voice of the true
shepherd, are turned inwards and are attentive to the inward truth,
spirit, and life of religion, searching after the spiritual instruction,
which leads them to seek Christ, and his redeeming Spirit, as the
only safe guide from inward darkness to inward light; and from outward
shadows into the substantial, ever enduring truth; which truth is
nothing else, but the _everlasting union of the soul with God, as its
only good, through the Spirit and nature of Christ truly formed and
fully revealed in it_.――But to go no farther; I shall only add, that
as yet, I know no better way of thinking or acting, than as above, with
regard to the universal _fallen state_ of all churches: for fallen they
all are, as certainly as they are divided.
*And all that is wanting to be removed from every church, or Christian
society, in order to its being a part of the heavenly _Jerusalem_, is
_that_ which may be called its _own human will_, and _carnal_ wisdom;
which is all to be given up, by turning the eyes and hearts of all
its members, to an inward adoration, and total dependance upon the
supernatural, invisible, omnipresent God of all spirits; to the inward
teachings of Christ, as the power, the wisdom, and the light of God,
working within them every good and blessing which they can ever receive,
either on earth, or in heaven,
*And therefore as the defects which, some way or other, are to be found
in all churches, hinder not my communion with that, under which my lot
is fallen, so neither do they hinder my being in full union, and hearty
fellowship with all that is Christian, holy, and good, in every other
church division.
* * * * *
LETTER II.
To the Reverend Mr. _S._
_My dear Friend and Brother_,
IT is a great pleasure to me to think (as you ♦you say) that my letter
to you, will also be to two of your brethren, who stand in the same
state of earnestness to know how to be faithful and useful in their
ministry, as you do: I hope God will increase your number.
♦ duplicate word “you” removed
The first business of a clergyman awakened by God into a sensibility,
and love of the truths of the gospel, and making them equally felt,
and loved by others, is thankfully, and calmly, to adhere to, and give
way to the increase of this new-risen light, and by turning his heart
to God, as the sole author of it, humbly to beg of him, that all that,
which he feels a desire of doing to those under his cure, may be first
truly and fully done in himself.
Now the way to become more and more awakened, to feel more and more
of this first conviction, is not to reason yourself into a deeper
sensibility of it by finding out arguments: but the true way is, to
keep close to the presence and power of God, which has manifested
itself within you, willingly resigned to, and solely depending upon the
one work of his all-creating word, and all-quickening spirit, which is
always more or less powerful in us, according as we more or less depend
upon it.
And God is always ours, in such proportion as we are his: as our faith
is in him, such is his presence in us. What an error therefore, to turn
one thought, from him, or cast a look after any help but his; for, if
we ask _all_ of him, if we seek for all in him, if we knock only at
his own door for mercy in Christ Jesus, and patiently wait there, God’s
kingdom must come, and his will must be done in us.
And therefore all the progress of your first conviction, which by the
grace of God you have had from above, consists in the simplicity of
your faith, in adhering to it, as the work of God in your soul, which
can only go on in God’s way, and can never cease to go on in you, any
more than God can cease to be that which he is, but so far as it is
stopped by your want of faith in it, or trusting to something else
along with it. God is found, as soon as he alone is sought; but to seek
God alone, is nothing else but the giving up ourselves unto him. For
God is not absent from us in any other respect, than as the spirit of
our mind is _turned_ from him, and not left wholly to him.
*This _spirit of faith_, which not here or there, or now and then, but
every where, and in all things, looks up to God alone, trusts solely in
him, depends absolutely upon him, expects all from him, and does all it
does for him, is the utmost perfection of piety in this life. And this
is that union with God, in which man was at first created, and to which
he is again called, and will be fully restored by God and man being
made one Christ.
_Stephen was a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost._ These are always
together, the one can never be without the other.
This was _Stephen_’s qualification for the deaconship, not because
of any thing high or peculiar in that office, but because the gospel
dispensation was the opening a kingdom of God amongst men, a spiritual
theocracy, in which as God, and man fallen from God, were united in
Christ, so an union of immediate operation between God and man was
restored. Hence this dispensation was called, in distinction from
all that went before it in outward types, figures, and shadows, a
_ministration of the Spirit_, that is, an immediate operation of the
Spirit of God itself in man, in which nothing human, or depending upon
the power of man’s wit, ability, or natural powers, had any place, but
all things begun in and under obedience to the Spirit, and all were
done in the power of faith united with God.
Therefore to be a faithful minister of this new covenant between God
and man, is to live by faith alone, to act only, and constantly under
its power, to desire no will, understanding, or ability as a labourer
in Christ’s vineyard, but what comes from faith, and full dependance
upon God’s immediate operation in and upon us.
This is that very thing which is expressly commanded by St. _Peter_,
saying, _If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God_, if any
_man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth_. For
all which he giveth this reason, which will be a reason as long as the
world standeth, viz. _That in all things God may be glorified thro’
Jesus Christ_. A plain declaration, that where this is not done, there
God is not glorified by Christians through Christ Jesus.
*God created men and angels solely for the _glory of his love_; and
therefore angels and men can give no other glory to God, but that of
yielding themselves up to the work of his creating love, manifesting
itself in the several powers of their natural life, so that the first
creating love, which brought them into being, may go on creating,
and working in them, according to its own never-ceasing will, to
communicate good for ever and ever. This is their living to the praise
and glory of God, namely by owning themselves, in all that they are,
and have, and do, to be mere instruments of his power, presence, and
goodness in them, and to them; which is all the glory they can return
to their Creator, and all the glory for which he created them.
We can no otherwise worship God in spirit and in truth, than as our
spirit seeks only to, depends only upon, and in all things adores, the
life-giving power of his universal Spirit; as the creator, upholder,
and doer of all that is or can be good, either in time or eternity.
For nothing can be good, but that which is according to the will of
God, and nothing can be according to the will of God, but that which is
done by his own Spirit. This is unchangeable, whether in heaven, or in
earth. And this is the one end of all the dispensations of God, however
various, towards fallen man, _viz._ to bring man into an union with God.
Comply with all the outward modes and institutions of religion, believe
the letter, own the meaning of scripture facts, symbols, and doctrines;
but if you seek to gain some other good from them, than that of being
led from your own will, and own spirit, that the will of God, and
the Spirit of God may do all that is willed, and done by you; however
steadily you may adhere to such a religion, you stand as fixed and
steadily in your own fallen state. For the restoration of fallen man,
is nothing else but the restoration of him to his first state, under
the will and Spirit of God, in and for which he was created.
You may here perhaps think that I am speaking too much at large, and
not closely to the particular matter of your enquiry. But my intention
hath been, so to speak to you on this occasion, as to lay a ground for
a proper behaviour, under every circumstance of the outward work of
your ministry. All things must be set right in yourself first, before
you can rightly assist others.
I do not mean, that you must be first in a state of perfection, before
you can be fitted to teach others. But I mean that you must first see,
_in what_ to place your own perfection, before you can rightly direct
others in the way to it.
For this reason I have said all that is said above, to help you to set
out under a right sense of all that religion is to do for yourself.
When these things are not notionally, but practically known, then
are you enabled, according to your measure, to speak of the truths of
religion, to those that are ignorant, or insensible of them.
Your work is, to call every one home to himself, and help every heart
to know its own state, to seek and find, and feel his inward life and
death, which have their birth, and growth, and strife, against one
another, in every son of _Adam_.
And as this is the one good way of preaching, so it is, of all others,
the most powerful and penetrating into the hearts of all men, let their
condition be what it will.
Their _hearing ears_, though ever so sunk into dullness, will be forced
more or less, to feel the power of that voice which speaks nothing but
what is, and must be in some sort within themselves.
And this is the great end of outward preaching, to give loud notice of
the call of God in their souls, which though unheard, or neglected by
them, is yet always subsisting within them. It is to make such outward
sounds, as may reach and stir up the inward hearing of the heart. It
is so to strike all the outward senses of the soul, that from sleeping
in an inward insensibility of its own life and death, it may be brought
into an awakened perception of itself, and be forced to know, that the
evil of death which is in it, will be its eternal master, unless it
seeks for victory in the name, and power, and mediation of Christ, the
only Prince of life, and Lord of glory, and who only hath the keys of
heaven, of death and hell, in his hands.
Hence you will be qualified, to open in your hearers, a right knowledge
of the reality of every virtue and vice you are discoursing upon.
For since all that is good and evil, is only so to them, because
it lives in their heart; they may easily be taught, that no virtue,
whether it be humility, or charity, has any goodness in it, but as
it springs in, and from the heart, nor any vice, whether it be pride,
or wrath, is any farther renounced, than as its power, and place in
the heart is destroyed. And thus the insignificancy and vanity of an
outward formality of a virtuous behaviour, and every thing short of a
new heart, and new spirit in, and through the power of Christ, dwelling
in them, may be fully shewn to be self-delusion, and self-destruction.
Your next great point, as a preacher, should be to bring men to an
entire faith in, and absolute dependance upon, the continual power and
operation of the Spirit of God in them.
All churches, even down to the Socinians, are forced, in obedience to
the letter of scripture, to hold _something_ of this doctrine.
But as all churches, for many ages, have had as much recourse to
learning, art, and science to qualify ministers for the preaching
of the gospel, as if it was _merely_ a work of man’s wisdom, so
ecclesiastics, for the most part, come forth in the power of human
qualifications, and more or less trust to their own ability, according
as they are more or less proficients in science and literature,
languages and rhetoric.
To this, more than to any other cause, is the _great apostasy_ of all
Christendom to be attributed. This was the door, at which the _whole
spirit_ of the world entered into possession of the Christian church.
Worldly desires and interests, vanity, pride, envy, contention,
bitterness, and ambition, the death of all that is good in the soul,
have now, and always had their chief nourishment and support, from a
sense of the merit, and sufficiency of literal accomplishments.
Humility, meekness, patience, faith, hope, contempt of the world and
heavenly affections (the very life of Jesus in the soul) are by few
people less desired, or more hard to be practised, than by great _wits_,
_classical critics_, _linguists_, _historians_ and _orators_ in holy
orders.
Now to bring a man to a full dependance upon, and faith in the
continual operation of the Holy Spirit, as the only raiser and
preserver of the life of God in their hearts, it is not enough, you
sometimes, or _often_ preach upon the subject, but every thing that
you inculcate, should be directed _constantly_ to it, and all that
you exhort men to, should be required, only as a means of obtaining,
and concurring with, that Holy Spirit, which is, and only can be, the
_life_ and _truth_ of goodness. And all that you turn them from, should
be as from something that resists, and grieves that blessed Spirit of
God, which always wills to remove all evil out of our souls, and make
us again partakers of the divine nature.
For as they only are Christians, who are born of the Spirit, so nothing
should be taught Christians, but as a _work_ of the Spirit; nor any
_thing_ sought, but by the _power_ of the Spirit, as well in hearing
as teaching. It is owing to the want of this, that there is so much
preaching and hearing, and so little benefit either of the preacher or
hearer.
The labour of the preacher is, for the most part, to display logic,
argument, and eloquence, upon religious subjects; and so he is just as
much united to God by his own religious discourses, as the pleader at
the bar is, by his law and oratory upon right and wrong.
And the hearers, by their regarding such accomplishments, go away just
as much helped, to be new men in Christ Jesus, as by hearing a cause of
great equity well pleaded at the bar.
Now in both these cases, with regard to preacher and people, the
error is, trusting to a power in themselves; the one in an ability, to
persuade powerfully; the other in an ability, to act according to that
which they hear.
And so the natural man goes on preaching, and the natural man goes
on hearing the things of God, in a fruitless course. And thus it must
be, so long as either preacher or hearers, seek any thing else but to
edify, and be edified in, and through the immediate power and essential
presence of the Holy Spirit, working in them.
*The way therefore to be a faithful, and fruitful labourer in the
vineyard of Christ, is to stand yourself in a full dependance on the
Spirit of God, as having no power, but as his instrument, and by his
influence, in all that you do; and to call others, not to their own
strength or rational powers, but to a full hope and faith of having all
that they want, from God alone; calling them to himself, to a birth of
essential, inherent goodness, wisdom and holiness from his own eternal
word and Holy Spirit, living and dwelling in them. For as God is all
that the fallen soul wants, so nothing but God alone, can communicate
himself to it; all therefore is lost labour, but the total conversion
of the soul, to the _immediate, essential_ operation of God in it.
As to the other parts of your office, whether they relate to things
prescribed, or to such as are to be done, according to your best
discretion, there will not be much difficulty, if you stand in the
state above described.
As to several _outward forms_ and _orders_ in the church, they must
be supposed to partake, in their degree, of that Spirit, which has so
long bore rule in all church divisions. But the private man is not to
consider, how outward things should be, according to the primitive plan,
but how the inward truth, which is meant by them, may be fully adhered
to.
Baptism and the Lord’s supper, are differently practised in almost
every particular church.
But the way to be free from scruples herein, is to keep yourself, and
your people wholly intent on that _spiritual good_, of which these
institutions are the appointed outward figures, namely that spiritual
regeneration, which is meant by baptism, and that _spiritual living
in Christ_, and Christ in us, which is meant by the supper of the
Lord. And then, though the sacraments practised by you should have any
outward imperfection in them, they would be of the same benefit to you,
as they were to those who used them in their first, outwardly perfect
form. And thus you will be led neither to over-rate, nor disregard such
use of them, as is according to the present state of the church. It is
only the inward regenerate Christian, that knows how to make a right
use of all outward things. His soul being in such a state of union with
God and man, as it ought to be, takes every thing by the right handle,
and turns every thing into a means of carrying on his love towards God
and man. To the pure, all things are pure.
When you visit the _sick_, or well _awakened_, or _dully senseless_,
go as in obedience to God, as on his errand, and say only what the
love of God and man suggests to your heart, without any anxiety about
the success of it; that is God’s work. Only see that the love, the
tenderness, and patience of God towards sinners, be uppermost in all
that you do to man. Nothing is to be shewn to man, _but his want of
God_; nothing can shew him this so powerfully, so convincingly, as
love. And as love is the fulfilling of the whole law, so love is the
fulfilling of all the work of the ministry.
* * * * *
LETTER III.
To a Clergyman of _Bucks_.
I AM much surprised, my friend, that you should still want more to
be said about the doctrine of _imputation_, whether of _Adam_’s sin,
or the _righteousness_ of Christ to his followers. _Cain_ could not
possibly have any other natural life, than that which was in _Adam_;
and therefore so sure as _Adam_ in soul, spirit, and body, was all sin
and corruption, so sure is it, that all his offspring must come from
him in the same depravity of soul, spirit and body. And to talk of
their having this disordered fallen nature not from their natural birth,
but by an outward imputation, is only as absurd as to say, that they
have their _hands_ and feet, or the whole form of their body, not from
their natural birth, but by an outward imputation of such a form, and
members to them.
As in _Adam all die_, says the text: Is not this the same, as saying,
that all men have their fallen nature, because born of _Adam_?
Take now the other part of the text, so _in Christ shall all be made
alive_. Is it not a flat denial of all this, to say, they are not made
alive by a real new birth, but are accounted as if they were alive, by
the imputation of Christ’s _life_ to them? Could dead _Lazarus_ have
been said to have been made alive again, if still lying in the grave,
he had only been _accounted_ as alive, by having the nature of a living
man, imputed to him?
*Our Lord said to a leper, whom he had cleansed, _Go, shew thyself to
the priest_, &c. But if instead of _cleansing_ him, he had bid him go
to the priest, to be _accounted_ as a clean man, had he not still been
under all the evil of his own leprosy? Now this is strictly the case of
the righteousness of Christ, only outwardly imputed to us. A fiction,
that runs counter to all that Christ and his apostles, have said of the
nature of our salvation. We want Christ’s righteousness, because by our
natural birth, we are inwardly full of evil; therefore saith Christ,
_except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
I am the vine_, saith Christ, _ye are the branches_. Now if this be
a true representation of the matter, then these two plain doctrines
of Christ, affirming, 1. The absolute necessity of a new birth, and
2. That this birth is as really brought forth in us, as the life of
the vine is really in the branches, entirely reject the notion of a
righteousness imputed from without.
If Christ’s holy nature, be not formed in us, but only outwardly
imputed to us, then no virtue, or power of an holy life, can have any
more real existence in us, than in the devils, but are only called
ours, and not theirs, though we have no more of them within us, than
they have. Thus, be ye _holy, for I am holy; be ye perfect, as your
Father, which is in heaven, is perfect; thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart_, &c. all these are but vain exhortations.
For these virtues are, in their whole nature, nothing else but the
very righteousness of Christ, therefore if that can be only outwardly
imputed to us, the same must be said of all these virtues. And indeed,
unless Christ be truly born in us, we can have no more of any Christian
virtue, but the empty name. For neither man, nor angel ever did, or
can thus love God with all his heart, be holy because God is holy, be
perfect as he is perfect, but because there is a spirit living in them,
which is of God, from God, and partakes of the divine nature.
Further say, that the holy Spirit is not living in us, that his
operation is not inwardly in us, but only outwardly imputed to us, as
if he was in us, though he be not: what a blasphemy would this be! And
yet full as well, as to say the same of Christ, and his righteousness.
For if Christ was only outwardly imputed to us, the same must, of all
necessity be said of the holy Spirit; for where Christ is, there is the
holy Spirit.
Take notice, Sir, that if Christ’s righteousness, is only imputed to
Christians, then all of them, whether they are called good, or bad, are
without any difference as to their inward man, and all under the same
unaltered fallen nature, as much after, as they were before Christ’s
righteousness was imputed.
_To him that overcometh_, saith Christ, _will I grant to sit with
me on my throne_, ♦[N. B.] _even as I overcame, and am set down with
my Father on his throne_. What becomes now of the vain fiction of an
outward imputation? Is Christ’s victory here imputed to us? Is not
the contrary as strongly taught us, as words can do it? _To him that
overcometh, even as I also overcame._
♦ N. B. This, with several of the particulars that follow are
probable, but not supported by scripture. This is the theory
of _Jacob Behme_, ingenious, but quite incapable of proof.
(From Volume 6, page 159.)
You tell me, my friend, that the seraphic _Aspasio_ is quite
transported with the thought of the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness to the sinner, and that it should in the account of God
be esteemed as his.――It may be so, transport seems to be as natural
to _Aspasio_, as flying is to a bird. But surely, a more transporting,
a more glorious thing it is, both to the glory of God, and the good
of man, that the sinner is, through the righteous nature of Christ,
formed in him, set up again in his first likeness and image of God. For
if man’s righteousness is not essentially restored in him, as it was
essentially in him at the first, has he not less of God in him, by his
redemption, than he had at his creation? Is it to the happiness of man,
and the glory of God, that God has not obtained that _dwelling_ in man,
for which he alone created him?
Is it matter of transport to think, that fallen man will to all
eternity live destitute of his first heavenly nature, his first divine
life, which he had in, and from God? But this must be the case, if
Christ’s righteousness is only outwardly imputed to him, and not
essentially wrought in him.
Transports, my friend, are but poor proofs of truth, or of the goodness
of the heart, from whence they proceed. _Martyrdom_ has had its _fools_,
as well as its _saints_, and zealots may live and die in a joy, that
has all its strength from delusion.
*You may see a man drowned in tears, at beholding a wooden crucifix,
and the same man condemning another, as a wicked heretic, who only
honours the cross, by being daily baptized into the death of Christ.
――――Nay, so blind is opinion-zeal, that some good Christian pastors
will not scruple to tell you, that they could find no joy in their
own state, no strength, or comfort in their labours of love towards
their flocks, but because they know, and are assured from St. _Paul_,
that God never had, nor ever will have, _mercy on all men_, but that
an unknown multitude of them, are through all ages of the world,
inevitably decreed by God to eternal damnation, and an unknown number
of others, to an irresistible salvation.
*Wonder not then, if the _inquisition_ has its pious defenders, for
_inquisition cruelty_, nay, every barbarity that must have an end, is
mere mercy, if compared with this doctrines.――And to be in love with it,
to draw sweet comfort from it, and wish it God-speed, is a love that
absolutely forbids the loving our neighbour as ourselves, and makes
the wish, that all men might be saved, no less than rebellion against
God.――It is a _love_, with which, the _cursed hater_ of all men, would
willingly unite and take comfort; for could he know from St. _Paul_,
that millions, and millions of mankind, are created and doomed to be
his eternal slaves, he might be as content with this doctrine, as some
good preachers are, and cease _going about, as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour_; as knowing, that his kingdom, was so sufficiently
provided for, without any labours of his own.
*Oh, the sweetness of _God’s election_, crys out the ravished preacher!
Oh, the sweetness of _God’s reprobation_! might the hellish Satan
well say, could he believe that God had made him a _free gift_ of such
myriads, and myriads of men, of all nations, tongues and languages,
from the beginning to the end of the world, and reserved so small a
number for himself.
*What a complaint, and condemnation is there made in scripture, of
those who sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils? And yet this
reprobation doctrine, represents God as sacrificing myriads of his own
creatures, made in his own image, to an everlasting hell.
*There is not an absurdity of heathenish faith and religion, but
what is less shocking than this doctrine. And yet so blindly are some
zealous doctors of the gospel bigotted to it, as to set it forth, as
the glorious manifestation of the supreme sovereignty of God!
_Little children_, saith St. _John_, _let no man deceive you_; [N. B.]
_He that doth righteousness, is righteous_, [N. B.] _even as he is
righteous_. Therefore to expect, or trust to be made righteous, merely
by the righteousness of another, outwardly imputed to us, is, according
to the apostle, _deceiving ourselves_.
So sure therefore, as the _mediation_ of Christ, is by himself declared
to be for this end, _that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect ♦in one_; so sure is it, that an
_outwardly_ imputed Christ, is as absurd in itself, and as contrary to
scripture, as an _outwardly imputed_ God.
♦ duplicate word “in” removed
_Farewell._
* * * * *
LETTER IV.
To ――――
WHEN a man first finds himself stirred up with religious zeal, what
does he generally do? He turns all his thoughts _outwards_, he runs
after this or that man, he is at the beck of every _new opinion_, and
thinks only of finding the truth, by resting in this or that society of
Christians. Could he find a man, that did not want to have him of his
opinion, that turned him from himself to God, not as historically read
of in books, but _essentially_ living and working in every soul, him he
might call a man of God; as saving him from many vain wanderings, from
fruitless searchings into a council of _Trent_, a synod of _Dort_, an
♦_Augsburg_ confession, an _Assembly_’s catechism, or a _thirty-nine
Articles_. For had he an hundred articles, if they were any thing
else but a hundred calls to Christ, as the only possible light, and
teacher of his mind, it would be a hundred times better for him to be
without them.――For all man’s misery lies in this, that he has lost the
knowledge of God, as living within him, and by falling under the power
of an earthly, bestial life, thinks only of God, as living in some
other world, and so seeks only by notions, to set up an image of an
absent God, instead of worshipping the God of life and power, in whom
he lives, moves, and has his being.――Whoever therefore teaches you to
expect great things from this, or that sort of opinions, or calls you
to any thing as _saving_, and _redeeming_, but the _manifestation_ of
God in your own soul, through Christ, is totally ignorant of the whole
nature, both of the _fall_, and the _redemption_ of man.
♦ “Augsberg” replaced with “Augsburg”
The Spirit of Christ must live in you, or all exhortations, to walk as
he walked, are vain. The natural man is in full separation from this
holiness of life, and though he had more wisdom of words, more depth
of literature, than was in _Cicero_ or _Aristotle_, yet would ye have
as much to die to, as the greatest Publican or vainest Pharisee, before
he could be in Christ a new creature. For the highest improved natural
abilities, can as well ascend into heaven, or cloath flesh and blood
with immortality, as make a man like-minded with Christ in any one
divine virtue. And that for this one reason, because God and divine
goodness are inseparable.
No precept of the gospel supposes man to have any power to effect
it, or calls you to any natural ability, or wisdom of your own to
comply with it. Christ and his apostles called no man to overcome the
corruption and blindness of fallen nature by a learned cultivation
of the mind. The wisdom of the learned world, was the same pitiable
foolishness with them, as the grossest ignorance. By them, they
only stand thus distinguished, the one brings forth a _Publican_,
which is often converted to Christ, the other a _Pharisee_, that
for the most part condemns him to be crucified. They (Christ and his
apostles) taught nothing but death, and denial to ourselves; and the
impossibility of having any one divine temper, but through faith,
through a new nature, not _born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God_.
*To speak of the operation of the Holy Spirit, as _only an_ assistance,
or an _occasional_ assistance, is as short of the truth, as to say,
that Christ shall _only assist_ the resurrection of our bodies. For not
a spark of any divine virtue can arise up in us, but what must wholly
and solely be wrought by that same power, which alone can call our dead
bodies out of the dust and darkness of the grave.
If you turn to your own strength to have Christian piety and goodness;
or are so deceived, as to think that learning, or local abilities,
critical acuteness, skill in languages, church systems, rules and
orders, articles and opinions, are to do that for you which the
Spirit of Christ did, and only could do for the first Christians; your
diligent reading of the history of the gospel, will leave you as poor,
and empty, and dead to God, as if you had been only a diligent reader
of the history of all the religions in the world.
But if all that you trust to, long after, and depend upon, is that Holy
Spirit, which alone made the scripture saints able _to call Jesus Lord_;
if this be your one faith and one hope, the divine life, which died
in _Adam_, will be quickened again in Christ Jesus. And be assured,
that nothing but this _new birth_ can make a gospel Christian, because
nothing else can possibly love, do, and be that which Christ preached
in his divine sermon on the _Mount_. Be assured also, that when the
Spirit of Christ is the spirit that ruleth in you, there will be no
_hard sayings_ in the gospel; but all that Christ taught in the flesh,
will be as meat and drink to you, and you will have no joy, but in
walking as he walked, in saying, loving, and doing, that which he said,
loved, and did.
Ask then, my friend, no more where you shall go, or what you shall do,
to be in the truth; for you can have the truth no where but in Jesus,
nor in him any farther than as his holy nature is born within you.
_Farewell._
* * * * *
LETTER V.
To a Person of Quality.
_Madam_,
THERE is nothing more plain and simple than the way of religion. But
piety makes little progress till it has no schemes of its own, no
thoughts or contrivances to be any thing, but a _naked penitent_, left
wholly and solely in _faith_ and _hope_ to the divine goodness.
Nothing but the life of God, wrought by his Holy Spirit within us,
can be the renewal of our souls, and we shall want this renewal no
longer, than whilst we are seeking it in something that is not God.
The faith that ascribes all to God, and expects all from him, cannot
be disappointed.
Nothing could hinder the Centurion from having that which he asked of
Christ, because his heart could thus speak, _Lord, I am not worthy that
thou shouldst come under my roof, speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed_.
He that has _this sense_ of himself, and _this faith_ in God, is in the
truth of religion: if we knew the goodness of this state, we should be
always content with the simplicity of it, and let every thing else come
and go, as it would; all is well and safe so long as the heart rests
all upon God alone.
I do not wonder that the audience of Mr. ―――― is so much increased,
since he has preached the doctrine of regeneration among them. All
other preaching passes away as a tale that is told, and indeed is
nothing better, till it enters into the things within man, brings him
to a sensibility of the state of his heart, and its want of God’s Holy
Spirit therein.
* * * * *
LETTER VI.
To Mr. _J. T._
_My dear worthy Friend_,
YOUR letter, though full of complaints about the state of your heart,
was very much according to my mind, and gives me great hopes that God
will carry on the good work he has begun in you, and lead you by his
Holy Spirit through all those difficulties, under which you at present
labour.
The desire that you have to be better than you find yourself at present,
is God’s call, and will make itself to be more heard within you, if you
give but way to it, and reverence it as such, humbly believing that he
that calls, will, and only can help you to pay right and full obedience
to it.
You seem to yourself to be all _infatuation and stupidity_, because
your head and your heart are so contrary, the one delighting in
heavenly notions, the other governed by earthly passions and pursuits.
It is happy for you, that you know and acknowledge this: for only
through this truth, through the full and deep perception of it, can
you have any entrance, or so much as the beginning of an entrance into
the liberty of the children of God. God is in this respect dealing with
you, as he does with those, whose darkness is to be changed into light.
Which can never be done, till you fully know 1. the real badness of
your own heart, and 2. your utter inability to deliver yourself from it,
by any sense or power of your own.
And was you in a better state, as to your own thinking, the matter
would be worse with you. For the badness in your heart, though you had
no sensibility of it, would still be there, and would only be concealed
to your much greater hurt. For there it certainly is, whether it be
seen and found, or not, and sooner or later, must shew itself in its
full deformity, or the old man will never die the death which must be
undergone, before the new man can be formed in us.
All that you complain of in your heart is common to man, as man. There
is no heart that is without it. And this is the one ground, why every
man, as such, however different in temper, complexion, or natural
endowments from others, has one and the same reason, and absolute
necessity of being born again.
Flesh and blood, and the spirit of this world, govern every spring in
the heart of the natural man. And therefore you can never enough adore
the ray of divine light, which breaking in upon your darkness, has
discovered this to be the state of your heart, and raised even those
faint wishes you feel to be delivered from it.
For faint as they are, they as certainly proceed from the goodness
of God working in your soul, as the first dawning of the morning
is wrought by the same sun, which helps us to the noon-day light.
Firmly, therefore believe this, as a certain truth, that the present
sensibility of your incapacity for goodness, is to be cherished as a
heavenly seed, as the blessed work of God in your soul.
Could you like any thing in your own heart, or fancy any good to
be in it, or believe that you had any power of your own to embrace
the following truth, this comfortable opinion, would be your turning
away from God and all goodness, and building iron walls of separation
betwixt God and your soul.
For conversion to God, only then begins to be in _truth_, when we see
nothing that can give us the least degree of hope, of trust, or comfort
in any thing, that we are of ourselves.
To see vanity of vanities in all outward things, to loath and abhor
certain sins, is indeed something, but yet as nothing in comparison of
seeing and believing the vanity of vanities within us, and ourselves as
unable to take one single step in true goodness, as to add one cubit to
our stature.
Under this conviction, the gate of life is opened to us. And therefore
it is, that all the preparatory parts of religion, all the various
proceedings of God either over our _inward_, or _outward_ state,
setting up and pulling down, giving, and taking away, light and
darkness, comfort and distress, are for this only end, to bring us
to this conviction, that all that can be called _life_, _good_, and
_happiness_, is to come solely from God, and not the smallest spark
of it from ourselves. When man was first created, all the good that
he had in him was from God alone. This must be the state of man for
ever.――From the beginning of time through all eternity, the creature
can have no goodness, but that which God creates in it.
Our first goodness is lost, because our first father departed from a
full, absolute dependance upon God. For a full, continual, unwavering
dependance upon God, is that alone which keeps God in the creature, and
the creature in God.
Our lost goodness can never come again, till by a power from Christ,
we are brought out of ourselves, into that full and blessed dependance
upon God, in which our first father should have lived.
What room now, my dear friend, for complaint at the sight, sense, and
feeling of your inability to make yourself better? Did you want _this
sense_, every part of your religion would only have the nature and
vanity of idolatry. For you cannot come unto God, you cannot believe in
him, you cannot worship him in spirit and truth, till he is regarded as
the _only giver_, and you yourself as nothing else but the receiver of
every heavenly good, that can possibly be in you.
God must for ever be God alone; heaven, and the heavenly nature are
his, and must for ever be received only from him, and preserved, by
an entire dependance upon, and trust in him. Now as all the religion
of fallen man, fallen from God into himself, and the spirit of this
world, has no other end, but to bring us back to an _entire dependance_
upon God; so we may justly say, Blessed is that light, happy is that
conviction, which brings us into a full and settled despair, of ever
having the least good from ourselves.
Then we are truly brought, and laid at the gate of mercy: at which gate,
no soul ever did, or can lie in vain.
A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. That is, God will not
pass by, overlook, or disregard it. But the heart is then only broken
and contrite, when all its strong holds are broken down, and false
coverings taken off, and it sees, with inwardly opened eyes, every
thing to be bad, false, and rotten, that does, or can proceed from it
as its own.
But you will perhaps, say, that _your conviction_ is only an uneasy
sensibility of your own state, and has not the goodness of a broken and
contrite heart in it.
Let it be so, yet it is right in order to it, and it can only begin, as
it begins at present. Your conviction is certainly not full and perfect;
for if it was, you would patiently expect, and look for help from God
alone.
But whatever is wanting in your conviction, be it what it will, it
cannot be added by yourself, nor come any other way, than as the
highest degree of the divine life can come.
Know therefore your want of this, as of all other goodness. But know
also at the same time, that it cannot be had through your own _willing_
and _running_, but through God that sheweth mercy; that is to say,
through God who giveth us Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is the _one
only mercy_ of God to all the fallen world.
Now if all the mercy of God is only to be found in Christ, if he
alone can save us from our sins; if he alone has power to heal all
our infirmities, and restore original righteousness, what room for any
other pains, labour, or enquiry, but _where_ and _how_ Christ is to be
found.
*It matters not what our evils are, deadness, blindness, infatuation,
hardness of heart, covetousness, wrath, pride, and ambition, our
remedy is always one and the same, always at hand, always certain and
infallible. Seven devils are as easily cast out by Christ as one. He
came into the world, not to save from this, or that disorder, but to
destroy all the power and works of the devil in man.
If you ask _where_, and _how_ Christ is to be found? I answer, in your
heart, and no where else.
Hear him, reverence him, submit to him as a discoverer and reprover of
sin. Own his power and presence in the feeling of your guilt, and then
he that wounded, will heal, he that found out the sin, will take it
away, and he who shewed you your _den of thieves_, will turn it into a
holy temple of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And now, Sir, you may see, that your doubt whether your will was
_really free, or not_, was groundless.
You have no freedom, or power of will, to assume any holy temper,
or take hold of such degrees of goodness, as you have a mind to. For
nothing is, or ever can be goodness in you, but the one _life_, _light_,
and _spirit_ of Christ, revealed, and formed in your soul. Christ in us,
is our only goodness, as Christ in us, is our hope of glory. But Christ
in us is the pure free gift of God to us.
But you have a freedom of will, either to give up your helpless
self, to the operation of God on your soul, or to rely upon your
own _rational_ industry, and _natural_ strength of mind. This is the
freedom in first setting out, which no man wants, or can want so long
as he is in the body.
If therefore you have not that which you want to have of God, or are
not that which you ought to be in Christ Jesus, it is not because you
have no free power of leaving yourself in the hands, and under the
operation of God, but because the same freedom of your will, seeks for
help where it cannot ♦be had, namely, in some strength of your own.
♦ “he” replaced with “be”
When this freedom of the will wholly _leaves_ itself to God, saying,
_not mine, but thy will be done_, then it hath that, which it willeth.
The will of God is done in it. It is in God. It hath divine power. It
worketh with God, and by God, and comes at length to be _that faith_,
which can remove mountains; and nothing is too hard for it.
And now, my dear friend, let me tell you, that as here lies all the
real freedom, which cannot be taken from you, so in the constant
exercise of this freedom, that is, in a continual leaving yourself to,
and depending upon the operation of God in your soul, lies all your
road to heaven. No divine virtue can be had any other way.
All the excellency and power of faith, hope, love, patience, and
resignation, have no other root but this _free, full leaving_ of
yourself to God, and are only so many different expressions of
your willing nothing, seeking nothing, trusting to nothing, but the
_life-giving power_ of his holy presence in your soul.
To sum up all in a word. Wait patiently, trust humbly, depend only
upon, seek solely to a God of light and love, of mercy and goodness,
of glory and majesty, dwelling in your heart by faith. There you have
the invisible upholder of all the creation, whose blessed operation
will always be found by a humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient
introversion of your heart to him, which will open itself to you, as
soon as your heart is left wholly to his eternal ever-speaking word,
and ever-sanctifying Spirit.
Beware of the eagerness of your own natural temper. Run not in any
hasty ways of your own. Be patient under the sense of your own vanity
and weakness; and patiently wait for God to do his own work in his own
way. For you can go no faster than a full dependance upon God can carry
you.
You will perhaps say, Am I then to be idle, and do nothing towards
the salvation of my soul? No, you must by no means be idle, be but
earnestly diligent, according to your measure, in all good works, which
the law and the gospel direct you to, both with regard to yourself, and
other people.
Outward good works to other people, may be justly considered as God’s
errand on which you are sent, and therefore to be done faithfully,
according to the will, and in obedience to him that sent you.
But nothing that you do, is in its proper state, or reaches its true
end, till you do not depend upon any _doing_ that which is good, but
by Christ, the wisdom and power of God. I caution you only against
all eagerness of spirit, so far as it leads you to seek, and trust to
something that is not God.
I recommend to you stillness, calmness, patience, not to make you
lifeless, and indifferent about good works, or indeed with any regard
to them, but solely with regard to your faith, that it may have its
proper soil to grow in, and because all eagerness, restlessness, haste,
and impatience, either with regard to God, or ourselves, are not only
great hindrances, but real defects of our faith and dependance upon God.
Lastly, Be courageous, and full of hope, not by looking at any strength
of your own; no, this will only help you to find more and more defects
and weakness in yourself; but be courageous in faith, and hope, and
dependance upon God. And be assured, that the one infallible way to all
that is good, is never to be weary in waiting, trusting, and depending
upon God manifested in Christ Jesus.
_I am your hearty friend and well-wisher._
* * * * *
LETTER VII.
To a Person burdened with inward and outward Troubles.
_Worthy Sir_,
MY heart embraces you with all the tenderness and affection of
Christian love; and I earnestly beg of God, to make me a messenger of
_his peace_ to your soul.
You seem to apprehend, I may be much surprized at the account you have
given of yourself; but I am neither surprized nor offended at it; I
neither condemn nor lament your estate, but shall endeavour to shew
you, how soon it may be made a blessing and happiness to you. In order
to which, I shall not enter into a consideration of the different kinds
of trouble you have set forth at large. I think it better to lay before
you the ground and root, from whence all the evils of human life have
sprung. This will make it easy for you to see what that is, which only
can be the full remedy for all.
The scripture has assured us, that God made man in _his own image and
likeness_; a sufficient proof, that man, in his first state, as he
came forth from God, must have been absolutely free from all vanity,
want, or distress; from any thing painful, either within or without him.
It would be absurd to suppose, that a creature beginning to exist in
the image of God, should have vanity of life, or vexation of spirit: a
god-like perfection of nature, and a painful, distressed nature, stand
in the utmost contrariety to one another.
_Again_, the scripture has assured us, _that man that is born of a
woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery_: Therefore
man now is not the creature that he was by his creation. The first
god-like nature of _Adam_, which was to have been immortally holy in
union with God, is lost; and instead of it, a poor mortal of earthly
flesh and blood, born like a wild ass’s colt, of a short life, and full
of misery, is going thro’ a vain pilgrimage, to end in dust and ashes.
Therefore, let every evil, whether inward or outward, teach you that
man has lost his first life in God; and that no comfort, or deliverance
is to be expected, but only in this one thing, that though man had lost
his God, yet God is become man, that man may be again alive in God.
Now here are two things raised up in man, instead of the _life of God:
First, selfishness, brought_ forth by his chusing to have a wisdom
of _his own_; contrary to the will and instruction of his Creator.
_Secondly_, an earthly, bestial life, brought forth by his eating that
food, which was poison to his paradisaical nature. Both these must
therefore be removed; that is, a man must totally die to himself, and
all earthly desires, views, and intentions, before he can be again in
God.
But now if this be an immutable truth, that man, so long as he is a
_selfish earthly-minded_ creature, must be deprived of his true life,
the life of God, in his soul; then how is the face of things changed!
For then, what life is so much dreaded as a life of worldly ease and
prosperity? What a curse is there in every thing that gratifies and
nourishes our self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking? On the other
hand, what happiness is there in all inward and outward troubles,
when they force us to know the hell that is within us, and the
vanity of every thing without us, when they turn all our self-love
into self-abhorrence, and force us to call upon God to save us from
ourselves, to give us a new life, and new spirit in _Christ Jesus_.
“O happy famine,” might the poor prodigal have said, “which by reducing
me to eat husks with swine, _brought me to myself_, and caused my
return to my first happiness in my father’s house.”
Now, I will suppose your state to be as you represent it; inwardly,
heaviness and confusion of thoughts and passions; outwardly, ill usage
from friends, relations, and all the world; with an inability to strike
out the least spark of light or comfort, by any thought or reasoning of
your own.
O happy famine, which leaves you not so much as the husk of one human
comfort to feed upon! For this is the time and place for all that life
and salvation to happen to you, which happened to the prodigal son.
Your way is as short, and your success as certain as his was: you have
no more to do than he had; you need not call out for books, or methods
of devotion; for, in your present state, much reading, and borrowed
prayers, are not your best method; all that you are to offer to God,
all that is to help you to find him to be your Saviour and Redeemer,
is best taught by the distressed state of your heart.
Only let your present and past distress make you feel and acknowledge
this two-fold great truth: _First_, That in and of yourself, you are
nothing but darkness, vanity, and misery. _Secondly_, That of yourself,
you can no more help yourself to light and comfort, than you can create
an angel. People at all times seem to assent to these truths; but then
it is an assent that has no depth or reality, and so is of little or no
use: but your condition has opened your heart for a full conviction of
them. Now give way, I beseech you, to this conviction, and hold these
two truths in the same degree of certainty as you know two and two to
be four, and then you are with the prodigal _come to yourself_, and
above half your work is done.
*Being now in the full possession of these two truths, feeling them,
as you feel your own existence, you are to give up yourself entirely
to God in Christ Jesus, as into the hands of infinite love; firmly
believing that God has no will towards you, but that of _infinite love_,
and infinite desire to make you a partaker of his divine nature; and
that it is as impossible for the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
refuse all that life and salvation which you want, as it is for you to
take it by your own power.
*O drink deep of _this cup_! for the precious water of eternal life is
in it. Turn unto God with _this faith_; cast yourself into this _abyss
of love_: and then you will be in that state the prodigal was in, when
he said, _I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him,
father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son_; and all that will be fulfilled in you,
which is related of him.
*Make this, therefore, the two-fold exercise of your heart:
_now_, bowing yourself down before God, in the deepest sense and
acknowledgment of your own nothingness and vileness; _then_, looking
up unto God in faith and love, consider him as always extending the
arms of his mercy towards you, and full of an infinite desire to dwell
in you, as he dwells in angels in heaven. Content yourself with this
simple exercise of your heart for awhile; and seek nothing in any book,
but that which nourishes it.
*_Come unto me_, says the holy Jesus, _all ye that labour, and are
heavy laden, and I will refresh you_. Here is more for you to live
upon, more light for your mind, more of unction for your heart, than in
volumes of human instruction. Pick up the words of the holy Jesus, and
beg of him to be the light and life of your soul: love the sound of his
name: for Jesus is the love, the sweetness, the compassionate goodness,
of the _Deity_ itself; which became man, that so men might have power
to become the sons of God. Love and pity and wish well to every soul in
the world; _dwell in love_, and then you _dwell in God_; hate nothing
but the evil that stirs in your own heart.
*Teach your heart this prayer, till your heart continually saith,
though not with outward words; “O holy Jesus: meek Lamb of God! Bread
that came down from heaven! Light and life of all holy souls! help me
to a true and living faith in thee. O do thou open thyself _within me_,
with all thy holy nature, spirit, tempers, and inclinations, that I may
be born again of thee, quickened and revived, led and governed by thy
Holy Spirit.”
Prayer so practised, becomes the _life of the soul_, and the true _food
of eternity_. Keep in this state of application to God; and then you
will infallibly find it to be the true way of rising out of the vanity
of time, into the riches of eternity.
The poverty of our fallen nature, the depraved workings of flesh and
blood, cannot destroy us, so long as the _spirit of prayer_ works
contrary to them, and longs for the light and spirit of heaven. Our
natural evil loses its poison and death, and only becomes our _holy
cross_, on which we happily die from ourselves and this world, into
the kingdom of heaven.
Would you have done with error, scruple, and delusion? Consider the
Deity to be the greatest love, the greatest meekness, the greatest
sweetness, the _eternal unchangeable will to be a good and blessing to
every creature_; and that all the misery, darkness, and death of fallen
angels and fallen men, consist in their having lost their _likeness
to this divine nature_. Consider yourself and all the fallen world,
as having nothing to wish for, but by the _spirit of prayer_ to draw
into your soul this divine, meek, loving, nature of God. Consider the
holy Jesus as the _gift of_ God to your soul, to begin and finish this
within you, in spite of every inward or outward enemy. These three
infallible truths, heartily embraced, and made the nourishment of your
soul, shorten and secure the way to heaven, and leave no room for error,
scruple, or delusion.
Expect no life, strength, or comfort, but from the Spirit of God,
dwelling and manifesting his own goodness in your soul. The best of
men, and the best of books, can only do you good, so far as they turn
you from themselves, and every human thing, to seek and receive every
kind of good from God alone; not a distant, or an absent God, but a God
living, moving, and working in your inmost soul.
They never find God, who seek for him by reasoning; for since God is
the highest spirit, nothing but a like spirit can unite with him; find
or feel, or know any thing of him. Hence it is, that faith and hope,
turned towards God, are the only possible means of obtaining a true
knowledge of him. And the reason is plain, it is because by these _holy
tempers_, which are the workings of his _spirit_ within us, we seek the
God of life _where he is_, we call upon him with his _own voice_, we
draw near to him by _his own spirit_; for nothing can breathe forth
faith and hope, but that Spirit which is of God, and which therefore
through flesh and blood thus presses towards him, and readily unites
with him.
There is not a more infallible truth in the world than this, _that
neither reasoning nor learning can ever introduce a spark of heaven
into our souls_: but if this be so, then you have nothing to seek, nor
any thing to fear, from reason. _Life_ and _death_ are the things in
question: they are neither of them the growth of reasoning or learning,
but each of them is a state of the soul, and only thus differ, _death
is the want, and life the enjoyment of its highest good_. Reason,
therefore, and learning, have no power here; but only by their vain
activity to keep the soul insensible of that life and death, one of
which is always growing up in it, according to the desire of the heart.
Add reason to a vegetable, and you add nothing to its life or death.
Its life and fruitfulness lieth in the soundness of its root, the
goodness of the soil, and the riches it derives from air and light.
Heaven and hell grow thus in the soul of man: his heart is his root; if
that is turned from all evil, it is then like a plant in a good soil;
when it hungers and thirsts after the divine life, it then infallibly
draws the light and Spirit of God into it, which are infinitely more
ready to live and fructify in the soul, than light and air to enter
into the plant that hungers after them. For the soul hath its breath,
and being, and life, for no other end, but that the _triune_ God may
manifest the riches and powers of his own life in it.
Thus you see, and feel, that the _spirit of prayer_ is your certain way
of returning to God.
*When, therefore, it is the one ruling desire of our hearts, that God
may be the _beginning_ and _end_, the _reason_ and _motive_, the _rule_
and _measure_, of our doing, or not doing, from morning to night; then
every where, whether speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly
employed, we are equally offered up to the eternal Spirit, have our
life in him, and from him, and are united to him by _that spirit of
prayer_, which is the comfort, the support, the strength and security
of the soul, travelling by the help of God, through the vanity of
time into the riches of eternity. For _this spirit of prayer_, let us
willingly give up all that we inherit from our fallen father, to be
all _hunger_ and _thirst_ after God: and to have no thought or care,
but how to be wholly his devoted instruments; every where, and in every
thing, his adoring, joyful, and thankful servants. Have your eyes shut,
and ears stopped to every thing, that is not a step in that ladder that
reaches from earth to heaven.
*Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are
good, but then they are only good at proper times and occasions. But
the _spirit of prayer_ is for all times, and all occasions; it is a
lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining; every
thing calls for it, every thing is to be done in it, and governed by
it; because it is, and means, and wills nothing else but the whole soul,
incessantly given up to God, to be _where_, and _what_, and _how_ he
pleases.
*This state of absolute resignation, naked faith, and pure love of
God is the highest perfection, of those who are born again, and thro’
the divine power become sons of God: and it is neither more nor less,
than what our blessed Redeemer has called us to in these words: _Thy
kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven_. It is
to be sought for in the simplicity of a little child, without being
captivated with any mysterious depths or heights of speculation;
without coveting any knowledge, but so far as it brings us nearer to
God, forces us to forget and renounce every thing for him; to do every
thing in him, with him, and for him; and to give every breathing,
moving, intention, and desire of our heart, and life to him.
Let every creature have your love. Love with its fruits of meekness,
patience, and humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, and
our fellow-creatures; for this is to live in God, united to him, both
for ♦time and eternity.
♦ “and time” replaced with “time and”
To desire to communicate good to every creature, in the degree we can,
is a divine temper; for thus God stands unchangeably disposed towards
the whole creation; but let me add my request, as you value the peace
which God has wrought by his Holy Spirit in you, as you desire to
be continually taught by an unction from above, that you would on
no account enter into any dispute with any one, about the truths of
salvation: give them every help, but that of debating with them; for
no man has fitness for the light of the gospel, till he finds an hunger
and thirst, and want of something better, than that which he has and
is by nature. Yet we ought not to check our inclinations to help others
in every way we can. Only do what you do, as a work of God; and then,
whatever may be the event, you will have reason to be content with the
success that God gives it.
The next thing that belongs to us, and which is also godlike, is a
true patience and meekness, shewing every kind of good-will and tender
affection towards those that turn a deaf ear to us; looking upon it
to be full as contrary to God’s method, and the good state of our own
heart, to dispute with any one in contentious words, as to fight with
him for the truths of salvation.
We are apt to consider parts and abilities, as the proper
qualifications for the reception of divine truths; and wonder that
a man of a fine understanding should not immediately embrace just
and solid doctrines: but the matter is quite otherwise. Had man kept
possession of his first glorious state, there had been no foundation
for the gospel redemption; and the doctrine of the cross, must have
appeared quite unreasonable: and therefore says our Lord, _To the poor
the gospel is preached_. It is to them, and none else: that is, to poor
fallen man, that has lost all the riches of his first divine life. *But
if a man knows and feels nothing of this poverty, he is not that person
to whom the gospel belongs: it has no more suitableness to his state,
than it had to man unfallen: and then the greater his parts, the better
is he qualified to shew the folly of that salvation, whereof he has no
want.
*Such a man, though he may be of an humane, generous nature, of lively
parts and much candour, is nevertheless entirely ignorant of the
depth of the heart of man, and the necessities of human nature. As
yet (though he knows it not) he is only at play, pleasing himself with
supposed deep enquiries after truth, whilst he is only sporting himself
with lively, wandring images of this, and that, just as they happen to
start up in his mind. Could but he see himself in the state of the poor
distressed prodigal son, and find that himself is the very person there
recorded, he would then, see the fitness of that redemption, which is
offered him by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. But such an one, alas!
is rich; he is sound; light is in his own power, goodness is in his
own possession: he feels no distress or darkness; but has a crucible of
reason and judgment, that on every occasion separates gold from dross;
and, therefore, he must be left to himself, to his own elysium, till
something more than argument awakens him out of these golden dreams.
All preachers of the true spiritual gospel, of a birth, and life
from above, by Jesus Christ, ever were, and will be, treated by the
reigning fashionable orthodoxy, as enemies to the outward gospel, and
its services, just as the prophets of God were by the then reigning
orthodoxy, condemned and despised, for calling people to a spiritual
meaning of the letter, to a holiness infinitely greater than that of
their outward sacrifices, types, and ceremonies.
The sect of the Pharisees did not cease with the _Jewish_ church: it
only lost its old name; it is still in being, and springs now from
the gospel, as it did then from the law: it has the same place, lives
the same life, does the same work, minds the same things, has the same
religious honour, and claim to piety, in the Christian, as it had in
the _Jewish_ church, and as much mistakes the depths of the gospel, as
that sect mistook the meaning of the law and the prophets.
It would be easy to shew how the leaven of that sect works among us,
just as it did among them. _Have any of the rulers believed on him?_
was the orthodox question of the antient Pharisees. Now we readily
condemn the folly of that question; and yet who does not see, that, for
the most part, both priest and people, in every Christian country, live
and govern themselves by the folly of the very same spirit which put
that question: for when God, as he has always done from the beginning
of the world, rises up private and illiterate persons, full of light
and wisdom from above, so as to be able to discover the workings of
the mystery of iniquity, and to open the absolute necessity of such an
inward spirit and life of Christ, as carnal wisdom, and worldly policy
have departed from; when this is done, by the weakest instruments
in such simplicity and fulness, as may be justly deemed a miracle:
do not clergy and laity get rid of it all, merely by the strength of
the good old question, “_Have any of the rulers believed_ and taught
these things? Hath the church in council or convocation? Hath _Calvin_,
_Luther_, _Zuinglius_, or any of our renowned system-makers, ever
taught or asserted these matters?”
But hear what our blessed Lord saith, of the place and origin of truth:
he refers us not to the current doctrines of the times: _My sheep_,
says he, _hear my voice_. Here the whole matter is determined, both
where truth is, and who they are that can have any knowledge of it.
Heavenly truth is no where spoke but by the voice of Christ, nor heard
but by a power of Christ in the hearer. As he is the only word of God,
that speaks forth all the wisdom, and wonders of God; so he alone is
the word, that speaks forth all the life, wisdom, and goodness, that
can be in any creature; it can have none but what it has in him and
from him: this is the one unchangeable boundary of truth, goodness, and
every perfection of men on earth, or angels in heaven.
Literary learning, from the beginning to the end of time, will have no
more of heavenly wisdom, nor any less of worldly foolishness in it, at
one time than at another; its nature is the same through all ages; what
it was in the _Jew_, that same it is in the Christian. Its name, as
well as nature, is unalterable, viz. foolishness with God.
*I shall add no more, but the two or three following words.
I. Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain,
uneasiness, temptation, with both thy hands, as a blessed occasion
of dying to thyself, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy
self-denying, suffering Saviour.
II. Look at no inward or outward trouble, in any other view; reject
every other thought about it; and then every kind of trial and distress
will become the blessed day of thy prosperity.
III. Be afraid of seeking or finding comfort in any thing, but God
alone; for that which gives thee comfort, takes so much of thy heart
from God. “What is a pure heart? One to which God alone is totally, and
purely sufficient; to which nothing relishes, or gives delight, but God
alone.”
IV. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in, and
fullest resignation to God.
V. What is it you want and seek, but that God _may be all in all in
you_? But how can this be, unless all worldly good and evil become as
nothing to you?
“O my soul! abstract thyself from every thing. What hast thou to do
with changeable creatures? Waiting and expecting thy bridegroom, who
is the author of all creatures, let it be thy sole concern, that he may
find thy heart free and disengaged, as often as it shall please him to
visit thee.”
Be assured of this, that sooner or later, we must be brought to this
conviction, that every thing in ourselves by nature is evil, and must
be entirely given up; and that nothing that is created, can make us
better than we are by nature. Happy, therefore, and blessed are all
those inward or outward troubles, that hasten this conviction in us;
that with the whole strength of our souls, we may be driven to seek
_all_ from and in God, without the least thought, hope, or contrivance
after any other relief: then it is, that we are made truly partakers of
the cross of Christ; and from the bottom of our hearts shall be enabled
to say, with St. _Paul_, _God forbid that I should glory in any thing,
save the cross of our Lord |Jesus Christ|; by which I am crucified to
the world, and the world is crucified to me_.
*Give up yourself to God without reserve. This implies such a state
of heart, as does nothing of itself, from its own reason, will or
choice, but stands always in an absolute dependance upon being led by
the Spirit of God into every thing that is according to his will; in
singleness of heart meeting every thing that every day brings forth, as
something that comes from God, and is to be received, and gone through
by you, in such an heavenly use of it, as you would suppose the holy
Jesus would have done, in such occurrences.――This is an attainable
degree of perfection; and by having Christ and his Spirit always in
your eye, and nothing else, you will never be left to yourself, nor
without the full guidance of God.
* * * * *
LETTER ♦VIIa.
♦ second letter “VII”, added “a” suffix
To Mr. _T. L._
IT matters not my friend, what you are upon, whether you would save
a man from _deism_, _debauchery_, or _suicide_; you must begin in the
same place, from one and the same ground, and this as unavoidably, as
every fruit must have its beginning from the root, and from the root in
its right state.
The amiableness of any virtue, or the horrid nature of any vice,
whilst only considered as in themselves, are but as pictures set
before our eyes, and have no other effect upon us. And this is the
unprofitableness of all _moral instructions_, whether Heathen or
Christian.
If you can help a man to seek, and find, and know himself, and his real
relation to God; to know that he has neither inward nor outward evil,
but because he has lost his _true state_, and place in God; and that
therefore nothing can be his peace and happiness, but his first divine
life restored again in him, then you have done all that you can for him,
whatever his malady is.
* * * * *
LETTER VIII.
To the same.
_My dear Friend_,
THE variety of trials you have lately met with, are but a specimen of
what you are to expect, in some form or other, so long as you breathe
the air of this fallen world.――The longer we are without them, the more
our need of them is increased. And they never give great smart, but
where something is to be torn off that sticks too close to us.――One
reflection upon these sacred words, “My kingdom is not of this world:
――The Son of man hath not where to lay his head,” are sufficient to
take not only the sting out of every cross that can here befall us,
but even to make us afraid and ashamed of being pleased with any thing,
that has the name of worldly honour and prosperity.
You have no reason to wonder at any thing you see or hear, of
the partiality, selfishness, envy, and enmity, that so soon
breaks out between brothers and sisters of the same blood.――For if
_blood-relations_, considered as such, could have any true goodness, or
unselfish regard to one another, we should not be under the necessity
of being born again.
Will it do you any good to tell you, that thus says my heart, without
speaking a word, _Let nothing live in me, but the redeeming power of
thy Holy Jesus, nothing pray in me but thy Holy Spirit_.――This is my
ship, in which I would be always at sea.――All that I seek, or mean,
either for myself or others, by every height and depth of divine
knowledge, is only for this end, that we may be more willing and glad
to become such little children, as our Lord has told us, are the only
heirs of the kingdom of God.
The piercing critic may, and naturally will grow in pride, as fast
as his skill in words discovers itself. And every kind of knowledge
that shews the scholar, the orator, the disputer, the commentator, the
historian, his _own powers_ and _abilities_, are the _same_ temptation
to him, that _Eve_ had from the serpent; and he will get no more good
by the love and relish of such knowledge, than she got by her love of
the tree, that was so desirable to make one wise.
But he whose eyes are opened to see into this _mystery of all things_,
sees nothing but _death to himself_, and to every thing that he had
called or delighted in as his own. This is the _bold depth_ of his
knowledge. And if you would know its _aspiring height_, it consists in
learning to know, that which the angels and twenty-four elders about
the throne of God knew, when they cast down their crowns before him
that sat on the throne, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
thou art worthy to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.――It
is to know, that the triune majesty of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
are the three-fold power, life, glory, and perfection of every creature
that sings praises to God, in heaven and in earth. This is the _proud_
knowledge of those, who are let into the holy of holies. Which goes no
deeper, than to see the _nothingness_ of man, ascends no higher, than
to know that God is _all_; which begets nothing in man, but that which
was begotten in _Paul_, when he cried out, _God forbid that I should
glory in any thing, but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ_.
* * * * *
LETTER IX.
To _G. W._
THE large account you have given of yourself, is very affecting, and I
hope God will turn all the variety of your past distress, into means of
a future solid peace, and rest in his divine love.
To be weary and heavy laden, is to have the highest fitness to receive
that rest, that Christ alone can give. These are the persons that
he called to him, when he was upon earth. They who are content with
themselves, are in the utmost danger of never knowing that happiness,
for which they were created.
*For a while, consider yourself in such a solitude, as if there was
only God and you in the world, free from every thought, but that
of desiring to be wholly and solely his, and looking wholly to his
goodness, to be delivered out of the misery of your fallen state.
Be not too eager about much reading: nor read any thing but that which
nourishes, strengthens, and establishes that faith in you, of an inward
Saviour, who is the life of your soul. To grow up in this faith, is
taking the best means of attaining to knowledge in all divine matters.
Cast away all reflections about the world. And let all be swallowed up
in this joyful thought, that you had found the Messiah, the Saviour of
the world, not in books, but in your own soul. Give yourself up to this,
expect all from it, let it be the humble, faithful, longing desire of
your heart, and desire no knowledge, but that which proceeds from it.
Stand only in this thirst of knowledge, and then all that you know will
be spirit and life.
_With a heart full of good wishes to you,
I am_,
Your’s, &c.
* * * * *
LETTER X.
To Mr. _T. L._
_My dear L._
TAMPER with no physicians, but content yourself, to have that share
of health, which a regular and good life can help you to.――Reflect not
upon your predominant complexion, or how long it will be before you get
from under its power. St. _Paul_ wanted to be delivered from his thorn
in the flesh. He had all he prayed for, though the thorn might continue,
when God said to him, _My grace is sufficient for thee_; this was
better to him, than if his thorn had been taken from him. This enabled
him to say, I will _glory in my infirmities_; for _when I am weak,
then I am strong_. *You believe, that if it was not for earnest and
continual prayer, your turn to melancholy would get the better of you.
You cannot believe this too much, for nothing else can preserve you
from being led away by every other evil temper. But let resignation to
God be the predominant part of your spirit of prayer; it is not so much
ardent desires, as humble resignation to be as God pleases, that keeps
the heart in the highest union with him. Faith and hope and love get
their best strength, when resignation is the salt wherewith they are
seasoned.
You think, if you was to live an hundred years in an _abstracted
contemplation_, some property of nature, would still be occasionally
breaking forth in you. What occasion had you, my friend, to make this
complaint about such a contemplation?
*You have no business with it, nor any reason to expect it should do
any thing for you. Had you changed your words, and said, I believe if
I was for a hundred years to be wholly trusting in, and depending upon
God, to do that for me which he has promised to do for all that trust
in him, it would not be done: had you expressed your complaint in these
words, you would have seen, that neither faith, nor hope, nor love, nor
resignation would have allowed you to make it. Look at yourself, at the
power of time, or any thing that this or that complexion does, and then
you may be afraid of every thing; but look at God, as him that is to
do all for you, and in you, and then you need be afraid of nothing. A
thorn, or no thorn, bad or good blood, with all its effects, loose all
their difference, as soon as you know that you are not your own, nor
left to yourself to seek a physician, that will not leave you unhealed.
_We know that_ all things must work together for good to _them that
love God_. Now what signifies what the things are, if we are to have
the same good from them, be they what they will? Let complexion shew
itself, let the dead ashes of old sins seem to be ready to come to
life again, what is all this, but helping us to be more alive unto
God? Therefore rejoice evermore, in every thing give thanks, and call
nothing but this, _abstracted contemplation_.
_Farewell._
* * * * *
LETTER XI.
_To a Clergyman of_ Westmoreland.
_Reverend Sir_,
ADAM’s turning from God, to hear the voice of his own _reason_ and
_imagination_, and the suggestions of a satanical serpent, was that
which created in him a new hardened heart, bold enough to eat of the
forbidden tree. Now this rise of the first sin, demonstrates how the
matter stands between God and every sinner, to the end of the world.
The whole nature of God, his one unalterable will and work, stands in
the same full opposition and contrariety to every work of sin in every
man, as it did to _Adam_’s first transgression. And that which God did
to prevent the first sin, saying to _Adam_, _Eat not_, that same voice
of love, keeps saying, to every son of _Adam_, _Sin not_.
Yet so wise in the ways of God, are some divinity students, as to teach
and preach, that the whole world through its thousands of years, has
been bringing forth its millions of myriads of sinners all round the
globe, who as soon as they have done with the vanity and misery of this
world, are to be roaring in the hottest fire of an eternal hell. For
what? Why, because they have been just as wicked, as the decrees of God
required and forced them to be. And also thro’ every age of the world,
there hath always been a little number of righteous, who were to go to
heaven, which number had no littleness in it, but because God would not
suffer it to be greater.
Can a charge like this be brought against Satan? Nay, doth it not
even free Satan from all the evil that is charged upon him, and make
him, though going about as a roaring lion, to be as insignificant a
tool in the work of sin, as the preacher is in the work of godliness,
though with ever so loud a voice, he beseeches the _reprobate_ to be
reconciled to God, or with tears in his eyes, exhorts the _elect_ not
to depart from him?
You once, I remember, said to me, that you thought I over-did the
matter, in my censure upon learning. Let learning therefore speak for
itself. Let its own works praise it. What has it done? What has brought
forth a _multiplicity_ of churches, but that very same acuteness of
learning, which asserts and proves there is but _one_? Whence comes
transubstantiation, election, reprobation, insignificancy of works,
socinianism, arianism, but from that knowledge of history, and critical
skill in words, which is the glory of the learned world.
_Without me ye can do nothing_, saith Christ. _That which a man soweth,
that shall he reap_, saith the apostle. Truths like these, of which
the scripture is full, would keep all believers in the true church,
attentive to the one thing needful, had not a learning, falsely so
called, filled all eyes with the dust of darkness.
Now, Sir, be as sober as you will about the use and power of learning,
logic, and eloquence, in the doctrines of salvation; condemn the bad
use that heretics, schismatics, arians and socinians have made of them;
yet let me whisper this truth into your ear, that you will never be
delivered from the delusion and cheat of your own learning, till by
a light risen up within you, you come to see, and know, that you want
no more learning, to change you from a sinner into a saint, than _Mary
Magdalen_ did.
*God said to _Abraham_, _Walk before me, and be thou perfect_. This
was the _Hebrew_ school, in which the father of the faithful, was to
learn to be perfect. But here now comes the scholar-critic, and finds
that matters stand not thus now, because the glorious light of the
gospel (he says) has discovered that all lies in an _election_ and
_reprobation_, and that salvation and damnation come from nothing else,
the apostle expressly saying, _It is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy_. What a learned strife
has there been about the meaning of these words? And yet they mean not
one jot more or less, than when the apostle saith, _The natural man
knoweth not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them_. All
that is in the one text, is in the other; and both of them say only
this one great and good truth, that the creature can have no divine
life, light, goodness, and happiness, but from _that_, which the holy
triune God is, and operates in it.
_Farewell._
An Extract from Mr. LAW’s
Address to the CLERGY.
_Published a little after his Death._
THE reason of my addressing this discourse to the clergy, is not,
because it treats of things not of common concern to all Christians,
but chiefly to induce them, as far as I can, to the serious perusal
of it; and because whatever is _essential_ to Christian salvation, if
either neglected, or mistaken by them, is of the saddest consequence
both to themselves, and the churches in which they minister. I say
_essential_ to salvation, for I would not turn my own thoughts, or call
the attention of Christians to any thing, but the _one thing_ needful,
the one thing _essential_, and only _available_, to our rising out of
our fallen state, and becoming, as we were at our creation, an holy
offspring of God, and real partakers of ♦of the divine nature.
♦ duplicate word “of” removed
If it be asked, What this one thing is? It is the SPIRIT OF GOD
♦WORKING SPIRITUAL LIFE IN US. Nothing else is wanted by us, nothing
else is intended for us by the law, the prophets, and the gospel.
Nothing else is, or can be effectual, to the making sinful man become
again a godly creature.
♦ “WOKKING” replaced with “WORKING”
Every thing else, however glorious and divine in outward appearance,
every thing that angels, men, _churches_ or _reformations_, can do for
us, is dead and helpless, but so far as it is, the _immediate work_ of
the Spirit of God, breathing, and living in it.
All scripture bears full witness to this truth, and the design of
all that is written, is only to call us back from the power of Satan,
the flesh and the world, to be again under full dependance upon,
and obedience to the Spirit of God. When this is done, all is done,
that the scripture can do for us. Read what chapter, or doctrine of
scripture you will, be ever so delighted with it, it will leave you as
poor, as empty, and unreformed, as it found you, unless it be a delight
that has turned you to the Spirit of God, and strengthened your union
with, and dependance upon him. For if it be an immutable truth, that
_no man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost_, it must be a
truth equally immutable, that no one can have any one _Christ-like_
temper, but so far as he is _immediately_ led, and governed by the Holy
Spirit.
The reasons of which are as follow.
All possible goodness was in God from all eternity, and must to all
eternity be _inseparable_ from him. As therefore before God created any
thing, it was certainly true, that there was but _one that was good_;
so it is just the same truth, after God had created innumerable hosts
of blessed, holy, and heavenly beings, that there is but _one that is
good_, and that is God.
All that can be called goodness, or holiness, in the creatures, is no
more their own, or the growth of their created powers, than they were
their own, before they were created. But all that is called goodness in
the creature, is nothing else but the _one_ goodness of God manifesting
itself in the creature, according as its created nature is fitted to
receive it. This is the unalterable state between God and the creature:
goodness, for ever and ever, can only belong to God, as _essential_ to
him, and _inseparable_ from him.
God could not make the creature to be great and glorious _in itself_;
this is as impossible, as for God to create beings into a state of
_independance_ on himself. _The heavens_, saith _David_, _declare the
glory of God_; and no creature, any more than the heavens can declare
any other glory, but that of God. And as well might it be said, _that
the firmament sheweth forth_ its own _handy-work_, as that a holy,
divine, or heavenly creature, sheweth forth its own natural power.
But if all that is great, glorious, and happy, in the spirits, tempers,
and enjoyments of the creature, is only so much of the greatness,
glory, majesty, and blessedness of God, dwelling in it, and displaying
his own triune _light_, _life_, and _love_, in and through the manifold
forms, and capacities of the creature, then we may infallibly see
the true ground and nature of all true religion. For the creatures
true religion is its rendering to God all that is God’s, it is its
continual acknowledging all that which it is, and has, and enjoys,
in and from God. This is the one true religion of all intelligent
creatures, whether in heaven, or on earth; for as they all have the
_same relation_ to God, so though ever so different in their states,
or offices, they all have but one and the same true religion, or right
behaviour towards God. Now the one _religion_, between God and all
intelligent creatures, is this, a _total, unalterable dependance upon
God_, an _immediate, continual receiving of every kind, and degree
of goodness, blessing, and happiness, that ever was, or can be found
in them, from God alone_. The highest angel has nothing of its _own_,
that it can offer to God, no more light, love, purity, perfection, that
spring from itself, or its own powers, than the poorest creature upon
earth.
Could the angel see a _spark_ of wisdom, goodness, or excellence, as
coming from, or belonging to _itself_, its place in heaven would be
lost, as sure as _Lucifer_ lost his. But they are ever abiding flames
of pure love, always ascending up to, and uniting with God, for this
reason, because the wisdom, the power, the glory, the majesty, the
love, and goodness of God _alone_, is all that they see, and feel, and
know, either within, or without themselves.――Songs of praise to their
heavenly Father, are their ravishing delight, because they see, and
know, and feel, that it is the _breath_ and _spirit_ of their heavenly
Father that _sings_ and _rejoices_ in them.――Their adoration in spirit
and in truth never ceases, because they never cease to acknowledge the
ALL of God;――the ALL of God in themselves, and the ALL of God in the
whole creation. This is the one religion of heaven, and nothing else is
the truth of religion on earth.
The matter plainly comes to this. Nothing can be _religion_ to the
intelligent creature, but the power and presence of God, _really_ and
_essentially_ living and working in it. But if this be the unchangeable
nature of religion, then of necessity the creature must have all
its _religious_ goodness, as wholly and solely from God’s _immediate
operation_, as it had its first goodness at its creation. And it is the
same impossibility for the creature to help itself to religion, by any
contrivance, reasonings, or workings of its own natural powers, as to
create itself. For the creature after its creation, can no more take
any thing to itself, that belongs to God, than it could take it before
it was created. And as the natural powers of the creature could only
come from the _one power_ of God, so _that_ which _comforts_, which
_enlightens_, which _blesses_, which gives peace, joy, goodness, and
rest to its natural powers, can be had in no other way, nor by any
other thing, but from God’s immediate, holy operation in it.
All true religion is, an essential union, and communion of the spirit
of the creature, with the Spirit of the Creator: God in it, and
it in God, one life, one light, one love. The Spirit of God first
sows the seed of divine union in the soul of every man; and religion
is, _that_, by which it is quickened, and brought to a fullness of
life in God.――Take a similitude of this.――The beginning of animal
breath, springs in the creature from the Spirit of this world, and
the respiration, keeps up an essential union of the animal life with
the spirit of this world. In like manner, faith, hope, love, and
resignation to God, are in the religious life, its acts of respiration,
which unite God and the creature, in the same essential manner, as
animal respiration, unites the breath of the animal, with the breath
of this world.
*Now as no animal could _begin_ to respire, but because it had its
beginning to breathe, from the air of this world, so no creature, angel
or man, could _begin_ to be religious, or breathe forth faith, love,
and desire towards God, but because these divine affections were by the
Spirit of God begotten in it.――And as a tree or plant can only grow,
and fructify by the same power, that first gave birth to the seed,
so faith, and hope, and love towards God, can only grow, and fructify
by the same power, that begat the first seed of them in the soul.
Therefore divine, immediate inspiration, and religion, are inseparable
in the nature of the thing.
Take away _inspiration_, or suppose it to cease, and no religious
acts, or affections can remain. For the creature can return nothing to
God, but _that_, which it has first received from him; therefore, if
it is to offer up to God, affections and aspirations, that are divine
and godly, it must of necessity have the divine nature living, and
breathing in it.――Can any thing reflect light, before it has received
it, or any other light, than that which it has received? Can any
creature breathe forth _earthly_ or _diabolical_ affections, before
it is possessed of an _earthly_, or _diabolical_ nature? Yet this is
as possible, as for any creature to have divine affections dwelling in
it, either _before_, or any _farther_, than it has, the divine nature,
dwelling, and operating in it.
A religious _faith, that_ is _uninspired_, a _hope_, or _love_, that
proceeds not from the immediate working of the divine nature within
us, can no more unite us with God, than an hunger after earthly food,
can feed us with the bread of heaven.――All that the _natural_, or
_uninspired_ man does, or can do in the church has no more of the truth,
or power of divine worship in it, than that, which he does in the field,
or shop, through a desire of riches.――And the reason is, because all
the acts of the natural man, whether relating to matters of religion,
or the world, must be equally selfish, and there is no possibility of
their being otherwise. For self-love, self-esteem, self-seeking, are
as strictly the whole of all that is, or can be, in the natural man,
as in the natural beast: the one can no more be better, or act above
his nature, than the other. Neither can any creature be in a better, or
higher state than this, till something supernatural is found in it: and
this supernatural something, called in scripture, the WORD, or SPIRIT,
or INSPIRATION of God, is _that alone_, from which man can have the
first good thought about God, or the least heavenly desire.
A religion that is not wholly built upon the _supernatural ground_, but
stands upon the powers, and reasonings of the natural, _uninspired_ man,
has not so much as the shadow of true religion in it, but is a mere
_nothing_, in the same sense, as an _idol_ is said to be _nothing_,
because the idol has _nothing_ of that in it, which is pretended by it.
For the work of religion has no _divine good_ in it, but as it brings
forth, and keeps up essential union of the spirit of man with the
Spirit of God; which essential union cannot be made, but through love
on both sides, nor by love, but where the love that works on both sides,
is of the _same nature_.
No man therefore can love God, or have unison with him, but he who is
inspired with the _same spirit of love_ with which God loved himself
from all eternity, and before there was any creature.――Infinite hosts
of new created heavenly beings, can begin no _new kind_ of love of God,
nor have the least power of beginning to love him at all, but by his
_own holy Spirit of love_. This love that was then in God alone, is
the _only love_ that can draw creatures to God; they can have no power
of cleaving to him, or adoring the divine nature, but by partaking of
that _eternal Spirit_ of love; and therefore the continual, immediate
inspiration, or operation of the Holy Spirit, is the only possible
ground of our continually loving God.――As to the _pride_ charged
upon this enthusiasm, so called; Christ saith, _without me ye can do
nothing_, the same as if he had said, As to yourselves, ye are mere
_helpless sin and misery_, and nothing that is good, can come from you,
but by the _continual, immediate_ breathing and inspiration of another
spirit, given by God, to overrule _your own_. Now is there any pride,
in fully believing and acting in full conformity to it? If so, then he
that confesses, he neither hath, nor can have a single farthing, but as
it is freely given him from charity, thereby declares himself to be a
purse-proud vain boaster of his own wealth. Such is the spiritual pride
of him, who fully acknowledges, that he neither hath, nor can have
the least spark of goodness, but what is freely breathed into him by
the Spirit of God. Again, if it is _spiritual pride_, to believe, that
nothing we think, or say, or do, can have any goodness in it, but that
which is wrought immediately by the Spirit of God, then it must be
said, that in order to have _humility_, we must take some share of our
virtues to ourselves, and not allow (as Christ hath said) that _without
him, we can do nothing_ that is good.
Behold a pride, and an humility, the one as good as the other, and both
logically descended from a wisdom, that confesses it cometh not from
above.
It is in vain to think, that there is a _middle way_, and that
_rational divines_ have found it out, as Dr. _Warburton_ has done, who
though denying _immediate, continual_ inspiration yet allows, that the
Spirit’s “ordinary influence, occasionally assists the faithful.”¹
¹ Sermon. Volume I.
*Now this _middle way_, hath neither scripture, nor sense in it:
for an _occasional_ influence, or concurrence, is as absurd, as an
_occasional_ God. For an occasional _influence_ of the Spirit upon
us, supposes an occasional _absence_ of the spirit from us. For there
could be no such thing, unless God was sometimes with us, and sometimes
not, sometimes doing us good, as the God of our life, and sometimes
doing us no good, but leaving us to be good from ourselves.――Occasional
influence necessarily implies all this blasphemous absurdity. Again,
this _middle way_ of an _occasional influence_ supposes, that there is
something of _man’s own_ that is good. But if there was any thing good
in man, it could not be true, that there is only _one that is good, and
that is God_. And was there any goodness in creatures, either in heaven,
or on earth, but the _one goodness_ of the divine nature, living,
working, and manifesting itself in them, as its created instruments,
then good creatures, both in heaven and on earth, would have something
else to adore, besides, or along with God. For goodness, be it where it
will, is adorable for itself; if therefore any degree of it belonged to
the creature, it ought to have a share of that same adoration, that is
paid to the Creator.
All religion is of _divine inspiration_, which being interpreted, is
_Immanuel_, or God _with us_. Every thing short of this, is short of
that religion, which worships God in Spirit and in truth. And every
religious trust or confidence in any thing else, is but a sort of
image-worship, which though it may deny the form, yet retains the
power thereof in the heart. And he that places any religious safety, in
theological decisions, scholastic points, in particular doctrines and
opinions, about _faith, justification, sanctification, or election_,
so far departs from the true worship of the living God, and sets up
an _idol_ of notions, to be worshipped, if not instead of, yet along
with him. And I believe, it may be taken for a certain truth, that
every society of Christians, whose religion stands upon this ground,
however ardent and laborious their zeal may be in such matters, yet in
spite of all, sooner or later, it will be found that nature is at the
bottom, and that a selfish, earthly pride in their own definitions and
doctrines, will by degrees creep up to the same height, and do those
very same things, which they exclaim against in Popes, Cardinals, and
Jesuits. Nor can it be otherwise; for a letter-learned zeal has but
one nature, wherever it is; it can only do that for Christians, which
it did for Jews; as it antiently brought forth Scribes, Pharisees,
Hypocrites, and Crucifiers of Christ, as it afterwards brought forth
Popes, Papal decrees, images, anathemas, transubstantiation; so in
Protestant countries, it will be doing the same thing, only with _other
materials_; images of wood and clay, will only be given up for _images
of doctrines_; grace and works, imputed sin, and imputed righteousness,
election and reprobation, will have their synods of _Dort_, as truly
evangelical, as any council of _Trent_.
This must be the case of all fallen Christendom, as well Popish as
Protestant, till single men, and churches, know, confess, and firmly
adhere to this truth, _viz._ _That our salvation is in the life of
Jesus Christ in us_. Every thing besides this, or that is not leading
to it, is but mere Babel in all sects, and divisions of Christians,
living to themselves, under a seeming holiness of Christian strife,
and contention about scripture words. But this truth of truths, fully
possessed, brings God and man together, puts an end to every _Lo here_,
and _Lo there_, and turns the whole faith of man to a Christ, that can
no where be a Saviour to him, but in his inmost soul, nor there, by
any other means, but the _immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit_.
To this man, all scripture gives daily edification; the words of Christ
and his apostles fall like a fire into him. And what is it, that they
kindle there? Not notions, not itching ears, not rambling desires after
new and new expounders of them, but a holy flame of love, to be always
attending to Christ, and his Holy Spirit within him, who alone can make
him to be, and do all that which the words of Christ, and his apostles
have taught. For there is no possibility of being _like-minded_ with
Christ, but by the nature and Spirit of Christ, living in us. Read all
our Saviour’s sermon on the mount, consent to every part of it, yet
the time of practising it, will never come, till you have a new nature
from Christ, and are as vitally in him, and he in you, as the vine in
the branch, and the branch in the vine. For no blessedness can be found
either in men or angels, but where the Spirit, and life of God are
within them. And all _men_, all _churches_, not placing all in the
life, light, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, but pretending to act for
the glory of God, from _opinions_ which their logic and learning have
collected from scripture words, or from what a _Calvin_, an _Arminus_,
or some smaller name, has told them, are but where the apostles were,
when _there was a strife amongst them, who should be the greatest_.
And how much soever they may say of their zeal for truth, and the
glory of God, yet their behaviour towards one another, is proof enough,
that the great strife among them is, which shall have the greatest
number of followers. Whereas not numbers of men, or kingdoms professing
Christianity, but numbers, redeemed from the death of _Adam_, to
the life of Christ, are the glory of the Christian church. And in
whatever _national_ Christianity, any thing else is sought after,
by the profession of the gospel, but a _new heavenly life_, through
the eternal Son of God, wrought in the fallen soul; there, the spirit
of _satanic_ and _worldly_ subtlety, will be church, and priest, and
supreme power, in all that is called religion.
But to return to the doctrine of continual inspiration. The _natural_
man, educated in _Pagan_ learning, and _scholastic_ theology, seeing
the strength of his genius in the search after knowledge, how easy
and learnedly he can talk, and write, criticise and determine upon all
scripture words and facts, looks at all this, as a full proof of his
own religious wisdom, and calls immediate inspiration, enthusiasm; not
considering, that _all the woes_ denounced by Christ against Scribes,
Pharisees, and Hypocrites, are so many woes, denounced against every
appearance and shew of religion, that the natural man can practise.
And what is well to be noted, every one, however high in human
literature, is but this very natural man, and can only have the
goodness of a _carnal_ religion, till as empty of all, as a new-born
child, the Spirit of God becomes the _inspirer_ and _doer_ of all that
he wills, does, and aims at, in his whole course of religion.
*But to all this, it must be added, that a _religion_ of worldly
glory and prosperity carried on, under the gospel-state, has more
of a diabolical nature, than that of the Jewish Pharisees. It is the
_highest_, and _last_ working of the mystery of iniquity, because it
lives to Satan and the world, in and by a daily profession of being
crucified with Christ, of being led by his Spirit, of being risen from
the world, and set with him in heavenly places.
I would ask all _writers_ against _continual, immediate_ divine
inspiration, how they could more effectually lead men, into an
_habitual_ state of _sinning_ against the Holy Ghost, than by such
doctrine? For how can we possibly avoid the sin of grieving, or
quenching the Spirit, but by continually reverencing his holy presence
in us; by continually waiting for, trusting, and attending to that,
which the Spirit of God, _wills_, _works_, and _manifests_ within us?
To turn men from this continual dependance upon the Holy Spirit, is
turning them from all true knowledge of God. For without this, there
is no possibility of any edifying, saving knowledge of God. For tho’
we have ever so many mathematical demonstrations of his _being_, we are
without all real knowledge of him, till his own Spirit manifests him,
as a power of life, light, and goodness, vitally felt, and adored in
our souls. This is the one knowledge of God, which _is eternal life_;
this is that knowledge of which Christ saith, no one _knoweth the
Father but the Son, and he_ to _whomsoever the Son revealeth him_. And
if none belong to God, but those who are _led by the spirit of God_,
if we are reprobates unless the Spirit of Christ be living in us, who
need be told, that all we have to trust to, as children of God, is
the _continual_, _immediate guidance_, _unction_, and _teaching of his
Holy Spirit_? Or how can we more _profanely_ sin against this Spirit,
or more expressly call men from the power of God unto Satan, than
by ridiculing a faith and hope, that look _wholly_ to his continual,
immediate operations, for all that can be holy and good in us?
This is the end of all scripture; for all that is there said, however
learnedly read, or studied by _Hebrew_ or _Greek_ skill, fails of its
end, till it brings us to feel all that the scriptures speak of God
and man, verified in our own souls. For all is within man, that can be
either good or evil to him: God _within him_, is his divine life; Satan
_within him_ is his life of _earthly wisdom_, of diabolical falseness,
wrath, pride, and vanity of every kind. There is no middle-way, he that
is not under the power of the one, is under the power of the other;
so far therefore as man loses this life of God, so far he falls under
the power of _Satan_ and _worldly wisdom_. When St. _Peter_, full of
an _human_ love to Christ, advised him to avoid his sufferings, Christ
rejected him with _Get thee behind me, Satan_; and only gave this
reason for it, thou _savourest not the things that be of God, but the
things that be of men_. A plain proof that whatever is not from the
Holy Spirit of God, however plausible it may seem to men, is yet in
itself, nothing else but the power of Satan in us. *Christians, seeking
any thing else, but to be inspired by the _Spirit_ of God, will bring
forth a _Christendom_, that in the sight of God will have no other name,
than a spiritual _Babylon_, a spiritual _Egypt_, a scarlet _whore_,
a devouring _beast_, and _red dragon_. For all these names belong to
all men, however learned, and to all churches, whether greater or less,
in which the spirit of this world hath any share of power. This was
the fall of the _whole church_, soon after the apostolic ages; and all
_human reformations_, begun by ecclesiastical _learning_, and supported
by civil power, will signify little or nothing, till all churches dying
to their own will, wisdom, and own advancement, seek for no reforming
power, but from that Spirit of God, which converted Sinners, Publicans,
Harlots, Jews and Heathens, into an holy, apostolical church, a church,
which knew they were of God, that they belonged to God, by that spirit
which he had given them, and which worked in them.
*Time, and the things of time, will soon have an end; and he that
trusts to any thing but the Spirit of God working in his heart, will
be but ill fitted to enter into eternity; God must be all in all in us
here, or we cannot be his hereafter. Time works only for eternity; and
poverty eternal must as certainly follow him, who dies only stuffed
with human learning, as he who dies only full of worldly riches. The
folly of thinking to have any divine learning, but that which the Holy
Spirit teaches, or to make ourselves rich in knowledge towards God, by
heaps of common place learning, will leave us, as dreadfully cheated,
as that rich builder of barns in the gospel, to whom it was said, _Thou
fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and then, whose
shall all these things be_? Luke 12. So is every man that treasures up
a religious learning, that comes not wholly from the Spirit of God.
Farther, what a blindness is it, to charge persons with the
_enthusiasm_ of holding the necessity of continual, immediate
inspiration, and to attack them as enemies to the established
church, when every body’s eyes see, that collect after collect in the
established liturgy, teaches, and requires them to believe, and pray
for the continual inspiration of the Spirit, as that alone, by which
they can have the least good thought or desire? Thus, “O God, forasmuch
as without thee, we are not able to please thee; mercifully grant
that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts.”
Is it possible for words more strongly to express the necessity of a
continual, divine inspiration? Or can inspiration be higher, or more
immediate in prophets and apostles, than that which directs, that
which rules our hearts, not now and then, but in all things? Or can
the absolute necessity of this be more fully declared, than by saying,
that if it is not in this degree both of height and continuance in our
hearts, nothing that is done by us, can be pleasing to God?
Now the matter is not at all about the _different effects_, proceeding
from inspiration, as whether by it, a man be made a _saint_ in himself,
or sent by God with a _prophetic_ message to others, this affects not
the _nature_ and _necessity_ of inspiration, which is just as necessary
to _all true goodness_, as to all _true prophecy_. All scripture is
of divine inspiration. But why so? _Because holy men of old, spake_ as
_they were moved_ by _the Holy Ghost_. Now the above collect, as well
as Christ and his apostles, oblige us in like manner to hold, that all
_holiness is by divine inspiration_, and that therefore there could
have been no _holy men_ of old, or in any latter times, but solely for
this reason, because they LIVED, _as they were moved by the Holy Ghost_.
Again, the liturgy prays thus, “O God, from whom all good things do
come, grant that by thy holy inspiration, we may think those things
that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same.” Now,
if I have ever said any thing _higher_ of the nature, and necessity of
_continual, divine inspiration_, than this church-prayer does, I refuse
no censure. But if I have, from all that we know of _God_, shewn the
utter impossibility of any goodness in us, but from the _divine nature_
in us, if I have shewn, that Christ and his apostles, over and over
say the same thing; and that our _church liturgy_ is daily praying
according to it; what kinder thing can I say of those churchmen, who
accuse me of _enthusiasm_, than that which Christ said of his blind
crucifiers, _Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do_!
It is to no purpose to object to all this, that these kingdoms are
over-run with enthusiasts who are acting in the wildest manner, under
the pretence of being led by the Spirit. Be it so, or not so, the
doctrine I am upon is not in the least affected by it. For what an
argument would this be; _enthusiasts_ make a bad use of the doctrine
of being _led by the Spirit of God_, ergo, he is _enthusiastical_ who
_preaches up the doctrine of being led_ by _the Spirit of God_. Now
as absurd as this is, was any of my accusers, as high in _genius_, as
_bulky_ in learning, as _Colossus_ was in stature, he would be at a
loss to bring a stronger argument than this, to prove me an enthusiast,
or an abettor of them.
_Except ye be converted_, and _become as little children_, _ye cannot
enter_ into the kingdom of God. Now as sure as this is necessary, so
sure is it, that no one can be thus converted, till _natural reason_,
and his own will, are equally denied.
Now whether this reason, broken off from God, contendeth about the
difference of scripture words and opinions, or reasoneth against them,
the same evil state of fallen nature, the same separation from God,
the same evil tempers of flesh and blood, will be equally strengthened
by the one, as by the other. Hence it is, that Papists and Protestants
are hating, fighting, and killing one another for the sake of their
_different, excellent_ opinions, and yet, as to the _lust of the flesh_,
the _lust of the eye_, and _the pride of life_, they are in the highest
union, and communion with one another. For if you expect a _zealous
Protestant_ to be _therefore_ alive to God, or a _zealous Papist_ to
be _therefore_ dead to all goodness, you may be said, to have lived in
the world without either eyes or ears.――And the reason why it must be
so, is because _bad_ syllogisms _for_ transubstantiation, and _better_
syllogisms _against_ it, signify no more towards the casting _Satan out
of our souls_, than a bad, or better taste for painting.
Hence also it is, that Christendom, full of the nicest decisions about
faith, grace, works, merits, satisfaction, &c. is full of all those
evil tempers, which prevailed in the Heathen world, when none of these
things were thought of.
A _scholar_, pitying the blindness and folly of those who live to
themselves in the cares and pleasures of this vain life, thinks himself
to have escaped the pollutions of the world, because he is day after
day, dividing, dissecting, and mending church opinions, fixing heresies
here, schisms there; forgetting all the while, that _carnal self-will_
and _natural reason_ have the doing of all that is done by this learned
zeal, and are as busy and active in him, as in the _reasoning_ infidel,
or _projecting_ worldling. For where _this is wholly denied_, there
nothing can be called heresy, or wickedness, but the want of loving
God with our whole heart, and our neighbour as ourselves: nor any
thing be called life or salvation, but the Spirit and power of Christ
manifesting itself in us. But where the _natural man_ is become great
in religious learning, there the greater the scholar, the more firmly
will he be fixed in their religion, whose _God is their belly_.
*Hence may be seen, the great and like blindness both of Infidels and
Christians; the one in trusting to their own reason, dwelling in its
own logical conclusions; the other in trusting to their own reason,
dwelling in learned opinions about scripture words and phrases, and
doctrines built upon them. “For as soon as it is known, that _God is
all in all_, that in him we _live and move_ and _have our being_; that
we can have nothing _separately_, or out of him, but every thing in
him; that we have no being, or degree of being but in him; that he can
give us nothing as our good, but himself, nor any degree of salvation
from our fallen nature, but in such degree, as he again communicates
something more of himself to us: as soon as this is known, then it is
known with the utmost evidence, that to put a religious trust in our
own reason, whether confined to itself, or working in doctrines about
scripture words, has the nature of that same idolatry, that puts a
religious trust in the _sun_, a departed _saint_, or a graven _image_.”
And as _image-worship_ has often boasted of its divine power, because
of the wonders of zeal and devotion, that have been raised thereby in
thousands, and ten thousands of its followers; so it is no marvel, if
_opinion-worship_ should often have, and boast of the same effects.
What poor divinity-knowledge comes from great _scholars_, and great
_readers_, may be sufficiently seen from the two following quotations
in a _late dissertation on enthusiasm_; the one is taken from Dr.
_Warburton_’s sermons, the other from a _pastoral letter_ of Mr.
_Stinstra_, a preacher amongst the _Mennonists of Friesland_. That
from Dr. Warburton, stands thus: “By them (that is, by the writings
of the New Testament) the prophetic promise of our Saviour, that
the _Comforter_ should abide for ever; was _eminently_ fulfilled.
For tho’ his ordinary influence _occasionally_ assists the faithful,
yet his _constant abode_ and _supreme illumination_ is in the sacred
scriptures.¹” Dr. _Warburton_’s doctrine is this, that the inspired
books of the New Testament, is that _Comforter_, or _Spirit_ of _truth_,
which is meant by Christ’s being _always_ with his church.――Let us put
the Doctor’s doctrine into the letter of the text, which will best shew
how true, or false it is.
¹ Dissertation, page 10.
*Our Lord saith, _it is expedient for you that I go away_, or _the
Comforter will not come_: that is, it is expedient for you, that I
leave off teaching you in words, that sound only into your _outward
ears_, that you may have the _same words_ in writing, for your _outward
eyes_ to look upon; for if I do not depart from this vocal way of
teaching you, the Comforter will not come, that is, ye will not have
the comfort of _my words written on paper_. But if I go away, I will
send written books, which shall lead you into such a _truth of words_,
as ye could not have, whilst they were only spoken from my mouth; but
being written on paper, they will be my _spiritual, heavenly, constant
abode_ with you.
Christ saith further; _I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now: howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he shall guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself,
for he shall receive of mine_, and _shall shew it unto you_: that is,
though ye cannot be sufficiently instructed from my words at present,
yet when they shall hereafter come to you in written books, they
will give you a knowledge of all truth, for they shall not speak of
themselves, but shall receive words from me, and shew them unto you.
*Christ also saith, if _any man love me, my Father will love him, and
we will come unto him and make our abode with him_: that is, according
to the Doctor’s theology, certain books of scripture will come to him,
and make their abode with him; for he expressly confineth the _constant
abode_, and _supreme illumination_ of God, to the holy scriptures.
Therefore (horrible to say) God’s inward presence, his operating power
of life and light in our souls, his dwelling in us, and we in him, is
something of a lower nature, that only may occasionally happen, and has
less of God in it, than the dead letter of scripture, which alone is
his constant abode and supreme illumination――Miserable fruits of a
paradoxical genius!
_Rabbi_, saith Nicodemus to Christ, _we know that thou art a teacher
come from God_: now this must be said of the scripture likewise; it
is a _teacher from God_, and therefore fully to be believed, highly
reverenced, and strictly followed. But as Christ’s teaching in the
flesh was only preparatory to his vital teaching by the Spirit; so
the teaching of scripture by words written with ink and paper, is only
preparatory to the teaching of God, by his Spirit within us. Every
other opinion of the holy scripture, but that of an _outward teacher_
and guide to God’s _inward teaching_, is but making an idol-god of it:
I say an idol-god; for to those who rest in it as the _constant abode
and supreme illumination_ of _God with them_, it can be nothing else.
For, if nothing of divine _faith_, _love_, or _goodness_, can have
place in us, but by _divine inspiration_, they who think these virtues
may be sufficiently raised in us by the letter of scripture, do in
truth make the letter of scripture their _inspiring God_.
The apostles preached, and wrote to the people by _divine inspiration_.
But what do they say of their _inspired doctrine_, and teachings? What
virtue was there in them? Do they say that their words, and teachings,
was the very _promised Comforter_, the _Spirit_ of _truth_, the _true
abode_, and _supreme illumination_ of God in the souls of men? So far
from such a blasphemous thought, that they affirm the direct contrary,
and compare all their _inspired_ teachings to the _dead works_ of bare
_planting_ and _watering_, and which must continue dead, till _life_
come into them from much higher power. _I have planted_, saith St. Paul,
Apollos _hath watered_, but _God gave the increase_. And then further
to shew, that this planting and watering, which was the _highest
work_ that an _inspired_ apostle could do, was yet, in itself, to be
considered, as a lifeless, powerless thing; he adds, _So then_, neither
_is he that planteth_ any _thing_; nor he that _watereth_; but _God
that giveth the increase_.
But if this must be said of all that, which the _inspired apostles_
taught in outward words, that it was nothing in itself, was without
power, without life, and only such a _preparation_ towards life, as
is that of planting and watering; must not the same be said of their
_inspired teachings_, when left behind them in writing? For what else
are the apostolical scriptures, but those very instructions put into
writing, which they affirmed to be bare planting and watering, quite
powerless in themselves, till the living Spirit of God worked with
them? Or will any one say, that what _Paul_, _Peter_, and _John_, spoke
by inspiration from their own mouths, was indeed but bare planting and
watering, in order to be capable of receiving life from God: but when
these apostolical instructions, were written on paper, they were raised
out of their first inability, got the _nature_ of God himself, became
_spirit_ and _life_, and might be called the _great quickening_ power
of God, or, as the Doctor says, the _constant abode_, and _supreme
illumination of his Spirit with us_?
I exceedingly love and highly reverence the sacred writings of the
apostles and evangelists, and would gladly persuade every one to pay
as profound a regard to them, as they would to an _Elijah_, a _John
Baptist_, or a _Paul_, whom they knew to be immediately sent from
heaven with God’s message to them.――I reverence them, as fitted to do
all that good amongst Christians _now_, which the apostles did in their
day, and as of the same benefit to the church of every age, as their
_planting_ and _watering_ was to the first.
But if this is not thought that fullness of regard, that is due to the
holy messengers of God; if any one will still be so learnedly wise, as
to affirm, that though _Paul_’s preaching in his epistles, whilst he
was alive, was indeed only bare planting and watering, but the same
epistles being published after his death, got another nature, became
full of divine and living power; such a one hath no right to laugh (as
the Doctor doth) at the silly _Mahometan_, who believes the Alcoran
to be _uncreated_. For wherever there is _divine efficacy_, there must
be an _uncreated_ power. And if, as the Doctor saith, the scriptures
of the New Testament are the _only constant abode_, and _supreme
illumination_ of the Spirit of God with us, all that is said of the
_eternal_ Spirit of God, of the _uncreated light_, ought to be said of
them; that they are the WORD that was God, was with God, and are our
true Immanuel, or God with us.
I shall now only add this friendly hint to the Doctor, that he has
a remedy at hand in his own _sermon_, how he may be delivered from
thus grossly mistaking the spirit of the gospel, as well as the law
of _Moses_. “St. _Paul_ (saith the Doctor) had a quick and lively
imagination, and an extensive and intimate acquaintance with those
masters in moral painting, the classic writers; (N. B.) all which he
proudly sacrificed to the glory of the everlasting gospel.”¹
¹ Sermon, Volume I. page 229.
Now if the Doctor did that (though it was only from _humility_) which
he says the apostle did _proudly_, such humility might be as great a
good to him, as that pride was to the apostle. And if the everlasting
gospel is now as glorious a thing as it was in St. _Paul_’s days;
if the highest classic knowledge is fit for nothing but to be _all
sacrificed to the glory of the gospel_; how wonderful is it that this
should never come into his head, from the beginning to the end of his
three long legation-volumes, or that he should come piping hot with
fresh and fresh beauties found out by himself in a _Shakespeare_, a
_Pope_, &c. to preach from the pulpit, the divine wisdom of a _Paul_,
in renouncing all his great classical attainments, as mere loss and
dung, that by so doing, he might _win Christ_, and _be found in him_!
Let the Doctor figure to himself the gaudy pageantry of a high mass
in a _Romish_ cathedral; let him wonder at that flagrant, daring
contrariety, that it hath to the first gospel church of Christ. Would
he not still be fuller of wonder, if he should hear the pope declaring,
that all this Heathenish shew of invented fopperies, was his _projected
defence_ of that first church of Christ? But if the Doctor would
see a Protestant wonder, full as great, he need only look at his own
theatrical parading show of Heathen mysteries, and Heathenish learning,
set forth in the highest pomp. To what end? Why to bring forth what he
calls, (as the pope above) his _projected defence of Christianity_.
I come now to the quotation from the pastoral letter of Mr. _Stinstra_.
“A judicious writer, (says the dissertation) observes, that _sound_
understanding, and reason, are _that on_ which, and by which, God
_principally_ operates, (N. B.) when he finds it proper to assist
(N. B.) our _weakness_ by his Spirit.”¹
¹ Dissertation, page 73.
I cannot more illustrate the sense, or extol the judgment, both of the
_author_ and _quoter_ of this striking passage, than by the following
words.
A judicious naturalist observes, that _sound_ and _strong_ lungs,
are that, _on_ which, and _by_ which, the air or spirit of this world
_principally_ operates, when (N. B.) he finds it proper to assist,
(N. B.) the _weakness_ of our lungs, by his breathing into them.”
Now if any man should find his heart edified, his understanding
enlightened, by the above passage on _divine inspiration_, he will be
pleased at my assuring him, that the pastoral letter of Mr. _Stinstra_,
and the dissertation on enthusiasm, by Dr. _Green_, are from the
beginning to the end, full as good in every respect, as that is.
These two instances are proof enough, that as soon as any man trusts
to natural abilities, skill in languages, and common-place learning, as
the true means of entering into the kingdom of God, a kingdom of God,
which is nothing but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost;
he gives himself up to _certain delusion_, and can escape no _error_
that is popular, or that suits his state and situation in the learned,
religious world. He has sold his birthright in the gospel-state of
_divine_ illumination, to make a figure and noise, with the sounding
brass and tinkling cimbals of the natural man.
Thus Doctor _Green_, wanting to write on _divine inspiration_, runs
from book to book, from country to country, to _pick up reports_
wherever he could find them, concerning divine inspiration, from this
and that _judicious_ author, that so he might be sure of compiling a
_judicious_ dissertation on the subject. All which he might have known
to be mere delusion, had he but remembered, or regarded any one single
saying either of Christ or his apostles concerning the _Holy Spirit_,
and _his operations_. For not a word is said by them, but fully
shews that all knowledge of the Spirit, is only that which the Spirit
manifests in man.
*But there is a degree of delusion still higher to be noted, in such
writers, as Dr. _Green_; for his collection of ingenious, eminent,
rational authors, of whom he asks counsel concerning the necessity, or
certainty of the immediate inspiration of the Spirit, are such as deny
it, and write against it. Therefore the proceeding is just as wise, as
if a man was to consult some ingenious, and eminent _Atheists_, about
the truth and certainty of God’s immediate, continual providence;
or ask a few select _Deists_, how, or what he was to believe of the
nature and power of gospel-faith. Now there are the Holy Spirit’s own
operations, and there are reports about them. The only true reports
are those that are made by inspired persons; and if there were no such
persons, there could be no true reports of the matter. And therefore to
consult uninspired persons, and such as deny, and reproach the pretence
to inspiration, to be rightly instructed about the truth of immediate,
continual divine inspiration, is a degree of blindness, greater than
can be charged upon the old Jewish Scribes and Pharisees.
The reports, that are to be acknowledged as true, concerning the Holy
Spirit, and his operations, are those that are recorded in scripture;
that is, the scriptures are an infallible history, or relation of that
which the Holy Spirit is, and does, and works in true believers; and
also an infallible direction how we are to seek, and wait, and trust
in his good power over us. But then the scriptures themselves, though
thus true, and infallible in these reports about the Holy Spirit, yet
can go no farther, than to be a true history; they cannot give the
reader the possession and enjoyment of that which they relate. This
is plain, not only from the nature of a written history, but from the
express words of our Lord, _Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God_. Therefore, the new birth, is that alone, which
gives true knowledge and perception of that which is the kingdom of God.
The history may relate truths about it; but the kingdom of God, being
nothing else, but the power and presence of God, dwelling and ruling in
our souls, this can only manifest itself in man, by the new birth.
*Poor, miserable man! that strives with all the sophistry of human wit,
to be delivered from the immediate, continual operation and government
of the Spirit of God, not considering, that where God is not, there is
the devil, and where the Spirit rules not, there all is the work of the
flesh, tho’ nothing be talked of, but spiritual and Christian matters.
I say talked of; for the best ability of the natural man, can go no
farther than talk, and notions, and opinions about scripture words
and facts; in these, he may be a great critic, an acute logician, a
powerful orator, and know every thing of scripture, except the spirit
and the truth.
How much then is it to be lamented, that though all scripture assures
us, the things of the Spirit of God, must to the end of the world, be
foolishness to the natural man; yet from one end of learned Christendom
to the other, nothing is thought of, as the proper means of attaining
divine knowledge, but that which every natural, proud, envious, false,
vain-glorious, worldly man can do. Where is that divinity-student, who
thinks, or was ever taught to think, of partaking of the light of the
gospel any other way, than by doing with the scriptures, that which
he does with Pagan writers, whether poets, orators, or comedians,
viz. exercising his logic, rhetoric, and critical skill, in discanting
upon them? This done, he is thought by himself, and others, to have a
sufficiency of divine, apostolical knowledge. What wonder therefore if
it should sometimes happen, that the very same vain, corrupt, puffing
literature, that raises one man to be a poet-laureat, should set
another in a divinity chair?
How is it, that the logical, critical, learned deist comes by his
infidelity? Why by the same help of the same good powers of the
_natural man_, as many a learned Christian comes to know, and contend
for the gospel. For, drop divine inspiration, and all is dropt, that
can give the believer any godly difference from the infidel. The
Christian therefore that rejects and writes against the necessity of
immediate divine inspiration, pleads the whole cause of infidelity:
he confirms the ground on which it stands; and has nothing to prove
the goodness of his own Christianity, but that which equally proves
to the deist, the goodness of his infidelity. For without the new
birth, or which is the same thing, without immediate, continual divine
inspiration, the difference between the Christian, and the Infidel,
is lost; and whether the uninspired, unregenerate son of Adam, be in
the church, or out of the church, he is still that child of this world,
_that_ mere natural man, to whom the _things of the Spirit of_ God, are
and must be foolishness.――Nothing but the loss of the light and Spirit
of God, turned an order of angels into devils.――Nothing but the loss of
that same light and Spirit, took from Adam, his first crown of glory,
stript him more naked than the beasts, and left him a prey to devils,
and in the jaws of eternal death.――What therefore can have the least
power towards man’s redemption, but the light and Spirit of God? Or
what can begin, or bring forth the return of his first state, but this
eternal light and Spirit.――Hence it is, that the gospel-state is by our
Lord, affirmed to _be a kingdom of heaven_, because it has the nature
of no worldly thing, is to serve no worldly ends, can be helped by
no worldly power, receives nothing from man, but man’s full denial
of himself, stands upon nothing that is finite or transitory, has no
existence but in that power of God, that created and upholds heaven
and earth; and is a kingdom of God become man, and a kingdom of men
united to God, through a continual, immediate divine illumination. What
scripture of the New Testament can you read, that does not prove this
to be the gospel-state, a kingdom of God, into which none can enter,
but by being born of the Spirit, none can continue, but by being led
by the Spirit, and in which not a thought, or desire, or action, can
be allowed to have any part, but as it is a fruit of the Spirit?
What now have parts, and literature, and the natural abilities of man,
that they can do here? Just as much as they can do at the resurrection
of the dead; for all that is to be done here, is nothing else, but
_resurrection_ and _life_. Therefore, that which gave eyes to the blind,
cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, and raised the dead; that alone
can, and must do all that is to be done in this gospel kingdom of God.
For the smallest work of grace must be as solely done by God, as the
_greatest miracle_ in nature: because every work of grace, is the same
overcoming of nature, as when the dead are raised to life. Yet vain
man would be thought to have great power in this kingdom of grace,
not because he happens to be born of noble parents, but because he
has happened to be made a scholar, has run through all languages and
histories, has been long exercised in conjectures and criticisms,
and has his head as full of all notions, theological, poetical and
philosophical, as a dictionary is full of words.
Now let this simple question decide the matter: has this great scholar
any more power of _saying to this mountain, be thou removed hence, and
cast into the sea_, than the illiterate Christian? If not, he is just
as weak, as powerless, and little in the kingdom of God, as he is. But
if the illiterate man’s faith, should happen to be nearer to the _bulk_
of a grain of mustard-seed, than that of the _prodigious scholar_, the
illiterate Christian stands much above him in the kingdom of God.
Look now at the present state of Christendom, glorying in the light
of Greek and Roman learning, (lately broke forth) as a _light_ that
has helped the gospel to shine with a lustre, that it scarce ever had
before. Look at this, and you will see the _fall_ of the present church
from its first gospel state, to have much likeness to the _fall_ of the
first _divine_ man, from the glory of innocence, and heavenly purity,
into an earthly state of worldly craft and serpentine subtilty.
In the first gospel church, Heathen light had no other name, than
Heathen darkness; and the wisdom of words was no more sought after,
than that _friendship_ of the world, which is _enmity_ with God.
In that new-born church, the _tree of life, which grew in the midst
of paradise_, took root and grew up again. In the present church,
the _tree of life_ is hissed at, as the visionary food of deluded
enthusiasts; and the tree of _death_, called the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, has the eyes and hearts of priest and people, and
is thought to do as much good to Christians, as it did evil to the
first inhabitants of paradise.――――This tree, that brought death and
corruption into human nature, is now called a tree of _light_, and is,
day and night, well watered with every corrupt stream, however distant
or muddy with earth, that can be drawn to it.
But now, what follows from this new risen light? Why _Aristotle_’s
atheism, _Cicero_’s height of pride and depth of dissimulation, and
every refined or gross species of _Greek_ and _Roman_ vices, are as
glaring in this new enlightened Christian church, as ever they were in
old pagan _Greece_, or _Rome_. Would you find a _gospel Christian_, in
all this _mid-day glory_ of learning, you may light a candle, as the
philosopher did in the mid-day sun, to find an honest man.
How poorly was the gospel at first preached, if the wisdom of words,
and if wit and imagination had been its genuine helps? But alas they
stand in the same contrariety to one another, as self-denial and
self-gratification. To know the truth of gospel-salvation, is to
know that man’s natural _wisdom_ is to be equally sacrificed with his
natural _folly_: for they are but one and the same thing, only called
sometimes by one name, and sometimes by the other.
His intellectual faculties are, by the _fall_, in a much worse state
than his natural animal appetites, and want a much greater self-denial.
And when our own _will_, our own _understanding_ and _imagination_ have
their natural strength indulged, and are made rich and honourable with
the treasures acquired from a study of the _Belles Lettres_, they will
just as much help poor fallen men to be _like-minded_ with Christ, as
the _art_ of _cookery_, well and daily studied, will help a professor
of the gospel, to the spirit and practice of Christian abstinence.
Who then can enough wonder at that bulk of libraries, which has taken
place of the short gospel? Or at that number of champion disputants,
who from age to age have been all in arms to support a set of opinions
and practices, all which may be most cordially embraced without the
least degree of self-denial, and most firmly held without _the least
degree_ of humility.
What a grossness of ignorance, both of man and his Saviour, to run to
Greek and Roman schools, to learn how to put off _Adam_, and to put
on Christ? To drink at the fountains of Pagan poets and orators, in
order more divinely to drink of the cup that Christ drank of?――――What
can come of all this, but that which is already too much come, a
_Ciceronian_ gospeller, instead of a gospel _penitent_?
This will be more or less the case with all the doctrines of Christ,
whilst under classical acquisition, and administration. Those divine
truths, which are no farther good and redeeming, but as they are spirit
and life in us, will serve only to help _classic painters_ (as Dr. W.¹
calls them) to lavish out their colours on their own paper monuments of
lifeless virtues.
¹ As this address was wrote sometime ago, in which are certain
strictures upon Dr. _Warburton_’s writings, who has lately
been consecrated a Right Reverend Lord Bishop; I thought
it more candid not to alter my stile, than to take the
advantage of charging such gross errors, on a Bishop of
_Glocester_, which I only found in Mr. and Dr. _Warburton_.
The enemies to man’s rising out of the fall of _Adam_, through
the Spirit and power of Christ, are many. But the great enemy is
SELF-EXALTATION; when self-exaltation ceases, the last enemy is
destroyed, and all that came from the _death_ of _Adam_, is swallowed
up in victory.
What, therefore, has every one so much to fear and abhor, as
self-exaltation, and every _outward_ work that proceeds from it. But at
what things shall a man look, to see _that_ which raises pride to its
strongest life, and most of all hinders the life of the humble Jesus
in his soul? Shall he call the _pomps_ and _vanities_ of the world,
the highest works of _self-adoration_? Shall he look at _fops_ and
_beaux_, and _painted ladies_, to see the pride that has the _most_ of
Antichrist in it? No, by no means. These are, indeed, marks shameful
enough, of the vain, foolish heart of man: but yet, comparatively
speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride, which the
fall of man hath brought forth in him. Would you see the deepest root,
and iron-strength of pride, you must enter into the dark chamber of
man’s soul, where the light of God (which alone gives humility) being
extinguished by the death which _Adam_ died, _self-exaltation_, became
the strong man that kept possession of the house, till a stronger than
he should come. In this secret source a swelling kingdom of pomps and
vanities is set up in the heart of man, to which all outward pomps and
vanities are but childish, transitory play-things. The inward _strong
man_ of pride, has his higher works _within_; and has every power of
the soul, offering continual incense to him. His _memory_, his _will_,
his _understanding_ and _imagination_, are always at work for him.――His
_memory_ is the faithful repository of all the fine things he hath
done. His _will_, though it has all the world before it, yet goes
after nothing but as this sends it. His understanding is ever upon the
stretch for new projects to enlarge the dominions of it; and if this
fails, _imagination_ comes in, to make him a king, and mighty lord of
_castles in the air_.
Now what is it in the human soul, that most of all hinders the death
of this old man? What is it, that above all other things makes it
the governor of all the powers of the heart and soul? It is the
fancied riches of _parts_, the glitter of _genius_, the flight of
_imagination_, the glory of _learning_, and the self-conceited strength
of _natural reason_: these are the strong holds of fallen nature, the
master-builders of pride’s temple in the heart of man. And here let it
be well observed, that all these magnified talents of the natural man
are started up through his miserable _fall_ from the life of God in
his soul. _Wit_, _genius_, _learning_, and _natural reason_, would
have had no more a name amongst men, than _blindness_, _ignorance_, and
_sickness_, had man continued, as at first, an holy image of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.――――Every thing then that dwelt in him, or came
from him, would have only said _so much_ of God, and _nothing_ of
himself, have manifested nothing to him, but the _heavenly powers_
of the triune life of God dwelling in him. He would have no more
consciousness of his own wit, or natural reason, or goodness, than
of his _own creating power_, at beholding the created heavens, and
earth. It is his dreadful fall from God, that has furnished him with
these high intellectual riches, just as it has furnished him with the
substantial riches of his _♦bestial appetites_ and _lusts_. And when
the lusts of the flesh have spent their life, when flesh and blood
shall be forced to let the soul go loose; all these bright talents will
end with that system of fleshly lusts in which they began; and _that_
of man, which remains, will have nothing of its own, nothing that can
say, _I do this_, or _I do that_, but all that it hath, or doth, will
be either the _glory of God_ manifested in it, or the _power of hell_
in full possession of it.――The time of man’s playing with _parts, wit,
and abilities_, and of fancying himself something in the intellectual
world, may be much shorter, but can be no longer, than he can eat,
and drink with the animals of this world.――When the time cometh, that
fine buildings, rich settlements, acquired honours, and Rabbi, Rabbi,
must take their leave of him, all the stately structures, which genius,
learning, and imagination, have painted inwardly on his brain and
outwardly on paper, must bear full witness to _Solomon_’s vanity of
vanities.
♦ “beastial” replaced with “bestial”
The intellectual power, which has the best help in it, towards bringing
man again into the region of divine light, is that poor, despised
thing, called _simplicity_. This is that, which stops the workings of
the fallen nature, and leaves room for God to work again in the soul,
according to the good pleasure of his will. It stands in such a waiting
posture before God, as the plants of the earth wait for the inflowing
riches of the light and air. But the _self-assuming_ workings of man’s
natural powers, shut him up in himself, closely barred up against the
inflowing riches of the light and Spirit of God.
Yet so it is, in this fallen state of the gospel church, that with
these proud endowments of fallen nature, the _classic_ scholar, full
fraught with pagan light and skill, comes forth to play the _critic_
and _orator_ with the simplicity of salvation mysteries; mysteries
which mean nothing else but the _inward work_ of the triune God in the
soul of man.
However, to make way for _parts_, _criticism_, and _language-learning_,
to have the full management of salvation doctrines, the well-read
scholar gives out, that the antient way of knowing the things of God,
taught, and practised by _fishermen_-apostles, is obsolete. They indeed
wanted to have divine knowledge from the immediate, continual operation
of the holy Spirit; but this state was only for a time, till genius,
and learning entered into the pale of the church.――Behold, if ever,
_the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place_!――For as
soon as this doctrine is set up, that man’s natural parts, and acquired
learning, have full right and power to guide men into that truth, which
was once the office of the holy Spirit; it may with the greatest truth
be said, that _the kingdom of God_ is shut up; and only a kingdom of
Scribes, Pharisees, and Hypocrites come instead of it. For by this
doctrine the whole power of gospel religion, is more denied, than by
setting up _the infallibility of the Pope_; for though his claim to
infallibility is false, yet he claims it under the holy Spirit; but
the Protestant scholar has his divinity knowledge from himself, his own
logic, and learned reason.――Christ has no where given the least power
to _logic_, _learning_, or the natural powers of man, in his kingdom:
he has never said to them, _Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be
bound in heaven_; never said to them, _Go ye and teach_ all nations, no
more than he hath said to wolves, Go and _feed my sheep_.
But the _letter_ of scripture hath been so long the usurped province
of school-critics, and learned reasoners making their markets of it,
that the difference between notional, and living, divine knowledge, is
almost lost in the Christian world. So that if any awakened souls are
here or there found among Christians, who think more must be known of
God, of Christ, and the powers of the world to come, than every scholar
can know, by reading the letter of scripture, immediately the cry of
_enthusiasm_, whether it be priest, or people, is sent after them.――A
procedure, which could only have some excuse, if these _critics_ could
first prove, that the apostle’s text, ought to be thus read, _The
Spirit killeth, but the letter giveth life_.
_The kingdom of God is like a treasure in a field_: thus far, is
the true use, and utmost power of the _letter_; it can tell us of a
treasure that we want, and how and where it is to be found; but a
_man goeth_ and _selleth all that he hath_, and _buyeth that field_,
then beginneth the _divine knowledge_, which is nothing else, but the
treasure _possessed_, and _enjoyed_. For _except a man deny himself
and forsake all that he hath, saith Christ, he cannot be my disciple_;
that is, he cannot partake of my mind, my spirit, and my nature, and
therefore cannot know me; he is only a hearer of a treasure, without
entering into the possession of it. And thus it is with all scripture,
the letter can only direct to the doing of that which it cannot do, and
give notice of something that it cannot give.
_Good and evil_, the only objects of religious knowledge are in us,
are a part of us, as _seeing and hearing_ are in us, and we can have
no real knowledge of them any other way, than as we have of our own
_seeing and hearing_. And as no man can get or lose his seeing or
hearing, or have less, or more of them, by any ideas, or notions, that
he forms about them, just so it is with real good and evil, notions and
ideas have no effect upon it. Yet no other knowledge is sought after,
or esteemed but that which is notional and the work of the brain.
Thus, as soon as a man of speculation can demonstrate that, which he
calls the _being and attributes of God_, he thinks, and others think,
that he truly _knows_ God. But what excuse can be made for such an
imagination, when plain scripture has told him, that _to know God is
eternal life_, that is, to know God, is to have the life, and the
Spirit of God _manifested_ in him.
Again, another, forming an _opinion of faith_ from the letter of
scripture, straightway imagines, that he knows what faith is, and
that he is _in the faith_. Sad delusion! For to know what faith is, or
that we are in the faith, is to know that Christ is in us of a truth;
it is to know the power of his life, his death, his resurrection and
ascension, made good in our souls. To be in the faith, is to have
done with notions about it, because it is felt by its living power and
fruits within us, which are _righteousness_, _peace_, and _joy_ in the
Holy Ghost.
Would you divinely know the mysteries of grace and salvation? Let
divine love work within you. Without this, be as learned and polite as
you will, your heart is but the dark heart of fallen _Adam_, and your
knowledge of the kingdom of God, will be only like that which murdering
_Cain_ had.――If love is not the spirit that forms and governs every
thing that proceeds from you, every thing that has your labour, your
allowance and consent; you are broken off from the works of God, you
are without God, and your name and nature and works, can have no other
name, or nature, but pride, wrath, envy, hypocrisy, hatred, revenge and
self-exaltation.――Nothing can possibly save you from being the certain
prey of all these evil spirits, but that love, which is God himself,
his light, and spirit within you.
But now, since divine love can have no beginning, but from the divine
nature in us, therefore saith St. _John_, we love him, because he FIRST
loved us: the same as saying, we desire God, because he first desired
us; for we could not desire God, but because he first desired us, we
could not turn to God, but because he first turned to us.
*Believe me then, thou great scholar, that all thou hast got of wisdom
or learning, day after day, in any other school but this, will stand
thee in as much stead, fill thee with as high comfort at the hour of
death, as all the dreams which night after night, thou hast ever had
in thy sleep.――And till a man knows this, with as much fullness of
conviction, as he knows the vanity of a dream, he is not yet in the
light of truth, not yet _taught of God_.
Behold your state ye ministers, that wait at Christian altars, who
have neither faith, nor hope, nor desire of _heavenly fire_ kindled in
your souls; ye have a priesthood, and an altar not fit to be named with
that, which in Jewish days, had an holy fire from God, descending upon
it, which made priest and sacrifice acceptable to God, though only a
type of that inward celestial fire, which Christ would kindle into a
never-ceasing burning, in the living temples of his new-born children.
Complain then no more of atheists, infidels, and open enemies to the
gospel kingdom of God; for whilst you call heavenly fire and spirit,
downright phrensy, and mystic madness, you do all that infidel work
within the church, which they do on the outside of it.――And if through
a learned fear of having that done to your earthly reason, which
was done to _Enoch_ when God _took him_, ye will own no higher a
regeneration, than a few cold drops of water sprinkled on the face,
any of the Heathen gods of wood and stone, are good enough for such
an _elementary_ priesthood.――For let this be told you, as a truth from
God, that till _heavenly fire and spirit_ are within you, you can rise
no higher by your highest learning, than to be elegant orators about
scripture words. What wonder then, if sacraments, church-prayers, and
preachings, leave high and low, learned and unlearned, priests and
people, as unaltered in all their aged vices, as they leave children
unchanged in their childish follies? For where the _only_ fountain
of life and goodness is forsaken, all the difference between man and
man, is as nothing with respect to the kingdom of God.――It matters
not what name is given to the old man, whether he be called a zealous
_churchman_, a stiff-necked _Jew_, a polite _Heathen_, or a grave
_infidel_: under all these names, he has but one and the same nature,
without any other difference but that, which _time_ and _place_,
_education_, _complexion_, and _worldly wisdom_, happen to make.
By such a one, whether he be Papist or Protestant, the gospel is
only _kept_, as a book, and all that is within it, is only so much
condemnation to the keeper, just as the old man, a _Jew_, hath kept the
book of the law and prophets, only to be more fully condemned by them.
That the Jewish and Christian church, stand at this day in the _same
kind_ of ♦apostasy, or fallen state, must be manifest to every one
that will not shut his eyes. Why are the Jews in a fallen state? It
is because they have refused him, who in his whole process, was the
truth, the substance, the life, and fulfilling of all that, which was
outwardly taught, in their law and prophets.
♦ “apostacy” replaced with “apostasy”
But is it not as easy to see, that the whole Christian church are
in a fallen state, and for the same reason, because they are turned
away from that holy Spirit who was given to be the _only_ life, and
fulfilling of all that, which was _outwardly_ taught by the gospel.
For the holy Spirit to come, was the same FULFILLING of the whole
gospel, as a Christ to come, was the _fulfilling_ of the law.――The Jew
therefore with his Old Testament, not owning Christ to be the truth
and life, and fulfiller of their law, is in that same apostasy as the
Christian with his New Testament, not owning the holy Spirit, to be
his only light, guide, and governor.――For as all types in the law, were
but empty shadows without Christ’s being the life and power of them, so
all that is written in the gospel is but dead letter, unless the holy
Spirit be, the living rememberer, and the doer of them. Therefore where
the holy Spirit is not thus received, as the _whole power_, and life
of the gospel-state, it is no marvel, that Christians have no more of
gospel virtues, than the Jews have of patriarchal holiness, or that the
same vices which prosper amongst Jews, should break forth with as much
strength in fallen Christendom. For the New Testament not ending in
the coming of the holy Spirit, with fulness of power over sin and hell,
and the devil, is no better a help to _heaven_, than the Old Testament
without the coming of a Messiah.
But here lies the great mistake, or rather idolatrous abuse of all
God’s outward dispensations.――They are taken for the thing itself, for
the truth and essence of religion. That which the learned Jews did with
the outward letter of their law, the learned Christians do with the
outward letter of their gospel.――Why did the Jewish church so furiously
cry out against Christ, Let him be crucified? It was because their
letter-learned ears, their worldly Spirit, and temple orthodoxy, would
not bear to hear of an inward Saviour, of being born again of his
Spirit, of his dwelling in them, and they in him.――To have their law of
ordinances, their temple-pomp _sunk_ into such a _fulfilling_ Saviour
as this, was such enthusiastic jargon to their ears, as forced their
sober, rational theology, to call Christ, Beelzebub, and his doctrine
blasphemy.
Our blessed Lord in a parable sets forth the blind Jews, as saying
of himself, _We will not have this man to reign OVER us_.――The sober
minded Christian scholar has none of this Jewish blindness, he only
saith of Christ, we will not have this man to REIGN IN US, and so
keeps clear of such absurdity, as St. _Paul_ fell into, when he
enthusiastically said, _Yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me_.
Christian doctors reproach the old learned rabbies, for their vain
faith, and carnal desire of a _glorious outward_ Christ, who should
set up their temple-worship all over the world.――Vanity indeed, and
blindness enough!
*But nevertheless, in these condemners of rabbinic blindness, St.
_Paul_’s words are remarkably verified, viz. _Wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest, dost the same
thing._――For, take away all that from Christ, which Christian doctors
call enthusiasm, suppose him to be only an _outward distant_ heavenly
prince, no more really in us, than our high cathedrals are in the
_third heavens_, but only by an invisible hand from his throne on
high, some way or other raising and helping _great scholars_, or
great _temporal_ powers, to make a rock in every nation for his church
to stand upon; suppose all this (which is the very marrow of modern
divinity) and then you have that very _outward_ Christ, and that very
_outward_ kingdom; which the carnal Jew dreamed of, and for the sake of
which, the spiritual Christ was then nailed to the cross, and is still
crucified by the new-rising Jew in the Christian church.
Let then the eager searcher into _words_ for wisdom, the book-devourer,
the opinion-broker, the exalter of human reason, and every projecting
builder of religious systems, be told, that the thirst and pride of
being _learnedly wise_ in the things of God, is keeping up the grossest
ignorance of them, and is nothing else but _Eve_’s old serpent, and
does no better work in the church of Christ, than her thirst after
wisdom did in the paradise of God.――Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth, is the only way, by which any man ever did, or ever can attain
divine knowledge, and divine goodness.――To knock at any other door, is
like asking life of that, which is itself dead, or praying to him for
bread, who has nothing but stones to give.
Say not, that it is only the _illiterate_ enthusiast, that condemns
human learning in the gospel kingdom of God. For when he condemns the
blindness and mischief of Popish logic and criticism, he has all the
learned Protestant world with him; and when he lays the same charge
to the Protestant learning, he has a much larger kingdom of Popish
great scholars, affirming the same thing. So that the private person,
charging human learning with so much mischief to the church, is
so far from being led by _enthusiasm_, that he is led by all the
_church-learning_ that is in the world.
Again, all learned Christendom agrees in the same charge against
temporal power in the church, as hurtful to every being, of a _kingdom_
that is not of this world, as supporting doctrines that human learning
has brought into it.――――The _Protestant_ brings proof from a thousand
years learning, that the _Pope_ is an unjust usurper of temporal
power in the church, Christ’s spiritual spouse.――The Papist brings the
learning of as many ages, to shew, that a temporal head of the church,
is an Anti-christian usurpation.――And yet (N. B.) he who holds Christ
to be the only _head_, _heart_ and _life_ of the church, and that,
_no man can call_ Jesus, Lord, _but by the Holy Ghost_, passes with
the learned of both these people, for a brain-sick enthusiast.――Is
it not then high time, to look out for some better ground to stand
upon, than such learning as this? Now look where you will, through the
whole nature of things, no divine knowledge, goodness, and deliverance
from sin, are any where to be found for fallen man, but in these _two
points_; (1) a total entrance into the _whole process_ of Christ; (2) a
total resignation to, and dependance upon the continual operation of
the Holy Ghost, to be our never ceasing light, teacher, and guide into
all those ways of virtue, in which he himself walked in the flesh.――All
besides this, call it by what name you will, is but dead work, a vain
labour of the _old man_, to new create himself.――Let the Christian
world depart from this _one_ way of salvation, let any thing else be
trusted to, but the _cross_ of Christ, and the _Spirit_ of Christ,
and then, though _churches_, and _preachers_ and _prayers_, and
_sacraments_, are every where in plenty, yet nothing better can
come of it than a Christian kingdom of _Pagan vices_, along with a
mouth-belief of _an holy Catholic church, and communion of saints_.――To
this melancholy truth, all Christendom both at home and abroad, bears
full witness. Who need be told, that there is no corruption of human
nature, no kind of pride, wrath, envy, malice, and self-love; no sorts
of hypocrisy, falseness, cursing, swearing, perjury, and cheating,
no wantonness of lust in every kind of debauchery, but are as common
all over Christendom, as towns and villages.――But to pass these by, I
shall only instance in _two or three particulars_, which though little
observed, and less condemned, yet fully shew, that the devil is in
possession of Protestant, as well as Popish churches.
And _first_, can it be said, that _mammon_ is less _served_ by
Christians, than by Jews and Infidels? Or can there be a fuller proof,
that Christians, Jews, and Infidels, are equally fallen from God, since
truth itself hath told us, That we _cannot serve God and mammon_? Is
not this as unalterable a truth, as if it had been said, _Ye cannot
serve God and Baal_? Or can it be affirmed, that the _Mammonist_
has more of Christ in him, than the _Baalist_, or is more or less an
idolater for being called a Christian, a Jew, or an Infidel? Look now
at all those particulars, which Christ charged upon the Jewish priests,
Scribes, and Pharisees, and you will see them all acted over again in
Christendom. And if God’s prophets were again in the world, they would
have just the same complaints against the _fallen_ Christian church,
as they had against the old carnal stiff-necked Jews, _namely, that of
their silver and gold, they had made themselves idols_, Hosea viii. 4.
For though figured idol-gods of gold are not now worshipped either by
Jews or Christians, yet silver and gold, with that which belongs to
them, is the mammon-god, that sits and reigns in their hearts. How
else could be that universal strife through all Christendom, who should
stand in the richest and highest place, to preach up the humility of
Christ, and offer spiritual sacrifices unto God? What God but mammon
could put into the hearts of Christ’s ambassadors, to make, or want to
make a gain of that gospel, which from the beginning to the end, means
nothing else but _separation_ from every view, temper and affection,
that has any connexion with _the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life_? Our blessed Lord said a word to the Jews,
that might well have made their ears to tingle, when he told them,
that they _had made his Father’s house a den of thieves_; because
sheep and oxen were sold, and money-changers sitting in the outer court
of the temple. Now if you will say, that mammon has brought forth no
prophanation like this in our Christian church, your best proof must be
this, because our church-sale is not oxen and sheep, but holy things,
cures of souls, parsonages, vicarages, &c. and our money-changers, our
buyers and sellers, are chiefly consecrated persons.
Look at things spiritual, and things temporal, and say if you can,
that the same arts, the same passions, and worldly wisdom, are not as
active in the one, as in the other. For if Christ at leaving the world,
had said to his disciples, labour to be rich, make full provision for
the flesh, be conformed to the world, court the favour and interest
of great men, cloath yourselves with all the ♦worldly honours,
distinctions, and powers ye can get; I appeal to every man, whether
Popish and Protestant churches need do any thing else, than that which
they _now_ do, to prove their faithfulness to such a master, and their
full obedience to his precepts.
♦ “wordly” replaced with “worldly”
Again, _Secondly, Ye have heard_, saith our Lord, that it hath _been
said by them of old; thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shall perform
unto the Lord, thine oaths_. But _I say unto you, swear not at all_.
But notwithstanding this, through town and country, in all ignorant
villages, in all learned colleges, in all courts spiritual and temporal,
what with law-oaths, corporation-oaths, office-oaths, trade-oaths,
qualification-oaths, simony-oaths, bribery-oaths, election-oaths,
&c. &c. &c. there is more swearing and for-swearing, than all history
reports of any idol-worshipping nations. It was said of old, _because
of swearing, the land mourneth_: It is full as true to say now, because
of swearing, the land rejoiceth in iniquity, is full of prophaneness,
and without any fear or awe of the divine Majesty, daily swallowing
down all manner of oaths, with as much serious reflection, as
pot-companions swallow down their liquor.
But to proceed to a third instance of the full power of Antichrist,
through every part of governing Christendom.
In the darkest ages of Romish superstition, a martial spirit of zeal
for the gospel, broke forth in kings, cardinals, bishops, monks, and
friars, to lead the sheep of Christ, saints, pilgrims, penitents, and
sinners of all kinds, to proceed in battle array, to kill, devour,
and drive the Turks from the land of _Palestine_, and the old earthly
_Jerusalem_. These blood-thirsty expeditions were called an holy war,
because it was a fighting for the holy land; they were called also
a croisade, because crucifixes made the greatest glitter amongst the
sharpened instruments of human murder. Thus under the banner of the
cross, went forth an army of church wolves, to destroy the lives of
those, whom the Lamb of God died on the cross to save.
The light which broke out at the reformation, abhorred the bloody
zeal of these Catholic heroes. But what followed from this new risen,
reforming light, what came forth instead of these _holy crusades_?
Why wars, if possible, still more diabolical. Christian kingdoms with
blood-thirsty piety, destroying, devouring and burning one another,
for the sake of that which was called Popery, and that which was called
Protestantism.
Now who can help seeing, that Satan, had here a much greater
triumph over Christendom, than in all the holy wars that went
before? For all that was then done, by such high-spirited fighters
for old _Jerusalem_’s earth, could not be said to be done against
_gospel-light_, because not one in a thousand of these holy warriors
was allowed to see what was in the gospel. But now, with the gospel
open in every one’s hands, Papists and Protestants make open war
against every _divine virtue_, which can unite them with the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sins of the world; I say, against every divine
virtue of the Lamb of God, for these are _the enemies_ which Christian
war conquers. For there is not a virtue of gospel-goodness, but has
its death-blow from it. Now fancy to yourself, Christ, after his divine
sermon on the mount, putting himself at the head of a blood-thirsty
army, or St. _Paul_ going forth with a squadron of fire and brimstone,
to make more havock in human lives, than a devouring earthquake.
But if this be too blasphemous an absurdity to be supposed, what
follows, but that the Christian who acts in the fury of war, acts in
full contrariety to the whole nature of Christ, and can no more be said
to be led by his Spirit, than those his enemies, who _came forth with
swords and staves to take him_.
When a _Most Christian Majesty_ with his Catholic church, sings a _Te
Deum_ at the high altar, for rivers of Protestant blood poured out; or
an evangelic church sings praise to the holy Lamb of God, for helping
them from his holy throne in heaven, to make Popish towns like to
Sodom and Gomorrah, they blaspheme God, as much as _Cain_ would have
done, had he offered a sacrifice of praise to God, for helping him to
murder his brother. Let such worshippers of God be told, that the field
of blood gives all its glory to Satan, who was a murderer from the
beginning, and will to the end of his reign, be the only receiver of
all the glory, that can come from it.
A glorious _Alexander_ in the Heathen world, is a shame and reproach
to human nature, and does more mischief to mankind in a few years,
than all wild beasts have done from the beginning of the world. But
the same hero making the same ravage from country to country with
Christian soldiers, has more thanks from the devil, than twenty Pagan
_Alexanders_. To make men kill men, is meat and drink to their roaring
adversary, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. But to make
Christians kill Christians for the sake of Christ’s church, is his
highest triumph over the highest mark, which Christ hath set upon
those whom he has purchased by his blood. _This commandment_, saith he,
_I give unto you, that ye love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another as I have loved you._
Can the _duellist_, who had rather sheath his sword in the bowels
of his brother, than stifle that which he calls an affront, can he
be said to have this mark of his belonging to Christ? Now, what is
the difference between the haughty duellist meeting his adversary
with sword and pistol behind a hedge, and two kingdoms with their
high-spirited regiments slaughtering one another in the field of
battle? It is the difference that is between the murder of one man,
and the murder of an hundred thousand.
Now imagine the duellist _fasting_ and _confessing_ his sins to God
to-day, because he is engaged to fight his brother to-morrow; fancy
again the conqueror got into his closet, on his bended knees, lifting
up hands and heart to God, for blessing his weapons with the death of
his brother; and then you have a pictured in _little_ of great piety,
that begins and ends the wars all over heavenly Christendom!
What blindness can be greater, than to think that a Christian kingdom,
can have any other goodness, or union with Christ, but that very
goodness, which makes the private Christian to be one with him, and a
partaker of the divine nature? Or that pride, wrath, ambition, envy,
covetousness, rapine, revenge, hatred, and murder, are only the _works
of the devil_, whilst they are committed by private, or single men;
but when carried on by all the strength and authority, all the hearts,
hands, and voices of a whole nation, that the devil is then quite
driven out of them, loses all his right and power in them, and they
become holy matter of church thanksgivings, and the sacred oratory of
pulpits?
Look at that which the private Christian is to do to his neighbour, or
his enemy, and you see that very thing, which one Christian kingdom is
to do to another.
Now suppose a man, redeemed from his fallen nature, by Christ formed
in his soul, and then he can no more be hired to kill men gloriously in
the field, than to carry a dark lanthorn by night to a _powder-plot_.
The temporal miseries which war carries along with it, wherever it
goes, are neither to be numbered nor expressed. What thievery bears
any proportion to that, which with the boldness of drum and trumpet,
plunders the innocent of all that they have? And if themselves are left
alive, with all their limbs, or their daughters unravished, they have
many times, only the ashes of their consumed houses to lie down upon.
What honour has war not gotten, from its tens and tens of hundreds of
thousands of men slaughtered on heaps, with as little regret or concern,
as at loads of rubbish thrown into a pit? Who, but the fiery dragon,
would put wreaths of laurel, on such heroes heads? Who but he, could
say unto them, _Well done, good and faithful servants_?
But there is still an evil of war much greater, though less regarded.
Who reflects, how many hundreds of thousands, nay millions of _young
men_, born into this world for no other end, but that they may be
born again, and from sons of _Adam_’s misery, become sons of God, and
fellow-heirs with Christ in everlasting glory; who reflects, I say, what
nameless numbers of these, are robbed of God’s precious gift of life,
before they have known the sole benefit of living; who are not suffered
to stay in this world, till age and experience have done their best for
them, have helped them to know the inward voice of God’s Spirit, helped
them to find, and feel that curse, and sting of sin and death, which
must be taken from within them, before they can die the death of the
righteous; but instead of this, have been either forced, or tempted in
the fire of youth, and full of strength of sinful lusts, to forget God,
eternity, and their own souls, and rush into a kill or be killed, with
as much furious haste, and goodness of spirit, as _tiger_ kills _tiger_
for the sake of his prey?
That God’s providence over his fallen creatures, is a providence of
love and salvation, turning through ways of infinite wisdom, sooner
or later, all kinds of evil into _good_, making that which was lost to
be found, that which was dead, to be alive again; not willing that one
single sinner should want that, which can save him from eternal death,
is a truth as certain, as that God’s name is, I AM that I AM.
Amongst the unfallen creatures in heaven, God’s name and nature, is
LOVE, LIGHT, and GLORY. To the fallen sons of _Adam_, that which was
_love_, _light_, and _glory_ in heaven, becomes infinite PITY and
COMPASSION on earth, in a God, cloathed with the nature of his fallen
creature, bearing all its infirmities, entering into all its troubles,
and in meek innocence, living a life, and dying a death, of all
the sufferings due to sin. Hence it was, that when this DIVINE PITY
suffered its own life-giving blood to be poured on the ground, all
outward nature made full declaration of its atoning, and redeeming
power; the strength of the earth did quake, the hardness of rocks
was forced to split, and long-covered graves to give up their dead. A
certain presage, that all kinds of hellish _wrath_, _malice_, _pride_,
_envy_, and earthly _passions_, which kept men under the power of Satan,
must have the fullness of death, from that all powerful, all purifying
blood of the Lamb, which will never cease washing RED into white, till
all the sons of _Adam_ are fit for their several mansions in their
heavenly Father’s house.
Sing, O ye heavens, and shout all the lower parts of the earth, for
this is OUR GOD that varies not, whose first creating love knows no
change, but into a _redeeming pity_ towards all his fallen creatures.
*Look now at _warring Christendom_, what smallest drop of pity towards
sinners is to be found in it? Or how could a spirit all hellish,
more fully contrive and hasten their destruction? It stirs up every
passion of fallen nature, that is contrary to the humble, meek, loving,
forgiving, Spirit of Christ. It drives, and compels nameless numbers of
unconverted sinners to fall, murdering and murdered, among flashes of
fire, with the wrath and swiftness of lightning, into a fire infinitely
worse than that in which they died. O sad subject for thanksgiving days,
whether in Popish, or Protestant churches! For if there is a joy of
all the angels in heaven, for _one sinner_ that repenteth, what a joy
must there be in hell over such multitudes of sinners, not suffered to
repent? And if they who have _converted many to righteousness, shall
shine as the stars in the firmament for ever_, what woe may they not
fear, whose proud wrath and vain glory, have robbed such numberless
troops of poor wretches, of all time and place of knowing what
righteousness they wanted, for the salvation of their immortal souls!
*Here my pen trembles in my hand; but when, O when will one single
Christian church, people, or language, tremble at the share they have
in this death of sinners!
*For the GLORY OF HIS MAJESTY’S ARMS, said once a _Most Christian King_:
Now if, at that time, his Catholic church had called a solemn assembly
to unite hearts and voices in this pious prayer, “O blessed Jesus,
dear redeeming Lamb of God, who camest down from heaven, to save mens
lives, and not destroy them, go along we humbly pray thee, with our
bomb-vessels and fire-ships, suffer not our thundering cannon to roar
in vain, but let thy tender hand of love and mercy, direct _their_
balls to more heads and hearts of thine own redeemed creatures, than
the poor skill of man is able of itself to do.” Had such prayers had
more of the _son of perdition_ in them, than the Most Christian King’s
glorying in his arms?
*Again, would you farther see the fall of the universal church, look
at all _European Christendom_ sailing round the globe, with fire and
sword, and every murdering art of war, to seize the possessions, and
kill the inhabitants of _both the Indies_. What natural right of man,
what supernatural virtue was not here trodden under foot? All that you
ever read or heard of Heathen barbarity, was here outdone by Christian
conquerors. And to this day, what wars of Christians against Christians,
blended with _scalping_ Heathens, still keep staining the _earth_ and
the _seas_ with human blood, for a miserable share in the spoils of a
plundered Heathen world! A world, which should have heard, or seen, or
felt nothing from the followers of Christ, but a divine love, that had
forced them from distant lands, and through the perils of long seas, to
visit strangers with those glad tidings of peace and salvation to all
the world, which angels from heaven, and shepherds on earth, proclaimed
at the birth of Christ.
*Here now, let the _wisdom of this world_ from its learned throne
condemn all this as _enthusiasm_; it need be no trouble to anyone
to be condemned by that wisdom, which God himself hath condemned _as
foolishness_. For the wisdom of this world hath all the contrariety to
_divine wisdom_, that the flesh hath to the Spirit, earth to heaven,
or damnation to salvation. It is a wisdom, whose Spirit and breath
keep all the evil that is in fallen man alive, and which in its
highest excellence, has only the full-grown nature of that _carnal
mind, which is at enmity against God_. It is a wisdom, that turns all
salvation-truths into empty, learned tales, that instead of helping
the sinner to confess his sins, _and feel the misery_ that is hid under
them, helps him to an art of hiding, nay of defending them; and so
the poor blinded sinner, lives and dies in a total ignorance of that
light, blessing, and salvation, which could only be had by a broken
and contrite heart. For [N. B.] with respect to conscience, this is the
chief office of worldly wisdom; it is to keep all things quiet in the
old man, that whether busied in things spiritual or temporal, he may
keep up the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, without any disturbance from religious phantoms, and dreams of
idiots, who for want of sober sense, and sound learning, think that
Christ really meant what he said in these words, _Except a man be born
again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God_.
Now join (if you please) learning and religion to act in fellowship
with this worldly wisdom, and then you will have a depravity of craft
and subtlety, as high as flesh and blood can carry it, which will bring
forth a glittering _Pharisee_, with a hardness of heart, greater than
that of the sinner-_publican_.
_This wisdom_ hath asked me, How it is possible for Christian kingdoms
in the neighbourhood of one another, to preserve themselves, unless
the strength and weapons of war, are every ones defence, against such
invasions, incroachments, and robberies, as would otherwise be the fate
of Christian kingdoms from one another?
This question is so far from needing to be answered by me, that it is
wholly on my side; it confesses all, and proves all that I have said
of the state of Christendom.――For if this is the governing spirit of
Christian kingdoms, that no one of them can subsist in safety from its
neighbour, but by its weapons of war, are not all Christian kingdoms
equally in the same _unchristian_ state, as two neighbouring _bloody
knaves_, who cannot be safe from one another, but as their murdering
arms protect them? This plea therefore for Christendom’s wars, proves
nothing else but the want of Christianity all over the Christian world,
and stands upon no better a foundation of righteousness, than when one
murdering knave kills another, that would have killed him.
But to know whether Christianity wants, or admits of war, Christianity
is to be considered in its right state.――Now the true state of the
world turned Christian, is thus described by the great gospel-prophet.
“They shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears
into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up its sword against
nation, (_N. B._) neither shall they learn war any more.”――This is the
prophet’s true Christendom, with the same essential mark set upon it,
as when the Lamb of God said, _By this_ shall all men _know_, ye are my
disciples, _if ye love one another as I have loved you_.
Would you see when and where the kingdoms of this world are become a
kingdom of God, the prophet tells you that it is _then_ and _there_
where all enmity ceaseth.――“The wolf, saith he, shall dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The calf and the
young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead
them. The cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lie
down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
put his hand on the cockatrice’s den.”――For, N. B. _they shall not_
HURT or DESTROY _in all my holy mountain_, that is, through all holy
Christendom. _Isaiah xi. 6._
See here a kingdom of God on the earth; is nothing else but a kingdom
of mere love, where all HURT and DESTROYING is done away, and every
work of enmity changed into heavenly love.
As to the present state of Christendom, working under the spirit and
power of the great fiery dragon, it is not my intention, to shew how
any part of it can preserve itself from being devoured by every other
part, but by its own dragon weapons.
But the Christendom I mean, that neither wants, nor allows of war, is
only that where Christ is King, and his holy Spirit the governor of
the wills, affections, and designs of all that belong to it.――It is
my charge upon all the nations of Christendom, that this necessity
of murdering arms, is the dragon’s _monster_, that is equally brought
forth by all and every part of fallen Christendom; and that therefore
all and every part, as well Popish as Protestant, are at the same
distance from the Spirit of their Lord, and therefore all want the same
entire reformation.
In these last ages of Christendom, many reformations have taken place;
but alas! Truth must be forced to say, that they have been in all
their variety, little better than so many lesser _Babels_ come out of
_Babylon_ the great.――For among all the reformers, the one only true
reformation hath never yet been thought of.
The wisdom of this world, with its worldly spirit, was the only thing
that had overcome the church, and had carried it into captivity. For
in captivity it certainly is, as soon as it is turned into a kingdom
of this world. Not a false doctrine, not a bad discipline, or corrupt
practice ever prevailed in the church, but had its birth from worldly
wisdom.
This wisdom, was the great evil root, at which the reforming axe should
have been laid and must be laid, before the church can be again that
virgin spouse of Christ, which it was at the beginning.
If therefore you take any thing to be church-reformation, but a full
departure from the wisdom of this world, or any thing to be your
entrance into a salvation-church, but the _nature_ and _Spirit_ of
Christ, in you, then, whether Papist or Protestant, all will be just
as much good to you, as when a Sadducee turns Publican, or a Publican
a Pharisee.――And here it is well to be observed, that the church of
Christ is solely for this end, to make us holy as he is holy. But
nothing can do this, but that which hath power to change a sinner into
a saint. And he who has not found _that power_ in the church, may be
assured, that he is not yet a true son of the church.
But this can only be done, just as the change of night into day
is done, or as the darkness is lost in the light.――Something as
contrary to the whole nature of sin, as light is to darkness, and as
powerful over it, as the light is powerful over darkness, can alone do
this.――Creeds, canons, articles of religion, stately churches, learned
priests, singing, preaching, and praying in the best contrived form of
words can no more raise a dead sinner into a living saint, than a _fine
system_ of light and colours can change the night into day.
On this ground it is that the apostle said, _Circumcision is nothing,
and uncircumcision is nothing_; and on the same ground it must be said,
that Popery is nothing, and Protestantism is nothing, because all is
nothing, as to salvation, but a sinner changed into a saint, or the
apostle’s new creature.
Many are the _marks_ which the learned have given us of the true church;
but be that as it will, no man, whether learned or unlearned, can have
any proof of his own _true church-membership_, but his being dead unto
all sin, and alive unto all righteousness.――This cannot be more plainly
told us, than in these words of our Lord, _He that committeth sin, is
the servant of sin_; but surely that servant of sin, cannot at the same
time be a living member of Christ’s body.――To suppose a man born again,
yet under a necessity of continuing to sin, is as absurd as to suppose,
that the true Christian is only to have so much of the nature of Christ,
as is consistent with Satan’s still dwelling in him.――_If the Son_,
saith Christ, _shall make you free, then ye shall be free indeed_.
What is this, but saying, if Christ is in you, a true freedom from all
necessity of sinning is given you. Now if this cannot come to pass in
the faithful follower of Christ, it must be, because both the willing
and working of Christ in man, is too weak to overcome that which
the devil willeth and worketh in him.――All this absurdity, and even
blasphemy, is necessarily implied in that common doctrine of books and
pulpits, that the Christian can never have done sinning, as long as he
lives.
*Preachers and writers comfort the half Christians with telling them,
that God _requireth not_ a perfect, sinless obedience, but _accepteth_
the sincerity of our weak endeavours instead of it. Here, if ever, the
_blind lead the blind_. For St. _Paul_ comparing the way of salvation
to a _race_, saith, _In a race all run, but ONE obtaineth the prize:
so run that ye may obtain_. Now if _Paul_ had seeing eyes, must not
they be blind, who teach, that God accepteth of all _that run_ in the
religious race, _and requireth not_ that any should _obtain_ the prize.
How easy was it to see, that the sincerity of our weak endeavours,
was quite a different thing from that, which alone is, and can be the
_required_ perfection of our lives? The first, God accepteth, that is,
beareth with. But why or how? Not because he seeketh or _requireth_
no more, but he beareth with them, because, though at a great distance
from, they are making towards the perfection, or new creature, which he
_absolutely requires_, which is the _fullness of the stature of Christ_,
and is that which _Paul_ saith, is the ONE that obtaineth the prize.
*The pleader against perfection farther supports himself by saying,
no man in the world, Christ excepted, was ever without sin. And so say
I too; and with the apostle I also add, _That if we say we have not
sinned, we make him a liar_. But then it is as true to say, that we
make _him a liar_, if we deny the possibility of our ever being freed
from a necessity of sinning. For the same word of God saith, _If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins_, and
_to cleanse us from all unrighteousness_.
*But surely he that is under a necessity of sinning, as long as he
lives, can no more be said to be cleansed from _all unrighteousness_,
than a man who must be a cripple to his dying day, can be said to be
cured of _all his lameness_. What weaker conclusion can well be made,
than to infer, that because Christ was the only man, that was born
and lived free from sin, therefore no man on earth can be raised to
a freedom from sinning; no better than concluding, that because our
_Redeemer_ could not find us any thing but _sinners_, therefore he must
of all necessity leave us _sinners_.
*The sober divine, who abhors the pride of Enthusiasts, saith of
himself and all men, We are poor, blind, imperfect creatures, all our
natural faculties are perverted, corrupted, and out of their right
state, and therefore nothing that is perfect can come from us, or be
done by us. Truth enough! and the very same truth, as when the apostle
saith, _The natural man knoweth not the things that be of God_. But
what scripture ever required perfect works from this man, any more than
it requires the _Ethiopian_ to change his skin? Or what an instructed
divine must he be, who considers this old natural man, as the Christian,
and therefore rejects Christian perfection, because this _old man_
cannot attain to it? What greater blindness than to appeal to our
fallen state, in proof of a corruption, which we must have, when we
are redeemed from it? Is this any wiser, than saying, that sin and
corruption must be there _where_ Christ is, because it is _there_,
where he is not?
*To what end do we pray, that this _day we may fall into no sin_, if no
such day can be had? But if sinning can be made to cease in us for one
day, what can do this for us, but that which can do the same to-morrow?
What benefit in praying, that _God’s will may be done on earth, as
it is in heaven_, if the earth as long as it lasts, must have as many
sinners, as it has men upon it? How vainly does _the church_ pray
for the baptized person, _that he may have power and strength to have
victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world and the flesh_, if
this victorious triumph can never be obtained? If notwithstanding this
baptism and prayer, he must continue _committing_ sin, and so be a
servant of sin, as long as he lives?
See how St. _Paul_ sets forth the true church.――_Know ye not, that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his
death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life._――Here we have the one
true church infallibly described.――He goes on. _For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection._ Therefore to be in Christ, or in his
church, belongs to no one, but because the old man is _put off_, and
the new man is _put on_.――The same thing is said again in these words;
_Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed_, That (N. B.) HENCEFORTH _we should not serve
sin_.
Away then with all the tedious volumes of church _unity_, church
_power_, and church _salvation_. Ask neither a council of _Trent_,
nor a synod of _Dort_, nor an _assembly_ of divines, for a definition
of the church. The apostle has given you, not a definition, but the
unchangeable nature of it, in these words. But now _being made free
from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life_. Therefore to be in the true church, and
to be in Christ a new creature which sinneth not, is the same thing.
*Look at all that is outward, and all that you then see, has no more
of salvation in it, than the stars and elements. Look at all the good
works you can think of, they have no goodness for you, but when the
good Spirit of God is the doer of them. For all the outward works of
religion may be done by the _natural man_, he can observe all church
duties, stick close to doctrines, and put on the semblance of every
outward virtue; thus high can he go. But no Christian, till led by the
Spirit of God, can go any higher than this outward formality; to which
he can add nothing, but his own natural, fleshly zeal in the defence of
it. _My little children_, saith St. Paul, _of whom I travail again in
birth, till Christ be formed in you_. This is the whole labour of an
apostle to the end of the world. He has nothing to preach to sinners,
but the absolute necessity, the true way, and the certain means of
being born again. But if dropping this one thing he becomes a disputing
reformer about words and opinions, and helps Christians to be zealously
separated from one another, for the sake of being saved by different
notions of faith, works, justification, or election, he has forgot his
errand, and is become a blind leader of all who are blind enough to
follow him.
The eternal Son of God came into the world, only for the sake of this
new birth, to give God the glory of restoring it to all the dead sons
of fallen _Adam_. All the mysteries of this incarnate, suffering,
dying Son of God, all the price that he paid for our redemption, all
the washings that we have from his all cleansing blood poured out for
us, all the life that we receive from eating his flesh and drinking
his blood, have their infinite value, their high glory, and amazing
greatness in this, because nothing less than these supernatural
mysteries of a God-man could raise a new creature out of _Adam_’s death,
which could be again a living temple, and habitation of the Spirit of
God.
All that Christ was, did, suffered, dying in the flesh, and ascending
into heaven, was for this sole end, to purchase for all his followers,
a new birth, new life, and new light, in and by the Spirit of God
restored to them, and living in them, as their support, comforter, and
guide into all truth. And this was his word, LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY,
EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.
An Extract of the
CHRISTIAN PATTERN:
Or, a treatise on the imitation of Christ. Written in Latin by
_Thomas a Kempis_.
The PREFACE.
I. AS _it is impossible for any one to know the usefulness of this
treatise, till he has read it in such a manner as it deserves; instead
of heaping up commendations of it, which those who have so read it do
not want, and those who have not will not believe; I have transcribed
a few plain directions, how to read this (or indeed any other religious
book) with improvement._
II. _Assign some stated time every day for this pious employment.
If any indispensable business unexpectedly robs you of your hour of
retirement, take the next hour for it. When such large portions of each
day are so willingly bestowed on bodily refreshments, can you scruple
allotting some little time daily, for the improvement of your immortal
soul?_
III. _Prepare yourself for reading by purity of intention, whereby you
singly aim at your soul’s benefit; and then, in a short ejaculation,
beg God’s grace to enlighten your understanding, and dispose your
heart for receiving what you read; and that you may both know what he
requires of you, and seriously resolve to execute his will when known._
IV. _Be sure to read not cursorily and hastily; but leisurely,
seriously, and with great attention; with proper intervals and pauses,
that you may allow time for the enlightnings of Divine Grace. Stop
every now and then to recollect what you have read, and consider how
to reduce it to practice. Farther, let your reading be continued and
regular, not rambling and desultory. It shews a vitiated palate, to
taste of many dishes, without fixing upon, or being satisfied with any:
not but that it will be of great service to read over and over those
passages, which more nearly concern yourself, and more closely affect
your own practice or inclinations; especially if you add a particular
examination upon each._
V. _Labour for a temper correspondent to what you read; otherwise
it will prove empty and unprofitable, while it only enlightens your
understanding, without influencing your will, or inflaming your
affections. Therefore intersperse here and there pious aspirations to
God, and petitions for his grace. Select also any remarkable sayings
or advices, treasuring them up in your memory to ruminate and consider
on: which you may either in time of need draw forth, as arrows from a
quiver against temptation, against this or that vice which you are more
particularly addicted to; or make use of as incitements to humility,
patience, the love of God, or any other virtue._
VI. _Conclude all with short ejaculation to God: that he would preserve
and prosper this good seed sown in your heart, that it may bring forth
its fruit in due season. And think not this will take up too much of
your time, for you can never bestow it to so good advantage._
An Extract of the
CHRISTIAN PATTERN.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
_Of the imitation of Christ and contempt of all the vanities
of the world._
HE _that followeth me walketh not in darkness_, saith the Lord. These
are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, that we ought to
imitate his life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and
delivered from all blindness of heart.
Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus
Christ.
2. What will it avail thee to dispute sublimely of the Trinity, if thou
be void of humility, and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity?
Truly, sublime words do not make a man holy and just; but a virtuous
life maketh him dear to God.
I had rather feel compunction, than know the definition thereof.
If thou didst know the whole bible, and the sayings of all the
philosophers by heart, what would all that profit thee, without the
love of God?
*Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, but to love God, and to serve him
only.
3. It is therefore vanity to seek after perishing riches.
It is also vanity to seek honours.
It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh, and to labour for that
for which thou must afterwards suffer grievous punishment.
It is vanity to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well.
It is vanity to mind this present life, and not those things which are
to come.
It is vanity to set thy love on that which speedily passeth away, and
not to hasten thither, where everlasting joys remain.
CHAPTER II.
_Of thinking humbly of ourselves._
*ALL men naturally desire to know; but what availeth knowledge, without
the fear of God?
Surely, an humble husbandman that serveth God, is better than a proud
philosopher, that neglecting himself, studies the course of the heavens.
He that knoweth himself, is vile in his own eyes, and is not pleased
with the praises of men.
If I understood all things in the world, and had not charity, what
would that help me in the sight of God, who will judge me according to
my works?
2. Cease from an inordinate desire of knowing, for therein is much
distraction and deceit.
There are many things, to know which doth little profit the soul.
And he is very unwise, that minds any other things than those that tend
to the welfare of his soul.
Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a pure conscience giveth
confidence towards God.
*The more thou knowest, and the better thou understandest, the more
grievously shalt thou be judged, unless thy life be the more holy.
Be not therefore lifted up; but rather let the knowledge given thee
make thee afraid.
If thou thinkest that thou knowest much; yet there are many more things
which thou knowest not.
Be not over-wise, but rather acknowledge thine own ignorance.
*If thou wilt know any thing profitably, love to be unknown, and of no
account.
4. The highest and most profitable lesson is, the true knowledge of
ourselves.
It is great wisdom to esteem ourselves nothing, and to think always
well and highly of others.
If thou shouldst see another openly sin, yet oughtest thou not to
esteem thyself better than him.
*We are all frail, but remember, none more frail than thyself.
CHAPTER III.
_Of the doctrine of truth._
HAPPY is he, whom truth itself teacheth, not by figures, and words that
pass away; but by an immediate communication of itself.
Our own opinion and our own sense often deceive us, and discern little.
What availeth it to dispute about hidden things, for being ignorant of
which we shall not be reproved at the day of judgment?
It is great folly to neglect things profitable, and to think of curious
or hurtful things.
2. And what have we to do with dry notions?
He to whom the Eternal Word speaketh, is delivered from a world of vain
notions.
From the One Word are all things, and all speak that one: and this is
he, who also speaketh unto us.
No man understandeth or judgeth rightly without him.
*He, to whom all things are one, who reduceth all things to one, and
seeth all things in one, may be stable in heart, and remain peaceable
in God.
*O God, the truth, make me one with thee in everlasting love.
I am weary of reading and hearing many things; in thee is all that I
desire.
*Let all creatures be silent in thy sight; speak thou alone unto me.
3. The more simple anyone is, the more doth he understand without
labour: because he receiveth the light of knowledge from above.
*A pure, simple, and stable spirit is not dissipated, tho’ it be
employed in many works; because it does all to the glory of God, and
seeks not itself in any thing it doth.
What hinders and troubles thee but the unmortified affections of thine
own heart?
Who hath a sharper combat, than he who laboured to overcome himself?
This ought to be our business, to conquer ourselves, and daily to
advance in holiness.
4. All perfection in this life hath some imperfection mixed with it;
and no knowledge of ours is without some darkness.
An humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God, than a deep
search after science.
Yet knowledge is not to be blamed, it being good in itself, and
ordained by God; but a good conscience and a virtuous life is always
to be preferred before it.
5. O If men bestowed as much labour in the rooting out of vices, as
they do in moving of questions, there would not be so great wickedness,
nor so much hurt done in the world!
*Surely at the day of judgment we shall not be examined what we have
read, but what we have done: not how well we have spoken, but how
religiously we have lived.
*Tell me, where are now all those doctors and masters with whom thou
wast well acquainted whilst they lived and flourished in learning?
Now others possess their preferments, and perhaps scarce ever think
of them. In their lifetime they seemed something, but now they are not
spoken of.
6. O how quickly doth the glory of the world pass away! O that their
life had been answerable to their learning! then had their study been
to good purpose.
How many perish in this world, because they rather chuse to be great
than humble? Therefore they become vain in their imaginations.
*He is truly great, that is great in love.
He is truly great that is little in his own eyes, and that maketh no
account of any height of honour.
*He is truly wise, that accounteth all earthly things as dung, that he
may win Christ.
*And he is truly learned, that doth the will of God, and forsaketh his
own will.
CHAPTER IV.
_Of prudence in our actions._
WE must not give ear to every saying or suggestion, but warily and
leisurely ponder things according to the will of God.
But alas! such is our weakness, that we often more easily believe and
speak evil of others than good.
Good men do not easily give credit to every thing one tells them;
because they know human frailty is prone to evil, and very subject to
fail in words.
2. It is great wisdom not to be rash in thy proceedings, nor to stand
stifly in thine own opinion.
It is wisdom not to believe every thing which thou hearest, nor
presently to relate again to others what thou hast heard, or dost
believe.
Consult with a wise and conscientious man, and seek to be instructed
by a better than thyself, rather than to follow thine own inventions.
*A good life maketh a man wise according to God, and giveth him
experience in many things.
The humbler one is, and more resigned unto God, the more prudent and
contented shall he be in all things.
CHAPTER V.
_Of reading the holy scriptures._
TRUTH, not eloquence, is to be sought for in holy scripture.
*All scripture is to be read by the same spirit wherewith it was
written.
We ought to read plain and devout books as willingly as high and
profound ones.
Let not the authority of the writer, whether he be of great or small
learning, but the love of pure truth, draw thee to read.
*Search not who spake this, but mark what is spoken.
2. Men pass away; but the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever.
God speaks unto us sundry ways, without respect of persons.
Our own curiosity often hindereth us in reading the scriptures, when we
will examine and discuss that which we should rather pass over without
more ado.
If thou desire to profit, read humbly, simply, and faithfully.
Enquire willingly, and hear with silence the words of holy men: dislike
not the parables of the elders, for they are not spoken without cause.
CHAPTER VI.
_Of avoiding vain hopes and pride._
HE is vain that putteth his trust in man or creatures.
Be not ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ; nor to be
esteemed poor in this world.
Presume not upon thyself, but place thy hope in God.
*Do what lieth in thy power, and God will assist thy good-will.
*Trust not in thy knowledge, nor in any living creature; but rather in
the grace of God; who helpeth the humble, and humbleth the proud.
2. Glory not in wealth, nor in friends; but in God, who giveth all
things, and desireth to give thee himself above all.
Value not thyself for the strength or beauty of thy body, which is
spoiled and disfigured with a little sickness.
Pride not thyself in thy natural gifts or wit, lest thereby thou
displease God.
3. Esteem not thyself better than others, lest in the sight of God thou
be accounted worse than they.
Be not proud of thy good works: for the judgment of God is far
different from the judgment of men.
If there be any good in thee, believe that there is much more in others.
It hurts thee not, if thou thinkest thyself worse than all men: but it
hurts thee much, to prefer thyself before any one man.
*The humble enjoy continual peace; but in the heart of the proud is
envy and frequent indignation.
CHAPTER VII.
_That too much familiarity is to be shunned._
LAY not thy heart open to every one; but treat of thy affairs with the
wise and such as fear God.
Converse not much with young people and strangers.
Flatter not the rich; neither do thou appear willingly before great
persons.
Keep company with the humble and simple, with the devout and virtuous;
and confer with them of those things that may edify.
Be not familiar with any woman; but in general commend all good women
to God.
Desire to be familiar with God alone, and his angels, and fly the
knowledge of men.
We must have charity towards all; but familiarity with all is not
expedient.
CHAPTER VIII.
_Of avoiding superfluity of words._
FLY the tumult of the world as much as thou canst:
For we are quickly defiled and enthralled with vanity.
I could wish that I had oftentimes held my peace, and that I had not
been in company.
*Why are we so fond of conversation, when notwithstanding we seldom
return to silence without hurt of conscience?
*We willingly talk of those things which we most love or desire, or of
those which we feel most contrary and troublesome to us.
But alas! often times in vain, and to no end; for this outward comfort
doth obstruct the inward consolation.
Therefore we must watch and pray, lest our time pass away idly.
2. If it be lawful and expedient for thee to speak, speak those things
that may edify.
However, devout conversation upon spiritual subjects, doth greatly
further our spiritual growth, especially where persons of one mind and
spirit are joined together in God.
CHAPTER IX.
_The obtaining of peace, and zeal for improvement._
*WE might enjoy much peace, if we would not busy ourselves with the
words and deeds of others, in which we have no concern.
How can he live long in peace, that meddles with the cares of others,
and little or seldom recollecteth himself within his own breast?
Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace.
2. We are too much taken up with our own passions, and too ♦solicitous
for transitory things.
♦ “sollicitous” replaced with “solicitous”
We are not inflamed with a fervent desire to grow better every day; and
therefore we remain cold and indifferent.
3. If we were dead unto ourselves, and disengaged from low affections,
then we should relish divine things:
But when any adversity befalleth us, we turn ourselves to human
comforts.
4. If we would endeavour, like men of courage, to stand in the battle,
we should surely feel the assistance of God from heaven:
*For he furnishes us with occasions of striving, that we may conquer.
If we place our progress in religion, only in outward observances, our
devotion will quickly be at an end.
But let us lay the axe to the root, that being freed from passions, we
may find rest to our souls.
CHAPTER X.
_Of the usefulness of adversity._
IT is good that we have sometimes troubles and crosses; for they often
make a man enter into himself, and consider that he ought not to place
his trust in any worldly thing.
It is good that we be sometimes contradicted; and that men think ill of
us: and this, although we do, and intend well.
For then we more diligently seek God for our inward witness, when
outwardly we are contemned by men.
*2. Wherefore a man should settle himself so fully in God, that he need
not seek comforts of men.
When a man is afflicted, tempted, or troubled with evil thoughts; then
he understandeth better the great need he hath of God.
3. So long as we live in this world, we cannot be without temptation.
Hence it is written in _Job_, The life of man is a warfare upon earth.
Every one therefore ought to take care as to his own temptations, and
to watch, in prayer, lest he be deceived by the devil; who never
sleepeth, but goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
4. Temptations are often very profitable to men, though they be
troublesome and grievous: for in them a man is humbled, purified, and
instructed.
All the saints have passed through, and profited by many tribulations
and temptations:
And they that could not bear temptations, became reprobates and fell
away.
*There is no place so secret, where there are no temptations.
5. There is no man that is altogether secure from temptations whilst he
liveth.
*When one temptation goeth away, another cometh; and we shall ever have
something to suffer.
Many seek to fly temptations, and fall more ♦grievously into them.
♦ “grivously” replaced with “grievously”
By flight alone, we cannot overcome, but by patience and humility we
conquer all our enemies.
6. He that only avoideth them outwardly, and doth not pluck them up by
the roots, shall profit little; yea, temptations will soon return unto
him, and he shall feel them worse than before.
*By patience (through God’s help) thou shalt more easily overcome, than
by harsh and disquieting efforts in thy own strength.
Often take counsel in temptations; and deal not roughly with him that
is tempted.
*7. The beginning of temptation is inconstancy of mind, and little
confidence in God.
*For as a ship without a rudder is tossed to and fro with the waves; so
the man that is negligent is many ways tempted.
Fire trieth iron, and temptation a just man.
*We know not often what we are able to do; but temptations shew us what
we are.
*We must be watchful, especially in the beginning of the temptation;
for the enemy is then more easily overcome, if he be not suffered to
enter the door of your hearts, but be resisted without the gate at his
first knock.
Wherefore one said, “Withstand the beginning; for an after-remedy comes
too late.”
*First there occurreth to the mind a simple evil thought; then a strong
imagination; afterwards delight; and lastly consent:
And so by little and little our malicious enemy getteth entrance,
whilst he is not resisted in the beginning.
And the longer one is slack in resisting, the weaker he becomes daily,
and the enemy stronger against him.
*8. Some suffer the greatest temptation in the beginning of their
conversion; others in the latter end.
*Others again are much troubled almost throughout their life.
Some are but slightly tempted according to the wisdom which weigheth
the states of men, and ordereth all things for the good of his elect.
9. We ought therefore, when we are tempted, so much the more fervently
to pray unto God, who surely will give with the temptation a way to
escape, that we may be able to bear it.
Let us therefore humble ourselves under the hand of God in all
temptations and tribulations; for he will exalt the humble in spirit.
10. In temptations and afflictions man is proved how much he hath
profited.
Neither is it any such great thing if a man be devout and fervent, when
he feeleth no affliction; but if in time of adversity he bear himself
patiently, there is hope then of great proficiency.
Some are kept from great temptations, and are overcame in small ones;
that being humbled, they may never trust themselves in great matters,
who are baffled in so small things.
CHAPTER XI.
_Of avoiding rash Judgment._
TURN thine eyes unto thyself, and beware thou judge not the deeds of
other men.
In judging of others a man laboureth in vain, often erreth, and easily
sinneth: but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth
fruitfully.
We often judge of things according as we fancy them: for affection
bereaves us easily of a right judgment.
If God were always our desire, we should not be so much troubled when
our inclinations are opposed.
2. But oftentimes something lurks within, which draweth us after it.
Many secretly seek themselves in their actions, but know it not.
They live in peace of mind, when things are done according to their
will; but if things succeed otherwise than they desire, they are
straightway troubled.
Diversity of inclinations and opinions often cause dissentions between
religious persons, between friends and countrymen.
3. An old custom is hardly broken, and no man is willing to be led
farther than himself can see.
If thou dost more rely upon thine own reason, than upon Jesus Christ,
late, if ever, shalt thou become illuminated.
CHAPTER XII.
_Of works done out of charity._
THE outward work, without charity, profiteth nothing; but whatsoever
is done out of charity, be it never so little and contemptible in the
sight of the world, is wholly fruitful.
*For God weigheth more with how much love one worketh, than how much he
doth.
*He doth much that loveth much.
2. He doth much, that doth a thing well.
He doth well, that serveth his neighbour, and not his own will.
Often it seemeth to be charity, and it is rather carnality; because
natural inclination, self-will, hope of reward, and desire of their own
interest, are motives that men are rarely free from.
3. He that hath true and perfect charity, seeketh himself in nothing;
but only desireth in all things that God should be exalted.
He envieth none, because he seeketh not his own satisfaction; neither
rejoiceth in himself, but chuses God only for his portion.
He attributeth nothing that is good to any man, but wholly refereth it
unto God, from whom, as from the fountain, all things proceed; in whom
finally all the saints rest.
O that we had but one spark of true charity, we would certainly discern
that all earthly things are full of vanity!
CHAPTER XIII.
_Of bearing with the defects of others._
THOSE things that a man cannot amend in himself, or in others, he ought
to suffer patiently, until God orders things otherwise.
*Think, that perhaps it is better so for thy trial and patience.
*2. If one that is once or twice warned will not give over, contend
not with him; but commit all to God, that his will may be done, and his
name honoured in all his servants, who well knoweth how to turn evil
into good.
Study to be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of
others, of what sort soever they be; for that thou thyself also hast
many, which must be suffered by others.
*If thou canst not make thyself such a one as thou wouldst, how canst
thou expect to have another in all things to thy liking?
We would willingly have others perfect, and yet we amend not our own
faults.
We would have others exactly corrected, and will not be corrected
ourselves.
The liberty of others displeaseth us, and yet we will not have our
desires denied.
Thus it appears, how seldom we weigh our neighbour in the same balance
with ourselves.
3. If all men were perfect, what should we have to suffer of our
neighbour for God?
*But now God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one
another’s burdens: for no man is without fault: no man but hath his
burden; no man is self-sufficient; no man has wisdom enough for himself:
but we ought to bear with one another, comfort, help, instruct, and
admonish one another.
*Occasions of adversity best discover how great virtue each one hath:
*For occasions make not a man frail, but shew what he is.
CHAPTER XIV.
_Of the examples of the holy Fathers._
CONSIDER the lively examples of the holy fathers, in whom true religion
shone, and thou shalt see how little it is and almost nothing, which we
do now.
Alas! what is our life, if it be compared to theirs?
These saints and friends of _Christ_, served the Lord in hunger and
thirst, in cold and nakedness, in labour and weariness, in watchings
and fastings, in persecutions, and many reproaches.
2. O how many and grievous tribulations suffered the apostles, martyrs,
confessors, virgins, and all the rest that would follow the steps of
_Christ_!
They hated their lives in this world, that they might possess their
souls in everlasting life!
O how strict and self-renouncing a life led those holy fathers in the
wilderness! How long and grievous temptations suffered they! How often
were they assaulted by the enemy! What frequent and fervent prayers
offered they to God! How rigorous an abstinence did they dally use! How
great zeal and care had they of their spiritual proficiency! How strong
a combat had they for the overcoming of their lusts! How pure and
upright an intention did they preserve unto God!
All the day they laboured, and spent part of the night in prayer;
although, even while they laboured, they did not cease from mental
prayer.
3. They spent all their time usefully: all their hours of devotion
seemed short: and, by reason of the great sweetness they felt in
contemplation, they forgot the necessity of corporal refreshments.
They renounced all riches, dignities, honours, friends and kinsfolk;
they desired to have nothing of the world: they took no more of any
thing than was necessary for the sustenance of life.
They were poor in earthly things, but rich in grace.
Outwardly they wanted, but inwardly were refreshed with divine
consolation.
4. They were strangers to the world, but friends to God.
They seemed to themselves as nothing, and were despised by the world:
but they were precious in the eyes of God.
They were grounded in humility, walked in love and patience, and
therefore profited daily in spirit.
*Help me, O Lord God, in thy holy service, and grant that I may now
this day begin perfectly; for that which I have done hitherto is
nothing.
Much diligence is necessary to him that will profit much.
If he that firmly purposeth often faileth, what shall he do that seldom,
or feebly purposeth any thing?
It may fall out sundry ways that we break our resolution, and a little
omission of spiritual exercises seldom passes without some loss.
The purpose of just men depends, not so much upon their own wisdom, as
upon the grace of God, on whom they always rely in whatsoever they take
in hand.
*For man doth propose, but God doth dispose; neither is the way of man
in himself.
5. If any accustomed exercise be sometimes omitted, either for some act
of piety, or profit to thy brother, it may easily afterwards be
recovered again.
But to omit it out of sloth, or carelessness, is very blameable, and
will be found pernicious.
We must diligently search into, and regulate both the outward and
inward man; because both contribute to our advancement.
Gird thy loins like a man against the assaults of the devil; bridle thy
appetite, and thou shalt the more easily bridle all the motions of the
flesh.
*Be thou at no time idle altogether; but either reading, or writing, or
praying, or meditating, or endeavouring something for the public good.
_Blessed is that servant whom, when his |Lord| cometh, he shall find
watching: verily, I say unto you, He shall make him ruler over all his
goods_
CHAPTER XV.
_Of the love of solitude and silence._
SEEK a convenient time to retire into thyself. Meddle not with
curiosities.
Read such things as may rather yield compunction of heart, than busy
thy head.
If thou wilt withdraw thyself from superfluous talk and useless
visits, as also from hearkening after news and rumours, thou shalt find
sufficient leisure to meditate on good things.
*2. One said, “As often as I have been among men, I returned less a
man;” and this we often find true, when we have been long in company.
It is easier not to speak at all, than not to speak more than we should.
It is easier to keep at home, than to be sufficiently upon our guard
when we are abroad.
He therefore, that intends to attain to inward and spiritual things,
must with Jesus retire from the multitude.
No man safely goes abroad, but he who is willing to stay at home.
No man can speak safely, but he who is willing to hold his peace.
No man ruleth safely, but he that is willing to be ruled.
*No man safely commands, but he that hath learned readily to obey.
No man safely rejoiceth, unless he hath within him the testimony of a
good conscience:
*And yet the security of the saints was always full of the fear of God.
Neither were they less careful and humble in themselves, because they
shone outwardly with grace and great virtues.
Those have often through confidence in themselves fallen into the
greatest dangers, who have been in the greatest esteem among men.
*Wherefore it is more profitable to many, not to be altogether free
from temptations, lest they should be too secure, lest they should be
puffed up with pride, or too freely incline to worldly comforts.
*O how good a conscience would he keep, that would never seek after
transitory joy, nor entangle himself with the things of this world!
O how great peace and quietness would he possess, that would cut off
all vain solicitude, and think only upon divine things, and such as are
profitable for his soul!
If thou desirest compunction of heart enter into thy closet, and shut
out the tumults of the world, according to the advice of the Psalmist,
(iv. 4.) _Commune with your own heart, and in your own chamber, and be
still._
In thy closet thou shalt find what abroad thou often losest.
The more thou frequented thy closet, the more thou wilt like it; the
less thou comest thereunto, the more thou wilt loath it.
If, in the beginning of thy conversion, thou passest much time in it,
it will afterward be to thee a dear friend and pleasant comfort.
4. In silence and in stillness a religious soul profiteth, and learneth
the hidden truths of holy scriptures.
There she findeth rivers of tears, and may be so much the more familiar
with her Creator, by how much the farther off she liveth from all
worldly tumult.
5. Why art thou desirous to see that which is unlawful for thee to
enjoy? For the world passeth away, and the desire thereof.
Our sinful desires draw us to rove abroad: but when the time is passed,
what carriest thou home with thee, but a burdened conscience, and a
dissipated heart!
A merry going out often bringeth a mournful return, and a joyful
evening a sad morning.
So all carnal joys enter pleasantly, but in the end bite and sting to
death.
What canst thou see elsewhere, which thou canst not see here? Behold
the heaven and the earth, and all the elements; for of these are all
things created.
6. What canst thou see any where, that can long continue under the sun?
Thou thinkest perhaps to satisfy thyself, but thou canst never attain
it.
Shouldst thou see all the things of this world, what were it but a vain
sight?
Lift up thine eyes to God in the highest, and pray to him to pardon all
thy sins.
*Leave vain things to the vain, but be thou intent upon those things
which God commandeth thee.
Shut thy door upon thee, and call unto thee _Jesus_ thy beloved.
Stay with him in thy closet; for thou shalt not find so great peace any
where else.
Hadst thou not gone abroad, and harkened to idle rumours, thou mightest
the better have remained in peace: but so long as thou delightest to
hear novelties, thou must endure trouble of heart.
CHAPTER XVI.
_Of compunction of heart._
IF thou wilt make any progress, keep thyself in the fear of God, and
use not too much liberty.
Keep all thy senses under discipline, and give not thyself over to
trifling mirth.
2. The levity of our minds, and want of concern for our faults, make us
lose the sense of our inward state, and often laugh when we have cause
to weep.
There is no true liberty, nor right gladness, but in the fear of God,
and a good conscience.
Happy is he, that can avoid all distracting impediments, and recollect
himself in holy compunction.
Happy is he, that can abandon all that may defile or burthen his
conscience.
Resist manfully: one custom overcometh another.
3. Busy not thyself in matters which appertain to others: neither
trouble thyself with the affairs of thy betters.
Still have an eye to thyself first, and be sure to admonish thyself
before any of thy friends.
If thou hast not the favour of men, be not grieved at it; but grieve
that thou dost not carry thyself so warily and circumspectly as
becometh the servant of God.
*It is often better and safer that a man hath not many consolations
in this life, especially worldly ones. But that we have not at all,
or seldom, divine consolations, is our own fault, because we do not
altogether forsake vain comforts.
4. Didst thou oftner think of thy death, than of thy living long, there
is no question but thou wouldst be more zealous to amend.
I believe thou wouldst willingly undergo any labour, or sorrow, or
austerity, if thou didst consider within thyself the pains of a future
state.
But because these things enter not into the heart, and we still love
the things of the world, therefore we remain cold and slothful.
*Miserable thou art, wheresoever thou be, or whithersoever thou turnest,
unless thou turn thyself to God.
*Who is in the best case? He who can suffer something for God.
O brother, quit not thy hope of profiting in spiritual things: there is
yet time, the hour is not yet past.
5. Why wilt thou defer thy good purpose?
*Arise, begin this instant, and say, Now is the time to be doing, now
is the time to be striving, now is the time to amend.
But unless thou dost violence to thyself, thou shalt never get the
victory over sin.
CHAPTER XVII.
_Of the meditation of death._
THIS life will soon be at an end: consider therefore how thy affairs
stand as to the next.
Man is here to-day; to-morrow he is gone.
When he is out of sight, he is soon forgotten.
*Thou shouldest so order thyself in all thy thoughts and all thy
actions, as if thou wert to die to-day.
Hadst thou a clear conscience, thou wouldst not fear death.
It were better to avoid sin, than to fly death.
If thou art not prepared to-day, how wilt thou be to-morrow?
To-morrow is uncertain, and how knowest thou that thou shalt live till
to-morrow?
2. What availeth to live long, when we are so little the better?
Alas! long life doth not always mend us; but often increaseth guilt.
*O that we had spent but one day well in this world!
3. When it is morning, think thou mayst die before night.
When evening comes, dare not to promise thyself the next morning.
Be therefore always in readiness; and so live, that death may never
take thee unprepared.
Many die suddenly, and when they look not for it; for _in such an hour
as you think not the Son of man cometh_, Matthew xxiv. 44.
When that last hour shall come, thou wilt have a far different opinion
of thy whole life.
*4. How wise and happy is he, that laboureth to be such in his life, as
he would wish to be found at the hour of his death!
*Whilst thou art in health, thou mayst do much good; but when thou art
sick, I know not what thou wilt be able to do.
*Few by sickness grow better; and they who travel much are seldom
sanctified.
*5. Trust not in friends and kindred, neither put off the care of thy
soul till hereafter; for men will sooner forget thee, than thou art
aware of.
If thou art not careful for thyself now, who will be careful for thee
hereafter!
The time present is very precious; now is the day of salvation, now is
the acceptable time.
*But alas! that thou shouldst spend thy time no better here, where
thou mightest purchase life eternal! The time will come when thou shalt
desire one day or hour to amend in, and I cannot say it will be granted
thee.
6. Ah fool, why dost thou think to live long, when thou canst not
promise to thyself one day!
How many have been deceived, and suddenly snatched away?
How often dost thou hear, such a man is slain, another is drowned, a
third has broke his neck with a fall; this man died eating, and that
playing?
One perished by fire, another by sword, another of the plague, another
was slain by thieves: thus death is the end of all, and man’s life
suddenly passeth away, like a shadow.
*7. Who shall remember thee when thou art dead? Do, do now, my beloved,
whatsoever thou art able to do: for thou knowest not when thou shalt
die, nor yet what shall be after thy death.
Now, while thou hast time, lay up for thyself everlasting riches.
Think on nothing but the salvation of thy soul, care for nothing but
the things of God.
8. Keep thyself as a stranger and pilgrim upon earth, who hath nothing
to do with the affairs of this world.
*Keep thy heart free, and lifted up to God, because thou hast here no
abiding city.
*Send thither thy daily prayers and sighs and tears, that after death
thy Spirit may happily pass to the Lord. _Amen._
CHAPTER XVIII.
_Of judgment and the punishment of sins._
IN all things remember the end, and how thou wilt be able to stand
before that severe Judge, from whom nothing is hid: who is not pacified
with gifts, nor admitteth any excuses; but will judge according to
right.
O wretched and foolish sinner, who sometimes fearest the countenance
of an angry man! What answer wilt thou make to God, who knoweth all thy
wickedness?
Why dost thou not provide for thyself against that great day of
judgment, when no man can excuse or answer for another, but every one
shall have enough to answer for himself?
2. What is it which that infernal fire feeds upon but thy sins?
The more thou sparest thyself now, and followest the flesh, so much the
more hereafter shall be thy punishment, and thou stowest up greater
fuel for the flame.
*In what thing a man hath sinned, in the same shall he be punished.
There is no quiet, no comfort for the damned there: here we have some
intermission of our labours, and enjoy the comfort of our friends.
Be now solicitous and sorrowful because of thy sins, that at the day of
judgment thou mayest be secure with the blessed.
For then shall the righteous stand with great boldness before such as
have vexed and oppressed them.
Then shall he stand to judge, who doth now humbly submit himself to the
judgment of others.
Then shall the poor and humble have great confidence, but the proud
shall be compassed with fear on every side.
3. Then will it appear, that he was wise in this world, who had learned
to be a fool and despised for _Christ_’s sake.
Then shall every affliction, patiently undergone, delight us; and the
mouth of iniquity shall be stopped.
Then shall the devout rejoice, and the profane mourn.
Then shall he more rejoice that hath mortified his flesh, than he that
hath abounded in all pleasure.
Then shall the poor attire shine gloriously, and the precious robes
appear vile.
4. Suppose thou hadst hitherto lived always in honour and delights,
what would this avail thee, if thou wert to die this instant?
All therefore is vanity, but to love God, and serve him only.
For he that loveth God with all his heart, is neither afraid of death,
nor judgment, nor hell.
CHAPTER XIX.
_Of the zealous amendment of our whole life._
*WHEN one that was in great anxiety of mind, often wavering between
fear and hope, once humbly prostrated himself in prayer, and said, O if
I knew that I should persevere! He presently heard within him an answer
from God, which said, If thou didst know it, what wouldst thou do? Do
what thou wouldst do then, and thou shalt be safe.
And being herewith comforted and strengthened, he committed himself
wholly to the will of God, and his anxiety ceased:
Neither had he any mind to search curiously farther what should befall
him; but rather laboured to understand what was the perfect and
acceptable will of God, for the beginning and accomplishing every good
work.
2. Hope in the Lord, and do good, saith the prophet, and inhabit the
land, and thou shalt be fed.
One thing there is that draweth many back from a spiritual progress,
and diligent amendment; the dread of the difficulty, or labour of the
combat.
But they improve most that endeavour most to overcome those things,
which are grievous and contrary to them.
For there a man improveth more, and obtaineth greater grace, where he
more overcometh himself and mortifieth himself in spirit.
3. Gather some profit to thy soul wheresoever thou be; so if thou seest
or hearest of any good examples, stir up thyself to the imitation
thereof.
But if thou seest any thing worthy of reproof, beware thou dost not the
same. And, if at any time thou hast done it, labour quickly to amend it.
4. Be mindful of the profession thou hast made, and have always before
thine eyes the remembrance of thy Saviour crucified.
Thou hast good cause to be ashamed, looking upon the life of Jesus
Christ, seeing thou hast as yet no more endeavoured to conform thyself
unto him, though thou hast walked a long time in the way of God.
A religious person that exerciseth himself seriously and devoutly in
the most holy life and passion of our Lord, shall there abundantly find
whatsoever is necessary and profitable for him; neither shall he need
seek any better thing out of Jesus.
*O if Jesus crucified would come into our hearts, how quickly and fully
should we be instructed in all truth!
An Extract of the
CHRISTIAN PATTERN:
Or, a treatise on the imitation of Christ. Written in Latin
by _Thomas a Kempis_.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
_Of the inward life._
THE kingdom of God is within you, saith the Lord. Turn thee with thy
whole heart unto the Lord, and forsake this wretched world, and thy
soul shall find rest.
Learn to despise exterior things, and to give thyself to the interior,
and thou shalt perceive the kingdom of God to come into thee.
For the kingdom of God, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost.
2. O faithful soul, make ready thy heart for the Bridegroom, that he
may vouchsafe to come unto thee, and dwell within thee!
For he saith, If any man love me, he will keep my words, and we will
come unto him, and will make our abode with him.
Give therefore admittance unto Christ, and deny entrance to all others.
When thou hast Christ thou art rich, and he will suffice thee. He will
be thy faithful helper in all things, so as thou shalt not need to
trust in men.
*For men are soon changed, and quickly fail; but Christ remaineth for
ever, and is with us even unto the end.
3. We ought not to put trust in man, frail and mortal as he is, though
he be friendly and serviceable: nor should we be grieved, although he
cross and oppose us.
*They, that to-day take thy part, to-morrow may be against thee, and so
on the contrary; they often turn like the wind.
*Put thy whole trust in God, let him be thy fear and thy love: he will
answer for thee, and do in all things what is best.
Thou hast not here an abiding city; and wheresoever thou be, thou art a
stranger and pilgrim; neither shalt thou ever have rest, unless thou be
intimately united unto Christ.
*4. Why dost thou here gaze about, since this is not the place of thy
rest? In heaven ought to be thy dwelling, and all earthly things are to
be looked upon as they forward thy journey thither.
*All things pass away, and thou together with them.
*Beware thou cleave not unto them, lest thou be entangled and perish.
Let thy thoughts be on the highest, and thy prayer directed unto Christ,
without ceasing.
If thou canst not contemplate on high and heavenly things; rest thyself
in the passion of Christ, and dwell willingly in his holy wounds.
For if thou fly devoutly unto the Lord Jesus, thou shalt feel great
comfort in tribulation, neither wilt thou regard being despised of men,
but wilt easily bear words of detraction.
5. Christ was also despised of men and in his greatest necessity
forsaken by his acquaintance and friends.
*Christ chose to suffer and be despised; and darest thou complain of
any thing?
Christ had adversaries and slanderers; and wilt thou have all men thy
friends and benefactors?
How shall thy patience be crowned, if no adversity happen unto thee?
*If thou wilt suffer nothing, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ?
Suffer with Christ, and for Christ, if thou desirest to reign with
Christ.
*6. If thou hadst but once entered into Jesus, then wouldest thou
not be careful about thine own advantage or disadvantage; but wouldst
rather rejoice at slanders cast upon thee; for the love of Jesus maketh
a man despise himself.
A lover of Jesus, a true inward Christian, free from inordinate
affections, can freely turn himself to God, and lift himself above
himself.
7. He that relishes all things as they are, and not as they are
esteemed, is truly wise, and taught by God.
He that can live inwardly, and make small reckoning of outward things,
neither requireth places, nor attendeth times, for the exercise of his
devotion.
*An interior man soon recollecteth himself, because he is never wholly
intent upon outward things.
He is not hindered by outward labour or business; but as things fall
out, so he suiteth himself unto them.
He that hath well ordered and disposed all things within, careth not
for the perverse carriage of men.
*So much is a man hindered and distracted, by how much he cleaveth to
outward things.
8. If all went well with thee, and if thou wert well purified, all
things would tend to thy good.
But therefore many things displease and trouble thee, because thou art
not yet dead unto thyself, nor separated from all earthly things.
*Nothing so defileth and entangleth the heart of man, as the impure
love of creatures.
CHAPTER II.
_Of humble submission._
MIND not much who is with thee, or who is against thee: but endeavour
and take care that God may be with thee in every thing thou dost.
Keep a good conscience, and God will defend thee.
For whom God will help, no man can hurt.
If thou canst hold thy peace and suffer, without doubt thou shalt see
the salvation of the Lord.
He knoweth the time and manner how to deliver thee, and therefore thou
oughtest to resign thyself unto him.
It belongs to God to help, and deliver from all shame.
It is often profitable for the keeping us humble, that others know and
reprehend our faults.
2. When a man humbleth himself for his faults, he easily pacifieth
those that are offended with him.
God protecteth and delivereth the humble: unto the humble man he
inclineth himself; unto the humble he giveth great grace; and after
his humiliation he raiseth him unto glory.
Unto the humble he revealeth his secrets, and sweetly draweth him unto
himself.
The humble person though he suffer shame, is yet in peace; for that he
resteth in God, and not in the world.
*Do not think that thou hast profited any thing, unless thou esteem
thyself inferior to all.
CHAPTER III.
_Of a good and peaceable man._
FIRST keep thyself in peace, and then mayst thou pacify others.
A peaceable man doth more good than a learned one.
A passionate man turneth good into evil, and easily believeth the worst.
A peaceable man turneth all things into good.
He that is in peace, is not suspicious of any:
But he that is discontented, is neither quiet himself, nor suffereth
others to be quiet.
He often speaketh that which he ought not to speak, and omitteth that
which he ought to do.
He considereth what others are bound to do; and neglects that which he
is bound to do himself.
*First therefore have a careful zeal over thyself, and then shew
thyself zealous for thy neighbour’s good.
2. Thou knowest well how to excuse thine own deeds, and thou wilt not
receive the excuses of others.
It were more just to accuse thyself, and excuse thy brother.
If thou wilt be borne with, bear also with another.
Behold, how far thou art yet from true charity and humility, which
knoweth not how to be angry with any, but one’s self. It is no great
matter to live peaceable with the good and gentle; for every one
willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those that are of his own mind:
But to be able to live peaceably with unquiet and perverse men, or with
the disorderly, or such as cross us, is a great grace.
3. Some there are that keep themselves in peace, and are in peace also
with others.
And there are some, that neither are in peace themselves, nor suffer
others to be in peace; who are troublesome to others, but always more
troublesome to themselves;
And others there are, that keep themselves in peace, and labour to
bring others unto peace.
*Our whole peace in this life consisteth rather in humble _suffering_,
than in not feeling _adversities_.
*He that knows best how to suffer, will best keep himself in peace. He
is a conqueror of himself, a lord of the world, a friend of Christ, and
an heir of heaven.
CHAPTER IV.
_Of a pure mind, and simple intention._
*SIMPLICITY and purity, are the two wings by which a man is lifted up
above all earthly things.
*Simplicity is in the intention; purity in the affection: simplicity
tends to God; purity apprehends and tastes him.
*No good action will hinder thee, if thou be inwardly free from
inordinate affection.
If thou intend and seek nothing but the will of God, and the good of
thy neighbour, thou shalt enjoy internal liberty.
*If thy heart was right, then every creature would be a looking-glass
of life, and a book of holy doctrine.
There is no creature so little and abject, that represents not the
goodness of God.
2. If thou wert inwardly pure, thou wouldst see and understand all
things without any impediment.
A pure heart penetrateth heaven and hell.
Such as every one is inwardly, so he judgeth outwardly.
If there be joy in the world, surely a man of a pure heart possesseth
it. And if there be any where tribulation and affliction, an evil
conscience feels it.
*As iron put into the fire loseth its rust, and becometh all bright
like fire; so he, that wholly turneth himself unto God, is purified
from all _slothfulness_, and is changed into the likeness of God.
3. When a man beginneth to grow lukewarm, then he is afraid of a little
labour:
But when he once beginneth to overcome himself, then he esteemeth those
things light, which before seemed grievous unto him.
CHAPTER V.
_Of the consideration of one’s self._
WE should not trust too much to ourselves, because we have often
neither grace nor understanding.
There is but little light in us, and that we quickly lose by negligence.
We reprehend small things in others, and pass over greater in ourselves.
We quickly feel and weigh what we suffer from others, but we mind not
what others suffer from us.
He that rightly considers his own work, will find little cause to judge
hardly of another.
2. The inward Christian prefereth the care of himself before all other
cares.
*He that diligently attendeth unto himself, easily holds his peace
concerning others.
Thou wilt never be inwardly religious, unless thou pass over other
men’s matters, and look especially to thyself.
If thou attend wholly unto God and thyself, thou wilt be little moved
with whatsoever thou seest abroad.
Where art thou, when thou art not with thyself? And when thou hast run
over all, what hast thou profited, if thou hast neglected thyself?
If thou desirest peace of mind, thou must reject all other cares, and
look only to thyself.
3. Thou shalt profit much, if thou keep thyself free from all temporal
cares.
Thou shalt greatly fail, if thou esteem any thing of this world.
*Let nothing be great, nothing high, nothing pleasing to thee, but only
God himself, or that which is of God.
*Esteem all comfort vain, which proceedeth from any creature.
*A soul that loveth God, despiseth all things but God.
*God alone, who is everlasting, immense, filling all things, is the
comfort of the soul, and the true joy of the heart.
The End of the SEVENTH Volume.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 07 (of 32)" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.