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.
BOOKS written by the Reverend WILLIAM
LAW, M. A. and fold by ]. RICHARDSON,
in Pater-nofter-Row.
i. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy
jfjL Life-, adapted to the State and Con-
dition of all Orders of Chriftians. The 4th
Edit. 8vo. and i2mo.
2. A Practical Treatife on Chriftian Per-
fedtion. The 4th Edit. 8vo. and 12*110.
3. Three Letters to the Bifhof of Bangor*
The 8th Edit. 8vo.
4. Remarks upon a late Book, intitled,
The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices Pub-
lic Benefits. In a Letter to the Author. To
which is added a Poftfcript, containing an
Obfervation or two upon Mr Bayle. The
2d Edit. 8vo. Price i s.
5. The abfolute Unlawfulnefs of Stage En-
tertainments fully demonftrated. The 3d
Edit. 8vo. Price 6 d.
6. The Cafe of Reafon, or, Natural Re-
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Book, intitled, Chriftianity as Old as the
Crearion. The 2d Edition, revifed and cor-
redled, 8vo. Price i s. 6 d.
An
BOOKS Printed 'for*}> RICHARDSON.
* j. .An Earneft and Serious Anfwer to Dr
Trapp's Difcourfe of' the' Folly, Sin, 'and
Danger, of being Righteous over much. The
3d Edit. 8vo. Price id; ' ,..
8. The Grounds and Reafons of ChrifHan
Regeneration. The 4th Edit. 8vo. Price i s.
and in 12010. 6d.
9. A Demon ftratlon of the Grofs and
Fundamental Errors of a late Book, called,
" A Pfain Account of the Nature and End
" of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper."
"Wherein alfo the Nature and Extent of, the
Redemption of all Mankind by Jefus Chrift
is ftated and explained ; and tfye Pretences of
the Deifts, for a Religion o,f. Natural Reafon
inftead of it, are examined to the Bottom,
The whole humbly, earneftly, and affec~tio r
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more efpecially to all the younger Clergy.
The 3d Edit. 8vo. Price 4 s. bound.
10. An Appeal to all that doubt or difbe-
lieve the Truths of the Gofpel j w'hether
they be Deifts, Arians, Socinians, or Nomi-
nal Chriftians. In which the true Grounds
and Reafons of the whole Chriftian Faith
and Life are plainly .and. fully dernonflrated.
To which are added,, fome Animadverfions
upon
BOOKS Printed for J. RICHARDSON.
upon Doftor Trapp's late Reply. The ad
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11. The Spirit of Prayer; or, The Soul
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8vo. Price 2 s. 6 d.
14. A Short, but fufficient Gonfutation of
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Legation of Mofes. In .a Letter to the Right
Rev. the Lord Bifliop of London. Price
is. 6 d.
BOOKS Printed for J. RICHARDSON.
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Hundred.
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I2S. a Hundred.
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