Part 3
is taken in by the Mouth. And after this Manner also it is that the Wicked shall behold Christ at the last Judgement as a severe Judge; but the Saints shall behold him as a loving Immanuel. 145. God s Anger stands open in his Testaments towards the Wicked; but towards the Saints the heavenly loving Kindness, and in it the Power of Christ in the holy Name JESUS, stands open. What good then does the holy Thing do to the Wicked, who cannot enjoy it? Or what is there, that can take away his Sins, when his Sin is only stirred and made manifest thereby? 146. The Sacraments do not take away Sin; neither are Sins forgiven thereby. But it is thus: When Christ arises, then Adam dies in the Essence of the Serpent; as when the Sun rises, the Night is swallowed up in the Day, and the Night is no more: Just so are Sins forgiven. 147. The Spirit of Christ eats of his Holy Substance, the inward Man is the Receiver of the Holy Substance; he receives what the Spirit of Christ brings into him viz., the Temple of God, Christ s Flesh and Blood. But what does this concern a Beast? Or what does it concern the Devils? Or the Soul that is in the Anger of God? These eat of the Heavenly Blood, that is in the Heaven wherein they dwell, which is the Abyss, or bottomless Pit. 148. And thus it is also in the Office or Ministry of Preaching: The ungodly Man hears what the outward Soul of the outward World preaches; that he receives, viz., the History; and if there be Straw or Stubble in that which is taught, he sucks the Vanity out of that. Yea, if the Preaching be mere Calumny, Railing, and uncharitable Abuse, as is sometimes the Case, then his Soul sucks the venomous Poison, and the murdering Cruelty of the Devil from it, wherewith it tickles itself, and is pleased with learning how to judge and condemn others. 149. Thus if the Preacher be one that is dead, and has no true Life in him, but sows only Venom and Reproach proceeding out of his evil Affections, then it is the Devil that teaches, and the Devil that hears.
Such teaching is received into a wicked heart, and brings forth wicked Fruits. By which Means the World is become a mere Den of murdering Devils. So that if you look among the Herd of such Teachers and Hearers, there is little to be found but Revilings, Slanderings, and Reproachings; together with Contention about Words, and Wrangling about the Husk. 150. But the Holy Ghost teaches in the holy Teachers, and the Spirit of Christ hears through the Soul, which is the Divine House of the Divine Sound or Voice in the holy Hearer. 151. The holy Man has his Church in himself, wherein he hears and teaches. But Babel has a Heap of Stones, into which she goes with her seeming Holiness and real Hypocrisy. There she loved to be seen in fine Clothes, and makes a very devout and godly Shew; the Church of Stone is her God, in which she putts her Confidence. 152. But the holy Man has his Church about him every where, even in himself; for he always stands and walks, sitts and lies down in his Church. He lives in the true Christian Church; yea, in the Temple of Christ. The Holy Ghost preaches to him out of every Creature. Whatsoever he looks upon, he sees a Preacher of God therein. 153. Here now the Scoffer will say that I despise the Church Of Stone, where the Congregation meets; but I say that I do not. For I do but discover the hypocritical Whore of Babylon, which committs Whoredom with the Church of Stone, and terms herself a Christian, but is indeed a Strumpet. 154. A true Christian brings his holy Church with him into the Congregation. For the Heart is the true Church, where a Man must practise the Service of God. If I should go a thousand Times to Church, and to the Sacrament every Week, and hear Absolution declared to me every Day, and have not Christ in me, all would be false, an unprofitable Fiction and graven Image in Babel, and no forgiving of
Sins. 155. A holy Man does holy Works from the holy Strength of his Mind. The Work is not the Atonement of Reconciliation, but it is the Building which the true Spirit builds in his Substance; it is his Habitation. But the Fiction and Fancy is the Habitation of the false Christian, into which his Soul enters with Dissimulation. The outward Hearing reaches but to the outward, and works in the outward only; but the inward Hearing goes into the inward, and works in the inward. 156. Dissemble, roar, cry, sing, preach, and teach as much as you will; yet if thine inward Teacher and Hearer be not open, all is nothing but a Babel a Fiction, and a graven Image, whereby the Spirit of the outward World does model and make to itself a graven Image in Resemblance of the inward; and makes a Holy Shew therewith, as if he performed some divine or holy Service to God; whereas many Times in such Service and Worship, the Devil works mightily in the Imagination, and very much tickles the Heart with those Things wherein the Flesh delights. Which indeed not seldom happens to the Children of God, as to their outward Man, if they do not take great Heed to themselves; so busily does the Devil beset and sift them. Of unfprofitable Opinions, and Strife about the Letter. Of unfprofitable Opinions, and Strife about the Letter. A true Christian, who is born a-new of the Spirit of Christ, is in the Simplicity of Christ, and has no Strife or Contention with any Man about Religion. He has Strife enough in himself, with his own Beastial evil Flesh and Blood. He continually thinks himself a great Sinner, and is afraid of God: But the Love of Christ by degrees pierces through, and expells that Fear, as the Day swallows up the Night. 159. But the Sins of the impenitent Man rest in the Sleep of Death, bud forth in the Pit, and produce their Fruit in Hell.
160. The Christiandom that is in Babel, striving about the Manner how Men ought to serve God, and glorify him; also how they are to know him, and what he is in his Essence and Will. And they preach positively, that whosoever is not one and the same with them in every Particular of Knowledge and Opinion, is no Christian, but a Heretick. 161. Now I would fain see how all their Sects can be brought to agree in that one which might be called a true Christian Church; when all of them are Scorners, every Party of them reviling the rest, and proclaiming them to be false. 162. But a Christian is of no Sect: He can dwell in the midst of Sects, and appear in their Services, without being attached or bound to any. He has but one Knowledge, and that is, Christ in him. He seeks but one Way, which is the Desire always to do and teach that which is right; and he putts all his knowing and willing into the Life of Christ. 163. He sighs and wishes continually that the Will of God might be done in him, and that his Kingdom might be manifested in him. He daily and hourly kills Sin in the Flesh; for the Seed of the Woman, viz., the inward Man in Christ, continually breaks the Head of the Serpent, that is, the Power of the Devil, which is in Vanity. 164. His Faith is a Desire after God and Goodness; which he wrapps up in a sure Hope, trusting to the Words of the Promise, and lives and dies therein; though as to the true Man, he never dies. 165. For Christ says, Whosoever believes in me, shall never die, but has pierced through from Death to Life; and Rivers of living Water shall flow from him, viz., good Doctrine and Works. 166. Therefore I say, that whatsoever fights and contends about the Letter, is all Babel. The Letters of the Word proceed from, and stand all in, one Root, which is the Spirit of God; as the various Flowers stand all in the Earth and grow about one another. They fight not with each other about their Difference of Colour, Smell, and Taste, but suffer the
Earth, the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the Heat and Cold, to do with them as they please; and yet every one of them grows in its own peculiar Essence and Property. 167. Even so it is with the Children of God; they have various Gifts and Degrees of Knowledge, yet all from one Spirit. They all rejoice at the great Wonders of God, and give Thanks to the most High in His Wisdom. Why then should they contend about him in whom they live and have their Being, and of whose Substance they themselves are? 168. It is the greatest Folly that is in Babel for People to strive about Religion, as the Devil has made the World to do; so that they contend vehemently about Opinions of their own forging, viz., about the Letter; when the Kingdom of God consists in no Opinion, but in Power and Love. 169. As Christ said to his Disciples, and left it with them at the last, saying, Love one another, as I have loved you; for thereby Men shall know, that ye are my Disciples. If Men would as fervently seek after Love and Righteousness as they do after Opinions, there would be no Strife on Earth, and we should be as Children of One Father, and should need no Law, or Ordinance. 170. For God is not served by any Law, but only by Obedience. Laws are for the Wicked, who will not embrace Love and Righteousness; they are, and must be, compelled and forced by Laws. 171. We all have but one only Order, Law, or Ordinance, which is to stand still to the Lord of all Beings, and resign our Wills up to him, and suffer His Spirit to play what Musick he will. And thus we give to him again as His own Fruits, that which he works and manifests in us. 172. Now if we did not contend about our different Fruits, Gifts, Kinds and Degrees of Knowledge, but did acknowledge them in one another, like Children of the Spirit of God, what could condemn us? For the Kingdom of God consists, not in our knowing and supposing, but in
Power. 173. If we did not know half so much, and were more like Children, and had but a brotherly Mind and good Will, towards one another, and lived like Children of one Mother, and as Branches of one Tree, taking our Sap all from one Root, we should be far more holy than we are. 174. Knowledge serves only to this End, viz., to know that we have lost the Divine Power, in Adam, and are become now inclined to Sin; that we have evil Properties in us, and that doing Evil pleases not God; so that with our knowledge we might learn to do right. Now if we have the Power of God in us, and desire with all our Hearts to act and to live aright, then our Knowledge is but our Sport, or Matter of Pleasure, wherein we rejoice. 175. For true Knowledge is the Manifestation of the Spirit of God through the Eternal Wisdom. He knows what He will in His Children; He shows his Wisdom and Wonders by his Children, as the Earth putts forth its various Flowers. 176. Now if we dwell one with another, like humble Children, in the Spirit of Christ, one rejoicing at the Gift and Knowledge of another, who would judge or condemn us? Who judges or condemns the Birds in the Woods, that praise the Lord of all Beings with various Voices, every one in its own Essence? Doth the Spirit of God reprove them for not bringing their Voices into one Harmony? Doth not the Melody of them all proceed from His power, and do they not sport before Him. 177. Those Men therefore that strive and wrangle about the Knowledge and Will of God, and despise one another on that Account, are more foolish than the Birds in the Woods, and the wild Beasts that have no true Understanding. They are more unprofitable in the Sight of the holy God than the Flowers of the Field, which stand still in quiet Submission to the Spirit of God, and suffer him to manifest the Divine Wisdom and Power through them. Yea, such Men are worse than Thistles and Thorns that grow among fair Flowers, for they at least
stand still and are quiet, whereas those Wranglers are like the ravenous Beasts and Birds of Prey, which fright the other Birds from singing and praising God. 178. In short; they are the Issue, Branches or Sprouts of the Devil in the Anger of God, who must by their very tormenting be made to serve the Lord; for by their plaguing and persecuting, they press out the Sap through the Essence in the Children of God, so that they move and stir themselves in the Spirit of God, with praying and continual sighing, in which Exercise of their Powers the Spirit of God moves himself in them. 179. For thereby the Desire is exerted, and so the Children of God grow green, flourish, and bring forth Fruit; for the Children of God are manifested in Tribulation; as the Scripture says, When you chastise them, they cry fervently to you. Wherein Christian Religion consists; and how Men should serve God and their Brethren. ALL Christian Religion wholly consists in this, to learn to know ourselves; whence we are come, and what we are; how we are gone forth from the Unity into Dissension, Wickedness, and Unrighteousness; how we have awakened and stirred up these Evils in us; and how we may be delivered from them again, and recover our original Blessedness. 181. First, how we were in the Unity, when we were the Children of God in Adam before he fell. Secondly, how we are now in Dissension and Disunion, in Strife and Contrariety. Thirdly, Whither we go when we pass out of this corruptible Condition; whither with the immortal, and whither with the mortal Part. 182. And Lastly, how we may come forth from Dis-union and Vanity, and enter again into that one Tree, Christ in us, out of which we all sprung in Adam. In these four Points all the necessary Knowledge of a
Christian consists. 183.So that we need not strive about any Thing; we have no Cause of Contention with each other. Let every one only exercise himself in learning ahow he may enter again into the Love of God and his Brother. 184. The Testaments of Christ are nothing else but a loving Bond or brotherly Covenant, wherewith God in Christ binds himself to us and us to him. All teaching, willing, living, and doing, must imply, aim at, and refer to that. All teaching and doing otherwise, whatsoever it be, is Babel and a Fiction; a mere graven Image of Pride in unprofitable Judgings, a disturbing of the World, and an Hypocrisy of the Devil, wherewith he blinds Simplicity. 185. Every Preacher void of the Spirit of God, who without Divine Knowledge, setts himself up for a Teacher of Divine Things, pretending to serve God thereby, is false, and does but serve the Belly, his Idol, and his own proud insolent Mind, in desiring to be honoured on that Account, and esteemed Holy, or a Divine in Holy Orders. He bears an Office, to which he is set apart and chosen by the Children of Men, who do but flatter him, and for Favour have ordained him thereunto. 186. Christ said, Whosoever enters not by the Door, that is, through his Spirit, into the Sheepfold, but climbs up some other Way, the same is a Thief and a Murderer, and the Sheep follow him not, for they know not his Voice. 187. He has not the Voice of the Spirit of God, but the Voice of his own Art and Learning only; the Man teaches, and not the Spirit of God. But Christ says, Every Plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted, shall be plucked up by the Roots. 188. How then will he that is ungodly plant Heavenly Plants, when he has no Seed alive in its Power in himself? Christ says expressly, The
Sheep hear not his Voice, they follow him not. 189. The written Word is but an Instrument whereby the Spirit leads us to itself within us. That Word which will teach, must be living in the literal Word. The Spirit of God must be in the literal Sound, or else none is a Teacher of God, but a mere Teacher of the Letter, a Knower of the History, and not of the Spirit of God in Christ. 190. All that Men will serve God with, must be done in Faith, viz., in the Spirit. It is the Spirit that makes the Work perfect, and acceptable in the Sight of God. All that a Man undertakes and does in Faith, he does in the Spirit of God, which Spirit of God does cooperate in the Work, and then it is acceptable to God. For he has done it himself, and his Power and Virtue is in it: It is holy. 191. But whatsoever is done in Self, without Faith, is but a Figure and Shell, or Husk of a true Christian Work. 192. If you serve your brother, and do it but in Hypocrisy, and give him unwillingly, then you serve not God. For your Faith proceeds not from Love, nor enters into Hope, in your Gift. Indeed you serve your Brother, and he for his Part thanks God and blesses you, but you bless not him. For you give him your Gift with a grudging Spirit, which enters not into the Spirit of God, into the Hope of Faith; therefore your Gift is but half given, and you have but half your Reward for it. 193. The same is true of receiving a Gift. If any gives in Faith, in Divine Hope, he blesses his Gift by his Faith: But whoso receives it unthankfully, and murmurs in his Spirit, he curses it in the Use or Enjoyment of it. Thus it is, that every one shall have his own; Whatsoever he sows, that shall he also reap. 194. So likewise it is in the Office of teaching; whatsoever a Man sows, that also he reaps. For if any Man sow good Seed from the Spirit of Christ, it sticks in the good Heart, and brings forth good Fruit; but in the Wicked, who are not capable of receiving the good Seed, the Anger
of God is stirred. 195. If any sow Contentions, Reproaches, and Misconstructions, all ungodly People receive that unto them; which sticks in them also, and brings forth Fruit accordingly. So that they learn thereby to despise, revile, slander, and misrepresent one another. Out of which Root the great Babel is sprung and grown; wherein Men, from mere Pride and Strife, contend about the History, and the Justification of a poor Sinner in the Sight of God; thereby causing the simple to err and blaspheme, insomuch that one Brother reviles and curses the other, and excommunicates, or casts him to the Devil, for the Sake of the History and Letter. 196. Such Railers and Revilers fear not God, but raise the great Building of Dissension. And seeing corrupt Lust lies in all Men, in the earthly Flesh still, therefore they raise and awaken Abominations even in the simple Children of God, and make the People of God, as well as the Children of Iniquity, to blaspheme. And thus they become MasterBuilders of the great Babel of the World, and are as useful in the Church, as a fifth Wheel in a Waggon; yea, what is worse than that, they erect the hellish Building too. 197. Therefore it is highly necessary for the Children of God to pray earnestly, that they may learn to know this false Building, and go forth from it with their Minds, and not help to build it up, and persecute their Fellow-Children of God. For by that Means they keep themselves back from the Heavenly Kingdom, and turn aside from the right Way. 198. According to the saying of Christ to the Pharisees, Woe unto you Pharisees; for you compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte, and when he is one, you make him two-fold more the Child of Hell than yourselves. Which is truly too much the Case with the modern Factions and Sects among these Cryers and Teachers of Strife. 199. I desire therefore, out of my Gifts, which are revealed to me from God, that all the Children of God, who desire to be the true Members of
Christ, be faithfully warned to depart from such abominable Contentions and bloody Firebrands, and to go forth from all Strife with their Brethren, and strive only after Love and Righteousness towards all Men. 200. For he that is a good Tree must bring forth good Fruits, and must sometimes suffer Swine to devour his Fruits, and yet must continue a good Tree still, and be always willing to work with God, and not suffer any Evil to overcome him. And then he stands and grows in the Field of God, and brings forth Fruit to be set upon God s Table, which he shall enjoy forever. Amen, All that has Breath, praise the Name of the Lord. Hallelujah. by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624, The Teutonic Theosopher SHOWING How Man must DAILY die to his OWN Will in SELF; how he must bring his Desire into God, and what he should ask and desire of God. LIKEWISE How he must spring up out of the dying sinful Man, with a new Mind and Will through the Spirit of Christ. ALSO What the Old and New Man are, and what each of them is in Life, Will and Practice. Composed by a Soul that loves all who are Children of JESUS CHRIST, under the Cross.
Brought forth in the 1600 s by a humble shoemaker; translated into English over 100 years later; suppressed and hidden away until recently in theological archives around the world... a worthy personal study not just for academics but for all those who are spiritually grounded in the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for more. These writings from out of the Past are in the Public Domain and may be freely shared, photocopied, reproduced, faxed or transmitted in any way by any means. Christ says, If any Man will come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF, and take up his Cross daily, and follow Me. Matthew 16,24 ;Mark 8,34 ;Luke 9,23. Peter says to Christ, Behold, we have forsaken All, and followed You. Matthew 19,27 ;Mark 10,28 ;Luke 18,28. We have a clear Example in Lucifer, and also in Adam the first Man, of what SELF does, when it getts the Light of Nature to be its OWN, and when it can walk with the Understanding in its OWN Dominion. We see also in Men learned in Arts and Sciences, that when they get the Light of this outward World or Nature into the Possession of their Reason, nothing comes of it but Pride of themSELVES. And yet all the World so vehemently desires and seeks after this Light as the best Treasure; and indeed it is the best Treasure this World affords, if it be rightly used. 2. But while SELF, viz. Reason, is captivated and fast bound in a close and strong Prison, that is to say, in the Anger of God, and in Earthliness, it is very dangerous for a Man to make Use of the Light of Knowledge in SELF, as if it were in the Possession of SELF. 3. For the Wrath of the Eternal and Temporary Nature will soon take Pleasure in it, and then SELF and a Man's own Reason, will rise up in Pride, and depart from the true resigned Humility towards God, and
will no longer eat of the Fruit of Paradise, but instead eat of the Property of SELF, viz. of that Dominion of Life, wherein Good and Evil are mixed as Lucifer and Adam did. Who both entered with the Desire of SELF back again into the Original, out of which the Creatures were brought forth and entered into the Condition of the Creatures; Lucifer into the Center and wrathful Nature, into the Matrix or Womb which brings forth Fire, and Adam into the earthly Nature, into the Matrix of the outward World, viz. into the Lust after Good and Evil. 4. This happened to them both, because they had the Light of Understanding shining in SELF, in which they could behold themselves, whereby the Spirit of SELF went into the Imagination, (viz. into a Desire to get to the Center,) that they might exalt themselves in Might, Power, and Knowledge. Now when Lucifer sought after the Mother of Fire in his Center, and thought to reign therewith over the Love of God and all the Angels, and when Adam also desired to try in the Essence what the Mother or Root was from whence Evil and Good did spring, and purposely brought his Desire thereinto, in order to thereby become knowing and full of Understanding thereby: Both Lucifer and Adam were captivated in their evil or false Desire in the Mother, and broke off themselves from Resignation which proceeds from God, and so were caught by the Spirit of the Will, by the Desire in the Mother. Which Desire immediately got the Dominion in Nature; and so Lucifer stuck fast in the wrathful Source of Fire, and that Fire became manifest in the Spirit of his Will, whereby the Creature in its Desire became an Enemy to the Love and Meekness of God. 5. Adam in like Manner, was immediately caught by the earthly Mother, which is Evil and Good, created out of the Anger and Love of God, and compacted into one Substance. Whereupon the earthly Property instantly got the Dominion in Adam, and from thence Heat and Cold, Envy and Anger, and all Malice and Contrariety to God became manifest, and bore Rule in him. 6. But if they had not brought the Light of Knowledge into SELF, then
the Glass of the Knowledge of the Center and of the Original of the Creature, viz. of the Power which it had in itself would not have been manifested, from whence the Imagination and Lust did arise. 7. As also we often see at this Day how the same Error brings Danger upon the enlightened Children of God; in whom when the Sun of the great Presence of God's Holiness shines, by which the Life passes into Triumph, and then Reason beholds itself therein as in a Glass, and the Will goes on in SELF, in its OWN searching, and will try what the Center is out of which the Light shines, and will of its OWN Motion and Strength force itSELF into it, how that from thence arise abominable Pride and SELF-Love; so that its (the Creature's) own Reason, which is but a Mirror or Glass of the Eternal Wisdom, supposes itSELF to be greater than it is; and then whatsoever it does, it thinks God's Will does in and by it, and that he is a Prophet; though it is moved only by itSELF, and goes on in its OWN Desire, in which the Center of Nature presently rises up, and enters into that false Desire of SELF against God, and so the Will enters into SELF-Conceit and Exaltation. 8. Then the subtle Devil insinuates himself into the Creature, and sifts the Center of Nature, and brings evil or false Desires into it, so that a Man becomes as it were drunken in SELF, and still persuades himself that he is driven by God, by which Means the good Beginning, wherein the Divine Light shone in Nature, comes to be spoiled, and so the Light of God departs from him. 9. Yet the outward Light of the outward Nature still remaineith shining in the Creature; for its own SELF throws itself thereinto, and supposes that it is still the first Light of God; but it is not so. And into this SELF-Exaltation in the Light of its outward Reason, the Devil throws himself again, (though in the first Light, which was Divine, he had been forced to depart) now returning with the seven-fold Desire, of which Christ spake, saying, When the unclean Spirit departs out of a Man, he wanders through dry Places seeking Rest, and finds none; and then he takes to himself seven Spirits worse than himself, and returns
to his first House; and finding it swept and garnished, he dwells therein, and so it is worse with that Man than it was before. 10. This House, that is thus swept and garnished, is the Light of Reason in SELF. For if a Man brings his Desire and Will into God, and then goes on in Abstinence from this wicked Life, and heartily desires the Love of God, then that Love will indeed manifest itself to him with its most friendly and cheerful Countenance, by which the outward Light also is kindled. For where the Light of God is kindled, there all will be Light; the Devil cannot stay there, but must depart thence; and then he searches through the Mother of the Original of Life, viz. the Center, but finds that it is become a dry feeble Place. For the Anger of God, viz, the Center of Nature, is in its own Property altogether feeble, barren and dry and cannot get the Dominion in its own wrathful Principle. Satan continually searches through these Places to find an open Gate to enter with his Desire, and so to sift the Soul that it might come to exalt its SELF. 11. And now if the Spirit of the Will of the Creature throws itself with the Light of Reason back into the Center, viz. into SELF, and enters into SELF-Exaltation, then it goes forth again from the Light of God, and presently the Devil finds an open Gate for him to enter in at, and a garnished House to dwell in, viz. the Light of Reason. Then he takes to himself the seven Forms of the Property of Life in SELF, viz. the Flatterers which are departed from God into SELF; and there he enters and putts his Desire into the Lust of SELF and evil Imaginations, wherein the Spirit of the Will beholds itself in the Forms of the Properties of Life in the outward Light, and then the Man sinks into himself as if he were drunk, and the Stars lay hold on him, and bring their strong Influences into him, (into outward Reason) that he might seek the Wonders of God there, that so they may manifest themselves therein. For all Creatures groan and long after God. And though the Stars cannot apprehend the Spirit of God, yet they would rather have a House of Light wherein they may rejoice, than a House shut up, wherein they can have no Rest.
12. Thus such a Man goes on as if he were drunk, in the Light of the outward Reason, which is called the Stars, and apprehends great and wonderful Things, and has a continual Guide, therein. And then the Devil presently watches to see if any Gate stands open for him, through which he may kindle the Centre of Life, that so the Spirit of the Will may mount aloft in Pride, Self-Conceit, or Covetousness; (from whence Self-Arrogancy arises, the Will of Reason desiring to be honored;) for it supposes it has attained the Sum of all Happiness, when it has gotten the Light of Reason, and can judge the House of hidden Mysteries that is shut up; which nevertheless God can easily unlock. The deluded Man thereupon supposes that now he has reached the Mark, and that Honour is due to him, because he has gotten the Understanding of Reason, and never considers that the Devil makes himself merry with his Desire in his seven Forms of Life of the Center of Nature, nor what abominable Error he setts up. 13. From this Understanding of Reason false Babel is brought forth in the Christian Church on Earth, wherein Men rule and teach by the Conclusions of Reason, and have set the Child which is drunk in its own Pride and SELF-Desire, as a fair Virgin upon the Throne. 14. But the Devil is entered into its seven Forms of Life of the Center, viz. into its own SELF-conceited Reason, and continually brings his Desire into this trimmed and decorated Virgin, which the Stars receive. He is her Beast on which she rides, well adorned with her own Powers of Life, as may be seen in the Revelation of St. John. Thus has this Child of SELF taken into its Possession the outward Glance of Divine Holiness, viz. the Light of Reason, and supposes itSELF to be the fair Child in the House, though the Devil has his Lodging within it all the while. 15. And thus it is with all those who have been once enlightened by God, and afterwards go forth again from true Resignation, and wean themselves from the pure Milk of their Mother, viz. true Humility. Here Reason will object and say, Is it not right for a Man to attain the
Light of God, and also the Light of the outward Nature and Reason, that he may be able to order his Life wisely, as the Scripture directs? 2. Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a Man, neither is he capable of any Thing better; nay, it is a Treasure above all Earthly Treasures for a Man to have the Light of God and of Time, for it is the Eye of Time and of Eternity. 3. But mark how you ought to use it; when the Light of God first manifests itself in the Soul, it shines forth as Light from a Candle, and kindles the outward Light of Reason immediately; yet it yields not itself wholly up to Reason, so as to be under the Dominion of the outward Man. No, the outward Man beholds himself in this throughshining Lustre, as he does his Likeness in a Looking-Glass, whereby he presently learns to know himself, which is good and profitable to him. 4. Now, when he does so, Reason, which is the creaturely SELF, cannot do better than to behold itself in the SELF of the Creature, and not enter with the Will of the Desire into the Center in seeking itself. If it doth, it breaks itself off from the Substance of God, (which rises together with the Light of God, of which the Soul ought to eat, and refresh itself therewith,) and eats of the outward Substance and Light, and thereby draws the Venom into itself again. 5. The Will of the Creature ought to sink wholly into itself with all its Reason and Desire, accounting itself an unworthy Child that is no whit worthy of this so high a Grace; nor should it arrogate any Knowledge or Understanding to itself, or desire of God to have any Understanding in its creaturely SELF; but sincerely and simply sink down into the Grace and Love of God in Christ Jesus, and desire to be as it were dead to itSELF and its own Reason, in the Divine Life, and wholly resign itself to the Spirit of God in Love, that He may do how and what He will with it as with His own Instrument. 6. Its own Reason ought not enter upon any Speculation as to the Ground of Divine or human Matters; nor to will and desire any Thing
but the Grace of God in Christ. And as a Child continually longs after the Breasts of the Mother, so must its Hunger be continually entering into the Love of God, and not suffer itself to be broken off from that Hunger by any Means. When the outward Reason or SELF rises up and triumphs in the Light, saying, I have the true Child, then the Will of the Desire must bow itSELF down to the Earth, and bring itself into the deepest Humility and most simple Ignorance, and say, You are foolish, and have nothing but the Grace of God. You must wrap yourSELF up in that Belief with great Humility, and become nothing at all in yourSELF, and neither know nor love your SELF. All that you have, or is in you, must esteem itSELF as nothing but a mere Instrument of God; and you must bring your Desire only into God's Mercy, and go forth from all your OWN Knowing and Willing; and esteem it as nothing at all, nor ever entertain any Will to enter into it again. 7. As soon as this is done the natural Will becomes weak and faint, and then the Devil is not able to sift it thus any more with his evil Desire, for the Places of his Rest become very powerless, barren and dry; and then the Holy Spirit proceeding from God, takes Possession of the Forms of Life, and makes His Dominion to prevail. He kindles the Forms of Life with His Flames of Love, and then the high Knowledge of the Center of all Things arises, according to the inward and outward Constellation or Complexion of the Creature, in a very subtle drying Fire, attended with great Delight. Whereupon the humbled Soul presently desires to sink down into that Light, and esteems itself to be nothing and quite unworthy of It. 8. And thus its own Desire pierces into that nothing, viz.(into that wherein God creates) and does what God wills therein, and the Spirit of God springs forth through the Desire of the resigned Humility, and so the human Self immediately follows the Spirit of God in Trembling and humble Joy; and thus it may behold what is in Time and Eternity, for All is present before it. 9. When the Spirit of God rises up as a Fire and Flame of Love, then the Sprit of the Soul descends, and says, Lord, Glory be to Your Name,
not to me; You are able to take to Yourself Virtue, Power, Strength, Wisdom, and Knowledge; do as You will; I can do nothing; I know nothing; I will go no whither but whither You lead me as Your Instrument; do You in me and with me what You will. 10. In such a humble and total Resignation the Spark of Divine Power falls into the Center of the Forms of Life, as a Spark into Tinder, and kindles it, viz. the Fire of the Soul, which Adam had made to be a dark Coal in himself, so that it glimmers. And when the Light of Divine Power has kindled itself therein, the Creature must go on as an Instrument of God's Spirit, and speak what the Spirit of God dictates to it; and then it is no more in its own proper Possession, but is the Instrument of God. 11. But the Will of the Soul must without ceasing, in this fiery driving, sink into nothing, viz. into the deepest Humility in the Sight of God. For no sooner does the Will of the Soul in the least Measure go on in its OWN Speculation or Searching, but Lucifer lays hold of it in the Center of the Forms of Life, and sifts it so that it enters into SELF. It must therefore continue close to resigned Humility, as a Well does to its Spring, and must suck and drink of God's Fountain, and not depart from the Ways of God at all. 12. For as soon as the Soul eats of SELF, and of the Light of outward Reason, it goes on in its OWN Opinion; and then its Doings, which it sets forth for Divine, are but from the outward Constellation, or Influence of the Stars, which presently lays hold on the Soul, and makes it dry. And then the Soul goes on in Errors, till it yield itSELF up again into Resignation, and acknowledging itSELF anew to be a defiled Child, resists Reason and so getts the Love of God again. Which is harder to do in that Case than it was at first; for the Devil brings in strong Doubts now, and will not easily leave his Fort of Prey. 13. This may be seen clearly in the Saints of God from the Beginning of the World. For many who have been driven by the Spirit of God, have yet oftentimes departed from Resignation into SELF, viz. into
their OWN Reason and Will, in which Satan has cast them into Sins, and into the Anger of God; as appears by David and Solomon, also by the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles; who have oftentimes committed great Errors when they have departed from Resignation into SELF, viz. into their own Reason and Lust. 14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how to behave themselves when they will learn the WAY of God. They must beat down and cast away their very Thoughts; and desire nothing, nor have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves to be in true Resignation; so that God's Spirit leads, teaches, and guides Man's Spirit, and that the human Will which is attached to itSELF, be wholly broken off from its OWN Lust, and resigned to God. 15. All Speculation in the Wonders of God is very dangerous, for the Spirit of the Will may soon be captivated therewith, unless the Spirit of the Will goes or walks after the Spirit of God, and then it has Power in the resigned Humility to behold the Wonders of God. 16. I do not say that a Man should search and learn nothing in natural Arts and Sciences. No; such Knowledge is useful to him; but a Man must not begin with his OWN Reason. Man ought not only to govern his Life by the Light of outward Reason, which is good in itself; but should sink with that Light into the deepest Humility before God, and set the Spirit and Will of God foremost in all his searching, so that the Light of Reason may see and know Things through the Light of God. And though Reason may be very wise in its own Sphere, and help a Man to much Knowledge, yet it must not arrogate such Wisdom and Knowledge to itSELF, as if they were in its OWN Possession, but give the Glory thereof to God, to Whom alone all Wisdom and Knowledge belongs. 17. For the more deeply Reason sinks itSELF down into simple Humility in the Sight of God, and the more unworthy it accounts itSELF in His Sight; the more truely it dies from SELF-desire and the more thoroughly the Spirit of God penetrates it, and brings it into the
highest Knowledge, so that at length it may come to behold the great Mysteries and Wonders of God. For the Spirit of God works only in resigned Humility, in that which neither seeks nor desires itSELF. The Spirit of God takes hold of whatsoever desires to be simple and lowly before Him, and brings it into His Wonders. He has Pleasure only in those that fear and bow themSELVES before Him. 18. For God has not created us for ourSELVES only, but to be Instruments of His Wonders, by which He desires to manifest His Wonders. The resigned Will trusts God, and expects all Good from Him alone; but SELF-Will rules itself, for it is broken off from God. All that SELF-Will does is Sin and is against God; for it is gone out of that Order wherein He created it, into Disobedience, and desires to be its OWN Lord and Master. 19. When a Man's OWN Will dies from itSELF, then it is free from Sin, for it desires nothing but that which God desires of His Creature; it desires only to do that for which God has created it and that which God will do by it; and though it is and must be involved in the Doing, yet it is but the Instrument of the Doing, by which God does what He will. 20. For this is the true Faith in Man, viz. to die from himSELF; that is, from his OWN Desire; and in all his Undertakings and Designs to bring his Desire into the Will of God, and arrogate the doing of nothing to himSELF, but esteem himSELF in all his Doings to be a Servant or Minister of God, and to think that all he does, and undertakes, is for God. For in such a Disposition the Spirit of God leads him into true Uprightness and Faithfullness towards his Neighbor. For he thinks thus within himself, I do my Work not for myself, but for God, Who has called and appointed me to do it; I am but a Servant in His Vineyard. He listens continually after the Voice of his Master, Who within him commands him what he shall do. The Lord speaks in him, and bidds him do what He would have to be done by him. 21. But SELF does what outward Reason from the Stars commands,
into which Reason the Devil flies with his Desire. All whatever SELF does is without the Will of God, and is done altogether in the Fantasy, that the Anger of God may accomplish its Pastime therewith. 22. No Work done without the Will of God can reach the Kingdom of God; it is all but an unprofitable Imagery, or SELF-wrought work, in this great Agitation of Mankind. For nothing is pleasing to God, but what He Himself does by the resigned Will, as His Instrument. For there is but one only God in the Essence of all Essences, and all that which works with Him in that Essence, is one Spirit with Him; but that which works in itSELF only, in its OWN Will, is in itSELF only, and not in His Dominion. It is indeed under that universal Dominion of Nature, whereby He holds subject to Him every Life, evil and good, but not under that special Divine Government in Himself, which comprehends the Good only. Nothing is Divine which walks and works not in the Will of God. 23. Christ says, Every Plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted out and burned in the Fire. All the works of Man, which he has wrought without the Will of God, shall be burnt up in the last Fire and given to the Wrath of God, viz. to the Pit of Darkness to recreate itself withal. For Christ says, He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathers not with Me scatters. Whosoever works, and does it not in a resigned Will with Confidence in God, does but make desolate and scatter; it is not acceptable to God. For nothing is pleasing to Him but that which He wills with His Spirit, and does by His own Instrument. 24. Therefore, whatsoever is done by the Conclusions of human SELF in Matters of Religion, is a mere Fiction. It is Babel, and but a Work of the Stars, and of the outward World, and not acknowledged by God to be His Work. It is only the Play of the wrestling Wheel of Nature, wherein Good and Evil wrestle one with the other; what the one builds, the other destroys. And this is the great Misery of the vain Turmoiling of Men, the Issue whereof must be left to the Judgement of God.
25. Whosoever therefore stirs or labours much in such Turmoilings, works but for the Judgement of God; for no whit of it is perfect and permanent. It must all be separated in the Putrefaction. For that which is wrought in the Anger of God will be received thereby, and kept in the Mystery of its Desire to the Day of God's Judgement, when Evil and Good shall be severed. 26. But if a Man turn and go forth from himSELF, and enter into the Will of God, then also that Good which has been wrought in and by him, shall be freed from the Evil which he has wrought. As Isaiah says, Though your Sins be as red as Scarlet, yet if ye turn and repent, they shall become as Wool, yea, as white as Snow. For the Evil shall be swallowed up in the Wrath of God into Death, and the Good shall spring forth as a Sprout out of the wild Earth. Whosoever therefore intends to do any good and perfect Work, wherein he hopes eternally to rejoice, let him depart from himSELF, viz. from his OWN Desire, and enter into Resignation, into the Will of God, and work with God. And then though the earthly Desire of SELF in Flesh and Blood cleaves to him, yet if the Will of the Soul does not receive that Desire into it, SELF cannot perform any Work. For the resigned Will continually destroys the Substance of SELF again, so that the Anger of God cannot reach it. And if it should happen to reach it sometimes, as may be the Case, yet the resigned Will prevails with its superior Power, and then it bears the Figure of a victorious Work in the Wonders, and may inherit the Filiation [or Childship]. Therefore it is not good to speak or do any Thing, when Reason is kindled in and by the Desire of SELF because that Desire springs from, and works in, the Anger of God; by which a Man would suffer Loss. For his Work is brought into that Anger, and kept there to the great Day of God's Judgement. 2. Every evil or false Desire, whereby a Man devises how to gather to himSELF by Craft much worldly Gain from his Neighbor to his Neighbor's Hurt, is taken into the Anger of God, and belongs to the
Judgement. Wherein all Things shall be made manifest and every Power and Essence, every Cause and Effect, both in Good and Evil, shall be presented to every one in the Mystery of the Revelation. 3. All evil Works, done purposely, belong to the Judgement of God. But he that turns from the SELF Will, goes out from the Power of them, and those his Works belong to the Fire. All Things shall and must be made manifest in the End. For therefore God brought His working Power into Essence or Substance, that His Love and Anger might be made manifest, and become a Representation of His Deeds of Wonder, to His Glory. 4. And every Creature ought to know that it should continue in that Condition wherein it was created; otherwise it runns on in Contrariety and Enmity to the Will of God, and brings itself into Pain. For every intelligent Creature that has lost its Place or State wherein God first created it, is in Disorder and Misery, till it recovers the same. A Creature which is created out of Darkness has no Pain in the Darkness; as a venomous Serpent has no Pain from its Venom. The Venom is its Life; but if it should lose its Venom, and have some good Thing instead brought into it, and be made manifest in its Essence, that would be Pain and Death to it. Thus Good is Torment to a Being whose nature is evil, and Evil is in like Manner Pain and Death to the Good. 5. Man was created of, for, and in Paradise; of, for and in the Love of God; but if he brings himself into Anger, which is as a poisonous Pain and Death, then that contrary Paradisical Life of Love is a Pain and Torment to him. 6. If the Devil had been created out of the wrathful Matrix, for and in Hell, and had not had the Divine Ens or Essence, he could have no Pain in Hell. But he, being created for and in Heaven, and yet having stirred up the Source or Property of Darkness in himself, and thereby brought himself totally into Darkness, therefore the Light is now a Pain to him; that is, it causes an everlasting Despair of God's Grace, and a continual
Enmity to God; because God cannot endure him in Himself, but has cast him out. Therefore, the Devil is angry and wrathful against his own Mother, of whose Essence and Substance he has his Original, viz. the Eternal Nature, which keeps him Prisoner in his own Place, as a Revolter or fallen Spirit, and sports in him with its Property of Anger. And, seeing he would not bear his Part in promoting the Divine Joy, in and for which he was created, therefore he must now do the contrary, and be an Enemy to all Goodness. For, of God, and in Him, are all Things, Darkness and Light, Anger and Love, Fire and Light; but He calls Himself God, only as to the Light of His Love. 7. There is an eternal Contrariety between Darkness and Light, neither of them comprehends the other, and neither of them is the other; and yet there is only one Essence, Being, or Substance, wherein they both subsist. But there is a Difference in the Quality and Will; yet the Essence or Substance is not divided, but a Principle makes the Division. So that the one is a nothing in the other, and yet it is there, but not manifest in the Property of that Thing wherein it is. 8. For the Devil continued in his own Dominion or Principality, not indeed in that wherein God created him, but in the aching painful Birth of Eternity, in the Center of Nature and Property of Wrath, in the Property which begetts Darkness, Anguish and Pain. Indeed he is a Prince in the Place of this World, but in the first Principle, in the Kingdom of Darkness, in the Pit or Abyss. 9. Not in the Kingdom of the Sun, Stars, and Elements; he is no Lord or Prince there, but only in the wrathful Part, viz. in the Root of the Evil of every Thing; and yet he has not Power to do what he pleases with that. 10. For there is some Good in every Thing, which holds the Evil captive and shut up in the Thing; but he can walk and rule only in the evil Part or Property when it stirrs up an evil Desire in itSELF, and brings its Desire into Wickedness. This indeed the inanimate Creature cannot do; but Man can do it through the inanimate Creature, if he
brings the Center of his Will, with the Desire out of the Eternal Center into it, which is the Ground of Enchantment and false Magic. The Will of the Devil can also enter into that Evil whereinto Man brings the Desire of his Soul, which is born also out of the Eternal Nature. 11. For the Original of the Soul and of Angels, out of the Eternal Nature is the same. But the Devil has no further Power over the Time, or temporary Condition of this World, than in the great Turba or Turba Magna, the Curse; wheresoever that kindles itself in the eternal and temporal Wrath, there he is busy, as in Wars, Fighting, and Strife, as also in great Tempests without Water. In fire he proceeds as far as the Turba (Mischief or Hurt) goes in great Showers or Tempests of Thunder, Lightning, and Hail; but he cannot direct them, for he is not Lord or Master in them, but Servant only. 12. Thus the Creature stirrs up with its own Desire, Good and Evil, Life and Death. The human Angelical Desire stands in the Center of the eternal Nature which is without Beginning; and wherever it kindles itself, whether in Good or Evil, it accomplishes its Work in that. 13. Now God created every Thing for and in that wherein it should be; the Angels for and in Heaven, and Man for and in Paradise. If therefore the Desire of the Creature goes forth from its own Mother, then it enters into the contrary Will and into Enmity, and it is tormented with the Contrariety therein, and so a false Will arises in a good; and then the good Will enters into its nothing again, viz. into the End of Nature and Creature, and so leaves the Creature in its OWN Evil or Wickedness, as appears by Lucifer and also Adam; and had not the Will of the Love of God met with Adam, and of mere Mercy entered into the Humanity or human Nature again, there could be no good Will in Man. 14. Therefore all Speculation and Inquiry about God's Will is a vain Thing, unless the Mind be converted. For when the Mind stands captivated in the SELF-Desire of the earthly Life, it cannot comprehend what the Will of God is; it runns on but in SELF, from one
Way into another, and yet finds no Rest; for SELF-Desire evermore brings Disquiet. But when it sinks itself wholly into the Mercy of God, desiring to die from itSELF, and to have God's Will for a Guide to the Understanding, so that it acknowledges and esteems itSELF as nothing, and wills nothing but what God wills, then shall it both know and do the Will of God. And if the Desire of Anger in the earthly Flesh should go along or join with the Devil's Imagination, and assault the Will of the Soul, yet the resigned Desire cries to God and says, Abba, loving Father, deliver me from Evil. And then, though the earthly Will should grow too strong in the Wrath of God by the Infection of the Devil, the Desire of Anger would work but in or upon itself. According to what St. Paul says, Now, if I sin, I do it not, but Sin that dwells in my Flesh: Also, Now I serve the Law of God in my Mind, but in my Flesh the Law of Sin. Paul means not that the Will of the Mind or Soul should consent to the Will of the Flesh; but Sin is so strong in the Flesh, viz. the awakened Anger of God in SELF, that oftentimes the Mind is brought into Lust, as it were by Force, through the evil Incitements of the wicked, or else by beholding worldly Pomp and Glory; so that it absolutely bears down the resigned Will, and rules by Force. 15. Now when Sin is wrought in the Flesh, then the Wrath sports itself therewith, and catches at the resigned Will; and then the resigned Will cryes to God for Deliverance from the Evil, and prays that God would remove the Guilt away from it, and bring Sin into the Centre, viz. into Death, that it might die. 16. And St. Paul says further, Now, there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are called according to the Purpose of God; that is, those who in that Purpose of God in which He first called Man, are again called in the same Calling, to stand again in that Purpose of God, wherein he originally created Man to be His Image and Likeness. 17. So long as Man's OWN Will stands in SELF, so long it is not in the Purpose and Calling of God; it is not called, for it is gone forth from its original right Place; but when the Mind turns itself back again into the
Calling, viz. into Resignation, then the Will is in the Calling of God, that is, in the Place for and in which God created it, and then it has Power to become the Child of God again; as it is written, He has given us Power to become the Children of God. 18. The Power which He has given us is His Purpose, for and in which He created Man in His Image. This God has brought again into the human Nature, and has given Power unto that Power to break the Head of Sin in the Flesh, namely, the Will and Desire of the Serpent; that is, the resigned Will in Christ treads upon the Head of the Desire of the sinful Will of the Serpent, and kills again the Sins which were committed. This Power that is given becomes a Death to Death, and the Power of Life to Life. 19. Therefore no Man can make any Excuse, as if he could not will. Indeed, while he sticks fast in himSELF, in his OWN Desire, and serves only the Law of Sin in the Flesh, he cannot. For he is kept back, as being a Servant of Sin; but when he turns the Center of his Mind away, and directs it into the Will and Obedience of God, then he can. 20. Now the Center of the Mind is come out of Eternity, out of God's Omnipotence; it can bring itself into what it will, and whither it will. For that which is out of the Eternal, has no Law. But the Will has a Law to obey God, and is born out of the Mind, and must not rend or tear itself away from that out of which God created it. 21. Now God created the Will of the Mind for and in Paradise, to be a Companion, with Him in the Kingdom of Divine Joy. It ought not to have removed itself from thence; but since it has removed itself from thence, God has brought His Will again into the Flesh, and in His newbrought-in Will, has given us Power to bring our Wills into it, and to kindle a new Light therein, and so to become His Children again. 22. God hardens no Man; but Man's OWN Will, which goes on in the fleshly Life of Sin, hardens his OWN Heart. The Will of SELF brings the Vanity of this World into the Mind, which is thereby shut up, and
continues so. 23. God, so far as He is called God, and is God, cannot will any Evil; for there is but one only Will in God, and that is Eternal Love, a Desire of that which is His Like, viz. Power, Beauty, and Virtue. 24. God desires nothing but what is like His own Desire: His Desire receives nothing but what Itself is. 25. God receives no Sinner into His Power and Virtue, unless the Sinner go forth from His Sins, and enter with the Desire into God. And then, He will not cast out those that so come unto Him. He has given to the Will an open Gate in Christ, saying, "come unto Me all ye that are heavy laden with Sins, and I will refresh you; take My Yoke upon you, that is, the Cross of the Enmity in the Flesh. This was the Yoke of Christ, which He had to bear for the Sins of all Men. This Cross or Yoke the resigned Will must also take upon itself in the evil earthly sinful Flesh, and bear it after Christ in Patience and Hope of Deliverance. It must also continually break the Head of the Serpent, in and through Christ's Will and Spirit, and kill and destroy the earthly Will in God's Anger, not letting it rest on the soft Bed when Sin is committed, and thinking to repent one Time or other. 26. No, no, the earthly Will grows strong, fat, and wanton upon this soft Bed, but as soon as the Light of God shines in you, and shews Sin to you, the Will of your Soul must sink itself down into the Passion and Death of Christ, and wrap itself up close therein. It must take the Passion of Christ into its Possession, and be a Lord over the Death of Sin by the Death of Christ, and kill and destroy it in the Death of Christ. 27. The Will of Sin [thy outward SELF] must die, though it be never so unwilling. Be at Enmity therefore with the voluptuous earthly Flesh; give it not what it would have; let it fast and suffer Hunger till its tickling ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh thine Enemy, and do not do what the Desire in the Flesh wills, and then you shall bring a Death
upon the deathful Property in the Flesh. 28. Regard not any Scorn of the World, as considering that it does but scorn thine Enemy, and that is become a Fool to it. Nay, do you yourself account it your Fool, which Adam caused you to possess, and made to be your false Heir. Cast out of the House the Son of the BondWoman, that strange Child which God did not give to be in the House of Life in Adam at the Beginning; for the Son of the Bond-Woman must not inherit with the Son of the Free-Woman. 29. The earthly Will is but the Son of the Bond-Woman. For the Four Elements should have been Man's Servants, but Adam has brought them into the Sonship, or adopted them into himself. Therefore God said to Abraham, when He had opened the Covenant of the Promise in him, Cast out the Son of the Bond-Woman, for he shall not inherit with the Son of the Free. This Son of the Free is Christ, which God of His Grace has brought again into the Flesh for us, namely, a new or renewed Mind, wherein the Will, viz. the Eternal Will of the Soul, may draw and drink the Water of Life, of which Christ speaks, saying, Whosoever shall drink of this Water that I will give him, It shall spring up in him, and be a Fountain of Eternal Life. This Fountain is the Renovation of the Mind or Will of the Soul. 30. Therefore I say that all Fictions and Devices to come to God by, let them have what Name soever they will, which Men contrive and invent for Ways to God, are but lost Labor and vain Endeavours, without a new Mind. There is no other Way to God, but a new Mind, which turns from Wickedness, and enters into Repentance for the Sins it has committed. Which goes forth from its Iniquity and wills it no more; but wrapps its Will up in the Death of Christ, and with all Earnestness dies from the Sin of the Soul in the Death of Christ, so that it wills Sin no more. 31. And though all the Devils should press hard upon it, and enter with their Desire into the fleshly Mind, yet the Will of the Soul must
stand still and hide itself in the Death of Christ, willing and desiring nothing but the Mercy of God. 32. No hypocritical Flattery, or outward comforting ourselves avails at all; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ, while they remain in SELF still. Christ says, Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God. The Mind must become as wholly new, as in a Child that knows nothing of Sin. Christ says also, You must be born anew, or else, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God. There must arise a Will wholly new in the Death of Christ. It must be brought forth out of Christ's Incarnation or Entering into the Humanity, and rise in Christ's Resurrection. 33. Now before this can be done, the Will of the Soul [SELF] must die in the Death of Christ; for in Adam it received the Son of the BondWoman, viz. Sin into it. This the Will must cast out, and the poor captive Soul must wrap itself up in the Death of Christ earnestly with all the Power it hath, so that the Son of the Bond-Woman, viz. the Sin that is in it may die in the Death of Christ. 34. In very deed Sin must die in the Will of the Soul, or else there can be no Vision of God. For the earthly Will, in Sin and the wrathful Nature, shall not see God. It is only the regenerated Nature, the new inward Man, that is capable of the Divine Vision or Enjoyment. The Soul must put on the Spirit and Flesh of Christ; it cannot inherit the Kingdom of God in this earthly Tabernacle. For the Kingdom of Sin hangs to it outwardly, which must putrify in the Earth, and rise again in new Power. 35. Hypocrisy, Flattery, and verbal Forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be Children, not by outward Imputation, but by being born of God from within, in the new inward Man, which is resigned in and to God. 36. All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, Christ has paid the
Ransom, and made satisfaction for Sin, and that He died for our Sins, is a false and vain Comfort, if we also do not die from Sin in Him, and put on His Merit in new Obedience, and live therein. 37. He that is a bitter Enemy and Hater of Sin, can and may comfort himself with the Sufferings of Christ. He that does not willingly see, hear, or taste Sin, but is at Enmity with it, and would willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew but what he ought to do; such a one has indeed put on the Sprirt and Will of Christ, and is His true Disciple. 38. But the outward Flattery of being accounted a Child of God by Imputation or external Application, is false and vain. The Work done in, or by, the outward Flesh only, does not make the Child of God; but the working of Christ in the Spirit makes, and indeed is, the Child of God. Which inward Working is so powerful that it shines forth as a new Light in the outward Life; and proves itself to be the Child of God by its external Conduct and Actions. 39. For if the Eye of the Soul be Light, then the whole Body is Light in all its Members. Now if any Man boast himself to be a Child of God, and yet suffers his Body to burn in Sins, he is no true Child, nor capable of the Inheritance; but lies bound by the Chains of the Devil in gross Darkness. And if he does not find in himself an earnest and sincere Desire of Well-doing in Love, then his Pretence to the Childship is but an Invention of Reason proceeding from SELF. He cannot see God, unless he be born a-new, and show forth by his Power and Life, that he is His true Child. For there is no Fire but has Light in it; and if the Divine Fire be in the Mind, it will shine forth, and the Mind will do that which God will have to be done. 40. But perhaps you will say, I have a Will indeed to do so; I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot. 41. Nay, you vile Man, God draws you to be His Child, but you will not; the soft Cushion in Evil is dearer to you than to be so readily parted