THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 

 
 A 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 O F 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 On the Moft 
 
 Interefting and Important SUBJECTS, 
 
 A N D O N 
 
 Several Occafions* 
 
 By WILLIAM LAW, M.A 
 
 L JV D O N: 
 
 Prioted for J. RICHARDSON, in 
 
 ]N after -Row. 1760. 
 
 [ Price Two Shillings. 1
 
 &v 
 
 A N 
 
 c 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 READER. 
 
 THE Letters in this Colleaion 
 having been experimentally 
 found of great private Benefit, the 
 .confent of the Author has been ob- 
 tained to their being made Publick,. 
 And as they contain a rich Treafure 
 of divine Truths, and come home 
 to the Bofoms of Men, comprehend- 
 ing the Fulnefs of Religion, and re- 
 folving a great Variety of important 
 Points, the Editors have great Plea- 
 fure, in being allowed to Publifl? 
 them, 
 
 x z, a w. 
 
 922S19
 
 A 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 O F 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 LETTER I, 
 
 To Mr. y. L. 
 
 My dear and mo ft worthy Friend, 
 
 fo I muft falute you, as having 
 long dwelt in my Heart under that 
 ^ ea ' t ^ ou ^ perfonally unknowa 
 to me. I mall not trouble you with 
 apologizing for this long Silence, but fpeak 
 diredly to the Matters of yours, concerning 
 your Difficulty to join in any Church Com* 
 
 B Religion
 
 2 LETTER I. 
 
 Religion, or Church Communion is in 
 its true Nature, both external and internal^ 
 which are thus united, and thus diftin- 
 guiihed j the one is the outward Sign, the 
 other is the inward Truth fignified by it : 
 The one never was, nor ever can be, in 
 its true State, without the other. 
 
 The inward Truth, or Church, is Re- 
 generation , or the Life, Spirit, and Power 
 of Chrift, quickened and brought to life, 
 in the Soul. 
 
 The outward Sign, or Church, is that 
 outward Form, or manner of Life, that 
 bears full witnefs to the Truth of this re- 
 generated Life of Chrift, formed or revealed 
 in the Soul. 
 
 The inward Truth gives forth its outward 
 proper Manifestations of itfelf, and thefe 
 Manifestations bring forth the true outward 
 Church, and make it to be vifible, and out- 
 wardly known. 
 
 As thus, every thing in the inward Life, 
 and Spirit, and Will of Chrift, when it be- 
 comes living, dwelling and working in the 
 Spirit of our Minds, or inward Man, is 
 the inward Church, or Kingdom of God, 
 let up within us : And every thing in the 
 outward Behaviour, and vifible Converfa- 
 tion of Chrift, whilft dwelling amongft 
 Men, when practifed and followed by us, 
 
 in
 
 LETTER I. 3 
 
 in the Form and Manner of our Life, 
 makes us the Members of that outward 
 Church, which he fet up in this World. 
 
 Inwardly nothing lived in Chrift, but the 
 fole Will of God, a perpetual Regard to 
 his Glory, and one continual Delire of the 
 Salvation of all Mankind. When this 
 Spirit is in us, then are we inwardly one 
 with Chrift, and united to God through 
 Him. 
 
 Outwardly Chrift exercifed every kind of 
 Love, Kindneis and Compamon to the Souls 
 and Bodies of Men; nothing was vifible in 
 the outward Form of his Life, but Hu- 
 mility and Lowlinefs of State in every fhape ; 
 a contented Want, or rather total Dif- 
 regard of all worldly Riches, Power, Eafe 
 or Pleafure ; a continual Meeknefs, Gentle-, 
 nds, Patience and Resignation, not only 
 to the Will of God, but to the haughty 
 Powers of the World, to the Perverfenefs, 
 and Contradiction of all the Evil and Ma- 
 lice of Men, and all the Hardihips and 
 Troubles of human Life : Now this, and 
 fuch \\kt*outward Behaviour of Chrift, thus 
 feparate from, and contrary to the Spirit, 
 Wifdom and Way, of this World, was 
 that very outward Church, of which he 
 willed all Mankind to become vifible, and 
 living Members. And whoever in the Spi- 
 B 2 rit
 
 4 LETTER I. 
 
 rit of Chrift, lives in the outward Excrcije 
 of thefe Virtues, lives as to himfelf in the 
 higheft Perfection of Church Unity, and is 
 the true inward and outward Chriftian. 
 He is all that he can be, he hath all that 
 he can have, he doth all that he can do, 
 and enjoyeth all that he can enjoy, as a Mem- 
 ber of Chrift's Body, or Church in this 
 World. 
 
 For as Chrift was God and Man, come 
 down from Heaven, for no other end, but 
 fully to reftore the Union that was loft be- 
 twixt God and Man, fo Church Unity is, and 
 can be nothing elfe, but the Unity of this, 
 or that Man, or number of Men with God, 
 through the Power and Nature of Chrift. 
 And therefore it muft be the Truth, and the 
 whole Truth, that nothing more is required, 
 nor will any thing lefs be able, to make 
 any one a true Member of the one Church of 
 Chrift, out of which there is no Salvation, 
 and in which there is no Condemnation, 
 but only and folely his Conformity to, and 
 Union with the inward Spirit, and outward 
 Form of Chrift's Life and Behaviour in this 
 World. This is the one Fold under one Shep- 
 herd j though the Sheep are fcattered, or feed- 
 ing in Vallies, or on Mountains ever fo dif- 
 tant, or feparate from one another. 
 
 On
 
 LETTER I. 5 
 
 On the other hand, not only every un- 
 reafonable unjuil Action, be it done to whom 
 it will, not only every unkind, proud, wrath- 
 ful, fcornful, difdainful inward Thought, 
 or outward Behaviour to any Peribn, but 
 every Unreadinefs to do good of all Kinds, 
 to all that we can ; every Uriwtflingnefi to 
 rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep 
 with them that weep, and love our Neigh- 
 bour as ourfelves ; every Aver/ion to be in- 
 wardly all Love, and outwardly all Meek- 
 nefs, Gentlenefs, Courtify, and Condefcen- 
 tion in Words and Actions towards every 
 Creature, for whom Chrift died, makes 
 us Schifmatics, though we be ever fo daily 
 gathered together, into one and the fame 
 Place, joining in one and the fame Form of 
 Creeds, Prayers and Praifes offered to God, 
 and is truly a leaving, or breaking that 
 Church Unity, which makes us one with 
 Chrift, as our Head, and unites us with 
 Men, as the Members of his Body. 
 
 That the matter is thus ; that the true 
 Church Unity conlifts in our walking as Chrift 
 walked, fully appears, as from many others, 
 fo from theie pl^in Words of our Lord him- 
 felf : Te are not of this World, as I am not of 
 this World, but I have chofen you out of the 
 World. Therefore to have that Contrariety 
 to the World, which Chrift had, is the one 
 JB 3 neceflary
 
 6 LETTER I. 
 
 neceffary and full Proof of our being his, 
 of our belonging to him, and being one 
 with him. 
 
 Again, Abide in me, and I jn you, if ye 
 abide in me, ye /hall ajk ivbat ye ivlll, afid it 
 (kail be done to you. If a Man abide not in me, 
 he is caftjorth as a Branch withered, &c. For 
 without me ye can do nothing. 
 
 Therefore the one true Proof of our be- 
 ing living Members of ChrhTs Church on 
 Earth, or only dead Branches, fit for the 
 Fire, is nothing elle but our being, or not 
 being inwardly of that Spirit, and outward- 
 ly of that Behaviour, which Chrift mani- 
 fefted to the World. 
 
 Again, 'This is my Commandment, that ye 
 love one another as 1 have loved you, and by 
 this fhall all Men knew that ye are my Difciples. 
 
 Therefore the true and fufficient Mark of 
 our outward Church Memberihip, is there 
 only, and fully, outwardly known, and 
 ibund in every Man, where the outward 
 Form of Chrifl's foving Behaviour to all 
 Men, is outwardly feen and known to be 
 in him. Thefe and the like PafTages of 
 Chrift and his Apoftles (though quite over- 
 looked by moft modern Defenders of the one 
 Church) are the only Places that fpeak home 
 to the Truth, and Reality of Church 
 Unity. 
 
 It
 
 L E T T E R L 7 
 
 It ma now be reafonably afked, What 
 
 is the divine Service, or Worftito in this 
 Church ? For every Church muft have its 
 divine Service and Worship, which is the 
 Life, Strength, and Support of it. 
 
 It is anlwered : Ibat no Man can call 
 Chrifi Lord, but by the Holy Ghofl. There- 
 ibre nothing is, or can be a divine Service 
 in that Church, which has Chrift for its 
 Lord, but what has the Holy Spirit for its 
 Beginner, Doer, and Finifher. For if it be 
 certain that no one can own Chrift as his 
 Lord, but by the Holy Spirit, then it muft 
 be equally certain, that no one can ferve or 
 worihip God through Chrift his Lord, in 
 any other Way, Help, Power or Means, 
 but fo far as it is all done, in, and by the 
 Power of the fame Holy Spirit. Whatfo- 
 ever is bom of the Flem is Flefh ; that is, 
 whatfoever proceeds from, or is done by the 
 natural Powers of Man, from his Birth of 
 Flem and Blood, is meerly human, earthly, 
 and corrupt, and can no more do any thing 
 that is heavenly, or perform a Service or 
 worihip that is divine, than our prefent 
 Flem ad Blood can enter into the King- 
 dom of Heaven. Thus faith the Apoftfe, 
 Te are not in the F/e/h, but in the Spirit, if 
 fo be, the Spiri't of God dwelleth in you. Now 
 if any Man hath not the Spirit of Chrift^ he 
 6 is
 
 S LETTEkl. 
 
 is none of his. And confequently if not his> 
 he can perform no divine Service to hirriv 
 Nor can any Worfhip ceafe to be car- 
 nal, or become divine, but by its be^ 
 ing all that it is, and doing all that it dothj 
 by the Power, and Prefence of Chrift 
 dwelling in our Souls, and helping us by 
 his Holy Spirit to cry in Truth and Reality^ 
 Abba Father. 
 
 The New Teftament never calls us to do, 
 or offer, or allows any thing to be done or 
 offered to God, as a divine Service, or Wor^ 
 {hip, but what is done in the Truth, and 
 Reality of Faith, of Hope, of Love, and 
 Obedience to God. 
 
 But through all theNewTeftamen^no Faith, 
 no Hope, no Love is allowed to be true, 
 and godly, but only that Faith, that Hope, 
 &c. which felely proceeds from, and is the 
 Fruit of the Holy Spirit, living, dwelling, 
 and working in our whole Heart, and Soul, 
 and Spirit. 
 
 This Spirituality of the Chriftian Reli- 
 gion, is the Reafon why it was firfl preached 
 to the World under the Name of the King- 
 dom of God, becaule under this new Dif- 
 peniation, freed from Veils, Shadows and 
 Figures of good Things abfent or to come, 
 God himfelf is maniieiled, ruling in us and 
 us, as an fjjmtial Light of our Lives-, 
 
 as
 
 LETTER i. 9 
 
 fes an indwelling Word of Power, as a life- 
 giving Spirit within us, forming us . by a 
 new Birth, to become a chofen Generation^ 
 a royal Priefthood, to e^?r fpiritual Sacrifices 
 to God., through a new and living Way which 
 Chriji hath consecrated for us. The Truth 
 and Perfection of which State, is plainly fet 
 forth by the following Prayer of Chrifr., viz. 
 'That they all may be one, as thou Father art 
 in me, and I in thee, that they alfo may be 
 one in us-* I in them and thou in me, that they 
 be made perfect in one, and that the Love 
 'wherewith thou hafl loved me, may be in them y 
 and I in them. Now for the Truth and Cer- 
 tainty of this fpiritual Kingdom, in which 
 are only fpirituai Worfhippers baptized from 
 above, into an Union, and Communion 
 with Father, Son, and HolyGhoft, through 
 the myfterious Union of God and Man in 
 the one Mediator Jefus Chrift ; for the 
 Truth, I fay, of this fpiritual State of Chrifti- 
 anity, we have the plaineft Words of Chrift, 
 expreflly declaring that the Jerufalem Ser- 
 vice, and confequently every Thing, or Ser- 
 vice that has the Nature of it, was to have 
 its End in the Eilablifhment of his Church. 
 Believe me, faith he, the Hour cometh when 
 ye jhall neither in this Mountain, nor yet at 
 yerufalem, worjhip the Father : But the Hour 
 Cometh and now is y when the true Worjhippers 
 
 jhall
 
 io L E T T E R I. 
 
 Jkallivorfoip the Father in Spirit and in 'Truth : 
 For the Father feeketh fuch to worfiip him. 
 
 Therefore it muft be certain in the highefl 
 degree, that Chrift cannot, nor could fet up 
 any other kind of Worfhip, or Worfhippers, 
 but fuch as the Father feeketh ; becauie he 
 and his Father were one, both in Will and 
 Work. And the Reafon and NecefTity of 
 this kind of Worfhip, is added by Chrift in 
 the following Words, God is a Spirit, and 
 they that ivorjhip him> muft worfiip him in 
 Spirit and in Truth. 
 
 Therefore if Chrift had not only zndjolefy 
 fet up this Truth of fpiritual Worfhip, he 
 had been but another Mofes, and thoug a bet- 
 ter Teacher, yet ftill but as a Scboolmafter t to 
 fome higher State of Religion, that was yet 
 wanted, and muft be revealed^ if fo be that Man 
 was to be reftored to his true State of Life, U- 
 nion, and Happinefs in and with the divine 
 Nature. For as God is a Spirit, and our Life 
 is fpiritual, fo no religious Worfhip can be in 
 its true Perfection, or bring us into the PofTef- 
 iion of our higheft Good, till it raites all that 
 is Spirit and Life in us, into Union and Com- 
 munion with Spirit and Life in God. 
 
 If it (Lould here be afked, How we are to 
 become and continue Worfhippers of the 
 Father in Spirit and Truth ? It is anfwered ; 
 All confifis in turning inwards, in Attention 
 
 to
 
 LETTER I. ii 
 
 to that, which, is daily and hourly ftirring, 
 living, and working in our Hearts. 
 
 Now though the Scripture no where gives 
 this Direction in thefe vefy Words, yet, iince 
 it is faid in Scripture, that God dwelleth 
 not in Temples made with Hands, but in 
 the Temple of our Hearts, fince the King- 
 dom of God is faid to be within us, and 
 not to come with outward Obfervation, but 
 to be in us, as a fecret, living Seed of the 
 incorruptible Word ; iince our Hearts is 
 our whole Life, and we are faid to live, and 
 move, and have our Being in God, it is di- 
 rectly telling us that we are to turn inwards, 
 if we would turn to, and find God. 
 
 It is directly telling us, that in what man- 
 ner we are within, as the Worfhip is done 
 there, fo is God in fuch manner within us ; 
 and that he is no otherwife our God, our 
 Life, our Reft and Happinefs, than fo far 
 as the Working of our Hearts, is a willing 
 and chufing, a hungering and thirfting to 
 find, feel and enjoy the Life-giving Power 
 of his holy Prefence in our Souls. 
 
 To be inwardly therefore attentive to 
 God, mewing the Good and the Evil, dif- 
 tinguiihing the Light from the Darknefs in 
 our own Souls i to liften to the Voice of 
 his ever fyeaking Word^ and to watch the 
 Movings of his ever fantfifying Spirit with- 
 in
 
 12 ' LETTER I. 
 
 in us, waiting and longing in the Spirit of 
 Prayer, of Faith and Hope, of Love and Re- 
 fignation, to be inwardly quickened and re- 
 vived in the Image, and according to the Like- 
 nefs of that Son, in whom he is well pleafed, 
 is the worfhipping of God with our whole 
 Heart and Soul, in Spirit and in Truth. 
 
 It is living to God, in and through the 
 Power of Chrift, as he lived ; it is praying 
 with him, and by his Spirit, that continual 
 Prayer which he always had, whether fpeak- 
 ing to the Multitude, or healing their Di- 
 feafes, or alone by himfelf in the Stillnefs 
 of Nights, and Lonelinefs of Mountains. 
 For this inward Prayer, in which the whole 
 Heart, and Soul, and Spirit, loves, wor- 
 fhips, and applies to a God, not ablent or 
 diftant, but to a Trinity of Goodnefs and 
 Mercy, of Light and Love, of Glory and 
 Majefty, dwelling, and working within us, 
 willing and defiring to 'do all that in the 
 Temple of our Hearts, which is done and 
 always doing in his own Temple in Heaven, 
 is a Prayer, that only needs outward Words 
 for the fake of others ; and of which it may 
 be faid, as Chrift faid : Father, I knew that 
 that always hear eft me y but becaufe of the 
 People ', which Jiatid by, 1 faid it. 
 
 I begin to apprehend, worthy Sir, that 
 you will think I am gone too far about, and 
 
 not
 
 LETTER I. 13 
 
 not come clofe enough to the Matter in 
 hand. But I hope it is not fo : I have gone 
 through all that I have faid, only to fhew, 
 that Church Unity or Communion, is not 
 a matter that depends on any particular So- 
 ciety, or outward Thing, but is compleat, 
 or defective, in fuch degree, as we live in 
 Unity with, or Contrariety to the inward 
 Spirit and outward Example of Chrift. 
 For no Union fignifies any thing to us, or 
 our Salvation, but Union with God, through 
 Chrift, and nothing unites us to Chrift, or 
 makes us to be his, but his Holy Spirit 
 dwelling, and working inwardly and out- 
 wardly in us, as it did in him. 
 
 This is the only Church Unity, that con- 
 cerns the Confcience, and when we are in 
 this Unity, we are in Union with Chrift, 
 and with every one who is united to him, 
 however diftant, or feparated from us, by 
 human Inclofures. 
 
 I come now to conlider the Church under 
 another, and more common Idea of it, 
 namely as external, and about which, all 
 the Chriftian World is at enmity, ftrife, and 
 debate. 
 
 After Chriftianity had been a few Ages in 
 the World, it became national, and ob- 
 tained the Protection, and Patronage of 
 the Princes of this World. 
 
 Henc*
 
 i 4 LETTER I. 
 
 Hence it was enriched with many Gifts 
 and Privileges, and flrengthened by Powers, 
 that were foreign to the Nature of it ; and 
 Church-men, beginning to quarrel about 
 Chriftian Doctrines, were fupported in their 
 Strife and Divilion from one another, by 
 the temporal Powers, under which they 
 lived. 
 
 This State of the Church hath continued 
 
 . to this Day, where almoft every Age hath 
 
 multiplied the Number of divided Churches, 
 
 brought forth, by the Union of the civil 
 
 and ecclefiafticai Power. 
 
 This State therefore of external Churches, 
 hath the Nature of Things merely human, 
 and is fubject to fuch Alterations, Changes, 
 and Corruptions t as the Forms and Revo- 
 lutions of temporal Government all over 
 the World. And therefore the private 
 Chriftian, who, as fiich, is a Member of a 
 Kingdom, that is not of this World, has 
 little or no Concern in it. 
 
 Without entering into the Merits of di- 
 vided Churches, which I mall not do here, 
 or any where elfe ; Thus much I think, 
 may with Truth be affirmed, that where the 
 Church and the State are incorporated, and 
 under one and the fame Power, all the evil 
 Paffions, corrupt Views, and worldly In- 
 terefts, which form and transform, turn 
 
 and
 
 LETTER I. 15 
 
 and overturn all outward Things, muft be 
 expected often to come to pafs, as well in 
 the Church, as in the State, with which it 
 is united. 
 
 But as private Chriftians have no Power, 
 or Call to govern the World, or let up 
 Thrones according to the Principles of Truth 
 and Righteoufnefs, but are by the Spirit of 
 the Gofpel obliged to fiibmit to, and be con- 
 tented with that ftate of Government, good 
 or bad, under which the Providence of God 
 has placed them, fo are they in like manner, 
 to exercife a patient Submiffion, and Refig- 
 nation under fuch an imperfect State of the 
 outward Church, which Providence has not 
 prevented, and only to take care, to be in- 
 wardly found fuch Wormippers in Spirit and 
 in Truth, as the Father feeketh. 
 
 I mean not by this, as fome have done, 
 that any Evil however great in the Beginning, 
 or continuing of ufurped Power, either in the 
 Church or State, lofes its evil Nature, and 
 may be called right and good, as foon as Pro- 
 vidence has fuffered it to become fuccefsful. 
 
 No, by no means. Succefs, though always 
 to be owned to have God's Permiffion, leaves 
 all things in their own Nature, neither Good 
 becaufe fuccefsful, nor Bad, becaufe defeated 
 and fuppreffed. 
 
 The
 
 i6 LETTER I. 
 
 The Wickednefs of the Jews confpiring 
 and effecting the Death of Chrift, was not 
 only permitted, but fuitable to the Defigns 
 of Providence, in the Redemption of Man- 
 kind. But that the evil Nature of their 
 Wickednefs did not lofe its Guilt, becaufe 
 fuffered by God to be fuccefsful, but ftill con- 
 tinues, is' plain from the Curfe of God ftill 
 abiding upon it to this day. 
 
 The Duty of private Chriftians, with re- 
 gard to Providence in fuch Cafes, is not to 
 call that Good which before was Evil, or that 
 Evil which before was Good, but patiently to 
 fuffer, and humbly acquiefce under all that 
 bad outward Courfe of Things, either in 
 Church or State, which the Providence of 
 God has not thought fit to prevent, and that 
 for thefe Reafons : Firft, as fully knowing 
 that all Things muft work together for good, 
 to thofe who love God ; Secondly, as pioufly 
 believing that in all fuccefsful Wickednefs, 
 whether of Princ.es againft their People, or of 
 People againft their Princes, there is always 
 fomething hid under it, which in its way and 
 degree, will like the fuccefsful Wickednefs of 
 the Jews towards Chrift, help forward that 
 Salvation, for which Chrift hath laid down 
 his Life. 
 
 Who can fay, what a Good, and Bleffing, 
 the Chriftian World had been deprived of, 
 
 had
 
 L E T T E R I. 17 
 
 had the righteous Providence of God not; 
 permitted the Princes of the heathen World, 
 to make fuch bloody Havock of the firft 
 Chriftians. 
 
 But fuppofe Errors of the following. 
 Kind got into the Church, viz. i . The Scrip- 
 ture Baptifm of the whole Body under 
 Water, only as it were mimicked, by feat- 
 tering a few Drops of Water on a new-born 
 Child's Face. 2. The Supper of the Lord 
 in one Church, held to be Bread and Wine 
 changed into the real Flem and Blood of 
 Chrift : In another, as Bread and Wine, not 
 changed into, but fubftantially united with 
 the real Flefli and Blood of Chrift : In 
 another, mere Bread and Wine, only made 
 Memorials of the Body and Blood of Chrift. 
 In one Church this, in another that Form 
 and Manner of Confecration held to be 
 effential j in another, all Prieftly Confecra- 
 tion rejected, as rank Superftition. 3. Sup^ 
 pofe the original Apoftolicai Conftitution of 
 Church Affemblies, where all mebt together, 
 that all in their turns, might prophecy one by 
 one, that all might learn, and all be comforted, 
 mould in fome Churches be fo changed, 
 that all praying, fpeaking or prophecying, 
 as from the Power, and Prefence of Chrift 
 amongft them, was quite prohibited ; where 
 C one
 
 i8 LETTER I. 
 
 one and the fame long, tedious, humanly 
 contrived Form of Worfhip, is daily, from 
 Year's end to Year's end, to be read by one, 
 who is become their only Speaker and In- 
 ftru&or, not becaufe he alone is daily full 
 of Faith and of the Holy Ghoft, but be- 
 caufe he is either hired to that Office, or be- 
 caufe, by fome means or other, the Church 
 and Church-yard are become his Freehold. 
 Is not fuch a State of Church Affemblies, 
 in full contrariety to the firft Affemblies, 
 and to the Apoftle's Injunction ; quench not 
 the Spirit, defpife not Propefy ings? 4. Sup- 
 pofe again, that in the fettled Service of the 
 Church, certain Prayers and Petitions, not 
 according to Truth and Righteoufnefs, or 
 fuitable to the Goodnefs of the Evangelical 
 Spirit, are read, as Prayers for Succefs in 
 unchriftian Wars, Prayers for the Deftruc- 
 tion of our Chriftian Brethren, called our 
 Enemies, Thanfgivings for the violent 
 Slaughter and fuccefsful killing of Man- 
 kind : When thefe are made Parts of the 
 Church Service, are we in Obedience to the 
 Providence of God, fuffering Things in 
 Church Affemblies to come to this pafs, to 
 unite and bear a Part in fuch Church Service ? 
 My Anfwer to all this, mail be only per- 
 ibnal ; that is, what I would do myfelf, in 
 thefe fuppofed Cafes. 
 
 Firfl,
 
 LETTER I. 19 
 
 Firft, As to any Defects, Mutilation, or 
 Variations in the outward Form, and Per- 
 formance of Baptifm and the Supper of the 
 Lord in the Church, I am under little, or 
 no Concern about them ; and that for this 
 very good Reafon, Becaufe all that is in- 
 wardly meant, taught, or intended by them, 
 as the Life, Spirit, and full Benefit of them, 
 is fubjec~l to no human Power, is wholly 
 tranfacled between God and myfelf, and 
 cannot be taken from me, by any Alteration 
 made by Man, in the outward Celebration 
 of them. 
 
 If the Church, in my Baptifm, fbould 
 fprinkle a little Milk, or Wine, inftead of* 
 Water, upon my Face, it would be no de- 
 fective Baptifm to me, if I had all that in- 
 ward Difpofition of Repentance, of Faith 
 in Chrifl, to be born again of Him, which 
 was meant, figured, and implied by fuch 
 Immerlion into Water, as was the firfl 
 Baptifm. 
 
 The fame may be faid of the Supper 
 of the Lord, however altered, or varied in 
 its outward Manner from what it was at firft, 
 if the inward Truth, pointed at by it, is 
 in me, is loved and adhered to by me, I 
 have all the Benefit that was meant, or 
 could be had by it, when it was kept to 
 C2 a
 
 20 LETTER I. 
 
 a Tittle in the fame outward Form, in which 
 the firft Church ufed it. 
 
 And therefore the outward Celebration of 
 thefe Sacraments is reverenced by me, where- 
 ever they are obferved, as ftanding in the 
 fame Place, and gnificant of the lame in- 
 ward Bleffing, as in their firft Inftitution. 
 
 As to the forementioned fuppofed Prayers, 
 though I am prefent when they are read in 
 the Church, I neither make, nor need I 
 make them, any more my own Prayers y 
 then I make, or need to make all the 
 Curfes in the Pfalms, to be my own Curfes > 
 when I hear both Prieft and People reading 
 them in the Church, as a Part of divine 
 Service. Nor is there any more Hypo- 
 criry, or Inlincerity, in one Cafe, than in 
 the other. 
 
 I join therefore in the public Aflemblies, 
 not becaufe of the Purity , or Perfection of 
 that which is done, or to be found there, 
 but becaufe of that which is meant and in- 
 tended by them : They mean the holy, 
 public Worfhip of God; they mean the 
 Edification of Chriftians $ they are of great 
 Ule to many People ; they keep the World 
 from a total Forgetfulnefs of God ; they 
 help the Ignorant and Letterlefs to fuch a 
 Knowledge of God, and the Scriptures, ^as 
 thy would not have without them. 
 
 And
 
 BETTER I. 21 
 
 And therefore, fallen as thefe Church 
 AfTemblies are, from their firft fpiritual 
 State, I reverence them, as the venerable 
 Remains of all that, which once was, and 
 will, I hope, be again, the Glory of Church 
 ArTemblies, viz. the Minijlration of the Spi- 
 rit, and not of the dead Letter. 
 
 And there are two very great Signs of the 
 near Approach of this Day, in two very 
 numerous, yet very different kinds of People 
 in thefe Kingdoms. 
 
 In the one Sort, an extraordinary Increafe 
 of new Separations, Particularity of Opi- 
 nions, Methods, and religious Diftmctions, 
 is worked up to its utmoft Height. And 
 we fee them- almoft every Day running 
 with Eagernefs from one Method to another, 
 in Queft of Something, by the Help of a new 
 Form, which they have not been able to, 
 find in the old one. 
 
 Now, as the Vanity and Emptinefs of 
 any Thing, or Way, is then only fully dif- 
 covered and felt, when it has run all its 
 Lengths, and worked itfelf up to its higher! 
 Pitch, fo that nothing remains untried, to 
 keep up the Deceit - y fo when religious 
 Divifion, Strife of Opinions, invented Forms, 
 and all outward Diftinctions, have done 
 their utmoft, have no farther that they can 
 go, nor any thing more to try, then is their 
 C 3 inevi-
 
 22 LETTER I. 
 
 inevitable Fall at Hand ; and if rhe Zeal 
 Vfzsfimpk and upright., all muft end in this 
 full Conviction, viz. That Vanity ancT 
 Emptinefs, Burden and Deceit, muft follow 
 us in every Courfe we take, till we have 
 done with all our own Running, to expect 
 all, and receive all, from the invifible God 
 dwelling in, and bleffing our Hearts with 
 all heavenly Gifts, by a Birth of his eter- 
 nal, all-creating Word, and life-giving Spi-r. 
 rit brought forth in our Souls. 
 
 The other Sign I mentioned, is to be 
 found in another Kind of a much awakened 
 People, in moft Parts of theie Kingdoms, 
 who in the Midft of the Noife and Multi- 
 plicity of all Church-Strife, having heard 
 the ilill, and fecret Voice of the true Shep- 
 herd, are turned inwards, and wholly at- 
 tentive to the inward Truth, Spirit and 
 Life of Religion, fearching after the myfti- 
 cal, fpiritual Inftruction, which leads them 
 from the outward Cry, of a Lo here, or there y 
 is Ckrift, to feek to him and his redeeming 
 Spirit within them, as the only fafe Guide 
 from inward Darknefs to inward Light ; 
 and from outward Shadows into the Sub- 
 flantial, ever enduring Truth ; which Truth 
 is nothing elfe, but the everlafting Union of 
 tbe Soul with God,, as its only Good, through 
 (be Spirit and Nature of Cbrifl truly jormed 
 
 and
 
 t L E T T E R I. 23 
 
 and fully revealed in it. But to go no far- 
 ther j I (hall only add, that as yet, I know 
 of no better Way of thinking or acting, 
 than as above, with regard to the univerfal 
 fallen State of all Churches j for fallen they 
 all are, as certainly as they are divided. 
 
 Every Church Diftinction is more or lefs in 
 the corrupt State of every felfifo* carnal* 
 f elf -willed, worldly minded, partial Man, and 
 is what it is, and acts as it acts, for its own 
 Glory* its own Intereft and Advancement, by 
 that fame Spirit, which keeps the felfiih, 
 partial Man folely attached to his ow/r Will, 
 his own Wifdom, Self-regard, and Self- 
 ieeking. And all that is wanting to be re- 
 moved from every Church, or Chriftian So- 
 ciety, in order to its being a Part of the 
 heavenly Jerufalem* is that which may be 
 called its own* human Will* carnal Wifdom, 
 and Self-feeking Spirit ; 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 fuperria- 
 tural, invifible, omniprefent God of all 
 Spirits , to the inward Teachings of Chrift, 
 as the Power, the Wifdom, and the Light 
 of God, working within them every Good, 
 and Bleffing, and Purity, which they can 
 ever receive, either on Earth, or in Heaven, 
 C 4 Under
 
 24 LETTER I. 
 
 Under this Light, I am neither Proteftant, 
 nor Papift, according to the common Ac- 
 ceptation of the Words. I cannot coniider 
 myfelf as belonging only to one Society of 
 Chriftians,, in feparation and difti ndti.cn from 
 all others. -It would be as hurtful to me, if 
 not more fo, than any worldly Partiality. 
 And therefore as the Defects, Corruptions, 
 and Imperfections, which, iome way or 
 other, are to be found in all Churches, 
 hinder not my Communion with that, un- 
 der which my Lot is fallen, fo neither do 
 they hinder my being in full Union, and 
 hearty Fellowship with all that is Chriftian, 
 Holy, and Good, in every other Church 
 Divifion. 
 
 And as I know, that God and Chrift, 
 and Holy Angels, ftand thus difpofed to- 
 wards all that is Good in all Men, and in 
 all Churches, notwithstanding the Mixture 
 in them, is like that of Tares growing up 
 with the Wheat, fo I am not afraid, but 
 humbly defirous, of living and dying in this 
 Difpolition towards them. 
 
 I am^ worthy Sir, 
 
 With much Truth of Love and Rejpetf, 
 Tour faithful Friend, 
 
 And hearty Servant. 
 
 Xing s-Cli/e, Feb. z%> 
 
 :#}fc 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To the Reverend Mr. S. 
 My dear Friend and Brother y 
 
 my long Silence has not 
 occafioned your being offended at 
 
 me ' or an y S u fp* c i on > that i k ave 
 
 difregarded you, or the Matter you 
 wrote upon. If I was to offer at a Reafon in 
 excufe of it, it would be an invented one, 
 for it has never been known to myfelf. But 
 I was contented to know, that my Heart was 
 right towards you, full of all good Will and 
 Delire to ferve you, in the Way that God 
 mould lead me to it. And fo it is come to 
 pafs, that you have not heard from me 
 fooner. 
 
 It is a great Pleafure to me to think (as 
 you fay) that my Letter to you, will alfo be 
 to two of your Brethren, who ftand in the 
 fame State of Earneftnefs, to know how to 
 be faithful and ufeful in their Miniftry, as 
 you do: I hope God will increafe your 
 Number. 
 
 The
 
 26 LETTER II. 
 
 The firft Bufmefs of a Clergyman awak- 
 ened by God into a Senfibility, and Love 
 of the Truths of the Gofpel, and of ma- 
 king them equally felt, and loved by o- 
 thers, is thankfully, joyfully and calmly, 
 to adhere to, and give way to the Increafe 
 of this new-rifen Light, and by true In- 
 troverfion of his Heart to God, as the fole 
 Author of it, humbly to beg of him, that 
 all that, which he feels a Defire of doing 
 to thofe under his Cure, may be firfl truly 
 and fully done in himfelf. 
 
 Now the Way to become more and more 
 awakened, to feel more and more of this 
 firft Conviction, or Work of God within 
 you, is not to reflect and reafon yourfelf 
 into a farther and deeper Senfibility of it, 
 by finding out Arguments to ftrengthen it 
 in your Mind. But the one true Way is, 
 in Faith and Love to keep clofe to the 
 Prefence and Power of God, which has 
 manifefled itfelf within you, willingly re- 
 figned to, and folely depending upon the 
 one Work of his all-creating Word, and all- 
 quickening Spirit, which is always more or 
 leis powerful in us, according as we are 
 more or lefs trufting to, and depending 
 upon it. 
 
 And thus it is, that by Faith we are 
 faved, becauie God is always ours, in fuch 
 
 Pro*
 
 LETTER II. 27 
 
 Proportion as we are his; as our Faith is 
 in him, fuch is his Power and Prefence in 
 us. What an Error therefore, to turn one 
 Thought from him, or caft a Look after any 
 Help but his; for if we aik all of him, 
 if we leek for all in him, if we knock 
 only at his own Door of Mercy in Chrift 
 Jefus, and patiently wait and abide there, 
 God's Kingdom muft come, and his Will 
 muft be done in us. 
 
 For God is always Prefent, and always 
 working towards the Life of the Soul, and 
 its Deliverance from Captivity under Flefh 
 and Blood. But this inward Work of God, 
 though never ceafing, or altering, is yet al- 
 ways, and only hindred by the Activity of our 
 own Nature, and Faculties, by bad Men 
 through their Obedience to earthly Paffions, 
 and by good Men through their ftriving to 
 be good in their own Way, by their natural 
 Strength, and a Multiplicity of feemingly 
 holy Labours and Contrivances. 
 
 Both thefe forts of People obftrucl: the 
 Work of God upon their Souls. For we 
 can co-operate with God no other Way, 
 than by fubmitting to the Work of God, 
 and feeking, and leaving ourfelves to it. 
 
 For the whole Nature of the fallen SouJ, 
 confifts in its being fallen from God, into 
 jtfelf, into a Self-government and Activity, 
 
 under
 
 28 LETTER II. 
 
 under its own Powers broken off from God, 
 and therefore dying to felf, as well to our 
 Reafon, as our Paffions and Defires,is the firft 
 and indifpenfible Step in Chriftian Redemp- 
 tion, and brings forth that Converiion to God, 
 by which Chrift becomes formed and re- 
 vealed in us. And nothing hinders this 
 Converiion from being fruitful in all Good, 
 and gaining all that we want from God, 
 but the retaining Something to dwell in as 
 our own, whether it be earthly Satisfactions, 
 or a Righteoufnefs of human Endeavours. 
 
 And therefore all the Progrefs of your firft 
 Conviction, which by the Grace of God you 
 have had from above, and from within, con- 
 fifts in the Simplicity of your Faith, in ad- 
 hering to it, as folely the Work of God in 
 your Soul, which can only go on in God's 
 Way, and can never ceafe to go on in you, 
 any more than God can ceafe to be that 
 which he is, but fo far as it is flopped by your 
 Want of Faith in it, or trufting to fomothing 
 elfe along with it. God is found, as foon 
 as he alone is fought j but to feek God alone, 
 is nothing elfe but the giving up ourfelves 
 wholly unto him. For God is not abfent 
 from us in any other refpect, 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
 
 LETTER II. 29 
 
 there, or now and then, but every where, 
 and in all Things, looks up to God alone, 
 trufts folely in him, depends abfolutely upon 
 him, experts all from him, and does all it 
 does for him, is the utmoft Perfection of 
 Piety in this Life. The Worfhip of God 
 in Spirit and Truth, can go no higher, it does 
 that which is its Duty to do 3 it hath all that 
 it Wants, it doth all that it will, it is one 
 Power, one Spirit, one Will, and one Work- 
 ing with God. And this is that Union or 
 Onenefs with God, in which Man was at firffc 
 created, and to which he is again called, and 
 will be fully reftored by God and Man be- 
 ing made one Chrift. 
 
 Stephen 'was a Man full of Faith and the 
 Holy Ghoft. Thefe are always together, the 
 one can never be without the other. 
 
 This was Stephens Qualification for theDea- 
 conmip, not becaufeofany Thing high or pe- 
 culiar in that Office, but becaufe the Gofpel 
 Difpenfation was the opening a Kingdom of 
 God amongft Men, a fpiritual Theocracy, in 
 which as God,and Man fallen from God, were 
 united in Chrift, fo an Union of immediate O- 
 peration between God and Man was reftored. 
 Hence thisDifpenfation was called,in Diftinc- 
 tion from all that went before it in outward 
 Types, Figures and Shadows, a Mimjlra- 
 tion of the Spirit, that is, an immediate Ope- 
 ration
 
 30 LETTER II. 
 
 ration of the Spirit of God itfelf in Man, in 
 which nothing Human, Creaturely, or de- 
 pending upon the Power of Man's Wit, A- 
 bility, or natural Powers, had any Place, but 
 all Things begun in, and under Obedience 
 to the Spirit, and all were done in the Pow- 
 er and Strength of Faith united with God. 
 
 Therefore to be a faithful Minifter of this 
 new Covenant between God and Man, is to 
 live by Faith alone, to act only, and con- 
 ftantly under its Power, to defire no Will, 
 Underftanding, or Ability as a Labourer in 
 Chrift'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 expreflly 
 commanded by St. Peter., faying, If any Man 
 fpeak, let him fpeak as the Oracles of God, if 
 any Man minifter^ let him do it as of the 
 Ability which God giveth. For all which he 
 giveth this Reajon, which will be a Reafon 
 as long as the World ftandeth, viz. That 
 in all Things God may be glorified through jfe- 
 fus Chrift. A plain and fufficient Declara- 
 tion, that where this is not done, there God 
 is not glorified by Chriftians through Chrift 
 Jefus. 
 
 God created Men and Angels folely for 
 the Glory of his Love j and therefore An- 
 gels and Men, can give no other Glory to 
 
 God,
 
 LETTER II. 31 
 
 God, but that of yielding themfelves up to 
 the Work of his creating Love, manifeftjng 
 itfelf in the feveral Powers of their natural 
 Life, fo that the firft creating Love, which 
 brought them into Being, may go on creat- 
 ing, and working in them, according to its 
 own never-ceafing Will, to communicate 
 Good for ever and ever. Thi is their liv- 
 ing to the Praife and Glory of God, name- 
 ly by owning themfelves, in -dl that they are, 
 and have, and do, to be mere Inftruments 
 of his Power, Prefence, and Goodnefs 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 otherwife give religious Glory to God, 
 than by worfhipping him in Spirit and in 
 Truth, feeing Chrift has faid, thatflk Father 
 feeketh fuch to ivorjhip him. 
 
 But we can no otherwife worfhip God in 
 Spirit and in Truth, than as our Spirit in 
 Truth and Reallity, feeks only to, depends 
 only upon, and in all things adores, the 
 Life-giving Power of his univerfal 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.
 
 32 L E T T E R II. 
 
 Spirit. This is unchangeable, whether in 
 Heaven, or on Earth. And this is the one 
 End of all the Difpenfations of God, how- 
 ever various, towards fallen Man, viz. to 
 bring Man into an Union with God . Com- 
 ply with all the outward Modes and Infti- 
 tutions of Religion, believe the Letter, 
 own the Meaning of Scripture Facts, Sym- 
 bols, Figures, Reprefentations, and Doc- 
 trines, but if you ftand in any other ufe of 
 them, or feek to gain fome other Good from 
 them, than that of being led cut of your own 
 Se/f, from your own Willy and own Spirit, 
 that the Will of God, and the Spirit of 
 God, may do all that is willed, and done 
 by you ; however fixed, and fteadily you * 
 may adhere to fuch a Religion, you ftand 
 as fixed and fteadily in your own fallen 
 State. For the Reftoration of fallen Man, 
 is nothing elfe but the Reftoration of him 
 to his firft State, under the Will and Spi- 
 rit of God, in and for which he was 
 created. 
 
 You may here perhaps, my dear Friend, 
 think that I am fpeaking too much at large, 
 and not clolely enough to the particular Mat- 
 ter of your Enquiry. But my Intention hath 
 been, fo to fpeak to you on this Occafion, as 
 to lay a Ground for a proper Behaviour, 
 under every Circumftance of the outward 
 
 Work
 
 LETTER II. 33 
 
 Work of your Miniftry. All Things muft 
 be fet right in yourfelf firft, before you can 
 rightly affift others, towards the attaining to 
 the fame State. 
 
 I do not mean, that you muft be firft in a 
 State of Perfection, before you can be fitted 
 to teach others. But I mean that you muft 
 firft fee, in what you place your own Per- 
 fection, and have the Wttnefs in yourfelf of 
 the Truth of it, before you can rightly di- 
 rect others in the Way to it ; otherwife your 
 Inftruction would be of fuch practical 
 Things, of which - you had no practical 
 Knowledge. 
 
 - For this Reafon, I have faid all that is 
 *iaid above, .to help you to fet out under a 
 right Senfe of all that, which Religion is 
 to do for yourfelf, and why, and how, and 
 by what means alone, it can be done in you. 
 When thefe two Things are not notionally, 
 but practically known, and adhered to, 
 then are you enabled, according to your 
 meafure, to fpeak of Things, and Truths 
 of Religion, to thofe that are ignorant, or 
 infeniible of them. 
 
 Hence you may learn, what you are 
 chiefly to drive at, in all your Difcourfes 
 from the Pulpit, and Converfation ; name- 
 ly, to turn the Attention of Men to a 
 Power of Good, and a Power of Evil, both 
 D of
 
 34 LETTER II. 
 
 of them born and living within them. For 
 in thefe two Things, or States of the Soul 
 of every Man, lies the full Proof of the 
 whole Nature", both of the Fall, and Re- 
 demption from it. 
 
 Were we not naturally evil, by a Birth 
 of Evil erTentially born and and living in us, 
 we mould want no Redemption ; and had 
 we not a Birth of fomething Divine in us, 
 we could not be redeemed. Inward Evil 
 can only be cured or overcome by an in- 
 ward Good. 
 
 And therefore, as all our Salvation is an 
 inward Work, or Struggle of two Births 
 within us/fo all the Work of your out- 
 ward Inftruction, muft be to call every one 
 home to himfelf, and help every Heart to 
 know its own State, to feek, and find, and 
 feel his inward Life and Death, which" 
 have their Birth, and Growth, and Strife 
 againft one another, in every Son of Adam. 
 
 And as this is the one good Way of 
 Preaching, fo it is, of all others, the mofl 
 powerful, and penetrating into the Hearts 
 of all Men, let their Condition be what it 
 will. 
 
 For as thefe two States are certainly in 
 every Soul of Man, however blended, 
 fmothered, and undiftinguimed, in their 
 Operations for a Time> yet they have each 
 
 of
 
 LETTER II. 35 
 
 of them, in fome degree, their bearing Ears, 
 which though ever fo funk into Dullnefs, 
 will be forced, more or lefs, to feel the 
 Power of that Voice, which fpeaks nothing, 
 but what is, and muft be in fome fort fpo- 
 ken within themfelves. 
 
 And this is the true End of outward 
 Preaching, namely, to give loud Notice of 
 the Call of God in their Souls, which though 
 unheard, or neglected by them, is yet always 
 fubfifting within them. It is to make fuch 
 outward Sounds, as may reach and ftir up 
 the inward hearing of the Heart. It is fo to 
 ftrike all the outward Senfes of the Soul, that 
 from fleeping in an inward Infeniibility of its 
 own Life and Death, it may be brought into 
 an awakened and feeling Perception of itfelf, 
 and be forced to know, that the Evil of 
 Death which is in it, will be its eternal Ma- 
 tter, unlefs the Good of Life that is in it, 
 fecks for Victory in the Name and Power 
 and Mediation of Chrift, the only Prince of 
 Life, and Lord of Glory, and who only hath 
 the Keys of Heaven, of Death and Hell 
 in his Hands. 
 
 Thus far, and no farther, goes the Labour 
 and Miniftry of Man, in the Preaching of 
 the Word, whether it be of Paul, or Ce- 
 phas. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LETTER II. 
 
 Hence alfo you will be well qualified, to 
 open in your Hearers, a right Senfe and 
 Knowledge of the Truth and Reality of 
 every Virtue, and every Vice, that you are 
 difcourfing upon. 
 
 For fince all that is Good and Evil, is 
 only fo to them, becaufe it lives in the 
 Life of their Heart j they may ealily be 
 taught, that no Virtue, whether it be Hu- 
 mility, or Charity, has any Goodnefs in it, 
 but as it fprings 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 deftroyed. And 
 thus the Iniignificancy and Vanity of an out- 
 ward Formality, of a virtuous Behaviour, 
 and every Thing /hort of a new Heart, and 
 new Spirit in, and through the Power of 
 Chrift, dwelling vitally in them, may be 
 fully fhewn to be Self-delufion, and Self- 
 deftruction. 
 
 Your next great Point, as a Preacher, 
 fhould be to bring Men to an entire Faith 
 in, and abfolute Dependance upon, the con- 
 tinual Power and Operation of the Spirit of 
 God in them. 
 
 All Churches, even down to the Socini- 
 ans, are forced, in obedience to the Letter 
 of Scripture, to hold fomething of this Doc- 
 trine. 
 
 But
 
 LETTER II. 37 
 
 But as the Practice of all Churches, for 
 many Ages, has had as much Recourfe to 
 Learning, Art, and Science, to qualify Mi- 
 nifters for the preaching of the Gofpel, as 
 if it was merely a Work of Man's Wifdom, 
 fo Ecclefiaflics, for the moil part, come 
 forth in the Power of human Qualifications, 
 and are more or lefs full of themfelves, and 
 trusting to their own Ability, according as 
 they are more or lefs Proficients in Science, 
 and Literature, Languages and Rhetoric. 
 
 To this, more than to any one other 
 Caufe, is the great Apoflacy of all Chriften- 
 dom to be attributed. This was the Door, 
 at which the whole Spirit of the World, en- 
 tered into PofTeffion of the Chriftian Church. ' 
 
 Worldly Lufts, and Interefls, Vanity, 
 Pride, Envy, Contention, Bitternefs, and 
 Ambition, the Death of all that is good in 
 the Soul, have [now, and always had their 
 chief Nourishment, Power, and Support, 
 from a fenfe of the Merit, and fufficiency 
 of literal Accompliihments. 
 
 Humility, Meeknefs, Patience, Faith, 
 Hope, Contempt of the World, and hea- 
 venly Affections (the very Life of Jefus in 
 the Soul) are by few People lefs earnestly 
 defired, or more hard to be pradifed, than 
 by great Wit 3^ clajjical Critics^ Linguifts y 
 Hi/tori ans, and Orators in Holy Orders. 
 
 D 3 Now
 
 38 LETTER II. 
 
 Now to bring Man to a right practical 
 Knowledge, of that full Dependance upon, 
 and Faith in the continual Operation of the 
 Holy Spirit, as the only Raifer and Prefer- 
 ver of the Life of God in their Hearts, 
 and Souls, and Spirits, it is not enough, 
 you fometimes, or often preach upon the 
 Subject, but every thing that you inculcate, 
 mould be directed con/tantfy to it, and all 
 that you exhort Men to, fhould be required, 
 only as a means of obtaining, and concur- 
 ing with, that Holy Spirit, which is, and 
 only can be, the Life and Truth of Good- 
 nefs. And all that you turn them from, 
 fhould be as from fomething that refills, and 
 grieves that bleffed Spirit of God, which 
 always wills and defires to remove, aii evil 
 out of our Souls, and make us again to 
 be fanctified Partakers of the Divine Na- 
 ture. 
 
 For as they only are Chriftians, who are 
 born again of the Spirit, fo nothing mould 
 be might to Chriftians, but as a Work of 
 the Spirit ; nor any Thing fought, but by 
 the Power of the Spirit, as well in hearing, 
 as teaching. It is owing to the Want of 
 this, that there is fo much Preaching and 
 Hearing, and fo little Benefit either of the 
 Preacher or Hearer. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER II. 39 
 
 The Labour of the Preacher is, for the 
 moft part, to difplay Logic, Argument, 
 and Eloquence, upon religious Subjects ; 
 and fo he is juft as much carried out of him- 
 felf, and united to God by his own religi- 
 ous Difcourfes, as the Pleader at the Bar is, 
 by his Law, and Oratory upon Right and 
 Wrong. 
 
 And the Hearers, by their regarding fuch 
 Accomplifhments, go- away juft as much 
 helped, to be new Men in Chrift Jefus, as 
 by hearing a Caufe of great Equity well 
 pleaded at the Bar. 
 
 Now in both thefe Cafes, with regard to 
 Preacher and People, the Error is of the 
 fame kind, namely, a trufting to a Power 
 in themfelves ; the one in an Ability, to 
 perfuade powerfully ; the other in an Abi- 
 lity, to act according to that which they 
 hear. 
 
 And fo the natural Man goes on preach- 
 ing, and the natural Man goes on hearing 
 of the Things of God, in a fruitlefs Courfe 
 of Life. And thus it muft be, fo long as 
 either Preacher or Hearers, feek any thing 
 elfe but to edify, and be edified in, and 
 through the immediate Power and eflentiai 
 Prefence of the Holy Spirit, working in 
 them, 
 
 D4 The
 
 40 L E T T E R II. 
 
 The Way therefore to be a faithful, and 
 fruitful Labourer in the Vineyard of Chrift, 
 is to ftand yourfelf in a full Dependance 
 on the Spirit of God, as having no good 
 Power, but as his Inftrument, and by his 
 Influence, in all that you do ; and to call 
 others, not to their own Strength or ratio- 
 nal Powers, but to a full Hope, and Faith 
 of having all that they want, from God a- 
 lone j not as teaching them to be good by 
 Men, but by Men and outward Inftruclion, 
 calling them to Himfelf, to a Birth of effen- 
 tial, inherent living Goodnefs, Wildom and 
 Holinefs from his own eternal WORD, and 
 Holy Spirit, living and dwelling in them. 
 For as God is all that the fallen Soul 
 wants, fo nothing but God alone, can com- 
 municate himfelf to it ; all therefore is loft 
 Labour, but the total Converfion of the Soul, 
 to the immediate ej/ential Operation o^ God 
 in it. 
 
 As to the other Parts of your Office, 
 whether they relate to Things prefcribed, 
 or to fuch as are to be done, according to 
 your beft Difcretion, there will not be much 
 Difficulty, if you ftand in the State as above 
 defcribed. 
 
 As to feyeral oittward Forms, and Orders 
 in the Church, they mutt be fuppofed to 
 partake, in their Degree, of that Spirit, 
 
 which
 
 LETTER II. 41 
 
 which has fo long bore Rule in all Church 
 Divifions. But the private Man, who has fuffi- 
 cient Call to the Miniftry, is not to confider, 
 how outward Things mould be, according 
 to the Primitive Plan, but how the inward 
 Truth, which is meant by them, may be fully 
 adhered to. 
 
 Baptifm and the Lord's Supper, as diffe- 
 rently practifed in almoft every particular 
 Church, may afford ground of Scruple about 
 them, lince almoft every Church in thefe 
 Matters, is condemned by all other Churches. 
 
 But the Way to be above, and free from 
 thefe Scruples, is to keep yourfelf, and your 
 people wholly intent to that Spiritual Good., of 
 which thefe Inflitutions are the appointed 
 outward Figures, namely to that fpiritual 
 Regeneration, which is meant by Baptifm, and 
 to that fpiritual Living in Chrift, and Chrift 
 in us, which is meant by the Supper of the 
 Lord. And then, though the Sacraments 
 practifed by you mould have any outward 
 Imperfection in them, they would be of the 
 fame Benefit to you, as they were to thofe, 
 who ufed them in their firft, outwardly per- 
 fecl Form . And thus you will be led nei- 
 ther to' over-rate, nor difregard fuch ufe of 
 them, as is according to the prefent State of 
 the Church. It is only the Inward Regene- 
 rate
 
 42 LETTER II. 
 
 rate Chriftian, that knows how to make a 
 right Ufe of all outward Things. His Soul 
 being in fuch a State of Union with God, 
 and Man, as it ought to be, it 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 vifit the Sick, or well Awa- 
 kened, or dully Senfelefs, ufe no pre-contrived 
 Knowledge, or Rules, how you are to pro- 
 ceed with them, but go as in Obedience to 
 God, as on his Errand, and fay only what 
 the Love of God and Man fuggefts to your 
 Heart, without any Anxiety about the Succefs 
 of it 5 that is God's Work. Only fee that 
 the Love, the Tendernefs, and Patience of 
 God towards Sinners, be uppermoft in all 
 that you do to Man. Think not, that here 
 Severity, and there Tendernefs, is to be 
 mewn ; for nothing is to be fhewn to Man, 
 but his Want of God, nothing can mew him 
 this fo powerfully, fo convincingly, as Love. 
 And as Love is the fulfilling of the whole 
 Law, fo Love is the fulfilling of all the 
 Work of the Miniftry. 
 
 / am, with my be/I JPiJbes 
 To 'you and your Brethren , 
 
 Tour moji affectionate Friend, 
 And 'willing Servant. 
 
 April 10, 1756. 
 
 LET-
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 *X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*> 
 LETTER III. 
 To a Clergyman of Bucks. 
 
 much furprifed, my Friend, 
 that you mould {till want more to 
 be laid, about the Doctrine of Im- 
 putation, whether of Adam's Sin, or 
 the Rigbteoufnefs of Chrift to his Followers. 
 Our polluted linful Birth of Adam, is all the 
 Sin we can have from him ; and ourfaperna- 
 tural Birth of Chrift, is all the Righteoufnefs 
 that we pofTibly can have from him. Impu- 
 tation neither hath, nor can have any Thing 
 to do in either Cafe ; Sin and Righteoufnefs 
 are both inward and innate Things, and the 
 fole Work of the Spirit, that lives in us. 
 That which is born of God, is godly, and 
 cannot fin ; and that which is born of finful 
 Man, cannot be without a finful Nature and 
 Tempers. Cain could not poffibly have any 
 other natural Life, than that which was in 
 Adam; and therefore fo fure as Adam in Soul, 
 Spirit, and Body, was all Sin and Corruption, 
 fo fure is it, that all his Offspring muft come 
 from him in the fame Depravity of Soul, Spi- 
 rit
 
 44 LETTER III. 
 
 rit and Body. And to talk of their having 
 this difordered fallen Nature, not from their 
 natural Birth, but by an outward Imputation 
 of it to them, is quite as abfurd, as to fay, 
 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 fuchi a Form, and Members to them. 
 Suppofe it was faid, that Adams evil and pol- 
 lutedCondition of Body and Soul, was not the 
 natural EffecT: of his Tranfgreffion, but inde- 
 pendently of that, came upon him from God's 
 imputing it to him, as his, though it was not 
 his. What a Blafphemy would this be ? And 
 yet not lefs than that, of faying, that his 
 Children have their evil Nature, the finfui 
 State of their Wills and Affections, not by 
 their natural Birth from him, but indepen- 
 dently of that, folely from God's imputing 
 fuch a finfui State to them, that is, that God 
 imputed Adams finfui Nature to Cain., though 
 he was by Birth free from Sin, and Born in 
 the Purity and Perfection, in which Adam 
 was created ; for fo he mtift have been, if his 
 Birth had nothing of finfui Adam in it. But 
 if Cam was not fo born, then he had his Sin, 
 not by an Imputation of another's Sin to him, 
 but plainly in the fame Way of natural Birth, 
 as every Man has his natural Life and Form 
 of his Body, from Parents of the fame Na- 
 ture
 
 LETTER III. 45 
 
 ture and Form. And indeed, to fpeak of 
 Sin imputed to a Perfon that has it not, 
 and fo made his, is the fame Abfurdity, 
 as fpeaking of Will and Affections, imputed 
 to a Perfon that has them not, and fo made 
 his. For Sin is no where but in, and from 
 the Will and Affections, and therefore to 
 make Sin to be there by Imputation, where 
 it is not, has no more Sehfe in it, than to 
 make Will and AffecJions, to be by Imputa- 
 tion in a Creature that has them not. 
 
 As in Adam all dye, fays the Text : Is 
 not this the fame, as faying, that all Men 
 have their fallen Nature, becaufe born of 
 Adam ? Say, this does not follow, and then 
 the Matter will ftand thus : In Adam all dye : 
 But why, or how ? Why becaufe no Man hath 
 the Evil of a mortal fallen Nature from 
 his Birth from Adam, but merely by God's 
 free Imputation of it to him* 
 
 But fuch a free Imputation of Adams fin- 
 ful State to his Children, when they had it 
 not by natural Birth, is quite blafphemous, 
 and leaves no room for magnifying the free 
 Grace of God in Chrift Jefus ; lince free 
 Grace comes only to help Man out of a fin- 
 ful State which he had not by natural Birth, 
 but came upon him, by God's free Imputa- 
 tion of it to him, when he had it not. Thus, 
 the adorable Love of God in his free Grace 
 
 in
 
 46 LETTER III. 
 
 in Chrift Jefus, is quite deftroyed, upon 
 fuppofition, that Mankind have not their fm- 
 ful State from their natural Birth from A- 
 dam, but by a free Imputation of it by God 
 to them. 
 
 Take now the other Part of the Text, fo 
 in Chrift Jhall all be made alive. Is it not a 
 flat Denial of all this, to fay, they are not 
 made alive by a Birth of that to which A- 
 dam died, brought to life again in them, but 
 are accounted as if they were alive, by the 
 Imputation of Chrift's Life to them, but 
 not born in them ? Could dead Lazarus 
 have been faid to have been made alive a- 
 gain, if flill lying in the Grave, he had 
 only been accounted as alive, by having the 
 Nature of a living Man, only imputed to 
 him ? 
 
 Our Lord faid to a Leper, whom he 
 had cleanfed, Go, flew thyfelf to the Prieft, 
 &c. But if inftead of deanfmg him, he had 
 bid him go to the Prieft, to be accounted as 
 a clean Man, by the Imputation of another's 
 Cleannefs to him, had he not ftill been un- 
 der all the evil of his own Leprofy ? Now 
 this is ftri&ly the Cafe of the Righteouf- 
 nefs of Chrift, only outwardly imputed to 
 us, and not inwardly born within us. A 
 Fiction, that runs counter to all that Chrift 
 and his Apoftles have faid of the Nature of 
 
 our
 
 LETTER III. 47 
 
 our Salvation. We want Chrift's Righte- 
 oufnefs, becaufe by our natural Birth, we 
 are inwardly full of Evil; therefore faith 
 Chrift, except a Man be born again, he cannot 
 enter into the Kingdom of God. Does not 
 this place all in a Birth ? But a Birth, and 
 outward Imputation, are inconfiftent ; that 
 which ' is born in us, cannot be faid, to be 
 outwardly imputed to us. / am the Vine, 
 faith Chrift, ye are the Branches. Now if 
 this be a true Reprefentation of the Matter, 
 then thefe two plain Doctrines of Chrift, 
 affirming, i. The abfolute Necefftty of a 
 new Birth from above, and 2. Declaring 
 this Birth to be as really brought forth in us, 
 as the Life of the Vine is really in the 
 Branches, do, as far as Words can do it, 
 entirely reject the Notion of a Righteouf- 
 nefs imputed to us from without ; a Righte- 
 oufnefs, that has no more to do with our 
 own Life, after it is imputed to us, than it 
 had a thoufand Years before we were born. 
 For that which is not in us, or ours, by a 
 Birth of itfelf in us, can never be any 
 nearer to us, or have a more real Union 
 with us, after it is called ours, than before 
 it was fo called. I fay called, for Imputa- 
 tion, whether of Sin, or Righteoufnefs, if 
 its Power is not living in us, is no more 
 
 than
 
 48 LETTER III. 
 
 than mere calling that ours, which is not 
 ours. 
 
 It is needlefs to cite Places of Scripture, 
 affirming that all confifts in a Chrift revealed, 
 begotten, formed and living in us. Let 
 this one Word of Paul fuffice, yet not I, but 
 Chrift that liveth in me. He does not fay, 
 a Chrift who is only called his, or outward- 
 ly imputed to him, but the quite con- 
 trary, a Chrift who liveth in him. 
 
 Again, if Chrift's Holy Nature, be not 
 a Birth in us, but only outwardly imputed 
 to us, then no Virtue, or Power of an Holy 
 Life, can have any more real Exiftence, or 
 vital Growth in us, than in the Devils, but 
 are only outwardly imputed to us, and not 
 to them, only called ours, and not theirs, 
 though we have no more of them within 
 us, than they have. Thus, be ye holy, for 
 I am holy -, be ye perfett, as your Father, 'which 
 is in Heave?!, is perfeff j thou jhalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy Heart, &c. all 
 thefe are but vain Exhortations to do, and 
 be, that which is not within our Sphere, but 
 entirely inconfiftent with it. For thefe Vir- 
 tues are, in their whole Nature, nothing 
 elfe but the very Rightoufnefs of Chrift, 
 therefore if that can be only outwardly im- 
 puted to us, the fame muft be faid of all 
 thefe Virtues, that they can have no real 
 
 Life
 
 LETTER III. 49 
 
 Life or Growth in us, but only outwardly 
 imputed to us. And indeed, unlefs Chrift 
 be truly and eflentially born in us, we can 
 have no more of any Chriftian Virtue, but 
 the empty, outward Name of it : For nei- 
 ther Man, nor Angel ever did, or can thus 
 love God with all his Heart, be holy be*- 
 caufe God is holy, be perfect as he is per- 
 fect, but becaufe there is a Spirit born and 
 living in them, which is of God, from God, 
 and partakes of the divine Nature. 
 
 Further, fay that the Holy Spirit is not 
 born and living in us, that his Operation is 
 not inwardly in us, as the Spirit of our 
 Spirit, the Life of our Life, but only out- 
 wardly imputed to us, as if he was in us, 
 though he be not there : What a Blafphe- 
 my would this be ! And yet full as well, as 
 to fay the fame of Chrift, and his Righte- 
 oufnefs. For if Chrift was only outwardly 
 imputed to us, the fame muft, of all ne- 
 ceffity be faid of the Holy Spirit j for where 
 and what Chrift is, there and that is the 
 holy Spirit. How conftantly are we told in 
 Scripture, that they only are Sons of God, 
 who are led by the Spirit-cf God ; that unlefs 
 a Man hath the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of 
 his ; that if Chrift be not in us, we are Reprb- ' 
 bate s. Now I would afk, can any Man be 
 truly faid to be led by the Spirit of the World, 
 E ' the
 
 50 LETTER III. 
 
 the Flefh and the Devil, who has nothing 
 of this Spirit living in him, but only out- 
 wardly imputed to him ? Can any Creature 
 be faid to be led by the Spirit of Man, who has 
 not the Nature of Man within him, but 
 only outwardly imputed to him ? Yes, juft 
 as a Beaft may be faid to be a Newtonian 
 Philofopher, by having Sir Jfaacs Syftem 
 outwardly imputed to him. 
 
 Take Notice, Sir, that if ChrirYs righte- 
 ous, and holy Nature is only outwardly 
 imputed to Chriftans, then all of them, 
 whether they are called Good, or Bad, are 
 without any Difference as to their inward 
 Man, and all under the fame unaltered 
 Evil of their fallen Nature, as much after, 
 as they were before Chrift's Righteoufnefs 
 was imputed to them. When a good Man 
 has any thing falfely laid to his Charge, is 
 not this outwardly imputing fomething to him, 
 that is not his, does not belong to him ? 
 But is not his own inward Goodnefs juft in 
 the fame fullnefs of Truth in him, after 
 fuch an Imputation of Evil to him, as it was 
 before it was fo imputed. Now this is the 
 whole Nature of Imputation ; and there- 
 fore if the righteous Nature of Chrift is 
 only outwardly imputed to the Sinner, it 
 leaves him in all the Evil of his fallen Na- 
 ture, and can no more make him inwardly 
 
 good
 
 LETTER III. 51 
 
 good, than a good Man can be made in- 
 wardly evil, by having an Evil outwardly 
 imputed to him, that is not his. 
 * The Relation between Chrift and the 
 fallen Soul, is thus : Chrift is the one Me- 
 diator between God and Man, and that 
 which his Mediation conlifts in, is the re- 
 ftoring that Life in Man, which was his 
 firft created Union with God. Nothing fe- 
 parated Man from God, or made him want 
 a Mediator, but the Lofs of his firft divine 
 Life; and therefore nothing can mediate, 
 or be a means of Union again between God 
 and Man, but that which can, and doth 
 raife again in Man, that Divine Life which 
 was his firft Union with God. Every thing 
 therefore, that is faid of this one Mediator, 
 as re 'deeming , fan/owing, juftifying* fantfify- 
 ing, making Peace, or Reconciliation, &c. 
 however varioufly exprefled, has no other 
 Nature, or Meaning, but that of making 
 fallen Man, inwardly alive again in God. 
 He in whom Chrift is the Way, the Truth, 
 and the Life, has juft that fame Change made 
 in him, jnft that fame done to him, as he 
 that has his Sins wajhed and cleanfed by the 
 Blood of the Lamb. For thefe different Ex- 
 preffions mean only one and the fame Thing, 
 and that one Thing, is Chrift in us, our 
 Hope of Glory. This is Juftification, Sane- 
 E 2 tification,
 
 52 LETTER III. 
 
 tificatibn, Redemption, Peace, Reconcili- 
 ation, and everlafting Union with God. 
 Triffling therefore, to the laft degree, is 
 their Orthodoxy, who raife Difputes, and fet 
 up different Doctrines, on the different 
 Meaning of thefe Words, and the Danger 
 of not knowing, or not ftiffly contending 
 for the bleffed Difference between Juftifi- 
 cation and Santfification, &c. Full as triffl- 
 ing, as to raife Difputes, and fet up differ- 
 ent Doctrines on the different Names given 
 to Jefus Cbrift, as Word of God, Son of Man, 
 Lamb of God, Alpha and Omega, Mediator, 
 Immanuel, Attonement, Reconciliation, Re- 
 furreffiion, &c. and the great Danger of af- 
 cribing that to Chrift, as our Reconciliation, 
 which only belongs to him, as called the 
 Rejurreffiion and the Life. Figure to your- 
 felf fuch an orthodox Difpute as this, and 
 then you will fee the Importance of that 
 pious Zeal, which will not fuffer Juftif ca- 
 tion and Sanflification to encroach upon one 
 another. 
 
 What an egregious Folly, to be learn- 
 edly laborious in dividing and diflinguifhing 
 thefe different Names of Chrift, or the dif- 
 ferent Effects of his purchaling, juftifying, 
 or fanctifying our Souls, &c. when all that 
 thefe Things are told us for, and all the 
 Benefit that we can receive from them, lies 
 
 folely
 
 LETTER III. 53 
 
 folely in this one Word of Chrift, if any 
 one will be my Difciple (that is, if any one 
 will have the Benefit of all that I am, and 
 of all that is faid of me) let him deny him- 
 felf, take up his Crofs and follow me. Then, 
 and then only, all the different Names of 
 Chrifr, and all the different Powers afcribed 
 to him, will be, not critically, but blefTedly 
 known and underftood to be one, as God 
 is one, whether he be called I AM, or the 
 Creator of Heaven and Earth, or the Fa- 
 ther of our Lord Jefus Chrifr.. 
 
 But to proceed : All that is faid of the 
 Nature, Office, and Qualities of Chrifl, in 
 order to be our Redeemer, is fo much faid 
 of the Neceffity of their being effentially 
 found, and realized in every Soul, that is 
 to partake of his Redemption. If Chrifl be 
 not in us> we are none of his. But how can 
 Chrift be in us, but becaufe all that which 
 Chrifl was, in the Spirit and Nature of his 
 whole Procefs, is in us, as it was in him ? 
 If the fame Mind be not in us, which was in 
 Chrifl Jefus j if that which loved, that which 
 willed, that which fuffered in him, be not 
 the fame Spirit in us, we mail never reign 
 with him. He may be truly called a Re- 
 deemer, but we are not his redeemed, for 
 fuch as the Redeemer is, fuch are they that 
 are redeemed. 
 
 E 3 9>
 
 54 LETTER III. 
 
 To him that overcometh, faith Chrift, will 
 I grant to Jit with me on my Throne, [N. B.] 
 even as I overcame ', and am Jet down with my 
 Father on his Throne. What becomes now 
 of the vain Fiction of an outward Imputa- 
 tion? Is ChrifFs Victory here imputed to 
 us ? Is not the Contrary as ftrongly taught 
 us, as Words can do it ? To him that over- 
 cometh, even as I alfo overcame, 
 
 Can we have fuller Proof, that Ch rift's 
 righteous Nature muft be inwardly bjrn, 
 living and manifefting itfelf in us, as it did 
 in him ? how elfe can we overcome, even 
 as he overcame ? That Spirit which over- 
 came in Chrift, was manifeft in the Flefh, 
 for no other End, but that the fame con- 
 quering Spirit might be born in us. And 
 when that is done, then all is done, by that 
 Grace of Goo 7 , which bringeth Salvation, 
 Juftification, Sanctification, or the new Crea- 
 ture. For whether you call it by one, or 
 by all thefe Names, it is the white Stone 
 with the new Name written in it, which 
 no Man knoweth, but he that hath received it. 
 And that for this Reafon, becaufe it is no out- 
 wardly imputed Thing, but is the new Name, 
 the new Nature and Spirit of Chrift, be- 
 come all in all in us, and fo only to be 
 known by thofe, who have it brought to 
 Life in them.
 
 LETTER III. 55 
 
 Again, 'This is my Blood, which is foed 
 for many, for the RemiJ/ion of Sins; what 
 follows ? Why, Drink ye all of this -,^-If we 
 fuffer with him, we fiall alfo reign with him; 
 Ike Blood of Jefw Chrift, his Son, cleanfeth 
 us from all Iniquity ; who hath w a/bed us from 
 our Sins in his Blood. Now to Ihew you, 
 that all thefe different Sayings have but one 
 and the fame Doftrine, you need only read 
 the following deciftve Words : Thefe are they 
 that came out of great Tribulation, (that is, 
 have trodden the Wine Prefs with Chrift) 
 and have wajhed their Robes in the Blood of 
 the Lamb. Here you fee is no outward 
 Imputation of the Sufferings of Chrift, but 
 their coming out of great Tribulation, or 
 paffing through the whole Procefs of Chrift, 
 was that alone, which made their Robes to be 
 Wajhed in the Blood of the Lamb. And no 
 other Dodtrine is in this Text, than if it 
 had been faid, thefe are they, who having de- 
 nied themfehes, taken up their daily Crofs, 
 and followed Chrift, have thereby wafhed their 
 Robes in the Blood of the Lamb. Through 
 all the New-Teftament, this is the one 
 Do&rine of Salvation through the Blood 
 of Chrift, it is drinking the Cup, that he 
 drank of, and not the Bitternefs of his Cup 
 outwardly imputed to us. 
 
 4 You
 
 56 LETTER III. 
 
 You tell me, my Friend, that the fera- 
 phic Afpatio is quite tranfported with th& 
 Thought of the Imputation of Chrifl's Righ- 
 teoufnefs to the Sinner, and that it mould 
 in the Account of God, be efteemed as 
 his It may be fo, Tranfport feems to be 
 as natural to Afpafio, as flying is to a Bird. 
 But furely, a more tranfpcrting, a more 
 glorious Thing it is, both to the Glory of 
 God, and the Good of Man, that the Sin- 
 ner is, through the righteous Nature of 
 Chrift, born and brought to Life in him, 
 fet up again in his firfl Likenefs and Image 
 of God. For if Man's Righteoufncls is not 
 ejjentially reftored in him, as it was eilentially 
 in him at the Firft, has he not lefs of God 
 in him, by his Redemption, than he had at 
 his Creation ? Is it to the Happinefs of Alan, 
 and the Glory of God, that God has not 
 obtained that Dwelling in Man, for which 
 he alone created him ? 
 
 Is it matter of Tranfport to think, that 
 fallen Man will to all Eternity live defti- 
 tute of his firil heavenly Nature, his firft 
 divine Life, which he had in, and from 
 God ? But this muft be the Cafe, if ChriiVs 
 Righteoufnefs is only outwardly imputed to 
 and not ejfentially born in him. 
 
 Tranfports, my Friend, are but poor Proofs 
 Truth, or of the Goodnefs of the Heart, 
 
 from
 
 LETTER III. 57 
 
 from whence they proceed. Martyrdom has 
 had its FGQ/S, as well as it's Saints > and 
 Zealots may live and dye in a Joy, that 
 has all its Strength from Delufion. 
 
 You may fee a Man drowned in Tears, 
 at beholding, and killing a 'wooden Cruci- 
 fix, and the fame Man condemning another, 
 as a wicked Heretic, who only honours the 
 Crofs, by being daily baptifed into the Death 
 of Chrift. Nay, fo blind is Opinion-zeal, that 
 fome good Chriftian Paftors will not fcruple 
 to tell you, they could find no Joy in their 
 own State, no Strength, or Comfort in their 
 Labours of Love towards their Flocks, but 
 becaufe they know, and are allured from 
 St. Paul, that God never had, nor ever will 
 have, mercy on all Men, but that an unknown 
 Multitude of them, are through all Ages of 
 the World, inevitably decreed by God to 
 an eternal Fire, and Damnation of Hell, 
 and an . unknown Number of others, to an 
 irrefiflable Salvation. 
 
 Wonder not then, if the Inquifition has 
 its pious Defenders, /or Inquifition-Cruelty , 
 nay, every Barbarity that muft have an End, 
 is mere Mercy, if compared with this Doc- 
 trine. And to be in love with it, to, draw 
 fweet Comfort from it, and wifh it God 
 Speed, is a Love that abfolutely forbids the 
 loving our Neighbour, as ourfelves, and 
 
 makes
 
 58 LETTER III. 
 
 makes the Wim, that all Men might be 
 faved, no lefs than a Rebellion againft God. 
 It is a Love, with which, the curfed 
 Hater of all Men, would willingly unite 
 and take Comfort ; for could he know from 
 St. Pauly that Millions, and Millions of Man- 
 kind, are created and doomed to be his 
 eternal Slaves, he might be as content with 
 this Doctrine, as fome good Preachers are, 
 and ceafe going about, as a roaring Lion, 
 feeking whom he may devour', as knowing, 
 that his Kingdom, was fo fufficiently pro- 
 vided for, without any Labours of his own. 
 
 Oh, the Sweetnefs of God's Eletfion, crys 
 out the ravifhed Preacher ! Oh, the Sweet- 
 nefs of God's Reprobation \ might the hel- 
 lifh Satan well fay, could he believe that 
 God had made him a free Gift of fuch 
 Myriads, and Myriads of Men, of all Nati- 
 ons, Tongues and Languages, from the Be- 
 ginning to the End of the World, and re- 
 ferved fb fmall a Number - for himfelf. 
 This is the blefled Fruit of the imputation 
 Doctrine, 
 
 What a Complaint, and Condemnation is 
 there made in Scripture, of thofe who fa- 
 crifked their Sons and Daughters unto De- 
 vils ? And yet, this Reprobation Doctrine, re- 
 prefents God, as facrificing Myriads of his 
 
 own
 
 LETTER III. 59 
 
 own Creatures, made in his own Image, 
 to an everlafting Hell. 
 
 There is not an Abfurdity of heathenim 
 Faith and Religion, but what is lefs mocking 
 than this Doctrine, and yet fo blindly are 
 fome zealous Doctors of the Gofpel bigotted 
 to it, as to fet it forth, as the glorious 
 Manifeftation of the fupreme Sovereignty of 
 God. 
 
 My Friend, let any old Woman preach 
 to you, rather than thefe Doctors. 
 
 But to end in one Word, Chrift's righte- 
 oufnefs is ours, in our Redemption, juft in 
 the fame manner, as it was Adams in his 
 firft Holy Birth. For Adam had then no 
 Righteoufnefs in him, but that which was 
 created in Chrift Jefus. And that is the one 
 only Reafon, why there could be no other 
 Redeemer but Chrift, becaufe the Lofs of 
 Chrift, was that Death which Adam died 
 by his Fall ; and therefore no Poffibility of 
 coming out of his fallen State, but in, and 
 by a Birth of Chrift's righteous Nature, ef- 
 fentially born and living in him, as it was 
 living in him before he fell. 
 
 Little Children, faith St. John, let no Man 
 deceive you ; [N. B.] He that doth Righteouf- 
 nefs, is righteous, [N. B.] even as he is righ- 
 teous. Therefore to expedt, or truft to be 
 made righteous, by the Righteoufnefs of 
 
 ano-
 
 60 LETTER III. 
 
 another, only outwardly imputed to us, is, 
 according to the ApofUe, deceiving our- 
 fehes. 
 
 Either Man, by the Mediation of Chrift, 
 Js united again with God, or he is not ; if 
 he is not, then he has no more of ths di- 
 vine Life in him, after his Redemption, 
 than he had before he was redeemed. But 
 if he is again united with God, as he was 
 at his Creation, then his Redemption muft 
 wholly confift in the Birth of a divine Na- 
 ture and Spirit, efientially brought to Life 
 in him. That which is Spirit in Man, muft 
 be godlike, before it can unite with that 
 Spirit, which is God. And was there not 
 a divine Spirit in Man, truly born of, and 
 proceeding from the Spirit of God, as his 
 real Offspring, no Union of Will, Love, or 
 Delire, could be between God and Man. 
 For this is a Truth, that extends itfelf 
 through all that is natural, or fupernatural, 
 that Like can only unite with Like. There is 
 no Separation between Things, but that 
 which is effected by Contrariety. If there- 
 fore nothing in Man was a Partaker of the 
 divine Nature, Man muft in his whole Na- 
 ture, be for ever feparated from God, and 
 ftand in the fame Impoifibility of being 
 united with him, that two the moil con- 
 trary Things, do to one another. So fure 
 
 therefore
 
 LETTER III. 61 
 
 therefore, as the Mediation of Chrift, is by 
 himfelf declared to be for this End, viz. 
 that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art 
 in me, and 1 in Thee, that they alfo may be 
 one in us ; 1 in them, and thou in me, that 
 they may be made perfefl in one ; fo fure is it, 
 that an outwardly imputed Chrift, is as ab- 
 furd in itfelf, and as contrary to Scripture, 
 as an outwardly imputed God. 
 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 In ANSWER to a SCRUPLE. 
 
 you may have a f ull An _ 
 
 T ^ wer to y ur Scruple, concern- 
 s' ft ing thefe Words, the Folly of 
 k^*^jn( Debtor and Creditor, in the fe- 
 cond Part of the Spirit of Love, I will fet 
 forth the Doftrine from whence it is taken. 
 - Great Part of that Book, is to clear up, 
 and aflert the true Scripture Doctrine of the 
 Nature, Necejfity, and Merit of our Lord's 
 Sufferings and Death, as an Attonement, and 
 
 Satis-
 
 62 LETTER IV. 
 
 Satisfaction before God, in the Work of 
 our Redemption. No Point of Chriftianity 
 has been more miftakeri, in our common 
 Syflems of Golpel Doftrine, or given greater 
 Offence than this, and yet nothing clearer, 
 or more reafonably to be believed, when it 
 {lands in its own fcriptural Manifestation. 
 
 Now the right Ground of underftanding 
 the true Meaning of every different Expreff- 
 ion, relating to Chrift, as our Saviour, or Sal- 
 vation, lies in thefe two Things : i. What 
 Chrift is in himfelf. 2. What he does, or 
 intends to do for us. 
 
 The Scripture faith, God was manifefted 
 in the F/eft> -, this defcribes his whole Na- 
 ture, what he was in himfelf, viz. the 
 Deity become Man. What he is, and does 
 in us, to us, and for us, is expreffed in the 
 following Words, He was manifefted to de- 
 Jlroy the Works of the Devil -, and again, as 
 in Adam all die, fo in Chrift, Jhatt all be made 
 alive. 
 
 Now according to this Ground, every 
 Expreffion concerning our Saviour, is to 
 have its true infallible Meaning fixed. Every 
 thing that is faid of his Birth , his Life, his 
 Sufferings, his Death, his Refurreftion and 
 Afcenfion, are all of them, both with re- 
 fpect to God, and ourfelves, of one a?id the 
 fame Efficacy, full of one and the fame Me- 
 rit
 
 LETTER IV. 63 
 
 r/V, and all for one and the fame End, viz. 
 to deftroy in Man the Works of the Devil, 
 and to make all that died in Adam, to be a- 
 tive again in Chrifl. 
 
 Suppofe now, any one of thefe to be 
 wanting, and the fame will follow from 
 it, as if they were all wanting. Had his 
 Birth been otherwife than it was, not God 
 as well as Man, He could have made no 
 Beginning of a divine Life in us*. Had not 
 his Life been without Sin, his Death upon the 
 Crofs could have done us no Good, nor 
 could he have been the one Mediator be- 
 tween God and finful Man. Had his Suf- 
 ferings been lefs than they were, had there 
 been any Evil, Trial, or Temptation, which 
 had not attacked him, through the whole 
 Courfe of his Life, with all its Force, he 
 could not have been faid, to have over- 
 come them. So fure therefore as Chrift, as 
 a Son of Man was to overcome all that the 
 World, the Flefh, and the Devil, could do 
 to fallen Man; fo fure is it, that all the 
 Evils, which they could poffibly bring upon 
 fallen Man, were to be felt, and jufered 
 by him, as abfolutely necefTary in the Na- 
 ture of the Thing, to prove his victorious 
 Superiority over them. Had he not given 
 up his Body to an ignominious Death, in 
 all the Horrors of a Sou/, that had loft its 
 
 God:
 
 64 LETTER IV. 
 
 God: He could not have fuffered That in, 
 and for Man, which every Man muft have 
 fuffered, who had died in his fallen State. 
 But Chriir. dying, and facrificing him- 
 felf, as he did, in and through that hor- 
 rible Death, which was fallen Man's Gate 
 to eternal Mifery, and conquering this State 
 of Man, as he had every evil Power of 
 the World, the Flefh, and the Devil, then 
 it was, that he could fay to thole, who 
 were all their Life in Fear of this Death, 
 be of good Comfort, I have overcome this 
 Death, and that upon the fame Ground, 
 as he faid to his Followers, under a Senfe 
 of worldly Tribulations, be of good Comfort ', 
 I have overcome the World. And thus his 
 Death, had no other Nature, with refpect 
 to us, than every other Part of his Pro- 
 cefs, that was antecedent to it, only as it 
 was the laft, "and greateft, and fimjhmg 
 Part of that redeeming Work, which was 
 begun by his divine Birth, and carried on 
 in, and through his lihlefs, perfect Life. 
 And as I faid, that the Death of Man un- 
 redeemed, was his Gate into an eternal Se- 
 peration from God, fo Chrift's Entrance in- 
 to this Gate of Damnation, and pouring 
 out his Blood, thus forfaken of God, had 
 a Suffering in it, that Thoughts can no 
 more conceive, than Words exprefs. 
 
 Hence
 
 LETTER IV. 65 
 
 Hence it is, by way of Eminence, juftly 
 faid, to be the higheft Price, that he paid 
 for us j and that by his Blood it is that we 
 are warned, and redeemed, not only becaufe 
 of its Greatnefs in itfelf, but becaufe it fi- 
 niihed, and for ever completed the whole 
 redeeming Work, which he had to do for 
 us in theFlem. Hence it was, that through 
 the Old Teftament, this Sacrifice of his 
 Death, is the great Thing moftly pointed at 
 in all its Sacrifices, Types, and Figures $ 
 hence alfo is all the Boaft of it in the Gof- 
 pel. Well therefore may the Church, 
 through all Ages, have afcribed fo much to 
 the Merit of his Blood med for us ; well 
 may- it have been celebrated, as the one great 
 Price, by which we are ranfomed from the 
 Power of Death and Hell ; becaufe, though 
 all that he was, and did, antecedently to it, 
 was equally nccejj'ary to our Salvation, yet all 
 had been without any effecl:, unlefs by his 
 fo dying, this damnable Death had been 
 [wallowed up in Viftory. 
 
 In fhort, had not Chrifl been real God, 
 as well as real Man, he could have made no 
 Beginning in the Work of our Salvation, 
 and had he not ended his Life in fuch a 
 Sacrifice, as he did, he could never have 
 faid, it is finijked. He therefore, who de- 
 nieth the Truth, the Certainty, and abfo- 
 F lute
 
 66 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 lute Neceffity of thefe two effential Points, 
 is in the Abomination of Socinianifm, and is 
 that very Liar and Antichriji defcribed by 
 St. John in his firft Epiftle. 
 
 Again, though Chrift's Death was thus 
 abfolutely necefTary in the very Nature of 
 the Thing, thus great in its Merits and Ef- 
 fects, yet unlefshis Refurretfion had followed, 
 we had been yet in our Sins, nor could he, 
 till rifen from the Grave, have purchafed a 
 Refurredion for us. Laftly, had he not 
 afcendcd into Heaven, he could not have had 
 the Power of drawing^ as he faid, all Men 
 to himfelf. Every Part therefore of our 
 Saviour's Character, or Procefs, has its full 
 and equal Share in all that, which is faid of 
 him, as our Peace with God, our Righteouf- 
 nefs, our Jiiftificatioriy our Ranfom, our At- 
 tonement) our Satisfaction, our Life and 
 new Birth ; for all thefe different Expref- 
 iions, have no Difference in Doctrine, but 
 whether feperately, or jointly taken, fignify 
 nothing elfe, but this one Thing, that he 
 was the true and full Deftroyer of all the 
 W.orh of the Devil in Man, and the true 
 Raifer of a divine Life, in all that died in 
 Adam. 
 
 And here, Sir, you are well to obferve, 
 that all that Chrift was, did, fuffered, and 
 obtained, was purely and folely on the Ac- 
 count,
 
 LETTER IV. 67 
 
 count, and for the fake of altering, or re- 
 moving that which was wrong, evil, and 
 miferable in Man, or in Scripture Words, 
 God was in Chrift Jefus, reconciling the World 
 to himfelf, that is, taking away from Man 
 every Property, or Power of Evil, that kept 
 him in a State of Separation from God. 
 Thus it was, and to this End, that God was 
 in Chrift Jefus in his whole Procefs. 
 
 Unreaibnably therefore have our fcholaf- 
 tic Syflems of the Gofpel, feparated the 
 Sacrifice of ChrinYs Death, from the other 
 Parts of his Pn eels, and confidered it as 
 fomething chiefly done with regard to God, 
 to alter, or attone an infinite Wrath, that 
 was raifed in God againft fallen Man, which 
 Infinity of juft Vengeance, or vindictive 
 Juftice, muft have devoured the Sinner, un- 
 lefs an infinite Satisfaction had been made 
 to it, by the Death of Chrift. 
 
 All this, is in the groflefl Ignorance of 
 God, of the Reafon and Ground, and Ef- 
 fects of Chrift's Death, and in full Con- 
 tradiction to the exprefs Letter of Scripture. 
 For there we are told, tnat God is Love, and 
 that the Infinity of his Love was that alone, 
 which mewed itfelf towards fallen Man, 
 and wanted to have Satisfaction done to it; 
 which Love-defire could not be fulfilled, 
 could not be fatisjied with any thing lefs 
 than Man's full Deliverance -from all the 
 F 2 Evil
 
 68 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 Evil of his fallen State. That Love, which 
 has the Infinity of God, nay, which is 
 God himfelf, was fo immutably great to- 
 wards Man, though fallen from him, that 
 he fpared not his only begotten Son -, and why 
 did He not fpare him ? It was becaufe no- 
 thing but the incarnate Life of his eternal 
 Son, paffing through all the miserable States 
 of loft Man, could regenerate his firft divine 
 Life in him. Can you poffibly be told this, 
 in flronger Words than thefe, Godfo loved the 
 World, that he gave his only begotten Son ; how 
 did He give him ? Why, in his whole Procels. 
 And to what end did He give him ? Why, 
 that all 'who believe in him, might not perijh y 
 but have everlajlmg Life. Away then with 
 the fuperftitious Dream, of an infinite Wrath 
 in God towards poor fallen Man, which 
 could never ceafe, till an infinite Satisfaction 
 was made to it. All Scripture denies it, 
 and the Light of Nature abhors it. The 
 Birth, the Life, the Death of Chrift, though 
 fo different Things, have but one and the 
 fame Operation, and that Operation is folely 
 in Man, to drive all Evil out of his fallen 
 Nature, and delight the Heart of God, that 
 defires his Salvation. God is Love, and has 
 no other Will towards Man, but the Will 
 of Love. That Love, which from itfelf 
 began the Creation of an holy Adam, from 
 itfelf began the Redemption' of a fallen 
 
 Adam.
 
 L E T T E R IV. 69 
 
 Adam. The Death of Chrift was a Sacri- 
 fice from the Love of God the Son towards 
 Man, to overcome thereby that damnable 
 Death, which, otherwife, every Son of A- 
 dam muft have died ; it was a Sacrifice of- 
 fered to the fame Love, in God the Father j 
 a Sacrifice, equally loved and deiired by both 
 of them, becaufe, in the Nature of the 
 Thing, as abfolutely necefTary to alter and 
 overcome that Evil, which belonged to 
 Man's State of Death, as the Incarnation 
 of "the WORD, was abfolutely necefTary in 
 the Nature of the Thing, to make Man to 
 be alive again in God. 
 
 This is the one only true, and full Con- 
 futation of Socinianifm. 
 
 But to have Recourfe to a fuppofed Wrath y 
 or f uindi5ti e ue 'Jujlice, in a God incenfed to- 
 wards fallen Man, in order to confute the 
 Soci?iian, who denies the Neceifity, and Ef- 
 fects of Chrift's Death, is only oppofing one 
 great Falfity with another. For Wrath has 
 no more Place in God, than Love has in the 
 Devil. Wrath began ^ith Devils, Hell, 
 and fallen Nature, and can have no poflible 
 Exigence any where, or in any Thing, but 
 where Devils, Hell, and fallen Nature, have 
 their Power of working. 
 
 Do not, my Friend, be here fo furious, 
 
 as t o fay, that if it was ftrictiy true, that 
 
 there was no Wrath in God, you would burn 
 
 F 3 your
 
 70 LETTER IV. 
 
 your Bible : For if it was not ftridly true, 
 you would never have had a Bible to burn ; 
 nor any more MeiTages from Heaven about 
 Man's Salvation, than from Hell. For if 
 you will have Wrath in the moft high God, 
 you can have no other, or better a God, 
 than that which the atheiftical Spinoza in- 
 vented. 
 
 For if Wrath is in the Supreme God, 
 then Nature is in God, and if fo, then God 
 is Nature, and nothing elfe ; for Nature can- 
 not be above itfelf. Therefore if Nature 
 is in the moft high God, then the low eft 
 Working of Nature, is the true Supreme 
 God. And fo inftead of -Sijuper natural God, 
 who created Heaven and Earth, Heaven and 
 Earth, and all Things elfe, are the only God. 
 
 This is the atheiftical Abfurdity, that ne- 
 ceflarily follows from the fuppofing a Wrath 
 in God ; for Wrath can no more be any 
 where, but in Nature, than Storms and 
 Tempefts can be, where there is nothing that 
 moves. 
 
 Let me here, Sir, obferve to you the bare- 
 faced Calumny, that Dr. Warburton has 
 ventured to caft upon me, in charging my 
 Writings with Spinozifm, though all that I 
 have wrote for thele laft twenty Years, has 
 been fuch a full Confutation of it, as is not 
 to be found in any Book, that has been pur- 
 pgfely wrote againft it. Had I only proved,
 
 L E T T E R IV. 71 
 
 as I have done, by a -Variety of Proofs, that 
 Wrath cannot poffibly be in the true God, I 
 had fufficiently confuted Spinozifm -, for if not 
 Wrath, then nothing of Nature is in God. 
 But I have gone much farther, and have, in 
 my Appeal, the Book of Regeneration^ the 
 Spirit of Prayer, the Spirit of Love, and 
 and the Way to Divine Knowledge p , opened 
 the true Ground of the unchangeable Dif- 
 tinction between God and Nature, making 
 all Nature, whether temporal or eternal, its 
 own Proof, that it is not, cannot be God, 
 but purely and folely the WANT of God, 
 and can be nothing elfe in itfelf but a reft- 
 lefs, painful Want, till a juper natural God 
 manifefts himfelf in it. This is a Doctrine, 
 which the Learned of all Ages have known 
 nothing of; not a Book antient or modern 
 in all our Libraries, has fo much as at- 
 tempted to open the Ground of Nature, to 
 mew its Birth and State, and its efTential 
 unalterable Diftinclion from the one abyjjal, 
 fupernatural God ; and how all the Glories, 
 Powers, and Perfections of the hidden, un- 
 approachable God, have their wonderful 
 Manifestation in Nature and Creature. This 
 is a Bleffing referved by God for thefe laft 
 Times, to be opened in his chofen Inftru- 
 ment, the poor, illiterate Behmen. And 
 this I will venture to fay, that He who will 
 declare War againft him, has no Choice of 
 F 4 any
 
 72 LETTER IV. 
 
 any other Weapons, but Raillery and Re- 
 proach. To call the bleffed Man, zpoffefled 
 Cobler, will be doing fomething ; to call his 
 Writings, fenfelefs "Jargon^ may ftand his 
 learned Adverfary in great ftead ; but if he 
 tries to overcome him any other Way, his 
 Succefs will be like his, who knocks his Head 
 againfl a Poft. But no more of this here. 
 
 And now, Sir, what ihall I fay of my 
 learned, accuimg Dodlor ? Why only this, 
 that if he knows how to forgive hirnfelf, 
 then there will be one Thing at leaft, in 
 which we are both of us like-minded. 
 
 A Word or two now to yourfelf and 
 Friends, who are fo loath to own a God 
 who is all Love : Let me tell you, if you 
 will have Wrath in the Supreme God, you 
 muft have a God, in whom is Selfifhnefs, 
 Envy, and Pride, with all the Properties of 
 fallen Nature. For as it is impoffible for 
 oiie of thefe to be without the other in the 
 Creature, fo if any one of them was in 
 God, all the other muft be there. They are 
 the four effential Elements of Hell, or fallen 
 Nature, which mutually beget, and are be- 
 gotten of one another -, where one is, there 
 are all of them, and where all are not, there 
 cannot be one of them. Every Pride con- 
 Ms of three Things, Selfifhnefs, Envy* 
 and Wrath. And fo of every one of them, 
 take which you will, it confiils of the other 
 
 three.
 
 LETTER IV. 73 
 
 three, fo that to feparate them, is to feparate 
 a Thing from itfelf. 
 
 Divine Love is juft as contrary to them, 
 as God is to the Devil j and where Love 
 is not, there God is not, and where the 
 Work is not wholly the Working of Love, 
 it is no Work of God, but the felfijh, wrath- 
 ful, proud envious Working of the diabo- 
 lical Nature, fallen from its firft blefled 
 Subjection to, and Union with the fuper- 
 natural God of Love. 
 
 To talk (as fome do) of a good Wrath 
 in God, which is only fo called, becaufe 
 it has a Likenefs to, and Produces like Ef- 
 feffis to thofe that come from Wrath in 
 the Creature, is but calling that a good 
 Wrath, which is like a bad Wrath, and 
 is no better, no wifer, than to talk of a 
 good Envy, a good Pride in God, which 
 are only fo called, becaufe they have a 
 Likenefs to that, which is a bad Pride, and 
 a bad Envy in the Creature. Can any 
 Thing be more profanely abfurd than this ? 
 Which yet is the beft, that can be faid 
 by thofe, who will have it the Glory of 
 God, to be wrathful, who think all is 
 loft, that the gofpel Salvation is blaf- 
 phemed, if the fame Love that created 
 Man in Glory, mould be his only Re- 
 deemer, when he had fallen from it. Not 
 
 con-
 
 74 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 coniidering, that Salvation could never have 
 come into the World, but becaufe, all that 
 Good and Bleffing, which Love can be, 
 and do to the Creature, muft be done, 
 and doing for ever and ever, by that firft 
 creating God, whofe Name and Nature, 
 whofe Will and Working, is Love, the 
 fame Yefterday, to Day, and for ever. 
 
 And now, Sir, need I fay much more, 
 to remove your Scruple about the follow- 
 ing PafTage in the Spirit cf Love, " No 
 <e Wrath in God, no fictitious Atonement, 
 " no Folly of Debtor and Creditor, no 
 " Suffering for Suffering's fake, but a Chrift 
 " fuffering and dying, as his Jame Victory 
 (l over Death and Hell, as when he role 
 " from the Dead and afcended into Hea- 
 ven*." 
 
 I faid Folly of Debtor and Creditor ', becaufe 
 ChrifFs overcoming Man's damnable Death, 
 by his victorious PafTage through it, has 
 nothing in it that has any Likenefs to the 
 Tranfactiori of a Debtor paying his Cre^ 
 ditorj nothing was done in it by way of 
 Payment of a Pebt, any more than Chrift 
 paid a Debt for Lazarus^ when he raifed 
 him from the Dead, or paid a Debt for 
 the Man born Blind, whom he helped to 
 feeing Eyes, For the Good that is done 
 
 US 
 
 * Spirit pf J,ov? ; Part. JJ. p, 131.
 
 LETTER IV. 75 
 
 us by the Death of Chriil, is a Good 
 that relates folely to ourfelves. Nothing 
 in it, is given to, or received but by our- 
 felves j if overcomes, and faves us from 
 our own Evil of Death, jufl as that, which 
 Chrifl did to Lazarus, and the blind Man, 
 overcame the Death that was in the one, 
 and the Darknefs that was in the other. 
 
 You appeal to a Parable of our Lord's, 
 which has no more Relation to the Na- 
 ture and Efficacy of ChrinVs Death, than the 
 Parable of the Tares of the field. St. Peter 
 faith, how oft flail my Brother fin againfl me+ 
 and 1 forgive him, till feven Times ? Chrifl 
 anfwerethy not imtill feven Times, but untill 
 feventy Times feven. And then he fets forth 
 this Doctrine of continual Forgivenefs in 
 the following Parable. 
 
 The Kingdom of God is likened to a certain 
 King, who would take Account of his Ser- 
 vants, &c. Read the whole Parable, and 
 you will be forced to fee, that nothing 
 elfe is intended to be taught by it, but 
 that one Conclufion, which Chrift draws 
 from it : So Hkewife fhall my heavenly Father 
 do unto you, if ye from your Hearts, forgive 
 not every one his Brother their TrefpaJJes. All 
 that the Parable faith, is neither more nor 
 lefs, than is faid in thefe other Words, 
 fe ye Merciful^ as your Father which is in 
 
 Heaven
 
 76 LETTER IV. 
 
 Heaven is merciful: Again , the Doctrine 
 of this Parable, quite overthrows that, 
 which fyflematic Doctors, intend by Debtor 
 and Creditor ; for their Doctrine is, that the 
 injured Authority of God muji have full 
 Satisfaction made to it, and thence it is, 
 that they ground the Neceffity of fo great 
 a Payment, as Chrift made to it. Whereas 
 this Parable of the Kingdom of God, fets 
 forth a King, [N. B.] frankly forgiving, 
 and not requiring any Payment at all, ei- 
 ther from the Debtor himfelf, or frcm 
 any one elfe for him. Can there there- 
 fore be a greater Folly, than to appeal to 
 this, and the like Scriptures, to make God 
 a (Creditor, whofe vindictive Wrath againil 
 ]hi Debtor, will not be appeafed, till jail 
 Payment is made to it ? And what a blind 
 Ferfifting is it in the fame Folly, to urge 
 the Petition in the Lord's Prayer, forgive 
 us our Debts, as ive forgive our Debtors, as 
 another Proof, that God is that Creditor, 
 who will be fully paid the Debts, that 
 are due to him? For furely, if God re- 
 quires us to expect, and pray for the For- 
 givenefs of our Debts, it is badly concluded 
 from thence, that therefore full Payment 
 of them, muft be made. The Truth is, 
 this Petition teaches the fame frank For- 
 givenejs, as the foregoing Parable, and is 
 
 utterly
 
 LETTER IV. 77 
 
 utterly inconiiftent with the Dodlrine of 
 an infinite Satisfaction, neceffary to be made : 
 For if fo, then the Petition ought to have 
 been thus, forgive us our Debts, as we for* 
 give our Debtors, [N. B.] when full Pay- 
 ment is made, either by themfelves, or by 
 fome one elfe for them. 
 
 In a Word, a vindictive Wrath in God, 
 that will not forgive, till a Satisfaction 
 equal to the Offence, is made to it, fets 
 the Goodnefs of God in a lower State, 
 than that which has been found in Thou- 
 fands of Mankind. The Truth of the 
 Matter, is this, the Divinity of Chrift, and 
 his whole Procefs through Life and Death, 
 was abfolutely neceffary in the Nature of toe 
 Thing, to raife Man out of the Death of 
 Sin, into a heavenly Birth of Life. And 
 the NecefTity of all this, is grounded upon 
 the Certainty of Man's Fall, from a di- 
 vine, into a beaftial Life of this World. 
 The focinian Blafphemy confifts in the 
 Denial of thefe Points, the Deity of Chrift, 
 and the Fall of Man, and the .Neceffity of 
 
 ChrilVs Death. Our- fcholaftic Doctors, 
 
 own the Fall of Man, but know, or own 
 Nothing of the true Nature and Depth 
 of it. They own the Truth of Chrift's 
 Divinity, and the Neceffity of his Suffer- 
 ings 5 they plead for the Certainty of thefe 
 
 Thmgs
 
 78 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 Things from fcripture Words, but fee not 
 into the Ground of them, or in what, the 
 abfolute Neceffity of them confifis.. Hence 
 it is, that when oppofed by focinian Rea- 
 foning, they are at a Lofs how to fup- 
 port thefe great Truths, and are forced 
 to humanize the Matter, and .to fuppofe fuch 
 a t vin$$i i vt Wrath in God, as ufually breaks 
 forth in great Princes, when a Revolt is 
 made, againft their fovereign Authority. 
 
 What a paltry Logic, to fay, God is 
 Righteoufnefs and Juftice, as well as Lave, 
 and therefore his Love cannot help, or 
 forgive the Sinner, till his Juftice, or righ- 
 teous Wrath has Satisfaction ? Every Word 
 here, is in full Ignorance of the Things 
 fpoken of. For what is Lave in God, but 
 his Will to all Goodnefs ? What is Righ- 
 teoufnefs in God, but his unchangeable Love 
 of his own Goodnefs, his Impoffibility of lo- 
 ving any thing elfe but it, his Impoffibi- 
 lity of fufFering any thing that is Un- 
 righteous, to have any Communion with 
 him ? What is God's forgiving finful Man ? 
 It is nothing elfe in its whole Nature, but 
 God's making him Righteous again. There 
 is no other Forgiveneis of Sin, but being 
 made free from it. Therefore the com- 
 paffionate Love* of God, that forgives Sin, 
 is no other, than God's Love of his own 
 
 Rigb-
 
 L E T T E R IV. 79 
 
 Righteoufnefs, for the Sake of which, and 
 through the Love of which, he makes 
 Man righteous again. This is the one 
 Right eoitjhcfs of God, that is rigorous, that 
 makes no Abatements, that muft be fatisfied, 
 muft be fulfilled in every Creature that is 
 to have Communion with him. And this 
 Righteoufnefs that is thus rigorous, is no- 
 thing elfe but the unalterable Purity and 
 Perfection of the divine Love, which from 
 Eternity to Eternity can love nothing but 
 its own Righteoufnefs, can will nothing 
 but its own Goodnefs, and therefore can 
 will nothing towards fallen Man, but the 
 Return of his loft Goodnefs, by a new 
 Birth of the divine Life in him, which 
 is the true Forgivenefs of Sins. For what 
 is the finful State of Man ? It is nothing 
 elfe, but the Lofs of that divine Nature, 
 which cannot commit Sin ; therefore the 
 forgiving Man's Sin, is in the Truth and 
 Reality of it, nothing elfe, but the Revi- 
 val of that Nature in Man, which being 
 born of God finneth not. Laftly, Let me afk 
 thefe Dividers of the divine Nature, what 
 different Shares, or different Work, had 
 the Righteoufnefs, and the Love of God in 
 the Creation of Man ? Was there then 
 fomething done by the Love of God, which 
 ought not to be afcribed to the Righte- 
 oufnefs
 
 8o L E T T E R IV. 
 
 oufnefs of God ? Who can be fo weak, 
 as to fay this ? But if the Love and the 
 Righteoufnefs of God, is one, as God is one, 
 and had but one Work in the Creation of 
 Man, it muft be the higheft Abfurdity, to 
 fay, that in the Redemption of Man, the 
 Love, and the Righteoufnefs of God, muft 
 have, not only different, but contrary Works, 
 that the Love of God cannot act, till the 
 Righteoufnefs of God, as fomething different 
 from it y is firft fatisfied. 
 
 All that, which we call the Attributes of 
 God, are only fo many human Ways of our 
 conceiving that abyjfal All, which can nei- 
 ther be fpoken, nor conceived by us. And 
 this Way of thinking, and ipeaking of God, 
 is fuitftble to our Capacities, has its good 
 Ufe, and helps to exprefs our Adoration of 
 him, and his Perfections. But to conclude, 
 and contend, that there muft therefore be 
 different Dualities in God, anfwerable, or 
 according to our different Ways of think- 
 ing, and fpeaking of his Perfections, is ra- 
 ther blafpbeming, than truly glorifying his 
 Name, and Nature. For omnipotent Love, 
 inconceivable Goodnefs, is that Unity of God, 
 which we can neither conceive, as it is in it 
 felf, nor divide into this, or that. The Im- 
 portance of the Subject I have been upon, 
 has led me farther than I intended. But for 
 
 the
 
 L E T T E R V. 81 
 
 the full Illuftration of it, I refer you to the 
 Second Part of the Spirit of Love. And 
 fo committing you to a God, who has no 
 Will towards you, but in, and through the 
 Life, and Death, the Spirit and Power of 
 the Holy Jefus, to deliver you from all your 
 natural Evil, and make you his beloved Son, 
 in whom, he can be well pleafed to all E- 
 ternity, I bid you farewell. 
 
 July 1 8, 1757. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To a CLERGYMAN in the North of England. 
 
 My dear Brother, 
 
 I V E as you now do, in fuch 
 
 Activity of Spirit, and multiplied 
 Ways of being good, and though 
 you was to live half an hundred 
 Years longer, you would flick in the fame 
 Mire, and end your Life in the fame Com- 
 plaints, as filled your laft Letter to me. 
 You tell me, that after all the great Change 
 you have made in your Life, you find no^ 
 thing of that inward Good and Satisfaction* 
 G which
 
 82 L E T T E R V. 
 
 which you have fo much expected, and 
 more efpecially fince you have been a Reader 
 of the Books, recommended by me. 
 
 But, Sir, you quite miftake the Matter, 
 you have not changed your Life -, for that 
 which is, and only can truly be called your 
 Life, is in the fame State it was when I 
 
 firlt knew you. Nothing is your Life, 
 
 whether it be good or bad, but That which 
 WILLS and HUNGERS in you j and your own 
 Life neither is, nor can be any thing elfe 
 but ihis. Therefore nothing reaches your 
 Life, or can make a real Change in it, 
 from bad to good, from Falfenefs to Truth, 
 but the right Will and the right Hunger. 
 Practife as many Rules as you will, take 
 up this or that new Opinion, be daily read- 
 ing better and better Books, follow this or 
 that able Man, the Bread of Life is not 
 there. -Nothing will be fed in you, but the 
 Vanity and felf-conceited Righteoufnefs of 
 your own old Man. And thus it muft be 
 with you, till all that is within you is be- 
 come one Will, and cm Hunger after that 
 which Angels eat in Heaven. 
 
 But now, if Will and Hunger are the 
 whole of every natural Life, then you 
 may know this great Truth with the ut- 
 moft Certainty, namely, that Eating is the 
 one Prefervation of every Life, from the 
 
 higheil
 
 LETTER V. 83 
 
 higheft Angel in Heaven, to the loweft 
 living Creature on Earth. That which 
 the Life eats not, that the Life has not. 
 Now every thing that lives on Earth, is 
 a Birth or Production of the aftral, ele- 
 mentary Fire, Light, and Spirit, to which 
 Water is always effential, and it continues 
 in Life, taftes and enjoys the Good of its 
 Life, no longer than thefe Powers and 
 Virtues of the Stars and Elements are ef- 
 Jentially and continually eaten by it. 
 
 It is juft fo with the immortal, heavenly 
 Life of the Soul, it is a Birth of thofe 
 fame Powers, in their higheft Glory, in 
 the imifible World,-, a World, where the 
 Triune Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, 
 brings forth a triune glorious Habitation for 
 itfelf, of Fire, Light, and Spirit, opening an 
 Infinity of Wonders, Births, and Beauties 
 in a chryftal tranfparent Sea, called the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Out of thefe Powers, or out of this King- 
 dom of Heaven, are the Births of all holy, 
 angelic Creatures'; nothing lives or moves 
 in therri, but that Fire, Light, 'and Spirit, 
 which comes as a Birth from Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghoft ; and nothing feeds, keeps 
 up, and exalts this heavenly Fire, Light, 
 and Spirit, but the hidden, inconceivable, 
 fupernatural Trinity, which is before, and 
 G 2 deeper
 
 84 LETTER V. 
 
 deeper than all Nature, and can only manr- 
 feft itfelf, and communicate its Goodnefs, 
 by fuch an outward Birth of its own unap- 
 proachable Glory. And here you may find 
 a glorious Meaning of thofe Words of our 
 Lord, faying, my Kingdom is not of this World^ 
 becaufe it is a Kingdom of thofe heavenly 
 Powers of the Triune God, which give Food 
 and Nourishment, Purity and Perfection to 
 the Fire, Light, and Spirit of thofe divine 
 Creatures, which are to be holy as he is ho- 
 ly, perfect as he is perfect, in his own hea- 
 venly .Kingdom. 
 
 Here therefore, in this fpiritual Eating of 
 that fame invifible Food, which gives Life, 
 and Perfection of Life to all the Angels of 
 God, and not in any human Contrivances, or 
 Activity of your own, are you to place your 
 all, as to the Change of your Life ; it all 
 confifts in the right Hunger, and the right 
 Foody and in nothing elfe. 
 
 The Fall of Adam^ and the Origin of all 
 Sin and Mifery, began in his Lufl and Hun- 
 ger after the Knowledge of Good and Evil 
 in the Kingdom of this World. By this, 
 he left, and loft the Food which Heaven gives. 
 He died to all the Influences and Enjoy- 
 ments of his firft Fire, Light, and Spirit, 
 which was his vital Union with God, in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. All the Evil that 
 
 was
 
 LETTER V. 85 
 
 was hid in this earthly Creation, and its nu- 
 merous Creatures, opened, and diffufed it- 
 felf with all the Power of a poifonous Food, 
 through his whole Soul and Body, But in 
 all this, nothing more came upon him, or was 
 done to him, than that which his own Hun- 
 ger had eaten. Here you have the fulleft 
 Demonftration, how every Change in the 
 Life of Man is, and only can be made, 
 namely, by hungering, and eating. Adam 
 had not fallen, had known no Death, or 
 Extinction of that heavenly Fire, Light, and 
 Spirit, which was his firft Birth in God, but 
 becaufe he hungered after the State of the 
 animal Life in this World, which has no 
 other Fire, Light, and Spirit in it, but that 
 which gives a tranlitory Life, of diverfe, con- 
 trary Lufts and Appetites, to all the Beafts, 
 Birds, and Infects. 
 
 This is the Doctrine of the Old Tefta- 
 ment, concerning the Power of Hunger and 
 Eating in the firft Adam. On the other 
 hand, in conformity to this, and in full 
 Proof of the Truth of it, that it mull 
 have been fo ; the fecond Adam, the Lord 
 from Heaven, in the New Teftament, has 
 declared, that Hunger and Eating is that 
 alone, which can help fallen Man to that 
 firft heavenly Fire, Light, and Spirit, with 
 the fpiritual Flefh and Blood that belonged 
 G to
 
 86 L E T T E R V. 
 
 to it j faying again and again, in a Variety 
 of the ftrongeft Expreffions, this great 
 Truth, That except a Man eat his Flem,and 
 drink his Blood, he hath no Life in him, 
 that is, no Life of that celeftial Body and 
 Blood, which Adam loft, and which alone 
 can live in the Fire, Light, and Spirit of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Every Spirit that is creaturely, and every 
 Defire of the Spirit, has always fomething 
 bodily, as its own Birth. No fpiritual Crea- 
 ture can begin to be, but by beginning to be 
 bodily. For creaturely Exiftence, and bodily 
 Exiftence, is the fame Thing; the Spirit is not, 
 cannot be in the Form of a Creature, till it 
 has its Body ; and its Body is the Manifef- 
 tation of Spirit, both to itfelf, and other 
 Beings. 
 
 Live in the Love, the Patience, the Meek- 
 nefs, and Humility of Chrift, and then the 
 celeftial, tranfparent, fpiritual Body of Chrift's 
 Flem and Blood, is continually forming it- 
 felf, and growing in and from, and about 
 your Soul, till it comes to the fullnefs of 
 the Stature in Chrift Jefus j and this is your 
 true, fubflantial, vital eating the Flem, and 
 drinking the Blood of Chrift, which will 
 afterwards become your Body of Glory to , 
 all Eternity. And though your aftral Reafon, 
 and outward Senfes, whilft you are in A- 
 
 -
 
 L E T T E R V. 87 
 
 dams, bodily Flefh, know nothing of this 
 inward Body of Chriil, yet there it is, 
 as furely as you have the Love, the Pa- 
 tience, the Meeknefs, and Humility of Chriftj 
 for where the true Spirit of Chrift is, there 
 i$ his true Spiritual Body. 
 
 On the other hand, live to Selfiihnefs, to 
 diabolical Pride, Wrath, Envy, and Co- 
 vetoufnefs, and then nothing can hinder thefe 
 Tempers, from forming within you fuch a 
 fpiritual Body to your Soul, as that which 
 Devils have, and dwell, and work in. 
 
 Be as unwilling as you will, through 
 learned Wifdom, or Fear of Enthufiafm, 
 to believe this, your Unbelief can laft no 
 longer, than till Adams Flefh and Blood 
 leave you, and then, as fure as your Soul 
 lives, you will, and muft have it living, either 
 in the fpiritual Body of fallen Angels, or 
 in the fpiritual Body of the redeeming Jefus. 
 Oh, Sir, triffle away no more Time jnt 
 Many Matters, your firft fpiritual Body muft 
 come again. Without it, you are the very 
 Man that came to the .Marriage Feaft, not 
 having on a Wedding Garment. He was bound 
 Hands and Feet, and caft into utterDarknefs, 
 that is, he was the chained Prifoner of his 
 own dark, hellim, fpiritual Body, which 
 had been all his Life growing up in him, 
 from that which his Soul had daily eaten, and 
 G 4 hungered
 
 88 L E T T E R V. 
 
 hungered after j and fo was become thofe 
 very Chains of Darknefs, under which the 
 fallen Angels are referved unto the Judg- 
 ment of the great Day. 
 
 Now there is no being faved, or preferved 
 from this Body of Chains and Darkneis, but 
 by the one Hunger and Thirft after Righte- 
 oufnefs that is in Chrifl Jefus, and by eat- 
 ing that, - which begets heavenly fpiritual 
 Flefli and Blood to the Soul. The two 
 Trees of Paradife, with their two Fruits, 
 viz. of Death to the Eater of one, and Life 
 to the Eater of the other, were infallible 
 Signs, and full Proofs, that from the Begin- 
 ning to the End of the World, Death and 
 Life, Happinefs and Mifery, can proceed 
 from nothing elfe, but that which the Luft 
 and Hunger of the Soul chufeth for its Food. 
 Now fpiritual Eating is by the Mouth of 
 Defire, and Defire is nothing elfe but Will, 
 and Hunger, therefore that which you will, 
 and hunger after, that you are continually 
 eating, whether it be good, or bad, and that, 
 be it which it will, forms the Strength of 
 your Life, or which is the fame thing, forms 
 the Body of your Soul. If you have many 
 Wills, and many Hungers, all that you eat 
 is only the Food of fo many ipiritual Dif- 
 eafes, and burdens your Soul with a Comr 
 plication of inward Diflempers. Arjd un-
 
 L E T T E R V. -89 
 
 der this Working of fo many Wills, it is, 
 that religious People have no more Good, 
 or Health and Strength from the true Re- 
 ligion, than a Man who has a Complication 
 of bodily Diftempers, has from the moil 
 healthful Food. For no Will or Hunger, 
 be it turned which way it will, or feem 
 ever fo fmall or triffling, is without its Ef- 
 fect. For as we can have nothing but as 
 our Will works, fo we muft have always 
 fome Effect from it. It cannot be infignifi- 
 cant y becaufe nothing is Jignificant, but that 
 which it does. 
 
 Do not now fay, that you have this 
 one Will, and one Hunger, and yet find not 
 the Food of Life by it. For as fure as 
 you are forced to complain, fo fure is it, 
 
 that you have it not. Not my Will, but 
 
 thine be done \ when this is the one Will of 
 the Soul, all Complaints are over, then it 
 is, that Patience drinks Water of Life out 
 of every Cup ; and to every Craving of the 
 old Man, this one Hunger continually fays, 
 1 have Meat to eat, that ye' know nothing of. 
 
 Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done, is the 
 one Will, and one Hunger, that feeds the 
 Soul with the Life-giving Bread of Hea^ 
 ven. This Will is always fulfilled, it can- 
 not poflibly be fent empty away, for God's 
 Kingdom mufl manifest itfelf with all its 
 
 Riches
 
 90 L E T T E R V. 
 
 Riches in that Soul, which wills nothing 
 elfe ; it never was, nor can be loft, but by 
 the Will, that feeks fomething elfe. Hence 
 you may know with the utmoft Certainty, 
 that if you have no inward Peace, if reli- 
 gious Comfort is ftill wanting, it is be- 
 caufe you have more Wills than one. For 
 the Multiplicity of Wills, is the very Ef- 
 fence of fallen Nature, and all its Evil, 
 Mifery, and Seperation from God lies in it; 
 and as foon as you return to, and allow 
 only this one Will, you are returned to 
 God, and muft find the Bleffednefs of his 
 Kingdom within you. 
 
 Give yourfelf up to ever fo many good 
 Works, Read, Preach, Pray, vifit the Sick, 
 build Hofpitals, cloath the Naked, &c. yet 
 if any thing goes along with thefe, or in 
 the Doing of them you have any thing 
 elfe, that you will and hunger after, but 
 that God's Kingdom may come, and his Will 
 be done> they are not the Works of the 
 New-born from above, and fo cannot be 
 
 his life-giving Food. For the new Cre- 
 
 ture in Chrift, is that one Will, and one 
 Hunger, that was in Chrift ; and there- 
 fore where that is wanting, there is want- 
 ing that new Creature, which alone can 
 have his Converfation, which alone can 
 daily eat and drink at God's Table, re- 
 ceiving
 
 L E T T E R V. 91 
 
 ceiving in all that it does, continual Life 
 from every Word> that proceedeth out of the 
 Mouth oj God. 
 
 From what Word, and from what Mouth 
 of God ? Why only from that hidden, fu- 
 pernatural Power of the Triune Deity, which 
 fpeaks, and breaths continual Nourifhment 
 to that heavenly Fire, Light, and Spirit, in 
 and from which, all that are about the 
 Throne of God, have their inward Joy a- 
 bove all Thought, and their outward Glory y 
 that can only be figured, or hinted to us^ 
 by Pearls, Saphires, and Rainbow Beauties. 
 
 It. is from this Power of the Triune God, 
 working in the Fire, Light, Spirit, and fpiri- 
 tual Water, or Body of your new-born Crea- 
 ture, that all the Good, and Comfort, and 
 Joy of Religion, which you want, is to be 
 found, and found by nothing, but the Re- 
 furrection of that divine, and heavenly Na- 
 ture, which came forth in -the firft Man. 
 
 Do not take thefe to be too high flown 
 Words, for they are no higher, than the 
 Truth; for if that which is in you, is not 
 as high as Heaven, you will never come 
 there. That heavenly Fire, Light, and Spi- 
 rit, which makes the angelic Life to be all 
 Divine, mufl as certainly be your inward 
 Likenefs to God; and that which God is, 
 ajid works in. Angels, that he muft be, and 
 
 work
 
 9 2 L E T T E R V. 
 
 work in you, or you can never be like 
 to, or equal with them, as Chrift has faid. 
 
 To be outwardly Glorious, as they 
 
 are, you muft ftay till this Corruptible 
 mall have put on Incorruption, but to have 
 the fame inward Glory of the fame celeftial 
 Fire, Light, and Spirit, burning, mining, and 
 breathing in your inward Man, as Angels 
 have, belongs to you, as born at firft of 
 the triune Breath of the living God, and 
 born again of Chrift, out of Adams Death, 
 to have, and be, all that by a Wonder 
 of Redemption, which was your divine Birth- 
 right at firft by a Wonder of Creation. 
 
 And now, my dear Friend, chufe your 
 Side : Would you be honourable in Church, 
 or State, put on the w T hole Armour of 
 this World, praife that which Man praifes, 
 cloath yourfelf with all the Graces and 
 Perfections of the Belles Leffres, and be an 
 Orator, and Critic, as faft as ever you can, 
 and above all, be ftrong in the Power of 
 flattering Words. 
 
 But if the other Side is your Choice ; 
 would you be found in Chrift, and know 
 the Power of his Refurrection ; would you 
 tafte the Powers of the World to come, 
 and find the continual Influences of the 
 Triune God, feeding and keeping up his 
 divine Life in your triune Soul, you muft 
 
 give
 
 L E T T E R V. 93 
 
 give up all for that one Will, and one Hun- 
 ger, which keeps the Angels of God in 
 their full Feafts, of ever new, and never- 
 ceafing Delights in the namelefs, bound- 
 lefs Riches of Eternity. 
 
 Think it not hard, or too fevere a Re- 
 flraint, to have but one Will, and one Hun- 
 ger j it is no harder a Reftraint, than to 
 be kept from all that can bring forth Pain, 
 and Sorrow to your Soul; no greater Se- 
 verity, than to be excluded from every 
 Place, but the Kingdom of God. For to 
 have but this one Will, and one Hunger, 
 is to have every Evil of Life, and all Ene- 
 mies put under your Feet. It is to have 
 done with every Thing, that can defile, 
 betray, difappoint, or hurt that eternal Na- 
 ture, which mufl have its Life within 
 you. On the other hand, every Thing 
 that is not the Effect and Fruit of this 
 one Will, and one Hunger, but added to 
 your Life by a felfifh Will, and worldly 
 Hunger, muft fooner or later, be torn 
 from you with the utmoft Smart, or be- 
 come Food for that gnawing Worm, which 
 dieth not, 
 
 Do you aik, how you are to come at 
 this one Will, and one Hunger, I refer 
 you to no Power of your own, and yet 
 
 refer
 
 94 L E T T E R V. 
 
 refer you to that which is within your- 
 felf. 
 
 Angels in Heaven, are not good and hap- 
 py by any Thing they can do to themfelves, 
 but folely by that which is done to them. 
 Now that holy Spirit, which does God's 
 Will in Heaven, and is the Goodnefs and 
 Happinefs of all its Inhabitants, that fame 
 Spirit is every Man's Portion upon Earth, 
 and the Gift of God within him. It is 
 but loft Labour, to ftrive by any Power 
 of your Reafon, or Self-activity, to work 
 up this one Will and one Hunger within 
 you, or to kindle the true Ardency of a 
 divine Delire, by any thing that your na- 
 tural Man can do. This is as impofTible, 
 as for fallen Adam to have been his own Re- 
 deemer, or a dead Man to give Life to him- 
 
 felf. -The one Will, and one Hunger 
 
 which alone can eat the true Nourishment 
 of the divine Life, is nothing elfe but the 
 divine Nature within you, which died in 
 Adam no other Death, but that of being 
 fupprefled and buried for a while, under 
 a Load and Multiplicity of earthly Wills. 
 
 Hence it is, that nothing can put an 
 End to this Multiplicity of Wills in fallen 
 Man, which is his Death to God, nothing 
 can be the Refurre&ion of the divine Na- 
 ture within him, which is his only Sal- 
 vation,
 
 L E T T E R V. 95 
 
 vation, but the CROSS of Chrift, not that 
 wooden Crofs, on which he was crucified, 
 but that Crofs on which he was crucified 
 through the whole Courfe of his Life in 
 the Flefh. It is our Fellowfhip with him 
 on this Crofs, through the whole Courfe 
 of our Lives, that is our Union with Him, 
 it alone gives Power to the divine Nature 
 within us, to arife out of its Death, and 
 breath again in us, in one Will, and one 
 Hunger after nothing but God. 
 
 To be like-minded with Chrift, is to 
 live in every Contrariety to Self, the World, 
 the Flefh, and the Devil, as he did ; this is 
 our belonging to him, our being one with 
 him, having Life from him, and wafhing 
 our Robes in the Blood of the Lamb. . 
 For then, and then only are we wafhed, 
 and cleanfed by his Blood, when we drink 
 his Blood, and we drink his Blood, when 
 we willingly drink of the Cup that He 
 drank of. 
 
 Again, not to be like-minded with Chrift, 
 is to be feperated from him. To have 
 another Mind than he had, is to be in the 
 State of thofe, who crucified him. Such 
 as the Redeemer was, fuch are they that 
 are redeemed. as Adam was, fuch are they 
 that are born of him. Life from Adam, 
 and Life from Chrift, is the one iingle 
 
 Thing,
 
 96 L E T T E R V. 
 
 Thing, that makes the one our Deftroyer, 
 
 the other our Redeemer. But to have 
 
 done, caft not about in your Mind, how 
 you are to have the one Will, and one 
 Hunger, which is always eating at God's 
 Table, and continually fed with the Bread 
 of Life ; the Thing is already done to your 
 Hands. / am the Way, the Truth, and the 
 Life, faith Chrift, the fame as if he had 
 faid, the Way is no where, the Truth is 
 no where, the Life is no where, but in me. 
 What Room therefore for any learned Con- 
 trivances, or further Enquiry about the 
 Matter? Follow Chrift in the Denial of 
 all the Wills of Self, and then all is put 
 away that feperates you from God: The 
 heaven-born new Creature will come to Life 
 in you, which alone knows, and enjoys 
 the Things of God, and has his daily Food 
 of Gladnefs in that manifold BLESSED, and 
 BLESSED, which Chrift preached on the 
 Mount. 
 
 Tell me then no more of your new 
 Skill in Hebrew Words, of your Paris E- 
 ditions of all the antient Fathers, your com- 
 pleat Collection of the Councils, Com- 
 mentators, and Church Hiftorians, &c. &c. 
 Did Chrift mean any thing like this, when 
 he faid, / am the Way, the Truth and the 
 Life? Did the Apoftle mean any thing 
 
 like
 
 LETTER V. 97 
 
 like this, when he laid, No Man can call 
 Jefus Lord, but by the Holy Ghofl ?- Great, 
 good, and divine Teachers, you fay, were 
 many of the Fathers: I fay nothing to it, 
 but that much more great, good, and di- 
 vine is He, who is always teaching within 
 you, ever (landing and knocking at the 
 Door of your Heart, with the Words of 
 eternal Life. 
 
 You perhaps may afk, why I go on wri-> 
 ting Books myfelf, if there is but one true, 
 and divine Teacher? I anfwer, though there 
 is but one Bridegroom, that can furnifli 
 the Bleffing of the Marriage Feaft, yet his 
 Servants are lent out to invite the Guefts. 
 - 'This is the unalterable Difference between 
 ChriiVsTeaching, and the Teaching of thofe, 
 who only publifh the glad Tydings of him. 
 They are not the Bridegroom, and there- 
 fore have not the Bridegroom's Voice. They 
 are not the Light, but only fent to bear 
 Witnefs of it. And as the Baptift faid, 
 He muft increafe, but I muft decreafe ; fo 
 every faithful Teacher faith of his Doctrine, 
 it muft decreafe, and end, as foofl as it 
 has led to the true Teacher. 
 
 All that I have written for near thirty 
 
 Years, has been only to meW, that we have 
 
 no Matter but Chrift, nor can have any 
 
 living divine Knowledge, but from his holy 
 
 H .' Nature
 
 98 L E T T E R V. 
 
 Nature born and revealed in us. Nut a 
 Word in favour of Jacob Behmen, but be- 
 caule, above every Writer in the World, 
 he has made all that is found in the King- 
 dom of Grace, and the Kingdom of Na- 
 ture, to be one continual Demonftration, 
 that Dying to felf, to be born again of Chrift, 
 is the one only poiftble Salvation of the Sons 
 of fallen Adam. 
 
 But I will have done, as foon as I have 
 given you a little Piece of Hiftory, which 
 your friend Academicus, has given of him- 
 felf : <c When I had, fays he, taken my De- 
 <c grees in the Univerfity, I confulted fe- 
 " veral great Divines to put me in a Me- 
 " thod of ftudying Divinity. It would 
 <c take up near half a Day* to tell you the 
 " Work, which my learned Friends cut 
 <c out for me. One told me, that Hebrew 
 <f Words are all; that they muft be read 
 " without Points, and then the Old Tefta- 
 " ment is an opened Book. He recom- 
 <c mended to me a cart Load of Lexicons, 
 * r Criticks, and Commentators upon the 
 " Hebrew Bible. Another tells me, the 
 " Greek Bible is the beft, that it corrects 
 <c the Hebrew in many Places, and refers 
 <c me to a large Number of Books learn- 
 " edly writ in Defence of it. Another tells 
 " me that Church-hiftory is the main Mat- 
 
 " ter,
 
 L E T T E R V. 99 
 
 " ter, that I muft begin with the firft Fa- 
 c< thers, and follow them through every 
 4t Age, not forgetting to take the Lives 
 " of the Roman Emperors along with me, 
 " as finking great Light into the State of 
 " the Church in their Times. Then I 
 " mufl have Recourfe to all the Councils 
 cc held, and the Canons made in every 
 <c Age : Which would enable me to fee 
 " with my own Eyes, the great Corrup- 
 " tions of the Council of Trent. Another, 
 " who is not very fond of antient Matters, 
 " but wholly bent upon rational Chrifti-, 
 " anity, tells me, I need go no higher 
 < than the Reformation ; that Calvin and 
 " Cranmer were very^reat Men ; thai Ohil- 
 " lingworth and Locke ought always to lie 
 " upon my Table j that I mull get an entire 
 " Set of thofe learned Volumes wrote a- 
 " gainft Fopery in King James's Reign j and 
 < alfo be well verfed in all the Difcourfes, 
 <s ,which Mr. Boyle's, and Lady Mayer's Lec- 
 <c tures have produced -, and then, fays he, 
 " you will be a Match for our greateflEne- 
 <c mies, which are popijh Priefts, and mo- 
 " dern Deifts. My Tutor is very liturgical $ 
 " he defired me, of all things, to get all 
 '" the Collections, that I can, of the antient 
 " Liturgies, and all the Authors that treat 
 u of fuch Matters, who, fays he, are very 
 h 2 " learned
 
 ioo LETTER V. 
 
 fc learned and very numerous. He has been 
 l< many Years making Obfervations upon 
 " them, and is now clear, as to the Time, 
 " when certain little Particles got En- 
 " trance into the Liturgies, and others were 
 " by Degrees dropt. He has a Friend a- 
 " broad in learch of antient MSS. Litur- 
 .gies ; for by the by, laid he, at Parting, 
 " I have fome Sufpicion, that our Sacra- 
 " ment of the Lord's Supper is ejjentially 
 " defective, for want of having a little Wa- 
 " ter mixed with the Wine. Another 
 learned Friend told me, that the Clemen- 
 " tine Conftitution is the Book of Books ; 
 and that all that lies loofe, and fcattered 
 tc in the New Teftament, ftands there in 
 its true Order and Form. And though 
 he will not fay, that Dr. Clarke, and Mr. 
 < c Wkijlon^ are in the Right, yet it might 
 <c be ufeful to me to read all the Arian and 
 " Socinian Writers, provided I flood upon 
 " my Guard, and did it with Caution. The 
 tf laft Perfon I confulted, advifed me to get 
 " all the Hiftories of the Rife and Progrels 
 cc of Herefies, and of the Lives and Cha- 
 c< racers of Heretics. Thefe Hiftories, he 
 < c laid, contract the Matter, bring Truth 
 and Error dole in views and I mould find 
 <c all that collected in a few Pages, which 
 <c would have colt me fome Yeaib to get to- 
 
 " gether.
 
 L E T T E R V. lor 
 
 " gether. He alfo defired me to be well 
 " verfed in all the cafidjlical Writers, and 
 " chief Schoolmen ', for they debate Matters < 
 " to the Bottom, dilled every Virtue, and 
 <c every Vice, and mew how near they may 
 " come together without touching. And 
 " this Knowledge, he faid, might be very 
 " ufeful, when I came to be a Parifo Prieft. 
 " Following the Advice of all thefe Coun- 
 " fellors, as well as I could, I lighted my 
 C Candle early in the Morning, and put it 
 " out late at Night. In this Labour I had 
 " been fweating for fome Years, till Rufti- 
 " cits, Sit my firft Acquaintance with him, 
 " feeing my Way of Life, faid to me, had 
 " you lived about feventeen Hundred Years 
 " a Sj y ou had ftood juft in the fame Place, 
 " as I ftand now. I cannot read, and there- 
 " fore, fays he, all thefe hundreds of thou- 
 (t fands of Doctrine and Difputing Books, 
 " w r hich thefe feventeen Hundred Years have 
 cc produced, ftand not in my Way ; they ' 
 te are the fame Thing to me, as if they had 
 " never been. And had ydu lived at the Time 
 " mentioned, you had jufl efcaped them all, 
 < as I do now, becaufe, though you are a. 
 " very good Reader, there were then none 
 " of them to be read. Could you there- 
 <c fore be content to be one of the primitive 
 c< Chriftians, who were as good as any that 
 " have been fince, you 1 may fpare all this 
 " Labour. It is not eafy for me, fays Aca- 
 H 3 <c de miens,
 
 102 L E T T E R V. 
 
 " demicus, to tell you how much Good I 
 " received from this fimple Inftruction of 
 " honeft Mailer Rufticus. What Project 
 " was it, to he grafping after the Knowlege 
 " of all the Opinions, Doctrines, Difputes, 
 " Herefies, Schiims, &c. which feventeen 
 " Hundred Years had brought forth, through 
 " all the Extent of the Chriftian World ! 
 tc What Project this, in order to be a Divtne y 
 " that is, in order to bear true Witnefs to 
 " the Power of Chrift, as a Deliverer from 
 e the Evil of earthly Flefh and Blood, and 
 " Death and Hell, and a Raifer of a new 
 " Birth and Life from above ! For as this is 
 " the divine Work of Chrift, fo He only is 
 < a true and able Divine , that can bear a 
 " faithful Teftimony to this divine Work of 
 " Chrift. How eafy was it for me to have 
 " feen, that all this Labyrinth of learned 
 " Enquiry, into fuch a dark, thorny Wilder- 
 " nefs of Notions, Facts, and Opinions, 
 " could iignify no more to me now, to my 
 " own Salvation, to my Intereft in Chrift, 
 <c and obtaining the holy Spirit of God, than 
 " if I had lived before it had any Begin- 
 " ning. But the blind Appetite of Learning, 
 " gave me no Leifure to apprehend fo plain 
 " a Truth. Books of Divinity indeed, I 
 " have not done with, but will efteem none 
 " to be fuch, but thofe that make known to 
 c my Heart, the intoard Power and Redemp- 
 * c tion of Jeftts Chrift. Nor will I feek for
 
 L E T T E R V. 103 
 
 c< any thing even from fuch Books, but that 
 " which I afk of God in Prayer, viz. How 
 '' better to know, more to abhor, and refift 
 t{ the Evil that is in my own Nature, and 
 cc how to obtain a Supernatural Birth of the 
 Cc divine Life brought forth within me. All 
 befides this is Pujkpin *. 
 March 5 , 1753. God be with you. 
 
 * Way to Divine Knowlege, p. 100. 
 **######***#***###***#*##**#****# 
 
 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 In Anfwer to a QUESTION. 
 
 O U tell me, Sir, that after a twen- 
 ty Years Zeal, and Labour in Mat- 
 ters of Religion, it has turned to 
 fo little Account, that you are 
 forced, moft earneftly to defire a fpeedy An- 
 fwer to this Queftion, Where you Jball go t 
 or what you Jhall do, to be in the 'Truth ? 
 
 Let me firfl premife thus much. E- 
 very Man in his fallen State, has all that 
 in him, though in a State of Death, and 
 Hiddennefs, which was the living Glory, 
 and Perfection of the firft created Man. 
 Juft as the Root of the Lilly, in the Winter's 
 Cold, hath all that in it, though as in a 
 State of Death, which was the Glory and 
 Beauty Q the Summer's Flower, What is 
 H 4 hidden
 
 104 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 hidden in the Root of the Lilly, lies no longer 
 in its feeming Death, than till the Spring- 
 Sun calls forth its Life. Now, one divine 
 Difpcnfation after another, is to do that lame 
 to the fallen Soul, which the Spring, and 
 daily advancing Sun does to the Lilly Root; 
 namely, to call it out of its State of Death, 
 and make fomething of its firft Glory come 
 to life, and fpring forth out of it. Hence 
 it is, that the Kingdom of God (\vhich was 
 that to which Adam died) is like to Treafure 
 hid in a Field; and again, the Kingdom of 
 God is within you. But this could not be 
 true, unlefs all that Glory, which Adam loft, 
 was ftill preferved, as a Seed, or mut-up 
 Root of Life within him : And all this, 
 through the Mercy, and free '"Grace of God, 
 who forefeeing the Fall of Adam, willed, 
 that a Seed of his firft Glory, mould be pre- 
 ferved in him j declared, and made known 
 to him, by a Seed of the Woman, which 
 through the Word made Flelh, mould, in 
 fpight of Death and Hell, grow up to the 
 Fullnefs of the Stature in Chriji Jejus. 
 
 And as the Kingdom of Heaven, is every 
 Man's Treafure, as furely within him, as 
 his own Soul, fo that which hides, and co- 
 vers it from us, is that awakened,, bejlial Life, 
 which is called Adam in us, and in which, 
 the immortal Soul, that -was born for Hea- 
 ven, is wedded to the Lufts of the Flejh, the
 
 LETTER VI. 105 
 
 Luft of the Eyes, and the Pride of Ltfe, and 
 iubjedto the Workings of that Satanicai Na- 
 ture, which our Lord calls the Prince of 
 this World. And thus it is, that every Man 
 comes into this World in a twofold State ; 
 Adam and Chrijl are both born in him. And 
 if this was not the State of Man, nothing 
 within you, would, or could afk, as you 
 have done, or have any Anxiety after the 
 Truth. And your being either led from this 
 true Knowlege of your State, or having ne- 
 ver been fenfible of it, is die Reafon of your 
 having made fo many religious Enquiries in 
 vain, both from yourfelf, and other People. 
 For nothing can tell you the Truth, or 
 eflablifli you in a juft and folid Difcernment 
 of Right from Wrong, in Doctrines, Opini- 
 ons, and Practices of Religion, but this home 
 Knowlege of yourfelf, namely,that Chrift and 
 Adam, are not only both of them effentiatty 
 within you, but the whole of you ; that no- 
 thing is Life or Salvation, but that, which 
 is the Life and Growth of Chrift in you, and 
 that all that is done from the Life, the Pow- 
 er and natural Capacity of the Adamical 
 Nature, is heathenim, is mere Vanity and 
 Death, however gloriouily fet forth by the 
 natural Gifts of Wit and Learning. 
 
 Religion has no Good in it, but as it is 
 the Revival, and Quickening of that divine 
 Nature^ which your firfl Father had from 
 
 God,
 
 lo6 LETTER VI. 
 
 God, and nothing can revive it, but that 
 which firft created it. God is no otherwife 
 your God, but as He is the God of your 
 Life, manifefted in it; and He can be no 
 othervv'ife the God of your Life, but as his 
 Spirit is living within you. Satan is no other 
 Way knowable by you, or can have any 
 other Fellowfhip with you, but as his evil 
 Spirit works, and manirefts itfelf along with 
 the Workings of your own Spirit. Rejift 
 the Devil, and he 'will fee from you ; but he is 
 no where to be refilled, but as a working 
 Spirit within you, therefore to relift the De- 
 vilj is to turn from the evil Thoughts, and 
 Motions that arife within you. Turn to God, 
 and he will turn to you : But God is an uni- 
 verfal Spirit, which you cannot locally turn 
 to, or from ; therefore to turn to God> is 
 to cleave to thofe good Thoughts and Mo- 
 tions which proceed from his holy Spirit, 
 dwelling and working in you This is the 
 God of your Life, to whom you are to ad- 
 here, liften, and attend, and this is your 
 worshipping him in Spirit and Truth. And 
 That is the Devil that goetb about as a roaring 
 JLion, who has no Voice, but that which he 
 fpeaks within you. Therefore, my Friend, 
 be at home, and keep clofe to that which 
 palfes within you, for be it what it will, 
 whether it be a Good, in which you delight, 
 or aji Evil, at which you grieve, you could 
 
 have
 
 LETTER VI. 107 
 
 have neither the one, nor the other, but be- 
 caufe a holy God of Light and Love is 
 effentially dwelling in you. Seek therefore 
 for no other Road, nor call any Thing the 
 Way to God, but folely that, which his eter- 
 nal, all-creating WORD, and SPIRIT worketh 
 within you. For could any Thing elfe have 
 been Man's Way to God, the WORD had not 
 been made Flefh. 
 
 The laft Words in your Queftion, viz. 
 To be in the Truth, are well exprefled, for 
 to be in the Truth, is the finifhed State 
 of Man returning to God, thus declared 
 by Chrift hirnfelf, ye Jhall know the Truth, 
 and the Truth flail make you free;, free from 
 the Blindnefs and Delufion of your own 
 natural Reafon, and free from Forms, Doc- 
 trines and Opinions, which others would 
 impofe upon you. To be in Truth, is to 
 be, where the firft holy Man was, when 
 he came forth in the Image and Likenefs 
 
 of God. When he loft Paradife, he loft 
 
 the Truth ; and all that he felt, knew, faw, 
 loved, and liked of the earfh!y, beaftial World, 
 into which he was fallen, was but mere Sepe- 
 ration from God, a Vail upon his Heart, and 
 Scales upon his Eyes. Nothing of his firft 
 Truth could be fpoke of to him, even by God 
 himfelf, but under the Vail of earthly Things, 
 Types, and Shaddows. The Law was given 
 by Mofes ; but Mofes hacj a Vail upon his Face,
 
 io8 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 the Law was a Vail, Prophecy was a Vail, 
 Chrift crucified was a Vail, and all was a Vail, 
 till Grace and Truth came by Jefus Chrift, in 
 the POWER of his HOLY SPIRIT. There- 
 fore to be in the Truth, as it is in Jefus, 
 is to be come from under the Vail, to have 
 patted through all thofe Difpenfations, which 
 would never have begun, but that they 
 might end in a Chrifl fpiritualiy revealed, 
 and ejjentially formed in the Soul. So that 
 now, in this lafl Difpenfation of God, which 
 is the firft Truth itfelf reftored, nothing is 
 to be thought of, trufted to, or fought after, 
 but God's immediate, continual Working in 
 the Soul, by his Holy Spirit. This, Sir, is 
 the Where you are to go, and the What you 
 are to do, to be in the 'Truth. For the 
 Truth as it is in Jefus, is nothing elfe but 
 Chrift come in the Spirit, and his coming 
 in the Spirit, is nothing elfe but the firft 
 loft Life of God, quickened, and revealed 
 again in the Soul. Every thing fhort of 
 this, has onjy the Nature of outward Type 
 and Figure, which in its beft State, is only 
 
 for a Time. If therefore you look to 
 
 any Thing but the Spirit, feek to any Power, 
 but that of the Spirit, expecl: Chrift to be your 
 Saviour, any other Way, than as he is fpiritually 
 born in you, you go back from the Grace and 
 Truth> which came by Jejus, and can at beft be 
 only a legal yeWj or a felf-righteous Pba- 
 
 rifee ;
 
 LETTER VI. 109 
 
 rifee ; there is no getting farther than thefe 
 States, but by being born of the Spirit, living 
 by the Spirit, as his Child, his Inftrument, 
 and holy Temple, in which he dwells, and 
 works all his good Pleafure. Drop this 
 full Adherence to, and Dependance upon 
 the Spirit, acl: as in your own Sphere, be 
 fomething of yourfelf, and through your own 
 Wifdom, &c. and then, though all that you 
 fay, or do, is with the outward Words of the 
 fpiritual Gofpel, and in the outward Practices 
 of tha fpiritual Apoftles, yet for all this, you 
 are but there, where thofe were, who wor- 
 fhipped God with the Blood of Bulls and 
 Goats j for [N. B.] Nothing but the Spirit of 
 God, can worfhip God in Spirit and in 
 Truth. 
 
 But you will perhaps fay, that you are ftili 
 but where you was, becaufe you know not 
 how to find the continual Guidance of the holy 
 Spirit. If you know how to find your own 
 Thoughts, you need not be at a Lofs to find 
 the Spirit of God. For you have not a 
 Thought within you, but is either from 
 the Good of the Spirit, or from the Evil 
 of the Plefh. Now the Good and the Evil 
 that are within you, and always more or lefe 
 fenfible by turns, do each of them teach 
 you the fame Work and Prefence of the 
 Spirit of God. For the Good, could not 
 appear as Good, nor the Evil, be felt as 
 
 Evil,
 
 no LETTER VI. 
 
 Evil, but becaufe the immediate Working of 
 the Spirit of God, creates, or manifefts this 
 Difference between them, and therefore be 
 in what State you will, the Power of God's 
 Spirit within you, equally manifefts itfelf 
 to you y and to find the immediate, conti- 
 nual, effential Working of the Spirit of 
 God within you, you need only know what 
 Good, and Evil are felt within you. For all 
 the Good that is in any Thought or Defire, 
 is fo much of God within you, and whilft 
 you adhere to, and follow a good Thought, 
 you follow, or are led by the Spirit of God. 
 And on the other hand, all that is felfifh and 
 wicked in Thought, or Affection, is fo much 
 of the Spirit of Satan within you, which 
 would not be known, or felt, as evil, but 
 becaufe it is contrary to the immediate, con- 
 tinual Working of the Spirit of God within 
 you. Turn therefore inwards, and all that 
 is within you, will demonftrate to you, the 
 Prefence, and Power of God in your Soul, 
 and make you find, and feel it, with the 
 fame Certainty, as you find and feel your 
 own Thoughts. And what is beft of all, 
 by thus doing, you will never be without 
 a living Senfe of the immediate Guidance and 
 Infpi ration of the holy Spirit, always equal 
 to your Dependance upon it, always lead- 
 ing you from Strength to Strength in your 
 
 inward
 
 LETTER VI. in 
 
 inward Man, till -all your Knowlege of 
 Good and Evil, is become nothing elfe, but 
 a mere Love of the one, and mere Averfion 
 to the other. For the one Work of the Spi- 
 rit of God, is' to diftinguim the Good, and 
 Evil, that is within you, not as in Notion, 
 but by Affection -, and when you are wholly 
 given up to this new-creating Work of 
 God, fo as to flay your Mind upon it, abide 
 with it, and expecl: all from it, This, my 
 Friend, will be your Returning to the Rock, 
 from whence you was hewn, your drink- 
 ing at the Fountain of Living Water, your 
 walking with God, your living by Faith, 
 your putting on Chrift, your continual hear- 
 ing the WORD of God, your eating the 
 Bread that came down from Heaven, your 
 fupping with Chrift, and following the Lamb 
 wherever he goeth. 
 
 For all thefe feeming different Things, 
 will be found in every Man, according to 
 his Meafure, who is wholly given up to, 
 and depending upon the- blefled Work of 
 God's Spirit in his Soul'. 
 
 But your Miftake, and that of moft Chrif- 
 tians, lies in this; you would be Good by 
 fome outward Means, you would have Me^ 
 thods, Opinions, Forms y and Ordinances of 
 Religion, alter and raife your fallen Na~ 
 ture, and create in you a new Heart, and 
 
 a
 
 lit L K T T E R VI. 
 
 a new Spirit, that is to fay, you would be 
 Good in a Way that is altogether impof- 
 fible, for Goodnefs cannot be brought into 
 you from without, much lefs by any Thing 
 that is Creaturely, or the Action of Man j 
 this is as impoffible, as for the Flefh to 
 Jan&ify the Spirit, or for Things temporal, 
 to give Life to Things that are eternal. 
 
 The Image and Likenefs of Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghoft, are in every Man, antecedent 
 to every outward Work, or Adion that can 
 proceed from him : It is God thus within 
 him, that is the fole Caufe that any Thing can 
 be called Godly, that is done, obferved, or 
 praclifed by him. If it were not fb, Man 
 would only have his Being from God, but 
 his Goodnefs from 'himfelf. 
 
 All Man's outward good Works, are only 
 like his outward good Words; he is not Good, 
 becaufe he is frequent in the Ufe of them, 
 they bring no Goodnefs into him, nor are of 
 any Worth in themfelves, but as a good, and 
 godly Spirit fpeaks forth itfelf in the Sound 
 of them. This is the Cafe of every out- 
 ward, creaturely Thing, or Work of Man, 
 be it of what Kind it will, either Hearing, 
 Praying, Singing, or Preaching, &c. or prac- 
 tifing any outward Rules, and Obfervances ; 
 they have only the Goodnefs of the outward 
 Jew, nay, are as vain, as founding Brafs> 
 
 and
 
 L E T T E R VI. 113 
 
 and tinkling Cymbals, unlefs they be folely 
 the Work, and Fruits of the Spirit of God : 
 For the divine Nature^ is that alone, which 
 can be the Power to any good Work, either 
 in Man, or Angel. 
 
 When a Man, firft finds himfelf ftirred 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 refting in this, or 
 that Method, or Society of Chriftians. Could 
 he find a Man, that did not want to have him 
 of his Party, and Opinion, that turned him 
 from himlelf, and the Teachings of Man, 
 to a God, not as hiilorically read of in 
 Books, or preached of in this, or that Society* 
 but to a God ejjentially living and working in 
 every Soul, him he might call a Man of 
 God ; as leading him from himfelf to God, 
 as laving him from many vain Wanderings, 
 from fruitlefs Searchings into a Council of 
 Trent, a Synod of Dorf, an Augjberg Con- 
 feffionj an slfjemblys Catecfiifm, or a thirty 
 nine Articles. For had he an hundred Ar- 
 ticles, if they were any Thing elfe but a 
 hundred Calls to a Chrift come in the Spirit, 
 to a God within him, as the only poffible 
 Light, and Teacher of his Mind, it would 
 be a hundred Times better for him, to be 
 without them. For all Man's Blindnefs and 
 Mifery lies in this, that he has loft the 
 I Know*
 
 n 4 LETTER VI. 
 
 Knowlege of God, as effentially living with- 
 in him, and by falling under the Power of 
 an earthly, beftial Life, thinks only of God, 
 as living in fome other World, and fo feeks 
 only by Notions, to fet up an Image of an 
 abfent God, inftead of worshipping the God 
 of Life, and Power, in whom he lives, moves, 
 
 and has his being. Whoever therefore 
 
 teaches you to expert greatThings from this, 
 or that fort of Opinions, or calls you to any 
 thing asfavzng, and redeeming, but the Ma- 
 nifeftation of God in your own Soul, through 
 a Birth of the holy Nature of Chrift with- 
 in you, is totally ignorant of the whole 
 Nature, both 'of the Fall, and the Redemp- 
 tion of Man. For the jirji is nothing elfe, 
 or lefs, than zDeatbio the divine Life,orChrifl> 
 like Nature, which lived in the firft Man ; and 
 the other, is nothing el fe, but Chrift new-born, 
 formed, and revealed again inMan, as he was at 
 the firft. Thefe two great Truths are the moft 
 ftrongly afferted by Chrift, faying, if any Man 
 will bemy Dijciple, let him deny him/elf, take up 
 his Crofs daily, and follow me. Let him deny 
 bimfelf, is the fulleit Declaration, and high- 
 eft Proof, that he has loft his Jirft divine and 
 heavenly Nature, that he is not that Self, 
 which came firft from God, or he could not 
 be called to deny it. Say, if you will, that 
 he has not loft that firft heavenly Life in 
 God, and then you muft fay, that our Lord 
 calls him to deny, crucify, and renounce that
 
 LETTER VI. 115 
 
 lioly, and godlike Self, which was the firft 
 Gift of God to him. 
 
 To read whole Libraries on thefe Matters, 
 is only to be bewildered in the Strife of Fic- 
 tions, and Contradictions about them. But 
 to read this one fingle Line of Chrift, is to 
 be led into the open, full Truth of the whole 
 Nature, both of the Fall, and Redemption, 
 And indeed, if we were but freed from the 
 Babel of Opinions, which have fo long con- 
 founded the firft Truths of the Gofpel, it 
 would be plain from every Part of it, that 
 nothing could be called the Fall of Man, 
 but his Lofs of the divine Life, or Nature, 
 nor any thing be called his Redemption, or 
 the real Means of it, but folely That, which 
 God is, and does in him. For what can be 
 a Good, or work Good in Man, but God, 
 or the divine Nature in him ? All the divine 
 Truths, that ever came from God, fpeak only 
 to the Pearl of the divine Nature, that is 
 bidden in ourearfbfy Field of Flefh and Blood, 
 becaufe nothing elfe wants them, or has any 
 Capacity to receive them 5' that which is Di- 
 vine, can only receive the divine Things from 
 God. And thence it is, that unlefsa Man be born 
 again from above, it is not poffible for him to 
 fee, or enter into the Kingdom of God, that is, 
 the divine Life rnuft arife again, in the Pow- 
 er of a new Birth, or there is nothing in 
 fallen Man, that can partake of the Kiflg- 
 I 2 dora
 
 116 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 dom of God. And the Reafon is, becaufe 
 the 'Kingdom of God is Righteoufnefs, and Peace, 
 and Joy in the Holy Ghoft, and therefore not 
 poffible to be any where, but where it pro- 
 ceeds from the Holy Ghoft. Thou jhalt 
 Jove the Lord thy God 'with all thy Heart, with 
 all thy Sou/, with all thy Mind, and 'with all 
 thy Strength. Now what is this God, that 
 you are thus to love ? Is it fome abjlraft Idea, 
 that learned Men have helped you to form 
 of him ? No fuch thing. This would be 
 but a poor Fiction of God, and a poor Fic- 
 tion of Love. God is all Good, the only 
 Good, and there is nothing Good betides 
 him, therefore to love God with all your 
 Heart, &c. is to love all Gcodnefs, and to love 
 nothing elfe but Goodnefs, and then, and 
 only then, do you love God with all your 
 Heart, and Soul, and Strength. But now, 
 to what Purpofe could this Precept of fuch 
 a Love be given to Man, unlefs he ejjentially 
 partook of the Divine Nature ? For to be in 
 Heart, and Soul, and Spirit, all Love of God, 
 and yet have nothing of the Nature of God 
 within you, is furely too abfurd for any one 
 to believe. So fure therefore as this Pre- 
 cept came from Truth itfelf, fo fure is it, 
 that every Man (however loath to hear of 
 any Thing but Pleafures, and Enjoyments 
 in this vain Shadow of a Life) has yet a di- 
 yine Nature concealed within him, which, 
 
 when,
 
 LETTER VL 117 
 
 when fuffered to hear the Calls of God, will 
 know the Voice of its heavenly Father, and 
 long to do his Will on Earth, as it is done 
 in Heaven. 
 
 The Conclufion then, is this, if to love 
 God with your whole Heart, and Soul, is to 
 love all Goodnefs, and nothing elfe but Goodnefi' y 
 and if all that is done without this Love, 
 whether in religious Duties, or common 
 Life, is but mere Separation from God, then 
 it muft be the groffeft Blindnefs, to believe 
 you can have any Love of God, or Goodnefs 
 in any Duties you perform, any further, or 
 in any other Degree, than as the Eternal, 
 Holy Spirit of God, lives and loves in you. 
 
 Again , to fee the Divinity of Man's Origi- 
 nal, you need only read thefe Words : Be ye 
 perfeffi) as your Father which is inHeaven is per- 
 fe&. For what could Man have to do with the 
 Perfection of God, as the Rule of his Life, 
 unlefs the Truth and Reality of the divine Na- 
 ture was in him ? Could there be any Rea- 
 fonablenefs in this Precept, or any Fitnefs to 
 call us to be good, as God is good, unlefs 
 there was that in us, which is in God ? Or to 
 call us to the Perfection of an heavenly Fa- 
 ther, if we were not the real Children of his 
 heavenly Nature? Might it not be as well, to 
 bid the heavy Stone to fly, as it's fying Father 
 the Eagle doth? 
 
 I 3 But
 
 n8 LETTER VI. 
 
 But this Precept from the Lip of Truth, 
 is another full Proof, that by the Fall, a 
 Death, or Suppreffion is brought upon our 
 firffc divine Life, and alfo that it is yet in a 
 State, capable of being revived again, in us. 
 For if it was not in a State of Death, or fup- 
 prefled in us, there could be no Need of cal- 
 ling us to live according to it -, for every Being 
 naturally ads according to the Life, that is 
 manifefted in it. Nor could we be called to 
 be heavenly, but becaufe the heavenly Na- 
 ture has it's Seed in our Soul, in a Readinefs 
 to come to Life in us. 
 
 Lajily, Thoufoalt love tby Neighbour as tby 
 Self, is another full Proof, that God is in us 
 of a Truth, and that the holy Spirit hath as 
 certainly, an ejfential Birth within us, as the 
 Spirit of this World hath. For this Precept 
 might as well be given to a Fox, as to a Man, 
 if Man had not fomething quite Supernatural 
 in him. For mere Nature, and natural Crea- 
 ture, is nothing elfe, but mere Self, and can 
 work nothing but to, and for itfelf. And this, 
 not through any Corruption, or Depravity of 
 Nature, but becaufe it is Nature's beft State, 
 and it can be nothing elfe, either in Man, or 
 Beaft. 
 
 I fay unto you, love your Enemies, do good to 
 them that hate you, pray Jor them that defpite- 
 fully ufe and perfecute you, &c. Every Word 
 here is Demonftration, that nothing but the 
 
 new
 
 LETTER VI. 119 
 
 new Birth from above, can be a Chriflian. 
 There is no other Nature, or Spirit that can 
 breath forth this unherfal Love and Bene- 
 volence, but that fame, which laying afide its 
 own Glory, came down from Heaven, to 
 forgive, to love, to fave, and die for a 
 whole World of Enemies and Sinners. 
 
 This is the Spirit of Chrift, that muft as 
 efjmtially live and breath in you, as it did 
 in him, or all Exhortations, to do as he did, 
 to walk as he walked, are but in vain. The 
 natural Man is in full Seperation from this 
 Holinefs of Life, and though he had more 
 Wifdom of Words, more Depth of Litera- 
 ture, than was in Cicero^ or Ariftotle, yet 
 would he have as much to die to, as the 
 groffeft Publican, or vaineft Pharifee, be- 
 fore he could be in Chrift, a new Crea- 
 ture. For the higheft improved natural 
 Abilities, can as well afcend into Heaven, 
 or cloath Flefh and Blood with Immortality, 
 as make a Man like-minded with Chrift in 
 any one divine Virtue. And that for this 
 one Reafon, becaufe God ; and divine Good- 
 nefs, are infeparable. 
 
 Nd Precept of the Gofpel, fuppofes Man 
 to have any Power to effecT: it, or calls you 
 /to any natural Ability, or Wifdom of your 
 own to comply with it. Chrift and his 
 Apoftles called no Man, to overcome theCor- 
 ruption and Blindnefs of fallen Nature, by 
 I 4 learn-*
 
 120 LETTER VI. 
 
 learned Cultivation of the Mind. The Wif- 
 dom of the learned World, was the fame 
 pitiable Foolimnefs with them, as the groff- 
 eft Ignorance. By them, they only {land 
 thus diftinguifhed, the one brings forth a 
 Publican, which is often converted to Chrift, 
 the other a Pharifee, that for the moil part, 
 condemns him to be crucified. They (Chrift 
 and his Apoftles) taught nothing but Death, 
 and Denial to all Self, and the Impombility 
 of having any one divine Temper, but 
 through Faith, and Hope of a new Nature, 
 not born of Blood, nor of the Will of the Fie ft, 
 nor of the Will of Man, but of God. 
 
 To fpeak of the Operation of the Holy 
 Spirit, as only an Affiftance, or an occafional 
 Affiftance, is as fhort of the Truth, as to fay, 
 that Chrift mall only ajjiftfat Refurre&ion of 
 our Bodies. For not a Spark of any divine 
 Virtue can arife up in us, but what muft 
 wholly and folely be called forth, by that 
 fame Power, which alone can call our dead 
 Bodies, out of the Duft and Darknefs of the 
 Grave. 
 
 If you turn to your own Strength, to have 
 Chriftian Piety, and Goodnefs ; or are fo de- 
 ceived, as to think, that Learning, or lo- 
 gical Abilities, critical Acutenefs, Skill in 
 Languages, Church-Syftems, Rules and Or- 
 ' ders, Articles and Opinions, are to do that for 
 you, which the Spirit of Chrift did, and only 
 
 could
 
 L E T T E R VI. 121 
 
 could do for the fir ft Chriftians ; your dili- 
 gent Reading the Hiftory of the Gofpel, will 
 leave you as poor, and empty and dead to 
 the divine Life, as if you had been only a 
 diligent Reader of the Hiftory of all the 
 Religions in the World. But if all that you 
 truft to, long after, and depend upon, is that 
 Holy Spirit, which alone made the Scripture- 
 Saints able to call Jefus Lord-, if this be your 
 one Faith, and one Hope, the divine Life, 
 which died in Adam^ will find itfelf alive a- 
 gain in Chrift Jefus. And be aflured, that 
 nothing but this new Birth, can be the Gof- 
 pel Chriftian, becaufe nothing elfe can pof- 
 fibly love, like, do, and be that, which Chrift 
 preached in his divine Sermon on the Mount. 
 And be afTured alfo, that when the Spirit of 
 Chrift, is the Spirit that ruleth in you, there 
 will be no hard Sayings in the Gofpel ; but 
 all that the heavenly Chrift taught in the 
 Flefh, will be as Meat and Drink to you, 
 and you will have no Joy, but in walking, 
 as he walked, in faying, loving, and doing, 
 that which he faid, loved, and did. And 
 indeed, how can it be other-wife ? How can 
 Notions, Doctrines, and Opinions about 
 Chrift, what he was, and did, make you 
 in him a new Creature ? Can any one be 
 made a Sampfon, or a Solomon., by being well 
 verfed in the Hiftory of what they were, faid, 
 or did ? 
 
 Afk
 
 122 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 Afk then, my Friend, no more, where 
 you mail go, or what you mail do, to be in 
 the Truth ; for you can have the Truth, no 
 where, but in Jeiiis, nor in him, any farther, 
 than as his whole Nature, and Spirit is born 
 within you. 
 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To a Perfon of Quality. 
 Madam, 
 
 Had the Honour of your Lady- 
 j *jf fhip's Letter, and no want of true 
 5^ Regard for your Ladyfhip, or the 
 %J& Subject, has been the Occafion of 
 my delaying this Anfwer fo long. I am in 
 fome Hopes, that the Perfon that wanted it, 
 may, by this Time, have found fomething 
 better than it, by being left to God and him- 
 felf, and that I have done more for him by 
 my Silence, than I mould have done by my 
 Writing. 
 
 To be always tampering with Phyficians, 
 upon every Occafion, is the Way to lofe all 
 natural Soundnefs of Health; and to be con- 
 tinually talking, and enquiring about the 
 Nature of Diftempers, and the Powers of 
 
 Medi-
 
 LETTER VH 123 
 
 Medicines, for the Head, the Hearty the 
 Spirits, and Nerves, is the Way to lofe all 
 true Judgment, either of our own Sicknefs, 
 or Health. 
 
 It is much the fame, with regard to OUF 
 fpiritual Health and Conftitution, we do 
 much Hurt to it, by running after fpiritual 
 Advice on every Occafion, and wanting the 
 Help of fome human Prescription^ for every 
 Fear, Scruple, or Notion, that ilarts up in 
 our Minds, and fo weaken the. true Strength 
 of our fpiritual Conftitution^ which if left tp 
 itfelf, would do all that we want to have done, 
 
 If it be afked, What this Somdncfs of our 
 fpiritual Conftitution is ? Jt may be anfwered, 
 that it is a State or Habit of fucb humble^ totel 
 Rejignation of ourfehes to Goo 1 , as by Faitb^ 
 and Hope expetfs all from Him alone, This is 
 the Health, and Strength of our fpiritual 
 Conftitution^ and nothing is Health in the 
 Soul, but this State. 
 
 And if we left all our incidental, acciden* 
 tal, fkkly Notions, and Imaginations that 
 fo frequently attack our Minds, if we left 
 them to be overcome, and done away by 
 the Strength of our fpiritual Conftitution^ 
 [N. B.] We fhould never fail of Succefs. 
 
 How this pious and worthy Perfon came 
 to think of leaving his Parifh, or what Scruples 
 occafioned his doubting, whether he fhould 
 (lay in it, I cannot guefs, and therefore can 
 
 fay
 
 124 LETTER VII. 
 
 fay nothing to them. I fhould have thought, 
 that fuch a Change as he found in himfelf, 
 his Parifh, and Neighbourhood, fhould have 
 every thing in it, that could render his Situ- 
 ation comfortable to him; 
 
 The greateft Danger that new Converts 
 are liable to, elpecally if they are young, a- 
 rifes from their conceiving fomething great of 
 their Converlion, and that great Things are 
 to follow from it. Hence they are taken up 
 too much with themfelves, and the fuppofed 
 Defigns of God upon them. They enter 
 into Reafonings, and Conjectures how they 
 fhall be, and do fomething extraordinary, 
 and fo lofe that Simplicity of Heart, which 
 fhould think of nothing but of dying to Self, 
 that the Spirit of God might have time and 
 place to create, and form all that is wanting 
 in their inward Man. 
 
 There is nothing more plain and fimple 
 than the Way of Religion, if Self is but 
 kept out of itj and all the Perplexities, and 
 Scruples which pious Perfons meet with, 
 chiefly arife from fome Idea they have form- 
 ed, of a Progrefs they ought to make in order 
 to be Thaf, which Self would be. But Piety 
 makes little Progrefs till it has no Schemes 
 of its own, no Thoughts or Contrivancies to 
 be any Thing, but a naked Penitent^ left 
 wholly, and folely in faith and Hope to 
 the divine Goodnefs. Every Contrivance for 
 
 human
 
 LETTER VII. 125 
 
 human Help, from this, or that, be it what it 
 will, is at beft but droping fome Degree, of 
 that Fulnefs of Faith and Hope, and De- 
 pendance upon God, which only is, and only 
 can be our Way of finding Him, to be the 
 Strength and God of our Life. 
 
 Nothing but the Life of God, opened by 
 his Holy Spirit within us, can be the Re- 
 newal of our Souls, and we mall want this 
 Renewal no longer, than whilft we are feek- 
 ing it in fomething, that is not God. The 
 Faith that afcribes all to God, and expects all 
 from him, cannot be difappointed. 
 
 Nothing could hinder the Centurion from 
 having, that which he afked of Chrift, be- 
 caufe his Heart could thus fpeak, Lord 1 am 
 not worthy, that thou JJwuldeft come under my 
 Roof, fpeak the Word only, and my Servant fiall 
 be healed. 
 
 He that has this Senfe of Himfelf, and this 
 Faith in God, is in the Truth and Perfection 
 of Religion : If we knew the Goodnefs of 
 this State, we mould be always content with 
 the Simplicity of it, and let every thing elfe 
 come, and go, as it would ; all is well and 
 fafe, fo long as the Heart refls all upon God 
 alone". Your La.dymip fays, this worthy Per- 
 fon fears his Zeal, and yet dreads the Abate- 
 ment of it. It would be better, not to in- 
 dulge a Thought about his own Zeal/ or to 
 fpeak a Word of it to any Perfon. For if 
 
 it
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 it is godly Zeal, it is no 'more his than it is 
 mine> nor comes any more from him, than 
 it does from me 5 and therefore when he 
 thinks, or fpeaks of it as fos^ or as fomething 
 he Would be glad to keep in its right State> 
 it is giving Way to Delufion, both with 
 regard co himfelf, and the Nature of true 
 Zeal i For as the Wind bloweth where it 
 lijhth) fo it is with Him, who is driven by 
 true Zeal. 
 
 I do not wonder> that his Audience is fo 
 much affedted, and increafed, fince he has 
 preached up the DocTrine of Regeneration 
 amongft them. All other Preaching pafTes 
 &Way as a Tale that is told, and indeed is 
 nothing better, till it enters into the Things 
 Within Man, brings him to a Senfibility of 
 the State of his Heart, and its Want of 
 God's Holy Spirit therein. 
 
 How far it may be right for him to corri^ 
 ply with their Requeft of vifiting, reading, 
 and expounding the Scripture to them, I 
 pretend not to fay : But only thus much, 
 that it feems to be right to be in no Anxiety 
 about it, orufe any Reafoning^ either to per- 
 iuade himfelf to it, or from it, or to put him- 
 felf under iny Jlated Rules about it, but leave 
 it to be done, as he finds himfelf inwardly 
 ftirred up to it, and able out of the Abun- 
 dance of his Heart to perform it. 
 
 fix-
 
 LETTER VII. 127 
 
 Expounding the Scriptures, has a fine 
 Sound, but I mould rather advife fuch Per- 
 fons, to read only in Love, and Simplicity of 
 Heart, fuch Scriptures as need no Expounder, 
 but their own Heart turned to God. Per- 
 fons who are come to this inward Conviction, 
 that they muft live, and die, under the Power 
 of Satan, and of fallen Nature, unlefs by a 
 Fulnefs of Faith in Chrift, they be born again 
 from above, have nothing more to enquire 
 about, where, or how Chrift is to be found. 
 
 They have no other Ufe to make of the 
 Scripture, but that of being refrefhed, and 
 delighted with fuch Paffages, as turn, and ftir 
 up the Heart, to a Fulnefs of Faith, Love, and 
 Refignation to the blefled Guidance, and Ope-. 
 ration of the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 Jan. 10, 1754. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To the Same. 
 Madam, 
 
 - We/ley'* Letter did not at all 
 * M * difappoint me. I had no Expec- 
 )))#4()J tation of feeing a better, either with 
 regard to the Subftance, or to the 
 Stile, and Manner of it. If I knew of any 
 Hind of Anfwer, that would do him any real 
 
 Goodj
 
 128 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Good, I fhould advife it. But to anfwer it 
 for the Good of any one elfe, feems to be 
 quite neexllefs. It does not admit of a feri- 
 ous Anfwer, becaufe there is nothing fub- 
 ftantial, or properly argumentative in it. 
 And to anjfwer it in the way of Ridicule, is 
 what I cannot come into, being full as averfe 
 to make a Mock of him in a religious Garb, 
 as to the doing the greater!: bodily Injury to his 
 Perfon. How far he has anfwered, or does an- 
 fwer any good Ends of Providence, or is an 
 Inflrument in the Hands of God, is a Matter 
 I meddle not with; only wifhing, that every 
 Appearance of Good, every ftirring of Zeal, 
 under whatever Form it appears, whether 
 in Knowlege, or Ignorance, in Wifdom, or 
 Weaknefs, may be directed, and bleiied by 
 God, to the beft Ends it is capable of. 
 
 As to myfelf, I feem to myfelf to have no 
 other Part to Ad:, nor any Call to any Thing 
 elfe, in this Hurry, and Struggle of Zeal a- 
 gainft Zeal, in fuch a Variety of Forms, but 
 only, and fully to affert the true Ground, 
 and largely open all the Reafons, of that one 
 inward Regeneration, which is equally the 
 one Thing needful to every Seel:, and the 
 one Thing alone that can make every Sect, or 
 Method, or outward Form, not hurtful to 
 thpfe that adhere to it. 
 
 For every out ward Form, however fpeci- 
 ous or promifing, will only help us to be 
 
 carnally
 
 LETTER VIII. 129 
 
 carnally minded, till it is in fome degree known, 
 to have no other, or better Nature, than that of 
 the Shell, which helps us to the Kernel-. 
 
 The Dcdrines I have publHhed, are in their 
 heft State with regard to the Reader, as they 
 ftand in my Books, and will be lefs ufeful to 
 him, when they are drawn into Controverfy. 
 For this Reaibn, I ran lend no Help to that. 
 
 This may perhaps feem to your Ladymip, as 
 if I had too great an Opinion of what I had 
 done. And I believe, fuch a free Way of 
 fpeaking ibmetimes in Converfation of my 
 own Books, may have beenfufpectedof fmell- 
 ing too much of Self-eileem. But I can with 
 Truth affure you, Madam, that when I fpeak 
 of the Fullnejs and Clearnefs of my own Writ- 
 ings, I feel no other Sentiments of Self-iuf- 
 ficiency, than when I fpeak of the Goodnefs 
 of my own Eyes. Nor do I know how to con- 
 lider the one, more than the other, to be any 
 Merit of my own j and therefore when any 
 Man, great or little, contemns, reproaches, or 
 alperfes me, or my Books, as void of Senfe, 
 Truth, and Light ; I feel no more inward Un- 
 eafincis, or think myfelf any more hurt, than 
 if he had only told the World, that my Eyes 
 were miferably bad, and I could fcarce fee to 
 read, even with the bell Spectacles. And fo 
 havenoDefirecontroverfially to defend the one, 
 more than the other, but contentedly leave them 
 both, to be their own Proof of what they are. 
 
 I was once a kind of Oracle with Mr. Wejley. 
 K I
 
 130 LETTER VIII. 
 
 I never fuipected any Thing bad of him, or 
 ever discovered any Kind, or Degree of Falle- 
 nefs, or Hypocrify in him. 
 
 But during all the Time of his Intimacy 
 with me, I .judged him to be much under 
 the Power of his own Spirit \ which feemed 
 to have the Predominancy in every good 
 Thing, or Way, that his Zeal carried him to. 
 
 It was owing to his Unwillingnefs, or Inabi- 
 lity to give up his own Spirit, that he was forced 
 into that falfe, and ram Cenfure which he pub- 
 limed in Print, againft the Myftics: As Ene- 
 mies to goodWorks.> and even tending to Atbeifm. 
 A Cenfure fo falfe, and regardlefs of Right and 
 Wrong, as hardly any Thing can exceed it , 
 which is to be found in a Preface of his to a 
 Book of Hymns. But no more of this. 
 
 Feb. 16, 1756. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To the Same. 
 Madam, 
 
 PafTage in the Letter from a pious 
 and very excellent Clergyman, as you 
 ftiie him, calls for no Regard, either 
 from yourLadymip, or me. More infignificant 
 Words cannot well be put together: "I think, 
 " fays he, Mr. Law has gone half a Bow Shot too 
 tc far." If I have mot fo far beyond, or befide 
 the Truth, he ihould have fhewn where, and 
 
 wfy,
 
 L E T T E R IX. 131 
 
 why, and how. Without this, his Words are but 
 a Random Shot at nothing. His Reafon for this 
 Cenfure, is ftill worie, viz. " becaufe I have 
 " touched the Heart-String of all fyftematical Di- 
 cc vimty." As grievous a Charge, as if he had 
 laid, that I had ihook the very Foundation of 
 every Babel m every Country. For not a Syftem 
 of Divinity, iince Syftems were in being, whe- 
 therPopiih,orProteftant,deferves a betterName. 
 
 His next Reafon is, " becanfe it fhould not 
 cc be touched without Skill from above" 
 
 If this Gentleman ever preaches from the" 
 Pulpit, concerning the Ways of God, and 
 the Doctrines of Redemption, without Skill 
 from above, all he fays, will be a whole Bow- 
 Shot befide the Matter. 
 
 If therefore, in touching this Point, I have 
 touched that, which ought not to be touched 
 withoutSkill from above, I have taken no bolder 
 a Step, than He does, every Time he mounts the 
 Pulpit, to give forth the Doctrines of Chrift. 
 
 His third Reafon is this, " I chufe in mj 
 c< prefent Ignorance ', as touching the NeceJJity, 
 ' c and Virtue of an outward Attonement, to 
 <c bow down before the awful <Subjet. 
 
 But in Truth, he fhould have faid, I chtife to 
 bow down before the awful Heart String of all 
 Syftematical Divinity,which refolves all the At- 
 tonementintoan infinite Wrath > and Vengeance, 
 raifed in the Holy Deity itfelf, and which would 
 not be appeafed, or fatisfied by any Thing elfe, 
 K2 but
 
 I3 2 LETTER IX. 
 
 but the Sacrifice of an infinite Son of God. It 
 is by reafon of his Attachment to this Heart 
 String, or rather his having fo conjlantly preach- 
 ed according to it, that he cannot bear a De- 
 monftration of the moft glorious Truth, that 
 either Heaven or Earth can proclaim, viz. that 
 God from Eternity to Eternity, is mere, un- 
 changeable, and ever-cverflowing Love; and 
 that nothing but this Infinity of never-ceafing, 
 never-changing Love, gave the Birth, the Life, 
 the Sufferings, the Death, Refurrection, and Af- 
 cenfion of Chrift, for the Salvation of all Man- 
 kind 5 becaufe in the whole poffible Nature of 
 Things, nothing elfe but this 'whole Procefs of 
 a God made Man, could have any Ability, to 
 cxtinguiih the Hell, and Wrath of fallen Na- 
 ture, and give Man a fecond Birth of fuch a 
 Life from above, as could for ever and ever, 
 have Union and Communion with the unbe- 
 ginning, never-ending, never-changing Trinity 
 of Love. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Mr. J. r. 
 My dear worthy Friend, 
 
 H O M I much love and efleem, your 
 Letter, though full of Complaints a- 
 bout the State of your Heart, was very 
 much according to my Mind, and gives me 
 
 great
 
 LETTER X. 133 
 
 great hopes, that God will carry on the good 
 Work he has begun in you, and lead you by 
 his holy Spirit, through all thole Difficulties, 
 under which you at prefent Labour. 
 
 The Defire that you have, to be better 
 than you find yourfelf at prefent, is God's Call 
 begun to be heard within you, and will make 
 itfelf to be more heard within you, if you 
 give but way to it, and reverence it as fuchj 
 humbly believing that he 1 that calls, will, and 
 only can, help you to pay right and full Obedi- 
 ence to it. 
 
 As to ihe Advertifement in the public Papers, 
 it deferved no Regard from you, or any one elfe. 
 It muft have come, either from a very ignorant 
 and weak Friend, or from a very insignificant 
 Enemy to the Writings of J. B. But be it as 
 it will, it was not an Objecl of your .Attention, 
 nor could be of any Uie to you. 
 
 But to come to your own State, You feem to 
 yourfelf to be all Infatuation and Stupidity, be- 
 caufe your Head, and your Heart are fo con- 
 trary, the one delighting in heavenly Notions, 
 the other governed by earthly PafTions, and Pur- 
 fuits. It is happy for you, that you know and 
 acknowlege this : For only through this Truth, 
 through the full and deep Perception of it, can 
 you have any Entrance, or fo much as the 
 Beginning of an Entrance into the Liberty 
 of the Children of God. God is in this Ref- 
 pet dealing with you, as he does with, thofe, 
 K 3 whofe
 
 i 34 L E T T E R X. 
 
 whofe Darknefs is to be changed into Light. 
 
 Which can never be done, till you fully know 
 , i . the real Badnefs of your own Heart, and 
 
 2, your utter Inability to deliver yourfelf 
 
 from it, by any Senfe, Power, or Activity of 
 your own Mind. 
 
 And was you in a better State, as to your 
 own thinking, the Matter would be worfe with 
 you. For the Badnefs in your Heart, though 
 you had no Senfibility of it> would ftill be 
 there, and would only be concealed, to your 
 much greater Hurt. For there it certainly is, 
 whether it be feen and found, or not, and fooner 
 or later, muft mew itfelf in its full Defor- 
 mity, or the old Man will never die the Death 
 which is due to him, and muft be undergone, 
 before the New Man in Chrift 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 fuch, however different in 
 Temper; Complexion, or natural Endowments 
 from others, has one and the fame full Reafon, 
 and abfolute Neceffity, of being born again 
 from above. 
 
 Flefli and Blood, and the Spirit of this World, 
 goyevn every Spring in the Heart of the natural 
 Man. And therefore you can never enough 
 adore that Ray of divine Light, which breaking 
 ia upon your Darknefs, has difcovered this to 
 
 be
 
 LETTER X. 135 
 
 be the State of your Heart,' and raifed only thofe 
 faintWifhes that you feel to be delivered from it. 
 
 For faint as they are, they have their De- 
 gree of Goodnefs in them, and as certainly 
 proceed jolcly from the Goodneis of God work- 
 ing in your Soul, as the firft Dawning of the 
 Morning, is folely from, and wrought by the 
 fame Sun, which helps us to the Noon-day 
 Light. Firmly, therefore, believe this, as a 
 certain Truth, that the prefent Senfibility of 
 your Incapacity for Goodnefs, is to be cherim- 
 ed 'as a heavenly Seed of Life, as the blefTed 
 Work of God in your Soul. 
 
 Could you like any Thing in your own 
 Heart, or fo much as fancy any Good to be 
 in it, or believe that you had any Power of 
 your own to embrace and follow Truth, this 
 comfortable Opinion, fo far as it goes, would 
 be your turning away from God and all Good- 
 nefs, and building iron Walls of Separation 
 betwixt God and your Soul. 
 
 For Converfion to God, only then begins 
 to be in Truth, and Reality, when we fee no- 
 thing that can give us the leaft Degree of Faith, 
 of Hope, of Truft, or Comfort in any Thing, 
 that we are of ourfelves. 
 
 To fee Vanity of Vanities in all outward 
 Things, to loath and abhor certain Sins, is in- 
 deed fomething, but yet as nothing, in com- 
 parifon of feeing and believing the Vanity of 
 Vanities within us, and ourfelves as utterly un- 
 K 4 able
 
 136 LETTER X. 
 
 able to take one Jingle Step in true Goodnefsi 
 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, fetting up, and pulling down,- 
 giving, and taking away, Light, and Darknefs, 
 Comfort, and Diftrefs, as independently of us, 
 as he makes the Rain to defcend, and theWinds 
 to blow, are all of them for this only End, to 
 bring us to this Conviction, that all that can be 
 called Life, Good., zn&Happinejs,, is to come fole- 
 ly from God,and not the fmalleft Spark of it from ; 
 ourfelves. When Man was firft created, all the 
 Good that he had in him was from God alone; 
 N. B. This muft be the State of Maji for ever.- 
 Fromthe Beginning of Time through all Eter- 
 nity, the Creature can have no Goodnefs, but 
 that which God creates in it. 
 
 Our firit created Goodnefs is loft, tcaufe our 
 firft Father departed from a full, abfolute De- 
 pen dance upon God. For a full, con tiriualj. un- 
 wavering Dependance upon God, is that atone 
 which keeps God in the Creature, and the 
 Creature in God. 
 
 Our loft Goodnefs can never come again, 
 or be found in us, till by a Power from Chriil 
 living in us, we are brought out of ourfelves, 
 and all felfim Trufts, into that full and blcfs- 
 ed Dependance upon God, in which our firil 
 Father fliould have lived. What
 
 LETTER X. 137 
 
 What Room now, my dear Friend, for Com- 
 plaint at the Sight, Senfe, and Feeling of your 
 Inability to make yourfelf better than you are ? 
 Did you want this Senfe., every Part of your Re- 
 ligion would only have the Nature and Vanity 
 of Idolatry. For you cannot come unto God, 
 you cannot believe in him, you cannot wor- 
 fhip him in Spirit and Truth, till he is regarded 
 as the only Giver, and you yourfelf as nothing 
 elfe but the Receiver of every heavenly Good, 
 that can poffibly come to life in you. 
 
 Can it trouble you, that it was God that made 
 you, and not you yourfelf ? Yet this would be 
 as unreafonable, as to be troubled that you can- 
 not make heavenly Affection, or divine Pow- 
 ers to fpring up, and abide in your Soul. 
 
 God muft for ever be God alone j Heaven, 
 and the heavenly Nature are his, and muft for 
 ever and ever be received only from him, and 
 for ever and ever be only preferved, by an entire 
 Dependance upon, and Truft in him. Now as 
 all the Religion of fallen Man, fallen from God 
 into himfelf, and the Spirit of this World, has 
 no other End, but to bring us back to an en- 
 tire Dependance upon God -, fo we may juftly 
 fay, BlefTed is that Light, happy is that Con- 
 viction, which brings us into a full and fettled 
 Defpair, of ever having the leaft Good from 
 ourfelves. 
 
 Then are we truly brought, and laid at the 
 Gate of Mercy : At which Gate, no Soul ever 
 did, or can lay in vain, A
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 A broken and contrite Heart God will not 
 defpife. That is, God will not, God can- 
 not pafs by> overlook, or difregard it. But 
 the Heart is then only broken and contrite, 
 when all its ftrong Holds are broken down, 
 all falfe Coverings taken off, and it fees, with 
 inwardly opened Eyes, every Thing to be bad, 
 falfe , and rotten, that does, or can proceed 
 from it as its own. 
 
 But you will perhaps fay> that your Con^ 
 <vitfion is only an uneafy Senfibility of your 
 own State and has not the Goodnefs of a 
 broken and contrite Heart in it. 
 
 Let it be fo> yet it is rightly in order to it, 
 and it can only begin, as it begins at prefent 
 in you Your Conviction is certainly not full 
 and perfect $ for if it was, you Would not 
 complain, or grieve at Inability to help or 
 mend yourfelf, but would patiently expe<fl, 
 mid only look for Help from God alone. 
 
 But whatever is wanting in your Convic- 
 tion, be it what it will, it cannot be added by 
 yourfelf) nor come any other Way, than as 
 the higheft Degree of the divine Life can come 
 into it. 
 
 Know therefore your Want of this, as of all 
 other Goodnefs. But know alfo at the fame 
 Timej that it cannot be had through your own 
 willing and running 'but through God that 
 fhe\,veth Mercy j that is to fay> through God 
 \vho giveth us'jefus Chrift, For Jefus Chrift 
 
 is
 
 L E T T E R X. 139 
 
 is the one only Mercv of God to all the fallen 
 World. 
 
 Now if all the Mercy of God is only to be 
 found in Chrift Jeiiis, if he alone can fave us 
 from our Sins; if he alone has Power to heal 
 all our Infirmities, and reftore original Righ- 
 teoufnefs, what Room for any other Pains, 
 Labour, or Enquiry, but where > and bow Chrift 
 is to be found. 
 
 It matters not what our Evils are, Deadnefs, 
 Blindnefs, Infatuation, Hardnefs of Heart, Co- 
 vetoufnefs, Wrath, Pride, and Ambition, Gfc. 
 our Remedy is always one and the fame, al- 
 ways at hand, always certain and infallible. 
 Seven Devils are as eafily cart out by Chrift as 
 one. He came into the World, not to fave 
 from this, or that Diforder, but to deftroy all 
 the Power and Works of the Devil in Man. 
 
 If you alk where, and how Chrift is to be 
 found ? I anfwer, in your Heart, and by your 
 Heart, and no where elfe, nor by any Thing 
 elfe. 
 
 But you will perhaps fay, it is your very 
 Heart that keeps you a, Stranger to Chrift, 
 and him to you, becaufe your Heart is all bad, 
 as unholy as a Den of Thieves. 
 
 I anfwer, that the finding this to be the 
 State of your Heart, is the real finding of 
 Chrift in it. 
 
 For nothing elfe but Chrift can reveal, and 
 make manifeft the Sin and Evil in you. And 
 
 he
 
 140 LETTER X. 
 
 he that Difcovers^ is the fame Chrift that takes 
 away Sin. So that, as foon as complaining 
 Guilt, lets itfelf before you, and will be feen, 
 you may be allured, that Chrifb is in you of 
 a Truth. 
 
 For Chrift: muft firft come as a Difcoverer 
 and Reprover of Sin. It is the infallible Proof 
 of his holy Prefence within you. 
 
 Hear him, reverence him, fubmit to him 
 as a Difcoverer and Reprover of Sin. Own 
 his Power and Prefence in the Feeling of your 
 Guilt, and then he that wounded, will heal, 
 he that found out the Sm, will take it away, 
 and he who mewed : you your Den of Thieves, 
 will turn it into a holy Temple of Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghoft. 
 
 And now, Sir, you may fee, that your 
 Doubt and Enquiry of me, whether your 
 Will was really free, or not, was groundless. 
 
 You have no Freedom, or Power of Will, 
 to aflame any holy Temper, or take hold of 
 fuch Degrees of Goodnefs, as you have a Mind 
 to have. For nothing is, or ever can be-good- 
 nefs in you, but the one Lift, Light, and Spi- 
 rit of thrift, revealed, formed, and begotten 
 in your Soul. Chrift in us, is our only Good- 
 nefs, as Chrift in us, is our Hope of Glory. But 
 Chrift in us is the pure free Gift of God to us. 
 
 But you have a true and full Freedom of 
 Will and Choice, either to leave > and give up 
 your helplefs Self, to the Operation of God on 
 
 your
 
 L E T T E R X. 141 
 
 your Soul, or to rely npon your own rational 
 Induftry, and natural Strength of Mind. This 
 is the Truth of the Freedom of your Will, in 
 your firft fetting out, which is a Freedom that 
 no Man wants, or can want fo long as he is in 
 the Body. And every unregenerate Man has 
 this Freedom. 
 
 If therefore you have not that which you 
 want to have of God, or are not that which 
 you ought to be in Chrift Jefus, it is not 
 becaufe you have no free Power of leaving 
 yourfelf in the Hands, and under the Operation 
 of God, but becaufe the fame Freedom of your 
 Will, feeks for Help where it cannot be had, 
 namely, in fome Strength and Activity of your 
 own Faculties. 
 
 Of this Freedom of Will it is faid, Accord- 
 ing to thy Faith, fo be it done unto thee ; that is 
 to fay, according as thou leavefl and trufteft 
 thyfclf to Goa, ib will his Operation be in thee. 
 
 This is the real, great magic Power of the 
 firft turning of the Will 3 of which it is truly 
 faid, that it always hath that which it wiiieth, 
 and can have nothing eife. 
 
 When this Freedom of the Will wholly 
 leaves itfelf to God, faying, 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
 
 142 L E T T E R X. 
 
 at length to be that Faith, which can remove 
 Mountains ; and nothing is too hard for it. 
 
 And thus it is, that every unregenerate Son 
 of Adam hath Life and Death in his awn 
 Choice, not by any natural Power of taking 
 which he will, but by a full Freedom, either of 
 leaving, and trufting himfelf to the redeeming 
 Operation of God, which is eternal Life, or of 
 acting according to his own Will and Power 
 in Flefh and Blood, which is eternal Death. 
 
 And now, my dear Friend, let me tell you, 
 that as here lies all the true and real Freedom, 
 which cannot be taken from you, fo in the 
 conftantExercifeof this Freedom, that is, in a 
 continual leaving yourfelf 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 Refignation, &c. 
 which are the true and only Graces of the fpi- 
 ritual Life, have no other Root or Ground, 
 but this free, full leaving of yourfelf to God, 
 and are only fo many different Expreffions of 
 your willing nothing, feeking nothing, trufling 
 to nothing, but the life-giving Power of his 
 holy Prefence in your Soul. 
 
 To fum up all in a Word. Wait patiently, 
 truft humbly, depend only upon, feekfolelyto a 
 God of Light and Love, of Mercy and Good- 
 nefs, of Glory and Majefty, ever dwelling in 
 
 the
 
 L E T T E R X. 143 
 
 the inmoft Depth .and Spirit of your Soul, 
 There you have all the fecret, hidden, invi- 
 fible Upholder of all the Creation, whofe 
 blefTed Operation will always be found by a 
 humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient Intro- 
 verlion of your Heart to him, who has his 
 hidden Heaven within you, and which will 
 open itfelf to you, as foon as your Heart is 
 left wholly to his eternal ever-fpeaking WORD, 
 and ever ian&ifying Spirit within you. 
 
 Beware of all Eagernefs and Activity of 
 your own natural Spirit and Tamper, Run 
 not in any hafty Ways of your own. Be 
 patient under the Senfe of your own Vanity 
 and Weaknefs j and patiently wait for God to 
 do his own Work, and in his own Way. For 
 you can go no fafter, than a full Dependence 
 upon God can carry you. 
 
 You will perhaps fay, Am I then to be idle, 
 and do nothing towards the Salvation of my 
 Soul ? No, you muft by no means be idle, but 
 earneftly diligent, according to your Meafure, 
 in all good Works, which the Law and the 
 Gofpel direcl: you to, both with Regard to 
 your Self, and other People, 
 
 Outward good Works to other People., 
 may be juftly confidered as God's Errand on 
 which you are fent, and therefore to be done 
 faithfully, according to the Will, and in obe- 
 dience to him that fent you. 
 
 But nothing that you do, or praclife as a 
 Good to your felf, and other People, is in its 
 
 pro-
 
 144 L E T T E R X. 
 
 proper State, grows from its right Root, or 
 reaches its trueEnd, till you look for no willing, 
 nor depend upon any doing that which is good, 
 but by Chrift, the Wifdom and Power of 
 God, living in you. I caution you only againft 
 all Eagernefs and Activity of your own Spirit, 
 fo far as it leads you to feek, and truft to fome- 
 thing that is not God, and Chrift within you. 
 
 I recommend to you Stilnefs, Calmnefs, Pa- 
 tience, &c. not to make you lifelefs, and indif- 
 ferent about good Works, or indeed with any 
 Regard to them, but folely with regard to 
 your Faith, that it may have its proper Soil to 
 grow in, and becaufe all Eagernefs, RefUefs- 
 nefs, Hafte, and Impatience, either with regard 
 to God, or ourfelves, are not only great Hin- 
 drances, but real Defects of our Faith and 
 Dependance npon God. 
 
 Laftly, be courageous then, and full of 
 Hope, not by looking at any Strength of your 
 own, or fancying that you now know how to 
 be wifer in your felf, than you have hitherto 
 been j no, this will only help you to find more 
 and more Defects of Weaknefs in your felf ; 
 but be courageous in Faith, and Hope, and 
 Dependance upon God. And be aflured, 
 that the one infallible Way to all that is good, 
 is never to be weary in waiting, trufting, and 
 dependingupon God manifested in Chrift Jefus. 
 
 / am your hearty Friend 
 20, 1756. and Wdl-Wifier. 
 
 LET-
 
 ( '45 ) 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To a Perfon burdened with inward and 
 outward Troubles. 
 
 Worthy Sir, 
 
 |Y Heart embraces you, with all 
 the Tendernefs and Affection of 
 Chriftian Love ; and I earneftly 
 beg of God, to make me a Mef- 
 fenger of his Peace to your Soul. 
 You feem to apprehend, I may be much 
 ftirprifed at the Account you have given of 
 yourfelf ; but I am neither furprifed, nor of- 
 fended at it; I neither condemn, nor lament 
 your Eftate, but ihalr endeavour to fhew you, 
 how foon it may bfe made a Blefling and Hap- 
 pinefs to you. In order to which, I (hall not 
 enter into a Corifideration of the different 
 Kinds of Trouble you have fet forth at 
 la ge. I think it better to lay before you the 
 ene true Ground and Root, from 'whence all 
 the Evil and Difordcrs of Human Life have 
 fprung. This will make it eafy for you to 
 fee, what that is, which muft, and only can, 
 be the full Remedy and Relief for all of them, 
 L how
 
 146 LETTER XL 
 
 how different foever, either in Kind, or De- 
 gree. 
 
 The Scripture has aflured us, that God 
 made Man in his own Image and Likenefs ; a 
 fufficient Proof, that Man, in his firft State, 
 as he came forth from God, muft have been 
 abfolutely free from all Vanity, Want, or 
 Diftrefs of any Kind, from any Thing either 
 within, or without him. It would be quite 
 abfurd and blafphemous, to fuppofe, that a 
 Creature beginning to exift in the Image and 
 Likenefs of God, fhould have Vanity of Life, 
 or Vexation of Spirit : A God-like Perfection 
 of Nature, and a painful, diftrefled Nature, 
 ftand in the utmoft Contrariety to one ano- 
 ther. 
 
 Again, the Scripture has allured us, that 
 Man that h born of a Woman, bath but ajhort 
 'Time to live, and is full of Mifery : Therefore 
 Man now is not that Creature that he was 
 by his Creation. The firft divine and God- 
 like Nature of Adam, which was to have 
 been immortally Holy in Union with God, 
 is loft j and inftead of it, a poor Mortal of 
 earthly Flefh and Blood, born like a wild 
 Afs's Cok, of a fhort Life, and full of Mife- 
 ry, is through a vain Pilgrimage, to end in 
 Duft and Aflies. Therefore, let every Evi!, 
 whether inward, or outward, only teach you 
 this Truth, that Man has infallibly loft his 
 firft divine Life in God j and that no poffible 
 
 ComforS
 
 LETTER XI. 147 
 
 Comfort, or Deliverance is to be expe&ed, 
 but only in this one Thing, that though Man 
 had loft his God, yet God is become Man, 
 that Man may be again alive in God, as at 
 the firft. For all the Mifery and Diftrefs of 
 human Nature, whether of Body or Mind, 
 is wholly owing to this one Caufe, that God is 
 not in Man t nor Man in God, as the State of 
 his Nature requires : It is, becaufe Man has 
 loft that^r/? Life of God in his Soul, in and 
 for which he was created. He loft this Light, 
 and Spirit, and Life of God, by turning his 
 Will, Imagination, and Defire, into a tafting 
 and Senfibility of the Good and Evil of this 
 earthly beftial World. 
 
 Now here are two Things raifed up in 
 Man, inftead of the Life of God : Firft, Self, 
 or Selfi/hnefs^ brought forth by his chufing to 
 have a Wifdom of his own, contrary to the 
 Will and Inftruclion of his Creator. Secondly , 
 an earthly, beftial, mortal Life and Body, 
 brought forth by his eating that Food, which 
 was Poifon to his paradilical Nature. Both 
 thefe muft therefore be removed ; that is, a 
 Man muft firft totally die to Self, and all 
 earthly Defires, Views, and Intentions, be- 
 fore he can be again in God, as his Nature 
 and firft Creation requires. 
 
 But now if this be a certain and immutable 
 
 Truth, that Man, fo long as he is a felfift> 9 
 
 earthly-minded Creature, muft be deprived of 
 
 L 2 his
 
 148 LETTER XL 
 
 his true Life, the Life of God, the Spirit of 
 Heaven in his Soul ; then how is the Face of 
 Things changed ! For then, what Life is fo 
 much to be dreaded, as a Life of worldly Eafe 
 and Profperity ? What a Mifery, nay what a 
 Curfe, is there in every Thing that gratifies 
 and nourishes our Self-love, Self-efteem, and 
 Self-feeking ? On the other Hand, what Hap- 
 pinefs is there in all inward and outward 
 Troubles and Vexations, when they force us 
 to feel and know the Hell that is hidden 
 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 fave us from Ourfelves, to give us a 
 new Life, new Light, and new Spirit in 
 Cbrift Jefus. 
 
 '" O Happy Famine," might the poor Pro- 
 digal have well faid, " which, by reducing 
 " me to the Neceffity of afking to eat Hufks 
 <c with Swine, brought me to myfe(f> and 
 " caufed my Return to my firil Happinefs in 
 '* my Father's Houfe." 
 
 Now, I will fuppofe your diftrefled State 
 to be as you reprefent it ; inwardly, Dark- 
 nefs, Heavinefs, and Confufion of Thoughts 
 and Paffions ; outwardly, ill Ufage from 
 Friends, Relations, and all the World ; una- 
 ble to ftrike up the leaft Spark of Light or 
 Comfort, by any Thought or Reafoning of 
 your own. 
 
 O happy
 
 LETTER XL 149 
 
 O happy Famine, which leaves you not fo 
 much as the Hufk of one human Comfort to 
 feed upon ! For this is the Time and Place 
 for all that Good and Life and Salvation to 
 happen to you, which happened to the pro- 
 digal Son. Your Way is as (hort, and your 
 Succefs as certain as his was : You have no 
 more to do than he had j you need not call 
 out for Books, or Methods of Devotion j for, 
 in your prefent State, much reading, and 
 borrowed Prayers, are not your beft 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 beft taught and expreffed by the 
 diftrefled State of your Heart. 
 
 Only let your prefent and paft Diftrefs 
 make you feel and acknowledge this twofold 
 great Truth : Firft, That in and of yourfelf, 
 you are nothing but Darknefs, Vanity, and 
 Mifery ; Secondly , that of yourfelf, you can 
 no more help yourfelf to Light and Comfort, 
 than you can create an Angel. People at all 
 Times can feem to aflent to thefe two Truths ; 
 but then it is an Affent that has no Depth or 
 Reality, and fo is of little or no Ufe : But 
 your Condition has opened your Heart for a 
 deep and full Conviction of thefe Truths. 
 Now give Way, I befeech you, to this Con- 
 viction, and hold thefe two Truths, in the 
 fame Degree of Certainty as you know two 
 2nd two to be four, and then you are with 
 L 3 th
 
 150 LETTER XI. 
 
 the Prodigal come to yourfelf > and above HALF 
 
 YOUR WORK is DONE. 
 
 Being; now in the full Pofleffion of thefe 
 two Truths, feeling them in the fame Degree 
 of Certainty, as you feel your own Exigence, 
 you are, under this Senfibility, to give up 
 yourfelf abtolutely and entirely to God in 
 Chrifl Jefus, as into the Hands of infinite 
 Love ; firmly believing this great and infal- 
 lible Truth, That God has no Will towards 
 you, but that of infinite Love, and infinite 
 Defire to make you a Partaker of his divine 
 Nature ; and that it is as abfolutely impoj/ible 
 for the Father of our Lord Jcfus Chrift, to 
 refufe all that Good and J^ife 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; caft yourfelf into this 
 Abyjs oj jLove $ and then you will be in that 
 State the Prodigal was in, when he faid, / 
 will arife and go to my Father, and will fay 
 unto him. Father, / have finned againji Hea- 
 ven, and before tbee, and am no more worthy 
 to be called thy Son j and all that will be ful- 
 filled in you, which is related of him. 
 
 Make this, therefore, the twofold Exer- 
 cife of your Heart : Now, bowing yourfelf 
 .down before God, in the deepeft Senfe and 
 Acknowledgment of your own Nothingnefs
 
 LETTER XI. 151 
 
 and Vilenefs ; then, looking up ento God in 
 Faith and love, confider him as always ex- 
 tending the Arms of his Mercy towards you, 
 and full of an infinite Defire to dwell in you % 
 as he dwells in Angels in Heaven. Content 
 yourfelf with this inward and fimple Exercife 
 of your Heart, for a while ; and feek, or like 
 nothing in any Book, but that which nou- 
 rifhes and ftrengthens this State of your Heart. 
 
 Come unto me, fays the holy Jefus, all ye 
 that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will 
 refrefo you. Here is more for you to live up- 
 on, more Light for your Mind, more of 
 Unction for your Heart, than in Volumes of 
 human Inftruclion. Pick up the Words of 
 the holy Jefus, and beg of him to be the 
 Light and Life of your Soul : Love the Sound 
 of his Name ; for Jefus is the Love, the 
 Sweetnefs, the compajjionate Goodnefi, of the 
 Deity itfelf j which became Man, that fo 
 Men might have Power to become the Sons 
 of God. Love and pity and wifh well to 
 every Soul in the World ; dwell in Love, and 
 then you dwell in God-, hate nothing but tho 
 Evil that ftirs in your own Heart. 
 
 Teach your Heart this Prayer, till your 
 Heart continually faith, though not with out- 
 ward Words; " O holy Jefus; 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. 
 L 4 ^ O do
 
 152 LETTER XI. 
 
 " O do thou open thyfelf 'within me, with all 
 " thy holy Nature, Spirit, Tempers, and In- 
 <c clinations, that I may be born again of 
 ct thee, in thee a new Creature, quickened 
 " and revived, led and governed by thy holy 
 " Spirit.' 1 
 
 Prayer fo pradtifed, 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 riflng out of the Vanity of Time, into the 
 Riches of Eternity. - 
 
 Do not expect, or look, for the fame De- 
 grees of fenfible Fervour. The Matter lies not 
 there. Nature will have its Share ; but the 
 Ups and Downs of that are to be overlooked. 
 Whilft your Will- Spirit is good, and fet right, 
 the Changes of creaturely Fervour leflen not 
 your Union with God. It is the Abyfs of 
 the Heart, an unfathomable Depth of Eter- 
 nity within us, as much above fenfible Fer- 
 vour, as Heaven is above Earth ; it is this 
 that works our Way to God, and unites with 
 Heaven. This Abyfs of the Heart, is the 
 divine Nature and Power within us, which 
 never calls upon God in vain ; but whether 
 helped or deferted by bodily Fervour, pene- 
 trates through all outward Nature, as eafily 
 and effectually as our Thoughts can leave our 
 Bodies, and reach into the Regions of Eter- 
 nity. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XI. 153 
 
 The Poverty of our fallen Nature, the de- 
 praved Workings of Flefo and Blood, the 
 corrupt Tempers of our polluted Birth in this 
 World, do us no hurt, fo long as the Spirit 
 of Prayer works contrary to them, and longs 
 for the firft Birth of the Light and Spirit of 
 Heaven. All our natural Evil ceafes to be 
 our oivnEvil, as foon as our Will- Spirit turns 
 from it ; it then changes its Nature, lofes all 
 its Poifon and Death, and only becomes our 
 holy Crofs, on which we happily die from Self 
 and this World into the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Would you have done with Error, Scruple, 
 and Delufion ? Confider the Deity to be the 
 greateft Love, the greateft Meeknefs, the 
 greateft Sweetnefs, the eternal unchangeable 
 Will to be a Good and Rlejjing to every Crea- 
 ture j and that all the Milery, Darknefs, and 
 Death of fallen Angels and fallen Men, con- 
 lift in their having loft their Ltkenefs to this 
 Divine Nature. Confider yourfelf, and all 
 the fallen World, as having nothing to feek 
 or wifh for, but by the Spirit of Prayer to 
 draw into the Life of your Soul, Rays and 
 Sparks of this divine, meek, loving, tender 
 Nature of God. Confider the holy Jefus as 
 the Gift of God to your Soul, to begin and 
 finim the Birth of God and Heaven within 
 you, in Spight of every inward or outward 
 Enemy. Thefe three infallible Truths, hear- 
 tily embraced, and made the Nourifhment of 
 
 your
 
 ' 1 5 4 LETTER XI. 
 
 your Soul, Shorten and fecure the Way to 
 Heaven, and leave no Room for Error, Scru- 
 ple, or Delufion. 
 
 Expect no Life, Light, Strength, or Com- 
 fort, but from the Spirit of God, dwelling 
 and manifefting his own Goodnefs in your 
 Soul. The beft of Men, and the beft of 
 Books, can only do you good, fo far as they 
 turn you from themfelves, and every human 
 Thing, to feek, and have, and receive every 
 Kind of Good from God alone ; not a diftant, 
 or an abfent God, but a God living, mewing, 
 and always working in the Spirit and Heart 
 of your Soul. 
 
 They never find God, who feek for him 
 by Reafoning and Speculation ; for fipce God 
 is the higheft Spirit, and the higheft Life, 
 nothing but a like Spirit, and a like Life, can 
 unite with him, find or feel, or know any 
 Thing of him. Hence it is, that Faith, and 
 Hope, and Love, turned towards God, are 
 the only poffible, and alfo infallible Means of 
 obtaining a true and living Knowledge of him. 
 And the Reafon is plain, it is becaufe by thefe 
 flofy ^empers^ which are the Workings of 
 Spirit and Life within us, we feek the God of 
 Life where he is t we call upon him with his 
 vwn Voice ) we draw near to him by his own 
 Spirit-, for nothing can breathe forth Faith, 
 and Love, and Hope to God, but that Spirit 
 and Life which is of God, and which therefore 
 
 through
 
 LETTER XI. 155 
 
 through Flem and Blood thus prefles towards 
 him, and readily unites with him. 
 
 There is not a more infallible Truth in the 
 World than this, that neither Reafoning nor 
 Learning can ever introduce a Spark of Heaven 
 into our Souls : But if this be fo, then you 
 have nothing to feek, nor any Thing to fear, 
 from Reafon. Life and Death are the Things 
 in Queftion : They are neither of them the 
 Growth of Reafoning or Learning, but each 
 of them is a State of the Soul, and only thus 
 differ, Death is the Want, and Life the Enjoy- 
 ment of if's highe/l Good. Reafon, therefore, 
 and Learning, have no Power here ; but only 
 by their vain Activity to keep the Soul infen- 
 fible of that Life and Death, one of which is 
 always growing up in it, according as the 
 Will and Defire of the Heart worketh. Add 
 Reafon to a Vegetable, and you add nothing 
 to its Life or Death. Its Life and Fruitful- 
 nefs lieth in the Soundnefs of its Root, the 
 Goodnefs of the Soil, and the Riches it de- 
 rives from Air and Light. Heaven and Hell 
 grow thus in the Soul of every Man : His 
 Heart is his Root ; if that is turned from all 
 Evil, it is then like the Plant in a good Soil ; 
 when it hungers and thirfts after the the di- 
 vine Life, it then infallibly draws the Light 
 and Spirit of God into it, which are infinitely 
 more ready and willing to live and frudify in 
 the Soul ? than Light and Air to. enter into 
 
 the
 
 156 LETTER XI. 
 
 the Plant, that hungers after them. For the 
 Soul hath its Breath, and Being, and Life, 
 for no other End, but thai the TRIUNE God 
 may manifeft the Riches and Powers of his 
 own Life in it. 
 
 Thus Hunger is all, and in all Worlds, every 
 Thing lives in it, and by it ; nothing elfe eats, 
 or partakes of Life ; and every Thing eats ac- 
 cording to its own Hunger. Every Thing hun- 
 gers after its own Mother, that is, every Thing 
 has a natural magnetick Tendency to partake 
 of that from which it had its Being, and can 
 only find its Reft in that from whence it came. 
 Dead as well as living Things bear Witnefs 
 to this Truth : The Stones fall to the Earth, 
 the Sparks fly upwards, for this only Reafon, 
 -becaufe every Thing mult tend towards that 
 from whence it came. 
 
 Were not Angels and the Souls of Men 
 breathed forth from God, as fo many real 
 Offsprings of the Divine Nature, it would be 
 as impoffible for them to have any Defire of 
 God, as for Stones to go upwards, and the 
 Flame downwards. Thus you may fee, and 
 feel, that the Spirit of Prayer not only proves 
 that you came from God, but is your certain 
 Way of returning to Him. 
 
 When, therefore, it is the one ruling, ne^ 
 ver ceafing Defire of our Hearts, that God 
 may be the Beginning and End y the Reafon 
 and Motive, the Rule and Meafure, of our 
 
 doing,
 
 LETTER XL 157 
 doing, or not doing, from Morning to Night ; 
 then every where, whether fpeaking or filent, 
 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 y let us willingly give up all 
 that we inherit from our fallen Father, to be 
 all Hunger and Thirft after God ; and to have 
 no Thought or Care, but how to be wholly 
 his devoted Inftruments ; every where, and 
 in every Thing, his adoring, joyful, and thank- 
 ful Servants. Have your Eyes (hut, and Ears 
 flopped to every Thing, that is not a Step 
 in that Ladder that reaches from Earth to 
 Heaven. 
 
 Reading is good, Hearing is good, Con- 
 verfation and Meditation are good ; but then 
 they are only good at Times and Occafions, 
 in a certain Degree ; and muft be ufed and 
 governed, with fuch Caution, as we eat and 
 drink, and refrem ourfelves, or they will 
 bring forth in us the Fruits of Intemperance. 
 But the Spirit of Prayer is for all Times, and 
 all Occafions ; it is a Lamp that is to be al- 
 ways burning, a Light to be ever fhining ; 
 every Thing calls for it, every Thing is to be 
 
 done
 
 158 LETTER XL 
 
 done in it, and governed by it ; becaufe it is, 
 and means, and wills nothing elfe, but the 
 whole Totality of the Soul, not doing this or 
 that, but wholly, inceflantly given up to God, 
 to -be where, and what, and how he pleafes. 
 
 This State of abfolute Resignation, naked 
 faith) and pure Love of God, is the higheft 
 Perfection, and moft purified Life of thofe, 
 who are born again from above, and through 
 the Divine Power become Sons of God : And 
 it is neither more nor lefs, than what our blef- 
 fed Redeemer has called, and qualified us to 
 long and afpire after, in thefe Words : 7#jp 
 Kingdom come ; thy Will be done, on Earth, 
 as it is in Heaven. It is to be fought for in 
 the Simplicity of a little Child, without being 
 captivated with any myfterious Depths or 
 Heights of Speculation ; without coveting any 
 Knowledge, or wanting to fee any Ground 
 of Nature, Grace, or Creature, but fo 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, 
 ftirring, Intention, and Deiire of our Heart, 
 Soul, Spirit, and Life to Him, 
 
 Let every Creature have your Love. Love 
 with its Fruits of Meeknefs, Patience, and 
 Hu9tl/fy 9 is all that we can wi(h for to our- 
 felves, and our fellow Creatures 3 for this is 
 
 to
 
 LETTER XL 159 
 
 to live in God, united to him, both for Time 
 and Eternity. 
 
 To defire to communicate Good to every 
 Creature, in the Degree we can, and it is 
 capable of receiving from us, is a Divine 
 Temper ; for thus God (lands unchangeably 
 difpofed towards the whole Creation : But let 
 me add my Requeft, as you value the Peace 
 which God has brought forth by his Holy 
 Spirit in you, as you defire to be continually 
 taught by an Unction from above, that you 
 would on no Account enter into any Difpute 
 with any one about the Truths of Salvation ; 
 but give them every Help, but that of debat- 
 ing with them ; for no Man has Fitnefe for 
 the Light of the Gofpel, till he finds an 
 Hunger and Thirft, and Want of fomething 
 better, than that which he has and is by Na- 
 ture. Yet we ought not to check our Incli- 
 nations 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 Reafon to be content with the Suc- 
 cefs that God gives it. He that bath Ears to 
 bear, let him hear ; may be enough for you, 
 as well as it was for our blefled Lord. 
 
 The next Thing that belongs to us, and 
 which is alfo Godlike, is a true unfeigned 
 Patience, and Meeknefs, (hewing every Kind 
 of Good-Will and tender Affection towards 
 thofe that turn a deaf Ear to usj looking 
 
 upon
 
 160 LETTER XL 
 
 upon it to be full as contrary to God's Me- 
 thod, and the good State of our own Heart, 
 to difpute with any one in contentious Words, 
 as to fight with him for the Truths of Salva- 
 tion. 
 
 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you Reft, faith our 
 blelfed Lord. He called none elfe, becaufe 
 no one elfe hath Ears to hear, or a Heart to 
 receive the Truths of Redemption. 
 
 Every Man is a vain Difputer, till fuch 
 Time as fomething has difturbed his State, 
 and awakened in him a Senfibility of his own 
 evil and miferable Nature. We are all of us 
 afraid both of inward and outward Diftrefs ; 
 and yet, till Diftrels comes, our Life is but 
 a Dream, and we have no awakened Senli- 
 bility of our own true State. 
 
 We are apt to confider Parts and Abilities, 
 as the proper Qualifications for the Reception 
 of divine Truths ; and wonder that a Man of 
 a fine Underftanding mould not immediately 
 embrace juft and folid Doctrines : But the 
 Matter is quite otherwife. Had Man kept 
 Pofleffion of his firft rich and glorious State, 
 there had been no Foundation for the Gofpel 
 Redemption ; and the Dodrine of the Crofs, 
 nuift have appeared quite unreafonable to be 
 prefled upon him : And therefore fays our 
 Lord, To the Poor the Gofpel is preached. It 
 is folely to them, and none elfe : That is, to 
 
 poor
 
 LETTER XL 161 
 
 poor fallen Man, that has loft all the true na- 
 tural Riches and Greatnefs of his firft Divine 
 Life j to him is the Gofpel preached. But 
 if a Man knows and feels nothing of this Po- 
 verty of his Nature, he is not that Perfon to 
 whom the Gofpel belongs : It has no more 
 Suitablenefs to his State, than it had to Man 
 unfallen : And then the greater his Parts and 
 Abilities are, the better is he qualified to (hew 
 the Folly of every Doctrine of that Salvation, 
 of which he has no want. 
 
 Such a Man, though he may be of an hu- 
 mane, ingenuous, generous and frank Nature, 
 of lively Parts and much candour, is never- 
 thelefs entirely ignorant of the Depth of the 
 Heart of Man, and the NecefTities of Human 
 Nature. As yet (though he knows it not) he 
 is only at Play and Paftime, pleafing himfelf 
 with fuppofed deep Enquiries after ftricfl 
 Truth, whilft he is only fporting himfelf with 
 lively, wandring Images of This and That, 
 juft as they happen to flart up in his mind. 
 Could but he fee himfelf in the State of the 
 poor diftrefled prodigal Son, and find that 
 himfelf is the very Perfon there recorded, he 
 would then, but not till then, fee the Fit- 
 nefs of that Redemption, which is offered 
 him by the Mercy of God in CHRIST JESUS. 
 But fuch an one, alas ! is rich ; he is lound ; 
 Light is in his own Power, Goodnefs is in 
 his own Pofleflion : He feds no Diftrefs or 
 M Darkncfs 5
 
 162 LETTER XL 
 
 Darknefs ; but has a Crucible of Reafon and 
 Judgment f that on every Occafion feparates 
 Gold from Drofs : And, therefore, he muft 
 be left to himfelf, to his own Elyfium, till 
 Something more than Argument and Difpu- 
 tation awakens him out of thefe golden 
 Dreams. 
 
 Let us beware alfo of the religious Pha- 
 rifee, who raves zvpmft. fpiritual Religion, be- 
 Caufe it touches the very Heart-firing of all 
 fyftematical Divinity t and flakes the 'very 
 .Foundation of every BABEL in every 
 Country ; for not a Syftem of Divinity, 
 iince Syftems were in being, whether Popifh 
 or Proteftant, deferves a better Name. 
 
 All Preachers of the true fpiritual Myftery 
 of the Gofpel, of a Birth, Light and Life 
 From above, in and by JESUS CHRIST (which 
 are the Myftic Writers of every Age) 
 ever were, and will be, treated by the 
 reigning fashionable Orthodoxy, as Enemies 
 to the outward Gofpel, and its Services, juft 
 as the Prophets of God (who were the Myftic 
 Preachers of the Jeivijh Difpenfation) were 
 by the then reigning Orthodoxy, condemned 
 and defpifed, for calling People to a fpiritual 
 Meaning of the dead Letter, to a Holinefs 
 infinitely greater than that of their outward 
 Sacrifices, Types, and Ceremonies. 
 
 Whoever he is that has any Situation of 
 his own to defend, be it that of a celebrated 
 
 Preacher,
 
 LETTER XI. 163 
 
 Preacher, a Champion for received Ortho- 
 doxy, a Head, a Leader, or Follower of any 
 Seel, or Party, or particular Method $ or that 
 feems, both in his own Eyes, and in the 
 Eyes of others, to have made bimfelf figni- 
 ficant in any kind of religious Diftinclionj 
 every fuch Perfon, fooner or later, will find, 
 that he has much of that very fame to give 
 up, which hindered the zealous, and emi- 
 nently religious Pharifee from converting to 
 CHRIST, in the Spirit of a little Child. 
 
 Nor doth it help the Matter, that fuch an 
 one abounds with Piety and Excellency 5 for 
 St Paul was governed by a Spirit of great 
 Piety, great Excellency, and Zeal for God. 
 He fays of himfelf, that when he was perfe- 
 cuting the Difciples of Chrift, he lived in all 
 good Confcience y as touching the Law blatnelefs, 
 and according to the ftraiteft Setf of the 
 Jeivifo Religion : For the Pharifees, though 
 many of them had all that Hypocrify and 
 Rottennefs which Chrift laid to their Charge, 
 yet as a Sect, they were an Order of moft 
 confefled and refplendent Sanctity ; and yet 
 the more earneft and, upright they were in 
 this kind of Zeal for Goodnefs, ihe more 
 earneftly they oppofed and condemned the 
 heavenly My fiery of a new Life from CHRIST, 
 as appears from St Paul. 
 
 This Se<5t of the Pharifees did not ceafe 
 
 with the Jewijh Church j it only loft its old 
 
 M 2 Name ;
 
 |6 4 LETTER XI. 
 Name; it is Hill in being, and fprings now 
 in the fame Manner from the Gofpel, as it 
 did then from the Law : It has the fame 
 Place, lives the fame Life, does the fame 
 Work, minds the fame Things, has the lame 
 Goodnefs at Heart, has the fame religious 
 Honour, and claim to Piety, in the Chrillian, 
 as it had in the Jewijh Church ; and as much 
 miftakes the Depths of the Myftery of the 
 Gofpel, as that Seel: miftook the Myftery fig* 
 nified by the Letter of the Law and the Pro- 
 phets. 
 
 It would be eafy ta fhew in feveral In- 
 fiances, how the Leaven of that Seel: works 
 amongft us, juft as it did amongft: them. 
 Have any of the Rulers belie'wd on Him ? 
 was the orthodox Queftion of the antient 
 Pharifees. Now vfre Chriftians readily and 
 willingly condemn the Weaknefs and Folly 
 of that Queftion ; and yet who does not fee, 
 that, for the moft Part, both Prieft and Peo*- 
 pie, irt every Chriftian Country, live and 
 govern themfelves by the Folly and Weak- 
 nefs of the very fame Spirit which put that 
 Queftion : For when God, as He has always 
 done from the Beginning of the World,, raifes 
 up private and illiterate Perfons, full of Light 
 and Wifdom from above, fo as to be able to 
 difcover all the Workings of the Myftery of 
 Iniquity, and to open the Ground, and Truth, 
 and abfolute Neceffuy of fuch an inward 
 
 bpirit
 
 LETTER Xf, 165 
 
 Spirit and Life of CHRIST revealed in us, as 
 Time, carnal Wifdom, and worldly Policy 
 have departed from ; when all this is done, 
 by the weakeft Inftruments of God, in fuch 
 a Simplicity and Fulneis of Demonstration, as 
 may be jufily deemed a Miracle ; do not 
 Clergy and Laity get rid of it all, though ever 
 io onanfwerable, merely by the Strength of 
 the Pharilees good old Queflion, faying with 
 them, " Have any of the Rulers believed and 
 " taught thefe Things? Hath the Church in 
 " Council or Convocation ? Hath Cdjvtfl, 
 " Luther, Zyingtius, or any of our renowned 
 " Syfteqi-makers, ever taught or averted 
 c< thefe matters r" 
 
 But hear what our J?leilld Lord faith, of 
 the Place, the Power, and Origin of Truth : 
 He refers us not .to the current Dodrines of 
 the Times, or to the Syftems of men, but to 
 his own IStame, his own Nature, his own 
 Divinity hidden in us : My Sbeef> t fays he, 
 hear my Voice, Here the whole Matter jis de- 
 cifively determined, both where Truth i c , 
 and who they are that can have any Know- 
 ledge of it. 
 
 HEAVENLY Truth is no where fpoke but by 
 the Voice of CHRIST, nor heard but by a 
 Power of CHRIST living jr) the Hearer. As 
 He is the eternal only Word of GOD, that 
 fpeaks forth all-t}>e. Wifdorn, and Wonders 
 pf GOD j fo He alone is the Word, that 
 M 3 fpeaks
 
 166 LETTER XI. 
 
 fpeaks forth all the Life, Wifdom, and Good- 
 nefs, that is or can be in any Creature j it can 
 have none but what it has in him and from 
 him : This is the one unchangeable Boundary 
 of Truth, Goodnefc, 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 Wifdom, nor any lefs of Worldly 
 Foolifhnefs in it, at one Time than at ano- 
 ther ; its Nature is one and the fame through 
 all Ages ; what it was in the Jew and the 
 Heathen, that lame it is in the Chriftian. 
 Its Name, a<- well as Nature, is unalterable, 
 viz. Foolijhnejs with God. 
 
 I {hall add no more, but the two or three 
 following Words. 
 
 I. Receive every inward and outward 
 Trouble, every Difappointment, Pain, Un- 
 eafinefs, Temptation, Daiknefs, and Defola- 
 tion, with both thy Hands, as a true Oppor- 
 tunity and blefled Occafion of dying to Self, 
 and entering into a fuller Fellowship with thy 
 Self-denying, fuffering Saviour. 
 
 IL Look at no inward or outward Trouble 
 in any other View j reject every other Thought 
 about it j and then every Kind of Trial and 
 Diftrefs will become the blefTed Day of thy 
 Profperity. 
 
 III. Be afraid of feeking or finding Com- 
 fort in any Thing, but God alone : For that 
 
 which
 
 LETTER XI. 167 
 
 which gives thee Comfort, takes fo much of 
 thy Heart from God. " Quid eft Cor pu- 
 " rum? cui ex toto, &; pure fufficit folus 
 <c Deus, cui nihil fapit, quod nihil deleclat, 
 " nifi Deus." That is t What constitutes 
 a pure Heart ? One to which God alone is 
 totally, and purely fufficient ; to which no- 
 thing relimes, or gives Delight, but God 
 alone. 
 
 IV. That State is beft, which exercifeth 
 the higheft Faith in, and fulkft Refignation 
 to God. 
 
 V. What is it you want and feek, but 
 that God may be all in all in you? But how 
 can this be, unlefs all creaturely Good and 
 Evil become as nothing in you, or to you ? 
 
 " Oh Anima mea, abflrahe te ab Omni- 
 " bus. Quid tibi cum mutabilibus Creatu- 
 41 ris? Solum Sponfum mum, qui omnium 
 " eft Auihor Creaturarum, expeclans, hoc 
 " age, ut Cor tuum ille liberum & expedi- 
 " turn Temper inveniat, quoties iili ad ipfum 
 tc venire placuerit." That is, O my Soul ! 
 abftradt thyfelf from every Thing. What 
 haft thou to do with changeable Creatures ? 
 Waiting and expecling thy Bridegroom, who 
 is the Author of all Creatures, let it be thy 
 ible Concern, that he may rind thy Heart 
 free and difengagcd, as often as it lhall pleafe 
 him to vifit thee, 
 
 M 4 Be
 
 168 LETTER XL 
 
 Be affured of this, that fooner or later, we 
 muft be brought to this Conviction, That 
 every Thing in ourfelves by Nature is Evil, 
 and muft be entirely given up ; and that No- 
 thing that is creaturely, can make us better 
 than we are by Nature. Happy, therefore, 
 and bit (Ted are all thofe inward or outward 
 Trouble?, that haften this Conviction in us ; 
 that with the whole Strength of our Souls, 
 we may be driven to feek ALL from and in 
 GOD, without the lead Thought, Hope, or 
 Connivance after any other Relief: Then it 
 is, that we ane made truly Partakers of the 
 Croft of CHRIST 5 and from the Bottom of 
 *>ur Hearts (hall be enabled to fay, with St 
 Paul, God forbid that I Jhculd Glory in any 
 *Thing t fave the Crofs of our Lord JESUS 
 CH R i ST ; by which 1 am crucified to the World, 
 and the World is crucified to me. 
 
 Give up yourfelf to .God without referve. 
 This implies fuch a State or Habit of Heart, 
 as does Nothing of itfelf, from its own Rea- 
 fon, Will or Choice, but .ftands always in 
 Faith, Hope, and abfolute Dependence upon 
 being led by the Spirit of .God into every 
 Thing that is according to his Will $ feeking 
 Nothing by Defigning, Reafoning, and Re- 
 flection, how you (hall be ft promote the Ho- 
 nour of .God, .but in Singjenefs of Heart, 
 meeting .every Thing that every Day brings 
 forth 3 as fomething that comes from GOD, 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XI. 169 
 
 and is to be received, and gone through by 
 you, in fuch an Heavenly Ufe of it, as you 
 would fuppofe the HOLY JESUS would have 
 done, in fuch Occurrences. This is an at- 
 tainable Degree of Perfection ; and by having 
 CHRIST and his Spirit always in your Eye, 
 and Nothing elfe, you will never be left to 
 yourfelf, nor without the full Guidance of 
 GOD. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 To Mr r. L. 
 
 > 
 
 My dearly beloved Friend, 
 
 BEGIN, as I did my laft, 
 
 with alluring you, that I love to 
 
 hear from you. 
 
 I am in fome Concern about 
 
 the Activity of your religious Spi- 
 rit, which I have often cautioned you againft. 
 You have feen, and as I think deeply ap- 
 prehended, the true Ground, on which Man's 
 Redemption Hands. This Ground has been 
 
 fliewn
 
 i 7 p. BETTER XII. 
 (hewn you, not only from the plain Letter of 
 Scripture, but confirmed by the whole Frame 
 of Nature. 
 
 Every Thing in Heaven and Earth, every 
 Thing that you inwardly or outwardly feel, or 
 know of your own Soul, and Body, are ail 
 {hewn to bear infallible Witriefs to thefe two 
 fundamental Truths of the Gofpel ; That 
 our firft Father died to his firft Life in God ; 
 and that nothing in the whole Nature of 
 Things, can be our Redemption, but the firft 
 Life of God, born again of God in the Soul. 
 You have had the fulleft Proof, that Man 
 was created in this high Perfection of Life. 
 You have had the fulleft Proof, that Adam 
 had no other Way of dying to Heaven, or 
 lofing his firft State in God, but by the work- 
 ing of his Will j and that every Son of Adam^ 
 is to this Day, only That which hU.Rjf/, or 
 the working of his Will^ or the Defire of his 
 Heart (for they are all the fame Thing) mak- 
 eth him to be. Jefus Cbrift is the Divine 
 Nature, which muft be alive again in Man. 
 But the Life of the Deity can only arife by a 
 Birth in us, by the Hunger and Faith and 
 Defire of the Heart, or the working of the 
 Will turned to it ; and this is the Faith in 
 Chrift that does all. 
 
 To what Purpofe therefore, is fo much 
 anxious Enquiry about this or that? Why 
 this running after every one, to hear the Hi- 
 
 ftory
 
 LETTER XII. 171 
 
 ftory of Himfelf, and the Secrets of his own 
 fancied Experience ? 
 
 If you know a Man to be a Fatalift, do 
 you not enough know, that he cannot explain 
 the Myfteries of the Golpel, all which have a 
 quite contrary Ground. 
 
 If a Man has no Notion, or Belief of the 
 Fall of Man, can he tell you either the Na- 
 ture, or the Neceflity of Chriftian Redemp- 
 tion? What Room could there be for the 
 Divine Philanthropy, if it could be fuppofed, 
 that Man and the World had not a better 
 State, and Life from Him at firft, than they 
 have now ? 
 
 If a Man denies the Neceflity of the new 
 Birth from above, will you believe that this 
 proceeds from an intimate Familiarity with 
 Chrift, teaching him in private, the Dilbe- 
 lief of that which he taught publickly when 
 on Earth ? What Folly to tell you, that you 
 are only in a Legal State, unlefs he could 
 prove to you, that you have no Averfion to 
 Wickednels, nor abftain from any Sin, but 
 fo far as the Fear and Dread of Punifhment 
 keep you from it. For this is the Truth of 
 the Legal State j but when Sin is diiliked, 
 and the Commandments kept through a Love 
 of God, and a Defire of Divine Goodnels, 
 There is the Man in Chrift a new Creature, 
 no longer under the Yoke of the Law, but 
 living in the Freedom, and Spirit of God.
 
 172 LETTER XII. 
 
 If a Man tells you that Jefus is not God, 
 furely it is Time to have no Fellowship with 
 him. If he tells you, you are not to pray to 
 God, but to Jefus, who is only a Creature, 
 is not this telling you, that it is unlawful for 
 us to pray, as Jefus taught his Difciples ? And 
 if it was wrong to pray to God, the Old and 
 the New Teftament are, from the Beginning 
 to the End, full of falfe Religion ? Or will he 
 fay, that though under the Old Teftament 
 Men might rightly pray to the Deity, yet we, 
 by being Chriftians, have loft this Privilege 
 of Relation to, and Dependance upon God ? 
 But furely, I need not expofe the Extravagancy 
 of thefe Things, nor exhort you 10 be weary 
 of fuch Entertainment. 
 
 You tell me, that you cannot help thinking 
 with Mr S. That all partial Syftems of Sal- 
 vation, are greatly derogatory to the Goodnefs 
 of God : But that you would fay this to very 
 few, but myfelf. But dear Soul, why (hould 
 you fay this to me ? I have without any Scru- 
 ple, openly declared to all the World, that 
 from Eternity to Eternity, nothing can come 
 from God but mere infinite Love. In how 
 many ways have I proved, and aflcrted, that 
 there neither is, nor can be any Wrath, or 
 Partiality in God, but that every Creature 
 muft have all that Happinefs, which the infi- 
 nite Love and Power of God can help it to. 
 Can I, or any Creatare, potTibly fay more of 
 
 aa
 
 LETTER Xlf. 173 
 
 an Impartiality in God ? And is it not quite 
 unreafonable, to alkmore about it, or to carry 
 it farther ? You fay, the Jeeming Impqflibility 
 of the Spirit and Light of God, ari/ing up 
 again in any Creature, that has extinguifoed 
 it, is, you prejume, the ftrongeft Argument that 
 can be offered, in Support of everlafting Mi- 
 fery. And therefore you fay, you have chofen, 
 'with Submijfion, to examine the Force of this 
 principal Argument, which rum through the 
 APPEAL, and my other Writings. But, my 
 dear Friend, how came you to fay this ? For 
 this is fo far from being the principal, or any 
 Argument that runs through my Appeal, and 
 other Books, that there is not one fmgle 
 Word, in all the Appeal, nor any other of my 
 Books, that touches upon this Matter, till 
 you come to the laft Book, viz. The Way to 
 Divine Knowledge ; and even in that Book, 
 the ImpofTibility is fo far from being ajjerted, 
 that it is there affirmed, that this Impoflibi- 
 lity is not proved, nor ever likely to be fo. 
 Will you therefore charge me with proving a 
 Thing, that I (hew cannot be proved ? It is 
 my capital Dodrine, That God is all Love, 
 and merely a Will to all Goodnefs; that he 
 muft eternally will that to the Creature, which 
 he willed at its Creation. 
 
 But, my dear Soul, debate not fuch Mat- 
 ters as thefe, either " wich me, or any one 
 elfe. Slop your Ears to all that you hear 
 
 about
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 about them, and turn from every one that 
 will lead you into them. The Perplexity 
 that you make to yourfelf in fuch Matters, is 
 Death to the Divine Life within you, is a 
 great Abufe of God's Goodnefs towards you, 
 and is a likely Way for you to lofe the Peace 
 and Joy of that Divine Light, which has fo 
 largely opened itfelf within you. 
 
 Mr G. and Mr S. both of them (as they fay) 
 come out of the Depths of Hell, full of a 
 New rifen Divine Light within them. The 
 firft makes me a greater Blafphemer of God, 
 than the Devils are, [N. B.] becaufe I fay, 
 God has no other Nature, or Will towards 
 every Creature, but Love and Goodnefs. 
 
 The other calls me Blind, and Ignorant, 
 becaufe I have not a felf- evident Knowledge 
 of the Salvation of Devils. Now was you 
 lo find out a Third, laying Claim to the fame 
 certainty of Divine Light, as thefe two do, 
 you might perhaps have them both condem- 
 ned by one who had a Self-evident Knowledge 
 of Abfolute Election, and Reprobation, and 
 who knew with as great Certainty, that God 
 damns fome eternally to make his Power to 
 be known, as Mr S. knows Chrift to be only 
 a Creature, and that Prayer is not to be made 
 to God, but folely to this Creature. 
 
 Dear L. Son of my Love, I do not know 
 that ever I wafted my Spirits in Writing, or 
 
 Thinking
 
 LETTER XII. 175 
 
 Thinking in the Manner of this Letter be- 
 fore, and truft I never /hall again. But 
 Love towards you, and a hearty Zeal for your 
 true Growth in the Spiritual Life, has com- 
 pelled me into this Wrangle. 
 
 Put away all needlefs Curiofity in Divine 
 Matters, and look upon every Thing to be 
 fo, but that which helps you to die to your- 
 fejf, that the Spirit and Life of Chrift may 
 be formed, and revealed in you. 
 
 As for the Purification of all Human Na- 
 ture, either in this World, or fome after 
 Ages, I fully believe it. And as to that of 
 Angels, if it is poffible, I am glad of it, and 
 alfo fure enough, that it will then come to 
 pafs. 
 
 Dear Sou/, 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 THANK you for the favour of 
 your's. In the Two Extracts, 
 you have fent, the Writer fays 
 twice, He cannot adopt the Dark 
 fde of my Syftem. If what I have wrote may 
 be called a Syftem, it has put a full End to 
 all that was Dark, and Partial, in every 
 other Syftem. It makes all the Univerfe 
 both of Nature and Grace, to be an Edifice 
 of Love, kept up and governed by Love. 
 For I allow of no other God but Love, 
 who from Eternity to Eternity, can have no 
 other Will towards the Creature, but to com- 
 municate Good ; and that no Creature can 
 have any Mifery, from which infinite Good- 
 nefs can deliver it. Where then is the Dark 
 Side ? Muft I afTert God to be more than in- 
 finitely Good ? 
 
 Dear Soul, 
 
 '5 2. 
 
 Adieu. 
 LETTER
 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 IT 6 the fame; 
 
 My dear L. 
 
 CANNOT teil you how muck 
 I love you. But that which of 
 all Things I have moft at Heartj 
 with Regard to you, is the real 
 Progrefs of your Soul in the divine Life; 
 Heaven feems to be awakened in you* It is 
 a tender Plant. It requires StillnefSj Meek- 
 nefs, and the Unity of the Heart, totally 
 given up to the unknown Workings of the 
 Spirit of God, which will do all its Work in 
 the calm Soul, that has no Hunger or Defirei 
 but to efcape out of the Mire of its Earthly 
 Life, into its loft Union and Life in God; 
 
 I mention this, out of a Fear of your giving 
 into an Eagernefs into many Things^ which 
 though feemingly innocent, yet divide and 
 weaken the Workings of the divine Life 
 within you. For a Multiplicity of Wills, ig 
 the one only Evil* Difeafe, and Mifery, both 
 N o
 
 178 LETTER XIV. 
 
 of our Souls and Bodies. That which can 
 make the Soul to have only one Will, and one 
 Love, is the univerfal Tincture, both for 
 Soul and Body. And nothing elie is it. 
 That alone c.an take the Fall, or Curie out of 
 the Body, which can take it out of the Soul. 
 For the Curfe through all Nature, and Crea- 
 ture, is but one and the fame thing, viz. The 
 Abfence of the Heavenly Power. Heaven is 
 dead in Gold, juft as it is dead in Man ; and 
 its heavenly Tincture can only .be made alive, 
 in the fame Manner, and from the fame 
 Power, as the inward Man is born again of 
 the Water, and Spirit from above. 
 
 Our outward Man muft be tormented, 
 crucified, mortified in the Fire of our own 
 Flefh and Blood ; and then it is as the grofs 
 Gold in the Crucible heated by earthly Fire. 
 But as no fiery Torments of our own Flem 
 and Blood, can glorify our inward Man, and 
 fet Him in his firft angelic State, fo no out- 
 ward Fire can torment Gold into its firft 
 Heavenly State. Our Lord faid to the cruci- 
 fied Thief, To Day malt thou be with me in 
 Paradife. 
 
 Now no one is a Divine Magus, till he is 
 thus qualified to fay to his Subjeft, To Day 
 malt Thou be with me in Paradife. If He 
 himfelf is not in Paradife, he can do no pa- 
 radifical Work. But, my Friend, let not what 
 I here fay, put you upon difputing this Point 
 
 with
 
 LETTER XIV. 179 
 
 with any one, for I fay it for a quite Contra- 
 ry End, to mew you the Vanity of all fuch 
 Difcourfe. 
 
 My dear *SW, 
 
 Otf. 16, 1752. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My dear L. 
 
 HEARTILY thank you for 
 your Laft. Talk no more of 
 obtruding upon me with your 
 Letters. Every Thing that 
 comes from you is welcome. 
 I have no need to write any Thing to you, 
 for you know all that I have to fay. You 
 ftand upon the fame Ground, that I do. 
 And you have Nothing to do, but to be ftead- 
 faft and unmoveable in that Light, which 
 God has vouch fafed to you. 
 
 But, my Friend, take Notice of this, no 
 
 Truths, however folid and well grounded, 
 
 N 2 help
 
 j8o 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 help you to any Divine Life, but fo far as 
 they are taught, nourijl^ed^ and jlrengthened 
 by an Unction from above j and that Nothing 
 more dries, and txtingui/bts this heavenly 
 Unction, than a talkative, reafoning Temper, 
 that is always catching at every Opportunity 
 of hearing, or telling fome religious Matters. 
 
 You have found enough, to prove to you, 
 that all muft be found in God, manifefted in 
 the Life of your Soul. And I muft fay again, 
 /hut your Eyes, and flop your Ears, to all 
 Religious Tales. 
 
 My dear Soul, 
 
 12, 1753. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My dear L. 
 
 O U have communicated to 
 me feveral Letters, that you 
 have wrote to your Friends, 
 and I much approve of the 
 Spirit in which you have 
 wrote them. Only I muft 
 repeat, what I have ofcen faid, Have a care 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XVI. 181 
 
 of too much Eagernefs to fet other people 
 right, left it lead you too far from Home, or 
 too much exhauft that Breath, which is to 
 keep up the Strength of your own inward 
 Life. I believe you under ftand me. 
 
 You want a Remedy, to prevent the 
 Growth of Suicide, and Madnefs. They are 
 not to be remedied by any new Way of fetting 
 forth the Folly, and Extravagancy of them. 
 When the Fruit is evil, there is no Remedy, 
 but in putting the Root of the Tree in a bet- 
 ter State. 
 
 Pride, is the Father and Mother of Suiciae 
 and Madnefs. Would you have a mare in 
 removing thefe Evils, you mull: not caft about 
 for high Speculations, there is but one Step to 
 be taken, and that is, to (hew the Neceffity 
 of Dying to Pride, and feeking for Salvation 
 only in Humility. JESUS CHRIST is the only 
 Peace, and Reft, and Satisfaction of human 
 Life. This is abfolute, and admits of no 
 Exception. St John the Baptift was the true 
 Preparer of the Way to CH R 1ST ; if you think 
 of any other Way, it is Labour loft. This 
 Point is abfolutely determined where CHRIST 
 faith, They have Mofes and the Prophets, let 
 them hear them* If they believe net Mofes, 
 nor the Prophets, neither will they be per -funded 
 though one arofe from the- Dead. 
 
 N 3 Miracles, 

 
 182 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Miracles, and Demonftrations, you fee, 
 are in vain, till Mofes, and the Prophets are 
 believed. 
 
 Now Mofes is Sin, made known by the 
 Law, and the Prophets, are Faith and Hope 
 in God. And thefe two Things muft have 
 their State, and work in the Soul, before it 
 can have any Benefit from CHRIST and his 
 Miracles. If you would therefore give fome 
 Check to the Growth of Suicide and Mad- 
 nefs, it cannot be by attacking them in 
 themfelves, or fpeaking to the Unreafonable- 
 nefs of their particular Nature, this is as ufe- 
 lefs, as a Miracle to Him, that heareth nei- 
 ther Mofes, nor the Prophets. 
 
 Now as Mofes and the Prophets were of 
 Neceflity, before the Coming of CHRIST, 
 fo it muft be in every human Soul. 
 
 And this proves the Truth, of what has 
 been fo often afTerted, of the Importance of 
 apprehending the Fail of Man, in its. true 
 and full Depth. For to hear Mofes and the 
 Prophets is in Reality only this, viz. Man 
 become truly fenfible of his impure, and fal- 
 len Nature, and looking up to God to be de- 
 livered from it. Then, whether he has, or 
 has not, ever feen the Bible, he is a true Be- 
 liever of Mofes and the prophets, is that Loft 
 Sheep, that is fure of being found, that 
 weary and heavy laden, that muft find Reft 
 and Refrelhment in CHRIST. 
 
 It
 
 LETTER XVI. 183 
 
 It matters not therefore, my Friend, what 
 you are upon, whether you would fa ve a 
 Man from Deifm, Debauchery, or Suicide, 
 you muft begin in the fame Place, from one 
 and the fame Ground, and this as unavoidably, 
 as every Fruit muft have its Beginning from 
 the Root, and from the Root in its right 
 State. 
 
 The Amiablenefs of any Virtue, or the 
 horrid Nature of any Vice, whilft only con- 
 fidered as in themielves, are but as Pictures 
 fei before our Eyes, and have no other Effect 
 upon us. And this is the Unprofitablenefs of 
 all Moral InJlruflionSy whether Heathen, or 
 Chriftian. 
 
 If you can help a Man to feek, and find, 
 and know Himielf, and his real Relation to 
 God j to know that he has neither inward, 
 nor outward Evil, but becaufe he has loft his 
 true State, and place in God j and that there- 
 fore Nothin'g can be his peace and Happinefs, 
 but his firft divine Life, or Nature quickened 
 again in Him, then you have done all that 
 you can for him, whatever his Malady is, 
 But enough of this. 
 
 J)ear Soul, 
 
 %-4 '753. 
 
 Adieu, 
 
 N4 LETTER
 
 1 84 
 
 BETTER XVII, 
 
 To the fame, 
 
 My dear L. 
 
 O U have a Scruple about the 
 wonderous Lives of the Father? 
 in the Defarts, becaufe in fuch 
 Contrariety to his Character, who 
 \ve.r. about doing good. But if you only 
 confider what you have faid of them yourjelf, 
 that the reading of their Lives, at once jlruck 
 you 'with the deepeft Devotion, and made you 
 think ivhat a Noviciate you was in the Love 
 of Cad, you would have Reafon enough to 
 place them amrngft the faithful, and true 
 Difciples of Him, who went about doing 
 Good. For what greater Good, than to do 
 that to others; for fo many Ages, which they 
 have done for you? They are not written to 
 raife an Emulation in you, to copy after 
 ,them 5 nor is tjjere any Reafon to think, that 
 their Story is not much exaggerated. But be 
 that as it will, it is certain, they were the 
 alt of the World for that Time, and that 
 .the good Providence of pod blefled his Church 
 " them.
 
 LETTER XVII. 185 
 
 They are not for you to read, but as it 
 were en pajjant, or for a little Change of Air, 
 and their Particularity of Life no more con- 
 cerns you, than that of John th$ Bapttfl. 
 
 God's laft Difpenfation to the World, is 
 the opening the Ground, and Myftery of all 
 Things, to which every Blindnefs, and Vanity, 
 and Strife of Human Life muft, fooner or 
 later, be forced to give up itfelf. 
 
 The Children of this Dilpenfation have no 
 Occafion to look backwards. It is like learn- 
 ing your A B C, when you are called and 
 qualified to read. 
 
 Be not too fond of Abftemioufnefs, nor 
 too much attached to a Milk Diet ; let no- 
 thing be a Reafon for your doing, or not do- 
 ing any Thing of this Kind, but the Health 
 and Strength of your Body. As foon as you 
 are able to bear a ftronger Diet, I would 
 have you by all Means to ufe it. There is 
 no more Harm in getting Strength from good 
 Food, than from found Sleep. And this 
 Kind of Diet, is only to be ufed as a Remedy 
 for a Time. 
 
 Dear Soul, 
 
 f'1'9, >754- 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER XVIH. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 HE Variety of Trials, you have 
 lately met with, are but a Speci- 
 men of what you are to expect, 
 in fome Form or other, fo long 
 as you breath the Air of this 
 
 fallen World. The longer we are without 
 
 them, the more our Need of them is increa- 
 fed. And they never give great Smart, but 
 where fomething is to be torn off, that flicks 
 too clofe to us. One Reflection upon thefe 
 facred Words, " My Kingdom is not of this 
 " World: The Son of Man hath not where 
 '* to lay his Head," are fufficient to take not 
 only the Sting out of every Crofs, that can 
 here befal us, but even to make us afraid, 
 and amamed of being pleafed with any Thing, 
 that has the Name of Worldly Honour, and 
 Profperity. 
 
 You have no Reafon to wonder at any 
 Thing you fee, or hear, of the Partiality, 
 Selfifhnefs, Envy, and Enmity, that fo often 
 breaks out between Brothers and Sifters of 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XVIII. 187 
 
 the fame Blood. For if Blood- Relations, con- 
 fidered as fuch, could have any true Good- 
 neis, or unfelfifh Regard to one another, we 
 fliould not be under the Necefiity of being 
 born again from above. 
 
 Will it do you any good, to tell you, that 
 thus fays my Heart, without fpeaking a 
 Word. " Let Nothing live in me, but the 
 Redeeming Power of thy holy Jefus, Nothing 
 
 pray in me but thy' holy Spirit." This is 
 
 my Ship, in which, I would be always at 
 
 Sea. All that I feek, or mean, either for 
 
 myfelf, or others, by every Height and Depth 
 of divine Knowledge, given us by God in 
 his illuminated Behmen, is only for this End, 
 that we may be more willing, and glad to be- 
 come fuch 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 faft, as his ikill in 
 Words difcovers itfelf.- And every kind of 
 Knowledge, that (hews the Scholar, the 
 Orator, the Difputer, the Commentator, the 
 Hiftorian, his own Powers and Abilities, arc 
 the fame Temptation to Him, that Eve had 
 from the Serpent ; and He will get no more 
 good by the Love and Relifli of fuch Know- 
 ledge, than (lie got by her Love of the Tree, 
 that was fo defirable to make one wife. 
 
 But
 
 188 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 But He whofe Eyes are opened, to fee in- 
 to this Myjlery of all Things^ fees Nothing 
 but Death to bimfelf, and to every Thing, 
 that he had called, or delighted in as his 
 own. This is the bold Depth of his Know- 
 ledge. And if you would know its afpiring 
 Height, it confifts in learning to know, that 
 which the Angels and Twenty-four Elders 
 about the Throne of God, knew, when 
 they caft down their Crowns, before him 
 that fat on the Throne, faying, holy, holy, 
 holy, Lord God Almighty, thou art worthy 
 to receive Glory, and Honour, and Power ; 
 for thou haft created all Things, and for thy 
 Pleafure they are, and were created. It is to 
 know, that the Triune Majefty of Father, 
 Son, and holy Spirit, are the threefold Power, 
 Life, Glory, and Perfection of every Creature, 
 that fings praifes to God, in Heaven and in 
 Earth. This is the proud Knowledge of thofe, 
 who are let into the Holy of Holies, opened 
 by the Spirit of God in his chofen Inftrument, 
 Behmen. Which goes no deeper, than to fee 
 the Nothingnefs of Man, afcends no higher, 
 than to know that God is All - 3 which begets 
 nothing in Man, but that which was begot- 
 ten in Paul, when he cried out, God forbid, 
 that I foould glory in any Thing^ but the Croft 
 af ottr Lord jfefus Chrijt t 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 OUR Stridures upon Mef- 
 fieurs of the Foundery, the Ta- 
 bernacle, &c. are very juft. 
 Thefe Gentlemen feem to have 
 no other Bottom to ftand upon, 
 but that of Zeah I hope God 
 will direct it for them, that more good may 
 come from it, than the World is willing to 
 
 believe. But I fay no more of them. 1 
 
 would advife you not to enter into Difputes 
 with them, nor any others, in Defence of 
 thofe Principles, which are the very Life and 
 Heart of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gof- 
 
 pel. No one begins to object againft 
 
 them, but on the Account of fomething 
 that is perfonal, either with Regard to him- 
 felf, or the Author of them, or becaufe they 
 are contrary to his Views and Situation in the 
 World. He who could free himfelf from 
 thefe Prejudices, would want no one to per- 
 fuade him of the Truth of them. 
 
 Mr
 
 j 9 o LETTER XIX. 
 
 Mr y. W. is an ingenious Man j and the 
 Reafon why his Letter to me, is fuch a juvenile 
 Competition of Emptinefs, and Pertnefs, as 
 is below the Character of any Man, who had 
 been ferious in Religion but half a Month, 
 is becaufe, it was not Ability , but Neceffity, 
 
 that put his pen into his Hand. He had 
 
 condemned my Books, preached much againft 
 them, and to make all fure, forbid his. Peo- 
 ple the ufe of them. And for a Cover to 
 all this, he promifed from Time to Time to 
 write againft them. Therefore an Anfwer 
 was to be made at all Adventures. What 
 you happen to hear of Mr J. W. concerning 
 me, or my Books, let it dye with you. 
 Wim him God fpeed in every Thing that is 
 good. But this you may eaiily know, that 
 He, and the Pope, have the fame Reafons, 
 and are under the fame Neceffity of condem- 
 ning, and anathematizing the Myftery revealed 
 by God, in J. B. 
 Sept. i/5 6 - Adieu. 
 
 P. S. I have no objection to your learn- 
 ing the French Language, but think you 
 much in the right, in intending to proceed 
 very leifurely in it, and as it were by the by. 
 
 * To learn, and Love the Language of the 
 
 fnternal Speaker, is more than to have the 
 Tongues of Men and Angels. 
 
 LETTER
 
 ( '9' ) 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 WAS much concerned at the 
 Account you fent me, of the 
 State of your health, and think 
 it very advifeable, to feek out 
 
 for Help, But there is the 
 
 Difficulty where to find it. All is fo very 
 
 fuperficial in the Art of Phyfick, and from 
 fo poor a Ground, that one has little to like 
 in or\e Phyfician more than in another, but 
 
 his Perfonal Tempers, and Behaviour. 
 
 Air, and gentle Exercife much purfued, muft 
 be greatly beneficial to you. If your Phy- 
 fician be for your Purpofe, he will not load 
 you with Shop- Medicines, nor ought you to 
 
 fabmit to any one that does. Nothing 
 
 can aflift you, but fome fimple Regimen, 
 that gradually leflens the Hectic in your 
 Blood. 
 
 My dear Brother Pilgrim, be of good 
 Comfort, our Road of Life is fuch t that 
 Weaknefs can help us on as faft as Strength. 
 Ufe outward Medicines, as if you ufed 
 
 them
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 them not.- The UniverfaJ is within you* 
 and whether you find it in a fickly, or a heal- 
 thy Body, is but a fmall Matter. 
 
 Daily, hourly, thankful Resignation to God 
 in every Thing, is the beft Regimen, you 
 
 can enter into, both for Soul and Body. 
 
 Every good Wifh attends my dear Fellow- 
 Traveller out of Time, into Eternity. 
 
 Oaob. 10, 1756. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 To G. W> 
 
 H E large Account you have 
 given of yourfelf, is very af- 
 fecting, and I hope God will 
 turn all the Variety of your 
 paft Diftrefs, into Means of a 
 future folid Peace, and Reft in 
 his divine Love. 
 
 To be weary and heavy Laden, is to 
 have the higheft Fitnefs to receive that Reft, 
 that CHRIST alone can give. Thefe are the 
 perfons that he called to him, when he was 
 upon Earth. They who are content with 
 
 themfelves.
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 themfelves, are in the utmoft Danger of never 
 knowing that Happinefs, for which they 
 were created. 
 
 For a while, confider yourfelf in fuch Soli- 
 tude, as if there was only God and you in the 
 World, free from every Thought, but that of 
 defiring to be wholly and folely his, and look- 
 ing wholly to his Goodnefs, to be delivered 
 out of the Mifery of your fallen State, 
 
 Stand firmly in this Faith, That God and 
 the Kingdom of Heaven are certainly within 
 you, and within you for this only Reafon, 
 that they may become your Salvation. As 
 all therefore is within, fo let all your Care be 
 turned inwards, in lotingj adoring, and pray- 
 ing to this GOD and CHRIST within you. 
 
 Be not too eager about much Reading. Nor 
 read any Thing, but that which nourishes, 
 rtrengthens, and eftablifhes this Faith in you, 
 of an inward Saviour, who is the Life of your 
 Soul. To grow up in this Faith, is taking 
 the bed Means, of attaining to the beft Know- 
 ledge in all Divine Matters. 
 
 Cart away all Reflections about yourfelf, 
 the World, or your part Life. And let all 
 be fwallowed up, or loft in this joyful 
 Thought, that you have found the Meiliah, 
 the Saviour of the World, not in Books, 
 not in Hiftory, but in the Birth, and Bottom 
 of your own Soul. , Give yourfelf up to this 
 Birth of Heaven within you, expeft all 
 O - from
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 from it, let it be the humble, faithful, long- 
 ing Deiire of your Heart, and defirc no 
 Knowledge, but that which is born of it, and 
 proceeds from it. Stand only in this Thirft 
 of Knowledge, and then all that you know 
 will be Spirit and Life. 
 
 With a Heart full of good Wijhes to you , 
 
 May 8 1750. 
 
 Tour's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To the fame, 
 
 My dear Friend^ 
 
 KNOW not myfelf, how 
 to write to the moft illumi- 
 nated Perfon upon Earth, for 
 Advice, or Inftruclion. And 
 the more dark, and diftreffed 
 my State mould be, the more 
 I mould be averfe to feek 
 Counfel of ary Creature ; not from an Opi- 
 nion of any Sufficiency in myfelf, but from a 
 
 Fulnefr
 
 LETTER XXII. 195 
 
 tulnefs of Conviction, that I run away from 
 Relief, and deprive myfelf of true Light ', and 
 Comfort^ by not feeking, and depending upon 
 God ALONE for it. 
 
 All my Writings have no other End, but to 
 communicate this Conviffion to my Readers, 
 and confequently to teach them to have done 
 'with me, as foon as I have convinced them, 
 that GOD and CHRIST and the Kingdom of 
 Heaven are only to be found by Man, in his 
 own Heart, and only capable of being found 
 there, by his own Love of them, Faith in 
 them, and abfolute Dependance upon them. 
 
 What room, therefore, for calling out for 
 Help and Direction, when once it is known, 
 that all confifts in an implicit blind Faith, in 
 Purity of Love, and total Refignation to the 
 Spirit of GOD ? For where can thefe be exer- 
 cifed, but in the States and Trials through 
 Which Human Life muft pafs. 
 
 And tc acquiefce in God, when Things are 
 inwardly, and outwardly eafy with us, but 
 to caft about for Help from fomething that 
 is not God, when Diftrefs and Darknefs 
 come upon us, is the Error of Errors, and 
 the greateft Hindrance to our true Union 
 with GOD in CHRIST JESUS. 
 
 / am with mucb Truth and Sincerity, 
 Sep. 22, 1754. four afe&ionate Friend. 
 
 O 2 LETTER
 
 i 9 6 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To the fame* 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 HE Charge of Spinofizm brought 
 againft me by Dr Warburton> 
 has all the Folly and Weaknefs, 
 &c. &c. that can well be ima- 
 gined. For as Spinofizm, is 
 nothing elfe but a grofs confounding of God 
 and Nature, making them to be only one 
 and the fame thing, fo the full Abfurdity, 
 and abfolute ImporTibility of it, can only be 
 fundamentally proved, by that Dodrine 
 which can go to the Bottom of the Matter, 
 and demonftrate the effential, eternal, and 
 abfolute Diftinclion, between God and Na- 
 ture j a Thing done over and over, from 
 Page to Page in thofe Books, from which 
 the Dodor has extracted Spinofizm, jufl 
 with as much Acutenefs, as if he had fpied 
 rank Warburtoniamfm^ in my Letter to th'e 
 Right Reverend the Bithop of London. 
 . Now although the Difference between God 
 and Nature, has always been fuppofed, and 
 believed, yet the true Ground of fuch Dif- 
 
 tindion.,
 
 LETTER XXIIL 497 
 
 tin<tion, or the Why^ the How, and in 
 What, they are efTentially different, and muft 
 be ib to all Eternity, was to be found in no 
 Books, till the Goodnefs of God, in a Way 
 not lefs than that of Miracle, made a poor 
 illiterate Man, in the Simplicity of a Child, 
 to open and relate the deep myfterious 
 Ground of all Things ; in which is fhewn 
 the Birth and Beginning of Nature, or the 
 fir ft Workings of the inconceivable God, 
 opening and manifefting his hidden, Tri-nne 
 Deity, in an outward State of Glory, in the 
 Splendor of united Fire, Light, and Spirit, 
 all kindled, and diftinguimed, all united and 
 beatified, by the hidden, invifible, incon- 
 ceivable, fupernatural Father, Son, and holy 
 Spirit, working all the Glories in Heaven, 
 and every kind of Life, and Bleffing on Earth, 
 by vifible, and invilible " Fire, Light, and 
 Spirit. 
 
 This is the wonderful Gift of God to thefe 
 laft diftradted Ages of the World ; and as 
 every Purpofe of God muft ftand, and fooner 
 or later produce all that, which God intended 
 by it ; fo the more the Wife and the Learned 
 in all Churches, reject this Counfel of God, 
 the more they will promote its Succefs over 
 themfelves, and only help it, to come forth 
 with greater Strength, and Glory to God, by 
 being owned, and proclaimed by the Mouths 
 of Babes, and Sucklings. 
 
 Q 3 Babel
 
 198 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 5^/hath always had Men for its Builders ; 
 but the Kingdom of God ever was, and eyef 
 will be made up of little Children. 
 
 Farewell. 
 
 1757. 
 
 P. 5. I have read the Pamphlet ybu fent 
 on Divinity Studies. It may be faid to be 
 much better, than moil of the kind in this 
 and the laft Century, and infinitely beyond 
 Mr We/left Baby Ion ifh Addrefs to the Clergy ; 
 but yet fo wrong, as to be worfe than no Ad- 
 vice at all. We feem to be farther from 
 
 the Crofpel, in Point of Spirit, than in pi- 
 ttance of Time. What (hall I fay? Ba- 
 bel is not a City f it is the whole Chriftian 
 World. As to all thefe Dire&ors of Divinity- 
 Students, no more Folly need be laid to. 
 their Charge, than is done by our Lord in 
 thefe Words, Without me ye can do nothing ; 
 as my Father fent me, Co fend I you ; the Holy 
 Spirit Jhall guide you into all Truth. To all 
 which the Apoflle fubfcribeth in thefe Words, 
 Who hath made us able Minifters, not of the 
 Letter, but of the Spirit. 
 
 Now, put thefe Words of Chrift and his 
 Apoftle, at the Beginning and End of Mr 
 Wejley'% Addrefs, and then you will fee, 
 that almoft all that is betwixt them, is empty 
 
 Babbit,
 
 LETTER XXIII. j 99 
 
 Babble, fitter for an old Grammarian^ that 
 was grown blear-eyed in mending Di&io- 
 naries, than for one who had tafted the 
 Powers of the World to come, and had 
 found the Truth as it is in Jefas. 
 
 LETTER XXIV, 
 To Mr T. L. 
 
 My dear L. 
 
 AM PER with no Phyficians, 
 but content yourfelf, to have 
 that Share of Health, which a 
 regular and good Life can 
 help you to. Reflect not up- 
 on your predominant Com- 
 plexion, or how long it will be, before you 
 get from under its Power. St Paul wanted 
 to be delivered from his Thorn in the Flejfh. 
 He had all he prayed for, though the Thorn 
 might continue, when God faid to him, My 
 Grace is fufficient for thee j this was better to 
 him, than if his Thorn had been taken from 
 him. This enabled him to fay, I will glory 
 in my Infirmities ; for when I am weak, then 
 lamftrong. You believe, that if it was not 
 for earneft and continual Prayer, your Turn 
 04 to
 
 200 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 to Melancholy would get the better of you. 
 You cannot believe this too much, for 
 nothing elfe can preferve you, from being led 
 away by every other evil Temper. But let 
 Resignation to God/ be the predominant Part 
 of your Spirit of Prayer j it is not fo much 
 ardent Defires, as humble Refignation to be 
 as God pleaies, that keeps the Heart in the 
 highefl: Union with him. Faith anifl Hope 
 gnd Love get their beft Strength, and work 
 their higheft Woik, when Refignation is the 
 Salt wherewith they are feafoned. 
 
 You think, if you was to live an. hundred 
 Years in an abftrafted Contemplation , fome 
 Property of Nature, would ftili be occa- 
 fionally breaking forth in you. What occa- 
 fion had you, my Friend, to make this Com- 
 plaint about fuch a Contemplation ? 
 
 You have no Bufinefs with it, nor any 
 Reafon to expect. it mould do any thing for 
 you. Had you changed your Words, and 
 faid, I believe if I was for a hundred Years 
 to be wholly trufting in, and depending up- 
 on God, to do that for me, which He has 
 proniifed to do for all that truft in Him, it 
 would not be done : Had you expreffed your 
 Complaint in thefe Words, you would have 
 feen, -that neither Faith, nor Hope, nor 
 Love, nor Refignation, would have allowed 
 you to make it. Look at yourfelf, at the 
 Power of Time, or any thing that this or 
 
 that
 
 LETTER XXIV. 201 
 
 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 EfFedts, lofe all their Difference, 
 as foon as you know, that you are not your 
 own, nor left to yourfelf, nor where to feek 
 a Phyfician, that will not leave you un- 
 healed. 
 
 We know that all Things muft work toge- 
 ther for Good, to them that love God. Now 
 what fignifies what the Things are, if we are 
 to have the fame good from them, be they 
 what they will ? Let Complexion mew itfelf^ 
 let the dead Ames of old Sins, feem to be 
 ready to come to Life again, what 'is all this, 
 but helping us to be more alive unto God ? 
 Flem will be Flem as long as we live, but 
 every State of the Flem may help us to grow 
 in the Spirit. Therefore rejoice evermore, 
 in every Thing give Thanks, and call no- 
 thing but this, abftratted Contemplation. 
 
 FareweL 
 
 LETTER
 
 ( 202 ) 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To a Clergyman of Weftmoreland. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 .ONCERNING the following 
 Texts, God hardned the Heart 
 of Pharaoh ; He hath mercy 
 on whom He will have mercy, 
 arid "whom He will he hardeneth ; - Good 
 and Evil are from Lord ; - 1 create Light, 
 and I create Darknefs j you afk, how thefc 
 Things can be confidently affirmed of a God, 
 all Love and Goodnefs to his Creatures ? 
 
 I would afk you alfo, is there any Difficul- 
 ty of admitting the Truth of this Scripture, 
 In God we live, and move, and have our Being ? 
 does this clafh with the Idea of a God all 
 Love and Goodnefs to the Creatures? - 
 Now take all the contrary Things that are 
 faid of God, with Relation to that which 
 pafies between God and Man, and they all 
 imply no more, affirm no more, than the 
 iingle foregoing Text, namely, that in every 
 
 State
 
 LETTER XXV. 203 
 
 State of the Life of Man, be it what it will, 
 either under a Senie and Enjoyment of Good, 
 or the Power and Pain of Evil, it is all owing 
 to this divine, original, effential Relation be- 
 tween God and Man, or becaufe in him we 
 Iive 9 and move, find have our Being, 
 For Man, thus come from God, muft 
 through the whole Courfe, or endlefs Ages 
 of his Life, neither know, nor find, nor feel 
 any thing of Good or Evil, Life or Death, 
 Happinefs or Mifery, but folely becaufe of 
 That, which God is in him, and to him, 
 and becaufe of That, which he is in God, 
 and hath from him, by his original Birth or 
 Creation. 
 
 The earthly Animals, whofe Birth is only 
 jn and from this World, can have no Evil of 
 Sin, or Mifery in their State, from God; 
 and that only for this one Reafon, becaufe they 
 are not born of God, or partakers of the di- 
 vine Nature. Therefore God's creating Evil 
 in Man, is the fame Thing, as if it was laid, 
 the divine Birth in Man, is that which cre- 
 ates his Evil, becaufe he could have no Sin of 
 a wrathful, proud, hardened Heart, thefe 
 Things could neither exift in him, or be 
 Jtnown by him, but becaufe he came into 
 
 Being by a divine Birth. Angels could 
 
 not be diabolical Spirits of Darknefs, fiery 
 Dragons of Wrath, Fury, Malice, Vengeance, 
 Envy,. Hatred, &c. &c. but becauie they 
 
 were
 
 204 LETTER XXV. 
 
 were all born of God, to live and move and 
 have their Being in him. This has created 
 all the Evil of every Kind, that they can feel 
 or know in their whole State. 
 
 All the Difficulty of reconciling fuch con- 
 trary Things as are faid of God, that He 
 willeth only Life and Good, and yet that Evil 
 and Death, are faid to come from him, arifes 
 from our confidering the Operations of God 
 in a creaturely Manner, or as we mould un- 
 derftand the fame contrary Things, if they 
 
 were affirmed of any Creature.- Whereas 
 
 the Operation of God, in its whole Kind and 
 Nature, is as different from any Thing that 
 can be done by Creatures, as the Work and 
 Manner of Creation, is different, in Power, 
 Nature, and Manner, from that which Crea- 
 tures can do to one another.- For (N. B.) 
 
 the Operation of God is never /';; or with 
 the Creature in any other Manner , or doing 
 any other Thing, but that which it was and 
 
 did in the Creation of them. This, and 
 
 this alone is the working of the Deity in 
 Heaven and on Earth ; nothing comes from 
 him, or is done by him through all the Eter- 
 nity of his Creatures, but that ejfential Mani- 
 feftation of himfelf in them, which began 
 the Glory and Perfection of their firft Exif- 
 tence, Now from this one, fingle, im- 
 mutable Operation pf God, that He can be 
 nothing elfe in, or towards the Creature, 
 
 but
 
 LETTER XXV, 205 
 
 but that fame Love and Goodnefs, that He 
 was to it, at its Creation, it neceffarily fol- 
 lows, that to the Creature that turns from 
 him, God can be nothing elfe to it, but the 
 Caufe of all its Evil and miferable State. 
 Hence is that of the Apoftle, that Sin cometb 
 by the Law, becaufe where there is no Law, 
 
 there is no TranfgreJ/ion. Now God, or 
 
 the divine Nature in Man, is the One great 
 Law of God in Man, from which, all that 
 is Good and all that is Evil in him, hath its 
 
 whole State and Nature. His Life can 
 
 have no Holinefs or Goodnefs in it, but as 
 the divine Nature within him, is the Law 
 by which he lives. He can commit no 
 other Sin, nor feel any kind of Hurt or Evil 
 from it, but what comes from refitting, or 
 rebelling again ft 'That of God, which is in 
 him ; and therefore the Good and Evil of Man, 
 
 are equally from God. And yet this could 
 
 not be, but becaufe of this Ground, viz. that 
 God is unchangeable Love and Goodnefs, and 
 has only one Will and Work of Love and Good- 
 nefs towards the Creature.- --Juft as the 
 Law could not make Sin, or Evil, but be- 
 caufe it has no Sin or Evil in itfelf, but is 
 immutably righteous, holy, and good, and 
 has only one Will and one Work towards Man, 
 whether he receives Good or Evil by it. 
 Therefore the righteous, holy Law, that is fo, 
 becaufe it never changes its good Will, and 
 
 Work
 
 206 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Work towards Man, can truly fay of itfelf 
 thefe two contrary Things, I create Good, 
 and I create Evil, without the leaft Contra- 
 
 didion. In the like Truth, and from the 
 
 fame Ground, it muft be faid, that Happi- 
 nefs and Mifery, Life and Death, Tender- 
 nefs and Hardnefs of Heart, are from God* 
 or becaufe God is that which He is, in and 
 to the Birth and Life of Man. 
 
 This is the one true Key to the State of 
 Man before his Fall, to his State after his 
 Fall, and to the whole Nature of his Re- 
 demption. All which three States, are in a 
 few Words of our Saviour, fet forth in the 
 cleared and ftrongeft Degree of Light. / am 
 the true Vine^ ye are the Branches. He thai 
 abide th in Me y and 1 in him, bringetb forth 
 
 much Fruit. This was Man's firft created 
 
 State of Glory and Perfection, it was a living 
 and abiding in God, fuch a Birth and Com- 
 munion of Life with him, and from him, 
 as the Branch hath in and from the Vine. 
 
 The Nature of Man's fallen State, and 
 whence he has all the Evil that is in it, is fet 
 forth in the following Words, If a Man 
 abide not -. in me (the true Vine) he is caft 
 forth as a Branch, and is withered, and Men 
 gather them, and they are caji into the Fire 
 and burned. This comprehends the whole 
 of Man's fallen State, ramely, a being broken 
 off from the Life of God, and therefore be- 
 come
 
 LETTER XXV. 207 
 
 come fuch a poor, withered, helplefs Crea- 
 ture, as may have all that done to him, as a 
 Firebrand of Hell and Devils, which Men 
 may do to a broken off, withered Branch of 
 the Vine. And his State is as different from 
 that of his Creation, as a withered Branch, 
 fmoaking and burning in the Fire, is different 
 from its firft State of Life and Growth in the 
 
 rich Spirit of the Vine. Again, the whole 
 
 of Man's redeemed State, is in the following 
 Words, lam the Bread of Life , that came 
 down from Heaven -, He that eateth this 
 
 Bread foall live for ever ; Whofo eatetb 
 
 my Flejh and drinketh my Blood, hath eternal 
 Life, dix>ellcth in me, and I in him. 
 
 This is our whole Redemption, it confifts 
 in nothing elfe, but having the full Life of 
 God, or Birth of Chrift begotten, and born 
 
 in us again. And thus do thefe three 
 
 States of Man fully mew, that our firft Per- 
 feclion, our miferable Fall, and blefled Re- 
 demption, have all that they have in them, 
 whether of Glory, or Mifery, merely and 
 folely becaufe God alone is all that is good, 
 and can be nothing elfe but good towards 
 the Creature ; and that neither Angel, nor 
 Man can be happy or miierable, but becaufe 
 it either hath, or hath not, this one God of 
 Goodnets eflentially living and operating in 
 it. 
 
 What
 
 2 o8 LETTER XXV. 
 
 What a Number of Things called Reli- 
 gion, are here cut off at once ? fincc nothing 
 is Life, Happinefs, and Glory, but the one 
 effential Operation of the Triune God of 
 Love, and Goodncfs within us ; nothing is 
 Death, Evil, or Mifery, but the Departure, 
 or turning from this efiential God of our 
 Lives, to fomething that we would have 
 from ourfelves, or the Creatures that are 
 about us. And how greatly is he delu- 
 ded, who living among the Throng of re- 
 ligious Schemes, thinks this, or that, or any 
 Thing in Nature, can be his Atonement, 
 his Reconciliation, and Union with God, 
 but the Spirit, the Body, and the Blood of 
 Chrift forming themfelves into a new Crea- 
 ture within him. Then, and then only is 
 he that firft Man that God created, in 
 whom alone he can be well plealed. But 
 till then, he is that Man, whom the Cherubs 
 two-edged flaming Sword will not fufFer to 
 
 enter into Paradife. How is it now, 
 
 that we are to regain that firft Birth of 
 Chrift ? Why juft in the fame Way, as 
 Adam had it at iirft. What did he then 
 do ? How did he help forward God's creat- 
 ing Power? Now creating again, or re- 
 
 floring a firft Life in God, is juft the fame 
 thing, and the fame fole Work of God, as 
 creating us at firft ; and therefore we can have 
 no more Share of Power in the one, than in 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XXV. 209 
 
 the other. Nothing lies upon us as Crea- 
 tures fallen from God, or is required of us 
 wuh Regard to our Growth in God, but not 
 to re/ifl That, which God is doing towards a 
 new Creation of us. 
 
 That which God is doing towards the new 
 Creation of us, had its Beginning before the 
 Foundation of the World. In Chrift Jefus, 
 faith St Paul, we were chofen before the Foun- 
 dation of the World; the fame as faying, that 
 God out of his great Mercy, had chofen to 
 preferve a Seed of the W O R D and SPI- 
 RIT of God in fallen Man, which thro* the 
 Mediation of a God incarnate, mould revive 
 into that fullnefs of Stature in Chrift Jefus, 
 in which Adam was at firft created. And 
 all this Work of God towards a new Creation, 
 is by that fame effential Operation of God in 
 us, which at firft created us in his Image and 
 tikenefs. And therefore Nothing belongs to 
 Man in it, but only to yield hirhielf up to it, 
 and not refill it. 
 
 Now who is it, that may be faid to reftft 
 it ? It is every one who does not deny himfelf^ 
 take up his Crofs daily, and follow Chjift. 
 For every thing but this, is thai Flefh that 
 warreth againft the Spirit. The whole Life 
 of the natural Man, refifteth all that ejjential 
 Operation of God, which would create us 
 again in Chrift Jefus. Farther, every Reli- 
 gious Man refifteth it, in and by and through 
 
 P IDC
 
 210 LETTER XXV. 
 
 the whole Courfe of his Religion, who takes 
 any thing to be the Truth of Piety, the Truth 
 of Devotion, the Truth of Religious Worfhip, 
 but Faith, and Hope, and Truft, and De- 
 pendance upon ^hat alone, which the All- 
 Creating WORD, and All-Sandifying 
 SPIRIT of God, inwardly, eflentially, 
 and vitally worketh in his Soul. 
 
 Woula you know, how you are to under- 
 ftand this eflential Operation of the Triurie ho- 
 ly Deity in our Souls, and why nothing elfe 
 is, or can be that Grace or Help of God, 
 which bringeth Salvation, take this earthly 
 Similitude of the Matter. 
 
 The Light and Air of this World, are 
 univerfal Powers, that are eflential to thd Life 
 of all the Creatures of this World. They are 
 (ffential, becaufe Nothing /, till the Light 
 has brought forth a Birth of itfelf in the 
 Eflence of the Creature, which Birth of Light 
 can laft no longer, than it is eflentially united 
 with the Operation of that univerfal Light, 
 which brought it forth : Air is alfo eflential 
 to the Life of the Creature, becaufe nothing 
 lives, till a Birth of the Air is born in it, nor 
 any longer, than its own in- born Air, is in 
 ejjential Union with that univerfal Air, and 
 Operation of Air, that firft brought it forth. 
 Now from this eflential, unalterable Re- 
 lation between Light and Air, and feeing, 
 living Creatures, it plainly jfollows, that 
 
 Darknefs
 
 LETTER XXV. 211 
 
 Darknefs and Death, may be afcribed to 
 them, as well as Seeing and Life. 
 
 Thus, if Light and Air could fay any thing 
 of themfehes in outward Words, of that which 
 they are, and do to all Animals ; If the 
 Light was to fay, It is I that make feeing and 
 blind Eyes ; If the Air was to fay, I create 
 Life, and I create Death j could there be any 
 Difficulty of underftanding, or allowing the 
 Truth of thefe Words ? Or could they be 
 true in any other Senfe, but becaufe where 
 Light is not, there is the Caufe of Darknefs, 
 and where Air is not, there is the Caufe of 
 Death. And fo in the ftritfeft Truth of the 
 Words, feeing and blind Eyes are from the 
 Light ; living and dead Bodies are from the 
 Air. Becaufe Darknefs could not be, but 
 becaufe Light does not fhine in it, nor the 
 Body be dead, but becaufe the breathing of 
 the Air is not in it. 
 
 It is thus, with the ejjential Operation of 
 the Triune Holy God, in the Life of all di- 
 vine and godly Creatures, whether Men or 
 
 Angels. The Light and holy Spirit of 
 
 God, are univerfal Powers, and effential to 
 the Birth of a godly Life in the Creature ; 
 which creaturely Birth of a divine Life, can 
 begin no fooner, than the WORD and 
 S P I R I T of God bring forth a Birth of 
 themfelves in tfce Creature, nor fubfift any 
 longer, than it is united with, and ufider the 
 P 2 continual
 
 212 LETTER XXV. 
 
 continual Operation of that Word and Spirit, 
 
 which brought it forth. Hence it is truly 
 
 faid, that fpiritual Life, and fpiritual Death, 
 fpiritual Good and fpiritual Evil, Happinefs 
 and Mifery are from God, and that for this 
 one Reafon, becaufe there is no Good, but 
 in God, nor any other Operation of God in, 
 and to the Creature, but that of heavenly Life, 
 Light, Love, and Goodnefs. 
 
 When Man, created in the Image and 
 Likenefs of God, to be an Habitation and 
 Manifeftation of the Triune God of Good- 
 nefs, had by the Perverfenefs of a falfe Will, 
 turned from his holy State of Life in God, 
 and fo was dead to the bleffed Union, and 
 efTential Operation of God in his Soul, yet 
 the Goodnefs of God towards Man, altered 
 not, but flood in the fame good Will towards 
 Man as at the firft, and willed, and could 
 will nothing elfe towards the whole human 
 Nature, but that every Individual of it, might 
 be faved from that State of Death and Mifery 
 in an earthly Nature, into which they were 
 fallen. 
 
 Hence, that is, from this unchangeable 
 Love of God towards Man, which could no 
 more cea r e, than God could ceale, came 
 forth that wonderful Scene of Providence, of 
 fuch a variety of Means, and Difpenfations, 
 'of Vlfions, Voices, and MefTages from Hea- 
 ven, of Law, of Prophecies, of Promifes 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XXV. 213 
 
 and Threatnings, all adapted to the different 
 States, Conditions, and Ages of the fallen 
 World, for no other End, but by every Art 
 of divine Wiidom, and Contrivance of Love, 
 to break off Man from his earthly Delufion, 
 and beget in him a Senfe of his loft Glory, 
 and fo make htm capable of finding again 
 that blcfied eflential Operation of Father, 
 Son, and holy Spirit in his Soul, which was 
 the effentiai Glory of his riift Creation. 
 
 Now, as in this Scene of a divine and re- 
 deeming Providence, God had to do with a 
 poor, blind, earthly Creature, that had loft 
 all Senfe of heavenly Things, as they are in 
 themfelves, fo the Wifdom of God, muft 
 often, as it were, humanize itfelf, and con- 
 defcend to fpeak of himfelf after the Manner 
 of Men. He muft fpeak of his Eyes, his 
 Ears, his Hands, his Nofe, &c. becaufe the 
 earthly Creature, the mere natural Man, 
 could no otherwife be brought into any Senie 
 of That> which God was to him. 
 
 But now, all this Procefs of divine Provi- 
 dence, was only for the fake of fomething 
 higher; the Myftery of God in Man, and 
 Man in God, ftill lay hid, and was no more 
 opened, than the Myftery of a redeeming 
 Chri'ft, was opened in the Type of a Pafchaj 
 Lamb. 
 
 Pentecojl alone was That, which took away 
 all Veils, and fliewed the Kingdom of God, 
 
 PS
 
 2i 4 LETTER XXV. 
 
 as it was in itfelf, and fet Man again under 
 the immediate, eflential Operation of God, 
 which fiift gave Birth to a holy Adam in Par- 
 radife. Types and Shadows ended, becaufe 
 the fubflance of them was found. The clo- 
 ven Tongr.wj of Fire had put an End to them, 
 by opening the divine Eyes, which Adam, 
 had clofed up, udftoppiirg the fpiritual Ears, 
 that he had fikd with Clay, and makin; 'us 
 jdumb Sons 10 fpeak with new Tongues 
 
 And what did ihey fay ? Trey aid all old 
 Things were gone, That a new Heaven and a. 
 new Earth were roming forth, Thar God 
 himfelf was maniitfted in the Flefh of Men, 
 who were now all taught of God. And 
 what were they taught ? That lame which 
 Adam was taught by his firrt created Life 
 in God, namely, that the immediate, elTen- 
 tial .Operation of Father, Son, and holy Spi- 
 rit, was henceforth the Birthright of all that 
 were become true Difciples of Chrift. - 
 Thus ended the ojd Creation, and the Fall 
 of Man, in a God manifefted in the Fiefh, 
 .dying in and for the World, and coming 
 again in Spirit, to be the Life and Light of 
 aU the Sons of Adam. 
 
 Look now at all God's Difperjfations to. 
 the Day of Pentecoft, in this true point of 
 View, as b many Schools of different Pif- 
 t cip]in v e and Education of the natural Man, 
 Jtili by a Bi|th from above, he coold bear 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XXV. 215 
 
 the Language of Heaven, and be taught 
 of God, and then you will fufficiently fee 
 the chiidifh Folly of thofe grey-headed 
 Do&ors, who forgetting that the lajLTtmes 
 are come, when God will be known only 
 as a Spirit, worihipped only in Spirit, becaufe 
 every thing elfe is but Shadow, and not 
 the Truth, yet fet up themfelves as Matters, 
 or Rabbies of new Schools of their own, 
 which can only keep up that doating 
 Learning, and Wifdom of Words, which 
 compelled the learned Jews, for the fake 
 of God, and Goodnefs, for the fake of Law 
 and Prophecy, to crucify the Chrift of God, 
 as a Beelzebub, and Blafphemer. 
 
 This old Logic and Criticifm of Scribes 
 and Pharifees, is that which robs difputing 
 Chriftians of the Truth as it is in Jefus, and 
 inftead of the true Bread that came down 
 from Heaven, feeds their unregenerate Hearts 
 with the dry Hufks of That, which can 
 be got from Text fet againft Text in the 
 outward Letter. , Nay fo wife are thefe 
 verbal Proficients, as to think the Gofpel 
 muft be falfe, and the Bible itfelf only fit 
 to be burned, if all That, is not to be 
 afcribed to God, as true of him, as he is 
 in himfelf, which in Condefcenfion to the 
 poor, ignorant, fallen, earthly Creature, he 
 ipeaks of his Eyes, his Ears, his Hands, his 
 Burning his Back, and turning his Face, h(s 
 P 4 doming
 
 216 LETTER XXV. 
 
 coming down, and going up, his fiery 
 
 his deftroying Fury, everlafting Vengeance, 
 
 & Cf fcfc. Whereas all thefe Things are 
 
 faid, not becaule of That, which God is in 
 himfelf, in his holy, fupernatural Being, 
 but becaufe of that, which Man is, in the 
 Blind nefs of his fallen State, fo ignorant of 
 God, fo averfe to Godlinefs, as only capable 
 for a Time, to be inftrucled by the Im- 
 
 preflions of fuch Language : That is, till 
 
 the Threatnings of the Law, and the Word 
 of Prophecy have done their Work, and that 
 Day- Star arifeth in the Heart , which 
 knoweth) and teacheth, that CREATOR, 
 REDEEMER, and LOVE, are the 
 one true unchangeable, Tri-une God, that 
 Father, that Son, and holy Spirit, which 
 from Everlafting to Everlafting, have only 
 one Will> and one Work of heavenly Life, 
 Light, and Love /, and towards th 
 
 Creature. And as true as this is, fo true 
 
 is it alfo, that from the firft to the laft Man, 
 no one was, or ever will be any farther from 
 this eflential Operation of the holy Deity 
 in his Soul, but fo far as he hath withdrawn 
 
 himfelf from it. God hardened the Heart 
 
 of Pharaoh ; this faith neither more nor lefs, 
 than that Pharaoh had withdrawn his Heart 
 from God. When God faith to Mofes, I will 
 tarden his Heart, that he will not let the 
 People go*, it hath no other Meaning, than to 
 
 give
 
 LETTER XXV. 217 
 
 give to Mofes that fame full Afiurance of 
 Pharaoh's State, which he gave to Jeremiah 
 at another Time. Thou foalt (faith God) 
 fpeak all tbefe Words to them, (N. B.) but they 
 will not hearken to tbee, thou flail call unto 
 them y but they will not anfwer thee. Jer. vii. 
 
 27. God helped Pharaoh to his hardened 
 
 Heart) juft as he helped Adam not to be 
 afraid of eating of the evil Tree, by affuring 
 
 him, that certain Death was hid in it. 
 
 Bat Adam's turning from God, to hear the 
 Voice and Inftrudlion of his own Reafon and 
 Imagination, and the Suggeftions of a fatanical 
 Serpent, was that which created in him a 
 new hardened Heart, bold enough to eat of 
 
 the forbidden Tree. Now here, Sir, 
 
 I would have you obferve, that this Rife of 
 the firft Sin, fully demonftrates how the 
 Matter unalterably ftands between God and 
 every Sinner, to the end of the World j there 
 cannot be the fmalleft Variation, either on 
 the fide of God, or on the fide of the Sinner. 
 The 'whole Nature of God, his one unal- 
 terable Will and Work, ftands in the fame 
 full Oppofition and Contrariety to every Work 
 of Sin in every Man, as it did to Adanfs 
 firft Tranfgreffion. Nothing new will ever 
 be in any Sin, it has but one Way of coming 
 into the World, it muft always be born out 
 of Self and Satan, as the firft was. And 
 ihat which God did to prevent the firft Sin, 
 
 faying
 
 218 LETTER XXV. 
 
 faying to jddam> Eat not> that fame 
 culous Voice of Love, keeps faying, and 
 faying to every Son of Adam, Sin not. 
 
 Yet fo wife in the Ways of God, are fome 
 Divinity-Students, as to teach and preach, 
 that the whole World, through its thoufands 
 of Years, has been bringing forth its millions 
 of Myriads x>f Sinners ail round the Globe, 
 who as foon as they have done with the Vanity 
 and Mifery of this World, are to be roaring 
 in the hotteft Fire of an eternal Hell. For 
 what ? Why, becaufe they have been juft 
 ks wicked, as the Decrees of God required 
 and forced them to be. And alfo through 
 every Age of the World, there hath always 
 been a little Number of Righteous, who were 
 to go to Heaven, which Number had no 
 Lutlenefs in it, but .becaufe God would not 
 fuffer it to be greater. . 
 
 Can a Charge like this be brought againft 
 5atan ? Nay, doth it not even free Satan from 
 .all the Evil that is charged upon him, and 
 ma-k-e him, .though ;gokig about as a roaring 
 Lion, to be a& infignificant a Tool in the 
 Work of Sin, as the Preacher is in the Work 
 of Godlinefs, though with ever fo loud a 
 Voice, he befeeches the Reprobate to be 
 reconciled to God, or with Tears in his Eyes, 
 exhorts the 4 Elett not to depart from him ? 
 
 You once> I remember, faid to me, that 
 you thought I over did the Matter, in Hiy 
 
 Cenfurc
 
 LETTER XXV. 219 
 
 Censure upon- Learning. Let Learning 
 therefore fpeak for itfelf. Let its own Works 
 praife it. What has it done ? What has 
 brought forth i* Multiplicity of Churches, but 
 that very fame'Afcu-tenefs of Learning, which 
 aflerts and prOvETthere is bnt One ? Whence 
 comes- Tranfubftantiation, Election, Repro- 
 bation, Juftification of feveral Sorts, Neceflity 
 and Inlignificancy of Works, Socinianifm, 
 Arianifm, &c. but from that Knowledge of 
 Hiftory, and critical Skill in Words, which 
 is the Glory of the learned World. 
 
 Without me ye can do nothing^ faith Chrift. 
 tfhat which a Man fowetb^ that jhall he 
 reap, faith the Apoftle. Truths like thefe, 
 of which the Scripture is' foil, would keep 
 all Believers in the true Church; attentive 
 to the one thing needful, had not a Learning 
 falfely fo called, filled all Eyes with the Duft 
 of Darknefs. 
 
 Now, Sir, be as fober as you will about the 
 Ufe and Power of Learning, Logic, and 
 Eloquence, in the Doctrines of Salvation ; 
 condemn the bad ufe that Heretics, Schif- 
 rnatics, Arians and Socinians have made of 
 them; yet let- me whifper this Truth into 
 your Ear, that you will never be Delivered 
 from the Delufion and Cheat of your own 
 Learning, till by a -Light of Life rifen up 
 within you, you come to fee, and know, 
 ithat you waut no more Learning, to change 
 
 you
 
 220 LETTER XXV. 
 
 you from a Sinner into a Saint, than Mary 
 "Magdalene did. 
 
 God faid to Abraham, V/alk before me t 
 and be thou perfefl. 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 ftand not thus now, becaufe the 
 glorious Light of the Gofpel (he fays) has 
 difcovered that all lies in an Election and Re" 
 probation, and that Salvation and Damnation 
 come from nothing elfe, the Apoftle ex- 
 prefsly faying, It is not of him that ivilleth, 
 nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 
 fiewetb Mercy. What a learned Strife 
 
 has there been about the Meaning of thefe 
 Words? And yet they mean not one Jott 
 more or lefs, than when the Apoftle faith, 
 The natural Man knoweth not the Things 
 
 of the Spirit, neitker can he know them. 
 
 All that is in the one Text, is in the other ; 
 and both of them fay only this one great and 
 good Truth, namely, that the Creature can 
 have no divine Life, Light, Goodnefs, and 
 Happinefs, but from That, which the holy 
 Tri-une God is, and operates by a Birth of 
 his holy Nature in it. 
 
 Farewel, 
 
 FINIS.
 
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 upon
 
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